McCann's supporters step up hunt for Madeleine
The family of missing Madeleine McCann are attempting to re-focus attention on the hunt for her, with plans for an £80,000 advertising campaign.
The campaign was unveiled at the couple’s home village of Rothley, Leicestershire, with Gerry McCann’s brother John urging the public to remember “lovely wee Madeleine”.
It is more than a week since Kate and Gerry McCann were named formal suspects or “arguidos” by the Portuguese police investigating their daughter’s disappearance.
Leaked reports from the investigation have suggested the four-year-old could have been killed by her parents accidentally and then her body disposed of using their hire car.
But the McCanns strongly deny any involvement and today’s announcement is a clear attempt by those near the family to bring attention back to the campaign to find Madeleine.
Up to £80,000 will be drawn from the fighting fund set up to help the search for the missing girl, who disappeared during a family holiday to Portugal back in May.
The campaign will focus on Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe. It will involve newspaper, television and billboard adverts.
In a statement issued through a family spokeswoman, John McCann, who is also a fund director, said: “The main objective of the Madeleine fund is to leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine.”
The announcement comes after the family said earlier this week that it would not spend proceeds from the fund on Mr and Mrs McCann’s legal costs.
The couple were not at the meeting and were said to be “taking stock” and preparing for their legal case after a week of intense speculation about the fate of their little girl.
And The Sunday Times reported today that Richard Branson is giving £100,000 to help ensure Madeleine’s parents get a fair hearing.
The newspaper quoted a source close to the entrepreneur as saying: “It will help to ensure that they get a fair hearing and that all of the facts become available.
“A number of other individuals will be involved.
“It will initially look to raise about £1m, but it will be as much as it takes to make the McCanns’ case.”
Another report said that Kate McCann could be re-interviewed next week by British police acting for the Portuguese authorities.
Portugal’s Diario de Noticias newspaper said the judge in the case has authorised a fresh interrogation, expected to take place in the UK on Tuesday or Wednesday.
About 40 questions that Mrs McCann previously refused to answer in interviews in Portugal have been sent to British police via Europol, the paper said.
A UK police source said it would be “unusual” for British officers to carry out interviews on behalf of a foreign police force but stressed “anything is possible” in a major inquiry.
The Diario de Noticias also reported that police are waiting for permission from a judge to seize and dismantle the McCanns’ hire car so they can search for “traces of skin”.
The spokesman for Portuguese police in the inquiry, Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa, is understood to have been taken off the case, and nobody else was available for comment.
Many locals in Praia da Luz, the holiday resort where Madeleine went missing on May 3, have privately said they were pleased to see the McCanns leave.
But there was a small gesture of solidarity with the couple on show at the village church of Nossa Senhora da Luz yesterday.
Somebody had left a posy of flowers and a card tied to the handle of the church door, with a message saying: “With love and prayers. Kate and Gerry, we continue to hope and pray for Madeleine, and believe in you both – 100%!”
