2 May 2012 Last updated at 10:33 ET

Madeleine McCann's parents 'no doubt' case will reopen

Kate and Gerry McCann: "There are lots of new leads and new infomation"

The parents of Madeleine McCann "have no doubt" that Portuguese authorities will reopen the investigation into their missing daughter's disappearance.

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of their daughter's disappearance, Kate and Gerry McCann added their voices to calls from Scotland Yard last week.

The Portuguese attorney-general's office says the case will stay closed, unless there are credible new facts.

Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, was nearly four when she disappeared.

She went missing from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, as her parents dined with friends nearby.

Mr McCann said: "I think it's fairly clear that the case will have to be reopened for [investigation opportunities] to be pursued adequately.

"We were not expecting a knee-jerk reaction by any means. This is an ongoing dialogue, and I am sure the investigation will get opened again in due course.

"I have no doubt about that. It will get reopened."

New leads

The official Portuguese investigation into Madeleine's disappearance concluded in July 2008, although private detectives employed by the McCanns continued the search.

Operation Grange, a review by Scotland Yard investigators, was set up in May 2010 after UK Prime Minister David Cameron responded to a plea from the McCann family.

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Metropolitan police officers have so far identified 195 potential new leads after analysing 40,000 pieces of information.

The officer leading the process, Det Ch Insp Andy Redwood, said the Metropolitan Police would like the case to resume, but stressed that the decision was one for Portugal.

On 26 April, Pedro do Carmo, deputy head of the Portuguese criminal police department, told the AFP news agency: "There are no new elements at the moment that would allow for the reopening of the inquiry."

But Mr do Carmo said a team of investigators would "re-examine elements of the inquiry" in collaboration with the British police, stressing this was normal practice and did not amount to a reopening.

Speaking about the Portuguese authorities' apparent reluctance to restart their investigation, Mr McCann said: "The only way everyone will be able to move on is for the case to be solved, and that is for Madeleine to be found and the perpetrators brought to justice.

"Until then it's not going to go away. It can't go away."

'More hopeful'

The McCanns used a press conference on Wednesday to make a fresh appeal for information or clues, that could help find Madeleine.

They added that the fifth anniversary of their daughter's disappearance has been easier than previous landmarks, because of these positive recent developments.

Kate McCann said: "Comparing to this time last year, at that point we didn't have the review in place, and now we do. Such progress has been made that has definitely given us a lift and makes things more hopeful."

Her husband said Scotland Yard's public statements last week backed up what the couple have been saying for three-and-a-half years.

Mr McCann said: "Probably for the first time in four-and-a-half years, information [is] coming in, and you know it's going to get through to officers who are actively pursuing the information."

Possible sighting

Meanwhile, a Portuguese taxi driver has spoken to an English newspaper about claims his possible sighting of the girl was never properly investigated.

The Metropolitan Police issued a computer-generated image (r) of how Madeleine might look now

Antonio Castela, 72, said he picked up three men, a woman and a child fitting Madeleine's description on 4 May 2007 in Monte Gordo in the Algarve, about an hour's drive from Praia da Luz.

He drove them to a hotel two miles away, where they then drove away in a blue jeep.

Mr Castela told the Evening Standard he went to the Policia Judiciaria but he said "they did not seem to take me seriously and never questioned me".

"I am amazed that it has been five years and nobody has ever asked me what I saw that night. I am absolutely certain it was her."

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "It is clearly deeply shocking that [Mr Castela] now tells us he has not been interviewed once by a detective.

"This is exactly the sort of thing that needs to be looked at in the investigative review now being carried out by the Metropolitan Police."