Kate McCann believes that she is being persecuted over the disappearance of her daughter Madeleine because she does not look suitably “maternal”.

Mrs McCann told her mother that she was being treated unfairly by the media over claims that she was involved in Madeleine’s death at a Portuguese holiday resort on May 3. “If I weighed another two stone, had a bigger bosom and looked more maternal, people would be more sympathetic,” she told her mother, Susan Healy.

The comments, reported in a local newspaper, follow a week in which Mrs McCann and her husband, Gerry, have been subjected to a series of unconfirmed allegations about Madeleine’s disappearance. It was claimed yesterday that traces of bodily fluids from a decomposing corpse had been found in the boot of a car that they used in Portugal.

Mrs McCann’s mother told the Liverpool Echo that her daughter, a 38-year-old GP, had been under immense pressure because of the “scurrilous rubbish” being reported about the case. “She does feel persecuted, not by the general public, who have been extremely supportive, but by some sections of the media and I feel it’s important I let people know she is not this person who is in control all the time.

“Her life revolves around her children but now she’s got to the point where she feels she is is being persecuted, in her mind, if her twins, Sean and Amelie, cry in public.”

She dismissed reports that Mr McCann was not Madeleine’s father and that the couple had sedated their children on the evening of their daughter’s disappearance.

Mrs Healy said that the couple were still being counselled to help them to come to terms with their loss. “I know it does help them,” she said.

Mrs Healy and her husband, Brian, were meeting with relatives and friends yesterday to discuss how they could promote the Find Madeleine campaign. The campaign, which has raised more than £1 million, has produced new posters and will pay for a series of adverts in Portuguese and Spanish newspapers before Christmas.

Mr and Mrs McCann, however, remain the official suspects in their daughter’s disappearance. Portuguese police have taken a copy of Mrs McCann’s diaries to look for clues about her psychological state and for any details about Madeleine’s disappearance.

There has been intense media speculation about the results of tests on samples found at the family’s holiday apartment and in their hire car. Most of the tests have been completed at the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham but some are still being carried out.

Senior Portuguese detectives have told local journalists that the quantity of Madeleine’s hair found in the boot of the car surprised them. They also said that there had been traces of the missing girl’s sweat and blood. The McCanns insisted that the traces could have been transferred from Madeleine’s clothes and other belongings that they moved in the car.

The briefings by Portuguese officers led to complaints by friends of the McCanns that the couple were the victims of “black propaganda”. Although the briefings stopped this month after the head of the inquiry was demoted for criticising British police, British and Portuguese media have continued to report a series of highly damaging allegations.

However, none is as serious as the alleged discovery of fluids from a decomposing body as it would be the first concrete evidence that the McCanns had disposed of a corpse.

Detectives have asked Mrs McCann why a police dog had indicated the presence of a corpse in their hired Renault Scenic 25 days after Madeleine was reported missing. The Evening Standard reported yesterday that Portuguese police sources claimed that scientific tests had shown “bodily fluid” from a corpse in the boot. The sources are also reported to have alleged that the evidence was found on the underside of a carpet, indicating that a body was hidden there.

The Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas quoted a police source as saying: “We are almost certain that Maddie suffered an accident in the Ocean Club apartment but lack the conclusive evidence.”

A friend of the couple said: “If Portuguese police really had decomposing bodily fluids in the car — and they had proof of that — do you really think Kate and Gerry would still be at home in Leicestershire?”

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, said: “I cannot comment on unsubstantiated reports.”

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