Minutes Silence held For Maddy

An unofficial one minute's silence has been held for missing Madeleine McCann.The four-year-old's mother, Kate McCann, observed the midday silence, said Sky News correspondent Ian Woods in Portugal.She slipped into her apartment after praying for 50 minutes in a church in Praia Da Luz.The silence was organised by an anonymous viral email so it was not thought to be widely observed.Tourist Catherine Morrisson, 59, of County Cork, was among those to fall silent in a Praia Da Luz supermarket."It was a brilliant idea to show respect for the family and friends and relatives," she said.Meanwhile, the father of Madeleine is in the UK for his first visit home since his daughter was abducted 18 days ago.Gerry McCann will use his trip to meet organisers of the Find Madeleine fund and attend to personal matters - in preparation for an expected prolonged stay in Portugal.Brian Kennedy, Madeleine's uncle, told Sky News the visit would be a "short one".Mr McCann will also use the opportunity to pick up new pictures and videos to help with the international search campaign.He may visit the main square in his home village of Rothley, Leicestershire, where thousands of well-wishers have tied yellow ribbons.It is the first time he has been apart from wife Kate and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie since Madeleine was taken from their Algarve holiday apartment.The McCanns have said they are convinced their daughter is still alive and have vowed to stay in the Algarve for the foreseeable future, co-ordinating an international campaign to get her back.They are believed to be considering a round-Europe mission to spread awareness of Madeleine's abduction in the hope that she will be found.:: The findmadeleine website, which carries a diary from the McCann family, has now received almost 100 million hits.That does not mean 100 million people have visited the site. Every web page download from a website may contain mulitple files that are included in the hits figure