http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5601056/Kate-McCann-speaks-about-missing-daughter-Madeleine.html
‘I need to find out if Madeleine is alive or dead... an end to not knowing’
Says Kate McCann
EXCLUSIVE By ANTONELLA LAZZERI Published: 1 hr ago
KATE McCann last night opened her heart over vanished daughter Madeleine and said: “I just want to know if she’s alive or dead.”
Mum Kate has told how she still longs for the return of her daughter — but is not blinkered to a possible “worst case scenario”.
And she revealed she now just wants to know what happened to her beloved girl.
Kate spoke three days ahead of the seventh anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance to publicise the launch of the Child Rescue Alert system.
Video:Kate McCann explains Child Rescue AlertSun ExclusiveMUM of missing Madeleine on why she's backing new plan to help save abducted children
It sends out texts and emails if a youngster is abducted, or missing and thought to be facing imminent danger.
She said: “We obviously want Madeleine back number one — but we do want an answer, whatever.
“I have spent days thinking, ‘What would you rather? Not know, or find out something you didn’t want to hear?’
“Obviously our ultimate hope is that we find Madeleine and she comes home and we re-establish her into our family and spend the next few years of her life getting it all as good as it can be.
“But if it was down to not knowing or finding out news that isn’t what you want to hear? At the end of the day I can’t change that. What would you rather?
“I’m not underestimating the blow of hearing bad news that your child had been killed, because obviously you’re not going to go, ‘OK at least we know’.
Kate launches Child Rescue Alert system
Robert Rathbone
“But I’ve spent hours thinking about that and, each time, I still come up thinking we need to know. Regardless, we need to know.”
Scotland Yard recently announced they believe Portuguese authorities will let them carry out investigations in the area where Madeleine vanished while on holiday with her family seven years ago.
That action is likely to involve ground searches.
Kate, 46, and 45-year-old husband Gerry, from Rothley, Leics, still firmly believe the Metropolitan Police probe could result in Madeleine, who would now be ten, being found alive and well.
Video:Kate McCann appeal for Child Rescue AlertSun ExclusiveMUM of missing Madeleine needs YOUR help with launch of new system to help save abducted children
But they also know it could result in a different outcome.
Kate said: “We want them to do all this. It’s painful, having to think about it and worry all the time that potentially they could find something.
“But you have to balance that with living day in, day out, with not knowing. And we cannot change anything that’s happened now.
“I can say that now, keeping in control and talking as if it’s not about Madeleine.
One of the last photos of Madeleine
EPA
“The first day that’s the only thing I could think of — but I didn’t know then about cases of children being found years down the line.
“But there is also the worst case scenario. That’s always been a possibility and anyone who thinks that we’re blinkered doesn’t know us.”
Kate said she also wants an answer for Madeleine’s younger brother and sister, nine-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
She said: “Sean and Amelie need to know. They’ve got their whole lives ahead of them and no one is ever going to say to me they will not try and look for their sister — they will.
“I don’t want them having to carry this on.”
Madeleine went missing on May 3, 2007, in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. She would now be just days away from celebrating her 11th birthday.
Parents Gerry and Kate McCann
Dan Charity - The Sun
Kate still hopes she will be found alive like Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was abducted in South Lake Tahoe, California, aged 11 — but found 18 years later.
Now Kate believes the Child Rescue Alert, run by the charity Missing People for the National Crime Agency, will save children’s lives and act as a deterrent to would-be abductors. Kate said: “There are two things with Child Rescue Alert.
“One is the joy and relief of finding the child — and number two is the ease of suffering for the family.
“One, they’ve got the child back and two, potentially they will not have to go through years of not knowing.
“You don’t want to think of anybody else going through that pain and helplessness. Anyone who has a missing child will tell you the worst thing is the not knowing.”
Kate is aiming to sign up one million people to receive messages from the alert system.
Speaking directly to Sun readers, she said: “Please, please sign up, it could be the most important thing you ever do.
“All you have to do is visit www.child rescuealert.org.uk. Please do it, you could make a real difference.”
She added: “The scope for reaching a huge amount of people is fantastic. People will be able to share the alert via social media.”
Kate said Child Rescue Alert can also protect children by making would-be kidnappers think again.
She said: “It can act as a deterrent in two ways. Firstly it will make an abductor think twice before he does it.
“But also I know in the States there were 16 cases in one year of the abductor releasing the child as soon as the alert went out.
“Stats from the countries that already have a Child Rescue Alert system in place prove it works — 685 children in America have been rescued thanks to Amber Alerts.
“In the countries with alert systems in place, there is success story after story of children being saved.
Holiday flat in Portugal
Darren Fletcher - The Sun
“In the Netherlands, 2.2million people are signed up to receive alerts.
“That’s a phenomenal number and it greatly increases the chance of a child being found.
“That child has to be somewhere, they could be in the next car to you, they could be walking past you, or it might just ring a bell that it’s something that you noticed that didn’t seem quite right.
“Then, when you hear the alert, it makes sense.
“We’re not asking anyone to do something massive, it’s just keeping your eyes and ears open. The more helping the search, the greater the chance of finding the missing child.”
The Child Rescue Alert, made possible thanks to funding from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and the EU, will also put out messages on Twitter, Facebook, radio and TV.
Speaking about the developments in Operation Grange — the Met review set up into Madeleine’s disappearance in 2011 — Kate said: “The Met have really been fantastic.
“It has given us a lifeline having them on board and I hope that the progress they’ve made will be allowed to continue.”
Kate also praised the children and parents who have come forward to report that they were attacked by what appears to have been a serial sex predator around the Algarve.
She said: “It’s really brave, I’m so grateful to those people. So much courage and compassion to share that information, knowing it could help.”
Millions will get snatch warning
CHILD Rescue Alert allows the alarm to be raised to millions of people once a child is abducted or is believed to be in immediate danger.
Texts and emails will be sent to the mobiles, tablets and computers of those who register with the system online.
And alerts will also go on Twitter, Facebook, radio, TV and on digital billboards at stations, airports, sports stadiums and shopping centres.
The messages will contain a photo of the child, a description and crucial details such as if a vehicle is involved.
The system has been made possible thanks to funding from the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and the EU.
The alerts are sent out using technology donated by Groupcall, co-founded by Sir Bob Geldof.
The initiative is based on America’s Amber Alert scheme, which Kate and husband Gerry campaigned to be brought into the UK and across Europe.
Kate said: “The first few hours after a child has been taken are crucial.
“In the case of an abducted child, experts say time is the enemy.
“Child Rescue Alert will galvanise the whole community to assist the search for a missing child.
“The general public are vital in helping to find an abducted child.”
antonella.lazzeri@the-sun.co.uk
Please Note. The photos are copyrighted so cannot be posted but you can see them via the link at the top of this post, also the videos. Sukes
