Money pours into Madeleine fund

Bankers handling donations for Madeleine's Fund revealed the first balance on the account for the not-for-profit company since it was launched on Wednesday afternoon.

But the figure - which includes £50,000 from Portsmouth Football Club - does not include money collected by banks and building societies and cheques yet to clear.

Madeleine's great uncle, Brian Kennedy, said: "It's the tip of he iceberg. The figure I have heard likely to be contributed is very considerable."

Meanwhile, inconsistencies have emerged in a witness's account of his relationship with the only suspect in the abduction of Madeleine McCann.

Russian computer expert Sergey Malinka, 22, reportedly said this week it had been a year since he spoke to Anglo-Portuguese Robert Murat, 33, named as the first suspect in the case.

But Mr Murat's mobile phone records show he called Mr Malinka at 11.40pm on the night Madeleine went missing, according to the Evening Standard newspaper in London.

The Russian IT specialist told the paper he had not spoken to Mr Murat for 12 months - but he told another reporter he had not seen him for three months.

Mr Malinka, who moved to Portugal from Moscow seven years ago, said he could not comment on the reports until the police investigation is over. But he stressed his relationship with Mr Murat was "strictly business" and added that if he could give his side of the story, "it would prove me innocent, that everything is correct".

Mr Malinka refused to comment on specific allegations about his connections with Mr Murat printed in Portuguese newspapers. But he said: "I just feel I have been misunderstood and the information about me has come out of nowhere. It's been false, untrue, it's really not helping me with my name and my career."