Madeleine McCann's aunt explains why she has joined charity for missing people

Madeleine McCann's aunt explains why she has joined charity for missing people.. and how search for little girl goes on

Dec 23 2010 Exclusive by Annie Brown

IN the window of Patricia Cameron's porch is a photo of her niece Madeleine McCann with the caption, "Still missing, still missed, still looking."

Another Christmas is about to pass, the fourth since Madeleine disappeared in May 2007, leaving only pain and longing behind.

Patricia said: "Christmas is one of the toughest times. But every family occasion is marred because there is a little person who is not there.

"It doesn't get any easier. If anything, it gets harder."

This week, Patricia became a family representative for the charity Missing People, who help with searches and support those left behind.

She wanted to take on the role to highlight the plight of the many left with a void in their life - the parents, the children, the sisters, the brothers, the uncles and the aunts of the missing.

The organisation are asking the Government to give families of missing people the same rights as victims of crime, access to legal and financial assistance and emotional support.

It hurts Patricia deeply to watch her little brother Gerry and his wife Kate grow emotionally and physically weaker because of the loss and endless searching for Madeleine.

Patricia said: "Gerry is the baby of the family. I feel very protective and it hurts me to see him looking so tired. They are both just exhausted. They have so much on their plate.

"They are overwhelmed by trying to be breadwinners, investigators and parents. That's why I support the Missing Rights campaign. People need all the help they can get."

Madeleine was snatched from the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007, as Gerry and Kate dined nearby.

For the McCanns, there was a desperate need for funds to pay for legal advice and a worldwide search.

Patricia said: "It is so hard to watch Kate and Gerry push themselves constantly. When Madeleine first went missing, family and friends had to step in to help them pay the mortgage.

"Money is constantly tight but they have to keep going. They will never give up looking and that costs money. Families of the missing still need to pay bills while they search but there is no right to any financial help."

After Madeleine disappeared, Patricia took on the role of babysitter for Kate and Gerry's twins, Sean and Amelie, now five, while their parents searched.

As a result, there is a close bond between Patricia and the children.

She bathes the twins when she visits the McCanns and chats to them about Madeleine and her memories of her.

Patricia said: "Kate listens sometimes. It is always nice for her to hear someone else's memories of Madeleine, something more of her little girl."

There are treasured photos of Madeleine as a toddler, with her aunt holding her in her arms. Patricia was Madeleine's godmother and there was a special bond between them.

When Patricia and her mum, Eileen, visited her son, Paul, who was studying medicine at Cambridge, she would pick Madeleine up from the nearby McCann family home and take her on a special day out.

Patricia said: "She would say to the twins they were too little to come and so it was just her. That made her feel grown-up. We would have lunch and feed ducks in the park. Not expensive things, just precious memories.

"There were times she had my mum and I in stitches. She was so sharp and funny."

And Patricia remembers vividly a holiday in Ireland with 46 extended family and friends, and playing rounders on the beach.

Patricia said: "Madeleine was a little daredevil. She was the only one who would go in the water. It was the Atlantic and it was freezing. She was a determined little thing."

Madeleine's grandparents suffer terribly. Eileen and Kate's parents, Susan and Brian Healy, fear they'll never see her again.

Patricia said: "My mum and Kate's parents have become very close. They understand each other and what they are going through.

"It is hard for them. They think about Madeleine all the time and have some terrible days. A friend of my mum's died recently. When she was sick, she told my mum she would send her a sign from heaven to let her know if Madeleine was there."

Eileen calls the twins her bonny lassie and bonny laddie, and carries one under each arm.

Patricia added: "They are crazy about their granny."

Christmas cards from the McCanns are still signed with the names of all three children.

And there are still Christmas presents in Madeleine's room ready for her to come home.

In the meantime, Kate is exhausted juggling family life with writing a book she hopes will help finance the continued search for her daughter.

It is expected to be in shops next April, to coincide with the fourth anniversary of her disappearance.

Patricia is a nurse and the hands-on carer in the family.

Perhaps that's why it is unusual for her to take on a task like this for Missing People. The lobbying and the campaigning have always been roles for Gerry and Kate.

But they are just too busy. Patricia spent a few days with them last week to give them a break before Christmas.

She said: "Gerry has changed. He is more serious and is always exhausted. It breaks my heart to see him like that.

"Kate has always been thin but they have just had the cold and she looks even thinner now.

"They are both drained emotionally, psychologically and physically.

"They are on a treadmill. They are trying to do their best for their wee daughter who is missing and they are trying to do their best for the wee twins in front of them.

"That's why organisations like Missing People are vital. I wish at the beginning we had used the kind of support they offer."

Patricia will never give up hope that Madeleine will be found.

She said: "There are cases of people being hidden and kept for years and those cases give you hope. You have to think like that.

"She could be alive. We just haven't found her."

There were over 40,000 incidents of people going missing in Scotland last year.

Missing People have caring, highly skilled staff and volunteers working around the clock all over the UK.

The role of Family Representative is the first of several planned new volunteer opportunities available in Scotland, and involves acting as a spokesperson to the media and local community.

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Three years of heartbreak

TIMELINE

May 3, 2007 Madeleine disappears from Praia da Luz, days before her fourth birthday.

May 7, 2007 Police release a description of the kidnapper.

May 10, 2007 Police question Kate and Gerry about why their kids were alone in the apartment.

May 11, 2007 Search of local area called off.

May 12, 2007 Madeleine's fourth birthday.

May 15, 2007 Local resident Robert Murat is named as an official suspect.

Late May 2007 McCanns enlist help of private investigators.

May 30, 2007 McCanns meet the Pope in Rome.

June 17, 2007 Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa claims vital clues may have been destroyed.

September 7, 2007 Gerry and Kate named as suspects.

September 9, 2007 Gerry and Kate return home.

September 16, 2007 Sir Richard Branson donates £100,000 for McCanns' legal bill.

October 2, 2007 Policeman in charge of inquiry is removed from case and demoted.

November 1, 2007 Gerry returns to work as surgeon.

July 21, 2008 Robert Murat and Kate and Gerry McCann have official suspect status lifted.

July 21, 2008 Portuguese attorney general archives the case. It can be reopened if new evidence comes to light.

May 1, 2009 A projected photo of Madeleine aged six is released.

May 22, 2009 Convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett denies anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.

December 21, 2009 Facebook page claiming to be created by Madeleine's kidnapper is removed.

January 28, 2010 On 1000th day since disappearance, McCanns host a £150-a-head fundraising dinner.

November 2, 2010 McCanns launch online petition calling for joint review of the case by Portuguese and UK governments.

November 3, 2010 McCanns appeal for cash as Find Madeleine Fund, which once topped £2million, runs dry.


Some comments so far....................

Users' Comments (8)
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ericp wrote: just go away you obnoxious family you have squandered £2,000,000 funding your mortgage, loonie detectives,etc23/12/2010 8:35 AM GMT on dailyrecord.co.uk Recommend Report Abuse Permalink


Nara wrote:
The British public being conned yet again! Gerry McCann was on compassionate leave which would indicate on full salary. Why would the family suffer any financial hardship and not be able to pay their mortgage? Surely a Consultant's salary is much more the the average working person receives.

The public have had enough of these two and now we have the 'extended family' who are also paid out of the FUND trying to play on peoples sympathy. It is offensive for Mrs Cameron to try to make people think the Missing Person charity is the same as the Madeleine fund which is a limited company and only 13% of which was spent on 'finding' Madeleine. Check this out with the accounts filed at Companies House. See who benefitted.


23/12/2010 9:38 AM GMT on dailyrecord.co.uk
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billy1690 wrote: its simple thay should be jailed by british police for not caring for there kids by leaving them alone
if this was a chav who did this the chav would have bein hanged out to dry
23/12/2010 10:23 AM GMT on dailyrecord.co.uk Recommend Report Abuse Permalink


bluebelljag1 wrote: Terrible tragedy for the little girl and her family. Someone somewhere must know something? Just like Claudia Lawrence from York and the recent woman missing from Bristol. People do not just vanish.23/12/2010 10:37 AM GMT on dailyrecord.co.uk Recommend (1) Report Abuse Permalink


RaiderMan wrote:
Time the extended McCann family faced up reality. Madeline was abducted due to to woeful neglect by Gerry and Kate, who abandoned their daughter so they could have a piss-up with their friends. How those two were never jailed, and how they are still allowed to bring up their other two children, is beyond me!
23/12/2010 10:44 AM GMT on dailyrecord.co.uk
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paidagogos wrote:
Compare the positive spin on this story to the one about Mulgrew. But, of course, we can't go criticising middle-class folk, can we?
23/12/2010 10:51 AM GMT on dailyrecord.co.uk
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paidagogos wrote:
There is something wrong with this site. Halfway through my comment it jumps. I wanted to end by saying that some of us still think there is more to Madeleine McCann's disappearance than meets the eye.
23/12/2010 10:53 AM GMT on dailyrecord.co.uk
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Glesgajimmy wrote:
Are you lot for real? There's a kid missing. Don't you think they know it was wrong to leave her alone. 99.99% of the time it would have been ok but that time it wasn't and it will be on their conscience day in and day out, just like it is for any parent that has lost a child through accident, murder even illness. These type of parents will always wonder if they could have protected their child better. That's called being a parent, a thing I don't think you lot have experienced.
23/12/2010 11:18 AM GMT on dailyrecord.co.uk
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Here is the 'short version' of the 'reason' Aunty Trish has joined the chorus.

"Money is constantly tight but they have to keep going. They will never
give up looking and that costs money. Families of the missing still need
to pay bills while they search but there is no right to any financial
help."

They make me sick. We are all having trouble paying our bills and heating our homes.

Pair of doctors living in a nice house which many others cannot afford and they are begging .......?

$$$$ is always the issue whenever they made a statement. Is it about Maddie or Money?

"It hurts Patricia deeply to watch her little brother Gerry and his wife Kate grow emotionally and physically weaker because of the loss and endless searching for Madeleine."
Endless searching ???
Which end ? When does this search actually start ?

To my knowlege, they have never endlessly searched and by making that comment she is just showing herself to have no real knowlege of this case by making statements which she must know to be completely untrue. If she cannot make truthful statements it would be better for her to keep quiet imo. Her statements are deeply offensive to all those people, for example, in PDL who DID go out and search and search.

PeterMac wrote:"It hurts Patricia deeply to watch her little brother Gerry and his wife Kate grow emotionally and physically weaker because of the loss and endless searching for Madeleine."
Endless searching ???
Which end ? When does this search actually start ?

Hopefully, by the end of the first quarter of the coming new year, they will at least be prepared to start answering some questions if not actively engage in this fruitless search. Amaral is no longer alone in his quest for justice, since the judges at the book trial seemed to agree that his reasons for pursuing the prime suspects were indeed valid.

Sorry if already asked, wasnt it Patricia who mentioned she would sell her house or was that just a myth!

Quite so.
They know, because their No 1 Detective Agency boss Edgar told the world, that she is being held in a "Hellish lair" "within 10 miles of PdL."
That would seem like a good place to start.
Or would have seemed like a good place to start before he told the perp. that they knew where she was, so he could move her.
(Just like banging on about the eye defect would have been the signature on her death warrant even if she had been alive at that point)
They seem all to be slightly mad. McCs, Mitchell, Edgar, the close family, and most of the rest. They speak from some slightly dysfunctional part of their collective brains, and clearly, despite the secret meetings and the passage of time, are still not all using the same script.
I know one should always mistrust a cast iron alibi, should be very careful with evidence which appears incontrovertible, and should never, ever, even listen to an official spokesman, but this is all geting slightly ridiculous, or possibly ludicrous.

wasnt that aunt phil who said they would sell thier house if need be

PeterMac wrote:Quite so.
They know, because their No 1 Detective Agency boss Edgar told the world, that she is being held in a "Hellish lair" "within 10 miles of PdL."
That would seem like a good place to start.
Or would have seemed like a good place to start before he told the perp. that they knew where she was, so he could move her.
(Just like banging on about the eye defect would have been the signature on her death warrant even if she had been alive at that point)
They seem all to be slightly mad. McCs, Mitchell, Edgar, the close family, and most of the rest. They speak from some slightly dysfunctional part of their collective brains, and clearly, despite the secret meetings and the passage of time, are still not all using the same script.
I know one should always mistrust a cast iron alibi, should be very careful with evidence which appears incontrovertible, and should never, ever, even listen to an official spokesman, but this is all geting slightly ridiculous, or possibly ludicrous.

This is what happens when the lunatics are allowed to take over the asylum. One cannot remember the last time we would have seen such a gathering of egotistical megalomaniacs. One supposes it must have been at the Nuremberg Trials.