Madeleine McCann Halloween Costume Slammed For 'Cretinous Behavior'

A man wearing a Halloween costume depicting long-missing toddler Madeleine McCann was slammed for what social media users called a “sick” and “vile” choice. Daniel Gearie of Scotland posted the images of himself wearing a blonde wig with an outfit similar to what has now become an iconic photo of Madeleine on his Twitter.

“You’ve taken it too far Daniel,” Gearie wrote alongside the photos.

Madeline was just 3 years old when she went missing during a family vacation in Portugal in 2007. Her parents left her and her 2-year-old twin siblings inside a vacation rental that night while they went to dinner. Madeleine’s body has never been found, and it remains unclear whether the little girl is alive or dead.

A spokesperson for the McCann family called Gearie’s costume “cretinous behavior,” according to the Daily Star.

Gearie’s Twitter account appeared to have been made private Monday, but the images had quickly been screenshotted and posted elsewhere on the internet. The replies for him were also still visible on Twitter.

“Dressing up as a missing child for Halloween is lower than a snake’s belly,” one user wrote.

Other users decried Gearie’s actions as “sick” and “vile” and called him a “super creep.”

Gearie himself apparently defended the costume initially.

“Before you say, ‘This is sick,’ etc, I know it is but I’m not the one who left a child unattended in a Portuguese hotel," he reportedly wrote.

He later, however, posted an apology on his Twitter which was screenshotted before the account was made private.

“At the weekend I made the most incredibly stupid, vile and disgusting decision of my life,” he wrote. “I can honestly say that I am embarrassed and disgusted by my own behavior and can only apologize for any offense that I caused anyone. There’s no hiding from what I did, I have to hold my hands up and take responsibility for my own actions. I am genuinely sorry for the hurt that I have caused to my family over the past few days and hope that one day they and anyone else that I hurt can forgive me. For now though I have to reflect on who I currently am and how I can better myself as a person.”