The parents of missing toddler
Madeleine McCann,
Kate and Gerry, revealed this week that the search for their daughter is
at risk due to the fact that the fund created in 2007 to assist in
looking for her is almost spent.
Reports in the
British media have suggested that the fund currently has in the region
of £200,000 in its coffers.
“If
Madeleine’s Fund
remains as it is, with the current rate of
expenditure, it will run out in Spring 2011”,
Gerry McCann wrote this
week. “This would essentially mean that any kind of proactive search for
Madeleine would cease. So again we need your help.”
He explained how the funds have been used since Madeleine’s
disappearance in May 2007, saying it has helped their investigation team
of ex-police officers to operate and conduct enquiries in the UK,
Portugal and further afield plus pay for a Portuguese
assistant/translator.
Mr. McCann also said monies were used to have a 24-hour telephone line
in place with translators to receive information from the public, while
ensuring media liaison in Portugal and the UK to ensure that they
“convey the simple factual message: there is absolutely no evidence that
Madeleine has been physically harmed; we must keep looking for her and
those who took her.”
In an exclusive interview with The Portugal News last year, Mr. McCann
explained that the Fund, which had received around 2.5 million pounds at
the time, was at risk of running out of financial resources.
“There’s still money in it”, Mr. McCann told The Portugal News, adding:
“I can’t give you the exact figure, but we have spent and continue to
spend a lot of money with the aim of trying to enhance the chances of
finding her.
On the chances of the Fund drying up completely he responded: “It won’t
dry up in the next few months, but probably by the end of the year, at
the rate we are running.”
The McCann family has also meanwhile launched a petition to lobby the
British and Portuguese governments for a joint or independent review of
the case, accusing authorities of doing very little the past
three-and-a-half years.
“Our small team continues to review all available information, even
though we still don’t have access to all of the information that the UK
and Portuguese authorities have”, charged Mr McCann this week.
“Our team has interviewed hundreds of witnesses, received over 1,000
calls, dealt with over 15,000 emails and maintained a computerised
database of all information they have received.
“Despite the difficulties resulting from lack of official assistance,
they ‘follow up’ all new leads to try and get fresh information into the
investigation”, adding: “It is incredible to think that for the last two
years and three months no police force has proactively been doing
anything to help us find Madeleine. Crucially, there has been no formal
review of the material held by the police authorities - which is routine
practice in most countries, and especially when a key piece of the
‘jigsaw’ may have been overlooked.”
He continued his criticism of officials by saying: “We have tried in
vain to get the authorities to play their part but our requests have
seemingly fallen on deaf ears. It is simply not acceptable that they
have, to all intents and purposes, given up on Madeleine. We need the
authorities to do more.”
The petition created by the McCanns can be accessed at the following
address:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/madeleinemccann
_case_review/
The McCanns were named as official suspects in her disappearance in
September 2007, but this status was lifted in July 2008.
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