Madeleine McCann: "Jane Tanner never left that table that night."

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Watch CBS News Videos Online

CBS video from January 20th, 2008, featuring an interview with private investigator, Joseph Moura speaking to CBS presenter, Hannah Storm. I will précis Hannah Storm's questions and type Moura's answers in full.

The video begins with the presenter talking about the Madeleine McCann case, how it has seen the biggest search in Portuguese history and shows some footage of helicopter and ground search. The voice-over introduces Francisco Marco of the Metodo 3 Spanish detective agency which was engaged by the MCanns to help in the search for their daughter. Francisco Marco states that they know where Madeleine is, who her kidnapper is and how he/they did it. There are images of the McCanns and some audio: Gerry from the prepared statement the couple made soon after their daughter's disappearance; Kate from the interview they did for a Spanish TV channel, saying she believes that Madeleine is still, "out there."

Joseph Moura went to Praia da Luz to investigate the case.

The first question put to Moura is whether he believes this or not, that Madeleine is "out there," alive and that Marco knows where she is.

"Joseph Moura: No, I don't because I think it's a pretty ridiculous statement to be making.

Hannah Storm: asks a question about a sighting 2 days after the disappearance, when Maddie was reported to have been seen with 3 people in a van.

JM: The Portuguese police had 160 police officers working on this case. If this was a set of facts consistent with the real case, they would've identified this person by now.

HS: Question about whether the parents brought about the child's death or if someone abducted her.

JM: Having worked the case in order to identify a timeline, what is the real important part of this case is that in my mind was there enough opportunity for these people to have committed a crime and then dispose of the body. We find that the timeline doesn't fit. They couldn't possibly have been involved. Whether accidental or not, they would've had to dispose of the body and there just wasn't enough time.

HS: Question about how many nights in a row the parents left the children alone.

JM: They had already been out five nights in a row and they had set a pattern and every night was 8.30 sharp they had reservations at the restaurant and they all went there to dine and they had between six and seven bottles of wine when they had their dinner. So, when you start looking at that time element, looking at the waiters who served them and at the bartenders who brought them bottles of wine, then that's how you get that time frame that we're talking about.

HS: Asks if Kate and Gerry left the children alone every night.

JM: They did. They weren't the only ones. Their friends also did the same.

HS: Asks about baby-sitters.

JM: It's a good question because they do provide a baby-sitting service at the compound.

HS: Asks if the holiday apartment was visible from the restaurant. JM had visited the Tapas restaurant and sat at the table the McCanns and friends had occupied on the night of May 3rd 2007.

JM: You cannot see the actual apartment that they were staying at from the table where they sat down.

HS: Asks if the McCanns therefore wouldn't have seen anyone coming or going.

JM: They had no actual view whatsoever.

HS: Mentions that Kate McCann has refused to take a lie detector test.

JM: I think that a lie detector test is inconclusive. I wouldn't take one and I would never advise a client of mine to take one. So, that doesn't necessarily bother me.

HS: Asks about inconsistent stories and specifically about Jane Tanner's statement about having seen a man carrying a child.

JM: Jane Tanner gives a very inconsistent story. It's not a truthful story. I'm not quite sure why she did it. I mean it would be impossible for all these people to be getting up and going to check on the children, going off for walks, when they have only an hour and twenty minutes time frame. They have dinner, they had seven bottles of wine and they had their coffees. There's just not enough time to do all these things. She never left that table that night.

HS: In a word, do you think this girl's alive?

JM: I do not."

It seems that Joseph Moura is saying that he thinks the McCanns and friends could not have been involved in Madeleine's disappearance because there just wasn't enough time for them to have made her disappear into thin air as she appeared to have done. Also, he appears to be implying that they wouldn't have managed all the checks they listed on their timeline for the evening on the covers of a child's sticker album, repeated in their interviews.

Mr Moura states, quite categorically, that Jane Tanner never left the table that night. So, I am extrapolating that he believes, or at least believed at the time, that fewer or no checks were actually made on the children, thus creating a greater window of opportunity for any would-be abductor. How he would explain the total lack of forensic evidence of an abductor having passed through the apartment, I don't know: the only fingerprints on the window that was said to have been forced and found open by Kate McCann were her own. No break-in and no traces at all left behind by the abductor.

The most interesting aspects, for me, of this interview are that Mr Moura strongly insists that Jane Tanner did not leave the table and that the timeline details as given by the Tapas 9 would have been impossible, given the time available and their dining and drinking habits.

So, let's run through a few options of what could have happened to Madeleine McCann.

1) There were no checks whatsoever on the children, thus leaving a huge window of opportunity for the abductor, although Gerry was in the vicinity of the apartment when he bumped into Jez Wilkins.

2) The checks were all carried out with the group playing musical chairs and there was a very small window of opportunity for the abductor, who was watching and waiting and accomplished the deed in a matter of a few minutes, leaving no trace of himself and making a clean gettaway.

3) Gerry's was the only check and the abductor had lots of time, thus leaving the McCanns guilty of neglect leading to significant harm under the Children and Young Persons Act (1932)

4) The Tapas 9 are a bunch of lying toads and at least two of them know what happened to Madeleine.

I'm sure there are other scenarios, so please add any you think may be plausible or implausible (like the abduction theory itself) if you wish.

Gonçalo Amaral: Here's to the glorious twelfth!

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As most of the world knows, in September, the McCanns obtained a temporary injunction on the sale of Gonçalo Amaral's book, the English title of which is "The Truth of the Lie."

The hearing, at which Gonçalo Amaral was due to present witnesses in an attempt to overturn the injunction was postponed due to staff sickness in the office of Snr Amaral's lawyer. Outside the Civil Court building in Lisbon, Kate and Gerry did a 1-2 double act about how they weren't disappointed and Kate MCann asserted the rights of "human beings," above the right to freedom of speech. She sounded like she was trying hard to remember the words used by her lawyer in some kind of pep talk. "Mrs McCann your human rights are being infringed," but Kate asserted the rights of human beings, which being a rather pedantic person led me to wonder if she was therefore stressing the rights of human beings over the rights of, say, jelly fish or orangutans. Free the Chiltern Hundreds I say. They have rights!

Anyway! The delayed hearing has been rescheduled for Tuesday January 12th. In the past week or so, there have been interesting developments, both in the mainstream media and on various blogs.

On Sunday January 3rd, the Express reported...

"Thousands of British police files detailing the hunt for Madeleine McCann will not be released unless those behind her disappearance are brought to justice." (Emphasis mine.)

.......and in the Monday 4th January edition of the Express, we were given...

"THOUSANDS of police files detailing the British involvement in the hunt for Madeleine McCann will remain secret until her kidnappers are brought to justice, it emerged yesterday." (Emphasis mine.)

Those behind Madeleine's disappearance are not necessarily kidnappers and this appears to be what the original press release, presumably from the police force "Operation Task," investigating Madeleine's disappearance, is stating by their more generalised phrasing. What happened in the 24 hours between those editions? A press release from the McCann team? "You promised Mr Express editor, to make sure our comments were published on any news story relating to Madeleine."?

The question arises about why this statement now. Is there a connection between the timing of this press release and the upcoming hearing in the Lisbon Court? If so, what? Several theories have been mooted: the McCanns made a request to Leicestershire police for access to the files and they were turned down; the Leicestershire police were sending a message to Gonçalo Amaral that if he had wanted to use anything contained in those files, he could whistle Dixie! In all likelihood, this is just coincidence, because in the UK, police files would never be released while, as the press release states, the investigation is ongoing. Also, I would have thought that the court in Lisbon would have the power to requisition the information from Leicestershire police in what is, after all, a Portuguese police investigation.

THE HEARING WILL BE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS?

On Thursday January 7th, John Blacksmith reported on his blog, The Blacksmith Bureau, that next week's hearing would be behind closed doors. John does not reveal a source for this news, but he does go on to say that the details will emerge from behind those closed doors, bit by bit, inexorably.

"Whatever the verdict, the key elements of the court proceedings will come out, one way or another, during the coming months, like a dripping wound.

In July 2008 the Coffin and Gerry McCann, the latter with a spring in his step, the former lurching behind, shedding pine chips, were able to twist the meaning of the Portuguese prosecutors’ report because they had privileged access to it in translation. This time? Oh, no - there are plenty of Portuguese civil libertarians, volunteers for a cause they believe in, to ensure that the information will flow freely. The Team, from next week on, are going to be unable to stop the bleeding."

If John Blacksmith's information has come from a reputable source and the hearing is to be held in camera, for whose benefit is this likely to be? The McCanns' because they have reason to be concerned about how this is reported in the Portuguese media and the presence of members of the Portuguese public, who were vocal in their dislike of the McCanns in December? Gonçalo Amaral's in that his lawyer may wish to ask Snr Amaral's witnesses certain question which would touch on information contained in the thousands of files which have not yet been made public by the Portuguese police?

Outside the court in Lisbon in December, Snr Amaral appeared to quite relaxed, composed and confident: no ummms, errrrs, or you knows from him! He has always affirmed that his book, "A Verdade da Mentira," is nothing more than a narrative about the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, which was carried out by teams of Portuguese and English police officers. As far as I can tell from reading the said book, that is exactly what it appears to be.

Gerry McCann's assertion is that people will stop looking for Madeleine if they believe Amaral's thesis that, "an innocent little girl is dead." (Gerry's words.) There's something about Gerry's words that makes me decidedly uncomfortable. Implicit in the phrase, "..an innocent little girl is dead," seems to be some kind of implication that a little girl was being blamed for her own demise. Why does Gerry have to keep stressing, "innocent."? Could a little three-year-old girl be described as guilty? And if so, would her death not be such a crime or so significant? The use of the "innocent little girl," mantra would, in my opinion, be a plea to the mentality of the tabloid-reading public. "Innocent grandmother of 4 bitten by viscious unemployed teenage hoodie's ferret."

The MCanns and their backers have thrown oodles of dosh at expensive legal firm Carter Ruck, (They of the Trafigura injunction in which they sought to prohibit an MP's question in the House being made public), Portuguese PR firm "Lift Consulting," and Portuguese lawyers, in an attempt not only to ban Snr Amaral's book and prevent him from even talking about it, but have sought to silence bloggers who have dared to question their abduction theory. To me, though, in spite of all that, for all his posturing and ranting through his puckered, spaghetti-hole mouth, Gerry McCann's threats still sound as scary as Achmed, the dead terrorist! I keeeel you!



The McCanns' abduction theory has as much substance as Achmed's body. There is no substance to it. In nearly three years they have tried to pad it out with Jane Tanner's still being updated story and description of an elusive abductor, with sightings from all over the world, and simply their repeated protestations that it is so.

And finally, the television programme, which was broadcast on Portuguese TV, released on DVD, and included in the temporary injunction obtained by the McCanns, is available (of course!) on the internet. Here for the convenience of my readers, is the video with English sub-titles.



For more excellent videos and commentary on the Madeleine McCann case, see:

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

Thank you, Joana, for allowing embedding of this video.

And to Dr Gonçalo Amaral, my very best wishes and hopes that the 12th of January will indeed be the glorious twelfth, when at least some of the truth behind all the lies will come out. Let's hope that very soon the world will be able to distinguish the truth from the lies.

Anjem Choudary talks of 7/7 and states that only Muslims are "innocent."

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Anjem Choudary is the leader of Islam4UK, the Islamic group that is planning to stage a protest march through Wootton Bassett. Here, he is discussing the London bombings of 7/7 and refusing to condemn the actions of his, "Muslim brothers," while implicitly stating that since only Muslims are "innocent," and all those people who died or were seriously injured on the tube trains and on the London bus were legitimate targets.

This is the person who claims that all he wants to do is honour the Muslims who have been killed as a result of the war in Afghanistan.

Somehow, I don't believe him.

"They Shall Not Pass."

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Above: hundreds of people line the streets of Wootton Bassett as coffins carrying the repatriated dead service men and women from Afghanistan pass through.

Islam4UK, an Islamic group linked to the extremist organisation Al-Muhajiroun is planning a march through Wootton Bassett in the coming weeks in memory of Muslims, "‘murdered in the name of democracy and freedom’. There's something quite ironic there.

Islam4UK's leader, Anjem Choudary, said the protest, involving 500 people, would be ‘peaceful’ and that ‘symbolic coffins’ would be carried to honour Muslim victims of the conflict.

"But Chris Wannell, the Wiltshire town’s former mayor, said: ‘We don’t do what we do for any political reason but to pay our respects to those who have given their lives for our freedom.

‘We are a Christian country and a traditional old English market town who honour very much our Queen and country. We obey the law and pay respects to our servicemen who protect our freedom."(Daily Mail)

Now, I'll come out here and say that I am a pacifist and that I particularly see no sense in the original reasons for invading Afghanistan or for the continuing conflict there. However, I have known men and women who have served in the armed forces, most of whom have joined with very good intentions and a belief that they were defending the freedoms we in the west enjoy and possibly helping people in countries who did not enjoy those freedoms. I have also, as a teacher, known young people who intended to join the armed forces, some because they saw it as a way to gain training for future employment and as a way to travel and see some of the world, some because they couldn't think of any other way to leave home, most with a sense of doing something honourable and decent.

The people who turn out time after time in Wootton Bassett to pay their respects to the British service men and women who have been killed in Afghanistan could be honouring one of my ex-students, young people who went where they were sent and died for a cause that I don't believe is worth dying for, but I think they and their families and the people of Wootton Bassett should not be insulted by this planned march.

On October 4th, 1936, an event took place in London, that came to be known as, "The Battle Of Cable Street." Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists planned to march through Stepney, the area with the largest Jewish population in England.

"Their way was blocked by thousands of demonstrators, made up of communists, Jews, dockers and labourers from the local community.

They flooded the narrow streets, making them impassable. They carried banners and chanted "They Shall Not Pass" a slogan adopted from the Spanish Republicans." (BBC)

This planned demonstration by around 500 people from Islam4UK must not be allowed to happen. Those of us who feel that the dead from a futile war should be allowed to travel in peace to their final resting place and that the route of their final journey should not be tainted by hate must come together now and echo the words of those ordinary folks of East End London.

"They shall not pass."

Madeleine McCann: who searched for this little girl? (Part 4) Metodo 3?

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Above: the McCanns arriving back in the UK soon after being made arguidos.

I'm still on a mission to find the McCanns searching for their daughter. While in Portugal, they traveled a great deal, they probably did a little shopping, but did they search? Even when they eventually reached Morocco, in spite of reported sightings there, which were thought to have been interesting, the McCanns never went to investigate the relevant areas for themselves.

Back to The McCann Files for a detailed diary of events leading up to and following Madeleine's disappearance. Nigel Moore, what would we do without you and your meticulously maintained site?

http://mccannfiles.com/id12.html

We are finally approaching some searching folks....well, I think we are, ye know, well, really...

October 2007 saw a great tsunami of activity in the UK press, based on articles in Portuguese journals for the most part.

At the beginning of the month Carlos Anjos, head of Portugal's Police Federation ridiculed Gerry's theory that an abductor had been hiding in the apartment when he went to check on the children. Gonçalo Amaral was removed from the investigation following an outburst about his English colleagues.

Eileen McCann, Madeleine's grandmother who lives in Scotland, stated that any of Madeleine's DNA that was found in the hired car could be explained by the fact that Amelie was wearing Madeleine's sandals and her tops. (Daily Mail 2/10/09)

I find it quite strange that Amelie was wearing her sister's clothes. If one of my children had disappeared, there is no way that their clothes would have been worn by another child in the family. At some point I may have given some to a charity shop, just some, but I would not have immediately been dressing another child in those clothes. This seems like another clue that Kate and Gerry were not expecting Madeleine to turn up any time soon.

It emerged that the McCanns were carrying out their own 'secret investigation,' and their legal team was interviewing all witnesses to the events of May 3rd, the McCanns being confident that they would be cleared by Christmas. (Daily Mail)

A friend of the McCann couple said that evidence gathered would be presented to the Portuguese prosecutor. They would say, 'This is what we have got. We advise you not to go any further.' (Daily Mail)

A very worrying way to address a public prosecutor, I would say. If that really was how they would have worded it, there is a hint of threat there, in my opinion.

On October 18th, Channel 4 broadcast their Dispatches programme about Madeleine, in which it was claimed that entry via the shuttered window would have been almost impossible.

On October 25th, the McCanns released an artist's impression (another one!) of the man Jane Tanner had seen, carrying a child in the vicinity of the McCanns' holiday apartment. The McCanns went into reverse about their claim that an abductor had broken in through the window of apartment 5A and reveal that they believe the window was opened from the inside as a means of escape. Clarence Mitchell said he couldn't go into detail about the matter.

And here we come to the first mention of Metodo 3, Spanish detective agency hired by the McCanns. They are quoted as saying that they are convinced that Madeleine is being held in Morocco.

http://mccannfiles.com/id26.html

Into November and there is another alleged sighting of Madeleine in Morocco, which turns out to be old news as the event took place on August 21st.

On November 22nd, Portugal's top law officer, Pinto Monteiro, is quoted as saying that the huge publicity surrounding Madeleine's disappearance would have turned her into a liability if she had been abducted and 'There's a greater possibility of the girl being dead than alive.' (In an interview with current affairs publication Visao)

Searching folks! It is confirmed that Spanish detective agency, Metodo 3, is being paid £50,000 a month by the Find Madeleine Fund, for a 6 month contract. Metodo 3 is said to have up to 40 operatives working on the ground in the hunt for Madeleine, in at least 3 countries.

So, let's have a wee shufftie here at the search for Madeleine by this detective agency.

SOS Madeleine McCann 24/10/2007

By Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis

Levy and Reis present a run-down on the previous work undertaken by this agency. They have no previous experience of dealing with cases of missing children, their work having been focused on clients from the commercial and industrial sectors, dealing with such issues as money-laundering and security. Based in Barcelona, Metodo 3 was responsible for the new phone line set up after the latest appeal for information from the McCanns. The Portuguese police had not been consulted about this phone line.

SOS Madeleine McCann 31/10/2007

By Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis

A top-ranking Moroccan police officer stated that most of the children taken to Morocco were children who were involved in custody disputes, between a Moroccan and a non-Moroccan parent. There was paedophile activity in Morocco, but it was usually Moroccan children being abducted by foreigners for the prostitution trade in other countries, like Italy.

Metodo 3 claimed to know that Madeleine was being held in the Rif area of Morocco, but a Moroccan organisation against paedophilia, 'Touche pas a mon enfant," was quoted as saying there were hundreds of blonde children in the Rif area and also they did not believe that Madeleine would have been taken there by a paedophile ring, as claimed by Metodo 3, who state that they have a number of leads to follow up and know precisely where Madeleine is being held.

SOS Madeleine McCann 5/11/2007

Another blonde Moroccan child who isn't Madeleine McCann. A Spanish woman contacted the Metodo 3 help line to say that she had reported to the Spanish police in August having seen a blonde child whom she was 100% sure was Madeleine McCann. The Moroccan police were obliged to follow up every sighting and this child was not Madeleine. Metodo 3 insist that they have witness statements from lots of people who have seen Madeleine in Morocco.

SOS Madeleine McCann 10/11/2007

An Irish citizen on holiday in Bosnia contacted Metodo 3 to report that he had seen Madeleine in a Bosnian city. Clarence Mitchell said this sighting was being taken very seriously.

And so it goes on:

November 18th 2007: Francisco Marco states that he knows who kidnapped Madeleine.

November 20th 2007: A woman gives a witness statement to Metodo 3, stating that she had seen Michaela Walczuch, Robert Murat's friend, in Morocco, close to where Madeleine had been sighted.

Miss a few! See SOS Maddie blog for all posts on this subject.

December 22nd 2007: Metodo 3 admits never having known where Madeleine was, although they had assured that they would have Madeleine home by Christmas.

December 28th 2007: Metodo 3 comes up with two witnesses who say they had seen Robert Murat in the vicinity of the McCanns' apartment on the night she disappeared.

If they can't find Madeleine, it's that fall-back technique, once again, finger a patsy!

February 23rd 2008: Metodo 3 detective who had been involved in their hunt for Madeleine, is arrested for theft of cocaine from a police warehouse in Barcelona.

March 13th 2008: A detective working for Metodo 3 in Morocco is alleged to have paid witnesses to say they had seen Madeleine, according to a senior Moroccan police officer.

February 2nd 2009: Metodo 3 under investigation for money-laundering.

The Metodo 3 contract was not renewed on the same basis, but the agency was kept on a retainer and would raise its head again!

First of all, a very unlikely detective agency to be hired to hunt for a missing child, one that had no experience in this area of detective work and one that had previously been under suspicion for illegal phone tapping (The McCann Files day 206)

And what a shower they turned out to be: theft of cocaine, suspected of paying witnesses, suspected of money-laundering and admitting that they had never actually known where Madeleine was.

Metodo 3 didn't seem to do a great deal of actual searching for Madeleine. Their mission appeared to be to find as many witnesses as possible to alleged sightings, none of which turned out to have any basis in truth.

Hey ho! Next!

Madeleine McCann: who searched for this little girl? (Part 3)

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Above: Gerry and Kate take the twins to the zoo.

Through June and July 2007, Gerry McCann was well into writing his blog, steaming away there with jolly updates about taking the twins to the zoo, doing media interviews, meeting with the Portuguese police, picking up various visitors from the airport and jogging to the top of the hill. He also found time to pop into the local church in Praia da Luz, after his morning run, to spend 10 minutes praying for Madeleine.

http://mccannfiles.com/id8.html

Days 29 - 58 on the McCann Files take us to the end of June 2007.

Day 57: Friday June 29th

"An early rise for Gerry this morning to drop off and pick up more friends from the airport. They bring back his wallet, which had been returned, with all the cards, driving licence and 30 euros in cash intact! Only the sterling cash appears to be missing. Later a friend from Amsterdam drops in for 2 hours, whilst on a golfing trip in the Algarve."

These entries are précis from Gerry McCann's blogs and are jaw-droppingly trivial for the most part. I think the McCanns took to their celebrity status very quickly and appear to have assumed that us ordinary folks out here really want to know really, you know, what they had for breakfast and how often Gerry emptied his bowels. Whatever was going on with the police investigation, the McCanns seemed to have established their routine of answering emails and phone calls and tweaking their level of media attention. It was almost as though they were playing happy celeb couple on the Algarve and occasionally they'd meet with the police to make sure they weren't about to be prosecuted for neglect, then got on with living in their own little La-La Land, planning long-term strategies for their campaign.

Day 67: Monday July 9th.

Kate and Gerry both manage early morning runs. (Well woopee doopee!)

Day 78: Friday July 20th.

More early morning runs, they have a meeting with their campaign manager, Gerry takes the twins to the beach and Kate answers emails.

Are they searching yet? I'm beginning to feel like the kid in the back of the car, asking, "Are we there yet?"

Days 90 - 120

http://mccannfiles.com/id11.html

On day 94, Sunday August 5th, sniffer dogs are brought in to investigate the McCanns' living areas in Praia da Luz and several vehicles, including their vehicle, hired around 3 weeks after Maddie's disappearance. Are the McCanns bovvered? Seemingly not because the following day, Gerry goes to Portimao to buy a new printer. On day 96, when samples are sent for analysis, Gerry records that he and Kate manage their early morning run in 'pleasantly cooler conditions,' and they record an interview for Sky News.

It's this attitude, I think, that made many people wonder about the McCanns and their daughter's disappearance. While many parents in similar circumstances could have been worried about what might have been found, the McCanns just kept right on with their daily routines and activities related to their media campaign. Perhaps they were simply confident, for some reason, that nothing would be found.

Meanwhile, the British media reports on the possible findings from the dogs' work and on day 98, Gerry complains that the media attention has become intrusive. Reality, it seems, was in danger of creeping into his perfectly constructed model of his world, with he and Kate as saintly parents, recipients of the world's adoration, sympathy and oodles of dosh!

I don't think they're searching yet, though. I think they're just waiting for the Portuguese police not to find Madeleine and, dare I say it, having a fine time in the Algarve sunshine.

Days 121 - 150: September 2007

Folks, I'm still looking for any signs that Kate and Gerry McCann are searching for their daughter. I wouldn't call doing lots of media interviews for various TV channels in diverse European countries searching, but then I guess the McCanns were saying that this was to maintain Madeleine's high media profile and perhaps jog the memories of people who might spot Madeleine in France or Spain etc., or suddenly recall having seen something significant during a holiday in the Algarve.

At the beginning of September, Kate and Gerry are aware that they will be called in for questioning by the Portuguese police at any time, but the morning runs continue, up and down that hill and along the beach, and the relies keep on arriving and departing.

On day 126, Thursday September 6th, Gerry McCann is reported to be very angry that he had to find out from the media that the PJ had the lab results back from Forensic Science Services.

Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa says, "The lines of investigation are the same since the beginning - they are all open. We said the results are important for one of the lines, the one that considers the hypothesis of the little girl being dead."

By late evening on Friday 7th September, as the world knows, Kate and Gerry McCann had both attained arguido status. The Times reports Gerry as saying, "We are completely f******, we should have seen this coming weeks ago and gone back to Britain."

There you have it folks! They should have hightailed it back, got going while the going was good, before those nasty sardine-munching police officers got those results and dragged them in for questioning. Never mind that they were not going to leave without Madeleine, as soon as they were asked a load of very awkward questions, they wanted to be out of there! And out of there they got, as fast as they could book a flight, let Sky News know what flight they'd be on and throw their belongings into a car. Sky News reports that the large press gathering at 7am, as the McCanns scarper from their villa, is there at the McCanns' invitation. Intrusive media? Not when it suits their purposes obviously!

Folks, at this point in the story, they're scooting, vamooshing, but they don't seem to have done a lot of searching in Praia da Luz or anywhere around Europe, North Africa or any other continent.

On September 29th, Clarence Mitchell, now the McCanns' full-time spokesman says he and a few journalists he worked with on the Soham case see parallels with Robert Murat, but he cannot say any more about it!

The McCanns and their spokespeople do appear to have been doing some searching....for a patsy!!

So, Gerry McCann, as of December 2009, insists that he and his wife are still searching for their daughter? I'm still asking when they started!

To be continued!

Madeleine McCann: who searched for this little girl? (Part 2)

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Above: very clear image of a small blonde child accompanied by an adult female at the service station on the A22 in Portugal, soon after Madeleine disappeared.

I shall digress a little here from wondering who actually searched for Madeleine McCann to mention two very odd events, featuring rather strange reactions from parents who were convinced that their daughter had been abducted, who said they were doing everything they could to get her back.

The first odd event, featured Kate McCann and the case of a child seen at a service station on the A22 road in Portugal. The PJ had received news of the reported sighting and were keen to get Kate McCann to Portimao without delay, so that she could view the images captured on CCTV at the service station.

Gonçalo Amaral describes Kate's journey to the service on May 4th 2007 in Chapter 3 of his book, "A Verdade da Mentira." (1)

"FIRST EYE WITNESS STATEMENTS; KATE HEALY'S SURPRISING REACTION"

"Madeleine's parents are already back in Vila da Luz when we receive photos taken in a service area of the motorway: you can make out the figure of a little girl, who looks like Madeleine, accompanied by a couple. These images come from a CCTV camera on the motorway linking Lagos to the Spanish border. The McCanns are asked to come to Portimão in order to proceed to an identification. It's the end of the day. Kate Healy seems annoyed at coming back and made uncomfortable by the speed of the police car taking her.

We are somewhat astonished by her reaction, as if she was not expecting to get her daughter back. The identification turns out negative."

The second odd event featured Gerry McCann waiting for a phone call from a man who had attempted to extort a large sum of money in return for supposedly handing over information in his possession about Madeleine's whereabouts.

Chapter 5 of "A Verdade da Mentira." (*)

"AN ATTEMPTED EXTORTION AND AN UNCONCERNED FATHER"

"One day, we were all together at the PJ in Portimão - inspectors and negotiators, members of Scotland Yard and the Leicestershire police - waiting for a contact to define the place and the conditions for the handing over of the money in Holland; when the tension was at its height and we were all holding our breath, Gerald McCann displayed a nonchalance that surprised all of the police officers present, including the English. The atmosphere got heavier as the waiting drew out, but McCann, relaxed, was reading trivia on the internet and discussing rugby and football with the English police, while licking a lollipop. On the telephone, he laughed with friends who called him. Perhaps this was nervousness; sometimes it's totally displaced, given what is at stake at the time. His attitude shocked. When, two days later the dutch police informed us that the individual had been arrested, that he was not holding any information and had lied from start to finish with the sole objective of extorting money from the couple, we were not surprised."

So far, I have noted three situations that evoked strange reactions from parents who were convinced their daughter had been abducted, situations where they did not appear to be overly concerned that they might be about to receive important information about the child whom they were 'really working very hard really,' to get back: the reported sighting at the service station; the anonymous note sent to the Dutch newspaper about the location of Madeleine's body; the contact with demands for money. Does any of that sound like parents who are devastated by their daughter's disappearance and desperate to follow up all leads to find her? Were they doing 'everything we can,' to get Madeleine back, considering that they supposedly had no idea where she was or who she was with?

Notes:

* Chapter 5 of A Verdade da Mentira in English: Here

(1) Chapter 3 of A Verdade da Mentira in English: Here

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

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Daily Mirror 12/12/09:

"DISTORTION, LIES, FABRICATION AND SLANDER."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Truth Of The Lie Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The First Seventy-two Hours.

THE ORGANISATION OF THE INVESTIGATION

(May 4th)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Still May 4th.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Also from The McCann Files days 29 -58)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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