Madeleine McCann was abducted from Praia da Luz in Portugal on 3rd May 2007. There are no known clues as to her current whereabouts, and it's possible that she is no longer in Portugal. There can only be very few people left in the UK that do not know about Madeleine's abduction, thanks to the extensive media coverage in this country.
But it is perhaps unlikely that 4 year old Maddy is in the UK, and the same media coverage is unfortunately not being extended throughout Europe and beyond. However, it is possible that members and guests at Holidaytruths may be able to provide the vital and practical help required to ensure that Madeleine's photo is seen as widely as possible throughout the world, reaching those who have not yet learned of her shocking disappearance. That may be achieved via an urgent e-mail campaign by each and every one of us.
I began my campaign several days ago and if you would like to do likewise, I will outline briefly how I started, but you may have your own ideas about how you would like to proceed. The obvious place to start is in your online address book. I gathered about 20 or 30 overseas addresses from my address book, and initially thought that was probably the extent of my possible contacts.
But after thinking about it a little longer, I boosted that to over 200 e-mail contacts. I started by e-mailing the last hotel which I stayed in, and then extended that to every other hotel in the area. Then I thought about which companies, services, or attractions I had also used or seen in the area, such as local and national bus, local and national rail, car hire, taxis, resort transfer operators, theme parks, tourist attractions, excursion agencies, exchange bureaux, tourist offices, council offices, hotel and apartment booking agencies, hospitals and clinics, local newspapers, etc.
It's amazing how quickly the number of potential contacts increases, and all of their addresses are easily accessible on the web. When I had exhausted all the possible contacts in that resort, I moved on to neighbouring towns and resorts, and repeated the same process with the help of search engines. In the e-mail, I provided a link to the official poster of Madeleine and mentioned brief details of the abduction.
I pointed out that the abductors may have changed Maddy's appearance, by cutting or dying her hair for example, or perhaps even dressing her in boys clothes. But I highlighted the distinctive feature in Maddy's right eye where the colour runs from the pupil into the iris, suggesting that would not be so easily disguised unless she is made to wear sunglasses at all hours of the day and night, which in itself may raise some suspicions. I also gave the Crimestoppers UK number of 0800 555 111 for UK callers, or +44 1883 731 336 for overseas callers.
When giving this link to where the poster could be viewed or downloaded, I asked them to forward it to everyone in their address books too: It may also be worth apologising in advance for sending an unsolicited e-mail, while stressing what the contents are vitally important and should not be mistaken for spam. If you intend to send hundreds of e-mails as I did, it may even be worth sending a message to Customer Services at your mail provider or ISP to advise them of your intentions and the reasons for the sudden increased activity on your mail account. It is a very time consuming process and the chances of success with such an e-mail campaign may be slim, but it is a chance worth taking.
A young child's life is at stake here and if each of us was to spend a few hours sending out a few dozen or a few hundred e-mails, it only takes one person to read one of those e-mails and realise that they may have information vital to the investigation. This is practical and positive action, which may achieve the result which other more symbolic gestures will fail to do. Don't worry about the fact that several of us may be e-mailing the same overseas contacts.
If someone receives multiple e-mails about Madeleine, it may actually make them pay more attention. Please give it a try, it's time for Madeleine to be reunited with her family.
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