Kate McCann relives moment she was name a suspect

Oct 5 2007

Kate McCann spoke frankly today of her daily torment without daughter Madeleine and described how the kindness of strangers had brought her to tears.

She said she came “crashing down” when police named her as a suspect in her daughter’s disappearance, but said nothing could eclipse the horror of the night Madeleine went missing from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal’s Algarve on May 3.

Speaking alongside husband Gerry, she said: “A lot has happened since then. Sometimes, the most trivial of things can bring you crashing down.”

“I think when we were made suspects in our own daughter’s disappearance, when the inference was that Madeleine was dead and that, somehow, we were involved...But, no, it can’t get worse than that first night.

In their first in-depth interview since being made official suspects in the disappearance of their daughter, Kate and Gerry McCann said they had received messages of goodwill from far and wide.

They said they had seen a groundswell of support from people closer to home in Leicestershire and said they wanted to thank people from their home village of Rothley for their continued backing.

“I’ve had days when, if I wasn’t crying about Madeleine, I was crying from the letters and messages people have sent to us. It has helped so much.”

She said the pair were lifted by the presence of their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

Mrs McCann said: “Everything that has happened, everything we do and feel, it is all put into perspective by how we felt on that first night.”

“Something carries you through. We have Sean and Amelie of course. We are there for them.

“And we still have hope. The messages of support, friends and family rallying round. You just can’t underestimate what those messages of support have meant for us.

“They have kept us going on low days, kept us strong during the worst times.”

Mr McCann said that so many people had written to them that, until recently, they had to collect their mail from the post office in their car.

There would be three crates of letters and cards awaiting collection every day, he said.

The couple, both 39, said they wanted the focus to remain on finding four-year-old Madeleine.

Mr McCann said: “We want to increase awareness, get back to basics if you like. Target specific areas with pictures and billboards and messages. We want to refocus the coverage.”

Mrs McCann said: “The coverage has been on us. The coverage should be on Madeleine, no-one else.”

Meanwhile it was reported that a senior police officer in the investigation had asked for an extended leave of absence.

Chief Inspector Tavares Almeida’s request, reported in the Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas, emerged after his boss, Goncalo Amaral, was taken off the case earlier this week.

A police source told 24 Horas: “As a rule, requests of a short, medium or long duration are granted.

“It is very unlikely to be denied. If that happened, it would be the first time in the PJ (Judicial Police).”

Mr Almeida reportedly refused to confirm or deny the report, telling the newspaper: “I don’t speak to journalists.”

To lose a second senior officer would raise further concerns about an inquiry that appears no closer to finding out what happened to the youngster.

Mr Amaral was removed from the investigation after reportedly saying that the McCanns had been calling the shots by identifying lines of inquiry for officers in their home county, Leicestershire.

The officer, who heads the regional Policia Judiciaria in Portimao, also accused the couple of releasing new information each day in a bid to distract and confuse the five-month inquiry.

Asked about Mr Almeida’s reported move, Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: “We are not going to comment.

“Gerry and Kate are very happy to continue to co-operate with the Portuguese inquiry, irrespective of which officers are in charge of it.

“We would hope that any officers who are removed are replaced swiftly and that this is an opportunity to re-focus and re-energise the search for Madeleine.”

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