Dementia: A National Crisis.

Year on year the number of people in the UK diagnosed as suffering from some form of dementia is reported to be growing and will continue to grow. It's said to be a "national crisis," but it's also an individual and very personal crisis for those who develop dementia and for their families, who are often their primary carers.

According to The Alzheimers Society, there are over 800,000 people in the UK who have been diagnosed with dementia. Of that number, 17,000 are "younger people."

Dementia affects mostly older people, but is not a natural consequence of aging.

In this and subsequent blog posts I shall look at what dementia is, how it affects individuals and ask a few questions about what causes it. At the moment, my thinking is that there is possibly a genetic tendency with environmental triggers: I shall describe what I think may be some of the environmental triggers. I shall also examine some ideas, currently being put forward, for preventing the onset of dementia and at least one idea for improving current symptoms and delaying the progression of dementia.

What is dementia?

Dementia is a an illness that usually occurs slowly over time, and usually includes a progressive state of deterioration. The earliest signs of dementia are usually memory problems, confusion, and changes in the way a person behaves and communicates. (Alzheimer's Reading Room) 

Common Types of Dementia and Their Typical Characteristics (From Alzheimers Reading room: link above.)

Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common type of dementia; accounts for 60 to 80 percent of cases.
Difficulty remembering names and recent events is often an early clinical symptom; later symptoms include impaired judgment, disorientation, confusion, behavior changes and trouble speaking, swallowing and walking.
Hallmark abnormalities are deposits of the protein fragment beta-amyloid (plaques) and twisted strands of the protein tau (tangles).

  Vascular Dementia is considered to be the second-most-common type of dementia.

Impairment is caused by decreased blood flow to parts of the brain, often due to a series of small strokes that block arteries. (More on this in a later post)
Symptoms often overlap with those of Alzheimer’s, although memory may not be as seriously affected.

 Dementia with Lewy Bodies

Pattern of decline may be similar to Alzheimer’s, including problems with memory, judgment and behavior changes.
Alertness and severity of cognitive symptoms may fluctuate daily.
Visual hallucinations, muscle rigidity and tremors are common.
Hallmarks include Lewy bodies (abnormal deposits of the protein alphasynuclein) that form inside nerve cells in the brain.

Five more less common types of dementia are described on The Alzheimer's Reading Room web site. (Link above)

My Auntie Bessie was one of those "younger people," to have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's in her 50s. My cousin, Jessie, looked after her mother for as long as she could personally cope, while Bessie's illness progressed. Bessie would get up in the night and try to escape from the strange place where she was being held, though she had lived there for many years. She would get out of the house if she could and would wander the streets looking for her home: Jessie had to make sure all doors and windows were locked day and night. Bessie had always been fond of baking and was renowned for her good cakes, but once dementia set in, she lost any concept of how gas has to be lit and the gas cooker became a major risk factor for the family. 

Jessie looked after her mother until Bessie became progressively more violent. (As far as Bessie was concerned, she was surrounded by strangers and being held in a strange place against her will.) Eventually, Jessie agreed to have her mother taken to reside in a residential home and, like many carers in a similar situation, Jessie felt she had failed her mother. I believe this is fairly common among people who live with and care for someone with dementia, but in residential care, the staff go home at the end of a shift: family carers live with dementia, 24 hours a day.  

Alzheimer's Society:

Two thirds of people with dementia live in the community while one third live in a care home.
Family carers of people with dementia save the UK over £8 billion a year.

Next blog: Vaccines - Is there a link to dementia? 

Villain - A Very Clever Canine

Bill Whitstine, of the Florida Canine Academy, trains dogs for arson detection work. Through over 600 hours of training, the dogs are trained to detect over 40 different fire accelerants. They are able to detect parts per trillion. 

Villain was a dog that Whitstine found at an animal sanctuary and he worked with her for over 13 years. The work they did together led to over 200 convictions in arson trials. 

At 4.25 on the video, Bill refers to a specific case where a very badly burned woman accused her partner of having thrown lamp oil over her and setting her on fire. She told police that she had run around trying to escape, while he threw the lamp oil. The police arrested the boyfriend, who claimed that the woman had set fire to herself.

In an effort to establish whether the lamp oil was confined to one place, the police brought in a mechanical sniffer, which detected not a drop of lamp oil anywhere. 

Then the police brought in Bill Whitstine and Villain. Villain immediately started "hitting on," spots all over the place and alerting to the presence of lamp oil residue. All of the samples collected tested positive for lamp oil residue at the state crime lab. One of the technicians at the lab stated that Villain could detect samples at levels lower than their best equipment could analyse.

Bill testified in court. To demonstrate Villain's skills for the jury, Bill placed single drops of gasoline on the floor and then brought in Villain, who went straight to those spots. Villain's work led to the conviction of the accused man because a dog's nose proved to be better than a mechanical sniffer. 

As one dog handler has said, sometimes the difference between solving a case and allowing a criminal to go free is a cold, wet nose. 

Cadaver Dogs and Other Clever Canines

A couple of times a week I have the opportunity to go walking with my lovely canine friend, a beautiful long-haired German Shepherd dog called Flora. Flora lives with two people who obviously love animals as they have four rescued cats as well as Flora, who came from a dog rescue centre. As a puppy, Flora was thrown from a car window by people who couldn't be bothered to find a proper new home for her. She has grown into a lovely, gentle, intelligent doggie, often sharing her big doggie bed with the cats.

Out walking, Flora will constantly look at my feet to make sure she is keeping pace with me. When we reach the park and her lead comes off, then she knows that I will throw the ball for her. Flora will fetch the ball and bring it back, but she won't drop it right away. She will wait, then drop it and as soon as I go to pick it up, she will grab it. She will also run behind me, darting left and right and showing me the ball, darting away when I reach for it. Such a clever dog. Flora would possibly have made a good sniffer dog as one of the qualities looked for is playfulness:   Flora invents games and loves interacting with people.

I'm convinced that Flora also senses things about other dogs. Mostly, she ignores them in the park or walking through the streets. There is a little Westie we often meet on our travels, with whom Flora gets on really well and the two dogs greet each other in a happy canine way with waggy tails and sniffy noses. However, occasionally Flora will bark at another dog. Coming out of the carpet shop the other day, where Flora had insisted on going in to see the man she knows, she suddenly started into her big bark. And Fora's big bark is very big! She was barking at a rather large brown dog that looked like a Staffie cross. The odd thing was that, to my eyes anyway, the other dog wasn't showing any signs of aggression. My guess is that Flora sensed something about that dog and that dogs like Flora can sense things that we humans cannot observe with our ordinary senses.

Dogs in criminal investigation

Dogs have been used for a very long time now in criminal investigation. They are trained and used, successfully, to detect drugs, explosives, contraband at airports, as well as missing people and dead bodies in disaster zones and in cases of suspected murder.

The newest area of work undertaken by dogs in criminal investigation is that of the "cadaver dog," also referred to as an Enhanced Victim Recovery Dog. These dogs undergo rigorous training by organisations like the FBI and many are trained in the USA at the place known as "The Body Farm."

This is from Illinois Search and Rescue Dogs 

Like all search dogs, cadaver dogs go through extensive training before they can become certified and operational. Cadaver dogs are first trained to recognize a wide spectrum of odors associated with human remains, depending on their specific use. Cadaver dogs for use in a disaster situation focus on more recent decomposition odors, while cadaver dogs that work with law enforcement are also trained to recognize older decomposition odors and smaller odor sources. Only actual human remains are used to train the dogs, no pseudo scent is used in the training process. 
All K-9s are first taught to give a trained final response or indication upon detection of the odor. They are taught to only give this response when they locate the strongest source of the odor. A large amount of time is spent on making sure that the indication is solid before the K-9 is ever taught to actually search for the odor in a scenario-based problem. Cadaver dogs that are trained in water recovery are taught to give this final indication while working from a boat on a body of water.

And yet, Gerry McCann, father of missing Madeleine McCann has stated on several occasions that cadaver dogs are unreliable.

In this video, Kate and Gerry are being interviewed by Sandra Felgueiras. At 4.50 Sandra asks about the sniffer dogs, Eddie and Keela and their alerts. Kate McCann launches into a spiel about people being helpful, but Sandra brings them back to the subject of the dogs. Gerry states that evidence shows that the dogs are unreliable, that when they are scientifically tested....

Now, does Gerry seriously think that the FBI does not train or test these dogs scientifically? Or South Yorkshire police? Eddie, cadaver dog, was trained by Martin Grime of SYP and also completed training at "The Body Farm." in the USA. They don't train or test scientifically at "The Body Farm."?

Elsewhere, as in the following video, which doesn't want to embed, at 0.50, Gerry McCann states "..when the dogs came that was actually something that happened at our request."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOXenTtj26E 

Well, no actually, it wasn't. When the British investigator Mark Harrison arrived in Praia da Luz, he made extensive searches of the local area, read through all the files and concluded that the police should be looking for a body. He then recommended bringing in Eddie and Keela and showed the PJ a video of the dogs at work. (See Chapter 16 of Gonçalo Amaral's book on this site)

The book "Death Scent," is a work of fiction by S.V. Wolf, based on the work of her own dog, Titan.

The real Titan, Wolf said, was responsible for the recovery of a 12-year-old who had been abducted and murdered, an Austin man who had committed suicide and had been missing for two years, a baby who had been buried for more than 30 years, and a murdered woman who had been buried in her own backyard for seven years, just to name a few.

A baby who had been buried for more than 30 years! Well, that puts paid to another of Gerry McCann's utterances, that cadaver odour is only detectable for up to 30 days! You see, those dogs are unreliable!

When Gerry was searching for ways to discredit the findings of the two dogs in  the holiday apartment and various other places and on items only related to himself and the missus, the McCanns' lawyers attempted to use the case of Eugene Zapata, as an example of someone wrongly incriminated by cadaver dog evidence. Unfortunately Zapata confessed and admitted that the dogs had alerted in the right places. 

Until Eddie and Keela went to Praia da Luz, it was said that Eddie had never given a false positive alert. In Praia da Luz, Eddie and Keela only alerted to places and items related to the McCanns apartment, their rented car and their possessions.

Video by HiDeHo4 on her YouTube channel.

And finally, now that Jimmy Savile is being seriously investigated for sexually abusing children, it may be time for there the investigation into abuse at the Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey to be re-opened. Jimmy Savile had denied ever visiting the home, but not only has a photo been produced of Savile at the property, but at least two adults, who spent time there as children, have come forward alleging abuse by Savile. 

Watch this video and remember that Eddie dog had never given a false positive alert prior to these two cases, Madeleine McCann and Haut de la Garenne.

Haut de la Garenne may have closed its doors many years ago, but we know from other cases, such as that where cadaver dog Titan (mentioned above) found the remains of a baby who had been buried for 30 years, that cadaver dogs can detect the smell of death many years after the event. 

Cadaver dogs are trained to detect the odour, which indicates that a dead human body has been in that place at some time. The odour lingers long after the body has been moved from that site. When an odour is detected it means that particles of the substance have entered the airways. Those particles can persist in an environment for years, becoming embedded in any porous surface, such as floor boards. 

Jimmy Savile visited Haut de la Garenne children's home and is alleged to have abused children there. If this is true, how did he get away with it and how many of his friends and associates used that children's home as their play-away island resort with a captive selection of children available, like choosing goodies from a sweet shop? 

Time to have a very close look at Haut de la Garenne and its list of visitors. For the sake of the children who lived there and survived and those who died there, the truth must come out. It is never too late to do the right thing by the victims. 

Exposure The Other Side of Jimmy Savile

I felt sickened watching this video: Jimmy Savile, the man who 'fixed it,' for so many children to fulfill a dream had abused so many young women. 

As a teenager, I watched Jimmy Savile on Top Of The Pops and enjoyed watching his "Jim'll Fix It," shows. It was great seeing those children having something fixed for them and Savile was a good choice to host that show: he was already known for his charity work and his being presenter almost guaranteed a good viewing audience for the programme. 

I can hardly believe what I'm reading now and hearing about. As far back as the 1970s there were complaints about Jimmy Savile. An ex-police officer, on BBC Radio 4 the other evening, said he'd taken a report in the 1970s from a nurse who stated that Savile was abusing children at the hospital where he worked. The police officer passed this on to his superior officer, who did not believe what was said. End of the story on that one. No investigation. 

This week I've seen a woman from Leeds talking about how she walked into Savile's dressing room and found him with a girl on his lap who looked about 14 years old. Savile's hand was up the girl's skirt and his tongue down her throat. Yuk! 

There's more and more and more. Every day there are more revelations: Savile had keys to Broadmoor and could enter any of the bedrooms; Savile abused a brain-injured patient; Savile picked girls out from the audience at TOTP; nurses told children to pretend to be asleep when they knew Savile was coming;  Savile raped under-age girls in that traveling bed of his. 

The worst of this obscene story about an obscene life is that it seems that there were many people at the BBC who knew what Jimmy Savile was like and they did nothing. They made Jimmy Savile an icon and a champion for children when they knew he was abusing children. 

Savile was feasted and feted by the BBC, who continued to use him as front man for so many TV shows, even as they knew what he was doing under cover of his charity work and how he was using his popularity to groom under-age children. 

Next question? How many more are there like Savile? How many of his contemporaries not only knew what he was up to, not only colluded by staying silent, but were actually involved in the same kind of crime themselves? So far, according to ITV News, the number of names being put forward is five: five people who allegedly knew Jimmy Savile and were engaged in grooming and abusing children. 

Jimmy Savile hob-nobbed with the rich and famous, with politicians and royalty. He was given a Knighthood by the UK government and a strange kind of Knighthood by the Pope. Did none of those people have any idea? Now that the dam has burst and more and more victims are coming forward and more and more people are telling us they either had their suspicions or actually knew what he was up to, is it reasonable to ask if any of those people who lauded him also knew what Savile was like? Seems like the whispers were very loud, loud enough for nurses to be warning patients of Savile's impending arrival. 

Dear God how much more? How many more cover-ups? Hillsborough and Savile and who/what else? Should there be some kind of serious public enquiry now into the Madeleine McCann case? Is that subject to a cover-up too? No evidence of an abduction, cadaver odour detected only on property belonging to the McCanns and in the apartment and the car they rented, enough inconsistencies and holes in official statements for even me to drive a bus through - and believe me, when I park the car sometimes, I have to consider getting a taxi to the pavement! 

Martin Grime, who trained the two sniffer dogs who alerted to blood and cadaver odour in the McCann case, is presently giving evidence in a similar case in the USA, where a child disappeared and no body has been found. The evidence of the dog's alerting to cadaver odour is being allowed into court. 

Sniffer dogs Eddie and Keela had an unblemished record of over 200 cases before they worked the McCann case and yet Gerry McCann can state that sniffer dogs are unreliable.

There is so much about the McCann case that gives cause for concern, in my opinion, starting with the fact that three small children were left alone in an unlocked apartment in a foreign country, that I think it's reasonable to ask why the McCanns were not at least charged with neglect leading to serious harm. It's also reasonable, in my opinion, to ask if there is some kind of cover-up in this case. Remove Jane Tanner's story about the man who initially was carrying a bundle that could have been a child, that metamorphed into a spotty/clear-skinned/clean-shaven/bearded man of indeterminate height and build, and the case falls apart. As it should. As it will one day hopefully. 

When that particular dam bursts, how many more names will be added to those of the Tapas Nine? Now that one public icon has been knocked off his pedestal, isn't it time that a few others were too? Let it begin with justice for Madeleine McCann. 

Sofia Leal's OPEN LETTER to Kate McCann "A Disgrace."

See also these previous blog posts:

Transcript of Sofia's letter

Madeleine McCann: “One and one has to make two. Until the answer is found he will not give up.”

Brilliant blog post from The Blacksmith Bureau - "Thanks Marcos."

TUESDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER 2012

 Thanks Marcos

We covered the archiving summary in considerable depth, not to argue a case about its meaning – the Lisbon appeal court has already done that definitively – but so that open-minded people with no knowledge of Portuguese law can get an idea of its critical importance in the libel case between the McCanns and Amaral. There is no evidence to demonstrate that Amaral’s claim that “the child died in the apartment and the parents simulated an abduction” is false.

 What if?

But let’s lift off into fantasy for a moment and assume that somehow the judge accepts that Amaral's claim is, indeed, provably and utterly false. A triumph for the McCanns? You must be kidding.In Portugal “It is up to the claimant to prove that what was said or written about him/her was false because in the event that the information published was at the time true, or that the client gave consent for this information to be released, or there was accidental publication, or a privileged person involved directly in the furtherance of the public’s interest had said or written the defamatory statement, then the claimant may have no case.”

Read the rest of John Blacksmith's excellent post here

Madeleine McCann and Bianca Jones

Bianca Jones, aged 2, disappeared in Detroit, USA, on December 2nd last year, in mysterious circumstances. Although her body has not been found, her father, D'Andre Lane, has been charged with her murder.

According to the Detroit News, Lane claims that after dropping off his nephew and his 8 year-old daughter and stopping for fuel, armed carjackers approached him and took his car with Bianca in the back seat. The car was found sometime later, without Bianca.

On Friday of last week, a judge ruled that a canine expert, whose dog detected cadaver odour in Bianca's home, can testify at the trial.

The canine expert is Martin Grime, whose investigative work with sniffer dogs Eddie and Keela figured prominently in the Madeleine McCann investigation.

Martin Grime testified on Friday that he had brought in his victim recovery dog, Morse, two days after Bianca went missing. He stated that the dog detected cadaver odour inside Lane's car, on the child's blanket and car seat and in the girl's bedroom and Lane's home.

Witnesses

It is alleged that Lane beat Bianca to death with an 18" stick, which had a towel wrapped around the end, over a potty incident. Lane's girlfriend, Anjali Lyons, stated that she woke up on December 2nd to the sound of Bianca's screams as Lane beat her with the stick as punishment for urinating in the bed. 

Bianca's sister has stated that Bianca was put into her car seat, wrapped in a blanket and that she did not move. 

Madeleine McCann, as most of the world knows, disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of May 3rd 2007, while her parents were dining at the Tapas Bar with 7 of their friends. Although Kate and Gerry McCann spent much of the wee small hours of that time informing friends and relations that the shutter to Madeleine's bedroom window had been 'jemmied,' and the window forced open, Portuguese police found no evidence of tampering with the shutters and no evidence of a break-in. 

At the suggestion of Mark Harrison, a British investigator, who had experience of locating human bodies in war zones, Martin Grime, who was at that time working with South Yorkshire Police as a forensic canine expert, was called in with the two dogs he had trained, Eddie and Keela. Eddie was trained to detect human cadaver odour and human blood and Keela specifically to detect human blood. 

Records show that the dogs alerted to human cadaver odour and blood in the McCanns' holiday apartment and in the vehicle they rented 23 days after Madeleine disappeared. Eddie, the Enhanced Victim Recovery Dog, also alerted to cadaver odour on Madeleine's soft toy, Cuddle Cat and on some of Kate McCann's clothing and on a child's T shirt. Results from forensic evidence collected from the holiday apartment and the vehicle were reported to have been inconclusive. 

Witnesses 

Jane Tanner, who stated that she saw a man carrying a 'bundle that could have been a child,' a description that changed several times so that sketches of the 'abductor,' developed from 'an egg with hair,' to a man who was said to resemble at least a few suspicious characters who were alleged to have been seen loitering in the vicinity of the McCanns' apartment. 

Without Jane Tanner's sighting, no witnesses. And no evidence of a break-in at the apartment and no credible sightings of Madeleine since she disappeared into thin air. 

In the case of the disappearance of Bianca Jones, the testimony of Martin Grime is being allowed into evidence and credibility is being given to the skills and training of his canine assistant. There is no forensic evidence. 

In the case of Madeleine McCann, evidence from forensic analysis is 'inconclusive,' and the work of the dogs, Eddie and Keela, is not considered to be enough to put before a court. 

In the Bianca Jones case, there is a credible, in my opinion, witness, who states that she heard Bianca screaming. In the Madeleine McCann case, there is Jane Tanner, who saw a 'man carrying a bundle that could have been a child,' which developed into a child whom Tanner saw under sodium street lights wearing pink pyjamas like the ones Madeleine had been wearing when she was last seen. Not a very credible witness, in my opinion, especially as she stated that she had walked past Gerry McCann and his friend Jez Wilkins, neither of whom saw her. 

The common denominator here is Martin Grime and a dog: in Detroit, Morse and in Praia da Luz, Eddie, two dogs who alerted to cadaver odour. 

Perhaps if Grime's testimony is given credibility by the Detroit court and helps to convict the alleged killer, further consideration will be given to the fact that Eddie and Keela alerted only to items belonging to the McCanns and to places where they had stayed and to their hired car. 

Kate and Gerry McCann may yet be called before a court of law to answer to what happened to their daughter Madeleine. Pigs might fly, you say? Maybe they will!   

McCanns Explain CADAVER odour as ROTTING MEAT and NAPPIES!

Previous video from HiDeHo: "Incredible proof that cadaver dogs do not alert to rotting meat"

Cadaver dogs are trained to ignore rotting meat and other decomposing substances. They are trained to detect and alert to human cadaver odour, as shown beautifully in the second video.

MCMINUTE: McCanns need to maintain an ILLUSION in Britain

MCMINUTE: Paulo Sargento speaks on McCanns parenting of TWINS

Reality Check- Unanswered Questions About Colorado Theater Shooting

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Kate McCann interviewed by Jon Corner. August 2007

"Madeleine McCann's resting place." Stephen Birch on CAPETALK Radio

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Transcript of Stephen Birch interview on CAPETALK Radio 10/07/2012


Presenter: We spoke to Gavin Gray about the way the British media reported Stephen Birch's investigations into the final resting place of Madeleine McCann  and Stephen's on the line to us again. You've had an update from the Portuguese police Stephen?


Stephen Birch: I have err.. John. I spoke early this morning with senior directorate of the Portuguese police and we confirmed that I submitted err.. further evidence, which I provided them with this morning, errr.. showing that the search of Casa Liliana was not up to scratch and they have submitted that to  err...prosecuting err.. division, who err..they are currently waiting for, for the approval to reopen the case err..I suggested to them very quickly that I would provide them with drawings as to where they should excavate, but they are insisting I fly back to Portugal the minute the case is reopened and supervise the excavation err...Although it hasn't been publicly released, err..that's good news for me.


Presenter: So, you sense that they're not dismissing your claims out of hand? 


Stephen Birch: No, most definitely not. I think the public pressure and the fact  that the entire Portuguese, Spanish and the world has got to see the possibility that this could be the err...Madeleine McCann's resting place in the back of the Murat property, underneath the rear driveway. Err...it needs to be solved, one way or another and they wanted us to search that driveway.


Presenter: Poisoned fruit, Stephen: the doctrine of poisoned fruit? That the police cannot get search warrants on any information that was illegally obtained. You've acknowledged getting the information through trespass. Does this pose a potential problem?


Stephen Birch: I don't think so. I think the magnitude of the case and I think the fact that Robert Murat has not pressed charges against me and the enormous err err... outcry from the public to solve one of the world's biggest cases, err.. is a massive over-riding factor and I think they want to put this thing to bed, one way or another. We lift that driveway, we see whether that girl is underneath that driveway. If she isn't we move onto something else, but..


Presenter: If she isn't, you move onto something else and once again you've put someone in the spotlight who maintains his innocence. And perhaps there is legal action. More seriously, legal action waiting for you.


Stephen Birch: Well, let me make it very clear. I have never, ever accused Robert Murat of anything, err...you know. We submitted a YouTube video, Stephen Birch, to Madeleine McCann's family and to Robert Murat and his attorneys, who are scrutinising the validity of the work we've done on the property and in that err..YouTube video, we are categorically stating, as a disclaimer, that under no circumstances, have we ever accused Robert Murat or his family or do we believe that he is involved in the abduction and killing of Madeleine McCann.


Presenter: OK, Stephen Birch, thank you very much indeed. 

Should Kate McCann be 'Ambassador' for Missing Children?

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Another fine video from HiDeHo

Forums: HiDeHo

Email: hideho1@hotmail.com

Twitter: @HiDeHo3

YouTube: HiDeHo4

Madeleine McCann: South African business man "finds," Maddie's grave.

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Joana Morais has very interesting and significant updates on this story. I'm not going to copy any of them here, just point you in the right direction.


Joana's recent blog posts include articles under the following headings:


Attorney General's Office and Expert dismiss speculation about Maddie's body

Robert Murat likely to sue South African businessman

McCann Couple: Parents defy the police to investigate lead

South African businessman challenges Robert Murat

Maddie, again

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

New lead in the Maddie McCann case following revelation about Maddie's body being in Robert Murat's garden

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Selon le quotidien portugais, Correio da Manha, le corps de la petite Maddie se trouverait dans le jardin du seul suspect visé par les autorités, Robert Murat. Stephen Birch, un homme d'affaires sud-africain aurait découvert l'endroit où reposerait le corps de la fillette. L'affaire est classée depuis 2008 mais la police a d'ores et déjà réouvert une enquête pour vérifier ces informations.

http://fr.euronews.com/

According to the Portuguese daily, Correio da Manha, little Maddie's body is to be found in the garden of the only suspect the authorities had in their sights, Robert Murat. Stephen Birch, a South African businessman, has allegedly discovered the resting place of the little girl's body. The case has been archived since 2008, but the police have aleady reopened an investigation to verify the information. 

South African researcher says Madeleine McCann's body is buried in Robert Murat's back garden

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Google translation:

A South African researcher ensures that the body of Madeleine McCann is buried in the yard of Robert Murat, in the Algarve. Stephen Birch wrote to Scotland Yard and the Judicial Police to tell their discoveries.

Speaking to the "Morning Post" claimed to have detected all the 60 cm depth. His suspicions were confirmed by images taken by a "geo-radar" of the British police.

The newspaper writes that an international expert, contacted by the investigator, said he had no doubt that there is an object buried in the area concerned.

While in Praia da Luz, Birch oversaw the Murat house 24 hours a day, with the help of two assistants and even four times to enter the yard at night.

In his statements to the newspaper does not make accusations, ensuring that their aim is to discover where the body was buried, because "once removed, will be much easier to solve this case." The South African believes that in time, Murat's house was not "investigated in the most correct."

Madeleine disappeared a few days before to four years, May 3, 2007, the room where he slept with the two twin brothers, the youngest, in an apartment in a resort in Praia da Luz in the Algarve.

http://rr.sapo.pt/informacao_detalhe.aspx?fid=25&did=68914

The police searched Robert Murat's house and garden in May 2007 and again in August 2007, when a British sniffer dog was brought in.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6931725.stm

August 5th 2007


Police in Portugal investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have ended a two-day search of the home of Robert Murat.

 Mr Murat, 33, the only official suspect in the case of the missing child, denies any involvement.

Police returned to the house at 0700 (0600 GMT) to search inside the property and its grounds.....

....BBC correspondent Steve Kingstone said police were using scanning equipment over the floorboards inside the premises in Praia da Luz.

As many as 10 officers - including two British detectives - spent 12 hours on Saturday searching Mr Murat's Algarve villa, which is owned by his mother.

Much of the day had been spent clearing thick vegetation, and a sniffer dog with a British handler inspected the premises.

Mr Murat, who was declared a suspect 10 days after Madeleine was last seen, was not arrested or questioned. He was on the premises with his lawyer as the latest search was conducted.


Stephen Birch Interview.

Kate McCann welcomes the new missing children alert system

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This week Kate McCann attended a reception at 10 Downing Street to celebrate the 116000 missing children hotline. It sure has been a long time coming. The UK is one of the last of the EU member states to roll out this system since it was agreed by the European Parliament, way back in 2006. I think the problem with the UK has been persuading an organisation to take on responsibility for it, but that, as we have seen, has now happened: the charity, Missing People, will operate the phone lines and CEOP will maintain the web site. 

As a reminder of some of the history of this operation, which includes the McCanns visit to Strasbourg, when they spoke in favour of the introduction of an American Amber Alert style system, rather than the French "Alerte Enlèvement," system, which had already been adopted at the time by 17 EU member states, I am re-posting a blog from April 2010. I think the most significant factor to bear in mind is the 4 criteria for triggering an alert when a child goes missing. Unfortunately, in Madeleine's case, an alert would not have been triggered, because the criteria would not have been met. 

So, there was Kate McCann this week, celebrating a system which she and hubby tried to have replaced and which would not have helped their child in any way, if she had indeed been abducted. What information would the emergency services have had to work with? An old photo of a small blonde child, last seen being carried by a person described as "an egg with hair." Most unhelpful!

Blog post from April 2010 follows.   ......................
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Above: Kate and Gerry McCann in Strasbourg, June 2008


Well, the UK finally gets around to introducing an alert system for missing children.

Sky News April 4th

"Police will unveil a new nationwide alert system for enlisting the public to help them rescue abducted children next month."

An alert system has been active in some member states of the EU for some time now. In fact, Portugal was the second country after Hungary, to introduce an alert system in 2002, in accordance with an EU directive. (SOS Madeleine McCann blog )

In June 2008, the McCanns went to Strasbourg to gather support for a Europe-wide system, based on the American Amber Alert. They presented a written declaration to the Commission, but this was not their own work, rather it had been drawn up by Edward McMillan-Scott, then Vice-President of the European Parliament, but presented by the media-savvy, media magnets, the McCanns.

The McCanns had simply tried to hijack an initiative that had already been working its way through the European Parliament for some time, turn it into something else and claim it as their own.

"McCann wanted to seize “a policy that is already being enforced”

"The McCann couple launched a public relations campaign, trying to 'seize' a policy that is already being enforced..." accused the member of the European Parliament, Carlos Coelho, member of the Christian-Democrat group in the European Parliament and Party colleague of President Barroso. And this MEP knows what he is talking about, as he was among the 54 deputies who had adopted, in a committee session, the European strategy concerning children’s rights, a document which was approved on January 2008.

The “written declaration” to which McMilan-Scott agreed to associate Kate and Gerry McCann thus does not contain anything new, when compared with the legislative project of the European institutions." (Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis)

The McCanns in Strasbourg in 2008 were rather like the man who knocked my door the other day, trying to interest me in double glazing, to whom I pointed out my rather new windows! But oh dear! How were those crusading, never mind that we left our children alone "responsible parents," received? Those ungrateful deputies and journalists just kept asking questions about the night Madeleine disappeared and some even asked about the children having been left alone, which irritated our saintly duo immensely!

Gerry retorted that they had neither neglected nor abandoned Madeleine and that going over that old ground was boring! (Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis)

Oh yes, Gerry! Been there, done that, lost a child, but hey, let's not go over that old boring stuff!

In December 2006, an extraordinary meeting of the member states approved an initiative of the European Commission to reserve certain numbers (Starting with 116 ) for a Europe-wide alert system for missing children. This was the system which had been in operation in France since 2006 and had proved to be effective in several cases. (August 2007: abducted 5 year-old French child recovered within hours.)

Back to SkyNews:

"The network, comparable to the amber alert system in the United States, will be compatible with other European countries for the first time."

Well, hallelujah! By January 2009, 10 out of the 17 member states of the EU had adopted the European Alert system, the UK as we know, not having been amongst them, in spite of the fact of having the greatest number of missing children. (SOS Maddie blog)

But sky News tells us that the McCanns have been campaigning for such a system since their daughter disappeared! Well, no they haven't! They took up being poster children for McMillan-Scott's campaign in June 2008, when other member states had been operating an alternative system since 2006!

Since 2006, the French system, known as "Alerte Enlèvement," which is the system now introduced across most of the EU territory and finally in the UK, has recovered many missing children through rapid response to reported cases of abduction. The success of the system, according to Rachida Dati, former French Justice Minister, is due to there being very strict criteria for launching an alert. Four criteria must be met.

"Quatre critères doivent toutefois être réunis pour que le plan soit déclenché : il doit s'agir d'un enlèvement avéré, et non d'une simple disparition, même inquiétante ; la vie ou l'intégrité physique de la victime doit être en danger ; le procureur de la République est en possession éléments d'informations dont la diffusion permettrait de localiser l'enfant ou le suspect ; et la victime doit être mineure." (Duarte Levy)

1) It must be a confirmed abduction and not just a disappearance, however worrying.

2) The victim's life or physical safety must be at risk.

3) The Public Prosecutor must be in possession of sufficient information which, if broadcast, would help to locate the child or the suspect.

4) The victim must be a minor.

So, why is the press wheeling out the McCanns today in relation to this alert system, when they had nothing to do with its inception or its introduction? This is the system that they unsuccessfully tried to replace with McMillan-Scott's version of the American Amber Alert.

And would an alert have helped to find Madeleine in May 2007, given the above criteria?

1) Not met. There was no evidence of an abduction.

2) Maybe. If Maddie was still alive after 10pm on May 3rd, it is highly likely that she would be in physical danger.

3) Not met. The information available would not have helped locate Maddie or the alleged abductor. Small child, last seen in her bed, not there now, man seen carrying a bundle that could have been a child. Description: an egg with hair!

4) Met. One out of four ain't bad? No, it ain't good!

So, there they are today, the "responsible parents," who left three very young children alone in an unlocked apartment in a foreign country, being presented as the instigators of a system they tried to replace with one that wasn't even their own, one they just tried to hitch their wagon to! I guess they will draw more public sympathy than a photo of Rachida Dati, the French Justice Minister who developed the above four criteria which their own child's case didn't meet! Hey ho!

 

Did Rebekah Brooks THREATEN David Cameron?

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Madeleine McCann: Lights! Camera! Action!

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I was an avid watcher of "Taggart," when Mark McManus played the eponymous detective, though I can't recall even one single episode in its entirety, the plot or the characters. I do recall scenes where I recognised the urban landscape of Glasgow. "That's near the Art College." "That's at the top of the High Street."

The scene I recall most vividly is one that was filmed very near to where I grew up. On the edge of Coatbridge, a town in Lanarkshire, Scotland, the land rolls down through fields to the main Edinburgh to Glasgow railway line and the vista extends right out to the Campsie Fells: a view I was told off many times for staring at from the window of a classroom in my junior school at the end of our road.

Walk to the end of Dudley Drive, round Gartcloss Road and then head down the lane and you come to a farm. A scene from an episode of "Taggart," was filmed there and when the episode was shown on the telly, a little group of us were gathered at my mother's house to spot the scene where a car burst into flames right by one of the farm buildings. Would you believe it? Jist doon the lane!

So, there we were, all set up with cups of tea, (some of us!) cans of McEwan's, a few packets of crisps and a plate of Mammie's rock cakes. All I can remember of that show was the burning car, blazing away in glorious colour. "There it is," somebody yelled. (I think it was my brother Joseph, but it could have been any of the bunch of people squeezed onto the sofa.) And shoor 'nuff, there it was: a huge booming blast and a car roared into flames.

I vaguely recall the next bit, where the action cut to an office and a police officer said that the farmer had reported a car in flames on his land. Taggart said "Any witnesses?" The answer on screen was "No," and laughter erupted in Mammie's living room. "Nae witnesses? We wiz awe doon there! Hauf ae Toonheid wiz there!" (Translation: We were all down there. Half of Townhead was there.)

You see, word had gone round that there were television cameras setting up "ower the back," and a small crowd of locals headed down there, where a barrier had already been set up by the film crews, obviously expecting spectators. So, most of the people I was watching with had been there and had seen it all being set up. Now, they were watching the product for viewer consumption. No cameras, no director, no microphones. None of that behind the scenes stuff on view. Just the scenes from a story.

There is often a huge difference between the story we are shown and what went on behind the scenes, how the scene was set, how the show was staged.

With the Madeleine McCann case, we know the story. We have seen it often enough now over the past five years. We have heard the audio version(s) from Kate and Gerry McCann, we have read the written versions in our newspapers and we have seen the McCanns version of the events surrounding Madeleine's disappearance in their documentary. There is photographic evidence of the apartment after Madeleine had gone from it. There is the "last photo," of Madeleine with Gerry and Amelie by the swimming pool. And we are about to have version number two of Kate McCann's book.

That's the story. What we see after such an event is the story. What went into making the story is what we need to know, what the police need to know in order to find out what happened to a little girl whose name we only knew after she was gone. We don't know the before, because we weren't there when the scene was set and the story unfolded. Did the story roll like an incident we might hear about on the news, which unfortunately, in this case, wasn't caught on CCTV? Was it like a news story? "Today a car was mysteriously found ablaze at Jock MacDonald's farm just outside Coatbridge," or was it a scene that was staged for a later viewing audience? "A film crew arrived at Jock MacDonald's farm just outside Coatbridge to film for an episode of Taggart."

There is, of course, a world of difference between a staged drama and an actual event. There is a huge difference between a spontaneous happening and a scripted event. Think of the ways in which these two might be described. An event being reported would be described, probably, in the past tense. "We saw that car being brought down the lane and we saw it being set on fire," whereas the script would read, "Vehicle is positioned near the barn, petrol is thrown onto it and it's set on fire."  In both cases, there is a description and there is a timeline.

So, what of the original story as told by the people known as "The Tapas 9."? Script of report?

One of the covers torn from a child's sticker book on which the timeline was set out.

A mixture of tenses here. So, reads partly like a script and partly like a report. Note 9.20/5 which is particularly significant, I think. "Ella. Jane checked 5D. Sees stranger (with) child."

Version 2 of the timeline. Notice that in version one, male adult McCann's name is spelled as '"Jerry," and in version 2, as "Gerry." Version 2 has "Gerald," written on the bottom. So, perhaps was drawn up by Gerry? 

Version 2 is written mostly in the present tense, so reads, in my opinion, more like a script. We have the added information about Russel's "poorly daughter," and Jane Tanner's experience of seeing "the abductor," is described more fully. "Sees stranger walking carrying a child."

In my opinion, I would consider that some of the above is scripted and some is factual reporting. Work out which is which and I guess the case is on its way to being solved!

And what of the scene of the drama? Stage set or images of a place where an unforeseen traumatic event unfolded?

Madeleine's bedroom the day after she disappeared, showing the edges of the two cots, where the twins were said to have been sleeping that night. Madeleine's bed looks as though no one has been sleeping there and a witness stated that the cots had no sheets, just mattresses. Did the twins sleep there? And what about the headboard of the bed designated as Madeleine's being behind a chest of drawers?

Shutters jemmied? Shutters not jemmied! Window open? Well, Matthew Oldfield didn't notice on his 9.30 check, although he did get the number of windows wrong, when he said there were two! Did one of the "set," builders mess up there? If this was a stage set, which in my opinion it was, one of the stage hands didn't sort out those shutters! Action! Lights! Roll it anyway!

Key players? Witnesses? Actors? Extras? In the story, Kate and Gerry McCann are the key players. Madeleine leaves the stage before the story unfolds and we view her through the veil of the memories those who remember her. She has become almost like a shadow in the background of the continuing Kate and Gerry McCann saga.

Were the Tapas 7, those who went on holiday with Kate and Gerry, just bystanders? Did they, like the people in my mother's house, view the story only when it was being told for the audience? Or were they extras or even key players in the drama? If there was a script, who wrote it? Who set the stage? Who was in charge of props? Who was the director?

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Scotland Yard team reviewing the Madeleine McCann case, is quoted as saying he believes that Madeleine could be alive somewhere, living with her abductor. Does he really think that Madeleine could have been taken from that holiday apartment in the "small window of opportunity," which was more like a medieval arrow slit? If he does, then he is watching the show through the lens of the stories told by those who took part. He's like the people sitting watching it on the telly, who never ask how the drama was produced. He needs to go right back to the production stage, bring in all the players and question them about their roles. Bring in the key players: Kate and Gerry and the rest of the Tapas Crew. Bring in the extras: the Mark Warner staff; the Smith family who saw a man carrying a child. Make sure all those people with "walk on," parts, tourists who were in Praia da Luz at the time, have been interviewed.

Lastly, re-enact the scene. Set up a reconstruction, involving all the original cast. That, in my opinion, may be the first step towards finding out if the stage was set (rather badly) or if what took place on the night of May 3rd 2007, in Praia da Luz was a very tragic and unforeseeable event in the life of two caring parents.

DCI Redwood may find that there are problems with continuity, actors being upstaged, impossible scenes of actors appearing to be deaf and temporarily blind. Reconstruction first and then interview all the actors when the impossibilities show up in the production. Then tell us again that Madeleine may be alive and living with her abductor!

Note: this blog post is not the director's final cut. More scenes will be added!