Gerry and Kate McCann have spoken about the pain of going on holiday for the first time without their daughter Madeleine.

Kate and Gerry McCann are determined to do everything necessary to search for their daughter
Their eldest child, who was three when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve last May, has not been seen for more than 15 months.

Her parents, who remain formal suspects in her disappearance, decided to take a break with their other two children, twins Sean and Amelie.

"We have recently managed to have a break visiting family," Mr McCann wrote on his internet blog. "Sean and Amelie have had a brilliant time and it has been great for me to spend so much time with them.

Day 434: 10/07/2008 Gerry's Blog:

We have recently managed to have a break visiting family. Sean and Amelie have had a brilliant time and it has been great for me to spend so much time with them. Although this has been a relaxing break, it has been incredibly difficult for Kate and me to have been on holiday without Madeleine- it is all too apparent what is missing.

We were very pleased to learn today that the written declaration calling for the introduction of an EU wide Amber alert system has been successful. More than half of the 786 Members of the European Parliament (MEP’s) were required to sign the declaration for it to be adopted as a full resolution of the European Parliament and as of today 417 had signed. This is a small step in the right direction and a lot of work will be needed to get National Amber alert systems implemented. The idea already has the support of the European Commission and this additional political impetus should speed up the implementation process.

We would like to thank Edward McMillan-Scott and the other 4 sponsors of the declaration, all those MEP’s who signed the declaration and all the members of the public who lobbied their MEP’s.

There has been a lot of speculation in the press over the last 10 days that the investigation in to Madeleine’s disappearance has closed. We have not heard anything officially other than we know the files are with the prosecutor and the period of secrecy has been extended to 14th August. Our independent investigation continues and we urge people going on holiday to remain vigilant and consider taking one of our posters with them- downloadable from the how to help section of the website.

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Posted By Dont Let Them Hurt Our Children to PICK UP THE PHONE AND BRING MADELEINE HOME IF YOU HAVE ANY INFO. PLEASE CALL +44 845 838 4699 on 7/11/2008 08:52:00 AM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2286367/Madeleine-McCann's-parents-tell-of-pain-of-holiday-without-their-daughter.html

MADELEINE McCann's parents have told of the torment of their first holiday without their daughter.

Kate and Gerry McCann flew back from Vancouver in Canada yesterday after visiting relatives.

Gerry said the trip had been extremely difficult both for him and Kate.

"We have managed to have a break visiting family," Gerry wrote on the website set up to try to trace Madeleine, who went missing on a holiday in Portgual in May 2007.

He added: "Sean and Amelie have had a brilliant time and it has been great for me to spend so much time with them.

"Although this has been a relaxing break, it has been incredibly difficult for Kate and me to have been on holiday without Madeleine - it's all too apparent what is missing.

"There has been a lot of speculation in the Press over the last 10 days that the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance has closed.

"We have not heard anything other than we know the files are with the pro secutor and the secrecy period has been extended to August 14."

The McCanns are still being investigated for possibly neglecting their daughter on the night she disappeared from their Portuguese holiday apartment.

The first published court ruling on the Madeleine case confirms the police inquiry covers homicide, abandonment, concealment of a corpse and abduction.

The reference to "abandonment" suggests that Portuguese detectives are investigating if there is evidence that Kate and Gerry McCann we re negligent in leaving their daughter alone on the night she went missing.

The charge carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence.

The couple, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, have strenuously denied negligence and said they were just 50 yards away at the time their daughter was taken.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2008/07/12/torment-of-kate-and-gerry-mccann-as-they-go-on-first-holiday-without-missing-madeleine-86908-20640451/

When Kate and Gerry speak of having to provide their twins with a normal family life, I totally agree. Not sure if any of you remember the Stayner case - Steven Stayner was 7 years old when he was abducted by a pedophile and years later, Stephen was found but tragically he died in a motorcycle accident. Stephen had a younger brother who felt that after Stephen was abducted, his parents' focus was totally on finding Stephen and totally ignored their other children. Cary also hated the police officers because they weren't able to find his brother and I think the police officers had also treated the parents very poorly (not sure about that point, but it seems to me I read that in one of the documentaries). Years later, Cary was employed at at Glacier Park motel where a mother with her teenage daughter and her teenage daughter's friend went missing. Their bodies were found - one of the teenagers had been sexually molested. An arrest was made and it was Stephen's younger brother who was arrested. Cary blamed his parents for not being able to provide him with a normal childhood after Stephen was abducted.

One last note of interest: The way Stephen was found, was because the pedophile has abducted a four year old boy and after finding out the child had not been sexually abused, yet, Steve phone the police -and the police saved the four year old and himself. Steve was a hero.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Stayner

I agree with you Calcite. I'm also very pleased they managed to get away without the glare of the media spotlight on them. It must have been incredibly difficult for them, another milestone without their beloved daughter.

Of course others have scoffed, that Gerry has plenty of time to be with the twins due to only working part time, but I would imagine every spare minute Gerry gets, he is devoted to the find Madeleine campaign. At the end of the day, they are human beings, for 14 months they have worked tirelessly on their campaign to find their missing daughter and the last thing I would deny them is a break away.

Janet thanks for providing these links and these posts, I fine it really heartbreaking and can only imagine how this poor couple really felt deep inside.

I hope Kate and Gerry enjoyed their time with their children but you can almost feel the pain in what he writes.

As it becomes clearer with each passing day that this couple are completely innocent, I wonder where this will leave the snot green psycho blog from hell? Is this why they seem to be behaving in a demented fashion as if they are in some kind of parallel existence?

Calcite, I received your PM, what is the Calgary stampede? :scratch:

I read the book "I Know My First Name Is Steven", it is one of the most harrowing books I have ever read.

"At approximately 3 o'clock on the afternoon of December 4th, 1972, Steven Gregory Stayner, then seven years old, was abducted while walking home from school. Years passed yet his family never gave up hope that one day they would locate him. But that never happened - until one night, approximately seven years later, when a police officer knocked on the front door of a modest house in a small California town to announce to Del and Kay Stayner that, against all odds, their son had indeed been found. At last Steven Stayner was coming home for good. This is his story. 'I KNOW MY FIRST NAME IS STEVEN' is one of the finest and most affecting true stories ever made. Steven Stayner was killed in a motorcycle accident "

He was abducted on his way home from school and held captive by a convicted child molester Kenneth Eugene Parnell. For seven years he was held captive and passed off as Parnell's son and called "Dennis". This poor little lad was forced to suffer abuse so terrible that he forgot his own name. Parnell evaded a statewide search for Steven, keeping him prisoner and moving him from one cheap motel to another.
You have to read the book to know a little about this, of course as the time went on this lad grew to accept his fate as 'normal' although he knew that Parnell wasn't his real father, the psychological state of Stockholm Syndrome played a huge part in why he did not make a break for freedom before he actually did.

When Steven finally made that break, it was because Parnell had grown 'tired' of the older Steven (now 14) and went and kidnapped another little boy age five years, called "Timmy White".
Parnell suddenly appeared with this little boy and told Dennis (Steven) that this was going to be his younger brother.

Steven could not bear the thought of what had happened to him happening to this lad, so planned an escape from an extremely remote wooden shack where they were then living. Miraculously, somehow Steven managed to pull this escape off after a few failed attempts. he managed to return this little boy home to his parents and then walked into a police station ans said those words "I Know My First Name Is Steven".

Steven's parents had never given up hope of finding their son, they always had the feeling that he was alive and never stopped looking for him.

(Poor Steven was later killed in a motorbike accident, I think he had married by then.)

This is why the McCann's can never give up looking for Madeleine and why we should never give up looking for her either.

Those hideous people over on Viles that keep on making libellous comments saying that Madeleine is dead ,killed by her parents, should read this book, it may open their eyes because of their insistence that Madeleine is dead killed by her parents and their total disregard to Madeleine's circumstances, may be forcing her to endure.

They want everyone to believe she is dead, they want her parents to be thrown into prison, they want the investigators the McCann's have employed to STOP looking for her and they do not care two hoots that the PJ stopped looking for this child soon after she disappeared.

Just how dare they do this? Madeleine could be suffering and we owe to her to keep looking for her.

What have the PJ actually done to find Madeleine during the past 14 months?

http://cs.calgarystampede.com/

It's to celebrate our western heritage - businesses give people free breakfasts and other business give people free lunches. Lots of drinking and partying goes on during the week. We start off with a parade and it is for a full week.

Even Canada could not give the McCanns total escape from the drama and distress of the Maddie case.

Just days after the couple jetted out they were told Portuguese police had closed the investigation.

But it then emerged the cops have until the end of July to decide on the move.

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell vowed: "The search for Madeleine will go on with or without the police's assistance."

Then last Monday Leicestershire police agreed to hand the couple evidence collected in their inquiries. The information could help private investigators hired by the McCanns.

The couple also won the backing of MEPs in their call for a Europe-wide child abduction alert system.


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It means much greater co-operation between countries when a youngster is reported missing.A source said: "It was a great end to the holiday to hear that their campaigning had paid off."

http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=search-goes-on&method=full&objectid=20641910&siteid=93463-name_page.html