Madeleine McCann Discussion [Archive] - Page 6 - Crime Library Message Boards

Nerida_F

02-09-2008, 12:48 AM

There was a post from someone in Portugal on a media page that went "How long will this circus go on? Why don't the parents return to Portugal". The answer seems obvious that the "circus" will go on until Madeleine is found and returned, although her condition may not ideal. How could anyone deny parents the right to find a lost child? The parents should be where they help the most, and I don't think Portugal offers anything other than a threat to their safety and freedom.

The latest sketch is a welcome advance. Finding Madeleine now is like finding a needle in a haystack, but if that needle is tied to a thread leading from the abductor, then this sketch is like knowing the colour of the thread. My hope is that Madeliene is found soon now, and I think until the end of the year is a reasonable time to have firm hope. Given the problems with the investigation so far, the chance of finding the abductor must still be high.

Negligence means neglect of duty, and I think we are all agreed that this is true although poor judgment seems a less harsh way to say it. Does it really help to continue to blame the parents? Also, remember that the other families should also be accused since they were all in the same situation. Many people like to think backwards: the parents lost their child therefore they must be guilty. In some countries, when a woman is assaulted, the thinking is that she was touched, therefore she must have encouraged it and now needs to be punished. I call this reverse logic. The concept of a victim is a very advanced concept. Another example of reverse logic is the space shuttle columbia. It was decided that the hole in the wing could not be fixed so the high-res photo was not taken, and the rest is history.

From the photos, Madeleine was a very happy child enjoying life. The parents did not lose her, she was taken. If the abductor had chosen any other family, the chances are a child would have still been taken. For me, this case has shown that, as a community, we still have a long way to go and a lot of problems to solve, after Madeleine is home. Like many people, I wish there was something more I could do or say to help, and since Sept11 the world seem to be a more dangerous place. Amazing that one crazy thought from a madman could have such a negative impact, and from a similar start that a child could be taken from her parents. Thanks Jayelles, and for the message.

Jayelles

02-09-2008, 01:04 PM

Lili007

02-10-2008, 08:29 AM

sharlock

02-12-2008, 11:41 AM

IMO, it's not about "blaming" the parents, but it IS about responsibility when you are a parent.

We wouldn't leave our dogs in an unfamiliar place with the door unlocked, let alone our child. Our dogs are very little and we're very aware that they are vulnerable, so all doors get locked and security checked, ventilation and water, everything, before we go out to dinner and drinks, etc, as we always do, both at home and on holidays.

I'm just saying that the responsibility is not on the gypsies who may come along to steal children or anyone else, it's first on the parents. If they left the doors unlocked and didn't secure the place where their toddler was sleeping alone...

JMO
It makes me so sad when people condemn these parents with absolutely no proof. They made a mistake but it certainly wasn't an uncommon one. In fact you could say that it was the normal thing to do at that resort as many other parents holidaying there had the same idea. My heart bleeds for their loss and I for one pray they get their daughter home safe and sound so they can love and cherish and never let her out of their sights again. I can't imagine how spiteful you would need to be to state that you only care about Maddie and not her parents. There is nothing to indicate these parents hurt their child and anyone can be forgiven a mistake. Well I'm sure Maddie and her siblings, care about her parents as they care about her and just want her home.

LI_Mom

02-15-2008, 02:25 PM

It makes me so sad when people condemn these parents with absolutely no proof. They made a mistake but it certainly wasn't an uncommon one. In fact you could say that it was the normal thing to do at that resort as many other parents holidaying there had the same idea. My heart bleeds for their loss and I for one pray they get their daughter home safe and sound so they can love and cherish and never let her out of their sights again. I can't imagine how spiteful you would need to be to state that you only care about Maddie and not her parents. There is nothing to indicate these parents hurt their child and anyone can be forgiven a mistake. Well I'm sure Maddie and her siblings, care about her parents as they care about her and just want her home.

No proof? The parents freely admitted they left their babies alone. Later we found out they didn't even think it was necessary to lock the door even though a young child could wander outside & wind up drowned in the swimming pool or wander into the street that was close by.

I think the children might have been SAFER if they never walked back to the room & signaled to anyone watching from the shadows that the door was unlocked & that no adults would be around for at least another half hour!

They might as well as put on neon sign on the door.... FREE: UNATTENDED BABIES!

sharlock

02-16-2008, 05:41 AM

No proof? The parents freely admitted they left their babies alone. Later we found out they didn't even think it was necessary to lock the door even though a young child could wander outside & wind up drowned in the swimming pool or wander into the street that was close by.

I think the children might have been SAFER if they never walked back to the room & signaled to anyone watching from the shadows that the door was unlocked & that no adults would be around for at least another half hour!

They might as well as put on neon sign on the door.... FREE: UNATTENDED BABIES!

Well in that case the kidnappers sure had there pick of rooms flashing "kiddies available". You seem to be missing the point. It feels like talking to a person who beleives we should all just kill drug addicts instead of rehabilitation as they chose to take drugs. You know that black and white attitude where there are no shades of grey to consider.
These children were in a family which despite very public scrutiny does not appear to have been neglectful or abusive in any way. These parents were not selling their kids for drugs or beating them. It has already been said ad infinitum that it was in retrospect NOT a good idea to rely soley on parent checks that night but it has also been shown that this practise was not considered neglectful in Madrid and was a chosen option by the majority of parents holidaying at the resort. It seems some people think it is almost just that the McCanns lost their child for not living up to some peoples standards of good parenting?They paid dearly for that error in judgement and it amazes me the callousness of those who focus on this and shout their condemnation of Madeleines parents to the rooftops with scarcely a mention of the barely human trash that could sneak into an innocent child's room and rip her from her loving family. It is the lack of balance when reading others critiscism of the McCanns with never a mention of the real perpertrator of this crime. The KIDNAPPER!!! JMHO.

Jayelles

02-16-2008, 01:09 PM

LI_Mom

02-20-2008, 08:14 PM

Well in that case the kidnappers sure had there pick of rooms flashing "kiddies available". You seem to be missing the point. It feels like talking to a person who beleives we should all just kill drug addicts instead of rehabilitation as they chose to take drugs. You know that black and white attitude where there are no shades of grey to consider.
These children were in a family which despite very public scrutiny does not appear to have been neglectful or abusive in any way. These parents were not selling their kids for drugs or beating them. It has already been said ad infinitum that it was in retrospect NOT a good idea to rely soley on parent checks that night but it has also been shown that this practise was not considered neglectful in Madrid and was a chosen option by the majority of parents holidaying at the resort. It seems some people think it is almost just that the McCanns lost their child for not living up to some peoples standards of good parenting?They paid dearly for that error in judgement and it amazes me the callousness of those who focus on this and shout their condemnation of Madeleines parents to the rooftops with scarcely a mention of the barely human trash that could sneak into an innocent child's room and rip her from her loving family. It is the lack of balance when reading others critiscism of the McCanns with never a mention of the real perpertrator of this crime. The KIDNAPPER!!! JMHO.

Come on now, just because all the other parents were leaving their children unattended THAT doesn't make it a good thing to do. That excuse sounds flimsy when teenagers try it... it sounds even more pathetic were responsible adults try to get away with that illogical excuse.

But let's pretend that since it was no big deal..... how old were the OTHER kids who were left alone? How FAR were their parents from their room and most importantly how many of those parents left their babies in an unlocked room?

This isn't a question of "condemning parents." This is a simply a question of not having much (if any) sympathy for THEM. I save my sympathy for the poor child & for her poor siblings who will grow up without their older sister.

I'd bet anything the McCanns locked that door every single night when THEY got ready to sleep. I doubt they would have slept in an unlocked apt.

Lili007

02-21-2008, 06:47 AM

I don't think anyone is being deliberately "unsympathetic" towards the McCanns. It's just that, as parents, they bear the responsibility for their children, especially those of such young age that they cannot fend for themselves.

I don't expect a toddler to be "on the alert" to any danger, but I fully expect the parents to be - that's their job.

Leaving an unattended toddler in unsecured premises in a foreign location is not responsible behaviour on the part of anyone who has the responsibility of caring for a child, let alone her own parents.

It doesn't matter how "secure" they thought she would be, or how "harmless" they thought their partying was while they left their daughter not only unattended, but not even secured. They were wrong, BIG TIME.

I do feel sorry for them, but I feel infinitely sorrier for little Madeleine, because her parents were more concerned with their entertainment than with the safety and well-being of their own toddler daughter.

I have no doubt they regret it now, but.. too little, too late. A child is gone because her parents wanted a night out and didn't bother to lock the door. It wouldn't have taken much effort.

JMO

Lili007

02-21-2008, 06:55 AM

Well in that case the kidnappers sure had there pick of rooms flashing "kiddies available". You seem to be missing the point. It feels like talking to a person who beleives we should all just kill drug addicts instead of rehabilitation as they chose to take drugs. You know that black and white attitude where there are no shades of grey to consider.
These children were in a family which despite very public scrutiny does not appear to have been neglectful or abusive in any way. These parents were not selling their kids for drugs or beating them. It has already been said ad infinitum that it was in retrospect NOT a good idea to rely soley on parent checks that night but it has also been shown that this practise was not considered neglectful in Madrid and was a chosen option by the majority of parents holidaying at the resort. It seems some people think it is almost just that the McCanns lost their child for not living up to some peoples standards of good parenting?They paid dearly for that error in judgement and it amazes me the callousness of those who focus on this and shout their condemnation of Madeleines parents to the rooftops with scarcely a mention of the barely human trash that could sneak into an innocent child's room and rip her from her loving family. It is the lack of balance when reading others critiscism of the McCanns with never a mention of the real perpertrator of this crime. The KIDNAPPER!!! JMHO.

If there was a kidnapper, most certainly he/she is the perpetrator of the crime, and they should get whatever is coming to them under local and international law, should they ever be found.

It just seems to me that if such a crime had occurred, it would have been inadvertantly 'facilitated' by the casual attitude that the McCanns seemed to adopt that night in relation to their daughter's safety, IMO.

I understand the whole holiday atmosphere, relaxing, feeling in a party mood, laughing, drinking, socialising, feeling safe and invincible, among friends, etc. But that didn't help Madeleine, did it?

JMO

Seashell

02-21-2008, 03:17 PM

SaraSidle

02-21-2008, 08:28 PM

Thank you, i totally agree with you :)

As do I I cannot stand to let my cats stay home alone when I am gone and I lock the doors. I cannot even understand why parents would do this with children especially in a different country. My neighbors watch my house when I am gone and it makes me feel very safe.

Seashell

02-23-2008, 07:47 AM

As do I I cannot stand to let my cats stay home alone when I am gone and I lock the doors. I cannot even understand why parents would do this with children especially in a different country. My neighbors watch my house when I am gone and it makes me feel very safe.

What really amazes me how some people can totally be blinded by sympathy for these negligent parents and not once admit they were at fault, i have been repeatedly saying more or less same as you and a few more here.
I even answered that i was a childminder many years ago in UK and how the social services wouldnt alow go to work parents to leave their under age children alone even for a short period of time so its absolute bollocks to let these parents off the hook i was even told by a fellow member here that there is no law stating the proper age for children to be left alone at home or otherwise, so for this reason it excuses the parents responsibilty to have left their innocent babies that night and oh not only that night?
It doesnt excuse the Mccanns.
It doesnt suprise me a certain poster completelly ignores me but i refuse to ignore what these 2 drs. did and that was to leave their babies unprotected to wine and dine and it doesnt excuse them in the least even if they were checking those innocent babies every half hour or so, i keep my sympathy for little Maddie and not her parents.
Responsible parents dont leave their children alone in a holiday resort least of all an UNLOCKED door.
They should also be taken to court for leaving those children alone and no adult supervising their care during their meal out! :flamemad:
My heart is breaking for such a little angel like Maddie and pray and hope she really is found alive.

SaraSidle

02-24-2008, 12:08 AM

I am with you Seashell. 100%. No parents should leave anyone at least under the age of 12 alone and in an unlocked room.

Lili007

02-24-2008, 07:10 PM

Ditto.

It's not that I don't feel sorry for the parents - I do. But they're both intelligent and educated people and they should have known better, much better, than to leave a toddler on her own.

I'm very sorry to say that, IMO, Madeleine won't be found alive - it's been too long. At the same time, I fervently hope and pray that I'm wrong.

JMO

SaraSidle

02-26-2008, 09:29 PM

I feel the same way Lili and it is so depressing. I would love to have another Elizabeth Smart story here but I just do not feel that happening. I do feel awful for Madeline's parents.

Nerida_F

03-04-2008, 05:59 AM

OK, so it seems we are all agreed that Gerry and Kate didn't do the right thing, so maybe now we can focus on the main problem - to find Madeleine, and if it is possible to bring her home. Like many problems, I feel that if enough energy is exerted in the right direction the correct result will happen sooner or later. Do the parents deserve any sympathy? Are they asking for it? Do they deserve to be accused? Is there any evidence? Asking the right questions would help now, and for me the question is not why but how.

Like most problems, the answer is in the process, and a good start would be a good plan. One plan could be to have instructions on what to do if you think you spot Madeleine, and what to do next - direct email contact may be best (ie no PJ). Also, a letter aimed at the abductor who may not be the real perpetrator. The abductor may have been familiar with lifting children (from his own?) given what happened. And, maybe someone could ask the PJ if they know more, since there is a certain reek of corruption (why did they wait so long to bring in the sniffer dogs?). If Madeleine is found it could be by a sideways glance from a long way off in a forgotten city in a country noone has heard of. And that person could be your acquaintance, after you have impressed on them the real plight here.

There has been a lot of talk about Robert Murat, and while he may not be involved, it seems that he was sighted near the hotel, he did have inside connections with the PJ and did Metodo3 say that his girlfriend was seen a few days after with a little girl? Some answers needed there!

So we are all now united in trying to find Madeleine, and I guess that means we have all donated to the findmadeleine website. I have. A good problem solving technique may be worth more.

Jayelles

03-06-2008, 03:46 PM

Seashell

03-20-2008, 04:48 PM

sadly little Maria has been found dead, her parents were very angry when the McCanns put little Marias foto on their campaign for Maddies case.
They didnt need to ask for funds, the whole community as well as spanish medias helped them.

SaraSidle

03-20-2008, 06:06 PM

Jayelles

03-21-2008, 02:48 PM

Seashell

03-28-2008, 10:27 AM

Her name is not Maria, it is Mari Luz.

It is tragic that she has been found dead, but I find myself having to question the motives of her father in trying to find out if he can sue the McCanns for including Mari Luz in the high profile Find Madeleine campaign - especially whenn it was a) apparently done with his verbal agreement and b) done with the very kindest of intentions. The poster included Mari Luz's photo and the phone number for her investigation. As a parent, I think I would have been grateful for any help in finding my missing child.

I really doubt he would have much of a case with regard to suing someone for trying to help find his missing child.
Mari maria or Mari luz is a common name in this country, we dont call everyone their full name so Maria is and sounds more common, sadly the little angel has been murdered by a serial paedophile who was neighbour.
I dont know what has been verbally agreed between these parents but from what we know and what the father has been talking on tv here, he didnt give permission for the Mccanns to add mari luz name along with Maddies.

Nerida_F

04-01-2008, 05:15 AM

And so SeaShell, you reveal that you do come from Spain/Portugal. Maybe you can explain why it seems necessary to prosecute the innocent and protect the guilty - a local custom perhaps? Is there something you would like to tell us about the McCanns' that we should know, since from here the parents seem picture perfect, almost as if they have been lifted out of a fairytale story. How many people could have their diary scrutinsed and have nothing found?

Well, everyone reacts differently and I am defintely in the same camp as Jayelles and Sharlock. Here is someone else's view which sums it up well:

From: Linda Date added 28/03/2008 06:09:44

Dear Gerry and Kate, it's been so very long now. Everyday for almost a year I wake to check if there has been any word on Madeleine. Hoping and praying this will be the day. Where are you little Maddie? It is now far beyond your family. It is now the family of the world who have a stake in you. No, you are not my flesh and blood yet it seems as though you have become part of my life, my family, my world. We all need to know where you are. It is as if you are one of my own children. Please, anyone, someone, please, the world is begging you, give Maddie back to us. The world needs her to come home safe and sound.

And so the chance of Madeleine coming back seems remote, but there is still hope. When I looked up at the stars a few nights ago, I thought that maybe these same stars are smiling down at Madeleine. I have followed several disappearances now and they have always turned at the last minute from tragic disaster to triumph, like Lincoln Hall who was pronounced dead but then walked down (with aid) from the Everest summit the next morning.

It is very easy to criticise someone, but always look at the big picture. Kate and Gerry are excellent parents, and didn't lose Madeleine, she was taken away. If there is anyone out there who knows where Madeleine is, there are three words you need to know about. Whenever a decision is made, it is good to ask if the decision will have a negative impact on anyone, and if there will be a net positive result. Kate and Gerry are both doctors and need to get back to doing what they do best which is save lives, and no I don't think they are rich or any better off than the average person. Those three words are "Just do it", and the 'it' refers to sending an email with Madeleine's locations or details to the findmadeleine website. There can surely be nothing so right as Madeleine being returned, and if I could locate Madeleine, even a death threat would not be a deterrent. I think this century has started off pretty badly with Sept11, and this little girl's homecoming may restore some sort of balance.

Xainia

04-01-2008, 09:33 PM

Madeleine's parents may see police case

The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann may be entitled to see the Portuguese police case against them within two weeks, one of their lawyers said.The official secrecy period covering the ongoing police investigation expires April 14 and can be extended only in major cases such as terrorism and organised crime, Rogerio Alves said.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=295152

FDInLaw

04-04-2008, 01:42 PM

Madeleine's parents may see police case

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=295152That will be interesting.

Lili007

04-05-2008, 02:05 AM

The very sad thing is that I think by now Madeleine won't be found alive. From my heart, I hope I'm wrong.

A night of partying and whatever was the price to pay for the trauma, if not the life of a small, vulnerable and dependant child.

I hope it's not too late for Maddy, but this heart-breaking incident goes to show that none of us can be too careful, ever.

JMO

SaraSidle

04-05-2008, 11:47 AM

I totally agree Lili... Nice to see you back

Lili007

04-05-2008, 10:05 PM

I totally agree Lili... Nice to see you back

Thanks, Sara. Nice posting with you again.

:seeya:

Lili007

04-05-2008, 10:25 PM

Well in that case the kidnappers sure had there pick of rooms flashing "kiddies available". You seem to be missing the point. It feels like talking to a person who beleives we should all just kill drug addicts instead of rehabilitation as they chose to take drugs. You know that black and white attitude where there are no shades of grey to consider.
These children were in a family which despite very public scrutiny does not appear to have been neglectful or abusive in any way. These parents were not selling their kids for drugs or beating them. It has already been said ad infinitum that it was in retrospect NOT a good idea to rely soley on parent checks that night but it has also been shown that this practise was not considered neglectful in Madrid and was a chosen option by the majority of parents holidaying at the resort. It seems some people think it is almost just that the McCanns lost their child for not living up to some peoples standards of good parenting?They paid dearly for that error in judgement and it amazes me the callousness of those who focus on this and shout their condemnation of Madeleines parents to the rooftops with scarcely a mention of the barely human trash that could sneak into an innocent child's room and rip her from her loving family. It is the lack of balance when reading others critiscism of the McCanns with never a mention of the real perpertrator of this crime. The KIDNAPPER!!! JMHO.

The "barely human trash" should never have been allowed to "sneak" into Maddie's room. It should have been locked and she shouldn't have been left alone, IMO. She should have had adults looking after her safety, instead of partying. Sure "the kidnapper" may be to blame, but "the kidnapper" wouldn't have had half a chance if Maddie had been supervised and secured. She was only 2 years old. How was she supposed to fend for herself???

Obviously, she didn't. She was either kidnapped, killed, or "lost", and she was alone when it happened, while her parents were enjoying drinks and dinner and couldn't care less. Poor Maddie. :rose:

JMO

Seashell

04-08-2008, 03:20 PM

And so SeaShell, you reveal that you do come from Spain/Portugal. Maybe you can explain why it seems necessary to prosecute the innocent and protect the guilty - a local custom perhaps?
The reference to local customs are out of line on this thread and have reported you as till now i am free to have my opinion and have been civil as far as this thread has taken me, as most of us caring parents who have travelled with our kids and woud never ever leave them alone on a holiday resort apartment.
I am a very experienced traveller with 2 grown up girls now and when they were same ages as Madeleinne i would be horfiffied to let them out of my sight even for a split second.
If i decided to go out with my husband for a meal late night i would arrange for a hotel kangaroo as called here of take are of my babies.

Spain and Portugal are totally different countries as well as have different laws and court procedures.

Seashell

04-08-2008, 03:22 PM

Seashell

04-08-2008, 03:27 PM

The "barely human trash" should never have been allowed to "sneak" into Maddie's room. It should have been locked and she shouldn't have been left alone, IMO. She should have had adults looking after her safety, instead of partying. Sure "the kidnapper" may be to blame, but "the kidnapper" wouldn't have had half a chance if Maddie had been supervised and secured. She was only 2 years old. How was she supposed to fend for herself???

Obviously, she didn't. She was either kidnapped, killed, or "lost", and she was alone when it happened, while her parents were enjoying drinks and dinner and couldn't care less. Poor Maddie. :rose:

JMO

"Oh but hun, we people who are rsponsible with our babies are so wrong! dont you see how anyone who says how they sees it is crossed questioned as well as criticised for speaking out the truth and what is right and wrong!" :eek:

Ok now back to a serious mode, ITA with what you wrote and am also losing my breath with repeating same about how i feel about it all, thank you and the others for seeing it as it is.
I am leaving this thread for now, its too heartbreaking.
Maddy :rose:

SaraSidle

04-08-2008, 03:49 PM

Oh Seashell please do not leave. You have so much to offer.

One2Snoop

04-20-2008, 06:12 PM

Hi. I agree with Seashell. I believe that Madeleine is dead and I doubt her killer will ever face justice. I hope I'm wrong. It's a pointless exercise shoving more blame onto her parents. They did a stupid thing for which they will have to pay the rest of their lives. I have to say that my parents never left me in a situation where I could be harmed.

Bye

ITA with you Joseph Bell.

SaraSidle

04-20-2008, 06:27 PM

ITA with you Joseph Bell.

Me too. So very sad.

FDInLaw

05-01-2008, 08:26 AM

Huh??? What the. . .

:confused:

Jayelles

05-06-2008, 07:24 AM

It's been a year. So terribly sad.

One2Snoop

05-06-2008, 05:14 PM

Nerida_F are you stalking Seashell? Shame on you. :punch:

SaraSidle

05-06-2008, 06:04 PM

Nerida_F are you stalking Seashell? Shame on you. :punch:

And me!!!!

FDInLaw

05-06-2008, 06:11 PM

And me!!!!"And me" what? Do you need :punch: or are you being stalked? I'll do either for a small fee. :hat:

:biggrin:

(My humor is getting weird. . . better take a break lol! :o )

SaraSidle

05-07-2008, 12:04 AM

I believe that I am being bashed. I feel worse for Seashell. But that is the way it goes I guess. Too tired too care tonight.

FDInLaw

05-07-2008, 07:33 AM

I believe that I am being bashed. I feel worse for Seashell. But that is the way it goes I guess. Too tired too care tonight.
HUGS! Come over to the lounge and we'll find something to distract you. . . maybe Loretta can make her famous chocolate cake???

:)

SaraSidle

05-07-2008, 02:20 PM

HUGS! Come over to the lounge and we'll find something to distract you. . . maybe Loretta can make her famous chocolate cake???

:)

ooooooooo Chocolate sounds good.

Seashell

05-09-2008, 03:29 PM

Nerida_F are you stalking Seashell? Shame on you. :punch:

thank you i just read this now :rose:

Its been a year and still no news about little Maddy :(

Seashell

05-09-2008, 03:31 PM

I believe that I am being bashed. I feel worse for Seashell. But that is the way it goes I guess. Too tired too care tonight.

Hey! where you off to? i am thicker skinned than i appear here hun i thank you as well for standing up for me, i love this place and shall continue to come back, its members like you that make it a better place to return to, huggles.S.

Maddie :rose:

Seashell

05-09-2008, 03:32 PM

HUGS! Come over to the lounge and we'll find something to distract you. . . maybe Loretta can make her famous chocolate cake???

:)

where is my cake!? :confused:

:biggrin: am back!

SaraSidle

05-09-2008, 03:41 PM

Hey! where you off to? i am thicker skinned than i appear here hun i thank you as well for standing up for me, i love this place and shall continue to come back, its members like you that make it a better place to return to, huggles.S.

Maddie :rose:

I have no doubt you are but if you read it all I was being bashed by the same poster regarding you and I did not appreciate it. No one deserves that!!!!

Seashell

05-09-2008, 03:48 PM

I have no doubt you are but if you read it all I was being bashed by the same poster regarding you and I did not appreciate it. No one deserves that!!!!

oops! i didnt get to see it! :(
i would have definitelly reported them, am so sorry!
huggers :rose:

SaraSidle

05-09-2008, 04:06 PM

oops! i didnt get to see it! :(
i would have definitelly reported them, am so sorry!
huggers :rose:

It was taken care of Seashell. No problem. Not by me but by someone who has been here a long time and she was also angry.

SaraSidle

05-09-2008, 04:17 PM

oops! i didnt get to see it! :(
i would have definitelly reported them, am so sorry!
huggers :rose:

Nope I see the offending post of you and I has been removed. Good deal.

lynn

05-12-2008, 03:15 AM

SaraSidle

05-12-2008, 12:47 PM

One2Snoop

05-12-2008, 02:39 PM

Hi Seashell, I read the offending post before it was removed, Its hard to believe that it was up for so long before someone removed it, I am not sure how things work like that, offending posts, who do we report them to etc, etc, That person needs a :punch: Glad to see you back.:)

That's the problem with an absentee moderator who stops by once a week. If someone were allowed to moderate besides Deepwater (who has no vested interest in this place) then that sort of thing could've been taken care of the day it popped up. Deepwater has yet to respond to any of my pm's regarding this situation, nor has she responded to a few others I know have pm'd and inquired about it. I guess all we can do is report it and hope she gets around to taking care of it.

Reckless

05-12-2008, 05:25 PM

That's the problem with an absentee moderator who stops by once a week. If someone were allowed to moderate besides Deepwater (who has no vested interest in this place) then that sort of thing could've been taken care of the day it popped up. Deepwater has yet to respond to any of my pm's regarding this situation, nor has she responded to a few others I know have pm'd and inquired about it. I guess all we can do is report it and hope she gets around to taking care of it.Hiya Snoop! Do you know who we can write to about getting a mod in here? Or, to get the one already here to do somethng in a timely manner? :shrug:

One2Snoop

05-12-2008, 07:42 PM

Hiya Snoop! Do you know who we can write to about getting a mod in here? Or, to get the one already here to do somethng in a timely manner? :shrug:

I'm certain it will do no good but I can pm you the info you like. :seeya:

One2Snoop

05-12-2008, 07:43 PM

Mother: Disappearance of My Daughter Connected to Madeleine McCann Case
Monday, May 12, 2008

The family of a girl who vanished just seven miles from the Portuguese resort where Madeleine McCann disappeared is convinced that the cases are connected.

On the day of Madeleine's fifth birthday, Joana Cipriano's relatives have urged detectives to investigate links between the two disappearances, saying there are too many disturbing similarities for the evidence to be ignored.

Joana, 8, was sent to buy some groceries from a village store near her home in Figueira, Portugal, at about 8 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2004.

She bought a can of tuna and some milk from the Ofelia store, and was last seen by a neighbor walking back near the village church, some 200 yards from her home.

Joana never returned and, like the McCanns, her mother Leonor mounted a campaign to find her. Like them, she and her brother Joao became suspects.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355090,00.html

lodfafner

05-13-2008, 07:02 AM

FDInLaw

05-13-2008, 10:45 AM

The Cipriano case is solved. The mother did it.
Can you provide more information about this situation???

TIA! :seeya:

lodfafner

05-13-2008, 11:43 AM

Can you provide more information about this situation???

TIA! :seeya:

The mother was convicted i a court of law. This blog (http://gazetadigitalmadeleinecase.blogspot.com/2007/07/truth-about-leonor-cipriano-mother-of.html) explains some details of the case, but I don't think every detail has been disclosed to the public.

One2Snoop

05-13-2008, 01:00 PM

The Cipriano case is solved. The mother did it.

And I thought the Cipriano case was being re-looked at? :shrug: Just because she was convicted doesn't mean she did it. IIRC isn't the family claiming the mother was railroaded into a conviction - kind of like what they were trying to do to Mrs. McCann? :confused:

lodfafner

05-13-2008, 01:36 PM

And I thought the Cipriano case was being re-looked at?

Where have you heard that? Has an appeal been granted?

Just because she was convicted doesn't mean she did it.

In a legal sense it does. Thats why the convicted is being sentenced.

One2Snoop

05-13-2008, 01:42 PM

Where have you heard that? Has an appeal been granted?

In a legal sense it does. Thats why the convicted is being sentenced.

Sometime last year I read about it - I don't recall anything about an appeal though and I'm not even certain authorities agreed to look into it again. It may have been something similar to the article I just posted - that the family wanted it looked into again. Sorry my memory just ain't what it used to be. I'll see if I can find the article although the news updates only thread here has disappeared. :read:

One2Snoop

05-13-2008, 01:50 PM

This is the article I recall reading - sorry I haven't followed this case in awhile because the tabloids had gotten so out of control IMO - I wasn't sure who or what to believe anymore.

'These cops framed my wife'
By OLIVER HARVEY
Chief Feature Writer

Published: 08 Sep 2007

THE husband of a Portuguese woman jailed for the murder of her child spoke last night of his fears for Kate McCann.

Leandro Silva said his wife had been set up and he believed police would do the same thing to four-year-old Madeleine’s mother.

He said: �I am worried Kate will be framed for a crime she did not commit, the way it happened to my wife.�

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/multimedia/pa/article268226.ece

lodfafner

05-13-2008, 02:08 PM

lynn

05-14-2008, 12:22 PM

The mother was convicted i a court of law. This blog (http://gazetadigitalmadeleinecase.blogspot.com/2007/07/truth-about-leonor-cipriano-mother-of.html) explains some details of the case, but I don't think every detail has been disclosed to the public.

I read this blog, lodfather and began to feel rather sick just annoyed that people were calling us british racist, probably there are some but they are all over the world. I (In my opinion) did not know anything about the mother Leonor killed her daughter with the help of her brother, we just read what we are told, some you believe some you don't its your own opinion. I personally do not believe that Gerry or Kate had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance, I think Imo, that she is with a family who want a child desperately and are looking after her.

SaraSidle

05-19-2008, 11:04 AM

Hi. I would love to believe that you are correct and that she is alive somewhere and being well taken care of. :rose:

But, in my heart of hearts, I am certain as I've said before that she is dead. Why she was taken I don't know. I do not believe that her parents had anything to do with her disappearance. They are in their own purgatory and no one can make them suffer more than they are doing now.

Bye

Sadly Joseph I totally agree with you and Lynn. IMO

baywench

07-12-2008, 09:29 PM

"Oh but hun, we people who are rsponsible with our babies are so wrong! dont you see how anyone who says how they sees it is crossed questioned as well as criticised for speaking out the truth and what is right and wrong!" :eek:

Ok now back to a serious mode, ITA with what you wrote and am also losing my breath with repeating same about how i feel about it all, thank you and the others for seeing it as it is.
I am leaving this thread for now, its too heartbreaking.
Maddy :rose:

Ah yes, the "you must be a perfect mother" defense. My reply to that is I never left my children alone anywhere when they were that young.....and I may not perfect but I don't have any missing children. The Mccanns are guilty of neglect, that is a fact, they have admitted leaving their children. They are responsible for what has happened to her and then they have the audicity to question, belittle and expect the PJ to continue searching. Their arrogance is unbelievable. Perhaps they should take some of the fund and help the PJ's limited resources in the search. They ruined lives and careers and expect full cooperation from a small police force who's hands are tied. JMO

SaraSidle

07-12-2008, 10:41 PM

Ah yes, the "you must be a perfect mother" defense. My reply to that is I never left my children alone anywhere when they were that young.....and I may not perfect but I don't have any missing children. The Mccanns are guilty of neglect, that is a fact, they have admitted leaving their children. They are responsible for what has happened to her and then they have the audicity to question, belittle and expect the PJ to continue searching. Their arrogance is unbelievable. Perhaps they should take some of the fund and help the PJ's limited resources in the search. They ruined lives and careers and expect full cooperation from a small police force who's hands are tied. JMO

I am afraid you may have taken that quote out of context. It is dated 4-8-08 on this thread. If you read a couple posts earlier you will see what Seashell's opinion really is. Welcome to Crime Library

baywench

07-12-2008, 11:11 PM

SaraSidle

07-12-2008, 11:19 PM

Oh My bad! I'm a refugee from IS! Rookie mistake!

LOL no biggie. I know Seashell and she is a sweetheart. She and I were being bashed at the time and the posts bashing us were immediately removed. That really is the only reason I remembered. I lurk all the time at IS and post once in a while. I miss it too. You must feel a little like an orphan here.

debbyuk2008

07-15-2008, 01:13 AM

The "barely human trash" should never have been allowed to "sneak" into Maddie's room. It should have been locked and she shouldn't have been left alone, IMO. She should have had adults looking after her safety, instead of partying. Sure "the kidnapper" may be to blame, but "the kidnapper" wouldn't have had half a chance if Maddie had been supervised and secured. She was only 2 years old. How was she supposed to fend for herself???

Obviously, she didn't. She was either kidnapped, killed, or "lost", and she was alone when it happened, while her parents were enjoying drinks and dinner and couldn't care less. Poor Maddie. :rose:

JMO

I have to agree with you there. The majority of child abductions occur when a child is out of reach of adult supervision. I know there are several very sad cases where abduction occurs when an adult is present. (Jessica Lunsford and Elizabeth Smart for example)

I have very mixed feelings towards the McCanns. I don't think it was a good idea to tour Europe promoting child safety.
They were not the right candidates to speak about safety. Right or wrong. They left three toddlers unattended.

Nerida_F

08-06-2008, 05:46 AM

sharlock

08-06-2008, 07:38 AM

And, so at last the PJ have admitted that they have no evidence against the McCanns, and the last year has been spent on innuendo and gossip. Not very professional, when their job was to look for and find Madeleine. I only post here since I find it outrageous that anyone could accuse the McCanns without any evidence after all they have been through. It is like kicking someone when they are down, and I have too much pride to do that. I just hope the McCanns can keep the wheels turning and well, you never know.

Here (http://www.briansdreams.com/maddy/) is someone who should be made an arguido, since he was seen the day before watching Madeleine with what looks like a camera bag. It is worth going back to post 1049 on this thread.

Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Joana_Cipriano) is another case which is very intriguing since it is very similar to this case. The body of Joanna Cipriano was never found, the mother was tortured after going to the police, and then she was imprisoned with no evidence on a bizarre theory. I am sorry but it just not believable - the only truth here seems to be that the PJ tortured this poor woman who is missing her daughter.

What has happened to all the good guys on this thread who used to make this a pleasant place to be - you know who you are - Dallasvic, Sharlock, AndU, lynn, and of course J?;)
NeridaF I love you, I love you, I love you! When I first saw the picture of that guy I shuddered. He is diefinitately my prime suspect and I was desperate to find out who he was but noone seemed to be able to tell me even though he was present before during and after the investigation into Maddies dissappearance. You have solved the mystery almost entirely by your link and I am so relieved.
P.S. A lot of us thought that this site was going to close so we found other places to post but now I know it is still going I am looking in here more often again. Nice to see you still posting.

sharlock

08-06-2008, 07:51 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by sharlock http://boards.crimelibrary.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://boards.crimelibrary.com/showthread.php?p=9014626#post9014626)
http://briansdreams.com/dd/5441pa66.jpg
I honestly don't know why these pictures are no longer causing concern. I think it is uncanny that the guy in the park is seen with following the portugese police and then in another talking to Robert Murat. This really freaks me out. It seems he is still a mystery man. Surely someone knows who he is?
Murat didn't travelled alone in his return to Portugal (http://gazetadigitalmadeleinecase.blogspot.com/2007/08/murat-didnt-travelled-alone-in-his.html)

Quote:
Jayelles-Do we know it's definitely the same guy? Bald/shaved heads are very "in vogue" these days. I'm afraid one shaved head looks pretty much the same as another to me!

I can honestly say that I didn't just look at the head but the bodysize, colouring, shape of the head and identical sunnies, arm shapes and I feel pretty damn certain that these photos are all of the same guy! I could be wrong but I think more likely I am correct and that it would be very worthy of investigation. Am I the only person concerned by this coincidence?

I thought it might be an idea to put this up so people can see who we were talking about NeridaF:beer:

grneyes

08-06-2008, 09:56 AM

Vera

08-06-2008, 12:07 PM

SaraSidle

08-06-2008, 02:39 PM

grneyes

08-07-2008, 10:56 AM

Maddie possibly taken by pedophile ring...

(CNN) -- British police were told in March this year that missing girl Madeleine McCann may have been kidnapped by a pedophile ring which followed her three days before her abduction, according to reports.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/WORLD/europe/08/07/maddie.mccann.missing/art.madeleine.ap.jpg Madeleine McCann went missing in May 2007 after being left at a holiday apartment in the Algarve region.

Britain's Daily Telegraph and The Sun newspapers both reported Thursday that an email released this week as part of the documents compiled by the Portuguese investigators probing Madeleine's disappearance revealed the connection to the ring.
Madeleine was 3 when she disappeared May 3, 2007, while she was on holiday with her family at the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. Her disappearance prompted headlines worldwide.
According to the newspapers, the email was sent on March 4 by a London-based Metropolitan Police intelligence officer to Leicestershire police -- Madeleine's home county -- who then forwarded it on to investigators in Portugal more than a month later.
In the email, which both newspapers printed a copy of, the officer writes that "intelligence suggests that a pedophile ring in Belgium made an order for a young girl three days before Madeleine McCann was taken.
More info at CNN http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/07/maddie.mccann.missing/index.html

SaraSidle

08-07-2008, 12:17 PM

Maddie possibly taken by pedophile ring...

I saw on the news yesterday and I do not remember which one but it showed a video from the back of a child that looked like Maddie and another person at another time talked to a 3 yr old who said her name was Maddie and she could not see her Mom but wanted too. My question is why wasn't LE involved in either sighting asap. I sure would like to know if it is true. IMO

grneyes

08-07-2008, 12:21 PM

I saw on the news yesterday and I do not remember which one but it showed a video from the back of a child that looked like Maddie and another person at another time talked to a 3 yr old who said her name was Maddie and she could not see her Mom but wanted too. My question is why wasn't LE involved in either sighting asap. I sure would like to know if it is true. IMO

I saw that video too. Doesn't make sense that they would wait so long to investigate it does it? Wonder if there was any chance of a payoff somewhere along the line?

jmo

SaraSidle

08-07-2008, 01:06 PM

I saw that video too. Doesn't make sense that they would wait so long to investigate it does it? Wonder if there was any chance of a payoff somewhere along the line?

jmo

Something is odd. 2 different places and sightings. It could be a payoff of sorts grneyes. I just wish they would find her.........IMO

debbyuk2008

08-07-2008, 02:36 PM

I think the problem is there have been so many sightings of Maddie you can't tell which ones are plausible and which ones are false.

I found in the past they seemed to follow a pattern. A blond child with a foreign couple - When the child looked at the person watching they were bundled in the car. (I think the last one like that was Bosnia)

Maddie is a very pretty child. However, there are many children of similar appearance.

Theoretically, there is no real evidence she is dead.

Having said that I am still on the fence...just a little bit!!!!

grneyes

08-07-2008, 03:00 PM

Maddie is a very pretty child. However, there are many children of similar appearance.

How very true! We have a little girl here in our town that resembles her quite a bit but I know for a fact it isn't her. Everytime she comes in the post office with her mom though I think of Maddie.

SaraSidle

08-07-2008, 04:40 PM

How very true! We have a little girl here in our town that resembles her quite a bit but I know for a fact it isn't her. Everytime she comes in the post office with her mom though I think of Maddie.

and not to get off topic but there are a lot of girls that look like Caylee. It is hard to tell one from another sometimes at that age. I am still on the fence also. IMO

debbyuk2008

08-08-2008, 01:30 AM

I think the problem of potential sightings it can be too many. I agree with you Sara. Its the same as little Caylee - she is beautiful, however, there will be many children worldwide with a similar look.

Also, I somehow get the impression that some of the potential sightings of Maddie are highly exaggerated. Its as if the witness exaggerates to make it plausible.

As my mum pointed out the week that a massive reward was offered sightings mysteriously increased! What my thought, if someone said they saw Maddie in say, Amsterdam and then she was found there - the witness would get the reward.

debbyuk2008

08-08-2008, 01:38 AM

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/reports-that-belgian-paedophile-ring-stole-maddy-to-order-are-flawed-887220.html

I quite like the Independent for news reports as they are written objectively.

SaraSidle

08-08-2008, 01:38 AM

odette

08-08-2008, 02:50 AM

05 Aug 2008

Madeleine McCann: Gerry and Kate learn of Amsterdam sighting

Kate and Gerry McCann have uncovered agonising details about a sighting of a young girl who called herself Maddy and said she had been taken from her mother while on holiday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2506098/Madeleine-McCann-Gerry-and-Kate-learn-of-Amsterdam-sighting.html

odette

08-08-2008, 02:52 AM

08 Aug 2008

Madeleine McCann: Numerous sightings in Belgium

A host of sightings of Madeleine McCann have been reported in the country where a paedophile ring is alleged to have ordered she be abducted since her disappearance, authorities have disclosed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2518597/Madeleine-McCann-Numerous-sightings-in-Belgium.html

odette

08-08-2008, 02:54 AM

VIDEO

Shop assistant describes 'Maddy' sighting

Shop assistant who spoke to 'Maddy' tells of her encounter with girl.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1488655367?bctid=1715682144

odette

08-08-2008, 02:58 AM

08 Aug 2008

Madeleine McCann: First pictures of Dutch sighting suspects

New photos of the couple believed to have been seen with Madeleine McCann three days after she disappeared have been released.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2521152/Madeleine-McCann-First-pictures-of-Dutch-sighting-suspects.html

odette

08-08-2008, 03:06 AM

08.08.08

Detectives probe 100 'Madeleine sightings' in Belgium after claims she was stolen to order

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23528532-details/Detectives+probe+100+'Madeleine+sightings'+in+Belg ium+after+claims+she+was+stolen+to+order/article.do

odette

08-08-2008, 03:16 AM

Published: 07 Aug 2008

Maddie shock

IT’S the news Kate and Gerry McCann always dreaded.

Little Maddie may have been snatched on the orders of a sick gang of Belgian paedophiles.

The shocking claim is made by a British vice cop. .....

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/sun_says/article1530585.ece

odette

08-08-2008, 03:21 AM

7 August 2008

Madeleine revelations offer few facts

There was no shortage of compelling lines of inquiry to emerge from the Portuguese police files on the abduction of Madeleine McCann released this week.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7548108.stm

odette

08-08-2008, 03:33 AM

Aug 7 2008

McCann report intelligence 'flawed'

Secret intelligence claiming Madeleine McCann was snatched to order by a Belgian paedophile ring is flawed, sources said.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/2008/08/07/mccann-report-intelligence-flawed-91466-21486459/

odette

08-08-2008, 03:46 AM

Jornal de Notícias - 07 August 2008

ONLINE TRANSLATION - Portuguese To English

The dogs’ work as described by their own handler

They were the main entities responsible for the turnaround of the process, at a point in time when the Polícia Judiciária was already leaving behind the possibility of Madeleine having been kidnapped.

The cadaver detection dog "Eddie" and the blood detection dog "Keela" showed themselves as "very excited" when they entered apartment 5A of the Ocean Club, the one that had been occupied by the McCann couple during their holidays.

Despite the fact that the images can only be viewed in September, the process includes the verbal report from Martin Grime, an expert in dogs that are used in investigations and an FBI advisor, who says that he "noticed in the first instance", as soon as he entered the apartment, that the dogs "are very excited" and how the handler can "pick up the body language".

He then explains that Eddie (one of the dogs) was the first one to get into action. When he entered the house "he caught up with an odour that he recognises". Martin tells that the animal walked through the apartment in an attempt to locate the odour, and that he discovered it behind the sofa in the living room. At that moment, he started to bark. Keela was the second to go into action. "She will only give me the indication when she finds human blood, only human blood", the expert says, asserting that "there has to be something there, physically, for her to be able to alert me".

In the dispatch, the prosecutor reminds that "any trace, even if invisible to the naked eye, which is collected through the use of this type of dogs, has to be subject to a forensics test, in a duly accredited laboratory".

http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=976038

sharlock

08-08-2008, 07:06 AM

So are you guys saying that you believe the man in the black t-shirt is the same one that's in the white t-shirt? Because it doesn't appear to me that it is. The man in black is clean shaven and the one in white (in the bottom center pic) looks as if he has facial hair.

jmo of course.... :shrug:

He doesn't have facial hair actually, just a double chin when he holds his head in some positions, though I only used to have my gut to go on there, but, since then I have searched using these photos and found a site where they identified the man. He is a PJ detective called Lisbon, and the mother who was beaten earlier by the PJ police(I am sure you all heard of Leonor Cipriani mentioned earlier in the thread says she also saw this man right before her daughter went missing) when reporting her child missing.
They have photos of the man close up with his ID open. He is a MAJOR suspect!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I will give the link for you to view these pictures as well but before I do I want to say that I personally do not subscribe to psychics and this guy pertains to be one. IMO he has a lot of good info because the people who regularly read his website are actually very cluey and have dug up a lot of information pertaining to the case and sent it to him. Anyway that is just my 2 penny's worth and it doesn't change the fact the photos are real.
http://www.briansdreams.com/maddy/

file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/User/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpgfile:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/User/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg

grneyes

08-08-2008, 02:14 PM

He doesn't have facial hair actually, just a double chin when he holds his head in some positions, though I only used to have my gut to go on there, but, since then I have searched using these photos and found a site where they identified the man. He is a PJ detective called Lisbon, and the mother who was beaten earlier by the PJ police(I am sure you all heard of Leonor Cipriani mentioned earlier in the thread says she also saw this man right before her daughter went missing) when reporting her child missing.
They have photos of the man close up with his ID open. He is a MAJOR suspect!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I will give the link for you to view these pictures as well but before I do I want to say that I personally do not subscribe to psychics and this guy pertains to be one. IMO he has a lot of good info because the people who regularly read his website are actually very cluey and have dug up a lot of information pertaining to the case and sent it to him. Anyway that is just my 2 penny's worth and it doesn't change the fact the photos are real.
http://www.briansdreams.com/maddy/

file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/User/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpgfile:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/User/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg

Lisbon is the one in black. The one in the white t-shirt does look like he has facial hair. I don't think those two are the same person but obviously I could be wrong on that.

sharlock

08-09-2008, 05:25 AM

Lisbon is the one in black. The one in the white t-shirt does look like he has facial hair. I don't think those two are the same person but obviously I could be wrong on that.

OKay, well if the blown up photo on the page I linked you didn't change your mind then I guess nothing else I can say will. I personally cannot see any facial hair on him in the white Tshirt when the photo is blown up.

sharlock

08-09-2008, 05:33 AM

Is the man in the black shirt a handyman? It looks like he is wearing a pouch on his waist and a gray cleaning cloth beneath it.

The two men (bald; one wearing black shirt, the other wearing a white one) do look similar right down to the kind of sunglasses worn.

In my opinion

The suggestion is that the bag might have held a camera, and this photo was taken in a park where maddy is playing in the foreground with her Father. It has been noted that the other girl in the white striped shirt is not Amelie as is oftern presumed. Noone knows for sure where she was when this photo was taken, hopefully holding Mummys leg, but, there is a shadow of a perhaps a child in under the play house behind the aqua ladder very very close to the man who I believe is Lisbon a PJ detective.

grneyes

08-09-2008, 10:20 AM

OKay, well if the blown up photo on the page I linked you didn't change your mind then I guess nothing else I can say will. I personally cannot see any facial hair on him in the white Tshirt when the photo is blown up.

I was only saying how it looks to ME. Not trying to force my opinion on you or anyone else. I never even said I was right. Only stating how I see it.

There's nothing wrong with trying to see different angles to a situation. If the police had done that instead of concentrating on mom and dad maybe they would have Maddie back by now.

There were assumptions made about who the little girl was in the park picture so why couldn't the guy in white be someone else?

sharlock

08-09-2008, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by sharlock http://boards.crimelibrary.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://boards.crimelibrary.com/showthread.php?p=9116319#post9116319)
OKay, well if the blown up photo on the page I linked you didn't change your mind then I guess nothing else I can say will. I personally cannot see any facial hair on him in the white Tshirt when the photo is blown up.

I was only saying how it looks to ME. Not trying to force my opinion on you or anyone else. I never even said I was right. Only stating how I see it.

There's nothing wrong with trying to see different angles to a situation. If the police had done that instead of concentrating on mom and dad maybe they would have Maddie back by now.

There were assumptions made about who the little girl was in the park picture so why couldn't the guy in white be someone else?

As was I grneyes, I was simply saying that if the photos on the link don't make you think it is the same person then I am not going to change your mind.
I would like people to look at that possibility because I think it is worthy of further investigation but I am not upset that you disagree with me. The world would be boring if we all had the same opinions and not much would get done.
Any how, if I somehow came across that I was making a personal slight to you I apologise because that was not my intention.

grneyes

08-09-2008, 01:59 PM

As was I grneyes, I was simply saying that if the photos on the link don't make you think it is the same person then I am not going to change your mind.
I would like people to look at that possibility because I think it is worthy of further investigation but I am not upset that you disagree with me. The world would be boring if we all had the same opinions and not much would get done.

I totally agree!

Any how, if I somehow came across that I was making a personal slight to you I apologise because that was not my intention.

I also apologize. I definitely didn't mean to be so defensive. :rose:

:beer:

sharlock

08-10-2008, 03:03 AM

:)Thankyou for the Rose grneyes, I love em! BTW do you have a theory on Maddy? It is such a perplexing crime and like the Ramsey case has elements that could point to many possibilities. Poor Maddy, I wish she could be found!

One2Snoop

08-10-2008, 03:14 AM

debbyuk2008

08-10-2008, 04:16 AM

I think its the same person, FWIW. Thought that way back in the beginning when the first photo's came out. Thanks for your help, links and info on this case sharlock.

What do you think about the Pedophile connection and Maddy possibly being in Belgium somewhere? I'm curious if this part of the investigation is going anywhere?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23528532-details/Detectives+probe+100+'Madeleine+sightings'+in+Belg ium+after+claims+she+was+stolen+to+order/article.do

Just a side note: I have two little neices both blondish/sandy hair, blue eyed (their father is dutch) and they were just in Belgium - I could see the younger of the two (approx the same age) possibly looking like Maddy at a glance.

Morning!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/reports-that-belgian-paedophile-ring-stole-maddy-to-order-are-flawed-887220.html

This is certainly one of the theories circulating the British press right now.

A lot of articles are now saying that perhaps all these so called sightings are actually detrimental to the case. They are implying if Maddie is alive, surely these sightings should be documented but not revealed in the press?

sharlock

08-10-2008, 04:26 AM

It is hard to comment on the Belgium reports as it seems that any with promise were checked out using any cameras in the areas and none panned out. Links to Portugal and very complex paedophile rings involving people in high places and police protection have been well documented and are cause for concern.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3086521.stm
Portugal is in the grip of a paedophile scandal involving state-run orphanages, politicians, and TV stars.

The allegations involve the organised abuse of children and stretch back 30 years - there is talk of a widespread cover up.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1769422.ece
Madeleine abducted to order by an international child sex gang.
'It would not be the first time that a child taken from Portugal has ended up in the grip of a paedophile ring.
In 1998, an 11-year-old boy, Rui Pedro Mendonça, vanished while walking home from school in Lousada, a town in northern Portugal. '
Child protection campaigners have alleged that a culture of corruption and complacency in Portugal allows such kidnappings to continue. The founder of the Swiss-based group Innocence in Danger has said that she had tried to set up an office in Portugal but gave up because of the reluctance of the authorities. Homayra Sellier said after Madeleine’s disappearance that Portugal was a country in which “the corruption has gone so high that there’s nothing we can do”.

“The fact that the girl [Madeleine] was kidnapped from her bed shows how bad things are,” she said.

I beleive that Maddie was most likely abducted and due to the widespread publicity her case received I do hold fears that she may not be alive. Still someone likely paid for her and maybe their greed for their investment has kept her alive though in what hell I don't wish to imagine.

sharlock

08-10-2008, 04:28 AM

I've always found this report interesting as well...
http://www.usleuth.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286555 (http://www.usleuth.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286555)

From: The Search For Little Madeleine Mccann
Date: May 25, 2007 6:23 AM

From VIRGINIA WHEELER
and JOHN ASKILL
in Praia da Luz
May 25, 2007

A HORRIFIED mum told yesterday how a stranger tried to abduct her blonde, blue-eyed girl just a short drive from where Madeleine McCann was snatched.

Portuguese Lina Santos said: “When I saw Maddie’s photo I shivered. She is so similar to my daughter Carolina. They are like doubles.”

Lina and husband Abel believe the man who tried to lead Carolina away was from a MOROCCAN community living near the cafe they run.

Just a week ago another woman said she was “99.9 per cent certain” she saw Maddie, four, with a man at a petrol station — in MOROCCO.

The revelation came as police revealed they were following up “new leads” after asking for snaps and videos taken by holidaymakers at the Algarve complex during the McCanns’ two-week holiday.

They are also investigating reports a man was photographing blonde girls on the nearby beach.

Lina, 28, and Abel, 40, recalled how they ran screaming when they spotted three-year-old Carolina walking off with a stranger 300 yards from their Café O Falcao.

Afterwards the crying tot said the man, wearing a hat, asked her to follow him as he had “another little girl for her to play with”.

Lina said: “When I heard of Madeleine’s disappearance my heart leapt. It was only six months ago that a man tried to steal Carolina. Then I saw Maddie’s photo.

“She is almost identical to my daughter — who is unusual for a Portuguese girl because she is blonde-haired and blue-eyed.”

Lina said the nightmare unfolded on Christmas Day near the Algarve town of Silves, just 30 miles from Praia da Luz where Maddie’s parents Gerry and Kate were staying.

She said: “We were working at the cafe. We lost sight of Carolina. Something scared me and I ran outside and saw Carolina walking away with a Moroccan man.

“Abel and I ran after him screaming to let our little girl alone. She turned and ran to us as he walked off. Carolina burst into tears.”

Lina reported the attempted abduction to local police immediately. Two days ago the couple rang cops searching for Maddie after a different Moroccan man — who they believe to be from the same immigrant community — made a threat to steal her.

Lina said: “I was thinking of ringing anyway because Carolina looks so much like Maddie.

“But then another Moroccan man stormed into our cafe drunk and threatened to steal her again.

“I now have nightmares that someone will take Carolina just like Maddie because she is blonde and pretty.”

Maddie detectives yesterday confirmed they were investigating Carolina’s attempted abduction, but said they “were not linking the two incidents at this stage”. Lina described the stranger who walked off with Carolina as 5ft 7ins and aged between 30 and 40.

Last week Norwegian holidaymaker Mari Olli Pollard said the man she saw with a blonde girl in the Moroccan city of Marrakech was between 35 and 40.

Mari, 45, said she became suspicious when the “lost-looking” girl asked a dark-haired man in a petrol station: “Can I see Mummy soon?”

Maddie was snatched on May 3 and Mari’s sighting came six days later. Mari, who lives with her British husband in Fuengirola in Spain, said: “Next day I turned on the news and got a real shock because it was definitely her.”

Morocco can be reached from the Algarve in a day — crossing into Spain for ferries to Tangiers.

debbyuk2008

08-10-2008, 05:14 AM

Hi Sharlock

The problem is there are so many theories circulating the press at the moment.

I have always felt that if Madeleine was abducted it was not for a childless couple. They would have opted for a younger child (one of the twins) who could perhaps adapt quicker than a 3(going on 4) year old.

I have to be honest. I didn't realize sex rings used children as young as four years old. They are incredibly sick.

Its a total mystery....I have always maintained I have wanted justice for Madeleine. Also if there is an element of hope she is alive, we should still pursue it.
I was personally worried when Murat, the McCanns became arguidos. It suddenly occurred to me that the PJ would stops pursuing leads. To a certain extent, while the 3 were arguidos they did quieten the search.

I just feel there is someone out there who has literally got away with it.

sharlock

08-10-2008, 06:54 AM

You are so right Debbyuk2008, I agree with you that if abducted the more likely scenario is a child sex ring not adoption and for the same reasons you mentioned. I was never completely satisfied with Murat and his girlfriends behaviour in the case even now I don't rule them out but so little real evidence has been found to really draw any conlusions. I have always been concerned that a PJ might have been involved although I am not implicating the entire force who I do think were trying to do what they thought best. It is perplexing to say the least.

SaraSidle

08-10-2008, 06:41 PM

ITA debby and sharlock..........IMO

odette

08-11-2008, 06:25 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION - Portuguese To English

Correio da Manhã - João Saramago - 10 August 2008

English police irritated the McCanns

Madeleine McCann's parents disagreed with the English police only a few days after the little girl's disappearance. On the 14th of May, Kate Healy was shocked and frustrated with the English liaison officers. The motive for the disagreement appeared when the investigators asked Kate where her daughter was.

The policemen who came from the United Kingdom with the mission of providing support to the McCann family are professionals with specific training in abductions and sequestrations.

Their task would be to support the McCanns, to liaise with the Polícia Judiciária and to work with the other British agents that were installed in the Algarve. When they were in the Algarve, the investigation indicated the abduction theory as the most coherent.

According to the former coordinator of the process, Gonçalo Amaral, the officers who liaised with the family "didn't last for more than a week in their functions", after the disagreement with the family. The difficulty of communication between the couple and the investigators was nevertheless never officially communicated to the Polícia Judiciária.

The retreat from Portugal of the experts in sequestrations and abductions takes place two months before the same British authorities suggest the Judiciária pay more attention to the theory of the child's death on location, a possibility that until then was on a secondary plane of the investigation.

Forensics expert Mark Harrison, a national counsellor for all the police agencies in the United Kingdom, on searches in homicide and missing person's cases, is then sent to Portugal. It is Mark Harrison who recommends the use of dogs to detect cadaver odour.

Interpol followed over one hundred leads in Belgium

In Belgium, 107 persons state that they saw Maddie. Nevertheless, Interpol in Brussels revealed that they had no success in collecting indicia that lead to the child's abductors. At the police station in Leicestershire, the area where the McCanns live, detective John Hughes also traced a disheartening result concerning the searches, in June last year. Meanwhile, the private detectives of Metodo 3 informed that they will sue the British papers that accuse them of being 'maffiosi'. The Spanish now say that their participation in the searches was "reduced".

Strong means

High technology – The English didn't spare any efforts in the use of high technology to find Maddie.

Task Portugal – At the PJ in Portimão, the English built an investigation room named Task Portugal.

Abductor's profile – Several English experts cooperated to trace the profile of a possible abductor.

Using the dogs – The English dogs had already participated in more than 200 operations.

Press

'Mirror' – The newspaper announces that the Portuguese police tried to carry out tapping in the McCanns' villa, but the judge refused the request.

'The Sun' – Apparitions of little girls looking like Maddie happen in Belgium again.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=45DFD20B-6C7E-472D-BC74-C71EB56B12A1&channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010

grneyes

08-11-2008, 11:49 PM

The pedophile ring is a definite possibility I think. I think it's also likely that someone working in the hotel is a lookout for children for that very thing. Who would be more likely to know when the kids were left alone than hotel staff maids, bellboys, or desk clerks?

I hope this isn't what happened for Maddie's sake.

odette

08-12-2008, 03:55 AM

El Mercurio - by Graciela Almendras - 10 August 2008

Online Translation of Article published in "El Mercurio" Santiago, Chile, Sunday August 10, 2008

Portuguese Gonçalo Amaral, ex-Chief Inspector on the case, insists on his theory of 2007: "There is strong evidence that Maddie is dead"

Traces of blood and of a body detected by dogs in the belongings, flat and car occupied by the couple were part of the proof collected during the period of time when Gonçalo Amaral was in charge of the search for Maddie.

Last October, one month after the McCanns were declared suspects, he was removed from the case – "without any explanation" he says – and two weeks ago he published the book "Maddie: The Truth of the Lie", wherein he considers it proved that the British girl died and that her parents are lying.

Who supports your theory that Gerry and Kate McCann are the guilty parties in Madeleine’s disappearance?

In September 2007, the investigation, Portuguese and British police, reached the conclusion that Maddie had died and that the parents were responsible and were involved in the crimes of hiding a body and simulating a kidnapping and potentially the crime of abandonment.

You have said that the child died when she fell from a sofa – why are you so sure of this?

First of all, there is strong evidence that Maddie is dead. When I left the case, the investigation was pointing at the sofa, due to the cadaver odour and blood tracked on the floor behind this piece of furniture.

Which are the clues that indicate that the McCanns simulated a kidnapping?

The thesis of the kidnapping was based upon two issues. The first, the testimony of Kate's friend Jane Tanner, who said she saw a man carrying a child, while none of the other witnesses mentioned this fact.

However, one of the suspects was the man recognized by Tanner, Robert Murat.

I involved him because of his behaviour. Later, Tanner said she recognized him during that night. And also according to statements from other friends in the group holidaying at Praia da Luz.

The second issue…

That Maddie's mother is the only person who says that the window was open. When she calls to the other members of the group, she goes out leaving her twins, exposing them once again, to danger. Further proof is Kate's finger prints that describe the movement when she opened the windows – we know that the window was cleaned the previous day -. However, Kate says she never opened the window. And most importantly, there were no signs of breaking in.

You have been under pressure from the McCann family lawyers.

I felt strong pressure from the British press. I think that nobody has ever seen such a tendentious campaign such as this one, with the sole purpose of denigrating the Portuguese police and myself.

After publishing the book, have you received any threats?

Before publishing it, I received some warnings. Afterwards, these became legal threats. In any case, I am not afraid, because this book presents only data and facts.

This week, the McCann's accused the Judicial Police of having withheld crucial information at the time you were Director, regarding a witness who said she had seen Madeleine last June.

It appears that the McCann family is playing their part defending the thesis of a kidnapping. The Dutch police evaluated this evidence, which proved to be ridiculous. We are aiding the marketing of a kidnapping which, obviously, does not fit within a modern law system.

Do you believe that what happened that night was an accident?

When I left the investigation, all evidence was leading us in that direction.

http://diario.elmercurio.cl/2008/08/10/reportajes/reportajes/noticias/4de518ef-b51b-4af1-99e4-07c37868bd95.htm

odette

08-12-2008, 04:04 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

EL PAÍs - MARÍA R. SAHUQUILLO - Madrid - 10/08/2008

The 'Madeleine Case' under the magnifying glass

The inhabitants and tourists of Praia da Luz, a small town on the Portuguese Algarve, will remember the night of 3 May 2007 as one of the most disquieting of their life. More than 20,000 pages, photographs, analyses and acknowledgements gathered during 15 months have not been able to clarify what happened. Neither has the interrogation by the police of more than 700 people shed light on what happened to little Madeleine McCann. Was she kidnapped by a paedophile network? Did she die accidentally and her body hidden? Did she leave the apartment on foot? Nothing is known of the British girl that disappeared from an apartment in that coastal town. 'EL PAÍS' reviews the summary of the case and analyzes the details that remain hidden.

Maddie McCann was seen for the last time by someone not of her family at 17.00 on that day. What happened between then and 22.00, when Kate, her mother, raised the alarm of her disappearance is a mystery. An enigma that begins with the contradictions that there are, according to the police, in the testimonies of her parents. They both maintain that they left to have dinner with friends at about 19.30. They tell that they left their three children sleeping. The twins Sean and Amelie (one and a half years old) laid down in their cots, and Maddie in the bed. Kate said that she had left the girl covered. Gerry, the father, maintains that the girl was sleeping on top of the blankets clutching her favourite soft toy.

The McCanns, as on all the nights since their arrival on 28 April in Praia da Luz, met with Russel O'Brien and Jane Tanner, Mattew Olfield and Rachel Manpilly, and David Payne, his wife Fiona and her mother. (The spelling of the names is as they appear in the article) All left their children (altogether, eight children of less than four years old) sleeping in their apartments. They had reserved a table at the Tapas, one of the restaurants in the tourist complex where they were staying. The group told the police that, "for the lack of someone to watch the children", they devised a system of taking it in turns to verify that everything was well in the apartments.

Thus began the dance of chairs. At 21.00, Matthew Olfield went to see his daughter. He listened next to the rooms of the rest of the children and returned to the table. Between 5 and 10 minutes later, Gerry McCann did the same. He maintains that their children were sleeping. He explained to the investigators that the door from the lounge/ hall to the bedroom was half-open. "I thought that Madeleine had been up and returned to bed", he said. He went to the bathroom and he left. He met a neighbour. They spoke for a while, and he returned to the restaurant.

What Gerry did not notice is that at 21.15 Jane Tanner went to see her children. Tanner maintains that she saw Gerry and his neighbour. But she saw something more: at about 10 metres, a man passed carrying a girl in his arms. The little girl was in pyjamas and barefoot. Nevertheless, according to her explanation to the police, the only thing that seemed strange to her was that the youngster was not covered.

At 21.30, Mattew Olfield did his round again. He went into the apartment of the McCanns. The twins were sleeping. But he did not look at Madeleine's bed. Olfield told the police that the blind was raised. At 22.00, it was Kate's turn. The door and the window of the room were open. Sean and Amelie were sleeping. Madeleine had disappeared.

"The version in which somebody from the group went to the apartments to verify that everything was well every 15 or 30 minutes falls to the ground", say the police in the summary. According to their declarations, there was a moment at dinner in which two or three were not at the table. But none of the waiters remembers it. "The declarations of all result in incoherency, so it can easily be verified that they are lying", maintain the investigators. But it has not been possible to prove/test this police theory.

Blind raised or lowered? Open or closed window? Kate and Gerry are not in agreement. The woman does not remember having opened the window through which, according to the police, the possible kidnapper could have entered. Nevertheless, the only prints that appear on it are hers. They could be from the previous day. The mother could have touched it the night before, when Gerry and Kate fought/quarrelled, and the woman slept in the children's room.

And, who was the man whom Jane Tanner saw with a girl in his arms? The woman could not describe the individual. "Only after knowing the colours of the pyjamas, Jane concluded that the girl was Madeleine", say the police. Besides her, three other people caught sight of the same individual in the vicinity of the Ocean Club. More than a week later, Tanner identified the man as Robert Murat, a British-Portuguese man 33-years-old who lives with his mother near to the apartment of the McCanns. Murat helped the authorities and acted as a translator for the police. Tanner was not the first to mention suspicions regarding Murat. 8 May, an anonymous call to the police informed them that the kidnapper of the little girl was called Robert, he spoke fluent Portuguese and was helping the authorities. The caller warned that the same Robert "was encrypting" his electronic mail and frequent chats with "sexual content".

A day after that disquieting call a British journalist commented on her suspicions regarding Murat. "He is too collaborative, inquisitive and close", she said. The editor told the police she remembered a similar case in which the kidnapper had collaborated with the police.

The British-Portuguese man continued working for the police until 9 May, listening and translating more than a score of testimonies that could have been key to the investigation - the police said then that they did not dispense with Murat for the reason of not arousing his suspicions. In the end, he was declared arguido. In the declaration of Tanner, she guarantees that she had seen him helping in the search for Maddie on the night of 3 May, as do three others of the friends of the McCanns. Murat, however, maintains that he did not leave the house that night. Nobody else says they saw him.

If the mysterious man was not Murat, who was he? Three witnesses - the Irishman Martin Smith and his children Aoife and Peter - later identified him to the British authorities as Gerry McCann. But, how could the father of Madeleine absent himself from the dinner without the rest of the group realising?

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/caso/Madeleine/lupa/elpepisoc/20080810elpepisoc_2/Tes

Continued Below .....

odette

08-12-2008, 04:06 AM

Continued From Above Article

The police shuffled several hypotheses: the kidnapping of the girl, that she went out alone and was lost - these two first ideas began to lose force a few months later - or that she had died accidentally in the bosom of her own family, who had hidden the corpse. The office of the public prosecutor threw out this last theory. "Although it would be possible to be suspicious of the parents, still there would remain to prove how, where, when, by what means, with the help of whom and how they got rid of the body of the girl", it was said.

None of the other theories could be proved. Hundreds of people called saying that they had seen the little girl. Belgium, Holland, Spain, Morocco, Indonesia, Mexico… Always the same description: a blonde youngster with a characteristic mark in one eye. The summary details hundreds of these possible Maddie's. The police guarantee that all of them have been investigated.

In June 2007, the theory that Madeleine was "probably dead" began to gain force, and that she died in the apartment. The summary specifies a score of searches of beaches, ravines and open terrain near Praia da Luz. One of the more developed theories is that Maddie could have been thrown into the sea. Also, that the body could have been incinerated in a small animal crematorium, property of Hoos Evert Hendrik, a Dutchman that has spent years in Portugal. Everything is investigated. Nothing is concluded.

In September, the police centred on the theory that the little girl died because of a domestic accident or negligence. They considered whether the parents could have given her sleeping pills. That month, Kate and Gerry were declared arguidos. The police detail that they did not rule out the use of "pressure mechanisms" to obtain a confession. They subject the mother to an interrogation of 13 hours. The woman refuses to answer a series of questions - "Was Madeleine taking any medication?", "What were her sleeping habits?", "Did you administer a sedative to the girl?" - but she withstands the attacks.

Two weeks ago, ten months after that declaration, the Portuguese office of the public prosecutor decided to archive the case. No clue, no proof – not even the famous analyses of the DNA found because of the dogs - none of the loose ends considered have served to reveal the whereabouts of the little girl. According to the public prosecutors, none of the police theories can be proven. The condition of arguido is therefore lifted from the three suspects (the parents and Murat). The case, nevertheless, is not closed. According to the Portuguese legislation, it can remain open until 2022. Any new clue could reopen it. The sightings of the little girl, with the characteristic brown mark in her blue eye, continue.

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/caso/Madeleine/lupa/elpepisoc/20080810elpepisoc_2/Tes

odette

08-12-2008, 04:24 AM

thesun.co.uk - Published: 11 Aug 2008

Can we go back now?

. . . http://i38.tinypic.com/fz1cv9.jpg
Is it her? ... cops suspect the little girl in this picture could be Madeleine McCann

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/article1541035.ece

odette

08-12-2008, 04:28 AM

• Slideshow - pictures of the pair caught on CCTV.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1541049.ece?slideshowPopup=true&articleId=1541049

odette

08-12-2008, 04:34 AM

Monday August 11,2008

‘MADELEINE’ BEGGED: LET ME GO HOME

A BRITISH girl who looks just like Madeleine McCann was heard pleading to be allowed to go home, the Daily Express can reveal.

• Continued
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/56294/-Madeleine-Let-me-go-homehttp://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/56294/-Madeleine-Let-me-go-home

debbyuk2008

08-12-2008, 01:00 PM

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402122,00.html

Apparently the footage showed a Moroccan nanny with her charge and not Maddie

odette

08-13-2008, 07:07 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION - (no online link, appears in paper edition)

Gerry laughed during the drama at the PJ Correio da Manhã

Extortion - PJ solved two attempts of fraud against the McCanns

The PJ successfully solved the two attempts to extort money from the McCann couple in return for information about their missing daughter. But Maddie's father's laughs during the negotiations caused strangeness.

The ambience in the room was heavy, when on the 14th of June 2007, contact was established with a stranger in Holland, who seemed to cast a light on the darkness that the investigation was in, a month after the disappearance.

Against the nervousness of the Portuguese and the English policemen, Gerry McCann's attitude surprised everyone in the room, the former coordinator of the process, Gonçalo Amaral, later recollected.

In a careless manner, Maddie's father "made a contrast with the anxiety of the policemen" and intrigued the investigators. Gerry "sucked on a lollipop in a relaxed manner while he read banalities on the internet and discussed rugby and football with an English policeman", the former coordinator from the Polícia Judiciária wrote in the book 'Truth of the Lie'.

The Dutch police would eventually discover that the Dutchman from Eindhoven, who used a cybercafé to demand two million euros per email, knew nothing about Maddie's whereabouts.
In late June 2007, the McCann couple would suffer another extortion attempt, with the promise of information about their daughter, made by a couple in South Spain.

The intervention of the PJ with the Spanish authorities demonstrated that Italian Danilo Chemello and Portuguese Aurora Pereira Vaz, who claimed four million euros, didn't know anything about Maddie McCann, either.

The coordination between the Judiciária and the police forces of Spain and Holland led to the detention of the individuals, who wanted to extort six million euros from the McCanns.

With the solving of both frauds, the Polícia Judiciária reinforced the thesis that the child had suffered a deadly accident in the Ocean Club holiday apartment.

Profession explains coldness

The coldness that Gerry McCann always demonstrated during the process of his daughter's disappearance was noted both by the Portuguese and the British investigators. Gonçalo Amaral, the former operational coordinator of the investigations into the 'Maddie case' recalls that one of the English policemen used to say: "Don’t forget that he is a cardio surgeon and starts opening people up right after breakfast." The 'cold' expressions of the McCanns also surprised the public opinion. But despite the fact that Maddie's mother was never seen crying in public, the investigator stated that "Kate cried several times" for Maddie.

Ransom

Arrested in Holland – On the 4th of July 2007, the Dutch police arrested the 39-year-old man who tried to extort two million euros from the McCanns.

Detained in Spain – On the 28th of June 2007, the Spanish police arrested the Italian and the Portuguese who tried to deceive the McCann couple.

odette

08-13-2008, 07:16 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Rádio Clube - 13 August 2008

Kate McCanns' diary is considered to be false

Policemen consider that Kate McCann's diary was made on purpose to influence the investigation into Maddie’s disappearance.

Several police sources that are connected to the process told Rádio Clube that Kate’s diary does not look like an intimate portrait, as would be usual, and that it seems to have been made on purpose to be found by the authorities. The diary was not distributed to the journalists but Radio Clube had access to the writings of Kate McCann.

The text starts on the day that the English couple arrived in the Algarve, and lasts until early August. A diary that was given little importance by the Polícia Judiciária. Still, it is possible to read about support, irritations and other curiosities. Listen to the piece from journalist Augusto Freitas de Sousa who describes some statements from Kate's diary.

The pressures that the former coordinator of the process, Gonçalo Amaral, has been referring to are described in Kate McCann's diary. Madeleine's mother wrote that she left British prime minister Gordon Brown a message, to call and to increase the political pressure.

Furthermore, 20 days after the disappearance, it can be read in the diary that Gordon Brown spoke to Gerry more than once. Kate mentions the PJ, the journalists and the political pressures, and numerous clues that failed to reveal as important for the process.

http://radioclube.clix.pt/noticias/body.aspx?id=11334

odette

08-13-2008, 07:28 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION - (no online link, appears in paper edition)

Correio da Manhã - 12 August 2008

Detectives become multimillionaires

Investigation - McCann couple pays 212 thousand euros per month

Criticising the Polícia Judiciária's work, the McCann couple understands that "the obtained documents have potential that may not close the case"

An English newspaper has struck a deal with the McCann couple, as a reply to the defamatory news about the latter, to participate in the payment of the fees of the detective team that tries to find Maddie. The detectives collect 166 thousand pounds (212 thousand euros) per month to carry out the searches, according to the 'Sunday Times', which omits the name of the newspaper and of the investigator firm.

The new team of private detectives has a multimillionaire salary, compared to the amount that was paid to the Spanish at Método 3. The company, which is directed by Francisco Marco, publicised that they received 60 thousand euros for six months of work. The coverage of expenses against the presentation of receipts earned them an additional 108 thousand euros.

The work of the private investigators is carried out based on the investigation that was done by the Polícia Judiciária, until the process was archived. With the purpose of finding Maddie alive, these experts dedicate great attention to the depositions by persons who assert that they saw little girls looking like Maddie in different locations of the world. In the observation of leads, the detectives have valued the possible connection between the alleged abduction and a Belgian paedophile network, which three days before the disappearance "ordered through the internet" a girl with Maddie's characteristics. Just like the British police, the Portuguese authorities did not value the lead. Even the Child Protection Centre in the United Kingdom comments the information with some reservation.

Criticising the performance of the Polícia Judiciária, the McCanns defend that the publicity of the process has given the searches a new impulse. "The documents possess great potential and some may allow for the case not to be closed", their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, sustains.

Strong means

Donation fund – With the purpose of paying for a private investigation, Maddie's parents have created a fund for the public to give money, right after the English girl's disappearance.

Empty fund – The McCanns' spokesman stated in June that the fund was not drained, and that 630 thousand euros were then available.

Another two million – In July, the fund was reinforced with two million euros of donations.

--
Amaral's book reaches Spain in September

The Spanish version of the book 'Maddie, the Truth of the Lie', written by the former coordinator of the investigation, Gonçalo Amaral, is going to be edited in Spain, on the 2nd or the 9th of September.

The book launch coincides with two major interviews that Amaral is going to give to Spanish televisions: to Antena 3 (Sept 1) and to Telecinco (Sept 8). There are also contacts for the distribution in South America, including Brazil. 140 thousand copies have already been sold in Portugal.

The author will not be attending the autograph session in Castro Marim today, because he will be at the funeral of Júlio Santos, a PJ coordinator.

debbyuk2008

08-13-2008, 10:59 AM

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1044260/McCanns-hire-crack-team-ex-FBI-agents-Madeleine.html

I would love to think that Maddie is still alive. However, I think its highly unlikely.

odette

08-14-2008, 06:00 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

paramimtantofaz - Frederico Duarte Carvalho - 12 August 2008

Anatomy of a badly told story, 12 August 2008

From Frederico Duarte Carvalho, a journalist and author, an analysis of the timeline:

"There is still so much to discover inside the process", I was told a few days ago by the former coordinator of the PJ, Gonçalo Amaral, when together with João Vasco Almeida, I interviewed him for "Focus" – see the edition of tomorrow, the 13th. The author of the book "Maddie – Truth of the Lie" (140 thousand copies sold and foreseen translations for Spain and Germany) gave us what was the first interview after the case left the premises of the judicial secrecy. So, the former coordinator accepted to look to the computer where we had the DVD with the process open, and pointed his finger at the moment where the fatal contradiction of the witness statements by some of the main players in the night when the alert to the disappearance of the English girl in Praia da Luz was raised, is registered: "No member of the media has ever crossed those depositions", Gonçalo Amaral said to us.

It is all in the first of the 17 volumes, which run to 4713 pages. It was the contradiction between the initial statement from Jane Tanner, a marketing manager, and the one from her companion, doctor Russell O’Brien, that raised the suspicions that the marketing manager might be lying when she said she had seen an alleged abductor carrying a child. This happened as early as the 4th of May, within the first hours after the disappearance.

Russell O’Brien, a doctor and Jane Tanner's husband, worked directly with Madeleine's father, Gerry McCann, for six months. They became fathers at approximately the same time, as Russell's older daughter is just one month older than Madeleine. When the witness statements from Gerry, Jane and Russell were crossed, the PJ's investigators realized that "the story was badly told".

According to Gerry McCann's witness statement, which was registered in the PJ's offices at 11.15 a.m. on the 4th of May 2007, fourteen hours after the facts, it can be verified that Madeleine's father left the 'Tapas' restaurant approximately half an hour after he arrived there. Before him, another member of the holiday group, Matthew Oldfield, had already checked the windows and confirmed that they were closed and that all the children in the group should be sleeping. When Matthew returned to the group, he communicated it to those who were present. At that same moment, Gerry got up and went for a new verification. That would have been at 9.05 p.m. Madeleine's father entered the apartment with the key, went to his children's room, verified that the twins were well, just like his older daughter. Gerry then went to the toilet, where he stated he remained for a few instants. He left and crossed paths with a British friend, Jez, whom he had met during the holidays and with whom he used to play tennis. The friend was walking his baby, as he was having difficulty sleeping. They both chatted for a bit until Gerry returned to the restaurant.

The witness statement from Jane Tanner, which was collected at 11.30 a.m. on Friday, the 4th of May, registers the fact that she left the restaurant at around 9.10 p.m, approximately five minutes after Gerry. Jane went to her apartment to check if everything was well with her daughters. At that moment, on her way to the apartment, she guarantees that she crossed with Gerry while he was talking with his tennis friend. She stressed to the PJ that she passed them both, knowing that Gerry had already been in his apartment to check on his children.

continued below

http://paramimtantofaz.blogspot.com/

odette

08-14-2008, 06:02 AM

Continued From Above

The contradiction appears when this statement is crossed with the one from her husband, Russell O’Brien. The latter only spoke to the PJ on the evening of the 4th of May, at 9.50 p.m., almost 24 hours after the facts. Russell confirmed that Gerry and Jane left almost simultaneously. But he stated that his wife must have returned first because she would have met Gerry talking with his tennis friend. This was where a very important doubt was born, to understand the key moment of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The questions assaulted the minds of the PJ’s investigators: Did Jane Tanner see Gerry talking with his friend when she was coming back from the apartment, like she suggested to her husband, or on her way up?

After all, if Gerry and Jane left almost simultaneously, with only five minutes between them then how was it possible for Gerry to check his children in the bedroom, to go to the toilet – where he stayed for a while -, to return to the restaurant and even stop to chat with his tennis friend within only five minutes, to a point where Jane guaranteed that, when she passed them both on her way to her apartment, Gerry was already on his way back? Is it possible that Gerry was chatting with Jez while he was still on his way to the apartment, after all? And how to explain the fact that neither Gerry nor his friend – who was later questioned in England – ever remember seeing Jane, despite the fact that she stated that when she passed them, they were all on the same sidewalk?

This whole contradiction is relevant to the case when one realises that, according to the testimony from Jane Tanner – which is further sustained by a scheme that she drew concerning these movements -, she states that after passing by Gerry and Jez, while walking in the direction of her apartment, she saw, a few metres ahead, on the corner, an individual carrying a child. Never on her way back. It would be that testimony that would become the base that sustains the entire abduction theory that still remains in so many people's minds. And the suspect was walking in the direction of Robert Murat's villa. Therefore, it was Jane's testimony that, despite the contradictions, came to sustain the entire abduction theory that pointed towards Robert Murat.

The first description that was made by this friend of the couple pointed towards a man aged between 35 and 40, slim, 1,70 m tall, very dark, thick hair that was short but long in the neck area. As she had only seen him from behind, she could not detail his face. But that didn't prevent her from asserting, later on, that she had indeed seen Robert Murat.

Jane also said that she returned to the restaurant after checking on her children, and guaranteed to the PJ that Gerry was no longer on the street talking to his friend, because she found him at the 'Tapas' in the company of his wife, Kate. After 15 to 20 minutes, it was time for Jane's husband, Russell O’Brien, to check on his daughters, accompanied by Matthew Oldfield. The latter passed through the McCanns' apartment but failed to verify whether Madeleine was in bed or not, as he admits that he was only concerned about hearing any noises from the inside. Meanwhile, Russell stayed in his bedroom caring for his daughter, which is why Jane ate rapidly and went to relieve her husband from the bedroom. Russell returned to the restaurant and that was the moment when Kate got up to check on her three children's sleep. It was 10 or 10.15 p.m., and Jane Tanner was in her apartment when she heard Kate McCann and another friend from the group, Fiona Payne, shouting that Madeleine had disappeared. From that moment on, it would be utter confusion, which led us into a situation that dragged on for months, and finally ended for now, with the case being archived without a corpse or an abductor appearing.

If anyone abducted or concealed Madeleine McCann's cadaver, that was, until this moment, the perfect crime.

http://paramimtantofaz.blogspot.com/

odette

08-15-2008, 06:20 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Correio da Manhã - João Saramago - 14 August 2008

Only the houses of the McCanns raised suspicions

The authorities investigated more than half a thousand homes in order to explain the disappearance of Maddie. But only in two places, where the McCann couple lived, parents of the missing British girl on May 3, 2007, was evidence found that the child might be dead.

In the early days after the disappearance, the GNR military officers and PJ visited 443 dwellings in the area of Praia da Luz, including the apartment rented by the McCann couple in the Ocean Club, from where the girl disappeared. Nothing was found that might indicate the whereabouts of the child to the PJ, who concluded that the apartment rented by McCann showed no signs of forced entry.

From May 14, 2007, the PJ held a series of searches of houses that may have been used by Robert Murat (then suspected of kidnapping the girl), his girlfriend, Michaela Walczuch, the husband of her, Luis Antonio, and Russian Sergey Malinka, but no traces of Maddie were found .

In August 2007, British dogs which can detect body odour and biological traces were used in the Ocean Club apartments rented by the McCanns and their friends, the home of Robert Murat and the ‘Vista do Mar’ ('View of the Sea') villa, inhabited, between July and September, by the McCanns. In the final findings there was evidence that Maddie died in the apartment of the parents at the Ocean Club. The smell of a corpse was also observed on clothes of the girl and mother, taken from the 'Vista do Mar' villa, and the hire car after the disappearance.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=9956189D-EDDD-4A4D-AA28-296563B86DD8&channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010

odette

08-15-2008, 06:31 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION - (no online link, appears in magazine edition only)

TV Mais - 14 August 2008

'Kate's Diary', under the magnifying glass

Kate's Diary TV Mais: (Note: 'TV Mais' is a Portuguese television magazine, similar to 'TV Times' in the UK. This article appears in this weeks issue and is an analysis of "Kate's Diary" by a Portuguese psychologist.)

Narcissistic, immature and predictable. As if she were writing to lead the reader on. This is the conclusion of an analysis of the writings know as "Kate's Diary" by psychologist Quintino Aires.

"I need you to come back." That is one of the sentences repeated most by Kate McCann in the journal she wrote that is commonly referred to in the media as "Kate's Diary". We showed the writings to Quintino Aires, chair professor of psychology. "She seems to be more concerned about herself than about poor Maddie", he finds.

TV Mais has established that Kate only began writing the journal almost two weeks after Madeleine McCann disappeared. But the "diary" looks as if it was begun before 3rd May 2007. One only has to look at the diverse appearance of the writings, with different colours of pen and writing styles, for example, to understand that it was written in different stages and in differing emotional states. Written and added to as she deemed convenient.

"It's the Kate McCann we already know", explains Quintino Aires. "The narcissistic personality of this woman, which has already been alluded to several times, comes out very clearly in these writings. Her complaints about the negative effect the physical exertion is having on her body, which "annoys" her; how she feels very tired at the vigil on the 25 May, which she thinks is too long (contrary to what a mother suffering the loss of her daughter would feel, being buoyed up by the joint attention of others…); the enthusiastic way she refers to the photo session or even the conference in the British Consulate, which, she highlights, ended in applause from the media. Kate's venting about the difficulty she has in answering questions in moments that are less controlled and not predicted. In her writings one can very frequently identify traits of an immature and narcissistic personality", the psychologist explained to TV Mais. Instead of "I need you to come back", which Kate repeats so many times in her notes, Quintino Aires says that one would normally expect to find "how are you feeling?". In other words: Kate is more concerned with herself than with her daughter.

Relevant or not?

On 12 September 2007, "Público" reported on its website that "the PJ has seized a copy of Kate McCann's diary, a document that could contain relevant information that would help to clarify the case of the disappearance of her daughter Madeleine". The report turned out to be true. The seizure took place during a search of the house the McCanns had rented in Praia da Luz. Amongst other things, Maddie's mother complained that her children were hysterical and that her husband didn't help her as much as he should.

The PJ already considered Kate's notes to be important for the investigation in its interim report and Prosecutor's Office filed a request that the diary be added to the case evidence. But the criminal instruction judge presiding over the investigation in Portimão rejected the request, as did the Évora Court of Appeal.

Little emotion

The events following Maddie's disappearance, her mother's anguish and despair, the solidarity of her friends and the media impact of the case are other aspects referred to in the notes. Quintino Aires explains that writing things down helps us to organise our thoughts, especially when we are going through trying times.

"Many people use this as an instrument to deal with the anxiety. So it is nothing out of the ordinary that Kate has written the notes, regardless of whether she did so on her own initiative or at the suggestion of a friend or specialist. What is surprising is the structure and content of the document, given that it does not follow the normal format for texts of this kind.

"By this I mean, when we open a diary of a mother who is suffering the loss of her daughter (who is completely vulnerable, not least because of her very young age), we would expect to read about her feelings for her daughter, her fears about the suffering her daughter might be going through and that she (the mother) cannot prevent because she is not with her.

"But what can we read in Kate McCann's journal? Endless lists of the time she got up, what time she went jogging, what time she had lunch or dinner and what time she went to bed at. Who she met and who she talked to. Extreme concern and detail as regards names of people and the companies they belong to. In terms of emotions or feelings, only references to who she likes, because they talked or behaved the way Kate wanted them to, and who she doesn't like (especially Portuguese and German journalists…).

"The journal goes into such detail in matters that have nothing to do with emotion or feeling that, throughout the text, I have the feeling several times that Kate is writing with the aim of guiding the thoughts of the reader. The messages to Madeleine are so short and coincidental that they go under, and many times they only come following a comment or attitude by someone who Kate is describing. Judging by the way it is written, the journal can be divided into four phases.

"One can note the improvement and adaptation along the way. Whoever wrote it got better at it with practice…", explains the psychologist, who concludes as follows: "On the basis of all this, I am not surprised to read "I need you to come back" so many times and almost never "how are you feeling?". She seems to be more concerned with herself than with poor Maddie… It's the Kate McCann we had already got to know".

(no online link, appears in magazine edition only)

odette

08-15-2008, 06:56 AM

Focus - by João Vasco Almeida and Frederico Duarte Carvalho - 13 August 2008

"I was close to finding Maddie" - Gonçalo Amaral interview

The inspector of the McCann case demolishes the abduction theory: "The sightings are marketing". He explains, for the first time, what remains to be done in order to find the body

Gonçalo Amaral has already sold 140 thousand copies of his book 'Maddie: The Truth about the Lie'. The former coordinator of the investigation into the case that shocked the country explains his theory to Focus.

Focus – A newspaper reported that your book could be summed up as "murder, the dog wrote", given the fact that it was the cadaver odour and the blood that were found that led you to sustain the theory that Madeleine McCann died. What do you actually know beyond the dogs?

Gonçalo Amaral – That comment only reveals the ignorance of the person who wrote it. The technique of residue collection using special dogs like these, CSIs, is usual in England, in the United States and it has already led to more than 200 condemnations. The laboratory where the samples [of blood, cadaver odour and DNA from Maddie] were analysed has corroborated these experts' work.

Focus – It has corroborated it, but it does not specify that they belong to Maddie McCann.

G.A. – They can only match that from Madeleine McCann, because the lab had the twins' DNA and it was not a match. Those are 15 out of 19 markers that match.

Focus – What else sustains the theory?

G.A. – There is evidence from indicia, which is possible in this country, as long as the prosecutor possesses the conviction and the elements that indicate that, in court, there will be a condemnation. The Public Ministry has to value this evidence that was collected. This time, the Public Ministry considered that the indicia are not sufficient and archived the process.

Focus – And what are those indicia that you understand as sufficient?

G.A. – The atypical behaviour of the parents: The fact that the lady says that she had three children sleeping in one room, that she arrives and one is missing, the window is open, she mentions it's a cold night, the shutter is up… and she goes away, leaving two children asleep, with a possible abductor around. I know that [the reports from the PJ and from the Public Ministry] didn't give any relevance to the contradictions and didn't expose the falsehoods and the false testimonies that exist there from all the persons who intervened. That, deep down, is the evidence that indicates that everyone is lying and those lies cannot be understood.

Focus – And who took the child from her bed?

G.A. – That is the question that we were investigating on the 2nd of October 2007, when I left. From that moment on, little investigation was carried out in that apartment. The parents should have come over for a reconstruction and they didn't. That was necessary to understand what happened.

Focus – Which was…

G.A. – The death of the child in the apartment. The Public Ministry even mentions homicide. The abduction theory has been dismissed due to everything that has been made public.

continued below

odette

08-15-2008, 06:59 AM

continued from above

Focus – How do you defend the "accidental" death?

G.A. – There is indicia behind the sofa [of the McCanns' living room]. The sofa is under a window that looks onto the street, which is three or four metres high. It is normal behaviour, and justice deals with normal behaviour, that the parents would have moved the sofa away from the window, given the fact that they had small children and alone at home. The window was easy to open and the shutters were not functioning…

Focus – But why "accidental"?

G.A. - I don't say it's accidental. Up to that moment, we could only reach an accidental death, because we had not worked on the rest yet. We had yet to understand what had happened there. Cadaver odour and blood from the child appear next to the sofa. Death has presumably taken place there. There are no doubts that it is a death and that it took place on that spot. We are not going to say that the mother did this or that, that would really be speculating, the only hypothesis is the accidental death. In the continuation of the investigations is where we could go further or not.

Focus – You said that the mother can't be accused of having done this or that… How far can you deduct?

G.A. – As far as we could deduct on the 2nd of October. I believe, and so did my colleagues in the investigation, that if we had continued into the same direction of the investigation, we might eventually have gone further. We might even have reached a point where we dismissed any suspicion concerning the parents. Investigations that only go half the way is what leaves things as they are now.

Focus – Are Madeleine McCanns' parents responsible for their daughter's death?

G.A. – No. There is a neglect in the guard [of the children]. There are no doubts that those children were not safe, because if they were, one of them wouldn't have disappeared. Now, saying that "the responsibility of the death belongs to…" We had to understand, to collect data about what happened from there on. The reconstruction is essential. I did not understand, but I accepted the decision from a hierarchical team that I was part of, why the reconstruction was not done right away. The possibility of trying to make a new reconstruction was opened, but the arguidos had already left Portugal. A thing like this is only done with arguidos. The ideal is to have everyone, but even only with the couple, that were arguidos at that point in time, the reconstruction could have been carried out.

Focus – And with actors?

G.A. – No. It would be enough to tell them: 'You say that you did this and that, then do it, where did you enter, were you having dinner, weren't you having dinner, what did you order for dinner…? Where did you touch and where didn't you?' All of this. It was important for Kate and Gerry McCann to come over, but the Irish witnesses could also come…

Focus – Those who say that they saw Gerry McCann carrying a child, down the street, on the night of the disappearance.

G.A. – Yes, those who assert that they saw, with a certainty of seventy, eighty percent, Gerald McCann carrying a child, walking in the street, it was already night-time.

Focus – You suggest that the little girl was frozen or conserved in the cold. How do you reach that?

G.A. – There is a bodily fluid, inside a car boot, above an "embaladeira" [note: metallic piece of the car that reinforces the lower part of the doors], from a child that presumably died on the 3rd of May. The car was rented 20 days later and was even new. It had been rented two or three times. Taking into consideration the circumstances of the climate, the temperature, the decomposition of a body… A body, in order to leak a fluid in that manner, a body with more than a month of decomposition had to be preserved.

continued below

odette

08-15-2008, 07:03 AM

continued from above

Focus – Did it have to be close by?

G.A. – And why?

Focus – It could have been taken to Lisbon, Oporto, Badajoz…

G.A. – That was what we were taking care of at that time. The body could have been moved, but nobody knows when the body was transported in the car. The car ran several kilometres [around 3000, according to the process]. And given the fact that it is not known when the body was transported, according to the analysis of the fluids, we have to attend to where the car went through. The McCann couple and their relatives. For example, the relatives later state that they transported garbage, a package with meat from the supermarket, but the dogs can tell those things apart very well.

Focus – There is a contradiction in the valuation of the dogs' evidence.

G.A. – What happens is that the Public Ministry devalues it. In Portugal, we are all very skeptical towards this form of collecting indicia.

Focus – You state that you have not told everything that you know.

G.A. – And I haven't.

Focus – Why?

G.A. – Because I am a jurist, too. Let's see how the situation evolves.

Focus – And how can the situation evolve?

G.A. – The things that are missing are important in terms of the investigation, but they are ours… When it is said: these are your convictions… This is the understanding of a work team and even with the English police. And with documents. It's this kind of thing, for any action that may be coming. I don't believe, but who knows.

Focus – Does the English police agree, then, with that "understanding" about what you are saying?

G.A. – The work with the English police went very well. Then, certainly due to a mere coincidence, when the McCann couple leaves, all the English policemen leave as well…

Focus – You are convinced that someone made the process reach the hands of the English.

G.A. – I have that idea. I think that it even fits into that marketing campaign that is saying that the little girl is alive.

Focus – But don't you admit you may have doubts if there is a sighting?

G.A. – How many sightings have there been? Thousands. It's been a year. I stopped giving them a lot of importance on the day that the dogs confirmed the cadaver odour and the blood.

Focus – But you did start with the abduction hypothesis.

continued below

odette

08-15-2008, 07:06 AM

continued from above

Focus – Then, you were thrown out…

G.A. - … that is a good expression…

Focus - … because of the reports that mention that you drink whiskey at lunch or because, in your work, you believe that there is a death?

G.A. – I don't drink whiskey. I drink beer at lunch time, if they had written that, they would have been right. Before I left, a weekly magazine says: "That person does not last beyond October as the head of the investigation." This happened a month or two before. And then I was given a speech like that one from the Attorney General: 'Not all investigations can be successful, or the authors of the crimes are not always discovered…' What may have hurt many people was my will to discover the material truth. And when I left, I was naturally closer to the truth. Two examples: Apart from our need to know who the friends of the McCann couple were, or if they knew anyone in Portugal, or who drove the car… if they eventually visited another apartment, if they used to meet someone, if they deposited someone… just for us to understand. Towards the end, I was informed that they had visited people at a villa in Praia da Luz. We went to check it out. Then, we were informed that the McCanns had visited an apartment block near the cemetery. And we were working on that, in order to confirm whether it was them or not. This was how we were trying to understand where the body was. And there are many persons who were not investigated, who were not in the process.

Focus - So are you going to let this entire case pass into the clear? Don't you at least want to be sued by the McCanns over everything that you leave in the air…

G.A. – So we can have a chat…? (smiles)

Focus – Are you going to sue the McCanns?

G.A. – No, as far as I know the McCann couple has not been speaking, the one who has been speaking is their press advisor, Mr Clarence Mitchell.

(no online link, appears in edition No. 461)

***

SaraSidle

08-15-2008, 02:21 PM

This is very intense and informative Odette. Kind of helps you move off the fence a little IMO

debbyuk2008

08-17-2008, 02:08 AM

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/mccanns--finally-in-clear-as-maddy-case-is-closed-1437947.html

Officially, the PJ cleared Murat and the McCanns of involvement in Maddie's disappearance.

Also there was an awful lot of doubt over the dna evidence

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Scientist-doubted-DNA-tests-before.4356429.jp

Also Goncalo Amaral, has been accused of perjury

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/23/madeleinemccann.portugal

In my way of thinking if the McCanns were guilty they made the situation a 1000 times worse for themselves by over stating they will never give up the search. They should have pursued the paedophile theory.
I think they made a judgment of error. They left toddlers unattended - a very big gamble.
There are plenty of paedophiles out there. You leave your kids unattended you play a big gamble.
You can't wrap your children in cotton wool. However, you can't take risks with them either

debbyuk2008

08-17-2008, 02:34 AM

My main concern is someone is guilty for the disappearance of a small child. Madeleine did not ask to be left alone.
What worries me...if the parents are not guilty someone has literally got away with this crime.
In England we had an explosion of tabloid stories (big time!)

When a child is missing automatically the parents need to be investigated - right from the beginning. There was a lot of criticism of the PJ. However, I always maintained they are not used to child abductions/disappearances on the scale we have in England.

The problem of concentrating too heavily on it could be the parents is that you let the real killer/abductor slip by.
In my opinion the investigation should continue..without the press coverage. All this coverage was detrimental to the case.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/columnists/2008/08/10/all-this-publicity-is-no-help-to-maddie-91466-21504342/

I listen to both sides of the argument. I am still on the fence but lean towards the theory that Madeleine was abducted.
I just pray that who ever was responsible is brought to justice

debbyuk2008

08-19-2008, 12:50 AM

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1046405/British-couple-tried-rescue-Maddy-lookalike--Croatian-football-star-model-wife.html?ITO=1490

Scary!

SaraSidle

08-20-2008, 12:39 PM

One2Snoop

08-23-2008, 07:46 PM

Madeleine fund in chaos as private eyes are axed after draining £500,000By Daniel Boffey and Miles Goslett
Last updated at 10:14 PM on 23rd August 2008http://i34.tinypic.com/autqb6.jpg

The fund for finding Madeleine now has only £500,000 left in its coffers
A team of private investigators working behind the scenes to find Madeleine McCann has been axed after being paid £500,000 from publicly donated funds.

The Find Madeleine Fund quietly engaged the services of a US-based company which was awarded the lucrative six-month contract earlier this year.

The company, Oakley International, which boasts former British security service and FBI contacts, was hired to monitor the Madeleine Hotline, carry out detective work and review CCTV footage of possible sightings of the missing girl around the world.

A source revealed that the company had also spent resources in an attempt to infiltrate a paedophile ring in Belgium.

However, the company’s contract will now not be renewed. The Mail on Sunday has learned that double-glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy, who has been underwriting the fund’s search for Madeleine, has conducted a review of the agency’s work and has become unhappy with the progress it was making.

The deal was abruptly ended following a meeting last week after the fund brought in independent monitors to assess how the money was spent.

The cost of employing the agency - run by a Briton, Kevin Halligen - has drained the Madeleine fund and there is now less than £500,000 left.

The development is likely to dismay the thousands who gave to the appeal, and raise questions about how the fund has been administered.

Mr Kennedy, who owns Sale Sharks rugby club, was said to be ‘angry’ because he believed Oakley’s bills, estimated to be more than £80,000 a month, were too much for the results they achieved.

A source said: ‘There is a sense that they were meaning well but hadn’t got as far as they should for the money involved.

'Brian Kennedy thought their work was far too pricey and wanted to know where the money was being spent. He wasn’t satisfied with their answers and the contract was not renewed.

‘Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate, have been kept informed all along and agree with the decision. A lot of people were asking questions about where the money was being spent.’

Oakley International won the contract after an introduction by another company, Red Defence International (RDI), based in Jermyn Street, Central London.

Listed as being involved with both companies was Mr Halligen, 47, a communications expert. He is given as the ‘contact name’ for Oakley International Group, a company registered in Washington DC as the manufacturer of search and navigation equipment.

The company says it has annual sales of £33,000 and only one employee, who appears to be Mr Halligen.

The address given for the company is 2550 M Street NW Washington, which is the downtown office of Patton Boggs, one of the largest and most powerful law companies in America.

A source at the law firm said last night that the lawyer who represented Mr Halligen was unavailable for comment.

RDI, formed in 2005, bills itself as ‘an experienced provider of crisis prevention, management and expertise’. It claims to have a presence in Washington DC and Virginia and representation in the Middle East, Africa and Central America.

Brian Kennedy, who has underwritten the search for Madeleine, is dissatisfied with the agency's work
However, its latest set of accounts is two months overdue and it faces being fined by HM Revenue & Customs.

Among the main players working on the McCann contract were Mr Halligen and Henri Exton, 57, who headed the Greater Manchester Police undercover unit until 1993. He then worked for the Government before moving into the private sector.

One day after a crisis meeting last week with the Madeleine fund administrators, Mr Halligen resigned as a director of RDI.

Mr Exton, of Bury, Lancashire, has the Queen’s Police Medal and an OBE. During the Seventies and Eighties his work included uncovering organised crime rings and recruiting supergrasses.

He also infiltrated football gangs, at one stage becoming a leader of the Young Guvnors, who followed Manchester City, and was forced to take part in organised incidents to preserve his cover.

Previously, the McCann fund had employed a Spanish detective agency called Metodo 3. However, the fund lost confidence in them, especially after they announced they would find Madeleine by last Christmas.

She had disappeared from the resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007, nine days short of her fourth birthday.

A spokesman for the McCanns said yesterday: ‘Kate and Gerry, the fund and their backers have always sought to employ the very best people and resources in the ongoing search for Madeleine.

‘Kate and Gerry, via the fund and the backers, continue to employ many such resources and it is true that Red Defence and Oakley were part of those resources.

‘I simply will not comment on any personnel, financial or operational details whatsoever.’

No one could be reached for comment at Oakley International or Red Defence International.

Mr Kennedy, estimated to be worth about £250million, became involved after being moved by the plight of the McCanns during the period they were made formal suspects – arguidos – in Madeleine’s disappearance. Portuguese prosecutors dropped the couple’s arguido status last month.

The 47-year-old made his money in double-glazing and home improvement ventures with companies including Everest windows. His Latium Group business empire has an annual turnover of about £400million.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1048600/Madeleine-fund-chaos-private-eyes-axed-draining-500-000.html

odette

08-27-2008, 08:03 AM

Correio da Manhã - 18 August 2008

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Maddie's book torn by the parents

Process - PJ apprehended document that was written by the group

Hours after the disappearance of the little English girl, the McCanns used the covers of children's story books that belonged to their daughter, to write down details of the evening

Hours after Madeleine disappeared, the English girl's parents tore the covers of two children's books that the child enjoyed leafing through before going to sleep, to write down the details of the evening of the disappearance.

There, according to what can be verified by the pages that have been appended to the process, Madeleine's parents noted the periodicity of the visits to the rooms where the various children slept and who within the group of English people had verified that nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.

The PJ appended those documents to the process on September 9 of last year, then referring that the same had been apprehended by the GNR on the night that the girl stopped being seen.

The importance of the book covers was related to the fact that the PJ considers that there was a manipulation of the testimonies – the depositions between the elements of the group were combined in a detailed manner. That was the motive why those pieces of evidence were gathered only after Gerry and Kate were made arguidos, at a time when they had already formally assumed that they were suspects.

To the authorities, it was then an important detail at that moment in the investigation, because it revealed the little girl's parent's concern in protecting themselves from possible responsibilities, overshadowing the preservation of objects that belonged to the child at a moment in time when she had only been missing for a few hours.

Which led the authorities to admit that there could have been a manipulation of testimonies.

Son of player confounded with child

English tourists confounded the son of Dino Drpic, a football player for Dynamo of Zagreb, with Madeleine McCann and tried to remove the child from his mother, according to the Croatian press. The case took place on the island of Krk, when the tourists confounded the little English girl with the son of Dino and Nives Drpic, aged two and a half. Upon seeing blonde Leone Drpic, a British child was convinced that it was Maddie and warned her parents. The parents, after taking a few photographs from a distance, came closer to the little boy and tried to take him. "There was a moment when she got hold of his arm, apparently believing that nobody was watching him [the boy]. As soon as I approached, she realised her mistake and apologised", said Nives Drpic.

Details

Reconstruction – The reconstruction of the evening of the disappearance, which never took place because the English weren't available to return to Portugal, was fundamental to understand all the steps that were made by the elements of the group that evening. The PJ intended to determine at exactly what time the little girl had gone missing.

Photo-fit – Jane Tanner asserted that she had seen a stranger at around 9 p.m., carrying a child. She admitted that it had been the abductor and explained that Gerry was very close to her when she saw him. A photo-fit was made, but the authorities always considered that her deposition was not credible.

Timeline – Maddie was last seen, by persons other than her parents and siblings, at around 5.30 p.m.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.aspx?channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010&contentid=C909EE4E-CA2A-4BFF-AD2F-FE540F249354

odette

08-27-2008, 08:16 AM

Correio da Manhã - 19 August 2008

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Kate's strange attitudes

Suspected - PJ admitted that the children had been drugged

A strange attitude by Kate, on the day of Madeleine's disappearance was pointed out by Fiona Payne, one of the members of the British group on holiday in Praia da Luz.

Fiona Payne's witness statement says that Maddie's mother, during the first hours marked by despair and by a feeling close to frustration, several times approached the twins, holding her fingers close to their noses.

Sean and Amélie were asleep at this time, but Kate seemed to want to confirm that that her youngest children were alive, checking if they were breathing.

This behaviour, linked to the fact that Maddie's grandparents confirmed that the children took a sleeping solution to help them go to sleep - a common medication in the UK and often given to children - raised doubts amongst the investigators. But the fact was never taken further, in spite of of one of the theses defended by the first team responsible for the investigation that the disappearance was linked to an accident, which could have been directly linked to the medication given to the children.

Another fact confused the investigators. Kate and Gerry always said that Maddie, Sean and Amélie fell asleep at 19.30/20.00, which was the reason for their being capable of leaving them alone when they went to dine in the restaurant situated 100 metres away, from where they had no view of the apartments.

The version changed later whn Gerry was interrogated, as an arguido.

At that moment, the father told that Maddie had difficulties in falling asleep and that they had instigated a points system in order to tackle this. The girl would be rewarded when she managed to achieve certain targets.

TESTS WERE NOT POSITIVE

Months after Maddie's disappearance and at the time Kate already felt that the investigation was turning against her, she suggested to the PJ that the twins should be subjected to tests, to see whether they had been drugged on the night of the disappearance.

The request was perceived as a strategy to confuse the investigation, given that the couple were both doctors, who would know that, at that moment it was no longer possible to detect any trace of substances that could have been ingested by the children. In the process it was verified that this thesis was never judged to be credible.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=EEBE6E95-D09B-4593-B45C-398FE9065F67&channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010

odette

08-27-2008, 08:25 AM

24horas - Text: Carlos Tomas - 19 August 2008

ONLINE TRANSLATION

PJ admit death of Maddie

It was between the week of July 31 and August 6th, when the investigations related to Madeleine McCann's disappearance began to indicate that something was about to happen. The arrival of Eddie and Keela, dogs specialised in detecting cadaver odour and blood, together with the police surveillance of the friends with whom Maddie's parents dined in the Tapas Bar, confirmed a turnabout in the work of the police and the thesis of abduction was abandoned.

On the 31st of July, 2007, the first page of our journal did not make any illusions about the case, but in the beginning of August information surfaced that suggested a complete turnabout in the investigation. On the 1st of August, a British Team specialising in crimes against children reached the Algarve to help the PJ investigators. At that point, the team wanted to establish the profile of an abductor, but the information that was available was tenuous and a conclusion was never reached. On that same day, Gerry McCann uttered a phrase, published in our journal, "The vital piece of information may only be a phone-call away!" It was never clear to the authorities what this piece of information was supposed to be and what number should be called in the event [the information needed to be transmitted].

Tanner is Sorry

The woman who claims to have seen Maddie's abduction is full of remorse for not having stopped the crime. In accordance with the files being made public on the 20th, it is true that, as 24horas pointed out, the searches carried out in the home in which Murat lived, which involved an excavation machine, and later the English dogs, did not result in any proof that tied him to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Also proven in the files is that he did not know the McCanns or their friends before this case.

From a reading of legal documents, to which 24horas has access, it is evident that Jane Tanner was never in the street where she claimed to have seen Maddie's alleged abductor. Employees of the Tapas Bar stated that she did not leave the restaurant between 19h30 and 22h30--when the disappearance occurred--and Gerry, nor his friend, who were on this same street, remember having seen the Briton [Jane] and much less the abductor. It was some two months after the disappearance when Tanner remembered to tell the authorities what the abductor was wearing and also helped in creating the photo-fit.

The person that came again to be implicated was Robert Murat, until that time, the only arguido in the process. The British press told that he already knew Jane Tanner and her companion Russell O'Brien before the disappearance of the child—a fact that was outright denied by 24horas. The coverage of the case, by our journal centered on the 3rd and 4th of August, in a lead from Belgium. A woman, a children's therapist, claimed to have seen Maddie in a café called "De Panzel" accompanied by a couple. With information given to them, the Belgian police issued a photo-fit together with a national alert. However, this time, [the photo-fit] was opposite to the photo made with the help of Jane Tanner, and had a face. Also found was a milk-shake bottle that was supposedly consumed by the little girl in that café. The authorities hoped that test carried out on that bottle matched Madeleine’s DNA. But the exams were not a match.

On the 5th of August, things started to get complicated for the McCanns. In accordance with a notice put out by 24horas, on the evening of, authorities had begun searching with the British dogs. The investigations began in Murat’s house, at the point, the only arguido. Nothing incriminating was found.

But on the 6th of August the floodgates opened. Searches made in the Ocean Club apartment complex rented by the McCanns, the dogs detected cadaver odour and blood smells. Our headline that morning read "British dogs detect death in Maddie's room." Later came the detection of blood and cadaver odour in the McCann rental car. Refer to the fact that, according to the British specialists, the dogs can only lead to clues regarding dead human brings. The McCanns opted, at the time, for silence.

http://www.24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2922&link=13

odette

08-27-2008, 08:33 AM

24horasnewspaper.com - Text: Luís Maneta - 19 August 2008

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Tourist Holds Photographs that Prove that Kate Changed Clothing

A man guarantees to have images that can reopen the process. These show that Kate was away during the dinner and came back wearing different clothes

French journalist-blogger who has written dozens of articles regarding the Maddie Case confirms that a set of 24 photographs exist. The photos were taken in the Tapas Bar restaurant, in Praia da Luz, the night that Madeleine McCann disappeared. According to Duarte Levy, the photographs were snapped by a tourist who holidayed with his wife and a couple. According to Duarte Levy ---who told 24horas that he had seen some of the images—the colour photographs show the McCann couple and the Brits with whom they holidayed. The photographs were taken between 20h10 and 22h15, in the Tapas Bar. In one of the images, explains the journalist, it is possible to see that Kate McCann changed clothes during dinner. Remember that the group version of events tell us that Kate left the restaurant around 22h when Maddie disappeared. When he was made an arguido, Gerry McCann confirmed to the PJ that on the night in question, he did not take a camera with him. Nor does he remember what any member of the group did. He also said that he does not remember what clothing Kate used on the day Maddie disappeared. The owner of the photographs, adds Levy, had already contacted British journalists with the aim of selling the rights to publish the photos—with a condition—that the images be first shown to the Portuguese police.

600,000 Euros for the Images

In declarations 24horas, Duarte Levy indicated that the tourist sent the images to the British Centre For The Protection of Children (CEOP) whom have collaborated with Portuguese authorities in the gathering of information regarding the Maddie Case. Shortly after, he was contacted by an important Legal Office in the U.K. who offered him 600,000 euros for the photographs. "The solicitors asked him not to speak about the contents of the images, nor did they want them sent to Portugal—for this reason, the negotiation was not made", explained Duarte Levy. Throughout the judicial process, the responsible case investigators consistently sought images from the night of May 3rd. They were unsuccessful.

The photographic record of apartment 5A, made only a few hours after the disappearance of Maddie by a Judicial Police specialist, did not allow Gonçalo Amaral to collect details that could be decisive in resolving the case. "The photos, or video images, needed to fix, for history, that which each of the present group were wearing. This could have had a major relevance for the evolution of the investigation", wrote Gonçalo Amaral in his book "The Truth of the Lie."

Side column:

"We are not suspects"

The English newspaper "The People" accused Duarte Levy, that he had sought to sell the photographs taken on the night Maddie disappeared for 50 thousand pounds, about 60 thousand euros, and assured that they refused the business and advised the McCann couple.

In a statement to 24 hours, Levy denied the story: "I am not the owner of the photos, I restricted myself to try to help several British journalists in Brussels."

In statements to the newspaper, spokesman for the McCanns, Clarence Mitchell said that Kate and Gerry "Are angry and upset" with the case, recalling that "they are no longer suspects" in the process. Still, confessing ignorance whether Kate changed clothes that night. "If she did, so what?", asks Mitchell, quoted by "The People".

http://www.24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2922&link=14

odette

08-27-2008, 08:41 AM

24Horas - Text: Luís Maneta - 20 August 2008

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Mysterious photos interest the PJ

Judiciária "attentive" towards new evidence in the Maddie case

Police investigate the possible existence of new photos from the night that Madeleine McCann disappeared

The Judiciária is analysing the case of the supposed existence of photographs that were taken by a tourist inside the Tapas Bar restaurant on the day that Madeleine disappeared, a source at the PJ stated to 24horas.

"Despite the archiving of the judicial process, we remain attentive to any fact or any piece of evidence that allows for us to clarify the circumstances under which the child disappeared", the same source referred. If the facts justify it, the process may even be reopened.

Yesterday, 24horas published statements from French journalist and blogger Duarte Lévy, in which he says that he saw some of the 24 photos that a tourist says he took inside the Tapas Bar between 8.10 and 10.15 p.m. on the 3rd of May.

At that time, the McCann couple dined with the group of seven British tourists that accompanied them in their Algarvian holidays, until the moment, at around 10 p.m., when Kate got up from the table. She would return shortly afterwards, saying that Maddie had disappeared.

Easily identifiable

According to Duarte Levy, the images "are not consistent" with the report that was made by the English to the PJ, about what happened that evening.

According to the journalist, the photographs were taken by a tourist who was having dinner at the Tapas Bar, in the company of his wife and another couple.

Based on this description, the PJ should not have any difficulties in reaching the owner of the photos, given that at a certain point in the process the reservation list of the restaurant was apprehended.

24horas has been able to establish that on the 3rd of May, apart from the McCann group – that had booked a table for 8.30 p.m. and where 9 persons were seated – there were only three other tables that were occupied by four persons, identified by their surnames: Edmonds, Buller and Patell. All of them were already inside the Tapas Bar when Kate and Gerry McCann arrived there, only a few minutes after the scheduled hour.

http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2923&link=12

odette

08-27-2008, 08:47 AM

portugalresident.com - By DAISY SAMPSON and CECÍLIA PIRES - 21 August 2008

MADELEINE: Police should search for body said British expert

A SUMMARY by police in February 2008 reveals, for the first time, that there were only two possible causes, in their opinion, that could account for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The report, written on February 5 by investigators, concludes that by analysing the evidence up to that point, police felt that Madeleine was kidnapped or killed, either accidentally or deliberately, and continues to give detailed reasons as to why these conclusions have been drawn.

The possibility of kidnap is taken from evidence including the statement made by Kate describing windows in the apartment being open that were not open earlier.

The testimony by Jane Tanner is also taken into account and her statement describing an individual carrying a child in their arms at 9.15pm adds to this theory. Police files reveal that the alternative explanation for Madeleine’s disappearance is that she died in the apartment and her body was then removed.

The summary states that the specialist British police dog, Eddie, detected the smell of a dead body in the apartment near the window and behind the sofa.

The dog also detected signs of a body in the Renault car hired by the McCanns and in other areas in and around the apartment used by the McCanns. Keela, the dog used to detect the smell of human blood, is reported in the files as finding the smell of blood in the sitting room of the apartment, adding to the suspicions by the police that Madeleine died in the apartment.

At no point in the summary is anyone specifically accused of killing or kidnapping Madeleine.

In July 2007 Mark Harrison MBE of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) made a report to the Portuguese police stating that in his opinion: “Police have concentrated on finding Madeleine alive, they now need to start to consider other options and the possibility that she has been killed and her body hidden.”

Mark Harrison assessed the Portuguese investigation between May and July and recommended that areas should be searched again but using dogs that detect blood and dead bodies.

The McCanns have countered the reports from the police files and have pledged to continue to look for their daughter. Gerry McCann told press: “The content of these files has been extensively reported. It will be clear to everyone now that there is absolutely no evidence that suggests Madeleine has been seriously harmed, we strongly believe that Madeleine is out there and can be found.”

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the McCanns have hired a new detective agency to help in the search for their daughter. The unnamed US firm reportedly uses former members of the FBI and CIA.

Clarence Mitchell confirmed: “It is correct that an international firm of investigators has been appointed. I am unable to say anything about them because of the covert nature of their work”.

Metodo 3, the Spanish private investigators used by the McCanns, are still involved in the case but are dealing with leads in Iberia and northern Africa while the new team will be looking at international leads.

http://www.portugalresident.com/portugalresident/showstory.asp?ID=28839

odette

08-29-2008, 08:44 AM

portugalresident.com - Updated: 28 August 2008

McCanns relied heavily on others to care for their children

CHILD CARERS working at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz noticed that the McCann children spent the maximum time available in the care of the resort’s kids club according to police files released to the media surrounding the case.

The usual routine of Gerry and Kate McCann was to put the children in the nursery facility at about 9am and then pick them up between midday and 12.30pm to give the children lunch before bringing them back at 3pm and returning at the end of the day between 5pm and 5.30pm.

Other children in the tapas nine party would not spend as much time away from their parents. The other parents in the group, the files reveal, would normally leave their children with the babysitting service only in the morning sessions.

The police files also gives details about Madeleine’s personality as described by her father, Gerry and those that spent time with Madeleine while they were on holiday in the Algarve.

Madeleine was described by Gerry as being an extrovert, very active and having happy relationships with other children. She would never go with a stranger and he states clearly that she was not taking any medication.

In a statement made by one of the nannies working at the Ocean Club, Madeleine was described as being a calm, beautiful and happy child.

However, she was portrayed as being more shy than the other children at the kids club.

Fund

Meanwhile, reports in the British media have claimed that there is now less than 500,000 pounds sterling in the Find Madeleine fund.

The private investigation agency Oakley International has reportedly cost the fund half a million pounds sterling, despite not yielding any concrete results.

This had led to Brian Kennedy, the British double glazing tycoon who has donated large sums of money to the Find Madeleine campaign, voicing his dissatisfaction in the investigators.

A statement was issued on behalf of the McCanns on Tuesday countering the claims in the press concerning the status of the private investigators via the website www.findmadeleine.com.

“We appointed them (Oakley International) several months ago to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. We continue to work with them to this end. The working relationship is managed by Brian Kennedy, who also confirms the relationship with Oakley International continues to be good and that it remains entirely focused on the search for Madeleine.”

http://www.portugalresident.com/portugalresident/showstory.asp?ID=28973

odette

09-01-2008, 09:45 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Correio da Manhã - 01 September 2008

Lawyer forces reopening

Claim: Prosecutor obliged to investigate

Manuel Maysounave Jiménez seeks the reopening of the process of Maddie McCann in order that a new lead supplied by him is investigated. This Spanish lawyer says he saw a couple with a girl, "apparently Madeleine, in the bus station of Santander, about eight months ago".

The registered letter with this information, to which CM had access, should reach the judge today. The letter begins by explaining he took eight months to reveal this information "because I did not know that the PJ was spending their time working to support the wrong hypothesis by incriminating Kate of the concealment of a non-existent corpse". The lawyer who is identified by the number 118 of the Lawyers' College of Alava, in the Basque Country, then describes what he alleges to have seen on the 18th of January 2008, during a bus trip, which passed by Santander.

"I was spending some time in the bar of the station, when the surprise arrived. A girl, four or five years old, beautiful, apparently Madeleine, entered with a couple aged from 45 to 55 years. It was an unforgettable flash. I thought: "Already she is found."

Manuel Maysounave describes the girl as being in "good health, happy and well dressed ". About the couple he says that they "were British" and that he did not feel that there was "pressure" on the child. He described the man with a "white and little beard" with nearly 1.80 metres of height, stating immediately after that he did not know photographs from the arguido Murat, leaving in the air an insinuation that he could have been the kidnapper. Francisco Pagarete, lawyer of the British-Portuguese, does not know the letter and affirms: "It's very strange."

The spokesman of the McCanns, Clarence Mitchell, also claims to know nothing about it. Rogério Alves, one of the lawyers of the couple, guarantees that he doesn’t know about this new data and assures that they are going to ponder on what to do.

DISPATCH LEFT DOUBTS IN THE AIR

At the end of a year and a half of investigations and to avoid the suspicion that would result from the constitution of arguido being kept eternally in the air, the Public Prosecution service of Portimão ended up by opting for the archiving of the legal proceedings. However, the dispatch is far from closed in certainties. The magistrate of Portimão left in the air many doubts regarding the behaviour of the parents, ending up by practically considering the abduction theory improbable. The same was done by the PJ, though they did not manage to find evidence of the death of the child.

DETAILS

CATALOGUE OF CRIME

One of the claims of the Spanish lawyer is to set himself up as an assistant in the process. However, the law defines very clearly which crimes anyone can undertake such a request for; which is not the case here. In the process of Madeleine's disappearance, only the interested parts, like the parents of the child, can apply for that procedural capacity.

TERMS TO RUN

The archival of the legal proceedings happened in the last days of July. Since the process has not accused any culprits, the term did not run on holidays. It is still possible for those procedurally involved to challenge the Public Ministry's decision to archive. The McCann's are in a position to do so.

GONÇALO IN SPAIN

Gonçalo Amaral, former co-ordinator of the investigation to Madeleine's disappearance, who left the PJ at the end of June, was yesterday in the nearby country to present the Spanish edition of the book 'The Truth of the Lie'. The Portuguese edition remains at the top of sales.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=8C07274D-EEAF-4B8B-8627-FB0FF472F6D8&channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010

Jules100

09-02-2008, 12:01 PM

This is such a sad case. I dont think that she will ever be found. Years ago a little boy called Ben Needham vanished whilst on holiday in Greece and has never been seen since.
No parent should have to go through this. I could never get over the fact that they left their children whilst they went out to eat. When i first read this i thought it was somewhere really close to the complex but when you look at the maps it was quite a distance- why would they do that. I'm not saying that they deserve what happened- far from it but in this day and age, your kids should be within eye sight at all times i think. They must feel so much guilt. I just hope that wherever Maddie is , she is safe and being looked after, i don't want to think about the alternative.
Some of my friends think that the parents had something to do with it , especially when they heard that Kate would sometimes 'sedate' the kids before they went out- one said it could have been an accident and they panicked- i don't think this is what happened but who knows- what do all of you think

odette

09-09-2008, 01:04 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Correio da Manhã - by: Ana Luísa Nascimento/Eduardo Dâmaso - 08 September 2008

Dogs mark trail next to the window

Investigation: Images of the dogs' inspection inside the apartment

Animals detected cadaver odour and human blood traces in the living room, behind the sofa

When trainer Martin Grime approached apartment 5A of the Ocean Club resort, the sniffer dog that is trained to detect cadaver odour "immediately changed" and as soon as he was released, "he entered the apartment with above average interest".

This information is included in the report by the English expert who accompanied the dogs' inspection of the apartment where Madeleine disappeared from on the evening of May 3, 2007, images of which are published by CM. The diligence culminated in the coincidental action of the British dogs: both 'Eddie', that is trained to detect cadaver odour, and 'Keela', that is trained to find traces of human blood, marked the area behind the sofa, in the living room, next to the apartment's side window.

. . . . . http://i38.tinypic.com/suxzir.jpg
O cão ‘Eddie’, treinado para detectar odor a cadáver, inspeccionou o quarto do casal McCann e fixou-se na zona entre a cama e o roupeiro

The videos show the dogs jumping over the sofa and immobilising between the sofa and the wall, barking until the piece of furniture was pushed away from the wall. To the Polícia Judiciária, this fact, which is reported in one of the investigation's intercalary reports, "doubtlessly" proves that the sofa was pushed against the wall after the little girl's death. On the other hand, taking into account that very few indicia were collected from this piece of furniture, which was positioned on the same spot where the dogs gave their signal, the PJ admits the possibility that it was "subject to washing" in order to eliminate possible traces.

Odour in the bedroom

Another area of the apartment that the sniffer dog 'Eddie' focused on was the McCanns' bedroom, in a corner next to the wardrobe. In this case, the investigation's video shows the dog immobilising itself inside the wardrobe. In the room where the little girl allegedly slept when she disappeared, nothing was detected, except the soft toy, which the investigators believe was placed on the bed's end afterwards, in order to sustain the abduction theory.

In the Polícia Judiciária's final report, the inspectors underline that the British dogs only marked the detection in locations and on objects that were related to the McCanns: apart from the apartment and its patio, the vehicle that was used by Kate and Gerry (rented 24 days after the disappearance), two pieces of clothing that belong to Kate and Maddie's soft toy were marked.

On the contrary, in the apartments that were occupied by the couple's friends in Praia da Luz and in all the vehicles that were used by Robert Murat, the first person who was made an arguido, nothing was detected by the dogs, as well as in the house that was occupied by the McCanns afterwards.

Strong indicia for Amaral

Gonçalo Amaral, the former coordinator of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine, has defended that there was "sufficient indicia" to accuse the McCanns.

The inspector, who has already stated publicly that he was convinced that the process would be archived from the moment that he was removed from the investigation, believes that the parents could have been accused of concealment of a cadaver and simulating a crime. "With another Public Ministry, I admit that there could have been another decision", he told CM when the archiving dispatch of the case was known.

Just like our newspaper reported, in prosecutor Magalhães e Menezes' dispatch the Public Ministry itself discards the abduction theory, admits that the most likely possibility is homicide, but clears Maddie's parents, while concluding that there was neglect from Kate and Gerry. The prosecutor argued that the McCanns had neither time nor means to conceal the body, given the fact that they had been in Portugal for only a few days. Despite this conclusion, the Public Ministry compiled a list of questions that remain unexplained, namely why the surveillance procedures were changed that night and how the twins did not wake up in the midst of the confusion.

Kate's diary was not valued as evidence

Kate's diary, which was considered as fundamental by the investigators because it revealed Madeleine's mother's profile, led the PJ to England to apprehend it but was never validated as evidence. The document, which Kate started writing following a psychiatrist's advice, was discovered by the police in the Algarve apartment and was initially photocopied and analysed. But it was only in April that the police were granted permission to formally apprehend the original document.

Dogs and tests render investigation expensive

The hundreds of forensic tests that were carried out in the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance cost the State thousands of euros. In the last volume of the process alone, there are five invoices that refer to DNA tests and analyses on biological residues, all of them over twenty thousand euros. The total of expenses with forensic tests in Portugal and England is approximately 145 thousand euros. The daily expense of the British dogs cost one thousand euros and the travel expenses cost over 2700.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=AAD2BEC6-14D0-447A-8411-4B5DD92DE018&channelid=00000009-0000-0000-0000-000000000009

article continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 01:07 PM

Correio da Manhã - by: Ana Luísa Nascimento/Eduardo Dâmaso - 08 September 2008 - (continued from above)

Numbers from the case

443 searches were carried out by the Polícia Judiciária in the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

300 policemen from various security forces were mobilised after the disappearance of the little girl from the Ocean Club resort, in Praia da Luz.

130 elements of the Polícia Judiciária, from several directories over the country – mainly Lisbon and the Algarve – were detached for this investigation.

700 persons were heard as witnesses by the authorities during the inquiry, 112 of them being staff of the Ocean Club resort.

2000 diligences were counted by the Public Ministry during the investigation.

3 persons were made arguidos: Robert Murat, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann.

Details

Manipulated evidence – The PJ believes that the McCanns changed the position of objects inside the apartment, manipulating the location in order to justify the abduction theory. The examples are the sofa, which was pushed against the wall, and the soft toy, which was placed on the little girl's bed afterwards.

English under control – Kate and Gerry McCann kept the British journalists under control. In order not to be criticised, they offered photo shoots during their morning strolls in the Algarve – apparently routine but previously arranged, as revealed by Kate's notes.

Distorted information – The PJ says that the information that was collected with the McCanns and their friends was "worked upon" in order to strengthen the abduction theory. The authorities conclude that "everyone lies" on the issue of the surveillance of the children, explaining that "fundamental" information was "distorted".

Lack of credibility – The witness statement from Jane Tanner, who said that she saw someone crossing the street carrying a child, was not considered credible by the PJ, which doesn't understand how the McCanns' friend did not "act immediately" when she saw someone walking away from Maddie's apartment.

No trace: 16 months without clues - Madeleine McCann disappeared from the Ocean Club, in the Algarve, on the evening of May 3, 2007. The little English girl was three years old and was on holidays with her parents and siblings. She was never seen again

Theories: Abduction and homicide – Abduction was the hypothesis that was pointed out after the disappearance of Maddie, and to this day it's the theory that is defended by the parents. But the dogs' work led the authorities to believe in homicide

Kate: Political pressures – Kate's notes after her daughter's disappearance reveal that the McCanns were in contact with the English prime minister, who they asked to pressure Portugal.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=AAD2BEC6-14D0-447A-8411-4B5DD92DE018&channelid=00000009-0000-0000-0000-000000000009

odette

09-09-2008, 01:12 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

(Thanks to Joana Morais and 'Ines' for translation (some minor amendments have been made to the original translation)

elmundo.es - SILVIA TAULÉS - 06 September 2008

Gonçalo Amaral: Gerry McCann hid Madeleine's corpse on the beach, 06 September 2008 - (interview now complete)

* The apartment window always stayed shut, in spite of what Kate McCann said

* The girl might have fallen from the sofa; there could have been an accident because of the sleeping pill (sic: solution)

. . . . . http://i38.tinypic.com/vobc5h.jpg
. . . . . Gonçalo Amaral, El Mundo interview

MADRID - He arrives late, with a certain 'star' look. His book (Esquilo, 2008), which will be officially presented on the 9th of September, has sold 120,000 copies in two weeks, a record in Portugal.

This, once begun, was unstoppable. Gonçalo Amaral, the visible head of an investigation that had thousands of people in suspense, tells why he remains insistent that it was Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, who were responsible for her disappearance.

Question – You defend the theory that the parents are responsible for what happened to Madeleine McCann.

Answer – No. That is not in the book.

Q - However that is the theory that one can understand from reading it.

A - The summary also draws the same conclusion of the book.

Q - What are the points, that you believe, implicate the McCanns in the disappearance of their daughter?

A - The first thing is that they always defended the theory of the abduction. The mother said that the window of the room was open when she saw that the girl was not there. That is not correct, the window was closed and it is impossible for the girl to have left that way. We worked in the apartment and the window was closed. The parents have always argued that the girl was alive and they were the first to raise that Maddie could be dead.

Q - Other evidence?

A - The witnesses, there were several inconsistencies between their statements. Those that had dinner with the McCanns that night, their friends, invented the system of monitoring of the children. Why? There are many details that lead one to think about the culpability of the parents. There are two different lists about the monitoring system.

Q - You talk about inconsistencies in the statements about the monitoring system. The book also indicates that the nine people who had dinner together drank an average of eight bottles of wine, four of red and four of white. Isn't there the possibility that, between the disappearance and the alcohol, they were confused and that they did not remember the exact minutes in which they watched the children?

A - Okay, but then there is the window where we found Kate's finger prints, the mother of the girl. She said that she had never touched that window, and the cleaning lady assured that she had cleaned it on the previous day. And above all she said that the window was open when it was closed, it doesn't add up.

Q - Would it be possible that the mother or the father closed the window later, when returning to the room to search for the girl?

A - There are three people who say that they walked in front of the apartment and saw the window closed. They did not state that it was open? Which left? And there are other things. The mother says that she entered the room and the windows were open and the shutters were raised. No one else saw that. They simulated an abduction. They wanted us to say that someone entered the apartment with the intention of theft and when they saw the girl they killed her.

Q - That could have happened?

A – It is very complicated.

Q - Why?

A - Let us return to the people who passed in front of the apartment. Nobody saw anything strange. We investigated all the people who were involved in theft in the area. There were no unknown fingerprints in the apartment, of course they could have used gloves, that is true, but that could not be. In addition, the parents were the first to talk about death. And it is normal to think that their daughter could have died, but they have never admitted this in public. But I do not believe that the parents killed her.

Q - So, what are we talking about?

A - About an accident. The child could have fallen from a sofa, could have had an accident with Calpol (a sleeping pill (sic: solution)). We never had access to the girl's medical history, so we don't know whether she was healthy or not. We can only speculate. There are many very strange details.

Q - What do you think could have happened that night?

A - Both the British and Portuguese police, and even the prosecutor, who has already changed his mind, thought the same. We talked about death by others, not murder. In the room, blood and cadaver odour was found just below a window where a sofa was. The father was talking to a friend just outside that window for a while. The girl was not a heavy sleeper, that's what the parents said. Perhaps she heard her father and climbed to the sofa below the window. But the parents, for the girl not to go out, moved it away from the wall. Madeleine could have fallen.

Q - The girl falls from the sofa, dies with the blow and the parents find her.

A - The mother. It is the mother who finds the girl dead.

Q - But I am trying to think out an idea. How can a mother who has just found her daughter dead on the floor decide to hide the corpse? And how do you hide the corpse of a girl of nearly four years old so that no one can find it?

A – This is what we were investigating when I was dismissed from the case. I want to recall that there is an Irish man who claimed to have seen Gerry McCann with a girl in his arms, on his way towards the beach that same night. That testimony has been hidden. The dogs specialised in finding traces of blood and odour of cadaver, found both on the wall of the apartment and in the boot of the car that the McCanns rented 23 days later.

Q - Did Gerry McCann bury his dead daughter on the beach and then unearth her and put her in the boot 23 days later?

A - We do not know. The Irish [witness] that I have told you about saw Gerry on television with a child in his arms arriving in the UK and stated that it was the same image they had seen back in May in Portugal. That man spent two days without sleeping when he realised what he had discovered, but nobody has talked about them. And what one of the Irish has said is logical, a man with a child in his arms toward the beach.

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/09/06/internacional/1220677421.html

article continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 01:17 PM

elmundo.es - SILVIA TAULÉS - 06 September 2008 - (continued from above)

Q - But this implies that the whole group, the nine people who ate dinner that night, had agreed to lie.

A - All of them. Because, if you do not know, the British law regarding negligence and child welfare is very strict. They left their children alone in the apartments. In the UK, if you leave a child alone for half an hour, you lose custody. After Madeleine's death, if it had been made public that it was an accident, everyone could have lost custody.

Q - So you consider that one of the reasons for the parents and friends to have lied is because they feared losing their children's custody.

A - Yes, yes. Nobody has opened legal proceedings for what happened, for the negligence, and we have asked the British authorities why. Have they answered? Of course not.

Q – Let's go to the day of the disappearance. 17h30 is the last time that neutral witnesses saw Maddie alive. At 20h30, her parents sit down, composed, at the table for dinner with friends. In the middle, Gerry even plays tennis. Is there enough time for the girl to fall from the sofa, killing herself, for the parents to realise, to decide to conceal her, for the siblings to be sleeping, and for them to arrive undisturbed and sit at the table as if nothing had happened? Even more, for them to sit down at the table after having convinced the rest of the group that they mustn't report the death of the girl?

A - In those three hours there are inconsistencies between witnesses. Some said that the checks lasted half an hour, others said 30 seconds...

Q – It is obvious that they contradict each other, but did they have time to do everything you say they did?

A - Yes, of course they had time. Some say that Gerry had a strange behaviour at the table.

Q – Did they?

A – They said that he spoke too much, gesticulated a lot, quite the opposite from the previous days. For me this is a very real hypothesis.

Q - You have a long career as an investigator, years in which you have faced criminals and innocents. What do you see when facing the McCanns?

A - They are two persons with much fear. I do not know if they fear to be discovered or fear the police of an unknown country.

Q – It was said that Kate was very cold. But I've seen her cry.

A - So did I. She is not cold. There was a moment, in a meeting with them, when we set out the sofa theory. Kate put her head down, looking distant, and, after a few seconds, she looked up again as if nothing had happened. She looked like she was escaping from the role that she was interpreting.

Q - When you raised the hypothesis that the girl might have died after falling off the sofa, did Kate McCann answer?

A - She did not answer, she just dropped her head for a moment, as if she was about to faint. She had an emotional collapse that lasted just a moment.

Q - And Gerry McCann?

A – He is a very strong person, dominant. He's a surgeon, a man capable of making decisions very quickly. That was good for him to be able to decide over Madeleine. If you have to hide the body, you must decide quickly. And it could only be hidden on the beach, and you have to take her on foot. This is where the statements from the Irish witness is important, the one that no one has taken into account.

Q - What is your opinion?

A - To me, Gerry hid Madeleine's body on the beach. And after a few days he moved her with his car. We work following this lead. Trying to find out the date of the switch, some details, but we were on the way. The Irish [witness] was about to arrive in Portugal, but everything was delayed too much, he even received external pressures. In the end, he didn't testify for the Police.

Q – They [McCanns] have appeared in all the media to announce the disappearance of their daughter and if it ends up that they have done it, what are they, psychopaths?

A – No, they are human. If the McCanns admit that their daughter is dead, they can no longer collect money from the Maddie fund, and that's a lot of money, over one million pounds. That's why they say that the girl was abducted.

Q - What if they do not want to lose hope? It all seems very morbid.

A - It is. If they admit that she is dead they will lose their style of life. They are human, not psychopaths.

Q - You said that the girl was frozen.

A - For there to be vestiges in the boot of the car rented 23 days later, they must have preserved the corpse in some way. I believe that when they put it in the boot, with the heat of those days in the Algarve, a similar situation happened with that of shopping bags, which melt, and then the water is transferred to the car.

Q – Couldn't the traces be transferred from the room to the parents clothes and after to the car?

A - But if you have blood on your clothes it is because you've seen it. And the blood that the dogs found was washed blood, it was remains not clear spots.

Q - Neither you nor Alípio Ribeiro (former director of the Judicial Police), nor Olegário Souza (former police spokesman), are still on their posts. You have even pre-retired.

A - There were too many pressures. The McCanns have many contacts and nobody was interested in knowing the truth.

Q - Is it the British Empire against Portugal?

A - Yes, it seems so.

TRACES OF DNA IN THE CAR'S BOOT

The Scotland Yard dogs detected, in the boot of the car rented by the McCanns 23 days after the disappearance of the girl, traces of DNA which could belong to the girl; for the Portuguese Police more evidence, that Maddie was not abducted but that she died in the Ocean Club apartment.

*
Note: Mr Amaral does NOT actually describe Calpol as a 'sleeping pill'. It is El Mundo who describe it as such: Firstly, in the headline teaser and secondly, in brackets to describe to Spanish readers what Calpol is, after Mr Amaral has simply mentioned it by name.

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/09/06/internacional/1220677421.html

odette

09-09-2008, 01:20 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Correio da Manhã - Ana Luísa Nascimento / Eduardo Dâmaso - 07 September 2008 - 00h30

Soft toy found by death smell

Investigation: CM reveals images of the dogs' work

The cadaver odour on Madeleine McCann's soft toy was proved when the sniffer dog was able to find it while hidden inside a closed cupboard.

. . . . . http://i37.tinypic.com/2ywfm35.jpg
Mesmo escondido, o cão sinalizou odor a cadáver quando se aproximou do armário onde se encontrava o peluche e deu sinal, começando a ladrar.

The process of the toy's marking is demonstrated by the images from the investigation's videos that are published by Correio da Manhã, as well as the moment when the springer spaniel that is trained to detect the smell of death, changes its behaviour next to a piece of Kate's clothing.

The cadaver odour on the soft toy was marked inside the residence that was being occupied by the McCanns in July 2007, but the experts repeated the diligence in a scenario outside the house, where the dog, 'Eddie', gave signal again.

Confronted with the indicia that resulted from the inspection done by the dogs, which are widely used in the United Kingdom – English expert Martin Grime asserts that in over two hundred searches, the sniffer dogs have never marked a false positive – the Polícia Judiciária questioned Kate and Gerry and made them arguidos. The authorities were forced to admit a possible involvement of the McCann couple in their daughter's disappearance and to confront them with elements that could result in incrimination.

Kate McCann, who after Maddie's disappearance was accompanied everywhere – and in a visible manner – by her daughter's favourite toy, did not deny the fact that two pieces of her clothing and her daughter's soft toy had been marked by the English dog that is trained to detect cadaver odour and justified the fact with her profession: she alleged that as a doctor at the Health Centre in Leicester she attended six death situations during the period immediately before her vacation time in Portugal.

Manipulated evidence

The soft toy was found on the bed where Maddie allegedly slept on the night that she went missing, but on the bed, no cadaver odour was detected, contrary to the soft toy. This fact led the Polícia Judiciária to believe that the crime scene was manipulated in order to better justify the abduction theory that is sustained by the McCanns and their friends.

In one of the investigation reports the inspectors write that the soft toy was placed on the bed's end in a moment that was posterior to the disappearance. "There was an intentional modification, in an attempt to take advantage for the simulation of the abduction scenario", the process reads.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/Noticia.aspx?channelid=00000009-0000-0000-0000-000000000009&contentid=1927CC62-D478-40BF-BB91-D661A6ED2A11

article continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 01:42 PM

Correio da Manhã - Ana Luísa Nascimento / Eduardo Dâmaso - 07 September 2008 - 00h30 - (continued from above)

McCann devalue dogs

Kate and Gerry McCann continue to defend that Madeleine McCann was abducted on the evening of the 3rd of May 2007, in the Algarve, and they devalue the indicia that was collected during the investigation – mainly the traces that were detected by the sniffer dogs.

"The frailty of these dogs was proved in a study that was carried out in the USA", the McCanns stated in an interview to 'Expresso', reiterating the hope of finding their daughter alive: "We want to find her alive, but if she's dead we want to know. There is nothing in the process to indicate that something bad has happened to her."

Kate and Gerry say that they "firmly" believe that Maddie was abducted by a man and they criticise the former case coordinator, Gonçalo Amaral, who defends the homicide theory. "His behaviour has been a disgrace", they said, considering that the success of his book is a case of "illicit enrichment".

"Suing the McCanns is a possibility to consider" (Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the Madeleine McCann case)

Correio da Manhã – How do you react to the McCanns' statement that your behaviour is a disgrace?

Gonçalo Amaral – That happens in the sequence of a campaign, it's normal for that hostility to exist. Concerning that type of accusations, they have to be pondered…

- Does that mean that you consider the possibility of suing the McCanns?

- Yes, it's a possibility to consider.

- How do you interpret the fact that the McCanns devalue the dogs' work?

- It’s a form of defence. To them, we are all incompetent, but that is not how the dogs are seen in the United Kingdom, where they are widely used and with success.

- The McCanns say that the English police are more experienced in abductions…

- They can present a formal complaint about their daughter's abduction to the English police instead of using private detectives.

Details

200 searches – Expert Martin Grime asserts that in over 200 searches the sniffer dogs have never failed.

Vehicle – 'Eddie' and 'Keela', who are trained to detect the odour of human cadavers and blood, marked the car that was rented by the McCann couple among ten vehicles.

Robert Murat – The cars that were used by Murat, the first to become an arguido, were inspected by the dogs but nothing was detected.

Decisive – The investigation changed its course after the traces that were detected by the dogs.

Notes

16 months: Missing – Madeleine McCann disappeared 16 months ago from the Ocean Club resort, in Praia da Luz, Algarve, where she was spending holidays with her parents and her twin siblings. It was on the evening of May 3, 2007.

Detectives: 1.2 million – Kate and Gerry McCann, Maddie's parents, guarantee that they have already spent 1.2 million euros from the FindMadeleine Fund, with the private investigation into their daughter's disappearance.

Investigation: Case archived – In July, the Public Ministry archived the investigation into Maddie's disappearance. The abduction theory was dismissed and homicide was pointed out as more likely.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/Noticia.aspx?channelid=00000009-0000-0000-0000-000000000009&contentid=1927CC62-D478-40BF-BB91-D661A6ED2A11

odette

09-09-2008, 01:46 PM

Correio da Manhã - Ana Luísa Nascimento / Eduardo Dâmaso - 06 September 2008 - 14h30 - continued from above)

Dogs ran towards the McCanns' car, 06 September 2008 - (Contains more footage of Eddie and Keela from the PJ video)

. . . . . http://i37.tinypic.com/33w2xw3.jpg
‘Eddie’. Este cão, treinado para detectar odor a cadáver, é solto num parque de estacionamento onde estão dez carros

Investigation: CM reveals images of the dogs' work

Ten cars are parked in an underground parking garage. 'Eddie' and 'Keela', dogs that are trained to detect cadaver odour and human blood, respectively, are released inside this garage, and at different moments in time, they run towards a grey Renault Mégane (sic: Scenic), where they stop and give their handler a sign: it's the car that was rented by Madeleine McCann's parents, three weeks after her disappearance, and where Gonçalo Amaral believes that the little girl's body was carried.

The performance of the British dogs, images of which are revealed first-handedly by CM, was decisive for the Polícia Judiciária and for the investigation, which had been oriented towards the abduction theory until then. 'Keela' and 'Eddie', which are often used in the United Kingdom and with success, coincided in the marking of objects and locations that are related to the McCanns: inside the apartment where Madeleine disappeared from (in the couple's bedroom, in the living room and near the side window), in the patio, inside the vehicle that was used by the McCann family (rented three weeks after the little girl's disappearance), on two pieces of clothing that belong to Kate, and on Maddie's soft toy.

In the case of the car that was rented by the McCanns on the 27th of May 2007, both 'Keela' and 'Eddie' ran towards the vehicle as soon as they were released inside the parking garage where it was located together with nine other vehicles, and they coincided in marking the car key and the inside of the car boot. The investigation's videos reveal that the dogs gave their signal in different manners, but coincided on the locations. They both stop on the spot, but while 'Eddie' barks when he detects cadaver odour, 'Keela' remains completely static when she finds a blood trace.

Concerning the other inspected vehicles, which included all that had been used by Robert Murat, the first person who was made an arguido, and the car that belonged to a friend of Kate and Gerry, nothing was detected by either one of the dogs, according to the final report.

The use of the British dogs was defended by the English authorities themselves, as they are used to this inspection technique in the United Kingdom, and the result of their work led the Polícia Judiciária to constitute Maddie's parents as arguidos, in order to confront them with elements that could result in their incrimination.

http://www.correiomanha.pt/Noticia.aspx?channelid=00000009-0000-0000-0000-000000000009&contentid=E7F29615-4ABA-4862-9164-F45896D140C4

article continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 01:50 PM

Correio da Manhã - Ana Luísa Nascimento / Eduardo Dâmaso - 06 September 2008 - 14h30 - (continued from above)

NOTES

Dogs defended by the English – Mark Harrison, the English policeman who was designated to help the PJ in the search for Maddie, wrote a report in which he defended the use of the dogs that are trained to detect cadaver odour and blood.

Animals decisive for the police – The performance of the British dogs that are specially trained to detect cadaver odour and human blood was decisive for Kate and Gerry to be constituted arguidos.

Body may have been inside the car – Gonçalo Amaral, the former coordinator of the case, believes that Maddie's body was transported inside the car that was rented by the McCanns three weeks after the disappearance, and marked by the dogs.

"They never failed"

'Eddie' and 'Keela', springer spaniel sniffer dogs that were used in the investigation into the disappearance of Maddie, did not give a single "false positive result".

The assertion comes from English expert Martin Grime, who in his search report guarantees that the behaviour of the dog that is trained to detect cadaver odour "changed immediately after we opened the front door to the apartment" where Madeleine McCann disappeared from.

"He entered the apartment with an above the average interest", the document reads, explaining that the dog marked the couple's bedroom, the living room, behind the sofa and near the side window. The same signals were issued by the dog that is trained to detect blood traces. The animals marked the same locations and objects that are related to the McCanns, including the car that was rented by Madeleine's parents, a Renault Mégane (sic: Scenic) that was rented three weeks after the little girl's disappearance. Among ten cars that were placed inside a parking garage, both 'Eddie', that is trained to detect cadaver odour, and 'Keela', that is trained to signal traces of human blood, changed their behaviour next to the car that was used by the McCanns in May 2007.

Interpretation of a crime

Crime novels, manuals that are exclusively used by the police and others concerning the search for missing children were the couple's bedside reading. 'The Interpretation of a Crime' is one of the book covers that was filmed during the searches that the PJ performed inside the McCanns' house.

. . . . . http://i34.tinypic.com/x5bgud.jpg

LINK VIDEO: http://imgs.sapo.pt/sapovideo/swf/flvplayer-sapo.swf?file=http%3A%2F%2Frd3.videos.sapo.pt%2FrM Qsz9tecfVISZYZV9iS%2Fmov%2F1

http://www.correiomanha.pt/Noticia.aspx?channelid=00000009-0000-0000-0000-000000000009&contentid=E7F29615-4ABA-4862-9164-F45896D140C4

odette

09-09-2008, 01:52 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

TypicallySpanish - By h.b - 06 September 2008

Ex Portuguese police chief claims that Gerry McCann hid the body of Madeleine McCann on the beach

Gonçalo Amaral has given an exclusive interview to the Spanish El Mundo newspaper today.

The ex Director of the Criminal Investigation department of the Police in Portimao, Gonçalo Amaral, who head the team searching for Madeleine McCann, has given an interview in today's El Mundo newspaper.

The man who was sacked after making the parents suspects in the case claims that Gerry McCann hid Madeleine's body on the beach, and that the child died from an accident, claiming she could have fallen off the sofa or there could have been an overdose of Capel (sic: Calpol), a sleeping drug.

The ex Police chief, whose book on the case has sold 120,000 copies in two weeks – a record in Portugal, claims there are many inconsistencies in the case. He says a window which Kate McCann claims was found open when Maddie vanished was in fact always closed, and he speaks of an Irish witness who said he saw Gerry McCann with a girl in his arms walking down to the beach on the night she disappeared. He thinks it possible that she was then dug up and moved in the hire car which the McCann's rented 23 days later, and where Scotland Yard dogs found DNA remains which could have been from Maddie.

He claims that the nine people who died (sic: dined) together with the McCann's that night must have agreed to lie in the case.

He also tells the paper that the McCann's are human, 'If they admit that Maddie is dead then they cannot collect from a fund of more than a million pounds'.

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_17886.shtml

odette

09-09-2008, 01:56 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Diário de Notícias - PEDRO VILELA MARQUES - 06.09.08

McCann couple feared being arrested in Portugal Diário de Notícias

. . . . . http://i33.tinypic.com/264rmvc.jpg

Maddie. The parents of the little English girl assert that they did not escape to England

Kate and Gerry criticise Gonçalo Amaral's theories but will not sue him

The McCann couple feared being arrested by the Portuguese police. In a statement to today's edition of Expresso newspaper, Maddie's father admits that he feared that outcome, taking into account what was being written by the Portuguese press, but rejects that they escaped to England in order to avoid a possible detention.

During the first interview about their daughter's disappearance that was given after the archiving of the process, Kate and Gerry McCann recognise that they felt the pressure from the Portuguese police, which motivated the fear of being preventively arrested in Portugal. "Taking into account everything that was being published in the papers, it is natural that we were afraid of being arrested. It was a horrible situation", Gerry McCann remembers.

But in order to discard any suspicion about their behaviour, Kate McCann guarantees that the couple did not return to England as a form of escape, "even because the Portuguese police could have prevented the trip".

After focusing on the statements concerning the investigations, the couple leaves the hope of still finding their daughter alive, in the air. "Sincerely, I don’t know whether Maddie is alive or not, or if someone hid her away. There is no evidence", Gerry defends.

During the interview that was done in England, the couple seizes the opportunity to criticise Gonçalo Amaral's theories. Nevertheless, Kate and Gerry do not ponder to sue the former inspector of the Polícia Judiciária who led the investigations.

The Maddie process was made public on the 4th of August, after having been archived by the Attorney General of the Republic due to a lack of evidence. Kate and Gerry McCann, together with Robert Murat, stopped being arguidos.

http://dn.sapo.pt/2008/09/06/sociedade/casal_cann_teve_medo_ser_preso_portu.html

odette

09-09-2008, 02:19 PM

sky.com - 11:52am UK, Friday December 30, 2005

Keela's Nose Makes Her Top Dog

. . . . . http://i34.tinypic.com/28jyxq1.jpg
. . . . . Keela

Keela is a top dog in the police world, earning more in a day than her force's Chief Constable by working on some of the country's highest-profile crimes.

The 16-month-old springer spaniel can sniff out the smallest samples of human blood - even after items have been cleaned or washed many times.

The South Yorkshire Police dog has already helped forces across the country, including working on the stabbing of Abigail Witchalls in Surrey.

Her going rate is £530 per day, plus expenses.

If she worked every day of the year, she would earn almost £200,000 - around £70,000 more than her force's Chief Constable.

In the New Year, Keela will be travelling to America to assist the FBI with two murder inquiries.

A South Yorkshire force spokeswoman said the crime scene investigation dog has saved more then £200,000 nationally since April this year, helping with investigations in Ireland, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Surrey and the Thames Valley areas.

Her handler, PC Martin Grime, has been responsible for training Keela, along with National Search Adviser Mark Harrison, since June last year.

Unlike ordinary police dogs, Keela has never taken part in the usual six-week training course but has been trained, bit by bit, by PC Grime every day.

Her programme involved training her to ignore decomposing body materials other than human blood.

Instead of barking when she smells blood, she has been trained to have a "passive" alert - freezing with her nose as near to the subject matter as possible without touching, to enable scientists to recover the sample quickly and efficiently.

This technique has saved time and money on major investigations.

South Yorkshire Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes said: "Keela's training gives the force an edge when it comes to forensic investigation, which we should recognise and use more often.

"We know we have an operationally excellent dog section, and our specialist dogs are being developed in a unique way."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/200828513487178?f=rss

odette

09-09-2008, 02:27 PM

belfasttelegraph.co.uk - By Brendan McDaid - 08 August 2007

Top sniffer dog to join Maddy search

Spaniel used in Ulster murder hunts flies in

The sniffer dog who found the body of murdered Ulsterwoman Attracta Harron has been flown to Portugal in the hunt for the body of Madeleine McCann, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.

Specially-trained English springer spaniel Eddie and his companion Keela were taken to Praia de Luz complex in the Algarve several days ago as the search for the missing four-year-old intensified.

The police dogs, which are trained to sniff out minute traces of blood, were drafted in after the focus of the investigation again turned on the apartment where the McCann family were staying when Madeleine disappeared 97 days ago.

The dogs, which have also been involved in the Ulster search for missing Tyrone teenager Arlene Arkinson, were yesterday still in Portugal.

The identity of the two hounds emerged as reports that sniffer dogs from the UK found specks in the apartment where the four-year-old was last seen. ..... continued at link

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/top-sniffer-dog-to-join-maddy-search-13465290.html

odette

09-09-2008, 02:41 PM

Gallery: Eddie the Forensic Dog

. . . . . http://i35.tinypic.com/2w2ncs1.jpg
Eddie is a veteran of more than 200 homicide cases.

. . . . . http://i36.tinypic.com/35ml7ig.jpg
Eddie takes a breather during a news conference in which his special skills were revealed.

http://www.11alive.com/news/gallery/gallery.aspx?gid=103103

odette

09-09-2008, 02:43 PM

todaysthv.com

Specialized K-9 to Aid in Ga. Search

A dog trained to detect tiny bits of blood evidence has been brought to Georgia from the UK to help search for a missing woman.

The FBI, the GBI and Walker County, Georgia, Sheriff's investigators have some new and potentially powerful help in solving the seemingly unsolvable disappearance of Theresa Parker, the Walker County 911 dispatcher. A world-renowned police dog and his handler from England just arrived in Georgia.

The FBI considers them -- Martin Grime and his 7-year-old, English Springer Spaniel, Eddie -- two of the best in the law enforcement specialty of canine forensics, able to find evidence everyone else missed.

"Yes, hopefully we will find Theresa Parker. Yes, we will hopefully find evidence," Grime said at an afternoon news conference with Sheriff Steve Wilson in the Walker County Seat of Lafayette on Thursday afternoon.

Eddie's skill and training enable him to find microscopic evidence that others cannot, even when the evidence is hidden, or even when someone has tried to wash it away.

"A small amount of forensic evidence," for example, "may be under a board in a house, or under a large boulder, and things like that, where forensic evidence can't normally be recovered from. We'll use the dogs to try and locate it for us," Grime said.

Grime and Eddie are in high demand, world wide.

Getting them to Walker County from England to help solve Theresa Parker's disappearance is an indication of how high a priority her case is for the FBI, according to one FBI agent close to the case.

Eddie is a veteran of more than 200 homicide cases, working with Grime, who has 30 years' of law enforcement and military experience in conducting criminal investigations.

No one is officially calling Theresa Parker's case a homicide.

Parker disappeared nearly six months ago, on March 21.

Investigators in Walker County consider Parker's estranged husband, Sam Parker, to be a person of interest in her disappearance. So that's one line of inquiry they will pursue using Eddie's unique technique.

"It focuses on a particular line of inquiry so that we can either say, yes, we found Theresa and we found the guy who's done it or the lady that's done it, or, no," Grime said.

Earlier this year, in Portugal, for example, Martin Grime and Eddie were working the case of the missing 4-year-old English girl, Madeleine McCann.

And it was Eddie that detected what may have been Madeleine's blood in her parents' rental car.

That's one of the reasons investigators now consider Madeleine's parents to be suspects.

Grimes said Eddie is "no miracle machine," but the FBI, GBI and Walker County investigators are clearly hoping the team from England can help crack their case, a case that has confounded everyone.

This past Sunday, Theresa Parker's family and friends marked her 42nd birthday with prayers, saying they are still confident that investigators are doing all they can.

"We still have not given up hope," Sheriff Wilson said Thursday, "and we're still optimistic that she will be found, or that we can find the reason why she disappeared."

Sheriff Wilson is not saying how long Martin Grime and Eddie will be in Walker County, but Grime had already been consulting with investigators, long distance, from his home in the UK, before he arrived in Walker County, and will continue to do so after he returns home.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=52985&provider=top

odette

09-09-2008, 02:52 PM

BBC - 26 February 2008

How can a dog sniff through concrete?

A child's remains were discovered under several inches of concrete at a former children's home in Jersey after police bought in dogs to search the site. But how can they sniff through concrete?

For Eddie, it's all in a day's work.

. . . . . http://i37.tinypic.com/bfidxx.jpg
. . . . . Eddie has worked with the FBI

When police suspected human remains were buried on the site of a former children's home in Jersey, the springer spaniel was part of the specialist team brought in to investigate.

Jersey Police said the seven-year-old dog located parts of a child's body even though they were buried under several inches of concrete. So how did he do it?

Eddie is an enhanced victim recovery dog and is specially trained to detect the scent of human remains. He is able to smell through solid materials, like concrete, because of scientific training techniques.

It's this training that sets him apart from standard police sniffer dogs, which are able to detect human remains in shallow graves. The springer's nose is more sensitive and he is called in on more complicated cases.

Super sensitive

The specialist training techniques - which are highly confidential - were developed by Eddie's handler Martin Grime, along with the UK's National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) and America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

They are scientifically based and rely on how dogs smell and the chemicals involved.

Canines are known for their outstanding sense of smell, estimated to be 10 times stronger than a human's. Like us they smell using special receptors in the nose, which react to tiny chemical scent particles in the atmosphere and send a message to the brain.

Dogs can smell so well because they have an estimated 200 million such receptors, compared to five million in a human nose. The extra receptors mean canines are able to distinguish between different smells much more acutely.

"We don't discuss what the training involves, but it's a lot more than putting bits of meat on the ground for them to hunt out," says Mr Grime, a retired South Yorkshire Police officer who now works as an independent consultant.

Focus

"A standard sniffer dog is like a basic tool. An enhanced dog goes through much more training and is a lot more discriminating about smells, basically its nose is super sensitive. It's also about getting the dog to really focus on a task."

While rare, Eddie and partner Keela are not the only enhanced victim recovery dogs in the UK. The Metropolitan Police and forces in Surrey and Greater Manchester have them. But what sets these two springers apart is that they work exclusively in this field, says Mr Grimes.

"Other dogs have to do other police duties but mine work full-time in this area, making them very sharp and highly skilled."

The dogs have been used by police forces across the world and were called in to help with the Madeleine McCann investigation.

Both are springer spaniels, but the breed is no better suited to the job than any other. A dog just needs to show a keen sense of smell and it's the training that makes them good enhanced victim recovery dogs, says Mr Grime.

Eddie was bred by a specialist search-dog breeder and Keela came from the West Midlands Police breeding programme.

Both live with Mr Grime and have a normal life outside of work. He is currently training two new dogs, Morse and Lewis.

In the Jersey case, parts of a child's body were found on Saturday. The remains are thought to date from the early 1980s. Police have yet to say whether they are male or female.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7263355.stm

odette

09-09-2008, 03:49 PM

. . . . . http://i34.tinypic.com/35nbpm1.jpg

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/Noticia.aspx?channelid=00000181-0000-0000-0000-000000000181&contentid=2E2C495C-B9A1-4549-AA8D-E038FF94F99B

Correio da Manhã - 05 July 2008

Translation by Joana Morais

Report of PJ discards abduction theory, 05 July 2008

CM reveals content of the document

The main argument against the kidnapper entry through the apartment's window was given by the parents.:
• Window too small to pass the child through it
• Group Witness contradicted

Main Topics:
• English Lab withdrew the final results
• Dogs scented blood in the house and in the car
• Kate and Maddie clothes had cadaver odour
• McCanns Neighbour heard child crying for more than one hour

The animals detected cadaver odour in the apartment, the stuffed animal and Kate's clothes

Dogs decisive for PJ

British animals (both) agreed on the scent of "indications" in various places and objects

• continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 03:58 PM

Correio da Manhã - 05 July 2008 - (continued from above)

• Many thanks to Joana Morais and 'debk' for translation of these articles

The alerting of the British dogs specially trained to detect cadaver odor and human blood was decisive in making Kate and Gerry arguidos.

. . . . . http://i35.tinypic.com/2z8z0gg.jpg
. . . . . Indications of where dogs detected cadaver scent and blood

[Note: Diagram above is incorrect as it indicates cadaver odour beside the bedroom window. The odour was actually found outside the patio doors 'in the flowerbed of the yard']

Text beside dogs:

Red dog (Eddie): 'Places where cadaver odour was detected'

Orange dog (Keela): 'Places where biological vestiges were detected'

Cadaver/Biological vestiges: 'Behind the sofa' (living room)

Cadaver: 'To the side of the wardrobe' (parents bedroom)

Cadaver: 'In the flowerbed of the yard' (outside patio door entrance)

Text beside other items:

'Other vestiges'

Cadaver: 'Piece of Madeleine’s clothing'

Cadaver: 'Stuffed toy'

Cadaver: 'Two pieces of clothing or Kate Healy McCann'

Cadaver/Biological vestiges:'Luggage area and car keys of the McCanns'

• continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 04:00 PM

Correio da Manhã - 05 July 2008 - (continued from above)

Main Article: PJ couldn't find child's body

INVESTIGATION REVEALS ABDUCTION IMPOSSIBLE

Final report describes dozens of diligences and unravels incongruences in the theory proposed by Maddie's parents

Thirteen months after Madeleine disappeared, the PJ ended the investigation that continues to be marked by uncertainties. The final report, the CM today exclusively reveals, does not determine guilt but leaves new and strong doubts about the theory presented by the English child's parents. It describes in great detail the diligences done by the investigators – who tried, in every possible way, to confirm their hypothesis – and reveals that it was theoretically impossible to have happened. The witnesses don't make sense, especially not the way that one of the friends said she saw a man carrying a child almost an hour before the alert about the disappearance occurred. This would be Jane Tanner, who guarantees she surprised the unknown man in a street where Maddie's father and another witness also were. Both guarantee that they saw nothing, even though they were in the same line of sight. Tanner, who much later made a photofit of the supposed abductor, also said that the man carried the child in a horizontal position. The size of the window reveals that this could only have happened if the child were carried vertically.

Being that as it may, the PJ tried through all possible means to find who could have taken Maddie. They did dozens of diligences related to suspects of sexual abuse. Elements were collected about those registered that could have been on holidays in the Algarve during that time period, in order to verify if there could have been any connection with little Maddie.

In addition, all the other residents of the village were investigated. The PJ entered more than 400 houses surrounding the Ocean Club and found nothing. On the window where Kate guaranteed that Maddie was taken no vestiges of the girl were found. Only marks that confirmed the DNA of the girl's mother.

The PJ's final report shows the details of an investigation that reached unprecedented levels. A couple was investigated that had allegedly tried to abduct another child, a fine toothed comb was used to research the clues that Maddie had been seen at a gas station. A crematorium was searched and Maddie’s genetic profile was compared to that of a child’s body found on the coast of the United States.

The PJ investigated a supposed beggar and followed thousands of clues around the world. In vain. Nothing confirmed the proposed abduction theory.

• continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 04:04 PM

Correio da Manhã - 05 July 2008 - (continued from above)

Change of versions: Laboratory was no longer certain

ENGLISH RETREATED ON THE EXAMINATIONS

They said the vestiges were compatible with Maddie's DNA, then later denied it.

Dog's indications were not corroborated by science

It was the strangest about-face in the investigation. The first examinations done by the English laboratory, a pioneer in the analysis of biological vestiges, said it was probable that the residues collected in the McCann's car were compatible with Madeleine's genetic profile.

Months later – after the PJ had made the parents arguidos, according to the final report only because of indications that they had hidden the child's body – the laboratory ended up correcting their initial information. In the end, the examinations of the vestiges collected from the Renaul Scénic rented by the McCanns were not conclusive and it wasn’t even possible to determine the quality of the material, that is, to know whether it was bodily fluid or vestiges of blood.

This scientific alteration, still not completely clarified, ended up leading the investigation to a dead end. The utilisation of the dogs that detected cadaver odors and blood are not valid within the Portuguese judicial system and it was necessary to scientifically corroborate the dog's detections.

The PJ's decision to send the analyses to England was based on a question of credibility. The investigators didn't want the results to be disputed by the English, accepting therefore that the vestiges should be analysed in that country.

USELESS TRIP TO ENGLAND

In April of this year, Paulo Rebelo and two of the investigators for this process who were trying to understand the puzzle of Madeleine's disappearance went to Leicester to interview the British who spent holidays in Praia de Luz with the McCanns. From the final report, we now know that nothing conclusive was discovered from these interrogations.

The PJ maintained the same close collaboration with the local police, but from the depositions they brought nothing new. The McCann friends limited themselves to confirming what they had said in the earlier interviews and the PJ left with empty hands from that city just north of London.

CHANGES

Paulo Rebelo, the new leader of the investigation after Gonçalo Amaral's exit, was at the Ocean Club several times, from which were collected a variety of vestiges. He was also in England, where he heard testimonies.

• continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 04:07 PM

Correio da Manhã - 05 July 2008 - (continued from above)

NUMBERS

443
door to door interviews at Ocean Club apartments, done by the PJ, are part of 2000 diligences, formal and informal, undertaken during the investigation

134
village employees were heard by the inspectors in the days following the crime. The PJ also spoke with the 12 GNR officers that went through the apartment on the night of 3 May.

130
police and civil guard workers were involved in the first 24 hours of the search. On the following day, this number increased to 300.

188
garbage bins were searched with a fine-toothed comb in Praia da Luz, Lagos, in an attempt to find Madeleine's body.

30
square kilometers is the area covered in searches by all the land forces during the first days, in addition to the Maritime Police.

OVER ONE HOUR CRYING

Pamela Fenn remembers hearing the child uncontrollably crying

Madeleine parents never contradicted that it was already a habit for their three children to be all alone inside the Praia da Luz apartment while they dined; a fact corroborated by several witness statements - the Oceans Club employees.

Although the parents defended themselves by stating that they visited the children every half an hour, every night, the witness statement of neighbour Pamela Fenn crumbled the McCann couple's version, when she guaranteed to the PJ that she had heard Maddie crying out loud for one hour and fifteen minutes, two nights before the crime. The British woman lives at the first floor, just above the apartment rented by the McCanns and she told to the inspectors, that on the night of the 1st of May, at 22:30, she heard a child crying, and by the sound it was Madeleine.

She guaranteed to the Judiciary Police that the child was uncontrollably crying for one hour and fifteen minutes, until the parents arrived. The neighbour heard the noise of the door at 23:45, when Kate and Gerry ended their usual gathering with their friends at the Tapas Bar – the Oceans Club restaurant at the pool side, where they had dinner daily. This testimony contradicts the daily routine of visits that the couple declared to have with their children – and the McCanns are not free from criticism by another British woman. Yvonne Martin, a British Social Care worker on holiday in Luz, who also blamed the McCanns negligent behaviour.

• continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 04:10 PM

Correio da Manhã - 05 July 2008 - (continued from above)

Correio da Manhã, print version, 5 July 2008, page 5

Judiciary Report: Francisco Moita Flores

The speculation surrounding the final report of the Maddie case would like to make one believe that the upcoming archival means the PJ have persecuted the child's parents without reason. This is a manipulated falsehood.

The final report of any process does not find innocence nor guilt. Doing this is beyond the reach of the PJ. Their responsibility is just to describe the facts and relationships with the people involved.

The report will narrate all the activities completed since the night of 3 May. It will tell which diligences were done, reveal the steps that took them to constitute as arguidos several players in this story. It will vigorously present the references for the searches, the tests, the diligences with the dogs, the activities done abroad to find the child, the news from the papers, the witnesses who directly or indirectly were involved in the case, the reconstitution of which so much was spoken and never was done. It will describe the facts.

The Public Ministry will have to say whether there was abandonment of minors, whether or not the process should continue with more diligences, or conversely, further develop the homicide theory or, finally, archive with no further delays.

PJ INVESTIGATES TRANSPORTATION
One of the slowest pieces of the investigation was to collect and analyse all information relative to possible means of transportation/escape, by land, sea or air. In addition, all the images collected from tourists on holidays at that time, but, once again, nothing was found. This information was all compiled in an appendix attached to the process, with another containing just information on those suspected of sexual crimes. The PJ also created a dossier of all individuals with a history of violent crimes, with their lives being examined to the tiniest detail. It was important to determine if they could have had any connection with the abduction.

VESTIGES: DELAYS
The vestiges collected in the McCann's car were collected in August 2007. The test results should only have taken a few weeks.

IML: TESTS IN PORTUGAL
The first vestiges collected by the investigation were sent to the IML (Institute of Legal Medical). The tests were also not conclusive.

• continued below

odette

09-09-2008, 04:14 PM

Correio da Manhã - 05 July 2008 - (continued from above)

TIMELINE

3 May 2007: Disappeared
Between 21h05 and 20h00. Madeleine Beth McCann, 3 years old, disappeared from the Ocean Club apartment in Praia da Luz. After 17h30 only the parents had contact with the girl.

14 May: First Suspect
The British man, Rober Murat, is interrogated and constituted an arguido. The PJ performs searches at his home and telephone tapping, but never successfully connected him to the crime being investigated.

4 August: Blood
Two trained dogs, from England, detected cadaver odor and vestiges of blood in the apartment, the yard, Kate and Maddie's clothes and the McCann's car

11 August: Death
100 days after Madeleine's disappearance, and after the search with the English dogs, the investigators publicly admit that the child could be dead

7 September: Arguidos
Based on the results of the scientific team, Kate and Gerry McCann are interrogated again by the PJ and made arguidos

29 November: DNA Tests
Portuguese and English technicians meet at the Leicester Police headquarters to debate the results of the DNA tests collected during the investigation

20 January 2008: Photofit
The McCanns release a photofit based upon witness statements. Later they will admit that the man in the drawing was not involved in the crime

* * *

odette

09-09-2008, 10:44 PM

. . . . . http://i34.tinypic.com/bgo6fb.jpg
. . . . . . . . . . Eddie indicates cadaver odour behind the sofa

Xainia

09-09-2008, 11:34 PM

Story (http://www.slate.com/id/2174177/)

Can you trust a cadaver dog if there's no cadaver?

Not really—especially if a lot of time has elapsed since the body was removed from the scene. Cadaver dogs can find the remains of people who have been dead for years or even decades. But it's much harder for the dogs if the bulk of the remains are gone. In that case, they can pick up the scent from small amounts of body tissue, like a blood stain or nail clippings, or even from materials that came into contact with the tissue. But in the absence of an actual body, the smell of death will dissipate. There's speculation that Madeleine died on the night her parents reported her disappearance—which would mean that she passed away four months ago. It's not clear if a detectable scent could linger on her mother's clothes for all that time.

Researchers are trying to determine how long the scent lingers when the body is no longer present, but there are no conclusive results yet—it may be two weeks, or it may be longer. One former Scotland Yard dog handler talking about the McCann case hypothesized that the scent wouldn't last more than a month.

samanthajane13

09-11-2008, 02:28 PM

Since they obviously have no body, I think they should bring in a couple of OTHER cadaver dogs to see if they "hit" on the same scent.

We should send over a few of our good old police-trained American Blood Hounds. The old "funnel-noses"...they are born and bred scent hounds.

How much you want to bet THEY would have found something a LONG TIME AGO if they had been included in the case???

odette

09-11-2008, 04:59 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

24 Horas - by Luís Maneta - 08 September 2008

McCanns searched for Witnesses

People heard by the PJ in the Maddie Case were sounded out by Madeleine's parents

The mediatised process was still under the secrecy of justice, Kate and Gerry had already been constituted as arguidos, but nonetheless Madeleine's parents did not stop having contact with witnesses. Three of them told everything to the authorities.

During the period in which the Maddie process was kept under the secrecy of justice, the McCann family had knowledge of what several witnesses knew. People who were sounded out and questioned by detectives hired to discover the whereabouts of the English girl, or even by a millionaire friend of the couple, subsequently reported the fact to the authorities, as stated in the process made public last month.

Between the witnesses "searched" on the McCanns request is Charlotte Pennington, one of the Ocean Club nannies, and Martin Smith, an Irish tourist who swore that we was convinced that he had seen Gerry carrying a child on his arms, on the fateful night of the 3rd of May, in which the English girl disappeared from the apartment rented by the family in Praia da Luz.

Another witness, Catriona Baker, an Ocean Club nanny who personally knew Madeleine McCann, was received at the home of Kate and Gerry in November of 2007; months before her giving a statement to the Leicester police, in the scope of the rogatory letters sent by the Portuguese authorities for the United Kingdom.

When cross-examined by the English police, in April of 2008, Catriona Baker revealed the existence of that meeting: "I visited the family at their home as a result of an invitation to see how everyone was".

. . . . . http://i35.tinypic.com/2055mpt.jpg
. . . . . Kate and Gerry McCann spoke with witnesses after leaving for England

Millionaire spoke with witness

In the questioning, besides describing the routine of the children in the crèche where they spent a great part of the day, Catriona shows that, when she knew of Maddie's disappearance, she searched for her everywhere, following on foot all the routes that were familiar to her, from the area around the Tapas Bar to the beach. "I did not see Kate or Gerry on that night", she guarantees.

In his turn, the Irish tourist Martin Smith said to the British authorities that he had been contacted by Brian Kennedy - one of the biggest financiers of the Madeleine McCann Fund - on a date that he did not specify.

Brian Kennedy justified the initiative with the purpose of preparing a visual impression of the man that Martin Smith was said to have seen, a little after 22h00, carrying a child near the Ocean Club.

Initially, Smith did not identify the person. But after returning to England and having seen Gerry McCann with one of the twins in his arms he was "60-80 % sure" that it was the same person. Having suspicions, Smith, did not help to do any sketches as he refused to provide information.

Charlotte Pennington was also said to have been approached by initiative of the McCanns. In this case, the contact was done through a private investigator, Noel Hagan, who works for Metodo 3, one of the detectives' agencies hired by Maddie's parents. "Charlotte assured me that she only told him the same information that she had already given to the PJ and to me", wrote an English police officer who spoke with the former Ocean Club nanny.

http://www.24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2938&link=11

odette

09-11-2008, 05:11 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

lavanguardia.es - 10 September 2008

Maddie Case: The former head of the investigation accuses Maddie's parents of hiding her body and simulating an abduction

Amaral presents his book "Maddie: The Truth of the Lie" and maintains that the girl was killed by a "tragic accident" on the same day of her disappearance

Madrid. (EFE) .- The former Portuguese inspector, who led the investigation into the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann in the Algarve, Gonçalo Amaral, has argued that the McCann couple simulated abduction of the girl and hid her body.

At a press conference in which he presented his book "Maddie: The Truth of the Lie," Amaral explained that the conclusion of the investigation which he coordinated during the five months following the disappearance of the girl, on 3 May 2007, is that Madeleine died from a "tragic accident" that day.

"The girl is dead, where she is buried I do not know," said the former Portuguese chief inspector, and highlighted the testimony of an Irish family that on the night of the disappearance passed by a man who was carrying a girl in his arms and that later, when they saw his picture on television, identified him as Gerry McCann.

. . . . . http://i35.tinypic.com/wvq49l.jpg
Gonçalo Amaral, during the press conference given for the launch of his book in Spain

The former policeman criticised the archival of the "Maddie case" last July, when Kate and Gerry McCann were acquitted of their status as suspects by the Portuguese District Attorney's Office, but has warned that the discovery of "new evidence" could motivate the reopening of the investigation.

"There are many signs of her death," Amaral asserted, who has stressed that the Police dogs detected the smell of human blood and body "with a genetic profile consistent with that of Madeleine" behind a sofa in the apartment that the parents had rented in the Portuguese town of Praia da Luz.

Amaral also stressed that the McCann couple had acknowledged supplying a drug to their children, which they said was paracetamol, but this was identified as a sedative in the course of the investigations.

The night of the disappearance of her daughter, Kate McCann "put her hand in front of the noses of her other children, still asleep, to see if they were breathing," said the former policeman, who considered that "it is not normal that a mother should act like this after losing a daughter."

Amaral described the McCanns as "parents who have felt pain and anguish" and he has taken the view that it is "very difficult" for the couple - who have always maintained the hypothesis of an abduction - to "reverse" this, and adds: "Millions have been involved in looking for the child alive, how are you going to say that she is dead?".

The former inspector from the Judicial Police (Portuguese police investigation) has affirmed that he does not fear a lawsuit from the McCanns and, indeed, he considers that a lawsuit would be "an interesting way to reopen the case".

In addition, Amaral pointed to political and diplomatic pressures that -in his judgment - led to his removal from command of the investigation in October 2007 and has ruled that "the British government intervened in some way".

The former policeman assured that the intention of his book, which is recognised as "controversial", is to restore his "good name" and to contribute to the discovery of the true facts.

http://www.lavanguardia.es/lv24h/20080910/53537215199.html

odette

09-11-2008, 05:28 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

diariometro.es - Ruth Suárez - Published: 08:29 h. 11-09-2008

"The McCanns hid the body on the beach"

Gonçalo Amaral was the first inspector who coordinated the search for Madeleine, the girl who disappeared in Praia da Luz (Portugal) on May 3, 2007.

In October the same year, after considering the parents of the small child, Kate and Gerry McCann, as arguidos (suspects) for having concealed the corpse of their daughter, he was removed from the investigation.

In July 2008 he decided to leave the police to tell his version of what happened. The result is Maddie, the truth of the lie, published by Esquilo.

According to you, what happened on May 3, 2007?

Madeleine McCann died from accidentally falling behind the sofa in the living room of the apartment. That couch had been moved during the alleged disappearance. I think that someone discovered the body, concealed it, cleaned everything and pushed the sofa to the window.

Who?

The parents of Madeleine.

On what basis can you say that?

The dogs brought in by the British police discovered cadaver odour behind the sofa and in the bedroom of the parents of the girl. Also on the small child's toy, the clothes of Kate and in the trunk and the keys to the car that was rented later.

And how did they conceal the body without anyone seeing?

Yes they were seen! An Irish family saw a man pass by them with a child in his arms at 22.05, on the way to the beach. Later, the girl was identified as Maddie. But they did not realise that the man who they had seen was Gerry until they were following television and saw how the McCanns landed in the UK.

What happened?

The position in which Gerry held one of the twins and his way of walking were identical to those of the individual who they had seen that night.

But, 22.05 was when Kate said that the girl had disappeared and Gerry was with her…

The hours are unclear. The only thing certain is that the McCanns told the National Republican Guard at 22.40. So, before that, Gerry had had time to bury the body of the girl on the beach.

And nobody saw him there? During the night when they were already looking for the girl.

Yes, but they were looking for a girl alive, not a girl dead. In addition, I am not saying that the body remained on the beach all the time. Clearly, the first thing was to remove it from the apartment. Later they could find other solutions to hide it. Witnesses of the National Republican Guard said they had seen the McCanns directed onto the beach twice in the course of that morning. Surely they quickly found a better place.

How does it explain that the dogs found the smell of a corpse in the McCanns car?

They rented it 24 days after the disappearance. It was what was being investigated when I was removed from the case.

You believe that they conserved it in a freezer all that time? Where?

There is a journalist who says that he saw the McCanns enter a block of apartments close to the beach, in the month of June… But we do not know in which flat they were. It is a building for tourists and they passed many people.

And why is it the dogs did not detect the smell of a corpse on the clothes of Gerry McCann?

You know which clothes Gerry was wearing that night? I do not yet know it.

There is more information that is still missing?

We asked the English police for reports on the couple, if they had a nanny in the United Kingdom, if they had had some problems in their work... We never received those answers.

Why? Do you believe that the McCanns have high level connections?

I do not know. I do not want to comment on that, but it is curious how the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, showed his support to the couple even after they were declared arguidos.

http://www.diariometro.es/x/metro/2008/09/11/RF66qk61zNekc/index.xml

odette

09-11-2008, 05:44 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Antena3 - Espejo Público - Espejo Público - Madrid, 11.09.2008 | 11:39 h.Madrid, 11.09.2008 | 11:39 h.

Kate McCann was obsessed with getting her children to sleep

The 140 pages of the diary of Madeleine's mother, considered vital by the PJ for the investigation of the case, reflect a woman obsessed by her children's sleep, as well as an extreme concern to place the blame on Murat and by what she describes as "sloppiness" on the part of the Portuguese and British police.

"4th May. Barely having slept, I woke Amanda. Gerry and I began to search the streets at six in the morning when dawn began to break. We didn't find anything. I'm desperate".

These are the first words that Kate wrote in her diary. This is the Portuguese translation of this diary, that is not included in the case, which Maddie's mother began to write upon the suggestion of Philomena McCann, also following the advice of a psychologist.

Almost 140 pages in which Kate addresses Maddie with sentences such as: "We have to keep looking, we have to find you, sweetheart. I love you Madeleine".

An essential document in the police's view in order to define Kate's profile as a mother. Analysed by police psychologists, the different sentences of the diary show the facet of a caring and patient mother that contrast with other notes that reflect what the officers define as Kate's other face: the mother, extremely exhausted by caring for three children whom she daily takes to the Ocean Club crèche, before and after the disappearance.

A mother obsessed by her children's sleep, noted in expressions such as these: "Sean slept with us for most of the night after half an hour of hysteria at 12.30". Or on another page: "I tried to take Sean and Amelie to bed at 9.30, but it became very late again, especially with Amelie".

A week later she notes in her diary: "Sean and Amelie's biological clocks have altered. They go to bed later and get up later. They seem to have become Portuguese!" The investigators are surprised that Maddie's mother writes details such as these: "Sean and Amelie in their beds (with blankets) after the confusion of the last seven days". Why this obsession with the time and the way of getting the children to sleep? Why does Kate note the detail of the blankets? These are some of the investigators' questions. Details from a diary which indicates Gordon Brown's phone calls and which also reflects other obsessions such as the extreme concern to place the blame on Murat and what she describes as "sloppiness" not only on the part of the Portuguese but also the British police whom she accuses of committing errors that eliminate some of the evidence of the investigation.

The diary's contents were never admitted as evidence.

. . . . . http://i38.tinypic.com/1z1g4fq.jpg (http://www.antena3noticias.com/PortalA3N/play?idGaleriaVideos=2451154&idGaleriaFotos=&mostrar=videos&pag=1&selec=2&id_contpag=108)

Nuevos datos de la investigación policial - (Vídeo: Espejo público) (http://www.antena3noticias.com/PortalA3N/play?idGaleriaVideos=2451154&idGaleriaFotos=&mostrar=videos&pag=1&selec=2&id_contpag=108)

http://www.antena3noticias.com/PortalA3N/noticia/sociedad/Kate-McCann-estaba-obsesionada-con-que-sus-hijos-durmieran/2460862

odette

09-11-2008, 06:17 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

antena3noticias.com - Espejo Público [an Antena3 TV Show] Madrid, 10.09.2008 | 11:03 h.

Antena3 Report: The McCanns kept numerous medicines which provoked sleepiness

New exclusive images from the report - (Link below)

Given the repeated refusal of the British police to send different reports about the marriage, the Portuguese police drew up a profile searching throughout the McCanns second house, in Praia da Luz.

Thus, officers, accompanied by two police psychologists, conducted a meticulous search in the main bedroom.

In a case of abduction, the family circle is always investigated. The police were surprised on having seen the bedroom. Kate seems to be mourning. In her small bedside table are many photos of Maddy surrounded with rosaries and a Bible, which had bookmarked, with a picture a fragment of the Old Testament in which it could be read: "However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die".

At the other side of the bed, on Gerry's bedside table the attention is given to, between other books, "The interpretation of Murder". In the study where Gerry writes his blog and where he works at the campaign to find his daughter, another surprise: CEOP manuals, books with access restricted to police and governmental entities.

Faced with this discovery, Mark Harrison, the British police officer brought from the United Kingdom to coordinate the case, finds it difficult to believe. He wonders how this married couple had access to these manuals, which are exclusively reserved for police officers.

The Portuguese Officers confirm, in this way, their suspicions about the contacts which have been provided to the McCanns, which, for them, is translated into huge political pressure that, in their judgment, limits the investigation.

Also, the police find numerous medicines, which they examine in search of the sedatives that they fear were given to the children by the McCanns on the night of the 3rd of May. They also register the side effects caused by the medicines that they find, and verify that the majority of them provoke sleepiness. They examine as well the drawers, closets, as well as the twins' room and that no longer sleep in cots but in beds.

The final report of the process, in contrast to the images included in the same report, state that independently of the curious and morbid conclusions, the only fact that one can determine, as such, is the disparate behaviour of the couple at the time of facing Madeleine's disappearance.

http://www.antena3noticias.com/PortalA3N/noticia/sociedad/Los-McCann-guardaban-numerosos-medicamentos-que-provocan-somnolencia/2450573

Elfinrow

09-11-2008, 07:58 PM

SaraSidle

09-11-2008, 09:47 PM

I totally agree with elf odette. You have done a wonderful job for Maddie. I hope parents stop this soon. I hope the children are found and will rest in peace.:rose:Maddie:rose:Caylee IMO

Jules100

09-12-2008, 06:30 AM

TY so much Odette for the time you've put into this for madeleine. I dont know what else is needed to arrest a parent for abuse and death of their child. This case is setting a precedent for other parents who think they can kill their child, and then claim until the cows come home that the child is alive. One day, when they least expect it; I hope that justice is done for the taking of Maddy's life.

I sometimes feel guilty for thinking that Jerry and Kate had something to do with what happened to poor Maddie, but when i heard that they often gave the children 'something' to make the kids sleep something just does not ring right. I think that if Maddie did die in the apartment and her parents have covered it up, i think it was an accident and they panicked, but saying that, all i'm doing is guessing, i am gonna hop back on the fence with this one again

SaraSidle

09-12-2008, 01:00 PM

I sometimes feel guilty for thinking that Jerry and Kate had something to do with what happened to poor Maddie, but when i heard that they often gave the children 'something' to make the kids sleep something just does not ring right. I think that if Maddie did die in the apartment and her parents have covered it up, i think it was an accident and they panicked, but saying that, all i'm doing is guessing, i am gonna hop back on the fence with this one again

I feel exactly the same way Jules Exactly!

odette

09-12-2008, 06:31 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

(French language site) - Duarte Levy - 11.09.2008

John Buck, the British Ambassador in Lisbon at the time of Madeleine McCann's disappearance went to Portimão to demand that the PJ immediately announce to the media – especially the British media – that the disappearance of Madeleine was an abduction and that her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann were two innocent victims.

"Immediately after Madeleine's disappearance, when we did not yet know whether it was the case of an abduction or a different kind of crime, the PJ were obliged to issue a statement, on 5th May, announcing the abduction thesis", announced inspector Gonçalo Amaral, emphasising that the statement had been issued in spite of his opposition and that of other inspectors participating in the inquiry.

Gonçalo Amaral was speaking yesterday in Madrid as part of an exclusive interview with SOS Madeleine McCann and Gazeta Digital.

According to sources close to the British Embassy in Lisbon, the Ambassador John Buck, previous to this intervention at the PJ in Faro and Portimão, had already discussed the affair with the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs.

"In a situation like the one we were presented with, in the interest of the child, no possibility would have been discarded, even the possibility concerning the parents, those that were close and the friends. Above all there was not the slightest indication of abduction", Amaral concluded, emphasising that the "rest of the investigation has proved that".

"They took advantage of the space we gave them, it was a mistake on our part."

Also on 5th May 2007, two days after the announcement of Madeleine's disappearance, the police, according to Amaral, would commit an important error: "We were busy checking all the traces that came with the Ambassador. Traces that were moreover, found to be false".

New instructions from the regional national directorate of the PJ, given after the intervention of two British diplomats – Ambassador John Buck and Consul Bill Henderson – turned the investigator's attention away from the McCanns.

Kate and Gerry McCann, for the first and only time, went to hand in clothes to be washed in the Complex laundry, including Madeleine's clothes, which the inspectors only heard about two days later. Too late, according to Amaral.

"At the time we had not established exactly which clothes Gerry was wearing on the night of the disappearance nor which clothes were handed in to be washed on 5th May", says Gonçalo Amaral.

It was by means of the statements by various members of staff from the complex, linked to the laundry service, that the inspectors were to learn that the McCanns had their children's clothes - those of Madeleine and also those of Sean and Amélie - washed.

"That would never have happened without the intervention of Mark Warner and, in particular, of the Ambassador. They took advantage of the space we gave them, It was a mistake on our part", admits Gonçalo Amaral.

"Last Saturday (05/05/2007) I received a bag of clothes brought in by Mark Warner staff, and was told expressly that these belonged to Madeleine's family – there was adult clothing (male and female) and children's clothing... ", states one of the laundry workers.

Although the laundry worker only remembers a pink skirt belonging to Madeleine, she has no uncertainty in confirming that there were also other clothes belonging to the small British girl, which has also been confirmed to the police by other colleagues.

Gonçalo Amaral in Madrid : "The PJ were obliged to issue a statement regarding Madeleine's abduction"

***

ukinportugal.fco.gov.uk

STATEMENT BY BRITISH AMBASSADOR IN PORTUGAL (10/05/2007)

DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE McCANN UK in Portugal FCO

Statement to the media by John Buck, British Ambassador to Portugal Praia da Luz, Algarve, Portugal, 08/05/07

'Ladies and gentlemen good evening. As you know I spent quite a lot of time with the McCann family on Friday and over the weekend and also supporting our Consular staff here in the Algarve. I wanted to come down today to see Kate and Gerry again and to continue to support our Consular staff who've been dealing with this case continually now for a number of days. I also wanted to assure myself personally that the necessary links between British and Portuguese experts here on the ground are working well and they are.

'As you know we have had three family liaison officers from the Leicestershire Police here with the family acting as a point of communication with the Portuguese Police. As I think you also know additional experts arrived today to work with their Portuguese colleagues on this investigation. I don't want to say anything in detail about the investigation but it might be helpful if I said a word or two about the background.

'This is and must remain a Portuguese Police investigation. As you know the Portuguese Police operate under Portuguese law and Portuguese law puts constraints on what they can say publicly and the information they can release. Against that background I have been in touch closely over the last few days with Cabinet Ministers here in Portugal, with the Prime Minister's Office and with the Portuguese Police authorities. They all assure me that everything possible is being done to ensure the safe return of Madeleine.

'We continue to work closely with the Portuguese authorities. They are very pleased with the collaboration with the British authorities. They are in close touch with Interpol and Europol and I and I know Kate and Gerry with whom I've just been speaking for the past hour are very grateful for their efforts. Thank you very much.'

http://ukinportugal.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/?view=News&id=2118337

odette

09-14-2008, 02:01 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

granadadigital.com - Lisardo García - Friday, 12/09/2008

. . . . . http://i33.tinypic.com/2howqdh.jpg

In the pages of his book 'Maddie. The truth of lie', the reader is confronted with mixed feelings: the agony of parents for their missing daughter and the stubborn quest of a policeman to know what happened that night of May 3rd 2007.

He has spent all his life in the Police; On May 3rd 2007 he was directing the Criminal Investigation Department in Portimao, a city on the Portuguese Algarve. Before 12 o'clock that night a phone call changed his life, he was notified of the disappearance of a 4-year old English girl in Lagos, in an urbanisation called Vila da Luz. He led the investigation for five months until October 2nd 2007 when he was removed without warning. Now comes to light a book which explains what happened: His truth.

GD .- Reading this book, reveals the strong personal and emotional impact that these events have had on you. Is that true?

Yes it is true, but this has nothing to do with any revenge; it answers to the need to respond to many accusations, to many slanders suffered, both personal and at corporate level. During the time I handled the investigation I always said: Justice is working in silence, but in the end I could do no more, I asked my superiors permission to respond to so many lies, but I was refused. I was forced to leave the police in July 2008, after the case was archived, and after 27 years in the Force, to have the freedom to express myself and restore my honour.

GD .- If Justice is working in silence, is this book a cry to have not stopped working?

If it is true, it is a way of saying that it is better to have honour without life, than life without honour.

THE ERRORS OF THE INVESTIGATION

GD .- Following the report of the disappearance, a police squad arrived at the scene. What went wrong?

I do not intend to blame any colleague, although the photo report left much to be desired, by not collecting any person in those photos, when there were a lot of people in the house that night, it would have been important to have that. There were also weaknesses in taking fingerprints. It was normal, we were a small police station without specialised personnel in an investigation of this nature.

Gonçalo Amaral says that Madeleine McCann died that night of May 3, by accident, that an abduction was simulated and that the corpse was hidden, the parents being suspected of this crime.

GD .- What were the most important facts and evidence which led to the parents of Maddie being declared arguidos (suspects)?
Fundamentally the reports from the DNA laboratory in England confirmed the work of the British police dogs who found a cadaver odour and biological traces of the girl in several rooms of the apartment, on the clothes of the mother and in the car that the McCanns rented twenty days after the disappearance of Maddie; another important test is the statement by the Irish family, Smith, who stated that they recognised the father Gerry McCann carrying a girl in his arms, who seemed to be asleep, at 23h00 that night.

GD .- Then, why did your place in the investigation cease and the case be provisionally dismissed recently?

I do not know, it probably had much to do with changing the British police. Whilst the family were in Portugal there was a colleague who supported the thesis of the death of the girl. Later when the couple left Portugal, he changed his line of argument returning to the thesis of abduction; and that change, from one to the other, could have been due to some political pressure because of the significance of the media event. The parents raised more than 2 million pounds to find the girl, do not forget that those dates coincided with the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon. Anyway, it is not understood, not only my retirement, but the filing of the proceedings.

THE WORK OF THE INVESTIGATION AND THE MASS MEDIA

GD .- How do you remember the work of those days?

That it was very hard, working with a lot of pressure, especially from the media that had moved there; there was a huge television presence and an investigation requires a lot of discretion that unfortunately we did not have. I felt like I was kidnapped, we could not eat or go anywhere peacefully. In addition, it was not the only issue that we carried. That was hard, very hard.

GD .- How did you work then?

We sought out a place far away, where all the police officers could meet, it was the called the crisis cabinet, there we shared all the information and decided the steps to continue; it was an investigation of the team, not of a single person.

ON THE FUTURE

GD .- What will be the future of this case?

Right now the summary is closed, if new evidence or the Smith family were willing to testify in Portugal, maybe things would change. I hope that in time it will be the Judge who gives or removes reasons.

GD .- What now? What is your professional future?

I'm thinking of working in support tasks to law firms, preparing criminal reports; conduct investigations. That is my future that I hope will be interesting.

There are many journalists waiting to interview this former policeman; it is noted that he is tired and, at the same time, satisfied; having given his version, he has recomposed the puzzle, his puzzle. In the book's pages the reader will be faced with mixed feelings: the agony of parents for their missing daughter and the stubborn quest of a policeman to know what happened that night of May 3, 2007. The reader and time will have their say.

http://granadadigital.com/index.php/sociedad/8-general/134293-lisardo-garcia

odette

09-14-2008, 02:42 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

hola.com - 12 September 2008

"The McCanns are parents who have lost their daughter, whom they loved very much and I understand their pain and anguish"

. . . . . http://i37.tinypic.com/2cgfo6e.jpg
Gonçalo Amaral, ex inspector d ela Policía Judiciaria Portuguesa, coordinó la investigación del "caso Maddie" durante los cinco primeros meses. Ahora ha presentado un libro sobre su experiencia en el caso.

The former inspector from the Portuguese Policía Judiciaria presents "Maddie, the truth of the lie", an account of the most media covered investigation of recent times.

"Maddie, the truth of the lie". That is the title that Gonçalo Amaral, former inspector of the Policía Judiciaria and coordinator of the investigation into the "Madeleine case" during the first five months, has chosen in order to reveal how the search for the little Madeleine McCann, who disappeared on 3rd May 2007 from the Algarve, was carried out.

The text summarises the doubts, facts and the questions of an unprecedented investigation. 14 months after the disappearance all suspicion has been lifted from Kate and Gerry McCann, the child's parents, and the case has been filed, but little Madeleine is still missing.

Gonçalo is a tall and corpulent man, as we could imagine of a police officer who has worked against crime for more than 25 years and who, for the first five months bore the weight of the most media covered investigation of recent times, the disappearance of Maddie. Yesterday Gonçalo presented the book in Madrid, surrounded by a large media expectation and made room in his agenda to talk to Hola.com.

Q: The disappearance of Madeleine has been one of the most followed cases by the press throughout the world. Now you have decided to publish a book about the investigation, was there anything left to say?

I decided to write the book to defend our dignity. Part of the British press and even the McCann couple have defamed my name and that of the Policía Judiciaria in Portugal; I requested authorisation to speak but I never obtained it, that is why I decided to write the book.

Q: What relationship do you have with the McCann couple?

I was the head of the department investigating the case within the Policía Judiciaria in Portimao. I was responsible for organising the work of the investigation and ensuring that it continued on course, and therefore I was with the couple once or twice as well as with all the witnesses and with inspectors working on the case. I do not want to discuss publicly with the McCanns, they have lost a daughter. Neither I, nor the parents are of interest, the only victim here is the little girl.

http://www.hola.com/actualidad/20080911656/entrevista/goncalo/amaral/1/

continued below ...

odette

09-14-2008, 02:45 PM

Q: We are obliged to ask this question. Do you know what happened to Madeleine?

Madeleine died in the apartment on the night of the disappearance. It is complicated to be sure how she died because there are many indications. What is certain is that the girl woke up, the girl has disappeared and that behind the sofa there was cadaver odour and human blood.

Q: You state that the girl fell from the sofa, they found her and that her father took her to the beach.

Yes. There are witnesses who claim to be 80% sure that Madeleine's father was the person who was carrying a covered child towards the beach, in the apartment cadaver odour and the girl's blood were found as well as in a car rented 23 days later. In the apartment there was a sofa next to a window, at a aheight of three or four metres from street level and which did not close properly. The sofa appears to have been pushed towards the wall again, as can be seen by the photos. What could have happened? The girl woke up during the night, went to the window in order to look towards the restaurant where her parents were dining and could have fallen.

Q: The book says that the witness statements from the couple and their friends are contradictory. Is it not normal for there to be some confusion during these moments of tension?

There are contradictions that are not possible in material terms. For example, the mother speaks of an open window (when she discovered the little girl to be missing) and I wonder how it can be that the witnesses responsible for checking on the children, who passed by the window, at a distance of only two metres, and who entered Madeleine's room, said that they saw the window was closed. If events had occurred according to the first version, the window should already have been open. There are many contradictions that lack truth. If one reads a summary of the movements told by these persons, there are things that are not certain.

Q: How is it possible that the first examination of the site, carried out by the technical police, was not sufficiently rigorous in order to provide conclusive evidence?

Unfortunately this is something that can happen. The first police officers who went to the site thought of a possible abduction as well as theft, they did not find any door or window that had been forced, they searched for finger prints from people unrelated to the apartment and witness statements from people who could have seen something in the street. It did not occur to them that the parents could have had anything to do with the girl's disappearance.

http://www.hola.com/actualidad/20080911656/entrevista/goncalo/amaral/1/

continued below ...

odette

09-14-2008, 02:48 PM

Q: Did you think from the beginning that this was not an abduction?

It is not normal that someone should insist and be determined that this was an abduction without considering another option. When a child disappears, one thinks she could have escaped and many other hypotheses. And the contradictions from all of them, lead one to think that something totally different happened. We worked on the abduction theory for two or three months and then we began to think about the theory of death.

Q: The police continued maintaining the abduction theory after considering that the girl was dead. Why?

The parents spoke of the abduction as a necessity. There was no security for the children because if there had been Maddie would not have disappeared. And the abduction theory was dropped when it was proved that it could not be based upon the open window.

Q: In the book you state that even Kate, the young girl's mother, at one moment assumed the death of her daughter. Let's talk of this moment.

Yes. As is mentioned in the files, once the entire world had been upturned with the search for the child, Kate received a disturbing email from a woman who claimed to have powers. This woman said that she had had a premonition according to which, Madeleine's body was in a sewer in Praia da Luz. At that moment, Kate believed in the premonition and a search for the little girl was made. Kate began to act as though she were assuming that Madeleine had died; she even contracted a former South African Colonel who could locate the girl's body using a machine that searches for atoms. The man participated in the search, but without success. There were many psychics who wanted to contribute. However, at that time Kate returned to her thesis that the small girl had been abducted.

Q: More controversial evidence. The dogs detected cadaver and blood odour, but these conclusions were not admitted as official evidence. What credibility does dog tracking have in police investigations?

In England it has much legal value, as in the States, but not in Portugal. Its credibility has been undervalued, it has been said that dogs obey the trainer's voice. But they found cadaver odour and human blood that coincided with Madeleine's blood and although it was not admitted as material evidence, it did serve as information for the police.

http://www.hola.com/actualidad/20080911656/entrevista/goncalo/amaral/1/

continued below ...

odette

09-14-2008, 02:50 PM

Q: The consideration of Kate and Gerry as suspects was very controversial. However, in your book you say that the status of "arguido" brings with it the right to silence, or that of non self-incrimination, something advantageous for any person being interrogated. The press understood it as an attack.

They were considered "arguidos" on the moment when the evidence indicated that they could have committed a crime. "Arguido" is not the same status as "accused" in Spain, it is a status that provides the rights to defend oneself and remain silent, and often serves in order to exonerate them later. If one speaks as a witness, one is obliged to speak of everything that happened, and therefore there are things that could make you culpable.

Q: The media has played an important role in this case. Has all this media expectation helped to find the girl?

No. In my opinion, justice is done in silence. And with all this noise, it is very difficult. I say: who is interested in all this publicity? All the "sightings" of the girl around the world? Does this help to keep her alive? No, they would kill her. And the parents do not want their daughter to die, so why do they publicise the sightings? Because they know the girl is dead. Otherwise they would not do it.

Q: But, how can parents maintain the abduction theory of their small daughter, if they know what really happened to her?

It is a way of moving forward, of surviving. It is like a snowball that keeps growing in size. With everything that they have stirred, with the financial fund they created, how can they step backwards and say that she died? It is not a case of coldness but of survival. But the police investigation was also centred from the start on the principle that Maddie was alive. In effect, and all those sightings that were made public were not beneficial to the girl. If she were alive, and not dead as we think, what would all this publicity do to the girl?

Q: How did you experience the search for Maddie? Has this case affected you?

There have been some very difficult moments. My family has suffered much, my wife and my daughters… I kept them away from the press and concentrated on the case. In September, when school started, they left our city for Portimao in order to be closer to me but they had to go back. The press followed us and tried to find out where we lived. It is only now that it is known who they were, now that I have decided to publish the book.

http://www.hola.com/actualidad/20080911656/entrevista/goncalo/amaral/1/

continued below ...

odette

09-14-2008, 02:57 PM

Q: Can we learn anything from such a tragic case as the story of poor Maddie?

Unfortunately for the girl, her case has served as a case study. Before I left the police force, on 30th July of this year, a commission had already been set up in order to establish a better way of dealing with this kind of situation.

Q: You have entitled the book "The truth of the lie". What is the big lie in this story?

The truth of the lie is what we call the material truth, the pure truth. The truths are the analyses, the procedures and the mechanism that are covered in the case. The lie, or in other words, the lack of truth, is that the girl is alive. The girl is dead. The McCanns are parents who have lost a daughter whom they surely loved very much and I understand their pain and anguish.

Q: Do you believe that we will know what happened to Maddie one day? Will we get to know the truth?

Yes. There were 9 people in this Holiday Group. Maybe they do not know that the girl is dead, but they could have received instructions about what to say, such as "you went to the room and you saw the girl", however they know that this is not true. By that means the case could be re-opened; one day the full truth could be known.

http://www.hola.com/actualidad/20080911656/entrevista/goncalo/amaral/1/

* * *

Xainia

09-14-2008, 10:32 PM

Kate McCann riddled with 'black thoughts' (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/631329/kate-mccann-riddled-with-black-thoughts)

The personal diary of Kate McCann has revealed a desperate mother overtaken with "black thoughts".
Leaked entries of Mrs McCann's diary paint a vivid picture of the daily fears and frustrations she and husband Gerry experienced when their four-year-old daughter Madeleine disappeared from a Portuguese resort 18 months ago.
The diary was originally seized by Portuguese police in October 2007 when they began to suspect the McCanns. Investigators even leaked extracts to local media reportedly in a bid to portray the British couple as cold and callous.
But the full context of the diary entries has now been revealed by British tabloid newspaper News of the World, which has published the diary after obtaining a copy from an unnamed Portuguese journalist.
On the night of May 3, when Madeleine disappeared from the couple's room at Praia da Luz resort, the diary reads: "No sleep, Gerry and I started looking through the streets at 6am as it was starting to get light. Nobody around. Why not? Desperate."
When the McCanns reported their daughter’s disappearance to Portuguese police, Kate claims they were "unsympathetic and uninspiring".
The thoughts of Madeleine's whereabouts gain a darker edge one month later, with Kate detailing fears her daughter was abducted by pedophiles.
"How can I go on knowing that her life could have ended like this? This week I have been quite overtaken by black thoughts. Please God, bring her back," she writes in a June 1 entry.
The next day she writes: "Thinking about pedophiles makes me want to tear at my own skin."
The diary entries were written between April and July 2007.

Nerida_F

09-15-2008, 06:29 AM

Hi Odette, great to have you back. I am just reading the book Vanished, and rather than wade through all the details, went to the conclusions chapter, and as always (sigh!) the author has seized on some small details (something about a window shutter) to decide how the truth lies.

However the chapter after that was very interesting about Michael Cook (http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1992/jun/09/mr-michael-cook). Apparently, his two lawyers met an unfortunate accident just prior to giving evidence about how he received two black eyes and lost a tooth. This happened around 1992. It would be interesting to hear what Mr Cook has to say now.

Looking at the big picture, here are a group of upstanding medical professionals against some very dodgy police who have been accused of violent torture against the Ciprianos, emotional torture on the McCanns and now this torture against Michael Cook. I know who I would trust. If it was me, I would definitely be trying to help the Ciprianos for several reasons. And, as far as I know, Joanna Cipriano was never found so there is no reason to assume she is other than alive and healthy somewhere.

Can you imagine what it would be like if/when Madeleine does come home? How else would you describe that day?

odette

09-16-2008, 07:20 PM

15.09.2008
Vidéo d’Eddie & Keela avec les vêtements

14.09.2008
Vidéo : Eddie & Keela dans le deuxième appartement des McCann

Vidéo : Eddie & Keela et la Renault Scenic

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

odette

09-17-2008, 06:27 AM

. . . . . http://i34.tinypic.com/2rz2adc.jpg
. . . . . Madeleine's red T-shirt that indicated cadaver odour

odette

09-17-2008, 06:50 AM

17.09.2008

Wife of Goncalo Amaral addresses an open letter to Kate McCann.

Google Translation - Full text of the document:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsosmaddie.dhblogs.be%26hl%3Den%26rlz% 3D1B3GGGL_enNZ266NZ266

odette

09-17-2008, 02:14 PM

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/Noticia.aspx?channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010&contentid=4D0B78B7-BDAE-452F-A297-5B5A5C4C8B1F

correiodamanha.pt - 17 September 2008

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Wife of investigator attacks Kate

Open letter: Wife of Gonçalo Amaral reacts with irony to attack by Kate

. . http://i33.tinypic.com/1zv6821.jpg
Sofia Leal defende o marido, ex-coordenador da PJ de Portimão, dos ataques dos McCann na imprensa

Dear Madam,

You will forgive my boldness, but after I read your comment (in an interview to Expresso newspaper) concerning Gonçalo Amaral, my husband and the father of my daughters, I cannot avoid sending you these words of gratefulness. For many years, I have been trying to make myself heard in this sentiment that unites us both: "…as a professional and as a person his behaviour has been a disgrace."

Look at it closely:

a) Professionally

- As a Coordinator of Criminal Investigation for the Polícia Judiciária, my husband has always refused to sit around from 9 to 5 in the comfortable chair in his office, as his hierarchical status implies. Instead, he spent the day (and very often, the night) with the investigators on the terrain, coordinating searches, surveillances, apprehensions and other diligences 'in loco'. A disgrace!

But if it was only the fact that he was subject to the weather, it wouldn't be serious, as our climate is not too bad, as you know. The problem is that this dedication to the cause has earned him a non promotion in his career. Indeed, I will explain this to you, even because this case happened when the searches for your daughter were under way. My husband applied to the category of Superior Coordinator, and in between drug apprehensions, sequestrations and homicides, he somehow managed to produce a thesis about drug trafficking by sea, which he defended in Lisbon, in front of a Jury that congratulated him. Full of hope, Gonçalo Amaral returns to the Algarve and awaits the result. To his surprise, he was passed over by other colleagues (real coordinators, truth be told), because he had not been able to score points in the "professional formation" parameter. That's right, Mrs Kate, my husband spent his life working, involved in complex investigations, he was the man who apprehended the highest volumes of drugs in Portugal, but given the fact that he had no time to go to Lisbon to parade himself up and down the corridors of the PJ's Institute, he was not promoted. A disgrace, madam, a disgrace!

- As you probably know, even because you seem like a very well informed person to me, my husband's salary was less than 1.5 times the lowest salary in your country. But as a wife, as a mother and as a Portuguese citizen, I can't complain, because Gonçalo Amaral's salary was equal to 4.5 times the lowest salary in Portugal. But pay attention to the following, which is an example of what I'm going to explain next: At some point, an individual shoots a member of the PSP [urban police] and flees into neighbouring Spain. A PJ team follows him, including my husband. They stayed there for over two weeks. Now at that time, the international expense coverage was around 100 euros. As you can easily imagine, it's not possible to sleep and eat in Spain with this amount of money, much less shortly before Christmas and taking into account that the value will only be paid at around Easter time (if one's lucky). But Gonçalo Amaral never refused, not even for one day, to search for the escaped murderer, relaying the expenses onto our family accounts. And this is just one example among many. At some point in time, I suggested that we should create a fund or something similar to deal with these extraordinary expenses, but he never listened to me. You see, we also have mortgages to pay around here… A disgrace, Mrs Kate, a disgrace!

b) As a person, his behaviour has also been a disgrace, because to begin with we could never distinguish that he even had a personal life, due to the manner in which he dealt with the profession that he embraced. But if my good friend Mrs Kate allows me, I can offer you some examples:

Continued Below ...

odette

09-17-2008, 02:18 PM

Continued From Above

correiodamanha.pt - 17 September 2008

- 5 years ago, a child named Joana "disappeared". Her mother, just like you, Mrs Kate, tried to project the case into the media, but she didn't make it any further than SIC…

Eight days later, came the confessions and the evidence: during an incestuous act between mother and uncle, the child was beaten, then dismembered and her body dumped who knows where. Mother and uncle went to jail, in a process that was coordinated by Gonçalo Amaral and which earned them almost 20 years in jail, each. But let us go a bit back in time. The child died on the 12th of September. On Christmas eve, our family was reunited for prayer, when my husband asked me to prepare a bag with some food and warm clothes, because he had not carried out his Christmas act of penance. Can you, Mrs Kate, imagine where Gonçalo Amaral went on that Christmas night under heavy rain and thunder? He went to the Olhão Prison, where João Cipriano, Joana's uncle, a confessed murderer and a clinically diagnosed psychopath, is detained. According to my husband, to simply offer an alimony to some beggar was not a sacrifice to him. The fact that he embraced and shared his Christmas meal with João Cipriano was the sacrifice that he offered to God, in memory of Joana. Is this not a disgrace? You should also know that every year, on the 12th of September, my husband has a mass celebrated in memory of Joana Isabel Cipriano Guerreiro. He says that nobody will ever remember the poor little girl again. Right, but they remember to unjustly accuse him of actions and crimes that he never committed. Isn't this a disgrace, Mrs Kate?

- There is a last episode that I will report to you, one that I still find hard to talk about. Last year, in May, we started to move our family to Portimão. My husband was supposed to enjoy a holiday period starting on the day after your daughter's disappearance. "For obvious reasons" that didn't happen. I started on a new job, looked for a house, moved house, and tried to integrate our daughters in new schools and new routines. All of this I did alone, without any help from my husband, who for obvious reasons, was looking for your daughter, Mrs Kate. In October, on his birthday, a week after our daughters started school, Gonçalo Amaral was dismissed and returned to Faro. This was supposed to be the time of the family's reunion and it turned out to be another separation. Isn't this a disgrace? Our daughters never managed to understand, and we never managed to explain to them what obvious reasons were those that rewarded in this manner a father who left his own daughters to go looking for a child that he had never met and whose parents had neglected her. It was a pity that my dear friend Mrs Kate was not around anymore at that date, because you could have been very helpful to me in explaining these "obvious reasons" that led to their father's dismissal, to our daughters.

Finally, I can only report to you that intimately, Gonçalo Amaral is precisely what the latinos are famed for: shameless, as my pudency does not allow me to write any further.

I ask you, my good friend, to forgive these confidences from a wife and mother, but I'm certain that you will understand. I finish this letter asking you to send your mother my most sincere praises. She sounded so sincere to me, when during an interview she referred that she felt like slapping the face of the person who left her grandchildren alone. She spoke so openly that she sounded like a genuine Portuguese grandmother…

My dear friend Mrs Kate, without wishing to bother you any further, I would like to request one last favour from you: now that you have started to tell some truths, please continue, and let the world hear the truth that it has been waiting for.

Best regards,
Sofia Leal
Wife and Mother of the Daughters of Gonçalo Amaral

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/Noticia.aspx?channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010&contentid=4D0B78B7-BDAE-452F-A297-5B5A5C4C8B1F

* * *

odette

09-17-2008, 02:33 PM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Gonçalo Amaral at the Barcelona press conference on 09 September 2008

Please note that this video is not professionally recorded. However, it is an interesting record of Mr Amaral's press conference in Barcelona. Many thanks to Mercedes and Mila http://mercedessigueaqui.blogspot.com/2008/09/15-de-septiembre-de-2008.html for sharing this video. The translation below is a part transcription/part summary of the press conference recording. Video by Reme, special reporter.

Journalist: At what point did the PJ think that the girl was alive?

Gonçalo Amaral: As investigators we always think of the best scenario but also of the worst. During the early hours we believe that the girl might be alive, but whilst the witness statements were being taken we began to have doubts.

Reme: Is there any chance that the investigation may be re-opened soon?

G.A.: Yes. The case is not closed and can be re-opened if there are relevant data. You can see from the police file that has been handed to reporters that there are still some procedures that have not been carried out.

For example there is information that can't be said whether it is new or old.

He says that as early as May, they began to hear a rumour that the British police had information about Payne having strange behaviour during a trip to Mallorca, but this information was not sent to the Portuguese police until October 26. Nothing has been done to neither check this witness statement by the British police nor by the Portuguese police. Therefore this investigation could yield new data that would re-open the case. It should be taken into account that, according to his statement, he was said to be the last person to have seen Madeleine (about 19h00).

Payne was also identified as the person who was with McCanns the following morning when an employee of the British Social Services turned up at the apartment to offer her help (Mr. Amaral clarifies that she is a person with 25 years of experience) and claims that she was kept away from the couple on the advice of Payne. She says she knows David Payne from other cases she worked on in the past. Mr. Amaral says this should have been investigated in England as well as in Portugal.

Journalist: How did the parents react to the publication of the book?

GA: The only reaction that parents have had about the book was this week during an interview to Expresso, though they often use other people (such as their spokesperson) to speak for them. In the criminal proceedings in Portugal the figure of spokesperson does not exist, there are witnesses, defendants ... but not the position of spokesman, that's why for me there are persons who should not betaken into consideration. The McCann's have said they have not read the book, but the other gentleman... said that they will file a lawsuit, that I should be very careful ... all I say in the book are the facts, based on the testimony of witnesses, physical evidence, the evidence here is not anything speculative, there is only objective data.

I don't see the need for them to submit a claim, but if they are to sue we will present the book and the police report page by page and verify that only objective data are presented.

Reme: Asked if Mr. Amaral is aware of the 24 photographs whether he has ever seen them.

G.A: He says he has not seen them, he has spoken to the person who said that he has, but he has his doubts that they actually exist. He says that if they exist he hopes they come out, but strangely they have not been handed over to the judicial police.

He explains that it seems this Spanish person was celebrating his birthday and he went to dinner at Tapas with some English friends, but that the camera was stolen from his vehicle and that it was not until a couple of months ago that the Spanish police returned the camera to him, at which time he realized that he was in possession of these photos.

Reporter: What reaction do you have when you see parents crying on television ...

G.A. He says that they are people with feelings and we should realize that they have lost a daughter whom they surely loved much and that is why he fully understands those images.
Regarding the visit to the Pope he said that at that time they were immersed in a media campaign ... He says that the Holy See kept information about Madeleine on their website until a few days before the McCann's were made arguidos, he said that they were the first to withdraw the information from their Web site.

Reme: Asked if the towel found with blood and fibers of the Scenic is in the police file.

G.A.: He states categorically that there is no towel. He mentions that the dogs carried out their research on all clothing, furniture and so on.

He said that when they took the twins from cots (May 3), they also took the sheets. He also said that he did not understand the statement when Russell said he had to change the sheets because his daughter had vomited, however cleaning staff say they are not aware of this and did not provide him with clean sheets.

The police should have been able to analyze the clothes Madeleine wore when she left from the creche to see if there was any sign of violence on them. That is something normal in any investigation. In this case it seems they had changed her clothing, since they said that she was wearing her pyjamas. He would like to know where those clothes are. He says he made the mistake of treating them too soft-handedly, that they felt pressurised regarding this theme, as well as to the taping of telephone calls.

Journalist: Do you think that this case will be resolved at any time?

He says that more than one person can still give information, said that even within the group of 9 people there still exists the possibility that anyone of them can talk about something that could reopen the case file

Reme: Do you know which secret holds the key?

G.A.: He doesn't link the secret to the holiday in Mallorca, but said that the group may have one or more secrets. All of them had left the children alone that night, and English law in this regard is very strict. He says that, so far, all have stated that they were carrying out regular checks, but the day could come when they retract their statements and say that somebody asked them to say this. He says that with regard to holidays in Mallorca, Portuguese police should have questioned the couple in order to try to understand what could have happened, he said that it may have nothing to do with the case, probably has nothing to do with it, but this has be understood/known.

odette

09-17-2008, 02:39 PM

breakingnews.ie - 16/09/2008

Police to consider releasing Madeleine information

British police will consider whether it is in the public interest to release information about their involvement in the Madeleine McCann inquiry, officials said today.

A number of media organisations made requests under the Freedom of Information Act for details about their role in the investigation. ...

Continued @ Link ...

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mhqlqlididoj/rss2/

SaraSidle

09-18-2008, 08:07 PM

Xainia

09-23-2008, 01:08 AM

My apologizes if this has already been posted.

Madeleine police had no training in missing people searches.

Most of the Portuguese police officers who looked for Madeleine McCann after her disappearance had no formal training in missing people searches, case files revealed today.

Up to 100 personnel spent a week scouring an area up to 15km (9.3 miles) around the Algarve resort where the little girl vanished on May 3 last year.

But they failed to find any clues to Madeleine’s fate, and in July Portuguese detectives called in leading British expert Mark Harrison.

Mr Harrison, national search adviser for all UK police agencies in cases of missing people, homicides and abductions, reviewed the initial operations and advised on the inquiry’s future strategy.

He noted that neither search co-ordinator Major Luis Sequeira nor most of his teams had received any training for the task of looking for the missing girl.

Rest of Article is here (http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mhqlmhcwcwoj/)

odette

09-23-2008, 05:21 AM

. . . . . http://i36.tinypic.com/2lu59v4.jpg

odette

09-24-2008, 10:28 AM

ONLINE TRANSLATION

Câmara de Comuns - Published: 20 September 2008

By Paul Sargento, criminal psychologist, university professor and author

Maddie: The Dogs and the (cuddle) Cat... Questions of Smell

. . . . . http://i35.tinypic.com/1j88dl.jpg

On the 6th of September, weekly Expresso published an exclusive interview with the McCann couple, with headlines that claimed, in direct speech, through Kate's voice: "Gonçalo Amaral is a disgrace!" Twenty four hours earlier, the British daily The Sun presented an excerpt of the videos with the famous dogs (trained to react in the presence of human blood and cadaver odour, we recall) reacting in a particular manner under certain circumstances, namely in locations where the McCanns were, or to objects that had been in contact with the family (for example, the famous pink cuddle cat). These videos made the rounds in all tv stations and generated some upset.

Let’s ask: how are both situations related? Well, the time proximity may lead to suppose that, like we have stated in earlier occasions, these are situations that can be compared with guerrilla fights. I open a parenthesis to affirm that I am certain of the tolerance and good sense that are recognized in Dr Gonçalo Amaral, which continue to give him the strength and the wisdom to resist, along with his family, to this guerilla that will only intensify the confusion that is installed already.

What does this mean? It was to be presumed that after the process was made public there would be a tendency from the media to try to value some indicia that sustain the homicide and cadaver concealment theory, and that the response to that tendency would be translated into attacks on the Polícia Judiciária's technical competence, and especially the devaluation of indicia without forensic corroboration.

Within this perspective, it did not surprise me that the reports were published almost simultaneously and that for the McCann couple, the criteria to interpret and explain the behaviour of the dogs were exclusively measured by these animals' incompetence, supposedly proved by one single US study. Of course it is an argument, but once again, the argument of authority has prevailed over the authority of the argument. Is one single US study enough to devalue what the images have shown? Probably, the forensic artist who drew the photofits was also part of the team… (forgive me the irony)

It could also be confirmed, just like I had insisted, despite the legitimate and honest explanations from my dear friend Dr Rogério Alves during a debate on SIC Notícias in late July, that the couple had refused to "return to Portugal for the reconstruction" (in Expresso, Sept 9, 2008, page 25).

More recently, on the 14th of September, British tabloid "News of the World" announces, on the front page, the publication of "Kate's Diary, in her own words" and advances an exclusive that will present, "for the first time, the devastating TRUTH that destroys the Portuguese police's lies". Competing with the usual appealing images of Britney Spears, Rachel Stevens and Danii Minogue, the front page presents a photo of Kate McCann with a sad and worried expression, which supposedly would anticipate the details of her agony that the diary would expose.

In reality, across four pages of the tabloid, with some photographs that illustrated the strong emotions, Kate's diary was published and commented under the perspective of a mother in understandable despair. The comments followed the logics of the abduction theory, and in consequence carried out a violent attack on the Portuguese Polícia Judiciária, which is accused, among other things, of cruelty.

But why am I telling you this? Because following the supposedly incompetent smelling work done by the dogs, on the 12th of July 2007, Kate registers the following in her diary: "Today I washed the Cuddle Cat. I was hoping not to have to do it until Madeleine returns, but it was now quite dirty and smelly, unfortunately without the smell of Madeleine on it" (News of the World, Sept 14, 2008, page 6).

This passage is admirable, when compared to the notion that the dogs' role had to be diminished in the process!!!

The figure of cuddle cat has always claimed my attention in the Maddie case. Right at the beginning, I remembered a famous British paediatrician, Donald Winnicott, who attributed particular importance to toys (or other objects) that gain a special value for children in very precocious phases of their lives. These objects, which the paediatrician called transitional, are invested with particular passion by the children, or even with addiction, for possessing symbolic characteristics of safety, comfort, care and other qualities that emanate from the mother figure. It is almost always the mother who offers, or promotes, this relationship of passion with the object. Therefore, when she is absent or when the children, for example, go to bed or to nursery school, they absolutely need to enjoy the company of these objects. That is the only way that they can endure those moments. We all remember when our children could only sleep if they were hugging their soft toy.

But that object gradually loses that symbolic dimension, as new relational meanings emerge. Nevertheless, while the passion and the addiction over that object last, all its qualities should be maintained. One of them, very important: the scent. Who has never witnessed a child’s tantrum because she does not want her soft toy to be washed, even preferring it to remain dirty and smelly?

That's right. I have never managed to understand who the pink cuddle cat belonged to…

But I'm certain of one thing: it's a lot more important than it seems.

Even after being washed, when Kate could not feel Maddie's scent anymore, and placed, untouched, in the little bed where it slept, the dogs felt a presence.

I finish for the day with a sentence by Professor José Pinto da Costa (whom I was honoured to be a student of) that was spoken during the aforementioned debate: "I see that I still have a lot to learn about those sniffer dogs' biology".

http://camaradecomuns.blogs.sapo.pt/466994.html

SaraSidle

09-24-2008, 08:21 PM

Nerida_F

09-28-2008, 03:24 AM

Sometimes it helps to stay positive. Here (http://portugalresident.com/portugalresident/showstory.asp?ID=29110) is a link which finally looks promising. Notice who is in the list of arguidos this time - GA. I find it amazing that Joana Cipriano's mother and uncle were thrown in jail for a crime based on speculation, without any evidence and there has been no sign of Joana. In that book about Madeleine, Danny Collins reveals that a family member of the Ciprianos was paid E50k. Probably the only person who believes the Ciprianos are guilty was the judge, and this case highlights how ridiculous it is to have one person judge another instead of a jury. If the Ciprianos were released, this would help the search for Madeleine and also Joana, but I guess with the rife corruption in Portugal legal circles (see Casa Pia), the chance of the truth being heard in this case is very low.

Thanks Sharlock for finding out about Lisbon, the PJ detective who was seen around Madeleine the day before, and also around Joana before she disappeared. Maybe you could post another picture to keep this person in the headlight until the real police arrive!

Also, there are some interesting points about Robert Murat. He was seen several times before the abduction, he talked to Malinka immediately after the abduction for a long time and then denied this, hired a rental car straight after the abduction, his girlfriend was seen with Madeleine McCann a few miles away by a lorry driver, the girlfriend was then seen in Marrakech with Madeleine and there are 3 reliable witnesses who saw Madeleine there, and finally there was a mobile phone call of a german talking about a ferry trip with a little blond girl. No real hard evidence which would hold in a court, but enough to cast some suspicions.

So while no news is not that bad, some good news about Madeleine is definitely welcome and overdue.

sharlock

09-28-2008, 07:30 AM

http://briansdreams.com/dd/5441pa66.jpg
Your wish is my command Nerida_F. Thanks for the link to the article, very interesting indeed!
Murat didn't travelled alone in his return to Portugal (http://gazetadigitalmadeleinecase.blogspot.com/2007/08/murat-didnt-travelled-alone-in-his.html)

odette

10-21-2008, 10:52 PM

Câmara de Comuns - Dr Paulo Sargento - 10 de Outubro de 2008

Online Translation

Maddie: The noisy silence... or the extinct notoriety of a brand?

. . . . . http://i38.tinypic.com/332saxc.jpg

The "Maddie" case has entered into a sort of blackout for some time now. More precisely, Gerry McCann has silenced his blog, approximately, 2 months ago (his last post is dated the 14th of August) after he affirmed his surprise with the fact that the media had had access to the process, as a consequence of the archival which put an end to the secrecy of justice and, also, to his status of arguido, which also referred to his wife and to Mr. Robert Murat.

Well, the surprise shown is, in fact, surprising, in so far as, besides having been announced previously, it seemed obvious that this would happen, or was the media exposure of the case not always one of the purposes pursued by the McCanns, on behalf of their daughter. It is a surprise that surprises, in so far, as it was not expected that it constituted any surprise at all, even less for Gerry McCann.

And, what to say of Mr.Clarence Mitchell? Yes, the one that, very often tediously, used the easy verb to maintain the case in the media's spotlight? Or, who simply, threatened half the world with criminal processes for defamation, and pre-demanded fat compensations? He has been very quiet, the spin doctor. But, it does not seem to me that this is on account of the fact that he has nothing to say. Could it be that, cleverly we recognise, he knows when to speak, as much as he knows when to shut up?

This limbo into which the case has entered can have many readings. I’ve chosen two, between several.

The first one, as I stated in a previous post, can mean that the silence is due to the fact that at this moment, after the euphoria of the guerrilla war post-archival, the long process is being consulted and studied, finally, with the reflection and with the meticulousness that such a task demands, with the intention of planning the actions that will follow. However, as far as we know, no diligence was done in the direction of the reopening of the process.

So, for what reason does it need to be studied? Will the threats be made real? Is that the objective? Or is it simply, the promise done by the famous private agency of detectives (that, according to the official site FindMadeleine.com continues to be the principal source of investigation of the case and where the ridiculous sketches remain as the most efficient scientific productions, the result of an authentic fortune spent by the fund to find Maddie) that is going be fulfilled with a year of delay and they are going to find the girl before the Christmas of 2008?

The second one as I said before, fits in an attempt of extinction of the media interest. Technically, a phenomenon that begins to have a break of notoriety has a tendency to be extinguished. The great trademarks, as famous as they are, always do the possible and the impossible to increase or, at least, maintain their notoriety. The investments in publicity done even at a time of economic crisis, are taken as a priority of the big brands. When such does not happen the extinction is inevitable! All of us know of that!

But is Maddie a big Brand? Should we have believed in a phenomenon of relational Marketing?

I presume that yes. I already stated that in several opportunities, when I referred to the tabloids.

But, let's pay attention to the official site: http://www.findmadeleine.com
In a very discreet way, an online store appears, above the separator of the contacts (contact us) of the above-mentioned site, at the top right corner of the web page. If we click on this online store we come across three products: wallpapers for cell phones (free), bracelets 'look for Maddie' of universal size (2 Pounds each) and T-Shirts for children and adults, of various sizes sizes already sold out (6,5 Pounds/10 each).

What does this want to say? If we read the description of the products, we are left without doubts that this it is a Marketing strategy terribly simple, almost kitsch. Let's notice the next sentences: "Polyester/Cotton High Quality T Shirt", "These shirts are made to a very high quality and have the text and picture printed directly onto the material" (The front has the text "Dont You Forget About Me" and the rear has the web site address. Madeleines picture is shown on the front and the back.) or "Good quality wristbands to keep reminding you about Madeleine".

Let's pay attention. It is not the question of a fund, or of donations, because for these there are also connections and quite visible separators. This is a catalog of products for sale. Exactly! It is the question of a catalog of products for sale.

In as much as I try to understand the despair and the necessity of money to continue, presumably, investigations, carried out by agencies that still showed nothing, I must qualify, at least, of bad taste what I have just described.

And I adjourn in this way, at least for today.

There are Deafening Silences when one attempts to extinguish the Notoriety of a Brand.

http://camaradecomuns.blogs.sapo.pt/532995.html

odette

10-21-2008, 11:10 PM

Interview: 02 October 2008, Published:18 October 2008, (no online link, appears in paper edition only)

Thanks to 'astro' for translation

Moita Flores interviews Gonçalo Amaral TV Guia

"The McCanns knew that I was going to catch them"

. . . . . http://i37.tinypic.com/8xrc5u.jpg

TvGuia invited me to interview my former companion in the PJ, and former coordinator of the Maddie case.

He tells why he was the target of lies and how the little girl's parents concealed the truth.

Moita Flores (MF) - Anyone who reads this conversation on these pages will say: there it is! This guy went to TV to say what the other one told him and it's going to be difficult to convince the gossipers that we had not spoken to each other for years.

Gonçalo Amaral (GA) - True. The last time that we chatted before I left the PJ, I was stationed in the Azores.

MF - And how are things now? The book that you wrote, "Truth of the Lie", is out there. You have retired and people are calling for you from all sides…

GA - Don't even mention it. I'm exhausted. I came to have lunch with you because I had made you a promise, and I'm on my way to Vigo. I know that there are hundreds of persons waiting for me.

MF - Vigo, Madrid…

GA - I also presented the book in Seville and Barcelona, in front of hundreds of readers and the full force of the media.

MF - I read it in El País and I saw you on one or two Spanish TV channels.

GA - Eight TV stations! Can you imagine what that's like? The whole of the press. I didn't know where to turn to anymore. Even Hola!…

MF - What about sales? In Portugal, I know it's selling well. At least in the bookshops where I usually go, I see it listed high in the best-seller lists.

GA - Here we have sold 180,000 copies and we're rapidly reaching the 200,000 mark. From Spain I have no figures yet, but I know it's been selling well.

MF - And in England?

GA [laughs] - You're joking…

MF – I'm serious. It was where your life was most ruined, where you were insulted and defamed…

GA [laughs] - It's over now… The book will get there, you'll see…

MF - What about other countries?

GA - It will be published in Italy, in the Netherlands and in Denmark. I'm going over there soon, because the Danish editor has mentioned the possibility of distributing it into Norway and Sweden. We'll see…

MF - Your determination is to get even with those who worked for the McCanns. They've mistreated you.

GA - Believe me, I feel no rage, I'm not even angry. I have understood their game and you also know how this game works. The lies about me, the manipulation is not exactly against the citizen Gonçalo Amaral. They were against the investigator who knew their weaknesses and was going to catch them sooner or later. It was all a matter of time. The McCanns knew that I was going to get them. As you could see, all it took was for the process to be archived in order for everything to be finished. At this moment in time, I'm convinced that they don't even remember my name anymore. So the game is always the same. We want to catch them, they want to escape, and that's it. Sometimes the bandits win, sometimes the policemen do. This time around, and concerning this case, it was how it was. They stopped insulting me, they stopped the campaigns to find their daughter, it's over. They got what they wanted and therefore, peace is back.

MF – And you launch a "grenade" that is called The Truth of the Lie into the midst of that peace. Whoever reads your testimony is left with few doubts about the little girl's destiny. She died in the apartment.

GA – Do you doubt it?

MF – No. Neither I nor the older people who used to work with me. When this happened, I was in Greece and I heard the news through an English channel. The story was so badly told, that only a naive or silly person would believe it. As a matter of fact, when I arrived, I had dinner with several already retired colleagues that worked in homicides, and their opinion was the same. The detail about the window killed the version. Nobody passes through that narrow window space carrying a child.

GA – The window made me doubt. And not only that.

MF – But I do insist on the window. The mother said that she never touched it.

GA – That she never even opened it.

MF – Now, when I read the process, I realised that her fingerprints were on it. And positioned in a manner that coincides with an opening movement.

GA – It was with that, with Kate's fingerprints on the window that I wanted to catch them.

MF – That's the truth of the lie.

GA – Among other things. It was one of the best games that I ever saw played out, to divert attention from what really happened in the apartment. The manner in which they "worked" for the Smith was brilliant.

MF – The couple that recognised the father carrying the little girl.

GA – Exactly. It was done in such a manner that at one point in time, it was Gerry himself who informed that someone had witnessed the situation, as if the person that was recognised had been someone else.

MF – Wearing the clothes that the friend mentioned for the photofit.

GA – Precisely.

MF – Do you still drink beer, or did you stop drinking red wine after the news in the English press?

GA [laughs] – I never drank wine. I don't like red wine.

MF – What really made them mad was being made arguidos.

GA – Now that you know the process, tell me… Under the old Penal Process, how do I ask Kate: "Are you lying when you say you didn't touch the window? As a matter of fact, it was you who opened the window. We have material evidence of that." A question like this forces the constitution of arguido because it invades her sphere of constitutional rights. I have to give her the right not to reply, instead of lying. The only solution was to make her an arguida.

MF – Things were different in my time. She would have been under such an attack that before she realised anything, she'd be in jail.

GA – Right, but in your time, in our old times, investigation was made with fuel. Now we all move on honey. Apart from that, this is a process that is uncomfortable for everyone. Nicely archived, nice and quiet, that's how it looks better. Everyone was happy.

MF – And nobody was tried.

GA – Not yet…

MF – Do you still believe?

GA – It's too big and too serious a burden to be concealed by so many people for their entire lives.

MF – I also agree with you. Now, tell me. Do we eat grilled squid or do we play the premier league? There is bean and piglet casserole.

GA – You're crazy. Grilled squid.

MF – It definitely looks like things now move on honey.

GA – We're too old for such a bean casserole. Today is my birthday and I don't want to die of overstuffing.

MF – You're 49 and you say you're old? What am I then, I'm six "minutes" ahead of you on the scoreboard?! I’m 55, and on the 23rd of February I receive another free one.

GA – Get sensible and order the squid.

MF [speaking to the waiter] – Squid for both of us. Now it's like in the movies. Bean casseroles are for under 40s only.

odette

10-21-2008, 11:18 PM

24horasnewspaper.com - 21 October 2008

Thanks to 'astro' for translation

Helping the McCanns? No way!

Detectives don't want to cooperate with Maddie's parents

The McCanns want to hire a new detective to search for Maddie. But they are not being helped much in Portugal

The Portuguese detectives are little interested in helping the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Millionaire Brian Kennedy, one of the main financial sponsors of the international fund that was created to locate Maddie, announced that he is looking for a detective to head the investigations. But he is running low on luck.

Detective Mário Costa says he is not available to enter "that movie". Former PJ inspector Pereira Cristóvão states that he doesn't work on missing persons' cases. And only lawyer Marcos Aragão Correia, who lead an operation at the Arade Dam to look for the little girl's body in March, is available to help.

"If a daughter of mine disappeared I wouldn't stop looking for her either", Aragão Correia tells 24horas, revealing that the searches that he participated in were "concerted" with Método 3, the Spanish detective agency that was hired by the McCanns.

If Kate and Gerry came knocking on Mário Costa's door, the answer would be a resounding "no". "If the PJ, with all their people and means involved, didn't get anywhere, how is a private detective going to solve the case? Only if he's the king of sorcerers", the detective says.

The former Polícia Judiciária inspector Pereira Cristóvão, who considers that the archiving of the process by the Public Ministry was "extemporaneous", doesn't oppose the McCann couple's hiring: "It's a sign that there is still money to spend". Nevertheless, in his case, he says that he is not available for any help. "I only work with firms", he guarantees.

Mário Costa was approached

Detective Mário Costa was approached by intermediaries for the McCanns, in order to help out the investigation. "I was asked through an illustrious lawyer, to find out if I was available to cooperate", Mário Costa confirms. "If I had taken the case, I might have half a million euros in my bank account but I would be discredited due to accepting a case that I could not solve", the detective explains.

Barra da Costa tries to reopen case

Criminologist Barra da Costa sent the Attorney General's office a document last Friday, which may lead to the reopening of the Maddie process if it is taken into account.

In his own investigation, the former PJ inspector told 24horas that he found a witness that he considers to be fundamental but was not taken into account in the investigation. "[The witness] denounces certain facts to the GNR, but that report doesn't even appear in the process that was now archived".

After analysing the 60 volumes and thousands of pages under the magnifying glass, Barra da Costa failed to find one single mention of this witness. Therefore he contacted her and, among other information, he sent the result to the prosecutor that is responsible for the case.

As far as 24horas was able to establish with a judicial source, the document includes the statement of a witness who says that father Pacheco – who gave the church keys to the McCann couple so they could pray – was involved in crimes of a sexual nature against minors. The priest, who was contacted by 24horas, denies any such accusation. "That's a scheme against the church. I have never been involved in any process that is related to such things. I only met the McCanns after the disappearance", he defends himself.

Barra da Costa criticises the investigation and considers that many doubts remain unclear. During the investigation he raised controversy when he stated that the McCann couple practiced swinging (switching couples). He was criticised, but throughout the many pages of the process, which is now relieved of judicial secrecy, there are questions made by PJ inspectors to the couple's friends that have the purpose to clarify that issue.

"The disappearance of a child must be seen as homicide, because it's the most serious crime."

http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2975&link=07

odette

11-05-2008, 05:48 AM

patbrownprofiling - Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Open Letter to Kate McCann

As a criminal profiler, I have also sometimes been criticized for theorizing about a case I have not personally been privy to the actual facts from inside the investigation. As I do a lot of television commentary, this is quite often the case for me; I only can theorize based on the “facts” outlined by the media. Therein lays the difference between public speculating and true criminal profiling as part of an investigative team. The latter is going to be one hell of a lot more accurate!

Continued @ Link ...

http://patbrownprofiling.blogspot.com/search/label/Maddie%20McCann

odette

11-05-2008, 07:34 AM

Broadcast: 27 October 2008

Thanks to 'Ines' and Joana Morais for translation

Cristina López Schlichting - CLS

Carmen Candela – CC

Pilar Cambra - PC

Gonçalo Amaral - GA

Cristina López Schlichting: It was a tricky affair because the McCanns - Maddie's parents, as you know, launched an international fund raising appeal, have appeared in all the media, they put obstacles in the path of journalists and finally, they insulted the Portuguese police. The person in charge of the Maddie case, former inspector of the Portuguese PJ, was removed from his job and is now retired, precisely because of this case, an individual who had a brilliant police record behind him and who had solved all the previous cases that ended up in his hands.

Now he has revealed all that he knows in a fascinating book, 200 thousand copies sold in Portugal, "Maddie: The Truth of the Lie".

CLS: Gonçalo Amaral, good afternoon.

Gonçalo Amaral : Thank you very much.

CLS: Thank you very much for being here with us today.

GA: Its my pleasure.

CLS: Well, in effect you tackle the principal aspects of the Maddie case and have a very bold thesis: do you agree?

GA: Well, I do not have a thesis, the thesis is that of a team of investigators, composed of Portuguese and English police officers, who in September of last year prepared a report that is included in the investigation files, which says that the girl died on May 3rd in the apartment, that the body was concealed and that a crime scenario was simulated, that of abduction.

CLS: That's clear. The commissioner says the little girl died on the same day she disappeared, on May 3, 2007, the body was concealed and abduction was simulated. Pilar Cambre has a question concerning this.

Pilar Cambra: I have a question, because you state that the parents gave the girl a sedative, Calpol, because she had problems sleeping...

GA: Yes.

PC: ... of insomnia, and that this medication probably led to her death, and that from that point... or that it is possible that the girl, upon getting up from her bed under the effects of this medicine, could have sustained a heavy fall, which caused her death. You deduce as proof, that her siblings who were sleeping in the same room, even when the room was full people, did not wake up when the investigation began. My question is: how is it possible to state that the girl, Maddie, Madeleine, died as a consequence of consuming a sleeping solution and that she died from a blow, if the body has not been found?

GA: It is in the book and is in the indictment, which points to death by accident, it was accidental. Death because cadaver odour and human blood were found behind a sofa, that is why it is considered that an accident could have happened.

continued below

odette

11-05-2008, 07:41 AM

CLS: In other words, there was blood and cadaver odour.

GA: Exactly. This is what we had in October of last year when I left the investigation. Also, in addition to this, it was considered that the girl had a problem with falling asleep and with sleeping and whether the parents, like other parents in England were giving her Calpol to sleep. It is said that there is a Calpol generation in England, because the mother says that it is a medicine, paracetamol and there are experts who say that it is an antihistamine with sedative effects.

It is true that we did not find the body, but it is certain that those children were sleeping, it is true that they did not wake up during all that noise and it is also certain that the mother, according to a witness, Fiona Payne, held her hand under the twins' noses to see if they were breathing - what was going on there? She could have been worried about the fact that the children were still asleep.

CLS: Surely she was checking to see if the other two children were all-right?

GA: We do not state that it is due to the Calpol, because the body has not been found, but it is a hypothesis, a thesis that has to be worked on. What cannot happen in a criminal investigation, is that course of the investigation is cut off when we think about death, if there is the thought of death, it is not possible to continue to think about abduction, this is not possible. If we had continued with the investigation, we and other persons who came to this conclusion, surely would have been able to arrive at a point of inflection, and have looked at the thesis that the parents could have had some responsibility in this and concluded it was impossible, because now we have found this or that, but we needed to investigate the death.

CLS: Concerning the Calpol perhaps Dr Candela can tell us more.

Carmen Candela: Well, I think... really what struck me most, as I was saying to you earlier, is the lack of breaking down, in the statements, when the father and the mother had to give statements, this struck me... this is perhaps part of the structure of a certain personality, which will not give way to anything, or, in other words, the lack of breaking down by a mother with all the drama that these parents have had to experience...

CLS: The coldness...

CC: The coldness, or rather, the emotional detachment from what was happening to her as regards her daughter, that has made an impression on me, from the maternal point of view, or, in other words I think as a mother. It is true that I am a mother of six children, I am a doctor and I have given my children sleeping solutions, and I being a doctor and knowing how to administer sleeping medicine, the anxiety that Pilar was mentioning, of placing your hand to see whether the child was breathing or not, always stays with you. I remember when my children were babies, and they would sleep for two hours longer before waking up for their bottle and you would get full of anguish. In other words this hypothesis, for me, is very credible, very credible. Above all, what has had impact on me is that in a determined moment, because of all the evidence I have read about, what has had most impact on me, was the search of the car by the sniffer dogs...

PC: On the clothes, on the cuddly toy...

CC: There were accurate tests, or rather, they exist and everything else are hypotheses without any proof. And what really annoys me is that with all the means that exist, at the level of the police, which I do not know about, is that he has been taken off the investigation, really that just seems surreal to me.

I do not know if there is a real greater power, interests, I get lost in this world, but really the accounts of the officer make sense to me.

CLS: What explains that they should have removed the officer from this investigation? What is the power?

continued below

odette

11-05-2008, 07:49 AM

GA: In the book I say that in this case there has been more politics than police...

CLS: More politics than police...

CC: ... it is the only thing that makes sense.

GA: As police officers, we must always work in an objective manner, we base ourselves upon the facts and try to understand the facts and what could have happened. We do not worry what is politically correct, in this case there have been many political pressures, there has been an implication on the part of the British government, I do not know if this is the same in other cases in England, a Prime Minister is concerned about some parents who have lost a daughter and I do not know if he does this for all children and all parents who lose children, it is a domestic problem in England. I do not know why with...

PC: ... why they got so involved...

GA: ... why a spokesman of the British government leaves his position to become the spokesman of a couple. Why does he not work as spokesman for another couple? Why an Ambassador in Lisbon does not remain in Lisbon and speaks to the National Director of the Police. Why does he have to speak 24 hours later with the police officers who are working on the case? Why does he have to speak with us later? Why do we have to come out later with a press release saying that there has been an abduction, when we did not even know if there was an abduction? All this is very complicated.

CLS: Or, you practically...

GA: ... this questions the objectivity.

CLS: Practically you were forced to say that there had been an abduction, without your having any certainty...

GA: Yes, we had to form a strategy, well, we are going to prove that there was no abduction and next we will think about death. When the death thesis began to be discussed, well, then the parents said... 'we're leaving'. They decided to leave on the day that the dogs, the English dogs who are only used as a means to locate cadavour odour (were brought in).

CC: And another (for detecting) blood...

GA: ... and another for blood and they left on the first day...

CC: I get lost when it comes to Madeleine's mother. I imagine, as a mother, that if a child of mine disappears and that the police accuse me, that this is the most serious, it will destroy me and will annoy me, but I would say, all right I am the guilty one, let's see it through until the end, what I would not do is leave the story incomplete...

PC: No Carmen, but look, I wanted to ask the ex-commissioner, for me he is the commissioner, because I believe that it is something that is not lost, the investigator's character, which, Carmen was commenting about before saying that they have never broken down...

C: The McCanns.

continued below

odette

11-05-2008, 07:54 AM

PC: The McCanns. I noticed, when they were declared suspects or charged...

GA: Yes...

PC: ... their entrance into the police station, I did notice from the news images, a certain collapse, or, rather an insecurity, in the sense that up to this moment they had been the stars of this terrible drama, and in this moment even if just by the way they walked, by the way they hid, yes I did perceive that to be a definite change of attitude, do you agree?

GA: Yes, this began on a day when a colleague of mine went to the McCanns’ house, where they were living in Praia da Luz, and notified them of the date when they had to go to the police to be constituted arguidos, to be questioned. The mother said, and it is written in the indictment, what she said was this: "What will the press say? What are my parents going to say"? Well, this is not a normal reaction.

But we do not work with reactions of this type...

CLS: I have not understood this: have you understood, Pilar?

PC: What was she going to say to the press and what she was going to tell her parents?

GA: ... What the press were going to say and what her parents would say.

CC: Ah yes,

GA: ... That is what the mother said when the police notified her of the day they would have to go to the police station to be constituted arguidos and to be questioned: 'What will the press say?' and 'What are my parents going to say?'

PC: What are they going to say?

CLS: … The press and my parents.

GA: We do not work with this type of attitude, we work with facts. There is a very important issue in this, we investigated the abduction thesis and all the other theses, and when we came to the hypothesis of investigating the death, the parents said that they were leaving...

CC: That they were going away...

GA: At that moment they removed themselves from the case, because a criminal case, everybody knows it, all the police officers know it, we can think things like that, but tomorrow or the following day something else may turn up. Why did we have to maintain the abduction theory? This was not possible.

continued below

odette

11-05-2008, 08:00 AM

CC: No, it is necessary to investigate another possibility...

CLS: And that a father should bear, as Carmen says, being charged with murder himself whilst the case of his child is solved. Therefore leaving the country, saying I'm going, because they are going to investigate the hypothesis of murder...

CC: One of them could say, I cannot bear it, cannot take it, emotionally this seems to me super cruel, and the other, because of course...

PC: I do not know if you remember, Carmen, the interview in Antenna 3 with the two of them, with the father and the mother in the moment in that he, who is the coldest person of the couple, she is more vulnerable, you say very well he is a surgeon, he is a man...

GA: Yes...

PC: ... accustomed, to taking decisions, he, when the camera is about to continue filming, says to her that she has lost her composure and started crying, "do not say another word", that is to say that in this couple there is also... commissioner, if the girl is dead, where is she, buried on land or at sea?

GA: Well, this is speculation, we do not speculate, they removed us from the case on October 2 we were working on all that, trying to understand how the death had occurred, in what circumstances and what happened to the body, now in these moments I cannot tell you, the most difficult thing this is...

PC: Of course, and why did they remove you from the case, what did they say to you when they told you: 'withdrawn from the case'.

GA: Before withdrawing me from the case, a director came to see me, who knows me and who tells me, 'look you have to think that there are cases that have no solution'.

PC: But it seems to me incredible... but it seems to me inconceivable...

GA: ... I have already said so, we will arrive to where it is possible to arrive, this has not finished for us, later it turned out that I did not give an interview that was attributed to me at a given moment, it happened in an interesting moment, when we were trying to bring the Smith family to Portugal, who said that they saw Gerry McCann, with a possibility of 80%... of having seen Gerry McCann carrying an inert girl towards the beach.

CLS: An Irish family that seems that they saw the father...

PC: The Smiths...

GA: It was part of the investigation and they removed me, and three or four months passed until the Smith family speaks for the indictment, and this procedure occurs in Ireland, not in Portugal as we had wished. During this time, it is said that this family has been the object of several visits, I do not want to speak about pressures, they have been the object of visits by persons who...

PC: Two or three months passed, these Irish...

GA: ... had to change their phone number, it is said that they had to move house and resort to the services of a lawyer.

PC: As if they had received pressure …

continued below

odette

11-05-2008, 08:05 AM

GA: To avoid these persons... It is sad that this has happened this way, that shouldn't have happened... and now it has been withdrawn from the investigation.

PC: Well, that's the point I wanted to arrive at.

GA: In the book, the book begins by saying that the indictment was going to be filed, and I do not mean that this was when the case has been already filed, but at the beginning, months earlier, because we knew that it was going to be filed.

CC: It was known that it was going to be filed... because you saw that you would not be able to conclude it.

GA: Yes, and because of facts...

PC: Because of political pressure...

CLS: It is incredible, because it is also an insult to the skill of the Portuguese police, the McCanns in a certain moment say that they are not capable of solving it, an insult to Portugal and in this sense the book is a real apology, or rather I believe that Gonçalo Amaral has done very well in putting in white on black or black on white all that is known about the case and that now all our listeners can know.

We have asked this evening's listeners to make their opinion about whether the parents are guilty or not, if they were involved in the disappearance of Maddie's body and 36 % of our listeners say that they are not guilty but, listen to this: 64 %, a large majority of listeners, say that yes, Maddie's parents are involved, the thesis you have already heard, the other two children had been conceived by IVF, the McCanns had had reproduction problems for a long time, it had been difficult for them to have children and the British authorities are very tough on parents who commit negligence in the case of having given sleeping solutions to the children and would have taken the children away, withdrawn custody of the other two ...

PC: And they were doctors...

CC: I find that hard to believe, I don't know about the legislation over there...

CLS: Its very tough in Great Britain...

CC: ... but even so I can't imagine it...

GA: Only a minute is necessary, not hours... in one minute...

PC: It is possible to demonstrate that, with them both being doctors...

GA: It is negligence...

CC: But it is possible to prove it, it is not negligence the fact is that we are not machines, from the medical point of view, that is very easy, we are not machines.

CLS: Yes, but in Great Britain...

continued below

odette

11-05-2008, 08:10 AM

CC: The same medication, for one person...

PC: No but, but what the inspector says is that a minute is enough, then it is possible to demonstrate that it was an accidental death, but with the sole fact...

GA: They are English...

CC: If they administered a sleeping solution to the children and that as a consequence of this medicine, British legislation would take the children away in a minute, as he says, the paternal custody and the children would be taken away.

GA: But you do not even need the medicine, it is enough to leave them alone as they did...

CC: That is, that they went for dinner and left them alone...

GA: ... another thing, its all of the children, not only Madeleine who has disappeared, but the twins who were also left alone, all the children of other friends also. They were all left alone.

And it is not possible to say that these children were not at risk, that there was no danger, because if they had not been in danger Madeleine would not have disappeared.

CC: Of course.

CLS: Certainly, and it is even possible that the McCanns might have been helped by this group.

CC: No, what the inspector says is that all the other couples who went to have dinner with them did the same. They left the children alone and they could also have the custody of their children taken away from them.

CLS: Therefore the group of British couples who met for dinner leaving their children alone, very probably could have helped the McCanns to make the body disappear, of course there are so many people involved.

GA: I do not say to make the body disappear, but at least to invent the story of the checking, to give the impression that the children and Madeleine were safe. It is said that they went every five minutes...

CC: They went...

GA: but that night, only that night, they all went to see the girl. This is interesting because the McCann couple never went to check the others' children.

CLS: OK.

CC: They were going to see Madeleine, all of them, every five minutes and why not the others' children who were also sleeping alone.

PC: As the commissioner says, it seems to be of a crushing logic.

CLS: OK. Everything seems quite logical and clear, in this sense, 64% of our listeners say they have clear criteria.

Anyway, we now thank Gonçalo Amaral who at least tries to clean the reputation of his country and of the police of his country, I believe that this is a very noble desire and a very noble motive, to explain... to write the book and, in any case, he has provided this text from the publishers Esquilo: Maddie: The Truth of the Lie, which as I say has sold more than 200,000 copies in Portugal.

Many thanks for being with us.

CC: Congratulations.

GA: Thank you very much.

C: Thank you.

* * *

Babootje

11-11-2008, 03:44 AM

Tuesday, 11 November 2008
SOS Madeleine McCann - "McCanns had access to confidential PJ information."
SOS Madeleine McCann 11/11/08

Maddie: the private (detectives) received help from a PJ mole.

A private Spanish detective reveals how the McCanns were able to have access to confidential police information in the Maddie case.

According to one of the Spanish detectives hired by Metodo 3 in the context of their contract with Kate and Gerry McCann, a PJ inspector allegedly gave confidential information to the Spanish agency concerning the movements of the Portuguese investigators and their British colleagues in the investigation into Maddie's disappearance.

The information thus obtained allowed the private detectives to inform the McCann couple and their entourage about work being planned by the Portuguese investigators: "Several of Amaral's men's initiatives failed thanks to information given by their colleague...but there was also information coming from informers linked to the British embassy," this detective states.

"This is the information that allowed us to know in advance what inspector Amaral and his colleagues wanted to do," the private detective continues during an interview recently recorded in Spain, stressing that, "the investigation would probably have ended differently without the intervention of the private (detectives), but also of certain British professionals."

In his interview, video recorded in unusual conditions, and which will be included in a documentary for television about Madeleine McCann's disappearance, the Spanish detective clearly identifies the PJ inspector and also puts forward, "that he benefited from a certain protection by the PJ at Faro."

The detective goes further and states, "that at times when the investigation was closed, thanks to information received from the Portuguese inspector, we created diversions in the media."

"That didn't always work, because I noticed that certain operations were set up without our knowing in advance. I imagine that Amaral must have had his suspicions and that he limited access to information to men he trusted," the detective adds.

"The investigation was practically condemned in advance...we knew in advance what Amaral was preparing and the desired objective in his operations," states the detective who, after several months of working for Metodo 3, had even tried to make contact with the Portimao DIC coordinator, before he was dismissed from the investigation: "I had personally met Gonçalo Amaral a few years ago, but he mustn't have remembered me and as soon as he heard that I was linked to Metodo 3 he refused to speak to me, arguing that if I had important information to bring to the case, this should be done in an official manner."

"He (Gonçalo Amaral) was known to us as a hard guy, in particular in cases of fighting drug trafficking...he is incorruptible," the detective concludes.

The revelation which risks creating controversy around the Algarve PJ, meanwhile confirms the suspicions raised by certain investigators. At least two PJ inspectors, contacted by SMM, directly put forward the name of the inspector who allegedly passed on the confidential information to the detectives of the Spanish agency. According to them, the man benefited from a certain protection from the Faro commission and his behaviour was not new, because he had allegedly previously committed the same offence in other investigations.

"We are no longer looking for Maddie....me, in any case, I was never hired to do that."
According to the same detective, he was allegedly never hired to look for Madeleine MCann: "We are no longer looking for Maddie..me, in any case, I was never hired to do that. All I was asked to do was gather the most details serving to direct the Portuguese investigation towards Morocco or Spain.

This former detective - who is no longer able to carry on his work - further states that the Spanish agency allegedly led British journalists to Morocco for them to meet previously selected and paid witnesses: "the aim was to spread the Moroccan lead in the media and thus confirm that it was indeed an abduction, which the Portuguese and British police did not want to believe," states the detective, stressing that he is unable to say whether theMcCanns were behind this kind of operation.

"The couple never asked me to lie about anything whatsoever. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the agency or the couple's entourage," the detective concludes.

(Editor's note: so who did ask him to lie? And about what?)

Duarte Levy

-------
Babootje:
We already knew M3 paid for sightings (in Marokko and Spain).
Now we know they paid this police officer to frustrate the investigation.
And for paying all those people, al lot of money was needed...., so called expenses. Up to 50.000 pounds a month.

It is shocking to learn (when you are a contributor to the Madeleine fund), your contribution was used NOT to find Madeleine :flamemad:

Nerida_F

11-19-2008, 01:46 AM

Bbj, the Madeleine fund is to help find Madeleine, and of course there are no guarantees. I contributed a small amount with no strings attached, and while M3 may not be the most astute investigators, I am happy that the effort is being put in, there is a great website with some amazing support messages and that there is a still a small chance.:) Also, the sightings in Morocco last year was real, there were too many honest witnesses for it to be otherwise.

http://www.briansdreams.com/maddy/index.2.jpg

So here we are up to page 37 and there is still no sign. Why is it that 37 appears more than other numbers? Every time I look at a clock or watch, the minutes are always on 37. On the train last week there was a small round sticker on the wall - looking closely revealed 37, and my stopwatch wouldn't reset until I noticed that minutes and seconds were both reading 37. I would say coincidence, but more likely is a loose wire upstairs.

Here is another interesting link (http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2008/11/cipriano-case-leonors-lawyer-is-going.html). on the Cipriano trial.

Thanks Odette for putting GA in the spotlight again - I read GA as guilty accomplice. I am not sure about the consensus, but from where I stand, GA come across as a fat oaf who mouths off too much, has long boozy lunches when he should be working hard, has put the innocent Ciprianos in jail, and tried to do the same to the McCanns. While it seems obvious that GA has bad intentions, this only became obvious to me when someone else in this thread pointed this out. There is no truth in his lies - and he is no shining example of humanity.

And so, still no word, and while I feel and hope that Madeleine will be found soon, I cannot see how. Thanks Sharlock for that putting that pic up.

Nerida_F

12-30-2008, 06:51 AM

Looks like all quiet on the Madeleine front. I didn’t mean to freak this thread out with strange occurrences of numbers, but here are a few more. When I first posted on this thread, I wondered how far away number 37 was lurking, and found it in the address of missing and found children. Also, one of my first posts was so bizarre that I cut and archived it, but then noticed the time was 5:37 so did a paste and post, which logged the time as 17:37. Recently, I had a problem with an ATM which would deliver – tried twice and then let someone else do a balance + withdrawal – then did the same, and yes the balance contained 37. Also, another strange coincidence was the song “Alive an Kicking” which I heard twice on the radio last year, and I had a feeling that Madeleine would come back on the third play, and yes the radio played it again two weeks ago.

A lot of people are very religious and place their faith in their religion, and of course everyone asserts their religion is the best. Well, I used to think the best religion was the one of money, but after a while, I realized that the aim of money is to provide a better life, but life is like an engine with a million other inputs. So now I worship life in all its forms, and the way I see it, life is like the moon, there is a bright side you can see and a hidden side which is not so much dark but there to provide a balance and wholeness. Each person’s life is like a thread spinning through the space of time from a single point in history, and to me the world is like a world-wide web stretching out. With any web, anything that upsets the web is likely to be bitten by a spider sooner or later.

Like most others here, I have had some dreams about Madeleine, and the last one I had I have to describe. There was this lady with a child, both in the muslim head to foot garb (bhurkas?) driving an old car. The car pulled up in front of what looked like a hospital with glass doors, and the lady rushed the child to reception, told the receptionist that the child was very sick, she had to park the car and would be back in a few minutes, then put an envelope in the child’s hands saying “For Doctor”. The lady then drove off and never came back, and while this would normally be negligent, in my dream it was a turning point for the better. When the doctor came down, he read the letter, was stunned for a few seconds and then started yelling orders for everyone to look after this girl since she was special.

And so, this is where I sign off. I would love Madeleine to return, but like many others, I cannot really help. The way I see it, it was a life which took Madeleine, and when she comes back, it will be a life which returns here, but first they must realize the reasons and benefits of her being returned. To commit a crime like this must take some nerve, and for Madeleine to be returned would take even more courage. Hopefully, 2009 can provide the pathway. Happy New Year to everyone.

sharlock

12-30-2008, 09:54 AM

Wow thanks for the link Nerida;
Cipriano Case: Leonor's Lawyer is going to request an isolated indictment against Gonçalo Amaral (http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2008/11/cipriano-case-leonors-lawyer-is-going.html)

#fullpost {display:none;}
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lWXrpwC28yU/SSJ68tjMSZI/AAAAAAAAEUk/bdgUaQOpIeU/s200/mac.png (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lWXrpwC28yU/SSJ68tjMSZI/AAAAAAAAEUk/bdgUaQOpIeU/s1600-h/mac.png)
The defense of Leonor Cipriano in the judgement of the inspectors of the Judicial Police (PJ), that starts
again today in the Court of Faro, is going to request that the Public Ministry (MP) deduces an accusation
against Gonçalo Amaral, in a separated trial, for alleged torture.

The lawyer Aragão Correia said yesterday to the Portuguese News Agency LUSA that "there are enough
elements to accuse of torture autonomously" the former inspector Gonçalo Amaral, to be judged in the
Court of Faro by false testimony and oversight of the duty of denunciation, in the same trial that another
arguido is accused of falsifying a document and three others for allegedly torturing the mother of Joana.

"The several crimes of Gonçalo Amaral are more than established, namely the torture to Leonor Cipriano.
It is an injustice there are four other arguidos taking responsibility for the crime of torture and the one
that probably authorized and ordered that torture is answering for others crimes", highlighted Aragão
Correia.

In today's court hearing, the defense of Leonor Cipriano, that accuses the five elements of the PJ of
the crimes of torture so that she confessed the involvement in the disappearance of her daughter
[remember she confessed the crime of murder previously to the alleged aggressions had taken place],
will as well present three more applications to the collective of judges.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lWXrpwC28yU/SSJ82_uGaCI/AAAAAAAAEUs/yBZLeIhDqKw/s200/182341.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lWXrpwC28yU/SSJ82_uGaCI/AAAAAAAAEUs/yBZLeIhDqKw/s1600-h/182341.jpg)
In the first application, the defense intends to enclose to the current trial the medical report
carried out after Leandro, companion of Leonor Cipriano, received medical aid in the Hospital
of Portimão.

Aragão Correia emphasized that Leandro "was allegedly attacked in the same day " that
Joana's mother was, and that the defense intends to confirm that fact and which were
the "wounds that he presented".

Hearing of judges

The defense of Joana's mother, the eight year old girl, missing from the Village of Figueira,
Portimão, Algarve, on the 12 of September of 2004, intends as well that the court hears
the counsellors judges Santos Carvalho e Costa Mortágua, who voted against the
condemnation of Leonor Cipriano in the court trial of first instance[the defense appeal
went to the Supreme Court and the decision of the first instance court was maintained].

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lWXrpwC28yU/SSJ6ob2AdCI/AAAAAAAAEUc/xCg18m16X0A/s200/12601777.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lWXrpwC28yU/SSJ6ob2AdCI/AAAAAAAAEUc/xCg18m16X0A/s1600-h/12601777.jpg)"The two judges considered that the decision was illegal
and unconstitutional, because violated the beginning of presumption of the innocence.
There were no evidences against Leonor Cipriano and they understood that they could
be before a grave and irreparable judicial error. We want to know if could have had
tortures regarding the confession of her and if the condemnation would have been
possible", emphasized Aragão Correia.

Finally , the third application has to do with the pictures of Leonor Cipriano, which
exhibit haematomas in her body and is going to demand to the court the use of an
expert laboratory to analyse if there was manipulation of the images, as advocates
one of the lawyers from four of the arguidos, Pragal Colaço.

Images analysed in British laboratory
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lWXrpwC28yU/SSKBVYLHnXI/AAAAAAAAEU0/mhBjDWfGcYU/s400/leonor+fotos.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lWXrpwC28yU/SSKBVYLHnXI/AAAAAAAAEU0/mhBjDWfGcYU/s1600-h/leonor+fotos.jpg)

Aragão Correia is going to ask that the images [the problem is there are no original
photographs anymore] are evaluated in a laboratory of Birmingham, England, the
same one which analysed the DNA vestiges of Madeleine McCann, the English girl
that disappeared in the Algarve in May of 2007.

This torture allegation trial done to Leonor Cipriano by the inspectors of the PJ is
related with the "case Joana", having the mother and the uncle of the girl, João
Cipriano, being condemned by the Supreme Court of Justice to 16 years each of
prison by the crimes of homicide and concealment of the corpse of the infant.

The accusations of the MP against the current and ex-inspecting of the PJ arose
in the sequence of the questionings to Leonor Cipriano, in the installations of the
Police department in Faro.
Source: Lusa

by Joana Morais

sharlock

12-30-2008, 10:13 AM

Madeleine McCann's parents release new video

Posted 9h 5m ago

LONDON (AP) — The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann have
released a new video appealing for information about her.
Kate and Gerry McCann posted the video Sunday on the website
www.findmadeleine.com (http://www.findmadeleine.com/) that they set up after their daughter disappeared
during a family holiday in Portugal.

The video shows footage of Madeleine singing and playing at the family
home and closes with the words: "This will be our second Christmas without
our daughter, Please help us make sure we don't have a third."

Madeleine McCann attracted international media attention when she
disappeared in May 2007, a few days short of her 4th birthday.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-12-21-mccann-video_N.htm?csp=34 (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-12-21-mccann-video_N.htm?csp=34)

sharlock

12-30-2008, 10:25 AM

By JAMES CLENCH
and LUCY HAGAN
Published: 21 Oct 2008

KATE McCann and three friends discussed child-snatchers hours before daughter
Madeleine disappeared, it has emerged.

Dr Russell O’Brien, one of the so-called Tapas Seven, told police of the “haunting” conversation
had while on holiday in Portugal last year.
He said it came up after another father said he felt awkward photographing his own child.
Dr O’Brien, 37, was with his partner Jane Tanner, 37, Rachel Oldfield, 37, and Kate, 40.
He said: “We then had a conversation about the ludicrous pressure on parents that they
can’t take photos of their children.
Stranger

“The other aspect of the conversation, which is doubly haunting, was that we said,
‘You’re far more likely to get clobbered by your uncle or your neighbour than some random
stranger’.
“Since this happened ten or 11 hours before Madeleine was abducted, it seemed a very
uncomfortable coincidence.”
The doctor, of Exeter, Devon, made his comments in April as he was quizzed by British
cops at the request of the Portuguese authorities.
The interviews are in documents seen by The Sun.
Maddie was snatched in Praia da Luz on May 3 last year, days before her fourth birthday.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/maddie/article1834993.ece

Nerida_F

01-08-2009, 05:13 AM

Thanks Sharlock for bringing some sense back here - I was getting lonely rattling the cage by myself. If the Ciprianos are released and GA is found guilty, this will be a step in the right direction. Time to have some focus on the perpetrators - can you imagine the hostility towards them if they were caught now after all that has happened, especially if any harm had come to Madeleine.

Nerida_F

07-16-2009, 03:30 AM

In May, the court in Faro condemned Gonçalo Amaral to one-and-half year of suspended prison sentence, over false testimony in the case of aggressions against Leonor Cipriano. link (http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2009/07/joana-case-public-ministry-accuses.html)

Jayelles

07-25-2009, 03:36 PM

Jayelles

09-09-2009, 01:56 PM

A Portuguese judge has banned Amaral's book :-)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8246771.stm

Fantastic news.

SaraSidle

09-09-2009, 02:22 PM

A Portuguese judge has banned Amaral's book :-)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8246771.stm

Fantastic news.

thank goodness. thanks for the update.......

Nerida_F

09-09-2009, 11:21 PM

Great news, but do the wheels of justice have to turn so slowly?

Any sign of a little girl yet?

Jayelles

09-12-2009, 11:33 AM

Great news, but do the wheels of justice have to turn so slowly?

Any sign of a little girl yet?

Afraid not Nerida:-(

The McCanns are suing Amaral on the grounds that he claims that Madeleine died in their apartment are harming the search for her. Having the book banned is the first step so this is a promising victory.

It's just so wrong that one man's opinion is capable of doing so much damage. There is also the appalling "Madeleine Foundation" - a tiny but very vocal group of people with the utterly unfathomable objective of thwarting the search for Madeleine. They claim to be working to combat child neglect, but all they ever seem to do is come up with new ways to attack the McCanns. They seem to be obsessed only with the McCanns and there is little or no evidence of them being outraged at any other cases - not even those which have involved willful child neglect or abuse. IMO, if they had campaigned for new ways to combat child neglect, I would have applauded them. I would even have been unsurprised if they mentioned the McCann case in an effort to have laws changed about leaving children alone. However, their approach is nothing like that and the sum total of their efforts appears to be focused upon harassing the McCanns They have produced petitions to try and stop the 2nd year anniversary interview on Oprah, they complained to Ofcom BEFORE the showing of the 2nd year anniversary documentary. They have complained to the General Medical Council about the McCanns fitness to practice as doctors. They complained to social services about the McCanns, tried to have them prosecuted for neglect. They even tried to stop the McCanns using the hospital where Gerry McCann works as the registered address for the Find Madeleine campaign. Does this sound like a group who are trying to combat child neglect? Or does it sound like a hate campaign against the parents of a missing child? Fortunately, none of their efforts have been successful and recently, the Daily Express ran this article about their chairperson :-

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/120885/The-McCanns-stalker

This is the front page of that newspaper:-

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_We7fb5_b53k/Soc-x1_rZKI/AAAAAAAACVc/HBi6p6AaU3Q/s400/stalkerdeb.jpg

UNsurprisingly, they complained about the photo which was used of the chairperson claiming that it had been deliberately chosen to make her look hard faced!

Tony Bennett, who is the other half of the Madeleine Foundation has a chequered history as a failed politician and solicitor. You can find out more about him and his various ventures by googling "Michael Barrymore", "Veritas" and "UKIP". Many consider him to be a professional complainer, myself included.

Now that the McCanns have succeeded in having Amaral's book banned, it seems likely that they will go after this appalling group of vile people who do not want people to continue searching for a missing child.

Nerida_F

09-18-2009, 07:12 AM

Jayelles, thanks for the message. I try not to visit here too often since this whole business is pretty intense, and the only positive outcome seems to keep moving further away. That Amaral person I find abhorrent - he has been found guilty of torture and received a suspended sentence which I guess means he didn't go to jail. Now he is harping on about free speech - well everyone knows that free speech is OK on the one proviso - your free speech doesn't hurt anyone.

I think I saw the McCann foundation and clicked away as fast as possible. You wonder if these people have job that they have so much spare time to waste. I was going to say that ignoring them is the best option, but distributing defamatory leaflets cannot be ignored. On the bright side, for every ratbag, there are a million others who care.

Somehow, this all seems so wrong, that Kate, Gerry and even Madeleine are being continually punished for the same mistake, and you wonder if there is anyone out there with the knowledge to change this or even give some useful information to help.

Here is some graffiti which turned up somewhere in Ireland.
http://www.showbiz.ie/photos/2008-06-madeleine-mccann-graffiti-4.jpg

I hope that there is some good news soon.

Jayelles

09-20-2009, 04:57 AM

Madeleine Foundation leaders Tony Bennett and Debbie Butler have now been served writs:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8264584.stm

Latest news is that Bennett is attempting some delaying tactics citing his aging mother and a family suicide several months ago as reasons why he cannot respond until the end of October! He received the writ on September 1st.

i.e. he seeks mercy when he and his organisation have shown the McCann family no mercy.

Nerida_F

10-18-2009, 02:15 AM

Marian Paroo

10-18-2009, 04:00 AM

I don't think anyone hates Madeleine.

SaraSidle

10-18-2009, 02:10 PM

does anyone have the address for her website? I cannot seem to find mine.

Jayelles

11-01-2009, 08:12 AM

I don't think anyone hates Madeleine.

Can you think of any other reason why people would try to sabotage the search for her?

Jayelles

11-01-2009, 08:16 AM

Jayelles, it looks like the Madeleine Foundation website is still up. It really makes you wonder why some people would hate Madeleine and the McCanns so much to spend all their time doing this, unless of course someone is paying for all this. Strange that there is a picture of our friend (note the sarcasm) on the main page and an ad to buy the outlawed book in german on the home page.

On the bright side, maybe there is an air of desperation to this website, especially the 30/60 reasons why Madeleine was not abducted. As the Find Madeleine website says, there is simply no evidence to suggest Madeleine is not OK, and without any facts there are two possibilities, she is not OK or she is OK which is 50:50. This seems pretty good odds, and definitely worth turning over a few more stones and looking into a few more eyes rather than playing the blame game.

Hi Nerida. The site is still up but "allegedly" no longer under the jurisdiction of the Foundation. The Foundation leaders (Bennett & Butler) capitulated re the lawsuit, but they are claiming that the person who maintained the website for them has full control of it now and that they cannot do anything about it. Of course this is completely false as the website is their intellectual property and they can easily have it taken down on that basis alone. A simple (and free) route is available to them in the form of an online DCMA report.

Interestingly, Bennett & Butler no longer seem to be on friendly terms :-)

I will never comprehend why anyone would want to sabotage the search for a missing child.

Jayelles

11-01-2009, 08:18 AM

does anyone have the address for her website? I cannot seem to find mine.

This one?

www.findmadeleine.com

That's the official site. Now that the twins have started school, Kate McCann is to step up her active involvement in the search campaign.

SaraSidle

11-01-2009, 01:39 PM

This one?

www.findmadeleine.com

That's the official site. Now that the twins have started school, Kate McCann is to step up her active involvement in the search campaign.

thanks Jayelles it is but I cannot get on it..

Marian Paroo

11-01-2009, 02:57 PM

Can you think of any other reason why people would try to sabotage the search for her?

How is the search for her being sabotaged?

So what are your ideas of who would do that and why?

Jayelles

11-02-2009, 03:33 AM

thanks Jayelles it is but I cannot get on it..

It is working for me. Just copying and pasting the url from the bar:-

http://www.findmadeleine.com/

Then you click on the language and English takes you here:-

http://www.findmadeleine.com/home.html

Jayelles

11-02-2009, 03:42 AM

How is the search for her being sabotaged?

So what are your ideas of who would do that and why?

Aggressive campaigning to get people to believe she is dead? Surely you can see that if such a campaign were successful then people would stop looking for a live and missing child? If that isn't sabotage of the most evil and cruel kind then I don't know what is.

If you need information about this then google the Madeleine Foundation. You can read back this thread for starters as I have posted the occasional update about their activities and how they have (thankfully) been stopped.

I have no idea why anyone would do this. As long as there is no proof that Madeleine is dead, then I will support the search for her in any way I can. It's the very least any decent person can do.

I will say that cases like this always bring the fruitloops out of the closet. I've only really followed three cases (JonBenet Ramsey, Danielle vanDam and Madeleine McCann), but in each case, there have been characters who have injected themselves into the case in some incomprehensible belief that it's actually all about them! In each case, none of these characters had anything to do with the child previously and literally came out of the woodwork to claim their place in the spotlight.

If I were going to hedge my bets about motive, it would be something along the lines of attention/notoriety seeking or possibly seeking an opportunity for financial gain.

It usually backfires (mercifully). JMO.