by Alan Weston
Jun 1 2007
KATE and Gerry McCann embarked on their second European trip in as many days last night to spread the word about their
missing daughter.
It has been exactly four weeks since four-year-old Madeleine was taken from her bed as she slept only yards from where
her parents were enjoying dinner in the Algarve town of Praia da Luz.
Intensive searches and a highly scrutinised police investigation have so failed to bring any answers about their eldest
child’s whereabouts.
The couple travelled to Lisbon to fly on to Madrid, where they will carry out a series of meetings and interviews.
Liverpool-born Mrs McCann was casually dressed in jeans and a striped beige top, with the green and yellow ribbons she
habitually wears as a reminder of Madeleine tied to her belt.
She and her husband were driven to the airport at Lisbon in a silver Mercedes estate car.
During the 24-hour visit, the pair are expected to meet the British ambassador, Denise Holt, before taking part in a
television show dedicated to missing children.
Spain has been preoccupied by its own case of child abduction, seven-year-old Yeremi Vargas who disappeared in the Canary
Islands two months ago.
He was playing outside his home on the island of Gran Canaria on March 10 when he vanished.
In echoes of Madeleine's case, thousands took part in the search and posters were put up nationwide.
The McCanns want to raise the issue of child abduction generally as well as appeal for information about their daughter.
They hope to meet Alfredo Rubalcaba, Spain's interior minister, as well as representatives from child welfare groups
and anti-paedophile organisations.
The couple have decided to leave two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie in the Algarve in the care of Mr McCann's sister
Trish Cameron and her husband Sandy.
A family spokesman said Mr and Mrs McCann thought the children would be better off in a stable routine rather than flying
around Europe.
"Sean and Amelie are very well cared for on the ground by family members, and Gerry and Kate before each visit very carefully
weigh up whether the children should come with them or whether it would be in their best interests if they stayed with the
family.
"Any suggestion that they are somehow being left behind is completely untrue. The twins love being with Trish and Sandy,
they are like second parents to them."
The spokesman said if the McCanns went on a longer trip, they would probably take them too.
The couple are planning visits to Berlin, Amsterdam and Morocco over the next week.
The cost of the travelling will be paid for by the Find Madeleine fund which has raised £374,000.
Earlier in the week the McCanns went to Rome for an emotional meeting with the Pope, who blessed a photograph of Madeleine
and prayed for the family.
As the investigation continues, police in Portugal said they were trawling through hoards of emails and messages from
clairvoyants who said they knew Madeleine’s whereabouts.
The Policia Judiciara (PJ) said they had two dossiers, 8cm thick, of apparent visions and sightings of the little girl.
They are trying to find out if one of the messages could be from the kidnapper.
PJ spokesman Olegario Sousa said each clairvoyant claim was being taken seriously.
Asked if he thought they could be from Madeleine's abductor, he said: "That is why we cannot discard anything.
"We must check them all in case it might be from the kidnapper."
Mr Sousa said he did not believe they had heard from Madeleine's abductor: "If it was a message from the kidnapper, it
will offer enough clues to help us to go to the right place."
The police spokesman said it was not unusual to investigate the claims of clairvoyants but added it was only one line
of investigation.
"In this case the amount of information we have received is huge," he said. "Any information that comes to us, if there
is enough to follow, we will check."
He said the visions – which are sent through every day – came from a mix of Portuguese and British sources.
Psychics have also contacted several news organisations in the UK about Madeleine.
