Chris's Crime Forum

Doreen
posted July 01, 2007


Stolen Madeleine photos returned to father
By Fiona Govan in Sotogrande
Last Updated: 2:11pm BST 01/07/2007



Precious photos of missing Madeleine McCann have been anonymously returned to her family almost two weeks after they were stolen from her father on a trip to London.

Gerry McCann, 39, was said to be delighted today at having two "irreplaceable" pictures of his abducted daughter back in his possession.

One picture is said to show Madeleine at 15 months old, while another was taken in church shortly before her disappearance on May 3.

The family had issued an appeal for their return after Mr McCann's wallet was taken by a pickpocket in Waterloo station hours after he arrived in the capital for a series of meetings about his global campaign to find his daughter.

At the time his sister described the theft as a "demoralising" sign of the times and urged the thief to do the right thing.


more here

http://tinyurl.com/2gwj32

I look at the faces of Madeleines parents! I look at their eyes..and the tiredness...and what they must be thinking...breaks my heart.
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"one day at a time"

Doreen
posted
July 20, 2007



By Mike Baron
Jul 20, 2007

Madeleine McCann Update: Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing Madeleine McCann, reportedly spent two hours being briefed about new clues in the kidnap investigation by the detective in charge of the hunt to find their missing four-year-old, reports the U.K.'s Daily Express.
Madeleine's mom and dad had what is being reported as "intense talks" with Guilhermino Encarnacao, who is the detective in charge of the investigation, at the British Consulate in Portimao on Wednesday amid reports that the case had reached a "critical" stage.

They reportedly arrived at 11am and left half an hour after the officer at 1.30pm.

Portugal has a very strict secrecy law in place that prevents the McCanns from disclosing what police have told them, however Gerry, said on his web blog that the investigation was "very active".

He affirmed that the couple has had "a longer meeting than usual with the Portuguese police".

He also wrote that: "There is also a lot of labor-intensive detective work going on behind the scenes."

The latest evidence in the case is believed to have come from new witnesses, said to be Portuguese locals and other vacation goers at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz.

Their statements allegedly back up the claims from three friends of the McCanns who flew to the country by the invitation of Portuguese police last week for a face-to-face confrontation with the only suspect in the case Robert Murat.

The new evidence to emerge in the past two weeks has cast doubt n Murat's alibi and put the spotlight squarely back on the British expatriate.


It's the Roller Coaster Ride that is so hard!
_________________
"one day at a time"

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Chris
posted
July 23, 2007
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Madeleine's father in US visit

The father of missing British girl Madeleine McCann is due to arrive in the US on Monday to meet politicians and specialist agencies working to prevent child abductions.

Gerry McCann is using the four-day visit to learn about the work of the agencies in trying to prevent child trafficking and sexual abuse.

Mr McCann will meet experts from both the National International Centres for Missing and Exploited Children.

The centres were set up in 1984 and 1998 respectively, following the kidnapping and murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh, who was snatched from a Florida department store in 1981.

The case eventually led to the introduction of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act last year. The Act strengthened the US' nationwide sex offender registration system and introduced tougher penalties for child sex offenders.

Mr McCann is also reported to be meeting with the Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and aides to First Lady Laura Bush in the White House during his trip.

Gerry and Kate McCann have a launched a major campaign to find their daughter.

http://www.4ni.co.uk/news.asp?id=63567

Chris
posted july 23, 2007


MISSING MADELEINE MCCANN'S PARENTS MAY FACE CHARGES

By CYNTHIA R. FAGEN
MADELEINE
Disappeared from hotel.July 23, 2007 -- The distraught parents of a missing 4-year-old British girl could face neglect charges for leaving their daughter alone in a hotel room from which police believe she was kidnapped during a family vacation in Portugal, according to a published report.

While the worldwide search for Madeleine McCann continues into its third month, authorities are probing whether to prosecute her mother and father, Gerry and Kate McCann, for child endangerment, according to the Daily Mail.

The pair had left Madeleine and her 2-year-old twin siblings in their beds at the Praia da Luz resort while they dined about 100 yards away with friends, each taking turns to go and check on the children.

Upon their return from dinner, Madeleine was nowhere to be found and the door and window were open.

Portuguese police have questioned the parents extensively and they are not suspects.

http://tinyurl.com/22dm5e

Doreen
Site Admin


Joined: 01 Nov 2006
Posts: 929
Location: Quebec
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:56 am Post subject: Newspaper bans ‘spiteful’ McCann attacks from site

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newspaper bans ‘spiteful’ McCann attacks from site

From The Times July 26, 2007
The parents of Madeleine McCann have defended leaving their daughter alone on the night she disappeared, as their local newspaper banned from its website “spiteful and defamatory” comments about the couple.

Kate and Gerry McCann will meet Portuguese police today to see if there has been any progress in the case. Mr McCann has spent the past four days in the United States, meeting experts on child abduction and talking to the media. He was asked why he and his wife left Madeleine and their two other children in a holiday villa while they dined at a nearby restaurant.

He told ABC’s Good Morning America: “We were 50 yards away and could see the apartment. It’s like we were sat at the end of our garden. The kids were sound asleep and being checked regularly. We didn’t think we needed a babysitter. What we did felt perfectly reasonable at the time.

He later told CNN: “We have been assured by the authorities that what we did fell well within the boundaries of good parenting. Madeleine was targeted by a predator. That is the real criminal act here.”

The Leicester Mercury said yesterday that visitors to its website had left messages calling for the McCanns to be prosecuted. Nick Carter, the editor, said: “A tiny minority of people seem to want to say nasty, spiteful and defamatory things. They are bombarding our site, and we had no choice but to block comment entirely on reports about the family.”

Madeleine McCann disappeared 84 days ago, just before her fourth birthday. The only official suspect is Robert Murat, a British man who lived close to the McCanns’ villa in Praia da Luz.



I believe that the mcann's have suffered already..I don't think they should face charges. I do believe that this should set president on leaving your young ones alone...even if you are within eyes reach. Preditor YES! I strongly believe that.
_________________
"one day at a time"

Chris
posted July 26 2007


I was thinking about this last night.The McCanns are very well off and of course stayed in the best hotels etc..I wonder if the hotel they were at offered babysitting for the guests.I believe most 5 start places do so now.

I don't believe the police have anything to gain by charging this couple with anything.I think the disappearance of their daughter is punishment enough.We all know as each day goes by and poor little Madeleine is not found the likeliness of her being found alive is next to none.These papers and people saying these parents should be charged should use the time they spend writing malicous stories helping search for Madelene,not talking spiteful of her parents.Anyone who is a parent know we all make mistakes.Thats what life is about learning from our mistakes.

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Doreen
posted august 04,2007


Madeleine McCann: Making A Meal In Belgium
POLICE in Belgium have issued a computer image of the man seen with “MADELEINE” McCann close to the Dutch border.

No lazy eye. No cigarette. This face does not look like Robert Murat, the case’s chief suspect. Not even if you draw glasses on it. This man has been seen with a brown-haired British woman. They have both been seen with a child who looks like Madeleine McCann.

“Dramatic breakthrough in search as kidnapped girl is spotted in Belgium,” says the Express on its front page. No circumspection. Just fact.

And, of course, this is no less or more dramatic than those sightings of Madeleine in Morocco and Malta. No less dramatic than when the Dutchman’s picture with an ‘X’ marking the spot where Madeleine’s body could be found. No less dramatic than when Robert Murat was shut in a room at the police station with three of the McCanns’ dining companions.

There is no little drama in the case of Madeleine McCann. But there are no car chases. No flashing lights. No arrests. The drama is all in the telling.

And so to this couple, eating at the De Pauze restaurant. The girl is with them. Police are carrying out DNA tests on the cup used by this “Madeleine”.

A witness is watching all. She’s a child therapist. She says the child is “nervous looking”. She calls the police. When she returns, the group has “fled”.

The couple and the child get into a Volvo with Belgian number plates with the letters VUV. They are seen “speeding off”.

The Express says “several witnesses” in the case remember seeing the little girl. “They said all three were acting suspiciously.” The police are asking questions. Memories are being jogged. Did you see the poor little girl with the swarthy man? It might be Madeleine McCann. Do you remember?

But why Belgium? The Express lists the “legacy of abuse” in Belgium. It mentions Marc Dutroux, convicted of child murder and kidnap. The efit doesn’t look much like him. And he’s in jail. The Express talks of Belgium’s “paedophile rings” and a “paedophile village”.

Madeleine has been seen in Belgium before. In June she was with a Belgian couple outside Liege cathedral. But now more was heard of her. Either the people in Belgium are mistaken or not all that observant, given the so many Britons saw Madeleine in Malta.

“MADELEINE ‘SEEN’ IN BELGIUM,” says the Mirror’s front-page headline.

This is big news. And, as the Express says, Gerry and Kate McCann are “being kept informed”. And they are off to visit Huelva in Spain. Not Belgium. Not yet…
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"one day at a time"

Reports: police end their search of home of suspect in Madeleine McCann case
DATE: Aug 5, 21:28



LISBON, Portugal (AP) – Police ended a two-day search of the home of the only suspect in the disappearance of a 4-year-old British girl from a Portuguese hotel three months ago, news reports said Sunday.

Throughout the day Sunday, more than 12 police officers using at least one dog searched the grounds of the house where 33-year-old Briton Robert Murat lives, which is about 100 metres from where Madeleine McCann was last seen, the Lusa news agency said.

The agents entered the house around 7 a.m. and finished shortly after 4 p.m., Lusa added.

It was not made known if they found anything.

Portuguese officers and two British detectives used rakes and hedge cutters to clear vegetation Saturday from the grounds of the home. It was not clear if any British detectives took part in the search Sunday.

Murat, who was with his lawyer, was in the house at the time. He was not arrested. Murat has always denied any involvement in the girl’s disappearance.

Madeleine vanished May 3 after her parents left her and her 2-year-old twin siblings in their room while they went to a restaurant inside their hotel complex in Praia da Luz, a resort town in Portugal’s Algarve region.

Her disappearance prompted an international search, and her parents have travelled throughout Europe and to the United States to publicize the effort to find her.

Murat is the only formal suspect in the case. Police questioned him after the disappearance, but later released him, saying they did not have enough evidence to charge him.

http://tinyurl.com/ytnvpp

Doreen
posted august 08 2007



Belgian DNA doesn't match Madeleine McCann


Belgian DNA doesn't match Madeleine McCann
Richard Edwards in Praia da Luz
Last Updated: 1:48am BST 09/08/2007



A possible sighting in Belgium of missing Madeleine McCann was ruled out today after DNA tests proved negative.

A child therapist alerted police after saying she was "100% sure" she had seen the four-year-old at a restaurant in the Flemish town of Tongeren, not far from the Dutch border, on July 28.

The girl was with a "suspicious" couple who disappeared while she was calling police. Belgium was put on alert as a photofit of a man was issued. Detectives took away a drink bottle used by the girl, but the sample returned today did not match the DNA of Madeleine.
It is the latest in a long string of alleged sightings across the world which have been ruled out. The two most complelling to police - and to the McCann family still clinging to the hope of finding their daughter alive - were in Morocco and Malta.

Both were eventually ruled out after investigations by local authorities. Other alleged sightings have occured in Guatemala, Argentina, Switzerland, France and Spain.

Despite constantly having their hopes slightly raised only to be dashed afterwards, Kate and Gerry McCann say that every alleged sighting is a positive sign that people are still aware of Madeleine's plight.

Mrs McCann told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour today: "It says to us that people are still looking and that is really important and we would encourage that."

more here


http://tinyurl.com/34eczj
_________________
"one day at a time"

Chris
posted aug 10. 2007

Media denounced in search for Madeleine

GERRY and Kate McCann have spoken out about their "hurtful, intrusive and disrespectful" treatment at the hands of the Portuguese media since their daughter Madeleine disappeared.

Relations between the family and the local media have worsened in recent days, with hostile lines of speculation surfacing about the couple and the friends with whom they were on holiday in early May.

The McCanns have remained in the small Algarve town of Praia da Luz since then.

Seven friends who were dining with them when Madeleine was taken three months ago have come under increased scrutiny in Portugal as police investigate a theory that Madeleine was killed in her apartment.

Portuguese photographers and reporters now camp daily outside the couple's villa and follow the family by car.

Mrs McCann insisted they would not be intimidated. "We will never go through anything worse than being parted from Madeleine. We will not be leaving or be forced out. I am not prepared to be bullied into doing something that I don't want to. We can cope with a lot and we still have a lot of strength but this speculation and the actions of the Portuguese press has been hurtful, intrusive and disrespectful to our other two children. The press here have badly overstepped any reasonable line."

Despite their defiance, it emerged that they have

Despite their defiance, it emerged that they have been asked by Mark Warner, the holiday firm that operates the complex from which Madeleine disappeared, to stay away from the Ocean Club resort because of the disruptive media presence.

Though the couple moved out some time ago, they have continued to bring their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie to the resort's creche. They have been offered an alternative, but have so far declined to take it up.

With the small town's beaches now packed with holidaymakers, the couple face a besieged existence behind the high gates of their villa, lent to them by friends. "We are trapped," said Mrs McCann. "What can we do?"

The criticisms were directed at local media. British journalists in Praia da Luz have been careful not to harass the family.

The couple have insisted they will remain until Madeleine is found. Speaking by telephone, Mrs McCann said: "We have had so much support from the local community, no negativity at all. I know it might seem illogical, but I feel closer to Madeleine here. Yes, there are probably things we could do even better from the UK, but just right now it wouldn't feel right to leave."

Today will mark 100 days since the four-year-old disappeared from her bedroom. In that time the McCanns have investigated ways to drive the investigation forward.

The latest is a partnership with the video-sharing site YouTube to create a global internet channel for those looking for missing and abducted children.

Mrs McCann said: "People haven't said to us to give up hope but they have said to get on with our lives, whatever that means. We have to find Madeleine and find out what happened to her, and balance that against what is best for our other two children. But life is going on."

http://tinyurl.com/2trp7c