MADDY WATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann

DAILY MIRROR page 11: “McCANNS WON’T BE IN CLEAR BY CHRISTMAS”

So it won’t be over by Christmas, as the Express pointed to yesterday?

Portuguese police wants more DNA tests. They take three weeks to conclude. It’s December 6. A source says: “They hope new tests will clarify what happened around the time she went missing”

Will they?

DAILY EXPRESS page 23: “Madeleine: now ministers may block new police quiz”

Within the next 48, the McCanns will “know if the Government will let them face a new grilling”. The Portuguese prosecutor was “last night set to request permission from the Home Office to reinterview Kate and Gerry and their holiday dinner friends – known as the Tapas Nine”

Or the Sangria 7 – send in your suggestions to the usual address

The Express says the Portuguese are “wary” of British Government involvement”. Why? Because Gerry McCann sits on a Government medical advisory panel. He’s a “heart surgeon”. There is a “political shadow”. Gordon Brown called Gerry McCann. And there were yellow ribbons in the House of Commons

Says a source: “He has gone on to become Prime Minister and they are now suspects. That is an uncomfortable scenario for detectives involved in the case”

“Lab hits at detectives over DNA” – “A STORM has erupted”.

Portuguese police are said to be frustrated at the lack of progress by British DNA experts. UK experts says “unprofessional evidence gathering led to inconclusive tests”

THE SUN page 9: “MADDIE COPS ROW OVER RUINED DNA – Brit experts dismiss ‘blood’ evidence”

A row between British and Portuguese experts. In the Soaraway Sun, you feel there can be only one winner

Portuguese police “believed they found tiny specks of blood on an armchair and wall. They became convinced the specks were from four-year-old Madeleine”. So did the Mail, which at the time produced: “BLOOD ON THE WALL IN MADDY BEDROOM”

But now it emerges the specs “were so contaminated they could not even be identified as blood”. And this led to a row. A heated debate

Says a source: “The Portuguese arrived demanding ‘Where are our results?’” – So rude. Not at all British

“BODYFINDER DRAWS BLANK” – Disappointing news for those pinning your hopes on Danie Krugel – aka The Locator - finding Madeleine McCann. His Matter Orientation System uses GPS technology and DNA samples. The McCanns gave him a hair from their daughter’s head. He went to work. But – shock of shocks -nothing. “I have done my best,” says Krugel

British police may care to reconsider their orders

DAILY TELEGRAPH front page: “MADELEINE – PORTUGUESE POLICE ACCUSED IN DNA FIASCO”

Page 17: “Madeleine police ‘angry at DNA blunder claim” – Portuguese police are “furious” at being called “amateurish” by officials at the UK’s Forensic Science Service

There are “angry scenes”. A source says the Portuguese were “unhappy”

The tests feature microscopic spots of blood found at the Ocean Club apartment where Madeleine had been staying, bodily fluids and hair from the Renault Scenic hire car

DAILY MAIL page 41: “Maddie forensic experts clash with ‘unprofessional’ Portuguese”

“Portuguese police investigating Madeleine McCann’s disappearance are said to be furious after British scientists criticised the ‘unprofessional’ way in which they had collected forensic evidence. The Portuguese arrived with the attitude of, ‘OK, where are the findings we need?’

“The Forensic Science Service basically said there weren’t any and made it clear things could have been collected more professionally. That doesn’t mean there was a lot of evidence they failed to collect but what evidence there is was collected in a very amateurish way. The Portuguese took this badly. They were unhappy because there was implicit criticism of how they collected the evidence. There was a heated exchange of views”

DAILY STAR page 20: “Maddie parent’s in D-Day”

But November 29 was D-Day

Can this be E-Day, or in keeping with the Star’s central news plank, DD-Day

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will read the letters sent by the Portuguese prosecutor requesting interviews with the McCanns and reply. She should not reply by post for obvious reasons

THE INDEPENDENT, THE GUARDIAN and THE TIMES: No Madeleine news today

Madeleine McCann in the news

Posted: 6th, December 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann. Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0