McCanns enlist help of Harry Potter author

Harry Potter author JK Rowling is to help write a book about missing three-year-old Madeleine McCann to fund the quest to find her, The Daily Mail reports.

The missing girl's mother, Kate, is writing an account of the events following Madeleine's disappearance in May 2007, and has enlisted the assistance of Rowling.

The Madeleine Fund was set up after the three-year-old went missing from her parents' Portuguese holiday apartment in the Algarve village of Praia da Luz.

More than £1m (NZD$2.03m) in donations was raised within four months, but just GBP£200,000 (NZD$414,000) remains.

"Publishing this book has been a very difficult decision and is one that we have taken after much deliberation and with a very heavy heart. However, in the last few months with the depletion of Madeleine's Fund, it is a decision that has virtually been taken out of our hands," Mrs McCann told The Daily Mail.

"Every penny we raise through its sales will be spent on our search for Madeleine. Nothing is more important to us than finding our little girl.

"We are hopeful that this book may help the investigation to find Madeleine in other ways too."

The fund has been used to hire private investigators, fund a publicity campaign and pay legal fees.

However, the McCanns copped criticism after it emerged that money from the fund had been spent on their mortgage and on living expenses, The Daily Mail said.