‘10 years on, we still

In a wide- ranging interview ahead of next week’s sombre date, Kate and Gerry McCann also said they intended to challenge a court ruling clearing a Portuguese former police officer of breaching libel laws.

Speaking to the BBC’s Fiona Bruce on Friday, the couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said they took heart from the “real progress” that had been made by the Metropolitan Police during the past five years.

Mrs McCann, who has described the impending anniversary of her daughter’s disappearance as a “horrible marker of time, stolen time”, said she was no less hopeful of finding Madeleine than she had been in 2007.

Scotland Yard said last week that officers are still pursuing “critical” leads to trace Madeleine, who was aged three when she vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007.

M r s Mc Ca n n said of the active inquiry: “It might not be as quick as we want, but there’s real progress being made and I think we need to take heart from that.

“We just have to go with the process and follow it through – whatever it takes for as long as it takes.

“There is still hope t h at we can find Madeleine.

“I think you know we’ve had so many supporters and I guess I just want them to be reassured that there is progress being made.”

Mr McCann, 48, a c k n ow l - edged i t wa s “d e v a s t a t i n g ” not to have f o u n d Madeleine but said the most important thing was holding on to hope of tracing her.

“We ar e still looking forw a r d. I th ink

Three-year-old Madeleine went missing in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz almost 10 years ago. that’s the most important thing – we still hope,” he said. Asked how he and his wife were coping 10 years on, Mr McCann answered: “I think we’re doing a new normality really, particularly over the last five years. “Since the Metropolitan Police actually started their investigation, it has taken a huge pressure off us, individually and as a family.

“A f t er t he initial Portuguese investigat ion c losed , essentially, no-one else was doing anything proactively to try to find Madeleine.

“And I think

ever y parent could understand that what you want – and what we have aspired to – is to have all the reasonable lines of inquiry followed to a logical conclusion.”

Last month the Home Office confirmed £ 85,000 was being given to t he UK-based Metropolitan Police inquiry to cover operational costs from April to September. In all, more than £ 11 million has been spent on the inquiry so far.

As well as dismissing criticism of the cost of the Met’s inquiry as unfair, the McCanns said they intended to continue a legal battle against former detective Goncalo Amaral, who wrote a book about their daughter’s disappearance.

Confirming that the couple still plan to contest a Portuguese court ruling from January, Mr Mc Ca n n said: “We h a ve n’t launched that yet, but it will be going to the European courts.

“What people really need to realise though is, as Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley has said again this week – and the Portuguese have said in the final report – there’s no evidence that Madeleine is dead and the prosecutor has said there’s no evidence that we were involved in any crime.”

The couple also commented on the impact of social media criticism of them, urging people to think twice before posting hurtful comments.

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