A SICK Facebook group claiming to be created by Maddie McCann's kidnapper has been removed after thousands complained.

The group, named "If 2,000,000 people join this group, I will give back Maddie McCann," was slammed by outraged users who campaigned to get it banned.

The tasteless page on the social networking site included hundreds of twisted jokes about Maddie's disappearance and attracted 60,000 members.

It contained dozens of spoofed pictures of Madeleine depicting her kidnap and was "liked" by thousands of members.

The vile group was littered with messages from its anonymous creator, purporting to be from her kidnapper abroad.

One claimed: "I'm celebrating Christmas in Portugal this year! It'll just be me and Maddie though."

Another said: "She's doing fine. I just purchased a PS3, so she has some company in the wine cellar."

The group was created on December 10 and was finally shut down on Monday by Facebook administrators after thousands of people called for it to be deleted.

More than 6000 people joined seven separate groups set up in protest against the original group. Others branded the creator sick.

One user said: "You are sick in the head if you think this is funny, you perverts. This group is disgusting and the person who started it should go to jail."

Another wrote: "The parents could have been looking at it thinking that all day, every day their missing daughter is in the hands of a sick, perverted, a******e. "It just makes you feel physically sick."

Some members even believed the twisted joker was for real.

One girl wrote: "Give her back. She has got a family, you know. You're well harsh. Get your head sorted out."

Another said: "I think you sick people should give her back to people that love her."

Madeleine was nearly four when she was kidnapped from a flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007, while on holiday with parents Kate and Gerry.

A spokesman for Find Madeleine, the campaign set up by Kate and Gerry, refused to comment.

Facebook's terms and conditions page states: "You will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence."