Sick Tory dressed up as Missing Madeleine McCann...

Matthew Lewis, seen here posing with David Cameron, was chair of a Conservative Party activists organisation.

He told friends on the Facebook website he would be dressing up for a fancy dress party as missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann and that his costume would include:

pink pyjamas, a teddy bear and a vial of fake blood.

Amazingly, none of his fellow Conservative activists stopped his nonsense and he went ahead with his plan.

After the party, he told another Conservative activist on Facebook that:

there was a brief moment when I thought I might have gone too far with elements of the costume but it was OK.

.Sick or what?

If you see a man with two legs and two arms, call the police.

Almost six months after their daughter tragically disappeared, Gerry and Kate McCann have released a sketch of the man that they believe abducted their daughter.

Recalling the pasting I was subjected to when I expressed sympathy with the McCanns a couple of months ago, (I was reported to the police and social services for refusing to condemn them for leaving Madeleine in their holiday apartment while they went for a meal) I thought carefully before commenting again...

No doubt Gerry and Kate are under huge emotional pressure - specially having to deal with being officially named as suspects in their daughter's disappearance by Portuguese Police.

But the heart-wrenching Madeleine McCann story has become more bizarre by the day, and I can't resist commenting on the latest twist...

I can't begin to imagine why it has taken six months for this artist's impression of the abductor to be released.

The image shows a man of European or Mediterranean appearance walking away with a child in his arms. His face is blank.

Sky News reports that the sketch was drawn by an FBI-trained forensic artist who took all the information from Jane Tanner, an eyewitness who was with the group of friends who dined with Madeleine’s parents on the evening that she went missing.

So there we have it.

If you see a man of European or Med appearance with two arms, two legs and a blank look...don't call me.

Madeleine's parents refuse to be hounded out of Portugal...

The nasty smear campaign against the parents of missing Madeleine McCann intensified yesterday. Friday's Daily Mail has the latest.

Portuguese papers claim missing Madeleine died in the apartment...

Another sinister turn in the hunt for Madeleine McCann: Unconfirmed reports in the Portuguese media that police believe she died in her bedroom and that she was not kidnapped.

The news reports prompted her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, to give a fresh round of TV interviews today. They are convinced that their little girl is alive and say Portuguese Police have assured them in recent days that they are still hunting for a little girl - not a body.

Meanwhile, more disturbing news on reports that blood traces have been found (as I posted HERE last night).

BBC TV reported tonight that Portuguese Police have confirmed blood particles have been found in the past week by British detectives examining the apartment where Madeleine was last seen alive almost 100 days ago. The blood is now being analysed to see if it could have come from Madeleine.

But the discovery of blood in the apartment has changed the mood of the media coverage in Portugal. Newspapers there are now claiming that senior police sources have revealed they have definitively abandoned the theory that she was abducted and are convinced she died as a result of negligence or murder.

According to British press reports, Portuguese Police have confirmed that Madeleine's parents are not suspects.

Officers from the Policia Judiciaria are to interview the McCanns again - as well as six friends.

Three months on, the nightmare continues...

UPDATE: The Daily Telegraph website has an update.

UPDATE 2: Leicester Mercury

Missing Madeleine: grim find in holiday flat...?

I hope reports that traces of Madeleine McCann's blood have been discovered at the holiday flat where she was last seen prove to be untrue.

Portuguese Police have not confirmed reports carried in the tonight's London Standard. The reports were first made this morning in a Portuguese newspaper today.

The Standard also reports:

in recent weeks, some elements of the Portugese media have been conducting what appears to be a smear campaign against the McCanns, in an apparent attempt to distract attention from the police's failure to crack the case.

What a truly awful nightmare.

Missing Madeleine Day 90: 'Cracker' called in...

A team of 'Cracker-style' British psychologists has flown out to Portugal to assist in the hunt for Leicestershire girl Madeleine McCann who has now been missing for 90 days.

The Daily Express says the team includes senior police officers and criminologists specially trained in tackling child sex abuse and abduction cases.

As part of a full review of the case, the fresh team will fine-toothcomb every interview, contact and clue carried out over the past 90 days to build a psychological profile of the kidnapper which could provide the vital clue to help track him down.

The Express says all leave has been cancelled for Portuguese detectives and that every British Police Force has so far played their part in the search.

My last post on Missing Madeleine was HERE when the Leicester Mercury shut down a a nasty web campaign against parents Gerry and Kate McCann.

Missing Madeleine's father gives a fuller response to neglect campaign...

Gerry McCann, father of missing Madeleine has posted a fuller response to Monday's Daily Mail story highlighting the campaign to have him and his wife prosecuted for neglect.

On the Find Madeleine website, Gerry McCann writes:

There is a very upsetting story on the front page of a British National Newspaper today. The headline suggests that Kate and I face prosecution for neglecting our children by dining 50 yards away and checking on them regularly.

We know that there has been criticism in some quarters of our actions but at the time, we felt our actions were responsible. We were essentially performing our own baby listening service although we have talked of the guilt we felt at now being there at the moment Madeleine was taken.

We have been advised that legally our behaviour was well within the bounds of responsible parenting and subsequently been assured that no action will be taken. These types of criticism, particularly at this stage, as well as being hurtful are extremely unhelpful in the search for Madeleine.

From the moment we discovered Madeleine missing Kate and I have done everything in our power to try and help get her back.

Our opinion now is completely clouded by what has happened to us and of course has sent shock waves through thousands of families.

The real issue is that we should not have a constant fear of abduction of our children from their bedrooms, gardens or streets for that matter.

What Kate and I did was at worst naïve and no one should forget that the real criminal is the predator who has taken a completely innocent child in such a premeditated fashion. It is this act that has wreaked havoc on our family and affected millions of other people.

I'm sure the campaigners who think that the McCanns are the real criminals will not be satisfied until they are locked up (which is not of course about to happen).

But surely the priority should be to find Madeleine - and the person or persons who abducted her.

Thanks to Doris, one of the voices for prosecution here on my blog, for pointing out Gerry's diary on the Find Madeleine website.

Missing Madeleine McCann: Dad goes US...

The father of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann was today forced to
defend leaving his daughter in a hotel room while he and his wife went for a meal on the night she was snatched.

Our local BBC news in the East Midlands - where the McCanns live - reported tonight that Gerry McCann is in the US on a 'fact-finding mission' to see how the Americans deal with child abduction and exploitation - at the same time as publicising Madeleine's case.

He apparently met senior White House staff - but he was grilled by American TV networks ABC, CNN and CBS about why he and his wife Kate did not hire a babysitter to watch their three children as they dined with friends.

Gerry McCann said:

The kids were sound asleep and they were being checked regularly. We didn't think we needed a babysitter. We are good parents and what we did felt perfectly reasonable at the time.

Hindsight is an incredible thing. Clearly we couldn't have predicted what was to happen.

Dare I say that sounds reasonable to me? Personally, I think talk of prosecuting the McCanns for neglect is less than helpful.

The focus must remain on finding Madeleine and the criminal - or criminals - who took her.