A year has passed since three-year-old Madelein McCann disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia de Luz, Portugal. Despite the massive international campaign to find her, there have been very few clues as to what may have happened to her. Although local police action has centered on implicating the McCanns in Madeleine’s disappearance, I believe entirely, based on everything we know about the case and about the McCanns themselves, that she was abducted.

This from the Telegraph today:

Kate, 40, said yesterday that she “senses” that Madeleine is alive. She still looks frail and seems permanently on the verge of tears. ”Madeleine just feels very close. It’s more of a kind of sensation that she’s there. You try to be objective and you think it is because I am her Mum and I want to believe, but it has not changed.”

Granted, there is nothing scientific about her belief, nothing verifiable until and unless Madeleine is found alive. Cases of stranger abduction rarely end well. Statistics show that children abducted by non-family members are usually dead within a short period of time. But I do believe in a mother’s instinct-sometimes, a mother simply knows. Especially with very young children, the connection between mother and child can be uncanny. Until recently, my young son frequently woke up screaming when I had a nightmare. Or he would wake up talking about something that I had been dreaming about, even though I was in another room. An example: one night, when my son and I were sleeping in separate rooms, I dreamt that I was on a boat that was sinking, and that I had to hand my child over to a man on a life raft in order to save his life. The moment I handed my son to the man, he woke up screaming, “Mommy!” This is one example in dozens.

I’ve talked to other mothers who have had similar experiences. All of this simply to say that, despite everything, there’s a very good chance that Kate is right, and that her daughter, who would be four years old now, is still alive.

• The new hotline number for anyone with information on where Madeleine might be is 0845 838 4699