|
Lorraine Kelly – Now this Saturday will mark seven years
since Madeleine McCann went missing
while on a holiday in Portugal and from
that moment her parents, Kate and Gerry,
have campaigned tirelessly for their
daughter’s safe return. First let’s
remind ourselves of their story.
Video voiceover by LK
This is the final photograph of
Madeleine. Hours later she disappeared
from her family’s holiday apartment in
Portugal while her parents and their
friends ate at a nearby restaurant.
Her mum and dad began a desperate search
for Madeleine with appeals across Europe
and a visit to the Pope in Rome. Three
months later they were faced with yet
more turmoil when they were named as
official suspects. There were dozens of
reported sightings of Madeleine but a
year after her disappearance the
Portuguese Inquiry was officially
shelved. Kate and Gerry were eventually
cleared in July 2008. Employing private
investigators and raising money through
charity events, their search for
Madeleine has never stopped. In 2011
they appealed directly to Prime
Minister, David Cameron and within 24
hours he announced funding for a Police
Investigative Review Team. In the last
six months the investigation has taken a
positive turn. Last month new evidence
came to light prompting over 500 calls
from the public. A potential suspect
seen wearing a burgundy top has been
linked to the investigation.
LK – Well Gerry and Kate McCann
join me now. Thank you for coming in. I
can’t believe that it’s seven years.
What’s the latest, what do we know,
what’s the latest in the investigation?
Gerry McCann – Well I think, er,
the progress with, er, the Met
Investigative Review has been, er,
really quite impressive and, erm, one of
the things we were asking for was for
all of the information to be reviewed.
We’ve had updates on Crimewatch and
fresh appeals and literally, erm, the
senior detectives told us that hundreds
of people have come forward and what
they’ve identified now is that there
have been a whole series of crimes
against young children, British families
in the Algarve, er, by people breaking
into the apartments and, er, you know
they’re potentially linked. Erm and
that’s really important information
obviously, so we’d really like to thank
all those people who came forward. We
know that for the families that could be
really difficult, err for children who
have been traumatised, and many of these
cases are going back years so we would
really like to thank them but, it’s
really building up a picture of what was
going on in and around Praia da Luz,
erm, and immediately proceeding and
after Madeleine being taken so we’re
really encouraged by it.
LK – But we’re seven years on,
you know we’re seven years on and you’re
talking about people coming forward and
very, very tough circumstances and
that’s hard for you to imagine that
anything like that may have happened to
your wee girl, that’s the thing. It’s
kind of, it’s a difficult one isn’t it.
GM – Yeah, I mean obviously you
know, Lorraine, that when Madeleine was
first taken that was the only thing we
could think about and that was the
hardest by far, erm, but there are
different scenarios and we’ve seen a
whole load of cases of children being
recovered after a long time being
abducted and held and obviously
Madeleine was very young so, erm…
Kate McCann – Of course we don’t know
that any of these cases are linked to
each other or to Madeleine but I think
its common sense really like you,
something like that stands out, it needs
to be investigated
LK – So, so very hard.
GM – I think, I mean for me the
key thing is even though it’s seven
years on there is lots and lots of
things that still need investigated and
lines of enquiry that need followed and
I suppose, while we know that there’s
lines of enquiries that haven’t been
bottomed out then we just want to get on
with it and get it done and you know it
doesn’t matter so much how long it
takes, we’ve just got to get it done.
LK – Where do you two get your
strength though, to keep going because
it is remarkable.
GM – I get mine from Kate
obviously.
LK – Do you both, do you get it
from one another?
KM – I think from each other,
from our children, from our family and
friends, you know.
GM – And the support… We’ve had
unbelievable support, erm, not just
those who are close to us but public
support’s been amazing.
KM – And that’s ongoing you know,
which as you say, seven years down the
line is quite incredible.
LK – Because, when you think
about it, this time seven years ago you
were on holiday. It was a normal family
holiday, and is it tough to remember a
time before Madeleine was taken, is it
difficult to, to remember those days you
know when things were so very different?
KM – Oh even last week, you know
just say for example Twenty Seventh of
April, I was thinking, this time seven
years ago, you know, everything was as
great as it could ever be, you know it’s
…
GM – I think for us it.., our
life is defined by pre and post the
abduction, erm, unfortunately erm,
leading up to Portugal having had three
very young children and had a.., you
know, a tough two or three years, just
full on and working etcetera and we are
just coming through that and we were… I
wouldn’t say that… but life seemed good,
really good, Erm, and it’s different now
because Sean and Amelie are nine, erm,
they’re really good kids, really happy
and they bring us tremendous amount of
joy, erm, so its very much we were a
family of five and now we’re functioning
as a family of four
KM – I think the hard thing
though and maybe people will think its
seven years down the line I guess you…
and we have adapted, but still weeks and
months rolling by is still incredibly
significant for us. So whether
Madeleine had been found, you know,
after a week, after six months, you
know, whether it’s you know seven years
and one week, that is better than ten
years or whatever so it’s really
significant. So for us we want the
progress that’s been made by the Met to
continue I guess on the ground in
Portugal. You know, I guess in truth
we’d like them to work as a.., you know,
together as a joint….
LK – That would have been good if
that had happened from the start.
KM – You know we want, ideally a
joint investigation team so the work can
be streamlined, Bureaucracy is reduced
and, er, progress can be made much
quicker because time rolling on for us
is still painful and living in a limbo
of not knowing is horrible for all our
family.
LK – Because she is still very,
very much part of your life. She’s very
much part of the twins’ life. You know
they, presumably they talk about their
big sister and you, you know you all
talk about her and you, you keep her
there as part of your family.
GM – Yeah, no, completely. Erm,
er, I think it does get harder as time
goes on but very much so, you know,
surrounded by photographs, they know
that we’re here today and they usually
know that the police are investigating,
erm, so we keep them as informed as we
can.
LK – And also you two do an awful
lot of work as well, a lot of running.
A lot of running and a lot of
fundraising for missing people and does
that help you in some way, is that a
positive thing for you to do?
KM – Oh it is. I mean I’m sure
everybody can understand whenever
something terrible happens you want to
believe that some good can come out of
it, and I believe obviously since
Madeleine was taken, you know, the..,
the charities work, erm, and all other
families who have missing children..,
there has been some benefit because of
the publicity and the awareness and if
we can help in some way with that, that
has to be some good that’s come out it.
GM - Yeah, you’ve got to, I
think, try and channel it and we’ve had
a huge amount of publicity around
Madeleine and trying to channel that
into effective change and obviously
there’s the revamped child rescue alert
which Kate’s been involved with
promoting, erm, and other things,
obviously throughout Europe and trying
to get a more.., a more homogenous
response to child abduction across the
European Union, particularly when the..,
we’ve got open borders. It’s really
important that there’s cooperation
between police forces and it’s a bit
like coming back to what we’re trying to
facilitate at the minute between the Met
and the Portuguese police. Normally you
only get cooperation for very serious
crimes, drug trafficking things but
child abduction is a serious crime and,
erm, we really want that those types of
strategies that would be used to counter
terrorism and drug trafficking etcetera
are put in for human trafficking and
other crimes against children.
LK – Do you think there will ever
be a time where you just think to
yourselves “Do you know what, we’ve done
enough, we can’t do anymore and, and
give up?” Do you think that would ever
happen?
KM – Oh no, and I don’t think any
parents would really, because if we
haven’t found Madeleine or we haven’t
found what’s happened then we haven’t
done enough, there’s still work to be
done. I mean obviously our workload has
been reduced or changed, you know,
hugely since the, er, the Met came on
board, and that’s certainly made our
lives a lot easier and great progress
has been made to date.
LK – That’s good. Thank you
both. Thank you both very much indeed.
KM – Thank you.
LK – I wish you all the very
best, I really do and I know that
Saturday.., Saturday will be tough for
you, Saturday will be tough. Thank you.
KM – Thank you. |
