Madeleine McCann: who searched for this little girl? (Part 1)

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Daily Mirror 12/12/09:

"DISTORTION, LIES, FABRICATION AND SLANDER."

Outside the Civil Court in Lisbon, where Gonçalo Amaral had been due to present witnesses in his effort to have a temporary injunction on his book, "A Verdade Da Mentira," overturned, Gerry and Kate McCann took advantage of their right to freedom of expression to accuse Dr Amaral of distorting the truth about their daughter's disappearance.

"Gerry, also 41, yesterday said the furore over Amaral's book threatened to obscure the fact that the McCanns were still searching for Madeleine."

Still searching? I didn't realise they'd started! They certainly didn't make an early start. Me? I'd have been running around like a headless chicken if I had discovered one of my children was missing. Not Kate McCann, though. Kate did not physically search for her daughter. Nor did she actually answer the question on this subject put to her by Jane Hill of the BBC. Why weren't you out there Kate? Well, errr..ummm...ye know....cluck cluck...tut tut..it was like...shrug...well....

Jane Hill: I met people who didn't go to work for more than a week because every day they were down along the beach, searching the streets. Did you, as a mother, Kate, just sometimes think 'I've got to go and be out there with them.'?

Kate McCann: I mean I did. We'd been working really hard, really, apart from, as Gerry said, the first forty-eight hours were incredibly difficult and we were almost non-functioning, I'd say, but after that you get strength from somewhere. We've certainly had loads of support and that has given us strength and it's been able to make us focus really. So, we have actually, in our own way...it might not be physically searching, but we've been working really hard and doing absolutely everything we can really to get Madeleine back. (Errrr, ummmms, sighs, etc, omitted.)

So, locals in the village of Praia da Luz were out there for a whole week searching the beaches and the streets, while Kate McCann was working "really hard really," on some unidentified tasks in an effort to get her daughter back? Picking up friends and relies from the airport? Dropping the twins at the crèche and then what? Phone a few contacts, speak to the British Ambassador, give media interviews.*

(*Detailed notes on the events leading up to and following Maddie's disappearance can be found on the McCann Files. Days 1 - 28 here)

For the first forty-eight hours, according to Kate McCann, she and her husband were almost non-functioning to the point of being totally unable, obviously, to get out there and search for their daughter. As most police officers, who have been involved with missing children, are well aware, the first seventy-two hours are very important in the search if there is to be any hope of finding the child. The McCanns, though, were unable to get themselves shifted, unable to fight against their non-functioning state, both of them! They are completely self-centred, feeble excuses for parents and/or they were lying. I'll go for 'and.'

The Portuguese PJ, however, together with local people, searched until the early hours of May 4th, stopped at around 4.30am, with a view to resuming in daylight.

Gonçalo Amaral describes those frantic first few days in his book: these passages are extracted from chapter 3.

The Truth Of The Lie Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The First Seventy-two Hours.

THE ORGANISATION OF THE INVESTIGATION

(May 4th)

Since dawn, chief inspector Tavares de Almeida has been getting down to the job at the Department of Criminal Investigation in Portimão. He is following through with the first measures taken within the context of the investigation. At this time, he should have been going on holiday, but faced with the gravity of the case, he has decided to put it off until later. Neither the director of the Faro judiciary police nor myself are going to have the time take our holidays anytime soon.

The disappearance of a child must be flagged up as widely as possible, on the national as well as on the international level. All Portuguese police are already on alert, as well as Interpol. During the night, the National Guard, supported by the civilian population, has started to organise searches. They will be continued and widened tomorrow.

After the searches undertaken in the surrounding area - dustbins, containers, sewers -, it is necessary to proceed with the interrogation of certain potential witnesses

Make contact with the marinas and the maritime police; we must have access to video recordings as well as the registers of boats entering and leaving in the last few days.

- I am going to contact them and make sure they have started the sea searches.

In anticipation of the volume of information we are going to have to deal with, we decide to fit out a room dedicated to the investigation, our crisis unit.

Still May 4th.

The searches on the ground continue, with the help of a helicopter from Disaster Management. Interviews of holiday-makers and the resort's employees multiply. We're worried, aware that it's a race against the clock: tomorrow, many tourists will be leaving the resort.

The accommodation we are occupying in the town centre rapidly becomes overcrowded: we need more sheets and blankets. Beds are allocated; some investigators have to sleep on sofas, others on the floor. Astonishingly, in this place, however jam-packed, total silence reigns. We all need to rest. Our dreams are disturbed, our worries are multiplying. Thirty-four hours after Madeleine's disappearance, we tackle our second day of the investigation. In this apartment of temporary refuge, it's the morning bustle; we mustn't lie around. In spite of the lack of sleep, no one shows any sign of fatigue: on the contrary, we are all in a hurry to getting back to work and impatiently wait our turn outside the bathroom.

On the outskirts of Lagos, in the direction of Aljezur, there is a Gypsy encampment. Of course, traveling people are no longer thought of as child-stealers. Nevertheless, it is important to make sure they have nothing to do with the case before they hit the road again. As soon as they are informed of our searches, they collaborate voluntarily and let the agents do their work and conduct a search of their tents and their cars. No one has seen little Madeleine in the area.

Throughout the day, numerous apartments are visited in the resort and neighbouring areas: the investigators search more than 400, without result."

So, let's consider where the McCanns looked and what they meant by doing everything to get their daughter back. They went to the Vatican, kissed the Pope's ring, did some more interviews, but there was no sign of Maddie.

Then what? Where did the search take the relentless duo, having now recovered from their non-functioning state and set up a web site and a fund for donations? On May 30th, they met the Pope. On May 31st, they were off again, to Madrid. After a brief sojourn back in Praia da Luz, the McCann were in Berlin on Wednesday June 6th, where they gave a press conference about their search and then headed for Amsterdam, where they did a series of TV appearances, press conferences and appeals, while obviously searching for their daughter.

(See The McCann Files days 29 - 58. here)

On Wednesday May 9th, two reports of sightings in Morocco had been received by the Portuguese police.

"In Morocco, Norwegian tourist Mari Pollard says she saw a girl who looked like Madeleine with a man at a petrol station in Marrakesh. On the same day, a British holidaymaker saw a youngster outside the Ibis Hotel in Marrakesh."

And so, with haste and urgency only the McCanns can achieve, they set off for Morocco on Saturday June 10th.

Now, what did our intrepid duo do in Morocco in their constant quest, their unrelenting search for their daughter? Hand out leaflets in the areas where the sightings had been reported? Tramp the streets in those areas, showing photographs of their missing daughter in an attempt to jog the memories of anyone who might have seen a child who resembled her? Well, apart from complaining that a plane sent to transport them was only a turbo-prop, they had a few meetings, did a few interviews and accepted flowers from schoolchildren. Why didn't they go and actually search in the areas where there had been reported sightings? Beats me, that one.

(Also from The McCann Files days 29 -58)

Kate and Gerry spend the day in Rabat meeting British ambassador Charles Gray, Morocco's most senior police officer Charqi Draiss, the Interior Minister Mohamed Benaissa as well as representatives from 3 child welfare groups, including Touche Pas Mes Enfants (Do Not Touch my Children), an organisation set up two years ago to tackle paedophilia.

As well as the meetings, the McCanns visited the National Observatory for Children's Rights. As they pulled up in the car there were about 150 children waving posters of Madeleine with the words 'All Moroccan Children Are With You Madeleine - Madeleine: Back Home'.

The McCanns also did a couple of interviews for ITV and Sky focussing on a change in the phase of the campaign. They confirmed that there would be a period of reflection before they decided on the best role for themselves."

While Kate and Gerry were madly searching through all those meeting rooms in Morocco, an anonymous letter was received by the Dutch newspaper, the Telegraaf, containing a map of an area close to Praia da Luz, marked with a x where the author claimed that Madeleine's body was buried. I would have thought this would engender great worry, anxiety and distress in parents, who were convinced that their child had been abducted, but Gerry McCann seemed more irritated and inconvenienced by it.

"While it is all for nothing and we will not get our child back with this. We know that a big, international action like ours has its shadow side and attracts idiots." (McCann Files)

So, how did Gerry know that Madeleine was not to be found in that location? He seemed quite sure though, and rather than sit around, worrying about what might be found, Gerry and Kate fetched a friend from the airport.

"Initial searches of scrubland indicated by the letter to The Telegraaf do not reveal anything unusual.

Kate and Gerry pick up a friend from Faro airport who has helped with publicity and the production of the 'Don't You Forget About Me' DVD. Gerry and this 'friend' Jon spend the rest of the day discussing 'campaign strategies'." (McCann Files.)

The next few weeks are taken up with appointing a spokesperson, having meetings with the police and generally keeping up the media interest. Then in July, Gerry went to the United States. he spent 4 days there, having meetings, doing the obligatory press conferences and then returned to Praia da Luz.

So, this could be a good point at which to do a reprise of the activity of the McCanns up to this point: they saw the Pope; they went to Madrid; they went to Berlin; they went to Amsterdam; they went to Morocco; Gerry went to the United States; they produced posters, released lots of balloons and banked a loada dosh in the form of donations. Woops! Forgot! They took the twins to the zoo and they discovered that Sean had a liking for sea bass. Gerry wrote up his blog about trips to the beach and child-friendly toppings on desserts!

Is it just me, or does anyone else think they don't seem to have started searching yet?

(Part 2 to follow: the succession of private defectives, I mean detectives, and their search for Madeleine: how Madeleine was not home by Christmas and various shenanigans of the McCanns' hired help.)

Madeleine McCann: three-year-old child becomes icon of the decade.

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From Esther Addley of the Guardian, an article that takes an unusually objective look at the media campaign that transformed a little three-year-old girl into an icon. I say 'unusually objective,' compared to the usual sycophantic rubbish churned out by the UK media, wherein Kate and Gerry McCann attain the status of sainthood and become the self-pitying martyrs of the decade.

"It's the unsettling mix of the incredibly intimate and the coolly tactical that has made the mystery of Madeleine McCann the biggest and most extraordinary child abduction story in history."

Yes, the 'coolly tactical.' In an interview for Vanity Fair magazine, Gerry McCann referred to Madeleine's distinctive eye feature:

"Late in 2007, Gerry McCann gave an interview to an American magazine and talked about the decision to publicise the eye defect. "Certainly we thought it was possible that [the publicity] could possibly hurt her or her abductor might do something to her eye . . . But in terms of marketing, it was a good ploy."

The McCanns' daughter became something to be marketed. Their web site was selling wristbands and cheap T shirts at an inflated price that sought to play on the sympathy of the general public to pay through the nose to further what was, in effect, in Gerry's own words, 'marketing.'

"Had Madeleine been snatched in Britain, the McCanns would have been assigned a police family liaison officer and the full, slammed-door stonewalling of a police press office. In Portugal, their advisers were PRs. In October 2007 Clarence Mitchell, by then working as the couple's full-time media adviser, addressed students at Coventry University about the case. The title of his talk? "Missing Madeleine McCann: The perfect PR campaign".

Madeleine McCann became a media career for Clarence Mitchell, ex-director of the UK government's Media Monitoring Unit, 'The perfect PR campaign.' And that perfect campaign has given Clarence a spin-off career as itinerant speaker-for-hire, his latest outing having been at a PR conference in Dubai, where Madeleine McCann was the subject of a slick Power Point presentation on PR campaigns. In 10 years time, please God, don't let Clarence Mitchell be doing the after dinner speaker circuit with his Power Point presentation on how he successfully marketed Madeleine McCann.

In one of Gerry McCann's Christmas interviews this year, he said that the search for Madeleine was driven by 'facts and evidence.' What facts? What evidence?

"Most remarkable of all is that despite the many thousands of articles, the millions of words, written about Madeleine McCann, there remains more than two and a half years later just one solitary fact that we know for sure. In the early hours of 3 May 2007, she vanished without trace from her parents' holiday apartment."

One solitary fact and that is that Madeleine disappeared without a trace: no trace of intrusion into the holiday apartment by a phantom abductor; no fingerprints other than those of Kate McCann on Madeleine's bedroom window; no sightings of a possible abductor apart from Jane Tanner's endlessly changing story and description; no one coming forward with any real information about Madeleine's whereabouts in spite of millions being offered in reward money.

"A beautiful toddler gone missing will always be catnip to newspaper editors, but Kate and Gerry McCann also chose to make themselves active characters in the story, and though their motives were laudable, their relentless drive for publicity unsettled many."

In this 'relentless drive' the McCann's oft repeated mantra has been that there was no evidence that Madeleine was dead or that any serious harm had come to her, even while they were actively, through their hired detectives, pursuing the idea of her having been taken by paedophiles. Gerry McCann labeled the work of Eddie and Keela, dogs used by police forces around the world, as 'unreliable' in spite of their acknowledged success in helping to solve hundreds of cases.

In the McCanns' relentless drive to provoke universal acceptance of the abduction theory, they have also been relentless in their attempts to silence anyone who disagreed. In addition to using PR representatives in the UK and in Portugal, the McCanns have engaged the mega expensive libel lawyers, Carter Ruck, to bully blog owners and other web site owners, such as the Madeleine Foundation, into submission with threats of financially crippling legal action.

The McCanns clearly want freedom of expression for themselves in churning out their relentless campaign, but not for anyone else, including Dr Gonçalo Amaral, the Portuguese police officer who initially led the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance. They have sought to ban Dr Amaral's book, 'The Truth Of The Lie,' but only when it looked as though it was about to be published in English. Unlike UK journals, like the Daily Express, Dr Amaral has not rolled over and complied with the McCanns' bullying tactics. The court process concerning the book resumes in January, with several witnesses, including senior police officers who were closely involved with the investigation, speaking on Sr Amaral's behalf. Please, God, let this be an end and a new beginning: an end to the McCanns' power over the press and the judiciary and the beginning of the real fight for truth and justice for a little three-year-old child who went on what was supposed to be a family holiday, was left in the crèche all day and left on her own with two-year-old siblings in an unlocked apartment every evening.

God bless Gonçalo Amaral and his relentless campaign for justice for that little girl, not the icon, but the real little girl.

Madeleine McCann: the Christmas appeal from her parents.

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And in today's Daily Express, we have the...traa laaaa...Christmas appeal! Is this going to be a regular occurrence for the next 50 year until 89 year-old Kate McCann is pleading for her daughter to walk through the door of Rothley Towers, where her bedroom is just as she left it, with all her Christmas and birthday presents from the intervening years blocking the way to her toddler bed?

Now, I know I must be sounding unsympathetic to their plight, but this is just a money-grubbing exercise at the time of year when folks out there are thinking of other people less fortunate than themselves and are in the mood to give to worthy causes.

"Kate and Gerry McCann have issued a fresh appeal for help in finding their missing daughter Madeleine as they face spending a third Christmas without her."

Third Christmas without Madeleine? Well, actually, if we're counting, it's the fourth, because at Christmas when Madeleine was 2 years old, in 2005, Madeleine spent Christmas with her grandmother, Eileen Mccann, while I assume the rest of the family enjoyed the twins' first Christmas back at Rothley Towers.

"Madeleine McCann's gran on the family's year of tears." Daily Record April 27th 2008.

"Eileen said: "Madeleine was in my heart from that very first day.

"She was born on a Tuesday and I went down to see her on the Friday.

"I felt I had a really special bond with her.

She said: "When she was two, Madeleine spent Christmas at my house and it was lovely.

"The next year, the family came up for New Year but on Christmas Day Madeleine called and said she'd got a kitchen from Santa. She was very excited and said 'I'm going to make some tea'."

So, Madeleine wasn't at the festive table that Christmas. Seems odd to me that she wouldn't be part of the twins' first Christmas, but then I find such dates and events memorable and special and well worth the effort that has to be put into them when you have small children.

"In an emotional plea greeting visitors to the site, they said: "There will be a spare place at the Christmas table again this year. If you know anything - do the right thing and help us fill it." (Daily Express)

From what I can gather, there's been a spare place at that table before, not just at Christmas either. Early on in this case, Kate McCann, asked about how the twins were coping with Madeleine's disappearance, said that they were ok because they had never spent much time with Madeleine. So, I guess there weren't many lingering meals en famille then?

"Mr and Mrs McCann added: "There's only one thing Madeleine wants this Christmas - and that's to be back home. If you know where she might be, please help." (Daily Express)

If Madeleine is still alive somewhere, being treated like a princess, or as Kate McCann said in an interview for Spanish TV, "in somebody's house," I seriously doubt that were she to turn up to sit at the Christmas table, that she would just slip happily into the family fold and joyously tuck into the roast turkey. A child who was suddenly taken from her family in the trauma of a night time snatch, from where she had been left sleeping, and kept apart from that family for nearly three years, would be an emotionally distressed child, returning to a house she did not recognise any more, siblings she had hardly known before and who would now be strangers, and parents she hardly remembered, who would also have changed in the intervening years.

And if, God forbid, Maddie is alive and in the hands of paedophiles, as her parents have suggested so many times, then that place at the table would not be the most appropriate place for an abused child's introduction back into the arms of her family. Have a slice of turkey, Madeleine, and forget that you were abused in every imaginable way, after we left you alone in the dark in an unlocked apartment. Let's all join hands and sing Kumbaya. Somehow, I don't think so!

Madeleine McCann: once more with Gerry's blue sports bag!

Thanks to a few helpful folks, who suggested where I might find the appropriate photos, I now have the photo from the PJ files of the inside of a wardrobe in apartment 5A, the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. This is one of the images from the PJ's first visit immediately after Madeleine disappeared. As you can see, there is a rather large holdall, which could be described as a sports bag, sitting on one of the shelves.

The photo is from the following section of the PJ files:

10VOLUME_Xa_Page_2564

And is reproduced here from Pamalam's web site:

Gerry McCann's Blogs

So, we know that a bag of the relevant size and description did exist, whatever the McCanns, their spokesperson or a source close to the family might say. Gerry McCann never owned such a bag? Well, Gerry, did that one take up residence in your wardrobe when you weren't looking? Someone put that bag there and someone removed it. So, who did? And Gerry, I'm not going to ask the dogs!

Madeleine McCann: Gerry's blue tennis bag

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Was there a blue tennis bag or wasn't there a blue tennis bag and did said tennis bag disappear? The saga of the bag has been around for as long as there have been forums discussing the Maddie case and at some point any official mention of it seemed to have disappeared, like Maddie herself, without a trace and no evidence it had ever been there.



This video is from December 23rd 2007. Martin Brunt, of Sky News, is seen sitting in the Tapas Bar, at the table that was occupied by the McCanns and their friends on the night Madeleine disappeared. Between the table and the outside world, there is a slightly tinted tarpaulin, through which the swimming pool can be seen with the apartment block in which apartment 5A is located in the top, right background. Brunt describes what lies between the Tapas Bar and the apartment block and states that it would have been impossible to have seen anyone entering or leaving the McCanns' rented apartment.

Brunt then follows the route which would have been taken by the McCanns and friends from the Tapas Bar to the apartment, to check on the children. He makes the trip in 80 paces, much further than, as Gerry McCann originally stated, "like dining in your own back garden."

It's the tennis bag that's of particular interest here. Martin Brunt explains that the missing bag is one of two important lines of enquiry for the police.

That was December 23rd 2007. On December 24th 2007, in a Daily Telegraph report, the McCann family was quoted as saying that the tennis bag was not the focus of the police investigation. Clarence Mitchell put in a strange twopenn'rth.

"But Clarence Mitchell, the spokesman for Madeleine's parents, dismissed the report, insisting that Gerry had never owned such a bag."

"As far as Kate and Gerry are concerned, there is no missing tennis bag," he said.

"They came back from holiday with everything except of course, tragically, Madeleine."

So, Gerry had never owned such a bag and Kate and Gerry say there is no missing tennis bag. So, did he ask Kate and Gerry, "Is a blue tennis bag of yours missing?" And they said no? The statement appears to be in two very distant parts, which don't necessarily add up to the same thing. There isn't a bag missing because they've still got it and they came back from holiday with the same blue bag that they went with? There isn't a bag missing because they know where it is?

The McCanns are not quoted directly as saying they never had a blue tennis bag. The McCann family was quoted as saying that the bag was not the focus of police investigation and that, apart from Madeleine, nothing was left behind when they returned home.

Madeleine McCann: and what about those early reports about the shutters at apartment 5A?

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During the night of May 3rd/May 4th 2007, Gerry McCann contacted various family and friends, who, in later interviews stated that Gerry had told them that the shutters to Madeleine's bedroom window had been 'jemmied,' and the window opened from the outside. This is a report from Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis on the SOS Madeleine McCann blog in August 2008.

"Witnesses have taken apart the McCanns' version about the apartment's shutters."

4/08/08

ttp://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Witnesses have, "taken apart," the McCanns' version about the apartment's shutters.

Apartment 5A, where the McCanns were staying until Madeleine's disappearance, had been occupied by other British people, all of whom the PJ found, confirmed the good state of the shutters, initially described by relatives of Kate and Gerry as old, worn and broken.

Amongst these witnesses, Saleigh and Paul Gordon, accompanied by their two children, occupied apartment 5A before the McCanns, between April 21st and 28th 2007. Questioned several times by the investigators, the couple maintain that, "the doors, windows and shutters of the apartment were all in good condition," even stressing that given the noise made by the bedroom shutters, it would be impossible to open or shut them without it being noticed by neighbours or passers-by.

From the beginning, the McCanns have claimed that the shutters were broken and that the door had been forced. That is the version that Kate gave to a close friend, Jon Corner, to whom she reportedly said, "that they have smashed the shutter on the window and taken my little girl."

The same version was, meanwhile, given by Gerry to Madeleine's grandfather, Brian Healy: "Gerry told me that when they got back, the shutters on the bedroom window were smashed (....) The door was open." (See McCannfiles)

"The bedroom, facing the car park, was also overlooked by other apartments. Given that, I find that if someone had tried to open the shutters from the outside, somebody would have noticed," Saleigh Gordon insists. Her husband Paul also confirms that the couple always felt safe and that the front door was equipped with a double lock, while the one at the back only locked from inside the apartment.

The, "strange," man was actually not.

It was also Paul Gordon who saw and spoke to a man described by several British media, quoting sources close to the McCanns, as strange and suspicious. However, in his statements to the police, Paul maintains that the individual never, "watched," the children or the apartment: "I would describe the man as well-educated, of good appearance (...) I remember him as looking tidy and shaved with light downy facial hair. "

"I went over to the man who asked me if I would be interested in making a donation to an orphanage (...) I spoke with him and noticed that he had an indentification badge and that he had what looked to me like a receipt book," Paul Gordon stated to the police, adding that he had even received a receipt which he had left behind in Portugal.

Since January Paul Gordon has been contacted several times by Brian Kennedy, Kate and Gerry McCann: "There are times when I feel like a chess pawn."

"The McCanns manipulated the evidence."

The PJ are convinced that the McCanns manipulated evidence and simulated the abduction of the daughter and put forward that Maddie's parents changed the arrangement of the furniture and some objects in the apartment. The information is published this morning by the Portuguese daily newspaper Correio da Manha, quoting the PJ's investigation.

According to the daily newspaper, the correlation between the alerting to cadaver odour and to blood behind the sofa, by Eddie and Keela, the two British sniffer dogs, proves beyond doubt that this was backed up against the wall after the child's death. The investigators, given the poor evidence found on this piece of furniture, concluded that it may be that it had been washed.

A detail also quoted by Correio da Manha, Cuddle Cat, the pink soft toy belonging to Madeleine and which Kate took everywhere, was placed in the child's bed after her death, given that, in contrast to the soft toy, no cadaver odour was indicated on the bed."

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

4/08/08

Madeleine McCann: a reminder of the rogatory interviews in the UK

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In April 2008, members of the group which came to be known as 'The Tapas 9,' were interviewed in the UK, as a result of rogatory letters sent from Portugal. I am re-posting a report about Russell O'Brien's interview as I think there is a very important principle at stake here. Russell O'Brien was allowed to read statements from another witness, his partner, Jane Tanner, prior to being interviewed.

Surely there is something quite amiss when witnesses are allowed to read each other's statements before being interviewed? The inconsistencies and contradictions that might be thrown up are surely of vital importance and this is unlikely to happen when statements can be viewed.

No surprise, then, that stories from those two witnesses do not contain anything other than total agreement about events!

Re-posted article follows:

The Maddie investigation: O'Brien was questioned after having referred to Tanner's statements.

At the time of his interview, in April 2008, Russell James O'Brien was able to refer to the report of his partner Jane Tanner's statements in order to respond to questions from Andrew Gierc, a Leicestershire police officer, about the events that surrounded Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

The access of one witness to the statements of another, even when it is the same couple, is worrying and outside the norm, above all in the course of an investigation of the importance of the Madeleine McCann case. It is also judged by experts from several European police forces, consulted by SMM, as more than a simple professional error: "this can direct the witness or even worse, allow him to answer questions in a way that protects his position in the investigation," states an officer of the French gendarmerie, stressing, "that it is an error capable of compromising an entire investigation and that no professional worthy of that name would make it....The only explanation that remains is the possibility that the investigator wanted to confuse the witness for a specific reason."

"I was given the opportunity to refresh my memory about the report made by Jane Tanner (my wife) and I was allowed to see these documents. That was done in the presence of DC 1578 Gierc," O'Brien admits.

O'Brien was interviewed twice, on April 8th and 10th 2008, but strangely, his his first interview would not have been recorded on video, because, according to the British police, there was a, "technical fault." However, it now looks like the video, which was never sent to Portugal, exists but would not be attached to the report of the April 8th interview.

Russell O'Brien's second interview by police officer Andrew Gierc, was indeed recorded on video, to which we have had access.

All the other, "Tapas 7," were also interviewed: Payne was questioned for 259 minutes by police officer I. Messiah, Diane Webster for 151 minutes by police officer Fergusson, Fiona Payne for 277 minutes by police officer Messiah, Matthew Oldfield for 157 minutes and Rachael Mariamma Jean Mampilly, by police officer Andrew Gierc for 236 minutes.

Jane Tanner was interviewed for 279 minutes by police officer Fergusson, an interview with seven interruptions, the first also very hectic after only 18 minutes when the fire alarm went off.

196 witnesses and 3 arguidos.

At the time when the Portuguese Public Minister decided to place the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance on hold pending further evidence, there was a total of 196 witnesses, including the McCanns' seven friends, and three arguidos, registered in the process.

Several witnesses, who made themselves known to the British authorities, have remained unknown to the Portuguese investigators, for a reason yet to be determined. Brian Kennedy, the millionaire who would be financing Clarence Mitchell and the McCanns' team of lawyers, has even visited several of the investigation's witnesses, in particular those who were less favourable to the couple.

Robert James Queriol Eveleigh Murat, Kate Marie Healy, (also addressed as Kate McCann) and Gerald Patrick McCann were the three arguidos.

Amongst the witnesses, there are a few names already known to the general public. The, "nannies," Amy Ellen Tierney, Catriona Treasa Sisile Baker, Charlotte Elizabeth alice Pennington, Emma Louise Wilding, Jacqueline Mary Williams, Kirsty Louise Maryen, Lyndsay Jayne Johnson, Lynne Rhiannon Fretter, Sarah Elizabeth Williamson, Sinead Maria Vine, Stacey Portz, Susan Bernadette Owen and Pauline Frances McCann.

The tennis coaches, Daniel James Stuk and Georgina Louise Jackson.

George Robin Crosland (Ocean Club manager) George William James, Jennifer Anne Murat, Jeremy Wilkins, John Elliot Hill, Michaela Walazuch, Pamela Isobel Fenn, Robert James Queriol Eveleigh Murat, Sergey Malinka (Murat's friend) José Manuel Conceição Pacheco, Susan Hubard and Svetlana Malinka.

The “Tapas 9”: David Anthony Payne, Dianne Webster, Fiona Elaine Payne, Gerald Patrick McCann, Jane Michelle Tanner, Kate Marie Healy, Rachael Mariamma Jean Mampilly, Russel James O´Brien and Matthew Oldfield."

Note: The above report was originally posted on the SOS Madeleine McCann blog and on this blog in August 2008

Locard's Truth: Preface to the new book by Gonçalo Amaral, "The English Gag."

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The following is an extract from the full translation posted on Joana Morais' blog.

"14 December 2009 | Posted by astro"

"The following text is the translation of the Preface to Gonçalo Amaral's new book, "The English Gag". Titled "Locard's Truth", the preface is authored by Francisco Moita Flores, a former Polícia Judiciária inspector, now the Mayor of Santarém, and a renowned criminologist and author.

Locard’s Truth

I read this outcry for freedom by Gonçalo Amaral at a time when the country wallows, and when I say the country, I say the politicians, some characters within the judiciary system supplying the pyrotechnical material for the fireworks that the media launch every day around the ‘Face Oculta’ process [major corruption scandal presently being investigated in Portugal]. And it is the greatest example of hypocrisy. Exactly the same newspapers, the same columnists, who in the name of respect for the parents’ «pain», in the name of respect for arguidos with no other coercion measure, practically imposed the end of any newscast about Maddie, they are exactly the same that, forgetting today what they had said yesterday, flog personalities from the areas of politics or economy with suspicions, half truths and hearsay, based on wiretaps that nobody knows, savagely destroying the character and honour of their targets."

Read the full text of the preface here Joana Morais blogspot

Gerry McCann, do you think those flowers are an expression of support? Think again!

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Gerry, you look really pleased with yourself in that photo, holding that bunch of red carnations that someone gave you. Do you think those flowers were given to you as an expression of love and support? Will you put them in water to remind yourself of the 'kindness,' of the Portuguese person who thrust them into your hand? Well, Gerry, you don't know your Portuguese history or the significance of those flowers.

Let me tell you a little bit about 'The Carnation Revolution,' and those flowers you are obviously treasuring.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-carnation-revolution.htm

"In the early hours of 25 April 1974, the Carnation Revolution began in the Portuguese city of Lisbon. The military forces quickly overwhelmed the government, sparking spontaneous demonstrations in the street, in which civilians ran out to mingle with the soldiers, despite orders to stay inside. At the time, carnations were flooding the famous central flower market of Lisbon, and many citizens put them into the gun barrels of the soldiers, inspiring the name “Carnation Revolution” to describe this event in Portuguese history."

The red carnation has become a lasting symbol of that revolution and Portugal's freedom from a fascist dictatorship. Gerry, red carnations stand for the values of the revolution: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, unions, political parties, free elections, equality for women, etc. The red carnations were brought by the supporters of Gonçalo Amaral and those fighting for freedom of expression.

(Thanks to Carolina on the MM forum for some of the above information.)

That's what you were given, Gerry, and that's what you're holding in the photo: the symbol of freedom of expression in Portugal. Portugal is a democratic state, with a formal constitution, into which is written the right to freedom of expression. May the court in Lisbon uphold the right of Dr Amaral to speak about and to publish the opinions, which were not his alone, but those of the investigating teams, that included English police officers.

Carnations in December.

"Everyone shall possess the right to freely express and publicise his thoughts in words, images or by any other means, as well as the right to inform others, inform himself and be informed without hindrance or discrimination 2.Exercise of the said rights shall not be hindered or limited by any type or form of censorship Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, Article 37.º"

Aw Gerry McCann! Who stole yer scone then?

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That's what my father used to say when somebody looked miserable, Gerry, and you really don't look too happy in that photo. And you looked a wee bit scunnered in that kind of interview when reporters pressed you for a comment at Lisbon airport.

Sky News - see video

You were asked how you felt about meeting Mr Amaral and you said, "Haven't thought about it. Thank you." Gerry, I think you're telling porky pies! You reckon Dr Amaral's book has hindered the search for your daughter and you are trying to permanently ban the book and also claim over a million quid in damages, but you haven't thought about coming face-to-face with that man? Gerry, if you told me it was raining, I'd have to look out the window to make sure.

Oh dear! Kate looks like she's had her hair done specially for the trip. It's got that just out of the salon look! So, what now that the process has been postponed? A visit to Praia da Luz? Will you and your wifie now do some searching for your daughter? Maybe you could get in touch with the PJ, get your mates over too and finally do an official reconstruction of the events of the night your daughter disappeared from the unlocked apartment. Or maybe Kate could now answer the 48 questions the Portuguese police put to her, the questions that included one about how her not answering could harm the investigation.

Now you've got some spare time on your hands since the trial has been postponed, you could surely put it to good use. Why not see the PJ and ask for the investigation to be re-opened?

So, who stole your scone, Gerry? Was it the sight of the list of witnesses being presented by Dr Amaral? Or maybe the fact that Gonçalo is publicly launching another book this very day?

"The English Gag," Sounds about right, Gerry.

One day the world will know....the truth from the lie.

Not so sweet charity!

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A few weeks ago, while I was considering finding an alternative to supply teaching work, I received a phone call from a social care agency, who asked me if I was available for work and presented me with a couple of "opportunities."

Eventually, after a few more phone calls, during one of which, a consultant from that agency suggested how much better off I would be working all the year round and not just during term times. I attended two interviews, was offered and accepted a placement working for a locally-based charity, at a specific rate of pay.

Then the trouble began! A couple of days before I was to have started, I was told that there were forms that had not been completed. That put off my starting. Then the evening before another date that had been set, I had a phone call about the agency's not having the required references. After some hurried phone calls, I got the go-ahead.

The next thing I did was to make sure of the agreed rate of pay and was given a significantly lower figure than had been agreed. More phone calls followed and I got an agreement on the original rate.

So, I got to start work for the charity. That was 4 weeks ago. Now, I thought the problems were over, but bigger ones were coming. The agency referred me to a payroll agency, which I signed up with. These payroll agencies handle the wages and the employee, me, becomes a limited company, with supposed benefits in terms of tax and expenses. All well and good I suppose, except that I was supposed to be paid weekly. I haven't been! I have received one week's wages and today again nothing paid into my bank account.

The irony of all this is that the manager of the office where I had been working decided that I was "too expensive," that the amount paid to the agency was too high.

There is indeed some irony here in being told I am too expensive when I am not even being paid! Both the agency and the payroll service are saying it's the other's fault. I am "too expensive," but having to consider taking legal action to get paid. How ironic is that?!!!

If anyone in the Warwickshire area would like to know which social care agency and which payroll service, please leave me an email address in a comment. I will not publish your details.

There are certain things I hold to be self-evident, one of those being that I go to work, I do the job, I get paid. When this does not happen, I feel somehow abused.

Gonçalo Amaral: the McCanns' spokesman comments on new book launch.

The headline in today's Metro reads, "Libel cop launches new Maddie Book on opening day of trial."

Clarence Mitchell, for the McCanns appears to be none too impressed!

"It's regrettable that Mr Amaral chooses to do this on the same day as the trial opening," said Clarence Mitchell."

Regrettable, Mr Mitchell? Who do you think regrets this timing? Carefully planned by Dr Amaral, I would say, and should attract a great deal of publicity. Is that what is regrettable? Too many of the world's journalists around, who will no doubt be giving free publicity to this new venture from Dr Amaral? Bit too close to the truth the title?

Clarence Mitchell goes on to say:

"Most people would expect him to concentrate on the trial rather than launching any new book and the court will take its own view of his activities."

There are people all over the world, Clarrie, who wonder why your clients went jogging while residents of Praia da Luz took a week off work to look for their daughter. I have often wondered why Kate McCann sat in the apartment all night on the night of May 3rd, 2007, rather than getting out there desperately hunting for her daughter.

"In his book The Truth Of The Lie, Mr Amaral - who was involved in the initial investigation but later taken off the case - claimed Madeleine was dead and questioned the McCanns' account that she was taken while they were eating with friends."

Now, the first person to suggest that Madeleine McCann was dead and that her body was hidden somewhere in the Praia da Luz area was Mark Harrison, an English specialist who was called in to help the Portuguese police. In his book, Dr Amaral simply reports Mark Harrison's conclusions. (See chapter 16 of The Truth Of The Lie)

"A year-long campaign by the McCanns' lawyers to prevent the publication of the book and a subsequent DVD led to an injunction banning its further sale or publication being granted in September."

The book was published, in fact, and sold well all over Europe before the McCanns went to court to apply for the injunction, which was, I hasten to add, a temporary one.

"Mr Amaral says his new book has emerged from his indignation in the face of censorship."

And for that I commend the good doctor and wish him the very best of luck in court tomorrow and every day of this process.

"The English Gag," a new book by Gonçalo Amaral to be launched Friday December 11th

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Thanks to Joana Morais for this information.

"Gonçalo Amaral is not a character.
He is the boldness of Truth. He is the challenge of Truth.»

Francisco Moita Flores in Preface

Gonçalo Amaral's new book, "The English Gag - The story of a forbidden book", will be publicly launched on Friday, the 11th of December, 2009, at the Ler Devagar - Lx Factory bookshop, in Lisbon, at 6.30 p.m.

With a preface by Francisco Moita Flores, the book will be presented by Professor José Adelino Maltez."

Madeleine McCann: It was the English specialist Mark Harrison who first suggested that Madeleine was dead and that the police should look for a body.

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This is chapter 16/17 of Gonçalo Amaral's book, originally published here in August 2009. I am re-publishing as a reminder of who it was who first suggested that Madeleine McCann was dead and that her body was probably hidden somewhere in the Praia da Luz area. This was Mark Harrison, who was called in to support the investigation. I have highlighted the most significant passage.

The section titled "Initial Conclusions," is a separate chapter (17) in the original Portuguese version.


THE HYPOTHESIS OF DEATH IS CONSIDERED.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE SPECIALISTS

After Krugel's unsuccessful visit, our English colleagues vaunt the work of their specialist dog team from the South Yorkshire Police Department of Criminal Investigation. Their dogs are specially trained to locate the most minute traces of blood and are capable of outstanding performance in the search for human remains and bodily fluids.

THE FORENSIC SPECIALISTS

It's July. The hypothesis of death, including by the parents, is being seriously considered. However, no lead has yet come to anything, and we find ourselves in a cul-de-sac. We have to re-centre the investigation around its point of departure, apartment 5A at the Ocean Club, in Vila da Luz. We officially request the help of the best experts in criminology and forensics but also the specialist dog team from the English police. A few days later, we welcome Mark Harrison, a specialist in murder, and the search for missing persons and victims of natural disasters. National advisor to the British police, he is well known for his exceptional professional experience. He has already participated in dozens of international criminal investigations.

His work consists of defining new strategies for research. He gets to work immediately, supported by the Portuguese PJ and the investigators from Leicester and Scotland Yard. On his arrival, we place at his disposal details of the case, as well as all our material and human resources. Harrison reads up on the statements and interviews from the principal witnesses - including, of course, those of the parents and friends -, all the analyses, simulations, hypotheses and cross-checking already carried out. He carries out a reconnaissance on the ground, by helicopter and then on foot. He paces the streets and the access roads to Vila da Luz and compares them to the diagrams created in the course of the investigation. Nothing is left to chance: measurement and timing of possible routes between buildings, apartments and restaurants; analyses, with the help of the best specialists, of weather, geological and maritime factors in relation to the investigation; consultation with the best forensic anthropologist in the country, who indicates for us what would be the actual state of the body in the hypothesis of death occurring on May 3rd; study of the region's natural carrion predators. All the research already conducted by hundreds of people - GNR, civil defence, firemen and other volunteers - is re-examined in detail and re-analysed.

After a week of intense work, Harrison presents the results of his study to my coordinating group. Even if we were expecting it, his conclusions confirm our worst fears. The most plausible scenario is the following: there is no doubt that Madeleine is dead, and her body is hidden somewhere in the area around Praia da Luz. He praises the quality of the work carried out by the Portuguese authorities in trying to find the little girl alive. According to him, the time has come to redirect the searches in order to find, this time, a body hidden in the surrounding area.

AMAZING STATISTICS

Great Britain has at its disposal the world's biggest data bank on homicide of children under five years old. Since 1960, the count is 1528. Harrison is well acquainted with its contents. He often draws information from there which helps him to resolve similar cases. Valuable information can be found there on on various criminal modus operandi, places where bodies are hidden, techniques used to get rid of a body. He relates that on one occasion, thanks to the data, he was able to deduce the maximum distance a body might be found in relation to where the crime had been committed.

The figures quoted in the report he hands over give us the shivers. The crimes, including those of a sexual nature, are committed by the parents in 84% of cases; 96% are perpetrated by friends and relatives. In only 4% of them is the murderer or abductor a total stranger to the victim. In this roundabout way, Mark Harrison points out that the guilty party may be a person close to Madeleine, and even her own parents. From now on, we have to explore this track, especially as the others have proved fruitless.

Harrison also suggests that we use the skills of two totally remarkable dogs: the first an EVRD (Enhanced Victim Recovery Dog), achieves outstanding performance in the detection of human cadaver odour; the second, a CSI dog (Crime Scene Investigation) is capable of smelling the tiniest trace of blood, knowing how to recognise its human origin. To convince us of their capability and the extraordinary work carried out by these very special detectives in the course of over 200 investigations, he screens a video for us, showing their training and their intervention on the ground.

He suggests that we start the operations with the inspection of apartment 5A, then those occupied by the McCanns' friends. Robert Murat's house will also be subjected to thorough examination. In addition, all the vehicles used by all of them will be sniffed by the dogs.

Meanwhile, we were supposed to receive American electronic equipment that detects human bodies thanks to the odour that emanates from them (Scent Transfer Unit 100). But the equipment, blocked by customs, arrived late. We didn't need to use it, having obtained very concrete results, thanks to the dogs.

THE ENGLISH SPECIALIST DOG TEAM

The heat is scorching on this thirtieth day of July 2007 when two Springer Spaniels, Eddie and Keela, get off the British Airways plane, accompanied by their trainer, Martin Grime. An air-conditioned vehicle is waiting to take them to their accommodation. A vet, who will be on hand during their stay, has been brought in to intervene in case of illness or if the dogs get bitten by a snake. Their mission: to find Madeleine's body and expose those responsible.

Eddie has been involved in a great number of cases, helping the police to resolve a good many riddles, thanks to his sense of smell. Even if the body has been moved, objects the body has touched have been contaminated by its odour, especially porous materials, fabrics, the upholstery in cars, etc. And that odour, Eddie knows how to recognise out of a thousand.

Keela, a scenes of crime specialist, is capable of locating particles of blood even after a place has been cleaned with chemical products or bleach. Sometimes, the residues are so microscopic they are missed by the instruments of the forensic police, as sophicticated as they are, and it's impossible to harvest them without taking all of what they are on.

Eddie is always the first to be brought onto a site. Once he has discerned the odour that he knows so well, it's Keela's turn to go into action, on the lookout for the slightest whiff of blood. The simultaneous presence of the two elements in a given place - blood and cavaver odours - is taken to indicate that a body has been there and that it's probably there that the death occurred.

The dogs' CV is impressive. Besides collaborating in hundreds of investigations, they passed the practical tests brilliantly at the FBI's "Body Farm," the only place in the world where human cadavers are used to simulate homicide scenarios and concealment of bodies.

Amongst the most media-covered cases, which they contributed to resolving, is that of the disappearance in Northern Ireland of Attracta Harron, who was last seen when she was returning home on foot, after having been to church. All searches carried out by the police were unsuccessful. The main suspect's car having been totally burnt out in a mysterious fire, couldn't be examined. They called in Eddie, who examined the charred remains of the vehicle and immediately picked out the characteristic odour. Human tissue was found amongst the debris, the DNA of which corresponded to the missing woman. Later, the dog indicated the place - close to a river - where the victim's body had been abandoned. At the home of the suspect, where the police were searching for incriminating evidence, Eddie identified cadaver odour in one of the bedrooms. The man confessed to having killed the woman then moving her body to the banks of the river.

The case of Amanda Edwards, reported missing, is also very impressive. The police, who conducted a search of her ex-partner's home, found small bloodstains there, but no trace of a body. The dog, who was brought in for the examination of the man''s vehicle, alerted to cadaver odour on the tools stored in the boot (a shovel, a level and a compactor). The police went to the building site where the suspect had worked a few days before and discovered the body, buried in a garage. The murderer had made efficient use of his tools to carry out his task.

It's also thanks to the help of the dogs that the case of Charlotte Pinkley, a missing British woman, who had been imprisoned by her ex-partner, was resolved. The police requested the help of the specialist dog team to try to find the young woman's body. Eddie picked out a place where the abductor had provisionally left his victim. In the surrounding area, the investigators found the button from a dress that had belonged to Charlotte. That clue exposed the murderer, who ended up showing the police the place where he had hidden the body.

More recently, it's Eddie who helps to find a body buried under a flagstone at the former orphanage, Haut-de-la-Garenne, in Jersey, setting for a terrible case of paedophilia and child murder.

The achievements of the dog detectives are the result of a very long apprenticeship. It all starts with the selection of the best puppies when they are only a few months old. The most talented breed for this unusual "profession," is the Springer Spaniel. The trainer, Martin Grime, and his pupils undergo aptitude tests every year in order to obtain certificates proving their capability. In Great Britain, the police have no hesitation in calling in the specialist dog teams to assist in certain criminal investigations. Their skills are nowadays recognised by journalists, police and courts all over the world.

EXAMINATION OF THE OCEAN CLUB APARTMENTS BY THE SPECIALIST DOGS

On August 3rd 2007, I am having dinner in Praia da rocha, near Portimão, with my friend Gaivota. Unable to hide my anxiety, I keep looking at my watch and my telephone. Gaivota asks me if everything is OK: I respond with an absent-minded "Yes." A few kilometres away one of the most important search operations ever carried out in Portugal has begun. Perhaps we will finally manage to clear up the mystery of Madeleine's disappearance.

The investigation starts in apartment 5A. The grey jeep transporting the dogs pulls into the car park in front of the building. There is hope and anxiety on people's faces. Martin Grime gets out of the car, holding Eddie on a tight leash. He takes it off and orders Eddie to sit down. Instead of obeying as would be expected of such a well-trained dog, Eddie immediately rushes into the building. He then goes to and fro between the lounge and the bedroom in an agitated manner. Martin wonders what could be making his animal so nervous and calls him back to give precise orders. An investigator is filming the entire scene. A little later, Eddie is examining the floor in the parents' bedroom, near the wardrobe, when he lets out a strident howl, indicating that he has detected a cadaver odour. The investigators have hardly recovered from their amazement, when another, equally impressive, howl startles them. This time, Eddie has picked out that same odour under the window, just behind the sofa, on one of the walls in the lounge. That evening, in apartment 5A, the investigators begin to glimpse what might have happened.

At around 10pm, police officers see Gerry McCann, going past the apartment at the wheel of his hire car, a Renault Mégane Scenic, an impenetrable look on his face.

Then it's Keela's turn to intervene. She points her muzzle at the same place where Eddie gave the alert: traces of blood are found on the tiling between the window and the sofa. Outside, Eddie barks twice: on the veranda at the back of the building and in the garden, just below it. At this place, the dog's bark is weaker and might mean "maybe, who knows....". Thus from the indications provided by Eddie, we can pinpoint the places where the body was moved around. Apartments 5B, 5D and 5H, where the McCanns' friends stayed, are examined that same night. The investigators are expecting new developments. However, nothing happens. Eddie does not show the slightest reaction. Therefore, Keela does not get involved.

From then on, we are sure that, at a given moment, there was a body in apartment 5A. We now have to interview firemen, medical services personnel, previous tenants and employees of the Ocean Club to make sure that no death has taken place in this accommodation, which they confirm. So, we can conclude that the odour discovered is certainly that of Madeleine Beth McCann.

SEARCHES IN THE AREA AROUND VILA DA LUZ

As planned, the searches with Eddie go ahead in and around the village. To leave nothing to chance, he is also put to inspecting the area outlined by Krugel.

Mark Harrison organises a big meeting to direct the work of the search teams. He has conceived the idea of iron bars, whose production he has consigned to a local company. They will be used to sink holes into the ground which will facilitate the possible release of gas emanating from a decomposing body.

Martin, Eddie, the PJ inspectors and members of the GNR, go over with a fine-tooth comb, all the areas where the body of a child might be found. Eddie runs his nose over kilometres of waste ground, ruins, buildings abandoned or under construction, waterways, pipework, along the beach, under every bush, not forgetting the famous Rocha Negra. No evidence of the presence of a body, no cadaver odour anywhere.

EXAMINATION OF THE McCANNS' HOUSE.

"The moment of truth has arrived." That's what everybody is thinking when searching begins at the accommodation the family is occupying from now on: either we find evidence of their responsibility in Madeleine's disappearance, or they will definitely be cleared of all suspicion.

Being convinced of having made a mistake in not placing either the couple or their friends under surveillance, we decided to rectify it. We ask the Public Minister for authorisation to search and, at the same time, authorisation for phone taps. Our request is sent to the judge. He being absent, his deputy is called upon. Finally, after 24 hours of anxious waiting, we learn that authorisation is refused. The disappointment is enormous because we will never have access to conversations the McCanns have away from the microphones, and this not least because the McCanns are preparing to return to England. We cannot count on any more than the search of the house they have occupied since May 3rd, 27 Rue das Flores, which they have been able to rent thanks to money collected by the Madeleine Fund.

To avoid contamination of evidence that will be gathered at the McCanns', Mark Harrison has insisted on the availability of decontaminated premises exclusively set aside for this purpose. Julio Barroso, mayor of Lagos, agrees to lend us the garage of a new, unoccupied building in the centre of Lagos. The place is cleaned from top to bottom.

On August 2nd, at 6pm, the inspectors arrive at the McCanns' residence and present the search warrant. The principle of the examination by the specialist dogs is explained. Kate and Gerry are in the swimming pool in the garden with the twins. Contrary to all expectations, they allow us access to their house in a very natural way.

Eddie goes immediately to the lounge. He comes to a stop in front of a wicker armchair on which is lying Madeleine's small pink soft toy, which Kate was never without in the early days of the investigation. Nowadays, she wears a rosary and a green ribbon around her neck. Eddie barks to let us know that he has detected an odour: the soft toy has been in contact with a body.

The soft toy and all the clothes from the house are placed into boxes specially made to preserve evidence. These objects are then conveyed to the decontaminated premises. They are placed on the ground, a good distance apart for the dogs to examine.

At 8pm, Tavares de Almeida calls me to let me know that Mark Harrison requires another place because this one is not sufficiently clean.

- How do I find a place at this kind of time?

- Sort it out!

Julio Barroso offers us the new sports hall in Lagos which, finally, meets the required standards. The objects are once again laid out on the ground and the dogs can start. Eddie alerts us to a strong cadaver odour on some of Kate's clothes, but the CSI dog doesn't detect the slightest trace of blood.

EDDIE AND KEELA AT ROBERT MURAT'S HOUSE.

Robert Murat's residence and the adjacent grounds are gone over with a fine-tooth comb in their turn. Mark Harrison, rigorously professional, has planned to devote three days to this job. This seems long to us. We want to limit the duration of this operation to avoid having the media besiege the premises. Mark agrees not to prolong the search any longer than is necessary, and manages to finish it in two days.

PJ, GNR, Civil Defence: dozens of men are mobilised. They have to work their way through the jungle that's invaded the land all round the house - Murat will not recognise his garden any more once the investigators have been through. The ground is examined with radar, centimetre by centimetre, by a specialist from Aveiro university. In vain: the dogs detect nothing. No evidence is found anywhere within the area examined. All the same, the radar reveals that Murat's house is built over an ancient Roman villa.

EXAMINATION OF THE VEHICLES

Not having been able to find an available garage in Lagos, we appeal to the mayor of Portimão, Manuel da Luz. In this case as in others before, the police have been able to count on the practical support of the mayor's office.

Finally, on August 6th, in the unoccupied floors of an underground car park, opposite the PJ's offices, the inspection of the vehicles takes place. To be examined are those of Robert Murat, Michaela, Sergey Malinka, Luiz Antonio, the McCann couple, and one that Russell O'Brien may have used. Driven by the investigators, the cars are parked in the reserved areas, doors closed and windows raised, with a space of 10 metres from one to another to avoid contamination. According to planned procedure, Eddie goes in first; Keela will be brought in if necessary.

In the immense underground car park, Martin commands Eddie to begin the examination. The dog then intensively sniffs each of the first three cars, at tyre level, the side doors and the boot, then all round. When he gets close to the fourth, the McCanns' Renault, he becomes agitated, raises his nose while running around, as if he is trying to locate the source of the odour he has detected. Martin tells him to stop running around and concentrate on the search. Finally, he starts to growl, bark and wanting to bite the bottom of the driver's door and the boot. The odour is coming from inside. The PJ's experts examine the vehicle for hours with the help of Keela. At dawn, traces of human blood are found in places indicated by the female dog: the key and the boot. The harvested samples are packed, then sent to a forensic laboratory in Birmingham, Great Britain.

Eddie did not hesitate for a moment. He was only interested in the McCanns' automobile. No other attracted his attention or provoked any reaction whatsoever on his part. So, why would certain people want to minimise the evidence produced by this method?

Later, I am brought the witness statement of a neighbour, according to whom, the McCanns left their car boot open all the time. For Gerry's brother-in-law, the bad smell was explained by the fact that the McCanns transported their bins in it. As for the blood, it had been left by a piece of meat fallen out of a shopping bag. Kate's cousin explained that the unpleasant smells were due to the little ones' dirty nappies.

None of that stands up to scrutiny faced with the reactions of these dogs, who are thoroughly trained to detect only blood and cadaver odours.

HARVESTING OF THE SAMPLES DERIVED FROM THE SPECIALIST DOGS' INSPECTIONS.

So that the items of evidence might constitute admissible proof, the harvesting and packing must conform to the rules avoiding all risk of deterioration and contamination. It is experts from our police forensic laboratory who carry out the harvesting. The minuscule traces cannot be gathered in situ, so the tiling is gently lifted out before being transferred to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Birmingham. Photos bear witness to every stage of the operation. For added security, it is the expert responsible for the collection who takes them to FSS on the morning of August 7th. The choice of this laboratory is not insignificant. Apart from their use of cutting-edge technologies - LCN (Low Copy Number) a DNA identification test, used particularly when only microscopic samples are available -, the results, whatever they might be will not be able to be contested by the British since it's one of their most reliable laboratories. All other items of evidence gathered - the keys to the McCanns' car, hair and traces of blood found in the boot - are also sent to England.

INITIAL CONCLUSIONS

English and Portuguese police get together to analyse the results of Eddie and Keela's searches.

- What we can deduce at this stage is that only the McCanns are implicated. The dogs did not detect blood or cadaver odour other than with them.

- From now on we have the certainty that there was a body behind the sofa before being taken into the parents' bedroom.

- If the blood found behind the sofa is that of the little girl, we can assume that she died there.

- That could explain why the sofa was pushed up against the curtains.

- In Madeleine's bedroom and on her bed, there was no cadaver odour.

- On the other hand, the odour on the soft toy indicates that she was holding it when she died....

These conclusions do not, for the moment, constitute proof. If the laboratory results are positive, and only in that case, we will have our proof.

Madeleine McCann: Trial Over Prohibition to Sell Gonçalo Amaral's Book Starts On December 11th In Lisbon

http://www.mccannfiles.com/id232.html

05 December 2009, 07:40

Thanks to Astro for translation

Lisboa, 05 Dec (Lusa) – On the 11th of December, the Civil Court of Lisbon starts the trial over the injunction that forbids the sale of the book "Maddie – The Truth About the Lie", about the disappearance of the child in 2007, written by Gonçalo Amaral.

During the sessions scheduled for the 11th, the 14th and the 16th of December, at the 7th Section of the Civil Court of Lisbon, the former Polícia Judiciária inspector's defence will present its opposition to the argumentation of the McCann family, that was the basis for the temporary injunction that was granted on the 9th of September.

Kate and Gerry McCann, represented by lawyer Isabel Duarte, allege that the book and the video that was based on it, divulge Gonçalo Amaral's thesis, which they consider unsustainable, of Maddie's parents' involvement in her disappearance.

(Published in The McCann Files 5th December 2009)

12 Reasons To Re-open Madeleine McCann's Case

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Gerry McCann: The Dogs Are Unreliable? Not according to police forces and courts all over the world!

This is from chapter 16 of Gonçalo Amaral's book, "The Truth Of The Lie." It is verifiable simply by going to any search engine and looking up the cases specifically mentioned.


THE ENGLISH SPECIALIST DOG TEAM

The heat is scorching on this thirtieth day of July 2007 when two Springer Spaniels, Eddie and Keela, get off the British Airways plane, accompanied by their trainer, Martin Grime. An air-conditioned vehicle is waiting to take them to their accommodation. A vet, who will be on hand during their stay, has been brought in to intervene in case of illness or if the dogs get bitten by a snake. Their mission: to find Madeleine's body and expose those responsible.

Eddie has been involved in a great number of cases, helping the police to resolve a good many riddles, thanks to his sense of smell. Even if the body has been moved, objects the body has touched have been contaminated by its odour, especially porous materials, fabrics, the upholstery in cars, etc. And that odour, Eddie knows how to recognise out of a thousand.

Keela, a scenes of crime specialist, is capable of locating particles of blood even after a place has been cleaned with chemical products or bleach. Sometimes, the residues are so microscopic they are missed by the instruments of the forensic police, as sophicticated as they are, and it's impossible to harvest them without taking all of what they are on.

Eddie is always the first to be brought onto a site. Once he has discerned the odour that he knows so well, it's Keela's turn to go into action, on the lookout for the slightest whiff of blood. The simultaneous presence of the two elements in a given place - blood and cavaver odours - is taken to indicate that a body has been there and that it's probably there that the death occurred.

The dogs' CV is impressive. Besides collaborating in hundreds of investigations, they passed the practical tests brilliantly at the FBI's "Body Farm," the only place in the world where human cadavers are used to simulate homicide scenarios and concealment of bodies.

Amongst the most media-covered cases, which they contributed to resolving, is that of the disappearance in Northern Ireland of Attracta Harron, who was last seen when she was returning home on foot, after having been to church. All searches carried out by the police were unsuccessful. The main suspect's car having been totally burnt out in a mysterious fire, couldn't be examined. They called in Eddie, who examined the charred remains of the vehicle and immediately picked out the characteristic odour. Human tissue was found amongst the debris, the DNA of which corresponded to the missing woman. Later, the dog indicated the place - close to a river - where the victim's body had been abandoned. At the home of the suspect, where the police were searching for incriminating evidence, Eddie identified cadaver odour in one of the bedrooms. The man confessed to having killed the woman then moving her body to the banks of the river.

The case of Amanda Edwards, reported missing, is also very impressive. The police, who conducted a search of her ex-partner's home, found small bloodstains there, but no trace of a body. The dog, who was brought in for the examination of the man''s vehicle, alerted to cadaver odour on the tools stored in the boot (a shovel, a level and a compactor). The police went to the building site where the suspect had worked a few days before and discovered the body, buried in a garage. The murderer had made efficient use of his tools to carry out his task.

It's also thanks to the help of the dogs that the case of Charlotte Pinkley, a missing British woman, who had been imprisoned by her ex-partner, was resolved. The police requested the help of the specialist dog team to try to find the young woman's body. Eddie picked out a place where the abductor had provisionally left his victim. In the surrounding area, the investigators found the button from a dress that had belonged to Charlotte. That clue exposed the murderer, who ended up showing the police the place where he had hidden the body.

More recently, it's Eddie who helps to find a body buried under a flagstone at the former orphanage, Haut-de-la-Garenne, in Jersey, setting for a terrible case of paedophilia and child murder.*

The achievements of the dog detectives are the result of a very long apprenticeship. It all starts with the selection of the best puppies when they are only a few months old. The most talented breed for this unusual "profession," is the Springer Spaniel. The trainer, Martin Grime, and his pupils undergo aptitude tests every year in order to obtain certificates proving their capability. In Great Britain, the police have no hesitation in calling in the specialist dog teams to assist in certain criminal investigations. Their skills are nowadays recognised by journalists, police and courts all over the world.

* Note: I would just add this addendum to the information about the Haut-de-la-Garenne case. Eddie can detect cadaver odour where a corpse has just rested and been moved. The fact that Eddie alerted to an area at the childrens' home and no body was found, means only that at some point a body was probably in that place. Look at some of the other cases, where Eddie alerted to the odour he is trained to detect, but there was no body in situ.