Find the maid: New Maddie Suspect

9/30/2007 Posted by Winnower

Find the maid: New Maddie Suspect: 
Amazing twist in investigation as cops hunt for suspect with a grudge
30 September 2007
The News of the World
Lucy Panton, Crime editor

* Sacked worker in 'revenge plot'

* Anonymous tip to Prince Charles

BRITISH cops launched an urgent hunt for a new suspect in the Maddie McCann case-after an astonishing tip-off from the PRINCE OF WALES.

An anonymous email sent to the prince's official website insists three-year old Madeleine was kidnapped from the Mark Warner Ocean Club holiday resort in Portugal by a disgruntled ex-employee.

The informant named a maid who was sacked from the apartment complex in Praia da Luz and claimed she snatched the child in a crazed revenge plot.

British police are now liaising with Portuguese detectives over the dramatic new twist which is revealed 150 days after Maddie vanished.

Officers believe the tipster entrusted the new information to Prince Charles because he and wife Camilla came out firmly in support of Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry.

Factual

In a statement released from Clarence House in May, the royal couple said they had been following the case "closely and with deep concern" and "fervently hoped" Madeleine would be reunited with her family.

As soon as the whistleblower's email arrived on the royal website aides passed it to Scotland Yard.

Officers from Leicestershire police- the McCanns' local force-are now trying to trace the writer.

The detectives have already established that the named ex-employee EXISTS and the checkable details appear to be ACCURATE.

A police source said:

"There have been hundreds of Madeleine theories, sightings and tips sent into UK cops from members of the public. But this one is different.

"It's incredibly detailed and so far, from the inquiries being made in Portugal, it appears to be based on factual events.

"UK officers have been taking a back seat in the hunt for Madeleine as it's a Portuguese inquiry. But they couldn't ignore this information.

"Any clue which could shed new light on the case will be dealt with seriously. This could be very significant."

After being told of the tip-off, McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said last night:

"We have continually said that any lead with a shred of credibility should be swiftly and thoroughly investigated by the police.

"Kate and Gerry are encouraged by any development that brings focus firmly on to finding Madeleine.

"Legitimate police activity is entirely proper and hopefully will bring about an end to the rampant unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations that have been so hurtful and distracting in recent days and weeks."

Yesterday it was not clear exactly how far Portuguese police have got with the new information. They have been given the name of the maid, who is thought to be Portuguese, but it is not known whether she has been physically traced.

But it has been established that the woman was sacked and left on bad terms with bosses at the resort.

The email tipster claimed the maid was incredibly bitter and wanted vengeance on her former employers.

An inside source added:

"The vital next step is for the police to track down the woman and either question her or put her under surveillance.

"She needs to be ruled in or out of the inquiry as soon as possible."

Meanwhile UK police are now focusing on tracing the informant who they feel may have MORE vital information which needs to be probed.

The Madeleine mystery has been the No1 topic of conversation among the dozens of British and Portuguese workers employed at the Algarve complex, owned and managed by Mark Warner.

Most of those hired as nannies, pool lifeguards, tennis coaches and front- of-house staff, such as receptionists, are young Brits. And the teams of maids, waiting and bar staff, pool cleaners and security officers are mainly Portuguese.

The housekeeping staff are given keys to the apartments which are cleaned at least twice a week.

There is no security monitoring of the staff who are free to come in and out of the complex unchecked.

But they are easily identifiable and all wear uniforms-red shorts and Mark Warner T-shirts for the kids' club workers, white uniforms for maids and smart suits for receptionists.

Dumped

The new lead comes as desperate Portuguese police are STILL working on the discredited theory that Maddie may have been accidentally killed by mum Kate and then assisted by dad Gerry to cover it up.

The cops' latest claim was that the body may have been kept in a fridge before being dumped.

They are said to be focusing on a "mysterious and fatal period" of 90 minutes when they claim Kate was alone in the apartment with her children while Gerry played tennis.

McCann spokesman Mitchell dismissed this latest line as "utterly ridiculous" and begged for an end to the smear campaign. The stress on the couple was visible yesterday as they went for a 20- minute jog together near their home in Rothley, Leicestershire. A local said:

"It's great to see them back doing the things they love, but Kate looked dreadfully pale and thin. The strain shows."

Portuguese police have come in for huge criticism for missing vital clues in the investigation. Crucial forensic tests which should have taken place in the first few hours were not carried out until several months after Maddie vanished on May 3.

And door-to-door inquiries, documenting what locals and visitors saw, are still incomplete. The McCanns' apartment was described by one experienced cop as "the worst-preserved crime scene" he had ever witnessed.

It was not taped off until 10am the next morning and was compromised by hundreds of people passing through.

Family, friends and assorted helpers all wandered freely about the apartment and it was 48 hours before any fingerprinting was done.
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Exclusive: Maid's kidnap plot: We reveal new Maddie suspect

9/30/2007 Posted by Winnower

Exclusive: Maid's kidnap plot: We reveal new Maddie suspect
The News of the World
Lucy Panton
30 September 2007

Cops hunt for worker at resort

COPS hunting Maddie McCann are probing a sensational new tip-off that she was kidnapped by a maid sacked from the Portuguese resort.

Detectives have a confirmed NAME for the suspect, said to be seeking revenge on the Mark Warner complex in Praia da Luz.

A police source said last night: "It could be a very significant lead."

FULL STORY - Pages 4 & 5
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He has 3-hour boozy lunches, works only four hours a day and has openly accused Kate & Gerry of killing their daughter

9/30/2007 Posted by Winnower

He has 3-hour boozy lunches, works only four hours a day and has openly accused Kate & Gerry of killing their daughter.. this is the cop leading the hunt for Madeleine.. IT'S JUST SICKENING
30 September 2007
The Sunday Mirror
Grant Hodgson

EXCLUSIVE THE SEARCH FOR MADELEINE DAY 150

Puffing on a cigarette and knocking back beers, the man leading the world's biggest missing child inquiry enjoys yet another long, boozy lunch.

Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral worked as little as four-and-a--half hours a day this week - despite a mountain of uninvestigated sightings of Madeleine McCann on his desk.

The Sunday Mirror has discovered that 252 possible tip-offs about the four-year-old have been reported to Amaral, any one of which might just lead to her being traced. But the vast majority have not even been checked.

Amaral, in charge of a squad of 30 detectives, has convinced himself she is dead, despite having no evidence for it.

And since the return from Portugal of Kate and Gerry McCann and most of the media covering the case, many in his squad have had their feet up, their main role seemingly to provide drinking companions for their boss.

The McCanns, who cling to the hope of getting Madeleine back, will be appalled that the inquiry - supposedly still running at full-steam - has effectively stopped amid a welter of boozy lunch breaks.

A source close to the family said: "It is devastating for them to know leads are not being chased up. They always feared that once they left Portugal, the inquiry would peter out."

On Wednesday, when the world was praying that a little girl seen in Morocco may be Madeleine, Amaral and his team seemed utterly uninterested and left it to the British media to establish it was a false alarm.

He instead enjoyed a twohour 10 minute lunch washed down with wine. The next day was a similar tale - lunch lasted two-and-a-half hours. And on Friday he was gone for more than three.

Even more appallingly, while Kate and Gerry have been warned they face a year in jail for discussing the case, Amaral was overheard in a cafe brazenly accusing them of killing Madeleine.

In a conversation with a Portuguese racing driver, he was heard saying he was sure the little girl was dead even though there's no final proof that she is. He told ex-F1 star Pedro Lamy he believed the McCanns drugged Madeleine to keep her quiet and accidentally killed her.

Amaral said: "The police case is we are sure the parents kiled Madeleine. They are both doctors and know about drugs. We are confident in our case." One of the group outrageously chipped in how he believed the couple could have taken cocaine on the night Madeleine disappeared.

The conversation was a flagrant breach of the judicial secrecy rules which prevent Kate and Gerry from defending themselves against police leaks. Amaral, his beer belly spilling over his baggy jeans and a creased shirt unbuttoned to reveal a gold medallion, looked more like a holidaymaker than a detective in charge of a case which today enters its 150th day.

Only last week Antonio Cluny, president of Portugal's public prosecutors service, said the search for Madeleine's body was a huge priority for the police. Until it is found, he said, prosecutors had to consider the possibility that almost anything could have happened to the girl and they could not rely on the police theory that Kate and Gerry were responsible for her death. He said: "Without the little girl's body, everything is extremely complicated."

Amaral, who is himself under investigation for allegedly helping to cover up a police beating carried out to extract a confession from the mother of another missing girl, is the regional head of the Policia Judiciaria, or PJ for short.

The Carvi fish restaurant where he spends hundreds of pounds a week is a few minutes' walk from PJ headquarters in the seaside town of Portimao.

The Sunday Mirror watched as Amaral and colleagues tucked into a series of fish dishes, washed down with lager and white wine.

His longest session, which lasted three hours and 10 minutes, was on Friday afternoon. It meant he could not have carried out more than four-and-a-half hours of work all day. Amaral, 47, who has a young daughter, is No3 in the Madeleine inquiry, in charge of its day-to-day running. After one drinking spree this week, the moustachioed police chief got in his car and drove home.

The McCanns were questioned separately at the grim PJ building for up to 10 hours earlier this month when they became suspects in Madeleine's disappearance.

Kate was also told if she agreed to admit she had accidentally killed Madeleine she would receive a lighter sentence.

The couple, now at home in Rothley, Leics, vehemently deny having anything to do with their daughter's disappearance. The McCanns' official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said last night: "Kate and Gerry want to cooperate with the Portuguese police and would hope that they and their resources are being deployed as effectively as possible at all times."

And writing in his regular internet blog this week Gerry McCann told of the rollercoaster ride they experienced this week after the false alarm in Morocco. He added: "Despite the disappointment, it is encouraging that people are still being vigilant and have not stopped looking for Madeleine. This is so incredibly important to us both."

Although not, it seems, to Chief Inspector Goncalo Amaral.

DIARY OF POLICE CHIEF AMARAL

1.15pm GO FOR LUNCH

4.23pm BACK TO WORK

WEDNESDAY: While the world hopes a young blonde girl seen in Morocco might be Madeleine, Amaral and his team have other priorities.

9.30am: Amaral arrives for work in his car wearing a beige jacket, jeans and a white shirt.

1.17pm: He casually strolls out of the police building and takes a leisurely stroll to the Carvi restaurant with his boss Guilhermino Encarnacao - dubbed Inspector Clueless - who is making a rare visit to the investigation.

Lunch: They share a bottle of wine white and two fish platters before heading back to the office at 3.27pm.

6.30pm: Amaral heads home.

THURSDAY: Amaral's boss has left town, meaning he can focus properly his lunch.

9.30am: He clocks on.

1.07pm: It's down tools time as he heads for lunch with a younger colleague.

1.15pm: They are joined by a Nancy Dell'Olio lookalike, who wears a figure-hugging black dress. The woman greets Amaral by patting him on the backside and ruffling his thinning hair.

1.20pm: The group move to Amaral's preferred secluded table. His first drink is a pinkcoloured fruit cordial but he's soon switching to a glass of Portuguese Sagres lager.

2.19pm: Amaral has a coughing fit which lasts more than three minutes. He splutters at the table, sipping water before picking up the bill for the £84 meal.

3.30pm: The woman leaves by herself and the men follow a few minutes' later. [NOTE: Sofia Leal, Amaral's wife, later explained that this was a birthday lunch in her honor.]

6.13pm: Amaral emerges from the building with the colleague he went to lunch with. They return to the Carvi and sit watching the evening news on the TV.

6.48pm: The young man leaves after another beer. Amaral stays on, eating a couple of fish dishes.

9.55pm: After a few more beers, he heads back to his car and drives home.

FRIDAY: 9.54am: Amaral pitches up for work even later than normal.

1.08pm: After fewer than three hours at his desk, he's off to pick up his daughter from school and brings her back to the Carvi with him.

1.15pm: He orders the first of at least four beers. He and his colleague also order a bottle of white wine while the little girl has a soft drink.

2.14pm: He takes his daughter back to the car. She is driven off and he is joined by two more friends and his racing driver friend. Amaral then has at least three more beers and a glass of wine.

4.23pm: It's nearly time to go home and, after splitting the bill and saying goodbye to his friend, Amaral and two of his colleagues slowly walk back to their office.

5.55pm: After just an hour and 32 minutes back at his desk, Amaral emerges into the bright afternoon sunlight carrying a white plastic bag and blue folder. He walks the short distance from his office to the underground car park.

6.10pm: After getting into his navy blue Volvo he heads for home, and the 148th day of the Madeleine hunt ends as it began - in a hive of inactivity.
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POLICE PROBE LOST 2 HOURS

9/28/2007 Posted by Winnower

28 September 2007
The Sun
Clodagh Hartley in Praia da Luz/Antonella Lazzeri in Rothley
POLICE PROBE LOST 2 HOURS; COPS' SHOCK CLAIM: MADDIE IS BURIED IN SPAIN

Kate and Gerry McCann were stunned yesterday at the latest police claim about missing Madeleine - that they buried her during a "missing two hours" while putting up posters in Spain.

A furious pal said as the outrageous theory emerged: "Kate and Gerry have had enough. "Underneath all this rubbish are horrible accusations and rumours.

"There are sightings of Madeleine which they want properly investigated."

A day earlier a girl thought to be Maddie in Morocco turned out not to be the four-year-old. Kate and Gerry - both doctors aged 39 - are incensed that it took The Sun to discover that the blonde tot photographed by a tourist in Morocco was the daughter of a local farmer.
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SAS join hunt for Maddie - Portuguese police failed

9/25/2007 Posted by Winnower

25 September 2007
Daily Telegraph
Sam Greenhill

Kate and Gerry McCann have hired a firm of investigators run by former SAS experts to hunt for their daughter Madeleine.

The couple, who fear the Portuguese police have all but given up the search, have asked Control Risks Group to mount a fresh hunt.

The firm, which has long experience of search and rescue operations, is said to have a team in Portugal already.

The McCanns want investigations carried out wherever there have been credible sightings.

The SAS development came as:

* IT WAS revealed that two separate witnesses reported seeing Madeleine in Marrakesh, Morocco, on the same day;

* A DOUBLE-glazing magnate pledged to bankroll the McCanns;

* BRITISH forensic scientists criticised Portuguese police for ``overinterpreting'' DNA results.

Control Risks was founded in 1975, initially to help businessmen in South America who were targeted by kidnappers. It claims to have solved more than 1000 cases.

It has 600 employees, many of them former special forces members or MI6 agents. Ex-SAS commander Sir Michael Rose is a director.
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’McCanns Are Lying’

9/24/2007 Posted by Winnower

September 24, 2007
Express
David Pilditch and Martin Evans

Portuguese police believe Gerry and Kate McCann are using friends to hide their role in killing Madeleine.The Daily Express can reveal that their seven holiday friends may now be named as suspects as police believe they are hiding the truth about Madeleine’s death.The dramatic move comes as it was reported that former chief suspect Robert Murat is to be told he will not face charges over the four-year-old’s disappearance. Ruling him out of the four-month investigation will leave Kate and Gerry McCann as the sole suspects.

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Does the spy satellite called Moonpenny hold the key?

9/23/2007 Posted by Winnower

23 September 2007
The Express on Sunday
Gordon Thomas
Searchers in the sky

Madeleine's fate could be resolved by the giant golf ball-shaped objects towering over the windswept coast of North Yorkshire.  Almost a thousand miles from where the four-year-old was last seen alive in Portugal, the objects, known as radones, could answer in seconds the questions that have tantalised the world. But only Gordon Brown has the authority to mobilise the radones – the word means "stony ground" in ancient Saxon – at RAF Menwith Hill.
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Why did cops ignore link to Morocco?

9/23/2007 Posted by Winnower

Why did cops ignore link to Morocco?
Exclusive The search for Madeleine Day 143
The Sunday Mirror
23 September 2007
Lori Campbell

They failed to act on second vital sighting at garage

Portuguese police FAILED to follow up a key sighting of Madeleine McCann in Morocco which her parents believe is vital to solving the case.

It was revealed last night that a British tourist contacted police to say he saw a "lost-looking" youngster at a petrol station in Marrakech.

His testimony was identical to that of another tourist, Norwegian Marie Pollard, 45, who claimed she was "100 per cent convinced" she saw Madeleine at the same spot.

She said last night: "I still haven't been interviewed by Portuguese police and we're four-and-a-half months on. If this man saw Madeleine as well it adds weight to what I saw and proves I'm not going mad."

Both accounts were given to the police independently and without knowledge of the other. Yet incredibly police failed to follow either up at the time they were reported. When they did finally check out the leads, they found the garage's CCTV tape had been erased and didn't bother interviewing staff.

Both witnesses describe a little blonde girl standing near a man and asking him in English: "When can I see my mummy?"

The McCann family are livid at the blunder - always believing she could have been abducted and taken to Morocco. A family friend said yesterday: "Kate and Gerry believe the Morocco sightings were vital. They are furious they weren't followed up properly by police. They should have been fully investigated and publicised.

"Kate said her instinct from the start has been that Madeleine was smuggled into North Africa.

"The couple believe the information from the two witnesses is crucial and should have been released to the media immediately."

Like Mrs Pollard and her British husband Raymond, the unidentified witness was staying at the Ibis Hotel next to the petrol station.

It was only when he returned home to Yorkshire that he realised the significance of what he had seen and called police. He was unaware of Mrs Pollard's account of what happened on May 9, which she reported after she went home to Spain. The details of their statements matched.

Mrs Pollard, who lives in Fuengirola, said: "I didn't know about Maddie's disappearance then. I went in the shop to buy some water. My attention was drawn straight to her. She was a sweet, blonde-haired girl with a very cute face. She was wearing blue pyjamas with a little pink-and-white pattern, maybe flowers, on her top.

"She was standing alone with a man. She looked sad and a little lost. The man didn't look like her father. He was between 35 and 40, with dark brown hair, not very tall.

"She looked at me and then spoke to him, something like, 'Can I see Mummy soon?'. I don't think he responded."

Mrs Pollard said she called Portuguese police the day after she thought she saw Madeleine.

But it was another 10 days before they called her back to ask for any details.

It was only when she announced the sighting in the Press that they contacted her. "I contacted the police but no one has come to see me to take a statement," she said. "An Interpol officer rang me and asked for details and this is all I have heard.

"The British embassy said my sighting was being taken seriously but the police in Morocco have not contacted me."

Meantime a family friend revealed last night that police are working on the bizarre theory that Kate and Gerry McCann buried Madeleine's body near a holy shrine.

The McCanns - who made a pilgrimage to the Fatima 20 days after their daughter vanished - are stunned by the extraordinary claim. Police believe they used the trip to look for a suitable spot to dispose of Madeleine's body before returning in their hire car at a later date to bury her.

But a close family friend told the Sunday Mirror: "This allegation is not only ridiculous, it proves the Portuguese police are clutching at every last straw."

The McCanns' official spokesman Clarence Mitchell was with them on their journey to Fatima on May 23 but he has never been questioned by police.

Police plan to examine a pasture called the Cova da Iria, near the village of Aljustrel a mile from Fatima, which the McCanns would have passed on their car journey. A source close to the family said: "Police believe they used that trip as a reccie (reconnaissance mission). But they barely even glanced out of the window during the four-hour drive. They were both using laptops so they could work on the campaign to find Madeleine."

During the journey Gerry took a 45-minute phone call from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who expressed his sympathy for their plight saying: "I've lost a little girl of my own. I know it's in different circumstances, but I can empathise with the pain you're going through."

Our source said: "It's ridiculous to think that while they were on the phone, Gerry was looking out for places to later bury his daughter's body." In the following week, the couple travelled to the Vatican to meet the Pope, and flew to Amsterdam and Berlin to publicise the hunt for Madeleine.

"It's madness to suggest they had the time to make a 500-mile return trip to Fatima to bury Madeleine's body," said our source, who also revealed how on September 3 they were called by a detective who asked them not to leave the country because they would be made "arguidos" later that week.

"He insisted the new status simply enabled police to give them more information on the inquiry," said the source. "But Gerry sensed the tables were turning against them and pleaded with Kate to flee Portugal. He told her, 'I don't believe them. We're being stitched up. We should get out of here'."

Kate convinced him to stay because she didn't want it to look like they were running away. But two days later, the couple were dramatically accused of playing a part in Madeleine's death.

During a break in her first grilling, Kate called Gerry to say police were telling her to confess to killing Madeleine in exchange for a lenient sentence. Soon afterwards a relative back in Leicester appeared on live TV talking about the development.

Our source said: "It was being shown in the interview room. The cops went mad and were swearing at the screen and they turned aggressive towards Kate."

The McCanns later learned it was Det Insp Luis Nevas who ordered the heavy grilling which left the couple feeling betrayed as he had previously befriended them.

 

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Kidnapper 'was hiding in apartment'

9/22/2007 Posted by Winnower

Kidnapper 'was hiding in apartment'
22 September 2007
Daily Express
Martin Evans and David Pilditch in Praia da Luz


Madeleine's father is convinced she was abducted by someone hiding in the apartment when he checked on his children, he claimed last night.

Gerry McCann told friends he is sure the kidnapper was already inside the property when he last saw his daughter alive at 9.05pm on May 3.

He believes the intruder had broken in through the unlocked patio doors and was lying in wait.

The McCanns, who remain suspects, think he carried Madeleine through a bedroom window at the front of Ocean Club apartment 5A.

Gerry's suspicions were raised when he remembered the door to the bedroom where twins Sean and Amelie were also sleeping was ajar.

At the time he thought nothing of it. But now he has said he is convinced he had previously shut the door.

He has concluded the abductor must have opened it and hidden in the bathroom or the McCanns' bedroom when he heard Gerry approaching through the doors.

A source close to the family said:
"When Gerry went to check on Madeleine at 9.05pm he realised the bedroom door was open.

Gerry is firmly of the view the abductor was already in the apartment.

"When he went in he saw Madeleine was asleep but the bedroom door was slightly open.

"He thought, 'That's odd' because he had left it firmly closed.

But all the children were asleep.

So he just went in and closed the door again and came out about 9.10pm.

"Gerry is convinced the man must have been hiding, and once Gerry went through the patio doors the only way out was through the window.

The front door was locked so the kidnapper took Madeleine and climbed out the window.

"The theory is the man came in through the patio doors, knowing he has a few minutes until the McCanns' next check.

"The rear doors are out of sight from the tapas bar where the McCanns and their friends are eating."

The source went on:
"The abductor goes in and he hides and when Gerry goes into the bedroom he just thinks he didn't close the bedroom door properly.

When Gerry leaves, the man realises he only has a few minutes.

He thinks that the only way to get out without being seen is through the window."

Gerry and Kate believe that Madeleine was being watched by the abductor during their week-long holiday and that she was stolen to order.

They had checked on their children every half an hour but at 9.30pm one of their dining companions, Matthew Oldfield, offered to look in on them.

However, rather than going into the bedroom, he listened at the door and on hearing nothing assumed all was well.

The McCanns are convinced that Madeleine had been taken by then.

Just 30 minutes later Kate discovered her daughter was missing.
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Police beat me up

9/22/2007 Posted by Winnower

22 September 2007
Daily Star 
James Wickham

RUSSIAN computer expert Sergei Malinka last night alleged that police investigating Madeleine's disappearance beat him up.  He was questioned because of his links to British ex-pat Robert Murat, 33, who was named as an official suspect earlier in the inquiry. Malinka, 22, claimed an officer assaulted him during his interrogation. He said: "The state has the power and the duty to investigate crimes and their eventual suspects.
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McCann Family PR Offensive...

9/21/2007 Posted by Winnower

21 September 2007
CNN
Fionnuala Sweeney, Emily Chang
Excerpts:

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN ANCHOR:
Hello, I'm Fionnuala Sweeney in London.
Welcome to CNN's INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENTS, where we turn the spotlight on the media.

This week, the parents of missing Madeleine McCann go on a PR offensive. We look at their efforts to control the direction of the story.
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Let our spies find Madeleine McCann-Letter

9/19/2007 Posted by Winnower

19 September 2007 
The Times

Sir,
The failure to find any trace of Madeleine McCann rightly troubles millions of us, in the UK and in continental Europe. No one can now doubt the urgent need to have hard, fact-based evidence to replace the rumour and innuendo so far being pushed. One important, but apparently unused, means of securing it could be the UK's intelligence community, in particular a little-known agency, JARIC, the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre, based at RAF Brampton.
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Judge won't tell McCanns to return

9/18/2007 Posted by Winnower

Sep 18, 2007
Daily Mail
Simon Cable

The judge presiding over the case against Kate and Gerry McCann has refused to order the couple to return to Portugal for more questioning, it was revealed yesterday. Portuguese detectives are understood to have wanted Madeleine McCann's parents and their seven holiday friends to return to the Algarve. But judge Pedro Anjos Frias is said to have ruled that the evidence is not substantial enough to warrant such a move.
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Kate and Gerry McCann go straight to Gordon Brown in search for more powerful backers

9/18/2007 Posted by Winnower

September 18, 2007
The Times
David Brown, Steve Bird and Patrick Foster
Original article
WebCite archive

Gordon Brown has been updated on the investigation into Kate and Gerry McCann by the couple’s advisers, who told him that Portuguese detectives had no proof that they killed their daughter. The Prime Minister, who has been an influential supporter of the couple, has previously persuaded the Portuguese authorities to release details of their investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance from an Algarve holiday apartment 138 days ago.
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Lies, Beatings, Secret Trials: The dark side of Portugal's Life on Mars police

9/16/2007 Posted by Winnower

16 September 2007
The Mail on Sunday
David Rose

ACCORDING to his friends, Chief Inspector Goncalo Amaral of the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria, co-leader of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from the Mark Warner Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, is a dedicated and capable detective, determined to do whatever it takes to find her - or those responsible for murdering her.
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The cops could be out of telly Life On Mars

9/16/2007 Posted by Winnower

The cops could be out of telly Life On Mars
Exclusive The search for Madeleine Day 136
The Sunday Mirror
16 September 2007
Lori Campbell and Simon Wright

McCann pals slam Portuguese Hire car was used by 15 others DNA could be from the twins Gerry sister blasts press leaks

ADVISERS to Kate and Gerry McCann have blasted the chaotic investigation into their daughter's disappearance as "a cross between Life On Mars and The Sweeney."

Lawyers and friends of the couple say the Portuguese police case against them is so full of holes they are unlikely to be charged with Madeleine's death.

And one close friend told the Sunday Mirror: "The case is based on such flimsy evidence, it is as if Gene Hunt from Life On Mars is leading the investigation helped by Jack Regan from The Sweeney."

Today the Sunday Mirror can reveal how:

The Renault Scenic car at the centre of the investigation was used by up to 15 people, making any DNA evidence unsafe.

Police failed to interview key people close to the McCanns, including an adviser who kept a diary of events.

The officer who fingerprinted Kate and Gerry hours after Madeleine vanished blundered, and had to take the prints again the next day.

Lawyers now believe Kate and Gerry may never appear in a Portuguese court - and will argue that if they do they will not get a fair trial.

The friend added: "What is happening is an absolute disgrace. There is not a jot of evidence to convict Kate or Gerry. We are told one day the DNA evidence is 100 per cent Madeleine's and then the next day that it is not.

"We are told there are Madeleine's body fluids in the car - but they could belong to the twins, Sean and Amelie.

"What they are left with is speculation, innuendo and implication. It is a deeply flawed process.

"Kate and her lawyer have repeatedly asked the Portuguese to reveal what evidence they have got, but they won't."

The case against Kate and Gerry apparently centres on traces of DNA found in the silver Renault Scenic car - which was rented by them 25 days after Madeleine went missing on May 3.

But as many as 15 people used the car before police finally took it away to have it searched by sniffer dogs and take forensic samples.

One search even took place in a public car park rather than a sealed area.

The McCanns used the car to pick up visiting friends and relatives from Faro airport 80km from Praia da Luz every few days.

It was also driven by Kate's cousin Michael Wright, another relative and one of their advisers.

A friend said: "How can this car, used by so many people for so long, contain any key forensic evidence?

"The people who travelled in it went from the apartment where the McCanns were staying. Madeleine's DNA could easily have been transferred to the car."

Police believe the McCanns had a sinister motive for hiring the car - to move Madeleine's body after they had already buried it once. The timing of the rental on May 28, two days before they flew to Italy to visit the Pope, led to lurid speculation in the Portuguese press.

But we can reveal it was rented for them on that day so they could drive to nearby Lagos to buy suitable clothes to meet the Pope.

A friend said: "Kate and Gerry searched Praia da Luz in vain for modest clothes. It was suggested they go to Lagos to shop and someone from their holiday firm Mark Warner arranged the car for them."

The friend added: "How can they possibly say the vehicle was involved when it was under 24-hour watch? It was parked in the open driveway outside Kate and Gerry's apartment.

"It was so visible it might as well have had a neon sign on it."

Police have seized a copy of Kate's personal diary, started five days after Madeleine went missing, claiming it proves she was a stressed-out mum struggling to cope with her overactive children.

But they have failed to interview key people who spent hours with the McCanns at the time when they are claimed to have covered up their daughter's death and moved her body. Clarence Mitchell, the first media advisor sent to help the McCanns by the Foreign Office on May 21, is baffled that he has never been questioned.

He told a friend: "Why haven't police asked me for my diaries and monitored my email traffic? I spent every day with the McCanns, from 8am to late in the evening.

"I travelled many times in the hire car they are said to have used to dispose of Madeleine. I even sat in the seat they claim to have taken her DNA from. It is incomprehensible I have not even been approached."

The only time Portuguese police showed interest in talking to Mr Mitchell was when he told them of a psychic who claimed to have information on Madeleine's disappearance. They even went to the trouble of tracking the psychic down and taking a statement.

Lawyers believe police have made Kate the main suspect because she is emotionally weaker than Gerry and they can force her into making a confession.

They are accusing her of killing Madeleine with a dose of sedatives meant for herself to help her sleep. But we can reveal Kate has not resorted to any pills to help her cope since Madeleine went missing.

A friend said: "If Kate is not on Valium now, with all the strain she is under, why on Earth would she have been on anything while on holiday?

"Kate and Gerry would not, did not and could not have given their children sleeping pills or sedatives. To suggest otherwise is complete nonsense." The close friend also dismissed rumours Kate was suffering from depression in the months before Madeleine disappeared.

The friend said: "That is another slur. She is a strong, resolute person - and is even coping now."

One of the biggest police blunders was made by the first fingerprint expert to investigate the McCann's holiday apartment.

He took Kate and Gerry's fingerprints, but when the samples arrived at the lab they were so poor they could not be read and had to be redone.

The McCann's friend said: "How can they be presenting a case based on forensic evidence when they can't even take fingerprints properly?"

The McCanns are angry that they are learning supposed allegations against them from Portuguese newspapers which are quoting "police sources." Gerry's sister Philomena said yesterday: "The secrecy laws seem to apply to Gerry and Kate, but not to the Portuguese police.

"Where are all these leaks coming from? Gerry can't talk about anything because if he does he could face two years in jail."

The McCanns' team believe Portuguese police have a history of trying to cover up abductions in their country and throwing the spotlight of suspicion on the parents.

One element being worked on by their defence team is that they cannot be given a fair trial in Portugal because they have been persecuted by the Press there.

A friend said: "It is inconceivable they can be tried in Portugal and that it will be fair. And that is the first thing their legal team would say.

"They are being tried and convicted every day with stories in the Portuguese Press." Kate and Gerry have received no formal approach to return to Portugal yet.

Speaking in the couple's home village of Rothley, Leics, family spokeswoman Natalie Orringe said: "They won't be returning unless requested to do so - but the pressure on the family is very intense."

Yesterday two of Kate McCann's childhood friends - Linda McQueen, 45, and Nicky Gill, 39 - defended the beleaguered couple.

Asked if she had ever doubted Kate's innocence, Linda said: "No, not at all.

"They are the most loving, caring, family-oriented couple you could ever meet."

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Kate's in pieces inside

9/16/2007 Posted by Winnower

Kate's in pieces inside; Exclusive
Sara Nuwar and Ross Hall
16 September 2007
The News of the World

Friends say that her calm cool looks mask the anguish of a warm, caring mother

FRIENDS of Kate McCann came out fighting last night to defend and praise her as a "fabulous mum".

Childhood pals Linda McQueen and Nicky Gill insist there is "not a shadow of doubt" in their minds that loving mother Kate is innocent of harming her missing daughter Madeleine.

And another friend admitted traumatised Kate, 39, is only just holding herself together at her Leicestershire home as the cruel smears against her continue to spread.

She confessed: "Kate may not have broken down yet in public but in private she's in bits.

"This is tearing her apart. She's in pieces. She is trying to remain strong but it's getting harder. She thinks if she does start crying in front of people, she'll never be able to stop."

Kate is devastated at allegations made by Portuguese police, claiming her diary depicts a woman struggling to cope with the demands of three young children.

Calm

Close friend Linda McQueen, 45, a teacher with a child of her own, stormed: "I have never ever seen Kate run ragged.

"If anybody was meant to have three children under three, it's Kate.

"She is cool, calm, laid-back, just very together. She's a mother who has lost her daughter. She needs support, understanding and help in finding her lost child."

The McCanns' close friends spoke out as the couple released fresh family pictures in a bid to re-focus attention on the hunt for four-year-old Maddie, who disappeared while the family were on holiday in Portugal on May 3.

In one stunning image, shown on our front page, the smiling tot, then aged two, stares straight at the camera-clearly showing the telltale mark on her right iris.

Snaps taken at the couple's wedding in Liverpool in 1998 show bride Kate wearing a tiara and lovingly cooing at her god-daughter Ellie, who is cradled by heart surgeon hubby Gerry.

In another shot, the fresh faced couple look happy and relaxed at a friend's wedding. It seems a world away from recent images of Kate, looking gaunt and pale with the stress written on her face.

Last night Linda McQueen, who has known Kate since she was just six months old and living close by in Huyton, Merseyside, said: "I want people to know who Kate is and what she is like.

"To have these words said about her is just so unfair and hurtful."

She rushed to her best friend's side in Portugal when little Madeleine first vanished. In the terrible aftermath she helped Kate look after the McCanns' two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie.

It has been more than a week since Kate and Gerry were formally named as "arguidos" or suspects by the Portuguese police investigating Maddie's disappearance.

Portuguese sources claim Kate could have killed Madeleine by accident and conspired to conceal the body.

Proud

Sitting together and wearing Find Madeleine badges. Linda McQueen and Nicky Gill vehemently denied Kate or Gerry would ever hurt one of their kids.

Linda, who now lives in Formby, Merseyside, said: "Kate always wanted a large family so they mean the world to her. She's a fabulous mum."

Nicky, a personal trainer from Liverpool, went to All Saints primary school with Kate from the age of four. The mother-of-three said: "With all of our children as well, she's great. She's godmother to my youngest. She is just amazing, very caring and laid-back. We're proud to have the McCanns as friends."

Asked how she felt about one suggestion that Kate was "cold", Nicky said: "She is not cold at all. She is heartbroken. She is devastated.

"But she's also a strong person, really. We'll get her through it."

Pal Linda pointed out that the most important thing was to concentrate on the Find Maddie campaign.

She said: "We need to re-focus back on to finding Madeleine, and away from Kate and Gerry.

"We are not going to let Madeleine down."
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Man who could clear McCanns

9/16/2007 Posted by Winnower

Man who could clear McCanns
Secret Maddie Witness; Exclusive
Dominic Herbert & Ross Hall
16 September 2007
The News of the World

TV PRODUCER'S GIVEN PORTUGUESE COPS SHOCK EVIDENCE

TODAY we reveal the secret witness whose bombshell testimony could clear the McCanns.

Pictured here for the first time, Jeremy Wilkins' evidence blows holes in the police theory that Gerry and Kate killed four-year-old Madeleine.

Wilkins-seen outside his north west London home-was the man heart surgeon Gerry McCann, 38, spoke with for up to 15 minutes outside the holiday apartments moments after checking on his children for the last time.

What the TV producer witnessed makes the statement he gave to police a key piece of evidence in the event of a trial.

We can reveal Wilkins constantly INSISTED to Portuguese detectives that Gerry was totally calm and unflustered as they chatted-far removed from the behaviour that might be expected of a man covering up the death of his daughter.

But another part of Wilkins' evidence ironically helped shift the police focus AWAY from their original kidnap theory.

For the 36-year-old holidaymaker turned the investigation on its head when he revealed a VITAL FLAW in the statement given by key witness, Jane Tanner, who claims she saw a man carrying a child away from the apartment complex.

Based on what he has said, last night Portuguese sources confirmed that police have doubts about Miss Tanner's evidence.

One said: "Her account has raised more questions than answers. She is high on the list of people we need to speak to again."

Yesterday Wilkins was refusing to expand on what he has told police. His girlfriend Bridget O'Donnell-who was in Praia da Luz with the producer and their eight-month-old son-said: "We have decided it's not appropriate to talk about what happened."

But Wilkins-whose production company Zig Zag has made a string of controversial TV programmes-is likely to be re-interviewed as Portuguese detectives desperately try to build a case against the McCanns.

Some of the seven diners who were at the tapas restaurant with the couple on May 3 have already travelled back to Portugal once before to go over events leading to Madeleine's disappearance. Next time they may be quizzed in the UK by British police assisting their EU counterparts on the inquiry. Wilkins' crucial encounter with Gerry took place at 9.10pm on the main street outside the apartments next to the McCanns'-and at the entrance to a narrow alleyway that runs past the back of them.

Chatted

The two were both tennis fans and had played each other during the course of the holiday.

On the night Maddie disappeared Wilkins was taking his eight-month-old son for a walk.

When he bumped into Gerry the two men chatted for up to 15 minutes before the surgeon returned to the tapas bar. It was during this period of time that Tanner, 37, another member of the McCanns' party, said she WALKED PAST the two men on her way back to her apartment to check on her youngsters.

She told police that she saw a dark-haired man, aged about 35, carrying a child who could have been Maddie's wrapped in a blanket at 9.15pm-when Gerry and Wilkins would still have been chatting.

But Wilkins, viewed by police as a completely independent witness, told cops he could not recall anyone walking past him. And in all the time he was there he saw NO MAN carrying a child.

The TV executive is convinced he would have seen Jane Tanner pass by.

He said: "It was a very narrow path and I think it would have been almost impossible for anyone to walk by without me noticing." And he also believes he would have seen the mystery man and child who would also have been just yards away.

Cops asked mum-of-two Tanner-on the holiday with with her partner Dr Russell O'Brien, 36-whether it was possible that the man and child she saw was Wilkins with his son.

Check

But a source told us: "She was adamant that it was not Jeremy Wilkins and his child. She is certain she saw someone else and stands by her account."

Gerry and Tanner returned to the restaurant separately shortly afterwards and it was at 10pm that Kate McCann went to check on the children and found Madeleine gone. Wilkins' importance in the inquiry has only been highlighted because police are troubled by possible inconsistencies in the McCann friends' statements, including discrepancies in the times various people recall arriving at the restaurant.

The Portuguese police believe the McCanns may have been involved in Madeleine's disappearance and think one may be covering up for the other.

Officers are probing an unlikely "three-hour window of opportunity" between 6pm and 9pm when they suspect Madeleine was killed in the apartment and her body hidden somewhere nearby. Forensic evidence gathered so far including DNA or body fluid samples is thought to be inconclusive.

Portuguese police say they could name more official suspects in the coming weeks.
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Get that cat to forensics, armchair sleuths demand

9/14/2007 Posted by Winnower

14 September 2007
The Times
Dominic Kennedy, Will Pavia

"It's 2.30 in the morning. I can't sleep and didn't get to sleep until midnight, obsessed and stressed over all the craziesness (sic) that's hit the net about the abduction of Madeleine McCann," Brenda Stardom, an American living in Portugal, blogs. "I belong to the FindMadeleine MySpace and I check it at least every 15 minutes when I'm awake because the comments fly faster than I can keep up with them."
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Portuguese police appeared to take a step back from charging Madeleine McCann's parents

9/14/2007 Posted by Winnower

Untitled 

14 September 2007
Press Association National Newswire
Sam Marsden, in Praia da Luz, and Tim Walsh, PA

Portuguese police appeared to take a step back from charging Madeleine McCann's parents today after a senior officer said they had 'nothing concrete'' to implicate them in her disappearance.

Detectives may be depending on Kate and Gerry McCann making a confession in order to prove their suspicions, a Portuguese newspaper reported.

The couple were declared formal suspects in the case exactly a week ago, and are now back in Britain waiting to learn whether they will be charged.

A 'high-ranking'' officer in the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) - Portugal's criminal investigation department - said the evidence was not even strong enough to prove whether Madeleine is dead.

It is now 134 days since the young girl vanished from her bed in her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.

The unnamed PJ officer told the 24 Horas newspaper: 'We have nothing concrete.

'There are a lot of indications, but without more elements it's impossible to determine what happened in those four vital hours in the case (between 6pm and 10pm on the night Madeleine vanished).

'Even if the blood and traces gathered in the car or in the apartment were confirmed to correspond 100% to the little girl's DNA, that wouldn't prove anything.

'Those elements could only confirm - and that doesn't even happen - that the little girl was in the apartment (which is obvious) and in the car.

'In either of the cases nothing would prove homicide, just that the body of the little girl had been transferred in the vehicle.

'We don't know if Madeleine is dead, and if she is, how it all happened.

'Was she strangled? Could she have been beaten? They are questions only the parents could clarify in an eventual confession.''

This appears to contradict a report that the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham is examining bloodstains from the apartment next to the McCanns'.

Police believe this sample could hold the key to where Madeleine's body could have been stored after she vanished, the Evening Standard said.

The McCanns left their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, just before 10am today and spent the day in meetings with their London-based lawyers, Kingsley Napley.

A friend said today that Madeleine's parents were under intense pressure but were 'not cracking up'.

On Tuesday the PJ formally passed their 4,000-page dossier of evidence against the McCanns to Algarve-based public prosecutor Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Meneses.

He immediately ordered that the 10 lever-arch files should go before a criminal instructional judge, understood to be Pedro Daniel dos Anjos Frias.

The judge now has until next Thursday to consider a number of requests made by the prosecutor, among them that he approve the seizure of Mrs McCann's personal diary, sources said.

Portuguese newspapers claimed today that police are investigating whether the McCanns had any 'accomplices'' in allegedly disposing of Madeleine's body and concocting a false story.

Detectives have admitted that the young girl's body may 'no longer exist', according to the Diario de Noticias.

One 'credible'' theory of investigators is that her body was thrown out to sea in a bag weighted with stones, from a yacht belonging to an English sailor, the paper claimed, without specifying its source.

The boat is based at the marina in the town of Lagos, just a short drive from Praia da Luz, it reported.

Another newspaper, the Correio da Manha, said the Portuguese authorities planned to put in a formal request to re-interview the friends on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine went missing.

Portuguese police could not be reached for comment, but in the past they have refused to confirm or deny press reports.

Mr McCann hit out at the 'ludicrous accusations'' that he and his wife were involved in their daughter Madeleine's death.

He said he and his wife Kate knew they were innocent but were frightened and had been 'backed into a corner'.

Mr McCann told a friend, quoted in The Sun: 'There are large craters in every one of these theories, in these just ludicrous accusations.''

Intense attention has focused on what police found in the hire car rented by Madeleine's parents 25 days after she went missing.

Senior sources linked to the investigation said police had discovered 'bodily fluids'' - not blood - with an 88% match to Madeleine's genetic profile in the boot.

Toxicological tests on the liquid show that Madeleine had consumed a 'significant'' quantity of sleeping tablets and may have overdosed, the French newspaper France Soir reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources in Portugal.

Madeleine's aunt Philomena McCann said today that the family would be willing to sell their homes to pay Mr and Mrs McCann's legal fees.

Cash from the fund set up to find the missing child will not be used to pay for the couple's legal representation, the family announced this week.

The family's campaign manager, Justine McGuinness, will step down tomorrow when her contract runs out.

Ms McGuinness, a Liberal Democrat candidate at the 2005 general election, is expected to attend the Lib Dem conference in Brighton starting tomorrow.

It is not known how or when she will be replaced, but in the meantime a private PR firm is handling media inquiries.

(reopens) The judge was seen arriving at the courthouse in the Algarve town of Portimao at 1.30pm today.

About an hour later Goncalo Amaral, co-ordinator of the PJ in Portimao, entered the building along with the chief investigating officer in the case, Guilhermino da Encarnacao.

It is understood the three men had a meeting lasting more than three hours before Mr Amaral and Mr Encarnacao left at speed in a black Mercedes at 5.35pm.

Gerry and Kate McCann left the London office of their lawyers Kingsley Napley at about 6.10pm today.

They got straight into a waiting taxi without commenting.
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Richard McCluskey Statement - Madeleine McCann Case

9/13/2007 Posted by Winnower

05 01 Apensos Vol 1 Page 127 - 128
apenso5_vol_1_Page127
apenso5_vol_1_Page128
STATEMENT
Richard McCluskey
Age 61
Retired
Statement Date 9/5/2007

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Change of Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Portuguese Republic

9/10/2007 Posted by Winnower

Change of Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Portuguese Republic
10th September 2007

THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR

Mr Alexander Ellis has been appointed Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Portuguese Republic in succession to Mr John Buck. He presented his credentials to the President of Portugal on 13 November 2007. Mr Ellis has been previously posted to Portugal between 1992-96.

Mr Alexander Ellis has been appointed Her Majesty's Ambassador to The Portuguese Republic in succession to Mr John Buck who has left the Diplomatic Service. Mr Ellis will take up this appointment with immediate effect.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Full Name: Alexander Wykeham Ellis
2005 – 2007 European Commission, seconded as Adviser to the
President of the European Commission
2003 – 2005 Madrid, Counsellor, Head of EU and Global Issues Team
2001 – 2003 FCO, Head of Enlargement Team, EU Directorate
1996 – 2001 UKRep Brussels, First Secretary, Economic, later
Institutions
1992 – 1996 Lisbon, Third later Second Secretary
1990 – 1992 FCO, Southern Africa Department


Mr Ellis is married to Maria Teresa Adegas and they have one son.

Press & Public Affairs Section
British Embassy, Lisbon
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THE LOST HALF HOUR

9/09/2007 Posted by Winnower

THE LOST HALF HOUR
9 September 2007
News of the World
Lucy Panton

PORTUGUESE police are concentrating on what they claim is a missing half hour in accounts of the night Madeleine disappeared.

The McCanns told detectives they believed they arrived at the Tapas restaurant at 8.30pm.

But months into the investigation, Portuguese detectives now allege they did not turn up until almost 30 minutes later.

Friends' statements show there may be differences of opinion over what time Kate and Gerry arrived with some of the pals stating it was just before 9pm.

Police want to quiz the couple again over what they call the "missing half hour".

A police source said:

"We believe the timetable of events that evening is crucial to the inquiry. We want to know how they could make such a mistake over the time they arrived."

Early on in the investigation the McCanns said they got to the restaurant at 8.30pm.

Based on arrival timings given by their dining companions, that would mean the tragic couple arrived first before their friends.

But police sources say statements given by those pals show the McCanns arrived just before 9pm-and that by then all of their friends were already there.

Checked

The statements claim that Russell O'Brien, Jane Tanner, Matthew and Rachel Oldfield were first to arrive at around 8.45pm.

At 8.55 David and Fiona Payne were said to have turned up with Fiona's mum, Diane Webster.

Some statements indicate that the McCanns turned up two or three minutes after the Paynes.

If these new timings are accurate police are questioning why Gerry would go back and check the children just 5 minutes later.

He is reported as saying he checked the apartment and all three children were sleeping at 9.05pm.

This was confirmed when on his way back he stopped to speak to Jeremy Wilkins, another guest at the resort he had met playing tennis earlier in the week.

At 9.10pm Jane Tanner said she crossed Gerry's path on her way to check her own children.

Around that time she says she saw a man carrying away a child she now believes was Madeleine.

She describes the man as aged 35, dark-haired. wearing beige trousers and black shoes. She said the girl, who appeared to be sleeping, was toddler age, bare-footed and wearing pink pyjamas like Madeleine's.

No one else out that night reported seeing this man.

Portuguese cops have piled on the agony for the McCanns by retracing their steps and naming them both as official suspects. They believe the couple may have been involved in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine. And they think one may be covering up for the other.

Officers are probing a "three-hour window of opportunity" on the theory that during this time Madeleine was killed in the apartment and her body hidden somewhere nearby.

It starts the last time the children were seen alive by anyone but their parents and ends when Kate and Gerry were seen in public.

The last time Madeleine was seen alive was by staff at the Ocean Club creche at 6pm.

The McCanns were then alone with their children for almost three hours at the most if they did arrive at the Tapas restaurant at 9pm.A police source said:

"The couple are being monitored to see how they react to every new piece of information they receive.

"The pressure has slowly been mounting on the McCanns over the last month as new information has been fed into the inquiry." 

Sources say the couple have been kept under surveillance following the discovery by a dog of the smell of death in their apartment on August 1.

Police now claim they have detected blood in a Renault Scenic car hired by the McCanns 24 days after Maddie's disappearance.

During questioning, GP Kate was asked why she had washed Madeleine's favourite toy "Cuddle Cat". Cops believe she has was trying to hide forensic evidence of her daughter's death.

Washed

The police claim the smell of a corpse was found on Kate's T-shirt, jeans and on Cuddle Cat.

Kate says she washed the toy on August 5-four days after police dogs picked up "the scent of death".

She insists she washed the toy simply because it was covered in dirt and sun tan lotion.

Portuguese police are relying heavily on a Cracker-style profiler who has been studying the McCanns' behaviour. The profiler has reportedly claimed that he suspects that the couple, from Rothley, Leics, could be "distracting" themselves from the horror of what they might have done by getting involved in the massive media campaign.

Doubts have also been cast over the lack of emotion and the controlled composure of the couple since their daughter disappeared.

The profiler has told cops that this matches that of a couple who are united and focused in a bid to cover up a tragedy.

But former Chief Inspector Albert Kirby, who led the hunt to trap the killers of toddler James Bulger, said:
"There is very little time for the McCanns to have murdered their daughter and disposed of her body.

"And they would have had to carry her body a short distance away and concealed it without anyone spotting them. The body would have also had to remain concealed and unfound for a long time despite the police search.

"The Portuguese police must believe that one of them managed to conceal the body in a flat or a bush."
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'The police don't want a paedophile murder here so they are blaming us'

9/09/2007 Posted by Winnower

'The police don't want a paedophile murder here so they are blaming us'
Mum tells of nightmare
The search for Madeleine Day 129
The Sunday Mirror
9 September 2007
Lori Campbell in Praia da Luz

Shell-shocked Kate McCann has given a dramatic, impassioned interview to the Irish Sunday Mirror to denounce claims that she killed her own daughter.

Breaking down in tears, distraught Kate said of the Portuguese police: "They want me to lie - I'm being framed.

"Police don't want a murder in Portugal and all the publicity about them not having paedophile laws here, so they're blaming us."

Kate was speaking on Friday morning - after her first police interrogation this week, but before police officially classed her a suspect in her daughter Madeleine's disappearance.

And she addressed head-on the extraordinary allegation that she accidentally killed Madeleine, then hid the body and engaged in a monumental cover-up to pretend she had been abducted.

Furious at the astounding claims, Kate, 39, said of the police: "They are basically saying, 'If you confess Madeleine had an accident, and that I panicked and hid the body in a bag for a month then got rid of it in a hire car, I'd get two or three years' suspended sentence.'

"I was even told, 'Think about it - Gerry would even be able to work again'. I was told that I could say I was stressed and I sedated Madeleine and it could be the best option for me. It is ridiculous. The worst nightmare".

Devout Catholic Kate revealed that the Portuguese police have even taken her Bible away - in the apparent belief that a crumpled page from it relating to a dead child indicates a guilty conscience.

Kate said: "One of the pieces of evidence is that a page from a passage in Samuel about having to tell a man his child is dead is crumpled - so I must have been reading it.

"I mean how ridiculous is that? My faith is sorely tested."

Under Portuguese law, she can say no more until her suspect status is lifted - making her interview with us her only and final comment on the mind-boggling police allegations.

KATE spoke to the Irish Sunday Mirror as she was being hauled back in for her second quizzing on Friday morning.

Later on Friday, she was officially classed a suspect - as was her husband Gerry, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The couple have dutifully never discussed the police investigation until now, in accordance with Portuguese law - but besieged Kate felt that she had no option but to speak out.

Police offered the "confession" deal through her lawyer before Friday's police interview. Breaking down in tears, the GP from Rothley, Leics, said defiantly: "They're telling my lawyer this could be the best option for me and I was advised that, if I deny it, I'm now at the point of no return. But I will never lie for them."

She said her desire not to give in to police pressure was fuelled by the McCanns' burning desire for Madeleine to be found. "And I think, 'Sod us, what about Madeleine? This would mean people stop looking for her'." She added: "We were under 24-hour constant scrutiny after Madeleine was taken. Where would I have hidden a body? We had no vehicle even then."

Meanwhile, the Sunday Mirror has learned that Kate and Gerry, a surgeon, have made a pact not to cry in front of Portuguese police - however upsetting the questions they face.

"They have promised each other that they will not let the police break them," a friend said. "No matter how intolerable the questioning, they will maintain their resolve."

The police case against Kate and Gerry revolves around claims that traces of Madeleine's DNA were found in a Renault Scenic car hired for the McCanns by a representative of holiday firm Mark Warner 25 days after their daughter's disappearance.

Kate said: "The police are going to say they have found bodily fluids from Madeleine in the car. It's impossible. We hired the car three-and-a-half weeks later."

In fact, when Kate was grilled for the second time, police repeatedly told her they had found blood in the Renault car but wouldn't say it was Madeleine's.

Sources close to the family say that, if Madeleine's DNA was in the car, it would be quite possible the traces got there from Madeleine's clothes and toys which the McCann twins Sean and Amelie had been playing with.

HER DNA would also be on her parents' clothes from where they cuddled and played with her. Kate said: "Five weeks ago, they took away all our clothes, items people had sent out for us."

A police dog sniffed out traces of corpses on Kate's clothes, it is said. "Apparently the dog started barking at my jeans and in the apartment," said Kate.

Friends have pointed out that GP Kate was present at several deaths before she went away on holiday.

"It was us who instigated and pushed for the searches," said exasperated Kate. "Would we have done that if we had something to hide? The British police have been great, they are totally behind us."

But she can no longer contain her fury at the Portuguese police's behaviour.

Kate fears the cost of the inquiry means police in Praia da Luz are anxious to get it over as soon as possible. "The Portuguese police are running out of budget for this investigation and want it to end," she said. "The British have been paying."

The McCanns' relations are at their side, but Kate fears for her 67-year-old dad Brian Healy, who suffers from Parkinson's. "This is so hard on them," she said.

So fearful are the McCanns that they are being framed they got a message through to Gordon Brown's office on Friday about the cruel twist of events.

It is believed a British consular official contacted police in Portugal to protest at the confession deal being put to Kate.

The McCanns have also asked if the American FBI could undertake a review of the case - but have been told it won't be possible.

Kate McCann gave this interview to The Irish Sunday Mirror on Friday morning, hours before being made an arguida - official suspect - in the Madeleine inquiry.

THE BIBLE PASSAGE COPS SAY IS PROOF

THE passage of the Holy Bible that fascinated Portuguese police came from The Old Testament. In Samuel, Book 2, Chapter 12, Verses 15-19, David's child is stricken with illness after he "scorns" the Lord.

David fasts for seven days, refusing to get up off the ground, to try and gain redemption - but eventually his child dies.

His servants have a dilemma as to whether to tell him as they are afraid that "he may do himself some harm". Eventually he guesses.

Police took Kate's Bible away because they said the page with the passage on was crumpled - evidence that she had been reading it.
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Cops are bluffing

9/09/2007 Posted by Winnower

Cops are bluffing
Exclusive The search for Madeleine Day 129
The Sunday Mirror
9 September 2007
Lori Campbell in Praia da Luz
No evidence to back claims against parents McCanns fear they'll be charged next week

Portuguese police have no evidence linking Kate and Gerry McCann to Madeleine's disappearance.

And the Sunday Mirror can reveal that officers tried to bluff Kate McCann into making a confession during 16 gruelling hours of interrogation.

But even when she and husband Gerry were made formal suspects - "arguidos" - in the inquiry, the couple refused to buckle. They told police: "Charge us or let us go home."

Yesterday Portuguese papers reported that police will charge the couple next week. They say Kate will be accused of Madeleine's manslaughter and hiding her body, while Gerry will face claims of helping her to hide the body.

Kate and Gerry have taken a resilient stand against the Portuguese police and have demanded they reveal what evidence there is against them.

The furious couple came out fighting after long and intense separate grillings as the search for Madeleine took a dramatic twist.

The McCanns know police do not have any proof to support their accusations - and are trying to force them into a confession so they can close the bungled investigation.

During her interview in a stuffy, hot room at Portimao police station, Kate was repeatedly asked if specks of blood found in her hire car belonged to Madeleine.

But instead of telling her the blood was Madeleine's, detectives said: "We put it to you that the blood in the boot of your car belonged to Madeleine and that you killed her."

Kate turned the tables on them and asked them what evidence they have. She told them she knew the blood could not be her daughter's.

Police refused to say if forensic tests carried out in a Birmingham lab proved for certain that the blood was Madeleine's, or even if the sample was blood. So Kate refused to back down, despite the detectives putting the same accusation to her dozens of times.

A close friend said: "Kate knew they were bluffing. She asked them, 'Have tests shown the blood is definitely Madeleine's? Show me the proof. I know I didn't kill Madeleine so show me your evidence if you have any.' She wasn't going to be pushed around."

Police also accused Kate, a GP, of using a huge dose of sedatives meant for herself on Madeleine to help her sleep while she and Gerry ate at a restaurant. But she angrily replied: "I do not give my kids sedatives, I never have done and I never will do. I know you can't prove that because it is a ridiculous suggestion and it is not true."

The police suggested Kate used a Renault Scenic car - hired for the couple by a Mark Warner representative 25 days after Madeleine disappeared - to move her body after already having buried it once.

Kate was also told sniffer dogs had discovered the scent of a corpse on her jeans. But she said that could be easily explained because as a locum GP she had been near a dead person before the family's holiday.

The McCanns have been baffled by the flimsy evidence being used to vilify them. At the centre of the claims are DNA results from samples taken from the hire car and reactions of sniffer dogs. But in the UK, sniffer dog behaviour would simply be classed as "intelligence" - not evidence in its own right.

Despite maintaining a brave face in public, Kate and Gerry have regularly sobbed uncontrollably when behind closed doors.

Gerry burst into tears when he arrived back at the villa in the early hours of yesterday morning for an emotional reunion with Kate.

Their friend said: "It has been a gruelling experience for both of them."

Last night the couple cancelled plans to attend a church service to celebrate the Senhora da Luz (lady of light) festival. They instead chose to say quiet prayers at home.

The friend said: "They are trying to maintain as normal a life as possible for the twins. Kate and Gerry are bearing up really well, considering. But they are incredibly angry."

There are currently no bail conditions preventing Kate and Gerry from going home. And the couple have decided to return to Rothley, Leics, where they will continue to fight the allegations with the support of friends.

Their friend said: "They desperately want to go home but they do not want to look like they have something to hide, because nothing could be further from the truth."

The friend added: "They don't want to be seen as running away from all of this. Not only because it may look bad, but more importantly they want to put the focus back on the hunt for Madeleine."

The couple are concerned that the search for their missing daughter has been distracted by the inquiry shifting to them.

The friend said: "Kate and Gerry still believe Madeleine is alive and they are now worried that no one is looking for her as police are concentrating their efforts on them."

We can also now reveal how Kate and Gerry knew the investigation was turning on them weeks ago. And they decided to announce they were going home this weekend to force the police's hand.

The friend said: "Their last 'informal' interview was three weeks ago and the police became aggressive and hostile in their questions to Kate. She broke down in tears several times. Since then the police have kept them completely out of the loop, refusing to brief them on new leads in the investigation as they had before. Their relationship broke down completely. They decided that if the police had anything against them, they wanted to hear it. They called a senior detective and said they planned to leave Portugal. A couple of days later they were summoned for separate interviews."

Portuguese newspapers, which have led a relentless smear campaign against the couple, said yesterday that the police were carrying out a "war of nerves".

Local paper Sol said officers had withheld information on the investigation for as long as possible to put Kate and Gerry under pressure. It said: "The Policia Judiciaria used the strategy of pressure on the McCanns. They have treated Kate in an exhaustive manner, trying to exploit her weaknesses. They had used long interrogations, concentrating on the samples they have and inconsistencies in the statements of her friends."

It said police opted to interview her first to put pressure on Gerry as they thought he might crack under the strain of how Kate was being treated. "They have watched his media appearances and saw him storm out of an interview with Spanish TV," the paper added.

It also said the police strategy was to delay making Kate an arguida for as long as possible because the status gives her the right to silence and she is not obliged to co-operate. But none of the papers - who have been briefed by police sources - published any evidence against the McCanns.

Yesterday Kate and Gerry's relations said the allegations against them were "ludicrous". Kate's mother Susan Healy, 62, said: "We are reeling." Her father Brian added: "The worst thing is that it is detracting from the campaign to find Madeleine alive."

And Gerry's sister Philomena said: "People react badly when it comes to children who've been harmed or murdered and I fear people are going to turn against them, and against the family.

"We just have to hope their names can be cleared as soon as possible and we can get back to looking for Madeleine."
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Three cop theories

9/09/2007 Posted by Winnower

Three cop theories
9 September 2007
The News of the World
Neville Thurlbeck

Detectives are focusing on three improbable windows of opportunity for the McCanns to have disposed of Maddie's body. In all cases, she would have had to be carried away on foot as there was no hire car until May 27. Cops are working on the ludicrous theory that the body was hidden on May 3 and retrieved and moved later by car.

THEORY 1: GERRY ACTING ALONE

Dad Gerry would have had little more than 15 minutes between 9.05pm when he left the dinner table to check on his children and 9.25pm when he returned saying that all was well.

In that time he would only have been able to carry Maddie's body a few hundred yards, then seek out a suitable hiding place, conceal the body and calmly return to friends.

The corpse would have had to remain unnoticed by hordes of police, sniffer dogs and tourists for more than three weeks-just a short walk from the apartment.

THEORY 2: KATE ACTING ALONE MUM

Kate left the dinner table at around 10pm to check on the children. Less than five minutes later, she returned screaming, "They've taken her, they've taken her".

The five-minute gap would have allowed Kate no time at all to conceal her daughter's body. Police were suspicious that she instantly jumped to the conclusion Maddie had been snatched and hadn't simply woken and walked off looking for her parents.

Kate's explanation is simple. Maddie's favourite toy, "Cuddle Cat" was nestled in her daughter's arms when she was put to bed. At 10pm 'Cuddle Cat' was placed on a shelf at adult height and Maddie was gone.

THEORY 3: WORKING TOGETHER

Gerry and Kate insist that between 6pm and the time they turned up for dinner some time between 8.30pm and 9pm-they put Maddie and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie to bed before walking 75yds to the tapas restaurant.

Detectives suspect this may have been when Maddie met her death, possibly by an accidental overdose of sedatives to help her sleep, allowing her parents to enjoy a night out. And before meeting with their friends, the couple then hid her body.

But this would mean the McCanns carrying the body through the streets.

With no car and public transport out of the question, they would have been seen by dozens of people.

Crucially, no witness has come forward, despite it being the most widely publicised missing child case in Portuguese history.
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Detective in charge faces claims of assaulting female suspect

9/08/2007 Posted by Winnower

Detective in charge faces claims of assaulting female suspect
8 September 2007
Yorkshire Post

Kate McCann's naming as a suspect in her daughter Madeleine's disappearance comes after the detective leading the investigation was charged over an alleged attack on the mother of another missing girl.

Goncalo Amaral, co-ordinator of the Policia Judiciara (PJ) in Portimao, Algarve, is one of five men accused of "scenes of aggression" against Leonor Cipriano, whose nine-year-old daughter, Joana, vanished in September 2004.

The little girl's body was never found but Mrs Cipriano and her brother, Joao, were charged and convicted of her murder.

She went missing from her home in Figueira, not far from where four-year-old Madeleine was abducted in Praia da Luz, on May 3.

It is claimed the attack on Mrs Cipriano happened when she was questioned over Joana's apparent abduction.

The Ministerio Publico (MP), or District Attorney, charged three PJ officers in June with torture, a fourth with omission of evidence and a fifth with falsification of documents.

The MP did not reveal who had been charged with what offence.

Mr Amaral was "very angry" about the allegations and was considering taking action against the MP, according to a police source.

"He is very professional and has a lot of success in solving cases," the source said.

"He is very upset because reporters never speak of these successes."

A Portuguese newspaper reported claims that the beating took place as Mrs Cipriano was questioned without a lawyer. She lodged a formal complaint about her treatment which was followed up by the MP.

Despite the charges, Mr Amaral, who is in his late 40s, was not suspended from work.

News of the charges came as Mr Amaral was forced to defend his taking a two-hour lunch break.

He was spotted with PJ spokesman Olegario Sousa at a fish restaurant in Portimao, near Praia da Luz, as the McCanns travelled to Berlin and Amsterdam to appeal for more information about their missing daughter.

A diner said he spotted them drinking what looked like white wine and whisky.

Asked if it was acceptable for police to drink alcohol in their lunch time, Mr Sousa said: "I don't know, it is very, very sad but a person's free time is for lunch."
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Donegal pal says quizzing unbelievable

9/08/2007 Posted by Winnower

8 September 2007
Mirror
Michelle O'Keeffe

A close family friend of the McCanns said yesterday she was shocked that parents Gerry and Kate had been questioned about Madeleine's disappearance.

Katriona Fernandez, from Dungloe, Co Donegal, said: "It is unbelievable what is happening to the McCanns.
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Madeleine detective faces charges over attack on suspect

9/07/2007 Posted by Winnower

Madeleine detective faces charges over attack on suspect
7 September 2007
Press Association National Newswire
Tim Walsh, PA

Kate McCann's naming as a suspect in her daughter Madeleine's disappearance comes after the detective leading the investigation was charged over an alleged attack on the mother of another missing girl.

Goncalo Amaral, co-ordinator of the Policia Judiciara (PJ) in Portimao, Algarve, is one of five men accused of 'scenes of aggression'' against Leonor Cipriano, whose nine-year-old daughter, Joana, vanished in September 2004.

The little girl's body was never found but Cipriano and her brother, Joao, were charged and convicted of her murder.

She went missing from her home in Figueira, not far from where four-year-old Madeleine was abducted in Praia da Luz on May 3.

It is claimed the attack on Cipriano happened when she was questioned over Joana's apparent abduction.

The Ministerio Publico (MP), or District Attorney, charged three PJ officers in June with torture, a fourth with omission of evidence and a fifth with falsification of documents.

The MP did not reveal who had been charged with what offence.

Mr Amaral was 'very angry'' about the allegations and was considering taking action against the MP, according to a police source.

'He is very professional and has a lot of success in solving cases,'' the source said.

'He is very upset because reporters never speak of these successes.''

A Portuguese newspaper reported claims that the beating took place as Cipriano was questioned without a lawyer.

She lodged a formal complaint about her treatment which was followed up by the MP.

Despite the charges, Mr Amaral, who is in his late 40s, was not suspended from work.

News of the charge came as Mr Amaral was forced to defend his taking a two-hour lunch break.

He was spotted with with PJ spokesman Olegario Sousa at a fish restaurant in Portimao, near Praia da Luz, as the McCanns travelled to Berlin and Amsterdam to appear for more information about their missing daughter.


A diner said he spotted them drinking what looked like white wine and whisky.

Asked if it was acceptable for police to drink alcohol in their lunch time, Mr Sousa said: 'I don't know, it is very, very sad but a person's free time is for lunch. That is normal to do.

'The persons are in charge in the day, they are working in the day but they must eat and drink - it is normal. I drink what I want to drink when I can drink.''
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Madeleine detective faces charges over attack on suspect

9/07/2007 Posted by Winnower

Madeleine detective faces charges over attack on suspect
7 September 2007
Press Association National Newswire
Tim Walsh

Kate McCann's naming as a suspect in her daughter Madeleine's disappearance comes after the detective leading the investigation was charged over an alleged attack on the mother of another missing girl.

Goncalo Amaral, co-ordinator of the Policia Judiciara (PJ) in Portimao, Algarve, is one of five men accused of 'scenes of aggression'' against Leonor Cipriano, whose nine-year-old daughter, Joana, vanished in September 2004.

The little girl's body was never found but Cipriano and her brother, Joao, were charged and convicted of her murder.

She went missing from her home in Figueira, not far from where four-year-old Madeleine was abducted in Praia da Luz on May 3.

It is claimed the attack on Cipriano happened when she was questioned over Joana's apparent abduction.

The Ministerio Publico (MP), or District Attorney, charged three PJ officers in June with torture, a fourth with omission of evidence and a fifth with falsification of documents.

The MP did not reveal who had been charged with what offence.

Mr Amaral was 'very angry'' about the allegations and was considering taking action against the MP, according to a police source.

'He is very professional and has a lot of success in solving cases,'' the source said.

'He is very upset because reporters never speak of these successes.''

A Portuguese newspaper reported claims that the beating took place as Cipriano was questioned without a lawyer. She lodged a formal complaint about her treatment which was followed up by the MP. Despite the charges, Mr Amaral, who is in his late 40s, was not suspended from work.

News of the charge came as Mr Amaral was forced to defend his taking a two-hour lunch break.

He was spotted with with PJ spokesman Olegario Sousa at a fish restaurant in Portimao, near Praia da Luz, as the McCanns travelled to Berlin and Amsterdam to appear for more information about their missing daughter.

A diner said he spotted them drinking what looked like white wine and whisky.

Asked if it was acceptable for police to drink alcohol in their lunch time, Mr Sousa said: 'I don't know, it is very, very sad but a person's free time is for lunch. That is normal to do.

'The persons are in charge in the day, they are working in the day but they must eat and drink - it is normal. I drink what I want to drink when I can drink.''
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Puzzles and mysteries at the very heart of the investigation

9/07/2007 Posted by Winnower

Puzzles and mysteries at the very heart of the investigation
Madeleine the questions

10 September 2007
The Times
David Brown

The McCanns 'refused to answer 40 key questions' during a police interview after being made official suspects, it was reported yesterday.

Here David Brown looks at some of the crucial riddles of the past four months

What happened in the four hours before Madeleine was reported missing?

Kate and Gerry McCann claim that while they dined at a restaurant with friends regular checks were made on Madeleine and their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, at their nearby holiday apartment. Mr McCann told police he saw his daughter asleep at about 9pm. A friend, Matthew Oldfield, entered the apartment at about 9.30pm but did not look in the bedroom Madeleine and the twins were sharing.

It is not known if anyone apart from Mr and Mrs McCann saw Madeleine alive between 6pm and 10pm, when she was reported missing by her mother. The timing is crucial but would be only circumstantial evidence in any prosecution. Although a small child could be killed quickly it would take time to hide a body so that it was not discovered in the biggest search in Portuguese history.

Why did Kate McCann cry out "They've taken her?" when she discovered Madeleine missing?

Portuguese police are reported to find it suspicious that Mrs McCann immediately believed that more than one person had taken her daughter. This could suggest that she knew who had taken Madeleine, perhaps people who thought they were helping Mrs McCann by removing her daughter's body.

Alternatively, it could be an off-the-cuff remark by an hysterical mother or perhaps was misheard or misunderstood in the confusion of the night.

What were the movements of the McCann's friends on the night Madeleine disappeared?

The McCann family had stayed at the Ocean Club resort with three other British couples and their five children, and a single woman. Russell O'Brien, a doctor from Exeter, left the restaurant for half an hour to look after his own daughter, returning shortly before Madeleine was reported missing.

His wife, Jane Tanner, was the only witness to report a man carrying away child from the McCann's apartments. There is confusion about when members of the party arrived at the tapas restaurant and left to check on their own sleeping children.

How much alcohol did the McCanns and their friends drink on the evening Madeleine disappeared?

Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends are reported to have told detectives they shared four bottles of wine, with another two barely touched before Madeleine was discovered missing.

However, it is claimed detectives have recovered a bill showing they downed eight bottles of red wine and six white during the afternoon and evening.

Why was Madeleine's bedroom window and shutter open?

Kate and Gerry McCann told police that the window shutter in Madeleine's bedroom, which could not been seen from the restaurant, had been forced open.

Police tests showed the heavy metal shutter had not been forced up from the outside, so must have been pulled open from inside the room. Assuming that the abductor entered through the apartment's unlocked patio windows, why would he or she not leave by the same way or the use the front door?

Or was the window opened to make it appear as if an intruder had used it to enter the bedroom?

Why did Madeleine's sister and brother sleep through her "abduction"?

Sean and Amelie were heavy sleepers who were not disturbed by their sister's abduction, claim their parents. However, they also slept through their mother's hysterical response to Madeleine's disappearance and the presence of dozens of people who joined the search before being carried out by a female police officer.

Kate and Gerry McCann have strenuously denied sedating their daughter.

Why were the McCanns allowed to leave Portugal if they are suspects?

The Portuguese authorities allowed the McCanns to return to the UK after they agreed to reside only at their home in Rothley and to return for further questioning if necessary.

Portuguese law states that after someone is declared a suspect, police have eight months to conclude the investigation into that individual. If they require further time officers can apply to the courts for a four-month extension.

If the McCanns refused to comply with a request to return to the Algarve for interview, Portuguese police could issue a European Arrest Warrant under which extradition can be carried out within six weeks.

All parties have strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
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PJ: Processos Vol X British Police Dogs

9/03/2007 Posted by Winnower

Processos Vol X
Pages 2604 to 2608
Dated 3 September 2007.

The police work in the course of an investigation is oriented to the inspection of the place where the crime occurred, and to the recovery of clues, trace evidence and information - documentary and spoken [obtained from people].
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