Tag: missing people

Meddling Menace (‘Ian’) Mowbray Jackson – A Missing Link Between Nigel Farage & George Cottrell (‘Cotrel’)

In the wake of ‘The Sunday Times’ expose of Nigel Farage’s curious connections with convicted criminal George Cottrell, Matthew Steeples highlights an equally curious crony of theirs, Twitter trolling twerp (‘Ian’) Mowbray Jackson

Like or loathe this definite disruptor, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage MP can now be deservedly branded a hypocrite of the first order.

Prone to slamming political opponents such as ‘Raving Rayner’ Angela Rayner for awkward antics concerning her second home and making a mockery of Sir Keir Starmer over being made a spectacle of concerning Lord Alli and Specsavers, Farage has not only been lambasted for taking a “personal gift” of £5 million from a Thai based tycoon, Christopher Harborne, in recent days, but was well and truly roasted yesterday in a ravaging set of revelations in The Sunday Times.

Whilst the focus of crusading journalist Gabriel Pogrund and his team was on 62-year-old Farage failing to declare being given use of a £4 million Westminster townhouse and countless other benefits by convicted criminal 32-year-old ‘Posh George’ Cottrell (who previously “legally changed his name from ‘Cottrell’ to ‘Cotrel’”), a throwaway paragraph brought in analysis of the involvement a longstanding sworn self-declared enemy of The Steeple Times, a rather tedious Twitter troll who used to go by the name of Mowbray Jackson.

Today, we delve into the details of 59-year-old Jackson (whom fascinatingly now opts for the Christian name of ‘Ian’ on Companies House for records concerning his latest venture, Fispay Ltd), Farage and Cottrell and the links between them their ‘high society’ chums. Be prepared to join the dots between a cretinous collection that jumps from left to right with Adam Boulton, Hugh Grant and Emily Maitlis to one side and Arron Banks, Baroness Meyer and Raheem Kassam to the other.

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The lavish life of (‘Ian’) Mowbray Jackson… The missing link with multiple names between Nigel Farage and George Cottrell

Friends with definite benefits “No Delay – Simples” – Nigel Farage and George Cottrell with (‘Ian’) Mowbray Jackson lurking behind them in a pair of sunglasses attempting to pull a Tom Cruise-esque look during a ‘Respect the Referendum’ protest. This is a mutually beneficial ‘friendship’ that clearly runs deep.

Bombastic businessman Arron Banks, a major supporter of Nigel Farage and Leave.EU, gave evidence before a parliamentary select committee in June 2018. A particularly plump Mowbray Jackson – at one time a data protection officer for Reform UK – was snapped lounging like a lizard behind him.

‘Ian’ or ‘Mowbray’ (depending on what day of the week it is) Jackson with George Cottrell and Georgia Toffolo at the long since shuttered Motcombs restaurant in Belgravia, SW1 circa May 2022. Cottrell dated the ‘Made In Chelsea’ and 2017 ‘I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!’ winner from 2019 to 2023 and subsequently married the equally controversial BrewDog co-founder James Watt in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on 1st March 2025. Blundell’s Schoolm educated ‘Toff’ happens also to be a longstanding bosom chum of Boris Johnson’s father Stanley Johnson.

On Sunday 5th July 2026, crusading journalist Gabriel Pogrund and his stellar investigative team at ‘The Sunday Times’ published an immensely thorough into the relationship between Nigel Farage and George Cottrell. In it, details of Mowbray Jackson’s alleged involvement was revealed. The paper stated: “One of the companies is owned by Mowbray Jackson, a Reform employee who serves as the party’s data protection officer… Cottrell denied he was heavily involved in the crypto-gambling platform [Tether.bet]. Jackson and Robery declined to comment. A source close to Jackson said he would need to obtain legal advice.”

In yesterday’s investigation, “difficult to pin down” George Cottrell was himself highlighted for calling Nigel Farage ‘Daddy’; this was understandably widely mocked on social media. Cottrell was arrested whilst in the company of Nigel Farage at Chicago O’Hare International airport on 22nd July 2016 and federally indicted on 21 counts for conspiracy to commit money laundering, wire fraud, blackmail and extortion. After a plea deal in December 2016 and a guilty plea on one count of wire fraud, he was sentenced sentenced and released by Judge Diane Humetewa after having served 8 months in prison.

‘The Finance Guy’ – @OneFinanceGuy on X – has been digging into the ‘interesting’ relationship between ‘daddy’ Nigel Farage and ‘son’ George Cottrell and their associates for many a month. In one post yesterday, 5th July 2026, on the platform he shared a video clip of the latter on a yacht in Montenegro with amongst others Mowbray Jackson and former gambling director and Attorney General of Arizona Mark Brnovich. On 12th January 2026, Brnovich, at one point was nominated (subsequently withdrawn) by Donald Trump to be the ambassador of the United States to Serbia, died at his home in Phoenix aged just 59 after suffering a heart attack.

Raheem Kassam with George Cottrell with Mowbray Jackson tailing on their coattails in Parliament Square, SW1A. Kassam has various been worked in finance at Lehman Brothers, at ‘Breitbart’ and ‘The National Pulse’ and been involved in the Henry Jackson Society, UKIP and Reform. In July 2019, the Australian Labor Party called for Kassam to be banned from entering their country and on Wikipedia he is referenced as being “described as far right” given his involvement in a 2018 ‘Free Tommy Robinson’ rally in London.

Mowbray Jackson was part of the organising committee for an event Chanel clad charity tin banger Catherine Meyer (now The Right Honourable The Baroness Meyer CBE of Nine Elms in the London Borough of Wandsworth) – a finger wagging woman suspended from the House of Lords for 3 weeks in December 2024 for calling a fellow peer “Lord Poppadom” and touching the hair of black MP Bellavilla Riberio-Addy without her permission – organised courtesy of her mate and then Home Secretary The Right Honourable Theresa May hosted at Downing Street on 23rd May 2012. Others hobnobbing with Cathy Meyer whilst hitting the hooch included the since croaked chippy-not-chirpy ex-ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer, property tycoon turned Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy and his then wife ex-‘Neighbours’ actress Holly Valance, former BBC presenter Sue Lawley OBE, advertising tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell, meddling mouthpiece Clarence Mitchell and the parents of ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann, Gerry and Kate McCann.

Social climbing arselicker Mowbray Jackson most definitely celebrates hanging around with what some might turn ‘the great and the good’; pictured from left to right with Petronella Wyatt, daughter of politician and journalist Lord (Woodrow) Wyatt and ex-lover of Boris Johnson, former Sky News anchor Adam Boulton and actor turned Hacked Off press hater Hugh Grant. Jackson’s ‘friendship’ with the Love Actually star is worthy of mention given the latter’s noted involvement campaigning against Brexit and the former’s decided rabid enthusiasm for it. Whether Jackson and Grant still get sloshed together at Brinkley’s in Hollywood Road, SW10 – as they did for many a year – is unknown.

Banal braggart Mowbray Jackson has banged-on about his friendship with the rather left-wing television presenter Emily Maitlis – best known for her 2020 ‘Newsnight’ interview that was the catalyst for the downfall of the then Prince Andrew over his relationships with Jeffrey Epstein, Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell – to anyone willing to listen for many, many years. His union with Canadian born and Queen’s College, Cambridge educated Maitlis is curious given her known enthusiasm for amongst others the Labour peer and alleged traitor Lord Mandelson.

Anything-but-camera-shy show-off Mowbray Jackson has been snapped with ‘actress’ Elizabeth Hurley on occasions also. Hurley, of course, forms part of Hugh Grant’s entourage of press haters, Hacked Off, along with amongst others the dim-witted drippy dunce Prince Harry, ‘Saint Doreen’ Baroness Lawrence, Sir Elton John and his titleless husband David Furnish, ‘actress’ Sadie Frost and ex-MP Simon Hughes. A judgment is due in the case brought by this tedious collection of twerps in their case against Associated Newspapers, publishers of the ‘Daily Mail’ and ‘Mail on Sunday’, on Tuesday 7th July 2026.

In times past, prior to getting deeply embedded with Reform UK, Jackson was a political agent for UKIP and was snapped in a purple rosette whilst working on journalist William Cash’s failed campaign to get elected for North Warwickshire in Coleshill, Warwickshire in the 2015 General Election.

‘Ian’ Mowbray Jackson appears to have deleted his account on Twitter, formerly X, in the wake of ‘The Sunday Times’ expose having first joined the platform in February 2009. His tweets mostly numbered toady responses to society wannabes who’d hosted him at parties and trolling those he loathed – including mostly Matthew Steeples and the likes of anti-Brexit campaigning financier Gina Miller.

His @mowbrayjackson account was suspended on occasions given his propensity for abusive tweeting. Perhaps, now, this tedious Twitter troll would simply do best to decide what his actual Christian name is and learn the art of silence.

July 6, 2026
Talking Claudia Lawrence – ‘Crime Suspect’ on Talk TV 2024

Matthew Steeples on discussing the disappearance of Claudia Lawrence fifteen years ago in York on TalkTV’s ‘Crime Suspect’ with esteemed former detective Peter Bleksley

Earlier this month, I returned to News UK’s headquarters next to The Shard in London to be a guest, for the second time after appearing in February to discuss the ongoing Madeleine McCann case, on Peter Bleksley’s deservedly respected TalkTV Crime Suspect show.

This time focused on the fifteenth anniversary of the literal ‘vanishing’ of a 35-year-old chef named Claudia Lawrence in the Heworth area of York, I appeared alongside the renowned criminologist and author Professor James Treadwell, the former police inspector and visiting lecturer at Leeds Trinity University Martin Holleran and the journalist and author of Gone: The Disappearance of Claudia Lawrence and Her Father’s Desperate Search for the Truth Neil Root.

Aired first on TalkTV’s terrestrial and YouTube channels on the 5^th April, the 21:22-minute version on the latter has been viewed nearly 130,000 times to date and focused on the key question: “Could there still be someone out there who knows what happened to the 35-year-old chef?”

Aged just 35 at the time she disappeared into thin air on either the night of 18^th March or the morning of the 19^th March 2009, here is a case in which North Yorkshire Police – to date – have performed over 48 video recorded interviews under caution, but come to utterly no conclusion.

Having similarities to the case of the also ‘vanished’ Australian Marion Barter in that no real evidence of her having ‘existed’ after the 19^th March 2009 has ever come to light, I focused my commentary on Crime Suspect on the media portrayal of Claudia Lawrence and asked: “Would she have been made out to have been promiscuous and a drunk if she had been a man?”

As has also been pointed out by Joan Lawrence, the likely victim of murder’s mother, who has subsequently received an OBE for her efforts in bringing about the passing of the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017 – which modified the law in order to allow the appointment of guardians for the affairs of missing people – the “intense” and “vicious stories” about what might have occurred helped nobody.

In Claudia Lawrence: A Mother’s Story, a four-part series first aired on the BBC in March this year, the problems of allowing untruths about what actually occurred to be spread is further explained, but what is now required is for a community to come together and to finally realise that it is time to put aside past allegiances. It is time to do justice for this missing-for-fifteen-years lady and her family.

To watch the full-length version of the Claudia Lawrence ‘Crime Suspect’ programme on TalkTV, click here.

Follow Peter Bleksley on Twitter at @PeterBleksley, Martin Holleran at @Future110, Neil Root at @NEILROOTWriter and Professor James Treadwell at @James_Treadwell.

Editor’s note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples and watch his current nightly show on YouTube at 8.30pm daily.

A message from our editorial team – Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus and the cost-of-living crisis impacts our advertisers. If you haven’t already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by supporting our work via Patreon.

The YouTube version of the show; for a longer version first shown on TalkTV’s terrestrial channel, click here.

It's been 15 years since chef Claudia Lawrence vanished into thin air in Heworth, York. What do you think happened to her? #ClaudiaLawrence #Heworth #York #Yorkshire #chef #missingpeople #missing #vanish #vanished #murder #accident #death #strangecases #ClaudiasLaw #anniversary
— Matthew Steeples (@M_Steeples) April 2, 2024

On Twitter, Matthew Steeples asked: “It’s been 15 years since chef Claudia Lawrence vanished into thin air in Heworth, York. What do you think happened to her?” He added the hashtags: #ClaudiaLawrence #Heworth #York #Yorkshire #chef #missingpeople #missing #vanish #vanished #murder #accident #death #strangecases #ClaudiasLaw #anniversary and offered four options. 78.7% of respondents favoured the answer: “Killed, someone she knew” whilst only 6.5% believe that she “disappeared” seeking a “new life.”

Claudia Lawrence was born on 27th February 1974 in Malton in the North Riding of Yorshire. She vanished on either the evening of the 18th March 2009 or the morning of 19th March 2009 in Heworth, York. She has never been seen or heard from again since.

A mind map produced by Matthew Steeples about the case. Whilst it is just a starting point, it illustrates the links between different members of the community of Heworth, York and the presumed victim of murder most likely. It is now time for members of that community to think of justice and reexamine their allegiances; time has passed and surely now, it is time for those that clearly know to finally tell the truth about what occurred on 18th March 2009.

‘Crime Suspect’ aired its programme about the vanished-likely-murdered chef on 5th April 2024 with Peter Bleksley as host. The daughter of a solicitor and town mayor has been missing now for over 15 years and not one trace of her has been found to date.

During the programme, there was much discussion of Miss Lawrence’s activities at a pub just six doors from her home, The Nag’s Head in Heworth, as well as at other hostelries she frequented.

April 15, 2024
Where Did Andrew Gosden Go?

Elizabeth Bond highlights the case of the mysterious disappearance of Andrew Gosden; last seen in London in 2007 aged just 14

Yesterday marked the 28^th birthday of Andrew Gosden. He did not, however, celebrate the day with his immediate family as he vanished in September 2007.

It’s a case that has received relatively little media coverage – at least in comparison to that of Madeleine McCann, who went missing the same year – but now it’s an appropriate time to rectify this and appeal for anyone with information to come forward.

What makes this story so baffling is that there has been no explanation for what happened. At the time of his disappearance, Andrew Gosden was a promising 14-year-old student from a happy, loving home in Doncaster. He had a 100% attendance record at school and was expected to score straight A grades in his exams. There is no evidence that he was being bullied or suffering from depression of any kind.

Yet on the morning of 14^th September 2007, Andrew did not catch the bus to school as usual. Instead, he waited in a nearby park until his parents had gone to work. He then returned home, changed out of his school uniform, and put on a black Slipknot T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He left the house, taking only a black canvas bag and a portable games console with him, and went to a local cashpoint where he withdrew £200.

At around 9:30 am, Andrew made his way to Doncaster Station and bought a one-way ticket to London. He refused the offer of a return ticket, despite it costing less than a pound more. He then boarded a train, and two hours later was pictured on CCTV leaving King’s Cross Station and heading out onto the streets of London. This was the last confirmed sighting of him, and there has been no trace of him since. His bank account has also remained untouched since that day.

Unfortunately, due to errors on the part of the school, the Gosden family did not realise that Andrew had gone missing until later that evening. In addition, it took a few days for the lady who sold Andrew the ticket for London to come forward, and several weeks before police identified Andrew on camera at King’s Cross. All these delays meant that other potential CCTV street footage of Andrew was wiped.

The Gosden family has searched tirelessly for Andrew and tried to ascertain the reasons for his disappearance. It has been suggested that Andrew may have met someone online who persuaded him to come to London. However, there is nothing to support this theory. Andrew did not have a mobile phone or an e-mail address, and his family has said that he did not even seem particularly interested in the Internet.

To date, nothing has come from appeals or supposed sightings of Andrew. Nevertheless, the Gosden family has not given up hope of ever hearing from him one day. An age-progressed image of Andrew was released in 2019. The family has also set up a website which includes a personal message for Andrew, as well as contact details. If Andrew should read this, they say that they do not care about the past or any decisions he may have made. They simply love and miss him, and hope to hear from him, so they can support him in any way.

If anyone else believes they have information about Andrew, they can contact South Yorkshire Police on 0114-220 2020 or Missing People on 116 000.

Follow the efforts to find Andrew Gosden on Twitter by clicking here.

Pictured top: Andrew Gosden (left) and an age-progressed image of how he might now look that was released in 2019.

The last sighting of Andrew Gosden was at King’s Cross railway sation on the 14th September 2007.

A tweet shared about this missing person case yesterday.

July 11, 2021
Missing Maddie & Another Crackpot Clairvoyant

Crackpot clairvoyant Michael Schneider claims he’s found the location of Madeleine McCann’s body; he remarkably did so with Google Maps, his fingers and the help of God (according to the ‘Mirror’)

When the British government is in a mess – the current case being whether the 21^st June ‘unlockdown’ will actually occur due to the ever-increasing prevalence of the Indian variant of coronavirus – they encourage the reeling out of another senseless story about ‘disappeared’ Madeleine McCann.

After sharing a “nothing new” story in late May and an irrelevant “we won’t be getting a verdict until the end of the year” in the legal battle between the child’s parents and Goncalo Amaral last week, today the Mirror returned to the fray with an utterly preposterous “exclusive.”

Sharing suggestions from a clairvoyant – yes, you read it correct, a crackpot clairvoyant – named Michael Schneider, the paper reported that the BKA, “Germany’s equivalent of the FBI,” are “appropriately incorporating” his belief that ‘Missing Maddie’ is “buried in a forest just six miles where she vanished… into their work.”

Schneider argues he “does not give out such information lightly,” yet then laughably explained: “I look at a photo of the missing person and ask myself upwards towards God whether this living being is alive or dead.”

Continuing, this clearly off-his-merry-rocker 50-year-old fruitcake then added:

“After that I take an atlas or a road map and look at large areas superficially. Afterwards at Google Maps and Earth. Then I let my fingers and my eyes circle over these maps until they stop on a spot and mark it.”

Elsewhere, the MailOnline shared their thoughts on the development and declared:

“He isn’t the first clairvoyant to claim supernatural powers have helped him pinpoint Madeleine’s location. Nine years ago, detectives studied 100 logs from psychics that were previously ignored and termed ‘a waste of resources.’”

“And in 2017, the family were hit by a cruel hoax after Susan Kelly demanded payment from the family as she claimed to know ‘the truth’ about Madeleine’s whereabouts.”

Responding to Schneider’s plainly nothing but a publicity prank prattling, the frankly utterly useless German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters witlessly warbled:

“Several psychics have responded to our call for help in the past year and offered assistance. In some cases, we also received concrete tips. We do not ignore them, but we are cautious.”

On Twitter, members of the public called out this claptrap for what it truly is. One user named Eli remarked: “There’s a sucker born every minute” whilst another concluded: “If you wish to know where Madeleine McCann is… ask Kate and Gerry.”

Going further and echoing our previous sentiments about the total misallocation of £13.5 million to a case that plainly isn’t going to get solved whilst neglecting to support the families of other missing people, one David Osland shared an image of another child who went missing and quite rightly asked: “Any reason this poor boy didn’t get the same priority as Madeleine McCann?”

Pictured top: Michael Schneider (left) and Gerry McCann with an image of his ‘missing’ daughter, Madeleine McCann – a child supposedly ‘taken’ on the 3^rd May 2007 after she and her siblings were left alone in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.

Living it Large – Gerry MccCann enjoying a round of golf (left); Kate McCann at Downing Street, London hobnobbing with Missing People CEO Martin Houghton-Brown, the Duchess of Gloucester and the then Home Secretary Theresa May on 23rd May 2012 (right).

The ‘MailOnline’ shared that the location former TV reporter turned clairvoyant Michael Schneider believes where Madeleine McCann’s body is buried is just six miles from where she ‘vanished’ in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007. They added: “[He] has told police officers the ‘exact co-ordinates’ of the spot he believes the youngster’s body can be found in a fresh blow to the McCann family… His clairvoyance technique includes looking at photographs of a missing person and asking God ‘whether this living being is alive or dead,’ before turning to atlases and Google Maps until they ‘stop on a spot.’”

Twitter reactions to Michael Schneider’s batshit bonkers claims…

June 6, 2021
Down The Drain McCann

More money goes down the drain in the Madeleine McCann case on top of the £13.5 million of British taxpayer wonga chucked away on absolutely no results

This morning – continuing the pointless pattern of the Mirror and MailOnline to “note nothing new” in the case of ‘disappeared’ Madeleine McCann we highlighted last week – The Sun shared an “exclusive” about the investigation that frankly wasn’t worthy of a single column inch.

After beginning with the bashfully bold headline “Madeleine McCann’s parents to find out this year if they’ve won legal battle against ex-cop” Goncalo Amaral – whom currently is owed a “six-figure sum” believed to be circa £750,000 by Gerry and Kate McCann after he beat them in court in February 2017 – the paper then concluded without an actual “when” and the non-news that “the judges will now give a verdict by the end of the year.”

Of this diatribe of drivel, one could say: “Thanks for that,” but more realistically anyone rational would ask of The Sun instead: “Couldn’t you have asked your contributor to instead go looking for a missing person where there is a genuine chance of that person actually being found?”

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Mirror – a red-top reliable for prattling on about “non-news” about a situation that could have been avoided perhaps if two doctors hadn’t left their toddlers unattended so they could live it up in a restaurant with their mates – shared that the prosecution team that named Christian Brueckner (AKA ‘Christian B’) exactly one year ago just as the British government began their ‘coronavirus distraction technique,’ have actually not spoken to Gerry and Kate McCann once during the ensuing period.

Asked if they had genuinely made any progress in the case, prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters “angrily hit back at critics” and illustrated the weakness of his work in declaring: “I don’t care who believes what… We are missing important important information. We want no stone unturned. Whether there will be an indictment in the end, I cannot foresee at the moment.”

The Mirror concluded: “Brueckner, serving seven years for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia, has not been interviewed,” whilst elsewhere the Daily Record added Wolters pathetically offered: “Our appeal for witnesses still stands.” We respond: “Where on earth do you think these people are given the millions already offered in rewards that have never been claimed?”

Clearly, on top of the £13.5 million of British taxpayer money wasted on this case already, that’s another chunk of change down the drain whilst other families of missing people shamefully get little to no help at all. Enough is enough; it is time to close down the investigation into ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann.

Kate McCann – a woman who went running, played tennis and dined on chicken and mushroom risotto and egg and watercress salads washed down with strawberry vodka with the paedophile Sir Clement Freud in the days after her ‘disappeared’ – has a clear touch of the former Meghan Markle about her. Like ‘MeGain,’ whom banged on that “not many people have asked if I’m OK,” Mrs McCann said in 2011: “Officers walked past us as if we weren’t there. Nobody asked how we were doing, whether we were okay. Our child had been stolen and I felt as if I didn’t exist.”

Kate #McCann was full of BRUISES next day according to Jane tanner, police statement…

PURPLE bruises take 2 days to develop.

IT'S OBVIOUS!!!!!!! Something horrible happened to that family at least 1 DAY before the ALARM 🚨 #McCanns pic.twitter.com/Caonk97x7p
— Madeleine Case Tweets🌐 (@McCannCaseTweet) March 8, 2018

Elsewhere on social media this weekend, the matter of Kate McCann being photographed with bruises on her wrists in the days after her daughter disappeared was again discussed. This tweet from 2018 was once again referenced.

Christian Brueckner (AKA ‘Christian B’, pictured left with his ex-girlfriend Naskcije Miftari) was brought to public attention just as the British government began to suffer “very bad news days” at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic last year. The narrative of him being the evil, paedophile suited Boris Johnson’s government a treat as it helped shift the headlines – for a period – away from their appalling handling of initial lockdowns. This weekend, equally, Johnson has managed to do something similar by marrying his latest ‘baby mama’ Carrie Symonds and in doing so, cynics quite correctly argue that he has used the ‘distraction technique’ to get his bad week courtesy of Dominic Cummings off the front pages. Unsurprisingly, social media manipulated imagery from the wedding by using images such as those pictured (centre and right).

In December 2017, when £11 million of British taxpayers’ money had been spent towards the search for ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann, 86% of viewers of ITV1’s ‘Loose Women’ said the public purse should cease to fund the investigation. Now, in May 2021, with that sum at £13.5 million (aside from the millions in private money also), it is time to allocate resources to the search for missing people who actually can be found, we would suggest.

May 31, 2021
Note Nothing New McCann
As the ‘Mirror’ publish yet another “nothing new” story about ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann, Matthew Steeples suggests: “Why not instead allocate some coverage to other missing people?”

In July last year, the MailOnline ran a ludicrous story suggesting that “a new witness has come forward to claim that Madeleine McCann is alive and living with a German family on the Algarve.” They did not name this supposedly beady eyed individual, but suggested “she saw the by-now teenager in a supermarket just 40 miles from where she disappeared speaking German.”

Unsurprisingly like most ‘leads’ in this curious case, this far-fetched suggestion never resulted in any further developments and now, this morning, it’s been the turn of the Mirror to muddy the waters yet again.

Note Nothing New McCann 2021 – Gerry and Kate McCann pictured out running in the days after the ‘disappearance’ of their daughter. Soon thereafter, claiming the Portuguese police were “setting them up,” the couple fled back to Britain.

Probably prompted by those seeking to get further funds to top up the fast approaching £13 million of public money wasted on a case caused by a couple who left their three young children unattended whilst living it up at a restaurant, the Mirror reported: “Kate and Gerry McCann still hope [their daughter] will be found alive, 14 years after she vanished on holiday in Portugal in 2007, days before her fourth birthday.”

Aside from banging on about a note left in a staff message book at the resort, the paper shared that Mr and Mrs McCann have recently declared on Facebook: “We love you and we’re waiting for you and we’re never going to give up.”

This morning, I counter: “Why don’t the Mirror and MailOnline and others stop printing such drivel and why don’t they instead help the thousands of other families of missing people who get little to no assistance instead?”

Missing Madeleine – Questions STILL without Answers

Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:
- Why did Kate McCann refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?
- Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 7’?
- Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappeared?
- Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?
- Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?
- Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?
Martin Allen vanished without a trace in London on 5th November 1979 aged just 15. Though his brother, Kevin Allen, has kept the case in the public eye as much as he can, he gets little to no help from the Metropolitan Police. Again today, I ask: “Why isn’t money from the public purse allocated to solving this case and thousands like it and why, instead, has fast approaching £13 million been allocated to a case that has not been solved in 14 years?”

Luke Durbin disappeared aged just 19 in Suffolk in May 2006. In spite of his mother’s tireless campaign to attempt to find her vanished son, why don’t the police devote more resources to the search for him?

Ben Needham, then aged just 1, disappeared on the Greek island of Kos on 24th July 1991. He has been missing for over 29 year and in the time since his mother, Kerry Needham, has shockingly come under attack from supporters of the family of Madeleine McCann. Of this in October 2015, she commented: “It feels like a personal attack on me. It is deeply, deeply hurtful. I have myself had massive amounts of slanderous abuse from supporters of the McCann campaign in the past but I have never taken that personally. It’s freedom of speech. But it is getting the names of two missing children out there which is really important.”
May 22, 2021
The Money of McCann

Gerry and Kate McCann rake in £773,600 of private money in spite of admitting there is “nothing much to report” 14 years into the fast approaching £13 million public funded investigation into the dubious ‘disappearance’ of their daughter Madeleine

Not content with having garnered over £12.5 million in public funding for the police investigation with a further £300,000 top-up likely to come soon, it has this week been revealed that Gerry and Kate McCann’s privately administered fund now has an astonishing net worth of £773,629.

Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Ltd. – which counts controversial double glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy, a man whom once bizarrely claimed he “had visions of flying in by helicopter to rescue Madeleine,” amongst its directors since 16^th May 2007 – is listed as having £235,900 in cash and £245,000 in assets in newly released accounts.

Whilst last week, Dr and Mrs McCann told the Mirror that they “still believe in miracles,” in a post on the ‘Official Find Madeleine Campaign’ Facebook page the particularly pugnacious pair also had to admit of the investigation: “Nothing much to report.”

Previously, a ‘friend’ (‘unnamed,’ of course, as is so often the case with anyone speaking on behalf of those close to the case of missing Madeleine McCann) of Dr and Mrs McCann remarked:

“Kate and Gerry know the police investigation cannot go on forever.”

“When [the police investigation] is shelved, and if there is no result, Kate and Gerry will use money in the fund to continue the hunt.”

“That is what it is there for. They paid for their own team of private investigators initially and when the official inquiry ends they will do so again although in the past it has proven to be extremely costly.”

Today, again, we ask: “Why does so much public money continue to be wasted on an investigation that has achieved nothing in 14 years and why is another £300,000 about to be given from the public purse when other missing person searches get little to nothing? Why is this disproportionate allocation of taxpayer funded resources allowed to go on?”

The Money of McCann – Ben Needham, then aged just 1, disappeared on the Greek island of Kos on 24th July 1991. He has been missing for over 29 year and in the time since his mother, Kerry Needham, has shockingly come under attack from supporters of the family of Madeleine McCann. Of this in October 2015, she commented: “It feels like a personal attack on me. It is deeply, deeply hurtful. I have myself had massive amounts of slanderous abuse from supporters of the McCann campaign in the past but I have never taken that personally. It’s freedom of speech. But it is getting the names of two missing children out there which is really important.”

The Money of McCann – Luke Durbin disappeared aged just 19 in Suffolk in May 2006. In spite of his mother’s tireless campaign to attempt to find her vanished son, why don’t the police devote more resources to the search for him?

The Money of McCann – Martin Allen vanished without a trace in London on 5th November 1979 aged just 15. Though his brother, Kevin Allen, has kept the case in the public eye as much as he can, he gets little to no help from the Metropolitan Police. Again today, we ask: “Why isn’t money from the public purse allocated to solving this case and thousands like it and why, instead, has fast approaching £13 million been allocated to a case that has not been solved in 14 years?”

The Money of McCann – In September 2018, Ben Needham’s mother Kerry quite rightly told ITV1’s ‘Loose Women’ that “it hurts” that so much money has been allocated to the search for Madeleine McCann whilst so little has been given to aid help other families find their missing relatives. She added: “[Madeleine] deserves to be found, but so does Ben. We haven’t had a fraction, I’ve had to fight alone as a single mum and try to get the help that Ben deserves… I don’t take anything away from anyone who’s got a loved one who is missing, but every single one deserves to be found.”

April 27, 2021
The Murky McCann Milieu

Former lead investigator in Madeleine McCann case predicted latest development involving German paedophile in April 2019; he suggested the man would be made a “scapegoat” by Scotland Yard

Amongst all the hubbub of the last 24 hours surrounding the “identification of a German sex offender as the key suspect” in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, it has been conveniently forgotten that the former lead detective in the case, Goncalo Amaral, predicted such a development back in April 2019.

With nearly £12 million of public money spent on this case thus far, an ending – happy or otherwise – would bring closure for all involved. Yet, with British cops again recently grubbing around for yet more funding, this actually not so new ‘development’ actually could instead be primarily about helping that endeavour.

In April last year, Amaral – who had focused his inquiries onto a German paedophile without success in 2008 – told Australia’s News 9 (through an interpreter):

“Scotland Yard are preparing the end of the case. They are going to a use a German paedophile who is in jail in Germany at this time. He is going to be the scapegoat for it. I don’t how they will start it, but that will be the big ending. This will be the conclusion of the case.”

Significantly, Scotland Yard and the mainstream media seem to have now forgotten all about this.

The police have yet to explain the actual significance of photographs of a 1980s Volkswagen T3 Westfalia campervan and a 1993 Jaguar XJR6.

The car hired by the McCanns also remains a bit of a mystery. In 2008, it was revealed that “one of them had later removed the carpet from the boot compartment in order to scrub it clean.” The boot had been “left open for several days” also.

More significantly, shared on ‘The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann’ Facebook page last month is this photograph illustrating the distribution of blood spots in the sitting room of the holiday apartment where the McCann family were staying in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007. Elsewhere, analysis of the setting highlights that tiles in the room were later removed by persons unknown.

Missing Madeleine – Questions STILL without Answers

Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:

Why did Kate McCann refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?

Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked”from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 9’?

Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappeared?

Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?

Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?

Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?

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June 4, 2020
Luke Durbin

Luke Durbin from Hollesley, near Woodbridge went missing aged just 19 after a night out with friends in Ipswich. After after being unable to afford to pay for a taxi home at about 4am, this grocery store worker was last seen on CCTV wandering around the town centre in the early hours of the 12^th May 2006.

Durbin had left his new motorbike and personal belongings, including his mobile telephone, at his friend’s house and no trace of him has ever been found since. A silver or white Volvo 440 – possibly registration M206 LYE (which was “either registered to a false name and address or on false plates” according to the ‘Missing The Missing’ YouTube channel) – seen also on camera in the close vicinity of Durbin’s last location at the time of his last sighting has never been eliminated from enquiries. Suffolk Police have stated that they “sadly believe Luke was unlawfully killed,” and though a £20,000 reward was offered and multiple arrests made, no progress has been made in solving this disappearance.

In subsequent years, Luke Durbin’s mother, Nicki Durbin, has tirelessly continued her efforts to find her son and taken a job working on the Missing People helpline to help others in similar situations. She also operates a Twitter account and an email address findluke@hotmail.co.uk highlighting the case and keeps alive the hope of one day solving what the Ipswich Star terms: “One of Suffolk’s most enduring mysteries.”

May 6, 2020
Enough is Enough

Funding for the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann must cease; £11 million spent with no result is evidence that enough is enough

Over £11 million has been spent in relation to the search for Madeleine McCann since the then 3-year old disappeared on 3^rd May 2007. The result? Absolutely no progress and a lot of unanswered questions.

Now, with the last round of public funding given to the element of the search known as Operation Grange by Theresa May in March set to run out in September, is the time to end the search. Enough is enough and in spite that some would suggest that the chances of finding the disappeared child is still there, the fact of the matter is that in ten years of following leads that have led nowhere resources that could have been allocated to other missing people have been squandered.

Last week, a Metropolitan Police spokesman told The Sun:

“A lot of potentially significant images and material were captured on previous trips to Portugal and we are still working on all leads…. The investigation continues with focus and determination. It is not winding down, it is not grinding to a halt. It is on going.”

Such sentiments will no doubt leave such people as Kerry Needham – whose 21-month year old son, Ben, disappeared in Greece on 24^th July 1991 – spitting feathers. As of 2015, a comparative sum of just £700,000 had been spent on attempts to find him and thus one is left asking why the child of two middle class medics is worth 93% more than the son of an ordinary working class woman.

In 2015, Ms Needham, after supporters of the McCanns cruelly suggested those backing her in her search for her child were “toxic”, remarked: “I have never criticised the McCann family. I have only every criticised the authorities for the way the two cases have been handled so differently.”

Kerry Needham

Missing Madeleine – Questions without Answers

Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:

Why did the McCanns refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?

Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 9’?

Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappear?

Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?

Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?

Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?

July 23, 2017