BRITISH police received intelligence suggesting Madeleine McCann could have been snatched to order by a Belgian paedophile ring, official case files revealed last night.

Liverpool-born Kate McCann also begged Portuguese detectives to end her "torture" by keeping her informed about the search for Madeleine, they also revealed.

According to information gathered by the Metropolitan Police someone connected to the ring took a photograph of Madeleine on holiday in Port- ugal and forwarded it to a "purchaser" in Belgium police files showed.

The intelligence is contained in a March 4 email sent to Leicestershire Police and sent on to Portuguese detectives.

It was included in an appendix contained in a massive dossier of thousands of pages of police evidence in the Madeleine case made public this week.

John Shord, from the Metro- politan Police’s CO14 clubs and vice intelligence unit, wrote in the email: "Intelli- gence suggests a paedophile ring in Belgium made an order for a young girl three days before Madeleine McCann was taken. Somebody connected to this group saw Maddie, took a photograph of her and sent it to Belgium.

"The purchaser agreed that the girl was suitable and Maddie was taken."

The source of the intelli- gence was anonymous and it is unclear how reliable it was.

The documents also reveal that three months after being named a suspect in the case, Liverpool-born Mrs McCann wrote an impassioned letter to Paulo Rebelo, the head of the inquiry, calling for an end to "finger-pointing blame".

But she never received a reply – and the McCanns only learnt what police had done to look for Madeleine when their lawyers were given access to the case files last week.

Pleading for detectives to work with her and husband Gerry to help find Madel- eine, she wrote on December 4 their daughter was "the most precious thing in our life".

"As her mother, the pain and anxiety I feel for her is indescribable and the feeling of helplessness over- whelming," she wrote.

Mrs McCann, 40, of Rothley, Leicestershire, said the lack of communication between the police and the family was "torture" for her.

She wrote: "I am appealing to you as a fellow human being to work with us (if possible include us) and to remember we are Madeleine’s parents and have needs.

"With regard to this latter point, I would be grateful if you were able to keep us informed to some degree as to how the investigation is going – what work is being done to help find our daughter, etc.

"I’m sure you will agree that this request is not unreasonable and is in fact humane."

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, said the only response was a formal notification that the letter would be added to the police file.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family’s holiday flat in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.

Despite a huge police investigation and massive coverage in the Portuguese and British media, she has not been found.

On July 21 Portuguese prosecutors announced they were shelving the case, although it can be reopened if credible new evidence comes to light.

At the same time the McCanns and Algarve resident Robert Murat were told they were no longer "arguidos", or formal suspects, in the investigation.