Madeleine: Mum missed 'snatcher' by minutes, 15 October 2013

Madeleine: Mum missed 'snatcher' by minutes Daily Express (paper edition)   Suspect seen carrying child towards beach as Kate checked room [text same as per online version] TURN TO PAGE 6 -------------- REVEALED: How Madeleine McCann's mum Kate missed 'snatcher' by minutes Daily Express MADELEINE McCann's mother may have been just moments from catching the ­kidnapper in the act of snatching the little girl from her bed, it emerged last night. By: John Twomey Published: Tue, October 15, 2013   But the description of the man cradling the slumbering child has taken on a fresh ­significance following two years of inquiries by a squad of Scotland Yard detectives using the codename Operation Grange. The potential prime suspect is described as white, in his 30s, of medium build and height, clean shaven with short brown hair. He was carrying a child aged three or four who had blonde hair and was wearing pyjamas similar to Madeleine's. He was heading for the beach but detectives say suggestions that Madeleine may have been taken from Praia da Luz by boat are speculation. Computer-generated e-fits of the possible prime suspect featured on last night's BBC Crime­watch as the Yard appealed for help to track him down. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: "This could be the man who took Madeleine or there could be an innocent explanation. "If you know who this person is, please come forward." A reward of £20,000 is on offer for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of Madeleine's kidnappers. The e-fit images were generated for private investigators in 2008. The Yard declined to comment on why they were not released until yesterday. Detectives also want to trace several blond-haired men and a group of charity collectors seen hanging around the holiday resort complex at the time of Madeleine's disappearance. Similar appeals to last night's BBC Crimewatch will be broadcast in Holland and Germany after reports that some of the men spoke Dutch or German. Police also revealed details of a break-in at a nearby apartment almost exactly a year before the kidnapping. A child left alone with a baby screamed in terror as an intruder strolled into their bedroom and gazed into the cot before leaving empty-handed.   Yard detectives are analysing the strange incident along with a spate of burglaries in the area in the months before the abduction. They are looking at the possibility Madeleine may have disturbed a burglar. In a moving interview for BBC Crimewatch, Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry from Rothley, Leicestershire, spoke of the happy family holiday which turned to anguish. They also described the feelings of guilt over the fateful decision to leave Madeleine and her twin siblings Sean and Amelie while they had dinner at a tapas restaurant 50 yards away. Mrs McCann said: "I did persecute myself over the decision to eat at the tapas restaurant for weeks, months and years. "Why did we think that was OK? But that doesn't help us and it doesn't help Madeleine. "Ultimately, it is not us who has committed this crime. It is the person who has gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family." Investigations previously focused on a report of another man seen carrying a child close to the McCanns' apartment around 9.15pm on May 3, 2007 – around 45 minutes before Mrs McCann discovered her daughter was missing. The man and pyjama-clad child were spotted by the ­couple's fellow diner Jane Tanner as she went to check on her own children. Police are now "almost certain" the man she saw was an innocent British holidaymaker who was taking his two-year-old child back to their apartment. Chief Inspector Redwood described the ruling out of the 9.15pm sighting as "really interesting and exciting – a revelatory mom­ent" and allowed his officers to focus on the later report of the second man carrying a child towards the beach. A man was seen carrying a fair-haired child towards the beach minutes before Kate McCann went to check on her children and found Madeleine missing. Scotland Yard regard the dark-haired man, right, as a potential prime suspect in the international hunt for the ­kidnappers. The sighting was reported to police soon after Madeleine, then three, vanished from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. This man was seen by members of the Smith family from Drogheda, Co Louth, ­Ireland, who were on holiday. Martin Smith told police he believed the child was in a "deep sleep." The man was carrying the youngster with her head slumped against him. According to Mr Smith, the child had pale "typically British skin" and shoulder-length, fair hair. Crucially, he also recalled that the child was wearing light-coloured or pink pyjamas, similar to Madeleine's. The Smiths made statements to Portuguese police and later helped generate the two e-fits for private investigators in 2008. The ruling out of the 9.15pm sighting has eased the distress of Ms Tanner, 42, who has been tormented by the thought of seeing Madeleine with her abductor but not realising it. A source close to the McCanns said yesterday: "Jane has always been haunted by the thought she could have chased after that man. The fact that police have dismissed him as a suspect helps her feel a little bit better." Operation Grange was launched in May 2011 after the McCanns appealed directly to Prime Minister David Cameron. Yesterday, Mr Cameron said: "This was a crime that touched the heart of everyone in the country. I hope Scotland Yard continue with their work and I wish them success."

Men seen lurking near flat 'may have planned Madeleine McCann's kidnap', 15 October 2013

Men seen lurking near flat 'may have planned Madeleine McCann's kidnap' Daily Express THE abduction of Madeleine McCann could have been a pre-planned operation, the head of the Scotland Yard inquiry said yesterday. By: John Twomey Published: Tue, October 15, 2013   Elements of the mystery suggest there may have been surveillance or reconnaissance of families with young children at the holiday resort on the Algarve. Police are now anxious to trace several blond-haired men seen close to the McCanns' holiday apartment at Praia da Luz on or before the day Madeleine went missing. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood issued descriptions of the men whose e-fit images featured on the BBC Crimewatch appeal last night. Mr Redwood said: "One reading of the evidence suggest the hallmarks of a pre-planned abduction and elements of surveillance. We see a number of men lurking in and around in the day." But the officer stressed this was only one possibility and officers were keeping an "open mind." Police are particularly anxious to trace: A man seen by one witness at approximately 8am on April 30, 2007, and around noon on May 2 – the day before Madeleine went missing. Both sightings were near the McCanns’ ground floor apartment 5A.   The man was described as white, 30-35, thin, with short, light-coloured hair and spots on his face possibly caused by shaving. He had thick-framed black sunglasses and was wearing a black leather jacket with silver zips. A white man seen near the 5A apartment around 4pm on the day Madeleine was snatched. He has blondish hair, described as quite close-shaven, aged between 30-35 years old. A Portuguese-looking man who approached a property on the Rua do Ramalhete close to the Ocean Club complex where the McCanns were staying. He had medium-length, wavy hair, and was about 25 to 30. He is said to have spoken good English and was seen with another man.   A charity collector who called at 5A on April 25 or 26 before the McCanns arrived. He was described as Portuguese-looking, aged 40 to 45, with short, dark hair, slightly greying at the sides. The man was carrying a clipboard or pad, receipt book and an ID card with his photo on it. But in the photo he had a goatee beard. Police say there were other charity collectors in the area claiming they were raising money for orphans. In reality, they may have been thieves looking for holiday apartments to burgle. Detectives also want to trace other blond-haired men seen in the area.   They include two men seen on the balcony of a nearby empty apartment and a man seen in the stairwell of the McCanns' block. Police have also been told about two men speaking with raised voices close to the 5A apartment about an hour after Madeleine disappeared. When they spotted the witness, they walked away talking in hushed tones.

Pictured: The innocent British father who for SIX YEARS was mistaken for key suspect in Maddie investigation after picking his daughter up from night crèche, 15 October 2013

Pictured: The innocent British father who for SIX YEARS was mistaken for key suspect in Maddie investigation after picking his daughter up from night crèche Daily Mail Mystery Briton even posed in clothes he wore that night to prove innocence DCI Redwood described his decision to come forward as 'revelation moment' He'd been seen carrying daughter by Jane Tanner, a friend of Gerry and Kate Little girl had distinctive frilly pyjamas that he also brought to Scotland Yard Turned investigation on its head and moved kidnapping from 9.15pm to 10pm By MARTIN ROBINSON PUBLISHED: 12:05, 15 October 2013 | UPDATED: 13:26, 15 October 2013 A British father considered the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann kidnapping for six years blew open the case after coming forward to police. The mystery man's involvement was ruled out after detectives realised he was taking his own two-year-old daughter home from a crèche and had not snatched Maddie. He even agreed to be pictured in the clothes he wore in Praia da Luz, on May 3, 2007, to prove he was the man in the police sketch previously seen as key to cracking the case. 'Revelation moment': Police revealed a major breakthrough when a British father came forward to reveal he was the man who for six years had been considered the prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case ----------   Tragedy: Gerry McCann with Madeleine (far right) splashing in the pool with their feet on the day she vanished. This is the last photo taken of the three-year-old ---------------- His two-year-old's frilly pyjamas were also brought to Scotland Yard to prove his innocence. DCI Andy Redwood, the Met officer leading the investigation, described it as a 'revelation moment' and completely changed when they thought Madeleine was kidnapped. The Metropolitan Police last night confirmed it had ruled out a sighting of the man previously seen near the McCanns' Portuguese apartment. Jane Tanner, a close friend of Kate and Gerry, previously told officers she saw a dark-haired man carrying away a child wearing pink floral pyjamas at 9.15pm on May 3, 2007. One of the so-called 'Tapas Seven', Miss Tanner had been dining with the McCanns in a nearby restaurant when their daughter went missing.   All change: Jane Tanner, a close friend of Kate and Gerry, described a dark-haired man carrying away a child at 9.15pm on May 3, 2007, but this man came forward --------------   Evidence: The girl seen at 9.15pm wore distinctive pyjamas and the prime suspect also brought these to police to prove his innocence ---------------- But this has been found not to involve Madeleine. The revelation has shifted detectives' focus on to a later sighting at 10pm when an Irish family reported seeing a man walking towards the beach carrying a blonde girl in pyjamas. She appeared to be in an uncomfortable position with her head slumped against him. DCI Redwood said: 'Our focus in terms of understanding what happened on the night of May 3 has now given us a shift of emphasis. We are almost certain that the man seen by Jane Tanner is not Madeleine's abductor. 'It takes us through to a position at 10pm when we see another man who is walking towards the ocean, close by to the apartment, with a young child in his arms.' Today it was revealed the police may have made a major breakthrough in the hunt for Madeleine after more than 1,000 people came forward with fresh information and several named the same man as the prime suspect. The three-year-old's disappearance was reconstructed in a dramatic BBC Crimewatch appeal last night and Scotland Yard has today hailed a 'truly unprecedented' response. Detectives believe a suspect seen carrying a child 500 yards from the McCanns' holiday apartment was the kidnapper who struck just before her mother went to check on her children.   New timeline: The Crimewatch special revealed that police were now looking at Madeleine's abduction as being at 10pm and not 9.15pm ------------- This means Kate McCann may have missed the abduction of her daughter by a matter of minutes on May 3, 2007. Last night several tourists who were in Praia da Luz that night have come forward, and crucially two have named the same person.

Was kidnapper still in Maddie's room when Kate got back?, 15 October 2013

Was kidnapper still in Maddie's room when Kate got back? Daily Mirror (paper edition)   » Door slammed shut as mum approached bedroom » Two names for suspects after TV plea BY TOM PETTIFOR Crime Correspondent Tuesday, 15 October 2013 MADELEINE McCann's kidnapper may have been in the room when her mum went to check her. Kate McCann heard the bedroom door slam in her Algarve holiday flat and she then found the three-year-old missing. Police were given names for two e-fits after last night's BBC Crimewatch appeal and Kate said: "it's given us great hope". FULL STORY: PAGES 4, 5, 6&7 ----------------- Madeleine McCann Crimewatch appeal: Was kidnapper still in Maddie's room when mum Kate McCann checked on her? Daily Mirror By Tom Pettifor | 15 Oct 2013 06:01 The mother revealed she heard a door "slam shut" shortly before she found her daughter was missing, and saw curtains moving at an open window   Kate McCann may have been just seconds away from coming face to face with the man who kidnapped her daughter Madeleine, detectives revealed yesterday. The anguished mum found the three-year-old had disappeared from the family's holiday apartment in Portugal at 10pm – around the time a new suspect was seen carrying a blonde child towards the beach. In an interview shown on BBC's Crimewatch last night, along with a detailed reconstruction, Kate told how she heard a door slam when she went to check on her children. She also felt curtains in the room "whoosh" and noticed an open window, raising the possibility she could have missed the abductor by moments. Kate, 45, said that after returning to the flat she "stopped and listened in the living room for a bit". She went on: "It was all quiet but it caught my eye that the children's door was quite far open. "As I was just drawing it over, it was like it had been caught by a draught and it just slammed shut. "I opened it a bit, I kind of looked into the room and I guess I was looking at Madeleine's bed and I couldn't make her out." Kate said the full horror suddenly dawned on her that Madeleine was missing – and "the panic kicked in". She added: "At that point the curtains, which were closed, kind of whooshed and I could see that the window had been pushed right open and the shutters were up." Last night it was revealed that within minutes of Crimewatch ending police had been given the names for suspects in two newly issued e-fits following hundreds of calls. Det Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: "Crucial information has come from two separate callers. We are very grateful for the response." He said one had rung from Portugal, where the show was only available on satellite television. He also confirmed that the mystery man whose e-fit was issued yesterday IS the prime suspect – and have made finding him a priority after ruling out another man seen carrying a child earlier the same evening. DCI Redwood, who is leading the new Met probe, said the emphasis and timeline of the investigation had shifted. He added: "It takes us through to a position at 10pm when we see another man who is walking towards the ocean, close by to the apartment, with a young child in his arms. "This child is described as being about three to four with blonde hair, possibly wearing pyjamas, and the man is white with dark hair." In a direct appeal to the public, the police chief said: "If this is you, and you are nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance, then we really need to speak to you. It is so important for us to eliminate innocent sightings." On Sunday detectives released two e-fits of a man matching the description of someone seen by an Irish family, the Smiths, at about 10pm, 500 yards from where Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007, at Praia da Luz. The sighting has taken on new significance after a man seen carrying a child by the McCanns' friend, Jane Tanner, close to their apartment at 9.20pm turned out to be an innocent British holidaymaker, who has been traced. Mr Redwood described it as "a revelation moment". He said: "We are almost certain now that this sighting is not the abductor. From 9.15pm we are allowed to let the clock move forward." It was at 9.15pm when Madeleine was last seen, sleeping soundly in bed, by her father Gerry, 45. It now seems that Kate may almost have interrupted the kidnapper when she took her turn to leave the tapas restaurant within yards of their Ocean Club flat where they were dining with friends to check on Madeleine and twins Sean and Amelie. Kate broke down sobbing as she described in an interview with Crimewatch presenter Kirsty Young the chilling moment she discovered her eldest child was gone after seeing her empty bed. She said: "I thought, 'I wonder if she's woken up and gone into our bed'. "She wasn't in our bed and that was the first time I guess, you know, when the panic kicked in." Wiping away tears, she added: "Sorry... so I kind of knew straight away then that Madeleine had been taken." The McCanns were asked how they dealt with their feelings from that fateful night. Gerry said: "Maybe I'll say it first because I think I realised really early on that ifs, buts, maybes could just eat away at you – and it doesn't change what's happened. "It's almost been a mantra for me – to look forward and always look forward at what can still be done." But Kate revealed that their decision to eat out at the tapas restaurant had preyed on her mind for years. She said: "I think it took me longer to get to that point and I did persecute myself over the decision. "Why did we think that was OK? Obviously, with hindsight, but then as Gerry said it doesn't help. "It doesn't help us, it doesn't help Madeleine and ultimately it's not us that's committed this crime – it's the person who's taken a little girl away from her family." DCI Redwood revealed that private detectives first produced the image of the man seen by the Smiths in September 2008 – but it was never released until this week. He would not be drawn on the reasons for this. He also disclosed that investigators are looking at a spate of break-ins in the area, with certain similarities to the Madeleine case. One happened almost exactly a year earlier, when a man got into a flat where two British children were sleeping as their parents dined next door. The "skinny" intruder was interrupted by the older child who screamed after seeing him peering into a cot. DCI Redwood said: "This man appears to have come through the patio door, had a look around inside and definitely had a look into one of the cots and then left without taking anything." He said in the three months before Madeleine vanished there was a sharp rise in burglaries. He added: "It is a noticeable pattern which peaks in April. In the McCanns' apartment the only physical disturbance we see is a window. "I am appealing to anyone who was in the resort at the time, whether a resident or on holiday, who has been a victim of crime." DCI Redwood said it was possible that Madeleine could have been snatched by a gang who had been keeping the family under surveillance. He said: "Madeleine's disappearance does, on one reading of the evidence, have the hallmarks of a pre-planned abduction that would undoubtedly have involved reconnaissance." The McCanns, of Rothley, Leics, could have been watched for the previous five evenings they were in the resort. Detectives are also trying to identify a number of blond men seen near the apartment at the time who could be Dutch or German. DCI Redwood said: "There are one or two men who appear to be lurking around the apartments. A consistent theme in the descriptions of those ­sightings is possibly blond or fair hair. "So we are asking the public are these connected? But, more importantly, is this you? Because if it's innocent, then it is really important for us to take out those innocent sightings." A further line of inquiry is bogus charity collectors, who were operating in the area. Police have issued a number of e-fits, two of which are of the man who was seen carrying a child by the Smiths. The others are compiled from descriptions of strangers who were seen in the vicinity around the time Madeleine went missing. One is of a man wearing sunglasses who was seen twice by the same witness near the McCanns' apartment.

Madeleine McCann Crimewatch appeal sees "overwhelming response" with 300 calls and 170 emails, 15 October 2013

Madeleine McCann Crimewatch appeal sees "overwhelming response" with 300 calls and 170 emails Daily Mirror By Tom Pettifor | 15 Oct 2013 06:22 Detectives say there are still people out there who could have information to help "unlock" the case   Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann say they have had an "overwhelming response" to their appeal on Crimewatch last night. And they believe some of the calls and emails they've received during and after the BBC1 show could help them unlock the case. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading Scotland Yard's investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, said there had been a "really good, positive response". He said: "We are extremely pleased with the response to the Crimewatch appeal. "The incident room is following up a number of enquiries, having received over 300 calls and over 170 emails with specific lines of enquiry. "We will now take the time to follow up these lines of enquiry. "Our appeal continues and later today I will be travelling to Holland, and tomorrow Germany, to continue the appeal for information. "Madeleine remains at the heart of everything we do and I will continue to update the McCann family as more information is received by the incident room." Calls and emails came into the Crimewatch studio, the incident room at Belgravia and the call centre at Hendon. The appeal included the release of new e-fits and police received calls which put forward names their new prime suspect. In the programme, Kate McCann revealed she may have been just seconds away from catching the man who kidnapped her daughter. The anguished mum found Madeleine had disappeared from their holiday apartment in Portugal at 10pm - around the time a new suspect was seen nearby carrying away a child. In a new TV interview she also told how she heard a door "slammed shut" when she went to check on her children. She also felt curtains in the room "whoosh" and immediately noticed an open window, raising the possibility she may have missed Madeleine’s abductor by just seconds. The new information was released tonight, as it emerged Madeleine may have been the victim of an organised abduction by a gang who watched her family for nearly a week. They also revealed they believe a man whose e-fit was issued today IS the prime suspect in her disappearance and was seen carrying a blonde child towards a nearby beach. Scotland Yard detectives have made finding the mystery man a top priority after ruling out a previous prime suspect seen carrying a child earlier the same evening. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the new probe, told a BBC Crimewatch programme last night that the "breakthrough discovery" means the "emphasis has shifted" and the "timeline" has moved. He said: "It takes us through to a position at 10pm when we see another man who is walking towards the ocean, close by to the apartment, with a young child in his arms. "This child is described as being about three to four years of age with blonde hair, possibly wearing pyjamas, and the man is a white man with dark hair. "If this is you, and you are nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance, then we really need to speak to you. "It's so important for us to eliminate innocent sightings. But equally if anybody is looking at those e-fits and recognises the person, for whatever reason, then please have the courage to call in and tell us." Detectives have released two e-fits of a man matching the description who was seen by an Irish family, the Smiths, at around 10pm around 500 yards from where Madeleine vanished. The sighting has taken on new significance after a man seen carrying a child by the McCanns' friend Jane Tanner close to their apartment in Praia da Luz at 9.20 was found to be an innocent British holidaymaker who police have tracked down. Mr Redwood said: "We are almost certain now that this sighting is not the abductor. From 9.15 we are allowed to let the clock move forward." It was at 9.15pm when Madeleine was last seen, when her father Gerry, 44, saw her sleeping soundly in bed. The development means that Kate, also 44, might have interrupted Madeleine's kidnapper when she went to check on her while dining with Gerry and friends at a tapas restaurant 50 meters from their apartment in the Ocean Club on May 3, 2007. Describing the moment she realised Madeleine had vanished Kate told Crimewatch presenter Kirsty Young said she went to check on her half and hour after friend Matt Oldfield had done so. She said: "So at 10 o'clock I got up to do the next check so I headed back to that apartment the usual route and I just stopped and listened in the living room for a bit. "It was all quiet but it just caught my eye that the children's door was quite far open and at that point I thought it must have been when Matt checked and he left it open. As I was just drawing it over it was like it had been caught by a draft and it just slammed shut. "I was looking at Madeleine's bed and I couldn't make her out and then I realised actually she's not in that bed and I thought, I wonder if she's woken up and gone into our bed. "She wasn't in our bed and that was the first time I guess you know when panic kicked in and it was literally at that point the curtains that were closed kind of whooshed and I could see that the window had been pushed right open and the shutters were up." Kate begins to breakdown and wipes away tears as she composes herself and adds: "Sorry ... so I kind of knew straight away then that Madeleine had been taken." She also revealed how Madeleine had asked her that morning why she had not comforted her and her brother Sean, then aged 18 months, when they woke the night before. Kate said: "We all woke up around 7.30 and went through to have breakfast and it was at that point that Madeleine said 'where were you when Sean and I cried last night?' And it was one of those questions that kind of throws you." Mr Redwood revealed yesterday that private detectives produced the image of the man seen by the Smiths in September 2008, but it was never released until this week. He would not be drawn on the reasons for this. He also revealed investigators are looking at a spate of break-ins in the area with similarities to the Madeleine case. One happened in the same week a year before Madeleine went missing, when a man got into a flat where two young British children were sleeping as their parents dined next door. The intruder was interrupted by the older child who screamed after seeing the skinny man peering into a travel-cot. Mr Redwood said: "We can see that in the week that Madeleine disappeared but in the year before in 2006, that two children were in an apartment when a man came in and he appears to have come through the patio door, had a look around inside and definitely had a look into one of the cots and then left without taking anything. Then one of the children raised the alarm." He said in the three months before Madeleine vanished there was a four-fold increase in burglaries. He added: "The numbers were low, but it is a noticeable pattern which peaks in April. "In the McCanns' apartment the only physical disturbance we see is a window. "I am directly appealing to anyone who was in the resort at the time, whether a resident or on holiday, that has been a victim of crime." He added that Madeleine could have been snatched by a group of men who had put the family under surveillance. He said: "Madeleine McCann's disappearance does, on one reading of the evidence, have the hallmarks of a pre-planned abduction that would undoubtedly have involved reconnaissance." He said the family could have been under surveillance over the previous five evenings they were in the resort. Investigators are also trying to identify a number of blond men seen near the apartment at the time who could be Dutch or German. TV appeals will be run in Holland and Germany, although not Portugal. Mr Redwood said: "There are one or two men who appear to be lurking around the apartments in the area itself. "A consistent theme in the physical descriptions of those sightings is possibly blond or fair hair. So we are just asking the public quite simply, are these connected? But more importantly is this you? Because if it's innocent, then it's really important for us to take out those innocent sightings."” A further line of inquiry is bogus charity collectors who were operating in the area at the time. On the day that Madeleine disappeared, there were four cases of fake charity collectors targeted properties in the area. Police have issued a number of e-fits, two of which are of the man who was seen carrying a child by the Smiths. The others are drawn from descriptions of men who were seen in the area around the time that Madeleine disappeared. Two are of fair-haired men who fit similar descriptions. One is of a man wearing sunglasses who was seen twice by the same witness near flat G5A where the McCanns were staying. He was 30 to 35, thin, with short hair, shaving spots on his face and was wearing a black leather jacket. Another witness saw a similar-looking man in the resort. There are also two e-fits of Portuguese men - one aged 40 to 45, who knocked on the door of the apartment where the McCanns were to stay on April 25 or 26 between 2.30pm and 3pm, saying that he was a charity collector. The other, aged 25 to 30, approached a property on the Rua do Ramalhete, near the Ocean Club, at around 4pm on May 3. Mr Redwood said: "We have reached a stage where it is about names, please. "So in terms of the Smith sighting, right the way through to all the other information we are appealing for today, it is about us trying to understand precisely who these people are. "Our absolute priority is to whittle down those various members of the public who have helpfully come forward to work out if any of these incidents are in any way involved in Madeleine's disappearance." There is a £20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance. British detectives launched a fresh investigation in July this year - two years into a review of the case. The Met Police now has a team of six Portuguese detectives based in Faro who are carrying out inquiries on their behalf. The Portuguese investigation is officially closed but authorities there are backing the Scotland Yard inquiry and officers from both countries are working together in pursuing new leads.

Maddie: Mum missed kidnapper by minutes, 15 October 2013

Maddie: Mum missed kidnapper by minutes Daily Star (paper edition)   MADELEINE McCann could have been snatched  just minutes before her mother went to check she was safe, police revealed last night. A mystery man was seen carrying a sleeping child towards the beach around the same time Kate McCann discovered her three-year-old daughter was missing. Full story: Pages 4-5 -----------   ------------------ Madeleine McCann mum Kate missed kidnap by just minutes Daily Star KATE McCann missed walking in on her daughter Madeleine's abductor by minutes, police revealed last night. By Jerry Lawton / Published 15th October 2013   British detectives who have spent two years reviewing the case have compiled a new timeline of events for the night Madeleine vanished. They now believe an Irish family spotted the abductor carrying the sleeping youngster towards the beach in Praia da Luz at 10pm. At exactly the same time, Kate, 45, found the three-year-old was missing from her bed in the family's holiday flat a few hundred yards away. It means police now think Kate almost ran into the fiend who stole her eldest child. Last night police launched a Europe-wide hunt for the mystery man after a reconstruction on BBC One's Crimewatch. They said she was either the victim of a planned kidnapping, which may have involved a team of bogus charity collectors. Or she was snatched after disturbing a burglar while Kate and husband Gerry, 45, dined with pals in a nearby tapas bar.   Burglaries in the resort increased four-fold in the months leading up to Madeleine's disappearance. Two apartments in the same block had been broken into during the previous 17 days. Police also issued four more e-fits of suspects witnesses had reported acting suspiciously near the McCanns' holiday flat. Last night DCI Andy Redwood urged anyone who recognised the new prime suspect to come forward. The man was spotted by Irish dad-of-six Martin Smith, 64, as he returned to his apartment from a night out with his family. The sighting was reported to Portuguese police shortly after Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007. But it was not given top priority because one of the McCanns' pals Jane Tanner was convinced she had seen Madeleine's abductor carrying the pink-pyjama-clad girl from the flat 45 minutes earlier.   DCI Redwood said police had traced the man Jane saw and he was not the abductor. He was an innocent British holidaymaker who had collected his own child from a creche. Mr Smith, from Drogheda, Co Louth, had himself dismissed the man as a dad taking his sleeping child home until he heard Madeleine had been abducted the next day. He said his wife Mary later remembered saying to the suspect as he passed: "'Oh, she's asleep?' But he never acknowledged her." DCI Redwood said: "It could be that this man is Madeleine's abductor. But we have an open mind. He could also be entirely innocent. If that is the case we would wish to eliminate him from our inquiries." He said a disturbed burglary had emerged as a theory because many of the other properties raided in the area had been entered via windows. Kate said she was haunted by their decision to leave the children in the apartment while they dined. But she added: "Ultimately it's not us that has committed this crime." ------------------- OTHER PEOPLE OF INTEREST Charity Man Police want to track down a charity collector said to have visited the apartment about a week before the abduction. He is described as 40 to 45 and Portuguese-looking, with short, dark but greying hair. He was carrying a clipboard, receipt book and ID card with his photo on it, in which he had a goatee beard.   Seen near flat Another of the men police want to quiz is described as having short, fair shaven hair and being between 30 and 35. A witness saw him near the McCanns' apartment at 4pm on the day of the abduction. He is said to be of normal build.   Spotted twice This suspect is a shaven-headed man seen wearing thick-framed sunglasses near the flat from which the three-year-old vanished. He is described as having short, light hair, being 30 to 35 and of thin build, with shaving cuts on his face. The man was spotted on two occasions just days before Madeleine’s disappearance. He was wearing a black leather jacket.   Good English One other man wanted by officers is described as Portuguese with medium-length, dark wavy hair. He is one of two men said to have approached a nearby property at 4pm on the day Madeleine was snatched. This suspect is 25 to 30 and with good spoken English.

Daily Star, paper edition: 'Maddie moments from being saved', 15 October 2013

Daily Star, paper edition: 'Maddie moments from being saved', 15 October 2013

The hundreds of British kids who vanish and are never found, 15 October 2013

The hundreds of British kids who vanish and are never found Daily Star THE disappearance of Madeleine is one of the most publicised missing child cases in history – but British authorities are searching for hundreds of other youngsters. By Richard Spillett / Published 15th October 2013   A staggering 140,000 under-18s are reported missing a year, and while most return home, hundreds are never found. Police say two-thirds of the 350,000 missing person calls they receive each year relate to children, but many more are not reported. A website set up to track down lost children, missingkids.co.uk, currently has more than 120 searches on the go. Some relate to children as young as four, while some families are still desperately looking for their loved ones after 20 years. Around 60% of those who disappear are thought to have run away, with around 20% kicked out by parents following a row. More disturbing is the increasing number lured by sex gangs and paedophiles. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection unit stepped in to protect 790 kids last year – an 85% increase on the year before. A report by charity Missing People said: "Vulnerable girls are particularly at risk of being groomed by older males who gain their trust before committing sexual offences against them." Youngsters who fear they are at risk can call ChildLine on 0800 1111 or report it at http://www.ceop.police.uk/.

Gonçalo Amaral: 'Irish family's testimony has enormous relevance to the investigation', 15 October 2013

Gonçalo Amaral: 'Irish family's testimony has enormous relevance to the investigation' Jornal de Notícias (paper edition) Former PJ coordinator recalls that testimony pointed to Gerry McCann By Nuno Miguel Maia and Óscar Queirós 15 October 2013 With thanks to Joana Morais for transcript/translation How do you see the fact that only now Scotland Yard has presented an e-fit alleged to be of the main suspect? And of having made an arrest of another suspect? - If the the e-fit is based on the Irish family's testimony that, on the night of the facts, saw a man carrying a child walking towards the beach, that e-fit will have to be in someway similar to Gerry McCann, since it was that person [Martin Smith] that has identified him with a high degree of probability. Why was this published only now is something you will have to ask Scotland Yard. As to the "another suspect", no suspect was detained. It was someone who "bragged" about having seen Madeleine and it's alleged that he had paedophile material in his computer. Thus, his detention is not a direct result of any investigation related to the disappearance of the child. Why was that e-fit only made now and which criteria are behind that arrest? Do you believe that it has any veracity and is it important for the investigation? - I believe I have already answered partially to your question. If we are talking about the Irish family's testimony that I have referred to, then it has an enormous relevance to the investigation. We only hope that their initial statements aren't misrepresented and "rewritten". BBC made a programme on the reconstruction of the events related to Maddie's disappearance. How do you see the fact that the McCann couple and their friends have refused to do a reconstruction at the time of the [PJ] investigation? - It's not a reconstruction. Or rather, it is not a reconstruction as foreseen in our Code of Criminal Procedure, which was rendered impossible due to the unavailability of the participants. It should be recalled what the prosecutor of the Republic stated at the time of the archival of the process: with the non-participation in the reconstruction, the couple lost the possibility to prove their innocence. In fact that is what the reconstruction offers, the opportunity to enlighten and clarify any doubts, and it should be done by the participants, while alive. In the investigation that you coordinated, were there suspects and identikits? - The investigation had had three suspects. Some identikits were made. Did you, as coordinator of the investigation, have at your disposal all the necessary means? - The only problem that we had was lack of time. As you know, I was removed from the investigation after six months. Therefore, we lacked time. In this type of investigation, what is the importance of the time factor? - It is crucial. It's necessary to act quickly and in a timely manner. Initiate the investigation immediately and then have time to investigate all the leads and answer to all questions. That was what I didn't have.

Scotland Yard believes that the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was a planned kidnapping, 15 October 2013

Scotland Yard believes that the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was a planned kidnapping RTVE (Spanish) Scotland Yard cree que la desaparición de Madeleine McCan fue un secuestro planificado Scotland Yard cree que la desaparición de Madeleine McCan fue un secuestro planificado Screenshots from video Goncalo Amaral discusses the e-fit released by Scotland Yard The e-fit was composed from statements and descriptions given by the Smith family Gerry McCann after being made an arguido, September 2007 The e-fit and Gerry McCann combined Transcript With thanks to Mercedes for original Spanish transcript Presenter: Last night a BBC programme, dedicated to solving crimes, broadcast a special show devoted to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann; a programme in which the parents also participated. In the report from the British police, they said, Miguel Angel Idígoras, that it was a planned abduction. Miguel Angel Idígoras: Yes, what is clear is that British police believe the abduction and subsequent disappearance of Madeleine McCann was planned and was carried out by at least two people. That is what Scotland Yard said last night on the BBC programme Crimewatch, which also involved the participation of the McCanns. They appealed to anyone who has information about the suspect in the e-fit to notify the authorities as soon as possible. Following the BBC show last night, there has been a massive response with police receiving over a thousand calls with messages and calls of all kinds. Indeed, the British police believe they already have the specific name of the suspect. In any case, Scotland Yard said that the Portuguese police did not follow up the good lead six years ago and that it is now up to them to start virtually from scratch. Voiceover: [in Praia da Luz] It's been a long time without any news on Madeleine. Unidentified Person 1: [resident of Praia da Luz] What I had to say I said the year she disappeared. Voiceover: The locals do not recognize anyone in the new e-fits. Various people: [shown e-fit] No... No... No... No... Unidentified Person 2: [resident of Praia da Luz] I wish we could discover the truth. Mary Ona: [Correspondent in Lisbon] It's what everyone wants, but the police inspector who led the case, and was removed from the investigation for saying that the British police were doing everything the McCanns wanted, maintains that the principal suspect continues to be the father, and that the e-fits are based on the first testimonies with everything being in the [Case] Summary. He spoke to us last night in this interview. Gonçalo Amaral: If you take the e-fit photos and put the father beside I think it will show the same person. One witness said he saw Gerry McCann on TV as he got off the plane, on their return to England, with his son in his arms, and it was the same person that he saw with Madeleine in his arms that night. Voiceover: Gonçalo who took early retirement and wrote a book about the case entitled "The Whole Truth" [sic], which was denounced by the McCanns, said they are doing all this to clear their names and their consciences and to pressurise the Portuguese court which will have to judge him for defamation. The only thing he regrets, he says, is not having declared them suspects from the beginning.

Portuguese cop: Met has finally caught up on McCann, 15 October 2013

Portuguese cop: Met has finally caught up on McCann ITV News 11:07pm, Tue 15 Oct 2013 The man in charge of the Portuguese police investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance has said that Scotland Yard is at the same stage he was at in 2007. Gonçalo Amaral, who was removed from the case after accusing the McCanns of involvement in their daughter's disappearance, told ITV News that the latest e-fits are promising. "Every one of us on the investigation at the time found that lead important – as we see now that it is," he said. ITV News' Europe Correspondent Emma Murphy reports from Praia Du Luz in Portugal: Transcript By Nigel Moore Julie Etchingham: [ITV News Presenter, not on this video] The detective who first led the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance says the Scotland Yard review has made no more progress than he did. Gonçalo Amaral told ITV News this evening the sightings, that the newly publicised e-fits were based on, were a key part of his investigation too. Our Europe Correspondent Emma Murphy reports now from Portugal Emma Murphy: [voice over] They've been without their eldest daughter for six years, maintaining a hope they will be reunited. It's a hope Kate and Gerry McCann say has been reinforced by the unprecedented response to the new investigation into Madeleine's disappearance. Both now say they're genuinely hopeful of a major breakthrough. Kate McCann: [on Crimewatch] Well, the general pubic have been fantastic but please stay with us and come forward. Emma Murphy: [voice over] The appeal and reconstruction of Madeleine's disappearance broadcast last night generated around a thousand phone calls. Crucially, a number of those calls gave the same name for this man, who was seen by a British family carrying a child, just like Madeleine, through the streets of Praia da Luz the night she vanished. Chief inspector Gonçalo Amaral was in charge of the investigation at the time. He was taken off the case after accusing the McCanns of involvement in Madeleine's disappearance. He's now being sued by them for libel. However, he told me the sighting was one of the best leads and was missed. He says the child may well have been Madeleine. Gonçalo Amaral: [through translator] Every one of us on the investigation found that lead important - as we see now that it is. Emma Murphy: But if everyone thought it was so important, why was the sighting not properly pursued? Gonçalo Amaral: When I left the investigation in Portimão there was a gap and the man who came to replace me discarded that hypothesis. He didn't want to follow that lead. Emma Murphy: What do you feel about the British Inquiry? Gonçalo Amaral: There are in the same place that we were back in 2007. That is, they have a man we see carrying a child in his arms. We got there in 6 months - British police took 2 years. Emma Murphy: [voice over] For those to whom Madeleine matters the most, acknowledgment of unfollowed leads is unlikely to generate surprise but will surely add to the frustration which has dogged the past six years. Emma Murphy, ITV News, Portugal

Ex-Portuguese detective attemps to smear Maddie McCann's father again, 16 October 2013

Ex-Portuguese detective attemps to smear Maddie McCann's father again Daily Star THE ex-Portuguese detective who accused the McCanns of covering up their daughter's death tried to smear them again yesterday. Published 16th October 2013 Goncalo Amaral, 56, who was sacked from the case, said Scotland Yard's new chief suspect "may be Gerry McCann". He added that Martin Smith, who saw the suspect and a child, was "80% sure" the man was Gerry. The McCanns are suing Amaral for £1million over his book about the case.

Maddie: We know suspect, 16 October 2013

Maddie: We know suspect Daily Star (paper edition)   POLICE are on the brink of a breakthrough in the six-year hunt for Madeleine McCann. Crimewatch viewers responded in droves to a new TV appeal, and several callers gave police the same name for the prime suspect. Full story: Page 7 ------------- Police know name of Madeleine McCann 'snatcher' Daily Star POLICE have a name for a man suspected of snatching Madeleine McCann after viewers recognised his e-fit on Crimewatch. By Jerry Lawton / Published 16th October 2013   Several callers rang in giving the same identification of the man seen carrying a sleeping child to the beach. And Madeleine's parents last night said they were "absolutely delighted" with the development. Brit detectives are sifting an "unprecedented" 1,000 calls and emails after a new appeal on the BBC show. Kate and Gerry McCann, both 45, said last night they were buoyed by the massive show of public support. In a statement, they said: "We are absolutely delighted with the overwhelming public response to Crimewatch. "We know that the public desperately want to help the search for Madeleine. "We are genuinely hopeful that one or more of these responses will lead to a major breakthrough." They added: "If anyone was in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine's abduction and has not spoken to the Metropolitan Police, or if they know who any of the e-fits might be, please have the courage to come forward and speak to the police in confidence." Yesterday Crimewatch editor Joe Mather said the show, which featured a reconstruction of Madeleine's abduction on May 3 2007, had triggered a "truly unprecedented response" from the public. Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood, who is leading the 37-strong Operation Grange team, said his officers were working through the calls resulting from "specific lines of inquiry" highlighted in Monday's programme. He added: "Detectives are now trawling through and prioritising that material. This will take time." Police revealed they are working on two theories – that the kidnap was pre-planned and may have involved bogus charity collectors or Madeleine, then three, was snatched after disturbing a burglar.

Maddie: An English look, 16 October 2013

Maddie: An English look tvi24 The English Investigation has not yet looked at the "loose ends" left by the Portuguese investigation Cláudia Lima da Costa 2013-10-16 20:25 With thanks to Joana Morais for translation Maddie's disappearance was always looked at from two angles. The English programme 'Crimewatch' strengthened the English perspective into Madeleine's disappearance. Scotland Yard once again places at the heart of the investigation the abduction thesis. Yet, from Maddie's disappearance there are several other indicators that continue to point in other directions. All of them were left out of the recent BBC programme and allegedly of the investigation. Chief Inspector Andy Redwood states in the programme that they looked at the process "from scratch". The material that is being analysed was gathered by the Portuguese police and by the British police in the original investigation when both police forces worked together. The main conclusion of the [current] English investigation, to date, focuses on the elimination of a picture that was created based on Jane Tanner's testimony, one of the friends of the couple present at the dinner. The woman saw a man carrying a child, but the English police has come to reveal that this "suspect" was in fact a father who had gone to get his daughter from the crèche. According to the English, this finding allows changing the 'timeline' of the events and setting the hour of the disappearance close to 22:00 (time of Kate's alert). According to English investigators, this had hitherto been the main line of inquiry. But not by the Portuguese police, who soon found inconsistencies in the abduction theory. It should be recalled that the picture was released by the McCanns, in October 2007, when Maddie's parents were still arguidos. For the British, the new discovery opens a window in the period of time, between 21:15 and 22:00. In the reconstruction of the BBC, something the PJ could never do in Portugal, due to the impediments placed by the group [Tapas 9], there are details that are omitted, namely the fact that Gerry and Jeremy were, according to their initial statements, talking close by the rear window of the apartment at the time when Jane Tanner passes by. In the reconstruction, this information is not mentioned and there is only a brief reference to Maddie's father's conversation. A detail that is part of one of the lines of the investigation which held that Madeleine, upon hearing his father's voice in the street, would have leaned towards the window and fell off the couch, hitting her head. At that spot, a trace of blood was found, which has never been confirmed as Maddie's, by the British dogs. This is, indeed, a whole part from the investigation that is not in the BBC programme. The abduction theory now focuses on the sighting that existed at 22:00 and from which the English police unveiled a new e-fit. The pictures were actually created in 2008, according to what the British confirmed to i newspaper, and are based on the testimony of the Smith family who have always said they were 80% sure that the man carrying a child was, in fact, Gerry McCann. The PJ eventually ruled out the possibility of being Gerry, since at that time some witnesses claimed that Maddie's father was in the Tapas bar. However, in the final report, the PJ points out that doubts remained given the contradictions in the statements of the group. The English police retrieved the Smith's statements and the pictures that had already been done to find out who was the man carrying a child at 22:00. The final report which led to the archival of the process and to the innocence [removal of the arguido status] of the McCanns leaves some loose ends in the investigation. Gerry's financial accounts that could never be investigated, the mobile phones that could never be listened to, calls and text messages erased and contradictions in the testimonies of Gerry and Kate. Elements that the British police, despite having begun the investigation from "scratch", is not following.

Where is Maddie?, 17 October 2013

Where is Maddie? Correio da Manhã After more than six years since Madeleine McCann disappeared without a trace, in Praia da Luz, what is it that we know as a fact? By Rui Pereira, University professor [former Minister of Internal Administration 2007/2011] 17 October 2013 01h00 With thanks to Joana Morais for translation Strictly speaking, nothing whatsoever. We do not know if the child, who was about to celebrate her fourth birthday, was kidnapped, murdered, suffered an accidental death or was a victim of negligent homicide. The eccentrics who believe in furtive visits from extra-terrestrials might even argue that she was abducted by a UFO transiting the Algarve, on that fateful night of May 3, 2007. Does the absence of answers prove the incompetence of the police? Not really. The idea that a police investigation may unravel any crime is exaggerated. A criminal who acts deliberately has the advantage of the initiative and can choose the circumstances of time, place and manner of the crime. If the plan is well defined and its execution does not have flaws it is possible to get away with it. All the police forces in the world, including the British, are faced with enigmas that cannot be solved, particularly in the context of the disappearance of children. Since it is impossible to make an autopsy of the crime, it is necessary to dissect a process that died prematurely. There, yes, it is easy to recognize the flaws. The evidence of a crime of exposure or abandonment [child neglect] that might have been committed against three children of two to three years of age, entrusted to their fates, were discarded. The constitution of Robert Murat as an arguido based on a profile of unrelated facts was hastened. The co-existence in the investigation of incompatible arguidos (Murat, suspected of abduction and Maddie's parents, murder suspects) was absurd. Even without procedural errors, the success of this investigation could not be assured. Moreover, I do not think the Judiciary Police has waived any efforts or overlooked any leads. In any case, the errors weakened the image of Portuguese justice, in a process subject to international media scrutiny never seen before. This pressure was responsible for a "haste" which proved to be a bad adviser. Haste should be confined to the investigation. In the constitution of the arguido and in the accusation, everything has to be weighed against criteria.

More equal than others, 17 October 2013

More equal than others Correio da Manhã What came from England about the disappearance of the little girl, Maddie, cannot be confused with a criminal investigation: it is an interesting BBC television production - under the patronage of the British government and the invaluable collaboration of the London police - which fits like a glove to the McCanns' expediencies. By Manuel Catarino, Editor-in-chief [author of the book 'The Guilt of the McCanns'] 17 October 2013 01h00 With thanks to Joana Morais for translation Gerry and Kate hurriedly abandoned our country two days after they were constituted as arguidos. The investigation, which until then had focused on the abduction, had admitted the accidental death of the child. The couple flew back to England under the stigma of this dreaded suspicion. The London Metropolitan Police, by insisting now on abduction as the only path, removes the suspicions which the McCanns have carried since the Algarve. Never before has a British government become so interested in a missing child. Gerry and Kate have counted on the solidarity of three ministers: two Labour, one Conservative. They are worth more than so many other British parents of missing children. Maybe master John Le Carré has an opinion on this mystery.

Aktenzeichen XY ... ungelöst: "It really was a... ideal holiday"

Crimewatch aired in UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, but why not Portugal?, 17 October 2013

Crimewatch aired in UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, but why not Portugal? The Portugal News BY BRENDAN DE BEER · 17-10-2013 14:13:00 More than a few eyebrows were raised this week when it became apparent that unlike BBC, RTE, ZDF or AVRO, no Portuguese television station was to air a repeat of the Crimewatch programme which was first shown to millions of viewers on Monday evening. Conflicting reports were emerging this week as to why Portuguese television had not followed the example of the UK, Ireland, Germany and Netherlands by showing the appeal for information in the search for missing British toddler Madeleine McCann. One BBC reporter reporting from Praia da Luz on Monday evening told viewers the fact that the programme was not being shown in Portugal was "controversial", while BBC Radio 4 quoted experts saying they regretted that new leads could be hampered by the fact that there are no plans to show the fresh appeal for information in Portugal. "We need to get [the Portuguese police] to show the appeal, set aside their political differences, set aside their pride and get to the position where [the forces] are both focused, working together", criminologist, ex-police officer and child protection expert Mark Williams-Thomas was quoted as telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme this week. His comments were then widely re-printed in a number of publications, including the Guardian. When questioned as to the reasons for Crimewatch not being shown in Portugal, the Metropolitan Police Service responded that there is no such show in Portugal, while the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands have regular television programmes appealing for viewers' assistance in solving crime. Portuguese police would therefore be unable to force any of the country's networks to alter scheduling unless they unilaterally decided to do so. Clips of the programme are available from the Metropolitan Police Service's Press Bureau and have been shown on Portuguese television this week. The BBC, in response to questions from The Portugal News over Crimewatch failing to make it on to the television screens of viewers in the country where Madeleine McCann disappeared, explained: "We have provided clips of the Crimewatch programme to international broadcasters to assist them in their coverage of the appeal, and the Crimewatch film is available on the BBC Crimewatch website to international audiences. "The decision on broadcasting an appeal on an equivalent programme in Portugal is a matter for the Portuguese broadcasters, Portuguese police and The Metropolitan Police", the statement read. The Deputy Director of News at Sic Television was meanwhile reported to have exchanged e-mails with the BBC in the days running up to the Crimewatch programme in order to secure the rights to the full programme, but to no avail. "The BBC said they are not selling the rights", Martim Cabral told The Portugal News, "therefore we cannot show it." Another Portuguese news channel, TVI, told The Portugal News that it had contacted the British national broadcaster prior to the airing of the show, as it sought to "acquire the programme for Portugal, which was denied." "Should the BBC change its position and should TVI continue to show an interest, it is certain that we will look at transmitting the programme in question. "TVI has also requested the BBC clarify this situation with British media to avoid more erroneous interpretations, such as those claiming Portuguese television channels are not interested in transmitting the programme."

Maddie parents: 'Stolen girl who gives us hope', 19 October 2013

Maddie parents: 'Stolen girl who gives us hope' Daily Mirror (paper edition)   ------------ Kate and Gerry's "great hope": Mystery blonde girl found living with gypsies gives boost to Madeleine McCann's Daily Mirror By Tom Pettifor | 18 Oct 2013 19:50 Greek authorities requested international help to identify an 'abducted' four-year-old girl found living in a camp with a couple and 13 other children   The parents of Madeleine McCann were given 'great hope' tonight after a mystery blonde girl allegedly snatched from her family was found living with gypsies. Greek authorities requested international help to identify a four-year-old girl found living in a camp with a couple and 13 other children. Police believe up to 10 more of the youngsters may be the victims of an international trafficking ring. The girl, known only as 'Maria', was found on Wednesday near Farsala in central Greece during a nationwide crackdown on illegal activities by Roma, also known as Gypsies. The case bears similarities to theories about the disappearance of Madeleine who vanished aged three on a family holiday in Portugal on May 3, 2007. It raises the possibility that Madeleine could still be alive six years after she disappeared. Speaking to The Mirror, a spokesman for the McCanns said: "This gives Kate and Gerry great hope that Madeleine could be found alive." Dad Gerry said this week that statistics showed the younger a child is when abducted, the more likely they are to be found. He said after Monday's BBC Crimewatch: "There are cases over the last few years of children who have been found after they've been taken for a long time. I think that's what the public needs to think about tonight." Scotland Yard said new evidence adds further weight to claims the three-year-old was snatched in a pre-planned abduction from her holiday apartment. DNA tests confirmed yesterday that the mystery blue eyed girl is not related to the Greek couple who have been remanded in custody. A 39-year-old man and 40-year-old woman have been charged with abducting a minor and remanded in custody. A source said the youngster is believed to have been with the couple for at least two years and speaks only Roma. She is currently being assessed by child psychologists. He said: "Police are examining a wider network of child traffickers across Europe. This girl couple have been snatched to order or sold by east european criminal gangs. We know these networks exist." Police are trying to establish why the girl was living with the couple, who are also accused of falsifying identity and birth certificates. The mother claimed to have given birth to six children within a total of less than 10 months. She is accused of illegally claiming benefits for the children. Police say they also found drugs and unregistered firearms in other parts of the settlement, which is about 170 miles north of Athens. One police officer questioned the couple after spotting that the blonde, pale-skinned and blue-eyed girl stood out from the rest of her family. She bore no resemblance to the Greek couple and DNA testing confirmed that they weren't related. Her features suggest she might be from an eastern or northern European country. Police have notified Interpol for assistance. Larissa police chief Vasilis Halatsis said: "We have taken the gypsy parents into custody, and the child is being taken care of in hospital. "We are getting information from all over Europe which shows that this problem, of children going missing and falling into gypsy hands, is a problem throughout the continent." The suspects allegedly offered conflicting accounts - that the girl was found in a blanket, was handed to them by strangers or had a foreign father. The police statement said the couple claimed to have a total 14 children, and had registered different numbers with authorities in three different parts of Greece. Officers found three children living with them who appear to be their children - although that hasn't yet been verified by DNA testing. The girl is in the care of the charity The Smile Of A Child, which said it has sought the help of European and global groups for lost or abused children in tracking her parents. Charity director Costas Giannopoulos said the child was undergoing medical examinations. "We are shocked by how easy it is for people to register children as their own," he told private Skai TV. "There is much more to investigate, there are other registered children that were not found in the settlement, and I believe police will unravel a thread that doesn't just have to do with the girl." The name of the gypsy parents has not yet been disclosed, but they are due to appear before the public prosecutor on Monday. Lawyers for the arrested gypsy couple appealed to the media "not to present this couple as monsters, as abusers of children". Marietta Palavra said: "There is nothing but love and care between the Roma parents and the 4-year old girl." News of the girl's alleged abduction comes just a few days after the Metropolitan Police revealed results of a major review of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Among many claims made over the years, convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett allegedly said he saw the Madeleine twice before she vanished and claimed she was stolen to order by a gypsy gang, but denied he was involved. During a special Crimewatch show earlier this week, detectives issued two e-fits of a man seen carrying Madeleine towards the beach on the night she vanished.

Key witness identified Maddie's father, 21 October 2013

Key witness identified Maddie's father Correio da Manhã Former PJ coordinator says Irish family saw man with child Gonçalo Amaral reveals that key deposition was devalued at the time of disappearance By Sara G. Carrilho 21 October 2013 01h00 With thanks to Astro for translation "The testimony of one of the members of the Smith family that identified Gerry McCann as being the man he saw on the night that Maddie disappeared, carrying a child in his arms as he walked towards the beach was devalued after I left the case. It is a lie that the e-fit that the British police now made public is based on the Smith family's witness statement." The statements are from Gonçalo Amaral, the former PJ coordinator who investigated the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, to Correio da Manhã. They appear following the publication of e-fits by the Scotland Yard that point one of the drawings out as being that of the main suspect over the presumed abduction of the English child, on the 3rd of May of 2007 - which they say was based on the testimony of an Irish family that was on holiday in Praia da Luz when Maddie disappeared. "The Smith family told us what they saw that night. A man, a foreigner, of athletic build, a sunburned face, like those of tourists, who was hiding his face in order not to be seen, carrying a blonde child in his arms," Gonçalo Amaral said. "A short time later, when the McCann family 'fled' to the United Kingdom, and were welcomed by the television at the airport, a member of the Smith family called us, very upset. Gerry [Maddie's father], who was leaving the plane, was the man that Mr Smith had seen carrying a child that night," the former coordinator explained. For Gonçalo Amaral, "there was a positive identification, which was set aside". "The McCann's hired detectives who made a portrait, a man that resembled Gerry, in order to devalue the deposition," he concluded.

Porn star link to Maddie, 27 October 2013

Porn star link to Maddie Daily Star Sunday (paper edition)   ----------------   ONE of the key actors in the Madeleine McCann Crimewatch reconstruction can today be­­­ revealed as a porn star. ----------------- Crimewatch actor in Madeleine McCann case is a porn star Daily Star Sunday ONE of the key actors in the Madeleine McCann Crimewatch reconstruction can today be­­­ revealed as a porn star. By Jonathan Corke & Tracey Kandohla / Published 27th October 2013   Mark Sloan, 45, played Dr Matt Oldfield, the friend of Kate and Gerry McCann who checked on Madeleine before she disappeared. Last night the BBC was blasted for seemingly missing his past as a blue movie star when casting him in the reconstruction of Maddie's 2007 disappearance. Just last year Mark played the lead in the X-rated film Sherlock Bones. And in Tight Rider, an erotic spoof of 80s TV series Knight ­Rider, shot at historic Fort Amherst in Kent, ex-Army sniper Mark played Michael Tight. Other flicks in his back catalogue include Dr Screw and From Dusk Till Porn. He has also played a serial killer in a horror film. In an on-screen interview last year he boasted of taking Viagra and ­playing sordid sex games.   He has his own website which ­reveals his X-rated antics. But in the Crimewatch film, watched by 7.3million viewers, he played the respectable "Tapas Seven" friend of the McCanns and had three speaking parts. In one scene he was seen telling "Kate" that "everything's fine, all quiet" after checking on three-year-old Madeleine while Kate and Gerry dined at a tapas restaurant in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Last night his former agent, who did not wish to be named, said she was stunned the BBC had chosen her ex-client for such a sensitive role. She said: "How could the casting director not know of his background when they picked him? It's all over Google. Did no one check? It is unbelievably stupid. "It's an awful thing to have ­happened in a case so highly ­sensitive as Madeleine McCann's. "Mark is such a nice guy and had been trying to get into serious acting but there is a stigma attached to actors who work in pornography." Mark, thought to live in Bristol, makes no attempts to hide his work in the adult film industry. In a YouTube trailer for Sherlock Bones he is heard swearing and asking one scantily-clad girl: "What size are your tits?" A simple internet search also reveals he has presented live sex show "Never Mind the Buzzing C**ks". His appearance on Crimewatch, during a special show on October 14 helped prompt more than 1,000 calls and emails after photofits of suspects in Madeleine's case were revealed. Filming was done at a secret location in Spain.

Madeleine McCann police sift 4,000 calls following TV appeal, 30 October 2013

Madeleine McCann police sift 4,000 calls following TV appeal Leicester Mercury Posted: October 30, 2013 Madeleine McCann Detectives are continuing to examine information after receiving 4,000 calls about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Metropolitan Police officers are poring over possible leads and sightings following appeals on Crimewatch and German and Dutch TV programmes two weeks ago. A Met Police spokesman said they had received 3,000 calls and e-mails after the British show, 500 calls following the German TV broadcast and 350 after it was shown in the Netherlands. Portuguese police have since reopened their investigation after the Portugal Policia Judiciaria asked the government for permission to have another look into the case, as witnesses who were not questioned in the initial investigation had been identified. Portuguese police had shelved their initial investigation in 2008, the year after Madeleine vanished. Crimewatch aired a reconstruction of the night Madeleine went missing. New e-fits of men seen nearby on the night were released. The BBC show also revealed a former prime suspect – a man who seen carrying a girl in pyjamas at 9.15pm on the night Madeleine disappeared – was an innocent British tourist. Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate, said: "We urge anyone who may have information relating to Madeleine's abduction to contact police." Madeleine, of Rothley, was three when she went missing from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. Anyone with any information should contact Met Police by calling 0207 321 9251 or by e-mailing: Operation.Grange@met.pnn.police.uk

Crimewatch: dupers or duped?, 04 November 2013

Crimewatch: dupers or duped? Open Democracy David Elstein 4 November 2013 About the author David Elstein is Chairman of openDemocracy's Board. He is also Chairman of the Broadcasting Policy Group. He is a director of Kingsbridge Capital Advisors, and a supervisory board member of two German cable companies.   The October edition of Crimewatch, focussing on the case of Madeleine McCann, featured new photofits of a potential suspect - only, they weren't new. According to the Sunday Times, they had been repressed by the McCanns themselves. The failure of the BBC to report this is extraordinary. For nearly thirty years, Crimewatch has been a regular part of the schedule of the BBC's main channel, BBC1. By using video reconstructions of unsolved crimes, and accepting help and advice from the UK's police forces, it has contributed to the conviction of over one hundred major criminals, including murderers and rapists. These days, Crimewatch no longer has a monthly slot, but it can still pull in a large audience. The October 14th edition, including a 25-minute report on the mysterious disappearance of 3-year-old Madeleine McCann during a family holiday in Portugal six years ago, attracted over 6.5 million viewers, along with a mass of publicity before and after transmission. The occasion of the programme was the decision by Scotland Yard to present the main findings of its renewed efforts – involving a 37-strong investigative team – to find the child, prompted by an assurance given by Prime Minister David Cameron to Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate, that the closing of the Portuguese investigation into the case would not be allowed to be the final word. The programme item was curiously inept. Real footage of the McCann family was constantly intercut with shots of (not very) lookalikes: confusing and distracting at the same time. Towards the end, there was reference to a search for a number of long-haired men who had been seen hanging around the apartment block in the holiday resort: yet the only video the "reconstruction" managed to offer was of several men with close-cropped heads. Much of the publicity the programme attracted centred on new electronic photofits that featured prominently in the programme. They had been generated in the course of interviews with an Irish family, the Smiths, who had also been on holiday in the Praia da Luz resort where the McCanns and some friends of theirs had gathered in April 2007. Attentive viewers might have been puzzled as to how the Irish witnesses were able to provide such detailed images, six years after the event. We were not told. The interview with the detective leading the Scotland Yard inquiry did not touch on the subject. The next day, October 15th, the Daily Express – part of the newspaper group owned by Richard Desmond which has paid out over half a million pounds to the McCanns in compensation for libellous stories about Madeleine's disappearance – noted that these photofits were actually five years old, but had never been released publicly. On October 27th, we learned more. The Sunday Times claimed that the photofits had actually been compiled in 2008 by a team of private investigators hired by the Find Madeleine Fund, which had been set up by the McCanns. The investigation had cost £500,000, and had been led by Henri Exton, a former head of MI5 undercover operations. But the company Exton had worked for, Oakley International, had fallen out with the McCanns. Ostensibly, the dispute was over money, but the McCanns also imposed a ban on any publicising of the contents of the Exton report. According to the Sunday Times, it had contained criticisms of the evidence provided by the friends of the McCanns, and by the McCanns themselves, even raising the possibility that Madeleine might have died after wandering out of the family's rented apartment through unsecured doors. Over the years, the McCanns have issued seven different photofits, including one provided by their friend Jane Tanner, who thought she saw a man carrying a child at about 9.15 on the evening Madeleine disappeared. Exton discounted this sighting, and thought the Smith sighting, at about 10 pm, was the most significant. Yet the McCanns, despite passionately pursuing the quest to find their lost child, chose never to issue the Smith photofit. The Scotland Yard team has now satisfied itself that the Tanner sighting can be excluded, agrees that the 10 pm timeline is the correct one and regards the Smith photofit as the most promising lead: five years after the McCanns themselves suppressed all this information, according to the Sunday Times. Whatever their reasons for doing so, the McCanns are not accountable to the public, despite Gerry's regular lectures on how the press in general should behave, and why a Royal Charter version of the Leveson recommendations is needed to keep newspapers honest and straightforward in their reporting. The story in the Sunday Times also indicated that the Exton report included a section in which the father of the Smith family, Martin Smith, noted that his observation of how Gerry McCann used to carry Madeleine on his shoulder reminded him of the man he saw carrying a child at 10 pm on the night Madeleine disappeared. He does not think the man actually was Gerry, but it is not hard to work out why the leader of the Portuguese inquiry concluded that the McCanns were implicated in the disappearance. The McCanns are suing him for libel, and both the Portuguese police and Scotland Yard are satisfied they had no part in the disappearance, but fear of inciting more press speculation in the UK may explain the decision to suppress the entire Oakley report. It is hard to believe that the Crimewatch team was ignorant of this history. It would have been incredibly unprofessional of them not even to ask how and when Scotland Yard had obtained the "new" photofits. The programme referred to the Irish family, and a "fresh" investigation, but the absence of any reference to "new" photofits strongly suggests that Crimewatch knew the background perfectly well. Does this matter? Crimewatch occupies an uneasy space between entertainment and information. Its brief is undoubtedly one of public service, but it is not in the business of journalism. No journalist would go out of his way to mislead the public in the way this edition of Crimewatch managed to do. The essence of Crimewatch is complicity: close co-operation with the police and the purported victims of crime, to the point of eliminating anything awkward that might get in the way of that joint endeavour. The Sunday Times quoted a source close to the McCanns as saying that release of the original Oakley investigation might have distracted the public from their objective of finding their child. Yet the bottom line of this story is that the parents deliberately withheld, for five years, the photofits that Scotland Yard now says are the most important evidence in the search for the supposed culprits. For any journalist, that would have been at least as important a fact to reveal to the public as the photofits themselves. Yet the most important area of journalism in the UK – the BBC, which accounts for over 60% of all news consumption – has remained silent on the revelations in the Sunday Times. Even the BBC website, with over 900 stories related to the disappearance over the years, has not found room for that startling information (though you can find links to the Daily Star's website, which repeated much of the Sunday Times material on October 28th). It would be dismaying if some kind of misguided loyalty to the non-journalists at Crimewatch was inhibiting the 8,000 BBC staff who work in its news division. It is, of course, just possible that Crimewatch was itself duped by the McCanns: but I doubt it. Instead, the editor chose to join the McCanns in trying to dupe the public. Neither option shows the BBC in a good light. Whatever the failings over the two Newsnight items – the untransmitted one on Jimmy Savile, the transmitted one that libelled Lord McAlpine – no-one can argue that there was any definite intention to mislead the public. Sadly, the same cannot be said of October's Crimewatch.

A wild goose chase, 05 November 2013

A wild goose chase Jornal de Notícias Jorge Fiel Published 2013-11-05 With thanks to Astro for translation The weak impression that I have of Scotland Yard is due to the contempt that the astute Sherlock Holmes dispensed on inspector Lestrade, a hard-working policeman, endowed with the tenacity and determination of a bulldog, but completely deprived of the capacity to solve crimes with some degree of difficulty. As we all know, there is no second opportunity to leave a good first impression, and the bad image that I had of Scotland Yard, which had been produced by reading Conan Doyle, did not improve (quite the contrary) after I was introduced to the thick inspector Claud Eustace Teal, who is always being ridiculed by Simon Templar in the Saint's adventures, by Leslie Charteris. This opinion of mine worsened as soon as I found out that in real life, Scotland Yard has already spent 6,5 million euro in the enormous wild goose chase called Operation Grange, which keeps busy, under the command of chief inspector Andy Redwood, 37 detectives who follow 195 investigation lines, which were defined from 40 thousand leads and documents that were collected in Portugal since Maddie disappeared on the night of the 2nd [sic] of May of 2007, from a resort in Praia da Luz, in Lagos. The Maddie case gained a new breath with the audience record (7,3 million viewers) of BBC's Crimewatch programme and the thousand phone calls from people who found themselves in the possession of information about the matter which they should share with the authorities. The disappearance of Maddie, who was not four years old yet, when imprudently her parents left her alone at home with her younger siblings, had the greatest media coverage of all times – everyone had an opinion about the issue – and dethroned the famous abduction of the Lindbergh baby from this sad Guinness [Book of Records]. Six years later, this real life soap opera is still running, because it ensures good audiences and it keeps being fed with new ingredients, like the abduction theory, by a trio of gypsies or a Cape Verdean man who conveniently died in the mean time, and the publication of e-fits that turn all men who have brown hair, aged between 20 and 40, of medium build and without any specific features into potential suspects. Faced with a British ultimatum, presented with Vaseline (they didn't threat to dynamite the Old Alliance, as others did with that strategic partnership), the PJ did not only reopen the investigation, but proudly announced that for the last two years it has had a team of five inspectors permanently reanalysing the case in Oporto (I wonder if the troika knows about that?). The English make great novels, but despite everything I prefer Downton Abbey a thousand times to the Maddie novel, which urgently needs a definitive ending, without an open door for a new sequel. Therefore, I suggest Scotland Yard hires Sherlock Holmes (you can find him tomorrow evening on Fox, from 22h15), who is unbeatable at solving mysteries with his deductive logics and scientific methods. And I advise Kate and Gerry to quit the vice of drinking suffering through a straw – and to realize that it is fine to cry for the dead, but we also need to let them go. ------------------ Note: The original title of this piece is 'Andam à caça de gambozinos' ['They're hunting for gambozinos']; gambozinos are fictional creatures. It is customary in Portugal for groups of children to mock younger children, who are taken on a gambozinos hunt after dark, unaware of the fact that the creatures don't exist. Said hunts involve a bag and a stick, and the hunter has to beat the bag with the stick and shout "Gambozinos into the bag!" – while the rest of the group carries lanterns and tries not to laugh their heads off.

How a five-year-old German murder mystery was solved thanks to a TV appeal for the Madeleine McCann case, 15 January 2014

How a five-year-old German murder mystery was solved thanks to a TV appeal for the Madeleine McCann case Daily Mail The McCanns' appeal on Germany's version of Crimewatch attracted millions of extra viewers One of the viewers called in about an item shown beforehand Christina Paulus told how her mother, Sigrid, had been missing for five years The caller helped police establish that Sigrid had been killed by her husband By TED THORNHILL PUBLISHED: 15:16, 15 January 2014 | UPDATED: 15:47, 15 January 2014 The Madeleine McCann mystery has helped solve a five-year-old murder in Germany. A record seven million people had tuned in to watch the show in which Kate and Gerry McCann appealed for help in finding their daughter. But immediately before their appeal - a young German girl whose mother, Sigrid Paulus, vanished five years ago had appealed for help in tracking her mum down.   Confession: Gerd Paulus admitted that he'd murdered his wife, Sigrid, five years after she disappeared ------------- Christina Paulus, 21, said: 'She was not there for my birthday or my graduation, but I always thought maybe she was there, somewhere, watching. But the worst was that I got married in 2011, I knew she would not have missed that. I tried the police again, and then I went to the media.' The TV show Aktenzeichnen XY - German's version of Crimewatch - included a heart-breaking reconstruction showing the young girl at a zoo with a friend where she was convinced that she had seen her mother some weeks before, and had run after her shouting 'mummy, mummy' only to lose her in the crowd. Immediately after that she decided to go to the media and after looking at the story a journalist raised the alarm with police. They discovered that Sigrid Paulus had not notified the authorities of her change of address, had not been using her health insurance card and had 'left no other traces whatsoever'. It was then decided to include it on the German Crimewatch show, where it appeared as the item immediately before the McCanns appeal.   Tragedy: Christina, pictured with her partner, Daniel, had for years believed that her mother was alive - but a caller on Germany's version of Crimewatch helped police establish that she'd been murdered ---------------- And a German police spokesman said: 'With so many people watching the show, more than ever before, we were given an enormous access to the German public and we had one call in particular which told us that the woman's husband had been doing a lot of construction work at the time she vanished. 'As a result of this we decided to do some investigations at the family home in Konigswinter, near Bonn in North Rhine-Westphalia. That included using a digger and dogs specially trained in looking for corpses, which resulted in a new cellar wall being dug out, and as a result a woman's body was found.' It meant, tragically, that the woman the daughter Christina Paulus had seen could not have been her mother. According to German media the dead woman's husband Gerd, 52, who had also appealed together with his children for his wife to get in touch has now made a full confession. He was shown in the Crimewatch reconstruction going with his children to police stations and giving an interview in which he said his wife had called to collect some of her possessions together with three men, and then left never to contact them again. But the daughter said she had known something was wrong when her mother had failed to send a birthday card or anything: 'We always had a good relationship'. And now Gerd Paulus has admitted killing the then 40-year-old woman after a bitter row over money, saying he had strangled her and then concreted her body away to hide it. Forensic experts have already confirmed that it is the missing woman who vanished in February 2008 after several hours in which specialists worked to free the body from the concrete tomb. The woman's children and other family members are getting emergency counselling.