Kate McCann hit back at critics as her book was launched in Portugal

A DEFIANT Kate McCann yesterday confronted critics who branded her cold and emotionless when she returned to the country where her daughter Madeleine vanished.

As she arrived in the Portuguese capital Lisbon to make her latest 'appeal for information, an angry Kate, 43, asked: 'Who can say what the mum of a missing child should look like'

'People can judge however they want but unless you've been in the situation we've been in, it's impossible to know what someone feels. Why do people feel they have the right to judge when this judgment is based on ignorance''

Kate and her husband Gerry chose not to give a formal press conference to launch her book, Madeleine, in Portugal, preferring to give television interviews.

Their daughter disappeared a few days before her fourth birthday from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz as they dined with friends in May 2007

In an interview with the Portuguese magazine Sabado, Kate admitted she still feels guilty when she laughs about something. She said: 'I've managed to appreciate life a lot more now. The feeling of guilt has diminished as well.
'We will always regret not having been there to help Madeleine but we cannot change things now.

'I still feel a little guilt when I laugh but not as much as I did. I have learned to accept it's not bad to be happy.'

Kate, whose twins Sean and Amelie are now six, added: 'They need a happy mummy and Madeleine needs to be able to return to a mummy who's happy as well.'

Scotland Yard has announced a review of the Portuguese police investigation following the personal intervention of Prime Minister David Cameron.

Yesterday senior Portuguese police sources claimed key statements and a photo fit of a potential suspect were not passed on by their British counterparts.

Investigations by the Sunday Express suggest there were unexplained breakdowns in the communication, which could have damaged the effort to find Madeleine.

A British man at the tapas bar where the McCanns dined gave a statement saying how he spoke to an English woman who told him she had heard a 'breaking noise' about the time that Madeleine was taken.

His statement, however, was not passed to Portuguese police, said 'Goncalo Amaral, the senior officer who was moved off the investigation for complaining about his British counterparts.

Earlier this month the Sunday Express published a photofit of a man seen acting suspiciously near the McCanns' apartment alongside a photograph of a 40-year-old German youth worker, being held on suspicion of murdering several children across Europe.

Mr Amaral said the first time he was aware of the photofit was when he saw it in the Sunday Express.
Last night he said: 'I knew about the statement from the British woman but the photofit was not sent through. I believe it is important that this line of inquiry is investigated.'

The woman who drew up the image was a relative of Pamela Fenn, an elderly woman who lived above the McCanns' apartment. She died recently. Her relative said that on the afternoon of the kidnap, she was on the balcony of Mrs Fenn's apartment when she looked down and saw a man pushing a gate to a neighbouring apartment to and fro possibly to find out how much noise it made.

When she realised Madeleine was taken the same evening she gave a statement to British police and helped them compile the  photofit. However, the first time the public was aware of her potentially crucial evidence was its mention in Kate's book.

Speaking to the Sunday Express Mr Amaral said: 'I don't think it would be useful to criticise the British detectives but I would be interested to hear why certain material was not sent to Portugal while I was on the case.'
Ian Robertson, who has an apartment in the same block, said from his home at Neyland, Pembrokeshire: 'There seemed to be a group of local thieves targeting the apartments. I have a theory that they had criminal contacts and that Madeleine might have been stolen to order.'

Mr Amaral said: 'One of the theories considered was that a thief got into the apartment and something happened with Madeleine. I am sure the review will examine that theory.'