GERRY McCann sent and received 14 text messages on the night Madeleine disappeared, Portuguese TV reported last night.

 

The consultant cardiologist was said to have exchanged the messages on his mobile phone during dinner with friends on May 3, before Madeleine was found to be missing.

 

Portuguese police have asked for the
mobile phone records of the 39-year-old and his wife Kate but have not yet
received them.

 

 

The text message claim was made by the Portuguese channel RTP, which offered no explanation about who Mr McCann had contacted.

 

Requests for the McCanns' mobile phone records are among a series of letters of appeal drawn up by the Portuguese police.

 

But the public prosecutor Jose Magalhaese Meneses has refused to give his approval for the letters to be sent to British authorities until he sees stronger evidence against the couple.

 

The McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell refused to comment on issues directly linked to the investigation.

 

The family has however been given some fresh hope after DNA tests concluded there was no proof the four-year-old was dead.

 

Tests on samples taken from Kate and Gerry McCann's apartment have failed to find any evidence that their daughter died there.

 

The results from Portugal's police laboratory support the couple's belief that Madeleine was abducted.

 

Scientists at the laboratory in Lisbon have also failed to find any evidence implicating the parents in her disappearance.