Maddie cops fly to Britain

Maddie cops fly to Britain
The Sunday Mirror
23 March 2008
Lori Campbell

Portuguese police are set to fly to the UK on April 7 in a bid to solve the Madeleine McCann mystery.

Detectives have agreed the date with British police and are prepared to spend up to two months in Britain.

But Portuguese public prosecutors have rejected police requests to quiz Kate and Gerry McCann again.

The seven members of the "Tapas Nine", who were dining with the McCanns when Madeleine disappeared last May, will be re-interviewed.

Detectives are thought to be particularly keen to question David Payne, who was the last person outside the McCann family to see Madeleine, Jane Tanner and her partner Russell O'Brien.

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the friends are keen to help police understand their original statements as soon as possible.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Clarence Mitchell, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, News of the World, Ross Hall

Fury mounts over slurs on Maddie's mum & dad

21 March 2008
Liverpool Echo
Luke Traynor

Blast from media guru

CALLS were made today to boycott two national newspapers in the wake of their apologies to the parents of Madeleine McCann.

The Daily Express and Daily Star used their front pages earlier this week to say sorry to Kate and Gerry McCann for suggesting they caused their daughter's death.

Both papers also agreed to pay a substantial sum to the family's Find Madeleine's fund as part of the compensation.

But one respected national media columnist said the people of Liverpool should make their feelings known by no longer buying those newspapers.

Guardian journalist Roy Greenslade, former editor of The Mirror, suggested the idea on his blog.

Speaking to the ECHO, he said: "These papers carried out a lengthy campaign and treated the McCanns very shabbily. For a multi-millionaire to be told to pay £550,000 is not a great deal of money.

"There should be a boycott."

Madeleine, four, disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, while her parents Kate and Gerry ate with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant on May 3.

The parents were regularly tarnished by inaccurate media reports which claimed they were involved in a plot to kidnap her.

Today, Susan Healy, Liverpool-born Kate's mother, said that the untrue stories had caused great hurt to the family and friends.

She added: "Kate is quite bitter about it as you'd expect. To see all those headlines again this week shocked me.

"It was a diabolical time." Nicky Gill, Kate's friend, said: "It's good that they've apologised, but so what? Madeleine is still missing.

"They money they've promised is totally irrelevant.

"There will be some people who will boycott it, but it's difficult to say what kind of impact this will have."

A spokesman for the Daily Express and Star said: "We have nothing to add to what has been said in court and in our titles."

Clarence Mitchell, the McCann's spokesman, said: "Kate and Gerry are pleased that the Express Newspapers apologised as fulsomely as they did.

"Immense distress was caused to the couple."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Clarence Mitchell, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann

McCanns told to forget Portugal

21 March 2008 
Mirror
Rod Chaytor and Victoria Ward


KATE and Gerry McCann have been warned not to go back to Portugal for the anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.  Lawyers have told them that to return on May 3 may be risky as they remain official suspects over the four-year-old's disappearance. There are fears it might provoke demands for them to be quizzed by police again. A friend of the couple admitted last night that their continuing "arguido" status had taken away the parents' "freedom of choice".

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Madeleine McCann, Robert Murat

Maddie suspect pal's car torched

21 March 2008
The Sun 
Nick Parker
A close pal of Maddie suspect Robert Murat has been targeted by an arsonist - apparently attempting to make him reveal details of the case. A car belonging to Russian IT consultant Sergei Malinka was found torched early yesterday outside his home in Praia da Luz, Portugal.  A single word in red paint sprayed on the pavement beside the blazing Audi A4 read "Fala" - Portuguese for "Talk".  Malinka, 22, was questioned by cops early in the hunt for four-year-old Madeleine McCann.  But he has never been declared an arguido like his friend Murat, 33.  There was a similar arson incident last year when Malinka's van was blown up at night.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Madeleine McCann, Robert Murat

Maddy relative's pub ransacked

19 March 2008
Irish Independent

The pub owned by the grandmother of Madeleine McCann was broken into and ransacked just after she visited the area at the weekend.

In the early hours of St Patrick's Day morning, thieves rammed the back door of the McCann pub in the village of St Johnston, Co Donegal, with a car before tearing it apart inside and making away with almost its entire stock of alcohol.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Donegal, Joe Peoples, Madeleine McCann, McCann pub, St Johnston

Thieves wreck bar owned by McCanns

19 March 2008
The Sun
Paddy Clancy

Raiders ram Maddie gran's pub

Callous thieves have wrecked a pub owned by missing tot Maddie McCann's distraught Irish gran Eileen. The thugs used a car to smash their way into the bar on St Patrick's Day -just hours after Eileen had paid a visit. She leases the village pub in St Johnston, Co Donegal, to pal Joe Peoples.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Donegal, Joe Peoples, Madeleine McCann, McCann pub, St Johnston

Maddie gran Ireland visit

12 March 2008
Mirror
Michelle Nic Phaidin
But Kate and Gerry will miss annual Easter trip

The heartbroken grandmother of missing Madeleine McCann will arrive in Ireland tomorrow. But her devastated parents will not be joining her for the annual Easter trip.

Gerry and Kate McCann came to Ireland last year with their three children - but four-year-old Madeleine vanished soon after from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz while on holiday last May 3.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Donegal, Joe Peoples, Madeleine McCann, McCann pub, St Johnston

3 up for awards

3 up for awards
The Sunday Mirror
9 March 2008

Three Sunday Mirror journalists have been nominated for British Press Awards.

Sean Hamilton, who revealed Led Zeppelin's reunion, is up for Showbiz Reporter of the Year.

Lori Campbell's Madeleine McCann exclusives see her nominated as Reporter of the Year.

And Kate Mansey's dispatches from Afghanistan brought a Young Reporter of the Year nomination.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, News of the World, Ross Hall