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Madeleine McCann’s younger sister Amelie has spoken publicly for the first time as her family gathered to mark the 16th anniversary of the tragic tot’s disappearance.
Madeleine was 3 years old when she went missing in May 2007 while her family were on holiday in Praia da Luz in Portugal.
Kate and Gerry McCann were out for dinner with friends at a restaurant complex and Maddie and her younger twin siblings, Amelie and Sean, were put to bed in an apartment about 100m away and left unattended.
Their lives would turn upside down when Kate opened the apartment door about 10pm to find Maddie wasn’t there. Her cot was empty and all that was visible were a blanket and a cuddly toy. The police were immediately called while staff and guests searched the complex everywhere for any sign of the 3-year-old.
Amelie McCann has grown up in the shadow of her sister’s disappearance but has maintained her silence until today.
Local vicar, Reverend Rob Gladstone, acknowledged the painful length of time that the McCann’s have been without answers and led prayers for the family and other families missing their children.
“We are here this evening to show our loving concern for Madeleine and for all young children who have been taken away from their families against their will.
“We are also here to encourage one another to keep up hope and pray for a renewal of strength even after this long time.”
Others read mantras that were repeated by the crowd, including Amelie.
“Never never give up,” they said, adding “don’t forget about me” and “leave no stone unturned”.
Kate McCann with Amelie in Praia da Luz in the days after Maddie disappeared. Photo / Getty Images
The case was given fresh attention by the bizarre claims of a Polish woman who told the world she believed she was Madeleine McCann.
She has since issued a 17-page apology to McCann’s parents Kate and Gerry after a DNA test proved she could not be their daughter.
Wendell explained it was never her “intention to bring sadness or any other negative emotion to anyone, especially to McCann family”. She also claimed she never actually said she was a McCann.
“I don’t remember most of my memories, but I can remember some things and I never said that I am Madeleine McCann,” Wendell wrote.
“I used this sentence to create a nickname for my old Instagram account; it was my mistake and I know it and I apologise for that because I should use words ‘Am I Madeleine McCann’, not ‘I am’.
”My main purpose was always to find out who I am and what exactly happened in my very hurtful past.”
Despite her apology and concrete evidence proving she is not the missing girl, Wendell added: “I still believe that it’s a possibility that I could be Madeleine”.
Kate McCann with Amelie on their return home to Rothley, without Maddie, in 2007. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand’s link to the Madeleine McCann case
Secret files released in 2010 revealed there was a potential sighting of Maddie in New Zealand.
A 2000-page dossier was published detailing secret information relating to the investigation, including discarded possible leads from the United States, Europe, Africa and New Zealand.
One of the reported sightings came seven months after her disappearance, when CCTV footage showed a man leading a young girl resembling Maddie into a Dunedin supermarket.
Although the girl said her name was Hailey, a security guard who approached her was convinced she was Madeleine and reported it to police.
Interpol in Wellington sent the images to police in Portugal, who deemed it irrelevant.
None of the files were given to private investigators working for the McCanns, who took legal action against Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral to get the information released.
Then in 2013, a Queenstown worker reported seeing a young girl on New Year’s Eve who allegedly looked like Maddie.
About 70 police officers were instructed to look out for the girl but Detective Sergeant Brian Cameron said police were “absolutely satisfied” she was not Maddie.
Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal in 2007 aged 3. Photo / Kate McCann
Police said it was not the first occasion someone had contacted them remarking on the similarity between the two girls.
The woman who reported the sighting told the Southland Times a girl resembling Maddie entered her store with a dark-haired man late in the afternoon on December 31.
She said the girl had the same eye defect as Maddie - a coloboma of the iris - in the same eye. The woman contacted police and also a 24-hour Find Madeleine hotline.
“My only reason for alerting anybody is because, if my little girl was missing and if someone on the other side of the world was seen who bore any considerable resemblance, I would want it ruled out,” she told the paper.
A convicted paedophile wanted for questioning in relation to the disappearance of the British girl was also wanted on a number of charges in New Zealand.
Roderick Macdonald was reportedly living in the Algarve region of Portugal at the time of Maddie’s disappearance in 2007.
Police at the time confirmed he was the subject of active arrest warrants in New Zealand related to four child indecency offences alleged to have taken place in 2009.
He was known in New Zealand as Roderick Robinson, police said. He changed his name to Macdonald after being convicted of child sex offences in the UK, British newspaper the Telegraph said.
