PREVIOUSLY unseen video footage of Madeleine McCann has been released by her parents to mark the second Christmas since her disappearance.

Liverpool-born Kate McCann and husband Gerry also made an emotional plea for their family to be reunited with an on-screen message.

The footage was filmed in December, 2006 – the family’s last Christmas together before Madeleine vanished from a Portuguese holiday flat on May 3, 2007.

It shows Madeleine dancing around in a fairy outfit, jokingly hitting her father with a soft toy and showing off some pink shoes.

In the on-screen message, her parents say: “Christmas is a time for children. Please help bring our daughter back.

“This will be our second Christmas without our daughter. Please help us make sure we don’t have a third.”

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, as her parents dined with friends nearby.

The new video shows her sitting on the stairs of the McCanns’ home in Rothley, Leicestershire, flanked by her younger siblings, twins Sean and Amelie.

In the first recording of her speaking to be made public, she encourages her brother and sister to copy her gestures, saying: “Clap your hands together and one, two, three.”

The short film, which has Snow Patrol’s hit song Chasing Cars on its soundtrack, also features a montage of clips of Madeleine.

She is seen turning over a Christmas present and pointing at the camera as a smiling Mrs McCann holds her.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “Kate and Gerry do not wish to say anything further. They feel the video will speak for itself.

“This message is entirely focused on Madeleine, as it should be at this time of year.

“Kate and Gerry are still very much continuing a lot of hard work behind the scenes in the search for their daughter.

“This, they feel, is a timely and appropriate reminder that she is still out there and that somebody somewhere may still have that vital piece of information that may lead to her being found.”

Mr and Mrs McCann will spend Christmas with their twins and close family and friends, but their spokesman said it will be a “difficult time”.

Mr Mitchell added: “Producing a video like this is itself making it more difficult. But they are doing it because they believe Madeleine is still out there and they want that piece of information.”