Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Shock, pain and a never-ending hope that we’ll find her
FB: Here are some of the key exchanges between interviewer Fiona Bruce and Kate and Gerry McCann in their BBC interview.
How much of a difference has it made – police actively investigating for the past five years?
GM: Absolutely huge, I mean I can’t emphasise enough just what a massive burden that has lifted from us, and those around us, and also knowing that the lines of investigation have been prosecuted.
FB:
He (detective Amaral) was effectively suggesting you were involved? GM: There’s no evidence Madeleine is dead. The prosecutor has said there’s no evidence that we were involved in any crime. FB: Does it shock you, because it has shocked me, the things people say? KM: I think it has been shocking... that aspect of human nature that I hadn’t really encountered. Why add to someone’s upset? Why would someone in a position of ignorance do something like that?
GM: I think we’ve seen the worst and the best of human nature.
FB: How different is your life now?
GM: I think before Madeleine was taken, we felt we had managed to achieve our little perfect nuclear family of five. And unfortunately for us a new normality is a family of four.
FB: You appear to have stayed so strong as a family unit. How have you managed to do that?
KM: As Gerry said, one of our goals – obviously ultimately finding Madeleine – was to ensure Sean and Amelie have a normal, happy and fulfilling life and we’ll do everything that we can to ensure that. FB: Do you talk about Madeleine, is she a name that crops up every day? How do you manage that? GM: I mean she’s always still part of our life, there’s photographs all round the house.
FB: And how will you get through this anniversary?
GM: We don’t tend to go back to the time, because it’s so draining. But inevitably, on anniversaries and her birthday, they are by far the hardest days, by far.
FB: You must have imagined, if you saw her, what you’d say – how your lives would change?
KM: It would be absolutely fine, it would be beyond words really. We’ll cope with anything.
FB: And if you do find Madeleine you’ll be able to show her everything you did. You never gave up.
KM: Absolutely. And how many people have been there willing her home.
We try to ensure a happy and fulfilling life for Sean and Amelie KATE MCCANN TALKING ABOUT TWINS AGED 12 A massive burden has been lifted from us by Met Police inquiry... GERRY MCCANN PRAISES FIVE-YEAR INVESTIGATION