British detectives in Portugal for talks on Madeleine McCann

Scotland Yard said its officers conducted their first face-to-face discussions with police chiefs who led the massive hunt after she vanished.

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007.

She is believed to have been taken from the flat as her parents dined with friends nearby.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “MPS officers travelled to Portugal at the beginning of August and had their first formal meeting with Portuguese authorities to discuss ways to progress the investigative review.”

The investigation by Portuguese detectives – helped by officers from Leicestershire Police – into her disappearance prompted appeals for help from across the world.

But the official inquiry was formally shelved in July 2008 and since then no police force has been actively looking for the missing child, who would now be eight.

The Metropolitan Police launched a review of the original investigation in May after a request from Home Secretary Theresa May supported by Prime Minister David Cameron.

The case has attracted international attention, resulting in hundreds of possible sightings of the little girl being reported around the world since she went missing.

However none have delivered conclusive leads and the case surrounding her remains unsolved.

Madeleine’s mother Kate recently published a book detailing the impact the disappearance had on the family.