McCanns intend to stay in Portugal

In an interview to mark two months since Madeleine disappeared from the Portuguese holiday resort where they were staying, Kate and Gerry McCann said they intended to stay in Portugal for the foreseeable future and had no plans to return home to the UK at the moment.

"We are committed to staying and we feel closer to Madeleine here," Mr McCann said.

"Right now we are not capable as working as doctors. We still feel a lot can be done by ourselves. What we don't want is to look back in another three or four months and say we wish had done this," he said.

The couple have campaigned tirelessly to find their four-year-old daughter since she was snatched from her bed at the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort in the Algarve town of Praia da Luz on May 3. They have travelled to many countries around the world in a bid to keep Madeleine in the public eye.

Asked about how they plan to continue their campaign in the future Mr McCann said: "The important thing is to make as many people as possible aware of Madeleine. We want to remind people from time to time that we are still looking and Madeleine still has not been found."

The McCanns now meet the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria (PJ) on a regular basis, but despite an extensive investigation there have been no significant developments in the case. Describing their daily routine Mr McCann said they usually attend a few meetings during the day before spending time together as a family in the evening.

On Monday they finally moved out of the holiday resort where they had been staying with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie and have set up home in a private property nearby. "At the minute the decision is we will stay in Portugal, though we are regularly reviewing our situation. We are not ready to go back to work," Mr McCann said. "Our main job and our main priority is to find Madeleine," Mrs McCann added.

The McCanns, from Rothley in Leicestershire, said they had not dismissed the idea that Madeleine may still be in Portugal but accepted that she could have been moved elsewhere.

Asked why they thought Madeleine's disappearance had attracted so much attention, Mr McCann said: "I think that the fact that the abduction of foreign children in a foreign country played a part and then the other aspect of this is that we and our family and friends have decided to campaign to maximise the media exposure."