THE PARENTS OF missing girl Madeleine McCann say they have not lost hope of finding their daughter as they approach their ninth Christmas without her.
In a message posted on Facebook, Kate and Gerry McCann thanked the people who had supported them and praised the police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
“Thankfully, the police investigation has made progress over the year,” the message said.
“Whilst it is never as much or as speedy as we, or the police would like, we are moving in the right direction and that’s the positive.”
Madeleine McCann went missing from an apartment at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz in Portugal on 3 May 2007. Despite an intensive campaign to find her, she has never been sighted since that day.
Her parents wrote that the compassion and help from their supporters had “spurred us on through another year and never fails to astound us.”
As always, she is very much on our mind and in our hearts and Christmas preparations. We have not lost hope that we may get to celebrate another Christmas with her. If anything can drive us on, that most definitely will.
The message urged people to support a charity which helps bring missing people back to their families, and thanked people for sending them Christmas cards.
“It gives us a lot of pleasure and comfort to sit down together and share your kind messages, with the reassurance that Madeleine has not been forgotten.
“And so a new year approached… new energy, new opportunities, new hope”.
The number of police officers investigating Madeleine’s disappearance was cut from 29 to 4 in October. The Met Police said that the work of the team had been completed after investigating thousands of potential sightings, taking more than one thousand statements, and looking at more than 60 people of interest
There have been 8,686 potential sightings of Madeleine recorded around the world since she went missing.
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