McCANNS MARK SAD MILESTONE

INSTEAD OF CELEBRATING HER 18TH BIRTHDAY, HER GRIEVING FAMILY ARE MARKING 14 YEARS WITHOUT THEIR PRECIOUS DAUGHTER

Madeleine McCann was one week away from celebrating her fourth birthday on May 12, 2007, when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The little girl had been left with her 2-year-old twin siblings Sean and Amelie in the unlocked rental while her parents dined with friends at a tapas restaurant just 40 metres away. After the children were checked on at 21.05pm, Madeleine’s mother Kate McCann reported her missing at 10pm – and she’s never been seen since.

“Every May is tough – a reminder of years passed, of years together lost, or stolen,” Kate and Gerry McCann, both 53, wrote in an emotional Facebook post ahead of marking 14 years without their oldest daughter. “This year it is particularly poignant as we should be celebrating

Madeleine’s 18th birthday. Enough said.”

In the agonising years since their little girl vanished, the McCanns have celebrated Madeleine’s birthday by heading to church, holding a tea party in her memory and laying presents in her bedroom. “I do all the present buying. I obviously have to think about what age she is and something that, whenever we find her, will still be appropriate so there’s a lot of thought goes into it,” Kate shared on the 10th anniversary of her daughter’s headline-dominating disappearance. “But I couldn’t not, you know, she’s still our daughter, she’ll always be our daughter. Whether it be a birthday, family occasion or even an achievement or something, that is kind of when you really feel her absence.”

The heartbroken parents refuse to give up hope of finding their daughter alive, despite a claim made by German prosecutors in June 2020 that they believe she was likely murdered. In what had been the first significant breakthrough in years, authorities reported a 43-year-old

German prisoner known as “Christian B” had become the main focus of the multinational investigation.

In an interview with The Times, Hans Christian Wolters, a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Braunschweig, said, “My private opinion is that he relatively quickly killed the girl, possibly abused her and then killed her.” Wolters added, “We believe our suspect committed further crimes, especially sexual crimes, in Portugal possibly but also elsewhere.”

The suspect is currently serving a seven-year sentence in a German prison for raping a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz in 2005. According to reports, he is also set to be charged with the rape of an Irish woman in 2004. Tour representative Hazel Behan said in an interview with The Guardian that she was about to turn 21 when she was woken in the middle of the night and attacked by a masked man with a machete in her Portugal apartment, which is just a 30-minute drive from where Madeleine vanished.

“There are parallels with the case of the American tourist who was raped, the attack on Hazel Behan, and the abduction and murder of Madeleine McCann,” Wolters, who is also leading the inquiries into the rape and the disappearance of Madeleine, told The Sunday Times. “The case against the suspect Christian B for the rape of Hazel Behan is in a good way, and it may be that we can charge him in the next three months. I am very hopeful for a charge in this case.”

The McCann family, meanwhile, are still praying for a miracle. “We hang on to the hope, however small, that we will see Madeleine again,” Kate and Gerry continued in their Facebook post. “As we have said repeatedly, we need to know what has happened to our lovely daughter, no matter what. We are very grateful to the police for their continued efforts. We still receive so many positive words and good wishes despite the years that have gone by. For that we are truly grateful.”

• By Jennie Noonan

“We hang on to hope”

– THE McCANNS

In 2020, the McCanns posted a tribute to Madeleine: “We love you, we’re waiting for you and we’re never going to give up.”

If she’s still alive, it’s hoped Madeleine’s rare eye condition would still make her recognisable.

Kate and Gerry have campaigned tirelessly for information about their daughter.

The McCanns tried unsuccessfully for five years before falling pregnant with Madeleine using IVF, and later her twin siblings were also conceived after IVF.

German prisoner Christian B is currently a person of interest in the crime.

STILL SEARCHING In the years since their daughter’s disappearance, the McCanns have made regular trips back to Praia da Luz. “I go back and walk the streets,” says Kate. “I try to look for answers. It helps me, most of the time.”