Madeleine McCann’s mother would rather know that her daughter was dead than remain ignorant of her fate, which was the “worst kind of limbo”.

Kate McCann, 38, said that she and her husband, Gerry, were still clinging to the hope that Madeleine was alive but needed to know what had happened to her, even if that meant learning the worst.

She told Woman’s Own magazine: “I have never liked uncertainty. And this is the worst kind of limbo. Gerry and I have spoken about this and, in our heart of hearts, we’d both rather know - even if knowing means we have to face the terrible truth that Madeleine might be dead.”

Her comments came as a rift grew between the McCanns and police after investigators marked Saturday’s grim milestone - the 100th day since Madeleine’s disappearance - by acknowledging that she could be dead.

Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa, of the Portuguese investigative PolÍcia Judiciária, said new evidence suggesting Madeleine had been killed was being investigated with “intensity”. A family friend said it was extraordinary that the police had “not had the decency” to tell the McCanns before they made the development public.

The police comments appeared to contradict briefings to the family, after Mrs McCann said on Tuesday that police had told her the previous week that they were “looking for a living child”.

However, in an apparent reference to the discovery of blood specks on a wall in the McCanns’ holiday flat, Mr Sousa told the BBC: “In these past few days there have been some developments, and some clues have been found, that could point to a possible death of the little child.” He added that, until the test results were known, all lines of inquiry remained open.

On Saturday The Times revealed that Robert Murat was to be dropped as the only official suspect in the investigation into Madeleine’s abduction from the family’s Algarve holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.

Despite a growing local resentment and a smear campaign in the Portuguese media, the McCanns have vowed to stay in Portugal to find out what happened to their daughter, who disappeared on May 3 after she was left sleeping while her parents ate with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.

Facing criticism for leaving Madeleine and her two-year-old twin brother and sister alone in their beds, Mrs McCann said: “I ask myself, ‘Why did I think it was safe?’ But it felt safe. You don’t expect a predator to break in and take your daughter.”

In her interview she painted a vivid picture of Madeleine as a sociable and funny child. “She has a lot of personality and her name actually means ‘tower of strength’. But she hated it when we called her Maddie - she’d say, ‘My name is Madeleine’, with an indignant look on her face.”

Mrs McCann also spoke about her daily struggle to carry on. “Whenever I laugh with the twins or eat something nice - it’s always there in the back of my mind, ‘Madeleine would love this’. I suppose I’m really just going through the motions of life hoping, every night when I go to bed, that this will be the last day I’ll have to get through without her.”

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