Sunday June 3,2007 - Jason Groves (Daily Express)
ROCK legend Sir Elton John is being lined up to front a global pop concert, to carry the message of missing Madeleine McCann’s plight to every corner of the earth.
It is hoped the singer will headline a huge series of worldwide events to mark a special Madeleine Day that her distraught parents are planning in the effort to find the vanished four-year-old. Sir Elton’s popular appeal is guaranteed to attract a swarm of other film and music superstars keen to offer support to parents Gerry and Kate McCann.
The couple, having promised not to return home until they are reunited with Madeleine, are now planning a series of visits to European and North African cities, to distribute posters and widen the appeal for information.
Sir Elton has played an emotional DVD of Madeline at his concerts, but now believes a larger effort would do more to raise awareness of her predicament.
Gerry McCann, 38, said: “One of the ideas is maybe getting all the people who have publicly supported us to come together. I don’t just mean from the UK but from different parts of the world. We want a big event to raise awareness that she is still missing.
“We would look at high-profile people who have already pledged support. It will be some sort of focus around an anniversary, to tell people thatMadeleine ’s still missing. I think it would be later this year, once media attention has dropped, to bring it back up, hopefully, for a short period.
“It wouldn’t be a one-year anniversary, it will be sooner than that. What we’re doing at the minute has its role but doing that down the line in a few months won’t have anything like the same impact. We might have a sporting event, something arts, something music.
"We’ve had backing from sporting people up to now. We have had backing from certain musical celebrities as well. We’ve got some other musical contacts that we are exploring, who are happy to offer support.
“We’re not saying it would necessarily be one big concert, it might be that on a certain day they are playing her DVD.
“What we want at the current time is maximum message out there now, about her disappearance but then just events to bring it back up occasionally just to remind people, if she’s not found.”
A month after the sleeping Madeleine was snatched from her bed, Gerry and Kate McCann have betrayed the first signs that their hopes of finding her alive are starting to fade.
The couple confessed that they are haunted by the harrowing thought of her being held captive by a pervert. Still desperately clinging toMadeleine ’s pink Cuddle Cat, 38-year-old Kate said: “We don’t know where she is. We’d like to think she’s still in Portugal, she might still be in Portugal.
“But we know there’s a possibility she’s gone over the border – or several borders. We know there are bad people out there, but we know there are also a lot of sad people. We hope it’s the latter.”
Gerry added: “Of course we believe Madeleine is still alive but you would be incredible if you hadn’t considered the worst scenario, that she’s dead.
“Kate and I discuss it – not a lot, but we talk about hope, and that while there’s some we will not give up. At the minute, there’s loads of hope.”PS - Don't look for this story, on the Daily Express site. It was deleted, long ago...
