Portuguese police apologize to Madeleine McCann’s parents: BBC

Portuguese police have apologized to the parents of Madeleine McCann for the way they handled the three-year-old’s disappearance, according to a BBC documentary.

Madeleine went missing from a holiday complex in the Algarve in May 2007.

A delegation of senior officers traveled from Lisbon to London earlier this year, BBC Panorama has been told.

They met Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s father, and apologized for the way detectives investigated the case and treated the family.

The McCann family has not commented on the apology and their daughter’s disappearance remains unsolved, BBC reported.

In September 2007, four months after Madeleine vanished, Kate and Gerry McCann were made “arguidos” – or suspects – in the Portuguese investigation. Both were questioned by detectives, who believed they had staged an abduction and concealed Madeleine’s body.

McCann said she was offered a deal to admit covering up her daughter’s death in exchange for a shorter sentence.

The couple’s arguido status was lifted in 2008 but they remained under suspicion in Portugal for years.

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