Portuguese police ask the McCanns to relive the night Madeleine disappeared

Detectives want to replicate the events of May 3 when the four-year-old vanished from her parents' holiday apartment in the Algarve.

Friends of the McCanns, who were dining with them at a nearby tapas bar, have also been asked to return along with several other key witnesses.

Scroll down for more ...

The McCanns, both doctors from Rothley in Leicestershire, are considering the request but sources close to the couple suggest 40-year-old Mrs McCann's "emotional state" may be too fragile.

Officers are planning the reconstruction for 15 or 16 May - a fortnight after the first anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.

The couple are also in the process of setting up a dedicated information hotline that will be available across Europe for when police suspect a child has been abducted.

Kate and Gerry and their team are believed to have already reserved the hotline number - 116 000. It has yet to go live but today the couple are visiting Brussels as part of a campaign to bring in a dedicated alert system for abducted children.

The couple recently visited America to see the "Amber" alert system, which allows police officers to commandeer the airwaves and television channels in different states if they believe a child to have been abducted.

The system also allows news alerts, often including the registration number of a suspect's vehicle, to be flashed up on digital signs above the country's freeways.

Tomorrow they will make a power-point presentation to MEPs at the European Parliament in Brussels, providing them with details about how the system works and the case for introducing it in Europe.

They will then launch their declaration, calling for the introduction of such a system, to the world's media at a specially arranged press conference in the Belgium capital.

The couple believe such a system could have helped find Madeleine in the crucial hours after she went missing.

As reported last week, the McCanns are poised for their return to Portugal following correspondence between Paulo Rebelo, the senior detective leading the investigation and Rogerio Alves, the McCanns' lawyer in Lisbon.

Scroll down for more ...

The couple, who deny any involvement in their daughter's disappearance, left Praia da Luz in September after being named as official suspects in the case.

Spokesman Clarence Mitchell said today: "Kate and Gerry welcome the idea of a Crimewatch-style reconstruction which is broadcast on television and will generate more leads and more calls in the search for Madeleine."

But sources close to the couple pointed out they had suggested just such a reconstruction last May and it was turned down by Portuguese police.

There are fears the current request is an excuse to get the McCanns back to Portugal where police will attempt to put more pressure on the pair.

A source said: "There are concerns from some quarters if they go back as to what this reconstruction would achieve if it is not broadcast.

"Kate is concerned about her emotional state to do this. She is quite upset.

"They all want to get through this investigative phase and get themselves cleared and if this helps then fine. But it is always a worry when they don't know what the motives of the police are."

A legal source close to the couple said today: "They have been advised to come back. They want to clear this up as fast as possible and get on with finding their daughter."

The reconstruction would involve dozens of people — including the Tapas Seven — enacting the night's events.

They would then be compared with a timeline of evidence compiled from British police interviews with more than 50 people this month.