MORE than 2,000 cuddly toys left in tribute to Madeleine McCann are to be sent to poor children in Eastern Europe.

 

The playthings were placed along with cards and yellow ribbons at a war memorial which became a focal point for wellwishers in her home village of Rothley, Leics.

The toys have been washed by schoolkids and their parents, and passed to a charity which will give them to youngsters in Belarus.

All the messages have been kept by parents Kate and Gerry. Helping to pack the toys, Kate’s aunt Janet Kennedy said: “They are going to the children who need them.”

Jane Simmonds, of charity Samaritan’s Purse, said: “It is incredible knowing that this family was thinking of other children and of those toys while they were in such turmoil themselves.”

 

A TV series based on Madeleine’s disappearance is to be filmed by a Chilean production team best known for a sleazy drama about a serial killer doctor
who cuts the hearts out of his female victims.