IN-DEPTH NEWS

Club joins appeals for Madeleine McCann

By Lyndon Lloyd : 11 May 2007

Madeleine McCann: Search continues for the 3 year-old from Leicestershire, pictured here in her Everton home shirt
Representatives of Everton Football Club have joined the appeals for the safe return of three year-old Madeleine McCann, who was abducted from a Portuguese holiday resort eight days ago.

Club captain, Phil Neville, manager David Moyes and Portuguese internationals, Nuno Valente and Manuel Fernandes have all made public appeals for information on the whereabouts of the Leicestershire girl, a picture of whom in her Everton home shirt was released to the media today.

While the ground search for Madeleine in the immediate vacinity of Praia da Luz, aided by a volunteer team of searches made up mostly of ex-pat Britons, has officially been called off, there have been reports of possible leads in the investigation which has now moved international amid suspsicions her adbductor(s) took her over the border to Spain.

Despite intense media scrutiny, Portuguese police have refused to give details of any of the leads on which they are believed to be following up. Meanwhile, her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, have refused to give up hope of finding Madeleine alive.

David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo have used their high profile on the Iberian peninsula to make televised appeals of their own, while a £1m reward has been put up by Monaco-based tycoon Stephen Winyard, 57, who owns Stobo Castle in the Scottish Borders

The thoughts of all of us at ToffeeWeb are with the McCann family.

An online appeal to help find Madeleine has also been set up. The appeal by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and the Virtual Global Taskforce is available in English, Portuguese and Spanish on www.ceop.gov.uk.

The international number for Crimestoppers is +44 1883 731 336. People with information about Madeleine can call anonymously.

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