Madeleine's father returns to Britain

The father of missing British girl Madeleine McCann has returned to the UK for the first time since the four-year-old was abducted earlier this month.

Gerry McCann is using the trip, expected to last just over 24 hours, to meet with organisers of the Find Madeleine fund and to deal with personal matters at home, before returning to Portugal to rejoin his wife Kate, and the couple's two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie.

Mr McCann is expected to return to Portugal on Tuesday morning.

The McCanns have pledged to stay in Portugal until their daughter is found.

Madeleine disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3.

Briton Robert Murat, 33, is the only formal suspect in the case, but Portuguese police have admitted that they do not have enough evidence to arrest him.

Mr Murat has denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

It has now emerged that Mr Murat had telephone contact with a Russian man, 22-year-old Sergey Malinka, who was interviewed as a witness in the case last week, on the night of Madeleine's disappearance.

Mr Malinka is reported to have told Portuguese police that he had not spoken to Mr Murat for over a year.

An unofficial one-minute silence was held in Portugal at mid-day on Monday for Madeleine. It was organised by an anonymous chain email circulated around the country.

The Find Madeleine website has now received nearly 100 million hits since it was set up last week.

Details of how to donate to the Find Madeleine fighting fund are available at: www.findmadeleine.com.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Crimestoppers on the international number: +44 1883 731 336.

(KMcA)