£2.5m in rewards offered for Madeleine as her tortured parents mark her birthday

12 April 2012

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann marked their daughter's fourth birthday today with a simple plea: "Please keep looking, please keep praying."

Their plea comes as a reward of £1.5 million was today offered by a group of business figures, celebrities and a national newspaper for information leading Madeleine's safe return.

Entrepreneurs including Sir Richard Branson and Sir Philip Green are among those who have joined together to offer the huge sum on the toddler's fourth birthday.

And they are just a few of the powerful who are pleading for Madeleine's safety: Gordon Brown today added his voice to those of footballers David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo in support of the McCanns and hopes for Madeleine's return.

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'Please keep looking', is the desperate appeal from Kate and Gerry McCann as their missing daughter Madeleine turns four today

The reward offered today brings the total amount of money now being offered in the search to more than £2.5 million after another businessman offered £1 million earlier this week.

The new reward, which has been endorsed by the Portuguese police, was welcomed by Madeleine's father Gerry McCann.

He said: "We are very happy and pleased with what you are doing.

"Anything that can be done to publicise that Madeleine is missing and help with the search is very welcome."

The News of the World, which announced the reward and itself pledged £250,000 to the fund, said it was the biggest reward ever offered in a newspaper.

Retail billionaire Sir Philip Green, who owns high street shops including BHS, said: "My wife Tina and I have children, and anything we can do to help to bring this beautiful little girl back we will of course do without hesitation.

"We are praying for Madeleine's safe return and can't imagine what Kate and Gerry are going through at the moment."

Mr Brown said: "Every parent I know will be thinking about Maddie's family. Every parent will be thinking about what they can do to help the parents and will be sympathising with them in this hour of need.

"My thoughts, like the thoughts of all parents, are with Maddie's parents."

Gerry and Kate McCann urged people to mark their daughter's birthday by redoubling their efforts to find Madeleine who was snatched from her bed nine days ago.

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Yellow ribbons and stuffed toys - including toys owned by other children who wanted to give them to Madeleine, and a giant stuffed bunny donated by a woman from 15 miles away - decorate a war memorial in Madeleine's hometown of Rothley on her birthday

The couple said that offers of support which had been pouring in on a daily basis were keeping them strong and giving them hope.

Marking Madeleine's birthday today in private they issued a statement which was read out by Alex Woolfall on behalf of Mark Warner Holidays which operates the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz.

Their message said simply: "Today is our daughter Madeleine's fourth birthday. We would like to mark today by asking people to redouble their efforts to help find Madeleine.

"We know that there is already a huge amount of effort and resource being put into the search for our daughter.

"We also know that offers of support are being made daily.

"It is this that keeps us strong and gives us hope.

"On Madeleine's birthday, please keep looking, please keep praying, please help bring Madeleine home."

While there is an official news blackout on the investigation because of Portuguese law it is clear that there has been intense police activity in recent days.

Senior detectives have been working late into the night at the area's police headquarters in the town of Portimao. Some have even been sleeping at the office.

Nine people, all thought to be British, have been questioned, including the McCanns, who were re-interviewed late in to Thursday night and the early hours of Friday morning.

Sniffer dogs have been back in action around the apartment where Madeleine was snatched and according to local Portuguese reports may have picked up a scent from the McCann's apartment as far as another flat in the complex.

Among things the McCanns and others are likely to have been shown is a series of CCTV images which centre upon a blonde woman.

Following reports of sightings of a blonde woman and two men linked to suspicious incidents reported to police, shopkeepers in the nearby village of Burgau confirmed today that officers had been round on a number of occasions.

One man said that he had been shown a CCTV printout of three people including a man aged about 40 with dark hair down to his shoulders, a blonde woman of about 40 with her hair in a ponytail and an older woman, perhaps in her 60s, with collar-length hair.

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The McCanns clutch at flowers and their daughter's toys at last night's vigil. Those at the vigil broke in to spontaneous applause for them, but the strain is visibly wearing on them both

And he said that the three were clearly not Portuguese and in his opinion looked "English".

But a woman in the village was shown CCTV pictures of what was clearly a separate group in that it was made up of two men and one woman.

However she said that the woman was blonde and described the others as a man in his early to mid 30s and another man in his 40s with quite short hair.

She also confirmed reports that police had been making inquiries about a couple - again including a blonde woman - who had been staying in an apartment above the village.

She said that the man she was asked about had distinctive hair and seemingly shaved at the back but with longer hair above tied up behind.

Meanwhile Madeleine's family in Scotland have postponed a birthday party for the little girl until she comes home.

Her uncle, John McCann, 48, said they were now hoping to have an even bigger party for her when she is found.

He said: "There was no point in having a birthday party without Madeleine, but the party has only been postponed, not cancelled.

"We are going to have it when she comes back and then it will be a massive party."

Family members in Scotland have been constantly appealing for anyone with any information on the youngster's whereabouts to come forward.

Today leaflets with Madeleine's photo on them were given out to the crowd at the Celtic v Aberdeen football match in Glasgow.

Mr McCann explained they were hoping to jog the memory of any football fans who may have visited Portugal recently, or would encourage those heading out there soon to look out for her.

Mr McCann also said they have had approximately 200 T shirts made up with his niece's picture on them, that women taking part in the Asset Management Women's 10K race in Glasgow tomorrow would wear.

He also urged the thousands of women taking part in the run to tie a yellow ribbon round their wrist.

He said: "We're doing everything we can to help find Madeleine.

"We are hoping whoever has done this will see we are serious about finding her.

"We have our moments of anguish and despair, but most to the time we are cheerful because there is so much going on and we know all it takes is for one person to come forward with the right information."

Madeleine's aunt Philomena McCann also called for more international co-operation in their efforts to find her niece.

She said: "We're in the European Union and you have all these countries with no borders, we need more pooled resources.

"Once all this is over I am going to be writing a lot of letters and campaigning on this because the issue for me in the longer term is that we have to be more united and we need more links across police forces and across governments."

A birthday vigil in Portugal is planned for tonight, while expatriates in Spain have launched a poster campaign searching for the missing four-year-old.

Other posters have been translated into Arabic amidst fears that Madeleine may have been taken into North Africa through Spain.

Last night the McCanns, showing the strain of more than a week of turmoil, were honoured with spontaneous applause by villagers after a packed late night vigil in the village church at the resort of Praia da Luz on the Algarve.

Some 300 villagers attended the vigil. The McCanns wore green - a Portuguese colour of hope.

The couple were having dinner in a restaurant a stone's throw from the apartment they had been staying in when they returned to find their daughter was missing on May 3.

Her younger twin siblings Sean and Amelie were also sleeping in the apartment but were unharmed.

The internet is at the forefront of the search for Madeleine: posters and emails with her photographs have been circulating on the world wide web for days.

The social networking site Facebook has seen at least 31 groups created with the purpose of finding her. That means a total of nearly 23,000 people on Facebook alone who have joined in the search for Madeleine.

Her photograph is also circulating through MySpace.

• Messages for the McCanns can be sent to mccannfamily@markwarner.co.uk

• The Crimestoppers number for those calling from Portugal is 0044 1883 731 336 or information can be passed direct to the Portuguese police on 00 351 282 405 400.

• The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and Virtual Global Taskforce appeal is at www.ceop.gov.uk and www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com.

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