Madeleine McCann family mark 18 years since disappearance

The family of Madeleine McCann have said their “determination to leave no stone unturned is unwavering” on the 18th anniversary of her disappearance.

Madeleine was three years old when she vanished from a holiday apartment complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on 3 May 2007, sparking a Europe-wide police investigation that is ongoing. She has never been found.

“No matter how near or far she is, she continues to be right here with us, every day, but especially on her special day,” the Leicestershire family said in a statement on Saturday.

“We continue to ‘celebrate’ her as the very beautiful and unique person she is,” the statement added. “We miss her.”

The night that Madeleine disappeared, her parents had been at dinner with a group of friends at a restaurant a short walk away while Madeleine and her younger twin siblings were asleep in the apartment.

Her parents checked in on the children throughout the evening, until her mother, Kate, discovered Madeleine was missing around 10:00 that night.

In the years since, authorities in Portugal and the UK have sought to understand where she went and who may have taken her.

“The years appear to be passing even more quickly,” the McCann family said ahead of Madeleine’s 22nd birthday, on 12 May.

They added that they had “no significant news to share” but will “do our utmost” to “leave no stone unturned”.

While referencing International Missing Children’s Day on 25 May in their statement, the family said it continues to “remember all missing children and their families, both here in the UK and abroad”.

They added they are “thinking especially” of children displaced from their homes and families due to the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Their statement thanked the charity Missing People for its “ongoing, invaluable work”, and “organisations, charities and police forces who remain committed, despite many challenges and limited resources, to finding and bringing home the many missing and abducted children”.

The Metropolitan Police continues its investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, known as Operation Grange, which has been going since 2011.

Home Office sources said in April that a request to provide the probe with up to £108,000 of additional funding had been approved for 2025-26. It has received more than £13.2m since it began.

Authorities in Germany and Portugal continue to treat German national Christian Brueckner, a convicted rapist, as their main suspect. However, prosecutors in Germany said earlier this year there was as yet “no prospect” of a charge against him relating to Madeleine’s disappearance.

Two women, including a Polish national claiming to be Madeleine, have also this year been accused of stalking the McCann family. Both deny the charges and are due to appear in court in October.