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THE disappearance of four-year-old Madeleine McCann exactly 100 days ago shocked the world.Her abduction from an apartment in Portugal turned a family holiday into a nightmare.
And the lives of her parents, Kate and Gerry, were changed, horribly, forever.Since that chilling night, despite their own trauma, they have led a courageous and tireless campaign to find Maddie ???????¬??? and spread their message around the globe.
Millions of people have seen the pictures of the little girl ???????¬??? with her distinguishing tear-shaped feature on the pupil of her right eye that ran down into the iris.
The agonising mystery surrounding Maddie???????¬?????s fate began on the evening of May 3.
Kate and Gerry ???????¬??? both 39 ???????¬??? left her and their twins Sean and Amelie, two, asleep in the apartment at the Mark Warner Ocean Club complex in the resort of Praia da Luz, on the Algarve.
The couple went and sat 50 yards away to dine with friends at a restaurant within the site.They chose not to use the free babysitter service available because they did not want to leave their youngsters alone with a stranger.
Instead, each adult in the party of nine would check the children every ten to 15 minutes.
Critically, the patio doors were left open so they could get in and out of the apartment with ease.
Day 1 ... first plea
The McCanns, from Rothley, Leics, have since defended their decision many times, likening it to having dinner at the end of the garden while the children remain indoors.
But mum Kate has admitted: ???????¬????Every hour now, I still ask, ???????¬??Why did I think that was safe????????¬????? But it did feel safe and so right.
???????¬????I do feel regret. I???????¬?????ve gone through all my life and said I never want to have any regrets but you can???????¬?????t not regret something like that.???????¬??
When Kate returned to apartment 5a at about 10pm, she found that Madeleine ???????¬??? then three ???????¬??? was gone.
The part-time GP???????¬?????s screams were heard across the complex as she yelled her daughter???????¬?????s name over and over again.
Within half an hour the police were called. Child abduction is so rare in Portugal that officers were convinced Maddie had simply wandered off and would be found sleeping under a tree.
But as the hours passed that theory dissolved and it became clear that vital time had been lost by cops not taking seriously the possibility of kidnap.
Early on it emerged that posts on the border with Spain ???????¬??? 90 minutes drive away ???????¬??? had not been alerted until 12 hours later.
