“THIS IS our second Christmas without Madeleine. Please help us make sure we don’t have a third.”
This is the message being conveyed by Gerry and Kate McCann, the parents of the Madeleine who disappeared in May 2007, as they approach another Christmas without their daughter.
The family have released a new three minute appeal to help find Madeleine and, for the first time, have included Madeleine’s voice in the short video.
Filmed in December 2006, the video shows the family’s last Christmas together before Madeleine disappeared from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
In the previously unpublished footage of Madeleine, she is shown sitting on the stairs of her home in Rothley, Leicestershire, UK, with her younger brother and sister, Sean and Amelie. Madeleine is encouraging the twins to copy her and says: “Clap your hands together and one, two, three.”
Madeleine then holds up a pair of shoes and says “these are my shoes,” while behind the camera Gerry McCann asks her what colour the shoes are, to which she answers “pink”.
Sad Christmas
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns family spokesman, said: “Kate and Gerry do not wish to say anything further. They feel that the video will speak for itself. The message is entirely focused on Madeleine, as it should be at this time of year.”
“This, they feel, is a timely and appropriate reminder that she is still out there and that somebody somewhere may still have that vital piece of information that may lead to her being found,” he added.
Gerry, Kate and the twins will be spending this Christmas with close family and friends and although they hope the new campaign will yield positive results in the search for their daughter, Clarence Mitchell said: “This is a difficult time of year. Producing a video like this is itself making it more difficult.”
Meanwhile, Gerry and Kate are urging members of the public to download the latest campaign poster and are asking supporters to take a copy with them if they are going abroad this Christmas or, alternatively, to tell a friend to take one with them on their travels.
The McCanns say, via the Find Madeleine website: “Please, always keep looking, wherever you are in the world. Thank you.”
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