Media Mayhem - MCCANN MEDIA NONSENSE OF THE DAY

Seems a nice fella, does a lot for charity, owns multiple businesses. I think he genuinely  wanted to help the Mccann's.

What was in it for him? He likes to win, he's driven, He likes results. I think he saw after a short time, It was going nowhere fast.

People in business only stay for the long term if there is something to be gained by doing so.

crusader wrote:Seems a nice fella, does a lot for charity, owns multiple businesses. I think he genuinely  wanted to help the Mccann's.

What was in it for him? He likes to win, he's driven, He likes results. I think he saw after a short time, It was going nowhere fast.

People in business only stay for the long term if there is something to be gained by doing so.

Art thou being facetious crusader?

If not then look deeper and then deeper and then even deeper.

A little first press 'huile olive' to lubricate the dormant grey matter - first past the piste..




McCanns condemned by seeing a priest

By
Wendy Williams

23 May, 2011 @ 10:00

KATE McCann’s request to see a priest on the night of her daughter Madeleine’s disappearance was used as evidence against her, it has been revealed.

The devout Roman Catholic claims she came under suspicion because of the belief that people in Portugal ‘only called for a priest when they wanted their sins to be forgiven.’

The flimsy dossier against the McCann’s also included British sniffer dog evidence indicating the presence of blood and human remains in the apartment, later dismissed following forensic tests.

The revelation comes as British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered the reopening of files relating to the McCann case following a direct appeal from her parents.

The Met Police have been ordered to conduct a full review of all evidence in a bid to shed new light on the case.

Meanwhile, an image of the girl’s abductor could finally be revealed thanks to high-tech profiling computers.

A Met Police case review team will run descriptions of potential suspects through facial identification software in a bid to produce the most accurate new e-fit.

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2011/05/23/madeleine-mccann-case-reopened/

Verdi,the people who wrote garbage like above must think the public are gullible and stupid,surely they must realise the vast number of people know the McCanns and the rest of their stooges are guilty of a
reprehensible load of lies which people could see through from the
get go.

Verdi wrote:A little first press 'huile olive' to lubricate the dormant grey matter - first past the piste..




McCanns condemned by seeing a priest

By
Wendy Williams

23 May, 2011 @ 10:00

KATE McCann’s request to see a priest on the night of her daughter Madeleine’s disappearance was used as evidence against her, it has been revealed.

The devout Roman Catholic claims she came under suspicion because of the belief that people in Portugal ‘only called for a priest when they wanted their sins to be forgiven.’

The flimsy dossier against the McCann’s also included British sniffer dog evidence indicating the presence of blood and human remains in the apartment, later dismissed following forensic tests.

The revelation comes as British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered the reopening of files relating to the McCann case following a direct appeal from her parents.

The Met Police have been ordered to conduct a full review of all evidence in a bid to shed new light on the case.

Meanwhile, an image of the girl’s abductor could finally be revealed thanks to high-tech profiling computers.

A Met Police case review team will run descriptions of potential suspects through facial identification software in a bid to produce the most accurate new e-fit.

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2011/05/23/madeleine-mccann-case-reopened/

"Every word of what you [Wendy Williams] just said was wrong"

I wonder how they managed to get the cadaver odour into a evidence bag. !!!

crusader wrote:I wonder how they managed to get the cadaver odour into a evidence bag. !!!

Eau de Cadavar!

sar wrote:"Every word of what you [Wendy Williams] just said was wrong"

Quite so!  Astonishing how many falsehoods can be written in such a short article.

It's criminal how the media mislead, be it sloppy journalism or deliberate deception.

Gerry McCann contacted police after abduction threat to twins

Gerry McCann was forced to contact police after threats were made to kidnap one of their twins by vigilantes, inspired by a detective’s book on the case, in a bid to find out what really happened, a court heard.

By Claire Carter and Catarina Aleixo
5:12PM BST 20 Sep 2013

Some of the threats against the couple and their twins, Sean and Amelie, were so “disturbing” that Michael Wright, a close friend of the family, didn’t want to tell Kate McCann.

A court in Lisbon heard that the release of a book which implicated the McCann’s in Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 sparked suggestions by vigilantes about abducting one of the twins to find out the truth. Mr McCann eventually contacted police over the threats.

Michael Wright monitored internet activity after Madeleine was abducted from a holiday apartment in Portugal and said forums exploded after Goncalo Amaral, a former policeman and head of the investigation, published his book The Truth of the Lie.


He told the court: “There were several instances of inciting forum members to abduct one of the twins as they felt they could throw some light on what had happened. On the ‘The 3 Arguidos’ forum there was a thread of great length where one member was suggesting that someone should abduct Sean or Amelie as they would be able to confirm Mr Amaral’s theory.”

Gerry McCann contacted Leicestershire Police about the threats and Mr Wright was interviewed at his home in Skipton, Yorkshire by officers.

Mr Wright said he was concerned about the twins being able to read about the allegations on the internet after Amelie McCann had already found her name through an online search.

He told the court how he and his wife, Kate’s cousin Anne-Marie Wright, had spent the weekend with the McCann’s on the second anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance. This followed a documentary broadcast on Portuguese TV channel TVI in April 2009.

He said: “The weekend we all spent together was horrible. They arrived at the cottage having received phone calls from friends they had made in Praia da Luz telling them that people were tearing down posters we had put up saying ‘we know what happened. The child is dead.´

“That news had a terrible impact. To hear that people were accepting the thesis of the book caused them huge, visible distress and great anger.”

Around 2.2 mllion people in Portugal watched the documentary – leading Mr McCann to admit to his friend that for the first time he felt he could not go on.

Mr Wright told the court: “Both he and Kate are very strong and driven people and for two years they had been dealing with the disappearance of their daughter, the media backlash, being made arguido… Through all this they had led the rest of the family and other people in helping find Madeleine. So to hear G Talk about it being too much to carry on and to see him almost broken was a great shock.”

The McCann's are suing Amaral, his publishers Guerra & Paz, TVI and filmmakers VC Filmes for libel and damages equivalent to £1million.

The book sold 120,000 copies until an injunction filed by the McCann’s removed it from bookshops. The injunction was later lifted when the court ruling was overturned.

The trial is due finish hearing evidence in November.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/10323929/Gerry-McCann-contacted-police-after-abduction-threat-to-twins.html

Sunday, May 20, 2012

MADDIE TAKEN IN DAD'S TENNIS BAG

But the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Gerry's baffled. He's never owned such a bag. There simply is no missing bag. They are entirely innocent."

  Awkward !!!

I bet Gerry's not as baffled as me. The police photo shows what looks like a blue bag. If all was above board, he would be only too pleased to put the facts straight, something along the lines of, it looks like a blue bag, but in fact it's a ???

The other thing that baffled me was,  if Kate washed Madeleine's pj top , why was there a shelf full of dirty laundry below the blue bag.

A shelf of dirty laundry and a car boot containing bloody, leaking meat and used nappies are so much worse than a tea stain on a pair of jimjams to Kate.

Maybe the dirty washing was in the blue bag and they took it out as they needed it to put something else in, not a tennis racket

Madeleine McCann: What the 'Tapas Seven' knew, saw and said

The friends dining with the McCanns when their daughter vanished were important witnesses in the investigation.

By Sunita Patel-Carstairs, News Reporter


Wednesday 3 May 2017


Some of the party: (L-R) Jane Tanner, David and Fiona Payne, Dianne Webster, Rachael and Matthew Oldfield


Why you can trust Sky News



The seven friends who dined with Kate and Gerry McCann at a tapas restaurant at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine disappeared were key witnesses in the investigation.

Madeleine, from Leicestershire, was three years old when she went missing on 3 May, 2007, while on the family holiday in Portugal with her parents and twin siblings, Sean and Amelie, aged two.

Her disappearance triggered one of the most high-profile missing persons investigations in British history and the accounts of the "Tapas Seven" - as they became to be known - in the immediate aftermath of Madeleine's disappearance were crucial to the investigation.


They provided police with a timeline of the evening, including when and whom from the party took it in turns to check on the children among the group.

The party included the McCanns, David and Fiona Payne, Mrs Payne's mother Dianne Webster, Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, and Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner.

Matthew Oldfield, Russell O'Brien and the Paynes studied medicine together at Leicester University in the early 1990s and became acquainted with the McCanns when the couple moved to Leicestershire in 2000.

They have all publicly said very little over the years, if anything at all, about what happened in the hours leading up to the moment Kate McCann left the dining table to check on her children at 10pm and discovered her eldest daughter was missing.

Jane Tanner reported seeing a man carrying a child away earlier that night, close to the apartment where the McCanns were staying, when she left the table to check on her children at around 9.15pm - around 15 minutes after Gerry McCann said he checked on his son and daughters and remembered looking down at Madeleine.

In November 2007, she told the BBC's Panorama programme: "I just saw somebody walking across the top of the road so I was a reasonable distance away from them, and that person was carrying a child.

"He was about probably 5ft 8ins tall, he was taller than me but not 6ft and so between those two. He was wearing quite a lot of clothes and that's one thing in hindsight again I think was quite odd because tourists when they're abroad, Brits abroad would always have cropped trousers or shorts or something, and he had a sort of a big heavy jacket and trousers on, and hair... the one thing that I remember a lot is the hair. He did seem to have quite a lot of dark, reasonably-long-to-the-neck hair."

Asked to describe what he was carrying, she replied: "Well I could see... I could tell it was a child, and I could see the feet and... feet and the bottom of the pyjamas, and I just thought that child's not got any shoes on because you could see the feet, and it was quite a cold night in Portugal in May it's not actually that warm, and I'd got a big jumper on, and I can remember thinking, 'oh that parent is not a particularly good parent, they've not wrapped them up'."

Asked if she could tell if it was a boy or a girl, she continued: "Only because the pyjamas had a pinky aspect to them so you presume a girl. It was actually quite cold."

And asked if she was absolutely certain of what she saw, she replied: "I knew what I'd seen. I gave that information to the police and because of the pyjamas I'm absolutely convinced that is what I saw."


A sketch of the man seen carrying a child at 9.15pm near the McCanns' apartment



Based on her description, an artist's impression of the man was produced to help jog people's memories.
He was a key suspect for six years, but a review of the evidence in October 2013 by detectives under the Metropolitan Police's Operation Grange concluded that he was an innocent British holidaymaker carrying his daughter home from a creche.

According to the party's timeline, Matthew Oldfield was the next member of the group to check on the children at about 9.30pm - before Kate McCann raised the alarm.

He said he found the door to the children's room open but did not go in, assuming that because there was no noise that all was well.

Less than a year later, in April 2008, three Portuguese detectives, led by chief investigator Paulo Rebelo, flew to Britain to re-interview the seven friends on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine vanished.

Six months earlier, in October 2007, the group of seven friends issued a joint statement through the McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, denying allegations they had made a "pact of silence" to protect Madeleine's parents.

"We wish to state that there is categorically no 'pact of silence' or indeed anything secretive between us - just the desire to assist the search for Madeleine," they said.

"From day one, the police in Portugal told us not to discuss our statements.

"It is incredibly frustrating for us that the fact we have done as we were asked to by the Portuguese police is still being looked upon as suspicious.

"Everything we have done, and continue to do, has been to help with the search for Madeleine and to end this nightmare for Gerry and Kate."

Some four years later, Rachael Oldfield broke her silence.

"I was there on the night. I spent time with Gerry and Kate during the week before 3 May and after. Their emotions and their reactions were just agonising. There's just no way they were involved in anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance," she told BBC Radio 4's Searching for Madeleine programme in February 2012.  [No longer available]

"If you take the commonsense approach and look at timings and the fact they are medics and there are four other medics in the group, they would know what to do to resuscitate a child.

"Anyone with an ounce of commonsense would be able to see they couldn't have done it. And I was there and I know they didn't do it."

She also slammed the Policia Judiciaria - Portugal's CID - for "outrageous" leaks to the press.

"We were made to understand we could face two years prison for speaking out. There have been these rumours and leaks from sources close to the PJ which we haven't been able to refute," she said.

"We'd have loved to have spoken out and just put the record straight."


https://news.sky.com/story/madeleine-mccann-what-the-tapas-seven-knew-saw-and-said-10860209

Madeleine McCann: Key witness accuses Portuguese police of not taking his vital prime suspect evidence seriously

Retired businessman Martin Smith provided details for an e-fit of the prime suspect after spotting the mystery man close to where Maddie vanished

By
Tom Pettifor
Marie Kierans

• 07:59, 16 OCT 2013
  
• Updated11:38, 16 OCT 2013
  

E-fit: New image released by police (Image: PA)

A key witness in the Madeleine McCann case claimed yesterday that Portuguese police failed to take his evidence seriously.

Retired businessman Martin Smith, 64, provided details for an e-fit of the prime suspect after spotting the mystery man carrying a child at 10pm close to where the three-year-old vanished more than six years ago.

But he said his information was virtually ignored by local officers because they were too busy chasing up another sighting of a man near Kate and Gerry McCann’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz 45 minutes earlier.

Scotland Yard detectives reinvestigating the case after six years have now established that the suspect Portuguese police were so keen to trace – spotted by holidaymaker Jane Tanner at 9.20pm – was just an innocent British tourist returning his own child from a crèche.


Innocent tourist: Tracing this man distracted Portuguese detectives, said Mr Smith

Mr Smith, a former Unilever executive, made a statement along with his wife Mary, daughter Aoife and son Peter soon after Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007.

He helped compile e-fits a year later – but the images were not released at the time and were only made public for the first time earlier this week.

Speaking from his home in Drogheda, Co Louth, Mr Smith said that the Portuguese police did not seem to think his sighting was significant.

He added: “It looked as if they put 90% credence on the Jane Tanner sighting, maybe that wrong-footed them and they didn’t take our sighting as seriously. I was surprised it took six years to rule out the other sighting.”

He said he has met with Scotland Yard detectives twice over the past 18 months to help them with the new probe. He added: “We‘d all love to see the police get to the bottom of what happened.”

“We think about Madeleine a lot and we would love to see a conclusion to this case.

Mr Smith was with his wife, daughter, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren on the night that the three year old vanished.

The family described the man they saw as white, with short brown hair and of average build and height, aged between 20 and 40.

Commenting on the Crimewatch documentary which was broadcast on Monday night he added: “The only new thing in the investigation is the elimination of Jane Tanner’s sighting.

“Apart from that from our point of view everything else remains the same in relation to what we said to the police and the media at the time. We have nothing more to add.”

At least two callers who responded to the TV appeal gave the same name for the two e-fits provided by the Smiths.

Finding the man and determining whether he was in Praia da Luz on the night the three-year-old vanished is a top priority of Scotland Yard detectives.

Around 1,000 people have contacted police as a result of the appeal.

They include a number of British people who were in the Algarve resort at the time. At least one ex-pat called from the town on Monday night.

Senior investigating officer Det Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said his team are working through the calls and material generated by the appeal.

A total of 330 calls were made to the Operation Grange incident room and 400 to BBC1 Crimewatch as well as 220 emails.

In a statement issued through their spokesman, Kate and Gerry McCann said: “We are absolutely delighted with the overwhelming public response to Crimewatch, which was broadcast last night.

“We know that the public desperately want to help the search for Madeleine.

“We are genuinely hopeful that one of more of these responses will lead to a major breakthrough in the investigation.”

They added: “If anyone was in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s abduction and has not spoken to the Metropolitan Police, or if they know who any of the e-fits might be, please have the courage to come forward and speak to the police in confidence.”

DCI Redwood added: “Detectives are now trawling through and prioritising that material. This will take time.”

Mr Redwood, who travelled to Holland yesterday to continue the appeal, said: “I will be repeating similar appeals in Holland this evening and in Germany tomorrow night.”

A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of those responsible for Madeleine’s abduction, he said.

There are 40 people answering calls at any time, and officers waiting to “action the information”.

Crimewatch editor Joe Mather said the response to the programme was “truly unprecedented”.

He said: “They received several names for the key 10pm sighting, the sighting of a man carrying a child towards the beach.

“Several different names but also several callers mentioned the same name for that man.”

Mr Mather said there were “inevitably a fair few calls” which were not helpful but there were “genuinely calls that were helpful” after last night’s broadcast.

During last night’s programme, Mr and Mrs McCann urged people to “rack their brains” and come forward with information.

Kate said: “Please, please have the courage and confidence to come forward now, and share that information with us, and you could unlock this whole case, so please.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-key-witness-accuses-2433328

'Like an egg with a side-parting': How Portuguese police put out this bizarre sketch of Madeleine McCann kidnap suspect with no FACE following three-year-old's disappearance

   Netflix documentary reveals the e-fit of suspect released by Portuguese police
   Image of the faceless potential kidnapper was shown to locals by detectives
   Controversial show offers 'detailed look' at disappearance of the three-year-old

By Amie Gordon For Mailonline

Published: 07:23, 15 March 2019

Portuguese police released a faceless e-fit of the Madeleine McCann kidnap suspect.

A new Netflix documentary reveals how detectives showed locals an e-fit of a man without a nose, eyes or mouth in the week after the youngster vanished.

The controversial show about Madeleine McCann, available on the streaming service today, promises viewers  a 'detailed look' at the disappearance of the three-year-old and the subsequent police investigation.



Simon Russell, who owned an internet café in the resort town, said: 'I smiled when they showed it to me. What else could you do?'

Another businessman described the e-fit as an 'egg with a side-parting'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6812461/Portuguese-police-sketch-Madeleine-McCann-kidnap-suspect-no-FACE.html
...................



That was Jane Tanner's original description of the man at the top of the road carrying a bundle child.  Even the sardine munching beer swilling local yokel cops wouldn't be that stupid!

Lest they forget..


https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/portal

Maddy's parents leave for Vatican


Kate and Gerry McCann are in Rome to see the Pope

By Richard Edwards and Fiona Govan in Praia da Luz

12:01AM BST 30 May 2007

The parents of Madeleine McCann last night said an emotional farewell to their two-year-old twins as they left Portugal together for the first time since their daughter's disappearance to visit the Pope.

Almost four weeks after Madeleine was abducted, Gerry and Kate McCann flew to Rome after receiving a formal invitation from the Vatican.
 
Mrs McCann carried with her a small photograph of Madeleine which she will present to Pope Benedict XVI at a general audience in St Peter's Square today

For the 38-year-old mother, a devout catholic   , it is a visit of conflicting emotions.

Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for the family, said: "This is for them a very important spiritual visit, albeit in the most appalling of circumstances. The tone will be private, serious and sombre."  

Mr and Mrs McCann left their apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz yesterday afternoon, kissing goodbye to their twins, Sean and Amelie. They hope to be back in time tonight to put them to bed.

They took more than a minute outside their apartment to kiss and wave goodbye to the twins, picking them up in turn and hugging them closely, stroking their hair and talking quietly to them.  

Mr McCann wiped away a tear as he walked towards the waiting car   , arm-in-arm with his wife   . The twins are being left in the care of their aunt, Trish Cameron, and her husband, Sandy.

Mr Mitchell said: "They have decided not to take Sean and Amelie because they think it may be too much for them.  

"They are being properly cared for in a safe environment. [*splutter*] The kids might find the whole thing a bit stressful and they are not sure it is fair to put them through it. They stick to their normal daily routine in Portugal.

"If they were a little bit older I think Gerry and Kate probably would take them."

It emerged last night that a British child psychologist is due to fly to Portugal this week in an attempt to talk to the twins. It is hoped the expert may be able to coax out information about the night of Madeleine's disappearance. Sean and Amelie were in their cots in the same room as their four-year-old sister when she was taken. ?

The visit to Rome is the first time Mr an Mrs McCann have left Portugal as a couple and they intend to use it as a "template" for other trips as they continue their campaign to raise worldwide awareness about Madeleine.



They also plan trips to Madrid, Berlin and Amsterdam, where they intend to meet children's charities and government ministers with a portfolio for child welfare.

Sir Philip Green, the British billionaire retail tycoon, has loaned his private jet to the McCanns for their visit to Rome. Mr Mitchell said: "They are travelling around Europe for a reason: to help bring back Madeleine."



They have emphasised that they do not want to be seen as a "celebrity couple" and only accepted Sir Philip's "kind" offer for practical reasons, and so that they could get back to see the twins as soon as possible.

Mr and Mrs McCann were greeted in Rome by the British ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Campbell, and stayed at his residence.    This morning they will attend a General Audience at the Vatican. It is believed the Pope will refer to Madeleine "prominently" during prayers. As many as 40,000 people are expected to gather in St Peter's Square.



Once the main part of the audience has finished, he is introduced to around 25 carefully selected people.



As honoured guests, Kate and Gerry McCann will sit in the front row, known as the prima fila, normally reserved for heads of state and dignitaries.   The Pope will speak to them in English and may also invite them to a private audience afterwards  

Meanwhile detectives in Portugal investigating the disappearance of Madeleine faced renewed criticism yesterday when it emerged they had released conflicting accounts of the witness description of a man seen carrying a child outside the McCanns' holiday apartment at around the time Madeleine went missing.



It is understood that the witness, who had become friends with the McCanns during their holiday, told detectives that the man she had seen was around 5ft 7in but in a press conference given last Friday police issued a description of a man some three inches taller.

A police spokesman told Portuguese media the man they were looking for was around 1m 70cm (about 5ft 7in), but the English language description issued at the same time put his height at 5ft 10in. It is believed that an "administrative error" in converting measurements from metric to imperial led to the mistake.

"The police have made a mistake," a family source said yesterday. "It seems the details were lost in translation. What has happened is that police have given out the description of quite a tall man when they should have been talking about someone relatively short." [who you callin' shorty   ]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1553065/Maddys-parents-leave-for-Vatican.html

..................

Shame on you Mr Telegraph  shame on you!

Gerry McCann's tennis bag 'is focus of inquiry'

By Matthew Moore

11:24AM GMT 24 Dec 2007

The McCann family has denied claims that a tennis bag allegedly owned by Gerry is the focus of police investigating his daughter Madeleine's disappearance.

A Sky News report claims that officers have been unable to locate a blue hold-all which Mr McCann allegedly used to carry his sports kit hours before his daughter vanished.

Tony Rogers, a former detective with experience with experience of high-profile murder cases, told the channel: "If it's a bag of a size that could be taking away from the flat a child, that would be of great interest to the investigating officer."

But Clarence Mitchell, the spokesman for Madeleine's parents, dismissed the report, insisting that Gerry had never owned such a bag.

"As far as Kate and Gerry are concerned, there is no missing tennis bag," he said.

"They came back from holiday with everything except of course, tragically, Madeleine."

Gerry and Kate McCann have consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection with their daughter's disappearance.

The Sky News investigation, to be broadcast this evening, also reveals that only one British sex offender with links to the Algarve remains a suspect in the hunt for Madeleine.

All 52 British sex offenders with links to the Portuguese holiday destination have been investigated and only one is understood to remain in the frame.

The documentary comes as Kate and Gerry McCann, both 39, of Rothley, Leics, face their first Christmas without their four-year-old daughter, who went missing in Praia da Luz on May 3.

In the broadcast, Prof David Barclay, a forensic expert, says it is unusual for children of Madeleine's age to be abducted by paedophiles.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1573575/Gerry-McCanns-tennis-bag-is-focus-of-inquiry.html

The tragedy that saw my Catholic best friend killed shortly after we joined the Army, the routine uncommon valour I witnessed in the RUC ... and why I believe we'll find out what happened to Madeleine McCann'

Child protection expert Jim Gamble, who's from Bangor, on his early life, opposition to vigilantism and why there should be another EU referendum



Q. You've been working on a documentary series that Netflix has just finished on the Madeleine McCann case; that's going out later in the year. Do you think we'll ever know what happened there?

A. I've got to know her parents over the years. And when you see parents having to get up every day, knowing that their child is missing, with the responsibility towards their other two children - the only thing that keeps them going, in my opinion, is hope. So I'm never going to give an opinion that I think Madeleine is dead.

At the end of the day, we don't know. And I've been in this work long enough to know that many years later children are found again.

That hope fuels people's ability to put one foot in front of the other. I believe it's a case where we'll find out what happened to Madeleine in my lifetime.

I genuinely believe that.

I will always harbour the hope that it's good news.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/the-tragedy-that-saw-my-catholic-best-friend-killed-shortly-after-we-joined-the-army-the-routine-uncommon-valour-i-witnessed-in-the-ruc-and-why-i-believe-well-find-out-what-happened-to-madeleine-mccann-37298424.html

Can you sleep comfortably on a spiral staircase?

Profile – Susan Hubbard

Missing Madeleine Vanished on holiday

By NANCY DURHAM (CBC News, Canada): May 2, 2008

One year ago, Kate and Gerry McCann’s holiday on Portugal’s Algarve coast turned into a nightmare. On the second-last night of their vacation, the McCanns, from Leicestershire, England, put their three children to bed: Madeleine, nearly four, and two-year-old twins Sean and Emilie. Then they walked 50 metres to dine at a tapas bar, which is part of the Ocean Club complex in Praia de Luz where they were staying with friends. The couples took turns checking on each other’s children every 30 minutes or so. At around 10 p.m., Kate McCann discovered Madeleine missing from her bed.

In the year since the 3-year-old girl disappeared on May 3, 2007, a Canadian couple has been playing a crucial role of support in the lives of Kate and Gerry McCann.

The Hubbards – Haynes, an Anglican priest who was about to take up a new post as senior chaplain for the Algarve Anglican Church, and Susan, a midwife – arrived in Praia de Luz three days after Madeleine’s disappearance. The town was in chaos as police combed the area looking for the missing British girl, reporters jostled for interviews and helicopters circled in the sky. This was no longer the peaceful tourist town the couple remembered from a previous visit when Haynes temporarily filled the role of Anglican chaplain in the former fishing village. Now he was arriving to take on the job full time.
God brought us here

The Hubbards appear to have had enough of reporters. Yet they agree to open their door to another inquisitive stranger for one reason only: because there’s a chance that giving another interview just might help find the little girl they’ve never met.

The Hubbards now believe Madeleine’s disappearance is the reason they were “called” to Portugal. Susan remembers the moment it hit her.

“It wasn’t until months later, when I saw really why God had brought us here, that I was awestruck that he confirmed we were to be here before we even set foot in our town of Praia de Luz,” she says. “For me, he confirmed it on the plane … the fact that there was a child missing here gave us our first mission before we even set foot in the place.”
Hold on to your baby

Their arrival was unnerving. When their plane landed in Lisbon, Susan was warned.

“This old woman grabbed me, and I was holding on to our five-month-old son, Caspian, and she grabbed my arm and spoke to me in Portuguese: ‘Hold on to your baby; there’s been an English child taken.'”

At first, Susan double-locked the doors and windows to keep their three children safe. Caspian has an older sister, Gabriela, 9, and brother, Sebastian, now 10. Soon, the family relaxed, and Haynes, too, saw this was the place they were meant to be.

“It was pretty clear that He was using us, of the same age [as the McCanns] and with small children and Susan speaking Portuguese … and being able to relate to them in a tiny way, to lead them in prayer and just to walk with them,” he said.

Haynes Hubbard loves travel, so when it was time to move on from his Dunnville, Ont., parish, he and Susan saw the job opening in Praia de Luz as an opportunity. Haynes says he felt a little guilty “in terms of my ministry, wanting to travel,” but a friend encouraged him to see it as a gift, pointing out that he could be useful abroad.

Rural Ontario roots

It’s hard to imagine a couple better suited to extend the hand of friendship to Kate and Gerry McCann, who are also devout Christians. Although the McCanns are Roman Catholic, in this seaside town, the lines between Catholic and Protestant are blurred. Both faiths share the pretty, white and mustard yellow-trimmed church, Our Lady of Light, which sits just above the shimmering beach in the town centre.

The McCanns were soon attending Haynes Hubbard’s weekly services, and Susan Hubbard reached out to Kate McCann. In keeping with her rural Ontario upbringing, she made her approach in that very Canadian way of offering food.

“It’s something my mother would always do, being a part of the church community in Canada,” Susan said.

More gifts of food followed, and notes, and soon a warm friendship between Susan Hubbard and Kate McCann began.

Susan wants it known that their friendship is not one-sided. She describes how throughout the McCanns’ own desperate ordeal, Kate inquired about the Hubbards’ children.

“That’s how she is,” Susan said. “In the middle of her grief, she still is such a caring, loving friend.”

In fact, Susan says, it was the McCanns who helped the Hubbards settle in to their new parish. Susan has visited the McCanns since their return to England last September, and the two women keep in close touch through text messages and e-mail.

‘Pray for me’

The Hubbards have faithfully stood by the McCanns throughout their ordeal, and they continue to do so. They hold weekly vigils for Madeleine in Our Lady of Light. A photograph of the little girl’s smiling face is on the wall by the altar. Beside it, the words “pray for me” are written.

Sightings of Madeleine have been reported across Europe and as far away as Australia, each one turning out to be a disappointment. At summer’s end last year, and with no clue to Madeleine’s disappearance, the Portuguese police named her parents as suspects, which in Portugal allows police to question witnesses more thoroughly.

No charges have been laid against the McCanns, but British tabloid newspapers turned on the couple, printing dozens of false stories filled with rumour and innuendo suggesting they were responsible for their daughter’s disappearance. The McCanns sued, and in March, the Express newspaper group paid more than $1 million in damages to the couple and printed front-page apologies. The McCanns are using the funds to support their campaign to find Madeleine as well as to launch a program in Europe similar to the North American Amber Alert system used to find missing children.

The Hubbards, like the McCanns, believe Madeleine may well be alive, and they pray for her safe return. The Hubbards’ faith in God is unwavering, though Susan Hubbard wonders “why our prayers haven’t been answered.”

“I don’t understand that,” she says. “I’ve seen the letters come into their home and their hands. How could so many people be praying for the exact same thing and it not happen? It’s hard.”

http://madeleinemccann.org/blog/2008/05/02/profile-susan-hubbard/

worriedmum wrote:
She's not a thinker , is she?

Understatement of the Year.

The Daily Star - a surprising departure from the norm..

Is this REALLY the man who took Maddie? There's a BIG problem with this sighting

IT’S the Maddie sighting that’s supposed to hold the key to the case, but what do we really know about the mysterious man in this notorious e-fit?

By Michael Havis

   00:00, 13 SEP 2017Updated11:06, 13 SEP 2017

Within an hour of Madeleine McCann disappearing in 2007, a child matching her description was seen in the arms of an unknown man.

He was heading towards the coast just 500 yards from where Maddie vanished in the Portuguese resort town of Praia da Luz.

So intriguing was the sighting that likenesses of the man were pulled together and later broadcast on Crimewatch.



Yet while the world thinks of the man as a key piece of the puzzle, some say the sighting is a dead end.

Daily Star Online visited Praia da Luz and recreated the sighting 10 years after Maddie vanished.

At the same time of night and with similar lighting, we discovered how hard it was to get a good look at a face.

The street, Rua da Escola Primaria, is lit dimly lit by just a few street lamps, a sign from a nearby clinic and moonlight.

Photos of a model, which were taken at the scene and brightened afterwards to better simulate the view, show a face shrouded in shadow.

It’s also worth noting that e-fits are usually produced by an operator under the direction of a witness, in accordance with strict police guidelines.

The e-fits created from this sighting were assembled in 2008, several months after Madeleine disappeared, when witnesses were likelier to misremember.

On the other hand, if they were made without the direction of witnesses – but rather from their statements – the operator is likelier to have influenced the end result.

Given these factors, some have concluded that the man – who was spotted and described by the Smith family from Ireland – is just an innocent bystander.

One local man with knowledge of the case said that, whether the man is innocent or not, "the e-fits almost certainly look nothing like him"

He told Daily Star Online: "I happen to believe he is Portuguese and innocent, but that’s not how he's depicted in Portuguese media.

"They showed the e-fits, but called him Scotland Yard’s chief suspect. They did not include that he might be totally innocent."

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/madeleine-mccann-news-missing-found-17008062

Cuddle Cat What was Madeleine McCann’s Cuddle Cat? How important was it to the police investigation and how long did Kate carry it around for?

Maddie's mum held the toy at press conferences for months after her abduction

Paul Harper

3 May 2019, 8:10Updated: 3 May 2019, 9:49

THE sight of her daughter's favourite toy being moved led to a devastating realisation for Madeleine McCann's mother Kate.

Here we look at the significance of Cuddle Cat and how her mum kept the toy by her side for months following Maddie's abduction.


Kate McCann with missing daughter Madeleine McCann's Cuddle CatCredit: PA

What was Cuddle Cat and why was it important to the investigation?

Mum Kate McCann said she knew Maddie had been abducted when she found her daughter's favourite toy in the room 12 years ago.

She knew Madeleine would never be without the fluffy toy when tired.

The pink toy was her favourite and was in her bed on the night her parents Kate and Gerry left three-year-old Maddie and her two-year-old twin siblings - Amelie and Sean - in their apartment while they dined at a restaurant with friends about 55 metres away.

Kate later recalled how she knew a "crime had been committed" when it appeared "Cuddle Cat" had been taken from her daughter's arms.

A police source told the Sunday Mirror: "When Kate tucked Madeleine up in bed earlier in the evening she had the toy tightly in her arms as she did every night.

"So Kate was terrified when she spotted it had been left in a place too high for her to reach."

Cops did not find any sign of DNA or fingerprints on the toy which had been found on a ledge.

While cops initially believed Maddie could have wandered off and been killed, former Scotland Yard detective Colin Sutton believes the tot would surely have taken her beloved toy "Cuddle Cat" if she had walked out of the apartment.

He said: "Incidents of children wandering off are much more common than a targeted or non-targeted abduction.

"However Cuddle Cat is a compelling fly in the ointment with this theory."

How long did Kate carry the toy?

An emotional Kate was always seen clutching her daughter's beloved toy at press conferences for months.

She said: "It was special to Madeleine, she took it to bed every night. If she was upset or tired she had Cuddle Cat.

"It was special to her so it is special to me."

She carried it around so much that her other daughter Amelie would often make references to the toy.

Kate said: "Amelie will point at Cuddle Cat and say 'Madeleine, her Cuddle Cat, looking after it'.

"She's probably heard me saying that."

A controversial TV drama about the fake kidnap of Shannon Matthews faced criticism for being "insensitive" when it featured mother Karen Matthews clutching a toy before cameras, mimicking Kate.

Irish journalist Brenda Woods, one of the first reporters to meet the McCanns after Maddie vanished, recalled that Kate said "pray for us" while "holding her hands in mine, and holding Cuddle Cat alongside".

Potential sightings of the three-year old followed up by British cops total 8,685 across 101 countries and territories, a Freedom of Information request by The Sun showed in October.

In January 2019, Maddie's parents were boosted by the news that 13-year-old American schoolgirl Jayme Closs had been found three months after her kidnap.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3435619/madeleine-mccann-cuddle-cat-important-portugal-investigation/