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."

 

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

'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'

 

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Clarence Mitchell, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, News of the World, Ross Hall

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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Ambassador John Buck, Clarence Mitchell, Madeleine McCann, Robert Murat

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".

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Ambassador John Buck, Clarence Mitchell, Leicestershire Police, Madeleine McCann, Robert Murat

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