Kate McCann – the mother of missing Madeleine – “bitterly regrets” leaving her three children alone while she went out for dinner on the night her eldest was abducted.
Madeleine was just three when she went missing. She would’ve recently celebrated her 18th birthday.
Her parents – Kate and Gerry – marked the day with a post on Facebook.
They said they would “never give up” hoping their daughter would one day return home.
What did Kate McCann say about Madeleine?
Kate said she and Gerry “now bitterly regret” the decision to leave the children alone. She added they “will do so until the end of our days”.
Writing in her book, Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her, Kate revealed a fact that is perhaps lesser known.
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And it’s something that she seems to suggest could’ve led to Madeleine’s abduction.
Writing in the book, Kate said she and Gerry were given permission to read through the Portuguese police files.
We were leaving our young children alone there and checking on them intermittently.
And she discovered a note written in a staff book – before her daughter disappeared – at the apartment complex.
It revealed the parents requested eating out close to their apartment.
This is so they could dine out and leave their “young children alone”.
The note added they would be “checking on them intermittently”.
So how could the note have tipped off a potential abductor?
Kate wrote: “The note requesting to get a block booking was written in a staff message book. It sat on a desk at the pool reception for most of the day.
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“This book was, by definition, accessible to all staff. And, albeit unintentionally, probably to guests and visitors, too.”
So what did the note actually say?
“To my horror, I saw that no doubt in all innocence and simply to explain why she was bending the rules a bit, the receptionist had added the reason for our request.
“We wanted to eat close to our apartments as we were leaving our young children alone there and checking on them intermittently.”
Of course, anyone familiar with the case will know that Madeleine went missing while her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant in May 2007.
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