Madeleine's mother 'prays for abductors'

She also revealed that her belief in God gave her an “inner strength” on the day Portuguese police made her a suspect in the little girl’s disappearance.

Mrs McCann, 42, a Roman Catholic, used a Mother’s Day interview to talk about how she has been helped by her faith since her daughter went missing in Portugal in May 2007.

She told Aled Jones, presenter of BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday, that her prayers were “a little bit more directed” than before Madeleine vanished.

“I pray for lots of things now. Obviously I always pray for the family, obviously most of the prayers are centred on Madeleine,” she said.

“But I pray for the people who have taken Madeleine, the people who know what’s happened to Madeleine and the people around and related to the person who’s taken Madeleine.

“I pray for the police and the investigators, the people who are looking for her. And I pray for all the other children who are missing or exploited in some way.

“Because in some ways – it’s funny to say lucky, but we have been lucky – we’ve had a lot of support from the general public, in particular people we don’t know. We’ve had incredible support.

“There’s many families out there whose children have gone missing and you don’t hear about it.”

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007 as her parents dined.

Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said her faith had “sustained” her in the months and years without Madeleine.

She told the programme how she takes refuge in her local church while it is empty and speaks aloud about her burdens.

She said she and her husband Gerry, 41, had been greatly supported by the positive attitude of their other two children, five-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.