14 October 2013: Scotland Yard release two e-fit pictures of the same man, in what is seen as a major development in the case.

The two computer e-fits are composed from statements and descriptions given by two members of the Smith family.

Maddy: Pictures of new suspect, 14 October 2013

Maddy: Pictures of new suspect Daily Express (paper edition)   Police issue two photofits of the 'same man' they want to question [text same as per online version] TURN TO PAGE 6 --------------- Madeleine McCann: Police issue images of man they want to track down Daily Express THESE are images of a new suspect police want to track down in the search for Madeleine McCann. By: Cyril Dixon Published: Mon, October 14, 2013   Two e-fit pictures of the same man with a "German connection" were released yesterday in what is seen as a major development in the case. Scotland Yard detectives investigating the disappearance of the girl, who was then three, in Portugal six years ago want to trace the man urgently. They believe he may have been in the vicinity of the McCann family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz as the mystery unfolded. Officers think the man in the computer-generated images may be German-speaking and inquiries and appeals are set to be launched in Germany as well as Holland.   The pictures were released ahead of an appeal for information on tonight's episode of BBC1's Crimewatch. Presenter Kirsty Young interviews Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann and her colleague Matthew Amroliwala visits Praia da Luz in the hour-long programme. A police incident room will be staffed during Crimewatch, together with a dedicated call centre in Hendon, north-west London. Officers from Operation Grange, the Yard's inquiry into the disappearance, believe they now have the clearest picture yet of events on the night Madeleine went missing. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, said his team looked again at the 90-minute period in which Madeleine was taken. The toddler was left in her room by her parents at 8.30pm but was gone when Mrs McCann returned at 10pm. Unconfirmed reports suggest the team may have narrowed the window of significance to a 45-minute slot within that one-and-a-half hours. Det Chief Insp Redwood said: "Our work has significantly changed the timeline and the accepted version of events that has been in the public domain. "It has allowed us to work with Crimewatch to build the most detailed reconstruction yet, and highlight very specific appeal points. "I hope that when the public see our investigative strands drawn together within the overall context of that appeal, it will bring in new information that moves our investigation forward. "Primarily what we sought to do from the beginning is try and draw everything back to zero if you like. Try and take everything back to the beginning and reanalyse and reassess everything, accepting nothing."   The new e-fits were drawn up from information provided by two witnesses who saw the man around Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine vanished in May 2007. Putting a name to the face and tracking him down is one of the team's main priorities, said Det Chief Insp Redwood. Witnesses said he was white, aged between 20 and 40, with short brown hair, of medium build, medium height and clean shaven. "Whilst this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us," said the detective. "We have witnesses placing him in the resort area around the time of Madeleine's disappearance. "This is far from our only line of inquiry and there will be e-fits released of other sightings as well, who we are equally keen to trace." Det Chief Insp Redwood will travel to Germany, Holland and Ireland to launch wider appeals for information. "Praia da Luz is a popular holiday destination for many nationalities," he said, adding: "If you were in and around the Praia da Luz resort on Thursday, 3 May 2007, but you have not yet spoken to police, and you think you may have information, please pass it on. "I would also like to ask for the help of the local community in Praia da Luz." Detective Chief Insp Redwood, added: "We continue to put Madeleine at the heart of our investigation. I would urge people to watch Crimewatch tonight and if you can help identify this man or have any information, please contact us." Mr and Mrs McCann travelled to Germany six years ago to stage their own appeal to the thousands of German tourists who visit the Portuguese resort. Crimewatch's German television equivalent, Aktenzeichen XY...Ungelost – German for File Reference XY...Unsolved – will feature the case on Wednesday. Presenter Rudi Cerne is expected to interview Mr and Mrs McCann as they urge viewers for information. The Dutch appeal will go out tomorrow on Opsporing Verzocht – Investigation Required. The Met team recently revealed a vast log of mobile phone traffic could be crucial. They have interviewed 442 people and identified 41 individuals "of interest", including 15 British nationals. It emerged yesterday that Manchester police have arrested a British man who may have information. The arrest came after a respected barrister told police he met a man at a party who boasted of seeing Madeleine alive on a Mediterranean island this summer. Computers were seized and the man was later bailed pending further inquiries. Scotland Yard last night declined to comment.

Is this the man who took Maddie?, 14 October 2013

Is this the man who took Maddie? Daily Mail (paper edition)   ------------- Is this the man who took Maddie? Scotland Yard releases two e-fits of 'smirking' suspect and promises 'revelation' on tonight's Crimewatch Daily Mail Each image shows the man with an intense stare and a hint of a smile Detectives say he may speak German and be aged between 20 and 40 Suspect also has short brown hair, is medium height and is clean-shaven He was seen near the McCanns' holiday flat on the night Madeleine vanished David Cameron says he is 'pleased Scotland Yard is doing this work' By REBECCA CAMBER and MARTIN ROBINSON PUBLISHED: 00:01, 14 October 2013 | UPDATED: 16:07, 14 October 2013 British detectives hunting for Madeleine McCann today issued two e-fits of a suspect seen carrying a little blonde girl near her parents' holiday apartment on the night she disappeared. Scotland Yard say a family saw him cradling a child in pyjamas, aged around three, and walking away towards the beach in Praia da Luz, Portugal at around 10pm. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said today he could be the man who took Madeleine on May 3, 2007, and that tracing him was of 'vital importance'. Detectives say the suspect may speak German and is white, aged 20 to 40 with short brown hair, medium height and build, and clean-shaven. The images, based on statements from two key witnesses, differ – but each shows him with an intense stare and a hint of a smile.   Suspect: The two e-fit images of the same man seen in Praia da Luz on the night Madeleine disappeared --------------------- Scotland Yard detectives released the computer generated images ahead of a BBC1 Crimewatch appeal tonight, which they hope will result in a major breakthrough. The programme features a reconstruction of the events leading up to Madeleine's disappearance in Praia da Luz on Thursday, May 3, 2007. Madeleine is portrayed gathering tennis balls in echoes of one of the photographs used during the search for her. A short clip released ahead of the broadcast shows Gerry and Kate McCann drawing the curtains to their apartment before joining friends in a tapas restaurant. The reconstruction shows the moment Madeleine was taken from her bed. Prime Minister David Cameron gave his support to the investigation. 'I'm very pleased that Scotland Yard are doing this work,' he said. 'The Government has helped to fund the work that is being done. 'This was a crime that touched the heart of everyone in the country and everyone would like to see it resolved, so I hope Scotland Yard continue with their work and I wish them success.' Likeness: A three-year-old actress reenacts a game of tennis for the reconstruction (left) and a picture of Maddie on the court in 2007 ------------------- TV reconstruction: Actors portray Kate and Gerry McCann having dinner with their friends in the resort ----------------------   Night: Another scene shows Maddie's parents closing the curtains in their room on the night their daughter disappeared ---------------------- The devastated couple – who found themselves suspects in the initial inquiry by Portuguese police – talk about how her disappearance has left a 'huge hole' in their family's life. In a moving interview with Kirsty Young, Kate McCann says: 'We're not the ones that have done something wrong here. It's the person who’s gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family.' Gerry McCann says: 'When it's a special occasion, when you should be your happiest and Madeleine's not there, that's when it really hits home.' His wife adds: 'It's when you have big family occasions really. That's it isn't it? Family occasion and you haven't got your complete family.' Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, will announce 'a revelation moment' in Scotland Yard's £5million investigation. Officers will also release further e-fits – electronic facial identification technique images – of other potential suspects. They are keen to trace at least two German-speaking men who were seen in the Algarve resort that day.   Emotional: An interview with Kate and Gerry McCann will also be shown during the special episode of Crimewatch tonight ------------------- Witnesses reported the sightings to Portuguese police, but little importance was placed on them at the time. Now Scotland Yard says tracing the man in the two e-fits is 'one of the main priorities for the investigation' after scrutinising the time frame when the abduction could have taken place. They are the first to be issued in relation to the Home Office-funded inquiry into the case. Detectives say their timeline and version of events surrounding Madeleine's disappearance has 'significantly changed', making the two witness sightings far more significant than previously thought. Officers are keeping an open mind as to whether more than one person was responsible for the abduction, which they think may be linked to a series of break-ins at the resort. Mr Redwood said: 'Whilst this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us. We have witnesses placing him in the resort area around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance. 'This is far from our only line of inquiry and there will be e-fits released of other sightings as well, who we are equally keen to trace. These people were seen on the day of Madeleine's disappearance and the days leading up to it.' The focus of the hunt for Madeleine, from Rothley, Leicestershire, who would now be ten years old, will move to Germany this week when her parents are expected to travel there to make a TV appeal. On Wednesday the German channel ZDF will feature the BBC Crimewatch reconstruction and release sketches of two German-speaking men in their programme Aktenzeichen XY... Ungelost [File Reference XY... Unsolved]. Publicity for that programme says detectives are now going on the 'offensive', with inquiries focusing on Germany. It adds: 'This is the reason why XY will show sketches of two men who appear to speak German and who have so far been paid little or no importance.' The e-fits will also be shown on Dutch TV as the two 'German speakers' may have been Dutch – the accents sound similar. Tonight's Crimewatch reconstruction will give the most detailed sequence ever made public of the events that led to Madeleine's disappearance. Detectives believe her kidnappers may have been lurking in or near the McCanns’ holiday apartment as her father went to check on his children. Earlier inquiries focused on the period after that, but they now believe the 45 minutes before that could hold the key. Mr Redwood said: 'Our work has significantly changed the accepted version of events and it has allowed us to highlight very specific appeal points. I hope that when the public see our investigative strands drawn together, it will bring in new information that moves our investigation forward.' It emerged yesterday that Greater Manchester Police arrested a man who bragged about seeing Madeleine on a Mediterranean island weeks ago. The man claimed the missing girl had been 'introduced' to him. Police were informed after a barrister, who had a conversation with the man at a party in a Manchester suburb in August, reported his concerns. The man was arrested last month on suspicion of possession of drugs and conspiracy to distribute indecent images of children. A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police refused to comment yesterday, but sources played down the significance of the arrest.

So could this TV reconstruction end the distasteful slurs about Kate and Gerry?, 14 October 2013

So could this TV reconstruction end the distasteful slurs about Kate and Gerry? Daily Mail By SUE REID PUBLISHED: 01:15, 14 October 2013 | UPDATED: 10:04, 14 October 2013 Within a small courtroom at Lisbon's white Palace of Justice, an emotionally charged drama is playing out to a packed public gallery. It concerns an extraordinary and highly contentious allegation in a book by a Portuguese detective that Madeleine McCann was killed in an accident, and that her parents covered up her death. Unsurprisingly, Madeleine's parents protest that this is a cruel, damaging and false accusation. They are suing the policeman, Goncalo Amaral, and claiming almost £1million from him or defamation.   Damaging: Kate and Gerry McCann say accusations in a book published by a Portuguese detective have soured public opinion of them ------------- The couple say that his book, The Truth Of The Lie, has poisoned public opinion against them and hampered their search for their beloved daughter by wickedly making people believe – wrongly – that she is dead. It is the latest chapter in the enduringly sad mystery of what happened to Madeleine. The libel case will culminate in an explosive hearing next month when the main protagonists, Gerry and Kate McCann and Mr Amaral – who led the Portuguese police hunt – each hope to have their say in the witness box. By then we hope to know much more about the events of May 3, 2007, the night of Madeleine's disappearance on the Algarve. Last week, Scotland Yard, which is running a new multi-million-pound inquiry into the case, hinted it is about to make a dramatic breakthrough in its investigation and today's release of e-fits of one suspect will generate worldwide headlines.   TV reconstruction: The couple will be portrayed by actors during tonight's episode of BBC Crimewatch, including a reenactment of the dinner they had with their friends at a nearby restaurant ------------------ These are significant steps in the police inquiry, launched in July and being run from the second floor of Belgravia police station in London, where detectives are studying more than 39,000 documents as well as photographs and files connected to the case. Witness statements, numerous 'sightings' of Madeleine from across the world and Portuguese police files are all being re-examined. Detectives have identified 41 possible suspects, including 15 Britons. And, in what will undoubtedly be a herculean task – considering the data protection laws – the Yard is attempting, by analysing mobile phone records, to identify everyone who was near the McCanns' holiday apartment between April 28 and the night Madeleine disappeared.   Night: Another scene shows Maddie's parents closing the curtains in their room on the night their daughter disappeared --------------------- The new investigation is the fruit of a hugely slick international campaign to make sure people don't forget about Madeleine. It has cost vast amounts of money, much of it public donations to the McCann family in a not-for-profit company called Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited. This was set up 12 days after she went missing, to 'find Madeleine, support her family and bring her abductors to justice'. Annual accounts show the fund's income to March 31, 2012 had reached £3,742,385, including royalties paid for Kate's book, Madeleine, and a donation from a newspaper group in lieu of damages. The campaign, led by the McCann family, has seen a visit to the Pope, promises of support from the then PM Gordon Brown, the involvement of David Cameron, an appearance by Kate and Gerry on the Oprah Winfrey show and posters of Madeleine being distributed to British bookshops as they opened at midnight for the sale of a new Harry Potter book. More than 50million people visited the McCanns' Find Madeleine website in the first 48 hours it was launched – and many millions more have done so since. Nothing quite like this has been seen before and probably never will again. Throughout the entire sad affair there have been claims and counter-claims about what happened on that night in May at the Mark Warner resort in Praia da Luz. It was just before 10pm that Kate McCann left the dinner she was having with her husband and seven English friends at a tapas restaurant and walked the 50 yards back to their apartment to check on her three sleeping children. She slipped in through the patio windows, which the couple had kept unlocked so as to make the checks easier. The twins, two-year-old Sean and Amelie, were soundly asleep – but their sister’s bed was empty. In deep distress, and calling Madeleine's name out loud, Kate ran back to her friends to tell them through tears: 'They've taken her, they've taken her.' The police were called and – initially – said that they were concentrating on the 'missing hour'. Officers thought she had been kidnapped by a stranger between when Gerry had last checked on her at 9.05pm and her mother's awful discovery less than an hour later.   Together: British couple Gerry and Kate McCann arrive at a Lisbon courthouse in 2010 where the case against the former policeman was heard ------------------- But within weeks the police story changed dramatically. It has emerged at the Lisbon libel case, and linked hearings, that both Portuguese detectives and British police who were helping the investigation suddenly suspected that Madeleine had died at the apartment and that her death had been covered up by her parents. More disturbingly, evidence given at the hearings by some of Portugal's most senior policemen peddles that deeply wounding view even today. For example, Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida has said: 'The conclusion... was that the McCann couple simulated the abduction to hide the fact that they had not taken care of their children. 'There was a tragic accident in the apartment that night and they neglected the care of their children. It was the conclusion of both the Portuguese and British police. We have always spoken of a tragic accidental death. There was no murder. The McCanns did not kill her, but concealed the body.' He added that the controversial book by his police colleague was a 'true history of facts', closely based on the actual Portuguese police files: thousands of pages, recordings and film, including the statements of the so-called Tapas Seven, other witnesses at Praia da Luz and forensic evidence. Mr de Almeida claims that suspicions about the McCanns appeared to be confirmed when sniffer dogs, brought from Britain, found traces of blood and the 'smell of death' in the McCanns' holiday apartment. In evidence at the libel trial last week, Luis Neves, head of the Portuguese organised crime and kidnapping unit, went further. He said it was the British police who 'first developed the theory' that Madeleine had died at the apartment. I have discovered that this has been confirmed in diplomatic correspondence sent by the US ambassador to Portugal, Al Hoffman, to the US government about a meeting with his British counterpart, Alexander Wykeham Ellis, four months after Madeleine's disappearance and just after the McCanns were temporarily made suspects by the Portuguese. Views: Goncalo Amaral was originally in charge of the investigation into the disappearance Madeleine and has been supported by his colleagues who say the book is a 'true history of facts' -------------------- Hoffman said in the cable, marked confidential: 'Ellis admitted that the British police had developed the current evidence against the McCann parents, and he stressed that authorities from both countries were working co-operatively.' Of course, the claims have been trenchantly dismissed by the McCanns. Through their trusted spokesman Clarence Mitchell, the couple say the diplomatic cable is 'historical' stuff which no longer has any bearing on their worldwide search for Madeleine. Meanwhile, the Yard investigation is based on the belief that Madeleine was abducted and is still alive. Yet, to the exasperation and dismay of the McCanns, Goncalo Amaral stubbornly sticks to his outlandish thesis. His book suggests – without, the McCanns argue, a shred of justification – that Madeleine woke up while her parents were having supper, having been stirred either by her father checking her at 9.05pm or, minutes later, talking to another holidaymaker in the street outside the bedroom window. At the sound of her father's voice, Madeleine got out of bed, and in a dreadful accident, fell behind the sofa in the living room of the apartment and was killed. Amaral says: 'I think someone discovered the body, concealed it, cleaned everything up, and moved the sofa.' At the Lisbon hearing, police colleagues have given collaborating evidence. One, retired officer Francisco Moita Flores, criticised the Scotland Yard investigation for assuming Madeleine had been kidnapped. No doubt Portuguese detectives such as him, who support Amaral's theory, would question why the Yard and Crimewatch are putting such extensive resources into the hunt for Madeleine, six and a half years after she vanished. In turn, Gerry and Kate's supporters feel anger towards those they accuse of holding discredited and profoundly distasteful theories. Even if Gerry and Kate win their libel case, they will feel it is only a staging post in their efforts to find their daughter. One can only hope that Scotland Yard's efforts will finally produce a breakthrough in this most troubling of cases.

Maddie cops: Find this man, 14 October 2013

Maddie cops: Find this man Daily Mirror (paper edition)   NEW WORLDWIDE HUNT Scotland Yard issues e-fit of stranger and says he's vital to solving case BY TOM PETTIFOR Crime Correspondent Monday, 14 October 2013 THIS is an e-fit of the mystery man being hunted over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. It was issued yesterday by Scotland Yard detectives re-investigating the case of the three-year-old who vanished on holiday in Portugal in May 2007. The computer-generated image is one of two that will be shown as part of a reconstruction of the abduction on BBC's Crimewatch tonight. Det Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: "Tracing and speaking to this man is of vital importance." FULL STORY: PAGES 4&5 ---------------- Madeleine McCann: Police release e-fits of stranger seen lurking near Praia da Luz apartment Daily Mirror By Tom Pettifor | 14 Oct 2013 06:00 Two new witnesses say they saw the man in the Portuguese resort around the time the youngster, then aged three, went missing   They have a face for their prime suspect – now Scotland Yard detectives need a name to go with it as they launch a new bid to solve the six-year riddle of Madeleine McCann's disappearance. Two e-fits of the mystery man were issued yesterday after two witnesses came forward to say that they saw him in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz around the time the youngster, then aged three, went missing. Det Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the re-opened hunt, said: "While this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us." He added: "The e-fits are clear and I would ask the public to look very carefully at them and if they know who he is to please come forward." He has never been identified before because police believed Madeleine had gone missing at a slightly different time on May 3, 2007. The computer generated images will be shown on BBC's Crimewatch tonight – along with a detailed re-enaction of the events surrounding Madeleine's abduction.   DCI Redwood has revealed that some accepted events around the disappearance are wrong and that the "timeline" was also incorrect. For years it was thought that Madeleine was taken at about 9.15pm from her apartment 5a on the ground floor of the Ocean Club complex. However, DCI Redwood said: "The timeline we have now established has given new significance to sightings and movements of people in and around Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine's disappearance. "Our work to date has significantly changed the timeline and the accepted version of events that has been in the public domain to date. "It has allowed us to work with Crimewatch to build the most detailed reconstruction as yet, and highlight very specific appeal points. "I hope that when the public see our investigative strands drawn together within the overall context of that appeal, it will bring in new information that moves our investigation forward." A careful analysis of the timeline has been "absolutely key" to the process, he said, which has meant detectives concentrating on what exactly happened between 8.30pm and 10pm on the night. Finding him has become one of the main priorities of the new investigation after detectives developed a far better understanding of the times when the abduction could have occurred. An exact new timeline has not yet been revealed. The images have been drawn up based on statements and descriptions from the witnesses. They have told police they saw the man on the evening Madeleine vanished. He is white, aged 20-40 years old, with short brown hair, of medium build, medium height and clean shaven. His nationality is not believed to be known. Det Ch Insp Redwood said: "This is far from our only line of inquiry and there will be e-fits released of other sightings as well, who we are equally keen to trace. These people were seen on the day of Madeleine’s disappearance and the days leading up to it." He added that detectives have been able to "make massive steps forward" by drawing together all the material gathered to date and reviewing it as a whole. DCI Redwood said: "We continue to put Madeleine at the heart of our investigation and I would urge people to watch Crimewatch tonight and if you can help identify this man or have any information about our new appeal points please contact us. "Praia da Luz is a popular holiday destination for many nationalities so our requests for help need to be repeated in many different countries. I will be travelling to Holland, Germany and Ireland to seek the support of the public there. "If you were in and around the Praia da Luz resort on Thursday May 3, 2007 but you have not yet spoken to police, and you think you may have information, please pass it on. "I would also like to ask for the help of the local community in Praia da Luz. Portugal is a key country for us to trace any outstanding witnesses and our appeals will be repeated there. "We still have a lot of material to investigate and much work to do. Your information could be the vital piece we need to finally answer what happened to Madeleine." A number of other e-fits are expected to be released by police later today in an effort to identify further potential suspects. They will reportedly include images of two German-speaking men. In a clip from tonight's Crimewatch, released by Scotland Yard, Madeleine's mother Kate tells presenter Kirsty Young: "We're not the ones that has done something wrong here. It's the person who's gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family." The 25-minute appeal will feature "the most detailed reconstruction" of the case yet. Two short clips have been released ahead of the broadcast. The first shows a reconstructed of Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry playing tennis at around 6pm on the day she vanished. Madeleine, dressed in pink shorts, a light pink T-shirt and pink hat, then runs across the court, clutching a batch of tennis balls. A second clip released today shows Kate and Gerry shutting the curtains and closing the sliding patio door of their apartment before joining their friends for dinner later that evening. It was during this period that Madeleine vanished from her bed. At 8.30pm Kate and Gerry went to the nearby Tapas bar for their dinner with seven holiday friends, leaving Madeleine, and twins Sean and Amelie, then 18 months, alone in the apartment. Gerry returned at 9.15pm to see all three children asleep. The McCanns' friend Jane Tanner has said that at about 9.20pm she saw a man walking away from apartment 5a carrying a small child. DCI Redwood said at 10pm Kate went to the apartment to find Madeleine was not there. Police are believed to be focusing on the period between 8.30 and 9.15. They believe the kidnappers may have been lurking in or near the apartment as Gerry went in. DCI Redwood said that police had sought to "try and draw everything back to zero... take everything back to the beginning and then re-analyse and reassess everything, accepting nothing". Madeleine's parents will make a live appeal in the studio during the programme and ahead of the broadcast. Gerry said: "When it's a special occasion, when you should be at your happiest, and Madeleine's not there, that's when it really hits home." Kate added: "It's when you have the big family occasions ... and you haven't got your complete family." Earlier this month, police said phone records may be key to the case after it emerged officers were analysing data from phones belonging to people who were in Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished. Portuguese authorities dropped their investigation into the case in 2008, but Scotland Yard started a review in May 2011. An incident room will be staffed during today's appeal and the days that follow. Appeal films will also be shown in Holland and Germany. A dedicated call centre will also be opened at Hendon, in north-west London. Scotland Yard detectives have interviewed 442 people as part of their review-turned-investigation and hope to track down as many people present in the Portuguese town at the time. Since launching its own investigation, 41 people of interest have been identified by the Metropolitan Police, including 15 UK nationals. The Crimewatch appeal, which will be shown in the UK on BBC One today from 9pm, will also be broadcast in the Netherlands and Germany.

Madeleine McCann erased from Praia da Luz history, 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann erased from Praia da Luz history Daily Mirror By Andy Lines | 14 Oct 2013 00:00 A poster there appeals for info on a crime - but it is for the vandalism of a bowls lawn rather than the abduction of Maddie The poster appeals for information on a crime that happened years ago. It offers a reward and pleads for witnesses to come forward to solve the incident which shocked the local community. But it is not for the abduction of Madeleine McCann. It wants to find vandals who wrecked the bowls club lawn in Praia da Luz two years ago and offers a reward of £4,500. Madeleine McCann has been virtually erased from the town's history. There is nothing to indicate one of the world's most shocking, unsolved crimes ever happened here. Alongside the bowls club poster there is another entitled "Missing" and "reward offered" – it refers to a dog called Toffee which has disappeared. There are no appeals for Madeleine witnesses and even the police station has nothing to help people get in touch with the inquiry. Today's BBC Crimewatch broadcast will not be seen here either as it is not being aired in Portugal. Yesterday, dozens of Brits attended a service at the town's small church, a haven for the McCanns back in 2007. As hymns were sung, other locals outside explained the lack of thought for Madeleine. Ian Clayton, 54, said: "While it sounds harsh, people don't want to think about Maddie. "It was such a shocking and upsetting incident for the entire town. "It was over six years ago and it caused incalculable damage for the town. "People didn't come here because of it and businesses shut and people lost their jobs. "It was devastating."

Madeleine McCann is missing and whoever's to blame, we have to find her, 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann is missing and whoever's to blame, we have to find her Daily Mirror By Fleet Street Fox | 14 Oct 2013 14:28 FleetStreetFox on the new push to find Maddie six years, five months and 11 days after she went missing on holiday Six years ago a little girl disappeared. And that's it - that's pretty much all we know for sure. Madeleine McCann was there one minute and gone the next. She was a few days off her fourth birthday. It's actually been six years, five months and 11 days since it happened. She'd be 10 now, on the cusp of adolescence, getting excited about going up to 'big school', and badgering her parents for Christmas presents. Instead her parents are on Crimewatch tonight - and several other crime-solving programmes across Europe - publicising a new police investigation which is throwing up new leads and suspects. No-one has seen much of it apart from a brief trailer, and no-one at all has heard what the new information might be. That hasn't stopped an awful lot of people having their say, with everything from off-colour jokes to wild accusations. Not one person who makes them knows what's actually true. They're not criminal psychologists, they haven't sifted the evidence, and most of them can't begin to imagine what it must be like for your child to just drop off the radar like that. It says a lot about human beings that the ability to presume the worst of strangers, on the basis of no evidence at all, is as undiminished today as it was when we crawled out of the swamp. Perhaps the worst is true; stranger, and worse things have happened. But the fact is we don't know anything much beyond the fact that little girl was last seen sleeping in her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007. That doesn't stop anyone weighing in, however. The internet is awash with conspiracy theorists, armchair investigators, the well-intentioned, and just plain bored. Having been one of the many who reported on Madeleine's disappearance, I get sporadic abuse from these sorts for covering up a child's murder. Which is nice. Obviously if I knew a child had been killed my first reaction would be to protect those responsible then earn online notoriety in the hope of one day having my crime exposed by someone who would need a run-up to get their head around simple arithmetic. In fact having been a news reporter since I was 18, my first reaction is to look hard at stuff and then tell other people about it. You can make your own minds up, if you feel like reading it. 1. Praia da Luz consists of dust and rocks. There's nowhere to dispose of a body. If Madeleine was there, and dead, she'd have been found by now. There were some roadworks going on at the time she disappeared, and there was an oft-quoted theory among journalists covering the story she could have wandered into the night on her own and tipped in a hole, only to be covered up next day by unsuspecting roadworkers. As far as I know they've yet to have a look. 2. Kate and Gerry McCann were not as careful as they could have been. Hindsight makes this obvious, but the restaurant they were eating in with friends while taking it in turns to look in on their children was not as close as it seemed. It was within the same holiday complex, but between it and their apartment door were two high hedges customers could not see over, and a swimming pool. To check on their children they had to walk out of the complex, up the road for 80 yards, and back in again - and Madeleine was old enough to be able to open the door and wander out looking for her parents. The resort also boasted a babysitting service and there was no reason not to use it, if you felt like a night out. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE MURDERERS. Nor does it constitute criminal neglect as some suggest - it's a mistake, and one they've no doubt thought about quite a lot. 3. The local police, once informed, made the Keystone Cops look like Poirot. They didn't close the borders that were a short drive away, they didn't watch the ports, they stamped all over the apartment and ground fag ash into the carpet. Thanks to the efforts of CSI Praia da Luz, any trace of intruders was lost, the first vital hours in which Madeleine was most likely to found were wasted, and while they collected mobile phone data they didn't bother to properly analyse it. 4. It's an unpleasant fact of life that most people who kill or abuse children are family members. Predatory paedophiles are rare. When they do strike, it's all over and done pretty quickly. The victims are dead and disposed of within a few hours. In those hours Kate and Gerry McCann were running around Praia da Luz and talking to the police, and if they were abusive parents there’d be clear signs to their relatives and friends they were holidaying with. None have been discovered. 5. If it wasn't Kate or Gerry, and if a body hasn't been discovered, there's only two options left. Either Madeleine was disposed of as thoroughly as April Jones – to the extent where there's only a few bone fragments left lying around somewhere – or she's still alive. If she's still alive, she needs to be found and returned to her family, and we all need to hope that Portugal doesn't have its own version of Ariel Castro. If she's dead, she needs to be found, laid to rest, and her killer brought to justice. Either way the Portuguese police need to get their backsides kicked all the way to Lisbon for their shocking contempt for basic police techniques, and for wasting months treating the McCanns as suspects when it got them not one step closer to finding Madeleine. Personally I'd like to see the insane, vicious and unjustified half of Twitter suffer a sudden attack of logic and get in touch with their nicer sides to the extent they wonder what kind of scum they could be if they've spent six years accusing innocent parents of infanticide. But regardless of what we know, think we know, or imagine someone told us once, there's really only one thing that matters. There is a little girl who disappeared on May 3, 2007. No-one knows where she is, and we need to find out – for all our sakes.

Maddie: Face of the snatcher, 14 October 2013

Maddie: Face of the snatcher Daily Star (paper edition)   POLICE have revealed the face of a man they suspect of snatching Madeleine McCann. They released two e-fits of the possible culprit and said tracing him was of "vital importance". Full story and more pics: P4-5 -----------------   ------------------------- Madeleine McCann: The face of the snatcher Daily Star POLICE have revealed the face of the man who may have snatched Madeleine McCann. By Jerry Lawton / Published 14th October 2013   Detectives released two computer-generated e-fits of a suspect they are desperate to track down. He was spotted in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz shortly before the three-year-old vanished on May 3, 2007. Police said that tracing him was of "vital importance" and "one of the main priorities" in a renewed bid to find the missing youngster. The images were compiled from descriptions given by two different witnesses.   Detectives are convinced they saw the same person on the evening Madeleine vanished. While both show a clean-shaven white man with short brown hair, he has a square jaw in one e-fit but a much thinner face in the other. Last night Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood, leading the Metropolitan Police's Operation Grange, issued a Europe-wide appeal for anyone who recognises the man to come forward. He said: "I am asking the public for their help. "While this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us. "We have witnesses placing him in the resort area around the time of Madeleine's disappearance. "Praia da Luz is a popular holiday destination for many nationalities so our requests for help need to be repeated in many different countries. "I will be travelling to Holland, Germany and Ireland to seek the support of the public there. "If you were in and around the Praia da Luz resort on Thursday, May 3, 2007, and you think you may have information, please pass it on. "The e-fits are clear and I would ask the public to look very carefully at them." Witnesses described the suspect as white, aged 20 to 40, of medium height and build, with short brown hair. The e-fits follow a two-year review by British detectives of the original Portuguese police-led investigation. They are studying almost 40,000 documents compiled by officers who originally worked on the case, both in Portugal and in the McCanns' home force of Leicestershire – plus the work of eight teams of private detectives. Madeleine was abducted while her doctor parents Kate and Gerry, both 45, dined with pals in a nearby tapas bar. But detectives say the youngster, who would now be 10, could still be alive. They say their inquiries have altered the timeline of events that emerged from the original inquiry and this has brought the new suspect into the frame. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Work by detectives has given them a far greater understanding of the times when the abduction could have taken place. This in turn has made the statements from the two witnesses far more significant. "One of the main priorities for the investigation is being able to identify the man who is being described." The e-fits will be one of a number relating to "persons of interest" expected to be shown on a Crimewatch live special on BBC1 tonight – along with a fresh TV appeal by the McCanns themselves. The programme will also feature a reconstruction of the hours leading up to Madeleine's disappearance. A three-year-old actress playing the youngster will be seen bringing to life the iconic photo of Madeleine, dressed in a pink sunhat and shorts, collecting yellow tennis balls on one of the resort's courts. An actor playing Gerry is seen sliding shut the door to the family's apartment as he and Kate set off for dinner, leaving Madeleine and her two-year-old twin siblings Sean and Amelie asleep inside. The couple are shown smiling happily as their Brit pals – the so-called Tapas Seven – join them at a restaurant table. The focus of the inquiry is now on the period between 8.30pm, when the McCanns set off for dinner and 10pm, when they found she had vanished. Rejecting criticism of their decision to leave their children that night, Kate tells Crimewatch presenter Kirsty Young: "We're not the ones who have done something wrong here. "It's the person who has gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family." Det Chief Insp Redwood said the e-fits were "far from our only line of inquiry". He added: "There will be e-fits released of other sightings who we are equally keen to trace. These people were seen on the day of Madeleine's disappearance and the days leading up to it. "If you can help identify this man or have any information about our new appeal points, please contact us." He added: "We still have a lot of material to investigate and much work to do." Police have set up a call centre in Hendon, north London, to receive information from the public. A six-strong team of Portuguese detectives is waiting to assist Met officers with their inquiries there. Yesterday it was revealed that police in Manchester arrested a man who may have information about Madeleine's whereabouts. Officers swooped after the man told a barrister he had seen the youngster on a Mediterranean island this summer. He was later bailed pending further inquiries. Scotland Yard last night declined to comment on the arrest. Crimewatch is on BBC1 tonight at 9pm.

Irish couple key witnesses as British police launch new enquiry into Madeleine McCann case, 14 October 2013

Irish couple key witnesses as British police launch new enquiry into Madeleine McCann case Irish Central Identikit photos of main suspect to be broadcast on BBC television on Monday By PATRICK COUNIHAN, IrishCentral Staff Writer Published Monday, October 14, 2013, 7:56 AM   Updated Monday, October 14, 2013, 9:20 AM An Irish couple will feature in a major campaign on British television on Monday to find those responsible for the 2007 disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann from a Portuguese resort. Drogheda couple Martin and Mary Smith have provided key evidence to a new investigation by British police into the McCann case. New computer generated images of a man the Smiths say they saw carrying a young girl through a side-street in the resort of Praia da Luz at the time Madeleine vanished are to be broadcast on BBC television on Monday night. The Irish Sun report that the computer e-fits of the prime suspect were composed from statements and descriptions given by two members of the Smith family. Drogheda man Martin was holidaying on the Algarve with his wife Mary, daughter Aoife, son Peter and other family members at the time Madeleine disappeared. They have again told police of their experience on the night in question when they saw a man carrying a young girl, three or four years old and in a deep sleep, down a street in the seaside resort. Martin has told the BBC programme that the man was carrying the child along the middle of a deserted side street in an uncomfortable position with her head slumped against him. The report says she had pale 'typically British' skin, blonde shoulder-length hair and wore light coloured or pink pyjamas which match the description of those Madeleine was wearing that night. The Smiths gave descriptions to Portuguese police two days after the disappearance but no e-fits or sketches were ever produced until now. The man described by the Smiths is now the central figure in a new gallery of potential suspects to be released by English police's Operation Grange inquiry into the case. The images will be broadcast in a special edition of BBC One show Crimewatch on Monday night. Madeleine's mum Kate told the programme: "We're not the ones that have done something wrong here. "It's the person who's gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family." Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: "The e-fits are clear and I'd ask the public to look very carefully at them." The Irish Sun reports that one image shows the suspect square-jawed and chubby-faced. In the other he is leaner. A Scotland Yard police spokesman said: "It's two different people's version of the same suspect." The Smiths saw the man at around 10pm, around the same time that Kate discovered Madeleine was missing from the family's apartment.

We saw him carrying girl like Maddie down empty side street, 14 October 2013

We saw him carrying girl like Maddie down empty side street Irish Sun – Tourists Martin and Mary Smith Is this Madeleine's abductor? ... two descriptions of the man the Smith family saw carrying a small blonde girl By MIKE SULLIVAN, Crime Editor Published: 14 October 2013 NEW images show the man an Irish family insist they saw carrying a girl like Madeleine McCann in the resort of Praia da Luz around the time she vanished. Details ... the wanted man The two computer e-fits of the prime suspect were composed from statements and descriptions given by two members of the Smith family. Martin Smith — holidaying with wife Mary, daughter Aoife, son Peter plus other family members — said the girl was three or four and in a deep sleep. The man was carrying her along the middle of a deserted side street in an uncomfortable position with her head slumped against him. She had pale "typically British" skin, blonde shoulder-length hair and wore light coloured or pink pyjamas — like those Madeleine was wearing that night. Mr Smith, Aoife and Peter gave descriptions to Portuguese police two days later but no e-fits or sketches were produced. The man is the central figure in a gallery of potential suspects being released today by the Metropolitan Police's Operation Grange inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine, then three, in May 2007. Disappeared ... Madeleine McCann   They will feature in a special edition of BBC1 show Crimewatch, to be screened tonight. On the show Madeleine's mum Kate, 45, says: "We're not the ones that have done something wrong here. "It's the person who's gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family." The programme will also feature a reconstruction. Stills from the show were released last night showing actors playing the part of Kate, Gerry and Madeleine. The film is also being shown in Holland and Germany, where Kate and Gerry are due to take part in a live interview on Wednesday. Crimewatch ... Gerry and Kate McCann on TV They will be appealing for information about two unidentified men seen in Praia da Luz, whom witnesses describe as speaking German or possibly Dutch. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: "The e-fits are clear and I'd ask the public to look very carefully at them and if they know who this person is please come forward." One image shows the suspect square-jawed and chubby-faced. In the other he is leaner. Scotland Yard said: "It's two different people's version of the same suspect." TV film ... actors playing couple in recreation The suspect is white, clean-shaven, medium height and build, with short brown hair and aged between 20 to 40. The Smiths, from Drogheda, Co Louth, say they saw him around 10pm — about the time Kate discovered Madeleine was missing from the family's apartment. Jane Tanner, a friend of the McCanns who had been in a restaurant with them on the night Madeleine vanished, has previously said she saw a man at 9.15pm carrying a little girl in pyjamas.

Wanted man: British detectives issue efits of Madeleine McCann suspect, 14 October 2013

Wanted man: British detectives issue efits of Madeleine McCann suspect The Guardian (paper edition)   ---------------- British detectives release efits of Madeleine McCann suspect The Guardian Despite being placed at the crime scene by two people on the night in question the man has never come forward Sandra Laville, crime correspondent Monday 14 October 2013 The face of a suspect in the investigation of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been released to the public by detectives. Police have issued two efits that they believe are descriptions of the same man, who is now being sought as a priority by the British detectives leading the new McCann inquiry. He was seen in the vicinity of the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal six years ago at the time that the three-year-old went missing. Despite numerous appeals for information over the years, the man has not come forward to talk to investigators in Portugal or Britain. Descriptions of the suspect were given to the Portuguese inquiry by two witnesses after Madeleine disappeared. It is only now, after Metropolitan police detectives cross-referenced all the information gathered by Portuguese detectives, private investigators and the mobile phone data from the resort, that the significance of the witness statements has been fully understood. In an appeal to be broadcast on Monday night on BBC1's Crimewatch, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood of the Metropolitan police will call for anyone who recognises the man to contact him immediately. A 25-minute reconstruction of the events of 3 May 2007, with a child actor playing Madeleine, will also demonstrate that the accepted account and timeline of events on the night she went missing six years ago is wrong, police say. "The efits are clear and I would ask the public to look very carefully at them," Redwood said. "If you know who this person is, please come forward. "Whilst this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us. We have witnesses placing him in the resort area around the time of Madeleine's disappearance." The significance of the man has come to light as detectives have analysed tens of thousands of documents from the original investigation and mobile phone footprints in the resort on the night the child went missing. Redwood said: "Our work to date has significantly changed the timeline and the accepted version of events that has been in the public domain to date." Redwood is leading the £5m British investigation into the suspected abduction of Madeleine in May 2007 while her family were on holiday in Praia da Luz. The inquiry is focusing on 41 suspects and requests for assistance have been issued to 30 countries in a bid to identify and eliminate these people, 15 of whom are British. Crimewatch will feature other efits of individuals that the police would also like to trace. But it is this man in particular whom detectives are very keen on finding. The man was described by the two witnesses as being inside the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz area on the evening that Madeleine went missing from the apartment. Redwood will travel to Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland to repeat his appeal as detectives from the British investigation attempt to close in on the man. He was described by the witnesses as white, aged between 20 and 40, with short brown hair, of medium build, medium height and clean shaven. Redwood will outline the new theory of what happened on Crimewatch on Monday, in a 25-minute reconstruction which he said amounted to the most detailed narrative yet of what happened. It dramatises the hours before Madeleine's disappearance, with the child actor dressed in a floppy hat, T-shirt and shorts, filmed running around picking up tennis balls on the court where her parents played that afternoon. Later, the film shows the couple leaving apartment 5a, where their three children – Madeleine, then three, and twins Sean and Amelie, 18 months – slept inside, and sitting down with their friends at a pool-side table in a tapas bar a few hundred yards away. At 8.30pm Kate and Gerry McCann went for dinner with seven friends, leaving the children, who were checked on at least twice, according to Kate McCann's autobiography. The McCanns' friend, Jane Tanner has said that at about 9.15pm she saw a man carrying a small child, walking away from apartment 5a. That man has never been traced. At 10pm Redwood said Madeleine's mother found the child gone when she checked the apartment. By putting these 90 minutes under intense scrutiny, Redwood's team have established new theories about the events and exactly when Madeleine was abducted. In an interview with Crimewatch, Kate McCann said: "We are not the ones that have done something wrong here. It's the person who has gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family." Redwood said: "Through meticulously drawing together specific information, the team has been able to refocus the timeline and now places more significance on events that night. "The timeline we have now established has given new significance to sightings and movements of people in and around Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine's disappearance. "I hope that when the public sees our investigative strands drawn together within the overall context of that appeal, it will bring in new information that moves our investigation forward." Crimewatch will be broadcast on BBC1 at 9pm on Monday. Timeline 3 May 2007 Kate and GerryMcCann leave their three children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz while they dine with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant. Madeleine is missing when her mother checks at 10pm. 17 June Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa admits vital forensic clues may have been destroyed in the hours after Madeleine's disappearance as the scene was not protected properly. 11 August Exactly 100 days after Madeleine disappeared, investigating officers publicly acknowledge for the first time that she could be dead. 28 April 2010 Near the third anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, Gerry McCann says it is "incredibly frustrating" that police in Portugal and the UK had not been actively looking for Madeleine "for a very long time". 12 May 2011 In an open letter in the Sun newspaper, the McCanns ask the prime minister to launch an "independent, transparent and comprehensive" review of all information relating to the disappearance of their daughter. 13 May 2011 David Cameron writes to the McCanns telling them the home secretary will set out "new action". Metropolitan police begin a review. 4 July 2013 The Met says it has new evidence. It says it is investigating 38 "persons of interest" after launching a formal investigation. 14 October Detectives release an efit of a man they want to identify. There is a new reconstruction on Crimewatch of the events of the night. The e-fit pictures, showing a white male, aged between 20 and 40, with short brown hair, were compiled by separate witnesses who both spotted him in the resort of Praia da Luz on the evening the three year-old disappeared. While the two pictures appear to show a person with slightly different features detectives are convinced it is the same person they are seeking. The images will be broadcast tonight on the BBC's Crimewatch programme as part of a renewed international appeal. Madeleine disappeared on the evening of May 3 2007 as she slept in her family's holiday apartment on the Algarve with her younger brother and sister. Her parents were dining a short distance away with a group of friends at a Tapas restaurant within the resort's complex and realised she was missing when they checked on her at around 10pm.

Madeleine McCann's disappearance – timeline, 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann's disappearance – timeline The Guardian It has been six years since the three-year-old disappeared from her holiday apartment. Here are major developments since then Simon Jeffery Monday 14 October 2013 11.48 BST ---------- 2007 ----------- 3 May Madeleine disappears from a holiday apartment at the Ocean Club resort in the Algarve village of Praia da Luz, while her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dine with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant. 4 May The McCanns make an emotional plea for Madeleine's safe return, directly appealing to their daughter's abductors and speaking of their "anguish and despair". 25 May In their first interviews, the McCanns say the guilt of not being with Madeleine will never leave them. Police release a description of the man seen carrying a child on the night of Madeleine's disappearance. 6 June Madeleine's parents deny any involvement in her abduction when questioned by a German journalist at a press conference in Berlin. 16 June A British couple report seeing a small blonde girl in the Maltese capital, Valletta. A full-scale investigation is launched in the wake of a number of other possible sightings. 17 June Portuguese police say Madeleine's friends and family may have unwittingly destroyed vital evidence in the first few hours after her presumed abduction, during their search for her. 28 June Spanish police arrest an Italian man and a Portuguese woman suspected of trying to extort money from Madeleine's parents by offering them information about the missing girl. 6 July Dutch police reveal they have arrested a man in Eindhoven suspected of attempting to defraud Gerry and Kate McCann by demanding €2m (£1.35m) for information on Madeleine's whereabouts. 6 August A Portuguese newspaper reports that British sniffer dogs have found traces of blood on a wall in the apartment where Madeleine went missing. A Portuguese paper, the Jornal de Noticias, claims detectives now believe it is most likely that Madeleine is dead, having been killed accidentally. 15 August Blood traces found in the bedroom where Madeleine was sleeping the night she was snatched were not hers, the Times reports. Forensic results show the blood came from a man, it adds. 31 August It emerges that the McCanns are to launch a libel action against a Portuguese newspaper that claimed police believed they killed their daughter. The action will be against the Tal & Qual paper, based in Oporto. 6-8 September Kate McCann arrives at a Portuguese police station to face further questioning by detectives. Both McCanns are declared official suspects (arguido) after police questioning. 9 September The McCanns return to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, with their twins, Sean and Amelie. 10 September Portuguese police sources suggest DNA tests prove Madeleine's body was in the boot of a car hired by her parents 25 days after she disappeared. Some DNA experts doubt the claims. 11 September A dossier outlining the police case against the McCanns is passed to the local prosecutor, José Cunha de Magalhães e Meneses, who then asks a judge to assess the information. 18 September Clarence Mitchell, a former BBC reporter, confirms he has resigned as the head of the government's media monitoring unit to become the spokesman for the McCann family. His salary is paid by a Cheshire businessman, Brian Kennedy. 19 September The Evora district attorney general, Luís Bilro Verão, rules there is not enough evidence to justify further questioning of the McCanns about the disappearance of their daughter. 2 October The police officer in charge of the inquiry, Gonçalo Amaral, is removed from the case and demoted for criticising British police involvement in the investigation. 16 November Jane Tanner, one of the McCann family's closest friends and part of the so-called Tapas Seven, says she saw a man carrying a sleeping child away from the holiday apartments 45 minutes before Kate McCann discovered her daughter was missing. ---------------   2008 ----------------   13 February Portuguese authorities say the search for Madeleine is winding down, more than nine months after she vanished. 19 March The Daily Express and the Daily Star carry unprecedented front-page apologies for publishing more than 100 articles on the disappearance of Madeleine, some of which suggested her parents were involved in her death. The papers pay £550,000 in damages. 7 April Portuguese police arrive in the UK to be present as Leicestershire constabulary officers begin interviewing the Tapas Seven. 3 May The first anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance is marked with a renewed appeal for information and church services in Portugal and the UK. 7 July Leicestershire police agree to share with the McCanns 81 pieces of information from their investigation. The McCanns ask to have access to Portuguese police files, too. 15 July Robert Murat, a British expat living in Praia da Luz, wins about £600,000 in damages from 11 British newspapers and Sky News for defamatory reports of his involvement in the disappearance. 24 July A book by the former head of the investigation, Amaral, is published claiming that Madeleine died in her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. 4 August The Portuguese police file on the disappearance is made public. It shows that days before the McCanns were formally named as suspects, a British scientist had warned that tests on DNA recovered from the family's hire car were inconclusive. It also shows that during a subsequent interview with Portuguese police, Kate McCann refused to answer 48 questions about her daughter, apparently fearing they were intended to implicate her in the girl's disappearance. 15 October The Tapas Seven receive a reported £375,000 in damages from Express Newspapers. ----------- 2009 ----------- 10 March Gerry McCann, appearing before MPs, calls for more stringent regulation of the press and labels coverage of his daughter's disappearance as some of the most "irresponsible and damaging" in press history. 1 May A digitally enhanced image of how Madeleine might look now is revealed as the second anniversary of her disappearance approaches. 17 May The McCanns announce they are to sue Amaral over claims made in his book that Madeleine died in her family's apartment and the parents were involved in hiding the body. 3 November A one-minute video message – produced in seven languages – is launched by Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, showing new images of how the girl might look more than two years after her abduction. -------------- 2010 --------------- 28 April Near the third anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, Gerry McCann says it is "incredibly frustrating" that police in Portugal and the UK have not been actively looking for Madeleine "for a very long time". ------------ 2011 ----------------- 12 May In an open letter in the Sun newspaper, the McCanns ask the prime minister to launch an "independent, transparent and comprehensive" review of all information relating to the disappearance of their daughter. 13 May David Cameron writes to the McCanns telling them the home secretary will set out "new action". The Metropolitan police begin a review. 23 November The McCanns appear as witnesses at the Leveson inquiry into press standards. Kate McCann says she felt "totally violated" after the publication by the News of the World of her personal diaries and Gerry McCann says he believes British newspapers declared "open season" on them a few months after Madeleine's disappearance. -----------------   2013 ------------------ 4 July The Metropolitan police say they have new evidence. They say they are investigating 38 "persons of interest" after launching a formal investigation. 14 October Detectives release an efit of a man they want to identify. There is a new reconstruction on Crimewatch of the events on the night of Madeleine's disappearance.

Madeleine McCann suspect was seen carrying blonde child, 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann suspect was seen carrying blonde child The Guardian Man pictured in new efits was seen carrying infant from direction of Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz, say police Peter Walker and Sandra Laville Monday 14 October 2013 15.13 BST Embedded video (as previously): Madeleine McCann: efit suspect was 'carrying blonde child' A man whose new efit image was released by police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was seen carrying a young blonde child, possibly wearing pyjamas, on the night in question, the officer leading the investigation has said. In what police are describing as a new understanding of events on the night of 3 May 2007, witnesses described seeing the brown-haired man carrying an infant from the direction of the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal, towards either the centre of town or the beach, said Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading a Metropolitan police review of the case. The sighting took place at about 10pm, notably later than police's previous assumption of when Madeleine, three, was taken from the family's apartment. Redwood said it was vital that police learned the identity of the man, described as white and aged in his 30s, with short brown hair, of medium build and clean-shaven. The child he was carrying was aged three to four, blonde, and may have been wearing pyjamas. Redwood said: "A new understanding of events on the evening Madeleine disappeared has resulted in a renewed focus of the investigation. There may be an entirely innocent explanation of this man but we need to establish who he is to assist with our inquiries." The efit images and new line of inquiry will feature in a BBC Crimewatch programme to be broadcast on Monday evening, which will feature a long reconstruction of events leading up to Madeleine's disappearance. The efits and description are among a wealth of evidence from Portuguese detectives and private investigators, as well as mobile phone data from the resort, re-examined by the Met. Redwood is leading the £5m British investigation into the suspected abduction of Madeleine. The inquiry is focusing on 41 suspects, and requests for assistance have been issued to 30 countries in an attempt to identify and eliminate these people, 15 of whom are British. Crimewatch will feature efits of other individuals that the police would also like to trace. But it is this man in particular whom detectives are very keen on finding. Redwood will travel to Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland to repeat his appeal as detectives from the British investigation attempt to close in on the man. Monday night's 25-minute BBC reconstruction dramatises the hours before Madeleine's disappearance, with a child actor dressed in a floppy hat, T-shirt and shorts filmed running around picking up tennis balls on the court where her parents played that afternoon. Later, the film shows the couple leaving apartment 5a, where their three children – Madeleine, and twins Sean and Amelie, then 18 months – slept inside, and sitting down with their friends at a poolside table in a tapas bar a few hundred yards away. At 8.30pm Kate and Gerry McCann went for dinner with seven friends, leaving the children, who were checked on at least twice, according to Kate McCann's autobiography. The McCanns' friend Jane Tanner has said that at about 9.15pm she saw a man carrying a small child walking away from apartment 5a. At 10pm Madeleine's mother found the child gone when she checked the apartment. In an interview with Crimewatch, Kate McCann said: "We are not the ones that have done something wrong here. It's the person who has gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family." Crimewatch will be broadcast on BBC1 at 9pm on Monday.

Madeleine McCann's abductors should beware, the police will not give up, 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann's abductors should beware, the police will not give up The Guardian This is not the time to criticise parenting or policing, it is time to pause and consider the developments in the case Jim Gamble Monday 14 October 2013 17.30 BST A social worker once told me that when faced with a highly emotive child protection situation, the most important thing is having the presence of mind to pause. As Kipling put it, to "keep your head when all about you/ Are losing theirs." Pausing to plan a response in a crisis is critical. When Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007, police in Portugal were faced with a difficult and highly charged scenario, no doubt made more complex by parental anxiety, along with language and cultural differences. As those first few hours disappeared in confusion and miscommunication, valuable minutes will have been lost. As hours turned to days there was little sense of pause, planning or direction, but no shortage of offers to help. There wasn't a policing agency in the UK that did not want to do all that it could to assist in the search for the little girl, whose picture was embedded in the public's conscience. As the months rolled by with no sign of Madeleine, for a period of time her parents became aguidos, suspects, in the investigation. The only unusual thing about that was that it did not happen earlier; investigators always clear the ground beneath their feet and in doing this you look at the parents. Many people have opinions about Kate and Gerry McCann. The rights and wrongs of their meal at the tapas bar and their approach to checking on the children. I am of the view that there but for the grace of God go I. For those perfect parents who have never left their children for a moment, think on this: if that was a lapse, they have paid a terrible price for it and they are still living the nightmare. No one but the person who took Madeleine is to blame for what has happened to her. Others ask why all the attention for one child when so many go missing? They confuse children pushed or pulled from their homes in the UK by unhappy circumstances, sexual predators and so-called friends, with cases like Madeleine and Ben Needham. In the first instance the majority of those who go missing in the UK return home within 72 hours. They need greater attention, more resources and focus but their circumstances are different. Cases like Ben Needham and Madeleine, missing and suspected abducted abroad, are thankfully rare. As the Metropolitan police investigation begins to gather pace, we have heard of new persons of interest, thousands of lines of inquiry, including highly valuable telecoms data and, critically, a much-improved working relationship with their Portuguese colleagues. All of that must be welcomed and while there will come a point to reflect on why some of this has taken so long, this is not that time. Whether you were in Praia De Luz in May 2007 or not, you might hold the key, that piece of information which identifies a person or event, possibly even a phone number. Pause for a moment and consider the significant developments the police are sharing. Listen to the new timeline and look at the efit images. Someone out there knows, or has harboured suspicions, in either case now is the time to come forward. The person or people responsible have an uncomfortable week ahead. They probably thought they had weathered the storm but it's time for them to start looking over their shoulder again. Thanks to her parents' persistent campaigning, the search for Madeleine goes on.

Madeleine suspect: police release e-fit images, 14 October 2013

Madeleine suspect: police release e-fit images The Daily Telegraph (paper edition)   ------------------ Madeleine McCann: E-fits of 'suspect' released The Telegraph Detectives hunting for missing Madeleine McCann have issued two images of a man they urgently want to trace as part of the investigation. Undated e-fit image issued by the Metropolitan Police of one of two e-fit images believed by detectives to be of the same man seen in the Portuguese town of Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine McCann's disappearance. Photo: PA ---------------------   By Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent 12:01AM BST 14 Oct 2013 The e-fit pictures, showing a white male, aged between 20 and 40, with short brown hair, were compiled by separate witnesses who both spotted him in the resort of Praia da Luz on the evening the three year-old disappeared. While the two pictures appear to show a person with slightly different features detectives are convinced it is the same person they are seeking. The images will be broadcast tonight on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme as part of a renewed international appeal. Madeleine disappeared on the evening of May 3 2007 as she slept in her family's holiday apartment on the Algarve with her younger brother and sister. Her parents were dining a short distance away with a group of friends at a Tapas restaurant within the resort's complex and realised she was missing when they checked on her at around 10pm. Detectives from Scotland Yard, who have been leading a fresh investigation into Madeleine's abduction, will use tonight's programme to also reveal significant new thinking around the timeline of the events leading up to her disappearance. A detailed reconstruction of the McCann family's movements on the afternoon and evening of May 3, 2007, will be broadcast in the hope of jogging someone's memory and unlocking a crucial clue. More than 440 witnesses have been spoken to by officers, who have spent two years reviewing all the evidence collected by Portuguese police and private detectives. As well as identifying 41 "persons of interest", the Scotland Yard inquiry – dubbed Operation Grange - has thrown up a number of potential suspects who witnesses have been able to describe in detail. A spokesman for the Operation Grange team said detectives now had a far more detailed understanding of the times when an abduction could have taken place and this had given the statements from two witnesses particular significance. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, said: "Today I am asking the public for their help. "Whilst this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us. "We have witnesses placing him in the resort area around the time of Madeleine's disappearance. "This is far from our only line of inquiry and there will be e-fits released of other sightings as well, who we are equally keen to trace. These people were seen on the day of Madeleine's disappearance and the days leading up to it." The Portuguese authorities shelved their investigation into Madeleine's disappearance in July 2008, forcing her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, to employ teams of private detectives to continue the hunt. But in May 2011, four years after her disappearance, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, with the backing of Prime Minster David Cameron, ordered Scotland Yard to begin a review of all the evidence. Earlier this summer the Metropolitan Police announced the review was being turned into a formal investigation with more than 30 detectives and police staff working on the case full time. After months of careful negotiations, their counterparts in Portugal, the Policia Judiciaria, agreed to co-operate and there are now six dedicated officers based in Faro on the Algarve. The e-fit images are seen as a significant step forward in the investigation, but it is hoped the Crimewatch reconstruction will also throw up some fresh lines of inquiry, despite the passage of time. The appeals will also be broadcast in Germany and Holland where many of the tourists staying in Praia da Luz at the time were from. DCI Redwood explained: "Where we have been able to make massive steps forward is by drawing together all the material gathered to date, and reviewing it as a whole. "We continue to put Madeleine at the heart of our investigation and I would urge people to watch Crimewatch tonight and if you can help identify this man or have any information about our new appeal points please contact us. He added: "If you were in and around the Praia da Luz resort on Thursday, 3 May 2007, but you have not yet spoken to police, and you think you may have information, please pass it on. "I would also like to ask for the help of the local community in Praia da Luz. Portugal is a key country for us to trace any outstanding witnesses and our appeals will be repeated there. "We still have a lot of material to investigate and much work to do. Your information could be the vital piece we need to finally answer what happened to Madeleine." Tonight's broadcast will also feature an emotional appeal from Mr and Mrs McCann, who describe their continuing torment. Mr McCann will say: "When it's a special occasion, when you should be at your happiest and Madeleine's not there, that's when it really hits home. Obviously, Madeleine's birthday goes without saying." His wife adds: "It's when you have big family occasions really. That's it isn't it? 'Family occasion' and you haven't got your complete family." She adds: "We're not the ones that has done something wrong here. It's the person who's gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family." --------------------------- Transcript By Nigel Moore Robert Murat: It's one thing I do hope, and I have ever since, errm... 2007. I think it's, errr... something that needs to be, errm... dealt with simply be... [because] you know, in my case there are still situations in, for example, on the Internet, where you see stories of, errr... 'Was he involved or wasn't he involved?' So, errm... having that situation with, errr... that... the situation resolved, errr... would resolve that situation too. (...) Robert Murat: The funding of the Portuguese police is a hugely, errm... less than, let's say, the English police. Errm... They don't... don't have the kind of equipment and manpower that you have in the UK, errm... it's completely different on that front, errm... where you have two sides of the investigation - you had the people searching and then you had people leading the investigation; they're two completely different police forces. Errm... You had the GNR, which were on the ground, errr... and they were actually conducting the searches that we saw on television, in 2007, errm... and I've got to say, I think they did a... an amazing job, errr... without a shadow of a doubt, I think, errr... I met a lots of the... the police there that were actually, you know, came out on their days off and not only police, loa... but lots and lots of people, from all boar... errr... walks of life, that actually took time out to help, errm... and, unfortunately, I think that's kind of been forgotten a bit.

Madeleine McCann: parents disappointed appeal won't air in Portugal, 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann: parents disappointed appeal won't air in Portugal The Telegraph The parents of Madeleine McCann have been left disappointed that a renewed international appeal to find the missing girl will not be broadcast in Portugal. Undated e-fit image issued by the Metropolitan Police of one of two e-fit images believed by detectives to be of the same man seen in the Portuguese town of Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine McCann's disappearance. Photo: PA ---------------------- By Martin Evans, and Rosa Silverman 12:22PM BST 14 Oct 2013 Detectives hunting for the child have issued two images of a man they urgently want to trace as part of the investigation, and a detailed reconstruction of the family's movements on the day the three-year-old disappeared will be broadcast tonight. Madeleine vanished on the evening of May 3, 2007 as she slept in her parents' holiday apartment on the Algarve in Portugal with her younger brother and sister. The fresh push to find her will see appeals aired in the UK, as well as in Germany and Holland, where many of the tourists staying in the Praia da Luz resort at the time were from. There will, however, be no broadcast of the appeal in Portugal. Crimewatch promo video, as previously released   A source close to the McCanns said they were "of course" disappointed by this, but added that it was a matter for the Portuguese media. The new e-fit pictures issued by police show a white male, aged between 20 and 40, with short brown hair. They were compiled by separate witnesses who both spotted him in the resort on the evening in question. While the two pictures appear to show a person with slightly different features, detectives are convinced it is the same person they are seeking. The images will be broadcast tonight on the BBC's Crimewatch programme as part of the appeal. Madeleine's parents were dining a short distance away with a group of friends at a Tapas restaurant within the resort's complex when their daughter went missing. They realised she had disappeared when they checked on her at around 10pm. Detectives from Scotland Yard, who have been leading a fresh investigation into Madeleine's abduction, will use tonight's programme to also reveal significant new thinking around the timeline of the events leading up to her disappearance. It is hoped the reconstruction of the family's movements that day will jog someone's memory and unlock a crucial clue. More than 440 witnesses have been spoken to by officers, who have spent two years reviewing all the evidence collected by Portuguese police and private detectives. As well as identifying 41 "persons of interest", the Scotland Yard inquiry – dubbed Operation Grange - has thrown up a number of potential suspects who witnesses have been able to describe in detail. A spokesman for the Operation Grange team said detectives now had a far more detailed understanding of the times when an abduction could have taken place and this had given the statements from two witnesses particular significance. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, said: "Today I am asking the public for their help. "Whilst this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us. "We have witnesses placing him in the resort area around the time of Madeleine's disappearance. "This is far from our only line of inquiry and there will be e-fits released of other sightings as well, who we are equally keen to trace. These people were seen on the day of Madeleine's disappearance and the days leading up to it." The Portuguese authorities shelved their investigation into Madeleine's disappearance in July 2008, forcing her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, to employ teams of private detectives to continue the hunt. But in May 2011, four years after her disappearance, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, with the backing of Prime Minster David Cameron, ordered Scotland Yard to begin a review of all the evidence. Earlier this summer the Metropolitan Police announced the review was being turned into a formal investigation with more than 30 detectives and police staff working on the case full time. After months of careful negotiations, their counterparts in Portugal, the Policia Judiciaria, agreed to co-operate and there are now six dedicated officers based in Faro on the Algarve. The e-fit images are seen as a significant step forward in the investigation, but it is hoped the Crimewatch reconstruction will also throw up some fresh lines of inquiry, despite the passage of time. DCI Redwood explained: "Where we have been able to make massive steps forward is by drawing together all the material gathered to date, and reviewing it as a whole. "We continue to put Madeleine at the heart of our investigation and I would urge people to watch Crimewatch tonight and if you can help identify this man or have any information about our new appeal points please contact us. He added: "If you were in and around the Praia da Luz resort on Thursday, 3 May 2007, but you have not yet spoken to police, and you think you may have information, please pass it on. "I would also like to ask for the help of the local community in Praia da Luz. Portugal is a key country for us to trace any outstanding witnesses and our appeals will be repeated there. "We still have a lot of material to investigate and much work to do. Your information could be the vital piece we need to finally answer what happened to Madeleine." Tonight's broadcast will also feature an emotional appeal from Mr and Mrs McCann, who describe their continuing torment. Mr McCann will say: "When it's a special occasion, when you should be at your happiest and Madeleine's not there, that’s when it really hits home. Obviously, Madeleine's birthday goes without saying." His wife adds: "It's when you have big family occasions really. That's it isn't it? 'Family occasion' and you haven't got your complete family." She adds: "We're not the ones that has done something wrong here. It's the person who's gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family."

Madeleine McCann: the police are hunting for a needle in a haystack. Should we really be drawn into this circus?, 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann: the police are hunting for a needle in a haystack. Should we really be drawn into this circus? The Telegraph Dan Hodges Dan Hodges is a former Labour Party and GMB trade union official, and has managed numerous independent political campaigns. He writes about Labour with tribal loyalty and without reservation. He is on Twitter at @dpjhodges. By Dan Hodges | Last updated: October 14th, 2013   Images of the "man" police want to question (Photo: PA) ------------------- The circus continues. This morning the police have issued a new e-fit of a man they say they want to interview in relation to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. It is on the front of every newspaper, website and television bulletin in the country. We are being asked to examine it. To rack our brains and scour our memories. Is there anything about this man we find familiar? Is there anything we can do to help the investigation? Our natural instincts kick in. We stare at it. Then we stare deep into ourselves. What if it was our own child, we say. So we stare once more. At the lifeless, digitally produced eyes of the monster. The man who may have snatched that little girl. And at that point we are no longer observers of the circus, but part of it. And because we have become part of it, the harder we stare, the less we see. Two e-fits have been produced this morning. According to police they are of the same man. But in fact, they are of two men. Their hair is different. Their eyebrows are different. Their noses are different. Their ears are different. Their lips are different. Their cheekbones are different. But we're all part of the circus now. So we say nothing. The images of the "man" are being broadcast because, according to police, he represents a crucial lead. But if you listen harder you realise that's not what the police are saying at all. Yes, a spokesman claimed, it was of "vital importance" the man in the images is identified and interviewed. But he then conceded that he "may or may not be key". According to Det Ch Insp Andy Redwood "Whilst this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us." He may be the key. He may not be the key. In the same way you or I may be the key, or may not be the key. But we are definitely part of the circus. So we say nothing. And why is it "vital" this man be traced? Because he was seen with a child. Has anyone said it was Madeleine? No. Was he seen hanging around other children? Has he any record of child abduction, or demonstrating any inappropriate interest in children? Apparently not. According to the police they need to interview him because "We have witnesses placing him in the resort area around the time of Madeleine's disappearance”. Praia da Luz has a resident population of over 3,000 people. That excludes the additional thousands who visit on holiday. And yet being "in the resort area" is now enough to warrant police investigation. But we are part of the circus. And fortunately, we weren't in the area at the time. So we say nothing. Is there anything else that makes this particular individual so important to the investigation? Apparently not. Here's Det Ch Insp Redwood again: "This is far from our only line of inquiry and there will be e-fits released of other sightings as well, who we are equally keen to trace. These people were seen on the day of Madeleine's disappearance and the days leading up to it." So it seems there is nothing special about this "suspect". There will be other e-fits. Other appeals. Other questions asked about people who "were in the area". But we are part of the circus now. So we wait for them. And say nothing. We certainly don't question whether the police investigation is indeed making any headway. And why should we? The police spokesman assures us they are making "massive steps forward". Though they have also sought to "try and draw everything back to zero... take everything back to the beginning and then reanalyse and reassess everything, accepting nothing". The police are moving forward, but they are also heading back to zero. The investigating team also appear to be spreading their net wide. "Our requests for help need to be repeated in many different countries," says Redwood. You may not have been in Praia da Luz. You may never have been to Portugal. You may not live in the UK. You may, in fact, live anywhere on the planet. But the police need your help. Even though they are making great progress. "We still have a lot of material to investigate and much work to do," Redwood admits. And so before our very eyes we see the police engaged in this game of hunting a needle in the haystack. And yet we say nothing. We have our ringside seats to the circus. And we will not be vacating them. But there are some who don’t have seats to the show. They are the faces that stare out from the website Missing Kids. It currently features 123 children who are currently missing from home. The youngest is three years old. The most recent date of disappearance was Michelle Brewer, reported missing six days ago. The oldest, Mary Flanagan, reported missing on December 31st, 1959. They will have no television appeals. No e-fits. No special police units established after direct intervention from the Prime Minister. Madeleine McCann is gone. But the circus rolls on.

Madeleine McCann Suspect's E-Fit Released, 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann Suspect's E-Fit Released Sky News 7:14am UK, Monday 14 October 2013 Two images believed to be of the same man have been drawn up based on descriptions from two different witnesses. Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are asking for the public's help to identify a man who is of "vital importance". Two e-fit images, believed to be of the same man, which will feature in the BBC Crimewatch episode tonight, have been drawn up based on statements and descriptions from two different witnesses who saw this man in the Praia da Luz area. The sightings are from the evening of Thursday, May 3, 2007 - the night Madeleine went missing. Work by detectives has given them a far greater understanding of the times when the abduction could have taken place and this has made the statements from the two witnesses far more significant, the Metropolitan Police said. One of the main priorities for the investigation is being able to identify the man who is being described. The witnesses have described the man in the e-fit as being white, aged between 20 and 40 years old, with short brown hair, of medium build, medium height and clean shaven. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, said: "Whilst this man may or may not be the key to unlocking this investigation, tracing and speaking to him is of vital importance to us. "We have witnesses placing him in the resort area around the time of Madeleine's disappearance. "This is far from our only line of enquiry, and there will be e-fits released of other sightings as well, who we are equally keen to trace. These people were seen on the day of Madeleine's disappearance and the days leading up to it." He added that detectives have been able to "make massive steps forward" by drawing together all the material gathered to date and reviewing it as a whole. "We continue to put Madeleine at the heart of our investigation and I would urge people to watch Crimewatch tonight and if you can help identify this man or have any information about our new appeal points please contact us," he said. "Praia da Luz is a popular holiday destination for many nationalities so our requests for help need to be repeated in many different countries. I will be travelling to Holland, Germany and Ireland to seek the support of the public there. "If you were in and around the Praia da Luz resort on Thursday, 3 May, 2007, but you have not yet spoken to police, and you think you may have information, please pass it on. "I would also like to ask for the help of the local community in Praia da Luz. Portugal is a key country for us to trace any outstanding witnesses and our appeals will be repeated there. "We still have a lot of material to investigate and much work to do. Your information could be the vital piece we need to finally answer what happened to Madeleine." In a clip from tonight's Crimewatch, released by Scotland Yard, mother Kate McCann says: "We're not the ones that has done something wrong here. "It's the person who's gone into that apartment and taken a little girl away from her family." Scotland Yard detectives, who have interviewed 442 people as part of their review-turned-investigation, hope to track down as many people as possible who were present in the Portuguese town at the time. Since launching its own investigation, 41 people of interest have been identified by the Met Police, including 15 UK nationals. Detectives have issued 31 international letters of request to mostly European countries in relation to some of the persons of interest, as well as accessing phone records.

Madeleine McCann: Key Sighting Ruled Out, 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann: Key Sighting Ruled Out Sky News 11:19pm UK, Monday 14 October 2013 Police switch their focus to a second reported sighting of a man carrying a child which had been considered of less importance. By Ian Woods, Senior Correspondent A man thought to be a key suspect in the abduction of three year old Madeleine McCann has been identified - and ruled out of the inquiry. For six years detectives believed that a sighting of a man carrying a child close to her apartment was one of their best leads. But a review of the evidence has concluded that it was an innocent British holidaymaker carrying his daughter home from a creche. It means the inquiry has now switched its focus to a second sighting later that evening - and police have already received more than 100 new calls as a result. The developments were revealed as part of a televised appeal and reconstruction on BBC Crimewatch. Her parents Gerry and Kate McCann appeared live in the studio and said they were "feeling hopeful and optimistic". "These cases can get solved and that's what the public need to think about tonight," said Gerry McCann. "We don't know what's happened to Madeleine, we don't know who's taken her. The best chance of finding her is by identifying (the person who took her)." Kate McCann said: "It doesn't matter how much heartache we put ourselves through as long as we get the result that we need." She appealed to viewers to have "the courage and confidence to come forward", adding they could hold the key to "unlock" the case. The Metropolitan Police's Operation Grange has been reviewing the evidence gathered by both the Portuguese police, and private detectives, and has come to a conclusion which they say completely changes the timeline of what happened on May 3, 2007. Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann had been dining at a restaurant in the Algarve tourist resort of Praia Da Luz. They'd been taking it in turns with a group of friends to check on their children who were asleep in nearby apartments. During one of these checks at around 9.15pm one of the friends, Jane Tanner, saw a man walking along the street carrying a child in his arms. She thought nothing of it, but within an hour Mrs McCann checked the bedroom where Madeleine and her younger twin brother and sister had been sleeping, and discovered that the little girl had gone. Although the Portuguese police did not publicise the sighting and instead made the parents suspects in the case, once their investigation closed the McCanns arranged for a sketch to be drawn showing the man Miss Tanner had seen. Ever since it has been central to how people have viewed the case. But Scotland Yard detectives reviewed the evidence and realised that around a dozen holidaymakers had been using a free creche at the Mark Warner resort, and they would have collected their sleeping children during the evening. One of those parents was contacted by police and he agreed that he may be the man, and he had been wrongly identified as a possible suspect. He agreed to pose for a photograph so his build could be compared to the sketch. That, together with evidence that his two-year-old daughter was wearing similar pyjamas as the sketch, has convinced the man leading the inquiry that this sighting is wrong. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood told Sky News: "As you can see from the images we've put forward, both from what the man was probably wearing, and the actual physical location he was in, and the description of the child he was carrying, it is highly compelling. "We believe in a convincing way that this is not Madeleine's abductor." That information means that it seems likely that Madeleine was taken from the apartment slightly later than first thought. And police have refocused their attention on a second witness statement which had been considered of less importance. An Irish family on holiday in Praia Da Luz had told investigators that they saw a man carrying a child at around 10pm. Their sighting was closer to the town centre on Rua Da Escola Primeria. Two e-fits of the man which the witnesses helped create have now been made public. But the evidence is not new. The e-fits were made in 2008 by private detectives working for the McCanns, but were not made public because they seemed less relevant than the 9.15pm sighting by Jane Tanner. When asked how convinced he is that the second sighting is of Madeleine, DCI Redwood said: "The timing and location speak for themselves." But he also realised that this too could be an entirely innocent man and appealed for help from the public in identifying him. He said: "If this is you, and you are nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance, then we really need to speak to you. "It's so important for us to eliminate innocent sightings. "But equally if anybody is looking at those e-fits and recognises the person, for whatever reason, then please have the courage to call in and tell us." The Metropolitan Police team refuse to be critical of the previous inquiry in an effort to foster good relations with Portuguese police. Six local officers based in Faro have been appointed to liaise with British police. But DCI Redwood hopes that ultimately the Portuguese investigation will be reopened. He told Sky News: "Reopening the inquiry is a matter wholly for the Portuguese and we completely respect and acknowledge the differences in our system. "But of course our aspiration is to have the case reopened so we can work together with our Portuguese colleagues jointly so we can establish what happened to Madeleine McCann." DCI Redwood is also hoping to get more information about men seen in the vicinity of the McCanns’ apartment on several occasions in the week she disappeared. When asked whether he believed the family were being watched, he said: "The physical evidence demonstrates to us that there are people, unexplained people, possibly doing just that. "By the way the witnesses have described them ... lurking around in the very close proximity from where Madeleine was taken." British police have also revealed that there was an upsurge in the number of burglaries in the resort in the weeks leading up to May 2007. Exactly a year earlier there was also an incident in which a child raised the alarm after seeing an intruder in their holiday apartment. The police are looking at whether these incidents could be related. And they have also released e-fits of men described as "charity collectors" who had been going door-to-door" and may or may not be genuine. Officers think there is a possibility they could have been checking apartments ahead of a possible break-in. British officers are well aware that many residents of the Portuguese town have become fed up with the constant media attention. But he made this direct appeal to them: "What I would say specifically is that this change of emphasis in terms of the timeline between 9pm and 10pm means we can genuinely ask the public in Praia Da Luz to go back over that time, and look at those efforts, and if you recognise someone in the local community please have the confidence to come forward to us." The new appeal formed part of the BBC Crimewatch programme which featured a detailed reconstruction of the McCann's visit to the resort. The last photographs of Madeleine which have been iconic because of their repeated use in appeals over the years, were brought to life by recreating the moments they were taken - Madeleine holding tennis balls, and sitting at the side of a swimming pool. There was also previously unseen family video of Madeleine. :: Sky News will show a special investigation on Tuesday night at 8.30pm on Sky Channel 501, Virgin Media 602 and Freeview 82

Madeleine McCann disappearance: 'Overwhelming response' as e-fit is released of suspect seen 'carrying girl to the beach', 14 October 2013

Madeleine McCann disappearance: 'Overwhelming response' as e-fit is released of suspect seen 'carrying girl to the beach' The Independent Madeleine McCann police hoping new timeline of events could lead to breakthrough PAUL PEACHEY, KUNAL DUTTA   MONDAY 14 OCTOBER 2013  Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann say they have had an "overwhelming response" to a televised appeal broadcast on Monday which included e-fits of a man believed to be a key suspect. It comes after a radical shift in what police believe happened on the night she went missing. Police said they had received over 118 calls after a new appeal that saw e-fits of a white man of medium build, who is thought to have been seen with a child in his arms on the night Madeleine disappeared. The new images, broadcast on Monday night as part of an appeal on BBC Crimewatch, were drawn up five years ago by a private detective agency but they were never publicly released as Portuguese police were working on a theory that the three-year-old had been snatched 45 minutes earlier. The man, believed to be in his 30s, was spotted by a holidaying Irish family at about 10pm just minutes from the apartment at the Algarve resort in Praia de Luz where Kate and Gerry McCann had been staying. Martin Smith and his family left Portugal the day after the disappearance and only later realised the significance of the man walking towards the ocean with the young girl wearing pyjamas in his arms. The man's importance only emerged after Scotland Yard pored through tens of thousands of documents compiled by Portuguese and British police and private detectives hired by the family during the six years that she has been missing. Police are focusing on the man in the e-fit after ruling out another person of interest – a dark-haired man spotted walking away from the apartment with a child at around 9.15pm on May 3, 2007. That man – who had been a focus of police inquiries for years – has been identified as an innocent British holidaymaker who had been collecting his own daughter from a crèche at the resort. He had been spotted by Jane Tanner, a member of the so-called "Tapas Nine", friends of the McCann family who had been eating together at a resort in the Portuguese town after putting their children to bed. "Our focus in terms of understanding what happened on the night of May 3 has now given us a shift of emphasis," said Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the inquiry. "We are almost certain that the man seen by Jane Tanner is not Madeleine's abductor. "It takes us through to a position at 10pm when we see another man who is walking towards the ocean, close by to the apartment, with a young child in his arms." In another new line of enquiry broadcast on Monday, police said the disappearance had "all the hallmarks of a pre-planned abduction". The review – part of an £5m operation after the McCanns made a direct appeal to the Prime Minister in 2011 – has led to what police believe is the most detailed picture so far of what happened on the night of the abduction. The police team has scrutinised the key 90-minute period when the McCanns joined their friends for dinner culminating in Kate McCann's discovery that her daughter was missing at about 10pm. After the Crimewatch appeal, Det Chief Insp Redwood said the investigation had an "overwhelming response from the public" with a flurry of calls including many from holidaymakers that were on the resort in 2007. He added: "There are still people out there who can help us with key information" Scotland Yard is also investigating sightings of unknown blonde men around the resort in the days and hours before the three-year-old was snatched. Police said the sightings, including men believed to be speaking German, suggested preparation and planning. DCI Redwood said there had been a four-fold increase in burglaries in the area in the months before the attack and could not rule out that Madeleine had disturbed someone who had broken into the apartment where she was sleeping. In the 17 days before she was snatched, there was an attempted burglary and burglary in the same block where the family were staying. Police said on Monday night they were also trying to trace a number of people going door-to-door collecting money in a potentially bogus charity scam.

Maddie Case: Sniffer dogs identified cadaver odour, 14 October 2013

Maddie Case: Sniffer dogs identified cadaver odour CMTV 14 October, 14:35 In cooperation with the Judiciary Police, the British authorities brought, at the time, two sniffer dogs who identified cadaver odour in the car rented by the McCanns. ----------------- Transcript With thanks to Joana Morais for transcript/translation News Anchor Andreia Vale: In cooperation with the Judiciary Police the English authorities brought, at the time, two sniffer dogs who identified cadaver odour in the car rented by the McCanns. Rebeca Venâncio: [voice over] - It was the main evidence that gave strength to the argument of those who believed that the parents were responsible for the crime. The sniffer dogs brought by the English authorities signalled cadaver odour and to blood in the McCann family's car. The theory of Gonçalo Amaral, who was removed from the investigation, was confirmed by the Springer spaniel dogs' keen sense of smell. That Renault could have been the vehicle where Maddie's body was carried. In the car park there were over a dozen cars yet the dogs rushed towards the Renault Scenic rented by Kate and Gerry, three weeks after their daughter's disappearance. This breakthrough was decisive in the constitution of the parents of the English girl as arguidos. An expert guaranteed that the dogs have never given a false positive result, that is to say, they have never failed. In the archival dispatch of the investigation, the public prosecutors [MP] admit that the homicide is the most probable theory, nonetheless the case was archived.

Carlos Anjos: Release of e-fits "is very unprofessional", 14 October 2013

Carlos Anjos: Release of e-fits "is very unprofessional" CMTV Transcript 14 October, 14:35 With thanks to Joana Morais for transcript/translation News anchor Andreia Vale [AV]: In the studio with us is Carlos Anjos, CMTV commentator. Hello Carlos, good afternoon. Thank you for being here. This e-fit of an individual, this new "breath" of the [English police] investigation, does it have any credibility in your opinion? Carlos Anjos [CA], President of the Committee for the Protection of Crime Victims/ former president of the Criminal Investigation Officers' Union of the PJ (ASFIC/PJ) - Good afternoon. Unfortunately, no. Unfortunately, no. It seems to me, from the way that this is being carried out, from the standpoint of the criminal investigation to be very unprofessional. We do have in fact two schools of thought. We have the school of thought of criminal investigation in Continental Europe that has a particular way of working, where the media is only used to divulge any information when it reaches a dead end and is unable to go further; and the Anglo-Saxon school that uses the media in every way possible... AV - Often from the outset. CA - From the outset, precisely, playing on emotions. In this case, what we see here, is that all the information are contradictory - and it would be good if we could set down a record of everything that we have learned in the past few days in order to understand some errors and some disinformation. First, no one was detained in the scope of this case. The man that was arrested, was detained for collateral crimes, connected to crimes against children. The police detected child pornography in his computer, he sold child pornography, and he was arrested a month ago. He wasn't arrested now, he was detained by the Manchester police. England has a total different system from ours, each city has its own police force, each force has its own autonomy. They don't have a single body working at national level like we do with the Judiciary Police, the PSP, the GNR, police authorities that work in the whole country. They have police forces in each county and city, which remain autonomous. Therefore it wasn't the London Metropolitan police, or the Scotland Yard - who are investigating with a special team the Madeleine case - that have arrested that man, but the Manchester police. It's in the course of that arrest, and like criminals usually do, that the man uses as his self-defence: "I saw Madeleine in a Mediterranean island, I know where she is". All this suggests that he wished to gain a prominent position and receive a special treatment, from then on he began to receive attention that he would not have received if he was for example, a common criminal. Now that this arrest of a suspect has been explained, an arrest that took place a month ago and thus an old issue; it should be explained, the newspaper [Daily Mirror] which has published the story did so since they had nothing relevant to publish. BBC had the exclusive; they had nothing and decided to publish that incident ahead of the BBC broadcast. Regarding the e-fit, the only person that saw something gave a description to the Judiciary Police and provided a facial picture of a suspect that doesn't exist, that is, it was a featureless face. The witness was too far away... AV - It's the picture of a man seen carrying a child? CA - Precisely, the person gives a description, 30 meters away, at night, and just gives a physical account given that she could not see the facial features. That picture which appears now, is based on that slightly oval shaped face, from that statement that was given initially to the Judiciary Police, composed with further descriptions given by other people, thus we have a face that... a picture of a face that is a composite... - it should be said that these are portraits of the same man, one is of the man 6 years ago that was then aged with a software program, the other is a portrait that was done based on the accounts given by several people. This is very problematic. The creation of identikit pictures is a complex process, imagine if someone would ask you, Andreia, to give an account of the facial features of someone that you saw just for a few seconds, that would be already difficult, and even more so if a picture is created based on 5 or 6 witnesses accounts, where the reliability of those accounts is close to nil. So, what we have here is the face of a man, and a description given by several people, and this is where I believe a huge mistake is being made since the e-fit could be matched to almost all the men in the world, between the ages of 20 to 40. AV - The physiognomy is too broad? CA - Exactly, and another serious mistake, they give all the characteristics of a man from southern Europe, brown hair, brown eyes and then they state that it is supposed to be an English man, it's the complete antithesis of the description that they have given. Worse still, they have stated that they want to locate a man with ages ranging from 20 to 40 years old - the first reaction to this is that it seems to be a wide gap. People with 20 years old and with 40 years old are unmistakable, at 20 you say that is a young man, at 40 a mature man - and what is worse, if they wish to locate a man who is now 20 years old then the man was 14 years old at the time of Madeleine's disappearance! Thus, whoever saw him, could not mistake a man, even if it was a young man, with a teenager. So, we see a series of errors in the formulation of this hypothesis, which means that they have nothing. We know the English police did an extensive work, according to what we know and was published in the media, it was even divulged by the English authorities in the media, and that was the investigation to identify all the cell phones that were in use in that night in the Algarve. Except the prepaid cell phones, those are impossible to be identified. After the investigation to all the cell phones, that had a contract, they had to identify all those who had a criminal record, or a record of crimes against children, for paedophilia or abduction, etc. After establishing the identity and record of the cell phone owners, they arrived to 41 people of interest. This brings up the first problem, the first problem is that most paedophiles who move between countries, criminals that travel regularly, the first thing they do upon arrival is to buy a prepaid cell phone, so they can't be identified. Those are all outside this list, they were not included. Yesterday, it was published in the media that there is a possibility that some of those who were identified are under surveillance, being tapped. That makes more sense, it sheds some light as to the reasons behind, and forgive my expression, this circus. It's an attempt to shake things up bit, so that there are lots of people talking about the case, to see if any of the suspects talks about this issue... AV - To see if the suspect gives himself away. CA - ...if the suspect gives himself away, and from the "nothing", they are able to get something. AV - Carlos, thank you so much for being here with us.

Have you seen these people?, 15 October 2013

Have you seen these people? Find Madeleine

The 'Front Page'

Text version of image above: HAVE YOU SEEN THESE PEOPLE? Suspect efit: Image 1A Suspect efit: Image 1B Suspect efit: Image 2A Suspect efit: Image 2A Suspect efit: Image 4A Suspect efit: Image 4B Home Page Are any of these men you? Were you in Praia da Luz on or around 3rd May 2007, but have not yet spoken to the police? Were you a victim of a previously unreported crime, in particular a burglary or approached by a charity collector in this area? The investigation team need to identify and speak to these people. Please contact the Operation Grange team immediately. Operation Grange 0207 321 9251 (in the UK) +44 207 321 9251 (non-UK) or Operation.Grange@met.pnn.police.uk

Later amended to:

Find Madeleine website homepage as at 30 October 2013

Contact Us People of Interest Have you seen these men? Do you know who they might be?   These two pictures show a man carrying a child away from the family's apartment. This sighting was seen by a witness at 21:15 on the evening of Thursday, May 3rd, 2007.

Note: The screenshots of the 'Home Page' and 'Unidentified People of Interest to the Inquiry' page, above, were taken on 28 October 2013, and were still online as at 20 January 2014 [accompanying text amended on 21 January 2014 but images remain]. On 14 October 2013, on the BBC Crimewatch programme, DCI Andy Redwood unequivocally dismissed Jane Tanner's sighting of a man with a child, on the evening of May 3rd 2007, as having any relevance to the inquiry. He stated the man, identified as a British holidaymaker, had been doing nothing more sinister than carrying his own child through the streets. Yet, the McCanns are still promoting the discredited 'sighting' on their official website. The e-fits revealed in the Crimewatch programme, which were created in partnership with the Smith family and described by DCI Redwood as being of 'vital importance', remain conspicuous by their absence from the main body of the site.

Norwegians sought in British Madeleine case, 16 October 2013

Norwegians sought in British Madeleine case The Norway Post Wednesday, 16 October 2013 06:27 British police wants to get in touch with two named Norwegians in the hopes of coming even closer to a conclusion in the disappearance of Madeleine in 2007. Scotland Yard has contacted Norwegian police authorities and asked them to help solve the case of Madeline McCann, who disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007. Police have received concrete tips about who the suspect may be, after BBC talked about and reconstructed the series of events in the Madeleine-case as part of a Crimewatch episode. British police have also stepped up the intensity of the investigation, and asked authorities in 31 countries for help, Norway being one of them. "I can confirm that Norwegian police have been contacted and asked to help the investigation of the Madeleine-case. That's all I can say," explains Head of Communication in Kripos, Anne Sandal. Richard Jones in the Metropolitan Police tells NRK that although investigators have specific names of the people they want to get in touch with; none of them have status as suspects in Madeleine's disappearance. "We want to speak to all people who have used a phone while in this specific area, close to the time of Madeleine's disappearance," says Jones.

Madeleine McCann: Suspected kidnapper took a risky route putting him just feet away from her parents, 16 October 2013

Madeleine McCann: Suspected kidnapper took a risky route putting him just feet away from her parents Daily Mirror By Andy Lines | 16 Oct 2013 08:17 Chief reporter Andy Lines retraces the man's journey from Maddie's apartment to the main road in just over four minutes - but believes more people must have seen him   The route the new Madeleine McCann suspect would have taken passed yards from where her parents were dining. Just a wall would have separated Gerry and Kate, sitting with their friends, from their daughter being carried towards the beach. I traced the route yesterday starting from apartment 5A where Maddie was sleeping. It went right through the middle of the village down to the junction of the Rua Das Escadinhas and the Rua 25 da Abril where the mystery man was spotted. If this was the man who kidnapped Maddie it's impossible to believe it was a well-planned operation. Gallery Madeleine McCann: Mirror chief reporter Andy Lines retraces route of the prime suspect   Route of a kidnapper: Chief reporter Andy Lines retraces the route believed to have been taken by the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance ----------------------   1. Starting point: The apartment ------------------   2. Hidden: The route followed behind the tennis courts ---------------   3. Busy: Shops close to the bus stop -----------------   4. Steps: Suspect would be briefly hidden here --------------   5. Open space: Scrubland near Martin Smith's sighting ------------------   Number one suspect: E-fit image of a man seen in Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine McCann's disappearance ------------------   On the hunt: Mirror chief reporter Andy Lines in Portugal ---------------- He would have taken huge risks to take her into the village centre when he could have easily headed north towards the bypass. I walked the route in 4 minutes 15 seconds – but it would undoubtedly have taken longer for a man carrying a three-year-old. From the apartment the alleged abductor would have been most likely to take Madeleine out through the back gate. He would have carried her 40 yards behind a 12ft white wall, out of sight of her parents, down a slight incline before turning right off the main road. He would have walked past the tennis courts where Maddie had earlier been ball-girl. He would have climbed down 11 steps then up six more to the main road, passing the Paragem No 4 route bus stop before walking down Rua Joaquim Teixeira. After passing the Spar supermarket and the Restaurant Aquario he would have walked past a large area of fenced-off scrubland. The route then goes down the Rua Ema Vieira Alvenaz and between two large blocks of flats. The suspect would then have crossed the main road where Martin Smith saw him. Though it was around 10pm it's hard to believe more people wouldn't have seen him.