UK police 'helped develop evidence against McCanns'

British police helped "develop" evidence against Madeleine McCann's parents for the Portuguese authorities after their daughter's disappearance, the latest WikiLeaks cables reveal.

Britain's ambassador to Portugal, Alexander Wykeham Ellis, reportedly made the claim to his American counterpart on September 21, 2007 – two weeks after Portuguese police named Gerry and Kate McCann as suspects.

The diplomat said Ellis admitted that the British police had developed the current evidence against the McCann

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s who remained under suspicion until July 2008 when Portuguese police shelved the inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance.

A spokesman for the McCanns dismissed the leak as an "historic note" more than three years old and said the Portuguese had since made it clear there was no evidence to implicate the couple.