Kate McCann, the mother of missing three-year-old Madeleine, is close to breaking point one week after her daughter's apparent abduction.

Friends of the GP said today they were "terribly worried" about Mrs McCann's health.

The mother-of-three has shown incredible bravery but is now showing visible signs of the immense strain she is under.

Close friend Jill Renwick said: "We are really worried about her. She has lost a lot of weight over the last few days. When I saw her leaving church yesterday I was very worried by what I saw. She looked exhausted and under terrible strain. She did not look well."

Mrs McCann returned to the Praia da Luz resort at 11pm yesterday after facing questions from Portuguese police chiefs in Portimao for almost eight hours. She required assistance to leave the car and walk some 20 yards to her hotel room, such was her state of exhaustion.

A Portuguese police source said Mrs McCann was released from questioning early after detectives expressed concern about her state.


One source said: "She has been very brave but is now getting to the point where she is so tired and so worn out that she must rest."


Her husband Gerry McCann stayed on well into the night to answer further police questions but detectives insisted that neither Mr nor Mrs McCann were considered a suspect in the case. The source said: "They are just going over every detail in their statements to make sure everything is correct."

Almost exactly one week to the hour when Madeleine went missing, Portuguese forensic teams returned to the Mark Warner complex where the family are staying. Using sniffer dogs they searched every room including the flat from where she was taken - the first time this week it had been entered by police.

It comes as Portuguese police admitted they are now scaling down the search and as a businessman has offered a £1million reward to anyone who provides information that leads to Madeleine's return.

Stephen Winyard, owner of Scottish health spa Stobo Castle, is a 57-year-old father-of-three who lives in Monaco. He was moved to come forward by photographs of Madeleine's distraught parents.

On Saturday a colleague of Madeleine's mother offered a £100,000 reward.

Today David Beckham was making a TV appeal for the safe return of the missing girl on the eve of her fourth birthday. Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Chelsea's John Terry have already made an appeal for her safe return.