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HE parents of Madeleine McCann said yesterday they hoped her abductor was
someone who longed for a daughter of their own - and so would never harm her.
Dad Gerry, 38, told a press conference in Madrid: "We are not blinkered to the
possibility of her not coming back.
"We pray she's being looked after and it's someone who wants a little girl
of their own and would look after her well.
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"But we don't know who's taken her and it doesn't help us search for her.
It's the most terrible, terrible pain imaginable."
Gerry and Kate gripped each other's hands tightly and struggled to answer when
asked if they thought Madeleine, four, had been snatched by a paedophile.
Kate, her face pale, said: "It's a more upsetting scenario than any other.
"It's one of several scenarios. We have considered all scenarios, as
everyone has. We have no evidence to suggest that there has been any harm to
Madeleine, that she isn't alive and well."
Kate, 38, nodded as Gerry intervened to add: "We believe that Madeleine's
alive. That's the key thing."
He said: "We also pray that whoever has her gives her up voluntarily. We
haven't ruled out the possibility that whoever has her just drops her off at a
church or at a safe place."
The couple, from Rothley, Leics, called for
Madeleine's disappearance to be considered alongside the cases of other missing
children.
Gerry said: "We do feel that perhaps these types of disappearances should
be considered in a pan-European fashion."
Kate and Gerry fought tears as they were handed a moving letter from the family
of a missing seven-year-old boy whose disappearance has shocked Spain. Yeremi Vargas vanished from outside his home in Gran Canaria on March 10.
The letter, from Yeremi's 24-year-old mum Ithaysa read: "Dear Madeleine's parents. We wanted to
send you this message because there is no one better than us to know what you
are living in this hard times.
"Don't you ever lose hope, which is what is left to us.
While there is no proof about how Madeleine is, we can only believe she is just
missing. Count on us for anything that you may need. Be strong and keep the
family together, which is the best thing that we have.
"May God walk along with you in this hard road.
Many kisses, Yeremi's family."
Kate and Gerry were in the Spanish capital as part of their campaign to
highlight Madeleine's case across Europe.
She was snatched from the family's apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz 30 days ago.
The family believe Madeleine could have been sneaked across the border into Spain within 90
minutes of her abduction.
The McCanns plan to visit Berlin, Amsterdam and Morocco next week.
They are using the Find Madeleine fund, which has raised £581,813 from public
donations, to pay for their travel and other costs.
The couple yesterday said their toddler twins had helped them carry on despite
the nightmare they were enduring.
Kate said: "Sean and Amelie are a real strength for me. They're only two, they don't have much concept of what's happening.
They're aware that Madeleine isn't with us, they're aware something's missing
in their life."
Gerry said: "There's no doubt that if Madeleine were an only child this
would be even more difficult for Kate and I to cope with. We love Sean and
Amelie very much and of course it does help us focus.
"If all three of the children had been taken we don't know how we would
have coped." |
