NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • All Blacks
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Madeleine McCann mystery: Could this note have led to Maddie's disappearance?

NZ Herald
25 Jun, 2019 08:46 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • subtitles settings, opens subtitles settings dialog
    • subtitles off, selected

      This is a modal window.

      The Video Cloud video was not found.

      Error Code: VIDEO_CLOUD_ERR_VIDEO_NOT_FOUND
      Session ID: 2025-07-28:ea075e00cb4867e397f8156c Player Element ID: vjs_video_6015419807001

      Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

      Text
      Text Background
      Caption Area Background
      Font Size
      Text Edge Style
      Font Family

      End of dialog window.

      This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

      Jury finds Erin Patterson guilty of murder

      UP NEXT:

      Autoplay in
      1
      Disable Autoplay
      Cancel Video
      Madeleine McCann police 'thought parents accidentally killed her with Calpol' / Netflix

      The Madeleine McCann case has created more questions than answers and left police baffled as to who was behind the 3-year-old girl's disappearance in 2007.

      But one potential clue in mother Kate McCann's 2011 memoir has raised eyebrows.

      In her memoir, titled Madeleine: Our daughter's disappearance and the continuing search for her, Kate makes specific mention of a note written in an apartment complex restaurant booking she only discovered a year after police files were released to the public.

      In it, Kate describes her horror at discovering a note from the holiday apartment complex when she was combing through Portuguese police files.

      In her book she writes: "It wasn't until a year later, when I was combing through the Portuguese police files, that I discovered the note."

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Kate spent six months analysing the 5000 pages of police files that were released and describes the night she made the restaurant booking that would change their lives forever.

      The Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz. Photo / Getty
      The Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz. Photo / Getty

      In her book, Kate explained the unusual events in how her booking at the tapas restaurant was documented.

      The tapas restaurant was small and it proved complicated to accommodate the McCann's booking for nine.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      The party of nine managed to get a block booking for 8.30pm "pencilled in" for the rest of the week "after having a word with the receptionist at the pool and tapas area".

      But after sifting through police documents Kate had concerns over the note written in the restaurant book and how accessible the book was to not only staff but the public.

      Kate writes: "The note requesting our block booking was written in a staff message book, which sat on a desk at the pool reception for most of the day.

      "This book was by definition accessible to all staff and, albeit unintentionally, probably to guests and visitors, too."

      Discover more

      World

      Maddie's chilling question hours before she disappeared

      03 Apr 06:24 PM
      World

      Maddie lie offer: 'Offensive' deal Portuguese police offered Kate McCann

      07 Apr 08:56 PM
      World

      Fury as Maddie McCann's mum faces 'ridiculous' claim

      30 Apr 02:24 AM
      World

      Maddie inquiry: Cops 'closing in on new prime suspect'

      24 Jun 08:17 PM

      But it was the specific detail in the note that left Kate uneasy. It detailed how the McCanns were leaving their children home alone in their apartments, which could have been read by anybody in the restaurant the day Maddie disappeared.

      The Madeleine McCann case has created more questions than answers and left police baffled as to who was behind the 3-year-old girl's disappearance in 2007. Photo / Getty
      The Madeleine McCann case has created more questions than answers and left police baffled as to who was behind the 3-year-old girl's disappearance in 2007. Photo / Getty

      "To my horror, I saw that, no doubt in all innocence and simply to explain why she was bending the rules a bit, the receptionist had added the reason for our request: we wanted to eat close to our apartments as we were leaving our young children alone there and checking on them intermittently."

      Kate detailed how the group of nine decided to do their own "child-checking service" when they were at the tapas restaurant for dinner, instead of either bringing them to dinner or requesting the apartment complex's own child service.

      "We now bitterly regret it and will do so until the end of our days."

      Kate and Gerry McCann. Photo / Getty
      Kate and Gerry McCann. Photo / Getty

      In 2017 police were interested in talking to a former employee at the resort that may have evidence that could solve the case.

      Police were also keen to talk to former employee Euclides Monteiro, an immigrant who had been fired from the beach club for stealing from guests. However, officials never got the opportunity after he died in a tractor accident in 2009.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Earlier this week it has been reported police working on the McCann case are reportedly closing in on a new prime suspect.

      Portuguese police are perusing a "new clue and suspect" after talks with British officers, according to a bombshell local media report.

      The Correio da Manha newspaper claims local detectives are now "nearer to knowing what happened to Madeleine" after receiving a tip-off from a mystery foreign man who was in Algarve at the same time Maddie disappeared in 2007.

      The alleged tip-off has since led Portuguese police and Scotland Yard to share key information on the investigation.

      A source in Portugal told the Mirror: "The British were here recently, there were talks at the PJ office in the city.

      "It's all very secret but then it always is with the Madeleine case. Only the police know who the suspect is."

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      The face-to-face meeting between British and Portuguese police is believed to be the first since the new suspect came to light.

      Save
        Share this article

      Latest from World

      World

      Gunman kills five in ‘mass shooting’ in Thai capital - police

      World

      'Defining moment': UN challenges Australia on climate ambitions

      World

      Head of China's Shaolin Temple removed over embezzlement claims


      Sponsored

      Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Recommended for you

      'Serious injuries': Person rushed to hospital after reported assault in Manukau
      New Zealand

      'Serious injuries': Person rushed to hospital after reported assault in Manukau

      Gunman kills five in ‘mass shooting’ in Thai capital - police
      World

      Gunman kills five in ‘mass shooting’ in Thai capital - police

      Couple set to lose $1.7m in property after commercial-scale cannabis bust
      New Zealand

      Couple set to lose $1.7m in property after commercial-scale cannabis bust

      'Defining moment': UN challenges Australia on climate ambitions
      World

      'Defining moment': UN challenges Australia on climate ambitions

      'Long may it continue': NZ events industry sees promising revival
      Entertainment

      'Long may it continue': NZ events industry sees promising revival

      'You were everything': Man who died from critical injuries in Rotorua remembered
      Rotorua Daily Post

      'You were everything': Man who died from critical injuries in Rotorua remembered



      Latest from World

      Gunman kills five in ‘mass shooting’ in Thai capital - police
      World

      Gunman kills five in ‘mass shooting’ in Thai capital - police

      Police are investigating possible links to ongoing border clashes with Cambodia.

      28 Jul 09:12 AM
      'Defining moment': UN challenges Australia on climate ambitions
      World

      'Defining moment': UN challenges Australia on climate ambitions

      28 Jul 07:41 AM
      Head of China's Shaolin Temple removed over embezzlement claims
      World

      Head of China's Shaolin Temple removed over embezzlement claims

      28 Jul 06:23 AM


      Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
      Sponsored

      Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

      06 Jul 09:47 PM

      NZ Herald
      • About NZ Herald
      • Meet the journalists
      • Newsletters
      • Classifieds
      • Help & support
      • Contact us
      • House rules
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of use
      • Competition terms & conditions
      • Our use of AI
      Subscriber Services
      • NZ Herald e-editions
      • Daily puzzles & quizzes
      • Manage your digital subscription
      • Manage your print subscription
      • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
      • Subscribe to Herald Premium
      • Gift a subscription
      • Subscriber FAQs
      • Subscription terms & conditions
      • Promotions and subscriber benefits
      NZME Network
      • The New Zealand Herald
      • The Northland Age
      • The Northern Advocate
      • Waikato Herald
      • Bay of Plenty Times
      • Rotorua Daily Post
      • Hawke's Bay Today
      • Whanganui Chronicle
      • Viva
      • NZ Listener
      • Newstalk ZB
      • BusinessDesk
      • OneRoof
      • Driven Car Guide
      • iHeart Radio
      • Restaurant Hub
      NZME
      • About NZME
      • NZME careers
      • Advertise with NZME
      • Digital self-service advertising
      • Book your classified ad
      • Photo sales
      • NZME Events
      • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
      TOP
      search by queryly Advanced Search