Irish McCann fund conman found dead in his home
A DUBLIN-BORN conman who swindled the Madeleine McCann fund out of more than £300,000 has died in mystery circumstances at his English country mansion.
Police are investigating the death after the body of the selfproclaimed James Bond-style super sleuth Kevin Halligen, 56, was found covered in blood.
Halligen, who was born in south Dublin but called himself British and spoke with an upper-class English accent, took over the private investigation into the McCann case in May 2008. He was later accused of conning the family fund out of £300,000 having done little or nothing in the quest to discover what happened to Maddie.
A police spokesman said: ‘The death is being treated as unexplained and a file will be passed to the coroner’s office.’
Halligen’s former associates described him as a heavy drinker, with one saying: ‘The house was covered in blood but apparently that was from Kevin falling down so much.’
The McCanns weren’t the only people Halligen duped. In 2013 he was convicted of fraud in the US after pocketing millions of dollars meant to be spent on lobbying in Washington DC. After serving 42 months in custody he was deported to Ireland.
Kate and Gerry McCann hired Halligen’s firm, Oakley International, in a bid to boost the search for Maddie one year after she went missing but the contract was terminated early over allegations he was enjoying a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the Find Madeleine fund and misleading the McCanns. A family friend said: ‘He had this sense of cloak-and-dagger, acting as if he were a James Bond-style spy.’
The hunt for Madeleine continues, more than 10 years after she disappeared.