The original theory about Madeleine McCann's disappearance - that she was taken by an abductor - may have been the right one all along according to Portugal's most senior law offical.

Fernando José Pinto Monteiro, the Attorney General, also said that the Portuguese police forces lack expertise in investigating child abduction cases and that he could not guarantee that officers were acting within the bounds of the law.

In an interview with a Portuguese newspaper, Mr Monteiro said: "I think phone tapping in Portugal is done too much. I myself have many doubts that my phones are not being tapped."

Kate and Gerry McCann have spoken in that past that they believe that their phone calls and emails had been intercepted by Portuguese police.
Asked whether, as Portugal's most senior legal officer, he could assure the public that police were not acting "freewheel", Mr Monteiro admitted: "No, I can't guarantee that."

He said that because fewer children were abducted in Portugal than in England the nation's police had less expertise in dealing with cases of children disappearing. "We don't have great experience in this type of crime," he said. "All I know is that no lead should be abandoned."