McCanns travel back to Portugal

Kate and Gerry McCann were greeted by young well-wishers

The parents of Madeleine McCann have returned to Portugal from Morocco after a series of foreign appeals for help in tracing their four-year-old daughter.

The couple said they were feeling positive after the trip. "We really felt that if she is in Morocco, they will find her," said Gerry McCann.

He and his wife, Kate, have now been reunited with their two-year-old twins and plan to reflect on the campaign.

Madeleine is thought to have been taken from their holiday apartment on 3 May.

The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, arrived in Casablanca on 10 June, and went on to visit the capital, Rabat, where they were greeted by dozens of youngsters holding posters of their daughter.

'Behind the scenes'

"The Moroccans are incredibly family-orientated and they told us they were treating Madeleine's disappearance as they would a Moroccan child," Mr McCann said.

It is understood the McCanns will stay in Portugal at least until the end of the summer, but Mr McCann has suggested he might travel to the UK soon to help appoint a campaign manager to keep the hunt for four-year-old Madeleine going.

The family's Foreign Office liaison officer left Portugal on Tuesday and it is expected to take at least a week for someone to be appointed.

"It will be a busy time for us behind the scenes," said Mr McCann.

The McCanns have travelled across Europe looking for their daughter who disappeared from their apartment in the Algarve holiday resort of Praia da Luz while they were eating at a nearby restaurant.