hello welcome back to another episode of The Casual criminal today a famous one I I'm surprised we haven't covered this yet it's The Disappearance of malalim Maan which is a brutal brutal case and I don't know it's complicated and it's long the script that is David's written it I've never read it before of course I'm familiar with this I think every British person is familiar with this case if you're not you're about to be cuz uh we're going to be here for a little while the format of the show if you've not seen this show before is I've never read this before we're going to read it together and uh explore let's just dive in shall [Music] we it was mid-afternoon on April the 28th 2007 in prayad delouch Sun soaked Paradise on the southern coast of Portugal's algar region in English pralo means the beach of light since the late 1960s the place has been transformed from an impoverished fishing Village to a bustling seaside resort although PR delu has a population of just 35 500 residents approximately four times that number visited every single year to swim sunb drink and relax a combination of the warm climate fair prices and extensive child care services made it particularly attractive for middle-class families from northern Europe furthermore half the population of the Town wasn't even Portuguese with the houses and apartments being bought up by a swarm of British German and Dutch expatriates yeah like know like south of Spain Al gar in Portugal pretty famous for just like lots of Brits and Germans and apparently Dutch generally speaking these arrivals were either retirees warming their old bones or younger people of an aspiration or bent who wanted to boast that they owned a villa in the alav in short this wasn't just some sleepy Coastal Village full of retired fishermen it was an international Hub where people of all walks of life came and went you they just want to boast I don't know I'd like a holiday house it sounds nice like somewhere wared to go in the winter you don't need to have old bones to enjoy that look starting a skincare routine you go to the uh the drugstore and you're like oo that looks good I'll buy that and then you go and it's like ah super expensive but okay I'm definitely going to stick with it this time and then 3 days later you're like yeah I'm not doing the I'm not doing the face wash with the weird micro beads and and whatnot in there it's just I'm not doing it I'm sorry it's too expensive and I'm too lazy what you need is a company to make it easier and that's where today's sponsor geology comes into the picture their customized skincare routine takes the guesswork out of it no complicated setups it's just effective proven ingredients that do what they're supposed to do I've been using it for about a month now smoother skin less oiliness no dark circles under the eyes which makes me look less tired and look I do my my job is on camera is that you don't want to look super tired all the time there salicylic acid face swch 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their way to ID Europe for instance approximately 70% of cannabis smuggled into Europe passes through the alar no is that that's a lot numerous British Moroccan and ban gangs also have a presence in the region in addition to this since 2004 Portuguese police were aware that a sexual predator was operating within a 50m radius a PRI Al leash primarily targeting British tourists breaking into their holiday apartments at night and assulting their prepubescent daughters while speaking to them in heavily acced English the young victims all remarked that he exuded a foul stench sounds like a real piece of [ __ ] doesn't he the British Consul in the alav was aware of the threat but issued no travel warning yeah I mean travel warning is a very serious business like I don't think because there's one Predator that they' be like don't travel here they Travel warnings are like there's a war or there's a genocide going on don't go there they're not like maybe don't go it because it's crimey two of these nighttime assaults had occurred in PRI itself the Mancan family were not aware of any of this when they arrived in the resort town they were an upper middle class family of five Jerry McAn originally from Glasgow was a cardiac specialist Kate McAn originally from the suburbs of Liverpool was a general practitioner they lived in the lestershire village of rothley in a large newly refurbished and comfortable home and Jerry commuted into the city of Lester to work they were both devout Roman Catholics and regular churchgoers as such the couple had initially wanted to have a family of six or seven children however Kate mccan already in the mid-30s had struggled to get pregnant through the help of IVF the couple managed to have their first daughter meline on May the 12th 2003 and again through IVF Kate mccan gave birth to twins sha and Amal on February 1st 2005 in the middle afternoon of April 28th 2007 the Mac dropped off their luggage at the Ocean Club a resort in proud Deluge owned by Mark Warner limited they joined the other members of the party some of whom had arrived earlier in the day David and Fiona Payne Fiona's mother Diane Matt and Rachel Oldfield and russello Brian and his long-term partner Jane Tanner six of the nine adults were doctors between the four couples in the party they had eight small children The Ocean Club was a mixture of cozy Villas and lowrise apartments the grounds had four pools five tennis courts two snack bars and a tamper restaurant with its open layout people could pass from one end of the complex to the other without drawing much attention this sounds like the sort of place I'd got on holiday the cad family redsit Apartment 5A on the ground floor at the edge of the complex adjoining two roads and nearby one of the swimming pools with the tap Pass Restaurant on the other side Apartment 5A could be accessed in one of two ways first from the main entrance the apartment building next to the parking lot and the ruer Deo de Sila this to apartment 5a's front door which the MA's typically locked I'm just wondering is it a secure Resort cuz I don't know everywhere I go there's always like every time you drive in there's a there's a man in a little guard Hut and he has to raise a thing after you tell him your room number I don't think like a smelly Predator could could just roll into a resort the second way was through a small a iron gate on the side of the building that opened directly onto the ruer to Francisco gentle Martins and led to a pathway behind the entire building on the immediate right was apartment 5a's patio the apartment could be accessed via sliding doors the means typically left unlocked thus anyone could wander off the public Street and access their apartments in just a few Paces okay so it's right on a public street so it's not a secure area 5A had two bedrooms one of them was used by Jerry and Kate mccan who pushed two single beds together the other was occupied by their three children 2-year-old sha and Emily slept on travel carts in the middle of the room three-year-old meline slept on a a single bed a second bed in the room was occupied by no one the children's room had a window which looked out onto the parking lot at the front of the building the window had curtains a glass pane that opened outward onto the street and metal shutters that sealed tight when closed Jerry and Kate mccan said they always kept the window in the children's room closed with the shutters down and the curtains drawn the shutters could be opened with a pool string inside the bedroom the metal shutters and window pane could not be opened from the outside without forcing them and making a fair amount of noise okay uh but where were the sliding doors the sliding doors were unlocked and I think that becomes important CU I know something about this case but so access to this bedroom from the street the windows are closed so it's going to be the sliding doors where someone could get in the first 5 days of the macan's holiday followed a similar pattern each morning they dropped off their children at the daycare service or crash provided by The Ocean Club then Jerry and Kate Macan enjoyed a day of relaxing in the sun swimming in the ocean attending tennis lessons and going for long arduous runs both of them were fairly into sport and fitness Jerry most of all this sounds nice this sounds it does sound like the sort of holiday I go on uh I thought these kids would be too young to put in the crash like we typically put it we don't we you know I don't know I don't want it we I'd put my kids in the crash more than my wife would but we spend like I don't know we'll do like half a day put the kids in the crash and relax and then half a day I don't know doing some activities with the kids or something cuz they want to you know holidays for them as well I guess although they love I I call it a kids club but they love the kids club they're always like going can we go back can we go back and it's like you don't want to spend time together it's like no I made friends it's okay a preview of things to come the man picked up their children at lunchtime so they could all eat together then the youngsters got put back into day air so Kate and Jerry could have the rest of the afternoon to themselves manans would pick up their children at 5:00 or 600 p.m. and take them back to Apartment 5A for a 700 p.m. bedtime the children's nighttime routine was to play for a little bit then get into their pajamas drink a glass of milk and fall asleep to bedtime stories yeah this is I don't this is uncomfortably close to how my life is then Kate and Jerry would get ready to go out for the evening while they both enjoyed a glass of wine in the room the whole getting ready ritual was usually stretched out over 90 minutes then they headed down to the tab House restaurant where after the first two days of staying there Rachel Oldfield had reserved a table for the entire party of nine adults at 8:30 p.m. every day for the rest of the week it was later discovered that as an explanation to her manager the hostess had left the reservation and a note about how the parents wanted to be close to their kids sleeping alone in the apartments on the front desk for days it was visible to anyone skullking around the pool area it's possible that this is where an abductor got the idea to Target the M this is something I wouldn't do I don't know if it's because things and how you do this with your children have changed because of this very case that we're going through today but I I wouldn't leave my kids in the hotel room alone and then leave the building I would yeah I don't I don't think we'd even pop downstairs like to a bar in the building if we're in like a you know a hotel block we'd have someone from the hotel stay with them the Tap House Restaurant was located about 60 yards or 55 MERS away from Apartment 5A on the other side of the swimming pool so it's not very far I I mean I have to say I wouldn't necessarily be worried about um predators and stuff cuz I'd lock the doors I'd be more worried about fire like if there was a fire that broke out then you'd have to get there real quick get into the building get the kids out and I think that that to me is a is probably more statistically likely risk that's what concerns me the back of the apartment was partially visible through some thick plastic weather sheeting separating the restaurant from the pool and then Over the Hedge separating the pool from the back of the apartment block while this technically meant that the me could look at the apartment from where they sat at dinner you couldn't really get a good look at the place nor have any idea of what was going on inside of it wait they don't have a monitor I oh this is like 2006 when was this happening 2006 2007 what did we say like around that time like today if we if we did consider doing that which we don't do we definitely have like a a smart monitor so it like it take tells you what's you can see what's going on with your kids on your phone and it'll tell you if there's any movement but this is you know this 20 years ago the quickest route to and from Apartment 5A was 90 yard or 82 M around the pool onto the public road and through a rought iron gate at a reasonable Pace the walk took less than a minute okay I mean this seems like it doesn't seem far I think times have changed as I said because of this case but I think reasonably that's not an unreasonable distance to go from your children at a reasonable Pace less than a minute so if you sprinted it it would take you like 20 seconds The Ocean Club actually provided a night Crush service for its guest that they could go out in the evenings without leaving their kids alone in their rooms yeah but night crash just means you're putting off putting your kids to bed until really late and that's going to be miserable like you finish dinner he had some wine and you're like great now I got to go collect the kids and put them to bed ah the kids would be entertained with games and movies and when they got sleepy they were put into comfy beds in a private area until their parents returned whoa I got to find a place with a night crash they got little beds holy [ __ ] I got to find a resort like that I've only ever come across day crashes before cuz then you could just pick them up like carry them back to beds and I mean keep your fingers crossed that they just go to sleep in their own beds I mean sometimes that goes terribly wrong like where the kids are falling asleep in the car and you're like ah yes perfect and you get home and you're transferring them to to bed my daughter we did this the other day my daughter's like Dad I'm hungry and I'm like oh God no then then it takes like you got to go through the whole bedtime procedure because then she's like Dad I haven't brushed my teeth Dad I haven't gone into my pajamas Dad we haven't read a story it's like oh no no no no no no no I sound like a terrible parent I love my kids but I also like Time by myself in the evening many parents of the Ocean Club availed themselves of this service but the Maan party did not like the idea of the night crash Kate mccan felt that it would interfere with the children's habitual 700 p.m. bedtime and she thought that once the children went to sleep in the quiet area they would be constantly woken up by other adults picking up their own children as the evening went on the other parents in the Maan party agreed yeah not unreasonable instead the group decided to leave their eight children asleep in their Apartments David and Fiona Payne had a baby monitor the rest of the Maan pared worked out a system where they would leave dinner and check on their kids at regular intervals why not just have a baby monitor there's obviously baby so they have baby monitors the six parents claimed that they would each get up from the table and check on their own children every 20 to 30 minutes staggered so only one or two people were away at any given time with six people individually performing checks this meant that only a few minutes would pass before someone walked away from the table again occasionally a member of the Maan party would volunteer to check on their friends kids for them this routine apparently carried on for hours until about 11:00 p.m. or midnight this seems like a good system this seems fair I know I I feel like there's uh quite a bit of judgments if I remember correctly about on on the manans for this and I I I don't think this is unreasonable at all I mean it's not something I would do but I think that's because times have changed because of this it should be noted that the staff of the Tapas restaurant did not notice this flurry of comings and goings over the course of multiple evenings we only have the word of the Maan party that these checks were actually as diligent and punctual as they said they were According to some Portuguese investigators it was possible that the Macan party exaggerated the frequency with which they would check on their kids in order to avoid accusations of negligence yeah but that is very much alleged other accusations from law enforcement extended to the group of mostly doctors actually sedating their children so that they could stay out for three or 4 hours drinking with their casual checks being far less frequent allegedly sedating their children what like drugs like what's going on this seems very alleged this seems look my initial thing there is like it sounds like law enforcement failed these people because one of their kids got abducted and now they're just looking for excuses allegedly as well the Ocean Club staff described the Maan party as quote moderate drinkers while other Witnesses have characterized them as excessive drinkers uh this is going to depend on how you define things and also people are different like I drink more on holiday for sure like without question I'll drink every day like you just like why not I'm on holiday hey I don't know I guess some people call call it I'd call myself moderate Drinker on holiday I guess not excessive I'm not getting drunk but In fairness it really depends on your definition of either right on on the night of May the 2nd the Macan party met at a tap Pass Restaurant and drank wine for 3 hours before moving to the Hotel bar to drink Armond aurs the closest thing they had to amoretto according to Kate mccan their last check on the children was at 11:05 around 1150 the longest stated Gap without checking on the kids Jerry abruptly got up and went to bed Kate felt slighted by his sudden departure and followed a few minutes later arriving back at Apartment 5A Kate said she found Jerry already asleep and snoring she was angered by this and spent the night in the unoccupied bed in the children's room seems a bit much I just feel like I'm tired to go to bed sorry the rest of the mean party left the bar soon after at around 12:20 a.m. this was the latest that they had ever stayed out other not security camera in these Resorts I feel again I I I guess there a lot changed in like 20 years but I'd be very surprised if there wasn't security cameras the next morning may the 3rd 2007 just N9 days shy of mine mcan's 4th birthday the family was sitting at breakfast when the little girl piped up meline asked her mother why didn't you come when sha and I cried last night Kate mccan asked meline when she and sha had been crying and why but by that point Maline got distracted by something else and the conversation shifted to another topic Kate mccan later stated that she thought it improbable that meline and sha could have been woken up in between their routine checks from the restaurant and bar because their children quote rarely stir at all at the night but if they do it was hardly ever and I mean ever before the early hours of the morning mine's question later raised the possibility that an intruder may have been in the apartment on the evening of May 2nd and had woken up the children before departing again at breakfast Kate mccan also noticed that meline had an unexplained brown stain on a night shirt additionally a witness who lived in the apartment directly above the ma claimed that during the afternoon of May 3rd she saw a man come from the direction of the macc's apartment and leave via the Iron Rock gate onto the public road taking care to close it quietly all this plays into the theory that a predator had been scouting Apartment 5A for a few days before striking yeah I think so that seems very reasonable of an assumption altern Kate's incredulity that her kids could have possibly woken up when she and Jerry at the restaurants and bar and a statement that two and three-year-old kids rarely stirred at night unfortunately also fed accusations the cans were in the practice of sedating their children so they could go out for the evening that's insane that's insane my kids rarely stir well I I look I have no reason to make sh up and I would say we put our kids to bed at about uh 7:38 so a little bit later than them they almost never [ __ ] stir and never have other than when they were actual like newborns until the early hours of the morning like the earliest will be like 1 or two but typically four or five maybe three that's when they'll stir but that first part of the night they always sleep through amount of sedation I do of my kids [ __ ] none obviously this seems like aing absolutely baseless accusation meline spent the morning of May 3rd in the Ocean Club Daycare as usual that day the hotel Nanny cat Baker took the kids for a boat ride Baker reports that meline was scared of the boat at first but soon got used to it remaining aboard when they returned to Shore meline and her siblings were picked up by the mechan for lunch and then the family spent some time in the swimming pool together this is where the last known photograph of mine Mac was taken she was returned to daycare played various games and practiced a dance routine that some of the kids were going to perform the next day when the Mac collected their children from daycare at around 5:30 p.m. meline looked pale and was so tired that she asked her mother to carry her back to Apartment 5A Kate and Jerry bathed the kids and just before 6 p.m. Jerry left to play tennis with David Payne Matt Oldfield and Russ O'Brien that sounds nice go to play tennis with you mates that does sound good I should go holiday with my friends I never got I always it's just my family it sounds kind of fun to go play some tennis with your mates while you're on holiday Kate says that she gave the kids milk a biscuit and some crisps while the kids played in the living room Kate says she popped in the shower emerging at around 6:40 p.m. at that point David Payne popped his head in the patio door and asked if the kids would like to go down to the play area Kate replied that the kids were tired and we going to bed soon Payne returned to the tennis court according to Kate mccan she then sat down on the couch with her kids with meline dozing in her lap while Kate read them a story meline asked to try on Kate's engagement ring something the little girl regularly liked to do Kate says that just before 700 p.m. Jerry returned from tennis couple put their children to bed and Kate read them one last story meline fell asleep before the story's conclusion Jerry and Kate gave their children good night kisses all so far so normal according to the mechs between 7:15 and 7:30 Jerry took a shower while Kate did her hair and makeup then from 7:30 to 8:30 the Macs say they had a glass of wine and talked a few minutes past 8:30 they checked on the kidss one last time and headed to the tap Pass Restaurant the mancans were the first couple to arrive and over the next 10 minutes they were gradually joined by the seven others according to testimony Matt Oldfield got up to do the first check on the kids at around 8:55 so we're thinking oh it's very soon after they arrived less than 15 minutes after his arrival on the way back Oldfield Ed stopped outside Apartment 5A and listened at the window always quiet then according to testimony Jerry got up from the table at 9:05 p.m. and returned to Apartment 5A he looked in the children's bedroom and found all three of them asleep Jerry recalls having a quote proud father moment when he looked at them then Jerry mccan returned to the restaurant Kate mccan had emphasized that Madeline's comments that morning about her crying made them anxious which is why they were able to so accurately remember the timing of their checks that night on the way back Jerry stopped to talk with another tourist on the ruer to Francisco gentle Martins just outside the RW Iron Gate he was passed by Jane Tanner who had left the table around 9:10 or 9:15 check on her daughter Jerry does not remember seeing Tanner but she recalls seeing Jerry on the street walking a little further Jane Tanner saw a man carrying an unconscious girl about melin's age across the junction of the rure Martins and rure de silver in front of her the man carried the girl horizontally in his arms rather than her head resting on his shoulder which struck Tanner's odd the little girl wore pajamas that were similar in appearance the ones worn by mandin mccan again in retrospect this seems extremely suspicious but in reality it' just be like oh it's just a man carrying a child in their pajamas like it happens though this sighting was for years taken as significant implying Jane Tanner had seen the kidnapper in 2013 it was determined that she seen a British tourist returning with his young daughter from the night crash exactly yeah and I I feel like carrying the kid horizontal from the night crash that could even be a better position because you're like okay scoop him up like this carry them to bed put them down like this if you like tilting them and putting them up putting the head on the shoulder I feel like that could disturb them more the man came forward and was conclusively identified including matching him to a side profile sketch taken from Jane Tanner I mention this here because there are enough intangibles in this case without the audience wasting brain power on this particular red herring at 9:25 p.m. Matt Oldfield and Russ O Brien got up to check on their kids it had been 30 minutes since Oldfield had last checked on his children but it had only been about 10 minutes since O'Brien's partner Jane Tanner had returned from checking on their daughter which struck some law enforcement as a t of zealous Matt all also volunteered to check on Apartment 5A so Kate mccan could remain seated this time Oldfield entered the apartment and peered into the door of the children's bedroom the door was a jar but Oldfield did not go in to get a full look he recalled seeing a bit of light in the room which was odd because the window was supposed to be closed Oldfield said he heard a noise like one of the children turning over it's now speculated that Oldfield had actually heard an intruder Oldfield returned to the table at approximately 9:30 p.m. around 10 p.m. though the exact time is highly uncertain Irish tourist Martin and Mary Smith saw a man about 500 yards or 460 meters from Apartment 5A carrying a girl fitting meline macan's description down the ru to Escola primaria toward the beach in 2007 Martin Smith identified this man as Jerry mccan but several staff and patrons at the restaurant confirmed Jerry was there at 10 p.m. yeah iwitness testimony is horribly unreliable just as demonstrated by that he can't be in two places at once in 2008 and 2013 Smith described the man as mid-30s about 57 to 5'9 and quote he did not look like a tourist and looked uncomfortable carrying the child that seems that seems way more suspect than the first one also at around 10 p.m. about a half hour after Matt Oldfield checked on Apartment 5A Kate mccan got up from the table Kate said that she entered the apartment through the unlocked patio doors she also testified that upon entering the apartment she noticed that the door to the children's bedroom was wide open but as she approached to close it the door slam shut as if blown by a draft Kate McAn claims that when she opened the door again she noticed that the bedroom window was wide open the curtains parted and the shutters raised sha and Amal were still asleep on the carts in the middle of the room but mine's bed was empty the sheets had been thrown back and a staffed animal cuddle cat rested on the pillow Kate McAn said she initially thought meline had gone to sleep in her and Jerry's bed very reasonable assumption but it was empty she returned to the children's room and frantically searched for meline including looking under the bed despite the fact that the mattress was only about an inch or two above the floor then she says she quickly searched the rest of the apartment not able bble to find her daughter Kate ran back to the pool and restaurant area reportedly shouting Madeline's gone Jerry's initial reaction was she can't be gone then reality hit like a freight train over the course of the next few minutes Kate's cries evolved into they've taken her then theing Bastards of taking her the cries were interspersed with sobbing and hows of Anguish Jerry McAn later told police quote never in my life have I ever heard her cry like that and so began one of the most notorious abduction cases in British history or to put it in the words of Kate mccan that is when the nightmare started God yeah I I I don't know man like I got kids say similar ages and I just can't even imagine I mean I remember when I I was a kid or a teenager when this came out when this case was around and I remember just thinking how intense it must be then and now it's just just even more so isn't it First [Music] Response while Kate mccan seemed to immediately jump to the conclusion that meline had been abducted her friends clung to the idea that meline and Millie woken up and wandered off through the patio doors or gone out of the bedroom window yeah I think I would I would probably be in this Camp I'd be like uh let's not assume something really unlikely until the more likely things have been ruled out so lock down the resort or whatever they do at these places sweep it hopefully find the child meanwhile call the police take the actions that would be appropriate for the worst case scenario but I'd definitely be assuming she's probably just around the corner but I can understand why you would be very concerned I you know you don't know I don't know how I react I'd like to think I'd keep a cool head and just apply logic to fix the situation it's hard to know isn't it meanwhile the pains old vills and Russa Brian split up to search the resort complex in the surrounding neighborhood Jane Tanner was checking on her own daughter at the time but soon joined the search while all of this was going on Jerry and Kate mccan had returned to Apartment 5A Kate was screaming kicking and punching walls repeating I've let her down we've let her down Jerry noise was enough to attract the attention of the upstairs neighbor who C over the balcony asking what was going on Jerry shouted back that their daughter had been abducted When Ross AB Brien returned to Apartment 5A after roughly half an hour search he found Kate mccan in hysterics and Jerry McAn lying on the floor quote crying like a baby when Matt Oldfield returned to the apartment Jerry collected himself for long enough to tell Oldfield to go to the front desk and get them to phone the police the call went through at 10:41 p.m. i' when when was the uh okay so 10 p.m. was when she discovered her missing 10:41 is when the call goes through to the police I would have immediately called the police again like hope for the best plan for the worst just in case immediately front desk call the police I did this on a couple holidays ago my kid had an allergic reaction ction to Sesame seeds apparently she's we assume it was because she's allergic to Sesame seeds and then she just starts having an allergic reaction like just starts like her body's like all like suddenly I'm like oh my God my wife's like oh my God what do we do and I'm like call an ambulance so I just called a reception I'm like need an ambulance and they're like we'll call an ambulance and then the ambulance comes but it's like yeah you got to I don't know like I I know my reaction in that situation i' I'd call the police immediately or I'd call the reception and be like you need to call the police now the Portuguese authorities would later find it odd that can spent the first 40 minutes after their daughter's disappearance crying in the apartment and not racing around actively looking for their child yeah I I do find that odd Al alsoo of course excuse it as completely you don't know what your response will be and even though I said I do I don't they would later allege that the macan's shouting and crying was a performance others have pointed out that the shock and Trauma of a child abduction hits different people in different ways it'sing insane I don't understand like you were the Portuguese authorities like so incompetent that they're coming up with excuses this seems outrageous shortly after calling the police The Ocean Club initiated its missing child protocol the staff fanned out across the property looking for meline they were joined by concerned locals and tourists eventually amounting to a search party of about 60 people two Hotel nannies arrived at Department 5A to offer help and comfort they too found Kate and Jerry MACC in quite a state the couple angrily demanded to know where the police were yeah again not an unreasonable response it's only been 11 minutes but still like I can understand their anger it's misplaced it's only been 10 minutes but it's still I can understand it they were met at reception by senior Hotel staff Matt Oldfield and Jerry mccan who had come down from Apartment 5A Officer Nelson Coster and hotel staff member Sylvia Batista both testified that at this point Jerry mccan quote knelt down and slammed his two hands on the floor like a Praying Arab screaming twice in indescribable anguish yeah I mean I can't can't imagine I can't imagine the two police officers headed to Apartment 5A as per protocol they searched the residents to confirm that meline was no longer there officer Jose Rog noted that the shutters to the window of the room were lowered leaving about the width of a hand between them and the window sill K McAn later stated that after returning to Apartment 5A Jerry had lowered the shutters again indeed so many people had moved in and out of the apartment after mine's disappearance that it was impossible to preserve the crime scene nevertheless on the orders of their desk sergeant back in Lagos the two officers attempted to stop any further disturbance while police conducted their search officer roke noticed Jerry and Kate mccan knelt down on the floor of their bedroom putting their heads down on their bed crying and praying oh yeah they're they're very religious right Officer Rog also noted in his report how it was odds that amid all the hubub with 20 people coming and going with the parents screaming and crying and with Kate maccan previously punching and kicking the walls that the two-year-old twins sha and Amal were still fast asleep indeed they would not wake up for the rest of the night fueling speculation that the mechans had sedated their children I don't like that I don't like that speculation I feel like that is a major accusation that you should have someing evidence for much later Kate McAn would offer the explanation that perhaps it was the abductor who had drugged the children before taking meline or maybe they just sleep deeply like sometimes kids are hard to wake up around midnight the desk sergeant arrived from Lagos and shortly thereafter four more officers they mostly focused their efforts on patrolling the area looking for meline all the officers to arrive so far were part of the Garden asan republicano or GNR at 12:10 a.m. they decided to contact the policier judiciar or PJ who handled more serious crime the head of the local PJ unit gonano Amaral was 20 mil away in pauu he was informed of The Disappearance as he ate a late night dinner midnight very late night dinner he dispatched two investigators to The Ocean Club around 1:00 a.m. the PJ investigators arrived and despaired at the lack of preservation of the scene an hour later the GNR brought in two German Shepherds these particular two dogs were not specialized trackers but they were given Madeline's blanket to try and catch her scent Unfortunately they couldn't get a whiff of the child anywhere outside of the apartment well because they're not tracker dogs where are the tracker dogs while all this was going on Kate and Jerry were busy on the telephone first Jerry called his sister then he called the foreign office in London the British Consulate in the gav and the British Embassy in Lisbon wow I feel like my first call would be the embassy then the consulate then the foreign office and then my sister up to you though dude then Jerry called Kate's aunt and uncle in rosley and asked them to start praying for meline then Jerry phoned Kate's parents to tell them what was going on meanwhile Kate had ask the hotel staff to find a priest to come over and pray with her uh religious people going to do religious things I'm kind of like how about we do something proactive but they think praying is proactive so you know up to them they could not locate one So at around 2: a.m. phoned the priest in England who had married them and baptized meline then Kate called her best friend Michelle Jerry got an upstairs neighbor to email Sky News in the UK at 3:00 a.m. Rachel Oldfield contacted the BBC a few hours later they got hold of ITV this is a good plan getting it out of the news as much as possible getting her picture all over the place get this in Portuguese news as well get a picture out ASAP this is a very good plan at 4:00 a.m. the ma were moved out of Apartment 5A wait they should have as soon as the police arrived they should be like all right out get to another room and we're preserving this room like leave everything go somewhere else we'll have the hotel sort you out they were taken to David and Fiona pay's apartment at the other end of the complex to get a few hours sleep along the way Kate MCC complained bitterly that the hotel staff had not been able to locate a Catholic priest I mean people have weird reactions that's a bit much but of course crazy situation to be in according to Fiona pain Kate used some extremely foul language that Fiona wouldn't repeat I mean yeah what what do you want to read into that her kids just been abducted the twins sea and Amal were carried to the pay's apartment by a nanny and a policeman both of the children were still fast asleep and did not even stir momentarily when strangers picked them up I am not jumping to any conclusions yet that is a lot of movement and activity to sleep through that is a lot but I I I mean it is what what it like extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence it's an extraordinary claim and the evidence is not yet extraordinary before Jerry tried to get some rest he headed down to the beach with Matt Oldfield where Jerry burst into tears then Jerry returned to the Payne's apartment the first 6 hours after mine's disappearance were spent searching Apartment 5A the resort complex and the surrounding neighborhood there was no methodical search of the rest of PR Deluge or the outskirts and roadblocks were certainly not set up at this time it should be noted that if a human trafficker abducted melin it was less than 90 minutes drive to the Spanish border and from there one could cross over to Morocco or pass into the rest of Europe you got roadblocks what's going why on there roadblocks I mean once you're across the border it's going to be much more difficult once you're in Morocco you're done like you're in Africa things are different there anguish the following morning May 4th 2007 the search resumed with the benefit of daylight Hotel staff printed missing posters with mine mcan's picture and distributed them all over proud Lou the first news stories of mine 's disappearance hit the airwaves at 7:30 a.m. on British and Portuguese television that morning only a handful of reporters arrived to cover the story a few Portuguese one British newspaper journalist and one correspondent for the BBC at the time the journalist pres had reasonable hopes that the little girl would be found in a few hours having wandered off into the night they did not expect The Disappearance to escalate into a major story after an hour or two in the pay's apartment during which Jerry slept and Kate did not they got up at 5 or 6 a.m. they walked along the beach and through the brush looking for their daughter at 9:00 a.m. thean waited in the parking lot for the PJ investigators to return reporters there saw Kate burst into tears a forensic steam arrived and a technician would later spark controversy for dusting the window shutters of Apartment 5A for fingerprints without wearing gloves while the mccan party stood in the parking lot Russ O Brien and Kate mccan were approached by a man named Robert morat Half British half Portuguese who lived in proud with his mother and spoke both languages fluently this sounds like a useful person he volun to be a translator between the m and the police well that's very nice and seems like it's going to be very useful Brian put morat's number into his phone Robert morat gradually introduced himself to the police Hotel staff journalists and volunteers present and made similar offers meanwhile arrien set about the task of finding Kate a Catholic priest one could not be found a Kate Macan settled on an Anglican who had recently arrived in Portugal with his wife they soon became friends at 10 a.m. Police road blocks were finally established around the T C it's 12 hours later 12 hours after her disappearance an Interpol missing person's alert was issued at 11:05 holy sh this was on Sky News at 300 in the morning and we're not getting an Interpol missing person until 11:05 we're not getting roadblocks until 10: so far there seems to be a lot of O did the me do that did the M's do this and honestly it just seems like the Portuguese police surprised for casual criminalist kind of a bit sh a PJ investigator arrived and drove Jerry and Kate mccan into port and Ma to take their official statements they were greeted at police headquarters by the British console Bill Henderson when Kate was giving a statement she was asked is this your first visit to Portugal she replied isely yes and it will be my last oh no it won't you're involved in a very very major situation right now which is going to be involving you not leaving Portugal and it's not going to be a good time that you are coming back much of Jerry and Kate's statements concern the man Jane Tanner had seen carrying an unconscious girl at 9:15 the night before Jerry demanded he'd be found and arrested as we now know this was merely a British tourist with his own daughter the interviews of Jerry and Kate mccan lasted for 4 hours after which they waited while other members of their party were questioned it was not until 7:30 p.m. that an officer drove the MC back to Proud delou returning to the resort the M's found the number of journalists Outside The Ocean Club had grown the story of a young British girl the daughter of two respectable doctors being snatched from AEL room while on holiday had begun to resonate with the public the Mac sought Refuge from the journalists inside the pay's apartment they were greeted by Kate's parents who had caught the first available flight from Liverpool and a couple of British diplomats after some discussion Jerry decided to go out and talk to the Press he and Kate walked out of the apartment Kate clutching mine's cuddle cat in her hands and Jerry occasionally putting his arm around his wife Jerry's demeanor was fairly stoic given the circumstances and he spoke clearly and articulately as would be the case in their many press appearances going forward yeah I think I would be the same way because it's like you've got to separate you've got to be like this is what we need done and this is what we need done now now and you got to process your emotions at a different time this is really fine and I think it's appropriate Kate looked like she've been crying and was on the verge of lapsing into tears again Jerry looked up from his notes directly at the journalist assembled Kate looked mostly at the ground Jeremy said quote words cannot describe the anguish and despair that we're feeling as the parents of our beautiful daughter we request that anyone with information no matter how trivial contact the Portuguese police and help us get her back safely please if you have meline let her come home to her mommy daddy brother and sister I don't this is [ __ ] awful the first press conference further intensified public and media interest in The Disappearance a handsome well-to-do couple were in pieces because they'd lost their daughter on holiday one journalist summed up the press conference with the phrase there but for the grace of God go I when a child goes missing and there are a sickening number of cases in any region they usually receive very sparse and transient public attention attention usually press coverage is confined to local media not rising to National or International levels but every so often about one in a thousand the media in the public seizes on a particular case that seems to resonate with people on a visceral level yeah and Jerry and uh sorry his wife um Kate they are doing a very good job of working themselves to be that one in a thousand getting the medor involved getting word out just doing as much as possible a common trend is the missing cases that catch on often involve girls from middle or upper class families going missing from seemingly safe environments yeah I mean yeah that's something you can't really control but I I can I can see that it is less common for boys for the kids of either sex from lower class families and for those living in environments that could be described as rough or unsafe ethnicity can also be a factor but this varies from country to Country The Disappearance of mine mccan on the other hand swiftly attains immense International attention the likes of which had never been seen the Macan press conference was played over and over and within days MN macan's picture was printed in news papers on literally every continent the Portuguese police were appalled at how quickly the story gained traction believing that the flood of journalists onlookers and bogus tips would hamper their investigation I disagree I think having her picture everywhere is enormously helpful it's just I mean isn't it I don't want an investigation at this point I want a back I I'm not interested in catching the guy at that point I'm interested in getting her back and if the police want to catch the guy later fine but right now I want a picture everywhere there was also a more Grim consideration if meline had been abducted by human traffickers she had suddenly become the most recognizable girl on the planet while it increased the chance of meline being spotted it might also prompt her abductors to kill her and dispose of her body rather than trying to transport or sell her the same danger applied to an individual lunatic who abducted her and was either trying to move cross country or keep her captive in the local area okay fair play I didn't think of that from their first Fone calls to the UK media on the night of The Disappearance the M fell firmly behind the idea that publicity increased the likelihood that meline would be found but it's a very real possibility as public attention reached fever pitch that it may have hastened her death I mean what you what are you supposed to a faceless man that night 24 hours after the Abduction the Policia judiciar investigators sat in the crisis center in pra and discussed their progress so far they had papered the walls of the crisis center with graphs flowcharts timelines witness statements photographs and lists of pending completed tasks for the officers on the ground in the middle of the documentation they put up a picture of meline McAn to quote remind us always of our mission's objective many of the investigators present felt that the maccan story did not add up and they were by no means certain that meline mccan had actually been abducted Chief investigator gonal Amaro requested background checks on the maans and their friends from the British police liaison in Lisbon it took several days for those to arrive in Amaral's opinion given the implications the British authorities seemed reluctant to supply them uh wait they're doctors if they've got criminal background I tell you can be a doctor can you like that's not going to be okay like especially for a serious crime like if they've got speeding tickets or whatever then it's not going to count meanwhile at 11: p.m. David Payne called The Metropolitan Police in London nothing came with the call at the time but it reflected the mounting frustration of the Mancan party with the perceived lack of progress made by the Portuguese authorities yeah I mean you'd be enormously frustrated as someone who hasn't done anything to your own daughter and the Portuguese police lady yeah maybe you did just be like go [ __ ] fight the pass did I'd be [ __ ] furious at midnight Kate tried to get in touch with the head of the PJ in south Portugal who had promised to take her call she couldn't reach him Kate flew into a agage kicked to bed and broke it she then phoned a friend of hers in the UK and commented that judging from the response of the Portuguese police you'd think that she'd lost a dog the idea of Portuguese incompetence and inactivity was an impression that stuck both with the m and with much of the British press and public yeah I mean I can see why guys however when the files of the initial investigation were unsealed a year later in 2008 British and Portuguese legal analysts and law enforcement generally agreed that within those first few days the Pia judiciar had actually been fairly tireless in their activities okay I'm only going on what I'm presented with here and it does seem like a bit their response doesn't seem very good but legal analysts came later and it seems that we were mistaken and that's fine I'm happy to be mistaken I was saw what I had here and now I have something more fine experts also agree it was unreasonable to expect roadblocks to be set up in a missing Charles case with no sign of Foul Play much earlier than they were okay seems a little bit unreasonable to me but um I don't know I guess that's just me I'm not a policeman not a legal expert on May 5th the Portuguese police expanded the search area to 29 square miles on PRI delug and then to 96 square miles the search involved around 80 officers taking on who whatever volunteers they could find they comb the town the countryside looking for any sign of meline mccan or her remains fire service scarred the scrubland divers examined the coastal Waters and the Bora Dam 9 mil north of prauge more than 400 houses and apartments were searched the police conducted random stops around the town to create uncertainty for anyone trying to transport Maan out of the area the 700 people were questioned the full Fury of the ground surge continued for a week and then tapered off into more focused investigations meanwhile forensic technicians scrutinized Apartment 5A they retrieved one usable fingerprint from the patio doors and palm print from the window in the children's room the palm print on the window turned out to be Kate's the one on the patio door turned out to belong to a GNR first responder regardless of how they exited or entered the potential abductor must have worn gloves or had their prince destroyed by the coming and going they probably wore gloves if they as we seem to agree they were scouting out the area beforehand which is preparation preparation would include gloves if your kidnapping a child Tex also collected 146 hair samples 129 belonged to the's their party and Resort staff 17 belonged to an unidentified person either the abductor or a random volunteer from the night of the third I mean it's also a hotel room many people stay in there all the time and I'm sure cleaning isn't perfect unfortunately I try not to think about it a stain on the unoccupied bed in the children's room was sent for analysis in case it was Seaman but it turned out to be saliva from a child who had stayed in the apartment a week before the M arrived The Ocean Club had no CCTV cameras wow times change don't they Jesus police collected tapes from the places in prao where they existed petrol stations oh my God this was 20 years ago and there's only ccdv cameras in petrol stations in in the arar that is mad some had already wiped the footage from that night others still had the footage archive but neither meline nor a likely suspect were found on them and some petrol stations in the area didn't have CCTV cameras at all that evening Jerry McAn made another televised appeal for information on May 6th a German tourist reported to police that while aboard a boat he had seen a black bag sitting on a cliff on the coastline officers were dispatched the bag was found to contain Nothing But Trash I mean it's a bit of stretch isn't it a black bag in the countryside someone's just tipping I'm not saying don't check it out I'm just surprised it made it into the script as important numerous sightings of little girls resembling mine McAn came flooding into the police from pralo elsewhere in the alar from Morocco and from some as far away as Scandinavia within a week of her disappearance meline sightings were coming in from everywhere on the planet reports began to number in their thousands on May 7th a PJ investigator told a press conference quote I do not have facts to say whether the child is alive or not end quote now it should be noted that under Portuguese law all details of an active investigation must remain secret to the frustration of the public PJ spokesman oigara told the same press conference quote we are searching for the child and until the moment she appears we can say nothing more we are not magicians on May 7th there emerged a procedural absurdity Jane tner had sat down with a police sketch artist to create an image of the man she had seen carrying the child on the third but Jane Tanner had not seen the man's face only his side profile giving her an impression of his height hair skin color and gate so for the man's face the sketch artist produced a blank oval with some long hair on top it was not meant for publication but a G&R officer gave a copy to a local shopkeeper while canvasing for Witnesses and the shopkeeper leaked it to the media several British and Portuguese newspapers mocked it as an egg with a side parting this damaged public perception of the competent of the Pito diara particularly in Britain oh that's ridiculous this is just media you got to like do some research guys come on please note that it was a sketch of the man's side profile not the egg with hair that was later used among other methods of verification to confirm this man was a British Taurus with his own daughter after the man came forward independently in 2013 2013 this is like five six years afterwards be really surprised if someone was like five six years later Simon do you remember going home with your daughter she wasn't alive back then but like I don't know do you remember any moment in that much specifity of your holiday so many years ago I'll be like you hav a laugh I don't remember last week on the 7th Kate mccan made his appeal to the media for the first time they sat in a second floor apartment in the Ocean Club Jerry had his arm around his wife staring stonely down the lens of the camera Kate mccan said we would like to say a few words to the person who has meline or has been with meline meline is a beautiful bright funny and caring little girl she is so special please please do not hurt her please do not scare her please tell us where to find meline or put her in a place of safety and tell somebody where we beg you to let meline come home we need our meline and meline needs us please give our little girl back poor we grasping at straws on May 10th the end of the first week an intensive SE around Pride Del should come up empty there were no major suspects no significant leads Chief investigator gonzala Amaral summarized the possible explanations for what happened to meline accordingly quote number one the child could have woken in bed and not seeing her parents left the house in search of them two accidental death and concealment of the body by the parents three physical abuse causing death four aggravated or premeditated murder five an act of Vengeance by an abductor six kidnap for ransom seven kidnapping by a PDF file number eight kidnapping or killing by a burglar who was surprised by the child it's number seven no like a burglar like stealing what iPods and then murdering a child while stealing iPods you're not robbing a bank the British law enforcement agencies cooperating with the Portuguese authorities broadly agreed with this assessment at the time there was however tension between the British and Portuguese authorities the British at the time felt that the Portuguese were IL equipped possibly incompetent and not working fast enough the Portuguese felt they were being condescended to and treated like a quote third world country pushed around by a colonial power all right Portugal chill out you did your own Fair bit of colonizing Portugal it's like hey don't treat us like a colony Portugal you are a [ __ ] colonizer just like Britain also on May 10th the Policia judiciar invited Jerry and Kate mccan along with Matt Oldfield and Russ Brien to the police station again for a second rounde of interviews in Port ma Russ O Brien went over the timeline of May 3 and the numerous child checks in exhaustive detail with the police abbr was eager to make sure that nothing however trivial was left out Matt oldfield's interview was decidedly less congenial the police leaned on him hard Oldfield have been the only other person other than Jerry and casate who had looked in on the Macan children that night yeah that case I'll be like you guys as much I'm I'm helping but you going I'm going to have to have a lawyer sitting in here with me the police needed to eliminate him as a suspect barring any conclusive forensic evidence they tried to extract confession over the course of several hours they accused Matt alfield among other things of passing meline out of the bedroom window to an accomplice guys you are this This Ti this chapter is called grasping at straws stop wasting your time go find the person who actually did this what's his motivation does he have any criminal record he's fing friends with them Jerry and Kate sat outside the interview room and could hear Matt shouting in total the Maan party were at the police station for 8 hours Jerry and Kate sat waiting for their turn but it never came they were eventually told they could return to Proud lose the company that owned the Ocean Club Mark Warner limited flew in the crisis counselor named Alan Pike who conversed at length with the MCS his early notes reveal something that mancans would not admit in public for some reason they were absolutely convinced that their daughter was already dead Pike told them that there was no evidence to indicate that yet and to try and avoid undue speculation Jerry and Kate claim it was only with the power of prayer but after a few days they began to feel that m was out there somewhere alive I mean I don't I I don't know how to judge like a situation like this as I've said many times but I don't think I'd assumed they were dead I'd I'd really be just like let's go let's find them I don't know you don't know until you're in the situation do you you don't understand that amount of stress Chief investigator Gonzalo amarel ordered the tracking down and identification of all known PDF files who either lived in the and I'm sorry it's YouTube we can't say the word so we have a placeholder word otherwise we get demonetized and I like making money although the chances of this video getting monetized I'll say hello it's fairly horrific who either lived in the agav OR on holiday there at the time of melin's disappearance sex offenders living in the area were located investigated and eliminated as suspects from their Alibis can sex offenders travel if you're like a convicted PDF file can you travel can you go abroad because I feel like I don't know depending on how severe that is that seems like you're just going to be subject to less restrictions because country's legal systems are not very good at talking to each other tourists on sex offender Registries took longer to track down since it required leasing with numerous countries exactly but when that list of suspects was finally exhausted nobody who fit the profile could be placed anywhere near the ocean Club at 9: or 10 p.m. on May the 3D the Portuguese authorities and their British counterparts were of course flooded with tips one such tip that was not chased up at the time involved SC artists posing as children's charity workers okay back on the 20th of April 13 days before mine's disappearance a British woman was approached by a man about 6'2 40 to 45 years of age with a Mediterranean complexion and a drooping mustache he spoke with a foreign but not Portuguese accent the man claimed he was collecting money for a children's orphanage in the nearby Village of ESP no such orphanage exists I I I never do this like I give money to charity like Direct to Charities that I like and know about and I don't feel bad like you know when you go somewhere and you're like they're like oh do you want to add a donation for this charity was like no because I don't know this charity I know nothing about it I don't know what it is or the people on the street with the things I'm always just like no no no no no no no no uh it's just stupid and also these people are horrible people because they ruin the reputation for Charities they're actually doing good work the man claimed they looked after foreign children who lost their parents on April 28th Paul Gordon the British tourist renting Apartment 5A at The Ocean Club was visited by a man who also claimed to be collecting for an orphanage in the countryside poor Gordon gave the man €1 EUR according to Gordon the man did not have a mustache and spoke in perfect English then around 400 or 5: p.m. on May 3rd the day of Madeline's disappearance a British couple living in a villa were approached by two men collecting money for a hostel in a speech to keep young boys off the street and young girls away from prostitution if I was in this Resort and people were coming up to my door and knocking on it asking for money who are basically conmen I'd be like what the resort do your job I'm not here to be hassled again I I I thought all resorts just came with Gates like they always seem pretty secure I they're not just onto the street but I guess that isn't always the case the British couple described them as being in their mid 20s one of them had a Mediterranean complexion but spoke English well the other one did not seem to speak it at all also around 5:00 p.m. another British couple who owned a house in prayer dele were also approached by two men posing as a PE charity workers the one that did the door King wore thick glasses the witnesses said they looked about 40 the con artist could have been connected to The Disappearance of meline mccan uh yeah why it certainly a suspicious that they showed up to Apartment 5A on April the 28th is it I just assume that you know that's a ground floor apartment I'd confusingly called 5A uh I'd assume that they were just going through every ground floor apartment and knocking on the door to to hustle and their cons seemed to involve children well that's because people like children like you're much more money to give oh what's this for oh we're raising money for a children's orphanage whereas we're raising money to save koalas like obviously one is a stronger appeal than the other unless you've got someone who particularly loves koalas and hates children on the other hand conmen were a dime a dozen in the algar it was a tourist region and naturally their Prime targets were foreigners like the British there was also an epidemic of house and apartment burglaries happening prior around that time in the first half of 2007 alone there was a four-fold increase in the number of such burglaries from the previous year several of the break-ins happened in the Ocean Club itself and while none of those burglaries had happened to Apartment 5A its position at the end of the building on the ground floor next to a public Street exactly and it's exactly why people are more likely to come up to it to to try and con people out of money made it particularly vulnerable law enforcement could not discount the possibility that melin's disappearance was somehow connected to a robbery gone wrong was anything sto oh is this is a stretch guys no there was also a series of nighttime sexual assaults of young girls to consider mentioned at the beginning of today's episode between 2004 and 2006 there have been four incidents of a man breaking into British Holiday Homes and climbing into bed with the girls who were all between the ages of seven and 10 go find that descriptions of the man speaking with a foreign accent wearing a surgical mask having greasy black hair and tan skin along with a distinctive foul smell connected the incidents well it's the same dude go find this guy track him down and well get him in prison anyway and also search his house a further eight such nighttime assaults happened between 2007 and 2010 so why aren't the more security cameras it's not like there's some sort of wildly outof touch unaccessible technology it's still 2007 at the time of mine's disappearance the police had no idea who the perpetrator was a suspect later questioned in the case was a former Ocean Club employee named ukes montiero who had been fired for theft Monti aro's mobile phone was also used near the ocean Club on the night of mine's disappearance however montero's DNA did not match the traces found at the various scenes and he died in a tractor accident in 2009 meaning that he could not have perpetrated the nighttime assaults later in 2009 and 2010 a tractor accident sounds like a horrible way to die but it is possible that a different man who was the Predator had something to do with The Disappearance of meline maccan although in none of the nighttime assaults did the perpetrator physically remove the girls from their bed bedrooms yeah but I mean escalation is a thing well understood and you don't have a lot else to go on so go on this another tip the police got around this time was from a 12-year-old girl named tamson silence at 8: a.m. on April the 30th 2007 she had seen a man looking intently at Apartment 5A from across the street she saw the man again at 12:00 p.m. on May 2nd that was the day before meline disappeared that's a good lead this time the man was standing in the pool area once again staring at Apartment 5A tams in sil's description of the man matched the one given by an upstairs neighbor who saw someone slip out of the back of the apartment building possibly from 5A and furtively closed the iron gate on May 3rd he was lightskinned fair-haired about 30 to 40 and about 5' 10 to 5 fo11 tasmin silence remembers the man was quote ugly and disgusting with small pimples on his face he's an ugly disgusting man you'd recognize him these sightings Point strongly toward the theory of an abductor scouting out the apartment before striking yeah and the no fingerprints and everything this was pre-planned in my opinion please note however that the upstairs neighbor did not directly see the man coming out of 5A but rather from its general direction and there are many reasons why a man might idly stare at a building while passing the time at a summer Resort yeah I mean you're on holiday he doesn't just be like sit in the chair what are you looking at oh just nothing just I'm just like not working just staring just staring a 12-year-old tamson may have only decided that the man was staring at 58 in particular after she heard of the high-profile disappearance of mine Macan nevertheless the reports of someone watching the macan's apartment were significant the difficulty was finding a man who fit that description andring enough evidence to tie him to the abduction as tenuous as these connections were at the very least one could draw the broad conclusion that far from being a safe environment there were plenty of potential creeps lurking around pride lus In The Ocean Club in May 2007 and one of them could have snatched meline from her bed meet Robert morat oh wait was he the translator oh he is wait and normally when David says meet XYZ that's normally when he introduces the culprits but this was just the random translator dude uh I mean maybe I just thought he was nice and no let's see before we throw too much accusations his way maybe it's just like I know and it turns out he was really helpful back on the fourth of May Robert Mur approached Kate mccan and Russ O'Brien in the parking lot of the Ocean Club while they were waiting for the PJ to arrive morat volunteered to act as a translator between them and the Portuguese authorities K McAn thanked him and Russ O Brien put marat's number in his phone Robert Marat was 33 years old the son of a Portuguese father and an English mother he had grown up in PR delu and had worked in both Portugal and the UK as a property consultant he had recently separated from his British wife who resided in the UK with their four-year-old daughter at the time of mine's disappearance morat lived with his mother in a house 150 yards or 137 M down the street from Apartment 5A nothing weird so far after the M departed for Port M to give their first official statements Robert morat approached officers of the GNR offering to help translate as they questioned British Witnesses the police began taking morat with them as they talked to Hotel guests listing his name as a translator in their reports it's a very good way to slip into to an investigation and get privy to all sorts of information that you shouldn't be privy to as day war on Marat continued to linger Outside The Ocean Club often being the first one to approach British journalists as they arrived dude you got nothing better to do you're 33 years old don't you have a job at one point during the afternoon Marat gave his opinion to a reporter from The Daily Telegraph the meline quote had been taken by someone from outside the area and she was no longer in Portugal and may never be found dude that is dark and why do we need to listen to you and you're probably right almost at once Robert morat became the man on the spot the center of a flow of information he Al began asking questions of the police and various journalists about the details of The Disappearance ostensively in case he could relay the information to others during his many conversations morat continued to volunteer as a translator over the next few days by May 6th however several of the British journalists in priou started to get suspicious of him as a reporter from the Sunday Mirror put it he was just too close to the investigation he spent too much time talking to the media many of the journalists had in the back of their minds the SE murders of two girls in 2002 the school caretaker Ian Huntley oh Jesus Christ that was a dark one was one of the last witnesses to see them alive he dove into volunteering and talking to the media he also asked too many questions it turned out that he was the Killer and now here was Robert morat selflessly volunteering in a similar way I mean don't jump to conclusions too hard because otherwise people will be like all right I'm not going to volunteer it just makes me suspicious but yeah journalist lri Campbell asked morat several questions about the nature of his involvement he gave a vague reply that he was just a local doing what he could to help out and that he had a daughter Madeline's age during the interview a photographer started taking pictures of morat he got annoyed asked why he was being photographed and politely told the man to stop this inflamed Lori Campbell's suspicions she contacted the polia judicia and told them her misgivings about morat several other journalists also phoned in tips about morat on that same day and I have to say if you're getting a tip from a journalist police rather than just a regular member of the public journalists are going to be way more turned on to Su suspicious Behavior than your average Joe right they it's their job to dig into [ __ ] and I would take there like there's something up with that guy way more seriously than I would from just a random bloke or blet two days later on May the 8th a woman speaking fluent Portuguese phoned in an anonymous tip making a string of unsubstantiated allegations about Mr morat being a PDF B among other things meanwhile morat had no criminal record was known and respected in the area and at tall police he spent the night of mine's disappearance at home with his mother but Marat had a slightly odd manner about him and it did him no favors conversing with people he was highly repressed guarded and emotionless he was tall with a significant amount of bulk in his upper body with what one commenter described as a rather frankenstein-like face okay morat was blind in one eye and one journalist harshly described it as lifeless and wonky their words not mine giving him an asymmetrical appearance all right guys just let up on the poor poor guy's face the fact that morat was a 33y old man living with his mother that he was separated from a daughter around Madeline's age began to form a Sinister narrative in people's minds all this was extremely Petty and specious but as the days wore on without any breakthroughs in the case and with the odds of finding meline alive rapidly shrinking police began grasping at straws and mut craking is just what journalists do in the days following May 6th the gossip about Rober rat filtered its way from the journalists through the locals and tourists and eventually reached the ear in the can party on May 12th it was mine mcan's fourth birthday Jerry and Kate spent the entire day away from the media sequestered in a villa provided by The Ocean Club in the evening the mcan's and their friends thre a party with staff bringing over bottles of wine and beer oh oh cuz it's her birthday I mean Jerry Rose to give a toast to his daughter but he said he was too upset to finish it The Ocean Club had also provided the M with a PR consultant Alex wolle who had read a statement of the media quote today is our daughter mine's fourth birthday we would like to Mark today by asking people to redouble their efforts to help find meline please keep looking please keep praying please bring meline home the next day May 13th Jane Tanner identified Robert Marat as the man she had seen carrying unconscious young girl down the ruer gentil Martins from apartan 5A it just happened that at the end of the street was morat's house we now know that the man Tanner saw wasn't morat okay yeah I win his testimony notoriously bad but on the evening after Tanner identified him Robin morat was driving a rented car in Lagos when he noticed that he was being tailed by another vehicle morat took the tail and drove to the PJ office in Port and Malu no one was there Marat rang gonal Amaral and asked if his men were following him Aral told Marat that it was probably just journalists Marat drove out noticed the car that had been tailing him earlier and chased it he got the car's registration marurang Amaral again who denied the car was driven by the PJ in reality Amar had ordered Round the Clock surveillance of Robert morat tapped his phones and then used a thermal camera to determine if there was anyone else in his home other than just him and his mother Amaral invited morat to have a drink in Lagos morat drank coffee he later said that he thought the cops were hoping to get him drunk okay there's some good police in there like they're just quietly keeping an eye on him without tipping their hands I think that's very good at 7: a.m. on May 14th Robert Marat got a phone call from the police judiciar saying that they had a breakthrough in the case and needed him to translate some documents Marat exited the Gate of his house and that is when the PJ raided the place they tossed the house and began preliminary excav in the yard meanwhile morat was carted down to the police station in Portu he was Al questioning for approximately 19 hours moral claims that he was given neither food nor water police leaned on him hard hoping to extract confession he was released in the early hours of May 15th he had not been charged but he was declared AR Guido by the police which in Portuguese essentially means that morat was now a formal suspect the media inevitably descended like locusts and Rob marat's photograph was transmitted all over the world some publication began running a series of scous and unfounded articles that implied or outright stated that morat was a PDF b a human trafficker or a ponograph uh I hope if he isn't any of these things he's going to have some big ass lawsuits after this one they circulated fake reports of decisive evidence found in morat's home they gave a very slanted view of the breakdown of his marriage and painted his being deprived of his daughter as a motive dudes what are you doing press you're just making stuff up meanwhile in the UK morat Sun Toby ex-wife told the media that he was completely innocent and he was quote so sweet and good-natured he was just trying to help morat's girlfriend pra a German National named Michaela wuk was dragged in for questioning she was grilled over her involvement and contact with morat in the day surrounding mine's disappearance the police searched her home she was also slandered in the Press I really hope there's some lawsuits assuming this all turns out to be nothing which I get the feeling it is going to turn out to be Marat had also recently hired a 22-year-old Russian expert named Serj Minka to create a website for him phone records indicate that at 11:30 p.m. on the night of mine's appearance marata made a phone call to Minka the 22-year-old did not answer the call and Robert Marat said he had no recollection of making it he did not deny making it and speculated that maybe it was a pocket dial to this day we don't know why morat made the call but on either side of it morat made several calls to his girlfriend so he may have accidentally selected Minka from the menu yeah I mean I I really thought Pockets were a thing in the past and then the other day somehow I just like I just look at my phone and it's calling someone and I'm like who Whoa stop stop stop stop stop and then they call me back and they're like dude what's up we haven't spoken in like a very long time is there is something wrong and I'm like no dude I just pocket dos be sometime I didn't think that happens anymore but it just happened to me the other day on May 16th police found Sergey Minka and bundled him into the back of a car all right uh I'm not sure what he's got to do with it they drove him aimlessly around Lake for 2 hours Minka soon learned the cops were waiting for a judge to grant them a search warrant for his apartment when the warrant came through the cops raided the place confiscating several computers many of which Minka was repairing for clients they also confiscated 27 CD ROMs meanwhile Sergey minko was taken to Port A M and interrogated for several hours the police said he was guilty and called him a PDF file a predator Russian mafia and a human trafficker Minka was not able to tell the police March about Marat claiming he did not know the man beyond creating a website for him what evidence do the police have that this guy any of these things what evidence did they have to possibly get a search warrant for his apartment he's a suspect's web designer what near the end of the interrogation gansan Amaro came into the room and told Minka to stand up Minka complied Amaral kicked minka's chair across the room and demanded to know why Marat had called him at 11:30 p.m. on May the 3rd uh he didn't answer the call was not answered what was why did he call you I don't fing know dude I it was 11:30 night why the [ __ ] would I answer the phone from one of my clients at 11:30 at night you know I didn't answer it what you how the [ __ ] would I know what it's about why are you searching my house again melinka couldn't provide much information because he didn't answer the call obviously since 2007 a narrative was sprung up around all of these aggressive interrogations conducted by the police that were a sign of just how backward and corrupt the Portuguese police force was all that they were desperately trying to pin the crime on a suspect so the agar tourist industry didn't lose that much money but to put things in context on May 16th meline mccan had been missing for 13 days every hour that passed reduced the chances that should be found alive the circumstances did not afford the luxury of carefully building a case against a laundry list of suspects no but you can't just rush into it I don't understand how it's possible to get a search warrant for this guy's house for him being the web designer of a potential suspect that seems insane and not right so the polici judiciario played one of the only cards they had left playing bad cop in a high press interrogation if the tactic revealed something vital or elicited a confession or merely ruled out a suspect it was arguably worth it while the clock was still ticking and it was also worth noting that the tactic of a hostile interrogation accusations and raised voices not thumb screws and car batteries attached to GS genitals is used in similar circumstances by police forces in the United Kingdom North America and many other places in the western world one may find the tactic objectionable but it is by no means an exclusively Portuguese tactic Sergey Minka was released from questioning that evening without being declared arguido as for the computers the police confiscated from minka's apartment they found many of the hard drives had been erased again some of these hard drives were from minka's clients not his personal possessions but among the computers and CD ROMs police alleged they found ilicit pornography most likely what YouTube obliges us to call CP all right okay well there's some but they're just alleging this did they pursue a case was there anything other than they're just like yeah maybe it did again guys like serious accusation serious evidence Sergey Minka had no idea which device police found such content on and the police have not specified Minka has said quote show me one computer in the world that did not have a cookie or something from a porn site yeah of course but that's not what we're talking about here it should be noted that minker has never been charged with possession of CP or anything like that yeah just to be 100% clear the police would have prosecuted this if there was something there I really don't think there was this just seems crazy amid all the fur over Robert morat Jerry mccan said to the media in general terms in terms of suspects I would say as a family and I hope that everyone else here treats all suspects the way we would hope to be treated and that they are presumed innocent until someone is charged arrested and convicted of any criminal offense Jerry you have your head screwed on incredibly well for someone in that situation behind the scenes however some of the Macan party were less than charitable Jane Tanner Ross obrien and Rachel Oldfield claimed that they saw morat at the Ocean Club and near Apartment 5A on the night of mine's disappearance however several local Witnesses who knew Marat were at The Ocean Club that night and did not see him there I witness testimony is notoriously bad you didn't someone already identify him incorrectly the Maan party would later climb down from their allegations and admit that their recollection of seeing morat was unreliable Rober morat remained arguido for a long time in July 2007 police raided his house again this time tearing up flower beds chopping down trees and using Underground radar the public infamy also ruined morat's property business by October morat told the BBC it's been 5 months my savings have gone mom's doing what she can and it's just very very difficult his arguido status remained in forced for another year it July 2008 meanwhile Sergey minka's car was firebombed in front of his apartment with the word f or talk scrolled in red paint on the sidewalk beside it dude this is crazy these people there there's not especially the Sergey guy he's done nothing after aguo status was lifted he sued 11 British newspapers excellent and Sky News over false information they reported about him he got a series of public apologies and over £600,000 in Damages excellent Sergey Minka and morat's girlfriend michaelo arus also sued and received public apologies and roughly 200,000 a piece good good keep them in line this is a good response Unthinkable in Kate mcan's for first statement to the police on May 4th she said that after entering the children's bedroom at 10: p.m. the night before she was alarmed to see the window was open the mech claimed that they always kept the window shut before police arrived Jerry allegedly closed the window lowered the shutters testing it as a possible point of entry from the outside the next morning when forensic technicians dusted for prints they found a pal print belonging to Kate McAn on the inside of the glass tilted at an angle that suggested she was pushing the window open not pulling it shut uh okay hold on I would just assume that she's putting her hand in there and then it's like okay so she locks it and I would 100% do this so I'm also a little bit neurotic is I'd lock it and then I'd put my hand on the glass and try to push it up as if I was trying to open it just to make sure that it is locked and it is inaccessible it wouldn't open but my pal print would still be on there making an opening motion there would be no reason for Kate Maan to open the window that evening and it runs contrary to her story perhaps Kate touched the window on an earlier day but the Macan testified that they always left that window shut and Kate statement does not mention her opening it I don't think she did open it she just tried to to test it consalo Mara later commented quote that's when we started thinking about the parents as suspect because that's a staging of a crime really I I mean no I I really don't think so I really don't think so nevertheless for the next seven days police focused on the ground search interviewing hundreds of witnesses following up on registered sex offenders in the area and combing through a mountain of tips that would soon number in the thousands the following week was focused on Robert morat whom the Macan party themselves had implicated but in the backs of their mind the Portuguese authorities suspected that the manc could have been responsible for their daughter's disappearance after all depending on what source he used for statistics only about 1 to 5% of child abductions are perpetrated by a stranger the rest are abductions done by parents relatives or individuals who are otherwise close to the child I mean yes of course because it's like uh the dad who doesn't have custody but wants to see his kids which is I mean it's not harmless but of course the vast majority going to be made up of that much much lesser harmful situation it was inevitable at some point police scrutiny would fall upon Kate and Jerry mccan if only to clear them on May 14th the same day that Rober morat was declared arguido Jerry mccan told the press that they felt meline was alive somewhere and declared that they would stay in Portugal until she'd been found in Scotland Jerry's sister filamina got one of her students to set up a website find madeline.com which got 60 million hits in the first 48 hours godam there's a lot then her website must have been very run on a very powerful server to suddenly handle 60 million hits eventually six students would manage the website passing on tips to police and mailing orders of fine medalin merchandise wristbands posters badges Etc to customers Jerry mad started a daily blog which got a billion hits within three months within a few weeks of mine's disappearance the means had AC crewed a fund of 1.85 million among the donors were Richard Branson Philip green Jak rling Wayne Rooney Simon C and rert Murdoch it supported ongoing search efforts there was a separate 2.5 million pound reward for information later there were some questions posed about how some of the money was used how much went to actual searches and how much went towards photo ops PR staff and travel in October the BBC reported that the fund was used for two mortgage payments on the macan's home again what this is fine what do you want to do they're not working they're not earning any money they're out trying to save their daughter what do you want like of course it's fine that they can use these payments to pay their mortgage it's so they don't have to go back to their jobs while their daughter's missing this is completely reasonable they start to say that well they were renting Ferraris no no that's not what was happening at find meline rallies Don't You Forget About Me by The Simple Minds became her theme song it would later become the anthem for missing children's rallies internationally sing a songwriter Brian Adams also dedicated a concert to Madeline and across the world there were numerous charity drives to get more money for the fine man and fund one man rode a bike for 2 days from Northern Ireland to the Village of rosley via ferry to raise money children wearing yellow ribbons and carrying pictures of meline were instructed by their teachers to raise money in their neighborhoods numerous footballers including Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham made public appeals for information Jerry was taking calls from politicians including soon to be prime minister Gordon Brown oh my God back in the day Kate got a call from Sher Blair wife of outgoing PM Tony Blair the M now add a direct line to Britain's Elite which would be ongoing the mangs also brought on another PR supervisor Justin mcginness who was head hunted from London for the job she would soon arrange numerous photo appearances tours and discussions with the media to quote mcginness we treated it as a political campaign within two weeks of mine's disappearance Portuguese investigators could no longer go out in public without being mobbed by reporters this impeded their movements quite literally and their ability to work eating up their time being asked for comments while on the clock while the clock was still ticking the investigators were also facing internal police pressure political pressure from the government in turn the Portuguese government found themselves under pressure from the British Carlos anos Union president of the plara said quote it was never just a case of a criminal investigation I don't remember any other case where the diplomats of one country brought such pressure on the authorities of another country as such Portugal spent approximately 800 times more money on the Mad mccan case than they did on the average missing child case from Portugal itself It Was a Race Against Time to follow up on all the tips even the ones that came from psychics or mediums really or those that simply sounded like [ __ ] you just didn't know oh no psychics and mediums you do know it's nonsense there was always an enormous amount of pressure from all quarters to find answers about what had happened to meline and Define them fast on May 22nd Jerry mccan said in a prepared statement of the media we will travel wherever is necessary to ensure people across Europe recognize Madeline's picture all we're doing is starting to spread the net far and wide on the 23rd of May the mechan traveled to a photo opportunity at The Shrine of Fatima north of Lisbon there am mid crowds held back by security and journalists cated according to their credentials the Mac were photographed lighting candles praying and attending Mass an official press liaison on loan from the British government arrived his name was Clarence Mitchell a former BBC journalist now working at the cabinet office also on the 23rd Jerry mccan took another couple of phone calls with soon to BPM Gordon Brown and foreign secretary Margaret Becket briefly returning to Prior lose the mancans rented a car a silver Renault to move around the local area with greater ease they didn't stay long on May the 27th so Philip green provided the maans with a private jet to take them to the Vatican they spent the night at the British ambassador's residence in Rome the next day May 28th the highly devout mancans met the Pope Benedict the 16th Joseph ratzinger held their hands and blessed a picture of meline Kate said I truly believed that would make a difference for meline it's the closest you can get to meeting God in some way and I just thought all my prayers except would be channeled more quickly to God from Rome the me departed on a 13-day International tour taking them from Rome to Madrid to multiple locations in Germany and the Netherlands they then returned to Portugal for a brief rest then they visited the rabbat in Morocco for a photo op with some children bearing copies of Madeline's photograph again the maans were provided with a private jet to quote minimize time away from the twins the maans reportedly also had a helicopter available to them I I are we supposed to judge them for this I feel like the Press would pick up on this and be like look at this they're just gener around a private jet well it's like yeah what's the problem I don't see what the problem with this they're not environmental activists they're not spending money that's been donated it's like a billionaire let them use his jet what are you supposed to do say no and just get hassled on regular flights come on now it's fine it wasn't long however before the extent of the travel the Slick stag managed photo ops and the perceived focus on Jerry and Kate mccan began to strike the wrong cord with the public the tour began to be called The Road Show in the media Jeremy was often at pains to justify the travel in Amsterdam he said quote it's not a tour we're having a series of brief visits on June the 3rd Sunday Times Colonist India Knight wrote there is clearly a growing Rumble of unease out there at the macan's omnipresence in the papers and on television what do you want them to do just shut the up and go away I don't think they give a [ __ ] I would not give a [ __ ] I'd be like okay too bad I don't I don't give a [ __ ] what you think of me as long as you see my daughter's face that's all I care about I don't give a [ __ ] what you think of me in the guardian Simon Jenkins observed that a mass media campaign might have been a good way to get witnesses to come forward in the immediate aftermath of the kidnapping but it was less and less helpful to meline now yeah but what's the harm Jenkins also pointed out that net excess of publicity might actually endanger mine's life since she'd become too recognizable to transport bro we already crossed that path a long time ago Jenkins within a month of mine's disappearance there was a shift in public sentiment some people were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with how the focus was often on Jerry and Kate mccan a celebrities meeting dignitary and putting on symbolic photo ops and less on meline and the investigation narratives began to be spun that the ma had fallen head first into International Fame and were now reving in it when their focus should have been on their daughter this just sounds kind of insane to me the couple were also reluctant to cry in public I mean chill the out what what this just seems incredibly unreasonable reportedly someone had told Kate to avoid public displays of grief in case her distress caused excitement in melin's abductor the lack of Tears was compounded by television footage of the macan's photo ops occasionally smiling from ear to ear as PR advisor Justin mcginness later put it you could tell there was a certain level of hostility I think this is just completely outrageous I think this is completely unjustified I think it's uh callous I don't like it at all on June 7th the mancans were in Berlin where they gave another press conference radio journalists been mu asked how do you deal with the fact that more and more people seem to be pointing a finger at you saying that the way you behave is not the way people would normally behave if their child is abducted and they seem to be implying that you might have something to do with it uh I'd be like well they can off you don't know how you'll react when your child is abducted you just don't and you don't know what you'll do and you don't know the lengths you'll go to to get them back understandably the M's looked uncomfortable at the question it was the first time they'd been directly asked such a thing by a reporter in public after a pause Kate mccan replied to be honest I don't think that actually is the case I think there's a very small minority of people that are criticizing us you know the facts are out there we were dining very close to the children and we were checking on them very very regularly you know we were very responsible parents and we love our children so much and I think it's only a very few people who are actually criticizing us Jerry then added I never heard before that anyone considers us suspects in this the Portuguese police certainly don't and without going into too much detail about the circumstances we with a large group of people and you know there's absolutely no way Kate and I are involved in this abduction i' I'd be tempted I'd be like I find your a question offensive how dare you I think I'd just walk out of that interview to be honest if someone asked me that I'd be like uh no I'm leaving yeah I would leave I'm or I'm almost certain I would just leave I do not think that's an appropriate question the P of Silence on June the 7th Chief Inspector Galo Amaral and PJ spokesman oler user along with several other officers were photographed at lunch they claimed most of the discussion was brainstorming about the case bottle of wine and a bottle of Johnny Walker were photographed on the table Amaral says he had beer the newspaper said the men were there from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. the press used this to smear the Portuguese police as doing nothing to find Madeline while enjoying boozy lunches Amar was a particular Target for the newspapers his appearance at the time did him no favors being a stereotypical aging cop with a roughly H mustache balding head and a be out the Press called him fat lazy Sleazy and a drunk they claims Amaral only worked 4 hours a day the records in the Case Files indicate something different for weeks Amaral and his staff were putting in long hours often without weekends or paid leave yeah I mean don't judge things too much by their appearances guys and these guys have been working for weeks and I'm sure it's very intense like I I I'm sorry if they want to have a beer with their lunch or a bowl of wine like a shot of whiskey uh fine fine like even people in Crazy situations they need a break in reality Amar was a highly respected investigator in Portugal even in most of the media having graduated at the top of his class and training under the current national head of the pitara one Portuguese journalist described Amaral as having quote a bulletproof reputation but the lunch seemed to confirm the ongoing narrative in the British press that the Portuguese were incompetent corrupt and doing little or nothing to find meline mccan yeah it seems like the British press are riling up a whole lot of [ __ ] that is uh is just not true on June the 9th a spokesperson from the cans declared that Jerry and Kate would stay in Portugal until the end of the summer because quote this is the place where mentally they make a connection as far as they're concerned this is where meline still is meanwhile presle Aon Clarence Mitchell on loan from the British cabinet office was summoned home the government had grown anxious about Mitchell's direct involvement the reason they gave was that the story had apparently become about Mitchell rather than meline there's very little indication from new newpaper articles at the time that this was even remotely true sounds like an excuse just to bring him home for some reason next nothing was written about Mitchell there was however quite a bit casting doubt on the Macs on June 22nd Jerry and Kate appeared before a large crowd gathered by the seaside in prior to lose it had been 50 days since mine's disappearance mancans released 50 yellow balloons into the air each with mine's picture on them the balloons floated over the ocean and out of sight then the me did a meet and greet with the locals who had supported them balloons were released all over the world in California a group of people released 50 white dubs in Afghanistan occupying troops released 50 kites with melin's picture on them back in proud Jerry announced that the next phase of the campaign to find meline would be quote event-based he was firmly behind the idea of more photo ops to keep his daughter's picture in the news more events more celebrity meetings and more symbolic gestures like 50 balloons would be in store afterward Jerry flew to London to meet with Jim gamble of the British child exploitation and online protection command or ceop the Lester share police had requested the meeting with gamble on Jerry mcan's behalf gamble replied that it'd be happy to meet Jerry but wanted reassurance that he was not a suspect the lerer police said that he was quote absolutely not a suspect Jim gamble said the following about the encounter I have to say the first time I met Jerry mcount in person I think it's har toay but I didn't really like him it wasn't a warm engagement I've met many survivors of abuse and their families and there's a feeling of empathy there is a feeling of warmth but Jerry was very cold and very controlled after their meeting gamble began to suspect Jerry of having something to do with Madeline's disappearance based on what Jimbo about his own icy interactions with him Gonzalo Amaro said quote Gary seems like a very controlling person he's someone that knows how to dominate others very well and maintain his composure he's a surgeon so it's not easy to catch him off balance okay fine like I'm not going to defend him his his personality he sounds like he could be a bit of a douche but that doesn't mean he's got something to do with his daughter's disappearance where there's there's [ __ ] no evidence to suggest that he's like I he made a d so then on the 30th of June the Portuguese newspaper sa published an article called The Pact of Silence by Felicia cabita and Margarita Davin Felicia cabita was famous throughout Portugal for a 2002 expose on the casapia PDF F ring casapia was an orphanage the that since the 1960s had taken money from millionaires to fly in and do whatever they like to children under their care Jesus Christ cabita where was this in in Portugal in 2002 oh in the 1960s a blown open in 2002 okay Kaba started looking into the mine Macan story about 3 weeks after her disappearance quote I found it very strange the police in Portugal in regard to this case were not focusing on the family but only on the actual kidnapping and we know that in most cases the culprit is is someone who is close to the child Cita went to the tapas restaurants at The Ocean Club and sat at the same table the the can party had used during their stay Jerry had several times described the view of the apartment of 5A from the table using the following lines you've seen the proximity of the restaurant there was a line of sight to the apartment it was not dissimilar to having dinner in your garden but cabita was astonished to discover that you could barely make out the apartment at all ignoring the fact that the had to look through thick plastic rain sheets there was a wall and a high hedge in the way obscuring the doors and the pathway behind the building you couldn't see anyone coming and going yeah okay I mean I said like I'm not particularly comfortable with the fact that they just left their kids in the room while they went to dinner and I don't know if things were different back then but it seems people are also doubting that but that doesn't mean that the parents kidnapped her it just means maybe if anything they were a bit negligent and uh personally I I I struggle with that the pack of Silence article was 3,000 words long cabita interviewed a member of Staff who only saw one person Russ O'Brien get up from the table all evening prior to Kate mccan returning to Apartment 5A the article claims that night the resorts aerobis instructor hosted a quiz for the restaurant patrons when the quiz was over at 9:30 p.m. the article claims that Jerry invited her to sit down at their table and that no one got up at this time despite the Maan party claiming two people did cabita later said the parents version in terms of timing don't match their version is chaotic and it doesn't match with the employees version who were working and served them in the hotel if they kept the time they said they were at dinner and were leaving to see the kids we would be in an opera Bryce trinsky one would sit the other would leave it would have been ridiculous the Maan party provided multiple versions of the events that night in the first version given on May 4th Jerry claims that when he went to check in on the children around 9:00 p.m. he entered the apartment by walking around to the front of the building through the entrance hall and used his key on the locked front door in later versions Jerry said he went in through the unlocked patio doors around the back a significant difference that was hard to attribute solely to a lapse of memory also in the first version Kate said that returning to the room at 10: p.m. she looked for meline under the bed but quote couldn't see her there except it wouldn't have just been a matter of not seeing her the match was is only an inch or two above the floor impossible for even a child to fit under it might imply that Kate hadn't bothered to look under the bed at all because she didn't need to then roughly 24 hours I mean these are very minor discrepancies I have to say I I am biased here I feel I feel biased towards the parents because I don't know I see I see myself and them in these two you know middle class British people young kids my age Resort on holiday and I I don't know I guess I just have a a bias or an empathy towards that then roughly 24 hours after giving the first version the Maan party got together and composed a revised version the timings originally differed by 5 minutes or so and Matt Oldfield going to check on the children at 9:30 was briefly admitted for some reason perhaps by mistake only Russ Brien is noted to have gotten up from the table at that time shortly after a final version was typed up and included Matt olvi's 9:30 check-in on Apartment 5A plus a lot more detail about each check and a description of meline and the man Jane Turner had seen at 9:15 this is the version that most people used today Chief investigator gonsalo Amaro later asserted that quoting here what is emphas ized is that there was a security system where everybody was looking after everybody else but that's not quite how it happened as is normal on holiday people are very relaxed they drank a lot of alcohol and sometimes they would walk home to pee an upstairs neighbor Pamela Fen told police that on one of the nights prior to The Disappearance she heard prolonged crying coming from Apartment 5A implying the checks were not frequent if her statement is true it may also be related to Madeline's question on the morning of May 3rd asking her mother why they didn't come when sha and her were crying yeah I mean I'm I'm pretty inclined to believe that they weren't checking on their kids as much as they said they were uh which is uh what it is you know the pack of Silence article got its name from two statements to cabrita and Dav by Russ AB Brian and David Payne AB Brian cut off his interview saying quote I have nothing further to tell you I am not going to dishonor the promise I made with Kate and Jerry they want to control all information that is disclosed and David Payne said we have a PCT this is our matter only it is nobody else's business kaber and Davin also claim in the article that Jerry mccan contacted them and threatened to report them to the police for interfering with an investigation the article does not go into specific allegations about the role of the Macan party in mine's disappearance it does however highlight how the McAn party was all too eager to point the finger at Robert morat at the time of the article's publication Jane Tanner was still insisting that morat was the man sh had seen carrying the child that night and a total of three members from the Manan party were adamant the seen Marat at the Ocean Club earlier that evening cabita later said quote there are questions in the air why leave the children alone why did they not use the babysitting service the hotel provided they didn't use it you see a man who emotionally supports someone Robert morat volunteering and suddenly he is transformed into a suspect in kaba's explanation morat was being used as a Psy as for the so-called pact of Silence Galo Amara has said quote the act of abandoning the children leaving them alone for a long time was not unique to to the missing child's parents every one of their friends had done it so there seems to have been an alliance between them to protect someone I mean protect someone or just protect their reputations because you don't want to be the parents who their kid got missing because you weren't checking on them or nothing and you left them in the hotel room and if everyone else was doing it it's just going to look just as bad for you and your names are going to be all over the Press so you're just minimizing damage which is smart the hypothesis that was slowly emerging around the time of the article publication was that the Maan party with a total of eight young children and six of the adults being doctors had dumped their kids in daycare all day long and then sedated the children so they could stay out late drinking without worrying about the night crash closing at 11:30 p.m. then according to the hypothesis meline had a bad reaction to the drugs or was given an accidental overdose and died somewhere between 5:35 and 8:30 that evening with someone disposing of her body based on what based on what and so the hypothesis went the Maan party were all sworn to secrecy because they were also dating their children which would have destroyed their reputations possibly endangered their medical licenses and may have resulted in child welfare officers taking away their kids and even resulted in a criminal prosecution from the and any third party identified as accessories allegedly uh yeah I feel like I don't even need to say allegedly there this is put forward by a journalist who is wildly speculating it was Unthinkable it was monstrous and if wrong it was a terrible thing to accuse two parents of doing but it wasn't just am Marl and cabita who were thinking that way at the time many Portuguese investigators and some of their British counterparts were starting to draw similar conclusions but could they prove it I mean pursue this absolutely especially after a bunch of time has gone by and it's like oh we haven't found her and we should you know move from searching to investigating and I think the parent should absolutely be a part of that investigation release the hounds on July 3rd the mccans gave a press conference at which an extra effort was made to invite the Portuguese media this was widely viewed as a consolatory move after the publication of the bombshell packed of Silence article a few days prior although the mood of the press was turning sour all over the world the Portuguese media had been particularly skeptical of the mccans in the past few weeks one cultural stumbling block was the Portuguese could not understand why anybody would leave their kids alone for the evening or why parents would not weep in public whereas in Britain both of these things were not unheard of yeah I think like stiff up a lip you know I I wouldn't want to cry in public in a situation like this I'd want to appear composed and like had my together and that I was taking action some people in Portugal also resented the amount of attention the Maan case was getting compared to missing Portuguese kids around this time the Mac insisted that the Portuguese police look more seriously into the predictions of Psychics about Madeline's location seriously Portuguese police at that point you should be like no if you want to go Bay for that fine but we're not doing that because we actually you know do police work as fairly spiritual people both Jerry and gate claims to have had dreams or visions hinting at mine's location the me's also requested that the Portuguese fly over a South American man named Danny krugle who claimed to have invented a machine that could detect signs of DNA on the electromagnetic spectrum uh fine but how about you fly over the the South African quack all kral needed was a hair from the victim and he could create a static field over the search area which would lead him straight to a con sealed body Kruger was flown over and perhaps unsurprisingly the whole thing turned out to be a waste of time what no consalo am Marl speculated that the macan's belief in psychics and kral's invention was not genuine it was a ruse quote however naive we may have been there was a time when we felt that Kate Was preparing to disclose the location of her daughter's body without committing herself to the information or compromising herself on July 10th there was a confrontation between Robert morat and three members of the Macan party at a police station in Port and M alongside the investigators they all sat around a small table in a cramped interrogation room Jane Tanner Ross AB BR and Rachel Oldfield gave their version of seeing morat near the ocean Club on May 3rd they spoke with such certainty with the accused man sitting just across the table one of them said quote I recognize him because of his eye indeed a detached retina was a fairly uncommon and fairly solid way to identify someone a friend of mine at University had a detached retina he was just like yeah no I was just going about my business and then I just like had this big like couldn't really see out of my left eye and everything was looking weird so I went to the hospital I had to have like emergency surgery to have my rant reattached but other Witnesses who were there that night including local businessmen who knew Marat and even some off-duty GNR later contradicted these claims according to them morat simply was not there Robin morat later commented quote the only people who saw me were these three people and that is strange in itself do I believe they were confused no I think they had every intention of saying what they said whatever that intention was with suspicion mounting Gonzalo amarel asked his British counterparts to send over specialized sniffer dogs to hunt for the scent of a cadaba or signs of DNA in Apartment 5A In The Ocean Club on July 31st police dog handler Martin Grime arrived with two spring spaniels trained for that purpose similarly trained dogs have been used with a high rate of success over the years to locate weapons explosives bodies fugitives and even to sniff out illicit mobile phones in prisons wonder what a mobile phone smells like well in prison like [ __ ] Grimes brought with him three-year-old Kela who was trained to detect human blood and other bodily fluids she had once accurately located traces of blood that were 36 years old holy sh dog smelling is incredible traces of blood that someone had tried to thoroughly clean up Grime also brought in 7-year-old Eddie a kadava dog who had worked on 200 cases including with the FBI in America in six years of work Eddie the kadava dog had never given a false start he was trained to distinguish between human bodies and and other decaying animals along with ignoring the smell of rotting food in several cases Eddie had found places where bodies were buried deep in the ground and also places where bodies have been kept but later removed in short Eddie Keeler and Martin Grime commanded a great deal of respect from law enforcement in Britain and the US for their work one of the mcan's pr advisers Justin mcginness later said the MC's didn't regard the sniffer dogs coming over as in any way negative the more experts working on a Case surely the better off it was for everybody but then of course there was a surprise of course wait what you're saying that like uh obviously you know what's going to happen next I have no idea at 800 p.m. on July 31st the dogs were introduced one at a time to Apartment 5A first to enter was Eddie who barked an alert indicating that he detected the send of a cadav next to one of the beds in Kate and Jerry's room oh my God okay well again of course there was a surprise I did not expect this Benny bar another alert that he detected the smell of a cadava behind one of the sofas in the apartment's Lounge Eddie was taken out and Kea the blood dog was brought in Kila also alerted to the spot behind the sofa numerous samples were taken from behind the sofa chunks of the floor stray hairs Etc were sent to a British lab for DNA analysis hypothesis later evolved that shortly after being given an overdose Malin had either crawled behind the sofa and died or had been concealed there after death perhaps when David Payne swung by the apartment at 6:40 p.m. to ask haate if she'd take the children to the play area notably the Cav scent was not detected in Madeline's bed according to the hypothesis she would have died shortly after administering of the sedatives and prior to being put to bed oh my God this is a hell of a conspiracy so immediately You' be like well I'm sorry but their friends are going to Gras on them they're not going to be able to keep that secret but then if they were also sedating their kids then they are because it's otherwise they're going to get into Mega trouble and lose their medical licenses that would be crazy that would be so crazy the next day August 1st Eddie and Kila were taken to search along the beach and in the nearby scrubland they did not alert anything then they were taken to the Villa where the Mancan family was now staying inside the Villa Eddie theava dog alerted to a cabinet which contained Madeline's bedtime toy cuddle cat when the cabinet was opened he alerted the cuddle cat itself in the first few days of M's disappearance Kate had carried cuddle cat in her hand to all the Press appearance and she had been photographed unaware on a balcony holding cuddle cat to her face and apparently crying into it and or smelling it then it came out that sometime prior to the sniffer doogs Kate had washed it saying it smelled of suntan lotion and had gotten dirty but despite being washed Eddie had still detected a cavent on it that had to be explained this is extremely strange it was possible that meline MACC had died while holding cuddle cat and had la with it enough for the cavent to pass onto it how long does it take for a kadav scent to develop oh here we go for clarification after death such gases can be emitted from the body almost immediately and grow in intensity after a few hours a kadava dog is capable of smelling the slightest trace of them with 40 times the number of nasal receptors than a human the scent being on cutle cat was consistent with the hypothesis that meline had died of an overdose shortly after being given a sedative at passing out with the Bedtime toy in her arms whoa on August the 2nd Keeler and Eddie were taken to an empty room where various other items belonging to the M's were laid out in places on the floor both Keeler and Eddie alerted to some of Kate mcan's clothes it was possible that kadava and blood sense were transferred to clothes from melin's body or else transferred from an intermediate object the body had touched the simplest hypothesis was that Kate was wearing those clothes while holding mine's body on August the 6th Eddie and kilo were taken to a parking garage which contained 10 vehicles used by the mancans their seven friends Robert Marat and Sergey Minka the dogs were again introduced to the garage separately Eddie the kava dog alerted to the driver side of the silver Renault that the ma had rented 3 weeks after The Disappearance Kea the blood dog alerted to the boot of the same car copious samples were taken from the boot bits of carpets that might contain DNA hair and fingernails they were sent for analysis in a forensic lab in the UK wait but but they had this car several weeks after her disappearance uh so wait where is I don't how's that connect there were two working hypothesis for why the dogs alerted to a vehicle the mechan had rented 3 weeks after Madeline's disappearance the first and the most tenuous hypothesis was that the ma had successfully concealed the body near the ocean club for over 3 weeks despite thorough ground surges and had used the car to transport the body 20 odd Days Later despite the mechan being under almost constant media scrutiny yeah that didn't happen like there's no way to be fair it was conceivable that the mechanic could have slipped away from the reporters and photographers for an hour or so but it was highly doubtful that they'd take the risk in order to transport and dispose of a body with the whole region on high alert yeah that would be crazy there was also the issue of the smell of a body concealed nearby for 20 odd days in hot weather some investigators speculated that the M had kept the body in a refrigerator but that merely raised the question of where the hell they got the fridge from and why nobody stumbled across it for 3 weeks no fridge containing DNA has ever been found no I don't think this is a realistic situation the second and more straightforward hypothesis it's always nice to get an aams Razer was that the M had disposed of mine's body on the night of May the 3D and the sense detected by the dogs transferred to the rental car from other items that had previously been in contact with their remains yeah I think that's far more likely the question was if the meanza concealed her body on the night of May 3rd when and how did they do so they picked the kids up from daycare at 5:30 p.m. at 6 p.m. Jerry went to play tennis with his friends and was seen by Witnesses Kate says she gave her children some food and a glass of milk that she always did before bedtime it has been speculated that the milk would be an ideal way of administering a sedative this hypothetically places the overdose shortly after 6:00 p.m. Jerry returned from tennis at 7:00 if it was Jerry who disposed of the body that left a 90-minute window during which the grieving parents would have to calm down form near a plan and then smuggle the body out of the apartment then they appeared dinner shortly after 8:30 p.m. if Kate disposed of the body that widens the time window to approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes and if the rest of the Macan party were active participants in concealing the death rather than merely covering up the act of allegedly sedating their kids that extended the window to any time between 5:30 and 10 p.m. they merely needed to lie about Jerry or Kate's movements during the evening but the idea of swearing nine people into Perpetual secrecy to conceal the accidental death of a child seems unlikely yeah and this is something that I don't know we're 20 years down the line so these people are still in their 50s I think if this is the case it won't be concealed forever because you'll have deathbed confessions or you know once they're they've stopped practicing medicine and have you know outrun the statute limitations or whatever I feel like this will come out eventually uh still pretty skeptical as one investigator pointed out it would have been a difficult subject of Broach at dinner would it would it be like look we're all going to get into big trouble because we've been drugging our kids we all have to stay silent about this or there will be enormous consequences for all of us seems like a pretty simple conversation to have to be honest it's more likely in this hypothetical scenario that the other members of the Maan party genuinely believed meline had gone missing and had agreed to suppress knowledge that they were neglecting or sedating their kids in order to avoid blowback in the form of social stigma endangered medical licenses and losing their kids to social workers but then one would have to explain why the maccan party was so eager to point the finger at Robert morat when it was clear that he wasn't at the Ocean Club that night as unlikely as swearing nine people into covering up the death of a child may be stranger things have happens in the animals of human crime it'd be very interesting to see as time grinds on what happens here it's been a it's been a long time we haven't had something like that as far as I know finally there was also the consideration that on the morning of May 4th Kate and Jerry mccan had another often overlooked opportunity to dispose of the body the Mec claimed that they left the apartment of David and Fiona p where they tried to get an hour's sleep at 5 or 600 a.m. the me say they went off to look for meline The Surge party had been suspended at 4:00 a.m. and most people had gone to get some sleep the Press had yet to place the mechans under scrutiny if mine's body had been concealed somewhere near the ocean Club the night before then here was a golden opportunity a 3 to four hour window during which the Mec could have disposed of the body unobserved before they were due in the resort parking lot at 9:00 a.m. as to how the body could have been disposed of the most likely scenario is that meline was concealed in a weighted bag and dropped in the sea there were plenty of rowboats and small tubs with motors around that could have been co-opted unseen or they could have gotten in a vehicle and thrown the bag off one of the many Coastal cliffs in the area to be carried off by the receding tides in the Atlantic current or they could have traveled a few minutes into the countryside and dropped the remains down one of a 100 old abandoned water wells Each of which were 50 to 100 ft deep or they could have dropped the body into the nearby braur a dam which was searched by divers but by no means comprehensively or they could have buried the body in a deep grave in a forest or scrubland and then covered up the spot with brush the last of these scenarios is the least likely given how dirty labor intensive and timec consuming such a thing would be or none of the above speculations were even remotely accurate and meline was indeed abducted and the Portuguese police the British police and the medor at large were entertaining an utterly cruel conspiracy theory about the M that simply wasn't true at which point we're left through the possibility that two separate sniffer doogs trained to find traces of Cabas and DNA with unimpeachable track records had suddenly made multiple mistakes in the space of a few days in Apartment 5A with cuddle cat with mcan's clothes and with the mcan's rental car there's something up there isn't it cuz those dogs don't make mistakes it should be noted that as damning as the sniffer dogs were such things are not conclusive without being substantiated by further forensic evidence yeah cuz they're just dogs like I get that it's really good but I mean that can't be enough to put someone away dogs cannot articulate why they alert to things they cannot sit you down and gently explain over a cup of tea perhaps someone had died in the apartment previously though there's no record of it and perhaps a previous guest had bled drooled vomited or ejaculated behind the sofa the same sort of exculpatory logic could also apply to the rental car yeah this someone used that car previously to dispose of the body who was the owner of the car oh God much rested on the DNA evidence taken from bment 5A and the silver Rena meanwhile in defiance of the Portuguese law of secrecy around criminal investigations unidentified members of the police allegedly leaked details of the dog searches and the DNA samples for the media the leaks were information only known to the police a week later a Portuguese reporter asked macan's quote if the blood is really from meline how could you explain it I mean just say I can't cuz it's not taken back by the boldness of the question visibly frustrated Jerry struggled for Words stuttering an answer that involved the phrase we don't know meanwhile Kate spoke over the top of him saying with much more composure well at the moment it's all speculation and indeed it was the storm back on July 23rd Jerry flew to the US for a meeting with a director of the national Center for missing and exploited children which also had an international Wing then he met Alberto Gonzalez the US attorney general and members of Congress then he appeared as a guest on the US television program America's Most Wanted Jerry returned to Portugal on July 30th and he and Kate started making a YouTube channel as part of the national Center for missing and exploited children's Don't You Forget About Me campaign around this time the mcan's pr adviser Justin mcginness asked a colleague David Hughes to come down from London to help handle the overwhelming press attention his first assignment was managing an appearance Jerry and Kate were doing on the UK religious program Heaven and Earth remember we used to get four channels when I was a kid and on Channel 4 on like the weekends you'd be like oh what should we watch you know you just want some Saturday morning Cy whatever and itd be like was it Channel 4 or bbc2 or something you'd get songs of praise which is basically just hyms people singing hymns in a church you're like no no no I don't want songs of praise I want cartoons during the interview on August 8th Jerry and Kate talked about how melin's disappearance tested then reaffirmed their faith ah Jesus Christ this kind of stuff is like why I don't believe in higher powers or good stuff like this and like look there's a fcking load of horrible [ __ ] going on in the world all the time like you think Gaza Ukraine Sudan like hundreds of thousands millions of people just being killed and displaced and you're all like reaffirm my faith in God if God's real he's a douchebag Kate said she asked God why do you this to meline why have you let this happen but you realize that God hasn't done this somebody else has done this all right chill so you basically choose what God does and doesn't do after the interview the the manans got a phone call from a PR advisor Alex woolful who had told them that the Ocean Club was requesting they no longer but sea and amily in their daycare service while they went off to do interviews and public appearances the reason cited was that other parents had complained about the scrum of media types around the daycare shortly afterward the MC received a phone call from the police they were summoned to PJ headquarters in Portu upon arrival they were taken into an interrogation room after some preliminaries Jerry was asked to leave then the two investigators grilled Kate for the better part of an hour telling her they did not believe her version of events and suggesting that her memory was at fault Kate burst into tears sobbing and gasping for breath but she stuck to her story then Jerry was brought in and interrogated separately smart stand of police stuff there split them up Jerry showed no sign of weakness and quite unsurprisingly seemed insulted by the suggestion that he and his wife were lying Jerry asked the investigators if this was now a murder inquiry the answer was yes on August the 10th PJ spokesman oligario Suza told the press that they were now looking into the possibility that meline had been killed he did not mention by whom but for the press the implication was clear the piter judiciar suspected the M of murder or manslaughter August the 11th marked a 100 days since meline had disappeared that morning the MC attended mass at the local church afterwards they got up to say a few words and left the church to a round of applause returning to the Villa the MC met a police leaon Ricardo pava who revealed to them for the first time what the dogs had found in Apartment 5A their initial reaction appears to have been confusion and frustration Kate asked how an intruder could have killed meline in Apartment 5A and then cleaned up any mess in such a short time frame P gave a vague answer when the truth was the police no longer believed that there was an intruder it was now that Jerry began making noises about returning home to the UK despite having previously declared that they'd stay in Portugal until at least the end of the summer David Hughes thought returning to the UK was a bad idea and would feed rumors of the macan's guilt on August 23rd the means did an interview for the Spanish news show telesino the interview's questions all pertained to the investigation the sniffer dogs and the question of blood Jerry and Kate repeated that they were Bound by Portuguese law not to discuss the details of the investigation so the interview asked quote when he heard police had found blood in the apartment how did you react at this point Jerry started to unhook the mic from his collar he stood up saying you know what this is all investigation these are all questions about the investigation and I cannot comment on the investigation the reporter replied I asked about your reaction not the investigation Kate was still seated in front of the camera trying to calm Jerry and get him to sit back down but Jerry had enough he walked out when Tesino a the interview the focus was entirely on how quote Jerry cracked J didn't crack it just didn't want to be there from a PR perspective storming out after being asked about signs of blood in the apartment was not a good look and it fed more public suspicions the next day August the 24th Jerry flew to Scotland to appear at the Edinburgh television Vision Festival he gave several interviews complaining about media speculation about his and Kate's involvement in The Disappearance of their daughter he declared that they would be withd drawing from the Limelight restricting meteor appearances to those that seemed likely to help their daughter some commentators interpreted this as the MA's restricting themselves only to journalists who were sympathetic and did not question their version of events on August 27th The Ocean Club informed the mech that they'd need to vacate the Villa they'd been staying at by September the 11th as helpful as The Ocean Club had been since May 3rd it seemed as though they had a change of heart as suspicions against the mounted I don't know if they're paying for that Villa or what not but their generosity is only going to extend so far on August 29th Jerry made a post on his daily blog that is notable for reasons that will soon become clear finished by addressing the kidnapper directly quote if you've done something you regret if you find yourself in a situation you never intended it's not too late to do the right thing please come forward return Madeline leave her in a place of safety Jim gamble head of ceop in the UK later Reve that had Coach Jerry on the phrasing of this appeal but gamble now suspected Jerry his coaching had an ulterior motive quote when Jerry talked about the possibility of writing an appeal I helped construct a letter by just providing some advice about what I think you would say you know I do it along the lines of sometimes people make mistakes terrible mistakes in life that they never intended but ultimately it was never too late to do the right thing but in shaping that I was actually talking to Jerry I think it was the only way of delivering that message or reflecting that thought it's something that happened if it was a mistake it's never too late to come out and stop all of this end quote around that time several Portuguese and British newspapers began running completely unsubstantiated claims that the Macs were swingers having sex with the other members of their holiday party again based on what and even if they were what does that have to do with this what does this have to do with The Disappearance what they get up to in their personal lives is kind of their own business it's not illegal the M would later launch a label suit against those Publications excellent but worse was yet to come on August the 31st the newspaper T and qua ran the headline PJ believes that parents killed Maddie according to several sources and thechans had apparently known about this story since August 24th and their people had tried to have it pulled but to no success the article suggested meline had died of an accidental overdose the me lawyered up and began proceedings to Sue T and qual but eventually dropped the case when the newspaper went out of business business meanwhile PR adviser Justin begin has made a statement the past 120 days have been horrific for us our family and friends we have tried to ignore some of the more ludicrous speculation but we simply could not ignore TN Q's report meanwhile two general practitioners in the UK had been doctors for the Maan family denied ever prescribing them sedatives this had limited value for some commenters however since the mancans were themselves doctors theoretically with plenty of off the books access to drugs but people who had Babys sat from manans also said that they had never seen Jerry and Kate sedate their children additionally Kate's father spoke to the son in the UK denying that the ma had heavily sedated their kids on the night in question how would he know but admittedly there was a possibility Melina be given cpel a mild paracetamol painkiller that causes drowsiness quote Kate may have used cowall to help her sleep but it's just outrageous to think of anything else yeah that's true there's a there's um oh it's uh what's it called antihistamine there's an antihistamine drug the kids like if they have an allergic reaction to something that also makes them super tired so it's like a couple of times like the kids had an you know just like a rash or whatever and you can give it to them and it's like they just go to sleep so well and you're like godamn oh I wish they had more allergic reactions oh God not inappropriate joke in today's episode is it okay for the record it's pretty difficult to overdose on cow Poole meline likely would have been showing symptoms of liver damage prior to May 3rd if if cowo was their regular method of sedation and as doctors the maans would have known not to feed her a whole pack of pills if an overdose happened it would likely have needed to be a much heavier sedative uh cowp I believe isn't pills it's uh it's a syrup the me gave an interview doesn't make a difference I'm just saying the mech gave an interview on Portuguese television where the interviewer asked that evening did you give your kids something like cowp to help them sleep the mean both looked exasperated Kate slightly shook her head her expression one of disgust Jerry said qu quot we're not going to comment on anything but you know there is absolutely no way we used any sort of sedative drugs anything like that I have to say it it's nice to get a complete flat denial like this which I don't think we' seen so far by the time Shawn and amily were tested for signs of drugs in their systems partly at the Bean's insistence it was four months after their disappear well they're doctors they know it's not there anymore hairs that could have contained traces had already been cut and we shall never know why the twins slept through the night of May 3rd amid all the noise and Chaos we shall never know if the me's drugged them or if an abductor did if the latter it was unclear how the sedatives could have been administered to the children by a stranger in the apartment yet this just seems like a huge stretch like an abductor did it within such a brief time window and without knowing when someone would return injecting the children with a needle it would have left a mark and risk waking them up and them crying out waking them to administer a pill would have carried similar risks and there was no guarantee that the kids would trust a stranger in their dark bedroom enough to swallow it I hope not trying to force a pill or serum into their mouths while they slps we also risk waking them up along with a choking hazard yeah I this would not be possible I got kids you can't just rly give them like here have some cowo while they're sleeping their mouth will just be like it's not happening some experts said the most likely drug would have been chloroform administered by applying a cloth soaked in it to the face but chloroform would have left a strong odor in the room unlikely to be mitigated in less than 30 minutes before Kate arrived even by the abductor opening the window and the smell of chloroform would also Linger on Sha and amal's faces Gonzalo amarel later asserted quote a lot of noise and the twins never woke up and they left to go to another apartment still sleeping mine's mother spent the whole night checking on how the Twins were breathing if they were breathing or not if they were all right she was worried about them so this is all very strange as proof of the sedative hypothesis T and qu cited a source close to the investigation in other words a police leak oligario Oda later claimed that some investigators were leaking details to the press in order to Ratt all the manans and force them to confess and negotiate a plea aridos on September the 3rd the bitti judiciar put in a request with lerare police to inspect clothing worn by other members of the Manan party who had long since returned to the UK the PJ all right that's like the Portuguese FBI I took a break it's the next day so like that's actually a lie it's 3 days later cuz it was the weekend and I didn't want to admit it but I'm not gonna I'm GNA I'll do my best everyone else is like someon you just talked about this 30 seconds ago for me it was last Friday all right this is a very long episode the PJ wanted to use the Cav and blood dogs on the clothing that the Maan party wore that night the PJ also requested to search the Macan home in rosley and confiscate any potential evidence like what oh I suppose if they're thinking they drugged the kids then I guess yes they could be like drugs or like um yeah drugs I thinking like sedatives right they wanted to question teachers of mine's Nursery School babysitters and any nonam members who might have known the little girl British authorities did not Grant these requests well why not do it for them like I understand they're not very keen on having like another country's police force come and search on a property well outside of their jurisdiction but why not just ask the British police to do it instead and then pass anything useful on also on September the 3rdd PJ liaz on Ricardo P told the me to come to the station in 3 days time and to bring their lawyer you should have had your lawyer there from uh much earlier on according to P's report Kate reacted with anger and anxiety saying what are my parents going to think what is the Press going to say when they find out the Portuguese are under pressure from the government to finish the investigation quickly just go just just go with the flow like people understand the the difference between being questioned by the police and being guilty of something according to P Jerry handed over more letters and emails he' received from tipsters psychics and mediums that pointed towards locations where meline might be found oh my God can you imagine being the police being like all right chz sure we'll be looking into those medium things right away Jester yes sir go out they just burn them Jerry said there was no evidence tying them to The Disappearance and that the police were wasting their time looking into them but you've got to understand it's always the husband it's always the wife it's you know this is like how things usually are you have to understand that like you know you're Innocent but they don't and you have to understand that I understand it's difficult at a time like this blah blah blah but I mean yeah P's report says that previously the mechans had reacted negatively to the sniffer doogs being brought in contrary to what their PR advisor claimed and they stressed that police focus should remain on the abduction Theory and Robert morat yeah except we know that morat is not guilty he had an alibi and we know right again it was the weekend and we know that to find a kid sniffer dog seem like a great idea so it's weird you'll be negative to this on September the 4th the newspaper Coro de Mana ran a false story that the police had found a syringe in Apartment 5A wow I hope you get sued the [ __ ] out of just to do that is crazy also they wouldn't be drugging with a syringe they' just grind up pills and put them in the food like a normal parent the story was picked up by The Daily Express in the UK I yes the Daily Express that Bastian of Quality Reporting that's sarcasm but the police never found a syringe and it would have been a forensic Bonanza if they did that same morning the police dudaria received a preliminary report from the British lab analyzing DNA samples taken from the floor of Apartment 5A and carpet from the rental car the sbles were too small to determine if the DNA traces in either location were left from blood saliva vomit Etc this in itself is not too discouraging since if meline overdosed on sedatives there'd be no reason to bleed but plenty of reasons to drool or be sick um yeah but is she going to be D like I'm assuming they're putting oh my God this is grim but again allegedly I don't personally believe this uh yet or I don't know like with what we've seen so far I don't I don't think so uh I think why would there be a reason for her to drool in the in the back of the car if she's already passed but the DNA samples taken from the boot of the car were thoroughly inconclusive they had at least three contributors all of them from the Maan family and the lab could not determine if meline was one of them Jerry Kate and the twins had used the car for months by the time the sample was taken it was far more likely that it was them as for the sample taken from behind the Sofer in 5A was also inconclusive but with a closer match for mine macan's DNA up to 75% but this was certainly not enough to charge anyone with a crime much less secure a conviction the police needed a confession yeah is that so 7 5% likelihood that it has basic surely that means it could be another member of the families or whatnot um well let's see summary from the British lab was written in English and it was translated by the PJ into Portuguese the translation shed many of the caveats that the British summary had included and focused on how the samples matched components of Madeline's DNA and the years since there's been some claims that the PJ stupidly misunderstood the results well it sounds like it was just Lost in Translation but the truth was much more cynical the PJ knew the DNA tests were not conclusive obviously not enough to win a trial what they needed was a confession accordingly alleged police leaks to the Press claimed that the DNA results were far more decisive than they actually were I don't think this is I mean David describes it as cynical I think this is pretty smart policing like I I mean this is good like pressure them pressure them and if they don't crack then it's less likely they're guilty cuz if someone says all the DNA matched and you know you're innocent you're going to like what are you talking about that is literally impossible like I have no idea how that could possibly be possible whereas if you're guilty you'll be like what do I do now one Portuguese reporter claimed that Gonzalo amarel himself told her the results were 80% a match and possibly up to 100% all of this hit the newspapers in the Days running up to the mac's interrogation clever police work again they're not telling them exactly they're just leaking it to the press and they know that's going to get back to the so that's a much much clever way of potentially eliciting a confession there was a likely reason why the police left a gap of 3 days before questioning began to cause the MC's to panic yep again clever policing ethical yeah I'd say so on September the 6th Kate mccan arrived at the police station in Port and Ma with a Portuguese lawyer and PR adviser by a side they were mobbed by a sea of reporters and onlookers during an interrogation which lasted 11 hours police ask K what medicine she had kept in Apartment 5A she replied cowp A nuren in Adult and Children's doses she denied administering either to the children during the holiday in her Memoir Kate mccan describes the interview as long and occasionally frustrating but quote the atmosphere still seemed quite amable I didn't feel intimidated or threatened the more information available to the police I reasoned the more complete the jigsaw would be and the greater the chance of us finding meline afterwards Kate's lawyer drove her back to her Villa where Jerry was waiting then the lawyer reviewed the evidence the police had against them the sniffer doogs the DNA and apparently witness had seen Jerry and Kate carrying a big black bag and acting suspiciously the lawyer concluded quote if you were Portuguese this would be enough to put you in prison really it doesn't seem like an awful lot this wasn't true okay good and it was not what the police thought at the time but the Portuguese lawyer was building up to something he told the M's that the police had offered Kate a plea deal Kate could confess to the accidental death and concealing of the body she'd likely get two years in prison Jerry would walk without jail time but if Kate did not confess both she and Jerry would face life in prison I mean wait you're the lawyer just be like guys they don't have [ __ ] why are you on the police's side what's going on in reality the cops did not have enough evidence yet to press charges all right then lawyer chill don't take the plea deal don't take unless you've seen this evidence yourself be like yo police I'm going to need to see that wait isn't this like basic lawyering you cuz the police will be like well we got you on camera and you'll be like oh no and the lawy will be like chill chill I'm going to need to see that camera that tape thank you the inclusive DNA results were not going to be a clincher this was all apply to extract a confession right and what I'm saying is the Portuguese lawyer should be able to see through that [ __ ] fairly transparently according to the lawyer and later repeated by Gonzalo Amaral quote her reaction was very violent Kate's Memoirs confirmed she was angry and gave the lawyer quite the dressing down meanwhile Jerry according to Kate sang to his knees and began sobbing saying again and again we're finished our life is over after a few minutes Jerry rallied and shouted at his lawyer they have nothing Well Jerry's bang on isn't he he began listing the shortcomings in the pj's case yeah right this is what your lawyers you need a new lawyer I'm sorry whoever this guy is I unless I'm really missing something at this point I'll be like you fight the next day September the 7th Kate maccan wented for questioning again she wasn't there for quite as long this time the police read her a list of 40 questions what did they keep next to the their bed where the dog smelled a kadab why from the outset had Kate insisted meline had been abducted well because that's what You' naturally fear isn't it why did the Twins sha and amily sleep through the chaos was Kate accustomed to giving her children medication did her children ever drive her to anger and despair oh my god did her children ever drive her to anger and disp you be asked that by the police are youing joking literally every day mate I'm just joking I love my kids but I do despair sometimes like oh for God go go any parent is not despairing who are you K was also shown a video of the alerts given by the two dogs which if you're curious can now be viewed online as Kate sat there she declined to answer every single question she muttered under her breath bloody tosser bloody tosser after the interrogation she was taken outside before the press and the police spokesperson declared her arua o a formal suspect I remember that at the time police thought Kate was the overdoser and Jerry was an accomplice and covering it up and disposing of the body allegedly I don't think we need to say allegedly there this is just what the police think it's definitely not what we think I mean maybe it's what you think I'm not one to judge I I mean beyond all Reasonable Doubt no chance Beyond doubt in my mind no maybe yes maybe yes maybe I don't think it's the most likely thing but I think a maybe the same day Jerry showed up in a separate car for his turn he was interviewed for 4 hours uh I don't think the cops are doing wrong here but I just I just don't I just don't buy it I just don't think they I I I think they should be pursuing this and I think unfortunately the parents have to go through this but I don't um I don't believe it several sources claim the cops didn't sweat him for as long because they thought he was too cold and controlled while Kate might be easier to break which is why you have a lawyer who is cold and controlled that's what the lawyer is they're like quiet and you shut the cop although maybe I don't know maybe your liar was just like I'm not going to go to this one I'm busy get a better liar you have loads of money from all the the the stuff all the donations and whatnot use some of that on a lawyer your doctors use some of your money either way Jerry answered the questions put to him he was asked whether he had taken part in Madeline's disappearance his answer was no whether his wife ever suffered from depression no whether Kate had ever talked about giving meline away no whether they had ever sedated their children no then Jerry was shown the sniffer do video he remarked that the alert behind the sofa could be explained by meline having a nose bleed to which she was prone but he did not remember her having one during the holiday he added about the video quote I don't see anything that will help me find my daughter like Kate Jerry was taken outside the police station before the mob of journalists and a PJ spokesman declared him arguido Jerry's expression during the announcement could be characterized as one of scorn anger and the footage is available online I'll leave it to the audience to decide whether that expression stems from an innocent man Yul accused or a guilty man angered being found out one thing is clear he was Furious I'd be pretty Furious assuming I'm innocent I mean yeah if it can be interpreted either way then I don't think that means anything having declared the margos the police now had a right to use much more aggressive investigative tactics like had been done with Robert morat more searches more questioning in fact the police now technically had the right to hold the Macs in custody for months separated from each other and from their twins the cops could keep up the pressure until one of them CR cracked that doesn't sound very good because until one of them cracks what what if there's nothing for them to crack to they crack anyway and do a false confession because they're being held in custody for months just gradually being worn down by the police the next two days came with mixed messages from the media some reports said the me intended to stay in Portugal to find meline and prove their innocence others said they were going to flee back to the UK they were due to attend Sunday mass in proud louj on September 9th but at the last moment this was canceled on the morning of September the 9th the ma got into their rental car and to the airport can they do that as arida or arido plural I assume isn't that the point where they're like ding of the country PR adviser David Hughes later claimed that he had argued against this move since it would seem to confirm their guilt according to Hughes Jerry mccan thanked him for his advice and overruled him us was to go back with him to the UK while Justin mcginness was to stay in Portugal to handle the Press Fallout a fleet of journalists followed the macan's car to the airport at the gates to the tarmac Justin mcginness made a statement quote they are returning to Brit and after careful thought they wished to reintroduce the twins as much as possible to an ordinary life in their home country this made no mention of their arido status some commenters in Portugal and Britain felt that attributing the decision to the twins was a fairly limp explanation does it matter they're allowed to do what they want unless they've been told they can't onethird of the easy jet flight to the UK was booked up by journalists at the last minute at one point the pilot had to threaten to call the cops on One camera crew if they didn't settle down that's got to be very unpleasant arriving in the UK Jerry gave a statement on the tarmac quote whilst it's heartbreaking to return to the UK without meline it does not mean that we're giving up our search for her we cannot give up on our daughter until we know what happens also wait a minute it's not like they're they're fleeing it's not like they're going into hiding or going to a non-extradition treaty it's the UK they're going to like have an agreement with Portugal he continues we have to keep doing everything we can to find her Portuguese law prohibits us from commenting further on the police investigation despite there being so much we wish to say we are unable to do so except to say this we have played no part in The Disappearance of our lovely daughter meline as bad as it looked for the ma to a quickly return to the UK after being declared suspects the greater failure rested with the polia judicia they had lumped everything on the Gambit of extracting a confession using a very aggressive approach to the's causing them to flee now their investigation would have to be conducted through a wall of lawyers and several layers of British police bureaucracy honestly I this seems like a very they it should have been this way already not the police bureaucracy but the lawyers there should be a wall of lawyers Gonzalo amarel did not expect his British counterparts to always be cooperative the Portuguese authorities had gambled and they had lost I mean I I would do the same thing if I'm innocent in their position because you're thinking I don't know the Portuguese legal system my lawyer doesn't seem extremely competent allegedly in my opinion and I'll be like yeah at least if I go back to the UK things are going to get a second look in by the police there which I have more faith in you them from my country and whatnot and that sounds good to me the police bureaucracy sounds good to me CU I don't think like even if there's an extradition treaty right if the police in Britain are like well you're not going to get fairly treated by the Portuguese authorities so we're not going to extradite you it's going to be a diplomatic incident but it happens runs and ashes on the weekends that The maans Departed for the UK alleged police leaks to the media were coming in thick and fast some of them were claiming that the DNA was 99% ached to meline a leak to the Sunday Times claimed that mine's body had been stored in a refrigerator this hypothetical fridge was the only way to directly Tire remains to the rental car but this ultimately served to undermine the pj's case where the mean's gotten a fridge how could they have concealed the body for weeks how could they have slipped away and disposed of the body with the world watching the cavent could easily been transferred to the car by intermediate objects the DNA test was inconclusive and police focusing on the car rather the mcan's disposing of the body on either the night of May the 3D or the morning of May 4th was likely a mistake yeah agreed they they get a child siiz Bridge come on now meanwhile the Portuguese police put in more requests with their British counterparts they wanted further access to cuddle cat which had been returned to the MC's oh man mcan's toy they wanted Kate's diary they wanted Jerry's laptop they wanted to conduct mobile phone tracking of everyone in the Maan party to figure out their movements on May 3rd they want that sounds fine why not get those that's sounds completely fine why wouldn't they get that they wanted to question the me again the British authorities ultimately did not Grant these requests I mean it's interesting isn't it the the bureaucracy is actually helping them here uh I mean I I think having I don't think looking at the diary or his laptop warranted but tracking their movements on a mobile phone that seems completely sensible internally some doubts and dissenting opinions started to grow among the Portuguese the National Police Chief alipio Ribero pointed out that the DNA results were not conclusive which was absolutely true the Attorney General Pinto montiero said that there was not enough evidence to justify questioning the McAn again many aspects of their story did not add up but these were circumstantial PJ spokesman oligario de soua resigned saying he would no longer be caught in the middle of a propaganda war between the British and the Portuguese and that the police leaks exaggerating the weight of the DNA evidence were designed to pressure the m to confess good for you I mean I understand like this is interesting because I I ethically approve of what the Le did and my to me that seems fine to pressure them uh cuz you got to know but to him to resign over this the attorney general wait no sorry the uh the spokesman for the PJ resigned I think I mean good for you then the British lab submitted its final report it said samples were minimal and in poor condition their overall conclusion was quote the results do not help clarify whether or not the DNA results obtained within the scope of this case were from meline mccan again in in in my mind I'm kind of like the Portuguese authorities be like British police protecting these people or whatever but I'm like yo British police would also want people who killed a child to face Justice the polia judiciar thus had no solid evidence to substantiate the alerts from the cadaver and blood dogs and little evidence to justify the aggressive pursuit of the MCAS suspects that's okay it's okay to aggressively pursue a suspect as long as you're like forcing a confession out of them which they're not aggressive procedure suspects is what the police do it's when they don't I get annoyed please do note that this was not an exoneration there was still zero explanation for why there were caver and blood scents in Apartment 5A in the car on cadat and on Kate's clothing but prosecutors did not require one it just remains a lingering question that has not been and probably never will be resolved at least not Beyond speculating that the sniffer dogs had simply made multiple mistakes which doesn't seem likely we went through their records and they were very very good at sniffing but things got worse for the policier judiciar in late September an anonymous email to the official website of Prince Charles claimed without evidence that a disgruntled former female employee of Ocean Club had kidnapped meline wait why are we listening to this this seems crazy is there something more to it because I'm sure lots of crazy tips from crazy people came in but why are we listening to this one on October the 1st Galo amaru got a phone call from a reporter asking for comment amaru replied that the email was of little interest and that the British police should pay more attention to the Portuguese investigation yes exactly of course you would be he went on to say quote they have only been working what the Maan couple want and what suits them forgetting that the couple are suspects in the death of their daughter meline I mean they're suspects to you I think the British police are like you don't have anything on October the 2nd amaro's comments were printed in the British press it set off a diplomatic storm British authorities and the Lester share police in particular rejected the notion that they were somehow the mcan's puppets yeah exactly why would they be according to several sources prime minister Gordon Brown personally got involved demanding Amaro be removed from the investigation godamn this went right to the top didn't it on October the 3rd the very next day Gonzalo Amaro was indeed removed as the head of the PJ unit in Portu and told to report to headquarters in Faro yeah when the prime minister of another country gets involved in is like hey hey what's up they they you got kind of got to listen I guess you couldn't but these countries are friends Amaro resigned from the police force within a year God damn Gordon Brown throwing his waight arounds Chief Inspector Paulo rebello took over the Portuguese investigation in a public statement rebello called reports that the ma were involved in their daughters disappearance mere speculation and said that all lines of inquiry are still open this was a decidedly more consolatory approach to calm diplomatic Waters the M however still remained aridos and internally the Portuguese investig ation still heavily suspected the Macan sending more samples from the rental car to a Portuguese lab to double check the British results why did they send it to Britain in the first place was it just cuz they had the the lab that was capable of doing this they were also in conclusive rebello's team again requested to interview the manc the pj's Theory remained that meline had died of an accidental death sometime before the MCS had appeared at dinner meanwhile a further nail was put in the coffin of Galo maral's career Portuguese and British newspapers started running stories about another child abduction case he had investigated in 2004 an 8-year-old girl Jonah cypriano had gone missing 14 miles from prior to Lou the girl's Uncle J ciano confessed during a videotaped interview that Jonah walked in on him and his mother Leonor having sex to cover up the incest oh right wait for a moment I was that it's the the the brother-in-law and the the mother but it's like nope I like surely no no oh my God they killed her dismembered her and kept her in a fridge before later feeding her remains to pigs oh my God I feel bad about making a joke literally 30 seconds ago that's [ __ ] horrible DN evidence was found in the fridge Leonor and jar cypriana were convicted at trial with a mother getting 20 years the uncle getting 19 then from prison Leonor claimed that she had been tortured into confessing by the PJ she produced photographs where her eyes were blackened her face swollen and her body bruised holy [ __ ] I mean you could have just been beaten up by anyone or done it to yourself is there something more to back that up dates for the photos could not be determined nor could it be explained why she waited until her trial to recant joah never supported this story nor claimed to have been tortured but in prison he changed his story to Leona selling Jonah to sex traffickers to support her drug addiction if you look at the videotape of Joe's first confession he isn't visibly injured but you can tell that the man is likely mentally ill the detective Sue questions Leonor o were cleared of wrongdoing okay so it seems like maybe it's just made up is there any evidence to show that the police beat her the consalo amarel who did not conduct the interrogations was accused of making a false statement in a report about the case in order to protect his colleagues he was actually declared arguido on May the 4th 2007 the day after melin had disappeared the press used the controversy to assert the Galo Amar and the Pia judiciar were in the habit of pinning child disappearances on the parents and they apparently had a fetish for fridges British news reports often accompanied this claim with innuendo that the Portuguese police wanted to pin mine's disappearance on foreigners so the agav tourist industry would not take too heavy of a financial hit in November news report circulated that Jerry and Kate mccan had a private meeting with the other members of their party now sometimes referred to as the quote unquote tapa 7 at a hotel near rosley in leerer the Macan spokesman said it was really just to get together to discuss where they were at clearly some might face further questioning at some stage it was not to change stories or compare notes this was in no way to get their story straight yeah I mean that's completely Fair like what are we supposed to do are you never allowed to get together with your mates again and talk about this horrible thing that you went to get through together that's crazy in December 2007 rebello's team put in another request to interview the seven members of the Macan party they wanted all nine people including Jerry and Kate to return to PR to do a reconstruction of the events of May 3rd the Macan party stated they had no objections to being questioned again from Britain but they refused to return to Portugal they questioned the purpose and effectiveness of returning to L to do a reconstruction they also expressed concerns about the media fur that would be sparked by everyone's returns prior to Lee what was perhaps left unsaid was if they returned all of them would be at the mercy of the PJ or in the case of Jerry and Kate they'd be vulnerable to being detained or charged yeah unless you're asking formally diplomatically for extradition if I'm in their position there's no fing way that I'm going guilty or innocent no fing way the wheels of British bureaucracy ground slowly and the Macan party were not interviewed until April 2008 and even then they were interviewed by British officers reading Portuguese questions the ban party repeated the same information rebello continued to press the idea that a reenactment was necessary to confirm that the timing of the checks on the the children added up why can't they just do it by phone just sit them down in a room with some British police officers and their lawyers and have the Portuguese detectives call in this 2008 they could do a video Skype or whatever we were using back then or just a regular phone call the pjk fars from this time revealed that rebello's investigators still found many of the statements made by the man and their friends to be highly inconsistent with witness testimony from staff and other holiday makers rebello continued to promise the Macan party that if they return the Press would be kept up Bay however by May 27th Portuguese authorities had given up on the idea that the Macan party would ever return to Pride lose for a reenactment the PJ concluded in their final report on June 30th 2008 the quote given the tone of the witness's positions there is no choice but to close the investigation in other words if the Maan party did not wish to assist them and prove the events of that evening went down exactly as they said then there was little more the police could do all right well yeah again it's like do you want to come here and prove your innocence nope sounds like your job is to prove me guilty there and uh you don't have that so I'm not coming to prove my innocence thank you very much indeed on July the 21st 2008 over 14 months after mine's disappearance Portuguese authorities closed the case dropping the arido status of Jerry and Kate mccan and Robert morat the 57-page summary prepared for the Portuguese attorney general rather venomously added quote we must also recognize that the parents have already paid a heavy penalty The Disappearance of meline due to their lack of carefulness in the watching and protection of their children I mean steady how about you blame whoever the took her the case was archived and the investigation records were made available to the public 3 days after the case was shelved on July the 24th 2008 a new book at the market it was written by Gonzalo armaral now an ex cop with a bone to pick with a few people he had been fired for investigating the man indeed rebello and his team had also suspected the mancans and continued to pursue the same leads it wasn't even for making a false statement about his colleagues allegedly beating up a murder suspect in 2004 for which Amaral was later to get a suspended sentence in 2009 a year after it already left the police force consalo amaro's 30-year career had originally been torpedoed for slagging off the British police in the press and so the book called Maddie the truth of the LIE laid out the hypothesis that meline had died of a drug overdose and that the M had staged an abduction to cover up her death it also speculated about British authorities willingly or inadvertently perverting the course of Justice the book sold 180,000 copies in just 3 months in April 2009 it was turned into a documentary for Portuguese television was watched by 2.2 million people roughly a third of Portugal's adult viewing population I feel like there is a lawsuit coming your way my dude the M lawed up of course they did in 2009 they won an injunction against Gonzalo ml's book The injunction banned further sales allowed authorities to seize the stock bar of existing copies from the publisher and froze at maral's assets divesting him of the profits yeah dude what did you think think was going to happen Amaro challenged the ruling in October 2010 the injunction was overturned by the lisbian court of appeal the book went back on the market maans sued again in April 2015 they won a Lial case against Amaral he had to pay £430,000 in Damages and the book was banned again this would have financially ruined him but with roughly £100,000 in donations from Mostly Portuguese and British supporters Galo Amaro challenged the ruling and one the book went on sale again the M appealed the decision to the Portuguese Supreme Court in February 2017 we like the decade after all of this went down the judges ruled in a Mor's favor in its 76 page ruling the judges said that Amor not liable the MC because quote it should not be said that the appellants the manans were cleared via the ruling announcing the archiving of the criminal case the archiving of the case was determined by the fact that the public prosecutors hadn't managed to obtain sufficient evidence of Crimes by the appellants even the archive ruling raises serious concerns relating to the truth of the allegation that meline was kidnapped the judges declared that Amor's book had no defamatory intention and that it was quote unquote defensive and informational I I mean I haven't read the book but I do disagree with it it seems prettying defamatory to me allegedly the maans made a final appeal to the Supreme Court which was rejected in March 2017 12 seconds all the way back on September 9th 20 7 when Jerry Kate and the twins returned to Britain without meline they had to put it mildly a mixed reception it had been only a few days since they'd been declared aridos when Irish witness Martin Smith saw Jerry carrying one of the twins off a plane on TV he phoned the police and said that Jerry was the man had seen 500 yards from The Ocean Club carrying a girl down Ru Scola premara toward the beach at 10 p.m. on the night of The Disappearance what you've never seen his face before like I know what his face looks like because it was all over the news forever we knew that Jerry was at the tap Pass Restaurant at that time so it couldn't have been him and the man Smith saw has never been identified but the news further intensified allegations of mcan's guilt we don't have a poll or anything of British opinion in September 2007 but it's probably fair to say that it was split the Maan still have plenty of sympathetic supporters but they also had a growing number of detractors in the medor and online it's perhaps telling that the celebrity donations and calls for information slowly began to dry up as did corporate support from various organizations such was the cynical nature of the whole ordeal yeah and the thing is like even if it say 30% of people are like they're guilty you they killed their daughter even if 30% of people like that and you're a celebrity and you're donating to that cause like those 30% care a lot more than the other 70% and those 30% might not show up to your next movie so even if there's like a minority who have a much stronger opinion about something that you can just step back from you're going to step back from it it's just how PR works back in May 2007 when the macan's plight had first gone viral the notion of being seen to publicly donate money and rally support was regarded as a PR slam dunk everyone seemed to want to be associated with the cause now days after the have been declared aridos not so much but one man Brian Kennedy a self-made millionaire from the double glazed window industry just like I don't know was it was it just me not me but like British people as a kid you'd hear on the radio always be adverts about double glazing I wonder if it was this dude like buy one windo get seven free I think that was actually a thing it was like buy one and you'd get seven free it's like all right why do we just price them reasonably he was outraged at the news coverage implicating maans in their own daughter's disappearance on September the 12th 3 days after mcan's return to the UK the millionaire reached out to them Brian Kennedy says he decided that the MC's were innocent after listening Kate talk for about 12 seconds it was Brian Kennedy who was the principal pillar of support for fine melin Fund in the macan's private investigative efforts for the next four years good for you Brian finding a cause you believe in and uh just [ __ ] go in for it with your money I like that the Mac retained David Hughes as a PR adviser Upon returning to the UK they also invited Philip Hall head of a PR firm to come to rothley to discuss his involvement in the case one evening in September Hall sat in macan's kitchen listening to Jerry mccan talk about assigning five or six members of Hall staff to the campaign Philip latest head quote I felt very uncomfortable actually talking about a missing child as some sort of PR exercise once Jerry mccan had finished outlining his proposal Philip hle claims that he said Jerry I think you got to be careful I think it's too well oiled a machine I think the public will feel very uncomfortable about it yeah good for you PR person being aware that PR can look too much like PR the beans did not end up hiring Philip H's firm instead they spoke to Brian Kennedy and got him to head hunt Clarence Mitchell the Press Le AIS on from the British cabinet office quite high up in the old PR World there the same one who had been recalled back in June oh right yes Mitchell quit his job with the cabinet and came to work for the M's fulltime to certain extent the hiring of Mitchell backfired as Hall had predicted many of the press and public found having him represent the mechans as too slick too polished too professional Clarence Mitchell was an impenetrable wall of Spin and prepared statements that one would expect to see between the public and a scandal prone governments not between the public and two devastated parents who nominally at least had nothing to hide the mechan also hired raria Alves head of the Portuguese Bar Association godamn they went to the top didn't they to represent them on the ground in Lisbon and proud El he dealt with the requests of rebello's team and local media appearances but so strong was the feeling in Portugal against the m at the time that people would spit at Alves when they saw him in public dude he's literally just doing his job he's this is what he does [ __ ] only a few days after Brian Kennedy had signed on with the m they got a tip from a woman who claimed to have seen a small blonde child resembling meline in Morocco on May 9th 6 days after her disappearance there was also a picture of the girl with a Moroccan woman the thinking at the time was that seeing a blonde girl in Morocco must be highly unusual so Brian Kennedy and his son Patrick flew out to Morocco on an impromptu amateur sleuthing mission to find the girl they were immediately dismayed to discover that there were plenty of blonde children in Morocco then they located the girl in the photo and it was not meline mccan feel like something you could look up in the internet like how many blonde people are in Morocco be like plenty oh okay meanwhile the British press were merciless towards the manans in the aftermath of them being declared aridos the Daily Star that Bastion of quality journalism ran the headlines Maddie mom sold her and Maddy mom orgy Fury oh my God Daily Star F me the Daily Express ran meline it was her blood in her parents hard car yeah but we don't know that Daily Express the lawsuits are going to come your way guys what are you talking about the evening standard with police believed mother killed Maddie I mean that's fine the police did suspect them I would have said police suspect but believes a bigger headline isn't it I feel like injunction is going to come their way there going to be some money changing heads real soon especially Daily Star or you know Daily Express is worse it was Maddy's blood in her parents har car you don't know that that you stating it like it's a fact and it's not similar headlines were printed by other newspapers in Britain and around the world the daily Stars assertion about trafficking in audies had zero Foundation but the express and standard headlines actually pared information allegedly being fed to them by unidentified members of the Portuguese police yeah that's that's not going to cut it guys because otherwise he could just be like yeah anonymous source anytime you say something to fitry it'd be like yeah yeah yeah Coca-Cola contains ciss and crack cocaine if I said that it' be like and then obviously it's a joke and then Coca-Cola be like no no no I heard it from an inside a source at Coca-Cola who I can't name and be like okay I guess we got to drop it then obviously doesn't work like that nevertheless it was the papers and not the anonymous sources close to the investigation who would ultimately pay the price do you think it's in the millions I feel like it could be in the millions this is a huge cup the Maan sued and in March 2008 The Daily Express settled okay for £550,000 Jesus Christ you know that they could have jasted in court then in addition to £375,000 in compensation divided among the so-called tap seven the express also had to print a front page apology wow cuz normally they'll they'll get something wrong they'll like pay someone off and it'll be like a retraction on page 70 at the bottom but they had to print a full front page apology saying that quote there was no evidence whatsoever that the ma had accidentally killed their daughter and covered it up the evening standard settled for an undisclosed but presumably similar amount and also published an apology the Maan said they put their share of the money toward the fine medelin fund yeah good they deserved it you can't just print defamatory [ __ ] like that and expected to be okay just Poli believed mother killed Maddie allegedly Daily Express what the oh sorry that was uh evening standard in October 2007 the BBC reported that M had used money from melin's fund to make two mortgage payments on their house prior to them being declared arguido the maans were heavily criticized in the media I I think we mentioned this earlier and I said it's like well they're not earning any money cuz they're not working December the MCC received an anonymous Christmas card in the post that read Jerry and Kate how can you use money given by poor people in good faith to pay the mortgage on your Mansion you fcking thieving bastards your brat is dead because of your drunken arrogance shame on you I curse you and your family to suffer forever if you had any shame you would accept responsibility for your daughter's disappearance and give all the money back you are scum chill the [ __ ] out how can you use money by poor people given in good faith to pay your mortgage on your Mansion do they live in a mansion why two I mean I don't know I don't judge this so harshly I'm just thinking give me a super chat now I'll use it to pay for my Mansion cheated by private dicks with the Portuguese considering them suspects and British authorities conducting no independent investigation of their own the Macs turned to private investigators to continue the search for meline First Brian Kennedy hard too 3 a Spanish detective firm to spearhead the effort mattoo 3 charged £50,000 a month for the next 8 months God damn reportedly after 35 agents in Europe and Morocco were deployed but according to the investigator on the grounds in PR Julian paranz only he investigated mine's disappearance fulltime I mean yeah but $50,000 a month is a lot of money but for 35 people to work parttime and one dude to work full-time plus all their travel expenses I mean it's a lot of money it's crazy but it's not unforeseeable how that money gets spent I don't think anyone's getting scammed oh wait the ti this the Tira of this thing is cheated by private dicks I don't think that's outrageous I don't think that's an outrageous Bill the first thing mattoo 3 did was set up a new hotline for tips the manc launched a media campaign and did interviews in order to promote it thousands of meline sightings poured in from 42 countries including some as far a field as Zambia none of them seemed to pan out Brian Kennedy's son Patrick went out to pray delus every now and then for a few weeks at a time to work with m 3 he took part in stakeouts helped perz Chase up tips he looked into abandoned homes in the countryside he investigated a suspicious owner of a pig farm he tailed local PDF files and took note of their movements ultimately with minimal results one of the people Meto 3 looked into was Robert morat although he was a suspect in The Disappearance there was not much evidence tying him to it Beyond accusations from the Macan party Brian Kennedy decided to fly down to PR Theo to meet Marat in person according to Robert Marat himself self quote I did meet with a gentleman named Brian Kennedy who was a multi-millionaire who had links with the m he was there to find a solution to the story and I assume believed I had something to do with it actually I think there was an offer of a job or something because I couldn't get work I had no chance of doing anything well that's odd I quite like this Brian Kennedy character he sounds like he made all this money he retired and now he's just like cool I'm going to get involved with this thing and try and fix it with my money I'm like respect dude indeed Kennedy later confirmed that he had offered Marat a job working for the fine meline fund but not everything was as it seemed to quot Marat I then found out that he had tried to bug the meeting with people in the garden trying to record the conversation why not just wear a wire like a normal person he'd be like I want to search you be like no you're not the police or some gangster who's going to put some concrete around my feet and throw me in the river morat later discovered that someone had allegedly placed GPS trackers on his Vehicles driven by him and his mother mato went to work on Sergey Minka baraban claimed that he offered Minka €100,000 to talk then up that to 500,000 Minka repeatedly refused the money saying he didn't know anything then to put things as carefully as possible figures close to the private investigation have speculated that it was an agent working for Mato 3 who firebombed minka's car and scrolled the word f or talk in red paint on the sidewalk beside it Jesus Christ how do you Bill for that that's crazy allegedly allegedly I don't seems a little bit of a stretch doesn't it allegedly mattoo 3 eventually moved on from Mar and Minka having uncovered nothing next matoto 3 investigated the reports of Charity collectors from before mine's disappearance who were trying to get donations for that fake orphanage in ESP whoever these individuals were they were obviously conman the descriptions of the ages and appearances of these men varied so multiple people were likely involved in the scam and on the off chance these conmen were involved in the disappearance that would imply a team of people which in turn would imply human traffickers that abducted her rather than an individual lunatic this seems like a massive stretch do you think the people who involved in human trafficking are also involved in like a small time swindling people out of Charity money going door Todo seems a little bit much doesn't it in addition to the witnesses who reported the fake collectors to the police back in Spring 2007 another unidentified woman came forward the following year with a rather chilling claim just before mine 's disappearance the woman was doing chores and watching her three-year-old daughter in a house in priou a fake charity collector came to the door looking for money he had tan skin big teeth and long greasy dark hair when he gave the woman his Spiel the woman noticed he kept staring at her three-year-old daughter the witness claims that the next day she came downstairs with some laundry only to find the same man standing in the middle of her living room staring at her daughter playing on the floor what the man upon being spotted the man immediately fled from the house this certainly sounds like the type of person who would abduct young girl from a hotel room and it would connect the conmen more firmly to mine's disappearance can you imagine how scary it would be just to come down and find some like random creepy Stranger in your house staring at your kids I just be like what the is going what what hello get the [ __ ] out of my house the woman did not report the incident to the police at the time oh my God immediately after that happened I'd find the police I'd be like yo uh you want to get around here I got cameras the claim filtered into investigators many months after mad disappearance so it is opened to question whether this woman is actually telling the truth either way Mato 3 began looking for a man of this description which also roughly matched that of the unidentified Predator who was entering people's hotel rooms and assaulting their young daughters oh I forgot about that from 2004 to 2010 right in the window when she disappeared unfortunately the investigators came up empty a suspect in the assaults ukes montiero died in 2009 and Portuguese police were not able to time conclusively to any of the incidents the description of the man who perpetrated more assaults after monero's death was the same so it probably wasn't him meanwhile matoto 3 investigated rumors of a PDF file Network operating in Portugal they started posing as Predators on the dark web oh my God that must be a miserable job having to like read all these fing what these sickos are saying Jesus they somehow gained the confidence of the human detritus posting on illicit message boards and trying to feret information out of them oh that just sounds M anything about where meline may have been taken but none of the PDF bars that investigators spoke to knew anything useful however as a bit of a silver lining the investigators later submitted the data they had acquired from the dark web to Portuguese police several arrests of PDF files followed excellent this the like we did this you might also like this information bam prison but by then the MC had ceased to employ mattoo 3 in Spring 2008 the director of the agency Francisco Marco gave an interview where he said we have the description of the woman and the man involved Maddie was alive 2 days after the kidnapping mine was in a car and she was given to another person inside Portugal I'm not saying maybe no no no we are very very close to finding the kidnapper Marco repeated the claims to several more media Outlets based on what uh why why would they cease to employ them and then the director of the agency says this is it like to keep their business if so that's a massive ethical breach according to Julian baraban this was all [ __ ] Marco had no idea where meline was and didn't seem to care allegedly Marco to perab banners that had simply made the claims to get publicity from mattoo 3 dude if that's true you sketchy little bastard I mean again allegedly if it's true I so many lies in today's episode you don't know you can't tell the truth from the lies according to paranz Marco did not seriously think that meline MACC would ever be found taking on the famous case was just a way to bolster his business I mean that I don't blame him for because it's like okay do I think she's going to be found no am I going to look for her if you pay me yeah that's what my job literally is Brian KY fired mato3 and shifted his gaze to the impressive looking firms in America he wounds up hiring Oakley International which boasted agents who formerly worked for the CIA FBI and MI5 godamn this is some big three-letter agencies right there Oakley International cost £500,000 to hire The Firm for six months much of which had to be paid up front before any work would begin yeah fair this is a major company a major investigative Branch I I think it's unreasonable that they asked for a lot of money up front the president of Oaky International was a man named Kevin hen who claimed to be a former US intelligence operative it turns out that he was actually an Irish citizen masquerading as an American and all his intelligence credentials were fraudulent wait this must have been a huge company they must it must have been for them to find it and agree to pay half a million pounds from someone who was a successful business businessman who's you know got an idea of how companies and money works that's wild so did he just did this guy Kevin just pretend to be an American intelligence officer and then actually start a successful company or was the whole thing was the whole thing underneath him real it says oh okay but here we go but some of Hogan's contractors were legitimate okay there we go what a weird G he dispatched Henry Exton a former police officer and MI5 agents with a fiveman team to prior to lose to chase up leads hen also claims that he had dispatched a manwoman team with a child mine's age as bait and also a spy posing as a drunken priest both of these claims were lies as for Exton and the others they collected testimonies and track suspects but hen was slow to pay them and often never paid them at all he was embezzling most of the money allegedly or not allegedly say allegedly for now a very serious accusation hen kept sending invoices to Brian Kennedy despite minimal progress at one point hen told Kennedy that he had access to CIA satellite photos prior to lose from the night of mine's disappearance Kennedy awaited months to see them eventually hogen just turned in Google Earth images of the Town noing shot then Kennedy caught wind of the fact that tips from the hotline were being ignored angered Kennedy tried to contact hon but he was a difficult man to track down yeah he managed to pretend to be an American which I imagine is no easy feat those passports are probably quite hard to come by meanwhile Henry Exton interviewed tourist Martin Smith who had seen a man carrying a little girl down the road toward the beach at 10 p.m. on May the 3rd 2007 in September Smith had mistakenly identified him as Jerry mccan in late 2008 Smith sat down with an artist who produced two electronic sketches or eits According to some commenters they vaguely resemble Jerry mccan in November 2008 Exon advised the MC's to make the eits public they decided not to despite the fact that it would help identify a suspect but the M confidently handed over the eits to Lester police roughly 11 months later October 2009 the Sunday Times later printed a story implying the manans never gave the eits to the police which is false the Manan sued the times for £55,000 okay so Sunday Times is a much more reputable paper than the express in the star that we talked about earlier and this seems like maybe they just got bad information rather than being intentionally defamatory but I guess or liess written is liess Spider-Man wasn't attacking the city he was trying to save it that's slander it is not I resent that slander is spoken in print it's liable so I guess it's uh yeah it's all the same in the end isn't it Maan Su the £55,000 obviously way less the eits were eventually made public in 2013 on an episode of the BBC's crime watch in my opinion they don't resemble Jerry MACC at all the eye color shape of the nose and shape of the skull are all wrong they're worth looking at because in the view of British law enforcement today the man Martin Smith saw carrying the girl that night Remains the most solid link to a potential suspect above all other tips and speculations well holy [ __ ] there we go meanwhile with the relationship between hogen and the fine Maladin fund is an alltime lier good hogen allegedly started blackmailing the MC allegedly according to a 2019 Netflix documentary he started threatening to expose the manans for something it's not clear what that was shortly afterward halagan fled to Italy having embezzled approximately £300,000 of the fund's money he was arrested did by the FBI the fraud against a different client oh tried and convicted hogen died of a brain hemorrhage in 2018 wait did he go to prison this was 2 oh okay so it was quite a bit later so I guess maybe before I know dude what do you expect eventually it's going to catch up with you dude you're running a h huge like scammy operation and I don't think I have to say allegedly anymore cuz well one he's dead and two he was convicted back in 20 9 the Mac hired private detectives David Edgar and Edward Cy who thankfully had more Integrity than their predecessors Edgar and Cy made contact with a British man who claimed that while on the street in Barcelona at 2 a.m. on May 7th 2007 3 days and 4 hours after mine's disappearance he encountered A well-dressed woman who spoke English potentially with an Australian or New Zealand accent she said quote have you come to deliver my daughter then the woman seemed to realize the witness was not the man she was supposed to meet she quietly walked away the witness said the woman resembled Victoria Beckham an e fit was produced and released to the public in the 15 years since no identification has been made well I think we all know what's going on here Victoria Beckham bought meline MCC it's a wild ass I bet there are people online who believe that you could bet if there's if someone says something like that you could bet there's a group of conspiracy theory people out there being like the Beckham truthers or whatever if you Google Beckham conspiracy theories I bet stuff comes up a burst of Hope then a whimper January 27th 2010 marked the thousandth day since meline had gone missing she would have been 6 years old that night the fine meline fund hosted £50 ahead dinner to raise money for the continued search in March 2010 Jerry and Kate mccan met the chief of ceop Jim gamble who put his suspicions of the MC's behind him gamble suggested oh this was the guy uh who the Jerry met with right sorry this was all before the weekends for me cell suggested they write him a letter requesting a review of the case which he could then forward to the British home office to start the ball rolling on an official inquiry shortly afterward the Home Secretary Alan Johnson met with mccans and got Jim gamble to write up an evaluation of how the case was handled in 2007 gamble says that Johnson was genuinely sympathetic to the machans for the loss of their daughter yeah as you should be because there's no evidence to say that they did anything there just seems to be some public opinion that they might have it'd be weird if you weren't sympathetic and the cans left nothing to chance and went on the war path keeping up their political pressure in April 2010 Jerry and Kate gave an interview to BBC World Service where they appeared to be angry and impatient Kate said if this was a murder inquiry there'd be an active investigation but as it stands we have a predator who is still at large and it potentially puts other children at risk wait wasn't this a murder inquiry in Portugal didn't they switch it to a murder inquiry at some point Jerry added officially for 18 months law enforcement have not proactively done anything to find meline and who took her and I just think this is fundamentally unacceptable meanwhile the process of bringing about a British inquiry was already underway a few weeks later in May 2010 Jim gamble produced a report critical of everyone involved Portuguese and British he said that the Portuguese should have investigated the cans first before going after to people like morat gamble criticized the police a judiciar for thinking they had quote unquote a silver bullet with the cadav in the blood sense when it was clear from the start of September that the DNA tests would not back them up in Gamble's view rolling the dice on provoking a confession was a mistake if meline had not been abducted but have been killed by her parents there was less urgency to get to the bottom of things and more time to build a case in turn gamble criticized the British authorities for not considering the forensics at all at the time the British paid no attention to how inconclusive or conclusive they were British law enforcement at the time seemed more concerned with jurisdictional squabbling between them and the Portuguese and also between various British police organizations above all gamble skewered a lack of coordination between the various authorities he re recommended that in a future investigation there must be much closer contact and information sharing between the British and Portuguese authorities involved he advocated for a new inquiry led by Scotland Yard within days of the gamble report landing on Alan Johnson's desk the labor government was thrown out of office in the 2010 general election the MC met with the new Home Secretary Tesa May According to Jim gamble may quote unquote hemmed and hoard over the prospect of opening a new investigation into meline mccan a past with no progress Kate mccan said about about writing a book Madeline our daughter's disappearance and the continuing search for her released in May 2011 sales brought in an estimated 700,000 and the Sunday Times and Sun newspapers serialized it for a further payment of £500,000 all of which went to the find meline fund the book is still worth reading today so you can get Kate's detailed version of events and occasional counterarguments to the allegations made by the Portuguese police the book closes by asking readers to write to Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Tesa May demanding a new investigation the me followed It Up by running an open letter to the prime minister in the sun on May 12th mine's 8th birthday the strategy worked oo that's nice little bit of pressure on the PM there on the evening of May 12th the Prime Minister replied in a private letter to the macan's promising help and Theresa may not the prime minister at the time foreign secretary Home Secretary Home Secretary sorry yeah in public saying that she was setting up a new inquiry headed by Scotland Yard this was Operation Grange it involved 29 to detectives and eight support staff led by detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood a specialist in cold cases the initial budget was £3.5 Million the Portuguese responded by opening their own investigation again putting together a team that did not include anyone involved in the previous investigation DCI Redwood made it clear that they were looking at The Disappearance as a criminal act by a stranger either an abduction or a robbery gone wrong if anyone involved in operation grain ever considered the Macan Theory they certainly did not dare to publicize it or question any of the Maan party along those lines well I feel like that was fairly exhaustively looked into and proved inconclusive proved and determined to be inconclusive last time with regard to the theory that meline had been abducted or killed as a result of a robbery gone wrong operation Grange investigated the known suspects linked to a Spate of burglaries in Prior delu during the first half of 2007 however none of them could be connected to Madeline's Disappearance in 2017 a senior official at Scotland Yard made a public statement saying that the robbery gone wrong theory was still plausible but highly unlikely that exhausted their suspects and after all nothing in Apartment 5A was ransacked and nothing was taken except for meline yes I feel like this is the most unlikely of theories but okay got to pursue all these options got 3.5 million to burn through operation gra looked into tracking mobile phone news Around The Ocean Club on the night of The Disappearance they interviewed three men including a bus driver for The Ocean Club before ruling them out in 2014 though the three men had commed to burglarizing several of the apartments at the resort Scotland Yard also discovered that a former Ocean Club employee ukes montiero had used his mobile phone near the resort that night he died in 2009 Monero was a suspect for the nighttime assaults on little girls in the region but the assaults continued for a year after his demise by a man of the same description after that his investigators hit a dead end yeah we mentioned that earlier and how it's just unlikely to be him right operation gra detectives also attached a great amount of weight to reports of a man or indeed multiple men staking out Apartment 5A in the runup to mine's Disappearance in 2013 a public awareness campaign was launched to track down the fair-haired man with pimples seen by two separate Witnesses acting suspiciously at The Ocean Club The Campaign failed although one tenure suspect was z hansan h a Swiss citizen living in Spain in May 2007 a few months later on July 31st a was implicated in the abduction and murder of a 5-year-old girl in Switzerland with DNA linking him to the crime however a shot himself the day after the Abduction the theory goes that in May 2007 Isme have traveled to the agav where his family were staying at the time and abducted and killed meline but there was no evidence connecting a to mancans or anything that places him in Portugal journalists talk about a white van with A's registration but police said that this was utter [ __ ] okay I mean again possible but extremely unlikely I'd give that one in June 2014 operation Grange performed a joint Anglo Portuguese excavation of 15 Acres of scrubland in proud delou but found nothing Jesus 15 Acres that's a that's a big spot of land to dig up in December 2013 Scotland Yard and the police a judici areia interviewed 11 people in connection with The Disappearance one of these people was Robert morat who after seven years remained on the police's radar even though the MC's did not perhaps unsurprisingly Marat did not reveal any new information this Mara guy who seems to be innocent is being badgered about this for years afterwards that sucks by October 2015 operation gra had chased up 8,000 tips conducted 1,338 interviews collected over a thousand pieces of evidence looked into 656 offenders and investigated 60 suspects unfortunately no decisive leads were found by that point the cost of operation grain amounted to approximately 11 A5 million pound so much for that 3.5 million H the investigation was scaled back to just four investigators with further injections of around 100,000 to $50,000 pounds every 6 months or so and again like yeah because there's not an infinite money provider it's like that money that is being sent to them to investigate this is being taken away from investigating other potential crimes in 2016 operation Grange briefly looked into British broadcaster Clement Freud who had lived in Pride and interacted with mancans in July 2017 Freud died in 2009 but in 2016 allegations surface that it been involved in the abuse of aged girls from the 1970s onwards however no further Evidence tied Roy to the Abduction of meline mccan in 2019 the British government announced that they would no longer fund operation Grange past March 2020 by that point mine mccan had been missing for 12 years and 10 months as the Scotland Yard inquiry withered on the vine the Macs did not launch another large scale private investigation of their own nor wage another aggressive PR campaign they also refused to take part in the 2019 Netflix documentary despite the fact that it promised to be Be A Renewed burst of energy for the search and put mine's face on millions of Television screens again some commentators speculated that the fight had largely gone out of the manans after their loss to Gonzalo am Marl in the Portuguese Supreme Court back in 2017 other detractors on social media claimed that the MC no longer needed to put up a performance to rehabilitate their damaged reputations suspicions of the MC in Britain largely dropped after 2011 only in Portugal did a sizable chunk of the population still believe that the MC's were behind The Disappearance of their daughter meet Christian Brookner wow it is late in the day to introduce possibly this is how David always describes like the new suspects you know meet so and so late in the day to be introducing someone new but let's have a look we've got like page three pages left shortly before being sheld operation gra received a fresh breath of life in June 2020 a German prosecutor announced he had concrete evidence then a man oh I do remember this in the papers I mean papers like pbc.com then a man named Christian brockner had kidnapped and murdered meline mccan around the date of mine's disappearance brockner who was then 30 was living in pra Deluge in a Volkswagen West failure camper van with blonde hair and a pockmarked face brockner fit the description given by two witnesses who saw someone lurking around Apartment 5A possibly during reconnaissance before striking brockner had a rrap sheet for 17 burglaries drug trafficking and several incidents involving the abuse of young girls why wouldn't he have been looked into earlier when they were looking into all the PDF files in the region I'm assuming that abuse of young girls qualifies him for that he was also suspected in several child disappearances and other sex crimes in Portugal between 2000 and 2017 wait he's 30 Jesus Christ that is a big rap sheet oh I'm sorry so he was 30 when M sorry I'm just reading back here he was 30 when meline disappeared but obviously this is up till 2017 I think brockner had been convicted in 2019 for the rap of a 72-year-old American woman in the alav in 2005 what the [ __ ] is wrong with you in 2022 when German prosecutors accused him of kidnapping meline he was already serving a 7year prison sentence for the which has struck many foreign observers extraordinarily light yes indeed the British government deemed the news from Germany as sufficient enough to keep operation Grange going just a little while longer Christian brockner became a suspect in Maan case when German police discovered his mobile phone and received a 30-minute call near the ocean club during the daytime on May 3rd 2017 several hours before Madeline's disappearance oh that's that I don't know if that does that add anything what does that add because this guy feels like you know just a sicko Lone Wolf police do not know who made this call but they do have the number now no longer in use a British woman who brockner was dating at the time claims that the night before on May 2nd he allegedly said to her I have a job to do in proud delou tomorrow it's a horrible job but it's something I have to do and it will change my life the German prosecutor hypothesized that brockner originally intended to burglarize Apartment 5A but upon for what he's going to burglarize some middle class fames hotel room for what maybe a nice-ish watch a mobile phone I don't know it's not going to change your life but upon discovering the children were left to sleep in the room alone his intentions allegedly turned predatory the after The Disappearance Bronner's car was registered to a new owner possibly to put some distance between himself and the vehicle in which meline could have been transported no forensic evidence of meline has been found in the vehicle brockner meanwhile has an alibi he claims to have been miles away with young German woman her parents on the night of The Disappearance on May 4th brockner drove them to the airport in farro for their flight home according to Sky News the four people were stopped and photographed at the police roadblock then brocka sold his car a 2023 news report claims that Bronner's phone was Li prior delusion around 10 p.m. on May 3rd but that has not been verified on July 27th 2020 German police excavated an alotment in Hanover associated with brockner and found nothing the investigation stalled over a year later in October 2021 the German prosecutor told the media that he had no DNA evidence but he was 100% sure brockner had abducted and killed meline maccan okay meanwhile the prosecutor refused to show the concrete evidence he had to Jerry and Kate mccan arguing it would take away all hope that mine was alive bro I think they'd rather know the German prosecutor also criticized the Portuguese police saying what takes one month in Germany can take six months in Portugal yeah but Germany also you're famously efficient Germany one month in Germany is six months everywhere else the German prosecutor boasted in October 2021 that he would probably charge brockner in 2022 he did not the cited cause of the delay was a jurisdictional issue over which German Court would be responsible for br trial although his many alleged crimes happen in Portugal the Germans seem to get their way over the Portuguese yeah again it's like Gordon Brown leaning on someone Germany's also really big and powerful a most jurisdictional issue explains about a Year's delay it does not explain why over three years later in December 2024 brockner has still not been charged for the Abduction of meline mccan and he has been charged and tried in the interim for other crimes he allegedly committed in Portugal it might imply that the evidence the German prosecutor had is not as concrete as he made out in 2020 and 2021 just tell us what the evidence is on April 22nd 2022 the polia judiciar declared Christian brockner arguido making it possible to extradite him to Portugal for questioning at the time of writing they have not found it necessary from May 23rd to the 25th 2023 Portuguese German and British police conducted a ground search near arade Dam 30 mil from prior to L because a child sock had been found in the area during a previous search in 2008 because the investigation stalled operation gra was wound down again in 2023 in the Autumn of 2024 it's very recently brno was put on trial in Germany for five other offenses committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017 three charges of aggravated of adult women and two charges of abuse of children in the former he allegedly broke into women's hotel rooms to carry out the assaults in the latter he allegedly exposed himself to an 11-year-old's Portuguese girl and a 10-year-old German girl in public the prosecution asked for an additional 15 years to be to his seven-year sentence again extraordinarily light given the severity of the five crimes Yep this guy is a Serial pist he's not going to go to prison it's not going to make him better put him in prison and throw away the key at trial there was witness testimony but no forensic evidence for any of the charges and on October the 8th 2024 brockner was acquitted it does not bode well for the Maan case for which he has not even been charged Brockton will be getting early release on his 7-year sentence for the rape of the 72-year-old American woman in September 2025 if the German prosecution actually has concrete evidence implicating brockner in the maccan case wait what wait oh he was acquitted wait for all of them for all of them brah they could bring charges against him to try and keep him off the streets better late than never however it is possible that the evidence against brockner for the McAn case is not concrete and this is another instance of prosecutorial grandstanding the practice of a prosecutor associating themselves with a famous case in order to advance their career I'm not saying that is the situation but I will not be reporting the prosecutor's name in this script if charges are successfully brought against brockner in 2025 I'll happily report it then in a follow-up video at which point the world will know what happened to meline and her family I could get some long awaited closure walking with sorrow on May the 3 2023 Kate and Jerry mccan their 18-year-old daughter amily and a crowd of 70 well wishes and supporters gathered in the village of rothley to Mark the 16th anniversary of meline mcan's disappearance Fiona pay of the mccan party was among the crowd mine's brother sha was not able to attend the crowd lit candles said an informal prayer and repeated the phrases never give up leave no stone unturned and still missing still missed Kate and Jerry did not address the crowd directly but amily mccan only two years old in May 2007 and now about to enter University told the people gathered it's nice that everyone is here but it's a sad occasion at the time of writing in December 2024 meline mccan would be 21 years old Jim gamble head of child exploitation and online prosecution command once told a story of how he had come into that particular line of work in the early '90s he was a hot shot officer working in counterterrorism he received a job offer to work in child protection which he viewed as a step down the gamble took a trip to Southeast AIA where he saw child victims of the worst outrages and atrocities children living in poverty used and abused by monsters and then discarded into the streets to die of poor health and easily preventable diseases it shook him on the flight home gamble decided he didn't care if moving out of counterterrorism was a so-called step down thousands of kids needed help he could make a difference in the lives of the world's most vulnerable his shining career be damned what a legend wow good for [ __ ] you not a lot of people would do that my dude and you did props some things you just have to put ahead of yourself and own happiness as gamble thought about this a poem by Robert Browning Hamilton drifted into his mind and it seemed appropriate to leave you with it today I walked to Mar with pleasure she chattered all the way but left me none the wiser for all she had to say I walked to Mar with sorrow and near a word said she but oh the things I learned that day when sorrow walked with me God that's really nice I'm not a huge poetry person but that is really nice dismember dependencies number one if any of the 620,000 plus subscribers of this channel plus the the Spotify folks the the podcast crew hello there have genuine information about mine mcan's disappearance they can email the police judiciar at D I.P mous SP p r t m AO at pj. PT the fine melin fund at investigations find madeline.com or the still operational Metropolitan Police step line at operation. atm. police. or you can file a report through London Mets automated system on their website number two mine mccan thoroughly disliked being called Maddie and preferred to be called her full name as such apart from quoting a few newspaper headlines the script has referred to her solely as meline not much else to add there really is the the think I've expressed myself and how I feel about this all the way through and that's where we're going to end today's episode thank you for being here