TWO YOUNG people hurriedly stuff yellow Look For Madeleine wristbands into envelopes, surrounded by cardboard boxes containing
thousands more earmarked for the campaign. Nearby, in the untidy garage store room, Madeleine badges and posters are awaiting
delivery to supporters around the world who have donated £2 for the bands that symbolise the search for the missing four-year-old.
Policeman's son Calum MacRae, 18, is responsible for the campaign's website and distribution network for Madeleine's campaign
from the unlikely location of the Loch Broom garage, on a windswept industrial estate on the outskirts of Ullapool, Wester
Ross.
Despite Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, both 39, now being treated by Portuguese police as suspects in her disappearance
while on holiday in the Algarve, Calum claims there has been a recent surge in interest in the website and wristbands.
"There's no let-up," said Calum, whose Infohost firm hosts the family's official website, run using some of the £1 million
in donations being sent to the privately run Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned. "There's been a big increase in
orders since they became suspects. Somebody came back 30 times, ordering 100 bands. Sometimes people just want one or two,
so we throw a couple of extra bands in. It's difficult to get rid of some of the medium-sized bands as they don't fit many
people. People would still want the Madeleine bands even if she was found. Her face is a mark. It's everywhere."
Calum, who has designed websites "since he was 10" is paid out of the global donations to the fund, which won't be contributing
to the McCanns' legal costs.
He refused to be drawn on how much his team of six are paid, and the Sunday Herald's repeated calls to the fund's spokeswoman,
Esther McVey, were not returned. He added: "I can't tell you that, it's not much honestly. We are just covering our costs.
You would need to speak to the fund about that."
Calum is convinced of the couple's innocence and says he will continue to run the website even if they are charged and
tried in Portugal. He said: "I know from speaking to Gerry on the phone that he is 100% innocent. They are definitely not
guilty. Gerry is very determined to find his daughter. You can tell it in his voice when he talks on the phone. He wouldn't
have done all this if they were guilty. If the fund is still going, we will continue the website even if they are charged
and face trial. They wouldn't want us to back off ..."
He remains convinced "someone" in Portugal knows the truth about Madeleine's whereabouts, and the family yesterday launched
an £80,000 TV, newspaper and billboard campaign, which will be translated into several languages primarly aimed at Spain,
Portugal and other mainland European countries, beginning in two weeks.
Madeleine's uncle, John McCann, from Glasgow, said: "The main objective of the Madeleine fund is to leave no stone unturned
in the search for Madeleine."
Calum became involved after Madeleine's aunt, Philomena McCann, his former schoolteacher in Ullapool, approached him four
days after the girl disappeared on May 3.
He said his staff spent between "12 and 20" hours each week on the website and wristbands. Although he claimed to have
lost money on an earlier stunt for Premier League footballers to wear Madeleine t-shirts, he is pressing ahead with the distribution
of T-shirts to the public in return for £10 donations.
Calum said: "We stopped every other thing we were doing that day and put the Find Madeleine site straight on. It's pretty
much full-time doing the website and bands. We just invoice the fund, but it's not expensive compared with what other companies
would charge. We have to account for how many hours are worked. It's not for us to decide what we are paid, but the fund insist
we are."
The website's English-based server crashed when 1.5 million users tried to watch a video of Madeleine shown at the Uefa
and FA Cup finals.
Figures obtained by the Sunday Herald show the Find Madeleine website attracted as many people as Missing People, the established
UK charity formally known as the National Missing Persons Helpline, on September 7, the day Kate and Gerry were named as suspects
in the case.
They show that 400,000 people viewed the Madeleine site, compared to only 150,000 for www.missingpeople.org.uk which is
responsible for issuing appeals for thousands of people who vanish across the UK and Europe. American interest accounted for
103,000 hits on the Madeleine site, with only 15,000 from Portugal, and around 20,000 each from European countries such as
Spain and Germany, which the family are hoping to target with the poster campaign.
Calum also revealed how Kate checks Gerry's blog before it is emailed to the site. However, Gerry has only posted one message
since his return to Britain last week. Calum added: "It has got crazy at times, we've even got people going on in places such
as Kurdistan."
Another worker on the site, Rona Eddington, 18, the daughter of a senior police inspector in Ross-shire, said: "We've had
people saying in emails we killed her and taken her away' and we hate you.' We don't know if they are genuine, but they are
passed to the police, who chase them all up. We've had so many like that and have to filter them. The website is about supporting
the family."
Rona's father, chief inspector Paul Eddington, said he had no problems with his daughter's involvement in the website following
Leicestershire Police's decision to take Kate's diary and Gerry's laptop, which he used to write his blog, for their Portuguese
counterparts to examine last week.
The Portuguese magistrate examining the case is expected to announce this week whether the couple will face further questioning.
"I view what my daughter is doing as a parent, rather than a police officer. In the unlikely event that the investigation
did involve the website, I would take a pragmatic view and wouldn't seek to get involved," said Eddington.
Calum is already working on new ventures after spotting a market in missing-person websites. Last week he contacted the
family of missing schoolgirl Rosemary Edwards, from Hampshire, after her father made an emotional TV appeal. He said: "I don't
think we should be making money out of it, but I would love to do more stuff like this. We phoned up to see if they wanted
a website for that missing girl, but they haven't called back."
www.findmadeleine.com
