Método 3, whose contract expires in March, has 40 investigators working on the case, here and in Portugal and Spain.

Each has a replica of Cuddle Cat, Madeleine's favourite toy, which they are encouraged to squeeze when they feel demotivated at the size of their task.

Daily Mail, 25 January 2008 (full article and link below)

Who are Método 3?

Francisco Marco

Método 3 are a small Spanish-based, family run, detective agency set up 21 years ago (according to the Telegraph) or 23 years ago (according to the Daily Mail) by Maria Marco, known as Marita and also known as Marita Fernandez Lado, 57. The current director-general of the agency is her son, Francisco Marco.

At the time Método 3 were hired, Mr Marco insisted he had a '"100 per cent" success rate and had reunited 23 missing children and teenagers with their families. Yet, in November, he refused to discuss his claims with The Sunday Telegraph, insisting he was ''too busy with his investigation" to discuss it.

In 2003, Marco said in an interview that as far as his agency was concerned ''Our focus is companies''. In fact, their primary line of work for Método 3 is to investigate company fraud - which explains why their senior employees are all lawyers.

It was initially reported that the firm had up to 40 detectives working on the case. However, company accounts reveal a section of Método 3 made a net loss of £61,500 in 2005 and had a full-time staff of just 12. In November, they claimed they now had 27.

When were Método 3 hired and why was it kept secret for nearly 2 months?

Metodo 3 were hired on a 6 month contract in the early part of September 2007. Although the specific date has never been made public, it is almost certain they were hired in the immediate days following the McCanns' return to the UK, after being made arguidos.

The McCanns lawyers, advisers and PR contacts would have ensured that no time was wasted in setting up an 'alternative' investigation. Officially to continue the search for Madeleine but also as a snub to the Policia Judiciaria and also to muddy the waters over who was actually doing the investigating. This has been borne out by many UK press reports which have appeared to have difficulty differentiating the official investigation from Metodo 3's efforts.

Given the significant nature of hiring private detectives, at such huge cost and apparently from public donations to Madeleine's Fund, it is perhaps surprising that they were not announced until 24 October 2007, and did not get a mention in Gerry's blogs, until 26 October 2007!

The event appears to have been of less significance to Gerry than 'collecting conkers' on 28 September 2007, going 'for a run' on 01 October 2007 and the news that Calum, the website operator, had just been on holiday for a week on 16 October 2007!

On 15 September 2007, John McCann issued a statement from the board of Madeleine's Fund which stated:

''On behalf of the extended McCann family and the Madeleine Fund, I would like to say how grateful we are for people's generosity and support.

The main objective of the Madeleine Fund is to leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine.

To that end I would like to announce that the Fund will finance a broad range of initiatives in advertising to remind everyone that Madeleine is still missing. These adverts will focus on Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe and will consist of billboards and other media. This financing of advertisements will complement previous efforts by the Fund and many motivated individuals – family, friends and people touched by our cause.

I hope that the general public will continue to support us in this.

It is so important that we remember: "don't you forget about me"- our lovely wee Madeleine.''

It is almost certain that Metodo 3 would have been hired by this date and that makes John McCann's statement even more extraordinary. He is making a public statement to announce new advertising initiatives, unlikely to cost more than £80,000, yet, it would appear, the board of directors are failing to make public the fact that they have just committed £600,000 of Madeleine's Fund - which they have been put in place to administer - to Metodo 3.

It may be within their rights, as a limited company, to announce and keep secret whatever they like. However, given the board's desire to make public their commitment to finding Madeleine, there would appear to be more than hint of deception about concealing such important information. Especially as the official Find Madeleine site states that 'An experienced Fund Administrator has been appointed to ensure the highest standards of transparency and accountability'.

Of course, the reason it was announced on 24 October 2007 was to tie in with the Antena 3 interview, broadcast on Spanish television that night - the first interview by the McCanns since receiving their arguido status.

It enabled both the announcement of the agency and Metodo 3's telephone number to receive maximum coverage from a global audience. That impact was seemingly valued higher by the McCanns' team than the 'transparency' of revealing when they were hired and for how much.

So, what were Metodo 3 doing for nearly two months before the McCanns announced that they had been hired?

Were they receiving £50,000 per month from Madeleine's Fund, and an undisclosed sum from the McCanns' wealthy backers, just for keeping secret?

It is more likely they were working stealthily to get witnesses on board to support the McCanns case. According to Clarence Mitchell, Metodo 3 have been active in Portugal, which is illegal under Portuguese law, but Mr Mitchell claims Alipio Ribeiro has been turning a blind eye to it.

How much is is costing and who is funding Metodo 3?

How much is it costing?

It had been widely reported that Metodo 3 were being paid £300,000 for their six month contract @ £50,000 per month. However, the Daily Mail stated in its report of 10 February 2008 that the £50,000 figure is for expenses only.

The Telegraph reported something similar on 27 November 2007 when it said:

'The agency is believed to charge up to £2,000 a day and, with a six-month contract that will include expensive travel and technology costs, the final bill is likely to be as much as £750,000.'

Who is paying for Metodo 3's services?

Following a great deal of confusion caused by Madeleine's Funds' own brand of secrecy, the answer appears to be as follows:

£8,000 monthly fee - paid by 'wealthy supporter'

£50,000 monthly, flat-fee 'operational costs' - paid by Madeleine's Fund

Any excess over £50,000 per month - paid by 'wealthy backers'

The 'wealthy supporter' is almost certainly Brian Kennedy, although this is not explicitly confirmed in the Daily Mail report. It is widely reported that Kennedy was heavily involved in the hiring of Metodo 3, so it would be natural to assume that it is he who is providing the bulk of the additional costs.

The 'wealthy backers' are reported to 'include double glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy and Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson'.

The Daily Mail of 25 November 2007, reported:

'Gerry McCann has privately voiced his trust in Metodo 3, which was hired by the couple's multi-millionaire-backer, Brian Kennedy, a double glazing tycoon.'

The Telegraph of 27 November 2007, reported:

(referring to the McCanns return to the UK following their arguido status)

''They were in despair," says the family friend. ''That is when Brian Kennedy, the couple's millionaire benefactor, stepped in. He offered to fund an investigation by Metodo 3. And it's costing a hefty sum."

Antena 3:

Spanish television channel Antena 3 claimed, in early December, to have permission from detective agency Metodo 3 to reveal that they were receiving their payment from Brian Kennedy not Madeleine's Fund or anyone else.

The Sunday Times report on Metodo 3, 10 February 2008, stated that: 'Mitchell says the decision to hire M-3 on a six-month contract from September was taken ''collectively'' by Gerry McCann, and the family’s lawyers and backers, on the grounds that the agency had the manpower, profile and resources to work in several countries."

If that was the case, it raises a number of serious questions:

1) Why were the directors of Madeleine's Fund not involved in the decision to release £300,000 of the money they were put in place to administer?

2) Why was Gerry McCann allowed to participate in the decision to release money from the Fund?

3) Who told the directors of Madeleine's Fund that they had to fund Metodo 3? And were any directors in disagreement with the decision?

What does the official Find Madeleine site say about Metodo 3? (link)

Metodo3

Since September 2007 , a private detection agency Metodo3 who are based in Barcelona, has been employed to complement the official investigation, in particular focusing its enquiries outside of Portugal. They were selected to help with the search for Madeleine on the basis of a proven history of resolving cases in the Iberian peninsula, and they can demonstrate strong working relationships with the relevant authorities in this region.

Metodo3 provide a multi lingual call handling centre for any information that might be related to Madeleine's abduction. All calls are dealt with in confidential manner.

The costs for Metodo 3's services will be met by contributions from the 'Find Madeleine' Fund and from a financial backer.

For further information on Metodo3 see www.metodo3.es

Firstly, it should be remembered that the Fund is called 'Madeleine's Fund' and not the 'Find Madeleine' Fund. There is a significant difference because a Fund entitled 'Find Madeleine' could only ever be used to find Madeleine. Whereas 'Madeleine's Fund' could be used as a generic title to look for any children, once this case has been resolved. It's what Gerry refers to as the 'long term agenda'.

But what of Metodo 3?

This new section 'Metodo 3' was added to the relaunched Find Madeleine site on 01 February 2007 and it said something very significant. It said very clearly that 'the costs for Metodo 3's services will be met by contributions from the 'Find Madeleine' Fund and from a financial backer'.

This was the first admission that the costs for Metodo 3 were not being met solely by Madeleine's Fund.

A reminder of what Clarence Mitchell said about the funding of Metodo 3

Daily Mail, 28 November 2007:

The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "The fund has agreed to pay Metodo 3 £50,000 a month towards their costs."

Asked about donations, he said: "Money pours in at the start and dries up after a while, it's only natural. Money is still coming in."

Daily Mail, 10 January 2008:

'He (Clarence Mitchell) said the Find Madeleine board members and the McCanns' multi-millionaire backer, double glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy, would meet to discuss the contract (of Metodo 3) in February.

"It is a matter for the bankers and the fund to make the final decision," he said.

"We are paying Metodo 3 £50,000 a month so of course it is a subject of debate. The decision is as much with Brian as it is with the fund, which pays for Metodo 3's involvement."

Daily Mail report, 29 October 2007 (original link)

Madeleine: New hope for McCanns as kidnapped American girl 'is found safe in Morocco'

Last updated at 23:42pm on 29th October 2007

Private investigators searching for Madeleine McCann found a blonde girl who had been kidnapped by a Moroccan family, it was claimed yesterday.

The discovery will give new hope to Kate and Gerry that their daughter is still alive and in a "similar situation".

Sources inside Spanish detective agency Metodo 3, which has been hired by the McCanns, said Interpol is investigating the discovery of the blonde girl living in the Rif mountains — the area where they are searching for Madeleine.

An insider said: "She was not Madeleine but she was an English speaker, possibly an American."

The boss of Metodo 3 said he believed Madeleine was abducted by a care worker on the instruction of a paedophile gang who stole the child to order.

He believes another girl matching Madeleine's description, who has been spotted with a woman aged about 60 in the Rif mountains by 10 different people, could well be the four-year-old who went missing from the Algarve on 3 May.

Francisco Marco, Metodo 3's director-general, said: "My own feeling is that this woman is some sort of carer who is working on behalf of other people. We can't be certain it's Madeleine but several unconnected people have told our informers of the same girl with the same woman.

"The only difference is that she has slightly shorter hair than Madeleine had when she disappeared. Everything else matches.

"They've been seen over a wide area but always within the confines of the Rif mountains."

Madeleine was six days short of her fourth birthday when she went missing from the family apartment at Praia da Luz. Her parents, named as official suspects in her disappearance, have always insisted that she was abducted from her bed while they dined nearby.

The insider at Metodo 3 said of the American girl: "Investigators came across her as they were working to find Madeleine and have tipped off Interpol. There is a long history of girls being kidnapped from Europe and ending up in Morocco.

"It's a very secretive country and the area of the Rif mountains enjoys official protection because of the importance of the hashish production and trafficking that goes on to the country's economy.

"It was obvious to the investigators that this girl was not with her natural family. It's entirely feasible that Madeleine could be in a similar situation.

"Seeing this other girl gave investigators a lot of hope that Madeleine too is alive."

Metodo 3, based in Barcelona, currently has three men on the ground in northern Morocco, including a former head of the Spanish National Police's organised crime squad. They are also thought to have an army of informers working for them.

Last week Metodo 3 launched a phone hotline. Anybody with information should call 0034 902 300 213.

This report is an example of the kind of work Metodo 3 have become famous for: Sightings of blonde haired girls who are almost certainly Madeleine but turn out to be local girls who are out with their parents.

Incidentally, why are the Daily Mail assisting two people, who are currently 'official suspects' in an ongoing police investigation, by publishing the telephone number of an agency that is acting in direct opposition to the official Policia Judiciaria investigation?

Daily Mail report, 25 November 2007 (original link)

Madeleine: Pictured in handcuffs, the McCann detective once held over phone tapping

By Daniel Boffey

Last Updated at 18:16pm on 25th November 2007

The private detectives hunting for Madeleine McCann were once arrested in a phone-tapping scandal linked to leading politicians and businessmen.

Five senior members of the family-run firm Metodo 3 – including director-general Francisco Marco, who is liaising with Kate and Gerry McCann – were held amid claims of industrial and political espionage.

Mr Marco's mother, Maria Fernandez Lado, 57, who founded the agency 23 years ago, was pictured in handcuffs after being arrested as she handed a client a cassette allegedly containing a phone-tapped conversation.

In a raid on Metodo 3's Barcelona offices, police seized handguns, ammunition, listening equipment, cassettes and transcripts of taped phone calls. But the 1995 case was dropped by a judge after defence lawyers levelled accusations of police entrapment.

However, The Mail on Sunday's findings – including transcripts of conversations in which Mr Marco's mother allegedly offers a tapping service – will bring into question the suitability of the firm in running the McCanns' investigation.

It is not known if the McCanns are aware of Metodo 3's past. But a fellow private investigator said last night: 'They have portrayed themselves as the best investigators in the world. The truth is they are nothing of the sort. Their murky background is riddled with controversy.'

Metodo 3 hit the headlines three weeks ago after lawyer Mr Marco boasted that he would find Madeleine, below, in months.

He said his agency was '100 per cent sure' Madeleine was alive and 'not maybe...but very close' to finding the four-year-old's abductor.

It was reported that the firm has up to 40 detectives on the case. However, company accounts reveal a section of Metodo 3 made a net loss of £61,500 in 2005 and had a full-time staff of just 12. They claim they now have 27.

The McCanns commissioned Metodo 3 on a six-month contract as Portuguese police targeted them over their daughter's disappearance and appeared to lose interest in finding her alive.

Gerry McCann has privately voiced his trust in Metodo 3, which was hired by the couple's multi-millionaire-backer, Brian Kennedy, a double glazing tycoon. Yet in a police investigation Mr Marco's mother, known as Marita, was arrested as she handed over a recording of a tapped phone call.

She was also taped in an undercover sting allegedly claiming: 'I did tapping... fundamentally for people I had known for a long time.' Also held were her husband Francisco Marco Poyuelo, 60, Francisco Marco, 35, his brother Francisco Gabriel Fernandez Lado, 36, and employee Oscar Trujillo, 40. The detainees were held in custody for 48 hours but were never charged after an investigating judge threw the case out.

Detectives had persuaded a businessman to meet Marita posing as a client. It was a clear-cut case of police entrapment.

However, a police report and a transcript of a conversation claims Marita allegedly offered to illegally tap phones for £15,000 to £21,000. In the police transcript Marita allegedly told the 'client': 'Phone tapping...It's very dangerous at the moment. It's very dangerous, very dangerous. But not dangerous for me!'

Police had launched the operation after Spanish phone giant Telefonica suspected an employee was involved in illegal tapping and industrial espionage.

Officers monitored worker Sergio Sancelestino's phone calls and discovered he had close links to Metodo 3. A police report stated: 'It was established that Sergio Sancelestino maintained frequent contact with the management of the Metodo 3 detective agency, and that they could be carrying out illegal phone-tapping, obtaining large financial rewards for those jobs.'

Undercover police claim they watched as Metodo 3 and three Telefonica employees tapped a telephone.

Police swooped as Marita handed over a tape, then raided six other addresses. But four months later the case was 'archived' and the judge said there was no evidence Metodo 3 had been involved in phone tapping or profited from it.

Francisco Marco yesterday claimed that the allegations made against his company had been provoked by their own investigation into state corruption. He said: 'The judge said it was all made up by the police.' He added his firm was very healthy.

The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said the agency retained their confidence and was not acting illegally for them. Meanwhile, it was reported in Portugal that police had looked at whether the McCanns had 'sold' Madeleine.

The theory was later dismissed.

Telegraph report, 27 November 2007 (original link)

Madeleine McCann: is there no hope left?

By Olga Craig

Last Updated: 2:55am GMT 27/11/2007

It was the kind of claim that, six months ago, would have filled Kate and Gerry McCann with fresh hope.

Bristling with bravado before the television cameras last week, Francisco Marco, the portly boss of the Spanish-based detective agency Metodo 3, sneeringly dismissed the Portuguese police investigation into the disappearance of the couple's daughter, Madeleine, as ''bumbling", and boasted: ''We know who the kidnappers are and we are very, very close to catching them."

Off camera, he admitted: "No, I can't disclose any more yet. But I will be proved right."

A source close to the couple says: ''There was a time when Kate and Gerry would have been wildly buoyed by such news. But I imagine Gerry had his head in his hands with despair when he watched Marco in that interview.

"Because the truth is that, in private at least, the couple know in their hearts that Metodo 3 is no nearer discovering who took Madeleine, never mind where she is now, than are the Portuguese police.

''The harsh fact is that they were pinning their remaining hopes on Marco's outfit when they hired them on a six-month contract in September. But, in the past few weeks, they have conceded that they might have been sold a pup. There's no doubt they've worked round the clock, but they don't have a lot of experience with this type of investigation."

It is little wonder that this is the conclusion that the beleaguered McCanns have reached. For while, in public at least, they cling to the hope that four-year-old Madeleine will be found, and found alive, the truth is that now, eight days short of the seven-month anniversary of her disappearance from the family's Algarve holiday apartment on May 3, even they are no longer convinced they will see their daughter again.

It has been a bitter lesson. But the reality is that the 'Find Madeleine' campaign and investigation, begun with such fervour and enthusiasm, is limping slowly to a close: its likely outcome that we shall never know what happened to Madeleine, and her parents will forever be surrounded by the suspicion that they were involved in her death.

The McCanns had hired Metodo 3, a small family-run agency set up 21 years ago by Marco's mother, Marita, early in September when the Portuguese named them as suspects. The couple were stunned to discover that the Portuguese police were not channelling their efforts into finding Madeleine's abductor, as they had believed, but were investigating them.

When both were interrogated at the police headquarters in Portamao, in September, they realised to their horror that as long ago as last June the investigating officers had stopped following any lines of enquiry that suggested Madeleine was abducted, and had for months been concentrating solely on them as the chief suspects.

The agency is believed to charge up to £2,000 a day and, with a six-month contract that will include expensive travel and technology costs, the final bill is likely to be as much as £750,000.

Initially, the McCanns were impressed by Metodo 3's claims: Mr Marco insisted he had a '"100 per cent" success rate and had reunited 23 missing children and teenagers with their families. Yet, this week, he refused to discuss his claims with The Sunday Telegraph, insisting he was ''too busy with his investigation" to discuss it.

To date, the Portuguese police have tolerated the agency's investigations but now they dismiss them as ''irrelevant small-fry" who ''lack credibility".

They have been incensed by Metodo 3's allegation that Michaela Walczuch, the German girlfriend of Robert Murat, the only other suspect, was sighted handing over a blonde girl to a mystery man in Silves, Portugal, two days after Madeleine vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, 25 miles away.

Another of their witnesses, they claimed, saw Ms Walczuch in Zaio in Morocco on June 15, shortly after the witness allegedly saw Madeleine there. Exasperated, the police disclosed that Ms Walczuch was at a Jehovah's Witnesses' meeting on that date and she has threatened legal action against any publication suggesting she was involved in Madeleine's disappearance.

At the same time as police were pouring scorn on Metodo 3's investigations, Portugal's most senior law officer, the attorney general Fernando José Pinto Monteiro attacked the McCanns, insisting that their decision to encourage worldwide publicity for their missing child had probably served only to hasten Madeleine's murder.

''If she was kidnapped, it is likely her abductor has killed her," he said. ''All this publicity and with the whole world having seen Madeleine's photo means that there is a greater chance of the girl being dead than alive."

Daily Mail report, 28 November 2007 (original link)

McCanns pay 'irrelevant' detective team £50,000 a month in Madeleine hunt

By VANESSA ALLEN

Last updated at 21:34pm on 28th November 2007

The McCanns' private detectives have cost the Find Madeleine Fund £300,000, it was revealed yesterday.

The Spanish detective agency Metodo 3 has charged £50,000 a month for its initial six-month contract - the equivalent of around £2,000 for every working day.

The fee was agreed at a meeting of trustees of the Find Madeleine Fund, set up in May to help finance the worldwide search for the four-year-old.

But a fall in donations to the fund has raised questions about how long it can afford to employ Metodo 3.

It relies on public donations and has raised almost £1.1million in the six months since Madeleine went missing, but nearly £700,000 of that has now been spent. Donations - which poured in at up to

£450,000 a month after the fund's launch - have fallen to under £30,000 a month since the McCanns were named as official suspects.

Trustees would be reluctant to give up the private detectives' search for Madeleine, which was the key aim of establishing of the not-for-profit company.

However, Metodo 3 has yet to find any concrete evidence about where she could be, despite boasts by it directorgeneral, Francisco Marco, that he would find her within five months.

The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: "The fund has agreed to pay Metodo 3 £50,000 a month towards their costs."