You can’t blame McCanns for clinging to fragile hope

“I know if it was my child who’d disappeared I’d do every single thing in my power to keep searching.”

Crimewatch last week made an appeal for more information about what happened to Madeleine McCann the night she vanished. The case has gripped people who have strong and conflicting views on the subject.

There are those who think enough time, money and resources have been spent on this case when there are many other children who go missing and get much less attention when the case goes cold.

I’ve heard views expressed about the “class issue”. If Madeleine was the child of a single mum on benefits instead of doctors who have been able to campaign and even get the Prime Minister on side, would this new police enquiry ever have taken place?

And yes there are still many people who blame the McCanns for leaving their daughter and two younger children alone.

Well like every parent, I know if it was my child who’d disappeared I’d do every single thing in my power to keep searching, asking questions, trying desperately to get the publicity that would keep the story at the forefront of people’s minds because it might just trigger a memory.

No matter how many years pass, the parents of a missing child cling on to fragile hope.

And I can see why Scotland Yard has launched a new enquiry after the Portuguese police weren’t as thorough as you might expect.

Are the McCanns getting preferential treatment over other parents of missing children? Who knows?

Some stories just grip the public more than others.

When I was growing up in Coatbridge Moira Anderson disappeared and books, documentaries and newspaper reports are still being written about that case.

After watching Crimewatch I felt uneasy when I heard Kate McCann say that the night before she disappeared Madeleine and her brother Sean had woken up and the little girl had asked her: “Where were you, Mummy, when Sean was crying?”

No doubt they live daily with regrets but the blame game isn’t helpful. All that matters to Kate and Gerry is that they find their daughter.

That hope may be as fragile as candlelight but it’s important to keep that flickering belief alive.