Police: 'lots of Maddy hair in car'
Updated on 11 September 2007
Portuguese police have been briefing local journalists that a large amount of hair belonging to Madeleine McCann was found in a hire car used by her parents 25 days after her disappearance.
Police said that the quantity of hair was so large that it could not have been transferred from a blanket or other item, and must have come directly from her body.
Police said that the quantity of hair was so large that it could not have been transferred from a blanket or other item, and must have come directly from her body.
Forensic scientists were expecting to find small amounts of her genetic material in the car, transferred when her possessions were carried in the car.
It has previously been reported that Madeleine's blood was found on the car, but reports now suggest that it was in fact a different bodily fluid. It has now been described as only an 88 per cent match to the missing girl, not a 100 per cent match as previously reported.
The news comes as Portuguese police hand their file of evidence to the public prosecutor, who will decide whether to charge either of the McCanns in connection with their daughters' disappearance.
Last night Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the investigative Policia Judiciaria, played down the significance of the forensic information gathered from the car.
He told the Portuguese state broadcaster RTP: "They help guide us in our investigation but not with the mathematical precision some people are saying."
Madeleine's father Gerry used a statement on his blog to reassert the family's innocence.
"The pain and turmoil we have experienced in this last week is totally beyond description," he wrote. "Kate and I are totally 100 per cent confident in each other's innocence, and our family and friends have rallied round unflinchingly to support us."
