Gary Hagland - The ‘mysterious seventh man’ in the McCann Team private investigations

Gary Hagland - The ‘mysterious seventh man’ in the McCann Team private investigations


I am calling him the ‘mysterious seventh man’ because what I regard as the six other main private investigators in the case have been clearly (if not exactly prominently) publicised. They are:

Francisco Marco, boss of Metodo 3 (made bogus claims that Madeleine would be ‘home by Christmas)

 

So far as I can see, Hagland’s name has only cropped up twice publicly in relation to the McCann case. He was identified as a McCann Team investigator in articles by ‘Blackwatch’ on the old ‘Sargent’s Inn’ blog.  And he has contributed to an internet forum.. It is time that his role in the McCann Team investigation was highlighted.

I have not yet managed to track down his secondary school and further education details, but at various times he has claimed to have the following academic qualifications: M.Sc. and M.B.A. (respectively: Master of Science and Masters degree in Business Administration).  It would be very unusual for someone to have two Masters’ degrees - and he doesn’t say which University he got them from.

I’ve been unable to discover what job he got on his return here from Hong Kong, but I have been able to establish that by September 1991 he was working as Associate Director of Compliance at Albert E Sharp and Co. ‘Compliance’ basically means compliance with various financial regulations designed to prevent fraud.

Clearly Hagland was becoming something of an expert in compliance with financial regulations because the Editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance invited Hagland to write an article on the subject. The article, ‘Effective Compliance v. Regulatory Gestation’, was published in 1993, in Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp. 11-21. Accompanying the article is a brief description of Gary Hagland, which states:
 
 On 3 May 1994, Gary Hagland became a Director of OMFS (AESFM) Ltd. On

At some time in the 1990s he also became a Director of  Gerrard (OMH) Ltd, but resigned this Directorship on 14 October 1998.

Just 11 days later, on 25 October 1998, he also resigned from the Boards of both OMFS (BSPEP) Ltd and OMFS (AESFM) Ltd.

In 1999, Hagland was clearly regarded more than ever as an expert in the fields of fraud and money laundering. An article by him was published that year in a journal called: ‘Money Laundering Bulletin’.

At some stage around then, he became a ‘consultant’ with special expertise on money-laundering for law firm Wragge and Co in their Birmingham office, where his job was: ‘advising clients on the active management of compliance risks, including money laundering’. He was also said to ‘work with the Institute of Directors' Board consultancy department on the "Compliant Board" initiative that aims to guide company directors through the labyrinth of regulations and procedure that successful compliance demands’.

An article about Hagland’s work for Wragge and Co. appeared in the Financial Times Director magazine, 30 March 2001, and is reproduced below (Appendix 1).

Clearly, then, he was an acknowledged expert in the fields of financial regulation, compliance, fraud and money laundering.

On 4 April 2002, Hagland became a Director of Heath Reid & People Limited, as their ‘Attorney’ - but resigned just 8 days later. Just for the record, his fellow-Directors at that time were:

Toby James Brook-Reid (also Company Secretary) (then aged 27)

Hagland resigned from the McCann Team in March 2008 - around the time the McCann Team hired Kevin Halligen as their lead investigator at a cost of £500,000 plus expenses.


On 6 March 2010, there was an all-night ‘rave’ party at Nottingham Trent University (next door to Charleston House, where Hagland lives). One resident was apparently hospitalised as a result of the event, and, as reported in the Nottingham Post on 15 March 2010 (see below, Appendix 2), Hagland appeared to be taking the lead in protesting against the University’s failure to address the nuisance caused by these all-night parties.

Soon afterwards, on 9 April 2010, he became a Director of Charleston House, which appears to be owned and managed by its residents - but he resigned just 23 days later (2 May 2010). Charleston House (Nottingham) Ltd, based at Ossington Chambers, 6-8 Castle Gate, NEWARK, Nottinghamshire, NG24 1AX, Company No. 06611330, had been incorporated on 4 June 2008.  The founding Directors included Mr and Mrs David and Valerie Russell.  David Russell is shown as having a total of 18 Directorships.

Gary Hagland and the Jensen sisters

The old ‘Sargeants Inn’ website carried information about Gary Hagland’s involvement in interviewing the ‘Jensen sisters’ (Jayne Jenson and Annie Wiltshire). As far as I can tell, ‘Sargents Inn’ must have had a confidential source for this information, for I have seen it nowhere else.


"Jayne Jensen claims to have seen Robert Murat around the Ocean Club at around 10.30pm on the evening of Thursday 3 May, the night Madeleine was reported missing. In this respect, she supported the accounts of three members of the ‘Tapas 7’, namely Rachael Oldfield, Fiona Payne, and Russell O’Brien. These three made statements on 15 and 16 May 2007 to the police claiming they had seen Robert Murat ‘hanging around the Ocean Club’ at around the same time as the Jensen sisters (i.e. around 10.30pm to 11.00pm). They claimed to have recognised Murat from footage being shown of him on TV the day he was arrested (15 May). The Jensen sisters also claimed to have seen two blond men hanging around one of the ground floor apartments before Madeleine was reported missing.    

"The statements of the Jensen sisters and of the ‘Tapas 3’ (above) followed hard on the heels of Jane Tanner having reportedly been adamant, two days earlier, that Robert Murat was the person she claimed to have seen carrying a child from near the McCanns’ apartment at about 9.15pm on Thursday 3 May.    

"About five to six month later (that is, around November 2007), according to the ‘Sargents Inn’, the Jensens sisters were, in turn, interviewed by Gary Hagland and Julian Peribañez) from Spanish detective agency Metodo 3, and either before then, or after, by Detective Constable Bob Sidoli and Detective Constable Jo Godfrey, both believed to be from Kent Police.  A Robert Sidoli is shown as living in Ashford, Kent. He may have a martial arts qualification. Peribañez was seen walking side by side with Clarence Mitchell in Praia da Luz in a Portuguese TV news bulletin, believed to be in November 2007.

"The Jensen sisters had played tennis on holiday in Praia da Luz with the McCanns. Rajinder Balu from Essex, and Neil Berry also drank with the Jensen sisters.


That is all I have for you at the moment.
  


EXTRACT FROM ‘FINANCIAL TIMES DIRECTOR, 30 March 2001

Gary Hagland is a consultant with law firm Wragge & Co advising clients on the active management of compliance risks, including money laundering.

According to Mr Hagland, a problem for companies in complying with anti-money laundering initiatives is that their prevailing culture and ethos does not lend itself readily to accommodate scepticism about prospective customers. Rather, the opposite is likely to be the case. "To tackle the possible threat of being unwitting accomplices to a money laundering scheme, the challenge for non-financial businesses is to change their mindset, their core attitudes. The reputational focus of most businesses is clearly not on money laundering," says Mr Hagland.

Businesses used to dealing with wealthy clients are also used to handling those clients' wishes for anonymity and discretion; ideal conditions in which the money launderer can ply his trade. But businesses are required, increasingly, to interrogate rather than interview their clients and prospective clients.

In order to identify the risks, businesses need to ensure that they have a firm grasp of what money laundering is, how it may have an impact on their business, and the systems and procedures they may require to put in place in order to minimise their risk of exposure. But putting awareness into practice is more difficult. As Gary Hagland explains, practical guidance is thin on the ground: "One of the principal problems is that there is no established methodology for businesses to follow. Though business is told that it must be self-policing, there are no clear guidelines as to how they should go about fulfilling that role."

The risks associated with money laundering are clear enough. Money laundering is a criminal offence: any individual caught helping to process the proceeds of crime faces a lengthy prison sentence. Companies which stand accused of assisting with money laundering operations also risk substantial damage to their reputations.

For many businesses they are likely to be the kind of person that, on first impressions, they would welcome as a customer.
 
Money launderers are extremely well-funded, well-advised and make use of technically elaborate and sophisticated schemes to cover their tracks.







Nottingham Trent University has been criticised for its response to the party, which was announced on Facebook.
                                                                                                       PICTURE: Gary Hagland outside Canterbury Court.

Gary Hagland, who lives in Charleston House, which neighbours Canterbury Court, said partygoers urinated and littered around the complex.
"The noise and vibration from the music was so bad on this occasion that our neighbour had to go to hospital because her heartbeat got to about 200 from stress.

"Some of the students we have lived with have been hard-working and have been good neighbours.

A spokeswoman for the university said: "The university is investigating and is in contact with both the residents of this property and those in the immediate area to determine the exact nature of the complaint.

"The university takes any complaints relating to its students very seriously and does not condone any anti-social behaviour.

Notts Police said they did not receive an emergency call on the night.

A city centre beat manager is involved in the investigation.

michael.greenwell@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk

thank you for postings,going to take in over w.end but seems that all of them taken on as exactly what they were looking for !

Awesome research! Thanks for the hard work John Naylor.

What stood out like sore thumb is his rolling stone directorships!
Short tenure in almost every directorship, as short as 8 days, 11 days, literally before the ink on his signature is dry; and there is a whole string of short-term stay as well - how bizzare!

Fly-by-night stay directorships may not necessarily be indication of sham representations, but a pretty good pointer that there's something dodgy about it.

Take for example : you have to question how someone with two masters degrees : for Science and for Business Administration can qualify as "Attorney" even if only for a fleeting 8-days tenure?

On 4 April 2002, Hagland became a Director of Heath Reid & People Limited, as their ‘Attorney’ - but resigned just 8 days later. Just for the record, his fellow-Directors at that time were:.....

Another example of the quality (lack of) of the array of Mccanns private detectives.
Wrong once, twice at most, and you learned from the mistakes maybe is still believable.
Chronic mistakes each and every time for 7 times consecutively from a bunch of well educated intelligent people ....and a shrewd businessman thrown in the mix.... .....uhmmmm....what can one say?
A sham through and through right from the get GO!

Yes thank you for this info into Gary Hagland. I agree that he seems just to be an "enabler"!

It is odd that although I know very little about Directorships but it does look as though he was just "collecting" them for his CV.

It's almost as if someone has said "I know a man who can help......."

STATEMENT RE GARY HAGLAND

I'm glad that someone has researched Gary Hagland in depth, and as a result I now feel free to share what I know about Gary Hagland.

It was towards the end of the 2008-9 football season, as I was listening to the final stages of a Premier League match on Radio 5 Live on Saturday, 25 April 2009, at around 4.30pm, that the 'phone rang.  

The caller did not give his name at first, but towards the end of a call that lasted around an hour-and-a-quarter, he did so. His name was Gary Hagland. I made detailed notes of the call immediately afterwards.

He told me that he had been working for the McCann Team from September 2007 to March 2008, a key period in the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Throughout the conversation, he used the words: "I am under a great burden". He was keen to talk. It was he for example who disclosed to me that the McCann Team's HQ was a house that Brian Kennedy had bought in Knutsford, Cheshire.

Those of you who were on the old 3 Arguidos forum may recall that I began posting in July and August 2009 some of the disclosures made by 'a McCann Team insider'. I did so by claiming that I was receiving information 'from a female McCann Team insider'. The leaker was not female. It was Gary Hagland. At that time, I did what I could to disguise his true identity.

Since then, I have spoken to Gary Hagland a number of times. In our most recent conversation, he confirmed to me once again that he had retained extensive notes on his period with the McCann Team and was writing a book about his experiences with the McCann Team. He has even sent me extracts of his book.

In 2011, he disclosed to me that he had spoken to a senior member of the Scotland Yard Review Team, Operation Grange, and was prerpared to make a full sttaemnt to them. I have no doubt in my mind that DCI Andy Redwood would have seized the opportunity to talk to him in depth and make a full witness statement.

The last time I spoke to Gary he told me that he had 'approached several publishers with a synopsis' of his book, but that none of them had so far been willing to publish his material.

I will post further information given to me by Hagland later.

TB
Is it wise to expose him as your source ?
For one thing, he might not like it. For another he might become target of TM?
We know how vindictive and litigious the mccanns are?

Very interesting news Tony, but as Aiyoyo has pointed out, please be careful.

Things going on behind the scenes and publishers not wanting to publish his book YET.

Very interesting times ahead by the sound of things.

I agree with "aiyoyo" and "plebgate" ( sorry quote won't work) that careful should be the watchword. But I also remember another person who caused the present situation.

I can only repeat what others have said here,be very carefull Tony,dont get trapped again,and personally I would delete your post and let others do the talking

Tony, I want to reiterate what others are saying, Please, please keep a low profile. If there is any other way of getting your message out, without having your name attached to it, then do it that way. Over the last few days there appears to be a lot of "new posters" asking for information on very sensitive information. These people may be absolutely genuine, but you thought that about the person who tricked you, and put you in the position you find yourself, today.


So, just to recap, please keep your head below the parapet. You've done a wonderful job, so far, in exposing injustices, and soon, you will be given the credit you deserve.

Well it certainly looks as if this fellow is an expert in money laundering.

Interested to know if the author of this piece, Felicity Hathaway is using a pseudonym as cannot find this name anywhere - only a Felicity Naylor.  Perhaps it would have been better for Mr. Naylor to have PM`d Tony or one of the moderators first or even liaised with Tony much earlier particularly as he belongs to `a group` investigating this.

tiny wrote:I can only repeat what others have said here,be very carefull Tony,dont get trapped again,and personally I would delete your post and let others do the talking

Agreed, with Kevin lurking around it is dangerous.

Besides the man himself might find that as betrayal of confidence.

Mr Gary Peter Hagland is British and was born in 1954. The first directorship we have on file for him was in 2002 at Heath Reid & People Limited. Him newest directorship was with Charleston House (Nottingham) Limited where he held the position of "None". The company was established 04 Jun 2008 and is based in Nottinghamshire. So far, Gary has held 6 directorships, 0 of which are currently active, and 6 are previous

Edited to add that Gary Hagland only appears to hold directorships for a few days, then resigns.

Woofer wrote:Well it certainly looks as if this fellow is an expert in money laundering.

Interested to know if the author of this piece, Felicity Hathaway is using a pseudonym as cannot find this name anywhere - only a Felicity Naylor.  Perhaps it would have been better for Mr. Naylor to have PM`d Tony or one of the moderators first or even liaised with Tony much earlier particularly as he belongs to `a group` investigating this.

I've forgotten the name of the 'Naylor' that Gerry ? did or didn't sign in for at the creche.

bobbin wrote:

Woofer wrote:Well it certainly looks as if this fellow is an expert in money laundering.

Interested to know if the author of this piece, Felicity Hathaway is using a pseudonym as cannot find this name anywhere - only a Felicity Naylor.  Perhaps it would have been better for Mr. Naylor to have PM`d Tony or one of the moderators first or even liaised with Tony much earlier particularly as he belongs to `a group` investigating this.

I've forgotten the name of the 'Naylor' that Gerry ? did or didn't sign in for at the creche.

 Robert.

Why did a John Naylor post an article written by a Felicity Hathaway?

Why is there is Felicity Naylor listed but no Felicity Hathaway?

Why was there a Robert Naylor at the OC with the McCanns?

Questions, questions.........

Good article by Felicity Hathaway, by the way.  The saying "Oh what a tangled web we weave" comes to mind re the McCanns.

ETA: I've just noticed on another thread that John Naylor introduced himself to the forum yesterday.   I wonder if he knows Robert Naylor who was at the OC with the McCanns.  Is Felicity Hathaway his wife?  Strange he doesn't mention Robert Naylor if he's been reading the forum for some time.  Has he seen the creche records signed by a Naylor/or by G McCann on behalf of Naylor.

All very intriguing.

sallypelt wrote:Mr Gary Peter Hagland is British and was born in 1954. The first directorship we have on file for him was in 2002 at Heath Reid & People Limited. Him newest directorship was with Charleston House (Nottingham) Limited where he held the position of "None". The company was established 04 Jun 2008 and is based in Nottinghamshire. So far, Gary has held 6 directorships, 0 of which are currently active, and 6 are previous

Edited to add that Gary Hagland only appears to hold directorships for a few days, then resigns.

That is indeed interesting. It almost seems as if these very short interludes are for a specific purpose which can be accomplished in a few days. Either that or Mr. Hagland has a very low boredom threshold.

tigger wrote:

sallypelt wrote:Mr Gary Peter Hagland is British and was born in 1954. The first directorship we have on file for him was in 2002 at Heath Reid & People Limited. Him newest directorship was with Charleston House (Nottingham) Limited where he held the position of "None". The company was established 04 Jun 2008 and is based in Nottinghamshire. So far, Gary has held 6 directorships, 0 of which are currently active, and 6 are previous

Edited to add that Gary Hagland only appears to hold directorships for a few days, then resigns.

That is indeed interesting. It almost seems as if these very short interludes are for a specific purpose which can be accomplished in a few days. Either that or Mr. Hagland has a very low boredom threshold.

 When I worked in my dad!s accountancy firm I was asked to become a director of a good few companies for a short while, so my dad could set up the company quickly.  This usually happened when the real Director was unable to sign the forms,  I would resign a few days later.

Maybe he (gary Hagland) can get in contact with either/both Dr Amaral or Pat Brown for some advice about having it's book published outside the US. Their will be wide interest for that.

I hope you're safe Tony, and Mr Hagland too. These are predators.

I can only repeat the comments that some people have made before.

I feel uneasy that this is on the public forum.

To say that some people involved in this case are like a pit of vipers is to do an injustice to vipers.

I share your opinion, NFWTD.
Perhaps better move for the moment to a members-only-thread?

Woofer wrote:Well it certainly looks as if this fellow is an expert in money laundering.

Interested to know if the author of this piece, Felicity Hathaway is using a pseudonym as cannot find this name anywhere - only a Felicity Naylor.  Perhaps it would have been better for Mr. Naylor to have PM`d Tony or one of the moderators first or even liaised with Tony much earlier particularly as he belongs to `a group` investigating this.

He could have just sent the information to SY or the CPS and not publish it on a forum open to the whole World to read, or sent it to admin to keep for future publication, depending how things went with the investigation.

Why chose the name Naylor to join a forum, when it is the same name as someone who signed/or didn't sign the creche records.  It was bound to have people's brains working full time to find a connection.

All very strange but intriguing at the same time.

No Fate Worse Than De'Ath wrote:I can only repeat the comments that some people have made before.

I feel uneasy that this is on the public forum.

To say that some people involved in this case are like a pit of vipers is to do an injustice to vipers.

Thank you NFWTD for your concern - and thank you also to aiyoyo, plebgate, Angelique, tiny, sallypelt and Chatelaine for expressing similar concerns.  

In bringing to public notice the role of Gary Hagland in the McCann Team's private investigations, let no-one suggest that I have left any stones unturned in the search for Madeleine McCann, aged three when she was reported missing, and aged 10 now if she is still alive.

The British public have been repeatedly invited to donate to 'the search for Madeleine'. Hundreds if not thousands of fund-raising events have helped to swell the coffers of 'Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned'. Numerous TV stations have made donations to Madeleine's Fund.

All of this money raised in these and other ways is said by the McCann Team to have funded, in one sense or another, whether directly or indirectly, the ongoing search for Madeleine.

The main activity of trying to locate Madeleine and find out what happened to her has been by the McCann Team's private investigators. It is acknowledged by the McCann Team themselves that the private investigations have been directed by Cheshire-based businessman Brian Kennedy and, according to some media reports, part-funded by him as well.

During the past six years, there has been a great deal of secrecy over the activities of the private investigators who, although directed by Brian Kennedy, are the responsibility of a registered private limited company and its directors, who include of course the McCanns themselves, some of their relatives and family friends, and their co-ordinating lawyer, Edward Smethurst.

There has been a reluctance by the McCann Team to identify some of the private investigators they have used and to say much about them. Yet these are the very people whose salaries and expenses have been largely paid for by a generous British public.

So I hope no-one is worried in any way about my bringing to light, having kept quiet about it for over 4 years, the central role of Gary Hagland at the heart of the McCann Team's investigations, right from the very start (September 2007) to March 2008, the very period when the McCann Team private investigation was at its busiest and most prolific.

Indeed, I hope members of the forum, and indeed guests looking in, would generally appreciate the spotlight being trained on a hitherto unexplored area of the McCann Team's investigation, and being able to glean some new information about it.

I might quibble with Felicity Hathaway's reference to Gary Hagland as the 'seventh man' of the McCann Team's investigations, because in addition to the seven she has named, there is the small matter of Henri Exton, the shadowy secret service figure who was Kevin Halligen's sidekick in Oakley International. Exton of course lives in Bury, Lancashire, the same town where Edward Smethurst now lives, having moved there last year from one of his many properties in the neighbouring borough of Rochdale.

Hagland's work was greatly appreciated by the McCanns.

On 24 December 2007 (Christmas Eve), Dr Kate McCann sent him this e-mail message:

"Gary, Just wanted to send you our love and good wishes at this time and a big thank you for all your help over the past 4 months. Wishing you a happy and peaceful New Year, Kate, Gerry, Madeleine, Sean and Amelie x".

The very next day, Christmas Day, the following e-mail, from Brian Kennedy's Swettenham Hall, Cheshire, residence, arrived in Gary Hagland's inbox:

"Gary, Have a great break. It's been good getting to know you over the last few months. We work well together and I am confident we will find a way in the new year. Thanks for all the effort you expend along with a not insignificant amount of nouse. Talk soon, Brian".

I didn't mean to be impolite by referring to Gary Hagland as a 'stone' that needed to be 'unturned'.

Rather, I would regard him as a gold nugget.

Who needs to be mined.

Is Mr Hagland in agreement with having this information published, Tony?

Apart from other detectives, Noel Hogan seems to be of interest, if only because we hardly ever hear about him. Links to the Met in January 08, working for Metodo.
The McCanns bring in cold-case detectives to investigate Madeleine's disappearance Daily Mail
By DAN NEWLING and VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 00:48 03 January 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann have hired a former Met Police officer to carry out a "cold case" review into Madeleine's disappearance.
unquote - see for the rest the SY topic so as not to derail this one.

..and @ Brian Kennedy, it's 'nous' not 'nouse'. From the Greek for mind or intelligence.