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Emotional return visit by McCanns to Praia da LuzWednesday, 16 December 2009 23:00
For the first time since Madeleine McCann's disappearance in 2007, her parents have returned to the Portuguese town where their daughter was last seen alive.
Kate and Gerry McCann travelled there last Friday, according to The Sun.
Madeleine McCann vanished in May 2007 from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. She and her 18-month-old siblings, Sean and Amelie, were asleep at the time of her disappearance.
Their parents were later criticised for leaving the three children alone as they had dinner at a resort restaurant nearby.
The McCanns became the prime suspects in Maddie's disappearance, but were cleared of suspicion in 2008.
"[Kate McCann] felt she had to return to Praia da Luz as it was the last place she saw her [Madeleine] and that is what she remembers," the McCanns' Portuguese lawyer, Isabel Duarte, told the Daily Mail.
Ms Duarte added, "She feels she left part of herself there. She needed to return for psychological and sentimental reasons."
However, Kate McCann cancelled a planned visit to the apartment where her daughter vanished because she was unable to deal with the emotions such a visit entailed. Nor did she bring her remaining two children to the Portuguese town.
"The twins would very much like to come to Praia da Luz, but not at this time," Isabel Duarte told The Sun.
During their visit, the McCanns stopped by Nossa Senhora da Luz, the church where Kate McCann had prayed each day after her 3-year-old daughter’s disappearance.
"It was so quiet and peaceful - a real sanctuary," Kate McCann wrote on her website.
"We then walked down to the rocks on the beach, with its crashing waves and sense of vastness and freedom - another place where I've always felt able to reach out to Madeleine and find a little solace."
The church's Saturday night service was held by the Fr Jose Pacheco, who supported the McCanns after their daughter vanished.
Beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary, a candle was used to light a photo of Maddie surrounded by a red paper heart.
Kate McCann wept and held hands with her husband, Gerry, as Fr Pacheco prayed for "all the missing children in the world, especially Madeleine."
The McCanns visited Praia after a libel case they were attending in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, was delayed.
Their case is against ex-Police Chief Goncalo Amaral, who was an investigator on the McCann case and published a book that claimed Madeleine was dead.
"Freedom of speech should not include distortion of the truth, lies, fabrication and slander," Kate McCann told reporters outside the court.
The McCanns, who are doctors from Leicestershire, flew back to England on Tuesday.
(With thanks to the New York Daily News for this story)
