Mother reunited with daughter 17 years writes letter to McCanns in hope for Madeleine

THE mother reunited with her daughter 17 years after she was snatched form her arms told how she has written to the parents of Madeleine McCann.

 Celeste Nurse with baby Zephany EUROPIC/CEN

Celeste Nurse with baby Zephany before she was abducted in April 1997

Celeste Nurse said she had offered encouragement to Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry and urged them to never give up hope of finding their daughter alive. 

Mrs Nurse, 37, was speaking publicly for the first time since being reunited with daughter Zephany who was three days old when she was kidnapped from a hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.

Mrs Nurse was dosing in her hospital bed when a woman disguised a nurse grabbed the tiny baby.

Incredibly Mrs Nurse yesterday thanked the kidnapper for giving her daughter “a good life”.

She said: “Zephany loves this woman dearly, she was a good mother to her.

“What she did was very wrong, they’ve been living a lie for the last 17 years, but I forgave her some time ago. 

“Undoubtedly we will meet, and I will thank her for taking care of my daughter. 

“Zephany has had a good life with her - my daughter is beautiful, inside and out, she’s kind and clever - they did a great job.”

Zephany - who has been dubbed South Africa’s Madeleine McCann - is set to celebrate her birthday with her family for the first time when she turns 18 next month.

Mrs Nurse said: “I never doubted that Zephany would come back to us one day and now she has. 

Celeste Nurse AP

Celeste Nurse appears in court over the kidnapping of her daughter

What she did was very wrong, they’ve been living a lie for the last 17 years, but I forgave her some time ago

Celeste Nurse

“I have written to the parents of Madeleine McCann, just to offer my support and tell them not to give up hope.”

Madeleine was aged three when she vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007.

When Zephany was stolen form the Groote Schuur Hospital in April 1997 a huge international hunt was launched.

Mrs Nurse and her sales rep husband Morne - who went on to have three more children - issued regular appeals over the years to anyone who might know her whereabouts but no information was forthcoming.

Speaking in 2011, Mrs Nurse said not a day went by without her thinking about her missing daughter. 

She said: “I just hope one day someone will realise something or see something and bring her back to us.”

In the end it was a bizarre twist of fate that brought them back together.

When their eldest girl Cassidy, 15, started at a new secondary school in January, classmates mentioned a resemblance with a final-year pupil.

Despite being in different year groups, the pair developed an instant bond.

When Cassidy told her parents, Mr Morne began a secret investigation - seeking proof Zephany was their missing child. 

She had been given a different name and was living with a family just a few miles from the Nurses’ home - and had no idea she was not the real daughter of the “parents” who brought her up.

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