Two friends of Robert Murat, the suspect in the hunt for missing Madeleine McCann, were reinterviewed by detectives yesterday as the child's parents joined thousands of pilgrims at a holy shrine to pray for her safe return.
Luis Antonio was questioned as a witness while Mr Murat's girlfriend, Mr Antonio's estranged German wife, Michaela Walczuch, was released by police after also being questioned. It is the second time both have been interviewed.
As Gerry McCann, a Glasgow-born cardiologist, and his wife, Kate, lit a candle at the shrine of Fatima, Portugal's holiest site, there was growing criticism over the way the investigation was being conducted.
Ms Walczuch and Mr Antonio were called for questioning yesterday morning, 20 days after Madeleine was snatched from a holiday complex in the Algarve village of Praia da Luz. The pair, who were questioned for several hours last week after Mr Murat was held, were reinterviewed in Portimao.
Mr Murat has not been charged or even formally arrested. He denies any involvement in the abduction.
One British criminal analyst criticised the investigation by Portuguese police and said British detectives should review the case.
Former Surrey officer Mark Williams-Thomas, who worked on the Sarah Payne kidnap and murder inquiry and spent a week in Praia da Luz in the earlier stages of the inquiry, said the investigation had "hit a brick wall".
He said there was a lack of specialist fingertip searches of streets around the hotel where Madeleine was abducted and a failure to search every flat and home in Praia da Luz.
He also criticised Portuguese police for making no direct appeal for help for many days after the girl's disappearance and failing to give a clear description of her.
He said: "The first days after an abduction like this are absolutely critical. These were the hours when Portuguese detectives should have been beating on every door, combing the streets and interviewing everybody staying in the hotel. I was there and I saw that they just did not do this. You have to say that they made serious errors. They did not do the basics.
"A major window of opportunity was lost."
Meanwhile, the McCanns, holding presents, flowers and a single set of Rosary beads, sat among more than 1000 pilgrims praying for Madeleine's safe return at the Marian shrine of Fatima, north of Lisbon, which was the site of a series of visions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in 1917.
As they arrived, Mrs McCann clutched a yellow rose and Madeleine's favourite cuddly toy while her husband held a small Bible.
They were followed by a crowd of pilgrims, some holding candles.
Both sat in the front row side-on to the shrine as prayers were said for their daughter.
The couple listened, a chain of Rosary beads passing slowly through Mr McCann's fingers, as Monsignor Luciano Guerra led the prayers.
He told the congregation: "Let us pray so that those vultures can be enlightened, they need to be converted, those who abuse children and approach children to be sold off."
Speaking after the couple left the shrine for a private lunch, a family spokesman said: "Kate and Gerry were very pleased to come here to Fatima today.
"They have long wanted to visit the sanctuary, their faith is very important to them and this was a profoundly moving and important spiritual visit for them at this time."
He thanked people for the flowers, good wishes and prayers they had given the McCanns.
"Every single prayer is important to them, they draw strength from every prayer in their ongoing search for Madeleine," he said.
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