Madeleine McCann's parents being investigated for negligence

According to the first published court ruling on the case, the investigation covers abduction, homicide, exposure or abandonment of a child, and concealment of a corpse.

The judgment, released by the Evora Supreme Court of Justice in Portimao, gives the first official glimpse into the course of the police inquiry, which has hitherto been guarded by Portugal’s strict judicial secrecy laws.

The reference to “abandonment” suggests that detectives are looking for evidence that Gerry and Kate McCann were negligent in leaving Madeleine and her twin 18-month-old siblings unsupervised while they ate dinner with friends on the evening she vanished.

Under Portuguese law, the crime of abandonment carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

Mr and Mrs McCann, who are arguidos - or suspects - in their daughter’s disappearance, have repeatedly denied neglecting Madeleine, who was three when she vanished from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007.

The couple, from Rothley in Leicestershire, have said they were just 50 yards away when their daughter went missing, and had made regular checks on the children throughout the evening.

The court ruling also revealed that the public prosecutor wants access to the content of text, audio and video messages from 10 mobile phones believed to belong to Mr and Mrs McCann and a group of their British friends known as the 'Tapas Seven’.

Police also want access to the content of 14 messages allegedly sent to Mr McCann’s mobile phone from an unidentified number the day before Madeleine disappeared, and to a further 4 messages from the same number which he received the day after she vanished.