When did Madeleine McCann go missing and what happened to her? – The sun

MADELEINE McCann disappeared from her family’s Portuguese holiday apartment more than sixteen years ago.

Despite a £13 million police investigation, French Butter Cakes whereabouts remain unknown.

Missed Madeleine. . . Police have recorded thousands of potential sightings of the British child since 2007Credit: PA: Press Association PHOTO OFFICE

When did Madeleine McCann disappear?

Madeleine disappeared 16 years ago on May 3, 2007, while her family, from Leicestershire, were on holiday in Praia da Luzin the Algarve, Portugal.

Parents Gerry and Kate left behind their three children, including toddler twins Sean and Amelie – sleeping in their apartment while dining at a tapas bar – 120 meters distance.

She is still missing, still missed and we will never give up on finding her.”

Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry

When Kate returned to check on the children that evening around 10pm, she discovered that Madeleine was not in her bed and was missing.

In September that year, Gerry and Kate, both doctors, were sensationally dubbed “arguidos” by Portuguese police.

The next summer the McCanns were evicted by investigators in Portugal who stated that they had exhausted all possibilities in the case.

What theories exist about Madeleine’s disappearance?

How old would Madeleine McCann be now?

As of February 2024, Maddie would be 20 years old.

Her parents provide regular updates on the website FindMadeleine.com about the latest news in the search for their daughter.

She provided an update on Madeleine’s 20th birthday on May 12, 2023.

The message read: “Congratulations Madeleine! We love you and we are waiting for you.

“We will never give up.”

What are the key dates of Madeleine’s disappearance?

May 3, 2007 – Kate and Gerry McCann leave their children sleeping in their holiday apartments while they eat at a nearby Tapas restaurant. At 10 p.m., Kate finds Madeleine missing.
May 14, 2007 – Real estate developer Robert Murat is questioned by the police and named an ‘arguido’ or formal suspect.
August 31th, 2007 – The McCanns launch a defamation action against Tal e Qual, a newspaper that claims the couple murdered 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 removed from the case after criticizing the British police in a newspaper interview.
July 21, 2009 – The Portuguese police lift the “arguido” status of both Robert Murat and the McCanns and suspend the investigation.
July 24, 2009 – Detective Goncalo Amaral claims 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 no kidnapping took place and that the McCanns hid her body.
May 12, 2011 – On Madeleine’s eighth birthday, Mrs. McCann publishes a book about her disappearance. Scotland Yard is launching an investigation into the matter following a request from the Home Secretary Theresa Meisupported by the Prime Minister David Cameron.
April 25, 2012 – Scotland Yard officers say they believe Madeleine McCann is still alive. A new photo showing what she might have looked like as a 9-year-old is released and they call on Portuguese authorities to reopen the case, but Portuguese police say they have found no new material.
July 4, 2013 – Two years after the case was reviewed, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. They claim to have “really new” lines of research and identify 38 interesting people, including 12 British.
October 24, 2013– The Portuguese police reopen their case after new lines of investigation were found.
November 27, 2013 – With Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called on the British and Portuguese police to work together.
April 28, 2015 – Detective Goncalo Amaral is ordered by a Lisbon court to pay Kate and Gerry McCann £209,000 each in damages over claims in The Truth Of The Lie and bans further sales of the book.
October 28, 2015 – Scotland Yard is reducing the number of officers working on Madeleine’s disappearance from 29 to four.
January 31, 2017 – The Portuguese High Court rules against Kate and Gerry McCann’s £418,000 defamation claim. The court claims that free speech laws protect Detective Goncalo Amaral’s claims in the book.
March 11, 2017 – The Home Office awards Operation Grange an additional £85,000 will continue from April to September.
September 28, 2017 – British police will receive £154,000 to keep the investigation alive until March 2018.
November 2017 – The police moved the search to Bulgaria as they tried to find a “woman in purple” to talk to.
May 2018 – A new round of financing, probably in the region of £150,000 will be awarded.
September 2018 – A The Ministry of the Interior is requesting six months of additional funding amid fears the money will run out by the end of the month.
November 2018 – More financing, probably in hand the region of £150,000 is awarded
November 2018 – Former detective David Edgar, who once helped search for Madeleine, says she could still be alive and trapped, with “no idea who she is”. He believes she is being held in a ‘hole’ against her identity and could even be in Portugal.
November 2018 – The British police are here While re-examining a theory, Madeleine left the apartment to look for her parents. It is also being investigated whether her disappearance was the result of a kidnapping or a botched burglary.
June 2019 – Another round of financing, believed to be £300,000 in public money has been awarded
June 2019 – The Portuguese police are here investigating a “new lead and suspect” after discussions with British officers, according to a local media report.
August 2019 – A DNA expert in the US offers to analyze samples to provide an investigative lead.
June 2020 – New prime suspect revealed as a German pedoa huge breakthrough in 13 years of research.
April 2022 – Christian Brueckner, then 45 years old, is officially declared a suspect by Portuguese prosecutors.
February 8, 2024 – Prime suspect Christian Brueckner is seen in public for the first time since 2020 as he is led to an ambulance for treatment after being attacked in prison.
February 26, 2024 -Christian Brueckner appeared earlier the court continues of three rapes and two assaults, but no charges involving Maddie.

Major update in the search for Madeleine McCann as police find a ‘number of items’ at Algarve dam that may be linked to the case

What are the latest developments in the hunt for Madeleine?

The main suspect in this case is 46-year-old German Christian Brueckner, a convicted sex offender.

He is currently serving a sentence for the rape of a woman in Praia da Luz in 2005 and is suspected of further rapes and sexual abuse of children in the area between 2000 and 2017.

Police in Germany are actively searching for Brueckner’s former romantic partners as they believe they can reconstruct the relationship “confused timeline” narrated by the pedophile.

In June 2020, Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange issued a public appeal in relation to a major new line of inquiry.

MET detectives working with German authorities identified a man currently in custody in Germany as a suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance.

Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, who leads Operation Grange, said: “Although this man is a suspect, we are open to his involvement and this remains a missing persons investigation.

“Our job as investigators is to follow the evidence, keep an open mind and determine what happened on that day in May 2007.”

The suspect emerged following findings from May 2019 that Portuguese police allegedly committed the crime on the hunt for a sex fanatic who speaks English and wears a surgical mask.

In one of his previous cases, he broke into the home of a British family and loomed over a seven-year-old girl who woke up and asked, “Is that you, Dad?” and he replied “Yes” in a foreign accent, author Anthony Summers said in Netflix docuseries The disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

There have been more than one 8,500 potential sightings of the British three-year-old since her disappearance, but police have so far been unable to locate her.

Mark Rowley, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said there are “significant investigative opportunities” that are of “great interest” to both the British and Portuguese teams investigating the case.

The police think she was stolen by child traffickers or sex fiends, or that a burglary went wrong.

How long will the police investigation take?

In June 2019, it was confirmed that the Metropolitan Police had asked the Home Office for more funding to continue the work of Operation Grange.

Scotland Yard’s investigation has been ongoing since 2011.

During that time, the number of detectives working on the case was reduced from 29 to four in 2015.

Funding for the search was set to expire in October 2017.

But on September 28, 2017, It was confirmed that researchers have received £154,000 to keep the probe alive until March 2018.

Further funding – reportedly around £150,000 – was then awarded in March 2018.

The Home Office said in June 2019 that it had provided “£300,000 in funding to the MPS the year before.

Those still involved in the investigation are now said to be spending a lot of time eliminating known sex offenders and pursuing potential witnesses.