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Madeleine McCann Case: Kate And Gerry McCann 'Encouraged' By New Moves

PA/The Huffington Post UK  |  Posted: 26/04/2012 09:48 Updated: 26/04/2012 09:52

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Madeleine Mccann
Madeleine's parents believe that their child could still be alive, five years after she disappeared

The parents of Madeleine McCann are "hugely encouraged" by the momentum in the case of their missing daughter.

Kate McCann is said to be "particularly pleased" with the new age-progressed image of Madeleine, saying it has strong family resemblance.

Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry have also joined Scotland Yard in urging Portuguese authorities to reopen the search for Madeleine after detectives said there were 195 potential leads to finding her alive.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told BBC Breakfast that as the five-year anniversary of her disappearance draws close, Mr and Mrs McCann are said to be "coping as best they can".

The spokesman said that Scotland Yard "believe that it is quite possible that Madeleine could still be alive and that is what Kate and Gerry have said throughout the five years and they are hugely encouraged by all of this momentum in the case."

Above: The computer-generated image of Madeleine McCann that has reignited calls for the investigation into her disappearance to be reopened

Detectives in Portugal are also understood to want the case reopened but must gain judicial approval via the courts.

On Wednesday, the detective leading the Metropolitan Police review said the case could still be solved.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said he believed her disappearance was a stranger abduction, as he said there were 195 "investigative opportunities".

However, the police refused to say what evidence they had uncovered to suggest Madeleine was alive.

It will be five years next week since the three-year-old went missing at the Praia de Luz resort in Portugal, as her parents dined with friends nearby.

Loading Slideshow...

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    A photo of Madeleine McCann that was taken when she was 3 years old.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate McCann looks at an inflatable News of the World poster of missing daughter Madeleine measuring approx 800sq ft on the beach in Praia Da Luz, Portugal.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate McCann, mother of missing Madeleine, during the recording of a television interview for the spanish television show "Los Mas Buscados" with images of Madeleine on a large TV screen behind her, in the Hotel Villa Magna in Madrid.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    The GPR image that Stephen Birch believes shows a grave.

  • Missing girl in Algarve

    A photo of the May 15, 2007 search of the property in Praia da Luz where Stephen Birch believes he found a grave. The black box indicates the rubble pile he claims police never searched.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An October 2007 photo of the same location. Stephen Birch said this photo indicates the rubble pile had not been touched during the May 2007 search.

  • Missing girl in Algarve

    An overlay of the two photos.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.

  • Missing Madeleine McCann

    Kate and Gerry McCann in Quorn, Leicestershire, as they launch a petition to lobby the UK and Portuguese governments for a joint or independent review over their daughter Madeleine's disappearance.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate McCann, mother of missing girl Madeleine McCann leaves the village chruch in Praia Da Luz on the Algarve, Portugal, following a service.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate McCann leaves a church service in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, 2 weeks after Madeleine McCann went missing on the evening of Thursday May 3.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.

  • Missing Madeleine McCann

    Kate and Gerry McCann give a press conference in central London on their newly published book 'Madeleine' about their daughter's disappearance in 2007.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Business card sized leaflets showing missing girl Madeleine McCann, which were handed out to fans during the Espanyol v Sevilla Uefa Cup final at Hampden Park in Glasgow.

  • Missing girl in Algarve

    Kate McCann leaves the special service for the 100th day of Madeleine McCann's disappearance at the local church in Praia Du Luz, Portugal.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    Kate and Gerry McCann make an appeal for their three year old Madeleine's return.

  • Girl missing in Algarve

    An undated photo of Madeleine McCann from the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page.

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The parents of Madeleine McCann are "hugely encouraged" by the momentum in the case of their missing daughter. Kate McCann is said to be "particularly pleased" with the new age-progressed image of ...
The parents of Madeleine McCann are "hugely encouraged" by the momentum in the case of their missing daughter. Kate McCann is said to be "particularly pleased" with the new age-progressed image of ...
 
 
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cavir4
15 Fans
12:16 PM on 07/06/2012
Such a sad story.

I think the McCann's and everyone else want someone to be held accountable.

Somebody needs hanging for taking a little girl from her family!
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copackman
9 Fans
03:07 PM on 04/26/2012
Amazing. Is it not strange how features such as this on the McCanns are always removed from AOL as soon as people post adverse comments. They either remove the feature or stop taking any further comments. Is this again the work of Clarence Mitchell and not wanting any adverse publicity. We smell a rat!!!!
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acrylic99
23 Fans
03:03 PM on 04/26/2012
Leaving children of that age alone is scandalous, even if that was all that this couple - and the rest of their group - are guilty of. How could checking them every half-hour ever be enough, when that's more than enough time for a tragic event to happen, a fatal accident if not an abduction. Either way, and assuming that whatever really happened to the child had not already happened earlier in the day, it was much too late to be of any help.
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Rule Britannia
64 Fans
12:39 PM on 04/26/2012
I am amazed at the comments on here. Who's paying for it? The McCann's are responsible! blah blah blah. I take it you people have no children of your own. So what if the taxpayer is picking up the bill? We pick up the bill for so much more, which in comparison, makes this an extremely worthwhile cause.
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MolliBlum
2331 Fans
02:01 PM on 04/26/2012
I find it remarkable too, RB.
What I find utterly unconvincing about the (seemingly widespread) theory that the parents were involved is that they have put so much effort into keeping the case in the public eye for so long.
Besides -- they have done a lot to raise the profile of other missing children in the process. And that in itself is surely a good thing.
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Rule Britannia
64 Fans
03:10 PM on 04/26/2012
Very true. And for what it is worth, the McCann's were paying for their own private investigations which led to the "official" police investigation which now, rightly so, is being paid for my the British Taxpayers. What I find difficult to understand is why they had to fund anything at all for the matter to get to this point, so long after it happened. I would like to think that if my child was abducted, that I could rely on the police and on public support to help me find out what happened to her, obviously not!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
David Daisy May Boldock
Yorkshire..Gods Own Country
456 Fans
03:22 PM on 04/26/2012
Still stinks to high hell!
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copackman
9 Fans
03:11 PM on 04/26/2012
Why wouldnt the Clarence Mitchell gravy train cover this funding. Everybody including myself have utmost sympathy for this very very sad loss but WHY people are asking and resonably so are the McCanns receiving preferential treatment compared with other identical cases. That is the issue and supported by the majority of posted comments
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jack2649
60 Fans
12:37 PM on 04/26/2012
Call me old fashioned if you want, but when my kids were that age I never ever let them out of my sight, never mind going out and leaving them alone. Why were they never prosecuted for child neglect? I am sorry but in my eyes they are 100% to blame!
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Gragon
32 Fans
01:35 PM on 04/26/2012
Fully agree
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elcastle
411 Fans
02:17 PM on 04/26/2012
When I was young I was running around alone, with my friends - I took my bicycle and went to visit my grandparents without anybody knowing..And I had my parents - both and both grandparents in our hose so I was taken care of, but time has changed, generation ago nobody mind children playing alone, loosing sight of them for half a day - they got home to eat at some point...This is example how we changed, that we are suspicious and not trusting anymore, there is decay in our culture that we blame parents because they lost their child. DOn't get me wrong..I never let my child out of sight...here in US but in Europe in my homeland - I let her walked by herself to day care as - 4 year old, she went to butcher shop as 5 year old..etc, there was nothing wrong..everything was close, people were responsible for each other, there was a pub next to us and even drunk people watched out for each other...we are all for ourselves, we don't trust people anymore, we don't care what is happening one house from us..we don't take responsibility for other kids when we see them doing something wrong...we don't ask people to pick up after dogs..etc...we just live behind closed doors and then we are suspicious..
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derekarat
1 Fans
12:24 PM on 04/26/2012
Then let them pay for it
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acrylic99
23 Fans
12:17 PM on 04/26/2012
I'm very surprised by the claims that this case has been allowed to drop out of the public eye. They have made sure that it's been in the news all the time for the last five years. They have constantly been raising money, releasing new photos and videos, selling books or suing somebody. Their manner has been extremely weird throughout, if they aren't actually guilty of the disappearance themselves, they are certainly guilty of making the most of the situation. This is the same couple who said they wouldn't leave Portugal without her.
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Rule Britannia
64 Fans
03:14 PM on 04/26/2012
You obviously have very little knowledge of this case other than what you read in the national rag. Do some research and then you can make an informed view on the matter of funding, guilt and their reasons behind spending five years of their lives trying to find out what happened to their daughter.
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acrylic99
23 Fans
03:22 PM on 04/26/2012
Well, Mr or Mrs Gullible, I have followed the case from the first day, from before they were made suspects, when they were still avoiding reporters like the plague. They had set up their own publicity machine within a few days and ever since it has been impossible to avoid the story.
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SATCHMAN99
35 Fans
12:15 PM on 04/26/2012
Coping very well with it considering they have shown no remorse at all during interviews. Unlike other families who have broken down in tears. Something very strange indeed.
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MolliBlum
2331 Fans
01:54 PM on 04/26/2012
"Breaking down in tears" (or not) is no proof of anything.
Different people respond in different ways to stressful situations.

For example: remember this consistently tearful mother? (Yes, the one who actually organised her own child's fake kidnapping and ended up in jail for it):

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/921810/Shannon-24-days-of-tears-Mums-agonising-wait-Girl-is-found-Shannon-Matthews.html
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JJ M McColl
0 Fans
11:54 AM on 04/26/2012
Ben Needham went missing in Greece years ago, nobod is helping his mother or giving her all this publicity...why? because she's working class so nobody gives a toss. She didn't leave ehr son while she went drinking with her friends either. It's only because the McCanns are middle class and Doctors that they are getting so much sympathy. Any working class people that have left their kids alone to go out are always slated in the press and called unfit parents, why should the McCanns be any different? This is a class issue, one rle for one and one for another. They neglected their kids to go and socialise with their friends.
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janno000
60 Fans
11:50 AM on 04/26/2012
As sad as this is for Madeline I don't understand why her disappearance warrants so much more attention than that of other missing children. Who is paying for all this and why?
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copackman
9 Fans
12:09 PM on 04/26/2012
A very good point janno000. I have asked the very same question via email directly to Andy Redwood the Detective Inspector leading a team of 24 no less. So far he is avoiding the issue and has not replied.
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derekarat
1 Fans
12:26 PM on 04/26/2012
To busy playing golf in portugal i guess
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janno000
60 Fans
06:03 PM on 04/26/2012
It just doesn't make sense does it?
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Rule Britannia
64 Fans
03:18 PM on 04/26/2012
Your comment just shows you for the person you are Janno. Unfortunately you are just one of the majority in today's society of suspicious, judgemental, selfish and heartless people who look after number one and see no reason to do otherwise unless it benefits ME!
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janno000
60 Fans
06:01 PM on 04/26/2012
lol.
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anne31
110 Fans
11:24 AM on 04/26/2012
THIS IS A VERY STRANGE CASE. HOW A LITTLE GIRL JUST DISAPEARS FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH MISTFIES ME. I STILL FEEL THAT THE MCANNS HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS?
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copackman
9 Fans
11:09 AM on 04/26/2012
Nobody could have anything but compassion for this case however the public do have a right to know who is funding the 24 strong detective team headed by Andy Redwood. Is this being fully paid for from the Clarence Mitchell gravy train or is it being paid from PUBLC FUNDS. If so Why ???
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smirbrt2
2 Fans
11:08 AM on 04/26/2012
I am sorry I know their child is missing through their own fault i believe But why are they getting all this publicity and being allowed to use Tax payers money to go on with this case,What about Ben Needum and the hundreds of other children over the years who have never been traced,The police force involved where on BBC last night about how many people they have on the team souly for this case Im sorry but something isnt right here and WHY is PM getting involved.
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tripcony
45 Fans
10:35 AM on 04/26/2012
This was a sad case for the child, allbeit that the parents were to blame, but there are other children missing from abductions due to other reasons...such as family splits and mixed nationality separations etc and this case got all of the publicity.
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