Portuguese police moved a step closer to potential charges against Madeleine McCann's parents today when they announced they were handing their file on the missing four-year-old to the public prosecutor.
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.
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, yesterday, 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.
Senior officers decided to submit the file despite not having all the results from analysis being carried out by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in Birmingham.
But a source close to the investigation said all results of substance had already been handed to Leicestershire Police and the Portuguese authorities.
"The bulk of the evidence has been sent on. In a case such as this the evidence is assessed, rather like a batting order, on what is most important," the source said.
"We have reached the tail end now. But all the evidence is constantly being reviewed."
Social services and police in Leicestershire held talks this afternoon 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 include putting them on the "in need register" to 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 today that "biological fluids" with an 80% match of 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% match possible, according to the Diario de Noticias newspaper.
Detectives put a similar allegation to Mrs McCann in interview on Thursday. 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.
Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa, spokesman for the investigation, refused to confirm or deny the reports.
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.
FSS test results received in recent weeks have apparently boosted this hypothesis. Mr McCann's alleged role is not clear, but sources said police believe he was an accessory to the killing.
Over four months after Madeleine went missing, Mr and Mrs McCann flew home from Portugal with Sean and Amelie yesterday.
A huge crowd of journalists gathered in Rothley to report on the family's return. Speaking in the village square, Mrs McCann's uncle, Brian Kennedy, told waiting media the couple had a decent night's sleep and were receiving many messages of support.
PA