More than £1m spent on hunt for Madeleine

More than £1m (€1.23m) has been spent hunting for missing Madeleine McCann, her parents revealed today.

Kate and Gerry McCann said that in less than a year the Find Madeleine fund had paid £1m (€1.23m) to Spain’s Metodo 3 detective agency to search for her.

And the pair told the Daily Mirror they would spend whatever it takes to uncover the truth.

Mrs McCann, 40, told the newspaper: “We can’t set a limit. A child does not have a price. We will pay what we have to. It just takes one person to make the one phone call we so hope for. We know she was abducted and believe someone knows or suspects something.

“We want to find her alive. But if she is dead we want to know. There’s nothing in the police report that indicates anything bad has happened to her.”

The two doctors, from Rothley, Leicestershire, spoke of their bitterness at having ever been made suspects in the case.

Mrs McCann strongly condemned detective Goncalo Amaral, who led the hunt and later wrote a book on the case, labelling his behaviour “a disgrace”.

Mr McCann, 40, said: “We were investigated in the most intimate detail. ’How did you get rid of her? Who helped you? Where did you put her?’

“My plan was to stay quiet and not answer. But the first question was, ’Are you involved in the disappearance of your daughter?’ It was nonsense and I decided to respond.”

Mr McCann again expressed his anguish at leaving Madeleine alone with twins Sean and Amelie as they went for dinner in Portugal’s Praia da Luz resort.

But he said the couple were “not negligent” but “profoundly regret” what happened.

The pair said their three-year-old twins have been vital in helping them cope with their ordeal.

The youngsters still talk about when their sister Madeleine comes home.

And their parents say keeping the missing five-year-old’s memory alive for the twins is helping the couple through their torment.