Timeline
May 3, 2007
Madeleine McCann goes missing from the family’s holiday apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal, between 9.30pm and 10pm.
May 7, 2007
Kate McCann, Madeleine’s mother, makes an emotional plea for the young girl’s safe return.
May 12, 2007
Madeleine McCann’s 4th birthday.
May 14, 2007
Portuguese police commence searches at the villa of British ex-pat Robert Murat. The villa is one of a number of properties to be searched near where Madeleine was last seen.
Kate and Gerry McCann announce they will not leave Portugal until Madeleine is found.
May 15, 2007
Robert Murat is named as an official suspect or ‘arguido’ by the Portuguese police.
May 16, 2007
Police interview Russian computer expert Sergey Malinka, who owns a property in Praia da Luz.
May 30, 2007
Madeleine’s parents visit the Pope at the Vatican.
June 6, 2007
In Berlin, Kate and Gerry McCann deny any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance in response to a question from a German journalist.
June 28, 2007
A man and a woman are arrested by Spanish police for attempting to extort money from the McCanns.
Madeleine McCann goes missing from the family’s holiday apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal, between 9.30pm and 10pm.
May 7, 2007
Kate McCann, Madeleine’s mother, makes an emotional plea for the young girl’s safe return.
May 12, 2007
Madeleine McCann’s 4th birthday.
May 14, 2007
Portuguese police commence searches at the villa of British ex-pat Robert Murat. The villa is one of a number of properties to be searched near where Madeleine was last seen.
Kate and Gerry McCann announce they will not leave Portugal until Madeleine is found.
May 15, 2007
Robert Murat is named as an official suspect or ‘arguido’ by the Portuguese police.
May 16, 2007
Police interview Russian computer expert Sergey Malinka, who owns a property in Praia da Luz.
May 30, 2007
Madeleine’s parents visit the Pope at the Vatican.
June 6, 2007
In Berlin, Kate and Gerry McCann deny any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance in response to a question from a German journalist.
June 28, 2007
A man and a woman are arrested by Spanish police for attempting to extort money from the McCanns.
Police conduct a second search of Robert Murat’s villa.
August 6, 2007
Newspapers report that sniffer dogs have detected traces of blood and the smell of a corpse in the apartment where Madeleine went missing from.
August 9, 2007
The McCanns say they will not be bullied into leaving Portugal.
September 6, 2007
Kate McCann is questioned at a police station in Portugal.
September 7, 2007
Kate McCann is named as a formal suspect or ‘arguido’ in the investigation. She is questioned again at the police station. Gerry McCann is also questioned, separately. He is also declared ‘arguido’. Neither of them is held at the station after questioning.
September 8, 2007
The McCanns announce they are coming back to England.
September 9, 2007
The McCanns arrive back in Britain and go home to Rothley in Leicestershire.
September 11, 2007
Reports emerge that DNA evidence in the McCann’s hire care and holiday apartment match Madeleine’s.
October 3, 2007
The Portuguese policeman heading the investigation is sacked from the inquiry.
November 1, 2007
Gerry McCann returns to work at Glenfield Hospital in Leicestershire.
November 29, 2007
Portuguese and UK forensic experts meet in Leicestershire to discuss the DNA samples from the inquiry.
December 22
Kate and Gerry McCann make a TV appeal for information about their daughter’s disappearance.
The McCanns categorically deny that they are considering a movie about Madeleine’s disappearance.
January 20, 2008
The McCanns release drawings of a man who they say needs to be eliminated from the investigation to find Madeleine.
February 1, 2008
The McCanns launch a new website dedicated to finding Madeleine on the day that their twins, Sean and Amelie, turn three.
March 19, 2008
The McCanns accept £550,000 libel damages from Express Newspapers for stories alleging they were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance. They also receive front page apologies. The couple reveal the £550,000 will be used to fund to ongoing search for their daughter.
April 8, 2008
The McCanns are asked to return to Portugal to appear in a reconstruction of the time when Madeleine disappeared.
April 10, 2008
The McCanns visit the European Parliament to urge it to introduce an EU-wide missing child alert system based on the US AMBER alert system.
