McCann Case: 'The British priest staged everything', 01 July 2009

McCann Case: 'The British priest staged everything' Semanário Privado (appears in paper editon only) Father José Pacheco By Emilia Groza 01 July 2009 Thanks to Joana Morais for translation   We went to Praia da Luz to speak with Father José Manuel – the priest of the local church – who accompanied all the sequence of events, lived after the disappearance of the English girl. Refuting all knowledge regarding the whereabouts of the blanket, the Father also denies the insinuations against his past.   Have you participated in all of the British community celebrations?   - In all.   And, specifically, you participated in religious acts for the girl Madeleine. Have you ever noticed the existence of a pink blanket that belonged to the child?   - I participated, but I don't know anything. The British priest, called by Madeleine's parents, it was him who celebrated all the masses. In that context, the only thing that I could do for her was to pray. The other priest is the one who knows a lot – and he staged everything – it was him who made statements and who spoke to the PJ.   But, where could Maddie's blanket be?   - It would be good to know, it's possible that the other priest and the PJ know.   The PJ doesn't know. Does that mean that they have 'lost' the evidence?   - I don't know anything; I only know that, when everything was too 'hot', various stories were told, badly told and even more about me: that I was 'exiled' to the Vatican to speak with the Pope... Just because I missed 2 or three days, I was made an 'exile'.   Was it normal to hand out the church keys?   - It's not me who decides. [silence]   There are some who have accused you of, when you where at the Gaia Seminary, of having participated in acts of harassment and sexual abuse.   - It's all a lie; the media have nothing else to do. It is easy to attack the image of a priest. But, at this moment the defamers are being sued.

Maddie's blanket missing from the Ocean Club, 01 July 2009

Maddie's blanket missing from the Ocean Club Semanário Privado (appears in paper editon only) 01 July 2009 Thanks to Joana Morais for translation   Could it have been used in a funeral ceremony at the Luz chapel? Gonçalo Amaral doesn't dismiss that as a possibility.   The issue was brought to light, in an enigmatic approach, during the interview given by the McCann couple to Oprah Winfrey. What had happened to the blanket that Maddie used to be covered with – almost as if it was a protective and comforting safeguard – and that was photographed by the PJ, on the day of her disappearance from the Ocean Club apartment, on the bed of the English girl? Gerry and Kate gulped in silence and were unable to answer in a consistent manner to the media TV show host.   Gonçalo Amaral, the former inspector who coordinated the investigations on the case, in declarations to "SP" recalls having seen the blanket in the Ocean Club apartment, on the evening of the 3rd of May, close to cuddle cat (the plush toy), that the child usually carried with her. The former inspector thought that it was odd that that blanket went missing in the immediate days that followed, when searches where made to locate the child. And he highlights, that incidentally, textile fibres (in connection with the cadaver odour scented by the British dogs) were detected in the Renault Scenic that the McCann couple rented in the Algarve and which was used in a long and mysterious trip that they made to Spain.   As a result of the investigations that have been made on his own account, after he was removed from the case, Gonçalo Amaral does not dismiss the possibility that the said blanket was used as a funeral blanket in a secret funeral ceremony made in the church of Luz, sustaining that conclusions drawn from the depositions of sources that he believes to be credible; between them, the one of Father José Manuel Pacheco from the Luz chapel.   Still according to the former inspector, the Catholic Church knows about that secret which might be, supposedly, known to high positioned figures inside the clergy. In fact, one poorly clarified point in this strange story is the fact that the couple had access to the church keys, which were handed to them by the Anglican priest, who has justified that fact with the necessity of praying for their daughter, away of the media spotlights.   Gonçalo Amaral sustains that the key to the discovery of Maddie's disappearance is in the Village of Luz and that, if this new clue is duly followed by the authorities, it may become decisive in unravelling the mystery.   Paulo Sargento: "Public Ministry Cannot Dismiss the Blanket's Disappearance"   Paulo Sargento, the psychologist who usually comments on the TV on aspects related to the Maddie case, explained to "SP" the importance that this blanket had to the British child : "The blankets, toys, and other objects acquire a special meaning for children at early stages of their lives. Dr. Winnicot, a famous paediatrician, conceived a designation of transitional objects (most times, plush toys, small blankets, diapers, etc...) which attain some special characteristics to children. As I have been saying, these objects that the paediatrician adjectived of transitional, are invested of a particular passion by the children, even some addiction (in the sense of affective dependency), since they possess symbolic characteristics of security, comfort, care and other qualities which emanate from the maternal figure."   For Paulo Sargento, the thesis that Gonçalo Amaral revealed at first hand to "SP" that the blanket could have been used in a funeral ceremony at the Luz chapel "is very interesting".   And he adds: "In reality, when the McCanns went to Oprah's Show, the blanket was mentioned. At a given moment, when Oprah tells Kate that she heard her mention a blanket several times, Kate argued that a mother who misses a child always wants to know if she is comfortable, if she is warm, and added, referring to Maddie, that sometimes she asked herself if the person who had taken her would cover her up with her little blanket (but the blanket was on the bed after Maddie, supposedly, disappeared!!!).   Well, that blanket is missing. Nobody knows where it is. But, this brief dialogue between Oprah and Kate is bizarre and looks like a slip. It seems that blanket is a word that shouldn't have emerged under that circumstance because it didn't find a meaning that would fit into the conversation, and the justification was very confusing".   For Paulo Sargento, this piece of data should have been investigated without any prejudice, taking into view the possibility of someone within the Church keeping a prudent silence about the matter: "The Catholic Church follows a divine saying, that is sometimes applied to Zeno of Cyprus: "If God gave us two ears and one mouth, it was because we are meant to listen twice as much as we talk.   "The Catholic Church has had the capacity to remain silent, to keep secrets and to transform them into myths." The psychologist has no doubts: "The disappearance of one object from the frame of a crime scene cannot be dismissed this lightly. The decisions lie in the hands of the Prosecutor and the Public Ministry."   *   Note: At no point in the Oprah Show does Kate McCann refer to the blanket. The exchange that takes place is:   Oprah: "Well, I, you know, I'd read something that said there were times even, you know, early on after she, errr... went missing that you would say: 'I want... I hope that whoever has her gives her her blanket'; 'I hope that whoever has her is keeping her warm'; 'I hope that whoever has her...'"   Kate: "I mean, it's funny, it's, you know, I mean... as a mum it's things like that you worry about, as well, you know. Is someone brushing her teeth? Is someone rubbing her tummy when she's not feeling well? You know, it's... it's all those things, that as a mother, you know, you do and you should be doing and..."   However, reference is made to a blanket in The People article of 13 May 2007:   'Last night Kate arrived for Mass clutching a blanket from her missing daughter's bed. She was wearing shorts and a yellow top and held Maddie's Cuddle Cat tightly as she held her husband's hand.'   However, upon closer research, this appears to be a thin white shirt/jacket rather than a blanket taken from the bed. In short, a piece of creative journalistic imagination, or guesswork.   In addition, the clothes described by The People were worn during the day. For the night mass, Kate wore a dark skirt, green t-shirt and the white jacket that The People referred to as a blanket.   Day/night shots: Kate McCann with Cuddle Cat and 'blanket', 12 May 2007 Kate wearing the white shirt/jacket that night, 12 May 2007 Extract from the statement of GNR officer, Carlos Manuel Carvalho Lacao: 'When they arrived at the scene, they entered the McCann's apartment by the front door, and entered the living room, where there were some PJ officers as well as the McCann couple. They just talked to some colleagues from the PJ and asked for a piece of clothing that Madeleine had worn or used recently. They were given a pink/orange blanket that the child had been covered with in her bed. They began searching with the dogs from the main entrance to the apartment, having given the blanket to his dog Numi to smell and begin to search.' Extract from the statement of creche worker, Amy Tierney: 'Madeleine's bed, she noticed, had the covers pulled back and a small child's blanket and a stuffed toy were upon it.' Extract from statement of GNR dog handler, Antonio Freitas Silva: The deponent states that: • He comes to the process in the role of Chief of the GNR Search and Rescue Team. He coordinated all the work carried out by the two sniffer dogs in the Luz zone and the immediate areas relating to the disappearance of the English minor Madeleine McCann from the Ocean Club. • He remembers that on the 4th of May of the current year, around 23h00, they attempted to tentatively identify and thus reconstruct the path taken by the missing minor. They gave the dogs a Turkish bath towel which was supposedly used by the child in question. This operation was realised by two different dogs.

Danie Krügel and a pink and white child's blanket, 26 January 2008

The Star: 'Maddie lies here' 'Maddie lies here' The Star (South Africa)   It is in these idyllic surrounds on the Portuguese coast that Danie Krugel believes Madeleine McCann is buried. Glynnis Underhill reports   January 26, 2008 Edition 1   Former South African police superintendent Danie Krugel is haunted by the muddy pink and white child's blanket he found at the site in Praia da Luz in Portugal where he believes the body of Madeleine McCann is hidden.   Now, due to his frustration at the lack of progress in the case, the ex-cop - dubbed "The Locator" as a result of his high rate of success in tracing missing people in SA - has broken his silence about the results of his search for Madeleine last year and revealed a map of the area where he believes she is buried.   With the consent of her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, Krugel spent three nights searching for missing Madeleine (4) in July, using the Matter Oriented System (MOS) equipment he has developed.   The site he outlined to be searched for Madeleine's body is a wasteland, full of black refuse bags, building rubble and rocks, and is located only 900m away from the Ocean Club resort apartment where the McCann family were staying in Praia da Luz.   Krugel said sniffer dogs and a full forensic team should have searched the area, but this had not happened.   "I kick myself every day that I didn't pick up the blanket. I just didn't want to disturb the investigation. The blanket was full of mud and had a light white, light-pink colour, and it was definitely a child's blanket.   "It was also clear that it had been in the elements for a while. I showed the police the blanket but I don't know if they picked it up," he added.   Taking a hair from Madeleine's coat, which was given to him by her father, Krugel's equipment repeatedly gave him signals that led him to the site, which is within walking distance of the apartment. Madeleine is alleged to have been kidnapped while her parents dined at a nearby tapas bar.   Krugel said he gave a copy of the map to Madeleine's parents and to the Portuguese police at the time, but refused to disclose details of his findings to the press for fear of anyone trying to disturb the scene. Now he wants to return to Praia da Luz to see if his equipment indicates that Madeleine's body is still there - or if it has been moved.   Asked whether he would like Krugel to return to search for Madeleine, Gerry McCann said he had no say in the matter.   "Kate and I have no control over who is allowed to go come and go into Portugal.   "This is a matter for the Portuguese authorities. Officially I cannot comment further, sorry."   After his search, Krugel requested the Portuguese police to use sniffer dogs and a forensic team to search the area. But when they were brought in a few weeks after he left Portugal, the sniffer dogs picked up a scent on Kate McCann and in the hired car, which changed the focus of the investigation, he claimed.   Portuguese police have now named three suspects in the case: Gerry and Kate McCann and Praia da Luz resident Robert Murat.   "After the sniffer dogs were brought in, I think the police altered their line of investigation, and I don't believe they searched the area I gave them.   "I am almost 90% sure Madeleine is dead. There is always the slight possibility that she could be held hostage in one of the houses in the area on my map, but I feel this is very unlikely. If her body had been moved, my equipment would tell me she is no longer there."   With 16 years' experience in policing cult-related violent crime, Krugel has devoted his life to finding missing people - free of charge.   "When children disappear, what is important is what went through the child's mind. A child is supposed to be safe and protected. When I first saw Madeleine's face in the paper, I could see this child had an angel's face. Immediately I wanted to catch the person who took this child. There is somebody out there who is guilty. That person belongs in a place where he must not see the blue sky."   In SA, Krugel's free services are used regularly by private investigators and police officers, who frequently call him in to help, with many insisting that he helped them locate people.   Brushing aside the sceptics, South African senior systems engineer Johan Booysen believes Krugel was "spot-on" in the co-ordinates he gave last month to locate his missing father, pilot Dirk Booysen.   The wreckage of his plane and the charred body of Dirk Booysen were found in the dense Baviaanskloof mountains shortly after Christmas.   "At first we misinterpreted his co-ordinates, but when we looked again, we saw he had been spot-on," said Booysen.   "It was very difficult terrain and Danie never gave us any false hope about my father. He just offered to help - for free - and that's what he did.   "I can see now that he was spot-on in his search. I can vouch for him and his equipment, and would be happy to talk to Madeleine's parents if they want to talk to me.'   Krugel has been in regular contact with Madeleine's parents, who have thanked him for his help. But his appeal for them to turn their attentions to the site to help find her body has not been answered.   Last year, Krugel claimed to have uncovered a "forensic route" from the McCanns' holiday apartment at the Oceans Club Resort, along paths and roads to a nearby beach.   At the time, he said: "The area is in walking distance from Praia da Luz. I don't want to say exactly where because I don't want to interfere with this investigation. I don't want to give anyone the chance to destroy his or her prints. If I look at the area, there is a very, very slight possibility that she could be alive. From the piece of hair I was able to conclude that she was in the area.'   But Krugel is still anxious to help find Madeleine, as she is constantly on his mind.   "The sooner we find Madeleine's body, the sooner the police can find out who murdered her," he said.   The locator   While he is currently working as the director of health and safety at the Central University of Technology of the Free State, Danie Krugel (right) is also trying to patent his equipment, which works on satellite technology. Details of the controversial equipment he has developed are being kept under wraps until it has been patented, he said.

Liverpool Daily Post: Madeleine McCann keywords in every main local news story was 'oversight', 01 July 2009

Liverpool Daily Post: Madeleine McCann keywords in every main local news story was 'oversight' journalism.co.uk   Posted by Judith Townend July 1st, 2009   It was an 'oversight' that Madeleine McCann related keywords were included in the metadata for every main local news story on the Liverpool Daily Post site, a Trinity Mirror spokeperson said, after Journalism.co.uk informed the company that the terms were present in the 'hidden text' of a series of unrelated news items.   The automatic inclusion of the keywords "madeleine mccann, madeleine mcgann, kate mcgann, kate mccann" in the HTML for Liverpool news stories has now ceased.   Journalism.co.uk learned in May that specific keywords, including those above, were used in the metadata for the 'Liverpool News Headlines' section on the Liverpool Daily Post site, regardless of the story's relevance. This continued for at least one month before it was drawn to the Post's attention on Monday (June 29).   Use of unrelated 'hidden' metadata is commonly known as 'keyword stuffing', a practice which Google firmly discourages. Using popular keywords can help improve a site's SEO performance. [Update: Google and most other search engines are no longer believed (Wikipedia link here) to recognise these tags: see Lammo.net post at this link.]   Google search results for "Madeleine McCann + Liverpool" shows that the Post and its sister site, the Liverpool Echo, have top rankings for related Madeleine McCann stories. [Update: but lower rankings when a simple Madeleine McCann search is performed. It's unlikely the addition of the keywords aided the LDP's Google ranking. Google says: "While accurate meta descriptions can improve clickthrough, they won't impact your ranking within search results."]   A Trinity Mirror spokesman said: "The metadata was inserted some time ago when the Madeleine McCann story was at its height and was the most-searched item on our web sites. It was inserted to make it easier for our users to access a huge story of national and local interest. The fact that it wasn't removed is an oversight, which has now been put right."   The evidence (before Liverpool Daily Post corrected the error this week):   A story about Len Williams, a well-known waterfront manager who recently died.   Keywords in the HTML version: The section of the site which used these keywords for all stories: Google’s  definition: "'Keyword stuffing' refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords in an attempt to manipulate a site's ranking in Google's search results. Filling pages with keywords results in a negative user experience, and can harm your site's ranking. Focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context. "To fix this problem, review your site for misused keywords. Typically, these will be lists or paragraphs of keywords, often randomly repeated. Check carefully, because keywords can often be in the form of hidden text, or they can be hidden in title tags or alt attributes. "Once you've made your changes and are confident that your site no longer violates our guidelines, submit your site for reconsideration." A definition by Nathan Campbell on SEO.com: "Some unethical SEOs choose to employ renegade tactics such as keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is overloading the content or meta tags of the web page with every possible keyword or phrase that relates to the site in many different forms."

Maddie horror made my OCD so bad that I thought patting my little girl would stop her being snatched, 03 July 2009

Maddie horror made my OCD so bad that I thought patting my little girl would stop her being snatched The Sun   By DAVID LOWE Published: Today (03 July 2009)   HAMMERING on the locked holiday hire car, Ben Gander yelled at his wife to open up and let him hold their little daughter.   But as a deranged victim of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the young father did not just want a cuddle.   He believed that only by touching baby Freya would he prevent her disappearing like Madeleine McCann, who had vanished three months before the Ganders' trip to France in 2007.   With the tragedy playing on Ben's mind, he even contemplated smashing the car window to get inside.   But his violent antics soon drew a crowd to the lay-by near Biarritz where the family had hastily pulled over, and an ambulance was called to rush the troubled Brit to hospital.   It took four months of psychiatric care before Ben fully recovered from the OCD rituals that plagued him up to ten hours a day, left him an emotional wreck and even drove him to the brink of suicide.   The 33-year-old says: "To anyone who hasn't experienced extreme OCD, my behaviour appears over the top.   "But in my head I had to protect my daughter, and I would stop at nothing to keep her safe.   "What happened to Madeleine McCann scared the s**t out of me.   "I was in a foreign country with my gorgeous daughter, so there were parallels to the McCanns' story.   "The Maddie case got me worried because it showed what little control we have over our lives, and everything came to a head on the way to Biarritz.   "Thankfully I was taken away in an ambulance because that marked the beginning of my recovery from OCD."   (article continues...)

Panama girl, nabbed in '03, said found in Ecuador, 03 July 2009

Panama girl, nabbed in '03, said found in Ecuador NewsOK.com   Published: July 3, 2009   QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Police say an 8-year-old girl in Ecuador is believed to be a Panamanian kidnap victim who was taken from her home as a baby in 2003.   Police Col. Enrique Jacome says Ecuadorean woman Maria del Carmen Medina is suspected of kidnapping the girl when she was 18 months old and registering the child as her own daughter.   He says Medina later moved to Spain and left the girl with her sister.   Panama state attorney Ana Matilde Gomez said Friday that police located the girl after receiving an anonymous tip from someone in Madrid.   She was found in a suburb of the coastal city of Guayaquil in the care of a neighbor of the sister.   Panama officials were flying to Ecuador to confirm the girl's identity through DNA testing.

Will Maddy now be found?, 05 July 2009

Will Maddy now be found? Sunday Express New hope for McCanns as another kidnap girl returns after six years   By Hilary Douglas Sunday July 5, 2009   A GIRL found alive after being kidnapped six years ago has given hope to Gerry and Kate McCann in their anguish for missing daughter Madeleine.   Police found the girl, now eight years old, after a nightmare battle by her distraught parents.   Like the McCanns, they had never given up the search for their missing daughter.   And also similar to Madeleine's disappearance, Monica Serrano, then 18 months old, was snatched from her family as she slept.   She was staying at her grandmother's house in the town of Arraigan in Panama when she went missing on February 8, 2003.   Last night Interpol detectives were carrying out DNA tests to confirm that the little girl now known as Angelis Mitre Castillo is Monica.   She had been living in Guayaquil in Ecuador for some years before police were tipped off that she looked identical to the girl who was kidnapped. Monica, and as she is today Last night the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "This gives Kate and Gerry hope. But they will never ever be satisfied until their daughter is found safe and well.   "It shows that investigators and Interpol can play an important part in finding missing children, but hopefully it will not take nearly this long to find Madeleine."   Just like the McCanns, the Serrano family have fought desperately to find their daughter and struggled to keep the story alive, with regular updates on how she would look as she grew up.   According to the Ecuadorian daily paper Expreso, Ecuadorian authorities said that a woman called Maria del Carmen Medina Reyes brought little "Angelis" to Ecuador, then travelled to Spain having left the child with another women, Matilde Ronquillo.   Police learned two months ago that the child was in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with Oredai Nieto Reyes, sister of Maria, and who had originally turned up with the child out of the blue. "She told us that the girl had been gifted to her," said Nieto Reyes in her declaration to prosecutor Rene Astudio Orellana.   Reyes admitted that she registered the child irregularly as an Ecuadorian with the help of a lawyer and that the child has lived in south Guayaquil since then.   "I thought nothing would happen seeing as I've never been involved in these cases," Nieto Reyes said before police officers and the prosecutor.   According to a local news agency, the woman is now detained by the police. The dramatic rescue began last January when Interpol in Panama was contacted by a mystery woman saying she had seen a little girl in Ecuador who looked amazingly like missing Monica. She had recently seen a newspaper report on the story of the family's torment over their missing daughter.   A source said: "The article was accompanied by a picture where the little girl had been aged to look as she would today and the lady thought the resemblance was too remarkable to be wrong.   "She called up Interpol as their number was given at the end of the newspaper piece."   Castor Serrano, Monica's father, said the prosecutor informed him they were on top of the case and were sending a delegation to Ecuador for further investigation.   Jose Vicente Pachar, from Ecuador's Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Institute, said they would have to wait for the DNA tests to confirm the identity of the child. The Attorney General said yesterday Panama has 48 hours to prove the child is Monica.   Last night investigators working for the McCanns ruled out paedophile Raymond Hewlett as a suspect in Madeleine's disappearance.   They wanted to question the British sex offender after it came to light he was in the Algarve at the time Madeleine went missing.   Madeleine, who is now six years old, was kidnapped while on a family holiday to Praia da Luz in the Algarve in May 2007.   *   Photograph that will give fresh hope to McCanns Sunday Express (paper edition) *   Opinion Sunday Express (appears in paper edition only)   Ray of hope for McCanns   OUR THOUGHTS today are with Kate and Gerry McCann who, we hope, will take heart from the extraordinary news from South America. Six years ago, a little girl disappeared in Panama and has now turned up again, unharmed, in Ecuador. It seems miraculous but her parents, just like the McCanns, never gave up the search.   It proves that there can still be a happy conclusion to their long and painful search for little Madeleine.

The girl that appeared in Ecuador is not the one kidnapped in Panama, but is Panamanian, 05 July 2009

The girl that appeared in Ecuador is not the one kidnapped in Panama, but is Panamanian adn.es/sociedad   Sunday, 05 July 2009 13:22h (12:22h UK time)  Translation by Nigel Moore   The girl that appeared in Ecuador and who it was believed could be Mónica Serrano, the little that was kidnapped in Panama, is not, according to DNA analysis, but she is, it is reported today, Panamanian.   This was announced today by the Panamanian Attorney General Ana Matilde Gómez, noting that the way the girl came to this country is under investigation.   "The girl who is in Ecuador is not Mónica Serrano," said the prosecutor at a press conference to publicize the results of DNA tests that were conducted.   The assistant prosecutor, Luis Martínez, an expert in genetics from the Public Ministry (MP) of Panama travelled to Ecuador on Friday to verify the identity of a girl who the Ecuadorian police said had been kidnapped in Panama and that they believed that this was the child who was taken from her home in Panama seven years ago, when she was just 18-months-old.   The prosecutor did report, however, that the child found by the Ecuadorian police is Panamanian, and that the Public Ministry has been in contact with her genetic parents, a low-income family from the province of Darien, in a depressed area the country.   "The girl who is in Ecuador is Yanelis Miter Castillo," said Ana Matilde Gómez, claiming that, apparently, the biological parents of the girl gave her to a family in Ecuador as "what they call a gift or donation," but that the case is still under investigation.   "There is a law in Panama that prohibits voluntary adoptions since last year, but when this child was born, in 2001, they were permitted," said the attorney, who indicated that at that time the biological mother was 14-years-old.   On February 6, six people were convicted in Panama to six years in prison, in connection with this case, for a crime against the individual liberty of Mónica Milagros Serrano García, while five other defendants were acquitted of the charges.   The attorney Gómez assured that she had spoken with the parents of the kidnapped girl, Pastor Serrano and Mónica García, to express to them her sorrow that it was their daughter and assured them that they will continue looking for the child.   The Panamanian Attorney had contacted Interpol in this country, which in turn contacted their office in Spain to contact an Ecuadorian woman, unidentified, who called to Panama last January to say she had a similar girl who had been "given" in this country, which has turned out to be the adoptive mother of Yanelis Mitre Castillo.

Holiday 'travel packs' now available, 10 July 2009

Holiday 'travel packs' now available findmadeleine.com

Madeleine McCann's new file, 12 July 2009

Madeleine McCann's new file The People   Nigel Nelson  12 July 2009   British Ambassador Alexander Ellis has asked Portuguese police to reopen the Maddie McCann case.   Now the force has promised to look at new evidence into Madeleine's disappearance in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz two years ago just before her fourth birthday.   They had said Maddie was dead and the case was closed. But Foreign minister Chris Bryant said: "The head of the Portuguese criminal investigation police is ready to consider credible new leads which may come to light."   Detectives working for Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry of Rothley, Leics, say the Algarve is awash with paedophiles. In the last four years seven children of tourists have been molested and there are 38 known sex offenders in the area.

Madeleine McCann: Written answers and statements, 29 June 2009

Madeleine McCann theyworkforyou.com   Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs   Written answers and statements, 29 June 2009   David Lidington (Shadow Minister, Foreign Affairs; Aylesbiry, Conservative)   To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government has made any representations to the Portuguese authorities on pursuing its investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in the last six months.   Chris Bryant (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Rhondda, Labour)   Our embassy in Lisbon has continued to raise the case with the Portuguese authorities. The head of the Portuguese Criminal Investigation Police has made clear to the embassy that he is ready to consider any credible new leads mat come to light.

MP responds to complaint about the role of Leicestershire police in the Madeleine McCann case, 21 July 2009

MP responds to complaint about the role of Leicestershire police in the Madeleine McCann case Abuse of Power blogspot   By J Havern 21 July 2009   The following request was sent to Lynne Jones today asking for her help with the campaign for a review into the behaviour of Leicestershire Police in the Madeleine McCann case:   Dear Lynne Jones,   As one of your constituents, I am very concerned about the contents of this letter (link below), which raises serious complaints about the actions of Leicestershire Police and the British government in relation to the mysterious disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Would you please pass my comments to the Prime Minister and make sure that he gives a full answer to all the points raised in this disturbing letter and of course to the petition (link below) which has already easily passed the figure of 500 which automaticaly triggers a written response from Number 10.   http://madeleinefoundation.org/main/2009/07/letter-to-prime-minister-gordon-brown/   http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Britpolicereview/   Yours sincerely,   J Havern   *   Response from Lynne Jones:   21 July 2009   I am not inclined to believe that there is some major conspiracy between the McCanns and the Leicester police - why should the police not be objective? I have no idea what the springer spaniels "sniffed out" and do not habve the resources to investigate. The "evidence" appears to be based on the views of a disgruntled Spanish Police officer. I am, however, happy to forward your concerns to the PM, who will no doubt ask for the response to the petition to be sent to you. It is correct that here will have to be a response to the petition.   Yours sincerely   LYNNE JONES MP   House of Commons London SW1A 0AA   www.lynnejones.org.uk   *   Further response following complaint at first response:   21 July 2009   I am very sorry for the error over the nationality of the police officer. I am afraid I do not have time to read his book and come to a considered view and apologise if I have maligned him in any way. I should not have made any comment without properly reading the information you supplied. However, given that it is impossible to give every subject the time it may deserve, I have to use my judgement to decide how to prioritise the use of my time and resources. I accept that it is entirely up to you to decide whether I have judged appropriately and I have no doubt you will disagree. I have told you I will do as you request and refer the matter to the Prime Minister but I propose to take no further action. You will be pleased to know that you will not have to put up with me as your MP for very much longer as I am not seeking re-election. I am looking forward to getting another springer spaniel after my last one died of old age some years ago.   Yours sincerely LYNNE JONES MP   House of Commons London SW1A 0AA   http://www.lynnejones.org.uk   *   Screenshots: Lynne Jones first response Lynne Jones second response *   Further response following another individuals complaint:   22 July 2009   I have already apologised for this error. I have Spain on my mind as I am learning Spanish.   Yours sincerely LYNNE JONES MP   House of Commons London SW1A 0AA   http://www.lynnejones.org.uk