Next week is an anniversary that no parent would ever want to live through, however, for Madeleine Mccann’s parents, it will mark 10 Years since the 3-year old went missing from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Madeleine McCann’s parents have told the BBC that they would do “whatever it takes, for as long as it takes” to find their missing daughter. Her father Gerry has said that they "tried everything in our power to not have a long, protracted, missing person case like this".
Even after such a long period of time they both hold hope they can find her with Kate confirming "There is still hope that we can find Madeleine”.
Stating that “real progress” had been made the last five years by Metropolitan police.
A 10-year battle
The anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance is something no parent should have to face and Kate McCann stated that she was more hopeful than in 2007 of finding Madeleine but it was "horrible marker of time, stolen time”. Originally the investigation had 30 officers searching for her but has since been scaled back to 4, with approximately £11 million having been spent so far on the search. An extra £85,000 has been granted to the search to extend from April to September. With the Met Police chief leading the investigation has stated that there is no evidence to suggest Madeleine is dead.
It has come under a lot of criticism that a significant chunk of money has been spent on one child however, there have been several other crimes involving British tourists that have been uncovered due to the investigations.
The former Portuguese detective, Goncalo Amaral, wrote a book about the disappearance and suggested that it was the parents Kate and Gerry Mccann who faked the abductions, the McCann’s have stated that they are going to continue the legal battle with Amaral. The book was initially banned by a Portuguese court, but the ruling was overturned by the country’s highest court.
A new normality
Since Madeleine’s disappearance they have had to adapt, from their “little perfect nuclear family of five” to a family of four, they also have twins. Within the last 5 years they have been able to devote more time to their family and work, adapting to their ‘new normality’. It is a situation that no-one should ever have to adapt to but despite the constant media attention because of the amount of time and money spent on the case.
They still buy birthday and Christmas presents for Madeleine. Mrs McCann has stated that it is different from the early days because at that time they did everything they could to find her, but now they must get on and live life.
Much of the criticism they have face has been due to the amount of publicity they have been getting and they have said that they have stopped going on social media because of the amount of abuse aimed at them. Stating that it was a side to ‘human nature’ that they hadn’t ‘encountered before’. The 10-year anniversary is a painful reminder for the family who have had to endure on and they have always held out hope that their daughter can still be found.
The reality of missing children
Whilst public reaction is generally negative, who can blame them for not wanting the case to be closed and wanting to find out what happened to Madeleine all those years ago. Often embarrassed by the amount of money spent on the case Kate was shocked to find out how much other big cases have cost and states that the case of Madeleine will have brought to light the reality of child abductions, with approximately 140,000 missing children a year in the UK. Perhaps solving the case of Madeleine McCann will help authorities in the future?
