Police in Portugal stopped searching for Madeleine McCann three months ago, friends of parents Kate and Gerry claimed yesterday.

They said detectives decided resources would be better used trying to link the couple to their four-year-old daughter's disappearance.

The news emerged as the Portuguese press claimed the detective who interrogated Kate last month faces trial for allegedly torturing an innocent robbery suspect.

Chief Inspector Tavares Almeida is number two on the inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance and is the second top officer in the shambolic inquiry to be accused of violent treatment of suspects.

Disgraced case co-ordinator Goncalo Amaral, who was booted off the investigation last week, is fighting claims that he covered up the beating of another missing girl's mother.

Family friends said last night that Kate and Gerry believed the only serious work to trace Madeleine was being done by their own team of private investigators, working for the Find Madeleine campaign.

One said: "The feeling is that the search for Madeleine has definitely gone on hold from the moment that the police began to suspect Kate and Gerry.

"They are both very concerned about that.

"They have always cooperated fully with the police and their priority is to bring Madeleine home safely."

The McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, confirmed the couple had employed private investigators to follow up possible leads outside Portugal. Mr Mitchell said: "All of the leads that have a degree of credibility about them and warrant further investigation are looked into.

"Anything being done by the campaign is done within the law, and the police are informed of every possible lead.

"We are not going to comment on the changing personnel in the case.

"But Kate and Gerry want to see whoever takes charge of the investigation moving it forward to find Madeleine.

"Kate and Gerry have nothing to hide."

A Portuguese newspaper reported yesterday that 48-year-old Almeida will face trial over allegations he beat up a rail worker suspected of being part of a gang who sexually assaulted children. The man was acquitted and lodged a formal complaint against detectives. Former British child protection officer Mark Williams-Thomas said: "It does seem strange to have put such people into such a high-profile investigation, which could cause questions to be asked.

"The focus should be on finding Madeleine, not on senior officers in the case."

Yesterday the McCanns again declared their innocence after claims that new DNA evidence linked them to their daughter's disappearance.

Meanwhile, the ongoing analysis of dozens of samples by the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham was said not to have substantially advanced the investigation.

Results are passed to Portugal police on a daily basis.

An insider said: "Madeleine and her parents are bound to be linked by DNA because they were together on the night she vanished. There has been no dramatic breakthrough."