London, 3 November - The UK’s national police centre for protecting children – the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – has today issued an online viral message, supported by the RCMP aimed at anyone close to the person who was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
That person could be a relative, friend, work colleague or neighbour. Whoever they are they have a secret that could reveal what happened to Madeleine and protect other children.
In order to increase the possibility of reaching that person, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre supported by the RCMP as well as other global law enforcement agencies and specialist charities, is asking the public to help spread the message via the internet.
It has released a short 60-second film that can be viewed at ceop.police.uk. This contains the message they are looking to spread and the public are being asked to link to it and build it into their own online environments. The film also includes new age progressed images that show Madeleine as she may look today.
The RCMP are joined in supporting this initiative by Interpol, Europol and national police agencies from Australia, the US, Canada, the UAE and Europe are supporting the initiative. Specialist charities and NGO’s such as the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), Missing Children Europe and the UK Charity Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT) have all thrown their weight and expertise behind the initiative.
Superintendent John Bilinski, Officer in Charge of the RCMP’s Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children said in supporting the initiative:
Jim Gamble is head of the UK’s CEOP Centre and explains the rationale:
“The person we are looking to reach is likely to be a partner, family member, friend or colleague of the person or people who were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance. It is also highly probable that they, or someone close to them, is using the internet to search for any updates that may suggest the police are getting closer to discovering the truth.
“Today we want to deliver a message to that person and we’re asking everyone who goes online to help us. We want the message to become so widespread that it becomes just one click from any Madeleine search as a constant reminder to that person that it is never too late to do the right thing – that it is never too late for that person to redeem themselves.
“So if you are a parent or carer, a student or member of the public who is a social networker, blogger or emailer, or if you run any type of online environment, big or small please look at the film today, link to it, share it with your friends and post it in the online communities you occupy. Do everything you can to spread it around the online world. We want to make it omnipresent so that the person we are trying to reach sees it and is prompted to do the right thing.”
The message is available at ceop.police.uk and is in 7 different languages – English, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
The message reads:
“Madeleine disappeared on 3 May 2007 while on holiday with her family in Portugal. Madeline is now 6 years old … We know that there is someone out there who knows who is involved in her disappearance.
They may be keeping this secret out of fear, misplaced loyalty or even love. Keeping this information secret only increases the anguish of Madeleine’s family and friends and increases the risk to other children.
If you know who is involved and are keeping this secret remember that it is never too late to do the right thing.
We urge anyone who knows anything about the whereabouts of Madeleine or has any information regarding her disappearance to do the right thing and to give that information to their local police.”
