Get that cat to forensics, armchair sleuths demand

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."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Find Madeleine Fund, Forensic Science Services, Madeleine McCann

Portuguese police appeared to take a step back from charging Madeleine McCann's parents

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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Gonçalo Amaral, Madeleine McCann

Richard McCluskey Statement - Madeleine McCann Case

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

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Madeleine McCann, McCluskey

Change of Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Portuguese Republic

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

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Ambassador John Buck, Madeleine McCann

THE LOST HALF HOUR

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."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Lucy Panton, News of the World

'The police don't want a paedophile murder here so they are blaming us'

'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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, News of the World, Ross Hall

Cops are bluffing

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."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Ambassador John Buck, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, News of the World, Ross Hall

Three cop theories

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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Lori Campbell, Madeleine McCann, Neville Thurlbeck, News of the World, Ross Hall

Detective in charge faces claims of assaulting female suspect

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."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Carvi Scandal, Gonçalo Amaral

Donegal pal says quizzing unbelievable

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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2007, Donegal, Find Madeleine Fund, Madeleine McCann