Madeleine McCann: L'Enquête Interdite - The Truth of The Lie - Chapter 18

PRELIMINARY RESULTS.

PREPARATION FOR THE INTERROGATIONS.

Analyses of the residues collected following the visit by the dogs is entrusted to the English Forensic Science Service laboratory. To avoid any leaks of information, Stuart Prior, a senior officer with Leicestershire police, is responsible for liaison between the laboratory and José Freitas of Scotland Yard. The latter, who is with us, in Portimão, is passing on any relevant reports.

We confidently wait for the evaluation reports from FSS. A few days after the samples are sent, we are informed that the DNA of the blood found in the boot of the McCanns' car shows a significant match - 50% - with Gerald's, which means that it is definitely the blood of one of his children. We telephone the public minister to pass on this initial result and wait for the follow-up to the analyses and definite conclusions But the laboratory takes its time.

At the beginning of September, shortly before the McCann couple are placed under investigation, Superintendent Stuart Prior travels to Portimão to present the first of the two preliminary reports from the laboratory and to discuss the progress of the investigation.

At a meeting in our office, with the Portuguese and the English investigation team, Stuart expresses his disappointment over the test results. This is where the saga of the FSS reports begins. We read the part of the report dealing with the traces of blood lifted from the floor of apartment 5A, from behind the sofa and in the boot of the McCanns' car
and we don’t agree with Stuart’s disappointment We talk about blood traces because the CSI dog is trained to find only that bodily fluid. The reports that support that decision are clear: the CSI dog was used to detect human blood. Low Copy Number, the technique used to determine the DNA of the samples, does not identify the nature of the bodily fluid they are derived from. But we know it's definitely traces of blood and not other bodily fluids since the CSI dog is trained to detect only human blood.

In the first case, the laboratory considers that the result of the analysis is inconclusive because the samples gathered provide very little information when the DNA comes from more than one person. But all the confirmed DNA components match with the corresponding components in Madeleine’s DNA profile!.

As for the second case, after an explanation about the DNA components in Madeleine's genetic profile, it concludes that 15 out of 19 markers in Madeleine's profile are present in the sample examined. Only 4 short of 100% reliability. The FSS specialists qualify the results as, "complex," and state that these 15 markers are not enough to conclude with certainty that it's definitely Madeleine's DNA profile, especially as Low Copy Number picked out a total of 37 in the sample. That means that at least three individuals contributed to this result.

But there was more in this first preliminary report. In the same report, the scientist went further and explained that in the profiles of many of the lab experts, elements from the DNA profile of Madeleine are present. This means that a major part of the DNA profile of any given person can be built by three donors. That is understandable. Two questions arose immediately. The first one: what good is a DNA profile in terms of criminal evidence, if it can be the combination of three or more donors? Another question was simple: why did the DNA profile from those three donors contribute to Madeleine’s DNA profile and not to that of any other person, like the scientist who carried out the test? But the surprises from the preliminary reports were not to end there.

On the very day that interrogation of the McCann couple starts, a second preliminary report reaches us. Contrary to the first report, it accords more importance to the DNA profile of the blood lifted from the floor of the apartment. In that sample, the DNA came from more than one donor, but the confirmed DNA components match the corresponding components of Madeleine's DNA profile.

As for the samples lifted from the boot of the car, there is no further mention of the 15 markers, as if they had never existed.

Suddenly, light was starting to be cast on the issue:either this LCN technique is not reliable or it's simply much easier to explain the presence of Madeleine's DNA in the apartment than in the boot of a car hired 24 days after her disappearance.

At our insistence, Stuart contacts the FSS and asks them if they think the Portuguese are idiots. We hear him saying: "With a lot less than that, we would have already arrested someone in England." I look at my colleagues and see that they are as stupified as I am. In fact, in Portugal, it's not so easy to arrest someone. We explain to Stuart that the McCanns interrogations would not result in detention. According to Portuguese law, the crimes of concealment of a corpse and simulating an abduction are not liable to remanding in custody.

WHAT THE LABORATORY REPORTS BRING TO LIGHT

The preliminary results from FSS were enlightening in a way, and confirmed the information given by the EVRD (Enhanced Victim Recovery Dog) and the CSI dog.

- The CSI dog, Keela, signaled the presence of human blood where Eddie, the EVRD dog, marked the presence of cadaver odour - on the floor tiles behind the sofa in the lounge, on the key and in the boot of the Renault Scenic that was used by the McCanns from May 27th onwards.

- the bodily fluids, according to the FSS, contain markers from Madeleine's DNA profile.

These elements do not constitute concrete proof but simply clues to be added to those we already possess. In itself, the definition of a DNA profile from LCN is not considered as evidence in a criminal investigation. In his report, the English scientist says that he cannot give answers to the following questions: when was the DNA deposited? In what way? What bodily fluid does the DNA come from? Has a crime been committed?

The scientific evidence is not enough and it has to be accompanied by other types of material, documented and testimonial evidence. It is only in this way that the entire puzzle can be reconstructed and certainties can be achieved, for the material truth to be established.

The FSS has still not provided the result of the technical analysis of the hair found in the boot of the car. Once more, Stuart has to contact the laboratory. Nothing has been done. We want to know two things: if the hair is indeed Madeleine's, and if it comes from a living or a dead person. The FSS can only answer the first question. English colleagues present at the meeting raise the possibility of the hair being sent to other European laboratories which have the resources to clear up the second point for us: hair from a living or a dead person. But the FSS does not seem to want to part with the hair. They claim that using a colour comparison test they can establish if the hair belongs to Madeleine and in a second stage, identify the DNA profile. None of that will happen. We never find out if the hair was Madeleine's or her parents' or her brother's or her sister's, even though the laboratory has the DNA profiles of each member of the family.

Let's remember: it is totally logical to find Madeleine's DNA in the home, but absolutely not in a car rented more than twenty days after her disappearance.

FINGERPRINTS ON THE WINDOW

One afternoon, we drive to apartment 5A at the Ocean Club. I am accompanied by Guilhermino Encarnação, the indefatigable Polícia Judiciária Director from Faro, who is following every step of the investigation, with daily trips to Portimão. José Freitas of Scotland Yard is accompanied by Stuart Prior, to whom we explain the theory of an accident. According to Encarnação, the child's death must have resulted from a fall behind the sofa, where the dogs marked the odours of cadaver and blood. The theory is simple and based on evidence in our possession. The parents would have pushed the sofa away from the window as a safety precaution because the window opened easily and it was situated, remember, three metres above the outside pavement. When Gerald went to the apartment at around 9pm to check on his children, used the toilet and then left, Madeleine might have woken up. Hearing her father's voice coming from the street outside, she may have tried to reach the window by climbing on the sofa and could have fallen behind it. Stuart indicates that he understands and agrees with the possibility. He takes this opportunity to ask if any fingerprints were found on that window or on any others, particularly on the one in Madeleine's bedroom.

Initially, we don't understand why he is asking this question, since he has seen our report. He should know that fingerprints were discovered with the lophoscopic* analysis carried out on the night of May 3rd and the following day. The results are in the report. Why is he asking about them now? We respond evasively, "Nothing conclusive."

However, on the glass, on the handle and on the right-hand frame of Madeleine's bedroom window, we had lifted five fingerprints - three from a middle finger and two from an index finger - all from a left hand, identified as belonging to Kate McCann.

The technicians who examined the apartment did not place any great importance on the identification of the fingerprints. In fact, in the absence of obvious signs of assault or of a crime - like signs of a struggle, traces of blood or the presence of a corpse -, the technicians proceed to the kind of examination that is carried out in a burglary case. They forget that fingerprints discovered in a particular place, even if they belong to an occupant of the premises, can be of fundamental importance for the progress of the investigation and constitute valuable evidence, even material proof.

The window in question is the one that Kate Healy states she found open to the left, with the curtains fluttering, when she discovered that her daughter was missing. On the window, there were no signs of a break-in or of gloves. It had been cleaned the day before, May 2nd, by an Ocean Club employee, and the only fingerprints found were Kate's. The position of the fingerprints indicate that the window had been opened to the left, as Kate Healy stated: "the window was fully open to the left." There is no doubt that somebody opened that window on the evening of May 3rd and the only fingerprints found on it were those of Kate Healy. The manager of the Ocean Club's crèche, who went to the apartment after the alarm was raised, remarked that, "the window was partially open to the left," confirming Kate's earlier statement.

We prefer not to discuss this with Stuart Prior: we have the impression that he is only here to accompany the McCanns' interrogations and to prevent their detention. His concern on that subject is obvious.

Two pieces of information reach us, which we interpret as diversionary tactics with the obvious purpose of diverting suspicion from the McCanns. The first concerns the couple's active involvement in a campaign to set up an international alert system for missing children. The Policia Judiciaria is approached indirectly through the Department of Criminal Investigation in Portimão and the Directorate in Faro to participate and support the launch of the campaign. We tell the messenger that we are not the appropriate recipients of this enquiry, that the request should be sent to a higher authority, the National Director of the PJ or the Portuguese government.

The second piece of information comes to us from further afield: Beirut, capital of The Lebanon. Imagine this: an Arab shiekh possessed a video of an orgy by other shiekhs on which Madeleine was allegedly recognisable. He would be prepared to hand over this recording to the British Ambassador in exchange for a sum of money to be sent to his lawyer. Once again, we are stupified.

- Can you believe it? A sheikh ready to denounce his mates for a few sous...Arab royalty is so strapped for cash?

- I don't understand: haven't all of our English colleagues who have been working with us already concluded that Madeleine may have died in the apartment?

- What more does Stuart need?

- I don't know what he needs. In any case, it was him who told us he had arrested people in England for a lot less.

After the interrogations, I had the opportunity to ask an English colleague about the outcome of the story. Did that video exist? What was on it? He responded that it had come to him in February or March 2007, well before Madeleine's disappearance...It would be interesting to know who, deliberately and with the sole object of scuppering the investigation, went and unearthed a video from before Madeleine's disappearance, to make people believe she was still alive...

THE McCANNS' INTERROGATIONS.
THE NERVOUS ENGLISH POLICE.

As the date for the interrogations approached, Stuart became more and more nervous and he was a constant presence. He wanted to be kept up to date on the smallest details. We explain to him what is going to happen, notably the sending of a rogatory letter to the English authorities to request specialist dog team examinations of the homes of the McCanns and their holiday friends, in Great Britain, to check if any object or piece of clothing retained any cadaver odour or blood. We ask Stuart to request that these examinations be carried out by the specialist dog team that we already know, with the same EVRD and CSI dogs, Eddie and Keela and with Stuart's agreement, we send him the letter.

We don't know what clothes the McCann couple and their friends were wearing on the evening of May 3rd. At the start of the investigation, we had requested all photos and videos from that day and from the other days, but all we received were daytime photos; it was as if in the evenings and during the now famous "Tapas," dinners, no photos had been taken despite the fact that some of the diners had cameras with them. The lack of night time photos was something we have never understood. Within the rogatory letter, we ask the English authorities to seize photos and videos taken throughout the holiday at the Ocean Club.

In the McCanns' home, we would like to check a medical monitoring chart recording Madeleine's problems with sleeping. This chart had been mentioned by Kate and according to her mother, it was only used until April 2006, when Madeleine regained a regular sleep pattern and slept right through every night without interruption. We also wish to pick up the diary that Kate started to keep from May 3rd. Finally, we would like to question the group of friends again, to confront them about their contradictions concerning their system for checking the children during the evening dinners at the Ocean Club.

At the same time, we hope to obtain a response to our request to the British authorities, made through the liaison officer in Portugal on the first day of the investigation, for information on the McCann family and their friends. Given the fact that we have, so far, received no response to this enquiry, we will make the request for the desired information through the rogatory letter. We ask Stuart about this matter and he says that, "they are in the process of gathering that information."

However, a preliminary response comes to us about the McCanns' financial situation: astonishingly, there are no records of the McCanns holding any credit or debit cards.

- That's quite simply not possible!

- They don't have credit cards? However, we know that they hold at least two: one which they used to pay for the flights, and a second which was used for the hire of the Renault Scénic.

- The English need to sort themselves out. We need the McCanns' financial statements from the start of their holiday in Portugal.

It's obvious we're going to have a hard time getting the required details: with such information, it would not be difficult to follow the McCanns' trail, to know about their expenses, their movements, and to draw conclusions from what came up. Meanwhile, Stuart makes another request. He says it would be a good idea to send two rogatory letters: one for the friends and another for the McCann couple. We don't understand this one.

FRAUD OR ABUSE OF TRUST?

During a more relaxed moment at one of these meetings, I come out with an ill-judged comment. Inopportune or undiplomatic, but this is my reasoning: thinking about the kinds of crime that may have been committed if the McCanns were involved in their daughter's disappearance, something occurs to me. If they were involved in one way or another, then a crime of fraud or abuse of trust is a possibility concerning the fund that was set up to finance the search for Madeleine. Donations have reached nearly 3 million Euros.

If such a crime exists, Portugal would not have jurisdiction to investigate and try it. The fund being legally registered in England, it would be our English colleagues who would deal with the case. Our English colleagues then realise a hard reality: the strong possibility that they would have a crime to investigate in their own country, with the McCAnn couple as the main suspects: a prospect that does not seem to appeal to them. I notice a sudden pallor in the faces of those British people present.


(*Note: analysis of difficult latent prints - latent from the Latin latere, to hide, to lie.)

19 Madeleine McCann: L'Enquête Interdite - The Truth of The Lie - Chapter 19

TOWARDS PLACING THE McCANN COUPLE UNDER INVESTIGATION.

In Portugal, the criminal process is comprised of three phases: the investigation, the instruction and the trial. Under the direction and control of the Public Minister, the investigation is led by the criminal police, who enjoy total practical and tactical independence. The police officers may make a declaration of arguido status as they think fit. This status confers on a suspect a set of rights and responsibilities. One of the fundamental principles of our code of criminal procedure is that of non-self-incrimination: it is illegal for information given by a witness to later be used against him and to implicate him in a crime. The right of silence, therefore, allows him to avoid giving incriminating details. But the status heaps opprobrium on those who become arguido, in spite of the principle of presumption of innocence.

With due regard to procedural regulations and faced with evidence of the concealment of a corpse and simulation of an abduction - partially confirmed by laboratory analyses -, we decide to question the McCanns before their imminent return to England. This decision is taken with full knowledge of the facts by the investigators, the Public Minister and the Director of the Judiciary Police. (PJ)

On September 3rd, the police officer Ricardo Paiva, responsible for relations with the couple, goes to their residence to inform them of the date and time of the interview. Kate reacts quite badly: she is worried about what her parents are going to think and about the reaction of the press. She even states that the Portuguese police, "is submitting to pressure on the part of its government to resolve the case as soon as possible." English and Portuguese investigators actively prepare the interviews and draw up a list of questions focusing particularly on the course of events on the night of the disappearance. The suspects must clarify for us the various contradictions raised in the course of their previous statements.

THE INTERROGATIONS

The decision to declare Kate and Gerald McCann arguidos was taken. Notification had already reached them. On September 6th, a little before 3pm, Kate arrives at the DIC in Portimão, accompanied by her press officer. Her lawyer has already arrived and the interview room is ready. The crowd has been building up outside for a while. Going through the door, Kate laughs as she says that this media scrum is good for tourism.

Her lawyer requests that she be heard as a witness and not interrogated as an arguida. We don't agree with what, to us, constitutes a backward step. Some officers involved in the investigation seem to be hoping for the miracle of a confession. We remain skeptical.

We finally decide to question her as a witness, but not to pose questions on the events after 5.30pm, the time at which she returned to the apartment with her three children. From that time on, everything she said could be held against her. According to the principle of non-incrimination, she would then have to be declared arguida since we have sufficient evidence to be able to do that.

On the subject of the press officer who was accompanying her everywhere, including to the police station, the opinion was unanimous: she had nothing to do with anything here.

- I have never heard of the role of the press officer in the penal code!...Perhaps it's the subject of the next amendment, or else it's a new method.

- Drop it. She is only going to sit near the police officers on duty and wait.

Her presence in the offices of the police during the interrogations seems unacceptable to me, useless and prejudicial to the investigation. However, she was to stay there from start to finish.

At 8 o'clock, we have a break to have something to eat, then the interrogation continues until 11pm. At the end of that day, we have learned nothing new with the exception of two details: Kate now remembers - five months after the event - that on the evening of May 3rd, Gerald was wearing jeans and trainers. Another detail came back to her: the time that David Payne had spent at her apartment. Gerald had spoken of 30 minutes, Kate now insists that he was only there for 30 seconds. We have never understood why it was so important to minimise this period of time. When Kate leaves the premises, we make sure that all necessary precautions have been taken to ensure her safety.

ARGUIDOS

On September 7th at 11am, Kate Healy is declared an arguida on the basis of strong presumptions of the crime of concealing a body and simulating an abduction. She states her name and gives her address as her home in Great Britain. Taking advantage of the right accorded to her by her status, she remains silent and does not answer questions concerning the circumstances of her daughter's death, on May 3rd 2007, in the Ocean Club apartment.

At 4pm, it's Gerald's turn to be officially declared an arguido, for the same reasons. In contrast to his wife, he seems disposed to answer questions. He begins by vehemently denying any responsibility whatsoever in his daughter's disappearance. As far as the time that David Payne spent with Kate and her children is concerned, he now says that the 30 minutes represents the total time that it took David Payne, after having left Gerry on the court at 6.30pm, to drop in and see Kate, go to his apartment to get changed and get back dressed to play tennis. But the court was reserved from 6 to 7pm. Why did David go back at 7pm, ready to play, when he knew there wasn't time?

SEAN AND AMELIE'S HEAVY SLEEPING.

Questioned about the twins, who on the night of the tragedy, stayed deeply asleep in spite of the comings and goings, the shouts and the arrival of the police, Gerald admits having been astonished himself that they did not wake up in the middle of such a racket. To begin with, he even thought that the children had been drugged - by the abductor, you understand -, but he only spoke to the police about it later.

From the start, the way the children slept had seemed suspicious to us and we wanted to have screening tests carried out: nevertheless, faced with the media coverage of the case, we had put this off, worried about exposing the parents to trial by the public. This was a mistake.

It is only three months later that Kate speaks about this possibility, suggesting that the police proceed with these tests. The National Institute of Forensic Medicine let's us know that before proceeding with this screening, they would need to know what type of sedative they were looking for. There are hundreds of them on the market. While the grandfather stated on television that Kate gave Calpol to the children to get them to sleep, several months have gone by since May 3rd. Kate, who is a doctor, must be aware that the time for obtaining convincing results has largely passed.

It is known that the sudden withdrawal of sedatives can cause sleep problems. If Kate's journal is to be believed, the twins suffered from problems of that nature during the days following their sister's disappearance.

Madeleine McCann: The Truth of The Lie Chapter 20

AN IRISH FAMILY IN A STATE OF SHOCK.

The McCann couple return to Great Britain after more than four months spent in the Algarve. It's an almost triumphant return. The media coverage is such that you'd think you were witnessing the liberation of hostages held for years in a far-off country. Gerald McCann is shown on television carrying his son, as he descends from the plane. The child's head is against Gerald's left shoulder and his arms dangling by his sides. Gerald walks across the tarmac, still holding his son closely against himself.

In Ireland, the Smiths are watching the BBC news, which is broadcasting the event. For them, it's a shock: that person, they recognise him. That way of carrying his child, that way of walking...It's the man they saw at around 10pm on May 3rd, with a little girl, who seemed to be deeply asleep, in his arms.

This image, brings back with a jolt, that of the man they encountered in the streets of Vila da Luz, on the evening of Madeleine's disappearance. It's as if the scene is repeating itself ....Mr Smith thinking he's hallucinating, sees the same report on other channels, ITV and Sky News. From that moment, he is sure: the man they came across that night was Gerald McCann. Of that there is very little doubt. Upset by the implications of this discovery, he alerts the police and waits to be called back by those in charge of the investigation.

When we receive this information, at the end of September, we think we finally have the piece that will allow us to complete the puzzle. Because of this, we may be able to reconstruct the course of events on that cold night of May 3rd in Vila da Luz. We have a better understanding of why Jane Tanner, "sent," the alleged abductor in the opposite direction to that taken by the man seen by the Smith family. Suspicion had to be diverted from Gerald who - if he was the guilty party - would have taken this route: leaving apartment 5A, the individual who was carrying the child, did not go east, towards Murat's house, but west in the direction of the beach.

We decide to get the Smiths back to the Algarve, for a formal identification of Gerry McCann - by means of televised images, certainly - direct confrontation being impossible - and possibly proceed to a reconstruction of the events of the night of May 3rd. The National Director of the Judiciary police agrees, the process is set in motion, all the details are sorted out; all that remains is to choose the hotel where they will be put up. But the Smiths were never to come back to Portugal. After my departure, the PJ were to change their minds. They asked the Irish police to proceed with interviewing the witness. That decision was to seriously delay the process since the Smiths were not interviewed until several months later. Meanwhile, rumours were to circulate and people not involved with the investigation would be made aware of the existence of this witness; someone allegedly even sought out contact with the family, without its being known to what end.

Madeleine McCann: L'Enquête Interdite - The Truth of The Lie - Chapter 21

THE DISMISSAL OF THE HEAD OF AN INVESTIGATION: CONSPIRACY OR SUBMISSION?

From The Portuguese Marquis of Pombal to Lord Chatam of The British Government (1759) It is time to end it. If my predecessors were spineless enough to grant you everything you wanted, I will never accord to you any more than I owe you . This is my final decision and you will have to get used to it.

Manuel João Paulo Rocha, official and author born in Estombar on June 24th 1856, relates in his work "Monografia de Lagos - As Forcas Militares de Lagos nas Guerras da Restauracao e Peninsular e nas pugnas pela liberdade," (Lagos Monograph - Military forces in the restoration and peninsular wars and in the struggle for freedom.) how a minister of the realm valiantly defended the interests of his country against foreign powers. This involved naval battles between an English fleet and a few French naval ships in Portuguese territorial waters between Lagos and the Cape of St Vincent (which in 1759 included the area of Vila da Luz). The Portuguese government, considering this affront an attack on its sovereignty, had immediately demanded explanations from the British government.

The attitude of those in power at that time contrasts with our present leadership. Nowadays, relations between independent and sovereign states must respect standards of democracy, which weren't in force at that time. Besides, Portugal and Great Britain are now members of the European Union and have participated in the development of a constitutional treaty. The firing of the head of a criminal investigation is just a minor event in relations between nations: the man is a simple official who has to submit to the decisions of his superiors. This is no reason for hiding the grounds for this dismissal and its damaging effects on the progress of the investigation. This untimely removal seems to have been decided not because of incompetence, but for one moment of carelessness.

FROM COLLABORATION TO PANIC

From the beginning, the parents - perhaps because they doubted the competence of the Portuguese police - were set on having Leicestershire police - and not Scotland Yard - involved in the investigation. It is important to stress that the professionalism of the English police is not in question; actually a bonus for the investigation, their intervention on the ground did not conflict in any way with Portuguese national sovereignty. On the contrary, it lies within the framework of international cooperation between police forces. Faced with the globalisation of crime, that cooperation becomes essential. Portugal already works actively with other countries, whether at the level of justice, of the Public Ministry, of the juiciary police or the whole spectrum of police services. In the Algarve for example, every year, dozens even thousands of rogatory commissions, border controls, various transmissions of information are affected. Between May and September, the judiciary police - through the intermediary of the Portimão DIC, however tied up they were with the Madeleine case - actively collaborated with Spanish, English and French police forces on various cases (international trafficking of narcotics and money laundering, fraud, seizure of hundreds of kilos of cocaine) and affected a good many arrests. We are well aware of what international cooperation between police forces is about. It is based on reciprocity, trust and respect, especially when the investigation is led jointly by two countries, with foreign investigators on the ground.

During the couple's interrogation, at the beginning of September, the two police forces defined a common strategy: to go foward with the search for evidence concerning the crimes of concealment of a corpse and simulation of abduction; actively pursue investigations to find the body; get to the bottom of the causes of death. We realised very quickly that it was not going to be like that. After the interrogations and the McCanns' return to England, the British police lost interest in the case, giving the impression that their work was finished. We were left to pursue the investigation alone. It would seem that the reasons for their presence in our country were linked more to the McCann couple than to Madeleine. The child disappeared in Portugal, not in Great Britain. For what reasons did they depart immediately after the McCanns? A very hard, yet crucial question to answer.

AN ASTONISHING SHIFT

After the Moroccan lead fizzled out, new elements to the investigation, sometimes brought by the McCanns themselves, continued to feed the theory of abduction, while the British police knew perfectly well we needed to be looking for a body.

On the last weekend in September, I decide to leave Portimão to go to my virtually abandoned house in the Algarvian east. Inès, my four-year-old daughter, goes with me. She loves the countryside, being in touch with nature. If she is asked which she prefers, living with her grand-parents in Faro or with her mother in Portimão, the answer is immediate: with my daddy. Not so much because of her father as attachment to the house where she was born. Here we are then, on the way to her paradise. We stop on the way to eat, and arrive at our destination late in the evening. After finding her toys, she falls asleep very quickly in her canopied bed. The sun is barely up when she is already about, ready to visit our neighbours, a retired couple who have found a peaceful refuge here. Throughout the day, she goes back knocking on their door, even when they are out. She spends Saturday steeped in her own world and her games.

For my part, I stay in touch with the DIC in Portmão and the investigators in charge of the case. I listen to the news when, once again - things being as they are, this is becoming the norm - I am speechless: a member of the McCanns' staff states that they are in possession of a report that invalidates the work of the EVRD and the CSI dogs: the absence of a body supposedly does not allow the results to be confirmed. Would that be the report from the experts at FSS? How did the McCanns get access to that confidential information? This is hardly reassuring and risks compromising the progress of the investigation.

This statement makes us think of the challenge thrown at the Portuguese police, "Find the body and prove that Madeleine is dead," to which we could have replied with, "Show us Madeleine and prove that she is not dead."

During the night of Saturday into Sunday, our dog does not stop barking. I go out but I see nothing and nobody that could get him so worked up. He then howls by the door. I don't know what's going on, but being on my own with Inès, I decide to stay close to her indoors and not let my anxiety show. The next day, I still don't understand what could have upset the dog so much. Inès, anxious, wants at all costs to see the neighbours, but they haven't returned.

On Monday August 1st, I go back to work at DIC in Portimão, where two pieces of news are waiting for me: officials at Buckingham Palace have received an email informing them that a little girl - Madeleine - has disappeared from a hotel complex situated....in Lisbon! The second was brought to us by an English tourist - Kate - on holiday in Praia da Luz: she allegedly saw a stranger hanging about near the Baptista supermarket in the vicinity of the Ocean Club.

This is where we're at: reduced to receiving that type of tip-off and chasing a phantom, that of the imaginary abductor. This Monday gets off to a bad start, with its load of irritation and preoccupations.

BAD RESPONSE TO A JOURNALIST

In the evening, while driving, I receive an unidentified phone call, the last straw...A journalist asks me if I want to comment on the subject of the email. Whether due to the difficult day, the raging storm or the fact of driving through rain...I lose my cool. I reply, irritably, without thinking, that the message is of no interest and that it would be better for the English police to occupy themselves with the Portuguese investigation. Even as I am hanging up, I realise that I have not only made a blunder, but I have been unfair towards the majority of the British police who have helped us throughout these difficult months. I drive on, certain that I have triggered a diplomatic incident with predictable consequences: as soon as these simple words are made public, I risk not being able to continue to direct the Portimão Department of Criminal Investigation.

At last, I get home. It's when I visit my neighbours that I finally understand the reason for my dog's agitation the previous night. Their house has been burgled. The thieves left behind lots of valuable objects but snatched a briefcase containing personal documents. Deep down, I can't help thinking that perhaps they mistook their target.

The next morning, the storm and the rain have still not let up. A bad sign...Accompanied by Guilhermino Encarnação, I have to go to Huelva, in Spain, to attend the commemorative ceremonies for national police day. Before meeting up with him, I see on the front page of the newspaper the phrase I came out with the night before, transformed into a long interview. When I meet Guilhermino, I let him know about my outburst. He immediately tries to contact the national director to explain to him what happened, but can't get hold of him.

We arrive at Huelva Cathedral in time to hear the homily from the bishop of the diocese, dedicated to - this is no coincidence - the role of the police and the protection of children. A choir starts singing Charles Gounod's Ave Maria. Finally a moment of respite in the middle of the storm raging outside. We then go on to the Iberian-American Forum at La Rabida, close to the convent of the same name. It is in this monastry that Christopher Columbus stayed, waiting for financial backing from the Catholic Queen Isabelle before undertaking his voyage of discovery to the New World.

On the way, Guilhermino receives a phone call from the public prosecutor, from then on responsible for the direction of the investigation. Having taken part the night before in a broadcast by a British television channel, where he was questioned about the lack of professionalism by the Portuguese police, he is calling to assure us of his support. Knowing our work pretty well, he is outraged by the injustice of such words and hints that, much to the contrary, we would deserve praise and thanks.

THE DISMISSAL: END OF A CAMPAIGN OF DEFAMATION AND INSULTS.

At the Forum, where we attend the ceremony presided over by the government representative for the province of Huelva, I meet some friends and acquintances. It is shortly after 2pm, in the middle of lunch, that I receive the news. The National Director has sent a fax to the Portimão DIC: in it, he stipulates the end of my assignment and requests my return to Faro. Today, October 2nd, is my 48th birthday; this is not the present I wanted, but one that I was expecting. Basically, this brings to an end a campaign of defamation and insults that I have been the target of since the start of the case, the whole thing orchestrated and amplified by the British media. The strategy is simple: call into question the investigation and those who lead it and, at the same time, present Portugal as a Third-World country with a legal system and police force worthy of the Middle Ages.

According to a British correspondent, the Prime Minister personally called Stuart Prior to ask for confirmation of my dismissal. Why would the head of the British government be interested in a lowly Portuguese official? We refuse to believe the rumours going around, according to which the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon was dependent on my dismissal. Rumours, of course, nothing more. I cannot help but think that for the first time in its history, the judiciary police has dismissed a simple official from his post because of external pressure. Those wise words addressed by the Marquis of Pombal to his English ally in the year of Our Lord 1759 seem far removed: "I will never accord to you any more than I owe you."

Madeleine McCann: private detectives are looking for an Australian woman who looks like Victoria Beckham.- Updated

Once again, the mainstream media seems to be going overboard with the latest piece if vital information that has turned up over two years after Madeleine McCann disappeared from her parents' holiday apartment.

It seems to be mainly tabloids in the UK, The Sun and The Daily Mail, for example, that are running with this story in a big way. Apparently, a 41 year-old man noticed a woman waiting outside a bar, he spoke briefly to her and two years later, what she said was significant enough for him to contact the McCanns' private detectives, who are now actively seeking this woman. She's small and thin, so maybe she was thin enough to squeeze through the very narrow opening of the window in the Praia da Luz apartment. And maybe she then passed the drugged or sleeping Madeleine to the George Harrison lookalike.

Hang about, though...no, she can't be "Bundleman," because she's too short. But then if her resemblance to Victoria Beckham extends to wearing those skyscraper shoes when she's trundling around a Portuguese holiday resort, helping to abduct a child with the world and its dog checking every few minutes, then it might just be her! Now, they just need to find someone who heard the tell-tale clickety-clack of stilettos on the cobbles as a dark-haired person clopped off towards the marina, carrying a child. She's the right age, according to at least one of Jane Tanner's descriptions and there are so many e-fit portraits by now, the odds are that even I would look like one of them. So, she must.

From Sky News:

"One of the witnesses, a 41-year-old British man, had a brief conversation with her.

Mr Mitchell would not reveal what she said for operational reasons, but said it was "potentially significant" to the little girl's disappearance.

He said the woman was then seen having a "heated conversation" with another person in Spanish in a nearby bar. She then wandered off towards a hospital."

She wandered off towards a hospital? Something implied here, of course, even though the hospital may just have been one of many buildings in the general direction in which the woman was going. Or maybe they could make it out clearly through the trees, like apartment 5A from the Tapas bar.

"Mr Edgar said the witnesses had not come forward earlier for "personal reasons" and denied that they were drunk, even though they had visited a number of bars on the night.

He said the conversation took place about 72 hours after Madeleine disappeared - and it was possible that Madeleine could have been taken to Barcelona by boat in that time."

So, "personal reasons," prevented this man from potentially helping to find a little nearly four-year-old who was missing? His wife might wonder why he was approaching strange women in a bar after doing a Spanish pub crawl?

Anyway, this woman, this Victoria Beckham look-a-likie, who has an Australian or New Zealand accent, and who could, let's face it, be anywhere in the world, is being sought by the private detectives. If she exists, then she possibly won't remember the man who wasn't drunk who approached her outside a bar when she was waiting for someone, or maybe even a cab, that didn't turn up.

Update: from SOS Madeleine McCann

"The two men, who, oddly, have waited two years to make themselves known, do not agree about the origin of the accent, but they state that the woman also speaks Spanish or Catalan and described her as being 1.57m tall, thin, aged between 30 and 35. When they met her she was dressed in jeans and a pastel-coloured top.

According to the witnesses, the woman was in the marina of Barcelona's Olympic Port near the "El Rey de las Gambas," bar, where she confused one of the men with the person she was waiting for - The conversation she had with the witness convinced the detectives that she could bring important information to the case.

(Details of the conversation will be in tomorrow's edition of the Portuguese newspaper "24 Horas.")

A spokesperson for the Australian Federal Police has already confirmed that the authorities, "are not investigating these allegations at this stage," adding that the British authorities have made no request for assistance.

At the beginning of this week, the police for the Leicestershire area where Kate and Gerry McCann live, revealed having spent more that 880,00 Euros on the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, a sum which does not include expenses directly incurred by the British government.

The disclosure of this alleged new lead follows the announcement in Portugal that Gonçalo Amaral was thought to be in the process of bringing together new details that call into question the theory of abduction, details that could allow the case to be re-opened. Gonçalo Amaral was the coordinator of the PJ's Portimao Department of Criminal Investigation who led the investigation into Maddie's disappearance and who ended up being thrown off the case after Madeleine's parents were made "arguidos," in September 2007."

Duarte Levy

06/08/09

SOS Madeleine McCann

Gonçalo Amaral has a new book out.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Gonçalo Amaral, ex-coordinator of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, is launching a new book with a compilation of texts on crime in Portugal, written by several specialists on the subject. It is Gonçalo Amaral himself who has edited the compilation, "The Law and Criminality," which brings together opinions, proposals, solutions and analyses written by judges, lawyers, prosecutors, a coordinator of criminal investigations, a journalist and a psychologist

Amongst the authors of "The Law and Criminality," is: Rui Rangel (judge), Maria dos Santos Ribeiro (judge), Maria Clara Oliveira (Prosecutor), Maria Daniela Seixas (Assistant Prosecutor), Paulo Sargento (psychologist and university professor), Hernâni Carvalgo (journalist and psychologist), and the lawyer Manuel Augusto Meireis.

The former PJ coordinator, responsible for the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance and author of "Maddie, l’enquête interdite" (the title of the French version available in Belgium and France), will present his new book, "The Law and Criminality," on June 25 th at the Alethea bookshop in Lisbon.



SOS Madeleine McCann blog: Wednesday June 17th 2009

Maddie Blues: From Libération, Reported by Duarte Levy on SOS Madeleine McCann Blog

The Portuguese police officer, who suspected the parents, saw himself removed from the investigation into the disappearance of the little English girl. A sanction he finds hard to stomach.

A portrait of Gonçalo Amaral by Marie Piquemal with photo by Edouard Caupeil - published today by "Libération."

No case has ever disturbed his sleep. Not even the mysterious disappearance of little Maddie, still missing after two years. At the time he was an inspector of police at Portimao, in the south of Portugal, a few kilometres from the seaside resort of Praia da Luz where the McCann family were on holiday. When the little three-year-old girl disappeared into thin air on the night of May 3rd 2007,Gonçalo Amaral found himself in the front line, responsible for the search operations, propelled onto the covers of magazines, next to the pretty little face of the missing child.

The image of the pretty little blonde girl and her soft toy went round the world. The media coverage, on an unprecedented scale, was cleverly orchestrated by the parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and their press officer, engaged from the word go.

In this whirlwind of emotions and images, commissioner Amaral quickly emerged as a key figure in the drama, a controversial figure. From the start, the British tabloids rambled on about his paunchy physique, his flashy Prada glasses, his penchant for alcohol and afternoon naps.

When the cop began to suspect the parents of "simulating an abduction," and, "concealing the body," the press let rip. We meet him two years later, in a Paris hotel, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. He has changed. Less belly and less hair. He has also shaved off his moustache, worthy of a St Tropez gendarme. Looking restricted in his suit and tie, eyes a bit wild beneath his bushy eyebrows, he seems jaded, foggy from the two to four packs of Marlboro he smokes each day. "The Maddie case has changed him. He has become sad," says his wife Sofia, who never lets him out of her sight.

Enthusiasm for two. Amaral is in Paris for the release of his book in France, which has sold 180,00 copies in Portugal. Since the Maddie case, he has left the police. On October 2nd 2007, after five months with no news of the little English girl, he was thrown off the investigation by his boss. Upset, he took early retirement at age 48. "I wasn't withdrawn from the case for incompetence, but for one moment of letting myself go," he insists. Meaning for having criticised the British police, accusing them of being manipulated by the McCann clan. The Portuguese police right away annoyed the McCann family. Lacking professionalism, some were to say, with Anglo-Saxon arrogance. Different methods of working others would come back with. Between the two sides, the gap widens, lack of understanding and bitterness taking precedence over the exchange. The practice of secrecy surrounding the Portuguese investigation clashes with the excessive media coverage orchestrated by the English. Commissioner Amaral stands his ground: "Why take the risk of publishing the photo of that child from the beginning, to the whole world? That's going to panic any kidnapper who could kill the child.

We need to work in silence, at least to begin with." Misunderstanding then becomes trench warfare when, the summer following the disappearance, the Portuguese investigators put forward the hypothesis of a simulation. And if the parents were responsible? They officially suspect the McCanns, by placing them under the specific status of arguidos (official suspects): inflamed, British public opinion does not accept it. They say it's an outrage.

It's too much. Commissioner Amaral snaps. Today, he explains himself. This is his theory, rough and ready: the parents are responsible for the death of their daughter.

Domestic accident, abuse or murder. Whatever. "The politically correct theory of abduction does not stand up," he states, "The child is dead." He sets out his proof around two seminal points. First of all, the traces of blood marked by the sniffer dogs in the bedroom of the holiday apartment and in the car rented by the McCanns more than 20 days after the child's disappearance.

"The analyses show that the blood partly corresponds to Madeleine McCann's DNA profile." Then, there are statistics. "Crimes against children, including sexual, are committed in 84% of cases by the parents." For him, no shadow of a doubt. We close the book as we opened it, with no certainty.

Why did this man write that book? Conviction or obsession? Belligerence or perseverance? Making loads of money through sensationalism? He sweeps aside the critics with a wave of his hand. "It's a question of values, of justice and truth." Now, the ex-cop wants the case to be reopened to, "find Maddie's body." And to restore the image of the Portuguese police.

His too. The ex-inspector was charged with making a false declaration in another case concerning a missing child, whose body has never been found. Leonor Cipriano, mother of Joana (aged 8) who was sentenced to sixteen years in prison, states that she confessed to the murder of her daughter after having been beaten by police officers under Amaral's command, whom he allegedly later covered for.

Without batting an eyelid, he sees this as another attempt to unsettle. Gonçalo Amaral is one of those people of steely intelligence, who surprises, intimidates and disconcerts. No room, however tiny, for compassion, emotion or any kind of pretence. For him, Maddie's parents (and their friends) are guilty of having left their children alone in their bedroom, without supervision, while they were having dinner at a resort restaurant.

Without pity, he lets loose: "They should be punished for that. The duty of parents is to look after their children. Do you think that a three-year-old kid is safe, alone in a bedroom? Anything could happen to her: an accident with electricity or whatever, without even talking about abduction." Gonçalo Amaral himself has three daughters from two marriages. "He is a very relaxed father. With him, the children have their own way," his wife Sofia states. In his book, Amaral refers to his youngest daughter Inès, the same age as Maddie. "A brunette version."

Not a word, on the other hand, of his childhood in the north of Lisbon, with his five brothers and sisters, his mother at home and his father a workman. He doesn't relate either how he entered public service at the age of 14 as an ordinary police officer, "because at that time, it was possible."

A career cultivated through evening classes, to climb through the ranks to the post of coordinator of the Department of Criminal Investigation with the Portimao PJ. Apart from the Maddie case, he has dealt with other delicate cases, notably linked to drug trafficking. "That work was his life. Stopping was a huge wrench," his wife says. He tried hard to pick himself up through politics. He wanted to put himself up for the municipal elections in October 2009, for the Social Democrat Party (centre-right group). The president of the party refused, "for fear of mixing politics with the law." So, he has started on another book, about other police matters. There is still a page to turn.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

June 1st 2009

The Barbarians before the court.: the kidnapping, torture and murder of Ilan Halimi

Paris Match: 29th April 2009

Three years after the events, Youssouf Fofana and his 26 alleged accomplices, who called themselves the "gang of Barbarians," are going to be tried by the Paris Court of Assizes for Minors. The "facts." Words cannot describe the atrocities they committed in February 2006, against the young Ilan Halimi, ensnared, captured, and held hostage for 24 days before being burned alive then abandoned in a wood. Three weeks of horror, during which the young 23 year-old Jew suffered totally. Starting with humiliation and torture - of which he still bore the red marks on his body - but also the cold - he was naked in an unheated cellar in the middle of winter -, and hunger.

Ilan Halimi had been lured, on 20th January 2006, by a young girl who had approached him three days earlier in the phone shop on the Boulevard Voltaire in Paris, where he was doing temporary work.

The following day, the young man's family received a ransom demand: 450,000 Euros. According to statements from members of the "gang," Ilan had been chosen, "because they (Jews) are loaded with dough." So, they reckoned they could make a pile, assuming that their target would be supported by his community. But the police, who took control of the situation, according to the victim's mother, advised against payment of the ransom.

"Allah will conquer."

Ilan was finally found near death on February 13th near a Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois station, in Essonne. He would die in the ambulance taking him to hospital. His torturers, two of whom were minors at the time, are being tried for "kidnapping, illegal confinement by an organised gang with acts of torture and barbarism, murder." Others for "non-assistance to a person in danger." The aggravating circumstance of the offences, "by reason of the victim's belonging to an ethnicity, a race or a particular religion," which was not initially upheld by the prosecutor, finally was. The minors are going to request a hearing in camera, which must be allowed to them because of their age at the time of the events.

Ilan's mother, who has written a book entitled, "24 Hours," now shouts out her anger. First of all against the investigators in charge of the case when her son was being held - his death could have been avoided according to her -, but also now against the probable hearing in camera. "It's the law of silence that killed her son. It would be intolerable if it is once again imposed at the assizes," stated Maitre Francis Szpiner, her lawyer.

At the opening of the trial, at around 10.40am, Youssouf Fofana, his head shaved and his beard clipped, dressed in a white jacket, took on a huge grin. Pointing his finger towards the sky, he shouted: "Allah will conquer."

Ynet News 29/05/09

Youssouf Fofana tells Paris court 'you know very well it was me' during presentation of forensic evidence; says he set young Jew alight.

Youssouf Fofana, the presumed leader of the "gang of barbarians", confessed on Friday to killing French Jew Ilan Halimi in 2006 after detaining and torturing him for three weeks, said a source familiar with the case. The trial is being held behind closed doors at a juvenile court in Paris because two of the remaining 26 defendants were minors at the time of the murder.

According to the source, who was present at the hearing, Fofana said "Yes, I did it; you know very well that it was me" during the presentation of the findings of two forensic experts who had examined Halimi's body.

AFP further quoted the source as saying that Fofana admitted to pouring a flammable liquid on Halimi and then setting him alight.

The prosecution described 28-year-old Fofana, whose parents came to France from Ivory Coast, as a "perverted megalomaniac" who instructed accomplices to target Jews for ransom kidnappings "because they are loaded with dough (money)".

French authorities found 23-year-old Halimi naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris on Feb. 13, 2006.

He died on the way to the hospital and was later buried in Israel.

After the murder, Fofana fled to Ivory Coast, where he made death threats by telephone to Halimi’s father and girlfriend. He was extradited to France on March 4, 2006 and was charged with premeditated murder, demanding ransom, and acts of torture and barbarism. He faces a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The murder horrified France and came to symbolize a rise in anti-Semitic violence in its poor, multi-ethnic suburbs.

Reuters, AP contributed to the report

Madeleine McCann - Gonçalo Amaral wiretapped.

29/05/2009

The Maddie case is untouchable for the PGR and the PJ.

By Duarte Levy

SOS Madeleine McCann

Português - Español

"Many people linked to the Maddie case and the investigation carried out in Portugal, were or still are, the target of wiretapping," a Home Office source told 24 Horas in response to statements from the former coordinator of the Portimao Department of Criminal Investigation (DIC)

Gonçalo Amaral has said that he is, "under surveillance," and he knows that, "his telephone is tapped." The former head of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, "doesn't know by whom he is under surveillance," but he states that his email has been the target of constant intrusion and that some of that information has reached the McCanns.

"At the moment, there is information that should be looked into about the locality of and what could have happened to the little girl's body," Amaral said, accusing the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) and the PJ's director of making the Maddie case untouchable, where, "nobody is doing anything," allowing, "people outside of the law and the Portuguese police to investigate crimes which are the responsibility of the PJ."

Gonçalo Amaral who has, so far, not received any notification about the legal action for defamation announced by the McCann couple, confirms that he is going to take action against Kate and Gerry McCann and prove that there, "was an agreement between the couple and the English police during the investigation, which affected the final outcome of the investigation.

Maddie's parents want to prevent the English publication of the book, "Maddie L'enquête interdite," in which the former coordinator of the PJ reveals many details of the investigation which he led in Praia da Luz, where he maintains that Madeleine died. The couple's decision was allegedly taken as a consequence of the broadcasting of the documentary based on this book, that TVI (Portuguese TV Channel) screened and which is available on the internet, subtitled in English.

Amaral accuses the MP of having "trapped," him in the Leonor Cipriano case.

"I have no doubt that there was a trap on the part of the Public Minister which then led him to say, during the trial, that I made a false statement, because I should have been made an arguido from the start, the very beginning, like my colleagues," Gonçalo Amaral said on TVI (Video here) about the fact of being sentenced during the Leonor Cipriano trial, confirming that he will appeal the sentence.

The ex-coordinator, speaking about his most recent experience of justice in Portugal, gave the example of two complaints presented about the same report prepared by an organisation in the Joana Cipriano case: the complaint presented by Amaral a year ago is on hold, while the second, presented by the other side, already has arguidos.

(Also in 24 Horas)

Madeleine McCann: Detectives "clown around," in Germany.

http://duartelevyen.wordpress.com/

The two former English policemen that were hired by the McCann couple, returned to England yesterday without having questioned the alleged “suspect” in the disappearance of Madeleine, after the German authorities classified their presence in Aachen as “a clown act”, accusing them of “trying to pressure the local judicial authorities”, using contacts among the British diplomatic representatives in Germany.

The private investigators – who have no police authority whatsoever in England or abroad – wanted to question Raymond Hewlett, a British citizen aged 64 who lived in Tavira when Maddie disappeared in Praia da Luz, and who has served prison sentences in three paedophilia cases that involved teenagers.

The prosecutor in Aachen, in statements to 24horas, confirmed that the English authorities manifested interest in questioning Hewlett about two old cases but that “the official request doesn’t even mention the Maddie case and does not request the individual’s detention”.

For the German authorities, everything that has been published in the English tabloids, “has been nothing but pure speculation” about a sad disappearance case.

“We can’t prevent the British citizen from leaving the hospital, as soon as that is possible in clinical terms, and especially if he wishes to do so”, said Robert Deller, in an interview to German television before he spoke to 24horas.
“We are willing to cooperate with the Portuguese and English authorities but these gentlemen (the detectives) have no authority whatsoever and we’ll be glad when they leave the hospital door. Them, and the journalists that they brought along”, a spokesman for the police in Aachen confessed to 24horas.

Hewlett, who had been admitted to the University Clinic in Aachen for cancer treatment, refused to answer to the McCanns’ investigators but told 24horas that on the day that Maddie disappeared, he was camped in Fuzeta, the place where he took part in the monthly market and antiques sale. The English citizen, who was never involved in paedophilia cases in our country, was denounced to the McCanns’ investigators by an equally British couple, Alan and Cindy Thompson – who are known to authorities for equally having pretended that they knew where Bin Laden’s hideout was located.

24horas tried to contact Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley, the two former policemen that form “Alpha Investigations Group”, but they refused to comment on why they consider the English man a suspect, after stating that Maddie “was not abducted by a paedophile” or transported on board of any boat.

In Portugal, a source at the PJ in Portimão confirmed that the information that has been published about the case is being “followed attentively” but that neither the McCann couple nor their investigators “delivered or communicated any new data” to the PJ.

Duarte Levy also in 24horas

I find it very odd that the McCanns are focusing on Madeleine's having been abducted by a paedophile and yet, at the same time, asserting that they believe she has not come to serious harm. What do they think paedophiles do with small children? Treat little girls like princesses?

If Madeleine had been abducted by a paedophile, then under the Children and Young Persons Act of 1933, the McCanns should be prosecuted. This act does not lay down any minimum age at which children may be left alone, but it does say that if children come to serious harm, the parents/carers can be prosecuted. Three children, under the age of four, were left alone for significant periods of time, while their parents were at some distance,dining. The very fact that Madeleine is no longer where she should be, in her own home, going to school, playing with friends, means that she has come to serious harm. So, why are her parents still out there, hiring Toytown pretendy cops and issuing an ultimatum to a "person of interest," which they have no legal right to do?

Clarence Mitchell has stated, quite pompously in my opinion, that Raymond Hewlett should speak to the McCanns' detectives in order to clear his name. Well, maybe if Kate McCann sets an example, I would be more in favour of the Hewlett interview. Maybe Clarence could persuade Kate McCann that it is incumbent upon her to answer those 48 questions the PJ put to her way back in September 2007, to which she responded with, "No comment."

Ten European Union countries Join Forces For International Day For Missing Children.

24/05/2009

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Tomorrow, 10 out of 27 countries will have activated 116000.

From tomorrow, Monday, with support from France, the number of European countries which have already adopted and put the European line for missing children into service, becomes 10, with 116000 the free, dedicated phone number planned for receiving urgent calls in cases of disappearance. Portugal was the second country after Hungary, to apply a European Union directive that dates from 2002, but which is still not respected by the 17 remaining member countries, amongst them the United Kingdom, the country with the greatest number of disappearances.

Simultaneously, in the ten counties - Portugal, Belgium, Greece, The Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and France, a campaign of publicity and awareness starts tomorrow to raise awareness of the possibilities of the service: through 116000 the parents of a missing child can file a report, the public can more easily offer information and the missing child himself can ask for help.

The new campaign of awareness, which in Portugal is the responsibility of the Instituto de Apoio à Criança (Help For Children Institute) coincides with the International Day For Missing Children and is officially launched tomorrow at the Gulbenkian* in the presence of the Minister for Internal Administration and the Head of the National Representation for the European Union.

Operational 24 hours a day, the number is free and the calls are received by trained professionals, belonging to governmental organisations - in Portugal the service is represented by the Intituto de Apoio à Criança (Help For Children Institute) - which works at a national and international level with police and judicial bodies.

The most recent case of missing children in Europe - including the media case of Madeleine McCann - have led the European Institutions to insist that the 17 remaining members adopt the service as a matter of urgency. Based on the European strategy for the Rights of The Child, the European Commission introduced the 116000 number in February 2007 as the European phone number for missing children, a decision finalised by a directive, indicating to member States the line to follow for the emergency service to be adopted throughout the European Union.

Duarte Levy

(* Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência: The Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) was founded and is supported by the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG) to carry on biomedical research and education. The IGC operates as a "host institution", offering excellent facilities and services to foreign and Portuguese research groups or individual scientists, in particular to young post-doctoral fellows who are expected to develop their projects and form their groups in complete autonomy.)

Madeleine McCann - the new suspect wasn't in Praia da Luz and he has an alibi.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

23/05/09

Raymond Hewlett, a British man aged 64, named yesterday as being the new suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance, "wasn't in Praia da Luz," on May 3rd 2007 and, "has an alibi," which witnesses have confirmed with the police.

Information confirmed today by a PJ officer, adding that the English team of investigators who were sent to Portugal immediately following Maddie's disappearance, "ruled the individual out as a suspect for various reason, his profile amongst other things," this same officer told 24 Horas, indicating that "all known cases involving the supposed suspect concern young people and not children of Madeleine's age.

Yesterday, Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, admitted that the couple were aware of suspicions regarding the individual, but he stressed that the British man, whose identity has been revealed by the media, is only, "a person of interest in the investigation," which two ex-police officers are in the process of carrying out in this case.

The British man - who lived in Portugal, but mostly in Tavira, for a few years - is currently in hospital in Germany, but he told an English newspaper that on the day of Maddie's disappearance he was at a fair* in Fuzeta. Contacted by 24 Horas, the Fuzeta town council confirmed that there are two fairs a month whose dates tally with the suspect's statements: the monthly fair that is held on the first Thursday of each month and which, in May was held on Thursday May 3rd, the day of the disappearance, and the second-hand fair that is on the first Sunday of each month.

In 2007, the vendors were not obliged to identify themselves to the fair organisers, an omission rectified this year by the town council. The employee who handles contact with the vendors is still the same, but the PJ have not questioned him. 24 Horas tried to contact him, but he is on leave.

The disclosure of this new suspect - who does not match any of the descriptions given up to the present time, by witnesses to the supposed abduction - was done following the accusation by an English couple, Alan and Cindy Thompson, who personally knew Raymond and his history, but had never contacted the police. The two ex-police officers, who replaced the Metodo 3 Spaniards - described by relatives of the McCanns as incompetent and very expensive - continue to insist that the little girl was not kidnapped by any paedophile ring or taken away by boat.

Duarte Levy (Also in 24 Horas)

* In Portugal, in general, the fair takes place once a month and is only clothing, in contrast to the food market which is every day.

Madeleine McCann: the couple who found the latest suspect, Raymond Hewlett, also found Bin Laden!

Well, it's the big news today! It's all over the newspapers and all over the net. Raymond Hewlett, a convicted British paedophile is the latest suspect in the Madeleine McCann case. Mr Hewlett, at the time Madeleine disappeared, was reportedly: an hour's drive from Praia da Luz; 70 miles away; 30 miles away; on a campsite near the Spanish border. It's a bit like 120 yards, 50 yards, 15 yards, in our own back garden!

Daily Mirror 22/05/09

"Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, said yesterday:" We are aware of Raymond Hewlett and the claims that have been made."

"The investigators searching for Madeleine are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding Mr Hewlett and these claims. Hewlett is an individual of interest to the investigation."

Sky News 22/05/09

"The alarm was raised about Hewlett by a couple who met him while on holiday in Portugal, the Daily Mirror said.

When Alan and Cindy Thompson met the convict, he was living with his wife and six children in a converted Dodge truck travelling from campsite to campsite.

Mr Thompson told the Mirror: "Hewlett befriended us but kept quiet about his terrible past.

"We were mortified and disgusted to discover the truth."

"They also described a conversation in which Hewlett said he was approached by some "Gipsy tourists" offering to buy his daughter just before Madeleine went missing.

Mrs Thompson said: "We didn't think too much of this at the time."

This same couple were traveling in Pakistan in 1999, when they discovered the hideout of Osama Bin Laden. And they didn't think too much of that at the time, either, until they got back home.

Prison Planet

"In the spring of 1999, A British couple called Alan and Cindy Thompson were driving through Pakistan, in the very area that they're now talking about as being bin Laden's location. After driving for 11 hours on dirt roads they came to a checkpoint and were detained by armed Pakistani guards.

The next day the Dawn newspaper, one of the biggest newspapers in Pakistan, reported that this couple had found the secret lair of Osama bin Laden.

More interesting is that they reported that this location had been visited by US consulate officers, British, Australian, and Swiss ambassadors, and that it was guarded by a team of US commandoes.

After the couple were picked up by the British embassy they were invited to a garden party where all the British ambassadors and aid workers were bragging that they were stationed in the same area as bin Laden's secret hideout.

After the couple got back home to England they saw a newspaper article calling for the capture of bin Laden. This was a few months before Clinton signed an executive order mandating bin Laden to be killed on sight.

The couple immediately contacted Scotland Yard in London; they contacted the FBI and the Pentagon and in every case got nothing. No response, no request for an interview. Nothing."

When the Portuguese police archived the Madeleine McCann case, the McCann family were given access to the case files. Those case files contain annexes, some of which have details of paedophiles who were residing in the Algarve at the time of Madeleine's disappearance, either permanently or on a temporary basis. Those details were not made public.

Martin Brunt: Sky News blog

"Hewlett fits the profile of potential suspects: he is a paedophile and he was living in Portugal at the time.

Quite a few like him were traced and eliminated at the time, but there appears to be some confusion over what the Portuguese authorities did about him. They were aware of him at some stage."

Joana Morais 22/05/09

"Hewlett was not on a list of known paedophiles in the Algarve compiled by British and Portuguese police at the time Madeleine vanished from an apartment in Praia da Luz.

His presence in Portugal came to light when a couple who befriended him became suspicious of his past. Alan and Cindy Thompson met Hewlett around December 2006.

He was living in a travellers' camp in Tavira, about 70 miles from Praia da Luz, with his wife Monica and their six children."

Source: This is London 22/05/09

Madeleine McCann - Those Pyjamas absolutely fascinate me! Updated.

The McCanns, above, holding up a pair of pyjamas, which they said were identical to the ones Maddie was wearing when she disappeared. Note the shape of the legs and also the general colour of them, which looks to me like white, with a floral pattern. Pink? Not as far as I can make out.

This is a sketch of the abductor carrying a child that was based on one of Jane Tanner's descriptions and which she agreed was accurate.

Those pyjamas have changed somewhat! For a start, do you think, looking at the shape of the garments the McCanns are showing, that the legs would not only come down to the ankles, but be so tight? I don't think so! Those pyjamas are the style that would come just over the knees or to mid-calf and the loose, baggy shape would mean that with a child being carried in the manner shown, the bottoms would ride up the legs. Also, the flowers have gone quite pink!

Here is part of Jane Tanner's comments on the Panorama programme of November 19th 2007.



"JANE: Well I could see.. I could tell it was a child, and I could see the feet and... feet and the bottom of the pyjamas, and I just thought that child's not got any shoes on because you could see the feet, and it was quite a cold night in Portugal in May it's not actually that warm, and I'd got a big jumper on, and I can remember thinking oh that parent is not a particularly good parent, they've not wrapped them up.

BILTON: And could you tell if it was a boy or a girl?

JANE: Only because the pyjamas had a pinky aspect to them so you presume a girl. It was actually quite cold."

So, Jane Tanner could see the feet and the bottom of the pyjamas? How? They would have been at least half-way up the legs, if not right up over the knees according to how the child was allegedly being carried. And pink? No, those pyjama bottoms were white with a floral pattern that doesn't look at all pink.

In Jane Tanner's original statement, she said she had seen, "..a man carrying a bundle that could have been a child." So, if she had seen feet and pyjama bottoms so clearly, how could she not be sure at that time that the bundle was a child? She actually repeats this on the Pamorama programme, in which she also describes the child's feet and pyjamas. Some kind of contradiction there?

"Describing what she witnessed on the fateful evening of May 3, Miss Tanner said: "Never in a million years did I think it could have been Madeleine. But I didn't know then.

"I just saw a person walk along the top of the road with what could have been a child in his arms."

What could have been child in his arms, but with bare feet and wearing pyjamas with a pinky aspect, so you knew it was a girl? Right! Easy to mistake a bundle of laundry or whatever for a child! Since when, though, did a bundle with bare feet poking out of pyjamas, that was obviously a girl, look like anything other than a human being?

Just one of the many puzzling contradictions about this case, but for me, it stands out as one of the most basic questions. How did the "bundleman," become the man carrying a child wearing Maddie's pyjamas? How could Jane Tanner perceive a "pinky," aspect under street lights? How come neither Jez Wilkins nor Gerry McCann saw this man? How come neither of the men saw Jane Tanner, who says she walked right past them on the pavement?

Yes, those pyjamas fascinate me! There is also, of course, the changing description of the abductor himself and what he was wearing!

Update Wednesday May 20th.

Thanks to a comment from Anonymous, I have an article in which John McCann, Gerry's brother, talks about Maddie's pyjamas.

Sydney Morning Herald May 15th 2007

"That was terrible for them," says John McCann, Mr McCann's elder brother, who has also travelled to Portugal to help search for his niece.

"Kate dressed Amelie in her sister's pyjamas and the baby said: 'Maddy's jammies. Where is Maddy?' But she is too young to understand. And how do you explain? All we know is that Madeleine needs her family. She loves us, we love her. It is time for her to come home."

Now, if your precious child had just disappeared, would you dress another child in her pyjamas? Very strange behaviour. And which pyjamas is he talking about? The Eeyore jammies? A different set of jammies? The McCanns are holding up a set of pyjamas, which are supposed to be "like," the ones Maddie was wearing when she disappeared. I think it was assumed that those belonged to Amélie. If you look at the size of the pyjamas the McCanns are holding up and observe how small Amélie was in May 2007, would those pyjamas have fitted her?

I don't think those pyjamas would have fitted Amélie: too big. So, did Maddie have more than one pair of Eeyore pyjamas? If M&S had sent another pair to the McCanns, that's not them, because you can see by the stretched neck that those have been washed quite a few times. OK, so if they have been washed quite a few times, they must be quite old and therefore would have tripped little Amélie up at the time they were bought.

So, those must be Maddie's pyjamas and if Maddie was wearing pyjamas just like those when she disappeared, then she must have had more than one pair of the exact same pyjamas on holiday. Or what?

Breaking News From Portuguese TVI - Gonçalo Amaral to sue the McCanns.

Gonçalo Amaral to sue the McCanns.

Thanks to Joana Morais for the information and the image, which I reproduce here.

http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/

Update: From AFP Lisbon

LISBON (AFP) — The police officer who formerly led the Portuguese investigation into the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann said he would counter sue the missing girl's parents Sunday.

"My lawyers are working on the case and we will take the McCann couple to court and perhaps other people for defamation, slanderous denunciations and false statements," said Goncalo Amaral on Portuguese TVI television.

"We will see who has spoken the truth in this case" into the disappearance of Madeleine in the south of Portugal in May 2007, he added.

On Saturday, Kate and Gerry McCann announced they were to take action for defamation over comments made in the media by Amaral, who is now retired.

In a statement, the couple said: "We, together with our three children Madeleine, Sean and Amelie, are taking this legal action against Goncalo Amaral over his entirely unfounded and grossly defamatory claims -- made in all types of media, both within Portugal and beyond -- that Madeleine is not only dead, but that we, her parents, were somehow involved in concealing her body."

Portuguese police named Kate and Gerry McCann as "arguidos", or formal suspects, in their daughter's disappearance, in September 2007, but prosecutors announced in July 2008 that they were no longer suspects.

Amaral was removed from the case in October 2007.

Portuguese police have said they are no longer actively investigating the case.

Madeleine, who would now be six years old, went missing from a holiday flat where her family were staying in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

Maddie: The Truth of the Lie English Narration of Portuguese documentary by Gonçalo Amaral

Eighty-year-old priest arrested, peacefully protesting the visit of Barack Obama to Notre Dame College.

This has got to be one of the most shameful acts I have ever seen. Father Norman Weslin was leading a short procession of people. He was carrying a cross and doing nothing other than peacefully protesting the visit of Barack Hussein Obama, who supports partial birth abortion, to a Catholic college. Father Weslin was dragged away. What has happened to the right of free speech in the USA if an eighty-year-old priest can be arrested for carrying a cross at a Catholic college?

"We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable; that all men are
   created equal and independent, that from that equal creation they derive
   rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life,
   and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."


Thomas Jefferson