Madeleine McCann: Site Was Identified In 2007

Madeleine: Key Events Timeline

Updated: 7:29am UK, Wednesday 11 June 2014

Here is a timeline of the key events since Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

2007

:: May 3 - Kate and Gerry McCann leave their three children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz while they dine with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.

Jane Tanner, one of the friends eating with the McCanns, later reports seeing a man carrying a child away earlier that night.

:: May 5 - Portuguese police reveal they believe Madeleine was abducted but is still alive and in Portugal, and say they have a sketch of a suspect.

:: May 14 - Detectives take Anglo-Portuguese man Robert Murat in for questioning and make him an "arguido", or official suspect.

:: May 25 - Detectives release a description of the man reported by Jane Tanner three weeks earlier after pressure from the McCanns, their legal team and the British Government.

:: May 30 - Mr and Mrs McCann meet the Pope in Rome in the first of a series of trips around Europe and beyond to highlight the search for their daughter.

:: August 6 - A Portuguese newspaper reports that British sniffer dogs have found traces of blood on a wall in the McCanns' holiday apartment.

:: August 11 - Exactly 100 days after Madeleine disappeared, investigating officers publicly acknowledge for the first time that she could be dead.

:: September 7 - During further questioning of Mr and Mrs McCann, detectives make them both "arguidos" in their daughter's disappearance.

:: September 9 - The McCanns fly back to England with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

:: October 2 - Goncalo Amaral, the detective in charge of the inquiry, is removed from the case after criticising the British police in a Portuguese newspaper interview.

:: October 25 - The McCanns release a new artist's impression drawn by an FBI-trained expert showing the man described by Jane Tanner.

2008

:: March 19 - Mr and Mrs McCann accept £550,000 libel damages and front-page apologies from Express Newspapers over allegations they were responsible for Madeleine's death.

:: April 7 - Three Portuguese detectives, led by Paulo Rebelo, fly to Britain to re-interview the seven friends on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine vanished.

:: July 17 - Mr Murat receives £600,000 in libel damages from four newspaper groups over "seriously defamatory" articles connecting him with the child's disappearance.

:: July 21 - The Portuguese authorities shelve their investigation and lift the "arguido" status of the McCanns and Mr Murat.

:: August 4 - Thousands of pages of evidence from the Portuguese police files in the exhaustive investigation into Madeleine's disappearance are made public.

2009

:: January 13 - Mr McCann returns to Portugal for the first time since coming back to the UK without his daughter.

:: March 24 - The McCanns launch a localised new appeal for information focused on the area in the Algarve where Madeleine disappeared.

:: April 4 - Mr McCann goes back to Portugal to help film a reconstruction of the events on the night his daughter vanished.

:: April 22 - The McCanns fly to the US to record an interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey to mark two years since Madeleine's disappearance.

:: June 14 - Dying paedophile Raymond Hewlett says he was in the Algarve when Madeleine disappeared and has an alibi - but has no plans to reveal it.

:: August 6 - Detectives say they are hunting a "Victoria Beckham lookalike" with an Australian or New Zealand accent, reportedly seen in Barcelona three days after the little girl went missing.

2010

:: Feb 18 -  Kate and Gerry McCann say they are "pleased and relieved" at a judge's decision to uphold a ban on a book by former detective Goncalo Amaral.

:: Mar 3 -  A newly-released file from Portugese police on possible sightings is called "gold dust" and could lead to a breakthrough, says a spokesman for the McCanns.

:: May 1 - Kate McCann reveals she had thoughts about being "wiped out" in a motorway crash to end the pain of losing Madeleine - but vows never to give up.

:: November 10 - Madeleine's parents launch an online petition to help force a UK and Portuguese joint review of all evidence in the case.

:: November 15 -  The McCanns sign a deal to write a book about their daughter's disappearance.

2011

:: May 13 - The Prime Minister David Cameron asks London's Metropolitan Police to help investigate the case.

:: November 23 - Kate and Gerry McCann appear at the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics.

They tell how media pressure affected their family life and accuse newspaper editors of hampering the search for their missing daughter.

Kate McCann says she felt "violated" when her diary was published without her permission.

:: December 5 - Scotland Yard detectives spend time in Barcelona as part of their re-examination of the case.

2012

:: March 9 - Portuguese police in Oporto launch a review of the original investigation.

:: April 26 - Scotland Yard says Madeleine McCann may still be alive and release an artist's impression of what she may look like as a nine-year-old.

:: July 6 - British detectives examine a claim that the little girl's body is buried near the apartment from where she vanished. It comes after a self-styled investigator sends police radar scans he claims show a burial site.

2013

:: February 11 - Gerry McCann calls for politicians to implement the conclusions of the Leveson Inquiry in full, backed by legislation.

:: February 13 - Police say the results of DNA tests on a girl in New Zealand who was mistaken for Madeleine reveal that she is not the missing British girl.

:: February 21 - Retired solicitor Tony Bennett who published claims that Madeleine McCann's parents caused her death is given a suspended jail sentence.

:: May 2 - Madeleine McCann's parents tell Sky News a police review into their daughter's disappearance is making "excellent progress" as they mark the sixth anniversary since she went missing.

:: May 17 - Scotland Yard say they have identified a number of "people of interest" they want to speak to. It believes it has found enough evidence to reopen the case but the Portuguese authorities are still resistant. 

:: June 15 - The Home Office agrees to fund a full-scale investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

:: October 13 - UK detectives reviewing the case say key details in the timeline of her disappearance have "significantly changed".

:: October 14 - A fresh appeal is launched in a bid to find a suspect detectives say is of "vital importance", with two new separate e-fits - thought to be of the same man seen on the night Madeleine went missing - released by police.

:: October 17 - Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Scotland Yard team, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, and Mr and Mrs McCann meet officers in Lisbon to be briefed on the Portuguese case.

:: October 23 - Britain's most senior police officer Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe defends the way the Portuguese dealt with the initial investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, saying it would have been "very difficult" to immediately know if they were dealing with a serious crime.

:: October 24 - Detectives in Portugal reopen the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance after an internal review uncovers new lines of inquiry and witnesses who were never questioned during the original Portuguese investigation.

2014

:: January 3 - A family source says Kate and Gerry McCann have been denied permission to give evidence at a Portuguese libel trial over a book about the case by former local police chief Goncalo Amaral.

:: January 13 - British police investigate three burglars who were in the area when Madeleine disappeared, and whose phones were apparently "red hot" after she went missing. A letter is sent to Portuguese police asking for help to track them down.

:: January 29 - Scotland Yard officers, including the detective leading the case, fly to Portugal to meet police there and discuss the latest developments.

:: March 19 - Officers from Operation Grange launch a search for a man who sexually assaulted five British girls in the Algarve between 2004 and 2006.

:: April 23 - Detectives identify five new cases where a lone intruder abused young British girls in holiday apartments in the Algarve.

:: May 1 - Kate and Gerry McCann give an interview to Sky News where they are desperate to find out what happened to Madeleine, even if it is the "worst case scenario" as they back calls for a Child Rescue Alert service similar to the Amber Alert system in the US.

:: May 6 - Scotland Yard plans to dig for evidence in three locations in Praia da Luz are approved, with officers set to use ground penetrating radar.

:: May 8 - British Officers reportedly use a military helicopter to photograph potential excavation sites and hold a four-hour meeting with Portuguese colleagues to agree a timetable for new searches.

:: May 22 - Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley says the investigation will enter a "substantial phase of operational activity" in Portugal in the coming weeks. 

:: June 2 - Portuguese police seal off an area of scrubland to the west of Praia da Luz as they prepare to examine the potential excavation site.

:: June 11 - Police begin to search an area between Praia da Luz and the town of Lagos behind a water treatment plant. The search of the scrubland site was wound down on June 9.

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Amazon Hit By Living Wage Protest On Website

Amazon has taken down a page on its own website created by campaigners demanding a living wage for the company's UK staff.

The online retailer, which has faced protests and even strikes among its fulfilment centre workers globally in the past, acted within hours of the rogue post appearing on its UK marketplace.

The stunt took the form of a fake book titled 'A Living Wage For All Amazon Workers' which was priced at £7.65 - the hourly rate seen by the protestors as a living wage outside London.

The product description read: "Over 62,000 people have called on Amazon to end poverty pay in 2014 - but Amazon has yet to take our demand seriously so we've brought it direct to Amazon.co.uk."

It added it was time for the organisation "to pay the human cost of its operations".

Amazon's fulfilment centre operation has grown substantially

A group calling itself Amazon Anonymous was responsible for the stunt.

Its petition page slams the company on not only pay but also working conditions and includes claims that Amazon sack staff who take three sickness breaks in a three-month period and that overtime is compulsory.

The change.org petition states: "With UK sales in 2012 of £4.2bn, you'd think Amazon could afford to pay its workers enough to be able to feed and clothe themselves and their families."

The company was yet to respond to a request for a statement from Sky News.

In April, Amazon raised eyebrows when it offered to pay US fulfilment staff - those who find, pack and ship customer orders from huge warehouses - up to $5,000 to quit their jobs if they were unhappy.

The 'pay to quit' policy was seen as an attempt to drive out people seen as damaging morale but Amazon's chief executive Jeff Bezos insisted it made staff stop and think about their careers and where they wanted to be.

In the UK, Amazon has previously faced union-led protests over pay and working conditions and insisted it offered competitive packages to workers.

It has also faced pressure on its tax arrangements, paying £10m in corporation tax in its last financial year on revenues of £4.3bn.

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Passport Service Cuts Hit Expat Applications

The backlog and workload problems at the passport office are causing frustration and anger - not just for people based in the UK, but for Britons living all around the world.

Until a few years ago, British citizens living abroad could simply wander down to their embassy and apply for a passport. It would be issued within a day or two. Job done.

The system was then changed largely because passports had become more sophisticated - with biometric technology for security. Embassies didn't have the equipment to produce the new biometric passports.

So, regional offices were set up within certain embassies around the world. For those of us living here in Beijing, Hong Kong became the regional hub.

We could apply via the British Embassy in Beijing, the application would be sent to Hong Kong and the new passport would be issued there. A little more bureaucratic but still entirely workable.

But in December, "cost saving" measures were made to the application system. All regional offices were shut and Britons globally were told they must apply for their replacement passports in the UK.

They now have two options. Either they can travel to the UK and then apply for the "one-day" service. That could cost a huge amount in air fares.

The alternative is to send their application form, together with their old passport, to the UK Passport office in Liverpool - a process that the Passport Office says will take "at least six weeks".

That means that for at least six weeks the applicant is unable to leave wherever it is they live. For many, that's entirely impractical. For some, it will impact on their business.

With a bit of research and a half-hour long distance phone call to the passport office, I have discovered that it is possible to send a copy of your old passport rather than the original, but only in "exceptional circumstances" determined on a "case-by-case basis".

However, this leads to its own problems - the moment the new passport is issued (back in the UK) the old one (still in the hands of the applicant) is cancelled.

So in the time it takes to send the new one to the applicant overseas - several weeks - they are unable to travel because the passport they hold will be flagged as 'cancelled' at immigration.

Confusing? Frustrating? Certainly.

The stories we're hearing are mounting up - a British bride-to-be, living in Hong Kong, has been waiting for her replacement passport for eight weeks. She still doesn't have it. Her wedding, in Bali, is in two weeks.

A Briton living in South Africa who's taking a group of South African children to the World Cup, had been waiting 15 weeks.

A British businessman living in Hong Kong told us he'd waited 10 weeks. His new passport has just arrived but the passport office forgot to send back his old one which contained his visas. He is therefore still unable to travel.

The bottom line is this - not all that long ago, Britons living abroad could get a replacement passport in a day or two.

Now they are being grounded for "at least six weeks" and in many cases, far longer.

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Phone Hacking Jury Retires To Consider Verdicts

The jury in the trial of ex-News of the World bosses accused of plotting to hack phones has retired to consider its verdicts.

Former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, along with the retired managing editor Stuart Kuttner, are accused of being part of a conspiracy from 2000 to 2006.

Coulson, 46, is also accused of two counts of conspiring with former NOTW royal editor Clive Goodman to commit misconduct in a public office by paying police officers for two royal directories.

Brooks faces the same charge over approving payments to a Sun journalist's military contact between 2004 and 2012.

The former News International chief executive is also accused of plotting with her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 50, to pervert the course of justice by removing seven boxes from the company archive shortly before she was arrested three years ago.

Brooks, 46, along with husband Charlie and NI director of security Mark Hanna, 51, is further charged with perverting the course of justice by hiding potential evidence from police in July 2011.

The jury of eight women and three men was sent out shortly after 3.30pm and the 11 jurors were told to "act according to your oath" by Mr Justice Saunders.

He said: "You have to reach true verdicts according to the evidence. That evidence you have heard in court. Put out of your head anything you have heard outside court."

He added: "On behalf of all of us, I think it has been a privilege to work with all of you."

Coulson, of Charing, Kent, the Brooks, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, Hanna of Buckingham, Carter of Chelmsford, Essex, Goodman of Addlestone, Surrey, and 74-year-old Kuttner, of Woodford Green, Essex, deny the charges.

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Madeleine McCann Police Search A Third Site

Madeleine: Key Events Timeline

Updated: 7:29am UK, Wednesday 11 June 2014

Here is a timeline of the key events since Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

2007

:: May 3 - Kate and Gerry McCann leave their three children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz while they dine with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.

Jane Tanner, one of the friends eating with the McCanns, later reports seeing a man carrying a child away earlier that night.

:: May 5 - Portuguese police reveal they believe Madeleine was abducted but is still alive and in Portugal, and say they have a sketch of a suspect.

:: May 14 - Detectives take Anglo-Portuguese man Robert Murat in for questioning and make him an "arguido", or official suspect.

:: May 25 - Detectives release a description of the man reported by Jane Tanner three weeks earlier after pressure from the McCanns, their legal team and the British Government.

:: May 30 - Mr and Mrs McCann meet the Pope in Rome in the first of a series of trips around Europe and beyond to highlight the search for their daughter.

:: August 6 - A Portuguese newspaper reports that British sniffer dogs have found traces of blood on a wall in the McCanns' holiday apartment.

:: August 11 - Exactly 100 days after Madeleine disappeared, investigating officers publicly acknowledge for the first time that she could be dead.

:: September 7 - During further questioning of Mr and Mrs McCann, detectives make them both "arguidos" in their daughter's disappearance.

:: September 9 - The McCanns fly back to England with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

:: October 2 - Goncalo Amaral, the detective in charge of the inquiry, is removed from the case after criticising the British police in a Portuguese newspaper interview.

:: October 25 - The McCanns release a new artist's impression drawn by an FBI-trained expert showing the man described by Jane Tanner.

2008

:: March 19 - Mr and Mrs McCann accept £550,000 libel damages and front-page apologies from Express Newspapers over allegations they were responsible for Madeleine's death.

:: April 7 - Three Portuguese detectives, led by Paulo Rebelo, fly to Britain to re-interview the seven friends on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine vanished.

:: July 17 - Mr Murat receives £600,000 in libel damages from four newspaper groups over "seriously defamatory" articles connecting him with the child's disappearance.

:: July 21 - The Portuguese authorities shelve their investigation and lift the "arguido" status of the McCanns and Mr Murat.

:: August 4 - Thousands of pages of evidence from the Portuguese police files in the exhaustive investigation into Madeleine's disappearance are made public.

2009

:: January 13 - Mr McCann returns to Portugal for the first time since coming back to the UK without his daughter.

:: March 24 - The McCanns launch a localised new appeal for information focused on the area in the Algarve where Madeleine disappeared.

:: April 4 - Mr McCann goes back to Portugal to help film a reconstruction of the events on the night his daughter vanished.

:: April 22 - The McCanns fly to the US to record an interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey to mark two years since Madeleine's disappearance.

:: June 14 - Dying paedophile Raymond Hewlett says he was in the Algarve when Madeleine disappeared and has an alibi - but has no plans to reveal it.

:: August 6 - Detectives say they are hunting a "Victoria Beckham lookalike" with an Australian or New Zealand accent, reportedly seen in Barcelona three days after the little girl went missing.

2010

:: Feb 18 -  Kate and Gerry McCann say they are "pleased and relieved" at a judge's decision to uphold a ban on a book by former detective Goncalo Amaral.

:: Mar 3 -  A newly-released file from Portugese police on possible sightings is called "gold dust" and could lead to a breakthrough, says a spokesman for the McCanns.

:: May 1 - Kate McCann reveals she had thoughts about being "wiped out" in a motorway crash to end the pain of losing Madeleine - but vows never to give up.

:: November 10 - Madeleine's parents launch an online petition to help force a UK and Portuguese joint review of all evidence in the case.

:: November 15 -  The McCanns sign a deal to write a book about their daughter's disappearance.

2011

:: May 13 - The Prime Minister David Cameron asks London's Metropolitan Police to help investigate the case.

:: November 23 - Kate and Gerry McCann appear at the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics.

They tell how media pressure affected their family life and accuse newspaper editors of hampering the search for their missing daughter.

Kate McCann says she felt "violated" when her diary was published without her permission.

:: December 5 - Scotland Yard detectives spend time in Barcelona as part of their re-examination of the case.

2012

:: March 9 - Portuguese police in Oporto launch a review of the original investigation.

:: April 26 - Scotland Yard says Madeleine McCann may still be alive and release an artist's impression of what she may look like as a nine-year-old.

:: July 6 - British detectives examine a claim that the little girl's body is buried near the apartment from where she vanished. It comes after a self-styled investigator sends police radar scans he claims show a burial site.

2013

:: February 11 - Gerry McCann calls for politicians to implement the conclusions of the Leveson Inquiry in full, backed by legislation.

:: February 13 - Police say the results of DNA tests on a girl in New Zealand who was mistaken for Madeleine reveal that she is not the missing British girl.

:: February 21 - Retired solicitor Tony Bennett who published claims that Madeleine McCann's parents caused her death is given a suspended jail sentence.

:: May 2 - Madeleine McCann's parents tell Sky News a police review into their daughter's disappearance is making "excellent progress" as they mark the sixth anniversary since she went missing.

:: May 17 - Scotland Yard say they have identified a number of "people of interest" they want to speak to. It believes it has found enough evidence to reopen the case but the Portuguese authorities are still resistant. 

:: June 15 - The Home Office agrees to fund a full-scale investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

:: October 13 - UK detectives reviewing the case say key details in the timeline of her disappearance have "significantly changed".

:: October 14 - A fresh appeal is launched in a bid to find a suspect detectives say is of "vital importance", with two new separate e-fits - thought to be of the same man seen on the night Madeleine went missing - released by police.

:: October 17 - Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Scotland Yard team, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, and Mr and Mrs McCann meet officers in Lisbon to be briefed on the Portuguese case.

:: October 23 - Britain's most senior police officer Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe defends the way the Portuguese dealt with the initial investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, saying it would have been "very difficult" to immediately know if they were dealing with a serious crime.

:: October 24 - Detectives in Portugal reopen the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance after an internal review uncovers new lines of inquiry and witnesses who were never questioned during the original Portuguese investigation.

2014

:: January 3 - A family source says Kate and Gerry McCann have been denied permission to give evidence at a Portuguese libel trial over a book about the case by former local police chief Goncalo Amaral.

:: January 13 - British police investigate three burglars who were in the area when Madeleine disappeared, and whose phones were apparently "red hot" after she went missing. A letter is sent to Portuguese police asking for help to track them down.

:: January 29 - Scotland Yard officers, including the detective leading the case, fly to Portugal to meet police there and discuss the latest developments.

:: March 19 - Officers from Operation Grange launch a search for a man who sexually assaulted five British girls in the Algarve between 2004 and 2006.

:: April 23 - Detectives identify five new cases where a lone intruder abused young British girls in holiday apartments in the Algarve.

:: May 1 - Kate and Gerry McCann give an interview to Sky News where they are desperate to find out what happened to Madeleine, even if it is the "worst case scenario" as they back calls for a Child Rescue Alert service similar to the Amber Alert system in the US.

:: May 6 - Scotland Yard plans to dig for evidence in three locations in Praia da Luz are approved, with officers set to use ground penetrating radar.

:: May 8 - British Officers reportedly use a military helicopter to photograph potential excavation sites and hold a four-hour meeting with Portuguese colleagues to agree a timetable for new searches.

:: May 22 - Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley says the investigation will enter a "substantial phase of operational activity" in Portugal in the coming weeks. 

:: June 2 - Portuguese police seal off an area of scrubland to the west of Praia da Luz as they prepare to examine the potential excavation site.

:: June 11 - Police begin to search an area between Praia da Luz and the town of Lagos behind a water treatment plant. The search of the scrubland site was wound down on June 9.

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Two Teens Killed In Sixth-Floor Balcony Fall

Two teenagers have died after falling from a balcony while "kissing" and "frolicking" on the sixth floor of a block of flats

Police, who were called just after midnight to Knights Tower, in Deptford, south London, have described the deaths of the 18-year-old man and 19-year-old woman as as "tragic accident".

Samson Oguntayo, 32, an events manager who lives in the neighbouring Cornmill House, said he and his partner Blessing had seen the couple fall.

"They were trying to have sex on the balcony, the guy was lifting the girl and putting her on the bannister, he kept on doing it," he said.

"He was putting her on there - they were going back and forth. You could see they were doing some really dangerous stuff.

Residents said they heard a loud bang

"It is not the first time we have seen people on the balcony acting up.

"At some point friends must have come outside and they got down and came back inside and then came back out again.

"This time they started doing it again. You see people on the balcony doing all sorts of things and I just felt it was one of those things and in a moment they will probably go back inside.

"The last thing I expected was to see them falling down five floors. We just screamed."

Maureen Flynn, 22, a resident of a neighbouring block, said: "I did not see them fall but I saw their friends come out on to the balcony. They were crying, they did not know what had happened.

"I had to tell them 'Your friends are dead'."

The apartments lie on the banks of the River Thames

A resident who lives in the opposite block, and who did not want to be named, said he saw a couple "frolicking" on the balcony last night.

"The occupants were inside, these two were on the balcony," he said.

"We were shutting our blinds when we saw a couple on their balcony frolicking. They were kissing and stuff, she was telling him to get off her. We then shut our balcony."

He said less than 10 minutes later he heard a "bang" and that a neighbour had witnessed the couple fall.

"She saw him lift her up and put her on the edge of the balcony," he said.

"She said she had her arms around his neck and then he was stood against her kissing her. Then she saw his legs stumble backwards - he stumbled backwards and she stumbled the other way. Then they both fell off."

Police are not treating the deaths as suspicious

Shradha Chaturvedi, 31, an auditor and resident of the second floor of Knights Tower, said: "I heard a very, very loud noise and a lady screaming initially - I heard a boom and at first I thought a firework had gone off or something.

"My husband came down and there were two other guys outside who were totally drunk. They said 'Don't go out there.' There was a woman out there who was crying."

A police spokesman said officers were not treating the deaths as suspicious.

Inspector Shaun Carre-Brown said: "This appears to be a tragic accident and our thoughts go out to the families and those that knew them.

Witness have been urged to call 101 and ask for the CID at Plumstead police station. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Rik Mayall: Number 1 Bid For World Cup Song

A campaign has been launched to pay tribute to dead comedian Rik Mayall by sending a World Cup song he wrote to number one.

The former Young Ones star recorded a track called Noble England in the run up to the last World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

The sudden death of Mayall, which appeared to have come after he suffered a seizure, was announced on Monday.

His wife Barbara told the Daily Mirror his body was found at their home in Barnes, southwest London, but that she would have to wait for the coroner's report before she knew any more.

Now a Facebook page has been set up to encourage people to buy Noble England as a way of marking his passing.

Jon Morter, Jason McGuire and Steevi Diamond set up the page with a link to the song's iTunes preview in a bid to get it to chart.

By Wednesday, the song's midweek position on Itunes was number 14 and number one on Amazon. The Facebook site, meanwhile, had attracted nearly 11,000 'likes'.

Jon, Jason and Steevi wrote: "Sadly on the eve of this year's World Cup we lost Rik, so a few of us thought it would be a nice idea to try and get him in the charts as a tribute to a legend.

"We are just 3 Rik fans hoping to give him a good send off!"

Noble England is one of a number of little-known tracks by the actor and comedian.

He also played a bass player in one of Channel 4's Comic Strip Presents episodes called Bad News, based on the life of a spoof heavy metal band, which came out before This Is Spinal Tap.

Several hundred of those who had registered a 'like' commented on the campaign.

Paul McMonnies wrote: "Raising a pint of Bombardier in memory of Rik - buy your copy of Noble England today!"

Another, Mic Sax, wrote: "Rik Mayall back in the charts sounds like a great send off."

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Black Cab Demo Causes Central London 'Gridlock'

Parts of central London have been left gridlocked after thousands of black cab drivers took industrial action at Trafalgar Square.

Up to 12,000 black cabs headed to the centre of the capital with the intent of causing traffic chaos.

Helicopter footage showed long queues of cabs across Westminster Bridge and along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square.

The traditional cabbies were protesting at Transport for London's (TfL) regulation of rival cab service Uber.

A line of black cabs pictured in Westminster

The Google-backed app allows users to order a car at the touch of a button, and the fare is calculated using GPS tracking.

But traditional cabbies say this is effectively a taxi meter, which only black cabs are legally entitled to use in the capital.

Sky's Ashish Joshi said that Trafalgar Square was "gridlocked" just before the protest officially started at 2pm.

He said: "This is technology against tradition. It's the new Battle of Trafalgar."

The protest is aimed at Transport for London and Uber

One driver with 15 years of experience told Sky News: "It's got to be a level playing field. England are playing Italy on Saturday, what if Italy turn up with 15 men against England?

"We love competition, we thrive on competition in this city, but it's got to be a fair competition."

But Uber general manager Jo Bertram has defended the company's business model, and says the number of app downloads has soared.

She said: "Londoners are voting with their fingers, tapping the app in support of new and innovative services as we see our biggest day of sign-ups in London today since launch two years ago.

Drivers in Spain took part in a similar protest

"In fact, today we're seeing an 850% increase in sign-ups compared to last Wednesday.

"Unsurprisingly, the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, which is stuck in the dark ages, is intent on holding London to ransom and causing significant economic impact to Londoners today, estimated to be £125m."

Earlier the app goaded black cab drivers by urging them to sign up to their pre-booking app, saying it gave greater "choice for consumers".

But the cabbies dismissed it as a PR stunt.

Similar demonstrations have also taken place today in Paris, Madrid and Barcelona.

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Passport Pile-Up: PM Says Backlog Is 30,000

David Cameron has admitted around 30,000 passport applications have been delayed - after the Government earlier denied a backlog.

The Prime Minister told the House of Commons there had been 300,000 more applications than normal at this time of year and that 10% of these had been delayed.

He said emergency plans were being put in place to ensure families who want to go on holiday get their passports in time.

In an angry exchange at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, Labour leader Ed Miliband said the Government needed to "get a grip" on the unfolding crisis.

He said the row between Theresa May and Education Secretary Michael Gove had distracted the Home Secretary from her job.

"The truth of the picture of this Government is we have the Home Secretary fighting with the Education Secretary but not paying attention to the business of government," he said.

"The truth is that is tens of thousands of people are finding that their holidays are being cancelled because they are not actually getting a passport."

Those British citizens living abroad are being hit

However, Mr Cameron said the Home Office had been on top of the situation since the beginning of the year.

Earlier on Wednesday the Government denied there had been a pile-up of applications after unions claimed a 12-year high in applications and cuts in staffing had lead to a 500,000 backlog.

Mr Cameron and Mrs May said 250 staff had been redeployed to tackle the problem, working seven days a week around the clock to make sure people got their documents.

Meanwhile, Sky has seen a letter sent to the UK Visas and Immigration Department saying 72 of their staff will start training next week on how to process passport applications with a view to being redeployed.

The increase in passport applications started in January and coincides with the closures of regional application offices across the world in an attempt to cut costs.

Applications in the Liverpool passport office

British citizens living abroad now have to apply in the UK and many of those are now reporting significant delays.

The increase has also been blamed on the number of people feeling they can now afford holidays with the economic recovery.

Pictures taken by a disillusioned worker in the Liverpool passport office show tens of thousands of applications waiting to be dealt with.

One MP said thousands of families face having their summer holiday plans ruined because documents were not being prepared in anything like the normal time.

Some families who want to make sure their documents are returned in time face paying extra for a faster service - up to £55.50 on top of the £72.50 standard fee.

Families are frantic to get their passports

Three million passports have already been issued this year, with officials processing an average of 18,000 applications a day over the last two months. 

Mike Jones, from the PCS Union said: "There are half a million applications that are waiting within the Passport Office at the moment.

"That figure is raised steeply over a number of months. The Home Office and the Passport Office used to have strategies in place for when the figure reached 150,000. They would put contingency plans in to deal with those amounts."

He told Radio 4's Today programme: "Now we have seen the figures are up to 500,000 and rising at the moment. Even all the contingencies that they are trying to put in place, we are still seeing that figure rising, so there is clearly a crisis going on within the Home Office and the Passport Office as well."

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Bailiffs Find £5m Stashed In London Apartment

Bailiffs entering a property in east London have found a huge stash of cash.

Metropolitan Police say the haul amounted to around $8.5m (£5.1m).

It was found in the property in Wards Wharf Apartments in London E16

Newham Police were called in at 10.25am and have arrested a man on suspicion of money laundering.

Met police say there is no anti-terrorism connection.

Investigations are continuing.

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