Madeleine McCann

Parents 'can't consider' UK return

The family of Madeleine McCann have said they "can't even consider" leaving Portugal as they lead an international effort to recover their abducted daughter.
Eleven days after their child was snatched from her bed in an apartment complex in the village of Praia da Luz, Gerry and Kate McCann said they continued to believe that the four-year-old is "safe and being looked after".
The couple are co-ordinating a new drive, backed by a growing fighting fund, from an apartment in the complex on the Algarve, metres away from where the abduction happened.
Speaking about their plans for the first time, the couple thanked friends, family and members of the public for their efforts to get their daughter - who turned four on Saturday - back. "As far as we are concerned, until there is concrete evidence to the contrary, we believe that Madeleine is safe and being looked after and that's how we can continue in our efforts," Mr McCann said.
Indicating plans to stay in Portugal for the foreseeable future, Mrs McCann said: "I can't even consider going home at the moment, absolutely can't even let it enter my head."
The couple have hired lawyers with expertise in child abduction to help them assess options to take the hunt further.
Looking more relaxed than in recent days, they also thanked the media and those promoting the campaign at home and abroad for giving the case international exposure. "We have taken tremendous strength from the warmth and the spiritual outpouring that we have received here and from all around the world," Mr McCann said. "That has given us great encouragement and hope that we will bring back Madeleine safely."
He said there had been "multiple offers" of help, including many financial pledges for their efforts. He said the couple welcomed the offers but they had created a problem in knowing where best to channel the resources.
Behind closed doors, the police have formally interviewed around 100 people but spoken to hundreds more informally. They appear to have ruled out lines of inquiry focusing on various CCTV images featuring a blonde woman and a couple staying in the next village.
Police are now looking at two or three main theories but have not spoken publicly about what they are.