Madeleine McCann one year on - You keep asking yourself: 'Why did they think it would be all right to leave the children?’

Apr 29 2008 by Paddy Shennan

And how does it feel when you see sneering journalists and internet hate merchants trivialising the case of a missing four-year-old girl by using the term “Tapas 7” to describe Kate and Gerry’s friends, or “Tapas 9” to describe the whole group.

Susan says: “It’s awful. This is a group of friends who have all suffered a terrible trauma. They all did the same thing and what happened could have happened to any one of them. It’s changed all their lives.”

Then there’s the derogatory phrase “Team McCann”. Susan says: “That’s horrible. It makes it sound like an organisation without feelings.

“And Clarence Mitchell (who acts as Kate and Gerry’s spokesman), who is vilified very often in the internet forums, is a genuinely nice guy and a family man. Without him, I don’t know how they would have got through this year.”

From being portrayed as victims to villains and victims again, the McCanns have been given a rollercoaster ride by some newspapers. At one point, they appeared to be sinking in a sea of defamatory, fact-free fantasy reports – but the tide turned when Express Newspapers issued an apology and paid £550,000 into the Find Madeleine Fund.

Regarding damaging headlines, Susan says: “Every time it happens it’s like a slap in the face. You have to stop to think ‘Do these people not know what they are doing?’ – not just to us, but to other people.”

Susan stresses that while she doesn’t feel she has changed in the past year, she has seen other sides to some other people: “I have seen lots and lots of good in people, but I think I always knew people are basically very kind and supportive.

“But I have seen a side of a certain amount of people – hopefully a small minority – I wouldn’t have believed prior to this.”

Regarding the overwhelmingly positive side, Susan says: “People have shown us so many little kindnesses. As one small example, Brian took my shoes to be heeled and the cobbler wouldn’t take any money – so we put it in the fund.”

Brian adds: “We get an awful lot of support when we walk down Allerton Road, while people I’ve not seen for years have got in touch.”

And Susan has a special request to make of those thousands upon thousands of people who have been behind the family from day one: “Please keep praying for us and keep supporting us.

“I’d also ask your readers to remember what this is all about – a little four-year-old child who was loved and cherished and cared for.

“She was the greatest gift anyone in our family ever had. She is somewhere and she may be frightened and unhappy.”

Kate’s first words to me were: Madeleine will be so frightened >>>