McCann 'extortion' pair in court

Four-year-old Madeleine McCann has been missing since 3 May

Legal proceedings have begun in Spain involving a couple accused of trying to extort money from the parents of missing Madeleine McCann.

Magistrates authorised that the Italian man, who is wanted in France on an international arrest warrant, will face the National Court in Madrid.

The Portuguese woman is expected to make a plea before magistrates in San Roque, southern Spain, on Monday.

The couple are not being linked with the abduction of the four-year-old.

It is alleged they tried to claim more than £2.5m in reward money by offering bogus information to Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire.

On Friday a judge in Torremolinos imposed a secrecy order meaning the police can make no further comment on the investigation.

The couple were arrested at Sotogrande, near Algeciras, Spain.

Madeleine disappeared from an Algarve holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May.

Mr and Mrs McCann, who have stayed in Portugal since Madeleine disappeared, are making no comment on the court case.

The McCanns think Spain is one of the places she might have been taken because of its proximity to Portugal, and went to the country last month to ask for assistance in the hunt for Madeleine.