Portuguese Police Unsure Madeleine Mccann is Alive

The Portuguese policeman leading the hunt for the missing British three-year-old Madeleine McCann said yesterday he could not be sure she was still alive.

Asked at a press conference whether he believed she was alive, Chief Inspector Oligeario Sousa said: "I don't know, I don't know, I can't say with confidence. I haven't [even] enough evidence to say she is still in the region.

"It is very difficult to give you an answer. Until she appears, we cannot say. We are not magicians, but we are making our best efforts to find the child."

Little information about the investigation has been made public, prompting criticism that the police are not doing enough to find the missing three-year-old.

Asked whether the family was being kept informed of developments, he said: "I am a father, too. I can imagine what they are experiencing. Because of Portuguese law, even the family must be far from the investigation."

Judicial police said on Saturday, however, that they believed Madeleine was still alive, and Ch Insp Sousa said yesterday: "I want to assure the family and all the people involved that the professionals are doing the best they can."

Madeleine's mother yesterday made a direct appeal to the person presumed to have snatched her daughter while the family was on holiday in Portugal.

Kate McCann begged the abductor: "Please, please do not hurt her. Please don't scare her. Please let us know where to find Madeleine, or put her in a place of safety and tell somebody where."

The family is understood to be growing impatient with the response of police in the Algarve to the disappearance of the three-year-old from her bed on Thursday evening.

At a press conference last night, Ch Insp Sousa responded to criticism of the investigation by stating "all appropriate measures" had been taken. He also said it had yet to be established with 100% certainty that an abduction had taken place.

The direct appeal was the idea of Mrs McCann and her husband, Gerry, rather than of the Portuguese police. The couple also released a description of the pyjamas Madeleine had been wearing when she was taken as her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar. In contrast to normal British police procedure, Portuguese officers did not issue a description of Madeleine's clothing.

Speaking in an apartment a few doors from where the family had been staying, Mrs McCann, a GP, said: "We would like to say a few words to the person who is with our Madeleine or has been with Madeleine.

"Madeleine is a beautiful, bright, funny and caring little girl. She is so special. We beg you to let Madeleine come home.

"We need our Madeleine. Sean and Amelie [the girl's two-year-old twin brother and sister] need Madeleine, and she needs us. Please give us our little girl back."

Mrs McCann, 39, spoke while clutching the cuddly toy left in Madeleine's bed after she was taken. She repeated her final plea in Portuguese: "Por favor, devolva a nossa menina." Mr McCann, 38, a cardiac surgeon, leaned his head into his wife's neck, tears in his eyes.

After the conference, Alex Woolfall, a spokesman for the Mark Warner complex in the seaside village of Praia da Luz, from which the girl was snatched, confirmed that the idea to make the direct plea had come from the McCanns, though they had informed the police they were doing it. He said: "They wanted to make a very direct appeal. Every day they are trying to do whatever they can."

The family, from Rothley, in Leicestershire, said the pyjamas had white bottoms with a floral design, and a pink, short-sleeved top with a picture of the Winnie the Pooh character Eeyore. They were bought from M&S last year.

The search continued yesterday with patrols of a marina at the nearby town of Lagos. Volunteers took part in searches on foot of the scrubby countryside a few miles inland from the resort.

Ch Insp Sousa said the police were in "close, permanent cooperation and contact with the authorities of a number of European countries, notably through Interpol and Europol".

Mr Sousa, who has been brought down to the Algarve from Portugal's equivalent of the national crime squad in Lisbon, told the press conference that under Portuguese law it was not possible to release details of a current investigation.

He declined to say whether known paedophiles in the area had been questioned, or to release a sketch of a possible suspect. Asked whether he was sure the police had done everything they could in the vital hours after the girl disappeared, he said: "I think so ... I want to assure the family the professionals are doing the best they can."

Expat and local volunteers continued to help with the search. Around 20 people searched forests and rough ground around Espiche, just north of Praia da Luz. Dave Felton, a Manchester man who lives in the village, said: "People are still hoping that we don't actually find her, and she is safe and sound somewhere."

There has been speculation in the Portuguese media that police suspect a Briton, or Britons, may be behind the abduction. The broadcaster RTP interviewed Barra da Costa, a former inspector in the judicial police, who said the force believed her presumed abductor may be from the UK.

He said investigators had told him a working description of the suspect suggested someone of British appearance.

Experts have put together an artist's impression of a "suspect", but have not publicly revealed details. The impression is thought to show only the back of a man's head and his hair.

It was also reported yesterday that police are investigating a claim a man was seen dragging a young girl towards a marina in Lagos.