McCann appeal returns to Portugal

Madeleine McCann's parents are to launch a high-intensity new appeal for information tightly focused on the area where she went missing.

Over the next two weeks 10,000 leaflets in Portuguese will be handed out and posted in letterboxes in Praia da Luz, Lagos and Burgau in southern Portugal.

The campaign will also advertise on billboards, three buses and a van.

Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, vanished from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, on 3 May 2007.

Vital clue

Despite an international publicity campaign and massive police search, she has never been found.

Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said the hope was to find the vital clue that could lead to Madeleine, who was nearly four when she went missing, being found.

Experience shows that people almost always confide in someone else Find Madeleine Fund

The official Find Madeleine Fund said in a statement: "At the time of Madeleine's disappearance the emphasis was placed more on international appeals, and it has been recognised that the local Portuguese residents of Praia da Luz and the surrounding areas have never been properly asked about information they may have to give.

"Someone in the area could almost certainly have the vital information that could help Madeleine's return to her family, or a combination of people all coming forward with a single piece of information could piece together vital clues which could solve the disappearance.

"Experience also shows that people almost always confide in someone else."

Information can be provided to the McCanns' private investigation team anonymously by telephone, email, text message or free post, and will be treated in confidence.