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Maddie’s parents plea for answers over ‘truly horrific crime’ ahead of 15-year anniversary

File photo dated 30/4/2107 of Madeleine McCann's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, who have said they welcome the news that Portuguese authorities have declared a German man a formal suspect in her disappearance. It comes a day after convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 44, was declared an official suspect by Portuguese authorities. Issue date: Friday April 22, 2022. PA Photo. See PA story POLICE Portugal. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire
Madeleine McCann’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have shared an update online (Picture: PA)

The parents of Madeleine McCann have said she ‘will always be our daughter’ in a poignant new message.

Kate and Gerry McCann have vowed to find closure on what happened to the toddler on May 3, 2007.

Nearly 15 years on from her disappearance, they say it is ‘essential’ to find the truth.

In a message posted on the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page, Kate and Gerry McCann wrote: ‘This year we mark 15 years since we last saw Madeleine.

‘It feels no harder than any other but no easier either.

‘It’s a very long time.

‘Many people talk about the need for ‘closure’. It’s always felt a strange term.

‘Regardless of outcome, Madeleine will always be our daughter and a truly horrific crime has been committed. These things will remain.

‘It is true though that uncertainty creates weakness; knowledge and certainty give strength, and for this reason our need for answers, for the truth, is essential.’

Parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann, Kate (L) and Gerry McCann (R) pose with an artist's impression of how their daughter might look now at the age of nine ahead of a press conference in central London on May 2, 2012 five years after Madeleine's disappearance while on a family holiday in Portugal. Aged three at the time, the artist's impression depicts how Madeleine may now look, based on family photos of her, along with childhood images of her parents. AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/GettyImages)
Kate and Gerry McCann have spent years trying to find answers (Picture: AFP)
File photo dated 02/05/17 of the Ocean Club which is next to Apartment 5A in Praia Da Luz in Portugal, where Madeline McCann went missing. A German prisoner has been identified as a suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine, detectives have revealed. The Metropolitan Police have not named the man, 43, who is described as white with short blond hair, possibly fair, and about 6ft tall with a slim build. PA Photo. Issue date: Thursday June 4, 2020. See PA story POLICE Portugal. Photo credit should read: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
Madeline went missing from the Praia Da Luz resort in Portugal on May 3, 2007 (Picture: PA)

The couple thanked authorities in the UK, Portugal and Germany and said a combined effort would ‘yield results’.

Kate and Gerry added: ‘As always, we would like to thank all of our supporters for their continued good wishes and support.

‘It is a huge comfort to know that regardless of time passed, Madeleine is still in people’s hearts and minds.’

In July 2013, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine’s disappearance.

A dedicated team is still working closely with the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria and the German Bundeskriminalamt to find answers on Madeleine’s disappearance.

Her case remains a missing person’s inquiry, the Met has confirmed.

Undated handout file photo of Madeleine McCann whose parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have said they welcome the news that Portuguese authorities have declared a German man a formal suspect in her disappearance. It comes a day after convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 44, was declared an official suspect by Portuguese authorities. Issue date: Friday April 22, 2022. PA Photo. See PA story POLICE Portugal. Photo credit should read: PA Wire
Tomorrow will be 15 years since Madeleine vanished from the Praia Da Luz (Picture: PA)

Last month, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner was declared an official suspect by Portuguese authorities, which was welcomed by the couple.

The 44-year-old has reportedly denied any involvement in the case and has not been charged.

Today, Sky News reported he was ‘many miles’ from the scene of Madeleine’s abduction.

He claims he drove a woman to an airport at Faro in Portugal on May 3, 2007.

The pair were stopped and photographed at a police roadblock, Brueckner says.

Rex Features Ltd. do not claim any Copyright or License of the attached image Mandatory Credit: Photo by REX/Shutterstock (10669866a) Christian Brueckner, 43, a German convictd paedophile, who has been named as the man suspected of abducting and murdering Madeleine McCann. He is said to be currently serving a prison sentence for raping a 72-year-old American woman in September 2005 at the Praia da Luz in Portugal where Madeleine disappeared where she was aged three. Brueckner, who has also been convicted of child sexual offences, is suspected of taking Madeleine from the family holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the night of May 3, 2007. German police have confirmed that a man serving seven years in prison in Germany, who is a convicted child sex offender, is the new main suspect in Madeleine's abduction and possible murder. New Suspect in the Madeleine McCann case - 04 Jun 2020
Christian Brueckner is currently serving a prison sentence for rape (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who leads the Madeleine investigation with Portuguese and British detectives, told Sky News: ‘I assume if he has anything that exonerates him that sooner or later he will share it with us and we would then check it out. What happens then, let’s see.

‘So far he has told us nothing, he’s given us no alibi. So, we can only work on the evidence we have found so far in our investigation. And there was nothing to exonerate him.’

In addition to kidnapping Madeleine, Brueckner is also suspected of raping an Irish tour rep in 2004 and exposing himself to youngsters in an Algarve playground.

He is currently serving a seven-year sentence in a German prison, for raping a 72-year-old woman.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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