Madeleine: Police admit they are consulting psychics

They have amassed a pile of "leads" and say they have to investigate them in case one turns out to be true.

Four weeks after the little girl disappeared, the desperate search has also resorted to investigating calls from people who describe dreams about her.

Police have been heavily criticised for their failed efforts to find four-year-old Madeleine, snatched from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3.

Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, 38-year-old doctors from Leicestershire, have started running their own campaign, which took them to see the Pope this week.

They were back in the Algarve yesterday, to spend time with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie before heading on to Madrid, leaving the children with relatives.

Portuguese police say leads "from beyond" arrive by email, letter and phone every day.

Many come from Britain and they have had to bring a translator from Lisbon. Some messages are very detailed, with hand-drawn maps and coordinates.

Officers say they have to investigate them all as one might turn out to be from the kidnapper, playing a warped game of cat-and-mouse.

Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa denied the investigation had stalled, saying: "At any moment there could be news."

Portuguese police have passed information on Madeleine's possible whereabouts to forces in Britain who have stormed homes in the UK as a result, although it is not known whether these tips came from psychics.

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A woman in South London was shocked when she arrived home to find police had broken in.

Debbie Seepersad, 40, said: "They said there was information Madeleine was inside. They were kind of apologetic but it is an invasion of privacy. Anyone could call up the police and give them anyone's address."