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McCanns plan first holiday since Madeleine vanished 'for the sake of the twins'
Last updated at 23:41pm on 04.06.08
The parents of Madeleine McCann are to take their first holiday since her disappearance 13 months ago.
Gerry and Kate McCann, both 40, refused to say where they were going.
But they confirmed it would not be Portugal.
Painful: Kate and Gerry McCann are planning their first holiday with twins Sean and Amelie since daughter Madeleine disappeared last May
The couple were on holiday there with their three children when Madeleine, then three, disappeared from a bedroom at the family's rented apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz.
She and her younger brother and sister, twins Sean and Amelie, had been left unsupervised while their parents went out to a nearby tapas bar for dinner with family friends.
The McCanns, both doctors, stayed on for months at Praia da Luz during the police hunt for Madeleine last summer.
Still missing: Madeleine, then 3, vanished on May 3 during the family's holiday in Portugal
They finally returned home to Rothley, Leicestershire, last September after police named them as official suspects in the case.
Yesterday the couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said no details of the week-long holiday would be released.
The McCanns will take the break with the twins, who are now three.
He added: 'It will be incredibly painful to contemplate going away without Madeleine, but this is the reality they are faced with.
'Nothing has been booked yet. But one thing's certain - they won't be going to Portugal.'
A friend of the family said: ' Everyone needs a holiday - Kate and Gerry included.
'It's now 13 months since Madeleine was taken.
'Behind the scenes, there remains a lot of action to try to find her. But for Kate and Gerry life has returned as close to normality as they're likely to get.
'That includes taking a holiday and they're considering their options at the moment.
'The plan is to get away from it all for a few days this summer.
'After all they've been through, they want to give the twins a decent break to try to enjoy time as a family.'
The McCanns have always fiercely denied any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.
After returning to England Gerry McCann eventually resumed work as a hospital doctor.
Both parents continue to insist they have no reason to believe their missing daughter has died.
They say they are hopeful Madeleine, who would now be five, will one day be returned to them alive and well.
But in a recent TV documentary they admitted they were well aware that internet gossips and poison pen writers continue to blame them for Madeleine's disappearance and criticise them for everything they do.
The McCanns have repeatedly insisted they believed Madeleine, and the twins were safe in the apartment.
They were eating only 50 yards away with their friends, the socalled Tapas Seven, and say they checked on the children regularly.
Last week the McCanns pulled out of a planned reconstruction of Madeleine's disappearance because of suspicions about the motives of Portuguese police.
Reader views (19)
The statement 'they will definitely not be going to Portugal' is not disgusting ,but wholeheartedly understandable. They had their beloved child taken from them there- it's a comment about the memories that the place holds NOT the place. Who would want to go back to a place that holds the most traumatic memories?
They made a huge mistake and will pay for the rest of their lives. Their lives will never ever be the same and all they are trying to do now is afford the two remaining children some kind of normality. Those that continue to criticise the McCanns on a daily basis are indirectly affecting the lives of their two other children as the constant bombardment of criticism must leave the parents on the brink of intense depression on a daily basis.
If people care as much for the two remaining children as they do Madeleine, then they will back off and allow the McCanns to be the best parents they can. Their punishment for their error of judgement will be with them for life. People need to now show some empathy and try to understand the turmoil the McCanns must face. We all make mistakes at some point in our life and although this was a huge mistake, criticism, gossip and hearsay will never bring Madeleine back, but will moreover mar the lives of her brother and sister.
- Kate Lunn, Bucks, England
Why would they - let alone the twins be in need of a holiday I would have thought the only place for many years to come where they would all feel safe is their own home in their own country.
Or if need be at least somewhere in the UK
I feel deeply sorry for them and and what they are going through doesn't bear thinking about, but if they go abroad on holiday in the near future I guarantee that they will lose much sympathy.
- Pat, sussex
"They will definitely not be going to Portugal"
A 'disgusting' comment? What a strange thing to say.
I wouldn't go back either, under the circumstances. They're not blaming the country. Mitchell (NOT Kate or Gerry) was simply saying they would not go back there. It doesn't indicate who is to blame, or not to blame. If a place holds bad/painful memories then you don't go back... that's their choice to make. I don't think you can read more into that sentence, like them putting the blame on Portugal...
- Rebecca, Scotland
I think that the McCann parents deserve their holidays and I hope they enjoy it as much as possible given the circumstances. I also hope that the mean people will stop writing disgusting comments about the McCann parents. When I read the bad comments I see why is it possible that children are being stolen and taken so often in this world -- there are just so many bad-wishing and cruel human beings around.
- Zh, Exton, PA, USA
Why is the world full of sad people who can only criticize others. Would you really expect them to say they are going to Portgual or they will leave the twins along. People grow up. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We would have all done things different with hindsight.
- Barold, London
God bless them and I hope they have a wonderful time and no one bothers them. They have suffered enough.
- Lynn, Canada
Will they be leaving the twins alone again, while they go out for dinner and drinks?
The statement" They will definitely not be going to Portugal" is disgusting. Portugal is a wonderful country, it's Portugal that should have a ban on the McCanns.
I hope they charge them with neglect. The McCanns give British Parents a bad name.
- Isabelle Mcfadden, USA
I hope and pray for your entire family everyday. Hopefully you will be able to have somewhat of an enjoyable family vacation although it will not be the same.
Know that there are people praying for you and yours on a daily basis and asking for Madeleine's safe return.
God Bless.
- Fran, Levittown, PA - USA
I wish them all the best on their holiday - it must be terribly hard for them to do this.
- Claire, London
Doing it for the twins? Do toddlers expect a holiday?
- Ann H, London, UK
Well everyone needs a break especially kids. It is not surprising that they don't return to Portugal as they know that they will probably be detained again. As they saying goes in forensic circles "absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence!"
- Jon, London
Let us hope they act in a more responsible way toward their other children this time.
- Robin, London UK
I wonder if they will leave the twins alone whilst they go out for dinner this time, or whether they will have a family holiday where they all stay together as a family and how family holidays should be?
- Louie, London
A simple question: If you leave your kids unattended in a strange place why aren't they put into care?
- Mikko Takala, Drumnadrochit, Scotland
Let's hope they've learned their lesson and have a new mantra they repeat every time temptation takes them:
We must not leave our kids alone; we must not leave our kids alone; we must not....
- Kitty, London
Let's hope they have truly learned by their mistakes and do not leave the children alone this time. It amazes me how many couples you still see sitting in restaurants with baby monitors with them.
- Al, London
'Nothing has been booked yet, but one thing's for certain - they won't be going to Portugal.' - Why do they blame the country for the disappearance of their daughter - at the end of the day they did not provide the correct care for any of their children; they are suffering because of that - not because they chose to go to Portugal.
- Natalie, London, England
Why not leave the kids behind?
They have reached the ripe old age of 3 which, according to the McCanns, is the age we can leave children alone to fend for themselves!
- Charlie, London
Wondered when we'd see these pair in the media again, after all it must be at least a fortnight since they were on the front of a newspaper
- P I Staker, London
