Official McCann Updates, 2011-2013

2011 has been an incredibly busy year so far. Every year since Madeleine was taken has been, but this one, particularly so.

Between January and March we held 3 fundraising events – ‘Bags of Hope for Madeleine’ – at the National Space Centre in Leicester, the Crypt in the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow. Despite the time and effort required in organising these evenings, all three were very positive. As well as the money raised to further the search for Madeleine, these occasions were important in gathering supporters together, re-energising the campaign and increasing awareness of the frightening and poorly resourced problem of missing and exploited children. The tangible warmth and support present also gave Gerry and I and all our family an essential boost. We’d like to thank everybody who supported these events – the venue staff, caterers, entertainers, those who donated bags and other prizes and of course all those who attended the events. We’re very grateful to Steve Womack, Ricky Tomlinson and Sanjeev Kohli in particular, for giving up their time to support Madeleine, and for making these evenings extra special.

The main project this year has been writing my book. It will be launched on Thursday 12th May, which poignantly and coincidentally happens to be Madeleine’s 8th birthday. It’s a relief that the end of this intense period is now in sight. We hope and pray that it will bring us the result we long for and that not only the book but this whole ordeal and heartache will be behind us before too much longer.

Madeleine is still missing and there is still a lot to be done. Our efforts to find her are not diminishing. If anything, they are escalating. The need for a review by the authorities of Madeleine’s case remains, and our desire to achieve this unwavering. This is a stone which definitely needs to be turned for Madeleine.

We would like to reiterate our gratitude to all of our supporters for not forgetting. Four years may have passed but our little girl is still missing. And, she is still findable. Your continued kindness and backing could help us achieve this.

Thank you again for not giving up on Madeleine.

Kate

My grandparents always used to say that the years pass more quickly the older you get. It certainly feels that way. I still dream of being able to stop time. Our only alternative however is to continue doing as much as we can to the best of our ability to enhance the search for Madeleine. So that is what we’ll do.

Thank you to everyone who has bought and read my book. Not only is this helping to fund our investigation and campaign, it will also improve and maintain awareness of Madeleine and our need to find her. It seems obvious that the more people who are informed worldwide, the more eyes and ears Madeleine will have assisting the search for her. We are really grateful for your support.

We also appreciate the general public’s help in achieving a review of Madeleine’s case. It is a big relief to us that our government finally agreed for a review to take place. We are grateful to them and to the Metropolitan Police Service for undertaking this fundamental and highly valuable procedure which has been underway now for several months. Although it will be a lengthy and difficult process, it is definitely a major step forward for Madeleine.

I would also like to thank everyone who has written to us or sent their support in some way over the past six months. We have once again been touched by the incredible kindness and commitment shown to us and Madeleine, and bolstered by the continuing encouragement and positivity.

Kate

It’s Christmas – again. A time of mixed emotions for our family and many others in similar positions around the world. A time to hold together.

Thank you to all our supporters for your help throughout the year and for remaining united with us in our longing and determination to find Madeleine.

The year has ended on a positive note. Our search for Madeleine and the Metropolitan Police review of the case are progressing well. In addition, this December saw a landmark event for the protection of, and support for, missing children and their families left behind. The Government’s Missing Children and Adults’ Strategy aims to reduce the number of people who go missing; to protect the missing whilst they are away and to give families access to support, similar to victims of crime. The strategy follows 12 months of campaigning by individuals and organisations like the charity Missing People.

Thank you to everyone who supported this campaign and influenced this significant development.

This Christmas, please keep Madeleine and all missing loved ones and their families in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.

The support you give enables us to move into 2012 with renewed energy and continued hope.

Kate and Gerry

On Saturday, Gerry and I, along with our friends and hundreds of other runners ran in the ‘Miles for Missing People’ 10K event in Regent’s Park, London.

It was greatly encouraging – judging from the brilliant turnout – to see that the weather and resulting conditions (rain, wind and mud!) didn’t put any of us off. It was also fantastic to have so many children there, participating in the fun run. Well done!

A huge thank you to everyone who supported the event (including all those who generously sponsored me and other runners). In doing so you have contributed to the essential work done by the team at Missing People, and thereby helped the many missing children and adults, and their families left behind.

And finally, thank you to Missing People for all their hard work and commitment, day in day out, to make the lives of people like ourselves that bit more bearable.

Kate

Thank you to everybody who has supported our summer campaign again. By displaying the new poster, car sticker or luggage tag of Madeleine, awareness of her plight is maintained, as is our appeal to the general public to keep looking for her.

We are constantly thinking of new ways to improve our search for Madeleine: we don’t know what it will be, or what it will take to bring us that vital call. It may even turn out to be a simple case of ‘the right place at the right time’ which is why we need to persevere in our efforts and to keep prompting people.

The Metropolitan Police are continuing with the investigative review and we are really encouraged by their work. We continue to hope that the case will be re-opened in Portugal in the near future so that the investigation to find our daughter can be resumed.

The nationwide campaign that I’ve been involved in, as part of my ambassadorial role for the charity ‘Missing People’, is now in its tenth week. This campaign has been possible thanks to the generous help of the Outdoor Media Centre and its members in partnership with the team at Missing People. Images of missing children and adults have been displayed on huge billboards in many cities throughout the UK, appealing to the general public for help. Already many vulnerable have been found since the campaign started which is obviously fantastic news. Thank you to everyone who has supported this initiative and responded to these appeals. Your help is invaluable. (More updates in due course)

We continue to feel humbled but at the same time buoyed by the amount of support we still receive from so many people. It helps us enormously and undoubtedly helps our search for Madeleine too. Thank you.

Kate

The Metropolitan Police Review of all the material in the inquiry has been underway for over eighteen months. We have been really impressed and greatly encouraged by the work which has been done and its findings to date which are revealing there are definitely many stones yet to turn. We continue to wait and hope that the Portuguese authorities will agree to reopen the case so that the many lines of enquiry can be investigated. As Madeleine’s parents, we won’t be able to rest until we know that all that can be feasibly done to find her, and the person who took her, has been done.

In the meantime, we will continue to do all that we can to aid the search for our daughter and assist the Review process.

This year, Madeleine’s Fund has paid for:

1. A 24 hour, 7 day a week telephone line to receive and capture information from around the world which may assist the investigation

2. A small investigation team, including a Portuguese speaker to help with the above and with campaign activities.

Since March 2012 independent ‘physical’ investigation of lines of enquiry by our team has been put on hold whilst the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Review progresses. This has been to avoid duplication (and thereby unnecessary expenditure) and to prevent the risk of compromising any work, albeit unintentionally, carried out by the MPS. The private investigation team employed by the Fund continue to cooperate and work with the Metropolitan Police as and when necessary.

3. Part-time administrative support to aid the investigation and campaign to find Madeleine (campaign coordinator and media liaison)

4. The awareness-raising campaign to ensure that Madeleine is not forgotten and to encourage the general public to remain vigilant. This has included the running of the Find Madeleine website.

5. Assistance from a specialist Portuguese communications agency to ensure that our message is communicated as widely and accurately as possible in Portugal, where support and help to find Madeleine is especially needed.

We are very aware that without public help it will be virtually impossible to find Madeleine. It would have been incredibly difficult for us to have maintained a search for her this long without such support, including donations to the Fund. Due to the sales of my book, ‘Madeleine’, the financial position of the Fund has significantly improved from a year and a half ago so we would like to reiterate our gratitude to everybody who bought the book. This has helped the search in more ways than one. Whilst fund expenditure has decreased over the past six months (due to a reduction in investigation spending as outlined in point 2) the Directors feel it is important that the fund maintains reasonable reserves so that the search for Madeleine can be resumed quickly should the MPS review not lead to a reopening of the case in Portugal. We desperately hope of course that the official investigation to find Madeleine will be reopened – and soon – as we still believe this is probably our best chance of finding our little girl.

Despite becoming stronger in ourselves and being able to create as special a Christmas as possible for our children, this time of year will never be as it should without Madeleine. Whilst Gerry and I think it constantly, Sean and Amelie now vocalise it, especially when doing something really nice like putting up the decorations…. “If only Madeleine was here too…”

If you know what has happened to Madeleine, or where she might be now, please, please do the right thing: Find the compassion and courage and let us know. Thank you.

This past weekend we sat and opened the many, many Christmas cards which have been sent to us, at what is now our sixth Christmas without Madeleine. The majority were from people we have never met. It was once again a very humbling yet totally uplifting experience. We are deeply touched by the thoughtfulness and compassion which we continue to experience and for the love and hope which shine through for Madeleine.

Thank you so much. It means such a lot – and helps us immensely.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of our supporters. We wish you a festive period full of laughter, warmth and friendship – and hope for a special 2013.

Kate

It’s difficult to know what to write as each year passes, still without news of Madeleine. In many ways, nothing’s changed. We still worry about her, we miss her as much as we ever did, we remain as determined as ever to find her and to know what has happened.

The one thing that has progressed significantly over the last year is the work of the Metropolitan Police. We remain greatly encouraged by their work and the many things they have managed to uncover so far. Their commitment and increasing determination parallels our own and brings us great comfort and reassurance. We continue to hope and pray that the Met working with the Portuguese Authorities will lead to a significant breakthrough. We need to find Madeleine and bring some peace to our family.

In the early days, Gerry remarked that we weren’t sure whether this journey would be a sprint or a marathon. It’s been much, much more than a marathon (I’m qualified to say that now!) We really appreciate how lucky we have been to be surrounded by such fabulous support for so long. Thank you to all our supporters for being there alongside us and for never forgetting about Madeleine. We’re here for the long haul, for as long as it takes. Thank you for being there too.

And finally, a special ‘thank you’ to everybody who sponsored me to run the London marathon recently. Your kind donations, which have now amounted to more than £21,000 (fantastic!) will allow the charity, Missing People, to continue the search for many missing children and vulnerable adults, as well as provide essential support for their families. Your compassion and generosity will help to ease the suffering of many people.

Thank you.

Kate

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A heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for supporting Gerry, Kate, Sean, Amelie and most of all, Madeleine. Let’s get her home!

We are very pleased that the investigation to find our missing daughter Madeleine has officially been reopened in Portugal. We hope that this will finally lead to her being found and the discovery of who is responsible for this crime.

We once again urge any member of the public who may have information relating to Madeleine’s abduction to contact the police in Portugal or the UK.

Please be patient and respect the work of the police as they endeavour to find the answers we so desperately need. In particular, we request that the media consider carefully Madeleine’s safety and the integrity of the investigation in their reporting.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Gerry and Kate

Gerry and Kate will not be giving any comments regarding the progress of the investigation unless there is a significant breakthrough.

Never lose hope! Madeleine will be found!

Saturday, 7 December 2013 at 15:58

We’ve had questions regarding our online store being unavailable and when will it be available again. Google Checkout was retired on 21 November. Because Google Checkout is no longer available, we are redesigning our online store with another merchant system. I’m finishing the design/setup and will have the online store available soon. Thank you for your patience while we make this change.

If you have any questions, please Email me at Webmaster@findmadeleine.com. ~FM Webmaster

On 20 May 2013, Google announced that Google Checkout would be retiring in 6 months time. Merchants were advised they could continue to accept payments up to that date, 20 November 2013, whilst they sourced and implemented an alternative payment system.

Google did not offer a replacement product but stated that they were ‘partnered with three premier players in the payments industry to offer alternatives for your eCommerce needs’.

Payment processing was offered through Braintree Payments, who, according to their website, are prepared to offer Google Checkout Merchants ‘a lifetime discounted price’ and are able to integrate their payment system in an hour.

An update to Google Checkout for merchants Google Commerce

20 May 2013

Please keep looking for Madeleine.

This year seems to have passed particularly quickly – a sign undoubtedly of a very busy year. It would still be a comfort if we could slow time just a little. Thankfully however there have been some very positive aspects with regards to Madeleine. The Metropolitan police review becoming an investigation and more recently, the reopening of the case in Portugal. We are incredibly relieved and buoyed by these developments and continue to hope for further collaboration in the near future with the possibility of a JIT (joint investigation team) between Portugal and the UK to enhance the search for our dear daughter.

Once again we would like to thank all our supporters for their commitment to Madeleine and their ongoing support of our efforts. Please spare a thought and prayer for all families similar to ours who will be unable to share this Christmas with a special loved one.

We wish you a wonderful Christmas and a happy and peaceful 2014.

Kate xx

Happy new year! Thank you for continuing to by our side and giving us hope. Here’s to 2014 and Madeleine coming home. ~FM Webmaster

Thursday, 9 January 2014, at 23:10

We have relaunched our online store. Here you will be able to purchase holiday packs, t-shirts or make a donation.

If you have any questions or issues with the store, please Email me at Webmaster@findmadeleine.com.

http://shop.findmadeleine.com/

The Angel Of Hope

I felt the flurry of wings stir the air
Within the darkness a light glimmered
And hope was born