Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Encyclopedia
Madeleine McCann disappeared on the evening of Thursday, 3 May 2007. She was on holiday with her parents and twin siblings in the Algarve region of Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. The British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 girl went missing from an apartment, in the central area of the resort of Praia da Luz
Praia da Luz
Praia da Luz , officially Luz, is a civil parish, village and resort located about 6 km from the municipality of Lagos in the Algarve, Portugal. Also known as Luz de Lagos or Vila da Luz, "Praia da Luz", which means Beach of the Light, is used to refer to both the village and the beach...

, a few days before her fourth birthday, and has still not been found. Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have said that they left the children unsupervised in a ground floor bedroom while they ate at a restaurant about 120 metres (131.2 yd) away.

The initial investigation by the Polícia Judiciária
Polícia Judiciária
The Polícia Judiciária is the main police branch of criminal investigation in Portugal, dedicated to fighting criminality, organized crime, terrorism, drugs, corruption and financial crimes...

(PJ), the Portuguese criminal investigation police, was based on the assumption that the child had been abducted
Child abduction
Child abduction or Child theft is the unauthorized removal of a minor from the custody of the child's natural or legally appointed guardians....

. After further investigation, the PJ stated that there was a strong hypothesis that she might have died in her room. During the investigation there were a number of unconfirmed sightings of Madeleine in Portugal and elsewhere, and additional scientific evidence was obtained. The investigation involved the co-operation of the British and Portuguese police and demonstrated the differing methodologies employed by each, with regard to such aspects as the amount of information released to the public and the legal status of those involved in the case.

Robert Murat, a local resident, was given arguido
Arguido
Arguido or arguida , normally translated "named suspect" or "formal suspect", is a status in Portuguese language legal systems, including the legal systems of Portugal and Mozambique....

(suspect
Suspect
In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime.Police and reporters often incorrectly use the word suspect when referring to the...

) status on 15 May 2007. Kate and Gerry McCann were also named as arguidos on 7 September, but were allowed to fly back to the United Kingdom on 9 September. All three were cleared, with their arguido status lifted, on 21 July 2008. The Portuguese Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 archived the case, also on 21 July, but the case can be reopened if new evidence emerges.

The disappearance and its aftermath were notable for the breadth and longevity of the media coverage. This was initially due to the active involvement of the parents in publicising the case and to several awareness-raising campaigns by international celebrities and, latterly, to the interest that arose from the parents being named as suspects. The event generated international media attention with controversy surrounding the Portuguese-led police investigation and the actions of Madeleine's parents. There has also been criticism of the extent and nature of the publicity and of the reporting of the disappearance in both the Portuguese and British media.

Disappearance

Madeleine disappeared from a ground floor apartment, where the family was staying, on the evening of 3 May 2007. The apartment had been rented by the holiday company Mark Warner
Mark Warner Ltd
Mark Warner is a privately owned British tour operator founded in 1974 by Mark Chitty and Andrew Searle. It is based in London and provides both beach and ski holidays....

 for the summer season as part of its Ocean Club. The layout of the Ocean Club may have contributed to the disappearance of Madeleine as its buildings are spread out across the village, such that anyone can wander in and out of the holiday areas.

Her parents reported to the police that they had taken Madeleine to their holiday apartment at 18:00 Western European Summer Time, to prepare Madeleine and her two-year-old twin sibling
Sibling
Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...

s for bed. Then they left at 20:30, leaving the apartment unlocked, to dine with friends approximately 130 yards (120 metres) away at a tapas
Tapas
Tapas are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold or warm ....

 bar within the Mark Warner Ocean Summer Club. The McCanns said that they were taking turns checking on their children. At 20:55, one of the McCanns' dinner companions, Matthew Oldfield, approached the bedroom window of the children to check if he could hear any noise in the room and at approximately 21:05/21:15 Gerry checked on the children. At 21:20 Jane Tanner noticed a man carrying a child going down the road next to the apartment of the McCanns. Slightly further down the road, Gerry was chatting to Jeremy Wilkins, whom he had met at the resort, and neither noticed Tanner as she walked past them to join the rest of the group at the tapas restaurant. At 21:30 Matthew Oldfield went to check the children but saw only the twins through the open bedroom door.

At around 22:00, Kate returned to check on the children and found Madeleine's bed empty and the bedroom window open. An Ocean Club nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...

, Charlotte Pennington, who was one of the first people to arrive at the apartment, said that Kate screamed both "They've taken her, they've taken her!" and "Madeleine's gone!". Kate said that the police were called within 10 minutes of finding her daughter gone. Gerry said it was one of their friends who alerted the resort manager and the police.

The GNR’s
Portuguese National Republican Guard
The Portuguese National Republican Guard is the gendarmerie of Portugal. Members of the GNR are soldiers, who, unlike the agents of the Public Security Police , are subject to military law and organisation...

 spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Costa Cabral, said that the first call to the police (PJ) was at 23:50. According to the Portuguese police's missing person
Missing person
A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....

 notice, the disappearance had occurred "by 22:40". The police stated that officers arrived within 10 minutes of being alerted, and an investigation unit began work within 30 minutes. Staff and guests at the complex searched until 04:30 while police on the Spanish border and all airports in Portugal and Spain were notified.

Early stages

Following the disappearance, police carried out a search of the surrounding area with sniffer dogs
Detection dog
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to and works at using its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, or blood. Hunting dogs that search for game and search dogs that search for missing humans are generally not considered detection dogs...

, but it was called off on 11 May having produced no results. The Portuguese police Polícia Judiciária
Polícia Judiciária
The Polícia Judiciária is the main police branch of criminal investigation in Portugal, dedicated to fighting criminality, organized crime, terrorism, drugs, corruption and financial crimes...

(PJ) said they were unsure whether Madeleine was still alive. They also examined photographs taken by holidaymakers to see if any suspects could be identified. The Maritime Police searched the coast including the caves. In the countryside, possible places of concealment were explored. The City Council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

 helped the investigation by searching sewers and waterways. On 6 May it was revealed that the PJ had asked for the help of the SIS, the Portuguese secret service
Secret service
A secret service describes a government agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For instance, a country may establish a secret service which has some...

. On 7 May, it was reported that the PJ was looking for a 1.7-metre tall man with short brown hair
Brown hair
Brown hair is the second most common human hair color.Brown hair varies from light brown to almost black hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and lower levels of the pale pigment pheomelanin. Its strands are thicker than those of fair hair but not as much as...

 and wearing a blue coat with a whitish collar.

The Portuguese media reported that the PJ were pursuing two lines of investigation: an abduction by an international paedophile network or an abduction by an adoption network. On 18 October 2007, British forensic scientist Professor David Barclay of Robert Gordon University
Robert Gordon University
Robert Gordon University is located in Aberdeen, Scotland. Building on over 250 years involvement in education, it was granted university status in 1992. Robert Gordon University currently has approximately 16,407 students at its two campuses at Garthdee and the City Centre, studying on over 145...

 was reported as saying the layout of the complex made it 'a pervert's paradise'.

On 17 June, after Madeleine was found to be missing, Chief Inspector
Chief inspector
Chief inspector is a rank used in police forces which follow the British model. In countries outside Britain, it is sometimes referred to as chief inspector of police .-Australia:...

 Olegário de Sousa said that the presence of so many people in the apartment from which she disappeared, had complicated the work of the scientific team. He added that this could have destroyed all the evidence and could prove to be fatal to the investigation.

Murat and Malinka

At 07:00 WEST on the morning of 14 May 2007, searches began at Casa Liliana, a villa owned by Jennifer Murat, a British citizen, near the apartment where Madeleine disappeared. Police and scientific teams sealed off the house, and at 16:00 the swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...

 was drained.

Three people, including Jennifer Murat's son Robert Murat, were questioned at the main police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...

 in nearby Portimão
Portimão
Portimão is a Portuguese town located in the District of Faro in the Region of Algarve, the southern coast of Portugal. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão . In 1924, it was incorporated as a cidade and became known merely as Portimão. The town has 41,000 inhabitants and the Portimão...

. Robert Murat, a frequent visitor to the villa who has dual British-Portuguese nationality
Multiple citizenship
Multiple citizenship is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen under the laws of more than one state. Multiple citizenships exist because different countries use different, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, citizenship requirements...

, had drawn the suspicion of Lori Campbell, a Sunday Mirror
Sunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...

journalist, who informed the police. Murat's former classmate Gaynor de Jesus said: "I do know that he has been the official translator for the police." Murat had said that he was deeply concerned about the case because he had recently lost custody of his own three-year-old daughter, who looked like Madeleine. Subsequently, speaking at a Cambridge Union
Cambridge Union Society
The Cambridge Union Society, commonly referred to as simply "the Cambridge Union" or "the Union," is a debating society in Cambridge, England and is the largest society at the University of Cambridge. Since its founding in 1815, the Union has developed a worldwide reputation as a noted symbol of...

 debate on 5 March 2009, Murat accused a journalist of trying to convince the Portuguese police that he was acting suspiciously, in order to break the story.

Robert Murat was given arguido
Arguido
Arguido or arguida , normally translated "named suspect" or "formal suspect", is a status in Portuguese language legal systems, including the legal systems of Portugal and Mozambique....

(suspect
Suspect
In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime.Police and reporters often incorrectly use the word suspect when referring to the...

) status on 15 May; before being given this status persons are treated as witnesses. It was not clear if Murat or the police asked for the arguido status which gave extra rights such as the right to remain silent
Right to silence
The right to remain silent is a legal right of any person. This right is recognized, explicitly or by convention, in many of the world's legal systems....

. However, a factor in Murat being made a suspect was three members of the Tapas Seven, Rachael Oldfield, Russell O'Brien, and Fiona Payne, saying that they saw him in the Praia da Luz complex during the evening Madeleine disappeared. Chief Inspector Olegário de Sousa told a news conference that an unnamed 33-year-old (believed to be Murat) had been interrogated, but not enough evidence was found to justify arresting him. Sousa said police had searched five houses on Monday and seized "various materials" from the properties which were being subjected to scientific tests and had questioned two other unnamed people as witnesses. Murat stated that he was being made a scapegoat so that the police could be seen to have found a suspect.

It was reported on 16 May that two cars used by the Murats had been examined, and computers, mobile phones and several video tapes
Videocassette recorder
The videocassette recorder , is a type of electro-mechanical device that uses removable videocassettes that contain magnetic tape for recording analog audio and analog video from broadcast television so that the images and sound can be played back at a more convenient time...

 were taken from their villa. It also emerged that a British architect, who built the villa in 1993, was ignored when he called police about a hidden basement within the property.

The police were understood to have taken in for questioning Sergey Malinka, 22, a man of Russian origin, from whose property officers also took away a laptop computer and two hard drives
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...

. Malinka had set up a website for Murat and the two exchanged frequent phone calls since Madeleine's disappearance — the reason the authorities started suspecting him. Chief Police Inspector
Inspector
Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. However, it is not an equivalent rank in each police force.- Australia :...

 Olegário de Sousa reiterated there was insufficient evidence to make any arrests. Police said that Malinka had been questioned as a witness for approximately five hours, which did not, having regard to the "dynamic" nature of the investigation, mean that he could not become a suspect.

Malinka spoke negatively of the coverage of the case in the Portuguese media, which had alleged that he was a convicted sexual offender. He denied he had contacted Murat, and said he was "completely innocent". Inconsistencies in his account of his relationship with Robert Murat emerged: he had said he had not contacted Murat in a year but Murat’s mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

 records allegedly show he called Malinka at 23:40 on the night Madeleine vanished. On 19 May, Portuguese detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

s flew to England to interview Dawn Murat, the estranged wife of Robert Murat, and detectives re-interviewed other witnesses connected with Murat.

Murat was interviewed for a second and third time on 10 July and 11 July to clarify what detectives described as details and possible contradictions from his previous statement in the light of new information. On the second day detectives from the Polícia Judiciária questioned three friends of the McCanns who were dining with them at the time of the disappearance, Rachael Oldfield, Russell O'Brien and Fiona Payne, "to go over their accounts of events on 3 May". The three were also brought face to face with Murat. As a result of the interviews, police examined discrepancies between statements from the three friends and that from Murat, in particular claims from the friends that they saw Murat outside the holiday complex on the night of the disappearance when he had stated that he was at home with his mother. Murat's mother, Jenny, subsequently corroborated his alibi.

Police, including British detectives, resumed searching Casa Liliana on 4 August. Vegetation was cleared and the grounds were searched but despite the use of hi-tech
High tech
High tech is technology that is at the cutting edge: the most advanced technology currently available. It is often used in reference to micro-electronics, rather than other technologies. The adjective form is hyphenated: high-tech or high-technology...

 scanning equipment and a British sniffer dog
Detection dog
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to and works at using its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, or blood. Hunting dogs that search for game and search dogs that search for missing humans are generally not considered detection dogs...

, no evidence was found that linked Murat with Madeleine.

Reports in the Portuguese press suggested that Murat had met Gerry whilst the latter was campaigning for the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

. Murat denied this on 13 September, describing the reports as "absolutely ridiculous" and saying "I’ve never met the man before". Murat had his computers and other possessions returned to him by the police in late March 2008. He was cleared of any involvement in the disappearance, and his arguido status was lifted on 21 July.

McCanns as suspects

The Polícia Judiciária (PJ), on 6 September, officially interviewed Kate for a second time, at the police station in Portimão with the McCanns' Portuguese lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, present. The family’s spokeswoman Justine McGuinness said, "Kate will answer every question put to her — she has nothing to hide." Pinto de Abreu made a formal application for the couple’s status to be changed from 'witness' to 'assistant' in the investigation. This is a technical move which would allow the McCanns to have more information about the progress of the investigation. When Pinto de Abreu emerged with Kate from the police station in the early hours of 7 September, after more than 10 hours of questioning, he said Kate "was interviewed as a witness and she still remains a witness. The investigation is ongoing and we cannot say any more."

Kate returned for further interview later on 7 September and was formally declared a suspect by the Portuguese police. During this interview Kate used her right to remain silent. After questioning, Kate was released from the police station just before 16:00 without being charged. Gerry was interviewed at the same police station during the afternoon and evening of 7 September and afterwards Pinto de Abreu announced that Gerry had also been named as a formal suspect. Before she became a suspect Kate said "The police don't want a murder in Portugal and all the publicity about them not having paedophile laws here, so they're blaming us," and Gerry said "We are being absolutely stitched up." Pinto de Abreu said that claims by relatives that police had offered Kate a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...

 if she admitted to accidentally killing her child were wrong and the result of "a misunderstanding".

The UK Foreign Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...

 is providing the McCanns with assistance. Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

 Jacqui Smith
Jacqui Smith
Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith is a member of the British Labour Party. She served as the Member of Parliament for Redditch from 1997 until 2010 and was the first ever female Home Secretary, thus making her the third woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State — after Margaret Thatcher and...

 said on 9 September "I am clear that the Portuguese police have the objective of solving this crime, and most importantly finding Madeleine, and that is what we in our support of the McCanns have tried to do as well." Despite the ongoing investigation, the McCanns flew home on 9 September via Faro
Faro Airport
-Incidents and accidents:*On 21 December 1992, Martinair Flight 495 skidded off the runway in bad weather at Faro Airport killing 54 passengers and two crew out of a total of 340 people on board....

 and East Midlands airports.

During the evening of 10 September, Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...

 crime correspondent Martin Brunt
Martin Brunt
Martin Edward Brunt is crime correspondent for Sky News who joined the channel for its launch in 1989.-Education:...

, commenting on the analysis of samples returned from the Forensic Science Service, said that "According to police, it shows the presence of Madeleine's body in the boot
Trunk (automobile)
The trunk or boot of an automobile or car is the vehicle's main storage, luggage, or cargo compartment. Trunk is used in North American English and Jamaican English; boot is used elsewhere in the English speaking world. Trunk is also primarily used in many non-English speaking regions, such as...

 of the family's hire car
Car rental
A car rental or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time for a fee...

 five weeks after she disappeared." Shortly afterwards, however, the national director of the Polícia Judiciária, Alípio Ribeiro, cautioned that the tests had not been conclusive and forensic science experts pointed to the dangers of contamination. Earlier, McGuinness had said that Kate told detectives there was "no way" Madeleine's blood could have been found inside the car, which they had hired some 25 days after the disappearance, and continued to protest her innocence. To enable the McCanns to carry out independent scientific tests, the car was being kept in the garage of tycoon
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...

 John Geraghty at his villa near Praia da Luz.

Sousa stated that at the end of the investigation the case file would be handed to the public prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...

. The papers were given to the local prosecutor, José Cunha de Magalhães e Meneses, on 11 September. Meneses decided that there was sufficient evidence to pass the case to a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

, who had the power to approve any charges and also decide, within 10 days, on other actions that could have included placing the McCanns under house arrest
House arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...

 in the Algarve, ordering further interrogations and authorising further searches. The judge appointed was Pedro Miguel dos Anjos Frias, Portimão
Portimão
Portimão is a Portuguese town located in the District of Faro in the Region of Algarve, the southern coast of Portugal. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão . In 1924, it was incorporated as a cidade and became known merely as Portimão. The town has 41,000 inhabitants and the Portimão...

's 'juiz de instrução criminal'.

In addition to Meneses, a district prosecutor, Luis Bilro Verão, was appointed on 11 September 2007 to oversee the investigation. On 12 September Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 Fernando José Pinto Monteiro said that further police action was necessary after which there could be a reassessment of possible bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...

 conditions for the suspects.

Anjos Frias authorised, on 12 September, the seizure of Kate's diary and Gerry's laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...

, thought to be at the McCanns' Rothley
Rothley, Leicestershire
Rothley is a village and civil parish within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. Situated around west of the River Soar and north of the city of Leicester, it has a population of 3,612 inhabitants....

 home, and other items. Leicestershire Police
Leicestershire Constabulary
Leicestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland in England. Its headquarters are at Enderby, Leicestershire.The current Chief Constable is Simon Cole.-History:...

 are expected to visit the McCanns, to attempt to implement this warrant. Social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...

ers visited the McCanns on 13 September, at their request. Anjos Frias ruled on 19 September that the McCanns would not be reinterviewed for the time being.

The McCanns have been quoted as believing that their phones have been tapped from fairly early in the investigation. Clarence Mitchell, on 17 September, resigned as director of the Central Office of Information
Central Office of Information
The Central Office of Information is the UK government's marketing and communications agency. Its Chief Executive, currently Mark Lund, reports to the Minister for the Cabinet Office...

's media monitoring unit to become the McCanns' media spokesman. In his first media appearance, the following day, he said that there was an innocent explanation for any potentially incriminating evidence the police may have found.
Then Gerry said that he believed his daughter's kidnapper had been hiding behind a door in their holiday apartment as he checked on his children.

In an effort to rebut accusations that she was on medication
Medication
A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...

 at the time of the disappearance, hair from Kate was tested in November. Toxicology
Toxicology
Toxicology is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms...

 tests showed no evidence that she had taken drugs in the past eight months. The twins were also tested for sedative
Sedative
A sedative or tranquilizer is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement....

s. No traces of sedatives were recorded. A team of four Portuguese detectives and scientists were briefed by the Forensic Science Service
Forensic Science Service
The Forensic Science Service is a government-owned company in the United Kingdom which provides forensic science services to the police forces and government agencies of England and Wales, as well as other countries.-History:...

, at Leicestershire Police
Leicestershire Constabulary
Leicestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland in England. Its headquarters are at Enderby, Leicestershire.The current Chief Constable is Simon Cole.-History:...

 headquarters in Enderby
Enderby, Leicestershire
Enderby is a civil parish in the district of Blaby , in Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the south western outskirts of the city of Leicester and has a population of 5,648 at the time of the 2001 census....

 on 29 November, about the forensic tests that the Birmingham laboratory had carried out. The results were understood to be inconclusive. In early February 2008, Alípio Ribeiro, the national director of the PJ, said that there "perhaps should have been another assessment" before the McCanns were declared arguidos.

It was reported on 10 April that parts of the McCanns' interviews with the Portuguese police had been leaked. These were reported to include a statement that Madeleine had remonstrated with her mother for leaving the children unattended when they had been crying the previous night. Clarence Mitchell said that the leak was a "deliberate smear" and commented that it was curious that this should emerge on the day that the McCanns were in Brussels promoting a child welfare
Child welfare
Child protection is used to describe a set of usually government-run services designed to protect children and young people who are underage and to encourage family stability...

 initiative. The Polícia Judiciária said that it was entirely false that the contents of the report included material from the inquiry. They also regretted Clarence Mitchell's "unfounded comments".

In the judgement from the Tribunal da Relação de Évora, by Judge Fernando Ribeiro Cardoso on 29 April, it was revealed that the McCanns were being investigated for allegedly neglecting their daughter and that the police inquiry covered the possibilities of homicide, abandonment, concealment of a corpse and abduction. A judge in Portugal, on 15 May, extended the secrecy on the prosecution files for a further three months. The McCanns were cleared of any involvement in the disappearance, on 21 July, and their arguido status was lifted "due to lack of evidence that any crime was committed by the persons placed under formal investigation".

Other suspects

The Portuguese police disclosed information, on 25 May 2007, about another possible suspect: this was a reference to a middle-build Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...

, approximately 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) tall. However, the height of the man was subsequently corrected to that given on the Portuguese press release
News release
A press release, news release, media release, press statement or video release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly newsworthy...

 as 170 cm (5 ft 7 in). The man, aged between 35 and 40, was seen at 21:30 on 3 May, by a close friend of the McCanns, but this information was only made public two and half weeks later. According to Chief Police Officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...

 Olegário de Sousa, the man was carrying a child, or something which might have resembled a child. He fitted the description of a suspect being hunted by Spanish police for the kidnappings of Sara Morales, 14, and 7-year-old Yeremi Vargas, in the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

.

Detectives tried to trace a British man who left the harbour in his yacht shortly after the disappearance, after having moored there for two years. A witness reported seeing a man carrying a child in his arms down to the marina
Marina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....

, hours after Madeleine disappeared. On 29 May, detectives questioned four boat owners, three of them English, whose vessels were moored at the marina in Lagos
Lagos, Portugal
Lagos is a municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal....

, a town about five miles (8 km) from Praia da Luz.

A mystery sample of DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 was found, on 1 June, in the bedroom from where Madeleine disappeared. The DNA did not match that of the McCanns, their three children nor that of Murat. The PJ handed the sample over to the national forensic science laboratories, the Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal
Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal
The Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal, I.P. is a Portuguese government-owned organization under direct supervision of the Portuguese Ministry of the Justice, which provides forensic science services to the police forces and government agencies of Portugal. The national headquarters of the...

, and stated that there is a new suspect. In early August there was a suggested link with Urs Hans Von Aesch
Urs Hans Von Aesch
Urs Hans von Aesch was a Swiss citizen suspected of the 2007 abduction and murder of five-year-old Ylenia Lenhard in Appenzell, Switzerland.- Abduction and suspected murder of Ylenia Lenhard :...

 who had been on holiday in the area around the time that Madeleine disappeared. Von Aesch, a resident of Benimantell
Benimantell
Benimantell is a Valencian town and municipality located in the comarca of Marina Baixa, in the province of Alicante, Spain. Benimantell has an area of 37.9 km² and, according to the 2002 census, a total population of 378 inhabitants. The economy of Benimantell is exclusively based on...

, Spain, who was implicated by Swiss police with the disappearance of five-year-old Ylenia Lenhard from Appenzell
Appenzell (town)
Appenzell is the capital of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in Switzerland. Appenzell has no municipal government of its own; rather, the different parts of Appenzell belong to the districts Appenzell, Schwende and Rüte...

, Switzerland, had recently committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

.

The occupants of the flat above that from which Madeleine disappeared reported an intruder who apparently had entered with a key. There had been a similar burglary in the complex some weeks earlier. On 17 August, search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....

s were signed for the home of a new suspect.

Briton Raymond Hewlett, who had been jailed for sexual offences against young girls, was, in May 2009, a person of interest. Hewlett denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance and agreed to meet investigators working for the McCanns. Subsequently, he claimed to have seen Madeleine before her disappearance but required payment if he was to help the investigators. He did, though, voluntarily give police in Germany a DNA sample. Hewlett died, of natural causes
Death by natural causes
A death by natural causes, as recorded by coroners and on death certificates and associated documents, is one that is primarily attributed to natural agents: usually an illness or an internal malfunction of the body. For example, a person dying from complications from influenza or a heart attack ...

, in December 2009.

In August 2009 it emerged that, 72 hours after Madeleine disappeared, two British men were approached, in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, by a woman who reportedly asked "Are you here to deliver my new daughter?" The woman, who was described as a 'Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...

 lookalike', had an Australian accent
Australian English
Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....

 and spoke fluent Spanish or Catalan. An E-fit
E-FIT
Electronic Facial Identification Technique is a computer-based method that produce facial composites of wanted criminals based on eyewitness descriptions. Janina Kaminska at the UK Home Office proposed the term in 1984...

 picture was released showing a woman with short, spiky hair.

In February 2011, a private investigator said he had identified two key suspects in the Madeleine disappearance and believed she had possibly been taken to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. A 36-year-old man told a newspaper that he had informed police that McCann was taken by a Portuguese pedophile ring that hunts children in the Algarve region then proceeds to smuggle them out of the country. McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told media that the pedophile ring lead had to be taken with caution.

Other aspects of the investigation

On 7 June, Spanish police received a phone call
Telephone call
A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the calling party and the called party.-Information transmission:A telephone call may carry ordinary voice transmission using a telephone, data transmission when the calling party and called party are using modems, or facsimile...

 from a man claiming to know the whereabouts of Madeleine, using a mobile phone registered in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. The call was described as "credible".

In June, Spanish investigative journalist
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

 Antonio Toscano claimed that the four-year-old was abducted by a French sex offender
Sex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...

, as part of a Europe-wide paedophile network. Then, on 28 June, Toscano claimed that Madeleine was alive and well in Europe but Madeleine's parents refused to meet with him. Determined to leave no stone unturned, police also examined hundreds of reports from psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...

s and clairvoyants
Clairvoyance
The term clairvoyance is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception...

 claiming to know the location of Madeleine. The police said that they decided to check them all in case they might contain a message from the kidnapper.

The investigation was thrown into confusion on 10 June when the detective coordinating the hunt, Gonçalo Amaral, head of the regional Polícia Judiciária
Polícia Judiciária
The Polícia Judiciária is the main police branch of criminal investigation in Portugal, dedicated to fighting criminality, organized crime, terrorism, drugs, corruption and financial crimes...

, and four other Portuguese police officers, were charged with alleged offences relating to the inquiry into the disappearance of Joana Cipriano
Murder of Joana Cipriano
Joana Cipriano was an eight-year-old Portuguese girl who disappeared from the village of Figueira, near Portimão, in the Algarve, on 12 September 2004...

, from a village seven miles (11 km) from where Madeleine disappeared.

The Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 newspaper De Telegraaf
De Telegraaf
De Telegraaf is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper, with a daily circulation of approximately . De Telegraaf is based in Amsterdam...

, on 13 June, received a letter that suggested that Madeleine was buried on a hillside, near Arão
Arão, Portugal
Arão is a settlement in the parish of Mexilhoeira Grande, within the municipality of Portimão, Portugal....

, nine miles (14 km) north-east from Praia da Luz. After a search of the area, however, the Portuguese police abandoned this lead on 15 June.

In early August, the British police
Policing in the United Kingdom
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland ....

 team brought in to assist found microscopic traces of blood on the wall of the apartment from which Madeleine disappeared and that had not been detected by the Portuguese police. Using specially trained sniffer dogs
Detection dog
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to and works at using its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, or blood. Hunting dogs that search for game and search dogs that search for missing humans are generally not considered detection dogs...

 and ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...

 technology they discovered the blood despite the apartment having been cleaned and reoccupied. Samples of blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

, hair
Hair
Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....

, and fibres
Fiber
Fiber is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread.They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissues together....

 were sent to the UK Forensic Science Service
Forensic Science Service
The Forensic Science Service is a government-owned company in the United Kingdom which provides forensic science services to the police forces and government agencies of England and Wales, as well as other countries.-History:...

 in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 for DNA analysis
Genetic fingerprinting
DNA profiling is a technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals by their respective DNA profiles. DNA profiles are encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a person's DNA makeup, which can also be used as the person's identifier...

. Examination of the scientific evidential material is continuing and initial findings, described as "significant", were sent to Portugal around 4 September.

Following the publicising of the discovery of the blood spots, Sousa stated "The family are not suspects. This is the official position."
Then on 11 August, Sousa added that new evidence had given "intensity" to the possibility Madeleine had been killed. Sousa confirmed on 15 August that the sniffer dogs
Detection dog
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to and works at using its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, or blood. Hunting dogs that search for game and search dogs that search for missing humans are generally not considered detection dogs...

, which could only pick up the scent of a body which had been in situ
In situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...

 for more than two hours, had detected the scent of a dead body. John Barrett, a former Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...

 dog handler, said that the dogs used to detect a 'death smell' on Kate's Bible and clothes were brought in too long after Madeleine vanished since the crucial scent lasts for no longer than a month.

The position of the police was clarified on 16 August by Alípio Ribeiro, national director of the Polícia Judiciária, who said that although there was a strong hypothesis that Madeleine was dead, this could not be confirmed and the investigation was nowhere near a breakthrough.
António Cluny, president of Portugal's public prosecutor's service, said on 24 September that "Without the little girl's body everything is extremely complicated". He went on to stress that all options from abduction to Madeleine's death were still open.

The Portuguese police investigation team was reduced in October 2007. Following the removal of Gonçalo Amaral as investigation coordinator, other departures decreased the number of people working on the case from a peak of 200 to just six detectives which, with holidays, could mean as few as three working on the case at any one time. Paulo Rebelo, an assistant national director of the Polícia Judiciária, took over responsibility for the case on 8 October.

Ribeiro confirmed, during October, that Portuguese police officers were planning to fly to the United Kingdom to assist in the re-interviewing of the friends who dined with the McCanns at the time of the disappearance. To prepare for the re-interviewing, Joannes Thuy, a spokesman for the Portuguese public prosecutor, said on 15 January 2008 that Eurojust
Eurojust
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union dealing with judicial co-operation in criminal matters....

 had been asked to be the go-between for the Portuguese and the UK authorities. As part of the preparations, Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior, of Leicestershire Police, flew to Portugal for discussions with his counterparts, in early March. The interviews, carried out by Leicestershire Police and attended by the Portuguese Police, began on 8 April.

Alberto Costa
Alberto Costa
Alberto Bernardes Costa was the Portuguese Minister of Justice from 12 March 2005 to 26 October 2009.- References :...

, Portugal's Minister of Justice
Justice Minister
A justice ministry is a ministry or other government agency charged with justice. The ministry is often headed by a minister for justice or secretary of justice or secretary for justice; sometimes the head of a department of justice is entitled attorney general.Specific duties may relate to...

, told a parliamentary committee hearing in Lisbon, on 13 February, that Portuguese police were "at a stage now where we are approaching the conclusion of the process." Luis Antonio, the estranged husband
Legal separation
Legal separation is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a de facto separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is granted in the form of a court order, which can be in the form of a legally binding consent decree...

 of Murat’s girlfriend Michaela Walczuch, was questioned by police for a second time in early February.

The Portuguese police planned to hold a reconstruction
Crime reconstruction
Crime scene reconstruction is the use of scientific methods, physical evidence, deductive reasoning, and their interrelationships to gain explicit knowledge of the series of events that surround the commission of a crime. It is a disciplined and principled approach towards objectively understanding...

, of the events of the night of Madeleine's disappearance, in May 2008. They asked the McCanns, their friends, and holidaymakers to attend. However, the reconstruction was cancelled after the friends declined to participate.

Alípio Ribeiro resigned as the national director of the PJ on 7 May, citing media pressure. His replacement was José Maria Almeida Rodrigues, a senior detective based in Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...

.

Fernando José Pinto Monteiro, the Portuguese Attorney General, said on 1 July that prosecutors had received the final police report. He announced, on 21 July, that the case would be closed due to lack of evidence that any crime was committed by the persons placed under formal investigation. However, the files would still be periodically reviewed and could be reopened if new evidence emerged. The police files, running to 17 volumes comprising over 11,000 pages, were made public on 4 August.

External assistance

Throughout the investigation support has been provided by the British authorities for the Portuguese police. Immediately after the disappearance experts from Britain were flown out to assist the Portuguese police experts and Leicestershire Police
Leicestershire Constabulary
Leicestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland in England. Its headquarters are at Enderby, Leicestershire.The current Chief Constable is Simon Cole.-History:...

 sent family liaison officers to help the McCann family. On 9 May, Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...

 released a yellow notice, issued to help locate missing persons who are not able to identify themselves, to all member police forces
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

.
A team of mobile phone experts flew to Portugal on 29 May 2007 to analyse mobile phone data from the area at the time of the abduction. They used triangulation
Triangulation
In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances to the point directly...

 techniques to track mobile phone movements down to a couple of yards. More experts, this time from the British Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre , formed in April 2006, is a UK cross agency and cross business department of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, which is tasked to work both nationally and internationally to bring online child sex offenders, including those involved in the...

, flew into Portugal on 31 July to assist the local detectives, for whom all leave had been cancelled, by developing a psychological profile of a possible abductor.

In early August, British detectives again flew in to assist. They were accompanied by specially trained sniffer dogs
Detection dog
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to and works at using its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, or blood. Hunting dogs that search for game and search dogs that search for missing humans are generally not considered detection dogs...

 and equipment for underground detection and ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...

 instruments for identifying blood.

The Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...

 started a secret scoping exercise, in March 2010, to decide whether a new investigation is necessary. In addition, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre sought help from West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police
West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing West Yorkshire in England. It is the fourth largest force in England and Wales by number of officers, with 5671 officers....

's major inquiry team, which found missing Dewsbury
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...

 nine-year-old Shannon Matthews, in March 2008.

Unofficial investigations

At least five firms of private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...

s have been engaged to make enquiries. At the end of May 2007 the McCanns hired Control Risks Group
Control Risks Group
Control Risks is a global risk and strategic consulting firm specialising in political, security and integrity risk. Control Risks’ aim is to help its clients to understand and manage the risks of operating in complex or hostile environments...

. It was announced on 29 September that tycoon
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...

 Brian Kennedy was paying for private investigators to search in Morocco. Spanish agency Método 3 were engaged with the enquiries led by Francisco Marco. It was disclosed in January 2008 that Hogan International, headed by Noel Hogan, former Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...

 Detective Superintendent
Superintendent (police)
Superintendent , often shortened to "super", is a rank in British police services and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries the full version is superintendent of police...

, was carrying out a cold case review, in conjunction with Método 3. US-based investigation firm Oakley International was hired for six months in 2008 but it was decided in August not to renew their contract. Brian Kennedy, who underwrites the Fund, thought that their fees of around £500,000 were not value for money. Oakley International owner Kevin Halligen, in November 2009, was being sought by the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 on an indictment for fraud. Allegations included the suggestion that he failed to pay over to investigators £300,000 that he had received from the McCann fund. Another, unnamed, US organisation was engaged in August 2008, also on a £500,000 six-month contract, to lead the investigation. Método 3 were to continue to follow up information from Spain and Portugal.

Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragão Correia paid for the Barragem do Arade reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

, 35 miles (56.3 km) east of Praia da Luz, to be searched by divers
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....

 in early February 2008. He claimed to have received intelligence from
underworld
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...

 sources that Madeleine had been killed and dumped in a lake. The initial search was unsuccessful but it resumed in the middle of March, funded by the Sociedade Portuguesa de Engenharia e Construção. Several items were found in the reservoir. Initially discovered were several lengths of cord, some plastic tape and a single white, cotton sock. Then two plastic bag
Plastic bag
A plastic bag, polybag, or pouch is a type of packaging made of thin, flexible, plastic film, nonwoven fabric, or plastic textile. Plastic bags are used for containing and transporting goods such as foods, produce, powders, ice, magazines, comic books, chemicals and waste.Most plastic bags are...

s, one containing small bones, were found on 14 March,
but the bones were confirmed to be those of a small animal and Correia gave up the search for lack of funds.

Sightings of Madeleine McCann

The last confirmed sighting of Madeleine was in the early evening of 3 May 2007, by Miguel Matias, manager of the beach-side Paraíso restaurant, who saw Gerry dancing with his daughter while the family ate a meal on the terrace. Since then there have been many reported sightings of Madeleine both in Portugal and elsewhere in the world, but none have produced any firm leads. However, several reports have not been conclusively eliminated. The Portuguese police, on 9 July 2007, said that they believed that, if still alive, it was likely that the missing girl was still being held in Portugal. The McCanns gained limited access to police files, concerning possible sightings, on 7 July 2008.

Response to the disappearance

Over the subsequent months Madeleine's parents implemented a publicity campaign that kept the disappearance in the public eye in many countries though there was criticism that the media attention was excessive and lacked objectivity. The disappearance led the news in the UK for over a week with subsequent daily coverage of events. There was regular coverage in Portugal and periodic coverage in other countries.

An official site for the search was set up and a fund-raising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...

 company, known as Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned, was launched. The directors of the company subsequently decided that no money from the Fund would be used to pay the McCanns' legal costs. There were appeals from many political leaders and sporting personalities and over £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

2.6 million of rewards were offered. The parents had an audience with the Pope
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

 and embarked on a tour of key European and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

n countries, together with a visit to the United States, to raise and maintain awareness. The publicity spawned attempted scams with fake websites set up, people collecting money on false pretences
False pretenses
Obtaining property by false pretenses is when a person obtains property by intentionally misrepresenting a past or existing fact.-Elements:The elements of false pretenses are: a false representation of a material past or existing fact...

 and others falsely claiming to have information on Madeleine's whereabouts.

Following accusations in the media the McCanns, their friends, and Robert Murat instigated libel actions. The Daily Express and the Daily Star published front-page apologies and agreed to pay the McCanns £550,000 in libel damages. A grouping of British newspapers settled with Murat for a £600,000 payout and issued a public apology. BSkyB also paid him damages in a separate libel case. Sergey Malinka and Michaela Walczuch accepted more than £100,000 each. The friends of the McCanns, known as the Tapas Seven, were awarded around £375,000 in damages and secured printed apologies from Express Newspapers.

Criticism of the parents

The parents have been criticised for leaving their children alone while they ate at a nearby restaurant despite the availability of a babysitting
Babysitting
Babysitting is the practice of temporarily caring for a child on behalf of the child's parents. Babysitting is commonly performed as an odd job by teenagers for extra money.-General:...

 service and a creche
Day care
Child care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...

. There has also been criticism of the parents in the Portuguese media. Diário de Notícias insisted that the McCanns were suspects and claimed that on the night Madeleine disappeared they had not checked on the children, contrary to what they told police. The Daily Telegraph has reported "Portugal has been stung by suggestions that the investigation has been handled ineptly, and while there is much sympathy locally for the McCanns they have also been criticised for leaving their children alone."

Police questioned the couple on 10 May 2007 about why the three children were left alone in an apartment, with the patio doors unlocked, while they dined at the restaurant. In an interview with the BBC on 25 May, the McCanns acknowledged the criticism, and spoke of the guilt they felt. In reply to questions posed to them on 6 June at a press conference
News conference
A news conference or press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions. A joint press conference instead is held between two or more talking sides.-Practice:...

 in Germany, when radio reporter Sabina Müller suggested that their behaviour was not normal for people whose child had been abducted, they denied involvement in any abduction of their daughter.

On the 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....

 website a petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....

 to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 was started on 12 June requesting that Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

 Social Services
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...

 fulfil their statutory obligation to investigate the circumstances which led to Madeleine and her siblings being left unattended in an unlocked, ground floor hotel room. In response, Leicestershire County Council
Leicestershire County Council
Leicestershire County Council is the county council for the English non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire. It was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888. The county is divided into 52 electoral divisions, which return a total of 55 councillors. The council is controlled by...

 said it was "discharging [its] duties in... a full and professional manner" but the family has declined to comment on the petition. The petition was rapidly rejected, with the reason given being the language it contained.

Following criticism in the Portuguese media of the behaviour of the McCanns, on 21 July 2007, the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...

 lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

s held "informal discussions" to consider whether any offence may have been committed under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933
Children and Young Persons Act 1933
The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...

, which deals with ill-treatment, cruelty, neglect and abandonment of children under 16. The family said the calls to prosecute the McCanns were hurtful and unhelpful.

The lawyer of Robert Murat, Francisco Pagarete, criticised the McCanns in late November. He said that they "deserve to be cursed" for leaving their children alone. Gonçalo Amaral, who had originally headed the police investigation, criticised the parents in his book Maddie, a Verdade da Mentira (Maddie, the Truth of the Lie), published on 24 July 2008. A Portuguese judge issued an injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...

, on 9 September 2009, that stopped further publication or sales of the book and also banned Amaral from repeating his claims.
The McCanns travelled to Portugal for Amaral's libel trial, but on 11 December 2009 it was postponed for a month due to his lawyer falling ill. The trial had originally coincided with the publication of a second book by Amaral, A Mordaça Inglesa (The English Gag). The McCanns are also asking Amaral for 1.2 million euros in compensation for defamation. On 19 October 2010, it was announced that the Court of Appeal had overturned the ban on Sr Amaral's book, which has now been returned to sale, stating that the ban had broken "a constitutional and universal right: that of opinion and freedom of expression."

Criticism of the police

There has been extensive criticism of the Portuguese police in the British media. It was reported that there were delays in obtaining and analysing forensic evidence
Forensic identification
Forensic identification is the application of forensic science, or "forensics", and technology to identify specific objects from the trace evidence they leave, often at a crime scene or the scene of an accident. Forensic means "for the courts"....

, neither border nor marine police
Water police
Water police, also called harbour patrols, port police, marine/maritime police, nautical patrols, bay constables or river police, are police officers, usually a department of a larger police organisation, who patrol in water craft...

 were given descriptions of Madeleine for many hours after she vanished, and officers had not been seen making extensive door-to-door inquiries. Critics allege that the scene had not been secured as tightly as it would have been in the UK and the lack of appeals for help and information has surprised British police experts.

It has emerged that the police failed to ask for surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...

 pictures of vehicles leaving Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine's disappearance nor of the road between Lagos
Lagos, Portugal
Lagos is a municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal....

 and Vila Real de Santo António, on the Spanish border. Mark Williams-Thomas, a former Surrey detective
Surrey Police
Surrey Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Surrey in the south of England.The force is led by Chief Constable Mark Rowley and has its headquarters at Mount Browne, Guildford, Surrey...

 and now a child protection expert, on 6 August described the initial forensic tests as "inept" and criticised the three-month delay in the Portuguese acceptance of the British offer of expert help. He said that the police should have sealed the apartment immediately, on day one, and then conducted a thorough forensic examination.

The Portuguese police have, however, been working under legal restrictions. For instance, they cannot release information because they are constrained by Article 86 of the Portuguese penal code that says information must not be released, apart from in exceptional circumstances, while the criminal investigation is still taking place.

Several Portuguese news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...

 and opinion makers have criticised the massive police and law enforcement efforts, comparing it with the efforts used to help national victims in past similar affairs. Taking part were up to 180 Portuguese police officials and civil protection
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...

 helicopters together with hundreds of villagers and holidaymakers, an effort never seen in the search for other child disappearances in the country.

Parallels have been drawn with the case of disappearance of another child, Joana Cipriano
Murder of Joana Cipriano
Joana Cipriano was an eight-year-old Portuguese girl who disappeared from the village of Figueira, near Portimão, in the Algarve, on 12 September 2004...

, who disappeared on 12 September 2004 from her home in the village of Figueira, seven miles (11 km) from where Madeleine was last seen. Chief investigating officer Guilhermino da Encarnação was also involved in that investigation, in which no body was found, but which ended with the conviction of Leonor and João Cipriano, Joana's mother and uncle. Since then Gonçalo Amaral and four other Portuguese police officers have been charged with offences. A judge decided, in February 2008, that Amaral will stand trial accused of falsifying evidence and covering up for the other four who are accused of torture.

The height of the man being sought by the police was given on the Portuguese press release as 5 in 7 in (1.7 m) but it mistakenly appeared as 5 in 10 in (1.78 m) the English version. Madeleine took a favourite toy to bed with her on the night she disappeared, on which an abductor could have left some trace of DNA evidence, but police did not check it. Then on 1 June 2007, June Hughes, from Glasgow, who had stayed in the apartment the previous week with her husband, expressed surprise that the police had not made any contact with them. Family members, on 9 June, complained of harassment by the police when they tried to put up 'missing' posters at Lisbon Airport
Portela Airport
Lisbon Portela Airport, also known as Lisbon Airport , is an international airport located north of Castle of São Jorge in the city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal...

. There were suggestions that the Portuguese authorities wanted to prevent these posters being displayed over concerns about damage to their tourist industry
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

.

There was criticism that, on 6 June, two of the senior police officers involved in the case, Olegário de Sousa and Gonçalo Amaral, the head of the regional Polícia Judiciária
Polícia Judiciária
The Polícia Judiciária is the main police branch of criminal investigation in Portugal, dedicated to fighting criminality, organized crime, terrorism, drugs, corruption and financial crimes...

, took a leisurely lunch and an observer commented that they laughed at what seemed to be an in-joke
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...

 as the McCanns appeared on a television news broadcast. Olegário de Sousa defended their actions: "It is very, very sad but a person’s free time
Leisure
Leisure, or free time, is time spent away from business, work, and domestic chores. It is also the periods of time before or after necessary activities such as eating, sleeping and, where it is compulsory, education....

 is for lunch," he said. "The persons are in charge in the day, they are working in the day but they must eat and drink, it is normal. I drink what I want to drink when I can drink." Gonçalo Amaral, in an interview given to the Diário de Notícias in October, said "The British police have only been working on that which the McCann couple want them to and which is most convenient for them." Subsequently the PJ's national director, Alípio Ribeiro, told journalists at a conference in Lisbon on 2 October, that Amaral's "commission of service has ceased". Amaral returned to his post in the PJ branch of Faro
Faro, Portugal
Faro is the southernmost city in Portugal. It is located in the Faro Municipality in southern Portugal. The city proper has 41,934 inhabitants and the entire municipality has 58,305. It is the seat of the Faro District and capital of the Algarve region...

, the seat of the district
Faro (district)
Faro District is the southernmost district of Portugal, coincident with the Algarve. The administrative centre, or capital, is the city of Faro.-Municipalities:The district is composed of 16 municipalities:* Albufeira* Alcoutim* Aljezur* Castro Marim...

. Tavares de Almeida, the deputy head of the inquiry, asked to be put on unpaid leave shortly before it was announced that he had been indicted over the alleged torture of a suspect in an unrelated investigation.

Richard Branson
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....

 stepped into the debate on 15 October 2007. Branson, who has contributed £100,000 to the McCanns' defence fund, criticised the Portuguese police and press for 'overstepping their mark' by accusing the McCanns of involvement in the disappearance.

Madeleine McCann

Before the family holiday to Portugal, Madeleine Beth McCann, daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann, born 2003 in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

, was living with her parents and younger twin siblings, brother Sean and sister Amelie, in Rothley, Leicestershire
Rothley, Leicestershire
Rothley is a village and civil parish within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. Situated around west of the River Soar and north of the city of Leicester, it has a population of 3,612 inhabitants....

. Madeleine was made a ward of court
Ward (law)
In law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian. A court may take responsibility for the legal protection of an individual, usually either a child or incapacitated person, in which case the ward is known as a ward of the court, or a ward of the state, in the United States,...

, during summer 2007, on application by her parents because they wanted the court's statutory powers to act on her behalf in legal disputes. Mrs Justice Hogg
Mary Hogg
Dame Mary Claire Hogg, DBE , styled The Hon. Mrs Justice Hogg, is a British lawyer and judge. She is the daughter of the late Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone and his wife Mary Evelyn Martin, and is the sister of Douglas Hogg, 3rd Viscount Hailsham...

 has effectively been Madeleine's legal guardian
Legal guardian
A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...

 since then.

A notable identification feature is a coloboma
Coloboma
A coloboma is a hole in one of the structures of the eye, such as the iris, retina, choroid or optic disc...

 of her right eye where the pupil runs into the iris
Iris (anatomy)
The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...

 in the form of a black radial strip reaching from the pupil
Pupil
The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils. In...

 out to the edge of the white
Sclera
The sclera , also known as the white or white of the eye, is the opaque , fibrous, protective, outer layer of the eye containing collagen and elastic fiber. In the development of the embryo, the sclera is derived from the neural crest...

 at the '7 o'clock' position, about 30° clockwise from the bottom.

The McCanns released an image, on 1 May 2009, two years after the girl's disappearance, of the projected appearance
Age progression
Age progression is the process of modifying a photograph of a person to represent the effect of aging on their appearance. Digital image processing is the most common technique today, although sometimes artists' drawings are used. Age progression is most often used as a forensics tool by law...

 of a 6-year-old Madeleine.

Kate McCann

Kate Marie McCann (née Healy; born 1967), Madeleine's mother, is a general practitioner
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...

. Before the disappearance she worked as a part-time GP
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...

 in Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray is a town in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It is to the northeast of Leicester, and southeast of Nottingham...

. However, she has said that she will not return to work as a GP.

Born in Allerton
Allerton, Merseyside
Allerton is a suburb of Liverpool, in Merseyside, England. It is located southeast of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Mossley Hill, Woolton, Hunts Cross and Garston....

, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, Healy studied medicine at the University of Dundee
University of Dundee
The University of Dundee is a university based in the city and Royal burgh of Dundee on eastern coast of the central Lowlands of Scotland and with a small number of institutions elsewhere....

. Initially she specialised to become a gynaecologist, but later became an anaesthetist. She first met her husband Gerry McCann while employed at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. They were married in 1998. Like her husband, McCann is a practising Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

.

Gerry McCann

Gerald Patrick McCann, Madeleine's father, is a cardiologist. He currently works at the Glenfield Hospital
Glenfield Hospital
Glenfield Hospital, or Glenfield General Hospital, is situated near Glenfield, on the outskirts of Leicester. It is one of England's main hospitals for coronary care, and the current extensions will also make it the largest maternity unit in Western Europe.Glenfield Hospital is located at the...

 in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

 though he was on unpaid special leave following the disappearance. On 1 November 2007 he returned to work on a three half-days per week basis, initially with no patient contact. Born in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, he attended Holyrood Secondary School
Holyrood R.C. Secondary School
Holyrood Secondary School, commonly referred to as Holyrood, is a Catholic secondary school in the south-side of Glasgow, Scotland. Holyrood is widely known as being Europe's largest state secondary school. It is near Crosshill railway station, Hampden Park, A728 and the new, M74 Motorway...

 and studied medicine at Glasgow University
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

.

Friends

The McCanns together with their seven friends, with whom they were dining on the evening of the disappearance, have been collectively referred to in the British media as the Tapas Nine. The group of friends, alone, have sometimes been called the Tapas Seven. The friends are Dr Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner, Dr Matthew Oldfield and his wife Rachael Oldfield, David Payne with his wife Dr Fiona Payne and his mother-in-law Dianne Webster. All nine attended a private meeting, at a Rothley hotel, in late November 2007.

External links

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