'Conman in Madeleine cash claims'
A con-man hired to find Madeleine McCann - only to allegedly use public donations to fund an extravagant lifestyle - has spoken about the search for the first time.
Kevin Halligen led a £500,000 investigation after the girl vanished, claimed to have contacts within MI5 and the CIA. But it is claimed he led a 'high roller lifestyle' on public donations.
Full story Page 11
http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/conman-in-madeleine-mccann-cash-claims-1-3423041
Conman in Madeleine McCann cash claims
A CONMAN who allegedly used public donations designed to find Madeleine McCann to fund his extravagant lifestyle has spoken about his role in the search for the first time.
Kevin Halligen led a £500,000 investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance after claiming to have contacts within MI5, the CIA and even the White House.
But it is claimed he spent large amounts of the cash on his “high-roller lifestyle”, while neglecting to pay his “Operation Omega” team in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
Halligen, recently released from a four-year jail term for an unrelated crime, tells his story for the first time as part of a TV documentary to be screened next week, it emerged yesterday.
A year after Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007, Kate and Gerry McCann hired Halligen as a private investigator. He reportedly spent much of the money on luxury hotels, restaurants and a chauffeur.
But despite neglecting his Operation Omega team, the new film claims the investigators made significant breakthroughs in the hunt for the missing child.
The team’s final report in 2008 is said to have contained leads which are now forming part of the current Scotland Yard investigation, including a sighting by retired businessman Martin Smith which led to an e-fit shown on Crimewatch last year.
Halligen’s firm, Oakley International, had its contract terminated by the McCanns after questions were raised about the quality of its work.
The Irishman was found guilty last year by an American court of defrauding Dutch firm Trafigura of £1.2 million, with his sentence backdated to his arrest in 2009.
Another of Halligen’s firms, Red Defence International, was hired as a consultant after two of Trafigura’s executives were taken hostage in the Ivory Coast.
Halligen claimed to have racked up £1.2m in expenses during the rescue operation, but had actually spent the money on a home in Virginia.
Emma Westcott, commissioning editor of factual programmes for Channel 5, said: “It’s seven years since Madeleine McCann disappeared and it remains one of the most troubling mysteries of our time. This documentary is the extraordinary story of one man’s audacious claims, and how he not only fooled the intelligence community at the highest level, but cynically exploited the nightmare of a missing child and her family.”
In 2010, a Sunday newspaper investigation claimed Halligen went on a spending spree while in the pay of the Find Madeleine Fund. According to the report, in his first two months as lead investigator in the search for Madeleine, Halligen spent £7,000 on a chauffeur.
A few months later, on a short trip to New York with a girlfriend, he spent £1,600 on Salvatore Ferragamo leather goods, £5,500 on handbags, £500 on a meal, £150 on a pair of designer glasses and £900 on a three-night stay at the five-star Renaissance Hotel.
The McCanns and the Conman will be screened on Wednesday 4 June on Channel 5.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/380792/EXCLUSIVE-Madeleine-McCann-bogus-super-spy-will-crack-case
EXCLUSIVE: Madeleine McCann bogus super-spy 'will crack case'
A BOGUS super-spy hired by Madeleine McCann’s parents could solve the case.
By Jerry Lawton/Published 27th May 2014
new TV shock documentary tells how he identified the prime suspect in the mystery.
A year after the then three-year-old’s 2007 disappearance, Irishman Kevin Halligen, 52, signed a £500,000 deal to locate her.
“The McCanns trusted Kevin Halligen to bring her home.”
Channel 5 spokesman
Boasting of connections with MI5, MI6, the CIA, FBI, and the White House he planned to use hi-tech surveillance techniques.
But his contract was terminated after organisers of the public fund set up to find the youngster decided he had failed to honour their agreement.
Halligen was then arrested and extradited to the US where he was jailed last year for 44 months after admitting defrauding a different client out of $2.1m.
Madeleine’s doctor parents Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, were understood to be considering suing Halligen over his Operation Omega probe into their daughter’s disappearance.
But according to a new Channel 5 documentary Halligen’s operatives may end up solving the mystery. They identified as the prime suspect a man seen heading towards the beach in Praia da Luz, Portugal, clutching a sleeping blonde girl around 10pm the night Madeleine vanished.
Halligen’s investigators convinced the Irish family who saw her to help produce an e-fit. That man is now the Metropolitan Police’s No1 suspect.
Detectives believe he may be a serial sex attacker who targeted a string of other Brit girls on the Algarve.
In the documentary, The McCanns And The Conman – due to be screened on June 4 – recently freed Halligen will speak for the first time about his theory.
A spokesman for Channel 5 said: “The McCanns trusted Kevin Halligen to bring her home.”
Halligen was allegedly spending significant amounts of the cash meant to help find Madeleine on his luxury lifestyle.
Channel 5’s Emma Westcott said: “This is the extraordinary story of one man’s claims, and how he exploited the nightmare of a missing child.”
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/478406/Madeleine-McCann-Private-eye-to-break-silence-on-hunt
Madeleine McCann private eye breaks his silence on the hunt in a new Channel 5 documetary
THE private investigator behind the 2008 operation to find Madeleine McCann will speak for the first time about his search for the youngster.
Kevin Halligen will break his silence in an exclusive Channel 5 interview for a documentary, The McCanns And The Conman.
The 53-year-old set up Operation Omega after being commissioned by parents Kate and Gerry McCann to find Maddy, who vanished at the age of three while on holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.
Halligan, a Surrey-based Irishman, promised to use his MI5, MI6 and CIA “contacts” to try to track down the girl.
The security consultant signed a six-figure contract – but questions were later raised over exactly how the money was spent.
Now Halligen, who also claimed to have FBI and White House connections, has agreed to tell his side of the story.
This is the extraordinary story of one man’s audacious claims, and how he fooled the intelligence community
Emma Westcott, of Channel 5
The documentary, due to be screened next week, reads like the plot of a spy movie.
t is an extraordinary tale of covert surveillance, sting operations and the bugging of a key witness through the twists and turns of the hunt for a man who was then a prime suspect, code-named “George”.
Halligen’s final report is said to contain significant leads that now form part of the current Scotland Yard investigation, including the crucial e-fits based on the so-called “Smith sighting”, which was aired on Crimewatch last October.
But it transpired that Halligen was an audacious conman, who led people into believing he was a spy.
He was arrested in 2009 and jailed in the US for defrauding an unrelated client on a previous kidnap and ransom case.
He has recently been released from prison.
Channel 5’s Emma Westcott said: “This is the extraordinary story of one man’s audacious claims, and how he fooled the intelligence community.”
• The McCanns And The Conman, Channel 5, June 4, 9pm.
