New campaign in search for Madeleine
Madeleine McCann’s family today made a bid to shift the focus away from suspicion on her parents and back to the search for the missing girl with the announcement of a new advertising campaign.
The campaign was unveiled in the couple’s home village of Rothley, Leicestershire, with Gerry McCann’s brother John urging the public to remember “lovely wee Madeleine”.
It is now more than a week since Kate and Gerry McCann were named formal suspects or “arguidos” by the Portugese 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 the attention back on 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 is set to launch in two weeks and 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: “On behalf of the extended McCann family and the Madeleine fund, I would just like to say how grateful we are for people’s generosity and support.
“The main objective of the Madeleine fund is to leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine.
“To that end, I would like to announce that the fund will finance a broad range of initiatives in advertising to remind everyone that Madeleine is still missing.”
He added: “This financing of advertisements will complement previous efforts by the fund and many motivated individuals – family, friends and people touched by our cause.
“I hope that the general public will continue to support us in this. It is so important that we remember – ”don’t you forget about me’ – our lovely wee 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.
A family spokesman said that after meeting lawyers and media experts in London yesterday, they were now hoping for a “period of calm” and to spent time with their two younger children.
She said: “There’s an awful lot of work to be done in pulling together information on what’s out there.”
She added that the couple have no plans to return to Portugal unless required to do so.
“They want a period of calm and time with the twins at home.”
She also said that a meeting between representatives from Leicestershire social services and the McCanns earlier this week about the twins “went well” and that there was “no decision outstanding”.
Asked about the various media reports about their case, she added: “They are disturbed by the level of speculation. They are not avoiding newspapers.
“They seem to be bearing up. The pressure on the family is so intense. I think they are all feeling it now.”
It was reported today that Kate McCann could be reinterviewed 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.
But 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 today.
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 today.
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%!”
