But he and Susan are realistic enough to accept that some people are not only convinced that their granddaughter is dead, but that Madeleine’s own parents were responsible.
Susan says: “Strangers are still coming up to us and saying ‘We don’t believe a word of what we’re reading, you know’ – that happens again and again and it’s important for us to hear that.
“I also know that if you throw enough muck at people, some of it can stick. But you’ve got to credit people with having the intelligence to work out that there has been a lot of scurrilous rubbish written.”
Each new claim or accusation aired in the tabloids – the majority emanating from Portugal – appears more outrageous than the last. They include:
“It’s total rubbish,” says Susan. “We just don’t know where this sort of thing comes from. It would be simple for Kate and Gerry to go to the clinic where they had the IVF and prove this is a lie but I think they feel it would be demeaning, while it would also put the clinic under enormous media pressure.”
* “Kate and Gerry drugged Madeleine – and their twins, Sean and Amelie – with sedatives.”
“They don’t like taking tablets themselves and the only thing they have ever given their children, if they were teething or had a temperature, is Calpol. They didn’t give them anything that night.”
* “Seven children were sleeping in Kate and Gerry’s apartment on the night Madeleine went missing.”
Susan says: “Again, it’s nonsense and I don’t know where this has come from – or why it’s only now it’s been suggested.”
Although not backed up by any hard evidence, stories first printed in Portuguese newspapers – which include quotes from alleged “sources” – are picked up by the British press and then dissected on the internet.
Susan says: “I don’t go onto the internet, but I know some people will get pleasure from picking up on, and discussing, the negative side of things – however, it’s hard enough for us to read that people are convinced Madeleine is dead.”
She adds: “There are obviously different types of people in the world, but I think the good outweigh the bad.”
While Brian reveals: “When we have been with Kate and Gerry in Leicestershire, I have opened the boxes of mail. There would be hundreds and hundreds of items and while there would be the occasional crank letter, 99.5% of them would be from well-wishers.”
Such support has been worth its weight in gold, but still the nightmare which began on the evening of Thursday May 3 continues . . .
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