McCanns wind down 'tour' for missing Madeleine

The last seven days have seen Gerry and Kate McCann, both 38, visit Amsterdam and Berlin, where they were shaken by a suggestion from a German journalist that they could be suspects.

The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, are visiting Morocco today – where there was a possible sighting of their daughter two weeks ago – before pausing to take stock.

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Kate and Gerry McCann are winding down their highly-publicised world tour to reflect' on what more they can do to find their daughter

Madeleine's father spoke of the couple's need for time to grieve as they faced the possibility that the four-year-old had been taken by an organised paedophile gang.

"We will not give up, but there will be a different way of doing it," said Mr McCann.

"I can see myself having to go back to the UK to meet with people. It will be very, very hard. We are thinking of the wider issues now, that Madeleine's disappearance might belinked to organised abuse of children.

"When we get back from Morocco we want to sit back and take stock of what we're doing.

"I think that Kate and I personally, and also family and friends who have been campaigning, will need a break. We'll still meet with the Portuguese police as we have done fairly regularly. "We've made a vow to each other that we would take time for ourselves. The emotional time has been in private.

"When we're making appeals, we don't want anything to cloud that."

Talking from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, just yards from where his daughter was snatched, Mr McCann admitted the couple could not continue to block out the pain of the abduction more than a month ago.

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Four year old Madeleine McCann has been missing since May 3rd

He said: "There's been a lot of emotion in the last ten days. It's definitely in quieter moments. 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."

Mrs McCann said she had found it particularly difficult to face the media.

She added: "I feel a great deal of anxiety speaking in public, but it pales into insignificance here because nothing can compare to the trauma of losing your child.

"Certainly I find when I am alone I feel a lot of anxiety. When I'm speaking in public it helps take my mind off things.

"I'm not thinking: 'Where is Madeleine? How is she feeling?'

Earlier this week a man telephoned police saying he had information about Madeleine's whereabouts. However, it was revealed yesterday that the call, which was traced to Argentina, was made by a career criminal who had hoped to extort £500,000 from the McCanns.