Up to 115,000 will be drawn from the fighting fund set up to search for the Leicestershire youngster and spent on newspaper, television and billboard adverts. The campaign, set to launch in two weeks, was announced at a media conference in their home village of Rothley.

In a statement issued through a spokeswoman for the family, Gerry McCann's brother and fund director, John McCann, said:

"The main objective of the Madeleine fund is to leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine.

"To that end, I would like to announce that the fund will finance a broad range of initiatives in advertising to remind everyone that Madeleine is still missing."He added that the adverts would focus on Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe and would consist of billboards and other media.

The announcement comes after the family said earlier this week that it would not spend proceeds from the fund on Mr and Mrs McCann's legal costs.