Madeleine McCann’s parents, family friends and other holiday-makers have been called back to Portugal to participate in a reconstruction of the night she disappeared, Times Online has learnt.

Detectives want to replicate the events at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz on the evening when Kate and Gerry McCann reported their eldest daughter had been abducted. They have asked dozens of people to attend the event after the completion of a series of interviews with key witnesses which started today.

The unprecedented reconstruction is planned for the middle of next month, shortly after the first anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance on May 3. Portuguese police have written to witnesses, asking them to cooperate by attending the event.

Mr and Mrs McCann have not been to the Algarve resort since they were made arguidos (official suspects) on September 7. Friends of the couple have indicated that they would refuse to voluntarily return unless they are formally cleared of any wrongdoing.

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The reconstruction would involve dozens of people who were in Praia da Luz from the early afternoon of May 3 until Madeleine was reported missing from her bedroom at 10pm.

Events on the ground would be compared with the timeline of evidence being compiled during interviews with more than 50 people which are being carried out by British police throughout this month.

Portuguese detectives hope the reconstruction will help them identify discrepancies in evidence and to pinpoint areas which need further investigation.

However, critics will see it as as a sign that the investigators have no idea what happened to Madeleine. Experts from Scotland Yard and Leicestershire Constabulary had advised Portuguese police to hold a reconstruction within weeks of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Seven British friends who were on holiday with the McCanns are being questioned by British police this week. The interviews at the headquarters of Leicestershire Constabulary are being watched by the chief Portuguese investigator, Paulo Rebelo, and two other senior detectives from the Polícia Judiciária.

Apparent inconsistencies in the previous statements of the “Tapas Seven” and the accounts of Mr and Mrs McCann have been identified by detectives. However, they have insisted that there are no differences and any minor discrepancies are to be expected in any set of recollections.

Mrs McCann, 40, and her 39-year-old husband, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, claim that Madeleine was abducted by a stranger just days before her fourth birthday.

The couple were dining with friends at a tapas restaurant at the Ocean Club when the abductor allegedly forced up a window and snatched Madeleine from the ground-floor bedroom where she was sleeping with her twin brother and sister, Sean and Amelie, now aged two.

Interviews will also be carried out with other holidaymakers, Ocean Club staff, the nannies who looked after Madeleine on the day she disappeared, as well as the psychologist who helped Mrs McCann.

A spokeswoman for Leicestershire Constabulary said: “We will be co-ordinating the execution of the request for mutual legal assistance made by the Portuguese authorities.

“The Portuguese authorities have asked that the contents of the request and the way it is being executed be kept confidential so as not to prejudice their ongoing investigation.”

Clarence Mitchell, the the McCanns' spokesman, said: “Any requests made by Portuguese police via Kate and Gerry’s lawyers are covered by Portuguese judicial secrecy and as a result I am not at liberty to discuss any details of any such proposals.

“However, Kate and Gerry would very much welcome a Crimewatch-style reconstruction which is properly broadcast for millions of people to see and could generate important new leads and fresh information.

“It’s untrue to say that Kate and Gerry have been called back or summoned back. Their lawyers are very much continuing discussions with the Portuguese police and if any such decision is taken to take part, an announcement will be made at the appropriate time.”

Mr and Mrs McCann will tomorrow travel to Brussels to lobby MEPs for better co-ordination between European countries when a child goes missing.

The couple last month visited the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in Washington, United States, to learn about the Amber child abduction alert system as part of a television documentary to be broadcast on April 30.

Mr McCann wrote afterwards: “During our Washington visit we were also very encouraged to hear that, in NCMEC’s experience, the younger the child at the time of abduction the less likely that child will be seriously harmed.

“Such information makes us believe even more fervently, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that Madeleine can be found safe and well.”

Timeline of May 3, 2007

10am Madeleine and her twin siblings Sean and Amelie were placed in the Ocean Club’s Kids Club while their parents go for a walk.

12.30pm Kate and Gerry McCann collect children. They have lunch at their apartment before going to the Ocean Club swimming pool.

2.29pm The last photograph of Madeleine is taken at the pool. The camera's clock reads 1.29pm, but the family says it was out by one hour.

3.30pm Children return to Kids Club.

5.30pm Children have tea at Kids Club.

6pm Mrs McCann takes children back to apartment while husband starts an hour-long tennis lesson.

6.30pm Mr McCann asks David Payne to check on Mrs McCann and children at the apartment.

7pm Mr McCann returns to apartment and children are put to bed.

7.30pm Mr and Mrs McCann shower and change.

8.35pm McCanns are the first of the group to arrive at the tapas restaurant, 50 yards away from their apartment

9.05pm Mr McCann returns to the apartment to check the children. He enters through the unlocked patio doors sees all three children asleep.

9.08pm Walking back to the tapas club Mr McCann sees Jeremy Wilkins on the opposite side of the road. The men spend several minutes talking.

9.10pm Jane Tanner walks up the road unnoticed by Mr McCann and Wilkins. She sees a man walking across the road in front of her carrying a girl in his arms

9.30pm Matthew Oldfield leaves tapas restaurants to check on group’s children. Sees twins in their cots but does not directly see Madeleine’s bed.

10.00pm Mrs McCann checks children and finds bedroom window open. Twins are sleeping, but Madeleine’s bed is empty

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