Ian Woods: McCanns Did Not Call Sky News First
Ian Woods
However the newspaper Telegraph reported that Maddie was missing at 12:01am British Summer Time or BST for short.This article was written less than two hours after the reported time of 10 pm (alleged time of abduction) on the 3rd May. * Portugal and United Kingdom share the same time, see here
Location Local time Time zone
Thursday, 3 MaY de 2007, 23:00:00
Corresponding UTC (GMT)
UTC: Coordinated Universal Time - the international basis for other time zones. Same time as for GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
By staff and agencies
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 04/05/2007
A three-year-old British girl has gone missing while on a family holiday in Portugal, the Foreign Office said today.
Portuguese police are investigating the disappearance from a holiday complex in Praia da Luz in the western Algarve.
A Foreign Office spokesman said that he understood the girl's parents had gone to have dinner once their children were asleep last night, but returned to check on them only to find the girl had gone missing.
"They reported it straight away," he said, adding that consular assistance was being offered.
And the updated version at 6:10am BST:
Three year-old feared abducted in Portugal
By staff and agencies
Last Updated: 6:10am BST 05/05/2007
The parents of a British toddler who has gone missing while on holiday in Portugal say they fear she has been abducted.
Three-year-old Madeline McCann disappeared last night from her parent’s rented apartment in the Western Algarve, while they dined nearby.
Madeline McCann is feared abducted in Portugal
Madeline McCann was due to start school in September
Sniffer dogs have been brought in by Portuguese detectives to comb the Mark Warner resort where the girl was staying and the nearby seaside village of Praia da Luz.
A family friend said the child’s parents, Gerald and Kate McCann, were certain she had been kidnapped.
Jill Renwick, told GMTV: “They were just watching the hotel room and going back every half-hour and the shutters had been broken open and they had gone into the room and taken Madeleine. They went out about eight, went back in at nine, they were fine, went back in at 10 and she was gone.”
She described the missing girl as a “very pretty, very blonde three-year-old” and said the couple, from Leicester, also had twins.
Ms Renwick said of the holiday: “This is the first time they have done this. They are very, very anxious parents and very careful and they chose Mark Warner because it is a family-friendly resort.”
The manager of the resort, John Hill said around 60 staff and guests at the complex had searched until 4.30am while local police notified border police, Spanish police and airports.
“It was a very emotional and very frantic night and everyone did a fantastic job of getting involved and trying to search the area,” he said. “As you can imagine, Madeleine’s parents are distraught and not doing very well at all.”
He said there was no physical evidence that the girl had been abducted from the apartment while they ate at the tapas restaurant 200 yards away.
“It’s still questionable as to whether it’s an abduction,” he said. “We are hoping that Madeleine is found as soon as possible and safe and well. Everybody here is just wishing that she is found as soon as possible.”
A Mark Warner spokesman said counsellors are being flown out to the resort, which the firm has run for two years, to support the McCanns.
Members of their family would also be flown out if required.
He said: “Our priority is to find the girl and to make sure that the parents are OK and there are masses of people working on that.
“Our staff are looking after them at the moment in whatever way they can but we can only imagine how awful it is for them.
“We are all hoping that she is asleep under a bush somewhere and we will find her soon.”
He said the apartment the family were staying in was surrounded by other apartments, all of which have “quite sophisticated” locks on the doors.
Guests are being asked if they saw anyone acting suspiciously in the area, he said, adding that Mark Warner has never had cases of missing or abducted children before.
“We are hoping it’s not that, though,” he said. “It’s the last thing we want but we have to investigate all avenues.”
He said Mark Warner offers families a baby-sitting service where they can drop off their children for the night.
“Those facilities were available but for whatever reason they were not being used,” he said.
Madeleine lives with her parents, Gerald, a doctor, and Kate McCann, and younger sibling twins in Rothley, Leicestershire.
Neighbour Penny Noble said: “We are absolutely devastated. They are a really nice family and good neighbours.
“They are delightful. We see them take their bikes up and down and going for walks.
“Madeleine is a very happy-go-lucky little girl”.
It is understood Madeleine is due to start at school in September.
In Correio da Manhã (2007-09-14 ):
English: "ENGLISH GOVERNMENT CUTS WITH MCCANN
The first call of Gerry in the night of the crime was for Alistair Clark, a great friend of the times of the university and diplomat next to Gordon Brown. Clark made various contacts to the highest level and - before the Judiciary Policy - already the Sky News and the British ambassador were informed of the abduction.
The ambassador John Buck was in the Algarve and Brown also gave its personal contact to the Maddie's father in the various exchanged phone calls. However, from what the CM has found, the current head of the English government now “will is sufficiently disturbed” with the route of the inquiry and, in the last weekend, he removed his direct link to the couple.
Advertising and speedy inquests were the priorities established in the first hours. And, as the CM already previously advanced, John Buck, the British ambassador in Lisbon, called in the night of 3rd of May directly to Alípio Ribeiro, the national director of the PJ - after all an English girl of three years was abducted in the Praia da Luz.
All the things were set in motion in the following morning, friday, and in that weekend an associate national director of the PJ, Guilhermino Encarnação, announced the journalists to be before a crime of abduction - without any traces or ransom notes.
At the level of the advertising everything ran inside as foreseen and after the Sky News in the Algarve launched the abduction of Madeleine for the World, the case spread to all the international media. It was missing an act at a politic level and Alistair Clark, Gerry's friend from the University of Glasgow - the first one in International Relations and the second in the University of Medicine - was the perfect contact.
Alistair, from whom the CM couldn't contact until the close of this edition, is today a professor in an university in Belfast, Ireland, and also an assessor of the English working government. Gordon Brown was then minister of the Finances and candidate to the place of Tony Blair.
The support of Brown started with the press assessorship, sending to the couple his "right-arm" in Downing Street, Clarence Mitchell.
The ambassador John Buck, meanwhile, was director of the Central Office of Information(COI) of the British Government, to which belongs the Media Monitoring Unit(MMU), then directed by Clarence Mitchell and under direct account to the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the PM.
The route that the inquiry took (of the PJ leads in the last month) left the cabinet of Gordon Brown apprehensive and the first-minister determined to cut to the direct linking to Gerry McCann.
Portuguese: "GOVERNO INGLÊS CORTA COM MCCANN
A primeira chamada de Gerry na noite do crime foi para Alistair Clark, grande amigo dos tempos da universidade e diplomata próximo de Gordon Brown. Clark ter-se-á desdobrado em contactos ao mais alto nível e – antes da Polícia Judiciária – já a Sky News e o embaixador britânico eram informados do rapto.
O embaixador John Buck esteve no Algarve e Brow também deu o seu contacto pessoal ao pai de Maddie nos vários telefonemas que trocaram. Mas, ao que o CM apurou, o actual chefe do governo inglês estará agora “bastante incomodado” com o rumo do inquérito e, no último fim-de-semana, retirou a ligação directa ao casal.
Publicidade e investigação rápidas foram as prioridades estabelecidas nas primeiras horas. E, conforme o CM já avançou, John Buck, o embaixador britânico em Lisboa, terá ligado ainda na noite de 3 de Maio directamente a Alípio Ribeiro, director nacional da PJ – afinal uma menina inglesa de três anos acabava de ser raptada na Praia da Luz.
Todos os meios foram accionados na manhã seguinte, sexta-feira, e nesse fim-de-semana já um director nacional adjunto da PJ, Guilhermino Encarnação, anunciava aos jornalistas estar-se perante um crime de rapto – sem indícios ou pedidos de resgate.
Ao nível da publicidade tudo corria dentro do previsto e depois de a Sky News no Algarve ter lançado o rapto de Madeleine para o Mundo o caso alastrou a todos os meios internacionais. Faltava actuar a nível político e Alistair Clark, amigo de Gerry dos tempos da Universidade de Glasgow – o primeiro em Relações Internacionais e o segundo na Faculdade de Medicina – era o contacto perfeito.
Alistair, que o CM não conseguiu contactar até ao fecho desta edição, é hoje professor numa universidade em Belfast, Irlanda, e também assessor do governo trabalhista inglês. Gordon Brown era então ministro das Finanças e candidato ao lugar de Tony Blair.
O apoio de Brown começou pela assessoria de imprensa, enviando para junto do casal aquele que é hoje o seu braço-direito em Downing Street, Clarence Mitchel.
O embaixador John Buck, entretanto, foi director do Centro de Comunicação e Informação do Governo britânico, a que pertence a unidade de monitorização dos media, então dirigida por Clarence Mitchel e na dependência directa do gabinete do primeiro-ministro.
O rumo que a investigação da PJ leva no último mês terá deixado o gabinete de Gordon Brown apreensivo e o primeiro-ministro terá decidido cortar a ligação directa a Gerry McCann. "
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