Haunting last footage of Madeleine McCann boarding a plane to Portugal with her family days before her disappearance is unearthed in new Netflix documentary
- Mobile phone videos show girl walking onto a flight at East Midlands Airport
- They also reveal three-year-old on an airport bus in the Algarve in April 2017
- Clips were first released by Madeleine's parents four weeks after she vanished
- But they have since reappeared in a new Netflix documentary about the girl
Haunting footage emerged today of Madeleine McCann with a rucksack getting on board the plane that took her on holiday to Portugal where she vanished.
The mobile phone videos of the three-year-old girl walking onto a flight at East Midlands Airport and on an airport bus in the Algarve were taken in April 2017.
The clips were first released by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, four weeks after she went missing in Praia da Luz.
But they were not widely circulated and have since reappeared in a new eight-part Netflix documentary about the girl filmed without the co-operation of the McCanns.
Another video also taken in April 2017 shows Madeleine on an airport bus in the Algarve
Madeleine McCann is pictured in a still from a mobile phone video walking onto a flight at East Midlands Airport in April 2017. Five days later she disappeared and has never been found
The clips taken on April 28 show Madeleine clutching her Barbie rucksack and holding hands with another girl as she gets on board the flight to Faro Airport.
The McCanns travelled to the Algarve with Madeleine, her brother Sean, sister Amelie, and a group of friends. Madeleine disappeared five days later.
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The documentary looks at theories about the case, including the idea that she was snatched to order by a people-trafficking gang and smuggled to another country.
Investigator Julian Peribanez, who worked for the McCanns as a private detective, said that a white, middle-class child would have been valuable to such a gang.
Netflix said its show included 'never-before-heard testimonies from those at the heart of the story', including the McCanns' friends, and former investigators.
Kate McCann from Leicestershire is pictured with her daughter Madeleine as a baby
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, both now 51, leave a court in Lisbon after giving statements in their case against Portuguese police officer Goncalo Amaral in July 2014
Several people reported possible sightings of a child being carried through the streets on the night she vanished, but none have ever been confirmed as her.
Several people reported possible sightings of a child being carried through the streets on the night Madeleine vanished
A friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, Jane Tanner, described seeing a man carrying a child wrapped in a blanket near the family's rented apartment.
Businessman George Burke also recalled a 'vicious-looking' couple carrying a child in nearby Lagos, hours after Madeleine vanished.
Her parents, now 51, have endured almost 12 years of speculation since Madeleine's disappearance, and refused to take part in the documentary.
They did not believe it would help their hunt for Madeleine, and 'could potentially hinder' the UK investigation.
Programme-makers took two years to interview key figures, including the first Briton quizzed over the disappearance.
The Portuguese detective in charge, Goncalo Amaral, has told the documentary he still doubts the McCanns.
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine work in Praia da Luz in June 2014
Scotland Yard's £11.75million investigation, Operation Grange, was launched after the Portuguese inquiry ended. The Madeleine McCann incident room is pictured in October 2013
He and the family have been locked in a legal row over his extraordinary claims that Madeleine died in her family's apartment and that her abduction was faked.
Portuguese police put out this bizarre sketch of Madeleine kidnap suspect with no FACE
Portuguese police released this faceless e-fit of the Madeleine McCann kidnap suspect.
The Netflix documentary reveals how detectives showed locals in Praia da Luz an e-fit of a man without a nose, eyes or mouth after the girl vanished.
Simon Russell, who owned an internet café in the resort town, said: 'I smiled when they showed it to me. What else could you do?'
Mr and Mrs McCann deny his allegations and sued him in the Portuguese courts. The programme also raises questions about the Portuguese investigation.
Robert Murat, the British expat first named by police in Portugal as a suspect or 'arguido' – but is no longer being probed – feared he had been 'set up'.
Madeleine's parents were also named as arguidos but cleared when the probe ended.
Mr and Mrs McCann said: 'We did not see – and still do not see – how this programme will help the search for Madeleine and, particularly given there is an active police investigation, it could potentially hinder it.'
Scotland Yard's £11.75million investigation, Operation Grange, was launched after the Portuguese inquiry ended.
Last year it was given £150,000 to allow it to continue until the end of this month.
The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann is available on Netflix from today
Is this Madeleine McCann playing in Portugal days before vanishing?
Wearing a sunhat and summer dress, this haunting image appears to show Madeleine McCann playing just days before her disappearance in 2007.
The child holds on to a 'play parachute' with four other children under the supervision of an adult at the Portuguese resort where her family was staying.
It is just one of the new pictures set to be broadcast today as part of a new Netflix documentary filmed without the co-operation of Maddie's parents.
Madeleine McCann (centre, in pink dress) holds on to a 'play parachute' with four other children at the Portuguese resort where her family was staying in 2007
British tourist Neil Berry said Madeleine and his daughter Jessica had played together at the Ocean Club's kids' club in Praia da Luz.
He told documentary producers: 'They were of a similar age and they became as thick as thieves.
'I remember they had been out sailing, which I thought was quite brave of the kids' club, that they took them out on the sea. They were together in the boat.
'Jessie's only real recollection of the holiday was Jess lost her straw summer hat in the sea and Madeleine launching herself into the sea to recover it for her – much to the alarm of the kids' club staff who swiftly grabbed her and dragged her back into the boat.'
