Kate and Gerry still hope’ Madeleine will
MADELEINE McCann’s parents have never lost hope their daughter is alive, despite German police saying they believe she is dead.
Kate and Gerry McCann are being comforted by close relatives after a new suspect, German sex offender Christian Brueckner, was this week linked to her abduction.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said that ever since Maddie was snatched more than 13 years ago, Kate and Gerry have never halted their bid to find her.
They have vowed to carry on the painstaking global search for “as long as it takes,” he added.
Detectives are now keeping them updated by phone at their home in Rothley, Leics, after the “most significant development” in 13 years.
The three-year-old was taken from her bed while her parents were dining in a nearby restaurant with friends during a holiday in Portugal in 2007.
Answers
Mr Mitchell said yesterday: “German police say they are assuming that Madeleine is dead but they have no proof. British police are keeping an open mind and Portuguese police are reacting with caution too.
“So Kate and Gerry still fervently hope that Madeleine will be found alive despite everything that appears to be happening.They continue to hope she is alive until they can be shown incontrovertible evidence which proves that she is not.
“But they are being realistic and simply want to know what has happened to their daughter and establish the truth, and for those responsible to be brought to justice.
“They will wait to hear what the police tell them. They want a resolution and after all these years they want peace.”
At a press conference in Braunschweig, Germany, a spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed jailed rapist Brueckner, 43, is being probed for murder.
Mr Mitchell said that “of all the thousands of leads in the past nothing is as clear cut as this latest one”. He added: “Three police
forces are saying he is the key suspect. It is the most significant development.”
A friend of heart doctor Gerry, 52, and medical worker Kate, also 52, said the couple had “mixed emotions” as they await possible news of their daughter’s fate.
The friend said: “It’s a difficult and nerve-wracking time for them and the whole family. Of course they want to find Madeleine alive but after all this time they just need answers.” Kate’s uncle Brian
Kennedy, 80, has been to visit the couple and their 15-yearold twins Sean and Amelie to offer some support and comfort.
It is understood Gerry has had time off work as a cardiologist at Leicester’s Glenfield Hospital as the family remain behind closed doors.
Mr Kennedy said that Wednesday’s bombshell revelation from the Met Police came “as much a surprise to us as everyone else”.
Kate and Gerry had been
sworn to secrecy and were told not to share any news even with close family, the friend said.
The McCanns have done everything in their power to keep their child’s disappearance in the public spotlight, hoping and praying that someone, somewhere would come forward with a vital new lead.
They launched Madeleine’s Fund to raise money from the public purse to search for their cherished daughter. And
when Portuguese police shelved their own investigation into her disappearance, Kate and Gerry forked out for their own private investigators to help search for her.
The Met was then forced to launch a new inquiry on the orders of then prime minister David Cameron following personal pleas from the McCanns.
In 2011 Kate wrote a bestselling book about her daughter’s abduction, simply entitled Madeleine, as a record and to re-ignite public awareness. She
wrote at the time: “We are hopeful that this book may help the investigation.
“It might prompt someone who has relevant information, maybe without even knowing it, to come forward and share it with our team.”
In the McCanns’ home village of Rothley, a candle still burns around the clock for Maddie at a war memorial as a symbol of hope.
The little girl vanished from Portugal’s Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.