The McCann Case: what is being hidden from us?

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

11,000 pages of the case file of the, "Maddie case," have been handed over to the press. Since that day, certain members of the British press have been working away at inventing leads, which have already been followed up, trying to depict the Portuguese as incompetent in the eyes of the public for not having followed up all the leads. Is this hunt for the sensational fair or are we being prepared for something else? Something more pernicious? To properly understand our words, you need to know that the three, "arguidos," have until September 20th to ask the police to reopen the investigation. Needless to say, no parent, having been the victim of child abduction, would think of asking the police to stop their investigations! I think we can say, without fear of going wrong that....

• Martin Provencher - whose daughter, Cédrika, was abducted on July 31 2007,
• Piera - whose daughter, Denise, was abducted on September 1st 2004,
• Ithaisa - whose son, Yeremi, was abducted on March 10th 2007,

....would completely fall apart if they were to learn that the police were not continuing with the investigation. But it seems that in the case of the McCann parents, things are different. The parents have already stated that the Portuguese police had done all they could, implying that they were not going to ask the police to continue looking into what had happened!! That shocking decision, if it is accurate - and there is every reason to believe it is - can thus be presented to the public at the risk of shocking them and at the risk of the parents definitely losing all credibility. Also, we are witnessing a media hype of all the leads deemed not to have been followed up by the Portuguese PJ. Clarence Mitchell, is, by turns, astonished and outraged at each new false lead brought up by the press, sending off on the trail of all these false suspects, their famous, "super detectives," who waste their time on leads which they know full well lead nowhere.

The manipulation is to make the public believe that their investigators are more efficient and more reliable that the Portuguese PJ and that that is why the parents are not asking the PJ to continue their investigation but OK for their super-efficient detectives, who are, of course, super-pros, much more efficient than the police. It was said that the new detectives, hired by the parents, let the Belgian police view videos of a young girl resembling Madeleine. That is absolutely false! The McCanns' sleuths learned of the case from the press! No more! They have absolutely nothing to do with this case. All other statements are lies!

I am even going to reveal a secret that no one knows: on the day that the, "Sun," disclosed the videos on its site, the Belgian police had already been advised that the child had been found and was not Madeleine!! So, the detectives lied to their employers, who must indeed be naive. In that case, they should be sacked. It is not normal to keep spending money on detectives who lie, instead of investing in the search for Madeleine. Or else, these words have no other purpose than to pull the wool over the eyes of the public to make them believe that the new detectives are better than the police, thus preparing the public for what we dread: the parents have no intention of asking the PJ to continue searching!!!!

If our judgment is sound, the parents will not be asking the police to continue the enquiry. We wait anxiously for September 20th in the hope that we are wrong. But if our judgment is sound...poor Madeleine. After September 20th, the case file will be able to be reopened by anybody, you or me, who brings new elements to the case. Like the photos for example....

But for the time being, in following up leads already placed under the microscope, publishing e-fit sketches of suspects, who were mostly identified and questioned ages ago, spending so much energy manipulating the media, we have the right to say that in doing so, you are no nearer to finding Madeleine! I recall that the goal was always to find Madeleine (alive or not) not to spend money and energy on leads where the results are already in the case file. Why waste all this time on spent leads instead of searching for Madeleine, because for some time the talk has not been about finding Madeleine, but about protecting the McCanns or about silencing anyone who might speak badly of the parents!! What wasted energy in doing these things, hiring people to search out the most insignificant blog site which spoke badly of the parents....what expense, but Madeleine, what becomes of her in all this?

I can tell you one thing, which is that parents who have lived through the tragedy of an abduction don't care what a blog or site about the tragedy says!!! Only finding the child is important, whatever people think or bloggers write, no?

The truth...nothing but the truth. As we told you, we are going to open up all the details of the case file for you. The comments by the police, the interviews of witnesses and suspects, the facts, the places, the times, the dates etc. Thus, throughout these articles you will see that the so-called new leads are not new and that it's all there in the case file. To keep up and to avoid misunderstanding, bear in mind that the investigators initially followed the theory of abduction before the investigation took a different direction.

Volume 1 - cover sheet.

The first page of the report reveals nothing special. It is the traditional cover sheet for all police reports. The classification of the offence is found here: Abduction. The date of the events is here, 03/05/07, the file number, as well as the squad that intervened, the 4th squad. Finally, in addition to the names of the inspectors, there is a brief run-down of the facts.

Disappearance of a minor. The Praia GNR patrol were informed of the disappearance of a child, sex female, nationality English. According to GNR officers the call was made at 22.40 and the little girl disappeared from a ground floor apartment at the Ocean Club where a family with children was staying. The layout of the apartment comprises two bedrooms, a kitchen, a lounge and a bathroom. The apartment has easy public access. During dinner, the couple visited the children's bedroom several times. During one of these visits, the mother noticed that her daughter wasn't there and raised the alarm in order to find her. Faced with these facts and by higher decision, the PJ's duty team was advised, and they immediately started on various avenues of research.





Volume 1 - Page 2

This is the start of the police report itself. The PJ will identify the parents and give a brief outline of the evening's course of events.

The first part of the document clearly identifies the parents, giving their full names, their dates of birth, their passport numbers, their telephone numbers, as well as their exact address. You will understand that these records cannot be published. No one needs to know the parents' telephone number.

The report continues: The missing minor is identified as Madeleine Beth McCann, born 12/05/2003. In addition to the missing minor, the couple have two other children, twins aged two years. The two children were also in the bedroom where the missing minor, Madeleine, was sleeping. In our conversation with Mr Gerald Patrick McCann, it was possible to establish that: The family had been at the Ocean Club since April 28th 2007 for a week. From 29/04/2007, they began to dine ( he and his wife) at an Ocean Club restaurant while their children remained a few metres from the restaurant, in their bedroom. They had the habit of dining in the said restaurant with friends, three couples. On the date of the events, they got up at 07h30 in the morning and had breakfast in the apartment.

09.00: They left the apartment and left their children at the Ocean Cub crèche where the Ocean Club staff looked after the children until 12.30.

After lunch, towards 14.40, they again placed the children in the said crèche, where they stayed until around 17.00.

Towards 17.30, the parents bathed the children, gave them something to eat and towards 19.30 the three children were put to bed in the same bedroom of the apartment.

At 20.30 the couple headed for the restaurant.

Towards 21.05/21.15 GERALD (the father) went to see the children in their bedroom. He saw the door half-open. He found that strange. He had the idea that he had closed it properly. Nevertheless, he went in and he saw the three children. The shutters were closed.

At 21.20, JANE, a friend, passed close to the apartment, at the side of the building and saw a person with a child in his arms going down the main road. However, she did not recognise this person, or the child. She could only say that the man must have been between 30 and 40 years old and that he had dark hair and light-coloured trousers.

At 21.30, a friend, MAT, only went to the rear of the apartment towards the lounge window. He didn't go in and only saw the twins asleep. He did not notice anything strange.

At 22.00, KATE, the mother, was confronted with the disappearance of MADELEINE BETH MCCANN. She noticed that the window, as well as the shutters, was wide open.

Then, the report, via the Ocean Club's director, identifies the employees on duty. The report also states that the police have a copy of the register of comings and goings of children at the crèche on 03/05/07. The report states that:

It is advisable to report that before the arrival of the police patrol, various people were already in the apartment. People who could have contaminated that space. It is also to be noted that the GNR officers carried out various searches around the apartment in order to locate any missing person. However, these searches were fruitless. A photographic report was done. The parents gave a photo of the minor: MADELEINE BETH MCCANN.

End of part one. The photo of Madeleine given by the parents is intended to show the little girl and to allow clear identification. The photo used is shown below.

Blogger's note: this seems like an odd photo of Madeleine for the McCanns to give the police on the evening of her disappearance. The child in this photo looks nothing like the one in the, "last photo," which was produced for the police 23 days later, the one of Madeleine with Gerry and Amelie by the swimming pool. I seriously doubt that Madeleine could have been identified from that photo.


digg it

The People: Duarte Levy's response about those photos.

Clarification concerning the article in the Sunday newspaper, The People, August 17th 2008.

The information concerning me, published today in The People newspaper, is false. Between August 9th and August 15th, I was contacted by and met with several British journalists (*) at their request, about a witness who claimed to have seen Madeleine McCann in Brussels, and about the article published by me and Paulo Reis about the existence of 24 photos, taken on the the night of May 3rd by tourists who were at the Tapas Bar.

These colleagues asked me for help, because, besides the fact that they don't speak French, they didn't know Brussels, didn't know where or to whom to direct themselves to investigate the case of the witness claiming to have seen Madeleine.

As is the rule between professional colleagues, I met with these journalists and I helped them as much as I could. As is obvious, we spoke about the Madeleine McCann case, on the information published recently on my blog and on my colleague Paulo Reis' blog. We exchanged impressions and comments. I will not repeat the comments from my English colleagues, because private conversations are private conversations - at least for principled people.

So that it is clear, I do not have in my possession, anything which is of interest to the authorities or which might concern the investigation of a crime.

Duarte Levy

(*) – Nick Fagge & Jonathan Buckmaster - Daily Express / Lucy Hagan - The Sun / Julie (?) Daily Mail / Emily Miller - The Mirror / James Millbank - The People (14 and 15 August)

SOS Madeleine McCann 17/08/08

The Madeleine case versus the McCann case. (SOS Madeleine McCann 16/08/08)

"The main revelations after the disclosure of 30,000 pages of the police investigation file in the Madeleine McCann case," Jon Swaine writes in The Telegraph.

Two possibilities: that Jon Swaine hasn't read the pages disclosed by the Portuguese Public Minister, as is the case with a lot of British journalists; that he can't count and so it's important to give him the message that there are effectively just over 30,000 pages in the process, but, for the moment, the Public Minister has only given access to a small part.

A privileged few could possibly have all 30,000 pages, but that is certainly not the case with Jon Swaine.

The last ditch witness statements - as many have called them - were loaded by the British police. This is revealed in the report from Leicestershire police.

"During the interview, he let me refresh my memory by reading the translated version of my original statement to the PJ," Catriona Treasa Sicile Baker, one of the Ocean Club's nannies admitted. She was interviewed twice on April 14th 2008 by officer Gierc of the Leicestershire police - interview recorded on DVD - and her responses were, unsurprisingly, identical to those she gave to the PJ inspectors in Portugal, especially after having been able to, "refresh," her memory.

That is exactly what the British officers did with all the witnesses who had already been interviewed by PJ inspectors in Portugal in the days following Madeleine's disappearance, departing from the principle that the interviews were designed to find possible contradictions and to check the value of the first witness statements. Letting witnesses respond after having refreshed their memory, isn't that loading the results?

"It was after a lead taken up by the MCanns' new detectives that the Belgian police analysed the CCTV video at the KBC bank in Brussels, where a child was confused with Madeleine," writes Correio da Manha about the new detective agency hired by the McCanns...not true. The McCanns learned about the existence of this witness, a Securitas security guard, from the British media. It was The Sun that managed to publish the first images and to provide the couple with the CCTV video from the bank.

The Belgian Federal Police immediately opened an investigation to identify and locate the child and the woman accompanying her, but the disclosure of the images by The Sun and the posters distributed in the area by the Daily Express team let the little girl's father make himself known to the police. The detectives had nothing to do with this story.

It is also interesting to see that Gerry McCann, "was astonished that copies of the investigation file had been given to the media," as he wrote on his blog, on August 14th 2008. The McCanns have two of the best and the most expensive lawyers in the United Kingdom - Angus McBride and Michael Caplan. They hired two of the best and the most expensive Portuguese lawyers: Rogério Alves, former chairman of the Portuguese Bar, and Pinto de Abreu.

In Portugal, it is legal and usual to give the media access to investigations files, at three specific moments: when secrecy of justice is lifted and the case is archived, after the indictment and before the trial, when the trial is concluded.

Any young lawyer could have told the McCanns' British lawyers that once the secrecy of justice was lifted, the media would have access to the files. So, why so surprised? No one would have told the McCanns, then, while they were demanding the lifting of the secrecy of justice every day, that once it was done, the files would also be available to journalists? Were they expecting that only their lawyers and those of Murat would have sole access to the files? Then the couple's Portuguese lawyers did not correctly inform their clients, or else there is something weird about the McCanns' surprise.

The appeal made by Gerry McCann in his last message on his blog is also interesting: "Now that the authorities are no longer looking for Madeleine, we implore all those who gave information to the investigation to contact us at investigation@findmadeleine.com or on + 44 (0) 845 838 4699. We guarantee that all information will be treated with complete confidentiality. You could help us to find Madeleine."

What does he mean, "all information will be treated with complete confidentiality."? The police, British or Portuguese will not be informed? When Metodo3 set up a hotline, Clarence Mitchell was insistent that the new telephone help service was not going to short-circuit the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance by the Portuguese police. "This will, in effect, be a parallel set-up," he said.

"Our own detecives can rapidly follow every potential lead and I would like to stress that all credible information that comes to the hotline is immediately shared with police forces (of the appropriate countries) whether that's Spain, Portugal of North Africa, according to the nature of the information. This is not a sign of loss of confidence. We would like this to be an exercise in collaboration with the police."

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

16/08/08

McCann case: Brian Kennedy and Metodo3 meet with the PJ

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

14/08/08

On October 19th 2007, Alberto Carbas, head of the Anti-Abduction Unit of the Spanish Department of Criminal Investigation, contacted the PJ and asked the inspectors in charge of the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance if they were willing to have a meeting with a representative of Metodo3 and an officer belonging to the Spanish unit.

The purpose of this meeting was to provide the PJ with information held by the detectives. The Spanish police officer stated that Metodo3 had no intention of interfering with the work of the Portuguese police, but only to pass on useful information. At the same meeting. Metodo3 stated that they were not working for the McCanns but for Brian Kennedy.

On November 13th 2007, the meeting took place, in Portimao. Taking part in the meeting were two PJ detectives - Ricardo Paiva and Paulo Ferreira - the director of Metodo3, Francisco Marco, a detective and advisor for the agency, Antonio Jiminez (former head of the Catalogne police Anti-Abduction unit who, later, was arrested in Spain accused of trafficking cocaine) and the millionaire Brian Kennedy.

The two PJ inspectors submitted an account of the meeting containing information exchanged and investigations concerning the leads given by Metodo3.

The report, which is amongst the documents contained on the DVD, indicates that right at the start of the meeting, Brian Kennedy was keen to stress that his intentions were purely charitable, because he felt concerned about cases of child neglect and child abduction. He stated that his concern, in this particular case, was only the truth and nothing but the truth, independently of knowing if the McCanns, their friends or any other person was involved or suspected.

The man hidden in the shadows.

The director of Metodo3 presented a report to the PJ about three situations, connected with Madeleine's disappearance, allegedly received via their hotline. The first concerned an incident that the British media had already referred to, at the end of October 2007: a woman who was babysitting at the Ocean Club, in apartment 5A in August/September 2006, spotted a man, "hidden in the shadows," one Thursday - the same day of the week that Madeleine, aged 4, disappeared," as The Sun wrote on October 31.

According to the newspaper, "the nanny - identified only as M.H. - reported the frightening incident to the police in England after the hunt for Madeleine started in May, but did not speak to the police in Portugal." Clarence Mitchell added that: "This evidence supports what we have always said, that Maddie was taken from her bed by an abductor."

The PJ ruled out this report, because the detectives considered that there was no proof that it was related to Madeleine's disappearance.

The second piece of information was about the alleged existence of a paedophile image on a computer at the home of Sergei Malinka, witnessed by the fiancé of a British woman, four years ago, when he was at Malinka's house. According to this witness, he questioned Malinka on the subject and he explained that the computer belonged to a client and that he would report it later to the authorities.

All of the computers at Malinka's house were seized and examined, but nothing of any relevance or suspicion was found, the PJ report indicates.

Murat's friend seen with Madeleine.

The third piece of information referred to a detailed witness statement, according to the Metodo 3 report, about a woman handing what the witness was convinced was a child, wrapped in a blanket or a sheet, over a fence to a man, next to two parked vehicles, near a town 160 kilometres from the Algarve. The witness, a Portuguese lorry driver, M.G., looked at several photos and picked out Michaela Walczuch, saying that was the one that most resembled the woman he had seen.

The English media also published the story on November 19th 2007, but with different details. "A witness spotted Murat's German girlfriend, Michaela Walczuch, in a car with Maddie, on May 5th, in central Portugal," the Metro wrote. On the same day, the Daily Mail published a similar story: "According to a source, a new witness identified Michaela Walczuch as the woman seen with the missing child, in central Portugal, 160 kilometres from where she disappeared on May 3rd."

As usual, Clarence Mitchell had a few things to say to the media: "We are not going to comment on any line of the investigation except to say that we are encouraged by the fact that our investigators seem to be making progress. Kate and Gerry are not ruling out any possibility."

The Pj studied this incident and questioned the Portuguese lorry driver, but the facts that he described to the police were somewhat different: he saw a woman handing something to a man, over a fence, wrapped in what looked like a blanket. It wasn't heavy, because they did it easily and the fence was around a metre sixty high. Asked if it could have been the body of a child, he responded that nothing he had seen would indicate that.

Questioned also about the positive identification of Michaela Walczuch, according to Metodo 3's report, the witness told the PJ that he couldn't see the woman's face, because he was driving his lorry at 70/80 km/hour, and the couple were at some distance. He only chose Michaela's photo from amongst the others Metodo 3 had shown him because she had the same hair colour similar build.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

14/08/08

Madeleine McCann: The truth and nothing but the truth.

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

13/08/08

The press, or rather a certain press, whether from one country or another, are distorting, inventing and misinforming the public. With the only concern being to increase their circulation, certain media are inventing more incredible stories, some more than others. And we are not only talking about the tabloid, "The Sun," of which most people don't believe a single word. The press played with publishing images published thousands of times last year, claiming that these were new trails not followed up by the PJ. All of that is false.

All of these trails are nothing new and they were checked by the PJ as they should be. A simple example amongst all others, apart from all the crazy stories about Belgium, is the story of the couple who were allegedly seen with Madeleine three days after her disappearance. A drawing (above), published in the, "Mirror," was done by an artist based on the statement of a witness: Anna Stam. But, this trail was indeed checked. The results of the investigations are on page 191 of the case file. The famous couple were identified, questioned, and finally ruled out. The press knows it. It's in the report! I can understand that it is how this type of newspaper makes its money, disclosing false information, since this information is sensational. I imagine that if they all continue to publish any at all it is because they have a public who enjoy it. This association is not judging their readers.

But we can ask questions here about the parents' reaction and that of their spokesperson. We don't understand why they participate in this farce! The witness was invited to the UK to meet the McCann parents and Clarence Mitchell. The portrait was published on the parents' web site. A telephone number is even given. However, Clarence Mitchell, the McCann parents and their lawyers all have a copy of the case file. As a consequence, they all know that these people have been identified and questioned! There is the feeling of acting in a great stage play. A bad play.

We don't need to lay into the British press! That would be too easy and not a little biased. The Portuguese press is not exempt from sensational articles. Thus we can read in some parts of the press that Kate's personal diary is a fake according to the investigators in charge of the case. A fake meant to influence the investigation. In reality, the truth is slightly different. I have already explained to you in a previous article that the personal diary of a suspect has little value in the eyes of the police, knowing, precisely, that this diary could serve to influence the investigation or divert suspicion. This is why police all over the world, don't take it into account. Even if the personal diary is seized, it is only for information, in the event that a detail could be found, but under no circumstances as a piece of evidence. The Portuguese jumped to a conclusion a little too quickly. It's not the first time either.

What does that say? That everybody lies? Of course not. There are journalists, journalists and media who work conscientiously. It needs to be realised that the Portuguese Public Prosecutor handed over 11,000 out of 30,000 pages of the case file to the press. That means that there are still 19,000 pages which are still covered by the secrecy of justice. Clearly, this means that the press has no more information now than before. Everything in those pages has already been disclosed and published over more than a year now. In these pages, there is nothing new! Nothing that hasn't been talked about already. The important issues of the case are in the remaining 19,000 pages!

For our part, we have decided to present all the details of the case file to you. Thus over the next few articles, we are going to present the comments from the police, the questioning of the witnesses and suspects, the facts, the places, the times, the dates etc etc. Everything that's in the case file, without adding or taking out the least comma, so that the contents are in one sense or another, wholly transparent, so that you will no longer be manipulated by anyone, and you can form an opinion based on the real details contained in the case file. We will publish it for you and we will add each time a photocopy from the case file to corroborate what we write. We will add, where necessary, a commentary clarifying the police approach and various aspects of the case file. And to begin with, in every police report, there is a document which the police must have already asked you for on different occasions: your identity card and/or your passport. So, we start with the identity card of the missing victim: Madeleine Beth McCann.

13/08/08

Ryan Murphy's quick thinking saved an abducted child in Quebec.

http://www.kidnapping.be/canada/index.html

On July 15th, Ryan Murphy's intervention enabled the police to quickly find a small boy who had been abducted in Lévis, to the great relief of the child's relatives. Modest and reserved, M. Murphy says all he did there was his civic duty.

"That man is my son's saviour. If he hadn't followed the kidnapper's car and called the police, my son would no longer be here. I am not afraid to say it." The mother of the little boy, who was abducted on July 15th has nothing but good to say about Ryan Murphy, the man who helped to find her son, less than an hour after his abduction. "The credit goes absolutely to Ryan," says the mother. "Our whole family will be forever grateful to him."

For this gesture by which he saved a life, The Press and Radio-Canada named Ryan Murphy Personality of the Week. The young carpenter, aged 24, believes he simply did his civic duty. "I did what I had to do," states this native of Montreal, whom The Press met three weeks after the events.

On Tuesday July 15th, a little after 6pm, was waiting at a red light in Quebec's Grand-Allée. Suddenly the boot of the Chevrolet he was following opened up. Inside, he saw a little boy. M. Murphy thought, first of all, that it was a big family, but he quickly changed his mind: the driver got out and violently shut the boot again.

Suspicious, Ryan Murphy followed the Chevrolet for 6km, until the driver stopped in front of an apartment building on Belvédère Avenue. He memorised the registration number and dashed to his home in the Basse-Ville area of Quebec, and dialed 911. "The police rang back in the evening for me to go back to the apartment building," Ryan Murphy recounts. He was told then that his call coincided with the abduction of a child in Lévis, around 6pm. The police had otherwise been on the point of launching an Amber alert when he informed them.

It was then that Ryan Murphy realised the magnitude of the situation. "I told myself: yes, I didn't hallucinate. I wasn't too certain any more about what I had seen. At that time, I was tired, I was working like a madman..." Ten minutes later, Ryan Murphy saw the suspect coming out of the building, handcuffs on his wrists, escorted by police officers. We know what followed: the child was found tied up, but safe and sound in a disused oil tank in the basement of the apartment building where the suspect worked as concierge. In the same week, Pierre Defoy, aged 50, was accused of abduction, illegal confinement, sexual assault, aggravated assault and incitement to sexual activity.

Ryan Murphy then entered a media whirlwind. He agreed to give five interviews, at most. "Journalists called from all over, even from Ontario. It was my girlfriend who answered. I was trying to get out of the house as early as possible." The following Saturday, Ryan Murphy responded to the invitation of the victim's mother. If the young man prefers not to talk about this meeting out of respect for the family, the child's mother retains a moving memory of it. "It was charged with emotion, tears, thanks," she recounts. She adds that she intends to stay in touch with Ryan Murphy.

The young man then went swiftly to Prince Edward Island with his girlfriend to spend the building industry's holiday there. "Let's say that after everything that happened, that did me good!" he recounted. It needs to be said that Ryan Murphy is not mad about his new notoriety. He was even hesitant to agree to an interview at The Press. "I am a very quiet, reserved person. I keep to my friends and those close to me. Let's say that I never sought to be famous," he confides. Whether he likes it or not, Ryan Murphy will have to get used to it. Even today, relatives, work colleagues, neighbours and even total strangers congratulate or thank him. "It's not everyone who would have done what he did," the victim's mother believes. "Nowadays people stick too much to their own affairs. Not Ryan. For me, for my son and for our whole family, he is a hero." (Presse Canadienne)

http://www.kidnapping.be/canada/index.html


11/08/08

Association Enfants Kidnappés

McCann case: 24 photos that could reopen the case.

A tourist, who was in the Tapas Bar on the night of May 3rd, took several photos where the table with the McCanns and their friends is visible. The tourist was with his wife and a couple of friends and they took photos of each other. In 24 of them, the table with the McCanns and their friends can be seen in the background.

The owner of these images is in talks with several British newspapers for the sale of exclusive publication rights, but with one condition: before being published, the images must be sent to the Portuguese police. The tourist is well aware of the fact that the images could constitute an important piece of evidence relating to a crime and not to send them to the police would also be considered a crime in his country.

Yesterday, a well-known firm of UK solicitors, learned of the existence of these images and contacted the owner, to whom they offered the sum of 600,000€ for the purchase of all the images. However, the British lawyers did not accept the condition imposed by the owner that the images must be sent to the Portuguese police before the transaction. They wanted the freedom to choose when the images would be sent to the Portuguese authorities, the reason for which the offer was refused.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

13/08/08

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Enfants Kidnappés 12/08/08: It's not Madeleine in Molenbeek, Brussels.

Another excellent article from the Association Enfants Kidnappés about the little girl seen by the security guard at a bank in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in Brussels. I think the British press is finally catching up with the, "Breaking news," that actually appeared in the Belgian media at around 11pm on Monday.

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

It's not Madeleine, contrary to a certain press. We are going to give you a little reminder of some real facts, as they happened, without all the modifications and inventions of the press.

On Monday August 4th, the security guard, Alain, employed by the Securitas company and seconded to cover security at KBC's administrative headquarteres in the Avenue du Port, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, one of 19 urban areas of Brussels, was in his post in front of the bank towards 10.30 in the morning. His attention was drawn to a young woman and a little blond girl walking past the bank. The little girl was blond and the woman with her seemed to be North African. His gaze followed the, "strange pair," the woman and the little girl made. It wasn't until two days later that he would inform his superiors. The latter immediately called on the services of the police.

Alain stated to the police:

"I was working at the front of the branch. I noticed this little blond girl, accompanied by a woman of Moroccan origin. I was immediately struck by the obvious difference between the girl and that woman. I was drawn by the words of the little girl, who said, as part of a sentence, that I didn't hear the beginning or the end of, "...I GO BACK..." (Editor's note: and not, LET ME GO HOME as stated by a certain bad press!!)

The little girl was dressed in a white shirt, over which she was wearing a white sweater. She had on a dark grey skirt with a tartan checked pattern. Below her skirt, she was wearing white stockings and shoes. The little girl had very clear blue eyes, very clear. As I was mostly paying attention to the little girl, I didn't get a very good look at the woman who was with her. However, I can tell you that she had brown eyes. I didn't see her hair, but she was wearing a scarf on her head. She was dressed in quite a modern fashion. After they had gone past, I went back into the back. I didn't manage to remember where I had seen that little girl before. The next day I was on leave. As this little girl was going round in my head, I did some research on the internet. That was how I came across photos of Madeleine McCann. I then thought I had recognised the little girl. I wasn't sure. First of all I told myself that it wasn't possible, that I must be mistaken. But as time went on, my conviction grew. On my return to work, I informed my superiors. They contacted the police.

On arrival, the police proceeded to questioning Alain V. the bulk of which is detailed below. Then the police officers looked at the 5 videos captured by the surveillance cameras. One of the police officers there suggested asking the area inspector if he knew anyone in the area who might look like the little girl. The report was prepared and all the details were sent to the Missing Unit of the Federal Belgian Police. At that time, the press were not aware of the guard's witness statement. Not for long....

Getting to the bottom of the case.

Following the SOS Madeleine article about the guard's witness statement, the British press, who were seeking at all costs to discredit Belgium in the eyes of their readers, making Belgians out to be people who wallowed in prostitution and as paedophiles satisfying our fantasies with children, grabbed hold of the case. From then on there were journalists from various tabloids in Brussels: News of the World, The Mail, The Daily Mail and the Mirror. Only the, "SUN," went to Ghent instead of to Brussels. Strangely, the, "SUN," was accompanied by a member of the Missing Unit of the Federal police who guided them through what had taken place in the incident at KBC. The next day, the, "SUN," published online the 5 videos of the case which were intiially sent to the Missing Unit of the Federal Police. According to our information, the, "SUN," paid 40,000€ for these videos.

Then, the,"SUN," resold them to SKY News for the tidy sum of 100,000€. Still according to our information, the purchase of the videos was made through the intermediary of someone whose son had done a work placement in the UK with the, "SUN," and the father (whose identity we are not going to disclose) was very close to the investigation. Thus, for money, he would have leaked information and sold documents in violation of the article of the Belgian Penal Code on professional secrecy to which the police are bound! From then on the press jostled with each other in Molenbeek. The Mirror even had three teams, one of whom had the task of following the, "SUN," team and to be right behind them everywhere. At that time, the newspapers disinformed the public by disclosing false information. Thus, the, "SUN," stated that: "The Belgian police recognise that it could be Madeleine."

Absolutely false information since at that time, the investigators already knew that it wasn't Madeleine. The Daily Mail journalists did interesting work. They went into all the shops and cafés in the area around KBC and placed posters with photos of the woman and the little girl, bearing their telephone number. These posters bore fruit. The little girl's father became angry when he saw photos of his daughter plastered all over his neighbourhood. He went home. He got onto the internet. He saw the images disclosed by the, "SUN," and he immediately understood the importance of the matter and went to the police. The young pregnant woman who was with the little girl was none other than her nanny.

Note that the guard's statement was in good faith. He was not seeking to attract attention. As you look at the videos, you can't help being worried by a certain resemblance in appearance. In addition, the little girl indeed speaks English. We have seen the little girl and the resemblance with Madeleine is truly striking. We would have fallen into the trap ourselves.

Association Enfants Kidnappés: 12/08/08

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

SOS Madeleine McCann: the little girl seen in Molenbeek was not Madeleine

At this moment, around 10.15am, Tuesday 12th August, this is what Sky News is still saying,

"Police are studying CCTV footage of a young girl resembling Madeleine McCann walking with a woman in Belgium."

(Updated on the Sky News web site at 8.59pm on Monday 11th August.)

The major Belgian news journals are carrying the story that the little girl has been identified and that she was with her nanny. Her father contacted the police and his identity and that of his child has been verified by the Federal Prosecutor.

SOS Madeleine McCann, being apparently better informed than Sky News, brings us the information.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

According to official information from the Belgian Federal Prosecutor, the little blond girl seen last Monday, August 4th, near the headquarters of the KBC bank in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (Brussels) was not the little British girl Madeleine McCann.

It was the little girl's father who contacted the police after seeing the video surveillance images, disclosed by the British newspaper The Sun.

The Belgian police had opened an official investigation after having received information from the security company, Securitas Information, that one of the building's security guards had seen a little blond girl, resembling Madeleine's description.

The original information, exclusive to SMM, put forward that the security guard stated that he had seen a little blond girl, speaking English, aged around five or six years, accompanied by a woman of North African origin.

"The little girl's father saw the images for himself and went to the missing person's unit," explained Lieve Pellens, spokesperson for the Federal Prosecutor, adding that, according to the father's statements to the police, the little girl was only in Brussels that day with her nanny.

Journalists have not lacked ingenuity.

The importance placed by the Belgian authorities on the witness statement from the security guard - who had acted in good faith - took several British daily newspapers to Brussels. The daily, The Sun, in disclosing the video surveillance images, allowed the rapid resolution of this lead. The police had started a local investigation, notably with neighbourhood officers, in the hope of finding the little girl in the Molenbeek-Saint-Jean area.

Meanwhile, the British journalists were not lacking in ingenuity to find the little girl: the Daily Express team had even distributed posters in the shops in the area, showing the photo of the little one and her nanny, while The Sun found a second witness, who confirmed what the security guard had said concerning the resemblance between the little girl and the face the public knows as Maddie.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

11/08/08

It wasn't Madeleine at that bank in Brussels!

Le Soir.be

"La fillette blonde aperçue lundi dernier dans une agence bancaire de Bruxelles n’était pas la petite Britannique Madeleine McCann, a indiqué lundi soir le parquet fédéral, qui a identifié le père de l’enfant vue à Molenbeek et filmée par des caméras de surveillance."

The little blond girl seen last Monday at a bank in Brussels was not the little British girl Madeleine McCann, was stated on Monday evening by the Federal Prosecutor who had identified the father of the child seen in Molenbeek and filmed by the surveillance cameras.

« Le père de la fillette a vu lui-même les images et s’est présenté à la cellule disparitions », a affirmé la porte-parole du parquet fédéral, Lieve Pellens, à l’agence BELGA."

"The child's father, himself, saw the images and went to the missing person's unit," Lieve Pellens, spokesperson for the Federal Prosecutor confirmed for the BELGA agency.

Well, there you have it! All those UK newspapers going a bundle on that story, all those videos on web sites, Clarrie sending the images to the USA to be enhanced! Yet another false alarm!

Still, plenty more to be checked out; quite a few more in Belgium, Amsterdam, and I believe, Venezuela!!!
The only missing child to be seen on all five continents, and sometimes on the same day at the same time.

McCann case: the failed reconstruction

In April 2008, Paulo Rebelo gave a detailed response to the McCanns' friends about their arguments and doubts on the subject of the reconstruction of the events of May3rd. He stated that one of the conditions put forward by the group, that of first of all withdrawing Kate and Gerry's arguidos status - was impossible to accomplish, because only the Prosecutor held the legal power to do it, not the PJ.

On the subject of the reconstruction, the main problem for the McCanns' group of friends was clear: if the PJ believed their statements, then the reconstruction wasn't necessary, or the PJ were trying to obtain something strange with this activity.

They wanted to know what the PJ's true intentions were. After several exchanges of emails, going first through Stuart Prior, the Tapas 7 group were not convinced of the usefulness of such a reconstruction.

In the replies that followed, Kate and Gerry's friends placed as a condition, not only the lifting of the McCann couple's arguido status, but also the announcement of a press release by the PJ dispelling the lies published by the Portuguese media, emphasising that there was no suspicion about the seven friends.

As it was impossible to accept or accomplish these conditions, Paulo Rebelo, in an email addressed to Stuart Prior on April 29th, requested that a final decision was taken. Jane and Russel O'Brien were the first to respond, saying yes, but waiting for further advice from their lawyers. Rachel and Matthew sent a similar response, but stressing that they couldn't be in Portugal between May 15th and May 17th.

Diana, Fiona and David Payne also accepted, while waiting for advice from their lawyers. After the PJ's detailed explanations, Jeremy Wilkins was willing to participate, on conditon that the other witnesses were also in Portugal.

The criminal court took the decision to set a new date: 29th and 30th of May 2008. Then Gerald McCann requested a change to this new date, because his lawyer had another meeting planned before the Lisbon court, for May 29th. His request was refused because it was impossible to make a further revision of the date, due to the numbers of people involved. On May 10th, Rachel and Matthew Oldfield sent an email to Stuart Prior, communicating their final decision to him: they would not be in Portugal to participate in the reconstruction. Russel O'Brien, also on May 10th, told the Superintendent that as he had learned that Jeremy Wilkins, the Oldfields and the Payne family had now decided not to go to Portugal, there was now no need for their presence, because the Prosecutor had said that the reconstruction could not take place unless all the witnesses were present.

On May 23rd, all seven of the McCanns' friends sent a formal reply to the Prosecutor's request for a reconstruction, saying that they would not be attending, after advice from their lawyers. The reconstruction was therefroe cancelled by the Judge for the Court of Criminal Investigation, on May 26th 2008.

Paulo Reis and Duarte Levy

http://sosmaddie.blogs.dhnet.be/tag/reconstitution

The McCann Case: Gerry used two credit cards

According to a briefing note from Inspector Gary Watts of the Leicestershire police to Frances Kennah, Madeleine's father used two MasterCard credit cards.

Frances Kennah is head of the British Central Authority, a Home Office department, responsible for cooperation with foreign police forces.

The note, dated May 23rd, confirms the request from the Portuguese authorities, via international rogatory letter, asking for details of the transactions carried out by Gerry McCann using the two MasterCard credit cards.

The PJ also requested telephone records for a period of six months, starting on April 27th 2007, but the Home Office considered the period of time disproportionate and suggested that they could only provide that information for the days before and after Madeleine's disappearance.

The note from Inspector Gary Watts reveals that the report about the credit card transactions was not completed, after a conversation between Superintendent Stuart Prior and the recipient of the information, Frances Kennah.

A previous report about the financial situation of the McCann couple and their friends, produced by the Economic Crimes Unit of Leicestershire police, had not found any record of credit cards or loans in Kate and Gerry McCann's name.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

10/08/08

Selon une note d’information de l’Inspecteur Gary Watts de la Police du Leicestershire envoyé à France Kennah, le père de Madeleine McCann a utilisé deux cartes de crédit MasterCard.

Frances Kennah est le responsable de l'autorité centrale britannique, un département du Home Office (ministère de l’Intérieur), responsable de la coopération avec les forces de police étrangères.

La note, datée du 23 mai 2008, confirme la demande faite par les autorités portugaises, via une lettre rogatoire internationale, sollicitant tous les détails des transactions effectuées avec les deux cartes de crédit MasterCard utilisées par Gerry McCann.

La Police judiciaire (PJ) a demandé également les registres téléphoniques comprenant une période de six mois, commençant le 1er avril 2007, mais le Home Office à jugé que la période de temps était disproportionnée et a suggéré qu’ils pourraient uniquement fournir cette information pour les jours avant et après la disparition de Madeleine.

La note de l’Inspecteur Gary Watts révèle que le rapport concernant les transactions de ces deux cartes de crédit n'a pas été fini, après une conversation entre le Superintendent Stuart Prior et le destinataire de l'information, Frances Kennah.

Un précédent rapport à propos de la situation financière du couple McCann et de leurs amis, produit par l'Unité de Crimes Économiques de la Police du Leicestershire, n’avait trouvé aucun registre de cartes de crédit ou prêts au nom de Kate et de Gerry McCann.

SOS Madeleine McCann

McCann case: the twins slept through everything!

The Twins' sleeping

The twins' sleeping.

According to Fiona Payne's witness statement, on the night of May 3rd, Kate McCann was simply panicked, afraid for Madeleine, wondering what had happened to her. She described what she saw to the police when she went back to the McCanns' apartment, after having searched around the Ocean Club for five or six minutes with other members of the group of friends, following the alert that Madeleine had disappeared.

When she went back into the children's bedroom, she noticed that Madeleine's bed covers were tidy and that the twins were sound asleep in their cots. While she opened all the bedroom cupboards, the twins continued to sleep and did not budge an inch - which seemed quite strange to her.

According to Fiona Payne's statements to the police, Kate McCann was afraid and the feeling of not being able to do anything was making her angry, screaming and punching the walls with fists and feet - the reason she was covered in bruises the following day.

Asked if the twins had not woken up at all, Fiona said no, adding that Kate kept on going to the twins, placing her hands on them to check if they were still breathing, because she seemed to be much more interested in making sure they were alright.

Fiona Payne remembered that the twins never woke up, in spite of the noise, the cries and the screams, not even when the police came and the lights were switched on - which seemed strange to her at the time.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

9/08/08

Selon le témoignage de Fiona Payne, la nuit du 3 mai, Kate McCann était juste paniquée, effrayée pour Madeleine, se demandant ce que lui serait arrivé. Elle a décrit à la police ce qu’elle a vu, quand elle est revenue à l'appartement des McCann, après avoir recherché, pendant cinq ou dix minutes, les environs de l’Océan Club, avec d'autres membres du groupe d'amis, suite à l’alerte de que Madeleine avait disparu.

Elle est rentrée dans la chambre des enfants, elle a remarqué que les draps du lit de Madeleine étaient ordonnés, et les jumeaux étaient parfaitement endormis dans leurs lits de camp. Tandis qu'elle ouvrait toutes les armoires de la chambre, les jumeaux ont continué endormis et n'ont pas bougé d’un millimètre – ce que lui semblait parfaitement étrange !

Selon les déclarations de Fiona Payne à la police, Kate McCann était effrayée et la sensation de ne pas pouvoir faire quoi que ce soit la rendait fâchée, hurlant et donnant des coups de poing et de pied dans les murs — raison pour laquelle elle était couverte de bleus le jour suivant.

Interrogé si les jumeaux ne se sont pas réveillés, à aucun moment, Fiona à confirmé que non rajoutant que Kate a continué à aller vers les jumeaux, continuant à mettre ses mains sur les jumeaux afin de vérifier s’ils continuaient à respirer, car elle semblait beaucoup plus intéressée en vérifier s’ils étaient bien.

Fiona Payne s'est rappelé que les jumeaux ne se sont jamais réveillés, malgré tout le bruit, les cris et les hurlements, pas même quand la police est venue et les lumières ont été allumées – ce que lui semblait, sur le moment, comme étrange.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

SOS Madeleine McCann

SOS Madeleine McCann: Security guard says he saw Madeleine last Monday in Brussels.

As jailhouselawyer said on the 3 Arguidos forum....Brussels sprouts hundreds of sightings!

SOS Madeleine McCann 7/08/08

Exclusive. A security guard attached to security at the headquarters of the KBC bank in Brussels, in the urban district of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, states that last Monday, August 4th, he saw a young blond girl with blue eyes who, according to him, was Madeleine McCann.

The security guard did not fill out his report the same day, but finally informed his superiors that he had informed the police the day before.

The witness was interviewed by the Federal Police, who also seized video surveillance images of the outside of the building.

The guard didn't notice the distictive feature like Madeleine's in the child's eye, but gave a clear description of age, height and clothes.

According to his report, the little girl was accompanied by a woman of North African origin, aged between 30 and 40, dressed in European style, but wearing a headscarf, which is probably explained by the existence of a large community of Moroccan origin in the area.

According to the witness statement, the little girl was speaking English, because in the middle of a sentence, the witness heard, "I go back."

Given the emotion aroused by the case, and the recent information from the British media, speculating about a Belgian paedophile network behind Madeleine's disappearance, the number of people saying they have seen the little girl is in danger of going up, which is meanwhile confirmed by this new witness statement.

In Portugal, a senior PJ officer, contacted by telephone, said he had confidence in the, "independent and effective," investigation by the Belgian authorities, who had already been confronted with other witness statements.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

SOS Madeleine McCann 7/08/08

Gardien Securitas affirme avoir vu Madeleine, lundi passé, à Bruxelles

Exclusive. Un gardien de Securitas attaché à la sécurité du siège de la banque KBC à Bruxelles, sur le territoire de la commune de Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, affirme avoir vu, lundi passé, le 4 aout, une fillette blonde aux yeux bleus que, selon lui, serait Madeleine McCann.

L’agent de Securitas n’a pas rempli son rapport le jour même, mais à fini par informer sa hiérarchie que, hier, à informé la police.

Le témoin a été interrogé par la Police fédérale, qui à également saisi les images de la vidéo surveillance de l’extérieur du bâtiment.

Le gardien n’a pas aperçu de signe distinctif dans l’œil de l’enfant, comme celui de Madeleine, mais donne une description précise à propos de l’âge, hauteur et vêtements.

Selon son rapport, la fillette était accompagnée par une femme d’origine nord-africaine, âgée de 30 à 40 ans, habillée de façon européenne, mais portant un foulard, ce que s’explique probablement par l’existence d’une grande communauté originaire du Maroc dans le quartier.

D’accord avec le témoignage, la fillette parlait anglais, car le témoin aurait entendu, en milieu d’une phrase, "I go back".

Vu l’émotion suscitée par l’affaire, et les dernières informations des médias britanniques, spéculant à propos de l’existence d’un réseau de pédophilie belge à l’origine de la disparition de Madeleine, le nombre de personnes affirmant avoir vu la fillette risque d’augmenter, ce qu’est d’ailleurs confirmée avec ce nouveau témoignage.

Au Portugal, un haut responsable de la Police judiciaire, contacté téléphoniquement, s’est dit confiant dans l’enquête "indépendante et efficace" des autorités belges qui avaient déjà été confrontées à d’autres témoignages.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

Enfants Kidnappés 7/08/08: A Belgian paedophile network?

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

Chiens policiers


Lieve Pellens, spokesperson for the Federal Prosecutor, stated that, "The Belgian Federal Prosecutor has received no information from the British or Portuguese investigators according to which the little English girl Madeleine McCann would have been abducted at the instigation of a Belgian paedophile network," the information coming from the British media. Once again, this trail is not new. We have already spoken about it. It was Toscano who started this rumour. This Spaniard passes himself off as a journalist, specialising in missing children, having already found several. He was interviewed on several occasions by the Portuguese authorities but his allegations were very quickly ruled out.

We have even stated here that Toscano was, "not credible," and we stick to it. Above all, Toscano was seeking to get himself talked about when he was intending to publish a book. As for the children whom he would have found, he has never been able to prove it. It was he who had set off the false trail for: El Frances. El Frances was found a short time later. He is interested in little boys and not little girls. He was very quickly ruled out as a potential suspect following thorough checks. The British press is coming up with that old story as if it was a new lead and Clarence Mitchell is still acting surprised as if this was the first time it was mentioned!

Alright, let's be clear that if there are paedophile networks, they are not structured. The networks, "get their supplies," another way. First of all there are members of the network who, "offer," their own children. Then, there are parents who rent out their children for an hour or for a whole of a weekend. The networks get their supplies, in Belgium, as in France, in the UK and in other countries, in certain of their country's orphanages who all rent out children. A Belgian journalist is in the process of preparing a comprehensive book on the subject. And finally, it is very very easy to buy a child.

In some countries, less industrialised than us, a real parallel economy has been developed in the sale of children. They are sold with a guarantee of their good health. Satisfied or exchanged! Genuine!! These children are sometimes sold for just 40 €! So, why take the risk of abducting a child abroad, traveling with her, with the risks involved, without taking into account the infrastructure and people needed to organise, plan, logistically support and move a kidnapped child!! Abductions are mostly carried out by a lone predator or by a very small group of two or three predators, often badly organised.

The Maddie frenzy having restarted, I am ready to bet that we will soon have new witness statements from people who are will have seen Maddie in all corners of the world!


Police dogs.

In this case there is a lot of talk about dogs that detect blood and dogs that detect bodies. They have played a key role in the aftermath of events. To understand how these dogs react, we asked an expert on the subject. But before asking him questions, we need to understand that a dog trained by the police has nothing in common with one privately trained.

The police have technical resources available but above all criminal experience on the ground so that the training of their dogs has nothing in common with clubs for training open to individuals. This idea is important because it lets us distinguish between the objectives of a private trainer who does not have the skills of the police and those of a professional police dog handler, trained in techniques of which the individual has no idea.

We must also understand that the dog's sense of smell is trained and by his training the police dog surpasses his peers in the use of the same organ. Or to give you a clearer idea, an individual's normal untrained dog is capable of smelling a drop of vinegar in a bathtub full of water. This capacity being developed by his training, you can easily imagine the power of the sense of smell of this type of dog.

Our expert, who must remain anonymous, is a chief dog handler for finding human remains. A serving police officer, he and his dog are known and respected in police canine circles. Being still in service and not yet having received a positive response from his superiors for participating in our interview, we are obliged to guarantee his anonymity.

• Can the odour of blood be detected after a detergent wash?

The dog is perfectly able to detect traces of blood, dilute residues. These residues may be trapped in minute spaces between fibres. Thus, in one case, our dogs found residues trapped in the joins between the floor tiles of a room.

• How long after cleaning can the dogs still smell the odour of blood?

We have had positive results several weeks after the fact. According to the frequency of cleaning, this time limit may be shorter. If premises are cleaned daily or several times a day, the time limit for detection may be reduced to a few days, rather than weeks. On the other hand, if cleaning is only weekly, the time limit may be four weeks before the disappearance of the odour for the dogs.

• The dog only detects the odour of blood or the human cadaver odour?

We must make a distinction here. The dog carries, "imprints," of very specific odours. Something like drugs dogs who have, olfactory "imprints," of narcotics. These imprints are listed in his head. He never forgets them. However, the odour of blood is an odour of blood! That means that the dog does not distinguish between the odour of human blood and the odour of animal blood. That is why the lab is always with us when we use our dogs. On the other hand, at home, the human cadaver dog and the one that detects blood only do one. Each of our dogs detects the two odours. In contrast to our friends at New Scotland Yard who have a deluxe version: two different dogs - one for each odour. The training and the techniques used are the same. There is no difference in, "capability," between the dogs. The advantage in having two different dogs is in the fact that if the, "cadaver," dog marks a place and the dog that detects blood does not, we can deduce that the victim died without blood loss. As is the case with strangulation for example.

• For how long must a body remain in place for the odour to be detectable by the dogs?

There are several possibilities. If there was blood flow at the time of death, the odour would be detectable immediately. What we call, "blood flow," signifies that the victim had blood loss. Whether due to blows received or banging themselves while falling, doesn't matter, as long as there is blood flow. It is here that having two dogs makes sense. Ours immediately smells the odour of blood, although he detects both. The British police will go with the two dogs but only the dog that detects blood will react. In short, the dog will detect the odour of blood (due to blood flow at the time of death) sooner than cadaver odour which will not yet be well-defined.

On the other hand, if there was no blood flow, death by strangulation, for example, there is a certain delay before decomposition of the body. As long as that decomposition has not taken place, the dog would only be able to detect the scent of a human being. Thus, if there was no blood, - I stress, the body would take several days to decompose. Under normal atmospheric conditions, in our climate it will be several days before the odour is detectable by the dog.And this,even if the body is buried beneath several metres of concrete or camouflaged by other subterfuges which I cannot talk about here. Of course, decomposition can be more rapid. If the body is stored in a damp cellar, decomposition would be more rapid and as a result, the odour detectable more rapidly. According to a police convention between several European countries and outside the EEC (Editor's note: a convention that both the UK and Portugal are part of), it is accepted that the body takes 72 hours before the odour is detectable.

• In the context of the accidental death of a child, could the odour be detectable if the body only remained a maximum of two hours in the apartment?

Once more, we must be careful. If there was no blood flow, then I am clear: NO! It is impossible! The dog would have smelt the laying down of human scent. And if there was blood flow, only the dog that detected blood would react and not the one that detected human cadaver odour. The body could thus be moved during, around 72 hours, before the cadaver odour was detectable. This time limit is reduced to 48 or 24 hours hours in tropical climates.

• Cadaver odour detected by the dogs, could it come from contamination? Clothes bearing cadaver odours which were contaminating the room where the dog works?

Yes, it is theoretically possible. Contamination of a place by clothes already carrying cadaver odour is plausible. Thus, a person working in a morgue could, through negligence, contaminate another place by carrying the odour there. But the dog has not failed in his work. In our example, the dog will mark the cadaver odour because that odour is well and truly there! The way that odour was brought into the place is another thing which the investigators, and not the dogs, have to clear up! On the other hand, if the odour of blood is also detected, then we can reasonably place in doubt the theory of contamination. This remains very theoretical and I must say that in 15 years of work and practical canine interventions in complex criminal cases, I have never come across this. Because to be valid, the person contaminating the place would have to be there in their work clothes (in the example of a morgue employee). If that person has changed their clothes or washed, there would be nothing to contaminate the place.