Madeleine McCann’s mother and father hoping for 2026 ‘breakthrough’ in hunt for lacking daughter | UK | News | EUROtoday

Madeleine McCann’s mother and father are hopeful 2026 will carry them a “breakthrough” within the hunt for his or her lacking daughter. In an finish of 12 months replace on the official Find Madeleine web site, Kate and Gerry McCann stated the continuing seek for Madeleine and “quest for knowledge and justice” was “far from over”.

Thanking the police for his or her continued investigations, they stated: “With our best wishes for a peaceful and positive new year and may 2026 bring us the breakthrough we long for.” May marked 18 years since Madeleine went missing from her hotel room aged three in Praia da Luz in 2007.

The McCanns release a message every year-end to provide an update on investigations into Madeleine’s disappearance.

The message shared yesterday, signed off by “Kate, Gerry and household”, added: “As 2025 draws to a close, we wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us, in whatever way, over the past year and for continuing to hope for positive news of Madeleine.”

The couple confirmed they have joined the charity Missing People to support ‘Safecall’, which provides confidential, free support for young people who have left, or are thinking of leaving home, and those at risk from criminal or sexual exploitation.

While there were no major breakthroughs last year, investigations were ongoing. In June 2025, Portuguese and German police conducted a three-day search in Portugal, scouring land near Praia da Luz for clues related to Madeleine’s disappearance.

Chilling evidence also came to light in a Sun investigation aired on Channel 4, revealing that German authorities found disturbing items linked to Christian Brückner, who they had identified as their prime suspect.

Dozens of items of youngsters’s clothes and horrifying chat histories had been present in a disused manufacturing unit bought by the convicted rapist for £20,000 in 2008 in Neuwegersleben, Germany, a 12 months after Madeleine vanished.

German police found 75 kids’s swimming costumes, toys and small bikes alongside a tough drive in reference to Brueckner.

The 49-year-old served a jail sentence in Germany for an unrelated rape case. He has constantly denied any involvement within the disappearance of Madeleine.