McCanns: Madeleine is still alive

The tormented mother pledged yesterday to carry on searching for Madeleine for the rest of her life – saying it was unthinkable the hunt for the missing girl would ever end.

The former GP spoke out on Madeleine’s eighth birthday as she launched her highly personal book about her daughter’s disappearance. Kate, 43, explained why she had taken the decision to relive her nightmare by writing the heart-wrenching account in the 384-page book.

Her voice choked with emotion as she said: “What tipped the balance in our decision is the continuing need to fund the search for Madeleine. While she remains missing, the onus is on us to keep looking for her since there is no longer any law-enforcement agency at all actively inquiring into her disappearance.

“Investigations and campaigns cost money, which has to be raised by us.

“It is still a struggle for me to see beyond tomorrow. Every day I wake up hoping this will be the day we find Madeleine. But having lived through four painful years without my dear daughter, I have reluctantly been forced to acknowledge that our quest could take weeks, months or yet more years, and the reality is we have to ensure we have adequate funding.”

She added: “Every penny we raise through the sales of this book will be spent on our search for Madeleine. Nothing is more important to us.”

The couple hope to raise £1million from the memoir, simply entitled Madeleine. And they are desperate to kick start efforts to find their daughter who vanished during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3 2007.

The book is already a best-seller based on advance sales.

With heart consultant Gerry, 42, at her side, Kate – wearing a royal blue summer dress – added: “We hope we will find Madeleine before the money runs out.

“I don’t feel we will ever reach a point when we feel we have done everything. We will never give up. As long as Madeleine is still missing there is something we need to do.”

Gerry added: “I don’t think we’ll ever give up. I don’t think any parent could give up. We will always be looking.” The couple, from Rothley, Leics, insist no evidence has been uncovered to suggest their daughter is no longer alive.

They want a full review of the shambolic Portuguese police investigation formally shelved in July 2008. And after an impassioned plea to David Cameron to help them revive the search, last night Home Secretary Theresa May ordered top Scotland Yard detectives to join the hunt. She said: “The Prime Minister and I have today agreed with Sir Paul Stephenson that the Metropolitan Police will bring its particular expertise to this case.”

She added: “None of us can know what Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, have been going through. We can scarcely imagine the pain they have had to suffer or the pressure they have been under.

“That’s why we have been doing everything we can behind the scenes in the search for Madeleine and the Government stands ready to offer whatever assistance we can in this process as it now goes forward.”

Officials said the hope was that Scotland Yard could bring a “new perspective” to the investigation.

Yesterday Gerry said it was “unacceptable” police in Portugal and Britain were no longer looking.

The McCanns are convinced information passed on to the authorities in Portugal over the past three years could provide a vital breakthrough.

They begged the Prime Minister to call his Portuguese counterpart to urge him to reevaluate the case.

Gerry said: “We’ve met three separate home secretaries, and we’re still not sure what the Government has done. The Prime Minister does have it in his power to pick up the phone and speak to his counterpart.”

Referring to the death of Mr Cameron’s severely disabled six-year-old son Ivan two years ago, he added: “Of course he’s suffered his own loss, and I’m sure he is a loving father, so he will understand.”

Gerry spoke of his frustration at the lack of progress since the couple first asked for a review in 2009.

He said: “We really have come to the end of our tether. We want to see action from the Government, not rhetoric. They are publicly elected individuals, they are there to represent people and Madeleine.

“I think people should remember that and put Madeleine first.”

Kate added: “When you’re in a position such as the Prime Minister, you have a responsibility. If you are not willing to speak for a child then I think you have to question who you are working for. If we don’t get a review we need to know why.”

Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson ordered the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre to look at the feasibility of a review of the case. This was completed in March last year, but Gerry said current Home Secretary Mrs May refused to let him and his wife see it because it was “sensitive”.

Last night Downing Street said the Government was looking at how it could assist.

Yesterday Kate told how coping with the aftermath of Madeleine’s kidnap was like being on “an endurance course run by sadists”. She said: “We had to cope with the pain of not having Madeleine in our life and the worry of not knowing who she was with and how she was.” She told how hurt and angry she was at accusations by former Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral that Madeleine had been killed in the family’s apartment and her parents had disposed of her body.

Speaking to Jenni Murray on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Kate said: “The public was bombarded with theories that Madeleine was dead and we were involved and it was so difficult for us to understand putting out theories like that with no evidence to support them.”

Asked how she responded to her critics, Kate replied: “I have got a lot stronger over the years.”