A mystery phone call from a man claiming to know the whereabouts of missing Madeleine McCann could provide a new lead in the case, it emerged today. The caller provided such detail that Kate and Gerry McCann drew up a provisional plan to go back to Britain in case they made contact with the caller. A British police source said: "The importance of this line of inquiry is still being assessed and attempts to re-establish contact are continuing." The McCanns have always said that it might only take one phone call to get Madeleine back.
However Spanish police have denied reports of the call. "All I can say is that it is a lie," a National Police spokesman told The Associated Press. "I don't know where this came from but the police have no record of this call anywhere." The official spoke on condition of anonymity under police ground rules.
The couple reportedly were informed of the potential development while in Germany, where they were appealing for information about their four-year-old child.
It is 35 days since Madeleine was abducted from her bed in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
The "credible" call was taken from a man who wanted to speak directly to the McCanns, according to a Spanish police source.
It was traced to an unregistered pay-as-you-go phone from an unidentified country but not thought to be Morocco, where a previous possible sighting of Madeleine was reported. The caller did not reveal his identity or nationality, but the information was considered important enough to alert Mr and Mrs McCann, the source said.
At around 3pm yesterday, the couple - who were about to go to Tempelhof airport in Berlin to fly on to the Netherlands - were advised that the caller might try to contact them, so they stayed on at the British embassy.
**UPDATE at 9:40**
This news item changed around 20 minutes after this first version; above may be one of the few versions of the original news story that was written -- significant?
The news headline now reads
'Hope, then agony again for the McCanns'
The above post title was the original title
Now read the poem written below again
NOW do you understand what I was given around 12;20am NZ time (1.20pm UK time)???
