http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/
According to a spokesman for the national police in Palma (Mallorca), no major search operation has been launched on the island following the witness statement from a British couple stating that they saw Madeleine McCann in the company of two women: "we are carrying out the usual checks, nothing else," the officer stated this morning, stressing, "that the most astonishing thing about the story is that amongst the other people present in the same place, no one saw that little girl, or even the two women."
Robert and Marian Cleminson, a couple of British tourists, claim to have seen a child resembling Madeleine McCann in Cala d'Or in the company of two women, described as originating from Northern Europe and aged around 40 to 50.
Before informing the police on the island, last Wednesday, the couple allegedly went back to the hotel to consult the internet and check the resemblance of the child they saw with photos of Madeleine.After having questioned other tourists present in the same place where the couple had described having seen Madeleine, the police did not find the least evidence which might confirm the witness statement.
"We are grateful to the British couple in question for having brought this to the attention of the police as quickly as they did, but obviously, there were a certain number of witness statements in the past which offered nothing," stated Clarence Mitchell, spokesperson for the McCanns.
The British media took up the case.While the police in Mallorca confirmed the witness statement of Robert and Marian Cleminson, a British couple in their sixties, the media in the United Kingdom took up the case.
The Leicester Mercury, quite close to the McCanns, headlined that the "hunt," had started after Madeleine was allegedly seen in Mallorca, announcing that, "the McCann family's private investigators have joined a huge police operation."
The Mirror headlines that the Mallorca witness statement is investigated, while The Sun states that a couple of British people in Mallorca saw Maddie. Meanwhile, it's The Sun that publishes the first statements from the witnesses: "She greatly resembled Maddie, which aroused our suspicions," Marian stated.
Madeleine is not being looked for on Halo 3.According to Bungie, the company behind the video game Halo 3, the message asking where is Maddie, included in its latest trailer, is not a reference to Madeleine McCann, being only an "unfortunate coincidence."
The trailer for the next round of the famous game, distributed by Microsoft, came out last week on Bungie's internet site with a short question: "Maddie, where are you?"
"It is an unfortunate coincidence, but there is no connection between Bungie's game and the tragic disappearance of that little girl," wrote Brian Jarrard, Bungie's public relations director.
The use of the name Maddie in a game known for its high level of violence immediately gave rise to much speculation, where even Halo 3's admirers recognised that, "even if a character in the game happened to disappear, it probably wasn't the best idea in the world to call her Maddie."
The image flashes very quickly, just a few moments, but fans of the game, looking for all information about it, quickly found the messages.
(Editor's note: I have never played a video game and if I were to be asked to name a few, I would have a hard time coming up with any at all. However, I have now heard of Halo 3. A good marketing ploy, or, as they say, an unfortunate coincidence?)
