UPDATED 12.05 ON OCTOBER 30
GERRY AND Kate McCann used money from the Madeleine Fund to pay for their mortgage.
The fund, which was set up to help find the couple’s daughter and support the family, was used to make payments in June and July.
Once the McCanns were made arguidos or official suspects by Portuguese police in August, they decided not to use the money for personal payments.
The McCann’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “The fund has always had the ability to assist the family financially if necessary, and they’ve only used it to pay for two mortgage payments earlier this year.
“When they were made arguidos, it stopped, which was a mutual decision on the part of the fund and the McCanns – they were happy to accept that their changed status meant they were no longer entitled to that assistance.”
Donations to the Find Madeleine Fund currently stand at almost 1.1 million pounds.
.The use of donations had previously been called into question after it was revealed about a third of the money had been used to meet the McCanns’ living costs, publicity fees and to pay staff.
But the family defended the fund, saying they would not use it for their legal fees.
Meanwhile it has been reported that Kate McCann is unlikely to return to her job as a part-time GP but Gerry McCann is expected to return to his work as a consultant later this week, a move likely to help ease the financial pressures on the family.
On Saturday, her family will hold a church service to mark six months since she was last seen in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
Gerry McCann wrote in his latest internet diary entry: “We will be marking this milestone very quietly with an ecumenical prayer service for Madeleine and other missing children in the local Anglican church.”
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