McCann family mark Madeleine's 4th birthday

The family of missing Madeleine McCann will today have a small party for her fourth birthday, more than a week after the little…

The family of missing Madeleine McCann will today have a small party for her fourth birthday, more than a week after the little girl disappeared.

Photographs of Madeleine near her home in Leicestershire
Photographs of Madeleine near her home in Leicestershire

The party comes as Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate McCann urged people to mark the day by redoubling their efforts to find their daughter, who was snatched from her bed nine days ago.

It will take place at the home of Madeleine's uncle John McCann , who spoke last night at a vigil for his missing niece in Glasgow's St Andrew's Cathedral.

Today Philomena McCann , the sister of Madeleine's father Gerry McCann, said: "Madeleine's not forgotten and we're still celebrating her life."

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Family members will gather at John McCann's home in Glasgow for the small party and will light candles on a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday, before praying for her safe return.

Ms McCann ( 43) added: "It's not going to be a big fancy thing, it's really just so we can spend some private time together as a family."

She said she and other relatives in Britain had put their lives on hold to try to help Madeleine's parents.

Ms McCann also called for more international co-operation in their efforts to find her niece. She said: "We're in the European Union and you have all these countries with no borders, we need more pooled resources.

"Once all this is over I am going to be writing a lot of letters and campaigning on this because the issue for me in the longer term is that we have to be more united and we need more links across police forces and across governments."