Madeleine McCann’s parents said on Thursday they believe their daughter is still alive, a year after she disappeared while on holiday in Portugal.
In an interview with the BBC, Kate and Gerry McCann said they thought she may have been abducted from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve last May.
”She’s still out there and we’re asking for help to find her,” her father said in an interview with the BBC.
Kate McCann said they would keep looking for their daughter until they receive concrete evidence that she is not alive.
”What a disservice it would be to Madeleine to assume otherwise, without any evidence,” she said.
The McCanns, who are still official suspects in the case, have given a series of interviews to mark the first anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance.
On Wednesday, they said in an ITV documentary that they have received hate mail blaming their ”drunken arrogance” for the loss of their daughter.
They said they were inundated with messages of support, as well as letters from psychics, conspiracy theorists and people who thought they should not have left their children alone.
Gerry McCann read out a letter which said: ”Your brat is dead because of your drunken arrogance. Shame on you. I curse you and your family to suffer forever.”
They had so many letters that they began filing them in cardboard boxes marked with labels such as ”Nasty”, ”Nutty” and ”Psychics, Visions, Dreams”.
The year since Madeleine disappeared on May 3, shortly before her fourth birthday, had been like ”a horror movie”, Gerry McCann said.
In a wide-ranging interview with ITV, he said he feared they would be sent to prison after Portuguese police made them official suspects in the case.
”The speculation takes you to the worst places and at that point you know the worst place would have been being charged, potentially being put in jail,” he said, according to transcripts released by ITV. – Reuters