Portuguese police have ended their search in local scrubland where it was claimed the body of missing British girl Madeleine McCann is buried. It appears that the tip was erroneous, but it possibly could have revealed one clue - a towel found at the site could provide a vital clue to the disappearance of Maddie, reports claim.

Forensic teams will examine the light brown beach towel to establish if there is any link to the missing four-year-old - and whether it might be the "blanket" her kidnapper is believed to have used that night six weeks ago to smuggle her away, This is London details in a report. A friend of the McCanns has said she saw a man carrying a child away in a blanket on the evening of May 3, about 30 minutes before anyone noticed Madeleine had disappeared.

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It was discovered nine miles from the McCann family's holiday apartment - in an area pinpointed by an anonymous letter to a Dutch newspaper as the spot where she was buried.   The discovery was made by two journalists from the Amsterdam based De Telegraaf newspaper, who led Portuguese police to the area marked with a cross on a map that accompanied the letter.  They videoed the find and handed it to detectives.

It was reported earlier that dogs would be brought to the search area - but spokesman for the local GNR police, which handles day-to-day policing, said they had received no request from the investigative police, who are in charge of the investigation, for help or to bring sniffer dogs to the area.

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Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, say they are outraged that the letter was published, slamming the move as insensitive, cruel and 'irresponsible journalism.'