The net is closing today on the person police believe abducted three-year-old Madeleine McCann from a Portuguese holiday apartment.
Madeleine's father last night made a fresh emotional plea for help in tracing his daughter. Following criticism of aspects of how the case had been handled he also expressed the family's thanks to the police for their efforts.
Appearing before a bank of cameras and a crowd of reporters Dr McCann stood arm in arm with his wife Kate who was again clutching a pink teddy bear as she was when the family were first seen in public following the disappearance which police are now treating as an abduction.
A colleague of Madeleine's mother Kate has offered a Stg£100,000 reward. Detectives in the Algarve said they were hunting a "suspect" after evidence appeared to rule out the possibility that Madeleine had gone missing by herself.
Moments before making his statement, Dr McCann appeared first alone before returning to the family's temporary holiday apartment and re-emerging arm in arm with his wife. He said: "First of all we would like to thank everyone here in Portugal, the UK and elsewhere for all your support during this extremely difficult time for our family.
"We are pleased that the family liaison officers from Leicestershire are now working closely with the Portuguese Police in keeping us informed.
"We have no further information regarding the investigation but appreciate the significant effort everyone is making on our behalf.
"We would again like to appeal for any information, however small, that may lead to the safe return of Madeleine.
"Finally we would like to thank the media for respecting our privacy especially that of Madeleine's little brother and sister."
While Portugal's Judicial Police refused to give precise details of who they were hunting, they revealed that they believed Madeleine was still alive.
Madeleine went missing from her family's rented holiday apartment in the Algarve village of Praia Da Luz on Thursday night while her parents, Gerry and Kate, were eating dinner less than a minute's walk away. The couple said they had been making regular trips back to the apartment from a tapas restaurant opposite to check on Madeleine and their twin son and daughter Sean and Amelie.
Hundreds of tourists, British expats and Portuguese residents joined a search for her. Guilhermino Encarnacao, director of the Judicial Police in the Faro region, said detectives believed she could still be in the country, even still in the Algarve.
Her parents, from Leicester, are being supported by a team of British police who flew in yesterday as people travelled from up to an hour away to join the search for Madeleine.
PA