Date Released: 02/02/2008 14:44:00

Responding to the reported comments of Alipio Ribeiro, the National Director of the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria (PJ), in an interview recorded for Radio Renascenca due to be broadcast on Sunday Feb 3rd 2008, Clarence Mitchell said:

“Kate and Gerry McCann very much welcome Alipio Ribeiro’s reported comments in which he accepts that Portuguese police officers under his authority acted too hastily in making the McCanns official suspects. Now that the National Director of the Policia Judiciaria apparently accepts that they should not have been made arguido, it follows that there is no case for Kate and Gerry to answer. As I have consistently said, Kate and Gerry are entirely innocent of any involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine and now, in the light of Mr Ribeiro’s remarks, we urge the Portuguese judicial authorities to act humanely by removing their arguido status as swiftly as possible. Not only does it continue to damage their reputation in the eyes of the world, it is also directly hampering the search for Madeleine, as many people who may have vital information have possibly not been coming forward because they have wrongly suspected the McCanns. If the Portuguese police, under Mr Ribeiro, now do the only proper thing by eliminating Kate and Gerry from their enquiry, they and our own investigators can work together rapidly and effectively to find Madeleine and to bring those responsible for her abduction to justice.”