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All important events from April 2008
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Maddy Cops To Quiz Kingston Doctor Surrey Comet
5:01pm Monday 31st March 2008
A Kingston doctor who dined with Kate and Gerry McCann the
night their daughter Maddy went missing will be re-interviewed by police.
Portuguese officers visit the UK next week to sit in while officers
from Leicestershire Constabulary interview friends of the McCanns.
Dr Matthew Oldfield, a consultant endocrinologist at Kingston Hospital,
and his wife Rachael will be among the seven questioned.
The
McCanns, whose four-year-old daughter Madeleine disappeared from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year,
will not be interviewed.
A spokeswoman for the British force said: "Leicestershire Constabulary
will be coordinating the execution of the request for mutual legal assistance made by the Portuguese authorities.
"The Portuguese authorities have asked that the contents of the request
and the way it is being executed be kept confidential so as not to prejudice their ongoing investigation."
It is almost 11 months since Maddy disappeared from the holiday resort
of Praia da Luz.
Kate and Gerry, both 39, from Rothley, Leics, remain arguidos - formal
suspects - in the case.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' family spokesman, said: "Kate and
Gerry and their friends have long expected this visit by Portuguese police officers and it comes as no surprise that some
reports in the Portuguese papers in the last few days have been speculating about the arrival date.
"I am not in a position to confirm any dates or give any details
about the re-interviewing of the friends and all matters will have to go to Leicestershire police.
"However, Kate and Gerry and their friends welcome the police interviews.
The friends are more than happy to co-operate fully, as are Kate and Gerry, although in this case Kate and Gerry will not
be interviewed.
"This has not been requested but Kate and Gerry would have agreed
to answer any questions had the police wished to put anything to them."
Parents Back Interviews
The Leicester Mercury
10:30 - 01 April 2008
The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have
welcomed the decision by Portuguese police to re-interview their friends.
Officers are expected to arrive in Britain
on Monday to put questions to the people with whom Kate and Gerry McCann were dining on the night their daughter vanished.
Madeleine
disappeared from the family's apartment in Praia da Luz as they were in a nearby tapas restaurant.
Kate and Gerry,
from Rothley, remain arguidos - or formal suspects - in the case.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCann family's spokesman,
said: "I am not in a position to confirm any dates or give any details about the re-interviewing of the friends.
"However,
Kate and Gerry and their friends welcome the police interviews. The friends are more than happy to co-operate fully, as are
Kate and Gerry, although in this case Kate and Gerry will not be interviewed.
"This has not been requested, but Kate
and Gerry would have agreed to answer any questions had the police wished to put anything to them."
07:21 - 01 April 2008
Portuguese police are to visit next week to re-interview the friends of Kate and Gerry McCann
Portuguese police are to re-interview the Exeter friends of Kate and Gerry McCann. Jane Tanner and her
partner, Russell O'Brien, who works at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, are close friends of the McCanns.
They
were part of the so-called "Tapas Nine" who were having dinner together on the night Madeleine McCann disappeared.
The
pair declined to comment on the development in the high-profile case yesterday.
Speaking on the doorstep of their city home, Mr O'Brien said neither he or Ms Tanner wanted to speak about the
interviews and added that he was unhappy with the attention that he and his family had received from the media over the past
year.
Officers are expected to arrive in Britain on April 7th. They will not be interviewing the McCanns, whose four-year-old
daughter Madeleine disappeared from the Portuguese resort of Praia da luz on May 3 last year.
The officers plan to sit in while others from Leicestershire Contstabulary interview their friends.
A spokeswoman for the British force said "We will be coordinating the execution of the request for mutual legal
assistance made by the Portuguese authorities.
"The Portuguese authorities have asked that the contents of the request and the way it is being executed be kept
confidential so as not to prejudice the investigation."
It is almost 11 months since Madeleine disappeared from the resort.
Kate and Gerry , both 39, From Rothley, Leics, remain formal suspects in the case.
Last November, Ms Tanner broke her silence to say she had seen the girl being abducted.
At that time, she said she saw a man carrying a sleeping child away from the apartments a mere 45 minutes before
Kate McCann discovered her daughter was missing.
She decided to speak out despite the instructions of the Portuguese police after being labelled a liar and a fantasist.
In an interview with the BBC she said "I know what I saw and I think it is important that people know what I saw
because I beleive Madeleine was abducted that night.
"From Day one we have done everything we could to help them with the investigation. Maybe I am talking now because
I have been called a liar and a fantasist."
(Report then continues with Clarence Mitchell's oft-repeated quote)
01 April 2008
POLICE from Portugal
will fly to Britain next week to question friends of Kate and Gerry McCann.
Cops will arrive next Monday to re-interview the "Tapas Seven" who
dined with the couple the night their four-year-old daughter Madeleine vanished.
Portuguese detectives won't conduct the interviews themselves but
will sit in while British police ask the questions.
It is almost 11 months since Madeleine disappeared from the Ocean
Club holiday resort in Praia da Luz on May 3.
Kate and Gerry, both 39, from Rothley, Leicestershire, remain arguidos
- formal suspects.
Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior, who heads the British arm
of the probe, is likely to lead the interviews. Police chief Paulo Rebelo, the man in charge of the investigation, is also
likely to make the high-profile trip to Britain.
Detectives want to clear up any "inconsistencies" in the group's
stories about what happened the night Madeleine went missing.
McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry and their
friends see this as an important chance to help the police.
"The friends are more than happy to co-operate as are Kate and Gerry
although, in this case, the couple will not be interviewed.
"We hope that the police will realise there is no evidence to link
Kate and Gerry with Madeleine's disappearance in any way and that they will be rapidly eliminated from the inquiry."
Lawyer: Parents of missing Madeleine may have access to police case against them this month MSN UK News
AP - 01.04.2008 15:26
A lawyer for the parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann says they may be entitled to see the Portuguese
police case against them within two weeks.
The official secrecy period covering the ongoing police investigation ends April 14.
Lawyer Rogerio Alves has told The Associated Press that the secrecy period can be extended only in major
cases such as terrorism and organized crime.
Police have given no indication whether they intend to bring charges or drop the case against Kate and Gerry
McCann, named as suspects in Madeleine's disappearance from a Portuguese vacation apartment last May. The parents deny responsibility.
Madeleine Case: Secrecy Period To End Sky News
Updated: 17:11, Tuesday April 01, 2008
Files detailing the Portuguese police case against the parents of missing Madeleine McCann could be made
public within two weeks, a lawyer for the couple has said.
An official secrecy period has until now prevented Kate and Gerry McCann from seeing why they were named
"arguidos" - or formal suspects in their daughter's disappearance.
But lawyer Rogerio Alves has said the secrecy period is due to end on April 14, and can only be
extended for major inquiries, such as those involving terrorism or organised crime.
Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, have been suspects in the case since September 2007.
They have not since been charged and both deny all wrongdoing.
Clarence Mitchell, the couple's spokesman, welcomed the lawyer's comments and called for the arguido
status to be lifted.
Mr Mitchell said: "We would hope that the police will do the decent and proper thing and open up the files.
"I would go further than that, and say once they have completed the interviews with the the friends, they
should go back to Portugal and assess the evidence and eliminate Kate and Gerry and allow everyone once again to concentrate
on the search for Madeleine."
Three Portuguese detectives will travel to the UK on Monday to spend next week re-interviewing the seven
friends on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine went missing.
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April 02, 2008
Translation by Joana Morais
"If there was no understanding of when the period began to count in September, the secrecy of justice would
be lifted in April, but having this agreement the secrecy in the process will only end in August." In declarations, to the
CM, Rogério Alves, lawyer of the McCanns, contradicts the news circulating yesterday in the UK press, according to which the
process of the inquiry to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, in the 3rd of May of last year, would be
available for consultation after the 14th of April.
"It is out of question", said also to the CM a source close to
the investigation. According to several English newspapers, quoting an interview of Rogério Alves to the news agency Associated
Press, the former bar of the Order of the Lawyers, would have informed his clients that they might try the consultation to
the process from the 14th of April. "What I speak with my clients I do not speak in public", said to the CM Rogério Alves,
explaining that "the secrecy will only be lifted in August".
In the count down for the investigations to the friends
who were on vacation with the McCanns in the Praia da Luz, predicted to begin day 8 of this month, in Leicester and in the
presence of elements of the PJ , Rogério Alves also said to the CM: "I was not notified of anything, neither were my clients."
Kate and Gerry, who are preparing a documentary to be shown on the 30th of April, about an alert system for missing children,
might not be, for the moment, questioned by the police.
Madeleine suspect Robert Murat back in Britain to see his five-year-old daughter Daily Mail
Last updated at 15:28pm on 2nd April 2008
Robert Murat has returned to Britain for an emotional reunion with his daughter, it was revealed today.
It is understood Mr Murat had not seen five-year-old Sofia since being named an official suspect in the
investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann almost a year ago.
Two weeks ago he informed police he wanted to visit the UK and see Sofia - and was allowed to do so. The
fact that Portuguese authorities did not stand in his way suggests there is no evidence against Mr Murat.
The move comes after the decision by police last month to return items of clothing and computers seized
when he was made a suspect - or arguido - on 19 May, 16 days after Madeleine vanished from her parents' apartment in the resort
of Praia da Luz in the Algarve.
Mr Murat's uncle, Ralph Everleigh, said: "Robert has been back to the UK for an emotional reunion with his
daughter. He loves his little girl and has missed her so much this past year."
Mr Everleigh, who runs a guesthouse just outside Praia da Luz, said he thought Mr Murat was now on his way
back to Portugal. Mr Murat was not available for comment today.
Mr Murat has always denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Despite searches of his mother Jenny's villa - about 150 yards from where Madeleine went missing - and forensic
science tests on his car and other extensive inquiries, no evidence has been found to connect him to the disappearance.
Mrs Murat, 42, who lives in Hockering, Norfolk, said in a recent interview that Sofia had become the subject
of kidnap threats.
She said: "There are a lot of weird people out there and if something happens to one innocent child they
think an eye for an eye. They want to harm another innocent child - my daughter. We are living in constant fear."
She has said she has "no doubt" of her estranged husband's innocence, adding: "All he wanted to do was help
the McCanns."
Portuguese detectives will visit the UK on Monday to re-interview friends of Madeleine's parents, Kate and
Gerry McCann, who were dining at a tapas bar when the girl vanished.
In September, the McCanns were also made arguidos before being allowed to return to their home in Rothley,
Leicestershire. They also protest their innocence.
An Episode Ends, Another Begins Sky News
Martin Brunt, Sky News crime correspondent
Written by Martin April 02, 2008
So, they were
a dog's bones, after all, and not those of Madeleine and few people will be surprised.
Even her parents had poured scorn on the divers searching the Algarve
lake for their daughter.
But I wonder if, just for a moment, Kate and Gerry McCann had privately
harboured some hope that the underwater search of the Barragem do Arade might solve the mystery of Madeleine's disappearance?
Two weeks ago the frogmen found a bag of small bones which might
have been those of a child's fingers, but now they've turned out to be canine.
Lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia paid for the dive team after claiming
"an underworld source" had told him the lake was Madeleine's final resting place.
But, according to one diver who considered the job before rejecting
it, the lawyer's information came from his own ability to "talk to the dead."
So, another episode ends as one more begins...we are all running
around trying to find out where the cops will re-interview the Tapas 7 next week.
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British police ready to question 'Tapas Seven' over Madeleine disappearance
Timesonline
David Brown
April 3, 2008
British police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are to interview more than 30 people who could help
to prove that her parents were not involved in her abduction.
The interviews will begin next Tuesday with the first
of the seven British friends who were on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine was reported missing in Portugal. A different
couple will be interviewed each day in the presence of Portuguese detectives at the headquarters of Leicestershire Police.
The officers will concentrate on alleged inconsistencies in the timelines of events on May 3. None of the witnesses
will be made arguidos (official suspects under Portuguese law) and detectives will not seize evidence or search homes.
Madeleine's
parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, have offered to be reinterviewed but will not be
questioned.
British officers will then begin interviews with more than two dozen other people who were at the Ocean
Club resort in Praia Da Luz on May 3 last year or who were later connected to the case.
The witnesses include other
holidaymakers, nannies at the Ocean Club, people who claim to have seen Madeleine being abducted, the psychologist who comforted
Kate McCann and the McCanns' official spokesmen, Clarence Mitchell and Justine McGuinness.
The list of people to be
interviewed has been provided by Kate and Gerry McCann as part of their rights as arguidos to demand that police speak to
people who could prove their innocence.
Paulo Rebelo, the chief investigator in the Polícia Judiciária investigation
into Madeleine's disappearance, will fly to Britain with two other detectives on Monday. They will stay until Friday to watch
the interviews with the so-called “Tapas Seven” who were at a restaurant on the Ocean Club with Mr and Mrs McCann
when Madeleine went missing.
Jane Tanner, 36, claimed she saw a man carrying a girl from the McCanns' apartment at
about 9.15pm - when another witness says he was outside the flat at the same time but did not see her or the mystery man.
Her partner, Dr Russell O'Brien, 36, from Exeter, was away from the group for up to 45 minutes in the period that Madeleine
was taken from her bed.
Dr Matthew Oldfield, 37, a hospital consultant from London, and his wife Rachel, 36, a recruitment
consultant, were also at the tapas restaurant.
David Payne, 41, a cardiovascular researcher from Leicester, was the
last person outside the McCann family to see Madeleine. His wife, Fiona, 34, and her mother, Diane Webster, will also be interviewed.
The McCanns' Portuguese lawyers have requested the police case against them be made made public on the eight-month
anniversary of the day they were made official suspects. However, detectives can request a three-month extension, as granted
in the case of the other official suspect, Robert Murat, in January.
Because of the change in Portuguese law, the
court could rule that the eight-month limit actually started in September last year. And the evidence could remain sealed
indefinitely if police rule that the case is a major crime, such as international child trafficking.
Mr Murat, 34,
has recently returned to Britain to see his five-year-old daughter, Sofia, for the first time since he was made an official
suspect in Madeleine's disappearance. Mr Murat, who lives with his mother in a villa about 100 yards from the McCanns' holiday
apartment, has strenuously denied any involvement.
Police last month returned computers and clothing they had seized
during the search of his home in an indication that they no longer believed he was a suspect.
Original headline: McCanns could return to Portugal for anniversary of missing daughter Madeleine
Last updated at 14:58pm on 3nd April 2008
Revised headline: McCanns poised to make dramatic return to Portugal for anniversary of Madeleine's
disappearance
Daily Mail
Last updated at 15:06pm on 3rd April 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann are poised for a dramatic return to Portugal to mark the first anniversary of their
daughter Madeleine's disappearance.
The couple are prepared to defy their lawyers and risk arrest in an attempt to revive the search for the
four-year-old.
The McCanns, who deny any involvement in her disappearance, were named official suspects – or arguidos
– by Portuguese police in September, prompting them to leave Praia da Luz, the resort where Madeleine disappeared, and
return to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire.
Madeleine vanished on May 3 from her parents' holiday apartment as they dined with friends at a bar about
100 yards away.
On Monday, Portuguese detectives will fly into the UK to re-interview the friends – but not the McCanns
– at police headquarters in Leicestershire.
The outcome will determine whether the couple, both doctors, return to the Algarve.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said today: 'Kate and Gerry are currently deciding whether to return
to Portugal. It is being discussed.
"Going to Portugal would send out the strongest possible message that Madeleine could still be alive and
the search for her should continue. The family feel the focus should be on finding Madeleine.
"Next week's interviews
will help in gauging the police attitude. In an ideal world they would not be arguidos and their lawyers have always warned
them not to return while they have that status.
But they want to be in Praia da Luz for the first anniversary," he
said.
Institutions - 03-04-2008 - 19:17
Missing child hotline. A meeting to consider prospects
for a Europe-wide alert system for missing or abducted children will hear from Gerry and Kate McCann, whose daughter Madeleine
has been missing since May 2007 (Thursday).
*
RECORDED Press conference
14:00 - 14:30
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Missing child hotline
Press Conference by Edward MCMILLAN-SCOTT (EPP-ED, GB)
Brussels, Press Conference room - 10.30-11.00 |
McCanns optimisitic about new enquiries Portugal Resident
Updated: 03 April 2008
By: CECÍLIA PIRES
THE MADELEINE case investigation is to see new action in the next couple of weeks.
While a team of PJ investigators
prepares to travel to the UK on Monday (April 7) for further enquiries into the case, a lawyer of Gerry and Kate McCann has
revealed that the deadline for the secrecy of justice rule imposed on this case ends in August.
The new information
is being considered very positive by the family of Madeleine McCann, who went missing in May 3 2007 while sleeping in the
family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
According to Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Gerry and Kate McCann,
and following the new enquiries, the couple are hoping that they will be released from the arguido status before the calendar
marks one year since their daughter's disappearance.
The way the date is to be remembered "depends now on the result
of the interviews to be made by the Portuguese police", Clarence Mitchell told Lusa news agency on Monday.
However,
Kate and Gerry "will not be giving any interviews if their arguido status is kept, but also refuse to let the case go cold
if that status is dropped", said Mr Mitchell.
"Madeleine is still missing. There is no evidence of her death and the
family still want the Portuguese police to help find her", he underlined.
According to sources quoted in British and
Portuguese newspapers, the new enquiries are to be focused on the friends who were holidaying with Kate and Gerry McCann at
the time Madeleine disappeared from the Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz.
Confidential
Although the Portuguese
police refuse to confirm any details on the case, the Leicestershire police department issued a statement confirming that
"it will be coordinating the request of mutual legal assistance made by the Portuguese authorities".
The statement
adds that "Portuguese authorities asked for the content of the request and the way it will be carried out to be kept confidential
so that the ongoing investigation is not jeopardized".
In the meantime, for the investigators who always insisted that
the confidentiality of the investigations was of vital importance, time is getting shorter, considering recent statements
made by one of the McCanns’ lawyers.
Interviewed by Associated Press this week, Rogério Alves, former
president of the Portuguese Lawyers Order, was reported to have said that the secrecy period constraining this investigation
was due to end on April 14 and that the legal deadline could only be extended for major inquiries, such as the ones related
to terrorism and organised crime.
However, the same lawyer would later clarify to the Portuguese daily newspaper Correio
da Manhă that it is officially assumed that the beginning of the investigation started in September, when Kate and Gerry were
named arguidos. Therefore, he told the newspaper, the deadline for the files to be released for public consultation "ends
only in August 2008" and not April 14 as previously reported in the UK.
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By Tom Pegden
10:30 - 04 April 2008
Madeleine McCann's parents are taking their campaign for a Europe-wide alert scheme for missing children
to Brussels.
Kate and Gerry McCann will visit the Belgian capital next week to talk to MEPs and European officials
about setting up a scheme similar to one in America.
They hope that even if their four-year-old daughter is not found,
a pan-European alert system could become a "fitting legacy" to her.
Last week, the McCanns, from Rothley, returned from a trip to Washington to look at the
success of America's Amber alert system, used to issue appeals to the media and transport companies in child abduction cases.
Family
spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the McCanns were seeking support for an EU-wide scheme that could see warnings issued via
TV, radio, the internet and electronic road signs within minutes of a child being kidnapped.
Mr Mitchell said: "In
Europe, countries have their own structures for issuing alerts, but do not talk to each other properly.
"When Kate
and Gerry went to see officials in Washington, we saw the national Amber co-ordinator who said there was no reason it couldn't
happen in Europe, if the political will was there.
"In principle, such a system would mean that if a child went missing
in Portugal, every other country would know about it.
"In our case, the Spanish border was not informed for 12 hours,
which was totally unacceptable.
"Kate and Gerry want some-thing that if, God forbid, Made-leine was never found, then
at least a long-term change for the better could lead to other families not suffering. That would be a fitting legacy for
Madeleine."
The US child rescue alert is run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
In Mr
McCann's internet diary, or blog, he said the enthusiasm of people the couple met on the US trip - filmed as part of an ITV
programme to highlight their campaign for an alert system - gave them fresh hope for the safety of Madeleine.
On FindMadeleine.com,
Mr McCann writes that the couple were encouraged to hear that, the younger the child, the less likelihood there was of them
being seriously harmed.
He writes: "Such information makes us believe even more fervently that Madeleine can be found
safe and well."
Of the couple's visit to Washington, he writes: "The Amber alert system should be used in the most
serious child abduction cases (usually by strangers, when the child is considered at risk of serious harm) to recover the
child as quickly as possible.
"The alert is based on the realisation that galvanising the community can play a huge
role in finding missing children.
"Last year alone, 68 children - and almost 400 in total since its implementation
- were recovered safely as a direct result of the Amber alert. In 16 cases, the abductor released the child safely when hearing
the Amber alert.
"We strongly feel that Europe should have a similar integrated child rescue alert."
The ITV
documentary will be screened by ITV on April 30.
Missing Madeleine case leaves Portuguese holiday resort deserted Daily Mail
Last updated at 13:17pm on 4th April 2008
This is the deserted Ocean Club holiday resort almost a year after Madeleine McCann went missing.
The poolside tapas restaurant, where her parents were dining when the three-year-old vanished from their apartment,
has been shut.
The pool is practically unused while the neighbouring tennis courts are almost permanently empty. Yesterday afternoon,
in spite of clear blue skies, only four people sat beside it.
One employee said: 'Maybe people are a bit scared to come here. They are a bit jittery. I don't think
the Madeleine case has helped. It is very quiet here at the moment but maybe that's also because it's the beginning of the
season.'
Another employee said: 'I have worked here for three seasons and at the moment this season is so quiet I am wondering
if I will last the next three months. This is the quietest I have ever known it at the Ocean Club.'
The tapas restaurant became infamous after Madeleine's disappearance. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were
dining there with friends while she slept in their apartment about 100 yards away.
The alarm was raised at 10pm when Mrs McCann left the restaurant to check on her three children and discovered
the eldest had gone.
Almost 12 months on, the pool area, including the restaurant which has reopened as a snack bar, closes at 6pm or
earlier. Mark Warner, the tour operator which co-owns the Ocean Club, admitted today that bookings were down.
But a company spokesman denied the existence of a 'Madeleine effect' on tourism.
He said: 'Business is lower than it was at this time last year but Mark Warner believes that is down to Easter
coming early. This it true across the whole industry. We expect business to improve as the season moves on.'
He said the tapas bar had been shut during an 'overhaul' of catering across the Ocean Club.
Another restaurant is open at a separate part of the resort complex, which is spread across Praia da Luz.
Holidaymakers staying at the Ocean Club now receive three separate printed sheets warning about security
and safety.
One headed: 'Security and Safety Alert' states: 'Please may we repeat to all parents that children under the age
of 12 must be accompanied and supervised at all times.'
Another states: 'We ask guests for their own security to always close windows (or security shutters) whenever they
leave their accommodation, even if it is only for a few minutes.'
The McCanns had shut the rear patio doors to their apartment but left them unlocked as they sat down to eat. They
believe their daughter was abducted by a man who entered through the doors and left by a window.
Mark Warner said security guidance was issued regularly and not in response to Madeleine's disappearance.
The spokesman said: 'The McCanns would have received similar safety guidelines. Praia da Luz is probably
the safest place on the planet over the last year because there have been a lot of police down there.'
Today the town appears very quiet with almost all posters appealing for help in finding Madeleine, which used to
appear in shop and apartment windows and car windscreens, now removed.
One faded photograph of the little girl appears on the noticeboard beside the Catholic church where Mrs McCann
would pray regularly when she was still in Praia da Luz.
The couple left in September after being made official police suspects. They deny any involvement in Madeleine's
disappearance.
The beach in Praia da Luz remains almost empty. Holidaymaker John Trcek, 53, from Sheffield, who has visited the
town five times in 18 months, said: 'This is the quietest I have ever known it. I am trying to buy an apartment at the moment
and the guy I am buying it from thinks it's the "Maddy effect".
One tour company told me they had had cancellations because of what happened.' But Miguel Domingues, who runs the
Azure Seas gift shop on the seafront, was bullish.
He said: 'This is the beginning of the season. Everything will be very good for this year.
'The tour operators tell me they have been selling very well in the Algarve. What happened last year is not an
issue.
'When people go to New York, they visit the site of the Twin Towers. Now people come here to visit where Madeleine
went missing. It is morbid tourism.'
pa.press.net - 04.04.2008 19:04
Gerry and Kate McCann will visit Brussels next week to urge Europe-wide support for
a comprehensive cross-border missing child alert system.
The parents of Madeleine, missing for nearly a year after disappearing from a holiday resort in southern
Portugal, want Euro-MPs to put their names to a declaration demanding swift agreement on a US-style "Amber Alert" system able
to track abducted youngsters across the continent if necessary.
The McCanns discussed the American system during a visit to Washington last month for talks with the
US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, and are convinced EU countries can co-operate to set up a similar rapid
response plan.
The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said they were happy to use the high profile Madeleine's disappearance
had given them to boost any moves which could improve child safety and the recovery rate of missing children and their abductors
anywhere in the 27 EU countries.
"When Madeleine disappeared, it was 12 hours before the authorities along the Spanish border were informed"
said Mr Mitchell. "But we have modern technology and there must be a simple way of tracking a situation as it develops."
An existing patchwork of partial national monitoring systems is already under the spotlight, with the
European Commission pushing for co-operation and data-sharing on child abduction cases across national EU borders.
But so far only France has introduced a comprehensive national child alert system similar to America's
Amber Alert. It means French authorities can flash up electronic missing child information on French motorway signboards within
thirty minutes of a confirmed case of abduction. Belgium operates a similar but less well-established system.
On the table at European Parliament talks to be addressed by the McCanns will be a draft declaration
on emergency cooperation in recovering missing children.
The Portuguese government, aware of the controversy surrounding the McCann case, promoted the French
alert system to EU justice ministers at talks last September. The move was welcomed at the time by the McCanns, but nothing
has resulted so far.
Now the McCanns will use their visit to Brussels on Thursday - less then a month before the first anniversary
of their daughter's disappearance - to repeat their concern about the need for swift action.
BBC East Midlands Today report on Amber Alert system
(Note: If you are not immediately able to view the report, try clicking on 'preferences', located towards top right, and select
'Window Media Player')
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By VERONICA LORRAINE
Published: Today
DETECTIVES are probing a "sighting" of Madeleine McCann in Tenerife.
Tourist
Margaret Jones believes she saw the missing four-year-old at the Spanish island’s airport.
She contacted Metodo
3 — the detectives hired by the McCanns — after returning home to Cardiff.
The media worker, in her 60s,
said: "I was sitting opposite a shop. I spotted a little girl with curly red hair with a man, who was about 5ft 10in.
"When
the little girl looked up, my heart skipped a beat. I took one look and thought, 'My God, it’s Maddie'.
"They
walked off and I had to get my plane."
Mrs Jones said she reported the incident to Crimestoppers on March 7, and emailed
Leicestershire Police.
Maddie from Rothley, Leics, vanished on holiday in Portugal 11 months ago.
Kate and Gerry McCann in Europe kid safety campaign Daily Mirror
By Rod Chaytor 5/04/2008
Kate and Gerry McCann fly to Brussels to launch a child safety scheme next week while
Portuguese police quiz their Tapas Seven friends in Britain.
The couple will be present on Thursday when a draft declaration
goes before the European Parliament, calling for a European-wide missing child alert system.
Kate, 40, and Gerry, 39,
believe that if it had been in place it could have saved daughter Madeleine, four, who vanished from Praia da Luz in the Algarve
on May 3.
The couple, official suspects in the Madeleine case, will also appear in a global televised press conference.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said yesterday: "Next to finding Madeleine, the introduction of a
system which might save another child is the matter closest to their hearts.
"They never want another family to go
through what they have gone through."
A three-man Portuguese police team will sit in on interviews by Leicestershire
police of the Tapas Seven - who dined with the McCanns on the night Madeleine disappeared - from Tuesday.
First witness
is Jane Tanner, 36, of Exeter, Devon, who saw a man carrying a child near Madeleine's apartment.
The friends have all
volunteered to cooperate. None will be accompanied by lawyers.
Mr Mitchell denied that the trip to Brussels by the
McCanns, of Rothley, Leics, was a "diversionary tactic".
The spokesman said: "It is a coincidence of timing."
Marisa Rodrigues
(Thanks to 'pear' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
Kate and Gerry will not be questioned by the Judiciary Police
The Judicial Police (PJ) will not have an easy job in England where, as of Monday, the
letter rogatory in the case Madeleine McCann will be put in force. The plan for the action, as well as the content of the
document, which should have remained a judicial secret, reached the hands of the British press, even before the departure
of Portuguese researchers.
According to what JN found yesterday, British journalists were informed by sources, they
say from the police, of the steps that will take place next week. When, where and who will be heard were some of the data
that was accessed. Even the hotel where the PJ will be housed was reported to them. What, in the opinion of source connected
to the research, "is the evidence that the leakage of information of the police departed from Leicester, that shows not being
interested in cooperating in the investigation, damaging it by making public the intentions of PJ."
This means that
the group of three detectives, led by the coordinator of PJ of Portimăo, Paulo Rebelo, will not surprise the 24 people that
will be interviewed. Most - 14 - will be determined by the Portuguese authorities. This number includes the group of friends
of the couple McCann, now known as "Tapas 7". The other interrogations were requested by parents of Madeleine. This is the
case of Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the couple, Justine McGuiness, who held the same job, and the psychologist who has
followed Kate.
The arrival of PJ is scheduled for 12.20 pm on Monday. That same day there will be some interrogations,
none of them considered very relevant to the investigation. The next day, the "Tapas 7" will begin to be interviewed. Jane
Tanner, which guarantees having seen a man carrying a child in his arms that she believes was Madeleine, will be the first.
The McCann, as the JN already said, will not be questioned by decision of the prosecutor, who considered the investigation
a "waste of time".
The couple will be traveling on Thursday to Brussels, where they will meet with MEPs involved in
the creation of an alert system for European missing or abducted children. "Pure coincidence," ensures the spokesman of the
couple.
Sunday April 6, 2008 (Note: This article appeared online on April 5, 2008)
By Matt Drake
Up to 60 witnesses will be questioned by police in Britain over Madeleine McCann’s
disappearance.
A series of intensive interviews will start this week after a three-man team of senior
Portuguese detectives fly into Leicestershire tomorrow.
The trio, led by Paulo Rebelo, the chief investigator in the case, will begin by supervising the quizzing
of key witness Jane Tanner.
Ms Tanner, 36, claimed she saw a man carrying a girl from the McCanns’ holiday apartment in the Algarve
at about 9.15pm.
Yet another witness says he was outside the flat in Praia da Luz at the same time but did not see her or the
mystery man.
After Ms Tanner’s interview, British police, supervised by the Portuguese, will spend three days speaking
to remaining members of the Tapas Seven who were dining with Madeleine’s parents when she vanished.
No lawyers will be present and friends of the group stressed they are meeting the police voluntarily. They
have been warned to expect lengthy bouts of questioning.
The group were all dining with Kate and Gerry McCann on the night their daughter vanished on May 3 last year
in Praia da Luz.
Ms Tanner’s partner Dr Russell O’Brien, 36, from Exeter, was away from the group tending to his
sick daughter in the period when Madeleine was snatched.
Dr Matthew Oldfield, 37, a hospital consultant from London, and his wife Rachel, 36, a recruitment consultant,
were also at the tapas restaurant.
David Payne, 41, a cardiovascular researcher from Leicester, was the final person, apart from the McCann family,
to see Madeleine. His wife, Fiona, 34, and her mother, Diane Webster, will also be questioned by police in Leicester.
Then officers will switch their attention to three separate bands of witnesses who have been singled out by
Gerry and Kate McCann as vital.
As arguidos, or official suspects, the couple have the right to demand that certain individuals be seen by
police if they are believed to hold relevant information. Despite plans for the Portuguese investigators to return home on
Friday, British police will mount a full-scale operation in which more than 50 more witnesses will be interviewed. These will
include other guests who were staying at the resort, Ocean Club apartments staff and holidaymakers staying nearby.
Relatives of the McCanns who visited the Algarve in the weeks after she went missing are understood to be
on the list, as are their current spokesman Clarence Mitchell and his predecessor Justine McGuiness.
Two sisters who were puzzled by a blond pair of men in their 30s acting strangely at the resort hours before
Madeleine went missing are on the interview list.
Jayne Jensen, 54, and Annie Wiltshire, 58, said one of the men standing outside the patio doors started to
walk down a flight of steps.
But when he was seen by divorced mum-of-two Annie, from Maidstone, he retraced his steps and began talking
to his friend.
Yesterday the McCanns made an emotional plea to Portuguese detectives to clear them in time for the one year
anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance.
Madeleine’s parents, both 39, hope the unprecedented move to question their friends in Britain will
mark an end to their seven-month ordeal as suspects.
The couple are desperate to return to Praia da Luz to mark the tragic date with a renewed appeal for information
which could unlock the mystery surrounding what happened.
Clarence Mitchell confirmed that Kate and Gerry want detectives to lift their arguido status and reveal any
evidence they hold.
He said they will not return to the Algarve while they are still suspects.
He said: "Kate and Gerry want to return to Praia da Luz to reinvigorate our campaign to find Madeleine."
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Cops to drop Kate & Gerry arguido claim Boost for missing Madeleine's parents
6 April 2008
By Tom Carlin
The cloud of suspicion hanging over Kate and Gerry McCann is set to be sensationally lifted by Portuguese police.
The couple's status as formal suspects - arguidos - in the disappearance of their four-year-old daughter Madeleine is
about to be dropped, The People can reveal.
The dramatic move will follow a comprehensive review of the case which will be completed within weeks.
But the McCanns will not be cleared until after May 8 - five days after the first anniversary of Maddie's disappearance
when the couple had hoped to be back in Portugal to boost the search.
A highly-placed Portuguese legal source told The People last night: "I can confirm a review of the case will be concluded
next month.
"It may well be the case that Kate and Gerry's arguido status is about to be dropped."
A family friend of the McCanns said Kate and Gerry were "greatly encouraged" by these developments.
The couple had repeatedly pleaded for their arguido status to be lifted so they could concentrate on their search for
Maddie.
Their lawyers have warned them not to return while they are stil suspects.
A family source added: "Any announcement that Kate and Gerry are no longer being treated as suspects will be a massive
weight off their shoulders.
"But there will still be considerable heartache for them as the timing means this will not be likely until after the
first anniversary of Maddie's disppearance."
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "If they returned now to Portugal it would be a distraction and would
put pressure on police.
Their lawyers would block it anyway.
"But once their arguido status has been lifted, they will feel differently.
"They have discussed the possibility of returning but nothing has yet been agreed." Maddie went missing from the family's
Algarve holiday flat in Praia da Luz on May 3 last year as her parents ate tapas nearby.
Kate - both 39-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leics - were made official suspects in September after months of interviews.
But despite immense pressure from investigators pushing for a confession, they have always maintained their innocence.
An insider said: "It is great news that Kate and Gerry are finally set to be cleared.
"But at the same time it also shows the police have got no idea about what happened to Madeleine.
"It is almost a year since she disappeared and we still don't seem any closer to finding her."
WE WANT TO RETURN FOR HER
The People
By Tom Carlin
Kate and Gerry McCann were heartbroken when they
were eventually advised to return to Britain - because they had promised to NEVER leave Portugal without Maddie.
Just
weeks after Maddie disappeared, Kate said: "I cannot even contemplate going home at the moment, absolutely cannot let it enter
my head."
But the pair were made arguidos in September and 48 hours later were advised by lawyers to return to Britain.
On Thursday Kate and Gerry will fly to Brussels where they will table a motion to the European Parliament to help
find to boost links between police forces searching for missing children.
But ther greatest wish is for the arguido
status to be lifted so they can return to Praia da Luz to renew the search for Maddie.
'we say' THE PEOPLE: Mercy for McCanns
The People
There is only one thing that Kate and Gerry McCann really want. And that is the safe return of their beloved
daughter Madeleine.
But The People's revelation today that the Portuguese authorities will lift their arguido status
next month will at least ease their burden.
To be named as suspects in their daughter's disappearance was the ultimate
twist of the knife in their almost unbearable agony.
It led to cruel whispering and fingerpointing and false allegations
they had to go to court to refute.
There should NEVER have been any suggestion that the McCanns were anything other
than distraught parents doing everything they could to get Maddie back.
Now they can return to Portugal to continue
the search without the hateful curse of arguido hanging over them.
There is only one thing worse than having your child
taken away.
And that is being wrongly suspected of having something to do with it.
Police Fly To UK For Madeleine Interviews
Sky News
Updated:09:30, Sunday April 06, 2008
Portuguese detectives are due to arrive in the UK tomorrow as friends of Kate and Gerry McCann are reinterviewed over
their daughter's disappearance.
The squad, led by Paulo Rebelo, who is in charge of the Madeleine McCann hunt, will not actually question the so-called
"Tapas Seven".
But they will be present at interviews carried out by officers from Leicestershire Constabulary.
The McCanns, from Rothley, Leicestershire, will not be quizzed in relation to the disappearance of their daughter from
the Algarve holiday resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
Their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said the couple welcomed the interviews and were happy to be reinterviewed, but a
request had not been made by Portuguese detectives.
Instead they will question the McCanns' seven friends - who were with them the night Madeleine disappeared.
They will be interviewed as witnesses and are free to leave at any time, a spokeswoman for Leicestershire Constabulary
said. No lawyers will be present.
There had been speculation that diaries and Madeleine's Cuddle Cat toy could be seized by Portuguese officers, but it
is understood that no property will be searched or seized.
The Portuguese officers are expected to land at East Midlands Airport at 12.20pm on the flight from Faro.
Some of the interviews may begin tomorrow but Leicestershire Constabulary will not say where they are being held. It
is believed they will take place at the force's headquarters in Enderby.
A police spokeswoman said: "Leicestershire Constabulary will be co-ordinating the execution of the request for mutual
legal assistance made by the Portuguese authorities.
"The Portuguese authorities have asked that the contents of the request and the way it is being executed be kept confidential
so as not to prejudice their ongoing investigation."
The process of interviewing key witnesses will last several weeks but the Portuguese detectives will return home from
interviewing the Tapas Seven at the end of the week.
Madeleine's parents Kate, 40, and her husband, 39-year-old Gerry, remain formal suspects in the case.
The McCanns will not be in Leicestershire for the duration of the visit by Mr Rebelo and his team.
On Wednesday, they travel to Brussels to lobby for better co-ordination between European countries when a child goes
missing.
Published Date: 06 April 2008
Source: Press Association
Last Updated: 06 April 2008 1:36 PM
Portuguese police are due to arrive in the UK to sit in when the friends of Kate and Gerry McCann
are interviewed.
The detectives, led by Paulo Rebelo, who is in charge of the Madeleine McCann case, will not actually
question the friends of the couple but will be present at interviews carried out by officers from Leicestershire Constabulary.
The McCanns, from Rothley, Leicestershire, will not be questioned in relation to the disappearance
of their four-year-old daughter from the Algarve holiday resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple welcomed the interviews and were happy to be reinterviewed,
but a request had not been made by Portuguese detectives.
Instead they will question the McCanns' friends - known as the "Tapas Seven" - who were with them
the night Madeleine disappeared.
They will be interviewed as witnesses and are free to leave at any time, said a spokeswoman for Leicestershire
Constabulary. No lawyers will be present.
There had been speculation that diaries and Madeleine's Cuddle Cat toy could be seized by Portuguese
officers, but it is understood that no property will be searched or seized.
The Portuguese officers are expected to land at East Midlands Airport from Faro at 12.20pm on Monday.
They will be met by British officers and are expected to avoid the public arrivals lounge by being
escorted out through a private exit once they have cleared customs.
The Portuguese officers are staying at a hotel in Leicester city centre.
Portuguese detectives to quiz 'Tapas Seven' in London about Maddy's disappearance Daily Mail
By VANESSA ALLEN and DAVID WILKES
Last updated at 18:10pm on 6th April 2008
Portuguese detectives arrive in Britain tomorrow ahead of fresh police interviews of Kate
and Gerry McCann's friends.
The so-called Tapas Seven who dined with the couple on the night their daughter Madeleine
disappeared are among a list of 24 people due to be grilled by detectives over the next four days.
But the McCanns themselves will not face new interrogations and are due to leave Britain
during the Portuguese police visit.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell insisted the couple were on a pre-arranged visit to
Brussels to lobby Euro MPs for a better alert system for missing children, and denied the trip was a "smokescreen".
He said they welcomed the latest police move and would be willing to be interviewed again
if it would help the investigation.
But prosecutors in Portugal were reported to have ruled there was no need for the couple
to face fresh interrogations, fuelling speculation they could soon be cleared of being named suspects, or arguidos, in their
daughter's disappearance.
Interviews of the Tapas Seven are due to start on Tuesday and the friends will be asked
a series of questions drawn up by the Portuguese police team.
The Algarve-based team is barred from conducting interrogations on British soil, but will
monitor the questioning of the couple's friends by Leicestershire police.
They will all be interviewed as witnesses and are free to leave at any time, a spokeswoman
for Leicestershire Constabulary said. No lawyers will be present.
Portuguese police had requested the interviews and were also said to have asked for the
McCanns' computers, Mrs McCann's diary and Madeleine's favourite Cuddle Cat toy to be seized, but it is understood that no
property will be searched or seized.
The three-strong team from Portugal is expected to return to the Algarve on Friday but
Leicestershire officers will continue to interview other witnesses, including the couple's spokesman Mr Mitchell.
Under Portuguese law named suspects, or arguidos, have the right to ask that police speak
to witnesses who support them.
The McCanns have asked for up to 24 of their friends and family to be questioned about
their relationship with Madeleine and their behaviour after her disappearance.
They will leave for Brussels on Wednesday to present a draft declaration to the European
Parliament, and on Thursday they will give their first press conference since they were made official suspects in the investigation.
As arguidos they are forbidden from speaking about the events of May 3 or the police inquiry
but can talk about wider issues about missing children.
Mr Mitchell said it was "pure coincidence" that the McCanns were leaving Britain during
the week of the police interviews.
He said: "To say this is a smokescreen is utter rubbish. It is pure co-incidence that
police interviews are being conducted at the same time the European Parliament is sitting, and Kate and Gerry are tabling
a motion."
Mr McCann, 39, and his 40-year-old wife are also due to talk about their campaign in a
TV documentary to be screened on April 30, just days before the first anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.
The couple will not return to Portugal for the anniversary unless their arguido status
is lifted, but some of their relatives are expected to go to Praia da Luz for the poignant milestone.
Meanwhile they hope the police interviews could be the next step towards clearing their
names over alleged contradictions in their accounts of the night of May 3.
Mr Mitchell said: "No-one wants to change their testimony and no-one is concerned about
the interviews.
"Kate and Gerry hope the police will realise there is no evidence to implicate them and
will finally clear them of their arguido status. Their friends are keen to assist the police and wonder why it has taken so
long.
"This is a voluntary process, they are not being coerced or threatened, and none of them
will be made suspects."
The Tapas Seven - Jane Tanner and her partner Russell O'Brien, Fiona Payne and her husband
David and mother Dianne Webster, and Matthew and Rachael Oldfield - have all said they are happy to be questioned again.
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14:10 - 07 April 2008
A team of Portuguese police has arrived in the UK to sit in on
interviews with friends of Kate and Gerry McCann.
The detectives' flight from Faro landed at East Midlands
Airport where they were met by British officers and escorted through a private exit.
They will observe interviews carried out by officers from Leicestershire
Constabulary with friends of the McCanns - the so-called Tapas Seven - who were dining with them in the Algarve resort of
Praia da Luz last year when the McCann's daughter Madeleine disappeared.
The team, led by Paulo Rebelo, who is heading the Madeleine McCann case,
will not actually question the group themselves.
A spokeswoman for Leicestershire Constabulary said the group would be interviewed
as witnesses and are free to leave at any time. No lawyers will be present.
It is believed the interviews will take place at the force's headquarters
in Enderby.
The McCanns, from Rothley, Leicestershire, will not be questioned in relation
to the disappearance of Madeleine.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple welcomed the interviews
and were happy to be reinterviewed, but a request had not been made by Portuguese detectives.
There had been speculation that diaries and Madeleine's Cuddle Cat toy
could be seized by Portuguese officers, but it is understood that no property will be searched or seized.
The process of interviewing key witnesses will last several weeks, but
the Portuguese detectives are believed to be returning home at the end of the week.
Madeleine Cops In UK As 'Tapas 7' Quizzed Sky News
Updated:13:08, Monday April 07, 2008
Portuguese detectives searching for Madeleine McCann have arrived in the UK as police
prepare to re-interview the so-called "Tapas Seven".
The squad, led by Paulo Rebelo, will not actually question the group, who are friends
of the missing four-year-old's parents Kate, 40, and Gerry, 39.
But they will be present at interviews carried out by officers from Leicestershire Constabulary.
The seven were dining with the McCanns at a tapas bar when
Madeleine - who had been left in the family's nearby holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal - disappeared on May 3 last
year.
Leicestershire officers say they will be interviewed as witnesses, no lawyers will be
present and they are free to leave at any time.
The McCanns, from Rothley, who remain formal suspects, will not be quizzed.
There had been speculation that diaries and Madeleine's Cuddle Cat toy could be seized
by Portuguese officers, but it is understood that no property will be searched or taken.
They landed at East Midlands Airport on the flight from Faro and some of the interviews
may begin tomorrow.
A police spokeswoman said: "Leicestershire Constabulary will be co-ordinating the execution
of the request for mutual legal assistance made by the Portuguese authorities.
"The Portuguese authorities have asked that the contents of the request and the way it
is being executed be kept confidential so as not to prejudice their ongoing investigation."
The McCanns have welcomed the interviews and were happy to be reinterviewed themselves
but a request had not been made, their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said.
It is thought the process of interviewing key witnesses will last several weeks but the
Portuguese detectives will return home from interviewing the seven at the end of the week.
On Wednesday, the McCanns travel to Brussels to lobby for better co-ordination between
European countries when a child goes missing.
Madeleine Cops In UK As 'Tapas 7' Quizzed
Sky News
(Updated version of report above)
David Crabtree, Sky News corresepondent
Updated: 16:03, Monday April 07, 2008
Portuguese detectives searching for Madeleine McCann will be looking for any inconsistencies
in evidence given by the so-called "Tapas Seven", Sky News understands.
The officers have arrived in the UK as Leicestershire police prepare to re-interview the
group, who are friends of the missing four-year-old's parents Kate and Gerry.
The foreign detectives will not actually question the seven but will be present at interviews
carried out by UK officers.
The men and women will be interviewed as witnesses, no lawyers will be present and they
are free to leave at any time.
The McCanns, from Rothley, who remain formal suspects, will not be quizzed.
The seven were dining with the McCanns at a tapas bar when Madeleine - who had been left
in the family's nearby holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal - disappeared on May 3 last year.
The McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "On that night these seven people didn't
have mobiles or watches.
"During the shock, panic and chaos details may have become muddled.
"They and Kate and Jerry welcome the questioning. The McCanns' themselves are happy to
be questioned also but it has not been requested."
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has followed the case closely, has told Sky
News Online the Portuguese detectives are likely to want a challenge to the group's evidence.
Particularly, he said, they
are likely to be interested
in the evidence of Jane
Tanner, who saw a man
carrying a little girl
walking away from the
vicinity of the McCanns'
apartment.
"She (Tanner) was very
specific in her evidence -
like what the man looked
like, what the child looked
like," Mr Williams-Thomas
said.
He said evidence given by
another person present on
the night may be considered
more "independent" than that
given by Ms Tanner.
Mr Williams-Thomas also said
he believed that the focus
of the investigation had
changed and that the line of
questioning was now
interested in the McCanns.
But the McCann's believe the
arrival of Portuguese police
may mark a turning point in
the investigation as it
nears its one-year
anniversary.
Mr Mitchell added: "We now
hope that they will soon be
dropped as official suspects
and we can fully concentrate
on the efforts to find
Madeleine."
Under Portuguese law, the
McCanns can also put forward
names of people they think
police should be talking to.
Sky News understand there
are about 50 names on a
list.
There had been speculation
that diaries and Madeleine's
Cuddle Cat toy could be
seized by Portuguese
officers.
However, it is now
understood that no property
will be searched or taken.
It is thought the process of
interviewing key witnesses
will last several weeks but
the Portuguese detectives
will return home at the end
of the week.
On Wednesday, the McCanns
travel to Brussels to lobby
for better co-ordination
between European countries
when a child goes missing.
Madeleine Probe: Who Are The 'Tapas 7'?
Sky News
Paul Brennan, Sky News reporter
Updated: 12:26, Monday April 07, 2008
The so-called "Tapas Seven" are to be re-interviewed by police this week in connection
with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
They were dining with Gerry and Kate McCann at the Ocean Club resort, Portugal, when the
four-year-old went missing from the family's nearby apartment on May 3 last year.
While the actual questioning will be done by British officers, the Portuguese detectives
will sit in.
The "Tapas Seven" are:
Dr Matthew Oldfield and his wife Rachael: They have known the McCanns since Matthew
and Gerry worked together in Leicester.
Matthew is aged 37 and now works in endocrinology at Kingston Hospital in Surrey. His
wife is 36 and a recruitment consultant.
They have a two-year-old daughter. Mr Oldfield was the last to check on the children (but
did not actually see Madeleine), about 30 minutes before the alarm was raised at 10pm.
Dr Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner: Russell, 36,
and Jane, 37, live in Exeter. Russell works at the Peninsula Medical School at the University of Plymouth.
They have two children - the older one is the same age as Madeleine.
This daughter was ill on the night of the disappearance, and Russell was away from the
tapas bar for about half an hour while he attended to her.
Jane says that at about 9.15pm on the night Madeleine disappeared, she went to check on
her children, and she saw a man carrying a little girl walking away from the vicinity of the McCann's apartment.
At the time, she thought nothing of it.
Dr David Payne and his wife Dr Fiona Payne: David is 41 and
is a Fellow in Cardiovascular Science at Leicester University. Fiona is 34 and also a doctor.
David was the last non-family member to positively see Madeleine alive in Praia de Luz,
at 6.30pm that evening.
Dianne Webster: is the mother of Fiona Payne.
Published Date: 07 April 2008
Source: Press Association
Friends of Kate and Gerry McCann remain "bullish" ahead of their interviews with Portuguese and Leicestershire
detectives, the McCanns' spokesman has said.
Three Portuguese officers, led by Paulo Rebelo, have arrived in the UK to reinterview the Tapas Seven
- the McCanns' friends who were with them the night Madeleine disappeared.
The officers are understood to have held a three-hour meeting with detectives from Leicestershire
Constabulary ahead of the interviews with the Tapas Seven, which will start on Tuesday.
The first friend to be interviewed is understood to be Jane Tanner, 37, who saw a man carrying a girl
from the McCanns' apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' family spokesman, said the friends were looking forward to the interviews
as they believe they will give them the chance to clear up any perceived discrepancies in their stories.
Mr Mitchell said: "The friends are quite bullish. We understand that the police have concerns about
the time-line. There may be some concern that some of the time-lines don't tally but all the discrepancies are explicable."
The interviews with the Tapas Seven are expected to finish on Friday but there will be more interviews
with witnesses, many of whom have been put forward by the McCanns on a list of more than 50 people they would like officers
to speak to.
On Wednesday, the couple travel to Brussels to lobby MEPs to sign their written declaration for a dedicated
child alert system.
Kate, 40, and 39-year-old Gerry, from Rothley, recently visited the USA to see how the AMBER alert
system worked. The system allows officers to flash news alerts on to the radio, television and digital road signs once they
deem a child to be in imminent danger.
The McCanns hope their written declaration will be signed by a majority of 390
MEPs in the next three months. This will allow it to be submitted to the European Commission for its consideration.
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Paulo Rebelo arrives in the UK |
07 April 2008
(Thanks to Joana Morais for translation)
To explain the contradictions found in the testimonies of the "Tapas 7" and to untangle the theory
of kidnapping supported by the parents of Madeleine McCann are the main objectives of the Judiciary Police (PJ), which arrived
today in England to carry out the rogatory letter. The PJ wants to understand if some of the persons who were spending holidays
with Kate and Gerry, in the Praia da Luz, in Lagos, "lied to corroborate the version of the couple ", explained, to the JN,
a source connected with the process. The members of the group of friends are going to be confronted by elements of proof that
meantime were gathered.
The same source admits that the PJ keeps on distrusting the McCanns, which were constituted
arguidos and indicted by corpse's occultation and simulation of the crime of kidnapping. "As contradictions were detected
in the statements of their friends, which also point in the same way - of the kidnapping - it is necessary to explain them",
added the source.
The interrogations are going to have place in the headquarters of the Leicester Police, city where
the McCanns live, and are going to be accompanied by three Portuguese investigators. The team is led by the coordinator of
criminal investigation of the PJ of Portimăo, Paulo Rebelo. Rebelo is accompanied by inspector Ricardo Paiva - his right-arm
and since the first minute the liaison officer with the British Police - and by Joăo Carlos, the officer who leads the brigade
of the Regional Section of Combat to Banditism put in charge of the Madeleine case.
However, the PJ will not see their
task an easy one, "On the contrary of what one might think, the British Police is not carrying out the duty of secrecy, giving
various informations to the journalists", an investigator complains. " Proving it, are the news that in the last days have
been published, "which reveal details that are in the rogatory letter. It will not be surprising if the witnesses already
know the questions", he adds. Kate and Gerry will not be questioned for the time being, which will eventually happen in a
subsequent phase. Everything depends on the answers of the witnesses.
(added some other facts from Portuguese newspapers)
Side Notes
The team that was sent by the Judiciary Police
will interview 24 friends and relatives of Kate and Gerry McCann, as well as Justine McGuiness, Clarence Mitchell and the
famous Tapas seven.During this week the tapas seven will be called to headquarters of the Police of Leicester: Russel O'Brien,
his partner, Jane Tanner, Rachell Manpilly, her husband, Matthew Oldfield, Dianne Webster, her daughter Fiona Paine and the
son-in-law, David Payne.
Kate and Gerry will not be in the United Kingdom on Thursday, due to their trip to Brussels,
where they will debate with MEP's about the creation of a European alert network for missing children.
Meanwhile, this
weekend, there has been another disappearance. A 10-year-old girl disappeared in Sweden when she was returning home on her
bike. The police believe that she was abducted.
Yesterday the filing of the process was known against a couple accused
of trying to extort money from the McCanns. The judge considered that the Italian man and the Portuguese woman just wanted
to give some evidences on Maddie's whereabouts.
Quotes
A Judiciary Police
officer said today: "We were contacted some months ago by the lawyers of two of the persons who where in the dinner, noticing
that their clients where willing to alter the initial declarations given to the PJ. We do not know if, when so much time has
passed, they still maintain the same stance. We do hope that such happens and that we can take one more step for the discovery
of the truth in this case"
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Police begins today the attack on the contradictions of the McCann’s friends
08 April 2008
(Translations by Joana Morais)
PJ authorized questioning
The PJ Team and the Police of Leicester were yesterday
in a meeting that lasted the whole afternoon to adjust the manner of how the interrogations are going to take place.
Now
it’s the time for the coordinator of criminal investigation of the PJ, Paulo Rebelo to show what he is worth. The right-arm
of Guilhermino Encarnaçăo, the person in charge of the PJ’s Directory of Faro, his going to lead, from 9h00 of today,
all the interrogations to the seven friends with whom Madeleine's parents had dinner in the night the girl disappeared, from
Praia da Luz, Algarve.
The diligence should be done only by the British authorities, but the Portuguese obtained a
special authorization to do the interrogations directly. “We were only going to assist the interrogations and make suggestions.
However due to the good existent collaboration between both police forces, it was agreed that we should do the cross-examinations.
It was a question of courtesy from the English Police in general and of Leicester in particular”, explained to 24horas
a Judiciary Police source.
24horas was able to gather that Jane Tanner will be the first witness to be heard, for the
reason that her statement given initially to the PJ and the declarations she made publicly, along the months that followed
the disappearance, are of those who present bigger inconsistencies.
It was she who said, some months after the disappearance,
to have seen a man near the apartment of the McCanns carrying what appeared to be a child wrapped up in a blanket. But Jane
will not be the only target of the authorities. Her husband, Russel O'Brien, is also going to be "grilled", since his declarations
to the authorities changed with time. Dianne Webster, of 63, and the oldest person of the Tapas group, will have to explain
why she did not show surprise when she saw Kate entering in the Tapas Bar screaming. And why she remained seated more than
five minutes until she decided to leave the place.
Witnesses of the McCanns
The
day of yesterday was a fuss for Paulo Rebelo and for the two investigators who accompanied him. They had to wake up at around
6h00 to be in the Faro Airport at 7h00 to do the check-in for the EasyJet flight at 9h00 bound for Birmingham, where they
arrived only around 12h30.
Soon after they had lunch and at 14h30 they entered in a high speed Ford gray van, with
tinted glasses, in the headquarters of the Leicester police. There followed a meeting that lasted all the afternoon. Meanwhile,
two witnesses, allegedly indicated by the McCanns, were heard, in the context of the rogatory letter, only by British officers.
The PJ did not find them relevant.
Clarence Mitchell and Justine McGuinness, which practiced the spokesperson's functions
for the McCanns in Praia da Luz (the first one maintains this position in England) might be able to help explaining to the
PJ how traces of blood of the child ended up in the Renault Scenic. The vehicle was rented by Madeleine's parents three weeks
after her disappearance and the detection of those evidences contributed in order for the police to change the course of the
investigation, in August of 2007, starting to point to the theory of the death.
The interest of the couple McCann
in suggesting to the authorities to hear Clarence Mitchell and Justine McGuiness is attached to the fact that besides the
McCanns they were the persons, who travelled more in that car.
Very expensive hotels
The
base of the team of the PJ sent to England is going to be the headquarters of the police of Leicester. But Paulo Rebelo and
his collaborators are going to be in a hotel in Enderby, nearly 15 kilometers from the center of Leicester. The expensive
prices and the lack of vacancies obstructed the authorities to stay in heart of the city. The Hilton Hotel and the Marriot
were the first choices. The first one asked between 195 euros to 300 euros per night. In the second the ‘party’
was not for less than 300 euros to 450 euros. A source of the PJ pointed out that it was not for lack of funds that the team
did not settle down in one of these two hotel unities, simply there were no vacancies left. The choice fell in the Ramada
Hotel, where the PJ’s team sent to gather the expert examinations carried out in a laboratory of Birmingham stayed previously.
There, the PJ is going to pay 150 euros per night. The transport will be supplied by the English police.
Madeleine McCann parents asked to return to Portugal for reconstruction Telegraph
By Nick Britten
Last Updated: 1:49pm BST 08/04/2008
Gerry and Kate McCann have been asked to return to Portugal to take part in a large-scale re-enactment
of the hours surrounding Madeleine's disappearance.
The McCanns' lawyers have met the Portuguese police authorities who requested that they return to
the resort of Praia da Luz where their daughter disappeared almost a year ago.
Today they were locked in negotiations about what the re-enactment should contain and what purpose
it would serve.
While the couple are willing to help keep the case in the public eye, they are concerned about going
back to Praia da Luz while their status as official suspects remains, and are seeking assurances that any re-construction
is used to generate new leads in the hunt for their missing daughter.
Friends of the couple said that Mrs McCann may be too traumatised to take part. One said: "There has
been no apparent thought given to her emotional position in taking part in such a re-enactment."
A family source said the McCanns had not ruled out taking part and the issue was under discussion.
He said: "There are loads of questions still to be addressed such as whether the twins, Sean and Amelie,
will be required and what the actual re-enactment will be used for.
"No-one knows whether it will be done behind closed doors or whether it will be a Crimewatch-style
reconstruction used to try and generate new leads. All these types of things need to be ironed out before a decision is made."
Any reconstruction would be an unusual move for the Portuguese police as it is not a tactic normally
used in investigations.
The BBC show Crimewatch approached the Portuguese authorities shortly after Madeleine, 4, disappeared
last May, but were turned down and told it was not normal practise.
A couple of possible dates have been discussed, the earliest so far being in mid-May. It won't take
place in or around the first anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance on May 3.
While Mr and Mrs McCann insist they have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, they are nervous
the police have an ulterior motive to taking them back to Portugal.
However, they are keen to do anything that will help keep Madeleine's profile high and possibly generate
new information in the hunt for her.
The source said: "The family lawyers are naturally wary and are wondering why the police want to do
it now when they had the chance to do it when the trail was a lot warmer and how it will help the search for Madeleine.
"Gerry and Kate suggested months ago that a reconstruction should take place but were told by the
police that they didn't do it.
"We want to be sure that no confusion or contradiction comes out of this and this it doesn't in any
way make matters worse.
"They are happy to assist the police in anything that might help them generate new leads but there
are genuine considerations to be discussed."
On Tuesday Leicestershire police began re-questioning the McCanns' holiday friends, starting with
Jane Tanner, 37, who claims to have seen a man carrying away a child at the time Madeleine went missing.
Senior Portuguese police are sitting in on the interviews but are not allowed to question anyone themselves.
Over the next three days, they will interview all of the so-called Tapas Seven.
McCanns Are Called Back To Portugal Sky News
Updated: 16:22, Tuesday April 08, 2008
The parents of Madeleine McCann have been asked to return to Portugal for
a reconstruction of her alleged abduction, Sky sources understand.
Crime correspondent Martin Brunt said Portuguese authorities were requesting that Kate and Gerry go back for a "Crimewatch-style"
event.
But it is feared Mrs McCann, whose four-year-old daughter vanished on May 3 last year, would find such a trip too traumatic,
Brunt said.
He added the reconstruction could involve friends - dubbed the Tapas Seven - who were dining with the McCanns while the
child was allegedly snatched from a holiday apartment in the Praia da Luz resort.
The parents' spokesman Clarence Mitchell told Sky News: "Kate and Gerry very much welcome the idea of any reconstruction
that is televised... that could generate important new calls and new leads in the search for Madeleine."
Both McCanns are still official suspects in the Portuguese police probe into the girl's disappearance and Kate has not
been back to the resort since returning to England in September.
Mr Mitchell said: "(The McCanns) and their friends want to resolve this - they want to make it clear to the police that
there is no evidence to implicate Kate and Gerry and that they should be eliminated from the inquiry.
"The family will do whatever is necessary to assist the police and this particular (reconstruction) proposal is just
that."
But he made it clear the couple were still undecided on whether to return to the resort.
The news comes as British officers began questioning members of the Tapas Seven.
Three Portuguese detectives are sitting in on the interviews, believed to be with friends Jane Tanner and her partner
Russell O'Brien, at Leicestershire Constabulary's headquarters in Enderby.
Published Date: 08 April 2008
Source: Press Association
Kate McCann is "upset" at a decision by police to invite her and Gerry back to Portugal to take part
in a reconstruction, a friend of the Rothley couple said.
Portuguese officers have invited the McCanns to participate in a reconstruction of the night Madeleine
vanished from their holiday apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
It is not known whether friends
who were on holiday with the McCanns, other holiday-makers and staff working at the resort will also be invited to take part
in the reconstruction.
The friend of the McCanns said: "Kate is upset. There's been no sense of concern for her feelings
or the anguish it will cause her. On an emotional level she is not sure she can go through with it."
The friend added:
"The family will consider it. If it's felt that there's a chance of it helping to find Madeleine then, of course, they will
do it. But given it is a year on, you have to wonder about the value of it."
Kate, 40, a GP, has not returned to work
and has remained at home since her daughter disappeared. Gerry, 39, has returned to work as a heart surgeon.
It is
believed that any reconstruction would not be televised, although Clarence Mitchell, the family's spokesman, said Kate and
Gerry will welcome an opportunity to take part in a televised Crimewatch reconstruction in Portugal if it helps find four-year-old
Madeleine.
The couple will not be travelling back to Portugal to mark the anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance
on May 3 if they remain arguidos - formal suspects.
Producers from Crimewatch had put forward a request to do a reconstruction
within the first month of Madeleine's disappearance.
It is understood that due to the secrecy of Portuguese law, this
offer was turned down by police there.
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Kate Upset Over Reconstruction Invite Sky News
Updated: 02:44, Wednesday April 09, 2008
Kate McCann is said to be "upset" over a request that she and her husband Gerry take
part in a reconstruction of the night their daughter Madeleine went missing.
Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt reported that Portuguese authorities
were requesting that the McCanns go back to Praia da Luz for a "Crimewatch-style" event in mid-May.
But it is feared Mrs McCann, whose four-year-old daughter vanished on May 3 last year, would find
such a trip too traumatic, Brunt said.
A friend of the couple said: "Kate is upset. There's been no sense of concern for her feelings or
the anguish it will cause her.
"On an emotional level she is not sure she can go through with it."
The friend added: "The family will consider it. If it's felt that there's a chance of it helping to
find Madeleine then, of course, they will do it.
"But given it is a year on, you have to wonder about the value of it."
The parents' spokesman Clarence Mitchell told Sky News: "Kate and Gerry very much welcome the idea
of any reconstruction that is televised... that could generate important new calls and new leads in the search for Madeleine."
Both McCanns are still official suspects in the Portuguese police probe into the girl's disappearance
and Kate has not been back to the resort since returning to England in September.
Mr Mitchell said: "(The McCanns) and their friends want to resolve this - they want to make it clear
to the police that there is no evidence to implicate Kate and Gerry and that they should be eliminated from the inquiry.
"The family will do whatever is necessary to assist the police and this particular (reconstruction)
proposal is just that."
But he made it clear the couple were still undecided on whether to return to the resort.
The news comes as British officers began questioning members of the Tapas Seven.
Three Portuguese detectives sat in on the interviews with friends Jane Tanner and her partner Russell
O'Brien, at Leicestershire Constabulary's headquarters in Enderby.
A source close to Ms Tanner said that she and her partner left Leicestershire's constabulary headquarters
shortly after Portuguese detectives at about 9pm.
The source said: "We understand that everything is fine and it was a good opportunity to get their
point of view across. Everything was fine and they felt it went well.
"There was nothing unexpected and it was a good opportunity to get their point of view over strongly."
McCanns To Argue For Child Alert System Sky News
Updated: 08:36, Wednesday April 09, 2008
The parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann are helping to set up a dedicated information hotline for
missing children that will be available across Europe.
Kate and Gerry McCann are visiting Brussels as part of the campaign to bring in a dedicated alert
system for abducted children.
The phone number - 116 000 - will work from phones across the continent.
Kate, 40, and Gerry, 39, from Rothley, Leics, recently visited America to see the "Amber" alert system.
This allows police to commandeer the airwaves and television channels in different states if they believe a child
has been abducted.
The system also allows news alerts, often including the registration number of a suspect's vehicle, to be flashed
up on digital signs on main roads.
Tomorrow the couple will give a presentation to MEPs at the European Parliament in Brussels, providing them with
details about how the system works and the case for introducing it in Europe.
The couple say such a system could have helped find their daughter Madeleine in the crucial hours after she went
missing from their apartment in the Portuguese holiday resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
The move has received cross-party support in the European Parliament and is being sponsored by five MEPs.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, said: "For Kate and Gerry this is an important opportunity to ensure
better co-ordination in Europe when a child goes missing to make sure that no other family goes through the anguish that they
are continuing to endure.
"They hope to get the support of a majority of the Parliament's MEPs and with such a moral authority they hope
that the European Commission will ensure that such a system comes in to being."
For the proposal to be brought forward, it would have to be signed by a majority of the 785 MEPs within three months.
This week Portuguese police asked the couple to return to Praia da Luz to take part in a reconstruction of the
events of May 3.
Apr 9 2008 By Rod Chaytor
POLICE have asked Kate and Gerry McCann to return to Portugal for a reconstruction of the disappearance of their
missing daughter, Madeleine.
The couple were last night considering the request as Portuguese cops, who flew to the
UK on Monday, began to interview friends who were with the couple on the night Madeleine vanished.
The so-called "Tapas
Seven" are also being asked to return to the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old disappeared on May 3
last year.
The proposal is now under discussion - 10 months after Portuguese police flatly refused to let BBC's Crimewatch
stage a similar event.
Last night, McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell gave a qualified welcome to the police request.
He
said: "A proposal by the Portuguese police has been received and is being considered by our lawyers.
"Kate and Gerry would welcome a Crimewatch-style re-enactment which could be broadcast to millions of people around
the world and could generate important new leads and fresh information.
"But it would be untrue to say that they have been called back or summoned back."
However,
last night, a family friend fumed: "No thought at all appears to have been given to the emotional effect this would have on
the parents - and Kate in particular.
"Kate is privately not sure she would be mentally strong enough to walk back into Madeleine's bedroom in the apartment
and re-enact her reactions.
"Would a lookalike play the part of Madeleine and how could Kate cope with that?
"She finds the idea deeply distressing."
Jane and Russell "grilled" by the PJ: Witnesses with bad memory 24horas
Jane Tanner did not even manage to repeat the description of the man she claimed to have seen with a child
in the arms in that fateful night
Text by Carlos Tomas, in Leicester
(Thanks to Joana Morais for translation)
Jane Tanner, one of the main witnesses in the process of Maddie's disappearance, yesterday again,
gave a different account from the previous ones. Questioned by the PJ team that was sent to England, Jane did not manage to
explain how, when and where she saw the supposed kidnapper - the same that, in November, she described in a very detailed
way for the making of a sketched portrait of the suspect. Yesterday, Tanner could not even tell if she went to check on her
own children in the bedroom at the Ocean Club. The sentence "I do not remember", ended up being her most frequent answer.
"She entered very calm and even smiled. When she went out she was trembling and her face was very red. She did not speak with
anyone", described to 24horas a source at the headquarters from the Leicester police.
We were able to establish that Tanner was confronted with the fact that, in her first statement, back
in May, she said nothing relevant, later said that she saw a man carrying, which seemed to her, a child in his arms and, in
November, she described the alleged kidnapper. The answer was: “I do not remember it well anymore” .The investigators
even asked Jane to give again the description of the person, but the witness gave different indications from those that were
used to make the drawing that ran throughout the world.
Also heard yesterday was Russell O'Brien, Jane's husband, who
says he had gone to see the children at the same time that Maddie disappeared. He said, back in May, that the children had
vomited, but the management of the resort Ocean Club assured that, on that night, nobody asked for any change of bed sheets.
Questioned, Russell could not explain the discrepancy.
Today there will be cross-examinations to David and Fiona Payne,
who organized the holidays of the group in the Praia da Luz.
09 April 2008, 10:00h
(Thanks to Joana Morais for translation)
The Judiciary Police wants to have in Portugal, in the next month, Kate and Gerry McCann, the British couple whose
three-year-old daughter disappeared from Praia da Luz, Algarve. The objective of the Portuguese investigators is to try, with
a re-enactment of the night on the 3rd of May in the location of the crime, to understand the various contradictions of the
statements given by the last persons who saw Maddie alive. In this group, there are seven friends who were accompanying the
McCanns in the dinner of the Tapas Bar, when the alarm of the disappearance of the girl was given.
Clarence Mitchell,
the press adviser of the family, confirmed yesterday the PJ’s request, but did not reveal dates, or details of the re-enactment.
He was not clear on the possibility of the McCanns returning, leaving in the 'air the hypothesis' that the couple would accept
willingly the diligence if they stopped being arguidos.
Other of the wishes of the McCanns to agree to the participation
in the reconstitution would be that the same is subjected to a TV broadcast. Something that is unthinkable in the light of
the legal Portuguese system, where the process is kept under the secrecy of Justice. Police sources said to the CM that the
shelving of the suspicions against the parents of the child are not predictable before the end of the inquiry. Gerry, Kate
or other of the English friends who spent holidays in Luz are not obliged to return, unless, if there are strong signs of
the practice of a crime, which would lead to international warrants to be issued.
IMPORTANT
WITNESSES
The day of yesterday was important for the PJ. They cross-examined again Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien,
the couple that had the biggest contradictions in the statements given in the last months. The PJ was intending to know exactly
where Jane affirmed to have seen Maddie's kidnapper and how she managed to describe him after several months, although she
did not do it on the days that followed the girl’s disappearance. Another doubt was how it was possible for her to see
a man carrying a child in front of the apartment exactly at the same hour while Gerry was standing just a few meters away.
And why Maddie’s father and a friend that were talking in that place did not see the same stranger with the girl.
As
for Russell, the objective is to explain his goings to the bedroom where his daughters was sleeping, during the dinner. The
Englishman was the one who stayed away longer from the table of the restaurant. He said what one of the daughters had vomited
while she was sleeping, but there was no request to change dirty bed sheets.
SPECTACLE
AT THE POLICE DOOR
The police display yesterday was enormous, during the whole morning and afternoon, near the
installations of the police of Leicester. Dozens of photographers concentrated near the gates and tried to register the entries
of the main protagonists: three elements of the PJ (Paulo Rebelo on the right, in the photo from above, accompanied by his
team of inspectors) and the couple Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien.
HIGH SECURITY ON
THE POLICE STATION
The headquarters of the Leicester Police - where the interrogations took place - is surrounded
by great measures of security. Nobody goes through the gate without obtaining a prior authorization.
MADDIE'S MOTHER AT HOME
Kate McCann came yesterday at the door of house. Only to close the door, furious,
while noticing the presence of Portuguese journalists. Her friend wrote down the license plate of the car of the CM and phoned
to the spokesman of the couple, Clarence Mitchell.
TEAM WITH AGITATED DAY
The
three elements of the Judiciary Police which will, until next Friday, accompany the interrogations to the friends of the McCanns
went out early from the Ramada Hotel, where they are staying. Before 09h00 a car of the Leicester police stopped at the Hotel's
main entry and took the investigators even to headquarters. They entered in the headquarters in great speed and followed up
to a building which was not possible for the journalists to see. There, they accompanied the investigations, which were made
by the local police. They could not ask questions directly to the witnesses, but they where allowed to make suggestions.
The
rogatory letter was sufficient to authorize new questions and even to request new diligences. What can still be done until
next Friday
'UNTOUCHABLE' IMAGE OF KATE E GERRY
The neighbourhood is
peaceful. Equal to others which fill the small city of Rothley, where several practically equal dwellings stand out. In the
street that gives access to the house - the McCanns House is the last one of the village and can be distinguished by the toys
that are kept near one of the windows – there are almost no signs of life.
Two cars are at the door and Kate and
Gerry prepared their trip to Brussels, set for tomorrow, with the couple travelling in a flight expected to be in the end
of the afternoon and with a departure of an airport of London.
A little time has passed since the lunch hour when,
the door opens and Kate comes to the entry. She says goodbye to a friend but the presence of the journalists of the CM hastens
the farewell. Kate closes the door, remains hidden and Englishman that had gone out from the house stops in front of the car
rented by the CM. Ostensibly, taking the number of the license plate and, by phone, he informs Clarence Mitchell, the adviser
of the McCanns, that there are journalists at the door of the couple - a break of the compromise taken by the generality of
the journalists, who accepted rules imposed by the McCanns and guided visits of the
couple for photographic sessions. The
CM does not accept compromises of this type.
When the incident ended - with the exit of the journalists of the CM-,
the city seems to have forgotten Maddie.
DETAILS
HOTEL CHANGES RULES
The
stay of the Policia Judiciaria from Portimao at the Ramada Hotel, in Leicester, changed that unit's internal rules. The bar,
which usually remained open for non-guests until 1 a.m., now closes at 11 p.m.
PACIFIC FAMILIARITY
Portuguese journalists
and police are put up in the same hotel, in the centre of the city of Leicester. The familiarity between all is appeasing,
but the silence is maintained. Paulo Rebelo the PJ‘s coordinator and responsible for the department of Portimăo, goes
on repeating to the journalists that he does not give any statements.
CHANGE OF COURSE
At the same hour in that
several of journalists were concentrated at the door of the police of Leicester to register the arrival of Jane Tanner and
Russell O’Brien, to be questioned, Clarence Mitchell, the spokesman of the McCann, was calling the reporters for a press
conference at 20 kilometres of distance. The dash was general.
50 WITNESSES
The lawyers of the couple McCann presented
a list to the police of more than 50 persons, besides the group of friends that spent holidays with them in Praia da Luz,
to be heard in England. They are close persons of the couple, defence witnesses.
FRIENDS WITHOUT LAWYERS
As they
are cross-examined in the capacity of witnesses, all the friends of the McCanns have no use for the lawyers' presence.
CRUCIAL
WITNESSES
The most important evidences are those of Jane and Russell, the first ones being heard because they assume total
priority for the Judiciary Police.
EMPTY MEMORIAL
In Rothley, the memorial to the dead in the world wars, where
were the most varied objects put in memory of the child, has nothing now.
SILENCE RULES
In the commercial establishments
nobody wants to talk about the child, keeping some distance of the motives of a disappearance that ran throughout the World.
Portuguese police continue to interview McCann friends IOL
4/9/2008 - 11:47:13 AM
Portuguese detectives continue to sit in on interviews with friends of Kate and Gerry McCann, police confirmed
today.
It is believed the witnesses being questioned today are 34-year-old Fiona and 41-year-old David Payne from Leicester.
Police
said that witnesses and Portuguese detectives had arrived at the force's headquarters in Enderby today to be re-interviewed.
The
force's spokeswoman would not say which members of the Tapas Seven - friends of the McCanns who were with them the night their
four-year-old daughter Madeleine disappeared – were being re-interviewed.
The interviews are being conducted
by British officers as a three-man team of Portuguese detectives, led by Paulo Rebelo, listen in.
Yesterday, Jane Tanner,
37, and her partner, 36-year-old Russell O’Brien, did not leave the interviews until 9pm, about ten hours after they
arrived.
But sources said they were allowed a number of breaks and that the interviews had given them the chance to
put their point of view across "strongly".
Meanwhile, Mr and Mrs McCann continue to prepare for their trip to Brussels
later today. They are travelling down to London this afternoon, where they will catch the Eurostar to the Belgium capital.
Tomorrow,
the couple from Rothley, Leicestershire, will carry out a PowerPoint presentation to MEPs about the need for greater co-ordination
between European countries when a child is abducted.
Their plan includes the introduction of a new dedicated information
hotline.
Madeleine McCanns' parents to address MEPs Telegraph
By Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 12:54pm BST 09/04/2008
Kate and Gerry McCann will address MEPs in Brussels tomorrow to call for a European-wide missing child alert system
as the friends on holiday with them in Portugal when Madeleine disappeared continue to be questioned by police.
The couple travelled to Belgium today to prepare for their presentation to the European Parliament, which has been
sponsored by MEPs from England, Wales, Italy and Germany.
It is nearly a year since Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da
Luz as her parents dined with seven friends at a tapas bar nearby.
They have campaigned relentlessly to find their daughter and hired private detectives in Spain, but no trace of
the little girl has been found.
Suspicion fell on the couple themselves last September when they were named arguidos or suspects in their daughter's
disappearance and they are desperate to clear their names.
While they are away, friends with them on the night Madeleine went missing are being questioned by Leicestershire
Police in the presence of Portuguese detectives.
The first to be interviewed - Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien - did not leave the force headquarters
in Enderby until 9pm on Tuesday night, while Fiona Payne and husband David were interviewed today.
Portuguese police arrived in Britain on Monday and asked Mr McCann, 39, and Mrs McCann, 40, to take part in a full
reconstruction back in the Algarve.
Although they are willing to help keep the case in the spotlight, they are concerned about going to Portugal while
they are still regarded as suspects.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the fact that the McCanns were going to Brussels while the Portuguese police
were in the UK was just a coincidence.
He said the pair, from Rothley in Leicestershire, saw the alert system as a way of creating some good out of their
situation.
"For Kate and Gerry this is an important opportunity to ensure better co-operation throughout Europe when a child
goes missing and to make sure that no other family goes through the anguish that they are continuing to endure," he said.
"They hope to get the support of the majority of MEPs and, with such moral authority, they also hope that the European
Commission will ensure that such a child alert system comes into being."
Their declaration, which was drafted with the help of Geoffrey Robertson QC, calls for an alert system which tells
border authorities, customs, police and law enforcement agencies, as well as media outlets, when a child goes missing.
Included in the alert is the identity of the child, a photograph, information about potential abductors and a general
telephone hotline for people to contact.
They will also call for greater cooperation between countries and the creation of a central European body to provide
assistance and training about missing children to the different member states.
The declaration has been backed by five MEPs - Edward McMillan-Scott MEP (England), Diana Wallis MEP (England),
Roberta Angelilli MEP (Italy), Glenys Kinnock MEP (Wales) and Evelyne Gebhardt MEP (Germany).
MEPs will be able to sign the declaration at the next plenary session in Strasbourg, where it will remain open
for three months. A majority of 785 MEPs are needed for the document to be adopted by parliament.
09 - 04 - 2008
Sandra Felqueiras
Part translation from the video:
"Silence is the key to the success of this mission of the PJ on UK soil, so the coordinator of the Madeleine case
has already assured us that the testimonies given by the seven friends of the McCanns to Leicestershire police will be maintained
in secret.
"RTP knows that the reconstitution of the events involving the group, in the hours preceding the disappearance
of Madeleine, only makes sense if by the end of this week contradictions persist. But for the PJ it is inconceivable
that the McCanns feel that it is possible to negotiate with the Portuguese legal system."
"A source connected to the investigation informed us that the McCanns know very well that their arguido status
will not be removed until the trial. Since neither
the McCanns nor their friends can be forced to return to PDL, most probably,
this diligence will never take place. Also, PJ assumes that they would never accept the conditions imposed by Kate and
Gerry McCann."
09 - 04 - 2008
Sandra Felqueiras
(Note: A short segment of this video is in English)
In Portuguese, Sandra says that the McCanns heard on the way to Brussels that their Portuguese lawyers have
accepted that they will return to Praia da Luz on 15-16 May. She adds that the PJ are saying that they know nothing but she
says that already yesterday it was obvious there was a disagreement.
The video then proceeds with a short interview with Clarence Mitchell, presumably filmed yesterday to highlight
signs of the disagreement. Sandra says to Clarence Mitchell that Rogério Alves, one of the McCanns Portuguese lawyers,
has said he wants the McCanns to return to Praia da Luz but Mr Mitchell denies any decisions have yet been made.
She says that the PJ don't really expect them there, and they know very well that they will stay arguido until
the end of the enquiry.
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McCann alert 'could have helped' BBC News
Page last updated at 11:11 GMT, Thursday,
10 April 2008 12:11 UK
The parents of missing Madeleine McCann
believe there would have been a greater chance of finding her if a missing child alert system had been used.
Kate and Gerry McCann have appealed to the European Parliament to improve co-ordination
between countries for the existing system.
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing aged three on holiday in Praia da
Luz, Portugal, last May.
Her parents said alerts should be restricted to the most serious cases.
They said the alert system had worked well in the US where hundreds of children had been
recovered, and in France where it had been used five times and all five children had been found.
'Time is the enemy'
Mrs McCann described the system as a voluntary partnership between law enforcement agencies
and media and transport companies.
An alert is published immediately when a child is abducted.
"The concept is quite simple in that time is the enemy in the case of a missing child
and the goal is to instantly galvanise the entire community to assist in the search for and safe recovery of that child,"
she said.
Mr McCann emphasised that the alert system should be used only in cases where police
believe the child's life is at risk - such as in Madeleine's case, even though at first it was thought she had just wandered
off.
"We have clearly stated that the alert should be used for the most dangerous cases, and
there is no doubt that a very young child who has gone missing late at night, from an apartment, and particularly in a foreign
country, would meet the criteria," Mr McCann said.
While in Brussels, the McCanns held a private meeting
with Edward McMillan-Scott, MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, who is a driving force behind the scheme, and made a presentation
to MEPs.
Across the EU there are big differences in how reports on missing children are handled,
and Mr McCann said he was "exasperated" by the lack of progress getting an Europe-wide alert system in place.
Countries such as the UK, France and Belgium have systems for nationwide alerts, while
others do not even keep national records of those reported missing.
Full alerts
The EU has a missing child hotline number, but it has been widely publicised in only
four countries.
France and Greece are the only EU countries to have so far introduced full alerts along
the lines of the amber system.
In a written declaration, MEPs urged better training for police and a central register
of all known sex offenders in Europe.
Mr and Mrs McCann remain "arguidos" or formal suspects in relation to the disappearance
of their daughter.
Portuguese police have asked the couple to return to Portugal for a reconstruction of
the night Madeleine disappeared.
'Not going back'
The McCanns have yet to decide whether to participate.
Asked about plans for the anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, Mrs McCann said it
was a "private matter".
Her husband said they would "certainly not be going back" to Portugal on 3 May.
Mrs McCann said she was still hopeful Madeleine would be found alive.
"There's been many cases of children who've been recovered after a long period of time.
"I mean, none of us know what's happened to Madeleine - apart from the person who took
her.
"But, there's still hope there - and we have absolutely no evidence, whatsoever, that
Madeleine has come to any harm."
Smiling Kate's Maddie mission The Sun
By Antonella Lazzeri
Published: 10 Apr 2008
SMILING Kate McCann heads to Brussels yesterday to launch a child
alert system she believes may have found Maddie in hours.
Kate and husband Gerry, 40, want Euro MPs to adopt the scheme based on the US Amber Alert plan.
Messages are broadcast on motorway billboards, radio and TV when a child goes missing.
Spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry saw the Amber Alert system operating and they believe Europe
and Britain need to bring it in urgently."
Meanwhile Tapas 7 pals Dr Matthew Oldfield, 37, and wife Rachael, 36, who ate with the McCanns the night Maddie,
four, vanished from Praia da Luz, were interviewed by cops in Leicester as Portuguese officers listened in.
PJ ponders giving up on the diligence for lack of cooperation from the witnesses
Carlos Tomas in Leicester
Published: 10 Apr 2008
Kate says she does not know if she can live the nightmare again.
The other elements also fail to show any will to return to the Algarve
"We request your cooperation." This is
how the letter that was sent by the Policia Judiciaria to the people that were present at the Ocean Club resort, Praia da
Luz, Algarve, on the 3rd of May 2007, ends. The purpose is to carry out, on the 15th and 16th of May, a reconstruction of
the events of the day that Madeleine McCann disappeared. But the PJ knows that it is not likely to take place.
Until
the end of the day, yesterday, the PJ, having made the requests a month ago, had not received any reply from the little girl's
parents, from the seven friends with whom they dined and from three other witnesses that are considered to be fundamental.
"There is no reply until now. The McCanns have appended a document to the process files, stating that they are available to
come to Portugal on the 15th and 16th of May, but it's simply a declaration of their intentions. They do not guarantee that
they will be present", a source from the criminal section of the Portimao court has told 24Horas.
Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, confirms that the PJ suggested several dates (three) for the reconstitution to
be carried out, but he states that Maddie's parents still "have not agreed to return to Portugal". And he adds that the couple
prefers to wait for the end of the interrogations that the PJ and the British police are making to the friends with whom they
dined on the fateful day.
"Emotional impact" on Kate McCann
"The
PJ did not take into account the emotional impact that the reconstitution of the facts would provoke on the family, especially
on Kate, who cannot stand the idea of seeing another child pretending to be Madeleine", Mitchell says.
The spokesman
insisted on denying that Kate and Gerry had imposed any conditions on the Public Ministry or on the PJ to return to Portugal,
contrary to what has been reported by some of the media: "The McCanns have never imposed any condition. Nobody is negotiating
with the Public Ministry or with the PJ. They will never impose any type of special treatment."
According to Mitchell,
the only thing that is being pondered is the filming of the reconstitution, if it comes to be carried out, by the BBC's CrimeWatch
show, given the fact that "it's seen by millions of people and it could bring new information concerning Maddie's whereabouts".
For
now, the magistrate who directs the investigations, the prosecutor Magalhăes e Menezes, is going to request the extension
of the inquiry for another 90 days.
Witnesses of little value
The
PJ team that was sent to England, led by Paulo Rebelo, has heard another two witnesses in the Maddie case, yesterday. Rachel
and Matthew Oldfield were reportedly questioned. They dined at the Tapas Bar on the fateful night and left an 18-month-old
child alone, in an apartment of the Ocean Club, for several hours.
Matthew initially stated that he had checked on
the McCanns' children, but as he heard no noise, he thought they were asleep and did not enter. Later he said that he had
noticed more light inside the apartment, but paid no attention and returned to the Tapas. He was confronted with the discrepancies
in these statements by the authorities, yesterday.
His wife, Rachel, never left the Tapas Bar, a version that she has
always maintained and which is corroborated by the restaurant's employees.
Facts
Silence.
Paulo Rebelo avoids the journalists. "I'm not saying anything", is the sentence that he seems to have memorized already.
Meeting.
Paulo Rebelo's team will hold a meeting tomorrow with the prosecutor who directs the process, Magalhăes e Menezes.
McCanns left Madeleine sobbing on the night before she vanished
Daily Mail (Note: This is an updated version of a previous report which is detailed below)
By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 22:31pm on 10th April 2008
Madeleine McCann was left sobbing for her mother the night before she vanished, it was revealed yesterday.
Kate and Gerry McCann left their daughter, then three, and twins Sean and Amelie, two, crying in their bedroom and did
not respond to their tears.
In a leaked police statement, Mrs McCann told detectives that Madeleine had scolded her the next morning - the last they
were to spend together.
She said: "While we were having breakfast, Madeleine said, 'Mummy, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?'
"Gerry and I spoke for a couple of minutes and agreed to keep a closer watch over the children."
But, just hours later, the McCanns left the three alone in their unlocked holiday apartment to have dinner with friends.
They have faced furious criticism over the decision, and have spoken of their guilt that an abductor could have watched
them leave and then snatched Madeleine.
Yesterday the McCanns confirmed the leaked police statements were genuine but strongly criticised the police for allowing
the documents to become public.
The row overshadowed their visit to the European Parliament, where they made an impassioned appeal for a Europe-wide
alert system for abducted children.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "The timing of this is frankly suspicious.
"We would like an internal inquiry about why this piece of information has emerged on the very day that Kate and Gerry
are doing a high-profile visit to Brussels to call for improvements in child welfare and safety.
"Kate and Gerry have been nothing but honest and open and they have been the victims of leaks and smears."
A friend of the couple said they were "angry and disappointed" about the leak.
He said: "The minute that you talk about Madeleine crying is the minute that the vultures will move in and this is why
this has been leaked.
"It is a blatantly cynical attempt to smear them."
Portuguese police refused to comment on the leaked statements.
Detectives have been infuriated by the couple's political influence and by Gordon Brown's interest in the case.
There has also been criticism of the McCanns' decision to spearhead a campaign while they remain official suspects in
the 11-month investigation.
The police statement from Mrs McCann, 40, said she and her husband spoke on the night of May 3, before they went out
for dinner, and said what a wonderful holiday they had enjoyed.
Just two hours later, their lives were to be shattered when she returned to the apartment and discovered Madeleine's
bed was empty.
In her statement she said she screamed: "Maddie isn't there. Someone's taken her."
In Mr McCann's police statement he said: "I thought it couldn't be and ran towards the apartment along the same route
as always. I looked everywhere."
Madeleine has not been seen since that night, despite scores of unconfirmed sightings.
Her parents have always denied any involvement in her disappearance and any suggestion that they neglected their children.
A friend of the couple suggested the little girl could have been crying on the night of May 2 because an abductor had
disturbed her in the apartment.
The friend, who asked not to be named, said: "Why was she crying? Had she been disturbed by someone? They didn't know,
they felt it was important to mention to the police."
Yesterday the McCanns addressed MEPs in Brussels about a proposed European alert system for abducted children.
They want a similar system to the Amber Alert scheme in the U.S. which sees details of missing children and potential
suspects circulated within hours of a disappearance.
"Madeleine was an incredibly happy, confident and loved little girl," she said. "This time last year we were a very happy
family.
"I am unable to convey to you just how totally devastating Madeleine's abduction was. It's been totally awful.
"If anyone wanted to inflict the maximum amount of pain on us they have certainly achieved that."
She said she clung to the possibility that Madeleine was alive, saying: "We certainly still have hope."
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Portuguese police claim McCanns left Madeleine crying in her bedroom the night before she disappeared Daily Mail
Last updated at 16:08pm on 10th April 2008
Kate McCann admitted they left their daughter Madeleine alone and crying in their
holiday apartment on the night before she disappeared, it has been reported.
The accusations stem from leaked statements apparently given by the couple to police in the immediate aftermath
of the incident in May last year.
Portuguese police - who are believed to be infuriated by the McCanns' political influence and by Prime Minister
Gordon Brown's interest in the case - apparently leaked the statements to coincide with the couple's visit to the European
Parliament.
The McCanns are in Brussels to call on MEPs to call for a Europe-wide centre to help finding missing
children.
Excerpts from the statements were broadcast by the Spanish station Telecinco, including a section of Mrs McCann's
statement in which she allegedly said Madeleine was left crying in the family's holiday apartment on the night before she
vanished.
She was reported to have told police that Madeleine remonstrated with her over breakfast the next day, asking why
her mother had not come to her room to comfort her.
In the statement, Mrs McCann, 40, and her husband allegedly agreed they should be more vigilant.
Since their daughter's disappearance, the couple have faced widespread criticism over their decision to leave Madeleine
and their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie sleeping in their holiday apartment while they went out for dinner with friends
in a nearby restaurant.
Their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, refused to confirm if the leaked statements were genuine.
He said: "I am not going to confirm or deny the content of any statements Gerry and Kate have made.
"But we are extremely concerned such material, if it is authentic, has apparently been leaked."
The claims came as the McCanns urged MEPs to adopt an "Amber Alert" scheme liked the one used in the
US.
This broadcasts international radio and TV warnings in the vital first few hours after a child goes missing.
Mrs McCann said: "Alert systems have clearly demonstrated that they help save lives. Please do
not wait for another child
and family to suffer as we
have."
The couple also want more co-operation between countries when search efforts are under way.
As they addressed the politicians - the first time they have spoken publicly since being named as suspects in their
daughter's disappearance - Mrs McCann clutched a favourite photograph of Madeleine.
She also carried the toddler's soft toy, Cuddle Cat, with her to give her courage.
She spoke of the devastating impact Madeleine's disappearance had had on her family.
She said: "Madeleine was an incredibly happy, confident and loved little girl. This time last year we were a very
happy family.
"I am unable to convey to you just how totally devastating Madeleine's abduction was. It's been totally awful.
"If anyone wanted to inflict the maximum amount of pain on us they have certainly achieved that."
She said she clung to the belief Madeleine was alive, saying: "We certainly still have hope."
The McCanns' call for increased resources to find missing children came as the couple revealed they will not return
to Portugal to mark the first anniversary of their daughter's disappearance on May 3.
However, they said they are considering a Portuguese police request for them to take part in a reconstruction of
the day Madeleine vanished.
Mr McCann defended himself and his wife against accusations that they should not be spearheading the "Amber Alert"
campaign while they remain suspects, or arguidos, in the Portuguese police investigation.
He said: "We don't know how long we are going to be arguidos.
"We are very concerned that until this system is implemented other children and other families could suffer."
Mr McCann said he had been "exasperated" by bureaucracy surrounding their early attempts to publicise Madeleine's
disappearance in Portugal.
Strict secrecy laws meant police there refused to release descriptions of a suspect seen carrying a child away
from their apartment in Praia da Luz.
The couple told MEPs that the Amber Alert system - named after an abducted girl in the U.S. - had
led to 68 children being found last year.
Mrs McCann said she believed a similar, Europe-wide system could have helped to find Madeleine.
"I believe the chances of recovery would have been higher. It would have improved our chances," she said.
MEPs attempted to introduce an alert system two years ago but failed to get sufficient support to pass legislation.
The Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott said he backed the couple's proposal for a dedicated European hotline
for information on missing children.
A number has already been reserved, but it has yet to go live.
The couple were dining in a tapas restaurant in Praia da Luz - just an hour's drive from the Spanish border - when
Madeleine, who was aged three at the time, disappeared.
They believe a system similar to "Amber Alert" could have tracked her down in the hours after she vanished on May
3 last year.
The scheme is named for nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, who went missing and was later killed by her abductor.
Mr McMillan-Scott said it had saved nearly 400 abducted children since 2003, four-fifths of whom were found in
the first 72 hours after they went missing.
He said the system worked like a severe weather warning, allowing the authorities to broadcast messages
on radio, television and motorway signs. In Europe, only Belgium and France have adopted it.
He added: "Gerry and Kate want a European children centre - like the one in Washington - to bring together governments,
the police and the voluntary sector to work on a united front and eliminate layers of frustrating bureaucracy and duplication
of work.
"The McCanns tell me that the least they can do is ask for some political will. They have got the support of the
leading missing children organisations and the goodwill of every right-minded European.
"It is impossible to know what they are going through. We are all praying for the safe return of Madeleine. At
the same time Europe must together do all it can to prevent other families suffering like the McCanns."
The couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "For Kate and Gerry this is an important opportunity to ensure
better co-ordination in Europe when a child goes missing to make sure that no other family goes through the anguish that they
are continuing to endure."
An official declaration has been made, and it will remain open for three months. A majority of the 785 MEPs must
sign it for it to go before the European Parliament.
While the McCanns are in Brussels, officers from Leicestershire Constabulary will continue to question members
of the Tapas Seven - the friends they were dining with on May 3 - as a three-man team of detectives from Portugal listen in.
It is believed that yesterday was the turn of 34-year-old Fiona and 41-year-old David Payne from Leicester.
On Tuesday, detectives questioned Jane Tanner, 37, and her partner, 36-year-old Russell O'Brien, over a ten-hour
period.
Madeleine McCann left crying in bedroom the night before she went missing Daily Mirror
By Mirror.co.uk 10/04/2008
Madeleine McCann asked her mother just hours before her disappearance:
"Why didn't you come when we were crying last night?", it was revealed today.
The three-year-old's stark question emerged amid leaked passages from police interviews given by Kate and Gerry
McCann directly after their daughter's disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal last May.
The couple, who were in Brussels today to launch a bid for a Europe-wide missing child alert system, were angered
by the timing of the leak and were convinced it was a "blatant" attempt to smear them.
They called for the Portuguese Justice Ministry to launch an internal investigation into the revelations which
would be a serious breach of the country's strict judicial secrecy laws.
One furious friend said: "The minute that you talk about Madeleine crying is the minute that the vultures will
pile in, that's why this has been leaked."
Madeleine, who disappeared just days before her fourth birthday, went missing from the McCanns' holiday apartment
on the night of May 3 while the couple were eating tapas with friends nearby.
In her first interview with Portuguese detectives, Mrs McCann spoke about a conversation she had with Madeleine
just that morning.
"While we were having breakfast, Madeleine said: 'Mum, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?'," she
told police.
She added: "Gerry and I talked about it for several minutes and decided to watch over the children more carefully
at night."
Friends of the McCanns said tonight that the couple had been "puzzled" by Madeleine's remark at the time as she
had not apparently been crying when they called in for regular 20-minute checks from the restaurant across the pool where
they dined each night during their holiday.
They said that one of the McCanns' friends Rachael Oldfield, had been in the adjoining flat - on the other side
of Madeleine's wall - all evening and had not heard any crying.
The couple also insist Madeleine was not speaking angrily and they did not take it as a reproach. Her reference
to "we" is understood to have referred to Madeleine and her younger brother Sean.
Friends said they now believe the comment could even be a clue that an intruder was in the flat on the night of
May 2 and briefly disturbed Madeleine and Sean before fleeing.
The Policia Judiciaria interviews were leaked through journalist Nacho Abad, of Spanish television programme Ana
Rosa Quintana.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry have been utterly honest and utterly open with the
police and all of their statements from the moment that Madeleine was taken.
"The very fact that the comment from Madeleine is now in the public domain is entirely because they themselves
told the police about it at the time.
"It is more than curious that this comment, taken in isolation and out of context, that has been in the police
file for some 11 months, should now emerge on the very day that they are in Brussels trying to improve children's welfare
and child safety.
"They would be more than interested to know if the Portuguese justice ministry will now demand an internal review
of the police investigation to get to the bottom of how this material emerged in the way it has, on the day it has.
"Kate and Gerry have been subjected to leaks and smears from day one and I'm afraid this has all the hallmarks
of yet another poor attempt to influence the headlines on the very day that they are seeking to achieve some good in Europe."
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Paper version released 11 April 2008 |
By STAFF REPORTER
Published: Today
LITTLE Madeleine McCann asked why Kate and Gerry had not gone to comfort her as
she cried the night before she vanished, according to reports.
The four-year-old is said to have asked why mum Kate, 39, had left her and her twin siblings, Sean and Amelie,
to sob alone in their room the previous night.
The Spanish TV station Telecinco made the claim as it broadcast translated copies of documents it said were the
McCanns' police statements.
Crime reporter Nacho Abad, read out in Spanish an excerpt of the statement he said Kate had given Portuguese police.
He said: "While we were having breakfast, Maddie said, 'Mummy, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?'
"Gerry and I spoke for a couple of minutes and agreed to keep a closer watch over the children."
On realising Madeleine had gone, the TV station said Kate ran back to the tapas bar where her friends were eating
and shouted: "Maddie isn’t there. Someone’s taken her."
The McCanns' holiday pals are previously reported to have told police Kate screamed: "Madeleine’s gone, Madeleine’s
gone."
The reporter also told how Gerry revealed to police in his statement that workmen had come into their holiday flat
to fix a broken window shutter in the main bedroom two days before she went missing.
Today the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple were very concerned about the leak.
Speaking as he returned from a trip to Brussels with them to lobby the EU for a missing child alert system, he
said: "I am not going to confirm or deny the content of any statements Gerry and Kate have made.
"But we are extremely concerned such material, if it is authentic, has apparently been leaked."
The McCanns are thought to have spent several nights eating tapas at a restaurant near their holiday complex while
their children slept alone in their apartment.
The station claimed Gerry, who checked on the children at 9pm, told police: "I saw the angle of their door had
changed and it was open around 45 degrees.
"I thought perhaps Madeleine had woken up and left the room.
"Out of the corner of my eye I looked in our room and couldn’t see her.
"Then I opened the children's door 60 degrees and looked to the left and saw Maddie sleeping with her head on the
pillow on the right hand side of the bed.
"She was breathing softly and I thought how beautiful she looked.
"I thought it was quite hot and I didn’t need to cover her up."
In another extract, believed to be from Gerry's statement, it stated: "Kate came running to the bar and said, 'Maddie’s
not there, someone has taken her.
"I couldn’t believe it and ran towards the apartment along the same route I always took. I looked everywhere.
"I returned to the children’s room and I tried to think what could have happened.
"To my surprise I realised I could lift up the window shutters without effort and almost without making noise.
"When I entered I realised that Maddie’s bed was almost intact. The corner of the outside of the sheets was
turned a little.
"But the pillow, her cuddle cat and the blanket she had slept with were almost in the same place as I had seen
them the last time."
In another part of Kate's statement Telecinco detailed the moment she realised her daughter was missing during
her 10pm check on her children.
According to reports, it read: "I saw the door of the children’s room wide open and noticed a current of
air.
"The same current of air closed the door but the window in the other room that backed onto the patio was closed.
"When I went to look for Madeleine I realised she wasn’t there.
"I looked through the apartment and I went back to the children’s room and then saw the curtains moving towards
me so it became clear the window shutters were wide open.
"I went to the window and opened the curtains to see if she had climbed out but there was no sign of her.
"I don’t know if I closed the window at that moment. I ran to the tapas bar and screamed at Gerry, 'Maddie's
not there, someone has taken her.'"
Kate is said to have insisted in her statement none of her children were on any medication, Telecinco claimed,
countering accusations the McCanns strenuously deny that they were giving Madeleine and her siblings sleeping tablets.
It also emerged key witness Jane Tanner told Portuguese police in her original statement she thought a man she
spotted carrying a child moments after Madeleine disappeared, was the youngster's father.
Tanner, who has been re-interviewed by Portuguese police this week, now believes that man could have been Madeleine
McCann's abductor.
Another of the Tapas Nine rushed to the reception desk of the McCanns' holiday complex to alert police, Telecinco
reported today.
Londoner Matthew Oldfield, who checked on Madeleine and her siblings between Gerry and Kate, asked Ocean Club workers
to give him the emergency police number.
Portuguese police also want the McCanns and their friends to take part in a reconstruction of Madeleine’s
disappearance soon after the anniversary of her May 3 disappearance.
The McCanns are official police suspects along with Algarve-based British expat Robert Murat.
All three deny any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.
The frightening story of Maddie's parents Telecinco
'AR' offers the exclusive testimonies of what happened on the night of the disappearance of the small one
10.04.08 TELECINCO.ES
(Thanks to Beachy from the3arguidos forum for translation)
'El Programa de Ana Rosa' has achieved a scoop, and for the first time in the world, the exclusive statements by
the parents and friends of Madeleine McCann, hours before and after the demise of the little girl. These shocking and chilling
statements make clear the innocence of Kate and Gerry in the disappearance of their daughter and point to the window of the
apartment where they were lodging as the key element in the famous disappearance.
Madeleine McCann disappeared the evening of Thursday, May 3, 2007. The English girl, then three years old, was
on holiday with her parents and siblings in a hotel in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, Portugal. [In] The days leading up to
her disappearance, Gerry and Kate were keeping a watchful eye on the lowered curtains and closed windows. Likewise, among
all the friends, they had agreed to maintain supervision among all the children.
The previous days
Two days before the disappearance two workers
came to repair the shutters of the room and the window, as related by the parents of the little missing girl.
A significant piece of information occurs the day before when Maddie reproaches them; she had cried
the night before and her parents did not come. Worried, Gerry and Kate asked her why she had cried, but the girl did not respond.
"Whilst having breakfast Maddie said, 'Mum, why didn't you come yesterday when we were crying at night?' (...) Gerry
and I talked a couple of minutes and decided to monitor the children more at night."
The day passed without incident. During the afternoon Kate was responsible for Maddie and the twins.
"When I arrived at the apartment I was surprised that Kate had dealt with the children and had even showered. I sat with the
children and read them a story," said Gerry. Therefore, they only had to put the children to bed, and then had a couple of
glasses of wine and a beer in the living room, and went to the place where they had been meeting for dinner.
"We did not check the security of the window assuming that everything was fine with the blinds down, the window
closed and curtains drawn," said Gerry.
Dinner
At 20:35 hours they arrived at the 'Tapas Bar', where
they had arranged to meet their friends. Gerry chooses a seat from which you can see his apartment, concerned with Maddie's
words during breakfast on the same day.
The first to check the state of the children was Gerry himself. "I note that the angle of the door
had changed and that it was open about 45 degrees (..) Perhaps Maddie had awakened and left the room. I looked at an angle
in our room but I saw that Maddie was not there (...). I opened the door 60 degrees, I looked to the left and saw Maddie asleep."
It had all been a scare. Returning to the restaurant Gerry meets another guest with whom he talks
about five minutes. At that time, a friend of the McCanns left the restaurant to see their daughters, and recounts that she
saw saw a man with a child in his arms a few meters from the apartment. "I was five minutes later and when I came up towards
the apartments I saw Gerry talking with another guest. About 20 meters from the intersection I saw a man with a child in his
arms (...) I assumed that he was the father. I did not go in the other apartments because Gerry had already done it and just
returned."
Kate should have been the next in seeing the children, but it is a friend of the family who offers.
"I went to see the apartment of Kate and Gerry. I did not notice if the blind was raised or not we (..). I saw the children's
door partially open. I did not go inside the room. I saw the curtains closed, and I am sure since I would have already noticed
the movement [he's saying that he's sure the curtains were closed because he would have seen them moving if they were open]
(...) I did not go in to see if it was Maddie. I returned to the tapas bar and I told Kate that all was well.
At half past nine at night, therefore, it is not clear that Maddie was inside the room, but as only half an hour
had passed since Gerry had seen Maddie sleeping, it is assumed that she is asleep and in good condition.
The next in visiting the room would be Kate, with the sad surprise that her daughter is no longer in the bedroom.
The mysterious disappearance
"When I went to see Maddie I realized
that she was not there, I looked in all the apartment, I returned to the children's room and at that time I saw the curtains
move leaving visible to me that the blind was opened up. I went to the window and opened the curtains to see if she had climbed
out there but I did not see any trace of her. I do not know whether or not I closed the window at the time," says Maddie's
mother. "In shock I ran to Tapas Bar and shouted to Gerry: 'Maddie is not here, someone has taken her'."
In that instant all started rushing to look for the little girl. "When Kate came running and said, 'Maddie is not
here, somebody has taken her', I thought that it could not be. I rushed to the apartment by the same path as always. I looked
everywhere, I went back to the kids' room and started to think what could have happened. To my surprise I realized that one
could lift the blinds without effort and almost no noise. When I went in I saw that Maddie's bed was almost untouched. The
corner of the sheets was a little turned [back], the pillow, the pink cuddly toy and the piece of her blanket were almost
in the same place that I last saw it."
After making sure that the girl had disappeared, it was a friend who immediately phoned the Portuguese police,
making it clear that they had not waited 45 minutes as some suggested.
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McCanns angry over Madeleine leak BBC News
Page last updated at 00:14 GMT, Friday, 11 April 2008 01:14
UK
The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have responded angrily to publication of leaked transcripts of interviews
with Portuguese police last year.
The transcripts suggest that on the morning she disappeared she asked why her mother did not come when the children
were crying the night before.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the leak was a "deliberate smear".
Kate and Gerry McCann have been in Brussels promoting a new EU-wide monitoring system for missing children.
'Undermine work'
Mr Mitchell said: "For a document covered by Portugal's judicial secrecy laws, to be leaked to the Spanish media
on the very day they went to the European Parliament, is stretching all sense of belief to believe it's anything other than
a deliberate smear."
He added: "This was the sort of relevant detail that Kate and Gerry put to the police immediately, and that's been
in the files for 11 months and it emerges on the day they go to Europe.
"This was a blatant attempt to undermine their work in Europe."
The couple called for the Portuguese Justice Ministry to launch an internal inquiry into the leak which breaches
the country's strict judicial laws.
Mr Mitchell described Madeleine's words as a "short aside".
He said: "Madeleine came out and said, 'Why didn't you come to me and Sean [Madeleine's younger brother] when we
were crying last night?'
"Now, Kate and Gerry were puzzled by that because they'd been checking her every half an hour and they had seen
no evidence and heard no evidence that she was crying.
"Nor was she disturbed when she was checked each time.
"Equally, one of the friends, Rachael Oldfield, was in the apartment next door in a bedroom adjacent to the wall
where Madeleine was in her bedroom and she heard no crying at all all night."
The McCanns have been at the European Parliament as part of a campaign to create a dedicated alert system for abducted
children.
The couple said it worked well in the US where hundreds of children had been recovered, and in France where it
had been used five times and all five children had been found.
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing aged three on holiday in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz,
Portugal, on 3 May last year.
McCanns angry over leak
11th April 2008
Madeleine McCann's parents have reacted angrily to police
interviews being leaked.
McCanns fury at police leak The Sun
By STAFF REPORTER
The MP for the McCanns’ home town has called for an investigation into the leaking of interviews suggesting
Madeleine was left alone and crying the night before she disappeared.
Stephen Dorrell, MP for Charnwood in Leicestershire, which covers Rothley, said he would be taking the issue to
the Foreign Office himself.
He said: “I think this is an official investigation of the Portuguese Government and this is a very sensitive
case and I think clearly these are official records that have been leaked.
“It’s an issue that should be taken up with the Portuguese authorities by the Foreign Office.
“I intend to take it to the Foreign Office myself.”
Earlier the the couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell also called for a probe into how the information was leaked
but said Kate and Gerry hoped some good would come from it.
It was revealed yesterday that Kate told cops she and husband Gerry agreed to watch their kids more closely after
daughter Madeleine said she’d been crying on her own.
But within hours of the conversation, the innocent youngster had vanished from their Portugal holiday apartment.
The episode was revealed after the full statements given to Portuguese police by Kate and Gerry following
Maddie’s disappearance on May 3 last year were leaked to the public.
In them, Kate also recalled how the tot asked why she had not come to her room when she and her brother
and sister were sobbing the night before she went missing.
Kate, 40, told cops: “While we were having breakfast, Maddie said, ‘Mummy, why didn’t you come
when we were crying last night?’”
She added: “Gerry and I spoke for a couple of minutes and agreed to keep a closer watch over the children.”
Last night the McCanns were said to be “extremely upset” at the leak, which came as they visited the
European Parliament in Brussels to campaign for a European version of America’s Amber Alert child rescue system.
Mr Mitchell said today that Portuguese police needed to “get a grip”.
He also said he believed the Portuguese detective leading the case, Paulo Rebelo, had already flown back to Portugal
from the UK - a day earlier than planned.
But he said the interviews showed that the McCanns had been “utterly honest” with detectives and could
“nail lies” about their behaviour after Madeleine went missing.
Mr Mitchell said: “If you quote parts of it selectively and out of context, as has been done, then of course
it’s potentially damaging to Kate and Gerry.
“It is not. What it shows is that they were utterly honest about everything that occurred on May 3 in their
early statements to the police...
“Actually some good could come out of this because some lies will be nailed.”
He added: “The whole thing is curious in the timing and we now want the Portuguese government to mount an
investigation into how elements within their own police force can apparently do this with impunity...
“The police need to get a grip on this and they need to do it rapidly.”
Screams
Maddie was sharing a bedroom with twins Sean and Amelie, now three, when she vanished in the Algarve resort of
Praia da Luz just days before her fourth birthday.
Her parents had been dining in a tapas bar on their Mark Warner holiday complex with seven friends.
They later admitted in TV interviews that leaving their children in the apartment while the group went for an evening
meal was something they did every night of the holiday.
Details of the couple’s police interviews were revealed by Spanish television station Telecinco TV.
The channel’s crime reporter Nacho Abad told how Kate’s police statement recalled the chilling moment
she realised Maddie was missing.
She was said to have run back to the Tapas Bar screaming: “Maddie isn’t there. Someone’s taken
her.”
Spanish TV said this contradicted statements made by the McCanns’ friends, in which several claimed that
GP Kate instead shouted: “Madeleine’s gone, Madeleine’s gone!”
In their statements, the couple, from Rothley, Leics, revealed they had been discussing their wonderful holiday
over a relaxing drink only two hours before Maddie vanished.
Gerry, 39, told cops that workmen from the complex visited the flat two days before she disappeared to fix a window
shutter in the main bedroom.
The heart consultant then recalled how he read his three children a bedtime story before he and Kate joined their
friends at the tapas bar.
Gerry, who said he had spent the afternoon playing tennis, told officers: “At 7.30pm we were sat in the front
room and relaxing — Kate with a wine and me with a beer.”
He later had another drink before going out — and returned to check on the children at around 9pm.
Gerry added: “I saw the angle of the door had changed and it was open around 45 degrees.
“I thought perhaps she had woken up and left the room. Out of the corner of my eye I looked in our room and
couldn’t see her. Then I opened the children’s door 60 degrees and saw Maddie sleeping with her head on the pillow
on the right-hand side of the bed.
“She was breathing softly and I thought how beautiful she looked. I thought it was quite hot and I didn’t
need to cover her up."
Gerry then told how Kate found Maddie missing when she checked on the children at around 10pm.
He said: “Kate came running back to the bar and said, ‘Maddie’s not there, someone has taken
her’.
“I thought it couldn’t be and ran to the apartment. I looked everywhere — I tried to think what
could have happened. To my surprise I realised I could lift the window shutters without effort and almost without noise.
“When I entered I realised that Maddie’s bed was almost intact. The corner of the outside of the sheets
was turned a little. But the pillow, her Cuddle Cat and the blanket were almost in the same place as I had seen them the last
time.”
Kate told police: “I saw the door of the children’s room wide open and noted a current of air.
“The current closed the door, but the window in the other room that backed on to the patio was closed.
“When I went to look for Madeleine I realised she wasn’t there.
“I looked through the apartment and went back to the children’s room, then saw the curtains moving
towards me — so it became clear the window shutters were wide open.
“I went to the window and opened the curtains to see if she had climbed out, but there was no sign.
“I don’t know if I closed the window at that moment. I ran to the tapas bar and screamed at Gerry,
‘Maddie’s not there, someone has taken her’.”
Yesterday heartbroken Kate spoke again of her nightmare ordeal as she addressed European MPs in Brussels.
She said: “Madeleine was an incredibly happy and very loved little girl and this time last year we were an
incredibly happy family and we felt very lucky.
“I am unable to accurately convey to you just how devastating Madeleine’s abduction feels to us as
parents — and to our family as a whole.
“If anyone was wanting to inflict the greatest amount of pain on us, they certainly have done that.”
Speaking of the Amber Alert system, she added: “We feel it would have improved our chances.”
Maddie Alert
SINCE last May 3, Gerry and Kate McCann have worked tirelessly to find their daughter.
Many other couples would have retreated into their private pain.
But it is to their great credit that they are still finding the energy both to spearhead the hunt for Madeleine
and to campaign in Brussels for a Europe-wide early warning system to track down other kidnapped children.
It is important that the latest leaked evidence from the Portuguese police does not make us lose sight of this
excellent, simple idea.
A similar system in America has succeeded both in finding children and deterring would-be abductors.
It costs nothing to implement, and the European Parliament must back it.
'Tapas Seven demanded private jet and 5-star hotels to return to Portugal for Maddie reconstruction,' Portuguese
police claim Daily Mail
Last updated at 15:47pm on 11th April 2008
Portuguese police trying to stage a reconstruction of the night Madeleine McCann disappeared are now making allegations
in the Portuguese press about the McCann's friends.
They allege the "Tapas Seven" - the friends dining with Gerry and Kate McCann last May - have refused to travel
unless extravagant demands, such as private jet travel and five-star hotel accommodation, are met.
Judicial sources in Portugal told the tabloid newspaper 24 horas that the families had demanded the ultra-expensive
flights to the Algarve for them and their children as a condition of returning.
One said: "Requests for cooperation were sent to various people living outside of Portugal, namely
the McCanns, the seven friends they were having tapas with the night Madeleine disappeared, the two spokespeople they had,
a friend Gerry McCann was playing tennis with and another friend, Jeremy Wilkins.
"We've already received several responses. No one's said 'no'.
"But the demands they make to return are impossible to entertain.
"One of the couples demanded a private jet to travel with their children to the Algarve. Another demanded they
be put up in a five-star hotel.
"The demands they all made demonstrate a clear strategy by lawyers. The only thing missing from the list was a
request that we send them to the moon on skates."
The police chief in charge of the investigation, Guilhermino Encarnacao, confirmed witnesses whom they wanted to
attend the reconstruction had stipulated certain conditions.
But he told 24 horas: "The reconstruction is important but it's not crucial to the investigations."
The Tapas Seven are university friends Matthew Oldfield, Russell O'Brien, David and Fiona Payne, plus Mr Oldfield's
wife Rachael, Mr O'Brien's girlfriend Jane Tanner and Mrs Payne's mother Diane Webster.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell has made it clear the couple welcome the idea of a reconstruction - but
are reluctant to return to Portugal while they remain official police suspects.
The claims came the day after Portuguese cops allegedly leaked the police statements the McCanns made
after Madeleine's disappearance on May 3.
These said that Mrs McCann was scolded by her daughter for leaving her alone the previous night, and were apparently
released to overshadow the couple's visit to Brussels to call for a Europe-wide bureau for missing children.
The last week has seen a fresh flurry of activity in the investigation, with British police interviewing
the Tapas Seven again.
The Portuguese police's Chief investigator, Paulo Rebelo, sat in on the interviews during a three-day visit to
Britain.
He flew back home today to update public prosecutor Jose Magalhaes e Meneze on the course of the investigation.
The meeting was expected to be crucial in determining whether the McCanns remain official police suspects.
State prosecutors have been told they must apply to the courts if they want to keep police case files from becoming
public in the next month.
An investigating judge is expected to lift a secrecy order on the case on May 15 - paving the way for the McCanns
to demand they are charged or cleared. However, police could apply for a three-month extension.
The May date will mark the eight-month anniversary of the introduction of a new penal code in Portugal, forcing
prosecutors to produce evidence against suspects to make them arguidos.
Portugal's most senior police officer, Alipio Ribeiro, has already admitted officials blundered by rushing to make
the McCanns official suspects a week before the new guidelines were introduced.
24 Horas also reported that Mr Rebelo did not fly back to Portugal with Mrs McCann's diary as expected.
It was thought the diary would be seized as part of an official request for help from British police.
But the Portuguese tabloid claimed detectives had already photocopied several pages from the diary.
A source told the paper: "These documents only serve to help the investigation, they cannot be used as evidence
in a court of law.
"It didn't make sense, a year on, to confiscate something that wouldn't be of any use to the investigation."
Mrs McCann is said to have written in the diary about how difficult it was to control Madeleine, four, and her
siblings Sean and Amelie, three, and how her husband often left her to get on with family duties on her own.
But her family have dismissed the significance of any diary entries, saying she was just a normal mother.
McCanns angry over press leaks Ananova
11th April 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann have threatened to pull out of plans
to return to Portugal to help police reconstruct the events around their daughter Madeleine's disappearance amid a furious
row over leaked interviews.
The McCanns believe the Portuguese authorities deliberately slipped transcripts of statements they gave to detectives
in the hours after their daughter went missing on May 3 last year, to the media.
The excerpts include the disclosure that Madeleine and her brother Sean apparently woke up crying the night before
the three-year-old's disappearance, but her parents did not hear her as they were in a nearby restaurant.
The interviews disclosed that Madeleine asked Kate at breakfast on May 3: "Mummy, why didn't you come when we were
crying last night?"
The couple are demanding a full internal investigation from the Portuguese Ministry of Justice into whether the
detail was deliberately passed to a Spanish journalist to "smear" them on the day they launched a campaign for a new child
alert system in Brussels.
Their local MP Stephen Dorrell said he would raise the matter with the Foreign Office. It is understood the McCanns'
Portuguese lawyers will be protesting to the relevant authorities there.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell called for the Portuguese government itself to "get a grip" of the leaks.
Although discussions about a possible return to Portugal to help police piece together the events of that night
are still going on, the mood of co-operation has soured markedly since Thursday's developments.
"All this nonsense over the last 24 or 36 hours does not in any way endear them to the idea of going back," Mr
Mitchell said.
Any leak of such sensitive material would constitute a clear breach of Portugal's unusual judicial secrecy laws.
But the country's Justice Ministry declined to comment - citing the same judicial secrecy laws.
McCanns launch furious counter attack on Portuguese police after 'Maddie in tears' leak
Daily Mail
Last updated at 16:19pm on 11th April 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann have launched a counter-attack against Portuguese police as the row over leaked statements
about their daughter's disappearance escalated into a war of words.
Police were warned by the couple's official spokesman that the "gloves are off" after what he claimed was a "cack-handed"
smear campaign timed to disrupt a new appeal by the couple in Brussels.
The McCanns are said to be furious about the release of their statements yesterday, which revealed for the first
time that Madeleine had been left sobbing for her mother the night before she vanished.
And today, their spokesman Clarence Mitchell signalled a distinct change in tactics for the couple by lashing out
at police and calling on the Portuguese government to stop any leaks to the press once and for all.
Mr Mitchell told Sky News: "This is a blatant and timed attempt against Kate and Gerry to try to deflect attention
in the headlines from the success they had at the European Parliament... to try to divert attention onto negative headlines
questioning their suitability as parents.
"It is shameless, brazen and very cack-handed and the Portuguese government must now get as grip on whatever element
it is in the Portuguese police that is responsible for these leaks and smears.
"They have continued since last summer and when the officer in charge of the inquiry, the man brought in to sort
it out, is visiting here, off they go again.
"Its the same old game. We know what they're up to, it is ridiculous and must stop."
He added: "Someone in the police does not want Kate and Gerry to widen the agenda for whatever reason. It is wrong,
it is illegal and the Portuguese government needs to stop this from happening in the future."
Mr Mitchell spoke out as chief investigator Paulo Rebelo was returning to the Algarve for a crunch meeting with
the private prosecutor who holds the future of the McCanns in his hands.
Mr Rebelo was due to give Portimao public prosecutor Jose Magalhaes e Menezes a detailed run-down of his three-day
trip to Britain to sit in on fresh interviews with the couple's holiday friends.
The meeting is expected to be crucial in determining whether Madeleine's parents remain official police suspects.
An investigating judge is expected to life a secrecy order on the case on May 15 unless prosecutors ask for a three-month
extension.
The McCanns could then demand they are either charged or cleared.
Mr Mitchell had earlier claimed that it seemed to be no coincidence the leak had occurred while Rebelo was in the
UK interviewing witnesses in the case.
He said: "It is beyond curious this leak has occurred while Rebelo is in the UK.
"It is outrageous and illegal and Portuguese government needs to look at what elements in its own police force
are capable of. We are not happy and the gloves are off."
The statements, which have been confirmed as genuine, revealed how Kate and Gerry McCann had left their daughter,
then three, and twins Sean and Amelie, two, crying in their bedroom and did not respond to their tears.
Mrs McCann told detectives that Madeleine had scolded her the next morning - the last they were to spend together.
It also emerged that Mr McCann said Cuddle Cat, his daughter's favourite toy, was "almost in the same place" as
where he had last seen it.
The couple had previously said that it was found high on a ledge, at adult height, which is how they were so certain
that Madeleine had been abducted.
Mrs McCann told police: "While we were having breakfast, Madeleine said, 'Mummy, why didn't you come when we were
crying last night?'
"Gerry and I spoke for a couple of minutes and agreed to keep a closer watch over the children."
But, just hours later, the McCanns left the three alone in their unlocked holiday apartment to have dinner with
friends.
They have faced furious criticism over the decision, and have spoken of their guilt that an abductor could have
watched them leave and then snatched Madeleine.
Mr Mitchell said today that they had listened to Madeleine and had a serious discussion about it but insisted the
toddler had been laughing and happy.
"They wanted to question her about it. She just walked off, laughing and happy. She was a child so she [Kate] dropped
it," he said.
"They decided to check more thoroughly the next night and that is what they did."
Mr and Mrs McCann had told police about the incident because they feared someone could have been in the room the
night before and run off when Madeleine began crying, he added.
The row yesterday overshadowed their visit to the European Parliament, where they made an impassioned appeal for
a Europe-wide alert system for abducted children.
A friend of the couple said they were "angry and disappointed" about the leak.
He said: "The minute that you talk about Madeleine crying is the minute that the vultures will move in and this
is why this has been leaked.
"It is a blatantly cynical attempt to smear them."
Portuguese police have so far refused to comment about the leaked statements.
But detectives have been infuriated by the couple's political influence and by Gordon Brown's interest in the case.
There has also been criticism of the McCanns' decision to spearhead a campaign while they remain official suspects
in the 11-month investigation.
The police statement from Mrs McCann, 40, said she and her husband spoke on the night of May 3, before they went
out for dinner, and said what a wonderful holiday they had enjoyed.
Just two hours later, their lives were to be shattered when she returned to the apartment and discovered Madeleine's
bed was empty.
In her statement she said she screamed: "Maddie isn't there. Someone's taken her."
In Mr McCann's police statement he said: "I thought it couldn't be and ran towards the apartment along the same
route as always. I looked everywhere."
Madeleine has not been seen since that night, despite scores of unconfirmed sightings.
Her parents have always denied any involvement in her disappearance and any suggestion that they neglected their
children.
Yesterday they addressed MEPs in Brussels about a proposed European alert system for abducted children.
They want a similar system to the Amber Alert scheme in the U.S. which sees details of missing children and potential
suspects circulated within hours of a disappearance.
Mrs McCann told the Euro MPs of the anguish they had been through.
"Madeleine was an incredibly happy, confident and loved little girl," she said. "This time last year we were a
very happy family.
"I am unable to convey to you just how totally devastating Madeleine's abduction was. It's been totally awful.
"If anyone wanted to inflict the maximum amount of pain on us they have certainly achieved that."
She said she clung to the possibility that Madeleine was alive, saying: "We certainly still have hope."
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Portuguese police leaks are 'shameless smears' to discredit us, say McCanns Daily Mail
By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 12:00pm on 12th April 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann yesterday accused Portuguese police of using
'shameless smears' against them.
They demanded a judicial inquiry and called on Portugal's justice minister to hunt down the source who leaked their
official police statements to the media.
They want the country's police to investigate how the statements - given in the immediate aftermath of their daughter
Madeleine's disappearance on May 3 last year - came to be leaked to a Spanish television channel.
Police in the couple's home county of Leicestershire have been informed and MP Stephen Dorrell called
on the Foreign Office to raise the matter with the Portuguese authorities.
Police in Portugal supposedly operate in total secrecy and officers, suspects and even witnesses face jail if they
speak out about ongoing investigations.
But behind the scenes, officers have briefed selected journalists with a series of sensationalised
claims about the 11-month hunt for Madeleine.
The McCanns have endured wild allegations that they could have drugged their children or even dumped Madeleine's
body during a publicity visit to Spain.
But they are especially furious about the timing of the latest leak, which derailed a planned trip to the European
Parliament to call for an improved alert system for missing children.
The couple met advisers last night to discuss their response to the leak of the statements - in which it was revealed
that Madeleine, then three, and her brother Sean, then two, were left crying in their holiday apartment the night before Madeleine
disappeared.
A friend of the family said they would not lash out against the police in public.
'They are furious,' he added. 'They are resigned to the fact that they cannot stop this from happening, but their
anger hasn't gone away. It's just that revenge is a dish best served cold.'
Mr McCann's sister Philomena said: 'The person responsible must be tracked down and disciplined for this latest
leak.
'Gerry and Kate are yet again being victimised by the Portuguese police in the hope that the information will undermine
and discredit them in the public's opinion.
'Publicising information about them is obviously aimed at deflecting attention from the fact that the police have
not made any breakthroughs in their investigation.'
The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell called for an end to the Portuguese police's series of 'smears'
against the McCanns, who remain official suspects.
They have categorically denied any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.
Mr Mitchell said: 'It is brazen, it is shameless, it is cack-handed and it has got to stop.
'The Portuguese government must now get a grip on whatever element it is within the Portuguese police who has been
responsible for these leaks, who is apparently doing it with impunity.
'Someone in the police doesn't want Kate and Gerry to widen the agenda for whatever reason.
'We know what they're up to - it's ridiculous and it must stop.'
He said the McCanns accepted they had made a huge mistake when they decided to leave their children alone in their
Algarve holiday apartment while they ate dinner nearby with friends.
He said: 'They know that they got it wrong, they made a mistake and, boy, are they paying the price for that -
in heartbreak and agony.'
The journalist who broke the story, Spanish crime reporter Nacho Abad, refused to reveal his sources or if the
documents had come from a police officer.
But supporters of the McCanns said there were few other people who had access to the statements.
Mr Abad, of broadcaster Telecinco, said the timing of the leak was 'sheer coincidence' and not a deliberate
attempt to cloud the McCanns' visit to Brussels.
He said it would be 'appalling' if police resources were wasted hunting for his source when they should be investigating
Madeleine's disappearance.
'The McCanns can't be upset,' he added.
'So much speculation and so many lies have surrounded the Madeleine McCann case and we have told the truth.'
The row broke out as chief investigator Paulo Rebelo returned to Portugal for a crunch meeting with the public
prosecutor who will decide if the McCanns will remain suspects.
Mr Rebelo had monitored British police interviews of the friends who were with the couple on the night Madeleine
vanished - the so-called Tapas Seven.
12/04/2008
Portuguese police quizzing the Tapas Seven flew home yesterday - a day early.
Paulo Rebelo and his three-man team left before the last two friends who were dining with the McCanns the night
Madeleine vanished were interviewed.
Dr David Payne and his mother-in-law Dianne Webster were questioned as planned by Leicestershire detectives but
the Portuguese team had already left for the airport.
They had been due to oversee all seven interviews and had rooms at the Ramada Jarvis hotel in Leicester booked
until today and seats reserved on easy Jet flights to Faro from East Midlands airport. They were reported to be heading back
for an immediate meeting with prosecutor Jose Magalhaese Menezes in Portimao.
It came after the leaking of Kate McCann's statements to police in Praia da Luz immediately after Madeleine's disappearance.
The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Perhaps he is angry about the leaks from his department and has
gone to crack a few skulls.
"We were told when he took over the inquiry last year that one of his tasks was to stop the leaks from his department.
It is interesting that two major leaks have occurred this week while he was out of the country."
The 'respected' Spanish journalist Nacho Abad
Note: This video is in Spanish but you won't need to understand the words for the first part!
Jane Tanner's declarations to the Police casts doubt on the McCanns 24horas
Key witness that claimed the kidnapping backtracks
12/04/2008
(Thanks to 'Li' from the3arguidos for translation)
The Portuguese police still believe that Gerry and Kate are connected to the
disappearance of the daughter. This conviction was strengthened with the visit to England. A couple's friend also helped
The
thesis of the eventual abduction of Madeleine McCann was compromised by the interrogatories made this week in Leicester, England.
The key witness that claimed that Maddie was taken wrapped in a blanket by a man on the 3rd of May of 2007 from a flat in
Praia da Luz, Algarve, was heavily shaken when she admitted to the authorities that she only left the Tapas Bar, where she
dinned with the McCanns and more six friends, after the alarm given by Kate. Jane Tanner admits that she saw a person before
she went to dine but she did not see with precision what that person was carrying and it could be a simple tenant of the Ocean
Club. "It was a precious deposition because it permits to concentrate the investigation in only one line, meaning that Maddie's
parents are involved in the disappearance of the child direct or indirectly", said to 24 Horas a high judicial responsible
connected to the process. According to the same source, "the thesis of an eventual abduction is more and more weak". "It would
be good that the McCanns and friends accepted to come to Portugal to do a reconstruction on the 15th and 16th of May, of all
the events that occurred between the 18 and 23 hours of that day". And the same responsible launches an appeal:" This is not
a cat and mouse game. This is not a game. It is the life of a child we are talking about. If they want to help fine but if
they demand things that the authorities cannot accomplish... No one cam make miracles if there is no cooperation from them".
The team of three persons that the PJ sent to England, returned yesterday to Portugal. Next Monday they will meet
with the director of the PJ Guilhermino da Encarnaçăo as well as with the public prosecutors Luis Verăo and Magalhăes e Menezes.The
objective is to evaluate all the interrogatories made in England and decide the next steps.
By JOHN HIGGINSON
Published: Today
THE most significant witness in the hunt for Maddie McCann has withdrawn
her statement according to Portuguese newspaper reports.
Jane Tanner, 37, who had said she saw the man who took Maddie on the night of her disappearance has withdrawn her
statement, 24 Horas claims.
She has told Portuguese authorities she can no longer be sure the man she saw was carrying Madeleine.
According the the respected newspaper 'Jane Tanner saw a man but cannot say with precision what he was carrying'.
Jane, one of the so-called Tapas Nine, had given detectives a detailed description of a man she saw, close to the
ground floor corner apartment where the McCanns were staying on the night of her disappearance. She told them he was carrying
a child wearing pink pyjamas -- the same thing Maddie was wearing that night.
Based on her account, the McCanns produced an artist's impression of the man, in the hope that it might jog the
memory of other holidaymakers.
The information was also used by police and private detectives employed by the McCann's in the search for Maddie.
The leaked story will be a massive blow to Kate and Gerry McCann as they try to renew the search for their daughter
nearly a year after her disappearance.
The pair were already considering pulling out of plans to return to Portugal to help police reconstruct
the events around their daughter Madeleine's disappearance amid a furious row over leaked interviews.
The McCanns believe transcripts of statements they gave to detectives in the hours after their daughter went missing
on May 3 last year were deliberately slipped to the media by the Portuguese authorities.
The excerpts include the disclosure that Madeleine and her brother Sean apparently woke up crying the night before
the three-year-old's disappearance, but her parents did not hear her as they were in a nearby restaurant.
The interviews disclosed that Madeleine asked Kate, 39, at breakfast on May 3: "Mummy, why didn't you come when
we were crying last night?"
The couple are demanding a full internal investigation from the Portuguese Ministry of Justice into whether the
detail was deliberately passed to a Spanish journalist to "smear" them on the day they launched a campaign in Brussels for
a new Europe-wide child alert system.
Their local MP Stephen Dorrell has pledged to raise the matter with the Foreign Office and it is understood the
McCanns' Portuguese lawyers will be protesting to the relevant authorities there.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell called for the Portuguese government to "get a grip" of the leaks.
It emerged yesterday that Paulo Rebelo, the detective leading the case, has already flown back to Portugal from
the UK - a day earlier than expected.
Mr Mitchell said he hoped this meant Mr Rebelo had gone back "to crack some skulls".
His team of Portuguese police has been in the UK all week sitting in on interviews with the McCanns' friends who
were dining with them at the time of Madeleine's disappearance.
Police chief tells of anger over 'crying Maddie' leak Daily Mail
By DANIEL BOFFEY
Last updated at 20:46pm on 12th April 2008
Portugal's top policeman has told friends of Kate and Gerry McCann
of his regret that witness statements by the couple were leaked to the media.
One excerpt suggested that on the morning
of her disappearance, Madeleine said: "Mummy, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?"
The couple were
furious and have accused the Portuguese police of attempting to slur them as they approach the anniversary of their daughter's
disappearance on May 3.
Heartbroken: The McCanns are outraged by the latest leaks from the Portuguese police, which
were timed to derail their trip to the European Parliament in Brussels this week
The leak to a Spanish television station
overshadowed the McCanns' visit on Thursday to Brussels where they called for a European rapid alert system for abducted children.
But it was revealed yesterday that Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the Policia Judiciaria, had interrupted
interviews in Leicestershire with the "Tapas Seven" to tell the McCanns' friends of his own anger at the leak.
Mr
Ribeiro returned a day early to Portugal on Friday after several days interrogating the friends who were on holiday with the
McCanns in Praia da Luz last year.
A source said: "The matter came up in the interviews with Kate and Gerry's friends
and Ribeiro was embarrassed by it.
"The leaks came as he was out of the country and he was angry about it. He also
referred to it when speaking with Leicestershire police."
One of the McCanns' friends, Jane Tanner, who claimed to
have seen a man carrying Madeleine away on the night of the child's disappearance, endured ten hours of questioning by Leicestershire
police.
Yesterday she spoke out against claims in Portuguese newspapers that she and her friends had demanded a private
plane to take them back to Praia da Luz for a reconstruction requested by the Portuguese authorities.
"If it wasn't
such a serious matter, some of the things that are being said about us would be laughable," she said.
"The authorities
should be out there looking for Madeleine rather than being distracted by any of these ridiculous and made-up stories about
us."
Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday has learned that Robert Murat will remain a formal suspect in the disappearance
of Madeleine McCann for at least a further three months.
The 34-year-old had hoped that the decision by the Portuguese police to allow him to travel to visit his daughter
in Britain two weeks ago was a sign that the "arguido" status was soon to be lifted.
However, Mr Murat has been informed
that his suspect status will be extended until August when the McCanns' similar arguido status will also be considered.
It
also appears that the McCanns are not planning to return to Portugal for the reconstruction.
They do not believe there
would be any purpose to it unless filmed as part of a Crimewatch-style programme but that has been ruled out by the authorities.
*
Note: In this article, the Daily Mail has incorrectly identified Alipio Ribeiro as being the Portuguese officer
involved. Although he is the national director of the PJ, this should read Paulo Rebelo who was the officer in attendance
at the Tapas Group interviews.
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Madeleine 'suspect' in massive libel claim Guardian
British media face record payout as family of 'arguido' demand public apology and damages
Mark Townsend and Ned Temko The Observer, Sunday April 13 2008
This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday April 13 2008 on p3 of the News section.
It was last updated at 00:06 on April 13 2008.
A British expatriate who was named as a formal suspect in the disappearance
of Madeleine McCann is launching one of the largest libel claims in the history of the British media.
Robert Murat
lists 11 newspapers and one TV station in his demand for damages, which litigation lawyers believe could lead to a record
cumulative payout of more than Ł2m. It is the largest number of separate libel claims made by one person against the British
media on the same issue.
Murat, 34, who lived close to the Praia da Luz apartment in Portugal where Madeleine went
missing, was made an arguido, or formal suspect, after a British tabloid reporter voiced her concerns to Portuguese police
shortly after the child disappeared. The Sunday Mirror journalist claimed that Murat's behaviour was reminiscent of Soham
murderer Ian Huntley.
Almost a year after Madeleine's disappearance, the Murat family are now seeking a formal public
apology and undisclosed damages from the British media in light of what one relative yesterday described as 'unfair stains
on the name of a man against whom there is not a shred of evidence'. They are understood to be particularly aggrieved at sections
of the British press which repeated a range of 'outlandish' and frequently lurid allegations that appeared in the Portuguese
press after he was named an arguido.
A statement from a London-based firm of solicitors, Simons Muirhead and Burton,
confirmed it was 'representing Robert Murat in respect of a number of libel actions against Sky, the Daily Express, the Sunday
Express, the Daily Star, the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, the Metro, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the News of
the World, the Sun and the Scotsman'. Simons Muirhead and Burton, which specialises in media litigation, would not comment
further on the case.
Media lawyer and litigation expert Caroline Kean of media law specialists Wiggin said that if Murat
successfully argued that the articles inferred that he was involved in the abduction or murder of Madeleine then his claims
could result in a record payout. 'You could expect at least Ł200,000 per paper, per claim, and that would clear Ł2m,' she
said.
Currently the largest libel award stands at Ł1.5m. It was won by the late Lord Aldington in a celebrated case
against Count Nikolai Tolstoy, great-nephew of the author of War and Peace. He won his case in 1989 after Tolstoy claimed
that he had the blood of '70,000 innocent men, women and children on his hands' but died 12 years later without ever collecting
the record damages.
Sources close to Murat said a number of graphic and damaging claims made in the British press
were never substantiated and in at least one case - the allegation that there were pornographic images on his computer - have
led to a media correction in Portugal. His family are also upset about a number of other reports by the British papers or
on TV - including what they say was an utterly untrue suggestion that Murat has a glass eye and had removed it 'as a party
trick' while at school.
Although Murat, 34, remains an arguido, police recently returned a computer, clothing and
other items taken by police from the Murat home, where he lives with his mother Jennifer less than 100 metres from the apartment
where Madeleine disappeared.
In addition, Portuguese police have approved an extended trip to England to visit his
three-year-old daughter - raising the Murat family's hopes that his arguido status will soon be ended. Murat has always vehemently
denied any involvement with the disappearance of Madeleine with some believing he is merely a maligned scapegoat in a bungled
investigation.
It is not surprising that the media is now facing a huge damages claim, as it was British journalists
who first suggested Murat might be involved in Madeleine's disappearance. Sunday Mirror reporter Lori Campbell wrote an article
headlined 'Why I shopped Maddy suspect' in which she claimed: 'There was an evasiveness and unease about Murat that left me
feeling extremely uncomfortable.' Murat, a self-employed property developer, told her that he was assisting the police and
had offered his services as a translator.
On 14 May 2007, Murat was questioned by Portuguese police and became the
first person to be declared an official suspect. On the same day Campbell told Sky News: 'It was just very reminiscent of
the Soham murders, that was my first thought. He was hanging around, asking us questions and maybe trying to find out what
we knew.'
The following day police seized laptops and other material. For almost four months Murat remained the only
arguido. Then in a dramatic development in early September Portuguese police named Madeleine's parents - Kate and Gerry -
as arguidos, a move that sparked a slew of allegations against the couple.
Last month Express Newspapers issued front-page
apologies to Madeleine's parents and paid Ł550,000 to the Find Madeleine campaign. The McCanns have refused to rule out libel
action against other publications.
By Lori Campbell 13/04/2008
Police in Portugal will tell prosecutors tomorrow they have come
up with nothing new after a trip to the UK in a last-gasp bid to crack the Madeleine McCann case.
They will admit that
fresh interviews with the "Tapas Seven" - parents Kate and Gerry McCanns' friends - have yielded no new clues.
An insider
said: "They maintained what they said in their original statements. There are discrepancies - but no gaping contradictions."
The
three-man police team had hoped to expose inconsistencies in the McCanns' and the Tapas Sevens' stories.
They have
been asked to return to Portugal next month to take part in a reconstruction of the night Madeleine vanished from her hotel
in Praia da Luz last May.
Police insiders there have said the friends have demanded a private jet and five-star hotels
on their return.
But the McCanns' spokesman dismissed the claims as "utter rubbish."
And last night one of the
friends urged the Portuguese police to concentrate on the hunt for four-year-old Madeleine.
Jane Tanner said: "If it
wasn't such a serious matter some of the things that are being said about us would be laughable."
EXCLUSIVE COUPLE CLEAR
By Nick Dorman
13 April 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann could finally be cleared over daughter Madeleine's disappearance
after Portuguese police will tomorrow admit they returned empty-handed from a last-gasp trip to Britain.
Chief investigator Paulo Rebelo will tell prosecutors that fresh interviews with the McCanns' holiday friends -
the so-called Tapas Seven - yielded nothing new.
The admission means the parents could be in the clear as early as next month - as The People exclusively revealed
last week.
But while the move will be welcomed, one of the seven pals last night blasted cops for accusing her of changing
her statement.
Furious Jane Tanner, 37, said: "If this was not such a serious matter some of the things being said about us would
be laughable."
Cops had hoped to expose holes in the pals' stories to find fresh evidence against Kate, 40, and Gerry 39, who
have been named arguidos - official suspects.
But the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said yesterday: "Kate and Gerry should now be eliminated from the
police inquiry."
The couple, from Rothley, Leics, are still furious after statements they gave to police in the hours after Maddie,
four, went missing in Praia da Luz on May 3 were leaked last week.
They are demanding "absolute security" over the records from the re-interviewing of their friends.
Mr Mitchell said: "If they appear in the press again, the smearing game would be obvious."
As a result of the row, the McCanns were last night set to pull out of plans to fly back to Portugal to aid police
reconstructions.
Portuguese police 'found no new evidence' during UK interviews with the Tapas 7 Daily Mail
Last updated at 10:16am on 13th April 2008
Portuguese police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
are expected to say today that their trip to the UK to re-interview the Tapas 7 was fruitless, with no new leads being thrown
up.
Chief Inspector Paulo Rebelo is likely to tell prosecutors that no new evidence has been uncovered in hours of
interviews, according to a source.
The admission will open the way for Kate and Gerry McCann to be cleared as suspects in the case.
Spokesman for the McCanns' Clarence Mitchell, said "Kate and Gerry should now be eliminated from the police inquiry."
Portugal's top policeman Alipio Ribeiro told friends of Kate and Gerry of his regret that witness statements by
the couple were leaked to the media.
One excerpt leaked to the press suggested that on the morning of her disappearance, Madeleine said: "Mummy, why
didn't you come when we were crying last night?"
The couple were furious and have accused the Portuguese police of attempting to slur them as they approach the
anniversary of their daughter's disappearance on May 3.
The leak to a Spanish television station overshadowed the McCanns' visit on Thursday to Brussels where
they called for a European rapid alert system for abducted children.
But it was revealed yesterday that Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the Policia Judiciaria, had interrupted
interviews in Leicestershire with the "Tapas Seven" to tell the McCanns' friends of his own anger at the leak.
Mr Ribeiro returned a day early to Portugal on Friday after several days interrogating the friends who were on
holiday with the McCanns in Praia da Luz last year.
A source said: "The matter came up in the interviews with Kate and Gerry's friends and Ribeiro
was embarrassed by it.
"The leaks came as he was out of the country and he was angry about it.
"He also referred to it when speaking with Leicestershire police."
One of the McCanns' friends, Jane Tanner, who claimed to have seen a man carrying Madeleine away on the night of
the child's disappearance, endured ten hours of questioning by Leicestershire police.
Yesterday she spoke out against claims in Portuguese newspapers that she and her friends had demanded a private
plane to take them back to Praia da Luz for a reconstruction requested by the Portuguese authorities.
"If it wasn't such a serious matter, some of the things that are being said about us would be laughable," she said.
"The authorities should be out there looking for Madeleine rather than being distracted by any of these ridiculous
and made-up stories about us."
Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday has learned that Robert Murat will remain a formal suspect in the disappearance of
Madeleine McCann for at least a further three months.
The 34-year-old had hoped that the decision by the Portuguese police to allow him to travel to visit his daughter
in Britain two weeks ago was a sign that the "arguido" status was soon to be lifted.
However, Mr Murat has been informed that his suspect status will be extended until August when the McCanns' similar
arguido status will also be considered.
It also appears that the McCanns are not planning to return to Portugal for the reconstruction.
They do not believe there would be any purpose to it unless filmed as part of a Crimewatch-style programme but
that has been ruled out by the authorities.
*
Note:
1) This report is completely without foundation and based on the two words 'expected' and 'likely' and the unquoted
words of an unnamed source.
2) The headline places 'found no new evidence' in parenthesis, to imply the words are a direct quote. Yet
those words are not a direct quote - they have been written by the Mail themselves based on the words of this unnamed
source who may, or may not, have actually said them.
3) This is a sensational claim - why would the source wish to remain anonymous? The only explanation is that they
do not wish their name to be identified with something that has no basis in fact.
4) Yet again, the Mail, and their unnamed source, are unable to differentiate between Paulo Rebelo and
Alipio Ribeiro.
5) Jane Tanner is quoted as follows: "If it wasn't such a serious matter, some of the things that
are being said about us would be laughable," she said. "The authorities should be out there looking for Madeleine rather than
being distracted by any of these ridiculous and made-up stories about us."
- The quote is presented in this article as a direct response to claims that the Tapas Seven wanted a private
jet and 5-star hotels to return to Portugal for a reconstruction.
Yet, in the article in The People suggests the quote is a direct response to the recent police interviews
and is used in that article to counter claims that Jane Tanner has changed her statement!
The article in the Sunday Mirror, by Lori Campbell, uses the quote ambiguously - mentioning both the claims that
the Tapas Seven requested jets and 5-star hotels, as well as the claims that the police interviews yielded nothing new - and chooses not
to directly link the quote to either but, in doing so, implies the quote is provided in support of the articles headline.
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Murat goes to the PJ's re-enactment 24horas
The Englishman did not impose any conditions to enter in the PJ's re-enactment
Text: Carlos Tomas, 14 April 2008
(Thanks to Joana Morais for translation)
The first suspect of Maddie's disappearance wants to participate in the 'movie' of
the re-enactment of the 3rd of Maay in Praia da Luz
Without fears and willing to help. This is the state of mind of Robert Murat, the Englishman that
was constituted as the first arguido in the scope of the process connected with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, on
the 3rd of May of 2007, of an apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve.
Like him, Sergey Malinka, a computer expert, was
notified to participate, on the 15th and 16th of May, in a reconstruction of the alleged events that took place the day
on which Maddie disappeared.
Malinka, so far, has not answered, but Murat has already told the authorities that he
has no problem in helping and, contrary to Kate and Gerry McCann, parents of the child, and unlike the seven friends with
whom they had dinner with in the Tapas Bar, on that fateful day, he did not impose any conditions to participate in the re-enactment.
Murat stays at home on the day of the re-enactment
"He was always at home with the
mother. He just has to do the same that he did in that day and in many others that followed that day: to keep his mother company.
The arguido status, which has damaged immensely his personal and professional life should have been lifted a long time ago,
since it does not make any sense", revealed a source close to the arguido, however a judicial source assured that his status
will remain up to until the time when an accusation is or is not done, which will only happen in the middle of July of 2008.
Meantime,
Robert Murat, yesterday revealed that he is going to ask for compensation for slander to several British media organisations.
The arguido wants to prosecute 11 British newspapers and the television channel Sky News for slander in a process that
could lead to a cumulative payout of more than two million pounds (2,5 million euros). 34-year-old Robert Murat, lives with
his mother in the Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, nearly a hundred metres away from the apartment from where Maddie
disappeared.
It was an English journalist of the "Sunday Mirror", Lori Campbell, who pointed the attentions of the
police towards Murat, as soon as she thought that he had a suspect behavior. In an article entitled "Murat fear: Why I told
cops", the journalist explains: "There was an evasiveness and unease about Murat that left me feeling extremely uncomfortable".
Robert Murat, for a long time was the only suspect in the investigation, and he was object to great attention by the press,
which investigated his whole life and past. The arguido always insisted in his innocence, having affirmed that they made him
"a scapegoat".
In a statement, the London-based firm of solicitors, Simons Muirhead and Burton, confirmed they were
'representing Robert Murat in respect of a number of libel actions against Sky, the Daily Express, the Sunday Express, the
Daily Star, the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, the Metro, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the News of the World, the
Sun and the Scotsman'.
Facts
REMEMBER.
To establish a record is the objective of Murat and of his lawyer, Francisco Pagarete. According to Caroline Kean, a media
law expert, quoted by the newspaper "The Observer", Murat might receive "at least 200 thousand pounds (nearly 250 thousand
euros) for each newspaper and for complaint, which would exceed two million pounds". The current record for a complaint for
slander is of 1.5 million pounds (nearly 1.8 million euros), in 1989, according to the same newspaper.
MEETING. The Judiciary Police team which traveled last week to England, that was led by Paulo Rebelo, coordinator
of criminal investigation of the PJ, will have today in the morning, a meeting with the Public Prosecutor Luís Verăo and criminal
instruction judge Pedro Frias, as well as with the assistant director of the Judiciary Police and the very person in charge
of the Directorship of Faro, Guilhermino Encarnaçăo. The objective is to assess and evaluate the cross-examinations done to
seven persons with whom the McCanns had dinner with in the Tapas Bar, on the 3rd of May 2007.
Secret McCanns Files May Be Released Sky News
Updated:07:23, Monday April 14, 2008
Portuguese police and prosecutors are set to discuss their interviews
with friends of Madeleine McCann's parents - which could lead to confidential files being made public.
The officials will be debating the future direction of the probe into her disappearance from
Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 last year.
One of Kate and Gerry McCann's lawyers said earlier this month that police files could be made public today.
But the couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, played down this possibility and predicted that the official secrecy
period would be extended until the summer.
Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, remain "arguidos" - or formal suspects - in the case but have
not been charged and deny all wrongdoing.
Paulo Rebelo, the detective leading the inquiry, flew back to Portugal earlier than expected on Friday.
He and his team spent last week in Leicestershire sitting in on fresh interviews with the seven friends on holiday
with the McCanns when Madeleine disappeared.
Mr Rebelo will meet the public prosecutor in the case, Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses, in the Algarve town of
Portimao today, Mr Mitchell said.
The McCanns' spokesman added: "Rebelo will report back on the interviews that took place last week, and they will
then decide on whether the police need more time.
"I assume that will come out in the next day or so.
"We are hoping that they will do the decent thing, realising that the friends told essentially the same story they
told last summer, and eliminate Kate and Gerry from the case."
But Mr Mitchell said he believed there was only the "slimmest of slim chances" that this would happen today.
"(Today) is technically possible for the lifting of judicial secrecy, but it's unlikely. We think it will run through
to the summer," he said.
Portuguese law normally provides for an eight-month term during which documents remain secret, and official suspects,
police and lawyers are banned from discussing the case in public.
*
Note: Rogério Alves, the McCanns Portuguese lawyer, has already made it clear the documents will remain secret
until the end of August.
On 02 April 2008, he said to Correio da Manha: "If there was no understanding of when the period began
to count in September, the secrecy of justice would be lifted in April, but having this agreement the secrecy in the process
will only end in August."
By STAFF REPORTERS
Published: Today
MISSING Maddie McCann’s parents are calling for a full probe involving the
FBI into Portuguese cops’ handling of the case.
Kate and Gerry want a panel of missing children experts, including former US and Met police, to look at how the
inquiry team handled itself.
Officers have been accused of bungling the investigation since Maddie, four, went missing from Praia da Luz last
May. The McCanns have also accused the Portuguese of a smear campaign against them.
Last night their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We believe Portuguese police have been found wanting. We are
asking the British Government to call for such an inquiry. It’s important for Madeleine and other missing children."
Kate, 40, and Gerry, 39, of Rothley, Leics, are expected to be cleared as suspects today when cops tell prosecutors
there is no evidence against them.
Portuguese police and prosecutors are also set to meet to discuss their interviews with friends of the McCanns.
They are also expected to debate the future direction of the investigation into Maddie's disappearance.
Paulo Rebelo, the detective leading the inquiry, flew back to Portugal earlier than expected on Friday.
He and his team spent last week in Leicestershire sitting in on fresh interviews with the seven friends on holiday
with the McCanns when Madeleine disappeared.
Mr Rebelo will meet the public prosecutor in the case, Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses, in the Algarve town of
Portimao today, Mr Mitchell said.
He added: "Rebelo will report back on the interviews that took place last week, and they will then decide on whether
the police need more time.
"I assume that will come out in the next day or so.
"We are hoping that they will do the decent thing, realising that the friends told essentially the same story they
told last summer, and eliminate Kate and Gerry from the case."
Police deny claims of McCann leak BBC News
Page last updated at 16:29 GMT, Monday, 14 April 2008 17:29
UK
Portuguese police investigating Madeleine McCann's disappearance have denied leaking
details of statements made by her parents to officers.
The Policia Judiciaria (PJ) dismissed as "entirely false" claims that material broadcast on Spanish television
was from the investigation.
A statement expressed regret at the claims "at a moment when significant work was being done" in the inquiry.
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, disappeared in the Algarve in May 2007.
'Unfounded comments'
The Spanish channel Telecinco cited quotes from Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, purporting to be from
statements made to police early in the investigation.
These included Mrs McCann supposedly telling officers that Madeleine had been upset the night before she disappeared
that her mother had not come to her when she cried.
But the PJ statement insisted the force had not been responsible.
"The PJ want to make it clear that is entirely false that the contents of this report included material from the
inquiry which is covered by (the law of) secrecy of justice," it said.
It also expressed regret at what it said were "baseless" and "unfounded comments" by the McCann family spokesman,
Clarence Mitchell.
Mr Mitchell had said the "leaked" statements were a "deliberate smear".
On 8 April, three Portuguese detectives sat in on interviews with witnesses - including friends of the McCanns
who were with them on the night Madeleine vanished - conducted by Leicestershire police.
Madeleine Police Deny Interview Leaks Sky News
Updated:17:31, Monday April 14, 2008
Portuguese police have hit back at Kate
and Gerry McCann - denying claims they leaked information about their daughter's disappearance.
The war of words intensified as detectives said allegations they had passed information to the media
were "baseless".
The Policia Judiciaria (PJ) issued a rare public statement singling out the couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell,
who angrily demanded an inquiry into how interview transcripts came into the public domain.
Damaging excerpts from the couple's first police interviews were broadcast on Spanish TV on the day the couple
went to Brussels to launch a bid to introduce a new child alert system.
It reported that Madeleine and her brother Sean woke up crying the night before the three-year-old's disappearance,
but her parents did not hear her as they were in a nearby restaurant.
The interviews disclosed that Madeleine asked Kate at breakfast: "Mummy, why didn't you come when
we were crying last night?"
Mr Mitchell suggested the transcripts had been deliberately leaked to overshadow the Brussels visit.
The leak also emerged as Portuguese detectives were in the UK attending interviews with witnesses who were dining
with the McCanns when Madeleine went missing.
The Policia Judiciaria said in a statement: "We regret the baseless intervention of the spokesman above all at
a moment when significant moves were being made in the investigation."
It added: "On the basis of this news, (he) publicly expressed the view, to diverse media outlets, his certainty
that the PJ was responsible for the leaks.
"The PJ want to make it clear that is is entirely false that the contents of this report included material from
the inquiry which is covered by (the law of) secrecy of justice."
Portuguese police deny leak in case of missing British girl Herald Tribune
Monday April 14, 2008
The Associated Press
Lisbon, Portugal: Portuguese police denied Monday that they leaked details of their investigation
into the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann.
A Spanish television channel last week published what it claimed was testimony given to police by
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, who are official suspects in the case.
Portuguese detectives, known as the Policia Judiciaria, say they are still investigating the girl's
disappearance from a vacation resort in Portugal on May 3 last year, shortly before her fourth birthday. In Portugal, ongoing
police investigations are covered by strict secrecy laws prohibiting the release of information.
"The Policia Judiciaria makes clear that it is completely false that the content of the (Spanish)
news report is taken from the investigation, which is still covered by judicial secrecy laws," the statement from police headquarters
in Lisbon said.
The McCanns said through their spokesman at the time of the report that they were angry about the
leak because it appeared to be an attempt to smear them.
The police statement Monday rejected the accusation, saying police "regret the spokesman's unfounded
comments, especially at a time when significant activities pertaining to the investigation are taking place."
Police in Britain last week re-interviewed friends the McCanns dined with on the night when Madeleine
disappeared. A three-member team of detectives from Portugal listened in before returning to Portugal on Friday.
The McCanns' spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
The police statement provided no details about the investigation. Police have given no indication
whether they intend to bring charges against the McCanns.
One of the McCanns' Portuguese lawyers said earlier this month the couple could be given access
to the case file from April 14. He argued that in his view the official secrecy period would expire on that date.
However, the police statement did not refer to that deadline and officials declined to comment further
on the case.
"Madeleine McCann case": Clarification on false contents of a news piece Policia Judiciaria
Monday April 14, 2008
(Thanks to 'astro' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
At the end of last week, the Spanish television station Telecinco broadcast a news piece that reported
that they had enjoyed exclusive access to alleged statements from the McCann couple to the "investigators" into the disappearance
of the underage child, Madeleine.
Based on this news piece, the spokesman of this couple, Clarence Mitchell, expressed
publicly, to several media, the certainty that the Policia Judiciaria had been responsible for its publication.
The
Policia Judiciaria clarifies that it is entirely false that the contents of the news piece reproduces matter that is part
of the inquiry, which is under judicial secrecy.
On the other hand, the Policia Judiciaria cannot fail to lament the
baseless intervention of the spokesman, especially at a moment when significant diligences to the investigation were being
carried out.
April 14, 2008
The National Directory
Portuguese police launch furious attack on McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell as they
deny 'Maddie in tears' leak
Daily Mail (This report later updated for third time on 15 April 2008)
By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 23:00pm on 14th April 2008
The hunt for Madeleine McCann was engulfed in a war of words yesterday as Portuguese police criticised
her parents' spokesman.
Detectives denied Clarence Mitchell's claims that police had deliberately leaked statements from
Kate and Gerry McCann and said they regretted his 'baseless intervention'.
In a rare public statement - only the fifth in the 11-month investigation - the Policia Judiciaria
said Mr Mitchell should not have spoken out, because the police operation had reached a 'significant' stage.
But last night Mr Mitchell insisted he stands by his claims that the statements were 'shamelessly'
leaked to overshadow the McCanns' high-profile visit to the European Parliament to promote a missing child alert campaign
last week.
Coverage of the visit was dominated by the revelations that on the morning of May 3, just hours
before she disappeared from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, Madeleine asked her mother: "Mummy, why didn't you come when
we were crying last night?"
Mr Mitchell said: "I'm not retracting a word of what I said. The Portuguese police have yet to explain
how these statements came to be leaked.
"Their criticism of me doesn't explain how that confidential material came to be made public, and
with very curious timing."
He warned police last week that 'the gloves were off' following
the leaking of the couple's police statements, and branded the leak 'brazen, shameless and cackhanded'.
Detectives hit back yesterday after a meeting between the head of the investigation, Paulo Rebelo,
and public prosecutor Jose Cunha Magalhaes e Menezes.
In a statement posted on the force's website, a spokesman said: "The spokesman for the couple, Clarence
Mitchell, publicly expressed the view to diverse media outlets, that he was certain the Policia Judiciaria was responsible
for the leaks.
"The PJ want to make it clear that it is entirely false that this report included material from
the inquiry, which is covered by the secrecy of justice.
"The PJ regrets the baseless intervention of the spokesman, above all at a moment when significant
moves were being made in the investigation."
The police refused to reveal what was meant by 'significant moves'.
There has been speculation that the named suspects in the case, the McCanns and British expatriate
Robert Murat, could be cleared soon. They have always denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Mr Mitchell said: "We had hoped the meeting (between Mr Rebelo
and the prosecutor) would result in something positive, not in them trying to blame me.
"I don't want to get into a row with them. None of this helps to find Madeleine. We just want them
to concentrate on that."
Since the disappearance of Madeleine - who would now be four - the police have refused to comment
on their investigation on an almost daily basis.
Police in Portugal supposedly operate under strict secrecy laws which ban officers, witnesses or
suspects from speaking about ongoing investigations.
But in practice the laws have meant there have been a series of anonymous leaks and wild allegations
from inside the police operation.
The McCanns' wealthy benefactor Brian Kennedy hired Mr Mitchell in September, in part to counter
the anti-McCann smears circulating in Portugal.
The 46-year-old former BBC correspondent was initially sent to Portugal by the Foreign Office in
May, to help the couple deal with the intense media interest in their daughter's disappearance.
He forged a close bond with the McCanns, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, and quit his
job with the Government's media monitoring unit to become their full-time spokesman, on a reported Ł75,000-a-year salary.
Meanwhile, Portuguese police have yet to make any official comment about the outcome of last week's
interviews with the 'Tapas Seven', the friends who dined with the McCanns on the night Madeleine vanished.
Portuguese police launch furious attack on McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell as they
deny 'Maddie in tears' leak (Original version of report above)
Last updated at 19:58pm on 14th April 2008
Portuguese police forcefully denied they leaked a statement by Kate McCann in which she reportedly
said her daughter Madeleine was crying in her room the night before she disappeared nearly a year ago.
The statement was made by Kate McCann to Portuguese police investigating the disappearance, according
to Spanish television channel Telecinco, which published it last week.
Telecinco reported Madeleine asked her mother on May 3, the morning of the day she disappeared,
why she hadn't come to the bedroom when she and her brothers were crying the night before.
The publication prompted the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, to call for an investigation
by Portuguese authorities into how the statement was made public, considering it was covered by strict secrecy laws.
In a rare statement on the case, Portuguese police said on Monday it was "completely false that
the content of the news reproduced material from the investigation and that it is covered by legal secrecy.
"On the other hand, the judicial police laments the unfounded statement by the spokesman, above
all at a moment when significant steps are taking place in the investigation."
The statement said Mitchell publicly accused the police of being responsible for the leak.
Portuguese police have named Kate and Gerry McCann as official suspects in the case.
Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bedroom in an Algarve resort a few days before her fourth
birthday.
Police have made no arrests in the case and have not signalled that they are any closer to finding
Madeleine.
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Marisa Rodrigues
(Thanks to 'Li' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
The spokesman of the parents of Madeleine McCann "is a liar and Machiavellian". Who says this is
the president of the Association of Staff of Criminal Investigation (ASFIC). Carlos Anjos accuses Clarence Mitchell of having
a well-defined strategy. "He wants to discredit the Criminal Police(PJ) by making up excuses in order to avoid the return
of the couple to Portugal to participate in the reconstruction of the night of the crime. He lied to his teeth," he says.
This was the reaction of Carlos Anjos after yesterday's response of the PJ concerning the informations
given by the Spanish channel "Telecinco" that announced having access to the depositions of Kate and Gerry. "It is completely
untrue that the content of the news reproduces material that is in secrecy of justice", said the PJ in a release, issued after
a meeting in Lisbon between Alípio Ribeiro and Paulo Rebelo, coordinator of the judicial police of Portimăo and responsible
for the investigation of the disappearance of Madeleine.
After the news, advanced on Thursday as being an "exclusive"
of the Spanish channel, Mitchell gave several interviews to British televisions. He insulted the PJ and blamed the Portuguese
inspectors of what he called a "grotesque breach of secrecy." He accused them of initiating a "dishonest manoeuvre to discredit
the family."
On that same day, Kate and Gerry were in Brussels to present an European project to help to find missing
children. Meanwhile, in Leicestershire, England, Paulo Rebelo's team were attending the interrogations scheduled in the rogatory
letter.
To disrupt the enquiry
The PJ says they "deplore the intervention
of the spokesman, particularly at a time when significant steps were made in the research." The president of ASFIC goes further.
"Finally it is known where the truth is. While the PJ fulfilled their duty to investigate what happened to the child, the
spokesman of the parents was manipulating the public opinion," he accuses.
For Carlos Anjos, "who mounted the scheme
was Mr Clarence Mitchell. He needed to find an excuse to avoid the participation of the couple in the reconstruction, saying
now that he does not trust the PJ." The ASFIC is available to give legal support to the researchers who feel targeted by the
statements of Mitchell and want to move forward with a criminal complaint.
*
Wikipedia: Machiavellianism is the term that some social and personality psychologists
use to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain.
JOSÉ MANUEL OLIVEIRA,
15 April 2008
(Thanks to Joana Morais for translation)
An
Editorial Comment
A year later, there are still shock waves in the Maddie’s case. This time it
was an incredible and farfetched story of a Spanish journalist who revealed supposed statements of Kate and Gerry McCann to
the police. They provided for one more campaign of the English newspapers against the Portuguese police and a conference of
their spokesman.
The hubbub caused also the alleged refusal of the McCanns to return to Portugal to do the re-enactment
of the crime. And they helped to disturb the travel of the team of investigation to England to question the friends and to
check their statements.
The Portuguese PJ yesterday issued a declaration to contradict that these evidences given by
the Spanish journalist were part of the process. But, in the middle of the afternoon, the press release was not even available
in the Internet pages of the English newspapers.
This happened exactly in the same newspapers that transcribed the
information of the Spanish journalist, without checking the sources or questioning the supplier of the information. This type
of procedure is also the reason of the lawsuit that the Englishman Robert Murat is going to put to eleven English newspapers:
because they reproduced, without confirming, information that was in the Portuguese newspapers. An unethical method which
simply undermines journalism in general. But that behaviour was, unfortunately, more than common in this strange and long
case.
Judiciary contradicts 'Telecino' and the McCanns' spokesman
The relation between
the parents of Madeleine McCann and the Judiciary Police (PJ) is more and more tense. After the couple’s spokesman,
Clarence Mitchell, accused the chief-inspector Paulo Rebelo, responsible for the investigations on Maddie's disappearance,
of “leaks of information”, following the disclosure in a Spanish Television Channel (Telecinco) of a statement
done by Kate McCann, it was now the time for the PJ to enter on stage and contradict what has been spread since last week.
In
a declaration issued yesterday afternoon, the National Directory of the Judiciary explains that it is "entirely false that
the contents of the news piece reproduces matter that is part of the inquiry, which is under judicial secrecy". On the other
hand, the PJ “cannot fail to lament the baseless intervention of the spokesman, especially at a moment when significant
diligences to the investigation were being carried out". The journalist of Telecinco, Nacho Abad, author of those news which
are provoking so much controversy, said that he will answer, today, to the disclaim of the PJ, in his program to be aired
around 12h00 – Spanish time.
To discredit the investigation
On
the other side, the DN knows, that there is a conviction inside the PJ that it was the McCann’s spokesman, himself who
"instigated and send the story" for the Spanish television, in order to "try to discredit the investigation and to find a
pretext to avoid the re-enactment".
Remember that Gerry and Kate McCann, in the last days, have send out a message
that the conditions [demands] to return to Portugal with the objective to put into effect the pretended reconstitution by
the PJ, about the fateful night of the 3rd of May of 2007, in which their daughter Madeleine disappeared from the Praia da
Luz (Lagos), are not complied because details of their declarations given to the police were revealed. As well they demand
the intervention of the Minister of the Justice.
The case, as DN previously told, originated in a news piece broadcasted
on Wednesday, by Telecinco and was presented as an exclusive of this Spanish channel, reporting what Gerry and Kate McCann
described to the PJ in the hours before Madeleine disappeared of the apartment of The Ocean Club, where the family was spending
holidays, the daughter surprised them during the breakfast while questioning them: "Why you did not come when we were crying
last night?", in an allusion to herself and her brother Sean. Still according to the Telecinco program, Kate guaranteed to
the Judiciary Police, that after the critical observation of the daughter, the couple "decided to be more attentive to the
children".
Secret of justice prevails
So,
when does the secret of justice end in the Madeleine case exactly? This is a question that, until now, nobody managed to give
a right answer, especially when, for example, there was a persistent idea that yesterday, eleven months after been made the
first arguido in this process, the British-Portuguese Robert Murat, for suspicion of being wrapped in the disappearance of
the child, the process could be consulted by whomever wanted to do it. "It is all exactly the same and I do not find that
strange. Who defines the terms for the lifting of the secret of justice is the Public Ministry ", said to the DN the lawyer
of that arguido, Francisco Pagarete.
However the Council’s president of the Order of the Lawyers from the District
of Faro, António Cabrita, in recent interviews to the DN, remembered that "the complexity of the process might lead the Public
Ministry to determine that the same continues for more phases. António Cabrita told that when there are no imprisoned arguidos,
the timings " can be extended in function of the discovery of the truth ".
Portuguese police accuse McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell of 'lying through his teeth' Daily Mail (Updated version from report yesterday)
By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 12:16pm on 15th April 2008
The hunt for Madeleine McCann was engulfed in a war of words yesterday as Portuguese police criticised
her parents' spokesman.
Detectives denied Clarence Mitchell's claims that police had deliberately leaked statements from
Kate and Gerry McCann and said they regretted his 'baseless intervention'.
In an astonishing attack today Portuguese police union chief Carlos Anjos told respected Portuguese
daily Jornal de Noticias: "Mr Mitchell wants to discredit the Policia Judiciaria and invent excuses so the McCanns do not
come to Portugal to participate in the reconstruction of the night she disappeared.
"He lies with as many teeth as he has in his mouth.
"Finally we know what side truth is on.
"While the Policia Judiciaria were fulfilling their duty of investigating what happened to Madeleine,
her parents' spokesman was manipulating public opinion."
The outspoken head of Portugal's Police Federation, who has previously claimed his force has better
things to do than look for Madeleine McCann, added: "The person who hatched a plan was Clarence Mitchell.
"He needed to find an excuse for the McCanns not to take part in the reconstitution, saying that
he doesn't trust the Policia Judiciaria."
In an extraordinary turn of events, Anjos told Jornal de Noticias his union was offering advice
to officers who felt they had been identified by Mr Mitchell's leak claims and wanted to take legal action.
Yesterday, in a rare public statement - only the fifth in the 11-month investigation - the Policia
Judiciaria said Mr Mitchell should not have spoken out, because the police operation had reached a 'significant' stage.
But last night Mr Mitchell insisted he stands by his claims that the statements were 'shamelessly'
leaked to overshadow the McCanns' high-profile visit to the European Parliament to promote a missing child alert campaign
last week.
Coverage of the visit was dominated by the revelations that on the morning of May 3, just hours
before she disappeared from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, Madeleine asked her mother: "Mummy, why didn't you come when
we were crying last night?"
Mr Mitchell said: "I'm not retracting a word of what I said. The Portuguese police have yet to explain
how these statements came to be leaked.
"Their criticism of me doesn't explain how that confidential material came to be made public, and
with very curious timing."
He warned police last week that 'the gloves were off' following
the leaking of the couple's police statements, and branded the leak 'brazen, shameless and cackhanded'.
Detectives hit back yesterday after a meeting between the head of the investigation, Paulo Rebelo,
and public prosecutor Jose Cunha Magalhaes e Menezes.
In a statement posted on the force's website, a spokesman said: "The spokesman for the couple, Clarence
Mitchell, publicly expressed the view to diverse media outlets, that he was certain the Policia Judiciaria was responsible
for the leaks.
"The PJ want to make it clear that it is entirely false that this report included material from
the inquiry, which is covered by the secrecy of justice.
"The PJ regrets the baseless intervention of the spokesman, above all at a moment when significant
moves were being made in the investigation."
The police refused to reveal what was meant by 'significant moves'.
There has been speculation that the named suspects in the case, the McCanns and British expatriate
Robert Murat, could be cleared soon. They have always denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Mr Mitchell said: "We had hoped the meeting (between Mr Rebelo
and the prosecutor) would result in something positive, not in them trying to blame me.
"I don't want to get into a row with them. None of this helps to find Madeleine. We just want them
to concentrate on that."
Since the disappearance of Madeleine - who would now be four - the police have refused to comment
on their investigation on an almost daily basis.
Police in Portugal supposedly operate under strict secrecy laws which ban officers, witnesses or
suspects from speaking about ongoing investigations.
But in practice the laws have meant there have been a series of anonymous leaks and wild allegations
from inside the police operation.
The McCanns' wealthy benefactor Brian Kennedy hired Mr Mitchell in September, in part to counter
the anti-McCann smears circulating in Portugal.
The 46-year-old former BBC correspondent was initially sent to Portugal by the Foreign Office in
May, to help the couple deal with the intense media interest in their daughter's disappearance.
He forged a close bond with the McCanns, both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, and quit his
job with the Government's media monitoring unit to become their full-time spokesman, on a reported Ł75,000-a-year salary.
Meanwhile, Portuguese police have yet to make any official comment about the outcome of last week's
interviews with the 'Tapas Seven', the friends who dined with the McCanns on the night Madeleine vanished.
Cop: McCanns' spokesman 'lies' The Sun
Published: Today
April 15, 2008
A
PORTUGUESE police union boss has branded the McCanns' spokesman a LIAR.
Carlos Anjos said of Clarence Mitchell: "He lies with as many teeth as he has in his mouth."
The president of Portugal's Police Federation accused the former BBC man of leaking police statements
Kate and Gerry made within hours of Maddie disappearing last May.
These were aired on Spanish TV last week.
Anjos said the aim was to give the McCanns an excuse not to attend a reconstruction.
Mr Mitchell, 46, said: "It is categorically untrue that I leaked them. There was absolutely no benefit
for us to do that."
Nacho Abad, the Spanish journalist who obtained the statements, said: "Clarence Mitchell was not
the source. The family did not leak it."
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Pinto Monteiro waits for report 24horas
PJ and Prosecutors debate alleged leak of information
Text: Carlos Tomás
(Thanks to 'Li' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
The inspectors that are investigating Maddie's case held a meeting yesterday with the Public Prosecutor
to analyse the trip to England. Clarence Mitchell, McCann's spokesman and Método 3 might have passed informations to the Spanish
press.
The PJ and the Public Prosecutor have been bombarded with what the judicial authorities consider to be "counter
information" in Madeleine McCann's case. In declarations to the 24 Horas, Pinto Monteiro, General Public Attorney, admitted
that yesterday he did not yet have any additional information to the process because the Prosecutor of Évora, Luís Bilro Verăo
had not yet send anything.
There is no report
"When there are relevant
things concerning that process a detailed report with the facts is made. Till today (yesterday) nothing was received from
the responsible of the case namely the Prosecutor Luís Verăo that I appointed to direct the enquiry", said Pinto Monteiro.
Guilhermino Encarnaçăo maxim responsible for the PJ of Faro, says the same: "Everything is running
well, the interrogations made in England were very satisfactory. We are not vulnerable to any type of pressure, it does not
matter from where it cames. The investigations will have their results no matter who will be hurt".
McCann
and Método 3 under suspicion
In the last days the PJ investigations on this case received criticism
from everybody. Beginning with the spokesman of the couple, Clarence Mitchell, to the Spanish television channel Telecinco
and the President of the Portuguese Bar Association, all have attacked the course of the investigations. The authorities in
Portugal believe that the fake informations were released by the McCanns or by the agency hired by them, Método 3.
Marinho
Pinto, president of the Bar Association said to EFE agency that the Criminal Police "arrived to a dead end in the investigations
and is unable to acknowledge that fact".
Madeleine McCann mystery will be solved, say police Telegraph
By Bonnie Malkin and agencies
Last Updated: 11:15am BST 16/04/2008
Portuguese police have insisted they will solve the mystery of Madeleine McCann's disappearance.
Faro police chief Guilhermino Encarnacao, who is in charge of
coordinating the investigation into the missing girl, has brushed off criticism of his force.
He insisted the to insist the case was moving forward. (??? - copied as presented in original article)
Madeleine McCann investigators have been locked in a war of words with the four-year-old's parents
and their press spokesman Clarence Mitchell following the leaking of the couple's police statements.
Last week Mr Mitchell demanded an inquiry into how the McCanns' witness statements - given shortly
after their daughter vanished - had been leaked and claimed it was another attempt to smear the couple.
In a rare public statement, the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) then criticised Mr Mitchell for his "baseless
intervention".
Dr Encarnacao, speaking after a meeting between public prosecutors and police who travelled to Britain
for fresh interviews with the McCanns' holiday friends, said: "Everything's going well.
"The inquiries carried out in the UK are progressing in the best way possible."
He said the police were not "vulnerable to pressure" from any party involved.
"The investigation will bring its results, whoever they hurt."
The pledge came as a clairvoyant claimed Madeleine McCann died in an accident.
Last week it emerged that Robert Murat, the British expatriate made a formal suspect over the disappearance
of Madeleine, has begun one of the largest libel claims in the history of British media.
The 34-year-old, who lived close to the Portugal apartment where the missing girl was last seen,
has launched libel proceedings against 11 newspapers and one television network.
Andrew Billen
April 16, 2008
It was going to be called Madeleine McCann, but now ITV1's exclusive, has a longer name: Madeleine,
One Year On: Campaign for Change. The programme will follow her parents as they campaign for an American-style Amber Alert
system, in which law enforcement agencies are empowered to commandeer airtime when a child goes missing. Ah, lack of television
coverage. That must have been the problem.
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Portimăo PJ to sue McCann's spokesman
Henrique Machado
(Thanks to 'Li' from the3arguidos
forum for translation)
The declarations of Kate McCann reminding a conversation with her daughter Maddie the day she disappeared,
concerning the fact that the day before she left her crying in the bedroom, are not part of the official process of the Criminal
Police, as it was discovered by the CM. They were reproduced by the Spanish television Telecinco and the journalist Nacho
Abad says he has proof that they are true ' but they will be clarifications made by Kate to private detectives.
The
process still remains in secrecy of justice but "the day it will be open to the public it will be easy to prove that those
declarations are not there" said a source close to the investigations. Therefore, this leak could never have come from the
PJ.
"The day that that situation will be duly clarified" Clarence Mitchell will be sued by damages caused against the
image of elements of the Department of Criminal Investigation of Portimăo, after being "unjustly accused" by the McCanns spokesman
of passing informations of the process to the media.
The British police also know that those declarations of Kate,
about her relationship sometimes difficult with her daughter are not in the process. When the Spanish channel reproduced them
a delegation of the PJ was in Leicester to hear the McCann's friends and the British authorities confirmed that it was a deposition
made by Kate to private investigators. It is a company that worked for the couple before Método 3 and in the end printed a
report with those sentences. According to our sources, only 3 parts have copies of those documents: the company, the McCanns
and the British authorities.
The problems with the international press continue and yesterday the Telegraph advanced
declarations of Guilhermino Encarnaçăo after a meeting with the prosecutor quoting him saying that the "case will be solved
whoever it hurts". Source close to the responsible of the Faro's PJ guarantees to the CM that none of this is true.
Details
ASFIC supports the process
Contacted by the CM, the president
of the PJ Union, Carlos Anjos, guarantees that "all legal support is available" in case the investigators of Portimăo want
to sue Clarence Mitchell, spokesman of the McCanns, by damages against the image of the department.
Reconstruction
Carlso
Anjos believes that the controversy created around Kate's declarations, with accusations to the PJ by the eventual leak of
information that discredits the couple, "is a mere artifice to avoid cooperation with the Portuguese justice". The PJ wants
to reconstruct the crime but according to the couple spokesman this will only happen if they stop being arguidos.
'Portuguese police should sue McCann's official spokesman', claims newspaper Daily Mail
By DAVID WILKES
Last updated at 16:14pm on 17th
April 2008
Kate and Gerry McCanns' spokesman should be sued for libel for accusing Portuguese police of leaking
the couple's statements to the media, it has been claimed.
The statements revealed how the couple's missing daughter Madeleine asked her mother on May 3 last
year - hours before she disappeared - 'Mummy, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?'.
They emerged last week as Mr and Mrs McCann, of Rothley Leicestershire, travelled to the European
Parliament to promote a campaign for a child alert system.
Their official spokesman Clarence Mitchell accused Portuguese police of leaking the statements to
derail the trip to Brussels.
Today a Portuguese newspaper claimed that Mrs McCann's 'Madeleine in tears' statement does not form
part of the official police file.
It is understood that after they were interviewed by the police, secondary interviews were conducted
in English with Mr and Mrs McCann by private investigators for the couple's own security and that these were passed to the
police.
The investigation is subject to Portuguese judicial secrecy laws, preventing the statements from
being made public.
But a source close to the investigation told the newspaper Correio da Manhathat: "On the day in
which it's opened to the public, it will be easy to prove the declarations are not there. Then it will become clear this leak
cannot have come from within the PJ."
The source reportedly added that "Mr Mitchell should be the subject of a libel action for harm caused
to the reputation of elements of Portimao's criminal investigation department, for having 'unfairly accused' them of passing
on information from the investigation to the media."
Yesterday Mr Mitchell said: "Yet again, I refuse to be drawn into a running argument with the usual
anonymous police sources over this. Despite everything that has been said about me I retract nothing.
"The police, either officially or unofficially, have so far failed to explain how material that
was in their possession as part of their files emerged in the public domain on the very day Kate and Gerry were making positive
headlines in Europe."
Portuguese police declined to comment last night.
Earlier this week detectives investigating four-year-old Madeleine's disappearance branded Mr Mitchell
'a manipulative liar'.
The head of the Portuguese police federation, Carlos Anjos, accused him of engineering a fight with
officers to sabotage a reconstruction of the disappearance.
In an extraordinary turn of events, Mr Anjos also told another Portuguese newspaper, Jornal de Noticias,
his union was offering advice to officers who felt they had been identified by Mr Mitchell's leak claims and wanted to take
legal action.
The latest claim in Correio da Manhathat is another sign of the deteriorating relationship between
the McCanns and the Portuguese police. Officers have been infuriated by the couple's growing political influence.
Mr Mitchell has already categorically denied a claim in another Portuguese newspaper that he leaked
the police statements to Spanish television journalist Nacho Abad. "Why on earth would I?" he said.
Mr Abad has said the statements did not come from Mr Mitchell or the McCann's but refused to reveal
his source.
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18/04/2008
The
owner of the holiday flat where Madeleine McCann vanished wants to rent it out, it was claimed yesterday.
Ruth McCann - who is no relation - is said to be asking Ł19,500 a year from tourists for the Ocean
Club property in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The two bedroom flat has been empty since August.
A local paper claimed it will not be available until June because police need it for a reconstruction.
Ruth McCann refused to comment.
Maddie grab flat to be rented
The Sun
Published: 18 Apr 2008
THE flat from which Maddie McCann vanished is to be let again,
it was claimed last night.
Owner Ruth McCann — no relation to Maddie’s parents Gerry, 39, and Kate, 40 —
plans to charge Ł1,600 a month for the apartment in Praia da Luz, a Portuguese newspaper said.
It has been searched and examined by forensic teams since Maddie disappeared last May 3.
Meanwhile, Portuguese police may sue McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell for libel.
They are furious he accused them of “smearing” the couple.
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Madeleine: Stephen Lawrence's father Neville fears the McCanns' marriage could breakdown Daily Mail
By David Rose
Last updated at 23:20pm on 19th April 2008
Excerpt:
Worryingly, Neville sees dangerous signs that Kate and Gerry
McCann (the parents of missing Madeleine) are careering down the same dangerous road that he and Doreen did.
"I can see the same desperation on their faces - they are actually going through Hell," says Neville.
"And I can see the tell-tale signs of a split. When they walk together you can see. It's as if she is lagging a bit behind,
as though she doesn't want to be doing that [public campaigning].
"It's the body language - it's saying pain and anguish and desperation, and maybe not supporting
each other at the same time. Their whole lifestyle is a strain and it's taken its toll. I really hope I'm wrong, but 99 per
cent of couples who suffer trauma like this split up."
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Exclusive scandal of plan to charge Maddie mum 'Keystone Cop' fury
By Paul Lewis
20 April 2008
A shock new plan to charge
Kate McCann over daughter Maddie's kidnap was last night condemned as "spiteful and shameful".
British legal experts branded bungling Portuguese detectives "Keystone Cops" for considering neglect
charges.
And they claimed police wanted to nail grieving Kate to save face after failing to solve a year-old
crime that has made headlines round the world.
One lawyer said: "After an inquiry costing millions and unprecedented international help, these
Keystone Cops still haven't got a clue what happened to Madeleine.
The investigation was a mess from Day One.
"But rather than admit their abject failure, they've sought to shift the blame and smear the McCanns."
As we revealed last month, cops plan to clear Kate, 40, and hubby Gerry of playing any part in Maddie's
disappearance from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz on May 3 last year. But they ARE thinking of charging Kate with endangerment
for leaving Maddie and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie alone in the flat while she and Gerry, 39, dined with pals at a
nearby restaurant.
The offence carries a maximum jail term of ten years.
Lawyers pointed out the move comes just a week after the couple accused the Policia Judiciaria of
leaking a statement designed to smear GP Kate. She is said to have admitted that on the morning of the abduction, Maddie asked
her why she hadn't gone to her when she began crying in the night.
But one lawyer said: "This is spiteful and shameful.
"By charging her with endangering Madeleine they'd be implying, 'It's all the mother's fault for
leaving her' - as if that excuses them from not doing enough to find her.
"And it would mean washing their hands of Maddie when there's still a chance of finding her."
The lawyer added: "You have to ask why Kate's being targeted and not Gerry.
"Could it be the police are relying on her frankness in her statement to paint her as a bad mother,
to damn her by her own words?"
Kate and cardiologist Gerry, of Rothley, Leics, are both still suspects in the inquiry.
They have co-operated fully with cops throughout the probe.
And they were even considering returning to Portugal to take part in a police reconstruction of
events surrounding Maddie's disappearance.
But friends now fear Kate could be at risk of arrest if she goes back.
McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said last night: "We haven't heard through official channels
if they are considering this charge. But you'd have to ask yourself, 'Why now?'"
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McCanns risk 10 years in jail 24horas
Public Ministry prepares an accusation for Exposition/Abandonment and Negligence against Maddie's parents
Text: Carlos Tomas
Thanks to Joana Morais for translation
"The Public Ministry has collected enough evidence to accuse the McCanns even if there is or not
a re-enactment of the facts that occurred in the day the girl went missing". The guarantee was given to 24Horas by a judiciary
officer who has been following the investigation. The same source added that the indictment might only take place in July
and that the McCanns can incur in a penalty "that can go up to 10 years in jail". Another source connected to the case concluded:
"We know that the girl disappeared and there are strong evidences that she died in the apartment, apparently in an accidental
way. There are also strong probabilities that her corpse was hidden. Nonetheless, independently from that, there is clear
proof under the Portuguese Legislation that the parents of the child left her exposed to an eventual kidnapping, like they
did with her twin siblings. That is a crime of Negligence and Exposition/Abandonment over people they had the duty to protect.
Ongoing Investigations
Contacted by the 24Horas, Guilhermino Encarnaçăo, the assistant
director of the Judiciary Police and the very person in charge of the Directorship of Faro, merely said: "the investigations
continue and when there is something relevant to reveal" about the mediatic case "that will be done through the official channels".
A
source from Portimăo's Court assured to 24Horas that the Public Prosecutor Magalhăes e Menezes, the responsible for the administration
of the inquest, is already working in the accusations against the McCanns and that will be made public "very soon". That is,
the probability for the McCanns to stop being arguidos in the following months is almost null. 24Horas also knows that Robert
Murat and his companion [Michaela Walczuch] have strong possibilities of not being implicated in the accusation.
PJ want to see bank transactions of the McCanns TVI
The object of the investigators is to select which purchases were made before and after the disappearance of the girl
Article published at 21:21 on 21/04/2008
The PJ wants to gain access to the bank account movements of the parents of Madeleine McCann and
their seven friends who were accompanying them on their holiday in the Algarve.
The objective of the investigators is to find out which purchases were made before and after the
disappearance of the little girl. The PJ is also waiting for the results on the analyses of the biological samples sent
to the Birmingham laborartory.
Almost one year after Maddie's disappearance, many questions remain unanswered, in a process where
the secrecy of justice was once again extended. The only certainty is that the police investigation is inconclusive.
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Message to readers of this site, from Gonçalo Amaral - 22 April 2008As you can understand, I can't do any comment about the investigation on the "McCann Case"... (I have omitted the next
part, in the interests of privacy - it did not in any way compromise the judicial secrecy laws)
Looking towards my freedom of speech, I asked for my retirement last month. All the insults, false accusations and lie's
from the past year are now being brought to court from my lawyers (the very last one is from Daily Mail, yesterday).
I
would like to say thank you to the thousands of persons that every day, for the last year, are supporting me all over the
world. I would like to answer all the phone calls, emails and letters, but is not possible...there are so many! As you can
imagine, most of the days are not that easy, and these messages have been a great support not only for me, but also for my
family. Once again, thank you all!
You're allowed do display this message on you site, and I thank you for that. One last thing:
*Soon, very soon the world will know the "Truth about the Lie" and "we will gain truth and justice for a little girl who
has no voice", dead on the evening of May 3rd at apartment 5A, Ocean Club, Praia da Luz, Algarve, Portugal"*
Best regards,
Gonçalo Amaral
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Phone calls analysed with magnifying glass 24horas
The PJ is still waiting the for the transactions made with credit cards
Text: Carlos Tomas
(Thanks to 'Li' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
Only now have the PJ received the list of phone calls made by Maddie's parents and friends.
The registers of three persons are still missing.
"Drop by drop". This is the way how a responsible connected to the investigations on the disappearance
of Madeleine McCann describes the way that the data of the phone calls made by the parents and friends on that day arrive
to the PJ. The registers were asked for more than six months ago to the British but only now they begin to arrive.
"The British authorities have already sent us several invoices of phone calls made by the group,
including the McCanns, but there are still some registers missing", said the same source. We discovered that the missing data
are from three friends of the McCanns and that is the reason why the complete analysis cannot be made. "Everything is being
duly analysed but the crossing of the data means that we have to get the missing calls. Without them it is impossible to reach
any conclusion because two of the persons involved in the process are fundamental to the investigation", the source explained.
An investigator that was connected to the case in its initial phase said that "since the first hour
the investigations came up against bureaucratic problems".
"An investigation in a case like this must be quick. But when we tried to obtain evidence we were
confronted with incredible bureaucracy. An urgent rogatory letter took more than five months to be authorised", he added.
To cross phone data is now a team task directed by the director Guilhermino Encarnaçăo and by the
coordinator Paulo Rebelo.
Police and banks in silence
But apart
from the phone calls the public prosecutor Magalhăes e Menezes still waits the register of the bank transactions made by all
people that dinned in the Tapas Bar.
The objective is to know where the arguidos and the main witnesses were in the day the child disappeared.
"Although that request was made informally to the British police more than seven months ago and
officially requested afterwards in the rogatory letter (five months ago) the truth is that we do not yet have any reply",
said a police source to 24horas . Officially Encarnaçăo and Paulo Rebelo are laconic about the case. None of them say anything
because the process "is in secrecy of justice".
Madeleine Firm Scraps Baby Listening Sky News
Andy Jack, Sky News online
Updated:13:16, Wednesday April 23, 2008
The company which runs the resort where Madeleine McCann went missing has withdrawn baby listening
services at all its holiday facilities.
Madeleine's mother Kate says she had wanted to employ a baby
listening service at the Ocean Club in Portugal but none had been available.
Instead, she chose to physically check on her daughter every 30 minutes, while she and husband Gerry
ate at a tapas bar elsewhere in the complex.
Her comments come in a documentary marking the first anniversary of the four-year-old's disappearance,
to be screened next week.
It was while they were eating that Madeleine vanished from their apartment.
The resort in Praia da Luz is run by Mark Warner.
The company's Alex Woolfall told Sky News online: "We don't offer room listening services there,
in fact we never have - it says so in our brochures.
"Ocean Club is spread out over a wide area - it's like a whole village and you couldn't go round
and listen at every apartment.
"In fact we stopped offering the service at our sites altogether
last year. It's important to say to our guests we can offer safety. But you can't offer parents a guarantee of safety with
such a service and we didn't want them to have a false sense of security."
Mr Woolfall added: "What we do offer is drop-in creches, open in the evenings, where guests can
leave their children and go out for dinner."
The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, denied a report that Kate McCann criticises the holiday
firm in the documentary over the lack of a room listening service.
He told Sky News online: "She hasn't attacked them. It's a passing reference in a two-hour documentary.
In an ideal world there would have been a listening service but that wasn't the case. She's not dwelling on this point."
Madeleine's tearful mother: Why we didn't use a baby listening service Daily Mail
Last updated at 17:38pm on 23rd April 2008
Kate McCann breaks down in tears in a dramatic television documentary as she speaks of her regret
over the disappearance of daughter Madeleine.
Mrs McCann reveals how she and her husband Gerry instigated a regime to check on their children
- three-year-old Madeleine and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie - every half hour.
However Madeleine vanished while her parents were dining at a nearby tapas bar.
According to a television insider, Mrs McCann, 40, is understood to say: "We wanted to use a baby-listening
service but there wasn't one at the Ocean Club."
The source close to the documentary makers added: "She is very emotional. She breaks down on camera
at different points during the filming.
"It clearly shows her as a caring mother who misses her daughter very much. This is a woman grieving
and is clearly more emotional than she has ever been."
The source added : "The McCanns said they would have used a listening service but they also felt
their checks every 30 minutes were as effective."
A spokesman for Mark Warner said today that the McCanns had known there was no baby-listening service
at the resort when they booked their holiday.
They were informed that the Ocean Club - unlike its other resorts - did not offer the service because
accommodation is too spread out across the village of Praia da Luz. But the spokesman pointed out that there was a dropin
creche available for parents in the evening.
The McCanns chose not to use the service but to make checks themselves on their children in their
apartment.
The Mark Warner spokesman suggested that any criticism of the company over the lack of a listening
service was incorrect.
The spokesman said it had been contacted by the film-makers over the claim there was no listening
service.
Today, the couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell denied Mrs McCann had criticised the holiday company.
He said: "I wish to make it clear that Kate McCann does not attack Mark Warner for the absence of
a baby listening service at the Ocean Club in the forthcoming ITV documentary.
"For the record, she makes a brief factual reference to the absence of such a service in passing.
"In no way does she criticise Mark Warner or any of the company's services."
Mr and Mrs McCann, both doctors from Rothley in Leicestershire, are convinced their daughter was
abducted, although Portuguese detectives have made them official suspects in the investigation.
The two-hour fly-on-the-wall documentary is to be screened on ITV next Wednesday at 8pm, days before
the first anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance on 3 May last year.
An ITV film crew followed the McCanns for almost two months as they campaigned for a Europewide
alert system which would be put into practice when a child goes missing.
It also shows them travelling to the US, where they meet Ed Smart, whose daughter Elizabeth, 14,
was kidnapped in 2002 from her bedroom in Salt Lake City and found nine months later.
Mr Smart tells the couple not to give up the search. The source said: "The film shows a family going
through an awful ordeal, trying to find their daughter and doing their best to get her back."
Emma Loach, director of the documentary and daughter of film-maker Ken Loach, is understood to be
convinced of the couple's innocence.
• We would like to make it clear that Mrs McCann has not criticised Mark Warner in the forthcoming documentary to
be broadcast on the disappearance of her daughter Madeleine.
We would like to apologise to Mark Warner for any confusion caused
• The former chief investigator Goncalo Amaral is to quit the Portuguese police. Mr Amaral, 48, will retire less
than a year after being removed from the McCann case. Amaral was moved off the Madeleine inquiry after criticising British
police officers for being too close to the McCanns.
Text: Marisa Rodrigues
(Thanks to 'Li' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
Gonçalo Amaral former coordinator of the Department of Criminal Investigation of the PJ of Portimăo,
goes into retirement. The request for retirement was presented a month ago and was accepted last week by the National Directory
of the PJ. The JN knows that one of the motives for this decision were more than 38 years in the force and the wish to recuperate
his "freedom of expression". The former coordinator was the head of the investigations in the case of the British girl Madeleine
McCann and was removed due to declarations given to the "Diário de Notícias" with criticisms of the British police.
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McCann friend criticises 'leaks' BBC News
By Steve Kingstone
Page last updated at 06:18
GMT, Thursday, 24 April 2008 07:18 UK
A friend of Madeleine
McCann's parents has publicly criticised the Portuguese police for leaking information about the inquiry into the missing
child.
Rachael Oldfield, who was with Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leics, when their daughter disappeared
in May, said there had been a "double standard".
Witnesses had to remain silent, while Portuguese newspapers carried stories sourced to police, she
told the BBC.
The McCanns remain arguidos - suspects - but deny any wrongdoing.
In her first interview, Mrs Oldfield said: "We were made to understand we could face two years in
prison for speaking out, so as a group we've not said anything from day one.
"And there have been all these rumours flying around and leaks from sources close to the PJ [the
Policia Judiciaria - Portuguese police]."
Asked to characterise police actions, she replied: "Well, double standards. They leaked information
and these rumours which have flown around for the past year...
"We would have loved to have put the record straight."
Open inquiry
Touching on the events of 3 May when Madeleine went missing from a ground floor apartment in Praia
da Luz in the Algarve, Mrs Oldfield said it had been "agonising" to watch the McCanns' reaction.
She said: "Anyone with an ounce of common sense would be able to see they couldn't have done it."
Separately, a senior figure in Portugal with direct knowledge of the investigation has told a BBC
Radio 4 documentary there is only a slim chance of murder or manslaughter charges being filed against Kate and Gerry McCann
or Robert Murat, the third arguido.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted all lines of inquiry remain open, including
the original theory that Madeleine was abducted.
From within Portugal, the police are coming under pressure to make public the case files which,
under judicial secrecy laws, currently remain closed.
The President of the Portuguese Order of Lawyers, Antonio Marinho e Pinto, told the BBC: "There
are strong reasons to fear that judicial secrecy is being used... to conceal the fact that the police have gone down a blind
alley and don't have a way out."
Rachael Oldfield's interview can be heard on Searching for Madeleine, at 2000 BST, 24 April on BBC
Radio 4.
McCann friend slams Portuguese police over leaks Daily Mirror
By Mirror.co.uk 24/04/2008
One
of the 'Tapas Seven' pals of Kate and Gerry McCann has launched a furious attack on the Portuguese police, accusing detectives
of leaking sensitive case information to the media.
Rachael Oldfield was with the McCanns on the night their three-year-old daughter Madeleine disappeared
during a family holiday on the Algarve.
She insisted officers were guilty of "double standards" for insisting the group obey strict
secrecy laws.
Mrs Oldfield made the claims in her first interview since Madeleine went missing for a BBC Radio
4 documentary.
She told the BBC: "They leaked information and these rumours that have flown around for the past
year - it is outrageous. We have all felt very angry about it.
"We were asked to comply with the Portuguese judicial secrecy laws (under) which we were made to
understand that we could face two years in prison for speaking out.
"So, as a group, we have not said anything from day one. There have been all these rumours flying
around and leaks from sources close to the PJ (Policia Judiciaria), which we haven't been able to refute.
"We would have loved to have spoken out really and just put the record straight, but believed that
the investigation would be the best way of finding Madeleine if we co-operated with the police and complied by their rules
and regulations."
Defending the McCann’s, Mrs Oldfield said that it had been "agonising" to watch the couple’s
reaction when Madeleine went missing from a ground floor apartment in Praia da Luz on 3
May 2007.
She said: "Anyone with an ounce of common sense would be able to see they couldn't have done it."
The documentary, Searching for Madeleine, is broadcast tonight at 8pm
on BBC Radio 4.
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24horas - 24 April 2008 |
Gonçalo leaves to lose money 24horas
First coordinator of the PJ in the Maddie Case leaves the police
Text: Carlos Tomas
Sad with the way he was treated
by an institution he had served for 28 years, Gonçalo Amaral
decided to leave and go on vacation. He does not have to return.
Sad. This is how the coordinator of the PJ Gonçalo Amaral will leave the institution he served for
28 years. The man who initially directed the investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann leaves "Tired and saddened
by the way he was treated" by his superiors in the PJ, 24 Horas was told by several of his work colleagues.
The policeman
who was often attacked by the British media (see box) and who had to be withdrawn from the Maddie case by the PJ's National
Director, Alípio Ribeiro, after giving an interview to "Diario de Noticias" during which he criticised the British police,
decided to pack his bags and go on holiday ... and never to return.
He handed in the pre-retirement papers, for 48
years service, even though he knew that by doing so he was only going to receive 60% of his current salary - and will receive
little more than a thousand
euros per month.
"He is still not of retirement age nor has he completed a full period
of service. The difference must be payed to Social Security and you then receive about half the salary. But there are things
that are priceless. Dignity being one of them. And that was being taken away by senior officers of the PJ," an investigator
who worked with the PJ coordinator for more than ten years and who asked to remain anonymous told 24 Horas.
Many seizures
Gonçalo Amaral was responsible for dozens of seizures of drugs and, as well as the Maddie case,
led the other big media case; the investigation of the Joana case, the girl of 8 years who went missing from the village of
Figueira on the Algarve.
"This is a person who handles things well and whose intelligence and intuition are above average.
Also, he shows the kind of respect for the rights of the various people involved in cases that is rare to find," Guilhermino
Encarnacao deputy director of the PJ and the most senior officer in the Faro region assured 24 Horas, where Gonçalo Amaral
is still based.
The PJ coordinator who is now retiring was, among other positions, in charge of the PJ in Portimao..
24
Horas attempted to speak with Gonçalo Amaral, but it was not possible to contact him yesterday.
Hated by the English
Gonçalo Amaral never found favour with the British press. He was a victim, according to some of
his colleagues, of a campaign to discredit him, allegedly launched by PR advisors employed by the McCanns. By attacking the
English police, accusing them of wanting to protect Kate and Gerry, Amaral saw his career placed on hold, having been dismissed
by the National Director of the institution, Alípio Tibúrcio Ribeiro, on the 2nd of October 2007.
"Drunk", "fat" and
"incompetent" were some of the many adjectives with which Gonçalo Amaral was described by some of the British Press who were
questioning how the Maddie case was being conducted.
Before leaving the PJ, Gonçalo Amaral initiated proceedings against
several newspapers, and international radio and television channels, demanding compensation for the alleged defamation and
for abuse of press freedoms.
McCanns 'get no updates on inquiry' Ananova
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Madeleine
McCann's parents have so little contact with Portuguese detectives they can not be sure if police are still looking for her,
her father said.
Gerry McCann said he and his wife Kate were receiving no information on the progress of the investigation
and had been given no explanation as to why files are still being kept secret.
Rachael Oldfield, one of the couple's close friends and a key witness in the case, described the
situation as "astounding".
Interviewed for the documentary "Searching for Madeleine" on BBC Radio 4 Mrs Oldfield said the couple
have had no direct contact with Portuguese detective Paulo Rebelo, the man heading the inquiry.
And she accused the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) of "outrageous" leaking and "double standards" over
Portugal's strict secrecy laws.
Kate and Gerry McCann were declared "arguidos" - or formal suspects - in the case in September although
they deny any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Their status makes any contact with the police far less likely but they have received no information
on whether it is to be lifted.
"I think it's safe to say we're getting very little information," Mr McCann said.
"We haven't had any communication in terms of what's been done in the investigation."
Asked by interviewer Steve Kingstone whether he is convinced the police are still trying to find
his daughter, Mr McCann replies: "I don't know. We'd like to know why the files are still secret almost a year on with a change
in the penal code. We would like to know what is being done to find Madeleine."
Sergei Malinka was interviewed as a witness by the PJ in the Madeleine case.
By: CECÍLIA PIRES
Updated: 24 April
2008
SERGEI MALINKA is
said to be preparing libel actions against British and Portuguese newspapers in connection with the Madeleine case.
According
to Portuguese daily newspaper Metro, the Russian citizen will ask for payouts of 50,000 euros from each newspaper.
The
number and the names of the newspapers were not revealed and the information could not be confirmed with Mr Malinka by the
time The Resident went to press.
Sergei Malinka was interviewed as a witness by the PJ in the Madeleine McCann disappearance
case. He had professional connections to Robert Murat, who became the first arguido, official suspect, in the investigation
a few weeks after Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz, on May 3.
The Russian citizen created a website for online
property company Romigen, which was at the time owned by Robert Murat and Michaela Walczuch, another of the witnesses in the
case.
His action against the media follows news last week that Robert Murat (see The Resident edition of April 18)
had begun a number of libel actions against 11 newspapers and one TV station in the UK.
Making
history
Robert Murat’s legal representatives at the law firm Simons Muirhead & Burton confirmed
the targets were Sky, The Daily Express, The Sunday Express, The Daily Star, The Daily Mail, The Evening Standard, The Metro,
The Daily Mirror, The Sunday Mirror, The News of the World, The Sun and The Scotsman.
Reported as being the largest
libel claim in the history of the British media by an individual, it is estimated that the total payout could be more than
two million pounds if the action is successful.
Updated: 24 April
2008
Described as a service of hope and commemorating the year since Madeleine went missing, the
theme of the service is "we want you home" and will be remembering Madeleine. It will be held in both Portuguese and English.
Rui Pando Gomes/JCM
24 April 2008 - 00h30
It is with a hurt
feeling that Gonçalo Amaral, the former coordinator of the investigation in the disappearance of Madeleine, and also of Joana,
is going to leave the Policia Judiciaria, at the end of a 28 year career, to retire himself.
The request for retirement, which sums more than 38 years on the civil service (he started to work
for the army at the age of 14,
having gained in there some bonus years), was requested a little over a month ago.
But Correio da Manha knows that the decision was taken shortly after his removal from his position
of coordinator of the Department of Criminal Investigation of Portimăo, at the beginning of last October.
Gonçalo Amaral was replaced by Paulo Rebelo. The change was never well 'digested'. Back then, Gonçalo
Amaral, who had just turned 48 years old, immediately started to equate his future.
The CM knows that Gonçalo Amaral conveyed his disappointment to Alipio Ribeiro the national Director
of the PJ, a few days ago, after his request for retirement had been accepted by the national director of the PJ and the CGA.
"He doesn’t leave happy with the treatment received in the recent years. The institution didn’t
defend him on several occasions, especially in the last two cases in which he was involved, and that destroyed his image",
confided a source of the PJ to CM.
The future of Gonçalo Amaral may now consider a leadership job connected to justice or private
security. The CM knows that he received an invitation to lead a security team of a private enterprise,
but he hasn’t
decided if he is going to accept it or not.
Officially, the PJ doesn’t confirm or deny the retirement of the coordinator. "Only he can
answer that. It’s a personnal matter", said to CM the director of Faro’s PJ, Guilhermino Encarnaçăo.
Amaral went on vacation on March 5th and only returned to duty for a couple of days in April, because,
legally he could not be more than 22 days on holidays. Probably he won't return to PJ active duty.
"I don’t know if Gonçalo leaves happy or sad. If he wanted to stay a few more years or not.
I would do the same", says Carlos Anjos, president of the ASFIC.
The controller says that it's "one among dozens of PJ elements who want to leave this
year because they have gathered the conditions for retirement".
Profile
Gonçalo Amaral is 48 years old.
Married for the second time, the ex-coordinator of the PJ has three daughters. The youngest is four
– the same age as Madeleine – and the older is 23, from his first marriage.
He left his Engineering studies in Coimbra in 1981, to enter the PJ. He completed courses in
Sociology, Psychology, Psychiatry and Criminal investigation at Lisbon’s School of Police.
Later he achieved a law degree. Working for the PJ for 17 years, he made his way up to the
category of inspector.
BBC Radio 4 - Searching for Madeleine
By Steve Kingstone
24 April 2008
Are Police Still Looking For Madeleine? Sky News
Updated:23:50,
Thursday April 24, 2008
Gerry McCann says
he has so little contact with Portuguese detectives he cannot be sure if they are still looking for his daughter.
He said he and his wife Kate were receiving no information on
the progress of the Madeleine investigation and had been given no explanation as to why police files are still being kept
secret.
Rachael Oldfield, one of the couple's close friends and a key witness in the case, described the
situation as "astounding".
Interviewed for a documentary, Mrs Oldfield said the couple have had no direct contact with Portuguese
detective Paulo Rebelo, the man heading the inquiry.
And she accused the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) of "outrageous" leaking and "double standards" over
Portugal's strict secrecy laws.
Kate and Gerry McCann were declared "arguidos" - or formal suspects - in the case in September although
they deny any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Their status makes any contact with the police far less likely but they have received no information
on whether it is to be lifted.
"I think it's safe to say we're getting very little information," Mr McCann told the programme.
"We haven't had any communication in terms of what's been done in the investigation."
"We would like to know what is being done to find Madeleine.
"We'd like know who has been eliminated from the inquiry and on what grounds and what leads are
still being followed.
"We've always said we want to leave no stone unturned and to do that we need to know which stones
have already been overturned."
Mr McCann said he believed his daughter was still "probably alive" and he had seen "absolutely zero"
evidence to suggest otherwise.
He said hindsight showed he and his wife "made a mistake" in leaving the children alone, but he
dismissed suggestions the couple could face charges of child negligence.
On the same programme, Mrs Oldfield made a staunch defence of the couple against any suggestion
they might have been involved in their daughter's disappearance.
She said: "I was there on the night - it was agonising. There was just no way that they were involved
in anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.
"Anyone with an ounce of common sense really would be able to see that they couldn't have done it."
British expat Robert Murat was the first official arguido in the case.
His sister, Samantha, told the programme it was time he was officially cleared of involvement.
She said: "No matter what he does in his life now everyone is going to associate him as the suspect
in the Madeleine McCann case.
"It's been a year now and our family have gone through hell, not to mention what Robert's had to
go through on his own."
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Book solves Maddie case ...The book
will try to put an ending to the Madeleine case...
Correio da Manhă
Investigation: Explosive data reported by inspector Gonçalo Amaral
Rui Pando Gomes,
Friday April 25, 2008
(Thanks to 'Li'
from the3arguidos forum for translation)
The inspector
of the Criminal Police, Gonçalo Amaral, that coordinated the team who investigated Maddie's disappearance has already a title
for a book about the case: "Truth of the Lie", ‘Verdade da Mentira’.
The CM discovered that the book
is almost finished and contains explosive elements about the investigation concerning the disappearance of the British girl
in Praia da Luz, Algarve, the 3rd of May last year.
Apart from important data about what happened in that night in
the Ocean Club, the "several manoeuvres of counter information" around the big media case of the last years will be revealed.
"It
won't be something speculative but factual, with reports of someone who lived the case one hundred per cent", referred to
the CM Paulo Santo, the defence lawyer of the PJ's inspector who is in the process of retirement.
The lawyer
of Gonçalo Amaral, hired to defend his image after the controversy regarding his removal from the coordination of Maddie's
case, confirmed to the CM that there is already a publisher interested in the book.
"The fact that the retirement process
is not yet fulfilled and the secrecy of justice that are in place at this moment stipulate the publishing of the book" said
the lawyer of Gonçalo Amaral. The book will try to put an end to Maddie's case.
By VINCE SOODIN
Published: Today
(25/04/2008)
A PORTUGUESE police chief's reported plan to publish a book about the Madeleine McCann inquiry was described by her
parents' spokesman today as "outrageous".
Goncalo Amaral was the detective in charge of the investigation until he was removed in October
after criticising the British police in a newspaper interview.
According to the Portuguese paper Correio da Manha, he has nearly finished writing his account of
the case - and given it the working title Truth Of The Lie.
It is a factual account, said a spokesman for the detective, of a man who lived the investigation
"100%". A publisher is already said to be interested.
Referring to the proposed book and its title, Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said:
"Kate and Gerry have never lied at any stage. They have been utterly open and continue to be so.
"For a book of this nature to be published with such a prejudicial title by Mr Amaral would be frankly
quite outrageous."
The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were made official suspects in their daughter’s
disappearance after being interviewed by Portuguese police in September. They strenuously deny any involvement.
Mr Mitchell added: "It’s reported that it will not be published until Kate and Gerry's arguido
status is lifted. We are grateful to Mr Amaral for acknowledging that it will be lifted.
"Our lawyers will enjoy reading this book on its publication.
"We are also concerned to note that a serving police officer is proposing a book to cash in on Madeleine’s
disappearance.
"We also expect Mr Amaral to adhere fully to Portugal’s secrecy laws, as we have done all
along."
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Gerry has doubts about the investigation
Published: 26/04/2008
Maddie's Father doubts that the PJ is continuing to investigate the disappearance of his daughter on the 3rd of May
last year.
Gerry McCann, speaking to Sky News, posed the question to the Justice Department as to why no-one from
the PJ had contacted them with news about the case.
He is irritated that the details of the case remain inaccessible.
On the other hand, Gerry confessed to the "Daily Mail" that he is sorry about leaving Maddie in the apartment on that
fateful night. "Kate and I made a mistake, but we are paying for that more than people can imagine", he said, remembering
that at that point he found it "normal" to leave the children for dinner.
Since then Maddie's siblings are the subjects
of special monitoring. "We never leave them", swears Gerry.
Kate and Gerry McCann attacked in tell-all book Daily Mirror
By Stewart Maclean 26/04/2008
The police chief sacked from the Madeleine probe will hit out at Kate and Gerry McCann in a tell-all book, it was
revealed yesterday.
Shamed detective Goncalo Amaral will level devastating criticism at the couple in an explosive account
of his five months in charge of the case.
Details of the book emerged as Amaral, 48, prepares to leave the Portuguese force next month after
27 years.
He led the Madeleine probe after the four-year-old went missing last May and named Kate and Gerry
as suspects but was taken off the case in October for blasting British officers.
Kate and Gerry, who have always denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance, yesterday told
of their anger at Amaral's decision to cash in on their tragedy.
Spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "It's outrageous that Mr Amaral can express such an overtly prejudiced
view when he is still formally a member of the Policia Judiciaria.
"This man was intimately involved in the decision to make Kate and Gerry arguidos and it is upsetting
that he is now one of several police officers who seem to want to cash in on Madeleine's disappearance. Our lawyers will be
reading his book in fine detail."
According to one Portuguese newspaper, Amaral wanted to write the book to regain his "freedom of
speech".
'True Lies' of Maddie parents The Sun
By ANTONELLA LAZZERI
Published: Today
26 April 2008
THE disgraced cop who led the search for Maddie McCann has written a money-spinning book – pointing the finger
at her parents.
Goncalo Amaral, 48, who was booted off the case after five months, refuses to believe Gerry and
Kate McCann had nothing to do with the tot’s disappearance.
He authorised their status as suspects, but was removed after allegedly enjoying boozy lunch breaks
while leading the hunt in Portugal.
Amaral’s book True Lies accuses Maddie's parents of dumping her body at sea after accidentally
killing her. He says British police were too close to the couple and did not follow up leads he suggested.
His lawyer Paulo Santos said of the book: "It’s not speculative, but factual."
But the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We are not surprised at this.
"It is sad that people feel the need to make money out of Madeleine."
Maddie Case: Inspector
will reveal the whole puzzle
Rui Pando Gomes
(Thanks to jjp from
the3arguidos forum for translation)
What really happened on the night of May 3rd, in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine McCann disappeared, will be one of
the more "explosive" passages in the book that PJ Inspector Gonçalo Amaral is to write and wants, later, turned into a documentary.
The contents have already been examined by a publisher, who also proposed publication in English. According to CM's
source close to Gonçalo Amaral, "There is no definite date for publication," but, apparently, it will only be after the lifting
of the secrecy currently covering the investigation which is still ongoing at the Public Prosecution Service in Portimao.
It is the intention to reconstruct the celebrated case on film, as a documentary, and already there are producers
interested. "It will clear up all the lies that have been created and call into question the institutions that investigated
and are linked to the case," CM discovered from the same source, who has already got hold of passages from the future publication.
DETAILS
SECRECY
The publication of the controversial book
should only happen after the lifting of the secrecy restrictions on the case. "The intention is to restore the truth of what
happened that night and not to cause problems for the author," explained the 'CM' source close to Gonçalo Amaral.
REFORM
Despite being about to go into retirement, with 38 years of service - 26 in the police, 8 in military service and
a 20% subsidy - Gonçalo Amaral is in danger of receiving disciplinary action for the publication of the book. Even in retirement,
the inspector must comply with police disciplinary regulations.
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Madeleine McCann's exhausted mother has thought of giving
up search Timesonline
Steven Swinford
and Christopher Thompson
April 27, 2008 (First
appeared online April 26, 2008)
The mother of Madeleine McCann has admitted for the first time to having "desperate" days when she considers giving
up the search for her daughter.
Kate McCann, 40, says that lack of progress in finding Madeleine has left her feeling "down, desperate
and exhausted". The couple have also received a death threat and legal sources fear the Portuguese police may charge them
with neglect for leaving Madeleine alone while they dined in a nearby restaurant.
Despite all this their spirits have been lifted since they travelled to Washington last month where
they met Ed Smart, whose daughter Elizabeth was taken from her bed by a homeless preacher. She was found after nine months
of campaigning.
Footage of the emotional meeting between the McCanns and Smart, to be broadcast in an ITV documentary
on Wednesday, was released as the couple prepared to use this week’s anniversary to reenergise the search for Madeleine.
Kate said: "You have days when you're so down and desperate and tired, you think you've got to switch
off and I think, okay, we've tried really hard and we've come up with nothing and now we need to make the best of what we've
got. [But] we’re never going to hit that day. It doesn’t matter how small the possibility is [of Madeleine being
found alive], the possibility is still there."
Their young twins, Sean and Amelie, still include Madeleine in their games. "They make phone calls
to her on their toy phones, then go off to find her," she said.
"If they talk about her they will be told that Madeleine's not here and everyone’s looking
for her. It's not brushed under the carpet."
By Lori Campbell
April 27, 2008
Anguished Kate and Gerry McCann are to write a book about their year of hell since little Madeleine disappeared.
The
couple are desperate to tell the truth of their ordeal and plan to publish a tell-all book with the help of a ghost-writer
- with all proceeds going to the Find Madeleine Fund.
They have had "countless" approaches by publishers and writers
who want to help put their story into words and answer all the unfounded allegations they have faced.
Next Saturday
is the first anniversary of the day four-year-old Madeleine was snatched from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz,
Portugal.
As they prepare to mark the agonising milestone their official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "It will
be the family's story, the only official book. Kate and Gerry are both keen to put the truth of everything that has happened
to them on record.
"It will be a detailed account of their experience, from the pain of the night Madeleine was kidnapped,
to being named as official suspects in the investigation."
Kate and Gerry have been gagged by Portuguese secrecy laws
which ban them from speaking out while they are still "arguidos" (official suspects). They have been forced to stay silent
while detectives leak malicious stories about them to the Portuguese Press.
Disgraced police chief Goncalo Amaral,
who led the investigation, has angered the McCanns with plans to publish his own story. They have vowed to hit back once suspect
status is lifted.
Mr Mitchell added: "A number of books are being published in Portugal and the UK. Kate and Gerry
want the public to know the real truth."
The couple have been boosted by an "inspirational" meeting" with US dad Ed
Smart, reunited with his kidnapped daughter after nine months. The encounter is shown on Wednesday's ITV1 documentary Madeleine
One Year On: Campaign for Change.
27 April 2008
- 02h09
(Thanks to 'Li'
from the3arguidos forum for translation)
The clues investigated about what happened to Madeleine McCann inside the flat from where she disappeared, in Praia
da Luz, after investigation from the PJ will be published in the book of the ex-coordinator Gonçalo Amaral.
The CM
knows that the conclusions of the analysis to the vestiges found in the car rented by the McCanns, 25 days after are also
in the book of the inspector that is almost leaving the PJ after asking for his retirement. "It will be a nuisance for lots
of people", warns a source close to Gonçalo Amaral.
In reaction to the news, the McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell,
considers that the publication will only serve "to make money" which he considers as being "sad". Mitchell threatens Gonçalo
Amaral with lawsuits for defamation and slander.
By Georgina Dickinson
27 April 2008
DISTRAUGHT Kate and Gerry McCann
have told of their "long year of hell" as they prepare to mark the first anniversary of the disappearance of their daughter
Madeleine.
Kate, 40, revealed: "There were
many moments when we hit rock bottom and sobbed, wondering how we could survive without knowing where our little girl was.
"It is pure torture to deal with
and it has been a long year of hell.
MADDIE REWARD
"But what keeps
us going is our overwhelming faith that Madeleine is alive and will come home."
The little girl vanished from the couple's
holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007—just days before her fourth birthday.
She had been
left there with her two-year-old twin siblings Sean and Amelie while Kate and Gerry, from Rothley, Leics, ate at a nearby
restaurant.
Gerry, 39, added: "It is so hard at times, but we have to try and retain some normality for our other
children." In the past year, there have been a number of unconfirmed sightings of Maddie (above) and Portuguese cops even
named Kate and Gerry as formal suspects.
They revealed their turmoil to Ed Smart, whose 14-year-old daughter Elizabeth
was found nine months after she was abducted from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2002.
McCanns to write tell-all book about 'year of hell' since
Madeleine vanished Daily Mail
By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 18:08pm on 27th April 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann are to write
a book about their 'year of hell' without missing daughter Madeleine, it was revealed yesterday.
The couple could make up to Ł1million
in a deal for a tell-all memoir about Madeleine's disappearance and their eight months as police suspects.
Several publishers have approached
them amid intense interest in the year-long case, sparking the possibility of a bidding frenzy for the book.
The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell
said they wanted to raise money for the dwindling Find Madeleine appeal fund, and to counter a campaign of smears from inside
the police investigation.
Last week it emerged that the
former head of the Madeleine investigation, Goncalo Amaral, has written a book about the case, with the working title 'The
Truth of the Lie'.
Insiders said it would contain
explosive details about the police inquiry and the decision to name the McCanns as suspects, or arguidos.
Mr Mitchell confirmed that Mr
McCann, 39, had met with one publishing house and had been approached by several others.
He insisted any money raised by
a book would go to the Find Madeleine fund, and not to the McCanns themselves.
Mr Mitchell said: 'A number of
publishers have approached us, as have some authors, but no deal has been done.
'The idea of writing an official
book at some point is appealing. It's a legitimate way of raising money for the fund but would also give them a chance to
put across their side of the story, and to talk about some of the wider issues.'
The McCanns have considered a
series of lucrative deals to fund their continuing search for their missing daughter, who disappeared from their holiday apartment
in Praia da Luz, Portugal, almost a year ago.
Madeleine, then three, was left
alone with her two-year-old twin brother and sister while their parents went out for dinner nearby with friends.
They suffered a public backlash
after it emerged that their representatives had begun negotiations with the world's largest entertainment agency, IMG, over
selling the film rights to their story, and discussed bids from Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters in the U.S. for their first
major chatshow appearance.
Mr and Mrs McCann, of Rothley,
Leicestershire, remain desperate to raise money for the Find Madeleine fund amid fears that the Ł1.2million raised from public
donations will run out within months.
The independent television production
company Mentorn Media made a Ł10,000 donation to the fund in return for the couple's cooperation with a two-hour documentary,
due to be shown on ITV1 on Wednesday night.
In the film Mrs McCann, 40, spoke
of her renewed hope that her oldest daughter was still alive but admitted that on some days she was 'desperate' and considered
giving up.
She said: 'You have days when
you're so down and desperate and tired, you think you've got to switch off and I think, okay, we've tried really hard and
we've come up with nothing and now we need to make the best of what we've got.
'(But) we're never going to hit
that day. It doesn't matter how small the possibility is (of Madeleine being found alive), the possibility is still there.'
She added: 'There were many moments
where we hit rock bottom and sobbed, wondering how we could survive without knowing where our little girl was.
'It is pure torture to deal with
and it has been a long year of hell. But what keeps us going is our overwhelming faith that Madeleine is alive and will come
home.'
Mrs McCann, a former GP, told
how her twins Sean and Amelie, now three, used their toy phones to try to 'call' Madeleine and play games where they try to
find her.
Mr Mitchell said the couple were
'daunted' by the approaching anniversary on Saturday and the publicity surrounding it, but wanted to use it as a chance to
're-energise' the search for their missing daughter.
He said their detective agency
Metodo 3 continued to receive leads from all over the world and the McCanns were still inundated with letters of support.
Mr Mitchell refused to comment
on reports they had received death threats to their home but said they had contacted police over two letters.
He said: 'The vast majority is
supportive, or at least polite, but very occasionally there is something nasty. On two occasions we have had to refer it to
the police, but I don't want to go into any detail about that.'
A book about the couple's ordeal
could raise Ł1million for the Find Madeleine fund, according to the former head of buying for Waterstone's, Scott Pack.
He said: 'It could go for a million.
There is a feeling that we know everything there is to know about this story but the public are still fascinated.
'It has the potential to be of
enormous interest with buyers across the market, from the literary middle class audience who think "This could have been us"
to the mass market who buy books in supermarkets and have been devouring this story for a year.'
But publisher Patrick Jenson-Smith
said it could be difficult to sell 'a story without a conclusion'.
Books by Sara Payne, the mother
of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, and Kevin Wells, the father of Soham murder victim Holly Wells, both dominated the bestsellers
lists in Britain for months.
A series of books about the year-long
hunt for Madeleine, written by journalists, criminologist and policemen, have already proved popular in Portugal.
McCanns: why our hopes
are now renewed Guardian
Mark Townsend
Sunday April 27 2008
This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday April 27
2008 on p7 of the News section. It was last updated at 00:00 on April 27 2008
Gerry McCann is more convinced
than ever that his daughter Madeleine is alive, following a meeting with US detectives.
Almost exactly a year after she
disappeared from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on 3 May, he firmly believes the youngster is 'out there' after assurances
from officers involved in America's system for tracking down missing children.
McCann and his wife, Kate, met
officials from the US Amber Alert system, who reassured them that the majority of abducted children are found alive and that
Madeleine's age -four - increased her chances of being found safe and well.
During a recent trip to the US,
the couple also met Ed Smart whose teenage daughter, Elizabeth, was missing for nine months before being found alive. Smart
campaigned vigorously to keep his daughter's disappearance in the media until a passer-by recognised her with her abductor
in the street.
McCann said: 'We've spoken to
a lot of people who have said that this is a country that has more than two stereotypical kidnappings per week, and of those
only 40 to 50 per cent end up being found dead and, most importantly of all, the younger the child, the less likely the serious
harm.
'And yes, there was a first time
I've thought: "I really believe it".'
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Gonçalo Amaral called her "cold" and said that Kate McCann was an "actress" Diário de Notícias
PEDRO SOUSA TAVARES
28.04.08 (Thanks to 'Li' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
An article from a Spanish newspaper
ridicules the inspectors of the PJ.
It is a very hard article for the Portuguese police in general and to Gonçalo
Amaral in particular, the one that was published on Sunday in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
The phrase concerning Kate
McCann was atributed to Gonçalo Amaral, the cop who was removed from the case after criticism of the British police:
"You did not see the mother (of
Madeleine). You do not know the mother. She is cold. She is cunning. She is an actress".
The journalist that writes
the article, Aníbal Malvar, had been already in Praia da Luz and has been following the case. The declarations were given
presuming that the source would not be identified. But the journalist considers that after the retirement of the inspector
there is no need to maintain the anonymity.
The conversation was based in the criticism made to the inspector by the
British press. But Gonçalo Amaral was only offended by the comments concerning his outfits: "He is not concerned of being
classified as a drunk. What upsets him is that the British press talks about his wrinkled outfits. "Damn Aníbal. This suit
is Hugo Boss".
Aníbal Malvar divulges also a conversation between the inspectors Joăo Tavares and Francisco Meireles
that he heard. In the pieces quoted, Joăo Tavares appears describing the virtues of "improvisation" of the "Portuguese cops".
"We cannot lose our intuition as cops... We have to be wilful, we are not Norwegian. We are Portuguese and the Portuguese
cops improvise, count on intuition". And he adds "We smoke, we like to eat and to drink".
The article clearly states
that the Portimăo police "is convinced that the couple is guilty in the disappearance of the daughter. And that they manage
to hide it thanks to their high level influences".
The DN tried to contact Gonçalo Amaral to comment. Carlos Anjos,
from the Union of the Criminal Investigators said that "the Spanish have many more cases of missing children than we have
in Portugal". And he added concerning this reportage: "If every time that a crazy or any other person, or whatever, says bad
things about the police we had to comment or react we would not do anything else. We must have the notion that people are
free to express their opinions, each person has his/her opinion".
'Sometimes we just feel like giving up,' say McCanns Daily Mirror
By Martin Fricker And Ron Moore
28/04/2008
Shattered Kate McCann has admitted
she sometimes feels like giving up the desperate search for her missing daughter Madeleine.
The heartbroken GP says the year-long
hunt for the four-year-old has left her and husband Gerry on the brink of exhaustion.
Numerous "sightings" of the blonde
toddler have turned out to be false alarms. The couple have also had to cope with being made arguidos - formal suspects in
the case. They have even received death threats.
Publicly GP Kate and Gerry continue
to insist Madeleine is still alive and will one day be returned to them. But privately they are racked by doubts. Kate, 40,
said: "You have days when you're so down and desperate and tired, you think you've got to switch off.
"I think, okay, we've tried really
hard and we've come up with nothing and now we need to make the best of what we've got.
"But we're never going to hit
that day. It doesn't matter how small the possibility is of Madeleine being found alive, the possibility is still there."
She revealed their two younger
children, three-year-old twins Sean and Amelie still miss their big sister.
They make pretend calls to her
on a toy phone and search the house to see if they can find her.
Kate and Gerry believe it would
not be right to hide the truth from them.
She said: "If they talk about
her they will be told that Madeleine's not here and everyone's looking for her. It's not brushed under the carpet.
"Sometimes Sean and Amelie try
to ring her on their toy phones, then go off to find her."
Members of the McCann family will
return to Praia da Luz in Portugal later this week to mark Saturday's anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.
Gerry's brother John, 48, his
sister Patricia and her partner Sandy hope to give the search new impetus.
Kate and Gerry asked them to go
on their behalf to join with Portuguese villagers for a special service.
Kate and Gerry will mark the occasion
privately at their home in Rothley, Leics.
Madeleine's gran, Eileen McCann,
said last night: "Kate is trying to keep life normal for the twins, but they are just not a family unit without Madeleine."
Meanwhile it emerged yesterday
that the McCanns are to write a book about their ordeal - with all proceeds going to the Find Madeleine Fund.
Twins pick up the phone every day and say 'Where are you Maddie?' The Sun
From VERONICA LORRAINE
in Praia da Luz, Published: Today
MADELEINE McCann’s anguished
little sister and brother pick up the phone every day to ask, "Where are you?", their grandmother said yesterday.
Eileen McCann, 67, opened her
heart about the family’s ever-present pain – just days before the first anniversary of four-year-old Maddie’s
disappearance last May 3.
Eileen, who is the mother of Maddie’s
dad Gerry, told how twins Sean and Amelie, three, desperately miss her. And she heaped praise on their mum Kate.
The retired bookkeeper said:
"Kate and Gerry don’t have to remind the twins that Madeleine is no longer there, because they ask where she is all
the time.
"They pick up the phone to speak
to her and ask, 'Where are you?'
"Kate is a very capable mother.
She is trying to keep life normal for the twins. She takes them to playgroups twice a week.
"But they are just not a family
unit without Madeleine.
"Anyone who knows Gerry and Kate
knows that they cherished Maddie. They never lifted a hand to her. I could never imagine either of them hurting her."
Upset
Eileen, from Glasgow, revealed
that she knew her blonde granddaughter had been abducted the moment she learned she had vanished from the family’s holiday
flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Recalling one phone conversation
with Gerry, she said: "He said there was no sign of Madeleine.
"I said, 'She’s been taken,
pet'. Gerry told me he was positive I was right, but the police were treating her as missing.
"I knew Madeleine had been abducted,
I just knew it in my heart. She would never have got up and gone off on her own.
"She wouldn't have left the twins,
because she was like a mother figure to them.
"If someone lifted her out of
bed Madeleine would have screamed the place down. That girl could throw a tantrum if she wanted to and she and the twins were
quite shy about meeting new people.
"I just can’t imagine what
happened. Gerry said he put Madeleine and the twins to bed and read them all a story.
"He and Kate didn’t leave
until after 8pm and the children were sound asleep. They then checked on them every half-hour.
"Who could have imagined that
somebody would take Madeleine as she lay sleeping?
"Somebody came into Maddie’s
room, carried her out in her pyjamas and we just don’t know where she is. It’s the stuff of nightmares. Whoever
did this is a monster."
Kate, 40, and Gerry, 39, have
told how their confidence Maddie could be found alive was renewed after visiting a US specialist centre.
The McCanns saw how America’s
nationwide Amber Alert system is used to find missing children.
Gerry says in a TV documentary:
"This is a country that has more than two kidnappings per week. Only 40 to 50 per cent are found dead. And, most importantly,
the younger the child, the less the likelihood of serious harm. People experienced in these investigations are saying, 'I
really believe she's out there' – and I thought, 'I really believe it'."
The couple met Ed Smart, whose daughter Elizabeth
was missing for nine months before being found.
They also went to the headquarters
of the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
The centre says 80 per cent of
children rescued are found within 72 hours of the Amber Alert being activated. Sixty-eight children were rescued as a result
last year alone. In the film, Kate admits some days are "desperate", but says: "I feel more positive about the chances of
Madeleine being out there."
The documentary, Madeleine, One
Year On: Campaign for Change, is on Wednesday at 8pm on ITV1.
Saturday’s anniversary of
Maddie’s disappearance will be marked in her home village with prayers for missing children around the world. The church
of St Mary and St John, in Rothley, Leics, will also stay open all day for people to call in and pray.
THE Sun has made a donation
to the Find Madeleine fund.
Our true story
Kate and Gerry McCann plan to
tell of their 12 months of torment in a book.
Portugal's strict secrecy laws
have prevented them from speaking out about the investigation while they are official suspects.
But they hope that status will
soon be lifted, leaving them to enlist a ghost-writer to put their side of the story. Last night family spokesman Clarence
Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry are keen to put the truth of everything that has happened to themn record. It will be a detailed
account of their experience.
The McCanns are desperate to hit
back after it was revealed that police chief investigator Goncalo Amaral is to publish his own controversial version of events.
Cops Probe Muslim Attacks on McCanns Daily Star (No online link, appears in paper version only)
28/04/2008
Vile
slurs on Maddie Parents
Police are set to investigate a vile attack on Madeline McCans parents by Muslim
extremists. In a hysterical rant on an internet website fanatics blame the couple for her disappearance. They also call on
Kate, 40 and Gerry, 39 to "embrace islam".
The tirade comes as the McCanns prepare to mark the first anniversary of
Maddies disappearance in Protugal last May two days before her 4th birthday. Last night a close family pal called on police
to probe the rant. He said "Statements like this are clearly designed to whip up hatred and should be an issue for the police"
Tory
MP Patrick Mercer added "I am appalled that this poor family should be attacked in such a manner."
Fanatical cleric
Abu Waleed is believed to be behind the rant. The website features footage of him speaking at the London School of Shariah,
which provides a platform for firebrand Muslim preachers. The brit-born radical is already facing a police probe for allegedly
inciting racial hatred. He claimed one in 8 muslims would be proud to related to a terrorist. He was also vidoed making sick
jibes about the London 7/7 bombings and instructed Islamic students on how to cheat taxpayers.
On the website an un-named
blogger wrote "The recent so called 'disappearance' of Madeleine McCann is nothing more than another fruit of British values
at their best. So called moral values which we, the Muslim community, are rather sick of hearing". It added "Kate and Gerry
McCann really should question so called Western values and embrace Islam - as should the rest of the British public".
Last
night a spokesman for the London School of Sharia said "Mr Abu Waleed is not available to speak to you on any of these matter."
Kate McCann is 'a cold actress', claims embittered police chief sacked from Madeleine investigation
Daily Mail
Last updated at 15:40pm on 28th April 2008
The disgraced head of the Madeleine
McCann investigation called distraught mother Kate McCann a 'cold actress', it has been claimed.
Goncalo Amaral accused Mrs McCann,
40, of controlling her emotions, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported.
He told a journalist: 'You didn't
see the mother, you don't know the mother, she is cold, she is astute, she is an actress.'
Mrs McCann, a GP, faced widespread
criticism over claims she did not weep for her missing daughter Madeleine.
It later emerged she was advised
by British police not to display emotion as an abductor could derive some sick pleasure from watching her suffer.
Amaral, 48, was sacked from the
Madeleine investigation after he launched an astonishing attack against British police, accusing them of only investigating
leads which helped the McCanns.
He is facing trial over claims
he covered up the alleged torture of a mother of another missing girl, who vanished from the village of Figueira, some 30
miles from Praia da Luz.
It also emerged today that police
are investigating a death threat made against Mr and Mrs McCann.
They have passed on details of
hate mail - including the threat - to detectives after it was delivered to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell
confirmed today: "Kate and Gerry still get armfuls of mail every day and it is all read.
"The vast majority is supportive,
or at least polite, but very occasionally there is something nasty.
"On two occasions we have had
to refer it to the police but I don't want to go into any detail about that."
He said one, however, was a threat
against their lives.
Kate and Gerry are preparing to
be thrust back under the spotlight, with next weekend marking a full year since Madeleine's disappearance.
Mr Mitchell said: "They recognise
it is an opportunity to re-energise the search for Madeleine."
Some members of the missing four-year-old's
family are set to fly to the coastal resort to mark the anniversary in Saturday but Mr and Mrs McCann will remain at their
home.
Her uncle and aunt John McCann
and Trisha Cameron are expected at a special church service in Praia da Luz.
But the Anglican chaplain Father
Haynes Hubbard, who will conduct prayers, confirmed her parents had decided against attending on Saturday.
Father Hubbard said: "This was
an act of violence and an act of evil but we will continue praying for her."
The missing child's parents,who
have participated in an ITV documentary to be broadcast on Wednesday, are officially suspects in the Portuguese investigation
but deny any wrongdoing. Mr Mitchell said the couple may write a book about their daughter and their year.
He said: "The idea of writing
an official book at some point is appealing. It's a legitimate way of raising money for the fund but would also give them
a chance to put across their side of the story, and to talk about some of the wider issues."
Scott Pack, a former head of buying
for Waterstone's, said the McCanns' book would fall into the category of "misery memoir".
He said: "It's bound to go for
a decent amount and I think you're talking of at least Ł500,000. It could go for a million.
"It has the potential to be of
enormous interest with buyers across the market - from the little middle-class audience who think, 'This could have been us'
to the mass market who buy books in supermarkets and have been devouring this story for a year."
McCann's private detectives investigate attempted abduction of girl just 30 miles from Madeleine
resort
Daily Mail
Last updated at 15:39pm on 28th April 2008
Private detectives hired by Kate
and Gerry McCann are investigating the attempted abduction of a girl less than 30 miles from where Madeleine went missing,
it emerged today.
A Dutch man has claimed that a
stranger matching a description given in the McCann case tried to drag his daughter into his car in the village of Senhora
da Rocha on the Algarve, southern Portugal, last month.
The would-be abductor was said
to be in his 40s with a long pony tail - a description compatible with that of a man seen by British holidaymaker Gail Cooper
acting suspiciously in Praia da Luz several times in the weeks before Madeleine's disappearance.
Mrs Cooper, from Nottinghamshire, spoke of
seeing an olive-skinned man with long and straggly dark hair and a drooping moustache.
Her account was used to generate
an artist's impression of the man which led to a string of new calls. The Dutch man reported the incident, which happened
on March 11 this year, to Portuguese Police.
But it is understood that Metodo
3, the Spanish-based private detective agency working for the McCanns, is also looking into the matter.
Clarence Mitchell, the couple's spokesman,
said: "Metodo 3 the investigative arm will study the details of this particular attempted abduction and will review it in
liaison with the police."
He played down the significance
of the latest claim saying it could be completely unrelated to Madeleine's disappearance from the McCanns' holiday apartment
in Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
But he added: "The man in the
vehicle appears on the face of it to match or be close to our description of the man that Gail Cooper saw... that's why it
is of interest.
"Kate and Gerry still believe
in the absence of any evidence to the contrary that she's still alive. "Incidents like this give them hope in the sense that
it could be a potential lead."
The couple are preparing to mark
the 1st anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance this weekend.
The Dutch girl's father - who
does not want to be named - told Sky News that his daughter had been walking back from a supermarket when she was followed
by a man in a black 4x4 which stopped in front of her.
"He then grabbed her but my daughter
fought him," he is quoted as saying. "Another car arrived and he drove off."
Inspector Gonçalo Amaral will sue the media that 'defamed' him
SOL
28th April 2008
(Thanks to 'astro' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
The
inspector from the Policia Judiciaria in Portimao and former investigator in the Maddie case, Gonçalo Amaral, is going to
sue the media that "defamed and insulted him", his lawyer stated today
"All the persons that have directly or
indirectly insulted and defamed him, and questioned his honorability in the media, will be sued", António Paulo Santos guaranteed.
The
lawyer offers some examples of "offensive" words that were used by the English media, like "drunk, womanizer, greasy and torturer".
The
former coordinator of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann recently requested his retirement from
the Policia Judiciaria (PJ), alleging that he "has no conditions to continue".
"He wants to leave because he was personally
attacked while performing his professional duties, and the institution failed to defend him, as it should", the lawyer said,
adding that the inspector, who has been at the service of the Policia Judiciaria for over 20 years, "feels lonely".
Questioned
about an article that was published in Spanish newspaper El Mundo, which attributes several citations to Gonçalo Amaral, portraying
Kate, the mother of Madeleine McCann, as "cold, astute, an actress", the lawyer says they are "a complete lie".
"Those
statements are a complete lie. Gonçalo Amaral never told the journalist anything. They seem to be citations that were collected
from the book about Maddie, which was written by former PJ inspector Paulo Cristóvăo", he referred.
Madeleine McCann
disappeared on the 3rd of May of 2007 from the Ocean Club tourist resort, located in Praia da Luz, Algarve, while she slept
with her siblings Sean and Amelie and her parents, Kate and Gerry, dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.
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Attack on young girl investigated 24horas
The British press relates the case with Maddie's disappearance
Text: Carlos Tomás
(Thanks to 'Li' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
A man attempted to kidnap
a girl in the area of Senhora da Rocha, Algarve. The GNR (National Republican Guard) is investigating but refuses to make
any connection to the disappearance of the British girl.
A girl of 15-years old was the
victim of an attempted seizure in the area of the village of Senhora da Rocha, Algarve. The girl says that on 11th of March
she was approached by a man who tried to put her in a jeep but she managed to escape. Her father presented a complaint to
the GNR of Lagoa and the girl described the suspect as being 35 to 45 years old, around 1.80 meters high, thinning beard and
long hair.
Sky News reported the case yesterday, but
the girl's father denounced any connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Sources from the PJ and GNR
deny any connection and talk about "diverting manoeuvres of people without scruples". "The attempted seizure of the Dutch
girl, if it existed, has no connection with Maddie's case, according to the investigations made by the GNR.
"Someone is trying to throw dust
to the eyes of the public opinion" said a source of the Public prosecutor to 24horas.
Maddie's parents also do not want
to connect the cases. "The McCanns were informed of the case through Sky. The Método 3 detectives are going to investigate
to see if there is any connection but for the time being we don't see any. The circumstances are different" said the spokesman
of the family to 24horas. According to Clarence Mitchell, for now, the McCanns don't want "to speak with the father
of that girl".
Secrecy of justice
A GNR responsible confirmed to
24horas that a complaint exists concerning the alleged attempt to seize the Dutch girl: "The complaint
was made on 11th of March by the father of the girl and the case is still in a phase of enquiry. To relate this occurrence
with the disappearance of the McCannss' daughter is pure speculation". This source confirmed that the GNR was appointed by
the Public Prosecutor to investigate the case and could not say any more because "everything is in secrecy of justice".
John McCann arrives to Portugal next saturday to mark one year of the disappearance
Gerry's
brother is going to pray for Madeleine at Praia da Luz.
Next Saturday, 3rd of May, John McCann will be in Praia da
Luz to mark one year of the disappearance of Maddie. John will come with his sister Patricia and her husband, Sandy, and also
Michael Wright, Kate's cousin. During Saturday morning John McCann and his relatives will visit the Luz church to participate
in a mass. John will thank everybody that supported the couple and will make a statetment to the press, said Clarence Mitchell.
In Rothley, England, the priest
of the local Catholic church will make at 11:30 a sermon dedicated to all the children missing in the world with a mention
to Maddie. Kate and Gerry have not yet decided if they will attend. Candles and lamps will be lit in England and in the
world to remember Maddie between 21:30 and 22:30.
Arson Attack Linked To Madeleine Suspect Sky News
Alex Watts, Sky News Online, Praia da Luz
Updated:08:00, Tuesday April 29, 2008
Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat says
he is not worried about his safety after a business associate's car was torched and the word "talk" scrawled next to it.
Sergey Malinka's silver Audi saloon was destroyed in an arson
attack in the early hours outside his home in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal.
Next to it was the Portuguese word "fala" ("talk")
daubed crudely in red paint on the pavement.
The Russian IT expert, who designed a website
for Mr Murat, came to attention last year when police searched his home and seized computers two weeks after Madeleine vanished
in the Algarve resort.
Portuguese police also investigated telephone calls between
Mr Malinka and Mr Murat on the night she disappeared.
Mr Murat's lawyer Francisco Pagarete told Sky
News Online he had no idea why the incident happened, or the motives behind it, and said his client had not been subjected
to any threats or attacks himself.
Mr Pagarete told Sky News Online his client
had received threats and hate mail in the early days of the investigation, "but not fortunately now".
He added: "This has nothing to do with Robert, we don't know
who did it. With this incident, he has nothing to worry about."
The blast took place 30 yards from Mr Malinka's
home in a small cul-de-sac, damaging an Opel Zafira parked next to it.
Mr Malinka was unavailable for comment, when
Sky News Online tried to contact him in Praia da Luz.
But he told the Portuguese daily newspaper
Correio da Manhă he does not understand the message left on the pavement and is "tired" of the Madeleine case.
"I don't know what to do anymore," he said.
"I go to church every week, I pay my taxes, I don't deserve this. I want to be left alone."
Cops probe death threats to Maddie's parents Daily Star
By Jerry Lawton
29th April 2008
POLICE are probing a death threat made against Madeleine McCann’s parents, it was revealed last night.
Kate, 40, and Gerry, 39, were sickened and horrified by the message, mailed to their home.
Detectives are already probing another threatening letter, the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said.
He added: "Kate and Gerry still get armfuls of mail every day and it is all read.
"The vast majority is supportive, or at least polite. But very occasionally there is something nasty.
"On two occasions we have had to refer it to the police but I don’t want to go into any detail about that." He
said one letter contained a direct threat against their lives.
The couple, from Rothley, Leics, are preparing to mark Saturday’s first anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance
on May 3.
They remain official police suspects but insist Madeleine, now four, was abducted from their apartment in Praia da Luz,
Portugal.
Mr Mitchell said the couple may write a book to raise cash for the search. Booksellers said it could make Ł1million.
Mr Mitchell added: "It's a legitimate way of raising money for the fund but would also give them a chance to put
across their side of the story – and to talk about some of the wider issues."
Independent TV production company Mentorn Media has made a Ł10,000 donation in return for the couple’s co-operation
with a two-hour documentary on ITV1 tomorrow at 8pm.
In the film Kate speaks of her renewed hope that Madeleine is still alive but admitted that sometimes she was "desperate"
and considered giving up.
She said: "It is pure torture to deal with and it has been a long year of hell.
"You have days when you’re so down and desperate and tired.
"You think you’ve got to switch off and think: 'OK, we've tried really hard and we've come up with nothing and
now we need to make the best of what we’ve got.'"
Her mum Susan Healy, 62, said: "I think Kate feels she needs to know what's happened to Madeleine because of her imagination.
"Kate said: 'If Madeleine is dead I need to know.' That goes for us as well."
Last night the McCanns confirmed they would not be returning to Portugal to mark the anniversary.
José Manuel Oliveira
29/04/2008 (Thanks to 'Li' from the3arguidos forum for translation)
The book "Truth of the lie", that Gonçalo Amaral, ex coordinator of the investigations in Madeleine's case is going to
launch is already creating a huge expectation in Portugal and in England.
Gonaçalo Amaral always believed that Madeleine died in the flat in an accidental way although the hypothesis was denied
initially. Who, how and why were his doubts. Madeleine's body was hidden and thrown to the sea and probably no longer exists,
this was the way to destroy the evidences of what happened on that awful night, almost a year ago. In his book, Gonçalo Amaral
will insist in that thesis, describing the situations that occurred, particularly with the girl's mother, arguida in this
process, as well as the father and subjected to Term of Identity and Residence. It's known that the PJ investigators admitted
to arrest Kate McCann after two long days of interrogations on the 6th and 7th September last year and present her to the
criminal judge of Portimăo's court.
For Gonçalo Amaral, Truth of the Lie will be a way, above all, of "defending his image" as a criminal investigator. "He
was compelled to retire, situation that will occur within three months, leaving the PJ with his reputation tarnished. And,
for the time being he will be unemployed", regretted to the DN sources close to Gonçalo Amaral, in Algarve. His lawyer, Paulo
Santos, that works with him in the preparation and publishing of the book, was Amaral's colleague during more than 30 years
in the PJ, in Lisbon.
Kate McCann's mother 'wanted to shake her' for leaving Madeleine Telegraph
By Caroline Gammell in Praia da Luz
Last Updated: 4:14PM BST 29/04/2008
Kate McCann’s mother wanted to shake her daughter and son-in-law for leaving Madeleine on her own the night
she went missing, she has said.
Susan Healy, who travelled to Portugal as soon as she heard about her grandaughter's disappearance, said the first question
she asked the couple was "where were you?".
Speaking just days before the first anniversary of the night Madeleine vanished, Mrs Healy, 62, said it was a question
she had repeatedly asked herself.
"You find yourself over and over again in your head thinking: 'Why did they think it would be all right?'" she said.
"Why did they think - all of them - it was OK to do this? I think they were beguiled into thinking it was OK - but there
was no CCTV, no security.
"There is this acceptance among couples with young children, like Kate and Gerry and their friends, that these are good
resorts and safe environments. I could shake all of them, every single one of them." Mrs Healy, from Allerton in Liverpool,
said the McCanns have had to live with the fact that they left Madeleine in an unlocked apartment while they went for dinner.
"At the end of the day they thought they had taken adequate provision… no one looks after their children better
than Kate and Gerry. That's why it's so amazing they can be in this situation."
Reports have been circulating in Portugal that the couple may be prosecuted for neglect, a claim strongly rejected by
the couple’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell.
"That rumour has been floating around for a while," he said.
"If that did happen, why now? Why should they face such a charge now given that nothing has changed?
"If that charge was put to them, it would be defended robustly. The legal advice that they have received is that what
they did that night with regular checks on the children was part of reasonable parenting.
"They have committed no offence under any law in Portugal or the UK."
Mrs Healy recalled the moment she heard that Madeleine was gone – in a late night telephone call from Mr McCann.
"It was about 11.30ish when Gerry rang," she told the Liverpool Echo.
"I picked up the phone, but the last thing I expected was that it was going to be Gerry on the other end.
"He said something like 'It's a disaster'. I was grappling to understand 'disaster'.
"His next words were 'Madeleine has been abducted from her bed in the apartment'. I said 'No, Gerry'. I asked him 'Where
were you?'"
She and her husband Brian packed immediately and flew to the Algarve to be with their daughter, their only child.
"I remember, after we got to the hotel complex, looking at the little paddling pool and all the children there. I was
thinking 'This time yesterday, Madeleine was playing there'.
"I don't know who I hugged first, but I'll never forget how Kate and Gerry were that day - they were absolutely wailing."
Mr Healy added: "I remember Kate's first words to me - I'll never forget them.
She said: 'She'll be so frightened.'"
Mrs Healy has been staunch defender of her daughter and has spoken out in the past about how Mrs McCann has felt persecuted
by parts of the media.
Last October, she claimed that her daughter told her: "If I weighed another two stone, had a bigger bosom and looked
more maternal, people would be more sympathetic."
But Mrs Healy said her real anger came when the McCanns were made suspects – or arguidos – in Madeleine’s
disappearance.
"They had told the police they were going to come home. I think that moved things on for the police and they told Kate
and Gerry they wanted to question them again.
"Gerry did ring to warn us that they were likely to be made arguidos, I think it was a few days before. I nearly had
a dicky fit. I was amazed and angry. Very angry."
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'I Refused To Be Railroaded By Cops' Sky News
Updated:07:26, Wednesday April 30, 2008
Kate McCann has told how she refused to be "railroaded" by Portuguese police when they first accused her of being involved
in Madeleine's disappearance.
The four-year-old's mother said, in an ITV documentary, that she reacted angrily as detectives
declared her and husband Gerry "arguidos" or formal suspects in the case.
The McCanns are banned by Portuguese judicial secrecy laws from speaking about what happened inside the police station.
But she came close to openly addressing claims that police tried to press her to say she accidentally killed Madeleine
to face a reduced sentence.
She said: "There was no way I was going to be railroaded into something.
"It felt
like you're in the middle of a horror movie really, a nightmare."
Thinking back to the realisation they might be implicated,
Mrs McCann said: "It just hit home - 'they haven't been looking for Madeleine'.
"I just felt yet again my daughter's had such disservice... I just thought she deserves so much better than that, and
I thought I'm not going to sit here and allow this."
She went on: "When I was going in to become arguido, because I felt angry, I felt strong.
"I wasn't scared. I
felt like I was going to fight the world to be honest. My daughter was worth more than all that and I would do whatever it
took to fight for justice and truth."
Mr McCann tells of his fears he and his wife could even be charged - and all
that would mean for the family.
"The speculation takes you to the worst places," he said.
"And at that point
you know the worst place would have been being charged, potentially being put in jail, certainly being detained to face charges
that could have taken, I don't know, years to materialise - being separated from Sean and Amelie.
"These sort of things
were going through your mind and you're, because it's a system that you're unfamiliar with, you don't know what could happen."
Kate's tears over hate mail threats The Sun
By ANTONELLA LAZZERI
Published: Wednesday April 30, 2008
TEARFUL Kate and Gerry McCann have spoken for the first time about the shocking hate mail sent to them since daughter
Madeleine was abducted.
The couple have received so many sick letters in the past year that they now file them in a box labelled "Nasty".
Kate, 40, is seen wiping away her tears as she talks about the letters in an ITV documentary.
Husband Gerry, 39, is then shown close to tears himself as he reads out one of the notes.
The letter accuses the McCanns of negligence — and of misusing public donations sent to the Find Madeleine fund.
It says: "Gerry and Kate, how can you use money given by poor people in good faith to pay your mortgage on your mansion?
"You f*****g thieving b******s. Your brat is dead because of your drunken arrogance. Shame on you.
"I curse you and your family to suffer forever. If you have any shame you would accept full responsibility for your daughter’s
disappearance and give all the money back. You are scum."
Distressing
Kate and Gerry, of Rothley, Leics, are filmed opening letters and filing them in boxes labelled "Psychics, Visions
& Dreams", "Nice", "Nutty" and "Ideas".
An emotional Kate admits: "The vast majority, 99 per cent, are really supportive, then unfortunately there’s that
one per cent of society who send the nasty ones."
McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the letter read by Gerry was "mild" compared to others. He added: "They
are extremely distressing. Some were passed to the police."
The documentary, Madeleine One Year On: Campaign for Change, is being shown at 8pm tonight on ITV.
In it, Kate and Gerry speak of the night Maddie went missing during the family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, just
before her fourth birthday.
They agreed to make the programme to launch their appeal for a Europe-wide missing child alert scheme.
Based on America’s "Amber Alert", it would involve messages on motorway signs, radio stations and mobile phones.
The US system is said to have saved almost 400 children.
Meanwhile Kate’s mum Susan Healy, 62, has blasted the couple and their pals for leaving their kids alone while
they had dinner nearby.
Susan said: "I could shake every single one of them. Why did they think it was OK to do this?"
pa.press.net - 30.04.2008 11:09
Kate and Gerry McCann might not have left their children behind while they went out with friends on the night
of Madeleine's disappearance if they had taken a buggy on holiday.
The couple disclosed that they almost decided against going to a tapas restaurant opposite their apartment
in Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
But they decided against a plan to take the children to another restaurant because of the distance, they revealed.
In an ITV documentary, Mrs McCann also spoke of how she had "persecuted" herself for a year for not paying
more attention to a remark by Madeleine on the morning before her disappearance that she had been crying the previous night
in her parents' absence.
Interviewed for the programme, Madeleine, One Year On: Campaign For Change, the McCanns also spoke extensively
of their emotions on the night of May 3/4 and their desperate dawn search through deserted streets for their daughter.
They also described their feelings on being made "arguidos" or official suspects in the case by Portuguese
police as like being "in the middle of a horror movie".
In the two-hour documentary, which charts their campaign for an EU-wide missing child alert system, Mr McCann
spoke of their current existence with no news of Madeleine's whereabouts as like "purgatory".
Breaking down in tears repeatedly, Mrs McCann spoke extensively about her experiences and hopes for the future.
Mrs McCann hinted openly for the first time at a deal reportedly offered to her by police if she admitted
accidentally killing Madeleine and staging an abduction. She told the programme she was not going to be "railroaded".
The couple admitted they were effectively forced to leave Portugal two days after being declared arguidos
last September because they felt it was no longer "safe" for them there.
'We prayed all night then went to look for Madeleine' Timesonline
Jenny Booth
April 30, 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann tell today how they prayed through the dark, cold night that Madeleine went missing before going
out on a desperate dawn search through the deserted streets of Praia da Luz.
In a documentary to be screened tonight on ITV1, Mrs McCann describes the moment of sheer panic when she first realised
that their elder daughter was not in her bed at their rented holiday apartment in the Portuguese seaside resort.
"I rushed round the apartment, really quickly, just opened up cupboards and things and then just went flying out down
to the tapas restaurant, shouting someone’s taken Madeleine," remembers Mrs McCann.
"And that’s when the nightmare started.
"I just remember saying: ’Not Madeleine, not Madeleine, not Madeleine’ and I can just remember saying that
over and over and over again.
"Gerry was the same... I’m not used to seeing Gerry obviously that upset."
Mr McCann interjects: "I think fear is probably the right word, fear for your daughter, fear for yourself, fear for your
family, fear for everything and that horrible kind of adrenalin - fight, flight."
On the reaction of their doctor friends, he says: "Some things kicked in and there was a lot of activity within the group
quickly ... I don’t know if it’s (being) used to dealing with very stressful situations at work or otherwise."
The prospect of Madeleine being spirited away to North Africa - a recurring theme in the year-long search - was raised
almost immediately that night, they say.
Mrs McCann explains: "I can remember our friends shouting 'We need to close the borders' and they were shouting 'Morocco,
Algiers'.
"I can remember all this going on - and roadblocks, 'we need roadblocks'."
Mr McCann says he insisted his wife stay at the apartment in hope that Madeleine would be found.
"I was mainly in the bedroom and I was just praying actually," she recalls. "I was just ringing people and getting everyone
to pray, and just felt so helpless."
But as the night wore on there was a dawning realisation that their daughter was gone.
"It was absolute devastation and total, just total emotion really," Mr McCann says.
One of Mrs McCann's most vivid memories is her concern that Madeleine would be cold.
"I knew what pyjamas she had on and I just thought she’s going to be freezing," she says.
"And it was just dark ... every minute seemed like an hour and obviously we were up all night and just waited for that
first bit of light about six o’clock."
Then they went out searching together at dawn. "It was just deserted and we were just searching, through the undergrowth,
through bushes," his wife recounts.
All the while they muttered prayers in their heads. "We were saying over and over again 'just let her be found, let her
be found'," Mr McCann recalls.
They spent much of that day with police giving statements.
Mrs McCann recounts: "Every minute, every hour is time without Madeleine and that Friday I was watching the clock in
the police station so 'that’s so many hours', 'that’s so many hours' and then it’s 24 hours and you’re
back to another dark cold night."
McCanns hit out at ghoulish Madeleine tours
Telegraph
By Caroline Gammell in Praia da Luz
Last Updated: 5:29PM BST 30/04/2008
Kate and Gerry McCann are deeply hurt by the "disgraceful" way in which tourists are making tours to visit
the spot where their daughter Madeleine disappeared, a friend has said.
Scores of people favouring "ghoul tourism"
are turning up in Praia da Luz each week on unofficial tours to visit all the places which have become so well known since
the little girl vanished almost a year ago.
They go to the Ocean Club apartment where the little girl was last seen
and pose for photographs before visiting the church where Mr and Mrs McCann prayed for her safe return.
They even
stop outside the house of Robert Murat, 34, who was made a suspect 12 days after Madeleine went missing.
A friend
of Mr and Mrs McCann said: "If they are doing that it's disgraceful, I think people should have better things to do with their
time - what is the point?
"It is offensive and hurtful and it is disrespectful to Madeleine."
Pamela Fenn,
81, who lives above apartment 5a where the McCanns stayed, said: "It’s sick, you get loads of them. There was a group
of about 20 here on Saturday. You can’t believe it. Can you imagine wanting to come and do that?
"They stand
outside the apartment talking and then in front of the window with their children and have photographs taken.
"It
happens all the time but it is worst at the weekend, particularly Saturday."
Deborah Crawford, who works at The Bull
pub, said locals were fed up with the grisly fascination "It happens all the time but it is worst at the weekend, particularly
Saturday: "Tourists are always asking about the case.
"Every day someone will ask for directions to the McCanns’
apartment so they can go up for a nosey. It’s a bit sick.
"They’ve been running coach tours just to see
the place where it all happened - a busload of older people came down from northern Portugal. It’s unbelievable."
Staff
at the Ocean Club said people take photographs of the tapas restaurant where Mr and Mrs McCann dined with friends on the night
Madeleine went missing.
One employee said: "After looking at the apartment they go to the main road where there is
a clear view over the pool.
"The bus comes and parks outside the church and lots of them get off and they come up
here in a big group.
"You always get the odd one or two people who want to know where Madeleine was taken, but these
are big groups, 20, 30, 40 people.
"I would love to find out who is organising it so we could ask them to stop."
As
media attention intensifies as the anniversary approaches, Mr Murat’s lawyer Francisco Pagarete has advised him to leave
Praia da Luz for a few days.
Mr and Mrs McCann will launch a media offensive today (thurs) with interviews in London
with most of the major television stations.
On Saturday, Mr McCann’s brother John, sister Trish Cameron and
her husband Sandy are flying to Portugal to attend a mass at the church.
Anglican vicar Father Haynes Hubbard –
who became close to the McCanns – and Catholic priest Father Jose Manuel Pacheco will take turns to lead the service.
Photographs of Madeleine will be on display and Mrs McCann is expected to send a letter to be read during the vigil.
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With thanks
to Nigel at
McCann Files
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