Our angel! Please let this be our last Xmas without Madeleine
McCanns' new plea
The Sunday Mirror
21 December 2008
Lori Campbell
In heartbreaking pictures showing her last Christmas at home, missing Madeleine McCann is dressed as an angel.
The images from a 2006 family video were yesterday released for the first time by her parents Kate and Gerry, who begged in a Christmas message: "Please let this be our last without her."
The anguished couple hope the footage of Madeline, then three, playing happily with the couple's younger twins Sean and Amelie will spark the breakthrough they are still desperately waiting for.
Relaunching their campaign to find Madeleine, who vanished from their holiday apartment in Portugal on May 3 last year, Kate and Gerry said: "Christmas is a time for children. Please help bring our daughter back."
In the video, Madeleine dances around in her costume, jokingly hits her father with a soft toy and speaks proudly of her new pink shoes.
She is also seen sitting at the bottom of the stairs of the McCanns' home in Rothley, Leicestershire, flanked by Sean and Amelie.
Madeleine playfully encourages her younger brother and sister to copy her gestures, saying: "Clap your hands together and one, two, three."
She then holds up her new pair of shoes and says: "These are my shoes."
In one clip she is seen turning over a wrapped Christmas present and pointing at the camera as smiling mum Kate holds her.
The short film, which has Snow Patrol's hit song Chasing Cars as its soundtrack, also features a montage of clips of Madeleine, including previously unseen images of her as a baby.
It also includes a direct emotional appeal from Kate and Gerry to anyone in the world who knows where their daughter is.
The film closes with the words: "This will be our second Christmas without our daughter. Please help us make sure we don't have a third."
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry do not wish to say anything further. They feel the video will speak for itself.
"This message is entirely focused on Madeleine, as it should be at this time of year. Kate and Gerry are still very much continuing a lot of hard work behind the scenes in the search for their daughter. This, they feel, is a timely and appropriate reminder that she is still out there and that somebody somewhere may still have that vital piece of information that may lead to her being found."
Kate and Gerry will spend this Christmas with close family and friends, but their spokesman acknowledged it will be a "difficult time of year".
Mr Mitchell added: "Producing a video like this is itself making it more difficult. But they are doing it because they believe Madeleine is still out there and they want that piece of information."
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