What really happened to the £1,5m reward

1. Is (the Reward Fund) still active?

2. How much was raised and what has happened to the funds since?

3. Given the demise of the newspaper, who is now responsible for the administration of this account?

4. What are the current plans for the Fund?


The reply, six days later, was also courteous and clear:


Thank you for your enquiry.

I can confirm that the funds raised by the appeal were donated in April this year (2011) to the official Madeleine Fund and the fund created by News of the World is no longer active.

http://asaucesaid.blogspot.fi/2014/06/thank-you-and-goodbye.html?spref=tw



No wonder mccanns never published/promoted it. (they said it would cause confusion ..or similar) *gouch*

was any amount shown in the Accounts for that period april 2011.

tanszi wrote:was any amount shown in the Accounts for that period april 2011.

I can't remember seen £1,5m there, from NotW. Or any amount from them ...

Did the McCanns previously state they didn't advertise this reward because it would attract weirdos, not a direct quote.

How very interesting this is if true. All that money whooshed. All the money those mean, useless, investigators took. All that money, just gone.

mossman wrote:Did the McCanns previously state they didn't advertise this reward because it would attract weirdos, not a direct quote.

How very interesting this is if true.  All that money whooshed.  All the money those mean, useless, investigators took.  All that money, just gone.

Yes, they did. And if this now is true, the 'why' they didn't advertise...start to look like they ...hmmm...stole, plain and simple, the money donated as reward 'for Maddies safe return'.
And Metodo 3 said, they never got £500k...just some over £100K. I wonder who paid Halligen (Kennedy?) and how much.
And all those £ 500K x 2 show booked from the Fund. What if not true. + now this £1,5m... whoooooooooooooosh...

weissnicht wrote:

mossman wrote:Did the McCanns previously state they didn't advertise this reward because it would attract weirdos, not a direct quote.

How very interesting this is if true.  All that money whooshed.  All the money those mean, useless, investigators took.  All that money, just gone.

Yes, they did. And if this now is true, the 'why' they didn't advertise...start to look like they ...hmmm...stole, plain and simple, the money donated as reward 'for Maddies safe return'.

You have to ask how unlucky one family can be. They loose their daughter, the dogs have a vendetta against them, so too the lead investigator who apparently decided his sole purpose in life was to "get" them by writing a book, their private investigators turned out to be crooks but only after they had paid them. Now the reward has disappeared.

The "pledges" idea is a funny one. I offer to pledge say 10€ to the reward. Three years later somebody gives information and is due said reward. What a job somebody would have tracking down 1.5m pounds worth of pledges, particularly if the majority was made up of small amounts.

This will be an interesting discovery to follow. Thanks for posting it.

did the reward posted by SY attract the weirdos, no don't answer I think I know,

yes it would be very interesting if it could be found out how much money was donated (not pleged) to the Reward Fund and how much was then given over to the Official Madeleine Fund. (I am not suggesting that there was a shortfall in the money handed over, just wondered if it had been in an account that attracted interest). again interesting to see where this amount is seen in the accounts.

tanszi wrote:did the reward posted by SY attract the weirdos, no don't answer I think I know,

yes it would be very interesting if it could be found out how much money was donated (not pleged) to the Reward Fund and how much was then given over to the Official Madeleine Fund.  (I am not suggesting that there was a shortfall in the money handed over, just wondered if it had been in an account that attracted interest). again interesting to see where this amount is seen in the accounts.  

If the "transfer" was made when stated it is hidden by the proceeds of the book sales. Total income was £856K yet £738K was stated to be from donations from book royalties or related income. Then again there is £550K of that total which appears as a "restricted fund" with no explanation why its use has been restricted or by whom. The lack of transparency yet again obscures any full understanding of the source of monies.

ETA - IIRC Brooks told Leveson News International paid something like £500K for serialisation rights.

More to the case...
http://asaucesaid.blogspot.co.uk/

This just keep getting odder..

http://asaucesaid.blogspot.de/2014/06/putting-press-in-suppress.html?m=1

someone s got a tiger by the tail. well done that person for being so tenacious

Actually, the £2 million reward was nothing to do with the McCanns, the NOTW would have paid it if someone had come forward with knowledge of the
Abductor. Ergo, the Reward was never claimed......wouldn't you think that some one would have information for such a huge reward????

The Fund reached £2 million from Donors by December 2007, Esther McVey made a public announcement that it would not be used for the Family, apparently, the Directors had a Meeting and decided the money could be used for family expenses and Esther resigned .!!! Ever since very little of the Fund has been used to pay for experienced Firms to search for Madeleine , most has been used for Legal Fees while Kate made a small fortune from sales of her books ......says it all doesn't it.

Most off the reward was 'pledged' by millionaire backers...I.e. Branson and JK Rowling etc


So if she was found before the NOTW folded then they would have to 'pay up' to whoever .


Some off the money came from people like 'us' and it was that money that the NOTW payed into the Find Madeleine Fund.

weissnicht wrote:http://asaucesaid.blogspot.de/

Morning weissnicht


In answer to your question, a total of £21,257.32 was received and banked in The Madeline (sic) Fund HSBC Bank Account No 52135590 between May 2007 and November 2007. No other payments save those relating to this particular appeal were received from readers into this account. "


The Funds Bank is NatWest....the McCanns changed their Mortgage from Lloyds to HSBC two or three years ago , as they say, follow the money. Too late now.

http://asaucesaid.blogspot.fi/2014/06/rebekah-kate-gerry-and-cash.html?spref=tw
  

Thanks for this. If it was anyone else this story would start rumbling and become a much bigger story, we'll see....

I've tried to comment but it won't let me, but if News International raised £1.5m in 48hrs donated by the public to find Maddie, why was only £21k given to the McCanns? Where's the other £1.4m+ ??

margaret wrote:Thanks for this. If it was anyone else this story would start rumbling and become a much bigger story, we'll see....

I've tried to comment but it won't let me, but if News International raised £1.5m in 48hrs donated by the public to find Maddie, why was only £21k given to the McCanns? Where's the other £1.4m+ ??

A large part of the reward was money "pledged" by celebrities rather than actually paid over. They would only pay out if a legitimate claim for the reward was made.

I remember there was a newspaper 'pledge' of £1m that was to come from the newspapers own funds. But only to be paid on the return of Madeleine safe and well.

Mr. Myler appeared at the Leveson Inquiry in December 2011.

In his Third Witness Statement, he wrote:  The Newspaper was very supportive of Kate and Gerry and their campaign to find their daughter..  We were very happy to undertake a number of things unconditionally.

One example of this was the appeal we mounted to raise donations (sic) to the Madeleine campaign fund. This was very successful and raised £1.5m in 48 hours."

He's said publicly at leveson it was raised by donations not pledges.

Rewards totalling £2.5m have been offered to anyone who can help with information leading to the safe return of Madeleine McCann.
The News of the World and businessmen including Sir Richard Branson have jointly pledged £1.5m. Scottish tycoon Stephen Winyard has offered £1m.

Chris wrote:

A large part of the reward was money "pledged" by celebrities rather than actually paid over. They would only pay out if a legitimate claim for the reward was made.

--------------------------------------------

Which, of course, imo, the zlebs KNEW their 'pledges' would NEVER have to be 'honoured'

(but get the Kudos for 'supporting' the poor 'parents')

BUT not a penny piece has left any of the zlebs 'wallets'!

Only the gullible 'public' have 'donated' to McCann's PRIVATE Company.

John McCann, GM's brother and director of LNSU ''search fund', i'm roughly remembering, said "Zelebrities 'pledge' to REWARD, but i remind ordinary people can still 'donate' to Madeleine's Fund (private Ltd company) and not to REWARD."

Although this wasn't just about the NOTW rewards, it's quite an amazing point of view, given that if the reward was successfully claimed, this would mean the family's dearest wish had come true.

From my Big Desk:
27/11/10

"It needs only one greedy, unscrupulous character to come forward," said Philomena McCann.(Daily Mail 28/07/07)

The above was in relation to the reward on offer at the time: £3.2 million, according to the 28th July 2007 article featured in the Daily Mail. After more than three years, I am still utterly gobsmacked by Phil McCann's choice of words to describe someone who might come forward to help find her niece.

Unquote