The mother of Madeleine McCann has recorded an emotional Christmas message for her missing daughter and begged the girl’s abductor to let her return home.

Kate McCann and her husband, Gerry, recorded their message in front of the Christmas tree at their Leicestershire home in the hope that it will been seen by their daughter. The couple and their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, have not seen Madeleine since she disappeared from their Portuguese holiday apartment.

Mrs McCann, a GP, says in the recording: “Madeleine, it’s Mummy and Daddy here. Just know how much we love you, Madeleine. We all miss you so much. Sean and Amelie talk about you all the time every day.

“We are doing everything we can, Madeleine, to find you and there are so many good and very kind people helping us.

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“Be brave sweetheart. Our only Christmas wish is for you to be back with us again and we are hoping and praying that that will happen.

“Love you, Madeleine.” The recording has been released today for all broadcasters worldwide as part of a campaign to maintain awareness of Madeleine’s disappearance shortly before her fourth birthday. The video also includes three clips of Madeleine filmed last Christmas that have not been seen publicly before. In one she is shown excitedly opening a parcel containing the same pink bag she took on holiday in Praia da Luz in May. In another she is carrying a gift from her to her brother Sean, while in a third she is standing on the kitchen table.

Mrs McCann makes a direct appeal to the man that they insist abducted Madeleine from her bed at the Ocean Club resort while they dined with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant. “We understand that you may be staying silent because of fear for yourself or through misguided loyalty to other people,” she says. “But you must understand that you hold the key to ending all this despair and anguish, for both us and Madeleine.

“At this time of year, when so many families are coming together, we beg you to help us be reunited with Madeleine. Please do the right thing and come forward.”

Her husband, a consultant cardiologist, says: “This special time of year is all about families coming together with love and peace. Clearly for us and the rest of our family it is going to be the hardest Christmas imaginable without Madeleine here.”

He adds: “Since Madeleine was taken from us on May 3, someone knows what happened to her and may well know where she is now. That person has it within their power to show us the compassion to end this terrible ordeal for us.”

Madeleine’s parents have not revealed what they have bought their daughter for Christmas but wellwishers have sent hundreds of cards and gifts.

Writing in his internet blog this month, Mr McCann said that the family would be having a very quiet Christmas, attempting to preserve as much normality for Sean and Amelie.

“Despite not yet being 3, they both seem to understand they will be getting presents from Santa,” he said. “They have also asked if Santa will be bringing Madeleine home, which just about broke our hearts.”

Mr and Mrs McCann, both 39, are still regarded as official suspects by the Portuguese police. Detectives are expected in the new year to reinterview the couple and some of the seven British friends with whom they were dining when Madeleine disappeared.

The head of a firm of Spanish private detectives hired by the McCanns to find Madeleine said last week that he knows who abducted her and that he hoped that she would be back with her parents by Christmas. Francisco Marco, of the Metodo 3 agency, believes that Madeleine was abducted on behalf of a gang that is holding her alive on the Iberian peninsula or in Morocco.

Searches, suspects and ‘sightings’

— Robert Murat, an English expatriate, made official suspect on day 13 of the inquiry

— Kate and Gerry McCann were made suspects by Portuguese police on September 7

— There have been 2,830,000 website references to Madeleine McCann

— The findmadeleine.com website has received more than 50 million visits

— £1.1million has been donated by the public to the Find Madeleine Fund

— Rewards of £2.6million have been offered for the safe return of Madeleine

— 3,335 articles referring to Madeleine have appeared in British national newspapers since she disappeared

— Reports of sightings have come from Spain, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Morocco, Malta and Britain

— A confidential hotline manned by private detectives is open in Spain on 00 34 902 300 213

— Private detectives paid £50,000 a month for an international search

source: Times database, Google, findmadeleine.com

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