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Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

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Madeleine McCann

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann occurred on the evening of Thursday, 3 May 2007 when a British girl, Madeleine McCann, went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve in Portugal, which she was staying in with her parents. Madeleine, who was in a bedroom with her two two-year old siblings, was initially thought to have only "wandered off" by Portuguese Police, but further investigation by Portuguese police suggested an abduction.






Reaction

The Portuguese ambassador in London, António Santana Carlos said, on 8 May, that the case was of "great concern" to Portugal and asked people to trust the police, amidst growing criticism of their handling of the case. President Anibal Cavaco Silva announced on 9 May that he was following the case "with great concern", adding that the police were "doing everything to find the child alive".

On 9 May, Tony Blair's spokesperson said that the Prime Minister was following the case closely and that "we are helping in whatever way we can". On May 16, coinciding with the launch of the fighting fund Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown told relatives of Madeleine that he would help "in any way he can". Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott also commented on the case, saying at Prime Ministers' Question Time "I'm sure that the thoughts of the whole House will be with them at this terrible time.".

On 26 May, a spokesman for the McCann family confirmed that Gordon Brown had contacted, and had conversations with, the McCann's via telephone. Though the spokesman stated that the details of the conversations would remain private, he did confirm that "During them, Mr Brown offered both Gerry and Kate his full support in their efforts to find Madeleine".


Publicity

An official web site for the search has been set up. After the disappearance, a large number of websites were registered, of which the domain names contained slight misspellings of Madeleine's name, plus various words related to searching or to not knowing, a practise known as typosquatting. Several of these websites contain content not related to Madeleine McCann.

The McCann family have released two video appeals themselves. The first is a photograph and video montage set to Simple Minds' song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" and includes an animation of the the word LOOK in uppercase with a reproduction of her coloboma as a radial line inside the first letter O, which blinks. The second features a montage of images with a voice over by actress Zoë Wanamaker mentioning her coloboma, asking for information of her whereabouts, and to download and display a poster of her from the official site.

An unofficial one minute's silence was held for Madeleine on 21 May but since it was organised by an anonymous viral email, it was not thought to be widely observed. Robert Murat has tried to generate his own publicity by selling his story. However, publicist Max Clifford indicated that he would only represent Murat if he was cleared of suspicion of kidnapping.

Popular culture

On May 9, ITV announced it would be rewriting a planned child kidnap plot, despite having already filmed some scenes, from their popular soap Coronation Street. Similarly on 23 May, the BBC also announced that it was scrapping an storyline from rival soap EastEnders , that had already been filmed, which also was to feature the kidnapping of a child.

In both cases these plotlines where removed or altered due to the parallel with the Madeleine case, and because the channels did not want to cause further distress to the McCann family. The BBC also stated that they did not want to upset other viewers and felt that the plot would have been "inappropriate" to broadcast at that time.

Rewards

The total rewards on offer currently stand at over £2.6 million including:


External links

  • Official site, with a link to the appeal Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned
  1. "Holiday girl abducted, police say". BBC News. 2007-05-05. Retrieved 2007-05-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. Cite error: The named reference portugalbbc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. Cite error: The named reference mirror criticism was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference iafrica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ {cite news | title = Brown offers help over Madeleine | work = BBC News | publisher = BBC | date = 2007-05-16 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6661113.stm | accessdate = 2007-05-26 }}
  6. ^ "Brown offers support for McCanns". BBC News. BBC. 2007-05-26. Retrieved 2007-05-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. Mills, James (May 19, 2007). "Sick web hijackers cash in on Madeleine". Daily Mail. Daily Mail and General Trust. Retrieved 2007-05-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  8. "News Items". findmadeleine.com. McCann Family. May 21, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. Madeline McCann (2007-05-18). Picture Video. McCann Family, Sky News. {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. Madeline McCann, Zoë Wanamaker (voice) (2007-05-21). Video Appeal. McCann Family, Sky News. {{cite AV media}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. Cite error: The named reference silence was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. "Silence Held For Missing Madeleine McCann". Sky News. 2007-05-21. Retrieved 2007-05-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. "Kidnap suspect looks to cash in on ordeal". Gulf Times. 2007-05-23. Retrieved 2007-05-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Street rethinks child kidnap plot". BBC News. BBC. 2007-05-09. Retrieved 2007-05-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Nathan, Sara (2007-05-23). "Enders cancel Maddie plot". The Sun. Retrieved 2007-05-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. "Madeleine reward rises to £2.5m". BBC. 2007-05-12. Retrieved 2007-05-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. "Rewards For Madeleine Info Top £2.5m". Sky News. 2007-05-12. Retrieved 2007-05-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. "£1m reward over missing Madeleine". BBC News. 2007-05-11. Retrieved 2007-05-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. "£1m reward in hunt for Maddie". The Metro. 2007-05-10. Retrieved 2007-05-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. Cite error: The named reference Sky story was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. "Record oferece 15.000 euros". Record. 2007-05-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. "Sun offers £10k poster reward". The Sun. 2007-05-09. Retrieved 2007-05-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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