Probe into missing UK girl near end

The investigation into the disappearance of a British girl from a southern Portuguese resort last year is nearly over, Portugal's justice minister said Wednesday.
Madeleine McCann vanished May 3 last year — a few days before her 4th birthday — from a hotel room during a family vacation in Praia da Luz in Portugal's southern Algarve region.

Last month, Portugal's attorney general granted detectives an extra three months to investigate because of what they said was the complexity of the highly publicized case.

"We are at a stage now where we are approaching the conclusion of the process," Justice Minister Alberto Costa told lawmakers, but said he could provide no details about the investigation.

Costa said it was "premature" to say whether the investigation would find out what happened to the girl. He cited what he said were British statistics showing that around 80 percent of similar cases in Britain remained unresolved.

No one has been charged with her disappearance.

The first formal suspect was Robert Murat, a British man who lives near the hotel in the Algarve. He has denied involvement.

Weeks later, Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, also were named suspects. They say they were not involved in their daughter's disappearance. They returned to Britain in September.

Lawmakers questioned Costa about comments by Portugal's most senior detective, Alipio Ribeiro, who said in a recent radio interview that investigators had shown "a certain haste" in naming the girl's parents as suspects.

Costa said there was no indication Ribeiro broke secrecy laws that prohibit public discussion of ongoing investigations.

"If there was any such sign ... I am sure an inquiry would have been opened, and it hasn't been," Costa said.

But Costa said the numerous leaks in the case, apparently from Portuguese officials, were "worrying."

"It would be good if people could show self-restraint," he said.