Portuguese police have re-opened their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann - five years after they abandoned the search.

The fresh hunt has been launched for the missing girl after new lines of inquiry emerged from an internal review.

The new Portuguese police investigation will run alongside Scotland Yard's own hunt for Madeleine who vanished in 2007.

The new development will give fresh hope to Kate and Gerry McCann, more than six years after their daughter disappeared.

They said today they are 'very pleased' that the authorities will re-open the investigation and
hope that it will uncover 'the answers we so desperately need'.

The couple said: 'We are very pleased that the investigation to find our missing daughter Madeleine has been officially reopened in Portugal.

'We hope that this will finally lead to her being found and to the discovery of whoever is responsible for this crime.

'We once again urge any member of the public who may have information relating to Madeleine's abduction to contact the police in Portugal or the UK.'

Police in Portugal shelved their investigation into what happened to the little girl in July 2008, a year after she vanished.

Four inspectors from the Porto-based Policia Judiciaria - led by research coordinator Helena Monteiro - have identified witnesses who were never questioned during the original investigation.

Although officers have travelled to the Algarve and collected evidence they needed to apply to senior prosecutors for permission to be able to formally interview the new witnesses.

Separately, a team of six Portuguese officers are working alongside Scotland Yard officers who are carrying out their own review of the evidence.

The hunt for Madeleine has been given renewed impetus 2,400 people contacted the Metropolitan Police with potential fresh leads after a high-profile appeal on BBC Crimewatch.

'I think sometimes these things at the beginning can be very difficult to deal with, you don't know exactly if the child has just wandered off. It can be very difficult to know if you've got a very serious crime,' he said speaking on LBC 97.3.

'I'm sure for them that must have been a challenge. Anybody can go back after two, three, five, six years and say "why didn't you do that"?

'That's easy in hindsight. We don't like it when it happens to the Met, and I'm certainly not going to do it to the Portuguese. What I'm determined to do is to work together to make sure we've got the best chance to now try to get to the bottom of this terrible tragedy.

'There is a poor family there who've got the torture of not knowing whether their daughter is alive or not.'

He said the discovery of two blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls living with Roma families in Ireland and Greece has not had any 'direct impact' on the investigation, but added: 'It looks like there's a possibility that around the world there are occasions when people steal children and keep them.

'And I'm sure in one sense that's what the McCanns must be hoping, that at least their child is alive.

'The other possibility is that sadly she's not alive, and either way we want to try and end the torture that they're going through.'

Refreshed appeals were made last week as part of the British investigation, with Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood appearing on television in the UK, Holland and Germany.

He revealed that his team had discounted a previous sighting by the McCanns' friend Jane Tanner, which was thought to be an abductor carrying Madeleine away and had been put at the centre of the Portuguese investigation.

His team managed to track down the man - an innocent British holidaymaker - and instead decided to focus on a second suspect who was also seen with a child in his arms.

Officers also said they would like to trace a number of fair-haired men who were seen lurking near the apartment at the time, and are looking at a surge in burglaries in the area as well as bogus charity collectors.

An appeal is due to air on Irish television later this month.