There are no plans to further search the scrubland where a letter said missing Madeleine McCann could be buried, Portuguese police have said.
An anonymous letter in a Dutch newspaper said the four-year-old’s body could be found “under branches or stones” nine miles from the Algarve resort where she disappeared from her bedroom on May 3.
Seven police searched the area described in the letter, according to reports.
Police chief inspector Olegario de Sousa said: “For now, we have no concrete plans to enter the terrain again.”
A spokesman for the local GNR police, which handles day-to-day policing, said they had received no request from the investigative team for help or to bring sniffer dogs to the area.
Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Madeleine’s parents, said police are examining the letter to verify whether it was authentic.
The police have received countless leads in their investigation, including a possible sighting of Madeleine in Morocco.
So far they have made no arrests and have identified only one suspect – Briton Robert Murat – in their case.
Ch Insp De Sousa said a group of journalists had hired sniffer dogs to search the area. He said: “These people are people who have no police training and who are walking around the bush looking for a scoop.”
Madeleine disappeared from her bed while her parents dined at a nearby restaurant in the small Praia da Luz Algarve resort.
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have launched a high-profile campaign to draw attention to her disappearance, including meeting with the Pope in Rome and winning support from personalities such as David Beckham.
Gerry McCann said in the diary he publishes online (www.findmadeleine.com) he was upset by the Dutch paper publishing the letter, saying it should have been passed on to Portuguese police before publication.
He said: “We were extremely disappointed in the publication of the anonymous letter in the Telegraaf claiming to know where Madeleine is buried.”
Life 
