Daily Telelegraph, Thursday, 3 May, 2012

Five years and still no sign – but the hunt goes on for Madeleine McCann


In Portugal, they’d rather forget about Madeleine McCann. Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, though, refuse to give up.







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By Neil Tweedie

6:40AM BST 03 May 2012




The garden of Apartment 5A Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva, in the resort of Praia da Luz, is reasonably well maintained but, here and there, weeds poke up between the flowers. The property is unloved rather than neglected, preserved but not used, as if frozen in time.


^{Disappeared: it's been five years since Madeleine McCann vanished from the family holiday apartment in Portugal}


Five years ago today a little girl, nine days shy of her fourth birthday, disappeared from this ground-floor holiday flat in the Algarve. Madeleine McCann was, according to her parents, spirited away in the night by a kidnapper so bold that he, or she, was prepared to enter the property via a window as they dined with friends in a neighbouring restaurant.


Kate McCann, Madeleine’s mother, describes the moment of discovery in her book, Madeleine. Explaining how, during the meal, she, her husband Gerry and a friend took it in turns to check on Madeleine and her twin brother and sister, sleeping together in one of two bedrooms, she writes: “When I realised Madeleine wasn’t actually there, I went through to our bedroom to see if she’d got into our bed. That would explain the open (bedroom) door. On the discovery of another empty bed, the first wave of panic hit me. As I ran back into the children’s room the closed curtains flew up in a gust of wind. My heart lurched as I saw now that, behind them, the window was wide open and the shutters on the outside raised all the way up. Nausea, terror, disbelief, fear. Icy fear. Dear God, no! Please, no!”


No trace of Madeleine McCann has been found since that night, despite the expenditure of vast amounts of effort, time and money. Few disappearances have commanded such attention over such a long period of time. Like all great mysteries, it divides, between those who champion one explanation and those who favour another, darker one. It also occupies its own landscape: as the Kennedy assassination has the Texas Schoolbook Depository and the Grassy Knoll, so the Madeleine McCann disappearance has Flat 5A and the Ocean Club tapas restaurant, where Mr and Mrs McCann dined on that fateful night.



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The people of Praia da Luz would prefer it otherwise. They have no wish to be a destination for ghouls – or journalists. For many of them, May 3, 2007 is a day they would rather forget, a blight on a resort known for being family-friendly and safe. Some residents retain the sympathy for the McCanns that was universal in Portugal before they were declared arguidos, suspects. Others are hostile, accusing the British couple of everything from neglect to concealment of a death.

Most, though, are simply apathetic, wanting it all to go away.

“It’s over,” says Paul Luckman, publisher of the English-language newspaper in the Algarve, the Portugal News. “It did have a short-term effect in terms of visitor numbers but this village has a long history of safety – nothing happened before and nothing has happened since. The shock factor has been replaced by apathy. Nobody is interested. The attitude is, 'It’s gone, it’s over, can we please get on with our lives?’ ”

Over in Portugal, perhaps, but not in Britain. Pressure from the McCanns and News International, which is said to have donated £1 million to the Find Madeleine fund in return for exclusive access to Mrs McCann’s book, has led to a fresh inquiry by the Metropolitan Police. Authorised personally by the Prime Minister, Operation Grange has so far consumed £2 million and the services of 29 detectives and seven civilians. There is talk of 195 fresh leads and the possibility that Madeleine may yet be found alive. Abduction is the favoured theory and a new portrait of the missing girl as she would now appear has been circulated. And still the sightings come in.

The account of Antonio Castela, a taxi driver in the Algarve, is typical of the leads being pursued by Scotland Yard. He says he picked up a girl resembling Madeleine and four adults the night after her disappearance, driving them to a hotel near Faro, where they got into a blue Jeep. Castela contacted the police but was never questioned.

The authorities in Lisbon remain to be convinced by such accounts. They have undertaken their own review of the original investigation, widely criticised for its flaws, but as yet see no reason to re-activate it.

“The Portuguese police have been led down the garden path, with supposed new leads and red herrings,” says Mr Luckman, who is on close terms with some of the officers involved in the original inquiry. “There have been sightings from Brazil to Belgium and nothing has come of them. They are not against re-opening the case for a valid reason. I can’t blame them for saying they have more valuable things to do.”

British criticism of Portugal’s handling of the case has left a bitter taste, he says.

“The people here are charming and friendly and they have taken a lot of stick. Everybody in this village turned out for the search and police worked overtime for no pay. Yes, mistakes were made, but they genuinely thought they were searching for a child who had wandered off.

“The main criticism aimed at the parents is that they left their children alone and uncared for. For Portuguese people, that is almost impossible to understand.”

The restaurant where Mr and Mrs McCann and their friends ate and drank that night is now a pizzeria. Stand by the swimming pool and look towards 5A and you are struck by how far away the apartment is. The view of its rear entrance is almost obscured and the three children were sleeping in the bedroom on the far side of the building. It is difficult to believe that a crying child could be heard from that distance.

The McCanns are not only pursuing the search for their daughter; they are also pursuing Gonçalo Amaral, head of the original inquiry. His book, The Truth of the Lie, accuses the McCanns of complicity in their daughter’s death. The British couple are now suing Amaral for libel, claiming €1.25 million. The case, due in court in September, will not result in the couple being put in the witness box, however.

Isabel Duarte, the lawyer fighting the case for the McCanns, says: “My clients are no longer arguidos, they are not defendants in a criminal trial and have the right to be respected. Mr and Mrs McCann will not have to give statements because Mr Amaral did not ask for them.”

Amaral, who is reputed to have earned £300,000 from sales of the book after resigning from the police, is believed nevertheless to have declared bankruptcy. The McCanns have not pursued the option, available to them under Portuguese law, of mounting a criminal prosecution for libel against the former detective.

Praia da Luz is quiet now. The weather is still changeable and the British families and pensioners who flock here for the sun have yet to arrive in any numbers. The streets are almost deserted, lending the place a melancholy air.

The reputation of Apartment 5A goes before it. Put on the market by its owner, Ruth McCann (no relation to the McCanns), it was later withdrawn from sale. The flat’s proximity did not deter Lesley Peeke-Vout, from Newcastle, from buying a neighbouring ground-floor property.

“Very few people rent 5A,” says Mrs Peeke-Vout. “I haven’t seen anyone in it since last year. We bought [our apartment] three years ago. I knew about what had gone on but it didn’t bother me. We like the position.”

She believes Madeleine’s disappearance has had a negative effect on Praia da Luz, but that the current problem for the resort is recession and cuts in family-holiday budgets.

“The locals don’t like to talk about what happened in 2007,” she says. “They think it damages their business.”

This evening, a vigil will be held in the resort’s Catholic church, Nossa Senhora da Luz, to mark the fifth anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Candles will be lit and prayers said at 9pm. The church is available to the Anglican community in the resort and Haynes Hubbard, the Canadian vicar who ministers to the area, will be attending. He and his wife became friends of the McCanns in the days after the disappearance of their child and are still close. The Rev Hubbard has no doubt about their innocence.

“Kate comes every six months or so. She needs to walk the streets she last walked with her daughter, to touch base, to look at the apartment and visit the church. She needs to know something is still here. Gerry comes less often – he is busy.

“We arrived from Canada with our young children two days after Madeleine was taken. It was absolute bedlam. We walked into their chaos. We were with people who had lost their daughter. They weren’t people who had done something to their daughter, they were looking for their daughter. They were driven then and they are driven now.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/9241153/Five-years-and-still-no-sign-but-the-hunt-goes-on-for-Madeleine-McCann.html

This is a fairly balanced article, I think, it makes many valid and interesting points and is sympathetic to the Portuguese investigation.

Please note that the naughty journalist who wrote this aricle has used a forbidden word. I have highlighted this in red, so that those of a delicate disposition can ignore it

That is a very balanced article. Naughty journo saying how far the apartment was!

Another opinion column on the case which is fairly balanced too.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/lindy-mcdowell/will-we-ever-find-out-what-happened-to-little-madeleine-16152976.html

Madeleine McCann was, according to her parents, spirited away in the
night by a kidnapper so bold that he, or she, was prepared to enter the
property via a window as they dined with friends in a neighbouring
restaurant.

The bit in red is a gem too!

While I personally don't care much for the editorial policies of the Telegraph, I often find that their articles are balanced, and so it is with this one.

Wasn't Father Hubbard the Priest who had to go on a sabbatical or something after supporting the mccanns?
It's very telling that the media now use the term 'disappearance' and not abduction, they were too scared to say disappearance initially. The media knows more than we realise.

tigger wrote:The restaurant where Mr and Mrs McCann and their friends ate and drank that night is now a pizzeria. Stand by the swimming pool and look towards 5A and you are struck by how far away the apartment is. The view of its rear entrance is almost obscured and the three children were sleeping in the bedroom on the far side of the building. It is difficult to believe that a crying child could be heard from that distance.

re hearing a crying child from that distance, you could add that the tapas bar was full so you have the noise of people talking and laughing and most likely background music - the diners would not hear anything - except perhaps dropped plates in the kitchen. Unlikely diners would be aware of anything unless very loud and very near. hearing a child crying in a building 120 metres away - even a screamer as madeleine allegedly was - no way!

This is the view why would have had, plus also the Tapas bar was covered by plastic covering to keep out the cold, so not only impaired their vision even worse but also the sound too

tweecy wrote:Wasn't Father Hubbard the Priest who had to go on a sabbatical or something after supporting the mccanns?
It's very telling that the media now use the term 'disappearance' and not abduction, they were too scared to say disappearance initially. The media knows more than we realise.

It was to my knoweldge the Catholic priest Fr Pacheco who made a hasty retreat. Fr Hubbard was the Anglican priest who befriended the parents and his wife became quite close to Kate I think.

Rev Hubbard said -

“Kate comes every six months or so. She needs to walk the streets she last walked with her daughter, to touch base, to look at the apartment and visit the church. She needs to know something is still here. Gerry comes less often – he is busy.

A strange thing to say.

Newintown wrote:Rev Hubbard said -

“Kate comes every six months or so. She needs to walk the streets she last walked with her daughter, to touch base, to look at the apartment and visit the church. She needs to know something is still here. Gerry comes less often – he is busy.

A strange thing to say.

Just started thread of video with Fr Hubbard in Latest News