£1m+ spent on Maddie-hunt

2008-09-06 18:02

London - More than £1m has been spent in the search for missing British toddler Madeleine McCann, her parents said in a newspaper interview out on Saturday.

They told the Daily Mirror tabloid they would spend whatever it took to find their daughter, who vanished from a holiday flat in southern Portugal in May last year, triggering a global hunt that made headlines worldwide.

In 10 months, the Find Madeleine fund, made up of donations, had paid £1m to Spain's Metodo 3 detective agency to search for her, health professionals Gerry and Kate McCann said.

"It's a lot of money but we can't set a limit," said Kate McCann, 40.

"A child does not have a price. We will pay what we have to.

"It just takes one person to make the one phone call we so hope for. We know she was abducted and believe someone knows or suspects something.

"We want to find her alive. But if she's dead we want to know."

Portuguese authorities have closed their investigation and lifted the "suspect" label from the McCanns due to lack of evidence.

Gerry McCann, also 40, said their other children, three-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, had been vital in helping them cope with daily life.

The couple speak to the twins every day about their missing sister and save sweets for her for when she returns.

"It's only them who make life normal for us. For us personally, it will never be normal again," he said.

"They realise Madeleine is not here but they don't know the details. They know she is missing and that we are looking for her."

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a flat in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, days before her fourth birthday, as her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.

Despite a worldwide publicity campaign and the couple hiring their own private investigators, there has been no proof of the girl's fate or whereabouts since.

- AFP