I can hardly believe that its been 6 years since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann....a 3 year old British Girl who disappeared from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3rd 2007.
I remember so clearly the day she went missing - I was sitting in my old apartment in Exeter, on a sick day from work, watching Sky News when the yellow "Breaking News" banner came across the bottom of screen reading "Breaking News: 3 year old girl reported missing from holiday apartment in Portugal...."
I followed the story for the rest of that day as more details about the case emerged, I went to bed that night with my fingers crossed that by the morning there would be some good news ....
And unbelievably, 6 years on - here we are still.
Today is Madeleine's 10th birthday.....and after so much time has passed, we seem to have very little further concrete information about what happened to Madeleine than we had on that first day....
And what is sadder still, is that we have all experienced those news stories many times since and I personally have gone to bed many times since with my fingers crossed, hoping that by the morning there would be some good news about the whereabouts of a missing child....
It seems like 9 times of 10, eventually there is news on what happened to the missing child - but its seldom positive - in recent years there has been the cases of Tia Sharpe, April Jones, and countless other children who have been revealed to have met tragic ends.
But what about the cases that remain unresolved?
Regardless of your personal opinions on the decision of Madeleine's parents to leave her and her siblings alone in their holiday apartment while they dined in a nearby tapas restaurant with friends, nobody can deny that what they have gone through in the last 6 years must be a living hell....
6 years must seem like an eternity without their beautiful little girl, and to have no idea what happened to her on that fateful night and whether or not she is still alive must be a horrific feeling to wake up to every day.
With stories in the news this week of Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight & Gina DeJesus being found alive after disappearing 10 years ago - it is more apparent than ever than until their is evidence to show otherwise, we should never give up hope of finding Madeleine or indeed any missing child alive.
Kate & Gerry McCann's words on the www.findmadeleine.com website sum it all up....
"Why Do We Continue To Search?:
There is absolutely nothing to suggest that Madeleine has been harmed.
Madeleine is still missing and someone needs to be looking for her.
She is very young and vulnerable and needs our help.
We love her dearly and miss her beyond words."
If you have any information about Madeleine's disappearance, no matter how insignificant it may seem, please contact your local police force and call +44 845 838 4699 - alternatively you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or e-mail [email protected]
