The disappearance of Madeline McCann

Madeline McCann

Madeline Beth McCann (born May 12, 2003 in Leicester , England), lived with her parents, brother Sean and Amelie's sister in Rothley, Leicestershire . She has straight blond hair, blue-green eyes, a small mole on the ankle of her left leg, and a coloboma on the iris of her right eye ^[5] . In 2009, several images of Madeline were published showing how she might look at six years old, and in 2012 at nine ^[6] .

McCanns and family friends

Kate Mary McCann (nee Healy, born 1968 in Allerton, Liverpool ) is a general practitioner. Before Madeline disappeared, she worked part-time at Melton Mobray . Kate was educated at Dundee University , graduated in 1992, and was a gynecologist before becoming a general practitioner ^[7] . Gerald Patrick McCann (born 1968 in Glasgow) is a cardiologist and consultant at the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester. He attended Holyrood Catholic High School in Glasgow and studied medicine at the University of Glasgow , graduated in 1992. The couple met in 1993 and got married in 1998. Both spouses are Catholics ^[8] .

The McCanns were on vacation with seven friends and their five children. ^[9] The company consisted of physician Russell O'Brien and his girlfriend Jane Tanner, marketing manager; lawyer Rachel Oldfield and her husband, doctor Matthew Oldfield; doctors David and Fiona Payne and doctor Diana Webster. Adults met every evening at 20:30 in a restaurant.

5A Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva

The apartments where McCann's 5A Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva stayed were located on the ground floor of a multi-story building that was part of the Praia da Luz resort.

According to Scotland Yard, earlier (in 2007) the resort already had a series of incidents that they believe are related to the disappearance of Madeline on May 3. In previous months, cases of hacking numbers have increased. A year before Madeline was missing, the children saw a man who invaded the ground floor apartment and stared at the playpen. Men also posed as donation collectors and walked door to door, asking for money for orphans ^[10] . On the day of the loss between 15:30 and 17:30 four times, two men visited apartments adjacent to the McCanns, ostensibly for the purpose of charitable gatherings. In October 2013, Scotland Yard published electronic images of a black-haired man who made those visits at 4 p.m., and a man who had climbed the stairs to the apartment a week before and talked to someone on the balcony ^[11] .

In the days leading up to the disappearance, there were other testimonies of men who behaved strangely near Apartment 5A. On Monday, April 30, one girl saw a man standing with his hands on the wall next to the apartment. She saw him again on May 2, he watched 5A, standing not far from the parking lot. She described him as white, over 30 years old, wearing a black leather jacket and sunglasses, ugly and with spots on his skin. The second witness said that on April 29 she saw a man spinning around a multi-storey building, and again on May 2 on the opposite side of the street. She described him as an ugly person with spots on the skin and a large nose ^[12] .

On the same day or the next, the third witness saw a man standing at the parking lot. She said that he was looking at the house where the McCann apartments were located while a white van parked. On May 3, the fourth witness saw a man walking through the gates leading from the apartment; it seemed to her that he was trying to close them as quietly and accurately as possible and kept looking around him all the time ^[12] .

Thursday May 3, 2007

Thursday, May 3 was the sixth day of a family week off. The children spent the whole morning at the resort’s kids club while their parents were on a walk. After lunch in their room, they went to the pool ^[13] . Kate took the last known photograph sitting next to her father and two-year-old sister Madeline at noon. ^[14] The children returned to the club, from which Kate picked them up at 18:00, while Jerry was in a tennis lesson ^[13] .

The McCanns put the children to bed at about 19:00. The bedroom overlooked the parking lot and garden and was located next to the back door. It had one window closed on shutters, which overlooked the parking lot. Madeline's bed was across the room. ^[13] The twins slept in playpens, Madeline in a single bed with a pink stuffed cat toy. She was dressed in white and pink pajamas with short sleeves ^[15] .

Parents left the apartment at 20:30 to have dinner with friends in a restaurant located 50 meters away ^[16] . They left the patio doors closed but not locked; the door opens onto the pool, stairs and gates that lead to the road outside the resort ^[17] .

The restaurant staff left a note in their book for notes, which stated that the table from which the apartment was visible was reserved for the McCanns and their friends every evening at 20:30. It also recorded that children were sleeping in these apartments; Kate suggested that the kidnapper could see the note in the staff book, which was in the reception pool ^[18] . The McCanns and their friends checked out the children throughout the evening. Jerry entered 5A at about 9:05 p.m. Everything was in order, although Jerry remembered leaving the door to the bedroom closed, and now it was wide open; he returned it to its former position before returning to the restaurant ^{[19] The} McCanns believe that the open door is a sign that the abductor has already been to the apartment. ^[20] .

Possible evidence of the kidnapper

Jane Tanner left the restaurant to check on her daughter. She met Jerry on the way back, when he was returning after checking at 21:05; he chatted on the street with a television producer whom he met at the resort. At about 9:15 p.m., Tanner noticed a man on the opposite side of the street, leaving the resort along the street on which McCann’s apartments were located ^[21] . She said that he was carrying a barefoot child, dressed in light pink pajamas with floral patterns and cuffs on his legs ^[22] .

Jane described him as a white, dark-haired, 170 cm tall, of South European or Mediterranean appearance, 35-40 years old, dressed in beige trousers and a dark jacket, and identified him as a tourist. Tanner told the Portuguese police this, but the description was not broadcast to the media until May 25 ^[22] . Scotland Yard now believes this was a false mark. In October 2013, a Briton resting there stated that he might be the man Tanner saw — he was returning to his apartment after taking his daughter from an evening kindergarten ^[10] . The police took his photographs, dressed in the same clothes that he was that night, and in the same pose. Redwood said that his officers were certain that Tanner had seen him then ^[23] .

For several years, it was believed that Madeline was abducted at approximately 9:15 p.m. due to Tanner's testimony. Scotland Yard is now more interested in witnessing the Smiths, an Irish family on vacation. Previously, their message was considered erroneous or not related to the abduction due to a time discrepancy with the Tanner statement. Now the police believe that the approximate time of the abduction is 22:00, when the Smiths saw a man with a girl in her arms.

The Smiths saw a man on Rua da Escola Primária , a street about 257 meters from the McCann apartments. He carried a girl in his arms. They described her as a blonde and light-skinned girl of 3-4 years old, dressed in light pajamas, and a man as a brown-haired woman of 30 years old, 175-180 cm tall, in beige trousers. According to them, he did not look like a tourist, and he did not seem to feel comfortable carrying a child ^[24] . The family later stated that Jerry McCann could have been this man, but this was rejected by the investigation, as several witnesses saw Jerry in a restaurant at this time.

On October 13, 2013, Scotland Yard published electronic images of this man. They were compiled in 2008 by private detectives hired by the McCanns, based on information provided by two members of the Smith family. Police described him as white, between the ages of 20 and 40, of medium build, medium height, and clean-shaven.

Missing Madeline

Kate was supposed to check the children at 21:30, but Matthew Oldfield suggested checking the McCann children at the same time when he went to his apartment in the neighboring apartments. He noticed that the door to the children's bedroom was open, but, not hearing anything suspicious, went out without seeing Madeline. He cannot remember whether the window was also wide open. Previously, the Portuguese police accused him of complicity, as he volunteered to check the children instead of Kate ^[13] .

Kate went to check the children at about 22:00. Police believe that Madeline was abducted just a few minutes before. She entered the apartment through the patio doors, and noticed that the bedroom door was wider than usual, but when she went to close it, the door slammed shut as if from a draft. Then she saw that the window was open from the outside. Madeline's soft toy and blanket were still lying on the bed, but she herself was gone. After a quick inspection of the apartment, she ran to the restaurant, screaming that someone had abducted Madeline. ^[25]

At about 10:10 p.m. Jerry sent Matthew to warn the resort reception and call the police, and at 10:30 p.m. the resort began searching for the missing child ^[26] . According to the resort manager, 60 people, staff and guests continued to search for Madeline until 4:30, as they assumed that Madeline had simply gone somewhere herself. One participant later said that throughout the resort you could hear people called Madeline ^[27] .

First steps

According to the Portuguese police, the officers arrived at the apartment 10 minutes after the call ^[28] . According to Kate, two officers from the GNR , the Portuguese gendarmerie , arrived at 23:10 from Lagos , a city 8 kilometers away. ^[29] At midnight, the GNR notified the criminal police (Polícia Judiciária), which arrived at 1:00 from Portimão , 32 km from the resort ^[30] . The officer hung the tape on the bedroom door, but left at 3:00 without sealing the rest of the apartment ^[30] . Two patrol dogs were brought to Praia da Lush at 2:00 and four search dogs at 8:00 ^[31] .

Friends of the McCans friends contacted the media in the UK and were featured in the morning news. Sister Jerry in Scotland informed the British Consulate in Algarve , the British Embassy in Lisbon and the Department of Foreign Affairs in London. ^[30] The roadblocks were set at 10:00. Interpol issued a notice with a yellow angle (an international notice to detect a missing person or to identify a person who cannot do it on his own) to Madeline five days later ^[32] . Later, the police organized searches in the local sewers, waterways, wells, caves and abandoned buildings ^[33] .

British media criticized the actions of the Portuguese police. The crime scene was not sealed; according to Olegariu di Soza, the senior inspector of criminal police who worked on the case, about 20 people entered the apartment before access was closed to them ^[34] . Madeline's toy was not initially tested for DNA ^[35] . For many hours, Madeline’s description was not given to either the border or naval police, and the officers did not interview all of McCann’s neighbors. ^[36] They also did not request photographs of vehicles leaving Praia da Luz, as well as from the road between Lagos and the city of Vila Real di Santo Antonio on the Spanish border ^[37] .

Gonçalo Amaral

The Portuguese investigation has come under close scrutiny also because of the head of the regional criminal police Gonçalo Amaral who investigated this case from May to October 2007. A month earlier, Amaral and four other officers were charged with misconduct related to the disappearance of Joana Cipriano, an eight-year-old girl who disappeared from 2004 in Figueira, a village 11 km from Praia da Luz. Police suggested that she was killed, although her body was never found. The girl’s mother and her uncle were charged with murder after confession; later, the mother refused her words, saying that she confessed to the murder after police beatings ^[38] . Amaral was not present at the beating, which allegedly took place, but was accused of concealment.

In October 2007, Amaral was removed from the Madeline case and dismissed from his post. In his book, published in July 2008, he expressed the opinion that Madeline was dead, and her parents were involved. In May 2009, Amaral was accused of falsifying documents in the Ciprianou case and was sentenced to 18 months probation ^[39] . The McCanns sued him for defamation because of the charges he expressed in his book, and as of November 2013, the trial is ongoing.

First Suspect

On May 14, 2007, Portuguese police searched nearby the villa, owned by the mother of Robert Murat, a British-Portuguese real estate consultant. ^[40] Murat attracted the attention of Laurie Campbell, a Sunday Mirror journalist. He told the police that he had expressed interest in the investigation. He proposed translating testimonies for the police, explaining that he wanted to help the McCans because he was deprived of parental rights for his three-year-old daughter. Three people from the McCann company said they saw Murat at the resort in the evening when Madeline disappeared, although he and his mother claimed to be at home at that time ^[42] .

Murat received the status of arguido (suspect) on May 15. The “arguido” status gives a person additional rights, for example, the right to remain silent ^[43] . His car, computers, mobile phone and videos were seized. The villa was re-inspected in August. The police interviewed the people who created the website for Murat, as well as his friends ^[44] . Nothing connected him with the disappearance, and suspicions were removed from him in July 2008, together with the closure of the case. ^[45] Like the McCanns, Murat has become an object of excessive media attention. He and two of his acquaintances sued 11 editions for defamation of 100 articles published by Associated Newspapers , Express Newspapers , Mirror Group Newspapers , News Group Newspapers . According to The Observer , this is the largest number of libel cases in the UK against one person and on the same occasion ^[46] . Murat received 600 thousand pounds in July 2008 and another 100 thousand dollars; all three publishers apologized publicly. The British Sky Broadcasting Group , which owns Sky News , paid him compensation in November 2008 and also posted an apology on his website for a period of 12 months ^[47] .

McCanns as suspects

British Search Dogs

Matt Baggott, chief of Leicestershire police, said in 2012 that Leicestershire police were asked to lead British action on May 8, in response to the missing Madeline on behalf of the British government and the British Police Officers Association, provided that this would be a predominantly Portuguese investigation, and British police will comply with Portuguese laws and their law on judicial secrets. It was a decision that tied the hands of the British police when the Portuguese police began to make statements against the McCanns ^[48] .

Experts from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center arrived in Portugal on May 9 to help draw up a psychological profile of a potential kidnapper ^[49] . In July, British police joined the search, bringing with them equipment and two search dogs of the English Springer Spaniel breed, Keelu and Eddie. Kila was trained to track the traces of human blood, even if the stained area was cleared or the traces for decades, and Eddie - to track the smell of human corpses. According to The Observer , dogs were brought at the request of the McCanns ^[50] .

In late July, dogs were taken to several apartments and places associated with the investigation. Both dogs cast their voices in several places in the apartment, from which Madeline disappeared, including the area behind the sofa. ^[50] On August 2, Portuguese police arrived at the villa that McCann had recently rented and took Madeline's soft toy and some items of clothing, as well as Kate's diaries, which she began to keep after the disappearance and the Bible. On August 6, police confiscated a Renault Scénic car, which the couple rented 24 days after the disappearance ^[51] . Eddie began to bark near the car and on the contents of the trunk, and one or both dogs immediately gave voice to the toy, Kate’s clothes and the Bible ^[50] . John Barrett, a retired Scotland Yard cynologist, told reporters that dogs can only detect the smell of a corpse 28 days after death, and the reactions of the dogs cannot be considered reliable ^[52] .

DNA analysis

Analysis materials sent to the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham were collected in the apartment and car ^[53] . The service used its own genetic fingerprinting technology, developed in 1999, known as LCN ^[54] . LCN is used when only a few cells are available for analysis; this technology is considered controversial, as it is more sensitive than others. Because of this, it is vulnerable to pollution and misinterpretation ^[55] . The results were ready on September 3, 2007. They showed that the sample from the trunk of the car contains Madeline's DNA components. However, John Lowe of the Service also emphasized that the result is too complex to make an unambiguous conclusion ^[56] . Despite this, on September 7, the Portuguese police declared Jerry and Kate suspects. ^[57]

Journalists in Portugal wrote that DNA “matched 100 percent” ^[58] . One of the British newspapers placed the following headline on the first page: “Sensation from the British laboratory: DNA from the car is 100% owned by Maddy,” while another wrote that “a tuft of Maddy hair” was found in the car ^[59] . On September 5, the criminal police suggested that if Madeline died in an apartment accident and Kate hid her body, she could only receive a two-year sentence; Jerry will not be convicted and will be free to leave the country. ^[60]

McCann Returns to the UK

Despite the status of suspects, the McCanns were allowed to leave Portugal; they returned to England on September 9, 2007. ^[61] On September 11, a case consisting of 10 volumes of evidence and evidence was transferred to the local prosecutor, José Cunha di Magagliens and Menezes, who, in turn, referred the case to the appointed judge, Pedr Miguel dos Anyush Fryash ^[62] . On September 12, he authorized the seizure of Kate's diary and laptop Jerry, who were in the McCann house in England ^[63] .

To refute the rumors that Kate or the twins were taking medicine while Madeline disappeared, their hair was sent for examination in November 2007; no traces of drugs were found ^[64] .

Closing Investigation

Seven McCann friends were interviewed by the Levershire police in April 2008 in England in the presence of the Portuguese Criminal Police ^[65] . The Portuguese police planned to reconstruct Madeline's disappearance in the coming months, but it never took place, as friends refused to participate. The reconstruction was not going to be shown on television, which made them doubt the need for its implementation ^[66] . Also in April 2008, the day the McCanns were in Brussels, recordings of Kate’s testimony leaked onto Spanish television. They included information about what Madeline did on the day she disappeared, and Kate answered the question why she had not come to Madeline before when she started to cry. Clarence Mitchell, a McCann spokesman, called the leak defamatory; Portuguese police denied its very fact ^[67] .

Alipew Ribeiro, director of the Portuguese Criminal Police, resigned in May 2008, citing strong media pressure; he also publicly stated that the police hastily decided to give McCann the status of suspects ^[68] . July 21, the case was closed. In the same month, portions of the diary translated from Portuguese from Kate, which she handed over to the police in August 2007, were published without her permission in a Portuguese newspaper. On September 14, passages poorly translated back into English were already published in a British newspaper, again without Kate’s permission ^[69] . On August 4, 2008, the police transferred to the media on CD-ROM all the materials they had on the case ^[70] .

Book of Gonçalo Amarala

As soon as the McCanns ceased to suspect, Gonçalo Amaral published the book Maddie, a Verdade da Mentira (Maddy, True Lies). In it, he wrote that Madeline died in the apartment and that her parents were involved in her abduction ^[71] . In September 2009, a Portuguese judge banned Amaralu from repeating his allegations; publication and sales of the book were stopped ^[72] . The McCanns received € 1.2 million in compensation for non-pecuniary damage. ^[73] In December 2009, Amarala was prosecuted for publishing the second book, “A Mordaça Inglesa” (“English Gag”) ^[74] . In October 2010, the Lisbon Court of Appeal lifted an injunction on books, as it was decided that this violated his right to freedom of expression. ^[75] The Makkans and Amaral could not reach an agreement outside the court; as of October 2013, the proceedings are ongoing ^[76] .

Media analyst Nicola Raling believes that Britain has become obsessed with Maddy's case, just as she did with Princess Diana in 1997. From the very beginning, the McCanns decided to keep the attention of the press on Madeline, fearing that they would soon forget about it. According to Owen Jones, the result was something that resembled mass hysteria. The McCanns were convinced that posters depicting their daughter were hung around the world, even the pope accepted them. Some Madeline images have become the most reproduced in the last decade. She appeared on the covers of several British tabloids every day for six months and People magazine on May 28, 2007. By June 2008, the result for the Madeleine search query on YouTube contained 3,700 videos ^[3] . In 2009, Oprah Winfrey asked permission to publish Madeline’s “matured” photograph; Simon Armitage wrote a poem dedicated to the thousandth day after her disappearance ^[77] . On May 16, 2007, Jerry and Kate created Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned, a limited liability company, to finance the search for her daughter ^[78] . The fund has been criticized for the two McCann loan repayments when they were unable to work. When the McCanns became suspects, the director of the Fund decided that donations would not be used to pay legal costs and credit ^[79] . In total, the Fund raised over £ 2.6 million, along with donations from Joan Rowling and Richard Branson , as well as $ 1.5 million from News of the World .

Private Investigation

The search for Madeline was coordinated by Ryan Kennedy, owner of Everest Windows , who also financially assisted the McCanns in 2007. In addition, he helped with the salary of Clarence Mitchell, director of the Central Office of Information , who became the representative of the McCanns ^[80] . The foundation has worked with at least five private investigation firms. The British Control Risks Group was hired at the end of May 2007 ^[81] , the Spanish agency Método 3 worked for six months for 50 thousand pounds a month. In Método 3 , 35 detectives in Europe and Morocco dealt with this matter. According to Mark Hollingsworth of the London Evening Standard , at first the investigation did not go without problems; detectives were inexperienced, behaved aggressively with witnesses, Método 3's relationship with the Portuguese police was strained, and Kennedy's involvement was not useful.

Investigation included tank searches ^{[ where? ]} near Praia da Luz in February 2008, financed by a Portuguese lawyer; ^[82] an attempt by private detectives to interrogate British pedophile Raymond Hewlett, who denied involvement in the case and died of cancer in Germany in December 2009 ^[83] , as well as checking the huge amount of evidence from people claiming to have seen Madeline. ^[84]

Oakley International

In March 2008, the Madeline Foundation hired Oakley International for six months for more than £ 500,000 ^[85] and also signed a contract with Red Defense International , a London-based private security company. Both firms were owned by Kevin Halligen. In November 2009, he was arrested for false charges. It was Oakley who created the image of the man whom the Smiths saw on the day of the abduction. Images were published only five years later, which caused the McCanns to be significantly criticized, which apparently led to the termination of the contract with Oakley International ^[86] .

The McCanns Madeline search campaign has drawn a lot of attention to their personal lives, which have become increasingly annoying and disrespectful. Nicola Raling wrote that in this case there was everything that the media love so much: white middle-class people, whose life turned into a nightmare while traveling across the “wicked” abroad. While News of the World offered £ 1.5 million for Madeline, another tabloid, The Sun , offered just £ 20,000 for information about Shannon Matthews , who disappeared from West Yorkshire in 2008 and whose mother had seven children. from five different men. ^[87] A few weeks after the disappearance, the McCanns middle class turned against them, and they turned from heroes to villains. They were severely criticized for leaving the children alone in the apartment, although the resort offers babysitting services and evening kindergarten. Seventeen thousand people signed an online petition in June 2007 for conducting an investigation into the McCann involvement in the abduction; they substantiated their claim by saying that a couple belonging to the working class would be accused of leaving the child unattended, but this got away with the group of doctors ^[88] . The McCanns later testified to the Leveson Inquiry about the violation of their rights by the press, in particular that the Daily Express editor became obsessed with the McCanns. Lord Justice Leveson said the newspaper wrote "complete nonsense" about the couple. British tabloids constantly quoted Portuguese newspapers, which, in turn, cited unnamed sources.

Kate McCann was accused of looking too attractive, too slender, well-dressed and too calm for a mother who had recently lost a baby. ^[89] Some tabloids criticized her for not crying in public, despite her apparent dejection; Portuguese tabloid Correio da Manhã complained that she “did not utter a tear,” and called her “cynical and strange,” while portraying her hysterical and unrestrained. Кейт также рассказывала, что фотографы прятались возле её дома и барабанили по её машине, чтобы она получилась испуганной на фотографии ^[90] . Её ситуация напоминает смерть Азарии Чемберлен , девочки, которую убили динго. Мать Азарии, Линда, провела три года в тюрьме за убийство, которое она не совершала, после того, как общественность осудила её за слишком безэмоциональное поведение. Когда Макканнов обвинили, Линда утверждала, что ситуация Кейт — отражение её собственной, даже были похожие придуманные истории о том, что матери выделяли имеющие отношение к пропаже отрывки в своих Библиях. Кейт пополнила длинный список матерей, которых необоснованно обвиняли после пропажи или смерти их детей — включающий Чемберлен, Салли Кларк , Трупти Пэтел , Анджелу Кэннингс и Донну Энтони . ^[91]

В 2010 году Хоум-офис начал переговоры с Ассоциацией офицеров полиции Великобритании ( англ. Association of Chief Police Officers ) об открытии нового расследования ^[92] . Скотланд-Ярд начал расследование под названием "Операция «Гранж» по запросу Терезы Мэй . Команда состоит из 28 детективов и семи гражданских под началом Саймона Фоя. Главный следователь — старший инспектор Энди Редвуд, отчитывающийся перед суперинтендантом Хэмишем Кэмпбеллом. ^[93] Команда отвергла теории о том, что Макканны могут быть причастны, и сосредоточились на версии похищения Мэдлин незнакомцем. ^[94] Редвуд считает, что Мэдлин все ещё может быть жива. ^[95]

В июле 2013 года Дженни Хопкинс и Элисон Сондерз, работники Королевской Прокурорской службы ( Crown Prosecution Service ), отправились в Португалию, чтобы проверить новые зацепки в деле. Команда Операции «Гранж» рассказали, что они хотели проверить 12 работников, которые были на курорте в момент исчезновения, включая шестерых британских уборщиков на белом фургоне, предлагавших свои услуги британским постояльцам. Они также проверили нескольких обвинённых педофилов, включая двух шотландцев, отбывающих наказание за убийство с 2010 года. Один из них, согласно The Times , напоминает мужчину на одном из фотороботов. Когда пропала Мэдлин, они жили в Гран-Канарии , одном из Канарских островов , где они владели бизнесом по мойке окон ^[96] . Скотланд-Ярд также проверил на причастность Ханса Урса фон Эша, умершего швейцарца, причастного к убийству пятилетней Илении Ленард.

В октябре 2013 года в программе Crimewatch показали реконструкцию похищения. Эпизод транслировался в Великобритании, Германии и Нидерландах. Через несколько дней после этого генеральный прокурор Португалии Жуана Маркеш Видал возобновила португальское расследование. Согласно португальскому таблоиду Correio da Manhã , это решение было принято после того, как LBS показала, что один из бывших работников курорта, кабовердианец по происхождению, находился на его территории без какой-либо причины. У него были проблемы с наркотиками, и в 2006 году его уволили за кражу. В 2009 году, в возрасте 40 лет, он погиб в аварии с участием трактора. Было подозрение, что он вломился в номер ради кражи. Его семья отрицает его причастность к исчезновению Мэдлин ^[97] . В ноябре 2013 года британская и португальская полиция начала совместное расследование ^[98] .

28 июля 2015 года полиция Австралии заявила, что обнаружила чемодан в районе города Уайнарка ( Южная Австралия , к востоку от Аделаиды), в котором находились останки ребёнка, и высказала предположение, что это были останки Мэдлин Макканн ^[99] . Однако в октябре 2015 года останки был опознаны как 2-летняя Хэндэлэйс Пирс-Стивенсон, убитая и изнасилованная в 2008 году своим отчимом.

В июне 2016 года газета The Daily Telegraph заявила, что похищение и убийство Макканн организовал телеведущий Клемент Фрейд (1924—2009), внук Зигмунда Фрейда . По заявлению газеты, Фрейд неоднократно обвинялся в педофилии и сам общался с родителями девочки незадолго до её похищения ^[100] . Семья Фрейда, однако, заявила, что на момент исчезновения Мэдлин тот был в Великобритании.

• Исчезновение мальчика из Сомосьерры

• Find Madeleine
• Operation Grange (Scotland Yard)