(This entry was written by True Crime Blog UK, where it was first posted.)
(SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES)
Kate and Gerry McCann from Leicestershire took their 3-year-old daughter Madeleine (pictured) with them on holiday to Portugal. The family were staying at the Mark Warner Ocean Club Summer Beach Resort in Praia da Luz on the Algarve.
Last night (3rd May 2007) Kate and Gerry went for a meal at a tapas restaurant, checking on Madeleine in their nearby apartment every half hour or so. When they returned at around 9:45pm GMT, a window was open and Madeleine was gone. Staff and guests searched the holiday complex into the early hours of the morning, but failed to find the missing toddler.
It’s not been confirmed by police that Madeleine was abducted, but it’s thought she couldn’t have left the room on her own, and the apartment’s shutters had been forced.
The BBC gives the girl’s name as “Madeline�? but I have gone with her father’s spelling, whose Friends Reunited profile reads:
Good to see so many familiar names and a few faces! Is anyone not doing well?Finished medicine and working as a cardiology registrar in Leicestersince Jan 2000 (hopefully temporarily). Had a brilliant year in New Zealand 1995/96. Married to Kate (Healy, for those docs in Glasgow) and very happy although no kids-yet!
Don’t get to Glasgow that often but have bumped into a few old friends around the southside where my mum still lives.
June 2003- Still in Leicester but now family of 3 after birth of Madeleine Beth on 12/05/03. Thankfully she takes after her mother although definitely has my lungs even without a dew drinks.
August 2004- Bones- glad i left after 5th year! Currently in Amsterdam learning some fancy heart scanning(MRI) but returning to UK in New Year when hopefully will become family of 5. Looking for a consultant job and shortlist is Glasgow, Liverpool, Leicester in fact pretty much anywhere north of Birmingham
April 2005- Back in Leicester and looking for a job. Now father of three with Sean and Amelie joing Maddie. Anyone fancy babysitting?
The reference to babysitting sent a shiver through me when I read it.
Madeleine is blonde and would stand out from Portuguese natives. Anyone with any information at all about her disappearance is urged to go to the police.
I pray this little girl is found safe and well.
Sources: BBC News
UPDATE 2:10pm GMT: This Guardian article states that the McCann family are from Rothley, a small village between Leicester and Loughborough, and that Madeleine’s younger siblings, twins Sean and Amelie, were also in the apartment when she disappeared.
UPDATE 2:45pm GMT: The apartment the McCanns were staying in was on the ground floor, and was within sight of the restaurant the parents were dining at. I don’t particularly want to indulge in recriminations against the parents (pictured), as I believe they must be going through absolute hell right now and the emphasis should be on finding Madeleine, but having said that I couldn’t help but notice this on the Mark Warner website:
Childcare
Mark Warner’s superb childcare facilities for all ages from four months upwards are available and a unique service on offer at the Ocean Club is our ‘Dine Out�?option. As accommodations are spread throughout the village, we offer to keep an eye on the little ones while you go out to eat - just drop them at our kids club, ready for bed and pick them up when you’ve finished.
The resort is tailored to meet the needs of families and it does seem strange, if this option was on offer, that the McCanns chose not to take advantage of it.
One of the most extensive articles so far is this one from This Is London. It states that Kate and Gerry McCann felt let down by the local police, who they felt had done nothing during the night to find their daughter.
UPDATE 5pm GMT: Sky News is reporting that the McCann family have released a statement thanking British and Portuguese authorities, and stating their firm belief that Madeleine is still alive. It seems increasingly likely that Madeleine was specifically targeted by an abductor.
With regard to the shutters, the resort manager is on television stating that they were raised, but hadn’t been broken, and that the window was ajar.
UPDATE 05-MAY-2007 7:50am GMT: The sun has risen for the second time since Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, and there’s still no comforting news for her family. Her parents�?brief appearance before the press last night can be accessed from this BBC article.
Mark Warner Ocean Club Resort has released the following statement:
3 year old girl Madeleine McCann was reported missing by her parents at just after 10pm last night at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz in Portugal.
When Madeleine wasn’t found right away our staff were alerted, the police were called and a full search of the premises and surrounding area and village took place.
Clearly, this is a very distressing time for the McCann family, and we are committed to doing all we can to support them at this very difficult time.
We are sending a counsellor to the family immediately, and our UK operations director is currently on his way to the resort.
We are also working closely with the local police in Portugal and providing them with every support and assistance that we can.
As and when we have any new information, we will of course provide that to you.
I will be keeping an eye on their website.
There are really only two possibilities: Madeleine was abducted, or she somehow got out of the room and wandered off. When it comes to the latter, I have a 2-year-old niece who’s an accomplished escapologist so it must be considered, but the length of Madeleine’s absence and an insistence by the resort that she couldn’t possibly have reached the obviously dangerous area of the beach on her own points to a kidnapping.
The parents apparently believed it was an abduction from the very start, with Kate McCann screaming somebody had taken the child as soon as they returned to the apartment. The conflicting reports over the parents�?dissatisfaction with Portuguese police probably have more to do with their frantic frustration at not being able to find Madeleine than any fault on the part of the police.
The press is already drawing discomfiting parallels between this case and the disappearance of Ben Needham, the 21-month-old British boy who disappeared from the Greek island of Kos in July 1991 while on holiday. He has never been found, and one of the theories about what happened to him was that he’d been kidnapped by child traffickers. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed children are apparently desirable on the illegal child adoption market, and it will presumably be examined as a line of inquiry by police.
Whatever your views about leaving three children in a holiday apartment alone are, all of us can relate to Kate and Gerry’s suffering, and they’re probably blaming themselves enough for everyone right now.
UPDATE 11:55am GMT: Sky News is reporting that police have officially confirmed their belief that Madeleine was abducted, and that they’re aware of a suspect but cannot give any further details for fear of endangering Madeleine’s life.
Further updates will be on the post: The Abduction of Madeleine McCann
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