MADELEINE McCann's devastated parents have revealed how their young twins still keep presents to give to the missing youngster when she returns home.

Gerry and Kate McCann said five-year-olds Sean and Amelie often speak about finding "the bad man" who abducted their sister.

In an emotional interview to a Spanish TV station on the third anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, Gerry McCann, said today: "Often they say to us 'the bad man has taken her. I want to find the bad man. I'm going to look for the bad man. I'm going to fly and find him'.

"They're good kids. They keep presents for Madeleine, chocolates, and they say things like 'let's keep a slice for Madeleine.'

"They're always talking about what they're going to do when she comes home."

Kate, 42, added: "One day I was in the bedroom putting them to bed and Amelie said to me 'I think Madeleine will come home very soon.'"

The couple spoke to Spanish TV reporter Concha Garcia Campoy at their home in Rothley, Leics, for daytime show Las Mananas de Cuatro.

She said: "We talk to them about everything to do with Madeleine. We were told by a child psychologist just to let them ask us questions and to answer all their questions honestly.

"Initially they asked where Madeleine was and we told them she had got lost.

"Then one day Amelie asked me 'did Madeleine run away? Because it's not nice to run away.'

"That bothered me, because I don't want my children to think Madeleine was at fault in any way.

"In the end I told her somebody took her. At the same time we didn't want to scare them so we explained the abduction to them saying that if they want something, you can't just take it if it's not yours.

"And they understood it was if she had been stolen."

On Sunday Gerry and Kate prayed for their missing daughter at a mass at their local church with the twins.

They wore yellow and green "Find Madeleine" wristbands and released a new photograph to encourage people to keep looking for their daughter.

Gerry, 41, told the TV programme: "I don't think it will ever be the same for us. There are fundamental changes, Kate doesn't practice medicine any more, she spends most of her time in things related to Madeleine, the campaign, and in looking after the kids.

"We've been through things that nobody should ever have to go through. But we've got a very strong relationship."

He added: "I had a special daddy bond with her (Madeleine). When the twins were put to bed she would stay with us, watching television. I got to sit with her as she enjoyed a treat, a glass of milk with some biscuits.

"She's great, good fun. She always asked me to chase after her in the garden. She was a fast little girl, very athletic, with a lot of energy."

Kate said: "It's hard to switch off. I'm quite consumed with trying to find Madeleine."

Madeleine was days short of her fourth birthday when she disappeared during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, on the Algarve, on May 3 2007.

Her parents have always believed she was abducted from their rented holiday flat while they were eating dinner with a group of friends at a nearby restaurant.

They travelled to Portugal last week to ask the authorities to reopen the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.

They believe Portuguese police have not properly followed up all the leads thrown up during the investigation.