THE parents of Madeleine McCann have branded a mock-up image of their daughter wearing a sweatshirt at the centre of a race row as “tasteless and offensive.”

A sick troll sparked fury by superimposing a photo of Maddie’s head onto a long sleeved top of fashion store H&M, putting a slogan on the T-shirt saying “hide and seek champion.”

A close friend of the missing girl’s mum and dad told The Sun: “It’s the start of the New Year and they can’t believe all this tasteless rubbish is resurfacing again.
“It’s so offensive and so unnecessary.”

Doctors Kate and Gerry are desperate to put a stop to the “mindless nonsense” about their daughter that continues to be posted on websites nearly 11 years on since her disappearance.

“We’ve had this all this sort of stuff before and now it’s back up there again,” the friend told the publication.

“It causes more hurt to a family still suffering but they do their best to ignore negativity and spiteful postings.”

Three-year-old Maddie vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007, while her parents were dining with friends in a nearby tapas restaurant.

Yesterday a Twitter user named Kieron Marsh made a cruel jibe about Maddie’s disappearance with a slogan tagged to the sea-blue sweatshirt reading “Hide and seek champion”.

The social media user from Suffolk was also blasted by others online after hijacking the image and captioning his tweet: “Absolutely disgusting from H&M. I’m ashamed!”

His post has already been retweeted over 7000 times and liked by more than 22,000 Twitter users.

Kieron responded to friends’ requests asking for his autograph after the post went viral with some people even praising the picture.

Becca Davis-Owen wrote: “This has to be the best H&M Photoshop.”

Whilst Erjola Issley added: “I’m so ashamed at myself for laughing at this.”

The doctored image comes after H&M were forced to apologise this week for their controversial advert showing a young black child wearing a green hoodie with the phrase “Coolest monkey in the jungle” on it.

Former GP Kate, now a medical worker, and eminent heart doctor Gerry refuse to give up hope their daughter could still be alive.

The couple, both 49, from Rothley, Leicestershire, continue to vow: “We are united in our aim of finding Madeleine.”

Gym fanatic and keen runner Kate added in a Christmas message: “You don’t know how strong you are until you have no option.”

The ambassador for charity Missing People added: “The police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance is still active, thankfully, and while it can be incredibly slow and frustrating we continue in hope. That is all we can do.”

Kate has this week been sporting a bright pink Maddie T-shirt during her gruelling spin classes boldly stating: “Never give up.”

Last year a study found that Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry, were targeted with more than 150 abusive messages from social media users each day.