McCanns show world the face of Madeleine, two years on

Published on Friday 1 May 2009 20:28

AN IMAGE of how Madeleine McCann may look now was released by her parents yesterday as they vowed to continue the worldwide search for their daughter.

Gerry and Kate McCann employed a forensic imaging artist to produce a photographic impression of how the missing youngster would have aged in the two years since she vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Portugal.

It will be used on posters, to be distributed globally, and the couple believe it could prove "crucial" in finding out what happened to her.

In a statement issued last night ahead of tomorrow, the second anniversary of their daughter's disappearance, the McCanns said: "It is two long years since Madeleine was taken. It is two years since we were a happy family of five.

"The pain and anxiety does not lessen, but our determination to find our beautiful daughter remains steadfast.

"We are no longer looking for a four-year-old little girl, but a six-year-old one. This is crucial. We are hoping that the new, age-progressed image of Madeleine aged six, produced by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, will help people to see what Madeleine may look like today."

Madeleine was just three when she went missing in Praia da Luz on 3 May, 2007. If still alive – and the McCanns believe there is a "very real likelihood" she is – she would now be almost six.

Unveiled on Oprah Winfrey's chat show in the United States, the image depicts Madeleine at age six.

The expert used photographs of Mr and Mrs McCann at around the same age to produce the "age progression image".

The image is published on the posters alongside an old photograph of Madeleine, for comparison. Private detectives working for the McCanns, and a hotline, are now prepared to deal with any responses generated.

On Thursday, a documentary will feature a reconstruction of what the couple describe as "potentially significant and suspicious events" from around the time Madeleine was taken.

In their statement, they added: "Much of this information has not been disclosed to the general public before, and it is apparent that there are several highly important unanswered questions remaining.

"Just one of these answers could provide us with that vital piece of information that leads us to Madeleine.

"It is our hope that these reconstructed scenes will trigger somebody's memory and prompt them to come forward, giving us the key piece of the jigsaw that we, and Madeleine especially, so desperately need."

The documentary will come after the broadcast – on Monday in the US and Tuesday in the UK – of Oprah Winfrey's interview with the McCanns.

In extracts from the interview, she asked them: "Do you let yourself go to the worst?"

Mrs McCann replied: "I know people mean well when they say don't let yourself go there, but, as a mum, inevitably there are times when I do. And they're the times that I kind of dip down."