Missing Madeleine McCann: Parents prepare for Morocco visit » Communities » 24dash.com

The parents of Madeleine McCann are spending today quietly in Portugal while they prepare for the final stage of a tour to raise awareness of their missing daughter.

After visits to Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands where they spoke to journalists about four-year-old Madeleine, Gerry and Kate McCann flew back to Portugal yesterday.

They attended a concert of ical and jazz music in Lagos last night which was held in honour of Madeleine, who has been missing for 36 days.

Before music began, the couple were presented with a picture painted by children from the local creche and a bunch of flowers.

Dr Joaquia Matos, Vice President of the local council, said the local community supported the couple in their search.

She said Madeleine's disappearance had raised the issue of child abduction across Portugal and added that she hoped Madeleine would soon be returned home, safe and well.

Mrs McCann, dressed casually in jeans and a grey hooded top, thanked the community for all their support.

She said: "We are going through the most difficult thing in our life that we ever thought we would have to go through.

"I just want to say thank you to the Algarve and everyone from the Algarve.

"It has been really important to get your support and it has been really helpful."

The couple are expected to spend today with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie as they prepare to travel to Morocco at the weekend.

The couple feel Morocco is an important place to go because of its proximity to Portugal.

Several ferries a day leave from Tarifa in Spain for the 35-minute crossing to Tangiers.

Yesterday it emerged that the McCanns' flight from Berlin to Amsterdam had been delayed after police received a mystery phone call from a man claiming to know Madeleine's whereabouts.

The "credible" call was taken from a man who wanted to speak directly to the McCanns, according to a Spanish police source.

It was traced to an unregistered pay-as-you-go phone from an unidentified country but not thought to be Morocco, where a previous possible sighting of Madeleine was reported.

The caller did not reveal his identity or nationality, but the information was considered important enough to alert Mr and Mrs McCann, the source said.

At around 3pm on Wednesday, the couple - who were about to go to Tempelhof airport in Berlin to fly on to the Netherlands - were advised that the caller might try to contact them, so they stayed on at the British embassy.

At 6pm, journalists travelling in the eight-seater private jet with the McCanns were told by the flight crew that there might be a change in destination.

They revealed they had been asked to draw up a new flight plan involving a possible change from Amsterdam to East Midlands Airport.

It was thought the McCanns might need to go back to the UK to talk to advisers about the call.

But all efforts to re-establish contact with the man failed and the couple left Berlin at 7.30pm.

A Spanish police source said: "A man called saying he knew where Madeleine was and wanted to speak to the McCanns.

"This did not appear to be a crank call and the information was felt credible enough to warrant the couple being informed immediately."

A British police source said: "The importance of this line of inquiry is still being assessed and attempts to re-establish contact are continuing."

Yesterday, the McCanns were in Amsterdam for the first time since 2004, when they lived in the city for a year.

Holding a poster of their daughter at a packed press conference, Mr McCann said: "It is particularly sad for Kate and I to come back for the first time and not to come back with Madeleine who spent a year here with us.

"It is very emotional, we have fond memories of our year in Amsterdam. We have a lot of good friends here who have been working behind the scenes to help us.

"We have come to the Netherlands with a very specific objective.

"After British and German tourists, the largest group of nationals who make up the tourists in the Algarve are the Dutch."

Mr McCann insisted there was a logic behind the trips they have made in the last week.

"We are not going to go to every country in Europe. We are not selling a book, we are not pop stars, we have come here for a very specific reason."

Mrs McCann said: "We are amateurs in this. There are very few people who will have to go through anything as painful as this."

Copyright Press Association 2007

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