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Madeleine McCann: 2,400 Calls After Appeals

Scotland Yard says it has received more than 2,400 calls and emails since programmes on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann aired across Europe.

Madeleine's parents also launched an appeal for information to help them find their daughter on television shows in Holland and Germany.

Some 7.26 million people watched Germany's version of the BBC Crimewatch programme, its highest rating in 15 years.

Appearing on Aktenzeichen XY ungeloest, the missing girl's mother Kate McCann said: "Please have the compassion and courage to tell us what happened to her."

The Metropolitan Police said they had received 500 tip-offs following its airing.

It is not known how many of the tip-offs will prove useful to police, who also received 350 phone calls from the public after the appeal was aired on Dutch television.

Officers at Scotland Yard said they received the calls after the appeal was broadcast on the crime programme Opsporing Verzocht.

Investigators are now assessing and prioritising the calls.

DCI Andy Redwood said: "We have been very pleased with the information that is coming into the Incident Room. All of that material will be prioritised and actioned by the Operation Grange team.

"The next stage of the appeal with be in Ireland later in the month."

Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry said they were "absolutely delighted" with the "overwhelming" response to the new appeal for information about their daughter's disappearance which first featured on Crimewatch.

Following a similar appeal on Norway's TV2 channel, a Norwegian woman claimed to have seen a girl resembling Madeleine with a strange man when she was on holiday in Spain two years ago.

Detectives have released two e-fit images of a man they want to speak to in connection with the case based on the accounts of two witnesses.

Both described seeing him in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of the three-year-old's disappearance on May 3, 2007.

:: Madeleine: The New Investigation, Friday at 7.30pm on Sky News