Sean McCann, the 21-year-old brother of Madeleine McCann, is set to make his major championship debut swimming for Scotland in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Meanwhile, his parents continue their search and advocacy amid ongoing international investigations and police searches in Portugal.
Sean McCann Makes Major Championship Debut at Glasgow Tollcross Swimming Centre
Sean McCann — the younger brother of Madeleine McCann — will compete for Scotland in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events at the Commonwealth Games, starting with the 400m heats at the Tollcross Swimming Centre on Saturday morning. The 21-year-old Loughborough University student grew up in England but qualifies to represent Scotland through his father, Gerry. I'm very excited. It's my first senior Games so I'm just looking forward to representing Scotland and doing my absolute best,
McCann told Loughborough University earlier this week. “It’s the pinnacle really of representing Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, especially at a home Games. I’ve got lots of family up in Glasgow so that makes it even more special. I was there in 2014, watching as a kid, so to make it now, 12 years later, is really a full-circle moment.” He and his twin sister were two years old when Madeleine, then aged three, went missing during a family holiday in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, in 2007. It became one of the world’s most high-profile missing-person cases and remains an ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation.
While Sean McCann prepares for competition in Glasgow, his parents Kate and Gerry McCann have maintained their search for Madeleine. The parents of Madeleine McCann have said they are encouraged that no trace of their missing daughter was found during intensive searches in Portugal, saying it reinforces our belief that she could still be alive.
Kate and Gerry McCann said they were “very pleased” with the ground-level operation in Praia da Luz, which ended on Wednesday night after eight days of painstaking searches.
In a statement, the couple said: We are very pleased that significant activity has taken place in Praia da Luz over the last 10 days with police officers and support teams from the UK working closely with the polícia judiciária and the guarda nacional republicana.
They added: We are further encouraged that, despite the intensive searches, no trace of Madeleine has been found and this reinforces our belief that she could still be alive.
As parents of a missing child, the couple stated they have always wanted all reasonable lines of inquiry to be followed, expressing that it is gratifying to know a substantial amount of work will take place over the coming months with close cooperation of the British and Portuguese authorities.
Statistics and Precedent in Long-Running Missing Persons Inquiries
The best-case scenario, said Mr McCann, would be if Madeleine had been taken by someone who wanted a child
and has been loved and cared for. High-profile cases of missing women found years after they were taken, including Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight who were rescued from a house in Ohio last year, have given them hope, the McCanns said. Addressing the statistical realities of long-term missing children investigations, Mrs McCann stated: If you’re one of those people, then statistics mean nothing. It is real hope. We’re not blinkered. We know what the statistics say. But we also know about all of these cases. She further noted: For each one of those children, now women, that have been found, statistics would have said they were dead.
Asked for a message for Madeleine, her mother said: We love you Madeleine. We miss you every day, as we did that very first day, and we're waiting for you. We're never going to give up. We'll do whatever we can to find you.
Professional Lives and Continued Press Scrutiny
The mother of Madeleine McCann — the British toddler who disappeared in 2007 — has gone back to work as a doctor for the UK’s National Health Service in one of its hardest COVID-hit cities. Kate McCann is doing her little bit to help
in Leicester hospitals, a family source told The Sun. She has thrown herself back into a full time job to assist others in need,
the source said, adding: There’s such a demand for qualified medics during these unprecedented times.
At times her work places her at the same hospital as her husband, Gerry, a cardiologist. Kate McCann previously quit her job in 2007 to devote all her efforts to finding Madeleine, who disappeared during a family vacation in Portugal while asleep with her two younger twin siblings while her parents were out with friends. Her case is the subject of intense press scrutiny in Britain, and although her disappearance is still unsolved, Christian Brueckner, a convicted pedophile, is suspected.
