Media Mayhem - MCCANN MEDIA NONSENSE OF THE DAY

Madeleine McCann: Crime Files

On 3 May 2007, three-year-old Madeleine went missing from her family's rented holiday apartment in the Algarve village of Praia da Luz, where she had been sleeping with her younger twin siblings. Her parents, Gerry and Kate, were eating their dinner less than a minute's walk away with seven friends.

They had been making regular trips back to the apartment from the tapas restaurant to check on their children. One of the friends with whom they were dining later said she had seen a man walking quickly across the road in front of her, going away from the apartment block and heading to the outer road of the resort complex.

She said he was carrying a sleeping girl in pink pyjamas, who was hanging in his arms.

Timeline

12th May 2003 - Madeleine McCann born

3rd May 2007 - Madeleine disappeared

15th May 2007 - British expatriate Robert Murat classed as suspect (not been arrested or charged but treated by police as more than a witness)

7th September 2007 - Kate McCann is formally declared an arguida

8th September 2007 - Gerry McCann is given arguido status after further police questioning

3rd February 2008 - The McCanns are no longer suspects

The Investigation

Initially the Portuguese police launched a missing person hunt but within days it became a kidnapping investigation. The police said they were pursuing two lines of investigation. The first possibility being abduction by an international paedophile network and the second being abduction by an adoption network.

When the search revealed no trace of Madeleine, police used information from 30 witnesses to put together a sketch of the person they believed had snatched her.The McCanns made appeals to the person they believed had taken Madeleine and asked for an end to the bitterness from families of other missing children, who claimed detectives were working harder to find Madeleine than their own loved ones.

About two weeks after the youngster went missing, police identified Robert Murat as an ‘arguido’, a suspect, who has thus far not been arrested or charged but is being treated by police as more than a witness. Murat, a 33-year-old estate agent, was described by friends as someone whose over-enthusiasm could lead to him being misunderstood. He was first reported to police by British journalists, who became suspicious of the way he was hanging around the investigation.

The following week a Russian man, Sergei Malinka, who was linked to Murat, was also helping police with enquires.By the end of May 2007, after she had been missing for about three weeks, the detective leading the investigation, Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa, told journalists they had a suspect.

"He is a Caucasian man, 35 to 40 years old, medium build, 5ft 10in tall, hair mainly short, wearing a dark jacket, light or gold trousers and dark shoes."

The McCanns, both doctors from Leicestershire, originally steered clear of media. However, their tactic soon changed and they launched an incredibly high profile, worldwide campaign to find their daughter. A website set up specifically for the toddler received more than 50 million hits in just over 24 hours.

At the same time, the McCanns spoke of their guilt for leaving their children alone at the resort and said, at the very least, they hoped she had been taken by someone who desperately wanted a child of their own rather than an by an abuser.

By June they had an audience with the Pope, who prayed for their daughter and blessed a photograph of her. They also appeared on Spain’s version of ‘Crimewatch’ to make another emotional appeal.

Madeleine’s face was broadcast at the FA Cup Final, which was seen by an estimated 500 million people. Following on from this, a short video about the toddler was shown at the UEFA and Heineken cup finals, while Liverpool players posed with a banner that read, “Bring Maddie Home”.

All this media attention invited criticism of the couple, who were forced to compose themselves at a press conference and were grilled about whether they had anything to do with their daughter’s disappearance.

In the middle of June it looked like there had been a breakthrough in the case, when an anonymous letter was sent to a Dutch newspaper allegedly identifying where Madeleine’s body had been buried.

Dutch police said the letter was being taken seriously because it was similar to one sent to the same newspaper the previous year, which identified the hiding place of the bodies of two missing children. However, the letter turned out to be useless.

Similarly, sightings of blonde girls bearing a resemblance to Maddy McCann were reported, all of which came to nothing.

It was not long before the McCanns become suspects in the investigation. In August, blood samples from the Portuguese apartment where Madeleine had been sleeping were sent to a British laboratory for DNA testing. The blood did not match but did little to stop rumours that the McCanns had themselves been implicit in their daughter’s disappearance.

By September 2007, both parents had been declared formal suspects. Kate McCann was reportedly told she could make a deal with police if she admitted to accidentally killing her daughter, while husband Gerry faced similar interrogation.

The family's spokesman, Justine McGuinness, said Kate McCann was also asked about traces of blood found in a car, hired by the couple four weeks after Madeleine's disappearance, as well as about DNA evidence allegedly found on clothing.

Gerry McCann's sister, Philomena McCann, told reporters, "They are suggesting that Kate has in some way accidentally killed Madeleine, then kept her body, then got rid of it. I have never heard anything so utterly ludicrous in my entire life".

The McCanns flew back to England and Portuguese police admitted that confusion and disagreements in the early stages of the case meant that they found it extremely difficult to prove their suspicion that her parents were somehow involved in Madeleine's disappearance and presumed death. The McCanns strongly and repeatedly denied any involvement.

Meanwhile, sightings of blonde girls continued to flood in from various countries. Journalists flocked in late September 2007 to Morocco after a picture, showing a small blonde girl being carried, was passed to Interpol.

The investigation appeared to face further setbacks after two senior Portuguese police on the case were either removed or requested a leave of absence.

By this stage, both the media and the general public were hooked on the story and were reporting any new evidence that surfaced. One newspaper claimed that traces of Madeleine McCann's body were found on a Portuguese beach, a story later revealed to be untrue. Other front page headlines included, “We can prove parents did it - Portuguese police”; “Kate faces ten years in jail - now parents could be charged with abandoning their children”; “Syringe found in Madeleine's apartment”; “Madeline was 'killed by sleeping pills' - sensational new claim”; “McCanns or a friend must be to blame” and “Parents' car hid a corpse - Portuguese police”.

By November 2007, Gerry McCann had returned to work, although life was far from back to normal. Another newspaper report suggested that the couple had sold their daughter, while yet others said they had sold film rights to the story and that the couple had split up in the face of the enquiry.

Some relief came for the couple in February 2008 when Portugal's most senior police officer suggested that detectives may have been too hasty in making the McCanns official suspects in the investigation into the disappearance of their daughter.

Alípio Ribeiro, the national director of the Polícia Judiciária, conceded that police potentially acted too soon. He said the naming of the parents last September as official suspects might have dissuaded people from coming forward with information that could have helped. By now the case was eight months old and police were no closer to finding the missing girl. The case was beginning to wind down.Free from suspicion, the McCanns were able to take on the terrible reports and libel that had sprung from their plight. In March 2008, Madeleine's parents won a libel settlement and apology from Express Newspapers for suggesting they had been responsible. On that occasion the newspaper group paid £550,000 to the Find Madeleine campaign.The McCanns decided to hire a Spanish detective agency to run a 24-hour confidential telephone line in the hope that new information would be forthcoming, targeted at Spain, Portugal and Morocco, countries they believe may hold leads about Madeleine.

In July 2008, Robert Murat, the first official suspect in the case, accepted a £600,000 damages settlement over allegations in UK newspapers that he had been involved in Madeleine's disappearance. His suspect status was subsequently removed. Several months later, Sky News apologised to Murat and agreed to pay substantial damages over a libellous web story that likened him to a high profile child murderer.

In October 2008, it was ruled that Express Newspapers would pay £375,000 in libel damages to the friends of Kate and Gerry McCann, who were on holiday with them when Madeleine McCann vanished. The money will be donated by the group, known as the Tapas Seven, to the Find Madeleine Fund. Articles published in some of the British newspapers suggested that some of the seven had been identified as potential suspects by the Portuguese authorities.

Amidst the thousands of media reports and millions of pounds worth of publicity and campaigning, to this day Madeleine has still not been found.

The Trial

No trial has been held as no suspect has been arrested. However, other related trials have sprung up since Madeleine McCann’s disappearance due to incorrect media reports and libellous claims.

In July 2008, Robert Murat, the Briton made an official suspect by Portuguese police, accepted a £600,000 damages settlement over allegations in British newspapers that he had been involved in Madeleine's disappearance. His suspect status was subsequently removed.

In March 2007, Madeleine's parents also won a libel settlement and an apology from Express Newspapers for suggesting that they had been responsible. On that occasion, the newspaper group paid £550,000 to the Find Madeleine campaign.

In October 2008, it was ruled that Express Newspapers would pay £375,000 in libel damages to the friends of Kate and Gerry McCann, who were on holiday with them when Madeleine McCann vanished. The money will be donated by the group, known as ‘The Tapas Seven’, to the Find Madeleine Fund. Articles published in British newspapers suggested that some of ‘The Tapas Seven’ had been identified as potential suspects by the Portuguese authorities.

In November 2008, Sky News apologised and agreed to pay substantial damages to Robert Murat over a libellous web story that likened him to a high profile child murderer.

The Key Figures

The victim: Madeleine McCann

Parents of the victim: Kate and Gerry McCann

Official spokesman for the McCanns: Clarence Mitchell

Lawyers for the McCanns: Michael Caplan QC Angus McBride Carlos Pinto de Abreu - one of Portugal's best-known lawyers (He lodged the McCanns’ libel action against Portuguese newspaper Tal & Qual, which said they were police suspects after it was believed they administered their daughter a fatal drug overdose)

The 'Tapas Seven': Dr Matthew Oldfield Mrs Rachael Oldfield Dr Russell O'Brien Jane Tanner Dr David Payne Dr Fiona Payne Dianne Webster
The Arrest

To date, no arrest has been made and Madeleine McCann has not been found

https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/madeleine-mccann

Madeleine McCann: a reporter looks back on a 16-year mystery that never left the front pages

Guardian journalist who was in Praia da Luz at the time reflects on the immediate aftermath of the three-year-old’s disappearance

Daniel Boffey in Silves
Tue 23 May 2023 16.56 BST

On the May morning in 2007 that followed Madeleine McCann’s overnight disappearance from her parents’ holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, a smart resort in a superior part of Portugal’s Algarve, there remained a quiet confidence she would be found in short order.

The staff at the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort, where Gerry and Kate McCann, both doctors, had been enjoying the last couple of days of a week’s break, were scouring the beaches with the help of the locals, but everyone was reluctant to believe that a crime could have been committed here of all places.

The insouciance of the Portuguese police tasked with sealing off the apartment, from which she had gone missing, suggested they also believed this was a storm in a teacup.

The McCanns and their friends – dubbed “the Tapas Seven” after the meal they had been sharing when Madeleine, three, went missing – could be spotted wandering around the resort, lost in their thoughts and racked with anguish; Kate gripping her daughter’s favourite pink teddy, as she would for weeks to come.

But for the journalists in Praia da Luz, in the first hours there was certainly nothing to suggest that this was day one in a 16-year mystery that would dominate the news in Britain for weeks to come, and continue to make the front pages a decade and a half later.

The first public statement by the McCanns came late on Friday night when word went round for the media to gather outside the back of the Ocean Club resort.

With the light fading fast, the McCanns emerged from the apartments, lit up by the flash of camera bulbs. Gerry spoke briefly: “Please, if you have Madeleine, let her come home to her mummy, daddy, brother and sister.”

That night, the press pack filled one of the local restaurants. A man from the British embassy came in and asked for quiet. His presence in itself a sign that something was building. He appealed for the photographers to keep their distance and was given short shrift for his efforts.

There was not a lack of empathy for the McCanns, but the appetite in London for this story was starting to make itself felt. Why was this child still missing?

The next day, it became clear that the Portuguese police were also picking up on the febrile atmosphere. Outside the police headquarters in the closest city, Portimão, the director of the Polícia Judiciária, Guilhermino Encarnação, addressed the mainly British reporters under the baking sun – in Portuguese. He claimed they had a suspect. There was a photofit but he couldn’t provide it as it would risk Madeleine’s life. He believed she was alive, he said, and would be found.

The appetite for Madeleine stories – she became the headline friendly “Maddy” – was insatiable. Reporters’ days were filled with chasing false tips of sightings.

There was crucial CCTV footage at a local petrol station to secure. Reports of abandoned clothing or sightings to confirm. One journalist from the News of the World was asked in all earnestness by his news editor to speak to Nasa “and get Maddy’s face beamed on to the moon”.

The public was asked to stare into posters of Madeleine’s eyes. She had a fleck of brown in her iris. Have you seen these eyes, they were asked.

With the Portuguese police offering scant official information, some reporters filled the gap with increasingly speculative copy, derived in large part from the local press, who were being briefed all manner of conspiracy theories by the local police.

Then the McCanns were named as formal suspects. An unforeseen twist in what was already the biggest story around. Gerry, Kate and their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, left the country on a 7am Sunday flight.

The family’s journey home via East Midlands airport, from where they had flown out a week earlier, was followed with almost obsessive interest. An interest that has hardly waned, and the heartbreaking case is making headlines again.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/23/madeleine-mccann-a-reporter-looks-back-on-a-16-year-mystery-that-never-left-the-front-pages

Police identify Madeleine suspect

By Nick Britten 05 May 2007 • 12:01am  [Note again time of publication]


Gerald and Kate McCann: desperation and despair

Portuguese police have identified a suspect over the kidnapping of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who was snatched from a holiday appartment on Thursday night.

At a press conference today, Guilhermino Encarnacao, director of the judicial police in the Faro region, said he has an artist's impression of the suspect and remains hopeful that the little girl is still alive.

However, he refused to disclose any more information for fear of endangering Madeleine's life.

Gerald and Kate McCann, who were dining just 200 yards away when the kidnapping occurred, yesterday appeared before the media to make a desperate appeal for their daughter's safe return.

Mr McCann’s voice cracked with emotion as he said: “Words cannot describe the desperation and despair we are feeling as parents of our beautiful daughter Madeleine.

“We request that anyone who has any information relating to her disappearance, however trivial, come forward and help us get her back safely.

“Please, if you are holding Madeleine, let her come home to her mummy and daddy, her brother and sister.”

Mr McCann and his wife, clutching a pink teddy bear, then asked for their privacy to be respected before returning inside.

On the night of Madeleine's disappearance Mrs McCann, 39, a GP, made regular half-hourly checks on her children in their room. But when she returned to the ground floor apartment at 10pm, the door was open, the window had been forced and Madeleine was gone.

The other children, two-year-old twins Amelie and Shaun, were still asleep in their cots. Mrs McCann broke down screaming. An immediate search was launched, but the abductor is believed to have escaped through the complex’s main entrance.

Last night the family were still hoping that Madeleine, who like her siblings was conceived through IVF, would be found safe and well. But they began to fear the worst.

Trish Cameron, Mr McCann’s sister, said she received a telephone call from her 39-year-old brother, a consultant cardiologist, who was "hysterical and crying his eyes out".

She said: "They had put the kids to bed at 7pm and checked on them every half an hour as they had dinner nearby with the rest of the party. Gerry said the window was open, the shutters broken and the door, which had been locked, hanging open.

"Kate came screaming back to the group crying, 'They've taken her, they've taken her'. Gerry was crying and roaring like a bull.

"Obviously someone has been watching them, watching the children, seeing where they stayed and seeing they were left alone. It just doesn't bear thinking about.

"They can't have children naturally so, being IVF babies, they were extra special."

She added: "Gerry and Kate are excellent parents and very protective of their children. In hindsight, yes, they wish they hadn't left them alone, but it's hard when you're on holiday.

"The complex was quite open and it looked like anyone could wander in or out."

She said Madeleine had blonde hair and blue eyes, with a distinguishing feature of her right pupil "running down into the iris of her eye". The toddler was wearing white pyjamas when she went missing.

Madeleine's great uncle today described how much the little girl, a keen fan of Dr Who, was looking forward to her holiday.

"Madeleine is a lovely little girl, an intelligent, bright child," he added

Jon Corner, a close friend of Mrs McCann and godparent of the twins, said she telephoned him in the middle of the night distraught.

He said: "She just blurted out that Madeleine had been abducted. She told me, 'They have broken the shutter on the window and taken my little girl.'

"They had left the apartment locked while they were having their meal, but when they went back the last time they saw the damage.

"First they saw one of the window shutters had been forced, and then they saw the door was open and the bed was empty - and Madeleine was gone.

"Obviously Kate was incredibly upset when she phoned. I have spoken to her since, and she is still completely devastated - as we all are for them.

The McCanns, from Rothley, Leics, travelled out last Saturday with a group of friends, all of whom have young children, for a week-long stay at the Mark Warner Ocean Summer Club in Praia da Luz, on the Algarve, renting a two-bedroom apartment with private patio.

The couple, who are Roman Catholics and regular churchgoers, were enjoying dinner at a nearby tapas restaurant with the four other couples. The adults regularly checked on the children.

Around 70 staff and holidaymakers joined the search around the complex and on the nearby beach.

John Hill, the complex manager, said: "It was a very emotional and very frantic night and everyone did a fantastic job of getting involved and trying to search the area.

"As you can imagine, Madeleine's parents are distraught and not doing very well at all." He said the company offered baby sitting services but "for whatever reason, they were not being used". He added the locks on the apartment doors were "quite sophisticated."

Members of the McCann family have flown out to Portugal to help with the search.

Mr and Mrs McCann met when they were medical students in Scotland and became close while travelling in New Zealand. They were married nine years ago in Mrs McCann's home town of Liverpool.

They lived in Glasgow for a while and as Mr McCann's career took off they moved to Queniborough, Leics, in 2000, when he began working at the Glenfield hospital in Leicester, a leading heart specialist centre.

Mr McCann, one of five siblings, was placed on secondment to Holland for two years, where the twins were conceived.

They returned to the Midlands in 2004 and moved into their current five-bedroom detached home last summer.

Mrs McCann works one and a half days a week at a surgery in Melton Mowbray, Leics, and spends the rest of the time looking after the children.

Tracey Horsfield, 32, a neighbour, said: "They are delightful people, a normal, very caring family. They are extremely protective of the children and would never let them be alone.

"They idolised them and this is the last thing you would have thought would have happened to them."

The couple would have paid around £1,500 for their week-long stay in an area popular with British holidaymakers.

Ocean Club, near Lagos, boasts that visitors will enjoy "privacy in numerous villa-style accommodations dotted throughout an independently-working village".

The company's brochures also claim the atmosphere is so relaxed and exclusive that "you're as likely to pass a local as another tourist".

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1550667/Police-identify-Madeleine-suspect.html

A particular version of the truth is now traversing across the continent of Africa and has landed, for some inexplicable reason, in Kenya's equivalent to 'The News of the Screws' - Tuko who have happened across Madeleine McCann mystery this very week.

Make you own mind up..

Was Madeleine McCann found alive and well? Here's the truth

Tuesday, August 01, 2023 at 12:39 PM by Teresia Mwangi

In May 2007, Madeleine McCann made headlines when she disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal. She was three years old at the time. The girl's disappearance triggered an outpouring of public interest, and netizens are curious to know if the British girl has been found. So was Madeleine McCann found alive and well?

From Charley Ross's disappearances to Adam Walsh's abduction, there are several kidnapping cases that have made history. In some cases, the victims were recovered alive. However, some disappearances remain unresolved to this date. Madeleine McCann's disappearance is a case in point.

Who is Madeleine McCann?

Madeleine Beth McCann was born on May 12, 2003, in Leicester, Leicestershire, England. The names of her parents are Kate and Gerry McCann. Her parents are both physicians. Madeleine has twin siblings, Sean and Amelie. The twins were born in 2005.

What happened to the McCann family?

Madeleine McCann made headlines in May 2007 when she disappeared from a holiday apartment. Her parents had gone for a vacation in Praia da Luz, Portugal, with a group of friends. On the fateful night, Madeleine's parents joined their friends for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

They left Madeleine and her twin siblings sleeping in the apartment. But, they devised a plan to check on the kids every half an hour. Gerry came to check on the children at around 9 PM, and they were all sleeping on their beds.

When her mother returned to check on the children a few minutes later, she discovered Madeleine was missing from her bed. A search was conducted on the complex and its surroundings all night, but she was not found. Hundreds of people volunteered to search for the little girl, but the search yielded no results.



A few days after her disappearance, the police issued a statement claiming that the little girl had been abducted from the hotel room and launched an investigation into the case. Initially, her parents were named the main suspects but were later cleared.

Has Madeleine McCann been found yet?

Unfortunately, Madeleine has not yet been found. It is sixteen years since she disappeared, but there are no definitive answers from the investigation. Uncertainty still swirls around her disappearance.

The investigation has cost millions of pounds, but nothing conclusive has been found. Many years have passed by, and the hopes of finding Madeleine alive have dwindled. But, the search for Madeleine continues because her parents believe that she is still alive somewhere and they will be reunited with her in the foreseeable future.

Her parents have written and published a book about her disappearance to keep the search for their missing daughter alive. The book was released in May 2011 during her eighth birthday. In May 2023, the McCann family marked the 16th anniversary of her disappearance.



Madeleine Mccann's latest news

Recently, Madeleine McCann's disappearance case took a new twist when a Polish woman, Julia Faustyna, came out publicly and claimed she was the missing Madeleine. Julia pointed out similarities between herself and Madeleine.

She submitted samples of forensic examinations to prove that she was the missing girl. So what were the results of the Madeleine McCann test? The results showed that she had no ties to the McCann family.

Madeleine Mccann's update

In May 2023, the investigation team in Portugal conducted a new search around the Arade reservoir based on a new tip. Sniffer dogs were deployed to the area in an operation that lasted several days. The uncovered material was analyzed, but details of what was discovered from the analysis have not been made public.

Madeleine McCann's disappearance - Wrapping up  



So was Madeleine McCann found alive and well? It is unclear if Madeleine is still alive or not. Despite extensive investigations, very little information has been uncovered on the whereabouts of Madeleine since she was abducted in 2007. But, her parents are still hopeful that she is still alive and well somewhere.

https://www.tuko.co.ke/facts-lifehacks/celebrity-biographies/515760-was-madeleine-mccann-alive-s-truth/



The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

A reminder of days gone by - for obvious reasons I think..

EXCLUSIVE



by Simon Wright 23rd May [that month again] 2009

Paedo Raymond Hewlett admits visiting Madeleine holiday flats

Paedo's shock confession to holiday couple: 'I know Madeleine resort very well..I’ve parked near flat several times.

The British paedophile linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has sensationally confessed to being outside her holiday apartment “many times”.

Convicted pervert Raymond Hewlett, 64, has admitted knowing the resort where the McCanns were holidaying “very well” and said he had parked a van close to their complex on several occasions.

And last night a man who shared a Morocco campsite with Hewlett and his family for three months described how the drifter was obsessed with the missing youngster.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mirror, former Scots Guard Peter Verran, 46, revealed how Hewlett, his German wife Mariana, 33, and their six children arrived at the campsite where he was holidaying in Chefchaaouen in a battered Dodge truck. It was May 2007 – shortly after Madeleine’s disappearance.

“He seemed like an old hippy traveller who had dropped out,” said Peter, who runs an internet business selling antiques and collectibles from his home in Fowey, Cornwall.

“We got talking at the toilet block. He brought Madeleine up straight away. He said his three-year-old daughter looked like her.

“He was worried that because there had been reports that Madeleine may have been spirited away to Morocco, people might think his child was her. Then he suddenly said, ‘Madeleine’s not in Morocco’.

“I asked him what he meant and he said he knew Praia Da Luz really well. He knew the Ocean Club complex where the McCanns had been staying. He said he’d been there many times and had often parked his van close to the apartment.



“He said he knew the layout of the place, the flat and the restaurant where the McCanns and their friends had been eating when Maddie disappeared. He had a lot of detail about the layout. He said there was no way that the child could be taken without the parents seeing. He said they were lying.”

Yesterday it emerged that Portuguese police did speak to Hewlett about Madeleine’s disappearance – but ruled him out as a suspect.

Peter also revealed that pothead Hewlett made wild and unfounded claims that the McCanns – both doctors, from Rothley, Leics – were involved in their daughter’s disappearance.

“One of Hewlett’s theories was that there had been an accident and Kate and Gerry had killed her and were trying to cover it up,” said Peter.

“He even made the crazy suggestion that her mum and dad had sold her to gipsies. He said it was common knowledge among locals that Praia Da Luz in general and the Ocean Club in particular was a magnet for Romanian gipsies who abduct and then traffic children.

"I asked him why he’d left and come to Morocco. He told me he’d had to leave Portugal in a hurry. He said he’d packed his family up in half an hour and just driven out of the area. That was just after Maddie was taken.”
Peter, who is partially disabled, met his Moroccan wife Nisrine, 25, when he was holidaying in Agadir.

They married in May 2007 and when they encountered Hewlett at the remote campsite, they were enjoying an extended honeymoon touring the country in a camper van.

“We’d been there a week or so when Hewlett and his family just rolled in in a big blue Dodge truck,” said Peter, who has two children from a previous marriage. “I didn’t see him for a few days. I just saw his wife and kids. She’d checked them in to the campsite and seemed to be handling all the paperwork. In Morocco, you have to have the right papers to stay anywhere. Looking back, it seems Hewlett was reluctant to be seen by anyone in authority.”

After a few days, Peter began bumping into Hewlett and they started to chat. “He told me he had been in Southern Ireland once but had to leave in a hurry,” said Peter. “He explained that he and his wife were travellers and they moved around a lot. He said he spent his days sitting around smoking dope while his six kids played.

“The kids were a bit weird. They were very withdrawn and couldn’t speak properly. They never went to school and spent all day playing in the mud.

“Hewlett told me he was ill and suffered with pains in his chest. One day he said, ‘I think I’ve got cancer’. I told him to go back to England to get checked out and to sort the kids out with a proper home. He said he didn’t want people poking their noses into his business.’’

Peter told how he and Nisrine would eat meals with Hewlett’s family – and Hewlett would often talk about Madeleine. “He went on and on about the McCanns and kept telling me all his theories about what he thought had happened,” said Peter. “Looking back, maybe it was a way of making sure we didn’t think he had anything to do with it.”

Peter, who spent six years in the Army before working with people with learning difficulties, recalled how in the three months they were all together he only saw Hewlett leave the camp once or twice. “Most of the time he stayed on the campsite,” he said. “He was never short of money though. He bought diesel, a motorbike and engine parts. I don’t know where he got his money from. He said he’d made cash from car boot sales.”

Then, one day in August 2007, Hewlett announced he and his family were leaving. “He said his wife’s visa had run out and his passport was out of date,” said Peter. “They packed up and left quickly.”

Peter and Nisrine returned to the UK in November 2007 and had occasional texts or phone calls from Hewlett. “He said he was back in Tavira, near Praia Da Luz, doing car boot sales,” Peter said.

“In June last year, he rang to say he had throat cancer. The next I heard they were in Spain. He called to ask for money and I sent him £50. I couldn’t bear the thought of his kids starving. I even offered to pay for him to come back to the UK. I didn’t get a reply and we lost touch.

“Then suddenly this week he was in the newspapers linked to Maddie’s disappearance. I could hardly believe my eyes. It was such a massive shock. It makes my blood run cold. We haven’t been able to sleep much since the news broke. I keep feeling guilty that I should have noticed something and gone to the police. But I just thought he was an odd drifter. I pray he hasn’t had anything to do with it, but now I just don’t know.”

Detectives working for the McCanns are now investigating former trawlerman Hewlett. And officers from Leicestershire Police – the McCanns home force and in charge of liaising with Portuguese authorities – have said they want to speak to two British holidaymakers who tracked down Hewlett.

Cindy and Alan Thompson raised the alarm after they realised he and his family had been staying at a camping site an hour from Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished. The couple helped to trace him to the hospital in Germany where he is being treated for throat cancer.

Last night Leicestershire Police were made aware of the Sunday Mirror’s new revelations. Hewlett is also wanted for questioning by West Yorkshire Police over a child sex attack in 1975 and by Greater Manchester Police investigating the 1975 abuse of an eight-year-old girl.

In 1972, he abducted and sexually assaulted a neighbour’s six-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to 18 months and released after a year. In 1978 he attempted to rape a nine-year-old girl and was jailed four years. In 1988 in Mold, Cheshire, he kidnapped and assaulted a 14-year-old girl and was jailed for six years.

He was described by one judge as “extremely dangerous” and once featured on a Crimestoppers list of Most Wanted Paedophiles.

[Acknowledgement: pamalam of gerrymccannsblog]
....................

The similarities between this and a certain other individual of German origin are uncanny - squint the eyes a bit a you might be inclined to think one is the alter-ego of the other.

It's curious, or perhaps obvious, to note the McCann's private detectives involvement in many of these witness stories - so many who say they reported something to the Portuguese police and/or the UK police but never heard back.  



This is nothing new, indeed it's listed on the forum's Bearing False Witness thread but my interest here is the involvement of Metodo3 - again!

Original Source:  THIS IS LONDON; MON 31 DEC 2007-MAIL LINK
By FIONA BARTON, DAN NEWLING and VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 15:55 31 December 2007

Two British sisters gave a dramatic account of a pair of strangers watching the Ocean Club pool and tapas bar hours before Madeleine McCann vanished.

In an exclusive interview, Jayne Jensen and Annie Wiltshire told how they saw two blond men in their 30s, standing on the balcony of an empty apartment only a couple of doors away from the McCanns' flat in Praia da Luz.

And they provided further evidence that Robert Murat, the first official suspect in the case, lied about his whereabouts on the night Madeleine disappeared.

Mrs Jensen, a 54-year-old businesswoman, says she saw Mr Murat outside the McCann apartment half an hour after the alarm was raised.

The expatriate estate agent claims he was at home with his elderly mother all night, but it has emerged that a British barrister on holiday with his wife and children has corroborated Mrs Jensen's account.

Although the two sisters contacted Portuguese police within hours of Madeleine's disappearance, their evidence was ignored for six months.

The women met police three times within 24 hours, tried to find out who the strangers were themselves and made several follow-up phone calls to the authorities.

But it was not until six weeks ago that a formal statement was finally taken.

The two women, both divorcees from Maidstone, Kent, spent 11 hours with British police officers providing details of their evidence and later met private detectives from Metodo 3, the agency employed by the McCanns to find their daughter.

They intended to remain anonymous but when their names were leaked to a Portuguese newspaper and they found themselves wrongly accused of waiting eight months before coming forward, they decided to reveal the truth.

The sisters said they were immediately struck by the behaviour of the two men on the balcony.

The pair, tanned and in Bermuda shorts, were standing outside the patio doors of a groundfloor apartment, which had been unoccupied all week, and were looking out over the resort's family swimming pool and restaurant area.

Mrs Wiltshire, 58, a mother of two, said: "It was odd because I hadn't seen them before. In May the resort wasn't busy.

There were only about 60 of us staying in the apartments and you got to recognise all the other people.

"One of the guys was walking down the steps and as I looked at him, he walked back up and started talking to the other one.

"They had a view of the whole Ocean Club and the McCanns' apartment. It just showed how easy it would be for anyone to use those balconies to watch the area. It has haunted me ever since."

That evening - May 3 - Madeleine disappeared from her bed as her parents, Gerry and Kate ate dinner with seven friends in the tapas bar.

The sisters, who helped search for the child that night, went to police the next day to report the sighting of the strangers and their concerns.



Mrs Wiltshire, who went on holiday with her sister to recover from a cancer operation, said: "The theory is that Madeleine could have been targeted. This story proves how easily it could have been done but the Portuguese police were not interested.

"It makes you wonder if there are more of us out there who have tried and not succeeded in reporting things they saw but have given up.

"They might not have been as persistent and tenacious as us but we were determined to get the information to the police somehow."



The two women had been in Praia da Luz for a week before the McCanns - Gerry, Kate, three-year-old Madeleine and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie - arrived with a party of doctors for a short break.

Mrs Jensen and her sister were in the same daily tennis coaching group as Mr McCann. It was organised by Mark Warner, the tour operator which manages the Ocean Club complex.

"We never met Kate," Mrs Jensen said. "And we never socialised with Gerry. We just played tennis."

On the evening of May 3, the sisters ate in the same tapas restaurant as the McCann party.

Neither of them remembers the doctors being rowdy or drinking heavily that night, as other witnesses have suggested.

Mrs Jensen, a bar manager, said: "They were not noisy or dominating the restaurant. They were just a party of friends enjoying a meal."

The sisters finished their dinner and left to walk down into the village for a nightcap.

"We were on the way to the bar when we heard the hue and cry about a missing child," added Mrs Jensen.

"The Mark Warner staff were being called on their phones and everyone thought it was a child who had wandered out of her room, looking for her parents.

"Apparently it had happened before and there was a drill they carried out. I left Annie in the bar and came back up to the apartments to see if I could help. It was only then I realised the scale of the search.

"I went straight into the creche area and checked the play area and Wendy House but found nothing."

It was then that Mrs Jensen saw 34-year-old Mr Murat for the first time. She saw a man light a cigarette as he stood on the street corner opposite the McCanns' ground-floor apartment.

She said: "I had semi-given up smoking and was thinking I could do with a cigarette when this bloke just along the pavement from me lit up. I noticed him but didn't think anything more of it."

A middle-aged barrister, a near neighbour of Mrs Jensen in the holiday complex, has told police that he spoke to her at the time and also saw Mr Murat.

The next day, said Mrs Jensen, Mr Murat introduced himself to her and her sister.

"It was hideous when we realised that the little girl had not been found. It really began to hit home that something horrible had happened.

"I thought maybe she had fallen down a manhole, or hit her head. I didn't think she had been taken at that point and we helped search bins and scrubland."

As they and the other holidaymakers combed the area, Mrs Jensen met another member of her tennis coaching group, TV producer Jez Wilkins.

"Jez told me it was Gerry's daughter we were looking for. I hadn't realised before that moment.

"Jez said that he knew Gerry had checked the children because he had met him coming back from the apartment."

As the hours passed without any sighting of Madeleine, Mrs Wiltshire became increasingly concerned about the strangers she had seen the day before.

She said: "I didn't know if it was significant or not but I needed to tell the police in case it helped.

"I got a member of Mark Warner's staff to get a policeman to come and see me and told two officers about the men I had seen.

"I told them they were blond and one had curly hair. One was stockier than the other and they had obviously just opened the gate and walked up to the balcony.

"I showed the policemen the balcony and as I was explaining the circumstances, Robert Murat appeared and started translating for me."

Mr Murat was acting as an unofficial interpreter for the police and Mrs Wiltshire assumed he was part of the police force.

Later that day, she and her sister bumped into him again and he asked them if they needed any more help with the police and whether they had remembered anything else.

Mrs Jensen said: "He said he was helping the police because he lived locally and he was very helpful."

That evening, the two sisters joined the barrister and his wife for a glass of wine on the balcony of their apartment.

They were discussing Madeleine's disappearance and the apparent failure of the police to set up a crime scene when Mr Murat walked past, saw them and joined them uninvited.

Mrs Jensen said: "He was wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans and he said he needed to go home and change because it had been a long day, which was odd, because he had already changed out of the clothes he had been wearing earlier."

After Mr Murat left, the barrister told the sisters he found him "odd".

His wife was distraught about Madeleine's disappearance and the couple were desperate to leave the resort. Their names have not been revealed.

Mrs Jensen insists she is not conducting "a witch hunt" against Mr Murat.

"It was only after he was made an arguido (official suspect) that I realised any of this information could be important."

Other witnesses who have placed Mr Murat near the McCann apartment that night include Mark Warner nanny Charlotte Pennington, two tourists who contacted Metodo 3 independently and three of the McCanns' friends, Fiona Payne, Rachael Oldfield and Russell O'Brien.

But friends and family of Mr Murat insisted he was not there. His mother Jennifer, 71, said: "People who say he was outside Madeleine's apartment that night are telling lies.

"I challenge them to tell Portuguese police what they're telling the McCanns' investigators."

When Mrs Jensen got home, she made a number of calls to police and Crimestoppers. She gave them an outline of the sightings and was told someone would call her back but nobody did.

In September, the two women went back to Praia da Luz to try to make direct contact with the McCanns but as they arrived, Kate and Gerry were made official suspects and left to return to Britain.

The sisters admit they might have let things go at that point but the constant mention of Madeleine in the press kept nagging at them.

In desperation they finally e-mailed the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell and told him what they knew.

Within days, they were contacted by Leicestershire police who apologised for the delay and sent an officer round to interview them.

"They were there for 11 hours, finishing at midnight and we finally got to sign a statement," added Mrs Jensen.

"All we wanted was to get the information to the right people. It is just ridiculous that no one would help us."

A spokesman for the McCanns said: "We remain extremely grateful to Annie and Jayne for making the efforts they have to get their information to us.

"They have been trying since day one and have only wanted to help Kate and Gerry find Madeleine.

"They are utterly credible witnesses and we are very grateful to them."

? Kate McCann hopes to return to Portugal once she has been cleared as a suspect in her daughter's disappearance, friends said yesterday.

Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry expect to be re-interviewed by police early in the New Year, and hope it will bring them a step closer to being eliminated as arguidos - official suspects.

The couple, both 39, would then be free to continue their campaign work and believe Portugal could still hold the key to finding Madeleine.

Once the lead story on every Portuguese television bulletin and newspaper, the case is now attracting less attention and an appeal by the McCanns would give the coverage fresh impetus.

But the couple cannot speak freely about the case while they remain arguidos as they are bound by the country's strict secrecy laws, which ban witnesses or suspects from talking about the case.

A friend said: "If they were to go to Portugal now it would seem like they were trying to put pressure on the police, and they don't want that.

"But if they were cleared as arguidos then it would change everything.

"They would be cleared in the eyes of the judicial system and technically in the eyes of the world, although they realise that there will always be some people who view them with suspicion."

[Acknowledgement:  pamalam of gerrymccannsblog]

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t15551p25-bearing-false-witness#425328

Branson aid for McCanns

16th September 2007

Billionaire businessman Sir Richard Branson is backing the McCann family with a £100,000 to fight police suspicions over their daughter's disappearance.

Sir Richard - who originally put up £100,000 as part of £1.5m reward money to find four-year-old Madeleine when she disappeared - has been in touch with several wealthy figures to encourage them to now contribute to the McCanns' legal fund.

Sir Richard has also spoken directly to Gerry and Kate McCann to offer them his support.

He made his second donation because they are barred from using any money previously raised by donations to search for little Madeleine.



The couple have been named suspects in the inquiry into the disappearance of their daughter in Portugal on May 3. They deny the allegation.

The McCann camp has welcomed the donation.

A spokesman for the tycoon, whose family home is in Mill End, Kidlington, said: "This is a chance to give them a fair hearing.

"Over the last few weeks Richard has been watching events as they have unfolded.

"There is a whole family involved here.

"When the McCanns said under no circumstances would they touch the Find Madeleine Fund and mentioned they would sell their house, Richard just felt he had to do something. They just need their chance to have a fair hearing.

"He is a father and there is a missing child out there in all of this. At the end of the day, a little four-year-old is still missing.

"If Richard can help a little bit to take the burden off the family and extended family by helping in this small way then that is all to the good."

The McCanns had also said they did not want to use any of the £1m "Find Madeleine" fund to finance their legal costs.

At the same time, they have announced an £80,000 advertising campaign to help find Madeleine.

The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, face further questioning by detectives investigating the case.

A spokesman for the McCanns told the Oxford Mail: "We don't comment on individual donations but I'm sure Kate and Gerry are happy to have this kind of support."

They returned to the UK last weekend, but the scrutiny surrounding them has continued.

Detectives in Portugal are said to be working on the theory that Mrs McCann may have accidentally killed her daughter and relied on her husband to cover it up, a claim they reject as "ludicrous".

Members of the public who wish to give money are being asked to carry on donating to the Find Madeleine fund.

The £80,000 from the Madeleine Fund, established to search for the four-year-old, will be spent on newspaper, television and billboard adverts.

Sir Richard has kept in touch with the couple since Madeleine disappeared from their holiday apartment.

Today the couple attended mass at their local church in Rothley for the first time since returning home.

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/1692056.branson-aid-mccanns/

Don't be filthy

Almost one year ago..

Gloating Portuguese cop says the McCanns 'are still suspects' in the disappearance of Madeleine hours after the family lose libel legal battle against his book

Kate and Gerry McCann lost latest round of legal battle with Goncalo Amaral
Ex-police chief said the couple 'remain suspects' over Maddie's disappearance
Pair had sued cop for libel after he published a book suggesting they were involved in the disappearance of daughter Madeleine in 2007
Parents won the initial case but ruling was overturned by Portuguese judges in 2017, prompting them to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights
European judges today ruled in Amaral's favour, opening door to another appeal

By Natalia Penza and Nick Pisa for MailOnline

Published: 16:47, 20 September 2022 | Updated: 17:11, 20 September 2022

The Portuguese ex-police chief who probed the disappearance of Madeleine McCann said her parents are 'still suspects' as he gloated over his court win today.

Goncalo Amaral laid into Gerry and Kate in a radio interview in his native country after learning they had lost the latest round of their libel battle against his 2008 book.

The couple had taken him to the European Court of Human Rights after years of litigation in his homeland over Truth of the Lie, which accused them of covering up Madeleine's 'accidental' death in their Praia da Luz holiday apartment in May 2007.

The McCanns reacted to their court defeat by admitting they were 'naturally disappointed' at the decision but insisting they had no regrets about pursuing their long and arduous legal battle.

They said it meant the focus was now 'rightly' on the search for Madeleine and her abductors.

Hours later, Amaral was on Portuguese radio, insisting: 'Today the court referred once again to an important question.

'The couple are suspects, were suspects and remain suspects. Nothing else happened to the contrary.'

Referring to prime suspect Christian Brueckner who Amaral has claimed in the past is a scapegoat, he added in an interview on Radio Renascenca: 'Thousands even millions of euros have been invested in recent years to create a false suspect.'

Amaral's comments came despite the McCanns having their 'arguido' status lifted by the Portuguese authorities in July 2008.

Portugal's Supreme Court said in 2017 in a previous ruling on the Amaral book that did not mean they had been cleared and did not equate to 'proof of innocence.'

But all new lines of inquiry in recent years, both in Portugal and the UK as well as in Germany where Brueckner is serving a seven-year prison sentence for raping an American pensioner, have excluded any responsibility of the parents.

The German was recently made an 'arguido' or suspect in Portugal.

Amaral, removed as head of the initial Policia Judiciaria inquiry which led to the finger being pointed at the McCanns, crowed after learning the latest court decision over his book had gone against the couple: 'This is a victory for Portuguese justice against those who do not want the discovery of the truth of the realisation of justice.

'So many times Portugal is defeated in the ECHR and today it emerged victorious.'

The McCanns won their initial libel case against Amaral but he appealed and Portuguese judges reversed the decision - prompting the McCanns to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

European judges delivered their verdict today and rejected the appeal, giving the McCanns three months to decide whether to appeal again. A source close to the pair told MailOnline they are 'disappointed' and are reviewing their legal options.

A statement posted on the official 'Find Madeleine McCann' Facebook page, the McCanns said: 'We are naturally disappointed with decision of the European Court of Humans Rights announced today.

'However, much has changed since we started legal proceedings 13 years ago against Mr Amaral, his publisher and broadcaster.

'We took action for one and only one reason: Mr Amaral's unfounded claims were having a detrimental impact on the search for Madeleine.

'If the public believed that we were involved in her disappearance, then people would not be alert for possible clues and may not report relevant information to the relevant law enforcement agencies.

'The focus is now rightly on the search for Madeleine and her abductor(s). We are grateful for the ongoing work by the British, German and Portuguese police.

'We hope that with, the help of the public, hard work and diligence we can eventually find those responsible for Madeleine's disappearance and bring them to justice.'

Lawyers for Kate and Gerry had been arguing that the Portuguese courts breached their right to respect for a private and family life in the way the case was handled.

They also argued their right to a fair hearing had been damaged by Amaral's statements alleging their involvement.

However, European judges rejected that claim - saying the McCanns' reputation had actually been damaged by Portuguese police naming them as suspects for a short time and not Amaral's comments.

They also dismissed claims that Portuguese authorities had breached their right to privacy, noting the parents had taken part in their own media interviews and participated in a documentary.

In a five page judgement issued today, the seven judges wrote: 'The Court considered that, even assuming that the applicants' reputation had been damaged, this was not an account of the argument put forward by the book's author.

'Rather [their reputation was damaged] as a result of the suspicions expressed against them, which had led to their being placed under investigation in the course of the criminal investigation.'

The judges added: 'The information had thus been brought to the public's attention in some detail even before the investigation file was made available to the media and the book in question published.

'It followed that the national authorities had not failed in their positive obligation to protect the applicants' right to respect for their private life.'

The Court in Strasbourg also highlighted how Portugal's Supreme Court in previous rulings had 'not implied any guilt on the applicants or even suggested suspicions against them' saying that as a result their 'complaint concerning their right to be presumed innocent was manifestly ill-founded.'

Rejecting the argument that the book had harmed their right to a private life, the judges noted that the McCann's themselves had undertaken a tour of media interviews following the book's publication.

'In particular they cooperated in a documentary programme about their daughter's disappearance and continued to give interviews to the media,' they said.

'While the Court understood that the book's publication had undeniably caused anger, anguish and distress to the applicants it did not appear that the book, or the broadcasting of the (Amaral) documentary, had a serious impact on the applicants social relations or on their legitimate and ongoing attempts to find their daughter.'

The panel was headed by president Gabriele Kucsko-Stadimayer from Austria, as well as British judge Tim Eicke and colleagues from Bulgaria, Armenia, Andorra, Netherlands and Portugal.

A source close to the family said: 'They felt very strongly about the case, otherwise they wouldn't have taken it to the European Court of Human Rights.

'Clearly in their eyes Goncalo Amaral's comments were completely unjustified and they felt compelled to take the case against the Portuguese Supreme Court ruling to Strasbourg. They will now examine the judgement and decide what to do.

'The most important thing for them is finding what happened to their daughter and that has always been uppermost for them.'

Madeleine was three years old when she vanished from a holiday apartment where she was staying with her parents, brother and sister in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Kate and Gerry had been eating in a restaurant near the apartment with a group of friends who were going back periodically to check on the sleeping children.

But when Kate went back to the apartment around 10pm to check on the children, she found that Madeleine was missing.

Despite years of investigations - initially by Portuguese police led by Amaral, and later by British detectives - no trace of the schoolgirl has ever been found.

In 2020, investigators took the extraordinary step of naming the chief suspect as Christian Brueckner - a German man currently in jail in his home country for rape.

Brueckner has previous convictions for child sex offences and drug smuggling, and in 2007 was known to be living out of a camper van near Praia da Luz.

Police say they have phone records that place Brueckner in the vicinity of the apartment where Madeleine was sleeping on the night she vanished, but cannot currently prove he took the girl.

Cops revealed his identity in the hopes of convincing someone with information to come forward, and have said they hope to bring charges this year.

Brueckner's lawyers have stressed that he has not been formally charged and he has reportedly written a letter to German prosecutors from his jail cell telling them to 'put up or shut up'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11231591/Gloating-Portuguese-cop-says-McCanns-suspects-disappearance-Madeleine.html

Messrs Penza and Pisa - taking the.

Why do you say gloating?  Did you say the same when a previous court decision ruled in favour of the McCanns - did they gloat?

Read and learn..

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/

Snr Amaral wrote: 'The couple are suspects, were suspects and remain suspects. Nothing else happened to the contrary.'

Correct!

Penza 'n Pisa wrote: Amaral's comments came despite the McCanns having their 'arguido' status lifted by the Portuguese authorities in July 2008.

Incorrect!

Not at all biased, are they? What scummy people. Snr. Amaral has never gloated. Neither has he lied.

PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN ALERT !!!

Portuguese Detective Ordered Off Madeleine Case

Goncalo Amaral, head of McCann investigation, sacked after barbs about parents.

ByFABIOLA ANTEZANA

LONDON, Oct. 2, 2007 — -- The Portuguese detective in charge of the Madeleine McCann investigation was removed from the case Tuesday after he gave a newspaper interview accusing the missing girl's parents of wrongly influencing U.K. police.

"Goncalo Amaral, head of the regional judicial police in Portimão, has been taken off the case Madeleine," a source at police headquarters in Portimão, who asked not to be identified, told ABC News. The source would not elaborate on the reason for the decision.

Amaral's dismissal follows a series of accusations he made in an interview with a local Portuguese newspaper in which he criticized Leicester police for chasing leads created and worked by the McCanns themselves.

"They [the U.K. police] have forgotten that the couple are still suspects in the death of their daughter Madeleine," Amaral told Diario de Noticias Tuesday.

Amaral told the Portuguese daily that the McCanns were doing their best to manipulate the investigation, saying, "they [British police] have only been working on what the McCanns want and what suits them."

Portuguese Justice Minister Alberto Costa declined to comment on the case. He said that police were focusing their attention on the investigation.

Although Amaral has lost his current position with the judicial police, he has not been dismissed from the force. A replacement for him hasn't yet been announced.

The McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, also refused to comment on Amaral's dismissal. He did tell reporters that the 39-year-old doctors remain committed to helping local police find their daughter. The child vanished May 3 after the McCanns left her alone when they left their holiday flat to go to dinner.

"Gerry and Kate have consistently said that they are happy to cooperate fully with the Portuguese authorities and will continue to do so no matter who is in charge of the Madeleine investigation," Mitchell told reporters.

This is not the first time chief inspector Amaral has faced public criticism for his lead role in a murder investigation.

In 2004, Amaral and four other officers were accused of allegedly beating a Portuguese woman into confessing to the murder of her 8-year-old daughter.

Leonor Cipriano, 36, is currently serving a 16-year sentence for killing her daughter, Joana, who went missing in September 2004 in a town less than 15 miles from where Madeleine McCann disappeared. Joana's body has never been found.

Many were surprised that Amaral was allowed to spearhead the McCann investigation, particularly since the 3-year-old case against him and his officers has yet to be resolved. According to local reports, Amaral and four other officers will be in court this month to face charges surrounding the beating allegations, as well as charges that involve falsifying documents.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=3680323&page=1

Man v. Woman .... Woman v. Man
Court of Human Rights

How have Madeleine McCann's parents been treated?

Published

15 May 2011

This week was Madeleine McCann's eighth birthday and her mother, Kate McCann, released a book about the missing child. Commentators have reflected on how the McCanns have been treated by the press over the last four years.

In the Telegraph Allison Pearson recalls the "vitriolic" online comments about Kate McCann, which accused her of selfishness and said she "had it coming".

"Kate McCann's 'crime' - a lapse for which she would receive a life sentence - was to have left her children sleeping while having dinner 100 metres away, returning to their apartment every half-hour," Pearson says.

"It was a latter-day Grimm's fairy story", says Cassandra Jardine in the Telegraph referring to parents' fears about "tiny risks" taken by many people from "leaving children in the car while dashing to the cash point" to "nipping to the loo when they are playing in water".

Jardine goes on to say the seeming lack of sympathy has less to do with the circumstances and more to do with Kate McCann's identity. "Had Kate not been pretty, middle-class and educated, she might have received more sympathy - like, say, Karen Matthews, mother of Shannon, who wept fetchingly for the cameras the following year, although her daughter had not in fact been abducted, only hidden for mercenary reasons."

Jardin says Loaded magazine was one of Mrs McCann's few supporters when "crassly, it put the bereft mother on a most-fanciable list".

Ravening beast

The Independent's Christina Patterson has other reasons why the finger of blame pointed towards the parents. The columnist argues the treatment of Mrs McCann is indicative of an industry that demands new details, even when there aren't any.

She calls the press a ravening beast with a 24-hour appetite that can "chew you up, and spew you up".


The McCanns' sex life make the headlines this week

Various editions of the Sun from the week Kate McCann released her book including one with the headline 'I couldn't make love to Gerry'.

Patterson thinks the McCanns' willingness to cooperate is fuelled by their belief in the power of the media. But Patterson worries Mrs McCann "has come near to selling her soul".

But she goes on to defend Mrs McCann as "no-one who hasn't been through what she has been through can blame her for the choice she has made".

One choice was to engage with "Britain's sleaziest red-top, to get a missing child back".

Two days before the release of the book, The Sun's front page said "I couldn't make love to Gerry" - a detail pulled out of an extract of Mrs McCann's book.

Whatever it takes?

A different reaction to the private life revelations comes from Sandra Parsons at the Daily Mail. She is in awe of the McCanns. It's not their willingness to share their private life that impresses her, but that they haven't split up.

Mrs McCann recounts in the book that the night before Madeleine disappeared she slept in the children's room because she was hurt by her husband's "abrupt" manner. Parsons supposes that Gerry McCann's uncompromising attitude after Madeleine was abducted and his resolve may have not been matched by another man.

The writer defends what could be construed as cynical use of the media and an unemotional appearance. For Parsons, Mr McCann's "cool logic and ability to compartmentalise" allowed the couple to run their campaign to find Madeleine.

Similarly, Allison Pearson commends "ferocious" maternal love demonstrated in Mrs McCann's book.


The McCanns want to reopen the investigation which saw an international search for Madeleine

Away from the personal revelations, the book also calls for a comprehensive review of the case. The Sun backs the "moving" open letter delivered to the prime minister.

Sky news suggests some leads to the new investigation could follow. The first is a team of UK detectives to go to Portugal and "pore over" the police files. It suggests a "crucial exercise" would be to do the mobile phone cell-site analysis that wasn't done. It also suggests follow-up reports of previous intruders into the holiday homes of other Brits.

For those who argue Mrs McCann will do whatever it takes to find her daughter, the evidence seems clear: a few personal revelations later, the McCann family have got press support for the new investigations and David Cameron has promised that the home secretary will be in touch to set out the "new action" involving the Met Police. No mean feat considering it is four years after Madeleine went missing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13365848