Madeleine McCann's mother: 'My pedophile fears'
Madeleine McCann's mother Kate has spoken for the first time over intense fears for her missing daughter.
She has written a heart-wrenching book where she tells exactly what happened on that fateful night. The book's release will coincide with Madeleine's eighth birthday on Thursday.
The 43-year-old former GP says she has had terrible visions of her daughter being abused by a pervert.
She told The Sun: "The idea that my Madeleine was taken by a pedophile is my worst fear.
"I became consumed with it. It was torture for me. It was horrible, so vivid.
"It's worse when I go to bed and think about that first awful night again, when Madeleine went missing.
"That sense of dark and fear, of being desperate to sleep but not being able to. I just end up plummeting down again."
The 384-page book, simply titled 'Madeleine' talks about a potential warning she had the day before her daughter disappeared.
The morning before Madeleine vanished, the toddler asked her mother: "Why didn't you come when Sean and I cried last night?"
At the time, McCann didn't think anything of it.
"Not for a moment did we think there might be some sinister explanation. But it is [now] my belief there was somebody either in or trying to get into the children's bedroom that night, and that is what disturbed them.
"So haunted have I been ever since by Madeleine's words that I've continued to blame myself for not sitting down and making completely certain there was no more information I could draw out of her."
Furthermore, she discovered a staff note on display in reception saying the McCanns 'were leaving our young children alone...and checking on them intermittently'.
The intention of the note was innocent - it was a receptionist explaining to staff why the couple wanted to reserve tables near to their apartment. However the information could have alerted a predator to the vulnerability of the McCann children.
Kate says of the abductor: "I think it was someone who knew our movements. I don't think someone was passing by chance and took a child."
On the night Madeleine went missing, Kate and her husband Gerry were so tired, they almost had dinner in their own apartment however decided it would be anti-social.
Instead, they dined with friends less than 100 metres away at the local Tapas restaurant in the hotel complex.
They chose not to use the babysitting service provided by the hotel as they felt so safe, they "didn't even think of it".
She said: "I could argue that leaving my children alone with someone neither we nor they knew would have been unwise, and it's certainly not something we'd do at home, but we didn't even consider it.
"We felt so secure we simply didn't think it was necessary.
"It goes without saying that we now bitterly regret it."
British police later told the couple that their corner, ground floor holiday apartment, next to two roads with secluded entrances was the perfect target for criminals.
The McCanns plan to use the proceeds of the book to fund the continuing search for Maddie.
