Portugal police rap McCann spokesman over leak

Portuguese police forcefully denied they leaked a statement by Kate McCann in which she reportedly said her daughter Madeleine was crying in her room the night before she disappeared nearly a year ago.

The statement was made by Kate McCann to Portuguese police investigating the disappearance, according to Spanish television channel Telecinco, which published it last week.

Telecinco reported Madeleine asked her mother on May 3, the morning of the day she disappeared, why she hadn't come to the bedroom when she and her brothers were crying the night before.

The publication prompted the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, to call for an investigation by Portuguese authorities into how the statement was made public, considering it was covered by strict secrecy laws.

In a rare statement on the case, Portuguese police said on Monday it was "completely false that the content of the news reproduced material from the investigation and that it is covered by legal secrecy (laws).

"On the other hand, the judicial police laments the unfounded statement by the spokesman, above all at a moment when significant steps are taking place in the investigation."

The statement said Mitchell publicly accused the police of being responsible for the leak.

Portuguese police have named Kate and Gerry McCann as official suspects in the case. Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bedroom in an Algarve resort a few days before her fourth birthday.

Police have made no arrests in the case and have not signalled that they are any closer to finding Madeleine.