McCanns tell Oprah Madeleine will be found

The parents of Madeleine McCann, the British toddler who disappeared two years ago during a family holiday in Portugal, said in an interview aired yesterday they believe she is still alive and will be found.

The little girl's room "Is all ready, waiting," her mother, Kate McCann, told talk show host Oprah Winfrey. "I go in (the room) about twice a day to talk to her, just to say hello really... tell her that we're going to do everything we can to find her."

She and her husband, Gerry McCann, were themselves placed under suspicion by Portuguese police, and they have been the object of rumours that they were involved in her disappearance.

The couple said there is no evidence she has come to any harm. "I don't feel that she's that far away," added her mother.

The girl disappeared from her room at a resort in the Algarve just shy of her fourth birthday. The couple released an age progression photo of Madeleine as she would look today, about to turn six, showing a smiling little girl with long blond tresses.

"It's not too late to do the right thing," Mr McCann said. "They can hand her over to a priest or someone in authority."