A paedophile suspected of being involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann 'confessed' to knowing what happened to her on his deathbed, it has been claimed.

Raymond Hewlett  wrote to his estranged son denying he played a part in the three-year-old’s abduction, but claimed he knew she had been ‘stolen to order’ by a gypsy gang. Hewlett was living with his family on a campsite an hour’s drive away from The Ocean Club Hotel in Praia da Luz in the Portuguese Algarve.

Cancer sufferer Hewlett, who has a record of raping and abducting children, had previously claimed to have seen the missing toddler twice before she vanished in 2007. But he vowed only to reveal where he was the night she went missing if he was paid thousands of pounds. Kate and Gerry McCann’s private detectives refused the request.

Detectives working for Kate and Gerry McCann are said to be 'extremely interested' in Hewlett's claims and are said to be preparing to interview his son Wayne about the letter

Wayne claimed that the letter was delivered to him by a mystery man a week after he died in April. Wayne, who has had no contact with his father for 20 years, claimed his father insisted he had nothing to do with Madeleine’s disappearance – but that he knew who did.

He said: ‘He said a very good gipsy friend he knew in Portugal had got drunk and “let it out” that he had stolen Maddie to order as part of a gang. ‘My dad said this gang had been operating for a long time and had snatched children before for couples who couldn’t have children of their own. ‘Maddie had been targeted. They took photos of children and send them to the people they were acting for. And they said Yes or No.’

Wayne, 40, says he burned the letter because it ‘unnerved’ him so much.

Source: Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307883/Madeleine-McCann-paedoph...

News item from June 11, 2010: Search team will question a suspect who has refused questioning before.

http://www.wikio.co.uk/uk/crime/missing_persons/madeleine_mccann
 

Madeleine McCann's parents thank helpers three years on

The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann have thanked "everyone who stayed with us", on the third anniversary of her disappearance.

In a message on their website, Kate and Gerry McCann said the search would go on "for as long as it takes".

They said: "It might be three years without Madeleine but it certainly doesn't feel like we're at the end of the line - far from it."

Madeleine was three when she vanished from Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

Her parents have also told BBC World Service that they thought of little else but the "worst case scenario" after Madeleine's disappearance from their holiday apartment.

Kate McCann said that in the early days she had had thoughts about being unable to carry on, but was now "desperate" to be around to look for Madeleine and care for their other two children.

They also spoke of their frustration at the lack of an active police investigation, and their belief that some individuals appeared keen to "derail" the search effort.

Three years on, the couple's campaign website findmadeleine.com said: "We know we couldn't have achieved as much as we have without this help."

"Milestones and anniversaries are never easy, but the work to find our little Madeleine will continue regardless, with the same determination and tenacity as it always has and for as long as it takes."

Read More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8657655.stm

A SPECIAL Mass will be said for missing Madeleine McCann and her family to mark the third anniversary of her disappearance.

It will take place on the anniversary, itself – at 7.30pm on Monday – at Our Lady of the Annunciation, Bishop Eton, in Woolton Road, Childwall, which is the parish church of Madeleine’s grandparents, Susan and Brian Healy.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/05/01/mass...

British authorities have "given up" on looking for missing girl Madeleine McCann, her parents have said.

Speaking as the third anniversary of her disappearance nears, Kate and Gerry McCann told GMTV they wanted the government to review the whole case.

Gerry McCann said it was wrong that he and wife Kate had to lead efforts to find their child.

Madeleine went missing from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz on the Algarve, Portugal, in May 2007, aged three.

Mr McCann said it was "incredibly frustrating" that police in Portugal and the UK had not been actively looking for Madeleine "for a very long time".

The couple - from Rothley, Leicestershire - still believe their daughter is alive and are releasing a pack of publicity material for people to take with them when they travel abroad.

Mr McCann said the files on the case were not all in one place and that a comprehensive review of all the information was needed.

He told GMTV's Lorraine Kelly: "It's not right that an innocent, vulnerable British citizen is essentially given up on.

"And I don't think it's right that, as parents, that we have to drive the search. Of course we will, but not everyone has had the same resources and support that we have had to be able to do that."

The McCanns have hired private investigators to help look for their daughter.

At the time of her disappearance, the couple were criticised by some for leaving their three children alone in a holiday apartment as they went for dinner nearby.

Mr McCann said: "If we could turn back the clock and change what happened, obviously we wouldn't have done it.

Read More:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8648253.stm

On Mothering Sunday, Aled Jones says Good Morning Sunday to Kate McCann, mother of missing child Madeleine McCann, who has found comfort from her Roman Catholic faith since her daughter's disappearance. Interview starts about 85 minutes (1.25) into the recording.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ay_14_03_2010/
 

Private investigators searching for Madeleine McCann must have access to previously unseen files which have emerged on the case, a spokesman for her parents has said.

The files reportedly comprise hundreds of pages of information, including CCTV images of a young girl who looks like Madeleine being led into a supermarket in New Zealand in 2007.

Several British newspapers have published the image, along with details of other possible sightings from the files.

The footage shows a young girl with blond hair holding hands with a "portly man in shorts". The man's behaviour was deemed suspicious by a female security guard who asked the girl her name.

Although she told the guard her name was "Hailey" the guard reported the incident to local police who filed a report of the sighting and sent it to Interpol who in turn sent it to detectives in Portugal, who didn't follow-up the report.

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http://tinyurl.com/ydtxb43

May all the lanterns light the way home for you tonight Madeleine

Missing blonde-haired toddler Madeleine McCann was separated from her parents 1000 days ago.

Her cherubic face is recognised around the globe, and parents Kate and Gerry urge the public to keep the hunt for three-year-old Madeleine, who would now be aged 6, at the forefront of their minds.

Little Maddie was allegedly snatched from an apartment in the Ocean Club resort in the Portuguese village of Praia da Luz, on 3rd May 2007, as her parents dined with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.

Dr McCann, 40, and his Liverpool-born husband Kate, 41, have never given up hope of finding their daughter.

To raise further awareness, and mark this unwanted anniversary, 1,000 lanterns will be released at locations across the UK by friends, family and supporters of the McCanns at 7.30pm this evening.
 

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http://www.clickliverpool.com/news/national-news/127781-hunt-for-missing-madeleine-mccann-reaches-1000th-day.html

Writer and poet Simon Armitage has written a touching verse to mark 1,000 days since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The Beacon

Dusk, doubt, the growing depth of an evening sky,
dark setting in as it did that night,
the forever vastness of outer space
reflecting the emptiness here inside,
shadowing, colouring, clouding the mind.

But somewhere out there there has to be life,
the distance only a matter of time,
a world like our own, its markings and shades
as uniquely formed as a daughter’s eye,
distinctly flecked, undeniably hers,
looking back this way through the miles and years

to a lantern cupping a golden blaze,
its candle alive with a fierce blonde flame
for the thousandth time, for as long as it takes.
 

A thousand lanterns will be released into the sky this week in the U.K, Portugal and the U.S.A to mark the number of days little Madeleine McCann has been missing.

Supporters will release the lights at 7.30pm on Wednesday, January 27, 2010.

At the same time, the girl's parents Kate and Gerry will host a star-studded gala dinner in Kensington, West London, to raise funds for the search.

Maddie was three when she vanished on May 3, 2007. Her parents' spokesman said: "They never, ever thought they would reach 1,000 days without their daughter."

Source: News of the World
http://tinyurl.com/yhb5kxb

A GIRL who vanished just a few miles from where Madeleine McCann disappeared was sold to child traffickers, a Portuguese court will be told next week.

Joana Cipriano was just eight when she vanished on September 12, 2004, from the village of Figueira, near Portimao in the Algarve.

Her mother Leonor and uncle Joao Cipriano were jailed for 16 years for her murder. But Leonor, who is fighting to overturn her conviction, will put her case to a Portuguese court this week

Her sensational allegations raise the possibility that a child smuggling ring was active in the area and could have also snatched Madeleine from her apartment in Praia da Luz on May 2007.

Continues/...

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/150788/-Madeleine-McCann-Kidnap-ring...

The pair had wanted to return to Praia da Luz in southern Portugal for some time, Kate McCann said. "I have longed to come back here for personal and emotional reasons," she wrote in an update on the findmadeleine website on Saturday afternoon.

"Although our pain feels much rawer here, it is comforting at the same time since we feel closer to Madeleine."

On Saturday night they made their second visit of the day to the village's tiny church where they had sought comfort in the days, weeks and months following the disappearance of their oldest child, shortly before her fourth birthday.

It was the first trip back for Mrs McCann, 41, since the family left the resort in September 2007, three and a half months after her daughter disappeared from a holiday apartment while her parents dined with friends in a local tapas restaurant.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/6798155/Madeleine-McCanns-parents-make-emotional-visit-to-resort-from-where-she-was-abducted.html

THE former Blackpool soldier and convicted paedophile wanted in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann can no longer speak, his lawyer claims.

Raymond Hewlett has a long record of sex attacks on young girls and is wanted by police in Britain for offences dating back more than 30 years.

Private investigators working with the McCann family also want to question him.

(...)

But he has so far refused to co-operate with the team – and has no legal obligation to do so.

And, his lawyer claims, even if he wanted to talk to the McCann investigators, he would be unable to speak due to throat cancer.

Continues/...

http://tinyurl.com/y9d78uu

A MUSICIAN hopes to win Britain’s Got Talent with a score he is dedicating to missing Madeleine McCann.

Piano player Brian Davies, 59, of Old Chester Road, Helsby, who says he has never had a music lesson in his life, has written an instrumental piece – entitled Forget Me Not – which he hopes will help raise awareness of the Find Madeleine campaign.

“It’s my skill and I want to help the cause in the best way I can,” said Brian, an executive director of two Deeside based businesses.

“It’s a gift, I play by ear. I just go to the keyboard and play, it works the same hearing thing on the radio, but I compose my own music.”

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http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chester-news/local-chester-news/2009/11/12/my-talent-will-help-hunt-for-madeleine-mccann-59067-25147708/

Up to 100,000 people an hour from more than 150 countries are viewing a web video, released in the search for Madeleine McCann.

The clip targets people who may be close to the person who was involved in her disappearance in 2007.

A Minute for Madeleine was released on Tuesday morning by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Centre.

The film includes fresh images of how Madeleine might look now, aged six, including one with dark brown hair and tanned skin.

It has already been spread across thousands of social networking sites, blogs, and search engines. On Twitter, celebrities including Jonathan Ross, Chris Evans, Alan Carr and Phillip Schofield have "tweeted" the link to their followers.

Ceop Chief Executive Jim Gamble said: "We are delighted with the response so far but this is only the start."

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing during a holiday in Praia da Luz in Portugal.

http://itn.co.uk/214432d1e1ae5bac0d253ce6891f81be.html

These are the images that show how Madeleine McCann would look two and a half years after she vanished.

Police hope the new computer generated pictures will spark a flood of possible sightings and lead them to the missing youngster’s whereabouts.

One shows how she would appear, now aged six, if being held in Europe – with her skin still pale.

The other is an image of her face had she been taken to North Africa, with a suntan and dark hair.

The pictures were released after Madeleine’s heartbroken parents Gerry and Kate, both 41, begged one of Britain’s leading child abduction police officers to help them find their precious daughter, who vanished from a Portuguese holiday apartment in May 2007.

They wrote a letter to Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre boss Jim Gamble – and he was so moved by it he decided there and then to get involved.

The officer yesterday launched a 60-second internet video clip aimed at people who may know Madeleine’s kidnapper.

Mr Gamble said: “It is the first time it has been done and I absolutely believe this has the opportunity, the potential, to get to the person we are looking for. We are not looking for someone who has seen this girl particularly.

cont...

http://tinyurl.com/yd82mk2

http://www.findmadeleine.com

Refreshing the page before entering the website provides a new message.

 A book claiming Madeleine McCann was dead, which has now been banned, caused "incredible distress" to her family, her father has said

A judge ordered an end to the sale of the book by a former investigating police officer in the case, Goncalo Amaral.

Mr McCann added that Madeleine's brother and sister, twins Sean and Amelie, needed protection from "such awful claims".

He said: "I think there's a lot of people in Portugal, and further afield, who believe there is evidence that Madeleine is dead and if people believe that they won't search for her.

"And they may have information and they may not come forward with that information, and we know for a fact that people have been told that - that Madeleine is dead.

"There is no evidence to support that, and that is unforgiveable."

The injunction, granted following a hearing last week, means he has to ensure all unsold copies of the book are removed from shops and warehouses across Europe. If he fails to do so he faces a fine of £877 a day.

source

(...)

The "agitated" woman appeared to be waiting impatiently for somebody when one of the Englishmen, aged 41, tried to chat her up.

It is claimed she asked him in an Australian accent, "Are you here to deliver my new daughter? Have you got her? Have you got the child?"

The men allegedly did not come forward earlier because of "personal circumstances" -- at least one of them was married.

Other witnesses who have since come forward noted she spoke excellent Spanish or Catalan and was wearing dressy blue jeans and a jersey top.

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http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25904755-948,00.html

Police in Sydney are investigating what might be a dramatic breakthrough in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

They have been given a potential lead towards a woman who is at the centre of recent developments in the two year old case.

A New South Wales police spokesman reported today that they had received information about a woman who is similar in description to an Australian woman being sought by private investigators.

Police were contacted by another woman who said she knows the mystery woman being hunted by private detectives looking for Madeleine.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205162/Madeleine-police-make-dr...