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[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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Settlement of defamation action: this is the report of the settlement of the defamation action concerning the McCann family in respect of publications which have cast aspersions upon their inegrity

On 17 October 2007 David Pilditch of the Daily Express reported “Maddy: parents' car hid corpse”.  

Bodily fluids found in the car hired by Madeleine McCann’s parents could only have come from a corpse, it was claimed yesterday. Forensic tests prove a body was placed in the Renault Scenic, a Portuguese police source alleged. The fluids were on the underside of a carpet over the spare tyre well in the boot of the car hired by Kate and Gerry McCann 25 days after Madeleine disappeared on May 3, aged three. The traces could not have been transferred from Madeleine’s clothes as the McCanns have claimed, the source said.

He added: “Police are being told the fluids come from a dead body. “These are bodily fluids that could only come from a corpse. Police are waiting for the results to confirm the identity of the DNA.” Forensic tests are being carried out in Britain. The fluid was previously claimed to show an 88 per cent match to Madeleine’s DNA. Friends of the McCanns yesterday dismissed the claims, which they said were the latest in a series of smears as part of a “black propaganda campaign” waged against the couple by elements in the Portuguese police. They insisted there are “wholly innocent” explanations for any evidence that might have been found in the couple’s car.

Last night a source close to the McCanns’ legal team insisted the couple were “entirely innocent” and there was “no way” any evidence of a body in their hire car could have been found.

He said: “They have nothing to hide. They did not kill their daughter or dispose of her body in a car they hired three weeks later. “So there is no way the police can have any evidence there was a body in the car. We simply do not believe this. “Every time spurious leaks like this emerge from Portugal it hits Kate and Gerry hard. They are entirely innocent and going through hell. “If evidence like this had been found the implications would be serious. Let’s just say they would not be sitting at their home in Leicestershire.

“Kate and Gerry have had no contact from Portuguese police since they left the country. “The ordeal weighs heavily on them but they continue to draw strength from each other and there’s not a chink of light between them. “Of course they feel guilty about what has happened. No-one could feel more guilty. “But the decisions they made at the time were joint ones and no-one could have foreseen the tragic consequences.”

The McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: “We simply cannot comment on unsubstantiated reports. We have heard nothing official from the relevant authorities. What I can say is there is a wholly innocent explanation for any evidence found anywhere.” The new head of the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance has re-opened lines of inquiry since taking over the case last week. But sources have said he is still treating the McCanns as chief suspects.

Detectives have accused part-time GP Kate, 39, of accidentally killing Madeleine after giving her sedatives to help her sleep. They believe she died in the family’s Ocean Club holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz. They are working on the theory that consultant cardiologist Gerry, also 39, helped his wife dispose of their daughter’s body using their hire car. During her police interview Kate was repeatedly shown video footage of sniffer dogs trained to detect death and blood reacting in the apartment and the hire car.

A bloody footprint allegedly found in the apartment matched a print of a shoe recovered from the car’s bumper. The McCanns, now at home in Rothley, claim they are being framed by police desperate to close a case they have bungled. The Forensic Science Service laboratory in Birmingham has conducted a series of tests on evidence found in the apartment and the Renault car and police are still awaiting the final results.

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