Madeleine McCann's father Gerry opens up about night she disappeared in rare interview

Patrick Grafton-Green30 September 2018

Madeleine McCann’s father has recalled the “terror” and “disbelief” of the night his daughter disappeared in a rare interview.

Madeleine, then aged three, disappeared from an Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007 while her parents were out to dinner.

Gerry McCann was interviewed by poet Simon Armitage on special BBC Radio 4 show Pearl: Two Fathers Two Daughters.

He described being in “complete shock” as he and his wife Kate started “checking everywhere” for their daughter after they returned home to find her gone.

Gerry McCann opened up about Madeleine's disappearance in a Radio 4 interview
John Stillwell/PA

He said: “Kate was screaming 'Madeleine's missing, she's gone' and I was like 'she can't be gone'.

"I started looking in the bedroom and she wasn't there, then checking everywhere in the apartment, even places where I knew she couldn't be, under the kitchen sink, in cupboards and it was disbelief that she said Madeleine was missing.

Madeleine McCann - In pictures

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"Disbelief, shock, horror, and then panic and terror because I could only think of one scenario at that time."

"I couldn't get the darkest thoughts out of our minds, that somebody had taken her and abused her," he continued.

"I felt that every moment that we couldn't find her was worse.

"I remember being slumped on the floor and starting to call some of my family members and just saying: 'Pray for her.'"

Mr McCann previously said it felt like the “right time” to reflect on Madeleine 11 years after she went missing.

The show weaved together two voices of grief: Mr McCann’s and that of an anonymous poet from 600 years ago who laments the loss of his daughter in a poem entitled Pearl.

He previously said: “As a family we'd worked with Simon Armitage before and know what a sensitive, thoughtful writer he is.

“When I read the Pearl poem, I could see echoes in it with Madeleine's situation and our loss. I decided it was a good opportunity to say something about the special bond between fathers and daughters, thinking that speaking openly might help other men in similar positions.”

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