Spanish police have denied reports they received a telephone call from a man claiming to know where Madeleine McCann was.

The message was earlier reported to be "credible" and so important that Gerry and Kate McCann put their schedule on hold while they awaited developments.

Reports suggested the call had come from a pay-as-you go mobile from an unidentified country and the caller wanted to speak to the McCanns directly.

A Spanish police source had originally insisted the message "did not appear to be a crank call".

However, a Spanish police spokesman later described the report as "a lie".

"All I can say is that it is a lie," a spokesman told The Associated Press.

"I don't know where this came from but the police have no record of this call anywhere."

Mr McCann has dismissed the call as "nothing of interest".

The couple had been informed of the potential development while in Germany, where they were appealing to tourists who may have been in the Algarve around the time of the child's disappearance.

At around 3pm on Wednesday, the couple - who were about to go to Tempelhof airport in Berlin to fly on to the Netherlands - were advised that the caller might try to contact them, so they stayed on at the British embassy.

At 6pm, journalists travelling in the eight-seater private jet with the couple were told by the flight crew that there might be a change in destination.

They revealed they had been asked to draw up a new flight plan involving a possible change from Amsterdam to East Midlands Airport.

It was thought the McCanns might need to go back to the UK to talk to advisers about the call.

But all efforts to re-establish contact with the man failed and the couple decided to go on to Amsterdam.

It is 35 days since Madeleine was abducted from her bed in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.

Police have only one formal suspect, Robert Murat.