Portuguese police have apologised to the parents of Madeleine McCann for the way they handled her disappearance.
The three-year-old went missing from a holiday complex in Praia da Luz in May 2007, sparking a high-profile search.
A delegation of senior police officers travelled to London this year to meet with Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s father, and apologise, the BBC reported.
The broadcaster reported detectives apologised for the way the case was investigated and how the family were treated.
The McCann family have not made any public comment on the apology, and their daughter’s case remains unsolved.
Kate McCann, Madeleine’s mother, and Mr McCann were both declared “arguidos”, or suspects, in 2007 by Portuguese police, with the couple only formally cleared by the Portuguese authorities in July 2008.
They have previously spoken about the devastation it caused them, and the damage it did for the search for their daughter.
Ms McCann has said she was offered a deal by detectives to admit covering up her daughter’s death in exchange for a shorter sentence.
The original lead detective in the case, Goncalo Amaral, was sacked from the investigation but later went on to publicly accuse the McCanns of involvement in their daughter's disappearance.
The detectives who made the apology are also said to have given their backing to German prosecutors who believe a 46-year-old German, Christian Brueckner, was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance, which he denies.
He was named a formal suspected by Portuguese police last year but has not been formally charged in connection with the toddler’s disappearance.
Hans Christian Wolters, one of the German prosecutors on the case, welcomed the Portuguese apology in a comment given to the BBC.
“It's a good sign," he said, adding: “It shows that, in Portugal, there's development in the McCann case."
Brueckner is currently in a German prison for the rape of a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.
He is due to face separate charges of three rapes, sexual assault, and sexual assault of a child, with the five offences alleged to have taken place in the Portuguese Algarve.
German prosecutors said the charges would go to trial in February.
A Panorama episode Prime Suspect: Who Took Madeleine McCann? is due to air on BBC One at 8pm on Monday, October 30.
