Madeleine McCann Missing-Praia Da Luz, Portugal 3/05/07 #2

[Toler]

UK NEWSNEW IMAGE OF MADDIE MCCANN ABDUCTOR 



Madeleine McCann went missing on May 3, 2007
Sunday May 30,2010
By James Murray THE top investigator working for Kate and Gerry McCann is considering releasing a new image of the man suspected of abducting their daughter Madeleine.


Former Detective Inspector Dave Edgar travelled to Portugal last week to show the e-fit style image to a new witness.

Portuguese Carlos Moreira, 65, has just come forward to say he saw a girl aged about four lying drowsily on a pile of clothes in the back of a white van.

It happened the day after Madeleine vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve on May 3, 2007.

Mr Moreira has confirmed the image bears a strong resemblance to the driver of the van, which was parked at a roadside snack bar 160 miles north of the resort.


http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/178032/New-image-of-Maddie-McCann-abductor

[Claycat]

 

Someday you will be found, Madeleine.

[Sister]

Someday you will be found, Madeleine.

Claycat, I agree.  I am always praying today is that someday.

[cookie]

Someday you will be found, Madeleine.

Claycat, I agree.  I am always praying today is that someday.

me too..Madeleine is the reason that I started on missing children's forums...I am haunted by her case..can not let go of her being alive out there somewhere...bless her heart...

[Toler]

Maddie McCann investigator to get legal aid in battle against U.S. fraud charges
By Christopher Leake and Mark Hollingsworth
Last updated at 4:16 AM on 29th August 2010

A private detective whose firm was paid up to £500,000 from publicly donated funds to find Madeleine McCann is to get tens of thousands of pounds in legal aid to fight extradition to the US for fraud charges.
Kevin Halligen, 50, told Kate and Gerry McCann he could find their daughter but allegedly spent the cash on a lifestyle of first-class flights, chauffeured cars, nightclubs and luxury hotels and goods.
In a separate alleged scam he was arrested last November at the £700-a-night Old Bank Hotel in Oxford.
US authorities issued an extradition warrant accusing Halligen of defrauding a law firm 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.
A document filed in the District Court of Columbia claims he took money, saying his firm could help secure the release of two executives from the multi­national company Trafigura jailed in Ivory Coast in 2007 for allegedly dumping toxic waste.
He is said to have suggested a rescue operation to fly in South African mercenaries, but it was cancelled. The duo were freed a few months later after a reported £120 million payment.
Halligen, who claimed to have worked for MI5 and the CIA, linked up with the McCanns a year after the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine on a family holiday at Praia da Luz, Portugal.
He boasted of ‘contacts’ in Washington who could provide satellite imagery to help the search. Oakley International, a company run by Halligen, was hired by the fund set up by Madeleine’s parents, but was dropped after six months due to claims of too little progress and too much spending.
 Fees: Halligen, who claimed to have worked for MI5 and the CIA, linked up with the McCanns a year after the 2007 disappearance of their daughter
Now British taxpayers are to pay for top-flight lawyers to fight Dublin-born Halligen’s extradition. His team includes a leading extradition barrister whose fees are thought to be at least £2,000 a day.
Additional fees for renowned London fraud solicitors Janes will boost costs even further.
The award of legal aid to ­Halligen, remanded at a London jail since arrest, was confirmed by Westminster magistrates this month. His next extradition hearing is on Wednesday.
Last night a spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann would not comment on the case.
A spokeswoman for the Legal Services Commission said last night: ‘The decision on whether legal aid is required is made by the court.’
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: ‘We’ve announced the start of a fundamental look at the legal aid system.’

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307149/Maddie-McCann-hunt-fraudster-legal-aid.html#ixzz0xxqYVFq5

[Sister]

Maddie McCann investigator to get legal aid in battle against U.S. fraud charges
By Christopher Leake and Mark Hollingsworth
Last updated at 4:16 AM on 29th August 2010

A private detective whose firm was paid up to £500,000 from publicly donated funds to find Madeleine McCann is to get tens of thousands of pounds in legal aid to fight extradition to the US for fraud charges.
Kevin Halligen, 50, told Kate and Gerry McCann he could find their daughter but allegedly spent the cash on a lifestyle of first-class flights, chauffeured cars, nightclubs and luxury hotels and goods.
In a separate alleged scam he was arrested last November at the £700-a-night Old Bank Hotel in Oxford.
US authorities issued an extradition warrant accusing Halligen of defrauding a law firm 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.
A document filed in the District Court of Columbia claims he took money, saying his firm could help secure the release of two executives from the multi­national company Trafigura jailed in Ivory Coast in 2007 for allegedly dumping toxic waste.
He is said to have suggested a rescue operation to fly in South African mercenaries, but it was cancelled. The duo were freed a few months later after a reported £120 million payment.
Halligen, who claimed to have worked for MI5 and the CIA, linked up with the McCanns a year after the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine on a family holiday at Praia da Luz, Portugal.
He boasted of ‘contacts’ in Washington who could provide satellite imagery to help the search. Oakley International, a company run by Halligen, was hired by the fund set up by Madeleine’s parents, but was dropped after six months due to claims of too little progress and too much spending.
 Fees: Halligen, who claimed to have worked for MI5 and the CIA, linked up with the McCanns a year after the 2007 disappearance of their daughter
Now British taxpayers are to pay for top-flight lawyers to fight Dublin-born Halligen’s extradition. His team includes a leading extradition barrister whose fees are thought to be at least £2,000 a day.
Additional fees for renowned London fraud solicitors Janes will boost costs even further.
The award of legal aid to ­Halligen, remanded at a London jail since arrest, was confirmed by Westminster magistrates this month. His next extradition hearing is on Wednesday.
Last night a spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann would not comment on the case.
A spokeswoman for the Legal Services Commission said last night: ‘The decision on whether legal aid is required is made by the court.’
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: ‘We’ve announced the start of a fundamental look at the legal aid system.’

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307149/Maddie-McCann-hunt-fraudster-legal-aid.html#ixzz0xxqYVFq5

As if they didn't have enough on their plates . . . how sad!

[Toler]

'I know who took Madeleine McCann': Deathbed letter from paedophile suspect makes abduction clue claimBy Daily Mail Reporter
 
A paedophile suspected of being involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann 'confessed' to knowing what happened to the little girl on his deathbed, it has been claimed.

Raymond Hewlett  wrote to his estranged son denying he played a part in the three-year-old’s abduction, but claimed he knew she had been ‘stolen to order’ by a gypsy gang.

Cancer sufferer Hewlett, who has a record of raping and abducting children, had previously claimed to have seen the missing toddler twice before she vanished in 2007.

  Paedophile Raymond Hewlett has reportedly confessed to knowing who abducted Madeleine McCann, who went missing in May 2007

 Detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann (pictured) are said to be 'extremely interested' in Hewlett's claims and are said to be preparing to interview his son Wayne about the letter

But he vowed only to reveal where he was the night she went missing if he was paid thousands of pounds.

Kate and Gerry McCann’s private detectives refused the request.

Today his son Wayne claimed to the Sun that the letter was delivered to him by a mystery man a week after he died in April.
Wayne, who has had no contact with his father for 20 years, claimed his father insisted he had nothing to do with Madeleine’s disappearance – but that he knew who did.
He said: ‘He said a very good gipsy friend he knew in Portugal had got drunk and “let it out” that he had stolen Maddie to order as part of a gang.

‘My dad said this gang had been operating for a long time and had snatched children before for couples who couldn’t have children of their own.

‘Maddie had been targeted. They took photos of children and send them to the people they were acting for. And they said Yes or No.’

Private detectives working for the McCanns are said to be ‘extremely interested’ in the claims and are preparing to interview Wayne.

Wayne, 40, says he burned the letter because it ‘unnerved’ him so much.

The Sun reported they learned of the existence of the note through another source and confirmed they had not been approached by Wayne originally.

Madeleine went missing from The Ocean Club Hotel in Praia da Luz in the Portuguese Algarve while her parents dined at a restaurant on the resort.

Hewlett was living with his family on a campsite an hour’s drive away at the time. 


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307883/Madeleine-McCann-Deathbed-letter-paedophile-suspect-claims-abduction-clue.html#ixzz0yILJYNFi

[nicubird]

Statement analysis of the McCann interviews:

Part 1: http://seamusoriley.blogspot.com/2010/09/mccann-interview-part-one.html

Part 2: http://seamusoriley.blogspot.com/2010/09/mccann-interview-part-two.html

Part 3: http://seamusoriley.blogspot.com/2010/09/mccann-interview-part-3.html

[Toler]

6 years on, Portugal child sex trial reaches end
           
 – Bernardo Teixeira, one of the alleged victims of child sex abuse at a state-run children's home in Lisbon … .By BARRY HATTON, Associated Press Writer Barry Hatton, Associated Press Writer – Thu Sep 2, 9:49 am ET
LISBON, Portugal – A child sex abuse trial that has lasted nearly six years is drawing to a close after producing chilling testimony from dozens of alleged victims and shaking public trust in Portugal's institutions.

Six men, including a national television celebrity and a retired ambassador, and one woman are accused of sexually abusing minors and adolescents, raping children and running a pedophile ring at a state-run children's home in Lisbon called Casa Pia. The court is to rule on more than 800 alleged crimes in a verdict due on Friday.

The trial, believed to be Portugal's longest, has included testimony from more than 800 witnesses and experts, including 32 alleged victims who have given gruesome accounts of rape by adults in dark cellars and nighttime car journeys to secluded houses used by the alleged sex ring during the 1990s.

The Casa Pia is a 230-year-old institution caring for roughly 4,500 needy children, most of them living in dormitories at its premises around the capital.

Bernardo Teixeira, one of the alleged victims who says he was repeatedly abused while living at Casa Pia between the ages of 13 and 15, says he never reported it for fear of not being believed and being punished by the institution.

When a whistleblower broke the scandal in 2002, and police opened an investigation that lasted more than a year, he came forward. Then, girding himself against fear and shame, he testified at the trial.

"It's traumatic going over it all again," Teixeira, now 22, said in an interview. "But in the end it was like getting a weight off my chest."

He published a book last year about his ordeal called "Why Me?" It recounts gut-wrenching episodes, including the first time he was raped in the back of a van.

"In despair I grabbed my own arm and bit down on it, hard. Maybe that way I could relieve the pain gripping my entire body," he wrote.

Almost all those who allege abuse — now aged between 16 and 22 — identified their alleged abusers by pointing to them across the courtroom.

Miguel Matias, the lead attorney on the four-person prosecution team, says the pressure of being at the center of the most notorious case in recent Portuguese history took its toll on the accusers, driving some to attempt suicide. One jumped off a second-floor balcony; one stabbed himself in the stomach; another took rat poison.

Even so, Matias says most of them will be in court to hear the verdict.

"They are eager to see whether (coming forward) was worthwhile," he told the AP.

A 53-year-old former driver at the Casa Pia, Carlos Silvino — who claims he was also abused as a child at the home — has confessed to more than 600 crimes and has incriminated the other defendants.

They include Carlos Cruz, a popular television presenter with a three-decade career in show business, and Jorge Ritto, a decorated career diplomat and former UNESCO ambassador. Three other men are also charged with child sex abuse, including a doctor and a former Casa Pia ombudsman. A 68-year-old woman, Gertrudes Nunes, is charged with providing her house for meetings between the children and the alleged pedophiles.

They face jail terms of up to 10 years for each count of abuse, though Portuguese law stipulates that the maximum jail time a person can serve is 25 years.

The six have denied the charges and say their lives have been ruined by the allegations.

The claims that a pedophile ring had preyed on children at the state institution for years rocked the public's faith in the authorities, who appeared unable to protect the most vulnerable members of society.

The protracted trial has also fueled outrage about Portugal's notoriously slow legal system.

The president of the Portuguese Bar Association, Antonio Marinho Pinto, said "nothing justifies the length of time (the trial) has taken."

"What's bad is the slowness of judicial decision-making," Marinho Pinto said in an interview.

Teixeira, the alleged victim, said that whatever the outcome at Lisbon's main courthouse, the abuse he suffered is hard to put behind him.

"The memories won't go away. I'll live with them forever," he said.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2582443/posts

[Sister]

There is no way I can even begin to wrap my mind around what these victims have endured.
Twenty-five years max -- how unfair!
Thanks Toler for all the posts.

[Toler]

snip
- A MUM yesterday urged cops to quiz a jailed killer she believes has the key to finding her son and Madeleine McCann. Charles O'Neill is said to have been in Portugal when Maddie, three, was snatched in 2007. Two months earlier he was in Gran Canaria, in Spain's Canary Islands, when Jeremy Vargas, seven, vanished. Jeremy's mum Ithaisa Suarez, 27, said: "I believe he might know where they are, or what happened to them. "They're identical cases. Children who vanished in minutes, leaving no trace. He's a vile monster and should be questioned again." O'Neill, 47, and his gay lover William Lauchlan were jailed for life last Thursday for murdering mum-of-three Allison McGarrigle in Largs, Ayrshire - to stop her exposing them for child abuse. The pair had earlier done time for drugging and abusing youngsters. O'Neill has refused to meet detectives working for Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann. - 14th June 2010

snip


http://www.madeleinemccann.co.uk/

[Edward]

snip
- A MUM yesterday urged cops to quiz a jailed killer she believes has the key to finding her son and Madeleine McCann. Charles O'Neill is said to have been in Portugal when Maddie, three, was snatched in 2007. Two months earlier he was in Gran Canaria, in Spain's Canary Islands, when Jeremy Vargas, seven, vanished. Jeremy's mum Ithaisa Suarez, 27, said: "I believe he might know where they are, or what happened to them. "They're identical cases. Children who vanished in minutes, leaving no trace. He's a vile monster and should be questioned again." O'Neill, 47, and his gay lover William Lauchlan were jailed for life last Thursday for murdering mum-of-three Allison McGarrigle in Largs, Ayrshire - to stop her exposing them for child abuse. The pair had earlier done time for drugging and abusing youngsters. O'Neill has refused to meet detectives working for Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann. - 14th June 2010

snip


http://www.madeleinemccann.co.uk/

Convicted paedophiles Charles O'Neill, 47, and William Lauchlan, 33, had denied killing Allison McGarrigle, 39, in 1997 and dumping her body at sea.

But a jury at the High Court in Glasgow found them guilty by majority verdict.

O'Neill was told that he must serve at least 30 years in prison while Lauchlan must serve at least 26 years.

They were also jailed for 10 years each for the sexual abuse of boys, aged six and 14, of which they were found guilty last month at the same court.

In a statement following the guilty verdicts, the McGarrigle family said: "Lauchlan and O'Neill have taken away the best mum in the world."

Mrs McGarrigle, whose body has never been found, was reported missing in 1998 and declared dead in 2005.

During the trial the court heard how Mrs McGarrigle had met O'Neill and Lauchlan in 1994 after moving to Rothesay, Isle of Bute, following her split from husband Robert.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10276711

[Toler]

MADELEINE’S FUND LOSES KEY MCCANN 



'NO STONE UNTURNED': New vigour in the hunt for Madeleine
Sunday September 26,2010
By James Murray and Tracey Kandohla THE brother of Gerry McCann has quit the Madeleine Fund amid a drive to inject new dynamism into the search for the missing seven-year-old.


John McCann has been a dedicated director since the fund was launched more than three years ago and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to do everything he could to find the child.

However, latest company accounts show he left last month along with fellow director Douglas Skehan, a heart specialist and colleague of Gerry McCann who works with him at Leicester’s Glenfield Hospital. Speaking at the launch of the fund two weeks after Madeleine vanished, John said: “This fund will be a vehicle to help our family get our darling, wee niece back.”



In an update to their website, neither Kate nor Gerry McCann mentioned the names of the directors who have left.

Instead they focused on the renewed vigour behind the campaign to find their daughter. They believe Madeleine was abducted from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on Portugal’s Algarve coast in May 2007.

The message states: “There will be some changes and development in terms of strategy and ideas as we endeavour to leave no stone unturned in our search.

“This will include some changes to the board of Madeleine’s Fund, simply to try to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of what we are doing. It has now been three years and four months since Madeleine was taken from us. None of us ever thought we’d still be in the position we are today.

“Inevitably there has to be change for a variety of reasons but importantly, this will also allow people to help and support us in different ways.

 
 

“Regardless of change, everyone’s focus, commitment and desire continues to be that of finding Madeleine.”

New board members, as yet unnamed, have been appointed to the fund, which stands at £450,000 and relies on public donations to pay private investigators to carry on the search.

The unsigned blog continues: “Keeping Madeleine’s image out there greatly increases our chances of finding her.

“It is a reminder to people that she is still missing and to please keep looking for her. In addition, we know that somebody knows where Madeleine is.

“One more reminder of her may be all that it takes for them to finally come forward and let us know.”

The McCanns met Home Secretary Theresa May over the summer to ask for a review of all evidence in the case.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/201788/Madeleine-s-Fund-loses-key-McCann-

[cookie]

thanks Toler for the update on Madeleine..
M~

[Toler]

The Algarve holiday flat from which Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007 is now a ‘mausoleum’, a neighbour said yesterday.

The two-bedroomed apartment in Praia da Luz was put on the market more than two years ago by the owner, a retired Liverpool teacher, but has not been sold and remains empty.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished while her parents dined with friends in a nearby restaurant.

The neighbour said: ‘The flat has never been used again since the little girl went missing.

‘The shutters have stayed down and it is more like a mausoleum than the happy holiday letting it once was.

‘I still remember the night she went missing and a young female Portuguese officer saying, “She must have just walked out – there has been no break-in and the doors were left unlocked”.’

Meanwhile a new private investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance has begun in Portugal.

It is being run by three British former police officers: Nigel Brown, who was named Investigator of the Year after securing the rescue of a kidnapped oil company executive, Dave Carter, who worked in Northern Ireland, and Ray Cooper, who investigated war crimes in Bosnia and gang murders in Trinidad and Tobago.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317029/Madeleine-McCann-disappearance-flat-buyer-years-on.html#ixzz11D3zYEPyl.op

[Sister]

The Algarve holiday flat from which Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007 is now a ‘mausoleum’, a neighbour said yesterday.

The two-bedroomed apartment in Praia da Luz was put on the market more than two years ago by the owner, a retired Liverpool teacher, but has not been sold and remains empty.

Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished while her parents dined with friends in a nearby restaurant.

The neighbour said: ‘The flat has never been used again since the little girl went missing.

‘The shutters have stayed down and it is more like a mausoleum than the happy holiday letting it once was.

‘I still remember the night she went missing and a young female Portuguese officer saying, “She must have just walked out – there has been no break-in and the doors were left unlocked”.’

Meanwhile a new private investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance has begun in Portugal.

It is being run by three British former police officers: Nigel Brown, who was named Investigator of the Year after securing the rescue of a kidnapped oil company executive, Dave Carter, who worked in Northern Ireland, and Ray Cooper, who investigated war crimes in Bosnia and gang murders in Trinidad and Tobago.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317029/Madeleine-McCann-disappearance-flat-buyer-years-on.html#ixzz11D3zYEPyl.op

Maybe today is the day she will be found!

[cookie]

we can only hope so Sister!

[Claycat]

Someday you will be found, Madeleine.

Claycat, I agree.  I am always praying today is that someday.

me too..Madeleine is the reason that I started on missing children's forums...I am haunted by her case..can not let go of her being alive out there somewhere...bless her heart...

Cookie, she is also the reason I started on missing children's forums.  I started first on GLP, because I wasn't that aware of the missing children's forums.  I have a really long thread on GLP.  Some of you might be interested in looking at it.  I will post a link to it.

[Claycat]

Here is the link.  It is mostly about my impressions of Madeleine and her disappearance.  It is about thirteen pages, if you are interested in reading it.  At the beginning I wasn't sure whether she was dead or alive, but I began to believe she was alive and have felt that ever since.  She is the only one of the different missing children, whose cases I have followed since, who I believe to be alive.

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message434735/pg1

 

[cookie]

Here is the link.  It is mostly about my impressions of Madeleine and her disappearance.  It is about thirteen pages, if you are interested in reading it.  At the beginning I wasn't sure whether she was dead or alive, but I began to believe she was alive and have felt that ever since.  She is the only one of the different missing children, whose cases I have followed since, who I believe to be alive.

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message434735/pg1

 

thanks Claycat..I will bookmark this and read it when I am not so tired...
I think that Madeleine is alive too...have always felt that way..