A PRAYER FOR MADDIE
Gerry and Kate join villagers in moving service for daughter Community unites to bring comfort and hope to McCanns
KATE and Gerry McCann walked through the churchyard hand in hand, silently supporting each other – as they have every day during the decade since their daughter disappeared.
Last night, their home village of Rothley, in Leicestershire, gathered for another anniversary service to remember Madeleine and pray for her safe return.
This time it marked a particularly painful milestone – 10 years since she disappeared from her parents’ holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
In previous years, the village gathered at the local war memorial to pray, but for this heartbreaking landmark, they crowded into the parish church of St Mary and St John. It was filled to its 250 capacity.
The church had been specially decorated for the service – photographs of Madeleine as she was then, and missingperson posters showing her as she would look now, all hung from bright yellow “remember me” ribbons.
HORRIBLE
There were no words from Kate and Gerry. In a BBC Panorama interview last night, they described the anniversary as “a horrible marker of stolen time”, while a statement on their website warned the coming weeks would be “stressful and painful”. The service was a chance for them to draw strength and comfort from those around them.
Madeleine’s great uncle Brian Kennedy said: “I found it a huge support and I hope Kate and Gerry did, too. We honestly didn’t know how many people would be here tonight. It was very moving that so many were.
“I can’t believe it has been 10 years, but we will be here for as long as it takes. I don’t know how long that will be, but there is still hope, we will never give up.”
There may be cause for fresh hope of a breakthrough. Last week, Met Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said his team were following a “significant line of inquiry” and had not ruled out the possibility Madeleine was taken during a burglary that went wrong.
And on Tuesday, it emerged British police are focussing their search on a
GONE Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007
“woman in purple”, who is now considered to be the prime suspect.
Throughout the service, Reverend Rob Gladstone did his best to nurture the sense of hope that the family’s questions and prayers would soon be answered.
He said: “There is no evidence that Madeleine has died, so we can have real confidence that God will hear our prayers and answer them. We pray for Madeleine and her safe return.” There were prayers from local schoolgirls, who would have been Madeleine’s classmates. Then children in the congregation were invited to light candles.
More than 30 came forward, many younger than Madeleine would have been now – she should be celebrating her 14th birthday later this month.
As they lit their candles, a list of missing children – some pictured in the church – was read out, including Ben Needham and Andrew Gosden, who has also been missing 10 years. Kate’s friend Fiona
Payne, who was eating tapas with the couple on the night Madeleine disappeared, read a poem Tree of Hope by VC Krunkle Kermit.
It was a fitting choice, as earlier, children at Rothley Primary School gathered around their own tree of hope, planted the year Madeleine vanished, and which continues to bloom each spring – along with the hope.
Then great uncle Brian read The Beacon, a poem written especially for the family by renowned poet Simon Armitage. It contained poignant reminders of Madeleine and the many mistaken sightings of her over the years, with lines including “a daughter’s eye, distinctly flecked, undeniably hers” and a “candle alive with a fierce blonde flame”. The service finished with a special version of the hymn Sing Hosanna, the words tweaked to reinforce that message of continued hope. Throughout the service, Kate and Gerry sat, sang, and, at times, visibly suffered. There were no tears. There have been too many to count
during the long nights since their daughter disappeared – and there will likely be more in the days to come.
But as a recording of Cat Stevens singing Morning Has Broken was piped through the church at the end, the emotion and the weight of 10 long years was etched clearly on Kate’s face for all those present to see.
As the congregation began to filter out, Kate and Gerry managed to muster strained smiles and warm hugs for the many friends who had turned out to support them.
Their backing was vital for the couple to make it through such a difficult day, as it has been throughout the last decade. Then they clasped hands once more and hurried out into the cold evening air, presumably heading home to their twins Sean and Amelie, now 12, who did not attend the service.
Afterwards Madeleine’s great aunt Janet Kennedy said: “It was a simple service, but it was really moving to be surrounded by so many people who were gathered in hope. There was a real sense of community, it was tremendous.
“It has been 10 years, but we are not going to be ground down by this. We still have hope.”