Madeleine McCann's mother on pain of not finding her 10 years on

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Martin Geissler

The mother of missing Madeleine McCann has described the pain of still not finding her 10 years on.

In a message on the official Find Madeleine campaign page, Kate McCann said: "Ten years - there's no easy way to say it, describe it, accept it.

"I remember when Madeleine first disappeared I couldn't even begin to consider anything in terms of years. I couldn't go there.

"And now here we are...Madeleine, our Madeleine - ten years."

Mrs McCann said the family were "bracing ourselves for the next couple of weeks".

Next Wednesday May 3 marks the 10th anniversary of when three-year-old Maddy disappeared from their Portuguese holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.

"It's likely to be stressful and painful, and more so, given the rehashing of old 'stories', misinformation, half-truths and downright lies which will be doing the rounds in the newspapers, social media and 'special edition' TV programmes," Mrs McCann said.

The three-year-old vanished from the family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 in 2007, and Kate and her husband Gerry said they would never give up hope of finding their daughter.

British police and their Portuguese counterparts search for clues about Madeleine's disappearance. Credit: PA

She said that the two most appropriate themes for the anniversary are perseverance and gratitude, and insisted that there will "always be hope".

She said there was an "active" police investigation to try and locate Madeleine and bring her abductor to justice.

The Home Office confirmed last month that it has granted police officers £85,000 to continue with the case for another six months.

To date more than £11 million has been spent on the investigation.

Madeleine disappeared while on holiday in Portugal in 2007. Credit: PA