McCanns begin final leg of Madeleine campaign
The final leg of the saddest of publicity tours began today as the parents of Madeleine McCann took the search for their missing daughter to north Africa.
Armed with appeal posters written in Arabic, Gerry and Kate McCann were travelling to the Moroccan capital, Rabat, to try to turn up a clue that could lead to the recovery of the four-year-old girl.
Morocco has surfaced from time to time during the hunt for the girl, who was abducted from a holiday apartment in the Algarve, southern Portugal.
One woman claimed she had seen Madeleine, days after she was abducted, asking a man if she could see her mummy soon.
But with the search for Madeleine reaching its 40th day tomorrow, the visit to Morocco felt like the end of this phase of the hunt.
Mr McCann hinted at the weekend that he felt the time could come when he would return to the UK, though his wife was still saying she could not imagine going home without Madeleine.
Before leaving for Morocco, Mr McCann, 39, said he was finding it increasingly hard to control his feelings.
"In the first few weeks, when I slipped into dark moments of despair I was finding it quite easy to emotionally switch a light back on, but I've been finding it increasingly difficult to do.
"More importantly, I don't want to do that any more. I want to be able to grieve and let those emotions out."
Mrs McCann said she felt close to her daughter in the resort. "She could actually be further away from here than she is from the UK, but I feel emotionally close to her here.
"People have told me that I could do the same, if not more, back in the UK, but I can't face leaving here."
Still, a break of sorts will follow. Mr McCann said: "We'll still meet with the Portuguese police, as we have done fairly regularly, and with the British police. But it is definitely going to be a period of reflection."
But that does not mean the campaign will end altogether.
In the first couple of days after Madeleine disappeared, the McCanns were unsure of how to handle and use the huge media interest in their case, calling press conferences, for example, after newspaper deadlines had passed.
Since then, the campaign has been slick and professional and their story has repeatedly made front pages across Europe.
The McCanns' visits to Rome, where they met the Pope, and to Spain, Germany and Holland brilliantly kept Madeleine's image in the public eye.
But their efforts have yet to yield that piece of information that could lead to the girl's return.
Instead, the McCanns have had to cope with the agony of a series of false leads, arrests that have appeared to lead nowhere and the creeping suspicion that the Portuguese police have never been on the top of the inquiry.
While the tour will reach a halt, the McCanns - and their team of advisors - will find other ways to make sure people do not forget Madeleine.
The family has, for instance, been in talks with the internet giant Google to ask whether the double O in the logo could be replaced with Madeleine's distinctive eyes.
When they return to Portugal, they are expected to move out of the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort, where they have been staying, to more permanent housing.
Back in the resort of Praia da Luz, the apartment from where Madeleine was abducted has been cleaned for the first time and the police cordons removed from the road outside - physical manifestations that this phase of the hunt is at an end.
guardian
