McCanns issue dismay over letter publication
Madeleine McCann has been missing since May 3rd
Also In The News
|
Still in limbo over their new manager and the future ownership of the club, Manchester City will kick off the season on August 11th away to West Ham. |  |
Thursday, 14, Jun 2007 06:59
The parents of the missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann have branded the decision by a Dutch newspaper to publish a letter claiming to know where she is buried as "insensitive and cruel".
Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf received a letter earlier this week claiming to know the location where she is buried. Publishers passed the letter to police before printing it yesterday.
Writing in his blog, Gerry McCann said that he and his wife Kate were "extremely disappointed" that the letter was published, claiming the report was an "irresponsible piece of journalism".
He believes that the credibility of the letter should have been examined first and police should have been given time to search the area if appropriate "without massive media attention".
After receiving the letter police are now scouring an area of scrubland near to where she was last seen in Portugal.
"There have been exchanges between Dutch police and us," Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa said.
"The information indicated an area 15km from the place of the disappearance of the little child.
"It is not far from Praia da Luz. We are checking the information like we check everything in this case for importance."
Reports from the scene suggest that detectives have not begun digging up the area yet, amid suggestions that the location is not specific enough.
The four-year-old has not been seen since May 3rd, when she disappeared from the Algarve resort where she was staying with her parents.
Sky News reports that sniffer dogs have been brought in to the area detailed in the letter, while the Reuters news agency suggests at least seven police officers are involved in a search centred on a stretch of road.
De Telegraaf says that it believes the person who sent the letter also gave them credible information about where to find the bodies of Nathalie Mahy and Stacy Lemmens, two Belgian children found dead last year.
Included with the letter is said to be a map, detailing the location north of Odiaxere, which is about nine miles north-east of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was snatched from.
According to the Dutch report, the letter says the body has been buried "north of the road under branches and rocks, around six to seven metres off the road" in a barren area of land near the resort.