TOP cop Paulo Rebelo examines the bedroom window through which Madeleine McCann is thought to have been spirited away.

Portugal's second most senior policeman took charge of a re-enactment of the night four-year-old Maddie went missing from her family's holiday apartment.

Rebelo played the role of an abductor as he ran through various scenarios with a team of seven plain-clothed officers.

Maddie's parents Gerry and Kate were last night said to be encouraged by the move.

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We welcome any indication the Portuguese police are taking the abduction theory seriously - because that is what happened."

At one point during the re-enactment a cop was seen passing a large bundle the size of Maddie through the half-open window. An officer also climbed out.

Rebelo paced out possible escape routes and was seen gesticulating to his men. His operation, which lasted three hours, appeared to add weight to Kate and Gerry's insistence that Maddie was snatched.

The team looked at different ways a kidnapper might have entered and left the ground-floor apartment in Praia da Luz.

All windows and the patio doors were examined in minute detail. But no one wore gloves or masks, indicating they believe there is no chance of uncovering any new forensic evidence.

Gesturing

The detectives also visited other key locations in the town, including the beach. At one point they headed in the direction of Casa Liliana, the villa where the case's first official suspect, Robert Murat, lives with his mum.

And they visited the home of Sergei Malinka, the Russian computer expert linked to Murat.

Reports today suggest officers plan to re-

interview Murat.

He was first declared a suspect 10 days after the disappearance of Madeleine.

British-born Murat aroused suspicion by hanging around the McCanns' apartment but he claims he was helping as an interpreter.

Police sources reportedly say Mr Rebelo is working on a series of "facts that do not fall into place" - plus some linked to Murat's

interview.

One source reportedly claimed: "Murat has not been ruled out. The new head of the investigation wants every single line of inquiry to be fully re-examined as he is not satisfied with the evidence gathering at the start of the investigation - and obviously much of that work was focused on Murat."

Rebelo, 45, took over the troubled probe three weeks ago. He promised a thorough re-evaluation - and yesterday seemed to be keeping his word.

A witness to the operation said: "The one in charge gestured to the others as if he was directing them through scenarios.

"One of them took a bundled blue blanket and held it out of the window to see if it would pass through."

As the re-enactment went on, private eyes searching for Maddie in Morocco were checking TEN sightings of a girl matching her description.

All the reports come from the Rif mountains - a lawless region in northern Morocco where drug-smuggling and corruption is rife.

Metodo 3, the Spanish detective agency hired by the McCanns, have three men combing the area, backed by an army of informers.

And private detectives are reportedly searching for a woman of about 60 who has been spotted with a child fitting Maddie's description by three

 different tourists.

They have already tipped off Interpol about a small blonde girl, thought to be American, found living with a Moroccan family in the mountains.

A Metodo 3 source said: "It was obvious it was not her natural family. Maddie could be in a similar situation."

In Britain, it was revealed Gerry McCann will return to work on Thursday, resuming as a consultant cardiologist at Leicester's Glenfield hospital.

Gerry, 39, has been on unpaid leave since Maddie was lost. But a hospital source said: "He feels ready to return and that it will help him and Kate go on as normally as they can." He will initially only work 3½ days a week.

  GREEK cops are launching a poster appeal to find lost Ben Needham, who vanished on Kos aged 21 months in 1991. Yesterday was his 18th birthday. His mum Kerry, 34, of Sheffield, called the campaign "fantastic news".