Kate and Gerry McCann have compiled a heartbreaking list of all the things they miss about their daughter Madeleine.
No trace of the four-year-old, who vanished from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia de Luz in Portugal’s Algarve on May 3, 2007, has ever been found, despite ongoing investigations. She would now be 12-years-old.
This week the McCann’s, as part of the Home for Christmas exhibition for the charity Missing People, have given the public an insight into a life lived in limbo.
The devastated mum and dad reveal they miss their daughter’s sense of humour, her voice and her eyes, her imitations of friends and family and her excitement in the run-up to Christmas.
The piece is accompanied by a photograph of Mr and Mrs McCann standing outside the front door of their Rothley home, where they live with 10-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
Here is their list in full:
- Her smile
- Her laughter
- Her eyes
- Her dimples
- Her sense of humour
- Her smartness
- Her imitations of people and characters
- Her voice, her ‘chat’
- Her company
- That knowing look
- Her singing
- Styling her hair
- Chasing her round the garden
- Sharing her excitement in the run-up to Christmas
- Sharing anything
- Spoiling her on her birthday
- Shopping with her
- Going to a cafe with her
- Holding her, hugging her, kissing the top of her head
- Lying next to her
- Our complete family of five
- Everything
- We miss her
A spokesperson for the charity, for which Kate, a former GP, is an ambassador, said: “These powerful images depict these families standing by their front door, symbolising the hopes and fears experienced by those who are desperately searching and waiting for news.
“These 12 families represent just some of the loved ones affected by the estimated 250,000 people who going missing each year in the UK alone.”
