Internet campaign planned to keep hunt for Madeleine McCann going

Sep 26 2007

Nearly £300,000 has been spent so far on the search for Madeleine McCann, it was revealed tonight.

Directors of a fighting fund set up to help find the four-year-old and support her family met today to discuss how the cash is spent.

To date, according to its website, individuals and organisations have given £1,036,104 to Madeleine’s Fund, a non-charitable not-for-profit company.

Donations have rolled in from people touched by the appeals of parents Gerry and Kate McCann, whose daughter vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3.

And this afternoon, the Fund’s board of directors - comprising colleagues, friends and relatives - met in the couple’s home county of Leicestershire to decide how to use the money.

The exact figures for what the donations are spent on will not be disclosed until the end of the financial year when the accounts are made public, said director Esther McVey.

But the board did reveal that nearly a third of the money collected has already been used.

Costs incurred include the launch of the Find Madeleine campaign, advertising, the production of the yellow and green wristbands and the employment of former campaign manager Justine McGuinness.

Legal fees had to be met for the setting up of Madeleine’s Fund.

Private investigators, understood to include ex-military personnel, are being employed to search for the Rothley youngster outside of Portugal.

And with Mr McCann, the family’s main earner, on unpaid leave from his job as consultant cardiologist, part of the Fund has been used to meet their living costs.

“I haven’t got the exact figure but it is just under £300,000,�?said Ms McVey, after today’s meeting.

On not producing a full breakdown of the costs, she added: “We are doing what every charity does. We are going by best practice charity rules.�?/P>

A new £80,000 advertising campaign in the area of Portugal, Spain and Morocco, announced earlier this month, was among future costs discussed at the meeting, said co-director John McCann, Mr McCann’s brother.

He said: “At the moment we are negotiating with the suppliers of billboards and the focus will be the north Iberian peninsula.

“We are looking at more internet virals. We are talking to truck organisations about using the sides of their lorries.

“We are still negotiating with the big advertising companies to get better discounts.�?/P>

Asked about expenditure on investigators to help find his niece, Mr McCann added: “We agreed in principle that we would leave no stone unturned and if we deemed it practicable it could be effective that private investigators be used.

“Not in Portugal, but it could be possible to use them in Morocco or Belgium, where there are sightings.�?/P>

The McCanns and their supporters have become concerned in recent weeks that speculation surrounding the case has diverted attention away from the search for the youngster.

Speaking after today’s meeting, director Dr Doug Skehan, a friend and colleague of Gerry McCann’s at Glenfield Hospital, in Leicester, said: “I think the Fund remains directed towards Madeleine and the search and that was the whole focus of the discussion today.

“There’s a focus on a reinvigoration of the campaign.�?/P>

The couple’s bill for their new spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, is being met by millionaire businessman Brian Kennedy, who shares a name with Mrs McCann’s uncle.

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has confirmed he is giving £100,000 to help with their legal bills.

It was decided that the McCanns, named official suspects in their daughter’s disappearance, will not use the fighting fund to pay for their defence costs.

In a statement, the board said previously: “The Fund directors realise that there is not only a legal answer and recognise the spirit which underlies the generous donations to Madeleine’s Fund, which it is the directors�?responsibility to steer.

“For this reason the Fund directors have decided not to pay for Gerry and Kate’s legal defence costs.

“We stress that Gerry and Kate have not asked for these costs to be paid.�?/P>

Madeleine’s Fund was set up, said its directors, “to find the little girl, support the family, bring the abductor or abductors to justice and, subject to that, help other missing children�?

Surplus funds could be converted into a charity to help families and missing children in the UK, Portugal and elsewhere in similar circumstances, they said.

The board said it was following best practice governance procedures as set out in the Good Governance Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector.

The directors of the company include retired hospital consultant Peter Hubner, Mrs McCann’s uncle Brian Kennedy, John McCann, former television presenter Ms McVey, a long-time friend of the couple, Dr Skehan and lawyer Philip Tomlinson.

A fund administrator has also been appointed to ensure “the highest standards of transparency and accountability�? the board said.

The next meeting of the board is scheduled for sometime next month.

end

1 POLICE Portugal Fund

(Corrected repetition: removes ``north'' from par 15)

’�?00,000 SPENT�?ON SEARCH FOR MADELEINE

By Tim Walsh, PA

Nearly £300,000 has been spent so far on the search for Madeleine McCann, it was revealed tonight.

Directors of a fighting fund set up to help find the four-year-old and support her family met today to discuss how the cash is spent.

To date, according to its website, individuals and organisations have given £1,036,104 to Madeleine’s Fund, a non-charitable not-for-profit company.

Donations have rolled in from people touched by the appeals of parents Gerry and Kate McCann, whose daughter vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3.

And this afternoon, the Fund’s board of directors - comprising colleagues, friends and relatives - met in the couple’s home county of Leicestershire to decide how to use the money.

The exact figures for what the donations are spent on will not be disclosed until the end of the financial year when the accounts are made public, said director Esther McVey.

But the board did reveal that nearly a third of the money collected has already been used.

Costs incurred include the launch of the Find Madeleine campaign, advertising, the production of the yellow and green wristbands and the employment of former campaign manager Justine McGuinness.

Legal fees had to be met for the setting up of Madeleine’s Fund.

Private investigators, understood to include ex-military personnel, are being employed to search for the Rothley youngster outside of Portugal.

And with Mr McCann, the family’s main earner, on unpaid leave from his job as consultant cardiologist, part of the Fund has been used to meet their living costs.

“I haven’t got the exact figure but it is just under £300,000,�?said Ms McVey, after today’s meeting.

On not producing a full breakdown of the costs, she added: “We are doing what every charity does. We are going by best practice charity rules.�?/P>

A new £80,000 advertising campaign in the area of Portugal, Spain and Morocco, announced earlier this month, was among future costs discussed at the meeting, said co-director John McCann, Mr McCann’s brother.

He said: “At the moment we are negotiating with the suppliers of billboards and the focus will be the Iberian peninsula.

“We are looking at more internet virals. We are talking to truck organisations about using the sides of their lorries.

“We are still negotiating with the big advertising companies to get better discounts.�?/P>

Asked about expenditure on investigators to help find his niece, Mr McCann added: “We agreed in principle that we would leave no stone unturned and if we deemed it practicable it could be effective that private investigators be used.

“Not in Portugal, but it could be possible to use them in Morocco or Belgium, where there are sightings.�?/P>

The McCanns and their supporters have become concerned in recent weeks that speculation surrounding the case has diverted attention away from the search for the youngster.

Speaking after today’s meeting, director Dr Doug Skehan, a friend and colleague of Gerry McCann’s at Glenfield Hospital, in Leicester, said: “I think the Fund remains directed towards Madeleine and the search and that was the whole focus of the discussion today.

“There’s a focus on a reinvigoration of the campaign.�?/P>

The couple’s bill for their new spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, is being met by millionaire businessman Brian Kennedy, who shares a name with Mrs McCann’s uncle.

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has confirmed he is giving £100,000 to help with their legal bills.

It was decided that the McCanns, named official suspects in their daughter’s disappearance, will not use the fighting fund to pay for their defence costs.

In a statement, the board said previously: “The Fund directors realise that there is not only a legal answer and recognise the spirit which underlies the generous donations to Madeleine’s Fund, which it is the directors�?responsibility to steer.

“For this reason the Fund directors have decided not to pay for Gerry and Kate’s legal defence costs.

“We stress that Gerry and Kate have not asked for these costs to be paid.�?/P>

Madeleine’s Fund was set up, said its directors, “to find the little girl, support the family, bring the abductor or abductors to justice and, subject to that, help other missing children�?

Surplus funds could be converted into a charity to help families and missing children in the UK, Portugal and elsewhere in similar circumstances, they said.

The board said it was following best practice governance procedures as set out in the Good Governance Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector.

The directors of the company include retired hospital consultant Peter Hubner, Mrs McCann’s uncle Brian Kennedy, John McCann, former television presenter Ms McVey, a long-time friend of the couple, Dr Skehan and lawyer Philip Tomlinson.

A fund administrator has also been appointed to ensure “the highest standards of transparency and accountability�? the board said.

The next meeting of the board is scheduled for sometime next month.