Today I thought I'd call the Madeleine Fund and ask questions about the company because I'm not satisfied with the way they are spending donated funds. I didn't get very far. The media telephone number listed on the Find Madeleine Fund website went through to a voice message system that gave an alternate mobile number for Clarence Mitchell.

I tried Bates Wells - the company solicitors. That proved useless as well and all I got was a voice mail recording telling me that the person I wanted was out of the office. Finally I tried calling John McCann. After getting the addresses of the directors of the Fund, it was possible to obtain some phone numbers of the directors. The information is in the public domain so could hardly be classed as prying or invading privacy. As a customer of the company, I figured it would be a normal thing to do to ask for the complaints department as I wasn't happy with the way things were being handled. Plus, as a bona fide customer it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask for updates on how things are progressing with the money being spent on trying to find Madeleine. After all, that's why it was donated.

I got through to John McCann. Or at least I got through to the person who has the same number as him. I could hear football on the TV in the background. This was a good sign - John McCann is affiliated with an amateur football team in the Glasgow area. He listened. I talked. I said I was interested in getting information on the Madeleine Fund. He said "this is a private residence". He asked what I wanted again. I told him again. He repeated that it was a private residence and he also said that he was a "Jones".

In short, I got nowhere.

But later on I pondered why he told me he was called Jones. When you want to make up a name on the spot, don't you use the name "Smith"? Isn't that the defacto false name?

I thought so.

Since when has a Glaswegian had a WELSH name?