GREAT BRITAIN • Madeleine McCANN, 4 (2007) ~ Great Britain / Portugal

The woman who made a sighting in New Zealand of what she
believes was missing British girl Madeleine McCann has spoken
exclusively to ONE News.
Taryn Dryfhout was working as a checkout operator at a Warehouse
store in south Dunedin in late 2007 when a family of a man, a woman
and a boy and girl came to the checkout.
"I was stricken by the wee girl who looked just like Madeleine
McCann," she says.
Dryfhout spoke with the woman who had an English accent, and
then spoke to the girl.
"She had an English accent as well and she told me that her name
was Hayley and was quite apprehensive...and sort of stammered
over her words when she was trying to think of her name," says
Dryfhout.
"She was just very shy and afraid."
Madeleine vanished from her room at the Portuguese resort of
Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, just days before her fourth
birthday.Despite a global search effort, she has not been found.
Dryfhout described the man and woman with the child as "a little
bit suspicious".
"I spoke to the woman only, not the man, and she seemed like she
would rather that I wasn't speaking to her. She sort
of tried to keep ending the conversation...she was just in a
little bit of a hurry to get out I think."
Dryfhout describes the woman as being "bigger" with short, blond
hair. She cannot remember the details of the man very well, and
says the boy was older than the girl, perhaps 12 years old.
A short time after approaching the girl and her parents,
Dryfhout contacted her manager and the police.
She says after the store handed over security camera footage she
never heard anything more, until Wednesday.
Information just released by a Portuguese court shows Dryfhout's
possible sighting and dozens of others were filed away by
Portuguese police and not investigated.
London's Daily Mail reports the McCann family is shocked and
angry to hear for the first time of the now possible sighting
dating back two years, and has labelled the footage of the child as
"striking".
Dunedin police say they followed correct procedure and said in a
statement it was "unable to obtain any further information or
ongoing lines of inquiry", and that the file remains open.
Now, two years after the footage was handed over, police have
once again spoken to Dryfhout, asking her to remember details about
the sighting of the girl she believes was Madeleine.
"They started asking me questions I should have been asked at
the time. They asked me things like 'how had the family paid for
their purchase?'...and they wanted quite detailed descriptions of
the people."
Dryfhout says she often thinks about the sighting, especially
when it resurfaces in the news, and wonders if things would have
been different if it had been handled differently.
She says it did not occur to her at the time to go to the media
with what she had seen.
"I guess I thought that the police would take a long time with
the inquiry because it's an overseas issue, and it was quite a few
weeks before I realised that I wasn't going to hear anything at
all."
Dryfhourt says her own attempts to find Madeleine McCann's
parents were unsuccessful, though she did leave a message through a
website that appeared to be connected to the family.
She says it is disappointing that her possible sighting was not
followed through.
"I absolutely believe it was her. I have no doubt in my
mind."

A CCTV image from a Dunedin supermarket showing a girl strongly resembling Madeleine McCann. Photo /
Child not missing British girl







4 March, 2010 - 17:10

Dunedin Police have identified
the child and family thought by a retail assistant to be missing British
girl Madeleine McCann. She is not the missing British girl.
Acting Southern Police District Commander Inspector Dave Campbell
said police will not name the family or provide any details of their
identity.
"We ask that media outlets remove the image portraying the child and
family from their coverage including websites to protect the privacy of
the family.
"New Zealand Police are mindful of the stress on the McCann family
from possible sightings of their daughter worldwide," Inspector Campbell
said.
Police are making no further comment at this time.
Edited to delete photo as per request.

From the Examiner.com as written by Cindy Adams. For the entire article please follow this link:
http://www.examiner.com/x-1168-Crime-Examiner~y2010m4d10-Madeleine-McCann-update-British-police-to-launch-new-probe-into-case-of-missing-girl

Madeleine McCann update: British police to launch new probe into
case of missing girl
British police are launching a new probe into the disappearance of Madeleine
McCann, who went missing in Portugal during a family vacation in
2007. Madeleine was only 3-year-old at the time.
The probe comes after an investigation by Jim Gable, head of the Child
Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, which found Portuguese
investigators did not “come close” to UK standards when completing their
inquiry into the matter.

The parents of missing British girl, Madeleine McCann urged the
government today to renew efforts to find her.
Nearly three years after Maddie McCann disappeared in the Portuguese
resort of Praia da Luz, just days before her fourth birthday, her
father, Gerry McCann accused British authorities of giving up on the search for his "innocent, vulnerable" daughter.
"I don't think it's right that as parents, that we have to drive the
search. Of course we will, but not everyone has had the same resources
and support that we have had to be able to do that. And I think it's
pretty cruel," Gerry McCann said in an interview on the British
broadcast of GMTV.
Gerry and Kate McCann today released
a pack of posters to the public which can be displayed all over the
world, to remind people to be on the look out for their missing child.
On May 3, 2007, Madeleine disappeared from the holiday apartment where
the McCanns were staying, when her parents stepped out for dinner in a
nearby restaurant, leaving their three children alone in the flat.
The parents established a campaign to find her, and won the support of
several high-profile figures, including soccer star David Beckham and
industrialist Richard Branson.
Last year, on the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, they released an "age progression" photograph of her,
showing her as she would have looked on what would have been her sixth
birthday.
They launched the picture with a fresh appeal for information about her whereabouts on
"The Oprah Winfrey Show."

Kate McCann: Police 'Haven't Done Enough'


In 2008, Portuguese authorities closed the case and cleared Kate and Gerry McCann of any involvement
in Madeleine's disappearance. But criticism of the couple -- and their
decision to leave Madeleine unattended in the hotel room -- persists in
some quarters.
During her interview with Winfrey, Kate McCann acknowledged the
criticism and said, "I can persecute myself every day about that. I feel
awful that we weren't there, at that minute, somebody took an
opportunity to take Madeleine."
Today Gerry McCann said on GMTV, "If we could turn back the clock and
change what happened, obviously we wouldn't have done it."
"We can't. And what I would say is, you know, people have got to put
themselves into our position. What would you do if it was your daughter?
After this, what would you do?"
Kate McCann said she found Madeleine's absence on her birthday on May 12
particularly hard to endure, explaining "the 12th is obviously a day
when we should be celebrating Madeleine, celebrating with Madeleine."
But even on other days, she said, the fact of Madeleine's absence "will
just suddenly stop you. We had a lovely day last week and it was really
sunny, and you could smell the grass being cut and I thought, 'Oh it's
really nice'. And then it just kind of gets you. Madeleine is still not
here."
Gerry McCann said today that he continued to believe his daughter was
alive. "Certainly in my heart I feel she is out there. I mean I know
there is nothing to say that she isn't, so we have to carry on working
and thinking like that," he said.
His wife, who also appeared on GMTV, said, "If we haven't found
Madeleine, if we don't know what has happened, you haven't done enough."
Gerry McCann added that until the person who took Madeleine is caught,
he or she continues to be a threat to other children, saying, "at the
end of the day, the person that has taken Madeleine is still out there
and they are a potential danger to other children, so they need to be
brought to justice."

Kate McCann has promised her missing daughter Madeleine: "We will
never give up until we've found you."
Speaking on Saturday ahead of the third anniversary of
the little girl's disappearance, McCann and her husband Gerry urged
their daughter to tell someone who she is and assured her they would not
stop searching for her.
In an emotional address to her daughter, McCann, 42,
said: "We love you very much, Madeleine, and we're not going to stop
what we're doing."The couple do not know what their daughter might have been told about
them or what language she might be speaking now, they said.
Gerry McCann, 41, said the message he wanted to give her
was: "Madeleine, we're still looking for you. Tell someone who your
mummy and daddy are, who you are."
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her
family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 2007
while her parents dined with friends nearby.
The couple remain determined to find her but now feel
less guilty about coping and enjoying themselves without her.
Kate McCann said: "I'm able to look at it now and think
actually it's positive we're functioning. It's positive for Madeleine
and for (her siblings, five-year-old twins) Sean and Amelie and unless
you're in this situation you have absolutely no idea how you cope."
Gerry McCann, a consultant, compared the family's
experience to that of fighting cancer.
"There are different types of loss and I suppose losing a
child is one of the hardest things to cope with," he said. "Fighting
cancer over a long period is another similar battle.
"The difference with what we face compared to losing a
child who's died is that we have an ongoing situation - and the
unknown."
But, he said, laughter and happiness were essential for
living a normal life.
"The guilt, where you feel 'Madeleine is missing so how
can you enjoy yourself?' - that is much, much, much less than it was and
I think if you're going to have some sort of normality, you've got to
have some laughter and some joy."
For Kate McCann, the greatest test came 18 months ago.
"Eighteen months ago I really did feel like we were
fighting the world," she said. "I felt we were very alone, with
everything that was going on in Portugal with (former Portuguese
detective) Goncalo Amaral and the effect that was having on the
Portuguese population, I just felt that was too much for one family.
"So at those points I did doubt. I didn't want to doubt
but I did."
The McCanns launched a successful legal action against
Amaral earlier this year after he publicly questioned their accounts of
what happened to their daughter.
The ex-policeman alleged in his book, Maddie: The Truth
Of The Lie, that Madeleine died inside her parent's apartment.
Although he has vowed he will appeal to the European
Court of Human Rights to overturn the ban imposed on his book, the
couple have no regrets about putting themselves through the court case
in Lisbon - wishing only that they had done so earlier.
McCann said: "If people believe Madeleine is dead and
that we were involved in her disappearance, there can't be a meaningful
search."
And the authorities, he said, had hardly been providing a
"Rolls-Royce service".
"The key test is 'has everything that could reasonably
have been done, been done?' And the answer to that is no," he said.
"There's no law enforcement that's been proactively doing
anything for 18 months."
The couple want a review of all the information in the
hands of the British and Portuguese authorities.

For me personally, I still believe the parents had something to do with this. God Bless Maddie wherever she is.

Not me Always I have not one shred of doubt that she was abducted.

The parents of Madeleine
McCann have been campaigning for a system to be operational in
the UK since the disappearance of their daughter in Portugal in May
2007.

The network will be compatible with other European countries for the
first time.

Similar to the amber alert in the US, the system is aimed at raising
public awareness if a child goes missing and will also allow police to
issue Europe-wide alerts.

Regional and national television and radio stations will broadcast
messages, in some cases interrupting scheduled programmes.

The revamped system is being launched on International
Missing Children's Day.

Chief Constable Peter Neyroud, head of the National Police Improvement Agency
(NPIA), said: "Through Child Rescue Alert the community is able to form
a strong alliance to help in the hunt for child abductors when an alert
is activated.

"It is fitting that the NPIA should relaunch (the) alert on
International Missing Children's Day, which forms a poignant reminder of
the sense of devastation caused to the parents and families of children
who go missing."Police say the first few hours after an
abduction are crucial in locating a missing child.

But they expect the alerts to be rarely issued and will use new
computer software to handle the anticipated deluge of calls from
concerned members of the public.

The system is being co-ordinated by the NPIA and any national
abduction will be led by Greater Manchester Police.

Portugal, Spain and the Czech Republic have already introduced their
versions of child abduction alerts that link with the European network.

The previous national alert system was established in 2005 and has
only been used on a handful of occasions.

An alert can only be issued when the child is aged under 18, there is
a reasonable belief he or she has been abducted and could be in
imminent danger.

New 'Witness' Claims He Saw Madeleine McCann

(May 25) -- Testimony from a new witness who says he saw Madeleine McCann only hours after she disappeared has reinvigorated private investigators still trying to find the missing British girl.

Carlos Moreira, 65, told detectives that on the morning of May 4, 2007, he saw a blond girl sitting in the back of a truck, wearing pajamas similar to those worn by Madeleine the night before, when she vanished from her family's holiday suite at a resort in southern Portugal.

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, both doctors from Leicestershire, England, told police they left their three children sleeping in the hotel while they dined with friends at a nearby restaurant on the evening of May 3, 2007. They said they returned to find their toddler twins, Sean and Amelie, asleep, but Madeleine, who was just days short of her 4th birthday, gone.

Moreira waited three years to tell the McCann family's private investigation team, because, he says, he thought police had mounted road blocks in the area.

"When the van door was opened, she did not wake up, as if she was drugged," he told the U.K.'s Sun newspaper. "This girl was blond and looked around 4."

Moreira's statement comes only weeks after the third anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance. Her parents used the date to announce their ongoing vigilance in the search for their daughter.

"It might be three years without Madeleine but it certainly doesn't feel like we're at the end of the line -- far from it," they wrote on the family's campaign website, according to the BBC.

The couple are working with a private investigation team to try to find Madeleine. They say police stalled and botched the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.

According to an unnamed source who spoke to The Sun, Moreira also identified a previously unpublished sketch of a male suspect as the driver of the van.

"His account is being looked into. He has done the right thing in coming forward," a spokesman for the McCann family said.

But Moreira's account may be only the latest in a long line of disappointing false leads.

Police in Portugal investigated several "persons of interest," including the McCanns themselves, but have never charged anyone. Civilians and reporters have come forward with claims that Madeleine was abducted as part of a pedophile sex ring, was buried on a hillside or is being raised in North Africa. Investigators have even surveyed hundreds of psychics and clairvoyants in a last-ditch effort for more information. So far, there has been no sign of the missing child.

In July 2008, Portuguese police closed their case, citing lack of evidence. They later released a file that surpassed 11,000 pages of notes, interviews and other evidence.

It's doubtful this latest witness will spur them to reopen their investigation, although the McCanns have pushed for just that in the past.

And even as they continue their own unsanctioned search, the McCanns said they are also trying their best to move on.

"You just hope that ... she is now not at harm and she's getting love and happiness," Kate said. "That's all I can hope for."

Filed under: World, Crime

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/man-claims-he-saw-missing-british-girl-madeleine-mccann-hours-after-disappearance/19491094?icid=main|main|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fworld%2Farticle%2Fman-claims-he-saw-missing-british-girl-madeleine-mccann-hours-after-disappearance%2F19491094

Madeleine McCann case: Man says he knows who took missing girl, likely now in US
An Angolan man claims to know what happened to missing British girl Madeleine McCann,
saying she was kidnapped by a pedophile ring based in Algarve,
Portugal. He also believes the group has likely transported her to the
United States.
Little Madeleine -- who was about to turn four -- vanished on May 3,
2007 while on vacation with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Her
parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, had been dining with friends and left
the girl and her twin siblings in the villa where the family was
staying. When the McCanns returned, Madeleine was gone.
Marcelino Italiano, 36, said the pedophile ring is able to “…get away with anything,” according to The Sun. He noted that the group was dangerous and influential and had preyed on children prior to Madeleine’s disappearance.
He also told the Sun that he had to “flee for his life” because he feared he would be harmed for talking about the group.
“I can’t say how, but I have known these people and believe they can
get away with anything,” said the nightclub bouncer. “I think there have
been over a dozen children kidnapped. They prey on the weak and
vulnerable.”
Italiano also said that the pedophile ring is based out of Faro and
Albufeira, but was linked to the judiciary in Portugal, also having
contacts with a law firm in London.
“They are ruthless. I have been attacked twice for trying to
investigate it and even lost my front tooth in one attack,” he said.
Nonetheless, Italiano hasn’t been deterred and says he will stop at nothing to expose “these sick people.”
The Sun reports that Portuguese officials and investigators working
with the Find Madeleine Fund are looking into Italiano’s claims. His
attorney says he has given police all the information he has and
believes the gang took Madeleine to the United States.
The McCanns said through a spokesperson, “As with any information of
this nature the man concerned has done the right thing by informing the
Spanish authorities… Clearly it will be a matter for them and the
private investigators currently searching for Madeleine to investigate
further.”
Anyone with any information regarding Madeleine's case should contact the McCanns through their website, www.findmadeleine.com, or call their investigation line at 0-845-838-4699.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Madeleine McCann case: Man says he knows who took missing girl, likely now in US - National Crime | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-national/madeleine-mccann-case-man-says-he-knows-he-took-missing-girl-likely-now-us#ixzz1ES3PFoHR

MADELEINE McCann's parents Kate and Gerry are to appear on the Late
Late Show for their first major Irish interview, the Herald can reveal.Host Ryan Tubridy will be talking to the McCanns on Friday week as they continue their efforts to locate their missing daughter.
It is believed the interview is being timed to coincide with the
publication of 43-year-old Kate's book, entitled Madeleine, which hits
the shelves next week.
The 384-page work is being released on May 12, Madeleine's eighth birthday.
Kate and Gerry marked the fourth anniversary of their daughter's disappearance with family and friends this week.
The book is their account of how the youngster vanished while on a family holiday in Portugal.
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing in Praia da Luz, Algarve, in May 2007.
The McCanns hope the publication of the book will prompt people holding vital information about what happened to come forward.
It was originally due out last week but publishers Transworld postponed the release to avoid a clash with the Royal Wedding.
The official Portuguese inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance
formally ceased in July 2008. However, private detectives employed by
the McCanns have continued the search for the missing child.
Liverpool-born Kate's mother Susan Healy said of the book: "Kate has
to tell her story, even though it's been the most terribly painful
process over the last nine months.
"We just hope that something will come from the book. It's something
that may just force someone to come forward. It's also an account for
Madeleine and for the twins [six-year-old Sean and Amelie]."
Proceeds from the sales will also help boost their dwindling fund to search for their daughter.
The book, which Kate wrote without the aid of a ghost writer, has a
recommended retail price of around €22 and is expected to become a
best-seller.
Extracts will be serialised by newspapers from this weekend before the book is published.
A family friend described how Kate wrote through the day, while the
couple's twins were at school, and then returned to her study to write
late into the evening after the children had gone to bed.
The McCanns hope sales of the book will raise more than £1m (€1.1m) for Madeleine's fund.
The book's launch will be accompanied by several television interviews, including the Late Late appearance.http://www.herald.ie/national-news/maddies-parents-set-to-give-late-late-interview-2638307.html

The mother of missing British girl Madeleine McCann has written
a book detailing the agony of her daughter's disappearance, four
years ago.
In it, Kate McCann, 43, says her immediate fear was that a
paedophile had taken the child.
"The idea that my Madeleine was taken by a paedophile is my
worst fear. I became consumed with it. It was torture for me. It
was horrible, so vivid. It's worse when I go to bed and think about
that first awful night again, when Madeleine went missing."
She talks about a "macabre slideshow" of vivid pictures in her
mind and how she imagined her daughter lying dead on a grey stone
slab.
Kate McCann and consultant cardiologist husband Gerry McCann,
42, admitted they were plagued by guilt over the night Madeleine
vanished from their vacation apartment in Praia da Luz while they
enjoyed a meal with friends at a tapas bar.
"If your child is killed in a traffic accident, or died of
cancer, parents are at peace. But Madeleine is still missing and
she needs us to do something."
The book by the former family doctor is titled simply
"Madeleine."
It goes on sale next week on what would be Madeleine's eighth
birthday.
Madeleine McCann vanished while her family was in Portugal for a
holiday in May, 2007.http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/madeleine-mccann-s-mother-pens-book-4159893

Maddie Police quiz convicted murderers as Kate McCann gives chilling account of moment she found daughter missing

7th May 2011

Two convicted paedophiles have been questioned by British police over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Charles O’Neill, 48, and William Lauchlan, 34, were jailed last year over sex
attacks on children and the murder of a mother who had threatened to
expose them.
The Mail on Sunday has learned they were
interviewed in prison by detectives after inquiries revealed they were
touring Spain, and possibly Portugal, on false passports when Madeleine
vanished in May 2007.




Jailed: Charles O'Neill, top, and William Lauchlan have now been questioned over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

It is the first time that it has become known publicly that British
police have interviewed anyone in connection with the case. Both men are
described as highly dangerous.
Police interest in O’Neill,
in particular, was heightened because of his resemblance to a thin,
spotty suspect seen hanging around the holiday complex in Praia da Luz
on the Algarve shortly before three-year-old Madeleine vanished.
A senior officer involved in the investigation said: ‘Lauchlan and
O’Neill have been interviewed in prison but the whole Madeleine McCann
inquiry is being kept extremely tight at the very highest level.
‘Basically nobody outside Leicestershire Constabulary knows exactly what is going on with the McCann inquiry.’
Leicestershire Police said they could not comment because the inquiry is being led by the Policia Judiciaria in Lisbon.
The development came as, for the first time, Madeleine’s mother Kate
described in chilling detail the moment she discovered her daughter was
missing from her bed at their holiday apartment.



Missing: Madeleine McCann disappeared on a
family holiday to Portugal - and now two prisoners are being questioned
with regards to her disappearance

Madeleine disappeared from her room at the Ocean Club resort in Praia
da Luz on May 3, 2007. Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry, on holiday
with seven friends, had been dining less than 100 yards away in a tapas
restaurant on the Mark Warner complex.
The adults had taken it
in turns to check on the sleeping children. In a book to be published
this week, Mrs McCann, 43, relives the moment she returned to the
apartment, where she had left Madeleine beside twins Amelie and Sean,
then aged two.
She tells how she realised something was wrong
when she noticed that the door to the children’s bedroom was wide open –
not as she and her husband had left it. She glanced at Madeleine’s bed
but couldn’t make her out in the dark.
When she was sure
Madeleine wasn’t there, she went to check her own room. When she could
not see her daughter there either, she panicked and ran back to the
children’s room.
‘My heart lurched as I saw now that, behind
them, the window was wide open and the shutters on the outside raised
all the way up. Nausea, terror, disbelief, fear. Icy fear. Dear God, no!
Please, no!’
Mrs McCann, a former GP, said she went
automatically into what she calls a ‘well-practised medical emergency
mode’, scouring the apartment to exclude all other possibilities,
‘mentally ticking boxes I knew, deep down, were already ticked’.
She then ran back to her husband and their friends in the restaurant. ‘As soon as our table was in sight
I started screaming, “Madeleine’s gone! Someone’s taken her!” ’
The group returned to the apartment to widen the search and raise the alarm.
Mrs
McCann said: ‘I vividly recall sobbing, “Not Madeleine, not Madeleine.”
I was trying so hard to suppress the negative voice in my head
tormenting me with the words, “She’s gone. She’s gone.”
‘Even
now, when the dark clouds close in on me, I find myself shaking my head
manically and repeating over and over again, “Not Madeleine, not
Madeleine. Please God, not my Madeleine.”’
The book,
Madeleine, took Mrs McCann nine months to complete. It is based on
diaries she has written for her daughter to read if she is found. It
will be published on May 12 – Madeleine’s eighth birthday. The McCanns
say all proceeds will go to the fund that was set up to cover the costs
of the worldwide search for their child.
That search has now
focused on Lauchlan and O’Neill, who are childhood friends originally
from Largs, near Glasgow. They were jailed for a total of 56 years last
June for a catalogue of abuse both in Britain and abroad.




Nightmare: Kate McCann, pictured with husband Gerry, has revealed her pain in a new book titled 'Madeleine'

A source said: ‘It cannot be overestimated how violent these two are.
They are known to have strong links to other paedophiles. Without doubt
they are among the worst serial paedophiles in Britain.’
At
the High Court in Glasgow last year, Lauchlan and O’Neill were convicted
of murdering mother-of-three Allison McGarrigle at their Largs home in
1997 and dumping her body at sea after she threatened to expose their
abuse.
Following their conviction, officers throughout Britain
and Europe were alerted after it was revealed that the pair had left
the country on fake passports in October 2006, weeks after being
released from an earlier sentence for sickening child abuse crimes.
Masquerading as cleaners, the pair were given easy access to holiday villas and apartments by unsuspecting clients.
They
were living in Vecindario, an industrial town in Gran Canaria, when
seven-year-old schoolboy Yeremi Vargas vanished while playing near his
home. The youngster is still missing but his mother remains convinced
that the Scottish killers are responsible.
Detectives involved in both the Madeleine McCann and Yeremi Vargas inquiries have worked closely together.
The two men were arrested by Spanish police near Alicante on the Costa
Blanca after abducting a 14-year-old boy to abuse during a camping trip

Lauchlan and O’Neill are known to have toured extensively and some
reports suggested they were in the Algarve at the time Madeleine
disappeared. A spokesman for the McCann family said it was ‘encouraging’
that information was still being sought by police.
Many of
O’Neill and Lauchlan’s crimes are thought to have gone unreported
because their terrified young victims were too scared to come forward.
Masquerading
as cousins, the gay lovers were first jailed in 1998 at the High Court
in Glasgow after admitting a five-year catalogue of abuse involving
youngsters in Scotland.
During his sentence, O’Neill was said
to have told fellow prisoners at Glasgow’s Barlinnie jail that he had
killed Rothesay mother-of-three Mrs McGarrigle, who had disappeared a
year earlier, and thrown her body in the sea to stop her exposing his
sex crimes.
Both men served four years before being released
in 2002. Lauchlan was released on licence but broke his parole
conditions and fled to Spain after being told he would be returned to
prison.
O’Neill remained in Scotland but fled to join Lauchlan in Spain in 2003 after abusing a 14-year-old in Irvine, Ayrshire.
In
2004, the two men were arrested by Spanish police near Alicante on the
Costa Blanca after abducting a 14-year-old boy to abuse during a camping
trip. They were deported to Britain and while in prison for breaking
their parole conditions, were charged in April 2005 with the murder of
Mrs McGarrigle. But prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence and both men were released.
It
was at this point, late in 2006, that Lauchlan and O’Neill evaded the
British authorities and fled to Spain to prey on new victims.
After
their true identities were exposed in the summer of 2007, they returned
to Britain and a homeless hostel in Blackpool. Within weeks they were
again grooming youngsters for sex.
Then an associate came
forward with fresh information about the death of Mrs McGarrigle.
Lauchlan and O’Neill were arrested, going on trial early in 2010.
They
were convicted of grooming a six-year-old boy in Falkirk, an earlier
sex attack on a 14-year-old in Benidorm and of the murder of Mrs
McGarrigle.
O’Neill was sentenced to a minimum 30 years behind bars and Lauchlan to 26 years.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384705/Madeleine-McCann-Police-quiz-convicted-murderers-Kate-McCann-gives-chilling-account-moment-daughter-missing.html#ixzz1LiAZfV98

TWO of Britain’s most dangerous paedophiles were last night at the centre of the Madeleine McCann investigation.

Depraved Charles O’Neill, 48, and William Lauchlan, 34, were jailed last June for sex attacks on children and the murder of a mum-of-three who threatened to expose them.

O’Neill was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years and Lauchlan to 26.

But now it has emerged the monsters, who were also gay lovers, were touring
Spain, and possibly Portugal, on false passports when Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007.

Police have already spoken to Lauchlan about Madeleine and an alleged child smuggling operation on the continent.

Detectives are said to be keen to now talk to O’Neill because of his resemblance to a thin, spotty suspect seen hanging around the holiday complex in Praia da Luz on the Algarve shortly before the three-year-old went missing.

It is the first time British police have interviewed anyone in connection
with the case but Leicestershire Police, the McCanns’ local force, said
they could not comment because the inquiry was being led by officers in
Portugal.

A senior officer said last night: “The whole Madeleine McCann inquiry is being kept extremely tight at the very highest level.”

The development came as, for the first time, Madeleine’s mum Kate revealed
she thought about killing herself in the days after her daughter’s
disappearance.

In her book, due to be published on Thursday, Madeleine’s eighth birthday,
the 43-year-old writes: “I had an overwhelming urge to swim out across
the ocean, as hard and as fast as I could; to swim and swim and swim
until I was so far out and so exhausted I could just allow the water to
pull me under and relieve me of this torment.

“I wasn’t keeping that desire to myself, either. I was shouting it out to anyone who happened to be in the room.

“I was crying out that I could see Madeleine lying, cold and mottled, on a big grey stone slab.

“Seeing me like this must have been terrible for my friends and relatives, particularly my parents, but I couldn’t help myself.”

O’Neill and Lauchlan, originally from Largs, Ayrshire, abused children in Britain and abroad.

They also strangled Allison McGarrigle, 39, who disappeared in 1997 after
she threatened to tell police about them abusing a boy.

They have also been linked to the disappearance of Yeremi Vargas, who was
seven when he disappeared while playing outside his Gran Canaria home in 2007.

The child is still missing and his mother remains convinced the Scottish killers are responsible.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/190003/Child-smuggling-link-to-pair/

Madeleine McCann parents demand 'comprehensive review'


(AFP)
–
2 hours ago
LONDON — The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann on Thursday
urged Prime Minister David Cameron to order a "comprehensive review" of
the information surrounding their daughter's disappearance.Kate
and Gerry McCann wrote in a letter to The Sun that it was "not right
that a young, vulnerable British citizen has essentially been given up
on"."One call might be all that is needed to lead to Madeleine and her abductor," the couple's message said."To
this end we are seeking a joint independent, transparent and
comprehensive review of all information held in relation to Madeleine's
disappearance," continued the letter.A spokesman for Cameron said the government would do "all it can to help them".A new book written by Kate is being serialised in The Sun with proceeds going towards boosting dwindling search funds."Madeleine" is released on Thursday -- the missing toddler's eighth birthday -- and is expected to be a best-seller.In
the 384-page account, the 43-year-old admitted she contemplated suicide
in the aftermath of the abduction and revealed she was haunted by "a
macabre slideshow of vivid pictures"."The pictures I saw of our Madeleine no sane human being would want in her head, but they were in mine," McCann wrote."I
had an overwhelming urge to swim out across the ocean, as hard and as
fast as I could... until I was so far out and so exhausted I could just
allow the water to pull me under and relieve me of this torment," she
added.Madeleine went missing in the Algarve resort of Praia da
Luz on May 3, 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday, as her
parents and their friends ate at a nearby restaurant.Five months
after Madeleine's disappearance, Portuguese police made Kate and Gerry
formal suspects in the case but they were later cleared.The
couple, from Leicestershire in central England, warned that a search
fund which they set up to find their daughter was running dry after once
standing at two million pounds (2.29 million euros, 3.2 million
dollars).http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hda7djMTmEIX9aaEN-trdCcaVJZQ?docId=CNG.a173e5b8fcaaae78675dd1b3e1b4a8c8.41

Scotland Yard pledges help in search for missing UK girl Madeleine McCann


By The Associated Press
–
5 hours ago
LONDON — Britain's Home Office says it has pledged Scotland Yard's
help in the case of Madeleine McCann, the girl whose disappearance drew
global attention.Madeleine vanished from a hotel room in May 2007
during a family vacation on Portugal's southern Algarve coast. Her
parents have long lobbied to keep her case in the public eye, and in a
recently published book they questioned the British government's
commitment to the case.Officials said Thursday they wouldn't discuss what kind assistance London's storied police force would provide.There
has been no reliable indication of what might have happened to
Madeleine, who disappeared a few days before her fourth birthday,
despite her parents' campaign and numerous reported sightings from
around the world.http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h7CXY0siqwHnPUdC9owZ6K1JWV1A?docId=6834702

Missing Madeleine puts Leh in a tizzy

Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Leh, July 23
High drama prevailed in the busy Fort Road market of the city
last night when three persons identified a six-year-old girl as
Madeleine McCann, a British girl who went missing while on a holiday
in Portugal in 2007. The infamous case had hogged limelight when Madeleine disappeared in May
2007 while she was holidaying with her parents and siblings in the
Algarve region of Portugal. The minor girl went missing from an
apartment a few days before her fourth birthday and has still not been
found. According to the Wikipedia and various web portals, Madeline’s
parents Kate and Gerry McCann had stated that they had left the children
unsupervised in the ground floor bedroom while they were at a
restaurant about 120 metres away. Last
night, a British woman saw a French woman with her Belgian husband
roaming in the market with a girl who looked like Madeleine. She
immediately informed the British police and the Leh police. The local
police has taken the passports of the suspects for verification.The
missing girl’s parents have set up a website where they have put up her
pictures that were taken in 2007 and also pictures of how she would
look like as she would grow
up. As the British
woman shared her suspicions with few others and took a picture of the
girl, an American youth -- who was also following the couple -- tried to
take away the girl from them. He later told the police that he
suspected the girl to be Madeleine. Another American woman also shared
the suspicion.The French woman, however, rubbished their claims, saying that she and her husband were the biological parents of the girl.
A local police official said there was worldwide alert for Madeleine and
it would be a great honour for the Leh police to find the missing girl.
“However, it all depends upon the evidence like DNA for which help from
Madeleine’s parents and the British police was required.”
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110724/main4.htm

LONDON, UK (CBS) -- The parents of a missing British child are
venting their anger at the media, saying negative reporting got in the
way of the search for their daughter. Their testimony is part of a probe
into press ethics.

Kate and Gerry McCann told a British judge the media invaded their
privacy and made the search for their daughter Madeleine unbearable.
Kate says, "We're desperately shouting out internally, 'Please stop what
you're doing! We're trying to find our daughter and you're stoppin' our
chances of finding her.'"

The McCann's say at first the press was helpful, showing photos of
their 4-year-old, abducted at the family's vacation villa in Portugal in
2007. But soon they say the tabloids shifted blame on them and even
made stories up printing headlines full of lies.

Gerry says, "The front page of The Daily Mirror with a photograph of Madeleine with the headline, 'She's Dead.'"

Kate McCann says she felt "mentally raped" when the News of the World
published part of her private diary which described her feelings after
Madeleine's disappearance. Kate says, "I felt totally violated, I'd
written these words at the most desperate time in my life. "

It was the phone hacking scandal that eventually brought down News of
the World and that scandal triggered the ethics hearing now underway at
Britain's High Court.

Celebrities and families of murder and terror victims are testifying about how the media has treated them.

Harry Potter author J.K Rowling is scheduled to speak on Thursday
about her battles with the press to protect the privacy of her children.


A judge will issue a report next year that could suggest major changes in the way Britain's media operates.

Rupert Murdoch's son James has resigned as director of the companies
that publish The Sun and The Times of London newspapers. He remains
chairman of News International, the British arm of News Corp.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/182062/288/Missing-British-girls-parents-testify-in-News-of-the-World-trial

Maddy was snatched in 2007

A reported sighting of missing child Madeleine McCann in a Costa del Sol resort is being probed by Spanish police.
Specialist officers are following up a tip-off received about 10 days ago that a girl resembling the missing British child was spotted in Nerja, 30 miles east of Malaga, sources said.

The possible sighting is being handled by the specialised and violent
crime unit (unidad de delincuencia especializada y violenta, or UDEV)
of Spain's judicial police, the Malaga-based Sur newspaper reported.


It is understood that Scotland Yard detectives reviewing the case are
liaising with their Spanish counterparts about the latest lead. The
sighting is thought to be linked to a cold case review into Maddy's
disappearance from the Praia da Luz resort.


Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's
holiday flat in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents Kate and Gerry
McCann dined with friends nearby.


There have been hundreds of possible sightings of her all over the
world since she vanished, but so far they have all come to nothing.
Her parents are preparing to mark the fifth anniversary of her disappearance next month.


McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry are
aware of this particular report from Spain. It was absolutely right that
the police investigate any potential lead.


"Kate and Gerry remain very grateful for the co-operation of the police in the search for Madeleine."
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/04/17/madeleine-mccann-reported_n_1431386.html?ref=uk

Police: UK missing girl Madeleine McCann may be alive
Wednesday, April 25, 2012

LONDON (KABC) -- In a stunning announcement, U.K. police said Wednesday that missing girl Madeleine McCann may still be alive.

The British girl vanished during a family vacation in Portugal shortly before her fourth birthday in May 2007. Her parents left her and her siblings in their hotel room and went to a restaurant, and she wasn't seen since.

Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and a local man were once named as suspects, but they have since been cleared.

Authorities released an image of what Madeleine would look like now at the age of 9.



Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said he is leading a team of more than 30 police officers focusing on the case. He said police also have to consider that she may be dead.

"Our drive on both scenarios is of equal measure," he said.

Redwood said they have identified 195 things that could be investigated further from the material they have reviewed, and said much of it would have to be translated from Portuguese.

Kate and Gerry McCann have pressed to keep the case in the public eye, publishing a book and appearing on the "Oprah Winfrey Show."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/world_news&id=8635477

Detective: Maddie McCann ‘may be alive’

Published: Today at 11:55

A FORMER top cop has claimed there is a good chance Madeleine McCann may be alive.

Veteran Met detective Ian Horrocks has drawn on three decades of experience investigating murder, kidnap and sex crimes to offer all possible explanations for her disappearance.

He visited the Portuguese holiday resort where the toddler vanished and scoured police files and media reports.

Mr Horrocks has now published his detailed analysis of the McCann mystery and explains it is entirely possible that the missing girl is alive.

In it, he claims it was unlikely a paedophile ring murdered or kidnapped Madeline and totally rules out the involvement of Madeleine's parents.

The former Scotland Yard detective said: "The thought that Kate and Gerry McCann had anything to do with the death of their daughter, whether being directly responsible or covering it up, is frankly preposterous.

"There is not one shred of credible evidence, either direct or otherwise, to indicate that this is even a remote possibility."

Madeleine was nearly four when she disappeared from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.

The Portuguese authorities abandoned their investigation after 15 months admitting they had no clues to what happened.

Mr Horrocks added: “I have tried to look at this with fresh eyes untainted by what has been written in the past, much of which has been totally uninformed and not based upon any evidence.

“I do not believe that Madeleine was abducted with the intention of some sort of long term grooming and abuse.

“A girl of Madeleine’s age is not the usual target age for a paedophile; she is substantially younger than most victims of these offences.

“I do believe that when all the available information is examined logically and objectively, that Madeleine was taken by someone who wanted her as part of his or their family.

"The people responsible will not have a close extended family as would it be feasible that no one would make the connection to Madeleine."

The ex-cop admits he cannot “dismiss the possibility that Madeleine was abducted by a paedophile for a sinister purpose”.

But he adds: “However I do not believe this to be the case.

“Is believing that Madeleine is alive being overly and unrealistically optimistic.

“I do not think so, and until there is categoric evidence to the contrary, I will continue to believe this.

“Hopefully those continuing the investigation have the same belief.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4408124/Detective-Maddie-McCann-may-be-alive.html

Madeleine McCann's Grave Found, Claims South African Land Baron Stephen Birch

07/06/2012

A South African real estate developer claims to have found the gravesite of Madeleine McCann.

Self-styled investigator Stephen Birch says he used a ground penetrating radar device -- a tool that that uses radar pulses to x-ray the subsurface -- to locate the body of the missing British girl.

McCann was 3 years old in May 2007, when she went on a trip to Portugal with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. The couple was dining with friends at a nearby restaurant when the little girl vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. There have been no solid leads in the case since that time.

Birch is obsessed with McCann's disappearance and spent more than $30,000 of his own money on the equipment used to find McCann's suspected gravesite, according to Sky News.

"All I want to do is solve the mystery and bring closure to Madeleine's family," Birch said on Friday.

Birch said the location he scanned is not far from the apartment where Madeline disappeared.

"I've had the scans analyzed and they show digging, a void and what could be human bones," he said.

Birch told Sky News that he provided Scotland Yard detectives and Portuguese police with hard copies of the radar scans and the agencies are examining them.

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have yet to comment on Birch's claims. Criminal profiler Pat Brown, author of Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, said she expects little from Birch's independent investigation.

"In my opinion, nothing will come of this," Brown said.

According to Brown, Portuguese police have already searched the property in question and found no evidence of a grave.

"Birch ... claims to have ground radar scans showing a burial site on ex-suspect Robert Murat's property, which is just a long block away from the McCann's vacation home in Praia da Luz. He says the police have asked him for more information, which I believe to be merely a polite formality as Scotland Yard has steadfastly stated they believe, against all odds and evidence to date, that Madeleine McCann is likely alive [and] living with a family who wanted a child," Brown said.

Brown is also critical of the overall investigation into the little girl's disappearance -- an investigation that has reportedly cost authorities more than four million dollars.

"Scotland Yard detectives have spent a year pouring over thousands of meaningless tips while never bothering to re-interview the McCanns or their friends," Brown said. "The case would be best served by the McCanns requesting the case be reopened and returning with their friends to Portugal to allow the Portuguese detectives to finish the investigation properly [and] to do [a previously] requested reenactment, to eliminate themselves as having any involvement in the disappearance of their daughter."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/06/madeleine-mccanns-grave-found_n_1653768.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D176457

Missing link overlooked in the Madeleine McCann case

PUBLISHED: August 9, 2012 at 11:50 am
LAST EDITED: August 9, 2012 at 2:13 pm

A PILE of discarded cigarette butts could have been the link to finding missing Madeleine McCann.

A witness claims the discarded butts were found on a shared balcony that had a bird’s eye view of the apartment in Portugal, from where toddler was snatched a few days before her fourth birthday in 2007.

However the tourist, who contacted the police, insists detectives never took vital DNA evidence from them.

She had stayed in the apartment a week after Maddie’s disappearance from Praia da Luz, while on a family holiday.

“You could see the front and back of the building from that view point,” she told detectives.

“It was as if there had been someone stood there for some time smoking.

“I thought that was odd and it could have been someone watching the McCann’s apartment to monitor their comings and goings.”

http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2012/08/09/missing-link-overlooked-in-the-madeleine-mccann-case/

Was Madeleine McCann in Ibiza?

PUBLISHED: August 27, 2012 at 9:00 am
LAST EDITED: August 24, 2012 at 11:41 am


Blurry image of girl that could be Maddie

By Rund Abdelfatah

A GERMAN holidaymaker has claimed he saw Madeleine McCann aboard a flight from Ibiza to Munich.

Frank Bode, 42, was returning home to Germany earlier this month following a five-day break in Spain when he caught sight of a girl that immediately reminded him of the missing toddler.

“My intuition told me that the girl, who was around seven to 10 years old, could be Madeleine,” Bode told the Olive Press.

“She didn’t seem to fit with her family at all. Her father was clearly German, as were her two brothers, both around 10 to 12 years old, but her mother appeared to be British.

They were all speaking German except for the girl, who I clearly heard speaking British English.”

He continued: “The two boys were touching her strangely and the girl seemed totally out of place – nervous, stuttering, just not normal. And her mother, who bore no resemblance to the girl, was a strange woman and didn’t talk the entire trip.

“I was never very interested in the case but my instincts told me something was up, and I’m almost never wrong about these kinds of things,” added Bode, a sales manager for a currency printing company.

“I took a photo and showed it to some of my friends who agreed it could definitely be Maddie.”

Bode was so convinced the girl on his Lufthansa flight was Maddie, who disappeared from Portugal in 2007, he immediately contacted the British police.

“The woman at the hotline said it is on file, but that’s all she said.

“I’m mainly interested in the family getting the photo, but it’s difficult to find a channel through which to contact them.”

When the Olive Press contacted British police about Bode’s report, they said: “At this time we cannot find any record of his information.”

http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2012/08/27/was-madeleine-mccann-in-ibiza/