Missing Madeleine's mum: Please pray for her return

May 6 2007

THE Liverpool-born mother of the three year old snatched from a holiday apartment in Portugal has urged people to ‘pray for my daughter’s safe return.�?/P>

Kate McCann and her husband Gerry have made repeated appeals for information to help police track down Madeleine McCann who was snatched last Thursday evening.

Mrs McCann, originally from Allerton and a former pupil of Notre Dame High School in Everton, said: “Gerry and I would just like to express our sincere gratitude and thanks to everybody, but particularly the local community here, who have offered so much support.

"We couldn't have asked for more. I just wanted to say thank you. Please continue to pray for Madeleine."

Her Glasgow-born husband again appealed for any information “however small�?that may lead to the safe return of their daughter.

Portuguese police said they believed Madeleine had been snatched, adding they have a suspect in mind and believe the toddler is still alive and in the area.

She vanished from a holiday apartment within the Mark Warner’s Ocean Club in the Algarve resort of Praia de Luz while her parents were at a nearby restaurant.

Relatives have flown to the Algarve to be with the couple, now living in Leicestershire, who were holidaying with their three children.

Shortly before he and his wife Susan left to be with their family, Madeleine’s ashen-face grandfather, Brian Healy, spoke on the doorstep of his Mossley Hill home to tell how they were “worried sick�? and added: “It’s a very distressing time.�?/P>

Mrs McCann, now a GP, left Liverpool to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor and that eventually led her to meet husband Gerry, a consultant cardiologist.

Although the pair moved round the country they were regular visitors back to Merseyside, especially after the birth of Madeleine, their eldest child.

Their holiday to the Algarve was taken with eight other families, all from Leicester’s medical circles, and the party were eating at a tapas restaurant 200 yards away from the room in which Madeleine and her brother and sister slept.

The McCanns made sure the toddler, who turns four on Friday, and her two-year-old twin brother and sister, Sean and Amelie, were sound asleep, and that their apartment was locked up.

But between their checks at 9.30pm and 10pm the apartment was broken into through a window and Madeleine was taken, according to the young girl’s aunt, Trish Cameron.

In an earlier appeal on Saturday, Mr McCann said: "We have no further information regarding the investigation but appreciate the significant effort everyone is making on our behalf.

"We would again like to appeal for any information, however small, that may lead to the safe return of Madeleine."

Guilhermino Encarnacao, director of the judicial police in the Faro region, made clear police are considering the possibility that she was abducted for sexual abuse.

But amid speculation that police may be hunting a known paedophile, Mr Encarnacao refused to give details of the suspect. He would not even reveal whether the person is male or female, or Portuguese, British or any other nationality.

It was not clear whether this means that police are looking for a specific, named individual, or simply someone fitting a description.

Experts have put together a sketch of a suspect for police, but the image has not been released to the public for fear of endangering the youngster’s life.

Mr Encarnacao confirmed that among lines of inquiry police are investigating is a report that a young girl was spotted walking along a road with two people.

Local expats said there had been a report of a couple spotted walking along a road outside the town early yesterday morning with a child.

But he said calls had flooded in from all over Portugal with possible sightings.

The news that police think Madeleine may be alive brought comfort to her parents, who were said to be on an emotional rollercoaster.

Jon Corner, founder of Liverpool-based River Media, is godfather to the McCann’s twins and his wife has known Mrs McCann since they were both three.

The co-founder of city centre-based River Media, and a father-of-three himself, said: “Kate phoned me in the early hours totally devastated .

“She just told me that Maddy had been abducted, that the shutters of the apartment had been forced and someone had taken her.

“Maddy was asleep in the room with Sean and Amelie and whoever has taken her has gone straight past the sleeping twins, left them completely alone and snatched Maddy.

“Kate is just so distressed. She doesn’t know what to do.

“It has knocked me and everyone else for six. It doesn’t actually seem real.�?/FONT>

Mr Corner said he saw the couple when they brought the family up to Merseyside for the christening of his last child at the end of March.

Madeleine, who turns four on Friday, was last seen by her father at about 2100 local time on Thursday.

When Mrs McCann went to check on her about an hour later, she found the bedroom's outside shutter and window had been opened and her daughter missing.

Pictures of Madeleine have been widely distributed, and ports and the Spanish police put on alert.