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News Page - 2009
- Kate and Gerry McCann have said it was "heartbreaking" to have to accept that they would spend a third Christmas without their missing daughter Madeleine. In a heartfelt Christmas message, the couple said they felt "great disappointment" that all their efforts to find the little girl had so far failed. But they insisted that their resolve would not weaken and said they would "pursue all avenues" that could help Madeleine. Mr and Mrs McCann, both 41, from Leicestershire, posted the message on their official Find Madeleine website. They said: "It is heartbreaking for our family to accept the likelihood of spending a third Christmas without Madeleine. Her absence is even more tangible at this time of year. It is difficult also to believe that another year has passed by. It has however been an incredibly busy year with so much hard work going into the investigation and campaign to find Madeleine. - 19th December 2009
- Kate and Gerry McCann have issued a fresh appeal for help in finding their missing daughter Madeleine as they face spending a third Christmas without her. The couple also released new pictures of the little girl on their Find Madeleine website. 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. - 18th December 2009
- THE mother of missing Madeleine McCann sobbed yesterday as she made an emotional return to the town where the little girl vanished. Kate McCann visited the church in Praia da Luz, Portugal, where she had prayed for her daughter's safe return, and told of her agony as she faces a third Christmas without Madeleine, who would now be seven. She was hugged by churchgoers as she attended a Mass with Scots husband Gerry. A candle was lit under a photo of the little girl, mounted on a red paper heart. But Kate is understood to have left the resort town without going inside the apartment where she last saw Madeleine on the night in 2007 when she disappeared. It's understood they were unable to contact the British owner for permission. - 14th December 2009
- The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann returned to the small Portuguese seaside resort where she disappeared in 2007, they said Saturday, in a case that grabbed world attention. Kate McCann said in a statement posted on a website dedicated to the search for "Maddie" that she and her husband had visited the village of Praia da Luz on Portugal's southern Algarve coast on Friday. It was Kate McCann's first visit to the area since the couple left in September 2007, four months after Madeleine disappeared from her bedroom in an apartment at a tourist complex on May 3 that year. - 12th December 2009
- THE former Blackpool soldier and convicted paedophile wanted in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann can no longer speak, his lawyer claims. Raymond Hewlett has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and is wanted by police in Britain for offences dating back more than 30 years. Private investigators working with the McCann family also want to question him. They believe he was in the Algarve, an hour's drive away, when three-year-old Maddie was snatched from a holiday apartment in Praia Da Luz in May 2007. He has been wanted since an English couple came forward with new information in May this year. - 10th December 2009
- Madeleine McCann's parents are due to fly to Portugal 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. 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." He continued: "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. - 10th December 2009
- The decision of a Portuguese policeman to launch his second book on the day a libel trial is to start concerning his first book on Madeleine McCann has been described as "regrettable" by her parents' spokesman. Goncalo Amaral, who was involved in the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, will launch his second book, A Mordaca Inglesa (The English Gag), at a Lisbon bookshop on Friday. The launch, set to take place in the evening, coincides with the start of a libel trial in the Portuguese capital on the same day. Kate and Gerry McCann were set to travel to Portugal ahead of the trial opening. Their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "It's regrettable that Mr Amaral chooses to do this on the same day as the trial opening. - 10th December 2009
- A businessman whose firm helped look for Madeleine McCann and who is wanted in the US for an alleged £1.2 million fraud has appeared in court. Kevin Halligen, 48, faced City of Westminster magistrates after he was arrested on an extradition warrant in Oxford. The US Department of Justice issued an indictment for Halligen, from Surrey, earlier this month alleging that he tried to defraud a London law firm of 2.1 million US dollars (£1.3 million). They claim that he took the money as part of a deal to secure the release of Dutch business executives arrested in the Ivory Coast, but instead spent it on a mansion, a gift to his girlfriend, cash machine withdrawals and debit-card transactions. He was arrested on Tuesday at a hotel in Oxford, where he has been staying for several months under an assumed name. - 25th November 209
- 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.’ - 7th November 2009
- Up to 100,000 people an hour from more than 150 countries are viewing a web video, released in the search for Madeleine McCann. The clip targets people who may be close to the person who was involved in her disappearance in 2007. A Minute for Madeleine was released on Tuesday morning by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Centre. The film includes fresh images of how Madeleine might look now, aged six, including one with dark brown hair and tanned skin. It has already been spread across thousands of social networking sites, blogs, and search engines. On Twitter, celebrities including Jonathan Ross, Chris Evans, Alan Carr and Phillip Schofield have "tweeted" the link to their followers. - 4th November 2009
- MADELEINE McCann's brother and sister have started saying they want to find and fight the person who took her. The missing girl's parents yesterday revealed four-year-olds Sean and Amelie are fiercely protective of their big sister. They were just two when Madeleine disappeared from their holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. Glasgow-born dad Gerry said: "They talk about her more than Kate and I talk about her - it's incredible. "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.'" Mum Kate, who has not returned to her post as a GP since Madeleine disappeared, said looking for her daughter had become a full-time job. - 4th November 2009
- Police have released new age-enhanced pictures of Madeleine McCann as part of a fresh appeal for information. The images were published in an online video which officers want internet users to spread worldwide. They hope the video will prick the conscience of "someone close" to Madeleine's abductor. Investigators want a friend, colleague or relative of the culprit to finally reveal the secret they have kept since Madeleine vanished from her bed in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. The appeal comes in a 60-second film which can be viewed on the website of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. The simple film is available in seven languages and shows two images of Madeleine based on how she might look today, aged six. - 3rd November 2009
- 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). - 3rd November 2009
- An international campaign has been launched to "re-energise" the search for missing Madeleine McCann. Everton Football Club have highlighted the cause as the team travels to Portugal - where the youngster vanished two years ago while on a family holiday in Praia de Luz. The Premier League side face Benfica on Thursday in a Europa League match and have commissioned 6,000 T-shirts they want fans to wear bearing the message "We're Still Looking For You". Three thousand shirts bear the message in English with the other half in Portuguese. One of the first images released by Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, in the wake of their daughter's disappearance 29 months ago showed the then four-year-old proudly wearing an Everton shirt. Everton chairman Bill Kenwright said: "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. If we can, perhaps, jog someone's memory or breathe a little fresh life into the hunt for her then it will have been worth it." - 20th October 2009
- 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. - 10th October 2009
- The parents of Madeleine McCann have offered their support to a couple whose two-year-old daughter is feared abducted in New Zealand. Kate and Gerry Mccann said their 'thoughts and prayers' were with Angela and Alan Symes and missing toddler Aisling. The little girl disappeared on Monday as her mother was clearing out the home of her late mother in a quiet Auckland neighbourhood. A thorough police search of the area failed to locate the little girl, and over 40 detectives are now working on the case. They now believe she has probably been abducted. - 9th October 2009
- The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann returned to Portugal on Wednesday for talks with advisors and lawyers as part of their campaign to keep the search for their daughter alive. "We're here to see our advisors and understand how we can continue the search for Madeleine," said Gerry McCann. "Authorities have said there is no evidence that Madeleine is dead and there is no evidence to implicate us. From our perspective, the most important thing is that Madeleine probably still is alive and is out there, and we are asking people to help us continue the search.". He said the couple wanted to explore ways of keeping the search for Madeleine going in Portugal. The three-year-old went missing from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz two years ago during a family holiday. - 23rd September 2009
- Madeleine McCann's parents have been told they could receive more than £1million compensation from a former police detective who claimed their daughter was dead. Kate and Gerry McCann are pursuing legal action against Goncalo Amaral after winning a gagging order against the publication of his book. Mrs McCann returned to Portugal on Wednesday for the first time since being quizzed by police over her daughter Madeleine's disappearance. After the couple met with their Portuguese lawyers and advisers in Lisbon, Mrs McCann said: "Our main worry, obviously, was people believing that Madeleine was dead. If people believe that she is not alive then people will stop looking for her. 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.". Mr McCann said there was no evidence his daughter is dead. He said a team of private investigators is still working on the case and is going through "hundreds of thousands" of pieces of information. - 23rd September 2009
- Detectives hunting Victoria Beckham lookalike in Madeleine McCann case receive 1,000 new leads. Kate and Gerry McCann say they have received 1,000 reports following their appeal over a Victoria Beckham lookalike who may be connected to the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine. Investigators for the family want to trace the woman, said to resemble Victoria Beckham, who asked a witness at a Spanish marina if he was there to deliver her 'new daughter'. The well-dressed woman was described as possibly having an Australian accent and appeared agitated. The McCann family's private detectives are following up on 1,000 calls and emails received since last month, including many which investigators describe as 'viable leads'. - 21st September 2009
- Ulster detective leading the hunt on why he thinks she’s being held captive just like Jaycee Dugard. 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. - 13th September 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." - 10th September 2009
- The father of missing Madeleine McCann has said it is "unforgivable" that Portuguese people may have been led to believe his daughter was 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 disappearance of the youngster. In the book, Mr Amaral alleges Madeleine is dead and that her parents Kate and Gerry McCann were somehow involved in her disappearance. Speaking at a news conference at the Rothley Court Hotel in Leicestershire, Mr McCann, 41, 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. - 9th September 2009
- A judge has banned the sale of a book by a former investigating police officer in the Madeleine McCann case, a spokesman for the missing girl's parents said. Clarence Mitchell said Kate and Gerry McCann were "absolutely delighted". A judge at Lisbon's main civil court banned any further publication and sale of The Truth Of The Lie by Goncalo Amaral. He claimed the girl was dead and said he did not believe her parents' account that Madeleine was taken while they were eating with friends nearby. In a statement, the McCanns said: "Mr Amaral's central thesis has no evidence whatsoever to support it. - 9th September 2009
- 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.” - 6th September 2009
- An innocent man was questioned by police after he was seen with his step-daughter who looks like Madeleine McCann, it was reported. Jon Hazlehurst and step-daughter Lauren were asked to go to the police station after a member of the public saw them at a petrol station and saw the similarity, The Sun said. The fire protection officer, of Kingsbridge, Devon, initially thought the episode was a prank. He told the Sun: "I was just really surprised throughout the whole thing - I felt a bit uncomfortable because I hadn't done anything wrong. "The police were very polite and I understood that they had to follow up the lead, even if it didn't come to anything." - 4th September 2009
- Kate and Gerry McCann have watched their twins start at the primary school where missing Madeleine should already be a pupil. Madeleine had already been accepted at the school and was meant to start lessons four months after she disappeared while on holiday in Portugal on May 3, 2007. It was a proud moment for her parents when they dropped off twins Sean and Amelie for their first day in primary class in Thurmaston, Leics. But the occasion was tinged with overwhelming sadness for the couple. - 3rd September 2009
- The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have said that the reappearance of child kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard 18 years after she disappeared "only makes us more determined" to find their daughter. Skip related content Jaycee 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." They continued: "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." - 28th August 2009
- A wealthy Australian socialite and her daughter are "perplexed" over claims their luxury yacht was involved in the mystery disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, a report said. Rhonda Wyllie and Melissa Karlson have denied any link to the May 2007 incident after investigators appealed for information about a Victoria Beckham-lookalike with an Australian accent. The pair, widow and daughter of property tycoon Bill Wyllie, have denied being in Spain on the night the agitated woman allegedly asked a bystander if he was there to deliver her "new daughter." Their yacht, "Willpower," is believed to have been moored in the Barcelona marina where the encounter took place. "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," their spokesman told national news agency AAP. - 10th August 2009
- A wealthy Australian socialite and her daughter are "perplexed" over claims their luxury yacht was involved in the mystery disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, a report said. Rhonda Wyllie and Melissa Karlson have denied any link to the May 2007 incident after investigators appealed for information about a Victoria Beckham-lookalike with an Australian accent. The pair, widow and daughter of property tycoon Bill Wyllie, have denied being in Spain on the night the agitated woman allegedly asked a bystander if he was there to deliver her "new daughter." Their yacht, "Willpower," is believed to have been moored in the Barcelona marina where the encounter took place. "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," their spokesman told national news agency AAP. - 10th August 2009
- The search for Madeleine McCann is focused on Australia after police there said a woman has come forward claiming to know someone being sought by private detectives. Investigators for the family want to trace a Victoria Beckham-lookalike who asked a witness at a Spanish marina if he was there to deliver her "new daughter", just days after the little girl's disappearance. The well-dressed woman was described as possibly having an Australian accent and appeared agitated. A spokesman for the New South Wales Police Force said: "Detectives have received information about a woman who is similar in description of the woman being sought by private investigators examining the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann. - 9th September 2009
- Investigators searching for Madeleine McCann are now focusing on Australia after a woman told police she knows the Victoria Beckham lookalike they are trying to locate. Detectives for the McCanns want to trace the woman who asked a witness at a Spanish marina if he was there to deliver her "new daughter". Witnesses say the woman had an Australian accent and appeared agitated. A New South Wales Police Force spokesman said: "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. - 9th September 2009
- An Australian woman has denied any knowledge about the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann after a friend identified her as a mystery witness in the case, a report said on Sunday. "I have no connection to the little girl," Judith Aron, 53, told Fairfax Media from her home in the southern city of Melbourne. Private detectives last week said they were seeking a "Victoria Beckham lookalike" with an Australian accent who spoke to a British man outside a bar in Barcelona three days after Madeleine vanished in Portugal in 2007. She allegedly asked him whether he was "here to deliver my new daughter", before realising he was not the man she was looking for. - 9th September 2009
- An Australian has come forward claiming to know the identity of a woman being sought by investigators probing the disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann, police in Sydney said on Saturday. The woman spoke to detectives after a widely-publicised call for information about a woman, thought to be Australian, who is believed to hold vital clues to the case. "On Friday afternoon, a Sydney woman provided a formal statement to detectives at a Sydney police station," a police spokesman said. "She claims to know the identity of the woman being sought by the private investigators attached to the McCann family." The information would be passed on to Australia's national police for investigation, he added. Detectives told reporters in London they were seeking a "Victoria Beckham lookalike" with an Australian accent who spoke to a British man outside a bar in Barcelona three days after Madeleine vanished in 2007. - 8th August 2009
- Private detectives searching for Madeleine McCann are 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. The woman, who had an Australian accent, reportedly asked a witness at a Spanish marina if he was there to deliver her "new daughter" just days after Madeleine's disappearance, and her e-fit was issued on Thursday with an appeal for people who recognised her to come forward. 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.
- Private detectives for family say woman seen in Barcelona bar days after girl's disappearance in 2007 may provide new lead. A "Victoria Beckham lookalike" is being sought by private detectives searching for Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal in May 2007.The woman, said to have an Australian or New Zealand accent, was reportedly seen by two British men in Barcelona, Spain, days after Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz shortly before her fourth birthday. The woman said something to one of the men that has convinced investigators working for the McCanns that she could provide potentially significant information. An efit of the woman was released today at a London press conference by a family spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, and David Edgar, the retired detective who now leads the search for the girl. Mitchell said the two men first saw the woman when they were drinking in bars in Barcelona's Port Olympic Marina at about 2am on 7 May 2007. Madeleine went missing on the night of 3 May, providing enough time, Edgar suggested, for the child to have been transported to the Spanish city by sea or road. Neither Mitchell nor Edgar would reveal details of the conversation. - 6th August 2009
- Raymond Hewlett, the pervert who Madeleine McCann investigators want to question, says he didn't kill her and he never saw her in real life - only on TV and on posters. The 64-year-old was said to have been living in the Algarve in Portugal when Madeleine McCann, 3, went missing from her holiday apartment in 2007. Hewlett has been living in Germany undergoing treatment for throat cancer, and detectives have been keen to speak to him there. Hewlett is reported to have said, “It’s obvious why they’re interested in me. 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." He also said the only time he had ever seen Madeleine was on television and in posters. Hewlett said there was someone who could verify his alibi but that he didn't want to bring them into it. - 8th July 2009
- THE disgraced ex-boss of the Madeleine McCann probe has been charged with torturing a witness in another missing child case. Goncalo Amaral, 49, is accused of punching and slapping Leandro Silva - who wants £430,000 compensation - during the 2004 hunt for Joana Cipriano, eight. Mum Leonor, 36, girlfriend of Leandro, was jailed for killing the girl in Figueira, Portugal, just miles from Praia da Luz where Maddie disappeared. - 2nd July 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. - 29th June 2009
- 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." - 21st June 2009
- Private detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann want to speak to a man who is currently on remand in a British jail. 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, 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, refused to comment 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." - 21st June 2009
- Final attempts by Madeleine McCann investigators to speak to a convicted paedophile about her disappearance have failed. Private detectives searching for the missing girl had hoped to speak to Raymond Hewlett, who was living in Portugal at the time she went missing on May 3, 2007. But negotiations with his German lawyer broke down, the McCanns' spokesman said. Hewlett, 64, is terminally ill with cancer and is now said to be too unwell for an interview. Retired UK policemen Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley, who flew to Germany to speak to him, said they were "very disappointed" with the lawyer's behaviour. Sky sources say Hewlett has been demanding thousands of pounds in cash to help the inquiry - with the McCanns refusing to pay a penny. Mr Edgar said: "I have been attempting to speak with Raymond Hewlett to eliminate him from our investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. - 11th June 2009
- Final attempts by private detectives searching for Madeleine McCann to interview a convicted British paedophile about her disappearance have failed. Retired UK policemen Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley flew to Germany hoping to speak to Raymond Hewlett, who is said to have been staying an hour's drive from the McCanns' Portuguese holiday flat when the little girl vanished in May 2007. But negotiations between the private investigators and Hewlett's German lawyer broke down. Mr Edgar, who has been employed by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann to look for their daughter, said he was "very disappointed" with the lawyer's behaviour. He added: "I have been attempting to speak with Raymond Hewlett to eliminate him from our investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. - 11th June 2009.
- THE McCanns face losing PR man Clarence Mitchell after their tycoon backer stopped paying his wages. Kate and Gerry believe keeping the hunt for their missing daughter in the media is crucial in their efforts to track down Madeleine. But Scots millionaire Brian Kennedy has pulled the plug on funding their media team. Mitchell is now having to be paid out of The Madeleine Fund. The fund is likely to be empty by the end of the year. And there are fears it cannot sustain Mitchell's salary while paying for the ongoing investigation into Madeleine's disappearance. Kennedy, 49, whose firm Latium owns Sale Rugby Club and Everest Double Glazing, has seen his fortune drop from £350million to £300million in the credit crunch. - 8th June 2009.
- A MAN who kidnapped a Northwich teenager 21 years ago has been named as the number one suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann by the toddler’s. Raymond Hewlett, who was 43 at the time, was jailed for six years after he abducted a 14-year-old Cuddington girl from her paper round at knifepoint. Hewlett, now 64, has been described by the McCanns as ‘one line of inquiry’ by private investigators into the disappearance of their daughter, Madeleine. Madeleine, then three, vanished from a holiday apartment in the Algarve in May 2007. Guardian archives recall how Weaverham High School pupil Claire Henderson was kidnapped on January 15, 1988 as she was completing her paper round. Claire was snatched halfway through her paper round on the Valley Lane estate and had delivered 12 of her 24 papers when Hewlett approached her telling her he was a policeman. - 3rd June 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. - 31st May 2009
- As the hunt for Madeleine McCann steps up again, Portuguese police are telling anyone who comes forward with new information: “The case is closed, she is dead.” And they know this – how? No body has ever been found. So Madeleine’s parents refuse to give up hope. The Portuguese plods have no right to take that hope away. Paedophile Raymond Hewlett says he “knows nothing”. But somebody does. The McCanns are right to keep searching. From the start, the Portuguese cops have been more hindrance than help. British detectives say the Algarve is awash with paedophiles. Of course it is. Because there’s little chance of them being nicked by local coppers who couldn’t find their own bottoms with sat nav. - 30th May 2009
- A convicted paedophile linked to the Madeleine McCann investigation has given a DNA sample to UK police. Raymond Hewlett voluntarily gave a sample of his DNA to police in Germany after detectives investigating an incident from 1975 requested the sample. The 64-year-old gave a saliva sample to police in his hospital bed at the University Clinic in Aachen where he is being treated for throat cancer, according to German newspaper Bild. The sample relates to an investigation by West Yorkshire police into incidents which occurred in 1975. A police spokesman said they "actively wanted to speak to" Hewlett in relation to their ongoing investigation into the 34-year-old case. - 29th May 2009
- Portuguese authorities say nothing that has emerged in recent days justifies reopening their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. This comes after it was revealed that a British paedophile had been identified as a "person of interest" by the McCann family's private investigators. The Portuguese authorities said there had been no "concrete and credible facts" to justify reopening the case. Madeleine, then three, vanished from an Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007. The Portuguese police are no longer actively investigating the case, but the McCanns, of Rothley, Leicestershire, are conducting a private investigation. In a brief written statement to the BBC, the office of Portugal's attorney general said that "the case will be reopened if and when concrete and credible facts exist that justify it, which until now has not yet happened". - 27th May 2009
- Retired British detectives searching for Madeleine McCann have welcomed convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett's offer to answer their questions. The two ex-policemen employed by the little girl's family hope to interview him about her disappearance in the "near future", a source close to them said. Hewlett, 64, is said to have been staying around an hour's drive from the McCanns' holiday flat in Praia da Luz in Portugal when Madeleine vanished in May 2007. Over the weekend the family's private investigators - former UK detectives Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley - flew to Aachen in Germany, where Hewlett is being treated in hospital. They had hoped to quiz him about his movements around the time that Madeleine went missing. But having failed to gain access to him they returned to the UK, the source - 26th May 2009
- The former Portuguese police chief who accused the parents of Madeleine McCann of involvement in her disappearance, has been found guilty of falsifying evidence in another missing child case. Goncalo Amaral, who was taken off the Madeleine McCann investigation after five months in 2007, was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence by a court in Portugal. As one of the most senior detectives in Portugal's judicial police, Mr Amaral was put in charge when three-year-old Madeleine, from Rothley, Leics, vanished in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007. His theory that she had died in an accident and her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, covered up her death and hid her body led to the couple being declared "arguidos" or official suspects in the case. - 23rd May 2009.
- Kate and Gerry McCann have met the parents of other youngsters who have disappeared, ahead of International Missing Children's Day. At an event on London's South Bank, the couple spoke of how they couldn't bear to meet other families in their situation in the weeks after Madeleine vanished from Praia du Luz in Portugal in 2007. But they explained they now draw strength from sharing their experiences. Mrs McCann said: "It's easy to meet families where the children have been found because that gives you hope. - 19th May 2009.
- Kate and Gerry McCann are joining families of other vanished youngsters to mark International Missing Children's Day. The couple will attend an event on London's South Bank to publicise the plight of the mothers and fathers left wondering what happened to their children many years after their disappearance. They recently marked the second anniversary of their daughter Madeleine's disappearance from their holiday flat in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, on May 3 2007, just days before her fourth birthday. Also taking part in the event will be the mother and sister of Katrice Lee, who was two when she disappeared from a Naafi shopping complex in Paderborn, Germany, on November 28 1981. Natasha Lee, Katrice's sister, will make a speech and read a short poem. - 18th May 2009.
- 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. Investigators working for Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have been passed possible names for a man seen loitering around the apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in the days before the three-year-old went missing. They are also investigating possible sightings of her in Portugal which were reported to police but apparently not followed up. - 18th May 2009.
- An artist's impression of the latest suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance has been published. The image shows a "very ugly" man who appeared to be watching the apartment where the little girl was staying with her family on the day before she vanished. It is based on the account of a British woman who was on holiday in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz when Madeleine went missing on May 3, 2007. She saw the man, who had pitted skin and a large nose, twice in the days before the little girl disappeared.- 7th May 2009.
- Private investigators are looking into 30 new reported sightings of Madeleine McCann, Sky News reported. The calls came after her parents appeared on Oprah Winfrey's talk show to mark the two year anniversary of her disappearance. There have also been thousands of new hits on the Find Madeleine Web site. "All of the calls are being checked out and where there is a shred of hope they are being investigated," said McCann spokesman, Clarence Mitchell. Two former British detectives are now working for the campaign and will be handling the new information. - 6th May 2009.
- Kate and Gerry McCann have told Oprah Winfrey they believe Madeleine will be found. The chat show interview came a day after the second anniversary of the little girl's disappearance from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3, 2007. The interview forms part of a media campaign accompanied by a photographic impression of how Madeleine may look now, if still alive, produced by a forensic imaging artist. The image of Madeleine at the age of six shows how she might have changed since her apparent abduction and will be used on posters to be distributed globally. - 5th May 2009.
- Madeleine McCann "may have forgotten who she is", a criminologist has claimed, as her parents take their appeal for their missing daughter to a new level. Kate and Gerry McCann's resurgent campaign to find their daughter will reach its widest ever global audience tonight as an emotional interview with American chatshow host Oprah Winfrey is broadcast to more than 100 countries. They said there was a "very real likelihood" that Madeleine is still alive and disclosed that they have kept her bedroom ready at their home in Rothley, Leics, for her return. However as the show was recorded, Professor David Canter, the criminal profiler, revealed that the girl, who was three when she disappeared in Portugal two years ago, may not be able to remember her former identity. - 4th May 2009.
- The parents of Madeleine McCann prepare to mark the two year anniversary of their daughter's disappearance hoping a new photo will prompt fresh leads. Gerry and Kate McCann employed a forensic imaging artist to show how she may have aged in the two years since she vanished from the family's holiday apartment in in Praia da Luz, Portugal. It features on posters being distributed globally and the couple believe it could prove "crucial" in finding out what happened to her. In a statement issued ahead of Sunday, the second anniversary of their daughter's apparent abduction, the McCanns said: "It is two long years since Madeleine was taken. It is two years since we were a happy family of five. - 4th May 2009.
- The parents of Madeleine McCann are hoping for a significant response after they released of an image of how their daughter may look now. Private detectives and telephone hotline staff are primed to receive fresh leads from the age progression picture, which was unveiled on Oprah Winfrey's US chat show on Friday. Gerry and Kate McCann employed a forensic imaging artist to show how she may have aged in the two years since she vanished from the family's holiday apartment in in Praia da Luz, Portugal. It features on posters being distributed globally and the couple believe it could prove "crucial" in finding out what happened to her. In a statement issued ahead of Sunday, the second anniversary of their daughter's apparent abduction, the McCanns said: "It is two long years since Madeleine was taken. It is two years since we were a happy family of five. - 2nd May 2009.
- The parents of Madeleine McCann are hoping for a breakthrough in the case of their abducted daughter Madeleine with the release of a computer generated image showing how she might look at the age of 6. Maddie McCann at the age of 3 and an 'age progression' image of her at the age of 6 . Two years after her disappearance from a holiday apartment in The Algarve, Kate and Gerry McCann commissioned a forensic imaging artist to produce a photographic likeness of what Madeleine would look like at the age of six. The image, which the family believes could be "crucial" in finding out what happened to her, was revealed late on Friday by US chat show host Oprah Winfrey. - 2nd May 2009
- Gerry and Kate McCann's very public ordeal has highlighted a dearth of support for the families of missing people, a charity has said. Sunday is the second anniversary of Madeleine McCann's disappearance in Portugal and Missing People believes more could have been done to help her family and those like them. The charity's director of policy and research, Geoff Newiss, said: "Two years on and Madeleine McCann's disappearance from Praia da Luz continues to highlight the need for better services and support for families affected." Mr Newiss continued: "Families like Madeleine McCann's need more help with the emotional, social and practical impacts that occur when someone they love goes missing. - 2nd May 2009
- People living in the village of Rothley have refused to give up hope that missing youngster Madeleine McCann will be found. Aa the search for the little girl enters its third year, there were prayers and fund-raising events to show support for the family as their ordeal goes on. Madeleine disappeared from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007 in a suspected abduction. Since then there has been a worldwide hunt to find the youngster. Schoolchildren yesterday dressed in yellow and green – the colours of the Find Madeleine appeal – and sold cakes to raise money for the search. The 311 pupils at Rothley Primary School, which the youngster was due to attend before her disappearance, in Mountsorrel Lane, Rothley, raised £441 for the charity leading the campaign. - 2nd May 2009
- Madeleine McCann's parents are to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey to mark the second anniversary of their daughter's disappearance. Kate and Gerry McCann will fly to Chicago next week to film a one-hour special with the American chatshow queen. It will be broadcast on May 3, two years after Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The show will also feature footage from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington. The US charity has produced age-progressed images for the programme to show what Madeleine would look like now, aged five. Last year the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell denied the couple were at the centre of a bidding war worth £1m between Winfrey and ABC star Barbara Walters. - 15th Aprl 2009
- The Archbishop of York has called for renewed hope in the searches for Claudia Lawrence and Madeleine McCann. Dr John Sentamu said he could not imagine the pain and suffering endured by the families of the missing. But he said the Easter celebration of the triumph of life over death should inspire people never to give up hoping they will be found. "In both Claudia and Madeleine's cases, someone knows where they are," Archbishop Sentamu told the News of the World. "The message of Easter is a message of hope, and our hope that those who are lost may yet be found must not be diminished by the lack of media coverage that comes as time passes. "Hope is the enemy of fear and gives birth to both actions and inspiration. - 12th Aprl 2009
- The fund to help find Madeleine McCann is likely to run dry by the end of the year, her father Gerry has said. Money for the international search operation is dwindling, Gerry McCann said. "There's still money in it. I can't give you the exact figure, but we have spent - and continue to spend - a lot of money with the aim of trying to enhance the chance of finding her," he told The Portugal News. "It won't dry up in the next few months, but probably by the end of the year, at the rate we are running." The fund is believed to have received about £2.5 million since Madeleine disappeared from Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007. Mr McCann, 40, gave the interview to the English language newspaper after returning to Portugal to help in a reconstruction being filmed for a Channel Four Cutting Edge documentary. Earlier this year, accounts lodged with Companies House showed nearly £2 million was raised in the first 10 months after the little girl went missing. - 10th Aprl 2009
- The father of Madeleine McCann has returned to Portugal to advise private detectives filming a reconstruction of her disappearance, it has been revealed. Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said Gerry McCann and friends Jane Tanner and Matthew Oldfield, who were with him and his wife Kate on the night their daughter vanished, are in Praia da Luz. The McCanns' private investigators are making the reconstruction, which is also being filmed as part of a Channel Four Cutting Edge documentary. Viewers will see actors playing out what witnesses claim happened on the night of May 3, 2007, with witness statements read out over the top. Negotiations are under way for the film to be broadcast on Portuguese television and across Europe, and it will be available on the Find Madeleine website. - 5th Aprl 2009
- Gerry McCann, the father of missing Madeleine McCann, has returned to the Algarve resort where his daughter went missing almost two years ago to film a reconstruction of the fateful evening. Gerry McCann, accompanied by a British film crew, arrived in Praia da Luz in southern Portugal on Saturday morning to advise on a reconstruction that will be aired in a Channel 4 documentary to mark the second anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance next month. Actors have been hired to play the parts of the Madeleine, her family, the seven friends dining with her parents on the night of May 3 2007, and a suspect reportedly seen by one of the friends carrying a child away from the McCann’s holiday apartment that evening. - 4th Aprl 2009
- A the second anniversary of her disappearance nears, Rothley girl Madeleine McCann is still high on the news agenda, according to website Hitwise. The site, which moniters searches carried out on the top search engines in the UK such as Google and Yahoo, ranks "Madeleine McCann" as the fifth most searched phrase in the news in March. Madeleine was only beaten by "Crufts", "Transport for London", "BNP" and "Crufts 2009". Other highly searched terms on news sites in March included "Dogs", "13-year-old dad", "David Cameron" and "Cannabis". On general searches, the highest searched terms included "Jade Goody", "Andrei Arshavin", "Facebook" and "Natasha Richardson". - 31st March 2009.
- The parents of Madeleine McCann have launched a new appeal for information about their daughter focused on the area where she went missing. About 10,000 leaflets written in Portuguese will be handed out and posted through letterboxes in Praia da Luz, Lagos and Burgau in southern Portugal over the next fortnight. Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby. The Algarve campaign will be backed up with billboards and advertising on three buses and a van. - 24th March 2009
- The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann are to launch a fresh appeal for information focused in Portugal, in the run-up to the second anniversary of her disappearance, they said Tuesday. The campaign will see posters, billboards and advertisements springing up over the next few weeks in the Lagos and Luz areas of southern Portugal, while leaflets will be distributed in local markets and letters sent to residents. The toddler, then aged three, vanished from an apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz, on the Algarve, on May 3, 2007 as her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant. - 24th March 2009 - The father of missing toddler Madeleine McCann today called for more stringent regulation of the press and slammed coverage surrounding the disappearance of his daughter in Portugal in 2007, calling it some of the most "irresponsible and damaging" in press history. Gerry McCann, talking to the Commons culture, media and sport committee looking into press standards, said that despite an initial desire in some elements of the press to help find Madeleine, her disappearance quickly became a means to sell newspapers. He added that ficticious stories were detrimental to the search for Madeleine. "Our family has been the focus of some of the most sensational, untruthful, irresponsible and damaging reporting in the history of the press," McCann told the committee. - 10th March 2009
- Madeleine McCann's father has accused the media of making up stories once news of the investigation into her disappearance dried up. Gerry McCann said his first instinct when Madeleine disappeared was to appeal for information so people would come forward. "At that point we were desperate for information, and desperate for our daughter to be found," he told MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport committee. "We were desperate, and that is why we spoke to the media, and did our appeals." But, he said, once information about Madeleine became more scarce a number of ficticious stories began to surface and "it became a free-for-all. "We saw pressure on journalists to produce stories, when there was not anything new to report." "I would say there were fictitious stories which were not necessarily libellous or defamatory. "Then clearly there was another turn when we were declared as arguidos, and then it was a free-for-all. - 10th March 2009
- The father of missing Madeleine McCann said on Tuesday his daughter became a profitable commodity for newspapers as they turned rumours about her disappearance into front page news. Gerry McCann told a parliamentary committee investigating privacy and the press that he and his wife Kate found themselves at the centre of an international media storm when Madeline vanished shortly before her fourth birthday in May 2007. He said an initially helpful relationship with the press turned into the "Gerry and Kate Show." Journalists on assignment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, where Madeline disappeared from a holiday chalet, were under such pressure that "irrelevances, half truths or suggestions" became page one news, he said. "Madeline, I believe, was made a commodity, and profits were to be made," he said. - 10th March 2009
- The spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann is set to address the Oxford Union about whether media coverage helped or hindered the search for their daughter Madeleine. Clarence Mitchell will discuss the response to Madeleine's disappearance from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal, on May 3 2007 while her parents dined with friends nearby. Despite a massive police operation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found. Next week, Mr Mitchell will join Mr McCann to give evidence to MPs about how the media reported on the disappearance. - 5th March 2009
- Public relations expert Justine McGuinness, who acted for Kate and Gerry McCann's Find Madeleine Fund, is suing Mirror Group Newspapers for libel damages. McGuinness, who spent three months working as a communications strategist for the fund, is suing over a story in The People in October 2007 which she said was defamatory. The front page story, headed: "Woman who cost Maddie fund £51k" was also published on the paper's website. In her writ, McGuinness said the story suggested she had deliberately ripped off the Find Madeleine Fund by overcharging the McCanns for expenses to which she was not entitled and inflating her overtime. - 5th March 2009
- TWO teenagers who carried out a door-to-door collection for missing Madeleine McCann pocketed the cash. Gareth Trainer, 19, and Dale Armstrong, 16, managed to get hold of just £4 before police were called in. Trainer, of Hawick, Roxburghshire, was given 80 hours' community service at Jedburgh Sheriff Court after admitting obtaining money by fraud on September 13. Armstrong got a similar sentence at a previous hearing where sheriff Kevin Drummond described the offence as "despicable". Madeleine, three, disappeared on May 3, 2007, on a family holiday in the Algarve. - 14th Febuary 2009
- BRITISH police spent more than half a million pounds assisting the Portuguese investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance. Leicestershire Police's part in the search for the missing girl cost £548,477 in 2007-8, the force said. But it was reimbursed for most of this amount by a Home Office grant of £525,069. - 14th Febuary 2009
- THE family of Madeleine McCann last night spoke of the “untold harm” done by an art gallery which pasted the missing youngster’s face on to pornographic magazine models as part of a “satirical” exhibition. Brian Healy, Madeleine’s grandfather, told the Daily Post that the London gallery at the centre of the scandal had no idea how much it had hurt his daughter Kate and husband Gerry. Speaking from his Mossley Hill home, Mr Healy said: “They don’t appreciate what this does to Kate and Gerry. It’s totally insensitive. “We will try to ignore this but we’ve got enough to do finding Madeleine.” The Decima Gallery in Hackney was last night condemned by MPs and the NSPCC. But David West, co founder of Decima, refused to apologise for the event that he promoted with a release entitled: Make Your Own Maddy McCann Porn. - 23rd January 2009
- THE hunt for missing Madeleine McCann has led to the smashing of a paedophile porn ring in Spain, it was reported yesterday.A tip-off to the Barcelona based private detective agency hired by Liverpool-born Kate McCann and her husband Gerry six months after Madeleine disappeared from their holiday apartment on Portugal's Algarve coast in May, 2007, led to the arrest of 13 people and an investigation into 10 others, according to a Madrid newspaper. El Mundo reported.The tip claimed Madeleine, who was just a few days short of her fourth birthday when she vanished from a holiday apartment on the Algarve, Portugal, in May 2007, was among children shown in pornographic videos being distributed on the internet.The Metodos detective agency traced the video material. Madeleine was not one of the children shown, but all the information was passed to Spain's National Police which opened an investigation.Last month a series of raids was carried-out across Spain and 13 people were arrested. A group of 10 others are being investigated. by a judge in Barcelona in over-all charge of the inquiry.Francisco Marco, the head of the detective agency, said the videos were "the worst I have ever seen in my life". He said all the children shown were under 10.A spokesman at National Police headquarters in Madrid confirmed yesterday (MON) that information supplied by the Metodos agency had led to 13 arrests and the seizure of "abundant material", including 28 hard discs containing pornographic film using various children, all of them younger than 10. - 21st January 2009
- Madeleine McCann's father returned to Britain after making his first visit to Portugal in 16 months. Gerry McCann had a "positive" meeting with his Portuguese lawyers about the search for his missing daughter, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said. Mr McCann, 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, said his brief trip to Portugal would be "the first of several" over the next few months. He also indicated a willingness to improve relations with the Portuguese authorities, which were strained after police named him and his wife Kate as suspects in Madeleine's disappearance. In an interview with news agency Lusa, Mr McCann pledged to work "as much as possible" with officials in Portugal to look for Madeleine. - 14th January 2009
- A young Tory campaigner who bragged about dressing up as Madeleine McCann has apologised after being kicked out of the Conservative Party. Matthew Lewis, a Queen Mary, University of London student, said he was looking for a blonde wig, "pink pyjamas, a teddy bear and a vial of fake blood" for a fancy dress costume. The activist, formerly the chairman of the Staffordshire Conservative Future (CF) group, posted the comments on his Facebook page ahead of a New Year bash. After the party, Mr Lewis wrote on Facebook: "There was a brief moment when I thought I might have gone too far with elements of the costume, but it was okay." He added that another guest at the party was dressed as Baby P, the toddler who died after a catalogue of horrific abuse. Mr Lewis' comments were condemned by Tory chairman Caroline Spelman, who branded his behaviour "totally unacceptable" and confirmed he had been expelled. - 10th January 2009
- Madeleine McCann's parents said they are pleased with the response to a Christmas television appeal for information on their daughter's disappearance. Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley, released a video featuring previously unseen footage of their daughter in the run up to Christmas. It included clips filmed during Christmas 2006 – the last time Mr and Mrs McCann were together with all three of their children over the festive period. In the video, the couple asked for people to help them make this their last Christmas without their daughter. Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in Portugal, on May 3 last year. Today, McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "There has been a good response in the wake of the video. Kate and Gerry are very pleased. - 2nd January 2009