The public will be able to view the thousands of pages of evidence amassed by Portuguese detectives into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann when the police files are released today.

The 20,000-page dossier is expected to include witness statements and interviews with Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, as well as other evidence collected by detectives since Madeleine disappeared in Portugal 14 months ago. However it is not known if the entire file or only parts of it will be made available.

Madeleine has not been seen since May 3, 2007, when she vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz while her parents were having dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

The police files into her disappearance are being made public under Portuguese law after the lifting of the period of judicial secrecy in the case.

Lawyers for Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate McCann, both 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were formally given access to the police files last week.

The McCanns were last month officially cleared by Portuguese authorities after being named as arguidos, or formal suspects in the disappearance of their three-year-old daughter.

Their lawyers are studying the mammoth dossier for fresh leads that the couple's private detectives can follow up in their own search for their daughter.

Madeleine’s disappearance sparked an international manhunt and worldwide media attention, and her deeply religious parents were even granted an audience with the Pope, who blessed a photograph of the missing girl.

However on July 21 Portuguese prosecutors announced they were shelving the case due to lack of evidence, although it can be reopened if credible new evidence comes to light.

At the time the McCanns and Algarve resident Robert Murat, a British property developer, were told they were no longer formal suspects in Madeleine's disappearance.

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