Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

(http://www.yaps4u.net/images/MadeleineMcCannDistinctiveRightEyeIdenti_137B3/mccann2.jpg)

FOX or CNN had a piece on this last night, it's so disturbing to hear that there were up to 8 sightings in  Belgium of Madeline in the last year ??????

Furthermore, they stated that the email inquiry that is noted from the pedophile group includes a return email with Madeline's photo attached? Then another response back agreeing to the price for her ?????

It seems Madeline's parents have sent their own PI's to Belgium and the Netherlands to try to hunt this group down now.

I am so angry, how does this fall to these parents to pursue alone ?

Nonesuche - I know, I can't believe they have information and aren't following up on it.  Are they affraid of this ring?

I suspect Belgium has not assisted in this search for the pedophile ring is more likely, but Portugal hung these parents out to dry as having disappeared their own child, all the while sitting on this information ?????

No, I don't think it's fear, I think it's an european mindset in Belgium and even Portugal, that is far too accepting and worse, supportive of depravity.

I was thinking today that if I were the McCann's I would not trust Portugal or Belgium to pursue this or trust them to do so - and if Interpol hasn't stepped up, then maybe the McCann's feel they have no other choice than to pursue this with their own PI's.

Just knowing Madeline's photo was attached to that email before she was ever taken, well it's beyond anything I can imagine that LE could and would allow that to just lie there.

August 09, 2008 12:00am

Missing Maddie seen just five days ago

POLICE are investigating a reported sighting of missing British girl Madeleine McCann in a Belgian bank just five days ago.

A security guard at the KBC bank in the run-down immigrant Molenbeek district of Brussels spotted a young, blue-eyed blonde girl with a woman of north African appearance on CCTV on Monday, The Sun reported today.

The news follows three earlier sightings in Belgium and three in Holland, and reports that Madeleine, 4, may have been stolen to order from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal by a Belgian pedophile ring.

Maddie's parents, Kate and Gerry, described the sighting as "invaluable".

McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said their own investigators would "move promptly".

"This is exactly the kind of up-to-date information we are looking for. We will be liaising to get access to the footage," The Sun reported.

In-depth: The search for Madeleine McCann

Police in Belgium interviewed the guard yesterday and were taking the sighting seriously.

"We’ve taken tapes from the bank for analysis," Commissioner Johan Berckmans said.

Maddie vanished from her family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz in May last year as her parents dined with friends.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24152507-5001021,00.html?from=public_rss


A COMMENT AT THE SITE (and I AGREE!)
Why arent the police jumping on every sighting, instead they are giving these people time and opportunity to move on.. Are the police total idiots or what!!

Posted by: CityChic of sydney 3:51pm today

New video that shows a possible sighting of Madeline:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/CCTV-Of-Girl-Resembling-Missing-Madeleine-McCann-Handed-To-Police-In-Belgium/Article/200808215075250

8:59pm UK, Monday August 11, 2008

Police are studying CCTV footage of a young girl resembling Madeleine McCann walking with a woman in Belgium.
 
The footage is being enhanced by American specialists


A bank security guard raised the alarm after spotting the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl in Brussels.

The child, who is around Madeleine's age, was caught on security cameras with a dark-haired women in a hijab head scarf who spoke in a different language.

She was of North African or Arabic appearance and seemed to be pregnant.

At one stage, the girl was heard to ask in English: "Can we go back now?"

But despite the massive publicity, the woman has still not come forward.

(snipped)

(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/klaasen3/Sub4/Madeline2.jpg)

(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/klaasen3/Sub4/Madeline.jpg)

This just makes me sick.  I have to wonder why more work isn't being done by Interpol?  The state police in the Netherlands and Belgium?

            :2ukli: :2ukli: :2ukli:

I just wanted to make the point that I saw earlier this week that the McCanns are paying £166,000 per month for the team of investigators.

£166,000 at today's exchange rate = $311,765.17 USD - remember - that's per month.

I believe I read that on the Daily Mail.

This figure, if true and I have no reason to doubt it, is well beyond the fees charged by METADO3 who were receiving 50,000 pounds per month.

If they get results - it doesn't matter what it costs.

Madeleine 'sighting' is ruled out
Page last updated at 16:45 GMT, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 17:45 UK
A possible recent sighting of Madeleine McCann in Brussels has been ruled out by the Belgian authorities.

The father of a young blonde girl whose image was captured on CCTV says it was his daughter with her nanny.

There have been around 100 sightings of Madeleine in Belgium since she went missing in Praia da Luz in Portugal in May last year.

The police inquiry into her disappearance was shelved in July after 14 months.

Belgian sensitivity

The BBC's Chris Mason said there were a few other potential sightings of Madeleine being looked into in Belgium, but it is not thought that any represent a strong lead.

Belgian officials suggest that people in that country are very sensitive to the case because of the notorious crimes committed by paedophile Marc Dutroux, who was convicted of child murder, kidnap and rape four years ago.

Police sources had earlier played down the significance of a tip-off during the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance that suggested she may have been kidnapped by a Belgian paedophile ring.

The Metropolitan Police got the information from an informant earlier this year and passed it onto Portuguese counterparts who then sought the help of the Belgian police.

Parents press on

Documents in the police files suggest that officers in all three countries found it difficult to pursue the lead because of a lack of detailed information.

Madeline's parents, Kate and Gerry, had their status as official suspects, or "arguidos", dropped at the end of July.

The 11,000 pages of evidence from the Portuguese inquiry were then released to the McCanns when the inquiry ended.

The couple have now hired private detectives to continue the search for their daughter, who was three when she disappeared in May 2007.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7557010.stm

New twist in the search for missing Madeleine McCann

August 25, 2008 12:00am
A TEAM of private investigators working to find Madeleine McCann has been axed after being paid 500,000 pounds from publicly donated funds.

The Find Madeleine Fund quietly engaged the services of a US-based company, which was awarded the lucrative six-month contract this year.

Oakley International, which boasts former British security service and FBI contacts, was hired to monitor the Madeleine Hotline, carry out detective work and review CCTV footage of possible sightings of the missing girl around the world.

A source said it had also spent resources to try to infiltrate a pedophile ring in Belgium.

But its contract will not be renewed.

Tycoon Brian Kennedy, who has been underwriting the fund's search for Madeleine, had become unhappy with its progress and brought in independent monitors to assess how the money was spent.

The cost of employing the agency has drained the Madeleine fund and there is now less than pound stg. 500,000 left.

The development is likely to dismay the thousands who gave to the appeal and raise questions about how the fund has been administered.

Mr Kennedy was said to be angry because he believed Oakley's bills, estimated to be more than pound stg. 80,000 a month, were too much for the results it achieved.

A source said: "There is a sense that they were meaning well but hadn't got as far as they should for the money involved."

A spokesman for the McCanns refused to comment.

Madeleine disappeared from a resort in Portugal in May last year, nine days short of her fourth birthday .

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24234485-663,00.html

mmmmmm.........I would swear I made a recent post or 2 here, but I can't find them...I wonder where I put them, lol.  ::MonkeyEek::

It is a very frustrating case. Actually all of them are.
With all the attention you have seen on all of these cases, yet little gets solved.
There has been an amazing amount of research done by members of this and other forums.. Still no answer.
Very frustrating.

http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/haunting-evidence/EP00790981
TRUTV Sat 10/11 10:00 PM
Haunting Evidence
Madeleine McCann
Sat, Oct 11, 10:00 PM
 
Run Time: 60 min.
 
Genre: Crime, Paranormal
First Aired: Oct 11, 2008
NEW TV-14
Police follow leads in the disappearance of 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann from a resort town in Portugal.

Madeleine McCann's parents release new video

Posted 9h 5m ago

LONDON (AP) — The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann have released a new video appealing for information about her.
Kate and Gerry McCann posted the video Sunday on the website www.findmadeleine.com that they set up after their daughter disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal.

The video shows footage of Madeleine singing and playing at the family home and closes with the words: "This will be our second Christmas without our daughter, Please help us make sure we don't have a third."

Madeleine McCann attracted international media attention when she disappeared in May 2007, a few days short of her 4th birthday.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-12-21-mccann-video_N.htm?csp=34

I just can't understand why Portugese, Belgian, and Dutch police have dragged their feet in investigating all reported sightings of Madeleine.  This case is so frustrating, and my heart breaks for this family.   ::MonkeyWaa::

Cops in Madeleine McCann hunt bust pedophile ring

Article from: Agence France-Presse       January 20, 2009 07:30am

SPANISH detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from a Portugal holiday resort have busted an internet pedophile ring.

Spain's El Mundo newspaper claimed 13 suspects were arrested thanks to the probe by investigators from the Barcelona-based Metodo-3 agency.

The agency was hired by British couple Gerry and Kate McCann to trace their daughter who vanished on May 3, 2007, from their holiday apartment at the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz as they dined with friends at a nearby restaurant. She was three years old at the time.

The agency's investigators were hired six months after her disappearance and two months into their investigation, they received an email claiming that Madeleine featured in a pedophile video posted on the Internet, El Mundo reported.

Although it turned out that she did not appear in the video, the agency tipped off Spanish police who arrested the suspects in a series of raids in December 2008.

As well as those arrested, police questioned another 10 people and seized a large quantity of computer equipment.

Spain has staged a series of operations against Internet child pornography in recent years, arresting more than 1,200 people over the last five years - of whom 408 were arrested in 2008 alone.

Madeleine McCann's parents have been funding a private investigation to try to find out what happened to their daughter.

The Portuguese authorities closed their probe into her disappearance in July 2008.

 ::MonkeyDance:: ::MonkeyDance::

This is very good news!  A pedophile ring was busted!  It may not lead back to Madeleine, but it makes me feel better knowing that one of these sick groups is no longer in existence.  Hopefully, this pattern will continue and more of these sick groups will be busted.

                                 JUSTICE FOR MADELEINE MCCANN

McCanns launch new appeal for missing daughter
ABC - March 25, 2009, 2:44 pm
The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann are launching a new appeal for information, focusing on the area where she went missing in Portugal.

Around 10,000 leaflets written in Portuguese will be handed out and posted through letterboxes in Praia da Luz and other parts of southern Portugal over the next fortnight.

The campaign will be backed up with billboards and advertising on three buses and a van.

The official Find Madeleine Fund said in a statement: "At the time of Madeleine's disappearance the emphasis was placed more on international appeals, and it has been recognised that the local Portuguese residents of Praia da Luz and the surrounding areas have never been properly asked about information they may have to give."

Madeleine McCann was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 2007.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5435202
video report at link

This case, as are most, is very haunting to me. The frustration and panic her parents must feel every waking second must be over whelming.
I keep hoping that I will turn on the morning news and see that happy face with those amazing eyes ginning back at me in the arms of her parents, safe, warm and ready to heal.
I am glad this thread is here, give another place for me to follow up and find more info on this missing little soul.

I received this via email.  If this website is somehow inappropriate mods, please remove it.  I have never visited this site before.

http://gerrymccan-abuseofpower-humanrights.blogspot.com/

the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is what brought me to forums of missing persons/children....she haunts me to this day....I still think that she is alive...have never doubted that for some reason...I feel that she will be found one day and we will all find out what really happened to her...

On May 4th Oprah will have Madeleine McCann's parents on the show.

thanks! I will be anxious to see this show...

http://gerrymccan-abuseofpower-humanrights.blogspot.com/2009/04/leicestershire-police-protect-mccanns.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518675,00.html

(http://www.foxnews.com/images/530802/0_22_050209_mccann1_450.jpg)

Madeleine McCann's Parents Release Photo of How She Might Look Now
Friday, May 01, 2009 

A striking image of how Madeleine McCann might look now, if still alive, has been released by her parents.

The picture was sent out ahead of the second anniversary of her disappearance.

Gerry and Kate McCann employed a forensic imaging artist to produce a photographic impression of how the youngster would have aged in the two years since she disappeared.

It will be used on posters to be distributed worldwide, as part of the couple's continuing search for their little girl.

(snipped)

OPRAH WILL BE INTERVIEWING MADELINE MCCANN'S PARENTS ON TOMORROWS SHOW 5/4/2009.

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d118/Sanddrops/Oprah5409.jpg)

I will be watching the Oprah show tomorrow...4:00 for me...

Geraldo at Large is talking about Madeleine right now...Kimberly Garfoyle (spelling?) is hosting the show...

A prowler spotted outside Madeleine McCann's holiday apartment was yesterday revealed as a new prime suspect in the hunt for the missing girl.
The heavily scarred stranger was seen five times in the four days before the three-year-old disappeared, prompting fears he could have been watching the McCann family.

Although he was seen by four witnesses, each of whom gave statements to Portuguese police, astonishingly it has taken almost two years for their accounts to be linked.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1178177/Did-man-Madeleine-New-ugly-prime-suspect-prowler-seen-outside-McCanns-apartment.html

New Probe Yields Image of Madeleine McCann Suspect
By Simon Perry

Originally posted Thursday May 07, 2009 08:45 AM EDT
Madeleine McCann (left) and artist's impression of a suspicious man seen by witnesses
Photo by: AP(2) 
Could a sketch of a man seen near the apartment where Madeleine McCann vanished two years ago provide new clues in the hunt to find the child?

At least, that is the hope of her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, who are participating in a new film alongside a team of detectives they hired to help re-investigate the case.

So far, those investigators have discovered that some potential witnesses spotted a man, with pockmarked features, watching the holiday apartment in the resort of Praia de Luz, Portugal. It was from there that Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.

The detectives have been combing through files from the case closed by local police last summer. A new film, Cutting Edge: Madeleine Was Here (to be shown Thursday on the U.K.'s Channel 4 at 9 p.m.), follows the probe.

Her parents recognize that Madeleine could have changed. A new image has been released of what she now might look like. But other changes are likely, too. "She could be speaking a different language, she might have her hair different, she might have different interests, but you know she's still our daughter," he mother says in the film.

Retired police detective Dave Edgar, who leads the family's search team, believes an answer lies with the local people in Portugal.

The McCanns have been stepping up their fight to keep Madeleine in the news and fuel a continuing hunt for her around this second anniversary. In a show that recently aired in the U.S., the parents told Oprah Winfrey, "We're really united in our goal and our love of Madeleine and [her younger siblings, twins] Sean and Amelie."

Check out the site for the artist's rendering of the suspect.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20277380,00.html?cnn=yes

creepy looking guy! yuk!

Very creepy

(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/klaasen3/Sub6_022109/McCannSketch.jpg)

  7 May 2009 10:32am Add commentsRetired British detectives believe five separate sightings of a suspicious man could hold the key to solving the mystery of Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

Three witnesses saw an odd stranger looking at her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in the days before Madeleine went missing over two years ago.

The former policemen have put these previously-unreported accounts together with two better-known sightings of a man carrying a child away from the flat on the night Madeleine vanished.

http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/infocus/2009/05/07/new_theory_in_madeleine_mystery?vmsrc=pamread

David M. Smolin, “Child Laundering: How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stealing Children,” ExpressO; Wayne Law Review 52.No. 1 (2006): 113-200.

Abstract: This article documents and analyzes a substantial incidence of “child laundering” within the intercountry adoption system. Child laundering occurs when children are taken illegally from birth families through child buying or kidnapping, and then ”laundered” through the adoption system as ”orphans” and then ”adoptees.” The article then proposes reforms to the intercountry adoption system that could substantially reduce the incidence of child laundering.

A MUST READ..

http://law.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3679&context=expresso

McCann: Police Let Kidnapper Go


MADELEINE McCANN Watch: In which Mr Scar Face is named and detectives find five new suspects..

Daily Star: “MADDIE COPS SNUBBED ME OVER SPOTTY”

THE key witness who saw the spotty man suspected of snatching Madeleine McCann says she was ignored by bungling police.

Of him - WTF! Face, the latest and ugliest suspect do far. So who is the women who saw the unforgettable face of the man?

The creepy character was seen watching the McCanns’ holiday apartment three days before the youngster was abducted. The British tourist witness, 36, was so spooked by the sinister stranger she pulled her three-year-old daughter away from him.

Because he was trying to get her?


But even though she was staying three doors from the McCanns she was never spoken to by police. Her apartment was never searched and her evidence was ignored for two years.

As soon as she returned to the UK she went to her local police in Wiltshire and reported the man – now believed by investigators to be part of a two-man abduction team.

There’s another one?

But she was never interviewed. Then Madeleine’s mum Kate, 41, spotted the witness’s details hidden in 17 volumes of police files archived as “unsolved’’ and tracked her down. The woman helped compile an image of the suspect that featured in the Channel 4 documentary Madeleine Was Here.

So the police did take down the witness statement and record it. It was kept in a file marked “unsolved” not “resolved”.

Says the witness:

“I’m angry that vital time looking for this man has been lost. I can’t believe the police did nothing. My husband and I both helped look for Madeleine. When she disappeared we were horrified and wanted to do all we could to help find her.

“I expected police would come to search all the holiday apartments and question everyone – but they didn’t. If they had done I would have told them about this man straight away. He’d stuck in my mind so much.”

A face like that is hard to erase…

“He was very ugly with active acne, a scarred face, big nose, big ears, and dark skin. He looked as if he was just waiting there outside the McCanns’ apartment with no purpose. I didn’t like him.”

Because he was ugly with “active acne”, a big nose, big ears and dark skin? Or because he was looking like he was doing nothing?

The Sun: “Scarface witness: Police ignored me”

A WITNESS who sparked the hunt for a scarfaced suspect in the Madeleine McCann abduction has NEVER been questioned by police.


The woman twice saw a man dubbed “Mr Ugly” loitering near the McCann holiday apartment before Maddie, three, vanished.


She reported the sightings to British cops when she returned home from Portugal, but they failed to follow up her lead. It was only when she received an emotional phone call from Maddie’s mum Kate, 41, nearly two years later that a photo-fit based on her description was put together…


It was only after Kate got in touch that the woman learnt two other witnesses saw an identical man in the resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007. She said: “I can’t believe our three sightings weren’t linked earlier. It took the McCanns to do that.”

The man is identified as a “weirdo” because he pervs at kids and steals them? Or because he has active acne, big ears, a big nose…

Daily Record: “Detectives probe 18 known perverts in search for Madeleine McCann”

DETECTIVES hunting for Madeleine McCann are studying a list of 18 perverts and six sex attacks on kids in the area where she vanished.
X marks the spots.


Ex-cops hired by parents Kate and Gerry also have details of five new suspects following last week’s publicity on the second anniversary of her disappearance.

Five new suspects? Mr Very Ugly. Mr Hideous. Mr Dare You Look, Mr…
Former detective inspector Dave Edgar tells us:

“There are five or six we are focusing in on. We have names for some.”

Spotty.
Ugly.
Paedo Face…

Edgar says it is more than likely Portuguese cops had the kidnapper in their grasp but let him go.

So who is he? And any evidence?

Madeleine McCann: Let’s point the finger.

Pictures Of All The Madeleine McCann Suspects

Go through two years of news or look here and take your time:
http://www.anorak.co.uk/madeleine-mccann/210166.html

Kate and Gerry McCann are suing a detective who claims their daughter Madeleine died in an ‘accident’ at their holiday flat on the night she vanished.

They want to force the pulping of the book The Truth About The Lie, by Goncalo Amaral, who led the police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz two years ago.

But a source said the McCanns could be forced to give evidence in court in their action  against Mr Amaral – presenting him with a stage from which to attack the couple.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1183433/McCanns-sue-detective-book-claim-Maddy-died-tragic-accident.html

The parents of Madeleine McCann are going to sue former Portuguese Police Chief Goncalo Amaral for defamation.

Kate and Gerry McCann are taking the action over comments made by the man who previously led the inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance.

In a statement, they said: "We - together with our three children Madeleine, Sean and Amelie - are taking this legal action against Goncalo Amaral over his entirely unfounded and grossly defamatory claims - made in all types of media, both within Portugal and beyond - that Madeleine is not only dead, but that we, her parents, were somehow involved in concealing her body."

The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said they are taking action because his claims that Madeleine is dead are hampering the search for their daughter.

They want a gagging order to prevent further publication of Amaral's "deeply offensive" book "The Truth of the Lie."

The McCanns also want to block broadcast of his TV documentary and publication of his "disgraceful thesis" that they were involved in their daughter's disappearance.

The statement continued: "The primary reason for our legal action is simple: to stop any negative effect that these absurd and deeply hurtful claims may be having on the ongoing search for Madeleine."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520442,00.html

Madeleine McCann: detectives check alibis for 'prowler' suspects
Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann say they are following up "solid" new clues about the identity of a prowler now being treated as the prime suspect in the case.


 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/5343925/Madeleine-McCann-detectives-check-alibis-for-prowler-suspects.html

British Paedophile Named As Madeleine Suspect
Breaking News12:36am UK, Friday May 22, 2009

A convicted British paedophile has been named as a possible suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
 
Raymond Hewlett has served several jail terms for child sex crimes



Sky News sources say Raymond Hewlett was living in Tavira, a coastal town between Faro and the Spanish border, when Madeleine disappeared on May 3 2007.

Tavira is about an hour's drive from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished while on holiday with her family.

It is understood the former soldier was tracked down in Germany, where he was being treated in hospital for cancer.

Reports said Hewlett, 64, has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and is wanted by police in the UK and Ireland.

Since Maddie's disappearance he has gone back on the run, it is claimed.

Hewlett has reportedly been jailed several times for sexual offences against young girls.

Gerry and Kate McCann are being kept up to date with the development, their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said.

He told Sky News Online: "We are aware of Raymond Hewlett and the claims that are being made in some newspapers about him.

"The investigators searching for Madeleine are currently looking into the circumstances surrounding these claims.

"Mr Hewlett is an individual of interest to the Madeleine investigation.

"However, I would stress that it's just one line of inquiry among several, other than that I can't go into further detail."


 
Madeleine and how she would look now aged six



The alarm was raised about Hewlett by a couple who met him while on holiday in Portugal, the Daily Mirror said.

When Alan and Cindy Thompson met the convict, he was living with his wife and six children in a converted Dodge truck travelling from campsite to campsite.

Mr Thompson told the Mirror: "Hewlett befriended us but kept quiet about his terrible past.

"We were mortified and disgusted to discover the truth."

They also described a conversation in which Hewlett said he was approached by some "Gipsy tourists" offering to buy his daughter just before Madeleine went missing.

Mrs Thompson said: "We didn't think too much of this at the time.

"Ray and his family led a desperate hand-to-mouth lifestyle and someone may have thought he'd be tempted to sell one of his six children."

They also recalled him mentioning a "business" trip to Morocco where there were several alleged sightings of Madeleine in the months after her disappearance.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-British-Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett-Named-As-Suspect-In-Case/Article/200905315286548?lpos=World_News_First_UK_News_Article_Teaser_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15286548_Madeleine_McCann%3A_British_Paedoph

 
 

 
 



 












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New Maddie McCann suspect: Police hunt British paedophile living an hour's drive from Praia da Luz
By Vanessa Allen and Julie Moult
Last updated at 12:16 AM on 22nd May 2009

Comments (0) Add to My Stories

 'Danger to children': Police are hunting Maddie suspect Raymond Hewlett
A British paedophile was the new focus of the hunt for Madeleine McCann last night.
Former soldier Raymond Hewlett was living just an hour's drive from the resort of Praia da Luz when she disappeared in May 2007.
He has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and is wanted by police in the UK and Ireland. Since Maddie's disappearance he has gone back on the run.
Now, in a dramatic development, detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann have flown to Portugal after a tip-off about 64-year-old Hewlett.
Sources close to the investigation said they were told he spoke to friends about Maddie in such a way that they suspected he was involved or knew what had happened to the three-year-old.
Hewlett is described by detectives as 'cunning' and a 'danger to children' and operates by cruising in a van. He has posed as a police officer and befriended families to get access to their children.
The McCanns have never given up hope of finding their daughter.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1186214/New-Maddie-McCann-suspect-Police-hunt-British-paedophile-living-hours-drive-Praia-da-Luz.html

Thanks Toler, very interesting!   ::MonkeyCool::

 Hewlett has a long record of sex attacks on young girls
A British paedophile who is a suspect in the Madeleine McCann case could be brought back to the UK to be quizzed over a number sex attacks.
Former soldier Raymond Hewlett, who has become the new focus of the investigation into the child's disappearance, is being treated for throat cancer at a hospital in Germany.
He was living just an hour's drive from the resort of Praia da Luz when she disappeared in May 2007.
Hewlett has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and is wanted by police in the UK and Ireland.

According to the Evening Standard, two police forces as well as Leicestershire Police held a conference call yesterday to decide how to proceed. Manchester police want to quiz him over the abduction and abuse of an eight-year-old girl in 1975 while West Yorkshire police have said they want to quiz him over a number of 'serious offences'.

In a separate development, detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann have flown to Germany to speak to 64-year-old Hewlett, where he is being treated.
Sources close to the investigation claimed they were told he spoke to friends about Maddie in such a way that they suspected he was involved or knew what had happened to the three-year-old.
The Standard added that investigators will want to know why Hewlett checked out of a hospital in the Algarve, Portugal, where he was being treated for cancer only to reappear in Germany.

Hewlett is described by detectives as 'cunning' and a 'danger to children' and operates by cruising in a van. He has posed as a police officer and befriended families to get access to their children.
  Appeal: Madeleine McCann aged three and how she might look now
The McCanns have never given up hope of finding their daughter. Earlier this month they marked the second anniversary of her disappearance from their holiday apartment by releasing two new pictures to help the hunt.
One was a striking computer-aided image of what she would look like today, at six.
Another was a detailed sketch of a suspect seen acting suspiciously near their Algarve holiday complex.
The team searching for Maddie is headed by two retired UK policemen, former Detective Inspector Dave Edgar, 52, and former Detective Sergeant Arthur Cowley, 57, who has worked on 'cold case reviews' of old crimes.

Mr Edgar has more than 30 years' experience with the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Cheshire Police.
He was awarded a judge's commendation for his work on the murder of father-of-four Garry Newlove, who was kicked to death by a teenage gang outside his Warrington home in 2007.
Mr Edgar and Mr Cowley now run the Alpha Investigations Group and have been hired by the Find Madeleine Fund to investigate missed leads.
They are said to have given the McCanns fresh hope after they suffered disappointments working with other private detectives, including the expensive Spanish firm Metodo 3.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1186214/British-paedophile-suspect-Madeleine-McCann-case-faces-extradition-Germany-sex-attacks.html

More at link...and you're welcome. TM.  

snip
Alan, 56, and Cindy, 47, struck up a friendship with Hewlett and German wife Mariana, 33, after first meeting them in Portugal three years ago.

Cindy said:" Ray was living along the Algarve and Spanish coast.

" He survived by selling things he had found. Mariana also made money by busking on the streets in tourist areas - playing a tin-whistle while operating a puppet.

Ray was quiet and unassuming and he played the doting father, never letting his children stray too far." It was only after they returned from the Algarve that the Thompsons got a text message from another holidaymaker they had met alerting them to Hewlett's past.

Cindy said she later discovered others who were in the same travelling community did know his horrible secret.

She said:" They didn't want to report Hewlett for fear of upsetting Mariana.

" I find it incredible and incomprehensible that people could turn their backs on a known convicted paedophile still wanted for questioning about outstanding offences.

" We owe it to Madeleine and her family to speak out about Raymond Hewlett. We do not know he abducted Madeleine but our information should be examined."

The Mirror yesterday handed details of Hewlett's whereabouts to cold case teams in West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.

His details were also passed to Leices-tershirPolice, the McCanns' home force.

A spokesman said they will pass the Mirror's file to Portuguese police, adding:" It remains a Portuguese investigation." snip


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/22/madeleine-mccann-search-team-probe-convicted-british-paedophile-115875-21379318/

How mad would you be if this guy turned out to be who took Madeline?

I'm angry already, klaas...that this piece of slime has been free to continue to do who knows what? At least 2 police forces in the UK have supposedly been looking for him for crimes including the possible murder of a child. Police in Northern Ireland too...for attempted abductions. How hard can they have been looking? His sentences for previous crimes were an insult to his victims and set him loose to prey upon innocent children again.
And I'll be plenty more angry if he is the scum who took Madeleine, folk who knew him in Portugal knew of his sordid history why didn't they inform the police?

snip
May 2007. He had apparently been receiving treatment for cancer at a hospital in Faro on May 2008 as well as at a hospital just across the Spanish border.
Holidaymakers on the 'wild campsite' where he stayed described him as an 'odd man' who was seen with up to five children in an old delivery van.
French tourist Anne Parisot, 70, said: 'Most of the time he was cooped up in the van and made it clear no one should go over. He seemed quite cold.'
There are unconfirmed reports that Hewlett has been questioned by Portuguese police about Madeleine and was given an alibi by a girl of 15 but other reports suggest officers never interviewed him face to face.
Hewlett and his family apparently left Portugal sometime last year and headed for Germany, his partner's country of birth.
He and his family are apparently living in an apartment overlooking a kindergarten but he is in the Universitatsklinikum Aachen Hospital.
West Yorkshire police want to question him about the indecent assault allegation, which emerged during their investigation into the 1975 murder of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed - which another man was convicted of.
snip


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1186214/Is-net-closing--Paedophile-named-search-Maddie-faces-quiz-second-case.html

The ex-head of the police inquiry into Madeleine McCann's disappearance has been convicted of falsifying documents in another case, Portuguese media say.

Goncalo Amaral was given an 18-month suspended sentence by a court in Faro in connection with an alleged attack on the mother of another missing girl.

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, are planning to sue Mr Amaral.

It follows what they say are his claims that Madeleine was dead and they were involved in concealing her body. snip

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8064671.stm

A Portuguese police chief who previously ran the Madeleine McCann inquiry has been given a suspended jail term over an unrelated case.
 
Mr Amaral previously led the inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance



Goncalo Amaral was convicted of perjury after an alleged attack on the mother of another missing girl.

He was among five officers of the Policia Judiciara in Portimao accused of "scenes of aggression" against Leonor Cipriano, whose nine-year-old daughter, Joana, vanished in September 2004. snip


http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-Former-Police-Chief-Goncalo-Amaral-Given-Suspended-Jail-Term-Over-Unrelated-Case/Article/200905415287142?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15287142_Madeleine_McCann%3A_Former_Police_Chief_Goncalo_Amaral_Given_Suspended_Jail_Term_Over_Unrelated_Case

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-482039/Madeleine-Police-trial-torturing-mother-missing-girl.html

This is an older article about the Portuguese police officers and their charges.
Scroll down about half way and there's a picture of Leonor Cipriano, the officers swore under oath the injuries were caused when she threw herself down some stairs.  ::MonkeyEek::

Madeleine 'suspect' urged to helpMadeleine 'suspect' urged to help
 
pa.press.net
A convicted paedophile should "see sense" and co-operate with private investigators searching for Madeleine McCann, a spokesman for the child's family has said.
The McCanns' investigation team wants to interview 64-year-old Raymond Hewlett in the next few days in the hope he can shed some light on the little girl's disappearance.
Hewlett is alleged to have been staying near the McCanns' holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, when she went missing in May 2007.
UK-born Hewlett, who previously lived in Blackpool and Telford, is reportedly being treated for throat cancer in hospital in the German city of Aachen,
He was jailed several times for sexually assaulting young girls and is now wanted for questioning by British detectives in connection with a separate indecent assault.
The McCanns hope that once officers from West Yorkshire Police have questioned the former soldier, their investigators will speak to him, despite reports he is seriously ill in intensive care.
Clarence Mitchell, Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman, said: "Mr Hewlett has denied any involvement in Madeleine's abduction.
"Our investigators hope he will see sense and co-operate by giving them whatever information is needed so they can eliminate him from the investigation. It's clear the man is ill and it is clear he has information that our investigators need. It is also clear that our investigators will be speaking to him in the near future."
It is understood that before the McCanns' team can speak to Hewlett, British officers will interview him in connection with an indecent assault in 1975.
Sources close to the investigation say they think both interviews will take place in "a matter of days, not weeks".

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/article.aspx?cp-documentid=147468554

Madeleine McCann police chief convicted of perjury
Saturday, 23 May 2009 08:19
http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/autocodes/countries/portugal/madeleine-mccann-police-chief-convicted-perjury-$1297919.htm

Madeleine McCann police chief found guilty of falsifying evidence in another missing child case.
Saturday, 23 May 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5370361/Madeleine-McCann-police-chief-found-guilty-of-falsifying-evidence.html

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!  Sorry to barge in again to your conversation, but we are still working on writing the media for Amber DuBois.  Our mission is to get this missing child some media coverage as she has had zilch.  We are going to keep writing every day until our requests are heard.  Please take a moment to visit her thread and write a quick email on her behalf. 

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=4583.msg817947#msg817947

TIA

Maddie paedophile’ under investigation for four monthsBy Mail On Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 11:32 PM on 23rd May 2009
Comments (0) Add to My Stories  Convicted paedophile: Raymond Hewlett pictured in a police mugshot taken in 1995
Detectives have been investigating the predatory paedophile who was living in Portugal near to where Madeleine McCann disappeared for the past four months.

Former police officers hired by the McCann family learned in February that Raymond Hewlett, 64, had been living in the Algarve and have been probing his movements and alibis.

But they never got the chance to speak to Hewlett, a former soldier, because he had already moved to Germany where he is being treated for throat cancer.

‘Some of his alibis didn’t quite stand up,’ said a source close to the family.

But despite concerns about his movements on the night Madeleine disappeared in May 2007, and sinister comments he allegedly made about her, he is not thought to be a strong suspect.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said he was a ‘person of interest’ but stressed that Hewlett was ‘one lead among a number’.

He added: ‘We are looking into the claims surrounding him, as we are with other people who would make equally big headlines.’

Reports that Portuguese detectives ruled out Hewlett as a suspect early in the inquiry after interviewing him were dismissed by sources.

‘It is our understanding that the Policia Judiciaria in Portugal did not know of his existence until they were alerted by the investigators working for the McCanns,’ one source said.

‘The Policia Judiciaria have helped the investigators and wanted to get face-to-face with him themselves, but he had already moved to Germany.’

Hewlett has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and has been jailed several times.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1186989/8216-Maddie-paedophile-8217-investigation-months.html
 

Paedo Raymond Hewlett admits visiting Maddie holiday flats  EXCLUSIVE by Simon Wright 23/05/2009

Suspect's shock confession to holiday couple: 'I know Maddie resort very well..I’ve parked near flat several times.'

 
The British paedophile linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has sensationally confessed to being outside her holiday apartment “many times”.

Convicted pervert Raymond Hewlett, 64, has admitted knowing the resort where the McCanns were holidaying “very well” and said he had parked a van close to their complex on several occasions.

And last night a man who shared a Morocco campsite with Hewlett and his family for three months described how the drifter was obsessed with the missing youngster.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mirror, former Scots Guard Peter Verran, 46, revealed how Hewlett, his German wife Mariana, 33, and their six children arrived at the campsite where he was holidaying in Chefchaaouen in a battered Dodge truck. It was May 2007 – shortly after Madeleine’s disappearance.

“He seemed like an old hippy traveller who had dropped out,” said Peter, who runs an internet business selling antiques and collectibles from his home in Fowey, Cornwall.

“We got talking at the toilet block. He brought Madeleine up straight away. He said his three-year-old daughter looked like her.

“He was worried that because there had been reports that Madeleine may have been spirited away to Morocco, people might think his child was her. Then he suddenly said, ‘Madeleine’s not in Morocco’.

“I asked him what he meant and he said he knew Praia Da Luz really well. He knew the Ocean Club complex where the McCanns had been staying. He said he’d been there many times and had often parked his van close to the apartment.

“He said he knew the layout of the place, the flat and the restaurant where the McCanns and their friends had been eating when Maddie disappeared. He had a lot of detail about the layout. He said there was no way that the child could be taken without the parents seeing. He said they were lying.”

Yesterday it emerged that Portuguese police did speak to Hewlett about Madeleine’s disappearance – but ruled him out as a suspect.

Peter also revealed that pothead Hewlett made wild and unfounded claims that the McCanns – both doctors, from Rothley, Leics – were involved in their daughter’s disappearance.

“One of Hewlett’s theories was that there had been an accident and Kate and Gerry had killed her and were trying to cover it up,” said Peter.

“He even made the crazy suggestion that her mum and dad had sold her to gipsies. He said it was common knowledge among locals that Praia Da Luz in general and the Ocean Club in particular was a magnet for Romanian gipsies who abduct and then traffic children.

"I asked him why he’d left and come to Morocco. He told me he’d had to leave Portugal in a hurry. He said he’d packed his family up in half an hour and just driven out of the area. That was just after Maddie was taken.”

Peter, who is partially disabled, met his Moroccan wife Nisrine, 25, when he was holidaying in Agadir.

They married in May 2007 and when they encountered Hewlett at the remote campsite, they were enjoying an extended honeymoon touring the country in a camper van.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/23/paedo-raymond-hewlett-admits-visiting-maddie-holiday-flats-115875-21383900/

The Mirror is a UK tabloid...in case you didn't notice.  ::MonkeyHaHa::

FIEND IN THE FRAME
Maddie suspect’s past fits crime

 
By Keith Gladdis, 24/05/2009

A COP who interrogated Madeleine McCann suspect Raymond Hewlett says the case carries all the hallmarks of the sick sex beast.

Former Detective Superintendent Trevor Wilkinson spent years on the trail of the convicted paedophile, who was in Portugal when Maddie vanished two years ago.


And Mr Wilkinson told the News of the World the snatching of the child from her holiday apartment matches the predator's offending profile.


He said: "He is constantly looking for prey and we know he is prepared to enter a property to get to a child, which he's done."


Hewlett, 64, critically ill with cancer in a German hospital, has been jailed three times for kidnap and molesting young girls and is connected to a string of other attacks on kids.


Mr Wilkinson questioned him in 1992 while investigating the 1975 murder of 11-year old Lesley Molseed in Rochdale.


Detectives hired by Kate and Gerry McCann hope to quiz the pervert this week.


They plan to grill him about his whereabouts when Maddie went missing and about other paedos in Portugal. Ex-detective Dave Edgar and his team have gathered new information in the Algarve and say there is a strong possibility Maddie is alive.


A source said: "Dave is keeping an open mind on Hewlett."


Last night Hewlett's partner, Marianne Schmucker, said: "He is a very sick man and deserves to be left alone.


"He had nothing at all to do with this crime."


http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/323245/A-COP-who-interrogated-Madeleine-McCann-suspect-Raymond-Hewlett-says-the-case-carries-all-the-hallmarks-of-the-sick-sex-beast.html

McCanns urge paedophile to help search

A convicted sex offender is thought to have information on events preceding Madeleine's abduction

By Nina Lakhani


Raymond Hewlett was staying near the resort where Madeleine was holidaying

 enlarge
Gerry and Kate McCann pleaded for a convicted sex offender to "see sense" and co-operate fully with investigators searching for their missing daughter.


Raymond Hewlett, 64, has served several jail sentences for sexually assaulting young girls and is also wanted for questioning by British detectives for at least one unresolved sexual offence.

Mr Hewlett, a former soldier, was allegedly staying with his family at a campsite close to Praia da Luz in Portugal, where Madeleine McCann went missing in May 2007.

Police officers yesterday interviewed Alan and Cindy Thompson at a hotel in Canary Wharf, London, over their claim that Mr Hewlett was staying in a converted motor home with his German wife and their six children only an hour from the McCanns. Mr Hewlett allegedly told the couple he had been approached by "Gypsy travellers" offering to buy his daughter – just before Madeleine went missing on 3 May 2007.

He also talked about a business trip to Morocco, where there were several alleged sightings of the little girl in the first year after she disappeared, according to Mr and Mrs Thompson, who were holidaying in the Algarve at the time. The couple claim he told them he was 30 miles away in the market town of Fuesta when Madeleine vanished but it is unclear whether Portuguese police were ever aware of him.

There were unconfirmed reports yesterday that Mr and Mrs Thompson tried unsuccessfully to contact British detectives about their concerns about Mr Hewlett in the past.

The former Scots Guard, who is seriously ill in a German hospital after undergoing an operation for throat cancer, is under no obligation to speak to the McCanns' detectives but the couple hope he will agree to be interviewed within the next few days.

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, said: "Mr Hewlett has denied any involvement in Madeleine's abduction. Our investigators hope he will see sense and co-operate by giving them whatever information is needed so they can eliminate him from the investigation. It's clear the man is ill and it's clear he has information that our investigators need. It is also clear that our investigators will be speaking to him in the near future."

Meanwhile, West Yorkshire police yesterday confirmed that they are awaiting permission from German authorities to interview Mr Hewlett over an unsolved indecent assault in 1975. He was first convicted of abducting and sexually assaulting a neighbour's 12-year-old daughter in 1972.

He is also under investigation by German authorities after his son, David, died falling from the back of a van that Mr Hewlett was driving from Portugal to Germany. Another son, Wayne Hewlett, has spoken out against his father in recent days, branding him a "monster" and "despicable".

Leicestershire police, which handle the British end of the McCann inquiry, refused to comment but said they would pass on any new information to Portuguese police, who remained in charge of the investigation.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/mccanns-urge-paedophile-to-help-search-1690139.html

Maddie's possible abductor: Raymond Hewlett, the cunning predator with 30 years of depravity behind him
By Michael Seamark
Last updated at 11:40 PM on 22nd May 2009

Compile a profile of Madeleine McCann's possible abductor and there are few more suitable suspects than Raymond Hewlett. He's a convicted predatory paedophile - a man detectives describe as cunning and a danger to children - who flits from country to country.
Given that he speaks English and, crucially, was within striking distance of Praia da Luz when three-year-old Madeleine went missing, Hewlett ticks a a great many boxes.
From his hospital bed in Germany, where he is being treated for cancer, the 64-year-old protests his innocence. 'I've done nothing wrong, nothing nothing,' he says.

However, it is hardly surprising that Kate and Gerry McCann's investigators are now forensically examining any possible link between Hewlett and their daughter's disappearance in 2007.

 New McCann suspect: Raymond Hewlett (left) and an artist's impression of a man seen near Madeleine's apartment (right)
The former Scots Guardsman, trawlerman and fairground worker has been repeatedly jailed for a series of violent sexual offences against young girls.

Once featured on a Crimestoppers list of most wanted paedophiles, he is currently wanted for questioning by British police forces for the indecent assault of a young girl more than 30 years ago.

Several years ago Irish officers investigating a series of attempted abductions were seeking Hewlett, who had been posing as an undercover police officer to search for young girls or befriend their families to gain access to children.


 More...Is the net closing?: Paedophile named in search for Maddie faces quiz on second case

'To say we need to trace this man is an understatement,' said one detective. But, as in the past, Hewlett was one step ahead of the law and had fled.

He was born in Blackpool in 1945, the second youngest child in a family of seven, and left school without any qualifications and, at the insistence of his father, joined the Scots Guards in 1961.

His military career lasted nine months, before he was dishonorably discharged for causing disorder, being absent without leave and stealing a regimental bicycle.

He spent the next year wandering the country before ending up in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, where he held a series of menial jobs and made the first of his many court appearances, for assault.

He first married in 1963, to local girl Susan Ginley, and over the next five years they had four children. But a series of offences, ranging from burglary to firearms possession, meant regular spells behind bars.

In 1972 he carried out the first of a series of serious sexual crimes against young girls when he persuaded the 12-year-old daughter of a neighbour to get in his car, telling her that her mother needed to see her urgently.

Instead of taking her home, Hewlett drove her up to nearby moors and forced a rag soaked in paint thinner over her face. When she regained consciousness she was naked on the back seat of the car.

Hewlett, who hid in his attic for a week until his wife called in the police, insisted the girl had consented to sex but he was jailed and served 12 months of an 18-month sentence before returning to Todmorden.

 Hewlett with second wife Gabriella in Scotland in 1997

In 1978 he went to a nearby house on the pretext of delivering a parcel, after establishing by telephone that a girl of 14 was home alone. Once inside he pointed a handgun at the terrified teenager's face and forced her upstairs where, terrified and crying, she was made to lie face down on a bed.

He had started to strip her when the girl told him she was expecting friends. That quick-thinking saved her and Hewlett was arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment, serving 16 months. In 1980 Hewlett left his long- suffering wife Susan for Anita Cox, and they had two children and married in 1982 - a partnership punctuated by regular vicious attacks by husband on wife.
Eight years later he was sentenced to six years imprisonment for kidnapping and indecent assault after snatching at knifepoint a girl of 14 on a paper round in Northwich, Cheshire.

'You know what is going to happen to you now,' he warned the terrified teenager after they arrived at a quarry 50 miles away in north Wales.

Naked apart from her socks and threatened with a knife, she was subjected to a brutal sexual ordeal when she feared she was going to be raped.

But then Hewlett told her to dress, bundled her into the boot of his car and dumped her a further 50 miles away at another quarry.

He fled to Ireland but was identified as the attacker by forensic evidence and brought back to face trial. But two years into his sentence, he was granted home leave from Leicestershire's Stoken Prison and absconded, only to be rearrested when he arrived back in Britain from Ireland in 1991.

The following year Hewlett was quizzed over the 1975 murder of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed, sexually assaulted, stabbed and dumped on moors at Ripponden after she set off for a loaf of bread in Rochdale.

Inland Revenue clerk Stefan Kiszko was wrongly imprisoned for the killing but Hewlett became a prime suspect given that he lived ten miles from Rochdale, that he had fled to the Irish Republic soon after the murder and had a record of attacks on young girls.

When questioned about Lesley's murder his response to most questions was 'No reply.'

He was linked to the crime scene by his ownership of a blue Morris 1000 van which matched descriptions given by 14 witnesses who saw one parked in a lay-by at Ripponden on the day of Lesley's abduction.

Previously unknown links between Hewlett's family and friends of the Molseed family raised the possibility that Lesley knew her killer and might have got in his car. But DNA later eliminated Hewlett and another man, Ronald Castree, was eventually convicted of the girl's murder in 2007 after Kiszko's death.

Hewlett returned to his 'safe haven' in the Irish Republic in 1993 living in a commune in County Donegal. He was eventually asked to leave by commune members worried by remarks made by their young children concerning Hewlett. He wandered across Ireland before heading for the Continent, eventually working as a candle maker in the Italian mountains.

While there, he met and married an Italian woman, Gabriella - the couple having a son Marco - but she had nothing more to do with him when she learnt the nature of Italian police inquiries about her new husband. Little more than a decade ago he was back in Donegal, this time with his pregnant German partner Marianna Schmuker.

They were still together, living with six children in a converted Dodge truck, when they met English couple Alan and Cindy Thompson in Portugal, who raised the possibility of Hewlett's links to Madeleine's disappearance.

Alan said: 'Hewlett befriended us but kept quiet about his terrible past. We were mortified and disgusted to discover the truth.'


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1186788/Maddies-possible-abductor-Raymond-Hewlett-cunning-predator-30-years-depravity-him.html

Raymond Hewlett's youngest son disowned him  By Richard Smith 23/05/2009

Son: Dad beat his kids..I detest him

Raymond Hewlett's youngest son last night branded his paedophile dad "despicable" and told how he disowned him as soon as he knew about his sick crimes.

Builder Wayne Hewlett said he and his brothers and sisters were savagely beaten by him when they were children and were even targeted by violent hate mobs disgusted at the pervert.

The 40-year-old bachelor, who cut off all ties with his dad 20 years ago, added: "He is a monster.

"The crimes he has committed are despicable, he is a major embarrassment as a father and I'm ashamed of the things he has done.

"I know he has cancer but I don't care whether he lives or dies. I despise the man. How could anyone not? Just because he's my father doesn't mean I'm not disgusted by what he has done."

Hewlett, 64, has been jailed three times for kidnap, attempting to rape and molesting young girls. He is still wanted over alleged sex crimes going back nearly 30 years.

Speaking of the beating his dad would dish out when he was young, Wayne said: "He was a Jekyll and Hyde character.

"Sometimes he was funny like you would expect of any dad. But if he lost his temper he would be vicious. He beat all of us, with his belt. He would give you a good thrashing. Dad was not a drinker so he couldn't blame it on that."

Wayne, who grew up in Todmorden, Yorks, told how his mum Susan would shield her children from hearing about her husband's crimes. But he added: "Once I found the truth I was devastated and broke all ties with him. The last time I saw him was in a bail hostel. I told my dad what I thought of him and disowned him.

"I never had any idea he was a pervert because there was no way of telling. People have taken it out on his closest relatives even though we've done nothing, we just happen to be his kids.

"I've had bricks thrown at my house and my car was vandalised. When the local paper published a picture of my dad somebody burned his eyes out and stuffed the photo through my letter box with a message saying: 'You deserve to burn as well'. We moved seven times to avoid the stigma of being associated with him.


When Susan Ginley first clapped eyes on farm worker Raymond Hewlett, she was bowled over by his rugged good looks and charm. But the love-struck 18-year-old had no idea she had fallen for a pervert who would go on to abuse young girls, beat her up, become a serial love cheat and put their family in danger from crackpots seeking revenge.

Susan, 63, who divorced the paedophile in 1981 after 17 years of marriage, said: "I haven't seen him for 11 years and will never forgive him for the suffering he caused our children."

Speaking of when she met Hewlett, also 18 at the time, the retired cleaner and seamstress said: "He wore a black leather jacket and tight jeans and with his blonde hair in a quiff he looked the part. Lots of women fell for him.

"He was a good-looking lad who made me laugh. Unfortunately, I didn't realise what he was like at the time. He later gave me a few beatings and hidings. He'd lose it.

"The first time he assaulted a neighbour's 12-year-old daughter he blamed it on depression.

"He spent a year in jail but the kids never knew anything. We moved home when he was released and then he blew it again."

Hewlett tried to rape a 14-year-old girl after holding a gun to her head. He was jailed for four years - but only served 16 months.

Susan said: "My first instinct was to protect the kids, they really copped it.

"I had to move two of them out of school. When one of my daughters went to the toilet, other kids said they would rape her.

"We made another new start and moved south but he soon had a fling with a married woman - it was at least the third during our marriage and that finished us. I know he's got cancer but I do not feel sorry for him."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/23/raymond-hewlett-s-youngest-son-disowned-him-115875-21382104/

MADDIE: THREE BRITS PROBED
 ABOVE: Hewlett was named as suspect last week 24th May 2009 By Jonathan Corke
THREE Britons are now being investigated in the case of missing Madeleine McCann.




Lancashire-born convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett was last week named as a possible suspect.



And the Daily Star Sunday can reveal that claims about two more people are being scrutinised by the team working for Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.



A fourth Brit, also a convicted paedophile, has been ruled out.



The McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said yesterday that a “number of names” had been put forward after appeals on this month’s second anniversary of Maddie’s disappearance from Praia da Luz on the Portuguese Algarve.



He refused to comment on their nationalities.



But he did say: “A handful of calls with substantive information is being followed up. Raymond Hewlett is just one line of inquiry among several.”



Hewlett, 64, who was in Portugal when Maddie went missing, is currently in Germany being treated for cancer.



Reports in Portugal are saying that local police ruled him out of their investigation although he has been described as still dangerous to children and sources say he is wanted for questioning about an unsolved attack in Yorkshire.



The McCanns’ private team – retired detectives Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley – intend to interview him “within days”.



Our source said: “It’s important to remember that Hewlett is just one avenue in the investigation. There are other leads being looked at.”



Edgar and Cowley still need to trace the “Scarface” suspect featured in a recent mock-up photo release.



Meanwhile, the McCanns hope that International Missing Children’s Day tomorrow will spark more information on the case.



They will join other families at an event in London.



A statement from the couple said: “If global efforts are strengthened, more of these vulnerable, innocent children will be found.”

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/81870/Maddie-Three-Brits-probed/

MADELEINE: THE MISSED CLUES AT £1M VILLA 



STATEMENTS: Witnesses tell of suspicious behaviour at house and toys in secret video den
Sunday May 24,2009
By EXCLUSIVE James Murray and Ted Jeory Madeleine McCANN may have been taken to a luxury villa just half a mile from where she was abducted, Portuguese detectives were told.


Suspicions were raised because of the behaviour of the people who rented the £1million villa and because video cameras were reportedly seen there along with pictures of children on a wall, the Sunday Express has learned.

Our revelations come as West Yorkshire police prepare to fly to Germany to question 64-year-old convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett over a sex attack on a girl 25 years ago.


Retired detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann are also hoping to interview Hewlett to ask him directly whether he knows anything about three-year-old Madeleine’s abduction.

Hewlett is in intensive care at a German hospital recovering from an operation for throat cancer. In the last 24 hours his condition has worsened and there are concerns he may have only days to live.

If well enough, it is expected he will be asked if he ever met paedophiles in the Algarve town of Praia da Luz around the time Madeleine vanished.

One theory the McCanns’ investigators are examining is whether there was a paedophile ring operating in the area two years ago.

The Sunday Express has been conducting intensive inquiries in the resort town and asked scores of people if they saw anyone acting suspiciously.

One elderly British resident told us both she and a friend, a retired British woman detective, went to Portuguese police about a couple who rented the villa, which has its own swimming pool.


The resident told us: “I used to meet up with the retired detective to walk our dogs down by the seafront. Both of us became concerned about a couple aged about 30 who rented the villa.

     

“What struck us was that they drove a very tatty, British-registered small red saloon car. It was one those vehicles you would normally see on a gypsy camp, not going in and out of a very expensive villa.

“We only saw them coming and going in the car and not walking about, which is odd given the location of the villa. We both got the impression they were trying to keep a low profile.’’

Another source said that after Maddie disappeared, search teams combed the seafront, where luxury villas stand next to large areas of barren land.

Anglican priest Paul Luckman, owner and publisher of Portugal News, said: “The location and description of that villa mentioned by your source fits the one that a searcher told me about.

“The searcher told me the villa was empty and somehow they got inside some weeks after Madeleine disappeared.

“The search dog handler said the villa had a room with a kind of amateur studio with video equipment and cameras with children’s toys and pictures of children on the wall.

“He felt it was something to do with paedophiles. He told the police and they seemed to know something about it, but we don’t think they took it any further.”

The Sunday Express took him to the villa and he confirmed that it fits the description and location of the one he was told about.

Although we know where it is, we are not naming the villa for legal reasons as we have been unable to locate the owner.

The British woman resident said: “I know the owner was contacted after we raised our concerns with the police.


"The person was angry because she said she did not know the people who rented it and was annoyed about being contacted by detectives.


"We heard nothing more about it. The day after Maddie disappeared the couple moved out and we didn’t see them again.

“There was an older woman in a very expensive car who visited them during their stay.”

The McCanns’ private investigators have been conducting surveillance on several properties for some time. Retired det­ective inspector Dave Edgar returned from Portugal on Friday night and is pursuing a number of leads he is not prepared to discuss.

Meanwhile, paedophile Hewlett is said to be suffering internal bleeding.


A doctor at the Aachen hospital where he is being treated said: “He is very poorly. Fluid has been seeping into his lungs. He cannot speak. The next few days will be critical.”

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/103035

FURY OF MADDIE PROBE PERVERT’S FAMILY

23rd May 2009 By Jerry Lawton
THE daughter of a sex beast being probed over Madeleine McCann’s abduction said last night: “I don’t care if he drops dead.’’



Police are waiting to quiz Raymond Hewlett, 64, in the hospital bed where he is fighting cancer.

But daughter Gina, 41, has revealed how his evil antics – including the 1972 rape of a 12-year-old girl he lured into a car – had ruined her life.

Vigilantes firebombed her home and blitzed her with hate mail over his crimes.

Fighting back tears, Gina said: “I will never forgive him for what he’s done.

“I have no sympathy for him – even on his death bed. We’ve spent a lifetime picking up the pieces from all the trouble he’s caused. Over the years we’ve had firebombs thrown through our window and hate mail sent.

“Now he’s being linked with taking Maddie, it will all kick off again.”

Gina, of Telford, Shrops, added: “We didn’t know if he was dead or alive, but now we have heard about all this we don’t really care.”

Hewlett was last night in the University Hospital in Aaachen, Germany, battling throat cancer.

Brit police are planning to jet out to quiz him about the abduction and sex assault of an eight-year-old girl in 1975.

He has been questioned by police before about Madeleine’s abduction, but he had an alibi and was freed without charge.

Ex-detectives hired by Madeleine’s parents Gerry, 40, and Kate, 41, to find their daughter are checking out that alibi after Hewlett’s description matched that of a man with a droopy moustache seen fleeing with a youngster.

When Madeleine vanished from her parents’ apartment in Praia da Luz, Hewlett was touring the Algarve with his German wife Marianne, 33, and six children in a converted Dodge truck.

He denies he had anything to do with the youngster’s disappearance and insists he was at a market 30 miles away in Fuseta when she vanished.

The McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said Hewlett was “an individual of interest” to their investigators.

He said: “It’s a name that Madeleine’s parents are aware of.

“It is alleged he made comments to friends that indicated some degree of knowledge of what may or may not have happened to Madeleine. These people have now come forward.

“The investigators are liaising with police in Britain and Portugal and if there is any substance they will take that forward with the relevant authorities.”

Hewlett’s ex-wife Susan, 63, was last night too upset to talk at her home in Telford.

In 1972 Hewlett was jailed for raping a 12-year-old girl he had lured into a car.

The ex-Scots Guard, originally from Blackpool, Lancs, was caged for four years in 1978 for the attempted rape of a 14-year-old girl. In 1988 he was jailed for six years after abducting a 14-year-old Cheshire schoolgirl.

Police in Britain now want to quiz him about a sex attack on a girl in Prestwich, near Manchester, in 1975.


http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/81820/Fury-of-Maddie-probe-pervert-s-family/

24 May 2009
MADDIE SUSPECT RAYMOND HEWLETT: I'LL TAKE LIE TEST
Russell Myers
Madeleine McCann suspect Raymond Hewlett is ready to take a LIE DETECTOR test to prove his innocence in the case.

The convicted paedophile has carried out a string of vile attacks on children but denies any link to Maddie's disappearance.

But police face a race against time to establish the truth, as last night doctors were battling to keep Hewlett alive after complications following a cancer op.

The fiend, 64, was said to have suffered massive internal bleeding, with a source adding: "His condition might worsen at any time which could end his life."


As Hewlett lay critical in hospital, his German wife Mariana Schmucker, 33 - mum to their six children - challenged Maddie's parents Gerry and Kate to come to see her.


She said: "I know about my Raymond's past and it is forgotten. He is a changed man. I know he didn't take Maddie.


"He is a very sick man and has said to me he will do anything to prove he is innocent - even take a lie detector test.


"Let the parents of Madeleine come here and ask him face-toface if he had anything to do with their child going missing.


"My husband has nothing to do with little Madeleine. He's an innocent man and he'll prove it not anyone."


Mariana shares a squalid twobedroom flat - overlooking a kindergarten - with Hewlett and their children.


Drifter


It is just a few miles from where the suspect now lies in University Hospital, in Aachen, Germany.


Again denying any link to Maddie's abduction by her husband, Mariana said: "These are lies all lies. I know my husband more than anyone in this world and I will tell you he has done nothing wrong.


"Those police should be looking for the real man who took that little girl and not Raymond, he's a sick man, a very sick man." Former soldier turned drifter Hewlett had been living near Praia de Luz in Portugal when Maddie vanished from her family's holiday apartment in May 2007.


By the time he was tracked to Aachen, near the Belgian border, this month he was already seriously ill with lung cancer.


But British police still want to interview him about a sexual assault on a child in West York-shire in 1975, and the murder of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed that same year.


Hewlett served 12 months for abducting a 12-year-old girl, knocking her out with paint stripper and raping her in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, in 1972.


In 1978, he was jailed for four years after holding a 14-year-old girl and putting a gun to her head.


Last night, in a new twist, a British couple who first raised suspicions about Hewlett over missing Maddie a year ago claimed police had not taken them seriously until now.


Alan Thompson, 56, and his wife Cindy, 47, from Peterborough, Cambs, had met Hewlett while on holiday in Portugal.


Cindy told The People: "We cannot talk in detail about the police inquiry, but let's just say we are hoping they take this seriously now.


"We are utterly confused about the delay. It's a worry for us and it must be worse for the McCanns.


Alan said: "I only hope it is not too late." The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell, said the family's own investigators also wanted to speak to Hewlett, and to the Thompsons.


He said: "Mr Hewlett has denied any involvement in Madeleine's abduction.


"Our investigators hope he will see sense and co-operate by giving them whatever information needed so they can eliminate him from the investigation.


"It's clear the man is ill and it is clear he has information that our investigators need."

http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=maddie-suspect-raymond-hewlett-i-ll-take-lie-test&method=full&objectid=21384542&siteid=93463-name_page.html

 Exclusive
He's evil enough to have snatched MaddieBy RHODRI PHILLIPS and ROBIN PERRIE

Published: 23 May 2009
THE latest major suspect in the Madeleine McCann case was branded "evil incarnate" last night - by his first known victim.
Bette Balfour, just 12 when Raymond Hewlett abducted and sexually assaulted her, added: "I believe he is quite capable of taking Maddie."





Yesterday The Sun revealed convicted paedophile Hewlett had been in Portugal when Maddie was snatched - and how investigators working for her parents Kate and Gerry had tracked him to Germany.


Last night he was said to be critically ill with lung cancer in hospital in Aschen, on the Belgian border.

Chill
Bette, now 49, said: "I don't care if he's ill. I don't care if he's dying. He deserves to be brought to justice if there are crimes he still hasn't been punished for."

Asked if she thought he could have abducted three-year-old Maddie, she added: "He was in the Algarve when she disappeared and he is evil enough.


"His name has never left my mind, but when I saw his picture and his name in The Sun this morning it gave me a chill."

Hewlett, 64, was a neighbour and friend of Bette's father in Todmorden, North Yorks. In 1972 he lured her in to his car, telling her his mother was ill, drugged her with paint thinner and assaulted her on a moor.

Bette, who bravely agreed to waive her anonymity, went on: "I haven't moved on since it happened. He still haunts me. He is a sick, devious man, who will use every trick he can to get his way."

Detectives working for Kate and Gerry have shown a photograph of convicted serial offender Hewlett to a schoolgirl who twice saw a man loitering near the family's holiday apartment - and asked: Is this him?

In the weeks after Maddie's disappearance Hewlett is said to have made comments implying he had knowledge of child trafficking.

Hewlett has cropped up across Europe and in Morocco, North Africa.


In May 2007 he was on the Algarve, an hour away from the resort of Praia da Luz where Maddie, of Rothley, Leics, was snatched.

He was quizzed by Portuguese cops but was given an alibi by a girl of 15.

British police also hope to question him about a sexual assault on an eight-year-old girl in Manchester in 1975.

Meanwhile disgraced Goncalo Amaral, 49 - former head of the Maddie police probe in Portugal - was yesterday given an 18-month suspended jail term for falsifying evidence in another missing child case.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2445053/Victim-says-Raymond-Balfour-is-evil-enough-to-have-snatched-Maddie.html

Madeleine McCann cops ask couple who raised alaram about paedophile Ray Hewlett if they have his mobile number  By Ryan Parry and Stephen Moyes in Aachen, Germany 25/05/2009

 
THE couple who raised the alarm about paedophile Ray Hewlett told yesterday how detectives who interviewed them asked: “Do you still have his mobile number.”

Alan and Cindy Thompson were questioned for three hours at the weekend by officers from Leicestershire Police’s Madeleine McCann task force.

Cindy, who handed over the foreign number, said yesterday: “The detective who interviewed me asked for Ray’s number. He didn’t say what they’ll do with it, I just hope it helps in some way.”

Officers could use the number to access phone company records dating back to May 3, 2007, the day Madeleine vanished from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.

The records will show which mobile phone masts Hewlett’s phone connected to on specific dates.

The information may help officers track Hewlett’s movements the night Madeleine went missing and over the following days.

Alan said the detective who spoke to him was keen for information about the dilapidated Dodge truck Hewlett was driving at the time Madeleine vanished and which he later took to Morocco.

Alan said: “The officer asked what sort of truck it was and where I thought it was now. I told him it was a very distinctive blue Dodge truck with English plates, maybe beginning with a D or a G.

“I also told them that friends in Portugal told me that the truck is in Alvor, a town near Albufeira in the Algarve.”

The detectives who interviewed Alan and Cindy in East London’s Limehouse police station told them all the information would be passed on to Portuguese police.

Hewlett, who has been jailed three times for attacks on young girls, is currently in hospital in Aachen, Germany, recovering from throat cancer surgery.

Investigators working for Kate and Gerry McCann arrived in the city last night in the hope of interviewing Hewlett, possibly even today. Detectives from West Yorkshire are currently waiting for permission from the German authorities to question Hewlett in connection with an unsolved indecent assault from 1975.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/25/madeleine-mccann-cops-ask-couple-who-raised-alaram-about-paedophile-ray-hewlett-if-they-have-his-mobile-number-115875-21386723/

News articles I've found today are simply recycling old news.

Raymond Hewlett: The whingeing prison letters that sickened pervert's own family  By Richard Smith 25/05/2009

 
Paedophile Raymond Hewlett sent his family sickening letters from his prison cell, in which he whinged that his young victims were to blame.

Bemoaning "this wicked evil world" and desperate to convince relatives he was innocent, the wife-beater claimed he was not at fault before he was jailed for a third time for sex attacks.

In a spidery scrawl littered with grammatical errors, Hewlett wrote to his daughter: "I still feel as though I've been singled out to be tramped on and stamped on like some bloody insect."

He even tried to say a girl of 14 he attacked "had complete control of the situation, I just went along with it".

And the self-pitying sex beast complained he had been made out as "some sort of monster" and moaned about interfering social workers.

Son Wayne, 40, one of four children from Hewlett's first marriage, to Susan Ginley, said yesterday: "He was always in denial over what he had done, as if it was somebody else's fault."

Hewlett was jailed for 18 months in 1972 for sexually assaulting a neighbour's 12-year-old daughter.

He then attempted to rape a 14-yearold girl after holding a gun to her head and was caged for four years in 1978


Hewlett was locked up again for six years in 1988 after he kidnapped and assaulted another girl of 14.

Daughter Gina, 41, was 20 when Hewlett wrote to her from his cell at Risley remand centre in Warrington, Cheshire, in March 1988.

He said: "I do believe there is a God, there has to be something more than this wicked evil world, what I find hard to grasp is why me? Why when I've got everything I need why when I behave like any other normal person do I have to be destroyed? "What have I done that makes me have to pay over and over again, I still feel as though I've been singled out to be tramped on and stamped on like some bloody insect, tell me am I a human being or not? Well my Darling Daughter I just wish I could have a visit with just you or you and your mum."

In a second letter, Hewlett blames his latest victim, saying of her statement: "She does not describe the interior of the vehicle correctly, but says the seats were black plastic when they were brown cloth.

"She said the car was smaller than a Marina with a front like a Chevette, she's got loads either wrong on purpose or just forgotten to mention them, and yet everyone describes her as an intelligent girl, she... goes on to say how calm she was because she never panics, I know she doesn't she even says she was calmer than me, that's because she had complete control of the situation, I just went along with it.

"I seem to be back in the same situation putting my hands up and surrendering, but what's new, I always get sold down the river. I just wish I knew what was going to happen but I think I already know, more jail maybe for a long time, I've lost all faith, truth does not seem important but that's nothing knew. Your Loving Dad xxx In a third letter while awaiting sentence, Hewlett wrote: "I know I told the truth, when I made my statement to police they were laughing. I didn't find it at all amusing."

In a fourth letter, Hewlett moaned: "Outside of my family I haven't got a friend in the world, even my own brother and sisters have turned their backs on me... it's a good job I've got someone like you, mind you you was always my favourite girl, the only trouble is you grew up but at least your still there, people are trying to make me into some sort of monster but you know different Gina. I've got so much love to give but every time I give it something seems to go wrong."

In a letter from Gartree Prison in Market Harborough, Leics, in September 1989, Hewlett told Gina: "I'd give anything for you to put your arm round me... and say Dad I love you... Kids don't matter in this lousy world, when you love your kids and treat them right you get those Social Services B******* breathing down your neck. Why don't they pick on families that do mistreat kids?"

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/25/the-whingeing-prison-letters-that-sickened-pervert-s-own-family-115875-21387068/

New Clues
10:33pm UK, Monday May 25, 2009

Martin Brunt, crime correspondent

New clues in the Madeleine McCann case are being ignored by Portuguese police, according to sources in Portugal.

Witnesses who have tried to pass on information about potential new sightings of Madeleine have been told by detectives they will not investigate "because the case is closed and Madeleine is dead."

It is understood details of four possible sightings were given to the Algarve detectives recently but were not followed up.

The Portuguese authorities called off their investigation last summer when they ran out of leads, saying they would re-open it only for a major development.

The revelation comes as the McCann's private investigators gave new suspect Raymond Hewlett, 64, an ultimatum to talk to them.



Madeleine Investigators In Germany


They spent the day trying to see him in the hospital in Aachen, Germany, where he is being treated for cancer.

They hoped his wife Marianna had paved the way for an interview, but they were not allowed in and Hewlett made no offer to speak to the detectives.

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell told Sky News: "Raymond Hewlett has been made well aware of the investigators' desire to speak to him and the former detectives helping Kate and Gerry are still awaiting a definitive response from him.


 
Raymond Hewlett is in hospital

"Clearly, if he is to be eliminated in the investigation it is incumbent on him to speak to them while they are in Germany and they continue to hope he will do so.

"The investigators will overnight in Germany and they are hopeful they can talk to Mr Hewlett by Tuesday morning at the latest."

Hewlett, a paedophile with a string of convictions in the UK, was living on the Algarve an hour's drive from the resort where Madeleine vanished two years ago.

He has denied any involvement in her disappearance.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Madeleine-McCann-New-Clues-Are-Being-Ignored-By-Portuguese-Police-According-To-Sky-News-Sources/Article/200905415288536?lpos=UK_News_First_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15288536_Madeleine_McCann%3A_New_Clues_Are_Being_Ignored_By_Portuguese_Police%2C_According_To_Sky_News_Sources

Just a thought, if the Portuguese police know Madeleine is dead....shouldn't they be looking for her murderer? Case closed?   ::MonkeyNoNo::

Exactly!!  ::MonkeyNoNo::

She is dead, Portuguese police tell new Madeleine McCann informants, as detectives are blocked from quizzing paedophile
Last updated at 10:16 AM on 26th May 2009

Portuguese police have dismissed up to four potential Madeleine McCann leads in the past week by telling informers: 'The case is closed, she is dead.'
All the witnesses who came forward offering information about the missing youngster were waved away by indifferent officers in the Algarve.
The revelation was described as a 'disgrace' by friends of Kate and Gerry McCann, who are spearheading a renewed appeal to find their daughter two years after she vanished in Portugal.

Yesterday two private detectives employed by the couple were rebuffed as they tried to question paedophile Raymond Hewlett in his hospital bed in Germany.
Former soldier Hewlett, 62, who was living in the Algarve when Madeleine went missing and has a history of sex attacks on girls, hid in his room and refused to see the pair.

Hewlett, who has cancer, is one of several fresh leads that have flooded in to investigators in the past few weeks.
The McCanns are privately furious that the Portuguese police - who in theory are still in charge of the inquiry - have refused to accept new tip-offs.
A source close to the investigation said: 'In the last week, three or four people have approached the Portuguese police with information, and they were told not to worry them because the case was closed and she is dead.'
It is understood these people later gave their information directly to the McCanns' private detectives.

But the source said: 'What if there are other people who tried to give information and then simply gave up when they were sent away? They could have been squandering potentially significant new leads.'

Although Portuguese prosecutors announced last year they were shelving the Madeleine case, Leicestershire Police still refer new leads to them and claim the Portuguese are still in charge of the inquiry.
A friend of the McCanns - both doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire - said: 'It's a disgrace frankly, it's beyond frustrating. It is exactly the attitude that we have been up against for months.

'They closed the inquiry and were not prepared to lift a finger.'
Two private detectives, former Detective Inspector Dave Edgar and former Detective Sergeant Arthur Cowley, employed by the McCanns flew to Aachen in Germany on Sunday night in an attempt to question Hewlett.
They spent ten minutes talking to his German wife Marianna Schmuker in her council apartment in the city.
But when they visited the hospital yesterday, Hewlett - who has spent much of his life in jail or on the run from police - made it plain he had no intention of cooperating.

Mr Edgar said: 'If he's got nothing to hide, he should speak to us. It is a matter of urgency because of his medical condition.'
The two investigators also came up against a wall of German bureaucracy.
Because Hewlett is not suspected of a crime in Germany, the authorities cannot compel him to cooperate - unless they receive a request from British Police.
However, West Yorkshire police have confirmed they are 'actively seeking' Hewlett in connection with an indecent assault on an eight-year-old in 1975.

Yesterday sick letters he wrote to his own daughter were revealed. Gina, 41, was 20 when he scrawled the self-pitying missives from his cell at Risley remand centre in Warrington, Cheshire, in March 1988.
In the letters he told her she was his 'favourite girl, the only trouble is you grew up'.
Hewlett's son Wayne, 40, a builder, said he was savagely beaten by him as a child. Wayne cut all ties with his father 20 years ago, and said: 'He is a monster.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1187435/She-dead-Portuguese-police-tell-new-Maddie-informants.html?ITO=1490
LOTS OF Comments and more photos at the link

Thanks for all the articles on Madeleine...it is heartbreaking to say the least...has to be so frustrating for her parents...

Madeleine Investigation Turns To Farce
Breaking News12:57pm UK, Tuesday May 26, 2009

Martin Brunt, crime correspondent

Efforts by private investigators to quiz a new suspect in the Madeleine McCann case turned to farce today.
 
Hewlett had been refusing to speak to the McCann detectives



Raymond Hewlett, 64, this morning agreed to meet the detectives - but they were already waiting to board a flight back to the UK.

They then refused to return to the hospital in Germany where he is being treated for cancer.

Yesterday, the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell gave Hewlett an ultimatum to meet the investigators by this morning to "help clear his name".

Hewlett, a convicted paedophile, wheeled himself into the car park of the hospital in Aachen and told waiting reporters he would speak to the detectives.

"I have nothing to hide. I am willing to talk with them," he said, denying any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance from a holiday apartment in Portugal two years ago.

But it was too late.

Mr Mitchell told Sky News: "He should have indicated yesterday that he was happy to talk to us.

"We welcome his indication that he will speak to us, but it will have to be rearranged.

"That meeting will take place in the near future, but we won't reveal where and when."

The investigators arrived in Aachen on Saturday and tried to arrange a meeting through Hewlett's wife Marianna.

But the hospital authorities would not let them in - and Hewlett apparently made no effort to see the detectives over the weekend.

Yesterday, former Det Insp Dave Edgar, who is leading the probe, said: "If he's got nothing to hide, he should speak to us.

"It's a matter of urgency because of his medical condition."

Hewlett was living an hour's drive from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished on May 3 2007.

He has since aroused suspicion through comments he is said to have made to a British couple who befriended him.

It is understood the Portuguese police were aware of Hewlett at some stage during their investigation, but it is unclear if they interviewed him.

Sources in Portugal have said that new, potential sightings of Madeleine are being ignored by police, who believe Madeleine is dead.

Portuguese police abandoned their investigation last year after unearthing no evidence of what happened to Madeleine.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Madeleine-McCann-Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett-Denies-Involvement-In-Girls-Disappearance/Article/200905415288960?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15288960_Madeleine_McCann%3A_Paedophile_Raymond_Hewlett_Denies_Involvement_In_Girls_Disappearance

Paedophile to talk with McCann team
9 hours 9 mins ago

Two former detectives employed by the little girl's family flew to Aachen in Germany - where Raymond Hewlett is in hospital - in the hopes they could quiz him about his movements around the time that Madeleine went missing.

But they failed to gain access to him and were waiting for a "definitive response" to their interview request.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hewlett emerged from the hospital in a wheelchair and told reporters he would speak to the McCanns' private detectives. He denies having any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

The 64-year-old is alleged to have been staying around an hour's drive from the McCanns' holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, when Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "The investigators are pleased to hear that Mr Hewlett has agreed to speak to them. An interview with him will be arranged and will take place in due course."

He continued: "We will not be going into public detail about where or when that interview will take place.

"Mr Hewlett has again denied any involvement in Madeleine's abduction, and if it helps to eliminate him from the private investigation then he has done the right thing by indicating that he will speak to the investigators currently helping Kate and Gerry McCann."

Hewlett, a former soldier who previously lived in Blackpool and Telford, was jailed several times for sexually assaulting young girls and is now wanted for questioning by British detectives in connection with a separate indecent assault.

West Yorkshire Police also confirmed its officers want to speak to Hewlett, but did not reveal further details.

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment while her parents dined with friends nearby. Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide she has not been found.


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090526/tuk-paedophile-to-talk-with-mccann-team-dba1618_1.html

Madeleine McCann hunters claim the Algarve is awash with paedophiles
By Sam Greenhill
Last updated at 1:49 AM on 27th May 2009


Detectives hunting for Madeleine McCann believe the Algarve is awash with child molesters, it emerged yesterday.

They have discovered there have been seven sexual assaults involving the children of tourists in the region in the last four years.

The detectives have narrowed their search to a handful of predatory paedophiles - two of whom still live in the resort of Praia da Luz.

 Raymond Hewlett outside a hospital in Aachen yesterday where he denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance
One is of 'significant interest' because investigators now suspect the alibi he gave Portuguese police is 'a bit shaky'.

The detectives, who are working for Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, are convinced the answer to her disappearance lies within 500 yards of the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz where she vanished in May 2007 days before her fourth birthday.

They are focusing on four or five paedophiles living in the Algarve who 'fit the bill' for the type of person they think snatched her. All but one is British.

The new leads emerged as convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett spoke for the first time about reports linking him to Madeleine's disappearance - he was in the Algarve in May 2007.
  Investigation: A police photo of convicted paedophile, Raymond Hewlett, left, and a sketch of a man allegedly seen close to the resort when Madeleine was abducted

Questioned outside the German hospital where he recovering from surgery for throat cancer, the 62-year-old Briton said he had 'done nothing wrong'.

Former British policemen Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley, who are working for Mr and Mrs McCann, want to eliminate Hewlett from their inquiries.
A source close to the investigation said there were other, more significant, lines of inquiry than Hewlett.
 x

'There are 38 known sex offenders in the Algarve,' the source said. 'The area is a magnet for paedophiles. There have been seven sexual assaults involving the children of tourists in the Algarve in the last four years.
They all have the same modus operandi as Madeleine's disappearance - that is, a break-in at a holiday apartment and children molested.

'Five happened before Madeleine's abduction, and two afterwards. One took place a month before she vanished.'

 Madeleine McCann: The revelation that Portuguese police have dismissed new leads was branded a 'disgrace' by friends of Kate and Gerry McCann
The McCanns' detectives have learnt their names from a combination of the Portuguese police files and their own inquiries.

It is unclear to what extent any of the seven assaults were investigated by the local police.

But the McCanns' investigators want to know if they could be linked to each other - and to her disappearance.

The source added: 'We are looking at a man who is of significant interest. He has an alibi for the night Madeleine vanished, but it is a bit shaky. He has lived in an apartment in Praia da Luz for some years.

'His alibi was that his son was in hospital in Lisbon and there is a record of a bank withdrawal from a cashpoint machine in Lisbon.

But this could have been done by his wife, and she has a question mark over her character.'

 The McCanns are privately furious that the Portuguese police have refused to accept new tip-offs
The man has previously been investigated by Portuguese police in relation to Madeleine because of reports that he was spotted lurking near the family's apartment. But he was ruled out.

Last week, convicted paedophile Hewlett was named as being 'of interest' to the Madeleine investigators.

Yesterday, he finally spoke and offered to cooperate with the two British detectives who had flown to Aachen in Germany to see him in hospital. But by the time he made his offer, they had already set off empty-handed to the UK.

Hewlett, who was in a wheelchair, launched a tirade at reporters when they asked him if he knew anything about Madeleine's disappearance.

He snapped: 'It's got nothing to do with you. I don't have to speak to you. ****.' Asked why he had not spoken to the detectives, he said: 'I will. Just **** off, I've done nothing wrong.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1187435/Madeleine-McCann-hunters-claim-Algarve-awash-paedophiles.html
 

 ConfrontedFrom ALEX WEST
in Aachen, Germany

Published: Today
THIS is the moment The Sun confronted paedophile Raymond Hewlett over Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

We stepped in to grill the convicted child abuser after he stonewalled private eyes acting for Maddie's parents Gerry and Kate.


British fugitive Hewlett, 62, emerged as a suspect after it was revealed he lived near Praia da Luz at the time Maddie went missing from the Portuguese resort - and was said to be obsessed by the case.


We caught up with the foul-mouthed fiend as he sat in a wheelchair, gawping at passers-by including children, outside a hospital in Aachen, Germany. He is being treated there for throat cancer. This is how the confrontation unfolded:


THE SUN: Can you speak to us about Madeleine McCann?


HEWLETT: I don't know what you're talking about.


SUN: Did you have anything to do with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann?


HEWLETT: No answer


SUN: Could you tell us where you were when Madeleine McCann disappeared?


HEWLETT: It's got nothing to do with you.


SUN: Why don't you eliminate yourself from the inquiry for the sake of the McCanns?


HEWLETT: I don't have to speak to you. F*** off.


SUN: Why haven't you spoken to the detectives?


HEWLETT: I will. Just f*** off out of here. I've done nothing wrong.


SUN: Well, you've been on the run for more than 30 years and you're wanted for questioning by West Yorks Police.


HEWLETT: What for? I don't believe it.


SUN: A sexual assault on an eight-year-old girl in 1975.


At this point Hewlett, who lives in Aachen with partner Mariana, 33, and their six kids, let fly with another four-letter volley before leaping from the wheelchair and dashing inside the hospital.


The McCanns' detectives flew home yesterday after their attempts to talk to Hewlett foundered.


But they insisted an interview WILL be arranged later.


Meanwhile in Portugal, the team was working on fresh information about another suspect seen lurking near the McCanns' apartment when Maddie, then three, vanished in 2007.



The man was the subject of 100 pages of the Portuguese police's file on the case - but was not pursued after insisting he was in the nation's capital Lisbon at the time.


A source close to the private probe said the suspect has a rented apartment in Praia da Luz and is of "significant interest". His alibi was described as "a bit shaky".


It also emerged there have been SEVEN sex attacks on children of British tourists in the Algarve over the last four years. All involved kids molested during break-ins.


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2450102/Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett-confronted-by-The-Sun.html

Madeleine McCann: Raymond Hewlett gives DNA sample to police
Raymond Hewlett, the convicted paedophile linked to the Madeleine McCann investigation, has voluntarily given a sample of his DNA to police in Germany.
 
Last Updated: 10:44AM BST 28 May 2009

 Raymond Hewlett has given a DNA sample to police from his hospital bed Photo: PA
The 64-year-old delivered a sample of his saliva to police in his hospital bed at the University Clinic in Aachen where he is being treated for throat cancer.

Hewlett, who has multiple convictions for offences against children, came to the attention of investigators hired by Madeleine's parents to try to find her after an English couple came forward with new information.

Bild newspaper in Germany reported that unidentified DNA was found at the scene of her abduction and that Hewlett's genetic fingerprint will be compared to it.

But Robert Deller, a spokesman for the Aachen public prosecutor, said he understood the DNA sample relates to two child abuse cases in Britain in 1975.

He said the DNA has been sent to police in Britain. On Monday this week Hewlett, who lives in Aachen with his German partner Marianne Schmuecker, refused to see the two private eyes hired by Madeleine's parents.

He later said he would talk with them because he had "nothing to hide."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5398913/Madeleine-McCann-Raymond-Hewlett-gives-DNA-sample-to-police.html

Portrait of a paedophile: So did Raymond Hewlett snatch Maddie?
By David Jones
Last updated at 11:52 PM on 29th May 2009

The British paedophile's likeness to the sketch of a Maddie suspect is uncanny - and he admits being just an hour away on the day that she disappeared. He furiously protests his innocence. But as this chilling dispatch reveals, he has a truly horrifying past... and some disturbing questions to answerAddressed to an internet agency which peddles stories to low-brow media outlets, the email seemed absurdly far-fetched.

During a road-trip through Pakistan a decade ago, the woman informant wrote, she and her husband had stumbled upon the secret lair of Osama bin Laden.
  Under suspicion: Raymond Hewlett, left and an artist's impression of a Maddie suspect

When they tried to report their sensational discovery to U.S. authorities, nobody would listen.

Oh yes, she added almost as an afterthought, and while travelling through southern Portugal more recently, the couple had become friendly with a British man whom they later discovered to be a serial child sex attacker.

What's more, they now suspected him to be the monster who abducted Madeleine McCann.

Quite whether the tipsters (a down-to-earth, middle-aged couple named Alan and Cindy Thompson, who spend their summers in East Anglia and their winters abroad in a camper van) really did have a close encounter with the Al-Qaeda leader is open to question.

Extraordinarily, however, when their claims about the McCann case were closely checked, it turned out that they were telling the truth.

Thus, a few days ago, began the latest twist in a seemingly interminable saga that never fails to astonish and perplex; and which, until then, seemed to be rapidly running out of steam, for all the best efforts of Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate McCann and their team.

It has shone an unwelcome torch on the activities of the man the Thompsons met on their trek through Portugal, 64-year-old Raymond Hewlett - a thoroughly vile character with a record of serious paedophile offences dating back to the Seventies.

Despite the somewhat haphazard manner in which his name comes to be in the frame, detectives retained by the McCanns are taking his possible involvement in her disappearance seriously.

Last Monday, the former British police officers, Dave Edgar and Arthur Crowley, attempted to interview him in a German hospital, where he is recovering from an operation to remove a tumour on his oesophagus.
 Artist's impression: The McCanns recently released a picture of what Madeleine could look like today
Looking haggard and screaming obscenities at waiting journalists, the wheelchair-bound Hewlett refused to be questioned by the McCann team, changing his mind only after they had flown home to Britain. The police officers plan to return to Germany.

As Mr Edgar remarked, this is the first time since they took over the inquiry from the Spanish investigations agency Metodo 3 last autumn that they have felt the necessity to confront a suspect.
'It looked at one stage like he might die,' Mr Edgar, a former RUC officer, explained.

'The last thing we want is for the speculation to continue and for people to say he has taken the secret (of Madeleine's abduction) to the grave.'

Meanwhile, Hewlett's emergence has prompted West Yorkshire police to seek leave from the German authorities to quiz him about an unsolved attack on an eight-year-old girl in 1975.

Hewlett's defiant response this week was to supply a DNA sample which, he insists, will clear him of that assault.

Unfortunately it is unlikely to be of use in the Madeleine inquiry, for the Portuguese judicial police are not thought to have gathered any unidentified genetic material from the McCanns' apartment, against which it might be matched.
In any case, the inept 'PJ' - as the Portuguese police are known - are unlikely to be joining the queue to interview Hewlett in hospital, for they are clearly uninterested in him, or any other new suspect, for that matter.

In recent days, they have reportedly rebuffed several other new informants, informing them that they are wasting their time because the little girl is dead.

Furthermore, I am told the PJ ignore clues passed to them by Messrs Edgar and Crowley, and when the private detectives visit Portugal they are tailed as if they were the criminals.

The question is, by failing to investigate Hewlett (who has served three prison sentences for sexual assaults on children, once rendering his victim unconscious by smothering her with a rag soaked in paint-thinner; a method which some surmise might have been used to subdue Madeleine), could they be missing an opportunity to solve the McCann mystery once and for all?

Understandably, given all the false dawns they have endured over the past two years, the McCann camp remain cautious when discussing Hewlett's possible involvement.

However, spokesman Clarence Mitchell speaks of the 'eerie similarities' between the former Scots Guardsman and an artist's sketch of the gaunt suspect with lank, shoulder-length hair, who was seen near the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on and around May 3, 2007, when Madeleine was snatched from her bed.

Mr Edgar says: 'From the information I've seen, he wouldn't be at the top of our list, but he is definitely of interest to us and we need to eliminate him.'

There are huge blanks in Hewlett's story, but he seems to have started wandering during the early Nineties after being released from his last jail term, for abducting and assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Cheshire.

After a period in Ireland (where he is suspected of attacking at least one other child), he journeyed overland through France and Spain to southern Portugal.

Home was a battered blue Dodge truck, which Hewlett, a dextrous mechanic, converted into a camper using parts he cannibalised from other vehicles.

He shared it with his pony-tailed German girlfriend, Marianne Schmucker, who, at 33, is half his age.

Significantly, perhaps, the Mail has learned that he sold the Dodge to Portuguese travellers for 300 euros, not long after Madeleine vanished, and replaced it with a white Iveco model.

 Haggard: Hewlett in Germany following his operation to remove a tumour from his oesophagus refused to speak to private detectives hired by the McCanns
If traced, his old camper could contain valuable forensic evidence.

Hewlett has at least two grown-up children from his first marriage - a daughter named Gina, 41, to whom he wrote self-pitying letters from prison, and a son Wayne, 40, who this week described his father as a 'monster' who beat him savagely when he was a boy.
On the road, however, he sired six more offspring by Marianne, who, one friend recalls, 'always seemed to be pregnant'.

The oldest, David, was killed last December, apparently falling out of the van as the family drove through Spain en route to Germany.

The Spanish authorities are investigating the incident and may charge Hewlett with negligence.

According to the friend, the family preferred the Costa del Sol to Portugal, but Hewlett grew tired of dodging Spain's 'social police', who asked questions about the children's welfare and wanted to know why the older ones didn't go to school (Marianne taught them herself).

By 2006, the family had decamped to the Algarve, basing themselves in a car park beside a supermarket in Tavira, a former fishing town between Faro and the Spanish border.

It was one of the few places where they weren't chased away by the authorities. They were allowed to wash in the supermarket toilets.

Since Hewlett and Marianne had so many blonde, blue-eyed children, their circle of bohemian friends were keen to help them, and one English woman gave them hundreds of pounds to buy their new mobile home.

In return for such favours, Hewlett would mend their vehicles while Marianne would don a pink bunny suit and play the flute on the town's Roman bridge, instructing her children to collect money from tourists.
But Hewlett was no easygoing hippy. Friends recall him as an overbearing 'control freak' who never let Marianne and the children out of his sight.

He was also furtive and 'never let one hand know what the other was doing'. Nor did he socialise much, preferring to chain-smoke cigarettes, and sometimes cannabis.

One friend says his children were 'immaculately' turned out and well-behaved. But another says they were 'cowed and mute', and now fears Hewlett may have abused them, too.

None of his close circle in Tavira had any idea about his sordid past - nor that he was wanted by police in England.

Rumours began to circulate only last summer, when he sneaked back to Britain because he needed documents to obtain free overseas hospital treatment and claim his old age pension, due next year.

One source says: 'He was driven by a friend and the police must have learned he was in Britain, because they raided the house he was staying in during the night.'

It is unclear whether the police arrived too late and Hewlett had fled, or whether they let him go.

 Hewlett's partner, Marianne Schmucker, is reported to have had no idea about the paedophile's past
But he hastily returned to Portugal, where the friend he'd driven with to Britain typed Hewlett's name into Google and learned the truth about his past.

The news then reached Alan and Cindy Thompson, who had met Hewlett a few months before Madeleine's abduction and remained loosely in touch after returning to East Anglia.

Their internet searches would have revealed that his name came up in November 2007 during a notorious 'cold case' trial - in which new evidence causes an old case to be reopened - when Ronald Castree was convicted of the frenzied sex murder of 11-year-old schoolgirl Lesley Molseed, more than 30 years ago.

After the murder in 1975, loner Stefan Kiszko was wrongfully convicted. He had served 16 years for murder before his conviction was overturned, and modern DNA testing techniques proved that Castree's semen was on Lesley's underwear.
However, Castree's barrister had maintained he did not kill her. He said there was 'overwhelming evidence' that Hewlett - whose car was allegedly parked close to the murder scene in the Pennines - was the 'probable' culprit.

Marianne knew nothing of Hewlett's past convictions until this week, I am told, and discovered the truth only when the McCann detectives descended on Aachen, where she and Hewlett have settled with their five surviving children in a council flat.

'She is absolutely beside herself,' one friend says.

Gullibly, one might think, this friend believes Hewlett and remains convinced he had nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance.

So what is the evidence? We know Hewlett was within easy driving distance of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, for he admits to being on the Algarve on that date, and nowhere on the coast is more than 90 minutes' drive from the McCanns' resort.
 Hewlett and his third wife, Gabriella in Scotland in 1997
We know he looks like the 'hairy man' with a zapata moustache in the sketch.
We know, too, that he frequently took the sea crossing from Spain to Morroco, where there have been reported sightings of a girl resembling Madeleine and where some fear she has been sold to paedophiles.

Moreover, according to one source, Hewlett was adept at smuggling his children aboard the ferry to Tangier.

And as the source remarked: 'Would one more little girl have made that much difference?'

Others among Hewlett's old travelling circle have also emerged to incriminate him. The most compelling of these is Cornwall-based antiques dealer Peter Ferran, 46, who recalls meeting him in a Morocco campsite just after Madeleine was snatched.

He says Hewlett told him he was worried that people might think one of his daughters was Madeleine, because she bore such a strong resemblance to her, and added: 'Madeleine's not in Morocco.'

Hewlett had readily admitted having been in Praia da Luz 'many times'. He said he knew the layout of the Ocean Club, where the McCanns stayed, and was adamant Madeleine couldn't have been taken without her parents seeing.

Yet there are convincing clues that point to Hewlett's innocence. He maintains he has an alibi for May 3, 2007 - he and his family were trading at a flea market.

According to reports this week, Hewlett must have been mistaken - or lying - because the Fuzeta market is held only on the first Sunday of each month, and Madeleine was taken on a Thursday.

However, the Mail has established that there is also a sale at this site on the first Thursday of the month, though it usually attracts only gipsies.

 Madeleine McCann hours before she was abducted in Praia da Luz

Whatever the truth, he does seem to have been at the market three days after the abduction.
For the Mail has spoken to an English expat who keeps a detailed daily diary and says he logged the fact that he parked his camper near Hewlett's blue Dodge on Sunday, May 6, 2007.

He also noted a meeting with Hewlett and his family at another market at Mertola, 30 miles along the coast, on May 18, 2007.

These diary entries don't account for his movements on May 3, of course, and certainly not between 9pm and 10pm that evening, when the abductor is believed to have struck.

Yet as the source - who did not much like Hewlett and is no apologist for him - asks: 'Is it really possible that he drove into a small, out-of-season resort like Praia da Luz in a big blue truck that stood out like a sore thumb without being seen?

'If he did go there, maybe in another vehicle, could he have taken Madeleine without his family knowing?

'Marianne may be devoted to him, but I can't believe that if she did know he had done something so terrible she wouldn't have told someone.'

Any number of experts would question this bold assertion, for the evidence suggests that serial child molesters such as Hewlett rarely change their spots.

That doesn't make him guilty, of course, just as it doesn't prove the culpability of the 38 other convicted child sex attackers known to have been lurking in the Algarve when this terrible crime was perpetrated.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1189597/Portrait-paedophile-So-did-Raymond-Hewlett-snatch-Maddie.html

I scanned the Brit newspapers this evening [tomorrow there] not a peep, nada, nothing. Will check again in the am. xx

wish I could bring in the photo that accompanies this article:

Police probe Madeleine McCann paedophile Raymond Hewlett's quick escape from Portugal

By Justin Penrose 31/05/2009

British police probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann want to know why paedophile Raymond Hewlett left Portugal so quickly after she vanished.

They have quizzed a witness who says sex attacker Hewlett told of being outside the apartment where Maddie was snatched "several times". Ex-ScotGuard Peter Verran, 46, was questioned by a detective from Leicestershire for two hours this week about his three months in Morocco with Hewlett, 64.

Peter told the Sunday Mirror: "He seemed interested in how Hewlett told me he packed up and left Portugal within 30 minutes shortly after Madeleine vanished."
Police also wanted to know how the convicted paedophile and drifter could afford to flee to North Africa, which would have cost him around £1,000. They want to find out if he was paid a large cash sum - and how he got his six children there without passports. "I said if he managed to get six in there was no reason he couldn't get seven," said Peter.

The detective took note of Hewlett's two mobile numbers and email address to track calls and messages at the time Madeleine was taken.

Private detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann, who live in Rothley, Leics, also want to talk to Peter, who met Hewlett while on honeymoon.

Hewlett, who is now in Germany for cancer treatment, is wanted for questioning about sex attacks in the UK.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/31/police-probe-madeleine-mccann-paedophile-raymond-hewlett-s-quick-escape-from-portugal-115875-21402454/

Again, I'm photo challenged.  Article contains photo and drawing of Hewlett.  ::MonkeyWaa::

Do you know this man?

June 2, 2009 
Maddie suspect spent long periods on the Costas

A DANGEROUS paedophile, who may be linked to the disapparance of three-year-old Maddie McCann, spent years drifting up and down the Algarve and southern Spain.

raymond-hewlett-maddie-suspRaymond Hewlett, who has six children, mostly stayed at campsites on the Costa del Sol and Costa de la Luz, it is understood.

But it is his whereabouts and knowledge of the Praia da Luz complex in Portugal, where Maddie went missing on May 3, 2007, that has led to him being investigated over her disappearance.

Hewlett, who has a track record of sex offences against girls, has revealed that he knew the layout of the Ocean Club holiday complex well.

He also admitted that he had parked his van – a blue dodge - outside Maddie’s apartment ‘many times’ and was staying less than an hour from the resort on the day she disappeared.

Hewlett - who left Portugal for Spain, and then Morocco, “in a hurry” after the disappearance - has a striking likeness to a man seen walking away from the complex with a young girl under his arm on the night (see pix above).

He was spotted by Gerry and Kate McCann’s friend Jane Tanner leading to a photofit drawing being released to the press.

Now the McCanns’ investigation team wants to interview the 64-year-old in the hope he can shed some light on the disappearance.

    “I have nothing to hide. I am willing to talk. I thought the Portuguese police closed this case long ago”

Hewlett, who is currently living in Germany, last night denied he was involved in the mystery. He said: “I have nothing to hide. I am willing to talk. I thought the Portuguese police closed this case long ago.”

It has emerged that Hewlett was based in Tavira, on the Spanish border, and then in Spain for much of last year.

A former soldier who lived with Hewlett on a campsite in Morocco from May to August 2007 told the Sunday Mirror he admitted parking a van close to the McCann’s complex on several occasions.

Peter Verran, 46, said: “He brought Madeleine up straight away. He went on and on about the McCanns. He said his three-year-old daughter looked like her.

“He was worried that because there had been reports that Madeleine may have been spirited away to Morocco, people might think his child was her.

MADDY: How she might look now

MADDY: How she might look now
Then he suddenly said, “Madeleine’s not in Morocco”.

“I asked him what he meant and he said he knew Praia Da Luz really well.

He knew the Ocean Club complex where the McCanns had been staying. He said he’d been there many times and had often parked his van close to the apartment.

“He said he knew the layout of the place, the flat and the restaurant where the McCanns and their friends had been eating when Maddie disappeared.

“He had a lot of detail. He said there was no way that the child could be taken without the parents seeing. He said they were lying.”

Hewlett had been apparently been ‘lying low’ at the campsite in Chefchaouen, in the Rif mountain.

According to Verran, in that time he only saw Hewlett leave the campsite once or twice. “He was never short of money though. I don’t know where he got his money from. He said he’d made cash from car boot sales.”

Hewlett told another couple that he was approached by some ‘Gypsy tourists’ in Portugal offering to buy his daughter just before Madeleine went missing.

They also recalled him mentioning a ‘business’ trip to Morocco, where there were several alleged sightings of Maddy after she went missing. UK-born Hewlett, a former soldier who previously lived in Blackpool, is being treated for throat cancer in hospital in Aachen.

He was jailed several times for sexually assaulting young girls and was once on Crimestoppers list of Most Wanted paedophiles.

Described by a judge as “extremely dangerous” he is now wanted for questioning by British detectives in connection with a separate indecent assault.

The McCanns hope that once officers from West Yorkshire Police have questioned Hewlett, who are currently in Germany their own investigators will speak to him.

http://www.theolivepress.es/2009/06/02/do-you-know-this-man/

  newsHome     News Sport TV&Showbiz Femail Health Science&Tech Money Debate Coffee Break Property Motoring Travel News Home World news Headlines Pictures Most read News Board Horoscopes My Stories Logout Login Find a Job Dating Wine E-Editions Feedback Thursday, Jun 04 2009 This Afternoon  19°C   This Evening 9°C   5-Day Forecast Paedophile Raymond Hewlett demands thousands to answer Maddie questionsBy Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:06 PM on 04th June 2009


Paedophile Raymond Hewlett has issued a brazen demand to be paid thousands of pounds to answer questions about the night Madeleine McCann went missing.
The child molester refused to speak to detectives hired by Kate and Gerry McCann unless they gave him a vast slice of the Madeleine Fund.
Hewlett, 62, who has a lifelong history of sexually abusing little girls, was in the Algarve when the three-year-old was snatched from her bed.
He is now in hospital in Germany recovering from throat cancer surgery, and has so far rebuffed efforts by the McCanns' investigators to interview him.
A source close to the McCanns told the Mail: 'He is actually demanding a fee to answer questions that could help the inquiry. It is truly reprehensible. There is no way anyone is going to pay him.'
  Pay day: Convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett (left) and a sketch of a man allegedly seen close to the resort when Madeleine was abducted
Convicted paedophile Hewlett is also wanted for questioning by West Yorkshire police over an unsolved indecent assault on an eight-year-old in 1975.
Hewlett will have little choice over speaking to the police, but the McCanns' private investigators have no powers to compel him to answer their questions.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'We still need to speak to Mr Hewlett who remains a person of interest to the inquiry. We are confident that we will be able to speak to him in the near future, and we hope that he and his legal representative will see the sense in clearing his name.'
 Missing: Raymond Hewlett has been linked with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

But as of this afternoon, Hewlett was still remaining firm on his repulsive demand. He has strenuously denied having anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.
A friend of the McCanns said: 'It has been made abundantly clear to Hewlett that he is not going to get a penny from the Madeleine Fund. It would be like asking the victims to pay.
'He is saying he wants money to look after his kids if he dies, but no one is going to touch him with a bargepole. He should be more worried about being eliminated from the inquiry. If he truly has nothing to hide, he should be happy to come out and say it. He ought to be grateful that the detectives are willing to speak to him with a view to crossing him off their list of possible suspects.'
Two ex-policemen, former detective inspector Dave Edgar and former detective sergeant Arthur Cowley, are now in charge of the Madeleine hunt. They were hired by the McCanns after Spanish agency Metodo 3 failed to find any trace of their daughter.
Last week, the British detectives flew to Aachen in Germany to try to speak to Hewlett in hospital, but he rebuffed them.
Although he later changed his mind, they had already returned home empty-handed by then.
Former soldier Hewlett's German wife Marianna Schmuker initially agreed to help the investigators, but she has now enlisted a local lawyer on his behalf to 'negotiate' a fee for access.
 Kate and Gerry McCann who are still searching for their missing daughter
Hewlett is one of 38 paedophiles known to have been - or still be - in the Algarve when Madeleine vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
The McCanns' detectives are building profiles on each of them and are understood to regard four or five of them as being particularly significant.
They are also examining possible links with seven other sex attacks on tourist children in which a paedophile has broken into a holiday apartment on the Algarve, over the past four years. Two of these attacks happened since Madeleine went missing. The investigators are convinced the answer to the Madeleine riddle lies close to where she disappeared.
Hewlett was an hour's drive up the coast in May 2007, living on a campsite with his wife and six children in a blue Dodge truck, which detectives would still like to trace. He later moved the family to a camp ground in Morocco.
Today, Hewlett's wife hung up the phone when asked about his demand for money.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190856/Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett-demands-money-answer-Madeleine-McCann-questions.html

Person of Interest....

http://mamanetbebe.blogspot.com/2009/05/person-of-interest-named-in-madeleine.html

Here he is....

(http://i544.photobucket.com/albums/hh340/JustMe_029/raymond-hewlett.jpg)

 Paedophile Raymond Hewlett 'admits he saw Madeleine McCann twice' before she disappeared
By Sam Greenhill
Last updated at 1:27 AM on 06th June 2009
Paedophile Raymond Hewlett has allegedly said he saw Madeleine McCann twice before she vanished.
The Briton, 62, has previously insisted he was miles from Praia da Luz in the Portuguese Algarve when the three-year-old went missing in May 2007.
But yesterday he reportedly implied he had been close enough to see Maddie's distinctive flaw in her right eye.
 

Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman yesterday said it was now 'imperative' cancer-stricken Hewlett is interviewed before he dies.
But he has told private detectives employed by the couple he will only reveal where he was the night Maddie vanished if they pay him thousands of pounds. The request has been refused.
The former soldier has been discharged after throat cancer surgery in the German city of Aachen a month ago.
His lawyer there confirmed he has 'a matter of weeks to live'.
Yesterday Bild newspaper, Germany's biggest, reported that Hewlett admitted seeing Madeleine twice and described the mark in her right eye.
The report is understood to be based on 'police sources' in Germany.
 Suspicious: Kate and Gerry McCann are said to be unsure of Hewlett's motives but are keen for him to be interviewed by police
But a McCann family friend added: 'It is impossible to know whether to believe anything Hewlett says.'
Friends of the McCanns say they are deeply suspicious of his motives after it was revealed that Hewlett has been trying to cash in on the tragedy by demanding money for answers.
A source close to the couple, who is refusing to pay up, said: 'He is playing a very dangerous game.

'He may think he is about to land the jackpot but if he is putting it about that he saw Madeleine, he might find some big policemen banging on his door instead.'
Until the truth of the alleged claims can be ascertained, the investigators are more anxious than ever to interview Hewlett.
The former soldier had throat cancer surgery in a hospital in the German city of Aachen a month ago.

However, he has now been discharged and his lawyer in Aachen confirmed that he has 'only a matter of weeks to live'.

Whether he knows anything concrete about what happened to Madeleine remains a mystery.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCann's spokesman, said: 'In the light of the Bild piece, this makes it even more imperative that Mr Hewlett gives any credible information that he may have about Madeleine to the investigators as a matter of priority.

'We hope that he and his representatives will see sense and facilitate this interview in the near future.'
A family friend added: 'It is impossible to know whether to believe anything Hewlett says. First he denies being in Praia da Luz, now he says he saw Madeleine.

'He has a long history of evading the law and lying about his activities.'

Earlier this week Hewlett was interviewed by West Yorkshire police who travelled to Germany to question him about child attacks dating back to 1975.
But they are not investigating Madeleine's disappearance so it is unlikely they asked him about her.
Hewlett's German wife Marianna Schmuker has removed his name from the nameplate outside their apartment in Aachen, and it is understood he has not gone back there. She hung up the phone when asked about him.
Two ex-policemen, former detective inspector Dave Edgar and former detective sergeant Arthur Cowley, are now in charge of the Madeleine hunt.

They were hired by the McCanns after Spanish agency Metodo 3 failed to find any trace of their daughter.
Last week, the British detectives flew to Aachen in Germany to try to speak to Hewlett in hospital, but he rebuffed them.

Although he later changed his mind, they had already returned home empty-handed by then.
Hewlett, who has been imprisoned three times in the UK for sex offences, is one of 38 paedophiles known to have been - or still be - in the Algarve when Madeleine vanished.

The McCanns' detectives are building profiles on each of them and are understood to regard four or five of them as being particularly significant.
They are also examining possible links with seven other sex attacks on tourist children in which a paedophile has broken into a holiday apartment on the Algarve, over the past four years.

Two of these attacks happened since Madeleine went missing.

The investigators are convinced the answer to the Madeleine riddle lies close to where she disappeared.
Hewlett was said to be an hour's drive up the coast in May 2007, living on a campsite with his wife and six children in a blue Dodge truck, which detectives would still like to trace.
He later moved the family to a camp ground in Morocco.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1191094/Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett-admits-I-saw-Madeleine-McCann-twice-disappeared.html

 I saw Maddie twice, admits paedo suspectBy ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: Today
CHILD-SEX fiend Raymond Hewlett has sensationally admitted he TWICE saw Madeleine McCann before she vanished.

Hewlett, 64, claimed he was at the holiday resort where Maddie was kidnapped - and got so close to her that he could see the distinctive flaw in her right eye.

The pervert - who has a string of convictions for sexually assaulting young girls - is said to have made his confession to police who questioned him about a 1975 attack on an eight-year-old.


That is a dramatic U-turn after Hewlett previously claimed he had never been near the Ocean Club holiday complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal - where Maddie disappeared days before her fourth birthday in May 2007.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2466650/I-saw-Maddie-twice-admits-paedo-suspect-Raymond-Hewlett.html

There's more at link.

Paedo Ray Hewlett says: "I've never seen Maddie before"  EXCLUSIVE by Simon Wright 6/06/2009

Dying pervert denies claims he admitted seeing Madeleine McCann before she vanished

 
The prime 'person of interest' of  hired cops probing Maddie McCann’s disappearance insisted last night: “I’ve never set eyes on her.”

Dying paedophile Raymond Hewlett, 64, angrily denied claims he was twice close enough to her to notice her distinctive right eye.

He said: “I have never seen her and anyone who says anything different is wrong.”

The pervert, who has a lifelong history of abusing little girls, was only a few miles from Praia Da Luz when Maddie vanished in 2007. But he claimed he had only been to the Portuguese resort in 2002.

He refuses to speak to investigators hired by the McCanns. But he was grilled at home in Aachen, Germany, by West Yorkshire police last week over the 1975 murder of schoolgirl Lesley Molseed and rape of a girl of eight in Yorkshire.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/06/paedo-ray-hewlett-says-i-ve-never-seen-maddie-before-115875-21420461/

This whole thing seems to be going in circles, if it wasn't so tragic it'd be comical. Poor parents, poor Madeleine.

 Breaking NewsMadeleine Detectives Fail To Quiz Paedophile
9:09am UK, Thursday June 11, 2009

Final attempts by Madeleine McCann investigators to speak to a convicted paedophile about her disappearance have failed.
 
Hewlett has been jailed several times in the UK for sexually assaulting young girls



http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-Detectives-Fail-To-Quiz-Paedophile-Raymond-Hewlett/Article/200906215301083?lpos=World_News_News_Your_Way_Region_5&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15301083_Madeleine_McCann%3A_Detectives_Fail_To_Quiz_Paedophile_Raymond_Hewlett

Home News Top Stories 
Maddie suspect Raymond Hewlett admits he doesn't have an alibi for night she disappeared  EXCLUSIVE from Simon Wright in Aachen, Germany 14/06/2009

Convicted paedophile talks for the first time about Maddie investigation, but says he did not kill her.

 
Broken, frail, with only weeks to live, Raymond Hewlett is the man the McCanns fear could take the secrets of their daughter’s disappearance to the grave.

The convicted child rapist – who has been catapulted into the frame over the hunt for Madeleine – sits hunched up in a squalid German flat, gasping for breath as he finally breaks his silence.

“It’s obvious why they’re interested in me,” croaks Hewlett, 64. “But they can all think what they like. I didn’t kill the McCann girl. It’s the truth and it’s never going to change.”

The man jailed three times for sex attacks on girls today speaks out for the first time in a bid to clear his name amid the mountain of circumstantial evidence against him.

Hewlett, who has been in hiding ever since he was named in connection with the case, admits he was in the Algarve at the time Madeleine was snatched and, as our pictures show, that he looks strikingly similar to a sketch of a suspect with a pock-marked face seen lurking around the apartment.

And five weeks after she disappeared, he left Portugal for Morocco for a two-month-long “business trip”.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/14/maddie-suspect-raymond-hewlett-admits-he-doesn-t-have-an-alibi-115875-21438533/

There's more at link.

Please let him tell what he knows before he dies. Deathbed confession. This family deserves some answers.

Praying for Maddie and her family this morning. May they get the answers to help bring Maddie home.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526382,00.html

Pedophile at Center of Madeleine McCann Case Won't Reveal Alibi
Monday , June 15, 2009



The dying pedophile at the center of the Madeleine McCann investigation says he has an alibi for the night she vanished — but he has no plans to reveal it.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Raymond Hewlett admits he was in the Algarve, Portugal, at the time Madeleine disappeared but would not say where.

"I have an alibi but why should I share it?" he said in an interview with the Sunday Mirror. "There is a person who can say where I was that day, but why should I bring them into this? I've done nothing wrong. Why should I have to prove it?"

Click here for photos from the case.

Hewlett, 64, has been jailed three times for sexually assaulting young girls. He denies killing Madeleine — and said he would take a lie detector test to prove it.

"I'll take any test you like. The only time I've seen Madeleine McCann is on missing posters. And I saw her on TV in a bar once," he said.

"But I've never seen her in real life."

A former soldier who previously lived in the English towns of Blackpool and Telford, Hewlett has been receiving treatment for throat cancer in Aachen, Germany. But the Mirror claims he has just weeks to live after doctors told him there is nothing more they could do.

Madeleine was nearly four when disappeared in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007. Her parents were dining with friends nearby.

I hope this guy is experiencing a prolonged and angonizingly painful death.  For what he's doing here, and what he's done in the past, he's the epitome of evil, and deserves to suffer. I say take away the morphine, and readminister it only after he tells his alibi.

Raymond Hewlett faces more questioning over missing Madeleine McCann  18/06/2009

 
Pervert Raymond Hewlett’s lies were unravelling last night as he faced renewed questioning over missing Madeleine McCann.

The convicted paedophile rekindled suspicion after it was revealed he tried to mislead detectives over the vehicle he was driving at the time the youngster vanished.

He claimed he only had one motor – a blue Dodge truck. And he said it was so distinctive that he could not have driven into Praia da Luz in May 2007 without being spotted.

But now a former friend has dramatically come forward to say Hewlett was lying.

He actually owned a white Mercedes van at the time – similar to one seen parked near the McCanns’ apartment before Madeleine disappeared.

Ex-Scots Guard Peter Verran, 46, decided to contact the Maddy inquiry team after being disturbed by Hewlett’s claims in our sister paper, the Sunday Mirror.

Mr Verran, who befriended Hewlett on a campsite in Morocco in June 2007, said: “He told me he owned a white Transit-type van before his blue Dodge truck.

“He said he’d swapped it for the Dodge in order to leave Portugal and travel to Morocco.

“The white van didn’t have enough room for the whole family, so he sold it to a pal who traded on the same market as him in Fuzeta, about 40 miles from Praia da Luz.”

Last month it was revealed a witness had seen a man apparently staking out the McCanns’ apartment, standing near a white van.

According to Mr Verran, Hewlett also said that he had driven from Portugal’s Algarve to Spain in the Mercedes van around the time Madeleine vanished.

But Hewlett, who was living near Praia da Luz, insisted recently that he only had the Dodge truck.

Advertisement - article continues below »


Protesting his innocence, he said: “If you’d gone in our truck you couldn’t have got away with it, driving that about. You’d have stood out like a sore thumb.”

He added: “Our truck was our only vehicle. I didn’t have another vehicle to go anywhere in. It’s a high-profile vehicle.”

When they met in Morocco, Hewlett, 64, told Verran that he’d become obsessed with the case of the missing girl. He admitted being outside the holiday flat “many times” and parking his van close to the complex.

A source close to the Maddy inquiry team said yesterday: “This new information could be very significant. Hewlett has repeatedly said that he could not have been at the scene without someone remembering his distinctive truck.

“But if he was driving a Mercedes van at the time, his reasoning is shot to pieces.

“And it would raise the question of why he lied about the vehicle in the first place.” It is not known if Hewlett owned the white van and the truck at the same time, or one after the other. But Mr Verran’s recollection is that he bought the Dodge for the trip to Morocco – AFTER Madeleine vanished.

Hewlett admits he was in the Algarve at the time. He told friends he was offered money by “gipsy tourists” to sell his own three-year-old blonde-haired daughter just before Maddy vanished. He says he left Portugal five weeks later for a two-month “business trip”. But last night there were also doubts over his assertion that he caught a ferry from Faro to Morocco. He claimed: “I knew people on the docks at Faro and I got the captain of a ferry to take us over for free.” But there is NO public ferry service between Faro and Morocco.

Hewlett also said he stayed at a campsite in Morocco for at least two months and made 300 euros selling car parts.

Questions were being asked how he afforded to remain for so long when the campsite cost 10 euros a night.  He would also have needed cash to feed his seven children and partner, and pay for petrol for his truck.

Hewlett, who is refusing to give an alibi for the night Madeleine vanished, was first brought to the attention of investigators by Alan and Cindy Thompson, who met him while on an extended holiday in Portugal.

Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley, the detectives working for the Madeleine McCann fund, hoped to question him last month after the Mirror tracked him down to a hospital in Aachen, Germany, where he was being treated for throat cancer. But Hewlett refused to see them, claiming he was too ill to be questioned.

Hewlett was jailed three times in the UK for sex offences before beginning his nomadic lifestyle across Europe with his wife Mariana and their six children.

He is still being investigated by West Yorkshire police over an attack nearly 30 years ago.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/18/raymond-hewlett-faces-more-questioning-over-missing-madeleine-mccann-115875-21452602/

  Hopes To Quiz Inmate Over Madeleine  Top StoriesMadeleine Hunt Targets Murder Suspect
11:03pm UK, Saturday June 20, 2009

Private detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann want to speak to a man who is currently on remand in a British jail, it has been revealed.
 
Madeleine disappeared in 2007



The man, who is accused of murder, is one of seven people the team hired by Madeleine's parents to hunt for the little girl hope to interview, a source confirmed.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Madeleine-McCann-Private-Detectives-Hope-To-Quiz-British-Inmate/Article/200906315313317?f=rss
Madeleine, from Rothley, Leics, was nearly four when she went missing while on holiday with her family in Portugal two years ago.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: "A number of individuals remain as persons of interest to the Madeleine investigators.

"However, the investigators will not be naming or identifying any of those persons of interest.

"No competent investigation would be expected to do so whilst the inquiries continue."

Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007 while her parents Gerry and Kate McCann dined with friends nearby.

Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

 ::MonkeyConfused::  Sorry mods, I don't know why the link posted in the middle of that article.

Hi Toler, 

Thank you for all the articles.  It is encouraging to see some potential movement in this tragic case.   Such a beautiful child.

Maddie McCann suspect's wife: No one can give him an alibi  Exclusive: By Simon Wright 21/06/2009

 
Raymond Hewlett (Pic: SM)

The wife of Madeleine McCann suspect Raymond Hewlett yesterday admitted that NO ONE can give him an alibi.

German-born Mariana, 33, confessed that a female friend who Hewlett insisted could vouch for him on the day Madeleine vanished cannot remember where he was.

Convicted paedophile Hewlett, 64, won't name the woman.

In an interview with the Sunday Mirror last week, he claimed she was with him on the day Madeleine vanished.

He said she would remember because she shot a home video of him and his family at a flea market in the town of Fuzeta, 30 miles from Praia da Luz, on May 5, 2007 - two days later.

But he refused to reveal the German woman's identity, saying: "I don't think I should involve anybody. Why should I keep dragging people into this?" But last night, as dad-of-six Hewlett drifted closer to death from throat cancer, Mariana said: "The truth is, she cannot remember where Ray was. She can't give him an alibi. No one can."

 
Mariana, 33 (Pic:Harry Page)

The Sunday Mirror has also learned that Hewlett befriended two families of Portuguese gipsies in the weeks leading up to Madeleine's disappearance. Theories that Madeleine was snatched by gipsies have surrounded the case.

Chillingly, Hewlett told a friend that gipsies had offered him "good money" for his own two-year-old blonde-haired daughter.

Former Scots Guard Peter Verran, 46, shared a Moroccan campsite with Hewlett between June and November 2007.

He said: "He told me gipsies wanted to pay good money for her and he'd met some who traded in children and sold them to paedophiles."

Last week, Hewlett dismissed those claims as "rubbish".

But another former close pal of his in the Portuguese town of Tavira - where his family used to park their truck - revealed how, in April 2007, he developed a close friendship with two gipsy families.

 
Leonardo Leopoldo (Pic:SM)

Us-born artist Leonardo Leopoldo, 79, who has lived in Tavira - 40 miles from Praia da Luz - for 10 years, said: "No one spoke to the gipsies apart from Ray. He was always talking to them.

"There was talk in the area that they sold children to paedophiles. By the time, Madeleine was snatched, he was very friendly with them."

Leonardo said he was stunned to learn of Hewlett's past convictions for child sex attacks.

He said he had grown fond of him, Mariana and the couple's seven children after first meeting them in the summer of 2002.

"I thought they were lovely," he said. "Now, everything is different."

The Sunday Mirror tracked down another close pal of Hewlett's - British expat Jenny Day - who the McCanns' private detectives have been keen to interview but unable to trace.

 
Jennifer Day (Pic:SM)

Divorced Jenny, who is in her fifties, admitted she could not provide Hewlett with an alibi and told how she had been shattered by revelations of his criminal past.

Speaking at her beach-side apartment in Santa Luzia, 30 miles from Praia da Luz, she said: "I loved Ray, but not now. I met him 10 years ago and thought he was a loving father. To find out that he had committed the crimes he had was shattering.

"I didn't shoot the home video being talked about and I cannot provide Ray with an alibi for the day Madeleine went missing."

Hewlett's wife remains convince he had nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance.

Speaking from the couple's tiny flat in Aachen, Germany, she added that claims he had lied about a white van he supposedly owned at the time were "simply wrong".

A friend of Hewlett's said that he had owned a white van similar to one seen parked near the McCanns' apartment before Madeleine's disappearance.

But Hewlett insists a blue Dodge truck was the only vehicle he owned at the time.

He admits to leaving Portugal for Morocco three weeks later, but insisted if he'd been in Praia da Luz at the time, the truck meant he would have "stuck out like a sore thumb".

Mariana added: "We've never owned a white van. We had a grey van when we first arrived in Portugal in 2002.

"In August 2004, we swapped it for the Dodge and kept that until March 2008."


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/06/21/maddie-suspect-s-wife-no-one-can-give-him-an-alibi-115875-21458806/

EXCLUSIVE: New key suspect in prison
UK NEWSEXCLUSIVE: NEW KEY SUSPECT IN PRISON 



MADDIE: Still missing, 2 years on
Sunday June 21,2009
By James Murray and Tracey Kandohla DETECTIVES believe a man being held in a UK prison on a murder charge may hold vital information about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

They say he was in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on the day Madeleine vanished in May 2007, just before her fourth birthday.

The investigators working for the McCann family are now trying to build up an extensive picture of his movements in the Algarve resort at the time.

They are anxious to learn if he was staying near the McCanns’ holiday apartment and if he had any contact with the family.

The astonishing development came in the wake of huge international publicity last month which included a televised reconstruction of Madeleine’s disappearance and an emotional appeal for help from parents Kate and Gerry McCann.

The man in the spotlight cannot be identified for legal reasons because he is in jail accused of a murder which took place in this country.

Retired Detective Inspector Dave Edgar, who is heading the McCanns’ investigation, would like to question him about his movements in Portugal but recognises that he may not get an opportunity to speak to him until after his trial.

The Sunday Express can reveal that he is one of seven potential suspects Mr Edgar is trying to rule in or out of his complex investigation.

He has recently been to Praia da Luz to try to check the alibi of a British paedophile who strongly resembles a the description of a man seen looking intently at the McCanns’ apartment shortly before Madeleine disappeared.

The man, who lives permanently in Portugal, was interviewed by Portugese police two years ago because of his child-abuse past.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/108977/EXCLUSIVE-New-key-suspect-in-prison

Meanwhile, one of the first cops to arrive at the flat the night Maddie vanished had £100,000 put into his bank account soon after, Portuguese TV claimed yesterday.

It was alleged the National Republican Guard corporal was being investigated.

A spokesman for GNR, who were criticised for contaminating the Maddie crime scene, said no one was being probed.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2493351/Murder-suspect-link-to-Maddie.html

More at link

Toler my friend! I like your avvie!! ::MonkeyDance::

Spotlight on murder accused in Maddy mystery
Published Date: 21 June 2009
By Simon Bristow
PRIVATE detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann want to speak to a man who is on remand in a British jail, it has been revealed.
The man, who is accused of murder, is one of seven people the team hired by Madeleine's parents to hunt for the little girl hope to interview, a source confirmed.

Madeleine, from Rothley in Leicestershire, was nearly four when she went missing while on holiday with her family in Portugal two years ago.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, refused to go into detail on the revelations, saying: "A number of individuals remain as persons of interest to the Madeleine investigators.

"However, the investigators will not be naming or identifying any of those persons of interest.

"No competent investigation would be expected to do so whilst the inquiries continue."

Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007 while her parents Gerry and Kate McCann dined with friends nearby.
Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

A month ago two investigators hired by the McCanns identified violent paedophile Raymond Hewlett as a "person of interest" to their search, but failed to secure an interview.

Retired policemen Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley flew to Germany hoping to speak to Hewlett, who was being treated for throat cancer at a hospital in Aachen.

But negotiations between the investigators and Hewlett's German lawyer broke down and the former soldier did not speak to them, despite denying any involvement in the case in newspaper interviews.

Mr Edgar said he had been told that the paedophile could only manage a 60-minute interview, when it would take five hours to quiz him properly.
He described himself as "very disappointed" the interview did not go ahead, but added: "He is not a suspect but I was keen to interview him because of his failing health."

Hewlett, a 64-year-old convicted sex attacker who used to live in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, was alleged to have been staying in Portugal when Madeleine disappeared.

He was said to have been staying an hour's drive from the McCanns' holiday flat when the little girl vanished.

He insisted he had never seen the missing girl other than in posters and on television.

In an interview with a national newspaper, he said: "The only time I've seen Madeleine McCann is on missing posters. And I saw her on TV in a bar once. But I've never seen her in real life."

Hewlett was interviewed by a West Yorkshire Police detective earlier this month over an indecent assault which happened more than 30 years ago.

The indecent assault was committed on an eight-year-old girl in Manchester, but West Yorkshire Police agreed to lead the inquiry in tandem with its investigation into the 1975 murder of Lesley Molseed.
Hewlett was suspected of murdering 11-year-old Lesley, whose body was found on moorland near Ripponden, but was cleared when DNA evidence revealed her killer was Oldham man Ronald Castree.

He has been a suspect in the indecent assault case since 1999.
Hewlett, who has also lived in Blackpool and Telford, was jailed several times in the UK for sexually assaulting young girls.
His previous convictions include the attempted rape at gunpoint of a 14-year-old girl in Todmorden.

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Spotlight-on-murder-accused-in.5387006.jp

Forensic checks on Maddie perv's vanBy SIMON HUGHES
and ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: 27 Jun 2009
A VAN used by Maddie McCann suspect Raymond Hewlett will be "ripped apart" in a hunt for clues.
Private detectives believe forensic checks could provide crucial evidence about the toddler's disappearance.



Fingerprints ... the painstaking search for clues


The battered blue Dodge has been seized by cops in Germany, where paedo Hewlett, 64, is being treated for cancer.

A source close to the probe added: "It will be ripped apart to look for a trace of Maddie."

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Maddie's parents Gerry and Kate, 41, said: "Our investigators have known about the vehicle for some time."


A former detective with more than 20 years' experience said: "A single hair or a clothing fibre could provide the breakthrough everyone is so desperate for."

Hewlett and the van were a familiar sight when Maddie, then three, was snatched from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. It was the one vehicle he was known to drive at the time.

Hewlett has been jailed three times for sex attacks on young girls but has insisted: "I didn't kill the McCann girl."

He claimed he was 60 miles away when Maddie disappeared.

s.hughes@

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2504160/Forensic-checks-on-Maddie-pervs-van.html

 Exclusive
Cops let Maddie suspect off hookBy SIMON HUGHES
and ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: 29 Jun 2009
A SUSPECT in the Madeleine McCann case was let off the hook — after a private detective tailing him was deported by cops.
The detective was told to leave Portugal after the suspect complained.

It is illegal in Portugal to run a private investigation into a crime when a police one is still active. As a result of the deportation, the suspect had nearly a year to get rid of any possible evidence against him.

The man lived near the holiday complex in Praia da Luz where Maddie, three, disappeared on May 3, 2007.

A source close to the McCann family last night accused Portuguese cops of “hindering” the investigation, adding: “It’s a disgrace.”

The detective was working for the Spanish firm initially hired by Kate and Gerry McCann. Their British investigators are now looking into the man.

s.hughes@the-sun.co.uk

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2505189/Cops-let-Maddie-suspect-off-hook.html

http://www.express.co.uk/ourpaper/view/2009-07-05

The link leads to UK's Sunday Express, from the little I can read it tells of a child missing for 6 years recently returned home. Expresses there's hope for Madeleine.

The article isn't posted on the site...yet, anyway. Just the front page.

Wasn't it reported the perv came into a bunch of money right after Madeleine's disappearance? Hard to keep up with all the info. If this is true, then he did not act 'alone' - in the various aspects and pieces of this crime - and if so, then I believe there may be a huge Northern CA (Not Santa Rosa!) connection. Can't quite put my finger on it, but some pieces are there... pedo ring, Napa County (why should they be left out, sigh) and... Portugal... too much of this is going on, it's beyond epidemic....

12 July 2009
Madeleine McCann's new file
Nigel Nelson

British Ambassador Alexander Ellis has asked Portuguese police to reopen the Maddie McCann case.

Now the force has promised to look at new evidence into Madeleine's disappearance in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz two years ago just before her fourth birthday.

They had said Maddie was dead and the case was closed. But Foreign minister Chris Bryant said: "The head of the Portuguese criminal investigation police is ready to consider credible new leads which may come to light."

Advertisement

Detectives working for Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry of Rothley, Leics, say the Algarve is awash with paedophiles. In the last four years seven children of tourists have been molested and there are 38 known sex offenders in the area.

http://is.gd/1vYSt

Madeleine McCann


21 July 2009
By Paul Fielding
A FORMER Blackpool soldier, linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, is unlikely to face charges over a sex attack 30 years ago.
A team of detectives from West Yorkshire police flew to Germany to question Raymond Hewlett over the assault on an eight-year-old girl in 1972 and took a DNA sample.

But sources at the Yorkshire force said that although they were still awaiting instructions on how to proceed from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), it was unlikely charges would follow. A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: "We have been over to interview him and are currently liaising with the CPS regarding the matter.

"We are also still awaiting the results of a DNA profile."

Hewlett, 64, who was brought up in Hawes Side Lane, Marton, is currently in hospital in Aachen where he is being treated for throat cancer.

Private detectives working for the McCann family have not named him as a suspect but want to question him after receiving some worrying information from people who knew him.

In the past he has been jailed three times for sex attacks on young girls but has since insisted "I didn't kill the McCann girl".

Hewlett is said to have been staying around an hour's drive from the McCanns' holiday flat in Praia da Luz in Portugal when the little girl vanished on May 3, 2007.

The battered blue Dodge van owned by Hewlett at the time of Madeleine's disappearance has been seized by German police and looked over by investigators.

It has been alleged the vehicle was seen parked close to the McCanns' complex on several occasions around the time the youngster went missing.

The McCanns' investigators – retired UK policemen Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley – flew to Germany last month in a bid to question Hewlett.

But negotiations between the private investigators and Hewlett's German lawyer broke down and the detectives flew home empty handed.

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpoolnews/DNA-clues-delay-in-Maddie.5477327.jp

Did Maddie get an opportunity to negotiate with Hewlett ?

What is all the political nonsense when it comes to crimes against children ??

What Rights did Maddie have ?
Why should anyone be concerned for his rights ??

That Van should hold DNA evidence that should strip him of his rights.
This man has already attacked other children before... 

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25890813-26103,00.html

AFP not investigating Madeleine McCann case
August 06, 2009
THE Australian Federal Police say they are not investigating a local connection to Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

Four-year-old Madeleine vanished from her family's rented holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, while her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.

Two British media sources say a search is underway for an Australian who may be able to shed light on the case.

The Daily Mail says a witness has given private detectives new information about an Australian man who could be linked to the young girl's disappearance while on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007.

But The Sun says an Australian woman is believed to hold vital clues to the abduction. It reported detectives have been told an Australian woman spoke to a Brit outside a bar in Barcelona, Spain, three days after the young girl went missing. The witness only came forward in recent weeks, it said.

"What this Australian is reported to have said is of enough significant interest to launch a hunt for her," a source close to the private investigation told the newspaper.

But the AFP said the case was not being followed up locally.

"We haven't received a request for any assistance," a spokeswoman told AAP.

"So at this stage we are not investigating any of the allegations made ... this morning."

Investigators hired by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann are expected to hold a press conference in London to release images of the person being sought.

The McCanns believe Madeleine is alive and can be found unless they are shown clear evidence to the contrary. Portuguese police closed their investigation a year ago.

(http://www.foxnews.com/images/root_images/080609_maddie_20090806_004104.jpg)

"What this Australian is reported to have said is of enough significant interest to launch a hunt for her.

"We don't know where she is.

"She could still be in Spain, back in Australia, or anywhere else.

"But we need to find her quickly."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,537620,00.html

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2573496/Hunt-for-Australain-woman-with-vital-Madeleine-McCann-clues.html

Madeleine McCann search turns to Victoria Beckham look-alike with Aussie accent

Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent | August 06, 2009
Article from:  The Australian

A WOMAN with an Australian or New Zealand accent is being sought over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in a surprise twist just over two years after the English girl went missing.
The woman is described as "a bit of a Victoria Beckham look-alike" and was in the Spanish city of Barcelona in May 2007, three days after Madeleine disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal.

Investigators hired by Madeleine's parents say the woman said something to two British men which suggested that she knew about the fate of the then three-year-old.

A police artist's portrait based on descriptions by the witnesses shows the woman, who is estimated at 30 to 35 years old and was short, slim and had short brown hair.

One of the British men has told investigators that the woman had an Australian or New Zealand accent, while the second witness said it was Australian.

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told The Australian that Gerry and Kate McCann still believed they might find their daughter alive and they viewed the new hunt for this woman as one of the strongest leads uncovered during the entire investigation.

Dave Edgar, a retired British police detective who has been hired by the family to lead the search for the missing girl, said a recent tip-off from the two British men, who did not wish to be publicly identified, had convinced him that the woman in Barcelona may know what happened to Madeleine.

Interest in Madeleine's disappearance is still strong in Britain and Edgar is to release the artist's portrait and details of the new lead at a London press conference attended by journalists from Spain, Portugal and the UK.

The woman is described as being about 157.5 cm (5 foot 2 inches), with a slim build and was wearing expensive-looking blue jeans and a jersey top, possibly in a pastel color.

She is believed to speak excellent Spanish, possibly Catalan.

The two English witnesses say they noticed her when they were drinking in bars at a popular Barcelona marina at about 2am on May 7, 2007, just over 72 hours after Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday apartment in the seaside resort of Praia da Luz, about 13 hours drive away.

The men had been moving between bars and restaurants in the Port Olimpic Marina, a Barcelona area popular with both tourists and locals, when one of the witnesses noticed the well-dressed woman, who he says appeared agitated.

She was walking up and down outside the El Ray de la Gamba restaurant bar for about 10 minutes and appeared to be waiting for somebody.

The first witness, a 41-year-old British man, approached her and they had a short conversation in which she apparently thought he was the person she was waiting to meet.

It was what she said before realising that he was not the person she expected that has convinced the investigators that she may have information about Madeleine.

The woman then sat down in another bar nearby, where the second witness from the group of British men also noticed her.

At one point the woman had a brief angry conversation with somebody else, who may have bumped her, and the witnesses said she seemed to speak fluent Spanish. She was last seen walking away towards a local hospital and the more distant ferry and cruise ship terminals.

The investigators have conducted their own inquiries at the marina and are working with local police to see if anybody there recognises the British police artist's drawing.

The family's continuing hunt for Madeleine has been funded by public donations and large defamation settlements paid by the UK's Express newspaper group after publishing several reports suggesting that the McCanns and the friends they were holidaying with in Portugal may have been responsible for Madeleine's disappearance.

The investigators have asked anyone who may know the woman to contact them by emailing investigation@findmadeleine.com or calling +44 845 838 4699.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25890987-601,00.html

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/08/06/article-1204605-05F81AB7000005DC-815_233x343.jpg)



Edit to fix img tags

A computerized sketch has been released of a "Victoria Beckham lookalike" private investigators want to trace in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.
(http://www.foxnews.com/images/550415/2_64_080609_mccann_suspect.jpg)
 A computerized sketch has been released of a "Victoria Beckham lookalike" private investigators want to trace in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

She was reportedly seen by two British men in Barcelona, Spain, three days after the little girl disappeared from Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3 2007.

The woman said something to one of the men which convinced the McCanns' private investigators she might have information about Madeleine.

The sketch was issued by McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell and David Edgar, the retired detective who now leads the search for the missing girl.

The pair gave details of the development at a press conference in London.
Mitchell said the two men first saw the woman when they were drinking in bars at the city's Port Olimpic Marina at about 2 a.m.

He said she was well-dressed but appeared agitated and kept walking up and down outside the El Ray de la Gamba restaurant bar.

One of the witnesses, a 41-year-old British man, had a brief conversation with her.

Mitchell would not reveal what she said for operational reasons, but said it was "potentially significant" to the little girl's disappearance.

He said the woman was then seen having a "heated conversation" with another person in Spanish in a nearby bar. She then wandered off towards a hospital.

The witnesses said the brown-haired woman was aged between 30 and 35, slim, about 5 feet 2 inches tall, and described as "a bit of a Victoria Beckham lookalike."

She is said to have had an Australian accent, and is also thought to speak fluent Spanish or Catalan.

Edgar said the witnesses had not come forward earlier for "personal reasons" and denied that they were drunk, even though they had visited a number of bars on that night.
He said the conversation took place about 72 hours after Madeleine disappeared — and it was possible that Madeleine could have been taken to Barcelona by boat in that time.

Mitchell said Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate "were not surprised" when told about the woman but were not "getting their hopes up or down."

But he added: "In this case they are hoping this might prove as significant as Dave believes."

Click here to read more on this story from Sky News.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-Face-Of-Woman-Suspect-In-Search-For-Missing-Girl/Article/200908115355466?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15355466_Madeleine_McCann%3A_Face_Of_Woman_Suspect_In_Search_For_Missing_Girl

Spain keeps getting mentioned..
It is the home base of human trafficking and sexual deviance in my opinion.

Parents Of World-Famous Missing Child Release Picture Of Possible Suspect
Monday January 21, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/In%20the%20News/jan2108-madeleinesketch.jpg)

He's a grizzled looking man with a long moustache and hair to match.

And he may be responsible for one of last year's most infamous crimes.

The family of Madeleine McCann has released sketches of a male seen near the area where the little girl disappeared last May. The four-year-old vanished from her hotel room at a Portuguese resort, after her parents went to a nearby restaurant for a quick dinner. She hasn't been seen since and there's been endless speculation about her fate.

Some believe she was taken by a sexual predator and killed, others that she was sold into a child slavery ring. And authorities in Portugal seemed to be zeroing in on her parents. The new clues are supposed to be of a suspicious man seen lurking near the inn at the Praia de Luz complex that night. Witnesses recall seeing a man carrying a child that evening, and the family hopes putting out a more detailed drawing of what he  looked like could spark a long dormant memory in someone who was there.

"We believe this man could be linked to Madeleine's disappearance," family spokesman Clarence Mitchell explains. "If he is innocent we want him to come forward for his own sake so he can be ruled out."

Madeleine's parents have since returned to their native Britain, as the cloud of suspicion around them continues. A website detailing all the clues - including several new sketches of the mystery man - remains up and running. Find it here.

The chances of solving this case get more remote as the months wear on, but the youngster's parents vow they will never give up. So far, no one has been charged in the abduction.
 http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_18766.aspx

72hrs after Maddie kidnap she waited for girl to be handed overBy ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: Today
A WOMAN who looks like Victoria Beckham went to a marina to take delivery of a child just 72 hours after Madeleine McCann was kidnapped, it emerged yesterday.

Detectives searching for Maddie released an e-fit of the Posh lookalike and launched a global hunt, saying: "We need to find her."
The woman spoke to a British man at a bar in the Port Olimpic marina in Barcelona, Spain.

He approached her because she was "agitated" and had been pacing up and down outside for ten minutes. She then mistook him for a man she had arranged to meet for the handover of a delivery.


The private detective leading the search for Maddie, ex-cop Dave Edgar, refused to reveal the contents of the two-minute conversation "for operational reasons". He said: "It was significant. It is a strong lead."


But a source told The Sun that the woman, thought to be Australian, asked the man: "Have you got her? Have you got the child?"




Clues ... bar where woman asked 'have you got her?' and map of where Maddie could have been taken
The source said: "The man came to believe the woman had been expecting to meet someone who was going to hand something over to her. From what she said about having 'her' he took it to be a female child.

Smuggled
"He had no idea what she meant at the time but when he found out about Maddie's abduction he found it very suspicious.


"The woman seemed to be at the bar at an appointed hour, waiting for someone to show up and hand over something. When she realised he wasn't who she was expecting, she quickly brought the conversation to a close."


The conversation happened at the El Rey de la Gamba bar at about 2am on May 7 2007, just days after Maddie, then aged three, was snatched from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.


The fact that the meeting took place at a marina is significant, as investigators have always believed Maddie could have been smuggled out of Portugal by boat.


Two people were seen carrying a bundle towards Praia da Luz harbour at 6am the day after Maddie vanished, and it is thought she may have been snatched to order for a childless couple.


Mr Edgar said Maddie "could definitely" have been taken from Portugal to Barcelona by yacht, or been driven there in about a day.

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The Posh lookalike is said to be slim and "glamorous", aged 30 to 35, about 5ft 2in with spiky brown hair.


She walked away from the British witness after realising her mistake, but he later bumped into her again at a bar next door. A friend with the man told investigators she had an Aussie accent.


Investigators have interviewed staff at the two bars and shown them the e-fit, but no one has been able to identify her. Investigators are now asking Australian Federal Police to help trace her.


Maddie's doctor parents Kate and Gerry, both 41, of Rothley, Leics, have been informed.


Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell contacted aides of David and Victoria Beckham out of courtesy to let them know about the lookalike. David made a video appeal over Maddie shortly after she was snatched.

The British man, 41, was in Barcelona for his brother's stag do, and only came forward after seeing news reports on the second anniversary of Maddie's kidnap.


He had been reluctant to speak up before as he did not want his wife to think he was chatting up women in bars. Mr Edgar said he was a "very credible witness," adding: "He recognises he should have come forward before."



ANYONE with information should email investigation@findmadeleine.com or call the hotline on 0845 8384699.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2573496/Posh-lookalike-sought-in-Maddie-hunt.html

There's a little more information here than the article posted earlier.

Have you got the child? asked Australian woman hunted in Madeleine McCann inquiry  By Rod Chaytor 7/08/2009

This is the Victoria Beckham look-a-like who is being hunted by detectives searching for Madeleine McCann.

Just 72 hours after Madeleine vanished the agitated women mistook a British tourist for a man she was impatiently waiting to meet outside a bar in Barcelona and asked him: “Have you got her? Have you got the child?”

 
Detectives searching for Madeleine McCann now believe she could have been swiftly shipped off to Barcelona after she was snatched from her parents’ apartment in Portugal.

Former Detective Inspector Dave Edgar is basing his theory on a new lead involving a mysterious woman said to look like Victoria Beckham.

The woman, who possibly had an Australian accent, was seen three days after Madeleine vanished behaving in an agitated manner outside a Barcelona bar as she apparently waited for the arrival of a child. She asked a British tourist: “Have you got her? Have you got the child?” It is thought she had mistaken him for a man she was meeting outside the El Rey de la Gamba in the city’s marina area

Mr Edgar added: “It’s a strong lead. Madeleine could have been in Barcelona by this point. The fact that the conversation took place near the marina could be significant. It is something we are looking at.”

The investigator and his colleague ex-Detective Sergeant Arthur Cowley say it is possible Madeleine, then three, was snatched to order from the resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 and smuggled on to a boat moored nearby.

It could have made the 800 mile-odd trip around the Iberian coast to deliver her in Barcelona.

The witness who saw the mystery Posh lookalike has only recently come forward. The 41-year-old man, who is in a senior management job,  had been on a stag weekend in the city. He kept silent initially because he was afraid his wife would think he had been chatting up the woman.

Mr Edgar said: “He’s a credible witness. He had been drinking but was not drunk. The account he has given is precise.

“He didn’t come forward earlier for personal reasons and I am satisfied with those personal reasons. I think he now wishes that he had come forward sooner.

“The woman is not a suspect but somebody we wish to speak to. She was most definitely on her own.”

An efit of the women was released yesterday in an effort to identify her. Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Gerry and Kate McCann, said the witness had approached the woman and had a short conversation with her at around 2am.

He added: “This conversation was potentially significant. Following the conversation the woman sat down in another bar.”

Mr Mitchell said the woman was then heard to have an angry exchange in fluent Spanish with another man who accidentally bumped her chair.

He added: “The woman was last seen walking away in the direction of a hospital and the more distant ferry and cruise ship terminals.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/08/07/have-you-got-the-child-asked-australian-woman-hunted-in-madeleine-mccann-inquiry-115875-21577785/

Artist's picture of Australian
Thursday August 6,2009
By Nick Fagge DETECTIVES searching for Madeleine McCann are hunting for an Australian woman who asked a British tourist if he was about to deliver her “new daughter”.


The woman, described as a glamorous ­Victoria Beckham lookalike, spoke to the ­businessman in Spain just 72 hours after Madeleine dis­appeared from her family holiday in Portugal.

Investigators yesterday issued an urgent appeal for information about the well-dressed woman, who was seen acting in an “agitated” manner at the waterfront in Barcelona on May 7, 2007. She was pacing up and down outside a popular restaurant at the city’s Olympic Marina at 2am. When approached, she asked the British man in an Australian accent: “Are you here to deliver my new daughter?”

The stunned tourist, who was chaperoning his brother on a stag party, did not reply and the woman repeated the question two more times. A second

member of the British party spoke to the woman before she left and went to another restaurant on the marina. He confirmed she was Australian.



It is believed the woman mistook the witness for a man she had arranged to meet.

Private detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann believe the woman, described as white, aged between 30 and 35, 5ft 2ins tall, of slim build and expensively dressed, is a “significant” lead in their hunt for Madeleine, who was snatched from the family’s apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.

Investigators believe Madeleine may have been smuggled on to a yacht. It is possible the girl, who would now be six, could have been taken on the orders of a childless couple desperate to have a family.

The breakthrough came six weeks ago after the new witness, a 41-year-old married man with no children, contacted the Find Madeleine investigation team.

Lead investigator Dave Edgar, a former detective inspector, said: “We are satisfied that he is a very credible witness and the account he’s given is clear and concise.” He added that the man, who asked not to be identified, did not come forward earlier for “personal reasons”.

The private detectives spent two days in Barcelona investigating the new lead but found all CCTV footage had been wiped a long time ago and most of the bar staff had moved on. But Mr Edgar said the witness had described the e-fit of the woman produced by a British police artist as 80 per cent accurate.

A statement read by the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “A witness has come forward to give the investigators currently searching for Madeleine McCann new information about a suspicious incident that took place in Barcelona in the early hours of May 7, 2007 – just over 72 hours after Madeleine was abducted whilst on holiday in Praia da Luz in Portugal.”

   

Mr Mitchell told how the witness had been visiting a number of bars and restaurants in the marina area when he became aware of a well-dressed woman walking outside the El Rey De La Gamba restaurant.

“The witness got up and walked towards the woman and had a short conversation with her. The conversation was potentially significant to the investigation.”

Mr Mitchell said neither he nor the private investigators would reveal details of the conversation “for strict operational reasons”.

But a source close to the investigation in Portugal told the Daily Express: “The new witness is a ­senior bank manager. He was in ­Barcelona for his brother’s stag do.

“He was not drinking because he was keeping an eye on his brother. He saw a woman standing by the waterfront of the marina looking out to sea. She looked anxious. She was expecting to meet someone at the marina.

“The man approached her and she said to him, ‘Are you here to deliver my new daughter?’

“She asked this question three times before she went to another restaurant along the marina.”

The investigators now hope that a public appeal will flush out the woman, who is believed to have returned to her native Australia. The Portuguese source said: “Investigators want people who have contacted them in Australia to get back in touch with them again.”

Less than 1,000 miles as the crow flies, the journey from the Algarve to Barcelona is easily achieved in less than 36 hours by sea in a high-powered cruiser or less than 14 hours by car. Mr Edgar said: “Madeleine most definitely could have got from the area to Barcelona by yacht.”

The Portuguese source said: “Boats have been recorded leaving Albufeira and arriving in Barcelona one day later.”

Kate and Gerry McCann are aware of the new lead, Mr Mitchell said.

Details of the new witness have been passed to Portuguese authorities. But the Portuguese police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance was closed a year ago.

Anyone who knows the woman is asked to call the McCanns’ inves­tigators on 0044845 8384699 or email them at investigation@find madeleine.com


http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/118886/Maddie-hunt-for-woman/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
from the article
Are you here to deliver my new daughter?”


 

Madeleine McCann suspect holds clue in Australia link

Article from: The Courier-Mail......Charles Miranda......August 07, 2009 05:00pm

UPDATE: A WOMAN believed to be Australian said she was waiting to take delivery of "my new daughter" just 72 hours after toddler Madeleine McCann was kidnapped.

The "agitated" woman said to a British tourist: "Are you here to deliver my new daughter? Have you got my daughter? Have you got her? Have you got the child? Have you got her?", The Sun reported.

She repeated it twice before she realised the hapless tourist was not the man she was expected to meet and she walked off.

The new 41-year-old British witness only come forward six weeks ago, after his personal circumstances changed.

Private detectives hired by the McCann family last night released an artist's impression of the woman, thought to have an Australian accent, who could help solve the riddle of the missing British girl.

It's also been revealed  Madeleine could be in Australia with up to a dozen sightings of her reported to police in the past year.

Madeleine, who if alive would now be six years old, has not been seen since she was apparently snatched from a holiday resort in Portugal in May 2007.

There have been sightings of the girl all over Europe in that time but now former police tasked with finding her by the McCann family said her somehow being smuggled into Australia on a yacht was a real possibility.

"It's entirely possible, it's entirely possible and we will go there if we will assess the information that is now coming in and if there is any significant lines of inquiry we will do that," the investigator leading the investigation into her disappearance Dave Edgar said today.

The new 41-year-old British witness, who was in Spain on a stag weekend for his brother, only came forward six weeks ago after his personal circumstances changed and he felt more comfortable talking about his 2007 trip to Spain.

He noticed the pretty petite woman pacing up and down outside the Port Olimpic Marina outside the El Rey De La Gamba bar in Barcelona about 2am for about 10 minutes.

He thought she was attractive and eventually went out to ask her if everything was OK and had a short conversation. She was apparently waiting for a man and thought the Briton was him and said something about Madeleine.

He said the Victoria Beckham look-a-like only shorter appeared agitated and he asked if he could help her. They had a brief chat lasting just a few moments.

Mr Edgar would not say what the conversation the pair had was, how it was related to Madeleine or why the man had only come forward now but described his evidence as significant and the witness extremely credible.

"The man who was on holidays with his friends, described how he later saw the woman in the bar and after someone bumper her on her stool, she abused them in Catalan and he realised she was bilingual. He again had another short conversation with her and then she left, still in a troubled state. All up he spoke with her for about three minutes.

"The man is a very credible witness, a professional man and we take his evidence on face value," Mr Edgar said yesterday.

"We describe this woman as a significant person, the conversation they had was significant and that is why we are here today. I wouldn't be sitting here with an appeal if we didn't think it significant."

Mr Edgar said the McCann case files already had a number of Australians who believed they had seen Madeleine during their travels about Europe or Aussies who believed they had seen her on their local Australian streets.

The reports have come in from almost all states, and Mr Edgar said those that called him before, should now call again.

If they see our appeal now (with the mystery woman) and if they think they have anything to offer, because now their information might mean something more with the description of the woman, we want to speak with them again, he said.

The woman is described as being aged between 30 and 35, of slim build and "glamorous" appearance, with short brown hair and about 157cm tall. A new witness described her as a "Victoria Beckham look-alike" with an Australian accent.

The investigators believe she may have travelled back to Australia and have appealed for help in finding her.

A McCann family spokesman said they were trying not to get their hopes up: "They are praying that this could be the piece in the jigsaw that could help them find Madeleine."

Clarence Mitchell said yesterday the McCann team had had 3000 tip-offs from psychics alone.

"We have had potential sightings of Madeleine, well meaning and malicious all around the world from South America, Australia all over Europe and as a result Kate and Gerry don't get their hopes up or down," he said.

"In this case they are hoping it will be as significant as they think it might be but they wait to hear and until they hear from the people doing the work, they won't be excited or downhearted."

"They are searching for Madeleine with every breath they take. They will never give up until they know what has happened to her." 

Mr Edgar asked Australians who had contacted the McCann hotline to call again on 0011 44 845 8384699 or to email them at investigation@findmadeleine. com

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25894242-952,00.html

Madeleine McCann investigators swamped with calls about new lead
Private detectives searching for Madeleine McCann have received "hundreds of calls" after appealing for information about a mysterious woman, the family's spokesman said.
 

Published: 6:25PM BST 07 Aug 2009

The investigators yesterday issued an e-fit of the woman, described as an Australian Victoria Beckham-lookalike, who reportedly asked a witness if he was there to deliver her "new daughter" just days after the little girl's disappearance.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, said there had already been a "substantial" response to the appeal, including several possible names for the woman.

The private detectives are now going through the information from the public and deciding which leads to follow up.

Mr Mitchell said: "We have had a substantial response overnight, with many hundreds of calls coming in particular from Australia.

"I understand many calls have also been made to the Australian police.

"Some names have been put forward, and all of this information is now being analysed and prioritised by the detectives.

"They are extremely grateful to everyone who has come forward with information.

"Where and when appropriate they will of course be liaising with the Australian authorities.

"As we stressed yesterday, the Australian dimension is just one part of the overall investigation into Madeleine's disappearance and work is continuing on several fronts."

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Just over 72 hours later, in the early hours of May 7, two British men saw the woman while on a night out in the popular Port Olimpic Marina in Barcelona in Spain.

She was well-dressed but appeared agitated and kept walking up and down outside the El Rey de la Gamba restaurant-bar as if she was waiting to meet somebody.

When one of the British men approached and spoke to her, she reportedly asked him: "Are you here to deliver my new daughter?"

Mr Mitchell refused to confirm or deny any details about this conversation.

After speaking to the witness the woman went into a bar next door, where she had a heated conversation with a local in what seemed to be fluent Spanish.

The British man - who has not been named but is a married 41-year-old professional without children - did not disclose his brief conversation with the woman until he approached the McCanns' investigators about six weeks ago.

The woman was described by the main witness as "a bit of a Victoria Beckham lookalike" and could be Australian based on her accent.

The McCanns' private detectives said it was "most definitely" possible that Madeleine was smuggled hundreds of miles from the Algarve to Barcelona by yacht.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/5990664/Madeleine-McCann-investigators-swamped-with-calls-about-new-lead.html

Maddie: Hunt for Aussie boat 


By ALEX WEST in Barcelona
and ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: Today
 
THE hunt was on last night for a mystery Aussie motorboat now being linked to Madeleine McCann.
It entered the marina soon before a woman there, thought to be Australian, asked a man: "Are you here to deliver my new daughter?"



Plea ... Maddie McCann


The unnamed multi-million pound 105ft powerboat - which was registered Down Under - remained in the Port Olimpic marina in Barcelona, Spain, for just three days.

Records show it arrived just hours before the woman - said to look like Posh Spice Victoria Beckham - approached a British man there and asked about the child. It is believed she mistook him for a "courier".

The Sun told yesterday how the conversation happened at about 2am on May 7, 2007 - 72 hours after Maddie, then three, vanished on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

A senior port authority source said: "An Australian-flagged powerboat arrived at 12.40pm on the 6th. It left on the 9th. We don't know where it went.

"It was the only unknown vessel to enter the port that day - the others have regular moorings here.



Wanted ... Clarence Mitchell with e-fit

"Australian-flagged boats in the Mediterranean are incredibly rare." One theory being probed is that a boat was used to transport Maddie from Portugal shortly after her abduction.

The passage is 728 nautical miles but could be made in a speedboat in about 35 hours - plus time for at least four fuel stops.

Another theory is that the Australian woman had masterminded the kidnapping and was awaiting delivery of the child from another vessel before sailing off.



Leads ... The Sun's story sparked calls

The Sun
By last night investigators working for Madeleine's doctor parents Kate and Gerry, both 41, of Rothley, Leics, had received more than 600 calls and emails in response to the Posh lookalike appeal.


Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the response had been "overwhelming" since an e-fit of the woman was released on Thursday.

He revealed: "Most of the responses have been from Australia. Names of possible women have been put forward. Also what our detectives describe as a 'number of viable leads' have resulted from the appeal."

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It also emerged yesterday that Maddie cops had ALREADY mounted an Australian surveillance operation before the Posh lookalike alert.

It is understood that undercover detectives have been watching a number of individuals in Australia for several months after a tip-off that Maddie was smuggled there.

A source close to the Maddie investigation said: "It may be that the woman the British witness talked to in Barcelona is linked."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2577607/Maddie-Hunt-for-Aussie-boat.html

efit of Australian woman gives 100s of clues in hunt for Madeleine McCann  By Rod Chaytor 8/08/2009

 
Hundreds of people yesterday contacted British detectives seeking a woman who could have ordered the kidnap of Madeleine MCann.

Scores emailed the findmadeleine website and left messages on a phone hotline.

Some named the mystery Posh Spice lookalike with an Australian accent who asked a British tourist: “Have you brought my new daughter? Have you got her? Have you got the child?“

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine’s parents, said: “There has a been a big response worldwide. Kate and Gerry are very encouraged. Some have named names.”

The woman, was seen in an agitated state in the marina area of Barcelona, Spain,  early on May 7, 2007, around 72 hours after Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz in Portugal.

Detectives are probing whether she was taken to Spain by sea after a man was seen heading to a boat just after she vanished in Luz.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/08/08/efit-of-australian-woman-gives-100s-of-clues-in-hunt-for-madeleine-mccann-115875-21581248/

UK NEWSMADDIE YACHT MYSTERY 



A Bayliner luxury yacht is now at the centre of the hunt for Maddie
Friday August 7,2009
By Nick Fagge A YACHT which left the Algarve just hours after Madeleine McCann disappeared has vanished without trace, the Daily Express can reveal.


The luxury Swedish cruiser sailed out of the Portuguese harbour at Portimao on May 4, 2007, the morning after four-year-old Madeleine disappeared. It has not been seen since.

Last night there was growing speculation that Madeleine might have been whisked out of Portugal on the mystery boat.

The captain of the Bayliner yacht had told port authorities it was going to the Algarve port of Albufeira – as is required under Portuguese law – but the boat did not arrive.

Attempts by the Portuguese navy to track down the boat – one of six that left the marina that day – have failed. All the other yachts were accounted for.

A source close to the Portuguese authorities told the Daily Express: “The yacht from Sweden was the only boat that the Portuguese police could not trace.”

The disclosure comes a day after private detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann revealed a “significant” new lead in their hunt for the missing youngster, now aged six.

An Australian woman in Barcelona appeared to be waiting to take delivery of her “new daughter” just 72 hours after Madeleine disappeared.

Lead investigator Dave Edgar, a former detective inspector, said he believed the girl from Rothley, Leicestershire, could have been smuggled to the Spanish port in a yacht.

The woman, described as a glamorous Victoria Beckham lookalike, was seen standing on the dockside of Barcelona’s Olympic Marina pacing up and down and “agitated”.

When approached, she asked a 41-year-old British man three times; “Are you here to deliver my new daughter?”

Investigators are now trying to trace the woman, described as white, aged between 30 and 35, 5ft 2in tall, of slim build and wearing expensive clothes.

     

It is possible Madeleine could have been abducted on the orders of a childless couple, desperate to have a family, and taken to Barcelona to meet her new “parents”.

Last night private detectives searching for Madeleine said they had received a massive response to their appeal about the Australian woman.

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, said: “Many hundreds of calls had come in overnight, particular from Australia.

“Some names have been put forward and all of this information is now being analysed and prioritised by the detectives,” he said.

The mystery boat had been sailing along the Algarve coast close to Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared.

And records show it has previously docked at Barcelona’s Marina Port Vell, next to the Olympic Marina where the Australian woman was spotted.

The Portuguese source said: “It’s possible that the boat went to Barcelona. The yacht left Portimao on the morning of May 4, 2007.

“It left saying it was going to Albufeira in Portugal. It is a legal requirement to give a destination but it did not arrive in Albufeira.

“There were six boats that left Portimao that day. All have been accounted for apart from the Swedish boat.”

In Sweden all vessels measuring over 12 metres (40ft) long must be registered with the Swedish Maritime Administration.

But inquires with their head office in Stockholm yesterday found no record of the yacht.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the McCanns’ investigators on 0044845 8384699 or email them at investigation@findmadeleine.com


http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/119199/Maddie-yacht-mystery/

At the link, left upper page are 3 videos

August 07, 2009

The team searching for Madeleine McCann has received "hundreds of calls" after releasing an e-fit of a woman they want to trace, the family's spokesman says.
 
The woman was described as a "Victoria Beckham lookalike"



Private detectives made an appeal for information on Thursday about a mysterious female, described as a "Victoria Beckham lookalike".

She was reportedly seen by two British men in Barcelona, Spain, three days after the girl went missing from Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.

The woman had a brief conversation with one of the men, who reported she spoke with an Australian accent.

The British man, who has not been named, approached the McCanns' investigators about six weeks ago.

The e-fit was issued by McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell and David Edgar, the retired detective who is now leading the search.

Mr Mitchell said the team received numerous calls and several possible names for the woman.


 
Madeleine McCann

"We have had a substantial response overnight, with many hundreds of calls coming in particular from Australia," he said.

"I understand many calls have also been made to the Australian police.

"Some names have been put forward, and all of this information is now being analysed and prioritised by the detectives.

"They are extremely grateful to everyone who has come forward with information.

"Where and when appropriate they will of course be liaising with the Australian authorities."

He added the Australian dimension was just one part of the overall investigation the little girl's disappearance and work was continuing on several fronts.

The witness who saw the woman in Barcelona said she was brown-haired, aged between 30 and 35, slim and about 5ft 2in tall.

He said she had a "heated conversation" with another person in Spanish at a nearby bar, before wandering off.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-Search-Team-Swamped-By-Calls-Hundreds-Phone-Detectives-After-E-Fit-Appeal/Article/200908115356687?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15356687_Madeleine_McCann_Search_Team_Swamped_By_Calls%3A_Hundreds_Phone_Detectives_After_E-Fit_Appeal

Madeleine McCann woman found

Article from: The Courier-Mail........August 08, 2009 06:18pm

AN Australian woman believed to hold vital clues to the disappearance of missing British child Madeleine McCann may have been found.

NSW police said they had received information about a woman who is similar in description to a Australian being sought by private investigators examining the disappearance of Madeleine, a NSW police spokesman said today.

The woman reportedly spoke to a Brit outside a bar in Barcelona, Spain, three days after the four-year-old girl went missing from her family's rented holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

"On Friday afternoon, a Sydney woman provided a formal statement to detectives at a Sydney police station,'' a NSW police spokesman said.

"She claims to know the identity of the woman, being sought by the private investigators attached to the McCann family.

"NSW police force will forward the information received to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for follow up.''

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25901259-952,00.html

 Madeleine police 'following more than 600 leads' in wake of Victoria Beckham lookalike e-fit
By Richard Shears
Last updated at 4:56 PM on 08th August 20  Lead: An e-fit of the woman police are hunting in the search for Madeleine
Private detectives searching for Madeleine McCann were today following up more than 600 calls and emails, including many which investigators describe as 'viable leads'.

Amongst the pieces of information passed to the investigators from people in Europe and Australia are 'dozens' of possible names for an e-fit of a woman, described as a Victoria Beckham-lookalike with short dark hair.

The woman reportedly asked a witness at a marina in Barcelona if he was there to deliver her 'new daughter' just days after Madeleine's disappearance.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, said: 'Since the appeal on Thursday the investigators have had more than 600 separate pieces of information come into the inquiry via email and telephone calls.

'Amongst it all are a number of viable leads, all of which are being assessed and prioritised as necessary.'

But it emerged today that one woman in Australia who was named as being the witness in Spain and who also has a five-year-old fair-haired girl has not left Australia since 2000.

Judith Aron, who has dark spiky hair is understood to be the woman identified by an acquaintance as having a daughter who looks like Madeleine.
But now Ms Aron , who lives in Melbourne, has denied having anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.
'I'm 53 years old and I certainly don't look like a Spice Girl' she said in a reference to the British witness's description of the woman in Spain looking a little like Victoria Beckham.
'I'm shocked that anybody may have thought that I have some  connection to this case. I can't understand how it may have happened.
'I can honestly say I have no connection to the little girl. I haven't left Australia since 2000, so there's no way I could have been in Portugal or Spain around the time she went missing.
 Missing: Madeleine on May 2, 2007, the day before she disappeared
It was revealed last week that a British man was spoken to by a woman outside a bar in Barcelona, Spain, 72 hours after Madeleine disappeared from neighbouring Portugal.
The woman, said the British witness, mistaking him for someone else, asked where her new daughter was - before she realised she was talking to the wrong person.
 More...Have you got my new daughter? What 'Victoria Beckham lookalike' in hunt for Madeleine McCann asked tourist

The witness said the woman spoke fluent Spanish when she was accidentally bumped by someone a few moments later as she walked away from the Briton.
Police are now on the hunt for a mystery Australian motorboat which entered the Port Olimpic marina in Barcelona shortly before the woman was spotted.
A senior port authority source told how the 105ft multi-million pound vessel was docked at the marina for just three days.



 Clues: Port Olimpic marina in Barcelona where the witness met the woman investigators believe knew something 'significant' about Madeleine
He said: 'An Australian-flagged powerboat arrived at 12.40pm on the 6th. It left on the 9th. We don't know where it went.
'It was the only unknown vessel to have entered the port that day - the others have regular moorings here.'
He added that Australian-flagged boats in the Mediterranean were incredibly rare. 
Detectives are now speculating that the powerboat was used to transport Madeleine to Spain from Portugal.

The journey of 728 nautical miles would take approximately 35 hours excluding the required four fuel stops.
A NSW police spokesman said today: 'On Friday afternoon a Sydney woman provided a formal statement to detectives at a Sydney police station.

'She claims to know the identity of the woman being sought by the private investigators attached to the McCann family.
 Search: Police are on the hunt for an Australian powerboat that was docked in the marina for just three days at the time of Madeleine's disappearance
'NSW police force will forward the information received to the Australian Federal Police for follow up.'
The AFP are responsible matters of state and for liaisons with overseas police forces.

It is not known if the woman who contacted police, or the mystery woman she says she has information about, lives in Sydney.
An artist's impression of the mystery woman - based on a description given by the British witness - has been widely circulated in newspapers and on television across the globe.
 Overwhelming response: McCann family spokesperson Clarence Mitchell holding an e-fit of the Victoria Beckham lookalike
McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell described the public response to the E-fit of the woman as 'overwhelming'.
He went on to reveal however, that most of the responses had been from Australia: 'Names of possible women have been put forward,' he said.
'Also what our detectives describe as a "number of viable leads" have resulted from the appeal.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205162/Madeleine-police-make-dramatic-breakthrough-hunt-Victoria-Beckham-lookalike-linked-disappearance.html

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25900820-952,00.html




Witness recognises woman linked to Madeleine McCann
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)



Marnie O'Neill

August 09, 2009 12:00am

A SYDNEY woman has told NSW police she knows the identity of a woman sought by British investigators over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The woman walked into a Sydney police station on Friday afternoon and made a formal statement to detectives, a police spokesman said.

She not only provided what she believed was the name of the woman, who lives interstate, possibly in Melbourne, but also a photograph of her.

"Police have forwarded the information to (both) the Australian Federal Police and the private investigators attached to the McCann team," a police spokesman said.


A police source said the photograph bore an "uncanny resemblance" to a police artist's impression released to Australian media by the McCann team last week.

The image is based on the eyewitness accounts of two bar-hopping British men who encountered the woman in Barcelona, 72 hours after Madeleine was snatched from a Portuguese resort on May 3, 2007.

One of them approached her and she asked him in an Australian accent: "Are you here to deliver my new daughter? Have you got her? Have you got the child?"

The new Sydney witness is one of "hundreds" of Australians who claim to have seen the mystery brunette. She is said to speak "excellent Spanish, possibly Catalan".

McCann chief investigator Dave Edgar said his team would fly to Australia to analyse all new information, including several names that had been passed on to them.

The owner of Sydney's most famous Spanish restaurant Capitan Torres, Manuel Vilarino, is convinced she visited his establishment "two or three months ago".

When the image was shown around Sydney's Spanish Quarter last week, most people drew a blank.

Mr Vilarino, however, felt a "punch in the gut", all but gasping out loud when he saw her face.

"The moment you showed me this picture, I felt a jolt of recognition," he said.

"I believe she came to the restaurant about two or three months ago with a party of three or four, including at least one man.

"I remember she was very pleasant and very well presented, wearing cream or white-coloured tailored trousers."

Mr Vilarino said the woman, who spoke to him in Spanish, did not dine at the restaurant but had stopped by in the afternoon to ask what their trading hours were.

"She said to me: 'We arrived only yesterday. I want to show (my companions) the Spanish Quarter.' She wanted to know our trading hours."

Mr Vilarino said the more he looked at the image, the more convinced he felt it was the same woman.

"It's a very strange feeling, hard to describe but I feel in my heart I feel that this is the woman who came here that day," he said.

Mr Vilarino has managed Capitan Torres for 33 years.

The restaurateur is well known within the Spanish communities of Sydney and Melbourne.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/08/09/maddie-yacht-owner-found-and-she-s-worth-250million-115875-21582946/

'Maddie yacht owner' found and she's worth £250million


EXCLUSIVE by Frank Thorne and Justin Penrose 9/08/2009

Family distraught at abduction ‘link’ and say hunt is ludicrous.

Madeleine McCann detectives aim to interview a millionairess after a yacht at the centre of the inquiry into the child’s disappearance was traced.

Melissa Karlson’s mother owns the £6million vessel that docked in Barcelona hours before a mystery woman asked a British tourist: “Are you here to deliver my new daughter?”

But the family of the 31-year-old Australian, daughter of £250million socialite Rhonda Wyllie, 52, yesterday told the Sunday Mirror any suggestion the vessel was involved with the abduction or the mystery woman was “ludicrous”.

The team hunting three-year-old Madeleine had believed that the mystery powerboat could provide a breakthrough.

Flying an Australian flag, it was seen in Barcelona  three days after she vanished in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Records show the 105ft boat arrived just hours before a woman – said to look like Posh Spice Victoria Beckham – approached a British bank executive and asked: “Are you here to deliver my daughter?”

The woman was described as slim and “glamorous”, aged 30 to 35, about 5ft 2ins tall, with short spiky brown hair and speaking with an Australian accent. The luxury Sunseeker vessel, called Will Power, was reportedly the only vessel out of nine unaccounted for by Maddie investigators.

It was moored in Barcelona from 12.40pm on May 6, 2007, and left on the 9th for an unknown destination.

Investigators are keen to speak to Mrs Karlson, who runs her mother’s investment group, and Mrs Wyllie to rule them out.

A source close to the investigation told the Sunday Mirror: “We have been told about the daughter of the owner of this boat and are aware of who she is. We understand she’s currently in Perth, Australia, and will be keen to speak to her to eliminate her from our inquiries.”

The family last night said they were “distraught” to have been linked to the Madeleine case but would happily cooperate with police.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/madness-in-search-for-maddie-20090808-edj3.html

Madness in search for Maddie


Madness in search for Maddie

Matthew Benns
August 9, 2009

A 53-YEAR-OLD mother was yesterday forced to deny that she or her fair-haired five-year-old daughter had anything to do with missing British toddler Madeleine McCann after a friend in Sydney reported her to police.

Shocked Judith Aron said: "I have no connection to the little girl."

The search for Madeleine has swept across at least four Australian states with a string of sightings after private detectives revealed they were looking for a Victoria Beckham lookalike with an Australian accent.

An identikit picture of the woman was released by British police last week after a witness came forward to say the woman had approached him in Barcelona three days after Madeleine went missing in Portugal in 2007 and said: "Are you here to deliver my daughter?"

Ms Aron, who by a bizarre twist lives in Madeline Street, Glen Iris, a Melbourne suburb, said: "I'm 53 years old and I certainly don't look like a Spice Girl.

"I'm shocked that anybody may have thought that I have some connection to this case. I can't understand how it may have happened. I can honestly say I have no connection to the little girl.

"I haven't left Australia since 2000, so there's no way I could have been in Portugal or Spain around the time she went missing.

"My mum passed away in 2000 and I was looking after my elderly father after that so I wasn't able to go overseas."

However, Ms Aron said she felt terrible for Gerry and Kate, Madeleine's parents.

"I only wish there was some way that I could help them. I have a five-year-old daughter myself so when I think of what they must be going through it is just awful."

A neighbour said she thought the link might have been made because Ms Aron spoke Spanish and had a fair-haired child.

On Friday afternoon, an elderly Sydney woman went into Burwood police station and filed a report claiming that a friend she had met in Spain, and travelled with in Portugal, was the woman in the identikit picture.

"She showed us a picture of the woman on a plane from Portugal and we got goosebumps," said a detective, who could not be named. "It looked exactly like the identikit picture."

A NSW Police spokeswoman said: "NSW Police force detectives have received information about a woman who is similar in description to the woman being sought by private investigators investigating the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann.

"A Sydney woman provided a formal statement to detectives at a Sydney police station.

"She claims to know the identity of the woman being sought by the private investigators attached to the McCann family. The NSW Police force has forwarded the information to the Australian Federal Police for follow-up."

A federal police spokesman confirmed it had received informal notice but added: "We are certainly not investigating at the moment."

The woman who filed the statement is understood to be Nelida Martinez from Burwood. Yesterday she said: "I don't want to talk to nobody unless it's the police."

Meanwhile, attention has also focused on an Australian-registered cruiser that was in Port Olimpic marina in Barcelona at the time the mystery woman was asking the new witness if he had brought her new daughter.

Reporters from London yesterday speculated that it was a $12 million powerboat belonging to a wealthy West Australian family.

A spokesman for the family said: "This is the most ridiculous speculation I have ever heard. It's ludicrous."

Despite claims by London newspapers that investigators are looking for the yacht, which flies the Australian flag, a family friend scoffed at speculation that it could be connected in any way to the Madeleine McCann case.

The friend said: "I know the owners of that yacht and they would laugh at newspaper reports that their powerboat was somehow used in the abduction of Maddie. That's a good one."

Investigators working for the McCanns said they had received more than 600 emails after issuing the Posh Spice lookalike appeal. A spokesman for the family said most of those responses had come from Australia.

(http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww328/seasidecece/JudithAron.jpg)


(Clockwise) Maddie at age three and an age progression image of her at six, Identikit of the woman and bottom, Judith Aron.

(bringing this forward to add info to the article):

Mrs Karlson, married to fashion wholesaler Jamie, is the managing director of Wyllie Group, her mother’s company. Wyllie Group company director Craig Coleman, speaking on behalf of Mrs Karlson, said from his home in Perth: “This is the most ridiculous speculation I have ever heard. It’s ludicrous.”

It came as investigators working for Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, both 41, from Rothley, Leics, had received dozens of names linked to the e-fit released last week. More than 600 phone calls have been made by people who saw the image.

The couple’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the team would be working their way through the names given to identify them.

A woman in Australia yesterday claimed to know the Posh Spice lookalike as Madeleine mania swept the country but the report turned out to be  false.

It emerged that an investigator had already reportedly mounted an Australian surveillance operation.

Undercover detectives have been watching a number of individuals in Australia for several months after a tip-off that Madeleine was smuggled there.

But Australian Federal Police have said they are not involved in looking for Madeleine and have not been approached by the McCanns.

Ms Karlson started as a trainee accountant in her father Bill’s property development company before becoming MD in 2005, six months before his death.

She reportedly celebrated her 30th birthday with a big bash at the luxurious Legian Hotel in Bali in March last year. It is understood celebrity guests were flown in for the night.

Widow Mrs Wyllie, a non-executive director of Wyllie Group, is on Will Power, cruising in the Mediterranean, a spokesman said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/2734376/McCann-detectives-chase-Oz-yacht-owners

McCann detectives chase Oz yacht owners

Private detectives searching for Madeleine McCann hope to interview the widow and daughter of Australian property tycoon Bill Wyllie amid claims their yacht may be involved in the British girl's disappearance.

A multimillion-dollar luxury yacht owned by Perth socialite Rhonda Wyllie was moored in Barcelona, Spain, three days after Madeleine disappeared from a holiday resort in Portugal in May 2007.

About the same time, a woman aged in her 30s with an Australian or New Zealand accent reportedly asked a British businessman at the marina if he was there to "deliver my new daughter".

Private detectives working for Madeleine's parents want to speak with Mrs Wyllie and her daughter, 31-year-old Melissa Karlson, to find out why the vessel was in Barcelona and if either woman was travelling aboard.

Ms Wyllie is reportedly "devastated" by reports in British papers about the possible connection between her 32m yacht, Willpower, and the inquiry.

"I have spoken to my sister and she is absolutely devastated," her brother Wayne McGrath is quoted as telling The People paper in Britain on Sunday.

"She doesn't know anything about this.

"She does go to Spain - she's been there for the last two or three years.

She goes to entertain friends. She is happy to co-operate with and help any investigation."

The yacht, which is for sale in the south of France, can sleep six guests and carry four crew.

A source close to the hunt for Madeleine told the Sunday Mirror investigators were keen to speak with Ms Karlson, the managing director of Perth-based investment firm the Wyllie Group, and Mrs Wyllie about the yacht's trip to Spain.

"We have been told about the daughter of the owner of this boat and are aware of who she is," the source said.

"We understand she's currently in Perth, Australia, and will be keen to speak to her to eliminate her from our inquiries."

Marina records have revealed the yacht was moored at the Port Olimpic (Olimpic) marina in Barcelona when a woman - described as a Victoria Beckham lookalike - approached a British businessman and asked about the child.

Madeleine vanished from her family's rented holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, while her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.

Investigators working for Kate and Gerry McCann last week released a sketch of the woman who reportedly spoke to the British tourist at the marina in Barcelona 72 hours after Madeleine disappeared.

They also said they believed it was possible Madeleine could have been taken by boat from Portugal to Spain.

Police in Australia and Britain have received hundreds of calls about the picture of the woman.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said investigators have a "number of viable leads" on the woman.

"An awful lot of these tip-offs and bits of information are well meaning, but ultimately come to nothing," he told the Nine Network on Sunday morning.

"But out of all this we have had dozens of names for the woman we're looking for given to us ... and out of that, the detectives have a number of viable leads.

"That's their description: a number of viable leads that they are pursuing as a priority."

A Victorian woman suggested as a possible match to the image released by the McCann investigators has denied she has anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance.


Judith Aron, of Glen Iris, Victoria, told Fairfax newspapers: "I'm 53 years old and I certainly don't look like a Spice Girl.

"I'm totally shocked anybody may have thought I have some connection to the case.

"I have been looking after my sick father and I haven't left the country since 2000."

http://www.youtube.com/v/VTwIuQ7vun0&hl=en&fs=1

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/perth-millionairess-linked-to-missing-british-girl/1591279.aspx


Perth millionairess linked to missing British girl
LONDON
10/08/2009 12:00:00 AM
The widow and daughter of Australian property tycoon Bill Wyllie say they are perplexed by claims their luxury yacht may have been involved in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann.

Private detectives searching for the youngster want to interview Perth socialite Rhonda Wyllie and her daughter, Melissa Karlson, 31, after British newspapers reported yesterday that their family's yacht could be linked to Madeleine's disappearance.

The multimillion-dollar yacht Willpower was moored at a marina in Barcelona, Spain, three days after Madeleine disappeared from a holiday resort in Portugal in May 2007. About the same time, a woman aged in her 30s with an Australian or New Zealand accent asked a British businessman at the marina if he was there to ''deliver my new daughter''.

Private investigators hired by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann hope to speak with Mrs Wyllie and her daughter, who heads investment company the Wyllie Group, to find out why the vessel was in Barcelona.

But a spokesman for the women said while Willpower was in Spain at the time, neither Mrs Wyllie nor her daughter were in the country.

''Rhonda and Melissa are perplexed by the media coverage of the past 24 hours, especially given that neither of them was actually in Spain on the night in question,'' he said.

Mrs Wyllie was reportedly ''devastated'' by newspaper reports about the possible connection between her 32m yacht and the inquiry.

Her brother Wayne McGrath said, ''She doesn't know anything about this ... She does go to Spain she's been there for the last two or three years ... She goes to entertain friends. She is happy to cooperate with and help any investigation.''

The yacht, which is up for sale in the south of France, can sleep six guests and carry four crew.

A source close to the hunt for Madeleine told the Sunday Mirror investigators were keen to speak with Ms Karlson, the managing director of the Wyllie Group, and Mrs Wyllie ''to eliminate her from our inquiries''.

Marina records show the yacht was moored at the Port Olimpic marina in Barcelona when a woman approached a British businessman and asked about the child.

Madeleine vanished from her family's rented holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, while her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant.

Investigators working for Kate and Gerry McCann last week released a sketch of the woman who spoke to the British tourist at the marina in Barcelona 72 hours after Madeleine disappeared.

They also said they believed it was possible Madeleine could have been taken by boat from Portugal to Spain.

Police in Australia and Britain have received hundreds of calls about the picture of the woman.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said investigators had a ''number of viable leads'' on the woman.

''An awful lot of these tip-offs and bits of information are well meaning, but ultimately come to nothing,'' he said yesterday.

''But out of all this we have had dozens of names for the woman we're looking for given to us ... and out of that, the detectives have a number of viable leads.''

A Victorian woman suggested as a possible match to the image, Judith Aron, of Glen Iris, said, ''I'm totally shocked anybody may have thought I have some connection to the case.

''I have been looking after my sick father and I haven't left the country since 2000.'' AAP

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/aussie-millionaires-yacht-link-to-maddie-mccann-case/story-e6freuy9-1225759579181


Aussie millionaire's yacht link to Maddie McCann case

    * From correspondents in London
    * From: The Daily Telegraph
    * August 10, 2009 12:00AM




Madeleine McCann

Enduring mystery ... the McCann family. Source: The Daily Telegraph

PRIVATE detectives searching for Madeleine McCann hope to interview the widow and daughter of Australian property tycoon Bill Wyllie amid claims their yacht may be involved in the British girl's disappearance.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205365/Owner-3m-yacht-centre-Madeleine-McCann-hunt-vows-to-help-investigation.html

Millionaire socialite 'devastated' as her £3m superyacht is linked to hunt for Madeleine McCann

By Vanessa Allen
Last updated at 7:49 PM on 09th August 2009


A millionaire socialite whose luxury yacht has been linked to the latest clue in the Madeleine McCann hunt has offered to help the two-year investigation.

Relatives of Rhonda Wyllie said today that she would do all she could to help Kate and Gerry McCann's detectives, after it emerged that her £3million superyacht could be linked to the mystery.

Investigators revealed last week that a new British witness had come forward with information about a woman he spotted in Barcelona's Port Olimpic marina on May 6, 2007 - three days after Madeleine's disappearance.

(http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww328/seasidecece/article-0-0601D61C000005DC-653_468x.jpg)
The Sunseeker yacht possibly implicated in Madeleine's disappearance.

(continued).

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2579100/McCanns-new-hope-at-Maddie-lead.html#comment-rig

By ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: 10 Aug 2009

McCann ‘hope’ at new leadBy ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: 10 Aug 2009
 
THE hunt for a Posh Spice lookalike has boosted hopes Madeleine McCann will be found at last, the little girl's gran said last night.
Susan Healey said Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry were "usually very measured about new evidence but this has given us all renewed hope.

"It would be so wonderful if it helps us to find Madeleine," she told Hello! magazine.

Private detectives leading the hunt for Maddie, three, who vanished in Portugal in May 2007, are searching for a Victoria Beckham double.

They received 800 calls and emails after an appeal last Thursday.

The Aussie woman told a man at a Barcelona bar: "Are you here to deliver my new daughter?"


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2579100/McCanns-new-hope-at-Maddie-lead.html

Millionaire socialite 'devastated' as her £3m superyacht is linked to hunt for Madeleine McCann


A millionaire socialite whose luxury yacht has been linked to the latest clue in the Madeleine McCann hunt has offered to help the two-year investigation.

Relatives of Rhonda Wyllie said today that she would do all she could to help Kate and Gerry McCann's detectives, after it emerged that her £3million superyacht could be linked to the mystery.
Investigators revealed last week that a new British witness had come forward with information about a woman he spotted in Barcelona's Port Olimpic marina on May 6, 2007 - three days after Madeleine's disappearance.

He said the well-dressed woman spoke with an Australian accent and said she asked him: 'Are you here to deliver my new daughter?'

Mrs Wyllie's 105ft Sunseeker was the only Australian-registered vessel moored in the Spanish marina that night and the private investigators now hope to speak to its captain.

There is no suggestion that Mrs Wyllie, a 52-year-old widow, is connected to Madeleine's disappearance.

But detectives will want to speak to crew who could have been aboard the boat, and to check if they hold any information which could provide new clues in the search.

Relatives of the Australian socialite said she would do all she could to help the worldwide hunt for the missing child.

Her brother Wayne McGrath told the People newspaper: 'I have spoken to my sister and she is absolutely devastated. She doesn't know anything about this.'

He added: 'She is happy to co-operate with and help any investigation.'

The British witness described the woman he saw as slim, glamorous and around 5ft 2in tall with short spiky brown hair.

She was described as resembling celebrity Victoria Beckham and was said to be aged between 30 and 35.
 Clarence Mitchell holds up a photofit of the woman police want to speak to regarding Madeleine's disappearance
The yacht's former skipper, a British man who asked not to be named, confirmed the Willpower was moored in the marina on May 6, but said there were no Australians onboard.

He said: 'There is absolutely no link between the boat and Madeleine... I'm afraid this is a total red herring.'

He added: 'The owner and her guests had left for the South of France a day or two previously. The only people onboard were myself, my girlfriend, who is blonde and as British as they come, and an American couple who were working as crew.

'I am happy to speak to the private investigators and will do anything I can to help the investigation. I completely understand that the McCanns want to follow up every lead, no matter how tenuous.'

Investigators unveiled an artist's impression of the woman spotted in the marina and have received up to 600 calls about her.

But one Australian woman named as a match for the image said she had not left Australia for years.

Judith Aron, of Glen Iris in Victoria, was said to bear a striking resemblance to the woman but said: 'I'm 53 years old and I certainly don't look like a Spice Girl.
'I'm totally shocked anybody may have thought I have some connection to the case. I have been looking after my sick father and I haven't left the country since 2000.'

Madeleine vanished from her family's rented holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz just days before her fourth birthday.

There has been no confirmed information about her since then, despite a worldwide publicity campaign which has triggered countless potential sightings.

Her parents Mr and Mrs McCann, 41, have vowed never to give up their search for their missing daughter.

Their investigators were said to be willing to speak to Mrs Wyllie and the yacht's captain, but sources said they believed the boat's presence in the marina was 'a bizarre coincidence'.

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell refused to comment about Mrs Wyllie, but said the McCanns were grateful for any offers of help to the investigation.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205365/Owner-3m-yacht-centre-Madeleine-McCann-hunt-vows-to-help-investigation.html#ixzz0NjhMU4Iz

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25910569-5000117,00.html



Susie O'Brien

August 11, 2009 12:00am

WHY did a British man wait two years before coming forward with possibly crucial evidence about missing Madeleine McCann?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/6003884/Madeleine-McCann-tycoons-family-perplexed-by-investigation.html


Madeleine McCann: tycoon's family 'perplexed' by investigation
Rhonda Wyllie and Melissa Karlson, the widow and daughter of an Australian property tycoon, have said that they are "perplexed" by reports linking their luxury yacht to the Madeleine McCann investigation.
 

Published: 11:35AM BST 10 Aug 2009

(http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww328/seasidecece/melissaKarlson_1459453c.jpg)

 Melissa Karlson's mother owns the £6million vessel, Willpower  Photo: SPLASH 

(continued)

http://www.youtube.com/v/4_iSZEIHA-k&hl=en&fs=1

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0810/1224252312918.html

Monday, August 10, 2009
Australian woman denies Madeleine McCann link

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/93296/We-ll-help-you-find-Madeleine/


11th August 2009
By Jerry Lawton

DETECTIVES hunting missing Madeleine McCann are to quiz the skipper and crew of a £6million superyacht.

The move came after its millionaire owner Rhonda Wyllie, 52, and daughter Melissa Karlson, 31, vowed to do all they could to help.


The 105ft yacht was spotted in a Barcelona marina three days after Madeleine disappeared in 2007.


She vanished from a holiday apartment 880 miles away in Portugal days before her fourth birthday.


The vessel – flying an Australian flag – was moored close to where an Aussie “Posh Spice lookalike” approached a Brit stag-night reveller and muttered: “Are you here to deliver my daughter?’’


The boat, called Will Power, was the only vessel unknown to port authorities to enter or leave the marina around the time.


The Wyllie family were hundreds of miles away in playground-of-the-rich Monaco and detectives have ruled them out.


The Will Power was taken to Barcelona by its Brit-based captain and crew.


Detectives working for Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann, both 41, now want to talk to them, with Mrs Wyllie’s permission.


Brother Wayne McGrath said: “My sister is happy to co-operate.’’


One theory is that Madeleine was taken from Portugal to Barcelona by sea.


The yacht’s then skipper, who asked not to be named, said: “The only people on board were myself, my girlfriend, who is blonde and as British as they come, and an American couple who were working as crew.


“But I will do anything I can to help.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/6020791/Australian-millionaire-cannot-help-with-Madeleine-McCann-investigation.html


Australian millionaire 'cannot help with Madeleine McCann investigation
An Australian millionaire socialite and her daughter are unable to provide any ''relevant assistance'' to investigators searching for Madeleine McCann, they have said.

 McCanns to sue over leaflet distributed in their OWN VILLAGE blaming them for Madeleine's disappearance
By Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 5:30 PM on 15th August 2009
Comments (77) Add to My Stories
 Hate campaign: A leaflet blames Madeleine McCann's parents for her disappearance
The parents of Madeleine McCann were last night said to be devastated by a hate campaign suggesting they were responsible for their daughter’s disappearance.

A leaflet entitled ‘Ten reasons to suggest that Madeleine McCann was not abducted’ was distributed to 10,000 residents of the village where they live and the surrounding area.
A source told MailOnline the couple intend to pursue legal action and may even bring in the police.

It was even sent to residents of the street in Rothley, Leicestershire, where Kate and Gerry McCann, both doctors, live with their four-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

The leaflet was not delivered to the McCanns’ home.

The Madeleine Foundation, which distributed the leaflet, was set up by former lawyer Tony Bennett, 60, who has previously tried and failed to bring a private prosecution against the couple for child neglect.

He and his supporters have produced a 64-page anti-McCann book entitled ‘What really happened to Madeleine McCann? Sixty reasons to suggest that she was not abducted’.

Like the leaflet, it is emblazoned with a picture of the missing girl, who was aged three when she disappeared from her parents’ holiday apartment in the Portuguese  resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

The leaflet says her parents’ version of events on the night she disappeared is a ‘sheer impossibility’. It suggests it is more likely that Madeleine died in the apartment and that they covered up her death.
Enlarge    Devastated: Kate and Gerry McCann are aid to be considering legal action over the Madeleine Foundation leaflet campaign
Residents of Rothley last night expressed outrage at the leaflet, an extract of the book, which calls for the case to be reopened.

One resident, Patricia Ball, said: ‘It sent a shiver down my spine. I did not like it at all, it had a nasty feel about it.

‘There is still a candle on the green, so every time you go into the centre of Rothley, you pass the candle and it always reminds you of Madeleine.’
A copy of the original book was sent to the McCanns’ home several months ago, causing them great upset.
A family friend said the couple were were ‘devastated’ by the campaign and may sue for libel.

Their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: ‘We do not wish to dignify the actions of the so-called Madeleine Foundation with any response. We do feel it is important, however, to make the general public aware that the foundation has no connection whatsoever with our family or those helping us find Madeleine or any law enforcement agencies.

‘We strongly believe the actions of this organisation do not have Madeleine’s best interests at heart. If anything, it is hampering our efforts to find Madeleine and achieve justice on her behalf.’

Last year, the McCanns expressed anger at the foundation, which they described as a fee-paying club dedicated to blaming them for Madeleine’s disappearance – members pay £10 to join.

Mr Bennett’s attempt to bring a private prosecution against the couple two years ago was thrown out by Leicester magistrates on the grounds that they had no jurisdiction over the case because she disappeared abroad.

Mr Bennett said at the time: ‘We are a group of people who want to get to the truth of what happened to Madeleine.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206719/McCanns-tormented-leaflet-campaign-blaming-Madeleines-disappearance.html

Maddie villagers get ‘McCanns did it’ letterBy ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: Today
THE parents of Madeleine McCann were angry and upset yesterday after neighbours were sent leaflets claiming they were to blame for her death.
Vile campaigners put copies of the four-page publication though every door in their home village of Rothley, Leics.

Produced by the "Madeleine Foundation", it included "Ten Reasons Why Madeleine McCann was Not Abducted".

Maddie vanished in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007 when three. The leaflet says if she died in the family's holiday flat those who caused or allowed the death "got away with it".

The group, which claims wildly that Kate killed Maddie and Gerry helped hide the body, added "Reasons Why Her Parents Should Be Prosecuted."

The McCanns, both 41, were said to be "totally horrified".

A source close to them said: "This is an evil, despicable act. These people are self-obsessed, self-absorbed individuals."

The group claims on its website it is dedicated to combating child neglect.
 
Its secretary is disgraced solicitor Anthony Bennett whose bid to bring a private prosecution against the McCanns last year was thrown out of court.

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We don't wish to dignify the actions of the so-called Madeleine Foundation in any way."

Foundation chairwoman Debbie Butler denied harassing the McCanns. She said: "We were perfectly within our rights to distribute the leaflets."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2589609/Maddie-villagers-get-McCanns-did-it-letter.html

So why did Madeleine McCann detectives ask so few questions after major breakthrough?
By Tom Worden, Martin Delgado and Andrew Chapman
Last updated at 1:25 AM on 16th August 2009

Private detectives leading the hunt for Madeleine McCann faced questions last night after a Mail on Sunday investigation revealed apparent shortcomings in chasing a ‘strong lead’.

The detectives failed to make even rudimentary inquiries before announcing a ‘significant’ development in the worldwide search for the six-year-old.
At a Press conference in London, lead investigator David Edgar appealed for help in finding a ‘bit of a Victoria Beckham lookalike’ whom a British tourist saw looking agitated outside a dockside restaurant in Barcelona three days after Madeleine disappeared.
Retired Cheshire Detective Inspector Mr Edgar said it was possible that Madeleine had been smuggled into the Spanish port by yacht from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, where she vanished on May 3, 2007.

The agitated woman, thought to be Australian, made a remark to the tourist which suggested she was waiting for the arrival of a child.

Mr Edgar, 52, told the 50 journalists from several countries: ‘It’s a strong lead. Madeleine could have been in Barcelona by this point. The fact the conversation took place near the marina could be significant.’

As a result of his appeal for information and the issuing of an e-fit image of the woman, the search switched to Australia, where a woman in Sydney made a statement to police claiming to know the identity of the mystery female seen in Barcelona, although this apparently came to nothing.


The Mail on Sunday, however, has established that members of Mr Edgar’s team who had visited Barcelona:

Failed to speak to anyone working at the seafood restaurant near where the agitated woman was seen at 2am.
Failed to ask the port authority about movement of boats around the time Madeleine disappeared.
Failed to ask if the mystery woman had been filmed on CCTV.
Knew nothing about the arrival of an Australian luxury yacht just after Madeleine vanished until told by British journalists, who gave them the captain’s mobile phone number.

Failed to interview anyone at a nearby dockside bar where, according to Mr Edgar, the mystery woman was later seen drinking.
Failed to ask British diplomats in Spain for advice before or during the visit.
Also, Spanish police could not confirm that they had been contacted by the British investigators.
Last night Mr Edgar said: ‘We are not above criticism and I take responsibility for any shortcomings. If somebody has not done what they should have done, that’s my job to deal with that.’
 Conversation: The bar belonging to Jose Luiz Lopez where the key conversation between a tourist and an Australian woman allegedly took place
He was hired by Kate and Gerry McCann after Portuguese authorities shelved their investigation last year.
According to the Find Madeleine Fund website, ‘the majority of the fund money has been and continues to be spent on investigative work to help to find Madeleine’.

The McCanns, doctors living in Rothley, Leicestershire, originally hired Barcelona-based detective agency Metodo 3 to look for Madeleine in 2007 as they were convinced that Portuguese police had given up the search.

Metodo 3 reportedly charged £50,000-a-month and its director, Francisco Marco, was criticised after making a series of boasts about his team’s ability to find Madeleine.

In December 2007, he caused a sensation by claiming he knew who had kidnapped her and hoped to have her home by Christmas.

Metodo 3’s six-month contract ran out in January 2008, although it has continued to help with the search.

The Mail on Sunday’s inquiry by a Spanish-speaking reporter in Barcelona last week has exposed worrying gaps in the British detectives’ strategy, including failure to question several people who might have vital information.
 Appeal: Clarence Mitchell, left, and David Edgar with their e-fit of the 'Victoria Beckham lookalike'
Jose Luis Lopez, owner of the El Rey de la Gamba restaurant where the
mystery woman was seen, said: ‘The private detectives did not make any enquiries at my restaurant.

‘I am almost always here when the restaurant is open and my staff would have informed me if anyone had approached them about such an important matter. You are the first person to ask about this Australian woman.’

The manager of the bar next door, Kennedy’s Irish Sailing Club, where the woman was later seen drinking, said: ‘You are the first person to ask about this Australian woman or the Madeleine case. If someone came into the bar asking questions about Madeleine, I would hear about it very quickly.’

Barcelona port director Joan Guitart said: ‘Nobody has been here asking questions about Madeleine or this Australian woman. This is the first I have heard about any possible link to the port. We would be happy to help the investigation in any way possible.’
 Riddle: Was Madeleine taken to Barcelona marina?
A senior port authority worker added: ‘There are several security cameras monitoring the port but we have not been approached about footage from the night in question.

‘The footage is not available, as it was over two years ago that this conversation is said to have taken place. But I would have expected anyone carrying out the investigation to at least have asked about it.’

A source at the British Embassy in Madrid said: ‘The detectives did not inform us or the consulate in Barcelona that they were coming to Spain, nor request any assistance in their investigation.’
Jewellery designer Hannah Tait, 35, from London, who lives on a 34ft yacht yards from El Rey de la Gamba, said: ‘This place is like a small village so news travels very fast.

Nobody has been here asking about Madeleine or the Australian woman.

‘The first I heard was when I read about this on the internet. If someone had been investigating something so important here in the port, I would have heard about it.’

A Barcelona-based private detective with more than 20 years’ experience of missing persons cases said: ‘I cannot understand why the Madeleine detectives would have released this story and e-fit to the public without first making their own investigation in the port.

‘It beggars belief that they did not even speak to the owner of the restaurant or the port authorities.’

 Identified: The Mail on Sunday discovered Rhonda Wyllie's yacht Willpower was in the marina at the vital time in 2007
One of the most significant pieces of information about a possible Barcelona connection to Madeleine’s disappearance was uncovered by British journalists.

Later, The Mail on Sunday gained access to port records for the key dates of May 6 and 7, 2007.

They revealed that nine boats arrived in the marina in the 48-hour period, only one of which was unfamiliar to harbour authorities.

It was the £6million Sunseeker powerboat Willpower, owned by the Australian multi-millionairess Rhonda Wyllie.

When the then captain of the boat was eventually found, he said he had not been approached by any British detectives.
Although he has since been contacted by Mr Edgar’s team, the investigators are in the embarrassing position of having to explain why it was left to reporters to discover the boat’s presence in Barcelona and trace its former captain.

There is no suggestion that Mrs Wyllie, widow of property tycoon Bill Wyllie, is connected in any way with Madeleine’s disappearance.

The Barcelona stage of the inquiry was led by Mr Edgar’s assistant, former Merseyside Detective Sergeant Arthur Cowley, and an interpreter.

Mr Cowley, 57, is sole director of Alpha Investigation Group, based in Flintshire, North Wales.

He declined to discuss the details of his visit to Barcelona.

Asked last night why Mr Cowley and his colleague had not spoken to the port authorities, Mr Edgar said: ‘My instructions were that they couldn’t get through security at the marina at the time. I’ve got to take that at face value. We are a small team. We are dealing with finite resources and will have to manage with that.’

He said Mr Cowley’s company had no connection with the Madeleine investigation. ‘I am employed by the McCann family and I pick my staff,’ he added.
Madeleine was nearly four when she disappeared from a holiday flat while her parents dined with friends in a nearby restaurant.

Last night the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell  said: ‘The private investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance is being conducted entirely professionally and thoroughly under the direction of Dave Edgar.
 In the dark: Jose Luiz Lopez, the bar owner who was not spoken to by private detectives
‘Upon receipt of the new witness information, two members of the investigative team travelled to Barcelona to conduct preliminary inquiries during a brief initial visit.

‘This included identifying the exact marina where the witness had been and all relevant locations within it. At that stage, the precise bar involved had not been identified by the witness. Nevertheless, inquiries were conducted at a number of bars, with staff members being interviewed.
‘However, not all of the bars were open during the investigators’ visit. Because of the transient nature of bar work, it was also found that many of the workers who were spoken to were not present at the marina in May 2007.

'Other relevant personnel in the area were also interviewed, although we will not
discuss the detail of who was spoken to for operational reasons.

‘The information, once gathered, including photographs, was brought back to the UK for witness confirmation. Both British and Portuguese police were kept fully informed of the investigators’ visit to Spain.

‘The news conference was then held for the simple reason that public assistance was needed once the e-fit had been drawn up from the witness account. The public appeal does not preclude further enquiries being conducted in Barcelona as appropriate.’

He declined to say how much the private detectives were being paid, adding: ‘We will not discuss contractual matters concerning the investigation costs nor the investigator remuneration.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206842/Why-did-Madeleine-McCann-detectives-ask-questions.html

UK NEWSTHE MCCANNS' STALKER 



CALLING FOR LEGAL HELP: The McCanns want Butler stopped
Sunday August 16,2009
By James Murray A woman leading a leaflet campaign about Madeleine McCann has left the girl’s parents distraught.


The couple spent yesterday with lawyers and may call in police after Debbie Butler visited the road where they live in Rothley, Leicestershire, to deliver highly inflammatory leaflets to neighbours suggesting that Madeleine was not abducted.

“Angry and upset” Kate and Gerry McCann are consulting their lawyers about how to react to last week’s extraordinary late-night leaflet drop which involved 10 people.

As well as discussing an action for libel, the McCanns want to know if there are grounds to pursue a harassment action and are considering calling in police.

Although single mother-of-two Ms Butler, 45, decided not to post the leaflet through the couple’s letterbox, a copy was sent to Kate’s aunt and uncle, Brian and Janet Kennedy, who live just a mile away in the same village.

A source close to the couple said yesterday: “Kate and Gerry are very upset and angry over these despicable lies. They feel they are being persecuted. This time the group has gone too far.

“They are now considering legal action over the leaflets. It is a clear case of harassment, indirectly if not directly. It must now become a police matter.

“Brian Kennedy thought it was outrageous and immediately contacted Kate. He had lots of calls from confused villagers who had received leaflets, asking what was going on. It caused pain, upset and confusion.”

However, Ms Butler, who admits involvement in the leaflet drop, said last night: “We just want the case reopened. We are not out to persecute the McCanns.

“We haven’t harassed them at all, we have leafleted. We are not harassing the McCanns in any way whatsoever. We are not stalking them. We are getting facts out in the public domain.

   SEARCH UK NEWS for:     

“If anything, we are helping them by putting the facts out there and attempting to get the case back off the shelf. We are assisting the McCanns.”

Ms Butler, of Maidstone, Kent, has a daughter of 23 and an adopted son, aged eight.

She is chairman of the so-called Madeleine Foundation, formed in July last year and works closely with the foundation’s secretary, solicitor Tony Bennett, 61, who lives in Harlow, Essex.

He and the group tried to bring a private prosection against the McCanns for neglect but it was thrown out of court.

In Rothley many of the McCanns’ neighbours said they were disgusted by the insensitive actions of the group.

Sandra Thompson, 51, who lives nearby, said: “It is pretty disgraceful that a group writes that stuff and then sends it to the neighbours of Gerry and Kate.

“It is obviously going to drum up hate for the family and I imagine that they are still going through hell.”

In a statement Kate and Gerry, who are both 41, said: “We feel it is important that the general public are made aware that the Madeleine Foundation has no connection whatsoever with our family or those helping us to find Madeleine, or any law enforcement agencies or child welfare organisations.

“We also strongly believe that the actions of this so-called organisation do not have Madeleine’s best interests at heart.

“If anything, it is hindering all of our efforts to find Madeline and to achieve justice.”

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007, while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Last night their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “Libel lawyers acting for Kate and Gerry are very well aware of the Madeleine Foundation and all its activities and continue to monitor everything they do and say.”

Yesterday copies of the leaflet that had been pinned to trees and notice boards in Rothley had all been torn down.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/120885/The-McCanns-stalker

McCanns drop libel case against Portuguese newspaper
Gerry and Kate McCann have dropped a libel case against the Portuguese newspaper which first linked them to the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine.
 
By Murray Wardrop
Published: 7:00AM BST 20 Aug 2009

 Madeleine McCann Photo: PA
The couple were suing weekly the tabloid Tal & Qual over an article in August 2007 headlined "Police believe the parents killed Maddie".

The front page story caused a sensation around the world, as it was the first suggestion that detectives were treating the McCanns as suspects.

This week the couple, from Rothley, Leics, withdrew their defamation action after being advised that the newspaper had a strong defence under Portuguese law.

It could argue the story was published in good faith because senior police officers did at the time believe the McCanns may have been implicated in the case.

A source close to the couple confirmed that the defamation action against the newspaper and two journalists had been dropped.

The source said the McCanns want to concentrate instead on their £1 million case against Goncalo Amaral, the former head of the Madeleine investigation.

They also suspect Amaral may have been behind the story in Tal & Qual, which has since folded.

The source said: "The libel action against Tal & Qual has been dropped for a number of reasons. Firstly, the newspaper went bust some time ago.

"Secondly Tal & Qual could probably have mounted a defence, as they were reporting what a certain police officer believed at the time.

"Kate and Gerry have been advised it is much better to go for the source of the story.

"When the story first came out it was a huge shock for Kate and Gerry and they did not believe it was true."

The Tal & Qual article was published three months after Madeleine went missing during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, on the Algarve.

It claimed that detectives believed the parents had either caused a fatal accident or had given drugs to their daughter.

Lawyers representing the McCanns filed a writ against the newspaper, its editor Emidio Fernando, and reporter Catarina Vaz Guerreiro.

But two weeks later the couple, both doctors, were sensationally named as "arguidos" or formal suspects in the case.

Deluded chief investigator Goncalo Amaral wrongly believed they had covered up their three-year-old daughter´s death, even though there was no evidence to support his theory.

He was later taken off the case, which was eventually archived and remains unsolved.

In July 2008 the McCanns were cleared of any wrongdoing in a formal report by Portugal´s Attorney General Jose Pinto Monteiro.

They have always believed their daughter was abducted.

Mr Fernando said: "I had total faith in the source and was certain the police were looking at the couple.

"It's not a victory, because I never saw this as a war. I was, as I am today, totally calm about what I wrote."

Gerry and Kate McCann´s spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "This is a matter for Kate and Gerry´s lawyers in consultation with Kate and Gerry, of course."

Amaral, 49, went on to make more than £1 million by writing a book repeating his outlandish claims.

The McCanns are suing him for at least £1 million for defamation and for breaching their human rights.

They have employed one of Portugal´s leading libel lawyers, Isabel Duarte, in a case expected to be heard in Lisbon next summer.

If they win they will use the money to continue the search for Madeleine, who would now be six.

The Find Madeleine Fund, set up to finance the couple's worldwide search for their daughter, is expected to run out of money by the end of the year, it was reported this week.

The McCanns also plan to sue the group behind a leaflet blaming them for Madeleine´s disappearance.

The couple were "deeply upset" by the fliers, produced by a group called the "Madeleine Foundation", which has accused them of neglect.

The leaflets were received by 10,000 people in the McCann's home village of Rothley.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/6057918/McCanns-drop-libel-case-against-Portuguese-newspaper.html

thanks for the info and the articles on Madeleine...

Man questioned over Madeleine McCann lookalike step-daughter
A fire protection officer was questionned over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann after being spotted in a petrol station with his step-daughter, who looks like the missing girl.
 
Published: 10:38AM BST 04 Sep 2009

 Jon Hazelhurst with his daughter Lauren who was called into a police station after she was mistaken for missing girl Madeleine McCann Photo: SWNS
Jon Hazlehurst and eight-year-old Lauren were at home when officers arrived at their doorstep and asked them to go to a police station.

A member of the public had seen the pair at a petrol station the day before and thought blonde Lauren was missing Maddie.

The concerned witness had noted down Mr Hazelhurst's car registration plate and immediately notified police.

Officers then visited the family home and Jon and Lauren were taken to a police station for an identification process.

Mr Hazelhurst, of Kingsbridge, Devon, said he thought it was a ''prank''.

He said: ''I was surprised more than anything. My first thought was that it was someone pulling a prank on me before I realised that they were quite serious.

''I've never been called into a police station as a possible kidnapper. The police were very polite and I understood that they had to follow up the lead, even if it didn't come to anything.

''There's always a chance a tip-off like that might lead them to Madeleine.''

Mr Hazelhurst and Lauren pulled in for petrol on their way back from walking their dog at nearby Slapton beach on Sunday.

The following morning officers knocked on Mr Hazlehurst's door asking him and his step-daughter to come to Kingsbridge police station.

The pair went with the officers but were later released after they were identified and it was proved that she was not Maddie.

Sgt Paul O'Neill, of Kingsbridge Police, said Lauren did bear a resemblance to Madeleine McCann - except for a different eye colour.

He added: ''I thank the lady for bringing it to our attention. She did well to spot the little girl and inform us. Fortunately, the parent was more than willing to help.''

Madeleine McCann disappeared in May 2007 while on holiday with her parents and twin siblings in the Algarve region of Portugal.

She went missing a few days before her fourth birthday and would be six years old now.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/6137830/Man-questioned-over-Madeleine-McCann-lookalike-step-daughter.html
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News News Topics Jaycee Lee DugardMadeleine McCann's parents inspired by Jaycee Lee Dugard case
The parents of Madeleine McCann said today that the reappearance of child kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard 18 years after she disappeared ''only makes us more determined'' to find their daughter.
 
Published: 11:18AM BST 28 Aug 2009

 Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007 Photo: PA
Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted at the age of 11 from her home in California in 1991 but has now been reunited with her mother after walking into a police station with her alleged captor and the two children he fathered by her.

Kate and Gerry McCann said: ''Once again this shows that children can sometimes disappear off the radar only to be found years later alive.

 ''It emphasises that we should never assume that someone is not alive without any evidence to support this. We should never give up

''This case only makes us more determined to find Madeleine. She is out there somewhere and somebody knows where.''

Miss Dugard, now aged 29, was reunited with her mother on Thursday after revealing during an interview with her kidnapper's parole officer that she was the victim of one of California's oldest unsolved crimes. It was her first known appearance in public since her abduction.

She disappeared when a man and a woman pulled her kicking and screaming into a car at a school bus stop just yards from her home in South Lake Tahoe.

Madeleine went missing without trace from a Portuguese hotel on May 3rd 2003. Despite spending millions of pounds in a continuing hunt her parents are no closer to finding out what happened.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/jaycee-lee-dugard/6104182/Madeleine-McCanns-parents-inspired-by-Jaycee-Lee-Dugard-case.html

Madeleine McCann's brother and sister start school  By Rod Chaytor 31/08/2009

 
The twin brother and sister of missing Madeleine McCann will start school this week.

Sean and Amelie, now four, are due to enrol at the primary where their sister should also be a pupil. Madeleine had already been accepted at the school and was meant to start lessons four months after she was taken.

Now two years on, parents Kate and Gerry will take their twins for their first day at Bishop Ellis Roman Catholic Primary in Thurmaston, Leics, on Thursday.

It will be a proud day for the mum and dad, but overshadowed by the tragedy of losing their elder daughter. Sean and Amelie will sit in the classroom where Madeleine would have sat.

The seat she was meant to occupy has symbolically been left empty for her. A candle also still burns in her memory in the entrance hall.

A message on the school's website says: "We are sorry that we are not yet able to welcome Madeleine to our school as we had hoped to.

"Our thoughts and prayers remain very much with the McCanns as we continue to pray with them for Madeleine."

A poster shows a picture of Madeleine as she was aged three, when she disappeared, and an "age-progressed" image of how she would look now.

A family friend said:"Kate and Gerry are excited about the twins starting school.

But it is yet another milestone without their daughter. "It will feel strange the twins going to the school Madeleine never had the chance to start

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/08/31/maddy-siblings-to-start-school-115875-21636874/

Madeleine: New leads in search
UK NEWSMADELEINE: NEW LEADS IN SEARCH 



MISSING: Madeleine has not been seen since May 2007
Sunday September 6,2009
By James Murray PRIVATE detectives looking for Madeleine McCann have returned to Portugal to pursue new leads which could provide a breakthrough in the case,.


Ex-policemen Arthur Cowley and Dave Edgar spent several days speaking to “persons of interest” to the inquiry.

“The investigation has real momentum with definite goals. A vast amount of work has already been done and every new lead is being checked,” a source said.

Meanwhile Kate and Gerry McCann’s twins, Sean and Amelie, have started school near their home in Thurmaston, Leics.

The four-year-olds have been sent to Bishop Ellis RC School – where Madeleine was enrolled before she went missing while on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.

A message on the school’s website says: “We are sorry we are not yet able to welcome Madeleine to our school as we had hoped to.”

http://www.sundayexpress.co.uk/posts/view/125335/Madeleine-New-leads-in-search

Portugal orders sales ban on 'Maddie' book
Wed Sep 9, 12:15 pm ET
LISBON (AFP) – A Portuguese court on Wednesday banned sales of a former police officer's book on the disappearance of girl Madeleine McCann, her parents' lawyer said.

In his book "A Verdade da Mentira" ("The Truth of the Lie") Goncalo Amaral claims that the girl, who went missing from an Algarve holiday flat where her family was staying in 2007, is dead and that her parents hid her body.

The decision by a Lisbon court came after a complaint by Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, their lawyer Isabel Duarte told AFP.

Amaral's book has also been adapted for television.

The former Algarve police chief backed up his claim citing the investigation launched into the parents in September 2007.

Amaral was taken off the case a month later and the McCanns were cleared by a Portuguese court. Portuguese police have since said they are no longer actively investigating.

In Wednesday's ruling the court said the publisher and author must not "quote, comment or analyse ... any part of the book or video that defends the assumption of the death or concealment of (Madeleine's) body."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090909/wl_uk_afp/britainportugalcrimemissingbook

 
Thursday, 10 September 2009

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Madeleine McCann's parents angry at Amaral book
© ITN 2009
The father of Madeleine McCann says it is "unforgivable" that the Portuguese public have been led to believe his daughter is dead.
Gerry McCann was reacting to news of an injunction against the further publication of a book called The Truth of the Lie by Goncalo Amaral, a former policeman who investigated the toddler's disappearance.
In the book, Mr Amaral alleges Madeleine is dead and that her parents Kate and Gerry McCann were involved in her disappearance.
Mr McCann said: "There's a lot of people in Portugal who might have evidence, that believe Madeleine is dead.
"If people believe that they won't search for her and they won't come forward with information. I know for a fact people have been told Madeleine is dead. There is no evidence to support that and that is unforgivable."
Madeleine disappeared from her family's apartment during a holiday to the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007.


http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/article.aspx?cp-documentid=149620979

Judge bans book that claims Madeleine McCann is deadPublished Date: 09 September 2009
A PORTUGUESE judge today banned further sales or publications of a former policeman's book which claimed Madeleine McCann is dead, a spokesman for the missing girl's parents said.
Clarence Mitchell said Kate and Gerry McCann were "absolutely delighted" that a judge at Lisbon's main Civil Court had banned any further publication of The Truth Of The Lie by Goncalo Amaral.

He said the book had hampered the search for missing Madeleine and added to her parents' distress.

Mr Amaral worked on the investigation into three-year-old Madeleine's disappearance from an apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007 during a family holiday.

He was removed from the investigation after criticising British police.
The injunction, granted today after a hearing last week, means he has to ensure that all unsold copies of the book are removed from shops and warehouses across Europe or he faces a 1,000 euro-a-day (£877) fine.

Mr Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry McCann are absolutely delighted that the judge in Portugal has done the right thing by granting this injunction."

He said Mr Amaral's claims that he believed Madeleine was dead were "threatening the search".

Mr Amaral said he did not believe the McCanns' account that Madeleine was taken while they were eating with friends nearby.

Mr Mitchell said the Mr Amaral's claims had "added to their distress".

The injunction bans Mr Amaral from repeating his claims about Madeleine or her parents.

The terms of the injunction also apply to a TV programme about Madeleine's disappearance which Mr Amaral produced several months ago.

The injunction forces copyright for the book and the film to be passed to the McCanns' lawyer.

In a statement, Kate and Gerry McCann said: "We are pleased with the judge's decision today preventing further distribution and sale of Mr Amaral's book and DVD – The Truth Of The Lie.

"Mr Amaral's central thesis has no evidence whatsoever to support it.

"To claim, as he did, that Madeleine is dead, and that we, as her parents, were in some way involved with her disappearance has caused our family incredible distress and it continues to do so.

"Without doubt, Madeleine will have suffered as a result of the negative effect this book and DVD will have had on the search for her.

"Sean and Amelie need protection, too, from such awful claims."

Twins Sean and Amelie, now four, are the couple's younger children who were also in the holiday apartment when Madeleine went missing.

The statement ended by saying: "Hopefully this injunction today will go a long way towards reducing further unnecessary and unjust distress to us all and allow people to concentrate completely on what is important – finding Madeleine."

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Judge-bans-book-that-claims.5633831.jp

UK NEWSMADELEINE SEARCH 'WRECKED OUR LIFE' 



The search has been hindered by some comments in Amaral's book according to Gerry McCann
Sunday September 13,2009
By James Murray THE WIFE of a disgraced Portuguese police chief wrote a “poisonous” letter to Kate McCann in an attempt to defend his handling of the botched Madeleine investigation, the Sunday Express can reveal today.


Sarcastically addressing the heartbroken mother as “Madam Kate”, Sofi a Amaral amazingly sought sympathy from her because of the amount  of time her  husband  had spent away from his family searching for the missing girl.

Goncalo Amaral was head of the regional police at the time Madeleine was snatched from the McCann’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve in May 2007.


He was sacked over his poor handling of the case.Mrs Amaral hit out in response to Kate McCann’s remark that the way her husband had run the inquiry was a “disgrace”.

When Madeleine, aged three, vanished the Amarals were in the process of moving to Portimao, 15 miles from Praia da Luz, and Mrs Amaral wrote: “My husband’s holiday was supposed to start the day after your daughter disappeared. For obvious reasons that did not happen.

“I looked at houses, I made the move and I tried to settle our daughters into new schools – all without any support from my husband, who was looking for your daughter, Madam Kate. In October, on the day of his birthday, Goncalo Amaral was dismissed.

“It was supposed to be a time of the family getting together, but in fact it was even more of a separation. Isn’t that a disgrace?”

The letter goes on: “My husband has always refused to sit comfortably behind his desk from nine to five, which is usual for his rank.

“Instead, he spent the day – and sometimes the night – coordinating on-the-spot searches, surveillance, seizures and other duties.   

“As you must know, my husband’s salary was barely 1.5 times the minimum wage of your country.”

A friend of the McCanns described Mrs Amaral’s letter as “poisonous”.


She added: “It had a very sarcastic tone and implied that Madeleine’s disappearance has wrecked their lives. It showed no sympathy to Kate and Gerry for their loss.

“She had the gall to ask Kate what she had to complain about when the little girl’s disappearance had put intolerable pressure on her and her husband’s lives.”

Amaral and his wife face financial ruin as the McCanns step up their claim for more than £1million damages over claims he made in his book, The Truth of the Lie.

The fortune Amaral amassed from its sales looks likely to be seized and put into the McCanns’ fund that pays private detectives to search for Madeleine.

The McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell explained: “Kate is aware of the letter and its contents. It was complete nonsense.”

Madeleine’s father, heart consultant Gerry McCann, 41, said one of his private investigators believed Amaral’s book had hampered the 28-month hunt.

He added: “If people continue to believe she is dead, they will not come forward with information.”


http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/126965/Madeleine-search-wrecked-our-life-

Edit to move link, per poster request.  MB

 ::MonkeyConfused:: sorry mods...please move link for me...TIA. xx

Done.

 
Sep 13 2009 by Vicky Farncombe, Sunday Mercury

1 2 next
 
THE disgraced cop who led the search for missing Madeleine McCann before pointing the finger at her parents is to be the key speaker at a Midland conference about her disappearance.

Chief Inspector Gonçalo Amaral was booted off the case after blasting the British police’s handling of the inquiry.

But he made a reported £1 million from a book claiming Maddie was dead, and that Kate and Gerry McCann had concealed her body.

Last week a Portuguese judge banned Maddie: The Truth About The Lie from bookshelves because of its unfounded allegations. The fallen cop also faces a lawsuit from the McCanns.

But the Sunday Mercury can reveal that Amaral will not be silenced.

He has agreed to give the keynote speech at a conference organised by the Madeleine McCann Foundation, a group also claiming that the Rothley, Leicestershire girl’s death was covered up.

As many as 150 people are expected to attend the conference in Castle Donington, just 16 miles from Maddy’s home.

Organisers are refusing to divulge the exact whereabouts of the venue until three days before it begins.

Last night they said it was for “confirmed McCann-sceptics who do not believe that Madeleine McCann was abducted”.

Secretary Anthony Bennett said: “We have a venue for the conference, booked and arranged.

“We dare not give out the venue publicly because of threats of disruption we have had from supporters of the McCann family.

“However, I am able to share one piece of news with you.

Gonçalo Amaral, the author of Maddie: A Verdada da Mentira (Maddie: The Truth About The Lie’) has agreed to be the key guest speaker at our conference.”

Amaral, 49, worked on the original investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast of Portugal in May 2007.

He claimed that Gerry and Kate McCann, both 41, covered up their daughter´s death, even though there was no evidence to support his theory.

In July 2008 the McCanns were cleared of any wrongdoing in a formal report by Portugal´s Attorney General Jose Pinto Monteiro. They are suing Amaral for £1 million for defamation, and for breaching their human rights.

They also plan to take action against the Madeleine McCann Foundation for distributing a leaflet blaming them for Maddie’s disappearance.

The sickening leaflets were received by 10,000 people in the McCanns’ home village of Rothley.

A source close to the couple said they were “totally horrified” by the four-page publication. which said that if she died in the family’s holiday flat those “This is an evil, despicable act,” she said. “These people are self-obsessed, self-absorbed individuals.”

McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “We do not wish to dignify the actions of the so-called Madeleine Foundation in any way.”

http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/2009/09/13/disgraced-cop-to-be-key-speaker-at-madeleine-mccann-conference-66331-24672906/2/

Madeleine McCann 'is in a secret lair'

Ulster detective leading the hunt on why he thinks she’s being held captive just like Jaycee Dugard

By Aaron Tinney
Sunday, 13 September 2009

 

Former detective inspector Dave Edgar, hired by the McCann family to lead the investigation into the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

The Ulster detective leading the search for Madeleine McCann today reveals his most chilling theories yet, exclusively to Sunday Life. Hardened ex-RUC cop Dave Edgar told us he is convinced that little Maddie is imprisoned in a hellish lair – just like kidnapped sex slave Jaycee Lee Dugard.


He insisted the “back from the dead” reappearance of Jaycee – and the cases of Austrian cellar girls Elisabeth Fritzl and Natascha Kampusch – confirmed his suspicion.

And despite fresh leads taking his probe to Australia and Barcelona, the east Belfast man insists the golden-haired youngster is being held just 10 miles from where she was snatched in Praia da Luz two years ago.

But he warned that the sprawling wilderness where he believes Maddie is languishing is almost impossible to search completely.

Belfast-born Dave revealed the grim theories when he opened his case files to us.

We spent the day at the Cheshire office he uses to conduct the world’s biggest missing person case.

Sunday Life can now lift the lid on how his Alpha Investigations Group private eye agency really operates and what it is like to search for the world’s most famous missing youngster, who disappeared two years, four months and 10 days ago.

When we visited Dave’s headquarters, US kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard had still not been rescued and the world had long forgotten her name.

But even then Dave said he was convinced Maddie was entombed by an abductor in a cellar or dungeon, like Austrian cellar victims Natascha Kampusch and Elisabeth Fritzl.

“Maddie is most likely being held captive, possibly in an underground cellar, just like Natascha or Elisabeth, and could emerge at any time,” he told us.

Days later, news broke that tormented Jaycee had been freed from the foul compound where she was abused for 18 years by monster Phillip Garrido. Dave simply said: “This just supports my theory that Maddie is alive and imprisoned.”

There was further backing for his theory when American boy Ricky Chekevdia was found hiding with his mother in a tiny “secret room” two years after he was kidnapped while caught in a custody battle.

Former detective inspector Dave, who grew up on Belfast’s Woodstock Road, was drafted in by Kate and Gerry McCann last November after Spanish investigators failed to find new leads.

Renowned for leaving no stone unturned in his UK murder investigations, Dave now spends his days with a four-strong team probing every lead that comes in to his office.

His partner Arthur Cowley has more than 30 years’ policing experience in north-west England – and the pair are backed up by a translator and an ex-police administrator.

They have sifted through thousands of emails, answerphone messages and letters to get that one breakthrough lead.

Last month, the information took Dave’s probe to Australia and Barcelona to track a ‘Victoria Beckham lookalike’ suspect, who spoke with an Australian or New Zealand accent.

She was seen asking two British tourists at a marina in Barcelona if they were there to deliver her “new daughter” – three days after Maddie disappeared.

But he told us he is now back to focusing on his original theory.

He still feels Maddie was snatched by a man spotted by the McCanns’ friend Jane Tanner, one of the so-called ‘Tapas Seven’ who dined with them the night Maddie went missing.

Dave said: “Jane is a very reliable witness and there were other sightings of this man, who Jane saw carrying a little girl in a blanket, in the days leading up to the disappearance.”

He feels this is the lone prowler who has Maddie stashed in a cellar or dungeon in the lawless villages around Praia da Luz.

But Dave warned: “This rural, sprawling terrain makes it extremely difficult to search. You could quite easily keep a child there for years and no-one else would know.

“The person who has Maddie is most likely a paedophile or a person so desperate for a family they were willing to kidnap for it.

“I wouldn’t like to speculate on what is happening to her.”

Dave says the region where he feels Maddie is being held has attracted many strange characters, including convicted sex offenders.

“I don’t want to generalise or make gross exaggerations, but there are people there living on the edges of society,” Dave said.

He added there were as many

as nine child sex attacks in the area round Praia da Luz from 2005 to 2007 and the victims included British kids.

Some happened as close as 20 miles from Praia da Luz, and six of them were on girls between the ages of three and 10.

He is now investigating leads on six child sex offenders, 78 other rapists and sex attackers and 22 vagrants.

In a glimmer of hope, Dave said: “The key thing is no body has been found.

“When paedophiles kill, they often dump the body nearby, and this isn’t the case here.

“Even if Maddie had been dumped in the sea nearby the resort, the ocean often gives up his victims.

“Until I find evidence that she is dead, I will keep going.”

And his plans for the future?

“I don’t know. We could still be sitting here in 10 years.

“If Maddie is being held, she may be being brought up to speak a different language and not even remember her own name or where she was from.

“All we can do is try and keep public awareness high – and try and reach as much of that mountainous region outside the resort as we can.”


http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/maddiersquos-in-a-secret-lair-14489787.html

 Kate McCann returns to Portugal for the first time since being questioned over Madeleine's disappearance
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 5:14 PM on 23rd September 2009
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Kate McCann returned to Portugal today for the first time since being quizzed by police over her daughter Madeleine's disappearance.
Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry went to Lisbon to update their lawyers on the search for their daughter, who was three when she went missing in the resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007.
Enlarge    United front: Kate McCann holds husband Gerry's hand during a news conference in Lisbon today as she returned to Portugal for the first time since being quizzed over the 2007 disappearance of her daughter, Madeleine
Enlarge    Missing: Madeleine McCann

The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'I can confirm that Kate and Gerry McCann have this morning returned to Portugal.
'They will be attending a series of meetings with their lawyers and advisers in Lisbon and they are planning to return to the UK tonight.
'Obviously, this is Kate's first return to Portugal since Madeleine's abduction and whilst this is undoubtedly difficult for her she remains determined to do whatever is necessary to assist in the search for her daughter.'
The couple plan to discuss the recent injunction against further publication of a book by former Portuguese police detective Goncalo Amaral.
Mr Amaral was involved in the initial investigation but was later taken off the case.
In his book The Truth Of The Lie he claims that Madeleine is dead and questions the McCanns' account that she was taken while they were eating with friends nearby.
Earlier this month a Portuguese judge banned further sale or publication of the book.
The injunction meant Amaral had to ensure that all unsold copies of the book were removed from shops and warehouses across Europe.
The injunction also banned him from repeating his claims about Madeleine or her parents.
At one point Portuguese police made Kate and Gerry McCann 'arguidos', or formal suspects, in their  daughter's disappearance.
They were questioned by detectives - but their arguidos status was later lifted.
Mr Mitchell said discussions between the couple, both 41, and from Rothley, Leicestershire, and their lawyers would remain private.
But it is understood that as well as updating lawyers about the search for their daughter, who would now be six, they will be meeting a new PR agency, who they hope can turn public opinion in Portugal in their favour.
Earlier this month, Gerry McCann criticised Mr Amaral for his book, labelling it 'unforgivable'.
Mr McCann said the false allegations had done immense damage to the search for their daughter because Portuguese people would be dissuaded from coming forward with information.
Commenting after the injunction was imposed, he said:  'There's a lot of people in Portugal, who might have evidence, that believe Madeleine is dead.
'If people believe that they won't search for her and they won't come forward with information.
'I know for a fact people have been told Madeleine is dead. There is no evidence to support that and that is unforgivable.'
The decision to impose the injunction came after a year-long campaign by the McCanns' lawyers to prevent the publication of the book and a subsequent DVD.
Another topic of discussion today between the McCanns and their Portuguese team is thought to be a possible compensation claim for damages against Mr Amaral.
The couple said earlier that any money awarded by the courts would be ploughed straight back in to paying for private investigators to investigate their daughter's disappearance.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1215502/Kate-McCann-returns-Portugal-time-questioned-Madeleines-disappearance.html#ixzz0RxC7WiIz

McCanns back in Portugal

Published: Today
KATE McCann faces a traumatic trip back to Portugal today — her first visit since she fled the country nearly two years ago after being made a suspect in her daughter's disappearance.




The 41-year-old mum has never been back to the country after she and husband Gerry left in September 2007 five months after Maddie, then three, went missing from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz.

But this morning she flew out with Gerry for a one-day visit to see lawyers working for the couple in Lisbon. The McCanns also intend to give a press conference to local media in the hope of "reinvigorating" the search for Maddie in Portugal.


Suspects

Yesterday a friend of the couple's said Kate had not wanted to go back to Portugal but "feels she has to".

They added: "It is going to be very traumatic for Kate. She will be in Portugual feeling that Maddie could be out there somewhere.



Missing ... Maddie McCann

"She was dreading the trip but their lawyers wanted her to be there so she's steeled herself to go. But she will not be going anywhere near Praia da Luz. Kate just wouldn't be able to handle going there, the memories are still very raw."

Kate and Gerry flew out from an airport near their home in Rothley, Leicestershire. They were last together in Portugal in September 2007.

They left that month after being made "arguidos" — official suspects — in Maddie's disappearance although they were later cleared of any suspicion.

Their lawyers are working on a case against disgraced former police chief Goncalo Amaral who was sacked from the inquiry after criticising British police, claiming Maddie was dead and that her parents were lying about her being abducted.

He wrote a book about the case called 'The Truth of the Lie' but two weeks ago the McCanns won a High Court case in Lisbon to have the book banned.

They are now looking at suing Amaral for around £1million damages. Any money won would go into the Find Madeleine Fund to continue the search for her.

The couple will also be meeting with representatives from a Portuguese based PR firm who they hope to be working with.

Press in Portugal about the McCanns is still quite negative, much of it fuelled by Amaral's claims, and, according to a friend, the couple are going to use today's visit to try to turn that around.

They said: "Amaral did a lot of harm and the media in Portugal have often repeated his baseless claims.

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"Kate and Gerry feel this is hindering the search for Madeleine and are hoping to get to the media to look at them in a more positive light.'

The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "I can confirm that Kate and Gerry McCann have this morning returned to Portugal.

"They will be attending a series of meetings with their lawyers and advisers in Lisbon and they are planning to return to the UK tonight.

"Obviously, this is Kate's first return to Portugal since Madeleine's abduction and whilst this is undoubtedly difficult for her she remains determined to do whatever is necessary to assist in the search for her daughter."

Recently the McCanns posted a message on the Find Madeleine Website about Amaral calling his claims "soul destroying."

Talking about Amaral's allegations that Maddie was dead and that they were involved they said: "Nothing can be more soul-destroying for a parent than for somebody to 'write off' your missing child (for whatever reason) without any evidence to support such a theory.

"The anguish and torment that we have suffered as a result of Mr Amaral's unfounded claims and actions has been immense, compounding the pain and sadness we feel every day without Madeleine in our lives. Madeleine deserves so much more than treatment like this. She is still missing and we will never give upon her.

"It is important to remember that the good people far outweigh the bad, even though those with cruel intentions can bring you down.

"Every day we still receive a small bundle of supportive letters to our home and kind messages via the website, as well as positive words from passers-by.

"After a 'not so good' day, it is this kindness and solidarity that lifts us up and keeps us going. To those people, we are so grateful and we will never forget the great benefit of simple human kindness. Thank you from all our family."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2651149/McCanns-go-back-to-Portugal.html

Kate: I cry every day for MaddieBy ANTONELLA LAZZERI

Published: Today
KATE McCann revealed how she still cries every day for her missing daughter as she returned to Portugal for the first time since she was made a suspect in Maddie's abduction.
A drained-looking Kate and husband Gerry yesterday met lawyers suing a cop on their behalf over cruel claims he made in a book.
Later an emotional Kate told how Maddie was always in her thoughts.

She said: "Each day we get through, each week that we get through, I'm thinking, how is Madeleine?"

She added: "She's six, but we've just got to keep going, and it has been very harrowing and very draining, and it's been a long time to just keep going.

"But there is no choice, she needs us to find her and bring her home.

"I cry for Madeleine every day."

She took the chance at a press conference in Lisbon to carry on her fight to find Maddie, missing since May 2007.

She said: "It's so vital that we don't give up on her, that we look for her. We're not going to stop."

Holding hands with Gerry, she told how she had gained "fresh hope" from the case of American Jaycee Dugard, found alive after being snatched as a child 18 years ago.

The couple, both 41, are suing former police chief Goncalo Amaral for defamation - and could net £1.2million for their search fund.

Amaral led the bungled investigation into Maddie's disappearance from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. He made Kate and Gerry official suspects but was taken off the case after five months.
 
The McCanns, both doctors from Rothley, Leics, were officially cleared. But Amaral wrote a book called The Truth of the Lie in which he claimed Maddie was dead and her parents had made up the story of her being abducted.

Two weeks ago the McCanns won a Portuguese High Court case to ban the book.

Kate said yesterday: "Our main worry was people believing that Madeleine was dead and then stopping looking for her."

The couple also suspect Amaral fuelled a series of negative stories in the Portuguese press. They are looking at hiring a PR firm to undo the damage and encourage further searches for Madeleine, who would now be six.

The Portuguese police inquiry was officially closed in August 2008 but Gerry confirmed private investigators were still working on the case - going through "hundreds of thousands" of pieces of information.

Gerry has been back to the country twice since Maddie vanished. But a friend said: "Kate was dreading the trip. She would have been feeling Maddie could be out there somewhere. However, their lawyers wanted her to be there so she steeled herself to go."

The couple left their four-year-old twins with relatives for the one-day visit. Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Obviously, this is Kate's first return to Portugal.



Support ... Gerry and Kate McCann hold hands as they speak at Portugal press conference
"While this is undoubtedly difficult for her, she remains determined to do whatever is necessary to assist in the search for her daughter."

But yesterday Kate insisted that she would one day return to Praia da Luz.

Last night it was understood that several thousand copies of Amaral's book have been handed over to the McCanns' legal team.



Book ... Amaral

Recently the couple hit out at his claims with a message on the Find Madeleine website. They said: "Nothing can be more soul-destroying for a parent than for somebody to 'write off' your missing child without any evidence.

"The anguish we have suffered as a result of Mr Amaral's unfounded claims and actions has been immense, compounding the pain and sadness we feel every day without Madeleine in our lives.

"Madeleine deserves so much more than treatment like this. We will never give up on her.

"Every day we still receive a small bundle of supportive letters to our home and kind messages via the website, as well as positive words from passers-by.

"It is this kindness and solidarity that lifts us up and keeps us going."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/2651149/Kate-and-Gerry-McCann-go-back-to-Portugal.html

 
Kate McCann back in Portugal: I cry for my Madeleine every day  By Victoria Ward 24/09/2009

 
 

Kate McCann fought back tears as she returned to Portugal yesterday.

And she told how she will never give up the search for her missing daughter Madeleine.

At an emotional press conference in Lisbon she admitted: “I cry for her every day.”

Kate, 41, was making her first trip back since she and husband Gerry were quizzed as suspects by Portuguese police. And she vowed to return to the Praia da Luz resort where Madeleine vanished on a family holiday in May 2007.

She said: “It’s where I last saw her, where I last held her.

“I never really wanted to leave because I feel a little part of Madeleine is there for us. But I think the circumstances really made it impossible for us to stay.

“I have an urge to go back the whole time. I don’t have any plans of when or what I will do there but yes, I will return at some point to Praia da Luz.”
 
Kate, who has never given up hope of being reunited with her daughter, added: “She’s six now, but we’ve just got to keep going.  It has been very harrowing and draining.

“But there is no choice, she needs us to find her and bring her home.”

Kate and Gerry were making a brief visit to Lisbon, where they had a series of meetings with lawyers. It was Kate’s first time back in the country since their arguido, or suspect, status was lifted.

But Kate admitted that her heart has never really left the Algarve resort.

She fought back tears as she added: “It is hard to describe how painful the past 29 months has been.

“Each day, each week we get through I’m thinking, ‘How’s Madeleine?’”

Kate said she and Gerry gained strength from their four-year-old twins Sean and Amelie. “They ask about Madeleine every day,” she said.

She admitted she was “a little scared” about making the trip to Portugal from her home in Rothley, Leics, but described it as “positive” and an important day for the whole family. She added: “We just want to find Madeleine and I believe this is a good place to be.”

Meanwhile, the McCanns are suing ex-cop Gon-calo Amaral for £1million over book claims that Madeleine is dead. Any cash will go back into the search.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/24/kate-mccann-back-in-portugal-i-cry-for-my-madeleine-every-day-115875-21696126/

UK NEWSWE'LL NEVER STOP LOOKING FOR MADELEINE 



Kate McCann, who has returned to Portugal today for the first time since being quizzed by police
Thursday September 24,2009
By Nick Fagge KATE McCann yesterday said she would return to the resort where her daughter Madeleine vanished.


She was speaking in Portugal during an ­emotional appeal for new information.

It was her first visit to the country since she was questioned over Madeleine’s disappearance more than two years ago.

She said she would do anything to get her daughter back, including returning to the town of Praia da Luz.

Speaking in Lisbon with husband Gerry at her side, Kate said: “This is a very important day for us and for the search for Madeleine.

“I just think that it’s so vital and so fair for Madeleine that we don’t give up on her, that we look for her. We’re not going to stop.”

Asked if she was going back to Praia da Luz, Kate said they would not be going to the Algarve resort on this trip, but added: “We will go back to Praia da Luz some time.

“This could be a crucial point in the search for Madeleine and we will do everything we can to help find our daughter.”

Both Kate and Gerry fought back tears as they spoke of their long battle to keep Madeleine’s disappearance in the public eye.

The couple said that, “God willing”, private detectives working for them would be able to find enough evidence for the Portuguese authorities to re­open the official investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine, who vanished from the family’s holiday apartment on May 3, 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.

The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, flew into Lisbon yesterday morning to update their Portuguese legal team on the investigation and to explore ways of moving the search forward.
   

Gerry has twice returned to Portugal to check on the investigation but it was the first time that Kate had returned to the country.

He said there was no evidence his daughter was dead and that a team of private investigators was working on the case, going through “hundreds of thousands” of pieces of information.

The search for Madeleine was being financed by family, friends and other private donations, he said.

The McCanns were yesterday told they could receive more than £1million compensation from a former ­Portuguese police detective who claimed she was dead. A book by ­Goncalo Amaral, the detective who first worked on the case, was banned earlier this month. The ruling came after the McCanns took legal action to halt its distribution.

Several thousand copies of the book have been handed over to the family’s legal team, it is understood.

The family feared the book would prevent anyone with information coming forward.

Gerry has described claims in the book as “unforgiveable”.

Kate said: “Our main worry, obviously, was people believing that Madeleine was dead.

“Obviously, if people believe that she is not alive then people will stop looking for her.”

Kate had found the prospect of returning to Portugal daunting, the family’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell said, but she was prepared to do anything to find her daughter.

He added: “Obviously this is Kate’s first return to Portugal since Madeleine’s abduction and, whilst this is undoubtedly difficult for her, she remains determined to do whatever is necessary to assist in the search for her daughter.

“They will be attending a series of meetings with their lawyers and advisers in Lisbon and they are planning to return to the UK tonight.”

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/129494/We-ll-never-stop-looking-for-Madeleine


Kate said she and Gerry, both 41, had fresh hope for their daughter following the discovery of Jaycee ­Dugard, who was found in California 18 years after being kidnapped.

Dugard, now 29, was reunited with her family last month after being snatched when she was 11.

Home News Top Stories 
Fury at new Madeleine McCann book ‘slur’  By Victoria Ward 25/09/2009

 
Kate and Gerry McCann were furious yesterday as it emerged the ex cop they are suing for £1.2million over claims that Madeleine is dead has written a SECOND book.

The couple have already taken legal action to ban former Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral’s first book, The Truth of the Lie.
 
In his second book, The English Gag, he suggests there is something significant about a pink blanket which he claims disappeared on the night the three-year-old vanished from the resort of Praia da Luz in 2007.

A source close to the McCanns said: “They just despair. This is the level of distortion and lies they’ve been up against.”

The source refuted any suggestion that a blanket had disappeared. He said: “You could see it on the bed in the first photographs taken of the room. Amaral wasn’t even there.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/25/fury-at-new-madeleine-mccann-book-slur-115875-21698553/

UK NEWSWE FEEL THE MCCANN'S PAIN AS WELL 



GRIEF: Gerry and Kate McCann in Lisbon last week where they met with lawyers
Sunday September 27,2009
By James Murray THE wife of Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral has denied they are locked in a personal battle with Kate and Gerry McCann and has spoken of their pity for the distraught couple.


“Everyone thinks we are fighting the McCanns but this is not true,” said 38-year-old Sofia Leal in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express.

“I tell people all the time that they are having to endure the hardest pain in the world, which is losing a child.

“As a mother I cannot imagine what kind of pain that is. It is so hard.

“Like Kate McCann, I am a ­Catholic. The image of pain in the Catholic church is not Christ on the Cross but Mary holding her child in her arms. It is the pain of the loss of a child and there is no worse pain in the world. We are sorry for that.”

That pain was etched on the face of Kate McCann when she made a fleeting visit to Lisbon last week to meet her lawyers and to appeal for help in finding her daughter, snatched in May 2007 from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve.


 ‘Goncalo lived for his detective job’ 

 

Close to tears, Kate said: ‘‘She’s six now but we’ve just got to keep going. It has been very harrowing and draining. But there is no choice, she needs us to find her and bring her home.”

I n Portimao, 20 miles up the coast from Praia da Luz, Sofia spoke of the anguish suffered by her husband, who coordinated the McCann investigation. The McCanns are suing him for £1million they believe he has made with his book about the case, The Truth Of The Lie, and a documentary.

They are particularly angered over his claims that Madeleine is not alive. Civil servant Sofia says her 49-year-old husband suffered post traumatic stress after he was removed as head of the Madeleine investigation in September 2007. He took early retirement the following month, even though he lost two-thirds of his pension.
     

“It was a bad time for Goncalo,” said Sofia. Even in his sleep he was going over in his mind what had happened to him and how his career was brought to a premature end.

“I heard him talking in the night ­because of nightmares. Everything he did, every action he took was going through his head.

“I was worried ­because he is such a calm, tender man but luckily over the past few months the nightmares have stopped.” Sofia, who works in the Portimao mayor’s office and is responsible for three major projects, including a new Algarve airport, speaks English fluently and is both amused and angered by comments aimed at her husband from some people in Britain. “We know how Goncalo is portrayed in Britain, the caricature of a foreign detective missing the clues, but the reality is that you will not find a better detective in Portugal.

“There were many times in the investigation when his bosses said, ‘You have done enough’ but he kept working and working, chasing all the leads.

“There are satellites which probably have close-up pictures of what was happening on the ground that day. He tried to get the images but he couldn’t. The US said the satellites were trained on Morocco at the time and that was it. That is what annoys him because he says the inquiry was not completed to his satisfaction.

“Goncalo loves me and our three girls very much but he lives for his job. For him an investigation is like a mathematical equation.

“One and one has to make two. Until the answer is found he will not give up.” From the proceeds of the book her husband has bought a Jaguar car but she insists he has not made a lot of money and that he will defend the legal action.

“We are now living on one-third of our budget for the month but that is OK for us because he made the right decision,” she said.

“If he was financially motivated, he would have stayed in his job for the full pension but that is not his way.”

His 25-year-old daughter from his first marriage, also called Sofia, has just passed a law degree. His wife has a daughter Rita, 11, from her first ­marriage and she has a daughter, Agnes, with Goncalo who will soon be six.

This week there is a double birthday celebration, Sofia’s today and her ­husband’s 50th on Friday.

“We will see all our family and friends and enjoy ourselves,” she said. “We are so lucky to have three beautiful girls in the family.

“Goncalo is very proud of them all. He is very good with them at home but my only complaint is that he is not strict enough with them. He lets them do what they want where I have to be a little stricter.

“He never yells at them but he can also be a little overprotective. He is always worrying about them having accidents in the playground or ­wherever. I could not wish for a better father.”

The couple met 10 years ago through a friend and married in June 2000. They spent their honeymoon in the Azores, where her husband dreams of ­spending his retirement.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/130241/We-feel-the-McCann-s-pain-as-well

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1216547/Kate-McCann-mother-wholl-search-missing-daughter-Madeleine.html

Kate Mccann,the mother who'll never give up the search for her missing daughter Madeleine
By Chris Brooke
Last updated at 11:30 PM on 27th September 2009   Never giving up: Kate McCann takes part in the Great Kibworth Run in Leicestershire to raise awareness for her missing daughter Madeleine
It has been a long hard road for Kate McCann over the last two years.

But the 41-year-old mother of three showed a different kind of endurance yesterday to complete a two-mile fun run.
Last week she returned to Portugal for the first time since her daughter Madeleine's disappearance in 2007.
After a visit in which she and husband Gerry met with lawyers and the local media, she was back in Leicestershire to join 800 competitors for the Great Kibworth charity run.
She ran in a vest emblazoned with a picture of Madeleine, who would now be six.
During her Portugal visit Mrs McCann told reporters she cried every day for her daughter and remains determined to 'find her and bring her home'.
Later, speaking about the visit, she said: 'I think it was a positive move and it actually felt good to be there.
'I actually felt there was a bit of support for us there now so that helps. Fingers crossed this is the turning point.
'We’ve had a lot of information come in even this far down the line, there are various reasons why they don’t come forward in the early days.

'We just need to keep going, just need to get more information and hope we get the bit we need really.'
Mrs McCann has continued her passion for jogging despite the strain of coping with the Madeleine investigation and she was one of around 800 competitors in the Great Kibworth run.

 More...'Every day I cry for Maddy': Kate McCann returns to Portugal for first time since being quizzed over daughter's disappearance



 Welcome back: Gerry McCann welcomes his wife Kate McCann at the finish line

Mr McCann, who is also a keen runner, was on hand to support his wife who chose the shorter distance rather than compete in the half marathon event.

A team of private investigators, funded by friends, family and donations, is continuing to hunt for Madeleine and is going through 'hundreds of thousands' of pieces of information.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1216547/Kate-McCann-mother-wholl-search-missing-daughter-Madeleine.html#ixzz0SMGuf0OO

The possibilities of what happened to her is right now fairly limitless, so why should anyone consider her deceased unless they killed her themselves. I know what it's like to be targeted by psychos, seeking justice after a huge crime was commited, and was given some inside information on their process.

So I believe Maddy was targeted when she had her passport pic taken, or some similar id situation before their trip. A high level pollitically connected pedo ring, always on the troll, works with corrupt elements in Euro (not limited to UK, Portugal) LE (yeah, they do exist, what a shock)  worked their process to get her. The cop who wrote the book is involved, and was used and himself has something to fear (e.g. his background).

The way it works in the US is this: a high profile crime is committed, and if it involves kids, "they" roust up some ex criminal or psycho, clean him up, give him a few books to his name, a Law Enforcement nexus presence, usually investigative journalist, whatever, and suddenly, he is the only one to talk to the key people involved with the crime. This Portuguese cop has all that written all over him.

I think he should be arrested by a UK authority, transferred to Gitmo, and beat the crap out of him. In his case, that approach would work before they had to strike one blow .pedophiles are cowards and yes, this cop is likely a pedophile too ...

...and while we at it,  just as in the Jaycee Lee Dugard case, that Jim and Chevy Molino should have their house and yard torn up, searched, DNA's to the hilt, and every single txn at that wrecking yard of theirs searched for the DNA of (1) missing prostitutes who may have been murdered at their "sex parties" (2) ALL missing kids in the West abducted in the last 18 years.

Unfortunately in that case, I believe the mob is also involved: wrecking yards dispose of all sorts of evidence. 

Toler-Thank you for all for continuing to post articles about Madeleine!  Hopefully she will be found soon!

Sweetie_Pie-I am sorry you have had to experience this first hand. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/F-pRnbtkCDE&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1

Prayers for Madeleine and her family. 

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=madel

http://www.clickliverpool.com/news/national-news/126488-madeleine-mccann-detectives-hunt-girl-in-sweden.html


Madeleine McCann detectives hunt girl in Sweden
by Julian Hamilton. Published Sat 10 Oct 2009 19:46, Last updated: 2009-10-10


Detectives investigating Madeleine McCann are trying to trace a girl who was photographed in Sweden, after computer-matching showed she could be the missing youngster.

The blonde girl was pictured at a car show in Stockhom and bears a strong resemblance to Maddie.

Swedish police have been inundated with calls from the public, after the snap appeared on a website.

They also received a spate of calls from visitors who believed they had seen Maddie, who would now be six years old, at the car show in August 2009.

The girl was with a Swedish man and a woman and spoke perfect English.

Madeleine's parents, Dr Gerry McCann, 40, and his Liverpool-born wife Kate, have now asked for an urgent investigation after face-mapping technology used by British police identified the girl as a possible match.

Investigators studying the internet photo claim her jawline is identical and her eyes are the same colour as Maddie's.

But the snap is not clear enough to show Madeleine's distinctive characteristic mark in her right eye.

The McCann's official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry and their investigators are aware of the picture and are liaising with the relevant authorities.

"The investigation team are looking into it."

Maddie disappeared from the family's holiday villa in Praia da Luz on Portugal's Algarve coast in May 2007, at the age of three.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2676742/McCanns-Find-girl-in-Swedish-photo-she-could-be-our-missing-Madeleine.html

By ANTONELLLA LAZZERI

Published: 10 Oct 2009
DETECTIVES were last night desperately hunting a girl who was photographed in Sweden - after computer-matching showed she could be missing Madeleine McCann.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2676742/McCanns-Find-girl-in-Swedish-photo-she-could-be-our-missing-Madeleine.html#ixzz0TeEjx85s

(article continues with a photo of the girl)

UK NEWSMADELEINE EXCLUSIVE: ALL THREE CHILDREN DRUGGED 



MISSING: Madeleine McCann
Sunday October 11,2009
By James Murray The kidnapper of Madeleine McCann drugged her and her twin brother and sister so they would all be quiet while she was snatched.

A duplicate key may also have been used to gain entrance to the holiday apartment where the children were sleeping, say investigators.

It means the monster is still a threat to children living or holidaying on Portugal’s Algarve and must be caught urgently as he is highly likely to reoffend.

Former police detectives David Edgar and Arthur Cowley have spent months re-analysing every shred of evidence.

They are convinced the ­abductor went to the family’s apartment on May 3 2007 fully prepared with sufficient drugs, probably ­chloroform, to knock out all three children.

The fact that Sean and Amelie, then just 18 months old, failed to wake when the alarm was raised, nor even as they were taken to another apartment in the cold night air, has persuaded the detectives that they, too, must have been drugged.

Had the twins been tested for drugs immediately, any ­medication used could have been established, making it easier to identify the kidnapper, but vital time was lost.

Chloroform can be made ­easily and other sedatives, such as the horse tranquilliser ketamine, are commonly in circulation in the criminal underworld.

Even now, however, experts say there may be forensic clues on clothing or bedding which could yield a breakthrough.

The Sunday Express can further reveal that the McCanns’ private detectives are working on a solid theory about exactly how Madeleine was abducted.

 

  SEARCH UK NEWS for:     

Just as television investigator Donal MacIntyre suggested in this paper three weeks ago, they believe there was a dry run prior to the kidnap that fateful night at apartment 5a of the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz.

While checking the layout of the apartment the night before, the kidnapper probably woke Sean, who in turn woke Madeleine. In the morning she had told Kate and Gerry she was frightened.

The fact that the children woke up is thought to have persuaded the kidnapper to use knock-out drugs when he returned the next night to take Madeleine, three.

On the question of the duplicate key, holidaymakers often left front door keys under the doormats during the day.
A theory emerging is that the kidnapper had a duplicate key to apartment 5a, which could have been used on the night to enter by the front door.

Mr Edgar and Mr Cowley do not believe Madeleine was taken through an open window as it would have been awkward, time consuming and there were no forensic clues left behind.

It is far more likely, they say, that he simply walked out of the front door with her in his arms. It had been thought that the front door was double locked, making it impossible to open from the inside, but this doubt falls away if there was a duplicate key.

The theory suggests the ­kidnapper had been targeting the apartment for a long time and had a detailed knowledge of the lock system.

With the front door unlocked, it is easy to simply pull a latch across to open it from the inside.

Another possibility is that the front door was not double-locked when Kate and Gerry left through the unlocked patio doors to join their seven friends at the resort’s tapas bar some 30 metres from their apartment.

Meanwhile it emerged yesterday that the parents of a two-year-old girl who has gone missing in New Zealand are being ­supported by the ­McCanns.

Aisling Symes vanished from a relative’s house in an Auckland suburb on Monday.

Her mother Angela had been close by, standing beside a washing machine.

There have been reports that the girl was later seen with a woman of Asian appearance.

Detectives believe she was ­abducted. Despite repeated ­appeals for help their searches have so far drawn a blank.
Kate and Gerry McCann said their “thoughts and prayers” were with the family.

The little girl’s father, Allan Symes, who is originally from County Waterford in Ireland, made an emotional plea for her return, saying: “These recent days have proven to be the most harrowing of our lives; no sleep and we feel like we’re barely ­existing, just surviving every ­moment, not knowing where ­Aisling is.”

It has also emerged that police in Sweden are trying to find a girl said to bear a resemblance to Madeleine after a photograph was posted on a website.

However, she does not appear to have the distinctive mark Madeleine has in her right eye.

http://dailynewspaper.co.uk/

is it really Madeleine???

http://www.youtube.com/v/x5ExMULAlS4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1


Today this picture was released. It closely resembles Madeleine McCann, now 6. The picture was taken at a car show in Sweden and resembles Missing Madeleine. Kate and Gerry McCann believe it should be investigated leading to a hunt for this little girl.

Thank you for the update, Toler.   ::MonkeyAngel::

PORTUGUESE Judge Banned book that claims Madeleine McCann is dead

Clarence Mitchell said Kate and Gerry McCann were "absolutely delighted" that a judge at Lisbon's main Civil Court had banned any further publication of The Truth Of The Lie by Goncalo Amaral

http://www.barcelonareporter.com/index.php?/news/comments/portuguese_judge_banned_book_that_claims_madeleine_mccann_is_dead/

http://www.the-news.net/cgi-bin/google.pl?id=1031-3

Kate and Gerry set for Luz return
10/10/2009

Ending weeks of speculation, Gerry McCann has revealed this week in Spain that he plans to return to Praia da Luz in the company of his wife Kate before the end of the year.

While the father of missing toddler Madeleine McCann has returned to the site of his daughter’s disappearance, her mother has yet to set foot in the Algarve since leaving Portugal more than two years ago.

Speaking at the International Bar Association’s conference in Madrid on Tuesday evening, Gerry McCann was quoted by reporters as saying about his wife’s return to Praia da Luz that “it was the last place she saw Madeleine and there is an emotional bond”.

Mr McCann explained the family had gained renewed hope of finding their daughter alive, who would be six now, following the reappearance of Jaycee Lee Duggard in the United States after 18 years in captivity.

A fortnight ago, Kate and Gerry McCann met with their prominent Portuguese lawyers Rogério Alves and Isabel Duarte in Lisbon before returning to Britain the same day.

“That was Kate’s first visit to Portugal (since Madeleine disappeared) and she is very keen to go back again”, said Gerry McCann, adding: “We felt the visit was very positive because it made people realise the search is still going on.

“She would very much like to go back to Praia da Luz now that things are less intense. She would like that to be private as it’s going to be a very emotional experience.

“It was the last place she saw Madeleine and there is an emotional bond. We are looking at potential dates although no date has been set yet.

“We have very good friends there, and there are lots of people we want to see.”

During their visit to the Portuguese capital last month, Kate and Gerry McCann met with their lawyers in a whirlwind visit.

The visit also marked the first occasion Mrs McCann had been in Portugal in over two years.

The visit centred around legal proceedings brought against a former lead detective in the case.

A Lisbon court ruled at the beginning of September that ex-detetcive Gonçalo Amaral could no longer publicise nor discuss the contents of his book in which he points the finger of suspicion at Mr and Mrs McCann, suggesting that Madeleine is dead and that her parents were involved in concealing her body.

‘The Truth of the Lie’ was on the verge of being published in English, explained António Cabrita, lawyer for the former detective, who said he believed the ruling coincided with this very fact.

Kate and Gerry McCann have also been reported to be in the final stages of mounting a million pound civil claim against Gonçalo Amaral.

“We are currently demanding €1.2 million in damages, but we are reserving the right to increase this value as soon as we can ascertain what profits have been generated from the sale of this book”, Ed Smethurst, a lawyer for the McCanns was reported as telling the Lusa News Agency when confirmation of the injunction emerged.

Meanwhile, the couple’s return to Praia da Luz is set to open up some old wounds, though they will also be met by numerous friends they made during their four-month stay in the Algarve.

In an exclusive interview awarded to The Portugal News earlier this year, he said of Praia da Luz: “I can totally understand that people want to move on”.

“They don’t want the media intrusion and the negative association with Madeleine’s abduction. For me, and this is going right back to 2007 – I didn’t feel any evil around Praia da Luz or anywhere else in Portugal. What happened here could have happened anywhere in the world”, argued a composed and soft-spoken Mr McCann.

“Actually, the amazing response we had from the community was incredibly important to us”, he said.

He repeatedly expressed regret at the negative impact his daughter’s disappearance has had on the region.

“I am sorry for any harm caused to Praia da Luz”, he said, before repeating an earlier request: “I specifically want to thank the local population for all their support and tolerance.”

On his return to Praia da Luz and the possibility of his wife Kate returning, Mr McCann told The Portugal News back in April: “Kate and I have been desperate to come back to Praia da Luz, but we haven’t done so due to the media exposure and the controversy such a visit would pose. We want to come back and meet the people, without it being highlighted. There is nothing bad about this resort, it is beautiful. In these difficult economic times we don’t want to worsen things. But I do hope people understand why we are doing what we’ve done. This is a key factor in an investigation strategy. Madeleine is still missing. We need to do everything reasonable to get any information. The best thing for everyone is that she is found and that whoever took her is caught”.

About Kate McCann returning to Praia da Luz, Mr McCann said: “She’d love to come back. We want to come here and do this as quietly as possible and not to cause disruption.

“We want to get to the stage where Kate and I coming to Portugal is not a news story”, he said.

Madeleine McCann: Memories


http://www.youtube.com/v/mOFDM7v0kDk&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1

 ::MonkeyNoNo:: not even close....IMO

The girl in the photo is obviously older than 6.

SATELLITE CLUE TO MADDIE KIDNAP 



MISSING: Madeleine McCann
Sunday October 18,2009
By James Murray HOME Secretary Alan Johnson is prepared to ask US spy chiefs for satellite images which may show the face of Madeleine McCann’s kidnapper, following intervention by the Sunday Express.

Hope of new progress came after it emerged Leicestershire Police never made a formal request to the Home Office for views of Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve at the time the little girl vanished in May 2007.

The quality of pictures taken by satellites in space is now so good they can reputedly identify the colour of someone’s eyes.

Last night a senior source with the Portuguese police said: “We know US spy satellites regularly sweep over Portugal looking at military installations and government facilities.

“So we thought they might actually have images of Praia da Luz on the day of the kidnapping and the preceding days.

“We hoped spy images may have captured the kidnapper watching the apartment prior to the event or even on the day itself. Obviously, having a picture would have speeded up the apprehension of the offender.”


 
Google Earth view from where Madeleine was snatched 


Yet more than two years after Madeleine was snatched no help has been forthcoming, despite early requests from senior Portuguese detectives.

The Portuguese source explained: “This was fully discussed with Leicestershire Police and officials with the British Government.

“We were confident of getting progress because of Gordon Brown’s interest in the case and this apparent special relationship between Britain and the United States.

“Your ambassador to Portugal even visited our officers soon after the kidnap.

“The bad news for us is that we got nowhere with this avenue of inquiry, which was both frustrating and infuriating.”

For, despite all the talk, nothing appears to have been done officially with the British government and the formal requests were never made.

Last night a spokesman for Mr Johnson said extensive checks within the security intelligence community had failed to discover any formal request ever having come to them through Leicestershire Police from Portugal.

However, he said that if a request were now made Mr Johnson would see whether he could offer any assistance in trying to persuade the Americans to become co-operative.
     

The issue appears so sensitive that Prime Minister Mr Brown may have to speak directly to US President Barack Obama in order to achieve co-operation.

The Sunday Express sought explanations for the extraordinary situation from the US government’s ultra- secretive National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

The agency’s lawyers are now considering a Freedom of Information request from the Sunday Express.

A spokesman for the agency said: “NGA does not provide imagery to private citizens or private companies. For reasons of national security we do not discuss specifics about what images we have or our capabilities.”

Private investigators working for parents Kate and Gerry McCann, who live in Rothley, Leicestershire, have also tried to access US satellite images, but with no success.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/134657/SATELLITE-CLUE-TO-MADDIE-KIDNAP

that is what I thought too...this girl is around 9 or 10 I think
My own grand daughter is 2 months older than Madeleine....so I am going by what gd and her 6 yr old friends looks like in relation to this girl...

EVERTON'S Europa League match at Benfica kicked off today with fans of both teams wearing T-shirts to raise awareness about missing British girl Madeleine McCann.

Madeleine was three years old when she went missing while on holiday with her family in Portugal in May 2007.

Her parents launched a high-profile campaign to keep her image in the public eye and fans attending today's match at the city's famous Estadio da Luz were given T-shirts featuring her face and the words, 'We're Still Looking For You'.

Madeleine is pictured wearing Everton's blue home jersey in one of the most widely circulated photographs of her.

"I will never, ever forget that image of a beautiful, smiling child in an Everton shirt," said Everton chairman Bill Kenwright. "I believe that I was one of the first people outside the family to see it and it moved me greatly.

"In truth, like everyone else, I have felt nothing but deep sadness and mounting frustration as the search for Maddie has continued.

"However, I continue to be inspired by the dignity and the faith which (her parents) Kate and Gerry have displayed throughout their dreadful ordeal.

"This is just our way of reminding people - not just in the UK and Portugal but across the globe - that this child is still out there somewhere."

The Merseyside club have produced 6000 T-shirts for their match against Benfica - 3000 in English and 3000 in Portuguese.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/soccer-fans-wear-madeleine-mccann-shirts/story-e6frf7k6-1225790252706?from=public_rss

UK NEWSMCCANNS LAUNCH TV BLITZ TO FIND MADELEINE 



MISSING: Madeleine McCann
Sunday November 1,2009
By Tracey Kandohla and James Murray KATE McCANN will take part in a round of heart-rending TV interviews this week appealing for anyone who has knowledge of her daughter Madeleine’s kidnapping to come forward.


The 41-year-old mother has been keeping a low profile for months but has now decided that she wants to take a more active part in the effort to find her daughter, who would now be six.


Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve on May 3, 2007.

Kate will join her husband Gerry for a series of face-to-face interviews with the BBC and ITV.


And in a new move they will also speak to several Portuguese TV journalists who are flying to London later this week to interview the couple.

Kate and Gerry, of the village of Rothley in Leicestershire, hope that emotional appeals broadcast in Portugal could persuade someone to come forward with vital information and have employed a Portuguese press officer to help them get their message over.

The woman press officer is also helping the couple deal with the Portuguese press over their long-running legal battle with former local police chief Goncalo Amaral, who is being pursued for £1million damages over a book he wrote about the case, which has been banned.

Last month Kate travelled to Lisbon to meet her Portuguese lawyers and also gave a brief interview to Portuguese TV, saying she cried every day for Madeleine. It was her first trip back to Portugal in two years.

Both she and Gerry intend to make a ­private visit to Praia da Luz in the coming months.

Now that the McCanns’ twins, Sean and Amelie, are at school, Kate is finding she has more time to spend on the hunt for Madeleine.     

She works closely with their private investigators David Edgar and Arthur Cowley, who believe the answer to the riddle lies within a 10-mile radius of Praia da Luz.

“Kate has renewed vigour to get involved,” said a source. “She realises emotional appeals from her have a powerful effect and could provide the breakthrough in the case.

“There is a greater awareness now on getting the Portuguese media involved in all the initiatives they do.”

The findmadeleine.com website has been changed to carry a poignant internet appeal which says: “Imagine if she was your child, imagine the pain and grief, imagine if someone like you never came forward.

“If you stay quiet you are as guilty as those who took her.”


http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/137379/McCanns-open-hearts-to-TV-in-search-for-Maddie

Please watch this and pass it on -

A Minute For Madeleine

http://ceop.police.uk/madeleine/madeleine.asp

http://www.youtube.com/v/979u-xbPHrQ&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1

New Madeleine McCann video released
A new video featuring fresh images of how Madeleine McCann might look now has been released aimed at pricking the conscience of anbody who may know what happened.
 
Published: 12:00AM GMT 03 Nov 2009


The one-minute film features images of what Madeleine might look like if she had been living in north Africa, with dark brown hair and tanned skin.

The appeal, launched by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre, is targeted at a friend or relative of the person responsible for the little girl's disappearance.
Madeleine McCann: New images released in Christmas appeal by parents Kate and Gerry
Ceop head Jim Gamble said the clip's message, which has been translated into six other languages, had been crafted with the help of psychologists to persuade the witness to ''do the right thing''.

''The person we are looking to reach is likely to be a partner, family member, friend or colleague of the person or people who were involved in Madeleine's disappearance," he said.

''It is also highly probable that they, or someone close to them, is using the internet to search for any updates that may suggest the police are getting closer to discovering the truth.''

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

Ceop hopes people will spread the new film - the first appeal of its kind - across the globe using blogs, email and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

It features a number of well-known photographs and video clips of Madeleine, as well as three pictures of how she could look now, aged six, if she is still alive.

The US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which developed the age-progression images, released one in May to coincide with the second anniversary of her disappearance.

But following concerns that it looked ''too American'', two fresh pictures have been created.

In one her blonde hair and pale skin are unchanged, but in the second she has dark hair and skin to show how she might appear if she has spent time in the sunnier climate of southern Europe or north Africa.

The video has a voice-over in which Mr Gamble appeals directly to anyone with information about what happened to the child.

He says: ''We know that there is someone out there who knows who is involved in her disappearance. They may be keeping this secret out of fear, misplaced loyalty or even love.

''Keeping this information secret only increases the anguish of Madeleine's family and friends and increases the risk to other children.

''If you know who is involved and are keeping this secret, remember that it is never too late to do the right thing.''

The message is available in English, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

It is being supported by police agencies around the world, including Interpol, Europol and forces in Australia, the US, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

Ceop did not work directly with the Portuguese police, who led the investigation into the little girl's disappearance before shelving the case in July last year.

But any relevant information received will be passed on to Leicestershire Police, who will share it with detectives in Portugal.

Mr Gamble said the appeal came about after Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, wrote to him expressing frustration that lines of inquiry were drying up.

He added: ''We talked to psychologists about guilt, about how we can open the opportunity for an individual or remind them that they can redeem themselves, they can do the right thing.''

''It's about considering how normal people deal with keeping a secret and how they can be prompted to come forward.''

Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, welcomed the initiative.

They said in a statement: ''We are extremely grateful to Ceop for launching this new message around the world in such an effective way. It is vital that it is seen and heard as widely as possible.

''If you know what has happened to Madeleine, it is still not too late to do the right thing and come forward to your local police with that information.

''We love Madeleine. Please help us bring her home.''

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/6489732/New-Madeleine-McCann-video-released.html

UK NEWSMCCANNS LAUNCH TV BLITZ TO FIND MADELEINE 



MISSING: Madeleine McCann
Sunday November 1,2009
By Tracey Kandohla and James Murray KATE McCANN will take part in a round of heart-rending TV interviews this week appealing for anyone who has knowledge of her daughter Madeleine’s kidnapping to come forward.


The 41-year-old mother has been keeping a low profile for months but has now decided that she wants to take a more active part in the effort to find her daughter, who would now be six.


Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve on May 3, 2007.

Kate will join her husband Gerry for a series of face-to-face interviews with the BBC and ITV.


And in a new move they will also speak to several Portuguese TV journalists who are flying to London later this week to interview the couple.

Kate and Gerry, of the village of Rothley in Leicestershire, hope that emotional appeals broadcast in Portugal could persuade someone to come forward with vital information and have employed a Portuguese press officer to help them get their message over.

The woman press officer is also helping the couple deal with the Portuguese press over their long-running legal battle with former local police chief Goncalo Amaral, who is being pursued for £1million damages over a book he wrote about the case, which has been banned.

Last month Kate travelled to Lisbon to meet her Portuguese lawyers and also gave a brief interview to Portuguese TV, saying she cried every day for Madeleine. It was her first trip back to Portugal in two years.

Both she and Gerry intend to make a ­private visit to Praia da Luz in the coming months.

Now that the McCanns’ twins, Sean and Amelie, are at school, Kate is finding she has more time to spend on the hunt for Madeleine.
     

She works closely with their private investigators David Edgar and Arthur Cowley, who believe the answer to the riddle lies within a 10-mile radius of Praia da Luz.

“Kate has renewed vigour to get involved,” said a source. “She realises emotional appeals from her have a powerful effect and could provide the breakthrough in the case.

“There is a greater awareness now on getting the Portuguese media involved in all the initiatives they do.”

The findmadeleine.com website has been changed to carry a poignant internet appeal which says: “Imagine if she was your child, imagine the pain and grief, imagine if someone like you never came forward.

“If you stay quiet you are as guilty as those who

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/137379/McCanns-open-hearts-to-TV-in-search-for-Maddie

Toler...thanks for the updates on Madeleine...I hope that she is returned to her parents...

Thanks,Toler. 

News Topics Madeleine McCannMadeleine McCann's siblings 'want to fight' person who took her, parents say
Kate and Gerry McCann's four-year-old twins have started saying they want to find the person who took their missing sister Madeleine and fight them, the couple have said.
 
Published: 7:00AM GMT 04 Nov 2009

 The video features fresh images of how Madeleine McCann might look now
Sean and Amelie were just two when Madeleine vanished on a family holiday to Portugal in 2007.

But their parents have discussed the fact that their big sister is missing with them and they are now fiercely protective of her.
''They talk about her more than Kate and I talk about her, it's incredible," Mr McCann said.

''Now they are saying, 'She's been taken, when we find who took her, we'll fight them'. That doesn't come directly from us saying that.

''Amelie this week in particular was saying, 'When I find that man I'm going to do this and that'.

''I said, 'No, what we will do is we will give them to the police and then we'll put them in jail'.''

Mrs McCann, who has not returned to her post as a GP since Madeleine disappeared, said looking for her daughter had become a full-time job.

"I'm probably busier than I've ever been," she said, adding: "For me there can't be any more important job than trying to find Madeleine - combined, obviously, with looking after Sean and Amelie.

''That's how my days are split really. It's my job.''

It is exactly two-and-a-half years since Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Mr and Mrs McCann, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, carried out a series of interviews with British and Portuguese journalists to publicise a new internet ''viral'' video aimed at someone close to the person responsible for the little girl's disappearance.

Hundreds of thousands of internet users have watched the video, titled A Minute For Madeleine, which the McCanns hope will lead to a breakthrough in the search of their daughter.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/6497477/Madeleine-McCanns-siblings-want-to-fight-person-who-took-her-parents-say.html

 
Madeleine McCann's twin siblings want to fight man who took Maddy   4/11/2009

 
The twins both know the person who took Madeleine has done something very bad.. they just want her back home

Madeleine McCann’s four-year-old twin siblings are now slowly grasping the horror of her abduction, their parents revealed yesterday.

Sean and Amelie were just two when their big sister was snatched but Kate and Gerry have since gradually explained the grim truth to them.

It is poignantly clear the youngsters still hold Madeleine close to their hearts.

Gerry, 41, said: “They talk about her more than Kate and I do. It’s incredible.

“They don’t ask so many direct questions but as they’re getting older more of the gaps are being filled in.

“They know Madeleine’s missing, they believe she has been taken and they know it’s not right that she has been taken. They understand the person who has taken Madeleine has done something very bad.

“They have asked why she’s been taken and we said, ‘We don’t know, but obviously they wanted Madeleine’. They know it’s not right and they want her back.”

Kate, also 41, added: “We made it as light as possible for Sean and Amelie but in a way they can understand.

“We made it sound like, ‘Even if you really want something you shouldn’t take it if it belongs to someone else’.”

The kids, who now attend school, are so heartbroken at having Madeleine ripped out of their lives they have even vowed to attack the kidnapper when he is caught.

Heart specialist Gerry revealed: “They’re saying, ‘When we find who took her we will fight them’. That doesn’t come directly from us saying that.

“Amelie this week was saying, ‘When I find that man I’m going to do this and that’. I said, ‘No, we will give them to the police and then we’ll put them in jail’.”

Since Madeleine’s May 2007 abduction in Praia da Luz, Portugal, her bedroom at the family home in Rothley, Leics, has remained just as she left it.


It is a bedroom her parents fervently hope she will return to one day. Kate said: “There are lots more presents and pictures from Sean and Amelie. She’s an integral part of our life, of our home.”

Meanwhile, they have bravely striven to give the twins happy, normal childhoods and shield them from the anguish the couple endure.

But the youngsters know there are times their parents’ mask of calm slips. Kate said: “It’s difficult. I don’t want to be upset in front of them all the time.

“We have as many happy times as we can, which is what they deserve. There will be occasions when one or another of us gets upset, but that’s inevitable.

“Anything can spark that – the most innocent thing. But they know it’s OK to be sad. They know we’re sad because Madeleine’s not with us.”

She and Gerry believe the twins having each other has helped them develop into cheerful children. He said: “They’re not sad very often, and that makes life for us an awful lot easier. They have each other and I’m sure that has helped them.

“Had this just been one other younger child it would have been harder. To the casual ******* it would look superficially quite normal, especially when we have the kids. We make sure they get the love and attention they deserve and Madeleine got.”

The couple refuse to give up hope that Madeleine is alive and Gerry vowed: “We’re going to do everything in our power to find her and her abductor.”

The latest step in the search saw the release of an online video this week showing how she might look aged at six.

Gerry told how the twins were aware of the efforts going on to find her.

He said: “When I think of Madeleine I think of the little girl running around the house and on holiday.

“Sean and Amelie do a brilliant job of bringing us back to reality. They see stickers or wristbands and say, ‘Oh look, that person is helping us to find Madeleine’.”

Kate admitted she was sometimes fearful about her daughter’s whereabouts and confessed: “I try to push it out of my mind because it upsets me and it doesn’t help.”

And she pleaded: “It would be fantastic for Sean and Amelie – regardless of myself and Gerry – for Madeleine to be back. We’re urging people to help us. Please don’t give up on Madeleine.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/04/madeleine-mccann-s-twin-siblings-start-to-understand-horror-of-her-abduction-115875-21795832/

NEW HOPE FOR MADDIE’S PARENTS AS 2.5M A DAY WATCH PLEA ON WEBSITE 



How Maddie could look today with darker features
Thursday November 5,2009
By David Pilditch INVESTIGATORS yesterday said they were a “step closer” to finding Madeleine McCann after an astonishing response to a new global appeal.


In just 24 hours, nearly 2.5 million people around the world viewed dramatic images of Madeleine in a campaign aimed at flushing out her abductor.

Internet users in 160 countries have watched a special 60-second film targeted at those closest to the kidnapper.

The campaign aims to shame loved ones into coming forward to reveal what happened to Madeleine.

Yesterday, Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, were said to be “overwhelmed”.

The tidal wave of fresh interest was mirrored on the official Find Madeleine website, which saw hits surge from an average of 200,000 a day to four million.

Kate and Gerry told how the initiative had given them renewed hope of being reunited with their daughter who vanished during a family holiday in Portugal in May 2007.

The couple, from Rothley, Leics, said: “We would like to thank everyone for their help and support. Let’s hope and pray that this message reaches those who know who took Madeleine and they find the strength to do the right thing.”

Jim Gamble, Britain’s most senior child protection policeman, urged internet users around the world to help the hunt for Madeleine.

He said: “Every person who does that brings us a step closer to reaching the individual who needs to see this message.”

It comes after the release of two new computer-generated pictures that show how Madeleine might now look two-and-a-half-years after she vanished. Experts in the US produced the haunting images of Madeleine as a six-year-old.
   

One shows the youngster looking fresh-faced with strawberry-blonde hair.

In the second image, Madeleine has a tanned appearance with darker hair.

Experts believe that is how she would look now if she had been taken to North Africa or harboured in southern Europe.

The pictures feature in the film called A Minute For Madeleine. The message was released at midnight on Monday by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre based in London.

Yesterday, the video was being watched by up to 100,000 users every hour. It has spread across thousands of social networking sites, blogs, chat forums and search engines.

Celebrities including Chris Evans, Alan Carr and Phillip Schofield have also sent the link to their followers on Twitter.


http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/138264/New-hope-for-Maddie-s-parents-as-2-5m-a-day-watch-plea-on-website

Social networkers are being urged to get involved in a new online campaign to find Madeleine McCann by spreading a video appeal around the world.

The missing girl's parents hope the film will eventually reach whoever is close to those responsible for her disappearance and convince them to come forward.

Police have also released new age-enhanced pictures of Madeleine as part of the fresh appeal for information.

And the officers behind the campaign say it will have a serious impact on anyone who may have been involved in the youngster's disappearance.

The 60-second film can be viewed on the website of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop).

The video is available in seven languages and shows two images of Madeleine based on how she might look today, aged six.

Jim Gamble from London-based Ceop told Sky News: "We want to emotionally engage people.

"We want them to understand the real emotion, the stickiness of all of this for people so that they link to it and connect with it.

"Then we want this viral message that we have launched on the internet to reach out through the public to one individual.

"To say to the person that's close to the individual who did this: 'We know you're keeping a secret. You've kept that secret for too long.

"Two and a half years on you need to reflect on why you're keeping it. Turn that negative thing into a positive and do the right thing and come forward'."

Madeleine's father Gerry told Sky News he and wife Kate have never lost hope they will find their daughter alive, after she went missing in Portugal on May 3, 2007.

He said the news that Jaycee Dugard had been reunited with her parents 18 years after her abduction in America at the age of 11 had given them "a lift".

"There was a change in the general perception of the public who maybe thought that Madeleine would never be found or that she may be dead."

Mr McCann said there has been a surge in people saying that perhaps Madeleine too can be found alive.

The couple said they try to block thoughts of how and where their daughter may be being held.

Kate McCann said: "I'm her mum, I think it would be impossible on occasion to not think about how she's being kept."

Mr McCann said the most common question the pair get asked, after how they are, is what people can do to help.

"Today we are asking people, this is a way of helping. Let's rattle the cage of the people who took her. Let's really get that person wrestling with their conscience.

"It's not too late for that person to do the right thing."

Of the new images of how his daughter may look now aged six, Mr McCann said: "That's not how we remember her," adding, "she is not a four-year-old girl anymore."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20091103/tuk-bid-to-find-madeleine-using-social-n-45dbed5_2.html

sweetie-pi, been meaning to thank you for your post, have gone back to read it several times. There's much food for thought there! The dirty Portuguese cop now writing his second book. The UK newspaper that the McCanns sued and won their case, guess who their reporter was getting his info from?! And the recent UK newspaper article about the dirty cop, interviewing his wife...not one word about his recent conviction, preying on sympathy for the b*****d!
Many thanks for your insight. xxx 
 

Of the new images of how his daughter may look now aged six, Mr McCann said: "That's not how we remember her," adding, "she is not a four-year-old girl anymore."

YARD ASKED TO REOPEN MADDIE CASE 



MISSING: Madeleine McCann
Sunday November 8,2009
By James Murray, Investigations Editor SCOTLAND YARD should be brought in to take ­control of the investigation to discover what ­happened to Madeleine McCann.

Kate and Gerry McCann want the Yard’s ­renowned kidnap team to assess an avalanche of new information after last week’s emotional internet appeal, which ­generated five million hits from around the world.

Portuguese ­police, the Sunday Express can reveal, have failed to set up a new phone line for callers to ring with information.

Last night there was fury over thedismissive response. Interpol and Europol are among 163 ­forces worldwide that have committed to help with the appeal.

Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria is still ­in charge of the Madeleine case because that is where she disappeared over two years ago.

It would say only that if credible information comes in by fax, letter or email, it would be passed to senior officers if it was deemed “significant”.

There were also reservations last night about Leicestershire Police, who are aiding the ­investigation from this country ­because the McCanns live in their catchment area, at Rothley.

Last night former Scotland Yard chief Dai Davies said it was time to let the Yard take over.

The former royal protection head said: “Madeleine is a ­British subject and she deserves the best, which the Yard can provide. It is time to put any daft police protocols to one side and get on with the job of finding her. It is a solvable case.

“It is astonishing and disgraceful that the Portuguese have not assigned a specific team to scrutinise leads which could provide a breakthrough in the world’s biggest child abduction case.
   

“It is frankly outrageous that the parents of this poor child should be hiring private detectives to conduct an investigation which should have been taken on by the Yard in the first place.

“The Yard has a kidnap squad with a brilliant success record, and access to the best Holmes computer technology, forensics and investigative techniques in the world.”

Holmes, which stands for Home Office Large Major Enquiry System, is a state-of-the-art data system designed to deal with the huge volume of information major crimes ­generate.

Sources claimed last night that Leicestershire detectives have not been inputting all their information on Holmes.

Police forces across Britain have cracked scores of tough cases using the system because it can be programmed to ­highlight suspects and analyse the value of myriad leads.

No one was available at ­Leicestershire Police yesterday to confirm or deny the claims.

On Tuesday, Kate and Gerry, both doctors aged 41, made new television appeals via the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

They urged: “Please take a minute and help us bring Madeleine home. Let’s hope and pray this message reaches those who know who took Madeleine and they find the strength to do the right thing.”

On Friday, a Leicestershire ­Police spokesman said any new i­nformation from the CEOPC ­initiative would be passed on to the Portuguese who would consider credible lines of inquiry.

Requests from the Portuguese to carry out new inquiries in the UK would be co-ordinated by Leicestershire Police.

New images of Madeleine, who would now be six, were shown in a video in English, Arabic, ­Portuguese, Spanish, French, German and Italian.

One showed how she might ­appear if her skin had darkened and her hair had been dyed brown to make her look like­ ­other children if she is being held in Morocco or Tunisia.

Another time-generated image showed how she might look now with her natural blonde colouring if she is being kept in ­Northern Europe.

While Kate and Gerry McCann believe Leicestershire detectives have worked hard, they feel ­Scotland Yard’s experts on ­kidnap, forensics and offender profiling could bring much ­needed impetus to the inquiry.

Madeleine vanished, aged three, from the family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve on May 3 2007.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/138901/Yard-asked-to-reopen-Maddie-case

thanks Toler for the article..:)

that is  thankful smile at the end of my post...

McCanns use psychologist to help tell twins about Madeleine
EmailWritten by whymadeleine on Nov-8-09 12:40am
From:  pickupthephoneandbringmadeleinehome.blogspot.com


A child psychologist is helping Madeleine McCann's twin siblings come to terms with her disappearance

The parents of Madeleine McCann have revealed how a child psychologist is helping them to tell their two other children about her disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann said they would be ‘frank and open’ with their four-year-old twinsSean and Amelie when they ask why their sister is still missing.

Mrs McCann, 41, said experts have said the youngsters will ask about Madeleine’s disappearance when they are ready.

‘We’ll be led by them,’ she said. ‘We’ve had advice from a child psychologist and they’ve said Sean and Amelie will lead the way.
‘If they ask a question, we’ll answer them honestly. I’m not going to rush them, but if they ask something then I’ll answer them.’

Mr McCann, 41, a heart specialist, added: ‘We will answer their questions openly and honestly. What they ask, we’ll tell them. We’ll tell them what happened and what information we know.’
Three-year-old Madeleine, went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in 2007.


Last week, the McCanns released digitally enhanced pictures of how she might look as a six-year-old.
The images, based on the idea she may be held captive in southern Europe, Africa or the Middle East, show her with dark skin and dark hair.

Mrs McCann told a Portuguese chat show that the twins had helped her ‘adapt and function’ despite her grief.

Mr McCann added: ‘We do as much as we possibly can to ensure that the twins see us happy.
‘They give us so much joy and our life superficially would
look like any family with two young children.

‘Obviously one of our children is missing. Sean and Amelie know that and they know that’s not good, and they want Madeleine back.’

http://www.zimbio.com/Madeleine+McCann/articles/jWSej4NYr5I/McCanns+use+psychologist+help+tell+twins+Madeleine

FRAUD cops are probing the bank account of a campaign group which says Maddie McCann is dead - and aims to blame her parents.

Who are they, then?

Controversial lawyer Tony Bennett helped set up the Madeleine Foundation, but its account is now frozen.

Oh?

Detectives want assurances over tens of thousands of pounds sent in by people supporting his warped aims.

So people sent in money for what purpose?

Bennett, 62, ran the account from his home in Harlow, Essex. Much of the cash came from the sale of £4 books blaming the McCanns after the three-year-old vanished in Portugal in 2007.

The self-published book.

The couple think many people may have mistakenly donated believing they were funding the hunt for Maddie.

Did you?

The account holds £2,700 but Mr Bennett is thought to have £90,000 in private accounts.

Thought to have by whom?

A rift had developed between Bennett and foundation chairwoman Debbie Butler. Police stressed the case was still only an investigation and no arrests had been made.

Oh dear.

A source close to Gerry and Kate McCann said: “This foundation is now in meltdown. They can’t wait to see the end of it.”

Madeleine McCann is missing.

Comments on this post are closed - we try not to encourage them.

4663166

http://www.anorak.co.uk/229902/madeleine-mccann/madeleine-mccann-the-fund-is-investigated.html
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Comments on an article from The Sun, Uk tabloid. The article has been removed from The Sun website.
 

 Madeleine McCann detective paid £500,000 from donations facing £1m fraud chargeBy Daniel Boffey and Mark Hollingsworth
Last updated at 1:23 PM on 22nd November 2009
Add to My Stories  Missing: Madeleine McCann vanished in May 2007
A private detective whose company was paid up to £500,000 from publicly donated funds to find Madeleine McCann has been charged with fraud.
Kevin Halligen, 48, is wanted in America by the FBI for allegedly conning a law firm out of £1.3 million by claiming he could help free two men jailed in war-torn Africa. It is claimed he instead spent the money on a mansion.

However, he has not been arrested because US officials do not know where he is.

In another case, a US court has ordered Halligen to repay a loan of £2million to a business partner. And a British lawyer is claiming £1.3million after investing in Halligen’s company but receiving no return on the cash.

Halligen’s firm, Oakley International, was hired by the Madeleine Fund but was dropped after six months over claims he was making little progress and spending too much.

Halligen, who claims a wealth of contacts in the British security services and FBI, said he had infiltrated a paedophile ring in Belgium. He regularly visited Kate and Gerry McCann to give updates on the hunt for Madeleine, who was three when she vanished from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

In the months after Halligen was ditched four investigators demanded another £200,000 from the fund claiming they had not been paid by him. Halligen’s indictment is likely to dismay thousands who gave money to the Madeleine Fund.

A document filed in the District Court of Columbia claims Halligen took money saying his firm could help secure the release of two executives from the Dutch company Trafigura imprisoned in the Ivory Coast in 2007. The men were arrested following the alleged unloading of toxic waste.

Halligen is said to have proposed a rescue operation by flying in South African mercenaries but it was later cancelled. The men were freed a few months later following a reported £120million payment.

Halligen was last seen in Italy and has allegedly left a trail of debts in America. The Madeleine Fund received more than £1million in donations after her disappearance but was hugely depleted by Halligen’s services. There are concerns the fund will be empty by the end of this year.

The McCanns had previously hired Barcelona-based detective agency Metodo 3 on a reported £50,000 a month. But the company lost credibility with the couple when its head of operations claimed he knew who had kidnapped Madeleine and hoped to have her home by Christmas.

After Halligen, the McCanns hired two former British detectives, David Edgar and Arthur Cowley. In August, Mr Edgar appealed for sightings of an Australian ‘Victoria Beckham lookalike’. But a Mail on Sunday investigation revealed the detectives had failed to make the most basic of inquiries in Barcelona where the woman was seen.

The McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, insisted the fund had not been duped. Two phone numbers previously used by Halligen were answered by a man who said he had no idea who Kevin Halligen was.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229919/Madeleine-McCann-detective-facing-1m-fraud-charge.html#ixzz0XdvdMyKZ

From The Sunday Times November 22, 2009

Madeleine McCann fund hired ‘secret agent’ conman
Kevin Halligen with 'bride' Maria Dybczak at his honeymoon reception in Washington.
 
A BUSINESSMAN who pretended to be a secret agent has allegedly pocketed up to £300,000 from funds intended to pay investigators working on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Kevin Halligen, a British security consultant, was paid to find Madeleine but allegedly failed to pass the money on to the private detectives who did the work on his behalf. A friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s parents, said they had become increasingly concerned about Halligen.

“He had this sense of cloak and dagger, acting as if he were a James Bond-style spy,” said the friend. “He promised the earth but it came to nothing.”

Halligen’s company Oakley International, which is based in Washington DC, was paid £500,000 after being hired by the Find Madeleine fund.
Sources close to Halligen say he offered to provide the McCanns with satellite images and lists of telephone traffic on the night Madeleine disappeared. The data were supposed to come from contacts in Washington but, one source claimed, “all he came up with was a Google Earth image”.

The Madeleine fund was provided with further reports from teams of investigators who found it increasingly difficult to obtain their fees from Halligen. One of them, Henri Exton, a former national head of undercover operations for the British police, is owed more than £100,000 by Halligen for work he did on the Madeleine case.

Documents show that while Halligen’s company was receiving the fund’s cash, he was withdrawing large amounts of money for his personal use. He had been using company funds to finance first-class flights, expensive hotels and chauffeur-driven cars.

His contract with the fund was not renewed in October last year. Halligen left Washington for a holiday in Rome but never returned to Oakley’s offices. He was last seen staying at the Royal Crescent hotel in Bath under an assumed name.

Halligen, 50, often pretended to have served in the intelligence services to impress business and social contacts, according to those who knew him well.

Two years ago he allegedly faked his own wedding to a lawyer in Washington, watched by former agents, a CIA station chief and an adviser to Barack Obama. Halligen told his bride that his spy masters would not allow his real name to be on wedding documents. He was, in fact, already married and the priest was an actor.

A wider financial investigation has found Halligen bought a £1m mansion with money allegedly defrauded from Trafigura, the company accused of dumping toxic waste in Africa. Last week the US Department of Justice issued an indictment seeking his arrest over the alleged Trafigura fraud.

Stephen Dorrell, the McCanns’ MP, said: “This man clearly saw a vulnerable family going through a terrible ordeal and the only thing he was focused on was that there were people offering money to help find Madeleine.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6927008.ece

 
 
MADELEINE BUSINESSMAN HOTEL ARREST
ABOVE: A businessman who is wanted by US authorities has been arrested in Oxford 25th November 2009
A businessman once hired to help look for Madeleine McCann who is wanted by US authorities over an alleged fraud was arrested at a hotel, according to sources.



Kevin Halligen, 48, was arrested at the Old Bank Hotel in Oxford, following a discrepancy over his hotel bill and is currently in custody in the county, it is understood.

The US Department of Justice issued an indictment for the Briton two weeks ago alleging he tried to defraud a London law firm of more than two million dollars (£1.2m).

His firm, Oakley International, was used by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry for around six months last year to look for their missing daughter.

Thames Valley Police said in a statement: "We arrested a 48-year-old man at the Old Bank Hotel in Oxford. It was a discrepancy over his hotel bill."

Earlier this month the US Department of Justice issued an indictment for Halligen, who is from Surrey, alleging he conned a London-based law firm out of 2.1m dollars.

It is alleged he claimed the money was to help secure the release of two business executives from the Dutch company Trafigura, who were arrested in the Ivory Coast.

Halligen is accused of using the funds for his own benefit including buying a mansion in Virginia.

Washington-based Oakley International was paid around £300,000 by backers of Madeleine McCann's parents to help look for the child after she went missing from an Algarve resort in May 2007. The six-month contract saw the firm hire other private detectives, set up a hotline and process information, but was not renewed.

A spokesman for the McCann family said: "Our association with Halligen and Oakley International ended well over a year ago. Given that an arrest has been made it would be inappropriate for us to comment."

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/latestnews/view/109889/Madeleine-businessman-hotel-arrest/

McCanns to attend libel trial

09/12/2009 - 19:19:09

Madeleine McCann’s parents will fly to Portugal tomorrow for the start of a libel trial against former Portuguese policeman Goncalo Amaral.

Kate and Gerry McCann are planning to attend the opening of the trial in Lisbon on Friday, their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said.

Today Mr Mitchell said: “I can confirm that Kate and Gerry McCann will be travelling to Portugal on Thursday to attend the opening of the defamation case against Goncalo Amaral in Lisbon on Friday morning.

“They only intend to appear at the opening and I would expect that they will return to the UK fairly swiftly.”

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

Mr Amaral was involved in the initial investigation to find Madeleine but was later taken off the case.

In his book, 'The Truth Of The Lie', he claimed Madeleine was dead and questioned the McCanns’ account that she was taken while they were eating with friends.

In September, a Portuguese judge granted an injunction banning further sale or publication of the book.

It also banned Mr Amaral from repeating his claims about Madeleine or her parents.

The injunction came after a year-long campaign by the McCanns’ lawyers to prevent the publication of the book and a subsequent DVD.

Speaking after it was granted, Gerry McCann said false allegations had done immense damage to the search for their daughter because Portuguese people would be dissuaded from coming forward with information.

At the time he said: “There’s a lot of people in Portugal, who might have evidence, that believe Madeleine is dead.

“If people believe that, they won’t search for her and they won’t come forward with information.

“I know for a fact people have been told Madeleine is dead. There is no evidence to support that and that is unforgivable.”

At one point Portuguese police made Mr and Mrs McCann, from Rothley, Leics, arguidos, or formal suspects, in their daughter’s disappearance.

They were questioned by detectives but their arguido status was later lifted.

Since then they have continued to campaign to find their daughter.

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mccanns-to-attend-libel-trial-437646.html#ixzz0ZEY36940

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mccanns-to-attend-libel-trial-437646.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580124,00.html

Madeleine McCann's Parents Return to Seaside Town Where Daughter Disappeared

Sunday, December 13, 2009

(http://www.foxnews.com/images/363477/3_61_041008_McCanns.jpg)

 Kate McCann visited Praia da Luz, Portugal, for the first time since police wrongly named her as a prime suspect in the case of her daughter's disappearance — and said she felt closer to Madeleine.

McCann, who was cleared of any suspicion last year, travelled back to the Portuguese town with her husband Gerry.

They made the visit after a court case they were planning to attend in the capital Lisbon yesterday was unexpectedly delayed.

SLIDESHOW: Where Is Madeleine McCann?

Writing on the official Find Madeleine website, McCann said she had longed to return for two years for "personal and emotional reasons."

"We travelled to Praia da Luz yesterday afternoon. I have longed to come back here for two years for personal and emotional reasons.

"Early this morning we went to the lovely little church of Nossa Senhora da Luz. It was so quiet and peaceful — a real sanctuary.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2009/12/13/exclusive-madeleine-mccann-search-cash-due-to-run-out-in-three-months-86908-21894112/

Exclusive: Madeleine McCann search cash due to run out in three months

Dec 13 2009 Sunday Mail

CASH funding the search for missing Madeleine McCann will run out in three months.

Maddie's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, are now preparing to open talks with multimillionaire businessman Brian Kennedy to extend his backing.

The couple had feared the fund set up to trace their little girl, who has now been missing for 31 months, would be exhausted by the end of this month.

But they have boosted it with payouts won in legal actions against newspapers in Britain and abroad.

Glaswegian Gerry and Kate, both 41, flew to Portugal last week for a new libel action against former Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral, who wrote a book claiming Madeleine died in an accident, but on Friday the trial was adjourned until next month.

It could see them net £1 million - cash that would be immediately diverted to the fund to find Madeleine, who was just about to turn four when she disappeared from their Algarve holiday home in May 2007.

Scots double glazing tycoon Mr Kennedy has not yet indicated that he will continue to contribute cash The McCanns' PR man Clarence Mitchell, who also acts as spokesman for Scots doubleglazing tycoon Kennedy, said: "No one is worried about the situation.

"Brian Kennedy has not said he won't continue to back the fund and the search will not cease until we have found her.

"As and when the fund diminishes, there will be talks with Brian and various other backers. There is approximately £500,000 left in the fund and there is enough money to keep going until early spring.

"Money is being spent more slowly. We had thought it would run out by the end of the year but the drain has not been so severe.

"If it had not been for the libel settlements, the fund would have depleted long ago. A lot of work that has been done has ruled things out.

"A number of leads are being followed at the moment. Kate and Gerry do feel that progress is being made."

Kate and Gerry, who both work as doctors in Leicestershire, have pledged never to give up looking for their daughter.

The fund is keeping costs down by running a smaller team of detectives and concentrating the search on southern Spain, Portugal and northern Africa.

Kevin Halligen, an Irish crook who posed as a security consultant, was paid £300,000 from the fund and is now facing fraud charges.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHMcyWuFJ7zGabRM71ER95MAAbiA

McCanns visit Portuguese resort where child vanished

(AFP) – 20 hours ago

Kate McCann: I can find a little solace at the resort where Madeleine was taken

By Matt Sandy
Last updated at 1:56 AM on 13th December 2009

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235463/Kate-McCann-I-little-solace-resort-Madeleine-taken.html#ixzz0ZaID6BFt

God Bless you and your family this holiday season.  I pray you will be found soon.  ::MonkeyAngel::

 Kate and Gerry McCann today issued a fresh appeal for their missing daughter Madeleine as they faced the prospect of spending their third Christmas without her.

In a new message on the Find Madeleine website, the couple said: ‘There will be a spare place at the Christmas table again this year.
‘If you know anything, do the right thing and helps us fill it.’
 Christmas past: Madeleine feeding her younger sister Amelie in 2006

Doctors Kate and Gerry, both 41, also posted a photograph of Madeleine which was taken during Christmas 2006.
It shows the youngster at the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire, five months before she went missing from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
She is pictured sitting on the floor, dressed in red, feeding a chocolate lollipop to her younger sister Amelie.
The couple said: ‘There is only one thing Madeleine wants this Christmas – and that’s to be back home.’
They urged: ‘If you know where she might be, please help.’
The McCanns, whose youngster daughter and her twin brother Sean are now four, added: ‘All we want this Christmas if for Madeleine to be home.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1236858/Fresh-appeal-McCanns-face-Christmas-Madeleine.html#ixzz0a4DqcjMD

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/12/19/madeleine-mccann-mother-s-christmas-wish-to-have-daughter-home-100252-25426111/


Madeleine McCann: Mother's Christmas wish to have daughter home

Dec 19 2009 by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Echo

(http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/liverpoolecho/dec2009/2/7/madeleine-mccann-250-173485775.jpg)

THE grandmother of missing Madeleine McCann has appealed for whoever knows where she is to “end our agony.”

Speaking on the day Kate and Gerry McCann launched a fresh appeal, Kate’s mum Susan Healy, of Mossley Hill told the ECHO: “Like Kate we continue to hope Madeleine will be found and it would be nice for her to be home to Christmas.

“I remember last year thinking I hope we don’t have another Christmas without her, but here we are.

“We just wish whoever knows something would come forward.

“We echo Kate and Gerry’s thoughts and we hope that someone will end our agony and let her be brought back home to her family.”

New pictures were released on the Find Madeleine website as Liverpool-born Kate and Gerry faced a third Christmas without her.

In an emotional plea greeting visitors to the site, they said: “There will be a spare place at the Christmas table again this year.

“If you know anything - do the right thing and help us fill it.”

Mr and Mrs McCann added: “There’s only one thing Madeleine wants this Christmas – and that’s to be back home.

“If you know where she might be, please help.”

The new pictures show Madeleine smiling and feeding a chocolate lollipop to her younger sister Amelie before she disappeared.

The McCanns, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said: “Christmas is a time for children. Please help us bring ours back.”

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Despite a massive police investigation and publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

Last weekend Mr and Mrs McCann returned to Praia da Luz together for the first time since Portuguese police named them as suspects in their daughter’s disappearance.

The couple, whose suspect status was later lifted, visited the seaside resort’s church of Nossa Senhora da Luz.

They wandered along the beach where Kate said she felt able to reach out to Madeleine and find a little solace.

Mrs McCann said: “Although our pain feels much rawer here, it is comforting at the same time since we feel closer to Madeleine.”

Dear God give me Grace is all I can say. 

And Madeline, I am so sorry for what you had to go thru and hope you are in a happy, wonderful place now.  I believe you are.  There will be people made to tell what really happened to you someday. 

God Bless Mr Amaral now too for the truths he tried so valiantly to tell about what he learned.  And also to Mr Bennett who always had your face in front of him in his work to fight for you and your rights.

We have always felt your spirit Madeleine and will always work for the truth to come out about what happened to you.  The bad guys aren't going to keep it from being told.

Krams

God bless you Madeleine...
you have a special place in my heart...and you always will...

Since the early days that Maddie went missing, have gotten whiplash following this case.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

A lead is followed and that's the whole focus for a length of time.  Then it doesn't pan out, and the focus invariably turns back to Maddie's parents being involved.  Then another lead is followed, and I'll be dang, the focus went off her parents and the new lead is the whole focus for awhile.  When that doesn't pan out, the focus turns back to the parents.  Back and forth and back and forth.   There were days I was convinced the parents were involved, and other days I was convinced it was someone else.  Sev someone else's.  Sigh.   

Then the focus on that guy who is/was dying of cancer.  Whatever happened to him, has he died?  Seems to me he was the best lead they've ever had.  But how convenient for sev that he is/was dying, he couldn't speak for awhile yet promised an interview and supposed proof of an alibi for that night.  Then when he could speak, refused interviews and 'hid in his room'.  How easy it would be to simply blame him, even after his death, and just wipe their hands, case closed.  Seemed like for months LE/whoever waited and waited to interview him.   Were they waiting for him to possibly die first?  Sigh. 

Then the focus abruptly went to that woman who supposedly asked someone if they were bringing 'her new daughter'.  When she was finally tracked down, (in Australia?), that evidently didn't pan out, then it's back to sev accusing Maddie's parents again.  And then omigosh someone saw Maddie in Sweden.  For the love of pete!!!! 

When will it ever end?  We're all gonna need a chiropractor before this case gets solved.... if ever. 

Justice for Maddie!! 

Wyks...it has  been very confusing with this case....I still feel in my heart that she is alive..

Goncalo Amaral, the detective sued over Maddie, is to visit UK
By Mail On Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 11:50 PM on 09th January 2010

The Portuguese detective being sued by Kate and Gerry McCann over his allegations about their role in their daughter’s disappearance has been invited to give a talk in Britain.
Goncalo Amaral, who led the police investigation, is due to speak to a conference next month in Nottingham organised by the Madeleine Foundation, which claims the missing girl was not abducted.
Madeleine, then three, disappeared during a family holiday to Praia da Luz in May 2007.

Next week, Amaral is due to appear in a Lisbon court to fight a £1million libel action brought by the McCanns over his book on the case.

In it, he accused the couple of neglecting their children, questioned their need to employ a spokesman and claimed British police were ‘too close’ to them.
Amaral, 49, authorised making the McCanns official suspects, or arguidos, in their daughter’s disappearance, but was later sacked after criticising British police involvement in the case.

A source close to the McCanns said they were ‘concerned’ by his visit.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1241897/Madeleine-McCann-detective-Goncalo-Amaral-visit-UK.html

McCanns return to Portugal for libel trial of detective who led Maddie investigation
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 1:34 PM on 11th January 2010

 Kate and Gerry McCann will return to Portugal today for the libel trial of the former Portuguese detective who led the investigation into their daughter Madeleine's disappearance.
The couple launched legal action against Goncalo Amaral after he published a book questioning their account about what happened to the young girl, who was three at the time of her disappearance in May 2007
Mr and Mrs McCann, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, will fly to Lisbon today ahead of the three-day trial, which is due to start at the main civil court in the Portuguese capital tomorrow.

 Kate and Gerry McCann, pictured outside a Lisbon court at an earlier hearing, will return to Portugal today for the libel trial of the former Portuguese detective who led the investigation into their daughter's disappearance
It is understood that they plan to attend all the hearings, but do not intend to go back to the Algarve resort where Madeleine vanished more than two-and-a-half years ago.

 Missing: Madeleine McCann disappeared in May 2007
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'I can confirm that Kate and Gerry McCann will be returning to Portugal on Monday to attend the resumption of the Amaral trial on Tuesday at the main civil court in Lisbon.
'The details of their travel plans and itinerary will at their request remain private.'
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby.
Four months after her disappearance, Mr and Mrs McCann were made 'arguidos', or formal suspects, in the case but this was lifted when the investigation was shelved in July 2008.
Mr Amaral at first led the Portuguese inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance. But he was taken off the case in October 2007 after criticising the British police in a newspaper interview.
In his book Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie, which was published in July 2008, Mr Amaral claimed that Madeleine was dead and questioned the McCanns's account that she was abducted.
 Libel trial: Goncalo Amaral at first led the investigation but was taken off the case in October 2007 after criticising the British police in a newspaper interview
A Portuguese judge granted an injunction in September last year banning further sale or publication of the book.
The former policeman was also prohibited from repeating his claims about Madeleine or her parents.

The McCanns travelled to Lisbon for the opening of the libel trial in December but the hearing was adjourned until this week after Mr Amaral's lawyer failed to turn up for health reasons.

The couple have previously said any money awarded in damages by the courts would go towards paying for private investigators to look for their daughter.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1242323/Madeleine-McCann-McCanns-return-Portugal-libel-trial-detective-led-Maddie-investigation.html#ixzz0cJZYQdIz

thanks for the updates Toler!

Madeleine McCann 'Died In Holiday Apartment'
1:30pm UK, Tuesday January 12, 2010

A report into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, signed by a police chief, said she had died in the family's holiday apartment, a court has been told.To view this content you need Flash and Javascript enabled in your browser.

The lawyer in charge of the original inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance said the report was signed by Tavares De Almeida, who was chief inspector of police at the time Madeleine vanished.

Jose Magalhaes e Menezes also revealed that text messages sent by Kate and Gerry McCann were intercepted by police who were suspicious about their role in their daughter's disappearance.

But the texts were not considered as part of the investigation because a judge would not allow it.

Mr Menezes was the first witness called at a libel trial brought by the McCanns against former police chief Goncalo Amaral. His book claimed Madeleine had died in the family's apartment in the holiday resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007.

But Mr Menezes said he thought the probability of Madeleine being alive was 50/50.

He said the decision to designate the McCanns 'arguidos' - or suspects - was taken by police after sniffer dogs brought to Portugal from England had carried out their searches.

Giving evidence, Mr de Almeida said that the dogs identified blood and the smell of a human body inside the dining room of the holiday flat and in the car the McCanns were using.

The animals also found a scent on a piece of cloth in a flat rented by the McCanns after they left the apartment.

One of the dogs was in a nervous, excitable state, and wanted to get into the room, according to a report by British police, said Mr de Almeida.

The McCanns are seeking £1m compensation and a final ruling preventing Mr Amaral from repeating the claims he made about them.

The McCanns' lawyer told the court that the couple were prepared to give evidence but only after Mr Amaral had done so.

The case may now last longer than its expected three days because a new witness - named as Luis Frois - is being called by the McCann team.

Mr Amaral was in charge of the investigation launched when Madeleine McCann disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday.

He was taken off the case the following October after criticising British police in a newspaper interview.

Mr and Mrs McCanns' status as arguidos was lifted when the investigation was shelved in July 2008.

The same month, Mr Amaral published a book called Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie, in which he called into question the McCanns' account that she had been abducted.

Arriving in Lisbon, Mr McCann said: "No-one can be allowed to say that our daughter can't be found without very good evidence. That's what this court case is about."

Mrs McCann said: "We're looking for justice."

The couple, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, have said that any damages awarded to them would go towards paying for private investigators to look for their daughter.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-Kate-And-Gerry-McCann-Arrive-In-Lisbon-For-Start-Of-Goncalo-Amaral-Libel-Trial/Article/201001215519468?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_Article_Teaser_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15519468_Madeleine_McCann%3A_Kate_And_Gerry_McCann_Arrive_In_Lisbon_For_Start_Of_Goncalo_Amaral_Libel_Trial

Madeleine McCann's death 'covered up by parents who faked kidnap', court hears

Madeleine McCann died in an accident in her family's Algarve holiday apartment and her death was covered up by her parents who then concocted a tale of kidnap, a Portuguese court was told.

Published: 10:30PM GMT 12 Jan 2010
Kate and Gerry McCann, both 41, were in court to hear how the detectives leading the investigation into their daughter’s disappearance believed they had lied to hide the truth.

“She died in the apartment as a result of a tragic accident and the parents simulated an abduction after failing to care of their children,” Tavares de Almeida, former chief inspector at Portimao police station during the initial months of the investigation, told the court in Lisbon.

“These were the conclusions of a police report signed by me on September 10 2007,” he added.

The allegations against Kate and Gerry McCann, both 41, were presented in court on the first day of a hearing to challenge the publication of a book written by Algarve detective Goncalo Amaral.

Lawyers for the detective, who led the team that made the McCanns arguidos – suspects – in their daughter’s disappearance, called witnesses to support the claims outlined in his book. The McCanns arguido status was lifted after ten months in July 2008 when the Attorney General ruled there was no evidence against them.

The pair, from Rothley, Leics, came face to face with their detractor for the first time since they were officially made argiuidos in September 2007, four months after they daughter vanished days before her fourth birthday.

Mr Amaral, 50, led the initial investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends at a tapas bar nearby. He was sacked from the case, which remains unsolved.

His book, entitled “The Truth of The Lie”, published in July 2008 claims that Madeleine died in the apartment and questions her parents’ account of events that evening.

It became a bestseller in Portugal selling more than 200,000 copies and went on to be published in six languages and made into a documentary film.

After a year long campaign the McCanns succeeded in getting a temporary injunction banning further sales and it was withdrawn from shelves last September. The couple believe that the book is damaging the search for their daughter by asserting that she is already dead and are suing for liable.

They are expected to ask a judge for around £1million in damages which they will use to pay for their own continuing hunt for their daughter, who they believe was kidnapped and could still be alive and being held somewhere.

Mr de Almeida told the court: “We have always spoken of a tragic accidental death – not homicide. The McCanns did not kill her but they concealed the body,”

Mr de Almeida, who worked under Amaral and was also taken off the case in September 2007, said the decision to designate the McCanns 'arguidos' was made by police after sniffer dogs brought to Portugal from England had carried out their searches.

Giving evidence, Mr de Almeida said that the dogs had identified blood and the scent of a human corpse inside the childrens’ bedroom and the dining room of the McCanns’ holiday flat.

The animals also reacted to traces on a piece of cloth in a villa rented by the McCanns after they left the apartment and in the boot of a rental car hired by the family several weeks after Madeleine disappeared.

Mr de Almeida also complained that Portuguese police efforts to investigate the McCanns had been frustrated by their British counterparts. “We were told that the UK would not accept any investigation of the McCanns – there was a lack of cooperation,” he said.

But later he said that the theory that the parents had covered up Madeleine’s death as outlined in Amaral’s book was one reached by British police on the ground in Portugal too.

“This wasn’t something invented by Amaral,” he insisted. “It was a conclusion reached by the team of Portuguese investigators as well as British police.”

Mrs McCann wearing a dark coloured floral dress sat impassively in the front row of the court room beside her husband. The pair held hands and exchanged occasional whispers and nods as they were passed notes by interpreters informing them of court proceedings, which were carried out in Portuguese.

Mr Amaral, dressed in a dark suit and purple tie, was seated at the bench beside his legal team, fifteen feet away from the couple. He spent much of the proceedings with his eyes closed avoiding the direct gaze of the McCanns.

Tuesday’s court hearing in the Portuguese capital was an opportunity by Mr Amaral to have the temporary injunction against publication of his book overturned. Neither he nor the McCanns will be called to give evidence in the hearing which is expected to last a minimum of three days.

A third witness said the turning point of the investigation came following a tearful call from Mrs McCann who, after a dream, told police where to search for her daughter’s body.

Police Inspector Ricardo Paiva, who acted as a liason between the McCanns and Portuguese police in the days following their daughter’s disappearance told the court he had received the phone call in late July 2007.

“Kate called me, she was alone as Gerry was away and she was crying,” he said. “She said she had dreamt that Madeleine was on a hill and that we should search for her there.

“She gave the impression that she thought she was dead – it was a turning point for us.”

The senior detective said the land was searched but nothing was found. “That is when we decided to send the specialist dogs in. British police informed us about how they could detect the scent of death.”

He admitted that the police had been suspicious of the McCanns from the start of the investigation. “They disobeyed our request to keep quiet about the details of their daughter’s disappearance while we conducted our investigation. Instead they turned it into a media circus and that gave rise to some suspicions.”

He said that the McCanns should have faced prosecution for leaving their children alone. “They should have been pursued for neglect. People have been arrested for far less – even in the UK.”

The case continues.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/portugal/6974917/Madeleine-McCanns-death-covered-up-by-parents-who-faked-kidnap-court-hears.html

Kate dreamt Maddie’s body was on a hillside

Published: Today
KATE McCann had a dream in which she saw the body of missing daughter Madeleine on a hillside above their holiday resort, a court heard yesterday.
And after she told Portuguese cops of the nightmare, they became convinced the little girl had been KILLED rather than abducted.

The McCanns' Portuguese police liaison officer Inspector Ricardo Paiva even called it "the turning point of the investigation".

His description of the dream was among a series of wicked claims made about Kate and husband Gerry, both 41-year-old doctors, at Lisbon's Palace of Justice.


Texts

The devastated parents held hands and looked emotional as a judge heard wild allegations they:

KNEW all along that Maddie, nearly four when she disappeared, had died in an accident in their apartment in May 2007.

SIMULATED a kidnapping and concealed the girl's body.

SENT each other "suspicious" texts after Maddie went missing.

WERE "involved" in the child's disappearance in the opinion of a British crime profiler, and SHOULD have been charged with neglect because they left Maddie and her younger twin siblings Sean and Amelie in the Praia da Luz apartment while they dined out with friends.

The claims came from Portuguese cops in a case brought by their ex-boss Goncalo Amaral, the officer who led the initial investigation into the Maddie mystery.

He is seeking to overturn a ban on his book The Truth of the Lie, in which he makes similar allegations to those heard in court yesterday.

The McCanns, who have always maintained Maddie was snatched and is still alive, won a legal order barring the book in September.

They say it is libellous and harms the search for the little girl.

And they are poised to launch a £1million damages claim against Amaral.

Yesterday a spokeswoman for the couple said they were "hurt" by the courtroom claims.

But she added: "However, they know what really happened so they are confident. They just want to find their daughter."

Insp Paiva told how tearful Kate told him about her dream in a phone call two months after Maddie vanished - and asked cops to search the hill she had "seen".

He said: "She gave me the impression she thought Madeleine was dead." He added police combed the area but found nothing.

Quizzed by the McCanns' lawyer Isabel Duarte, Paiva admitted Kate told him Maddie might be on the hillside as she had seen a lot of cars heading there.

He said sniffer dogs were then brought in from Britain.

Chief Insp Tavares Almeida repeated allegations the dogs found the scent of a body in Maddie's bedroom, the apartment's lounge, the McCanns' hire car and on a piece of clothing in a flat to which they later moved.

Asked how Maddie might have died, he said: "We always spoke of a tragic accidental death, not homicide. The McCanns did not kill her but they hid the body."

Local public Prosecutor Jose Magalhaes e Menezes told how police suspected Kate and Gerry texted each other immediately after Maddie's disappearance.

They asked to see the messages but were turned down by the authorities on the grounds of "human rights to freedom".

Asked if he thought Maddie was dead or alive, he replied: "50-50." The case continues.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2805709/Kate-McCann-dreamt-Maddies-body-was-on-a-hillside.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I do believe Madeleine McCann is dead...dead from day one. I also believe the parents are responsible/know what happened/etc. I also need to say that reading all the reports in the last few days makes me feel like the National Enquirer is helping them out with their reporting, lol.

 Gerry McCann angrily dismissed Portuguese detectives' claims that his daughter Madeleine is dead as he arrived at court today.

Senior officers involved in the case told a hearing in Lisbon yesterday of their belief that the little girl died in her family's holiday flat and that her parents faked her abduction.
Returning for a second day of evidence, Mr McCann and his wife Kate insisted that none of the claims were new.
 'These claims are nothing new': Gerry and Kate McCann arrive at the Lisbon court today
Mr McCann was asked by a Portuguese reporter whether it was worth the emotional cost for the couple to attend the court case.
He replied: 'Do you have children? Anyone who has children would go through the same process.'
Lisbon's main civil court is hearing an attempt by former police chief Goncalo Amaral to overturn a ban on his book questioning the McCanns' account of what happened to Madeleine.
 
Accused of libel: Goncalo Amaral, former coordinator of the Portuguese Judicial Police, arrives at the court today
Speaking as he arrived at the court building hand-in-hand with his wife, Mr McCann seized on public prosecutor Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses's testimony yesterday that it was '50-50' whether the child is dead.
Mr McCann said: 'The most important thing yesterday was what the prosecutor said, there is absolutely no evidence that Madeleine is dead and there is absolutely no evidence that we were involved in her disappearance.
'That is the conclusion of the process and that is what we are here debating - the conclusions of the process versus the conclusions of the book.'
Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida told the court yesterday he believed that Madeleine died in her family's apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on the day she went missing.
He said the main evidence for this was the findings of British police sniffer dogs sent to Portugal to examine the flat.

Mr McCann said the evidence of the police witnesses called by Mr Amaral's lawyers did not surprise him.
'Why would we be shocked? We are not denying the existence of the dogs or anything else,' he said.
'It's evidence we're interested in. There is no evidence that Madeleine is dead, that's what you heard yesterday.'
His wife added: 'There's nothing new.'
Mr Amaral's lawyers argue that the material in his book - Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie - is contained in the official Portuguese police files for the case, many of which were made public in August 2008.
Arriving for today's hearing, Mr Amaral said he was 'very happy' that his police colleagues had repeated in court what was in the files and in his book.
 
Missing: Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007
The McCanns, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, say their main motive for challenging the former policeman is the fear that people will stop looking for their daughter if they think she is dead.
Explaining why the couple launched legal action against Mr Amaral, Mr McCann said today: 'This is a legal process that we're going through to protect our daughter and our family.
'We're looking for new information to help the search.

 More...Court agony for McCanns: Couple listen in disbelief as Portuguese police say Maddie is dead and abduction was faked

'The question of course is who is looking for Madeleine and who has been looking for Madeleine over the last two years, and that is us and our investigators.'
Mr McCann will return to Britain this afternoon because of work commitments, a spokeswoman for the couple said.
Fiona Payne, one of the friends who was on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine disappeared on May 3 2007, is flying out to support Mrs McCann.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1242736/Anyone-children-Angry-Gerry-McCann-dismisses-claims-Madeleine-dead-libel-case-continues.html#ixzz0cVLyHa99

"Senior officers involved in the case told a hearing in Lisbon yesterday of their belief that the little girl died in her family's holiday flat and that her parents faked her abduction."


Maddie is still missing  and another mother of a missing daughter sits in prison Still today even after after it was reveled police had beaten her with pictures to prove it. Still the judicial system leaves her in prison.
Police who accuse her of the exact same thing as they do Maddie's parents.

I am astounded how corrupted the police as well as judicial system and government are in Portugal.
The world should hate them.
I do.

 Maddie snatch story was a fairytale that saved McCanns from being charged with neglect, libel trial told

By Vanessa Allen
Last updated at 12:48 PM on 14th January 2010


The 'fairytale' of Madeleine McCann's abduction saved her parents from being charged with neglecting their children, it was claimed yesterday.

Kate and Gerry McCann did not face negligence charges because police were too 'distracted' by claims their daughter had been snatched, a former policeman said.
Francisco Moita Flores told the second day of the McCann libel case how police hadn't believed three-year-old Madeleine was abducted from her parents' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
 'Nothing's harder than losing Madeleine': With a tag featuring a picture of her missing daughter and the phrase 'Don't forget about me' attached to her purse, Kate McCann arrives at Tribunal Civil de Lisboa in Lisbon today
They were forced to investigate the theory because of the 'media circus' surrounding the case and the political pressure it created, the Portuguese court heard.
He suggested the couple should face neglect charges because they left their children sleeping while they went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Today Kate McCann admitted that listening to claims that she faked her daughter Madeleine's abduction was difficult - but said nothing could be as bad as losing her child.
Speaking as she arrived for a third day of hearings at the main civil court in Lisbon, she acknowledged that this week had taken its toll.
'If I'm honest, our daughter's been taken and nothing's ever going to be as bad as that,' she said.
'It's still been difficult, it's been emotive, because I know what's in the case files, I know what the conclusions are.
 
'So it's difficult to hear something that's incorrect and inaccurate.
'At the bottom of all this is a little girl, and I think it's important that we don't forget that.'
Mr McCann flew back to Britain last night to return to work and his wife was accompanied to court today by Fiona Payne, one of the friends on holiday with the couple when Madeleine disappeared.

After yesterday's hearing a clearly angry Mr McCann conceded that he and his wife had been wrong to leave their children, but said mistakes had been made by all involved.
He said: 'We're not harking over mistakes which were made, and particularly mistakes that were made early on and cannot be redeemed.
'What is done cannot be righted... in hindsight we made a mistake by leaving Madeleine and we have to live with the consequences of that. We can't change it.'
Earlier, Mr Moita Flores had told the court: 'No one believed it was an abduction. It was a fairytale, a fable. If the police only worked on that theory then they would be a bunch of idiots.'

He said he believed it would have been impossible for an abductor to break into the McCanns' apartment and carry away Madeleine.
'The McCanns should be judged for the neglect of their children. In Portugal this is huge negligence,' he said.
'The accusation was not made. Justice was distracted. How could they not be accused?'

Mr Moita Flores did not work on the investigation and had already left the Portuguese police when Madeleine disappeared in May 2007.
But he was giving evidence on behalf of Goncalo Amaral, the detective accused of libelling the McCanns in his bestselling book, Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie.
 Accused of libel: Goncalo Amaral, former coordinator of the Portuguese Judicial Police, arrives at the court
Madeleine's parents took legal action against Mr Amaral over accusations they faked their daughter's abduction to cover up her death while on a family holiday.
They won a court injunction banning the sale of the book worldwide and preventing him from repeating the allegations.
But the injunction did not stop him from publishing a second book in December, called The English Gag.
The libel case has provided the police officers who investigated the McCanns with a public platform on which to air their suspicions.
Unlike a criminal trial, the detectives have not had to provide evidence to support their allegations.


 More...Court agony for McCanns: Couple listen in disbelief as Portuguese police say Maddie is dead and abduction was faked

Mr McCann, 41, left Portugal last night to return to his job as a hospital heart consultant.
His wife, also 41, a former GP who has not returned to work since Madeleine's disappearance, is expected to stay in Lisbon until the end of the court hearing.
The latest courtroom accusations came as Mr Amaral was forced to deny claims he had launched a foul-mouthed attack on the McCanns.
The 50-year-old was caught on camera as he was asked if his book had hurt the couple, and appeared to snarl: 'No, **** the McCanns.'
His outburst was shown by the BBC's regional news programme in the East Midlands, which bleeped out the offending word.
A source said producers were convinced he had sworn, but lawyers for the detective denied he had spoken in English.
 Missing: Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007
His lawyer Antonio Cabrita said: 'I have never heard him use that kind of language.' Asked if he had made the comment, Mr Amaral, 50, replied: 'Never.'
The detective is believed to face financial ruin if the McCanns succeed in their £1million libel action.
Gerry McCann in courthouse clashGerry McCann yesterday lashed out at accusations that the couple had faked their daughter's abduction.
Sickened by police slurs that he and wife Kate were involved in Madeleine's disappearance, the grim-faced father confronted journalists on his way into court.
Asked why they had taken legal action over the claims, Mr McCann turned on a Portuguese television reporter and demanded to know if she was a mother. 'Do you have children?' he snapped. 'Anyone who has children would go through the same process.'
Mr McCann appeared to struggle to control his anger as he returned to hear a second day of allegations.
He said: 'There is absolutely no evidence that Madeleine is dead. Let me finish please.
'There's absolutely no evidence that Madeleine's dead, and there's absolutely no evidence that we are involved.'



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1242736/Madeleine-McCann-snatch-story-fairytale-libel-trial-told.html#ixzz0cbQrOPQW

StoriesMcCanns Face Years Of Fighting Madeleine Book
6:32pm UK, Thursday January 14, 2010

Jon di Paolo, Sky News Online, in Lisbon

An emotional Kate McCann has left court in Lisbon facing the prospect of hearing allegations that she and her husband covered up their daughter's death repeated in courtrooms across Europe for years to come.
Speaking in a low voice, Mrs McCann told waiting reporters she believed in the Portuguese justice system and that bringing the libel action against former policeman Goncalo Amaral was the right thing to do.

However, Mr Amaral has now declared that if he loses his bid to overturn their injunction on his book, Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie, he will appeal all the way through the country's courts and on to the European Court of Human Rights - a process that could take years.

The book, which was also made into a documentary on Portuguese TV, claims that Madeleine McCann died in the holiday apartment from which she vanished in May 2007.

In it, Mr Amaral - the lead detective on the investigation into the three-year-old's disappearance until being removed from the post five months later - goes on to say that the McCanns covered up the death.


 
Madeleine: missing since 2007

Mr and Mrs McCann, who have always strongly denied the claims, launched a defamation case - saying they feared that if people believed their daughter was dead they would stop searching for her.

The past three days has seen a court in Lisbon debate whether an injunction obtained by the McCanns suspending further publication of the book and documentary should be allowed to stand.

Mr Amaral's lawyers have called a series of witnesses who have backed up the claims he made in the book, saying they believed them to be based on the facts of the investigation.

They have also tried to characterise the legal action as an attack on the Portuguese constitution and freedom of speech, a charge the McCanns deny.

The witnesses made many references to the hostile treatment of Portuguese detectives in general and Mr Amaral in particular at the hands of certain sections of the British media.

During the second day of the trial it was reported by the BBC that Mr Amaral had said "F*** the McCanns" - a claim he strongly denies, saying it was a misinterpretation of his Portuguese.


 
Mr Amaral was taken off case

Earlier Isabel Duarte, the McCanns' lawyer, accused Mr Amaral of trying to put the couple on trial in this week's hearings.

She said: "They are trying to judge in a civil court what they could not judge in a criminal court."

Ms Duarte said the McCanns were not surprised by the witnesses called by Mr Amaral.

"I am sorry my clients had to be submitted to this pain and this distress," she said.

"This is awful, but we knew that Pandora's Box was open. We are prepared to hear what they say."

A ruling in the current series of hearings, which will determine whether the temporary injunction on Mr Amaral's book will stand, will be made following further statements from two further witnesses on February 10.

However, the McCanns must then go back to court to make the ban permanent at a date yet to be confirmed.

They are also fighting a separate case claiming more than £1m in damages from Mr Amaral.



http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-Kate-And-Gerry-McCann-Could-Face-Years-Of-Court-Hearings-Over-Goncalo-Amaral-Book/Article/201001215523017?f=rss

Kate McCann made a suspect in Maddy disappearance after a nightmare  By Martin Fricker in Lisbon 13/01/2010

 
Kate McCann was made a suspect over daughter Madeleine’s disappearance simply because she had a nightmare, it was revealed yesterday.

A court in Portugal heard how Kate rang a detective in tears just weeks after Madeleine went missing to tell of a dream in which she saw the little girl’s body lying on a hillside in Praia da Luz.

Inspector Ricardo Paiva said: “It gave the impression she thought Madeleine was dead – it was a turning point for us.” The astonishing revelation came during the McCanns’ libel action against disgraced detective Goncalo Amaral.

He has written a book cruelly accusing them of faking Madeleine’s abduction after she died in a tragic accident in their flat.

The McCanns were in court yesterday and had to endure shameful claims from Amaral’s cronies.

A spokeswoman said afterwards: “It is hurting them, these things repeated again and again.”

‘I dreamed I saw body on hillside’

 
Just weeks after Madeleine McCann vanished, sobbing mum Kate rang the Portuguese detective appointed to look after her to tell of a horrific dream in which she had seen her daughter’s dead body.

Distraught Kate said Madeleine had been lying on a hillside overlooking the beach at Praia da Luz. She begged Inspector Ricardo Paiva to search the spot.

Astonishingly, rather than inspiring pity at a desperate mother’s plight, the incident sparked only suspicion in the minds of the officers who were supposed to be hunting Madeleine and her abductor.

And yesterday Paiva told a Portuguese court the frantic phone call was the crucial episode that led to both Kate and Gerry becoming suspects. Kate and Gerry sat just yards from Paiva as he gave evidence in their libel trial against disgraced ex-detective Goncalo Amaral.

He said: “The turning point of the investigation came after I received a phone call from Kate. She was alone as Gerry was away and she was crying.

“She said she had had a nightmare and saw Madeleine's body lying on a hillside and we should search for her there. She gave the impression that she thought she was dead.”

Paiva, a family liaison officer, said he took the call at the end of July 2007. Madeleine had vanished on May 3.

Police duly searched the hillside but found no clues.

But Paiva said the call was the catalyst that persuaded Portuguese police to ask their British counterparts to bring in sniffer dogs to examine the McCanns’ flat.

He told the Lisbon court: “We decided to send the specialist dogs in. British police informed us about how they could detect the scent of death.”

But the detective admitted the police had been suspicious of the McCanns from the start  – simply because they had tried to give the stalled hunt for Madeleine some much-needed momentum.

He added: “They disobeyed our request to keep quiet about the details of their daughter’s disappearance while we conducted our investigation. Instead, they turned it into a media circus.”

Paiva cruelly even insisted the McCanns should have faced prosecution for leaving their three children alone in the holiday flat while they dined with friends.

He added: “They should have been pursued for neglect. People have been arrested for far less, even in the UK.”

Kate and Gerry are suing Amaral, who led the early stages of the Madeleine inquiry until he was sacked for criticising British police. They have a worldwide injunction stopping publication of his book Maddie: The Truth of the Lie, which accuses them of faking their daughter’s abduction after she died in their Praia da Luz holiday flat in a tragic accident.

The couple, from Rothley, Leics, listened intently yesterday as more Portuguese officers gave evidence in support of the disgraced ex-policeman.

Kate regularly shook her head in frustration. Gerry remained grim-faced.

But at times it was hard to avoid the feeling that the hearing was more like a trial of the couple than an examination of Amaral’s vicious claims.

At one stage during one outrageous allegation, Gerry put a comforting arm around Kate’s shoulders.

Inspector Tavares De Almeida, who worked under Amaral, bluntly accused the couple of covering up Madeleine’s death. He said: “The conclusion arrived at was Madeleine died in the apartment.

“The McCann couple simulated the abduction to hide the fact they had not taken care of their children.

“They were suspected of concealing the body and simulating the kidnap.

“We have always spoken of a tragic accidental death. There was no homicide.

“They did not kill but they concealed the body.” De Almeida insisted Amaral’s book was “a true history.”

Asked if he believed Madeleine had died on the night she vanished, he replied: “Yes, she is dead.”

He claimed British police agreed. He added: “We all believe she died. It was the conclusion of both Portuguese and British police.”

District attorney Jose Menezes, who gave the go-ahead for the McCanns to be made official suspects, said his officers eventually reached the conclusion Kate and Gerry concealed Madeleine’s body.

He also accused the McCanns of lying about checking on Madeleine and her twin brother and sister every 30 minutes the night she vanished.

Mr Menezes added: “It was longer, like every 45 or 50 minutes. It seems there was a lie in the investigation.” But he also admitted there was no evidence to charge the McCanns conceded it was “Fifty-fifty” whether Madeleine was still alive.

Luis Neves, ex-head of Portugal’s serious crime squad, said a British profiler employed by Portuguese police had given him impression the McCanns were involved in the disappearance.

Another investigator claimed police had evidence of text messages between the couple following Madeleine's disappearance. But they were denied permission to read the contents of the messages by the judge under privacy law.

After yesterday’s session the McCann’s spokeswoman Claudia Nogueira said hearing the allegations had been painful.

She added: “I think it is hurting them. They can feel hurt by these things being repeated again and again and again.

“However, they know what really happened so they are confident. They just want to find their daughter.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/01/13/kate-mccann-made-a-suspect-in-maddy-disappearance-after-a-nightmare-115875-21962594/