- The Archbishop of York has asked people to reflect on the "suffering in our world" as he delivered his Christmas sermon. John Sentamu included the parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann and the family of chef Claudia Lawrence during his speech at York Minster. The victims of suicide bombings, the "downtrodden" of Zimbabwe, the armed forces and people affected by the economic downturn were all referred to in his sermon. The Archbishop referred to Psalm 98 in which "the entire world of creation is summoned to sing, play and dance the new song to the Lord". - 25th December 2010

- In the window of Patricia Cameron's porch is a photo of her niece Madeleine McCann with the caption, "Still missing, still missed, still looking." Another Christmas is about to pass, the fourth since Madeleine disappeared in May 2007, leaving only pain and longing behind. Patricia said: "Christmas is one of the toughest times. But every family occasion is marred because there is a little person who is not there. "It doesn't get any easier. If anything, it gets harder." This week, Patricia became a family representative for the charity Missing People, who help with searches and support those left behind. She wanted to take on the role to highlight the plight of the many left with a void in their life - the parents, the children, the sisters, the brothers, the uncles and the aunts of the missing. The organisation are asking the Government to give families of missing people the same rights as victims of crime, access to legal and financial assistance and emotional support. - 23rd December 2010

- I hear that ex-Madeleine cop Goncalo Amaral has tried to use the WikiLeaks revelation to get the Portuguese investigation re-opened, but he's been rebuffed. He urged the Attorrney-General in Lisbon to find out exactly what evidence against her parents was "developed" by British police. I imagine the top law officer Jose Pinto Monteiro, already knew what it was all about. He said today that the Portuguese authorities would not respond to "opinions, digressions, political analyses, abstract theories and journalistic comment." Only fresh evidence would prompt a re-investigation, he said. The Wikileaks website released a diplomatic cable from 2007 which suggested that British police had played an active role in helping the Portuguese cops build a case against Kate and Gerry McCann over Madeleine's disappearance in May that year. It was always a bit of a mystery at the time which British police were doing what, though they kept saying they were simply acting as "co-ordinators". - 15th December 2010

- Kate and Gerry McCann have signed a deal to write a book about the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine. After a major bidding war, Transworld won the rights to the couple's account of how the little girl vanished on a family holiday to Portugal in 2007 and their efforts to find her. All proceeds from the book will go to the McCanns' official fund to look for Madeleine, which had been in danger of running out next year. The book, entitled Madeleine, will be published on April 28 next year to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the child's disappearance. Mrs McCann, 42, said: "My reason for writing is simple - to give an account of the truth. Publishing this book has been a very difficult decision and is one that we have taken after much deliberation and with a very heavy heart. - 15th November 2010

- The Liverpool-born mum of missing Madeleine McCann was spotted at a football game during a visit to her home city this weekend. Kate McCann, 42, pulled on her team's colours as she watched Everton's clash with Stoke at Goodison with husband Gerry. The couple cheered and clapped as Yakubu's goal saw the Blues gain a 1-0 victory over the visitors. GP Kate was born in MOssley Hill but now lives in Rothley, Leics, with Gerry and the couples' twins Sean and Amelie. - 31st October 2010

- KATE and Gerry McCann believe a German tourist could hold the key to their daughter’s disappearance. The desperate couple are pleading with Germans holidaying in Portugal’s Algarve to keep their eyes open in the search for Madeleine. The McCanns last week launched their official Find Maddie website in German. The move follows a boost to the private investigative team, with three former British policemen joining and a shake-up of the Maddie Fund board of directors, as exclusively revealed by the Sunday Express last week. - 31st October 2010

- Kate and Gerry McCann have suffered a legal blow after a Portuguese court overturned a ban on a book about their daughter Madeleine's disappearance. Goncalo Amaral's book Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie claims she died in the family's holiday apartment in the Algarve and her parents covered up her death by faking her abduction. Mr and Mrs McCann strongly deny the claims, and are pursuing a defamation case against the former detective, who led the initial investigation into the Madeleine case. - 19th October 2010

- Missing Madeleine McCann's parents have joined the chorus of concerns about the Government's child protection policies after a top policeman quit in protest at plans to curtail his agency's independence. Kate and Gerry McCann said it was "extremely saddening" that Jim Gamble felt he had to resign as chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Centre. They urged ministers to remember the importance of the "invaluable work" carried out by his organisation to protect children against abduction and abuse. Mr Gamble believes plans to assimilate Ceop into a new National Crime Agency are not in the "best interest" of vulnerable children. - 5th October 2010

- Kate McCann this weekend has returned to Portugal, where her young daughter Madeleine went missing in May 2007. Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said it was one of a number of recent visits she had made to see friends in the country. The mother-of-three from Rothley in Leicestershire, who is a devout Catholic, was seen praying in the Nossa Senhora da Luz church near where her daughter disappeared. A small team of private investigators led by Dave Edgar is still looking for Madeleine. - 3rd October 2010

- A deathbed confession from a British paedophile could shed new light on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Raymond Hewlett, who died in April, wrote to his son saying Madeleine was abducted by a gypsy gang from the McCann's flat in Portugal in 2007. Hewlett claims she was stolen by the group who kidnap children for wealthy couples unable to have children or adopt. The 62-year-old died of throat cancer sufferer and had been a suspect in Madeleine's disappearance. - 3rd September 2010

- The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann have met Home Secretary Theresa May to discuss the search. Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz on the Algarve in May 2007, aged three. Before the meeting on Wednesday, Kate and Gerry McCann had called for an independent review of the case. Details of the talks have not been released but the couple had complained about the amount of help offered. In February they said they had encountered "reluctance" when asking the British authorities to re-examine the information held by law enforcement agencies around the world. A Home Office spokesman said: "The Home Secretary held a private meeting with Kate and Gerry McCann on Wednesday to discuss the case of their missing daughter Madeleine. - 6th August 2010

- Home secretary Theresa May will meet with Kate and Gerry McCann to discuss how the search for their daughter Madeleine is progressing. The Home Office announced the meeting will take place following an exchange of letters between Mrs May and the McCanns. Madeleine's parents requested to see the home secretary and details of the meeting are being confirmed, a Home Office spokeman said. The Leicestershire couple, whose daughter went missing from their holiday apartment in the Algarve, want a review of all the information in the hands of British and Portuguese authorities. Mrs May's interest in the case follows an internal review of evidence ordered by former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson last year. - 4th July 2010

- A MUM yesterday urged cops to quiz a jailed killer she believes has the key to finding her son and Madeleine McCann. Charles O'Neill is said to have been in Portugal when Maddie, three, was snatched in 2007. Two months earlier he was in Gran Canaria, in Spain's Canary Islands, when Jeremy Vargas, seven, vanished. Jeremy's mum Ithaisa Suarez, 27, said: "I believe he might know where they are, or what happened to them. "They're identical cases. Children who vanished in minutes, leaving no trace. He's a vile monster and should be questioned again." O'Neill, 47, and his gay lover William Lauchlan were jailed for life last Thursday for murdering mum-of-three Allison McGarrigle in Largs, Ayrshire - to stop her exposing them for child abuse. The pair had earlier done time for drugging and abusing youngsters. O'Neill has refused to meet detectives working for Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann. - 14th June 2010

- Kate McCann met the parents of other missing children yesterday and told them: "We all share the same pain." The mum of Madeleine McCann met the parents as she helped launch a nationwide system to help find missing children. She said: "It's good to be here today and meet other families who are in similar situations. "It's nice to get some stories of hope and to get their support and to be able to give a bit of support as well. "Today gives hope and solidarity to parents of missing children and it's good to know that we are not alone." She also met Sarah Taylor who was reunited with her daughter Nadia, six, earlier this year. She was abducted by her dad and taken to Libya for nearly three years. The event, which also marked International Missing Children's Day, launched the Child Rescue Alert system across Britain. This allows police to trigger an instant media alert when children go missing. Kate and husband Gerry have been looking for Madeline since she went missing on holiday in 2007. - 26th May 2010

- A Portuguese man has come forward to report a possible sighting of Madeleine McCann the day after she disappeared. Carlos Moreira, 65, saw a young blonde girl wearing pyjamas like those of the missing British child in the back of a van on May 4, 2007. But he only recently contacted the private investigation team employed by Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. It is understood that he did not think the information was relevant until learning in a recent TV programme that Portuguese police did not mount roadblocks following the little girl's disappearance. Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on the night of May 3 2007 as her parents dined with friends nearby. - 25th May 2010

- This is the third anniversary of the disappearance of young British girl Madeleine McCann, who vanished from her family's holiday resort in Portugal in May 2007. She was three at the time. But, in spite of a huge international police operation, there are still no real leads on what might have happened to Madeleine, according to CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. Over the years, there have been hundreds of supposed sightings of Madeleine, but not one of them has panned out. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, still hope she'll one day be found alive and have released a new video to mark the anniversary. - 3rd May 2010

- The parents of Madeleine McCann have thanked "everyone who stayed with us" as they marked the three-year anniversary of their daughter's disappearance. In a message on their findmadeleine.com website, Kate and Gerry McCann said: "We know we couldn't have achieved as much as we have without this help." They added: "Milestones and anniversaries are never easy, but the work to find our little Madeleine will continue regardless, with the same determination and tenacity as it always has and for as long as it takes. "It might be three years without Madeleine but it certainly doesn't feel like we're at the end of the line - far from it. Madeleine. Still missing, still missed, still looking!" - 3rd May 2010

- The McCanns are hoping to put the focus back on the search for missing Madeleine with a video to mark the third anniversary of her disappearance. The short film shows Gerry and Kate McCann pursuing attempts to find their missing child over the past three years, from handing out posters in Portugal to chasing up leads from their home in Rothley, Leicestershire. It includes a new photograph of a grown up-looking Madeleine wearing blue eyeshadow accompanied with a pink bow in her hair and a gold bead necklace. The video, produced by family friend Jon Corner, was originally shown at a fundraising event in London in January to mark the 1,000th day since the little girl's disappearance. - 2nd May 2010

- Madeleine McCann's parents will be interviewed by Lorraine Kelly as the third anniversary of her disappearance nears. Kate and Gerry go on the GMTV couch on Tuesday, to be seen by viewers the next day - their only UK TV appearance before the May 3 anniversary. Madeleine, then aged three, vanished on holiday in Portugal in 2007. "Lorraine's been very supportive of the family," said a source. "This is a thank you and a reminder that she's still missing." - 22nd April 2010

- A WOULD-BE UKIP MP took part in a vile leaflet campaign blaming Madeleine McCann's disappearance on her grieving parents, The Sun can reveal. Helene Davies-Green, 62, delivered flyers titled "Ten Reasons Why Madeleine Was Not Abducted" to Kate and Gerry's neighbours. It was produced by the anti-McCann Madeleine Foundation, of which the wannabe politician is a committee member. Mrs Davies-Green's husband Grenville is the group's chairman. The folk singer is standing in Cambridge South for the right-wing anti-Euro party on May 6. Doctors Kate and Gerry, both 42, were left "horrified, angry and upset" by the deliveries in their village of Rothley, Leics, last August. - 16th April 2010

- THE parents of missing Madeleine McCann were "delighted" yesterday as police announced plans to put the whole of Britain on alert if a child is abducted. Kate and Gerry, both 41, have campaigned for the public emergency system - which could see radio and TV shows interrupted - since their daughter vanished in 2007. The Child Response Alert would see a youngster's description and information such as a suspect's car registration flash up on motorway boards in an appeal for help. Details could eventually be sent to millions of mobile phones. A similar system in the US has saved 400 kids in the past seven years - 80 per cent within 72 hours of being snatched. - 5th April 2010

- The West Yorkshire Police squad which found missing schoolgirl Shannon Matthews is to help in the search for Madeleine McCann. The move follows a private meeting between Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann and the Home Secretary Alan Johnson. The Child Exploitation Centre and Online Protection (Ceop) has now approached West Yorkshire Police's major inquiry team which found missing Dewsbury nine-year-old Shannon Matthews in March 2008. The YEP understands a "scoping exercise" is being carried out by Home Office officials to decide whether a new investigation is necessary. - 19th March 2010

Kate McCann prays for the people who took her daughter Madeleine, she has revealed. She also says her belief in God gave her an "inner strength" on the day Portuguese police made her a suspect or "arguido" in the little girl's disappearance. Mrs McCann, 42, a Roman Catholic, used a Mother's Day interview to talk about how she has been helped by her faith since her daughter went missing in Portugal in May 2007. She told Aled Jones, presenter of BBC Radio 2's Good Morning Sunday, that her prayers were "a little bit more directed" than they were before Madeleine vanished. - 14th March 2010

- Kate McCann prays for the people who took her daughter Madeleine, she has revealed. She also revealed that her belief in God gave her an "inner strength" on the day Portuguese police made her a suspect in the little girl's disappearance. Mrs McCann, 42, a Roman Catholic, used a Mother's Day interview to talk about how she has been helped by her faith since her daughter went missing in Portugal in May 2007. She told Aled Jones, presenter of BBC Radio 2's Good Morning Sunday, that her prayers were "a little bit more directed" than they were before Madeleine vanished. - 14th March 2010

- The parents of Madeleine McCann have joined 450 runners to take part in a 10km fun run for missing people. Gerry and Kate McCann lined up together alongside other families whose loved ones vanished at the first ever Miles for Missing People in London's Hyde Park. The couple wore matching white T-shirts bearing a smiling picture of their daughter and the words "Don't give up on me". Mrs McCann, 42, and her husband Gerry, 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were on holiday with their three children in Praia da Luz in Portugal when Madeleine went missing in May 2007. - 13th March 2010

- Portuguese detectives ignored a reported sighting of Madeleine McCann at a French campsite 14 months after she vanished. New case files reveal they took no action after the details were forwarded by British police. The alarm was raised by holidaymaker Jane Blakie after she saw a youngster bearing a close resemblance to Madeleine near Rougemont in July 2008. Ms Blakie and her son Alexander both gave statements to Tayside police on their return to the UK. - 8th March 2010

- The release by Portuguese police to British newspapers of previously unseen files on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was "incomprehensible" and "upsetting", her family said. The 2,000-page dossier detailed dozens of possible sightings of Madeleine after she disappeared from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, in May 2007, just before her fourth birthday. A statement released by Kate and Gerry McCann said: "Disclosing such information publicly greatly jeopardises the search for Madeleine and puts witnesses and innocent members of the general public at risk (as well as causing them great anxiety). Release and publication of information in this manner also potentially compromises future investigations. It is difficult to see how anyone benefits from this week's actions." - 6th March 2010

- The Home Office has secretly begun a review that could lead to a fresh police inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The move follows the release of 2,000 pages of evidence last week which Portuguese detectives are accused of having failed to fully investigate. According to sources close to the McCanns, Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, has ordered officials to examine the 'feasibility' of British or Portuguese detectives looking afresh at all the evidence. Kate and Gerry McCann met with Mr Johnson last year to plead for help in their search for Madeleine, who vanished without trace in May 2007 from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. - 6th March 2010

- Portuguese police ignored warnings from UK cops about a suspicious British worker at the resort where Madeleine McCann disappeared. They urged them to investigate him after a tourist staying at a sister complex with her girl, nine, in 2006, accused him of inappropriate sexual innuendoes. The holiday worker also met Kate and Gerry McCann at the Praia da Luz resort. The woman from Leicestershire came forward in 2008 and said he entered her villa while she slept with her girl. Police sent a report to Portuguese cops but they had already shelved the case. A dossier obtained by the Mirror also revealed a Norwegian man reported seeing Madeleine with a man in a restaurant in St Valentin, Austria, in 2007. He said the girl pleaded "help me!". - 5th March 2010

- A young girl seen in a supermarket in New Zealand thought to be Madeleine McCann is not the missing British girl, it has been confirmed. A shop worker claimed she had seen the toddler just months after she disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal. But Dunedin police have confirmed she is actually the child of another family. Acting Southern Police District Commander Inspector Dave Campbell said police will not name the family, or provide any details of their identity. "We ask that media outlets remove the image portraying the child and family from their coverage to protect the privacy of the family. "New Zealand Police are mindful of the stress on the McCann family from possible sightings of their daughter worldwide," Inspector Campbell said. - 4th March 2010

- A supermarket checkout operator in New Zealand has spoken publicly for the first time about the day she believes she saw Madeleine McCann. Taryn Dryfhout was working in the Warehouse store in the southern city of Dunedin in December 2007 when her suspicions were aroused by a man and woman, who had a boy and girl with them. Madeleine disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3 of that year. "I was stricken by the wee girl who looked just like Madeleine McCann," Ms Dryfhout said. - 3rd March 2010

- Private investigators searching for Madeleine McCann must have access to previously unseen files which have emerged on the case, a spokesman for her parents has said. The files reportedly comprise hundreds of pages of information, including CCTV images of a young girl who looks like Madeleine being led into a supermarket in New Zealand in 2007. Several British newspapers have published the image, along with details of other possible sightings from the files. The footage shows a young girl with blond hair holding hands with a "portly man in shorts". The man's behaviour was deemed suspicious by a female security guard who asked the girl her name. - 3rd March 2010

- Kate and Gerry McCann have welcomed a decision to uphold a ban on a book about their daughter and pleaded with police to continue their search for Madeleine. Speaking at a news conference in London, the couple said they were "pleased and relieved" at the Portuguese court ruling. "The judge agreed that there had been significant ongoing damage to the search for Madeleine and to the rights of our family, and we are grateful for that," Kate said. "The court has demonstrated once again that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to any harm. - 20th Febuary 2010

- Kate and Gerry McCann have spoken publicly for the first time about a Portuguese court's decision to uphold a ban on a book claiming their daughter Madeleine is dead. On Thursday a judge in Lisbon rejected an attempt by former senior detective Goncalo Amaral to overturn an injunction halting the sale and publication of his book, Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie. The McCanns welcomed the ruling and said they hoped it would bring a fresh impetus to the search for Madeleine, who has been missing for nearly three years. Outside court, the ex-policeman said he would appeal against the judgment and repeated his intention to fight the case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. - 19th Febuary 2010

- THE country’s most senior criminal profiler suggested Madeleine McCann’s brother and sister should have been interviewed about her disappearance. Twins Sean and Amelie were aged just two years and three months when Madeleine was snatched from a holiday apartment on the Algarve in Portugal in May 2007 shortly before her fourth birthday. A month later, Lee Rainbow, senior behavioural investigation consultant at the National Policing Improvement Agency, wrote a report for Portuguese detectives which may have altered the course of the inquiry. Mr Rainbow urged them to “consider the possibility of exploring the potential of interviewing Sean and Amelie McCann”. - 14th Febuary 2010

- Portuguese police have ignored hundreds of potential new leads in the Madeleine McCann case because of their belief that she is already dead, it has been claimed. Details of possible sightings from across Europe have been forwarded to Portuguese investigators by local forces but no effort has been made to follow them up. Kate and Gerry McCann, both 41, learnt of the existence of the dossier of new information, including tips offs, license plate numbers and even photographs of children who could be their daughter, during a court hearing in Lisbon that ended Wednesday. "They were shocked at what was in it and, even worse, what little had been done to follow any of it up,” said Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCann family. - 12th Febuary 2010

- Kate and Gerry McCann have issued a renewed plea for anyone in Portugal with information about Madeleine to come forward. The couple are in Lisbon where they are suing the former lead investigator in the case of their missing daughter, Goncalo Amaral. Outside court, they held up placards with pictures of Madeleine and a Portuguese telephone number for people to call. Mrs McCann said: "The important thing to remember is that a child is still missing." The couple also said they wanted the whole investigation into their daughter's disappearance to be reviewed by Portuguese and British police. - 10th Febuary 2010

- Donations to the Find Madeleine McCann fund fell from almost £2million to £650,000 in just one year, it was revealed yesterday. Only cash received in libel payouts to friends of Gerry and Kate McCann - dubbed the Tapas Seven - enabled the search for their daughter to go on, latest accounts show. About £260 an hour flooded into the fund as a wave of public sympathy swept the UK after Maddie's abduction in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in May, 2007. It had £1.4million in bank donations alone in the first 10 months of the search. - 1st Febuary 2010

- Kate and Gerry McCann are marking the 1,000th day since their daughter Madeleine went missing with a fund-raising event attended by celebrity backers. Supporters of the couple will also launch 1,000 glowing paper lanterns into the night sky in Britain, Portugal and the US to coincide with the sad anniversary. About 180 guests are expected to attend the McCanns' £150-a-head dinner, raffle and auction at Kensington Roof Gardens in west London. It is understood that those invited include Sir Richard Branson, who owns the exclusive venue, Harry Potter author JK Rowling and the couple's millionaire backer Brian Kennedy. - 27th January 2010

- Sir Richard Branson and JK Rowling are expected to be among the guests at a fund-raising event to mark the 1,000th day since Madeleine McCann went missing. Around 180 people have been invited by her parents Kate and Gerry McCann to attend the £150-a-head dinner, raffle and auction at Sir Richard's Kensington Roof Gardens in west London. Half the money raised will go to the McCanns' fund to find their daughter, with the other half split between the charities Missing People and Missing Children Europe. - 27th January 2010

- A poem has been written by Simon Armitage, the writer, to mark 1,000 days since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The writer, widely regarded as the runner-up for last year’s poet laureateship, penned The Beacon, with a handwritten copy to be auctioned on Wednesday night for the Find Madeleine campaign. To commemorate the sad day since the disappearance of their daughter, Kate and Gerry McCann are to launch a flotilla of glowing paper lanterns into the night sky. Mr Armitage reportedly said he accepted the commission, which came via Emma Loach, a director who worked with the McCanns on a television documentary. - 27th January 2010

- Goncalo Amaral has vowed to appeal to Europe if he loses a legal battle over his book which claims that Madeleine McCann is dead. The former detective said his case was about "fundamental rights" for all Portuguese citizens and pledged to keep fighting all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were left facing the prospect of years of court hearings at which Mr Amaral's allegations against them will be repeated. The couple, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, flew to Lisbon this week to hear Mr Amaral attempt to overturn their ban on his book, Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie. - 14th January 2010

- Thousands of British police files detailing the hunt for Madeleine McCann will not be released unless those behind her disappearance are brought to justice. Senior Leicestershire Police officers have remained tight-lipped about their role co-ordinating the search for the toddler since she vanished from a Portuguese holiday resort in May 2007. But analysts at the force have drawn up a list detailing the mass of information they have gathered and considered whether they would ever release any of it to the general public. The paperwork includes everything from correspondence with Government ministers, minutes of police meetings, details of leads and sightings to copies of letters from the McCann family. - 3rd January 2010