Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner leading the British investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, has stated that detectives still have a 'critical line of inquiry' to pursue a decade after the three-year-old vanished from a Portuguese holiday resort. Rowley acknowledged that the joint Portuguese-British inquiry may never yield definitive answers and could not confirm whether Madeleine is alive.
Speaking ahead of the 10th anniversary of her disappearance on 3 May, Rowley said: 'I know we have a significant line of inquiry that is worth pursuing, and because of that, it could provide an answer. Until we have gone through it, I won't know if we will get there or not.' He added that there are 'critical lines of enquiry of great interest to ourselves and our Portuguese counterparts' and 'significant investigative avenues we are pursuing that we see as very worthwhile.'
Among the theories explored are that Madeleine was abducted by a burglar who panicked when she woke up, or that a sexual attacker was responsible. Rowley emphasised: 'However she left that apartment, she has been abducted. It is not a 20-year-old who has gone missing and who has made a decision to start a new life, this is a young girl who is missing and at the heart of this has been an abduction.'
The British end of the investigation has been scaled back to four detectives from a peak of 30, but Rowley stressed it remains a live inquiry. He noted that information is still received daily, and four individuals identified as persons of interest in 2013 have been eliminated. Rowley said: 'We don't have evidence telling us if Madeleine is alive or dead. It is a missing person's inquiry but as a team we are realistic about what we might be dealing with – especially as months turn to years.'
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, released a statement describing the anniversary as 'a horrible marker of stolen time' and vowing never to give up the search. They criticised media speculation, saying it damages their family and affects their other children. The McCanns, from Leicestershire, said: 'We will go on, try our hardest, never give up and make the best of the life we have.'
