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Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Left, Madeleine in 2007 aged three, and right, how she may have looked in 2012 aged nine
Name	Madeleine Beth McCann
Born	(2003-05-12)12 May 2003 Leicester, England
Parents	Kate and Gerry McCann
Date of disappearance	3 May 2007 (aged 3)
Place of disappearance	5A Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva, Praia da Luz, Portugal
Coordinates	37°05′19″N 8°43′51″W / 37.0886565°N 8.7308398°W / 37.0886565; -8.7308398
Distinguishing features	Straight blonde hair; blue-green eyes; right eye has a distinctive spot on the iris; small brown mark on the calf of the left leg
Investigating forces	Polícia Judiciária Leicestershire police London Metropolitan Police/Scotland Yard
British case review	Operation Grange
Reward	£2.5m ($3.8m)
Campaign and contact details	Findmadeleine.com Crimestoppers UK 0800 555 111 Operation Grange (Scotland Yard).

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann occurred on the evening of Thursday, 3 May 2007, in Praia da Luz, a resort in the Algarve region of Portugal. Madeleine, from the UK, was on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, her twin siblings, and a group of seven family friends and their five children. She went missing from her bed in the McCanns' holiday apartment nine days before her fourth birthday.

Madeleine and her younger siblings had been left at 20:30 in a bedroom in the ground-floor apartment, while her parents ate with their friends in the resort's tapas restaurant 50 metres (54 yards) away. The parents or friends checked on the children throughout the evening; Madeleine's mother discovered she was missing at 22:00. The Portuguese police at first assumed she had wandered off or had been abducted, but after misinterpreting a British DNA analysis they came to believe she had died in the apartment, which placed a cloud of suspicion over her parents. The McCanns were named as suspects (arguidos) in September 2007, but were cleared in July 2008 when Portugal's attorney-general closed the case.

The McCanns continued the investigation using private detectives and, after the intervention of the British Home Secretary in May 2011, Scotland Yard set up Operation Grange, a case review that became a new criminal inquiry. The officer in charge, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, said in July 2012 that the team believed Madeleine might still be alive. As of October 2013 they had drawn up a list of 41 persons of interest, including 15 British nationals, and that month released e-fit images of men they want to trace, including one of a man seen carrying a child away from the resort that night. The Portuguese police reopened their own investigation later that month, citing new evidence.

The disappearance generated sustained international attention from traditional and social media. Because named as suspects, the McCanns were subjected to intense scrutiny, particularly by the British tabloids, and false allegations of involvement in their daughter's death. They and their seven friends were awarded substantial damages against the Express Group in 2008, which they donated to Madeleine's Fund, set up by the parents to finance their search, and front-page apologies from the Daily Express, Daily Star and their Sunday sister papers. The McCanns testified in November 2011 before the Leveson Inquiry into British press standards, lending support to those arguing for tighter press regulation in the UK.

Family and friends

Madeleine McCann

Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003 in Leicester, England) lived with her parents and younger twin siblings, brother Sean and sister Amelie, in Rothley, Leicestershire. She has straight blonde hair, blue-green eyes, and a small brown mark on the calf of her left leg. Her right eye has a distinctive mark, known as a coloboma, on the iris: the pupil runs into the iris in the form of a dark strip from the pupil to the edge of the white. Several age-progressed images were released in 2009 of how Madeleine may have looked at age six, and Scotland Yard released another in 2012 at age nine.

McCanns, Tapas Seven

Kate Marie McCann (née Healy, born 1968 in Allerton, Liverpool) graduated in 1992 with a degree in medicine from the University of Dundee, and practised gynaecology before moving into general practice. Gerald Patrick McCann (born 1968 in Glasgow) is a consultant cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester. He attended Holyrood Secondary School and studied medicine at the University of Glasgow, qualifying in 1992 and obtaining his MD in 2002. The couple met in 1993 when Gerry was working at Glasgow's Western Infirmary, and were married in 1998. Both are practising Roman Catholics.

The McCanns were on holiday with a group of friends from the UK and eight children in all, including the McCanns' three. The group consisted of physician Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner, a marketing manager; lawyer Rachael Oldfield and her husband, physician Matthew Oldfield; and spouses David and Fiona Payne, both physicians, as well as the latter's mother, Dianne Webster. The nine adults met up every evening during the holiday at 20:30 in the resort's tapas restaurant, as a result of which the media dubbed the friends the Tapas Seven.

Disappearance

Apartment 5A

External image
Map of the Ocean Club resort and timeline, BBC News, 15 October 2013.

The apartment the McCanns were staying in, 5A, was on the ground floor of the fifth block of Waterside Village Gardens, Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva. The apartment block lay just outside the perimeter of the Ocean Club resort, run by the holiday company Mark Warner Ltd. One side of the block overlooked the resort, while the other overlooked the street and other public areas. The McCann's apartment sat on a corner and was accessible to the public from all sides.

There had been a series of break-ins at the resort in early 2007, and a year before the disappearance children had seen a man break into a ground-floor apartment and stare into a travel cot. Around the time of the disappearance, men had been posing as charity collectors, going door-to-door asking for money for orphanages. On the day of the disappearance, between 15:30 and 17:30, on four occasions two black-haired men visited apartments close to the McCanns', ostensibly collecting for charity. In October 2013 Scotland Yard released e-fit images (right), originally created by investigators working for Madeleine's Fund, of two of these men. The first was seen making collections in the McCann's block at 16:00 on the day of the disappearance. The second was seen, a week before, going up the steps to the McCanns' apartment and speaking to someone on the balcony.

In the days leading up to the disappearance, there had been other sightings of men behaving oddly near apartment 5A. On Monday, 30 April, one girl, whose grandparents used to own 5A, saw a man leaning with his palms against the wall near the apartment. She said she had seen him again on 2 May near the car park by the resort's pool and tapas restaurant, apparently watching 5A. She described him as Caucasian, mid-30s, "ugly" with spots, and wearing a black leather jacket and sunglasses. A second witness saw a man on 29 April hanging round not far from the block of apartments, and saw him again on 2 May across the road from 5A. She remembered him because his appearance made her uneasy: she described him as "ugly," with pitted skin and a large nose.

That day or the next, a third witness saw a man standing by a wall near the car park next to the swimming pool and tapas restaurant. She said he was staring at the McCanns' apartment block, where a white van was parked. On 3 May a fourth witness saw a man walk through one of the access gates leading away from the apartments; she said she noticed him because he seemed to be trying to close the gate quietly, with both hands, and was looking around him as he walked away.

Thursday, 3 May 2007

Thursday, 3 May, was the sixth day of the family's week-long holiday. The children spent the morning in the resort's Kids' Club while the parents went for a walk, then the family lunched together at their apartment before heading to the pool. Kate took the last known photograph of Madeleine by the pool that afternoon, sitting next to her father and two-year-old sister. The children returned to Kids' Club, and at 18:00 Kate took them back to the apartment while Gerry went for a tennis lesson.

The McCanns put the children to bed around 19:00. All three were sleeping in a bedroom overlooking a car park and garden area, near the back door of the apartment and the street, on the opposite side of the apartment block from the resort, tapas restaurant and swimming pool. There was one window, shuttered, looking onto the car park. Madeleine's bed was on the other side of the room. The twins slept in travel cots and Madeleine in a single bed, with her princess blanket and a pink soft toy, Cuddle Cat. She was wearing a pair of short-sleeved, pink-and-white Marks and Spencer's Eeyore pyjamas.

The parents left the apartment at 20:30 to dine with their friends at the resort's open-air tapas restaurant, which lay 50-metres (160 ft) on the other side of the pool, a walk of 30–45 seconds. They left the apartment's sliding patio doors closed, but not locked; the doors faced the swimming pool, but also led to a small set of stairs and a gate, which in turn led to a public road on the non-resort side of the apartment block.

The staff at the tapas restaurant had left a note in a staff message book asking that the same table, which overlooked the apartments, be block-booked for 20:30 every evening for the McCanns and their friends. The message said the children were asleep in the apartments; Kate has wondered whether the abductor saw this note in the staff book, which was left at the swimming-pool reception area. The McCanns and their friends left the table throughout the evening to check on their children. At around 21:05 Gerry entered 5A to carry out the first check. All was well, except that he recalled having left the bedroom door only slightly ajar and now it stood almost wide open; he said he pulled it back to a five-degree position before returning to the restaurant. The McCanns believe the movement of the door may mean that the abductor had been in the apartment.

Possible sighting of the abductor

Tanner report

One of the McCanns' travelling companions, Jane Tanner, left the restaurant to check on her own daughter. She passed Gerry on Rua Dr Gentil Martins on his way back to the restaurant from his 21:05 check; he was standing in the street chatting to a television producer he had met at the resort. At around 21:15 Tanner noticed a man cross the road in front of her, heading out of the resort along Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva, the road the McCanns' apartment was on.

She said he was carrying a barefoot child who was wearing light-coloured pink pyjamas with a floral pattern and cuffs on the legs. She described the man as white, dark-haired, 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) tall, of southern European or Mediterranean appearance, 35–40 years old, wearing gold or beige trousers and a dark jacket, and said he did not look like a tourist. Tanner passed the information to the Portuguese police, although the description was not given to the media until 25 May. In September 2008 Madeleine's Fund arranged for an FBI-accredited forensic artist to create an image of the man (right), which was released to the public.

Scotland Yard now believe that this sighting was a red herring. In October 2013 they said a British holidaymaker had come forward to say he believed he was the man Tanner had seen, and that he had been returning to his apartment after picking his own daughter up from the Ocean Club night creche. Police took photographs of the man wearing the same or similar clothes to the ones he was wearing on the night, and standing in a pose similar to the one Tanner reported. The man also showed detectives the pyjamas his daughter had been wearing, and they matched the description given by Tanner. DCI Redwood said his officers were "almost certain now that this sighting is not the abductor."

Smith report

For several years the Tanner sighting suggested Madeleine had been taken around 21:15. Private detectives (led by a former police officer and M15 agent) working for Oakley International in 2008, a company hired by the McCanns, became more interested in a second sighting. This took place at around 22:00 and was reported to Portuguese police by the Smith family, who were on holiday from Ireland.

The Smiths saw the man on Rua da Escola Primária, around 500 yards (457 m) from the McCanns' apartment, carrying a young girl and walking from the direction of the Ocean Club resort towards Rua 25 de Abril and the beach. They described the girl as 3–4 years old, wearing light-coloured pyjamas, with blonde hair and pale skin. They said the man was mid-30s, 1.75–1.80 m (5 ft 7 in – 5 ft 9 in) in height, with a slim-to-normal build, short brown hair, wearing cream or beige trousers. They said he did not look like a tourist and had not looked comfortable carrying the child.

The Smith report was overlooked for years as mistaken or not connected to the kidnapping, because it was inconsistent with the timing of the Tanner report. Scotland Yard now believe that it is this second sighting that gives them the approximate time of Madeleine's kidnap, and on 13 October 2013 they released e-fit images of the man (right) prepared in 2008 by Oakley International.

Madeleine reported missing

Kate had intended to check on the children at 21:30, but Matthew Oldfield offered to do it when he checked on his own children in the apartment next door. He noticed that the McCanns' children's bedroom door was open, but after hearing no noise he left their apartment without seeing Madeleine. He could not recall whether the bedroom window had been open. Early on in the investigation the Portuguese police accused him of being involved because he had volunteered to do the check instead of Kate.

Kate went to check at around 22:00. Police now believe that Madeleine was taken just moments before this. She entered the apartment through the patio doors at the back, and noticed that the children's bedroom door was open wider than they normally left it. When she went to close it, it slammed shut, as if there was a draught somewhere from an open window. She opened the door and saw that the bedroom window and its outside shutters were open; the McCanns learned later that the window could be opened from outside. Madeleine's Cuddle Cat and princess blanket were still on the bed, but Madeleine was gone. After briefly searching the apartment Kate ran back towards the restaurant, screaming that someone had taken Madeleine.

At around 22:10 Gerry sent Matthew Oldfield to alert the resort's 24-hour reception desk and to call the police, and at 22:30 the resort activated its missing-child search protocol. The resort's manager said that 60 staff and guests searched until 04:30, at first assuming that Madeleine had wandered off. One of those involved told Channel 4's Dispatches that from one end of Luz to the other, you could hear people shouting her name.

Portuguese investigation (2007–2008)

Early response

According to Portuguese police, officers arrived at the apartment within 10 minutes of being alerted and an investigation unit began work within 30 minutes. Kate wrote in 2011 that two officers from the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) arrived at 23:10 from Lagos, a town five miles away. By midnight, according to Kate, the GNR had contacted the Polícia Judiciária, the criminal police, who she said arrived at 1 am from Portimão, 20 miles away. An officer placed tape across the doorway of the children's bedroom, she said, but left at 3 am without securing the rest of the apartment. Two patrol dogs were brought to the resort at 2 am and four search-and-rescue dogs at 8 am.

Friends of the McCanns' friends contacted the media in the UK, and by early morning they were carrying the news. Gerry's sister in Scotland alerted the British Consulate in the Algarve, the British Embassy in Lisbon and the Foreign Office in London. Roadblocks were put in place at 10 am. Interpol issued a global alert known as a yellow notice five days later. The police later organized searches of local sewers, waterways, wells, caves and ruins.

There was criticism in the British media of the early police response. The crime scene was not secured; Chief Inspector Olegário de Sousa of the Polícia Judiciária, who worked on the case, said that around 20 people had entered the apartment before it was closed off. Madeleine's toy, Cuddle Cat, was not secured or checked early on for DNA. Neither border nor marine police were given descriptions of Madeleine for many hours, and officers did not appear to make extensive door-to-door inquiries. They also failed to request surveillance pictures of vehicles leaving Praia da Luz that night, or of the road between Lagos and Vila Real de Santo António on the Spanish border.

Gonçalo Amaral

The Portuguese investigation also came under scrutiny because of the officer in charge from May until October 2007, Gonçalo Amaral, head of the regional Polícia Judiciária. A month after the disappearance, Amaral and four other officers were charged with offences related to an earlier inquiry into the disappearance of Joana Cipriano, an eight-year-old Portuguese girl missing since 2004 from Figueira, seven miles (11 km) from Praia da Luz. The police assumed she had been murdered, although her body was never found. The girl's mother and uncle were convicted of murder after confessing; the mother later retracted her confession, saying she had been beaten by police. Amaral was not present when the beating allegedly took place, but was accused of covering up for others.

In October 2007, after Amaral told a Portuguese newspaper that the British police were only pursuing leads helpful to the McCanns, he was removed from Madeleine's case and from his post. He went on to publish a book in July 2008, in which he said that Madeleine was dead and that the McCanns were involved. He was convicted of perjury in May 2009 for having falsified documents in the Cipriano case, and received an 18-month suspended sentence. The McCanns sued him for defamation because of the claims in his book, a lawsuit that was ongoing as of October 2013.

First arguido

On 14 May 2007 Portuguese police searched a nearby villa belonging to the mother of Robert Murat, a British-Portuguese property consultant. Murat had come to the attention of Lori Campbell, a Sunday Mirror journalist, who told police he had expressed interest in the investigation. He had offered to translate witness statements for the police, and said his interest in the case stemmed from his loss of custody of his own three-year-old daughter. Three members of the Tapas Seven said they had seen Murat in the resort on the evening Madeleine disappeared, although he and his mother said he had been at home.

Murat was given arguido (suspect) status on 15 May; arguido status gives people additional rights, such as the right to remain silent. His cars, computers, mobile phones and video tapes were examined, and the villa was searched again in August. Police also questioned an IT expert who had set up a website for him, as well as a friend of that person. There was nothing to link him to the disappearance, and he was cleared on 21 July 2008 when the case closed. As with the McCanns, Murat found himself at the centre of media allegations, particularly in the British tabloids. He and his two associates sued 11 newspapers for libel, in relation to 100 articles published by Associated Newspapers, Express Newspapers, Mirror Group Newspapers, and News Group Newspapers (News International). According to The Observer, it was the largest number of separate libel actions brought in the UK by the same person in relation to one issue. Murat was awarded £600,000 in July 2008 and the others $100,000; all three received public apologies. The British Sky Broadcasting Group, which owns Sky News, paid Murat undisclosed damages in a separate libel action in November 2008, and agreed that Sky News should host an apology to him on its website for 12 months.

McCanns as arguidos

British sniffer dogs

Matt Baggott, chief constable of Leicestershire police when Madeleine disappeared, told the Leveson Inquiry in 2012 that Leicestershire police were asked on 8 May 2007 to co-ordinate the British response on behalf of the British government and the Association of Chief Police Officers. They laid down that it was a Portuguese-led inquiry, and that British police would comply with Portuguese law and its Judicial Secrecy Act. It was this decision that tied the hands of British police when the police in Portugal began briefing reporters against the McCanns.

Experts from the British Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre arrived in Portugal on 9 May to help develop a psychological profile of a possible abductor. In July British police arrived to help with a ground search, bringing equipment for underground detection, ultraviolet instruments and two Springer spaniel sniffer dogs, Keela and Eddie. Keela was a crime-scene dog trained to alert her handler to traces of human blood, even if the area had been cleaned or the blood was decades old, and Eddie was an enhanced victim recovery dog (EVRD), who alerted to the scent of human cadavers. According to the Observer, the dogs were brought in at the request of the McCanns.

In late July the dogs were taken to several apartments and areas connected to the investigation. Both dogs gave alerts at several spots in the apartment from which Madeleine had disappeared, including behind the sofa. On 2 August Portuguese police arrived at the villa the McCanns had recently rented and removed Madeleine's Cuddle Cat and the couple's clothes; they also took diaries Kate had started after the disappearance and a Bible she had borrowed, also after the disappearance. Kate wrote in 2011 that the police would only say that an "anomaly" had arisen. On 6 August the police impounded a Renault Scenic the couple had hired 24 days after the disappearance. The cadaver dog gave an alert outside the car and inside the boot; one or both dogs gave alerts at Cuddle Cat, Kate's clothes and the Bible. John Barrett, a retired Scotland Yard dog handler, dismissed the cadaver-dog claim at the time, telling journalists the dogs could only detect the scent of a cadaver up to 28 days after a death.

British DNA analysis

Material, including hair and other fibres, was collected from the areas in the apartment and car that the dogs had reacted to, and was sent to the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in Birmingham for DNA profiling. The FSS used a technique known as low copy number (LCN) DNA analysis, which they had developed in 1999. LCN DNA is used when only a few cells are available for testing; it is viewed as controversial because the test is more sensitive than other techniques, and therefore more vulnerable to contamination and misinterpretation. On 3 September 2007 John Lowe of the FSS emailed Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior of the Leicestershire police to say that a sample from the boot of the car contained 15 out of 19 of Madeleine's DNA components. He wrote that the result was "too complex for meaningful interpretation":

A complex LCN DNA result which appeared to have originated from at least three people was obtained from cellular material recovered from the luggage compartment section ... Within the DNA profile of Madeleine McCann there are 20 DNA components represented by 19 peaks on a chart. ... Of these 19 components 15 are present within the result from this item; there are 37 components in total. There are 37 components because there are at least 3 contributors; but there could be up to five contributors. In my opinion therefore this result is too complex for meaningful interpretation/inclusion.

The email was translated into Portuguese on 4 September. Portuguese police nevertheless told Gerry McCann on 7 September that Madeleine's DNA had been found in the boot of the car and behind the sofa in the apartment. Both Kate and Gerry were named as suspects that day.

Journalists in Portugal were told that the DNA evidence was a "100 percent match." A British tabloid published the front-page headline, "Brit Lab Bombshell: Car DNA is 100% Maddie's," while another reported that "a clump of Maddie's hair" had been found in the car. Jerry Lawton, a reporter with the Daily Star, a British tabloid, told the Leveson Inquiry in 2012 that the leaks came directly from the Portuguese police, and caused a "sea change" in the way the case was viewed by the media. Matt Baggott told the inquiry that it was this misinterpretation of the DNA evidence by the Portuguese police that led them to conclude that the McCanns had faked an abduction to cover up Madeleine's death. Baggott knew that the DNA evidence was being wrongly interpreted, but because the Portuguese were in charge of the inquiry, he did not correct reporters who were being briefed by Portuguese police that the McCanns were involved.

McCanns return to the UK

On 5 September 2007, according to Kate writing in 2011, the Polícia Judiciária proposed that, if she were to admit that Madeleine had died in an accident in the apartment and that she had hidden the body, she might only serve a two-year sentence; Gerry would not be charged and would be free to leave. Despite their arguido status, the McCanns were allowed to leave Portugal, and arrived back in England on 9 September. On 11 September the case file, consisting of 10 volumes of evidence, was handed to the local prosecutor, who passed it to the appointed judge, Pedro Miguel dos Anjos Frias. On 12 September the judge authorized the seizure of Kate's diary and Gerry's laptop, thought to be at the McCanns' home in England.

To rebut allegations that Kate or the twins had been on medication at the time of the disappearance, their hair was tested in November 2007; no traces were found. On 29 November four members of the Portuguese investigation – reportedly including Francisco Corte-Real, vice-president of Portugal's forensic crime service – were briefed at Leicestershire police headquarters by the Forensic Science Service. The British scientists reiterated that the DNA analysis had been inconclusive.

Investigation closed

Timeline
2007–20202007 April 28: The McCanns and friends (the latter known as the "Tapas Seven") arrive at Ocean Club, Praia da Luz. McCanns given apartment 5A, Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva. c. 30: Staff leave visible note at swimming-pool reception asking that same table in resort's tapas restaurant be booked daily for 20:30 for McCanns and Tapas Seven, because they are leaving their children in the apartments. Restaurant is 82-metre walk (295 ft) from 5A. 3 May 14:29: Kate takes last-known photograph of Madeleine by the pool. 20:30: McCanns and Tapas Seven go to tapas restaurant. 21:05: Gerry checks on children in 5A. 21:15: "Tanner sighting": Jane Tanner of the Tapas Seven sees man carrying child. 21:30: Matthew Oldfield of the Tapas Seven checks on children in 5A but does not look fully inside the bedroom. 22:00: "Smith sighting": Martin Smith and family see man carrying child. 22:00: Kate checks on children; reports Madeleine missing. 22:10–22:30: Resort alerts police. 23:10: Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) arrive. Midnight: GNR alert Polícia Judiciária (PJ). 4 May 01:00: PJ arrive. 04:30: Resort staff and guests call off search until daylight. Later: McCanns make first television appeal. 9–30 May 9: British police arrive in Praia da Luz. c. 11: Anonymous benefactor hires Control Risks for the McCanns. 15: Robert Murat made arguido; his home is searched. 15: McCanns set up Madeleine's Fund. 26: Martin Smith gives statement to PJ about Smith sighting. 27: McCanns hire Renault Scenic. 28: Madeleine appears on front page of People. 30: McCanns meet Pope. June 6: German journalist asks McCanns whether they were involved. 10: McCanns fly to Morocco to appeal for information. 30: First article critical of McCanns appears, in Sol, Portuguese weekly. July 31: British sniffer dogs arrive in Praia da Luz. August 2: PJ remove items from McCanns' rented house, including Kate's diary. 3: Sniffer dog reacts inside 5A. 6: PJ impound McCanns' rental car. 6: Sniffer dog reacts to McCanns' car, other items. 7: Material sent to British lab for DNA tests. September 3: DNA tests inconclusive. 7: PJ make McCanns arguidos. 7: PJ interview Kate and Gerry; Kate declines to answer questions. 9: McCanns return to UK. Unknown: Martin Smith, of the "Smith sighting", sees Gerry carry his son from the plane, and reports to British police that he believes this was the man he saw in Praia da Luz. He later accepts that he was mistaken. 10: PJ leak that Madeleine's DNA was found in McCanns' rental car. 11: The Sun: "Brit Lab Bombshell: Car DNA is 100% Maddie's". 12: Businessman Brian Kennedy steps forward as benefactor to finance private investigation. Unknown: Kennedy funds Clarence Mitchell as McCanns' spokesperson. Late: Kate and twins drug-tested in the UK at McCanns' request; results negative. October 2: Chief Inspector Gonçalo Amaral of the PJ removed from Portuguese inquiry. 26: Newspapers publish McCanns' Tanner sighting sketch. 2008 March 23: McCanns receive £550,000 damages and front-page apologies from four newspapers. April: Tapas Seven interviewed by Lincolnshire Police at request of PJ. Late: McCanns hire Oakley International; Oakley produces Smith e-fits, which are not released. April 8: Tapas Seven interviewed in UK; PJ attend. July 17: Robert Murat and friends receive £600,000 damages, and over the following days 13 newspapers apologise. 21: Portuguese Attorney General closes the investigation. 24: Gonçalo Amaral publishes book accusing the McCanns of involvement. Late: Kate's diary published in Portugal. August 4: Portugal's Ministério Público release the PJ case files. September 14: News of the World in UK publishes Kate's diary. 2009 Unknown: McCanns hire Dave Edgar, a private investigator. 1 May: McCanns release age-progressed image. May: Gonçalo Amaral, inquiry's former coordinator, convicted of perjury in relation to another case. 9 Sept: McCanns obtain injunction against Amaral book. Unknown: McCanns meet British home secretary Alan Johnson to request review. Johnson commissions "scoping report" from Jim Gamble, head of CEOP Command. 2010 Mar: British Home Office discusses review with Association of Chief Police Officers. May: Gamble's scoping report recommends a review. 19 Oct: Lisbon court lifts Amaral book ban. 2011 28 Apr: Bantam Press releases Madeleine by Kate McCann. Mar: PJ begin case review. 11 May: While serializing Kate's book, The Sun publishes open letter requesting British police review. Home Secretary Theresa May speaks by telephone to CEO of News International and editor of The Sun. 12 May: Prime Minister David Cameron announces Scotland Yard review, Operation Grange, with 29 detectives. 23 Nov: McCanns testify at Leveson Inquiry into press standards. 2012 25 Apr: Scotland Yard releases age-progressed image. 2013 12 Sept: McCanns v Amaral libel hearings begin. 14 Oct: Scotland Yard–Crimewatch reconstruction, during which 2008 Smith e-fits are released for the first time. 24 Oct: PJ reopen inquiry. 2014 19 Mar: Scotland Yard issue another appeal. June: British and Portuguese police dig in wasteland in Praia da Luz. July: Suspects and witnesses interviewed in Portugal. Dec: More interviews in Portugal. 2015 28 Apr: McCanns win damages from Amaral; book banned again. Oct: Operation Grange reduced to four detectives. 2016 20 Apr: Amaral wins libel appeal; book ban lifted. April: British Home Secretary approves £95,000 to fund remaining line of inquiry. June: Operation Grange interviews victim of Clement Freud, who owned home in Praia da Luz. 2017 1 Feb: McCanns lose Amaral libel appeal at Supreme Court of Portugal. Court said McCanns had not been cleared in 2008. March: British Home Secretary approves another £85,000 to fund inquiry. April: British police say they are pursuing a "significant line of inquiry". 2018 Nov: British Home Secretary approves additional £150,000, taking cost of inquiry to £11.75 million. 2019 March: Scotland Yard requests funds to cover until March 2020. 15 March: Netflix releases The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, an eight-part series. 2020 June: German police announce that they are investigating a convicted sex offender imprisoned in Germany in relation to the case.
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The Tapas Seven were interviewed by Leicestershire police in England in April 2008, with the Policia Judiciária in attendance. The Portuguese police planned the following month to hold a reconstruction of the disappearance, but it was cancelled when the friends declined to participate; it was not going to be televised, which they said rendered it of questionable value. Also in April 2008, on the day the McCanns were in Brussels promoting a child-welfare initiative, transcripts of their interviews with Portuguese police were leaked to Spanish television. These included information Kate had given to police about a comment Madeleine had made the day of her disappearance, when she asked why Kate had not come to her the night before when she cried. Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesperson, called the leak a "deliberate smear"; the Polícia Judiciária denied that material from the investigation had been leaked.

The national director of the Policia Judiciária, Alípio Ribeiro, resigned in May 2008, citing media pressure from the investigation; he had publicly said the police had been hasty in naming the McCanns as suspects. A document released on 29 May by Judge Fernando Ribeiro Cardoso of the Tribunal da Relação de Évora revealed that investigators were examining abduction, homicide, abandonment of a child, and concealment of a corpse. Two months later, on 21 July 2008, Fernando José Pinto Monteiro, the Portuguese Attorney General, announced that the McCanns' and Robert Murat's arguido status had been lifted, and that the case was closed.

During the same month, excerpts from Kate's diary, which she had handed to the Policia Judiciária in August 2007 for the sniffer dogs, were published without her permission by a newspaper in Portugal, translated from English to Portuguese; on 14 September a British tabloid also published them, again without permission and now translated poorly back into English. On 4 August 2008 the police released what they said at the time was their entire case file, 11,233 pages, to the media on CD-Rom.

Gonçalo Amaral book

Just as the McCanns were cleared by the Portuguese attorney general in July 2008, Gonçalo Amaral, the officer in charge of the Portuguese investigation until October 2007, published a book, Maddie, a Verdade da Mentira ("Maddie, the Truth of the Lie"). It alleged that Madeleine had died in the holiday apartment and that the McCanns had invented the abduction. A Portuguese judge issued an injunction in September 2009 that stopped further publication or sales, and banned Amaral from repeating his claims. The McCanns sought 1.2 million euros ($1.7 million) in damages for defamation. In December 2009 Amaral responded to the publication ban by publishing a second book, A Mordaça Inglesa ("The English Gag"). Amaral lost an appeal against the injunction in February 2010, but in October 2010 the Court of Appeal in Lisbon overturned the ban, stating that it violated Amaral's freedom of expression. Amaral and the McCanns failed to reach an out-of-court settlement in the defamation suit, and the proceedings continued as of October 2013.

Madeleine's Fund

Publicity, rewards

... a lantern cupping a golden blaze,
its candle alive with a fierce blonde flame
for the thousandth time, for as long as it takes.

Media analyst Nicola Rehling writes that, within weeks of the disappearance, the "Maddification" of Britain had taken place, similar to the "Dianafication" in 1997. Madeleine's photographs became some of the most reproduced images of the decade. The McCanns had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI shortly after she disappeared. According to Julia Kennedy, there were 3,700 videos on YouTube in June 2008 under the search term "Madeleine McCann" and over seven million posts. Around 500 million people watched an appeal screened at the FA Cup Final in 2007. Rehling writes that some British tabloids had Madeleine in the headlines every day for almost six months; Sky News had her appear as a menu option.

The family set up a limited company, Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned, to raise awareness and to finance the search. The Fund's directors decided when the McCanns were made arguidos that no money from the Fund would be used to pay their legal costs or mortgage; there was criticism that it was used to make two mortgage payments early on when the McCanns were unable to work. The Fund organized appeals from political leaders and celebrities, including David Beckham, and over £2.6 million was raised, with donations from J.K. Rowling and Richard Branson, and a reward of £1.5 million from the News of the World, a News International tabloid. The owner of Everest Windows, Brian Kennedy, offered to fund the salary of Clarence Mitchell, director of the Central Office of Information's media monitoring unit, who became a spokesperson for the McCanns. Madeleine appeared on the cover of People magazine, and in 2009 the McCanns were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey to publicize the first age-progressed image. The British poet Simon Armitage wrote "The Beacon" in 2010, a poem to mark the 1,000th day of the disappearance.

There were thousands of reported sightings of Madeleine in Portugal and elsewhere. The McCanns gained access to police files in July 2008, when Leicestershire police agreed to share 81 pieces of information about sightings; the McCanns were forced to go to the High Court to obtain the material. In August 2008 11,223 pages of the Portuguese police files were released to the public, including 2,550 pages of reported sightings in a 14-volume annex. In 2009 the McCanns' lawyer obtained a copy of a further 2,000 pages from Portuguese police describing 50 reported sightings. A British tabloid newspaper, The Sun, applied successfully to have the 2000 pages released in 2010.

Private investigation

The Fund hired at least five firms of private investigators. A British firm, Control Risks, was hired at the end of May 2007. Brian Kennedy of Everest Windows paid for private investigators to search in Morocco, and went there himself to look into one sighting. Spanish agency Método 3 were also engaged, led by Francisco Marco. Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragão Correia paid for the Barragem do Arade reservoir, 35 miles (56 km) east of Praia da Luz, to be searched by divers in early February 2008; he said he had received intelligence from underworld sources that Madeleine had been killed and dumped in a lake. The search resumed in the middle of March, funded by the Sociedade Portuguesa de Engenharia e Construção. Nothing of significance was found.

Oakley International, a US-based private-investigation agency, was hired for six months in 2008. The investigators were led by Henri Exton, a former British police officer who had worked on undercover operations for M15, the British domestic intelligence service. They produced a report, but according to the Sunday Times the relationship between the McCanns and Oakley broke down, and Exton said the McCanns' lawyers told him the report should remain confidential. It included e-fit images that Oakley produced based on the report from the Smith family about a man they saw carrying a child that night. According to the Evening Standard in 2009, the disagreement between Oakley and the McCanns was about Oakley's expenses, but the relationship was also strained because the report raised the possibility that Madeleine had died in an accident after leaving the apartment herself through one of its two unlocked doors. The report was passed to a new team of investigators hired by the McCanns, but the new team apparently regarded it as "contaminated" because of the financial dispute between the McCanns and Oakley. When Scotland Yard became involved in 2011, they asked to see the report, and released its e-fit images in October 2013 to coincide with the BBC's Crimewatch reconstruction. The Irish owner of Oakley's, Kevin Halligen, was arrested in November 2009 in connection with an unrelated fraud allegation.

There were also suggestions of links to two known paedophiles. Urs Hans von Aesch, a Swiss man living at the time of the disappearance in Benimantell, Spain, was implicated by Swiss police in the abduction and murder of five-year-old Ylenia Lenhard on 31 July 2007, three months after Madeleine disappeared. Von Aesch was found dead from a gunshot wound, the day after Ylenia disappeared, in Oberbüren, Switzerland, 15 miles (24 km) from where Ylenia was taken. His death was ruled a suicide. Portuguese police believed he may have been in Praia da Luz in May 2007, driving a white van. In May 2009 Briton Raymond Hewlett, who had been jailed for sexual offences against young girls, also became a person of interest. He denied any involvement and died of cancer in Germany in December 2009.

Dave Edgar, a retired detective leading the private investigation for the McCanns, released an e-fit in August 2009 of a woman said to have approached two British men in Barcelona, Spain, 72 hours after the disappearance. She apparently asked, "Are you here to deliver my new daughter?" She was described as 30–35 years old, slim, about 5 ft 2in, with short brown hair, and had an Australian accent, although she spoke fluent Spanish or Catalan. Stephen Birch, a South African property developer, said in July 2012 that ground radar scans he had made showed digging and what could be human bones below a gravel driveway in Praia da Luz. The Polícia Judiciária declined to excavate the driveway, a decision supported by the McCanns.

Media attention

British tabloids, social media

The overwhelming interest inevitably turned a harsh spotlight on the McCanns. Rehling wrote that the disappearance had all the ingredients the media and public could latch onto: a whodunnit involving a white, middle-class, nuclear family caught up in a nightmare of evil abroad. While the News of the World offered a reward of £1.5 million for Madeleine, another News International tabloid, The Sun, offered just £20,000 for information about Shannon Matthews, who had gone missing from a British council estate in February 2008 and whose mother had seven children by five men. But after a volte face by the tabloids, the McCanns' middle-class status, at first protective, became a weapon against them. Deborah Orr wrote that, "n a widespread act of collective counter-prejudice, it was decided that it was precisely because the couple were middle-class, educated, respectable, and in vocational careers that one had to be careful not to be influenced by such thumpingly giant signs of their previous good character."

Even before the allegations of involvement, they were criticized for having left their children alone, despite the availability of a babysitting service and crèche; an online petition in June 2007 asking Leicestershire Social Services to investigate them gathered 17,000 signatures. Rehling wrote that parents distancing themselves from the McCanns became a form of magic, feeding into the tabloid obsession in England with good and bad parenting. Rehling argues that the case was paradigmatic because of the extent to which social media shaped the narrative. Posts on Twitter and other websites – Twitter was just one year old when Madeleine disappeared – spread what Eilis O'Hanlon called "poisonous fantasies". O'Hanlon wrote that the case "could almost stand as a metaphor for the rise of social media as the predominant mode of public discourse."

Kate came in for particular criticism. She was not mumsy enough, did not cry enough, was too attractive, too thin, too well-dressed, too intense, too controlled, according to media analyst Caroline Bainbridge. The media dug up her old nickname, "Hot Lips Healy", earned because she had partied at university. Her situation was reminiscent of the 1980 death of Azaria Chamberlain in Australia, where the baby's mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, was deemed to have responded to her child's disappearance inappropriately, and as a result spent three years in prison for a murder that had not occurred.

The McCanns responded to the allegations of involvement by bringing libel actions, and obtained an injunction in the UK against one man who continued to spread the claims. The Daily Express, Daily Star and its sister Sunday papers published front-page apologies in March 2008 and agreed to pay £550,000 in libel damages, money that was donated to Madeleine's Fund. The Tapas Seven also sued; they were awarded £375,000 against the Express Group, again donated to Madeleine's Fund, along with a published apology in the Daily Express, after the newspaper suggested they had misled detectives to cover up for the McCanns.

Leveson Inquiry (2011)

The McCanns testified as core participants for two hours, on 23 November 2011, before the Leveson Inquiry into press standards in the UK. They told the inquiry that the British tabloids had declared "open season" on them. Kate described how photographers would lurk every day near her home and bang on her car as she left with her two-year-old children, most likely to obtain a startled expression. The stories that Madeleine was dead and that they were implicated damaged the search for their daughter, in their view; certain myths developed (for example, that Madeleine's "body fluids" had been found in their hired car) that became difficult to counter because they were constantly repeated. In addition, the McCanns were warned that they were not allowed, under Portuguese law, to reveal anything they knew to be in official files; if they did, they faced a two-year jail sentence. This included the DNA analysis, which they knew – because they had seen it – was being wrongly reported as a result of leaks from the Portuguese police.

In September 2007 the McCanns' solicitor and their campaign manager met the editors of the major newspapers and explained that there was no evidence to support what they were reporting. The solicitor also asked Leicestershire police to write to the news organizations; Matt Baggott, then chief constable, wrote to them twice in September and October 2007 urging restraint. The Express Group newspapers were identified as the worst offenders. The inquiry heard that the Daily Express editor had become "obsessed" with the McCanns; Lord Justice Leveson told the inquiry the newspaper had published "complete piffle" about Madeleine's disappearance.

The Daily Star, another Express Group newspaper, published a headline that the McCanns had sold Madeleine: "Maddie 'Sold' By Hard-Up McCanns". Other headlines included "DNA puts parents in frame: British experts insist their tests are valid" and "Parents' car hid a corpse". The British newspapers cited Portuguese newspapers, which in turn referred to unnamed sources. Jerry Lawton, a Daily Star reporter, told the inquiry that the leaks had come directly from the Portuguese police. The News of the World, later closed by Rupert Murdoch, published Kate's personal diaries in September 2008, after they were apparently leaked by Portuguese police via the Portuguese media. The Polícia Judiciária had seized the diaries in August 2007, but a Portuguese judge ruled that the seizure had been a privacy violation and ordered that any copies be destroyed. A Portuguese translation, in turn translated back into English, nevertheless made its way to the media.

Operation Grange (2011–present)

Investigative review

The British Home Office began discussions in March 2010 about setting up a new investigation. In connection with this, the British Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre sought input that month from the West Yorkshire Police Homicide and Major Inquiry Team, which had found nine-year-old Shannon Matthews in March 2008.

At the request of Home Secretary Theresa May, Scotland Yard launched an investigative review of the case, called Operation Grange, in May 2011. The review, which had cost ₤5 million by June 2013, was financed by a government contingency fund at the request of Prime Minister David Cameron, reportedly after News International persuaded the government to get the British police involved. The officer in charge of Operation Grange, DCI Andy Redwood from Scotland Yard's Homicide and Serious Crime Command (SCD1), said that the British and Portuguese police were working collaboratively. He said he rejected the "conspiracy theories" about the parents' involvement and was focusing on "a criminal act by a stranger." In April 2012 Redwood said he believed there was a possibility that Madeleine was alive. His team of 28 detectives and seven civilians had by then reviewed 40,000 pieces of evidence – the equivalent of 100,000 pages – and identified 195 items for investigation within the files, as well as new leads. They also released an updated age-progressed image of Madeleine.

New investigation

In July 2013 DCI Redwood announced that Operation Grange had become a new criminal inquiry. Alison Saunders, senior crown prosecutor for London, and Jenny Hopkins, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Complex Casework Unit in London, travelled to Portugal to discuss the new leads, and Scotland Yard made a formal request for assistance to the Portuguese police. In October 2013 Scotland Yard and the BBC's Crimewatch staged a reconstruction of the kidnapping that was broadcast in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. Several days later Portugual's attorney general, Joana Marques Vidal, announced that the Portuguese police had reopened their investigation; the statement said they had been reviewing the evidence since March 2011 and had identified new lines of inquiry.

The Operation Grange team said in May 2013 that they wanted to trace 12 casual manual workers who were at the Ocean Club resort when Madeleine disappeared, including six British cleaners in a white van who were offering their services to British expats. By the time of the Crimewatch reconstruction in October, 41 persons of interest had been identified, including 15 from the UK.

Scotland Yard released several e-fits for the reconstruction, including one of the man the Smith family saw carrying a child in the direction of the beach that night; after the programme had aired in the UK, several people called in with the same name for the man. Crimewatch also reported that police were interested in blonde-haired men seen near the McCanns' apartment who may have been involved in reconnaissance for a pre-planned abduction. In addition to the pre-planned abduction theory, DCI Redwood said that Madeleine may have disturbed someone who was trying to commit a burglary. There had been a fourfold increase in burglaries in the area between January 2007 and the disappearance in May; these included two incidents in the McCanns' block in the two weeks directly before the disappearance, during which intruders entered through apartment windows.

Scotland Yard released two e-fits (right) of blonde-haired men they want to trace; the e-fits were originally created in 2008 by investigators working for Madeleine's Fund. One man was seen at 08:00 on Monday, 30 April 2007, standing on the path behind the McCanns' apartment block, and again at midday on Wednesday, 2 May, standing near the entrance to the tapas restaurant, looking at apartment 5A. At 14:30 on 3 May, the day of the disappearance, another witness saw two blonde-haired men standing on the balcony of 5C, an empty apartment two doors away from the McCanns'. At 16:00–17:00 a blonde-haired man was seen near the McCanns' apartment, and at 18:00 the same or another blonde-haired man was seen standing in the stairwell of the McCanns' block. At 23:00, an hour after the disappearance was reported, two blonde-haired men were seen in a nearby street speaking in raised voices; when they saw they had been noticed, they lowered their voices and walked away.

Notes

1. Patrick Barkham, "The sad ageing of Madeleine McCann", The Guardian, 25 April 2012.
   • Teri Blythe, Human identification and forensic art consultancy services.
2. ^ "McCann, Madeleine Beth", Interpol, updated notice, May 2012.
3. "Operation Grange", London Metropolitan Police.
4. "Madeleine reward rises to £2.5m", BBC News, 12 May 2007
5. ^ "Madeleine McCann: police investigating 38 suspects - video", ITN, courtesy of The Guardian, 4 July 2013.
   • Sandra Laville, "Kate and Gerry McCann the driving force behind Madeleine investigation", The Guardian, 4 July 2013.
6. Barbie Latza Nadeau, "Six Years Later, Still No Sign of Madeleine McCann", The Daily Beast, 4 May 2013.
7. Elizabeth Grice, "Kate McCann: 'It's dreadful living with this void'", The Daily Telegraph, 15 April 2013.
8. ^ Esther Addley, "Madeleine McCann: hope and persistence rewarded", The Guardian, 27 April 2012:

   • "The early decision by Leicestershire police – the 'home force' of the McCanns, who live in Rothley – to stand back in favour of Portuguese investigators was perhaps understandable given international protocols. But by the late summer of 2007 Leicestershire was closely involved in the investigation, lending specialist sniffer dogs and forensics experts to the hunt.

     "It was, the attorney general found, largely due to a catastrophic misinterpretation of the evidence collected by these officers that the Portuguese team came to suspect the McCanns in the disappearance. A blinkered investigation, prejudicial police leaks and a rash of misjudged headlines followed.

     "Last month, Matt Baggott, at the time chief constable of Leicestershire, admitted to the Leveson inquiry that he had known the Portuguese officers, then heavily briefing reporters that the McCanns were guilty, were wrong on crucial DNA evidence.

     "He could have corrected reporters' errors, even behind the scenes, he admitted, but had judged it better not to."

   • Lisa O'Carroll, "Leveson inquiry: ex-police chief defends not preventing false McCann DNA reports", The Guardian, 28 March 2012:

   • "Baggott, the former chief constable of Leicestershire police, told the inquiry on Wednesday he could not have released information about DNA tests conducted in the UK to counter leaks by the Portuguese police that falsely claimed they showed the McCanns had hidden Madeleine in the boot of a hire car in Portugal.

     "Baggott said there were both legal and professional reasons for this. Portuguese secrecy laws made it 'utterly wrong to have somehow, in an off-the-record way, have breached what was a very clear legal requirement upon the Portuguese themselves', he told Lord Justice Leveson.

     "He also said the Leicestershire force's priority was to maintain a positive relationship with the Portuguese police, with a view to 'eventually ... resolving what happened to that poor child'."

   • "Wednesday 28 March 2012: Afternoon session", Leveson Inquiry (Matt Baggott's evidence), following Lord Leveson's question starting 104:38 mins, continuing 115:22 mins.
   • Transcript of Matt Baggott's evidence, p. 68ff:

   • LORD JUSTICE LEVESON: "I heard evidence from a gentleman called Jerry Lawton, who spoke about part of the McCann inquiry ... he raised a criticism, or I'm going to call it a concern, that the Portuguese police were leaking information about the results of their DNA work through the UK, which implicated or was said to implicate the Drs McCann with the hire car ...

     "And it later of course transpired the results didn't prove that at all. He was saying the Leicestershire police knew perfectly well that the results didn't demonstrate that and therefore, really, this was an ideal opportunity off the record, unattributably, to say, 'Don't go there. This rumour, this leak, if it is a leak, simply is not right.'"

   • Also see Matt Baggott's witness statement, question 50, pp. 22–25.
9. ^ James Sturcke and agencies, "McCanns and Murat formally cleared in case of missing Madeleine", The Guardian, 21 July 2008.
   • Fiona Govan and Nick Britten, "Madeleine McCann: Kate and Gerry cleared of 'arguido' status by Portuguese police", The Daily Telegraph, 21 July 2008.
10. ^ Sandra Laville, "British detectives release efits of Madeleine McCann suspect", The Guardian, 14 October 2013.
    • "Madeleine McCann search: E-fit man 'was seen carrying child'", BBC News, 14 October 2013.
11. ^ "Madeleine McCann case: Portuguese police reopen inquiry", BBC News, 24 October 2013.
12. ^ Julia Kennedy, "Don't you forget about me: An exploration of the “Maddie Phenomenon” on YouTube", Journalism Studies, 11(2), 2010, pp. 225–242.
13. Chris Greer and Eugene McLaughlin, "Media justice: Madeleine McCann, intermediatization and 'trial by media' in the British press", Theoretical Criminology, November 2012, 16(4), pp. 395–416.
    • Nicola Rehling, "'Touching Everyone': Media Identifications, Imagined Communities and New Media Technologies in the Case of Madeleine McCann," in Ruth Parkin-Gounelas (ed.), The Psychology and Politics of the Collective: Groups, Crowds and Mass Identifications, Routledge 2012 (hereafter Rehling 2012),p. 152ff.
    • Caroline Bainbridge, "'They've taken her!' Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Mediating Maternity, Feeling and Loss", Studies in the Maternal 4(2), 2012.
    • Helena Machado and Filipe Santos, "The disappearance of Madeleine McCann: Public drama and trial by media in the Portuguese press", Crime Media Culture, 5(2), August 2009, pp. 146–167.
    • Nicola Goc, "Kate McCann and Medea news narratives", in Charlene P.E. Burns (ed.), Mis/Representing Evil, Interdisciplinary Press, 2009, pp. 169–193.
    • Chris Greer, Jeff Ferrell, and Yvonne Jewkes, "Investigating the crisis of the present", Crime Media Culture, 4(1), April 2008, pp. 5–8.
14. ^ McCanns:

    • "Kate and Gerry McCann: Sorry", Sunday Express, 23 March 2008; see here for Daily Star apology.
    • Mark Sweney and Leigh Holmwood, "McCanns accept Express damages and high court apology", The Guardian, 19 March 2008.
    • Roy Greenslade, "Express and Star apologies to McCanns bring all journalism into disrepute", The Guardian, 19 March 2008.
    • Owen Gibson, "Express Newspapers forced to apologise to McCann family over Madeleine allegations", The Guardian, 19 March 2008.
    • Owen Gibson, "Newspapers apologise to McCanns", The Guardian, 20 March 2008.

    • Tapas Seven:

    • Matthew Moore, "Madeleine McCann: Daily Express publishes apology to 'Tapas Seven'", The Daily Telegraph, 16 October 2008.
    • Oliver Tuft and Stephen Brook, "Madeleine McCann: Express apologises to the 'tapas seven' in high court", The Guardian, 16 October 2008.

15. ^ "Wednesday 23 November 2011; afternoon session", Kate and Gerry McCann's testimony, Leveson Inquiry, from 08:40 mins.

    • Transcript and witness statement of Gerry McCann, Leveson Inquiry.
    • Transcript and witness statement of Kate McCann, Leveson Inquiry.

    • James Robinson, "Leveson inquiry: McCanns deliver damning two-hour testimony", The Guardian, 23 November 2011.
    • "Leveson Inquiry: McCanns left 'distraught' by press", BBC News, 23 November 2011.
16. "How common is Madeleine's eye defect?", BBC News, 21 February 2008.
17. Haroon Siddique, "Madeleine McCann's parents release picture of how she might look now", The Guardian, 1 May 2009.
    • "Madeleine McCann: Police release new 'age progression' image", The Daily Telegraph, April 2012.
18. Kate McCann, Madeleine, Transworld Publishers, 2011 (hereafter McCann 2011), pp. 7, 11, 14.
19. McCann 2011, p. 284.
    • "Dr Gerry McCann", University of Leicester.
    • Richard Elias, "UK police poised to quiz hundreds in McCann inquiry", The Scotsman, 14 October 2007.
20. McCann 2011, pp. 7ff, 19.
21. McCann 2011, p. 42.
22. Angela Balakrishnan, "Key players in the McCann case", The Guardian, 10 April 2008.
    • "Who are the McCann tapas seven?", BBC News, 16 October 2008.
23. Angela Balakrishnan, "The resort that was rocked one night in May", The Guardian, 11 April 2008.
    • David Hencke and Rob Evans, "Madeleine McCann case: Resort firm Mark Warner sues insurers for losses", The Guardian, 4 April 2009.
    • For the apartment being accessible by the public, see DCI Andy Redwood on BBC Crimewatch, 14 October 2013, from 20:02 mins.
24. ^ DCI Andy Redwood, BBC Crimewatch, 14 October 2013, from 30:45 mins.
25. ^ Peter Walker, "Madeleine McCann inquiry shifts as sighting found to be false lead", The Guardian, 14 October 2013.
    • DCI Andy Redwood on BBC Crimewatch, 14 October 2013, from 21:43 mins.
26. ^ "'Very ugly' new Madeleine suspect", BBC News, 6 May 2009.
    • "Madeleine was here," Channel 4 Cutting Edge, 10 May 2009, 3/5, 03:30 mins and following; 05:58 mins for the white van.
    • McCann 2011, pp. 469–473.
27. ^ Angela Balakrishnan, "What happened on the day Madeleine disappeared?", The Guardian, 11 April 2008.
28. Giles Tremlett, "McCanns release last picture of Madeleine before she vanished", The Guardian, 25 May 2007.
29. "Searching for Madeleine," Channel 4 Dispatches, 18 October 2007.
30. McCann 2011, pp. 49, 53–54, 69; for the pyjamas, see p. 72; for the princess blanket and Cuddle Cat, see p. 90.
31. For 50 metres and 30–45 seconds, see McCann 2011, p. 116.
    • For 50 metres, also see "Kidnapping concern for missing girl in Portugal", Reuters, 4 May 2007.
32. For the patio doors, see Angela Balakrishnan, "What happened on the day Madeleine disappeared?", The Guardian, 11 April 2008.
    • For the patio doors, also see "Searching for Madeleine," Channel 4 Dispatches, 18 October 2007, 15:21 mins, and McCann 2011, p. 169.
33. McCann 2011, p. 56.
34. McCann 2011, p. 70.
35. McCann 2011, p. 131.
36. Caroline Gammell, "Madeleine McCann: Map 'shows where abductor was spotted'", The Daily Telegraph, 5 August 2008.
    • McCann 2011, p. 76.
    • "Madeleine was here," Channel 4 Cutting Edge, 10 May 2009, 4/5, 01:27 mins.
37. ^ McCann 2011, p. 84.
    • Michelle Pauli, "Is this Madeleine McCann's abductor?", The Guardian, 26 October 2007.
    • Martin Hodgson, "McCanns release sketch of man seen near apartment", The Guardian, 26 October 2007.
38. McCann 2011, pp. 230, 273.
39. DCI Andy Redwood on BBC Crimewatch, 14 October 2013, from 22:25 mins.
40. ^ Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert, "Madeleine clues hidden for 5 years", The Sunday Times, 27 October 2013.
41. BBC Crimewatch, 14 October 2013, from 23:35 mins.
    • McCann 2011, pp. 98, 371.
    • "Madeleine was here," Channel 4 Cutting Edge, 10 May 2009, 4/5, 05:55 mins.
    • "Stranger may hold key to Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, says ex-RUC man", Belfast Telegraph, 7 May 2009. The family later said the man could have been Gerry McCann, but this was ruled out by investigators, as several witnesses placed Gerry in the tapas restaurant at that time.
42. McCann 2011, pp. 71–73.
    • "Madeleine was here," Channel 4 Cutting Edge, 10 May 2009, 1/5, 00:45 mins.
43. McCann 2011, p. 74.
    • "Missing child", Polícia Judiciária, accessed 30 August 2007.
44. "Toddler 'abducted' during holiday", BBC News, 4 May 2007.
    • "Searching for Madeleine," Channel 4 Dispatches, 18 October 2007, 08:36; 09:36 mins for the first search being abandoned at 4:30 am.
45. "Madeleine McCann: The evidence", BBC News, 8 September 2007.
46. McCann 2011, p. 75.
47. ^ McCann 2011, pp. 77–79.
48. McCann 2011, p. 85.
49. McCann 2011, pp. 98, 371.
50. "Searching for Madeleine," Channel 4 Dispatches, 18 October 2007, 20:20; for volunteers, see 43:32 mins.
51. "Madeleine evidence 'may be lost'", BBC News, 17 June 2007.
52. Richard Edwards, "The 15 key blunders", The Daily Telegraph, 2 June 2007.
53. Steven Morris, "Q&A: Madeleine McCann", The Guardian, 8 May 2007.
54. Richard Edwards and Fiona Govan, "Maddy police ignored vital CCTV", The Daily Telegraph 19 May 2007.
55. Fabiola Antezana, "Detective in McCann Case Investigated For Beating Convicted Child Murderer", ABC News, 26 September 2007.
56. ^ Paul Hamilos and Brendan de Beer, "Detective leading hunt for Madeleine sacked after blast at UK police", The Guardian, 3 October 2007.
57. ^ Ned Temko, "Madeleine police chief to launch 'explosive' book", The Observer, 20 July 2008.
    • Haroon Siddique, "Detective's book claims Madeleine McCann died in apartment", The Guardian, 24 July 2008.
    • Ned Temko, "On the front line in the search for Maddie", The Observer, 3 August 2008.
58. "McCann detective guilty of perjury", Press Association, 22 May 2009.
59. Giles Tremlett, "Madeleine disappearance: Briton's villa searched and three questioned by police", The Guardian, 15 May 2007.
60. "Villa searched in Madeleine hunt", BBC News, 14 May 2007.
61. Haroon Siddique, "McCann friends confront Madeleine suspect", The Guardian, 13 July 2007.
    • Steve Kingstone, "McCann friend criticises 'leaks'", BBC News, 24 April 2008.
62. James Sturcke, "What is an arguido?", The Guardian, 7 September 2007.
    • "Man 'a suspect' in Madeleine hunt", BBC News, 15 May 2007.
63. "New Madeleine search draws blank home", BBC News, 6 August 2007.
    • "I'm Madeleine scapegoat, man says", BBC News, 16 May 2007.
    • "Russian denies links to Madeleine", BBC News, 17 May 2007.
64. "Madeleine suspect gets items back", BBC News, 23 March 2008.
    • "Murat addresses Cambridge Union", BBC News, 5 March 2009.
    • Michael White, "Madeleine McCann claims nearly destroyed my life, says Robert Murat", The Guardian, 6 March 2009.
65. Mark Townsend and Ned Temko, "Madeleine 'suspect' in massive libel claim", The Observer, 13 April 2008.
66. Oliver Luft and John Plunkett, "Madeleine McCann: Newspapers pay out £600,000 to Robert Murat", The Guardian, 17 July 2008.
    • Caitlin Fitzsimmons and Leigh Holmwood, "Sky News apologises to Robert Murat over Madeleine McCann story", The Guardian, 14 November 2008.
67. Matt Baggott, Witness statement, Leveson Inquiry, March 2012, p. 23ff.
68. Peter Griffiths, "Child crime experts join Madeleine hunt", Reuters, 9 May 2007.
69. ^ Mark Townsend and Ned Temko, "McCanns urged use of police sniffer dogs", The Observer, 23 September 2007.
    • Inspector João Carlos, "NUIPC-201/07.0 GALGS", Policia Judiciária, Ministério da justiça, 20 July 2008, p. 36ff.
    • Brendan McDaid, "Top sniffer dog to join Maddy search", Belfast Telegraph, 8 August 2007.
    • Video of Keela and Eddie, released by the Ministério Público, 4 August 2008.
    • Martin Grime, dog handler, report to investigators, August 2007, released by the Ministério Público, 4 August 2008.
70. McCann 2011, pp. 207, 241.
71. Andrew Alderson and Tom Harper, "The allegations facing the McCanns", The Daily Telegraph, 9 September 2007.
72. Sandra Laville, "UK lab to test blood found in Madeleine room", The Guardian, 7 August 2007.
    • Caroline Gammell, "Madeleine police handed scientific evidence",The Daily Telegraph, 5 September 2007.
73. Eleanor A.M. Graham, "DNA reviews: low level DNA profiling", Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology, June 2008, Volume 4, Issue 2, pp. 129–131.
    • Helena Machado and Filipe Santos, "Popular press and forensic genetics in Portugal: Expectations and disappointments regarding two cases of missing children", Public Understanding of Science, 20(3), May 2011, pp. 303–318.
74. Lawrence F. Kobilinsky, Louis Levine, and Henrietta Margolis-Nunno, Forensic DNA Analysis, Infobase Publishing, 2007, pp. 87–88.
    • "Low Copy Number DNA testing in the Criminal Justice System", Crown Prosecution Service, UK.
    • Also see:

    • Rich Bowden, "McCanns: Madeleine DNA samples too degraded for proper analysis - police", Monsters and Critics, 4 December 2007.
    • "DNA test halted after Omagh case", BBC News, 23 December 2007.
    • "Police resume use of DNA method", BBC News, 14 January 2008.
    • "DNA technique 'fit for purpose'", BBC News, 11 April 2008.
    • "McCann DNA evidence 'exaggerated'", BBC News, 5 August 2008.

75. John Lowe, Forensic Science Service, Birmingham, email to Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior, Leicestershire police, 3 September 2007, released by the Ministério Público, 4 August 2008. The email continued: "The individual components in Madeleine's profile are not unique to her; it is the specific combination of 19 components that makes her profile unique above all others. Elements of Madeleine's profile are also present within the profiles of many of the scientists here in Birmingham, myself included. It's important to stress that 50% of Madeleine's profile will be shared with each parent. It is not possible, in a mixture of more than two people, to determine or evaluate which specific DNA components pair with each other. ... Therefore, we cannot answer the question: Is the match genuine, or is it a chance match."
    • James Orr, Brendan de Beer and agencies, "UK police warned on DNA evidence before McCanns became suspects", The Guardian, 4 August 2008.
    • "Scientist doubted DNA tests before McCanns made suspects", The Scotsman, 4 August 2008.
    • McCann 2011, p. 331.
76. Caroline Gammell, "Madeleine McCann: Portuguese detectives lied to Gerry McCann about DNA evidence", The Daily Telegraph, 4 August 2008:

    • "Portuguese detectives knew there was no conclusive evidence against the McCanns three days before they interviewed them and made them suspects, official files have disclosed. ...

      "Officers had been told in an email from the Forensic Science Service laboratory in Birmingham that no conclusive traces of Madeleine's DNA had been found in the family's hire car.

      "But detectives went on to tell Mr McCann, during an eight hour interrogation, that his daughter's DNA had been found in the boot of the vehicle, which was rented more than three weeks after she vanished. ...

      " According to the files, Mr McCann was told on September 7 that Madeleine's DNA was discovered in the boot of the rented Renault Scenic, and behind a sofa in the family's holiday apartment. ...

      "But an email written by John Lowe of the FSS four days earlier on September 3 said the analysis of the samples in the car had proved nothing.

      "The message - written to Superintendent Stuart Prior, head of the British part of the investigation and forwarded to the PJ - concluded that there were some elements which matched the little girl's profile.

      "But the email, which was translated into Portuguese on September 4, warned that the samples could match huge sections of the population, including himself."

77. James Sturcke and James Orr, "Kate McCann 'fears Madeleine killing charge over blood traces in car'", The Guardian, 7 September 2007.
    • Esther Addley and Vikram Dodd, "Traces of blood that turned grieving mother into suspect", The Guardian, 8 September 2007.
    • Ned Temko, Mark Townsend and Brendan de Beer, "New doubts over Madeleine DNA", The Observer, 9 September 2007.
    • Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, "Case of Missing Girl Takes Ominous Turn", The Washington Post, 9 September 2007.
    • Gordon Rayner, "McCanns suffer stain of suspicion", The Daily Telegraph, 10 September 2007.
    • "The questions put to Kate McCann", BBC News, 6 August 2008.
78. Gordon Rayner, Caroline Gammell and Nick Britten, "Madeleine McCann DNA 'an accurate match'", The Daily Telegraph, 12 September 2007.
79. "Searching for Madeleine," Channel 4 Dispatches, 18 October 2007, 41:10 mins.
80. ^ Transcript of Jerry Lawton's evidence, p. 68ff:

    • "Portuguese police leaked in briefings in Portugal to their journalists that the forensic test results positively showed that Madeleine had been in or linked her to the hire car that her parents didn't hire until three or four weeks after she'd disappeared, and that story became a – created a sea change, without overusing that word, in the way the story has been looked at. Those forensic test results became a bone of contention between the UK and the Portuguese police. I was present when a Portuguese team of forensic experts and detectives arrived in Leicester to discuss these results. Of course, they'd already leaked a version of the results. Leicestershire police presumably knew – although it turns out obviously that those test results did not prove that and that the Portuguese police had somehow misinterpreted these results. I just felt that had this been – that Leicestershire police could have briefed, off the record, even unreportable, that the Portuguese police had misinterpreted those DNA results. ...

      "It's a huge hazard to a police inquiry to have an erroneous fact about an investigation out in the public domain. Because all of a sudden, when you're relying on public appeals, people are being swayed by something that is completely wrong. ...

      "I don't understand why Leicestershire police, on this occasion, didn't – even if it was unreportable – give the guidance that this is not right, this is not how we've interpreted those test results, the leak is wrong. The leak was very specific. ... Portuguese reporters were shown extracts of police files, hence the detail in some the leaks ...

      "It was wrong, or it was misinterpreted, entirely innocently, presumably by the Portuguese police, trying their best to solve a difficult case. Leicestershire are in a difficult position, as you've described, because they're a force in a different country handling – it isn't their jurisdiction, but when you realise, and you can see the steamrolling effect that that fact is having, particularly on the McCanns, Gerry and Kate, I just wondered why Leicestershire police chose not to correct.

      "... Every time you rang Leicestershire police on that inquiry – and it was a lot, from every media organisation – you were told: "It's a Portuguese police inquiry. You'll have to contact the Portuguese police."

81. McCann 2011, p. 243.
82. "Madeleine parents head back to UK", BBC News, 9 September 2007.
    • Giles Tremlett and Brendan de Beerr, "Prosecutor to study evidence before deciding couple's future", The Guardian, 10 September 2007.
83. Caroline Gammell, "Madeleine judge is known as a tough character", 'The Daily Telegraph, 12 September 2007.
84. David Brown, "Police to study diary and laptop from McCanns", The Times, 12 September 2007.
85. Fiona Govan, "Madeleine McCann's mother takes drug test", The Daily Telegraph, 23 November 2007.
86. "Madeleine police meet in Britain", BBC News, 29 November 2007.
87. "Madeleine interviews set to begin", BBC News, 8 April 2008.
88. "McCann reconstruction called off", BBC News, 27 May 2008.
    • Channel 4 television in the UK staged a reconstruction in May 2009; see "Madeleine was here," Channel 4 Cutting Edge, 10 May 2009.
89. "McCanns angry over Madeleine leak", BBC News, 11 April 2008.
    • "Police deny claims of McCann leak", BBC News, 14 April 2008.
90. "Madeleine police chief quits post", BBC News, 7 May 2008.
91. Laura Clout, "Madeleine McCann's parents being investigated for negligence", The Daily Telegraph, 28 May 2008.
92. McCann 2011, p. 333.
    • "Paper apology over McCann diary", BBC News, 21 September 2008.
93. ^ Steve Kingston, "Madeleine revelations offer few facts", BBC News, 7 August 2008.
    • Brendan de Beer and Ian Cobain, "McCanns hope for end to speculation as police release complete file on Madeleine", The Guardian, 5 August 2008.
94. Beverley Rouse, "Judge bans policeman's Madeleine book", The Independent, 9 September 2009.
95. "McCann's parents to attend libel case against police officer", CNN, 11 January 2010.
96. Paula Fentiman, "Case against Madeleine McCann detective postponed", The Independent, 11 December 2009.
97. Esther Addley, "Madeleine McCann detective loses attempt to overturn book ban", The Guardian, 18 February 2010.
    • Giles Tremlett, "Madeleine McCann book ban overturned by Portuguese court", The Guardian, 19 October 2010.
98. Brendan de Beer, "McCanns and Amaral fail to reach settlement", 20 February 2013.
    • "Madeleine McCann's father returns to Portugal to give evidence in libel case", Press Association, 2 October 2013.
99. ^ Simon Armitage, "The Beacon", findmadeleine.com.
    • "Candles mark Madeleine McCann's 1,000 days missing", BBC News, 28 January 2010.
100. ^ Rehling 2012, p. 152.
101. Peter Walker, "Madeleine's parents meet Pope", The Guardian, 30 May 2007.
102. "Madeleine search fund raised £2m", BBC News, 29 January 2009.
     • The directors of the Fund as of October 2013 were Brian Kennedy, a retired head teacher; Edward Smethurst, a commercial lawyer; Jon Corner, director of a media company; Michael Linett, retired accountant; and Kate and Gerry McCann; see "Madeleine's Fund", findmadeleine.com.
103. "Madeleine campaign will not fund legal battle", CNN, 13 September 2007.
     • "McCanns used fund to pay mortgage", BBC News, 30 October 2007.
104. Rehling 2012, p. 152.
105. McCann 2011, p. 268.
106. Rehling 2012, p. 153.
107. Gordon Rayner, "Madeleine McCann parents gain access to police files", The Daily Telegraph, 7 July 2008.
108. "Madeleine McCann's parents criticise release of files", BBC News, 6 March 2010.
109. James Sturcke and agencies, "McCanns still cling to hope, says spokesman", The Guardian, 24 September 2007.
110. Steven Swinford, John Follainin and Mohamed El Hamraoui, "McCanns send sleuths to Morocco", The Sunday Times, 30 September 2007.
111. Caroline Gammell, "Detectives promise to find Madeleine McCann", The Daily Telegraph, 4 November 2007.
112. Martina Smit, "Divers search lake for Madeleine McCann", The Daily Telegraph, 5 February 2008.
113. Cecilia Pires, "Search for Madeleine to restart at dam", Algarve Resident, 8 March 2008.
     • "'Underworld' tip leads to new Maddie hunt", CNN, 12 March 2008.
     • Howard Brereton, "Spanish detective agency confirms bones found are not of missing Madeleine McCann", Typically Spanish, 16 March 2008.
114. ^ Mark Hollingsworth, "The McCann Files," Evening Standard, 28 August 2009.
115. Sadie Gray, "McCann fund 'paid detectives £500,000'", The Independent, 24 August 2008.
     • "Businessman hired to look for Madeleine denied bail", BBC News, 26 November 2009.
     • Kevin Sullivan, "Fraud suspect Kevin Richard Halligen allegedly posed as a spy and cheated the elite on both sides of the Atlantic", The Washington Post, 9 June 2012.
116. David Brown, "Paedophile suicide in new Madeleine link", The Times, 7 August 2007.
     • Samantha Kett, "Dead expat suspected of five-year-old's kidnap", Think Spain, 11 August 2007.
     • http://www.polizei-schweiz.ch/ger_details_3099/Oberbueren_SG_Appenzell_AI_Von_Aesch_schon_mit_20_wegen_versuchter_Erpressung_verurteilt_-_Gericht_1961_ein_Psychopath.html "Oberbüren SG, Appenzell AI: Von Aesch schon mit 20 wegen versuchter Erpressung verurteilt - Gericht 1961: 'ein Psychopath'"], PolizeiSchweiz, 7 August 2007.
117. Richard Edwards, "Paedophile Raymond Hewlett agrees to Madeleine McCann interview", The Daily Telegraph, 26 May 2009.
     • "Madeleine McCann: Raymond Hewlett gives DNA sample to police", The Daily Telegraph, 28 May 2009.
     • Neil Syson, "Pedophile suspect in Maddie McCann case dies", news.com.au, 10 April 2010.
118. "Madeleine McCann investigators swamped with calls about new lead", The Daily Telegraph, 7 August 2009.
     • "Madeleine McCann: E-fits of suspects", The Daily Telegraph, 6 August 2009.
119. Sara Nelson, "Madeleine McCann: Is Missing Toddler Buried Under Driveway Close To Abduction Site?", The Huffington Post UK, 21 September 2012.
120. ^ Rehling 2012, pp. 153–154, 158.
121. Rehling 2012, p. 152, 161.
122. Deborah Orr, "Pistorius's case is an empty vessel into which all our prejudices may be poured", The Guardian, 22 February 2013.
123. Rehling 2012, p. 157.
     • "'Nightmare' of Madeleine parents", BBC News, 25 May 2007.
     • "Petitioners want McCann inquiry", BBC News, 12 June 2007.
124. Rehling 2012, pp. 164–165.
125. Eilis O'Hanlon, "Eilis O'Hanlon: The sad rise of cyber courts full of Twittering bullies", The Sunday Independent, 29 April 2012.
126. Bainbridge 2012, pp. 2–3, 6.
     • Cristina Odone wrote: "Kate McCann is guilty. Madeleine's mother has been charged with looking composed and controlled, pretty and slim. ... It's not murder, but it's a crime: robbing the public of what it wants; see "It's time to play the crying game, Kate", The Guardian, 21 October 2007.
127. Goc 2009.
128. "Madeleine McCann: Legal action over cover-up allegations", BBC News, 6 February 2013.
     • "Madeleine McCann contempt case: Tony Bennett guilty", BBC News, 21 February 2013.
129. McCanns' testimony, Leveson Inquiry, from 37:45 mins.
130. McCanns' testimony, from 42:00 mins.
131. McCanns' testimony, from 43:40 mins.
132. Lisa O'Carroll and Jason Deans, "Daily Express editor was 'obsessed' with Madeleine McCann story, inquiry hears", The Guardian, 21 December 2011.
133. McCanns' testimony, from 53:15 mins.
134. McCanns' testimony, from 46:55 mins.
135. McCanns' testimony, from 51:00 mins.
136. McCanns' testimony, from 71:10 mins.
137. McCanns' testimony, from 75:10 mins.
138. Robert Mendick, "Home Office launches secret review into Madeleine McCann's disappearance", The Daily Telegraph, 6 March 2010.
139. Bruce Smith, "Shannon cops join hunt for Madeleine McCann", Yorkshire Evening Post 19 March 2010.
140. Richard Bilton, "Madeleine: The Last Hope?", BBC Panorama, 25 April 2012, c. 20:48 mins for the contingency fund and David Cameron, and c. 26:27 mins for the review in Porto.
     • For ₤5 million, see Victoria Ward, "CPS lawyers travel to Portugal to explore Madeleine McCann leads", The Daily Telegraph, 21 June 2013.
141. Sandy Macaskill, "British Police Say Madeleine McCann May Still Be Alive", The New York Times, 25 April 2012.
142. "Madeleine McCann 'could be alive' say detectives as new image released", The Daily Telegraph 25 April 2012.
143. For Saunders and Hopkins, see Sandra Laville, "Madeleine McCann: UK prosecutors visit Portugal to discuss new leads", The Guardian, 21 June 2013.
     • For the formal request for assistance, see Sandra Laville, "Madeleine McCann: police target 38 suspects", The Guardian, 4 July 2013.
144. "Madeleine McCann appeal: Police receive 2,400 calls and emails", BBC News, 17 October 2013.
145. Caroline Davies, "Madeleine McCann case: Scotland Yard identifies new leads", The Guardian, 17 May 2013.
     • Melanie Hall, "Police hunt six British cleaners in search for Madeleine McCann", The Daily Telegraph, 19 May 2013.
146. "Madeleine McCann: Police reveal 'pre-planned abduction' theory", BBC News, 14 October 2013.
147. DCI Andy Redwood, BBC Crimewatch, 14 October 2013, from 30:10 mins.
148. Alexandra Topping and Peter Walker, "Madeleine McCann: same name crops up from efit appeal", The Guardian, 15 October 2013.
149. DCI Andy Redwood, BBC Crimewatch, 14 October 2013, from 26:40 mins.
150. BBC Crimewatch, 14 October 2013, from 24:45 mins.

References

News sources are listed in the Notes section only.

Books, papers and testimony

Baggott, Matt. Hearing, Leveson Inquiry, 28 March 2012, 104:38 mins, continuing 115:22 mins (transcript), p. 68ff.

Bainbridge, Caroline. "'They've taken her!' Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Mediating Maternity, Feeling and Loss", Studies in the Maternal, 4(2), 2012.

Crown Prosecution Service. "Low Copy Number DNA testing in the Criminal Justice System", UK, accessed 27 May 2013.

Goc, Nicola. "Kate McCann and Medea news narratives", in Charlene P.E. Burns (ed.), Mis/Representing Evil, Interdisciplinary Press, 2009, pp. 169–193.

Graham, Eleanor A.M. "DNA reviews: low level DNA profiling", Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology, June 2008, Volume 4, Issue 2, pp. 129–131.

Greer, Chris; Ferrell, Jeff; and Jewkes, Yvonne. "Investigating the crisis of the present", Crime Media Culture, 4(1), April 2008, pp. 5–8.

Greer, Chris Greer and McLaughlin, Eugene. "Media justice: Madeleine McCann, intermediatization and 'trial by media' in the British press", Theoretical Criminology, November 2012, 16(4), pp. 395–416.

Kennedy, Julia. "Don't you forget about me: An exploration of the “Maddie Phenomenon” on YouTube", Journalism Studies, 11(2), 2010, pp. 225–242.

Kobilinsky, Lawrence F.; Levine, Louis; and Margolis-Nunno, Henrietta. Forensic DNA Analysis, Infobase Publishing, 2007.

Lawton, Jeremy. Hearing, Leveson Inquiry, 19 March 2012, 141:00 mins (transcript and witness statement).

Machado, Helena and Santos, Filipe. "The disappearance of Madeleine McCann: Public drama and trial by media in the Portuguese press", Crime Media Culture, 5(2), August 2009, pp. 146–167.

Machado, Helena and Santo, Filipe. "Popular press and forensic genetics in Portugal: Expectations and disappointments regarding two cases of missing children", Public Understanding of Science, 20(3), May 2011, pp. 303–318.

McCann, Gerry and Kate. Hearing, Leveson Inquiry, 23 November 2011, from 08:40 mins (transcript and witness statement, Gerry McCann; transcript and witness statement, Kate McCann).

McCann, Kate. Madeleine, Transworld Publishers, 2011.

Rehling, Nicola. "'Touching Everyone': Media Identifications, Imagined Communities and New Media Technologies in the Case of Madeleine McCann", in Ruth Parkin-Gounelas (ed.), The Psychology and Politics of the Collective, Routledge 2012.

External links

• Find Madeleine, investigation@findmadeleine.com
• Operation Grange (Scotland Yard), operation.grange@met.police.uk

• Use dmy dates from November 2012
• 2007 crimes
• 2007 in Portugal
• 2000s missing person cases
• Algarve
• Child abduction
• Crime in Portugal
• Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
• Kidnapped English children
• Unsolved crimes