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wvgirl
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Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:47 pm |
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Maddie News August 5
Maddie fiasco The Sun
Published: Today, 05 August 2008
The Sun says
KATE and Gerry McCann have finally been handed the Portuguese files on their abducted daughter, Madeleine.
The papers contain evidence of lazy policing, human failing and official stupidity. They reveal cops shamefully made the McCanns suspects even though they were warned four days before that there was no DNA evidence against them.
But in the right hands, the files may just yield the precious clue that will solve the tragic little girl's fate.
They will also clear her parents of any last, lingering, ludicrous suspicion that they were in any way involved in her disappearance.
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Latest From the Madeleine Files Sky News
5:43pm UK, Tuesday August 05, 2008
Sky News is ploughing through the 30,000 pages of files released by Portuguese police that make up their investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance.
Refresh throughout the day to hear what they say.
::A document contained within the file from Portuguese police details why the McCanns were made Arguidos.
:: When police raided the McCann's rented villa in Praia a Luz they seized a bible and press clippings showing an advert for children's drug Calpol and an article about the McCann's "wall of silence"
:: Between 1 and 8 of August Portuguese police used sniffer dogs, trained to find human blood as well as people, to search five apartments at the holiday complex; Robert Murat's property in Praia Da Luz; the McCanns' new occupancy at Praia Da Luz; clothing from the McCann residence; Western beach in Praia Da Luz; Eastern beach in Praia Da Luz; 10 vehicles screened at Portimao.
:: Of the five apartments, the only report came from apartment 5a, the reported scene. The report said the dog alerted the rear bedroom in the immediate right-hand corner; the living room, behind the sofa; the veranda outside the parents' bedroom; the garden area directly under the veranda.
:: Nothing was found in Robert Murat's apartment or the McCanns' new apartment.
:: The Enhanced Vicitm Recovery dog (EVRD) did indicate one set of clothing. The report's author, though, says there are no further details.
:: The EVRD indicated a "scent" emitting from the right door of the McCann's car. It was then subject to a "full and physical examination and "no human remains were found."
:: The dog used to smell human blood was then tasked to screen the vehicle and alerted police to the "rear driver's side of the boot area". Forensic samples were taken and sent to a laboratory in the UK.
:: People from countries including Holland and Malta rang to inform police they had seen Madeleine. There was one "sighting" on a flight from New York to Brussels.
:: The files detail all kinds of other so-called sightings from people all over Europe and beyond.
:: Sky News has also found an email in the police files that was sent to Gerry McCann from a man claiming to know what happened to Madeleine. Police tracked it down to the Netherlands and found a cyber cafe with no CCTV. He/she asks for 2 million EUROS as a reward for the information, asking for an advance of 500,000.
:: The files show efits of two men based on descriptions from witnesses at the time. The files were sent to Interpol. Crucially, they were not given to the media.
:: Receipt from the "Tapas nine's" meal on the evening show that there was only two bottles of wine drunk between them.
:: Sky News has found a CCTV photocopy of Repsol petrol station on 4 May 2007 (day after Maddy disappeared) were a child matching Madeleine's description was spotted
Police have written "negativo" on it showing it wasn't Madeleine. There are several other pictures in different locations.
:: The files quote Portuguese public prosecuters who ruled their was "very little" conclusive in the police investigation with detectives failing to prove if Madeleine was dead or alive.
:: Sky News has translated a timeline by police taken from the files released yesterday showing events from when Madeleine's disappearance was reported to them and how the investigation took shape.
:: Among the pages of the Portuguese Madeleine file were a list of questions put to Kate McCann which she refused to answer.
:: The dossier shows a list of questions that were sent to British police to ask the so-called "Tapas seven."
Sifting through McCann case files, 05 August 2008
Sifting through McCann case files BBC News
By Alison Roberts
Page last updated at 14:15 GMT, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 15:15 UK
Days after the McCanns' lawyers began sifting through files from the investigation into their daughter's disappearance, media organisations are doing the same, with different objectives.
The couple's lawyers are, according to their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, hunting for leads for private detectives to follow up.
But journalists are focusing on key parts of the investigation such as the questioning of the McCanns on the day they were named arguidos, or formal suspects.
The files released to dozens of journalists on 4 August contain nearly 30,000 pages in digital format.
These range from photographs of the room from which Madeleine disappeared, to the conclusions of the prosecutor, Jose Magalhaes e Meneses, outlining the decision on 21 July to shelve the case and lift the arguido status of the McCanns and of Robert Murat.
It has emerged that police on 7 September last year "confronted" the McCanns, in the prosecutor's words, with evidence that could point to their having committed "crimes, including homicide".
Inconclusive material
This "evidence" was the reactions of cadaver and human-blood sniffer dogs at points in the apartment and in a car hired weeks after Madeleine went missing and results from forensic tests on samples taken from these.
But the Birmingham laboratory that did the tests had already warned that the results were inconclusive.
In an e-mail dated 3 September 2007, John Lowe of the major incidents team of the Forensic Science Service wrote that findings regarding a possible match between DNA in the samples and Madeleine's DNA were "too complex for meaningful interpretation".
The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, who had criticised police for failing to secure the crime scene, has now accused them of misrepresenting the evidence.
Before putting the evidence to the couple in separate interviews, police had to declare them arguidos, assuring them the right to remain silent.
After Kate McCann was made an arguido, she declined to answer dozens of questions, such as what she saw and did on finding Madeleine gone; and why, when she raised the alarm, she left her two-year-old twins alone in the apartment.
She was fully within her rights not to respond, and according to the couple's spokesman was advised by her lawyer not to.
Only when asked by police if she realised she was jeopardising the investigation did she say: "yes, if that's what the investigation thinks."
In his final conclusions the prosecutor said, while referring to the McCanns' "carelessness" in leaving their children alone, he saw no evidence of wilful neglect.
As for other possible crimes, while there was a "high degree of probability" of homicide, hard evidence was lacking. Aspects of the FSS findings that seemed significant later turned out to be "innocuous".
Overall, no proof was secured that led to "any lucid, sensible, serious and honest conclusion" about how the little girl disappeared, "nor even - and most dramatically - to determine whether she is still alive, or dead, as seems more probable."
The report concludes by stating that further investigations may be undertaken if fresh evidence emerges to warrant them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Police files give McCanns 'hope', 05 August 2008
Police files give McCanns 'hope' BBC News
Page last updated at 13:49 GMT, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 14:49 UK
The parents of missing Madeleine McCann have "drawn strength" from the lack of any evidence in police files that she is dead, said their spokesman.
Clarence Mitchell was speaking after the release of thousands of Portuguese police documents on the case.
He told the BBC: "They hope against hope she is being held somewhere".
Kate and Gerry McCann have accused police of exaggerating DNA evidence to name them as suspects after Madeleine vanished, aged three, in May 2007.
The police inquiry into the girl's disappearance was wound up last month due to a lack of evidence.
The McCanns and a third British national, Robert Murat - who have always strongly denied having had any involvement in what happened to Madeleine - were then declared to no longer be formal suspects.
The Portuguese police files, made public on Monday, include details of the lines of inquiry pursued, forensic reports, pictures of the bedroom where Madeleine was sleeping, witness statements and transcripts of interviews with the McCanns.
Among the files was a prosecutor's report that said the investigation had uncovered "very little" conclusive about Madeleine's fate.
In their final 58-page report, dated 21 July, public prosecutors Jose de Magalhaes e Menezes and Joao Melchior Gomes noted that detectives were unable to achieve any proof.
They added: "This includes the most dramatic thing, ascertaining whether she is still alive or dead - which seems the most probable."
They went on to say investigators were aware their work was "not exempt from imperfections".
"This is not, unfortunately, a detective novel, a crime scenario fit for the investigative efforts of a Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, guided by the illusion that the forces of law and justice can always re-establish order," they said.
'Sighting' dismissed
They said Kate and Gerry McCann could not have predicted that "in the resort they chose to spend their holidays they could place the life of any of their children in danger".
Other new information revealed in the files includes the account of one witness who reported seeing a man carrying a young girl with blonde hair on the night of the disappearance. He later told the police the man could have been Madeleine's father.
Martin Smith, 58, who was on holiday at the time, was interviewed by detectives in Portugal and his native Ireland but the line of inquiry was later discarded.
Four months after his initial statement Mr Smith contacted the police to say he had seen Madeleine's parents arriving back in Britain on BBC News, and the way Gerry McCann carried one of the couple's twins reminded him of the man he had seen in Portugal.
When detectives replayed video footage of the couple's arrival at East Midlands airport, the witness said he was 60-80% sure that the man he passed was Gerry McCann.
But this was later dismissed by prosecutors because at the time of the sighting, shortly before 2200, Gerry McCann was sitting in the Ocean Club's tapas bar with other members of his party.
The papers also confirmed that police focus turned to the McCanns following a visit to Portugal by UK detectives last August.
Portuguese police cited DNA evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
Clarence Mitchell said police had told Mr McCann during interrogation that his missing daughter's DNA had been found in the boot of the car - hired 24 days after her disappearance.
But an e-mail from a UK forensic scientist had already warned that DNA samples taken from the couple's hire car was "inconclusive".
The investigation papers show a sniffer dog detected the apparent odour of a body in their hire car and apartment, and a second dog detected what was thought to be blood in the same locations.
British forensic scientist John Lowe, of the major incidents team of the Forensic Science Service (FSS), said the car sample contained 15 out of 19 components of Madeleine's DNA but they were not "unique to her".
In an e-mail dated 3 September 2007 he said it was impossible to conclude whether the material taken from the car came from Madeleine.
The e-mail was translated into Portuguese the following day and four days later detectives named the McCanns arguidos, or formal suspects.
Mr Mitchell told the BBC: "You have to ask yourself what the police were trying to achieve by overstating evidence they simply didn't have in that way to Gerry."
Interview transcripts in the documents reveal that Kate McCann was asked directly if she had anything to do with the disappearance of her daughter.
She refused to answer this and nearly 50 other questions, as was her legal right, following advice from her lawyer.
"Her lawyers told her not to answer because there was a fear the questions could be leading," said Mr Mitchell.
Lawyers for the McCanns, both 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were given access to the police documents last week.
They are studying the papers for fresh leads that the couple's private detectives could follow up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Police release Madeleine files
Page last updated at 09:07 GMT, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 10:07 UK
Prosecutors in Portugal have released files relating to their inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
The McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell has told the BBC that the couple had not given up hope on finding the missing four-year-old, and that lawyers would examine the files for any clues that could assist in the hunt for Madeleine. (00:02:47)
*
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No 'signs' of Madeleine death
Page last updated at 13:50 GMT, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 14:50 UK
BBC News East Midlands Today video
Kate and Gerry McCann are strengthened from the lack of evidence suggesting Madeleine is dead. (00:01:29)
Police files give McCanns 'hope'
Page last updated at 18:03 GMT, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 19:03 UK
Kate and Gerry McCann "draw strength" from the lack of evidence in police files that Madeleine is dead, said their spokesman Clarence Mitchell.
Robert Hall reports. (00:01:54)
'My name's Maddie. They took me from my holiday': The astonishing sightings and CCTV footage police kept secret from the public, 05 August 2008
'My name's Maddie. They took me from my holiday': The astonishing sightings and CCTV footage police kept secret from the public Daily Mail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 2:12 PM on 05th August 2008
A little girl calling herself 'Maddie' and claiming to have been taken from her mother on holiday was seen in Amsterdam at the time Madeleine McCann disappeared, the case files show.
Possible sightings of the missing little girl flooded into the Algarve police incident room from around the world.
Another possible sighting was in CCTV footage taken within hours of Madeleine's disappearance close to Praia da Luz.
The newly-released documents include scores of e-mails from foreign police forces passing on reports that could provide investigators with a key lead.
But the Amsterdam sighting is one of the most intriguing.
Dutch shop worker Ana Stam, 41, said she spoke to a little girl aged three or four who said her name was 'Maddie' and replied to a question about her mother:
'They took me from my holiday.'
The girl entered her party shop in early May last year with a man and a woman and two other children, according to a witness statement to Dutch police in the police files.
The man - who "did not look like a nice person" - appeared to be speaking Portuguese but the woman spoke in English and told Ms Stam they had a small circus in France.
Another sighting: The little blonde girl on CCTV at a petrol station near Praia da Luz, hours after Maddie vanished
Ms Stam was at the back of the shop when the young girl approached her and asked in English without an accent: "Do you know where my mummy is?"
The shop assistant answered that her mother was a little further back in the store but the child replied, "She is not my mummy," and added:
'She is a stranger, she took me from my mummy."
When Ms Stam asked the girl where she last saw her mother, she said: "They took me from my holiday."
The Dutchwoman went on: 'I asked where that holiday was but the little girl was incapable of telling me.
'I even asked if she was on a camping site or in a hotel but she was unable to say.
'I told her I thought she was very cute and asked if she wanted a balloon. She didn't.
'I thought it all a little odd and then I heard the woman call the girl. She didn't call her Maddy, but a longer name. She could have said Madeleine but I don't remember that.'
The girl had dark brown hair in a ponytail, "huge" green-brown eyes and a pale face which showed "little or no emotion", she said.
Ms Stam said she thought the child looked "very much like" Madeleine apart from the colour of her hair.
The report was sent to the Portuguese authorities on June 18 last year but it is not clear what action was taken.
Meanwhile this CCTV picture was taken within hours of her disappearance close to Praia da Luz, where she vanished from her family's holiday apartment.
Its existence was revealed for the first time today among thousands of pages of documents from the police investigation into the then three-year-old's disappearance.
Witnesses were shown the still image after it was taken at a petrol station near the town of Lagos on the Algarve's main Via do Infante highway - but it was never shown to the public.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Murat poses for mugshot The Sun
By VINCE SOODIN
Published: Today, 05 August 2008
FORMER Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat stares into the camera as cops take his mugshot.
The picture was made public last night after Portuguese cops opened up their files on the Maddie investigation.
The British ex-pat was given 'aguido' status by Portuguese police before he was formally cleared last month.
Murat, 34, was made a suspect in the case days after then three-year-old Maddie disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on 3 May 2007.
He repeatedly protested his innocence.
Mr Murat lives with his mother Jenny, 71, in a nearby house in the Algarve village.
When he was first identified as a suspect, Mr Murat said he had been made a "scapegoat" for something he had not done.
During the police search, the former property developer became well known to journalists and told them he had been helping police with translation work.
He was cleared as a suspect along with Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann.
Revealed: The Maddie e-fits the public never saw, 05 August 2008
Revealed: The Maddie e-fits the public never saw Daily Mail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 1:06 PM on 05th August 2008
Two strikingly similar e-fits of suspects in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann were released by Portuguese police today.
As the files of the investigation into the four-year-old's abduction were made public, two pictures of possible suspects have been unearthed for the first time.
Even though either of the men in these images could have abducted Madeleine, Portuguese police did not release them during the investigation.
Both pictures show two men who are both in their late-20s to early 30s and who both have medium-length dark hair.
The e-fits of the two male suspects were not released during the investigation
The image on the left was created with the help of British tourist Derek Flack, from Ilford, Essex.
The photo of the man with a side parting and slightly longer hair was provided with the help of a Portuguese man, according to the files.
Questions will now no doubt be asked by the McCanns' team as to why these e-fits were never released in the crucial days after their daughter went missing.
During the police investigation only two e-fits were released by Portuguese police.
One photo, which was widely ridiculed, showed only what appeared to be an egg with a few strands of stray hair.
The other showed a man with long straggly hair and prominent front teeth who had been seen hanging around the front of the McCanns' apartment.
(article continues with Tanner sketch as reported before)
*
Note: The 'egg with hair' sketch was NOT released by the PJ. It was drawn by a local video/internet cafe owner, Simon Russell, after being shown a computerised image by the PJ. We have never seen that original image to judge how accurate Russell's sketch was.
Likewise, the 'toothy man' was NOT released by the PJ, it was released by the McCanns, through Clarence Mitchell, at a press conference in January.
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McCann's Hope For New Lead, 05 August 2008
McCann's Hope For New Lead
Aug 5, 2008
Startling details are emerging from the newly-released Portuguese police files on the Madeleine McCann investigation. Speaking on Sky News the McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said they hoped their lawyers could find something that could lead to finding Madeleine.
(00:04:09)
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Police timeline: Madeleine McCann, 05 August 2008
Police timeline: Madeleine McCann Sky News
12:24pm UK, Tuesday August 05, 2008
Sky News has translated a timeline from the files released by Portuguese police yesterday how the investigation took shape from the time Madeliene was reported missing.
1. 3/ 05/07, 2240: Lagos police received call that a British national, a three-year-old girl, called Madeleine McCann was missing.
2. 3/05/07, 2300: Police and army arrive to join searches
3. 3/5/07: It was unclear how she had disappeared while sleeping with her two siblings while her parents dined 50 metres away.
2317: The Lagos police received a call from army saying that the parents were worried that she may have been abducted.
4. 3/5/07:The police chief immediately joined the search and asked the soldiers helping to preserve the apartment, as they joined the search already carried out by the father of the missing girl.
5. 0040: The police asked for additional reinforcements to the searches
6. Overnight the search area widened from the ocean club and neighbourhood to empty plots in the area
7. 4/5/07: As the girl had been missing more than 12 hours Portuguese police sent a police chief to head all searches
8. 4/5/07: Helicopters were included in the search
9. 4/5/07: Searches continued during the day and night of May 4. Due to the vegetation in the area police and army were searching extensively as a small child would not necessarily be visible from a distance
10. 4/5/07: On May 4 additional support was requested from traffic police in Albufeira to join the search
11. 5/5/07: On May 5 due to the lack of result over the previous two days of searches the searches became more systematic as police divided the area into 17 sectors
12. 6/5/07, 0800: On the third day of searches, May 6 from 0800 the police had to start considering the hypothesis that the child had been abducted and if this was the case a new scenario would present itself that the child may be alive or dead (the latter being the most likely) and disposed of by an agressor. [P9-10 POINT 36 IN vol XII p200]
13. 6/5/07: Following this hypothesis police starting investigating the possibility that she may have been taken to a location quite far from where she was staying.
14. 8/5/07: On the 5th day of searches the police called on the coast guard to search the Bravura dam in case she had fallen in. After 72 hours a body would float to the surface.
Conclusion:
- searches between May 4 and May 10 were extended to a 15 km radius from the village of Praia de Luz.
- searches were extended to sea and lakes in the area with aid of the Marine authorities and using special equipement at their disposal.
- all areas were searched extensively and all avenues for finding the missing child were covered.
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Bed without traces of Maddie, 05 August 2008
Bed without traces of Maddie Correio da Manhã
Investigation - Photo taken by the PJ raises doubts
05 August 2008 - 00h30
Without traces of a four-year-old child that reportedly slept there. That is how the inspectors from the Polícia Judiciária found Madeleine McCann’s bed a few hours after the disappearance and which can be seen in the image that CM publishes today. The photograph still raises questions from the investigators and scientific police experts, to which the child's parents had no answer.
Find out more details about this case. Exclusively in Thursday's edition of Correio da Manhã
Bed without traces of Maddie Correio da Manhã
Investigation – Photograph taken by the PJ raises doubts
05 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
First photo of the bedroom after the disappearance shows the bed where the child reportedly slept, almost untouched
Without traces of a four-year-old child that reportedly slept there. That is how the inspectors from the Polícia Judiciária found Madeleine McCann’s bed a few hours after the disappearance and which can be seen in the image that CM publishes today. The photograph still raises questions from the investigators and scientific police experts, to which the child's parents had no answer.
Maddie, according to Kate and Gerry, had gone to bed at 7.30 p.m., at the same time as the twins, who shared the cots beside it. But the bed is partially made, with the sheets and the cover unopened and the soft toy – on which the English dogs detected cadaver odour – lined up with the pillow. In the bed, no signal of the presence of the child on that evening of the 3rd of May was found – not even the odour of the dead child.
At its side, the cots of twins Sean and Amelie, strangely without sheets or any sign of their presence in that bedroom. This while it was described to the authorities that the twins were asleep beside Maddie when she went missing.
It is also strange to note the absence of any person in the photograph, despite the fact that the investigators found several people inside the Ocean Club apartment, including friends of the couple and military from the GNR.
The differences between the witness reports and what was registered by the authorities will remain shrouded in mystery.
Details
Spot - In the news report that was elaborated by the GNR, it is pointed out that the distinguishing mark of the missing child is a spot on her left leg, and not the brown spot in one of her eyes.
Messages – On the 24th of September of 2007, the instruction judge denied the prosecutor access to SMS and MMS messages, in defence of privacy, but authorised access to the traffic flux.
Laptop – In the same dispatch, the judge permitted access to the hard drive of the laptop computer that was rented by Gerry McCann after the disappearance of his daughter.
Journalists receive process
The Public Ministry in Portimão distributed 44 copies of the judicial process concerning the disappearance of Madeleine to Portuguese and English journalists yesterday. One year and three months after the investigation started – and after it was archived, pending better evidence – the mystery still stands but the police work is now open to public scrutiny.
Twelve English newspapers, three English television stations and one English information agency now hold the process, as well as the national media in general.
The process was delivered, recorded on a DVD. The 47 volumes of the investigation, including appendixes, are inscribed in more than 30 thousand pages. The DVD weighs in at 1,10 GB, distributed over 60 files in PDF format. They include everything, except for some rogatory letters (due to logistics reasons) and the images of the cynotechnical inspections, which can be seen at the Court in Portimão from September onwards.
"This never happens in the United Kingdom"
"We heard so much about the judicial secrecy in Portugal and now we are going to see all the facts. After so much speculation, we are going to find out what the police has been doing. This never happens in the United Kingdom. Police and Prosecutor do not reveal the processes" – Greg Milam, Sky News
"Weak and failed investigation"
"A lot of people in the United Kingdom, including myself, have strongly criticised the Portuguese investigation. I'm expecting to see whether I am right or stand corrected. But I suspect that I'm going to find a weak and failed investigation" – Robert Moore, ITV
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Maddie case investigation was condemned in the first days, 05 August 2008
Maddie case investigation was condemned in the first days Jornal da Noticias
Process was handed over to journalists and discards the possibility of abduction
by: Marisa Rodrigues
05 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
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 defence, 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 recognise 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 (…) 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 recognise 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".
Gerry called the PJ to try to prove innocence, 05 August 2008
Gerry called the PJ to try to prove innocence Diário de Notícias
05 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
Maddie case. In the process, which was made available to the journalists yesterday, it is written that Madeleine's parents had a strange behaviour before they were made arguidos. Gerry called the police to reaffirm that they were not suspects and Kate questioned whether or not the police was being pressured to end the investigation
Days before the McCann couple was called for interrogation for the second time and made arguidos, Gerry McCann called the PJ inspector, Ricardo Paiva, who was responsible for the couple's communication with the police, by phone, underlining their innocence. "I am certain that the police has no evidence against us", Gerry said to inspector Ricardo Paiva, one can read in the Maddie case process, which was released yesterday.
The father of the British child, that disappeared in May 2007, guaranteed that the PJ had no evidence to incriminate the couple over their daughter's death. But only a few days later, on the 7th of September, the couple was made arguidos.
On the day after this phone call from Madeleine's father, inspector Ricardo Paiva went to the temporary home of Kate and Gerry McCann, in Praia da Luz, to notify them of the second judicial interrogation that would result in both being made arguidos.
On that day, the 3rd of September 2007, after knowing that she would have to testify to the PJ in Portimão for the second time, Kate reacted in a hostile and aggressive manner. Sentences like "what will my parents think?", "what will the press say when they find out" and "but the Portuguese police is being pressured by the Government to end the investigation!" demonstrate just that.
These and other reactions from the British couple are included in a revealing letter that the same inspector, Ricardo Paiva, sent to Gonçalo Amaral, who was then still the coordinator of the Maddie case, on the 3rd of September, two days before the interrogation.
That letter, which goes unnoticed among the 17 volumes of the process, is included in a process that reunited almost five thousand pages, nine appendixes and rogatory letters and which was made public and available to the press yesterday. In late July, the Attorney General, Pinto Monteiro, archived the process.
A letter that reveals the reasons that had never been made public before, about why Madeleine's parents were made arguidos, according to the PJ. This time, Ricardo Paiva explains that the McCanns' behaviour started to reveal itself as "strange", with a clear tendency of "convincing" the PJ to follow, in the investigation, the abduction theory.
"I have watched several strange behaviours from the couple, who gradually reacted in a very negative manner to the investigative activity of the PJ, especially when, due to the use of the English cynotechnical means of detection of cadaver odour, the hypothesis of the death of Maddie McCann appeared."
According to the inspector, the McCann couple said several times that the PJ should be focused only on the abduction theory.
And more: "That the police should not forget to continue investigating the suspect Robert Murat." The Anglo-British man who, according to the PJ's report that was sent to the Public Ministry, was made an arguido over mere suspicions from a British journalist that were shared to the PJ in Portimão. During that house visit that Ricardo Paiva paid to Kate and Gerry, the latter insisted on showing the inspector some letters and emails from mediums, that he possessed and which had been selected by him, mostly containing information "without great credibility", according to the inspector, concerning the possible whereabouts of Madeleine's abductor.
Files Scoured For Madeleine Clues Sky News
10:30am UK, Tuesday August 05, 2008
As Kate and Gerry McCann and their lawyers trawl through newly-released police files on their daughter's disappearance, their spokesman insists finding Madeleine remains the priority.
Clarence Mitchell told Sky News that the couple's lawyers were "very thoroughly" going through thousands of pages of evidence handed to them by police last week.
"The lawyers could in theory, if they wanted to, take action or look for legal redress at some stage but that is absolutely not the priority now," Mr Mitchell said.
"There could be one little nugget in there, in those tens of thousands of pages...that could lead to Madeleine, and that's the priority."
Mr Mitchell also hit out at the Portuguese police, who told Gerry McCann during questioning that Madeleine's DNA was found in the boot of the McCanns' hire car.
It has since emerged that the evidence was inconclusive.
Mr Mitchell said: "There seriously are questions as to what they were trying to achieve by overpresenting evidence in that way.
"It was wrong, they did not have that evidence and they could not justifiably claim to have that evidence."
It is expected to take a long time for lawyers to analyse the extensive files, which comprise photographs, transcripts, video and documents which need to be translated from Portuguese.
But Mr Mitchell said "money was not an issue for the moment", with more than £400,000 remaining in the Find Madeleine fund.
He said it was "very much" the case that the McCanns still believed that their daughter - who disappeared from her bedroom in the couple's Praia da Luz apartment on May 3 last year - was still alive.
"That's the hope they have to cling to. There is absolutely no evidence that she has been harmed, let alone has been killed as many just assume.
"And in fact the longer this goes on, without any trace of her whatsoever, in a way they draw more strength from that."
Latest From the Maddie Case Files Sky News
10:24am UK, Tuesday August 05, 2008
We are ploughing through the 30,000 pages of files released by Portugese police that make up their investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance. Refresh throughout the day to hear what they say.
These are a list of questions that were sent to British police to ask the so-called "Tapas nine."
1. How long have you known Gerald McCann and Kate Healy (Kate's maiden name) and in what capacity?
2. Have you seen Kate and Gerald at home with their children?
3. Have you been on holiday with them before? If yes can you describe how they looked after the children of an evening/night?
4.How often did you see Gerald and Kate during your holiday April 28 - May 3?
5. How often did you see their children: Madeleine, Sean and Amelie?
6. Did you have any concerns aobut the children in any way?
7. When was the last time you saw Madeleine?
8. On Thursday May 3 when did you see Kate and Gerald?
9. At what time did you arrive at the Tapas restaurant on May 3? Who was already there?
10. What were Kate and Gerald doing when you arrived?
11. Did you speak with Kate and Gerald?
12. How were they behaving?
13. Who left the table during the meal and to do what?
14. Did you see Gerald leave the table during the meal? At what time? How long was he away? What did he say when he came back? Was his behaviour or attitude different when he returned?
15. Did you see Jane leave the table during the meal? At what time? How long was she away? What did she say when she came back? Was her behaviour or attitude different when she returned?
16. Did you see Matthew leave the table during the meal? At what time? How long was he away? When did he say when he came back? Was his behaviour or attitude different when he returned?
17. Did you see Russell leave the table? At what time? How long was he away? What did he say when he came back? Was his behaviour or attitude different when he returned?
18. Did you see Kate leave the table during the meal? At what time? How long was she away? What did she say when he came back? How did she look and behave? Where you shocked at what she said? What did you do?
19. Did you go to the McCann apartment? Did you go into the bedroom where the children were sleeping? Can you describe what you saw? Did you see the twins? Did you notice anythin unusual about them?
20. What did you do next? Did you take part in any further searches? Who were you with?
21. How did Gerry react when Madeleine was not found in the first 10 minutes?
22. How do you think they were behaving considering Madeleine was gone?
23. What did you do between 10.30pm and 10am the next morning? Who did you see?
24. Who did you speak to?
25. When did you leave Portugal? How often did you see Kate and Gerry? How do you think Kate and Gerald were behaving for parents who had lost a child?
26.Did you see either Kate or Gerry speaking to anyone on holiday that you did not know?
27. Did you see either Kate or Gerald in a car during the holiday.
Maddy police were no Poirots, mock their own prosecutors Evening Standard
Jack Lefley in Portimao
05.08.08
The Portuguese police inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was condemned in the strongest terms by the country's public prosecutors, new documents revealed today.
Detectives were criticised for establishing "no element of proof " about what happened to Madeleine or even whether she was alive or dead.
Public prosecutors in Portimao overseeing the case said that none of the reasons her parents Gerry and Kate McCann were made official suspects, or "arguidos", were ever "confirmed or consolidated".
Detectives were even compared unfavourably with fictional sleuths Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot as they were lambasted for achieving "very little in terms of conclusive results".
Police tactics were revealed in a 20,000-page "Madeleine File", detailing all aspects of the 14-month investigation made public yesterday.
Madeleine, three, vanished from her family's holiday apartment at Praia da Luz on 3 May last year. The police file included pictures of the room and Madeleine's bed. Her parents are now likely to take legal action against police in the country.
The case was initially led by top investigator Goncalo Amaral, who last month published a book on the investigation entitled Maddie The Truth about the Lie.
The huge police dossier contained a report by public prosecutors Joao Melchior Gomes and Jose de Magalhaes e Menezes about why the couple were not charged with any offence.
The report refers to the "objective circumstances" which justify the " noninvolvement of the parents of Madeleine in any relevant criminal act".
It said they were not in the apartment when Madeleine disappeared and noted their "normal behaviour adopted before the disappearance and afterwards".
It said that "in reality, none of the indications which led to them being made arguidos came to be confirmed or consolidated later".
"No element of proof whatsoever was found which allows us to form any lucid, sensible, serious and honest conclusion about the circumstances" of Madeleine's disappearance from the apartment ... including, and most dramatically, establishing whether she is alive or dead, which seems more probable."
It continued: "The investigators are well aware that their work is not exempt from imperfections.
"They worked with an enormous margin of error and they achieved very little in terms of conclusive results, especially with regards to the fate of the unfortunate child. This is not, unfortunately, a police story, a crime fit for the investigative mind of a Sherlock Holmes or a Hercule Poirot, guided by the illusion that the forces of law and justice always restore order."
The report also revealed why the McCanns were not charged with " abandonment" of their children on the night Madeleine vanished. It said the couple did not knowingly leave their children in any danger and had been "keeping an eye on them".
It continued: "While it is a fact that Madeleine disappeared from the Ocean Club apartment, the circumstances and manner of how this happened is not known.It is obvious that neither of the defendants, Gerald or Kate, acted with intent ... they could not predict that the resort they had chosen to spend a few days' holiday would leave the lives of any of their children in danger.
"It was located in a quiet place, where the majority of residents are foreign citizens of the same nationality and without any known history of this type of crime.
"Although they left their daughter alone with her siblings in the apartment, sometimes for extended periods, it's true that, in any case, they were keeping an eye on them. We must also recognise that the parents are already paying a heavy penalty - the disappearance of Madeleine - for their carelessness in monitoring and protecting their children."
The prosecutors also rejected the theory that the couple had been involved in disposing of their daughter's body saying: "It would be always left to explain how, where, when, with what means, with whose help, in a restricted space and time."
A source close to the McCanns' legal team said action against the Portuguese police was now increasingly likely. He said: "Given this blatant misrepresentation of evidence, legal action against the Portuguese police is very much on the agenda.
"The lawyers are considering very seriously whether action needs to be taken against individual officers when evidence was clearly misrepresented in such obvious ways at such crucial times."
The couple's official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the priority was still the search for Madeleine but admitted legal action against the police was an option.
Revealed: The map drawn by witness who 'saw Madeleine carried off into the night', 05 August 2008
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 10:31 AM on 05th August 2008
This rough sketch map shows where a key witness was when she believes she saw Madeleine McCann being abducted by a mystery man - and just how near the girl's father was at the time.
The drawing, revealed in the massive Portuguese police files made public yesterday, was made by Jane Tanner, one of the friends on holiday with the McCanns in the Algarve at the time.
It shows the layout of the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, where the party was staying.
Jane Tanner's map shows how she saw the mystery man carry Madeleine from points 5 to 8 while Gerry McCann was chatting at point 3
The number 7 marks Apartment 5A, where Madeleine and her younger brother and sister Sean and Amelie were asleep on the night of May 3 last year.
The entrance to the tapas restaurant where their parents Kate and Gerry McCann were dining with friends is shown with the number 1.
But more importantly the sketch reveals that Ms Tanner, marked 4, was just yards away from the man she saw carrying a young child who she is convinced was Madeleine.
Until now it has not been clear exactly where the witness was standing at this potentially crucial moment.
The man walked across the top of the road - from point 5 to point 8 - as she approached him, the map makes clear.
And all the while Mr McCann was obliviously standing chatting to Jeremy Wilkins, a friend he had made on the holiday, further down the road - marked 3 on the drawing.
The pair did not even notice Ms Tanner as she walked past them from the tapas restaurant.
McCann DNA evidence 'exaggerated' BBC News
Page last updated at 10:13 GMT, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 11:13 UK
The parents of Madeleine McCann have accused police in Portugal of exaggerating DNA evidence before naming them suspects in her disappearance.
A UK forensic scientist had already warned DNA in their hire car was "inconclusive", it has been revealed.
His e-mail was in thousands of pages of evidence now been made public.
Madeleine vanished, aged three, on a holiday in the Algarve on 3 May 2007. Kate and Gerry McCann are no longer suspects in the case.
Lack of evidence
The papers, which also include photographs of the family's deserted apartment, make clear that the McCanns came under suspicion following a visit to Portugal by UK detectives last August.
Portuguese police cited DNA evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said police had told Mr McCann during interrogation that his missing daughter's DNA had been found in the boot of the car - hired 24 days after her disappearance.
The investigation papers show a sniffer dog detected the apparent odour of a body in their hire car and apartment, but tests on a sample from the car were inconclusive.
British forensic scientist John Lowe said the sample contained 15 out of 19 components of Madeleine's DNA which were not "unique to her".
Mr Mitchell told the BBC: "I can confirm in his interview the police put to Gerry as a matter of fact that DNA - Madeleine's DNA - had been found in the vehicle.
"You can see from the official report that wasn't the case. It was inconclusive at best.
"You have to ask yourself what the police were trying to achieve by overstating evidence they simply didn't have in that way to Gerry."
The police inquiry into her disappearance was wound up last month due to a lack of evidence.
The McCanns and a third British national, Robert Murat, were declared to be no longer formal suspects when the police closed the case. The McCanns and Mr Murat, 34, always strongly denied having had any involvement in what happened to Madeleine.
Lawyers for the McCanns, both 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were given access to the documents last week.
They are studying the papers for fresh leads that the couple's private detectives could follow up.
Mr Mitchell said: "One of the great frustrations for Kate and Gerry, through all this, was that they just didn't get any information from the Portuguese of any real note at all.
"Now there is a chance to analyse this, and if there's anything that needs priority action in terms of finding Madeleine.
"Such as was this area searched or not? Was there another sighting in a certain place, or not?
"All of that will be moved on quickly. But Kate and Gerry themselves are not fully aware of the mass of detail yet, they're waiting for the lawyers to tell them in due course."
Police questions
Some 20,000 pages of evidence were released on Monday to journalists who had made a formal request to prosecutors, including the BBC.
The sniffer dog's apparent detection of the odour of a body was followed by a second dog detecting what was thought to be blood in the same locations.
The BBC's Steve Kingstone said the documents showed an initial report from Britain's forensic science service saying the samples indicated some compatibility with the components of Madeleine's DNA.
However the laboratory did not draw firm conclusions and stressed that the samples contained the DNA of more than one person.
In an e-mail dated 3 September 2007, John Lowe of the major incidents team of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) said it was impossible to conclude whether the material taken from the car came from Madeleine.
The e-mail was translated into Portuguese the following day and four days later Portuguese detectives named the McCanns arguidos - formal suspects - citing DNA evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
In his message to Det Supt Stuart Prior, head of the British side of the inquiry, Mr Lowe said a sample from the boot of the McCanns' hire car, which they rented 24 days after Madeleine went missing, contained 15 out of 19 of her DNA components.
But he cautioned that this result - based on the controversial "low copy number" DNA analysis technique which uses very small samples - was "too complex for meaningful interpretation or inclusion".
The expert said the components of the missing girl's DNA profile were not unique to her - in fact some were present among FSS scientists, including himself.
"We cannot answer the question: is the match genuine, or is it a chance match," he wrote.
Subsequent interview transcripts reveal that Kate McCann was asked directly: "Did you have anything to do with the disappearance of your daughter?"
She refused to answer this and dozens of other questions, as was her legal right.
Sketch Of Final Madeleine 'Sighting' Sky News
9:59am UK, Tuesday August 05, 2008
A map showing where a man was seen carrying a child on the night Madeleine McCann vanished has been released by Portuguese detectives.
The drawing, produced by a friend of Gerry and Kate McCann, may show the last place the youngster was seen before she vanished without a trace.
The drawing was made by Jane Tanner, one of the friends on holiday with the McCanns in the Algarve
It was released along with pictures of the McCanns' holiday apartment and thousands of pages of evidence compiled by police investigating Madeleine's disappearance.
One of the documents lists the police questions Kate McCann refused to answer after being named an arguida - or official suspect - in the case.
Another showed that detectives claimed Madeleine's DNA had been found in her parents' hire car, despite a British scientist's warning days earlier that tests were inconclusive.
A family friend accused Portuguese officers of trying to extract a confession from Madeleine's father by lying about the results of forensic analysis.
Authorities released the police files yesterday after lifting the period of judicial secrecy in the case.
The dossier includes details of the lines of inquiry pursued by detectives, forensic reports and witness statements and transcripts of interviews with Mr McCann and his wife Kate.
Among the files is an email dated September 3, 2007, written by senior British forensic scientist John Lowe to Det Supt Stuart Prior, head of the UK side of the investigation.
Mr Lowe, from the major incidents team at the Birmingham-based Forensic Science Service, said it was impossible to conclude whether a sample from the McCanns' hire car came from their daughter Madeleine.
Four days later Portuguese detectives named Mr and Mrs McCann as formal suspects in the child's disappearance, citing forensic evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
Police then categorically told Mr McCann in interview that his daughter's DNA had been found in the family's Renault Scenic hire car.
The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, told Sky News: "I can confirm that the Portuguese police put it to Gerry as a fact that Madeleine's DNA had been found in the apartment and the vehicle, when it is now clear that that was not the case, and that the initial FSS report had said the findings were inconclusive.
"You have to ask what the police were trying to achieve by over-presenting evidence that they did not have, and clearly could not claim to have."
He added: "All that matters is the search for Madeleine.
"Kate and Gerry's lawyers are continuing to examine all of the information in minute detail and where anything that is relevant to finding Madeleine needs to be done it will be."
Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 last year as her parents dined with friends nearby.
Despite a huge police investigation and massive coverage in the Portuguese and British media, she has not been found.
On July 21 Portuguese prosecutors announced they were shelving the case, although it can be reopened if credible new evidence comes to light.
http://www.mccannfiles.com/id79.html
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