Charles O'Neill

William Lauchlan

Maddie Police quiz convicted murderers as Kate McCann gives chilling account of moment she found daughter missing, 07 May 2011

Maddie Police quiz convicted murderers as Kate McCann gives chilling account of moment she found daughter missing Daily Mail By IAN GALLAGHER Last updated at 11:56 PM on 7th 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.   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.

Paedophiles Charles O'Neill and William Lauchlan fail in bid to have murder convictions overturned, 13 June 2013

Paedophiles Charles O'Neill and William Lauchlan fail in bid to have murder convictions overturned Daily Record By Dailyrecord.co.uk | 13 Jun 2013 17:37 O'NEILL, 50, and Lauchlan, 36, were jailed for life three years ago for murdering Allison McGarrigle and dumping her body at sea. TWO paedophiles found guilty of murdering a woman who threatened to report them for abusing a young boy have failed in the latest stage of their bid to have their convictions overturned on appeal. Charles O'Neill and William Lauchlan were jailed for life at the High Court in Glasgow three years ago. O'Neill, 50, was locked up for at least 30 years while Lauchlan, 36, was ordered to serve a minimum of 26 years for murdering Allison McGarrigle and dumping her body at sea in 1997. They took their fight against the convictions to the UK Supreme Court in London, where they argued points over their right to a fair trial under human rights laws. But their claim that there was an undue delay in prosecuting the case and allegation of apparent bias on the part of the trial judge were rejected by five justices of the UK's highest court today. The appeal will now be sent back to the High Court in Scotland for final consideration, in light of the Supreme Court's ruling. Lauchlan and O'Neill were convicted of strangling mother-of-three Mrs McGarrigle, 39, at Waterside Street in Largs, Ayrshire, on June 21, 1997, before disposing of her body. At the end of their trial, it was disclosed that the serial sex offenders had been convicted weeks earlier at the same court of sexually abusing boys aged six and 14. Judge Lord Pentland, who heard both trials, told the men: "It is clear that you are both evil, determined, manipulative and predatory paedophiles of the worst sort." The pair later launched appeals against the murder convictions at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh. Judges in Scotland rejected certain grounds of appeal as "unarguable" but allowed the pair to take part of their case to the Supreme Court for a ruling. The pair alleged there was undue delay in prosecuting the case, having first been questioned about the death in 1998. In O'Neill's case, the court heard claims of apparent bias on the part of the trial judge, arising out of the comments he made at the end of the first trial on abuse charges. But Supreme Court Deputy President Lord Hope, sitting with Lords Kerr, Wilson, Hughes and Toulson, today rejected both appeal points. On the issue of alleged delay, the judge said police were only in a position to charge the pair in April 2005. "I would therefore hold that the date when the reasonable time began was April 5 2005, and not September 17 1998 when the appellants were detained and interviewed," wrote Lord Hope. On the trial judge's comments, he said: "I cannot find any basis for the suggestion that the judge was apparently biased, and I would reject it." The proceedings must now be sent back to the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland, Lord Hope concluded.

Right time... right face?, 20 October 2013

Right time... right face? The Sun McCann cops probe 2 Brit paedo killers Wanted ... cops' sketch of oddball EXCLUSIVE By GARY O'SHEA Published: 20 October 2013 Join Sun+ to read about how Madeleine McCann detectives are urgently investigating two British paedophiles...

Paper edition of The Sun, 20 October 2013 will appear here shortly...

Good Samaritan 'questioned by Maddie police over pair of paedophiles he let live in his home after they were released from prison', 20 October 2013

Good Samaritan 'questioned by Maddie police over pair of paedophiles he let live in his home after they were released from prison' Daily Mail Charles O'Neill and William Lauchlan questioned two years ago in connection with Madeleine McCann's disappearance Pair jailed for life in 2010 for murdering a mother who threatened to expose they were abusing boys They first met Ewan Wilson who visited the duo in prison while they were serving time for indecent assaults on boys Mr Wilson has confirmed he has spoken to police Pair believed to be among a group of potential suspects of interest By TARA BRADY PUBLISHED: 10:36, 20 October 2013 | UPDATED: 13:08, 20 October 2013 Detectives are hoping a good Samaritan who let two convicted paedophiles stay in his home can shed light on where the pair were when Madeleine McCann vanished. Friends Charles O'Neill, 50, and William Lauchlan, 36, from Largs near Glasgow, in Scotland, were questioned two years ago in connection with Madeleine's disappearance. They were jailed for life in 2010 for abducting a 15-year-old and murdering a mother who had threatened to expose their abuse of boys.   Charles O'Neill (left) and William Lauchlan were jailed for life for murdering a mum and carrying out sex attacks on children ------------------- They were interviewed in prison by detectives after inquiries revealed they had been touring Spain, and possibly Portugal, on false passports when Madeleine disappeared in May 2007. Prison visitor Ewan Wilson offered the pair a home in Falkirk, Scotland. They first met when Mr Wilson visited the duo in prison while they were serving time for indecent assaults on boys. Mr Wilson confirmed to The Sun he had spoken to the police.   Prime suspect: These e-fits are of the man seen carrying a child 500 yards from the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal ---------------------   Breakthrough? Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann received 150 calls from Holland after a TV broadcast there last night --------------------- In 2006, locals learnt the two paedophiles were living at Mr Wilson's home which led to vigilantes throwing bricks and eggs at the house.   The pair fled to Spain and started up a cleaning business called Rainbow Cleaning Services. At the same time a seven-year-old boy called Teremi Vargas disappeared in Gran Canaria where the pair were staying. The boy has never been found. Lauchlan and O'Neill are known to have toured extensively and some reports suggested they were in the Algarve at the time Madeleine disappeared. They returned to the UK and began living in Blackpool in November 2007. As convicted sex offenders they were required to report to police but they failed to declare they had bought a van. In 2008 they were charged with the murder of a Allison McGarrigle who lived with the pair. She had threatened to expose their abuse to police. At the High Court in 2010, the duo were convicted of strangling her, putting her body in a wheelie bin and dumping it at sea by the High Court in Glasgow in 2010. The pair were also found guilty of a series of offences which included grooming a six-year-old boy and attacking 15-year-old in Benidorm in 2004.   Dutch appeal: Chief Inspector Andy Redwood calls on Dutch viewers to report themselves if they were in the area at the time of the girl's disappearance in 2007, during a broadcast of Opsporing Verzocht on Dutch television --------------------- O'Neill was jailed for 30 years while Lauchlan was sentenced for 26 years. Detectives are examining the movements of a number of paedophiles – British and mainland European –  who are thought to have been in Portugal when Madeleine vanished. Officers are analysing mobile phone data of people in Praia da Luz on the day Maddie went missing, in bid to build a case against child sex offenders who feature in the inquiry. They are also looking at credit card and bank transactions of these potential suspects to see if it proves where they were around the time she went missing. O'Neill and Lauchlan are believed to be among a group of potential suspects or people of interest and police are following up a many lines of inquiry. Last week, police issued new e-fit images of two men which resemble the pair. Madeleine disappeared from her room at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.   Response: After the couple's appeal on BBC Crimewatch(pictured), a number of callers gave names for the man police believe snatched Madeleine ---------------------------   Search: Madeleine's mother said she was 'genuinely hopeful' of a breakthrough ------------------------- New timeline: The Crimewatch special revealed that police were now looking at Madeleine's abduction as being at 10pm and not 9.15pm ------------------------ Mother Kate McCann and her husband Gerry had been dining with friends less than 100 yards away in a tapas restaurant on the Mark Warner complex. Detectives investigating the child's disappearance have received 1,400 new leads since a new appeal on BBC's Crimewatch aired last week. Her parents said they are 'genuinely hopefully' that police can make progress in the investigation after the special broadcast. With 6.7million viewers, the appeal attracted the biggest Crimewatch audience on record – almost double the average of 3.9 million. A Metropolitan Police spokesman declined to comment this morning saying: 'We will not be giving a running commentary.'

Did they take Maddie?, 30 October 2013

Did they take Maddie? The Olive Press (paper edition, page 10) October 30 - November 13 2013 Dangerous UK paedophiles roamed Spain for years, were in Gran Canaria when Yeremi vanished, and detectives now believe they may have been in the Algarve when Maddie disappeared A PAIR of dangerous paedophiles who once roamed Spain in a London bus have become two prime suspects in the new Madeleine McCann investigation. Oddballs Charles O'Neill, 50, and William Lauchlan, 36, are believed to have been in Portugal at the time of the toddlers disappearance in 2007. The gay lovers had absconded to Spain on false passports in 2006, despite being the prime suspects in the murder of a Scottish woman in 1997. They have now been quizzed over their movements that year, along with pal Ewan Wilson, who put them up a number of times around that period. Police believe the pair - who were eventually jailed for life in 2010 for the murder of Allison McGarrigle, in Glasgow - could have committed numerous other offences in Spain and Portugal from 2003 to 2007. Shockingly, it has just emerged, they were living in the town of Vecindario, in Gran Canaria, at the time that seven-year-old schoolboy Yeremi Vargas vanished in March 2007. He is still missing despite a huge manhunt and a long public appeal. His mother is convinced that the Scottish pair are responsible for his disappearance. Now it emerges that they had also been in Spain in 2003 after being released from prison for other sex offences and spent time living in a number of resorts, including Albir, near Benidorm. In 2004 the pair were arrested in the Costa Blanca town for abducting an English boy, 14, for three nights and sexually assaulting him. A year before they had lived on a red single decker bus in the nearby town of L'Albir. According to one expat mother, who befriended them in There, they were forced to flee the town after one angry father accused them of being paedophiles. The Irish man had smashed a number of windows after finding out they had lured his son on to the bus. "One day they told me they had to leave in a hurry as they were getting threats," said the expat. "People were calling them paedophiles. They sold the bus for 2000 euros, bought a car and left. "Anyone can be anyone out here. No one knew about the child abuse. Will told people he was an accountant who'd taken time off to travel. They said Charlie had done a runner from Australia after knocking someone out. No one knew the real story." Did you come across the pair? Please contact newsdesk@theolivepress or call 951127006

Scots paedophiles quizzed over missing Spanish boy, 13 November 2013

Scots paedophiles quizzed over missing Spanish boy The Scotsman by GERARD COUZENS Published on the 13 November 2013 13:10 TWO notorious British paedophiles linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have been quizzed in prison about a missing Spanish schoolboy, it emerged today. Two Civil Guard officers involved in the hunt for Yeremi Vargas travelled to Scotland last month to question killers Charles O'Neill, 50, and William Lauchlan, 36. Detectives made the trip to try to confirm the evil pair's whereabouts on March 10 2007, the day seven-year-old Yeremi disappeared from his home in Gran Canaria. O'Neill and Lauchlan, jailed for life in 2010 for murdering a mum and abducting a teenage boy, are thought to have been living and working on the holiday island at the time. Spanish police are reported to be working on establishing whether the two men have alibis that would exclude them as suspects over Yeremi's abduction. A Civil Guard source said today: "Officers were given permission to travel to Britain to interview two men in prison over Yeremi Vargas' disappearance." Prison visitor Ewan Wilson, who put O'Neill and Lauchlan up after they served a previous jail sentence, is also thought to have been questioned by the Spanish officers. He is not suspected of any wrongdoing. Yeremi's mum Ithaisa Suarez spoke three years ago of her fears O'Neill and Lauchlan may be involved in her son's abduction. She told a British paper after they were jailed for a total of 56 years for the murder of a woman who threatened to expose their child abuse: "I am pleased that these men are going to be in jail for a very long time because they are obviously evil beyond words. "Maybe in prison they will sit and think about their crimes and talk to the police about what they know. "If they took Yeremi then I would beg them to speak with detectives in Scotland. "They make me feel sick. I still prey every day that Yeremi will be found but I can't hide my dark thoughts any more - I believe they took them." British police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are reported to have quizzed Ewan Wilson about their whereabouts when she vanished in May 2007. He first met the pair in prison where ex-boxer O'Neill was serving eight years and Lauchlan six for 21 indecent assaults against six boys aged 11 to 16. O'Neill and Lauchlan lived on the Costa Blanca in Spain and in Gran Canaria between spells in prison. They were jailed for life in 2010 at the High Court in Glasgow after being found guilty of strangling Allison McGarrigle, 39, when she threatened to tell police about them abusing a young boy. They were also found guilty of grooming a six-year-old boy in Falkirk and of a sex attack on a 15-year-old in Benidorm on April 2004.

Spain investigates 3 Scottish pedophiles over missing child, 13 November 2013

Spain investigates 3 Scottish pedophiles over missing child La Prensa Photo distributed by Spain's Civil Guard of two of the three Scottish pedophiles being investigated to find out if they had anything to do with the disappearance of a 7-year-old boy named Yeremi Vargas on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria seven years ago. EFE/CIVIL GUARD Madrid, Nov 13 (EFE).- The Spanish Civil Guard is investigating three Scottish pedophiles, two of them behind bars in their own country, to find out if they had anything to do with the disappearance of a 7-year-old boy named Yeremi on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria seven years ago. The three were on Gran Canaria when the boy went missing, so that the Civil Guard, which considered the sex motive as the most probable, distributed a photo of two of them and asked for help of the inhabitants, particularly of the Scots who often stayed on the island, to see if anyone had seen them at the time and place the boy went missing on March 10, 2007. Officials say that one of the inmates is serving a life sentence in a Scottish jail for homicide, the disappearance of a woman and the sexual abuse of her son, while the other, also behind bars, was sentenced for abuse of minors. The third, who went free, was investigated several times for the same crime. All three, investigators found, were on Gran Canaria in March 2007 and had friendship and business relations in the neighborhood where the family home of Yeremi was located and very near to where he disappeared. For a time, the three pedophiles lived in the area and the two now in prison had a cleaning company on the island called Rainbow Cleaning Service S.L., while the other also worked in Gran Canaria. In 2012, an Englishwoman told investigators that she had seen the pedophiles in the Gran Canaria town of Vecindario. The criminal profile of those under investigation, their stay in Gran Canaria, specifically in the area where the boy went missing, and the Englishwoman's statement have given the agents new confidence that they will finally discover what happened to little Yeremi.

Scottish paedophiles under scrutiny over missing schoolboy Yéremi Vargas, 13 November 2013

Scottish paedophiles under scrutiny over missing schoolboy Yéremi Vargas thinkSpain By: thinkSPAIN , Wednesday, November 13, 2013 THREE Scottish men are being investigated over the disappearance of schoolboy Yéremi Vargas, who went missing in March 2007 when he was just seven years old. Yéremi's whereabouts have been the subject of ongoing, but as yet fruitless investigations for six-and-a-half years, but after two dangerous paedophiles known as Charles and William were arrested in Gran Canaria and deported, inquiries have led towards their possibly having played a part in his disappearance. The child's mother and grandparents are convinced Yéremi was murdered by the Scottish men. They are believed to have lived in Albir (Alicante) where they worked as kitchen assistants before moving to the Canary Islands when they were recognised, after having abused two teenage boys. Both were aged 15, and one was said to be living in the converted bus the two men used as their home from summer 2003 until they were drummed out of town, and another was drugged, kidnapped and raped. Back in 1997, a woman living near the men in Scotland threatened to 'out' them publicly for having abused young boys, and in response, one of the accuseds murdered her, put her body in a dustbin and threw it in the sea. It was not until spring 2010, when they were spotted in Blackpool, UK, that they were finally arrested and brought to justice. They are both in jail in Scotland, but the third remains at large. The Scottish prisoners owned a company called Rainbow Cleaning Services, S.L., in the town of Vecindario, where Yéremi was last seen playing with his cousins on a field. Both were said to have had friends in the Los Llanos district, where Yéremi and his family lived, and all three of the men under suspicion rented a house in the area. Police from Spain have travelled to Scotland to question the two men in custody there and have distributed their photo in the hope that one of the British expatriates in Gran Canaria who contracted their cleaning services may be able to offer further information. In fact, one British woman already told police in 2012 that she had seen all three of the men in Vecindario. The Guardia Civil considers it 'significant' that the two men in jail had no qualms about speaking to Scotland Yard police over the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann on May 3, 2007 from Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, when she was three. But they refused to testify when quizzed over Yéremi Vargas, who had gone missing two months earlier.

Do you know these men?, 13 November 2013

Do you know these men? La Razon The Civil Guard wants to reconstruct the footsteps of these three Scottish men on the Canary Islands at the time of the disappearance of Yeremi Vargas Nacho Abad 13 November 2013. 12:12h Behind him he left nothing. Neither a footprint on the floor nor a scream in fear at being assaulted, not even a trace of his scent. Air only. Yeremi Vargas disappeared from the waste ground next to his home on March 10, 2007. His cousins ​​went home for lunch, he was left alone playing. Ten minutes later he was gone. Since then, the Civil Guard has not stopped. It is true that the "Yeremi case" remains unsolved, but along the way, officials have met and have taken off the streets more than thirty abusers and sex offenders. The latest line of investigation focuses on three Scottish individuals. "There are two of those that are very dangerous," comments someone who has delved into their biographies. They are Charles O'Neill, former boxer, and his cousin William Lauchlan. These individuals were convicted in 1998, in the United Kingdom, to five years for sexually abusing six children aged between 11 and 15 years of age. Before that, they were already suspected of murdering a woman, Allison McGarrigle. She knew of three children that Charles and William had abused. The two Scots confessed to others that the woman "had become food for the fishes". In 2007, after leaving prison, they hid in the Canaries. With the disappearance of Yeremi, the Civil Guard consistently met with all sex offenders. With them also. They felt the pressure and returned to Scotland. But the Benemérita [Civil Guard] detectives were tracking them. They provided information to their colleagues in the UK to the end that these two men were placed in the dock and were convicted for the murder of Allison. A fortnight ago, Spanish detectives, tireless, visited them in prison. Currently, the individuals refuse to be connected to the disappearance of Yeremi, but the Civil Guard wants to clear up some unknowns. Their goal now is to reconstruct the footsteps of these offenders while in the Canary Islands and more specifically in March 2007. While in the Canary Islands they were also associated with Ewan McDonald Wilson. This man pretends to be religious, and offers to help people with problems, but his true intentions are far from altruism and generosity. Although he has no history of sexual assault, the Civil Guard are also keen to reconstruct his footsteps in our country.

Scottish men targeted in hunt for 'Spain's Maddy', 14 November 2013

Scottish men targeted in hunt for 'Spain's Maddy' The Local (Spanish news in English) George Mills | 14 Nov 2013, 12:55 Spanish police are investigating three Scottish men as part of their six-year hunt for a missing boy from the Canary Islands who disappeared in mysterious circumstances just eight weeks before English girl Madeleine McCann. Spain's Civil Guard police force are targeting the three men as part of their investigations into the disappearance of Yéremi Vargas, who went missing on the island of Gran Canaria in March 2007 when just seven-years-old. Two of those men are now behind bars — one for murdering a woman and sexually molesting her daughter, and the other for child abuse. Those men refused to speak to Spanish police during a recent visit by officers to the country, sources close to the investigation told Spanish news agency Efe. A third man, who has been previously being questionned over similar sex crimes without being found guilty, is also of interest to Spanish police. The three Scottish men lived in the same Los Llanos neighbourhood as Vargas when the boy disappeared. The two men currently serving prison sentences also ran a cleaning business, Rainbow Cleaning Services, on the island. Spanish police believe Charles O'Neill (left) and William Lauchlan, both currently in prison, may be linked to Yéremi's disappearance. Photo: Scottish Police Now Spain's Civil Guard hope that publishing photos of the men in Scotland will help them find Yéremi. They say the criminal profile of the three men, and the fact they lived on the island at the time when the boy disappeared make them possible suspects. They are also hoping that one of the UK residents of Gran Canaria who used the cleaning service may be able to shed light on the matter. At present, there is no evidence that the three men were in the Los Llanos neighbourhood when Yéremi Vargas disappeared. In 2012, however, an Englishwoman told investigators she had seen the pedophiles in the town of Vecindario on Gran Canaria. The disappearance of Yéremi Vargas continues to receive a great deal of attention in Spain. In 2008, the boy's mother told the UK's Daily Mirror that she believe his disappearance and that of English girl Madeleine McCann were linked. Madeleine McCann went missing in May 2007 from Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve region. Despite numerous reported sightings, she has never been found.

New Scottish clue in the case of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, 14 November 2013

New Scottish clue in the case of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann RTP Nov 14, 2013 13:57 / Updated on Nov 14, 2013 13:57 Three Scots were interrogated within the scope of the reopening of the case. The basis for this decision was the suspicion of the Spanish police concerning their involvement in the disappearance of another child, in the Canaries, eight weeks before Maddie. Two of those questioned, a man aged 50 and a woman [sic: man] aged 36 years, are serving sentences of life imprisonment, at a jail near Glasgow. They were found guilty of the death of a woman who threatened to report them for abusing two children.

Charles O'Neill with Ewan Wilson

Paedos linked to Brit boy, 17 November 2013

Paedos linked to Brit boy The Sun on Sunday (paper edition, page 23) Sunday, November 17, 2013 TWO caged killers probed over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann could face new charges of sex assault on a British schoolboy. Evil lovers Charles O'Neill, 50, and William Lauchlan, 36, are accused of attacking a youth in 2007, while living in Gran Canaria, Spain. The latest claim is said to be a "new allegation that hadn't been made before." The pair, of Largs near Glasgow, are also suspects in the case of Spanish lad Yeremi Vargas, who went missing in 2007. The killers are serving life sentences in Scotland for the murder of Allison McGarrigle, 29, in 1997. She had threatened to expose the pair.