BBC apologises to Madeleine McCann's parents

From telegraph.co.uk

The BBC has apologised to the parents of Madeleine McCann for planning to screen a film about a girl involved in a kidnap plot - called Madeline - on the weekend of the anniversary of their daughter's disappearance.

Kate and Gerry McCann leave a service marking the first anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance

The Corporation changed its schedule at the last moment, replacing the eponymously named film with another children's hit Herbie Fully Loaded.

Viewers were told about the change moments before the programme was due to be aired on Sunday afternoon, a year and a day after Madeleine disappeared from her parents apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve.

The BBC apologised and said the McCanns, from Rothley in Leicestershire, were aware of the blunder. But a friend of the couple's criticised the poor planning.

Police still probing missing Madeleine McCann case

A year after she went missing, Portugal's most senior detective says police are still gathering evidence in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Alipio Ribeiro has told the Portuguese new agency Lusa that officials have not yet decided whether to bring charges or drop the investigation.

The British girl vanished from a resort town in southern Portugal one year ago Saturday — shortly before her 4th birthday.

Police have named her parents and a local man as formal suspects in the case.
Church services are taking place in Praia da Luz and at the McCanns' home town in England to mark the one-year anniversary.

MADELEINE MCCANN WHERE ARE YOU?

A poster of missing British girl Madeleine McCann hangs on a war memorial in the centre of Rothley, central England May 3, 2008. Madeleine McCann vanished from the family holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. Her family and friends are marking the one year anniversary with church services in Praia da Luz and Rothley which will be dedicated to all missing children, including Madeleine.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann describe the 'purgatory' of not knowing what happened

The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann say they're still haunted by their decision to go out for dinner on the night their daughter vanished from a Portuguese resort nearly a year ago.

In a documentary timed to the May 3 anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, Gerry McCann said they had to live with the fact that they weren't there when their daughter went missing.

"And if we were — then, you know, possibly, probably, it wouldn't have happened," he said in a documentary scheduled to air Wednesday by Britain's ITV1. "I think the worst thing is we kind of almost thought about not going — and ... did."

The documentary — coupled with press and television interviews — is part of a new media offensive being launched to mark the year since Madeleine disappeared from a hotel room during a family vacation in Portugal's southern Algarve region last year. Her parents were eating at a nearby restaurant at the time.

The case drew enormous interest, first in Britain and Portugal, then around the world — a product of the McCanns' dogged determination to keep the case in the public eye, the voraciousness of the British tabloid press and a shocking twist that saw the parents named as formal suspects in her disappearance.

Madeleine's mother, Kate, described that day as like being "in the middle of a horror movie," but said she felt more strong than scared.

"I felt like I was going to fight the world, to be honest," she said.

The documentary, "Madeleine, One Year On: Campaign For Change," shows the couple in Brussels, Belgium, where they pushed for a Europe-wide missing children alert program similar to the Amber Alert in the U.S. It also follows them home to Rothley in central England, where they sort through some of their mail.

Gerry McCann read from a Christmas card that attacks him and his wife.

"Your brat is dead because of your drunken arrogance," the message read. "Shame on you. I curse you and your family to suffer forever."

"That's quite nice. Very charming," he says, dropping the card in a box labeled "Nasty." Other boxes were marked "Well-wishers," "Psychics," "Visions and Dreams" and "Nutty."

In a separate interview with Hello! Magazine, Kate McCann said she tries not to look too far into the future.

"It's best to take one day at a time," she said. "I have my bad days but at the same time, I find myself wanting to know what happened. It is the not knowing that is particularly difficult."

Madeleine McCann's father: police gave up

From The Telegraph

The father of Madeleine McCann spoke last night of his fears that Portuguese police may have given up looking for his daughter.

Gerry McCann said he was frustrated at having so little contact with detectives in the past months and could not be sure that they were actively searching for the four-year- old.

His comments came as one of the friends who dined with the McCanns on the night Madeleine vanished accused Portuguese police of "outrageous" hypocrisy.

Rachael Oldfield, a member of the so-called "Tapas Seven", said the group had suffered for a year because of leaks and smears by the authorities.

She said police were guilty of "double standards" for breaking their own strict secrecy laws while warning witnesses they would be jailed for speaking out.

"We were asked to comply with the Portuguese judicial secrecy laws [and] we were made to understand that we could face two years in prison for speaking out," she said.

The revalations came in a BBC Radio 4 documentary and are the latest salvo in the war of words with police.

Mr McCann told the interviewer, Steve Kingstone: "We would like to know what is being done to find Madeleine. We'd like know who has been eliminated from the inquiry and on what grounds and what leads are still being followed."

Madeleine went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, as her parents dined with friends nearby.

The friends - some of whom were interviewed by police in Leicestershire in the presence of Portuguese detectives - are Mrs Oldfield and her husband Matthew; Jane Tanner and her partner Dr Russell O'Brien; David Payne, his wife Fiona, and her mother Dianne Webster.

Madeleine Police Deny Interview Leaks

Latest from Sky

Portuguese police have hit back at Kate and Gerry McCann - denying claims they leaked information about their daughter's disappearance.

Gerry and Kate McCannThe war of words intensified as detectives said allegations they had passed information to the media were "baseless".

The Policia Judiciaria (PJ) issued a rare public statement singling out the couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell, who angrily demanded an inquiry into how interview transcripts came into the public domain.

Damaging excerpts from the couple's first police interviews were broadcast on Spanish TV on the day the couple went to Brussels to launch a bid to introduce a new child alert system.

It reported that Madeleine and her brother Sean woke up crying the night before the three-year-old's disappearance, but her parents did not hear her as they were in a nearby restaurant.

The interviews disclosed that Madeleine asked Kate at breakfast: "Mummy, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?"

Mr Mitchell suggested the transcripts had been deliberately leaked to overshadow the Brussels visit.

The leak also emerged as Portuguese detectives were in the UK attending interviews with witnesses who were dining with the McCanns when Madeleine went missing.

The Policia Judiciaria said in a statement: "We regret the baseless intervention of the spokesman above all at a moment when significant moves were being made in the investigation."

It added: "On the basis of this news, (he) publicly expressed the view, to diverse media outlets, his certainty that the PJ was responsible for the leaks.

"The PJ want to make it clear that is is entirely false that the contents of this report included material from the inquiry which is covered by (the law of) secrecy of justice."

No New Evidence in Madeleine McCann Case During U.K. Interviews

From Fox News

Portuguese police are expected to announce that their trip to the U.K. to re-interview the group of friends dining with missing Madeleine McCann’s parents at the time of her disappearance was not productive, the Daily Mail reported.

Chief Inspector Paulo Rebelo will tell prosecutors no new leads turned up after their recent meeting with the Tapas 7, the newspaper reported.

Madeleine was reported missing May 3 from her bedroom while her family was vacationing in Praia da Luz, Portugal, last year.

Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were considered suspects, and have always maintained they had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance.

"Kate and Gerry should now be eliminated from the police inquiry," Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for the McCanns' told the Daily Mail, after learning there was no new evidence.