Ever since Kate and Gerry McCann were for a short while in 2007 made suspects by the Portuguese in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine it opened the floodgates for scams and a barrage of abuse from website trolls which are still sickeningly continuing today – more than 17 years on.
The couple’s suspect status was lifted a few months later in 2008 when the Portuguese Attorney General archived the case against them for lack of evidence.
Their daughter’s abduction has become one of the world’s biggest ever missing persons’ mysteries and has led to amateur armchair ‘detectives’ spreading conspiracy theories and spouting malicious rumours and lies online.
Their misguided belief which they carry on pedalling is that Madeleine’s parents were responsible for her ‘faked’ abduction and presumed death.
Maddie’s kidnap and her family’s highly publicised global search has also attracted scammers who have extorted money from a special fund set up find her, and would-be fraudsters.
Her parents have even fallen victim to a ‘cruel hoax’ by a psychic claiming to know their daughter’s fate through vivid dreams, and there have been many false reported sightings of the missing girl.
With no evidence that she is dead, the McCanns cling onto a glimmer of hope that their daughter could still be alive, and the police search is ongoing with renewed funding from the Government.
Over the years Maddie’s parents they have vented their fears and frustration that web haters posting wild and false claims are not only distressing to them but are hampering the investigation to find their daughter.
The couple, who both avoid using social media, have branded the keyboard tormenters ‘despicable’ and ‘cowards.’
Kate and Gerry McCann have been subjected to a campaign of abuse and scams since the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine 17 years ago
Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 while on holiday in Portugal has become one of the world’s biggest ever missing persons’ mysteries
Mrs McCann previously told how the hurtful abuse has been ‘shocking, striking and quite hard to get your head around.’
At the height of the trolling they received up to 150 hate message a day.
Madeleine’s mum previously said: ‘We’ve had lots of abuse over the years. People wouldn’t get away with behaving like that in the street and yet they feel they can hide behind a computer at home.’
In a TV interview with Lorraine Kelly she said: ‘It’s the internet abuse that is so damaging and we both feel really strongly that more should be done about it.’
Her husband revealed on a BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that they had received threats of violence and kidnap.
He said: ‘I think we probably need more people charged. There have been instances where people are threatening to kidnap our children. People are threatening violence against Kate and myself. I do think we need to make examples of people who are causing damage.’
Madeleine was just four days short of her fourth birthday when she vanished from her bed at a holiday apartment in the popular resort of Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007.
She had been left sleeping alone with her younger twin siblings Sean and Amelie while her parents were dining with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant within the complex, and with regular checks being made on the children.
The family has received huge support and empathy from across the world and initially donations poured intoo the Find Madeleine Fund from generous members of public, business tycoons and celebrities, including former footballer David Beckham.
Today that pot, to pay for a private investigation if Scotland Yard’s inquiry codenamed Operation Grange is shelved, stands at more than £1million, according to latest company accounts.
With no evidence that she is dead, the McCanns cling onto a glimmer of hope that their daughter could still be alive, and the police search is ongoing with renewed funding from the Government
As well as enduring the trauma and heartache of not knowing the fate of their eldest child – who would now be aged 22 – the McCanns have had more misery heaped on them by cruel trolls and scammers.
The online abuse started soon after they were made official suspects – ‘arguido’ – by Portuguese detectives during their botched investigation into the British girl’s kidnap.
Policia Judiciaria chief Goncal Amaral publicly claimed that the McCanns had faked their daughter’s abduction, claiming they had accidentally killed their her in now infamous Apartment 5A and hidden her body after transporting it in a hire car.
The disgraced ex officer even wrote a book and made a TV documentary spouting his wicked lies which led to Madeleine’s parents suing him for libel in a long running civil case.
He was ordered to pay them £357,000 in libel damages – which led to the couple being blasted by trolls – before successfully counter suing them years later and with the sum not being paid out.
The arrest of eminent heart consultant Mr McCann – now Professor McCann – and his then doctor wife in September 2007 started the tongue-wagging.
The couple’s ‘arguido’ status was lifted the following summer in July 2008 when Portugal’s attorney general archived the case for lack of evidence. But it didn’t stop the trolling and false claims.
Kate and Gerry have endured more anguish this week as they give evidence in an ongoing trial.
The Daily Mail looks back at the haters and tricksters who have plagued the McCanns over the years
Whilst the majority have been online trolls there have also been times when minor celebrities have waded into the Madeleine debate.
At times when the Metropolitan Police has been handed more money from the Home Office, in an annual review of the case, it triggers a new wave of trolling.
So far officers have been given around £14million of taxpayers money since launching Operation Grange in 2011.
Some trolls suggest the McCanns are being given priority treatment above other missing children because they are a white, middle class, professional family and because Madeleine is strikingly pretty.
The McCanns have even been trolled after appearing in public at anniversary vigils in their home village to remember and pray for Madeleine, and after being spotted out socially.
There have been threats ‘to kill’ Mrs McCann, a keen runner, when she took part in the London Marathon to raise money for her Missing People, a charity of which she is an ambassador.
Ludicrous suggestions have also surfaced of Maddie’s mum being a secret MI5 spy.
Britain’s evil and ‘most hated mum’ Karen Matthews tried to trick the Maddie Fund out of £25,000, begging officials for a donation to help fund the ‘search’ for her missing nine-year-old daughter Shannon whose kidnap she had faked – and for which she was jailed over.
Britain’s evil and ‘most hated mum’ Karen Matthews (left) tried to trick the Maddie Fund out of £25,000, begging officials for a donation to help fund the ‘search’ for her missing nine-year-old daughter Shannon (right) whose kidnap she had faked – and for which she was jailed over
When streaming giant Netflix released a documentary about Madeleine’s disappearance – which her parents had refused to take part in – it triggered another barrage of online abuse.
As did the time when police sensationally named convicted sex fiend Christian Brueckner as the prime suspect.
Trolls bombarded the official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page with slurs, leading to the digital co-ordinator to plead: ‘Please be sensitive with your comments.’
Another time the site, run by a friend of the McCanns with their blessing, was suspended after a barrage of hate had been posted.
Mrs McCann threatened to sue social media users who were ‘violating copyright’ by stealing extracts from her heartfelt best seller book ‘Madeleine’ which she wrote about her daughter and was published in 2011.
Troll Brenda Leyland took her own life after fearing arrest when she was outed for her hateful social media posts about Kate and Gerry.
The couple were even forced to hire forensic specialists to test hair samples from their twins to prove they had not drugged their children as Portuguese police had claimed.
1. June 2022 – February 2025
Two women allegedly stalked the McCanns, causing ‘serious alarm or distress’.
2. June 2022
After German Christian Brueckner, a convicted rapist and paedophile, was named as the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance trolls posted vile messages on the Find Madeleine Campaign page.
It prompted the digital co-ordinator to write: ‘Even though Gerry and Kate are not on social media, other family members are. Posting conspiracy theories is not helpful and the outcome can be distressing to Madeleine’s family.’
After German Christian Brueckner (above), a convicted rapist and paedophile, was named as the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance trolls posted vile messages on the Find Madeleine Campaign page
3. March 2022
It was revealed the McCann’s paid out nearly £7,000 in legals costs to Goncal Amaral after they lost a bitter libel battle in September 2021 after he counter sued.
They won the initial case but in 2016 Portuguese judges reversed the decision on a technicality, prompting the McCanns to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights which judges rejected.
In statement issued at the time the couple said: ‘We are naturally disappointed with the decision.However, much has changed since we started legal proceedings 13 years ago against Mr Amaral, his publisher and broadcaster.
‘We took action for one and only one reason: Mr Amaral’s unfounded claims were having a detrimental impact on the search for Madeleine. If the public believed that we were involved in her disappearance, then people would not be alert for possible clues and may not report relevant information to the relevant law enforcement agencies.
4. April 2020
During the coronavirus lockdown heartless trolls targeted Madeleine’s parents with a mocked up photo doing the rounds on social media and urging people: ‘Stay at home save lives.’
A previously published photo of the couple during one of their public appeals had been photo-shopped with them holding a placard bearing the Government’s slogan.
They cruelly infer that the child is dead and they are to blame.
At the time a family fiend said: ‘Kate and Gerry are appalled that someone could stoop this low. To mock them like this is callous and offensive and at a time when lives are tragically being lost due to coronavirus makes it even worse.
5. November 2019
Madeleine’s parents were left ‘shocked and saddened’ when a sick troll posing as Madeleine attacked them for simply eating out at a restaurant during a visit to Scotland.
The couple were pictured by a member of public who later trolled them on Facebook, stating ‘Mum and dad are closer than I thought,’ in reference to the night Maddie vanished after being left sleeping alone with twin siblings while her parents were eating nearby.
Kate and Gerry were left ‘shocked and saddened’ when a sick troll posing as Madeleine attacked them for simply eating out at a restaurant during a visit to Scotland
6. May 2019
Outrageous claims made by a Portuguese paper that Kate McCann was a MI5 spy linked to Britain’s secret service are slammed but the family as ‘unmitigated garble’ by a family source.
7. April 2019
Madeleine’s parents faced more anguish after fake age progression pictures of their daughter, showing the world how she may now look, were posted on social media.
They had to warn that mocked up images were neither ‘commissioned nor endorsed’ by them or the Operation Grange and feared they could hamper the search.
8. March 2019
Madeleine’s parents were once again plagued with hate mail with the release of a new Netflix docu-series re-examining the various investigations into and about their daughter’s disappearance.
The controversial eight-parter repeated false claims by ex Portuguese cop Goncalo Amaral that Madeleine was accidentally killed by her parents and they faked her abduction, as well as drawing on the heartache the family has suffered over the years.
Trolls who posted on the Campaign FB page were warned: ‘If you make a nasty comment, your post will be deleted and you will be banned. This is a place of hope. We will not tolerate negativity towards Madeleine or her family.’
9. May 2018
Freed kidnapper Karen Matthews broke her 10-year silence, insisting she was not the country’s worst mother for staging her daughter Shannon’s abduction in 2008 to make money and for trying to con Maddie’s parents out of £25,000.
10. April 2018
TV’s Loose Women sparked a furious debate online after the panel discussed whether police funding for the Maddie hunt should continue.
Whilst sympathetic to Maddie’s parents, Coleen Nolan wondered about all the other children who went missing and asked if it was fair spending so much on one child.
Stacey Soloman agreed while Nadia Sawalha felt police could be just one step away from finding her.
The previous month in March 2018 Kerry Needham, mum of missing Ben, aired her frustration on Loose Women, complaining: ‘We haven’t had a fraction of that help.’
She wept as she said: ‘It hurts us. I’ve had to fight for that help alone as a single mum.’
Ben disappeared as a 21-month-old toddler while staying with family on the Greek island of Kos in July 1991.
A massive South Yorkshire Police hunt in 2016 concluded the tot had died in the grounds of a remote farmhouse despite his body having never been found.
11. Jan 2018
Private eye Kevin Halligen, 56, who scammed the McCanns by conducting a bogus investigation that lost the crucial time is found dead at his girlfriend’s home near Guildford, Surrey.
Dublin-born ‘fantasist’ Halligen took over the high profile Maddie investigation at the end of March 2008 – 10 months Maddie vanished.
He was CEO of private investigators Oakley International when he was hired by the McCanns after being ‘highly recommended’ and gave them hope by vowing to find their daughter
But he was later sacked six months later after being accused of conning the Find Maddie Fund out of £300,000.
After terminating his £500,000 contract in September 2008 Mrs McCann admitted it became ‘quite acrimonious.’
Several months later investigators sub contracted by Halligen came forward demanding payment for his services which they hadn’t received.
Mrs McCann revealed in her book ‘Madeleine’: ‘We were upset that, although a lot of hard work had been done on Madeleine’s behalf, it seemed money provided by her fund might not ever have reached the people who had earned it It was a particularly bad experience.
In November 2009 the McCanns found out Halligen had been arrested on suspicion of fraud after a discrepancy in a hotel bill.
Dublin-born ‘fantasist’ Kevin Halligen (above) took over the high profile Maddie investigation at the end of March 2008 – 10 months Maddie vanished – but he was later sacked six months later after being accused of conning the Find Maddie Fund out of £300,000
12. October 2017
Madeleine’s parents fell victim to a ‘cruel hoax’ by psychic Susan Kelly claiming to know their daughter’s fate through three vivid dreams.
But Susan Kelly’s demand for payment before she divulges any clues for her alleged power of ‘seeing the truth’ has led to a complaint by long-suffering Kate and Gerry and a possible investigation by cops.
The clairvoyant requested the couple ‘make her an offer’ for information she insists will lead to their kidnapped daughter’s whereabouts.
Then family spokesman Clarence Mitchell, who received the offer, said it was a ‘cruel hoax’ and a ‘potential extortion scam’ and reported it to police.
The medium boasted she had three significant dreams about Maddie, telling her parents: ‘If you are interested, please make me an offer for each of three dreams individually.’
13. October 2017
Another barrage of abuse was made towards the McCanns after police were granted extra cash to continue the search for Madeleine.
In a rare move the Find Maddie Campaign website, endorsed by the McCanns, posted: ‘We’ve been barraged with hate via Facebook’ as the co-ordinator begged trolls to stop posting vile abuse
14. March 2017
It was revealed that the McCanns were nearly tricked out of £25,000 by conniving mum Karen Matthews from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Unsuspecting Kate thought she was going through the same agony when her nine-year-old daughter Shannon went missing in February 2008 and asked the Maddie Fund trustees to help her.
A man claiming to represent Matthews and her accomplice Michael Donovan even turned up at the McCanns home demanding cash
Trustees were tipped off when they contacted cops over who should get the cheque, and no money was handed over.
15. March 2017
As Kate McCann was celebrating her 49th birthday the former wife of then Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk said Madeleine’s parents must ‘have guilt’ in a brutal online post.
Blogger Karen Danczuk tweeted: ‘Anyone who says McCanns are innocent, just remember they left three children under the age of four alone to go out. Either way they have guilt.’
Then family spokesperson Clarence Mitchell said: ‘Any threatening and malicious communication will immediately be forwarded to Kate and Gerry’s libel lawyers and the police for them to investigate and to act upon where necessary. ‘
Psychologist Dr John Synott, carrying out research into online abuse in 2017, said: ‘Most trolling behaviour has a lifespan of a couple of days. But the McCann case has been going on for nearly 10 years and you cannot see the abuse ever ending.’
Outspoken former radio host Katie Hopkins, then on LBC, also voiced her opinion on the missing child mystery by claiming the youngster would never be discovered, saying: ‘Maddie was lost because she was left to be found.
Glamour model Jodie Marsh waded in, posting on Twitter that the McCanns parents should be searching for their daughter ‘on their hands and knees digging up the bare earth’ rather than be side-tracked and busying themselves suing people.’
As Kate McCann was celebrating her 49th birthday the former wife of then Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, Karen (above), said Madeleine’s parents must ‘have guilt’ in a brutal online post
16. March 2017
The Find Madeleine campaign website was temporarily closed down amidst a fresh wave of trolling and fake theories.
The exasperated webmaster posted: ‘The trolls with false stories are taking a toll on my mental health’ with a supporter writing: ‘Total disgrace that this persecution of a family with a missing child is allowed to go unchecked.’
Trolls were also offering sick ‘gifts’ for sale, including T-shirts for the fictitious ‘McCann’s Gym’ featuring the slogan ‘Unfit for parents.’
17. December 2016
The Madeleine Campaign Facebook page is again suspended after a barrage of online abuse.
18. April 2016
Trolls raised £50,000 to donate to Goncalo Amaral in his bid to overturn a libel ruling in favour of the McCanns.
19. October 2015
Mr and Mrs McCann were forced to shut an online Twitter account because of trolls, saying was a ‘great pity.’
The web chief running the site on their behalf posted: ‘They agree it’s time to remove ourselves from a place that allows so much toxic content to be directed at us and does not permit us the ability to protect ourselves from people who want to damage the search for Madeleine.’
Mr and Mrs McCann were forced to shut an online Twitter account in October 2015 because of trolls, saying was a ‘great pity’
20. May 2015
Mrs McCann faced more heartache after trolls posted cruel messages on her fund raising web page – on Madeleine’s 12th birthday – as she was seeking sponsors for a cycle challenge.
Among hurtful messages was one from an anonymous Dr A saying: ‘I am donating for missing people who need to pay for cadaver or search dogs to find their loved ones who may have fallen in lakes or (been) lost in forests so they can find their bodies and put minds at rest.’
Another read: ‘I would donate more but Mr Amaral is in need. I prefer my spare cash to go towards ensuring justice prevails.’
One troll calling himself Pete Spittle asked: ”Can I put your name forward to take a lie detector test on the Jeremy Kyle show please?’
Another pledged £2 and claimed to be from Eddie and Keela Springer – the names of the British ‘death scent’ dogs used in the hunt for Madeleine.
21. March 2015
Troll Brenda Leyland killed herself by helium overdose after being outed as a troll who tweeted vile abuse about Kate and Gerry 400 times between November 2013 and September 2014, her inquest heard.
The mother-of-two from Burton Overy, Leicestershire, had posted on her Twitter account under handle ‘Sweepyface.’
22. October 2014
Divorcee Brenda Leyland, 63, was found dead in a Leicester hotel room – just hours after the McCanns insisted people who post such ‘vile nonsense’ which causes them ‘severe distress’ should be prosecuted.
She had told the media that she was ‘entitled to post whatever she wanted.’
In one of her tweets she called for the McCanns to suffer for the rest of their miserable lives.’ A dossier of her hate mail was given to police.
23. March 2013
A troll who threatened to shoot Maddie’s mum as she was running the London Marathon in April received an official warning from police.
Blogger Sheila Basher wrote about ‘Well I am going. Anyone got a gun? Bbanggg!’
Other trolls piled in with further sick comments, with one saying: ‘Hate mob plan to attack Kate McCann during marathon.’
Another said it would ‘really spook’ her to all turn up at the race wearing Maddie face masks.
Mrs McCann, who was made aware of the threat but failed to pull out of the race, raised £10,000 with £5,000 pledged from actor Hugh Grant.
24. April 2012
The parents of Madeleine condemned an ‘outrageous’ attempt to defraud them of £1.4million.
They said they had been caused ‘considerable distress’ by a Dutchman who claimed to know the whereabouts of their missing daughter and her abductors.
The unemployed 39-year-old, who was not named, demanded a huge payment in return for the information.
But after the McCanns alerted authorities, Dutch police traced the source of his six emails and arrested the man Eindhoven.
He confessed that his claims were a hoax and that he had no genuine information about Maddie’s whereabouts and he was charged with attempted fraud.
The previous month police had swooped on an Italian man and a Portuguese woman on suspicion of trying to extort money from the family in a similar manner.
There is a £2.5million reward on offer for Madeleine’s safe return.
The parents of Madeleine condemned an ‘outrageous’ attempt to defraud them of £1.4million in April 2012
25. September 2011
Troll Sean Hyland was cautioned by police over harassment after posting cruel jibes about made Madeleine’s parents and was warned he could be arrested and charged.
In one jibe the jobless steelworker, 50, from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, wrote: ‘We’re not reactive, we’re proactive, we’re attacking you.’
He also targeted then family spokesperson Clarence Mitchell, a former BBC journalist, with abusive voicemail messages to ‘pass onto Kate and Gerry’.
He boasted: ‘The only way to shut me up is to jail me – or kill me! I’m no conspiracy nut.’
Teenager Jack Tims, then 17, also set up a Facebook page titled: ‘If 12 million people join this group I will give back Maddie McCann.’ He later admitted he had been stupid and naive and wrote a letter of apology to Kate and Gerry.
This week the Find Madeleine Campaign posted: ‘The investigation continues and our resolve to find Madeleine has never wavered. Thank you for continuing to be by our side and keeping Madeleine and her family in your heart.’
