Child abduction alert system is launched

The new network, comparable with the amber alert system in the United States, will be compatible with other European countries for the first time.

As a result a continent-wide alert could be issued in circumstances where youngsters may be taken across national borders.

Kate and Gerry McCann have campaigned for such a system to be introduced since their daughter Madeleine disappeared in Portugal in 2007.

Mrs McCann will join other relatives of missing children to mark the launch in central London today, International Missing Children's Day.

Chief Constable Peter Neyroud, head of the National Police Improvement Agency, said the actions of police immediately after a disappearance are "vital".

He said: "Through Child Rescue Alert the community is able to form a strong alliance to help in the hunt for child abductors when an alert is activated."

Although some 100,000 children are reported missing to police each year, senior officers expect the national alert to be used extremely rarely.

Regional and national TV and radio stations will broadcast messages, in some cases interrupting programmes.