11 May 2024 , 20:06
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The heartbroken parents of missing Madeleine McCann will tomorrow light a candle to mark her 21st birthday – just as they have for her past 17 birthdays.
Kate and Gerry McCann, unable to celebrate their beloved daughter’s milestone with her, will once again put gifts and cards in her bedroom. There will be no loud party, no handing over the keys to the door. What there will be instead is prayer and hope – hope that Madeleine is alive and that finally, after 17 years, they will be reunited with their daughter. Madeleine was nine days shy of her fourth birthday when she vanished from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in Portugal’s Algarve, in May 2007.
Kate and Gerry, who were dining with friends in a tapas restaurant at the time, found themselves in the public spotlight. Their girl’s disappearance made front pages and TV headlines on a daily basis. Almost overnight, the close-knit family from Rothley, Leicestershire, was known across the globe. And the couple were briefly and cruelly named by Portuguese police as suspects in their daughter’s disappearance. Kate and Gerry spent months in the Algarve highlighting Madeleine’s case, hoping it would lead to a breakthrough.
Kate and Gerry McCann, unable to celebrate their beloved daughter’s milestone with her, will once again put gifts and cards in her bedroom (PA)They eventually returned home to the UK in early September 2007 and tried to settle back into family life. But life for them and their twins Sean and Amelie, now 19, has continued largely away from the public gaze. They still live in the same cul-de-sac and worship at their local church every Sunday.
Liverpool-born Kate, 56, a former surgery GP, never returned to her locum work following Madeleine’s disappearance. She instead devoted herself to running the Find Madeleine campaign to secure her safe return. In recent years, she branched out into different areas of medicine, helping dementia sufferers as well as patients with other conditions. She also remains an ambassador for the charity Missing People and often makes appearances at its events and fundraisers.
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Their girl’s disappearance made front pages and TV headlines on a daily basis (Getty Images)
Millions of pounds has been spent on private investigators and a Scotland Yard operation to track Madeleine down (PA)Gerry, 55, a renowned consultant cardiologist who is originally from Glasgow, is now Professor McCann and specialises in experimental research to better understand heart disease. He is a leading expert in cardiac MRI. The couple remain keen runners and jog daily in Rothley and the neighbouring Charnwood Forest. Sociable Kate also attends regular spin classes and pilates at her local leisure centre.
Sean and Amelie – who are keen swimmers and also both enjoy cross-country and track running – finished school in Loughborough, Leics, last year and they are now studying at separate universities. Kate’s uncle, Brian Kennedy, said last year the family was immensely proud of the teens. He said: “Kate and Gerry are pleased with their achievements and the fact that they are making their own way in life.”
The McCanns still worship at the same church every Sunday (PA)Kate and Gerry still believe Madeleine is alive and that they will one day be reunited with her. They will remember her today at a special family gathering. A family friend said: “This birthday, just like her 18th, is a hard one to take. It should be a landmark occasion. Kate and Gerry are lucky that they have friends and family who support them through these tough times.
"They are there for them all the time but especially so in May, when the anniversary and Madeleine’s birthday comes round. It is a difficult time for them but they will remember Madeleine with a quiet celebration behind closed doors. There will be gifts, prayers, cake, fond memories and, above all, hope.”
Millions of pounds has been spent on private investigators and a Scotland Yard operation to track Madeleine down. But she remains the highest-profile missing child the world has known. German prosecutors are convinced convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner, 48, was responsible for her disappearance. He was named as the prime suspect in June 2020 but has never been charged with the crime.
The resort where Madeleine disappeared in 2007 (Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)Prosecutors say Madeleine is dead, yet they have not gone public with what evidence they have. Scotland Yard’s hunt for her abductor continues, with four detectives still working on Operation Grange. Brueckner is on trial in Germany accused of carrying out unconnected sex crimes in Portugal.
He is also currently serving a seven-year term in a prison in Hanover for raping a pensioner in Praia da Luz in 2005. Friends have said Kate and Gerry are not reading media coverage of his ongoing trial in Braunschweig. However, they are being kept up-to-date with the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance through a police liaison officer. And as they mark their daughter’s 21st birthday today, they continue to pray that they will be reunited with her.