Portuguese police have failed to check the surveillance cameras along the A22 motorway, which runs through the Algarve, a Portuguese newspaper reported yesterday.

Euroscut, the company that manages the 80-mile stretch of road, said the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) had not asked it for camera data, according to an article on the website of the English-language paper The Resident.

The cameras, which produce images detailed enough to identify the type and colour of passing cars, only recorded footage for one hour on May 4, the day after Madeleine disappeared, the paper reported.

The PJ could not be contacted for comment last night, but in the past it has refused to discuss details of its investigations, citing Portuguese secrecy of justice laws.

Meanwhile, a chain e-mail alerting people to the abduction of Madeleine is gathering momentum around the world, her aunt said last night.

Philomena McCann's message, sent out soon after her four-year-old niece vanished a fortnight ago, asks recipients to forward the e-mail to as many people as possible.

Responses so far indicate that the e-mail, originally targeting Europe, has now gone as far as Thailand, Australia and the US.

"I have had 2000 responses this week alone and that is just the tip of the iceberg - that is just the people who replied to me," said Ms McCann. She added that Madeleine, who was taken from her parents Gerry and Kate McCann's holiday apartment at Praia da Luz on the Algarve, could be "pretty well anywhere".

Four pictures of Madeleine are attached to the e-mail with a message asking for it to be passed on. The number of visitors to the newly-launched Find Madeleine internet site reached more than 65 million hits last night, more than the total UK population.

Thousands of spectators at Wembley and millions watching on television are expected to see a two-minute film about the missing girl when it is played during the FA Cup final today.

The DVD, which has the soundtrack of the Simple Minds hit Don't You Forget About Me, was screened on Wednesday at the Uefa Cup final between Sevilla and Espanyol in Glasgow.

The latest possible sighting of the missing girl, reported yesterday, came from a Norwegian woman who thought she saw Madeleine in Morocco. Marie Olli, a Norwegian woman who lives in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol, said she was "very sure" she saw her in Marrakech on May 9.

While stopped in a petrol station, she saw a "sad" young blonde girl who initially appeared to be standing on her own. Then an "anonymous looking" man in his late 30s came over and the girl asked him: "Can I see mummy soon?"

Mrs Olli contacted British and Portuguese police after returning home to Spain and hearing about Madeleine's disappearance. She said she was told somebody would get back to her, but so far nobody has.

Meanwhile, discrepancies emerged in statements made by Russian computer expert Sergey Malinka, 22, who was interviewed as a witness by police on Wednesday night.

Mr Malinka designed a website for Anglo-Portuguese man Robert Murat, 33, who was this week named as the first suspect in Madeleine's disappearance. Mr Malinka said yesterday he could not discuss reports that Mr Murat's mobile phone records show he called Mr Malinka at 11.40pm on the night Madeleine went missing.

He said: "I cannot comment on that because the investigation is still going on and it would compromise the investigation."

Mr Malinka stressed his relationship with Mr Murat was "strictly business" and added that if he could give his side of the story, "it would prove me innocent, that everything is correct".

Meanwhile, Mr Murat denied there was anything sinister in his hiring a car two days before detectives took him in for questioning.

Staff at the car rental firm in Praia da Luz became suspicious about his behaviour when he came in on Saturday and reported him to police. Documents show he hired a Hyundai Getz from Auto Rent III from Saturday to Tuesday.

Tuck Price, a Murat family friend, said Mr Murat needed the car because his mother was using their one vehicle to transport tables for a stall appealing for information about Madeleine.

Philomena McCann and her brother John McCann are to visit the National Missing Persons Helpline in London next week to help launch International Missing Children's Day. The charity will announce a new name, Missing People, and reveal plans for an official yellow "missing ribbon" for all missing people.

Chief executive Paul Tuohy said: "We are delighted that the McCann family feel able to recognise the importance of our work at such a difficult time for them."