‘17 years - it’s hard to even say that number without shaking our heads in disbelief’
STATEMENT ON ANNIVERSARY OF HER 2007 DISAPPEARANCE
THE parents of Madeleine McCann have released a statement on the anniversary of her 2007 disappearance, saying “the absence still aches”.
In a message issued on the official Find Madeleine website, Kate and Gerry McCann said: “It’s 17 years since Madeleine was taken from us.
“It’s hard to even say that number without shaking our heads in disbelief.
“Whilst we are fortunate in many ways and able to live a relatively normal and enjoyable life now, the ‘living in limbo’ is still very unsettling. And the absence still aches.”
The couple added: “Your support continues to encourage us and bolsters our strength to keep going. We know the love and hope for Madeleine and the will to find her, even after so many years, remains, and we are truly thankful for that.
“Thank you again for remembering Madeleine and all missing children.”
Madeleine, pictured above, from Rothley, vanished on May 3, 2007 while on holiday with her parents in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
The couple had left the then three-year-old and her younger twin siblings asleep in their resort apartment while they went out to dinner with friends nearby.
The group were said to have regularly checked on the children, and nothing was amiss when Mr McCann looked in on them just after 9pm. But when his wife went back at about 10pm, she found Madeleine missing.
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that up to a further £192,000 has been granted by the Home Office for the Scotland Yard investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
The confirmation of the latest annual funding for Operation Grange was revealed in a parliamentary written answer by Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom.
He also said that as of March this year, the Metropolitan Police had spent £13.2 million investigating the high-profile case.
Responding to a parliamentary written question by Conservative peer Lord Black of Brentwood, Lord Sharpe said: “Operation Grange’s special grant budget currently funds a team of three police officers and one member of police staff, all of whom operate on a part-time basis.
“Special grant funding is reviewed annually by the Home Office.”
The prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance is currently on trial in Germany charged with unrelated sex offences, allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
Christian Brueckner, a 47-yearold German, spent many years in Portugal – including in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
He is currently serving a sevenyear prison sentence in Germany for the rape of an elderly woman at her home in the resort town in 2005.
He had denied all the charges against him and any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
In June last year, German prosecutors said they cannot yet link items seized in the fresh McCann searches with the investigation into her disappearance.
A large section of the Barragem do Arade area of the Algarve was cordoned off in May 2023, around 30 miles from where Madeleine went missing.
Heavy machinery, sniffer dogs and pickaxes were used during the operation, with police flattening an area of woodland and digging a number of holes.
They were given the go-ahead to search the area after German prosecutors received “certain tips” about the case.
The operation was carried out at the request of German investigators who believe their prime suspect, convicted sex offender Brueckner, kidnapped and murdered the youngster.