Maddie double cried "Help Me'

From ANTONELLA LAZZERI, in Portimao, Portugal

Published: Today






A GIRL the double of Madeleine McCann shouted "Help me!" in English as she was dragged out of a hotel in Austria, police files have revealed.



A tourist couple who had already commented on how much the child looked like missing Maddie were stunned when she cried out as a "tubby" man hurried her away.

The couple, visitors from Norway, rushed outside to look for the man and girl but they had abruptly vanished.

Alarm ... girl, circled, on Canadian TV was like older Maddie





Austrian cops sent a list of all the guests then staying at the hotel to their counterparts probing Maddie's disappearance in Portugal - but NOTHING was done.

'Horrified' ... Kate and Gerry McCann





The report is one of many buried away in a huge mountain of official Portuguese police files obtained this week by The Sun.

Huge ... mound of police files obtained by The Sun





Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann have been "horrified" to discover from the files how little was done to follow up leads and sightings.

The Norwegians were staying at the Hotel Landzeit in the resort of St Valentin in 2008.

They noticed the man and girl in the restaurant and at once saw the child's "striking" similarity to missing Maddie.



As the man pulled the child, who was about four, hurriedly past their table she looked up and begged: "Help me'








The Norwegians told police they were surprised because they had rarely met any British people in Austria, let alone "children who speak English".

Another reported sighting of Maddie came from Canada, where a woman was reduced to tears after seeing a child who looked like her on a television news report.

The viewer contacted Toronto Crimestoppers to say that the girl - seen singing among a group of schoolkids - fitted the age-progression picture of an older Maddie.

A DVD of the item was sent to Portuguese police along with the report - but again nothing was done.

In a third case a request from British police to Portuguese cops to investigate the background of a suspicious man employed at the resort from which Maddie was snatched was also apparently ignored.


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2879160/Lost-Maddie-double-who-cried-Help-me.html#ixzz0hGjLFhHq

The girl in that picture is NOT Madeleine. She wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a TV anyway.

Vee I agree the child in the TV picture is not Madeleine, but I would not be so quick to say that she would not be allowed near a TV, we cannot assume anything, this is exactly what the PJ have done and it has led us to this terrible state of affairs, I believe vital leads have been lost here that could have led detectives to Madeleine. Other missing abducted children who have later been found, have been sent to school, allowed computers and to play out on their bikes and visit friends houses, so we cannot say that she would or would not be allowed to do this or that. Every sightin should be investgated and ruled out, especially at this stage, also we do not want people to stop reporting their sightings.

In a third case a request from British police to Portuguese cops to investigate the background of a suspicious man employed at the resort from which Maddie was snatched was also apparently ignored.

And this is absolutely disgusting, many of us believe the abductors had inside help, how dare the PJ do this?

What is the Portuguese government doing about this? They cannot shove this back in the bottle, the genie is out now and they MUST act.

FULL review of the investigation NOW

Amaral arrested and made a formal witness and then questioned NOW

Paiva SACKED, arrested, nade a formal witness and questioned NOW

Nothing less is acceptable, come on Portguese government do your job, what are you afraid of?

I totally agree. Paiva and Amaral should be charged with dereliction of duty.

Yes, I totally agree also with Rosiepops and May.

I agree the child in the photo does not look like Madeleine, but unless it was investigated, it cannot be eliminated for certain.

Paiva had no right to mark this information "Irrelevant", there should be an immediate enquiry into his handling of this information and in the meantime he should be removed from his position.

I dont quite understand what he was doing in this position in the first place, unless I am mistaken he had only been a serving officer for 9 years when the case was archived which imo does not qualify him to oversee the biggest missing child case Europe has ever seen.

Tinkerbell43 wrote:I agree the child in the photo does not look like Madeleine, but unless it was investigated, it cannot be eliminated for certain.

Paiva had no right to mark this information "Irrelevant", there should be an immediate enquiry into his handling of this information and in the meantime he should be removed from his position.

I dont quite understand what he was doing in this position in the first place, unless I am mistaken he had only been a serving officer for 9 years when the case was archived which imo does not qualify him to oversee the biggest missing child case Europe has ever seen.

I absolutely agree with you Tinks, only I think he should be sacked immediately for gross deriliction of duty.

I do not understand why he was overseeing the investigation when he obviously has not got experience or the skills to do so, why did Paulo Rebelo have to hand the investigation over to him? Whoever ordered this MUST have known that due to his relationship with Goncalo Amaral, Ricardo Paiva was heavily compromised. How can a person in charge of the most famous, biggest missing child investigation in the world be allowed to testify for someone that was sacked from it? How could Paiva be in charge of it and think that Madeleine is dead on absolutely no evidence and be allowed to take decisions on what should and should not be investigated? He could not take an unbiased decision because he was up Amaral's backside and he thought Madeleine was dead and furthermore he had been instructing his men to put people off who were contacting the investigation, telling them to tell people not to waste their time and that the little girl is dead!

How much information has come into the investigation that has gone straight into the bin, with no investigations what-so-ever?

How many people have actually phoned the PJ and been fobbed off and their call and information unrecorded?

This is not just incompetence it is criminal negligence, it is deriliction of duty and it is perverting the course of justice and it can also be construed as *withholding evidence*.

Any one of these is serious and would and should result in dismissal, but all of them is insane, this was done on purpose, without a single doubt, this was done on purpose, I believe that Ricardo Paiva and Goncalo Amaral are withholding evidence on purpose, I believe they know who took Madeleine and I believe they know where she was taken.

Something must be done about it NOW