| News Page - 2010 |
 |
 |
 |
|
- The release by Portuguese police to British newspapers of previously unseen files on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was "incomprehensible" and "upsetting", her family said. The 2,000-page dossier detailed dozens of possible sightings of Madeleine after she disappeared from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, in May 2007, just before her fourth birthday. A statement released by Kate and Gerry McCann said: "Disclosing such information publicly greatly jeopardises the search for Madeleine and puts witnesses and innocent members of the general public at risk (as well as causing them great anxiety). Release and publication of information in this manner also potentially compromises future investigations. It is difficult to see how anyone benefits from this week's actions." - 6th March 2010
- The Home Office has secretly begun a review that could lead to a fresh police inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The move follows the release of 2,000 pages of evidence last week which Portuguese detectives are accused of having failed to fully investigate. According to sources close to the McCanns, Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, has ordered officials to examine the 'feasibility' of British or Portuguese detectives looking afresh at all the evidence. Kate and Gerry McCann met with Mr Johnson last year to plead for help in their search for Madeleine, who vanished without trace in May 2007 from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. - 6th March 2010 - Portuguese police ignored warnings from UK cops about a suspicious British worker at the resort where Madeleine McCann disappeared. They urged them to investigate him after a tourist staying at a sister complex with her girl, nine, in 2006, accused him of inappropriate sexual innuendoes. The holiday worker also met Kate and Gerry McCann at the Praia da Luz resort. The woman from Leicestershire came forward in 2008 and said he entered her villa while she slept with her girl. Police sent a report to Portuguese cops but they had already shelved the case. A dossier obtained by the Mirror also revealed a Norwegian man reported seeing Madeleine with a man in a restaurant in St Valentin, Austria, in 2007. He said the girl pleaded "help me!". - 5th March 2010 - A young girl seen in a supermarket in New Zealand thought to be Madeleine McCann is not the missing British girl, it has been confirmed. A shop worker claimed she had seen the toddler just months after she disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal. But Dunedin police have confirmed she is actually the child of another family. Acting Southern Police District Commander Inspector Dave Campbell said police will not name the family, or provide any details of their identity. "We ask that media outlets remove the image portraying the child and family from their coverage to protect the privacy of the family. "New Zealand Police are mindful of the stress on the McCann family from possible sightings of their daughter worldwide," Inspector Campbell said. - 4th March 2010 - A supermarket checkout operator in New Zealand has spoken publicly for the first time about the day she believes she saw Madeleine McCann. Taryn Dryfhout was working in the Warehouse store in the southern city of Dunedin in December 2007 when her suspicions were aroused by a man and woman, who had a boy and girl with them. Madeleine disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3 of that year. "I was stricken by the wee girl who looked just like Madeleine McCann," Ms Dryfhout said. - 3rd March 2010 - Private investigators searching for Madeleine McCann must have access to previously unseen files which have emerged on the case, a spokesman for her parents has said. The files reportedly comprise hundreds of pages of information, including CCTV images of a young girl who looks like Madeleine being led into a supermarket in New Zealand in 2007. Several British newspapers have published the image, along with details of other possible sightings from the files. The footage shows a young girl with blond hair holding hands with a "portly man in shorts". The man's behaviour was deemed suspicious by a female security guard who asked the girl her name. - 3rd March 2010 - Kate and Gerry McCann have welcomed a decision to uphold a ban on a book about their daughter and pleaded with police to continue their search for Madeleine. Speaking at a news conference in London, the couple said they were "pleased and relieved" at the Portuguese court ruling. "The judge agreed that there had been significant ongoing damage to the search for Madeleine and to the rights of our family, and we are grateful for that," Kate said. "The court has demonstrated once again that there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to any harm. - 20th Febuary 2010 - Kate and Gerry McCann have spoken publicly for the first time about a Portuguese court's decision to uphold a ban on a book claiming their daughter Madeleine is dead. On Thursday a judge in Lisbon rejected an attempt by former senior detective Goncalo Amaral to overturn an injunction halting the sale and publication of his book, Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie. The McCanns welcomed the ruling and said they hoped it would bring a fresh impetus to the search for Madeleine, who has been missing for nearly three years. Outside court, the ex-policeman said he would appeal against the judgment and repeated his intention to fight the case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. - 19th Febuary 2010 - THE country’s most senior criminal profiler suggested Madeleine McCann’s brother and sister should have been interviewed about her disappearance. Twins Sean and Amelie were aged just two years and three months when Madeleine was snatched from a holiday apartment on the Algarve in Portugal in May 2007 shortly before her fourth birthday. A month later, Lee Rainbow, senior behavioural investigation consultant at the National Policing Improvement Agency, wrote a report for Portuguese detectives which may have altered the course of the inquiry. Mr Rainbow urged them to “consider the possibility of exploring the potential of interviewing Sean and Amelie McCann”. - 14th Febuary 2010 - Portuguese police have ignored hundreds of potential new leads in the Madeleine McCann case because of their belief that she is already dead, it has been claimed. Details of possible sightings from across Europe have been forwarded to Portuguese investigators by local forces but no effort has been made to follow them up. Kate and Gerry McCann, both 41, learnt of the existence of the dossier of new information, including tips offs, license plate numbers and even photographs of children who could be their daughter, during a court hearing in Lisbon that ended Wednesday. "They were shocked at what was in it and, even worse, what little had been done to follow any of it up,” said Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCann family. - 12th Febuary 2010 - Kate and Gerry McCann have issued a renewed plea for anyone in Portugal with information about Madeleine to come forward. The couple are in Lisbon where they are suing the former lead investigator in the case of their missing daughter, Goncalo Amaral. Outside court, they held up placards with pictures of Madeleine and a Portuguese telephone number for people to call. Mrs McCann said: "The important thing to remember is that a child is still missing." The couple also said they wanted the whole investigation into their daughter's disappearance to be reviewed by Portuguese and British police. - 10th Febuary 2010 - Donations to the Find Madeleine McCann fund fell from almost £2million to £650,000 in just one year, it was revealed yesterday. Only cash received in libel payouts to friends of Gerry and Kate McCann - dubbed the Tapas Seven - enabled the search for their daughter to go on, latest accounts show. About £260 an hour flooded into the fund as a wave of public sympathy swept the UK after Maddie's abduction in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in May, 2007. It had £1.4million in bank donations alone in the first 10 months of the search. - 1st Febuary 2010 - Kate and Gerry McCann are marking the 1,000th day since their daughter Madeleine went missing with a fund-raising event attended by celebrity backers. Supporters of the couple will also launch 1,000 glowing paper lanterns into the night sky in Britain, Portugal and the US to coincide with the sad anniversary. About 180 guests are expected to attend the McCanns' £150-a-head dinner, raffle and auction at Kensington Roof Gardens in west London. It is understood that those invited include Sir Richard Branson, who owns the exclusive venue, Harry Potter author JK Rowling and the couple's millionaire backer Brian Kennedy. - 27th January 2010 - Sir Richard Branson and JK Rowling are expected to be among the guests at a fund-raising event to mark the 1,000th day since Madeleine McCann went missing. Around 180 people have been invited by her parents Kate and Gerry McCann to attend the £150-a-head dinner, raffle and auction at Sir Richard's Kensington Roof Gardens in west London. Half the money raised will go to the McCanns' fund to find their daughter, with the other half split between the charities Missing People and Missing Children Europe. - 27th January 2010 - A poem has been written by Simon Armitage, the writer, to mark 1,000 days since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The writer, widely regarded as the runner-up for last year’s poet laureateship, penned The Beacon, with a handwritten copy to be auctioned on Wednesday night for the Find Madeleine campaign. To commemorate the sad day since the disappearance of their daughter, Kate and Gerry McCann are to launch a flotilla of glowing paper lanterns into the night sky. Mr Armitage reportedly said he accepted the commission, which came via Emma Loach, a director who worked with the McCanns on a television documentary. - 27th January 2010 - Goncalo Amaral has vowed to appeal to Europe if he loses a legal battle over his book which claims that Madeleine McCann is dead. The former detective said his case was about "fundamental rights" for all Portuguese citizens and pledged to keep fighting all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were left facing the prospect of years of court hearings at which Mr Amaral's allegations against them will be repeated. The couple, both 41, from Rothley, Leicestershire, flew to Lisbon this week to hear Mr Amaral attempt to overturn their ban on his book, Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie. - 14th January 2010 - Thousands of British police files detailing the hunt for Madeleine McCann will not be released unless those behind her disappearance are brought to justice. Senior Leicestershire Police officers have remained tight-lipped about their role co-ordinating the search for the toddler since she vanished from a Portuguese holiday resort in May 2007. But analysts at the force have drawn up a list detailing the mass of information they have gathered and considered whether they would ever release any of it to the general public. The paperwork includes everything from correspondence with Government ministers, minutes of police meetings, details of leads and sightings to copies of letters from the McCann family. - 3rd January 2010 |