Child Rescue Alert launch

POLICE have unveiled a revamped alert system aimed at enlisting the public to help rescue abducted children.

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

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

Chief Constable Peter Neyroud, head of the National Police Improvement Agency, 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."