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Donations to the Find Madeleine McCann fund fell from almost £2million
to £650,000 in just one year, it was revealed yesterday.
Only cash received in libel payouts to friends of Gerry and Kate McCann
– dubbed the Tapas Seven – enabled the search for their daughter to go
on, latest accounts show.
Around £260 an hour flooded into the Fund as a wave of public sympathy
swept the UK after Maddie’s abduction in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in
May, 2007,
It had £1.4million in bank donations alone in the first ten months of
the search.
But contributions fell away after the McCanns became one-time suspects.
And the Fund’s income dropped to £629,181 in the year up to
31 March 2009 – while spending rose from £815,113 to more than
£1million.
Outgoings covered investigators, publicity and the pair’s legal fight
against Portuguese policeman Goncalo Amaral.
Kate and Gerry, both 41, have been granted a temporary injunction on his
book claiming Maddie, three, died the day she went missing.
The couple’s friends were paid £375,000 in October 2008 after false
newspaper allegations about them.
In a foreword to the accounts lodged at Companies House, Fund chairman,
Gerry’s brother John, said: “Rather than accepting libel damages, the
friends requested a donation was made to the fund. This has enabled us
to continue our search for Madeleine.” |
