Gerry McCann 'played tennis days after Madeleine disappeared'

In an allegation likely to infuriate the McCanns, a waiter at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Laz said Gerry and Kate were 'very cool' after she vanished and seemed less upset than their friends

The waiter said: "What we found really strange was Gerry, days after the little girl disappeared, calmly playing tennis. He played with an old couple from England.

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"I thought that everybody else in the group seemed more upset and stressed and bothered than the parents.

"They were so cool about it. I never saw them cry or anything. They played tennis and went jogging. They didn't seem as distraught as their friends. If my kid disappeared I'd go insane. I wouldn't be able to function. They'd have to lock me away."

The claims come as the McCanns launch a new 24-hour phoneline manned by private detectives in a fresh bid to find their daughter.

Portuguese police have given Gerry and Kate their full backing in setting up the confidential number, according to the couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell.

It's also been reported Madeleine's hair and body fluids were found in the apartment of the first offical suspect in her disappearance, Robert Murat.

Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas said detectives are now sure she was in his apartment at some stage, but are not sure if she was dead or alive.

The waiter's description of the McCanns was in sharp contrast to one given by Mrs McCann's mother Susan Healy. She told of a hysterical telephone call home that Mr McCann made on the night Madeleine disappeared from their Portuguese holiday apartment.

"There's been a disaster, it's a disaster," he told his mother-in-law. "Madeleine has been abducted from her bed."

Madeleine's mother added: "She's gone mum, she's gone." Speaking for the first time about the emotional call, Mrs Healy said her son-in-law was so hysterical on the phone that she was unsure what he was saying.

"I thought he was talking about a car accident," she said. "It took me a while because he was hysterical. And then he just said 'Madeleine has been abducted from her bed'."

Speaking from their Liverpool home, Mrs Healy, 61, and her husband Brian described how they tried to comfort the McCanns. "I was able to say to her [Kate], 'We'll be able to get her back'," said Mrs Healy.

"I'm finding it harder to say that. But we're not going to acknowledge she's gone from our life altogether."

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Mrs McCann's parents spoke about the call during an interview they gave on Spanish TV to try to refute claims that their daughter was involved in Madeleine's disappearance on May 3. Mrs Healy said that seeing Mrs McCann named as an official suspect was not as bad as the fear that Madeleine, four, could be dead.

Lawyers for the McCanns - who are both official suspects - will soon be allowed to see the police files on the case. Under Portugal's new penal code the secrecy laws covering the investigation will be lifted on November 14.

This morning the McCanns' official spokesman Clarence Mitchell dismissed reports that Mr McCann had "stunned" hotel staff by organising a game of tennis while the hunt for Madeleine was under way.

He told GMTV: "For nearly six months now, we have had this stream of unwarranted speculation, in many cases ill-informed rumour and downright misinterpretation of events.

"Kate and Gerry did nothing wrong in the immediate aftermath of Madeleine going missing. The only thing they did do was fight for their daughter's return and that is what they have continued to do ever since."

The McCanns, who are both 39-year-old doctors, are back home in Rothley, Leicestershire, with their two-year-old twins.