McCanns: Help us to bring her home

Kate and Gerry McCann spoke as two haunting photographs were released showing how Madeleine might look today, aged six.

The dramatic new images  are released today – poignantly demonstrating the changes which would have occurred to her appearance since she vanished two-and-a-half years ago.

The images, come as her parents back a global internet appeal to catch her kidnapper.

Experts in the US have produced the two haunting pictures of how Madeleine would look now.

The “age-progressed” photos are part of a unique 60-second film released in seven languages across the internet today.

“A Minute for Madeleine,” endorsed by Kate and Gerry McCann, is not targeted at the abductor but at his relatives, friends and associates.

Supported by law enforcement agencies worldwide, it was produced by Britain’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre, the CEOP.

The McCanns said in a statement last night: “We are extremely grateful to CEOP for launching this new message around the world in such an effective way.

“It is vital that it is seen and heard as widely as possible.

“If you know what has happened to Madeleine, it is still not too late to do the right thing and come forward to your local police with that information. We love Madeleine. Please help us bring her home.”

One image of Madeleine shows her looking fresh-faced with long strawberry-blonde hair. In the other she has a tanned appearance as if she has been taken to a North African location.

In both images she is smiling and has a distinctive fleck in the iris of her right eye.

Jim Gamble, head of CEOP, said: “This message will rattle the offender but we hope it will prompt the conscience of someone who is close to them who is keeping a dark and terrible secret.

“It is never to late to do the right thing, never too late to come forward and end the anguish of the family and protect so many other children.”

Madeleine was snatched while on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. She was only three at the time and will now be six.

The “A Minute for Madeleine” film is the first appeal of its kind to seek to harness the global power of internet users.

CEOP, with the backing of the McCann family, is urging internet users to spread the word via websites, e-mails and social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter.

Mr Gamble said: “It is highly probable that the kidnapper or kidnappers, or someone close to them is using the internet to search for any updates that may suggest the police are getting closer to discovering the truth.

“We’re asking everyone who goes online to help us. We want the message to become so widespread that it becomes just one click from any Madeleine search as a constant reminder to that person that it is never too late to do the right thing, never too late for that person to redeem themselves.”

Mr Gamble urged internet users to view the film and then “link it, share it and post it in the online communities you occupy.”

He said: “Do everything you can to spread it around the online world. We would like to make it omnipresent so that the person we are trying to reach sees it and is prompted to do the right thing.”

The idea for the film came after the McCanns met Mr Gamble and CEOP colleagues to discuss ways to progress the hunt for Madeleine.

Mr Gamble said: “We have been in contact with the family since the beginning. They felt frustrated that lines of inquiry seemed to be drying up. We met and talked about what could be done.”

He added: “We have come to the point when we are in the right place to launch this initiative. It is the first time it has been done.”

The film is in English, Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish, German, French and Italian.

Interpol, which covers 188 countries, will ensure that all new leads will be fed back to CEOP and to the Portuguese police.

Mr Gamble was adamant that missing child cases like Madeleine’s will never simply be left on the file.

VIEW THE VIDEO IN FULL ON THE CEOP WEBSITE HERE