Maddie McCann
Madeleine McCann went missing 12 years ago, aged three. Could a new TV series shed light on her disappearance?
It’s the world’s most high-profile missing person’s case. Now, in the year that would have seen Madeleine McCann’s 16th birthday, an explosive new Netflix documentary has been released that claims the case will be resolved, and that Maddie could still be alive.
In May 2007, Kate McCann ran out of her holiday apartment at the Praia da Luz resort in the Algarve, screaming, ‘Madeleine’s gone! Madeleine’s gone!’ These words sparked a world wide search that is still on going.
Pictures of the pretty threeyear-old – distinctive because of a blemish in her right eye – were posted in airports and ports all over the world as the Portuguese police struggled to find her.
Worldwide media and public interest brought no resolution. As months turned to years, there were endless theories about what had happened to Madeleine (affectionately known as Maddie), who’d been left sleeping with her twin siblings in the apartment while her parents had dinner with friends in a nearby restaurant.
From speculation about human trafficking rings kidnapping the child, to her parents being involved – which they strongly deny – to individuals being questioned, the inquiry took many twists and turns. Yet none could be proved, and no trace of Maddie was found.
But, although the case – which has cost the authorities £11.75m to date – is unsolved, controversial new documentary series The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann claims that it is not too late for answers.
Of the 40 experts and key figures who appear in the series, Jim Gamble, the top child protection cop in the UK’s first investigation into Maddie, says, ‘I absolutely believe that, in my lifetime, we will find out what has happened to Madeleine.
‘There’s huge hope to be had with the advances in technology. Year on year, DNA [tracing and testing] is getting better… other techniques, including facial recognition, are getting better… there’s every likelihood that something we already know will slip into position.’
The eight-part series also claims that, if Maddie was taken by traffickers, chances are she could still be alive.
‘They usually go for lowerclass kids from Third World countries. The value that Madeleine had was really high – if they took her, it’s because they were going to get a lot of money,’ says Julian Peribanez, the McCanns’ private investigator.
Parents Kate and Gerry, both 51, from Rothley, Leicestershire, refused to take part in the series, saying they can’t see how it would help the search for Maddie on a practical level, and opposed it being uploaded to Netflix’s 159 million subscribers.
‘Keeping any search for what happened to Madeleine in the [ global] consciousness is so important,’ said executive producer Emma Cooper.
Will Maddie ever be found? It’s a question that only time can answer.