• Madeleine Mccann

    Madeleine McCann

    Madeleine McCann was born in Leicester and lived with her family in Rothley, Leicestershire. At her parents’ request, she was made a ward of court in England shortly after the disappearance, which gave the court statutory powers to act on her behalf.Police described Madeleine as blonde-haired, with blue-green eyes, a small brown spot on her left calf, and a distinctive dark strip on the iris of her right eye. In 2009 the McCanns released age-progressedimages of how she may have looked at age six, and in 2012 Scotland Yard commissioned one of her at age nine.
    • Ocean Club
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    • Gerry & Kate Mccann

      Madeleine’s parents are both physicians and practising Roman Catholics. Kate Marie McCann, née Healy (born 1968, Huyton, near Liverpool) attended All Saints School in Anfield, then Notre Dame High School in Everton Valley, graduating in 1992 with a degree in medicine from the University of Dundee. She moved briefly into obstetrics and gynaecology, then anaesthetics, and finally general practice.

    • TAPAS 7
      Description

      The Tapas 7 became an integral part of the Madeleine McCann investigation after she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment on May 3 2007.

      Kate and Gerry McCann’s seven friends – three couples and the mother of one of the mums – joined the McCanns in Portugal’s Praia da Luz for a joint holiday and the nine adults (along with their eight children) spent time together during their vacation.

      The group of adults were dubbed the Tapas 7 as they were dining with Gerry and Kate at the hotel complex’s tapas restaurant on the night Madeleine went missing.

      Each of them willingly co-operated with the Portuguese and British police investigation and none were ever made ‘arguido’ – persons of interest – in the enquiries.

    • Gonçalo Amaral
      Description

      The former chief inspector of the Portuguese Judicial Police, Gonçalo Amaral, was the operations coordinator of the Madeleine McCann case for just six months, between May and October 2007, when he was removed from the investigation because of his criticism of the British police. Since then, the ex-cop has persistently defended the guilt of the parents in the girl’s death, against the official investigation, whose main suspect is the German rapist Christian Brueckner, recently charged.

      The trigger for Amaral’s dismissal as head of the case in 2007 was statements to the Portuguese press in which he accused British investigators of favouring the parents of the missing girl by only following leads that excluded them as suspects. This triggered a controversy that forced the then Portuguese Justice Minister Alberto Costa to assure that cooperation between police forces was fruitful and resulted in Amaral’s head.

The full text of the open letter written by Kate and Gerry McCann to the British media.

Dear Editor

We are writing to express our deep gratitude for all that your organisation and reporters have done to raise worldwide awareness of the abduction of our beautiful daughter.

It is hard to express how much your support and the support of your readers and viewers have meant to us personally at this terribly difficult time.

It has strengthened our resolve and supported our campaign enormously. We remain convinced that Madeleine is alive and will be returned to us safe and well with everyone’s help.

Both of us have never courted publicity for ourselves. Everything we have done has been to one purpose – to make sure that Madeleine’s image is recognised far and wide and that people who have any information on her whereabouts know how to alert the authorities.

While we understand the media’s natural desire to concentrate on us and our family, we would like the focus to remain firmly on Madeleine.

It is for this reason that we are also asking the media not to carry any more pictures of Sean and Amelie.

The twins are growing fast and we recognise the increasing need to protect their privacy.

Today marks the start of a new phase in our campaign – one that is event-driven. The launch of balloons right around the world will once again bring her image to the forefront of people’s minds.

The campaign that has been run for the 50 days since Madeleine disappeared has been led magnificently by family and friends and we know we have become the public face of it.

However, there is only one face that matters – that of Madeleine.

Many thanks again for all you have done. We know we can continue to count on your support to keep this campaign in the public mind.

Kate and Gerry McCann