Maddie TV hope

Maddie TV hope
New evidence to be shown in reconstruction
5 April 2009
The News of the World
Neville Thurlbeck

A telly reconstruction of the hours leading up to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will contain vital evidence about new suspects.

A Channel 4 documentary will feature witness statements never released by Portuguese police. .

They have been scrutinised by programme-makers and will be broadcast to mark the second anniversary of Maddie's disappearance as part of a renewed bid to find the tot. Her parents Kate and Gerry are collaborating with the Channel 4 team.

Maddie was three when she went missing on May 3, 2007, in the resort of Praia da Luz. Gerry has returned there with two of the "Tapas Nine"—Jane Tanner and Matthew Oldfield. They were dining with the McCanns the night Madeleine vanished and are also helping with the programme.

But Kate has remained at the couple's home in Rothley, Leics. She felt unable to cope with returning to Portugal.

A lookalike actress will play her in the reconstruction, while the daughter of one of the pals will take on the role of Maddie.

The McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said:

"There are pieces of witness testimony which have not been released.

These include the suspicious behaviour of several individuals in the area where Madeleine disappeared both before and after she went missing.

"We hope that it will jog someone's memory. This documentary will give a whole new sense to what happened on that night."

The programme will be shown on May 7.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Clarence Mitchell, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, Neville Thurlbeck, News of the World, Ross Hall

Real IRA suspects unmasked

15 March 2009
The Sunday Life
Ciaran McGuigan
Spotlight falls on accused as cops make arrests over soldier killings

Paul Anthony John McCaugherty accused of trying to buy weapons and explosives for real IRA.

This is the man accused of being behind a plot to import tonnes of weapons into Ulster for the Real IRA. Our main picture shows the man cops have accused of being the Number Two in the dissident republican organisation responsible for gunning down two soldiers in cold blood last Saturday night.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Forensic Science Services

8th ASIS International European Security Conference

1 March 2009
Security Today

The 8th ASIS International European Security Conference will take place on 26-29 April 2009 at the Montreux Music and Congress Centre in Montreux, Switzerland. The theme of the conference will be "Taking security management to the next level" and will feature over 30 high level educational sessions for and by international security experts. Around 500 senior security professionals, corporate executives, consultants, architects and law enforcement officials are expected to participate.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Brian Kennedy, Metodo3

The murder squad made up of civilians

24 January 2009 
Daily Telegraph
Richard Edwards

An RSPCA worker and a former civil servant are being used by police to investigate murders in a cost-cutting initiative. Greater Manchester Police has set up the country's first murder inquiry team made up of civilian workers. It means that up to half of such cases in Manchester now are not dealt with by the CID.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009

Crack spy team in new Maddie hunt; Ex-cops and spooks hired

14 January 2009
Mike Sullivan and Antonella Lazzeri
The Sun

An elite team of ex-cops and secret agents are spearheading a new hunt for Madeleine McCann. The veteran investigators have been hired by missing Maddie's desperate parents Gerry and Kate. The 12 crack former Scotland Yard detectives and MI5 and MI6 agents have been secretly on the ground in Portugal for weeks chasing any new leads which may help to find her. The group was recruited over the past few months after Portuguese cops announced they had shelved their inquiry into Maddie's disappearance.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Antonella Lazzeri, Brian Kennedy, Clarence Mitchell, Find Madeleine Fund, Leicestershire Police, Madeleine McCann, Metodo3

Madeleine's grandmother gets missing girl a Christmas teddy

30 December 2008
Evening Herald

The grandmother of missing girl Madeleine McCann had a Christmas present ready for the five-year-old this year. For the second Christmas in a row, Eileen McCann left a large pink teddy bear on Madeleine's bed, as she clings to hope that she will return home.

Donegal-born Eileen, who lives in Scotland, is spending the holidays with her son Gerry, his wife Kate and Madeleine's younger siblings, twins Sean and Amelie.

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

Our angel! Please let this be our last Xmas without Madeleine

Please let this be our last XMAS without Madeleine
Our angel! Please let this be our last Xmas without Madeleine
McCanns' new plea
The Sunday Mirror
21 December 2008
Lori Campbell

In heartbreaking pictures showing her last Christmas at home, missing Madeleine McCann is dressed as an angel.

The images from a 2006 family video were yesterday released for the first time by her parents Kate and Gerry, who begged in a Christmas message: "Please let this be our last without her."

The anguished couple hope the footage of Madeline, then three, playing happily with the couple's younger twins Sean and Amelie will spark the breakthrough they are still desperately waiting for.

Relaunching their campaign to find Madeleine, who vanished from their holiday apartment in Portugal on May 3 last year, Kate and Gerry said: "Christmas is a time for children. Please help bring our daughter back."

In the video, Madeleine dances around in her costume, jokingly hits her father with a soft toy and speaks proudly of her new pink shoes.

She is also seen sitting at the bottom of the stairs of the McCanns' home in Rothley, Leicestershire, flanked by Sean and Amelie.

Madeleine playfully encourages her younger brother and sister to copy her gestures, saying: "Clap your hands together and one, two, three."

She then holds up her new pair of shoes and says: "These are my shoes."

In one clip she is seen turning over a wrapped Christmas present and pointing at the camera as smiling mum Kate holds her.

The short film, which has Snow Patrol's hit song Chasing Cars as its soundtrack, also features a montage of clips of Madeleine, including previously unseen images of her as a baby.

It also includes a direct emotional appeal from Kate and Gerry to anyone in the world who knows where their daughter is.

The film closes with the words: "This will be our second Christmas without our daughter. Please help us make sure we don't have a third."

The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry do not wish to say anything further. They feel the video will speak for itself.

"This message is entirely focused on Madeleine, as it should be at this time of year. Kate and Gerry are still very much continuing a lot of hard work behind the scenes in the search for their daughter. This, they feel, is a timely and appropriate reminder that she is still out there and that somebody somewhere may still have that vital piece of information that may lead to her being found."

Kate and Gerry will spend this Christmas with close family and friends, but their spokesman acknowledged it will be a "difficult time of year".

Mr Mitchell added: "Producing a video like this is itself making it more difficult. But they are doing it because they believe Madeleine is still out there and they want that piece of information."


 

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

Our little angel

Our little angel
McCanns release new video appeal moving pictures of Maddie's last Christmas at home
21 December 2008
The News of the World
Ross Hall

The thrill of Christmas clear on her beaming face, Madeleine McCann plays to the camera in touching new footage appealing for help over her disappearance.

The previously unseen video clips have been released by Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry as they face their second Christmas without her.

For the the first time viewers will hear Maddie's voice as she is shown speaking of her new pink shoes, dancing in a fairy outfit and riding a bike.

It was mostly filmed at Christmas 2006—the last time the McCanns were all together as a family over the festive period. The video shows Maddie sitting on the stairs of their home in Rothley, Leics, flanked by younger twins Sean and Amelie.

Maddie, three and a half at the time, encourages her brother and sister to copy her gestures, saying: "Clap your hands together and one, two, three."

Difficult

She then holds up her present and says: "These are my shoes." Behind the camera, dad Gerry asks what colour they are. Maddie replies: "Pink." She then leaps up and dances around, waving her shoes. The short film uses Snow Patrol's hit Chasing Cars as its soundtrack. Kate and Gerry decided not to appear in the video but say on it: "Please help bring our daughter back. This will be our second Christmas without our daughter. Please help us make sure we don't have a third."

Madeleine was nine days short of her fourth birthday when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal on May 3 last year as her parents dined with friends.

The McCanns will spend this Christmas with the twins and close family and friends.

Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Producing a video like this is itself making Christmas more difficult.

"But they are doing it because they believe Madeleine is still out there and they want that piece of information."


OUR REWARD STILL ON OFFER

THE News of the World's £1.5million reward for Madeleine's safe return still stands.

Celebrities and business leaders including Harry Potter author JK Rowling and Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green pledged huge sums after we launched our Find Maddie campaign with £250,000.

The offer is subject to standard News of the World reward conditions.

DELIGHT: With pink shoes
SO PRETTY: In fairy outfit
BEAMING: Maddie is full of joys of Christmas in appeal video
EXCITED: She opens present
SMILES: Maddie on her bike

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

News of the World : Abductor hid in (nonexistent) wardrobe

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Madeleine McCann, News of the World

Red Defence in Red Zone

9 October 2008 
Intelligence Online 

An affiliate of Red Defence International, a firm headed by Britain’s Kevin Halligen, the investigative concern Oakley International Group was hired in March, 2008 to help find Madeline McCann, the three-year-old British child who vanished in May, 2007 from a hotel on the Portuguese coast. In late August, the Find Madeline Fund, which bankrolls the search for the child, suddenly cut all links with Oakley International, officially for “inadequate results.”It wasn’t the first time that companies owned by Halligen, who took part in MI 5 operations in Northern Ireland, have encountered problems with their customers.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Find Madeleine Fund