Mrs McCann's tearful comments to Antenna 3 television
followed an interview by the national director of the
Polícia Judiciária to Madrid newspaper El Pais, that a
team of Portuguese investigators are to travel to
Britain to initiate further questioning of friends, who
were on holiday with Kate and Gerry and McCann in
Portugal in May.
The Spanish connection with this case was further
strengthened this week with news that Madeleine's
parents had employed a Spanish detective agency to
operate a 24-hour confidential telephone line aimed at
obtaining information on their daughter.
It was also reported that the services of this
detective agency had been on the Find Madeleine payroll
for some time now.
Separately, an interview aired on Spanish television
on Wednesday evening had to be interrupted momentarily
when Mrs McCann broke down in tears.
"I feel sad and I feel lonely, and our life is not as
happy without Madeleine. I feel anxious that she is not
with us", said Kate McCann before being overwhelmed by
emotion not seen in public since Madeleine went missing
almost six months ago.
While the McCanns remain official suspects in their
daughter's disappearance, they have strenuously denied
any involvement and this week denied they had ever given
their children sedatives.
A day before the interview on Spanish television,
Gerry McCann writing on his blog for the first time in
six days said: "We welcome the announcement from Mr
Ribeiro, the National director of the Judicial Police in
Portugal, that our friends who were on holiday with us
in Portugal are to be reinterviewed. We do not know how
many other ‘witnesses' will be interviewed but obviously
we want to be eliminated from the inquiry as soon as
possible. We constantly hope that one of the other lines
of investigation leads to Madeleine being found safe and
well".