Madeleine McCann
Madeleine McCann. Reuters

A travel company has distanced itself from a voucher site after a photo of Madeleine McCann was used to promote its cheap holidays to Portugal.

The advert on VoucherDigg.co.uk featured the iconic photo of Maddie that was distributed by her parents Kate and Gerry after she went missing in the Algarve in May 2007.

The photo was used on VoucherDigg to advertise holidays to Portugal but lowcostholidays have said it had nothing to do with the campaign.

The ad features a smiling Maddie and the wording, "Lowcostholidays.com can hardly give out this kind of offer. Hurry up for time is limited. Take the ones you love and enjoy your life", with a link to lowcostholidays.com.

Chief operating officer of lowcostholidays.com, Lawrence Hunt, said: "We have no contract with VoucherDigg to advertise our holidays and we are doing all that we can to contact the website and get the picture removed.

"We discovered this vile material yesterday and immediately broke all the links to our site and contacted our lawyers.

"We apologise for any distress this may have caused which is completely beyond our control and are disgusted by the use of this image."

Clarence Mitchell, who is the McCann's spokesman, told the Daily Star: "This is an appalling use of Madeleine's picture and whether it is a result of hacking or a mistake, it must be removed immediately."

He added: "Kate and Gerry are fully aware of this and are horrified. We understand it has been on the website for 24 hours."

VoucherDigg has not responded to any press enquiries put to it by the IBTimes UK.

Portugal