On 3 May 2007, Madeleine Beth McCann, a 3‑year‑old British girl, disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal. The Daily Telegraph described her disappearance as "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history". Madeleine's whereabouts remain unknown,Gordon Rayner, "Madeleine McCann latest: are police any closer to knowing the truth?" , The Daily Telegraph, 26 April 2016. although German prosecutors believe she is dead.

Madeleine was on holiday from the United Kingdom with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, her two-year-old twin siblings, and a group of family friends and their children. The McCann children had been left asleep at 20:30 in the ground-floor apartment while their parents dined with friends in a restaurant away. The parents checked on the children about every 30–40 minutes throughout the evening, until Kate discovered Madeleine was missing at 22:00. Over the following weeks, particularly on the basis of their interpretation of a British DNA analysis, the Portuguese police came to believe that Madeleine had died in an accident in the apartment and her parents had covered it up. The McCanns were given arguido (suspect) status in September 2007, which was lifted when Portugal's attorney general archived the case in July 2008 for lack of evidence.

Madeleine's parents continued the investigation using private detectives until the Metropolitan Police opened its own inquiry, Operation Grange, in 2011. The senior investigating officer announced that he was treating the disappearance as "a criminal act by a stranger", most likely a planned abduction or burglary gone wrong. In 2013, the Met released e-fit images of men they wanted to trace, including one of a man seen carrying a child toward the beach on the night Madeleine vanished.Sandra Laville, "British detectives release efits of Madeleine McCann suspect" , The Guardian, 14 October 2013. Shortly after this, Portuguese police reopened their inquiry. Operation Grange was scaled back in 2015, but the remaining detectives continued to pursue a small number of inquiries described in April 2017 as significant. In 2020, German authorities declared Christian Brückner their prime suspect for the abduction and murder of McCann, but charges have yet to be formalised.

Madeleine's disappearance attracted sustained press coverage in the UK and internationally, reminiscent of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.Regarding press coverage: : "Within a few weeks, it was possible to talk about the 'Maddification' of Britain, akin to the 'Dianification' of Britain that followed the death of the equally photogenic, white, blonde Princess ten years earlier." Rafael Epstein, "Britain gripped by kidnap case" , AM, ABC Radio (Australia): "In Britain, the disappearance of four-year-old Madeleine McCann has gripped the nation, so much so that its effect is being compared to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales." John Ward Anderson, "The Campaign" , The Washington Post, 12 August 2007. Allan Massie, "Weep not only for Madeleine" , The Daily Telegraph, 4 June 2007. Her parents were subjected to intense scrutiny and faced accusations of involvement in the disappearance, particularly in the tabloid press and on Twitter."The dark side of social media" , Nature, editorial, 15 February 2017 In 2008, as a result of false allegations of their involvement in Madeleine's death, they and their travelling companions received damages and apologies from Express Newspapers. In 2011, the McCanns testified before the Leveson Inquiry into British press misconduct, lending support to those arguing for tighter press regulation.James Robinson, "Leveson inquiry: McCanns deliver damning two-hour testimony" , The Guardian, 23 November 2011.

Background Madeleine McCann

Madeleine Beth McCann was born on 12 May 2003 in Leicester and lived with her family, including her younger twin siblings, a boy and a girl born in 2005, in Rothley, Leicestershire. At her parents' request, she was made a ward of court in England shortly after the disappearance, which gave the court statutory powers to act on her behalf.Gordon Raynor, "Madeleine McCann: parents' court bid for information " , The Daily Telegraph, 20 June 2008; . Police described Madeleine as blonde-haired with blue-green eyes, a small brown spot on her left calf, and a distinctive dark strip on the iris of her right eye."Missing child", PJ. In 2009, the McCanns released age-progressed images of how she may have looked at age six, and in 2012 the Metropolitan Police commissioned one of her at age nine.Haroon Siddique, "Madeleine McCann's parents release picture of how she might look now" , The Guardian, 1 May 2009."Madeleine McCann: Police release new 'age progression' image" , The Daily Telegraph, April 2012.

Kate and Gerry McCann Madeleine's parents are both physicians and practising Roman Catholics. Kate Marie McCann, née Healy (born 1968, Huyton, near Liverpool), attended All Saints School in Anfield, then Notre Dame High School in Everton Valley, graduating in 1992 with a degree in medicine from the University of Dundee. She moved briefly into obstetrics and gynaecology, then anaesthetics, and later general practice.

Gerald Patrick McCann (born 1968 in Glasgow) attended Holyrood R.C. Secondary School before graduating from the University of Glasgow with a BSc in physiology/sports science in 1989. In 1992, he qualified in medicine and in 2002 obtained his MD, also from Glasgow. Since 2005, he has been a consultant cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester."Dr Gerry McCann" , University of Leicester. Also see . The McCanns met in 1993 in Glasgow and were married in 1998.

"Tapas Seven" The McCanns were on holiday with seven friends and eight children in all, including the McCanns' three. The nine adults dined together most evenings at 20:30 in the resort's tapas restaurant, as a result of which the media dubbed the friends the "Tapas Seven".Multiple sources:

The report of one of the group, Jane Tanner, that she saw a man carry a child away from the resort 45minutes before Madeleine was reported missing, became one of the most-discussed aspects of the case .

Resort The McCanns arrived on 28 April 2007 for their seven-night spring break in Praia da Luz, a village in Portugal's Algarve region with a population of 1,000, known as "Little Britain" because of the concentration of British homeowners and holidaymakers.Judy Bachrach, "Unanswered Prayers" , Vanity Fair, October 2008. They had booked through the British holiday company Mark Warner Ltd, and were placed in 5A Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva, an apartment owned by a retired teacher from Liverpool, one of several privately owned properties the company rented.Caroline Gammell, "Madeleine McCann: Apartment was not made crime scene for two months" , The Daily Telegraph, 8 August 2008.

5A was a two-bedroom ground-floor apartment in the fifth block of a group of apartments known as Waterside Village, which lay on the perimeter of part of Mark Warner's Ocean Club resort.Angela Balakrishnan, "The resort that was rocked one night in May" , The Guardian, 11 April 2008. Matthew and Rachel Oldfield were next door in 5B, Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien in 5D, and the Paynes and Dianne Webster on the first floor. Located on the corner of Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva and Rua Dr Francisco Gentil Martins, 5A was accessible to the public from two sides.DCI Andy Redwood, Crimewatch , BBC, 14 October 2013, from 00:20:02. Sliding glass patio doors in the living room at the back overlooked the Ocean Club's pool, tennis courts, tapas restaurant, and bar. The patio doors could be accessed via a public street, Rua Dr Francisco Gentil Martins, where a small gate and set of steps led to 5A's balcony and living room. 5A's front door was on the opposite side of the block from the Ocean Club, on Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva."Searching for Madeleine" , Dispatches, Channel 4, 18 October 2007, 00:15:21.

The McCanns' children slept in a bedroom next to the front door, which the McCanns kept locked. The bedroom had one waist-high window with curtains and a metal exterior shutter, the latter controlled by a cord inside the window; the McCanns kept the curtains and shutter closed throughout the holiday. The window overlooked a narrow walkway and residents' car park, which was separated from the street by a low wall."Searching for Madeleine" , Dispatches, 00:06:25. Madeleine slept in a single bed next to the bedroom door, on the opposite side of the room from the window; the twins were in travel cots in the middle of the room. There was another single bed underneath the window.

Disappearance

Daytime: McCann family activities Thursday, 3 May 2007 was the penultimate day of the family's holiday. Over breakfast Madeleine asked: "Why didn't you come when [my brother] and I cried last night?" After the disappearance, her parents wondered whether this meant someone had entered the children's bedroom. Her mother also noticed a large brown stain on Madeleine's pyjama top.

The children spent the morning in the resort's Kids' Club, then the family ate lunch at their apartment before heading to the pool.Angela Balakrishnan, "What happened on the day Madeleine disappeared?" , The Guardian, 11 April 2008. Kate took the last known photograph of Madeleine at 14:29 that afternoon, sitting by the pool next to her father and two-year-old sister.Giles Tremlett, "McCanns release last picture of Madeleine before she vanished" , The Guardian, 25 May 2007. For 2:29 pm: Laura Roberts, "Madeleine McCann: Kate McCann fears outfit may have led to kidnap" , The Daily Telegraph, 11 May 2011. The children returned to the Kids' Club, then at 18:00 their mother took them back to 5A, while their father went for a tennis lesson. The McCanns put the children to bed at around 19:00. Madeleine was left asleep in short-sleeved, pink-and-white Marks and Spencer's Eeyore pyjamas, next to her comfort blanket and a soft toy, Cuddle Cat.

20:30: Tapas restaurant At 20:30 the parents left 5A to dine with their friends in the Ocean Club's open-air tapas restaurant, located on the other side of the pool. 5A lay about 55metres from the restaurant as the crow flies, but to reach the restaurant, one needed to walk along a public street to reach the doors of the Ocean Club resort, and then go through the resort to the other side of the pool, a distance of about 82metres .For "50 metres (yards)", "Kidnapping concern for missing girl in Portugal" , Reuters, 4 May 2007. For 60 yards as the crow flies, and a 90-yard walk, "less than a minute's walk away", . Ninety yards would take a minute to walk at a speed of around three miles per hour. The top of the apartment was visible from the tapas restaurant, but not the doors. The patio doors could be locked only from the inside, so the McCanns left them closed but unlocked, with the curtains drawn, so they could let themselves in that way when checking on the children. There was a child-safety gate at the top of the steps from the patio and a low gate at the bottom, which led to the street.

The resort's staff had left a note in a message book at the swimming-pool reception area, asking that the same table, which overlooked the apartments, be block-booked for 20:30 for the McCanns and friends every evening for the last four evenings of the holiday. The message said the group's children were asleep in the apartments. Kate believes the abductor may have seen the note. The McCanns and their friends left the restaurant roughly every half-hour to check on their children. Gerry carried out the first check on 5A at around 21:05. The children were asleep and all was well, except that he recalled having left the children's bedroom door slightly ajar, and now it stood almost wide open. He pulled it nearly closed again before returning to the restaurant..

21:15: Tanner sighting