Missing Maddie - Latest News 20th January

Police files on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are likely to remain secret for another three months, according to the spokesman for the girl’s parents. Lawyers for official suspect Robert Murat are seeking to have the files opened up because it is now eight months since he was named as an “arguido”.

But on Friday, Portuguese detectives asked for the case’s secrecy limit to be extended beyond the usual eight-month limit that starts once police have identified a formal suspect.

A spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, said the couple expected authorities to agree to the extension. He went on to say that they are working on the basis that there will be another three months of official secrecy.

Portuguese law prevents the McCanns from speaking about police investigations into the disappearance of their daughter.

Madeleine vanished from the family’s holiday apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3.

Robert Murat, a British man who lives near the apartment from which Madeleine disappeared, has denied any involvement in the case. Asked whether his client would be cleared of his status as a formal suspect, his lawyer said that he didn’t know anything, but would like the arguido status to be lifted.

On Sunday 13th January, a five-year-old girl went missing from Huelva, on the Spanish border, 120 miles from where Maddie disappeared.

Mari Luz Cortes’s family believe she was kidnapped outside her home in Huelva, 25 miles from the border with Portugal. Mari was last seen at a sweet stall 100 yards from her home on Sunday afternoon after going to buy a packet of crisps from a local shop. Her family, who raised the alarm after searching for her themselves when she failed to return, are said to fear she has been abducted.

Officers have been scouring the area for the girl, and Portuguese police have also been carrying out searches on their side of the border.

The McCanns’ spokesman has said there were ‘comparisons’ that could be made, but also said that it was too early to say if the two cases were linked. He added that detective agency Metodo 3 are working very closely with the Spanish police in the first instance, and with the family to establish whether there are any links or similarities

Meanwhile, investigators in Portuguese are planning to re-interview friends of the McCanns. The friends were on holiday with the McCann family in Praia da Luz when Maddie vanished. They are key witnesses in the case and reports claim Portuguese detectives are prepared to fly to the UK to sit in on fresh questioning of them by British police.

Portuguese authorities are also seeking the assistance of a Europe-wide body in securing the help of the authorities in Britain. The Portuguese public prosecutor contacted Eurojust - the judicial co-operation agency - at the beginning of January. A spokesman for Eurojust has confirmed that they have been asked to be the go-between for the Portuguese and the UK authorities, but will not be releasing any details.

A new sketch of the man who could be behind the abduction of Madeleine McCann has been revealed. A police artist drew the likeness after a Sunday tabloid tracked down a holidaymaker, Gail Cooper, who reported seeing a ‘creepy man’ hanging around the apartments in Praia da Luz, Portugal, prior to the abduction on May 3 last year, and it has also been revealed that a 12-year-old girl, has come forward to back up her story.

The photofit shows a man with long hair, bushy eyebrows and a moustache.

A friend of the McCanns - Jane Tanner - who gave a description to police of someone she spotted carrying a child from the Algarve resort on the night Madeleine vanished - told the paper the new picture resembled the man she saw.

The McCanns’ spokesman has said that the image had been passed to police and the family believe the picture could be an important breakthrough in the hunt for Madeleine.

Portuguese police have known about Gail Cooper’s description since May, but it has only now been made public after the McCann’s own investigators began to re-interview witnesses.

Missing Maddie - Latest News November 27th

It is now 207 days since Madeleine McCann went missing.  

A tourist Isabel Gonzalez, claimed she saw Robert Murat’s girlfriend Michaela Walczuch and Madeleine in the remote town of Zaio, northern Morocco on June 15.

The claim was made made after recognising Michaela Walczuch, 34, on the TV news.  Metodo 3, the detective agency hired by Kate and Gerry McCann is investigating the claim and has said it picked up a ‘trail’ at the beginning of last month, and believe that Madeleine was snatched to order and is now in Morocco. 

  

The twist came as it emerged four-year-old Madeleine may have been handed by her kidnapper to a paedophile gang.

A Portuguese trucker also claims to have seen Maddie being passed over on May 5, two days after she vanished.   Detectives believe she was then smuggled to North Africa.

Private detectives had a call two weeks ago from the trucker who thought he saw Madeleine in Silves.  When he was shown photographs, he is reported to have told the detectives that the woman looked like Walczuch.

Ex-pat Murat, 34, remains an official suspect.  Detectives are investigating him, Walczuch and her estranged husband Luis Antonio -  who works as a pool cleaner with access to the complex in which Madeleine was staying.

Michaela Walczuch claims she was at a Jehovah’s Witness meeting four miles away when Maddie was abducted.  However,  church elder Brother Teofilo Castela said that she was thrown out of the church more than a year ago and no longer attends.

Another witness, who did not want to be named, also claimed she had not seen Walczuch all year. Portuguese detectives are probing claims that ex-pat Murat and Walczuch, both 34, were involved in Madeleine’s abduction.

Meanwhile,  Attorney General Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro claimed that Madeleine was almost certainly killed by any kidnapper because of the intense publicity drive generated.

Portugal’s most senior police officer, Alipio Ribeiro, admitted last week that they do not have any solution at present, but lines of inquiry are being pursued.

A massive review of the case under the leadership of Paulo Rebelo.   He ordered a complete reconstuction of events on the night that Maddie disappeared and they are thought to be considering the possibility that she may have been killed by a mystery man seen running from the holiday flat with a child in a blanket.

If this is the case, this would be a complete u-turn on all previous claims and clear the parents of any complicity in the disappearance of their daughter and the disposal of her body. 

It has been reported that this theory is gaining strength and although there are still further DNA test results to come, they do not believe that they will yield any useful information.

  

It must be stressed that the McCann’s and Metodo 3 believe that Madeleine is still alive, and although the detective agency is not allowed to operate in Portugal, it is consistently returning to Morocco.

 

 

 

 

Missing Maddie - Parents Prepare to Return to UK

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have said that they will sue a Portugese newspaper for publishing a claim that she died after they accidentally gave her too many sedatives. 

Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa has also confirmed that Kate and Gerry McCann are not suspects and has no idea where the press got its information. 

Maddie’s father has also made a plea to the abductor to return their daughter saying that it wasn’t too late to do the right thing.  The plea was made as the family started to make preparations to return home to the UK without their daughter. They feel that they must now make life as normal as possible for their 2 year old twins, Sean and Amelie. 

The school that Maddie should have started classes at last week has kept a desk ready in the hope that she will be there one day to attend.  They have also kept a coat peg and locker to one side for her.  Pupils at the school said a prayer for her safe return and a candle is kept burning there for her. 

French police have been searching a campsite in the Loire Valley after reports of a girl matching Maddie’s description was spotted near Tours. 

Police were called after a man arrived at the site with three children after booking for only two.  It is believed that the man drove away after the alarm was raised.

 

Missing Maddie - Cops New Theory August 23rd

Police in Portugal searching for missing Madeleine McCann now believe she died accidentally in the holiday apartment where the family were staying. It has been revealed that this is their new favourite theory as to what happened to Maddie.

Sources refuse to say what is meant by ‘accidental’, but it also means that the McCanns and friends holidaying with then, know what happened on the night that Maddie disappeared.

This is a new direction for investigators who are now said to be convinced that Madeleine is dead and that she died in the apartment, although it remains uncertain as to whether she died accidentally or was murdered.

Currently they are leaning towards her death being a tragic accident.

The McCanns have branded this new revelation as ‘ludicrous’ and have said that this does a lot of damage not only to the investigation but to the family also.It is now 112 days since Maddie vanished, and investigations have found nothing tangible to work on.

Maddie’s parents, Kate and Gerry, have remained in Praia da Luz as the investigations continue.  They have also said that they can’t give any credit to this new theory, but are aware that all avenues must be investigated.

They have also stated that there is no substance in reports of one of their friends being a suspect with police ready to arrest him.

Yesterday Madeleine’s dad admitted for the first time the chances of getting his daughter back are slim, adding that it is possible that Maddie is dead, but also possible that she is alive.

The family have done a great deal of research into missing children and do not want Madeleine to become another statistic.

Research yesterday for the Find Madeleine Campaign revealed that 97% of MEPs want an EU-wide sex offenders register. 

Missing Maddie – Major New Hunt, August 20th

Portugese police searching for missing Madeleine McCann have announced that they will today start a major new hunt. The investigation has shifted direction with the arrival of British detectives and sniffer dogs to assist with the enquiry.

Investigators also say they have “other evidence” and have applied for warrants to search areas where Maddie may have been taken the night she vanished.

A Portuguese police source has said that a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes for some time and the next few days are going to be decisive.  All leave has been cancelled and officers put on standby for this major operation.

It was believed that the 109-day hunt for four-year-old Maddie was stalling, but police sources have said that they have other evidence to work on apart from the DNA and other forensic tests.

There is expected to be an increase in police activity who will be looking in areas that Maddie may have been taken to on the night she disappeared.

Expat Pamela Fenn, is among those to be questioned. She is reported to have disturbed a burglar in her apartment two weeks pror to Maddie’s disappearance.  Her apartment is located above the apartment in which the McCanns stayed in Praia da Luz.  Other witnesses are also expected to be re-interviewed this week.

There are also unconfirmed reports that police may be about to arrest a new suspect in the UK in the coming days.

Early DNA tests showed that the blood specks found came from a man, and was not Maddie’s. But the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham, UK, which is carrying out the analysis of the samples, has said that the tests were still ongoing, with the full results expected early this week.

Over the weekend Kate and Gerry McCann met a British man who had faced a similar ordeal.

image courtesy of Saboma