The dramatic development comes amid fears that he may have acting with an accomplice in a paedophile gang to "case" the holiday complex in the days running up to her disappearance.

Grandmother Gail Cooper, who was staying just 500 yards from Gerry and Kate McCanns' holiday apartment, told police how she came face to face with the "disturbing" man hanging around the resort three times.

Based on her descriptions, an FBI-trained artist produced a likeness of the suspect whom British and Portuguese police and Interpol were desperately trying to trace last night.

The sketch bears a striking resemblance to an image of a man seen by family friend, Jane Tanner carrying a child away on the night Madeleine vanished on May 3.

Yesterday the McCanns' official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said it was vital to trace the man as soon as possible.

A million posters appealing for information in English, Arabic and French about the suspicious character are now being distributed throughout Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula where private detectives working for the McCanns believe she has been taken.

At a press conference in London, Clarence Mitchell said: "Who is he? Where is he? What, if any, is his connection to Madeleine's disappearance?"

"If he is innocent we want him to come forward for his own sake so he can be ruled out.

"We believe this man could be linked to Madeleine's disappearance.
"We need to find this man and find him quickly."

In the days following Madeleine's disappearance, Mrs Cooper, from Newark, Nottinghamshire gave a statement to police describing him.

But Portuguese detectives failed to quiz her further and a image of the suspect has never been produced until she was reinterviewed last week by the McCanns' private detective agency Metodo 3.

It also emerged yesterday that a 12-year-old girl living locally has come forward with information after seeing a "strange man".

Mrs Cooper, who was staying with her husband Jonathan in a villa close to the apartment later hired by the McCanns, described seeing an olive-skinned man with collar-length scraggly hair acting suspiciously on a number of occasions.

She first saw him on April 20 walking by himself in heavy rain on the deserted beach at Praia da Luz.

The 50-year-old healthcare coordinator said: "He was wandering alone, even though it was pouring with rain. I watched him for a few minutes before I went back to chatting to my friends."

Later that afternoon, the stranger turned up at their villa where Mrs Cooper's eight-year-old granddaughter was swimming alone in a pool visible from the road.

Heavily-clothed despite the warm weather and carrying what he claimed was an ID card, she said he appeared nervous and agitated.

Speaking in broken English, he claimed that he was raising money for a local orphanage in Espiche, but Mrs Cooper said she quickly got rid of him.

"He must have seen my husband leave, because the bell rang only seconds later," she recalled.

"He seemed really strange. It was a warm afternoon, but he was still wearing khaki trousers or joggers, a T-shirt and a bomber jacket.

"He said he was collecting for an orphanage that was caring for three children whose parents had been killed in an accident on the main coast road.

"It just didn't add up - everyone would have known if there had been a tragedy like that. He was rambling and becoming agitated. He really unnerved me.

"I thought he was a conman trying to pull a fast one. He was very creepy. He wasn't Portuguese - I think he was either Tunisian or Moroccan.

She added: "We have been going out to Portugal for 10 years or so, sometimes four times a year, so I like to think I know the Portuguese pretty well.

"They are always smartly-dressed and polite - and this man wasn't. He stuck out. He was unpleasant, and I felt vulnerable when I was in his presence."

Investigators have since discovered that no such orphanage exists and they have found no evidence of the supposed accident.

Two days later Mrs Cooper saw the same man hanging around a children's outing to the beach organised by the Mark Warner resort.

Madeleine took part in the same outings in the days leading up to her disappearance.

She said yesterday: "I just hope they either catch this person or he comes forward.
"My memory of him is very vivid. It was unnerving. He made my blood run cold and gave me the creeps.

"In my job I have to assess people and make a judgement. My judgement is that this man could have been the kidnapper."

She also blasted Portuguese police for not taking her report seriously of the sightings during her family holiday between April 18-25 last year to celebrate her 50th birthday.

"It's certainly some time since I went to the police. I was a bit surprised it took so long for something to be done," she said.

With the help of police artist Melissa Little, two sketches of the man have been produced.

He has been described as aged 38 to 45, with sallow skin, lank, long dark hair, a distinctive droopy moustache and large teeth.

Yesterday Jane Tanner said one of the sketches showing the man wearing a safari jacket and light-coloured trousers "strongly resembles" the man she saw carrying a child wearing pyjamas identical to those worn by Madeleine on the night of the disappearance.

Mrs Cooper's evidence also echoes that of another holidaymaker, Paul Gordon, 34, who saw a man hanging around the McCanns' apartment days before Madeleine vanished.

The father of two told police that he spotted a man outside the two-bedroom flat's patio doors while his own two children were sleeping inside.

Mr Gordon, who stayed in the Ocean Club flat immediately before the McCanns did, said when he confronted the man he claimed to be collecting money for an orphanage in the mountains.

Yesterday there were fears that the second man - who does not match the description of the figure seen by Mrs Cooper- may have been an accomplice checking out the layout of the apartment and security with a view to snatching a child.

A friend of the McCanns said yesterday: "We fear that a group of two or three paedophiles may have fishing around the apartments, casing it with a view to taking children."

Now the McCanns want a review of all the witness statements, including one taken from a 12-year-old girl who is being interviewed by Metodo 3 in the hope of obtaining a sketch of the "strange man" she saw in Praia da Luz in May last year.

Early calls to the Madeleine McCann helpline yesterday also suggested that the man in the sketch had been seen in Faro several years ago.

Mr Mitchell said developments such as this gave Mr and Mrs McCann renewed hope.

"That is exactly the sort of call we want. We think the image is of such a quality that anyone who knows him will be able to identify him," he said.

"Kate and Gerry are quite buoyant at the moment - every time we do something like this and move things forward it gives them strength."