A new image of a man suspected of kidnapping Madeleine McCann from a Portuguese holiday apartment has been handed to police.

The artist’s impression shows a man of North African appearance seen by several witnesses in Praia da Luz in the days before Madeleine disappeared from her bed on May 3.

He is of similar appearance to a man who was allegedly seen by a friend of the McCann family carrying Madeleine away from the Ocean Club resort shortly before she was reported missing.

He is aged 38 to 45, with sallow skin, dark hair, a droopy Mexican-style moustache, has large teeth and spoke in broken English. Several British tourists are reported to have remembered seeing the man.

A sketch of the man has been handed to Portuguese and British police and to Interpol by a firm of private detectives hired by Madeleine’s family to coordinate an international search.

The McCanns’ official spokesman said at a press conference today that it was vitally important the man was traced as soon as possible.

“Who is he? Where is he? What, if any, is his connection to Madeleine’s disappearance?” Clarence Mitchell told reporters at a London hotel.

“If he is innocent we want him to come forward for his own sake so he can be ruled out. We believe this man could be linked to Madeleine’s disappearance.”

The new sketch was produced by an FBI-accredited police artist, based on an interview with Gail Cooper, 50, a community healthcare co-ordinator from Newark, Notts.

Mrs Cooper said she first saw him on the beach at Praia da Luz on April 20. Later the same day he called on the holiday villa where she was staying with her husband, Jonathan.

Mrs Cooper told the News of the World: “He must have seen my husband leaving because the bell rang only seconds later. He flashed what he said was an identity card but it could have been anything really.

“He said he was collecting for an orphanage in nearby Espiche that was caring for three children whose parents had recently been killed in an accident on the main coast road.

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