• McCanns hope book will raise '1m to be spent on hunt for Madeleine
• Parents say David Cameron has 'suffered his own loss as a father' as they make a personal plea for his assistance in hunt
• Maddie's siblings asked only yesterday: 'How tall is she now''
• Mrs McCann: 'Kidnapper may have approached the night before snatching'
• She also revealed that she won't have any more children
• Gerry says: 'As long as Maddie is missing, we will never give up search'
   

Kate McCann said the kidnapper who seized Madeleine may also have drugged her other two children, as she launched a new appeal in the hunt for her missing girl today.

Mrs McCann said she had to check that twins Sean and Amelie were still breathing because they did not wake as they began a frantic search for the missing three-year-old.

And the mother revealed she believes the man who snatched Maddie may have approached their Portuguese holiday flat the night before - but fled when he was disturbed.
 

She was carrying out a fresh round of media interviews today as she publishes a new book about her daughter's disappearance, called Madeleine.

Kate and husband Gerry hope sales will raise '1million to provide continued funding for their private investigation

Kate and Gerry McCann attend a press conference for the launch of Mrs McCann's new book Madeleine about her daughter's disappearance. Today would have been her eighth birthday

Their pain: Gerry and Kate have vowed never to give up the hunt for Madeleine - and they have called for David Cameron to intervene

She carried out a fresh round of media interviews today as she publishes a new book about her daughter's disappearance, called Madeleine.

Kate and husband Gerry hope sales will raise '1million to provide continued funding for their private investigation.

Asked if the twins had been drugged, she said on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour today: 'On the night I just remember the twins lying in the cot and not moving - with lights going on and people moving around.

'There was a lot of noise and they just didn't move and I remember several times checking for chest movements. I did feel it was a bit strange that they were not moving let alone waking up.
 

'

New outfit: Kate McCann writes that she admired Madeleine in her new pink outfit - but fears someone else did too

I did consider with Madeleine perhaps she had been given something too.'

Madeleine disappeared from her bed on May 3, 2007, during a family holiday in the Algarve, and has not been seen since.

The mother added the morning before Maddie vanished she had been crying and complained that she had not slept.

Mrs McCann said: 'I just think it is too much of a coincidence but I never thought for one moment that there was anything sinister.'

She added: 'When we discovered she had gone it seemed very likely that someone had tried the same thing the night before.'

Today, as the McCanns mark Madeleine's eighth birthday, Kate revealed that the missing girl's siblings Sean and Amelie asked only yesterday: 'How tall is Madeline now''

As she held her husband's knee, she said on Daybreak this morning that the family still feel the presence of the missing girl four years on.

She said: 'Madeleine is everywhere, she is with us all the time and it was only yesterday that Sean and Amelie were asking "how tall is Madeline now'".

'I was trying to explain she will be a bit taller than you but a bit shorter than her best friend.'

And in a pre-recorded interview with the BBC, Madeleine's mother, a doctor, said that medics don't stop treating the sick if they cannot diagnose the condition.

She asked: 'Why is it with a missing child you can stop going''

She revealed this morning that she does not intend to have any more children.
 

The McCanns fear that potentially vital information given to Portuguese and British police has been ignored, and are calling for an independent review of the case.

Kate and Gerry McCann hope the book, which Kate has written without the help of a ghost writer, will raise '1million to go towards the private investigation

They have written to David Cameron calling for a 'transparent and comprehensive' review of all the information about their daughter's disappearance.

In their letter to the Prime Minister, published in The Sun, the McCanns wrote: 'One call might be all that is needed to lead to Madeleine and her abductor.

'There's no evidence to say that she's dead,' said Kate McCann, with her husband Gerry, in an interview with Daybreak this morning as they launched a fresh appeal

Snatched: The Ocean Club Resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal where the McCann family were staying when Madeleine, then three, was abducted in May 2007

Thus far there has been no formal review of the material held by the police authorities.'

This afternoon they made a personal appeal to David Cameron to assist them.

Referring to the tragic death of the Prime Minister's son Ivan, Gerry told a London press conference: 'he has suffered his own loss' as a father.

A spokesman for David Cameron said he would do 'all he can' to assist the McCanns.

'The Prime Minister met Kate and Gerry McCann while he was Leader of the Opposition, and he has followed their plight very closely,' he said.

'He and the Home Secretary want to make sure the Government does all it can to help them'.

Four year search: Kate and Gerry held a marathon round of interviews today as they launched a fresh information appeal four years after Maddie, then three, vanished

In her new book, serialised in The Sun, Mrs McCann told of her fear that the 'lovely' sight of Madeleine in a new outfit may have tempted someone to kidnap her.

She said the pink smock top and shorts were bought specially for the family holiday in Praia da Luz.

Her final photo of her daughter shows her wearing the new outfit and sitting with Mr McCann, 42, and younger sister Amelie by the pool just hours before she disappeared.

In an extract from the book, Mrs McCann described Madeleine's Monsoon shorts and Gap smock, saying: 'A small extravagance, perhaps, but I'd pictured how lovely she would look in them and I was right.'

She adds: 'I was following her with my eyes admiring her. I wonder now, the nausea rising in my throat, if someone else was doing the same.' 

Mrs McCann told The Sun that she and Gerry remain convinced their daughter is still alive, and cannot give up just because she has been missing for four years.

She said: 'Certainly in my heart I feel she is out there. We've never given up on finding her. What parent would give up on their child''

Plea: Kate and Gerry McCann will today make a fresh appeal for help in the four-year-old hunt for Madeleine. There is a clip from their interview with Piers Morgan below

The McCanns insist there is no evidence to say Madeleine is dead, and so they have to assume she is not.

They have embarked on a marathon round of TV appearances to rekindle worldwide interest, including an hour-long interview with Piers Morgan, televised in the U.S. last night.

Mr and Mrs McCann cling to examples of children being returned home many years after going missing, such as American Jaycee Dugard, abducted at 11 in California and freed aged 18.

The couple have also drawn inspiration from meeting another girl, Elizabeth Smart, who was snatched from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of 14 and found after a year.

Pre-order sales of Mrs McCann's book mean it has already topped the bestseller list on Amazon.co.uk.

All profits will go to the Find Madeleine fund, which employs a team of private detectives to comb through clues, and funds a hotline to gather information.

Happy times: Images released by the McCanns of Madeleine before she disappeared in May 2007. Today they will launch a fresh appeal for help in the investigation as a new book is launched
Distraught: Kate McCann has told of her fear that the sight of Madeleine in a new outfit may have tempted someone to kidnap he
Whirlwind: Kate and Gerry McCann speak to Lorraine Kelly this morning as they begin a new round of television interviews on Madeleine's eighth birthday

In her book, Mrs McCann also reveals that her family nearly chose to holiday at Center Parcs in the UK before making the fateful decision to switch to the Algarve instead.

'It was the first in a series of apparently minor decisions I would give anything to change now,' she says.

During the CNN interview, the McCanns were asked why they had not hired a nanny to look after their three children while they went out for dinner with friends.

Mr McCann replied: 'It's not a question of money. Child abduction is so rare. It didn't enter our head.'

For details of ways to donate to the Find Madeleine fund, visit www.findmadeleine.com.

McCANNS APPEAL TO DAVID CAMERON FOR HELP IN HUNT FOR MISSING GIRL

Appeal: David Cameron Here is the full text of Kate and Gerry McCann's letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, as published in the Sun: Dear Prime Minister As a devoted father and family man, you know the importance of children. Our beloved eldest child, Madeleine, was abducted from Praia da Luz, Portugal, four years ago. Since then, we have devoted all our energies to ensuring her safe return. Today we are asking you - and the British and Portuguese governments - to help find Madeleine and bring her back to her loving family. We live in hope that Madeleine will be found alive and returned to us. One call might be all that is needed to lead to Madeleine and her abductor. To this end, we are seeking a joint INDEPENDENT, TRANSPARENT and COMPREHENSIVE review of ALL information held in relation to Madeleine's disappearance. Thus far, there has been NO formal review of the material held by the police authorities - which is routine practice in most major unsolved crimes. It is not right that a young vulnerable British citizen has essentially been given up on. This remains an unsolved case of a missing child. Children are our most precious gift. Please don't give up on Madeleine. Kate & Gerry McCann