Madeleine McCann: Prosecutors send letter to parents saying they have 'concrete evidence' to prove she's dead
Shortly after claiming that Madeleine McCann, who went missing 13 years ago at the age of three, might still be alive, German prosecutor Hans Wolters said that he had written a letter to her parents stating that they had "concrete evidence" that their daughter was dead but could not reveal the details just yet as it might damage the chances of the suspect ever coming to trial.
“We have written to the McCanns to tell them Madeleine is dead and explaining we just cannot say what the evidence is," Wolters told the Sun on Monday. “We have concrete evidence that our suspect has killed Madeleine. British police have been informed but don’t have all the evidence we have. The results of our investigation have been shared but not every detail has been passed to Scotland Yard. I don’t think the McCanns have been informed of all the details but they know the results.”
On McCanns’ Portuguese lawyer Rogerio Alves calling upon the German prosecutor to provide evidence of Madeleine's death, Wolters said that he sympathized with the parents' plight but could not compromise the investigation. “I understand what the McCann family lawyer is saying. I sympathize with the parents but if we reveal more details to them it might jeopardize the investigation," he said. "I know it would be of relief to the parents to know how she died but it would hamper the investigation if we give away too much information. This is a murder case, not a missing person's case. We have been quite clear throughout that we are investigating a murder and have evidence for that. We can understand the pain of the parents and they want relief, but it is better for them that we have a clear and successful conclusion to the case."
He added: "There is no realistic hope she is alive. Of course, I understand the parents want to believe she is until they see a body. It would be easier for them if I could tell them what we know but I can’t. All I can say is there is no forensic evidence but there is other evidence that indicates she is dead. I don’t want to go into any details about the letter, when it was written or how it was sent. All I will confirm is that it has been written.”
Madeleine had mysteriously disappeared from her parents' vacation apartment at The Ocean Club Resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal on the night of May 3, 2007. At the time, her parents were just 50 meters away from the apartment, dining at a tapas restaurant with several close friends while Madeleine and her twin siblings slept in the house. Madeleine is is still missing and her disappearance continues to remain the most widely-reported missing person's case in modern history. Earlier this month, the German police also revealed a new prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance. The police had announced that Madeliene could be dead, adding that the pedophile suspect, identified as 43-year-old Christian Brückner -- a convicted rapist -- could be behind her possible murder. They said that they knew how the little girl was killed but had no idea where her body is.
Since then, Wolters has gone back and forth when it comes to declaring Madeleine alive or dead. German prosecutors said on June 4 that they were currently treating the case as a murder investigation. However, Operation Grange, an investigative review by London's Metropolitan Police Service into the circumstances of the disappearance of then three-year-old Madeleine, still considers the case a missing person inquiry because there is no "definitive evidence whether the girl is alive or dead".
Last week Wolters had said in a press conference, "We think that Madeleine McCann is dead and are appealing for witnesses. The 43-year-old suspect is a convicted sexual predator, already jailed for his crimes against little girls." After Madeleine McCann's parents urged German prosecutors to show evidence that suggested that their daughter had died, the authorities were forced to take back their previous comment and clarify that there was no forensic evidence to suggest she is dead.
Over the weekend, Wolters recently told Mirror: "Because there is no forensic evidence there may be a little bit of hope. We don’t want to kill the hope and because there is no forensic evidence it may be possible. I am surprised by the fact we say or I say Madeleine is dead is so important for the British people." He added that it was "normal" in Germany to assume a murder has taken place in similar cases. And hence, the assertion that Madeleine may have been "killed quickly" was only "personal opinion and speculation," which was not based on facts, he said.