....... ..................... This is the introduction to a very long article analysing the alleged role of Raymond Hewlett in Madeleine McCann's disappearance.
Tony Bennett of the Madeleine Foundation, analyses the Sun article in which Antonella Lazzeri writes about the letter Raymond Hewlett allegedly sent to his son Wayne from his deathbed, stating that he knew what had happened to Maddie. Tony sets out the timeline of Hewlett's life and his criminal history as well as his knowledge of Praia da Luz and when he visited the town.
On 1 September 2010, The Sun published yet another sensational article about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. It claimed that a British paedophile who had recently died in Germany - Raymond Hewlett - had written a letter ‘on his deathbed’, shortly before he died, claiming that he knew what really happened to Madeleine McCann. That was quite some claim. In this article, we examine that claim in detail.
The Sun article was one of the most preposterous ever written by a tabloid newspaper on the reported disappearance of Madeleine McCann, among all the hundreds of other sensational and speculative articles that have been written about the case. We will analyse why it is so preposterous. We will first of all reproduce the article, by-lined by Antonella Lazzeri, not noted for her accurate reporting, and Andy Crick. Then we’ll analyse the article.
Raymond Hewlett: a very sick man near the end of his life.
The Sun, September 1st 2010, by Antonella Lazzeri and Andrew Crick.
MADELEINE McCann suspect Raymond Hewlett confessed on his deathbed that he KNEW what happened to the little girl, The Sun can reveal.
In a letter to his estranged son Wayne, he denied having anything to do with Maddie's disappearance.
But he said he knew she had been stolen to order by a gipsy gang who kidnap children for wealthy couples unable to have kids or adopt.
Now, consider these wealthy couples who are unable to have kids or adopt: too old to adopt? What other reasons might there be? And wouldn't these wealthy couples want a very young child who would adjust easily to a new environment?
Madeleine McCann was nearly four years old and therefore cognitively mature enough to have a good vocabulary, good communication skills and the developmental level of memory to recall where she came from. Amelie, on the other hand, was two years and three months old, also a blonde child, but, as her parents pointed out when asked if the twins might be able to talk about what had happened to Madeleine, she did not have the necessary verbal skills. So, if one of those wealthy couples had 'ordered,' a small, blonde child, why not take Amelie, who would surely have adjusted more readily to a new environment?
We are to believe that Madeleine McCann was stolen by a 'gipsy gang,' for one of these wealthy couples. Does this mean that we are also to accept that not one person associated with this gipsy gang was tempted by the huge reward on offer for Madeleine's safe return?
Hewlett, a serial paedophile seen near the spot where Maddie was snatched in Portugal, said they had a "shopping list" of potential targets - such as a little girl with blonde hair like Maddie.
Private detectives working for Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry are "extremely interested" in Hewlett's claims.
A source close to their ongoing investigation said: "What he says fits the No1 theory, which is that she was stolen to order."
And what of this wealthy couple now? They have the world's most famous missing child, but they must keep her hidden, never send her to school, never take her out in public in case she inadvertently says something, mistrust everyone they know who might be tempted by a huge reward. But, this does fit neatly into Gerry McCann's oft repeated mantra about Madeleine's not having come to harm. She has been stolen to order for a wealthy couple who really wanted a child of their own. Yea right!
The 'No1 theory.'? Whose number one theory? Not that of the Portuguese police or indeed the English police who were part of the original investigation. Only the McCanns and their friends and relations seem to hold to this as their number one theory.
Hewlett died of throat cancer in April, aged 62, after persistently refusing to meet the McCanns' detectives.
He became a suspect because of his appalling record of rape and abduction of children.
And he was living as a nomad in Portugal with his second family when Maddie vanished from the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007.
Hewlett's letter to builder Wayne, 40, was delivered to the son by a mystery man - thought to be a solicitor or a private eye - a week after he died.
Most of it was an apology for how his vile crimes had affected his first wife Susan and Wayne.
But then he went on to write about Maddie, who was nearly four when she went missing.
Wayne, of Telford, Shropshire, said: "It was a bolt from the blue and I shook when I read it.
"He stated he didn't want to go to his grave with us thinking he had done such a horrible thing.
"He said he had had nothing to do with taking Maddie but did know who had.
"He said a very good gipsy friend he knew in Portugal had got drunk and 'let it out' that he had stolen Maddie to order as part of a gang.
"My dad said this gang had been operating for a long time and had snatched children before for couples who couldn't have children of their own.
"Maddie had been targeted. They took photos of children and sent them to the people they were acting for. And they said Yes or No.
"Dad said the man told him it was nothing to do with snatching children for a paedophile gang or for a sexual reason.
"He said there were huge sums of money involved. And he totally believed what this man was saying."
The account fits with others surrounding the Maddie mystery.
Several strange men were seen taking photos of children around the Ocean Club resort in the days before she vanished. And The Sun revealed earlier this year that a British expat thought he had seen Maddie in a white van driven by a gipsy couple the day after she was lost.
'Several strange men were seen taking photos of children around the Ocean Club resort in the days before she vanished.' Ahem! It's a holiday resort and I expect there were lots of men, who probably were not in the least bit strange, taking photos of their own children. That's what people do on holiday, though not the McCanns, judging by the number of photos they appear to have taken of Madeleine during her holiday in Praia da Luz.
Wayne, who had no contact with Hewlett for nearly 20 years, said his father's letter seemed "very genuine".
He added: "I don't know if this is what happened to Maddie or not, but it does make sense. I can't believe he'd go to those lengths to make up some elaborate lie when he was so weak and ill."
Wayne said he considered going to Kate and Gerry with the letter but was worried it could cause them more heartache if it gave them false hope. He added: "I actually burned it because it unnerved me so much.
So, Wayne Hewlett burned a letter that at least a few tabloids would have entered a bidding war to get their hands on? Yea right! How very convenient!
"To have a letter from someone you hated for so long was just mind-blowing. I couldn't deal with it."
Wayne did not contact The Sun about the message. We learned of its existence through a friend.
But now he intends to sit down with the Maddie detectives to tell them everything he knows.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said last night: "We are extremely grateful to Wayne for coming forward with this information and the detective team will be interviewing him as a matter of priority."
And what might this detective team do once they have interviewed Wayne Hewlett, the man who burned a letter about the world's most famous missing child? Well, if Maddie is with a wealthy couple, she's probably not in a 'hellish lair,' in one of those, 'lawless villages,' near Praia da Luz that the detectives didn't get round to visiting and Kate and Gerry managed to avoid when they last visited the area.
Wayne is going to tell the detectives, 'everything he knows.'? I wonder if he will be like Jane Tanner who, through cognitive interviewing, discovered there was a great deal that she hadn't known she knew!
This is all very convenient: Raymond Hewlett is dead and can therefore neither confirm nor deny having written the letter and Madeleine has been stolen to order for a wealthy couple who really wanted a child, so she will not have come to harm. This gipsy gang had been watching, taking photographs and waiting for that very small window of opportunity when, by sheer coincidence, Jane Tanner just happened to be in the right place at the right time to be able to see the paid abductor making off with a child in Maddie's pyjamas! Yea right!
The two former English policemen that were hired by the McCann couple, returned to England yesterday without having questioned the alleged “suspect” in the disappearance of Madeleine, after the German authorities classified their presence in Aachen as “a clown act”, accusing them of “trying to pressure the local judicial authorities”, using contacts among the British diplomatic representatives in Germany.
The private investigators – who have no police authority whatsoever in England or abroad – wanted to question Raymond Hewlett, a British citizen aged 64 who lived in Tavira when Maddie disappeared in Praia da Luz, and who has served prison sentences in three paedophilia cases that involved teenagers.
The prosecutor in Aachen, in statements to 24horas, confirmed that the English authorities manifested interest in questioning Hewlett about two old cases but that “the official request doesn’t even mention the Maddie case and does not request the individual’s detention”.
For the German authorities, everything that has been published in the English tabloids, “has been nothing but pure speculation” about a sad disappearance case.
“We can’t prevent the British citizen from leaving the hospital, as soon as that is possible in clinical terms, and especially if he wishes to do so”, said Robert Deller, in an interview to German television before he spoke to 24horas. “We are willing to cooperate with the Portuguese and English authorities but these gentlemen (the detectives) have no authority whatsoever and we’ll be glad when they leave the hospital door. Them, and the journalists that they brought along”, a spokesman for the police in Aachen confessed to 24horas.
Hewlett, who had been admitted to the University Clinic in Aachen for cancer treatment, refused to answer to the McCanns’ investigators but told 24horas that on the day that Maddie disappeared, he was camped in Fuzeta, the place where he took part in the monthly market and antiques sale. The English citizen, who was never involved in paedophilia cases in our country, was denounced to the McCanns’ investigators by an equally British couple, Alan and Cindy Thompson – who are known to authorities for equally having pretended that they knew where Bin Laden’s hideout was located.
24horas tried to contact Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley, the two former policemen that form “Alpha Investigations Group”, but they refused to comment on why they consider the English man a suspect, after stating that Maddie “was not abducted by a paedophile” or transported on board of any boat.
In Portugal, a source at the PJ in Portimão confirmed that the information that has been published about the case is being “followed attentively” but that neither the McCann couple nor their investigators “delivered or communicated any new data” to the PJ.
Duarte Levyalso in 24horas
I find it very odd that the McCanns are focusing on Madeleine's having been abducted by a paedophile and yet, at the same time, asserting that they believe she has not come to serious harm. What do they think paedophiles do with small children? Treat little girls like princesses?
If Madeleine had been abducted by a paedophile, then under the Children and Young Persons Act of 1933, the McCanns should be prosecuted. This act does not lay down any minimum age at which children may be left alone, but it does say that if children come to serious harm, the parents/carers can be prosecuted. Three children, under the age of four, were left alone for significant periods of time, while their parents were at some distance,dining. The very fact that Madeleine is no longer where she should be, in her own home, going to school, playing with friends, means that she has come to serious harm. So, why are her parents still out there, hiring Toytown pretendy cops and issuing an ultimatum to a "person of interest," which they have no legal right to do?
Clarence Mitchell has stated, quite pompously in my opinion, that Raymond Hewlett should speak to the McCanns' detectives in order to clear his name. Well, maybe if Kate McCann sets an example, I would be more in favour of the Hewlett interview. Maybe Clarence could persuade Kate McCann that it is incumbent upon her to answer those 48 questions the PJ put to her way back in September 2007, to which she responded with, "No comment."
Raymond Hewlett, a British man aged 64, named yesterday as being the new suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance, "wasn't in Praia da Luz," on May 3rd 2007 and, "has an alibi," which witnesses have confirmed with the police. Information confirmed today by a PJ officer, adding that the English team of investigators who were sent to Portugal immediately following Maddie's disappearance, "ruled the individual out as a suspect for various reason, his profile amongst other things," this same officer told 24 Horas, indicating that "all known cases involving the supposed suspect concern young people and not children of Madeleine's age.
Yesterday, Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, admitted that the couple were aware of suspicions regarding the individual, but he stressed that the British man, whose identity has been revealed by the media, is only, "a person of interest in the investigation," which two ex-police officers are in the process of carrying out in this case.
The British man - who lived in Portugal, but mostly in Tavira, for a few years - is currently in hospital in Germany, but he told an English newspaper that on the day of Maddie's disappearance he was at a fair* in Fuzeta. Contacted by 24 Horas, the Fuzeta town council confirmed that there are two fairs a month whose dates tally with the suspect's statements: the monthly fair that is held on the first Thursday of each month and which, in May was held on Thursday May 3rd, the day of the disappearance, and the second-hand fair that is on the first Sunday of each month.
In 2007, the vendors were not obliged to identify themselves to the fair organisers, an omission rectified this year by the town council. The employee who handles contact with the vendors is still the same, but the PJ have not questioned him. 24 Horas tried to contact him, but he is on leave.
The disclosure of this new suspect - who does not match any of the descriptions given up to the present time, by witnesses to the supposed abduction - was done following the accusation by an English couple, Alan and Cindy Thompson, who personally knew Raymond and his history, but had never contacted the police. The two ex-police officers, who replaced the Metodo 3 Spaniards - described by relatives of the McCanns as incompetent and very expensive - continue to insist that the little girl was not kidnapped by any paedophile ring or taken away by boat.
Duarte Levy (Also in 24 Horas)
* In Portugal, in general, the fair takes place once a month and is only clothing, in contrast to the food market which is every day.
Well, it's the big news today! It's all over the newspapers and all over the net. Raymond Hewlett, a convicted British paedophile is the latest suspect in the Madeleine McCann case. Mr Hewlett, at the time Madeleine disappeared, was reportedly: an hour's drive from Praia da Luz; 70 miles away; 30 miles away; on a campsite near the Spanish border. It's a bit like 120 yards, 50 yards, 15 yards, in our own back garden!
"Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, said yesterday:" We are aware of Raymond Hewlett and the claims that have been made."
"The investigators searching for Madeleine are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding Mr Hewlett and these claims. Hewlett is an individual of interest to the investigation."
"The alarm was raised about Hewlett by a couple who met him while on holiday in Portugal, the Daily Mirror said.
When Alan and Cindy Thompson met the convict, he was living with his wife and six children in a converted Dodge truck travelling from campsite to campsite.
Mr Thompson told the Mirror: "Hewlett befriended us but kept quiet about his terrible past.
"We were mortified and disgusted to discover the truth."
"They also described a conversation in which Hewlett said he was approached by some "Gipsy tourists" offering to buy his daughter just before Madeleine went missing.
Mrs Thompson said: "We didn't think too much of this at the time."
This same couple were traveling in Pakistan in 1999, when they discovered the hideout of Osama Bin Laden. And they didn't think too much of that at the time, either, until they got back home.
"In the spring of 1999, A British couple called Alan and Cindy Thompson were driving through Pakistan, in the very area that they're now talking about as being bin Laden's location. After driving for 11 hours on dirt roads they came to a checkpoint and were detained by armed Pakistani guards.
The next day the Dawn newspaper, one of the biggest newspapers in Pakistan, reported that this couple had found the secret lair of Osama bin Laden.
More interesting is that they reported that this location had been visited by US consulate officers, British, Australian, and Swiss ambassadors, and that it was guarded by a team of US commandoes.
After the couple were picked up by the British embassy they were invited to a garden party where all the British ambassadors and aid workers were bragging that they were stationed in the same area as bin Laden's secret hideout.
After the couple got back home to England they saw a newspaper article calling for the capture of bin Laden. This was a few months before Clinton signed an executive order mandating bin Laden to be killed on sight.
The couple immediately contacted Scotland Yard in London; they contacted the FBI and the Pentagon and in every case got nothing. No response, no request for an interview. Nothing."
When the Portuguese police archived the Madeleine McCann case, the McCann family were given access to the case files. Those case files contain annexes, some of which have details of paedophiles who were residing in the Algarve at the time of Madeleine's disappearance, either permanently or on a temporary basis. Those details were not made public.
"Hewlett fits the profile of potential suspects: he is a paedophile and he was living in Portugal at the time.
Quite a few like him were traced and eliminated at the time, but there appears to be some confusion over what the Portuguese authorities did about him. They were aware of him at some stage."
"Hewlett was not on a list of known paedophiles in the Algarve compiled by British and Portuguese police at the time Madeleine vanished from an apartment in Praia da Luz.
His presence in Portugal came to light when a couple who befriended him became suspicious of his past. Alan and Cindy Thompson met Hewlett around December 2006.
He was living in a travellers' camp in Tavira, about 70 miles from Praia da Luz, with his wife Monica and their six children."
