Madeleine McCann – Parents first interview

“The pain of missing my Madeleine” – by Kate McCann

Article by Karen Williams

Friday 25th May 2007, 17:53

Gerry and Kate McCann have given their first in-depth interview about their ordeal to a group of media journalists and have said that they are confident that Madeleine is still alive and will be found.

Gerry and Kate McCann told of the terrifying moment when they realised that their daughter had disappeared from her room at their apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 while they were eating nearby and of their efforts since then to keep her in the public domain.

“I think and believe strongly that we will find her – its not hard to believe that.”

Gerry McCann once again did most of the talking as in most occasions during press interviews, displaying his calm and confident manner, still firmly believing that their daughter is still alive and will return.

“People can still help to find her” Said Gerry  – “it’s the public that hold the key and if anyone have any information they really must come forward.”

On this day which is the International missing children’s day – Gerry and Kate McCann continued their mass-media campaign for the search of their daughter Madeleine – and spoke to a number of press reporters openly and frankly.

When asked about how they coped in the initial moments flowing the discovery that their child was gone – Gerry replied “For the first couple of days – 48 hours, it was very dark – we went to places where you really wouldn’t have wanted to go, answering questions and asking more about what could possibly have happened”

When asked why they decided to leave their three children alone while they went out, Gerry responded boldly to answer the critics who say that three young children should not have been left by themselves. “If you actually look at our own actions and those of the group – the speed of response – Mark Warner, the resort manager was excellent”

“From the minute we discovered she was gone – the speed was excellent – alarm out within 10 minutes and the missing child protocol was set up very quickly – everything was in place very quickly and all the staff were contacted and all returned to the resort immediately and local search was started.

“It’s obvious that the system here is different from that in the UK – there was an information  void which was hard to deal with – the not knowing anything doesn’t help you” “But as British police arrived on the scene, the consulate helped us with communication channels and we started to become more active and able to deal with the situation” –  “at the minute we are happy with the way information is conveyed to us  – but it was the first 48 hrs in particular were the most difficult to handle”.

Kate spoke for the fist time – “I did want to go and look for Maddie myself –  and we’ve been working really hard every day  – the first 48 hrs were the most difficult we were almost non-functioning to begin with – but the support and strength from others has really helped – we may not have been physically searching but we have been very busy.”

Kate and Gerry sat calmly answering questions from the media and they both appeared in control but the determination in their eyes was undeniable.

“The feeling of helplessness and loss of control of everything in terms of getting Madeleine back has been hard to handle – the job of influencing people and dealing with the publicity is also a big job and there are certain things within your control which helped a lot to remain positive” – “also those around you can help as well – and the word has spread like wildfire – it has been tremendous – and we are grateful for everyone’s help from doing things like distributing posters and keeping the word out there has amazed us all and we are grateful”

There has been a lot of money donated into the fighting fund – a massive £300,000 so far. It was suggested that some money can be sensibly spent on things like a private investigator. “The fund is for an outlet for people to help” said Gerry – “it has helped considerably and everything that all consultants could and should be doing, they are doing. There is a huge amount of resources available to us both in the UK and Portugal and so we have said  – no private Investigators – I believe that it’s the public hold the key – someone knows something”!

They finally answered the criticism that they should never have left their daughter alone and that many people are saying that they can’t ever imagine leaving their small children alone - how do you deal with that?

“Any criticism of us a this time has been hard to deal with of course, and there has been lots which has been very hard. What we did – many others would have said the same – it’s such a safe resort no one will feel more guilty than us that we were not there while she was abducted. We would still have felt the same if we were next door. The distance is so small, it was so close it was almost like having dinner in your garden – what we were doing was rigorous with multiple people checking the apartment at regular intervals – if we thought for one minute that someone would have taken her – of course we would never have left her”

“We came with a group of friends” said kate “And we were having a great time “The combination of the child-friendly environment is fantastic – tennis, watersports the facilities were great. “Maddie is a complete McCann – very extrovert – “She’s very sociable” Kate was smiling as she recounted her memories “in the evenings by the pool, we would spend an hour or two with Maddie and the other children running around shouting ‘Be a monster, Be a monster’ tiring everybody out”

When asked if she thought she’d wandered off “No not at all” said Kate resolutely – “We’re absolutely certain – we double and treble checked and no doubt she was taken” said Gerry –

When asked how are the other children coping – Kate responded “they are still quite young, just over 2 years old at the minute – and so it’s not affected them that much- they ask about her of course, and they say where is she? – and they’ll say ‘this is Madeleine’s and that belongs to Madeleine - they are handling it really well, they don’t appear upset – we will take advice of course”

Everyone can feel what we’re going thru – our children give us strength. We need to bring Madeleine back as much for them as we do for us” said Gerry.

How do you aim to keep that strength – how do you hold that thought that she is being cared for. “Absolutely, we must continue with that and we are confident and believe strongly that we will find her – it’s not hard to believe that, she’s our daughter and we will not give up the search.”

“We need to believe she is coming back to us.” Said Kate.

0800 0961233 – madeleine.ceopupload.com

It was widely reported that they are frustrated at many aspects of the police operation and have said that they will embark on a tour of European countries to keep the spotlight on their daughter’s disappearance.

A billionaire businessman has offered them the use of his private jet for their travels as they plan a mass European media expedition to Spain, Germany, Holland – they have also had invitations from the media in Greece and even the USA.

New pictures were released of Madeleine which were taken only hours before her disappearance on May 3^rd and the previously unseen picture shows the four-year-old playing happily at the resort where she went missing.

There has been constant on-going investigation as to the whereabouts of missing Madeleine and British experts, thought to be psychic advisors, have flown to the Algarve to re-examine the scene of Madeleine abduction and the specific request of the McCann family

Portuguese police said four British "specialists" who are not police officers had arrived in the country on Thursday.

The men have been measuring the window to the McCann apartment, pacing out measurements around the building and even walking as far as the home of Robert Murat.

He is the only official suspect or "arguido" in the case.

Comments
Hope! Posted by on Saturday 26.05.2007, 07:41 AM In sha Allah you will find her. Madeleine is lucky at least in one way now; to have such parents! I somehow believe she's been abducted to be adopted by another family. I surely hope so too. She must be found in the end.
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