We won’t be bullied out of Praia da Luz

Aug 20 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

Despite growing speculation that their daughter may have been killed, Madeleine McCann’s parents insist they will not be pressured into leaving Portugal. Caroline Innes, reporting from Praia da Luz, met them and found out what was keeping them there

THE official Praia da Luz holiday guide describes the Algarve resort as: "Perfect for a peaceful, low key beach holiday and ideal for families with young children."

And as one British bar worker explained: "The resort feels so safe that you would do things here that you would never dream of doing at home. I walk home from work at 2am after every shift and have not once felt concerned about my safety. I would never dream of doing that back in the UK but it is so quiet and friendly here – nothing ever happens."

The abduction of any child is appalling, disturbing and frightening. But the fact that it happened in such a peaceful family-friendly holiday resort where people are at their most relaxed has shocked the world.

Kate McCann, 39, openly admits that she and husband Gerry, also 39, had let their guard down.

They felt safe in the tiny resort, which has one main road in and out.

Had they thought for one minute that leaving their children in the confines of the Mark Warner complex, while they dined 100 metres away within the same complex, would have such devastating consequences, they say they would never have risked it.

The GP, who grew up in Anfield and Allerton, said: "Still now I ask myself why on earth I thought it was safe to leave them in the apartment.

"If I had thought for a second that they were in any danger or in any risk I would have never done it. This place is so small and so quiet – we all just felt safe.

"We were still within the complex grounds and were checking on them regularly.

"We never thought that anything like this could ever happen – not in such a peaceful and quiet resort like Praia da Luz."

You can walk around Praia da Luz in a matter of minutes.

Most of these so-called main roads are cobbled and only wide enough for one car meaning most are one way streets.

Once you have seen the beach and the pretty, white – and now famous – St Vincent's Anglican church, that is about all there is to the resort.

There is a handful of bars and restaurants, a supermarket, an internet cafe and not much else.

From television footage and aerial shots of the abduction scene it is impossible to grasp just how small a place it is.

The home of the only named suspect, the British Robert Murat, is only 100 metres from the McCanns’ apartment, the church 200 metres from that, and the beach 200 metres from there.

In such a tiny place, the influx of hundreds of journalists from across the globe has had a massive impact and the church car park is home to Portuguese news crew's satellite trucks.

The British journalists and their lap tops have taken over one bar/restaurant in the centre of the town – meeting daily to pore over the Portuguese press and swap information on the latest in the investigation before calling their newsdesks.

The McCanns, who have insisted on staying in the place their daughter was taken from until she is found, are regularly seen out with their twins Sean and Amelie, dining with friends and family and generally getting on with day-to-day living as best as they can.

They are filmed constantly – from the moment they leave their rented villa, to dropping the two-year-olds off at The Ocean Club Kids’ group within the Mark Warner complex to attending daily mass, but the couple are more concerned with the impact their enduring presence is having on Praia da Luz and the people who choose to holiday there.

Mrs McCann, a former Notre Dame High School pupil, said: "We know that there have been reports that the Portuguese want us out of here but in our experience that has not been the case.

"The last thing we want to do is impact on anybody's holiday but at the same time we will not be bullied out of Praia da Luz.

"The Portuguese people have been so amazingly supportive to us and say they worry that they are intruding by coming speaking to us. However it is their support – the support of the Praia da Luz community – that has helped to sustain us through this.

"Even last week after all the fresh reports in the media, the support of the Portuguese was amazing. Not at all as some media would like to suggest.

"At church they all come up to us, embrace us and say in Portuguese 'strength and 'courage’.”

Mrs McCann said: "We are trying to take a back seat from the media at the moment.

"We are not celebrities and do not want this attention.

"We chose to work with the media to try and give us the best chance of finding Madeleine but now people seem to want to know about us and our private lives.

"We feel very self-conscious about getting all this attention.

"This is not about us. It is about Madeleine. She is the innocent soul in all of this."

The day we met the McCanns had been filmed while trying to eat a private lunch and had been forced to agree to be filmed outside church for the Portuguese TV news just to keep the Press away from their villa.

The pressure from the Press has been intense and by their own admission, they are "all interviewed out".

The only interview they agreed to do last week was with the Daily Post, Mrs McCann's local paper – read by her parents Brian and Susan Healey who live in Mossley Hill. And even then in a bid to keep the interview a secret the couple arranged the interview in a closed breakfast room in a small hotel on the outskirts of the resort. Mr McCann said: "We are trying to lead a normal life so that is why we are picking and choosing what we do.

"We are channelling our efforts. We need to feel that we are being effective and using whatever resources we have positively.

"It has to be tangible and it has to benefit our search for Maddie."

Many things have changed in Praia da Luz since Madeleine disappeared – but many things are exactly the same.

While there was a media frenzy to mark 100 days since her disappearance, the McCann's have had their own markers.

On the 70th day Mrs McCan decided for the first time to wash Madeleine's favourite toy – the pink "Cuddle-Cat" that Mrs McCann is now never without.

Another marker was when the apartment they had used was re-opened for other holidaymakers to use. And another when just two weeks ago it was again re-sealed as a crime scene when traces of blood were detected by British sniffer dogs.

Speaking to the "ordinary" couple it is clear their milestones in this investigation are very different to those experienced by the people of Praia da Luz.

Tony Darcy, from Bootle, who then lived in Ormskirk, has lived in Praia da Luz for ten years and said locals and tourist alike were all just praying for a happy end to this story.

He said: "When Madeleine went missing everybody was in such a state of shock.

"People don't believe it was anyone from round here who did it because it is such a small community and everybody knows everybody else.

"The Portuguese are so kind and friendly and just love children. They are a very family-orientated nation."

He added: "The Mark Warner resort is very contained and to be honest not a lot of people knew there was even a Tapas restaurant there so we couldn't understand how people had known it was there.

"I have spoken to so many tourists and they are relaxed about bringing their children here.

"People are still coming to Praia da Luz and we gets lots of people back here every year. They are all just so shocked that this has happened here in a place like this.

"They all still talk about Madeleine and want to know if there is any news about her.

"But we all just want it to come to a conclusion now. For the sake of Kate and Gerry, their family and for Madeleine we just hope that there is a happy ending."

People in Praia da Luz feel the same as Mr Darcy. They, too, are praying for the safe return of the little girl who was snatched from under their noses, who they now refer to as "our Madeleine."

As Mrs McCann said her daughter has become an icon for missing children across the world and no-one at this stage can bear to give up hope that she will be found and returned to her family.

Mrs McCann added: "We feel safe in Praia da Luz and we feel at home with the Portuguese.

"Every day is a new day and DCI Stuart Prior always says to us, 'today is the day' that Madeleine will be found.

"Every day brings fresh hope.

"Our ideal is that Madeleine comes back to us and we can never stop thinking that will happen – whether we stay in Praia da Luz or not."

carolineinnes

Solidarity of the Praia Da Luz

IN A show of solidar- ity, all the shops, bars and restaurants still display missing posters for Madeleine.

Some are crude, cobbled together on the very night of her disappearances, others are professionally produced by local newspapers and the British national press.

But, while some are faded and discoloured, fresh tributes are placed by families outside the church and yellow ribbons have been tied round lamp posts and railings throughout the village.

One reads: "We have seen you in the week and admire you so much.

"Be strong and pray for the safe return of your beautiful Maddie. God Bless you all."

Another attached to the church door by a yellow ribbon has been drawn by a 12-year-old boy called Reece an his four-year-old brother Danny. It says: "Dear Maddie. I hope you come back soon We all miss you."

Madeleine's disappearance has become part and parcel of visiting Praia da Luz.

People talk about it as they walk past the apartment she went missing from and it would seem most tourists, regardless of faith, cannot help but be drawn into the cool and calm of the church to spend a few moments in thought or prayer for Madeleine.

Some read cards, some light a candle for her or leave a donation and others, possibly out of macabre curiosity film and take photographs of the locations that have been beamed into living rooms around the world.

Others just look at their own children and talk about how the McCanns are dealing with their situation.