Gerry McCann's Blogs

I think everyone must have heard the news today that Express Newspapers have published front page apologies to Kate and me and agreed damages of £550,000 which will be paid in to Madeleines Fund. It gives us no joy that we had to take such action- we would rather have not had to put up with such distasteful, grotesque and blatantly untruthful coverage. Nevertheless we hope todays events will act as a springboard in advancing the search for Madeleine. The money will be used to aid the investigation.

To read our full statement, please see the News and Press Releases in the News and Support section.

1st version Date and day Gerry used Day 314: 12/03/2008

Kate and I heard the totally heart-warming news today that Shannon Matthews has been recovered safely. We are delighted for her family and hope and pray that Shannon has not suffered too much during the last 24 days.

Although the circumstances may be different, finding Shannon alive does give Kate and me renewed optimism. I am reminded of Ernie Allen’s ( the presidentof NCMEC) words: ‘until you know who has taken Madeleine and why, you cannot give up hope’. We do not know who has taken Madeleine or why, and there is certainly no indication that Madeleine has been seriously harmed. Of course we will not give up hope. Someone somewhere knows where Madeleine is.

2nd Version edited 14/03/08

Kate and I heard the totally heart-warming news today that Shannon Matthews has been recovered safely. We are delighted for her family and hope and pray that Shannon has not suffered too much during the last 24 days.

Although the circumstances may be different, finding Shannon alive does give Kate and me renewed optimism. I am reminded of Ernie Allen’s ( the president of NCMEC) words: ‘until you know who has taken Madeleine and why, you cannot give up hope’. We do not know who has taken Madeleine or why, and there is certainly no

3rd version edited on 28/03/08

Kate and I heard the totally heart-warming news today that Shannon Matthews has been recovered safely. We are delighted for her family and hope and pray that Shannon has not suffered too much during the last 24 days.

Although the circumstances may be different, finding Shannon alive does give Kate and me renewed optimism. I am reminded of Ernie Allen’s ( the president of NCMEC) words: ‘until you know who has taken Madeleine and why, you cannot give up hope?. We do not know who has taken Madeleine or why, and there is certainly no indication that Madeleine has been seriously harmed. Of course we will not give up hope. Someone somewhere knows where Madeleine is.

Kate and I were so sad to learn that Mari Luz’s body had been found. This is the news that at any parent of a missing child dreads and a situation we desperately hope that we never have to face. We deeply sympathise with her family and pray they remain strong and in time are able to find peace.

We would like to thank everyone who continues to send us messages of support, encouragement and of hope. All of our family have been traumatised by Madeleine’s abduction and continued absence and the tremendous support we have received has undoubtedly helped us enormously over the last 10 months. Tomorrow there is a march in London starting opposite Western Marble Arch synagogue at 10am to petition for more support for the families of missing people who are left behind. The march has been organised by two mothers whose sons are missing and will be attended by representatives of the charity Missing People and families of those who have relatives missing.

It has been a relatively quiet week for us. We did hear from the UK police that the French have officially ruled out the reported sighting of Madeleine in Montpellier. It is disappointing that it took so long, particularly after the widespread coverage the reported sighting received in the media.

Today Kate and I met with representatives of two UK charities involved in missing and abducted children. Missing People is the largest UK non-governmental organisation involved in this area and a member of Missing Children Europe. The introduction of a Europe wide child alert system is strongly supported by both organisations. Missing People have also applied to run the 116 00 number, which has been reserved throughout the EU as a missing child hotline. Missing People were responsible for displaying Madeleine’s image on Marble arch, along with 2 other missing children last summer. It was heartening to hear today that one of those children was recovered as a direct result and the other has also been successfully returned to his family.

PACT (parents and abducted children together) is a much smaller organisation founded by Catherine Meyer. PACT is positioned primarily as an advocates for change in how missing children cases are handled and identified very early how poorly data on missing and abducted children are collected. PACT would like to see a national centre in the UK similar to NCMEC in the USA. It was uplifting to see how Catherine has maintained her passion, drive and commitment to try and make effective changes even after ten years of campaigning. Kate and I will work with the various non-governmental organisations to influence the policy makers who decide these important decisions.

There has been a lot of media attention focussed on a possible sighting of Madeleine in Montpellier one week ago. We only heard of this two days ago and this was from a report sent into the website. Clarence has been inundated with media requests from all over the world for further information. Despite this, Kate and I have had no official notification of the potential sighting nor, more importantly, of whether this sighting has been eliminated by the authorities despite what has been reported in the press.

The continued disappearance of nine-year-old Shannon Matthews is deeply concerning and our thoughts and prayers are with her family. No matter what has happened to Shannon, there can be no doubt she must extremely vulnerable having spent three nights and four days away from home. We hope that she is found safe and well very soon and returned to her family.

Yesterday was a busy day on several fronts. Kate and I met with representatives of Missing Children Europe. This is an umbrella organisation that has 21 member non-governmental organisations that are involved in supporting families of missing and exploited children, from 15 EU countries. Missing Children Europe aims to share best practice, ensures a European presence at ICMEC and liases with various European Institutions. www.missingchildren.eu They have played a major role in securing the EU commission supporting a dedicated hotline for missing children: 116 000. The commission is also supportive of the introduction of a child alert system throughout the EU similar to the Amber alert system in the USA. However only a few countries run such a system and there is a lot of work to be done before the system is implemented in many countries, never mind an integrated throughout the EU.

The Portuguese justice minister also spoke to parliament yesterday regarding Mr Ribeiro?s comments about the haste with which we were made arguidos. As I stated at the time, no one can doubt how we have been scrutinised. We hope that, if as reported, the justice minister said the investigation is nearing a close that our arguido status will be lifted in the near future so that everyone can concentrate on searching for Madeleine. We will not give up looking for her until she is found and we hope that the police are similarly determined.

We have launched the new website layout today. I hope you all like it and we are sure that you fill find it much easier to navigate. The website was always envisaged as being the main portal to the find Madeleine campaign. If Madeleine remains missing and as the media attention drops then the website will be instrumental in keeping people up to date. As you will see a lot of work has gone in to extensively revising the content. Our whole family have unfortunately learnt an awful lot about the problems of missing and exploited children.

Our priority will always be to search for Madeleine and whoever abducted her. However we hope to work in coalition with the many excellent organisations in Europe and further afield to campaign for change. The first goal will be to get an EU wide child alert system introduced with cooperation from all the relevant authorities and law enforcement agencies.

Sean and Amelie turned three today. We hope and pray that they will never have another birthday without Madeleine here. Despite the circumstances they really enjoyed their birthday ?tea party? today. The twins love seeing all their extended family. There is no doubt that Sean and Amelie have made life for all of us a little more bearable over the last 9 months.

Gerry edited Day 262 on Day 265

Day 262 – 20/01/2008- Edited version

Today we have released drawings of a man who needs to be eliminated from the investigation to find Madeleine. A witness, Gail Cooper, who was holidaying in Praia da Luz shortly before we arrived, saw him on several occasions. She found the man, who claimed to be collecting for an orphanage, very intimidating. After interviewing Gail, our private investigators commissioned a forensic sketch by a FBI trained artist. The man has many similarities in looks and clothing he was wearing to the description of the man given by Gail Cooper. Click Here to see the drawings.

The man Jane saw walking away from the apartments where we were staying was carrying a child, around 9.10pm on the night Madeleine was abducted. Jane described pyjamas matching those Madeleine was wearing without knowing what she had on that fateful night. We are convinced that this was when Madeleine was taken. Jane has been shown these sketches of the man. She feels he has a strong resemblance to the man she saw on May 3rd.carrying the child away.

It is essential that he be traced. We believe many people must know who this individual is. We appeal to anyone who knows him, or may have seen him to contact our private investigators on +34 902 300 213 or investigation@findmadeleine.com. If you are this man please make contact with the investigators or your local police. All of this information has been passed on to the Portuguese and British police and Interpol has been informed. This man may have key information that will help us locate Madeleine.