Portuguese police say Madeleine may be dead

By Katherine Baldwin and Jennifer Hill

LONDON (Reuters) - Portuguese police investigating the disappearance of four-year-old Madeleine McCann acknowledged on Saturday that she might be dead.

Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa, one of the detectives leading the inquiry, told the BBC that recent evidence had prompted officers to pursue more intensely the theory she might have been killed.

Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared on May 3 during a holiday with her family in the resort of Praia da Luz, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal.

"In the past few days there have been some developments and clues that have been found that could point to the possible death of this child," Sousa told the BBC in an interview.

"All lines had been open but this line is now checking with a little bit of intensity," he said, speaking in English.

The clues to which he was referring were traces of blood found inside the apartment where Madeleine was sleeping, at the Mark Warner Ocean holiday resort, the BBC said on its Web site.

"We are waiting for lab results that have been collected," he added.

The traces of blood were being analysed in Britain to find out whether they matched Madeleine's.