THE
parents of missing
Madeleine McCann admitted yesterday that most of the
money donated to help trace her has been spent.
The Find
Madeleine Fund, set up soon after the three-year-old was abducted, once
topped £2million.
But
after more than three years of searching, there is less than £300,000
left.
Before
now,
Kate and Gerry McCann,
both 42, have always refused to ask for donations.
But with
money drying up,
investigators
to be paid and the costs of the ongoing
search, Gerry has penned a fundraising letter.
It will
be sent today to friends and
celebrity supporters, including David
Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sir Richard Branson and JK Rowling.
The couple, who retreated from the limelight to raise their twins
Sean
and Amelie, now five, yesterday said they would not rest until they
found Madeleine, who was snatched during a family holiday in Portugal in
May 2007.
Kate said: "It's a horrible prospect that we could never know what
happened to her. "I still see Madeleine's friends. I imagine Madeleine
being that tall, that slim - would she be able to read and write?
"She is
out there alive. To give up on her, I can't get my head round that. I
still talk to her every day."
Glasgwegian Gerry added: "There are days when we feel we can't go on.
Then we see Sean and Amelie and they give us renewed energy.
"They
know we are looking for Madeleine."
Despite
the strain, the McCanns, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said their
marriage had never been stronger.
Kate
said: "We have been through that much and are three and a half years
down the track now, so I think we will be all right."
They
launched an online petition yesterday calling for a joint review of the
case by the UK and Portuguese governments.
And Kate
hit out at the ConDem coalition for failing to follow on a review
commissioned by Labour then-Home Secretary
Alan Johnson. |