Lisbon - There are no guarantees that the blood traces found in the case of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann belong to her, Alipio Ribeiro, director of Portugal's judicial police, was Tuesday quoted by media reports as saying. Police had received "some" laboratory test results from Britain, but they "do not give such an exact answer" as British media had suggested, Ribeiro told the television station RTP1.
On the basis of the partial results known so far, it had not been possible to affirm a total correspondence with Madeleine's DNA, Ribeiro told the daily Publico.
He was commenting on a British report that an almost 100 per cent correspondence had been found between Madeleine's DNA and blood traces in a car hired by her parents.
Traces have also been found in the parents' holiday apartment in the southern resort of Praia da Luz, where the four-year-old went missing on May 3.
Reports claiming that Madeleine's body had been in the car were "speculation," Ribeiro added.
The police chief said he did not expect new control measures to be imposed on the McCanns, who had had the "right" to return to Britain.
Ribeiro rejected criticism by the British media against Portuguese police, saying they followed European norms, worked meticulously and respected "everyone irrespective of what they may or may not have done."
