Kate McCann ‘haunted’ by Madeleine’s question to her the morning she vanished without a trace

Kate McCann, mother of missing British girl Madeleine McCann, once spoke out about the question her daughter asked her before her disappearance that she has never been able to forget.

Madeleine, who was three at the time, was on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal when she disappeared from her bedroom.

Kate and husband Gerry McCann had left their three children - Madeleine, Sean and Amelie - alone while they went out to enjoy dinner with their friends.

The restaurant they visited was around 100 yards from the bedroom.

Kate and other members of the group kept returning to the room to check on the children, and at 10.00pm discovered that Madeleine was missing.

Madeleine McCann was three when she disappeared while on holiday (PA)

Despite millions being spent on the search as well as the creation of documentaries, Madeleine has never been found.

Throughout the years, Madeleine's parents have maintained the belief that their daughter was taken by a local criminal.

Kate wrote a book titled Madeleine: Our Daughter's Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her which was published in 2011 and detailed the family's torment.

In that book, Kate recalled a conversation she had with Madeleine on the day of her disappearance (3 May 2007) which 'haunted' her.

Kate and Gerry McCann have continued to campaign to find her. (PA)

She wrote: "On Thursday, May 3 I awoke in the children’s bedroom. I can’t remember who was up first but I know we had all surfaced by about 7.30am.

“At breakfast time, Madeleine had a question for us – ‘why didn’t you come when Sean and I cried last night?’"

She continued: "We were puzzled, did she mean when they were having their bath? we asked them, or just after they’d gone to bed?

“Children often get a bit fractious around bedtime, though I had no recollection of any tears from either Madeleine or Sean before they settled the previous evening.

“It certainly hadn’t been in the early hours, because I’d been in the room with them, even closer than usual.”

Madeleine went missing in 2007. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

On reflection, this led to Kate worrying that there had been an attempted break-in the night before Madeleine went missing.

She added: "Madeleine didn’t answer or elaborate, instead she moved on to some other topic that had popped into her head, apparently unconcerned."

She continued: "Not for a moment did we think there might be some sinister reason for this occurrence if indeed anything had occurred.

“If only foresight came as easily to us as hindsight. Within hours, the explanation for this would seem hugely important and so haunted have I been ever since by Madeleine’s words that morning.”

German authorities stated in 2020 that Christian Brückner was their prime suspect for the abduction of Madeleine, but no charges have been formalised.

Brückner denies any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.