POLICE say they have found firm DNA evidence that the body of missing Madeleine McCann was in the boot of the family's hire car five weeks after she went missing.

Sky News reported last night that Portuguese police were "adamant" they had found the most "damning" evidence yet implicating either one or both of the McCanns in their daughter's death.

The news came on the day police moved a step closer to potential charges against the McCanns when they announced they were handing their file on the missing four-year-old to the public prosecutor.

Meanwhile, in Britain, Kate and Gerry McCann faced fresh fears after social services held talks with police about their other children, two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

According to Sky last night, the DNA evidence came in blood samples returned from the Forensic Science Service, in Birmingham.

Police were reported to have said it was the most damning evidence that had been returned by the tests, and showed Madeleine's body had been in the car five weeks after she disappeared.

The evidence was said to suggest "very strongly that it was not that her DNA had been transferred from clothing or from a cuddly toy".

The report said: "The allegation is that the DNA shows a full match of 99 per cent. According to police, it shows the presence of Madeleine's body in the boot of the family's hire car five weeks after she disappeared."

According to Sky, the sample of blood sent to the Forensic Science Service carried three matches of Madeleine's DNA.

Two were partial matches that came from the car and the windowsill of the family's holiday apartment.

The third was the full match from the boot of the car.

In Portugal, Algarve-based public prosecutor Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses will now decide whether the police evidence is strong enough to bring charges against the couple.

This could mean months of agonising waiting for Mr and Mrs McCann, who returned home to Rothley, Leicestershire, on Sunday, having been named as suspects in their daughter's disappearance.

The prosecutor has three main options - he could bring charges, rule that no action should be taken, or send the papers back to police requesting more evidence.

In England, social services and police in Leicestershire held talks yesterday about how they should respond to Madeleine's disappearance and the naming of her parents as suspects.

Leicestershire County Council refused to comment on the meeting, citing its "highly confidential nature".

But it is believed social workers would have discussed whether action was needed to protect Sean and Amelie - which, in theory, includes putting them on the "in need register" or taking them into care.

In the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine went missing 130 days ago, police were said to be preparing fresh searches.

These will take place to the south of the Ocean Club resort, where the McCanns were staying, according to the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha.

It was also reported yesterday that "biological fluids" with an 80 per cent match to Madeleine's DNA were found underneath the upholstery in the boot of the McCanns' hire car, a silver Renault Scenic.

The sample was too badly deteriorated to make a 100 per cent match possible, according to the Diario de Noticias newspaper.

Detectives put a similar allegation to Mrs McCann in interview last week. She is understood to have told them angrily there was "no way" this could be the case because they did not lease the vehicle until 25 days after her daughter disappeared.

Portuguese detectives appear to be working on the theory that Mrs McCann killed her daughter by accident and covered up the death by claiming she was abducted. Mr McCann's alleged role is not clear, but sources said police believe he was an accessory to the killing.

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