MADELEINE APPEAL

Portuguese police are stepping up their efforts to find Madeleine McCann, who has been missing for seven days from a holiday apartment in the Algarve.

Officers said they had quizzed 100 people and searched 500 apartments.

British ambassador to Portugal, John Buck, said police were doing everything they could to find the girl, following some criticism of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Crimestoppers, which has set up a hotline, says it has been given four "useful" pieces of intelligence. They have been passed onto Leicester police, the lead force in the UK.

Madeleine's family have created a poster appealing for people with information to call Crimestoppers

Download the poster [400 KB]

Officers have not released any photofit or artist's impression of the suspected abductor.
But they have, apparently, shown a sketch like this to residents in Praia da Luz.

This is a reproduction of the e-fit of Madeleine's suspected abductor as drawn from memory by one witness who has seen the original

While I think the Portugese police should not be hindered in their investigations, I think it is totally ridiculous to issue a photo fit picture like that above. I could be flippant and suggest that a person with features like that should not be too hard to spot. The police say they won't release an image of the man in case he takes fright and flees the country - in all probability he is no longer in the country and so, in my opinion, a proper description/photo fit should be released in countries where he may take refuge. Whatever happened to 'wanted posters' being placed in public places such as airports and train stations so that people could possibly identify criminals? Oh sorry I forgot - that's a breach of the criminal's civil/human rights - never mind how much they breach our civil/human rights.