This is an attempt to unravel the facts & the many varied & changing claims surrounding the death, abduction or dissapearance of Madeleine McCann aged 3, whilst on holiday with her parents and younger siblings in Portugal, on the night of 07-May-2007, to try to establish the truth.
A private detective accused of exploiting the hunt for Madeleine McCann to fund his lavish lifestyle has been found dead.
Kevin Halligen, 56, gained notoriety when his firm Oakley International was used by the toddler’s parents to help search for their missing daughter.
His Washington-based company received about £300,000 of cash donated by the public after Madeleine vanished from an Algarve resort in May 2007 at the age of three.
PA Kevin Halligen has been found dead
He was later forced to deny claims the money was actually siphoned off to pay for first-class travel, luxury hotel suites, a chauffeur and a mansion in Virginia, US.
Adrian Gatton, a TV director and investigative journalist, who made a documentary with Halligen in 2014 for Channel 5 – The McCanns and the Conman – and who knew Halligen well, confirmed to the Press Association that he died last Monday, having sunk into alcohol addiction.
He said: “Although his death is certainly not foul play, as has been suggested, there are certainly a lot of people who wished him ill. But he was also unique. I knew chapter and verse about his life and career, but my interest was really to try and get to the bottom of why he did what he did
“My understanding is that he was found dead on Monday night. There was blood around the house, probably caused by previous falls when he was either drunk or blacking out.
“Halligen was increasingly shambolic and these blood stains hadn’t been cleared up. His house was full of empty drink bottles. A lot of people wished him ill but his death is almost certainly related to alcoholism.”
Surrey Police said the death was currently being treated as “unexplained”.
A spokesman said: “We were called to an address in Cobbett Hill Road, Normandy, on Monday following a report of a man in his 50s having been taken unwell, who subsequently died. The death is being treated as unexplained and a file will be passed to the coroner’s office in due course.”
PA Wire/PA Images Madeleine McCann has been missing since 2007
The McCanns used the Irish national’s firm for around six months to look for their missing daughter. The £500,000 contract saw the firm hire private detectives, set up a hotline and process information.
The McCanns terminated the arrangement without paying the full fees because Halligen, from Surrey, apparently failed to fulfil certain agreements.
He was then extradited to the US in 2012 to face charges over an unrelated £1.3 million con, to which he pleaded guilty in 2013.
Dutch company Trafigura were targeted in the scam, being told by Halligen that he needed funds to secure the release of two business executives who were arrested in the Ivory Coast.
In an interview for a 2014 Channel 5 documentary, Halligen denied claims he misused money raised to find Madeleine.
He said: “It is gross distortion of what was actually happening. The print media in particular took this line that really nothing was being done, I was living the high life on the proceeds of the McCann case. Trust me, I didn’t buy so much as a new suit. The money, all of it, is fully accountable.”
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Brenda Leyland was confronted by Sky NewsA police spokeswoman said: “Leicestershire Police were called at 1.42pm on Saturday 4 October to reports of a body of a woman in a hotel room in Smith Way, Grove Park. Officers have attended the scene and a file is being prepared for the coroner.”
The 63-year-old had been identified as one of the trolls behind a campaign of vitriol targeting the McCann family, whose daughter disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.
The father of Madeleine McCann called on Friday for an example to be made of ”vile” internet trolls who have been targeting the family. Gerry McCann said he had ”grave concerns” about letting his twins use the internet after threats of violence and kidnapping.
The comments, in an interview with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, came after it emerged that police were looking at a dossier of abuse posted on Twitter, Facebook and chat forums. Mr McCann said he and wife Kate did not read such material because it was too ”upsetting”.
He also blamed the press for inciting trolls – renewing his calls for the new industry-backed regulator Ipso to be scrapped and replaced by an official body established by Royal Charter. ”I think some of the internet trolling is fuelled partly by the newspaper reporting. If it was more responsible I think we would have less of the former,” Mr McCann said. ”Clearly something needs to be done about the abuse on the internet. “
He added: ”I think we probably need more people charged.”
Asked about the @sweepyface tweets (the handle used by Brenda Leyland), he said he had not read them. ”We do not have any significant presence on social media or online. And I’ve got grave concerns about our children as they grow up and start to access the internet in an unsupervised capacity.
”There have been other instances where people are threatening to kidnap our children. People are threatening violence against Kate and myself. Of course it’s not just us – it is many other people who happen to fund themselves in rather tragic circumstances.
”I’m glad to see the law around this area is being reviewed. But I do think we need to make examples of people who are causing damage.”
McCann’s outside court in Lisbon 1 of 18
PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA via Getty Images
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See also ‘Clear grounds for the prosecution of Kate & Gerry McCann CLICK HERE
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