The Reward...

By the 12th May 2007, the reward for information leading to the safe return of Madeleine to her family had reached £2.5 million.  The News of the World and several well know business persons contributed generously to the expanding reward.

The happy expressions on the McCanns' faces as they exited the church to the waiting crowd on the 12th May have always been a complete puzzle.  Firstly because it was Madeleine's birthday and secondly because their child had been missing for just 9 days.

12th May 2007 - Day 9

However, maybe they'd just heard from the BBC that the reward had reached a staggering two and a half million pounds?  That really would be something to crow about - all that money being offered by strangers, just to get your child back safely.

Yet the McCanns have systematically failed to mention this humungous reward, kindhearedly donated by other people.  Despite numerous TV appearances, interviews with the media (both televised and in print) and various press statements, you can count on one hand just how many times this reward has been publicised.

Now why would that be?  It should be constantly plugged... a one track multi-million way to get Madeleine home, courtesy of other people.

To date, almost 4 years later this huge reward has receded to a whispering memory. No mention of it is ever made, we don't even know if the reward even exists.  Is it still valid?  The mere fact that it has not been claimed could mean two things... firstly, there is no information available leading to Madeleine's safe return or secondly, those who do have the information are sworn to silence?

The parents claim to need the help of the public and make appeals for information during which they make the customary requests for more cash.  Yet despite the huge amount of money donated to their private limited company (otherwise known as the 'Fund'), the McCanns have never offered any kind of reward themselves.  The parents seem to show more of an interest in drawing people forward for their money rather than their information.


We all know where the Paypal button is, how pop into the Natwest or even stick denominations of our choice into a brown envelope and address it to Kate and Gerry, Rothley.  However, some people need an incentive to loosen their tongues and be drawn out from under that stone.   The McCanns have this huge incentive at their hands, yet bizarrely fail to use it.

Any decent person with a conscience and morals who could provide information should not look for monetary gain in all of this.  So, please, in the name of all that is good... let's have some normality and break that silence.  

Now that would be a reward.

What the Smiths really saw...?

Don't you wish there were more details available about the Smith family sighting, it appears to be the most important sighting in the case.

I believe it to be absolutely more credible than the preferred McCann sighting - Tanner's swarthy man, because a whole family spotted a man hurriedly carrying, not what they believed to be a bundle, but a female child.  The family gave detailed descriptions of her hair, skin and clothing, therefore no way could his encumbrance be construed as a bundle.  They knew for sure this man was carrying a little girl. Mrs Smith was even close enough to ask if she was asleep.

This sighting was so important because it incorporated multiple, corroborating and independent witnesses, yet the McCanns failed to promote it until it was covered briefly in the Channel 4 documentary.  And it was covered incorrectly.  In the Channel 4 documentary, the sighting was filmed in the wrong location.  The sighting took place at the bottom of Rua da Escola, as seen below in Goncalo Amaral's documentary...

Yet, in the Channel 4 documentary, for some reason filming has taken place in a different location...

Strange that... and depicting an abductor carrying the child across the arms - the way Tanner 'would have' and not how Mr Smith described...

"Carrying a child, with the head against his left shoulder and the arms hanging down alongside the body"

How on earth could the McCanns, their Team and the Channel 4 crew get things so important, so wrong?  Right enough, nobody cared where the Wilkins/McCann conversation took place, so none of it really matters?

There are some intriguing pieces of  information resulting from this sighting.  Mr Smith's daughter in her description of the carrier viewed the most mundane thing and promptly forgot about it.  Something  I believe we all do regularly - things which only come back to us when specifically reminded, otherwise forgotten in the depths of the mind.  She spotted the button detail on the man's beige, cotton trousers.  Bit like these ones??

Mr Smith had already made a statement at Portimao police station in May 2007, but on seeing Mr McCann alight from his flight in the UK in September 2007 was shocked to see a similarity between him and the man he saw on the night.

"Is saying that after seeing the McCanns on the news on 9th Sept when they returned to UK he has not slept and is worried sick. He states he was watching the 10 PM news on BBC and saw the McCanns getting off the plane and coming down the steps. He states it was like watching an action replay of the night he saw the male carrying the child back in Portugal. He states the way Gerry was carrying his twin triggered something in his head. It was exactly the same way and look of the male seen the night Maddie went missing . He also watched ITV news and Sky news and inferred it looked like the same person both times carrying the children."

Mr Smith went on to say that his wife agreed with his suspicions, and felt the same way about the similarity.  I believe this is something that cannot be taken lightly - it has been discussed between husband and wife and is a huge step to take in contacting the police again.  After all, a man's life is on the line.  According to the police, Mr Smith was worried and shaken and genuinely concerned by his realisation.  He went ahead and made another statement to include his thoughts and has since been persistently contacted by various sources including Brian Kennedy, supporter of the McCanns.

"He has been contacted by numerous tabloid press looking for stories. He has been contacted by Mr Brian Kennedy who is supporting the McCann family to take part in a photo fit exercise. He has given no stories or helped in any photo fits.

I do not believe that Martin Smith is courting the press and my view his is a genuine person. He is known locally and is a very decent person." 

Detective Branch, County Lough

Mrs Smith did not wish to make another statement.  Could we wonder whether these thoughts and suspicions were already included in her original statement?

Mrs Smith did get close enough to the man and child to establish that she was sleeping, she got close enough to make contact with the man, who averted his eyes and ignored her.

Did she also get close enough to see the birthmark on the child's lower left leg, where her little cropped pyjama bottoms were pushed up due to her being carried? The birthmark that only the police have made public, yet doesn't warrant one single mention from the McCanns?

Did Mrs Smith make a positive identification of the child on that night?

We'll have to wait for the answers to certain questions, because Mrs Smith's statement was never released in the public files.  The big question is 'why?' and could this be the missing piece?...

**With thanks to the fabulous McCannfiles for detailed information on the Smith sighting, please visit and read for yourself.

Believe it... or not?..

From May 2007 we have been pelted with the story of an abduction backed up with many claims of jemmied shutters and a single window of opportunity.  It was a high risk strategy, but the child was 'taken'...

To this day, many still believe that there is only one side of this sad case.  They fail to realise that the management of the Ocean Club and the police reported that the shutters were in perfect working order and that there was no sign of a break-in to the apartment.  Further forensic analysis found no evidence of an abductor.

So, just as a reminder... we are led to believe that 9 professional, responsible adults dined night after night at a local restaurant while their 8 children were left alone in empty apartments. Eight parents and one grandparent apparently felt at ease, closing the doors to their apartment and leaving their children inside without adult supervision?  They all felt comfortable enough to go walking off down the street, around various obstacles and into a restaurant where they also felt comfortable enough to eat, drink and be merry?

Believe it or not?

The McCanns have, in some respect taken the rap for leaving their children alone, simply because one of them vanished.  However, another 7 adults apparently did the same thing.  We all know the distance between the Tapas Bar and apartment 5a, we know that it's out of sight and can't be monitored while sitting in the restaurant. What people fail to realise is that the McCanns apartment was actually the closest to the restaurant.  All the other apartments were further away and took even longer to 'check'.

Believe it or not?

Rachel Oldfield actually insisted that her husband check on their daughter because it was dark and scary.  A daughter who was so ill with a stomach bug that the smell from her nappy hit you upon entering the apartment.  Yet this mother and father left their poor child alone, in a dark, scary place while they dined and drank with friends?

Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien's apartment was also further away from the restaurant than apartment 5A.  They also had a sick daughter.  So sick that Mr O'Brien apparently had to do a full bed change.  Yet here are another couple who felt comfortable enough to leave their sick child alone while they dined and drank with friends?

Believe it or not?

I really don't know what we're expected to believe... it's all so unbelievable.

"My reason for writing is simple - to give an account of the truth."

Why is an account of the truth now being written in book form?  Will this benefit the McCanns' private limited company only or will there be a donation to a genuine registered charity for missing children, which the McCanns have previously latched onto?  

Surely it must firstly be written in the Book of PJ to benefit Madeleine, then taken a step further and novel written to benefit her family?...   Four years later, are we to consider that everything we've heard to date may not be true, if Kate McCann now decides it's time to 'give an account of the truth'?

Neglect, abduction, homicide, simulated kidnap, hiding of a cadaver.  There are many sides to this terrible, sorry state of affairs... sadly I don't believe half of it will make it amongst the predicted fluffy words.  On a positive note... it may come with a removable wipe-clean cover, perfect for jotting down those cobbled timelines...

Believe it or not...?

Words cannot describe...

...the anticipation of the release of the McCanns' book, 'Madeleine' in April 2011.

We can eagerly await the detailed and descriptive narrative of Madeleine's disappearance through the eyes of her parents - maybe now we'll be able to iron out those annoying inconsistences that so far have gone unexplained...?  Or maybe not?

The jemmied shutters... the locked doors... Will we discover who was responsible for those comforting words... it was all within the realms of responsible parenting? Will there be a whole chapter devoted to Ms Tanner's 'abductor' or will it be minimal like her initial description.  Maybe her swarthy man will pop up here and there throughout the book, everchanging like he did in real life.   What put those joyous, relieved smiles on the McCanns' faces when they emerged from church on the 12th May, just 9 days after Madeleine vanished - was it because it was Madeleine's birthday or perhaps the arrival of Father Seddon?  Will they give us their thoughts on the disturbing scent of cadaver emanating through their belongings, apartment and car?  Their thoughts on the Gaspar statements, and who really fingered Murat?

Questions, questions... there are a myriad of things that could be explained, yet they won't be.  I have a feeling this book will not be an accurate account of happenings in Praia de Luz, but a slushy, fluffy attempt at regaining sympathy and more money for the hard-done-by parents, just like the Channel 4 documentary.

"Every penny we raise through its sales will be spent on our search for Madeleine. Nothing is more important to us than finding our little girl."

Really?  Can we presume that every penny of the book sales will be going into its own account, separate from the Madeleine Fund?  The Madeleine Fund account is not solely for the 'search' as we have discovered over the years.  In the first year £2 million was raised and only 13.3% was used to fund the search, approximately £250,000.  So if every penny raised through sales of the book is to be spent on the search for Madeleine, it can't just be put into the mixing pot with the mortgage payments, lawyers fees, public relations, travel or any other costs, can it?

After all, the Madeleine Fund isn't some kind of aid or charity is it?  No, it's the McCanns' own limited company on which they sit as directors.  Are generous folks giving to help pay the McCanns' PR gurus, their many lawyers?  No, people actually give money with the intention of aiding the search for this doe-eyed little girl, yet her parents sit on the board of directors and actually influence the decision as to where that money goes and what its spent on, maybe the search?  Maybe not?  Mr McCann recently said in an interview that they try to run the fund like a small business, well that's exactly what it is... a cash cow.

The McCanns refuse to speak to the police, refuse to aid in the investigation and they refuse to use their legal right to reopen the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance.    No need to worry about how much money is left, because with the police conducting the official investigation, it won't cost anyone a penny.  Their friends refuse to return to Portugal to take part in a reconstruction of that fateful night, why are these people still on the McCanns' Christmas card list?  The pretence that there is no law enforcement agency looking and that they need more money to search is aided and abetted by the shameful British media who have forgotten that this is all about a missing child.  They selectively report and fail to mention all of the above, preferring instead to advertise the diminishing money pot and encourage people to donate to the Fund Ltd.  

After the latest tete-a-tete with the media, we get an idea as to how the land lies. According to her parents, Madeleine is either languishing in the dungeon of a swarthy pervert or being treated like a princess by a loving couple.  Whatever, she'll be giving them her tuppence worth... but we can now surmise that she won't be found by the end of April next year and that she won't be passing by any bookshops where she may recognise her name, photo or parents on the cover of a book.  The only mention Madeleine gets is in relation to the book title with her name being yet another good marketing ploy.

"Our hope is that it may prompt those who have relevant information - knowingly or not - to come forward and share it with our team. Somebody holds that key piece of the jigsaw,"

Share it with our team?  That is ten shades of wrong... and just what is that piece of information they're looking for?  It keeps getting a mention - is there only one piece of the jigsaw missing, just one key and not a whole set?

Words are no good whatsoever unless they're said to the right people.  The only people who wish to hear your version of the truth Mr and Mrs McCann, are the police.  Unfortunately this is without self gain, but the person who really matters will benefit.

Madeleine deserves justice for a fair search.

Zahra Clare Baker, Rest in Peace.

Zahra Clare Baker

An innocent child who had everything to live for.

My heart breaks.  Rest in peace, little one...