Madeleine McCann’s sister lit a candle in her memory tonight as she joined her parents and well wishers on the poignant 16th anniversary of her disappearance and later said: “It’s nice that everyone is here together but it’s a sad occasion.”
Amelie, now 18, and applying to go to university was pictured for the first time since she was a toddler and gives a glimpse of what her older sibling may now look like as an adult.
The young woman, with her long blonde hair and casually dressed in navy leggings, trainers and cream puffa jacket, was warmly welcomed along with Kate and Gerry by locals and supporters during an informal prayer gathering in their home village of Rothley, Leicestershire.
Her twin brother Sean did not attend.
Kate’s close friend Fiona Payne, one of her "Tapas Seven” pals who was on the fateful holiday in Portugal when three-year-old Maddie vanished in May 2007, was among the crowd.
Amelie took her turn to light a candle for Maddie and other missing children at the war memorial where pictures of her sister adorned the black railing and where a lantern of hope still glows around the clock for her.
Kate, wearing black jeans and a blue jacket, joined in prayers but neither she nor Gerry addressed the crowds.
Fiona, a doctor, read a moving poem “Hope is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson.
She later shared a warm embrace with Kate.
Vicar of the local parish church, the rev. Rob Gladstone, leading prayers at the informal outdoor, told supporters: “We are here this evening to show our loving concern for Madeleine and for all young children who have been taken away from their families against their will.
“We are also here to encourage one another to keep up hope and pray for a renewal of strength even after this long time.”
Amelie, accompanied by her friend Georgina, joined in repeating mantras read out by individual people in the 70-strong crowd including “Never never give up”, “leave no stone unturned”, “don’t forget about me” and “still missing, still missed."
Kate and Gerry cling onto a glimmer of hope that Maddie, who would now be aged 19, nearly 20 , could still be alive
Kate’s uncle, retired head teacher Brian Kennedy, 84, after the event: “Kate and Gerry are very moved by the size of the group of people who turned up.
“After all these years people still assemble - some come every tine and some are new and we are very grateful.”
Brian, who lives in the same village with wife Janet, who addressed supporters, added: “16 years without someone and still not knowing where they are is a very long time. Even if it was bad news, in some ways, would give us some closure.
“But with no closure there is still hope."
German police are convinced Maddie is dead and have been intent on charging prime suspect Christian Brueckner - sensationally named nearly three years ago - with her kidnap and “no body” murder.
But it recently emerged that the convicted peadophile may never face a trial in the high profile Maddie case, and with unrelated alleged sex offences, because of a legal technicality over foreign courts' jurisdiction.
Brueckner, 45, is currently serving a sentence in a German jail for the rape of an American tourist in the same Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz Maddie vanished from in May 2007.
He has vehemently denied any involvement in her abduction.
No suspects have ever been charged in connection with the world’s most talked about missing child mysteries.
British Police have recently asked the Home Office for more money to keep their investigation, codenamed Operation Grange and which has cost the taxpayer £13 million so far, going.
Their request is set to be approved by a Special Grants committee.
Maddie was snatched just nine days before her fourth birthday from a holiday apartment in the popular Algarve destination while she was left sleeping alone with her younger twin siblings.
At the time her parents were dining with pals in a nearby tapas restaurant.
Renowned heart doctor Gerry and Kate, a former GP turned medical worker with dementia sufferers, both 45, have previously said: "We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know as we need to find peace."
As Brueckner is still being investigated, the couple they have stated: "All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice.”
The couple, both 45, have previously said: "We are grateful for the ongoing work and commitment by the British, German and Portuguese police. It is this combined police effort which will yield results and bring us those answers.”
Polish girl Julie Wendell has recently heaped more misery on Maddie’s parents by claiming in global online posts to be the missing child.
Despite negative DNA tests and denials from her own family, a year difference in age, she bizarrely continues to insist she is Madeleine.
Kate and Gerry had earlier posted a message on the official Find Maddie website, saying their daughter was “still very much missed” and they “await a breakthrough” in the police hunt for her.
They wrote: "Today marks the 16th anniversary of Madeleine’s abduction. Still missing...still very much missed.
"It is hard to find the words to convey how we feel. The poem below, by Clare Pollard, resonates strongly with us.
The Contradiction
The absence contradicts itself:
the missing conjures what we miss.
You are not here, I’m not myself,
but still I talk to you like this.
You’re in the crowd, the news, the glimpse -
I make you there when you’re not there.
I trace your steps, I map your face,
I say your name, see you in air.
You’re all I know and so unknown.
I cannot hold you, yet I do:
please let me hold you in my head
and where you are now, hold me too.
How can you be so near and far?
You are not here. But here you are.
"The police investigation continues, and we await a breakthrough. Thank you to everyone for your support - it really helps."
