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From Jornal de Notícias (http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=975250) this morning:

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Maddie case investigation was condemned in the first days

Process was handed over to journalists and discards the possibility of abduction

by: Marisa Rodrigues

An investigation that was condemned at the outset? The question appears in the first pages of the Maddie process and is related to the contamination of the apartment. The Public Ministry states that there is a “high” probability that this is a homicide case, but there is no evidence.

The inspector from the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) who was on duty on the night of May 3, 2007, puts his finger in the spot when he admits, in his service information, that the Ocean Club apartment where the McCann family spent their holidays may have been contaminated by the several persons who were present. The confirmation is contained in the archiving dispatch and leaves no margin for doubts: the apartment was rummaged. There was not only contamination but irretrievable and undetermined damage was done in terms of collection of evidence.

The investigators seem to have no doubts that the contamination was done on purpose, was carried out by Kate and Gerry and had a precise goal – to conceal the death of their daughter, Madeleine. Suspicions that can be read in a report that was signed by a chief inspector, on the 10th of September, and that are included in the process. The investigator even suggests the change of the coercion measures that had been imposed on the couple, that had just been made arguidos, due to considering that “in auto defense, they do not wish to immediately and voluntarily hand over the cadaver, and there is a strong possibility that it has been translated from the initial location”.

The degree of probability that a homicide took place is “high”. It is the joint general prosecutor, João Melchior Gomes, who says it. He singlehandedly signs the archiving dispatch, despite the fact that at the end of the document, the name of prosecutor Magalhães e Menezes can also be read, but without a signature. As arguments, he uses the fact that it has not been proved “in the light of logical criteria” that someone would have been able to remove the child from the apartment without being seen, thus setting the abduction theory apart. But he does recognize that it was not possible “to establish whether she is alive or dead, as it seems more probable”.

The same prosecutor considered that Kate and Gerry “could not predict that in the resort (&#8230 they could endanger the life of any of their children, and that was not demanded from them either: it is located in a quiet area, where most of the residents are foreign citizens of the same nationality and without any known history of criminality of this kind”. As a sort of justification for not accusing Kate and Gerry, he also says that “we should recognize that the parents are already serving a heavy penalty – the disappearance of Madeleine – due to their carelessness in the vigilance and protection of the children”.

From Jornal de Notícias (http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Interior.aspx?content_id=975365):

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English press accuses the PJ of lying

The three main British tabloids publish the photo of the “bed where Maddie spent her last night” on their front page, one of the documents that is part of the investigation process that was made available to the press.

The “Daily Mail” tells over four pages “how the Portuguese police tried to force Gerry to confess over a DNA trap”.

The newspaper accuses the investigators from the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) of using “false DNA evidence”, that is, genetic traces, to pressure Madeleine McCann’s father.

The same newspaper lists “the 48 police questions that Kate refused to answer… and the only one that she accepted”, an aspect that is also pointed out by the “Daily Mirror” and the “Sun”.

The analysis of the contents of the process, whose copies started being delivered in Portimão during Monday afternoon, started to appear in online editions on the same day.

The focus was mainly given to the weight of the genetic residues that were found in the car and that the police reportedly told Gerry that they belonged to his daughter, which the BBC qualifies as “exaggerated”.

In the reference press, the “Guardian” points out that “a British scientist warned that the tests on the DNA that had been collected from Kate and Gerry McCanns’ rental car were inconclusive”.

Faced with this fact, the “Daily Telegraph” writes that “the Portuguese detectives knew that there was no conclusive evidence against the McCanns three days before they questioned them and classified them as suspects”. For this daily, the conclusion is simple: the “Portuguese detectives lied to Gerry McCann”.

Madeleine McCann: Gerry and Kate learn of Amsterdam sighting

Kate and Gerry McCann have uncovered agonising details about a sighting of a young girl who called herself Maddy and said she had been taken from her mother while on holiday.



By Caroline Gammell in Portimao
Last Updated: 7:04PM BST 05 Aug 2008


The encounter between the girl and a Dutch woman in Amsterdam was reported to the Portuguese police in June last year but only disclosed to the public in files released on Monday.
The McCanns were never told about the sighting, despite going to the city last June to raise awareness about their missing daughter.
They have no idea if the lead was followed up by Portuguese police and their private investigators are now looking into the lead.
The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "If it was Madeleine, it was a disgrace that it was not passed on. We need to know what happened with this.
"It is one of the mysteries of the whole thing and it is tragic that it should come this late on."
Anna Maria Stam, 41, was working in a shop which sold balloons and fancy dress at the beginning of May last year – before she heard the news about Madeleine.
She saw a Portuguese looking man and woman with a French accent walk in with a boy aged six and an eight-year-old girl.
Watching the seemingly happy group, she spotted another little girl, aged about three with shoulder length brown hair, standing nearby.
Her witness statement said: "The little girl stood before me and asked me in English: 'Do you know where my Mummy is?'
"I answered that her mother was a little bit further back in the shop and she answered: 'She is not my Mummy.'
"I asked her who the woman was, and she said: 'She is a stranger, she took me from my Mummy.' I noticed the little girl spoke good English without an accent.
"Next I asked the little girl what her name was and she said: 'My name is Maggie.'
"When I repeated it, the little girl said, 'No, my name is Maddy'. I still remember that because I thought it was a rare name which you didn't often hear.
"I then asked her where she had last seen her mother and she answered: 'They took me from my holiday.'"
The little girl then left with the woman. When Miss Stam saw Madeleine's picture on the internet, she said: "We thought it was very much like the little girl except the colour of the hair."
She spoke to Dutch police on June 18 but it is not known whether the lead was followed up.
Mr Mitchell said: "It is shocking, it is harrowing to read this account, whether it was Madeleine or not. It is harrowing to hear a child saying that.
"We need to know if it was followed up properly by the police. If that hasn't been done, that is exactly the kind of information that the private investigators are going to follow up.
"It is frustrating beyond words and the worst thing is that all this time Madeleine has been let down by this lack of apparent co-ordination."
Other possible sightings have also emerged in the files. Several CCTV images of a little girl are among the dossier.
The first, take in a petrol station near Praia da Luz on May 4, shows a young girl holding hands with a woman, but the image was shown to the McCanns that night and quickly ruled out.
A second image shows a girl at a Repsol petrol station in Vale Paraiso, Albufeira, also on May 4.
This image was not shown to the McCanns, but the owner of the car was traced and thought to be eliminated from the investigation

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...rry-and-Kate-learn-of-Amsterdam-sighting.html

In Jornal de Notícias (http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=975612) this morning:

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1270 #5

Public Ministry says that couple lost an occasion to prove their innocence

The reconstitution was rendered unfeasible by obstacles that were created by the McCanns and their friends

Kate and Gerry lost the opportunity to prove that they had nothing to do with the disappearance of their daughter, Madeleine, when they and their friends rendered the reconstitution of the evening of May 3, 2007 unfeasible.

The conclusion is drawn by the Public Ministry (PM) that, in the dispatch that archives the process, admits that the “main damage” that results from this attitude was for “the McCann arguidos”, who “lost the possibility of proving what they have been protesting since they were made arguidos: their innocence regarding the fateful event”.

The PM admits that the investigation “was damaged” due to the fact that this diligence was not carried out and explains that, if the reconstitution had taken place, “it might eventually set aside, once and for all, any doubts that might subsist concerning the innocence of the missing child’s parents”.

Explaining that what was requested was the clarification of “failures to meet and lacks of synchrony, when not divergences”, which were detected during the analysis of the set of statements that had been given, which needed to be “tested and linked together on the location of the event”, the two magistrates that are responsible for the dispatch then explain what they wanted to see clarified.

The first doubt concerns the physical proximity – real and effective – between Jane Tanner, Gerry and Jeremy Wilkins (the movie producer who played tennis with Gerry during the afternoon of Mat 3), at the moment when Jane passed them by, and which coincided with the sighting of the supposed suspect, carrying a child.

The PM admits it is “strange” that both did not see Tanner or the alleged abductor, despite the smallness of the space and the coincidence of the time at which allegedly the three crossed ways.

According to the PM, the reconstitution would also serve to understand in what state the window of the bedroom where Madeleine and her twin siblings slept was, given the fact that Kate guarantees that it was open. “It was necessary to clarify whether or not there was a draft, given the fact that movement of the curtains and pressure under the bedroom door are mentioned”, the PM sustains.

Another doubt is related to the checking of the children, “given the fact that, if it can be believed that said control was as tight as the witnesses and the arguidos describe it”, it would be, in the magistrates’ opinion, “very difficult to reunite the conditions for the introduction of an abductor in the residence and the posterior exit of said abductor, with the child, through a window with little space”.

It also remains unclear what really happened between 6.45 p.m. and 10 p.m., when Kate alerted to the disappearance.

The possibility of a reconstruction in May was raised in mid-March. The exchange of emails that was started on March 20 between the coordinator of the investigation, Paulo Rebelo, and the English policeman who made the liaison with the McCanns and their friends, the will to be present was noticeable, but also the imposition of conditions.

The seven friends wanted to know how it would be carried out and “conditioned” their presence to the PJ’s answers. “We need a good reason to convince us”, writes Rachael in one of the many emails that were transcribed into the more than 50 pages that are fully dedicated to the exchange of correspondence between the PJ and the witnesses.

Investigation – Dispatch defends the little girl’s death but clears the McCann couple

Public Ministry admits homicide

Prosecutor says that the PJ obtained “little” in terms of conclusive results

The Public Ministry (PM) admits that Madeleine was killed, discards the abduction theory, but does not believe that the McCann couple is involved in their daughter’s death. In the archiving dispatch, prosecutor Magalhães e Menezes says that Kate and Gerry were neglectful, but drops the crime of abandonment and closes the investigation with criticism over the Polícia Judiciária’s work.

“The investigators are aware of the fact that their work is not exempt of imperfections. They have worked with an enormous error margin and what they have achieved is vert little in terms of conclusive results”, the magistrate writes, considering that the result of the investigation does not allow “for an average man to formulate any lucid, sensible, serious and honest conclusion” about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

José de Magalhães e Menezes assumes there is “a high degree of probability that a homicide took place” – he goes further than Gonçalo Amaral who always spoke of an accidental death – but he does not believe in the involvement of the McCann couple, considering that they have always manifested a normal behaviour. On the other hand, the prosecutor alleges that the McCanns had neither the time nor the means to conceal the body, remembering that on the evening of the 3rd of May 2007, the couple had been in Portugal for a few days only and their routine was limited to the limits of the ‘Ocean Club’: “They did not now the surrounding terrain and, apart from their English friends, they had no contacts in Portugal”.

The prosecutor does however fail to point out any other justification for the disappearance of the little girl, after concluding that “no consistent indications were found indicating the execution of an abduction” – defended by the McCanns.

Despite “clearing” the couple, the Public Ministry writes a list of questions that remain unexplained, namely why the procedures of surveillance over the children, by the McCanns and their friends, were changed that night and how the twins failed to wake up in the middle of the confusion – after Kate gave the alert about the disappearance of her daughter. Concerning the constitution of the McCanns as arguidos, he says it is lawful and legitimate and concerning the case, he concludes that “Maddie’s disappearance is a case from real life”.

Over one hundred thousand euros in tests

The hundreds of forensic tests that were performed during the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine cost the state thousands of euros. The last volume of the process only, includes five invoices, concerning DNA tests and analyses of collected biological residues, all over 20 thousand euros. The total is of, at least, 145 thousand euros spent in forensics testing, which was carried out in Portugal and in England. At the British lab, the results of the tests were corrected and were not conclusive.

Reopening of the case under analysis

The McCanns’ Portuguese lawyer, Rogério Alves, is analyzing the process in order to decide whether to request the reopening of the case of the disappearance of Madeleine. “I’m analyzing the process to see if it is worthwhile to give some impulse to the process, that is, to request the opening of the instruction or to advance to a hierarchical superior at the Public Ministry”, Rogério Alves said in Portimão yesterday. The deadline for the instruction in this case ends on September 20.

........................................

Direct speech – Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the process

“With another Public Ministry there would have been another decision”

Correio da Manhã – The Public Ministry admits that Madeleine was killed but archives the case. Is this outcome a consequence of the pressures that you always complained about?

Gonçalo Amaral – I maintain that there are strong indicia. The interpretation and valuation in the light of the Law depends on the person that carries it out. With another Public Ministry I admit there could have been another decision.

Do you think that there was enough evidence to sustain an accusation?

When I left the investigation, there was enough indicia of concealment of a cadaver, simulation of a crime and eventually of abandonment. There are no doubts that there is concealment of a cadaver. The Public Ministry itself speaks of homicide and we didn’t go that far.

The Public Ministry says that the investigators are not exempt of imperfections…

Neither the investigators nor the prosecutors. We are verified by and have always worked under the directions of the Public Ministry. All that we did, we did with their knowledge and with their consent.

..........................................

Accidental death

The former coordinator of the investigation, Gonçalo Amaral, believes that the little girl died accidentally in the apartment, on the evening of May 3, and that her parents concealed the body.

Numbers from the process

443 searches were carried out in the investigation of the Madeleine case.

300 policemen from various security forces were mobilized during the first days.

130 elements from the Polícia Judiciária were detached to the investigation.

700 witnesses were heard, 112 of them were employees of the resort.

2000 diligences were counted by the Public Ministry.

3 persons were made arguidos: Robert Murat and Madeleine’s parents.

..............................................

The reader knows

by Manuel Catarino, head of redaction

Since the process of the ‘Maddie case’ became public, on Monday, the most heard sentence on the Portuguese television channels is “The British press revealed that…” – followed by the news of one or another detail that was extracted from the process. They are not reporting any news, at least not for the readers of CM [Correio da Manhã] – who have known for a long time everything that is being revealed now. The truth is that there is nothing new to reveal about the interior of the voluminous process: everything – really everything – was in CM’s pages over the last months, the fruit of a long and hard investigation work that the readers deserve.

source: Correio da Manhã, 06.08.2008, paper edition

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From 24Horas (http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2911&link=08) today:

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They did not search

Nanny criticizes the McCanns

Katriona Baker, a British citizen who worked as a nanny at the tourist resort Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz, Algarve, and cared for missing Madeleine McCann for several days, does not spare criticism towards the child’s parents in the statement that she gave to the English authorities.

The nanny said that she only looked after the little girl during the day and remembers that Maddie cried a lot during a boat ride in Praia da Luz and screamed “I’m scared, I’m scared”, failing to understand the reasons for the fact. And she adds: she says that as soon as she heard about the disappearance of the child she ran through all of the places where Maddie usually went when she stayed at the crèche that exists at the Ocean Club; she guarantees that she saw neither Kate nor Gerry that evening, only seeing them again on the following Saturday (Maddie went missing on Thursday). One of the questions that the PJ asked from Kate, and to which there was no answer, was related to the reasons why she stayed at home while the searches were carried out.

06-08-2008 11:45


Maddie Case
The PJ had difficulties with the British police

Information contained in the Maddie case indicates that the McCann couple reacted in a negative manner to the increase of investigative activity and that the PJ did not receive total collaboration from the British authorities.

The two aspects are revealed by the investigation process, of 30 thousand pages, now made available.

A report prepared by the inspector of the PJ, who was responsible for the communication between the police and the McCanns, revealed that strange behaviour was observed by the McCann couple, considering that they reacted in a very negative manner with the increasing evolution of the investigations.

The period when this was most notable was when the British dogs who detected the cadaver and blood odour entered into the investigation, reinforcing the possible thesis of Maddie’s death.

According to the report, the couple even said that police attention should be more oriented to the abduction thesis and that the authorities should continue to investigate Robert Murat.

The inspector also revealed that he was surprised to hear a request made by Kate . three months after the girl’s disappearance – for blood, nail and hair tests to be carried out on the twins because she remembered that on the night of 3rd May, the children never woke up in spite of the agitation that took part in the apartment, not even when they were carried to another apartment. Kate alleged that the abductor could have administered some sedative to the twins.


Cooperation between the police forces

During the investigations the Portuguese police did not receive total collaboration from the British authorities.

One of the cases occurred when inspectors wanted to investigate the movements of Gerry McCann’s bank account. The objective was to check money transfers registered for six months, from the 1 April 2007, six weeks before Maddie’s disappearance.

The authorities wanted to discard the possibility that the girl could have been the subject of some deal, but the British police took four months to respond and, when they did, they replied saying that that the request was not justified and was out of proportion.

On the positive side, the United Kingdom complied with dozens of requests for interrogations of the friends, family members and colleagues of the couple, who in general, reported to have witnessed harmony between the McCanns and their children. There are even some doctors who said that Maddie was a most wished for child, and had never displayed any abnormal behaviour.

The PJ also requested confirmation from the British police about the work of the tracker dogs and about the reliability of the information provided by them, to which the specialists replied that these animals cannot be tricked.

The Portuguese police also received confirmation that Gerry had spoken to a chief supervisor for the dogs.


Cx/Liliana Monteiro

http://www.rr.pt/InformacaoDetalhe.aspx?AreaId=11&ContentId=256000

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In IOL Portugal Diário (http://diario.iol.pt/sociedade/maddie-mccann-caso-maddie-portugaldiario/979169-4071.html) this evening:

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McCanns contacted witness that incriminates Gerry

Irishman says that he saw a man carrying a child on the evening of the disappearance. The PJ dismisses the deposition because the father was at the restaurant. But the employees fail to say who is who in the entries and exits by the group that evening

The McCanns contacted the Irish Smith family, which says they saw Gerry, to a certainty of 60 to 80 percent, carrying a little girl towards the beach, on the evening when Maddie disappeared. But the contact was apparently made with the purpose of drawing a photofit of the alleged abductor, according to what the Irishman told the police in his country.

In the Maddie case process, this contact was reportedly made by Brian Kennedy, the Scottish millionaire who financially helped the McCanns in the search for their daughter. The Irish officer who questions M. Smith, in Dublin, writes in his communication to the Portuguese police that Smith refused to participate in the making of the photofit and that he did not tell the story of what he saw to the McCanns’ friend.

The moment in which Maddie’s parents contact M. Smith is not clear. But the Irish witness only refers it to the authorities when he is heard on the 23rd of January, after seeing the images on television that livened his memory, on the 9th of September: when Gerry leaves the plane in the United Kingdom and turns his head down, M. Smith identifies the gesture as similar to what he saw in Praia da Luz four months earlier.

What woke up Smith’s memory?

Days after this ‘click’, the Irishman told the Leicestershire police about his suspicions; the witness also stated that it might have been the way in which Gerry transported one of the twins that made him feel that the man who he saw near the Ocean Club could have been Maddie’s father.

Smith even clarifies that he discussed that perception with the other members of his family, who also saw the man carrying the child in Praia da Luz, but only his wife had the same feeling. Nevertheless, she did not want to give a deposition.

M. Smith also tells that he was harassed by the media that published false declarations in his name, and that at least six newspapers apologized. The Irish policeman who led the questioning refers that he does not believe that Smith is trying to please the press, given the fact that he is, in his own opinion, an authentic person and known locally as a very decent man.

It is remembered that the alleged abductor was seen by the entire family, and it was the conviction of the three members, who were heard by the PJ on the 26th of May 2007, that the child was Madeleine. The street where the encounter took place is approximately five metres wide.

PJ drops lead?

After M. Smith contacted the British authorities, the Portuguese police is informed about this new perception from the Irishman. On the 27th of September, the PJ contacts the witness and confirms the information, as well as his availability to come to Portugal, once more, to give a new statement. A trip that never happened.

After Gonçalo Amaral left, on the 2nd of October, the PJ requests a new deposition from the witness through the Irish police. This only takes place four months later, at the end of January, and arrives into the PJ’s hands on the 19th of February.

But the Smiths’ witness statement was dismissed by the Portuguese authorities, because it was established that at the time of the sighting, Gerry was at the Tapas restaurant. According to the process, this information was corroborated by the friends of the couple and was not contested by the employees, who are unable to identify who is who and at what time the elements from the group left and returned to the restaurant.

It is also remembered that the Public Ministry recognizes contradictions in the depositions by the friends, and considered that the reconstitution would be a very important diligence, in order to clarify the incoherencies.

Without indicia that the McCann couple committed any crime, the Public Ministry ordered the archiving of the process. On the 21st of July, Kate and Gerry, along with Robert Murat, saw the arguido status lifted.

Suspects – Portraits by Lance Purser and Derek Flack

Photofit was identified

His name is Barrington Godfrey Norton, he is a music teacher and at the time resided inside a white van next to Praia da Luz, in the Algarve

The two photofits that are included in the process concerning the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are of the same person, and according to Gonçalo Amaral, the former coordinator of the case, belong to an individual who was identified as Barrington Godfrey Norton a few days after the witness statements from Derek Flack and Lance Purser.

These two English citizens told the Portuguese police that they had seen a suspicious man near the Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine McCann disappeared from. “We identified the person and discarded the information”, Gonçalo Amaral told CM, referring to Flack and Purser.

The first portrait appeared with Derek Flack, aged 64, who described a man of Caucasian race, dark complexion, around 1,75 metres and aged between 25 and 35, according to the deposition that was collected by the Portuguese police. In the same document, it can be read that Derek stated he could not identify the individual if he saw him again. The second portrait originated with Lance Purser, who saw a man in the surroundings of the same location where Derek saw the suspect. The description that was made mentions a Caucasian man, of dark complexion, aged approximately 35 and 1,70 m tall.

Based on these statements, the Portuguese police managed to identify the suspect, and questioned Barrington Norton on the 8th of May 2007. The music professor admitted to having been in the area of the Ocean Club, where he delivered a curriculum and picked up dinner.

English press

‘The Sun’ – ‘Why did the police hide the two portraits?’ is the title of the English paper, which cites the two citizens concerning the testimonies.

‘Daily Mail’ – This newspaper also presents the two portraits, and it can be read that the Portuguese police never revealed them to parents Kate and Gerry.

‘Guardian’ – Apart from the photofits, the newspaper mentions the testimony of a Dutch woman who reportedly spoke to an English child, aged 2 or 3, who supposedly was named Maddie.

Musician – The two photofits picture Barrington Norton, an Englishman who had been in Portugal for five years and slept in his white van. The GNR inspected his vehicle and didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

.....................................................................

Direct speech – Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the process

“Description without value”

Correio da Manhã – Why did you never reveal these two photofits?

Gonçalo Amaral – We didn’t divulge those photos because we cannot go on revealing photofit after photofit. Even more so because we identified the person and it was a musician who was perfectly known in the area. It made no sense.

But were the testimonies by Derek Flack and Lance Purser credible?

There is the testimony from two English persons who reportedly saw a suspect in the surroundings of the Ocean Club. That person was identified by us. The description by one of them ends up being of no value, because at a certain point he says he could not identify him if he saw him.

There is now a witness in Holland who says that she spoke to Maddie in a shop?

I think it is strange that persons spoke to the child and she said her name was Maddie. To us, the parents always said that she did not answer to Maddie, but only to Madeleine.

source: Correio da Manhã, 07.08.2008, paper edition

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A brief glance over today's news in the Portuguese press:


http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=976037

McCanns and friends were afraid of new accusations

JN reports that the McCanns and their friends excused themselves from a reconstitution on advice from the Portuguese lawyers, who told them they could be made arguidos over neglect charges if they returned.


http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=976038

The dogs' work, described by their own handler

An article about the report from Martin Grimes, appended to the process.


http://dn.sapo.pt/2008/08/07/sociedade/mc_cann_passaram_a_suspeitos_nao_exp.html

McCanns became suspects because they failed to explain the DNA in the car

DN reports about the reasons why the McCanns were made arguidos.


http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2912&link=06

Murat was a scapegoat and Kate lost her mind when she knew she was becoming an arguida

Two articles about the changes in the McCanns' behaviour during the investigation, namely at the time that the English dogs arrived, how they tried to direct the investigation towards Murat, and how Kate reacted when she discovered she was going to be made an arguida.


http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2912&link=07

Irish lead was not followed and 143 persons heard within 4 days

24Horas publishes two more articles, one about the Smith family sighting, and another one about the efforts of the PJ in terms of questioning witnesses over the first 4 days.


http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2912&link=08

TV star in phone tapping and Polícia Judiciária reconstitutes Maddie's footsteps in her last two days in Praia da Luz

Two more articles in 24H, the first one about Martin Brunt, who was in close contact with Murat when he was made arguido, counselling him over the phone - which was tapped, a fact that Mr Brunt ignored; the second article is a photo sequence of some of the areas where Maddie passed through, shortly before she disappeared.

~Full translations may become available later~

Maddie's Last Day (in pictures):

From: http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2912&link=08

Translated by summer, copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1270&page=24 #347

From Jornal de Notícias (http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=976038) this morning:

Copied from: http://www.helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1272&page=1 #12

The dogs’ work as described by their own handler

They were the main responsible entities for the turnaround of the process, at a point in time when the Polícia Judiciária was already leaving behind the possibility of Madeleine having been kidnapped.

The cadaver detection dog “Eddie” and the blood detection dog “Keela” showed themselves as “very excited” when they entered apartment 5A of the Ocean Club, the one that had been occupied by the McCann couple during their holidays.

Despite the fact that the images can only be visualized in September, the process includes the verbal report from Martin Grime, an expert in dogs that are used in investigations and an FBI advisor, who says that he “noticed in first instance”, as soon as he entered the apartment, that the dogs “are very excited” and how the handler can “pick up the body language”.

He then explains that Eddie (one of the dogs) was the first one to get into action. When he entered the house “he caught up with an odour that he recognizes”. Martin tells that the animal walked through the apartment in an attempt to locate the odour, and that he discovered it behind the sofa in the living room. At that moment, he started to bark. Keela was the second to go into action. “She will only give me the indication when she finds human blood, only human blood”, the expert says, asserting that “there has to be something there, physically, for her to be able to alert me”.

In the dispatch, the prosecutor reminds that “any trace, even if invisible to the naked eye, which is collected through the use of this type of dogs, has to be subject to a forensics test, in a duly credentialed laboratory”.

In 24Horas (http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2912&link=08) today:

Copied from: http://www.helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1272&page=4 #54

Journalist criticized police work and gave Murat advice

TV star in phone tappings

Robert Murat had his home telephone under surveillance. Martin Brunt, from Sky News, didn’t know. He even advised Murat

The phone tappings that were carried out by the Polícia Judiciária confirm the suspicion of complicity between British journalists and the English people who are involved in the process. One flagrant case is that of Sky News’ “star”, Martin Brunt, an expert in crime-related issues, who heavily criticized the Portuguese police’s work and who, during a phone interception, was “caught” giving Robert Murat some advice. With the “hot” detail of the recording having been made on the 15th of May, the day after Murat was made an arguido.

On that day, Brunt was in England when he decided to call house “Liliana”, the Murat family’s residence, metres away from the Ocean Club. He was greeted with a warm expression by Jennifer, Robert’s mother, who seized the opportunity to show her distress about the fact that Sky was using the expression “arguido” to refer to her son.

Jennifer did not consider it was a nice attitude and Martin justified himself by arguing he had not seen the news and was not updated with the terms that are used by Portuguese justice.

Then the telephone is passed on to Robert Murat, who greets Martin Brunt in a familiar manner – he calls him “boy” – denies any involvement in the case and states that he is fed up with being pointed out as a suspect.

During the phone call, that lasts 7 minutes, the Sky “star” counsels Murat about the expressions that he should use in an interview to the media.

In 24Horas (http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2912&link=06) yesterday:

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1272&page=9 #128

McCanns’ behaviour changed with the dogs that smelled death scent

Murat was a scapegoat

A PJ inspector followed the steps of the McCann couple closely. He noticed differences when the dogs arrived from England. They tried to direct the investigation towards Murat

One of the Polícia Judiciária’s (PJ) inspectors who spent more time with Kate and Gerry McCann noticed that Maddie’s parents’ behaviour changed throughout the time of the investigation. And that at a certain point in time, their worry was to have Murat investigated at any cost.

According to what this inspector reported in a document that was appended to the process, the key moment for the couple to start adopting a more strange behaviour happened when the English dogs, which are experts in smelling cadaver odour, arrived in the Algarve.

The McCanns tried to direct the investigation several times, according to the inspector. They told the PJ that the police’s attention should be directed towards Robert Murat (the first of the arguidos) instead of spending time looking for signs of their daughter’s death.

A bizarre detail did not escape the inspector who accompanied the English couple.

Three months had passed since the disappearance of Maddie, when Kate demanded several times for the police to carry out analyses of the blood, hair and nails of Maddie’s siblings.

The investigators were caught by surprise. Months earlier, the McCanns had stated that the twins were not sedated and that they had never given their children any substances for them to sleep. Kate, as a doctor, knew that right at the beginning of the investigation, it would be easier to detect the presence of soporifics. Three months later, it would be far more difficult to detect them… But it took that time for Kate to remember that on the 3rd of May, despite the noise inside the apartment, the twins did not wake up. They were even carried into another apartment, always asleep. Kate remembered and found a plausible explanation. Maddie’s abductor had given her children some sedative drug.

Gerry also gave plenty of suggestions and delivered letters and emails that he received, most of them from psychics and mediums, to the inspector, while the dogs sniffed. The policeman also received a phone call from Gerry, telling him that “the police wastes time investigating” Maddie’s parents.

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Maddie’s mother was worried about what her parents and the press in her country would say

Kate lost her mind when she knew she was going to be arguida

One day, Kate lost her mind in front of the inspector from the Polícia Judiciária who accompanied her most. On the 6th of September, when she was summoned to the PJ’s offices to give a statement, she knew what awaited her. Otherwise, the summons would not include the advice to make herself accompanied by a lawyer.

Maddie’s mother reacted in an extremely negative manner. “What are my parents going to think?”, she questioned. According to the inspector, Kate’s doubts were also political: “The Portuguese police is being pressured by the Government to end the investigation swiftly”.

The inspector decided to write everything down in a report that was included in the process.

On that 6th of September, the Portuguese and the British press announced that Kate was an arguida.

Later on, Kate’s parents fully supported their daughter. As far as the government is concerned, all that is known is that while he was a candidate, Gordon Brown insisted in speaking with Sócrates about the matter. The process was closed 11 months after Kate was made an arguida.

In IOL Portugal Diário (http://diario.iol.pt/sociedade/maddie-madeleine-pj-desaparecida-mccann-robert-murat/979491-4071.html) yesterday:

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1272&page=11 #153

Who framed Robert Murat?

An anonymous phone call from a Portuguese woman alerts the authorities to the “abductor” Murat, one week before the Englishman was known around the world

The denunciation from a journalist, an anonymous phone call and Jane Tanner, the McCann couple’s friend who saw a man carrying a child on the evening that Maddie disappeared, produced the first arguido in the investigation. Murat’s over-helpful posture was one of the first indicia that turned him into a suspect. But what led to his anonymous incrimination, days before he was known around the world?

The Polícia Judiciária was first in suspecting Murat. On the 7th of May, it already possessed diverse information about his personal and professional life: what he did, his bank accounts, where and with whom he lived, among other details.

On the 8th, one week before the suspicions were made public and Murat was made an arguido, another log fed the fire. A female voice makes an anonymous phone call, in Portuguese, to the PJ and states that the abductor is closer than the police thinks. The inspector asked who she was referring to and the female voice explained: it is an individual who resides in Praia da Luz, from a British mother, fluent in Portuguese and in English, who walked around in the area to help the authorities.

The author of the anonymous phone call added that the abductor was called Robert, that he visited chats of a sexual type and that he managed to encrypt his emails.

Suspicious British journalist…

The suspicions about Murat are also raised by a British journalist. Three days after Maddie’s disappearance, on the 6th of May, the reporter gets in touch with the English police, to share her suspicions about a man, who lived in the area and was excessively helpful.

Born British, he has been living in Portugal for a long time. The fluency of his Portuguese and his English soon rendered him useful to the Portuguese authorities, which were confronted with a case that involved British tourists. Furthermore, he had a daughter of Maddie’s age, from whom he was separated, as the child lived in England with her mother.

The journalist remembered a case that had taken place in England, where the criminal had a similar attitude and even helped in the searches of his own victim.

Serving as a translator

Even after the suspicions were assumed, the Judiciária continued to use Murat’s translation services in several questionings, to English employees of the Ocean Club resort, until the 9th of May. “In order to prevent the suspect from noticing something”, they then justified.

It is only at a later date that Jane Tanner, a friend of Kate and Gerry, is confronted with the possibility that Murat is the individual that she saw carrying a child. Despite the fact that the physical description that Jane gave and Murat’s look are not the same, the English tourist had no doubts in stating that he was almost certainly the man that she had seen.

It is worth reminding that after having been made an arguido, other members of the group that was on holidays with the McCanns asserted that they saw Robert Murat participating in the searches, on the night of the disappearance. A fact that was always denied by himself, who said that he had been at home with his mother. He only heard about the alleged abduction on Friday the 4th. The GNR itself confirmed to the PJ that it only remembered seeing the Englishman on the following morning.

But the English profilers also guaranteed that there was a 90% chance of Murat being the abductor. And as if that was not enough, an alleged childhood friend asserted that as a teenager, he revealed an inclination to have sex with animals.

A set of circumstances, a friendly behaviour, a suspicious sighting, an anonymous phone call and convenient testimonies turned Murat into the first arguido by Portuguese justice to be financially compensated by British newspapers, for becoming a suspect in a crime that nobody managed to prove to exist.

Without evidence to support that any crime was committed, the Public Ministry archived the Maddie process, on the 21st of July. Kate and Gerry, together with Robert Murat, saw their arguido status lifted.

In Jornal de Notícias (http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=976508) this morning:

http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1272&page=12 #167

Recourse to the dogs was advised by British expert

The British [man] was determinant for the turnaround in the Maddie case. He walked around in the Algarve for several days, looking for evidence

An English expert who counsels the police in cases of missing persons, abduction and homicides was determinant for the turnaround in the Maddie case, dictating the call for the dogs that detect cadaver and blood odour.

Mark Harrison was called into the Algarve by the Portuguese investigators in mid-July, and according to his report, in his investigation he only had to consider the possibility of Maddie “having been murdered and her body hidden in the areas that were searched by the police and located near Praia da Luz.

The request for help appeared on the 20th of July, and for days Mark Harrison carried out recognition trips, walked through various areas of Praia da Luz, at night and during the day, consulted with several colleagues and experts and rode a helicopter.

Throughout 13 pages, the English expert advises the use of the dogs that detect cadaver and blood odour, namely inside the apartment that had been used by the McCanns and in Robert Murat’s house. Facing the possibility that the little girl might have been buried in that area, after being killed, Mark even suggest that the investigators consult with a forensic anthropologist, as well as a careful investigation about the natural necrophagous predators of the area.

The report, which has now been made public, reports on the change of direction of the investigation line into the disappearance of Madeleine. “Other opportunities are now being considered, of new searches into locations, given the possibility of her (Maddie) having been murdered and hidden in the surroundings”, Mark Harrison refers, stressing that this “would be the proportional and appropriate response, given the period of time that elapsed since her disappearance, and the former experiences in similar cases”.

This document, which was accepted by the Public Ministry of Portimão, allowed for the dogs that detect cadaver odour (Eddie) and blood (Keela) to come to Portugal for two weeks. Despite the requests from the investigators, the Public Ministry ended up not finding it useful for the dogs to carry out tests in the McCanns’s house in England, and in the residences of some of the friends that were in Praia da Luz on holidays.

The media exposure that surrounded the so-called Maddie case disturbed “the course of the investigations, directly and indirectly”.

This is assumed by the prosecutor of the Public Ministry in Portimão, who in the closure dispatch assures that the “verdicts” that were prompted by the so-called “trail by newspapers”, which never represent a “fair trial” had an effect of “diverting attentions”.

In some sectors, the Public Ministry adds, they even assumed “aspects of a global media orgy and a feast of anticipated guilt over the participants in the process that have arguido status, with a disrespect for the dignity of the person, including that of the missing child herself”.

From: http://www.24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2913&link=09

Translation from 3As: http://the3arguidos.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=21129

Gerry said he made copies with Maddie’s image on the night of the crime

The mysterious pics

The PJ analyzed the printers in the Ocean Club and in Praia da Luz and came to the conclusion that the McCanns could never have printed the pics from their daughter there. A set of 4 pics that the McCanns gave to the GNR on the night of the disppearance is one of the major mysteries in the process that was closed by the MP. Many references are made to these pics in the 17-volume dossier, because the type of photographs and the paper were they are printed – in a size 15,3 cm x 10,3 cm – is not “convenient for transportation” says inspector Tavares de Almeida from the PJ in Portimao, in a request he sent to the Scientific Police Lab to analyze the pics.
Inspector Joan Carlos says it was ‘strange’ that the family was in posession of those pics because on that night they couldn’t have had the possibility to make that type of photos in that size. The PJ always wanted to know who took the pics, where they were taken and why they were taken to the Algarve.

When Kate was made arguida on Sep 7, she was questioned about the ways they were making known the face of Madeleine, just hours after her disappearance, but Kate didn’t answer. Some hours later, the same question was asked to Gerry, who said the pics had been taken with a digital camera and printed in the reception of the Ocean Club by iniciative of Russel O’Brien. Gerry was making reference to hundreds of photographs that were being printed in A4 sheets in the printer of the Ocean Club as was confirmed by the manager of the complex, John Hill.

But the pics that are intriguing for the PJ are the others. The set of 4 pics that the McCanns gave to the GNR on the night of the disppearance. Gerry declared that he was not the one that had given the pics to the GNR. But the dossier contains also declarations from Sílvia Baptista, responsible for the Ocean Club who says she saw the father of Madeleine give the pics, on a poster-type paper to one of the militaries of the GNR. “They were practically all similar” said Baptista. The PJ made a research of the printers available in Luz, but the sort of paper the pics of Maddie were printed on, could not be found anywhere. Nelson Costa, one of the militaries in the GNR who was called on the night of 3 May, was perplex. He told the PJ he saw several pictures of Maddie, some A4 size and others with the size of a poster, that ‘couldn’t have been made’ in the reception of the Ocean Club.

GNR got the pics

Antonio Duarte, a commander for the GNR in Lagos, got the mysterious pics. Four equal images, in sets of two, printed in photographic paper, 15,3 cm x 10,3 cm. The military declared to the PJ that he got the pics at 2 a.m. on the 4th of May – four hours after the disappearance was reported. Antonio Duarte said he got the pics when he was sitting in a vehicle when trying to get identification data of the McCanns, but that he cannot recall who gave him the pics. He declares he’s got ‘an idea’ that he saw Gerry McCann but that he cannot ‘guarantee’ that Gerry was the one that gave him the pics. Nonetheless he’s quite sure that the pics “could not have been revealed / printed on the premises of the Ocean Club.’

(Under the pic) The McCanns had 4 copies of this picture, on photographic paper, and this fact intrigued the PJ, because Gerry said that the copies had been made in the Ocean Club, and they were not made there.

In Correio da Manhã (http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia....hannelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010) this morning:

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1272&page=14 #200

Investigation – the only fingerprint on the window belongs to Kate

Judge refuses tappings on the McCann couple

The criminal instruction judge did not allow for ambient tapping in the villa in Praia da Luz where the McCann moved into in July last year, a short time after Maddie’s disappearance. The Judiciária wanted to listen to the conversations between Kate and Gerry in a search for a possible involvement of Maddie’s parents in the disappearance of the child, which took place on the 3rd of May 2007.

The McCanns moved into the Vista do Mar villa, in the Luz Parque area, when they were not arguidos yet. They only left the house on the 9th of September, when they returned to England.

The request from the Judiciária took into account a series of indicia that is mentioned in the process, including the only fingerprint that was found on the Ocean Club apartment’s window of the bedroom where Maddie slept, and where she allegedly was taken through. That fingerprint belongs to Kate McCann.

The hand mark – thumb and indicator – may indicate that Kate opened it. The direction and the position of the fingers on the window indicate that it was opened towards the left.

This is one more lead that was abandoned on the way, despite the glaring contradiction with Madeleine’s mother’s witness statement.

Kate is the only person who refers that the window was open. As there are no signs of a break-in or of the presence of strangers, the Polícia Judiciária looked for traces of gloves, which weren’t found either. The only marking is Kate McCann’s hand, given the fact that the window had been cleaned on the day before the child’s disappearance by the employee who carried out the cleaning of the apartment.

In the statement that she gave to the Portuguese police right after her daughter’s disappearance, Kate clearly refers that “the door to the children’s bedroom was completely open, the window was also open, the shutters were up and the curtains were open, while she is certain that she had closed everything.”

The fingerprint was registered and photographed by the Polícia Judiciária’s investigators and may indicate that Madeleine McCann’s parents simulated the abduction crime.

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Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the process: “It was a very important means of evidence”

Correio da Manhã – Was it important for the investigation to listen to Kate’s and Gerry’s dialogue?

Gonçalo Amaral – It was a very important means of evidence, the last opportunity that we had to find out what they said. Even in order to set some doubts aside. The judge refused and we accepted it.

Why is Kate McCann’s fingerprint relevant? Wasn’t it supposed to be there?

It is the only fingerprint on the window, when she said herself that she never opened it. As there are no signs of a break-in and no signs of gloves and the window had been cleaned a short time before, it becomes relevant, mainly when they defend the theory that an abductor went through the window.

There is a denunciation in the process concerning the possibility that Maddie was abducted on demand from a Belgian paedophile ring. Did the PJ follow that lead?

Everything was analyzed. It was treated in the same manner as all the other denunciations. We investigated.


source: Correio da Manhã, 08.08.08

n IOL Portugal Diário (http://diario.iol.pt/sociedade/contas-mccann-ultimas-noticias-iol-maddie/979782-4071.html) yesterday evening:

Copied from: http://www.helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1276 #4

Request to investigate Gerry’s accounts is disproportionate

English authorities did not see motives to justify bank investigation of Maddie’s father

The Portuguese police requested cooperation from the English authorities to investigate Gerry McCann’s bank accounts, within Maddie’s disappearance. But this request was found disproportionate by the British authorities, given the fact that it covered a period of six months.

Initially, the authorities requested a clarification from the Portuguese Public Ministry, which better explained the reasons for the request: to identify if there was an unknown motive behind Maddie’s disappearance and if eventually there was an individual or individuals who might be responsible for her disappearance.

The English authorities did not accept the clarification from Portugal, and in their reply letter, sent on the 16th of June, they manifest their concern with the motives that led the Portuguese authorities to request information about bank operations over a period of six months, from Maddie’s father’s Mastercard credit card. The period covered by the request started on the 1st of April, approximately six weeks before the child’s disappearance.

Despite the official explanation from the Portuguese authorities, the English police also considered an unofficial explanation that was offered by the investigative team that traveled to England. At that point in time, the Leicestershire police was told that Gerry McCann had been seen drawing money from an automatic cash machine and talking on the phone. The Portuguese police wanted to know whether this action could be related to the disappearance.

Francs Kennah, a senior official at the ‘UK Central Authority’, clarifies that after pondering over the coercive measures, the cabinet does not see a motive to concede the requested authorization, considering that the request is not justified and seems disproportionate. The British authorities solicit a new clarification from Portugal, but it is not sent and the process is archived a little over a month later.

Without indicia that the McCann couple has committed any crime, the Public Ministry determined the archiving of the process. On the 21st of July, Kate and Gerry, along with Robert Murat, saw their arguido status lifted.

source: IOL Portugal Diário

In Correio da Manhã (http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia....hannelid=00000093-0000-0000-0000-000000000093) today, an opinion article by Gonçalo Amaral:

Copied from: http://www.helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1276 #5

Matter of Fact

Sighting of the Truth

The so-called “Maddie Case” process was made public last Monday. On that day, a new era in the relationship between the Portuguese Justice and the public was started. Journalists from all over the world jumped on the thousands of pages, looking for secrets as if they were the key to a mystery. It did not take more than a few hours for the brilliant minds to discover what a vast team of Portuguese and English investigators and experts hadn’t found in 14 months.

Leads and sightings jumped up in great numbers – all of them credible and despised by the police, obviously. It is only elementary commonsense that the process is read and re-read, so it can be understood completely and in a serene manner; criticism, if it exists, should come afterwards, or we risk to fall into the gratuitous sensationalism that some of the press victimized us to (us, incautious citizens). The right to inform is not to speculate. And that is not what is expected from our journalists who, truth be told, always knew how to distinguish themselves from the British. Do not lose reason now. You are thanked by Justice, by the citizens – and, let’s not forget, by the child that disappeared on the 3rd of May 2007.