Case offers hope to Madeleine’s parents

THE parents of missing Madeleine McCann said yesterday the reappearance of child kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard 18 years after she disappeared “only makes us more determined” to find their daughter.

Kate and Gerry McCann said yesterday: “Once again this shows that children can sometimes disappear off the radar only to be found years later alive.

“It emphasises that we should never assume that someone is not alive without any evidence to support this. We should never give up.

“This case only makes us more determined to find Madeleine. She is out there somewhere and somebody knows where.”

The McCanns’ spokes-man, Clarence Mitchell, said the couple, whose daughter disappeared in Portugal on May 3, 2007, sent their best wishes to Jaycee and her family “for a happier and peaceful future”.

Despite spending millions of pounds in the hunt, the McCanns are no closer to finding out what happened.