Media Mayhem - MCCANN MEDIA NONSENSE OF THE DAY

Ironic how Professor Gerald McCann gets a standing ovation at a UK police bravery awards ceremony, only two months after his precious daughter disappeared off the face of the earth. When he and his bastion of representatives pursued the coordinator of the Portuguese police investigation through the law courts, destroying his career and life in the process. The one person at the time, with his dedicated team of officers, who cared about Madeleine McCann - and still does!

What was Gerry McCann even doing there?

The injustice makes me so angry.

I was reminded of this tabloid report published back in February 2017..

'OUR LAWYERS ARE WATCHING' Kate and Gerry McCann warn ex-cop Goncalo Amaral not to publish his new book in Britain

Goncalo Amaral accused Maddie's parents of covering up their daughter's death and is now reportedly looking for a British publisher for the sequel to mystery

YASMIN JEFFERY Gemma Mullin

20:27, 5 Feb 2017Updated: 13:16, 6 Feb 2017

THE TOP cop who accused Madeleine McCann's parents of covering up her death has been warned his second book on the case must not be published in Britain.

Kate and Gerry McCann are set to inform former Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral: "Beware, our lawyers are watching!" if he tries to sell his new novel in the UK.

After defeating the couple on appeal last week after an eight-year fight, Amaral is reportedly looking for a British publisher while finishing off the closing chapters of his second novel about Maddie's disappearance in Switzerland.

Speaking on the upcoming book, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said on Sunday: "If Mr Amaral's current book about Madeleine or any new one he may be planning to write is published here in the UK Kate and Gerry's lawyers will take immediate action.

"He needs to know lawyers are watching."

He added: "If he thinks his old or new book will appear here he'll have another think coming.

"If that's his intention whoever is responsible will be sued.

"Carter-Ruck will have no hesitation issuing a writ for defamation."

According to a source in Portugal, Amaral is confident his sequel could be a "big hit".

The insider told the Mail Online: "Mr Amaral knows that the world is fascinated with the Maddie story and her parents."

t comes just days after Portugal's Supreme Court ruled that his first book The Truth Of The Lie, which alleges the youngster had died and Kate and Gerry McCann had covered it up, could be published.

The McCanns, whose daughter went missing while on holiday in Praia da Luz in May 2007, were said to be "extremely disappointed" by the decision.

Mr Amaral led the investigation into Maddie's disappearance but later resigned after accusing British police officers of not fully cooperating with the Portuguese investigation.

Mr Amaral released the book three days after the case was closed in 2008.

He later took part in a documentary for Portuguese television in which he claimed that Madeleine was dead, there had been no abduction and the McCanns had hidden her body.

Goncalo Amaral was ordered to pay 500,000 euro (£429,000) in compensation to Kate and Gerry McCann in 2015 by a Lisbon court over the claims he made in his book and documentary.

They argued on the grounds the claim was no substantiated by the evidence and was defamatory.

The decision was overturned following an appeal last year but the McCanns took the case to Portugal's Supreme Court, which has now found against them.

They now face big court costs which they will take from but will eat into the dwindling Find Maddie Fund, which is made up of public donations and proceeds from Kate's best-seller book.

The libel case reportedly left the ex-detective close to financial ruin and is now planning to write a second book on the case, which he thinks "would sell well in Britain."

A friend told the Sunday Express: “He could only afford to pay the legal bills thanks to donations, mainly from people in Britain, who have given more than £50,000.

"With the support in Britain he obviously thinks his second book on the case would sell well if translated into English and he is actively looking for a publisher.

“For the time being he is working hard on the second book in Switzerland but he wishes to thank his supporters in the UK for supporting his battle to protect freedom of expression.”

The friend added that he is also looking for a company that would be interested in publishing his first book in English.

However the doctors, both 48, have said they will sue if the book is sold in the UK.

It comes amid speculation the couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, have been offered huge bids for an exclusive interview on the 10th anniversary of their daughter's disappearance.

A close friend of the McCann’s said: “They have been bombarded with offers from media around the world.

“They’re already got 30 sitting on the table and are getting new bids every other day particularly from the big American networks."

After three-year-old Maddie vanished during a family holiday to Portugal in May 2007 Kate and Gerry were in a £1million bidding war by two of America’s biggest chat show stars at the time – Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters.

The McCanns, for an undisclosed fee, finally chose Oprah and in May 2009 told in a heart breaking interview how they felt their snatched daughter was still alive.

Just last month Kate and Gerry were given fresh hope and “buoyed up” when a kidnapped girl Kamiyah Mobley was found alive in the US after an incredible 18-year search.

Maddie, if alive, would turn 14 in mid May just nine days after the anniversary.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2791401/kate-and-gerry-mccann-warn-ex-cop-goncalo-amaral-not-to-publish-his-new-book-in-britain/

A bidding war - how sickening.

Talking of novels..

Dr Hill, a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Law, has written an article for The Conversation on the 'flaws' of the Madeleine McCann investigation, which has also been covered by i-News.

Dr Hill’s article recaps a series of events, starting with his personal experience of first meeting with the McCann family at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance. Dr Hill “had been sent to Portugal as part of the UK’s Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP) response to Madeleine’s disappearance. [He] was a detective superintendent and senior investigating officer (SIO) with knowledge about predatory child sexual abusers and non-familial child abduction”.

In the article Dr Hill proceeds to explain how the events unfolded in the weeks and years following the disappearance and his personal involvement with the investigation. Dr Hill claims that the investigation was flawed from the start. “From the outset I was struck by the lack of urgency surrounding the investigation and it was difficult to establish any detailed information around what direction the investigation was taking” says Dr Hill.

Dr Hill proceeds to expand upon the notion that the investigation was flawed from the start and explains that “the first 24 to 48 hours of a child abduction investigation – often referred to as the ‘golden hours’ – are critical to its successful outcome”.

The article concludes that “there is a need for a systematic approach to core policing functions to deal with the complexity. And it is vital to have a thorough, well documented investigation strategy. These investigations also require highly skilled and experienced investigators who have the ability to make defensible decisions based upon reliable information and create investigative strategy and policy that can stand the test of hindsight. A failure to do so can have serious consequences”.

https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/law/news/article/1197/dr-graham-hill-authors-article-on-the-flaws-of-the-madeleine-mccann-investigation

Read the full article in The Conversation and also covered by i-News.

Madeleine McCann's parents have £750,000 to fund private search if police end hunt

So far the police investigation to try and find missing three-year-old Madeleine McCann has cost £12.5 million and a decision on whether to approve further funding is pending

Madeleine McCann suspect's lawyer says 'we'll find out soon' why police are digging at allotment

By Lorraine King - 10:06, 26 Apr 2021

A fund set up by the parents of Madeleine McCann's parents has more than £750,000 in it which could pay for a private search if police stop looking for her.

So far the police investigation to try and find the missing three-year-old girl has cost £12.5 million and a decision on whether to approve further funding, believed to be an extra £300,000, is pending, the Daily Star reports.

Doctors Kate and Gerry were reportedly told by the Metropolitan Police that they are continuing to treat their daughter as a missing person.

Brit detectives are said to have told the couple that they think it is "highly unlikely" drifter Christian Brueckner – who German investigators have alleged killed Madeleine – will be charged over her disappearance 14 years ago as there is "no evidence" linking him to it.

Newly released accounts for Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Ltd – which was set up 12 days after she vanished to handle well-wishers' donations – has a balance of £773,629.

The McCanns are holding on to the cash reserve in case the police inquiry comes to nothing.

According to financial documents, the cash will be used to secure the safe return to her family of Madeleine McCann, "ensure her abduction is thoroughly investigated" and the culprits are identified and brought to justice.

Once that objective has been fulfilled any remaining money will be donated to help crack similar cases.

The McCanns, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were unavailable for comment on Sunday night.


The McCanns set up the trust 12 days after their daughter vanished to handle well-wishers' donations ( Image:
MDM)

Her parents were dining with pals in a nearby tapas bar.

Next week will mark the 14th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.

The cash reserves are made up of donations from celebrities and well-wishers, royalties from a best-selling book Kate wrote in 2011 about the case and the sale of merchandise designed to keep the public searching.

According to the accounts the book brought in £6,543 in the 12 months to last March.

The McCanns were reimbursed with £4,229 from the fund to cover legal costs for their "ongoing libel action in Portugal" against ex-police chief Goncalo Amaral who wrote a book accusing them of covering up their daughter's death.

Both Kate and Gerry, who vehemently deny his allegations, continue to hope they will one day be reunited with their daughter who will turn 18 on May 12.

Last week they posted a message on the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page urging supporters: "Never stop believing in hope because miracles happen every day.''

Drifter Brueckner, 44, was identified as a suspect in the Brit youngster's disappearance last June.

German police said a call from his mobile was transmitted by a phone mast near the apartment where Madeleine's family was staying around an hour before she disappeared.

German-born Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year jail sentence for raping a 72-year-old woman in the same Algarve resort.

His lawyer has insisted Brueckner had nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance and police should "expect to order holy water as a long drink in hell" before he will cooperate with their investigation.

A Home Office spokesman said they were giving "careful consideration" to a request for extra funding for the police investigation.

The Mirror has contacted a spokesman for the McCanns and the Metropolitan Police for comment.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccanns-parents-750000-fund-23980584

'I feared for own kids'



Rev Haynes Hubbard outside Our Lady of the Light church
By Gail Edgar
July 12 2008 01:00 AM

The Anglican priest who prayed with the McCanns after Maddie vanished has revealed he feared for the safety of his own children in the aftermath of the little girl's abduction.
Rev Haynes Hubbard, who is the senior chaplain of St Vincent's Anglican Chaplaincy, arrived in Portugal just three days after Maddie went missing on May 3 — one year ago on Saturday.
And the shock and trauma of what happened in Praia da Luz affected his wife Susan so much she initially wanted the family to leave the country and return to their native Canada.
The couple first heard the name Madeleine McCann when they landed at Lisbon airport on May 6 with their three children, then aged nine, eight and six months.
Speaking to Sunday Life at the Our Lady of the Light church where a vigil is still held for Maddie every Friday evening, Rev Hubbard recalled: "We left Canada on May 5 and arrived here on Sunday, May 6. My wife had our infant child in her arms and in Portuguese a woman asked her 'where are you going?'.
"My wife responded in Portuguese, 'to Praia da Luz,' and the woman said, 'oh no, that's where the little girl's been taken from'.
"She said this to a woman with three children crowding around her ankles.That was our introduction.
"We came down from the airport straight to the church and the media were swarming the building."
Rev Hubbard immediately got to work by helping to organise special services for Madeleine at the small Roman Catholic church in the town which the Anglican community of Praia da Luz also uses.
He met the McCanns during the first week of Maddie's disappearance and he and his wife gradually formed a close friendship with them.
"My wife Susan comes from generous country stock and she started cooking for them and leaving little meals — pots of stew and loaves of bread and things for Kate with a note.
"Eventually the notes became phonecalls and the phonecalls became visits and eventually they became part of our family.
"We prayed lots together and they came to our services very often."
Rev Hubbard revealed what it was like living in Praia da Luz in the weeks following Madeleine's disappearance.
"We were watching the news about two weeks afterwards. We were watching the helicopters and listening to them on television, but when we turned the television off we could still hear them.
"That sense that this isn't something you can turn off was a heavy, heavy weight.
"You have to live it and we were going to live this story, this pain, vicariously but still be present to it."
He explained the experience was very frightening for a family who had just moved to the country to live overseas for the first time.
"It wasn't a weight that we didn't want to carry, but it was very frightening.
"We locked our doors and locked our windows in ways we never thought of. Susan wanted to go back to Canada because it was safe in Canada — of course it's not, but it felt safer there because this hadn't happened."
Gradually, though, the couple realised that the people of Praia da Luz were special.
"Some evil happened in this community which isn't reflective of the community at all. Evil has been perpetrated and Madeleine has been taken.
"The community acted very strongly, they said 'we're going to look'.
"They were wonderfully responsive. This was our introduction to Luz — it was a place that said we're going to put these posters up, we'll look, and look, and look.
"Luz is still a beautiful little town that a horrible thing has happened to. The character of Luz isn't different.
"Luz is not a tainted place. Evil happens and we need to beat it down with goodness, if we can."
Today, Rev Hubbard is glad he and his family decided to stay in the quiet Algarve town that has appeared in so many headlines.
But while he describes Kate and Gerry as "part of the family" and remains in close contact with them, he admits he doesn't know what they are like without the sadness which has gripped them since Maddie's disappearance.
"We met a couple who had lost their daughter, whose daughter had been taken away from them, and that was shattering.
"Their fear for her was overwhelming but you can't live in fear and they're too resourceful within themselves to live in fear, so now they're striking back and trying to make a difference.
"But the couple who have lost their daughter are still there. I haven't been to their home but I can only imagine the empty spot that was Madeleine's still being there and crushing them with its memory and its presence.
"So despite the determination to make sure that this doesn't happen again to anyone else, their Madeleine is still missing and she needs to come home.
"They are a pretty remarkable couple, but they are still a couple who are waiting for Madeleine to come home.
"I don't know what Kate is like with a smile in her heart. I've seen her with a smile on her lips, but I've never seen her with a smile in her heart.
"We can't pretend to know them properly, but what we have seen in grief we are impressed with and profoundly moved by.
"We pray that one day we will know them when they are complete again."
After Madeleine's disappearance, both the Roman Catholic and Anglican communities who use the church, began to meet for prayer vigils for Maddie.
At the beginning, around 35 people attended regularly.
Now, a small group of around 10 people — mostly Portuguese — still meets every Friday night.
A special service has been planned for the one year anniversary of Maddie's disappearance next Saturday night, although Rev Hubbard says he hopes instead they will be travelling to Kate and Gerry's home in Rothley, Leicestershire to celebrate her safe return.
"We are just going to continue to pray that she comes home and that God will change the hearts of those who have her and that on May 3 there will be no need to go to a service here, but that we can all go to England and celebrate with Kate and Gerry as they have their little daughter back."
Rev Hubbard remains convinced that Madeleine is alive and can one day be returned to her parents.
"Then we can finally meet a couple and a family who are what they're supposed to be. And that would be an extraordinary moment."
While the community who worship at Our Lady of the Light have united to pray for the little girl's return, the story has divided people worldwide.
Rev Hubbard said: "This story more than any other has allowed people to express the most extraordinary opinions completely based on absolute subjective nonsensical evidence. This has not been a unifying story — but it has allowed some to say 'I don't care what anyone else thinks, I'm going to pray for Madeleine and Kate and Gerry and Sean and Amelie.
"I'm certain that the secular community of both English and Portuguese have all sorts of other opinions, but for those of us who go to this church and attend services, we're just waiting for Madeleine to come home."

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/i-feared-for-own-kids-28407634.html

    
 
 

Madeleine McCann’s parents’ new agony

As a prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case is announced, Closer speaks to Jon Clarke who has followed the story since the three-year-old went missing...

by Kristina Beanland | Posted on11 06 2020

The biggest breakthrough in the 13-year search for Madeleine McCann came last week, when German authorities said they had almost enough evidence to charge a convicted paedophile with her murder.

At the time of going to press, the suspect was a 43-year-old German man, who has a long history of sex crimes against women and children, and is currently in jail for the torture and rape of a 72-year-old woman.

Police are also reopening the investigation into a missing five-year-old girl, dubbed “the German Maddie”, who was snatched from woodland in Germany while on holiday with her family in 2017 – at a location less than 50 miles from where the suspect lived at the time.

But while Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry, have always held on to the belief that their daughter, who would now be 17, is still alive, German officials have stressed that this is a murder inquiry.

In a statement uploaded to the Find Madeleine website, Kate and Gerry said, “All we have ever wanted is to find her, uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice.

“We will never give up hope of finding Madeleine alive, but whatever the outcome may be, we need to know, as we need to find peace.”

Journalist Jon Clarke was one of the first on the scene in Praia da Luz, Portugal, when Maddie went missing from a holiday resort in May 2007, while her parents ate in a nearby restaurant. He has been reporting on the case ever since.

He believes that – while the news of Maddie’s apparent death will be heartbreaking – Kate and Gerry may finally find closure.

Jon, who is currently back working on the case in Praia da Luz, told Closer, “Since 2007, there have been a few leads about Maddie’s whereabouts, but they’ve amounted to nothing. This time, it seems different. There’s strong evidence linking this man to the crime, and there’s a feeling that we might finally get some answers.

“I remember the anguish on Kate and Gerry’s faces when I first met them the day after Maddie went missing. It would be devastating for them to find out that Maddie has died, but they deserve to know what happened to her, no matter how awful.”

And Jon, who lives in Malaga, Spain, with his wife and two children, says that some locals in the area have long been suspicious of the German man.

He says, “Everyone in the area knew about the elderly woman who had been raped. I remember speaking to some people who said that there must have been a link between the two crimes, because Praia da Luz has been considered such a safe area.

"They felt that two awful incidents that happened so close to each other must be related. But because the victims were so different – an elderly woman and a young child – it must have been discounted.”

Jon recalls the call he received from a British newspaper on the morning of 4 May 2007, asking him to report on a missing child.

He says, “I remember thinking that by the time I got there, she’d have turned up. Praia da Luz was a sleepy little village and hardly anyone was around when I arrived later that morning. But I was shocked when I saw the McCanns’ apartment – there was no security and just a flimsy piece of police tape covering the side gate.”

A few hours after arriving, Jon met Kate and Gerry. He says, “They were polite, and even thanked me for reporting on the case. They were clearly devastated. The press conference outside their apartment later that day only confirmed my feelings. I think almost every person there shed a tear. As a journalist, you try not to get too emotional about a story, but my own daughter had just turned two, so it was hard not to get upset.

“In the days that followed, it was clear this was a story like no other – hundreds of journalists descended on the town and Maddie’s face was everywhere. Everyone was looking for her – I must have walked the length of the beach ten times, combing through the wasteland and looking in abandoned houses.”

Jon stayed in Portugal for two weeks while the case unfolded – until it became clear that Maddie was no longer in Praia da Luz. He says he has since returned countless times to report on the story, and even appeared in a Netflix documentary that aired last year about her disappearance.

Now, Jon is back in Portugal.

He says, “The atmosphere is tense here and the locals are in shock. A lot of theories have been floated over the years, but the idea that Maddie could have been taken by a paedophile is the one that no one wanted to be true. And it’s tough on the people here, knowing that the place they call home is famous for something so awful. They want answers too, so that their town can start to move on.”



While reporting on the case last week, Jon was asked by a newspaper to visit one of the homes of the German suspect, to see if the people living there knew about its previous owner.

He says, “The house is in the middle of nowhere, four or five miles outside of Praia da Luz. It would have been so easy for a dangerous man like him to lay low, and not cause too much of a stir. Expats rarely ask questions of each other anyway – it’s almost an unwritten rule not to dig because there’s lots of reasons, sometimes private, why someone would want to relocate to another country. So he’d have blended in without too much trouble.”

Now Jon hopes the next time he returns to Praia da Luz will be under different circumstances.

He says, “When I think about what Kate and Gerry have lived with for all these years, it breaks my heart. My daughter is a similar age to Madeleine, and every time I come down here, I feel so lucky that something like this didn’t happen to my family.

“The man the police are investigating was a nasty piece of work with a string of horrific convictions. It’s time justice was done for Madeleine.”

https://closeronline.co.uk/real-life/news/madeleine-mccann-german-suspect-jon-clarke/

Feeling fear and misery, are they? Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

Crime: The Madeleine McCann case and the media – By Len Port

Posted on 01 May 2017.

By Len Port, Contributor (*)



The most reported and discussed missing person case ever recorded is still not only a highly contentious mystery, but also a personal tragedy that has been turned into a public farce by elements of the media.

In the entirely predictable press frenzy surrounding the imminent 10th anniversary of the disappearance, much of the coverage, particularly in the British tabloids, has been farcical. But it should not be dismissed lightly.

Unable to come up with “news” on the case, the tabloids have been rehashing the same old speculation and guesswork.

“Could Madeleine McCann have been snatched by a lone paedo or simply wandered off?….”

“She was sold to a rich family, says ex-cop….”

“New hope after decade-long search….”

“Experts say Madeleine McCann’s body is almost impossible to find ”.

And then there was the much-touted Australian TV show that promised “a major breakthrough in the case”.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror took a slightly different tack with a story headlined, “What REALLY happened the night Madeleine McCann disappeared as nanny breaks her 10-year silence”.

The story did not explain what “really” happened, nor did it name the nanny or why she had remained silent for so long.

It quoted her as considering the McCann to be “the picture perfect family” and repeated the usual British criticism of the Portuguese police.

More surprisingly, she claimed that the resort from which Madeleine vanished was considered so unsafe that nannies were given rape alarms (whistles) and advised, “don’t go anywhere by yourself, ever”.

There was nothing to suggest the Mirror had tried to question or check this or any of the nanny’s other assertions, but, in Praia da Luz, they were viewed with derision. It was seen as yet another attempt to brand Praia da Luz as a den of iniquity, which it is not and never has been.

The official police files on the case contain nothing about rape whistles or alarms. None of the signed statements by child-care workers mentioned anything about suspicious goings-on or Luz being “unsafe”.

The manager of the Ocean Club where the McCanns were staying said in a police statement in 2007 that he had “no knowledge of any untoward situation involving Ocean Club users or in the village itself, other than some damage and minor thefts”.

The Mirror story was also a reminder that real journalism has to a large extent been replaced by ‘churnalism’, which disregards traditional standards of original news gathering based on impartiality and fact-checking for accuracy and honesty.

The nanny’s story was quickly recycled virtually verbatim on the Internet by other tabloids. Even the broadsheet Daily Telegraph fell into line as did news services in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

Trial by the media has had a huge influence on public perceptions about guilt or innocence in this case. Most of the mainstream media reports state as if it were a fact that Madeleine was “abducted”. Maybe she was. Maybe she wasn’t. There is no certainty either about the other main theory that her parents covered up an accidental death in the apartment.

Until solid evidence is found and the culprits are brought to justice, the public fascination with this case will continue to fuel and be fuelled by the media’s determination to churn out stories whose accuracy and agenda may sometimes be open to doubt.

The current avalanche of stories inevitably evokes the previous admission by Lord Bell, founder and former chairman of the Bell Pottinger public relations group, to columnist and author Owen Jones that “the McCanns paid me £50,000 in fees to keep them on the front page of every single newspaper for a year, which we did”.

Nevertheless, “Maddie” helps circulation figures and makes money. Money, along with misinformation, has always played far too big a part in this case which – let’s remember – is about the tragic loss of a child.

https://portuguese-american-journal.com/police-investigation-the-madeleine-mccann-case-and-the-media-by-len-port/

Madeleine: Brown urged police to give more details
Chancellor acts after parents voice their concern at the lack of disclosure by Portuguese detectives

Brendan de Beer in Praia da Luz
Sun 27 May 2007 00.56 BST

Gordon Brown has personally intervened in the search for missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann after her parents became frustrated by the lack of progress in the police investigation.
After a series of telephone conversations with Madeleine's father, Gerry McCann in recent days, the Chancellor requested assistance from the Foreign Office and the Home Office. He asked that pressure be brought to bear on the Portuguese authorities to allow more information about the inquiry to be made public.

Gerry and his wife, Kate, have been desperate for a description of a man seen carrying what appears to have been a child on 3 May to be made public, but Portuguese police refused for three weeks because of the country's laws, which forbid the details of an investigation being released.

The Observer understands that Brown gave the McCanns an assurance he would do 'anything he can' to help. The British embassy duly applied pressure on the Portuguese authorities to find more flexibility in their secrecy laws. British ambassador John Buck visited the Algarve last Thursday. A day later Portuguese police made a U-turn and issued a detailed description of the man, said to be white, 35 to 40, 5ft 10in and of medium build, with hair longer around the neck, wearing a dark jacket, light beige trousers and dark shoes.

Asked whether Brown had influenced the decision, Clarence Mitchell, a Foreign Office spokesman for the McCann family in the Algarve, said: 'Draw your own conclusions.' He said in a statement: 'I can confirm that telephone conversations have taken place between Gerry McCann and Chancellor Gordon Brown. During them, Mr Brown offered both Gerry and Kate his full support in their efforts to find Madeleine, although details of the conversations will remain private.'

Although they have praised the efforts being made to find their daughter, the McCanns were said to be increasingly frustrated in recent days at delays and communication problems. The family have met lawyers in the Algarve and threatened legal action to push for the information to be released because of the exceptional circumstances.
The Observer can confirm that a top law firm in London had been asked late last week to seek legal avenues through which the McCanns could be kept up to date on the latest developments in the investigations.
It also emerged yesterday that The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall had been following the case 'closely and with deep concern'.

The McCanns yesterday emerged from their apartment to say that they had had an 'amicable and very constructive' meeting with police. 'We very much welcome the decision of the police authorities to release details of a man seen by witnesses here in Praia da Luz on Thursday, 3 May, the night of Madeleine's disappearance,' Gerry said in a statement.
'The release of this important information followed an earlier meeting we had with senior police officers. We feel sure that this sighting of a man with what appeared to be a child in his arms is both significant and relevant to Madeleine's abduction.'

It emerged that the couple plan to widen their search across Europe. The McCanns are expected to visit Seville and Madrid before moving on to Berlin and Amsterdam. A source said that the reasoning behind the visits is that, 'after Britons, Spanish, Germans and the Dutch are the most frequent visitors to the Algarve', and the most likely to have seen something suspicious.
The campaign fund is now well over £300,000, according to Mitchell. He stressed that the McCanns 'never asked for a single euro'.

In a new interview yesterday the McCanns spoke about their feelings since the night they left their three children asleep in a holiday complex apartment while they dined with friends in the complex's grounds, returning to find Madeleine had been abducted, and their refusal to give up hope of welcoming her back with 'a very big hug'. Asked if she forgets for even one second that her daughter is missing, Kate said: 'Madeleine is such a huge personality it is obvious when she is not there.'

Gerry, wearing yellow and green ribbons on his wrist to accompany those his wife has tied to her hair for more than three weeks, said: 'My waking thought is that the phone by the bedside has not rung. And that means Madeleine has not been found.'

Kate added: 'I am better in the morning, it seems like a fresh start. Evenings are harder. '
The McCanns are drawing strength from their twins, two-year-old Sean and Amelie. Kate said: 'The twins are so young they just get on with things, but obviously we don't want them to forget about Madeleine. We are hoping to see a child psychologist to explain what has happened to Madeleine to the twins.'
She added: 'They help us to get through this. We are a strong family and they were so close to Madeleine, only 20 months apart.'

Gerry said: 'We could have lost the twins too. There were three children in the room. That's the worst nightmare... This is so rare. It's a million to one. We really have to make sure it doesn't affect the twins growing up and their normal childhood. 'This is not a time for grieving. We believe she is still alive, so grief is not the appropriate emotion. We are absolutely determined to get her back. It's a bit like we are waging a war. It's a backs-to-the-wall thing.' His eyes welled up with tears when asked the first thing he would do if Madeleine returned home.
'I think we will be having a very big hug. Hope, strength and courage are our motto. There is nothing more I would like than to see Madeleine walk in, so we could use the fund to help find other missing children.'

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/may/27/ukcrime.gordonbrown?fbclid=IwAR30B9GjFX3nR81L9T-oYU5bSXvLlGWzod4SVKbf5TAGd8x9D3mJepdWYlU

This is a mixed bag of jumbled nonsense, although reasonably well put together.  Thus I don't know where to stick it, aside from garbage - so media mayhem it is.

True Crime

Madeleine McCann and the Epstein Connection

Thirty-eight paedophiles operated in Algarve when Madeleine was abducted, were they connected to Epstein?

Sam H Arnold
Aug 31, 2020

Madeleine McCann was born on 15th May 2003. She was the eldest daughter of Gerry and Kate McCann and big sister to twins. She disappeared from her holiday apartment in the Algarve, nine days before her fourth birthday. She was a happy blond girl, with a slight colour blemish in one eye. Some two years after her disappearance the possible connection to Epstein was released, not to be recognised until this last year.
Madeleine McCann’s Abduction

On 3rd May 2007, Madeleine and her family were holidaying in Praia du Luz a popular destination for tourists in the Algarve. She was on holiday with her family and friends of her parents. The day started like every other day with a trip to the pool, then the creche whilst her family played tennis. Once back home she went to bed at 7 pm with her siblings in a cot beside her.

At 830pm both Kate and Gerry McCann, went to a local tapas bar to meet their friends. They pulled the bedroom door too and left the windows and shutters closed. They did, however, leave the patio door unlocked, so they could access the apartment. They requested the same table every night. A table where they could see the apartment, but none of the entry points. It was stated in the restaurant booking that they required this table because their children would be alone. It is possible that whoever abducted Madeleine saw this information.

At 905pm Gerry McCann made the first check on the children. When he entered he remembers seeing the bedroom door now wide open. He checked on the children and they were all asleep. Thinking nothing of the change of position of the door, he closed it and went back to the restaurant.

Then at 930pm a friend from the party went to check on his children, also alone in an apartment. He offered to check on the McCann children whilst he was there. He reports that the door was once again wide open. Hearing no noise from the room though he went away, failing to check on the children in the room.

When Kate McCann went to check at 10 pm she found the bedroom door open, as she went to close it a gust of wind slammed it shut. She went into the room and found the bedroom windows open and Madeleine missing. She carried out a brief search of the apartment before rushing back to the restaurant stating, “Madeleine is gone, someones taken her.” This was a strange outburst, many people would have thought a child was missing and wouldn’t jump to the conclusion of abducted. The police were called at 1010pm and the search started.
Initial Suspects

As the police investigated there were several suspects, including the parents. One of the theories, were as doctors they had sedated their children whilst they went out and got the dose wrong with Madeleine, killing her. Police stated they found traces of blood in the apartment, was there a tragic accident the McCann’s covered up? The parents have successfully sued every newspaper which has suggested this. Using the money to continue the search for their daughter.

A mysterious man was also an early suspect. He was seen carrying a child past the McCann’s apartment at 915pm. This gentleman was ruled out of enquiries when it was concluded he was an innocent father carrying his daughter back from the night creche. This brings about the further question, why the McCann’s did not use the night creche.

Later the investigation would centre on a man called Robert Murat, as he was local to the area and known to the police. He would later be awarded £600 000 for defamation of character.

The final suspect to come to light, at the time, was a paedophile called Raymond Hewlett. Hewett lived in the area at the time. This was the first connection to a paedophile, it would not be the last.

The Photofit and the Similarities to Maxwell

Tired with the progress of the case, the McCann’s hired their own private detectives. They uncovered two British men who three days after the abduction had met a woman in Barcelona. The woman had hinted, after a brief conversation, that she knew something about the abduction. Working with these two men, the private investigators released a photofit of the woman they wished to question. At the time she was described as a Victoria Beckham lookalike.

However, many people have now said that the photofit looks very like a picture of Ghislaine Maxwell at the time.

 

It has been well reported, that Maxwell from 1990s used to recruit girls for Epstein. Could it be that Madeleine had been a gift for Epstein? In the summer of 2007, Epstein would sign a plea bargain in Miami where all co-conspirators would be free from prosecution. This would have occurred shortly after Madeleine was abducted. Is this timeline a coincidence or could there be more to the photofit and Epstein’s crimes? The publicity around the disappearance was huge, anyone involved would have panicked.
Portugal is a Hub for Paedophiles.

Epstein was likely attracted to Portugal, which has been described recently as a haven for paedophiles. Portugal would have been well known in the paedophile community. In 2010 the case of Casa Pia Orphanages came to its conclusion.

In 2010 an elite paedophile ring was brought to justice. Some of those tried were very prominent men and would have moved in the same circles as Epstein. Amongst those convicted was a former ambassador, Manuel Abrantes. A prominent television personality, Carlos Cruz and a UNESCO ambassador, Jorge Ritto. All were convicted of using the Casa Pia Orphanages as a way to claim children for their needs. During this case, a raid named Operation Predator obtained images of children. It is reported that images of Madeleine McCann were seized, although, this has never been confirmed. Paulo Rebelo, the policeman responsible for the Casa Pia Orphanage case, later became the lead investigator in Madeleine’s abduction.

This is not the first case in Portugal and will not be the last. It has become a magnet for paedophiles around the world who use the country’s lax laws to fulfil their desires. There were 38 known sex offenders in the Algarve when Madeleine was abducted. Could these cases and images have a connection to Epstein, the timeline would fit.
The Prime Suspect

Authorities will deny the connection with Epstein and will state that the picture is a coincidence and could match many women of that age. This is, however, not the last time that the timelines for the two cases will be close. In August 2019 Epstein allegedly took his own life.

One year later on 2nd July 2020, a month before Maxwell’s arrest, authorities would state that they had found the man who abducted Madeleine McCann.

Christian Brueckner is a German paedophile who is in prison for sex crimes. He has two previous convictions for sexual misconduct with girls. He has also been investigated for child sex abuse. He was in the Algarve during the time the McCann’s were on holiday. His 1980’s VW camper was pictured there, in 2007.

It is alleged that he had confessed to his part in her disappearance whilst drinking in a pub in the Algarve. His drinking partner thought nothing of this, at the time. The publicity surrounding the tenth anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance. Prompted him to tip German police that Brueckner could be their man. Questions should ask why he had not come forward before. No one has ever identified this man.

Although there was DNA connected at the time, it is impossible to identify whether this matched Brueckner, as it is considered too old. He has of yet, not confessed to the abduction, but remains in prison for his other crimes.

In a further twist to the story, a retired teacher came forward on 25th July 2020 to stated that she has seen Madeleine in an Algarve Supermarket. She says she looked 17, which would fit with her age. She recognised her because she had the blemish in her eye.

At the worse, the parents were negligent leaving their children in an apartment in a foreign country. Contrary to popular opinion, they were investigated by social services and cleared to keep their twins. Whatever your opinion on them, it is fair to say they have suffered the ultimate price for their actions, the loss of their beautiful girl.

Whether Brueckner is guilty or not remains to be proved. It is widely thought now that Madeleine is dead and will never be found. You can only hope if her fate did rest in one of the 38 paedophiles in the Algarve, at the time, that her death was quick and painless. Whether dead or alive, I hope that the family get the closure they deserve one day. I also hope that wherever her soul rests Madeleine McCann is free from pain and happy. Time will tell if this case is ever solved and whether Maxwell is the face in the photofit.

https://medium.com/crimebeat/madeleine-mccann-and-the-epstein-connection-d7dae29cbcf3
...................

Two major points to trash this article .... null and void!

1.  There is no evidence to suggest, let alone prove, that Madeleine McCann was abducted.
2.  Epstein was not interested in three year old children, his preference was teenagers - nubile flesh.

Another mixed bag with no particular place to go.

This disgusting tabloid report hit the headlines over four years ago, in November 2017 - why now !?! As if I couldn't guess.

British student makes bad joke about being Maddie McCann

Friday, December 31st 2021

A British student named Harriet Brookes has claimed on social media she was in fact Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old girl who disappeared in May 2007 while on vacation in Portugal with her family.

Brookes' friend Elizabeth posted her messages on Twitter, where they went viral. “Guys, I don't usually believe in conspiracy theories, but I honestly think I'm Madeleine McCann,” the young woman wrote. “I'm Madeleine McCann and I don't know what to do with myself,” she added.

Harriet insisted she had the same features of the girl who disappeared 10 years ago in Praia da Luz: a brown spot around the iris and a mole on the right thigh. To support her statements, the young woman shared with her friends some photos, which she called “Evidence A” and “Evidence B”.

It would all ring a few alarms if it were not for the fact that Maddie would be 14 years old today, while Harriet is currently studying at the University of Leeds, which prompted reactions of social media users saying Harriet was just seeking attention.

Harriet then said it was all a joke which went misunderstood. “I feel like a lot of people are taking it so seriously. I got a message from a girl who said she was going to skin me.”

Meanwhile, the real search for Maddie continues: Scotland Yard has received 154,000 pounds sterling to continue with the investigation, at least until next May, while Kate and Gerry McCann, did not comment on Brookes' “joke.”

Kate and Gerry did issue an update on the investigation on their official Madeleine McCann Facebook page. Police are currently planning a trip to Portugal to interview associates of the man they suspect of having been involved in her abduction. After addressing the COVID-19 crisis, the McCanns ”couldn’t let the opportunity pass to say a very big ‘thank you’ once again to all our supporters.”

A suspect - Christian B - was identified by investigators last year and the case continues to progress.

Meanwhile, German Police are still following the lead that convicted paedophile Christian Brueckner, who is also suspected of attacking Irish waitress Hazel Behan, who has waived her right to anonymity, in Algarve three years before Madeleine's disappearance. The convicted paedophile, 45, is already in jail for a 2005 rape in Praia da Luz.
German prosecutors now hope to charge Brueckner with the rape of Hazel, who was 20 at the time, early next year.

https://en.mercopress.com/2021/12/31/british-student-makes-bad-joke-about-being-maddie-mccann

Unofficial sources and the demands of 24-hour news have led to a media storm around Gerry and Kate McCann that gets darker by the day

Giles Tremlett
Mon 17 Sep 2007 08.02 BST

Inside the drab, tile-clad police station in Portimao, there is a television tuned to Sky News. Officers are monitoring the UK news network, which has mounted rolling coverage of the case they are investigating, for one reason: they want to know what the world is saying about them.

That explains the outrage 10 days ago, on the evening that Gerry and Kate McCann were declared formal suspects, or arguidos, in the disappearance of their daughter. Police were still questioning Gerry McCann when, already, his sister Philomena was telling Sky they had offered Kate McCann a reduced two-year sentence if she admitted to killing her daughter accidentally, hiding the body and then secretly disposing of it weeks later.

On this occasion the police officers were right to be angry. Like many things said about the McCann affair over the past days and months, the story was wrong. There was no offer of a plea bargain. It had all been "a misunderstanding", the McCann lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, explained the following day.

That did not mean, of course, that Philomena McCann - one of many people speaking for what might broadly be called "the McCann camp" - was wrong about the rest of it. Portuguese police do seem to be considering accidental death followed by disposal of the corpse as a possibility in this most bizarre of cases. In this story without on-the-record sources, however, they have not even publicly confirmed that much.

It now seems incredible, however, to recall that the McCanns started suing Portugal's Tal & Qual magazine for saying just that a little over two weeks ago: Philomena McCann's statement gave British journalists the green light to start reporting the allegations against the McCanns - even though, if they are found not guilty in any future trial, editors could be sued.

The scene inside the police station helps explain something of the nature of what has become one of the world's biggest media storms. The journalists watch the police, the police watch the journalists and the world watches them all - showing an insatiable appetite for even the flimsiest reports about the McCann case.

Stir into the mix the relentless demands of 24-hour rolling journalism and some bitter, nationalistic warfare between sections of the British and Portuguese press and you get a messy, and occasionally nasty, story.

"The British press ... treats Portugal as a place full of incapable, careless incompetents," complained Francisco Moita Flores in Correio da Manha after a recent round of criticism of the Portuguese police.

Frustration reigns among journalists covering the case. Everybody who knows anything worthwhile is bound by Portugal's judicial secrecy laws not to talk. That includes the police, lawyers, court officials, the McCanns and almost anyone who has given evidence. That has not, of course, prevented the media providing a daily feast of "details". So where do these come from?

Kate and Gerry McCann might not be able to talk, but their extended family and a network of friends can, and do. Philomena, with her colourful Glaswegian vocabulary and willingness to attack the police, is among the most quoted - but there are many more.

The Portuguese police also talk, though the few gruff words issued by official spokesman Chief Inspector Olegario de Sousa rarely add anything to the story. Like any police force, however, they leak - especially to Portuguese journalists. Unfortunately the things they leak are often contradictory. For every "police source" claiming the evidence against the McCanns is strong, for example, another is ready to say it is not.

The McCanns have their own favourite journalists. Gerry McCann, for example, likes Sky's Ian Woods - who conducted the first television interview with them back in May. It was Sky who told the world the McCanns were leaving Portugal on September 9.

Although many commentators have professed amazement at the McCanns' supposedly skilful media management, this has, at times, proved chaotic. It was naive, for example, to believe that the respect showed to them in the days immediately after three-year-old Madeleine vanished would hold.

Muck-raking stories

In the early days the McCanns were allowed to set the rules for the press. They decided what happened, and when. The British media succumbed, largely, to a bout of communal sympathy. Police had said it was a kidnap. Robert Murat, an expatriate Briton, had been declared a formal suspect. He, as the McCanns do now, denied any involvement. That did not stop, however, pages and pages of muck-raking stories about him from appearing in newspapers in both Portugal and the UK.

The McCanns' early success with the press can be put down, in part, to the media experts they found working alongside them. The Mark Warner company, whose holiday apartments they had been staying in, already had a deal with PR company Bell Pottinger. That meant that Alex Woolfall, the company's crisis management head, was in Praia da Luz the day after Madeleine disappeared. When Woolfall left 10 days later, the Foreign Office stepped in. Media handlers arrived from London. They included former Daily Mirror journalist Sheree Dodd and, later, former BBC man Clarence Mitchell. Both Woolfall and Mitchell are remembered by reporters as key and immensely helpful sources as the McCann phenomenon took off.

After they left, however, things started going wrong. Portuguese newspapers started to publish unsympathetic stories at the end of June. As Portuguese journalists caught the mood music from police the relationship disintegrated further. Sandra Felgueiras, a feisty state television journalist obsessed by the family's supposed use of Calpol, became a particular bete noire.

Some Portuguese commentators are aware that their press, like some of their British counterparts, have gone too far. "The crowd now wants the parents to be the murderers because they are British (and, therefore, not Portuguese) and so that the worst of the British press has to surrender to the worst of the Portuguese press and admit that the latter were right," commented Mario Negreiros in Portugal's Jornal de Negocios.

Justine McGuinness, the campaign manager who took over after Mitchell left, stood down from the job last week; she is understood to have been exhausted by the intensity of the campaign. The McCanns have talked to, among others, former News of the World and Hello! editor Phil Hall about their future media needs, but seem to be finding it hard to hire a permanent replacement. Hanover PR, run by John Major's former press secretary Charles Lewington, was taking calls over the weekend, but stressed it was not working for the McCanns permanently.

It is hard to overestimate the global reach of the McCann story. The Associated Press, which rivals Reuters as the world's biggest global news agency, took reporters away from a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in northern Portugal to cover the McCanns' sudden change of fortune at Portimao police station. The decision paid off. The AP story was the most-read story on many US newspaper websites that day.

The strain on journalists in the Algarve has been immense. Working days have stretched for up to 18 hours or more. The McCann story has provided the British print media with the same test of modern, 24-hour, seven-day web-driven journalism as Virginia Tech gave their US counterparts.

Editors at newspaper websites realised back in May that McCann stories quickly shot to the top of their "most read" rankings. The best summary of the McCanns' current situation came from a Portuguese commentator, Joao Marques dos Santos of Correio da Manha. "The theory of the presumption of innocence for an arguido is a joke. When someone is declared an arguido, the exact opposite occurs. That person, whether innocent or not, is considered by investigators to be potentially guilty. The effects are devastating and irreparable."

The media, said McCann lawyer Pinto de Abreu, may be doing even more damage than that. "The media coverage could prejudice not just people's reputations but also the investigation itself," he told journalists last week.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/sep/17/mondaymediasection13

EXCLUSIVE - Brigitte Brueckner spotted outside her home near Wurzburg

Adopted son, Christian, linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

Ms Brueckner was seen sitting on a park bench and feeding local cats
Her friends say that the allegation has left her 'distraught' and 'dismayed'

By Nick Fagge In Wurzburg, Germany, For Mailonline

Published: 11:44, 7 June 2020 | Updated: 13:38, 7 June 2020

Distraught and alone, the adoptive mother of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner has been spotted for the first time since her son was linked to the youngster's disappearance and the rape and murder of many others.

Brigitte Brueckner left her modest home near Wurzburg this morning to seek comfort in the company of the stray cats that stroll through the village of Bergtheim where her adopted son grew up.

Looking down-cast and lonely, the widow carried her red shopping bag full of food to a local park where she sat on a park bench and spread out a meal for her felines friends.



She appeared lost in her thoughts as the magnitude of her son's crimes weighed heavily upon her.

Frau Brueckner has struggled to deal with her Christian's alleged involvement in Madeleine's disappearance and his other crimes that stretch back over decades.

Brigitte and Fritz Brueckner had taken baby Christian into their family as an act of charity for the tiny foundling who had been given up by his mother.

But the kind-hearted parents sent him to live in a reform home for delinquent teenagers after Herr Brueckner was seriously injured in a car crash and could no longer discipline the boy.

She maintains she has had nothing to do with his actions and has not seen Christian and her two other adopted sons for years.

'Brigitte is dismayed, distraught,' a family friend revealed. 'She is an old woman and is confused.



She says this is not her fault and she has nothing to do with it. She is on her own now, after the death of her husband Fritz.

'She does not have any contact with anyone, any relatives, and she hasn't seen Christian or her other two boys for years now.

'She cannot bear to talk to anyone about all of this. But she maintains it was not obvious that Christian would do something like this.'

A neighbour added that Frau Brueckner she has become lost in her thoughts.

He said: 'She is an old and lonely woman. She is normally quite chatty when she feeds the cats. The animals are always happy to see her.

'She feeds the cats because they were abandoned by a former neighbour who moved away and left them here.

'But she is now lost in her thoughts. She is very sad. She has done nothing wrong. All she did was to take in a child that had been abandoned by its mother.'

Yesterday, widowed Frau Brueckner today told MailOnline she knew nothing about her estranged son's alleged crimes.

Standing inside the doorway of her modest home in Bergtheim, near Wuerzburg, she told MailOnline: 'I don't know anything about it. I don't want to know anything about it.'

She distanced herself from the 43-year-old prisoner as neighbours revealed the family's difficulty in controlling Christian.

They told of how Frau Brueckner could not cope with Christian's disruptive and increasingly criminal behaviour and simultaneously look after her disabled husband who suffered brain damage and was confined to a wheel chair following the smash in 1992.

Brueckner, now 43, is the key suspect in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine from Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

He moved from Germany to the Portuguese coastal town in 1995 after serving part of a two-year sentence for molesting a six-year-old girl in Wurzburg.

Following his naming by German police, he has further been linked to the disappearances of six-year-old boy René Hasse in the Algarve, 1996, and five-year-old girl Igna Gehnricke in Germany, 2015.

Now languishing in a German prison in Kiel on a drug-related sentence, at the time of Madeleine's vanishing he was living in the area about a 10-minute drive away.

In 2005, two years prior to the infant's disappearance, he raped a 72-year-old American woman on a waterfront villa less than a mile from the Ocean Club hotel where Madeleine went missing.

Prosecutors in Germany are now desperately trying to build a case against Brueckner, who is eligible for parole this weekend but unlikely to be granted a release from custody.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8396251/Pictured-Mother-Madeleine-McCann-prime-suspect-Christian-Brueckner.html

Christian Brueckner was flagged as a key Madeleine McCann kidnap and murder suspect SEVEN YEARS ago

Christian Brueckner was flagged as a key Madeleine McCann kidnap and murder suspect seven years ago by police but the report was ignored by German authorities.

According to German magazine Spiegel, police in Braunschweig sent a report about him being a prime suspect to the Federal Criminal Office (BKA) in 2013, two years before Inga Gehricke, 'Germany's Maddie McCann', disappeared. It was ignored.

Braunschweig police were monitoring the 43-year-old around the clock at the time.The report was triggered after an appeal from British police on a German unsolved crime show, on which the news about Brueckner was also broadcast this week.

Spiegel went on: 'One person did submit a tip about Brueckner but the resulting report from police in Braunschweig to the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation was apparently not acted upon, much to the consternation of the local investigators.'

Brueckner was born to a woman named Fischer but given over to youth authorities at an early age. Between 1992 - when he was 16 - and 1994 he lived in a facility for young people with learning difficulties.

A neighbour told German newspaper BILD: 'There were only bad young people there.'

During this time he committed his first burglary and received a suspended jail sentence. He finished his high school education and embarked on an apprenticeship as a car mechanic.

I can't locate the original source of this Telegraph report at present, so I've pinched this from another forum in the hope it hasn't been doctored for some reason.

My computers have all gone up the proverbial   so I'm stuffed.  It all happened after I posted a reply on CMOMM to a new member some nights ago - curious!

I blame 'the virus' !

Without further ado..

Daily Telegraph

'What about our missing children?'

By Fiona Govan
Published: 12:01AM BST 10 May 2007

The mothers of three Portuguese children who have disappeared in recent years claimed yesterday that police are putting more effort into finding Madeleine McCann than their own children.

Filomena Teixeira, whose 11-year-old son Rui Pedro disappeared in March 1998, told a newspaper: "It is clear they didn't do the same when Rui Pedro disappeared. The extent of the authorities' mobilisation was not as big."

Maria de Jesus Sousa, whose seven-year-old daughter, Claudia, went missing in May 1994, said police had not taken the disappearance of her daughter seriously." I feel treated unfairly," she said. "The authorities doubted me and did nothing."

A Portuguese tourism official yesterday admitted that Madeleine's disappearance had awakened tensions in a region that relies on tourists being drawn to its warm climate and sandy beaches.

"There is no doubt that this case has a much higher profile because Madeleine is British and was on holiday here and this is causing resentment amongst the Portuguese," said Jose Dias, the vice president of the Algarve tourist board.

"It certainly doesn't help to learn that we may have dozens of known British paedophiles visiting the Algarve," he said in a reference to reports that British police had handed over a list of sex offenders thought to have visited the region in recent weeks.

And he said that criticism of the Portuguese police by the British press was not going down well.

"In Portugal we do things our way," he said. "It's not right that you come to a country and criticise how things are done."

In some areas the backlash against the large British ex-pat community was palpable.

"The Portuguese are very patriotic and do not take well to criticism," said one British shop owner in Praia da Luz, who asked not to be named. "They are not happy about us questioning their ability. The animosity can be felt."

There are fears that Madeleine's disappearance could have a lasting impact on tourism in the region, which attracts 10 million foreign visitors a year.

The Portuguese government yesterday decided that it would be a "sensible move" to suspend a campaign to promote the Algarve region.

The "Allgarve" campaign was to begin next week with Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea football club manager, promoting Portugal in the British media.

A launch party planned for next week has also been postponed

Old news

Maddie Police quiz convicted murderers as Kate McCann gives chilling account of moment she found daughter missing

By Ian Gallagher for The Mail on Sunday
Updated: 14:38, 8 May 2011

Two convicted paedophiles have been questioned by British police over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Charles O’Neill, 48, and William Lauchlan, 34, were jailed last year over sex attacks on children and the murder of a mother who had threatened to expose them.

The Mail on Sunday has learned they were interviewed in prison by detectives after inquiries revealed they were touring Spain, and possibly Portugal, on false passports when Madeleine vanished in May 2007.


Jailed: Charles O'Neill, left, and William Lauchlan have now been quetioned over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

It is the first time that it has become known publicly that British police have interviewed anyone in connection with the case. Both men are described as highly dangerous.

Police interest in O’Neill, in particular, was heightened because of his resemblance to a thin, spotty suspect seen hanging around the holiday complex in Praia da Luz on the Algarve shortly before three-year-old Madeleine vanished.

A senior officer involved in the investigation said: ‘Lauchlan and O’Neill have been interviewed in prison but the whole Madeleine McCann inquiry is being kept extremely tight at the very highest level.

‘Basically nobody outside Leicestershire Constabulary knows exactly what is going on with the McCann inquiry.’

Leicestershire Police said they could not comment because the inquiry is being led by the Policia Judiciaria in Lisbon.

The development came as, for the first time, Madeleine’s mother Kate described in chilling detail the moment she discovered her daughter was missing from her bed at their holiday apartment.

Madeleine disappeared from her room at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007. Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry, on holiday with seven friends, had been dining less than 100 yards away in a tapas restaurant on the Mark Warner complex.

The adults had taken it in turns to check on the sleeping children. In a book to be published this week, Mrs McCann, 43, relives the moment she returned to the apartment, where she had left Madeleine beside twins Amelie and Sean, then aged two.

She tells how she realised something was wrong when she noticed that the door to the children’s bedroom was wide open – not as she and her husband had left it. She glanced at Madeleine’s bed but couldn’t make her out in the dark.

When she was sure Madeleine wasn’t there, she went to check her own room. When she could not see her daughter there either, she panicked and ran back to the children’s room.

‘My heart lurched as I saw now that, behind them, the window was wide open and the shutters on the outside raised all the way up. Nausea, terror, disbelief, fear. Icy fear. Dear God, no! Please, no!’

Mrs McCann, a former GP, said she went automatically into what she calls a ‘well-practised medical emergency mode’, scouring the apartment to exclude all other possibilities, ‘mentally ticking boxes I knew, deep down, were already ticked’.

She then ran back to her husband and their friends in the restaurant. ‘As soon as our table was in sight

I started screaming, “Madeleine’s gone! Someone’s taken her!” ’

The group returned to the apartment to widen the search and raise the alarm.

Mrs McCann said: ‘I vividly recall sobbing, “Not Madeleine, not Madeleine.” I was trying so hard to suppress the negative voice in my head tormenting me with the words, “She’s gone. She’s gone.”

‘Even now, when the dark clouds close in on me, I find myself shaking my head manically and repeating over and over again, “Not Madeleine, not Madeleine. Please God, not my Madeleine.”’

The book, Madeleine, took Mrs McCann nine months to complete. It is based on diaries she has written for her daughter to read if she is found. It will be published on May 12 – Madeleine’s eighth birthday. The McCanns say all proceeds will go to the fund that was set up to cover the costs of the worldwide search for their child.

That search has now focused on Lauchlan and O’Neill, who are childhood friends originally from Largs, near Glasgow. They were jailed for a total of 56 years last June for a catalogue of abuse both in Britain and abroad.

A source said: ‘It cannot be overestimated how violent these two are. They are known to have strong links to other paedophiles. Without doubt they are among the worst serial paedophiles in Britain.’

At the High Court in Glasgow last year, Lauchlan and O’Neill were convicted of murdering mother-of-three Allison McGarrigle at their Largs home in 1997 and dumping her body at sea after she threatened to expose their abuse.

Following their conviction, officers throughout Britain and Europe were alerted after it was revealed that the pair had left the country on fake passports in October 2006, weeks after being released from an earlier sentence for sickening child abuse crimes.

Masquerading as cleaners, the pair were given easy access to holiday villas and apartments by unsuspecting clients.

They were living in Vecindario, an industrial town in Gran Canaria, when seven-year-old schoolboy Yeremi Vargas vanished while playing near his home. The youngster is still missing but his mother remains convinced that the Scottish killers are responsible.

Detectives involved in both the Madeleine McCann and Yeremi Vargas inquiries have worked closely together.

Lauchlan and O’Neill are known to have toured extensively and some reports suggested they were in the Algarve at the time Madeleine disappeared. A spokesman for the McCann family said it was ‘encouraging’ that information was still being sought by police.

Many of O’Neill and Lauchlan’s crimes are thought to have gone unreported because their terrified young victims were too scared to come forward.

Masquerading as cousins, the gay lovers were first jailed in 1998 at the High Court in Glasgow after admitting a five-year catalogue of abuse involving youngsters in Scotland.

During his sentence, O’Neill was said to have told fellow prisoners at Glasgow’s Barlinnie jail that he had killed Rothesay mother-of-three Mrs McGarrigle, who had disappeared a year earlier, and thrown her body in the sea to stop her exposing his sex crimes.

Both men served four years before being released in 2002. Lauchlan was released on licence but broke his parole conditions and fled to Spain after being told he would be returned to prison.

O’Neill remained in Scotland but fled to join Lauchlan in Spain in 2003 after abusing a 14-year-old in Irvine, Ayrshire.

In 2004, the two men were arrested by Spanish police near Alicante on the Costa Blanca after abducting a 14-year-old boy to abuse during a camping trip. They were deported to Britain and while in prison for breaking their parole conditions, were charged in April 2005 with the murder of Mrs McGarrigle.

But prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence and both men were released.
It was at this point, late in 2006, that Lauchlan and O’Neill evaded the British authorities and fled to Spain to prey on new victims.

After their true identities were exposed in the summer of 2007, they returned to Britain and a homeless hostel in Blackpool. Within weeks they were again grooming youngsters for sex.

Then an associate came forward with fresh information about the death of Mrs McGarrigle. Lauchlan and O’Neill were arrested, going on trial early in 2010.

They were convicted of grooming a six-year-old boy in Falkirk, an earlier sex attack on a 14-year-old in Benidorm and of the murder of Mrs McGarrigle.

O’Neill was sentenced to a minimum 30 years behind bars and Lauchlan to 26 years.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384705/Madeleine-McCann-Police-quiz-convicted-murderers-Kate-McCann-gives-chilling-account-moment-daughter-missing.html

The Waily Snail wrote:Police interest in O’Neill, in particular, was heightened because of his resemblance to a thin, spotty suspect seen hanging around the holiday complex in Praia da Luz on the Algarve shortly before three-year-old Madeleine vanished.

Now that's more like it!

When Translation Changes Lives – The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

December 15, 2014

n the first article of a brand new series, ‘Crime in Translation’, which is set to look at the role of translation, the press and social media in crime, Steph Fairbairn discusses the world famous Madeleine McCann case, and the hand which translation, or lack there of, and the invasive and unreliable Portuguese and British media have had in the case remaining unsolved.

On the 3rd of May 2007, three-year-old Madeleine McCann was abducted from the holiday apartment her family was renting in Praia da Luz, a tourist hotspot in the Algarve region of Portugal. It was a case which was set to grip not only the British nation, but the world, the way in which only the death of Princess Diana had previously done. To this day, the case remains unsolved. There have been numerous suspects (including, at some points, Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s parents, who have faced what can only be described as a disgraceful and unjust backlash from the media and the public alike), hundreds of rumoured sightings and a number of different investigations, led by Portuguese police, English police and private investigators.

As we approach the eight-year anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance, we are no closer to finding her whereabouts, or even knowing if she is still alive. The contempt felt towards the Portuguese police is clear – there are numerous claims that they were far too slow to respond; too slow to close off roads, to follow up leads, to track down suspects. They even allowed the apartment from which Madeleine was abducted to be rented out again before they thoroughly searched it for forensic evidence. So where does the issue of translation come into this?

On the most basic level, the fact that Madeleine’s abduction took place in Portugal made it more difficult for her British parents in numerous ways, due to the language barrier. They, as primarily English speakers, were forced to explain their situation to a police force made up of Portuguese natives. In a high intensity situation which requires almost instant action, a severe language barrier can only add to the list of potential errors which can be made in a case like this. We would like to think that modern police forces would be equipped for such events, but with regards to Madeleine’s disappearance, this did not seem to be the case. In fact, Robert Murat, the first person to be given ‘arguido’ status (this is a Portuguese term which equates to an English ‘suspect’ who has a few more rights, for example the right to remain silent), first came to the attention of a British tabloid journalist when he offered his translation services to the Portuguese police, eventually being signed up as an interpreter before his arrest, which occurred 12 days after Madeleine’s disappearance. Murat was, of course, not permitted to do any further interpreting, although he was later cleared of all involvement in the McCann case, and won a large amount of money in legal damages.

Perhaps the key translation issue in this case is that which involves the witness statements of both the McCanns, and the group which came to be known as the ‘Tapas Seven’. The ‘Tapas Seven’ were the seven friends who were dining with Kate and Gerry McCann at the local tapas bar, located 50 metres away from the McCann’s apartment, at the time of the abduction. Early on in the case, the media picked up on the fact that there were said to be many discrepancies between the statements of the McCanns and the ‘Tapas Seven’, which only fed the ever-growing rumours that Kate and Gerry McCann had somehow been involved in the disappearance of their daughter. Allegations in the Portuguese press, which more often than not made their way over to the UK media, accused the McCanns of sedating their children and claimed that they, along with the ‘Tapas Seven’, were swingers who had sworn to a pact of silence regarding the night of the disappearance.


Two of the four newspapers (all owned by the Express company) which were forced to make front page apologies to the McCanns for the untrue accusations they printed about them

When highlighting the inconsistencies between the statements in order to further persecute the McCanns, what the media failed to pick up on was the potential real impact of the cliché ‘lost in translation’. In what almost became a game of Chinese Whispers, the interviews from which the statements were formalised were not taped, but instead recorded by hand, with police officers taking notes. The interviews involved interpreters, with the police asking the questions in Portuguese, the interviewees responding in English, and the interpreter translating between the two. Then, the interviews were typed up into a formal statement by the interviewing officer. In order for the interviewees to sign their statements, they were verbally translated into English for their benefit. It’s undeniable that these numerous translations and interpretations which were undertaken in such a short space of time and in such a high pressure environment were extremely susceptible to errors. The art and practice of translation is no mean feat: it requires not only a knowledge of equivalent words, but an understanding of gist, tone, insinuation and intended meaning. In a case as high profile as this one, it’s imperative that translations, when required, are done as accurately as possible. An example as simple as a translator interpreting the Portuguese ‘compromisso’ as ‘compromise’ instead of ‘promise’, leading to the English sentence in its entirety reading as the very misleading ‘I am not going to dishonour the compromise I assumed with Kate and Gerry’, is proof in itself of the numerous inaccuracies which are sure to have littered the statements of the McCanns and the ‘Tapas Seven’ and in turn, jeopardized the early stages of the investigation irreparably.

Putting the police aside, the media’s desire for a story irrespective of correct information was further illustrated when, after the Portuguese police closed against the McCanns, who had themselves become arguidos, in July 2008, excerpts from the private diary of Kate McCann were published without her permission. First, they were published in translated form by Correio da Manhã, a Portuguese tabloid, before crossing the Channel and featuring in editions of the, now defunct, News of the World, in which the extracts had been translated back into English from Portuguese, and read very poorly. These extracts provided what readers thought was a look into the psyche of a mother whose child had recently been abducted; many readers even still held on to some belief that she had had something to do with the abduction. In fact, what they were reading was poorly translated prose, twice removed from its original meaning.

Like the statements which went before them, it was impossible to take the reproductions of the diary entries as some kind of fact or evidence on which to base valid judgement. However, again, like the statements which went before them, that’s how they were received. In a case plagued by arrogance, ignorance and inaccuracy, the art of translation serves to do no more than contribute to the view of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann as a sham. It’s one of so many ‘what ifs’; in the grand scheme of it all, the issue of translation plays only a minor part; however, you can’t help but think that had the translation been properly executed, then the McCann family would have been spared a lot of extra heartache and grief, and the investigation could have taken a different turn. You could even go as far to say that maybe Madeleine would have been found. Just maybe.

For more information on the disappearance and the search for Madeleine McCann, you can visit this website : http://findmadeleine.com/home.html

https://theglossa.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/crime-in-the-modern-age-when-translation-changes-lives-the-disappearance-of-madeleine-mccann/



I certainly agree about the issue of translation but ....

Madeleine McCann: British detectives fly to Portugal

Published 29 January 2014

British detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have flown to Portugal and spoken to local officers, Scotland Yard has said.

Madeleine was three when she disappeared in 2007 from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve.

Portuguese police said the detectives were in Faro on Tuesday.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, senior investigating officer in the case, is understood to be one of those who travelled to Portugal.

A high-profile campaign run by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, and a Portuguese police investigation, have failed to locate the missing girl.
Burglaries

Last week, Portugal's attorney general's office acknowledged they had formally received a letter of request from the British authorities for assistance in their enquiries.

It was reported that the request concerned assistance to arrest three suspects who were carrying out burglaries at the Ocean Club complex in Praia de Luz, in the Algarve, where the McCanns were staying.

In the 17 days before she disappeared, there were two incidents in the McCanns' block, one burglary and one attempted burglary.

Police have said the possibility that Madeleine had been snatched by burglars as part of a bungled break-in was a key line of inquiry.

Between January and May 2007, when Madeleine went missing, there was a four-fold increase in the number of burglaries in the area.

Scotland Yard launched a new investigation into Madeleine's disappearance last July, two years into a review of the case, and made renewed appeals for information.

The detectives met their Portuguese counterparts at the Faro Judiciary. Scotland Yard confirmed a team of officers had been in Faro as one of a number of regular trips they have made in connection with the inquiry.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25945924

Daily Express editor Peter Hill defends Madeleine McCann coverage

This article is more than 12 years old

Stephen Brook
Tue 28 Apr 2009 14.04 BST

Daily Express editor says he did not offer to resign over stories about Madeleine McCann disappearance

Peter Hill, the editor of the Daily Express, told MPs today that he did not offer to resign over his newspaper's inaccurate reporting of Madeline McCann's disappearance.

Speaking to the House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee, Hill also defended the Daily Express's extensive coverage of conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana. "I do not publish stories that I believe to be untrue," he said.

Hill added that he had "certainly not" offered his resignation over his paper's Madeleine McCann coverage, because all other media organisations had reported allegations by the Portuguese police that her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were suspects in her disappearance.

In March last year Daily Express owner Express Newspapers paid £550,000 in damages to the McCanns for more than 100 "seriously defamatory" stories about Madeleine's disappearance published in Hill's paper and sister titles the Sunday Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday.

The four newspapers also printed front-page apologies, while Express Newspapers apologised to the McCanns at the high court in London.

"If editors had to resign every time there was a libel action against them, there wouldn't be any editors," Hill said today, giving evidence to the committee's inquiry into libel, privacy and press standards.

Had he been forced to resign, Hill said the chairman of the BBC and a host of other media executives would also have had to depart because they reported that the McCanns had been named as arguidos (official suspects) by the Portugese police.

At the time the Daily Express regarded the police as a credible source of information, he added. "I didn't know that they were behaving like tinpot Ruritanian idiots," Hill said.

The apologies and damages payment by the Express Newspapers titles last year came after the McCanns' solicitors, Carter-Ruck, sent a legal complaint.

In evidence to the Commons culture select committee last month, Gerry McCann said that the Express Newspapers titles had been the worst offenders in the UK media in their coverage of Madeleine's disappearance.

However, today Hill refused to accept that his newspaper's reporting had been worse than other titles'. He said the McCanns had complained about 38 headlines in the Daily Express but that the paper had published 80 other stories that were positive to the family.

Hill added that he advocated settling the legal complaint and paying compensation to avoid putting the McCanns through the ordeal of a libel action.

"I accept that we did libel Mr and Mrs McCann because under the law, we clearly didn't tell the truth about them," he said.

Madeleine McCann's disappearance generated huge amounts of public interest, with the Express receiving 10,000 messages a day about the story and its sales increasing by many thousands of copies each time an article about the missing child appeared on the front page, Hill added.

"You have got to remember that this was the most astonishing chain of events. Nothing comparable to this had been seen since the Lindberg kidnapping in 1932," he said.

However, Hill said he recognised that the story was not in the public interest. "It was certainly of interest to the public but I wouldn't say it was in the public interest," he added.

The Daily Express editor also defended his paper's publication of numerous stories on alleged conspiracy theories about the death of Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in August 1997.

Before the final verdict of the long-running inquest into Diana's death was issued in April 2008, the Daily Express published numerous stories questioning whether she had died as a result of an MI5 conspiracy.

"Of course we believed it. I do not publish stories that I believe to be untrue. That is something I do not do," Hill told MPs.

When further questioned about the frequency of Princess Diana conspiracy stories, Hill said that because the inquest had found no evidence to support these theories that was "pretty much the end of the matter". "It's not a crime to have an obsession," he added.

Hill said that circulation at the Daily Express had remained steady during his five-year tenure but there had been a slight reduction in the number of journalists due to difficult economic circumstances.

He also attacked press commentators' use of the word "churnalism" to denote the rewriting of press releases and falling standards in journalism.

"It's a rubbish word. It's a gimmicky word. The standards of journalism have massively increased over the years," Hill said.

He also echoed Paul Dacre, the editor of rival title the Daily Mail, who gave evidence to the Commons culture select committee last week, in attacking the British legal system and the ease with which people could launch libel actions against newspapers.

"We do not have a free press in this country by any means. We have a very shackled press. We should be looking at freeing these shackles not imposing more, which seems to me to be the tone of this hearing," Hill said.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/apr/28/daily-express-peter-hill-mps

Where the £2m you gave to find Madeleine McCann has gone

By Vanessa Allen for the Daily Mail

Updated: 08:28, 29 January 2009

The fund set up to help find Madeleine McCann raised almost £2million in the first ten months after she vanished, it was revealed yesterday.

The wave of shock and public sympathy that swept Britain after her suspected abduction led supporters to donate money at a rate of almost £260 an hour.

Accounts lodged with Companies House show the fund received £1.4million in bank donations, another £391,000 over the internet and £64,000 from the sale of T-shirts and wristbands.

In total, it received £1.85million in its first ten months and earned £33,424 in interest. It spent £815,113 on the search for Madeleine in that time.

This included £26,000 to fund the purchase of merchandise and £250,000 on the fees for private investigators.

But the accounts – which have been made public for the first time – have been published with a warning that donations had gone on to fall dramatically and were now ‘significantly lower’ than in the immediate aftermath of the three-yearold’s disappearance in Portugal in 2007.

Support for her parents – Kate and Gerry – was rocked when Portuguese police named them as suspects, and when it emerged they had used public donations to pay two £2,000 instalments on their mortgage.

Madeleine vanished from a holiday flat in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, while her parents ate dinner at a nearby restaurant with friends.

The accounts provide a fascinating insight into the surge of support the family received, but also the costs of their worldwide campaign to find their child.

The fund’s biggest expense in the first ten months was £250,000 spent on private investigators hired to try to find her, including the Spanish agency Metodo 3.

Agency boss Francisco Marco boasted he would find Madeleine within three months, but his ‘leads’ seemingly came to nothing and the firm is no longer involved with the hunt.

The fund spent £123,573 on campaign management, which is believed to include the salary of the McCanns’ temporary spokesman Justine McGuinness and the fees of a PR agency.

A later spokesman, former BBC journalist Clarence Mitchell, had his salary paid by one of the couple’s wealthy benefactors.


Vanished: Madeleine McCann, seen with father Gerry, went missing in May 2007

The fund spent £111,522 on legal fees and expenses and £81,904 on posters and television and newspaper adverts appealing for information about Madeleine. Mr and Mrs McCann, both 40, set up the fund in May 2007.

Legal restrictions meant it could not be set up as a charity, so it is run as a not-for-profit company by a board made up of McCann friends, colleagues and relatives.

Mr McCann’s brother John is its chairman and wrote a foreword to the accounts. He said: ‘As expected, the level of donations has fallen over time, although we have a number of loyal donors continuing their support.’

He went on: ‘However our expenses are ongoing and likely to increase . . . The release of the police investigation files has enabled our investigative team to access a wealth of new information to be followed up, resulting in increased search and investigation activity.

'We will continue to ensure that Madeleine is not forgotten and will leave no stone unturned in our continued search for her.’

The accounts cover the months from May 2007 to March 2008, when the fund had £1.05million remaining in its coffers.

It has since been boosted by several libel payouts to the McCanns and their friends, the so-called Tapas Seven, which they donated to the fund.

The McCanns were cleared as suspects last August.

Their spokesman Mr Mitchell said: ‘People will be able to see that every penny of the money they so generously donated has been spent properly in the hunt to find Madeleine.’



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1131284/Where-2m-gave-Madeleine-McCann-gone.html

TROLL BLAST Madeleine McCann trolls need to ‘take a hard look at themselves’ if cops prove German suspect guilty, blasts spokesman

Ellie Cambridge

9:10, 4 Jun 2020Updated: 16:44, 4 Jun 2020

MADELEINE McCann trolls will need to "take a hard look at themselves" if cops prove the German suspect in her disappearance is guilty.

The family spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, today blasted trolls who have abused her parents on social media in the years since she vanished.





He told Good Morning Britain: "Anybody who believes that Kate and Gerry were involved are categorically wrong.

"And sadly if this proves to be the man responsible and we find out the fate of Madeleine in time, then a lot of people on social media will have to take a long hard look at themselves and what they've said over the years."

Trolls have attacked the family constantly since the three-year-old disappeared, with the latest cruel jibe being a mockup of the NHS coronavirus slogan "stay at home and save lives" with a picture of Madeleine.

It was revealed yesterday there is a new prime suspect in the 13-year investigation - a German paedophile.



The 43-year-old prisoner has not been named by British cops but was living in a campervan in Praia da Luz in Portugal around the time the youngster vanished on May 3, 2007.

He is currently serving a seven-year jail term for raping a 72-year-old American in 2005 in the same tourist area, according to a report by Braunschweig Zeitung.

He was convicted in Braunschweig district court last year for the offence in Praia da Luz, according to the newspaper.

German cops believe the prolific burglar, who has previous convictions for sex crimes against young girls, may have initially gone to raid the McCanns' apartment before he "moved on to a sexual motive".

Detectives in Germany believe they have "almost enough evidence" to charge him, according to the Daily Mail.

The Metropolitan Police also revealed a 30-minute call was made to his Portuguese phone around an hour before the three-year-old is feared to have been snatched from her holiday apartment as parents Kate and Gerry dined with pals nearby.

German cops are treating Madeleine’s disappearance as murder - though the Met are still investigating the case as a missing person inquiry because there is “no definitive information” on whether she is dead or alive.

A close friend said last night the parents refuse to believe their daughter is dead until a body is found.

But Mr Mitchell added to the BBC today: "Kate and Gerry do feel it's potentially very significant.

"They've never given up hope that she may still be found alive but they are realistic."

It comes after the the heartbroken mum and dad said all they want is to "uncover the truth" and "bring those responsible to justice" as a new prime suspect was revealed in the case.

The man emerged as a “significant” suspect following a vital breakthrough in the case from a witness who came forward after a 10th anniversary appeal by the Met for information in 2017.

He was already known to British and Portuguese cops investigating the case but they had refused to disclose why the suspect is now in prison.

The suspect was aged 30 when Madeleine vanished and at the time is said to have been living a “transient lifestyle” travelling between Portugal and Germany.

Scotland Yard has now launched a joint appeal with the BKA and the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria (PJ) - with a £20,000 reward for information.

Met deputy assistant commissioner Stuart Cundy said: “The main line of inquiry is this suspect.

“All of us are determined to do whatever we can to establish what happened and to see if this man was involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.

“It is a significant development."

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11780276/madeleine-mccann-trolls-cops-german-suspect/

'I know where Madeleine is buried' says body finder hired by McCanns

Last updated at 22:05 07 October 2007

A professional "body finder" hired by Kate and Gerry McCann says he has has pin-pointed the exact spot where Madeleine is buried.

Using cutting-edge technology South African scientist,and former police detective, Danie Krugel reportedly led police to an area 500 yards from where the four-year-old vanished 157 days ago.

Officers took Krugel's finding so seriously that they are said to have sealed off the entire area.

But in what could turn out to be yet another astonishing mistake, it is alleged that Portuguese police never bothered to dig at the spot.

Now, as sacked police chief Goncalo Amaral is off the inquiry and a new officer, Carlos do Carmo takes over, Krugel is heading back to reinvestigate.

A source close to the McCanns told the Sunday Mirror: "Kate and Gerry are pleased he's returning.

"They worked with him before and want to see his leads investigated."

The former South African detective says he has a 90 per cent success rate in tracing missing people.

He told the Sunday Mirror: "I'm preparing to fly to Portugal again because the investigation seems to have come to a halt.

"I'm convinced Madeleine's body is in Praia Da Luz."

The McCanns turned to him in July to spend a week investigating Madeleine's disappearance after being deluged with emails from members of the public recommending him as a "genius".

He said: "Gerry sent me a strand of Madeleine's hair for DNA purposes, which had been removed from her coat."

Krugel became a household name in South Africa when he created a DNA tracking device which solved a 19-year mystery about the whereabouts of six schoolgirls snatched by a paedophile.

He explained how he used the same method to track a potential burial spot for Madeleine on the beach in Praia da Luz.

The area was sealed off and Krugel suggested sniffer dogs be brought in to further pinpoint the spot where they needed to dig.

Yet ironically, when the dogs arrived they were used by cops to turn the finger of suspicion on to Gerry and Kate.

Portuguese police were more excited about the dogs' reaction when they searched the McCanns' Ocean Club apartment and hire car.

It means the area on the beach has still not been searched properly by officers and no dig has ever taken place.

And it came amid new reports from Portuguese newspaper Correio yesterday claiming police believe Madeleine was buried on the beach in Praia da Luz soon after her death.

Krugel added: "After I conducted my investigation I gave the police a map pinpointing the spot I think Madeleine is. And I handed over a 2,000 word report on what they should do next.

"I said sniffer dogs should be brought in to start the search. But I warned that this alone was not enough as dogs are only a success in missing person hunts three out of four times.

"That is why I also suggested a fingertip search of the area and a dig of the spot I located. But if this has not been done, the police really need to start from scratch and investigate that area again."

He added: "Too much time has been wasted accusing Kate and Gerry and not enough has been spent searching for Madeleine and following up on leads."

Krugel's device apparently combines quantum physics and global positioning technology to pin-point a body on a map.

Krugel landed in Praia da Luz with his machine on July 17 and embarked on a four day search - with the blessing of Portuguese detectives.

He said: "I had a meeting with Kate and Gerry where I explained exactly how my technology works and what I was going to do.

"They knew a lot about my work already because people had posted messages about me on the Find Madeleine website.

"The police were fully aware of the work I was about to do.

"I set off with some colleagues and we conducted an extensive search of Praia da Luz using the machine.

"I scoured many different places across the resort and spent time near ports and other exit points in Praia da Luz.

"We spent 16 hours a day searching everywhere - nothing was left unsearched."

But under Portuguese law Krugel is forbidden from revealing the exact spot as he has mentioned it in a police statement.

But sources close to the investigation told the Sunday Mirror that it is a spot on the beach in Praia da Luz near where Gerry regularly went running.

Krugel said: "The technology I use picks up a trace using DNA and complex and secret science techniques. Every day the trace was strongest in this one area.

"The machine was highlighting the same co-ordinate and it kept drawing me back there. It left me convinced that Madeleine was there.

"My machine has a 90 per cent success rate, so I am convinced this is the place where Madeleine is buried."

Krugel added: "The Portuguese police took my findings seriously at first, but now the work seems to have stopped."

Meanwhile, a former public relations consultant to the McCanns said their public composure in the immediate aftermath of Madeleine's disappearance masked their private turmoil.

Alex Woolfall said they reacted exactly as he would expect after Madeleine vanished and that their behaviour convinced him of their innocence.

"They were behaving exactly as I thought someone in that situation would be," he told The Times.

"They had not slept. They were trying to work out what to do that might help generate images of her.

They were desperately keen to publicise her face.

"I was struck at the perception of people who had watched Kate and Gerry: that they were very controlled and perhaps were not responding in a way people thought would be more natural.

"They were not at all controlled.

When I was with them, they were between being completely distraught and trying to do what they felt was the right thing.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-486196/I-know-Madeleine-buried-says-body-finder-hired-McCanns.html

MADDIE MYSTERY Madeleine McCann ‘chief suspect’ was never interviewed by cops despite ‘credible’ theory he’d abducted Maddie after losing job at Praia da Luz Ocean Club

Junkie Euclides Monteiro may have taken her to cause bad publicity for resort bosses who sacked him, it’s claimed

Patrick Knox

11:06, 1 Apr 2019Updated: 13:48, 1 Apr 2019

POLICE missed their chance to interview a chief suspect in the investigation of Madeleine McCann’s abduction.

Heroin addict Euclides Monteiro had been working as an employee at The Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz shortly before Maddie disappeared on May 3, 2007.

Euclides Monteiro, a convicted burglar and heroin addict, was sacked from the Ocean Club, where the McCanns were stayingCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

There has been renewed interest in the mystery as a Netflix documentary series is currently being aired called "The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann" which re-examines the facts of the 2007 case.

Monteiro, 40-year-old had been sacked from his job at the beach club for stealing from guests shortly before Maddie disappeared on May 3, 2007.

Monteiro aroused police suspicions after phone records showed he returned to the resort — where the McCanns were staying — a year after being fired.

Police say Monteiro may have wanted revenge against his former employers.

It was thought he may have stumbled across Madeline while attempting to burgle the McCanns' room, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The 6ft 2in ex-waiter is feared to have kidnapped the toddler after being disturbed as he broke into her ­family’s ­apartment.

'KIDNAP FORM OF REVENGE'

In 2013, Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha said: "The motives that could have caused the ex-employee to kidnap the youngster are still being investigated.

“The suspect could have taken the child to commit a sex crime before killing her.

“But he could also have committed the kidnap as a form of retaliation against the Ocean Club."

Police had lost crucial time to interview Monteiro because he was missing from a list of current and former Ocean Club employees that was given to police during the first investigation.

But having been identified as a suspect following suspicious phone records, detectives were set to question Monteiro.

FREAK TRACTOR ACCIDENT

But they never got the chance because he died in a freak tractor accident in 2009 when a trailer he was in crashed at a golf course.

Monteiro, originally from Cape Verde islands off West Africa, was convicted of theft in 1996 but escaped deportation.

When Maddie went missing he was living in Lagos, just a 15-minute drive from where she disappeared.

Nelson Rodrigues, a barman and waiter who worked with Monteiro in 2006 described him as a sketchy character.

In 2013 he told the Mirror: "On the surface he was a nice guy but there was something not right with him.

"He would turn up to work with bleary eyes, sometimes he didn't seem like he was all there.

"And things were going missing about that time – laptops, jewellery, mobile phones, anything that was lying around."

Monteiro’s family, in Argozelo, Portugal, have dismissed the police theory.

His sister Paula, 36, said: "He loved children — he had a son and a daughter — and would never have harmed a young girl.

"It's ridiculous the e-fit is a white man and my brother was black."

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https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8764213/madeleine-mccann-chief-suspect-never-interviewed/