Madeleine McCann’s mother screamed, “the fucking bastards have taken her” in the moments after her daughter vanished, a witness has recalled, following the 10th anniversary of her disappearance.
Kate McCann, The Sun reports, was heard crying out in anguish as her husband Gerry sobbed on a friend’s shoulder after the couple noticed their daughter, then three, was no longer in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Paul and Susan Moyes told the newspaper they were staying in an apartment two floors above the McCanns when Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007 in what has become one of the most publicised missing persons case in recent history.
Paul said the McCanns “were in bits” and recalled how Gerry was sobbing while his wife screamed expletives: “There was no doubt about the emotion that night.”
The Moyes, from Cheshire, had spent the night on their balcony - which reportedly overlooked the tapas bar where the McCanns and their friends were socialising - before going to bed at 10pm.
They hadn’t noticed anything suspicious that evening and were alerted to the drama around an hour-and-a-half later when one of the McCanns’ friends knocked on their door saying “a little girl had been abducted”.
Paul told The Sun the family friend asked him to contact the media to ensure the search got as much publicity as possible.
The couple said they joined the search party around two hours after Madeleine, who would soon be turning 14, was last seen and continued to look for her until 4am.
Paul recalled at one stage standing about 6-10 yards away from Kate McCann “wailing and crying”.
The Moyes have different views on what happened to Madeleine, with Paul being unsure what occurred but believing there is “information that the public at large doesn’t know”.
While his wife, Susan, believes Madeleine was abducted. However, all they know for sure is “we didn’t see anything in the time window that was allotted.”
The McCanns attended a prayer service for their missing daughter in their local church earlier this week in Rothley, Leicester.
Last month the Home Office confirmed £85,000 was being given to the UK-based Metropolitan Police inquiry to cover operational costs from April to September and, in all, more than £11 million has been spent on the inquiry so far.