Mystery call hope in Madeleine hunt

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The caller provided such detail that Kate and Gerry McCann put their European search for their daughter on hold in case they needed to act.

The couple were informed of the potential development while in Germany, where they were appealing for information about their four-year-old child. It is 35 days since Madeleine was abducted from her bed in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.

The "credible" call was taken from a man who wanted to speak directly to the McCanns, according to a Spanish police source. It was traced to an unregistered pay-as-you-go phone from an unidentified country but not thought to be Morocco, where a previous possible sighting of Madeleine was reported.

The caller did not reveal his identity or nationality, but the information was considered important enough to alert Mr and Mrs McCann, the source said.

At around 3pm on Wednesday, the couple - who were about to go to Tempelhof airport in Berlin to fly on to the Netherlands - were advised that the caller might try to contact them, so they stayed on at the British embassy.

At 6pm, journalists travelling in the eight-seater private jet with the McCanns were told by the flight crew that there might be a change in destination. They revealed they had been asked to draw up a new flight plan involving a possible change from Amsterdam to East Midlands Airport.

It was thought the McCanns might need to go back to the UK to talk to advisers about the call.

But all efforts to re-establish contact with the man failed and the couple decided to go on to Amsterdam. They left Berlin at 7.30pm, three hours later than planned, for the hour-long flight to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to continue their search. Mr and Mrs McCann are thought to be on standby, ready to return to the UK if necessary.

A Spanish police source said: "A man called saying he knew where Madeleine was and wanted to speak to the McCanns. This did not appear to be a crank call and the information was felt credible enough to warrant the couple being informed immediately."