THE parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann have said they will not be marking their daughter's fifth birthday tomorrow.
Kate and Gerry McCann said they still believe their daughter is alive, despite her having been missing for more than a year.
The little girl vanished from her bed in her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, at around 9.
15pm on May 3 last year.
The disappearance sparked an international search which has led to claimed sightings all over Europe as well as in north Africa and even Latin America.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said of the birthday: "Gerry will be at work and Kate will be at or around home. Sadly, for them it is just another day without Madeleine."
Police have named the McCanns and a local man, Robert Murat, as formal suspects in the case.
They all deny involvement in her disappearance and police have not yet decided whether to file charges or drop the case.
The McCanns, who have launched an online campaign to find their daughter, returned to the UK last September, a few days after they were named as suspects. They have been at the European Parliament as part of a campaign to create a dedicated alert system for abducted children.
The couple said that the system had worked well in the US, where hundreds of children had been recovered, and in France where it had been used five times and all five children had been found.
Last weekend special church services were held for the missing girl.
The full article contains 263 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
