UK’s ‘A minute for Madeleine’ message supported by INTERPOL

A minute for Madeleine

The UK’s national law enforcement centre for protecting children – the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre – today issued an online message aimed at anyone close to the person who was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, in an appeal supported by INTERPOL.

In order to increase the possibility of reaching that person, CEOP has released a short 60-second film and is asking the public to help spread the message via the Internet. The film also includes new age-progressed images that show Madeleine as she may look today.

Madeleine was three years old when she disappeared from a holiday resort in the Western Algarve in Portugal on 3 May, 2007.

“The person we are looking to reach is likely to be a partner, family member, friend or colleague of the person or people who were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.  It is also highly probable that they, or someone close to them, are using the Internet to search for any updates that may suggest the police are getting closer to discovering the truth,” said Jim Gamble, head of the UK’s CEOP centre.

“Today we want to deliver a message to that person and we’re asking everyone who goes online to help us.  We want the message to become so widespread that it becomes just one click from any Madeleine search as a constant reminder to that person that it is never too late to do the right thing – that it is never too late for that person to redeem themselves.

“If you run any type of online environment, big or small, please look at the film today, link to it, share it with your friends and post it in the online communities you occupy.  Do everything you can to spread it around the online world,” added Mr Gamble.

"INTERPOL strongly encourages anyone with information that might help us to locate Madeleine to contact police in their community or the Portuguese authorities," said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

INTERPOL, Europol and national police agencies from Australia, the US, Canada, the UAE and Europe are supporting the initiative.  Specialist charities and NGO’s such as the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), Missing Children Europe and the UK Charity Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT) have all thrown their weight and expertise behind the initiative.

The message is available in seven languages – Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.