What I find slightly strange is how 'the McCanns are neither persons of interest or suspects' ......because SY have clear evidence that it was someone other than them what dunnit, (superceding the previous "While one or both of them may be innocent, there is no clear evidence that eliminates them from involvement in Madeleine's disappearance." statement) this clear evidence for SY leads to a beggar a burglar & a bus driver, it would appear.
Whilst for the PJ, the clear evidence, which proves it was someone other than Kate & Gerry wot dunnit, leads to a dead black guy.
Whatever this clear evidence is then, it ain't really that clear is it.
Nope, in reality there is no clear evidence that eliminates them from involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
To place that in context, at the time of the "no clear evidence" statement, the McCanns were still arguidos and I doubt that the UK police could have handed over information that the PT authorities wouldn't have done. There may not be irrefutable material evidence to eliminate them, but there is certainly no "clear evidence" to indicate that they were involved in any way.
Since then, the UK police have conducted a forensic timeline, which would presumably have raised a red flag if there was one, and personally I find it unimaginable that they didn't analyse the group and reinterview everyone associated with them as necessary to cross-check and eliminate any other potential red flags before casting the net wider.
In the Jo Yeates case, forum "sleuths" were dividing themselves into the "landlord" and the "boyfriend" whatdunnit camps. The boyfriend would have been the first to be eliminated, but that camp was disappointed when the police said that he wasn't a suspect and even refused to believe it. The landlord came under intense police scrutiny as he didn't have an alibi that could be corroborated, he had a key and Tabak contacted the police with false information about him.
Despite the police suspicions about the landlord at the time, they did eventually zoom in on Tabak.
ETA: A certain well-known anti-Mccann forum had opened a sub-forum on the Jo Yeates case at the time. Posters urging caution about vilifying anyone / supporting the lack of evidence against anyone in particular were banned and the anti-whoever brigade were invited to contribute to their McCann forum.
