 THE distraught parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann yesterday pleaded for the British Government to intervene in the search for their daughter. Liverpool-born GP Kate McCann and her husband, Gerry, asked the Foreign Office to step in after Portuguese police said for the first time they cannot be sure the three-year-old is alive. The blow comes amid reports that British authorities have sent all information about paedophiles with links to Portugal, to police in the Algarve where Madeleine was snatched five days ago. Little information about the investigation has been made public, prompting criticism officers are not doing enough to find the child whose parents this week took it upon themselves to issue a description of the pyjamas she was wearing. Last night, the British Foreign Office said it was ready to put its full weight behind the investigation, but said its hands were tied unless the Portuguese authorities requested direct assistance. Close friends of Mrs McCann, who grew up in Allerton and attended the Notre Dame High School, in Everton, have flown out to be with the family in Portugal where they were last night understood to be lobbying the British authorities. At home, Wirral TV businesswoman and broadcaster Esther McVey, who became friends with Mrs McCann while they were studying A-levels together in 1986 at the then North East Technical College in West Derby, also called for action. She launched an on-line petition to call for greater transparency in the investigation, and pushed for a dual investigation between the British and the Portuguese authorities. Friends who are in constant contact with the McCanns said the petition was in line with the couple’s wishes. “This case has touched everybody’s heart in every way imaginable. It is not just those of us who know the family who have been affected by this,” said Miss McVey. On Saturday, Portugal judicial police said they believed that Madeleine was still alive but, yesterday, Chief Inspector Sousa admitted: “We have no facts to sustain that the child is alive or not. “We are searching for the child until the moment she appears. We can say nothing more because we are not magicians.” The toddler disappeared on Thursday night while she was left with her brother and sister, two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, in a holiday apartment in the luxury resort of Praia da Luz. Her parents, who live in Leicestershire, had been dining in a nearby restaurant and were checking on them regularly. Madeleine was wearing white pyjama bottoms with a small floral design and a short-sleeved pink top with a picture of the character Eeyore, from AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books, on it when she vanished. A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said staff were in constant contact with the McCanns and would offer whatever support and expertise they could – but the Portuguese authorities had to ask for it. He added: “We have three family liaison officers from Leicestershire Constabulary with the family but they are there purely in a supportive role, it is the Portuguese who continue to lead the investigation. “We have no business interfering with that unless we are asked for help or assistance. We have made a forensic and a behavioural expert available to the Portuguese authorities to ensure they have no gaps in their expertise.” Among those assisting police in Portugal is the retired senior Merseyside police officer who led the James Bulger murder inquiry. Albert Kirby, the former commander of the Liverpool serious crimes squad, has flown to the Algarve in the hope that his experience could come in useful. * FOOTBALL superstar Cristiano Ronaldo last night made his own personal appeal for help in tracing Madeleine. The Portuguese Manchester United player made the appeal in English and Portuguese on Sky News and said: “I was very upset to hear of the abduction of Madeleine McCann and I appeal to anyone with information to come forward, please come forward.” * THE petition is now up and running on-line at www.winningwomen.co.uk/
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