MCCANNS FACING AGONISING WAIT

Reservoir search ends and results expected in the coming week...

- MARTIN FRICKER and TOM PETTIFOR

MADELEINE McCanns' parents face an agonising wait to discover if police found any crucial evidence during their search of a reservoir.

Scientists are due to carry out forensic and DNA testing on items discovered during their three-day operation, which ended yesterday.

They include rags, various pieces of clothing and soil samples from a wooded area on the banks of Barragem do Arade in southern Portugal.

Forensic tests are due to be carried out in Germany, with initial results expected early next week.

The operation concluded yesterday afternoon and the cordon lifted, giving the media their first look at the site.

Eight holes, roughly the size of dinner plates and up to 60cm deep, had been dug in a cleared 3m x 5m section of woodland. Various abandoned items, including a surfboard, broken chair, old sofa and a buoy, littered the site.

Locals said the area is regularly used by travellers and campers as a picnic area or to sleep overnight. Scotland Yard officers have been in Portugal on a "watching brief" to keep Kate and Gerry McCann in the loop.

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: "We'll see how successful we were after the search is complete.