Portuguese police were forced to make an embarrassing U-turn after the parents of missing Madeleine McCann held discussions with Brtain's prime minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown, it has emerged.

A friend of Madeleine McCann’s parents may have seen her being carried away from her holiday apartment the night she vanished, police said.

A friend of Madeleine McCann’s parents may have seen her being carried away from her holiday apartment the night she vanished, it was revealed tonight.

As the search for missing Madeleine McCann entered its sixth day today, efforts to home in on her abductor stepped up a gear.

Portuguese police and crime investigators believe a three-year-old British girl who went missing from a luxury resort in southern Portugal may have been abducted, officials said tonight.