Michel Fourniret: the Belgian victims will receive less compensation.

Enfants KIdnappés 16/11/08

The victims are not equal in the eyes of the law?!

The Belgian victims of Michel Fourniret will not receive the compensation planned by the Charleville-Mézières court of assizes because legislation on the subject of compensation is not the same in Belgium and France, RTL-TVI announced in its JT at 7pm.

In Belgium, in contrast to France, the surviving relatives of victims cannot obtain compensation. Further, compensation for victims is subject to a ceiling of 62,000 € for everyone. In the case of Joëlle Parfondry, who was subjected to attempted rape by Michel Fourniret in 1995, near Namur, and who had survived on the pretext of being pregnant, the French court had demanded 140,000 € in compensation.

62,000 € maximum

However, the Belgian funds for compensating victims can only give her a maximum of 62,000 €. As for her children and her husband, for whom the court had also anticipated compensation, they have no right to anything in Belgium. Fourniret's Belgian victims who thought they could turn over the page are going to have to prove that they well and truly suffered mental harm, with supportive evidence, because for the Belgian victims' compensation fund, the verdict of the court of assizes is not enough.

Also, this brings up the question of the difference in treatment between Belgian and French victims, RTL-TVI says. The Belgian civil parties have now instructed a lawyer to obtain their compensation. Me Isabelle de Moffarts hopes "that for compensation for the civil parties, account is taken of the extraordinary nature of the case and that a creative system can be found that allows the differences in national legislation to be overcome to offer all the civil parties in this trial equal treatment."

100,000 € for Joëlle Parfondry

The parents, brothers and sisters of seven young girls killed by Michel Fourniret, his surviving victims and their relatives saw themselves being awarded compensation for mental harm suffered. The magistrates of the court had awarded in general 75,000 euros for each father or mother of a dead victim, 50,000 euros for brothers or sisters, and between 7,500 and 40,000 euros, still under the heading of mental harm, depending on the severity of the consequences for the three young girls who escaped from Fourniret.

Joëlle Parfondry, should, for her part, also receive 100,000 euros under the heading of IPP (permanent partial disability). The arguments had, in fact, shown that she had suffered "extremely serious," shock.

Gonçalo Amaral's book, "Maddie: TheTruth of The Lie," close to UK publication.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

15/11/08

"Maddie's parents are on the edge of hysterics.

The announcement of the publication of Gonçalo Amaral's book, "Maddie: The Truth of The Lie," in the United Kingdom is worrying Kate and Gerry McCann who have already started to intimidate British publishing houses by threatening them with reprisals in court.

To be continued."

Today the Independent on Sunday reports on the negotiation of a deal with several interested UK publishers.

Independent on Sunday 16/11/08

"The book's publisher, Mario Sena Lopes, said there was now an English version of Mr Amaral's book and he was negotiating a UK deal. He said several publishers were interested and he was confident the British public would soon be able to read the book."

The McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell is quoted by the Independent as saying:
"Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for the McCanns, said last night: "Lawyers for Kate and Gerry have been aware of what Mr Amaral has been alleging for some time. What he has said and written before now is grossly defamatory of them.

"If he chooses to publish them in Britain those words will be studied intensely carefully and they will not hesitate to act if they are defamatory."

Dr Amaral insists that his book contains only details of the opinion of the police teams who investigated Madeleine McCann's disappearance. The investigation was a collaborative effort between British and Portuguese police.

"Mr Amaral said: "I received numerous messages of support and solidarity since being taken off the case, including from the UK – messages that also motivated me to tell people what I knew about the Maddie case. I am positive that there's also a section of the public eager to know the truth.

"People can form their opinion without the manipulation that we have seen before."

He said his only regret was failing to carry out a reconstruction of the events soon after Madeleine vanished but claims he was put under "serious pressure" not to. He insisted this was the only failure in a "perfect" text-book investigation.

Asked whether he thought Madeleine was dead, he said: "It is not just my opinion. A whole team of Portuguese and British investigators came to that conclusion last year, and this is part of the files. I have never said the couple killed their daughter and this is not my belief. Deaths may happen for natural reasons, accident or intervention by a third party."

He said he was unperturbed by the threat of any legal action from the McCann family. "There is no reason for that. The details exposed in the book are facts, happenings and objective data which figure in the process and not lies, as they have been described in the press."

He denied he was profiting from the tragic case. "The biggest thing I achieved with this book was to defend my honour and that of those who worked with me. The way I see it, you cannot put a price on dignity. The other objective of the book is to contribute to the search for the truth."

I will end with Dr Amaral's words on the UK publication.

"I am positive that there's also a section of the public eager to know the truth."

Sky apology to Robert Murat.

Sunday Mirror journalist, Lori Campbell.

1:17pm UK, Friday November 14, 2008

Between May 2007 and September 2008 we published on this website a video of, and an article about, an interview with Sunday Mirror journalist Lori Campbell.

The interview strongly suggested that Mr Murat was guilty of the abduction of Madeleine McCann.

It also suggested that Mr Murat had lied about his role in the police investigation.

These allegations were seriously defamatory of Mr Murat and untrue.

We accept that Mr Murat had no involvement in the abduction of Madeleine and we would like to apologise to Mr Murat for the hurt, distress and damage to his reputation our publications have caused.

Sky News 14/11/08

Robert Murat receives damages from BSkyB.

Today, at the High Court in London, Robert Murat, who was not present, accepted substantial damages from Sky over claims that there were strong grounds for believing he was involved in Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

From ITN news:

"His solicitor Louis Charalambous told Mr Justice Eady that an article and video on the Sky News website claimed that in the early days after Madeleine's disappearance from Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007, Mr Murat's behaviour was reminiscent of child murderer Ian Huntley."

"Outside court, Mr Charalambous said that the settlement represented the final stage of Mr Murat's claims against those sections of the British media "which defamed him so terribly".

"He has been entirely successful and vindicated," he said.

"It was particularly important to him to nail this particular lie - that he acted in some way reminiscent to the Soham murderer Ian Huntley when, in fact, he was working flat out to help try to find Madeleine."

Anything to say, today, Ms Campbell?

Maddie: revelations about the PJ mole taken up in Portugal - silence in the UK.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

13/11/08

See original article.

The disclosure of details of the video interview by a Spanish detective, denouncing the leak of confidential information about the work of the PJ's team of investigators in the Madeleine McCann case has been taken up in Portugal while in the United Kingdom total silence reigns about this information.

Yesterday, the journalist Hernani Carvalho published an article devoted to this revelation where the PJ's former coordinator of the Department of Criminal Investigation, Gonçalo Amaral, states he knows what it's about, but he thinks the time is not right for giving clarification. According to statements from the former head of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, he is still waiting for the legal action the McCanns have threatened him with, because "on that occasion, there will be a lot more to say and to reveal."

Today, the journalist Luis Maneta, in the daily newspaper 24 Horas, returns to the subject for which he has tried, without success, to get a reaction from the PJ's national directorate.

Disappearance of Antoine de Brugerolle - police looking for a white Peugeot car.

Le Figaro 10/11/08

Antoine's mother and her partner, who state they don't drive, were allegedly seen driving alone in a car.

Consulting vehicle licensing records, checking with garages, searching through motorway tolls: two months after little Antoine's disappearance in Issoire, the police step up their investigations with the hope of finding a white Peugeot car in which a witness states having seen the child's mother and her partner driving on the outskirts of the small town, alone, a few days before the alert was issued.

Considered to be "reliable" by the investigators of the unit "Disappearance 63", this witness statement, if confirmed by physical evidence, could move the case forward because since she reported her son's disappearance on September 11th at 9.47pm, Alexandrine Brugerolle de Fraissinette, who has neither a car nor driving licence, maintains that she does not know how to drive - same with her partner, Sébastien Ribière. "Since the start, their defence rests notably on this statement, a source close to the case reveals. If the child's body has not been found in Issoire in spite of a great many searches, we must accept that someone has transported it out of the town, probably in a motor vehicle - of which they state they are incapable."

Bin bags

In the days that followed the child's disappearance, the police wondered why Alexandrine Brugerolle obtained a pack of 100 litre bin bags on September 10th, which were not found in her home. In custody, she indicated having made that purchase in error before going back and exchanging them at Monoprix for 30 litre bags. However, checks with the supermarket did not confirm that version, the check-outs not having retained any trace of the exchange.

Exploring all leads, including that of an abduction, the investigators are also interested in a debt of "several thousand euros" that Alexandrine's partner allegedly ran up in connection with drug trafficking near Clermont. "At the moment, that hypothesis is not backed up by any real facts", a source close to the investigation explains, however. In the end, several police officers continue to work on the theory according to which the child could have been taken from his mother by a third party wishing to offer him a "better" life.

In this context, checks were made with the people around Alexandrine, for the moment, without result. Antoine's mother, aged 23, recently found a place to live in Clermont-Ferrand. "Before that, for a time she took refuge with her father who left soon after her birth, recently moved back to Puy-de-Dôme," her lawyer Anne-Laure Lebert explains, and goes on: "My client, who is unjustly suspected from the start, is trying to stay hopeful of seeing her son alive again - but she is afraid that the delay at the beginning of the investigation may not be made up."

Portugal: Marinho Pinto and the Bar Association in a serious conflict of interests

SOS Maddie Blogspot 11/11/08

An obvious sign of unease for the Portuguese legal system, the decision by the Bar Association, for the second time in its history, to constitute itself as assistant in a new trial against the PJ inspectors, is now seen as a serious conflict of interests. The decision taken by the president of the bar, Marinho Pinto, is viewed with suspicion by certain people because there could be private interests, because in this new trial - which begins this Wednesday before the court in Lisbon - the alleged victim is defended by Jerónimo Martins, vice-president of the association, and by Bárbara Marinho Pinto, daughter of the president of the bar.

The Bar Association, under the leadership of Marinho Pinto, had already drawn attention to itself when it became assistant in the ongoing trial in the Faro court, against five other PJ inspectors, accused of acts of torture against Léonor Cipriano, amongst them Gonçalo Amaral.

Curiously, the decision taken by the Bar Association (OA) could also be seen as a conflict of interests if account is taken of Marinho Pinto's role in the disclosure of photos of the supposed physical results of assault on Joana's mother, before he became president of the bar.

If account is taken of Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the PJ in the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, being one of the accused in the ongoing trial at the court in Faro, where the Bar Association is assistant, the case risks becoming even more embarrassing, because Bárbara Marinho Pinto, daughter of the current president of the bar, works for the office of Rogério Alves, former president of the bar and lawyer for Kate and Gerry McCann.

Meanwhile, the situation was denounced today, in statements to the Portuguese daily, Correio da Manha, by António Pires de Lima, former president of the Bar Association. According to this jurist, there is an obvious and serious, "moral incompatibility" between the private interests of Marinho Pinto and those of the Bar Association of which he is the public face. On this matter, António Pires de Lima does not rule out the possibility of there being a "legal incompatibility".

In this new trial, an official of the CP - the equivalent of the SNCF in France - accuses five inspectors of assault during an interrogation even if he only identifies three, the events going back to March 2000.

The trial is part of open conflict between the PJ and the Public Prosecutor.

The ongoing trial in the court at Faro, between Léonor Cipriano's memory lapses and the her lawyer's persecution of Gonçalo Amaral, would only be one more episode in the conflict between the Public Ministry's judges and the PJ. This is the conclusion that comes from analysis of the written records and other documents in the trial where the former coordinator of the PJ's Portimao Department of Criminal Investigation (DIC) appears in the dock accompanied by four other inspectors.

To be continued.

SOS Maddie Blogspot

Duarte Levy: 11/11/08

SOS Madeleine McCann - "McCanns had access to confidential PJ information."

SOS Madeleine McCann 11/11/08

Maddie: the private (detectives) received help from a PJ mole.

A private Spanish detective reveals how the McCanns were able to have access to confidential police information in the Maddie case.

According to one of the Spanish detectives hired by Metodo 3 in the context of their contract with Kate and Gerry McCann, a PJ inspector allegedly gave confidential information to the Spanish agency concerning the movements of the Portuguese investigators and their British colleagues in the investigation into Maddie's disappearance.

The information thus obtained allowed the private detectives to inform the McCann couple and their entourage about work being planned by the Portuguese investigators: "Several of Amaral's men's initiatives failed thanks to information given by their colleague...but there was also information coming from informers linked to the British embassy," this detective states.

"This is the information that allowed us to know in advance what inspector Amaral and his colleagues wanted to do," the private detective continues during an interview recently recorded in Spain, stressing that, "the investigation would probably have ended differently without the intervention of the private (detectives), but also of certain British professionals."

In his interview, video recorded in unusual conditions, and which will be included in a documentary for television about Madeleine McCann's disappearance, the Spanish detective clearly identifies the PJ inspector and also puts forward, "that he benefited from a certain protection by the PJ at Faro."

The detective goes further and states, "that at times when the investigation was closed, thanks to information received from the Portuguese inspector, we created diversions in the media."

"That didn't always work, because I noticed that certain operations were set up without our knowing in advance. I imagine that Amaral must have had his suspicions and that he limited access to information to men he trusted," the detective adds.

"The investigation was practically condemned in advance...we knew in advance what Amaral was preparing and the desired objective in his operations," states the detective who, after several months of working for Metodo 3, had even tried to make contact with the Portimao DIC coordinator, before he was dismissed from the investigation: "I had personally met Gonçalo Amaral a few years ago, but he mustn't have remembered me and as soon as he heard that I was linked to Metodo 3 he refused to speak to me, arguing that if I had important information to bring to the case, this should be done in an official manner."

"He (Gonçalo Amaral) was known to us as a hard guy, in particular in cases of fighting drug trafficking...he is incorruptible," the detective concludes.

The revelation which risks creating controversy around the Algarve PJ, meanwhile confirms the suspicions raised by certain investigators. At least two PJ inspectors, contacted by SMM, directly put forward the name of the inspector who allegedly passed on the confidential information to the detectives of the Spanish agency. According to them, the man benefited from a certain protection from the Faro commission and his behaviour was not new, because he had allegedly previously committed the same offence in other investigations.

"We are no longer looking for Maddie....me, in any case, I was never hired to do that."

According to the same detective, he was allegedly never hired to look for Madeleine MCann: "We are no longer looking for Maddie..me, in any case, I was never hired to do that. All I was asked to do was gather the most details serving to direct the Portuguese investigation towards Morocco or Spain.

This former detective - who is no longer able to carry on his work - further states that the Spanish agency allegedly led British journalists to Morocco for them to meet previously selected and paid witnesses: "the aim was to spread the Moroccan lead in the media and thus confirm that it was indeed an abduction, which the Portuguese and British police did not want to believe," states the detective, stressing that he is unable to say whether theMcCanns were behind this kind of operation.

"The couple never asked me to lie about anything whatsoever. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the agency or the couple's entourage," the detective concludes.

(Editor's note: so who did ask him to lie? And about what?)

Duarte Levy

11/11/08

Dear Mr Obama..

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Now that you're President-Elect of the United States, I thought I'd just share a few thoughts with you, mainly about Jon Burge. Now, your celebration party last night just happened to be in Chicago, where I wonder if you know that Jon Burge has been committed for trial for the torture of prisoners in custody when he was a police officer in that city.

From the 70s to the 90s, black African-American men were routinely tortured into making confessions and at the head of that torture ring was Jon Burge. Mr Obama, since so many people are hailing you as the history-making first black president of the United States, will you be doing anything about the fact that so many black African-Americans are on death row in various states of your fine country? And Mr Obama, what do you think of the numbers of children under the age of 18, who have been sent to prison in the United States with a sentence of Life without the prospect of parole?

What do you think about the fact that your country is one of the very few in the civilised world that still has the death penalty? On Tv, they keep playing that soulful blues song, "A Change is Gonna Come," and showing Jesse Jackson with tears streaming down his face. They're interviewing black people all over America who are just delirious that a black guy is gonna be president. They're saying that 96% of American black voters voted for you. And I bet they're hoping that you are going to make changes for the many many poor black folks in the USA. Will you, Mr Obama? Or was the "black" ticket your passport to the White House?

You may be a black guy, but I do wonder if that is the only thing you have in common with the man in a housing project, descended from slaves, who hasn't got health insurance and cannot get a hip replacement operation. I do hope not, Mr Obama. For me, it doesn't matter what colour your skin is. What will you do as president for the millions of poor, sick and unemployed people of your country? What will you do for all those black African-Americans sitting in their cells on death row?

Maddie, Joana and criminal investigation - the hidden truth

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

4/11/08

SOS Madeleine McCann

"Maddie, Joana and criminal investigation - The Hidden Truth," is the chosen theme for a conference debate with anthropologist and criminologist Barra da Costa, moderated by Professor Carlos Fernandes of the University of Aveiro.

The conference will take place on November 8th, at 9.30pm, in the small auditorium of the Figueira da Foz Centre for the Arts and Exhibitions.

Very controversial because of his position on the Madeleine McCann case, Barra da Costa, former PJ inspector, is the author of a book that carries the same title as the conference.

'Antoine de Brugerolle de Freysinette was like a son to Stéphane Bourcelin.

Restaurant, "Le Bon Croûton."

Stéphane Bourcelin is the boss of the restaurant where Antoine's mother Alexandrine worked for two years. He got to know Antoine really well, spending a great deal of time with him when he came to the restaurant with his mother.

Le Post 16/10/08

Stéphane's interview with Le Post on the subject of his relationship with Antoine.

"I am terribly upset, I'm not doing well," Stéphane Bourcelin, boss of "Le Bon Croûton," restaurant in Isoirre (Puy-de-Dôme repeated this Thursday to the Post.

The person who, from the start of the "case" has said that he considers the child to be "like a son," is the former employer of Alexandrine, Antoine's mother. She worked with him for nearly two years, before going on sick leave on August 13th last.

Stéphane Bourcelin learned of Antoine's disappearance on September 11th, the evening his disappearance was officially announced: "Alex called me and told me "Antoine has gone."

His apartment was searched on September 16th, his "computer and all of Antoine's things," were seized.

This Thursday morning it was his mother's house that was searched.

Although not suspected, he preferred to appoint a lawyer: Me Gilles-Jean Portejoie, who tells the Post: "My client is fed up with being in the spotlight.

To the Post, Stéphane Bourcelin, who doesn't have a life since the disappearance, expresses himself.

How are you?

"Very very bad. I haven't been sleeping for over a month now. I'm not eating. I have lost 10kg. I am very stressed. I am covered in eczema plaques. This morning, I went to the doctor again. He has put me on anti-depressants."

Are you still working?

"I don't go there very much, and I have no wish to. So, the restaurant isn't doing well. And with all that, there are fewer clients. It is difficult."

What relationship do you have with Antoine?

"He is like a son to me. For two years, he was in my restaurant every day. I knew him very well. I am very attached to him. I miss him a lot."

"What did he do in your bar?

"He watched TV, he hung out around the place, he played with other children. As his mother did not want a child-minder, he was always with us. Sometimes, he watched DVDs with me, at the back of the restaurant, so that he was not underfoot during serving."

What do you think of this disappearance?

"I find it hard to believe that Antoine would leave on his own. I keep hearing that he is very resourceful, but I don't actually agree."

Why?

"He was four and a half when he arrived and he didn't speak. He was very shy. Afterwards, he made progress. But well, he always forgot something: his jacket, his shoes, his stuff...like all 6 year-old kids."

What relationship do you have with Antoine's mother?

"We had a brief relationship when we first met, but it has been over for ages. I put her up the first summer that we worked together. She didn't have an apartment. Later, she got her apartment and we carried on working together. With her ups and downs, she is a very hard-working girl with a very bad temper."

What is the atmosphere like in Issoire?

"They're all talking constantly about Antoine. Nobody knows what happened. We hear all sorts of things. As I knew the child, I feel like I'm being watched all the time. I don't have a life any more. My mother's house was searched this morning. That was a shock to her. It shouldn't be forgotten that I am not there for nothing."

Antoine's grandmother, Cécile Grugerolle de Fraysinette, has been constitutes a civil party. Me Gilbert Collard is representing her.

In Le Post see also:

- Disparition d'Antoine: "La priorité, c'est chercher mon gosse"
- Disparition d'Antoine: où en est l'enquête?
- "On cherche Antoine sous terre, dans les caves, chez les gens"

Le Post 16/10/08

Information concerning the above:

coach@lepost.fr

Antoine, the forgotten child.

Georges Moréas 19/10/08

The former boss of the RG wrote a little black book about Sarkozy, who himself, sent his investigators to investigate the investigators who were investigating Besancenot (Presidential candidate in 2007 election.)
The Bourse plays yo-yo , the traders tie themselves in knots, they whistle the Marseillaise...Ah yes! There is no news of little Antoine.

Double standards.

a) On a May evening in 2007, the national director of the PJ receives a call on his mobile phone: "A child has disappeared..." From the next day, important people from the world of politics and the judiciary are on the spot, followed by a pack of journalists from all over the world. The case becomes Number One for the press, in Europe, in the United States...Before the cameras, the mother makes a plea, "to those who have done this." Specialists from Scotland Yard come to help the local investigators. In total, 150 police officers are mobilised. Two days later, the PJ director officially announces to the media: "It is an abduction". A support fund is set up on the internet and rich business men rush to the aid of the family.

That was in Portugal. Madeleine McCann, little Maddie, who disappeared on Thursday May 3rd 2007, at around 10pm, while her parents were dining with friends.

b) At practically the same time, that Thursday, September 11th 2008, Alexandrine Brugerolle de Fraissinette called the gendarmerie. "My son has disappeared", she told them. But hey! Alexandrine is 23 years old, she doesn't have much education, she is a lone parent and she works as a waitress at a restaurant in Issoire, a town of 13,000 inhabitants in Puy-de-Dôme. I am afraid the PJ's national director's phone stayed quiet that evening. At the end of the following day, in the absence of any elected official, any government representative, 80 officers of the gendarmerie (La Montagne) set out to help their colleagues in their search.

The facts: Alexandrine and Sébastien, her lover, decided to go out to a restaurant for dinner. It is not known whether it was Antoine who requested it (He is only 6 and a half, but he already displays a certain character.) or if it was a punishment, but the child stayed at home, with the two dogs. The apartment where he lives with his mother is in the Issoire town centre, at 1 Rue Des Fours. The restaurant, The Saigon, where Alexandrine and Sébastien have dinner, is at 45 Rue du Palais, three minutes walk away.

When his mother comes back, at around 9.30pm, Antoine isn't there. No mess, no evidence of intrusion.

The investigators think runaway. Then it is said that the child allegedly left the house carrying a little backpack and a packet of biscuits. And the Clermont-Ferrand proscutor of the Republic, Jean-Yves Coquillat, doesn't put the abduction-alert plan into operation.

There is something unvarying in disappearances of children or adults: it is that at the beginning, there is always a refusal to envisage the worst. This is true for the family and it is true for the investigators. Thus, searches start slowly and it is only in the early hours of the morning that things start to become serious. The police coordinate their efforts. They criss-cross the town. Others comb the outskirts of Issoire...They call in the dogs who, "mark," an area of ponds. They bring in a team of divers. They even bring in a helicopter equipped with a thermal camera, but given the weather, it will only be operational on the Sunday afternoon. During this time, some men go down into the Issoire sewers. Meanwhile, another team is engaged in a classic criminal investigation: looking for evidence in the home, interviewing witnesses, searches...

The investigation: Finally, three days after the child's disappearance, the prosecutor decides on the opening of a criminal investigation for the abduction and illegal confinement of a minor under the age of 15. He states: "The more time goes by, the more the idea of a runaway loses credibility and I am not very optimistic." Soon, the press takes up the suspicions weighing on Antoine's mother, and adds: "the red-haired woman...the seductress....the lone mother...., she created a prison..." The descriptions are of the same ilk for Sébastien: druggie...., violent...., he beats Antoine up..." So much gossip amplified by the prosecutor's innuendo.




On Wednesday September 24th, Alexandrine, her partner and six of their acquaintances are taken into custody. The apartment is again taken over by forensic technicians. They sound the walls, the parquet tiles are lifted, places are gone over with a fluorescent light. All that is found is two small drops of blood, tiny, near the switch, in Antoine's bedroom.

Finally, everyone is released, except Sébastien, who is imprisoned for something else. One of the leading investigators confesses: "We need to go back to the beginning..."

The reconstruction (subject to change): One month before the tragedy, Alexandrine was working as a waitress at the Au Bon Croûton restaurant, owned by Stéphane Bourcelin. They had an affair when she was hired in 2006. It was she who broke it off and contrary to gossip, there are no other known liaisons, until her meeting Sébastien in July 2008, at the time when Antoine is on holiday with his great-grandmother.

In the restaurant business, the 35 hour week is unknown. She works hard. Long days, sometimes without a day off in the week. Towards mid-August, she breaks down and her doctor tells her to take time off work. Stéphane does not appreciate this, especially as he can no longer see Antoine, because he seems to have taken a liking to this little kid. He often played with him, or they watched videos together. He even offered him a Playstation. And suddenly, he is deprived of Antoine and of his....waitress, because Alexandrine and Sébastien have other projects. They want to get married, start a real family. Sébastien even envisages "adopting" Antoine.

Things seem to be sorting themselves out for Alexandrine and her son. Perhaps the end of hardship..Until that famous evening. Today, we can reconstruct the events with far less risk of error than at the beginning. First of all the rumours, according to which no one allegedly saw the child for around a fortnight, are without foundation. In fact, two days after Antoine's disappearance, the gendarmes recorded the statement of a witness who stated having seen him, at his home, coming out of the bathroom.

On September 11th, a neighbour heard the child playing in the apartment, at around 7.15pm. His bedroom light was on. Later in the evening, her attention was drawn to a car stopping at the foot of the building. Then there were footsteps on the stairs. A little later, the car took off at a cracking speed.

Antoine did not leave with a small bag and a packet of biscuits as has been said, but with a large bag belonging to Sébastien. A black (or navy blue) bag nearly as tall as himself, in which clothes must have been packed, clothes where were not found in his wardrobe. His soft toy, a little cat, which was always dragged around with him, also disappeared.

So, what happened on the evening of Thursday September 11th? Did Antoine's mother chop her child into small pieces, which she then crammed into bin bags, as hinted at by a newspaper, which I will not even name?

Or taking advantage of the child's being alone, someone came to find him? And with what intentions?

The president of the Esperanza Association (blog about Antoine's disappearance) Madame Lydie Fontenil, wants to hold onto this possibility. "There is really nothing new," she told me on the telephone, "but little clues allow us to maintain hope." We should listen to what she says, because she is a woman of experience. For years she has devoted herself to searching for missing children. And she knows that sometimes it ends well. When Antoine disappeared, with his mother's agreement, she set up a blog devoted to him. She responds to numerous telephone calls, she puts pressure on "her" volunteers (she is looking for new ones) she shakes up her information network, she supports Alexandrine etc. "I have lost six kilos," she smilingly confessed to me.

A few days ago, in the little station, in the area of Paris where I take the RER, there was a missing person poster. It was about a fifteen year-old teenager who lives in Nantes. I don't know about you, but in the Paris area, I have never seen a poster about Antoine.

That is why I wanted to write these lines. I know this is only a blog...

It is said that women are more sensitive than men, above all as soon as we are talking about children...The two ministers directly responsible for this investigation are women. Are they at least aware? In any case, no one has heard from them.

When a couple of tourists were kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Djibouti, the President of the Republic took things in hand. This same president, when he was Minister for the Interior, had moved heaven and earth to find little Estelle Mouzin.*

A little six and a half year old boy has been missing for 38 days - and the silence of those people, those who hold power, is deafening.

*See previous posts on this blog.

Marcos Aragão Correia, Léonor Cipriano's lawyer.

Marcos Aragão Correia, has been making very serious allegations in the courtroom at Faro, in the context of the trial of the five Portuguese police inspectors, involved in the alleged torture of Léonor Cipriano. He has alleged that Leandro Silva, husband of Léonor and Joana's step-father, knew a week beforehand that Goncalo Amaral was going to be dismissed from his job as coordinator of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance. He has also alleged that British police carried out an investigation into Amaral's background and discovered some questionable details about Amaral's private life: for example that Dr Amaral beat his wife, Sofia, while under the influence of alcohol.

Marcos Aragão Correia, is the lawyer who set up the searches at the Arade Dam, employing divers to hunt for the body of Madeleine McCann, initially reported by him as being the result of a tip-off from some underworld criminals. More recently, Marcos Aragão Correia, has said that the searches at the dam were inspired by a "vision" he had about the Maddie case.

SOS Madeleine McCann "Marcos Aragão Correia has a "vision" of the Cipriano case."

In the present trial of the five PJ inspectors, it would appear that Marcos Aragão Correia is more concerned with discrediting Dr Amaral than of dealing with the matter at hand.

According to the Portuguese newspaper, Correio da Manha, Marcos Aragão Correia, has admitted receiving money from Metodo 3, the private detective agency hired by Kate and Gerry McCann, to help finance the searches at the Arade Dam. In today's copy, he denies that he is now being paid by anyone for representing Léonor in the present case being heard in Faro. The translation below is taken from the Joana Morais blog. (Link to Joana's blog on the right under, "Blogs of interest".)

"They've asked me to get in the Case"

The private detectives agency hired by the McCann couple asked Marcos Aragão Correia to enter in the 'Joana Case'. It is the lawyer, himself, who admits that Metodo3 ordered him to do 'an investigation' to the outlines regarding the [alleged] torture accusation of Joana's mother, by the PJ - the target, between the 5 inspectors, was evident: Gonçalo Amaral. Regardless, the [liar, pardon], the lawyer guarantees that now no one is paying him.

The private detective agency, contacted yesterday by CM, denied any connection whatsoever to the lawyer. The payment was also denied, even though Aragão Correia has already admitted that he received money to pay the 'expenses' when he made the searches to find Maddie's corpse in the dam of Bravura, in Lagos. The lawyer from Madeira [Portuguese Island], told he had a supernatural indication to the whereabouts of the body of the British child and that he had gone to the Algarve at his own expenses.

He entered in contact with the McCann Detectives, which made him a request: "They have asked me to try to get involved in the Case Joana to obtain statements from Leonor and her brother and to try to understand if there was torture, nothing else", he guarantees. This at a time where suspicions have been raised that by defending Leonor, he is being paid by someone who is interested that Gonçalo Amaral is convicted, precisely because he was the Coordinator of the investigation to the Case Maddie, which pointed towards the involvement of the parents in the crime. "I don't get paid in pounds or in euros. I am here for principles, and my objective is to set free Leonor."


Source: Correio da Manhã, by Rui Pando Gomes

Joana Morais.

(Updated) Leonor Cipriano: Fellow inmate says she was beaten up in prison.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

30/10/08

"We beat her up (Leonor) because nobody likes child killers."

"The bruises on Leanor Cipriano's face were not done by the inspectors (PJ)...she was well and truly pasted in prison after her arrival. In prison, nobody likes child killers," states a former fellow inmate of Joana's mother, stressing that after that assault, "Leonor had favourable treatment on the part of the director." The fellow inmate goes further and maintains that there were never any bruises on Joana's face or body even after the assault she was the object of at the Odemira Prison, contradicting the truth of the photos presented to the Faro court.

The revelations made to SMM, according to this former inmate, are not new, but have not been taken into account by the PJ: "When I found out what they had in mind (Leonor and the director) I sent a letter to Faro, but I didn't sign it, because I still had time to serve and I didn't want any problems."

If, since the assaults which she alleged she was the victim of, Leonor has always stated that Gonçalo Amaral. the former coordinator, had never touched her, after the arrival of the lawyer Marcos Aragão, she states the complete opposite, changing her version several times in the course of the trial.

Update: 31/10/08

A case with several dangerous connections.

In the course of the recent court sessions, a former head of prison officers has meanwhile confirmed as abnormal, the behaviour of the director and her strange relationship with Léonor: according to him, the head of the establishment allegedly even suggested that he should change the contents of a report written about Léonor Cipriano's return from the PJ at Faro with a few red marks on her face.

The head prison officer, Antonio Maia, who has been heard as a witness, indicated that he was on duty on October 15th and that Léonor Cipriano, on her return to prison, confirmed to him that she had indeed fallen down the stairs after her interrogation in the PJ building in Faro, because, quoting Joana's mother, she had experienced dizziness after several hours without food. Those are the statements, recorded in Antonio Maia's report, that the director, Ana Maria Calado, allegedly suggested that he change.

To be continued...

Madeleine McCann - New book by journalists Hernâni Carvalho and Luis Maia, "Maddie: Neither Truth nor Consequence."

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

29/10/08

Maddie : Ni vérité ni conséquence

A new book from journalists Hernâni Carvalho and Luis Maia, entitled, "Maddie: Neither Truth nor Consequence," returns to the most significant moments in the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the little British girl the authorities have decided to no longer look for.

The two journalists have already published a book about the first 129 days of the investigation.

"Kate and Gerry are a complementary pair, a typical product of the second half of the twentieth century. He, the child-man, who needs to be directed by someone he trusts. She, the iron lady, who needs to control, because fears being controlled by other people. Curiously, this is the profile of many couples who need to resort to assisted conception. Also, curiously, it is the profile of a couple who regularly indulge in perversions," the journalists write.

Hernâni Carvalho, one of the journalists, who has received the highest commendations for his work, has been to war zones like Bosnia, Timor and Afghanistan. Nowadays, he presents brief news items on crime on one of the most popular Portuguese television channels, TVI.


SOS Madeleine McCann 29/10/08