The Find Madeleine Fund

SharonL:
 
‘Did they ever repay the money that they used for their mortgage and various other things?’
 
Million dollar question, which of course we cannot ascertain from the little that shows in the accounts.
 
I’m sure we all know the answer, but of course there is no actual evidence either way in the published accounts.
 
And never forget:
 
‘An experienced Fund Administrator has been appointed to ensure the highest standards of transparency and accountability.’
 
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‘Highest standards of transparency and accountability.’
 
Really?

Gerry McCann's blog - day 14, 17th May 2007 (only two weeks after Madeleine's alleged disappearance)..

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There was and indeed still seems to be, some confusion differentiating between donations made to the Find Madeleine Co. Ltd. and pledges made by a number of people to swell the reward on offer by the now defunct News of the World - a dial M for Murdoch tentacle.

A few high profile wealthy individuals pledged considerable amounts for the reward, people like Richard 'tricky dicky' Branson, Sir Philip Green and author JK Rowling.  No one genuine ever claimed the rewad which effectively means the money pledged was safe in the hands of their rightful owners (I use the words tentatively).  If you pledge money, you  don't hand it over until a reward is claimed and paid-out. I believe it can be safely concluded that the generous wealthy didn't part with a single penny of their vast forutunes to aid the McCanns or their infamous 'search'.

A couple of occasions when a private jet or Virgin Atlantic was laid-on can easily be put-down to a publicity stunt.

Who has donated to the fund?

A breakdown of the reward, and a full list of who, including celebrities, has donated to the Madeleine McCann reward fund is:

£10,000 from The Sun newspaper, €15,000 (£10,250) from the Portuguese newspaper Record, £100,000 (€147,000) from a colleague of Kate McCann, £1,000,000 (€1,470,000) from British businessman Stephen Winyard.

A further £1,500,000 (€2,200,000) was raised through a News of The World pledge, including £250,000 from the News of the World themselves, £250,000 from Sir Philip Green, £50,000 from Simon Cowell and £25,000 from Wayne and Coleen Rooney.

Other notable contributors include Sir Richard Branson, JK Rowling, and Bill Kenwright. Harry Potter author JK Rowling donated the highest amount to the News of The World fund, but her figure was undisclosed.

What are the details of the Madeleine McCann reward?

The reward is for anyone that can provide information directly resulting in the safe return of Madeleine.

Kate and Gerry McCann appealing for information
Has anyone ever tried to claim the money?

There have been fraudulent attempts to claim the Madeleine McCann reward money. On June 28th, 2007, police arrested an Italian man and a Portuguese woman over allegations they had tried to defraud the McCanns by claiming a reward for information about Maddie. However, police said there was no direct link with Madeleine's kidnap. Then on July 6th of the same year, police in the Netherlands arrested a man who allegedly demanded two million euros from the McCanns for information about their missing daughter.

As well as this, people have claimed to be raising funds for the Madeleine McCann reward fund. One of these was Debbie Clifton, who was jailed for 90 days after she pleaded guilty to stealing from people, saying she was raising money to go towards trying to find missing Madeleine.

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I don't have time at present to check the detail of this ^^^ from a reliable source so I can't vouch for the accuracy, particularly as it's Netflix associated.  It's only intended as a guide to the basis of the News of the World reward and the total inability for investigative journalists to get their facts right !!!

Note the reward is for "anyone that can provide information directly resulting in the safe return of Madeleine". Similarly worded is object 3.1.1 of Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited.

The only thing that explains (for me) the actions and attitude of the parents, such as their invariable references to "the search" and Dr Gerald McCann's smirk at mention of his missing daughter's possible whereabouts, is the certainty that she can neither be returned nor her body found.

In a few short years the missing family member will be deemed to have attained the age of 18, and her Ward of Court status will need to be revisited. The objects of the fund will become largely redundant, and perhaps investigation will turn to a different direction.

Jonal wrote:In a few short years the missing family member will be deemed to have attained the age of 18, and her Ward of Court status will need to be revisited. The objects of the fund will become largely redundant, and perhaps investigation will turn to a different direction

The Ward of Court proceeding was but a cosmetic exercise, if you study the general reason for making a child a ward of court, it's clear that Madeleine McCann did not fall into the accepted rationale. Confirmed to a certain extent by the inappropriate ramblings of the judge in question. In my view making Madeleine a ward of court was a means to an end - to get their grubby little trotters on information appertaining to the investigation which wouldn't otherwise have been accessible. They failed and so the ward of court became instantly redundant.

A missing person can be legally declared deceased if not found after seven years. Have Messrs McCann considered this option?

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Published 12th May 2007

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Verdi:
 
They failed and so the ward of court became instantly redundant. 

A missing person can be legally declared deceased if not found after seven years. Have Messrs McCann considered this option?
 
From their point of view, having failed to access the police records, it might seem redundant, but as far as we are aware, it is still in place.
 
On that basis, it would be down to the Court to go down the ‘7 year missing’ option, rather than the parents, if the Court so wished.

Presumably though, if the parents approached the Court expressing such a wish, the Court would consider it favourably, unless other factors were present to suggest this was not the appropriate route to take.

From Gerry McCann's Blog..

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This sounds dodgy to me if true. 13th May 2007, news of the world set up The Madeleine Fund. To offer a reward for Madelein's safe return. (why nearly the same name as the Mccann's fund? ) And set up day's apart.

The reward consisted of pledges from the rich and famous and donations from the readers of the  news of the world.

It stated that if the reward was not paid out, the money donated by readers would be shared by 3 charities. Barnardo's  n s p c c and Childline.

Instead in 2011, it was paid into the Mccann's fund. The Mccann's never acknowledged the payment. Gerry Mccann, when asked about it said, That is something you will have to take up with News International. My understanding is the reward was made up of pledges.

News International  at that time , no longer existed.

I forgot to say, I read this on Gerry Mccann's blog by Pamalam.
By Nigel at at Mccann Files.

crusader wrote:This sounds dodgy to me if true. 13th May 2007, news of the world set up The Madeleine Fund. To offer a reward for Madelein's safe return. (why nearly the same name as the Mccann's fund? ) And set up day's apart.

The reward consisted of pledges from the rich and famous and donations from the readers of the  news of the world.

It stated that if the reward was not paid out, the money donated by readers would be shared by 3 charities. Barnardo's  n s p c c and Childline.

Instead in 2011, it was paid into the Mccann's fund. The Mccann's never acknowledged the payment. Gerry Mccann, when asked about it said, That is something you will have to take up with News International. My understanding is the reward was made up of pledges.

News International  at that time , no longer existed.

This was at a time when Murdochs news empire was suffering badly as more people were reading the news on the internet instead of buying papers.  They opened up a new company at the time, just in case the worst happened.

At the same time, Missing People were in difficulty and needed a boost, a new beginning - according to them.

Tony and Cherie Blair were associated with Lady Meyers charity which in turn is associated with Missing People.

Blair sent his media manipulator off to become spokesman for the McCanns

It was Rebekah Brooks who demanded the setting up of operation grange.

And in her words to David Cameron at Leveson - "Were all in this together"

One day we'll complete this jigsaw, we just need those final pieces

Because the Mccann's accepted the £21,000 from the news of the world, ( that should have gone to the 3 charities) it made it look like they knew Madeleine was dead.

It is December 2019, 12.7 years since Madeleine McCann was reported missing. Over twelve years caught in a labyrinth of false information, mainly through the hands of the media but sometimes the McCanns themselves have contributed to this never ending story of deception. Eight years of media/McCann reports of Operation Grange who continue to rumble on month after month, with little or no known progress.

To this very day the official Find Madeleine website, affiliated to The Fund, has this to offer the 'search' (that word again) for their missing daughter. All the money donated by good hearted people - where has it all gone? Are the McCanns and/or Operation Grange still looking for this list of suspects. Wasn't the first ruled out by Operation Grange?

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No Christmas message this year...?

Jill Havern wrote:No Christmas message this year...?

Last year they left it to the very last minute - Boxing Day if I remember rightly .

Jill Havern wrote:No Christmas message this year...?

Maybe we'll be spared this year    

They struggled with finding the reasons they missed their daughter !

sandancer wrote:

Jill Havern wrote:No Christmas message this year...?

Maybe we'll be spared this year    

They struggled with finding the reasons they missed their daughter !

No they didn't!

They missed their daughter because err err erm mmm mmm, eeh oh yer erm err oh yer well .... you know ... err dunno really, well err yeah hmmm rhubarb rhubarb ..... what was the question again?

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This has been today added to the update page of the official Find Madeleine website.  The update published in May 2019, the 12th anniversary..

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Surreal or what ?

madeleine by KATE MCCANN - published April 2011

The directors of the company are Michael Linnett, Edward Smethurst, Jon Corner, Kate and Gerry McCann and Kate’s uncle, Brian Kennedy. Once Madeleine has been found the fund will be used to assist searches for other missing children worldwide.

All quiet on the western front.  They say no news is good news but sometimes I think it's more a case of the calm before the storm - there is always a hurricane lurking on the horizon.

Brexit followed by the general election followed by the threat of war between the US of A and Iran followed by Greta Thunberg followed by coronovirus.  It's put the McCanns well and truly in the shade .... but for how long?

As we speak I'm in no doubt Olive Oyl of the Daily Tablet is concocting tales of woe and her counterpart Tom Towers, digging up something from the archives to cobble together for an exclusive.

The 'official' (as they call it) Find Madeleine website has come to a grinding halt since the tenth anniversary of Madeleine McCann's disappearance.  Scant updates to commemorate a specific event every now and then but nothing informative.  Indeed, they are still promoting the same sightings of the 'abductor', seen by Jane Tanner and the Smith family on the night of 3rd May 2007 - allegedly, that have long since been debunked by the Portuguese and British police and scrutinized to the ninth degree by CMOMM members!

What does next week have in store I wonder slipped in some seedy tabloid between the latest coronavirus death rate and other miscellaneous gossip.

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I await with pregnant anticipation - could it be the right time to announce another stay of execution for Operation Grange?

Try looking at Missing People website which is claiming to be the only charity dedicated to bringing missing children and families back together.

Jim Gamble has removed himself from a business in child protection. No more the Table Mountain visual. Gone is the podium stance betwixt and between the flags of GB and USA.

Jim is now doing Ireland.

Liz Eagles wrote:Try looking at Missing People website which is claiming to be the only charity dedicated to bringing missing children and families back together.

do they have a list of the children they have managed to find ?
Ah, no. I thought not.

Do they have a list of their investigators, their private detectives, an account of the number of hours they spent, the pages of evidence hey translated, the costs of international travel
Ah, no.  I thought not.

£ 3.6million income
£500,000 in Fund raising
£2.7 million of salaries and expenses and pensions and themselves

The 24 hour Help Line is staffed by  . . .   unpaid volunteers, who might get a cup of coffee at 3am, and even perhaps a biscuit.


Cliff Richard is noticeable by his absence from the list of Ambassadors, replaced by Lady – now Baroness – my-husband-won't-give-me my-children-back Meyer
Just as an aside, the children are now adult, have contacted their mother, are both practising doctors, as was their father, but choose not to return to the UK to be anywhere near their mother. WIKI

There was a big issue about this Ernie Allen and NCMEC where the children were not really missing but had been taken abroad with a parent who had custody and was probably resident in the country to which they had returned.

He was guilty of a large number of false child abduction claims but somehow seems to have got away with it.

That's just the thing. The majority of cases involving missing children are the result of a parental dispute and/or involvement.

Funny that innit?

I think the McCanns man-made sightings of potential abductors can be safely buried. Tannerman was excluded by ex-Met Police officer Andy Redwood - thank you Andy but what about the notorious Smithman who mirrored the Tannerman? Is he/she still public enemy number one or was he buried along with the Tannerman?

If so, someone should tell the official Find Madeleine Campaign webmaster because they seem to still be labouring under the misapprehension that he/she is out there and findable.

So, that's the elephant out of the room - what next?

How about wondering why it is so important to team McCann for the world to focus on stranger abduction and the night of Thursday 3rd May 2007.

Smoke and mirrors perhaps?

The entire story line depends on the belief that Madeleine McCann disappeared just before 22:00h on 3rd May 2007.

Do you believe? I don't!

And PACT, which was set up by a woman who had legal custody in the UK, but sent the children to stay with her German husband who refused to send them back.
She then married Sir Whatnot Thingie and became Lady Thingie, took huge amounts from her Charity, which did approximately nothing, and has now been given a peerage, and so is Baroness Thingie.

As we said all those years ago, this was a simple case of Conflict of Laws, which lawyers call Public International.
Nothing to do with Abduction, Charity, Missing children or any other nonsense.

As a matter of record the children are now both doctors in Germany, as was the husband, and although they have been in touch with their mother, they have not 'returned' to the UK to live with her, - or in fact to be anywhere near her.

About the "For as long as it takes" photo..Didn't CMOMM discuss the head-neck-shoulders proportions of the Madeleine in this photo. And the hair length etc.? Or did I read it in a book or record of the case? The fact that the McCanns used it for the update does not prove that the photo is authentic. It is, indeed, a strange photo.