McCanns in direct plea for evidence

2 May 2008 11:57am

The parents of Madeleine McCann have launched a direct appeal to anyone who has spoken to Portuguese police about her disappearance to contact them.

A year on from their daughter's abduction and with their relationship with the Portuguese investigation team having become strained, Gerry and Kate McCann said it was now their right to know what information, including every potential lead, was out there.

Billing the launch of a new phone line and posters as "May Day for Madeleine", Mr McCann said: "This is something we have been working on behind the scenes, putting into place what we knew was going to be massive media attention on us and trying to capitalise on that to get our message out.

"We have used the (ITV) documentary as a platform, told a story of where we are at ... to bring the focus completely back to what this was always about, and that's finding Madeleine."

Mrs McCann said: "There has been that much speculation in a lot of the media, particularly the written press.

"I find it upsetting, but it's upsetting for Madeleine. It's taking away people searching for Madeleine."

With the anniversary of the child's disappearance from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz falling at the weekend, the McCanns believe this could be a "last chance" in their search.

Because of Portugal's secrecy laws, they have been kept in the dark over much of the information the authorities have collected about her disappearance, despite numerous apparent leaks to the media in Portugal and Spain.

In a hotel near Marble Arch, London, they urged people to call a new phone line - 0845 838 4699 - with any potential leads.

Mr McCann, 39, said: "This is a last chance to capture a lot of information which has maybe gone into the investigation and we are not privy to.

"Clearly we need to know that everything has been done. What we are asking people to do is if you have given information to police, Crimestoppers, the Portuguese police, we are asking you to give it to us as well.

"We are a year down the line and seemingly no closer to finding Madeleine.

"We have got little bits of the jigsaw but huge gaps and we have a resource, we have set aside considerable resources on this task."

Amid a whirlwind series of interviews with media organisations, the McCanns, from Rothley in Leicestershire, appeared positive, determined and upbeat about their campaign.

Holding hands, they reiterated that until told categorically otherwise, they still have hope that their daughter, aged three when she vanished, would be found alive.

Mr McCann, a consultant cardiologist, wants the media to concentrate on the campaign and not the speculation surrounding the case.

He said: "Today is about Madeleine and today is about us stating our absolute, categoric belief that there's no evidence Madeleine has been seriously harmed."

Asked why she felt Madeleine was still alive, Mrs McCann, 40, said: "It's a sense. Madeleine just feels very close. It's more of a kind of a sensation that she's there.

"You try to be objective and you think is it because I am her mum and I want to believe but it has not changed."

Mr McCann said: "We will not accept Madeleine's death until there's concrete proof of that. The more searches we have done the stronger my belief that there's a better chance Madeleine is alive than dead."

He added: "People want to help. They must want to help. She's a completely innocent four-year-old girl. Surely we can find her if everyone pulls together. Whatever people think, Madeleine is completely innocent and she needs to be found."

The McCanns drew strength from a fact-finding mission to the United States, where they found that more than half of abducted children survive their ordeal and that younger children are the least likely to be harmed.

Asked if they have a prominent theory in their mind amid the many put forward about Madeleine's disappearance, Mr McCann said: "The issue is if this is part of a bigger thing. We are taking advice from experts. They are saying there's a strong chance Madeleine is out there. We need to address the situation of who took her.

"Was that person alone. If they were alone they don't live in isolation. They were in a town, in a holiday resort. They may have accomplices."

The "worst case scenario" was someone acting in isolation, he said.

But Mrs McCann added: "People who are classed as loners are known as 'the loner down the road'."

The new campaign posters include a now infamous sketched image of a man with prominent teeth reportedly seen near the apartment around the time of Madeleine's disappearance.

The McCanns want anyone who saw a man fitting that description to call them in confidence - even if they have already contacted police or Crimestoppers.

The bulk of information gathered by Portuguese detectives, they believe, has come from people in the UK, via Crimestoppers or domestic police forces.

"We are asking them to come forward," said Mr McCann. "We are not taking the law into our own hands.

"We believe it's an international investigation and our investigation is independent. It's cross border."

Asked if their independent inquiry implied they were not happy with the Portuguese police investigation, Mrs McCann said: "We need to know what has been done."

The couple spoke about the challenge of explaining Madeleine's disappearance to her younger brother and sister, twins Sean and Amelie, three.

Mr McCann said: "Sean and Amelie talk about her constantly. They include her in everything and still play with her.

"That's really heartening for us, that our three-year-old twins still see it like that."

Mrs McCann said: "I am sure if Madeleine walked in they would say 'Madeleine, which one do you want?'."

The couple have been told by child psychologists to "just be honest" when addressing their twins' questions about their sister.

"They say heart-breaking things like 'I'm going to find Madeleine and bring her home'," said Mr McCann.

© The Press Association