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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Brian Kennedy, Find Madeleine Fund, Gordon Brown, Madeleine McCann

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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Ambassador John Buck, Madeleine McCann, Nick Fagge

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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Ambassador John Buck, Madeleine McCann

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."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Brian Kennedy, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, Metodo3, News of the World, Robert Murat, Ross Hall

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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Brian Kennedy, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann, Metodo3, Robert Murat

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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Clarence Mitchell, Forensic Science Services, Madeleine McCann, Nick Fagge

'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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, George Brooks, George Burke, Madeleine McCann, Nick Fagge, Robert Murat

£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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Brian Kennedy, Clarence Mitchell, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann, Metodo3, Nick Fagge

Police in make or break summit

Madeleine - Police in make or break summit
Daily Express
29 November 2007
By Nick Fagge in Praia da Luz and Martin Stote in Rothley

Portuguese detectives fly to Britain

POLICE flew to Britain yesterday to v iew evidence which could condemn or clear Madeleine McCann's parents of involvement in her disappearance.

The visit – dubbed a DNA summit – is crucial to Portuguese detectives who have accused the doctors of being directly involved in the four-year-old's death.

The decision by the team, which includes the second in command of Portugal's forensic science service, caught the McCanns and their lawyers completely by surprise.

The team want to be briefed on the precise methods used by the British scientists who analysed the forensic evidence which led to the McCanns being named as arguidos, or official suspects, in September, a police source revealed yesterday. He said: "The investigators are hugely anxious. It is hoped that the tests are conclusive this time.

"The meeting with UK forensic experts will enable investigators to see what's already been analysed and find out what information is already available from the results the English scientists obtained." The meeting, due to start first thing this morning, was expected to analyse in fine detail the implications of the results of DNA evidence from the couple's holiday apartment and hire car.

The strength of the evidence, which has been the subject of widespread speculation, will help detectives to decide if the McCanns have a case to answer.

The Portuguese prosecutor will rely on this heavily as he composes a letter to Leicestershire police, in which he may ask them to reinterview the McCanns and their friends, and explain the exact nature of the further questions he wants them to face.

The four-man team is made up of Inspector Ricardo Praia, a detective with the investigative Policia Judiciaria, two police forensic science experts and the vice-president of Portugal's National Pathology Institute, Francisco Corte Real.

They will meet senior officials from the Forensic Science Service laboratory in Birmingham at a secret location.

The team want to familiarise themselves with the pioneering methods used so that they can explain them to the investigating magistrate in the Algarve who will decide whether to charge or clear the McCanns.

The source added: "They are going to England to decode the results of the tests so we are not caught by surprise." He added: "The team that is going to the UK is going to examine everything microscopically to make sure the tests have not been manipulated by someone linked to the suspects.

"We want to be sure all the information that reaches us has not previously been interfered with." The meeting was also due to be attended by Detective Supt Stuart Prior, who is in charge of the Leicestershire police operation, working under the direction of the Portuguese force.

Last night Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' official spokesman, said the couple from Rothley, Leics, had nothing to fear from the visit.

He said: "We have been informed by Leicestershire police that a meeting between forensic scientists from Portugal and the Forensic Science Service laboratory will be taking place.

"We understand there is no intention for the McCanns to be interviewed or indeed anybody else.

That such a meeting is taking place is not particularly surprising and we do not see this as a significant development."

Continue Reading... Labels: Clarence Mitchell, Forensic Science Services, Madeleine McCann, Nick Fagge

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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, George Brooks, George Burke, Madeleine McCann