In a message posted on the official Discover Madeleine web site, Kate and Gerry McCann mentioned: “It’s 17 years since Madeleine was taken from us.
“It is onerous to even say that quantity with out shaking our heads in disbelief.
“Whereas we’re lucky in some ways and may now stay comparatively regular and nice lives, the ‘life in limbo’ continues to be very unsettling. And the absence nonetheless hurts.”
They added: “Your help continues to encourage us and strengthen our energy to proceed. We all know that the love and hope for Madeleine and the need to search out her stays after so a few years, and we’re really grateful for that.
“Thanks once more for remembering Madeleine and all of the lacking youngsters.
Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared on Might 3 2007 whereas on vacation together with her mother and father in Praia da Luz, Portugal, after they left the then three-year-old and her youthful twin siblings sleeping of their flat whereas they went out for dinner. with associates close by.
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that the Residence Workplace had offered an additional £192,000 to Scotland Yard’s investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
Affirmation of the final 12 months’s funding for Operation Grange was revealed in a parliamentary written reply by Residence Secretary Lord Sharpe of Epsom.
He additionally mentioned that as of March this 12 months, the Metropolitan Police had spent £13.2m investigating the high-profile case.
Lord Sharpe, in response to a parliamentary written query from Conservative peer Lord Black of Brentwood, mentioned: “Operation Grange’s particular grant funds at present funds a group of three cops and one member of police employees, all of whom work part-time.
“Particular grant funding is reviewed yearly by the Residence Workplace.”
The principle suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance is at present on trial in Germany for unrelated intercourse crimes allegedly dedicated in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
The 47-year-old German, identified solely as Christian B as a result of nation’s strict privateness legal guidelines, spent a few years in Portugal – together with Praia da Luz on the time Madeleine disappeared.
He’s at present serving a seven-year jail sentence in Germany for raping an aged lady in her resort residence in 2005.
He has denied all allegations made towards him and any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.