Women’s escape brings new hope in hunt for Madeleine

THE discovery of the three women who went missing separately ten years ago in the US has given the parents of Madeleine McCann renewed hope that she will be found, they said yesterday.

Madeleine McCann has been missing for six years. Picture: PA

Last week, Kate and Gerry McCann marked the sixth anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance.

Madeleine, then aged nearly four, vanished from her family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz in Portugal’s Algarve on 3 May 2007, as her parents dined with friends nearby.

The McCanns said the rescue of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight in Ohio “reaffirmed” their hope of finding their daughter.

“The discovery of these young women reaffirms our hope of finding Madeleine, which has never diminished,” they said in a statement.

“Their recovery is also further evidence that children are sometimes abducted and kept for long periods.

“So we ask the public to remain vigilant in the ongoing search for Madeleine.”

Mrs McCann is currently visiting Portugal, and is expected to return home to the UK shortly. Last week, she and her husband said their family had found a “new normality” since Madeleine’s disappearance.