The family of Madeleine McCann are marking the anniversary of her disappearance at church services in Portugal and in Leicestershire.
It is a year to the day since Madeleine went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in southern Portugal.Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, who are official suspects in Madeleine's disappearance, will mark the day privately.
The little girl vanished from her bed in her family's holiday apartment at around 9.15pm on 3 May last year.
People are being asked to light candles, shine torches or turn on a porch lamp between 9.30pm and 10pm tonight to symbolise the period when she went missing.
Everton, Madeleine's favourite football team, will join the campaign to 'light the way home' for the little girl by switching on the floodlights at its Goodison Park ground at this time.
Everton's chief executive, Keith Wyness, said: 'The message being sent out is a simple one. The search must go on.'
After completing an exhausting round of interviews with British and foreign media yesterday, the McCanns may attend a service of prayers for Madeleine and other missing children at Rothley's Anglican parish church of St Mary and St John.
Their lawyers have advised them not to return to Portugal because they remain arguidos, or formal suspects, in their daughter's disappearance.
Instead, a number of relatives - Mr McCann's brother John, his sister Trish Cameron, her husband Sandy, and Mrs McCann's cousin Michael Wright - will travel to Praia da Luz on their behalf.
They will attend a service in the Algarve village's church of Our Lady of Light at 6.30pm tonight, where a message from Mrs McCann will be read out.
A special mass at Liverpool's Our Lady of the Annunciation church will be led by Father Paul Seddon, who married the McCanns and baptised Madeleine.
Robert Murat, the third arguido in the case, is maintaining a low profile and has left Praia da Luz to avoid any extra publicity.
Like the McCanns, he strenuously protests his innocence.
Madeleine was three when she vanished from the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz while her parents dined with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.
The past 12 months have been a whirlwind for Mr and Mrs McCann as they have gone from victims to media stars to suspects.
Their plight attracted the support of celebrities and wealthy businessmen including David Beckham, JK Rowling, Simon Cowell and Sir Richard Branson.
At the end of May they embarked on a tour of Europe and North Africa to publicise Madeleine's disappearance, which included a meeting with the Pope in Rome.
Over last summer their relationship with Portugal's Policia Judiciaria, the detectives leading the hunt for the young girl, deteriorated.
At the same time Portuguese newspapers published a series of stories, quoting anonymous police sources, suggesting officers believed the couple could have been responsible for Madeleine's death.
Things came to a head in early September, when the PJ recalled Mr and Mrs McCann for fresh interviews and named them both as arguidos.
Two days later, on 9 September, the family returned from Portugal to the UK.
Since then the couple have continued their campaign to find the missing girl and Mr McCann has returned to his job as a consultant cardiologist at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital.
Today's anniversary has attracted words of support from senior clergy and experts in missing people.
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, penned a special prayer for Madeleine McCann and urged everyone to redouble their efforts to pray for her safe return.
He said: 'Here at Bishopthorpe Palace, prayers have been said daily for her, and a candle burns in hope near a poster of Madeleine. As the poster of a year ago says, 'look into my eyes'. May we each look and not turn away.'
Paul Tuohy, chief executive of the charity Missing Children, said: 'No family should have to face the loss that a missing child brings, but missing is an issue that could affect each and every one of us.
'Every day at Missing People is marked by at least one anniversary of a missing relative. This could be a son, daughter, mother or father.
'They could have been missing for one year or many more. The circumstances will be different but the pain is the same.
'We fully support and applaud Kate and Gerry's attempts to raise the profile of the wider problem of missing children, and the need for greater international co-operation to respond effectively to missing incidents.'
