Guardian journalist who was in Praia da Luz at the time reflects on the immediate aftermath of the three-year-old’s disappearance
On the May morning in 2007 that followed Madeleine McCann’s overnight disappearance from her parents’ holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, a smart resort in a superior part of Portugal’s Algarve, there remained a quiet confidence she would be found in short order.
The staff at the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort, where Gerry and Kate McCann, both doctors, had been enjoying the last couple of days of a week’s break, were scouring the beaches with the help of the locals, but everyone was reluctant to believe that a crime could have been committed here of all places.
