MADELEINE MCCANN: IS THIS THE MAN WHO SNATCHED HER?

MADELEINE MCCANN: IS THIS THE MAN WHO SNATCHED HER?


Madeleine McCann: The man Jane Tanner saw and, right, stranger on the beach/Pic: Jamie Jones

Sunday May 16,2010

By James Murray

THIS is the sensational picture of a suspicious man on the beach which could lead to a breakthrough in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Snapped inadvertently in the background of a holiday photo, the mysterious man strolls along after a rain shower, staring out to sea at Praia da Luz.

The picture was taken at the Portuguese resort days before Madeleine, then three, vanished during the evening of May 3, 2007.

Briton Gail Cooper was having lunch with family and friends in a beachside cafe and taking photos when she saw him wandering along the beach, apparently in a world of his own.

“It was odd to see him walking around the beach alone in showery, cold weather.” she said.

Mrs Cooper, 53, added that a few hours after the snap was taken, the same man visited her at her rented villa 20 minutes’ walk from the beach. The £2million holiday property was in a quiet road near the Mark Warner complex where Madeleine and her family were staying.

During a tense conversation on the doorstep, the man sought cash with what she called “an obviously made-up story” that he was collecting money for an orphanage in a nearby town, where the children of Britons killed in a car crash were being cared for.

Just under a week after the unnerving encounter, when Mrs Cooper had returned home to Britain, Madeleine was taken from her holiday apartment.

Alarmed, Mrs Cooper contacted British detectives because of her ­concerns about the man on the beach and handed over the photograph, taken by a ­member of her holiday party.

Months later private investigators working for Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann asked Mrs Cooper to work with an FBI-trained artist to create a drawing of the man she had seen at the beach and villa.
She described him as having protruding teeth, a handlebar moustache and wind-blown dark hair. In the photo the man is ­turning slightly towards the sea, so it is not possible to tell whether he has a moustache.

However, he does appear to bear a resemblance to a man the McCanns’ friend, Jane Tanner, saw walking with a child in his arms at about the time Madeleine disappeared.

Ms Tanner saw him crossing a road yards from the McCanns’ apartment and it is widely believed that he was the man who abducted Madeleine. She also worked with an artist to ­create a drawing of the man she saw. It did not include facial features as she did not see his face.

The man Ms Tanner saw, ­walking in the glare of an orange street light, was wearing light coloured trousers and a dark top and appears to have slightly hunched shoulders.

The man in the photo was also wearing light coloured trousers, a dark top and appears to have slightly rounded shoulders.

Mrs Cooper, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, said last night: “I am 98 per cent certain the man in the photo was the same man who made the strange visit to our ­holiday villa. His hair looks neater in the photo, but he is quite far in the background.” The picture was given to detectives in Leicestershire who are liaising with detectives in ­Portugal, but Mrs Cooper said she was never told whether the man had been identified.

“I believe it would be useful for the investigation if he was to come forward,” she added. Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, are hoping that new Tory Home Secretary Theresa May will call for a review of all the evidence in the case.

If you can identify the man in the photograph please call the Sunday Express on 0208 612 7073 or contact the website ­Findmadeleine.com.

Petty good hey...lets hope and pray this leads to Madeleine.It does appear to resemble the man jane tanner said she saw although im not getting my hopes up because we have done that so many times before..i just pray tonight that Madeleine within an inch of being rescued and reunited with her family.

C'mon for gods sake someone must know this guy in the paper??And before the antis start spewing cr@p about how he is unrecognizable thats bullsh/t.I can recognize people i know without seeing their faces and i can recognize folk just by the way they stand and walk :) someone knows this man....someone who is related maybe, or friends??
He could be innocent .... but he could hold the answers to this case.If he is innocent then he shoudl come forward to be eliminated from the investigation!!

I hope it comes to something and I hope and hope for a new investigation.

I have heard some people pouring scorn on this woman Gail Cooper as being a publicity hunter but all my gut instincts tell me her story is valid. It has the ring of truth as they say. I am not clear about who took the picture but there is an undoubted resemblance.
Whoever the man is he sounds like a loner. I doubt he has friends worth speaking of and family....? I don´t think they would know much about his activities somehow. But maybe there is another link out there somehow. Please God.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that it DOES lead somewhere, but why has it taken till now to release this picture? And is it any good showing this picture in this country, if, as is highly likely, the man is Portuguese? I would hope this picture is being shown in the Portuguese press, especially in the PDL local paper.

I agree with you all my friends, I wonder if should be publicised at Algarve Resident. It´s in the hands of those who are really looking for this sweet little girl.

vee8 wrote:I am keeping my fingers crossed that it DOES lead somewhere, but why has it taken till now to release this picture? And is it any good showing this picture in this country, if, as is highly likely, the man is Portuguese? I would hope this picture is being shown in the Portuguese press, especially in the PDL local paper.

I was just going to post the same thing. This photo really needs to be published in Portugal, I hope the Algarve Resident pick this up and run with it.

I think this photo should be sent immediately to Algarve Resident, here are the emails:

info@algarveresident.com

mike@theresidentgroup.com

news@algarveresident.com

ines.lopes@theresidentgroup.com

chris.graeme@theresidentgroup.com

If any of you my friends wish more information about the Algarve Resident, please, write at Google:
Algarve Resident, then once you´re inside, you will see:

Algarve Resident - the REAL Algarve Resident - 1st for News... - [Traduzir esta página]
14 May 2010 ... Published and maintained by: MMS Publishing Lda, part of the Resident Group. Rua Visconde de Lagoa, Nº2 e 3, 8400-329 Lagoa, Algarve, ...
www.algarveresident.com/ - Em cache - Semelhante

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By clicking at: Madeleine, you will see all the latest news.

Is this Gail Coopers man?

Sorry but I cant see any resemblance in that picture to form a clearer identity to what she described (free of charge) in her statement to the PJ. That efit had more detail than a blur.

I do hope this blur is not a money making exersise between her and the paper. Love to know if she has donated to the fund.

Her sketched description.



Against the one probably sold to the paper.



Could be anyone.

To be honest, the hair is different (unless he used a wig or cut it after the abduction, changed clothes, because only a stupid abductor wouldn´t change his physical appearance after an abduction), the way he moves or walk is different (but with a child in his arms, the way he moves or walk could be different). He looks relaxed, but with a child in his arms, in a hurry, running, to avoid being seen or recognized, it could be different because he is under pressure, with afraid of being reconized and caught, or in a hurry to deliver the abducted child to other person waiting in car.

Somehow I very much doubt that story and the picture would be in the papers if the PI's were convinced that that man was really involved.
Wouldn't the journalist (or even Gail Cooper) check if it's safe before publishing it?

perhaps it is in the paper precisely because they - the Detectives - cannot find him.?

This story seems to be running from the previous story that James Murray published, when he met Mrs Cooper out in Praia da Luz a few weeks back

From what I can gather, the police did come to take the picture that Mrs Cooper had and she also told of a video of a man fitting Jane Tanner's efit working in a market and Mrs Cooper was pleading with the McCanns to release the video. Gail Cooper has said that she has heard nothing since and this worries her every day.

I don't know what to make of it, if there was anything in this, maybe the investigation team has investigated and ruled the man out, or still investigating and this may be the last thing they want, who knows? If the team had ruled the man out, it would explain why Mr Mrs McCann did not want the photo of an innocent man released, for this very kind of thing now. It's all speculation of course.

Having said all of that, I first saw the picture it did impress me that the gait, the hair, the build etc were very similar, maybe if he was walking in the same direction as the man in efit, it would become clearer.

I have to say, in my opinion there are similarities, but am guarded, we have all been here before. If this man lives in or around PDL then someone there MUST recognise him.

rosemary wrote:I have heard some people pouring scorn on this woman Gail Cooper as being a publicity hunter but all my gut instincts tell me her story is valid. It has the ring of truth as they say. I am not clear about who took the picture but there is an undoubted resemblance.
Whoever the man is he sounds like a loner. I doubt he has friends worth speaking of and family....? I don´t think they would know much about his activities somehow. But maybe there is another link out there somehow. Please God.

Mine too Rosemary,

I don't think she is trying to make money out of this, but trying her best to help. She has been trying for nearly 3 years to get this out, surely she would have given up by now if she only wanted the money. She can't be that bad off if she hired a 2 million pound villa for her 50th birthday. It was her sister that took the photo, she thought of her son and grandson, this man was in the background and found out when they had the photo's developed.

I think she honestly cares deeply about this and bless her for that!

And it wasn´t so much the look of this oddball that stayed with Gail Cooper and her family as much as his weird behaviour that day on the beach. And at her front door.

Chris, yes that is very true, it isn't fair that I insinuated it could be a money making exersise while not also suggesting Gail only be keen to help. I still cant see how a blur provides a better picture than the very good drawings and I still see the papers making a sensation to increase readership.

Like this....??

I am sure the detectives have investigated this as the information has been available for a while and only drip fed by the newspapers.

It is dangerous to be putting oddball people in PDL who may behave weirdly on internet trial on a public board. This is the stuff for law enforcment to deal with. Not for endangering possibly innocent people by making links to involvment in an abduction via forums.

If people have issues they should be contacting the powers that be and it is for them to decide who is publicised as relevent to the case or not.

How do people feel about Smiths statement that Gerry is like the man because of a similarity in manersims being touted on fora trail courtrooms?

Same difference.

Chicane wrote:Like this....??

I imagine that this photo has already been through the facial recognition system
and thank you Chicane for showing us the above similarities.

Yes this man may be innocent, so he should come forward to be ruled out.
I am sure somebody would recognise him, and I agree that this picture should be in circulation.
It's a pity it wasn't much earlier on .. but then we do not know everything
that has or not been looked at.

My friends, please watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXwPayg1pyQ