Kate McCann said the support has been fantastic

Kate and Gerry McCann have described the 'fantastic' support given to them by villagers in Rothley following their daughter Madeleine's disappearance.

Yesterday, at the launch of a book written by Kate about the little girl who went missing four years ago, they publicly thanked the community for helping them cope with their horrific ordeal.

Kate said: 'The support has been fantastic.

'Neither of us come from Leicester so it made a huge difference to us.

'They have helped us in so many ways, from giving emotional support to businesses and individuals making donations to the fund to help find Madeleine. People have pulled together and held fund-raising events as well.'

Husband Gerry said: 'When things were at their worst, they rallied round us.

'I would like to thank them. Without that sort of support, I'm not sure how families like us would keep going.'

Madeleine disappeared from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, on May 3, 2007.

Her parents chose the date of her eighth birthday yesterday to renew their appeal to the public to help them find their daughter.

They have written to Prime Minister David Cameron calling for an independent review of the case, and begging him to speak to his Portuguese counterpart about it.

In the letter, they said: 'We have tried in vain to get the authorities in the UK and Portugal to play their part. But, sadly, our requests have seemingly fallen on deaf ears. 'It is simply not acceptable that they have, to all intents and purposes, given up on Madeleine.'

Gerry said: 'As long as Madeleine is missing, we can't give up. We want to look at what can still be done.'

Last night, the Home Office responded by announcing that it was prepared to help the McCanns, pledging police officers from Scotland Yard to work on the search for the missing girl.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'We can confirm that the Metropolitan Police Service has agreed, at the request of the Home Secretary, to bring its particular expertise to the Madeleine McCann case.'