KATE McCann last night opened her heart over missing daughter Madeleine, saying: "I just want to know if she’s alive or dead".

Speaking to publicise a new child rescue alert system, she added: “We need to know. The worst thing is not knowing.”

Kate, 46, told how she still longs for the return of missing Madeleine, but is not blinkered to a possible “worst case scenario”.

And she revealed she now just wants to know what happened to her beloved girl.

Kate spoke three days ahead of the seventh anniversary of the disappearance to launch the Child Rescue Alert system.

It sends out texts and emails if a youngster is abducted or missing and thought to face imminent danger.

She said: “We obviously want Madeleine back number one — but we do want an answer, whatever. 

“I have spent days thinking, ‘What would you rather? Not know, or find out something you didn’t want to hear?’ 

“Obviously our ultimate hope is that we find Madeleine and she comes home and we re-establish her into our family and spend the next few years of her life getting it all as good as it can be.

“But if it was down to not knowing or finding out news that isn’t what you want to hear? At the end of the day I can’t change that. What would you rather?

“I’m not underestimating the blow of hearing bad news that your child had been killed, because obviously you’re not going to go, ‘OK at least we know’.

"But I’ve spent hours thinking about that and, each time, I still come up thinking we need to know. Regardless now, we need to know.”

Scotland Yard recently announced it believes Portuguese authorities will let them carry out investigations where Madeleine vanished on holiday with her family seven years ago.

That action is likely to involve ground searches. Kate and husband Gerry, 45, of Rothley, Leics, still firmly believe the Met Police probe could result in Madeleine, who would now be ten, being found alive. 

But they also know it could result in a different outcome.  

Kate said: “We want them to do all this. It’s painful, having to think about it and worry that potentially they could find something.

“But you have to balance that with living day in, day out, with not knowing. We cannot change anything that’s happened now.

“I can say that now, keeping in control and talking as if it’s not about Madeleine.

“The first day that’s the only thing I could think of — but I didn’t know then about cases of children being found years down the line.

"But there is also the worst case scenario. That’s always been a possibility and anyone who thinks that we’re blinkered doesn’t know us.”

Kate also said she wants an answer for Madeleine’s younger brother and sister, nine-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

She said: “They’ve got their whole lives ahead of them and no one is ever going to say to me they will not try and look for their sister — they will. I don’t want them having to carry this on.”

Madeleine went missing on May 3, 2007, in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. She would now be just days away from celebrating her 11th birthday.

Kate still hopes she will be found alive like Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was abducted in South Lake Tahoe, California, aged 11 — but found 18 years later.

Now Kate believes the Child Rescue Alert, run by the charity Missing People for the National Crime Agency, will save lives and deter would-be abductors. Kate said: “There are two things with Child Rescue Alert.

“One is the joy and relief of finding the child — and number two is the ease of suffering for the family.

“One, they’ve got the child back and two, potentially they will not have to go through years of not knowing. You don’t want to think of anybody else going through that pain and helplessness. Anyone who has a missing child will tell you the worst thing is the not knowing.”

Kate is aiming to sign up one million people to receive messages from the alert system.

Speaking directly to Sun readers, she said: “Please, please sign up, it could be the most important thing you ever do. All you have to do is visit www.childrescuealert.org.uk.

"Please do it, you could make a real difference.”

She added: “The scope for reaching a huge amount of people is fantastic. People will be able to share the alert via social media.”

Kate said Child Rescue Alert can also protect children by making would-be kidnappers think again.

She said: “It can act as a deterrent in two ways. Firstly it will make an abductor think twice before he does it. But also I know in the States there were 16 cases in one year of the abductor releasing the child as soon as the alert went out.

“Stats from the countries that already have a Child Rescue Alert system in place prove it works — 685 children in America have been rescued thanks to Amber Alerts. In the countries with alert systems in place, there is success story after story of children being saved.

“In the Netherlands, 2.2million people are signed up to receive alerts.

“That’s a phenomenal number and it greatly increases the chance of a child being found.

“That child has to be somewhere, they could be in the next car to you, they could be walking past you, or it might just ring a bell that it’s something that you noticed that didn’t seem quite right. Then, when you hear the alert, it makes sense.

“We’re not asking anyone to do something massive, it’s just keeping your eyes and ears open. The more helping the search, the greater the chance of finding the missing child.”

The Child Rescue Alert, made possible thanks to funding from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and the EU, will also put out messages on Twitter, Facebook, radio and TV.

Speaking about the developments in Operation Grange — the Met review set up into Madeleine’s disappearance in 2011 — Kate said: “The Met have really been fantastic.

“It has given us a lifeline having them on board and I hope that the progress they’ve made will be allowed to continue.”

Kate also praised the children and parents who have come forward to report that they were attacked by what appears to have been a serial sex predator around the Algarve.

She said: “It’s really brave, I’m so grateful to those people. So much courage and compassion to share that information, knowing it could help.”

Millions will get
snatch warning

CHILD Rescue Alert allows the alarm to be raised to millions of people once a child is abducted or is believed to be in immediate danger.

Texts and emails will be sent to the mobiles, tablets and computers of those who register with the system online.

And alerts will also go on Twitter, Facebook, radio, TV and on digital billboards at stations, airports, sports stadiums and shopping centres.

The messages will contain a photo of the child, a description and crucial details such as if a vehicle is involved.

The system has been made possible thanks to funding from the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and the EU.

The alerts are sent out using technology donated by Groupcall, co-founded by Sir Bob Geldof.

The initiative is based on America’s Amber Alert scheme, which Kate and husband Gerry campaigned to be brought into the UK and across Europe.

Kate said: “The first few hours after a child has been taken are crucial. In the case of an abducted child, experts say time is the enemy.

“Child Rescue Alert will galvanise the whole community to assist the search for a missing child.

“The general public are vital in helping to find an abducted child.”  

antonella.lazzeri@the-sun.co.uk