The parents of Madeleine McCann, the young British girl who disappeared in Portugal, expressed frustration that police in the two countries aren't working together to find her.
“We want ideally a joint investigation team because time rolling on for us is still painful, and living in a limbo of not knowing is still horrible,” Kate McCann told NBC News’ Keir Simmons in an ITV interview.
Seven years after Madeleine vanished from her bedroom in a Portuguese resort, police in Britain and Portugal have yet to fully coordinate their efforts. The girl was just three years old at the time she disappeared. Her parents were initially arrested, then cleared in the original investigation that Portuguese officials closed in 2008.
London’s Metropolitan Police, which reopened the case last July after a two-year review of documents, recently announced they may have vital leads, involving a potential suspect and a possible link between a series of apartment break-ins that targeted British tourists.
But British police have not been allowed to go to Portugal to investigate their leads.
“All those differences will need to be put aside,” Gerry McCann said. “They'll need to move forward to get some resolution for Madeleine and for those near and dear to her. Even though it's seven years on, there is lots and lots of things that need to be investigated.”
His wife said that the family will not give up the search for their daughter until they get some kind of resolution.
“If we haven't found Madeleine or we haven't found what happened then we haven't done enough,” Kate McCann said.