Gerry McCann shares heartbreaking description of night Madeleine went missing.

[Brietta]

Gerry McCann shares heartbreaking description of night Madeleine went missing
He's opened up in his first in-depth interview
SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Madeleine McCann's father Gerry has opened up about life at home with his daughter before she went missing, in a candid and heartbreaking interview about grief and loss.

He described his relationship with Maddie as "incredibly special" on Radio 4, and said: "I formed a very strong bond with her from a young age," before adding: "One of the TV shows we watched together was Dr Who, which people might think, 'You can't have a three-year-old watching Dr Who,' but she loved it.
I would often do the bedtime story with Madeleine too, she had stars above her bed and that was our time."

He also fondly remembered: "I'd take her to the local swimming pool and she would march around the pool and go up to her instructor with her cap and goggles on, smiling - no anxiety about it, she just went in there!"

Talking about the devastating night Maddie went missing during a family holiday to the Algarve in 2007, Gerry fought back the tears as he recalled: "It was disbelief, then panic and terror. I could only think of one scenario at that time.
I remember just being in the bedroom [with wife Kate], distraught - the two of us just completely distraught.
The pain, feeling helpless and alone together. It was the most painful realisation and we couldn't get the darkest thoughts out of our minds."

Highlighting the importance of seeking help for mental health during loss or grief, Gerry shared his own experiences of a counsellor, saying: "We went back to the apartment and the counsellor arrived, Alan, and at the time I just didn't think I was the kind of person who would need counselling or respond to it.

But he was great and he said, 'I'm here, you can call me any time.'

We were getting more and more distraught, until one of us said, 'Lets phone Alan,' and he came round to the apartment and he started talking to us, just asking about our normal life at home.
After listening to us, Alan said, 'You sound like model parents,' and I suppose at the time, that's something we probably really needed to hear."

Gerry continued to explain that the help of family, friends and the community are what gave the couple strength, adding: "Getting through the nights was the hardest, the thing that kept us afloat was the twins - having two other children - trying to make sure they had enough love and the attention they deserved was incredibly important."

Explaining what life is like eleven years since Maddie's disappearance, he revealed: "Madeleine's room is pretty much as it was, there's a wardrobe full of presents from birthdays and Christmases. I think the stars are even still up there."
https://www.hellomagazine.com/news/2018092962902/gerry-mccann-maddie-interview/

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[Montclair]

Gerry thinks that the stars are still up there? He doesn't know for sure?

[Venturi Swirl]

Gerry thinks that the stars are still up there? He doesn't know for sure?

you people are sooooooo predictable.

[sadie]

Gerry thinks that the stars are still up there? He doesn't know for sure?

I think that he is using that expresion as meaning that he is fairly sure that Madeleine is still alive

[Sunny]

I think that he is using that expresion as meaning that he is fairly sure that Madeleine is still alive

I don't. I think he is talking about the stars on Madeleine's bedroom ceiling sadie.  Perhaps he hasn't looked at them in a while.

[Venturi Swirl]

Plenty about his feelings, but nothing about his or anyone else's mental health.

Did you listen to the whole programme?

[sadie]

I think that he is using that expresion as meaning that he is fairly sure that Madeleine is still alive

I think this video shows a number of the elements that despair can do to you


When you have tragically lost someone you love.
When you have loved someone deeply who has vanished and you are thinking possibly of an unbearable fate
...  and no-one is looking for a living Madeleine
...  then cruelly rejected by a huge number of unbelieving, accusatory and often sneering people

.... and so the despair and pain builds up


https://youtu.be/DD1ih3Q9otE

   

A beautiful video   One of my favourites, and we lost the superlative Vincent because nobody understood him. ........... (Please ignore the last few seconds.  I dont know how to get rid of them !)


Thank God that Gerry has been strong enough to come through (most of) it, thanks in no small measure to the support he received from his family friends and supporters.
Please may the funds carry on.  Seems OG have something very significant and that they are almost there. 
Please may Justice prevail in this case and the perpetrator/s be put away safely and hopefully Madeleine and other missing children come home


FGS.  It has cost the country only about tuppence per person, per year !  Peanuts




Modified in line with slartis observation that I had put the decimal point in the wrong place

[Brietta]

I don't. I think he is talking about the stars on Madeleine's bedroom ceiling sadie.  Perhaps he hasn't looked at them in a while.

That is perfectly possible. Kate finds solace from being in Madeleine's room ... perhaps he finds it too painful to enter??

I think that the symbolism that Sadie has suggested is also rather apt and I for one find it touching.  Kind thoughts from a kind lady; I wish there were more like her.

[faithlilly]

you people are sooooooo predictable.

Gerry certainly is. ‘ the wind was blowing hard that night and the shutters were creaking’.

Funny how not one person mentions this howling gale in their statements.

[Brietta]

I think this video shows a number of the elements that despair can do to you


When you have tragically lost someone you love.
When you have loved someone deeply who has vanished and you are thinking possibly of an unbearable fate
...  and no-one is looking for a living Madeleine
...  then cruelly rejected by a huge number of unbelieving, accusatory and often sneering people

.... and so the despair and pain builds up


https://youtu.be/DD1ih3Q9otE

   

A beautiful video   One of my favourites, and we lost the superlative Vincent because nobody understood him. ........... (Please ignore the last few seconds.  I dont know how to get rid of them !)


Thank God that Gerry has been strong enough to come through (most of) it, thanks in no small measure to the support he received from his family friends and supporters.
Please may the funds carry on.  Seems OG have something very significant and that they are almost there. 
Please may Justice prevail in this case and the perpetrator/s be put away safely and hopefully Madeleine and other missing children come home


FGS.  It has cost the country less than tuppence per person ... and that tuppence is spread over more than 6 years
So only a third of a penny per year!!

Only six years of looking for a child who has been missing for well over eleven years. 

Madeleine was written off as dead by official investigators shortly after she disappeared ... the search for her is therefore more than justified for as long as long as Scotland Yard think there is work still to be done ... the fact they have asked for the funding to enable them to continue shows that they do not think the end of the road has been reached yet.

I hope their request for additional funds is successful.  Having come this far, why on earth spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar?

[misty]

Gerry certainly is. ‘ the wind was blowing hard that night and the shutters were creaking’.

Funny how not one person mentions this howling gale in their statements.

That's because he was speaking about the night they called Alan Pike, not the night Madeleine disappeared.

[misty]

I don't. I think he is talking about the stars on Madeleine's bedroom ceiling sadie.  Perhaps he hasn't looked at them in a while.

Or maybe he just doesn't go in at night, when they glow in the dark.

[faithlilly]

That's because he was speaking about the night they called Alan Pike, not the night Madeleine disappeared.

I think you need to listen to the programme again Misty.

[sadie]

Gerry certainly is. ‘ the wind was blowing hard that night and the shutters were creaking’.

Funny how not one person mentions this howling gale in their statements.

It was gusting and not a howling gale, on the night that Madeleine disappeared.  You are talking about a different night as Brietta points out.

Please do not twist the facts or exaggerate, just to win a few points and put Gerry down. 

[faithlilly]

It was gusting and not a howling gale.

Please dio not exaggerate, just to win a few points and put Gerry down

Did you hear Gerry’s interview?