Post date: Oct 13, 2013 3:43:39 PM
Britain's Metropolitan police launch a new appeal on the BBC's Crimewatch programme as they investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who went missing six years ago in Portugal.
UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (CRIMEWATCH BBC ONE) - Special family occasions are when the reality of a daughter missing for six years hits home, Gerry and Kate McCann said in clips released by the BBC's Crimewatch programme, which is set to feature a new appeal by Britain's Metropolitan Police investigating Madeleine McCann's disappearance in Portugal.
The programme will be shown in the United Kingdom on Monday (October 14) but British media have reported that police will release their first e-fit image of a man who is a new suspect in the long-running probe.
Three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished from a Portuguese holiday resort in 2007.
"When it's a special occasion, when you should be your happiest and Madeleine's not there, that's when it really hits home," Gerry McCann said. "Obviously,Madeleine's birthday goes without saying."
"Certainly when it's the big family occasions really, that's basically it isn't it? Family occasion and you haven't got your complete family," Kate McCann added.
Earlier this month British police said they were looking at new mobile phone data to advance their investigation. They are pouring over thousands of phone records from the Portuguese resort town of Praia da Luz.
London police said they had made 31 requests in various countries for information concerning telephones used then. There are 41 potential suspects, described as 'persons of interest', and 15 are British nationals.
"Primarily what we sought to do from the beginning is try and draw everything back to zero if you like. Try and sort of take everything back to the beginning and then re-analyse and reassess everything. Accepting nothing," Detective chief inspectorAndy Redwood said, in further clips released ahead of the Crimewatch programme.
"The careful and critical analysis of the timeline has been absolutely key. Primary we are focused on the area between 8.30 and 10. We know 8.30, that was the time that Mr and Mrs McCann went down to the tapas area for their dinner and we know that around 10, that was when Mrs McCann found that Madeleine was missing," he added.
Crimewatch will also air a reconstruction during Monday's programme. Clips released show two people playing tennis with a small child running across the court.
Madeleine McCann was three years old when she went missing from her room at the Algarve resort in May 2007 while her parents were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant, leading to a global search.
Detectives are believed to be planning a series of appeals in various countries.