Kate McCann prays for Madeleine’s abductors

KATE McCann prays for the people who took her daughter Madeleine, she said yesterday.

She also revealed that her belief in God gave her an “inner strength” on the day Portuguese police made her a suspect in the little girl’s disappearance.

Ms McCann, 42, a Roman Catholic, used a Mother’s Day interview to talk about how she has been helped by her faith since her daughter went missing in Portugal in May 2007.

She told Aled Jones, presenter of BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday, that her prayers were “a little bit more directed” than they were before Madeleine vanished.

“I pray for lots of things now. Obviously I always pray for the family, obviously most of the prayers are centred on Madeleine,” she said.

“But I pray for the people who have taken Madeleine, the people who know what’s happened to Madeleine and the people around and related to the person who’s taken Madeleine.

“I pray for the police and the investigators, the people who are looking for her. And I pray for all the other children who are missing or have been exploited in some way.

“Because in some ways – it’s funny to say lucky, but we have been lucky – we’ve had a lot of support from the general public, in particular people we don’t know. We’ve had incredible support.

“There’s many families out there whose children have gone missing and you don’t hear about it.”

On Saturday, the McCanns joined 450 runners for a 10km fun run for missing people.

The couple wore T-shirts bearing a smiling picture of their daughter and the words “Don’t give up on me” at the run in London.