McCanns' composure 'masked inner anguish'

Gerry and Kate McCann’s public composure in the immediate aftermath of their daughter’s disappearance masked their private turmoil, a witness said today.

Alex Woolfall, a public relations consultant who advised the couple, said they reacted exactly as he would expect after Madeleine vanished.

He said their behaviour convinced him of their innocence.

“They were behaving exactly as I thought someone in that situation would be,” he told The Times.

“They had not slept. They were trying to work out what to do that might help generate images of her. They were desperately keen to publicise her face.”

“I was struck at the perception of people who had watched Kate and Gerry: that they were very controlled and perhaps were not responding in a way people thought would be more natural.

“They were not at all controlled. When I was with them, they were between being completely distraught and trying to do what they felt was the right thing.”

Mr Woolfall is an expert in crisis PR for communications group Bell Pottinger and was employed by the Mark Warner holiday resort in Praia da Luz in Portugal’s Algarve from where Madeleine vanished on May 3.

He helped the McCanns select photographs of Madeleine to be given to the media and to prepare a short statement appealing for help in finding the missing three-year-old.

Portuguese police named the couple as suspects in Madeleine’s disappearance and leaks of apparent forensic evidence to local media led to speculation about their actions and behaviour.

But the couple have always protested their innocence and turmoil in the police investigation in the last week has further undermined any possible case against them.

The investigation’s former head, detective Goncalo Amaral, was taken off the case following his claims that Kate and Gerry McCann had been identifying lines of inquiry for Leicestershire officers.

The McCanns have repeatedly urged police to refocus their efforts on finding Madeleine.

Earlier this week Kate McCann thanked members of the public who sent the couple messages of support.

She said: “I’ve had days when, if I wasn’t crying about Madeleine, I was crying from the letters and messages people have sent to us. It has helped so much.”