By Caroline Gammell
Kate McCann has offered her support to the parents of a five-year-old girl who has vanished in Spain, not far from the Portuguese resort where her own daughter disappeared.
The 39-year-old contacted Juan Jose Cortes and Irene Suarez, whose five-year-old daughter Mari Luz went missing from Huelva on Sunday after going out to buy a packet of crisps, to say the couple were in her thoughts. The Spanish border town is just two hours' drive from Praia da Luz in the Algarve where the McCanns were staying when four-year-old Madeleine disappeared from their holiday apartment last May. Mrs McCann, and her husband Gerry, also 39, travelled to Huelva in August to launch a poster campaign and raise the profile of their missing daughter. They sent a message to Mari Luz's parents via the Spanish private detective agency Metodo 3, who have spoken to the couple to see if there are any possible links between the two cases. Spanish police said they were keeping an open mind and have sent dark-haired Mari Luz's picture to Portuguese police amid fears she had been snatched by a child trafficking gang and taken across the border between the two countries. Scores of Spanish volunteers joined more than 150 firefighters in Huelva to search for the little girl, while helicopters and sniffer dogs were brought in to help with the search. Mr Cortes, a 34-year-old former professional footballer turned builder, said: "Kate McCann has been in touch to send her condolences. "She knows what we're going through and I understand them now too."
A family friend added: "Knowing they have the support of Gerry and Kate has been comforting. "They have been touched by the fact someone who is going through her own turmoil can find the strength to think of them in their moment of need." The pledge of support came after Mr McCann wrote on his blog: "Hearing of the probable abduction of Mari Luz Cortes has brought many awful emotions flooding back. We hope and pray that Mari Luz is quickly found and returned safely to her family." Mari Luz's distraught grandmother, whose shares the same name, pleaded for the little girl to be returned safely: "Please give me back my granddaughter, she's the only one I have." Like the McCanns, Mr Cortes said they would set up an appeal fund to raise money to help find Mari Luz: "All I want is to make sure everything possible is being done to look for my daughter and all the money that is needed in the search is available." In Portugal, there were reports the McCanns, who are still formal suspects Madeleine's disappearance, will have to wait another eight months before being allowed access to the police files in the case. Judge Pedro Frias decided last autumn the case should remain private until the first anniversary of Portugal's extensive judicial reform, according to Correio da Manha. The ruling would also affect third suspect, British ex-patriate Robert Murat.
A judicial source told the newspaper: "The Madeleine McCann process will never become public before September 15 this year, a year after Portugal’s new penal code came into force. "The decision was taken by Pedro Frias on September 18 2007 who considered that the maintenance of judicial secrecy for a year was required by the rules that emerged from the judicial reform. "The judge felt the deadlines only began to count from the start of the new code." Publishers wishing to reproduce photographs on this page should phone 44 (0) 207 931 2921 or email syndication@telegraph.co.uk |
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