RECONSTRUCTION: Why McCanns and Tapas 7 won't participate.

Thanks HiDeHo!

Today, Sunday May 5th 2013, the Sunday Express carries an interview by Robert Murat, the first suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in May 2007. Robert Murat is calling for a reconstruction of the events surrounding Madeleine's disappearance. I'll go into that interview later, but in the meantime, a quick look at what happened to a proposed reconstruction in March 2008.

When asked about participating in a reconstruction of the events surrounding his daughter Madeleine's disappearance, in HiDeHo's video, posted above, Gerry McCann expresses concern that the proposed date has been made public. "How can you do a reconstruction with what will undoubtedly be a media event?" As if Gerry and Kate had never staged a few media events! On June 3rd, 2007, Gerry was planning a few.

We want a big event to raise awareness that she is still missing.
“We would look at high-profile people who have already pledged support. It will be some sort of focus around an anniversary, to tell people that Madeleine ’s still missing. I think it would be later this year, once media attention has dropped, to bring it back up, hopefully, for a short period.
“It wouldn’t be a one-year anniversary, it will be sooner than that. (Paulo Reis)

So, one calender month after Madeleine disappeared, Gerry was obviously not expecting her to turn up any time soon with his planning of "some sort of focus around an anniversary.." Not a one year anniversary, though it appears that Gerry thought there would be one.  

Gerry McCann also refers in the video to the fact that the planned reconstruction was dependent on other people. Read here the correspondence between Stuart Prior (call me Stu!) of Leicester Police, the group of friends the McCanns went on holiday with, as well as other witnesses and significant officers of the Portuguese police. The reconstruction was eventually cancelled as the group known as "The Tapas Seven" placed so many obstacles in the way, it became impossible to stage.

On the subject of participating in a reconstruction, Kate McCann states that if there were anything that would help find Madeleine, "..of course we'd agree to it." OK, then, what about the 48 questions Kate McCann refused to answer when interviewed by the PJ? Surely the parent of a missing child who wanted to do anything that would help the police find their child would want to give as much information as possible? Surely such a parent would be trying to provide every little detail they could remember surrounding the circumstances of the child's disappearance? Maybe not! Why not?

OK, so now Robert Murat wants the Portuguese police to "Bring them all back to Portugal" for a reconstruction. The article doesn't appear to be online and I had intended to buy a copy of the newspaper this morning, but I forgot! However, thanks to the very helpful Duarte Levy I have the article as a pdf! Thanks Duarte!

Mr Murat, 39, spoke to the Sunday Express while sipping tea in Casa Liliana, his elderly mother Jenny's villa 150 yards from apartment 5a of the Ocean Club, where Madeleine vanished.
He said "They need to speak to everybody, including myself, and they need to get the Portuguese involved in a much more constructive way.
"To get somewhere now they need to have a joint team working here together in Praia da Luz. This is where it happened. It didn't happen in England." 

I agree with Robert. If the Scotland Yard team is serious about reviewing all the evidence in this case, then all the main characters involved in the drama need to be interviewed. Robert Murat is willing to be interviewed. So, how about the rest of them? Surely they'd all want to assist with anything that might help solve the disappearance of Madeleine McCann seemingly into thin air?

Robert Murat adds:

The reconstruction should cover the critical period just before and after the abduction

And:

A reconstruction is a real necessity. I am sure it would fill in some of the missing pieces of the jigsaw. Even now after all this time, the timeline is still confused. 

Gonçalo Amaral on the need for a reconstruction:

The reconstruction will have to involve all the parties: the McCanns and their friends. You see, there are so many inconsistencies in these people’s statements that a reconstruction will very quickly highlight where they have not told the truth”. http://www.algarve123.com/en/Articles/2-1403/

In my opinion, highlighting those inconsistencies, the confusion in the timeline, would be the real benefit of staging a reconstruction of the events surrounding Madeleine McCann's disappearance. Any witnesses will surely have come forward by now, given the world-wide media attention that has accompanied this case. Madeleine has been "sighted" on all five continents, sometimes on the same day, but nothing of any value has come of any of it. The world's most well-known child has not been seen since she disappeared on May 3rd 2007 and I'm pretty sure she's not in a "hellish lair," in one of those "lawless villages" referred to by the McCanns' PI Dave Edgar.

A few questions that come immediately to mind: how did Jane Tanner manage to slip-slap past Gerry McCann and Jeremy Wilkins, on the same side of the road, in flip-flops, and neither of them saw her? How did Matthew Oldfield manage to see the twins Sean and Amelie breathing in their cots in the dark, through solid cot sides? When Jane Tanner's abductor was heading across the top of the road, when she was slip-slapping along, why didn't Gerry McCann see him? How did Jane Tanner's original "man carrying a bundle that could have been a child" transform over time into swarthy man carrying a child in pyjamas identical to those worn by Madeleine?

It may be too late to jog the memory of any tourist who was in Praia da Luz at the same time as the McCanns, but that's not the main purpose of staging a reconstruction. The main purpose is to highlight the many inconsistencies in witness statements from the Tapas Nine, which eventually may lead to the answer as to what happened to Madeleine.

If Kate McCann is serious about wanting to do anything that would help find her daughter, then she should be expressing her willingness to go back and help the Portuguese police by participating in a reconstruction. But let's see what, if any, response comes from that quarter. I can't see the plane tickets being booked any time soon.

Related blog posts:

All posts labelled "Reconstruction" here.

"Where was Maddie when the lights went out"

Aluminum in Vaccines Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

Kate McCann and those Death Threats!

"DEATH THREAT FEAR FOR TWINS"

That's the newspaper headline we see as the video opens. So, where is this unspecified threat? I've never seen any online or otherwise threats to the McCann twins.

"We both feel very strongly that more should be done about internet abuse."

I feel like that too, Mrs McCann. I've never been abusive towards anyone on the internet, but a couple of years ago I had to place comments on this blog on pre-moderation because I was receiving vile abuse and death threats from people purporting to be supporting you. Someone actually went to the trouble of setting up a blog about me, giving my full address. Not only that, but they included my son's name too. That's what I call abuse and I do think more should be done about it. I contacted Google, who informed me that their procedure was to take down pages hosted by them only when there was a legal order to do so. Now, you may be able to afford the services of Carter-Ruck at around £600/hour to take down web pages, but this ordinary person can't.

"People wouldn't get away with behaving like that on the street and yet they can hide behind a computer at home."

Mrs McCann, the name on the heading of this blog is my real name. I may be sitting at home on my computer, but you have been sitting behind a PR spokesperson for nearly six years now and have used very expensive legal representatives to sue those whom you have seen as speaking out against you in ways that you don't like. Most of us sitting at home behind computers don't have those options. Do you agree with people who post personal details, like mine, online? Do you agree with the posting of lies on such a blog? How about a well-known forum where people who claim to be supporting you have posted vile abuse about Jimmy Savile's victims, saying those victims were just out for money? Do you think that's OK? How about the person on Twitter, who goes by the name "Muratfan," who doesn't discuss information presented, but simply posts abusive comments? Is that OK with you? I am left to assume that all of the above is OK with you, that those who are posting vile abuse online, stating that they are supporting you and your hubby, Mrs McCann, do so with your approval because I have not seen anything from you that disagrees with their behaviour. That kind of abuse is OK then?

And how about Pamela Gurney, aka "The Balloon Dancer," who seems to spend 24 hours a day online, hurling abuse on YouTube, Twitter etc at anyone who disagrees with her unconditional support of you? If I'm ever in trouble, I hope that I have the unconditional support of my family and my good friends, but Lord save me from the kind of support you get, Mrs McCann. Not the kind of support I would find helpful. Me? I'd make sure everyone knew I'd disowned that type of person.

THE mother of Madeleine McCann is terrified for her other two children after receiving sick online death threats.
Kate, whose eldest daughter disappeared aged three in 2007, told how internet trolls have vowed to kill her this weekend. (Daily Star April 19th)

Online "death threats."? Plural? Where? The video mentions one comment on a Facebook page, which was investigated by the police and found not to be a serious threat against Kate McCann's life.

And why should Kate McCann be terrified for her "other two children"? Has anyone threatened those children? If so, where? When? Who would threaten the McCann twins, now aged eight? In my opinion, no one who has followed this case since Madeleine disappeared into thin air and the shutter were found not to have been "jemmied." No one who is concerned because one child has been harmed (if Maddie was abducted, abduction is not harmless for children) would wish to harm or threaten to harm two more.

If there are online death threats other than the cleared Facebook one, then someone show them to me, please, because I haven't seen them.

And finally!

But she told ITV Daybreak host Lorraine Kelly: “Even sometimes when I do think they’re cowards and I’m not even going to go there, I think about my children and I think it’s not right that they should come across stuff like that as well.

Stuff like what? Mrs McCann, you claim to have written your book "Madeleine," for your twins and for Madeleine. Do you think it's OK to write a book for small children in which you refer to a police family liaison officer as a f*cking t*sser and on page 129 of that book to describe what you imagine a paedophile doing to your daughter? Is that the kind of "stuff" that's OK for Sean and Amelie to read? That may be the stuff of your nightmares, but your children don't need to read about it.

Disown "Muratfan," Mrs Trolley and the rest of those vile people who hide behind their computers, accusing victims of sexual abuse to be just after money and I might think that all this publicity recently wasn't just because the anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance was coming up and there was the annual opportunity to fill the coffers of your private limited company, otherwise known as "The Madeleine Fund."

A breakthrough in the case of Grégory Villemin 29 years after his murder

Background to the case

Gregory Villemin, a four-year-old boy, was found dead in October 1984 with his feet and hands bound in the Vologne river, near his home in a village in eastern France.

The gruesome discovery set off a dramatic chain of events that became known simply as 'the Gregory Affair' and gripped the French public, spilling more ink than any other crime in the country's 20th century history.

France looked on in horror as the prime suspect was later gunned down by Gregory's heartbroken father. The public reeled as Gregory's mother was herself arrested for her son's murder year's later - and then released again.

The child's uncle, Bernard Laroche, was initially charged before being freed after several key pieces of evidence against him were thrown out because of procedural errors by prosecutors.

Convinced that Laroche was the murderer, Gregory's father Jean-Marie Villemin shot him dead and served four years in jail for the killing.

(Extracted from an article which appeared in The Daily Mail 23rd October 2009) 

A significant advance in DNA technology has led to a breakthrough in this case. 

From Le Parisien April 16th 2013, we have details of recent developments.

Ten DNA profiles were isolated on the cords that were used to bind the child who was discovered dead in the Vologne (Vosges) These are still to be identified 29 years later. 

Grégory Villemin was found dead in the Vologne on October 16th 1984. In a case where genetic analysis has been inconclusive, there is a breakthrough which could prove conclusive in identifying Grégory's killer. 

Ordered by Dijon's Investigative Division at the request of the child's parents, the new analysis has been carried out at the Bordeaux laboratory of Professor Christian Doutremepuich, who has access to the most recent technology in DNA analysis: chemical extraction of DNA and laser micro-dissection. Anorak, trousers, hat, socks, shoes...everything sealed up within the legal files has been gone over again with a fine-tooth comb. The cords are considered to be the most important items. They have also been examined. As the Villemin couple were hoping, new DNA profiles have been brought to light. 

Still to be identified, while comparing them with some 300 genetic samples taken from people close to Grégory and from significant others, in the course of the investigation, as well as with those on the national register, which was set up in 1998, "We must be careful," a legal source suggests. "During all these years, those boxes of evidence have been handled a lot. The DNA traces could belong to a magistrate or an investigator."

Thierry Moser, lawyer for the Villemin couple, remains hopeful, "We are waiting for the results with impatience and hope," he says. And to be more precise: "If Bernard Laroche's DNA is found or that of Muriel Bolle (Laroche's sister-in-law who accused him of the crime and then retracted) that would be formidable." 

(With thanks to Frencheuropean who sent me details about this breakthrough in the case)

McCanns DID NOT SEARCH! Tapas Cook breaks SILENCE!

Video posted by HiDeHo4 on YouTube

Email: hideho1@hotmail.com

Twitter: @HiDeHo3

Translation by Joana Morais

Crocodile Tears - Nicholas Kay

Part 1 in the documentary series, "Real Crime: Crocodile Tears," features the case of  the disappearance of Rhonda Kay. Although no body was found and there was no forensic evidence, her husband Nicholas was charged with her murder based on evidence gleaned from recordings of conversations between Nicholas and his new wife. The jury returned the "surprise," verdict of guilty of manslaughter and Mr Kay was sentenced to six years in prison. 

This is an example of a case where the police have had reason to suspect someone of involvement in an alleged disappearance and the appeal for information is studied carefully to analyse the reactions; words,  congruity of emotional expression and body language. 

Leonor Cipriano sentenced for lying about torture by Portuguese (PJ) police officers

Eight-year-old Joana Cipriano disappeared from the village of Figueira, near Portimão, Portugal, on 12 September 2004 and was later assumed to have been murdered, though her body has never been found. A lengthy investigation ended with the conviction of Joana's mother, Leonor Cipriano and  Leonor's brother, João Cipriano, for murder. Leonor subsequently accused a number of PJ (Polícia Judiciária) officers of having beaten a confession out of her even though a prior confession is not admissible in Portuguese courts.

Today, Leonor Cipriano, who is serving 16 years in prison for the murder of her daughter, was given an additional 7 months sentence for lying about the torture. 

Read the background to the Joana case here (McCann Files) and here (Gazeta Digital)

The Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal investigation and ordered a police line-up, with the CID officers named and accused by Leonor Cipriano of beating her;
The line-up took place with Leonor Cipriano behind a two-way mirror and she couldn’t recognize any of the aggressors;
The Public Prosecutor’s Office magistrate that was in charge of the criminal investigation decided to accuse the five CID officers, but didn’t mentioned, in the accusation sent to the Court, that Leonor Cipriano couldn’t identify any of the aggressors, in the police line-up; (Gazeta Digital)

Leonor Cipriano's original lawyer, Marcos Aragão Correia, has recently taken himself to Brazil and Leonor was appointed a public defence lawyer. Marcos Aragão Correia was allegedly paid my Metodo 3, a group of Spanish private investigators hired by Kate and Gerry McCann to search for their daughter Madeleine, to dig the dirt on Gonçalo Amaral, the PJ inspector who worked on both the Joana case and the Madeleine McCann case.

The trial of the PJ inspectors revealed many attempts by Leonor Cipriano's lawyer to discredit Gonçalo Amaral, both professionally and personally. The lawyer, Marcos Aragão Correia - who previously hit the headlines when he organised an underwater seach for Madeleine's body at the Arade Dam, in Portugal - has admitted that Metodo3 ordered him to do "an investigation" into the accusation of torture but he denies he is being paid just to frame Gonçalo Amaral. (McCann Files)

On 22 May 2009 Gonçalo Amaral received an 18-month custodial sentence, suspended for the same length of time, for misrepresentation of evidence. He was acquitted of the charge of failing to report a crime.

Following the delivery of the verdict, Leonor Cipriano's lawyer, Marcos Aragão Correia, said: "Target was hit, Gonçalo Amaral was convicted".

In December 2011, Scotland Yard detectives who are currently working on a review of the Maddie case, removed 30 boxes of files concerning the case, from the Metodo 3 offices in Barcelona. Those boxes of files may reveal what the detective agency, whose previous investigations centred around cases of money laundering, actually did in their alleged search for Madeleine McCann. The agency had no previous experience of searching for missing children. In February this year several detectives employed by Metodo 3 were arrested on charges of spying. 

The McCanns, as we know, have not been too lucky in their choice of detectives in the search for their daughter. Apart from Metodo 3, there was Kevin Halligen, recently extradited to the USA to face charges of fraud.

We now await the start of the delayed libel case being brought by Kate and Gerry McCann against Gonçalo Amaral for alleged defamation in his book "A Verdade da Mentira", in which he detailed the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance and the conclusion of the joint working teams of English and Portuguese police that Madeleine had probably died in apartment 5A at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz. Personally, I don't see how Kate and Gerry McCann can win this case when the highest court in Portugal, the Supreme Court, upheld the decision of the Appeals Court in October 2010 to overturn the ban on Amaral's book. At the time of the successful appeal by Amaral..

The court said the decision to block sales of the book had broken "a constitutional and universal right: that of opinion and freedom of expression."

"The contents of the book do not breach the basic rights of the plaintiffs," the court said, according to the Jornal de Noticías newspaper's website.
"The book is an exercise in freedom of speech," Amaral told Portugal's Lusa news agency. "Portuguese democracy has won, as banning the book was unconstitutional." (The Guardian)

So, let's see where we have arrived at: Leonor Cipriano, her lawyer who has scarpered to Brazil, a bunch of dodgy detectives and a libel trial based on a book which has already been judged by both the Appeals Court and Portugal's Supreme Court not to have breached the McCanns' basic rights. 

Good luck Dr Amaral! This truly is a tangled web!