Web users targeted for Madeleine McCann video

British police appealed today for internet users worldwide to spread a new video aimed at pricking the conscience of the key witness who knows what happened to Madeleine McCann.

The one-minute film includes fresh images of how Madeleine might look now, including one with dark brown hair and tanned skin in case she has been living in north Africa.

The appeal, launched by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre, is targeted at a friend or relative of the person responsible for the little girl's disappearance.

Ceop head Jim Gamble said the clip's message, which has been translated into six other languages, had been crafted with the help of psychologists to persuade the witness to "do the right thing".

He said: "The person we are looking to reach is likely to be a partner, family member, friend or colleague of the person or people who were involved in Madeleine's disappearance.

"It is also highly probable that they, or someone close to them, is using the internet to search for any updates that may suggest the police are getting closer to discovering the truth."

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

Ceop hopes people will spread the new film - the first appeal of its kind - across the globe using blogs, email and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

It features a number of well-known photographs and video clips of Madeleine, as well as three pictures of how she could look now, aged six, if she is still alive.

The US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which developed the age-progression images, released one in May to coincide with the second anniversary of her disappearance.

But following concerns that it looked "too American", two fresh pictures have been created.

In one her blonde hair and pale skin are unchanged, but in the second she has dark hair and skin to show how she might appear if she has spent time in the sunnier climate of southern Europe or north Africa.

The video has a voice-over in which Mr Gamble appeals directly to anyone with information about what happened to the child.

He says: "We know that there is someone out there who knows who is involved in her disappearance. They may be keeping this secret out of fear, misplaced loyalty or even love.

"Keeping this information secret only increases the anguish of Madeleine's family and friends and increases the risk to other children.

"If you know who is involved and are keeping this secret, remember that it is never too late to do the right thing."

The message is available in English, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

It is being supported by police agencies around the world, including Interpol, Europol and forces in Australia, the US, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

Ceop did not work directly with the Portuguese police, who led the investigation into the little girl's disappearance before shelving the case in July last year.

But any relevant information received will be passed on to Leicestershire Police, who will share it with detectives in Portugal.

Mr Gamble said the appeal came about after Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, wrote to him expressing frustration that lines of inquiry were drying up.

He added: "We talked to psychologists about guilt, about how we can open the opportunity for an individual or remind them that they can redeem themselves, they can do the right thing.

"It's about considering how normal people deal with keeping a secret and how they can be prompted to come forward."

Mr Gamble stressed that investigations involving missing children were never closed, citing the cases of youngsters such as Jaycee Lee Dugard, who turned up in California in August this year after disappearing 18 years earlier.

He said: "For each one of those kids there's a story where lots of people thought they would never turn up again.

"I believe this is about hope, it's about collective hope. And I absolutely believe this message cascading and spreading in the right way will deliver answers for us."

Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, welcomed the initiative.

They said in a statement: "We are extremely grateful to Ceop for launching this new message around the world in such an effective way. It is vital that it is seen and heard as widely as possible.

"If you know what has happened to Madeleine, it is still not too late to do the right thing and come forward to your local police with that information.

"We love Madeleine. Please help us bring her home."

The McCanns have changed their official findmadeleine.com website to open with the message: "It's never too late to do the right thing."

Ceop has been involved in the search for Madeleine from the first week that she went missing.

Early in the investigation it asked tourists who visited Praia da Luz in the fortnight before she vanished to send in their holiday photographs so they could be compared against a database of images of UK paedophiles and other criminals.

Mr McCann said the video was targeting the abductor and the people who know that person and may have information.

"I think this is targeted specifically to the abductor and the people that know that person and who may have information.

"As Jim (Gamble) says on the video, people may keep information out of misguided loyalty and very much we are trying to appeal to them and the abductor to do the right thing," he told GMTV.

"And it is to try and get, I suppose, under their skin and prick their conscience."

* ceop.police.uk