Her parents, Kate and Gerry, who have been looking for her since 2007, celebrated what would have been her 18th birthday on May 11, 2021.
The mystery around the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann, who was 3 years old when she went missing in Portugal, has still not been solved. Recently, her parents, Kate and Gerry, who have been looking for her since 2007, celebrated what would have been her 18th birthday on May 11, 2021. The couple remains hopeful that their daughter will be found.
"This year it is particularly poignant as we should be celebrating Madeleine’s 18th birthday. As we have said repeatedly, we need to know what has happened to our lovely daughter, no matter what. We are very grateful to the police for their continued efforts. We hang on to the hope, however small, that we will see Madeleine again," said Kate, according to The Sun.
Unfortunately, the German prosecutor investigating her disappearance has dashed their dreams repeatedly by saying that she is no longer alive. Hans Christian Wolters has repeatedly said that she was murdered by the prime suspect in the case, Christian Brueckner. Recently, he also revealed that though they previously thought that Christian had brought the child from Praia da Luz, Portugal, to Germany, they don't believe so anymore.
He believes that Madeleine or Maddie was killed in Portugal. "I am optimistic we will solve this case,” he told the Sunday Mirror. Hans has previously said that there is "concrete evidence" that the jailed prime suspect did kill the toddler in 2007. However, the German prosecutor still refuses to give any other details.
The 44-year-old prime suspect has been serving a seven-year sentence for sexual assault on a 72-year-old American woman in the Algarve in 2005. In July 2020, the police had dug up an allotment in Hanover, Germany, where he used to stay. The investigators were looking for any material, including computer drivers, linking him to the case.
"Since Christian B did not have the allotment at the time of Maddie’s disappearance, he could not have buried a body there," said the German prosecutor. The 44-year-old was identified as the prime suspect in the disappearance of the 3-year-old in June 2020. He is also a convicted child sex offender. The German authorities intend to charge him in 2021, but his lawyer Friedrich Fulscher has claimed that the 44-year-old has nothing to do with the disappearance of Madeleine.
The British police still consider it a missing persons case while the German authorities have been treating it as a murder case. However, the prosecutor has said that while they have "concrete evidence" they don't have "forensic" evidence to charge the man. The Metropolitan Police says there is no "definitive evidence whether she is alive or dead," according to the Evening Standard.
"For a long time German officers have said many key pieces of the jigsaw were missing about Christian B‘s movements in the Algarve," a source told the Sun. "This new information may help provide one of those pieces."
The new evidence that the German authorities have been talking about relates to Christian's phone records in Portugal. They reportedly throw fresh light on his movement in Praia Da Luz when Maddie went missing.
References:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14924883/madeleine-mccann-parents-tribute-birthday/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-was-killed-portugal-24116495
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/madeleine-mcmann-killed-portugal-claims-b935439.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14973862/madeleine-mccann-evidence-revealed-suspects-phone/
Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Peter Macdiarmid (R) Handout
