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<div style="text-align: justify;">Madeleine McCann disappeared from the Mark Warner resort on Praia da Luz in Portugal six months ago today. And half a year later, it seems as though no one is any closer than they were on May 3, 2007 to finding the girl.
Madeleine is perhaps the most widely-discussed missing child since the ... Continue reading »
Madeleine is perhaps the most widely-discussed missing child since the ... Continue reading »
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Go t top and choose "Oldest" and then "Threaded" and then it all makes sense. You can reply to individual posts - in which case your reply is indented, or you can post a new topic (at the top) in which it is not indented.
1 year ago
http://tinyurl.com/22633t
all I can say is they have it in for Murat:
"He "had a squint and sweated slightly," said Ms O'Donnell. "He was breathless, perhaps a little excited... He reminded me of a boy in my class who was bullied."
As I said on the other thread I find this kind of thing quite yuk!
I see I have 2 points!
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The next comment, if it is meant for all readers, should not be placed here by clicking "reply" to another commentator, rather it should be entered in the comment box at the bottom of the blog entry.
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Jose: 'Private' detective's indeed!
So the McCann's did indeed leave the children alone on more than one occasion as was witnessed by Bridget O'Donnell. There are many good points in this article, as long as the reader ignores the obvious bias.
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"I have not been following the Omagh trial on a daily basis (10 months!!!???) and therefore cannot speak to every issue that was addressed there. However, there are some things that were said by the judge and printed by the press today that must be addressed. A few comments on what I have read and heard in the media:
(1) The judge said: "The absence of an agreed protocol for the validation of scientific techniques prior to their being admitted in court is entirely unsatisfactory. Judges are not well placed to determine scientific validity without input from scientists. We recommend that one of the first tasks of the Forensic Science Advisory Council be to develop a “gate-keeping” test for expert evidence. This should be done in partnership with judges, scientists and other key players in the criminal justice system, and should build on the US Daubert test."
What he is talking about is a U.S. Supreme Court case, Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, in which the U.S. Supreme Court established a more stringent test for admissibility of expert testimony than had previously been used in U.S. federal (as opposed to state) courts. What he seems to have overlooked or misunderstood includes the following:
(a) The Daubert ruling was issued in a case involving a civil lawsuit over damages from a drug, Bendectin, that had supposedly caused harm to the unborn babies of pregnant women who took it. IT DID NOT INVOLVE A CRIMINAL CASE. The case revolved around the role of judges in the U.S. federal courts acting as "gatekeepers" in deciding whether to admit and how much weight to give to the testimony of expert witnesses; one of the main purposes was to give judges guidance because civil cases in U.S. courts had degenerated into a battle of expert witnesses that judges were sometimes ill-qualified to evaluate.
Lots of luck to the Forensic Science Advisory Council in developing a "gate keeping" test for expert testimony; 14 years after the initial Daubert ruling, courts in the U.S. are still struggling as to how to incorporate Daubert into criminal practice, as long-accepted sources of evidence such as ballistics tests on weapons and even EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY do not meet the Daubert test. (Think about it: How can eyewitness testimony be scientifically verified? And yet, how could the courts of any country function without it?) The judge can try to inflict the Daubert standard on the UK in criminal cases if he wishes, and perhaps the police and prosecutorial agencies will buy into that, but AT PRESENT COURTS IN ONLY 11 OF THE 50 STATES IN THE UNITED STATES REQUIRE THAT THE DAUBERT TEST BE USED IN CRIMINAL CASES. (The others use some version of a less stringent standard based on relevancy.)
(b) The Daubert ruling occurred in 1993. It has since been modified by other Supreme Court cases, including one known as "Daubert II" in which the most persuasive factor in evaluating expert testimony is supposed to be WHETHER THE EXPERT HAD CONDUCTED RESEARCH INDEPENDENT OF THE LITIGATION OR WHETHER THE EXPERT'S OPINIONS WERE DEVELOPED EXPRESSLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF TESTIFYING. In other words, is what we have on our hands here a real expert who has done considerable scientific research on this subject, or just a hired gun who, for a price, is willing to get up on the stand and give us his opinion?
I do not think there is any question whatsoever that the testimony of Dr. Peter Gill of FSS would meet the test of Daubert II. He is the person who first figured out how to do low copy number DNA analysis and has published peer-reviewed scientific papers on it. Based on what I have read, in my opinion, the PROSECUTION witnesses in the Omagh trial came much closer to meeting the Daubert II test than the defence witnesses.
(2) I was always concerned about one aspect of the DNA evidence used in the Omagh case: The low copy number analysis was run only twice, which was probably thought at the time to be all that was necessary, but subsequent research has shown that running the test three times is optimal. It is my understanding that LCN/DNA tests are now routinely run three times, and I expect that this has already been done in the Madeleine McCann case.
(3) The judge said that that LCN has only been adopted for evidential purposes in two other countries in the world, the Netherlands and New Zealand. I don't know what he means by "adopted for evidential purposes." It is a FACT (as Lucian might say, LOL) that LCN DNA analysis has been successfully used in the courts of New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United States, the UK, Australia, and Sweden. I do not know how he can have omitted Sweden, as some of the most high-profile cases that used LCN/DNA analysis have occurred there. One involved the conviction of the man who knifed Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in 2003. Another case involved the 2005 successful prosecution of a man who had raped and murdered two children in the 1980s. In Australia, LCN/DNA analysis was crucial in obtaining a conviction in the Peter Falconio murder case. In all these cases, verdicts have stood up on appeal.
Whilst it is true that to date only one person has been convicted in the U.S. in a case in which LCN/DNA analysis was the primary source of evidence (Jauquin Byrd, convicted of murder in Pennsylvania in 2007), his case has stood up on appeal, and there are many others "in the pipeline." In fact, one state in the U.S. has passed a law requiring that LCN/DNA analysis be performed on all weapons recovered in connection with serious felonies (murder, rape), and several other states are considering such legislation.
(4) I was under the impression throughout the Omagh case that a huge negative for the prosecution was that two witnesses from the police seem to have lied about how the evidence was collected. That alone could be sufficient reason for a not-guilty verdict, but it says nothing whatsoever about the validity of LCN/DNA.
This is my opinion: All the brouhaha surrounding the subject today to the contrary, I should not expect that LCN/DNA analysis will be outlawed or declared inadmissible in the courts of the UK. As the process becomes more widely available, I should expect that it will also come to be used in more countries. Any time science advances, there are always sceptics. One should not allow scepticism to impede scientific progress, but neither should an exciting new scientific discovery be allowed to proceed pell-mell without proper safeguards. I should not be surprised if what comes out of the ACPO review and other oversight activities is a set of guidelines requiring that before LCN/DNA analysis is admitted in court, the samples should be run three times, as well as a specific set of guidelines for gathering such evidence, and that is all to the good.
There is no reason that the decision in Omagh should preclude the use of LCN/DNA evidence in the Madeleine McCann case."
Hope she is right!
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With regard to DNA evidence and low copy number analysis, the most important factor (for me) is validation. In order to establish that a result is a true result, a validation study is first carried out to document how the study proceeds, how the study is interpreted and to ensure that the result of such study are reproducible, reliable and correctly interpreted. I therefore see no reason why this technique should be excluded from future cases?
1 year ago
thanks for the link to beachy. Very interesting stuff.
But remember, whatever about the analysis of the DNA LCN etc in the Omagh case, there is some problem with the gathering of evidence by the PSNI in the first place. I wish I had the link, but there was a major spat between Nuala O'Loan (Police Ombudsman for NI) and Ronnie Flanagan (Chief of PSNI at the time) not long after the atrocity.
Furthermore in my opinion, the case was decided by ONE judge and NO jury. This to me seems odd. The judge is left with the sole decision, and I would not like to be him!
Anyway, onwards and upwards as they say,
Keep the faith!
MG
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Dee, I think it means that it gets bumped up the list so it appears first, that's what I worked out anyhoo!
John, Didn't see the vid (on long call!), not sure if I fancied watching it anyway, was it really bad?
Metal Guru, It looks like the DNA evidence will still be used as investigation is Ptgse and IMO there will be more to come about such evidence as you say one Judge can't decide!
1 year ago
http://tinyurl.com/2yxu5n
halfway down the page if you want to see it. It wasn't as upsetting as I thought it might be. Just another weird thing - if you believe then then it would be moving - if you don't then it sets alarm bells ringing.
1 year ago
Alves came to Spain to collect an award of the council of the Spanish Bar where he has given an interview to ABC, yesterday.
- This Morning the Spanish private eye agency, hired by the McCanns, said that they know where the kidnappers of Madeleine are and they will give news of Madeleine before Christmas.
- I am not aware of this statements except for what you are saying. You should ask to the Spanish agency.
- If a Portuguese child had disappeared in England, would we a similar case like the one of Madeleine? Don't you think that it wasn't the British press which has made it to become something special giving to it a nationalistic tinge?
- There is no criticism to the Portuguese authorities. The disappearance of a child is something difficult to investigate, in Portugal, in England, in Spain, in any part of the world. What has happened is that through the disappearance there was the help given to the McCanns to try to find their daughter with economics means and so on. When other children disappear, there is no such possibilities. However, as a lawyer of this case, these circumstances are beyond my control.
- What do you think that the McCanns hired a private eye agency from Barcelona?
- Anything that is legal and that the parents think that could help to find their daughter, is acceptable for me.
- Could you tell me what is the character of the parents of Madeleine, Kate and Gerry? Are they cold? They don't want to show their feelings?
- I don't speak about my clients. However by the law I have to contest that it tarnishes their honor.
- This is precisely why I ask it. Why do they have this image of coldness?
- Yes. I understand the question, but understand me if I don't tell you more. For me, they are two persons that I knew and they are two human beings like any others.
- What do you think that the Justice of Portugal has been formally treated as suspicious?
- If the Police has seen that there is a clue that could incriminate, they had to proceed in this form. But let me clarify. A suspect in any process is not an a accused. We hope that the suspicions are not going to be confirmed. They are still claiming that they have nothing to do with the disappearance of their daughter.
- Was it the blood of Madeleine in the car of the McCanns?
- The inquiry is secret. The only thing that it could be said is that the parents continue to deny to be involved. They continue to maintain that it has been an abduction.
1 year ago
http://tinyurl.com/29tlnp
1 year ago
and the other part about the barn could be connected to the phone call between gerry and o' brien, the towel, the renault .... Two completely different directions - or not?
1 year ago
Second part is much more interesting and why haven't other papers picked-up on this?
1 year ago
The Pj has re-requestioned an employee of the Ocean Club
The employee has been the first to see Kate after Maddie vanished.
The PJ has returned to hear for the third time, since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Praia da Luz, the first employee of the Ocean Club that arrived when the Mother of the toddler was screaming from the veranda of the apartment: "They have taken her!". This waiter is considered as a crucial witness for the investigation, reports the DN.
The employee has been questioned two times, three weeks ago, in the PJ of Portimão. The Police has informed him that they will eventually return to the charge to ask more clarification. But, according to what is known, this person had nothing more to add, he had merely repeated what he had already said. The detectives insist on the happenings of the dinner, especially in the conversations and postures of the McCanns, in addition to the alleged displacements of the same in the apartment where Maddie and her twin siblings were sleeping.
The employee continues to ensure to be false that the parents of the toddler had gone to check their children each half hour as it has been reported initially to the PJ. Kate stood up from the table around 22h00 and she went to the apartment and it was at this moment that she raised the alarm from the veranda. The testimony of the employee will be one of the trumps of the PJ to clarify the contradictions of the McCanns and their friends, who were spending their holidays together, in the future interviews, in England, as a consequence of the Letters Rogatory that are being translated.
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Yesterday the McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell furious denied the claims. He said: "This is all lies. Kate has consistently and categorically absolutely denied that she said that on the veranda.
"But in the evening she may have said it at some stage as a general remark, but she did not run out with this phrase.
"Whoever this guy is and if he is saying this, he is either making it up or he is mistaken.
"Kate, Gerry and their friends told the truth. They will continue to maintain their stories, because it is the truth. Whatever this guy is saying, we reject it, it is not true."
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Sorry about that I was having trouble with the link it worked perfectly before I posted it but then collapsed once posted? but this one should work :)
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She says: "I have answered everything the police asked me. They know everything so what right do these 'detectives' have to do this to me?
"They used us. They had to find something, someone, and that someone was me."
Michaela recalls: "On May 5 [when she was allegedly 'spotted' with a child in a blanket] I spent the morning cleaning my house, then I went to the hairdressers and in the evening I had a meal with two friends and Rob [Murat].
"On June 15, when I was supposed to be in Morocco, I went to see my lawyer and then had lunch with Rob and his lawyer. After that I went to the bank."
It has also been insinuated that Michaela lied about her whereabouts on the night Maddie disappeared.
She told police she had been at a meeting at her church in Lagos but a congregation member said Michaela had been cast out of the church last year.
At the time, Michaela was living with her husband, although they were separated, and was also friends with Robert, breaking church rules.
Michaela says: "I was set aside from the main congregation last year but I was brought back in March and was at a meeting that night with my daughter. There can be about 100 people there at any one time.
"It's entirely possible that someone didn't see me there but at the same time there are also many people that did.
"The worst part is people putting me in this, knowing I have nothing to do with it. They have no feelings, no heart. They are completely empty.
"I don't know if it is the McCanns or Metodo 3, I don't know who it is, but one way or another they are trying to put me in there.
"It makes me sad and it makes me angry. I have nothing but I am still a better person with a higher standard than all that bunch of people. I will not be used and abused.
"I've had enough of this vile game that others are playing. Others that are free to earn money, to walk around, to have a life. What about my life?"
She adds: "It's just like a film. You have the goodies and the baddies. It's as though one side is being supported and the other is not. These people I've never met accuse me of being in places I've never been, doing things I've never done.
"I didn't spend my whole life trying to be a good and happy person for people to come like rats from a hole accusing me of things I've never done."
Michaela describes the "sickness" she felt when the claimed sightings were made public.
"When Robert called me to tell me that there was a story about these sightings I went into town and I just saw my face on the front of all the papers. I felt sick.
"I wondered, if I was on the other side, if I didn't know me, if I didn't know that I am innocent, what would I think?
"Would I think I had something to do with it? I just wanted to go all around the town screaming, 'It wasn't me.'" She described her ordeal as a "stupid, disgusting soap opera that has no end".
Michaela's words may seem harsh, given that a little girl is still missing, but then she has spent the past seven months standing by helplessly as her life has unravelled before her eyes.
She recalls how, on Monday, May 14, about ten police officers descended on her apartment in Alagoas, the village next to Praia da Luz where the McCanns were staying.
She says: "It was about 7.30am and I was still asleep when I heard the buzzer going again and again. When I opened the door they shone a big bright light in my face and then a group of men came flooding past me.
"Next thing I remember I was in the kitchen and one of them was sitting there with a piece of paper telling me it was a search warrant."
The police confiscated her mobile phone, her laptop and her daughter's computer and then took her to the police station in Portimao ten miles away. She arrived at 9.30am and didn't leave until 1.30am the following morning.
Michaela says: "It was terrifying - all the time answering these questions, knowing you are telling the truth and knowing it doesn't make any difference.
"When I finally got home I had these voices in my head, pictures of the men in my mind. It felt as if I had been raped. They take your innermost feelings away. Nobody has any respect. Nobody cares how you feel. I hadn't been physically raped but still that is how it felt."
But if her first interrogation was bad, things were about to get an awful lot worse. She was questioned twice more. The last time, she says, was particularly brutal.
"That day I was really treated like a piece of dirt," she whispers.
"All I wanted to do was get out of there and make sure my daughter was OK. When they did finally let me go I drove as fast as I could to her school. She came out of the gate and I couldn't speak because I had to keep the tears back.
"I wanted to be like all the other parents, having that normal joy of picking their children up from school but I couldn't.
"She already had the feeling that she didn't want to lose her mummy and I really thought too that I didn't want to lose my baby, my treasure.
"I know I didn't do anything wrong but I've realised you can be an innocent person in this world and they can do anything they want to you - and they will.
"I lost my faith not just in justice but in the whole system and everyone that supports it."
Two weeks ago the police finally returned Michaela's computers to her. The police have never questioned her - or Robert - again, though he remains a suspect.
Yet the consequences of that time have been painful and far-reaching. A devout Jehovah's Witness, Michaela says it is only her faith that has saved her in the darker moments.
She adds: "Nothing made sense any more. I have a lot of respect for life but there was a feeling of not wanting to live, that life wasn't bringing me any joy.
"But I couldn't do that to my daughter. She needs me more than ever now. As a result of all this she is seeing a child psychologist.
"Every time she sees a police car, she ducks her head. She associates this situation with the police. When I take her to school she holds me and says, 'They're not taking you again.' She can't sleep unless she's next to me because she has nightmares."
The financial implications of the investigation have also been devastating.
The daughter of a German hotelier and a Portuguese waitress, Michaela moved from Frankfurt to the Algarve to live with her grandmother when she was 12 after both parents died of cancer.
When three-year-old Maddie went missing she and Robert were setting up an internet-based property company. She says they can no longer afford to advertise it and that she can't get other work.
Prospective employers tell her, she says, that they "have clients to think about". The one thing that has survived is her close friendship with Robert. The pair met two-and-a-half years ago when they worked for an estate agency in Lagos.
At the time Michaela was still living with her ex-husband, Luis Antonio, a swimming-pool specialist, although the couple had separated two years earlier. They are now divorced.
Michaela says: "We have become very close. A negative thing has become a positive."
And she adds: "His family are like a second family to me. And that is another thing: Robert's mother is 71. She doesn't deserve this. This is destroying her. I'm worried about her health."
And that is the nub of it. Even when talking about the positive things in her life, the conversation inevitably turns to Maddie and the investigation. Michaela is, however, determined that she will, one day, put this all behind her.
She says: "I didn't ask for any of this. I'm not forced to accept what other people seem to want to do with my life. How dare people accuse me, a normal human being - and the mother of a child - for the mistakes of others.
"Somebody comes on holiday and I am left to pick up the pieces they left. I'm not going to be put down by them. I'm not going to be trampled on. Sooner or later, even if it takes some time, I will get a job and I will forget all this."
However, Michaela remains reluctant to make any judgment on the McCanns or the case as it stands now.
She says: "I pray every day that that little child is OK. As a mum I feel for her. She is a child, she is alone and she does not deserve to suffer because of something adults have done.
"But if I'm honest I'm sick and tired of all this. It should be so easy. I don't have anything to do with this. I just want people to leave me alone. I just want my life back."
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The style of the two artists are completely different. The prices are also different for £22,000 for the Renault Scénic, £4,300 for each painting of Enrique Marty. At that time Clarence Mitchell didnt do any outrageous comment about the artist José Mario Cano for making money. The paintings of Enrique Marty are not a true representation of the reality. His style is different from the style of Jose Maria Cano who is more conform to the norm. It's a satirical style. His painting of Madeleine reminds me the unflattering sarcastic paintings of Francisco Goya the family of Charles IV and also Las Meninas of Velazquez. I like these ugly paintings of Enrique Marty because each of them turns into derision these pictures.
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Don't panic and remain calm.
1 year ago
http://tinyurl.com/2hmr63
Looks ok to me and would like to be invited to next meet.
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19 REASONS FOR DOUBTING THAT MADELEINE WAS 'ABDUCTED'
compiled by Tony Bennett, 11 December 2007
1. UNLIKELIHOOD OF ‘STRANGER ABDUCTION’
Because the statistics on alleged 'stranger' abductions from a person's home show that a member of the 'abducted' child's family is usually the perpetrator, and the child is usually dead. Something like 90% of all claimed 'stranger abductions' from a house turn out to be intra-family murder. There have been two high profile cases just in the last few weeks - 'Baby Grace' found battered and decomposing in a plastic box on sand dunes near Galveston, and the 'dead baby in the attic'. Both were claimed abductions - hoaxes
2. REFUSING TO ANSWER PJ QUESTIONS
The McCanns didn’t answer the PJ's questions – those are the not actions of innocent parents, who would bend over backwards to assist the police in every way they could
3. ANXIETY ABOUT ‘PHONE CALLS BEING MONITORED
The McCanns expressing anxiety about their ’phone calls and e-mails being intercepted. What innocent parent would worry about that?
4. COCEALING RECORDS OF THEIR MOBILE PHONE CALLS
Their refusal to supply their mobile phone bills to the PJ
5. IGNORING ADVICE NOT TO HIGHLIGHT MADELEINE’S EYE DEFECT
Their ignoring the clearest possible PJ advice not to highlight Madeleine's eye defect - the coloboma (iris defect) - if Madeleine were still alive, it would have put Madeleine at much greater risk of death. Their conduct suggests they knew she was already dead. They deliberately ignored the advice not to make Madeleine so recognisable that the abductors (if she was abducted) would kill her. All the posters emphasising the coloboma, and then the announcement of all the sightings and claims of being right on the kidnappers' trail…all made Madeleine more at risk
6. IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE ANDUCTION HAPPENING AS CLAIMED
The sheer impossibility of the abduction – so many questions, e.g. why did the abductor wait for 35 minutes after the McCanns sauntered down to the Tapas bar, was he hiding behind the door as Gerry McCann checked the children (that's what he claims), did he really walk in through patio doors, then climb out through the window and shutters with Madeleine? And so on
7. CHANGING STORIES OF WHAT THE ABDUCTOR LOOKED LIKE
Jane Tanner’s changed story of what the abductor looked like. Initially 'his head was egg-shaped, he had some short hair, and was carrying a bundle, maybe a blanket', then, a full 3 weeks later - to make sure that the PJ issued a description - 'I definitely saw him carrying a girl in pink pyjamas'. Then after *six* months we get an artist's impression of the abductor and are now told: 'Head not egg-shaped, hair long ,sleek, black and shiny, abductor not white but 'swarthy and Mediterranean' etc.
8. THE PARENTS’ ABSOLUTE INSISTENCE THAT ABDUCTION WAS THE ONLY EXPLANATION FOR MADELEINE GOING MISSING
The parents' immediate and insistent cry of abduction - excluding all other possibilities
9. CLAIMING THE ABDUCTOR WAS A MAN ALLEGEDLY SEEN BY JANE TANNER
Gerry McCann proceeding, after 3 weeks, to issue a description of the abductor based *solely* on Jane Tanner’s dubious sighting - against PJ advice and only after Gordon Brown ’phoned PJ
10. THE ‘TAPAS 9’ PACT OF SILENCE
The 'Pact of Silence' or 'Circle' of the 'Tapas 9' - the notorious agreement between them all to keep silent about the events of that night
11. CHANGES OF STORY
Changes of story. Example –
Day 1: "Shutters jemmied open, windows open, patio doors locked, abductor must have forced his way in".
Days 2 and 3: PJ and Mark Warners say: "No way shutters and window were forced from outside".
Several days later, McCanns: "Oh, we left the patio doors open, so abductor must have walked in through the patio doors and then climbed out of the window and opened the shutters and climbed out of the window with Madeleine"
12. HIRING DUBIOUS PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS
Hiring dubious British private investigation agency and dubious Spanish 'detective agency' Metodo 3 at cost of several hundred thousand pounds - no obvious benefit or results
13. HIRING BRITAIN’S TOP EXTRADITION LAEWYER
Rushing to hire U.K.'s top extradition lawyer – Michael Caplan Q.C. (who represented General Pinochet) - the moment they became formal suspects
14. PUBLICLY AGRREING TO TAKE A LIE DETECTOR TEST – THEN REFUSING
Publicly agreeing to take a lie detector test and then refusing
15. STRANGE EXCUSED FOR BLOOD, DNA AND THE ‘SMELL OF DEATH’
The extraordinary excuses offered by the McCanns in response to the forensic findings of blood, DNA, cadaverine (smell of death) etc., including these six examples:
(a) I took Cuddle Cat to work - that's why the smell of death is on Cuddle Cat
(b) I dealt with 6 corpses in the last fortnight at work, that's why the smell of death is on my clothes
(c) we'll get on to lawyers in Ireland/America who say these cadaver dogs' evidence is useless
(d) the DNA was the children's dirty nappies in the boot
(e) the ‘smell of death’ was rotting meat that Gerry was taking to the dump
(f) the blood in the flat (found underneath the tiles in the children's bedroom) might have been from Madeleine grazing her leg when she boarded the plane, or maybe a nosebleed.
16. NOT STAYING CLOSE TO THE TWINS WHEN MADELEINE DISAPPEARED
Leaving the twins at the creche within days of Madeleine disappearing - and spending as much time as possible visiting the Pope, the White House etc. and campaigning - no parents whose child had truly been 'abducted by a stranger' would let those twins out of their sight, they would cling to the precious two they had left
17. REFUSING A URINE TEST ON THE TWINS
The McCanns, both doctors, refused urine tests for their 2-year-old twins, though later admitting that they ‘could have been drugged by the abductor. They then waited 5 months before going to an agency to carry out ‘independent’ tests. The results of those tests have never been publicly disclosed and it is not known what drugs the agency test for
18. ONLY ANSWERING PRESS QUESTIONS GIVEN TO THEM AT LEAST 2
HOURS INADVANCE
The McCanns stipulating that for all interviews, the press had to present all questions to them at least two 2 hours in advance of the interview, and that they would only answer these questions and no others
19. THE MCCANNS ATTEMPT TO CLAIM THAT THE ABDUCTOR DRUGGED THE CHILDREN
The McCanns explaining away the fact that the twins didn’t wake up - amidst all the shouting when the alarm was raised about Madeleine - by hinting that they must have been drugged by the abductor. They came up with this theory when being filmed by close family friend Jon Corner in August - after leaks from the Portuguese police suggesting that the children had been sedated
TO BE CONTINUED
1 year ago
20. Despite claiming to believe an abduction had taken place, the McCanns NOT seeking details from Jane Tanner about what she saw when she saw the "abductor" walking off with Maddy (allegedly). They did not ask he for details for a couple of days or more because they were "too busy" - according to David James Smith in the Sunday Times (and he seems to have privileged access to their thoughts)! Can anyone here really credit that? Surely one would immediately speak to one's close friend and quiz her on all the details. You would do that immediately - the same night, the same hour. And there is no evidence of attmepts to organise a search in the direction indicated by JT's "sighting".
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Hope you all had a happy new year.
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I noticed they say it wasn't Murat, interesting after all this time they are still sure especially with spin - they haven't been swayed!!!
I do think again the PJ's lack of conscience, not reinterviewing, doing telephone interview etc will instill beliefs of incompetence.
Who knows with this case I just hope she isn't turning over in her grave!!(sorry but if it were me I think I would be)
1 year ago
The PJ has had the most perplexing case, with FO & worlds media on their backs, I do believe they know exactly what's what and have to tread very carefully and I urge all support for them in their duty - it's still their case - lets support them in finding the truth and bringing justice & closure (of some kind) to this case.
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My goodness there's a chilly feel to the reports about the McCanns in the English press now. I can't get over Fox News reports.
1 year ago
'There are dark forces acting against me over the Madeleine McCann case and I cannot speak freely here, so I am resigning from Sky News. Apparently.
This is what someone, masquerading as me, posted on the internet last night until it was removed.
"I have the truth about this sad case, I know what happened on that tragic night," is whatI am supposed to have written. If only.
More chillingly, a former colleague who also discovered "the truth" is said to be dead and I am in fear of my life.
Phew.
I don't think I know any more in 2008 than I knew in 2007, except there are new "witnesses" who saw Robert Murat outside the apartment the night Madeleine disappeared - when he insists he was at home with his mum.
None of them, of course, know him and all have seen his picture a hundred times on telly and in the newspapers.
None of those who do know him and who were out searching that night has said he was there.
In fact, after he was questioned and gave police his alibi, those searchers were all re-interviewed by the police.
They were asked directly if they saw him - and all said they didn't.
Written by Martin, January 02, 2008'
This is the latest update on Sky website blogs page.
1 year ago
I still think they may have been seeing Payne
1 year ago
I think that David Payne looks more to bundleman than to Robert Man.
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Well, when Marting Brunt writes that all the persons, that have said to have seen Robert Murat, did all said that they didnt after having been asked directly, did he include the Tapas 3 Rachael, Fiona and Russel?
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"The SKY news crime correspondent makes clear, in his blog, 'A Life of Crime' that the several McCann friends that claim to have seen Robert Murat near the Ocean Club the night Madeleine disappeared are not telling the truth. Martin Brunt refers that dozens of local residents from PDL who helped in the search for Madeleine and that know Murat for many years were all questioned by police and told that they didn't see him.'
I feel a gathering of momentum here ;)
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The situation seems to have become formal and even diplomatic in relation to the question still to be asked of the witnesses now in the UK. It wll be interesting to see where these lead.
And regarding this thread, actually I think the new format seems to work better than the old ones, at least once people get the hang of it.
Thanks to those translating into English (Jose especially) and everyone else who is keeping me informed and linked to other sources - the case remains fascinating, even if I have nothing to add for the time being.
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It truly is like some absurd movie and Met 3 will keep searching, CM will keep bullshitting and the McCanns will keep turning over everystone until no stone is unturned, but then what????? More lives ruined, more suspects, more name-calling, more absurdity, more abuse of Madeleines memory. It would be nice if this case remained open in search of Madeleine yet I know eventually resources shall run dry. The PJ alone must be spending a fortune on this case, with help from somewhere I presume!!!!
The odd thing about this case is that no-one has ever stated any cold hard facts apart from Madeleine went missing, even the PJ have chopped and changed their beliefs, the only person who really knows is the one responsible and Madeleine and I think more than likely it will be the case that this will remain an unsolved mystery for many years to come.
With regards to the McCanns innocence or guilt, one thing does make me ponder. Most people who commit a crime are seen as the "helper" in these situations, going over the top and out of their way to help, hence I think the link with Murat there, that the police thought he was covering his tracks. Yet with the McCanns they too are almost going out of their way to find Madeleine, something obviously every parent would do BUT is it because they have something to hide, has it just spiralled out of their control, something they never realised would happen or is it just simply they have a good publicist!!!!
The one thing at least we can see is that people are being put up left right and centre and seen as suspects yet the only guilty party to date, in my eyes, are the parents who left their children alone.
Lynn x
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1 year ago
I read on the M forum someone saying what I had suggested ages ago - that basically the McCanns did not actually leave their kids in the way that has been suggested but that they had to say that they did in order to make the abduction thing stack up. I would suggest that maybe JT and R O'B were actually looking after all the kids. Remember the seven kids in one apartment which surfaced after the Maddie 129 book (I think). So even the one thing we think we can pin on them is in my view up for dispute.
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I do hope everyone had a lovely Christmas... we did :)
I've just been reviewing all the recent posts, thanks Jose for the Sky footage as I'd missed it - seems very objective summation to me though.
Dee, I'd not seen the footage of that interview either and the point you made above is exactly right... Gerry is pleased about the confusion between fact and fiction!!! beggars belief and so stands out in the interview particularly his slight laugh at the very thought. And he wonders why people are judging him/them?
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My understanding re: Waiter & Tapas monitoring was that after the other couple (tennis buddies of Gerry's) in the bar left they were the only group there, therefore the waiters would have been hanging around and noticed preety much everything. However as i am imagining the scenario now I find myself wondering about the bar quiz and the lady who was called over to join the group.
As you say it just doesn't hang together... but there i am back to the timeline and square one again!
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I would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas. I never thought that we would still be at such an impasse after all this time and am amazed by all the developments we have witnessed since last May. I started following the case because of my personal connection with Portugal and because of what I thought was the most terrible news coverage particularly by BBC 24 and Sky News. I watched everyday hoping for good news about Madeleine but was appalled by the ill informed, clumsy and sometimes downright xenophobic comments. I wandered on to the internet to see if I could get early news and to see what other people were saying. I have never done this before and I was struck by the extraordinary active global community of commentators I found. Most of the forums though contained a lot of odd and biased people but I found genuinely sympathetic and concerned people on Steve's site so I stayed here.
(Happy Christmas Steve and thanks for keeping this going.) Commentators came and went and we all had to rest occasionally because it was quite emotionally fraught. As the parents possible guilt came into view things got very heavy and many dropped out because they couldn't cope with how things were going. More recently the media barrage has made me grow more and more cynical so now I don't really believe anything I am told. This may be healthy but it seems to have stripped away some of the empathy I used to have with the people concerned. Some people have taken this to the extreme, questioning why the latest video shows Madeleine receiving the pink bag she used on holiday, are there hidden messages to the T7? and so on, but I find a lot of this kind of crazy. I think if you look too hard you will start to see what you want. I don't know if the McCanns were somehow involved in the disappearance of their daughter - none of us do. But even if they were, I still have compassion for them as human beings because either way they must, inevitably, suffer. I do not feel that I like them very much - but all I have seen is the videos - but I do feel sad for them. I think they neglected their children but I think this was thoughtlessness not malevolence and I can't see the point now in them being charged for neglect. The way they have conducted themselves with the use of M3, the accusations against the PJ, the strange information management, I don't like at all. It seems unnatural and inhuman. If now they want to raise money through books, films and so on - well its not so much that but what it is used for. Is it to try to find Madeleine or is it to pay for their legal team? I know most people who lose someone ruin themselves in the effort to find them but these people seem to think they are entitled to maintain their life style. I don't want vengeance but I would like to see the truth come out - not for me but for the memory of Madeleine.
PS. I would like to also encourage pinkdrummergirl to come back - I feel guilty for joking about her astrological beliefs - I will restrain my schoolboy humour in future. I look forward to the return of Stanley, arm, billie and loads of others.
Cheers everyone.
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I don't care if I lose points for it being offensive, I find the whole issue of using the Pope as a photo shoot opportunity offensive.
1 year ago
There's a thread on the forum '19 reasons for doubting abductor theory' that's been posted from a USA forum, so some people may have seen this already. Yes it does cover old ground but it makes interesting reading anyway. Personally I could add a few more reasons on the end myself!
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Vowing never to leave Ptgl without Maddie then flying out asap after being made arguidos.
The early reports of Maddie's comfort blanket that she 'always slept with and wouldn't be without' disappears into the ether and is replaced by the more attractive CC which coincidentally was a gift from Jon C the Godfather and broadcaster of panorama program.
The strange & changing story of Gerry's last check... nothing unusual/abductor in appt. at the time/looking over Maddie as she slept...
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CC was a symbol of ? something, not quite sure what?
It's freaky the use of cc.
1 year ago
Admittedly,..the comments about rotting meat, nappies and jeans worn to work whilst checking dead bodies were attributed to "friends"
How on earth did these comments get published?? Didn't Clarrie realise how absurd these innocent explanations sounded?? If you are innocent , why come up with "perfectly innocent explanations" at all?? Surely you are better off sayin nothing, or "I don't know".
I am just amazed that if Clarrie's job is damage limitation, that such stupid explanations keep emerging either from his mouth or from friends, relatives and employees (M3)
Doesn't he have any control over what The Mcaans, their clan and M3 say? What is his job exactly, to take the piss?? (sorry for the slang..)
1 year ago
I wish we had Stanley on this thread again as his snippets from 'Journo - land' via his son were really interesting.
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By the way I'm not replying now and I bet i don't get any up and down arrows....
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Surely, THIS is THE forum,...... not that other tabloid one.. ..
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It's actually okay if you're thick skinned and choose what you care to look at.
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Empathy has an interesting idea about the Mccanns having been "set up" for a greater cause ...to crack an international child trafficking ring..Hence the lack of remorse and tears plus the "campaign behaviour" of the parents and supporters etc..
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Yes there is worldwide interest in this case,
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Points? What's the point?
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I was saving up those points to buy christmas presents...
(edited to remove split infinitive)
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Wheres Stanley? I think he can't get in anymore. My bookmark takes me back to haloscan now, so only way I can get in is by going to crimeblog.us homepage, going down to story where Steve says he's gonna stick to this new format (or was it the other way round) and click on the disqus link. Ok, i'm going to go to Haloscan and leave directions for him and others...a trail of pixels...
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Judge has ten days to decide....
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The Dialy Mirror reports that Mrs Webster, the mum of Fiona Payne, has told police she did not see Murat.
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Quote from that article:
About he fact that Murat interpreted for the PJ on some interviews.
"Clarence Mitchell, the McCann's official spokesman, said: "It is a matter that our investigators are working to get to the bottom of.""
Yeah right, the dreaded M3 I suppose - what exactly are they working on then? I thought they were seeking Madeleine in Morocco or was it Spain, oh no Belgium and Malta that's it.
1 year ago
I don't understand exactly what they would investigate about the fact that Murat was the translator of the PJ before he was made arguido. I suppose that their Portuguese lawyers would have access to the testimonies and also to the person who has done the translation. I don't see the need to investigate it at this stage of the inquiry. In the case of a trial, I also think that these witnesses would be called to the court to report what they said.
These detectives of Método 3 are clearly liers even if they have never said that she will return home before Christmas, their director, Francisco Marco said that he knew where Madeleine was. Everybody knows that's a big lie. They have no idea where Madeleine is.
Nevertheless, the McCanns are satisfied with them. Clarence Mitchell also. They are still paying these crooks. Now Clarence Mitchell tell us that they are investigating facts that are not clearly related with the search of Madeleine McCann. Are they really searching Madeleine McCann?
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As for Murat doing translations, clearly he was the best person to do that: a local resident who is fluent in English and Portuguese, experienced in interpretation for the police. How were they to know that he would become a suspect? Also if he interpreted for the interviews with the tapas 9, why didn't any of them say at the time something like " hang on a minute, you were there! lurking outside the apartment " (or whatever it is they are accusing him of). Did they just keep shtum?
I did a bit of a family tree search on Murat. On one site there is an email from him(in 2002) saying to a woman researching the Murat name "If I can help in any way get in touch with me", giving his email address. This, I believe, backs up general reports saying that he is a super helpful guy...which unfortunately has backfired this time.
1 year ago
So what is this about a pic w/Amelie & Sean and what is the significance? And where the heck is it lol? I dont have a profile pic here yet, just dropped in as soon as the net came back and have nothing to contribute yet, very sorry. But the news is flat except for the M3 fiascos, continuous claims. As the essayist, Hunt was it, tx Jose, said it does keep Madeleine's name in the news. But as she is showing even by writing the essay it also dulls us to that news to have a 'sighting' every 10 days or so or a new suspect line from M3.
Hmmm, this blog isnt goig to hold many comments I see, so there is also a lot of arrow clicking. Ah well we are blessed to have it at all! Back tonite!!
*
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(edited)
'I have worked with men who abduct and kill children I have some knowledge of this type of crime. I have been asked by the press many times to provide a profile, to assess whether or not the McCanns have killed the children. How does one even begin to answer the questions if one does not have access to the police intelligence and investigation . To comment on profiling can be irresponsible and part of the problem.
I have no idea as to the accuracy of anything. One often thinks when you see a headline . “Madeline seen in car at garage just after the abduction” as to why someone who has abducted a child had not thought before the abduction to fill up with petrol before they grabbed Madeline and why go into a high risk situation. Infact most of the headlines i see do not take into consideration the words “think offender”. However for those police officers and pyschologists in Englnad that may have had access to the enquiry and for the forensic units to have information but to then follow portugese guidelines on secrecy is a problem. Even if forensics who have a context for the DNA do not believe that the DNA in the boot of the car is proof of the McCanns killing their child they are unable to say. Instead we specualte, Why would they, if they were offenders, remove a child that had been hidden so well that no one during the earlier intensive searches suddenly bring the body out of hiding and hide it somewhere else with all of the risks involved? “think offender*'
Link:
http://tinyurl.com/2mnzcx
Beachy's response from M.forum:
'Aside from the fact that Mr. Wrye seems badly in need of some lessons in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, there is a basic fallacy in his argument. There are inherent differences in legal systems, and each country chooses what best suits its customs, traditions, and precedents. No system is perfect; all have their strong points, as well as their drawbacks.
(edited)
So it is with police secrecy during an investigation. There is nothing wrong with that system per se. It has protected the reputation of many an individual who turned out to be innocent. The difficulty occurs when the media of a country with one system attempts to impose its values on an investigation being performed in a country with a different set of rules. The Portuguese are not going to change their laws as a result of this case, nor should they.'
Link:
http://tinyurl.com/3dzfxs
I'm with Beachy on this one, IMO RW stops this side of imperialism with his views on bringing national and local policing all in line. But he is right about speculation and why it starts and gathers speed - and I don't know what the answer is but I wouldn't be suggesting in a public fora that an entire country changes it's whole policing system in light of this case.
1 year ago
Dee I've only just found your reply to the wierd 'big' Amelie sat beside sean pic. I found it by clicking on my comments to see if there were any replies... I've been out a bit lately so not been posting as much. I'm hoping this new thread will grow on me as there are some good extra's to it, but i do miss not being able to click on a button that says 'view all in sequential order' .
Steve is this possible in this version of the thread as it wiuld be good if it was....?
Thanks :)
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The lawyer, who assumes the presidency of the Portuguese Bar Association until January, recognize that the legal situation of his clients will not change: "the suspects will remain with this status until the end of the inquiry".
"In Portugal, we can judge an homicide even if there is no corpse - on the contrary of the United Kingdom - that has already happen", says Rogério Alves, adding that it wasn't for that reason that the McCanns came back home. The lawyer assumes that the case is reaching the end (in three months) and the couple "will return to Portugal if it is requested by the Portuguese Police".
1 year ago
Mr Levy why do not you comment of the recent Times article with plenty of new information regarding the eve Madeleine went missing?
Or is it something you are not allowed to say in this democratic world ?
++ Hello. One of the reasons why I don’t make any comments on the work of my colleague David is that I don’t know his sources… I can confirm several aspects of his article but not all. I know and I respect his work as a journalist and writer. I kwon the books he wrote and I suppose that he will wrote a book about the McCann case… if that is the case, I will probably wait to read more about his opinions about this case. Duarte Levy++
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I found this thread on the forum yesterday that was repeated again on a different thread today so I had another look at it. Honestly I couldn't for the life of me see what some could see very clearly despite looking and looking at the pictures and even when I did finally see it (Yes this is a bit like those 'magic eye' pictures when everyone else can see the subliminal picture hidden in the pattern but not matter how much you squint, close one eye, open your eyes really, really wide etc. you just can't - until you finally do, then it's so obvious it's all you can see).
See what you see in the picture in the link, taken on May 8th of Gerry pushing the twins in the buggy - look through the cover.
Link here
http://s221.photobucket.com/al.....hchair.jpg
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http://s221.photobucket.com/al.....hchair.jpg
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quote="beachy"] ... If the fibres found on the towel can be identified as coming from the particular Renault Scenic hired by the McCanns, the next obvious step would be analysing the bloodstains on the towel to see if they are compatible with Madeleine's blood type, and possibly with her DNA (which needs doing in any event and probably is already being worked on). If you get a match, in my opinion, this would be as good as finding her DNA in the hire car - perhaps better. If one can establish that the fibres on the towel came from the McCanns' hire car and that the blood on the towel is compatible with Madeleine's blood type even if DNA could not be extracted from it, this would probably still be admissible circumstantial evidence. It would also be a very, very interesting thing to question a suspect or potential witness about during a re-interview.[/quote]
************************************************************************************
Another excellent posting, beachy!
This is what I have gleaned from the Sunday Express: Portuguese sources say forensic scientists used a substance called Luminol to look for blood deposits and found three sites on the edges of the towel. They tested the blood deposits to see if there was a match with Madeleine's DNA. Although the samples were not good quality, the scientists were able to do what is called low copy analysis, which showed there was "moderate” support to suggest the blood deposits matched Madeleine's blood.
Close analysis of the towel also revealed fibres which were not made of the towel material, and these fragments have been microscopically examined against fibres found in the boot of the Renault Scenic. Portuguese police sources say there was "strong support" that the fibres found on the towel matched fibres from the boot of the car. They are obviously pursuing this line of research further.
While the DNA evidence from the blood found on the towel may not be conclusive, but, in combination with a match from the fibre fragments with the fibres found previously in the Renault, this could be pretty damning for the McCanns! Then match this with all of the other evidence gathered so far, such as the earlier DNA evidence found in the car and apartment, the telephone calls, the 14 text messages, the inconsistencies in the McCann and Tapas 7 testimony (especially on timelines), and even some of the more blatant lies (such as the jemmied shutters), and it is obvious that the PJ are methodically building their case.
The next round of 100 questions that the PJ will be asking of the McCanns and friends will certainly reflect the new evidence found, and I am much more optimistic these days that justice will win out in the long run.
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Wouldn't that just make my day!!!!
1 year ago
In his book, the Guilt of the McCanns, Catarino claims that the Gonçalo Amaral talked with the District Attorney the night before Kate was interviewed by Police on September 7. They discussed remanding her in custody but could not agree on the offense she should be accused of.
Clarence Mitchell, dismissed the book as “another shameful attempt to make money out of the situation”.
He said: “I would refer any fair-minded person to the fact that neither Kate nor Gerry
have been charged with any offense.
“There is one good reason for that – there is no evidence because they are not involved in any shape or form in their daughter’s abduction.”
Clarence, you don't if there is an evidence against Kate and Gerry. The reason why they are not in jail is only because there is no evidence that an intentional homicide crime has been committed but the Police could have evidences to sustain that Madeleine has been killed accidentally and disposed of her body, in that case there is no preventive jail.
Hernani Carvalho, writer of Maddie 129, appeared to the Portuguese television to say that the the couple had been given “scandalously privileged treatment” over the disappearance of daughter Madeleine.
He added added, according to the Daily Express: “If they were Portuguese they would be in jail by now. There are lots of people up in arms with the scandalously privileged treatment that was given to the McCanns. Any Portuguese couple in these circumstances would have been jailed a long time ago.”
Clarence Mitchell yesterday brushed off Mr Carvalho’s comments:
“That’s his point of view – we disagree,” he said. “Kate and Gerry have not been given any special treatment.”
He insisted police had no evidence to charge the couple with committing any criminal offense.
Personally, I don't think that Kate and Gerry could be in jail for giving up their children because there is the necessity to prove that they have the intention to put their children in danger. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that there is no evidence that Kate and Gerry have committed a criminal offense as for example of being involved in the disappearance of their daughter, Madeleine McCann. It's not because they were not charged that the evidences are not there. I will advise Clarence Mitchell to wait the end of the inquiry to make any judgment about the evidences collected by the Police.
1 year ago
I think it is very likely that Amaral wanted to jail Kate as at the time things were shaping up this way. I would guess the lawyers told him he had to get a confession to do this. That explains the prolonged interview - was it 11 or 13 hours?
Given that Justine McGuiness has admitted to breaching security by texting Team McCann during this interview - it is also possible that they were persuading her by text not to confess - and then we have the plea bargaining that never happened incident. So all in all I think it was probably touch and go whether they charged her then.
CM is only saying what eh always says.
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Also difficult to put pressure on someone if they are getting support from outside.
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Private detectives promise to rescue the toddler by Christmas
We already know who is the group that took Maddie
The director of the private eyes agency, Método 3, says he already knows "the group who has taken Madeleine" from the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, on the night of May 3, "in principle, we are dealing with pedophiles".
Francisco Marco just don't know yet if the child is alive but he hopes that "she will return home by Christmas". He ensures that he has "evidences about the displacements" of this group and the next objective will be to rescue Maddie "from north Africa or from the Iberian Peninsula".
Meanwhile, a British tourist who knew the McCanns during their holidays in Praia da Luz reports to the press that she admires the McCanns' couple for having left the children alone at home. She explained that she "admired them for not being paranoids parents" - while Bridget O'Donnell would not do the same for their own children because their apartment "was too far" away from the restaurant where they had dinner.
This tourist was the producer of the popular BBC series 'Crimewatch' and she is the wife of Jeremy Wilkins, also a television producer who played tennis with Gerry during their holidays. Bridget said that she "always believed that Kate was innocent" of not being involved in the possible death of her daughter - because she reminds of having seen her near the swimming pool, some hours before the crime, very "calm and still".
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what an amazing coincidence! Producer of Crimewatch no less...
Speaking of coincidences, this case has been compared to that of Natalee Holloway who vanished when shewas 18.
Has anyone seen the "two o'clock defect in Natalee's right eye in the fox news photo? Another coincidence .....
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In the M Forum they have picked up on this strange phrase 'angular manifestation' as in:
"Kate's back and shoulders, her hands, her mouth had reshaped themselves into the angular-manifestation of a silent scream,” she said, reinforcing claims "
In that recent article. When I googled it I only found a reference to it in a physics site i.e.:
"Most recently, we have observed an angular manifestation of Heisenberg's Uncertainty principle where the observed spread in angular momentum is set by the..."
Apart from another dodgy site where I feared to tread.
In fact all the language in that article is very strange. Its as if someone is trying to write sylishly and failing. I wonder why.
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http://tinyurl.com/2b5dth
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His paintings are pictures changed by his brush in a grotesc way. It's a reflection about the compulsive comsumption of images coming from the internet.
He presents a collection of icons, generally anonymous pictures that he has compiled in his work of investigation and web surfing where appears different topics: family albums, works of other artits, movies, and even the McCanns themselves.
Enrique Marty reflects on the nature of the web conceived as a huge storehouse of visual information, invinting us to enter into his work and to share and experiment his visions of this deformed icons.
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I did try for ages to post a real pic but couldn't get the sizing right - I'm guessing yours is real 'cos it's on profile etc. x
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I found this post in the Daily Mirror forum:
In the interest of finding the truth, it's always a good idea to have the experts weigh in. We each bring our own particular area of expertise to the table but will not have the education and experience in other fields. And the jigsaw must have all the pieces to be complete.
So, in order to flesh out the picture I bring you now the thoughts of a friend of mine who just happens to be a well-trained psychiatrist with many years of experience in the law enforcement field. This person has worked directly with criminals. This is what she had to say. Mind you, this person has never interviewed/examined any of the subjects of this case -- these are just impressions. But after many years in the business and having seeing the same patterns over and over, I would say this individual's observations and opinions are worth not only reading but taking note of. So, with that disclaimer, this is what my friend had to saw about the McCanns after reading up on this case:
GERRY -- Gerry has narcissistic PD (personality disorder) with grandiose ideas, under the thumb though. Could be "folie à deux" or "folie simultanée" it comes in many degrees. E.g. A man points to the sky and says, "Look at that!" "Oh yes!" says another. "I can see it!" See what??! There's nothing there.
Folie à deux and folie simultanée
KATE & G&K -- She killed Maddie, never bonded, Maddie was a nuisance, interfering with the perfect TWINS. Ad drugs, sedation, drink, left on their own, swinging, a lot to lose, big coverup. Interesting that she trained in many specialities, ending in anesthetics!! None are of any use as she has not practiced in ANY of them, well maybe on herself?? She is very controlling, demanding, needy I would say, feeds off G. At home he is weak, frightened of her but loves her -- almost an Oedipus complex. But at work he is ambitious and dangerous, ruthless. Narcissists usually find each other; she is the bully at home, and he is the arrogant bully at work.
Kate is ill, whether she get treatment is difficult to say, she is in total denial, what upsets me, and, I have dealt with many women who have killed their children, is her attitude and her family's behaviour. Its as if Maddie was never wanted, except by Kate's mother.
Read up on narcissists, they want trophy children, Maddie did not fit the bill, she was... a law unto herself.. not easily manipulated.
MADDY: A child is for life, not just for Christmas! Maddie was like an unwanted dog with behavior problems, oh! just put it down.
But it was not an intentional murder, not consciously anyway. I am not that sure WHO did it, mum or dad.
utub video
In that video, she is worried about where the next smack is coming from; she is not sure how she should respond = abuse. If that was the only video they could produce of her, it says it all!! I have 16 grandchildren and a video camera and editing suite, I do not have any pictures as disturbing as that one.
PREDICTION: But they will get away with it, In am sure, whats the point of putting them in prison now, their life is over now, better the ??? over their heads for the rest of their time on this earth, as they are now immortal. So is the child.
1 year ago
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I still read with disgust the almost cruel statements from the 3 Amigos - they, along with the rest of us know that Madeleine isn't in Morocco, with this much publicity we are all accepting that it would be too risky to keep Madeleine alive. Perhaps whilst the 3 Amigos are in Morocco they could rescue all those poor children used as "little maids" and do some use with the money they are clearly squandering.
On a personal level, I am very competitive so vote Lynn!!!!! I want the points lol
1 year ago
1 year ago
What I found interesting today is the discussion in the m-forum, if the guardian article tells more than it first seems, that it is to be read between the lines- the author hiding some serious suspicions in her seemingly flattering text.
1 year ago
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one elses seems too... sorry just exploring new system. Also there's a bit cut here from our posts as e.g.
1 year ago
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"Mrs McCann if you refuse to answer these questions we must suspect you of some wrongdoing. Therefor we would make you an arguido. Is that what you want?"
"If you do that I shall piss off back to blighty."
"But surely you want to help us find your daughter."
"Speak to our lawyers."
Or similar. Maybe someone From Team Mc could suggest an alternative?
What really brought me back was this latest farce of the divers. According to the Portuguese lawyer who is "funding" this (anyone care to bet on that one?) he received information from the underworld on 6th May that M had been abducted, raped and murdered and her body disposed of in this spot. Let us look at this logically. The underworld consists of career criminals it certainly does not include pedophiles. So much so that in jails throughout the world these sickos have to be kept in solitary confinement away from "decent" cons. The only way an abduction would come to the notice of the "underworld" would be if it were a professional gang of kidnappers stealing children to order. So are we to believe that amongst this gang was a pedo who raped M? Why would they murder her? This is if anything a further diversion but a very stupid one. It is one thing for K&G to claim this was a pedo chancer abduction, but to believe that this was a planned operation by a criminal gang is beyond even the wildest claims of their followers.
1 year ago
1 year ago
I arrived early to make sure of a seat towards the front. Then the speakers arrived. Clarence Mitchell and Justine McGuinness shook hands and didn't look like they had met before.
Quite a lot of lone women in the audience but notably only one woman on the panel of speakers.
Comment from another audience member: "I forgot to mention the most pathetic thing I saw at the event tonight.
Shortly after Clarrie walked in and stood up front - at this point less than 8 feet from where I was sitting, some young Christian-looking type walked over to Clarrie and handed him an envelope.
He asked Clarrie to give it to the McCann's.
I knew there was money in the envelope - fairly thick maybe about 20-30 bills inside. The envelope looked clean and respected in a way some people treat an envelope with cash in it. I was close enough to read "Drs. Gerry and Kate McCann". Clarrie looked at the envelope, looked at me, then looked at the envelope again. When he later took the stage and had a seat, he placed the envelope in front of him and looked at it from time to time."
Kelvin Mackenzie, Steve Hewlitt, the 'moderator', and Clarence Mitchell sat at the front table whilst the others sat in the front row.
Kelvin starts speaking: This is the most significant story in my lifetime. There are only 2 known facts: 1) a child is missing 2) Her parents are the main suspects.
Every other story about the disappearance of Maddie is a spin off of these two facts.
Without finding the child this story will live in our lives forever.
Uniquely this was a middle class child who was kidnapped.
The Sun readership is mostly C1's and D2's. When I wrote a story sympathetic to the Mccanns I got the largest ever email bag between 8 and 10,000 emails. 99.9percent of them were against the McCanns. They said that the coverage was classist. There is some truth in that.
Referring to the LSE audience Kelvin said an audience like this is at odds with the population.
How a big story like this works in Britain: normally after 2/3 days journalists covering the case would have been brought together by police, off the record, and they would explain what had happened. The journalists would be given by and large 95% of the story. 5% would be held back.
Newspapers would then run a wholly accurate story which would act as a warning in a dangerous situation and stop speculation
Its now been 272 days since Madeleine has been missing. All there has been is one 3 minute conversation between the Portuguese police and a UK journalist. The stories don't come from the Portuguese police. Portuguese papers run opposing stories every other day. This is a problem for the McCanns. Everyone here is obsessed. Kelvin Mackenzie admits to being obsessed himself.
When papers put the McCanns on the front page, there is a 2 to 3% rise in circulation.
The recent story with Ashley Cole, there is a rise of 2-3 per cent for the first day, maybe the second. With the McCanns it's been that way for 9 months.
Steve Hewlitt asks: " Why are readers so negative? "
Kelvin" because of the neglect. Its a class war issue. Punishment is wanted.
Its an incredible(good) idea to get a PR. They stop the parents from doorstepping, phonecalls etc. I believe that Gerry McCann has gone back to work. (Clarence nods but insists that Kate McCann has not gone back to work and has no intention of doing so).
Ordinary people however don't associate PR with the truth. Now there are stories that Oprah and Barbara have offered all this money.
Clarence: Thats not true by the way.
The PR was necessary but there is a downside. People are suspicious. Sombody needs to help the Mccanns in the modern era. Justine and I are a buffer so that the McCanns can get on with their lives to a certain extent.
I am trying to tell the truth.
Arguido is less perjorative than the word suspect. By the way the McCanns did not phone the press before the police. There are appalling standards of journalism.Journalists are lazy and not checking the facts. Sloppy standards with newspapers. I was with the McCanns for a month as a govt advisor. Then they called me in to help them out. I am not suspicious of them. I wouldnt do this if I was. Briefing from the police mean that I am very happy to defend them. I'm not usually a person that supports causes.
an average front page puts on 70 thousand copies when they lead with the McCanns.
In todays word , with pressure to get broadcasting out, it means standards have slipped.
The Uk press lifts material from the Portuguese press which then recycles the UK press. Its distorted. They should get a green award.
Then an irish guy interrupts and says ' we've heard all this before, stop rambling on". He turns out to be from the Madeleines law campaign.
Clarence apologizes.
Steve Hewlitt asks some tough questions: this is media management ? The Morroccan sighting was untrue. Was it appropriate for this new drawing of a man to be described as a suspect in the manner of the police?
Did the police have this info?
Clarence: yes since May. And we asked Gail Cooper if the police had done a drawing of her description and she said no. So we commissioned one.
Then Roger Graef [created Dispatches documentary, and a criminologist]
After he did the documentary he realized there was nothing really to say, as there were no facts. People are talking about nothing, just unsubstantiated rumour. No sources to confirm anything.
McCanns did not want to work on the documentary or approve of it until Madeleine is found. He tried to be amusing (failing miserably). He said that he was constantly being asked to comment on this story which has no substance to it. He was of the Its disgusting how everybody treats the McCanns school of thought. Really couldn't be bothered to listen to him. But he annoyed me when he said leaving your children alone when you are on holiday is perfectly normal and everybody does it.
Then David Mills (Panorama producer who pulled out)gets up: He's another boring old male fart. He says "It raises issues about police procedure, forensic science in this country, and the British press. There are precedents in the US and there are many parallels between the Ramseys and the McCanns. He says something about the Ramseys being proved to be wholly innocent. (Don't think thats true is it?)
Then a blonde woman sitting next to me catches me tutting and hands me a leaflet for the Madeleines law campaign.
Next its Justine Mcguinness: She immediately comes across as more relevant than the two previous men. She says that the narrative of case is superficially easy to understand... this story plays to everybody's common fears. She says that the McCanns represent aspirational Britain. They've worked their way up from a working class background to 'media' careers ( everybody laughs at this freudian slip) . She corrects herself " medical' careers I mean. She admits that one editor she spoke to admitted that he changed how he covered the story based on the fact that the parents are doctors.
They made decisions at the beginning:
-to pool media access, no exclusives.
-The experts advised them to use the media.
-They made a decision to use electronic communications. And hits on websites had influenced editorial policy.
Roy Greenslade:
Everyone has a view. This story has gone in 4 phases:
1) initially- sympathy
2) skepticism, and its appropriate for journalists to adopt this tone.
3)Long period of suspicion
4) commercial cynicism.
He asks Has the media gone too far? Yes
Has the internet removed editorial limits? Yes
Have the laws on defamation been breached- Yes , people unlike journalists dont care about defamation,thats the nature of gossip.
Questions from audience start:
What this the first missing child in the UK? no
Was this the first missing child case that used a professional PR? probably.
Clarence: the portuguese police don't engage with the media at all. When they went to the british police station and saw the media room, they were like, Whats this? Why you need this?(adopting slight portuguese accent).
Next question from audience:
Has Article 8 the right to privacy and article 10 (couldn't hear) from the Human rights legislation been breached?
Didnt hear answer.
Angela from Sky news: (dumb blonde who asked dumb blonde question) Was this story big because it was a slow news day?
Kelvin: No. The story was huge in itself.
Lady from Madeleines law said angry stuff but cant remember what.
Evening standard journalist said something boring.
Madeleines law lady: What about the fund ? these Private investigators. How much do they cost?
Clarence;Cost of agency 50K? But they are actually costing 7 or 8k but the rest is for operational costs.
Another lady: Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence?
The woman next to me repeated Clarence Mitchells' claim of "knowing" Kate and Gerry are innocent. However, CM and the former Sun editor had said there was no real information - nothing came out of the police's mouths. She then asked him, based on the fact that there was no real information in the public domain, how does he know?
Clarrie replied he knows because he believes Gerry and Kate. She pushed him and stated so if you know because you believe, then you BELIEVE they are innocent. Therefore you don't really know!
Clarrie cowered and mumbled something about semantics, the girl sitting next to you got a nice little clapping for her effort and Clarrie was really humiliated.
Richard Peel Pr guy: Something about letting off balloons.
Justine gets up and defends decision to let off balloons.
I ask a question(nerves thundering through my ears): These men here and Clarence in the past have said thats its normal for British parents to leave their children alone when on holiday. This makes people furious. This sort of media is not helping the McCanns. I was frustrated with what I was reading in the press, it wasn't expressing my feelings and opinions, so I found the forums like the Daily Mirror which has been shut down (and Clarence says Yes we got that shut down) and now the 3arguidos. There are extreme opinions, both pro and anti. I'm a fence sitter who veers towards anti.
I believe that these forums and online comments express a kind of collective gut feeling that something is amiss. I then go on to say, please let me say one more thing: there is no investigative journalism any more. One poster, ellibean, went out to Praia da luz and filmed the distance between the tapas bar and the apartment. No journalist did that. They are all too busy sitting in the bar and using their exes (expenses).
Clarence nodded his agreement about lack of investigative journalism.
Clarence Mitchell: I'm not a PR. I'm a journalist. I'm not putting a spin on it. There is an image problem.I'm not critisizing the police overtly.
Steve Hewlitt: Is it appropriate for the family to be doing this?You are not the police.
Question from the audience about fund and Justine McGuinness' wages.
Justine gets up: I received 55thousand. Actually I was very generous to the McCanns. People have to earn a living.
Woman from Madeleines law shouts" its about a missing child. How dare you?
Justine: I worked 7 days a week. I have 50 voice mails. It was ovewhelming. Turning towards Clarence in plea for support: I'm sure it was for clarence too.
Clarence pipes up and says" well i'm not being paid from the fund, i'm being paid by Brian Kennedy. (slightly smugly i might add)
Then he says loudly: you want facts. These are the facts. The fund earnt 1.2 million from the website appeal. Even now kate and gerry are getting letters with small checks from small kids and old people. They are very grateful.
Now the fund is down to 570k. Thats for private detectives and poster campaigns in spain
Blonde madeleines law lady(find out her name is Debbie Butler) interrupts: I go to spain twice a week. I'm going tommorrow. I've never seen a poster there. Its all spin, its a coverup.
Then Clarence says "it will be down to 346k by end of March. This is publicly donated money.
The fund raising was forcefully raised by the madeleines law couple. Clarence was quite vociferous about there being no fraud, no spin. Nobody got a chance to ask about money for other kids. Clarence did concede that the Mccanns were lucky (lets face it being white middle class professionals with a beautiful kid my words not his) in their coverage and that the fact that say a black working class single mum in the same situation would not get the same support tells us more about the media than the McCanns. I got the feeling the attitude was more well done them for achieving this.( REmember they represent aspirational modern Britain and compassion for others probably doesn't form part of that - this is my opinion only)
There was more but thats the bulk of it. I probably missed out stuff but there will be a pod cast.
The madeleines law people handed out leaflets to people.
Steve hewlitt came up and thanked me for my question which was nice.
My impressions: that clarence actually believes what he is saying. That the other guys david mills and roger mcgraf know nothing and are not impartial.
Justine Mcguinness was well humiliated and shown up for career building greedy guts. She is now the spokesperson for the libdems (oops).
Well I wouldn't say the conference was a clarence triumph at all. Quite the opposite. He seemed to be pleading to be believed really. To be believed that he was doing this for all the right reasons and that he genuinely believed in the McCanns.
I'm surprised by the press reports coming out: their quotes do not reflect the content of the conference in my opinion. Steve Hewlett certainly put Clarence on the spot. kelvin was to the point as always.
So despite the most part of the panel being "pro" mccann, hard questions were asked.
However they talked for an hour and we got to ask questions for less than an hour. So not many questions were asked. I had so much that I wanted to say it was hard to choose.
I took a picture which i will post
1 year ago
In light of the comments about sloppy journalism made by Clarence MItchell as you report ("There are appalling standards of journalism.Journalists are lazy and not checking the facts. Sloppy standards with newspapers.") the following article is of interest. It is the Press Association (news agency) report of the same meeting. Appearing in most papers in the morning and online everywhere, it carries the completely misleading heading: Madeleine's parents 'not suspects' and doesn't even sound like a report of the same meeting PDG has posted about here.
I wonder if Clarence had a hand in the spin cycle here?
copy of PA article follows...
* Published Date: 31 January 2008
* Source: Press Association
* Location: The Press Association Newsdesk
Madeleine's parents 'not suspects'
Madeleine McCann's parents are not suspects, says family spokesman
British police and child protection officers do not suspect Madeleine McCann's parents of involvement in her disappearance, the couple's spokesman has said.
Clarence Mitchell said officials had assured him in private briefings that they were treating the case as one of "rare stranger abduction".
He was speaking as he launched an outspoken attack on the "appalling" standards of some media coverage of the disappearance of the Kate and Gerry McCann's daughter in Portugal in May.
Mr Mitchell, who acted as the couple's spokesman shortly after Madeleine went missing and reprised this role four-and-a-half months ago, said he was completely convinced of their innocence.
He told a packed theatre: "I have never once seen or heard anything from either of them to give me any cause for suspicion in any shape or form.
"I have also had briefings privately from the police and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre that also gave me complete reassurance that the authorities, in this country certainly, are treating this as a case of rare stranger abduction, as they call it."
But Mr Mitchell said he felt "shamed" as a former reporter by the "sloppiness" and "laziness" of certain journalists in covering the story.
Speaking at a debate on The McCanns and the Media at the Lond
on School of Economics, Mr Mitchell said: "What we have taken issue with, and our lawyers continue to review, is the aspect of coverage that is not only distorted but wilfully misrepresentative at times of the facts as we know them or the lack of facts. In that vacuum I'm afraid some very sloppy standards have crept in."
He singled out "the sloppiness and laziness of some of the journalists, and the lack of independence of thought and checking of facts".
Mr Mitchell said he understood putting a story about Madeleine's disappearance on the front page could add 70,000 sales to some newspapers, meaning there was "definitely a commercial imperative" to reporting on the case. He assured the audience they could be certain that "every single one" of the negative stories they read or heard about the McCanns was untrue.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2008, All Rights Reserved.
1 year ago
And as for the McCanns not being suspects, it was clear that this statement was based on Clarence's own contacts within the British police (which certainly doesn't reflect the opinions of British policemen that I know) and not at all with the Portuguese police.
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http://tinyurl.com/2o7bnx
worth a listen if you have 10 mins.
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If the story was a kite being flown to see how people would respond to a movie deal (as it is confirmed they were talking to a hollywood film company about a film) it hasn't been very well received; and if it was a smokescreen relating to resignations from the fund - well, I think people know about that too.
McCanns: innocent until proven guilty in regard to the legal process ; but venal, stupid, irresponsible and hubristic on the basis of their own public actions since May 3. IMHO.
The legal process... not holding my breath... will be subject to increasing pressure from all sides, including the diplomatic channels.
Still fascinating though.
1 year ago
1 year ago
3.1.08
Police has new evidence against Madeleine's parents
Investigation about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from a quiet resort at Praia da Luz had “important developments” in the last weeks, after a Portuguese police team met with Leicestershire police and representatives from Forensic Science Service, the British laboratory where samples collected at the crime scene are being analysed.
On a preliminary report about the case, recently sent to the Public Prosecutor's Office, Polícia Judiciária (PJ) states that the parents remain the main suspects. Among other pieces of new evidence, there is a specific phone call and several messages, send from Ocean Resort, that are classified by investigators as “highly incriminating” Gerry and Kate McCann.
The same evidence also gave indications about how the body of Madeleine McCann could have been taken from the apartment and disposed of. Today, it was confirmed by a source from the Public Prosecutor's Office that a request to extend the time limit for the case will be filed, with the Criminal Court, before January 14, eight months after the first formal suspect was named.
Questions for the friends
The Tapas Group, the friends who had dinner with the McCann on May 3rd, will be questioned again soon, as a formal request to the British Home Office is ready. Police wants to clarify, first, contradictory statements about the night of May 3rd, and PJ detectives would like to interrogate Gerry and Kate before the end of January – something that will depend from the time Home Office and British police will take to proceed with the questionings.
Among many details that are confuse or contradictory, Police sources refer the fact that witnesses confirm they saw Gerry McCann and Russell O'Brien going inside apartment 5A to check the three children sleeping there. The McCann spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, is already preparing public opinion for a new interrogation of Madeleine's parents and yesterday told British Media that Kate and Gerry would be pleased to clarify “misunderstandings” related with their previous statements.
New detectives hired
Hogan International, a company specialized in asset investigations, is reviewing Madeleine's case, working in coordination with Metodo 3, the Spanish detectives company that announced recently they knew who kidnapped Madeleine and promised to find her before Christmas. Sources close to the McCann supporters say that the six-month contract with Metodo 3, which ends around March, will not be renewed and Hogan International will replace them, in the private investigation set up by the McCann, following advise from Control Risk Group.
The McCann legal team has asked private investigators to concentrate in specific details of the investigation related with Police evidence of Madeleine's death and his body disposal, instead of following leads about sightings or other information related with a possible abductor.
Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis
1 year ago
"Editor's Note:
The increase of “troll” activity following the teaser I posted here, two hours ago, was visible in many forums and message boards discussing Madeleine's case. It's curious to analyse some of that activity and look at details about the most prolific posters. This is something that deserves a more researched article. Whenever people wishes to confirm that new evidence has been uncovered, just pay attention to the number of new witnesses or facts showing that Gerry and Kate are innocent and will have their status of “arguidos” lifted soon, published by the British Press. Clarence Mitchell has, indeed, good sources in the Government. He knows a lot more about the case than the legal defence team working for the McCann. But he didn't realized yet that every attempt to anticipate bad news with a disinformation campaign seems almost a confession and, at the same time, it's a proof of the strong and deep connections between authorities in UK and the McCann inner circle of supporters.
Paulo Reis"
1 year ago
"The "trolls" - or astroturfers - on the mirror.co.uk forums operate in shifts.
Although there're obviously more of them tonight, the following names were actively swarming and disrupting together a few nights ago:
vilipend (10 Aug)
rhodes3 (10 Aug)
poorhorse (20 Aug)
amplyjustified (03 Sep)
therese (11 Sep)
pippi (14 Sep)
endreas (14 Sep)
blueberry (15 Sep)
urcrazy (16 Sep)
nicholass (16 Sep)
chad (17 Sep)
charoz319 (24 Sep)
scandinavia (20 Oct)
tiberious7 (8 Dec)
Most are U.S. fundamentalist Christians who seem to believe in the McCanns' statements as unquestioningly as they do the myths of their faith.
How shrewd it was of the McCanns to not only remember they were Catholics but to go and kiss the Pope as well."
1 year ago
Remember I said I had three trolls chasing me recently well Blueberry led the pack saying I was 'sick minded' and 'needed professional help' (she tends to follow me around if some of the more popular regulars aren't in) then there was therese and poorhorse, I've also had a more recent run in with scandinavia who just questioned every single word I said. I try to keep out of their way but it's difficult when they follow you to every topic you comment on and mock everything or keep asking for 'links' & 'evidence'. Blueberry (and I think it was Vilipend) made me laugh the other day when we were discussing CCTV in PDL as I pointed put to her she'd obviously never been there but the people she was arguing with had; I asked if there were any Ptgse friends online and two came into the conversation and disputed everything she said and agreed with us. Bless her she still came back with some guff about how limited CCTV was at the MW resort until someone then posted the location of the cameras; gotta hand it to them for tenacity but I wouldn't get into anything with any of them unless you're prepared to see it through to the bitter end and face a barrage of personal insults. I believe in free speech but MF must know they are purely in it to disrupt but I guess they are afraid of the backlash.
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BTW have notice how so many people on the MF now are claiming to have inside information? A poster made a funny comment "does everyone on this forum have a source now, but me?"
1 year ago
In a further blow for Madeleine’s parents, police files against them will not be made public next week after the authorities applied to extend their investigation. Kate and Gerry McCann, who remain official suspects (arguidos) in their daughter’s disappearance, had hoped to discover what evidence detectives had against them on January 3 when a crucial secrecy deadline passed.
Under Portuguese law the police must make their findings public eight months after an investigation is launched.
But the McCanns and Robert Murat – the only other official suspect – will have to wait for at least three months to gain access to the files following the postponement of the deadline. This is allowed because prosecutors have awarded the investigation “special complexity” status meaning normal rules can be ignored.
Carlos Casimiro, a magistrate and expert in Portuguese penal procedure said the deadlines could be extended indefinitely because the case remains so high profile. He told Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias he thought the most likely outcome – even after two extensions – would be “the delay of the investigation in a desperate attempt to seek enough evidence to make an accusation”.
1 year ago
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What exactly is the 'special complexity' that allows normal rules to be unobserved?
1 year ago
That means that the inquiry will not be closed by January and that the PJ detectives don't want that the suspects and their lawyers have a free access to the files before the end of their inquiry.
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Maddie's case can drag on for six months
In January, the investigation of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will reach the maximum period of eight months defined in the Penal Procedure Code. So this month is pointed by several lawyers and also by some elements of the Judicial Police (PJ) as a "decisive" date . But the Ministerio Publico (MP) can extend the period of the inquiry.
The problem is to know by how many months should the process continue, taking into account the fact that this body does not know what kind of crime has been committed.
The expert in penal procedure and also president of the Union of Magistrates of Public Prosecutors (SMMP) for the of the district of Évora, Carlos Casimiro, explained to the DN that "the outcome of this process depends exclusively on the definition of the type of crime that has been committed against Madeleine McCann".
The magistrate says that "the PJ is maintaining two theories - one is the abduction and the other is the homicide crime.The extension of the deadlines as defined for the investigation depends on the type of the crime". In this contest,he explained that "also for each type of crime, there are several deadlines for the extension of the inquiry, because there are also different types of abduction and homicide crime". "A crime of abduction might be, for example, a few hours kidnapping and for a homicide crime there is a wide typology. For each one there is a specific deadline".
According to Carlos Casimiro, if the detectives conclude that Maddie has effectively been murdered and if everything is still performed publicly relatively to the perpetrators of the crime, in January the MP can request the extension of the period of the investigation for more three months. At the end of this period, if the the same incertitude is maintained, the MP has the possibility to request a second delay which can only be for more three months. After that, there are only two possibilities: the closing of the investigation for lack of evidence or as the magistrate thinks to be more "foreseeable" that there will be a "delay of the inquiry in the desperate attempt to seek evidence to sustain an accusation".
Carlos Casimiro said, "we are in presence of a highly internationally mediatic case and it is the image of the country that is at stake". Moreover, he stressed, "the Judicial Police has been, since the beginning of this process, perfectly slandered, essentially by the British press and this is why its reputation and its high professionalism should be preserved".
After the disclosure on the 23rd of the video made by the McCanns during the first Christmas since the child disappeared showing images of the girl excited and opening the presents of last year, the agency of Spanish private eyes, Método 3, which works for the couple in the investigation of her disappearance, has already received 347 calls with alleged information about her whereabouts.
The new information is now being examined by the detectives of Método 3, one by one. And according to the DN, that agency "does not throw away any information whatever it it comes from."
Presently, the detectives focus their attention especially in Portugal and Morocco, in the city of Marrakesh.
1 year ago
The researched Briton has not been seen during the last two years
The Briton that the Police has not been able to locate is in fact Christian Ridout, son of the owners of a pub at Praia da Luz. The man, 32 years old, has disappeared from Portugal two years ago after he has harassed by SMS a young girl of twelve years. The information not confirmed by the Judicial Police adds that the Briton is better known as DJ Shifty.
"There is no indication that he was at Praia da Luz, May 3", says a source closed to the inquiry contacted [yesterday night] by SOS Maddie, who adds that "the individual is not known for pedophile activity in Portugal".
Barman and disc jockey, Christian has not been seen at Praia da Luz since 2005 but Clarence Mitchell, the head of the McCanns' image, said now that the agency of private eyes, Método 3, is considering him as suspect.
After having sent dozens of messages with sexual proposals, the man had been confronted by the mother of the girl and then he fled to Spain where his car has been found abandoned near the airport of Seville.
"The work of Método 3 until now speaks for itself. This information has for us the same value as the previous ones", says the same source, noting that the line of the inquiry is maintained.
1 year ago
"Portuguese officers, widely criticized for a series of blunders in the Madeleine case, have never succeeded in tracing Ridout.
"The spokesman for Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate confirmed that the Spanish detective agency working for them, Metodo 3, was seeking more information on the missing man.
The pub of the parents of Christian Ribout is nicknamed as "The Plough and Paedophile". Christian Ribout is widely "disliked in the the tight-knit community".
He sent 25 obscene messages to the 12 years old girl. The mother of the girl called Christian Ribout and said to him "If you come anywhere near my daughters again I'll kill you".
The very same night he disappeared.
Now, I really understand why the McCann team was so pleased with the last interview of the McCanns. That's the kind of story that Método 3 should investigate after having done a proper propaganda in the press.
In a first time, it is reported that a dangerous pedophile has not been found. His name is secret. The Portuguese Police is incompetent because he was never found. The public read it and naturally people said give us his name! He is a monster. He should be arrested.
Then the second story is published the name and the crimes of the monster. A pedophile who do phone sex. Don't worry, that's a mission for our heroes, Metodo 3, who will discover where he is and his cellular would be confiscated.
1 year ago
Investigation: The inquiry will not be completed in January
MP wants to extent the expiry date of the secret of justice
The Ministerio Publio (MP) should ask the extension of the secrecy law in the Madeleine Case. On January 3, it will be eight months since the disappearance and at the end of this period the process should become public. A source closed to the investigation confirmed to the CM that however "it is likely that the MP will ask for the postponement".
Presently, it is more than certain that the inquiry will not be concluded in January - the Letters Rogatory are still in Portugal - and neither the PJ nor the MP wants that the information, that has been already included in the process until now, should become public before the end of the investigation.
"After the eight months period, the Penal Procedure Code (PPC) provides the possibility to request the postponement of the lifting of the secrecy law for three months", explained to the CM a source of the MP. "Then the judge of Justice may or not approve the request", adds the same source.
After the request of the MP and the approval of the judge, the Madeleine case should only become public in April 3. At this date, the process could be then be consulted.
At the end of the three months, there is also another possibility to postpone. For this, the MP could request a delay that is "objectively appropriate and necessary for the conclusion of the inquiry", continues the same source of the MP.
However, according to the new code, this second extension applies only to the cases of terrorism or highly organized crimes that involves crimes such as crimes of conspiracy, trafficking of persons, arms smuggling, drug trafficking, corruption, trafficking of influence or money laundering. So far, the Madeleine case has not been classified as one of these crimes.
A source closed to the inquiry assured however to the CM that "the Letters Rogatory are almost ready to follow to England". After the dispatch having been scheduled for the las week, the same source explained that "it is a complicated process because it involves the translation of documents with legal terms".
There is however still a certain date for the dispatch of the Letters where the Judicial Police defines the questions and what persons should be questioned in the British Soil.
Blue Bag
The disappearance of a blue bag from the apartment where the McCanns were spending their holidays, now revealed by Gerry, has been investigated by the PJ at the beginning of the case.
Pedophiles
A source closed to the investigation ensures to the CM that all the British pedophiles that were in Portugal, May 3, were investigated and cleared.
1 year ago
http://tinyurl.com/39hzgu
"She has been let down by the criminally incompetent Portuguese police force.
And by the £50,000-per-month Spanish private detectives and their dangerous, macho boasts of bringing Madeleine home by Christmas.
And by the poisonous hacks of the lurid Portuguese press.
And by the British people who flood internet chat rooms abusing Madeleine's parents for leaving her alone, as if apportioning blame somehow makes the tragedy of a missing child any less."
Obviously the complaints last time had no effect on this stupid man.
1 year ago
and thanks Andrea, for your supportive comments...
1 year ago
1 year ago
Although Clarence Mitchell denied the claim that Portuguese police had been unable to find a blue tennis bag “big enough to carry a small child”, Kate did report a story about a bag when they returned to England in September.
The Sunday Sun did report at that time that Kate said of the police: "They are basically saying, 'If you confess Madeleine had an accident, and that I panicked and hid the body in a bag for a month then got rid of it in a hire car, I'd get two or three years' suspended sentence".
The Daily Star claims that Gerry Gerry "was reportedly seen with the holdall as he took up to three tennis lessons a day on the ill-fated holiday that ended with Maddie, four, vanishing".
Vanessa Allen in the Daily Mal also writes quoting Sky News that "detectives think the blue holdall could have been used to carry Madeleine away, or even to transport her body".
She also adds "Portuguese police worked for several months on the theory that Madeleine died in her parents' holiday apartment and that her body was somehow transported to a hiding place after her death, but have been unable to find sufficient evidence to prove such a claim.
"Forensic samples which they hoped would prove her body was transported in her parents' Renault Scenic, hired 25 days after she went missing, proved inconclusive".
In certain papers it is suggested that someone, may be a pedophile that has not been found, used the bag to transport Madeleine McCann. In other newspapers it is reported that the Portuguese Police is only working on the theory that Madeleine is dead and disposed by her parents in the blue bag of Gerry.
1 year ago
I also join you all in hope for resolution in this case and justice for Madeleine.
Best wishes,
Liz
xxxx
1 year ago
Cheers to A Happy, Fun & Safe Holiday,
Dee
1 year ago
Happy Christmas and a Wonderful New Year to you all.
xx
1 year ago
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The only bit I found hard to swallow was the "love you Madeleine" at the end of the video, I just imagine how I would be, Gerry seemed distant, perhaps a protection mechanism, I am not going to analyse body language as I think perhaps they simply are very stagnent since this whole sad sad case.
I did find it interesting that Gerry was described as a joker and the life and soul of the party, one look at him now shows a man who shall never be that again.
At this time I just feel that I shall have faith in the judicial system and hope that the truth is outted and whatever the outcome I hope Madeleine knows how much she is missed by all, those who loved her and those of us who in a strange way I cannot describe have grown so fond of her. Looking at my little ones sleeping safely I still can never comprehend how Kate and Gerry could contemplate leaving them. Not wanting to go over old ground but to me that shall never be something I will ever understand about this case.
I think it is nice to keep the presents for the twins and Madeleine, after all people wanted them to have them, the rest of the presents have been sent to places where children needed them. Sometimes it seems the McCanns cannot do right for doing wrong, I do think they deserve a break, I do pity them, even if they are responsible for Madeleine going missing, I shall still pity them for what they must be going through trying to keep up a facade must in itself be as painful as loosing Madeleine. At the end of the day, they wouldn't have intentionally killed her so they (if guilty) still have lost and are grieving for a daughter.
May you all have a warm and wonderful Christmas filled with happiness and love, I wish the same for Madeleine xx.
1 year ago
1 year ago
Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year to you all.
xx
1 year ago
I am upset that all the Christmas parents that are supposedly are arriving are not being re-directed to to some kind of "toys for kids" charity and an appeal could have been made to donate a gift in Madeleine's name to xxxx for instance. Of course that would interupt the fund too. Maybe they will sell the toys for the fund (kidding)? Did you all notice in the video the kids kitchen center? WOW I have never seen anything like that...ever! These kids are obviously not lacking for material things.
1 year ago
“If they are overwhelmed by presents for Madeleine and the twins they will consider giving some to charity again.”
1 year ago
http://tinyurl.com/3aaetr
I don't know what to think.
1 year ago
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What's wrong with this picture? It just makes me feel very uncomfortable when i know so much about the case... the 40 - 120 questions never answered, the contradictory statements, the fund!!!, the 3 amigos, the get out Portugal as fast as you can, the speedy washing of anything the dogs smelled death scent on - cc, jeans etc., the appalling attitude towards the PJ from the start, the govt. spin Drs & assistance from FO from the word go... I could go on. Then the appeal vid takes on a whole new light.
1 year ago
http://tinyurl.com/2npq98
Its all the fault of the police apparently:
"Then, in January, the police investigation into Madeleine's disappearance on May 3 (which was nine days before her fourth birthday) is likely to be wound down.
Could "investigation" even be the right word to describe an inquiry that has been undermined by incompetence, negligence, errors of judgment and a campaign of disinformation which has resulted in Kate and Gerry McCann being publicly vilified and declared "arguidos" or official suspects?
Detectives who were so convinced Madeleine died in the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz now believe she was abducted after all, as Kate and Gerry McCann have always maintained. If Madeleine were not still missing and her parents' reputation sullied by unfounded allegations, it would be almost comical.
Even without the wretched Portuguese police, the events of the past year would have probably destroyed many marriages."
And they are winding down! Are they?I thought they were poised for more questions for the T9.
1 year ago
http://tinyurl.com/2yxu5n
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Liz
1 year ago
"A few comments:
(1) Low copy number DNA analysis has been used successfully in trials in several different countries, including the UK, the US, New Zealand, and others. I am posting a link to a report by Dr. Peter Gill in which he lists a number of high-profile cases that were solved using LCN/DNA:
http://www.forensic.gov.uk/for.....r_000.doc.
I am not aware of any country where LCN/DNA use is banned or forbidden. There are a limited number of labs that can do it, and many countries do not currently have a lab capable of performing such analyses. Not all countries are as forthright as Portugal in admitting that there is a more advanced lab somewhere else that can do things perhaps better than their national lab, and if anyone can do it better than they can, they want to give it a go at the best place possible. There is no scientific reason that LCN/DNA analysis should not become more and more widely accepted as the technology becomes more available. The Americans got some amazing results using LCN at the time of 9/11, and the technology was not nearly so advanced 6 years ago as it is now.
(2) One thing that bothered me about Omagh from the beginning of the trial is that early on I read that the LCN had only been run twice. For optimal results, it should have been done three times. Running it three times gives a greater basis of comparison to eliminate two potential problems called "allelic dropout" and "stutter." They know that now, and doubtless the DNA in Madeleine's case will receive a third analysis.
(3) Obfuscation by an expert witness will work better before a jury of laymen than it will work before a panel of judges who see these things on a regular basis. Perhaps Portuguese judges are not used to dealing with LCN/DNA, but I am sure they have seen DNA evidence many times.
(4) I rather got the impression that one of the biggest problems with the Omagh trial was that more than one police witness had lied about how the evidence was collected."
...another good comment from Beachy who clarifies why we can't assume that the DNA evidence will be pulled apart in the same way as in the Omagh case.
1 year ago
http://tinyurl.com/226fc8
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By Alex Watts In Barcelona, Thursday December 20, 2007
Private detectives hired to search for Madeleine McCann have moved to plush new offices as questions emerge about whether they are giving good value for money.
People who donated to the Find Madeleine Fund are seeing Metodo 3 pocket £50,000-a-month of their cash - without any apparent breakthrough.
The group has not yet produced any evidence to back their claims that they know who took the girl.
Boss Francisco Marco claims he knows the girl, who would be four years old now, is alive and could be reunited with her heartbroken parents Kate and Gerry for Christmas.
But he was not available to speak to Sky News Online by phone and on arriving at his office in Barcelona, it was claimed he was out of the country - working on a different case.
At a supposedly crucial stage in the inquiry, his luxurious new office - perched above a gay sauna in a grand, pillar-filled building - was in a make-shift state.
There was just one staff member in sight, and when asked if Sky News Online could see Mr Marco, she replied: "He's not here, he's out of the country on business. Not with the Madeleine case, on another case."
Her advice was to return in two hours, when the office would re-open.
But on calling back at 4pm there were three staff and a small dog in the reception area, as well as a steady flow of people unloading boxes of files and other office equipment.
They refused to say anything, and grew steely when Madeleine was mentioned.
A few minutes later, a smartly-dressed detective arrived and refused to discuss anything to do with the case.
He kept stressing: "I can't say anything. Only Clarence Mitchell (the McCanns' official spokesman) can talk about the case. I'm sorry."
This was a far cry from Mr Marco's astonishing claims just a few days before that he knew who had kidnapped the little girl.
His comments sparked reports of a stand-up row with the McCanns, who accused him of harming the chances of finding their daughter alive.
On calling the spokesman the day after Mr Marco made his claims, Mr Mitchell said he knew nothing about them.
He questioned why, if Metodo 3 knew where the vanished girl was, they did not go and get her.
It also seemed strange that if Mr Marco had a major breakthrough to report, then he should tell a newspaper before his clients.
Although Mr Mitchell says he is pleased with Metodo 3's "operational work", sources close to the family have reportedly warned that the chances of its contract being renewed when it runs out in March are "virtually nil".
1 year ago
Why do I keep thinking that the row between the McCanns and M3 is a facard and he was just saying what they wanted by claiming he knew where she was and so on. he is a smoke screen and I think he knows it - quite happy to pocket the money. But the McCanns have to pretend to be cross so they not associated with the ridiculous spectacle.
1 year ago
Least they got new offices out of Madeleine, hate all this I really do.
1 year ago
I'm a bit dim about this. I don't want to post anonymously but trying to log on as my name is proving difficult. I am a luddite!
Help please....
Anyway. Just to recap. We have mc in the hello magazine. Well that is the kiss of the marriage deaths. Ever heard of the "curse of Hello"?
If they are featured in this mag, well I can guarantee it will be a mega moneyspinner for that publication. Who would miss seeing all about them? Even if it is set up for the cameras. It sells.
All the best,
MG
1 year ago
The curse of Hello, yes that did occur to me too. Other thing that is kiss of death for marriages is having a child die or disappear.
1 year ago
But then, I have neither lost a child, nor known what it's like, but I look to the dignity of people like the Soham families and compare and contrast. Nuff said I think.
1 year ago
too much sadness perhaps, they look at each other and they remember...
Crime leaves so many victims, not just the initial victim, it spreads out like ripples in a pond.
When my brother in law committed suicide, the father of my child ended our relationship. I could see his mind tick over, life is short, grab my freedom and run...
1 year ago
Is it because they wanted/needed baloney; not steak?
1 year ago
By VANESSA ALLEN
Thousands of Portuguese telephone records have been seized by police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Detectives are trawling through the paperwork looking for unusual patterns of calls around the time she vanished.
Head of the inquiry Paulo Rebelo ordered the check across Praia da Luz, Burgau and Lagos - a region which has a population of 27,000.
He has gone back to old-fashioned policing methods after forensic evidence failed to provide any breakthroughs.
The operation indicates the team believes a local accomplice may have been involved in aiding Madeleine's abduction.
Detectives have begun the process of contacting up to 1,000 locals whose records or mobile signals show they were in Praia da Luz on the night of May 3.
Officers are particularly interested in the time between 9.30pm and 10pm, when they believe Madeleine disappeared.
One resident said two detectives visited her on Tuesday, armed with two sheets of paper containing hundreds of numbers.
They asked her to confirm her mobile number and then asked her who she had called at 9.50pm on May 3.
She identified the number as her husband's mobile and said the officers told her: "We are investigating all calls made within Praia da Luz from 9.30pm onwards on May 3."
She said four of her neighbours had also been contacted by police about calls they made.
Detectives can use the "triangulation method" to pinpoint users who were in Praia da Luz on May 3. Mobiles give out signals every time they make or receive a call or text message, and when they are switched on and off.
Those signals are logged by phone masts and from measuring the strength of the signal to local masts, experts can identify precisely where a phone was used.
Kate and Gerry McCann were said to be "encouraged" by the police work.
"Any information could prove vital," their spokesman said.
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These news seems to be suspicious in the measure that they are not reported in the Portuguese press and also because they are signed by Vanessa Allen, a master in manipulation.
If the McCanns are involved in the disappearance of Madeleine, someone help them to transport the body out of the resort. If it is not Robert Murat nor a friend of the Tapas 7 who had a car, then it is someone living near Praia da Luz known by the McCanns or their friends.
1 year ago
1 year ago
I have seen some weeks ago a old case about four girls who were raped and buried in the beach in the north of France near Bethune at Sainte Cécile. It was incredible. There were all in a huge hole, the first was at only at 70 cm under the sand. The Gendarmerie (French Police) was with sniffer dogs who have detected nothing. It was one of the abductor who indicated the place. At that moment, I thought that Madeleine could effectively been buried in the beach without having been detected by the dogs.
1 year ago
1 year ago
Paul Byrne in Praia Da Luz 20/12/2007
Police searching for Madeleine McCann are scrutinising all local phone calls made on the night she disappeared.
Portuguese officers believe several people might have been involved in snatching her from her parents' flat and are keen to find any odd pattern of calls in Praia da Luz after 9.30pm on May 3.
Detectives in the Algarve resort will speak to as many as 1,000 people about their phone records.
One woman told how officers arrived at her home on Tuesday with sheets of paper containing hundreds of mobile and landline numbers.
They quizzed her about an innocent call made to her husband on the evening of May 3. Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann are said to welcome news of the phone blitz.
It is believed police will also ask to see their phone records for May 3 when they quiz the couple in the New Year.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We are encouraged to hear that the police appear to be doing a very thorough job of tracking down people who were in the area at the time."
Technology using phone masts - called "Triangulation" - can pinpoint a mobile phone user's position. But masts in Portugal are stretched widely on the coastline, hampering the tracking process.
1 year ago
Celebrations: Great parents maintain the tradition
Maddie will have gifts for Christmas
Disappeared more than seven months, Maddie continues to have this Christmas the same attention as her twin siblings, by the part of her great mother Eileen. The mother of Gerry, 67 years, revealed yesterday to the British press that she will not forget her eldest granddaughter - and as always, she will "pick out clothes and put money in a little envelope" for Madeleine. The grandmother ensures she will not despair or "give up hope", "as long as they don't find her body".
Also Susan Healy, mother of Kate, says her daughter "doesn't want it to be Christmas" this year, but the family feels the obligation "to do something for the twins". Any way, "it has been the most difficult period" "since Maddie disappeared" - in their house at Rothley, Leicester, there is no sign of Christmas and the family wants this year a "very quit, private Christmas".
Susan believes it was "diabolical" that her daughter and her son-in-law were made suspects, adding that "people are so intent on trying to find scapegoats, nobody is looking for Madeleine.".
Philomena McCann, sister of Gerry, says that in the family "nobody's been talking about Christmas" and they only want "it want it to pass quickly -but they've all agreed that none of the adults in the family are buying presents for each other".
However, several British newspapers have already assured yesterday that the Police will only interview the couple McCann and their friends who spent their holidays in Praia da Luz, Algarve, after December 27, just after the Christmas period.
The interviews will be conducted by the British police but with the assistance of some elements of the Judicial Police that will go to England. The spokesman of the McCanns, Clarence Mitchell, welcome the fact that "Kate and Gerry will be able to have as normal a Christmas as possible in the circumstances", but he is keen for the process to be completed as soon as possible. "No one has anything to hide".
1 year ago
Controversy: English people say José Manuel Anes attacked PJ
Family's lobby is powerful
After having contacted José Manuel Anes, the Daily Mail published yesterday only two answers made to the four questions. "One of them was even distorted. I made a general comment about the criminology without criticizing the inquiry of the Madeleine's case in particular". What the criminologist said, "but has not been published", is that "the McCanns have a foundational guilt for abandoning their children - and there is a powerful and influential lobby that has been controlling the information".
The newspaper also quotes in the interview the former expert of the Laboratory of the Scientific Police, that has been published in the book 'The guilt of the McCanns' and 'is now distorted in the British press'.
The criminologist confirms to the CM that he said that 'it could be spent rivers of money in analysis, but without a proper preservation of the crime scene, there is nothing to do - it's a complete waste of time'. He only ensures that he has always kept "the due distance in relation to this case in particular'. He just made "a general comment about the criminal investigation".
Yesterday, the "distorted" statements of José Manuel Anes could be read in the 'Daily Mail'. The expert would have said that no suspect will face the court in this case because of the mistakes committed by the Police in the hours after the crime. Defense lawyers would demolish the presented scientific evidence. Clarence Mitchell, spokesman of the couple, soon appeared in public: "It is alarming to hear Mr Anes".
At the margin
The British press reported yesterday that the Portuguese Police will send new vestiges collected in the apartment of the Ocean Club where the McCanns spent their holidays for analysis to the Laboratory of Birmingham. According to the Daily Mail, they can point to the death of Maddie. But a source closed to the inquiry said to the CM that this "makes no sense".
'The guilty of the McCanns'
The book that is causing controversy in England is from the José Manuel Catarino, chief of the Redaction of the 'CM'. It is prefaced by Francisco Moita Flores and José Manuel Anes and the book has already been the target of the spokesman of the McCanns. After the launch day, December 6, Clarence Mitchell said that their lawyers were considering a lawsuit.
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Correio da Manhã say that José Manuel Anes has been contacted by the journalist of the Daily Mail. So the source has been perfectly checked. So it's not in this case, a problem that the source has not been checked because in fact it has been checked.
The journalist is using a old politician trick: whatever are the statements that you made, they arrive always to the same conclusion. José Manuel Anes explained that the scene of crime has been contaminated not by the Police but by the people who was in the room before of the arrival of the Police. Vanessa writes that Police has made mistakes in few hours after her disappearance.
"Huge amounts of money were spent but if, in the first hours, the due precautions for the preservation of the crime scene were not taken, all this hard work goes down the drain," she adds quoting words that were not said by José Manuel Anes.
In fact, Vanessa Allen is not interested in reproducing exactly what was saying José Manuel Anes, she is just interested in reporting her perverted version of the truth: Portuguese Police are incompetent that's why the McCanns are innocent and also this why the McCanns will never be judged.
Vanessa Allen is the same journalist was has used the Joana Case to discredit the Judicial Police of Portimão to sustain the theory that Joana has been abducted by a pedophile ring and this also the case for Madeleine. This propaganda has been widely used by the McCann team with the ex-Detectives doing this comments in several TV documentaries in different countries.
Returning to this article, what is also interesting are the statements of Clarence Mitchell - the same person who has declared that the British journalists should verify their sources before publishing it and when he was a journalist he published an information only if it has been confirmed by three sources. He said : "It is alarming to hear that Mr Anes has this view. All we want, and have throughout, is to ensure the operational police side of this has done in an effective and efficient manner as possible."
Indeed, it's alarming to hear a view that is not the view of Mr Anes, at all. And it is also alarming to hear Clarence Mitchell suggesting that probably the police has not been effective and efficient as they should be. And off course, Clarence Mitchell certainly knew that the statements of Mr Anes were untrue because he knows how badly the British journalist are working at Praia da Luz.
I think that in this case, there is a connivance between Vanessa Allen and Clarence Mitchell. They are just trying to manipulate the public opinion. It's not only lazy journalism, it 's also intelligent propaganda.
For me the question is: are this kind of journalist paid to write these papers or are they just manipulated by Clarence Mitchell who knows how they work?
1 year ago
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And there is also the possibility that these papers are made on the order of the McCanns to promote the abduction theory.
The job of Clarence Mitchell consists in denying everything that is published against the McCanns and also to spread news sustaining the abduction theory.
Clarence Mitchell said that the McCanns are satisfied with the work of Método 3 and their contract will probably renewed. So I am more and more convinced that the function of Método 3 is precisely to promote articles in the newspapers reporting their "strongest theory" that Madeleine is alive and has been abducted by a pedophile ring.
So the Police should not suspect the McCanns and they should try to find Madeleine. They don't care that Método 3 says lies like we know where Madeleine is, we are sure that she is alive. Everybody knows that they are lying but for the McCanns it's the kind of distorted news that should be published because they think that it can help them to prove their innocence and that will stop the Police in their inquiry against them. Also any kind of news that says the Police did not do its job properly is always a good news for them because it could influence the inquiry. I think that's the motivation of all this false news with distorted facts that have been printed in the press.
Gonçalo Amaral has been the first victim of this campaign and something told me that he could not be the last.
In fact in the same British newspaper which publishes an article against the Portuguese Police, you can have also false news against the McCanns as the one about the new DNA evidence send to the FSS. One day they seem to be for one side, the other day for the other side. I think that the deontology of these newspapers is mainly oriented in sales.
1 year ago
Not sure if it just me but surely an innocent person would stand up and be counted. I do not know for sure if we are all the same but I know I wouldn't take it anymore. I would also shut CM up for good, he now irritates me just by looking at him (oops sorry but it is true)
1 year ago
Imagine that your child was gone and the police were faffing around with dogs and DNA - a day wouldn't go past that you didn't scream at them to get off their back sides and find your child. Or if you had the resources you would hire a proper agency and be out there with them looking. The M3 thing just makes me think they know she cannot be found. Gerry's gone back to work for gods sake.
1 year ago
Thanks for directing me here. I have to say I prefer the simplicity of haloscan, but if most of you are here, well then here we are! I Still look at HS btw.
Anyway,
As it is the holiday season, I am going to be a bit glib (apologies if I offend anyone), and say, IF>>>>> there is a court case with the MCs on trial who amongst all the posters here would like to be in the public gallery?
MEEEEE for one, and I don't care if its PTG or UK,
OK sorry,
Maybe a bit before the mark. No offence intended, but I will be there, wherever and whenever it is.
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The powerful lobby of the Mccanns... do you think that when/if the Mccanns had their accident with Madeleine, they sat down and thought this through... we need a PR, we need a detective agency to divert the investigation, how are we going to be able to afford this? I know, lets start a financial appeal. People will feel sorry for us so lets get the money in while it lasts...
I mean, lets face it the Mccanns are pretty clever people. How machiavellian could they be? The only reason they have a powerful lobby ( unless all these govt connections/conspiracy theories are true) is because they have the financial means to employ high powered PR. And those financial means were provided by the public. At the end of the day, what else has the money been used for ? Only this, to prevent the Mccanns from being arrested.
Or am I going too far?
1 year ago
I think the magazines just make a calculated risk. If the McCanns are brought to trial I think there would still be some kind of voyeuristic attraction for some to look at their living room or at the star chart in the kitchen. So I don't think that their willingness to run articles on them says anything about their belief in the McCanns or otherwise. Its a cut throat business and is usually quite happy to turn against its 'subjects' without shedding a tear.
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http://tinyurl.com/yvw3da
British diplomats recommended Murat as translator/interpreter
Staff from Bill Henderson's office suggested the name of Robert Murat as a reliable translator who could be used in the police inquiry, the days following Madeleine McCann disappearance. Murat was already known among diplomatic staff, as he had recommendation letters from Norfolk Police, where he worked for Bernard Matthews, one of the largest poultry farm companies in UK, which employs hundreds of Portuguese workers. The fact that Robert Murat has acted, before, as translator for Norfolk Police, and the recommendation issued by Bill Henderson's office, at the time the British consul in Algarve, took police to accept the suggestion, according to PJ sources. After Murat was named a formal suspect, Police went through all translations he has done, checking its accuracy, but no problem was found, according to the same sources. Bill Henderson retired from his diplomatic post and went back to UK in August.
1 year ago
Three year-old feared abducted in Portugal
By staff and agencies
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 04/05/2007
A three-year-old British girl has gone missing while on a family holiday in Portugal, the Foreign Office said today.
Portuguese police are investigating the disappearance from a holiday complex in Praia da Luz in the western Algarve.
A Foreign Office spokesman said that he understood the girl's parents had gone to have dinner once their children were asleep last night, but returned to check on them only to find the girl had gone missing.
advertisement"They reported it straight away," he said, adding that consular assistance was being offered.
Look at the time! 12.01 that's 2 hours after she's gone missing - the PJ didn't get there till around 11:00 did they? So the family must have gone to the media right away as has been suggested.
1 year ago