'It had all the ingredients of a perfect news story - beautiful little girl, nice parents, idyllic location' More than two weeks into the search for Madeleine McCann, a weariness is growing among locals in the Portuguese beach resort caught in the glare of the media spotlight, writes Mary Fitzgeraldin Praia Da Luz
There are no posters of Madeleine McCann in the arrivals hall of Faro airport, nothing among the smiling tour reps and hotel transfer signs that would suggest there was trouble in the Algarve paradise pictured on almost every advertising hoarding. It is only when the road turns west, towards the coast and deeper into Portugal's most tourist-heavy region, that the posters that have become ubiquitous in Britain begin to appear on shopfronts, fences and car windows. One features Madeleine wide-eyed in her Everton football shirt; another, Madeleine smiling coyly from underneath a pink hat; but the most frequent image is that of Madeleine's face in stark close-up, revealing the distinctive eye marking that Kate and Gerry McCann believe could help trace their daughter. Desaparecida, each one reads - disappeared.
More than two weeks since Madeleine vanished from her bedroom in the sleepy resort of Praia da Luz, the story of the missing four-year-old has captured public imagination to an extraordinary level. In Britain it has become something akin to a national obsession, every twist and turn of which is scrutinised endlessly in TV bulletins, newspapers and conversations. In an unseemly race to claim the story for themselves, the red-tops have churned out reams of emotive coverage focusing on "our Maddy" - prompting the McCann family to point out they never abbreviated their daughter's name. Sky News has led with the story for weeks, devoting an entire page on its website to updates and photomontages of Madeleine and her distraught parents. Politicians, business moguls, footballers including David Beckham, and celebrities such as Harry Potter author JK Rowling have joined in the clamour for her return, contributing to a reward fund that has reached almost £3 million (€4.4 million). A website set up by the McCann family has received more than 50 million hits since its launch this week. Such is the strength of national feeling that the BBC went as far as comparing it with the mass outpouring of grief that followed the death of Princess Diana in 1997.
The international media began to take an interest as the days turned into weeks and still there was no sign or trace of the little girl. Soon the story was making the news worldwide, from Singapore to South Africa and Tasmania. The current issue of People magazine in the US features Madeleine on its front cover. The private tragedy of one British family has found itself translated into something approaching a global shorthand for parental fears and insecurities. "The very nature of the story goes to the heart of all our darkest fears," psychotherapist Lucy Beresford told the BBC. "This is a parent's worst nightmare, but for all of us, that whole sense of the menace outside of us, the bogeyman in the wood, this is the stuff of Brothers Grimm fairy tales . . . "
Britain's National Missing Person Helpline has received reports of 450 incidents involving missing children since Madeleine disappeared on May 3rd, but not one has attracted a smidgen of the interest devoted to the toddler from Leicestershire. So how did the story of Madeleine's disappearance become such a phenomenon, dominating news channels and public debate? "I asked a well-known British TV journalist the same question last week," one Portuguese resident of Praia da Luz told The Irish Times. "He told me it had all the ingredients for a perfect news story - beautiful little girl, nice parents, idyllic location - plus he said it came at a time when news was scarce. It made me wonder about the whole media approach. It's really quite cynical."
It's a complaint heard often in the bougainvillea shaded streets of this former sardine fishing village, as locals endure a third week of having scores of journalists camped on their doorstep. Praia da Luz ("the beach of light") is not used to such attention. The small hamlet takes its name from the local Nossa Senhora Da Luz ("Our Lady of light") church, the whitewashed chapel where Madeleine's parents have prayed daily for her return. Perched on a hill, the cobbled streets of Praia da Luz slope down to the beach, a gentle curve of white sand flanked by rocky outcrops on either side.
More than half the permanent population are British expatriates, mostly retirees drawn by the sedate atmosphere and what its tourism brochures call the "charm and character of yesteryear". Many Irish people have bought apartments in the village in recent years and the latest addition to its string of holiday complexes is partly Irish-owned. Those who holiday here tend to be pensioners or young families looking for a relaxed, child-friendly resort. The Ocean Club, where the McCanns were staying with three other couples and their children, is located within the village itself and run by Mark Warner, a British company that specialises in family packages. The resort consists of several different sites, broken up by the village's narrow lanes, and a number of its apartments - such as the McCanns' - back on to public streets.
As the Mark Warner literature puts it: "You're as likely to meet a local as a tourist." Hundreds of those locals joined search parties in the first days of Madeleine's disappearance, horrified at the thought that someone may have spirited the little girl from her bed as her parents enjoyed dinner at a tapas bar just across from their apartment. They hung posters in every shop window and tied yellow ribbons to door handles and railings. Portuguese gossip magazines cleared their front pages of the usual local celebrities and footballers' wives to run photographs of Madeleine and her parents. Purported sightings and leads surfaced every day only to evaporate the next. Some speculated that the child had been abducted by members of a paedophile ring, others that she was taken by someone desperate for a child of their own, or by someone planning to sell her for adoption.
As days passed and the police investigation appeared to grow increasingly threadbare, everyone feared the worst. Tensions grew between British reporters frustrated by the paucity of information under Portugal's strict secrecy laws and police smarting at claims their inquiry was shambolic and inept. A note of defensiveness crept into the Portuguese media, with many doing what few in Britain dared to do publicly - criticise Kate and Gerry McCann, a GP and cardiologist, for leaving their children alone at night.
Luis Villas-Boas, a psychologist and director of Faro's children's home, accused the McCanns of being "negligent through overconfidence".
"Leaving two twin babies and a three-year-old girl alone for more than a minute is not exactly a recommended pattern of behaviour in Portugal or any other part of the world," he said.
People have reacted to the story in different ways, says Sheena Rawcliffe, managing director of the Resident, a newspaper for expats living in the Algarve. "There has been a real split mood about this. While everyone feels sorry for the McCanns, many British people living here shake their heads and admit they would probably have done the same, whereas the Portuguese attitude is 'what the hell were they thinking, leaving their children like that?'. It shows the very different attitudes to family here."
Media interest stepped up significantly when news broke that Robert Murat, a British expat who shares a house in Praia da Luz with his elderly mother, had been questioned by detectives and classed as an arguido - meaning he is officially a suspect. Both Murat and Sergey Malinka, a Russian associate also questioned as a witness, strenuously deny any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance. Police repeat they do not have enough evidence to make any arrests. Locals, already weary of the unrelenting spotlight, now complain that a media circus has sprung up around the investigation, with reporters playing detective and all too willing to act as judge, jury and executioner in a case where hard facts remain scant.
The streets surrounding the McCanns' apartment are clogged with satellite trucks and sunburnt TV crews, most of them camped right outside Murat's low-slung villa nearby. A bank of TV cameras stands right next to the police cordon, lenses trained for any movement in or out of the property's green gate. Photographers trail Madeleine's parents when they go to church or for a walk along the beach. Within the press pack, rumours and theories flit back and forth, some of which ends up as breathless copy in the following day's newspapers. Comparisons with Soham are casually bandied about and speculation veers from the lurid to the far-fetched. "People are trying to make links without substantiation and that is not how things are done in Portugal," local lawyer Artur Rego told The Irish Times. "We have no idea what the outcome of the investigation will be and until then we really don't have the right to presume anyone's guilt. This is a small community and whatever happens, it will be very difficult for those publicly linked to the investigation to continue living here. Even if they are completely cleared, this will be impossible to wash away."
Residents tend to shy away from the media now, and if they do talk, most are wary of giving their names. Some expats have started to mutter about the attention lavished on the case, echoing complaints in the Portuguese media about the enormous resources allocated to the investigation compared with the disappearances of Portuguese children. "Of course our hearts go out to the parents, but you can't helping wondering if there would be the same treatment if Madeleine was the daughter of an unmarried mother from Bradford," said one elderly British resident, who declined to give his name.
From the beginning, the McCann family has been instrumental in making sure Madeleine's face stays in the public eye, releasing a steady stream of photographs and statements to make sure momentum is sustained. A haunted-looking Kate McCann rarely appears in front of the media scrum without the favourite pink cuddly toy Madeleine calls "Cuddle Cat".
David Hodson, of the International Family Law Group, which is representing the McCanns, says maximising media coverage was an immediate priority. With many believing the toddler has been abducted and taken outside Portugal, the family is determined their campaign has a wide reach. Michael Wright, a close relative, said Madeleine's parents wanted the same saturation level of publicity throughout Europe as had been achieved in Britain. They had been "totally overwhelmed by offers from individuals, small companies, and large multinational corporations" so far, he said, adding that "both of them are firmly fixed on the campaign, which is designed to raise Madeleine's profile right across Europe and ensure we bring her home".
Madeleine's aunt, Donegal-born Philomena McCann, told The Irish Times the blanket coverage had also been something of a consolation for the family. "We have courted the media and in many ways the huge coverage is a comfort for us," she said. "The media is wholeheartedly supporting us, as well as helping to get Madeleine's face out there."
Paul Tuohy, chief executive of the National Missing Persons Helpline in Britain, said the story was unique in many respects. "This has captured people's imagination because it is such an unusual case. It has picked up a huge amount of momentum, because the media have rarely come across a case like this. They will not let it go." But he cautioned that such extensive coverage could overshadow other disappearances: "We just hope all the world publicity is not all used up in this one case."
Anne Quinn, a radiology manager at Dublin's Beaumont Hospital, disagrees. Currently on holiday in Praia da Luz with her sisters and four-year-old daughter, she believes Madeleine's disappearance has struck a chord with parents everywhere. "You're always on your guard with children at that age anyway but this has really brought it home to people that it could happen anywhere," she says. "I've noticed people here in the resort are very careful with their children, not letting them out of their sight. I think the high profile campaign is very good in the overall context of raising awareness of the whole issue of children going missing. If the Madeleine campaign raises the issue overall, then it's a very positive thing."
Others are mindful that, even with all the publicity, chances of a positive outcome for the McCann family are slim. One day the TV crews will fold up their cameras and the story of Madeleine McCann will cease to be front-page news. "Everyone is talking about it now but, realistically speaking, a campaign like this cannot go on indefinitely. You have to ask where will it end," says Frank Fairbrother, a Surrey pensioner holidaying in Praia da Luz. "I hate to say this but it does seem like clutching at straws," adds his wife Doris.
Meanwhile, against fading odds, the McCann family clings to the hope that Madeleine will be returned to them alive and well. "If we gave up hope, it would mean to stop looking for her," Philomena McCann said last week. "And to stop looking for her would be the destruction of our family."