Madeleine McCann’s parents mark 15 years since daughter vanished with poignant Winne-the-Pooh line

Madeleine McCann’s parents have marked 15 years since their three-year-old daughter was taken with a poignant line from A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh as they say a ‘truly horrific crime has been committed’.

In a message on the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page on today, Kate and Gerry McCann quoted a poignant line from A.A.Milne’s Winne-the-Pooh – ‘But the most important thing is, even if we are apart, I’ll always be with you’ and  said they need closure on what happened to the toddler at the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. 

They wrote: ‘This year we mark fifteen years since we last saw Madeleine. It feels no harder than any other but no easier either. It’s a very long time.

‘Many people talk about the need for ‘closure’. It’s always felt a strange term. Regardless of outcome, Madeleine will always be our daughter and a truly horrific crime has been committed. These things will remain.

‘It is true though that uncertainty creates weakness; knowledge and certainty give strength, and for this reason our need for answers, for the truth, is essential. 

‘We are grateful for the ongoing work and commitment of the UK, Portuguese and German authorities as it is this combined police effort which will yield results and bring us those answers.

‘As always, we would like to thank all of our supporters for their continued good wishes and support. 

‘It is a huge comfort to know that regardless of time passed, Madeleine is still in people’s hearts and minds. Thank you.’

Madeleine McCann’s parents have marked 15 years since their three-year-old daughter was taken with a poignant line from A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh 

Madeleine McCann vanished from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007 where she was on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry and siblings

Madeleine McCann’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, today released a message to mark 15 years since their daughter’s disappearance

The parents said Madeleine (pictured) ‘will always be our daughter’ and thanked well-wishers

In July 2013, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine’s disappearance

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell from the Metropolitan Police, who leads the operation, said: ‘Fifteen years on from Madeleine’s disappearance in Praia Da Luz our thoughts, as always, are with her family.

‘Officers continue to investigate the case and our dedicated team are still working closely with law enforcement colleagues from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria as well as the German Bundeskriminalamt.

‘At this time, the case remains a missing person’s inquiry and all involved are committed to doing what we can to find answers.’

It comes after convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, 44, was declared an official suspect by Portuguese authorities last month, which was welcomed by the couple.

He has insisted he was having sex with woman in his camper van at time when three-year-old girl vanished, according to reports. 

Brueckner claims to have been stopped and photographed at a police roadblock after driving the woman to the airport at Faro, Portugal, for a flight home the next day.

The suspect says she was arrested at airport security for carrying an illegal pepper spray and is adamant Portuguese police will have a record of the events, Sky News reports.

German police are said to have found a picture of the woman lying in his van when they investigated a rape charge for which the 44-year-old is now in jail.

This revelation comes just days after it was claimed that Brueckner has not provided German police with an alibi.

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the investigation, told Sky News: ‘I assume if he has anything that exonerates him that sooner or later he will share it with us and we would then check it out. What happens then, let’s see.

Christian Brueckner, 44, the chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann ‘has not provided German police with an alibi’, a German prosecutor has said

‘So far he has told us nothing, he’s given us no alibi. So, we can only work on the evidence we have found so far in our investigation. And there was nothing to exonerate him.’

Earlier this year, however, sources close to the case were said to have discovered that Brueckner was not at the resort in Praia da Luz the night she disappeared and was actually ’30 minutes away.’ 

It is expected that British investigators’ television programme Madeleine McCann: Investigating the Prime Suspect, will dismantle the case against the prisoner.

When she vanished aged three in 2007, phone records were said to show the prime suspect near the scene, the Sun reported.   

However, the new investigation has revealed that an alibi for Brueckner, who was made an ‘arguido’, a formal suspect, by Portuguese authorities last month, ‘stacks up.’

If his latest claim is true, it would contradict the evidence from mobile phone data masts, which police said shows his phone was in the village when it received a call from 7.32pm to 8.02pm.

Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, say their daughter vanished between 9pm and 10pm, while Brueckner insists that he’d driven miles along the coast towards Faro by 10pm.