onlymadeleine

Thursday, May 3

Madeleine McCann goes missing from her bedroom between 9.30 and 10pm while her parents Gerry and Kate are just 100 yards away.


Friday, May 4

Police are criticised by a number of people for "a slow initial response".

- Border police, the Spanish authorities and airports are notified. Volunteer teams continue to comb the village, resort and beach for clues.

Saturday, May 5

Detectives reveal they believe she was abducted


Monday, May 7

Mrs McCann makes a personal plea to whoever is holding her daughter: "Please, please do not hurt her. Please do not scare her."



Tuesday, May 8

Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo joins the appeal for Madeleine's release.

Police look into 350 suspicious incidents but admit they don't know where she is

Wednesday, May 9th

Police examine a CCTV tape from a service station a few miles from Praia da Luz, showing a woman with a girl fitting Madeleine's description.

Thursday, May 10th

Police say in a press conference that the local search for Madeleine is being wound down. They issue an image of a pair of pyjamas identical to those Madeleine was wearing when she disappeared.


Friday, May 11th

Reward money starts pouring in. Scottish businessman Stephen Winyard offers £1m.

Others follow including Richard Branson and J K Rowling.

David Beckham makes a television appeal for information

Saturday, May 12th

Madeleine's fourth birthday.
- Donors including Sir Richard Branson bring the total amount of money now being offered in the search to more than £2.5m.

Sunday, May 13th - Virgin boss Richard Branson, author J.K. Rowling and footballer Wayne Rooney are among those to have contributed to rewards now totalling 2.5 million pounds.

May 13 - Half a million pilgrims attending the 90th anniversary of the first appearance of the Virgin Mary at the Sanctuary of Fatima pray for Madeleine's return.



Monday, May 14

Her parents say they will not leave Portugal until they have found Madeleine.


Monday, May 14

Police search a villa just up the road from where Madeleine disappeared - a number of other properties were also searched.



Tuesday, May 15

Mr McCann says that "until there is concrete evidence to the contrary, we believe Madeleine is safe and is being looked after".

The home of a British man, Robert Murat, which is 160 yards from where Madeleine was snatched, is searched by police. Police confirm he is a suspect.
Briton Robert Murat is identified by police as a suspect and questioned but they say they do not have enough evidence for an arrest.


Wednesday, May 16

Police interview Russian computer expert Sergey Malinka and take a number of items from his property to check.

He is not a suspect and was interviewed as a witness.



Thursday, May 17

A website, findmadeleine.com, is launched to help in the search for the missing girl.

Her parents also set up a public appeal fund.

Friday, May 18th

Multi-national companies help distribute appeal posters.

Several newspapers have started talking of media overkill.



Saturday, May 19

Appeal for Madeleine's return are aired at the FA Cup final at the new Wembley stadium.



Friday, May 25

The McCanns speak of their guilt over the night of Madeleine's disappearance.


Wednesday, May 30

Gerry and Kate McCann travel to meet with the Pope. The pontiff offered his support to the couple and blessed a picture of Madeleine.



Friday, June 1

The McCanns take part in another appeal in Spain. They believe it is possible Madeleine was taken across from Portugal soon after being snatched.


Saturday, June 2

Madeleine McCann is shown on a big screen before The Vodafone Derby Race run at Epsom Racecourse.


Wednesday, June 6

Gerry and Kate Mccann appeal to the German public to help find Madeleine.

They also denied any involvement in the abduction after a question from a member of the German media.

Thursday, June 7

On their return to the Algarve, a classical and jazz concert is held in honour of Madeleine.

Web site has received more than 170 million hits.

Sunday, June 10

The couple fly to Morocco

Monday, 11th June

Kate and Gerry meet school children holding posters of Madeleine in Rabat during their visit to Morocco in North Africa.
Beaming for the first time in public in weeks, Kate was embraced by the children.
More than 100 children gathered around the couple, holding posters of Madeleine high above their heads.


Gerry and Kate hold a news conference in the Hilton Hotel, Rabat.

They say this is the final stop on a series of visits to foreign countries to raise Madeleine's profile.


Wednesday, June 13

Police start searching an area of deserted scrubland 20 km north of Praia da Luz after a tip-off to a Dutch newspaper. They find nothing.

Wednesday, June 20

On a visit to London, Gerry McCann has his wallet stolen. He loses precious pictures of Madeleine

Thursday, June 21

Police in Malta check two reports of possible sightings.

Friday, June 22

Worldwide balloon release to mark the 50th day since Madeleine's disappearance.

Friday, June 29

A man and woman are held in Spain on suspicion of trying to fraudulently claim a 2.6 million pound reward.

Friday, July 6

The Dutch National Crime Squad arrests a man on suspicion of trying to extort money from the McCanns claiming to know the girl's whereabouts.

Tuesday, July 10

Murat is questioned for eight hours and later released.

Saturday, July 21

Posters of missing Madeleine are displayed at book stores to coincide with the publication of the seventh and final Harry Potter novel.

Sunday, July 22

Gerry McCann flies to the United States to consult experts on missing children. While there, he is asked persistently by the media why the couple left their children alone that night.

Thursday, July 26

The McCanns' local paper the Leicester Mercury is forced to ban all comments on stories about the case after it was bombarded with messages calling for the couple to be prosecuted.

Friday, August 3

Belgian authorities carry out DNA tests on a bottle and straw after a possible sighting of Madeleine with a couple in the eastern town of Tongeren.


Sunday, August 5

Police complete a two-day search of the home of Murat.

Tuesday, August 7 - Traces of blood were found on the wall of the apartment where Madeleine went missing, local newspaper Diario de Noticias said.

Wednesday, August 8 - DNA tests on bottle and straw from Tongeren prove inconclusive, Belgian justice officials say.

Friday, August 10 - Gerry and Kate McCann say in a series of television interviews they would not be "bullied" into leaving Praia da Luz after some negative press reports, especially in the Portuguese media.


Saturday, August 11 - Portuguese police Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa tells the BBC that Madeleine may be dead.

The McCanns mark the 100th day since her disappearance with a special church service and launch 'Don't You Forget About Me', a channel on the video-sharing Web site YouTube to help trace missing children.

Saturday, August 18 - Gerry McCann tells a media industry conference in Scotland that some reporters covering the disappearance had been "irresponsible".

Friday, August 31 - Gerry and Kate McCann say they have instructed their lawyers to begin legal action against Portuguese newspaper Tal & Qual after it claimed police believe the couple killed Madeleine. The newspaper said it was "totally confident" in its report.

The couple are reported to be planning to leave Portugal and return home.

Thursday, September 6 - Kate McCann spends 11 hours being questioned as a witness by police, a lawyer for the family says.


Friday, September 7 - Kate McCann returns for further questioning by police, who later question her husband. Police name both as suspects, but bring no charges, their lawyer says.

Gerry's sister Philomena McCann says police offered Kate McCann a reduced sentence if she admitted killing her daughter.

She says police suggested that Kate accidentally killed Madeleine, kept her body and later got rid of it.

Family and friends dismiss the suggestion as "ludicrous".

A family spokeswoman says Kate told her that police found blood in a car hired by the couple but there was no confirmation that it was Madeleine's blood. The car had been hired 25 days after the toddler disappeared.


Saturday, September 8 - Family and friends of McCanns urge Portuguese police to eliminate the couple from their inquiries and to return to the hunt for Madeleine.

Sunday, September 9 - Kate and Gerry McCann fly back to Britain with their twins Sean and Amelie. In a brief statement after landing at East Midlands Airport Gerry says: "We have played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter Madeleine."

He says their return does not mean they have given up the search for their daughter.

Tuesday, September 11
Reports allege that DNA samples that are a "100 per cent match" to Madeleine have been found in her parents' hire car and holiday apartment. Portuguese police pass their file containing evidence against Mr and Mrs McCann to the public prosecutor, who almost immediately passes the file to an "instructional judge"

Wednesday, September 12
A Portuguese prosecutor has made an urgent request relating to the seizure of a potentially vital document in the Madeleine case, believed to be her mother’s diary. A police source says the authorities also want the judge’s permission to access other items, including Madeleine’s favourite toy Cuddle Cat.

Thursday, September 13
A French newspaper reports that Madeleine died from an overdose of sleeping tablets. But British forensic experts said the samples were unlikely to be good enough to show this. Gerry McCann hit out at the 'ludicrous allegations' being reported.


Sunday, September 16
Portuguese police appear to take a step back from charging Madeleine's parents after a senior officer said they had "nothing concrete" to implicate them in her disappearance, a week after they were made formal suspects. Media tycoon Richard Branson offers £100,00 to fund the McCanns' legal fight, after the couple said they would not seek to use the money in the Madeleine Fund.


Monday, September 17
The McCanns' legal team contacts American lawyers over a case where key sniffer dog evidence was thrown out of court in the hope that it may help them fight any charges that they were involved in the killing of their daughter.

Tuesday, September 18
The couple's new spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, begins the family's fightback by stating that the McCanns are the victims of a "heinous crime" who have been cruelly and unjustly accused of harming their daughter.


Wednesday, September 19
Kate and Gerry McCann's bid to prove their innocence receives a major boost after a Portuguese prosecutor ruled there was not enough evidence to re-interrogate the couple.

The couple also disclose that they talk to their two-year-old twins about Madeleine constantly as the first indications of how they intend to challenge police suspicions that they killed their daughter emerge.


Thursday, September 20
The McCanns fear that their mobile telephones have been bugged by Portuguese police when they were in the Algarve and since they returned to Britain.

The public prosecutor in Portugal admits the case has hit an 'impasse'. Sources say all lines of inquiry remain open.


Tuesday, September 25
A photograph is published of a woman in Morocco carrying a child who bears a resemblance to Madeleine McCann. Spanish police say they are taking the sighting seriously.


Thursday, September 27
The McCanns are dealt a blow as the girl in the photograph taken in Morocco is named as five-year-old Bushra Binhisa and the woman identified as her mother Hafida.

Sunday, September 30
Kate McCann tells close friends she is willing to risk jail to find her daughter after she is told by her legal team that she faces a year-long jail sentence if she flouts Portuguese law to discuss details of the four-year-old's disappearance in public.

Tuesday, October 2
The head of Portugal's police federation launches an astonishing attack on Gerry and Kate McCann, accusing them of "hindering" the investigation into their daughter's disappearance.


Wednesday, October 3
The Portuguese detective leading the Madeleine McCann investigation is sacked from the inquiry after launching an astonishing public attack on his British counterparts.