EXCLUSIVE
McCanns are 'amazed' at Irish support
Kate and Gerry McCann told the Sunday Independent that they have been amazed by all the good wishes and cards they have received from Ireland.
In an exclusive interview, the couple said that over 50 per cent of the cards they had received since their daughter was abducted 39 days ago have been from Irish well-wishers.
"For such a small country the amount of support we have received has been incredible," Kate McCann said as she broke down. "So many Irish people have come up to us here and have told us that the whole of Ireland is praying for us. We would like to send them a huge thanks," she said.
Kate and Gerry McCann happily talked about their first family holiday in Ireland at Easter where they spent five blissful days with Madeleine and her two-year-old twin sister and brother, Amelie and Sean.
"It was the first time we had been back to Donegal as a family and the first time Kate was there," Gerry said as the couple seemed lost for a moment in an idyllic place and time.
"It was a real big family get-together with all of my extended family and close friends. It was a fantastic holiday and the kids had a ball. There were 27 of us in all and we took three cottages in Dunloe. We spent the first two days on the beach. The weather was gorgeous and Madeleine and the kids just ran up and down the sand dunes," Gerry McCann said, adding that it reminded him of so many of his childhood summers there.
As the McCanns moved into the sixth week without Madeleine and the focus shifts back to Praia da Luz, the couple are concentrating on the prime locations which could unlock the whereabouts of their daughter.
"It's a long time to bewithout Madeleine. We have come through whole phases of emotions and, certainly inthe early days, we couldnot have done these trips,"Gerry McCann explained. "Madeleine is not dead, and we need to do everything possible to effect a positive outcome. We don't want to regret that if we had done something it might have helped."
The couple revealed that they have had counselling since Madeleine's disappearance and it helped them move through the days without her.
"I think people see us doing these press conferences and interviews and wonder how we can do this. And I know when I have seen other stories about children who have disappeared with unhappy outcomes I have wondered how can people cope.
"We have very low moments. You are taking a shower or having a meal and you sit and feel guilty and say how can I do this," Kate McCann explained. "It is not possible to grieve 24 hours a day like this, our counsellor says. And then something kicks in and, by doing what we are doing now, it takes your mind off speculation and we feel that it is possible that what we are doing will help."
Commenting about the question the couple was asked in Berlin last week about whether Gerry McCann was involved in the disappearance of his daughter, he said that they were both taken aback by the question, coming as it did at this stage.
"I just hope that we have answered it with honesty and integrity and to the best of our abilities," he said. It is a question the couple would have expected in the early days of Madeleine's disappearance.
"Early on I had said to Kate I wonder how long it will be before someone says 'I wonder if he had anything to do with this'. The circumstances are such that physically it is impossible that I was involved," he said.
"Nobody can hurt us the way we are hurting," Kate McCann said.
Today, the couple move onto Rabat in Morocco as they follow up a claimed sighting of their daughter by a Dutch tourist some weeks ago. So far, it is understood that the Moroccan police have not yet forwarded CCTV footage of the alleged sighting at a petrol station to the Portuguesepolice.
When the couple return to Praia da Luz tomorrow evening they will take a few days to consider what they will do next.
"We are fairly certain we will not be going back home in a hurry.
"We will reflect on where we need to focus and there will be a period of consideration about what will be best for all of us. It is likely that what we do next will not be as high profile and so it will be here in Portugal, but I think it is fair to say we will not be rushing to a decision."
Mr McCann said that were he to be back in the UK he would find it very hard even going to the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire. "It will be very, very hard;the last time I was back, I couldn't even go into the house. I found it hard enough going to Rothley.'
For investigative reasons, the couple cannot disclose details about Madeleine which fill her out from the images we're all familiar with.
"We cannot detail Madeleine's favourite things for investigative reasons, but we can say that Madeleine is a character who loves singing, dancing, running and chasing. She's a bright four-year-old full of life who is a leader. She adored Kids Camp. As they etch images of a dynamic little girl holding court with her school nursery friends back in England, or at the poolside having high tea with her little friends, Kate and Gerry McCann continue to hold a strong conviction that their daughter is still alive.
And they make one last appeal to anyone who might know where Madeleine is or what happened to her: "If you are a parent, a brother or a sister then you will know our pain. Madeleine is best with us. We shed a lot of tears for the situation she might be in," Gerry McCann said.
- GERALDINE NILAND in PRAIA da LUZ
