Madeleine McCann's family is clear about how the little girl was kidnapped: "We will always regret it"

Madeleine was just three years old when she disappeared while on vacation with her family in Portugal in 2007. The case quickly became the most high-profile disappearance of a minor to date. Since then, several lines of investigation, theories and suspects have been opened for more than a decade, but there are no clues to her whereabouts.

There are still many doubts about the disappearance of the little girl, although her parents are sure how the kidnapping happened. According to the New York Post, Kate McCann is convinced that the kidnappers discovered that the minor was alone in the room thanks to the notes in the reservation book of the restaurant where they were dining at that time.

Madeleine disappeared from her family’s vacation apartment while her parents and friends dined at the Ocean Club restaurant in the same hotel. In her own 2011 book, Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the continue search for her, the mother explains that they requested that the group reserve the same table every night, the one with the best view of the apartments to keep an eye on the little ones. .

After the disappearance, Kate would have discovered what the person who made the reservation wrote that note in the reservation book open at the entrance of the restaurant. According to her account, anyone who worked in the restaurant, or any curious member of the public, would have made it clear that the children would not be supervised in their rooms.

“To my horror, I saw that, no doubt in all innocence and simply to explain why I was breaking the rules a bit, the receptionist had added the reason for our request: we wanted to eat close to our apartments. as we left our young children alone there and checked on them intermittently,” she wrote in her book.

She is convinced that it was an unforgivable mistake: “Now we bitterly regret it and we will do it until the end of our days,” this medium collects.

According to the New York Post, the McCann family assures that the authorities have made some mistakes that have negatively affected the investigation. Specifically, during the first days of the case.

In a September 2022 post on their website, the girl’s parents expressed their deep disappointment after losing their battle against a Portuguese police officer, Goncalo Amaral, who they believe negatively affected the initial search for Madeleine.

“We took action for one and one reason only: Mr. Amaral’s unsubstantiated claims were having a detrimental impact on the search for Madeleine,” they wrote. “If the public believed that we were involved in her disappearance, then people would not be alert to possible leads and she may not provide relevant information to the relevant law enforcement agencies,” they stated.