The purpose of
this site is for information and a record of Gerry McCann's Blog
Archives. As most people will appreciate GM deleted all past blogs
from the official website. Hopefully this Archive will be helpful to
anyone who is interested in Justice for Madeleine Beth McCann. Many
Thanks, Pamalam
Note: This site does not belong to the McCanns. It belongs to Pamalam. If
you wish to contact the McCanns directly, please use
the contact/email details
campaign@findmadeleine.com
New Suspect In Madeleine Case Sky News (no longer
available on Sky News)
New Suspect In Madeleine Case
May 21, 2009
Investigators searching for Madeleine McCann say they are interested in talking to a man they've named as Raymond Hewlett.
Speaking to Sky News, spokesman for the family Clarence Mitchell has stressed that this is just one line of inquiry out of
many.
(00:04:46)
Madeleine: New Person 'Of Interest' Sky News (no longer
available on Sky News)
Madeleine: Police Name New Man 'Of Interest'
May 22, 2009
A convicted British paedophile is being investigated in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. It is
reported 64-year-old Raymond Hewlett was living just an hour from where she went missing in Portugal. Sky's Jane Dougall reports.
(00:02:02)
New Madeleine lead? McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell ITN
New Madeleine lead? McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell
May 22, 2009
Detectives searching for Madeleine McCann are investigating a known paedophile
who was in Portugal when she vanished. Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
(00:01:26)
Man Probed by McCanns Over Girl's Disappearance Associated Press
Associated Press video
May 23, 2009
(00:01:32)
New Maddie McCann suspect: Police hunt British paedophile living an hour's drive from Praia
da Luz, 22 May 2009
New Maddie McCann suspect: Police hunt British paedophile living an hour's drive from Praia da Luz Daily Mail
Maddie suspect Raymond Hewlett
By VANESSA ALLEN and JULIE MOULT
Last updated at 12:16 AM on 22nd May 2009
A British paedophile was the new focus of the hunt for Madeleine McCann last night.
Former soldier Raymond Hewlett was living just an hour's drive from the resort of Praia da Luz when she disappeared in
May 2007.
He has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and is wanted by police in the UK and Ireland. Since Maddie's disappearance
he has gone back on the run.
Now, in a dramatic development, detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann have flown to Portugal after a tip-off about
64-year-old Hewlett.
Sources close to the investigation said they were told he spoke to friends about Maddie in such a way that they suspected
he was involved or knew what had happened to the three-year-old.
Hewlett is described by detectives as 'cunning' and a 'danger to children' and operates by cruising in a van. He has
posed as a police officer and befriended families to get access to their children.
The McCanns have never given up hope of finding their daughter. Earlier this month they marked the second anniversary
of her disappearance from their holiday apartment by releasing two new pictures to help the hunt.
One was a striking computer-aided image of what she would look like today, at six.
Another was a detailed sketch of a suspect seen acting suspiciously near their Algarve holiday complex.
The team searching for Maddie is headed by two retired UK policemen, former Detective Inspector Dave Edgar, 52, and former
Detective Sergeant Arthur Cowley, 57, who has worked on 'cold case reviews' of old crimes.
Mr Edgar has more than 30 years' experience with the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Cheshire Police.
He was awarded a judge's commendation for his work on the murder of father-of-four Garry Newlove, who was kicked to death
by a teenage gang outside his Warrington home in 2007.
Mr Edgar and Mr Cowley now run the Alpha Investigations Group and have been hired by the Find Madeleine Fund to investigate
missed leads.
They are said to have given the McCanns fresh hope after they suffered disappointments working with other private detectives,
including the expensive Spanish firm Metodo 3.
Hewlett, a former Scots Guardsman who has worked as a trawlerman and fairground operator, was convicted of two sex attacks
on girls in the 1970s and a further attack in 1988 - for which he was jailed for six years.
He was also investigated over the sex killing of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed near Ripponden, West Yorkshire, in October
1975.
Hewlett: a 'danger to children'
She was abducted after she left her Rochdale home to buy a loaf of bread. She was sexually assaulted, stabbed 12 times
and dumped on nearby moors.
Ronald Castree, 54, was jailed in 2007 for the murder of the schoolgirl, but has since been given permission to challenge
his conviction.
His lawyers are expected to argue it is 'overwhelmingly probable' that Hewlett, who lived in West Yorkshire was the killer.
He moved to Ireland soon after the murder.
Hewlett is believed to have been living near the Algarve town of Faro, an hour's drive from Praia da Luz, at the time
of Madeleine's disappearance.
It is not known if he was ever interviewed by Portuguese police but they have been informed about the fears that he could
have been involved in an abduction.
Hewlett is also wanted for questioning by several British police forces over allegations of child sex abuse in this country.
His trail of sex attacks began in September 1972, when he abducted a 12-year-old girl and took her on to moors near his
home in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.
He used paint thinner to knock her out, then raped her. He was jailed for a year.
In 1978 he attacked another girl, putting a gun to her back, but she managed to convince him that visitors were arriving
imminently and he let her go. This time he was jailed for four years.
Hewlett also served a six-year prison term for a 1988 sex attack on a 14-year-old girl.
After leaving jail he went on the run. At one stage he was traced to the Republic of Ireland where he is thought to have
lived for several years.
Irish police believe he was behind a series of attempted abductions there and he is also known to have travelled to several
European countries.
Last night, McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'We are aware of Raymond Hewlett and the claims that have
been made surrounding him.
'The investigators searching for Madeleine are currently looking into the circumstances surrounding those claims.
'Hewlett is an individual of interest to the Madeleine investigation. Beyond that, I cannot go into any further operational
detail.'
British Paedophile Named As Madeleine Suspect, 22 May 2009
British Paedophile Named As Madeleine Suspect Sky News
BREAKING NEWS
12:36am UK, Friday May 22, 2009
A convicted British paedophile has been named as a possible suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Sky News sources say Raymond Hewlett was living in Tavira, a coastal town between Faro and the Spanish border, when Madeleine
disappeared on May 3 2007.
Tavira is about an hour's drive from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished while on holiday with her family.
It is understood the former soldier was tracked down in Germany, where he was being treated in hospital for cancer.
Reports said Hewlett, 64, has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and is wanted by police in the UK and Ireland.
Since Maddie's disappearance he has gone back on the run, it is claimed.
Hewlett has reportedly been jailed several times for sexual offences against young girls.
Gerry and Kate McCann are being kept up to date with the development, their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said.
He told Sky News Online: "We are aware of Raymond Hewlett and the claims that are being made in some newspapers about
him.
"The investigators searching for Madeleine are currently looking into the circumstances surrounding these claims.
"Mr Hewlett is an individual of interest to the Madeleine investigation.
"However, I would stress that it's just one line of inquiry among several, other than that I can't go into further detail."
The alarm was raised about Hewlett by a couple who met him while on holiday in Portugal, the Daily Mirror said.
When Alan and Cindy Thompson met the convict, he was living with his wife and six children in a converted Dodge truck
travelling from campsite to campsite.
Mr Thompson told the Mirror: "Hewlett befriended us but kept quiet about his terrible past.
"We were mortified and disgusted to discover the truth."
They also described a conversation in which Hewlett said he was approached by some "Gipsy tourists" offering to buy his
daughter just before Madeleine went missing.
Mrs Thompson said: "We didn't think too much of this at the time.
"Ray and his family led a desperate hand-to-mouth lifestyle and someone may have thought he'd be tempted to sell one
of his six children."
They also recalled him mentioning a "business" trip to Morocco where there were several alleged sightings of Madeleine
in the months after her disappearance.
A CONVICTED British paedophile on the run is a key suspect in the Madeleine McCann abduction
mystery.
He is Raymond Hewlett, 64, originally from Yorkshire but living in Portugal less than an hour from the McCann's holiday
home when she was snatched.
Hewlett has been traced to a German hospital - where he is undergoing treatment for cancer - by the McCann's own team
of former cops who are believed to have had him under investigation.
Last night it was understood members of the team were on the ground in Germany pursuing their inquiries.
Hewlett was quizzed by Portuguese cops investigating the toddler's disappearance but was given an alibi by a 15-year-old
girl.
Sources close to the British investigation into the snatch say that he is now of renewed interest because of bizarre
comments he made about the case to friends and family.
Details of his oddball comments were passed earlier this year to a team of British private detectives probing the abduction.
It is also understood that his alibi has been challenged.
Last night the McCann's official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We are aware of Raymond Hewlett and the claims that
have been made about him.
"The investigators searching for Madeleine are currently looking into the circumstances surrounding these claims.
"He is an individual of interest to the investigation."
Hewlett has convictions for two violent sex attacks on young girls dating back to the 1970's.
A source close to the British investigation added: "He was looked at by Portuguese police a number of times in the days
after Maddie was taken.
"He made strange comments about Maddie and other children.
"The reason he is back in the frame is because people near to him who have spoken to him since have become suspicious
because of comments he has made to them about Maddie.
"There were several conversations which made them suspicious.
"Other people have begun to doubt the truth of his alibi.
"They were sufficently worried to go to the police again but they felt nothing was being done to fully investigate him.
"It was after this that he was named as a person of interest to the McCann's own investigators."
Investigators have shown Hewlett's photograph to several witnesses who believe they may have seen Maddie's abductor on
the night, May 3rd 2007, she went missing and in the days leading up to her abduction.
One eye witness commented on the similarity between his appearance and a photo fit of a mystery man seen by Jane Tanner,
one of the Tapas Seven, who believes she saw carrying Maddie away in his arms on the night she disappeared.
Jane described him as having "greasy, long, dark hair."
The source close to the investigation revealed: "There are some photos of Hewlett where he looks eerily like the man
Jane believes she saw, especially his hair."
Hewlett who's believed to have fathered at least nine children has worked in the past on travelling fairs and as a trawlerman.
He is a serial child sex offender who has also had a string of underage teenage girlfriends.
The former Scots Guardsman has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and is wanted by police in the UK and Ireland.
The source said: "He lived less than an hour away from Praia da Luz. There are suggestions that he talked about children
being bought and sold as well as the Maddie case in the weeks after she went missing.
"He has also said things subsequently which have made people suspicious about him. Portuguese authorities are aware of
him, he was spoken to soon after Maddie went missing.
"He left Portugal and effectively went on the 'run'. He has travelled extensively through Europe and other countries.
We believe he is currently wanted by several police forces.
"Hewlett is of enough interest for photographs of him to have been shown to the key witnesses."
"During some conversations, which disturbed those who know him enough to make them alert authorities, he is alleged to
have said he 'knew what was going' when he was talking about Maddie.
Seven years ago Hewlett was the subject of a global police alert after he was linked to the unsolved murder of a girl
but he was subsequently cleared by DNA evidence.
He denies being involved in Maddie's disappearance.
Last night a source close to the McCann's said: "Kate and Gerry are aware of Hewlett. It is obviously worrying for them
given his horrific background."
A convicted paedophile is being investigated in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine
McCann.
Briton Raymond Hewlett was staying near Praia da Luz, in Portugal, when the three-year-old went missing in April 2007.
Hewlett has reportedly been jailed several times for sexual offences against young girls.
He is also wanted by some UK police forces for questioning about sex attacks going back nearly 30 years, reports said.
The Daily Mirror published a picture of the 64-year-old who, the paper said, was being treated for cancer in a German
hospital.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry, said Hewlett was a line of inquiry being looked
at by investigators working for the couple from Rothley in Leicestershire.
Mr Mitchell said: "We are aware of Raymond Hewlett and the claims that have been made about him in some newspapers.
"The investigators searching for Madeleine are currently looking into the circumstances surrounding these claims.
"Mr Hewlett is an individual of interest to the Madeleine investigation but I would stress it is just one line of inquiry.
Beyond that I can't really go into any further operational detail."
He said Madeleine's parents were "fully aware" of the development and added that the couple's investigators had been
in Portugal for the last week.
Madeleine McCann search team probe convicted British paedophile, 22 May 2009
Madeleine McCann search team probe convicted British paedophile Daily Mirror
By Stephen Moyes in Germany and Aidan McGurran in Portugal
22/05/2009
(Note: mistakes in this article are as they appear in the original version)
Detectives working for the McCanns are investigating convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett after it was revealed he was
in the Algarve when Madeleine disappeared.
Hewlett, 64, was staying with his family in a motor home an hour's drive from the McCanns' apartment in Praia da Luz.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, said yesterday: "We are aware of Raymond Hewlett and the claims
that have been made.
"The investigators searching for Madeleine are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding Mr Hewlett and these
claims. Hewlett is an individual of interest to the investigation.
"Beyond that I cannot go into any further operational detail." The alarm was raised about Hewlett by Alan and Cindy Thompson
who met him while on an extended holiday in Portugal.
At the time they thought he was merely an eccentric drifter, scraping a meagre living with his wife and six children
as they travelled from campsite to campsite in a converted Dodge truck.
The couple were horrified when after returning to Britain they learned Hewlett had been jailed three times for kidnapping,
attempting to rape and molesting young girls. He is also still wanted by at least two UK police forces for questioning about
sex attacks going back nearly 30 years.
Alan said: "Hewlett befriended us but kept quiet about his terrible past. We were mortified and disgusted to discover
the truth." Cindy and Alan were not only worried by Hewlett's presence in the region when Madeleine vanished.
Alarm bells also began to ring over a conversation they had in which he told how just before Madeleine went missing he
was approached by some "gipsy tourists" offering cash for his own daughter. Like Madeleine, she is blonde-haired and blue-eyed.
Hewlett told the couple he refused.
Cindy said: "We didn't think too much of this at the time. Ray and his family led a desperate hand-to-mouth lifestyle
and someone may have thought he'd be tempted to sell one of his six children."
They also recalled him telling how he had gone to Morocco with his family to make a sale, telling them it was "a good
business trip and he made a profit". He did not tell them what he had sold.
In the months following Madeleine's disappearance there were numerous alleged sightings of Madeleine across Morocco.
In each case the girl in question was either ruled out or never traced.
So worried were the Thompsons that earlier this week they contacted Hewlett, who is now being treated for cancer in a
German hospital, to question him.
When they asked about his Morocco trip after Madeleine disappeared, he said sarcastically: "Yes, so? That makes me guilty
then?" He didn't expand on the gipsies who offered to buy his daughter but, in reference to his trip, said: "In Morocco, everything's
worth something. You can get 25 euros for an old bike."
Hewlett told them he was able to remember his movements when Madeleine was taken on 3 May, 2007. He said he was at a
market in the Portuguese town of Fuseta, 30 miles from Praia da Luz.
Hewlett said: "That place where she was abducted from, I have to have a good memory see, there was a market on that same
Sunday.
"We drove there on the Saturday. We were parked there. As I drove out there I saw police going the other way. So it's
all very clear for me. I know exactly where I was. I wasn't anywhere near there. Where did you get that I was there?" He added
that after attending the market he returned to his base at a campsite in Tavira, an hour's drive from Praia da Luz.
He said: "I do remember where I was that particular weekend. Later I was parked... a mighty long way from where that
kid went missing from. If you'd gone in our truck you couldn't have got away with it, driving that about. You'd have stood
out like a sore thumb."
Hewlett said the Thompsons were basing their suspicions him on what they had learned of his past. He said: "If you've
chosen to believe anything I do anything about it anyway, there you go. Catch 22.
"You're basing it on someone's past, rather. That means the person's past is important. Doesn''t make him guilty. You
shouldn't be talking to me about it. I've done nothing wrong, nothing, nothing.
"I don't actually believe that child was actually kidnapped, let alone murdered."
Hewlett, a former trawlerman and fairground worker, abducted and sexually assaulted a neighbour's old daughter in 1972.
was sentenced to 18 months released after a year.
1978 he attempted to rape year-old girl after holding to her head and was jailed four years - but only served months.
In 1988 in Mold, Cheshire, he kidnapped and assaulted a 14-year-old girl. Hewlett, a former Scots Guard, was jailed for six
years.
Police still want to speak to Hewlett over the abduction and sexual abuse of an eight-year old girl in Manchester in
1975. West Yorks Police would also like to question him about various serious offences.
It is believed Dublin police may also wish to speak to him. He was described by one judge as "extremely dangerous" and
once featured on a Crimestoppers list of Most Wanted paedophiles.
Alan, 56, and Cindy, 47, struck up a friendship with Hewlett and German wife Mariana, 33, after first meeting them in
Portugal three years ago.
Cindy said: "Ray was living along the Algarve and Spanish coast.
"He survived by selling things he had found. Mariana also made money by busking on the streets in tourist areas - playing
a tin-whistle while operating a puppet.
Ray was quiet and unassuming and he played the doting father, never letting his children stray too far." It was only
after they returned from the Algarve that the Thompsons got a text message from another holidaymaker they had met alerting
them to Hewlett's past.
Cindy said she later discovered others who were in the same travelling community did know his horrible secret.
She said: "They didn't want to report Hewlett for fear of upsetting Mariana.
"I find it incredible and incomprehensible that people could turn their backs on a known convicted paedophile still wanted
for questioning about outstanding offences.
"We owe it to Madeleine and her family to speak out about Raymond Hewlett. We do not know he abducted Madeleine but our
information should be examined."
The Mirror yesterday handed details of Hewlett's whereabouts to cold case teams in West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.
His details were also passed to Leices-tershirPolice, the McCanns' home force.
A spokesman said they will pass the Mirror's file to Portuguese police, adding: "It remains a Portuguese investigation."
Paedophile in Maddy case 'to be extradited', 22 May 2009
A convicted paedophile under investigation over Madeleine McCann's disappearance faces a deathbed extradition to the
UK for a series of sex attacks.
Raymond Hewlett, 64, being treated for throat cancer at a hospital in Germany, was named today as a suspect in her abduction
after it emerged he was living in a motor home an hour's drive from where she vanished.
Hewlett is wanted for questioning by Manchester police over the abduction and sexual abuse of an eight-year-old girl
in the city in 1975. West Yorkshire Police also would like to quiz him over a series of "serious offences".
The Standard understands the two forces as well as Leicestershire Police, which is coordinating the Madeleine investigation,
held a conference call yesterday to discuss the next action.
It is thought Portuguese police are also investigating Hewlett's movements in the Algarve at the time three-year-old
Madeleine vanished on 3 May, 2007.
Investigators working for her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, are due to fly back to the UK
after several days spent in Portugal chasing "five or six" new leads.
Investigators will want to know why Hewlett checked out of a hospital in Faro in the Algarve where he was being treated
for cancer only to re-emerge in Germany.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the Standard today: "Hewlett is somebody we have been looking at for a
little while. But he is just one line of inquiry."
Hewlett was not on a list of known paedophiles in the Algarve compiled by British and Portuguese police at the time Madeleine
vanished from an apartment in Praia da Luz.
His presence in Portugal came to light when a couple who befriended him became suspicious of his past. Alan and Cindy
Thompson met Hewlett around December 2006.
He was living in a travellers' camp in Tavira, about 70 miles from Praia da Luz, with his wife Monica and their six children.
Alan and Cindy Thompson: A couple in search of the most famous missing people in the world, 22 May
2009
Alan and Cindy Thompson: A couple in search of the most famous missing people in the world
By Nigel Moore
22 May 2009
Alan and Cindy Thompson, the couple responsible for drawing attention toward Raymond Hewlett, would appear to have
some history in tracking down the most famous missing people in the world.
In his blog, 'propaganda matrix', written on 23 February 2004, Paul Joseph Watson reports that: 'In the spring of 1999, A British couple called Alan and
Cindy Thompson were driving through Pakistan, in the very area that they're now talking about as being bin Laden's location.
'After driving for 11 hours on dirt roads they came to a checkpoint and were detained by armed Pakistani guards.
'The next day the Dawn newspaper, one of the biggest newspapers in Pakistan, reported that this couple had found the
secret lair of Osama bin Laden.'
He continues: 'After the couple got back home to England they saw a newspaper article calling for the capture of bin
Laden...
'The couple immediately contacted Scotland Yard in London; they contacted the FBI and the Pentagon and in every case
got nothing. No response, no request for an interview. Nothing.'
The Thompsons current claim is that they met Hewlett whilst on holiday in Portugal, 'around December 2006'.
'The couple were horrified when after returning to Britain they learned Hewlett had been jailed three times for kidnapping,
attempting to rape and molesting young girls.
'It was only after they returned from the Algarve that the Thompsons got a text message from another holidaymaker they
had met alerting them to Hewlett's past,' reports the Daily Mirror.
There is no evidence that the Thompsons had any contact with Hewlett between December 2006, when they first met him,
and May 2009, when he was tracked to a hospital bed in Germany.
The conversations they describe must therefore have taken place 5 months before Madeleine was reported missing
- or this week.
So, considering that 'alarm bells' were apparently ringing in the Thompsons heads, and that 5 months later the most media-saturated
case of our times exploded across the world's media - from the precise location that the Thompsons were on holiday -
why have they remained silent ever since?
The name of Raymond Hewlett does not appear in the PJ files released to journalists but may appear in the 'witheld annexes';
which contain details of known sex offenders who were investigated and ruled out.
Appendix VI 1 – Information/Lists of Suspects of Sexual Crimes – where you
will find a detailed reviews, from the perspective of the possibility of encountering correlations with suspects with sexual
motives;
Appendix VI 2 – Diligences and Exploration of Information related to the aforementioned
– in which, in conformity with that already expressed and in order to provide a better consultation, were gathered the
information collected about residents in the surrounding areas – temporary and permanent – as well as a listing
of local crime (break-ins and others) and crimes of a sexual nature. The information provided came to this Police by individual
knowledge, through British authorities or by other sources.
It would appear the McCanns have possession of these annexes.
Did Raymond Hewlett abduct Madeleine? He insists not.
But take a look at his photo and an early photofit of a suspect.
West Yorkshire police are likely to get to quiz Raymond Hewlett before the McCanns detectives.
He's wanted for an alleged indecent assault in the UK from 1975 and the cops are trying to get German permission to go
and speak to him at the clinic where he's being treated for cancer. They haven't left yet.
Hewlett fits the profile of potential suspects...he is a paedophile and he was living in Portugal at the time.
Quite a few like him were traced and elminated at the time, but there appears to be some confusion over what the Portuguese
authorities did about him. They were aware of him at some stage.
The McCann detectives don't appear in a hurry to see him, though I'm not sure they know exactly where he is.
And he would be under no obligation to speak to them, anyway. Why would he, except to show he had nothing to hide?
And is suspicion about him enough to persuade the Portuguese police to reopen the case?
I doubt it, because they've said only a major development would warrant that.
The Daily Mirror is desperately trying to keep Hewlett's whereabouts a secret to protect its scoop, but others will doubtless
catch up soon.
By the way, the couple who exposed him appear to have previous. They once claimed to have found Osama bin Laden.
Now, he definitely didn't do it.
Brit Maddie suspect in intensive care, 22 May 2009
THE new suspect in the Madeleine McCann case is tonight seriously ill in hospital.
Convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett is in a critical condition in a German intensive care unit too ill to receive any
visitors.
The pervert, 64, who was living just a mile away from the holiday apartment where Maddie was abducted, is suffering from
lung cancer and is being kept in a closed-off ward in a sprawling University Hospital in Aachen on the Belgian border.
The sister in charge of the intensive care unit where Hewlett is being held last night said: "He is too ill to receive
visitors.
"He is very ill. His doctors said he should not see anyone.
"Maybe if he gets better over the weekend he may be able to have visitors.
"But at the moment it is impossible. He is in very bad health and is resting in intensive care."
Hewlett is staying on the ninth floor of the massive Universitasklinkum Hospital.
Detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann want to quiz him.
He is also wanted for questioning by British police about the abduction and sexual assault of an eight year old girl.
Police from West Yorkshire want to quiz Hewlett about the unsolved crime in Manchester.
They had already made a request to German authorities to be allowed to question Hewlett before he was exposed this week
as a supect in Maddie's disappearance.
But now cops are worried he will not survive his battle with cancer.
He has been described as a "serial child sex offender" and has served several jail sentences for sexual assaults on children.
The eight-year-old was abducted and seriously sexually assaulted in 1975.
West Yorkshire police have revealed that they are awaiting permission from the German authorities to be allowed to quiz
Hewlett.
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police confirmed: "A formal request has been made to German authorities for West Yorkshire
police to question Raymond Hewlett."
If police decide there is enough evidence against Hewlett after questioning him in Germany they could apply to have him
extradited.
Hewlett was living an hour away from Praia da Luz where Maddie was snatched from on May 3rd 2007.
He is said to have made comments about the Maddie case to couple Cindy and Alan Thompson who he had befriended.
After learning of his convictions they became so concerned about what Hewlett had said they contacted the Portuguese
police.
They also contacted British police on their return but claim nothing was done to track Hewlett down.
They tracked him down themselves to the hospital in Germany this week and confronted him with their suspicions but Hewlett
has denied being involved in abducting Maddie.
Alert
In 2002 there was a global police alert for Hewlett, who was then described as a "serious danger to children" when he
was wanted in connection with the Lesley Moolseed murder.
Hewlett was a suspect in the case but was later cleared by DNA.
Hewlett, who has worked as a trawlerman and fairground operator, was convicted of two sex attacks on girls in the 1970s
and a further attack in 1988 - for which he was jailed for six years.
Hewelett posed as a policeman to abduct one girl he grabbed off the street.
The 14-year-old girl was doing a paper-round when Hewlett struck. He stopped her pretending he was a policeman, flashing
what she thought was a warrant card.
He then bundled her into his van at knifepoint and drove her to moors. After drugging her with paint thinner he raped
her. Hewlett was jailed for six years for the attack in 1988.
Earlier in September 1972 he abducted a 12-year-old girl and took her on to moors near his home in Todmorden, West Yorkshire
where he indecently assaulted her after knocking her out with a rag soaked in paint thinner.
After leaving jail he went on the run. At one stage he was traced to the Republic of Ireland where he is thought to have
lived for several years. Police say he has lived a 'Nomadic' lifestyle moving around Europe and Morroco He has been known
to have lived in Donegal, Louth and Kerry and visited at least nine counties.
In 1978 he attacked another girl who was a friend's daughter after breaking into her home when he knew she was at home
on her own.
He put a gun to her back, but she managed to convince him that visitors were about to arrive and he ran off. He was caught
and jailed for four years.
*
Points related to the text of this article:
1) 'The pervert, 64, who was living just a mile away from the holiday apartment
where Maddie was abducted...'
- It has variously been reported that Hewlett was living either 30 or 70 miles away. Even in this same article, it states that Hewlett 'was
living an hour away'.
2) 'He is said to have made comments about the Maddie case to couple Cindy and Alan Thompson who he had befriended.'
- Impossible. The Thompsons met Hewlett around December 2006 - 5 months before Madeleine was reported missing.
3) 'After learning of his convictions they became so concerned about what Hewlett had said they contacted the Portuguese
police.'
- When? This sentence is particularly misleading as it implies that the meeting with Hewlett, and the discovery of his
convictions, happened whilst the Thompsons were still in Portugal and at the time Madeleine had been reported missing. But
we know it didn't. Why would the Thompsons contact Portuguese police 5 months before Madeleine was even reported
missing?
4) 'They also contacted British police on their return but claim nothing was done to track Hewlett down.'
- Again, this maintains the illusion of the previous sentence that everything happened the week Madeleine was reported
missing. The Thompsons did not know of Hewlett's convictions when they returned to the UK - according to them, they found
out later.
Published Date: 22 May 2009, Last Updated: 22 May 2009 6:08 PM
A FORMER Blackpool soldier is being investigated over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Paedophile Raymond Hewlett was reportedly living just an hour from the Algarve resort of Praia da
Luz at the time Madeleine disappeared from her holiday apartment in May 2007.
The former Marton serviceman – who grew up in a semi-detached house on Hawes Side Lane –
has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and is wanted by police in Britain for offences dating back more than 30 years.
Former neighbours in Blackpool today described Hewlett as "very strange" and said it was "frightening"
to hear he had been linked with Madeleine's disappearance.
Sources say Hewlett, 64, who is currently in Germany receiving treatment for throat cancer, has denied
any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
But a team of private detectives are now looking into his movements after it was claimed he was living
just 30 miles from Praia de Luz at the time Madeleine went missing.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry, said Hewlett was being looked
at by investigators.
He said: "It's my understanding if you are on the Sex Offenders Register you are supposed to alert
the authorities to your movements. "I understand in this case Mr Hewlett's whereabouts weren't known to a number of police
forces for some time.
"Now that he is being treated for an illness in Germany it's up to the individual police forces as
to what they do with that information."
Police are expected to make a formal request for him to be extradited to face questioning.
For more on Raymond Hewlett, and the full story, pick up a copy of Saturday's
Gazette.
Madeleine McCann police to quiz holiday couple who raised suspicions about paedophile Raymond
Hewlett, 23 May 2009
Madeleine McCann police to quiz holiday couple who raised suspicions about paedophile
Raymond HewlettDaily Mirror
By Stephen Moyes and Jeremy Armstrong
23//05/09
Convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett could be at the centre of three police inquiries as he lies in a German hospital
recovering from throat cancer surgery.
Detectives from Leicestershire police yesterday said they wanted to question British holidaymakers Alan and Cindy Thompson
over their claims that when Madeleine McCann was snatched from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, Hewlett and his family
were staying at a campsite in the region.
Officers from West Yorkshire
yesterday said they had asked German authorities for permission to interview Hewlett over an unsolved indecent assault from
1975.
And it was revealed he is also under investigation over the death of his son David after the boy fell from the back of
a van that Hewlett was driving from Portugal to Germany.
The Mirror revealed yesterday that the Thompsons were on an extended holiday in Portugal
in 2006 when they befriended Hewlett, his German wife Mariana and their six children.
It was only after they returned to the UK they learned
the seemingly harmless drifter had been jailed three times for attacks on girls.
They raised they alarm when they realised he and his family had been staying in a converted motor home at a camping site
an hour from Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished in May 2007.
Detectives from Leicestershire police yesterday contacted Alan and Cindy Thompson to arrange an interview with them today
about their dealings with Hewlett.
Leicestershire police are the McCanns' home force and in charge of liaising with detectives in Portugal
who are still investigating Madeleine's disappearance. Alan said yesterday: "We are very happy that the police have made contact
with us. All we want to do is make sure they have everything we know about Ray Hewlett."
A spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann has confirmed their private detectives are investigating 64-year-old Hewlett, a
former trawlerman and fairground worker.
Meanwhile, officers from West Yorkshire police are waiting for the go-ahead from the German authorities
so they can interview Hewlett at hospital in Aachen. A spokesman for the force
said yesterday: "West Yorkshire are actively seeking him in connection with an indecent assault which
occurred in 1975."
Hewlett is already under investigation by German authorities over David's death. The boy fell from the back of a white
Ford Cargo van Hewlett was driving.
The accident happened near Seville in southern Spain
as the family headed from Portugal to Germany
early this year.
Hewlett later said: "I went on quite a few kilometres and didn't know it had happened until I turned off. We had to turn
around and go back to where it happened on the motorway.
"After the accident the police took the keys off me and put a steering lock on to the van.
"They need to keep it to check whether there were any mechanical problems."
Four of Hewlett's young children were in the back of the van without seats or seatbelts, it is believed.
The vehicle is not thought to have been insured or taxed and did not have a valid MoT certificate.
The family later continued their trip to Germany by train.
David was buried in an unmarked grave.
An investigation by German police is still going on. Hewlett has had to regularly report to the British embassy in Frankfurt
in relation to the inquiry. He could be charged with causing death by negligence if police decided he was at fault.
Hewlett's wife Mariana told the Thompsons she was distraught over the death of David. She added: "It shouldn't have happened.
It was horrible. I'm always just one hair's breadth away from the nut house. I can't get over the death of David."
Ex Scots Guard Hewlett and his family spent their time moving from campsite to campsite along the Algarve
coast until he was diagnosed with cancer towards the ends of 2007.
Mariana made contact with the authorities in Germany
to see if they could help her. They offered a flat and flights to Germany
for her and her children but did not want to include Hewlett.
So he then decided to drive the family to Germany. The
couple and their children now live in a squalid flat in Aachen.
The surnames 'Hewlett and Schmuker' are on a post box in the dimly lit entrance
to their block.
Mariana, 33, yesterday said she knew her husband had a troubled past but denied he had done anything wrong.
She said: "I knew he had problems with police in the past. But there are no problems now because it turned out he never
actually did anything."
She became furious when told of Hewlett's criminal record and that he was wanted for questioning in connection with sex
attacks going back 30 years.
She said: "You are just trying to make a story." I don't need any more bulls*** from anybody."
Hewlett abducted and sexually assaulted a neighbour's 12-year-old daughter in 1972. In 1978 he tried to rape a 14-year-old
girl after holding a gun to her head. Ten years later he kidnapped and assaulted a girl of 14. He was described by a
judge at one of his trials as "extremely dangerous".
Hewlett was yesterday understood to be still recuperating from major cancer surgery at the University Hospital Aachen.
He's evil enough to have snatched Maddie, 23 May 2009
THE latest major suspect in the Madeleine McCann case was branded "evil incarnate" last night
- by his first known victim.
Bette Balfour, just 12 when Raymond Hewlett abducted and sexually assaulted her, added: "I believe he is quite capable
of taking Maddie."
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Yesterday The Sun revealed convicted paedophile Hewlett had been in Portugal when Maddie was snatched - and how investigators
working for her parents Kate and Gerry had tracked him to Germany.
Last night he was said to be critically ill with lung cancer in hospital in Aschen, on the Belgian border.
Chill
Bette, now 49, said: "I don't care if he's ill. I don't care if he's dying. He deserves to be brought to justice if there
are crimes he still hasn't been punished for."
Asked if she thought he could have abducted three-year-old Maddie, she added: "He was in the Algarve when she disappeared
and he is evil enough.
"His name has never left my mind, but when I saw his picture and his name in The Sun this morning it gave me a chill."
Hewlett, 64, was a neighbour and friend of Bette's father in Todmorden, North Yorks. In 1972 he lured her in to his
car, telling her his mother was ill, drugged her with paint thinner and assaulted her on a moor.
Bette, who bravely agreed to waive her anonymity, went on: "I haven't moved on since it happened. He still haunts me.
He is a sick, devious man, who will use every trick he can to get his way."
Detectives working for Kate and Gerry have shown a photograph of convicted serial offender Hewlett to a schoolgirl who
twice saw a man loitering near the family's holiday apartment - and asked: Is this him?
In the weeks after Maddie's disappearance Hewlett is said to have made comments implying he had knowledge of child
trafficking.
Hewlett has cropped up across Europe and in Morocco, North Africa.
In May 2007 he was on the Algarve, an hour away from the resort of Praia da Luz where Maddie, of Rothley, Leics, was
snatched.
He was quizzed by Portuguese cops but was given an alibi by a girl of 15.
British police also hope to question him about a sexual assault on an eight-year-old girl in Manchester in 1975.
Meanwhile disgraced Goncalo Amaral, 49 - former head of the Maddie police probe in Portugal - was yesterday given an
18-month suspended jail term for falsifying evidence in another missing child case.
New McCann suspect 'was questioned by police but had an alibi', 23 May 2009
New McCann suspect 'was questioned by police but had an alibi'The Independent
Two years on, privately funded investigators carry on search for missing girl
By Cahal Milmo, Chief reporter
Saturday, 23 May 2009
For two years, the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has charted an erratic course from Leicestershire
to Morocco in its efforts to trace her whereabouts. Yesterday, its focus moved to a German hospital where a convicted British
paedophile is being treated for throat cancer.
Raymond Hewlett, 64, who is wanted in connection with at least two sexual assaults in England and Ireland, emerged as
the latest "individual of interest" to private investigators hired by Kate and Gerry McCann after it was revealed he was living
with his family an hour's drive from Praia da Luz, the Portuguese resort where the three-year-old disappeared on 3 May 2007.
The former Scots Guard, who has convictions for the abduction and indecent assault, including attempted rape, of girls
in Britain dating back to 1972, did not feature on a list of paedophiles with links to Portugal drawn up in the aftermath
of the disappearance.
The Independent understands that the Briton, described by detectives as "cunning" and a "danger to children" was questioned
during the initial inquiry but discounted after providing an alibi.
Two British investigators leading the McCanns' investigation are in Germany to speak to Hewlett amid suggestions from
two police forces that he could be extradited to Britain to be questioned about unconnected sex attacks.
The twist comes shortly after the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance and her family's subsequent "awareness
campaign", funded by donors and £1m in libel payments received by the McCanns and their friends, to try to ensure her case
is not forgotten.
The McCanns marked the occasion with a series of media interviews and by issuing a computer-generated image of how their
daughter would now look, aged six, in an attempt to gain new leads.
Yesterday, the gaunt features of Hewlett, propped up in a hospital bed, propelled the case back into the headlines.
Hewlett, who was travelling Europe and North Africa in a motorhome with his German wife and six children in 2007, was
pictured on the front page of the Daily Mirror with his assertion that he was innocent of any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Pictures of the long-haired Hewlett, who has variously worked on fishing trawlers and as a fairground operator, were
printed next to artist's impressions of a long-haired man spotted outside the McCann's apartment.
Clarence Mitchell, the former BBC journalist who is the family's spokesman, was careful to manage expectations, confirming
only that Hewlett was of "operational" interest to its investigation headed by former Detective Inspector Dave Edgar and former
Detective Sergeant Arthur Cowley.
The officers, who have experience in "cold case" reviews, were hired by the Find Madeleine Fund to re-examine leads from
the initial investigation.
Mr Mitchell said: "This is one line of inquiry ... Kate and Gerry are fully aware of the development and have been for
a little while."
It is understood new information on Hewlett, originally from Blackpool, Lancashire, emerged after the latest media appeal
by Madeleine's parents.
The Daily Mirror said attention was drawn to the Briton by a couple who met him while in Portugal, where he had been
selling second-hand goods while touring camp sites and towns.
Hewlett insisted he was 30 miles from Praia da Luz at the time of the abduction, telling the newspaper: "I know exactly
where I was. I wasn't anywhere near there [Praia da Luz]. I've done nothing wrong, nothing, nothing. " Hewlett is understood
to have drifted around Europe, avoiding outstanding arrest warrants, after a string of convictions in Britain, including the
abduction and sexual assault of a neighbour's daughter in 1972 and an attack in 1978 when he put a gun to the head of a 14-year-old
girl during an attempted rape.
A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said: "We are seeking him in connection with an indecent assault in 1975."
n The disgraced former Portuguese police chief who previously led the inquiry into Madeleine McCann's disappearance has
been convicted of perjury.
Goncalo Amaral was given an 18-month suspended sentence by a court in Faro, Portugal. He was one of five officers charged
over an alleged attack on the mother of another missing girl. Amaral was convicted of falsifying documents, the Correio da
manha reported.
The McCanns are taking legal action for defamation over Amaral's "entirely unfounded claims" in the media, which included
the allegation that Madeleine was dead and that her parents were involved in concealing her body.
Old habits: Retired police on the case
*After a long career pursuing villains in the name of the law and public service, many might expect Britain's police
officers to spend their retirement as far away as possible from the dogged pursuit of wrongdoing.
Increasingly, that is far from the case. Rather than reaching for a set of golf clubs, newly-retired detectives and their
uniformed counterparts are entering the nebulous and lucrative world of private investigation to deploy their skills tracking
down debtors, countering industrial espionage and accepting cases that have baffled regular law enforcement bodies.
The latter scenario is the one that currently confronts the Alpha Investigations Group, the company headed by former
detectives Dave Edgar, 52, and Arthur Cowley, 57, pictured right, which has been employed since last year by the Find Madeleine
Fund. The two men, who between have more than 60 years experience in the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Merseyside Police respectively,
are part of a growing body of professional police officers whose skills are in demand in the private sector for work that
ranges from threats to the security of large corporations to pursuing missing funds through tax havens.
The Association of British Investigators (ABI), which represents about 500 companies, estimates that 70 per cent of employees
in the industry are former police officers with the remainder recruited from the legal or technology sectors.
Peter Heims, a veteran investigator with more than 50 years experience, said: "It is a natural progression for a lot
of police officers. You do 20 or 25 years service and come out of the force with time and a desire for a second career. The
skills you acquire as a detective or a uniformed officer are more and more in demand."
According to ABI estimates, there are about 10,000 private eyes in Britain with the £1.5bn industry growing at about
five per cent a year. In the meantime, it seems customers such as Kate and Gerry McCann are reassured by the no-nonsense approach
of the likes of Mr Edgar and Mr Cowley. Speaking earlier this month, Mr Edgar, a former detective inspector, said: "You don't
start an investigation in Morocco or Spain or France or even Lisbon. This offence happened in Praia da Luz. That is where
I think the answer is."
Madeleine: Paedophile Raymond Hewlett lived life of a traveller, 23 May 2009
Madeleine: Paedophile Raymond Hewlett lived life of a travellerDaily Mirror
By Aidan McGurran; Stephen Moyes
23//05/09
Paedophile Raymond Hewlett stayed in campsite with his family after leaving Portugal.
The British convict left the Algarve as police continued to search for missing Madeleine McCann.
While at the site, Hewlett eked a living selling items he had found or been given. His wife Mariana played a tin whistle
and performed a puppet show.
None of their six children are believed to have gone to school. Instead, the family would park at big hotels so tourists
would see the kids and give them items.
Everything had a value and when the family couldn't use something they would sell it.
Hewlett had left the Algarve just as the tourist season was getting into full swing.
Friends say he took a route well known to travellers - heading into southern Spain for the ferry to Tangier at the northern
tip of Morocco. From there, he drove south about three hours to the pretty town of Chefchouen which is popular with the hippy
set.
The family set up base at the campsite high in the Riff mountains. Hewlett, still wanted in the UK, is considered one
of the most notorious and dangerous paedophiles to have disappeared off police radar.
Two years on from his visit to Chefchouen, camp staff only a dimly recall him and his family. One said: "I think I remember.
It's unusual to have so many children. But it's a long time. People come and go."
Hewlett told friends of his love of Morocco and how he could always make money there. He said: "The Moroccans will buy
and sell anything. You can take a rusty bike there and get 20 euros for it."
One traveller at the campsite said: "This is not a place for regular holidaymakers. The people here are a bohemian, alternative
set. Many are street performers or artists. He and his family would fit in very easily. No one would ask too many questions.
Unless he brought himself to their attention, he would have little reason to fear the police."
Even his adapted blue Dodge van would seem perfectly at home in this setting. Many campers drive battered vans - often
customised with highly personalised and colourful paint jobs.
Paedo Raymond Hewlett admits visiting Maddie holiday flats, 23 May 2009
Paedo Raymond Hewlett admits visiting Maddie holiday flatsDaily Mirror
EXCLUSIVE by Simon Wright
23//05/09
Suspect's shock confession to holiday couple: 'I know Maddie resort very well..I've parked
near flat several times.'
The British paedophile linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has sensationally confessed to being outside
her holiday apartment "many times".
Convicted pervert Raymond Hewlett, 64, has admitted knowing the resort where the McCanns were holidaying "very well"
and said he had parked a van close to their complex on several occasions.
And last night a man who shared a Morocco campsite with Hewlett and his family for three months described how the drifter
was obsessed with the missing youngster.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mirror, former Scots Guard Peter Verran, 46, revealed how Hewlett, his German wife
Mariana, 33, and their six children arrived at the campsite where he was holidaying in Chefchaaouen in a battered Dodge truck.
It was May 2007 – shortly after Madeleine's disappearance.
The Verrans spent three months with Hewlett
"He seemed like an old hippy traveller who had dropped out," said Peter, who runs an internet business selling antiques
and collectibles from his home in Fowey, Cornwall.
"We got talking at the toilet block. He brought Madeleine up straight away. He said his three-year-old daughter looked
like her.
"He was worried that because there had been reports that Madeleine may have been spirited away to Morocco, people might
think his child was her. Then he suddenly said, 'Madeleine's not in Morocco'.
"I asked him what he meant and he said he knew Praia Da Luz really well. He knew the Ocean Club complex where the McCanns
had been staying. He said he'd been there many times and had often parked his van close to the apartment.
Raymond Hewlett at the campsite in Morocco in July 2007
"He said he knew the layout of the place, the flat and the restaurant where the McCanns and their friends had been eating
when Maddie disappeared. He had a lot of detail about the layout. He said there was no way that the child could be taken without
the parents seeing. He said they were lying."
Yesterday it emerged that Portuguese police did speak to Hewlett about Madeleine's disappearance – but ruled him
out as a suspect.
Peter also revealed that pothead Hewlett made wild and unfounded claims that the McCanns – both doctors, from Rothley,
Leics – were involved in their daughter's disappearance.
Verran took this photo of Hewlett relaxing
"One of Hewlett's theories was that there had been an accident and Kate and Gerry had killed her and were trying to cover
it up," said Peter.
"He even made the crazy suggestion that her mum and dad had sold her to gipsies. He said it was common knowledge among
locals that Praia Da Luz in general and the Ocean Club in particular was a magnet for Romanian gipsies who abduct and then
traffic children.
"I asked him why he'd left and come to Morocco. He told me he'd had to leave Portugal in a hurry. He said he'd packed
his family up in half an hour and just driven out of the area. That was just after Maddie was taken."
Peter, who is partially disabled, met his Moroccan wife Nisrine, 25, when he was holidaying in Agadir.
They married in May 2007 and when they encountered Hewlett at the remote campsite, they were enjoying an extended honeymoon
touring the country in a camper van.
"We'd been there a week or so when Hewlett and his family just rolled in in a big blue Dodge truck," said Peter, who
has two children from a previous marriage. "I didn't see him for a few days. I just saw his wife and kids. She'd checked them
in to the campsite and seemed to be handling all the paperwork. In Morocco, you have to have the right papers to stay anywhere.
Looking back, it seems Hewlett was reluctant to be seen by anyone in authority."
After a few days, Peter began bumping into Hewlett and they started to chat. "He told me he had been in Southern Ireland
once but had to leave in a hurry," said Peter. "He explained that he and his wife were travellers and they moved around a
lot. He said he spent his days sitting around smoking dope while his six kids played.
"The kids were a bit weird. They were very withdrawn and couldn't speak properly. They never went to school and spent
all day playing in the mud.
"Hewlett told me he was ill and suffered with pains in his chest. One day he said, 'I think I've got cancer'. I told
him to go back to England to get checked out and to sort the kids out with a proper home. He said he didn't want people poking
their noses into his business."
Peter told how he and Nisrine would eat meals with Hewlett's family – and Hewlett would often talk about Madeleine.
"He went on and on about the McCanns and kept telling me all his theories about what he thought had happened," said Peter.
"Looking back, maybe it was a way of making sure we didn't think he had anything to do with it."
Peter, who spent six years in the Army before working with people with learning difficulties, recalled how in the three
months they were all together he only saw Hewlett leave the camp once or twice. "Most of the time he stayed on the campsite,"
he said. "He was never short of money though. He bought diesel, a motorbike and engine parts. I don't know where he got his
money from. He said he'd made cash from car boot sales."
Then, one day in August 2007, Hewlett announced he and his family were leaving. "He said his wife's visa had run out
and his passport was out of date," said Peter. "They packed up and left quickly."
Peter and Nisrine returned to the UK in November 2007 and had occasional texts or phone calls from Hewlett. "He said
he was back in Tavira, near Praia Da Luz, doing car boot sales," Peter said.
"In June last year, he rang to say he had throat cancer. The next I heard they were in Spain. He called to ask for money
and I sent him £50. I couldn't bear the thought of his kids starving. I even offered to pay for him to come back to the UK.
I didn't get a reply and we lost touch.
"Then suddenly this week he was in the newspapers linked to Maddie's disappearance. I could hardly believe my eyes. It
was such a massive shock. It makes my blood run cold. We haven't been able to sleep much since the news broke. I keep feeling
guilty that I should have noticed something and gone to the police. But I just thought he was an odd drifter. I pray he hasn't
had anything to do with it, but now I just don't know."
Hewlett arrived in Morocco in this blue truck. He had travelled there from Portugal
Detectives working for the McCanns are now investigating former trawlerman Hewlett. And officers from Leicestershire
Police – the McCanns home force and in charge of liaising with Portuguese authorities – have said they want to
speak to two British holidaymakers who tracked down Hewlett.
Cindy and Alan Thompson raised the alarm after they realised he and his family had been staying at a camping site an
hour from Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished. The couple helped to trace him to the hospital in Germany where he is being
treated for throat cancer.
Last night Leicestershire Police were made aware of the Sunday Mirror's new revelations. Hewlett is also wanted for questioning
by West Yorkshire Police over a child sex attack in 1975 and by Greater Manchester Police investigating the 1975 abuse of
an eight-year-old girl.
In 1972, he abducted and sexually assaulted a neighbour's six-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to 18 months and released
after a year. In 1978 he attempted to rape a nine-year-old girl and was jailed four years. In 1988 in Mold, Cheshire, he kidnapped
and assaulted a 14-year-old girl and was jailed for six years.
He was described by one judge as "extremely dangerous" and once featured on a Crimestoppers list of Most Wanted Paedophiles.
'Maddie paedophile' under investigation for four months, 23 May 2009
'Maddie paedophile' under investigation for four monthsDaily Mail
By MAIL ON SUNDAY REPORTER
Last updated at 11:32 PM on 23rd May 2009
Detectives have been investigating the predatory paedophile who was living in Portugal near to where Madeleine McCann
disappeared for the past four months.
Former police officers hired by the McCann family learned in February that Raymond Hewlett, 64, had been living in the
Algarve and have been probing his movements and alibis.
But they never got the chance to speak to Hewlett, a former soldier, because he had already moved to Germany where he
is being treated for throat cancer.
'Some of his alibis didn't quite stand up,' said a source close to the family.
But despite concerns about his movements on the night Madeleine disappeared in May 2007, and sinister comments he allegedly
made about her, he is not thought to be a strong suspect.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said he was a 'person of interest' but stressed that Hewlett was 'one lead
among a number'.
He added: 'We are looking into the claims surrounding him, as we are with other people who would make equally big headlines.'
Reports that Portuguese detectives ruled out Hewlett as a suspect early in the inquiry after interviewing him were dismissed
by sources.
'It is our understanding that the Policia Judiciaria in Portugal did not know of his existence until they were alerted
by the investigators working for the McCanns,' one source said.
'The Policia Judiciaria have helped the investigators and wanted to get face-to-face with him themselves, but he had
already moved to Germany.'
Hewlett has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and has been jailed several times.
Hewlett: 'Mum will be turning in her grave', 24 May 2009
Hewlett: 'Mum will be turning in her grave'Daily Express
Sunday May 24, 2009
THE brother of paedophile Raymond Hewlett – now the prime suspect in the Madeleine abduction case – says
their mother will be "turning in her grave" now he has been linked to the disappearance.
Devastated Bernard Hewlett, 59, said the only comfort was that his mother Lois and father Richard will not have to face
yet another police inquiry into their eldest son's depraved lust for children which stretches back more than three decades.
"We washed our hands of Raymond many years ago, we are a decent family" said civil servant Bernard at his home in Blackpool,
Lancashire.
"We don't want anything to do with perverts. Mum will be turning in her grave to know what he's supposed to have done
to Madeleine McCann."
Bernard added: "Mother and father gradually came round to having nothing to do with him. The knock on the front door
from the police happened once too often. I think if it was something like burglary they could have coped with it, but it was
always sex-related issues."
Ex-Scots Guards soldier Raymond Hewlett, 64, who is battling throat cancer in hospital in Aachen, Germany, was living
on a campsite a short drive from the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished there in May 2007.
He was branded "evil incarnate" yesterday by his first known victim.
Bette Balfour was just 12 in 1972 when Hewlett lured her into his car, drugged her then sexually assaulted her near Todmorden,
West Yorkshire.
"He still haunts me. I believe he is quite capable of taking Maddie," said Bette, who is now 49, and living on the south
coast of England.
A COP who interrogated Madeleine McCann suspect Raymond Hewlett says the case carries all
the hallmarks of the sick sex beast.
Former Detective Superintendent Trevor Wilkinson spent years on the trail of the convicted paedophile, who was in Portugal
when Maddie vanished two years ago.
And Mr Wilkinson told the News of the World the snatching of the child from her holiday apartment matches the predator's
offending profile.
He said: "He is constantly looking for prey and we know he is prepared to enter a property to get to a child, which he's
done."
Hewlett, 64, critically ill with cancer in a German hospital, has been jailed three times for kidnap and molesting young
girls and is connected to a string of other attacks on kids.
Mr Wilkinson questioned him in 1992 while investigating the 1975 murder of 11-year old Lesley Molseed in Rochdale.
And detectives hired by Kate and Gerry McCann hope to quiz the pervert this week.
They plan to grill him about his whereabouts when Maddie went missing and about other paedos in Portugal. Ex-detective
Dave Edgar and his team have just gathered new information in the Algarve.
A source said: "Dave is keeping an open mind on Hewlett and is mindful of other information he may have."
Mr Edgar says there is a strong possibility Maddie is alive.
Suspect in Madeleine case treated in Aachen hospital, 24 May 2009
Suspect in Madeleine case treated in Aachen hospital The Local (Germany's News In English)
Published: 24 May 09 11:06 CET
Two years after the famous disappearance of Madeleine McCann from Portugal, authorities in
Aachen are to investigate a convicted British pedophile, being treated in a local hospital, suspected of involvement in the
incident.
A spokesman for the Aachen police, Robert Hintereker, told Bild am Sonntag that the public prosecutor would decide
in the coming days whether to take a DNA sample from the British-born suspect who is being treated for throat cancer in a
hospital in the city.
But Aachen's main public prosecutor Robert Deller told news agency ddp Hewlett's possible link to Madeleine's disappearance
was "pure speculation." He said that British authorities were seeking legal aid to question the suspect for a rape case dating
back to 1975.
The 64-year-old, identified as Raymond Hewlett, is reported to have been convicted and jailed in three cases of sexually
assaulting young girls. He is reported to be together with a German and have worked in the past years on fishing boats and
as a performer at fair grounds.
Hewlett is alleged to have been staying near the McCann's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal when their daughter
Madeleine went missing in May 2007.
Media reports say a British couple who vacationed in Portugal and met Hewlett at a camping place went to the police after
reading about Hewlett's criminal background in a newspaper.
Hewlett, a former soldier, is said to bear a striking resemblance to one of the police sketches of possible suspects
that were made after Madeleine's disappearance. Police in Portugal reportedly quizzed Hewlett at the time but found he had
an alibi.
Media reports say British authorities as well as private detectives hired by the McCanns are interested in questioning
Hewlett.
British newspaper The Sun quoted a nurse in the Aachen hospital saying that Hewlett, who is being treated for
cancer in the intensive care unit, was too ill to be interviewed.
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment on May 3, 2007, while her parents
dined with friends nearby. She has not been found despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide.
Maddie suspect Raymond Hewlett: I'll take lie test, 24 May 2009
Maddie suspect Raymond Hewlett: I'll take lie test The People
Russell Myers
24 May 2009
Madeleine McCann suspect Raymond Hewlett is ready to take a LIE DETECTOR test to prove his innocence in the case.
The convicted paedophile has carried out a string of vile attacks on children but denies any link to Maddie's disappearance.
But police face a race against time to establish the truth, as last night doctors were battling to keep Hewlett alive
after complications following a cancer op.
The fiend, 64, was said to have suffered massive internal bleeding, with a source adding: "His condition might worsen
at any time which could end his life."
As Hewlett lay critical in hospital, his German wife Mariana Schmucker, 33 - mum to their six children - challenged Maddie's
parents Gerry and Kate to come to see her.
She said: "I know about my Raymond's past and it is forgotten. He is a changed man. I know he didn't take Maddie.
"He is a very sick man and has said to me he will do anything to prove he is innocent - even take a lie detector test.
"Let the parents of Madeleine come here and ask him face-to-face if he had anything to do with their child going missing.
"My husband has nothing to do with little Madeleine. He's an innocent man and he'll prove it not anyone."
Mariana shares a squalid two bedroom flat - overlooking a kindergarten - with Hewlett and their children.
Drifter
It is just a few miles from where the suspect now lies in University Hospital, in Aachen, Germany.
Again denying any link to Maddie's abduction by her husband, Mariana said: "These are lies all lies. I know my husband
more than anyone in this world and I will tell you he has done nothing wrong.
"Those police should be looking for the real man who took that little girl and not Raymond, he's a sick man, a very sick
man." Former soldier turned drifter Hewlett had been living near Praia de Luz in Portugal when Maddie vanished from her family's
holiday apartment in May 2007.
By the time he was tracked to Aachen, near the Belgian border, this month he was already seriously ill with lung cancer.
But British police still want to interview him about a sexual assault on a child in West York-shire in 1975, and the
murder of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed that same year.
Hewlett served 12 months for abducting a 12-year-old girl, knocking her out with paint stripper and raping her in Todmorden,
West Yorkshire, in 1972.
In 1978, he was jailed for four years after holding a 14-year-old girl and putting a gun to her head.
Last night, in a new twist, a British couple who first raised suspicions about Hewlett over missing Maddie a year ago
claimed police had not taken them seriously until now.
Alan Thompson, 56, and his wife Cindy, 47, from Peterborough, Cambs, had met Hewlett while on holiday in Portugal.
Cindy told The People: "We cannot talk in detail about the police inquiry, but let's just say we are hoping they take
this seriously now.
"We are utterly confused about the delay. It's a worry for us and it must be worse for the McCanns.
Alan said: "I only hope it is not too late." The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell, said the family's own investigators
also wanted to speak to Hewlett, and to the Thompsons.
He said: "Mr Hewlett has denied any involvement in Madeleine's abduction.
"Our investigators hope he will see sense and co-operate by giving them whatever information needed so they can eliminate
him from the investigation.
"It's clear the man is ill and it is clear he has information that our investigators need."
