Re: News of the World gave McCanns REWARD money in April 2011.

by JackieL 19.06.14 21:53

14^th June 2007

Six weeks since Madeleine disappeared. We believe Madeleine is alive and I am glad to say that following yesterday's letter in the Telegraaf (Netherlands) there has been no evidence that Madeliene is in the area indicated although there will be further searches tomorrow.

Kate and I picked up a friend from Faro airport who has been instrumental in helping with the campaign. He has been fantastic, producing the DVD of Madeleine to ‘Don’t you forget about me’ which has been shown at many sporting events and concerts as well as producing the look for maddie logo and various posters. We spent most of the day updating each other and discussing future campaign ideas. We are getting closer to appointing a campaign manager who will handle media liaison and coordinating events to keep Madeleine’s disappearance highly visible.

15^th June 2007

The good news today is that the search in response to the letter in the Telegraaf did not find evidence of Madeleine. We still belive that Madeleine is alive. We have made some real progress deciding on campaign strategy. There is a huge amount of goodwill from people who want to help us find Madeleine and we have some concrete offers of support and are trying to finalise details before releasing them. Tomorrow will be a family day.

16^th June 2007

Kate and I dropped Jon at the airport this morning and picked up some more friends/family who have come out to see us, but particularly the twins. They were certainly happy to see our visitors! After lunch we headed off to the local zoo. Relatively quiet on the campaign front today as it is a family day. Tomorrow we will announce one or two planned events to keep Madeleines disappearnace high profile.

17^th June 2007

The first event of our longer term campaign will be on Friday 22nd June- this will mark the 50th day Madeleine will be missing. We will be launching green and yellow balloons from at least 50 centres worldwide to mark the fact that we are still searching as are other parents of missing children. Countries that are participating so far are Argentina, El Salvador, USA, Canada, Ireland, UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Portugal (Kate and I in Praia da Luz), Spain, South Africa, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. . Any other countries that wish to partcipate can download information from the website.

18^th June 2007

Kate and I got the respone we wanted after speaking to the Portuguese ploice today. We are assured that no criticism of our actions on the night Madeline disappeared was intended.

There has been a good response to our planned balloon release for Madeleine and other missing children on Friday and we are confident that over 50 countries will be represented.

The twins have really enjoyed seeing family who have been visiting us for the last 3 days- it has passed very quickly. Hopefully the next time we see them it will be with Madeleine.

19^th June 2007

Flew in to London to for a series of meetings. Helped a passenger on the flight who collapsed. He was ill enough to require a full assessment on arrival and went off to hospital in an ambulance.

Unfortunately shortly after arriving in London I had my wallet stolen which meant I was running late. I did manage to get to all my meetings which ran late into the evening. We had very good discussions regarding sustaining the search for Madeleine long term. The role for Kate and I in the campaign will not be nearly be so public. We have to balance any campaigning in the search for Madeleine with protecting Sean and Amelie and making sure their privacy is protected.

We are exploring the use of new media and using local advertising, particularly in Europe. There will of course be event driven media exposure such as the balloon launch on Friday 22nd. There are several other very good ideas being developed and a few large companies are willing to help us.

20^th June 2007

Another busy day of meetings this time in Leicester. No mishaps thankfully.The main meeting was that of Maddeleines fund where we discussed implementing a strategy to maintain our campaign to find Madeleine. It was agreed in principle to appoint a family spokesperson who will act, not just for Kate and I, but also on behalf of the extended family who have been liasing with the media. This appointment will take a lot of strain off family members who have been putting in such massive efforts to help find Madeleine.

We are delighted with the response to the 50th day balloon launch which will truly be a global event. There will be a few variations to the release of balloons however. In Ventura, Southern California, 50 white doves will be released and in Afghanistan kite racing, an activity banned under the Taliban, will be the order of the day.

Arrived back in Praia da Luz this evening and it was great to see Kate and the Kids, even though I was only away for a day and a half.

Re-reading this stuff after so many years last night brought back to me the shock and disbelief we felt at the time that this guy was blatantly reveling in setting up these LONG TERM marketing and fund-raising initiatives, whilst oblivious to any remote possibility that Madeleine might actually be found. This was happening a mere SIX WEEKS after Madeleine's disappearance was announced.

by Miraflores 19.06.14 22:15

What stands out for me is the statement:

"as well as producing the look for maddie logo and various posters."

The word of parents who insist "that we never called her Maddie" and who state that "we never made much of her eye".

by Justformaddie 19.06.14 22:27

This man can clearly see into the future, he knew there was no point in searching for her, and was clearly hell bent on future campaigns only. What father could speak and think like this? All IMO dontgetit

by lufc50337 19.06.14 22:57

GERRY MCCANN'S DIARY BLOG, day 102, said "The campaign, as planned, will enter a quieter phase again. We have always envisaged that media attention focussed on Madeleine and us would quieten down and just occasionally we would try to remind people that Madeleine is still missing and that we are still looking."

IMO GA, Eddie and Keela spoilt the master plan

by Guest 19.06.14 23:15

sally66 wrote:

GERRY MCCANN'S DIARY BLOG, day 102, said "The campaign, as planned, will enter a quieter phase again. We have always envisaged that media attention focussed on Madeleine and us would quieten down and just occasionally we would try to remind people that Madeleine is still missing and that we are still looking."

IMO GA, Eddie and Keela spoilt the master plan

"...just occasionally...?" nah

by JackieL 19.06.14 23:35

sally66 wrote:

GERRY MCCANN'S DIARY BLOG, day 102, said "The campaign, as planned, will enter a quieter phase again. We have always envisaged that media attention focussed on Madeleine and us would quieten down and just occasionally we would try to remind people that Madeleine is still missing and that we are still looking."

IMO GA, Eddie and Keela spoilt the master plan

"We have always envisaged........" WHY have you always envisaged that, Gerry? HOW could you possibly envisage anything in the future, unless you knew somehow that Madeleine would still be missing?

by lufc50337 20.06.14 0:35

Mrs McCann’s comments came as she backed a revamped alert system triggered when children are missing or their lives are at risk – known as child rescue alerts. She said: “When a child is abducted, families are devastated. The agony of not knowing where your child is, is almost impossible to imagine.

by lj 20.06.14 14:58

Thanks Enid.

by tasprin 20.06.14 16:08

sally66 wrote:Mrs McCann’s comments came as she backed a revamped alert system triggered when children are missing or their lives are at risk – known as child rescue alerts. She said: “When a child is abducted, families are devastated. The agony of not knowing where your child is, is almost impossible to imagine.

I imagine she's done a lot of imagining...

by Guest 20.06.14 19:31

20^th June 2007

It was agreed in principle to appoint a family spokesperson who will act, not just for Kate and I, but also on behalf of the extended family who have been liasing with the media. This appointment will take a lot of strain off family members who have been putting in such massive efforts to help find Madeleine.

It was undoubtedly a positive move to relieve the wider family from the strain of talking to the press.

by Dont Make Me Laff 20.06.14 19:48

tasprin wrote:
sally66 wrote:Mrs McCann’s comments came as she backed a revamped alert system triggered when children are missing or their lives are at risk – known as child rescue alerts. She said: “When a child is abducted, families are devastated. The agony of not knowing where your child is, is almost impossible to imagine.

I imagine she's done a lot of imagining...

"The agony of not knowing where your child is, is almost impossible to imagine" That comment doesn't make sense... I would have thought "IS IMPOSSIBLE" (period)

by Doug D 24.06.14 12:04

New blog up about the presumably illegal transfer of ‘reward’ funds to the MM Fund by the NofW.

http://asaucesaid.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/rebekah-kate-gerry-and-cash.html?m=1

I do not have a copy of the paperback edition with the epilogue in it, so cannot verify the following:

‘In the epilogue to the paperback version of her book, Mrs McCann confirms:

In the spring of 2011, we met a team from News International to hear what they had to offer.

Eventually, they would offer £550,000 for serialisation rights’.

It then goes on to say:

‘News UK confirm this figure, which appears in the accounts for Leaving No Stone Unturned Ltd in y/e 30 March 2012 under Restricted Funds.

News UK also wrote:

the Reward Fund payout was in addition to, separate from and not included, within the payment of £550,000 for serialisation rights to Mrs McCann’s book’

I have no particular reason to doubt what must be an easily verifiable quote from the book, but would appreciate if someone could confirm the quote.

This therefore begs the question that if the serialization monies of £550k are what is shown in the y/e March 2012 accounts, what happened to the
‘All royalties donated to Madeleine’s Fund’ promise on the bewk cover?

The end flyer states:

‘There is no evidence to suggest that Madeleine has been harmed and it is therefore vital to keep looking for her and those who took her. It is for this reason that all royalties earned from sales of this book will be donated to Madeleine’s Fund.’

The only items in the accounts are y/e March 2012 Donation £550k in ‘restricted funds’ category (Notes say £738,487 post-tax royalties & other income from sales, therefore gross income < £1m, which could well include the advance), so £188k in ‘unrestricted’ (which I had previously, erroneously assumed could be these Sun/Sunday Times monies, as possibly not subject to the restriction printed on book).
If this balancing ‘unrestricted’ figure of £188k is made of the post tax book royalties, why is it not also ring-fenced for the search?

The 2012 accounts quote:

‘Income generated from the sales of the book have significantly improved the financial position of The Fund and will continue into the next financial year as a result of publication of the book in other countries and release of the paperback version in the UK.’

‘Following the publication of Kate McCann’s book, ‘Madeleine Our daughters disappearance and the continuing search for her’, £550,000 was donated for the direct costs of the search for, and the investigation into the disappearance of, Madeleine’

‘During the financial year to 31 March 2012, the book ‘Madeleine Our daughters disappearance and the continuing search for her’ written by Kate McCann (a director of the company) was published in the UK and certain overseas countries including Portugal. Donations of £738,487 have been made in the period to the company out of post-tax royalties and other income from sales of the book’

No new information regarding the book & no obvious income donation (total income only £70k anyway) was reported in the y/e March 2013 accounts, although two of the above statements were quoted again.

If the ring-fenced ‘search’ funds are taken out of the pot, there is not a lot left, and if another £188k was ring-fenced (as per my query above) this would only leave £8753 (as at March 2013) in the pot to ‘provide support, including financial assistance, to Madeleine’s family’.

No contingent liability for the previously awarded, but deferred, court costs show in the accounts, as presumably this is a personal liability, and if the previous practice of paying all of their witnesses expenses continues, this will have gone by now.

What about poor old CM's retainer? Even he will struggle to claim under 'direct costs of the search for', but then if anyone can, he can!

by tasprin 24.06.14 13:33

The News of the World pledged £250.000 to the reward fund but when the paper closed they weren't stupid enough to hand over their own money to the Findmadeleine limited company. Yet their poor old readers weren't even informed that their donations were going into the McCanns pot instead of the three children's charities, as per the terms of the paper's reward fund.

BBC News
Saturday, 12 May 2007
The News of the World has promised £250,000 - matching the contribution of Top Shop owner Sir Philip Green.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6649951.stm

by SuspiciousMinds 30.06.14 14:14

tasprin wrote:
sally66 wrote:Mrs McCann’s comments came as she backed a revamped alert system triggered when children are missing or their lives are at risk – known as child rescue alerts. She said: “When a child is abducted, families are devastated. The agony of not knowing where your child is, is almost impossible to imagine.

I imagine she's done a lot of imagining...

Maybe she should try this one on for size:

"The agony of not knowing where your parents are when you're only three years old, in a strange place in the dark, is almost impossible to imagine."

by Beanie 30.06.14 22:24

SuspiciousMinds wrote:
tasprin wrote:
sally66 wrote:Mrs McCann’s comments came as she backed a revamped alert system triggered when children are missing or their lives are at risk – known as child rescue alerts. She said: “When a child is abducted, families are devastated. The agony of not knowing where your child is, is almost impossible to imagine.

I imagine she's done a lot of imagining...

Maybe she should try this one on for size:

"The agony of not knowing where your parents are when you're only three years old, in a strange place in the dark, is almost impossible to imagine."

You are absolutely right, but I don't think the parents will be losing any sleep.

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