'Madeleine visits me during the night', says 'hysterical' Kate McCann

Her fragile state of mind was laid bare by her mother Susan Healy, 61, who spoke of her daughter's mental anguish and said she is worried about her daughter's lack of sleep since Madeleine's disappearance.

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Referring to a conversation she had had with Kate earlier this week, Mrs Healy said: "I asked her, did the twins come and wake you up? 'No', she said, 'Madeleine came'."

Mrs Healy also revealed that Kate had become 'hysterical' daily since Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday apartment on May 3.

She said: "Sometimes she will have periods where she is devastated, hysterical, bereft for a short period of time. This probably happens once or twice a day."

Mrs Healy spoke out as Gordon Brown held talks with his Portuguese counterpart to raise concerns about the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.

The Prime Minister discussed the police inquiry with the premier Jose Socrates during private talks in Lisbon, where the pair were attending the EU summit.

Mr Brown said he wanted to be assured "that the police authorities are taking the actions that are necessary and there's proper cooperation between the British and Portuguese police".

Fears over Kate McCann's state of mind emerged as the investigation into her daughter's disappearance reached a critical stage.

Portuguese police continue to insist they may have a case against the McCanns but the couple and their supporters have begun a concerted fightback in a bid to clear their names.

Earlier this week Mrs Healy gave a frank interview to her local paper, the Liverpool Echo, in which she defended her daughter and son-in-law against claims that they left their children with four others, sedated them, and even wild allegations that Gerry McCann was not Madeleine's biological father, which she described as 'scurrilous rubbish'.

She said Mrs McCann had been approached by strangers in the street berating her for being 'out and about' while Madeleine was still missing.

"Kate does feel persecuted," Mrs Healy said. "It's important I let people know she is not this person who is in control all the time.

"She is a very sensitive, caring person and one of the most maternal people I know - she puts me to shame.

"Her life revolves around her children. But now she's got to the point where she feels she is being persecuted if her twins, Sean and Amelie, cry in public - it's absolutely crazy.

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"All this stuff is going on inside my poor daughter who's not done anything wrong."

She added: "Kate just doesn't understand why people have turned against her.

"She feels she's being attacked because she isn't crying every time she is pictured.

"She's being targeted because she manages to put on a brave face. People say she has a stern look but inside she's a wreck. My daughter has lost the most precious thing in her life and she is destroyed inside - we all are."

Mrs Healy, of Allerton, Liverpool, said the couple admitted they were wrong to have left Madeleine and their two-year-old twins alone in their holiday apartment while they went out for dinner. But she insisted they were innocent of any crime, saying: "It was a terrible mistake but they did it out of naivety."

Mrs Healy categorically denied that the McCanns and their friends left seven of their children together in the holiday apartment, or that the couple had sedated any of their children.

"Kate and Gerry don't like taking tablets themselves and the only thing they have ever given their children, if they were teething or had a temperature, is Calpol," she said.