I'll never give up hope says Kate McCann

Speaking ahead of the third anniversary of the youngster's disappearance, Kate McCann and her husband, Gerry, assured their daughter they would not stop searching for her.

In an emotional address to her daughter, Mrs McCann, 42, said: "We love you very much, Madeleine, and we're not going to stop what we're doing."

The couple admitted that they do not know what their daughter might have been told about them or what language she might be speaking now.

But Mr McCann, 41, said the message he wanted to give her was: "Madeleine, we're still looking for you. Tell someone who your mummy and daddy are, who you are."

The McCanns, from Rothley, Leicestershire, will mark the anniversary on Monday in private and as yet have no plans for how they will spend the day.

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007, while her parents dined with friends nearby.

The couple remain determined to find her but now feel less guilty about coping and enjoying themselves without her.

Mrs McCann said: "I'm able to look at it now and think actually it's positive we're functioning."

Mr McCann, a consultant, compared the family's experience to that of fighting cancer.

"There are different types of loss and I suppose losing a child is one of the hardest things to cope with," he said.

"Fighting cancer over a long period is another similar battle. The difference with what we face compared to losing a child who's died is that we have an ongoing situation – and the unknown."

Mrs McCann also revealed that she had thoughts about being "wiped out" in a motorway crash with her family to end the pain of losing Madeleine.

But she insisted she was no longer in that state of mind, and was now "desperate" to spend time with her other children – five-year-old twins Sean and Amelie – and help the search for her missing daughter.

Mrs McCann also condemned the Portuguese authorities' policy of ignoring new tip-offs about Madeleine and said some people would be "greatly embarrassed" if she were found.

Mr McCann said in an interview with the BBC World Service it was "fundamentally unacceptable" that there has been no active police investigation into his daughter's disappearance for more than 18 months.

Mrs McCann added: "I also think there'll be some people who would be greatly embarrassed if Madeleine was found and that scares me. That might affect their want, or not, for Madeleine to be found."

The McCanns also welcomed progress on developing a Europe-wide alert system for missing children.

The couple said they were "delighted and relieved" that the cross-border scheme, boosted by one million euros of EU funding, was now going ahead.