Madeleine McCann’s disappearance 15 years – the statute of limitations has harassed the Portuguese authorities, parents hope the girl will return

The British news of the rise of the British Madeleine McCannin exactly 15 years have passed since its disappearance. Three-year-old McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, while on a vacation trip with his parents and two younger siblings to Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Under Memorial Day parents Cover and Gerry McCann published on their daughter’s dedicated on the website (you go to another service) and on Twitter the image of Nalle Puh and Nasu and the text “But the most important thing is that even if we are apart, I will always be with you.”.

– Regardless of the outcome, Madeleine is always our daughter, and a really horrible crime has been committed. These things are permanent, parents write.

In their latest update, they thank the British, Portuguese and German authorities for their continued work to resolve the case. Parents say they believe this work is paying off and they are still getting the answers they need.

They also thank all their supporters and say they take comfort in the fact that people still remember Madeleine.

Parents have said in the past that they still maintain hope that Madeleine will still be found alive and return home.

In April, the Portuguese authorities stated that there was one officially named suspect in the case. The Portuguese authorities have not disclosed the suspect’s name to the public, but he has been reported in the international media to be German. Christian B.

The reason for the authorities’ progress has been considered to be that, under Portuguese law, it is no longer possible to proceed 15 years after the suspected offense. The naming of the suspect officially prevented the expiration of the crime. No charges have been filed. The same man is undergoing a separate criminal investigation in Germany.

Christian B is a sex offender currently serving a previous prison sentence in Germany. He was moving in the area of ​​Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

The German authorities interrogated the man in April. Christian B refused at the interrogation to tell her whereabouts of Madeleine on the night of her disappearance, even though location data shows her cell phone was near the scene of the disappearance.

The suspect has previously denied guilt and claimed he was miles away from the hotel where the McCann family lived. He has also claimed his sex partner can prove this. Christian B, on the other hand, is said to have told his friend at the bar years ago that he was responsible for Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.

On the evening of May 3, 2007, a couple of McCann doctors vacationing in Praia da Luz, Portugal, put their three children to sleep in their holiday home at the Ocean Club aparthotel. The door to the children’s bedroom is left open.

Gerry and Kate McCann spend an evening with friends at a hotel restaurant.

The distance between the family holiday apartment and the restaurant is a few tens of meters. As the children of acquaintances also sleep in their rooms, the parents of different families always take turns looking at the children of others to make sure everything is in order.

When it’s Kate McCann’s check-up, she notices her daughter Madeleine is missing from the room on the ground floor and the window of the room, which was previously closed, is open.

Portuguese police are launching an investigation into the disappearance and are consulting both hotel staff and customers. An alert will be issued for Portuguese borders and airports. Parents appeal in public to anyone with any knowledge of the matter, as well as directly to the abductor.

– If you have Madeleine, please let her back home to her mother, father, sister and brother, Father Gerry asks.

Police say they believe Madeleine has been abducted, alive and still in Portugal.

In May, police interrogate a British-Portuguese man on suspicion of a crime.

Portuguese police admit in June that Madeleine’s disappearance site was not properly insulated and therefore decisive evidence may have been destroyed. British police will assist the Portuguese police in the investigation.

One hundred days after the disappearance, the Portuguese authorities say the girl may have died. In September, police will record McCann as potential suspects. The couple leaves Portugal and returns to Britain.

Director of Criminal Investigation Gonçalo Amaral will be removed from office in October after publicly criticizing British police.

Gerry McCann says he believes the “predator” was watching the family before the daughter disappeared.

In January, McCanns will release a drawing of the suspected kidnapper. The image is based on an eyewitness observation of a “creepy man” moving near a hotel apartment.

Years later, British police say the man was a tourist carrying his own child.

British press companies are paying hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to McCans and a British-Portuguese man for unfounded allegations. People who accompanied McCannie on the night of the disappearance also receive compensation from the press for inappropriate coverage.

In the summer, Portuguese police announced they would close the investigation and remove both McCann and the British-Portuguese man from the list of potential suspects. In August, thousands of pages of Portuguese police investigation material will be made public.

Gonçalo Amaral, who previously served as director of criminal investigation, is resigning from the police and publishing a book on the case. In Maddie: A Verdade da Mentira (The Truth About Lies), Amaral claims that Madeleine died in an accident and was abducted by her parents.

McCann will later sue Amaral and this publisher for defamation.

McCann criticizes the Portuguese and British authorities for failing to resolve the case. The family also resents the Portuguese police, who say it has leaked information to British newspapers.

The parents appeal to the British and Portuguese police to go through all the accumulated investigative material together.

Kate and Gerry McCann publish a book on the disappearance of their daughter.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron asks London police to help investigate the case.

In November, McCann will take part in a hearing with British newspapers about how the press has affected the lives of his family and made it more difficult to investigate Madeleine’s disappearance. Kate McCann, for example, says her diary went public without her permission.

Portuguese police say they have no plans to reopen the case. In Portugal, an investigation into a previous police criminal investigation is being launched.

A picture made using a computer program of what Madeleine might look like at the age of nine is published. London police consider it possible that the girl is still alive.

British police said in May they had identified a number of “people of interest” and said there was enough information gathered to reopen the criminal investigation. The Portuguese police disagree.

London police are launching a formal criminal investigation and in October they say they have listed 41 people who could potentially be suspects. According to police, “the key details of the disappearance timeline have changed significantly.”

Later, the Portuguese police will also reopen the investigation and say they are working alongside the British police. In their assessment of the original investigation, the Portuguese authorities have found new lines of investigation and evidence which have not previously been taken into account.

Criminal investigators fly from Britain to Portugal. In the Praia da Luz area, searches are made in the terrain, but to no avail.

Police are hearing several suspects, but the investigation is not progressing. Police unsuccessfully investigated the terrain between Praia da Luz and the city of Lagos.

In Portugal, the court orders McCanne to pay damages of € 500,000 for the book to former Amaral, who was summoned for defamation, and the publisher. The sale of the book is prohibited.

In September, the British government announced that more than £ 10 million had already been spent investigating Madeleine’s disappearance. The number of British police officers involved in the investigation will be reduced from 29 to four.

The upper court overturns a verdict on a book written by police about McCans.

In April, four people previously identified as suspects in the investigation will be removed from the list of suspects. However, police say they have a “significant line of investigation.”

The tense intervals between police and McCannie are being reported in public. McCannie is alleged to have obscured information gathered from police by private detectives he hired.

Streaming service Netflix publishes an eight-part series on Madeleine’s disappearance. His parents have refused to participate in doing so.

In June, the British government will announce that funding for the London police Madeleine investigation will end in March 2020.

In June, authorities report that a 43-year-old German man sitting in prison for sexual offense is suspected of kidnapping Madeleine. A McCannie spokesman described the information as the most significant step forward in the entire 13-year investigation.

The German authorities say they have concrete evidence that Madeleine is dead and are investigating the case as a murder.

The suspect is reported to have been living in Portugal for long periods of time and has been guilty of sexual offenses in the country. The suspect is sitting on a prison sentence he received for rape in the Algarve. He has previously been convicted of child abuse.

In Portugal, authorities unsuccessfully searched wells in Praia da Luz and surrounding areas to find Madeleine’s body.

In the last week of July, forensic investigators examined a migrant garden plot near Seelze in Hanover, which had been in use by a German man suspected of a crime between 2007 and 2008.

In April, the Portuguese authorities will nominate a German Christian Bofficially suspected of the case. No charges have been brought against the German man. In Germany, a separate criminal investigation is underway against the man.