‘WE STILL BELIEVE IN MIRACLES’
KATE AND GERRY MCCANN WON’T STOP SEARCHING FOR THEIR GIRL
It’s a difficult milestone for Madeleine Mccann’s family this week as their missing daughter turns 18, officially signalling her journey to adulthood. Instead of honouring the occasion with a celebration full of love and laughter, parents Kate and Gerry will be in mourning on May 12, desperately clinging to the hope their darling Maddie will be found alive.
More than 14 years have now passed since the couple tucked Madeleine into bed for the last time in their hotel room in Portugal on May 3, 2007.
They dined with friends at a tapas restaurant just 55 metres away, checking in on sleeping Maddie and their toddler twins, before making the grim discovery their eldest daughter had vanished.
Despite a $22 million police probe and several theories surrounding her whereabouts, whether Maddie is dead or alive remains a mystery.
Former GP Kate, 53, and heart doctor Gerry, 52, refuse to give up hope, saying they “still believe in miracles”.
They will honour Maddie’s 18th with their annual tradition – a tea party where her siblings Sean and Amelie, now 16, blow out the candles on a birthday cake.
Kate will buy her daughter a gift to add to the growing collection in her pink bedroom, which remains untouched.
“I always try and pick something that would be suitable and enjoyable for her, no matter what age she is when she gets to open them,” says Kate. “In my head I guess I just want everything to be right for her when she comes back home.”
The devout Catholics hoped to hold an outdoor prayer gathering near their home in Leicestershire, UK, with their supporters this week, but sadly it has been cancelled for the second year running due to the worldwide pandemic.
Instead, the family will attend a private ceremony and local churches will be live streaming services.
“We have her birthday with close family and the twins, but it’s hard, it’s really hard,” says Gerry. “She’s not there, and she should be celebrating.”
Prosecutors remain optimistic they will crack the case, almost a year after convicted German paedophile and rapist Christian Brueckner was named as the prime suspect.
The 44-year-old is currently behind bars after being convicted of raping a 72-yearold American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005, the same area where Madeleine vanished.