The disappearance of Madeleine McCann

On this Podcast we cover the disappearance, investigations and media firestorms that followed the story of a missing child. Madeleine McCann was a 3 year old toddler when she vanished while on a family holiday in 2007. Last seen in her families apartment in the The Ocean Club complex in Praia de Luz, Portugal. But it was the events surrounding the disappearance, suspected abduction and ensuing investigations that would create controversy and mystery in equal measure.

Kate and Gerry

As the local Portuguese police quickly turned from a runaway child case to a kidnapping it was the behavior of the parents, doctors Kate and Gerry McCann, that would draw the attention of detectives. After initial reports from the scene held troubling facts and inconsistencies and the actions and statements of the parents themselves caused suspicion of foul play. The Tapas 9 as they were called in the media were the group of friends holidaying with the McCanns. The parents had left all their children in their respective apartments across the complex as they dined in the hotel restaurant. Members of the party like David Payne and Jane Tanner were the ones who gave witness testimony of the movements of Kate and Gerry and the sighting of a possible abductor. The McCanns were soon made suspects by the Portugese police, the status later being lifted, but only after they left Portugal to return home to Leicestershire, England with them famously refusing to answer 48 questions from investigators about the events.

The Truth in the Lie

Both the search for Madeleine and the hunt for the truth of her disappearance seemed to stall for years. The McCanns, with their Find Maddie Fund were initiating private investigations in to child sex trafficking rings and kidnapping-to-order gangs around Europe, most notably through Barcelona based investigators Metodo 3. With millions of pounds in donations from the public they withstood accusations of impropriety and misappropriation in the hierarchy of their charity organization, taking in leads and sightings of Maddie from all over the world. Always maintaining a rigorous media interview schedule to raise awareness of the continued search for Madeleine.

It was then that Goncalo Amaral, the former Portuguese lead investigator went on to write the book: The Truth in the Lie. In it he detailed never before seen forensic and interview evidence. From the strange rogatory interviews with the Tapas 9 taken years later to DNA and canine indicators in the apartment and hire car of the McCanns the evidence paints a socking and different picture. He would provide a theory of events, starting with an accident or murder and finishing with a calculating disposal of the body, charade and governmental protection to cover it up. It was in this climate that the Metropolitan Police Police’s Operation Grange began a multi-million pound investigation into the search for Maddie, raising further accusations in the public.

Featuring Conspiracy Guys Gordon and Paul