I thought their wealthy friend was picking up the bill for this. What an extradordinary waste of money!
Sky News:
How Long Can McCanns Continue Hunt?
By Alex WattsSky News Online reporter Updated:13:50, Tuesday November 27, 2007
Questions are being raised over how long Kate and Gerry McCann can continue the hunt for their daughter after a huge slump in donations to Madeleine's Fund.
Madeleine vanished in Portugal
When the young girl vanished on May 3, cash poured in to find her, but now it is comparatively little more than a trickle.
The fund has £1,095,223.50 in its coffers, according to its website.
But an estimated three-quarters of this will just be used to pay the six-month contract the McCanns took out with detective agency Metodo 3.
The Spanish-based agency is likely to be charging around £2,000 a day, crime experts have told Sky News Online.
When travel and other expenses are added, the final bill for the contract is likely to be as much as £750,000.
And this does not cover the cost of publicity campaigns and other expenses as the McCanns focus their search on Morocco - the area they have been told Madeleine is most likely to be in.
The McCanns are also using other specialists. But their spokesman Clarence Mitchell's reported £75,000 salary is being covered by millionaire Brian Kennedy.
Slump in donations to fund
Other wealthy benefactors - like Richard Branson - have offered financial support to cover their legal bills.
But it is not known how much money, if any, they have pledged towards the fund itself. Or whether they would step in if the McCanns ran out of cash.
The couple, both 39, saw a massive drop in donations after they were named official suspects in the case, and it emerged they had used the fund to pay their estimated £2,000 a month mortgage.
Their spokesman told Sky News Online it is natural for the flow of money to diminish after a fund's launch.
But in Madeleine's case, this is not due to a lack of publicity as her story regularly features on the front pages, even six months after she vanished.
The fund raised around £450,000 a month after its launch, but this has now plummeted to around £30,000 a month, according to its website.
Mr Mitchell admits: "The money has slowed down - that's only natural. Money pours in at the start and dries up after a while, it's natural."
He added: "Money is still coming in - not at the vast rate it was initially...It's a steady income rather than big amounts."
7 comments:
Have you seen this one?
http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/uk-and-international-news/2007/12/02/maddie-s-uncle-in-fund-fury-78057-20191682/
Vulgar beyond belief!!!
Why do they need EVEN MORE money?
No way is this even about MADELEINE anymore. Poor wee thing.
Thanks Ratonthebeam I think this article is worth reproducing on here because it is so shccking!
John McCann, the brother of Gerry McCann blasts about the drop in donation to the "fighting fund". ~Excuse me, John I thought it was a fund to leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine. There was SUPPOSED to be a separate fund for the McCanns to fight the legal claims against them. Shame, shame are Kate and Gerry now going to have to rely on the free services of the window salesmens inhouse solicitor who does not know a damn thing about criminal law because the British public who you thought so gullible are not prepared to pay £700 per hour each for the London two! Also John, does it mean you are going to have to go back to work and stop living off the funds - SHAME SHAME - I hope they lock you up for fraud before you get the chance to try and go and earn an honest living again.
Maddie's Uncle In Fund Fury
Dec 2 2007
THE uncle of missing Madeleine McCann has blamed negative stories about the family for the drop in donations to their fighting fund.
Around £700,000 of the £1.1million raised has been spent in the hunt for Maddie, who disappeared in Portugal on May 3.
Donations to the Find Madeleine Fund dropped following lurid stories after her parents Kate and Gerry were named as official suspects.
The fund brings in around £10,000 a month but the family are paying out £50,000 a month to private detectives.
Gerry's brother, John, of Glasgow, said: "The funds aren't anywhere near the level they were a few months ago thanks to a lot of the crap that's been written over here."
Meanwhile, Portuguese police are set to reinter view the McCanns and their friends, the so-called Tapas Seven.
THANKS AGAIN IRONSIDE I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT WHY GERRY INSISTS ON HIS BLOG THE FUND ARE PAYING THE RETARDOS BUT MR KENNEDY ALSO INSISTS HE IS PAYING THEM - THIS SOUNDS VERY SERIOUS INDEED BUT HOW ON EARTH DOES THE CONTROL FREAK THINK HE IS GOING TO GET AWAY WITH IT - TOO MUCH BELIEF IN SELF CAN BE DANGEROUS! Note the way the Pro-parents keep telling us all to shut up about the money and the fund - WE WILL NOT SHUT UP ABOUT IT!!!! FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD AND YET MORE FRAUD.com
INSIDE INFORMATION
03.12.07, 4:08pm
It has never been reported anywhere that they returned mortgage money to the fund.....in fact this morning on espejo publico...a spanish news chanel.....Brian Kennedy insists that he is paying Metodo 3 and the hotline...he states this money is not coming from the fund...Gerry in his blog says the fund is paying metodo..BK insists this is not the case...
Who is telling the truth..if BK is paying Metodo 3...then gerry has his hands in the cookie jar...
• Posted by: IRONSIDE • Report Comment
ANOTHER THOUGHT ABOUT RETARDO 3'S BILL
The figure of £750,000 keep being bandied around - they dont seem very honest to me -say they billed the fund for this amount but in reality were only charging £300,000 for their "services" who would get the other £350,000 then? Are you getting angry again, John? or just plain greedy!
whoops my maths are chronic I would make a rubbish fraudster - meant the other £400,000, not 350! Sure the brothers McScamm have it all worked out....
HERE HERE ratonthebeam!
MAUREEN
03.12.07, 4:33pm
The whole McCann circus has been ABUSING PUBLIC MONEY!!! How much of MY taxes has gone to pay for this charade? In that sense, it is very much my business, and the business of every other honest tax payer in both this country and in Portugal.
• Posted by: ratonthebeam • Report Comment
I would add that it also our concern that the State uphold the rule of law which requires that innocent little children are protected from abusive parents. If we do not see the government and the legislature doing precisely that then we have a right to protest. We do not want a Society that allows people like Clarence Mitchell to perpetuate the myth that the Kate and Gerry McCann style of parenting is the accepted British style. The rest of the world would think we are a bunch of deranged monsters! We are actually decent people who like to contribute to charities like the NSPCC who act against abusive parents and spend our money wisely e.g. on advertising that sad little boy left all alone in his cot - just like Kate and Gerry do. When parents behave like that and serious harm results we want the criminal law to take action against them. WE want the criminal law to make sure it does not only punish poor, uneducated parents who may not have known better, or who maybe could not afford childcare. We want a Society that says no matter who you are - if you treat your children like that - we will act against you. That is what laws are for to protect needy children and to protect Society. So dont you dare tell us it is none our business Maureen ! We dont like the way they treat their children and we dont like the fraudulent way they have harmed Maddie and then sought to cash in. WE want JUSTICE!
ALSABELLA
08.12.07, 11:43pm
DOLORES/PLAINWATERS
08.12.07, 11:35pm
Metodo 3's 4 detectives are probably sipping Margaritas by some pool in a nice warm island on FindMadeleine funds. Courtesy of team McCann.
• Posted by: alsabelIa • Report Comment
Strictly following the lines of their contract then- wonder who makes the bogeyman stories up? Mind you they do sound whoever they are that they are three parts cut.
• Posted by: plainwaters •
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