Updated 7:15 p.m. ET: The brother of a British man shot dead in the French Alps with his wife and two other people came forward to authorities and denied any conflict in the family, The Associated Press reported Friday, as investigators probed whether a money dispute among the siblings motivated the bloodshed. 

Iraqi-born engineer Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife Iqbal, and her mother were found shot dead in a car on a remote road near Annecy Wednesday. A French cyclist was found dead nearby. Investigators were working to identify a fourth victim, an elderly Iraqi-born Swedish woman who was also in the car, The AP reported.  

The al-Hillis' 7-year-old daughter Zainab was found seriously injured, but alive, while their 4-year-old daughter Zeena was discovered Thursday after hiding beneath her dead mother’s legs for eight hours.

Three of the dead were shot in the forehead with a semi-automatic weapon, leading to speculation that the killings were a professional hit.

 Girl, 4, hid for eight hours in car filled with corpses after shootings in France

On Friday, prosecutor Eric Maillaud told French news agency AFP that they were looking into "credible information" from British police about a family argument.

Salvatore Di Nolfi / EPA

Police escort the car in which three members of a British family were shot dead near Chevaline, France.

"It seems that there was a dispute between the two brothers about money … The brother will have to be questioned at length. Every lead will be meticulously followed,” he said.

On Friday, after learning of authorities' suspicion about a possible family feud, Zaid al-Hilli went to British police and told them, "I have no conflict with my brother," according to Eric Maillaud, a prosecutor in nearby Annecy.

"This brother came forward spontaneously to investigators, first to ask simply about the state of his brother because he heard through British media that his brother was dead," Maillaud said, according to the AP.

But a family friend produced a letter written by Saad that alluded to an inheritance dispute with Zaid in the wake of their father's recent death, the report said.

In an effort to avoid tipping off the perpetrator or perpetrators, French authorities released only a handful of clues about the investigation.

The U.K.'s Sky News said the prosecutor’s office had stressed the family dispute was just one of a number of possible scenarios being investigated by the authorities.

Al-Hilli was born in Baghdad in 1962, but had lived in Britain since at least 2002. Public records identified him as a mechanical engineer and his LinkedIn page described him as an aerospace consultant.

A British cyclist, reportedly a former member of Britain’s Royal Air Force, was the first on the scene of the shootings at about 4 p.m. Wednesday, when he came upon al-Hilli’s BMW with its engine running. The three dead al-Hilli family members were inside the car with the French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, 40, lying dead outside.

Mollier, who had no ties to the family, had passed the British cyclist on the road earlier. The British man put the seven-year-old girl in the recovery position and called emergency services. He has been credited with saving her life.

"He had a strong command of his nerves. We must welcome his action and congratulate him," Maillaud said Wednesday.

ITV News reported that autopsies would be carried out on the dead Friday as the hunt for clues continues.

It is also hoped the children will have information useful to the investigators.

Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

A police officer stands in the front a house in Claygate, south-east England, on Thursday which is believed to be where the al-Hilli family lived.

British Ambassador to France, Sir Peter Ricketts, told ITV News Friday that they were trying to help the children involved in what he described as an “awful and heart-rending story."

"What we can do is help these poor little girls with some English-speaking, friendly consular people to be with them," he said.

Read more stories from the U.K.'s ITV News

Ricketts said the younger child, who was not physically hurt, was "deeply traumatized."

U.K. officials had not been able to visit her older sister for medical reasons, he said, but added she was in a stable condition. On Thursday, French officials said her injuries were no longer life-threatening.

ITV News is NBC's U.K. partner. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Courtesy Beth Davis-Hofbauer

Beth Davis-Hofbauer is seen with her baby, Amelia. Davis-Hofbauer created a petition on Change.org after she was told that wheelchair users could be accompanied by only one other person while attending events at the Paralympics.

LONDON -- A disabled mother has begun a campaign that has attracted thousands of supporters after she was told she could not sit with her family at the 2012 Paralympic Games because she was in a wheelchair.

Beth Davis-Hofbauer, who runs a company that makes craft boxes for children, raised a petition calling on the Games organizers, LOCOG, to change what she had been told was its ticketing policy, which allowed only one person to accompany someone in a wheelchair. At 12:45 p.m. ET Friday, the petition had 33,847 signatures.

LOCOG then issued a statement saying this had never been its policy, and Davis-Hofbauer said a LOCOG official told her that improperly trained staff had made a mistake.

But, despite being told she now will be able to sit with her family, she vowed to keep on campaigning because she has been contacted by other people with similar complaints.

Davis-Hofbauer, of Fareham, Hampshire, England, said she had tried to get tickets for her, her husband Edward, her autistic son Milo, 4, and daughter Amelia, 19 months, for a cycling event.

When told they would not be able to sit together, she then asked about tickets for the athletics, swimming and basketball, but to no avail.

People being treated 'really badly'
Davis-Hofbauer, who uses a wheelchair due to illness, said she needed her husband to be beside her as he is her caretaker, and the children could not be expected to sit by themselves. She offered to pay full price for the children, and have them sit on their laps, but she said that idea was rejected by the ticket-line operator.

“I felt like the crap on their shoe to be honest, and very guilty because I felt it’s my fault -- because I’m ill and I’m in a wheelchair, my children cannot go,” Davis-Hofbauer said.

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After setting up the petition, she said she was contacted by 11 or 12 people who said they had received “exactly the same kind of treatment,” and had heard reports of more.

"There are people still being treated really badly by them, being ignored by them, being treated like second-class citizens,” Davis-Hofbauer said.

“We disabled people shouldn’t really have families -- we forget that,” she added sarcastically.

From javelins to light fixtures: Olympic sell-off

She said she had now been told the family would be able to sit together in the cycling velodrome, but said she would continue to campaign on the issue.

“I think they thought if they sold me tickets I would shut up, but I actually do care about other people so I’m not going to shut up," she said.

'Ironic'
Davis-Hofbauer said stadiums generally should do more to enable wheelchair users to be treated like ordinary sports fans. But she added it was “ironic” that there was a problem with the Paralympic Games. “It makes it sound even worse,” she said.

A LOCOG spokesperson emailed a statement that reads: “it is not our policy that wheelchair users can only be accompanied by one other person when attending the Games.” 

Read more about the Olympics from NBC News

“We designed our venues such that accessible seating will be located around the new venues, at different price points so that wheelchair users can sit with their friends and families rather than in one single designated area, and we included a companion seat in the cost of a ticket for a wheelchair space,” the statement added.

NBC News asked LOCOG to comment specifically on the case, whether other people had made complaints and what was being done about them.

In response, a LOCOG spokeswoman said in an email that, "We have been able to sort a number of customers out, we will always try to help but with less than 2 weeks to the Games it comes down to a question of availability."

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Mark Humphrey / AP

An opening ceremony cast member walked with the Indian team during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Friday.

A woman managed to gatecrash the Indian Olympic team’s march round the stadium at the Games' opening ceremony, it has emerged.

The interloper –- said to be one of the thousands of volunteers who took part in the show –- walked alongside flag-carrier and wrestler Sushil Kumar at the head of the team at Friday's event, causing anger among Indian Olympic officials.

In stark contrast to the athletes, who were dressed in blue and yellow, the interloper was dressed in a red jacket and light-blue pants.

She also sported a broad smile in some of the photographs.

Sebastian Coe, chairman of Games organizers LOCOG, told the daily press conference Sunday that he could confirm “that she was a cast member [of the opening ceremony show], who clearly got slightly over-excited.”

Military drafted in to fill empty seats at London Olympics

“I think there’s a very important point here to take into consideration – and I don’t minimize the fact she got into the Opening Ceremony –  she could not have got in the opening ceremony without having gone through all our security protocols anyway,” Coe said.

“Don’t run away with the idea she had walked in off the street to do that,” he added.

London protesters decry 'Corporate Olympics'

He said he would be speaking to Indian officials about what happened.

The Deccan Chronicle newspaper identified the woman as a graduate student from Bangalore, India.

Read more on the Olympics from NBC News

Indian Olympic official P.K. Muralidharan Raja was quoted by the paper as saying they had been "initially told that she would accompany the contingent ’til the track, but she went on to take the entire lap. There was another man also, but he stayed back and did not enter the stadium.”

Harpal Singh Bedi, Indian Olympic team press attache, told a press conference that the gatecrasher "not only walked, she led our contingent. It looked like she was the leader," according to an AP Television report.

"... if this had happened in India, people would say 'you don't know how to run the Games, security problems,' ... I think this was definitely a security lapse," he added.

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Jim Seida / NBC News

A cyclist uses his phone to help navigate around the security gate blocking the bike path along the western edge of the Olympic Park, Saturday, July 21, 2012 in London.

LONDON -- The 2012 Olympics may claim to be the first 'green' Summer Games, but the city’s cyclists have been holding a number of protests -- including one on Friday at which more than 100 people were arrested -- claiming that the authorities appear to think they “don’t exist” or “don’t matter.”

Part of a major commuter route for cyclists down the east side of London -- a path along the River Lea -- has been closed for security reasons because it runs close to the Olympic Park.

And cyclists are also not allowed to use many of the Olympic Lanes set up for officials, athletes and others involved in the Games.

According to the U.K., London is "the first Summer Host City to embed sustainability into its planning from the very start" and it is hoped the Games will "encourage more sustainable living" across the whole of the U.K.

Ruth-Anna Macqueen, 28, a hospital doctor, has been involved in three protests over the closure of the Lea path on the last three Sundays and another is planned for this Sunday.

Macqueen said the path had been closed since the beginning of July, weeks before the start of the Games, and would remain so until September.

'It's on, Let's Go:' The Games have begun

The diversion, Macqueen said, took cyclists onto a busy main road and a notorious roundabout where two cyclists were killed in one month last year.

“Basically people are left with the option of staying on your bike and taking your life in your hands or getting back in your car or public transport,” she said. “It kind of seems to be all part of the ignorance and arrogance by the people at the top -- that either cyclists don’t exist, don’t matter or are not worth any consideration.”

Slideshow: When the Olympics is your neighbor

A diverse community in East London will welcome the world to Britain for the 2012 Olympic Games. Meet residents and hear how they feel about having a huge, world stage in their backyard.

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“You can’t imagine them closing a busy road with no consultation and no warning,” she added, saying the idea that London 2012 was the first green Games felt like “a bit of a joke.”

Macqueen added that preventing cyclists from using some Olympic lanes was “ludicrous.”

'Critical Mass', 'Swarm' protests
During Friday's opening ceremony, an amateur cycling club tried to pedal their way through the security cordon around the Olympic Park. 

The cyclists were identified as members of a monthly cycling event called "Critical Mass" that normally passes through the area, but police had prohibited them from cycling there on Friday evening.

Olympic party: In the shadow of the Games, London celebrates

More than 100 people were arrested on suspicion of breaching protest conditions and causing a public nuisance, Scotland Yard said Saturday.

Officers scuffled with several pro-cycling activists as dozens of cyclists were blocked by police vans from proceeding, Scotland Yard said. No serious injuring were reported.

Elisabeth Anderson, 38, of Camden, took part in another protest Wednesday night by the “London Bike Swarm” over the Olympic lanes issue.

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The “swarm” turned out to be about 14 cyclists and only six actually defied the authorities to ride in the lanes, until they were stopped by police.

“It’s a strange situation. Cyclists are being thought of as an afterthought,” she said. “There could have been a really positive move to push cycling, they could have encouraged officials and others involved in the Games to cycle as well.”

Read more Olympics coverage on NBC's TODAY in London blog

Christian Wolmar, transport analyst and author, agreed the authorities had not done enough to promote cycling.

“The whole thing is completely hypocritical; cycling is just another example of that,” he said. “Cyclists are really considered a bit of a bother, rather than part of the solution.”

Get the latest on London 2012 with NBC Olympics

“It fits in with the whole hypocrisy of the Games – sponsored by Coca-Cola and McDonald's even while it’s supposed to be about sport and healthy living,” he added.

A spokesman for Transport for London said cyclists could use some Olympic lanes, but added that it would not be safe for cyclists to use those lanes which are in the middle of the road, rather than next to the sidewalk.

Slideshow: Venues for 2012 London Olympic Games

Oda / Getty Images

From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

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“We’ve invested an awful lot of time and money to make it safer for cyclists,” he said. 

A spokeswoman for London 2012 organizer LOCOG told NBCNews.com that the issue was "more one for Transport for London. I’m not sure it’s something we’d comment on.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Alastair Grant / AP File

Moazzam Begg gestures during an interview about his book "Enemy Combatant: A British Muslim's Journey to Guantanamo and Back," in a file photo from 2006.

LONDON – Moazzam Begg makes an unlikely former terrorism suspect. Soft-spoken, gentle-mannered and with a slight build, the British-born 43-year-old is open to tough questions and does not flinch when pushed on his alleged links to international terrorism.

LONDON -- Four days of celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the British throne was getting under way on Saturday with one of her favorite pastimes -- a trip to the horse races. 

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on London over the next few days for Diamond Jubilee festivities, with millions attending street parties across the country as the nation marks the queen's personal milestone. 

"The queen has given incredible service," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. "She's never put a foot wrong, she's hugely popular and respected here and around the world and it's an opportunity for people to give thanks and to say thank you for the incredible service that she's given." 

Across much of Britain, red, white and blue "Union Jack" flags billow from street lamps, outside buildings, shop fronts and houses, and sales of patriotic souvenirs have rocketed ahead of the celebrations. 

To royalists, the occasion is a chance to express their thanks and appreciation to the 86-year-old Elizabeth, head of state for 16 countries from Australia and Canada to tiny Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean, for her years of public service. 

Secret donors, foreign firms bankroll UK's Diamond Jubilee celebration

For others, the chance of some extra days off work and to enjoy the sort of extravaganza and public ceremony for which Britain is renowned has made it a welcome break from austere times, pay freezes and deep public spending cuts. 

Republicans hope the occasion marks the last hurrah of a dying anachronism, while some 2 million people are leaving Britain altogether to go on holiday. 

"Original jubilees were invented in the 19th century by the popular press as modes of national celebration for which the monarchy and monarch was almost incidental," royal biographer Robert Lacey said. 

He said the jubilee was as much about society celebrating itself as it was about the head of state and the now largely symbolic institution of the monarchy. 

"They tend to work best in times of economic hardship. It provides a tonic for the country," Lacey told Reuters. 
 

Jubilee treat: Canadian Mounties guard Britain's queen

Having acceded to the throne in February 1952 on the death of her father George VI when Winston Churchill was prime minister, Elizabeth is now the longest-lived British monarch. 

Only her great-great-grandmother Victoria spent longer on the British throne and she looks on course to overhaul her as longest-serving monarch in 2015. 

As well as being head of the Commonwealth of nations mainly made up former British colonies, Elizabeth is also the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. 

"I think we've been enormously fortunate in this country to have as our head of state a person who has a real personality - a personality that comes through more and more, I think, in her public utterances," said the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the Anglican Church. "Someone with insight and judgment, and with immense stamina and a depth of commitment that I think is immensely impressive to all of us." 

The four days of celebrations begin on a fairly low-key note when the queen indulges her long love of horses by attending the Epsom Derby, one of the biggest events in the British horse racing calendar. 

On Sunday, there will be a flotilla of 1,000 boats assembled from around the globe travelling 25 miles along the River Thames featuring the queen and her 90-year-old husband Prince Philip on a royal barge, in the largest such pageant for 350 years. 

Thousands of street parties are also planned across Britain, including one on Downing Street outside Cameron's office, as part of a "Big Jubilee Lunch". 

Officials say there are some 9,500 street parties planned in England Wales and ABTA, the British travel association, said almost 2.5 million Britons were expected to take part. 

London's Heathrow airport said some 780,000 people were due to arrive in the next few days, although ABTA said an estimated 2 million Britons were planning to head overseas to take advantage of the two extra public holidays. 

The queen's London residence Buckingham Palace will play host to a pop concert on Monday featuring the likes of Paul McCartney and Elton John, before a network of 4,200 beacons will also be lit across Britain with more set alight around the Commonwealth. 

The celebrations culminate on Tuesday with a memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral, a carriage procession through central London and flypast by present and former royal air force aircraft. 

Police said the weekend would include the largest royal security operation ever conducted. Some 13,000 officials including about 6,000 police officers will be on duty for the Thames pageant, which poses challenges never before encountered. 

"We're treating it as a unique event, to have that many dignitaries on that many boats moving along the Thames," London police's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh told Reuters. 

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Ian Johnston / msnbc.com

Slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin's parents and brother with Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered British teenager Stephen Lawrence, outside the University of London Union in London, England, Friday. From left: Lawyer Daryl Parks, Trayvon's parents Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, Doreen Lawrence (front), Jahvaris Fulton and lawyer Benjamin Crump.

The parents of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin held a public meeting in England Friday to highlight the dangers of “profiling” people by the color of their skin or outward appearance.

Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton took to a stage at the University of London with the mother of a black British teenager, Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in a racist attack in Eltham, South London, in 1993.

Doreen Lawrence campaigned for years to get justice for her son, and two men, Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, were only found guilty of Stephen’s murder in January. Three other suspects remain at large.

Trayvon Martin, 17, who was unarmed and walking back to the home of his father’s fiancée, was shot dead by George Zimmerman, 28, in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26.

Zimmerman saw the teenager, called 911 and began following him. Zimmerman claims Martin attacked him and he shot in self-defense, citing Florida's "stand your ground" law. Zimmerman was not charged for more than six weeks, sparking protests across the U.S. and also in London, and is now awaiting trial for second-degree murder.

Ian Johnston/msnbc.com

Slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin's parents Sybrina Fulton (left) Tracy Martin (back) and brother, Jahvaris Fulton, (right) with Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered British teenager Stephen Lawrence.

With tears in her eyes, Fulton told an audience of journalists, activists, students and others, “I should not be looked at differently because of the color of my skin.”

“Although it’s a sad moment for us to be here, it warms my heart to know there are other people who are supporting us,” she said.

“I say to you today … just stand up, stand up and be heard. Don’t let this happen to another one of our children,” Fulton added.

“Until you have lost a child, it’s very difficult for you to understand how we feel, and the hurt and the pain that we have," she said.

Fulton also released a Mother's Day video appeal on YouTube and the Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation's website Friday for people across the United States to campaign for "stand your ground" laws to be re-examined.

She said she would say a prayer on Mother's Day for other mothers who had lost their children to "senseless gun violence."

"Nobody can bring our children back, but it would bring us comfort if we can help spare other mothers the pain that we will feel on Mother's Day and every day for the rest of our lives," Fulton said.

At the meeting in London, Tracy Martin said that Doreen Lawrence was “an inspiration" to their fight for justice.

“We can stand together on common ground … the loss of children. It certainly is a unique fraternity to be in, one that we didn’t choose to be in,” he said. “She [Lawrence] is proving you can turn tragedy into something positive… there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

He said profiling was “not just an issue of black and white.”

“It’s a profiling issue in general, profiling of all sorts,” he said.

After the public meeting, a vigil was held just outside Downing Street, home to the British prime minister's official residence.

Trayvon's parents spoke briefly and then stood with the crowd of about 100, who chanted "I am Trayvon Martin" and "No justice, no peace."

 18 years after racist slaying, fear still stalks London's streets 

The meeting was organized by the Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, JusticeTM.org, a website set up after Trayvon’s murder, and Occupy London.

“You cannot be afraid to leave home, you cannot be afraid to walk down the street and feel someone is going to do something to you. You have to be comfortable in your surroundings,” Tracy Martin said.

He added that more needed to be done to teach people how to resolve conflict peacefully.

Ben Crump, a lawyer representing the family, said that the support for Trayvon’s family in England showed the case was an “international issue” and “one of human rights, not just profiling.”

It was a reminder to “the local people who so conveniently went to sweep the death of a young black child under the rug” that “every life is important, every life matters.”

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“Trayvon was 17, Stephen was 18, they had so much life ahead of them,” Crump said. “These children did not deserve this tragic, untimely end to their lives.”

Zita Holbourne, of British campaign group Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, said there had been cases where people had died in police custody and at the hands of the state in the U.K. and “they’ve been predominantly black.”

“We’re not seeing the justice that we should see,” she said. “What we are seeing is family upon family having to set up campaigns to fight for justice.”

“I think it’s important to come together from across the globe to fight injustice and racism.”

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LONDON -- An American self-defense expert -- who teaches people how to deal with "kill-or-be-killed" situations -- has been banned from entering Britain. Officials say Tim Larkin's presence "was not conducive to the public good."

Larkin attempted to board a flight to the U.K. from Las Vegas, but was given a letter from the U.K. Border Agency saying he would not be allowed in, according to BBC News.

"The home secretary [the U.K. government's interior minister] will seek to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the U.K. is not conducive to the public good," a government spokesperson told the BBC, confirming Larkin was subject to an exclusion order.

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Larkin, who runs a company called Target Focus Training, previously came to the U.K. in 2009, when he taught a class to teach people how to "maim and kill in self-defense," the BBC reported.

Trains Navy SEALs
According to his firm's website, Larkin is "the guy operations like the US Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces and the U.S. Border Patrol call in behind-the-scenes to teach them when it’s 'kill-or-be-killed.' The truth is … your best self defense in a life-or-death confrontation is injuring the other guy. And it’s the one thing that makes us so different."

Larkin has spoken to government officials and business people in more 40 countries about surviving life-or-death violence, according to the website. He also co-authored a book called How To Survive The Most Critical 5 Seconds Of Your Life and writes an online newsletter, Secrets For Staying Alive When Rules Don’t Apply.

The U.K.'s Guardian newspaper ran an online poll about the decision to prevent Larkin from coming to Britain. At 10:15 a.m. ET, more than 72 percent of those choosing to vote said he should have not have been banned.

The BBC said Larkin had been invited to speak at "The Martial Arts Show" conference in Birmingham on May 12 and 13, and to hold a seminar in the Tottenham area of London. Both places experienced rioting during widespread disorder in the U.K. in August last year.

Riots break out in London after fatal-shooting protest

Larkin told the BBC that he thought he had been banned for arguing that U.K. law should be changed to allow people to defend themselves without fear of criminal charges being brought against them.

"You are sitting in your house and you're being attacked, or you're attacked out in the street... There's an awful lot of martial arts and self-defense being taught there right now that gives no instruction on [how to hurt] the human body," he said.

The science of the London riots

"There are those rare, rare black swan occasions -- like the [August] riots -- where law-abiding citizens are put in situations where they are facing grievous bodily harm and they hesitate because they are afraid of being prosecuted. That is a very real thing," he added.

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Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images, file

Actor Dustin Hoffman arrives at the premiere of HBO's "Luck," at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California January 25, 2012.

LONDON -- A jogger who suffered a heart attack while running in a British park has credited actor Dustin Hoffman with helping save his life, according to a report.

Sam Dempster, 27, was running in London's central Hyde Park when he collapsed, according to The Sun newspaper. Hoffman, who was walking nearby, dialed the emergency services and tended to him until medics arrived.

"I want to say 'Thank you' to Dustin Hoffman. He saved my life," Dempster told the paper.

Mila Kunis saves man's life

Medics used CPR and electric shocks to restart his heart, and Dempster also thanked them and the hospital staff who treated him.

'Great job guys'
He said he could not remember what happened, but was told of the actor’s involvement by the medics, Martin Macarthur and Luke Sullivan, The Sun reported. 

"Dustin was fascinated. He seemed impressed we'd got this guy back so quickly," Macarthur told The Sun. "When we were carrying the patient into the ambulance he walked up and said 'Great job guys'. He really appreciated what had happened."

The paper said the medics took Hoffman's iPod and sunglasses away with them, thinking they belonged to Dempster, but they were later returned to the star, who has a house in London.

The Sun said it was thought Dempster would recover fully.

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LONDON -- Year after year, a new photo of the British child Madeleine McCann has emerged. They are a collection of pictures that would have taken pride of place in any happy family home if they had been photos of a real child rather than the haunting computer-generated images of a girl who vanished into thin air five years ago.

Madeleine's name has become synonymous with parental despair -- a heartbreaking story that has no end.

Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of her disappearance while on holiday in Portugal. An international manhunt, numerous unsubstantiated sightings of her around the world, an unprecedented media campaign launched by her parents and a best-selling book followed, but so far, all of it has come to nothing.

The child's parents Kate and Gerry McCann are, clearly, as distressed about her disappearance as they are determined to find her.

In an interview with GMTV, a U.K. morning television show, they said that despite the passage of time they still had hope that Madeleine was alive.

"We've always believed that and we're realistic; we don't know what's happened, but we know there's a very good chance that she could be alive," Kate McCann said. "There's no evidence to the contrary [and] ... year after year, missing children that have been abducted are found alive."

Teri Blythe / Met. Police - AFP - Getty Images

A combination of images showing missing British girl Madeleine McCann at the age of three (left) and a computer-generated image released by police showing what police believe Madeleine could look like aged 9.

"I think particularly the cases when they're younger children, it's often not horrendous circumstances," Gerry McCann added. "A lot of the kids are taken as babies or toddlers; [they] have just been brought up as normal children and obviously with the older children, it's been a bit more unpleasant, but they are capable and adaptable and cope well."

Other kids to continue search?
Despite the enormous stress and scrutiny the couple have been under for 5 years, they are still very much together and their two other children, twins Sean and Amelie, are showing signs of their parents' dogged determination.

"Even Sean said to me -- this is going back 18 months -- 'you know mummy if you haven't found Madeleine when we get older, me and Amelie will look for Madeleine,'" Kate McCann told GMTV.

"And I have absolutely no doubt about that, but I don't want them to have to be in the position where they're carrying around this kind of sadness and frustration or whatever ... to find Madeleine. We want to find her now," she added.

What befell their family is the stuff of parental nightmares. Lucy Beresford is a psychotherapist who works in London and says couples whose children have been missing for long periods are forced to keep their lives on hold.

"It's a terrifying place to be; there is no proof one way or the other and a lot of speculation. The lack of clarity is exhausting," she said.

At a press conference given by the McCanns Wednesday, it was clear to see the media obsession with this story is far from fading. And no one has worked harder to keep Madeleine's face and name in the spotlight than her mother and father.

Missing girl Madeleine McCann may be 'still alive'

It's hard to believe that half a decade has passed and yet she remains deeply imprinted in our minds. The credit goes to her parents who, despite their distress, have relentlessly pursued a high-profile and sophisticated campaign to find her.

At its peak their "Madeleine Fund" raised more than $3 million, much of which has been spent on private detectives searching for her.

Talking to the Pope, Oprah
And with a book, regular front-page headlines, a meeting with the Pope and a television appearance on Oprah, the McCanns have managed a very astute media campaign to keep their daughter in the spotlight.

Helping them with their media strategy is one of the smartest heads in the business, a tough former television reporter turned PR guru, Clarence Mitchell.

They hired him early on and now he's a close friend of the family. He went from being a professionally dispassionate journalist to really caring about the people he is working for.

At every media appearance made by the McCanns, he stands nearby ready to leap to their defense. Many say he is their secret weapon.

And the timing last week of the British police's press conference could not have been better. A full week before the actual anniversary, it grabbed headlines all week.

Andy Redwood, the police officer in charge of the British review of the investigation, told reporters that they were a quarter of the way through 100,000 documents and of these there were "195 investigative opportunities."

He said they had taken "two positions" on Madeleine's disappearance. "One is that she is alive," he said, "and the other is that she is not, and in relation to the former and on the evidence we believe there is a possibility Madeleine is alive."

Headlines sprung up in the hours and days afterward, focusing on the idea that the child could be alive and the general public sat up and took notice.

Cop: Parents have to believe
I asked Colin Sutton, a former chief inspector of London's Metropolitan Police, for his take on what may be going on behind the scenes. Could Madeleine really be alive after all this time?

"Technically, you have to use these media opportunities to get help," he said, "you can't stress in an appeal that she may be dead or you are switching people off."

Sutton, who was in the police's murder squad, then told me about some depressing statistics that all those involved in the police case review would be fully aware of.

"If a person is missing for more than 48 hours, there is a 90 percent chance that they won't be coming back. A lot of the team will be thinking that she simply isn't alive," he said.

It's a fact, he added, that the McCanns also would have had to face and that while police officers would have been sensitive, they certainly wouldn't have shied from it as a distinct possibility.

"They would have been told she is dead," Sutton said, "and they would have accepted that, but they, as her parents, also have to believe that she will be found one day."

And that one day, the McCanns will be hoping, is soon.

Their campaign to find her has not lost momentum over the past 5 years.

It is certainly one of the most picture-friendly stories I have ever worked on. There are endless photos of this gorgeous little child, cute home video footage of her and her siblings.

Her telegenic, middle-class professional parents wear their grief with dignity and have appeared on our television screens over and over again.

But some are saying that this may be their last hope. And public opinion in Portugal is against the McCanns. Many still believe they were behind their daughter's disappearance.

With Portuguese authorities as yet failing to take the cue to reopen the investigation, the British police's efforts can only go so far.

Tantalizing dream of finding her
So on this fifth anniversary all we really have is this new image of Madeleine that the family are hoping will finally lead to the closure they need.

"Closure" is a word the British police used a lot last week.

When pushed on what this means, they said they simply want the case solved.

For the rest of us -- who have watched this story from afar, who want but are unable to help -- it's a poignant reminder that if she is still alive, she will be celebrating her ninth birthday next week. It is also a reminder that if she does reappear, it will be against all odds, making it an even more incredible story.   

But at the moment, that remains just a tantalizing dream for the McCanns.

Kate McCann told GMTV she had imagined Madeleine being found alive, but tried not to.

"You know what, I don't that often because it's almost like ... it's so good, it's so beautiful I guess, that I don't want to take myself there and for it not to be real," she said. "I've had some dreams along the way, not recently and they're so tangible that it's incredibly painful because that's what we want every single day."

The death of a British spy -- whose body was found in a padlocked bag in a bathtub in his London apartment -- may never be explained but was likely a criminal act, the coroner investigating the case said Wednesday.

The coroner, Fiona Wilcox, said that it was a "legitimate line of inquiry" that other spies were involved in the death of Gareth Williams, 31, a member of the U.K.'s Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper.

Wilcox said the spy was likely killed either by suffocation or poisoning in a "criminally meditated act."

She also said she did not think Williams' passing interest in sexual bondage was behind his death, The Telegraph newspaper said.

NBC News

The body of British spy Gareth Williams was found in a bag in his bathtub.

Wilcox said that if Williams, a math prodigy who worked as a code breaker, had got into the bag by himself, foot and fingerprints would have been found around the bath, the paper reported. 

"It is unlikely this death will ever be satisfactorily explained," she said, according to the media reports.

Spy death inquiry looks at bondage link

The coroner also said the large number of women's clothes in the apartment did not show that Williams was a transvestite, The Telegraph noted. The case, she said, had produced in "endless speculation but little evidence."

However, she added that the circumstances of the death "immediately raised the possibility of foul play," according to the Guardian.

UK cops close to arrest over British spy found dead in a bag?

Williams' body was found in his apartment in Pimlico, London, in August 2010.

Metropolitan Police / Reuters

A combination of still photographs taken from video shows a man trying to lock himself in a holdall in this undated image received from the Metropolitan Police in London on April 27.

A forensic pathologist, Benjamin Swift, testified Monday that Williams probably suffocated or was poisoned, saying a precise cause of death could not be established because the body had decomposed. Williams died more than a week before his body was found.

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Other experts have said that it was highly likely that another person, or two, were involved.

The case has spawned any number of conspiracy theories that Williams may have been assassinated by foreign agents or terrorists.

MI6 has said it believes his death was  nothing to do with his work.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Andrew Winning / Reuters

Ian and Ellen Williams and Cerri Subbe, the mother, father and sister of British MI6 agent Gareth Williams, leave Westminster Coroner's Court, in central London April 23, 2012.

Criminal charges over the death of a British spy – whose body was found in a sports bag – are a “real possibility,” a lawyer for police reportedly told a coroner Monday.

Gareth Williams, 31, a math prodigy who graduated from university at the age of 17, was found dead in his immaculate apartment in Pimlico, London, in August 2010.

At the opening of a hearing into the cause of his death, Vincent Williams, a lawyer for London’s Metropolitan Police, said he sought to block the coroner from making video footage related to the case public, The Guardian newspaper reported.

The lawyer said a "careful line must be struck between open justice" at the hearing and the investigation by police, according to The Guardian.

Asked why information should not be made public, the lawyer told the coroner “because there is a live, complex, ongoing investigation taking place.”

Spy death inquiry looks at bondage link

"It is because there may be criminal proceedings further down the line that the commissioner feels that the pattern of disclosure … has to be done with some care,” the lawyer added, saying charges were still a "real possibility."

Coroner Fiona Wilcox said there was a risk of harm to the U.K.’s national security and relations with other countries if some of those giving evidence at the hearing were named, The Guardian reported.

Mystery couple sought in UK cyberspy's bizarre death

Williams’ relatives have expressed fears that "some agency specializing in the dark arts" will prevent them from finding out the truth about his death, The Guardian said.

The dead man’s sister, Ceri Subbe, told the hearing she did not enjoy the culture of “flash car competitions,” “post-work drinking” and “rat race” at MI6, the U.K.’s secret intelligence service, The Telegraph newspaper reported.

Wilcox asked Subbe if she was surprised that more than £20,000 worth of female clothing was found in Williams’ apartment.

“I am not surprised, he was very generous with gifts,” Subbe said, adding that he may have collected the clothes because of his interest in fashion.

She said Williams was a cautious man and would not have let anyone inside his home if they had not been security vetted.

The hearing at Westminster Coroner’s Court in London is continuing.

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