Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have been barred from asking her parents and their friends 100 new questions, it was reported today.

A Portuguese prosecutor has allegedly ruled that there is insufficient evidence to reinterview Kate and Gerry McCann and the seven British friends who were dining with them when Madeleine was reported missing.

Detectives from the Polícia Judiciária were expected to arrive in Britain last month to reinterview at least four of the “tapas seven” friends about events in Praia da Luz on May 3.

However, the Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas claimed today that José Cunha de Magalhães e Meneses, the public prosecutor in charge of the case, has said he will not authorise further interrogations without stronger evidence.

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A source quoted by the newspaper said: “The letter of appeal [to the British authorities] is concluded. It contains over 100 questions which will be put to Kate and Gerry McCann, their family members and their friends. The purpose is to confirm the testimonies produced at the time the little girl disappeared.”

Detectives who started a full review of the case last month, are still awaiting for the results of some tests by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in Birmingham. Preliminary results from tests on samples found at the McCann’s holiday apartment and a car hired have proved inconclusive, it was reported.

Senior officers are said to have privately admitted that it would take “a miracle” for them to build a better case against Mr and Mrs McCann. They believe Madeleine died in a holiday apartment at the Ocean Club resort shortly before her fourth birthday and that her parents disposed of her body.

A source quoted by 24 Horas said: “The new analysis of the evidence, carried out by the team which took charge of the case, has confirmed all the suspicions that exist but nothing more.

“There is no new data. New operations were carried out, other people who had not been interviewed at the time were interrogated. But nothing new came of it. If a body does not turn up or unless somebody comes forward with a credible lead we continue increasingly without any chance of closing the case.”

Mr and Mrs McCann, both 39, from Rothley, Leicestershire. have provided police with a list of 25 witnesses they would like to see interviewed. The list includes the seven friends and several relatives who the hope they would give detectives a better picture of their family relationships.

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ official spokesman, said that the couple hoped to be cleared as soon as possible so that police can concentrate on searching for their daughter.

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