Portugal clears Madeleine's parents

By Andrei Khalip

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's public prosecutor dropped the case on the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann in the absence of any evidence on Monday, and cleared her parents and another Briton of suspicion of involvement.

Chief prosecutor Fernando Pinto Monteiro said in a statement that Gerry and Kate McCann and Robert Murat, who lived in the same resort in southern Portugal's Algarve region where the three-year-old vanished 14 months ago, were all cleared.

"The public prosecutor's office has determined that the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann be archived, due to the lack of evidence of any crime being committed by the suspects," the statement said.

"The case can be reopened by the public prosecutor's office, or following a request from an interested party, if new evidence materialises," it said.

The McCanns welcomed the decision and said they would not give up the search for their daughter.

"We welcome the news today, although it is no cause for celebration," Kate McCann told a news conference in Britain, reading from a statement.

"It's hard to describe how utterly despairing it was to be named 'arguido' and subsequently portrayed in the media as suspects in our own daughter's abduction and worse.

"Equally, it has been devastating to witness the detrimental effect this status has had on the search for Madeleine.