'Maddy home for Xmas' 'tec takes on NEW case


'Maddy home for Xmas' 'tec takes on NEW case
Exclusive £50K a month.. & he jets off on 'other business'
The Sunday Mirror
23 December 2007
Lori Campbell and Tom Worden

The private detective who vowed to bring Madeleine McCann home by Christmas has been working on a different case.

Francisco Marco, head of Spanish agency Metodo 3, told earlier this month how he was sure the four-year-old was alive - and said he was close to returning her to distraught parents Kate and Gerry.

But the Sunday Mirror can reveal he took himself off the investigation last week and travelled abroad on a separate case. A source at his Barcelona HQ said: "He has been out of the country on business not to do with Madeleine, on another case altogether."

And despite his recent claims of being "very close" to rescuing Madeleine from her kidnappers, Marco was yesterday at home.

He said: "I am not going to discuss with you where I have been or what cases I have been working on this week. If my office said I was out of the country, it means I was out of the country."

Marco had previously told how he was working flat out on the hunt for Madeleine, but yesterday he said: "I'm not working today-it's Saturday."

Metodo 3 were hired by the McCanns in September on a £50,000-a-month contract - paid for by the Find Madeleine Fund.

Kate and Gerry have tried to maintain their faith in Metodo 3's ability to find their daughter. But they are now losing patience with the firm. A close friend said: "Relations with Metodo 3 were already strained after Marco made the incredible claim he knew who took Madeleine and hoped to get her home by Christmas.

"The McCanns' aides had a huge showdown with him, saying he risked Madeleine's chances of being found alive.

"Kate and Gerry have always said they believe in Metodo 3's ability to do the job.

"But it is infuriating to discover that the head of the agency has not been working on the case."

The McCanns' official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said yesterday: "Francisco Marco's movements are based on Metodo 3's professional activities.

"We are content with their operational work, just as long as they are fully staffing the search for Madeleine."

  
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Fury at claims by tecs


Fury at claims by tecs
DAY 227: McCanns tell of XMAS anguish
The Sunday Mirror
16 December 2007
Lori Campbell & Grant Hodgson


Kate and Gerry McCann have read their private detectives the riot act after they had claimed Madeleine is alive and could be home for Christmas.

The couple were furious with Metodo 3 after boss Francisco Marco made a series of astonishing claims, saying he knew who had kidnapped Madeleine.

They warned Marco, 35, the chances of his lucrative six-month contract being renewed when it runs out are "virtually nil".

A source said: "Relations between the McCann camp and the detectives are at an all-time low.

"They are concerned about the effect Marco's comments could have on their chances of finding their daughter alive."

But the source said that the McCanns had no plans to sack Metodo before their contract runs out in March. Last night their official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We are retaining Metodo 3 and are pleased with their operational work."

Barcelona-based Metodo 3 is being paid £50,000 a month by the Find Madeleine Fund and recently moved to plush new offices.

But it is yet to produce any evidence to back its claims that it knows who took the four-year-old.

Marco claimed: "We know who kidnapped her, but not where she is. We believe she is in an area not very far from the Iberian peninsula and North Africa. And we have a fairly certain idea of who she is with."

Insisting he believed Madeleine was still alive, he added: "God willing, I hope she'll be back with her parents before Christmas."

 
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'Best present ever would be if Santa brought Madeleine home'


'Best present ever would be if Santa brought Madeleine home'
Exclusive DAY 227: McCanns tell of XMAS anguish
The Sunday Mirror
16 December 2007
Lori Campbell


The parents of Madeleine McCann told last night how her little brother and sister heartbreakingly asked them: Will Santa bring her home for Christmas?

Kate and Gerry - who are trying to put on a brave face for twins Sean and Amelie - revealed their agony at facing Christmas without their daughter.

And they said it all became too much when they asked the toddlers what presents they want from Santa, and their reply was for Madeleine to come back.

They told the Sunday Mirror: "Celebrating is the last thing we feel like doing, but we want Christmas to be as normal for Sean and Amelie as possible.

"They both seem to understand they will be getting presents from Santa, but have also asked if Santa will be bringing Madeleine home, which just about broke our hearts."

Kate and Gerry, both 39, are convinced their little girl is still alive and told how they are praying for an incredible Christmas miracle.

They added: "Madeleine's return would obviously be the ultimate present for all of us and would bring tremendous joy to people all over the world."

Christmas will be one of the most difficult times yet for Kate and Gerry since Madeleine vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3.

But despite their inner anguish, they have vowed to give their twins - who will be three in February - the best time possible.

Friends and relatives have rallied round and last week helped excited Sean and Amelie decorate the Christmas tree at the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire.

Kate and Gerry said: "They have already enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree with their granny and great aunt."

The couple have even bought presents for Madeleine in the desperate hope she will be home to unwrap them on Christmas Day.

They have been placed next to Sean and Amelie's gifts underneath the tree, and will be kept unopened for her.

Kate and Gerry said they will spend a quiet, Christmas with their close family. They said: "We have had many enquiries as to our plans for the festive period. Christmas 2007 will be an incredibly difficult time for us if Madeleine is not found before then. We plan to have a very quiet, private Christmas with family in the UK."

The couple, who are Catholics, will attend midnight mass in Rothley on Christmas Eve at which prayers for Madeleine will be said. But they have not yet decided if spending Christmas Day in their own home, where there are so many happy memories of Madeleine last year, will be too much to bear.

A close friend said: "They have had lots of offers from friends and relatives to spend Christmas with them, but they also want the day to feel as normal as possible for the twins. They know it will be heartbreaking waking up on Christmas morning in their home without Madeleine there. They can't even bear to think about it yet, and have been putting off making any final plans."

Their official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "They have not yet decided if they will be staying in Rothley or not, but they will be with their family."

Last year Madeleine beamed with excitement on her favourite day of the year as she played with her little brother and sister.

And a huge smile spread across her face as she opened her present from her mum and dad, a pink Barbie doll - her favourite colour.

Kate's parents Brian and Susan Healy have wonderful memories of last Christmas at their daughter's home.

Brian, 67, said: "Madeleine loves this time of year and on the big day her face lit up like a Christmas tree. I will never forget how happy the whole family was last year as we watched the three children play so blissfully together. "Now it just seems so far away and we had no idea how much things would change."

At his home in Liverpool, Brian added: "It was one of our happiest Christmases ever. That's why we are determined to buy her presents just like we have always done.

"Madeleine loves Harry Potter and Dr Who so we will buy her something that we know she will love."

Appealing for further help to get Madeleine home for Christmas, he said: "This is going to be one of the most difficult times of the year for all of us because Madeleine, like all children, especially loved Christmas.

"We are just hoping that people will be thinking of Madeleine more than ever which it might lead to a breakthrough."

Madeleine's grandmother Susan, 61, said: "We just want to be together again as a family this Christmas.

"This is a caring family who are missing their precious daughter at a time of year when they would normally be sharing the love and magic of Christmas with her."

Kate and Gerry made a new plea to anyone with new information about their daughter's disappearance to come forward. They said: "We would like to thank Sunday Mirror readers for your support and we ask you to stay with us as the search for our daughter continues.

"The police and private investigations continue and we have not given up hope.

"We again appeal to anyone who may have any information that might be relevant to contact your local police or our private investigators on 0034 902 300 213 if they have any information which might be relevant."

'Her gifts are under the tree'

 
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Britain's diplomats 'were told not to support Murat'


Britain's diplomats 'were told not to support Murat'
13 December 2007
The Daily Express



BRITISH diplomats had been ordered to "avoid offering support" to suspect Robert Murat, it was reported yesterday.

It was claimed that a Foreign Office memo sent the instruction to staff three days after Murat was named a formal "arguido".

His mother Mrs Jenny Murat is also reported to have complained to diplomats that he was not given the same support offered to the McCanns.

While they had the backing of Government ministers, all Murat was offered was "a kit with a toothbrush and a towel, and a list of lawyers who gave special prices".

Last night his lawyer Francisco Pagarete said: "He feels he has been abandoned by his own government. This extremely serious order confirms the lack of support which the family has felt since the beginning. He does not oppose in any way the support which has been given to the McCanns."

Yesterday Spain's El Mundo newspaper reported that the Foreign Office document, dated May 17, justified the order because of "the specific nature of the case". It said British diplomats "were already helping Madeleine's parents".

The newspaper reported: "An internal document sent by the Foreign Office orders British diplomats 'to avoid offering support' to Murat unless charges are presented against him."

John Buck, British Ambassador to Portugal when Madeleine vanished, joined the McCanns in the Algarve days later.

Three family liaison officers from Leicestershire Police flew in to assist the couple.

The Foreign Office sent press officers Sheree Dodd and Clarence Mitchell to Praia da Luz to help with the media.

El Mundo claims Murat's only support was a meeting with two low-ranking diplomats weeks after being named a suspect.

Mrs Murat went to the UK to complain to her MP. The politician contacted the Foreign Office and met two diplomatic staff from the Algarve. They were assured Murat would get the same support as the McCanns – but only if he was charged.
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Britain's diplomats 'were told not to support Murat'


13 December 2007
The Daily Express


Excerpt:
"...BRITISH diplomats had been ordered to "avoid offering support" to suspect Robert Murat, it was reported yesterday. It was claimed that a Foreign Office memo sent the instruction to staff three days after Murat was named a formal "arguido".

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Brown 'puts up shutters' as McCanns plead for help


Dec 9, 2007
Sunday Times
Mark Macaskill

A businessman helping to fund the hunt for Madeleine McCann has accused Gordon Brown and David Miliband of ignoring her parents' plight. Stephen Winyard, who owns a Scottish health spa, said the "shutters had gone up" after Portuguese police named Gerry and Kate McCann as suspects. He said the only offer in response to a request for a ministerial meeting was to see a junior official. "Our request to meet with ministers -the prime minister, the home secretary and the foreign secretary -has still not been met," said Winyard.
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Diplomat's secret file that raises fears about her parents


Madeleine: Diplomat's secret file that raises fears about her parents
Nick Fagge
3 December 2007
The Daily Express


A BRITISH diplomat warned the Foreign Office of concerns regarding Madeleine McCann's parents, it emerged last night.

Doubts about Kate and Gerry McCann were raised almost immediately by an official sent to Praia da Luz due to what he considered to be "inconsistencies" in the couple's testimonies about the night the four-year-old vanished.

The warning was contained in a classified document sent from the Algarve to the Foreign Office days after Madeleine's disappearance.

Details of the letter have been leaked through the British diplomatic mission in Brussels to the respected Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure.

The unnamed diplomat voices his concern about the "confused declarations" as to the whereabouts of Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends in the final hours before Madeleine's disappearance.

He also mentions the couple's "lack of co-operation" with the Portuguese police in the light of instructions from London suggesting consular staff "overstretch their authority and put pressure on the Portuguese authorities".

The document also asks for confirmation of orders sent by the Foreign Office in London the day before, commanding embassy staff to give "all possible assistance to the McCann couple".

Diplomats on the Algarve were told the McCanns had to be "accompanied at all times during any contact with the Portuguese police" by a member of consular staff or by British police officers sent out from the UK.

The letter, sent just days after Madeleine disappeared, warns of the risks of siding with the McCanns so completely.

Excerpts published in a report by La Derniere Heure quote the diplomat as saying: "With the greatest respect, I would like to make you aware of the risks and implications to our relationship with the Portuguese authorities, if you consider the possible involvement of the couple.

"Please confirm to me, in the light of these concerns, that we want to continue to be closely involved in the case as was requested in your previous message."

A huge team of diplomats have been involved in the case since Gerry McCann asked the Foreign Office for help.

In an unprecedented move, the then Prime Minister Tony Blair despatched special envoy Sheree Dodd, a former Fleet Street journalist, to Portugal to act as a "media liaison officer" for the McCann family.

Direct government communications with the McCanns came to an abrupt halt, however, when the couple were made official suspects in the case in September.

Portuguese detectives believe it is possible Madeleine died as the result of an accident on May 3 in the family's holiday apartment and that her parents hid and later disposed of her body with the help of their friends.

The couple have always said they had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance.

The Belgian report says it is highly significant that almost all of the diplomats involved at the outset have now been taken off the case.

Special envoy Sheree Dodd has since resigned from the Foreign Office, the British consul in the Algarve Bill Henderson has retired and the British ambassador to Portugal John Buck is no longer in Portugal.

Last night the Foreign Office refused to comment on the report.
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British diplomat warned Foreign Office of concerns over McCanns


December 3, 2007
Daily Mail
Original article
WebCite archive

The Foreign Office was alerted to fears over Gerry and Kate McCann by a British diplomat in Portugal just days after their daughter Madeleine went missing. The diplomat was sent to the holiday resort of Praia da Luz in the days following the four-year-old's disappearance and soon became concerned over "inconsistencies" in the testimonies by her parents and their friends.

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We saw Murat outside McCann flat too


We saw Murat outside McCann flat too
Exclusive Search for Madeleine Day 213
The Sunday Mirror
2 December 2007
Lori Campbell


Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat is back in the frame after two new witnesses say they saw him the night the four-year-old disappeared.

The British expat has always insisted he spent the entire evening of May 3 inside his mother's villa.

But the new accounts - handed over to detectives hired by the McCanns - threaten to contradict his alibi.

Five people have now reported seeing Murat, 33, outside the McCanns' apartment that night.

The private detectives from Metodo 3 (M3) are also investigating a tip-off that Murat had connections to the criminal underworld and was working as a police informant.

The latest witnesses contacted M3 separately to say they spotted Murat walking along a road outside the McCanns' apartment the night Madeleine was snatched.

The tourists, who were on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, have given detailed statements which contradict Murat's claim that he did not leave his mum Jennifer's home.

The McCanns' friends Fiona Payne and Rachel Oldfield have told police they saw Murat at the Ocean Club resort at 11.45pm, two hours after the alarm was raised. A third pal, Russell O'Brien, says he saw him at 1am.

A source inside M3 said: "There are serious questions around Murat's alibi. He says he was at his mum's house and did not learn of Madeleine's disappearance until the following morning.

"But his claims have now been challenged by five eyewitnesses. Three of the McCanns' friends have always insisted they saw him that night. They say they are sure it was him because of his distinctive right eye.

"Now two new people have contacted us saying they are certain they also saw him. They do not know each other and called our hotline independently."

M3 is also working on a tip that Murat had acted as a police informer.

Our source said: "It explains why police were so quick to allow him to work as a translator and enter the crime scene after she disappeared."

Murat is claimed to have dramatically changed his alibi in a police investigation before he was declared an official suspect.

He had initially told friends he was with his girlfriend Michaela Walczuch, 34, when Madeleine was snatched.

But as detectives grilled him 11 days later, he allegedly claimed he had been at his mum's home nearby. She backed her son's alibi.

M3 are also working on a theory a "spotter" took pictures of dozens of girls at the resort before Madeleine was picked out by a paedophile gang. Our source said: "Detectives are sure Madeleine was stolen to order."
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Inside the secretive world of Madeleine's Mercenary


1 December 2007 
The Daily Express
Adrian Lee 

The investigators hired for £14,000 a week by the McCanns insist that they are close to cracking the case. But how credible really is the obscure Spanish detective firm, Metodo 3?

Tucked away in Francisco Marco's overnight bag is a doll. In his mind the 35-year-old has rehearsed countless times the moment he will present it to a sobbing little girl before reaching for his mobile phone and dialling her parents' home in Leicestershire. "I have found Madeleine, " he will state and wait for the screams of joy. For Marco there appears to be no doubt that this is how the story will end. His confident and very public declarations that he will succeed, where police have failed, in finding Madeleine McCann have put him and his private detective agency Metodo 3 in the international spotlight.
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Gerry and Kate 'still the prime suspects'
Daily Express
1 December 2007
From Nick Fagge and David Pilditch in Praia da Luz

Kate and Gerry McCann are still regarded as the prime suspects in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine despite inconclusive findings from DNA evidence.

Portuguese police will come to Britain next week to re-interview the seven friends who were dining with the couple on the night the little girl vanished, a highly placed source claimed yesterday.

It shatters the couple's hopes that they will be cleared by Christmas.

Investigators say that while findings revealed at a DNA summit this week did not give them enough evidence to bring charges, they do provide the legal basis to demand further interviews of the McCanns' friends and relatives on British soil.

Leaks in Portugal claim tests on DNA samples support Portuguese detectives' theory that the couple were involved in Madeleine's disappearance. Portuguese daily newspaper 24 Horas reported that a police source said: "The existing evidence up until now is far from clearing the McCann couple in the case.

"There are more and more indicators that they were involved in the disappearance of the child, but it has been difficult to prove this fact. We will continue to follow all hypotheses." Investigators still cling to the theory that Madeleine died as the result of an accident in the family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz, and that her parents hid and later disposed of the body with the help of their friends. Respected Portuguese daily newspaper Correio da Manha reported: "The main theory is still the accidental death of the child on the afternoon of May 3, specifically in the two hours when the parents were alone with their children.

"That is when the McCanns say they gave her a bath and put the three children to bed before 8.30pm and then met their friends for dinner." Detectives are understood to be intrigued by "certain inconsistencies" in the statements made by the McCanns' seven dining companions.

They also want to know who Kate was referring to when she cried "they've taken her" when she found Madeleine was missing. These are among "100 questions" detectives want to put to the McCanns and their friends, police sources claim.

Yesterday British ambassador Alex Ellis and Algarve official Angela Morado met Paulo Rebelo, who heads the investigation, and Portimao District Attorney Jose Magalhaes e Meneses at police headquarters in Faro. The British Embassy in Lisbon said the timing was a coincidence but confirmed the McCann case had been discussed.

A team recently returned from the UK where it was told what the Forensic Science Services lab had learned from analysis of blood and hair found at the McCanns' holiday apartment and in their hire car.

But yesterday sources close to the investigation said the tests "are only one of the pieces of the puzzle" and "other operations were being done".

Yesterday Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, said: "Kate and Gerry's friends are happy to be reinterviewed by police if necessary, indeed are keen to help if it clears up any inconsistencies. They, like Gerry and Kate, have nothing to hide." The McCanns, both 39, of Rothley, Leics, were named as suspects on September 7. Gerry wrote in his blog yesterday of his hopes of being free of suspicion by Christmas.
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'Someone's holding back the truth'


George Brooks / Burke
Madeleine: 'Someone's holding back the truth'
29 November 2007
The Daily Express
Nick Fagge in Praia da Luz

Kate and Gerry McCann are behind a deliberate campaign of misinformation about the disappearance of their daughter, it was claimed yesterday.

In a thinly veiled attack on the couple and their private investigators, a high-ranking police source in Portugal rubbished recent "sightings" of Madeleine and accused them of trying to suppress the truth about events on May 3.

"Someone is trying to deviate attention about what really happened that night, " says the source in Portuguese daily newspaper 24 Horas yesterday.

It is claimed that detectives have spent weeks pouring over media reports of worldwide sightings, including Morocco and Bosnia.

And the report says the authorities now believe details of the sightings have been leaked to the British press by agents working on behalf of the McCanns to discredit the official police investigation. The source told 24 Horas:
"We have analysed all the information reaching the public. None of the reports indicating sightings of the McCanns' daughter have been confirmed. "And there's also someone who wants to bring down an investigation that has been carried out honestly and rigorously." 
The source close to the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) investigation countered claims that the Portuguese police are determined to "nail" the McCanns for their daughter's disappearance. He said:
"The PJ doesn't want an innocent person to be taken prisoner. It's just trying to find out the truth. And that's the direction it will continue working in." 
The latest "sighting" is from a British expat who says he saw Madeleine being dragged towards a marina by a "very suspicious" couple eight hours after she vanished.

Businessman George Burke says he saw a small girl resembling Madeleine being hauled along by a "vicious-looking" man and woman as he drove past Lagos marina – five miles from Praia da Luz – in the early morning of May 4.

Last week it emerged that a Portuguese lorry driver told police he saw a girl being handed over by a blonde woman to a man in the town of Silves on May 5.

Private investigators believe this was the moment the four year old was passed from her original kidnapper to a paedophile gang who whisked her to Morocco.

The trucker is said to have identified Michaela Walczuch, the lover of official suspect Robert Murat, as the blonde woman handing over the youngster on the country road.

Spanish tourist Isabel Gonzalez has claimed she saw Jehovah's Witness Walczuch, 32, in Morocco in June, just moments after she noticed a little blonde girl whom she is convinced was Madeleine. And a British nanny has identified expat property developer Murat, 34, as the man she saw trying to snatch a baby from the same holiday apartment that the McCanns booked six months later.

Murat and Walczuch both deny any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance. And Francisco Pagarete, Murat's lawyer, has accused the McCanns of trying to frame his client and his friends.

The official Portuguese police investigation continues to focus on the theory that Madeleine died in the apartment as the result of an accident, and that the McCanns hid the body and recruited friends into covering their tracks.

Kate and Gerry McCann, both 39, from Rothley, Leicestershire, vigorously deny being involved in their daughter's disappearance.
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£1million fund running out of cash


£1million fund running out of cash
Daily Express
29 November 2007
By Nick Fagge

The resources of the Find Madeleine Campaign are rapidly dwindling it emerged yesterday amid concern about how long the hunt for the missing four year old can go on.

Cash poured in during the first weeks after the youngster vanished from the Ocean Club apartment in Praia da Luz on the night of May 3.

And donations have now reached £1,095,223.50, according to the fund's official website yesterday. But a large proportion of that will be used to pay for the sixmonth contract with Spanish private detectives Metodo 3.

The Barcelona-based firm have signed a £50,000-amonth deal which will result in a final bill of £300,000.

This equates to about £2,000-a-day for a 25-day working month, including expenses.

McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell told Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas: "The fund has been used to search for Madeleine. These things are not free.

"Kate and Gerry will use that money until it runs out." He added: "From the start they have been very optimistic of finding her. Metodo 3 director Francisco Marco has said he is convinced that his operation will succeed." Mr Mitchell confirmed that the flow of cash has dried up to a trickle, but he said there is enough for a further few months. Other expenses include poster campaigns in Spain and elsewhere.

There will also be more publicity in Portugal. And a new publicity drive is expected in Morocco, where detectives believe Madeleine is most likely being held.

The fund raised around £450,000 a month after its launch, but this is now around £30,000 a month.

There was a huge drop after the couple, both 39, were named official suspects in September. And there was another cash crisis in October after it emerged they had used donations to pay the £2,000 per month mortgage on their £600,000 home in Rothley, Leicestershire.

However, the salary of Mr Mitchell, former BBC presenter and Foreign Office press officer – said to be £75,000 a year – is being paid by millionaire benefactor, homeimprovement tycoon Brian Kennedy who has also offered free legal services.
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Taken by sea?


George Brooks / Burke
Taken by sea?
28 November 2007
Mirror
Martin Fricker

Note: 
The released McCann case files show no record of George Burke (aka George Brooks) approaching the Portuguese police in regard to this sighting. 
See: Apensos V, Vol 1 Page 5
The hunt for Madeleine 'Vital' sighting outside marina

A British businessman's sighting of Madeleine McCann near a marina eight hours after she vanished has convinced private detectives she WAS smuggled out of Portugal by sea.

George Burke insists he saw a vicious-looking man and a woman dragging a Madeleine lookalike along a road that leads to Lagos marina.

But investigators believe Portuguese police who interviewed the dad-of-two failed to take the sighting seriously.

A source said:
"The private investigators are now concentrating on Lagos and the marina.
"What Mr Burke saw could be incredibly valuable.

"He was concerned enough to call the police and they eventually followed up on his information.

"Now the investigators want to talk to Mr Burke. There is a strong chance Madeleine was taken by boat from the marina and is still alive somewhere."

George, who is from Liverpool but now lives in Portugal, saw the couple with the girl as he drove past the marina at about 6am on May 4. He said:
"It was very, very dark and it was hard to make out exactly what the couple looked like. But through the gloom I could see a very suspicious-looking man and woman, with a child who fitted Madeleine's description.

"Though there was nobody else on the road, they were hurrying across a road that leads straight to the train station and marina."

Kate and Gerry McCann have always believed the four-year-old was probably taken out of Portugal by sea to North Africa.

George contacted police as soon as he got home but border and port authorities were not alerted for another 12 hours.

NOTE:
From Michael Wright's statement:
As for additional information I would like to add that on Sunday, 6 May I went to the pizzaria in PdL and bought a large quantity of pizzas. I was attended by a girl from Liverpool. I explained to her my relationship to the McCanns and she told me that her father 'George' had seen a man carrying a child in his arms in the early morning of 4 May in the resort. I asked her if her father would speak about this to the Portuguese authorities. I don't know if the information was ever investigated.
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How inept police let Madeleine's kidnapper get away


How inept police let Madeleine's kidnapper get away
27 November 2007
The Daily Express
Robert Downing Adapted by Virginia Blackburn


It is one of the biggest mysteries of all time. Ever since Madeleine McCann vanished from a Portuguese resort just before her fourth birthday, Britain and the rest of the world has been gripped by the question: what has happened to her? The search for her has ranged across continents.

Haunting images of her have appeared in newspapers and on TV screens and posters across the globe.The investigation into her disappearance has provoked unprecedented controversy.

Today, in the second part of our exclusive book serialisation exploring the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, we reveal how the Portuguese police left Gerry and Kate distraught as they missed vital clues, enjoyed long lunches instead of stepping up the hunt and even called in psychics when they had run out of ideas.

IT WAS nearly three weeks since Madeleine had disappeared from Praia da Luz but her family were determined not to give up. The appeal had spread to Westminster: as a fund was launched to help the hunt, some of Madeleine's relatives met the then Chancellor Gordon Brown, alongside then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. It was a day of good cheer.

"Instead of a tidal wave of despair my brother Gerry is facing a tidal wave of hope, " said Philomena McCann, speaking outside Westminster. "Initially he was completely floored by what had happened and found it very difficult to cope. That was turned around by the support of the nation of Portugal, the support of Glasgow, the whole of Scotland and England."

Madeleine's parents felt they were going to start playing a more active role. The Find Madeleine Fund had been officially launched and Gerry started on what was to be the first of many trips around the globe in the search for his daughter when he flew back to Britain to consult advisers on how best to proceed. They would leave "no stone unturned" in the attempt to find their daughter, they said; nor did they want to leave Portugal without her. Support in Portugal and across the world was strong and on May 21 the nation observed a minute's silence to focus on attempts to recover the child.

The McCanns were comforted by the enormous wave of public support, the Church and a forthcoming visit to meet the Pope. Kate was constantly seen with Madeleine's Cuddle Cat, which had become something of a security blanket.

When asked if they thought Madeleine was still alive, Kate replied: "Absolutely." She then motioned to Madeleine's favourite toy and revealed: "It's something Madeleine has with her every night.

If she's upset or not well she has Cuddle Cat. It's provided me with a little bit of comfort, something of Madeleine close to me?" Back in Britain there was growing criticism of the Portuguese police. John Stalker, the former Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, scathingly compared the handling of the case to the TV programme Life On Mars, in which a modern police officer finds himself in the altogether less professional world of the Seventies.

"British police are not perfect but they can never be accused of complacency when a three-year-old is reported missing, " he wrote. "In these cases they hit the ground running - which never happened in Portugal. From the moment Madeleine went missing Portuguese police moved too slowly. The feeling seems to have been that child abductions simply do not happen on the Algarve. Local police dealt with the inquiry during those precious first few hours when fastmoving investigations such as these are won or lost."

Doubts were growing about the competence of the Portuguese police, who now came under attack for not searching empty apartments close to Madeleine's. Many had metal shutters to keep the sun out which would have made it impossible to see if anyone was inside.

Michael Askew, 60, a British businessman who owns a two-bedroom apartment close to the complex, was astonished by what he saw as police ineptitude. "I'm amazed the police haven't searched my place, " said Mr Askew, who owns a building company in Derbyshire. "Soon after Madeleine was abducted I saw a TV interview with a Portuguese policeman who said they had master keys to all the nearby properties. He said they were going to be searched but mine certainly wasn't. My son Robert went out there this week for the first time since Madeleine went missing and it's obvious no one's been into the apartment. Neighbours say none of theirs have been searched, either. The complex managers say they haven't handed the master keys to anyone. I'm also surprised no one seems to have been asked whether they were staying in the apartments or who may have been renting them at the time. It makes you sceptical about how they have run their investigation."

Further evidence of ineptitude emerged when it became clear that a description of a man seen carrying a child on the night Madeleine disappeared was wrong - a mistake in the conversion from centimetres to inches put him three inches taller than the witness had described. It then emerged officers were turning to psychics and clairvoyants for help. While several said Madeleine had been taken over the border into Spain, the information rather suggested that police didn't have a great deal more to go on. "If there are indications there is enough to follow we will go, " said Chief Insp Olegario Sousa when asked about the danger of hoaxers. "If there aren't we cannot do anything."

It was not long before eyebrows were raised again by police behaviour, though this time the problem was a culture clash as much as anything else. The problem appeared to be lunchtime drinking. At the same time as the McCanns were facing that brutal press conference in Berlin, Sousa and detective Goncalo Amaral were pictured enjoying a two-hour lunch with drinks.

Sousa was defensive: "It is very, very sad but a person's free time is for lunch. That is a normal thing to do."

Worse still, the men were heard discussing the case in front of other diners. "If it were detectives from Scotland Yard there would be an uproar, " said Philomena McCann.

"But we have to let them get on with their work because that's all we have to rely on.

"We have to accept their approach because the British Government will not intervene. It is a different culture where they have lunches and siestas but we hope the work is made up at other times."

SHORTLY afterwards Philomena and a cousin went to Lisbon airport to put up "missing" posters (incredibly, none had been hung there, allegedly because of the Portuguese government's fear of damaging the tourist trade), and were expelled from the airport by gun-toting police. "They just don't want to admit a child was snatched in their country, " she said.

Amaral, one of the most senior detectives in the hunt, was revealed to be one of five officers formally accused of torturing a confession from Leonor Cipriano. She was alleged to have been attacked in September, 2004, after her nineyear-old daughter Joana had gone missing from the village of Figueira, just seven miles from Praia da Luz.

The parallels with Madeleine's case were eerie. The police had failed to seal off the house, allowed hundreds of police and friends of the family to trample over the crime scene and ended up accusing Joana's mother of the crime.

The body was never found but Leonor and her brother Joao were convicted of killing her. She later claimed police had beaten a confession out of her. Pictures showed her face and body covered in bruises, which police said occurred when she fell downstairs. She lodged a complaint which was taken up by the public prosecutor's office. Five policemen were said to be involved:

three accused of torture, a fourth for failing to stop the attack and a fifth for falsifying paperwork.

Amaral was one of the five yet he remained on the Madeleine case.

The McCanns said nothing publicly but they must have foreseen that the Portuguese police would try to implicate them. The investigation was a mess. Sousa decided to blame the family for allowing so many people into their apartment in the immediate aftermath of Madeleine's disappearance, as if the family wasn't desperate to enlist as much help as possible.

"The presence of so many people in the room where the little girl slept with her brother and sister could have complicated the work of the forensic team, " he said. "At worst, they would have destroyed all the evidence. This could prove fatal for the investigation." It looked very much as if he was trying to shift the blame for incompetence away from the police force.

While the McCanns remained silent, sources close to the family voiced their dismay. "It's insensitive, " said one. "Of course the family are going to search the apartment. If your child goes missing, you search under beds, everywhere."

Increasingly it seemed as if the McCanns were having to do the job of police. Attending a church service in Praia da Luz - Kate was still clutching Cuddle Cat - Gerry recalled that it was Father's Day back home. He had already had to undergo both his and Madeleine's birthday without her and thoughts of this occasion the previous year were too painful. "I can't think about how we spent it, " he said. "I can't think about anything except how to get Madeleine back."

The police investigation seemed to have stalled. There was widespread criticism when officers again searched the apartment from which Madeleine had gone missing - seven weeks after her disappearance. Why, observers asked, was there any doubt the crime scene had not already been properly searched?

ONE CRITIC declared: "It is astonishing that they are still at the stage of scouring the crime scene for clues. You would think that everything that could have yielded information had already been gathered up. It's a pretty damning sign that the investigation is going nowhere."

Towards the end of June arrests finally were made in connection with the case but they were not the arrests everyone was hoping for.

Rather, Italian Danilo Chemello and his Portuguese girlfriend Aurora Pereira Vaz were taken in by the police after a dawn raid on the Costa del Sol town of Sotogrande, on suspicion of trying to extort reward money from the McCanns.

It was thought that they had claimed to know where Madeleine was being held and wanted £2.5million to relay the information. It hadn't worked.

To pre-order a copy of Madeleine: A Most Heartrbreaking And Extraordinary Disappearance, by Robert Downing, £12.99 (Northern &Shell Publishing), published on December 10, with free UK delivery, send a cheque/PO payable to Express Bookshop to Madeleine book offer, Express Bookshop, PO Box 200, Falmouth TR11 4WJ or call 0871 521 1301 with card details or order online at www. expressbookshop. co. uk.
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Enigma / The Hope of the McCanns


CRONICA
Enigma / La Esperanza de los McCann
25 November 2007
El Mundo (Spanish)
Juan C. de la Cal
UN DETECTIVE ESPAÑOL PARA MADELEINE

BabelXL Translation:


**********


A Spanish Detective for Madeleine


WHY the McCann, compatriots of Sherlock Holmes, have hired a Spanish Agency to locate the missing girl?

Detective Marco, located at Paesa, said that says that she is in Morocco.

"Papa, you found Maddie?

Every night back home, at the time of approach to his son Nico, Francisco Marco faces the same question.

The six-year-old boy is repeated before the last kiss.

Because although he is learning to read, the little one knows that his dad, the best detective in the world, looking for that girl that appears both on TV and has almost his same age.

Francisco is the director of the detective agency of Método 3, hired by the McCann family two months ago to find their daughter.

Since then, the life of this Catalan lawyer for 35 years, criminologist and doctor of law, grandson of judge and son of another lawyer, it has become an eternal meeting, in a coming and by half the world, in a catch and hang continuous phones and computers.

The pressure is very great.

I have a waiting list of 60 interviews with media from around the globe and in the morning, when I go to have breakfast at the bar, I find some English reporter who wants to get me some detail.

And at night, at home, to my children or my wife that I never talk about work, I interview by the girl, ensures Marco.

The news caused some surprise as many wondered how it is that a Spanish Agency had been chosen to resolve the case more media in the world at the moment.

In the country of Sherlock Holmes, the spies of the cold war and more solvent secret services in the world, why were they the elect?

Because we were the only ones we raised them a coherent hypothesis about the disappearance of their daughter.

We believe that she is alive and that she has been stolen, not kidnapped, because nobody has asked a ransom for her.

We maintain the thesis that they have caught her following a concrete plan.

Our main line of research are pedophiles, ensures Francisco, who just passed one of the worst drinks of his life after seeing how paedophiles on the Internet.

It is brutal

I do not think that nothing there is worse in the world.

Watch I've seen hard things, but there is nothing worse.

I cried with rage when I turned off the screen, he adds indignantly.

The entry in scene of the Catalan detectives coincides with the rehabilitation of the figure of the parents.

This change was made possible by the intervention of the British magnate Brian Kennedy -EUR 350 million won by dint of reforms of the home- it injected with enough money to hire to the best of each House to clean up the image of the McCann

It is an incredible patriotic demonstration

The man told us he was tired of seeing vilification of two British parents who had left without her small daughter

He was the one who, after consulting with the best European agencies, we chose because we are the first on the continent in everything that relates to business fraud.

And, in addition, latinos, something fundamental for this case taking into account the scenarios that are shuffled on the fate of the small: Morocco, Portugal or Spain, ensures for her part Marita Fernández Lado, founder of Método 3 and mother of Francisco.

PIONEER

The woman, aged 58, one of the pioneers in our country in private research

I came from the world of fashion but I married a lawyer of criminologist and caught taste to the matter

I specialized in insurance, in demonstrating false physical damage.

I remember that the first case that I decided was that of a blind that wasn't

Her I recorded in video reading a book and presented the tape to the Court.

It was the first time in Spain a court admitted a video as evidence, recalls Marita.

Detectives ask whether Madeleine parents are innocent is almost as insulting them.

Yes of course.

Just spend half an hour with them, without televisions from through, to check that they are broken.

Before accepting the case I had a long interview where I did lawyer of the devil and asked them terrible things to see his reaction

Kate burst into tears when one of the twins entered and been embraced.

As a mother and grandmother who I am, it seems impossible that a woman who has had to go through artificial insemination to get descent, she wants in this way to their children, may have done nothing wrong to Madeleine, says Marita

The Agency has its headquarters on the first floor of a building of classic Court, in the area of the Ensanche de Barcelona.

Phones boiled anytime.

Receive, on average, a hundred calls a day from the four cardinal points of the planet.

Half a dozen translators are responsible for responding to those who called in their language: French, English, Portuguese, Arabic .

Each conversation is recorded on a tab.

And all data are crossed with each other.

There is who has been in Canada, in South America, in almost all European countries, in Morocco.

The partners profile is mixed: some people, crazy calling for rescue to bring it back, curious, mothers who cry for the distress of small and up to mediums.

In addition to being the first of the industry in our country, Método 3 has in its curriculum have found, three years ago, to Francisco Paesa, collaborator of the Spanish secret services, given up for dead for a long time.

They also boast of having located 23 missing children, mostly adolescents.

The detectives insist that does not do this for money.

We are talking about amounts of five cíceros, no more.

And almost everything is for travel in any countries where we have worked

The two dozen people who works exclusively in the case are on the payroll and our fees are almost symbolic.

Our unique client is Maddie, clarifies Marita.

Marco has just arrived from a two-week trip by Morocco, the country where more opportunities exist, according to him, to find Madeleine: In early October we got a track and we are following her.

The country is perfect to hide an abducted girl.

In fact there are several dedicated to child trafficking networks detected although still unidentified.

And, except in the North, where are the Spanish television, the rest do not know nothing of the matter .

Detectives were reaffirmed in what he declared this week to a British newspaper where they point to the first suspect in the case, Robert Murat, who was neighbouring and translator of parents in Praia da Luz, named to investigate further.

The tabloids put in our mouths claims that we have not done -complains Marita- But the police has been deliberately leaked the news.

We only think that Murat knows more than what he says and that Madeleine may be alive somewhere in Morocco.

Nothing more.

Nor nothing less.







CRONICA
ENIGMA / LA ESPERANZA DE LOS McCANN
JUAN C. DE LA CAL
25 November 2007
El Mundo
Spanish

ENIGMA / LA ESPERANZA DE LOS McCANN

UN DETECTIVE ESPAÑOL PARA MADELEINE

¿POR QUÉ LOS McCann, compatriotas de Sherlock Holmes, han contratado a una agencia española para localizar a la niña desaparecida? El detective Marco, que localizó a Paesa, dice que está en Marruecos

Papa, ¿has encontrado a Maddie?

Cada noche, de vuelta a casa, a la hora de acostar a su hijo Nico, Francisco Marco se encuentra ante la misma pregunta. El niño, de seis años, se la repite antes del último beso. Porque aunque está aprendiendo a leer, el pequeño sabe que su papá, «el mejor detective del mundo, está buscando a esa niña que aparece tanto en la tele y que tiene casi su misma edad.

Francisco es el director de la agencia de detectives Método 3, contratada por la familia McCann hace dos meses para buscar a su hija. Desde entonces, la vida de este abogado catalán de 35 años, criminólogo y doctor en Derecho, nieto de juez e hijo de otro letrado, se ha transformado en una eterna reunión, en un ir y venir por medio mundo, en un coger y colgar continuo de teléfonos y ordenadores.

La presión es muy grande. Tengo una lista de espera de 60 entrevistas de medios de comunicación de todo el planeta y por la mañana, cuando voy a desayunar al bar, me encuentro con algún reportero inglés que quiere sacarme algún detalle. Y por la noche, en casa, hasta mis hijos o mi mujer, que nunca me hablan de trabajo, me interrogan por la niña, asegura Marco.

La noticia causó cierta sorpresa puesto que muchos se preguntaban cómo es que una agencia española había sido elegida para resolver el caso más mediático del mundo en estos momentos.

En el país de Sherlock Holmes, de los espías de la guerra fría y de los servicios secretos más solventes del mundo, ¿por qué fueron ellos los escogidos?«Porque fuimos los únicos que les planteamos una hipótesis coherente sobre la desaparición de su hija.

Creemos que está viva y que ha sido robada, no secuestrada, porque nadie ha pedido un rescate por ella. Mantenemos la tesis de que la han cogido siguiendo un plan concreto. Nuestra principal línea de investigación son los pederastas», asegura Francisco, quien acaba de pasar uno de los peores tragos de su vida tras ver cómo funcionan los pedófilos en Internet.

Es brutal. No creo que haya nada peor en el mundo. Mira que he visto cosas duras, pero no hay nada peor. Lloré de rabia cuando apagué la pantalla, añade indignado.

La entrada en escena de los detectives catalanes coincide con la rehabilitación de la figura de los padres. Este cambio fue posible gracias a la intervención del magnate británico Brian Kennedy -350 millones de euros ganados a golpe de reformas del hogar- que inyectó el dinero suficiente para contratar a lo mejor de cada casa para limpiar la imagen de los McCann.

Es una demostración patriótica increíble. El hombre nos dijo que estaba harto de ver cómo se vilipendiaba a dos padres británicos que se habían quedado sin su hija pequeña. Él fue quien, tras consultar con las mejores agencias europeas, nos eligió porque somos de las primeras en el continente en todo lo que se refiere al fraude empresarial. Y, además, latinos, algo fundamental para este caso teniendo en cuenta los escenarios que se barajan sobre el destino de la pequeña: Marruecos, Portugal o España, asegura por su parte Marita Fernández Lado, fundadora de Método 3 y madre de Francisco.

PIONERA

La mujer, de 58 años, una de las pioneras en nuestro país en la investigación privada, fundó la agencia hace dos décadas tras trabajar un tiempo como comercial para otro detective.

Yo venía del mundo de la moda pero me casé con un abogado criminalista y cogí gusto al asunto. Me especialicé en seguros, en demostrar daños físicos falsos. Recuerdo que el primer caso que resolví fue el de una ciega que no lo era. La grabé en vídeo leyendo un libro y presenté la cinta al juzgado. Fue la primera vez en España que un tribunal admitió un vídeo como prueba, recuerda Marita.

Preguntar a los detectives si los padres de Madeleine son inocentes es casi como insultarles.

Por supuesto que sí. Basta pasar media hora con ellos, sin televisiones de por medio, para comprobar que están destrozados. Antes de aceptar el caso tuve una larga entrevista donde hice de abogada del diablo y les pregunté cosas terribles para ver su reacción. Katy rompió a llorar cuando uno de los gemelos entró y se la abrazó. Como madre y abuela que soy, me parece imposible que una mujer que ha tenido que pasar por la inseminación artificial para conseguir tener descendencia, y que quiere de esa manera a sus niños, pueda haberle hecho nada malo a Madeleine, dice Marita.

La agencia tiene su cuartel general en el primer piso de un edificio de corte clásico, en la zona del Ensanche de Barcelona. Los teléfonos hierven a cualquier hora. Reciben, de media, un centenar de llamadas diarias desde los cuatro puntos cardinales del planeta. Media docena de traductores se encargan de responder a los que llaman en su idioma: francés, inglés, portugués, árabe... Cada conversación es registrada en una ficha. Y todos los datos son cruzados unos con otros.Hay quién la ha visto en Canadá, en Sudamérica, en casi todos los países europeos, en Marruecos... El perfil de los interlocutores es variopinto: gente cierta, locos que piden rescate para devolverla, curiosos, madres que lloran por el desconsuelo de la pequeña y hasta médiums.

Además de ser la primera del sector en nuestro país, Método 3 tiene en su currículo haber encontrado, hace tres años, a Francisco Paesa, colaborador de los servicios secretos españoles, dado por muerto durante mucho tiempo. También presumen de haber localizado a 23 niños desaparecidos, la mayoría adolescentes.Los detectives insisten en que no hacen esto por dinero.

Estamos hablando de cantidades de cinco cíceros, no más. Y casi todo es para gastos de viaje en alguno de los países donde hemos trabajado. La veintena de personas que trabaja en exclusiva en el asunto están en nómina y nuestros honorarios son casi simbólicos. Nuestro único cliente es Maddie, aclara Marita.

Marco acaba de llegar de un viaje de dos semanas por Marruecos, el país donde más posibilidades existen, según él, de encontrar a Madeleine:

A principios de octubre nos llegó una pista y la estamos siguiendo. El país es perfecto para ocultar a una niña raptada. De hecho existen varias redes dedicadas al tráfico de niños detectadas aunque no identificadas todavía. Y, salvo en el norte, donde ven la televisión española, en el resto no saben nada del asunto».Los detectives se reafirman en lo que declararon esta semana a un periódico británico donde apuntan al primer sospechoso del caso, Robert Murat, que fue vecino y traductor de los padres en Praia da Luz, como nombre a seguir investigando.

Los tabloides ponen en nuestra boca afirmaciones que no hemos hecho. -se queja Marita- Pero la policía ha filtrado la noticia interesadamente. Nosotros sólo pensamos que Murat sabe más de lo que dice y que Madeleine puede estar viva en algún lugar de Marruecos. Nada más.Ni nada menos...
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Handcuffed, the McCann detective once held over phone tapping


25 November 2007
The Mail on Sunday
Daniel Boffey

The private detectives hunting for Madeleine McCann were once arrested in a phone-tapping scandal linked to leading politicians and businessmen. Five senior members of the family run firm Metodo 3 - including director-general Francisco Marco, who is liaising with Kate and Gerry McCann - were held amid claims of industrial and political espionage.
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East Lancs solicitor leads Madeleine hunt


25 November 2007
This is Lancashire
Catherine Pye

AN East Lancashire solicitor is leading a private investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance - and believes she is still alive.

Edward Smethurst is the in-house lawyer based in Clitheroe for double-glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy, who has pledged to bankroll Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate McCann's legal and media costs.
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'Maddie is dead'


23 November 2007
The Sun
Veronica Lorraine in Praia Da Luz and Antonella Lazzeri

Portugal's top law chief delivers grim verdict

Portugal's top law chief yesterday admitted he believes Madeleine McCann is almost certainly DEAD.

Attorney General Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro said any kidnapper would have murdered four-year-old Maddie because of the enormous publicity surrounding the case.

He told Portuguese current affairs magazine Visao:
"If it is an abduction, it is natural the abductor killed her. There is a greater degree of probability of the little girl being dead than being alive.

"Would an abductor, with the whole world having Maddie's photo, still demand a ransom?"
Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry, both 39, last night said they were "extremely distressed" by the claims.

Official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We still firmly believe that she is alive. Making these comments is entirely unhelpful. Our investigators have every confidence they will find her alive soon."

Portuguese cops have claimed the chance of finding Maddie alive is slim, but this is the first time a high-ranking source has been so blunt.

The comments were last night seen as the clearest sign yet that Portuguese authorities fear Madeleine will never be found alive and the people behind her disappearance in May will escape justice. But daily newspaper Diario de Noticias yesterday rubbished the reports that police were ready to give up on the case.

It claimed a team of officers would continue probing alleged "inconsistencies" in the original statements of Maddie's parents and their holiday pals.

The McCanns' friend Jane Tanner told The Sun this week how she watched the tot being taken away in a blanket.
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Alive? We're 100% certain


Alive? We're 100% certain
Exclusive Search for Madeleine Day 199
The Sunday Mirror
18 November 2007
Lori Campbell


Detectives reveal that they are closing in on Maddy kidnapper And new witness tells of seeing her with TWO suspects in van

Detectives hunting for Madeleine McCann last night said they were closing in on her kidnapper in a dramatic breakthrough in the case.

Francisco Marco, head of private detective agency Metodo 3 - hired to track the missing four-year-old by the McCanns - said: "We're 100 per cent sure she is alive. We are sure she was abducted. We are very, very close to finding the kidnapper."

He said a woman had come forward with vital new information.

The member of the public claims she saw a little girl matching Madeleine's description inside a stationary van in central Portugal two days after she was snatched.

The girl was sitting next to a woman while a man stood outside the vehicle, at a spot about 90 miles from where Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

The witness then picked out the woman suspect from photographs shown to her by investigators at the Spanish firm Metodo 3 as the woman had already been linked to the case. The man seen by the van has the same description as the suspect the McCanns' friend Jane Tanner saw carrying Madeleine away from their apartment on May 3.

And it's believed a THIRD man was also involved, acting as a spotter who watched the McCanns' routine of checking on their children during their week-long holiday.

Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry were last night praying the sighting on May 5 would help bring their daughter back.

A friend said: "They're encouraged by what investigators are saying and have been given new hope."

Mr Marco and his 40-strong expert team were hired by the McCanns two months ago as they became frustrated by the bungled Portuguese police investigation.

He believes Madeleine was abducted in a carefully planned operation, says he knows the area she is being held and insists the agency is close to discovering exactly what happened to her.

Marco, 45, refuses to say which country they think Madeleine is in, although Kate and Gerry have always been convinced it is Morocco.

The Sunday Mirror has been told the identities of all three suspects but has chosen not to print them so as not to jeopardise the inquiry.

A source inside Metodo 3 said: "We believe the sighting is the breakthrough we've been waiting for. The witness was able to give a detailed description of the man and woman to investigators.

"They showed her photographs, and she was able to pick out the woman with no hesitation.

"Detectives believe the kidnapper was helped by a third person who watched the apartment for days."

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said last night: "Gerry and Kate will not comment on specific sightings, but are continuing to work closely with and have every confidence in Metodo 3."

The development comes as Gerry told of his belief Madeleine was snatched by a "predator" after the family was watched for days.

In a video diary to be screened on BBC1's Panorama, he says: "I've no doubt Madeleine was targeted and that makes us sick to the core to think someone was watching us and our daughter, then targeted her. I think the true word is a predator."

Kate and Gerry, both 39, left Madeleine and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie sleeping in their apartment every night while they ate at a Tapas bar from which they could see the back of the flats.

Gerry believes the kidnapper lay beneath the children's bedroom window, hidden by a high wall.

In the film - shot by family friend John Corner as suspicion began to fall on them in August - he says: "We were looking at the back of the apartment and maybe the weak spots were at the front.

"It's a corner flat with trees overlooking it. Somebody could be hiding there watching out of view."

He adds: "I've absolutely no doubt that they've watched me go in, come back out, and then they've thought, 'That's the window of opportunity'.

"And you know a minute or two either side, and obviously one other witness saw him carrying a child away, but not realising it was Madeleine - that could have been a matter of 20 or 30 seconds and that's very frustrating."

A US documentary will also claim Portuguese police no longer believe Kate and Gerry - who are still official suspects - were involved in their daughter's disappearance and that DNA evidence is inconclusive.

Panorama: The Mystery of Madeleine McCann, tomorrow BBC1 9pm.

'We are very, very close to finding abductors'

 
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