'We know who's got Maddie'


'We know who's got Maddie'
Ross Hall
18 November 2007
The News of the World


DETECTIVES hired by Maddie McCann's parents are CERTAIN she's still alive and they're close to finding her.

The Spanish-based Metodo 3 agency also believe they know the identity of the missing four-year-old's kidnappers and are on the verge of solving the entire case.

Boss Francisco Marco told us said: "We're 100 PER CENT sure Maddie is alive. We're sure she was abducted and we are very, very close to finding those responsible."

The specialist investigators group, who have never failed to find a missing child, are working on the theory that THREE people were involved in the snatch after a new witness came forward.

The witness claims to have seen Maddie being bundled into a van by a man and a woman in central Portugal TWO DAYS after she was taken.

The news comes as Maddie's troubled dad Gerry has told how he is certain she was taken by "a predator" who had watched the family for DAYS.

In an emotional home video diary recorded some months ago, Gerry says he believes the abductor hid in the dark outside their Portuguese holiday apartment before grabbing Maddie from her bed.

On the video, filmed by a friend and to be screened by the BBC tomorrow night, doctor Gerry reveals: "I've no doubt Madeleine was targeted. That makes us sick to the core-to think that someone was watching us and our daughter."

He says he thinks the kidnapper was HIDING at the front of the flat in Praia da Luz as he checked on his children that fateful evening.

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

Gerry's theory backs our front page story last month that Metodo 3 believed Maddie was snatched to order in a paedophile plot.

The video also shatters Portuguese police theories that the McCanns could have dumped Maddie's body during a trip to Spain.

It shows the boot of their hired Renault Scenic, where cops suspect the body was hidden, was actually full of missing posters and yellow armbands on that day in August. Pictures taken from the video also show Gerry sitting at his computer working on posters, and Kate hanging out washing.

On video Kate reveals her regret at leaving her children that night. She says: "There is not a day goes by I'm not thinking, 'Why did I think that was OK?' "

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


*****************************************************************

We know who took Maddie!
Ross Hall
18 November 2007
The News of the World

Shock claim by McCanns' private eyes


DETECTIVES hired by Maddie McCann's parents are CERTAIN she's still alive and they are close to finding her.

The Spanish-based Metodo 3 agency also believe they know the identity of the missing four- year-old's kidnappers and say they are on the verge of solving the entire case.

Boss Francisco Marco told us: "We're 100 PER CENT sure Maddie is alive. We're sure she was abducted and we are very, very close to finding those responsible."

The investigators, who have never failed to find a missing child, are working on the theory that THREE people were involved in the snatch after a new witness came forward.

The witness claims she saw Maddie being bundled into a van by a man and a woman in central Portugal TWO DAYS after she was taken.

Taken

It is not known if she was a local resident or a holidaymaker.

The news comes as Maddie's troubled dad Gerry has told how he is certain she was taken by "a predator" who had watched the family for DAYS.

In an emotional home video diary recorded some months ago, Gerry says he believes the abductor hid in the dark outside their Portuguese holiday apartment before grabbing Maddie from her bed.

On the video, to be screened by the BBC tomorrow night, doctor Gerry reveals: "I've no doubt Madeleine was targeted.

"That makes us sick to the core-to think that someone was watching us and our daughter."

Until now Gerry has been banned from discussing the investigation under Portuguese law. But he is captured on the private video saying he thinks the kidnapper was HIDING at the front of the flat in Praia da Luz as he checked on his children that fateful evening. He added: "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. I've absolutely no doubt they've watched me go in, come back out and then they've thought, 'That's the window of opportunity to get in and get back out'."

Gerry's theory backs our front page story last month that Metodo 3 believed Maddie was snatched to order in a paedophile plot.

On the video, filmed by friend John Corner, Gerry reveals he desperately wishes he could turn back time. "Looking back could destroy you, eat away at you." he says.

"We have very much tried to focus on what more could be done now, not what we could have done before, because we didn't do it.

"If we could turn back the clock, we'd just rewind as fast as we could."

The video also shatters police theories that the McCanns could have dumped Maddie's body during a trip to Spain.

It shows the boot of their hired Renault Scenic, where cops suspect the body was hidden, was actually full of missing posters and yellow armbands on that day in August. Pictures taken from the video also show Gerry sitting at his computer working on posters, and Kate hanging out washing.

On video Kate, 39, reveals her regret at leaving her children that night.

She says: "There is not a day goes by I'm not thinking, 'Why did I think that was OK?' "

Gerry, also 39, added: "Clearly at the time we felt what we were doing was quite responsible. We talked earlier on about how rare it is for a foreign child to be abducted and of course Praia du Luz is such a quiet place it was the furthest thing from our minds.

"We were dining very close to the children and we were checking on them very, very regularly. We are very responsible parents and we love our children so much."

Panorama: The Mystery Of Madeleine McCann, 9pm tomorrow BBC1.
Continue Reading... Labels: , , , , , , ,


Over by Christmas


4 November 2007
Sunday Mirror
Susie Boniface And Grant Hodgson
EXCLUSIVE THE SEARCH FOR MADELEINE DAY 185
Police will wind up case after their incompetence destroys all DNA evidence

PORTUGUESE detectives investigating Madeleine McCann's disappearance plan to close the case by CHRISTMAS. Police have admitted that "unless a new piece of evidence falls out of the sky" the hunt will be wrapped up in a matter of weeks. A source inside Portuguese police told the Sunday Mirror how they believe the four-year-old will never be found - and are satisfied for the shadow of suspicion to hang over the McCanns.
Continue Reading... Labels: , , , , ,


On the trail of Maddie


3 November 2007
Daily Mail
David Jones

This week a doctor said she'd seen Maddie in Morocco and knew it was her by the flaw in her eye. Another false lead -- or proof she's alive? David Jones followed the trail to a remote mountain village ..
Continue Reading... Labels: , , , ,


Maddie's final gift for gran


20 October 2007
The Sun
Antonella Lazzeri and Clodagh Hartley

Hand print on plate

THIS is the poignant last gift from Madeleine McCann to her gran -given just days before she vanished.

The heart-shaped plate bears Maddie's little handprints and the touching message, "I love you Grandma and Grandad, From Madeleine 2007."

Maddie's devastated gran Susan Healy showed off the plate yesterday and said: "This is so special I feel like locking it in a safe.
Continue Reading... Labels: , , , ,


'Keep hoping, keep looking, keep praying, don't give up'


'Keep hoping, keep looking, keep praying, don't give up'
The search for Madeleine Day 11
The Sunday Mirror
13 May 2007
Lori Campbell and Simon Wright in Praia da Luz and Susie Boniface in London


Mum's birthday plea
Dad tells of a 'tidal wave' of devastation for her family
Nine Brits quizzed over 'middle man' in abduction
Intruders crept in via the unlocked patio doors

IT was the cruellest day any mother could face. She should have been celebrating her little girl's fourth birthday at a party packed with friends, family and laughter.  Instead Kate McCann had to endure yet another day without her precious daughter, managing only a brave and grateful smile as Portuguese children gave her presents and messages for missing Madeleine after a special church service last night.

As the hunt enters another unbearable week today, Kate began Saturday with a growing despair. In a statement read on her behalf she pleaded: "On Madeleine's birthday, please keep looking, please keep praying, please help bring Madeleine home."

It has now been 11 days since Madeleine was snatched from her hotel bed during the family holiday on the Algarve. Last night Kate and husband Gerry arrived at the 16th Century Our Lady Luz church for evening mass. Green and yellow ribbons were tied to the door - green as a symbol of hope for their daughter's safe return, yellow in remembrance that she's missing.  As the couple walked into church, Kate clutched Madeleine's Cuddle Cat toy. It has not left her side since the daughter vanished.  During the service, Gerry spoke of the "tidal wave" of devastation wreaked by the abduction, telling villagers he and his wife Kate had drawn "strength, hope and courage" from friends, family, the community in Praia da Luz, at home, across Europe and even around the world.  Shaking with emotion, he said: "We are looking forward to the day when Madeleine returns to us as a joyous one."  And after the service he added: "We walked out of this church believing that we will see Madeleine soon and she will be safe and well and we will continue to hope.

Kate managed her first smile in many days as the congregation formed a Guard of Honour to applaud them. Carrying flowers and presents for Madeleine, she kissed on the cheek by women wellwishers after the two-hour mass. The couple were visibly moved as they walked past the line of villagers and holidaymakers showing their support.  Red and yellow balloons were released into the air bearing the words "I Love You", and children gave out pieces of paper with birthday messages to Madeleine. Earlier in the day, Kate prepared a new statement for the media. But in the end she was just too broken to face the TV crews.

Instead a spokesman for holiday firm Mark Warner read the statement for family. The rest of it said: "Today is our daughter Madeleine's fourth birthday. We would like to mark today by asking people to redouble their efforts to help find Madeleine. We know that there is already a huge amount of effort and resource being put into the search for our daughter. We also know that offers of support are being made daily. It is this that gives us hope."

Yesterday was the first time Kate's strength, which had held up through countless public appeals in which pain was clearly written on her face, had deserted her.  For the first time she had begun to fear Portuguese police could wind up their search with her daughter still not returned to her and no clear leads.

Her uncle Brian Kennedy, 68, said: "She just couldn't put herself through it. We have all urged her to stay inside, to regain her strength."  Kate's family fear that the 38-year-old GP is near collapse. Mr Kennedy said that she was becoming dangerously frail. He said: "We don't know how long she can go on like this. She's going through unimaginable misery. Madeleine is the centre of her world and she feels an unbearable void to be without her on her birthday. We're all deeply worried - she's lost a lot of weight and looks gaunt, almost skeletal."  Kate spent most of yesterday privately in the villa she and Gerry and their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie have now moved to.  They appeared briefly when they went to the Mark Warner complex Madeleine was abducted from.

Meanwhile, a newly-released poster of Madeleine shows her distinctive right eye - where the pupil runs into the blue-green iris - which could easily identify the little girl if her captors try to disguise her.

Portuguese detectives now believe nine British holidaymakers hold the key to finding her kidnapper.  Police sniffer dogs have tracked Madeleine's scent to a local supermarket and two apartments where the group were staying, only yards from where she was snatched.  The nine Brits have been helping police with their inquiries over the last three days. Police believe they may have unwittingly come into contact with a "middle man" of Madeleine's abductor or abductors at the Ocean Club in Prai da Luz, Portugal. There is no suggestion the nine are suspects, but they are seen as important witnesses. The news fuelled speculation that a holidaymaker the McCanns may have met was involved in the abduction.

A police source said: "We are hoping we can reach the kidnapper or kidnappers' middle man through these nine. They have all been questioned as potential witnesses. They were staying at two apartments that the sniffer dogs have tracked Madeleine's scent to."

MADELEINE was snatched from the family's apartment at 10pm on May 3 while her parents were having a restaurant meal just 50 yards away.  Two men and a blonde woman seen at a petrol station driving a car with UK plates last week have emerged as prime suspects.  Witnesses say all three seemed to be English and were driving a car with yellow-and-black registration plates like UK cars.

Local shopkeepers have also been shown CCTV printouts of three people, including a man aged about 40 with dark hair down to his shoulders, a blonde woman of about 40 with her hair in a ponytail and an older woman with collar-length hair. The three were clearly not Portuguese and "looked English".

There are now just 30 police officers assigned to the investigation, scaled down from the original 150 that scoured the surrounding area for clues.  Detectives - who have come under attack for a series of blunders - are working late into the night at the area's police headquarters in the town of Portimao. Some have even been sleeping at the office.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Mirror can reveal that Madeleine was snatched through patio doors which had been left unlocked.  It was originally thought shutters at the front of the villa had been broken and jammed open by the kidnappers. But Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa confided in former British Chief Inspector Albert Kirby that neither the windows or their metal shutters had been tampered with.  Mr Kirby, who led the Jamie Bulger inquiry and is currently in Portugal, revealed it was the sliding patio doors of the ground floor apartment that allowed Madeleine to be quietly and quickly kidnapped.  The McCanns would have used the patio doors as they checked on their children during their meal. They had a direct line of sight to the apartment from their table at the restaurant opposite, but their view of the doors was obscured by a hedge.  Mr Kirby told the Sunday Mirror: "I had a very interesting chat with the officer in charge. The window shutters are not at all involved. The door was left unlocked. The window's shutters are almost impossible to open from the outside."

The McCanns have vowed to remain in Portugal until their daughter can come home with them.  Madeleine's grandparents Susan and Brian Healey last night described the little girl as "a special gift from God".  Susan said: "It would take a lifetime for us to thank all the people who have offered support. Now we just want our Madeleine brought home.  "We don't know how long Kate and Gerry are going to stay out there for.  "At the moment it is just a frightening thought that life could ever go on again without Madeleine."
Continue Reading... Labels: , , , , ,


Doubt over conduct of local police


11 May 2007
Belfast Telegraph
Jonathan McCambridge and Victoria O'Hara


Bangor-born Jim Gamble - the former RUC head of Special Branch - leads the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) which has sent two officers experienced in dealing with paedophile crime to the Algarve, to assist the investigation.
Continue Reading... Labels: , , , , , , ,


Courage, Courage, Courage


George Brooks / Burke

Courage, Courage, Courage
7 May 2007
Mirror
Vanessa Allen and Martin Fricker in Praia da Luz

Hunt for Maddy, 3 Comfort for parents at Mother's Day service

For Kate McCann it could not have been more poignant - a Mother's Day church service celebrating the bond between mothers and daughters.

Tears streamed down her face as she watched Portuguese children giving flowers to their mums and thanking them for their loving care.

A local girl presented her with a posy of five roses - flowers which under happier circumstances would have come from missing Madeleine.

Brave Kate, 38, choked back her tears and whispered: "Thank you."

She was warned before attending yesterday's service at the Church of Our Lady of the Light that it would celebrate Mother's Day in Portugal. She insisted it should go ahead as planned.

But the strain was etched on her face as she clutched at Madeleine's toy pink cat and prayed for her daughter's safe return.

She kissed the threadbare toy repeatedly as she prayed. It was believed to have been left behind when the little girl was snatched.

Husband Gerry, also 38, put a comforting arm around her as Father Jose Manuel Pacheco led the prayers for Madeleine, her family and the police hunting for her. He said: "We pray that Madeleine will be brought home safe to the heart of the family. We are with you - courage, courage, courage."

Altar girl Emily Seromenho, 14, presented Kate with the roses and told her to walk with the Portuguese mothers and lay them at the feet of the Virgin Mary by the altar.

GP Kate paused by the statue - seemingly lost in silent prayer - and was embraced by the village mothers as the service ended.

She and husband Gerry were engulfed by almost 40 people as they left. Pensioners, mothers and their children swarmed round the Catholic couple and kissed, hugged and shook hands with them in an extraordinary gesture of support.

Many were in tears as they left the tiny white-painted church in Praia da Luz - including Emily.

The teenager, whose English mother Sarah lived in Ascot, Berks, before moving to the Algarve with her husband Francisco, said: "I felt she was very sad. I felt sad too.

"I told her she should give the flowers to the Virgin Mary. She just said 'Thank you'. It is a special service for us. It is nice but it was sad because of what is happening with Madeleine. We are all shocked by what has happened."

Kate and Gerry were accompanied at the service by eight relatives, including Madeleine's grandparents Susan and Brian Healy.

Holidaymakers passed by the church on their way to the beach, clutching their kid's hands tightly.

Expat Peggy Brown, 83, said: "Luz has always been a little oasis away from the bad things that have been happening in the world.

"What has happened is devastating, you can feel it. There is a sort of veil of sadness in the place."

Madeleine disappeared from the family's apartment at the Mark Warner Ocean Club while Kate and Gerry were at a restaurant on the complex just 120ft away.

They decided not to use a creche service and instead left Madeleine and their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie sleeping. They had been taking turns to return to the block to check on the children.

Kate found the shutter and window to Madeleine's room had been opened and her daughter missing shortly before 10pm.

A photograph of Madeleine taken during the holiday in Portugal last week was released by the family yesterday. In the holiday snap, she poses for the camera on a tennis court at the Algarve resort.

A family friend said Madeleine is a "very confident" girl who would "talk to anyone".

Portuguese police now have a detailed description of the man they believe took Madeleine - but do not know his identity. The Daily Mirror has been given the description but has agreed not to publish it at the request of police.

They are worried releasing too much information could possibly "spook" the kidnapper.

Officers have also created an artist's impression of the suspect - but bizarrely it is only of the back of his head.

Earlier yesterday, Kate and heart specialist Gerry, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were escorted through the resort by three family liaison officers from Leicestershire Police.

One of Kate's colleagues has offered a £100,000 reward for the youngster's safe return.

Police are also investigating reports that a "suspicious" couple were spotted with a blonde child in nearby Lagos on Friday morning.


British businessman George Burke, who has lived near the resort for 16 years after moving from Liverpool, said they "scurried" down a road towards a railway station. He added: "It was 6am and pitch black I couldn't be certain it was her."

Last night holiday firm Mark Warner, which owns the Ocean Club complex, said several British families had cancelled their bookings.

Meanwhile relatives defended Kate and Gerry for leaving their three youngsters while they went with friends to have a meal.

Great uncle Brian Kennedy, from Liverpool, said: "The children were only left in the sense that when you put your children to bed, you don't stay in their room all night.

"Kate and Gerry are absolutely devoted to their children."
Continue Reading... Labels: , , , ,


Hunt at Black Rock


Hunt at Black Rock
The News of the World
Ross Hall & Carole Aye Maung in Praia da Luz, Portugal
6 May 2007

POLICE hunting for missing Maddie McCann have dramatically widened their search to an extinct VOLCANO, the News of the World can exclusively reveal.

Teams of officers with sniffer dogs were last night scouring what one called a "sinister" area called Black Rock near sea cliffs just over a mile from the resort where the youngster was snatched on Thursday.

The search was widened as the detective leading the hunt claimed they had a good idea who the kidnapper was- and that he believes Maddie may still be ALIVE.

A source close to the Portuguese investigation also told the News of the World that the abductor is believed to have spent days watching Maddie and staking out the McCann family's apartment at the Ocean Club resort in the seaside village of Praia da Luz.

Meanwhile more than 500 British tourists, expats and locals have joined in the ongoing search for the blonde youngster along a six-mile stretch of the coastline.

Last night-48 hours after Maddie was snatched-that search shifted to Rocha Negra-a remote area feared by the local community and an ideal hideout.

Furriel Louis Costa, one of the policemen involved in the search, told us: "You would call it Black Rock. It is a very scary and chilling place. The local Portuguese people do not like to go up there. They are too frightened.

Captive

"It is very big and extends high up above the sea which makes it seem very threatening. You can go up there. But no one ever does. It's not a nice place. It is sinister."

He spoke as hopes rose that Maddie might be alive and held captive following a statement earlier in the day from the head of the investigation, Director of the Judicial Police Guilhermino Encarnacao who hinted that they KNOW the kidnapper's identity.

He said: "There is a prime suspect and we have a portrait sketch of the suspect.

But I am not going to reveal it because it may put the girl's life in danger. We believe that she is still alive and still in Portugal."

More than 150 police officers have been drafted into the area-and yesterday British detectives from the McCann's home county of Leicestershire flew in to join the hunt which also took in the Boavista golf course, again a mile from where she was abducted.

All ports, airports and borders have been put on high alert for any sign of the missing tot.

Maddie disappeared from the Ocean Club in the Praia da Luz resort of Portugal as her doctor parents Gerry and Kate McCann, both 38, ate in a restaurant 50 yards away.

They had chosen not to use the babysitting service provided by holiday company Mark Warner and instead were checking on her every half hour as she slept between her two-year-old twin brother and sister, Shaun and Amelie. A police source last night told us the kidnapper must have KNOWN there was no babysitter in the apartment-and could have been watching the family's movements for days.

He said: "It wasn't just coincidence that this person took her while her parents were out. They would have been watching and waiting and picked the ideal time to take her without disturbing anyone or raising any attention.

"They were only yards away and could see the balcony to the apartment but whoever took Maddie went through the front window which would have been out of sight."

Some sources in the area suggested last night that Maddie may have been snatched by a Russian or Eastern European gang to be sold for up to Pounds 250,000. Police are also investigating a British businessman's revelation that he spotted a couple carrying a young child just hours after Maddie disappeared.


Liverpool-born George Burke told cops he saw a couple carrying a young child at around 6am, seven hours after the abduction, as he drove home from nearby Lagos.


When his headlights lit them, he said they "scurried down a side road and out of sight".

Yesterday the News of the World joined the search for Maddie by putting up and handing out large posters calling for help in tracing the youngster to the masses of volunteers turning up to join the hunt.

Manchester man Dave Shelton, 38, who lives in the village and is co-ordinating the local searchers, said: "People have just been coming and coming. The response has been fantastic." Last night Maddie's distraught extended family gave us a series of loving pictures of the happy tot-who was conceived with the help of IVF treatment-at her home in Rothley, Leicestershire, as they prayed for her safe return.

Her aunt Philomena McCann, 54, said: "It's great to have some hope from the police-but we need something to happen. We want her back. We need to keep strong, for everybody's sake."

Maddie's great uncle Brian Kennedy (pictured left), who lives in the same village as the family, told how Gerry and Kate had already planned her fourth birthday party next Saturday before leaving for Portugal.

"We asked a friend to make her a Dr Who cake. We've told her to carry on making it. We have to think for the best."
Continue Reading... Labels: , , , , , , ,


The net's closing in


The net's closing in
Search for missing Maddy
The Sunday Mirror
6 May 2007
Lori Campbell Kate Mansey and Jon Clarke in the Algarve Portugal

Police in hunt for a man acting strangely at complex Dad: I'm sure she'll be at 4th birthday next week

Detectives were last night closing in on a man they suspect of snatching little Maddy McCann from her holiday apartment.  They said they believed she was being held within three miles of the complex where she had been staying at Praia da Luz on Portugal's Algarve.

Guilhermino Encarnacao, chief of police in the region, said he had an artist's impression of the abductor but he feared that releasing it may put the three-year-old's life in danger.  He said he believed that Maddy had been taken by a sex offender, but there was also a possibility she had been kidnapped for a ransom - Maddy's parents are both doctors, her father a highly-paid heart specialist.

Mr Encarnacao said: "We have a prime suspect. A man has been seen acting strangely and we have a sketch, but we are not releasing it yet. We do not want to put the girl at risk.  "We believe the girl is still in Portugal, and probably nearby. I cannot rule out it was a paedophile who took her." 

Police raised the hope that Maddy could be found as her anguished parents spent a second night waiting for news of their daughter.

Gerry and Kate McCann, both 38, of Rothley, Leics, are staying two doors down from the apartment that Maddy was taken from between 9pm and 10pm on Thursday.  Yesterday Gerry went into the apartment and emerged carrying a suitcase and a bucket and spade for younger twins Amelie and Sean, two.  The couple were later seen walking between apartment blocks in the resort with the twins, accompanied by friends.

They are being comforted by family and specially-trained officers from Leicestershire who have flown to Portugal.

One senior Portuguese detective told the Sunday Mirror yesterday: "We know of two or three local paedophiles living between Lagos and Praia da Luz. We have their names and addresses. We also have a list of English and German sex offenders living in the area from Interpol. We are following up every lead." Yesterday Maddy's heartbroken grandmother told how the family were clinging to the hope she will be able to attend her fourth birthday party on Saturday.

Susan Healy told the Sunday Mirror: "We were looking forward to seeing her next weekend and giving her her presents, but this is just so awful.  "Her father is adamant that she will be found."

Relatives have made her a special Dr Who cake in honour of her favourite programme. Maddy had been asleep on a bed next to her brother Sean when she was snatched.
Her parents had been eating dinner at a restaurant in the Ocean Club resort 100 yards from the apartment.  They had been taking turns to check on the children every half hour as they slept.  But a frantic search was launched when Kate went back to the apartment at 9.45pm and found Maddy gone.

More than 100 locals and holiday makers took part in the hunt. Hotel workers from the Mark Warner Holiday complex held hands in a line and combed the beach while others scoured the resort and nearby roads.  A police source said they had been studying CCTV footage in petrol stations and on motorways near the resort.  There were also reports from expats that a young girl was seen walking down a road with a couple.

Last night 150 extra officers were drafted in to help with the search, as well as people from the Red Cross, Maritime Police and firemen.  It is thought someone had been spying on the apartment and broken in by forcing the shutters on the patio doors and entering the apartment when he knew the adults had gone.  The ground-floor apartment was on the edge of a public road so Maddy's abductor would have been able to make a quick getaway.

Yesterday family and friends flew in to the popular holiday resort from Liverpool, Glasgow and Canada to comfort Maddy's parents.  Looking tired and distraught, her mum Kate clasped her husband's hand as they walked out of the apartment with their twins between them to collect their belongings.

Last night the little girl's great uncle, Brian Kennedy, said: "We fear the worst, but we are hoping for the best."  Mr Kennedy insisted that the couple had acted responsibly when they left the children in the room while they had dinner at the restaurant.  He said: "The children were left only in the sense that when you put your children to bed, you don't stay in the room all night.  "Madeleine is a lovely little girl, an intelligent, bright child. As parents, they are absolutely devoted to their children. You won't find more caring parents anywhere."

The seven other adults, who had been on holiday with the McCann family, left yesterday as planned, leaving the parents free to spend time with worried relatives.

Meanwhile, questions were being raised on how secure the apartments were. There was also criticism of how quickly the police reacted to Maddy's disappearance.

Paula Jones, 34, who manages the apartments where the McCann family were staying said the properties were a hot spot for burglaries.  She said: "We have a real problem with break-ins at the apartments because lots of holiday makers don't double lock the patio doors.  "Burglars wait and watch the apartments so they know who is coming and going and they strike when tourists are out at the beach or in the restaurants."
Continue Reading... Labels: , , , , , ,


Abducted girl's relatives now 'fear the worst'


Abducted girl's relatives now 'fear the worst'
Marc Horne
6 May 2007
Scotland on Sunday


RELATIVES of the young British girl missing in Portugal "fear the worst" after police revealed they believe they know the person who abducted her.

Three-year-old Madeleine McCann, known as Maddy, went missing from a rented apartment in the Algarve last Thursday while her parents, Gerry and Kate, ate in a tapas restaurant a few hundred yards away.

Officers say they have a suspect in mind and believe the youngster remains alive and in the area where she and her family were on holiday.

Guilhermino Encarnacao, head of the judicial police in the Faro area, said "all the evidence" pointed to Madeleine, who turns four next Friday, having been abducted and that all other options had been ruled out.

Officers are working on the assumption she is being held between two and three miles from the resort.

Encarnacao revealed his force had received more than 30 calls from potential witnesses and created an artist's impression of a suspect, but he refused to confirm whether the suspect was a man or a woman, British or Portuguese. More than 150 officers are combing the areas around the holiday resort.

Brian Kennedy, great uncle of the missing toddler, said: "We fear the worst, but we are hoping for the best."

Kennedy said the youngster was a big fan of Doctor Who and that a special customised cake was being made by a family friend for her birthday next week.

On the night of Madeleine's disappearance, the McCanns went out at 8pm after tucking their three children into bed and watching them fall asleep in their apartment beds. The couple, who have family in Glasgow, checked on the children every half hour up until 9pm. Mrs McCann found Madeleine missing when she next walked into the room at 10pm.

The family believes an intruder broke in and abducted the girl while her two-year-old twin siblings slept peacefully in their cots. The family said the shutter had been slid open and the bedroom window had been "jemmied".

"Kate and Gerry weren't out for long and they could see the apartment from the restaurant," said Brian Healy, Madeleine's maternal grandfather. "Someone must have come in the window and gone out the door with her."

The family were staying in a luxury resort in Praia de la Luz which features North African-style villas and sub-tropical gardens overlooking an idyllic beach. The Ocean Club resort offered a creche service, but the couple decided to leave their children in the apartment.

Resort staff knocked frantically on the doors of holidaymakers to get them involved in the search for the missing girl.

"At 11.30pm I went out in my dressing gown and a distressed gentleman told me that a child had been abducted and asked if we could help with the search," said British tourist Paules Moyes.

British Ambassador John Buck accompanied the couple, who live in the Leicestershire village of Rothley, during the search yesterday.

On Friday evening, the parents made an emotional appeal for the safe return of their "beautiful" daughter.

"We cannot describe the anguish and despair we are feeling," said Mr McCann. "Please, if you have Madeleine, let her come home to her mummy, daddy, brother and sister."
Continue Reading... Labels: , , ,


Solicitor's new role for Law Society


2 March 1999
Manchester Evening News
Neil Barker


...ROCHDALE solicitor Edward Smethurst has been appointed by the Law Society to head a key representative group. From June 1 Mr Smethurst will become national chairman of the society's Commerce and Industry group, which represents more than 6,000 solicitors working in commerce and industry. At 30, he is believed to be the youngest-ever national chairman. He has been chairman of the Law Society north west Commerce and Industrial Group for four years and a Law Society main committee member for three years. Mr Smethurst, an in-house commericial litigation lawyer at a company in Warrington, says it is a "tremendous honour" to have been appointed by his peers to "this prestigious and important position."
Continue Reading... Labels: , ,


 
Return to top of page Copyright © 2010 | Flash News Converted into Blogger Template by HackTutors