A review of the scientific evidence gathered in the hunt for Madeleine McCann will consider today whether there is any proof that the missing girl is dead or that her parents were involved in her disappearance.

Portuguese experts will meet scientists from the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in Birmingham to discuss the findings of tests on samples recovered during the six-month investigation.

The Portuguese police have already indicated that they expect the results to be “indicative” of what happened to Madeleine rather than “conclusive”, but they hope that they will give the investigation new impetus.

Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, believe that the results will show that there is no evidence to support the theory that their daughter is dead and that they disposed of her body. Experts hired by the McCanns found no trace of Madeleine in the car, but the boot lining had already been removed and remains with the FSS. The Portuguese team, who arrived yesterday, will be briefed on the precise methods used by British scientists to analyse the evidence so that they can explain the findings to an investigating magistrate at Portimão in the Algarve.

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The samples were recovered during a review of the case in July from the McCanns’ holiday apartment, another flat in the resort and a hire car.

Portuguese detectives have said that they found blood and hair at the McCanns’ apartment at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was reported missing on May 3, just before her fourth birthday. They have also recovered an “unusually large amount of hair” and some traces of body fluids from the back of the Renault Scenic hired three weeks after she disappeared.

Mr and Mrs McCann, both 39, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were made official suspects after the samples were found. They have insisted that there is an innocent explanation for the samples found in the hire car, which they used to transport their daughter’s clothing and other belongings.

A Leicestershire police spokesman said: “Throughout the investigation there has been really good dialogue between the teams but they felt it was a good time to talk face to face. They are not going to be interviewing anyone else. It is a routine meeting.”

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, said: “We understand there is no intention for the McCanns to be interviewed. We do not see it as a significant development.”

The Portuguese team is led by Francisco Corte-Real, the vice-president of the National Pathology Institute, and includes two police forensic science officers and a senior detective. They will return home tomorrow.

Alípio Ribeiro, the national director of the Polícia Judiciária, said last month that detectives were shortly due to travel to England to interview witnesses. These were believed to include Mr and Mrs McCann and the seven friends who were dining with them at a tapas restaurant on the Ocean Club when Madeleine was reported missing. However, this has been delayed until police have received all of the forensic science results and completed their review of the existing evidence.

It emerged yesterday that the public fund set up to find Madeleine is paying £50,000 a month to Spanish private detectives to co-ordinate the international search.

The Metodo 3 agency has so far followed up sightings in Morocco and Bosnia and claimed that witnesses had reported seeing Madeleine with the girlfriend of the first official suspect in the case, Robert Murat.

Portuguese police were reported to have examined worldwide media reporting of the case and concluded that the international “sightings” were part of a deliberate campaign of misinformation. The 24 Horas newspaper quoted an unnamed police source as saying: “Someone is trying to deviate attention about what really happened that night. And there’s also someone who wants to bring down an investigation that has been carried out honestly and rigorously.”

The fund launched a poster campaign across southern Spain yesterday at the start of an £80,000 publicity drive aimed at the Iberian peninsula and northern Africa.

— Background on the case timesonline.co.uk/madeleine

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