Gerry McCann has just put in an appearance at the International Lawyers Conference in Madrid, talking about the media and the right to privacy and to reputation. Now, who was it who not only welcomed the media attention, but courted it just after Madeleine disappeared? The media scrum in Praia da Luz was so bad, the police had to hide out in a secret apartment and sneak around avoiding the journalists. And then, immediately following arguido status, when Kate and Gerry did a quick flit out of the country, it was Gerry who contacted Sky News with details of the flight they would be on. See Vanity Fair article
"It is Gerry who is behind what he tells me is “the marketing … a high public awareness” of Madeleine. At his side while we talk is Clarence Mitchell, a voluble former government media analyst and BBC reporter, handpicked by Gerry to be the latest in a line of spokesmen. On October 17, Mitchell spoke at Coventry University. His topic: “Missing Madeleine McCann: The Perfect PR Campaign.”
All sorts of people were drawn into the "marketing," of the Madeleine McCann story.
"Thus the Madeleine frenzy, which began as a story about bad judgment and irretrievable loss, has spun out of control, each day bringing fresh allegations, outrage, celebrity alliances—the Pope! J. K. Rowling! David Beckham!—and sensational links to power. At the E.U. summit in mid-October, for instance, British prime minister Gordon Brown, who had regularly been in touch with the McCanns, raised the Madeleine issue with Portuguese prime minister José Sócrates, urging “proper cooperation between the British and Portuguese police.”
Joana Morais carries the story about Kate and Gerry's possible return to Praia da Luz.
"Kate would like to return to Praia da Luz when things are less intense, but we'd like it to be a private visit, probably before the end of the year," said Gerry McCann."
Right Gerry! So, a private visit that only you, I and the world and his dog (but not Eddie, the Enhanced Victim Recovery Dog!) now know about? No press, then, Gerry? You going to tell them all to keep away? Oh no! I vont to be alone!
This coming weekend, I will be looking after my little grandson because my daughter will be attending a conference abroad. She is not telling the little laddie that she is going on a plane because he is somewhat obsessed with planes and would desperately want to go with her. So, with the media and the Madeleine McCann case. Now that Gerry has let the world know that he and Kate may return to Praia da Luz before the end of the year, does anyone believe the journalists are going to stay at home? Just like my little grandson is obsessed with planes and would want to go, the thought of the McCanns' returning to the place where their daughter disappeared into thin air, will be driving those journalists wild. Stay home? No! I am quite sure they will be informed well in advance by the McCanns media machine about the date and flight details.
In Madrid, Gerry said that as parents, they have to, "...continue searching for her." Well, when did they start? On the night Madeleine disappeared, Kate McCann stayed in the apartment. For a week, local people took time off work to search the surrounding area, while Kate and Gerry went jogging, picked friends up from the airport, and popped into the church for 10 minutes here and there to pray for Madeleine. Then, as we all know, they went on their jaunt round Europe, stopping off to see the Pope on the way.
Gerry McCann also said that a lot of information had come in following the "Barcelona sighting." That makes it sound like Madeleine was sighted in Barcelona, whereas two years down the line a man who had been at a party in a restaurant in Barcelona in May 2007, suddenly came forward with a story about a "Victoria Beckham look-a-like," who asked him if he was there to "deliver my daughter." Let's bear in mind that "daughter," is also street slang used to describe the weight of a drug purchase: daughter-quarter (of an ounce).
Kate and Gerry are going to make a private visit to Praia da Luz! Yea right! All pigs fed and ready to fly out there with them!
I have recently read a story by Stephen King, called, "The Langoliers." In this story, a plane full of people slips through a rip in the space-time continuum and travels into the past. There are some strange phenomena in the story in the shape of coloured balls that bounce around, gobbling up everything in their path. We are told that these are facets of time, erasing the past into blackness. One of the characters in the story believes that these are, "The Langoliers," the bogeymen from his childhood, who were constantly seeking him. His father told him they would get him and get him they did in the story, as the strange coloured balls gobbled up everything as they wove their seemingly random lines of erasure through the landscape of the past.
In the Stephen King story, the random lines woven by The Langoliers merge into a solid blackness. The past, according to the story, is a place where nothing exists anymore. In this strange land of the past, there are no people. People have moved on, the story says, and so the past is uninhabited.
The McCanns and their sycophantic friends in the media are doing just that: trying to gobble up the past, make it disappear into blackness, like it never existed. They have tried to gag Dr Amaral and then Tony and Debbie of the Madeleine Foundation. They now turn their attention to the dogs, a very significant aspect of the past history of the investigation. We know that Eddie, the Enhanced Victim Recovery Dog, is trained to alert to where a human body has been. Eddie can detect the odour of death years after a human body has been removed from a place where it rested, even for a short while. Any surface or material capable of absorbing dispersed particles, will retain the odour of death, and Eddie will find it.
David Rose, in today's Sunday Mail does his best to discredit Eddie and his handler Martin Grime, in an article about the, "bungled," investigation at the Haut de la Garenne former children's home in Jersey. By discrediting the work in Jersey, David Rose feels he can then negate the indications offered by Eddie in the Madeleine McCann case.
"Eddie the sniffer dog - the animal that had supposedly found the 'scent of death' in the Portuguese flat where Madeleine McCann disappeared."
So, Mr David Rose, does Eddie's success in over 200 previous cases cease to exist? Have the Langloliers swallowed up the landscape where Eddie detected the odour of death in a burnt-out vehicle that led to the arrest of the person who murdered Attracta Harron in Ireland? Amongst others was the case of Amanda Edwards, who was reported missing. Eddie was brought in and he alerted to cadaver odour on tools stored in the boot of Amanda's partner's car. The police then went to the building site where the partner had worked, and discovered the body.
Like The Langoliers, the writer has made Eddie's past success disappear into blackness.
Eddie is trained to detect human cadaver odour. In Jersey, he alerted to the odour he is trained to find and humans found a piece of coconut shell. This does not indicate failure on Eddie's part.
Martin Grime is quoted in today's Mail On Sunday article:
"Asked about the 'human remains' found by Eddie that turned out to be coconut, Grime said bizarrely: 'People aren't right 100 per cent of the time. Otherwise they wouldn't be human.'
The fact is that Eddie is not trained to find "human remains," but to find the odour that emanates from a human corpse. There may still be a body in situ, but as in many of Eddie's previous successful missions, there was no body in Jersey and no body in the McCanns' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. Eddie finds the odour he is trained to detect. It is then up to the humans to find any corroborating evidence there is to be found.
The McCanns would love the evidence of a past that pointed to their involvement in their daughter's disappearance to slip quietly into blackness, gobbled up by their gagging and misinformation. However, that past has not disappeared into blackness. It exists in the memories of the police officers, English and Portuguese, who investigated Madeleine's disappearance. It also exists in the police files, which the McCanns have had access to and in which they claim there is nothing that gives the impression that serious harm has come to Madeleine. (See footnote)
That past, where a little girl called Madeleine Beth McCann existed and had a whole life ahead of her, where she disappeared into thin air on the night of May 3rd 2007, will not disappear into blackness while there are dedicated people like Dr Gonçalo Amaral and Tony and Debbie of the Madeleine Foundation. This past is inhabited by people and memories and Eddie the cadaver dog and one day the truth will be known, "The Truth Of The Lie."
Footnote: From the official police files of the investigation, this is an extract from the report presented by Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida, a friend and colleague of Gonçalo Amaral, who worked on the case with Dr Amaral:
From everything that is exposed, the process files result in the following:
A: the minor Madeleine McCann died in apartment 5A at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, on the night of the 3rd of May 2007;
B: a simulation of an abduction took place;
C: in order to render the child’s death impossible before 22H00, a situation of checking of the McCann couple’s children while they slept was made up;
D: Kate McCann and Gerald McCann are involved in the concealment of the cadaver of their daughter, Madeleine McCann;
E: at this moment, there seem to be no strong indications that the child’s death was not the result of a tragic accident, yet;
F: from what has been established up to now, everything indicates that the McCann couple, in self-defence, doesn’t want to deliver the cadaver immediately and voluntarily, and there is a strong possibility that it was moved from the initial place of deposition. This situation may raise questions concerning the circumstances in which the death of the child took place.”
Sofia Leal, wife of Gonçalo Amaral, the Portuguese police officer who led the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, was interviewed by the Sunday Express
“Goncalo loves me and our three girls very much but he lives for his job. For him an investigation is like a mathematical equation.
“One and one has to make two. Until the answer is found he will not give up.” From the proceeds of the book her husband has bought a Jaguar car but she insists he has not made a lot of money and that he will defend the legal action.
In my world, too, one and one has to make two. It usually does. It doesn't make 11 and it's not usually binary and make 10. It makes 2. In other words, the evidence has to make sense. It has to form a coherent whole so that the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and the truth comes to light.
When I spoke to my daughter on the phone this morning, she told me that her little boy was in the guest bedroom with his father, playing with his "baby," toys that have been stored there, getting out and joyfully piecing together the puzzles he had fun with. Now, it's a reasonable assumption that the pieces of J's puzzles are exactly the same now as they were a year ago and that they fit together, just as they did then, and they make the same picture. I also assume that no one has changed the pieces for others that don't fit, added extra pieces of changed the picture.
Gonçalo, in his book, "The Truth Of The Lie," talks about how, in an investigation, the evidence and the clues, are the pieces of the puzzle that show the whole picture and illuminate the truth. But, since there were so many inconsistencies and contradictions in witness statements, it must have been like looking at many different pictures for the same puzzle or perhaps many puzzles mixed together with no picture. Jane Tanner's statements, for example: the abductor went that way; the abductor went this-a-way; the abductor was this height; the abductor was that height etc etc., even as far as...the abductor may have been a woman, dressed as a man.
IT WAS THE LONE STRANGER.....
Madeleine McCann, "..is in a secret lair," David Edgar is quoted as believing, by The Independent
"He still feels Maddie was snatched by a man spotted by the McCanns’ friend Jane Tanner, one of the so-called ‘Tapas Seven’ who dined with them the night Maddie went missing.
Dave said: “Jane is a very reliable witness and there were other sightings of this man, who Jane saw carrying a little girl in a blanket, in the days leading up to the disappearance.”
He feels this is the lone prowler who has Maddie stashed in a cellar or dungeon in the lawless villages around Praia da Luz."
.........OR MAYBE IT WASN'T!!
Donal MacIntyre has a reputation, at least according to the Sunday Express for being, "fearless and courageous." Apparently, he takes on, "dangerous stories." !!
Also in the Sunday Express on the same date as the above, (September 20th 2009) Donal MacIntyre fearlessly expounds his theory about how Madeleine McCann was abducted. "I know how she was taken," he says.
Right! So, how was it?
"MADELEINE McCann was abducted by at least two kidnappers who must have carried out several dry runs in the days leading up to her disappearance.
After spending a week on the ground investigating the case and the methods used by the kidnappers, I can only conclude that they must have entered the apartment to carry out a rehearsal, because they were working to an incredibly tight schedule.
The three-minute time frame they allowed themselves left no margin for error."
So, returning to the puzzle analogy, if you can't make the pieces fit the puzzle, change their shape and/or hammer them into place! It has been shown that it would have been close to impossible for an abductor to have climbed through Madeleine's bedroom window, carrying a child. So, there must have been at least two abductors! And the very tight window of opportunity? Well, they must have been watching and must have been in the apartment before, carrying out a rehearsal.
Now, that's not fearless, Donal, if you have absolutely no fear of being ridiculed by real journalists. And it's not exactly courageous either, making up details to fit what you want to believe are facts.
LOW COPY NUMBER (DNA ANALYSIS) IS NOT USEFUL IN THIS CASE....
After the release of the police files on the Madeleine McCann investigation, the Liverpool Echo ran an article on the subject of the LCN analyses of samples lifted from the McCanns' holiday apartment and their car which they hired some time after Madeleine's disappearance.
"Mr Lowe, from the major incidents team at the Birmingham-based Forensic Science Service (FSS), said it was impossible to conclude whether a sample from the McCanns’ hire car came from their daughter Madeleine."
Eddie (Enhanced Victim Recovery Dog) and Keela (Crime Scene Investigation dog) both alerted independently on the same spots in the apartment and in the vehicle and the first report from Forensic Science Services appeared to conclude that with 15 out of 19 genetic markers coinciding with Madeleine's DNA profile, there was a good chance of the samples being from Madeleine's body. Somehow, though, a follow-up report came to a different conclusion: it wasn't possible to conclude that the sample in the hire car came from Madeleine.
So, with the above, we have two specialist dogs alerting to the odours they have been specifically trained to find and from the places indicated by the dogs, there are samples: microscopic, but samples that are at least recognised as bodily fluids.
OR MAYBE IT IS......
Well, slap my thigh, knock me down and call me Jeffrey! Dave Edgar, the ex-cop, turned private detective hired by the McCanns, thinks that LCN DNA analysis could, "help find the kidnapper."
Seems like Sunday September 20th was a busy day for the Maddie case in the news. In The Belfast Telegraph
"He claimed if Low Copy Number (LCN) DNA testing had been carried out at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, where Maddie vanished from two years and four months ago, it is “highly likely” her abductor would have been nailed."
Right Dave! And what samples would they have used for this testing? There were no fingerprints, or glove prints, no fibres, no hairs, no foot prints: basically no evidence left behind by the alleged abductor. So, what would they have tested? Where would they have lifted the samples from?
Dave, LCN testing was used in the apartment, on the only places where both specialist dogs alerted.
"Dave said: “It’s an amazingly powerful tool, so it’s a real shame we will never get to use it with Maddie.”
Dave, where have you been all this time? Didn't Clarence or the McCanns tell you that this, "amazingly powerful tool," had been used with Maddie? It was used, Dave, and in situations where there was a good chance that it would provide meaningful results. While DNA can be extracted from sweat left with fingerprints and on surfaces the perp has touched, the only fingerprints found on Madeleine's bedroom window were Kate McCann's.
But hang on a minute, Dave, you didnt' say that the tests should have been carried out in the apartment, or at least, not in what you are quoted as saying: you said, "..at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz." So, whereabouts at the Ocean Club? Everywhere? All over the whole spread-out area that constitutes the resort? Just in places where the McCanns, their children and their friends might have been?
Dave, go talk to the McCanns and Clarence about LCN in Maddie's case, because they may not be too pleased about your referring to this, "powerful tool," that could help find the kidnapper. Didn't you know, Dave, they found a few cases where LCN evidence was thrown out by a judge, as proof of its lack of reliability. So, maybe they're not too keen on its use.
"But the former RUC detective sergeant’s team will never be able to use it as Portuguese authorities will not give him access to forensic information."
Now, Dave, when you were a real police officer, rather than a pretendy one, advising those you identified as suspects that they should be interviewed by you in order to clear their name (Hewlett?) would you have handed over forensic information to a private detective? Somehow I doubt it, or at least I do hope that real police officers would not do this.
"It is the first time Mrs McCann has returned to the country since being quizzed by police over her daughter's disappearance.
They are considering suing the former Portuguese police officer Goncalo Amaral over his book, In The Truth Of The Lie, in which he claims that Madeleine is dead and questions the McCanns' account that she was taken while they were eating with friends nearby."(Daily Telegraph 24/09/09)
Having read Gonçalo Amaral's book, "The Truth Of The Lie," I can say that, as far as I can see, the book is simply a narrative about the investigation and the avenues being explored by joint working teams of British and Portuguese police officers. In fact, the original hypothesis of death came from an English expert, Mark Harrison.
From chapter 16 of Amaral's book:
"After a week of intense work, Harrison presents the results of his study to my coordinating group. Even if we were expecting it, his conclusions confirm our worst fears. The most plausible scenario is the following: there is no doubt that Madeleine is dead, and her body is hidden somewhere in the area around Praia da Luz. He praises the quality of the work carried out by the Portuguese authorities in trying to find the little girl alive. According to him, the time has come to redirect the searches in order to find, this time, a body hidden in the surrounding area. "
And:
"Great Britain has at its disposal the world's biggest data bank on homicide of children under five years old. Since 1960, the count is 1528. Harrison is well acquainted with its contents. He often draws information from there which helps him to resolve similar cases. Valuable information can be found there on on various criminal modus operandi, places where bodies are hidden, techniques used to get rid of a body. He relates that on one occasion, thanks to the data, he was able to deduce the maximum distance a body might be found in relation to where the crime had been committed.
The figures quoted in the report he hands over give us the shivers. The crimes, including those of a sexual nature, are committed by the parents in 84% of cases; 96% are perpetrated by friends and relatives. In only 4% of them is the murderer or abductor a total stranger to the victim. In this roundabout way, Mark Harrison points out that the guilty party may be a person close to Madeleine, and even her own parents. From now on, we have to explore this track, especially as the others have proved fruitless."
So, Kate and Gerry, you may be suing the wrong person as it was Mark Harrison who put forward, very strongly, the case for Madeleine's being dead and the idea that someone close to Madeleine, even her parents, may be the guilty party. Being of a rather cynical nature, though, Mark Harrison probably isn't worth suing and I guess you have calculated how much money may have been made by the sale of Dr Amaral's book.
Forbidden to talk about his book, "The Truth of The Lie," and his conclusions about the case, 24 Horas reports that Gonçalo Amaral crossed the border into Spain to be able to express himself. The order by the court in Lisbon, prohibiting him from speaking about the case, is only effective in Portugal.
Translation from Joana Morais. See Joana's blog for updates.
September 24, 2009 Gonçalo Amaral leaves the Country to Accuse the McCanns
Forbidden to speak about his version of the Maddie Case, which puts the parents at the origin of the child's disappearance, the former Inspector gives an interview to TV Record, in Spain.
Silenced in Portugal, Gonçalo Amaral went to Ayamonte, Spain, to tell again his version of Maddie's story, exposed in his book «The Truth of the Lie».
The Former Inspector of the Maddie Case bypassed in this way the injunction that prevents him to speak freely on the thesis of the child's death and the concealment of the corpse by her parents. However, the daily Press today reveals that the ban to Gonçalo Amaral will be enforced anywhere in the world.[this could only be achieved if the McCanns process Mr. Amaral in every Civil Court of every and each Country, no Court has jurisdiction to forbid a Citizen to speak abroad]
The McCann were in Lisbon yesterday in a meeting with their lawyers to proceed with the reopening of the inquest* to their daughter's disappearance and «refresh the searches». The Couple refused to make any comments regarding their conflict with the former PJ inspector.
Gonçalo Amaral's interview to TV Record will be broadcast in 70 Countries, the date is still unknown.
in TVI24
*This is a gross mistake, the McCanns confessed that "they wished to reopen the process", obviously they won't even bother to try to reopen the process, which they could as it's in their legal right as assistants to the process. They could, for example, answer the PJ questions or request that an official reconstruction of the events of 3rd of May 2007 is made. The Public Ministry would no doubt reopen the process to the investigation of Madeleine Beth McCann' disappearance again.
The interview will be broadcast in 70 countries? Let's hope the UK is one of them. Many thanks to Joana Morais for translating this article.
"The Truth About The Lie," to stay on the shelves.
The ruling by judge Amelia Puna Loupo that bans the sale of "Maddie: The Truth Of The Lie," will not have a direct impact on sales for the moment, in Portugal and anywhere else. This is because the order has not been completely formalised, as has been admitted by the lawyer representing the McCann family in this case.
Isabel Duarte noted that "the process has been secret until now to retain the utility of the decision obtained." In this case, the other parties have still to be heard - Gonçalo Amaral (author), Guerra y Paz (publisher) and Valentim de Carvalho (responsible for the screening of the TVI video)
As if that wasn't enough, there is also a 10 day delay to allow the three parties to oppose or 30 days to present before the Lisbon Court Of Appeal an appeal against the decision by the judge for the Third Civil Section of the 13th Lisbon Court. "As long as we have not received notification, we will continue to sell the book. When we have received notification, we'll see," a public relations officer for the publishing house Guerra y Paz, was quoted as saying by the press agency, Lusa.
The preventative order involves the publishers being banned from selling the books and videos, "that remain on their shelves or in shops and warehouses, and the requirement to collect (the copies) and hand them over to the authorised agent."
"The decision takes effect, despite the fact that it's not final, since the opposing parties, in keeping with, "the conflict principle," have the opportunity to express themselves," lawyer António Pinto Pereira explained to 24 Horas.
If Amaral and the publishers present arguments capable of convincing the judge that the decision carries serious and irreparable prejudice, "that would mean the results of the decision by the preventative order would be suspended."
Pereira Pinto would actually, "make a hybrid decision": not to produce any further editions of the book, but not to void the stocks or withdraw the books already on sale until there was a decision from the higher court.
If the higher court decides in their favour, Amaral and the publishers can go ahead with demands for compensation against the McCanns (for actual damage caused) and as individuals, against the judge Amelia Puna Loupo (for an illegal decision causing serious prejudice).
Elsewhere, it's business as usual.
"We have neither been notified nor informed of the decision of the Portuguese court, and we shall continue to sell the book," stated Isabelle Mazzaschi, representing the publisher Bourin distributor of, ""Maddie : L'enquête interdite," (the French title of Gonçalo Amaral's book) in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
In Paris, Brussels and Geneva, the French version of the book by the former PJ coordinator was available yesterday afternoon in all the main outlets in spite of the fact that the order by the Portuguese court had been all over the media.
"The sale of the book will continue until we have been notified by the French courts," Isabelle Mazzaschi confirmed for 24 Horas, adding that, "the Portuguese decision has no weight in France." And she is right.
According to Pinto Pereira, "outside our country, the order is totally ineffective, because the principles of territoriality and sovereignty of other states cannot be violated."
The publisher, TM Publishers, which distributes the book in the Netherlands and in the Flemish region of Belgium, has also told 24 Horas that Amaral's book will stay on the market.
Delighted with the publicity surrounding the court's decision, this publisher (TM) has decided to place the cover of the book - "Maddie, De waarheid achter de leugen" the Dutch title, on the home page of its web site: www.tmpublishers.nl
"The book has made it into the top 10 best sellers and has been well received by the public," the publisher's spokesperson acknowledged, stressing that, "that is not a logical or normal decision in a European country."
"The book has been on sale for some time in our country and without a legal order we are not going to change anything," he insists.
All foreign publishers of "Maddie : L’enquête interdite", contacted by 24 Horas, have refused to withdraw the book from the shelves without a local court order, at the same time as they admit that they will be contacting their lawyers and the Portuguese publisher to decide the book's future.
Among the best sellers.
According to the publisher Guerra & Paz, the book "A Verdade da Mentira," has sold in Portugal alone ( because there are editions in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark) close to 175 thousand copies (including copies sold through the daily newspaper, "Correio da Manhã"), a much higher number than other Portuguese authors, according to the sales figures for 2008. "A vida num Sopro" by José Rodrigues dos Santos, was the next best seller by a Portuguese author last year, with 115 thousand copies, followed by "A Viagem do Elefante" by José Saramago, with 100 thousand.
Amongst the top sellers is "Equador", by Miguel Sousa Tavares, which has sold close to 370 thousand copies. With a cover price of 13.30 Euros, Gonçalo Amaral's book has already taken 2.3 million Euros - the profits are divided between the publisher and the author, with the author receiving a lower percentage.
Duarte Levy & Joaquim Eduardo Oliveira
So, hold the champagne, Kate and Gerry! It's not over until the fat lady sings. Which reminds me: Auntie Phil has been very quiet for a while. Lost her voice?
"The Ulster detective leading the search for Madeleine McCann today reveals his most chilling theories yet, exclusively to Sunday Life. Hardened ex-RUC cop Dave Edgar told us he is convinced that little Maddie is imprisoned in a hellish lair – just like kidnapped sex slave Jaycee Lee Dugard."
Right! And just what makes you think that, then, Dave?
"He insisted the “back from the dead” reappearance of Jaycee – and the cases of Austrian cellar girls Elisabeth Fritzl and Natascha Kampusch – confirmed his suspicion."
Ok, Dave, so, in spite of the fact that most missing children have been abducted by a parent or a close relative, we have here three cases of children who turned up years after being abducted. I see. And, wait a minute, there's more!
"There was further backing for his theory when American boy Ricky Chekevdia was found hiding with his mother in a tiny “secret room” two years after he was kidnapped while caught in a custody battle."
Dave, every week people are winning the lottery. This confirms my belief that I am definitely going to win it! This idea is as plausible as your suspicions being confirmed, based on a handful of cases in the past 18 years since Jaycee Lee Dugard went missing.
Dave, I wonder what your ex-colleagues in the police would think. A few children out of the hundreds of thousands who have gone missing over the past few years have turned up, having been hidden away in seclusion, and this confirms your suspicions that Madeleine must be in a cellar somewhere?
What about the many, many children who were reported as having been abducted, and who were actually killed or sometimes, hidden, by parents or someone close to the family? Does that tell you something? Not raise your suspicions? Little Marina Sabatier, for example, reported missing, killed by her parents. And Shannon Matthews, reported missing, and found to have been hidden by a relative. Hang on, though, Dave, one of those children you have mentioned, Ricky Chekevdia, was actually found hiding with his mother. So, maybe we can count him out when we are talking about children being hidden in secret lairs!
Dave, you'd be the laughing stock of any police force if you came out with that kind of theory. Hang on, guys, my suspicions are confirmed about this case because three out of hundreds of thousands of kids have been found years later.
"And despite fresh leads taking his probe to Australia and Barcelona,"
Barcelona, Dave, the case where, according to the Daily Mail, your investigators:
Failed to speak to anyone working at the seafood restaurant near where the agitated woman was seen at 2am.
Failed to ask the port authority about movement of boats around the time Madeleine disappeared.
Failed to ask if the mystery woman had been filmed on CCTV.
Knew nothing about the arrival of an Australian luxury yacht just after Madeleine vanished until told by British journalists, who gave them the captain’s mobile phone number.
Failed to interview anyone at a nearby dockside bar where, according to Mr Edgar, the mystery woman was later seen drinking.
Failed to ask British diplomats in Spain for advice before or during the visit.
Well, I can see that you carry out rigorous investigations, Dave, from that desk of yours in Knutsford, Cheshire!
Right! Back to this secret lair, which you say is, "...just 10 miles from where she was snatched in Praia da Luz two years ago." Now, you don't actually tell us why you think that, but could it be because of what you believe about the area?
"Dave said: “Jane is a very reliable witness and there were other sightings of this man, who Jane saw carrying a little girl in a blanket, in the days leading up to the disappearance.”
He feels this is the lone prowler who has Maddie stashed in a cellar or dungeon in the lawless villages around Praia da Luz."
"...lawless villages," Dave? Any chance of your naming these villages so that we can ask the inhabitants what they think about their places of residence being called, "lawless."? The Lone Ranger, I mean the lone prowler, who managed the impossible task of getting Madeleine out of that narrow window in the apartment, is holding Madeleine in a cellar, or even a dungeon, in a lawless village in the wild west, I mean the mountainous regions around Praia da Luz.
And you know this because?
"Dave says the region where he feels Maddie is being held has attracted many strange characters, including convicted sex offenders.
“I don’t want to generalise or make gross exaggerations, but there are people there living on the edges of society,” Dave said."
Dave, why not try Peckham? There's loads of people living on the edge of society there, and probably lots of strange characters.
And finally! Dave, I see that you are chasing up those leads!
"He is now investigating leads on six child sex offenders, 78 other rapists and sex attackers and 22 vagrants."
Today, the Sunday Express reports that Sofia, wife of Gonçalo Amaral wrote a, "poisonous," letter to Kate McCann. What they omit to say is that the letter was written in September 2008, following remarks by Kate McCann, during an interview with a Portuguese daily newspaper. During that interview, Kate McCann said that Dr Amaral was a "disgrace, professionally and as a person." In response, Sofia Leal wrote an open letter to Kate McCann. This is the letter:
-- Dear Madam,
Excuse my audacity, but after learning about your comment in your interview with the newspaper, Expresso, on the subject of Gonçalo Amaral, my husband and father of my daughters, I have to send you these words of thanks. For many years I have been trying to make myself understood with this feeling that unites you and I "....and his behaviour is a disgrace professionally and as a person"...
Consider this:
a) Professionally
-- As coordinator of criminal investigation for the PJ, my husband has always refused to sit comfortably behind his desk, from 9 to 5, which is usual for his rank.
Instead of that, he spent the day (and sometimes the night) on the ground with the investigators, coordinating "on the spot" searches, surveillance, seizures and other duties. What a disgrace! But if this was just about being exposed to the elements, things wouldn't be serious, because as Madam Kate knows, the weather here is not bad. The problem is his commitment to the cause which has cost him promotion in his career. I will explain, because this case is contemporary to the search for your daughter. My husband was involved as senior coordinator, and between seizures of drugs, kidnappings and murders, he succeeded in producing a theory about drug trafficking by sea, which he defended before a jury in Lisbon, who congratulated him.
Full of hope, Gonçalo Amaral returned to the Algarve to await the result. It was with astonishment that he learned that he had been passed over by other colleagues (coordinators as it happens, to tell the truth), because he had not managed to get himself into "professonal training" settings. And yes, Madam Kate, my husband spent his life working, in the midst of complex investigations. He was the man in Portugal who seized most drugs, but as he didn't have the time to parade himself in the corridors of the PJ's institution, he was not promoted. A disgrace, madam, a disgrace!
As you must know, because you seem very well informed to me, my husband's salary was barely 1.5 times the minimum wage of your country. However, as a wife, mother and Portuguese, I cannot complain, given that Gonçalo Amaral's salary was the equivalent of 4.5 times the minimum wage in Portugal. Pay attention to this, which serves as an example of what I am going to explain: at one time, an individual shot an officer of the PSP and fled into neighbouring Spain. Between the comings and goings of a PJ team, of which my husband was a part, they were there for more than 15 days.
At that time, international expenses were 100€. As madam Kate can imagine, it is not possible on that amount to eat and to lodge in Spain, still less when it is Christmas Eve, and this money would only be available (with a bit of luck) by Easter. Even with that, Gonçalo Amaral never refused, not even for a day, to search for the evasive murderer, thus increasing our family budget. And this is only one example amongst many. I once suggested to him the creation of a fund, or something else for dealing with these extraordinary expenses, but he never listened to me. While we too had our mortgage to pay...A disgrace, Madam Kate, a disgrace!
b) Also as an individual, his behaviour is a disgrace, because it was never possible to distinguish or to have a private life with the way of working he chose. However, and if my dear friend Madam Kate will allow me, I can give some examples: Five years ago, a child called Joana "disappeared." The mother, just like Madam Kate, tried to project the case into the media, but this was as far as she got...After 8 days, came the confessions and the evidence: During an incestuous act between the mother and the uncle, the child was beaten, later cut into pieces and her body disposed of, no one knows where. The mother and the uncle were imprisoned, with the trial coordinated by Gonçalo Amaral, and bringing each of them nearly 20 years in prison. But going back a bit...
The child died on September 12th. On Christmas Eve, our family were together to begin our prayers, when my husband asked me to prepare a bag with food and warm clothes, because he had not yet carried out his Christmas act of contrition and penitence. Try to imagine, Madam Kate, where Gonçalo Amaral took himself that Christmas night when there was torrential rain and roaring thunder? To the Olhao prison establishment, where João Cipriano, Joana's uncle, was a prisoner; confessed murderer and clinically declared a psychopath. For my husband, giving alms to a beggar did not represent any sacrifice.
On the other hand, joining and sharing his Christmas meal with João Cipriano was the sacrifice he offered to God in memory of Joana. And isn't that a disgrace? Know this, Madam Kate, every year, on September 12th, my husband requests a mass for Joana Isabel Cipriano Guerreiro. He says that no one else will remember the poor child. But people remember to accuse him unjustly of acts and crimes which he has never committed. Isn't that a disgrace, Madam Kate?
I will relate one last story, which still costs me to talk about. This year, in May, we started the process of moving our family to Portimao. My husband's holiday was supposed to start the day after your daughter disappeared. "For obvious reasons," that didn't happen. I started a new job, I looked at houses, I made the move and I tried to settle our daughters into new schools with new routines.
All that alone, without any support from my husband, who, for obvious reasons, was looking for your daughter, Madam Kate. In October, on the day of his birthday, a week after our daughters had started the new school year, Gonçalo Amaral was dismissed and returned to Faro. It was supposed to be a time of the family getting together, but in fact it was even more of a separation. Isn't that a disgrace? Our daughters have never understood, and we have never succeeded in explaining to them what the obvious reasons were that justified a father leaving his daughters to look for a child he didn't know and whom the parents neglected. A disgrace that my dear friend Kate was not there at that time. Perhaps you could have helped us explain the "obvious reasons" to our children for their father's being sent back.
To finish, on the intimate subject of Gonçalo Amaral, I can only tell you that he is exactly as the Latinos have a reputation for: a wild one, and my modesty does not allow me to say any more.
I ask my dear friend to forgive these thoughts of a wife and mother, but I am sure you will understand. I will finish this missive by asking you to pass on to your mother my sincere compliments. She seemed very sincere to me when, during an interview, she said she had the urge to slap those who had left her grandchildren alone. She spoke as openly as a true Portuguese grandmother would have done.
My dear friend Madam Kate, without wishing to bother you any further, I would like you to do me a last favour: now that you are starting to let the truth come out, don't stop, go on, and tell the truth the world is waiting to hear.
Joana Morais has published a statement from the lawyer for Goncalo Amaral, author of the book, "A Verdade da Mentira," The Truth of The Lie, about the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance. Thank you, Joana.
This is an extract. Read the entire article on Joana's blog. (Link above)
"The lawyer for former PJ inspector Gonçalo Amaral said today that he “deplores” as a citizen that the selling of the book about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was prohibited, which will limit the “freedom of expression” in Portugal.
In statements to Lusa agency, António Cabrita said that he has not been notified about the decision concerning the injunction that forbids the sale of the book “The Truth about the Lie” yet, and he doesn’t wish to take a juridical position about the matter without previously speaking with his client, Gonçalo Amaral.
Nevertheless, he observed that, if the decision’s tenor, as divulged by the media, is confirmed, then it is the “freedom of expression” that may be being limited, because the book about the disappearance of the English child in the Algarve emits an opinion about “certain facts” that took place.
Gonçalo Amaral’s lawyer said it was “strange” that, with the book having been published over a year ago, an injunction has been served only now in order to forbid the book, when the book’s sales have “already attained their peak”.
“As a citizen, this worries me”, António Cabrita commented, further noting that this measure appears at a time when the possibility of translating the book and an eventual interest in selling it in the United Kingdom were being mentioned. “If this is true, then it’s possible that this reaction is related to that”, the lawyer admitted, adding, nevertheless, that he “deplores” what is happening.
Among other statements that are related to the prohibition of the book about the investigation into the English girl’s disappearance, António Cabrita stressed that “it was not Gonçalo Amaral’s pituitary that was sniffing the cadaver odour”.
Indeed it wasn't Dr Amaral's pituitary! Eddie, the Enhanced Victim Recovery (Cadaver) Dog, claims that discovery.
This first video shows Eddie in apartment 5A, where the McCanns stayed on their holiday in Praia da Luz. The commentary is in Portuguese, but it's easy to follow what is happening and Martin Grime, Eddie's trainer explains in English.
Eddie and Keela examining all the vehicles used by the McCanns, their friends and Robert Murat, the first arguido (suspect).
So, the McCanns are saying that Dr Amaral's book has hampered the search for Madeleine? What search? They have paid out a small fortune in other people's money for all sorts of weird and wonderful private detectives, who have basically come up with nothing but empty promises, like...Madeleine will be home by Christmas....and chased sightings all over the world. The search for Madeleine? Well, the McCanns didn't physically search for her when she went missing. Some local people in Vila da Luz stayed away from work for a week, but what did Kate McCann do? Well, she certainly didn't answer the question about why she didn't get out there! (As well as those 48 questions the PJ wanted to ask about her daughter's disappearance!)She seems to have turned the answer into one she prepared earlier!
The book, "A Verdade Da Mentira", (The Truth Of The Lie) by Gonçalo Amaral, former PJ coordinator, on Madeleine McCann's disappearance, has been banned and all copies still available must be withdrawn from sale.
The 13th Civil Court in Lisbon has today granted a provisional injunction to the McCanns, thus banning the sale of Gonçalo Amaral's book, which puts forward the theory of the little girl's death and the responsibility of Kate and Gerry McCann.
The court's decision also involves banning the distribution of the documentary based on the book, which was shown by TVI and distributed on DVD by the newspaper Correio da Manha.
The publishers, Guerra e Paz, must recover all existing copies and they are forbidden from granting publication rights for the book to publishers in other countries.Gonçalo Amaral, who has recently tried to recover his rights as the author with a view to self-publishing his book in English, is banned from speaking publicly on the contents of the book or the video.
This is a provisional ruling and will have to be confirmed by full court process.
In France and Belgium, the edition in French from the publisher Bourin, is still on sale. (See image above)
"Actor and television star Charlie Sheen has publicly requested a meeting with President Barack Obama to urge him to reopen the official investigation into 9/11 in light of the fact that the majority of the 9/11 Commission members have now publicly gone on record to express their conviction that the government agreed to lie about the official story.
Sheen’s request takes the form of a letter to the President in the context of a fictional meeting between the two entitled “20 Minutes With The President,”Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com websites. published exclusively on radio talk show host Alex Jones’"
"The letter focuses around the fact that no less than 60 per cent of the 9/11 commissioners have now publicly stated that the government agreed not to tell the truth about 9/11 and that the Pentagon was engaged in deliberate deception about their response to the attack.
Sheen also presents a plethora of other evidence to illustrate how the official story is a fraud, including the revelations of whistle blowers like FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, who recently broke a Federal gag order to expose how Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were working for the U.S. government right up until the day of 9/11."
20 minutes/20 points raised in this open letter to President Obama.
