Vital Madeleine DNA in Birmingham safe

London: Key evidence held in high security storage undermines claims by Kate and Gerry McCann that tests have cleared them over their daughter's disappearance.

Supporters of the doctors insist that independent forensic tests carried out on the couple's Renault Scenic car - in which Madeleine's body is alleged to have been carried - have found no trace of her DNA.

The Standard can disclose that the key evidence from the car - a piece of its boot lining - is locked up in a Birmingham laboratory and that the McCanns' scientists have had no access to it.

That means that the results of the couple's own DNA tests are flawed because they were conducted on the wrong material. Several other pieces of crucial forensic material are also being kept in the high-security storage facility at the Forensic Science Service laboratory in Birmingham, where the key official tests in the case were carried out.

Despite the absence of any public confirmation, leaks from Portuguese sources have indicated that the findings of these official tests include the discovery of Madeleine's bodily fluids and hair in the back of the hire car. This is viewed by detectives as highly significant because the car was rented 25 days after the four-year-old's disappearance on May 3 and is one of the main reasons why the investigation has focused so strongly on her parents.

No official statement has ever been made on the results of the original tests carried out by the Forensic Science Service experts, who were hired by Portuguese police to conduct an analysis of material at key sites in the McCann investigation.

It is known, however, that within hours of the first batch of results being sent to Portugal, both parents were called in for questioning and named as suspects.

A second set of test results, which are understood to have supported the initial conclusions, were subsequently sent to detectives in the Algarve.