The father of Madeleine McCann has launched a scathing attack on those who have
accused him of killing his daughter and turned on the police for a series of
leaks which have fuelled wild speculation.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Telegraph, Gerry McCann talked about
plans to return to work as a cardiologist, denied he and his wife have become a
"celebrity couple", and said he is not "deluded" in his
belief Madeleine is still alive.
The 39-year-old father launched his strongest attack on police for a series of
leaks which could potentially have harmed the investigation and contradict
strict secrecy laws in Portugal.
Mr McCann said: "I am disappointed that so much information – albeit much
of it confused and wrong – has gone into the public domain in a country that
supposedly has judicial secrecy.
"I would be perfectly happy if police said ‘right, there is going to be
nothing coming out anywhere', but that hasn't happened.
"I agree [you cant have one rule for us and another for them]. You can't
have it both ways.
"Some of it, the way it's reported, is no more than people thinking out
loud.
"We would like to come out and defend ourselves, that's your gut reaction.
But some of the claims are so preposterous you just think are you just fuelling
it by responding."
However Mr McCann could barely hide his anger as he spoke about the latest
claim in the Portuguese tabloid, Tal & Qual, which had a front page
headline saying: "Police believe parents killed Madeleine".
Mr McCann said: "It's incredibly hurtful and incredibly untrue. It is just
so absurd, it is just not credible.
"Without anything else, what that implies is that we somehow did it, we
did it together, managed to dispose of Madeleine without a car, without
anything, and that the whole group was involved.
"Even if somebody could think that, there is just absolutely no evidence
pointing in that direction.
"It is extraordinary. It's incredible. But we will come through it.
"We know our facts, we know what we did. It does not bear any resemblance
to this wild speculation. My opinion of what has happened has not changed in 16
weeks."
He added: "Ultimately there is an innocent four year old girl missing
here. I think some people do forget that is what this is about."
Mr and Mrs McCann have been in Portugal
for more than three months awaiting a breakthrough in the search for Madeleine,
who went missing from their holiday apartment on May 3.
Mr McCann said: "Our life will never be the same. The response we had
early on had restored my faith in human nature and I'm not going to lose sight
of that actually, despite this period for us. It's a long road and we will come
through the other end of it."
The couple have begun to discuss the possibility of returning to Britain and
starting work again. Mr McCann has been on unpaid leave from his role as a
consultant cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester,
and his wife has taken leave from being a part-time GP.
"There is no doubt our life is on hold," Mr McCann said. "If we
do come back it is going to be incredibly difficult to be a family of four and
not a family of five.
"But it's a long time now. It's three and a half months, and at some point
we have to say, ok, what is the best thing for us and the twins.
"I have started thinking about work. I don't think it will be an immediate
decision. But yes, I do see myself going back to work at some point, and it
will probably be in a graded fashion.
"I think Kate's job is going to be harder because as a GP she comes
face-to-face with patients more.
"There's no doubt I need to be active. It doesn't help us sitting around.
It is when we stop and dwell and look back, that is the hardest thing."
Mr McCann also hinted they would not move from their family home in the village of Rothley, Leicestershire.
"We have not made any decisions," he said. "But when you are in
a traumatic situation, familiarity generally makes it easier to cope with. Your
own surroundings, your own family, friends, work, is easier than saying I'm off
to escape it all and start again in New Zealand."
Mr McCann was speaking to the Telegraph ahead of being interviewed at the
Edinburgh International Television Festival.
He will talk about how an ordinary family, thrust into the spotlight, mounted
an international campaign to find their daughter.
He denied that he was the driving force behind a media frenzy and talked of the
discomfort of becoming famous for the wrong reasons.
"We are famous, there's no disputing it and we never wanted that. We have
tried recently to take ourselves back from the public eye as much as possible
while still doing some campaigning but the story goes on.
"Let's be realistic, we can't control that. We have not chosen that path,
and we are certainly not celebrities. But fame is different from celebrity. We
have not done this to publicly enhance out careers.
"I have seen us on the covers of magazines, of Hello!, and it is very odd
to see yourself there.
"You think why are we on that? Clearly what we have is a very serious
subject – Madeleine and her abduction – but we do not control the media and how
they handle that."
He added: "We chose to speak to the media but what were our options?
"I think the temptation, the gut reaction was that I do not want to face
any of this. But it came back to ‘what can we do to help find Madeleine'.
"We made a decision that potentially, interacting with the media could
achieve that."
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