Detective 'Certain' Madeleine Is Alive

Updated:08:47, Sunday November 18, 2007

A private detective hired by Kate and Gerry McCann has said he is certain their missing daughter Madeleine is alive.

Madeleine is still missing

Francisco Marco also told a US television station that the net is closing on the youngster's abductors.

The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "He's very confident.

"He's 100% certain that she's alive and believes that they are 'very, very close' to finding the kidnapper.

"Naturally we are extremely encouraged by any indication by our investigators that things are going well.

"But there have been a number of leads that have come to nothing and Kate and Gerry remain cautious."

The comments come after new testimony emerged that Madeleine was seen in central Portugal two days after she disappeared from her family's holiday apartment.

The apartment in Praia da Luz

Mr Mitchell confirmed that a new sighting at an undisclosed location on May 5 was being investigated.

But he added: "This is very much an ongoing inquiry by our investigators. We will not comment on individual sightings."

Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, went missing from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz as her parents dined nearby with friends.

The McCanns, both still official suspects in her disappearance, hired agency Metodo 3 to boost efforts to find their daughter.

Speaking earlier this month, Mr Marco said he thought Madeleine is alive in Morocco.

He also said he was following up reported sightings of a blonde-haired girl with her distinctive right eye.

Mr Marco said: "We have a six-month agreement with the McCanns.

"We have already spent a month and a half working. I will find her before that period is up."

First Picture Inside Madeleine's Bedroom

Updated:11:53, Monday November 12, 2007

The first picture from inside the bedroom that Madeleine McCann vanished from in Portugal has emerged.

Inside the Ocean Club room

The single bed where the four-year-old was sleeping before she went missing on May 3 can be seen pushed against a wall.

Apartment 5A in the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz has been locked up since a second round of police forensic tests were carried out two weeks ago.

Gerry and Kate McCann left the little girl and twins Sean and Amelie, two, asleep in the room while they dined at a nearby tapas restaurant.

The new unofficial image is a combination of three stills taken of the room, stitched together to give a panoramic view.

Sky's crime correspondent, Martin Brunt, said the photographs were taken through a window at the front of the apartment - the same window the McCanns believe the youngster's kidnapper used to escape.

View of the open door

The photographer was shooting directly into Madeleine's room from the far side of the building that overlooked the tapas restaurant and swimming pool, Brunt explained.

There is an open door visible on the left-hand side of the shot through which Gerry McCann last checked on his children at 9.05pm. At 10pm, Kate McCann raised the alarm.

A blue blanket can also be seen on the bed. Police are thought to have tested the theory a blanket was used by Madeleine's abductor to carry her out of the apartment.

Detectives reportedly still believe the apartment could hold vital clues to the case.

The current thinking of the Portuguese police is that an abductor probably got in through the patio doors by the swimming pool and took Madeleine out the same way, said Brunt.

Meanwhile, there are new fears that the McCanns may remain arguidos, or formal suspects, in their daughter's disappearance for the next 15 years under Portuguese law.

Police last night claimed they were on the brink of cracking the Madeleine McCann case.

Two of her parents pals who were dining in the tapas bar the night the youngster vanished have told detectives they want to change their stories, it was claimed. Lawyers acting for the pair are said to have contacted officers leading the probe saying their clients want to be re-interviewed so they can give fresh details.

According to reports the two members of the so-called "Tapas Seven" have asked for their names to be kept secret to avoid pressure from the McCanns. It comes just 48 hours after it was revealed Paulo Rebelo - the new police chief brought in to review the case - believed the secret to the mystery lay in 'inconsistencies' in the witnesses' statements.

Last night a source close to the inquiry said: "We have reached a key moment - the vital hours where the whole case may be unravelled.'' At the weekend it was reported four of the Tapas Seven were about to be declared official suspects. Dr Russell O'Brien, 36, and his partner Jane Tanner, 37, Dr Matthew Oldfield, 37, and David Payne, 41, are said to have contacted lawyers amid fears detectives may implicate them in the case of the missing four-year-old.

Yesterday respected Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported: "Lawyers of two of the friends of the McCanns that dined with them on the night of May 3 in the tapas restaurant have contacted police recently and said their clients are willing to be re-questioned so they can 'correct' details of their original statements."

These two members of the group have asked for their identities to be kept secret because they fear that as a result of the ..clarifications' they intend making about what happened the night Madeleine disappeared. 'They may be pressured by people linked to the McCann family.'

The seven pals were dining with Madeleine's GP mum Kate and heart consultant dad Gerry, both 39, when the youngster disappeared. The couple had left her and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie sleeping in the apartment in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz while they ate in a nearby tapas bar.

They and their friends maintained they checked on the youngsters every 20 minutes. Kate reported her daughter missing when she looked in on her at 10pm. The couple's friends then joined fellow holidaymakers and resort staff in a frantic search.

Miss Tanner told police she'd seen an abductor making off with Madeleine when she left the restaurant to check on her own children around 9.15pm. She claimed at first she thought he was another holidaymaker carrying his own child until Kate raised the alarm and she realised she'd witnessed the snatch.

But an independent eyewitness present at the time has since dismissed her account - saying her saw no-one. Mr Payne was the last person outside the McCann family to see Madeleine. Gerry asked him to check on his wife and children while he having a tennis lesson at about 6.30pm. Mr Oldfield has said he entered the McCanns' apartment to check on the children 30 minutes before Madeleine was reported missing.

He told police that though he had seen the McCanns' two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, their sister's bed was out of his sight-line. Dr O'Brien was away from the group for up to 45 minutes between 9.30pm until 10.15pm while he tended to his own child who was being sick in his apartment. He told police he had changed her bed linen, but staff at the resort were said to have denied any change of sheets was requested.

Three of the pals then told police they'd seen the other suspect in the case - 33-year-old ex-pat Brit estate agent Robert Murat - outside the McCanns' apartment that night. Murat insists he did not leave his mum's villa 100 yards away and did not even know a child had vanished until the next morning.

In July police staged a bizarre confrontation between the trio - Dr Fiona Payne, 34, Dr O'Brien and Rachael Oldfield, 36 - and Murat at police HQ. Dr O'Brien reportedly accused Murat of 'peeking into the apartment'.

Afterwards police spokesman Olegario Sousa said there were 'inconsistencies' in the witnesses' accounts. He later declared detectives thought 'more than one person' was involved. Rebelo - the No2 cop in Portugal - has spent the last month reviewing the evidence and, according to insiders, believes the inconsistencies in the witness statements are ..crucial'.

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell yesterday admitted the couple did not know which of their friends had contacted police. He said he'd personally spoken to all seven and they'd all denied it. "After consultation amongst Gerry and Kate McCann's friends I can deny that any approach has been made by their lawyers asking to amend or change the witness statement of any of them,'' he said.

'This report is simply untrue. 'Kate and Gerry's friends, who were with them on May 3, have consistently told the truth and remain happy, indeed they are keen, to be reinterviewed by the police if necessary to clarify any inconsistencies in the statements that the police may think they have identified.

'The friends believe that if such interviews or reinterviews take place it can only lead to Gerry and Kate being eliminated from the inquiry swiftly. The McCanns were declared suspects by detectives in September - the day before they finally flew back to the UK after four months in Portugal.

They deny any involvement in her disappearance and insist she may still be alive. Yesterday, at her home in Exeter, Devon, Miss Tanner said: "I'm not going to make any comment. The friends insist they are barred by strict Portuguese secrecy laws from speaking about the events of May 3. But last week they issued a statement denying they had a 'pact of silence' or were covering up a secret.

'Madeleine Police Made Critical Mistakes'

Updated:14:59, Tuesday November 06, 2007

A child protection expert has accused the Portuguese police of making "critical" mistakes at the start of the Madeleine McCann investigation.

Police on scene in Praia da Luz

Mark Williams-Thomas was commenting after members of the initial response team spoke publicly about the "chaotic" scenes at the apartment in Praia da Luz.

Both officers, who remain anonymous, told reporters the investigation into the missing girl was "fatally flawed".

One said: "To arrive as back-up and find a circus walking in and out of a possible crime scene - well that's ridiculous."

Madeleine McCann

Responding to the statement, Mr Williams-Thomas said: "It was for them to consider the importance of the apartment as a crime scene and secure it immediately, obtaining personal details from everyone who had been in the apartment for later eliminations purposes.

"As soon as they arrived they were in charge and should have taken control."

One of the Portuguese officers also suggested the McCanns' behaviour had been "strange" when the team arrived.

"They were scared, and not the usual scared," he told reporters. "They were jumpy and nervous.

Mark Williams-Thomas

"I don't know, it wasn't normal. None of it was normal and hasn't been right the way through."

But Mr Williams-Thomas replied: "You cannot expect, however educated Gerry and Kate are, for them to be considering the importance of evidence at that stage having just reported Madeleine missing.

"In the first few weeks I was outspoken in my criticism of the Portuguese police in the hope that they would identify with some of the comments made and look to recover the situation.

"Sadly such continued criticism of the police six months on will not help us find Madeleine.

"However, I hope the next time a child goes missing in Portugal the police will do things very differently."

Madeleine McCann went missing from the apartment in Portugal's Algarve on May 3.

2nd November 2007

Private detectives were searching a Moroccan port last night after the first sighting of a girl with Madeleine McCanns distinctive "keyhole" eye.

A Spanish tourist claimed she spotted the missing four-year-old getting into a taxi with a rich Arab woman in her 50s.

Naoual Malhi, 24, was so convinced it was Madeleine she tried to follow the girl into the back of the cab. She was prevented from getting in, but got close enough to the blonde, fair-skinned girl to see the pupil in her right eye ran into the blue-green iris, just like Madeleine.

The holidaymaker took one of the taxi driver's business cards. She phoned him and he revealed he drove them 300km to the north Moroccan port of Al Hoceima. Naoual tipped off Spanish police, who passed on the information to the Portuguese detectives hunting Madeleine.

But they have so far been unable to find the mystery woman or the girl.

Last night, private detectives from Metodo 3, the Barcelona-based child-tracing experts hired by Kate and Gerry McCann, both 39, were scouring the port.

Sources close to the investigation said it was the only reported sighting out of hundreds in the six months since Madeleine vanished that mentioned the distinctive eye. Naoual, who was born in Morocco but now lives in Malaga, Spain, told investigators: "I am certain the girl was Madeleine.

"She looked just like her photograph. She was the right age with blonde hair and fair skin.

"But it was when I looked into her eyes I knew. I saw the mark – the fleck. The little girl was Madeleine.''

Naoual's sighting came while she was on holiday in the coastal town of Fnideq, north-eastern Morocco, on August 21. The source said: "She saw a woman in her 50s with a child who looked like Madeleine.

"She was so suspicious she tried to get into the taxi with them to share it but the woman wouldn't let her.

"That in itself was strange as taxi-sharing is common in Morocco.

"Kate and Gerry have been told about the sighting but are refusing to get their hopes up to avoid desperate disappointment if yet another trail should go cold.

"But obviously this potential sighting has extra significance because of the eye detail."

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell confirmed the couple had been told of the lead, which was "encouraging''.

Madeleine's right eye has a so-called "coloboma" that shows itself as a black mark reaching from the pupil to the edge of the white.

McCanns Look To Spain For Answers

Updated: 01:13, Sunday October 28, 2007

The parents of Madeleine McCann are pinning hopes of finding their missing daughter on private investigators in Spain.

Kate and Gerry McCann

The couple have been told the young girl is most likely in the Iberian Peninsula - an area which includes Spain, Portugal and Andorra - or North Africa.

Six months after Madeleine disappeared, Gerry and Kate McCann made a desperate plea this week during an emotional interview to a Spanish TV network.

The couple released a description of the man they believe took their daughter and launched an anonymous phone help line.

Writing on his regular blog Gerry said: "We did our first interview since being made arguidos, for Spanish TV.

"This was very difficult for us but had one important purpose.

Madeleine McCann

"We announced that private investigators are looking for Madeleine and that there is a dedicated anonymous telephone line for anyone who has information, which may help us to find Madeleine."

The sketches depict a man of southern European or Mediterranean appearance walking with a child in his arms.

They were drawn after a witness saw a man near the McCann's apartment on May 3, the night Madeleine disappeared.

The man is drawn with greasy, straggly hair, wearing a purple or maroon top and beige chinos.

He is aged about 35 to 40, 5ft 6in (1.7m) tall, and of slim build.

"We hope that this picture may jog someone's memory who may have seen this man in the Praia da Luz area on the night or days before Madeleine was abducted," Mr McCann said.

"Someone else may be aware of a man matching this description who has behaved suspiciously at any time since the beginning of May."

:: The anonymous phone line can be reached on +34.902.300.213

Police Raid Homes Of 80 Paedophiles

Updated: 12:26, Thursday October 11, 2007

Portuguese detectives are trawling through a mountain of child pornography for pictures of Madeleine McCann after raiding the homes of 80 suspected paedophiles.

Madeleine's parents are said to be 'encouraged' by the news

The raid on 75 homes - which involved 80 suspects - was the country's biggest police operation against child exploitation.

Paulo Rebelo, a senior criminal investigation co-ordinator at the national police headquarters in Lisbon, has taken over the inquiry and is refocusing on the theory that Madeleine was abducted by a paedophile.

Kate and Gerry McCann, who have been named as suspects over the disappearance of their daughter, are said to be "extremely encouraged" by the reports.

Clarence Mitchell, the family's spokesman, confirmed that 150 computers had been seized in the raids, which were carried out across Portugal.

He said: "We are naturally extremely encouraged by this kind of police activity.

"This was an operation undertaken by officers not on the Madeleine case, but we hope that there will be liaison between the two inquiries.

"If the police are looking at images on 150 computers there might be some information developed from that.

"We would be especially interested to hear whether any of the raids took place in or around Praia da Luz."

Mr Mitchell also spoke about Mr Rebelo, now he is heading the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.

He said: "We welcome whoever is in charge and we would hope that he will work to eliminate any possible abductors and then refocus his efforts on finding Madeleine."

Mr Rebelo's initiative marks a tougher stance against paedophiles in Portugal.

Until 2004, possession of child pornography was not an offence in the country unless the material was sold on.

Appeal To Holidaymakers Over Madeleine

Updated: 07:13, Wednesday October 10, 2007

Tourists who stayed at the resort from where Madeleine McCann disappeared have reportedly been asked to provide DNA samples and fingerprints.

Missing Madeleine

British police are said to have made the appeal after Portuguese detectives failed to identify a number of samples found at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz.

Superintendent Stuart Prior, who is co-ordinating the investigation in Britain, has written to holidaymakers requesting help, a newspaper claimed.

But a spokeswoman for Leicestershire Constabulary would not confirm whether Supt Prior had issued such an appeal.

She also would not say if there had been any attempt to interview former guests.

The Ocean Club resort

A report in The Times said the letter explained that Portuguese detectives had drawn a blank on a number of samples recovered from the resort, including some taken from the McCanns' apartment.

Supt Prior is said to have told tourists in the letter: "I have now been asked by the Portuguese investigation team to arrange for DNA samples and fingerprints to be taken from holidaymakers living in the UK who were staying at the Ocean Club Resort."

He goes on to emphasise that the request is "routine practice", the newspaper reported.

The development comes a month after Kate and Gerry McCann were named as suspects over the disappearance of their daughter.

Madeleine Parents Thank Hollywood Star

By Robert Nisbet
US Correspondent
Updated: 08:06, Wednesday October 10, 2007

Gerry and Kate McCann have thanked Ben Affleck for his "sensitivity" after he postponed his latest film over its uncanny similarities to their daughter's disappearance.

Ben Affleck praised by McCanns

Gone Baby Gone is directed by the actor and stars his brother Casey in the role of a private detective trying to find a missing four-year-old girl.

The Hollywood thriller was to be screened at the London Film Festival next week, but has now had its UK premiere postponed.

At the US premiere in Los Angeles, Ben Affleck says he understands why the distributors, owned by Disney, decided to pull the film.

The actor said: "It just came down to the fact that there is a family there, and there is a country that has been exposed to the story and seems to have become to a certain degree emotionally sensitive to it.

"Disney thought they would err on the side of good taste and postpone it until it calmed down a bit."

Clarence Mitchell, family spokesman for the McCanns, praised the star's actions.

Actress looks like missing girl

He said: "We thank him for being thoughtful enough and sensitive enough to Gerry and Kate's position to make such a commercial decision.

"Obviously we hope Madeleine will be found very soon to enable Kate and Gerry to move on, but also to enable him and the movie to go ahead in due course."

The film is based on the bestselling novel by Dennis Lehane.

It focuses on the desperate search for a young girl called Amanda who police believe was kidnapped from her bed after her parents left her home alone.

And the similarities do not end there.

The girl is played by a young actress called Madeline O'Brien, who bears a close resemblance to four-year-old Madeleine McCann.

The McCann case is covered extensively in the US.

In July, Gerry McCann travelled to Washington DC where he met the former Attorney General Alberto Gonsalez and appeared on a number of TV news programmes.

The film is released in the US on October 19.

Search Uncovers 'Forensic Trail'

Updated: 17:02, Sunday October 07, 2007

The parents of Madeleine McCann have called in a man dubbed 'The Locator' to help find their missing daughter.

The last picture taken of Madeleine

Gerry and Kate gave South African Danie Krugel a piece of the girl's hair found on her clothing to use in his 'missing person machine'.

The former policeman believes the four-year-old was not transported beyond the area where she went missing on May 3.

He said he rates her chances of being alive as "very slim".

Mr Krugel scoured Praia da Luz, in Portugal, and the surrounding land for clues, he said, using hi-tech equipment he developed himself.

It was reported he had uncovered a "forensic route" from Madeleine's holiday apartment, along paths and roads to a nearby beach where the trail went cold.

Mr Krugel said: "The area is walking distance from Praia da Luz.

"I don't want to say exactly where because I don't want to interfere with this investigation. I don't want to give anyone the chance to destroy their prints.

"If I look at the area, there a very, very slight possibility that she could be alive.

"From the piece of hair I was able to conclude that she was in the area."

Kate and Gerry McCann

It is understood the McCanns called in Mr Krugel after hearing of a series of successes in his homeland, where he has been dubbed The Locator.

The university health and safety director refused to reveal how his hi-tech methods work.

He said he was currently in negotiations with companies to develop the 'matter orientation system machine', which is said to also use satellite technology.

And he was reluctant to talk in detail about his search in Portugal, carried out over four nights in July.

He said: "I don't want to interfere with this investigation. I think that she's still in the area because the possibility that she's alive is very slim.

"I gave an area for them to search to the police and to the McCanns with maps and photographs of the area."

Madeleine, from Rothley, in Leicestershire, went missing from her family's holiday apartment on while her parents dined nearby.

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry will never rule anything out which may have a degree of credibility behind it.