Madeleine McCann's parents have been informed by German prosecutors that she's dead.
The prosecutors penned a letter to Kate and Gerry McCann, but refused to disclose how they know, for fear that releasing any further information could jeopardise the inquiry.
Yesterday, Hans Christian Wolters - the German officer leading the case - said there was "concrete evidence" that the missing child was no longer alive, but explained that he couldn't share it with Portuguese police or Scotland Yard.
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"I sympathise with the parents but if we reveal more details to them it might jeopardise the investigation," he told the Mail.
"We have concrete evidence that our suspect has killed Madeleine and this means she is dead.
"The parents have been told the German police have evidence that she is dead but we have not told them the details".
The detective added that Kate and Gerry had not responded to the letter.
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The police are currently investigating sex criminal Christian B, who was in the Algarve in 2007, when three year old Maddie went missing.
"We of course really consider the fact that it is going to be very hard for the family when we tell them that we assume Madeleine is dead,' he added.
"But we can't say why she is dead - it is more important that we are successful and we are able to get the culprit as opposed to just putting our cards on the table and telling them why we think she might be."
German lawyer Rogerio Alves, who represents the parents in Portugal, has been pressurising the German investigators to divulge what they know, and urging all three forces to be more open for the sake of the family.
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The McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the family wouldn't divulge if they had yet received the force's letter.
This isn't the first time the German police have spoken on their theory that she's dead.
They first made the revelation at the beginning of June, as they started questioning 43 year old suspect Christian B in jail.
He is described as "a sexual offender that has been convicted several time also for sexual abuse against children," lived on and off in the Algarve, Portugal, between 1995 and 2007 and was reportedly in the area where Maddie was last seen 13 years ago, before her disappearance.
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Both UK and German forces, alongside the Portuguese police, are now asking for the public to help their investigation.
You can read more about what they're asking for here.
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