Events | 2009.11.02
New Middle East McCann plea
Internet video intended to show what missing six-year-old would look like if held captive in Africa or Middle East
An image presenting Madeleine McCann as a six-year-old with dark skin and dark hair was released by British police last night in a "viral" internet video aimed at coaxing fresh information from the friends, family and associates of her abductors.
The image is intended to show what she might look like if she had been held captive in southern Europe, Africa or the Middle East. It features alongside another new visualisation of her as pale and blond in a minute-long video which the Home Office\'s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) hopes will be so widely posted on internet blogs, social networking sites and Twitter that it becomes the top item if anyone searches for "Madeleine".
Detectives believe people who know Madeleine\'s location regularly search her name online to trace developments in the investigation and police tactics. Madeleine went missing in May 2007 while on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
The video will be translated into seven languages including Arabic, and is due to be launched today in the Middle East by a police general in the United Arab Emirates. Police said they were not acting on new information in deciding to darken her skin. "We are using our network around the world to launch a viral message at one person," said Jim Gamble, head of Ceop. "That is the person who knows or strongly suspects they know who was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The message is aimed at prompting the conscience of the individual who is keeping that secret."
The minute-long video starts with clips of Madeleine in a Snow White costume, then boarding a plane. Two new images of how Madeleine might look today are shown with a voiceover stating: "We know there must be someone out there who knows someone involved."
After the two new images of Madeleine, produced by the Washington-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, there is footage of her playing on the stairs and a closeup of her eyes. The video says "it is never too late to do the right thing". It was crafted on the advice of police psychologists.
"We are extremely grateful for Ceop for launching this new message around the world in such an effective way," said Madeleine\'s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, in a statement. "It is vital that it is seen and heard as widely as possible. If you know what has happened to Madeleine it is still not too late to do the right thing and come forward to your local police with that information. We love Madeleine. Please help us bring her home."
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/03/madeleine-mcann-dark-skinned-image
