I was sure the story would have happy end
IT WAS a Friday morning in May 2007 when I awoke to the news that a young British girl had gone missing during a family holiday in Portugal.
Friends and relatives of Madeleine McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry told how there had been signs of a break-in at the family’s apartment in the Algarve holiday resort of Praia da Luz the night before.
No valuables or passports were taken. But Madeleine, then aged three, was gone.
In the scramble to get to the scene, flying via Manchester, I remember thinking by the time we arrived she would have been found safe and well.
I was convinced the story would have a happy ending.
It was dusk when I arrived outside Apartment 5A at the Ocean Club resort where the family were staying.
Moments later, Kate and Gerry appeared hand in hand as they faced the cameras for the first time.
Fighting back tears Gerry pleaded for the safe return of his daughter.
Photographs of Madeleine were distributed around the resort while holidaymakers, locals and expats joined police in hastily organised searches.
It was the start of an extraordinary, unprecedented campaign by the couple to find their daughter.
Since that night more than 13 years ago, the couple’s hopes have been raised and dashed by alleged sightings stretching across Europe and as far afield as Africa, the US, South America and Australia.
The inquiry dominated headlines for months but one “credible” sighting after another turned into a false trail along with thousands of tip-offs.
Public figures and celebrities joined the international campaign to find her.
Footballers David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo made televised appeals. The Pope showed his support by meeting Kate and Gerry in St Peter’s Square.
Gordon Brown, who became prime minister a month after Madeleine disappeared, took a personal involvement in the case while a visit by Gerry to Washington caught the attention of President George Bush and his wife Laura, who posted a supporting message on a special website.
Since the start of Scotland Yard’s £12million Operation Grange investigation, more than 600 “persons of interest” have been identified.
Now that appears to have been narrowed down to just one.