Madeleine McCann disappearance latest – 15 years since ‘horrific crime’ as Maddie’s parents demand answers

‘Odd that he should give the details to a TV documentary’

A source close to the case in Germany, where B is in prison, said: “He has had nearly two years to explain himself but has constantly declined to comment.

“It’s baffling as to why he should maintain that silence then finally come up with an explanation now.

“And it’s even more odd that he should give the details to a TV documentary rather than the authorities.”

Where are Madeleine McCann’s brother and sister now?

Sean and Amelie live with parents Kate and Gerry at their home in the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire.

They attend a Catholic secondary school the area, which retained a place for Madeleine to join if she is ever found.

The twins are both aspiring athletes and have competed in triathlons and country crossing racing.

For their own privacy and safety, the twins, now 16, are not publicly photographed as teenagers.

Their missing sister remains a cloud over the entire McCann family.

Scotland Yard remains ‘committed to finding answers’ 15 years on

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell from the Metropolitan Police, who leads the operation, said: “Fifteen years on from Madeleine’s disappearance in Praia Da Luz our thoughts, as always, are with her family.

“Officers continue to investigate the case and our dedicated team are still working closely with law enforcement colleagues from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria as well as the German Bundeskriminalamt.

“At this time, the case remains a missing person’s inquiry and all involved are committed to doing what we can to find answers.”

Have Kate and Gerry McCann had any more children?

Kate and Gerry McCann have not had any more children since the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine, who would be aged 18 now.

The couple have spent the years since she vanished searching for her using everything at their disposal to find her.

This persistence has seen formal suspects confirmed even now, almost 15 years on.

Former GP Kate, now a medical worker, said her twins have “grown up essentially without Madeleine but knowing their sister is missing and they want her back.”

The anguished mum, speaking in the past to promote her charity Missing People of which she is an ambassador, added: “They have their own friends and they keep busy and they’re really sporty but their only wish is for their big sister to come home.

“We miss our complete family of five.

“As a family 98 per cent of the time we’re busy. I don’t know if that’s a conscious thing but it helps.

"The urge to look for Madeleine absolutely hasn’t changed at all.”

Prayer service for Madeleine today

MADELEINE McCann's parents are preparing to remember her at a prayer service on the 15th anniversary of her disappearance — as a suspect faces being charged.

Kate and Gerry are expected to join family, friends and supporters in their home village of Rothley in Leicstershire, today.

They recently welcomed news that jailed German sex offender Christian Brueckner, 44, has been made an "arguido", or official suspect, by Portuguese police.

Madeleine McCann prime suspect REFUSED early prison release (continued...)

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: "His request was rejected on the grounds that he could not be given a positive social prognosis.

"In other words, the court has said it believes that the convict will commit further offences if released."

The woman spent two days with investigators recounting her ordeal in September 2005 — two years before Madeleine vanished from the Ocean Club complex in the same Algarve resort.

Christian B escaped justice for 12 years before he was nailed by DNA evidence taken from a hair at the scene.

A spokesperson for the Oldenburg District Court said: "The court ruled there were no grounds for suspending the remainder of the sentence."

The decision will likely be welcomed by investigators working to find links between Christian B and Maddie's disappearance.

What are the key dates in Madeleine’s disappearance? (4/4)

• November 2018 – UK police are re-examining a theory Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents. They are also looking at whether her disappearance was the result of a kidnapping or burglary gone wrong.
• June 2019 – Another round of funding, believed to be £300,000 of government cash is granted
• June 2019 – Portuguese police are probing a “new clue and suspect” after talks with British officers, according to a bombshell local media report.
• August 2019 – A DNA expert in the US offers to analyse samples to provide an investigative lead.
• June 2020 – New prime suspect revealed as a German paedo, in a huge breakthrough in the 13-year investigation.

And now, last night Portuguese detectives confirmed convicted child rapist Christian B as an official suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

What are the key dates in Madeleine’s disappearance? (3/4)

• January 31, 2017 – Portugal’s Supreme Court rules against Kate and Gerry McCann’s £418,000 libel claim. The court claims freedom of expression laws protect Detective Goncalo Amaral’s claims in the book.
• March 11, 2017  – The Home Office grants Operation Grange an extra £85,000 to continue from April until September.
• September 28, 2017 –  British police are granted £154,000 to keep the probe alive until March 2018.
• November 2017 – Cops moved the search to Bulgaria as they tried to find a “woman in purple” they wanted to speak to.
• May 2018 – Another round of funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted.
• September 2018 – An extra six months of funding is requested from the Home Office amid fears the cash will run out by the end of the month.
• November 2018 – More funding, thought to be in the region of £150,000 is granted
• November 2018 – Former detective David Edgar, who once helped search for Madeleine, says she could still be alive and imprisoned, with “no idea who she is”. He believes she is being kept against her identity in a “lair” and could even still be in Portugal.

What are the key dates in Madeleine’s disappearance? (2/4)

• July 4, 2013 – Two years into a review of the case, Scotland Yard launch its own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. They claim to have “genuinely new” lines of inquiry and identify 38 people of interest including 12 Britons.
• October 24, 2013– Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of inquiry are found.
• November 27, 2013 – Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for British and Portuguese police to work together.
• April 28, 2015 – Detective Goncalo Amaral is ordered to pay Kate and Gerry McCann £209,000 each in damages by a court in Lisbon over claims made in The Truth Of The Lie and bans further sales of the book.
• October 28, 2015 – Scotland Yard reduces the number of officers working on Madeleine’s disappearance from 29 to four

What are the key dates in Madeleine’s disappearance? (1/4)

• May 3, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann leave their children asleep in their holiday apartments while they eat eat a nearby Tapas restaurant. At 10pm Kate finds Madeleine missing.
• May 14, 2007 – Property developer Robert Murat is quizzed by cops and named an “arguido” or formal suspect.
• August 31, 2007 – The McCanns launch libel action against Tal e Qual – a newspaper that claimed the couple killed Madeleine.
• September 7, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann are made “arguidos”.
• September 9, 2007– Madeleine’s parents return to England with their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie.
• October 2, 2007– Lead detective Goncalo Amaral is taken off the case after criticising British police in a newspaper interview.
• July 21, 2009 – Portuguese police lift the “arguido” status of  both Robert Murat and the McCanns, and shelve the investigation.
• July 24, 2009 – Detective Goncalo Amaral alleges that Madeleine died in her family’s holiday flat the day she went missing in a book called The Truth Of The Lie. In a documentary for Portuguese television he claims there was no abduction and the McCanns had hidden her body.
• May 12, 2011 – On Madeleine’s eighth birthday, Mrs McCann publishes a book about her disappearance. Scotland Yard launches a review into the case after a request from Home Secretary Theresa May, supported by Prime Minister David Cameron.
• April 25, 2012 – Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive. A new picture is released, showing what she might look like as a 9-year-old, and they call on the Portuguese authorities to reopen the case, but Portuguese police say they have found no new material.

15 years since Madeleine disappeared 

Maddie vanished in 2007 while on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal – triggering the most high-profile missing persons case in history.

On May 3 this year, it will be 15 years since Madeleine disappeared from her family holiday.

Suspect’s obsession with girls

Christian B’s ex-girlfriend also claimed this year that he is “obsessed with little girls”.

Nicole Fehlinger, who dated the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeline McCann in 2007 – the year she disappeared – claims he told her he is attracted to their childlike bodies.

Speaking to the , 44-year-old Ms Fehlinger said: “He said he liked small bodies of women and he liked the bodies of girls before they reached puberty.”

She also insisted that she was the man’s “lover, not his accomplice”.

What is an ‘arguido’?

Christian B was told he is now an ‘arguido’ in Portugal in his German prison cell according to an insider.

An “arguido” – normally translated as “named suspect” or “formal suspect” – is someone who is treated by Portuguese police as more than a witness but has not been arrested or charged.

Detectives invoke arguido status on someone as a preliminary to an arrest being made or charges brought, but that does not mean arrests or charges automatically follow.

Where are Madeleine McCann’s brother and sister now?

Sean and Amelie live with parents Kate and Gerry at their home in the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire.

They attend a Catholic secondary school the area, which retained a place for Madeleine to join if she is ever found.

The twins are both aspiring athletes and have competed in triathlons and country crossing racing.

For their own privacy and safety, the twins, now 16, are not publicly photographed as teenagers.

Their missing sister remains a cloud over the entire McCann family.

Scotland Yard says it remains 'committed to finding answers' 15 years on

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell from the Metropolitan Police, who leads the operation, said: "Fifteen years on from Madeleine's disappearance in Praia Da Luz our thoughts, as always, are with her family.

"Officers continue to investigate the case and our dedicated team are still working closely with law enforcement colleagues from the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria as well as the German Bundeskriminalamt.

"At this time, the case remains a missing person's inquiry and all involved are committed to doing what we can to find answers."

Statement from the McCanns marking 15 years since Madeleine's disappearance

Kate & Gerry McCanns' post read: "This year we mark 15 years since we last saw Madeleine. It feels no harder than any other but no easier either. It's a very long time.

"Many people talk about the need for 'closure'. It's always felt a strange term.

"Regardless of outcome, Madeleine will always be our daughter and a truly horrific crime has been committed. These things will remain.

"It is true though that uncertainty creates weakness; knowledge and certainty give strength, and for this reason our need for answers, for the truth, is essential.

"We are grateful for the ongoing work and commitment of the UK, Portuguese and German authorities as it is this combined police effort which will yield results and bring us those answers.

"As always, we would like to thank all of our supporters for their continued good wishes and support.

"It is a huge comfort to know that regardless of time passed, Madeleine is still in people's hearts and minds.

"Thank you."

Recap: How the evening of Maddie’s disappearance unfolded

Parents Gerry and Kate McCann left their three kids, including toddler twins Sean and Amelie, sleeping in their apartment while they dined at a tapas bar 120 metres away.

When Kate returned to check on the kids at about 10pm that evening, she found Madeleine was not in her bed and was missing.

In September of that year, Gerry and Kate, both doctors, were sensationally named as “arguidos” or “suspects” by Portuguese police.

The following summer the McCanns were cleared by investigators in Portugal who declared they had exhausted all avenues in the case.

A 15-year hearing limit in Portugal

Today marks 15 years since Madeleine disappeared from her family holiday.

Portugal has a 15-year hearing limit on murder charges – meaning that police would have a reduced risk of convicting a suspect after next month.

The news comes after Portuguese police said they would continue to investigate Maddie’s disappearance as the Met Police ended its probe.

Who are Madeleine McCann’s siblings?

Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3, 2007, from her bed in the family’s holiday apartment in Portugal.

Sleeping next to her were Sean and Amelie McCann, her twin siblings.

The twins were only two years old at the time of the disappearance and slept through the break in.

There has been some suggestion that the pair had been sedated, although this has never been proven.

Who are Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann?

Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry are both practising Catholics who met in Glasgow in 1993.

Kate became a GP after studying medicine at the University of Dundee while Gerry has been a consultant cardiologist since 2005.

The couple got married in 1998 before having their first child, Madeleine, in 2003.

They also have twin children, a boy and a girl, who were born in 2005 and live in Rothley, Leicestershire.

Kate and Gerry had been married for nine years when Madeleine disappeared on the night of May 3, 2007.

Suspect’s van forensically tested by cops

MADELEINE McCann suspect Christian B’s van was forensically tested by cops after he was quizzed for first time about her disappearance.

Portuguese cops are now waiting for results from the VW van that Christian B drove while living on the Algarve where the three-year-old vanished on May 3, 2007.

The German convicted paedophile was questioned by police in Oldenburg jail after authorities named him as an official suspect on Thursday.

According to the , police asked him: “Where were you the night Madeleine McCann disappeared?”

Christian B was pressed to provide an alibi, adding: “If you weren’t by the apartment she ­disappeared from, where were you?”

Insiders close to the case claim he did not answer any of the questions.

Inside suspect Christian B’s explosive interview

THE parents of missing Madeleine McCann recently welcomed news that caged Christian B has been made an official suspect. Kate and Gerry also said they hoped their daughter was still alive.

B was declared an “arguido” by police in Portugal ahead of the 15th anniversary of the three-year-old vanishing on the Algarve.

Madeleine McCann’s parents spoke directly about the 44-year-old German for the first time, and details will be aired on May 3 — the 15th anniversary of her disappearance — in documentary Madeleine McCann: Prime Suspect, by US network AMC Crime.

A source close to the case in Germany, where B is in prison, said: “He has had nearly two years to explain himself but has constantly declined to comment.

“It’s baffling as to why he should maintain that silence then finally come up with an explanation now.

“And it’s even more odd that he should give the details to a TV documentary rather than the authorities.”Hinting at possible desperation over the “arguido” move, they added: “Why didn’t he give his version of events on day one as soon as he was made a suspect?”