The parents of missing Madeleine McCann are waiting today to learn whether they will be cleared of involvement in their daughter disappearance from their holiday apartment in Portugal last year.
Portugal's attorney-general Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro will announce a "solution" this afternoon to a case that has gripped the world since the young girl vanished on May 3rd last year.
Prosecutors are expected to shelve the inquiry and reports suggest they will lift the Kate and Gerry McCanns' status as "arguidos" or official suspects.
But hours before Mr Pinto Monteiro's announcement, the former head of the Portuguese police investigation reaffirmed his belief that Madeleine died inside her parents' holiday flat.
The McCanns from Rothley, Leicestershire, strenuously deny any involvement in their daughter's disappearance and say they will continue to believe she is alive until given firm evidence to the contrary.
Former detective Goncalo Amaral, who was removed from the inquiry last October after criticising British police, will publish a book containing allegations against the McCanns on Thursday.
He told BBC News today: "The evidence that we had gathered by the time that I left the case, pointed to the girl being dead - and having died inside the apartment.
"I don't know what happened next. I can't say. We'll have to wait for the case files to be made public."
Mr Amaral said the decision to make the McCanns arguidos was taken by a number of officials and did not amount to a "persecution".
"In this case, it wasn't purely and simply a decision taken by police officers - Portuguese and British police," he said.
"There was no persecution. The police don't want to persecute anyone, just to investigate what happened in a given case."
The ex-detective, who retired recently, also denied seeking to profit from Madeleine's disappearance with his book.
He said: "People can say what they like. All I would say, is that I'm trying to contribute to the discovery of the truth.
"I worked 27 years as a police officer - and my conscience can't accept that this is the first case that slipped through my fingers".
Mr Pinto Monteiro has promised to announce a "solution" to the Madeleine case today, more than 14 months after she went missing.
Detectives handed over their lengthy final report at the start of this month for prosecutors to consider whether to bring charges, request further inquiries or close the case.
In recent weeks Portuguese newspapers, citing anonymous sources, have reported that police have not found enough evidence to lay charges.
If the case is shelved, the McCanns want their own private investigators to be given access to detectives' papers so they can continue the search for their daughter.
The third suspect in the case, Algarve property consultant Robert Murat (34) is also expected to be cleared today.
He received over Stg£600,000 in libel damages from four newspaper groups last week over "seriously defamatory" articles linking him to Madeleine's disappearance.
PA