Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

Madeleine McCann disappeared on the evening of Thursday, 3 May 2007. She was on holiday with her parents and twin siblings in the Algarve region of Portugal. The British girl went missing from an apartment, in the central area of the resort of Praia da Luz, a few days before her fourth birthday, and has still not been found. Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have said that they left the children unsupervised in a ground floor bedroom while they ate at a restaurant about 120 metres (130 yards) away.

The initial investigation by the Polícia Judiciária (PJ), the Portuguese criminal investigation police, was based on the assumption that the child had been abducted. After further investigation, the PJ stated that there was a strong hypothesis that she might have died in her room. During the investigation there were a number of unconfirmed claimed sightings of Madeleine in Portugal and elsewhere, and additional scientific evidence was obtained. The investigation involved the co-operation of the British and Portuguese police and demonstrated the differing methodologies employed by each, with regard to such aspects as the amount of information released to the public and the legal status of those involved in the case.

Robert Murat, a local resident, was given arguido (suspect) status on 15 May 2007. Kate and Gerry McCann were also named as arguidos on 7 September, but were allowed to fly back to the United Kingdom on 9 September. All three were cleared, with their arguido status lifted, on 21 July 2008. The Portuguese Attorney General archived the case, also on 21 July, but the case can be reopened if new evidence emerges.

The disappearance and its aftermath were notable for the breadth and longevity of the media coverage. This was initially due to the active involvement of the parents in publicising the case and to several awareness-raising campaigns by international celebrities and, latterly, to the interest that arose from the parents being named as suspects. The event generated international media attention with controversy surrounding the Portuguese-led police investigation and the actions of Madeleine's parents. There has also been criticism of the extent and nature of the publicity and of the reporting of the disappearance in both the Portuguese and British media.

McCanns as suspects

The Polícia Judiciária (PJ), on 6 September, officially interviewed Kate for a second time, at the police station in Portimão with the McCanns' Portuguese lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, present. The family’s spokeswoman Justine McGuinness said, "Kate will answer every question put to her — she has nothing to hide.Pinto de Abreu made a formal application for the couple’s status to be changed from 'witness' to 'assistant' in the investigation. This is a technical move which would allow the McCanns to have more information about the progress of the investigation. When Pinto de Abreu emerged with Kate from the police station in the early hours of 7 September, after more than 10 hours of questioning, he said Kate "was interviewed as a witness and she still remains a witness. The investigation is ongoing and we cannot say any more.

Kate returned for further interview later on 7 September and was formally declared a suspect by the Portuguese police. During this interview Kate used her right to remain silent. After questioning, Kate was released from the police station just before 16:00 without being charged. Gerry was interviewed at the same police station during the afternoon and evening of 7 September and afterwards Pinto de Abreu announced that Gerry had also been named as a formal suspect. Before she became a suspect Kate said "The police don't want a murder in Portugal and all the publicity about them not having paedophile laws here, so they're blaming us," and Gerry said "We are being absolutely stitched up. Pinto de Abreu said that claims by relatives that police had offered Kate a plea bargain if she admitted to accidentally killing her child were wrong and the result of "a misunderstanding".

The UK Foreign Office is providing the McCanns with assistance. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said on 9 September "I am clear that the Portuguese police have the objective of solving this crime, and most importantly finding Madeleine, and that is what we in our support of the McCanns have tried to do as well. Despite the ongoing investigation, the McCanns flew home on 9 September via Faro and East Midlands airports.

Disappearance

Madeleine disappeared from a ground floor apartment, where the family was staying, on the evening of 3 May 2007. The apartment had been rented by the holiday company Mark Warner for the summer season as part of its Ocean Club. The layout of the Ocean Club may have contributed to the disappearance of Madeleine as its buildings are spread out across the village, such that anyone can wander in and out of the holiday areas.

Her parents reported to the police that they had taken Madeleine to their holiday apartment at 18:00 Western European Summer Time, to prepare Madeleine and her two-year-old twin siblings for bed.Then they left at 20:30, leaving the apartment unlocked, to dine with friends approximately 130 yards (120 metres) away at a tapas bar within the Mark Warner Ocean Summer Club. The McCanns said that they were taking turns checking on their children. At 20:55, one of the McCanns' dinner companions, Matthew Oldfield, approached the bedroom window of the children to check if he could hear any noise in the room and at approximately 21:05/21:15 Gerry checked on the children. At 21:20 Jane Tanner noticed a man carrying a child going down the road next to the apartment of the McCanns. Slightly further down the road, Gerry was chatting to Jeremy Wilkins, whom he had met at the resort, and neither noticed Tanner as she walked past them to join the rest of the group at the tapas restaurant. At 21:30 Matthew Oldfield went to check the children but saw only the twins through the open bedroom door.

At around 22:00, Kate returned to check on the children and found Madeleine's bed empty and the bedroom window open. An Ocean Club nanny, Charlotte Pennington, who was one of the first people to arrive at the apartment, said that Kate screamed both "They've taken her, they've taken her!" and "Madeleine's gone!". Kate said that the police were called within 10 minutes of finding her daughter gone. Gerry said it was one of their friends who alerted the resort manager and the police.

The GNR’s spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Costa Cabral, said that the first call to the police (PJ) was at 23:50. According to the Portuguese police's missing person notice, the disappearance had occurred "by 22:40. The police stated that officers arrived within 10 minutes of being alerted, and an investigation unit began work within 30 minutes. Staff and guests at the complex searched until 04:30 while police on the Spanish border and all airports in Portugal and Spain were notified.