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A French newspaper has reported that Madeleine McCann, whose body has not yet been found, died from an overdose of sleeping pills.
France Soir says it has seen evidence that body fluids found in the boot of the missing girl's parents' Renault Scenic hire car prove that she had been sedated.
Analysis of the fluids showed four-year-old Madeleine had ingested large quantities of sleeping pills, it said.
Investigative journalist Guilhem Bettut, who made the astounding claims in France Soir, said a report outlining how she died was already with Portuguese prosecutors.
He said analysis of the boot "prove that the little girl had ingested medicines, without doubt sleeping pills, in large quantities".
The quantities would have caused "an overdose", said the report.
The newspaper noted that it had seen "hard evidence" about Madeleine's "death".
Portuguese investigators have already said that "bodily fluids" with a match at least 88 per cent accurate to the missing child's genetic profile were found in Gerry and Kate McCann's hire car.
Clumps of hair were also found in the boot in sufficient quantity to show she had been there.
Scientifically, both hair and body fluids - which investigators said were not blood - will show traces of drugs, including sleeping pills.
Other reports today include that Kate McCann has invited social services workers to check on the welfare of Madeleine's twin brother and sister.
Portuguese police are still investigating Kate and Gerry McCann in relation to Madeleine's disappearance.
Meanwhile, Reverend Haynes Hubbard, Anglican Vicar in Praia da Luz has defended the McCanns in light of massive publicity.
"I've got three children and if one of them was missing my heart would be broken," he told Reuters.
"My wife would be distraught. That is the people I know. They are distraught. They want their daughter home. Their tears are tears of fear and sadness because they dont know where their daughter is. They ae not hiding anything, they are not giving false stories they want their daughter home. Sean and Amelie want their sister home."
- NZ HERALD STAFF / REUTERS
