Madeleine McCann's parents in fresh hope after snatched son reunited with family after 32 years

I'm not a one to gloat and say I told you so - but ....

Madeleine McCann's parents in fresh hope after snatched son reunited with family after 32 years

EXCLUSIVE: Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry said it gave them hope they would one day be reunited with their daughter, who vanished on holiday in Portugal in 2007

By Jerry Lawton

   22:00, 19 MAY 2020


Madeleine McCann's parents' spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the Daily Star the news in China gave them hope of a similar reunion

Madeleine McCann’s parents have fresh hope of seeing her again because a couple have been reunited with their son – 32 years after he was snatched.

Mao Yin was just two years old when he was abducted from a hotel in 1988.

His parents searched China for him and his heartbroken mum Jingzhi distributed more than 100,000 flyers in the hope someone would recognise him.

Like Madeleine’s mum Kate – who quit as a GP to focus on the search for her missing child – she gave up her job to focus on the hunt.

The determined mum personally followed up 300 leads in vain – reuniting 29 other children with their families along the way.

In April police received a tip-off about a man from Sichuan province – 620 miles from Xian where Yin vanished – who had adopted a baby years earlier.

Police found the adoptee – now 34 and called Gu Ningning – and a DNA test proved he was Yin.

The family was joyfully reunited on Monday.

Yin, who runs a home decoration business, said he was not sure about the future but pledged to spend time with his rediscovered parents.

Police said he had been sold as a boy to a childless couple for 6,000 yuan (£690).

Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry said it gave them hope they would one day be reunited with their daughter, who vanished on holiday in Portugal in 2007.

Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the Daily Star: “Rare as this very happy event is, wherever a reunion like this happens, of course it gives Kate and Gerry hope that they too will one day be similarly reunited with Madeleine.

“I know Kate and Gerry will want to wish the family in China all the very best for the future.’’

Yin was snatched after asking his dad Zhenjing for water as they walked home from nursery.

They stopped at a hotel entrance to get some and as the father briefly looked away, the baby was taken.

But the boy’s mum never stopped believing they would one day be reunited.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/madeleine-mccanns-parents-fresh-hope-22054380

'NEVER GIVE UP' Madeleine McCann parents’ fresh hope as boy kidnapped in China found after 32-year search

   Tracey Kandohla

   20 May 2020, 12:31Updated: 20 May 2020, 12:38

MADELEINE McCann's parents have been given fresh hope their daughter could still be alive after a boy kidnapped in China was found after 32 years.

Kate and Gerry, who faced the poignant 13th anniversary of Maddie's disappearance a fortnight ago, have been “buoyed up” by the happy news and wish the family who have been reunited with their son “all the best.”

McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “Rare as this very happy event is, wherever a reunion like this happens, of course it gives Kate and Gerry hope that they, too, will one day be similarly reunited with Madeleine”

He added: “It also proves that they are right to never give up on their search for their daughter. I know Kate and Gerry will want to wish the family in China all the very best for the future.”

Mao Yin was snatched, aged two, from a hotel in the city of Xian in Shaanxi province in October 1988. His dad had stopped to get him some water on the way home from nursery.

Over the years his parents searched the country for him and distributed more than 100,000 flyers. The overjoyed couple were reunited with their son, now aged 34, at a police news conference on Monday.

Mao, renamed Gu Ningning had been sold to a childless couple for 6,000 yuan - £690 in today's money.

Mao’s mum Li Jingzhi quit her job to search for her “very clever, cute and healthy” son and she appeared on numerous Chinese television shows to appeal for help. She was told the amazing news he had finally been found on May 10 - Mother's Day in China - saying: “This is the best gift I have ever got.”

The investigation into her son’s disappearance is still ongoing. The authorities have not released information about the couple who raised him.

Three-year-old Maddie vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007, just nine days before her fourth birthday. She had been left sleeping alone with her younger twin siblings while her parents were dining with pals in a nearby tapas restaurant.

Heart doctor Gerry, 51, and former GP turned medical worker Kate, 52, from, Rothley, Leics, have never given up hope of finding their daughter alive. She would now be aged 17.

A close friend said: “It shows that dreams can come true and this man being found 32 years after being abducted is another example that will give Kate and Gerry hope. This is the news they are dreaming of receiving themselves one day. Madeleine is only 17 so anything is possible.
'MADELEINE COULD STILL BE ALIVE'

“They believe Madeleine could still be alive and are always buoyed up when they hear stories of kidnapped children being found. It really does give them renewed hope and some joy.”

In January 2017 a girl kidnapped in America was found after 18 years. Newborn baby Kamiyah Mobley was snatched from a Florida hospital by a woman pretending to be a nurse.

British police searching for Maddie are working on a final theory that she was kidnapped by a European trafficking gang and sold to a childless couple - her parents' and their first team of private investigators' initial hunch - and could still be alive and possibly be living in Europe or North Africa.

The Operation Grange inquiry, which has cost the taxpayer nearly £12 million, is set to receive and extra £300,000 funding from the Home Office to keep it going until the end of March next year.

Kate and Gerry wrote in a 13th anniversary post: "The investigation to find Madeleine remains open and continues, even though, in a way different to the ideal.

"We remain grateful for the ongoing efforts and commitment from all those involved in the search to find her and we hope and pray, as always, that our efforts will be fruitful.”



https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11664931/madeleine-mccann-hope-boy-found-after-32-years/

'Our Trace' falling out of favour?

Not an 'exclusive' and having to do a cut'n'paste job on a Jerry Lawton.

What is McWorld coming to?

Is Clarence Mitchell relevant to anything anymore?

"The investigation into her son’s disappearance is still ongoing. The authorities have not released information about the couple who raised him".

This guy is 32, he has allegedly been with these people for thirty years. Doesn't he know anything? Surely he at least knows who they are.

And, how was he found?

Did he attend school?
Did he get medical assistance?

How do they know how much he was sold for?

Not much of a story here, just that he was sold and miraculously re-appeared.

I'm not really buying this.

Seems he was found using facial recognition technology

What a coincidence, isn't this what team McCann have been banging on about for the past few months?

Facial recognition helps reunite kidnapped toddler with family after 32 years

---

by CNN Newsource
Tuesday, May 19th 2020


(CNN) — A man who was abducted as a toddler 32 years ago was finally reunited with his biological family Monday, with the help of facial recognition technology.

Mao Yin was taken from his parents in 1988 when he was two years old while outside of a hotel in the Chinese city of Xi'an, in Shaanxi province. He was then sold to a childless couple in the neighboring Sichuan province, according to Chinese state-broadcaster CCTV.

Authorities said they were still investigating the initial abduction and did not release further information about Mao's adoptive parents.

Mao was raised by his adoptive parents as Gu Ningning, without knowing his birth parents had been searching for him for more than three decades, the report said.

In late April, police in Xian received a tip-off that a man in Sichuan province had bought a child from Shaanxi in the late-1980s, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The police used facial recognition technology to analyze an old photo of Mao as a boy and came up with a simulated image of him as an adult, which was then compared with photos in the national database, according to CCTV. It did not give details about the database or the process of how the photos were compared.

After a series of investigations and comparisons, the police tracked down a man in the city of Mianyang who resembled the image of Mao. He was later confirmed to be the missing son using a DNA test, Xinhua reported.

On Monday, 34-year-old Mao was reunited with his birth parents at a news conference held by the Xi'an police.

Emerging from a side door of the conference hall, Mao called out to his mother and ran toward her. The family of three broke down in tears in a long embrace, the livestream of the news conference broadcast live by CCTV showed.

"I don't want him to leave me anymore. I won't let him leave me anymore," his mother, Li Jingzhi, said as she held tightly to her son's hand.

Mao, who now runs a home decoration business in Sichuan, said he would move to Xi'an to live with his biological parents, according to CCTV.

Following Mao's disappearance, Li quit her job and devoted herself to the quest of searching for her son. She sent out more than 100,000 flyers and went on numerous national television programs. She also became a volunteer, collecting information about other missing children and helping 29 of them reunite with their families.

According to CCTV, Mao had seen Li talking about her missing son on television before, and was moved by her persistence -- but little did he realize he was the boy she had spent decades looking for.

There is no official tally on how many children are kidnapped in China each year. On the website "Baby Come Home," a widely-used platform for Chinese parents to post missing child notices, more than 51,000 registered families are searching for their children.

According to Xinhua, police have found and reunited more than 6,300 abducted children with their families since the Ministry of Public Security set up a nationwide DNA database in 2009 to match parents with missing children.

https://news4sanantonio.com/news/nation-world/facial-recognition-helps-reunite-kidnapped-toddler-with-family-after-32-years

Is it only me who thinks that this story has be engineered to fit in with the McCann tales?

Nope.