The father of Madeleine McCann believes that his family was stalked by a “predator” who watched him leave his holiday apartment then seized the opportunity to abduct his daughter.

Gerry McCann said he believed that the abductor waited until after he had checked on his three children before sneaking in and stealing Madeleine from her bed at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz.

“I’ve no doubt that Madeleine was targeted and that makes us sick to the core to think that someone was watching us and our daughter and then targeted her. I think the true word is a predator,” Mr McCann said in a video made by a family friend.

“They’ve watched me go in, come back out and then they’ve thought: ‘That’s the window of opportunity to get in and get back out.’

Madeleine McCann: the key questions

Why are the "Tapas 9" key to solving the Madeleine mystery?

Related Internet Links

• The latest full coverage of Madeleine McCann

Background

• McCanns consider interview bids

• Madeleine McCann: the global reaction

• The forgotten victim in the McCann case

Multimedia

• Pictures: searching for Madeleine

• Video: McCann family start holiday

Related Links

• McCanns' friend 'saw man taking Madeleine'

• Detectives barred from reinterviewing McCanns

“Clearly, at the time we felt what we were doing was quite responsible. We talked earlier about how rare it is for a foreign child to be abducted and, of course, Praia da Luz is such a quiet place it was the farthest thing from our minds.”

Mr McCann and his wife, Kate, had left Madeleine and their two-year-old twins alone while they dined in a tapas restaurant about 50 yards away with friends. He last checked on the sleeping children at 9pm on May 3 and his wife reported Madeleine missing when she went to check at 10pm.

In video footage filmed before the couple were made official suspects in the case, Mrs McCann said that she continued to question whether she was a responsible parent. “There’s not a day goes by that I’m not thinking: ‘Why did I think that was OK?’ I have to keep telling myself I am a responsible parent,” she said. “We were dining very close to the children and we were checking on them very, very regularly. We are very responsible parents and we love our children so much.”

She also defended herself and her husband against criticism about their behaviour after the disappearance. “It’s awful and horrible for anyone to have to go through — and we are just doing what we think is best,” she said.

The video, to be shown on Panorama tonight on BBC One, also shows the couple, who are both 39, travelling to Spain in a rented Renault Scenic to publicise the search for Madeleine. It has been claimed in Portugal that police believe that they used this trip to dispose of Madeleine’s body and that evidence has been found of a corpse being carried in the car.

However, Portugal’s most senior police officer has insisted that all possibilities are open, giving hope to Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, that officers are still hunting for an abductor.

Alipio Ribeiro, the national director of the Portuguese judicial police, said: “We have stronger assurances on certain aspects of the investigation, but it is also true . . . that we still do not have the solution.” The comment suggests that the Polícia Judiciária has no evidence to link Mr and Mrs McCann to her disappearance.

Mr Ribeiro told the Expresso newspaper that detectives were still receiving new information but that the investigation “cannot produce miracles”.

Asked about possible arrests in the coming weeks, he said: “I don’t know yet. New information comes to us every week. Doors are never closed in these cases.” But he also admitted that they may never charge those responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance.

The Spanish detective agency hired by the McCanns to co-ordinate the search has received a report from a witness who claims to have seen the missing girl in central Portugal on May 5. The woman claims to have spotted a middle-aged blonde hand over a child in a blanket to a man allegedly bearing a strong resemblance to a suspected abductor seen running from the McCanns’ apartment. The woman is reported to bear a striking resemblance to someone already interviewed by police.

Francisco Marco, head of the Metodo 3 agency, said yesterday that he was certain that the missing girl was alive and that his investigators were closing in on the abductor.

Times Recommends

• 'Great Schlep' may seal deal for Obama
• Hindu 'storm troopers' flex their muscles
• Ahtisaari: deserved reward for (failed) plan