world news- Madeleine McCann

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Madeleine McCann was abducted from a room at a holiday resort in Portugal on May 3, 2007. Below is more information regarding Madeleine's abduction. If you have any information regarding this case, please contact Crimestoppers.

Picture (above)- Madeleine McCann
(taken hours before she was abducted).

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The Last Photo Of Missing Maddie

SITTING beside a pool in her pink sunhat and with a huge smile on her face - this is the last photograph of little Madeleine McCann before she disappeared.
The photograph, in which she poses with her father Gerry and sister Amelie, was taken by her mother Kate just seven hours before she was snatched from a holiday villa in Portugal.
The family released the image today in a new push to keep the case in the spotlight and hopefully spark fresh leads, three weeks after a family holiday turned into every parent's nightmare.
Madeleine was taken from her bed as her British parents, both 38, were dining with friends close to their holiday apartment.
The McCanns remain convinced their daughter is alive and have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep their daughter's case in public minds.
They have set up a website www.findmadeleine.com on which Mr McCann posts a blog and are planning a media blitz around Europe to raise awareness.
"We need to start finalising our plans for interviews in areas of Europe where the coverage of Madeleine's disappearance has been limited,'' Mr McCann said today.

news.com.au (25-5-2007)

DNA Twist In Hunt For Madeleine

DNA from a mystery sixth person has been found in the bedroom in Portugal where Madeleine McCann was abducted, it was claimed yesterday.
Portuguese police have handed the sample to the national forensic laboratories, the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal, according to local newspaper 24 Horas.
It does not match the DNA of Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, or her twin siblings.
Neither does the DNA match that of the only named suspect in the case, property developer Robert Murat, the paper reported.
It quoted a source from the laboratory, who said: "There is a new suspect, there is DNA which does not correspond to the family.
"It is an important step in the investigation, but the truth is that the DNA collected does not have a name.
"In other words, we cannot make any connection between the material collected and the suspects which we already have."
Meanwhile, the McCanns took their search to Spain yesterday and spoke in detail for the first time about how they have privately thought the unthinkable.
Asked about the possibility that the four-year-old may be the prisoner of a pedophile, Kate McCann struggled to control her emotions before replying: "It is a more upsetting scenario than any other."
In Madrid, the McCanns were handed a letter from the family of Yeremi Vargas, a 10-year-old boy who disappeared on Gran Canaria in March.
The gesture reduced Kate McCann almost to tears as it became poignantly clear that the two mothers had been sharing their agony.
The letter said: "There is no one better than us to know what you are living through.
"Count on us for anything you may need. Be strong and keep the family together. It is the best thing that we have."
The McCanns, holding hands throughout, spoke to the Spanish TV program Most Wanted, a daily show about missing people.
The couple, both 38-year-old doctors from Leicestershire, this week will go to Berlin, Amsterdam and Morocco to continue their desperate search.

Sunday Herald Sun (3-6-2007)
Paul Harris

Madeleine McCann Suspect Details Released

PORTUGUESE police hunting for missing British child Madeleine McCann last night issued their first detailed description of a possible suspect.
He was seen walking in the area of Praia da Luz at around 9.30pm on the night that the four-year-old was snatched from her bed in a holiday complex in the resort three weeks ago.
Police described him as white, approximately 35 to 40 years old, of medium build and 176 centimetres tall.
They said he was wearing a dark jacket, light beige trousers and dark shoes.
The Policia Judiciaria said the man was seen "carrying a child or an object that could have been taken as a child".
Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa urged anyone who had seen the man to come forward.
He said witnesses were interviewed yesterday and the day before.
The information came to light as Madeleine's parents said they were convinced she was still alive and vowed never to abandon the search for her.
In formal interviews with British TV channels for the first time since their daughter disappeared on May 3, Kate and Gerry McCann defended their decision to leave her unguarded while they had dinner.
But they said the guilt would always be with them.
“If anything really bad had happened we would have found her by now,” Gerry McCann told BBC television.
“I'm confident and believe strongly that we will find her. It's not hard to continue believing that. She's our daughter and we love her more than anyone can possibly imagine.
“The alternative would be giving up and we will not give up our search.”
Britain has been gripped by the McCann's tragedy and the photograph of the blonde-haired, wide-eyed child has rarely been off the front pages of British newspapers since her abduction.
She was snatched in the evening from a holiday resort apartment as her parents ate at a tapas bar about 100m away, in sight of the apartment.
They said they were checking on her every half hour.
The parents, both medics, said they would remain in Portugal until Madeleine was found and said they believed the public held the key to finding her.
Supporters of the family, who have flown out to Portugal to help them in the search, have printed and distributed thousands of posters of the child and urged anyone who might have any information to come forward.
“We believe it's the public that holds the key to this,” said Gerry McCann.
“Someone knows something. We would urge anyone who knows anything to come forward ... if they haven't already done so.”
Following the disappearance, British newspapers were full of debate about whether the parents had done the right thing by leaving the children alone.
“I think at worse we were naive,” Kate McCann told Sky television.
“We are very responsible parents.”
Her husband added: “For us it really wouldn't be any much different to having dinner in your garden in the proximity of the location.”
He told the BBC: “If you thought for a minute that someone could abduct your child, of course you wouldn't have left them.”

AAP (26-5-2007)

JK Rowling Lifts Reward To $9m

AUTHOR JK Rowling has pledged a massive reward for information leading to the return of abducted British girl Madeleine McCann, topping the $2.5 million offered by a British businessman.
The missing girl had her fourth birthday on Saturday, an emotional flashpoint that caused her mother Kate to break down and left her unable to deliver a public message asking for help.
Billionaire author Rowling's offer was made to the News of the World under the condition the amount was not revealed, however the newspaper said it topped the $2.5 million offered by businessman Stephen Winyard.
The offer brings the total pledged by British celebrities to help find the missing girl to $9 million.
Madeleine's parents were having dinner in a restaurant only a stone's throw from the apartment where they had been staying when they returned to find their daughter was missing 10 days ago.
Her two-year-old twin siblings Sean and Amelie were also sleeping in the apartment but were unharmed.
Police in Portugal have tried to discourage the rewards, believing it could prejudice the investigation under Portuguese law, but that has not stopped a variety of British celebrities coming forward to offer huge sums for the child's safe return.
Rowling has an affinity with the area where Madeleine went missing, marrying a Portuguese TV journalist who hails not far from Praia da Luz, where she went missing.
The author also gave birth to her first child, Jessica, in Portugal.
With mum Kate unable to read a statement she had planned on Madeleine's fourth birthday, it was left to dad Gerry to call for help and thank those who had put up the rewards.
"We are very happy and pleased with what you are doing," he said.
"Anything that can be done to publicise that Madeleine is missing and help with the search is very welcome."
Joining Rowling and Madeleine's parents, who have already offered their own $250,000 reward, are celebrities such as Sir Richard Branson ($250,000), television star Simon Cowell ($125,000), soccer player Wayne Rooney ($62,500), the England cricket team ($50,000), club soccer bosses Bill Kenwright (Everton) and Eggert Magnusson (West Ham United) and businessmen Sir Philip Green ($625,000), Sir Tom Hunter ($250,000), Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and John Hargreaves. News of the World has offered $625,000.
Despite the massive rewards, there remains no evidence of firm leads.
Portuguese police are operating under a news blackout but have been actively continuing the investigation.
Nine people - all thought to be British - have been questioned, including the McCanns, who were re-interviewed late into Thursday night and the early hours of Friday morning.

Courier Mail (14-5-2007)
Paul Kent

Madeleine 'Abducted To Order'

TWO British sex crime experts have arrived in Portugal to help find the kidnapper of missing Madeleine McCann, as police sought dozens of pedophiles in the area.
British detectives compiled a list of every person on the Sex Offenders Register who told police they were travelling to the country after Portuguese police provided a description of a British man wanted for questioning over Madeleine's disappearance.
A computer-generated impression of the suspect shows a white man, 170cm tall, aged 35 to 40, with short, dark hair.
A Leicestershire Constabulary spokeswoman said detectives were collating the information and forwarding it to officers in Portugal.
Portuguese officers have examined records at every hotel in Praia da Luz and the nearby town of Lagos to gather information on every visitor from the Midlands.
The latest move came as a British tourist claimed that two weeks ago she saw a man trying to steal a pram at the resort where Madeleine went missing.
Amanda Mills, 34, of Basildon, Essex, said she reported the incident to police last week after reading about the missing girl.
"It was late at night," Ms Mills said yesterday.
"This guy came along and put his hands on a pushchair outside somebody's apartment.
"He didn't even look to see if there was a child in it."
Portuguese police told British officers they believe the man who abducted Madeleine from the bed of her holiday apartment was a tourist from Britain or an expatriate linked to a network of pedophiles in the country.
Portugal is known to be a favoured destination for British pedophiles.
Reports in Portugal suggest that Madeleine, four on Saturday, had been "abducted to order".
The Correio da Manha newspaper says: "One of the most substantial possibilities that the Policia Judicial is investigating is that this was paid for and commissioned by an international pedophile, probably of British origin."
Detectives from the sex abuse and homicide unit in Lisbon went to the holiday region yesterday to take charge of the investigation after growing criticism that police had been slow to react to Madeleine's disappearance and had failed to make progress in tracking her abductor.
Two British behavioural analysts from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, which combats pedophiles, were sent in response to a request from the Lisbon Government.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that their arrival would ensure a full range of experts was available to explore "every possible avenue" that may have led to Madeleine's disappearance.
One of the two British experts is the esteemed forensic psychologist Joe Sullivan who has helped police in Britain and Europe to investigate child sex murder, abduction, organised pedophile rings and under-age internet pornography.
At another chaotic press conference at Portimao Town Hall yesterday, the new Portuguese head of the investigation, Chief Inspector Oligeario Sousa, said about 500 apartments at and near the holiday resort complex where Madeleine was abducted had been inspected.
The search area now extends to about 15km.
Mr Sousa said: "Hundreds of people have been contacted - both Portuguese and foreign nationals and more than 100 have been formally interviewed."
The officer appealed for understanding from the British public for the fact that Portuguese secrecy laws prevent police from providing more information on the investigation.
Detectives have ruled out a kidnap for ransom. And there is nothing in the family history to suspect a revenge motive.
Madeleine, from Rothley, near Leicester, disappeared when she was left with her brother and sister, two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, in a holiday apartment.
Her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, both 38, had been dining in a nearby restaurant and checking on them regularly.
Yesterday, Mr McCann and his wife visited the Nossa Senhora da Luz (Our Lady of Light) Roman Catholic church, where they had taken Mass on Sunday, to pray privately for their daughter's return.
Ms McCann, a GP, was again clutching the Cuddle Cat toy that Madeleine had taken to bed with her.
At the same time, about 300 colleagues of the couple offered prayers at Glenfield Hospital, in Leicester, where Mr McCann is a consultant cardiologist.
Villagers in Rothley held a silent vigil yesterday in a show of solidarity with the family.
People were encouraged to light a candle or to tie a red ribbon around railings at the war memorial on the village green.

The Australian (10-5-2007)
David Brown

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