The Sun
Antonella Lazzeri
McCanns' fury at police leak
What mum Kate told cops
KATE McCann told cops she and husband Gerry agreed to watch their kids more closely after daughter Madeleine said she'd been crying on her own, it was revealed yesterday.
But within hours of the conversation, the innocent youngster had vanished from their Portugal holiday apartment.
A Spanish TV station yesterday told viewers it had obtained the full statements Kate and Gerry gave to Portuguese police after Maddie disappeared on May 3 last year.
In them, said Telecinco TV, Kate re- called how the tot asked why she had not come to her room when she and her brother and sister were sobbing the night before she went missing.
Crime reporter Nacho Abad said 40-year-old Kate told cops: "While we were having breakfast, Maddie said, 'Mummy, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?'"
Kate added: "Gerry and I spoke for a couple of minutes and agreed to keep a closer watch over the children."
Last night the McCanns were said to be "extremely upset" at the leak, which came as they visited the European Parliament in Brussels to campaign for a European version of America's Amber Alert child rescue system.
Screams
Maddie was sharing a bedroom with twins Sean and Amelie, now three, when she vanished in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz just days before her fourth birthday.
Her parents had been dining in a tapas bar on their Mark Warner holiday complex with seven friends.
They later admitted in TV interviews that leaving their children in the apartment while the group went for an evening meal was something they did every night of the holiday.
Mr Abad told how Kate's police statement recalled the chilling moment she realised Maddie was missing.
She was said to have run back to the Tapas Bar screaming: "Maddie isn't there. Someone's taken her."
Spanish TV said this contradicted statements made by the McCanns' friends, in which several claimed that GP Kate instead shouted: "Madeleine's gone, Madeleine's gone!"
In their statements, the couple, from Rothley, Leics, revealed they had been discussing their wonderful holiday over a relaxing drink only two hours before Maddie vanished.
Gerry, 39, told cops that workmen from the complex visited the flat two days before she disappeared to fix a window shutter in the main bedroom.
The heart consultant then recalled how he read his three children a bedtime story before he and Kate joined their friends at the tapas bar.
Gerry, who said he spent the afternoon playing tennis, told officers:
"At 7.30pm we were sat in the front room and relaxing - Kate with a wine and me with a beer."
He later had another drink before going out - and returned to check on the children at around 9pm.
Gerry added:
"I saw the angle of the door had changed and it was open around 45 degrees.
"I thought perhaps she had woken up and left the room. Out of the corner of my eye I looked in our room and couldn't see her. Then I opened the children's door 60 degrees and saw Maddie sleeping with her head on the pillow.
"She was breathing softly and I thought how beautiful she looked. I thought it was quite hot and I didn't need to cover her up."
The TV station said Gerry then told how Kate found Maddie missing when she checked at around 10pm.
He said:
"Kate came running back to the bar and said, 'Maddie's not there, someone has taken her'.Mr Abad said the station had copies of the full statements. He said on Telecinco's morning show El Programa de Ana Rosa:
"I thought it couldn't be and ran to the apartment. I looked everywhere - I tried to think what could have happened. To my surprise I realised I could lift the window shutters without effort and almost without noise.
"When I entered I realised that Maddie's bed was almost intact.
"The corner of the outside of the sheets was turned a little. But the pillow, her Cuddle Cat and the blanket were almost in the same place as I had seen them the last time." Kate is said to have told police: "I saw the door of the children's room wide open and noted a current of air.
"The current closed the door, but the window in the other room that backed on to the patio was closed.
"When I went to look for Madeleine I realised she wasn't there.
"I looked through the apartment and went back to the children's room, then saw the curtains moving towards me - so it became clear the window shutters were wide open.
"I went to the window and opened the curtains to see if she had climbed out, but there was no sign.
"I don't know if I closed the window at that moment. I ran to the tapas bar and screamed at Gerry, 'Maddie's not there, someone has taken her'."
"We have the full statements of Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends.
"No one has ever publicly revealed the details of what they say before."
Yesterday Kate spoke again of her nightmare ordeal as she addressed European MPs in Brussels.
She said:
"Madeleine was an incredibly happy and very loved little girl and this time last year we were an incredibly happy family and we felt very lucky.
"I am unable to accurately convey to you just how devastating Madeleine's abduction feels to us as parents - and to our family as a whole."
Speaking of the Amber Alert system, she added: "We feel it would have improved our chances."
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