Missing Madeleine McCann update: 'She's still alive,' says dad

The father of missing girl Madeleine McCann dreams of hugging his daughter again and is convinced she is still alive.

Madeleine went missing while she was on holiday with her family in Portugal eleven years ago just nine days before her fourth birthday.

And her dad, Gerry, sobbed as he said he was ‘absolutely confident’ she is still alive.

Speaking on the UK’s Radio 4 he said, ‘It’s almost like an instinctive reaction…it’s just a feeling…but I do feel we will be reunited.’

Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate, were on holiday with their two-year-old twins, Madeleine and some family friends. They put the children to bed and then went for a drink and dinner with their friends 55 metres away, checking on the children every so often. At 10pm they noticed Madeleine was missing.

The couple were considered to be suspects in the case by the Portugese police but have always maintained their innocence.

Now Gerry has spoken out about the night she went missing and realising she was really gone.

‘I remember just being in the bedroom – the two of us just completely distraught. It was almost feral, the reaction and the pain, feeling helpless, alone.

‘I couldn’t get the darkest thoughts out of her ind that somebody had taken her and abused her.’

Even though thre have been no signs of Madeleine since then Gerry refuses to believe that she may be dead.

‘I thought about it a lot early on and what I was absolutely confident about is whatever had happened Madeleine was still alive and is still alive.’

‘There’s never a day goes by I don’t think bout Madeleine and what might have happened. I have dreamt about her, including in the last few months but it’s not frequent. They’re painful when they happen.’