McCanns open their hearts to Merseyside over their loss of Madeleine

Aug 16 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

“I was trying to get her in shorts and trainers so she could run and climb properly but it was a no go and she managed anyway.

“I do remember that she did once get bitten by a goose at Calderstones.”

The McCanns said they have survived the last 105 days because of the support of friends, family and the public and also because of their strong Catholic faith.

They were also particularly pleased with the show of support for grandparents Brian and Susan Healy as they handed out balloons in Church Street last Saturday

Kate said: “We were astounded by the show of solidarity in Liverpool. The people in the city have not lost sight of the fact that Madeleine, who is an innocent soul in all of this, is still missing.”

Father Paul Seddon, of the Holy Name Church, in Fazakerley, where Madeleine was baptised, is currently staying with the McCanns in Portugal and Kate revealed that the first thing she does every day is say a short prayer for Madeleine.

She said: “Every day brings fresh hope and we are trying to keep going and keep things normal for Sean and Amelie.

“They normally wake up early and at least one of them will climb into bed with us at some point.

“Then we get them up and have breakfast and get them dressed.”

Mr McCann said: “It is all the mundane things that every parent has to do. It takes us an hour or more in the mornings just to get them ready.”

The couple are still using the Kids’ Club at the Mark Warner Holiday Village, the complex from which Madeleine was snatched.

THEY say it gives the twins time to play and socialise with other children and to allow them to go shopping, catch up on calls and emails and touch base with the authorities and Find Madeleine campaign managers.

She said: “We pick them up every afternoon and have lunch together. The twins call it ‘the picnic’ as we normally eat outside.

“Contrary to what people are reading about us, we are living a very simple life in a very modest villa and no, it doesn’t have a swimming pool.

“We have so many friends and family out here supporting us and looking after the twins. We couldn’t do what we have been doing without that level of support.

“Seriously, it is sometimes like something out of Mr Benn with the twins always getting changed and dressed up. I wonder every day how much washing I am going to be doing.”

Following what Mr McCann described as a “media frenzy” to mark the 100th day of Madeleine’s disappearance, the couple are now trying to back out of the glare of the media spotlight.

With no media training to set them up for journalists’ probing questions and what they describe as printed “un-truths and half-truths” some of the latest press has been hurtful.

Mr McCann said: “There were 150 journalists by the time we got back from the police station on the first day that Madeleine went missing.

“We knew this was going to be a massive story and we chose to work with the media simply to maximise our chances of finding Madeleine.

“This was always about Madeleine and finding her – not about us or our private lives.”

Kate added that it is now a case of when, not if, they return to the UK and the life they left behind.

She added: “I know we will be going back but it will be when we are ready and it will be for the right reasons – for our welfare and our family’s welfare.”

Mr McCann said: “While nobody has asked us to take up a full-time role in setting up something to help the families of missing children, this issue is something that we will never now be able to turn our backs on.

“This issue is something that we will continue to be involved in.

“We will never give up hope until we have found her and that is the same message that every parent of a missing child will tell you. We will never give up on our child.”

carolineinnes@dailypost.co.uk