Media Links ONLY - No Discussion

[colomom]

In 24Horas (http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2856&link=09) this morning:

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=916&page=15 Post #213

Process covers abduction, homicide, cadaver concealment and abandonment

PJ investigates four crimes in the Maddie case

Just like 24Horas had reported first hand, the McCann couple is being investigated over four crimes, but has not been accused yet

The Polícia Judiciária is investigating the possible occurrence of 4 crimes in the Maddie case, as revealed by a ruling from the Appeals Court in Évora, which was published, first hand, by 24Horas on Tuesday.

Yesterday, English newspaper "The Times" returned to the matter, even citing the document, to advance that Kate and Gerry McCann may be accused by the Public Ministry of the crime of exposure or abandonment of an underage person, which is punishable by the Penal Code with a prison sentence of 3 to 10 years.

According to the law, whoever endangers another person's life, "abandoning her in a defenceless manner, whenever the agent had the duty to guard, watch or assist her", may be committing this crime.

But as 24Horas had explained, this is only one of the investigation lines. The files that are being worked upon in the offices of the Public Ministry of the Council of Portimão, also investigate the abduction theory and the possibility of homicide and of the concealment of a cadaver.

First document that mentions two theories

This is the first official document that admits the existence of two investigation lines - abduction and homicide - and that "opens" the door to a possible accusation against the McCanns, even if definite conclusions about what happened in apartment 5A of the Ocean Club are not reached.

A possibility that the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, has already called "contradictory and inconsistent".

The intercalary report from the PJ about the disappearance of Madeleine reached the Public Ministry on the 11th of September last year. From that moment on, the process was accompanied by the general prosecutor of the District of Évora, Luís Bilro Verão, one of the Public Ministry's top officials.

Within the process, which remains under judicial secrecy until the 15th of August, three arguidos have been constituted: Kate and Gerry McCann and Robert Murat, an English citizen that resides in Praia da Luz, Lagos, in the Algarve.

Facts

MISTAKE. The abusive interpretation of the court ruling that was made by "The Times" is not the first serious mistake that the newspaper - that is seen as highly reputable - has made in the Maddie case. In the summer, it announced on its front cover that the blood residues that were found inside the McCanns' car were not from Maddie, but later on, it became known that they were.

 

[colomom]

PJ Brought Back to Portugal 3 of the McCanns Friends in Secrecy

WITNESSES CAME TO THE ALGARVE TO REINFORCE TESTIMONY THAT CONTRADICTS THE MCCANNS

Friends are the PJ trumps

In a secret visit to Portugal, three persons who had dinner at the Tapas Bar shattered the McCanns and Jane Tanner versions

Fiona Payne, her mother Dianne Webster, and the husband David Payne. Are the main trumps of the Public Ministry that will lead the parents of Madeleine McCann, the missing girl, on the 3rd of May of 2007, from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve, to be accused of the crimes of exposition and abandonment since they left the girl alone in that critical night. It is a crime that is punishable up to ten years of prison and allows the respective preventive arrests, like 24horas announced last week.

These three witnesses returned to Portugal, on the 11th of July of 2007, in a travel paid by the Portuguese State, and where accommodated in a hotel unity of Portimão. They were still questioned by Gonçalo Amaral’s team, the superior coordinator who was removed from the case, and they contradicted the McCann’s version regarding to what went on in the night of the disappearance.

Remember that Kate, Gerry and the other two couples with whom they had dinner, assured that they were taking turns in the vigilance to the children. A fact that was contradicted to the authorities in the above-mentioned secret travel by Fiona Payne and that had already been a put in question in two previous statements, given on the days that followed to Maddie's disappearance, by her mother and her husband.

Jane Tanner Contradicted

“ Fiona Payne gave three statements to the authorities, as well as Matthew Oldfield and his companion, Rachel. Dianne Webster statement [Fiona's mother] was very solid and there was not need of questioning her again”, revealed to 24horas a judicial person in charge connected with the process. In accordance to the same source, “other persons who had dinner with the McCanns - Jane Tanner, her companion, Russell O'Brien, Matthew Oldfield and his wife, Rachel – gave contradictory statements”. And the judicial person in charge exemplifies: "”Jane Tanner always said that she went out from the restaurant to see her oldest daughter. Fiona, David and Dianne guaranteed to the PJ that she never left the restaurant before the alarm was given by Kate. This information was corroborated by several workers of the Tapas Bar restaurant”. These witnesses also stated that Gerry McCann did not even go to check on the children, when he went away of the restaurant, and that he only stayed at the apartment of Praia da Luz entrance.

The only person who stayed in Tapas Bar

Dianne Webster, of 63 years old, mother of Fiona Payne (36 years), was one of three persons who were available to return to Portugal and to help the authorities in the reconstitution of the facts taken place to the 3rd of May of 2007.
She was the only one that was quiet and calm when Kate McCann entered in the Tapas Bar shouting “they’ve taken her!”. The authorities were suspicious of her attitude and she told them that she did not believe in the version of the McCanns. She also pointed out to the PJ that each couple was responsible for their own children and that no one entered in the apartment of the friends[in each other’s apartments].


Facts

SECRET. The McCann organized a "secret" dinner with all the friends with whom they had dinner with at the Tapas, in the Praia da Luz, Algarve, before the rogatory letters sent for England were carried out.

ACCUSATION. The accusation to the McCanns is almost concluded and it should be known before of the 14 of July, the end date for the extended term to incriminate or not the British couple. The judicial authorities are still considering if they will not constitute more arguidos, since the McCann were not the only ones leaving their children alone.

Source: 24Horas (http://www.24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2859&link=09)

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=939&page=7 Post #104

 

[colomom]

In 24Horas this morning (http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2861&link=09):

Madeleine's parents want absolute quiet
The McCanns' secret holidays

Gerry and Kate want to give their twin children a normal holiday. They don't want to see any journalists and refuse to say where they are going

Little over a year after Madeleine's disappearance, during holidays in Portugal, the little girl's parents are going away from home again. Where to? Nobody knows, because Gerry and Kate want the maximum quiet and do not intend to be persecuted by batallions of journalists, wherever they go.

The decision has been made. Together with Sean and Amelie, their twin children, Gerry and Kate are soon packing their suitcases and heading towards a destiny where they can rest comfortably. "They want the utmost of privacy, therefore no details will be revealed", 24Horas was told by Clarence Mitchell, the couple's spokesman.

One thing is for sure: Portugal is out of the route, "they are not going there". Whether they are headed to a destiny of beach and sun, or a more quiet scenario, is not known either. Mitchell becomes irritated when he is pressured to reveal Gerry and Kate's choice. And he contradicts himself: "They don't have any definite plans yet, they just want peace".

To the British newspaper "Telegraph", a friend of the McCann family went a bit further. Not much, but a bit more was revealed, even under anonimity. "Everybody needs a holiday. Madeleine has been missing for over a year and Kate and Gerry's life is returning to the normalcy that they would like. They wish to give the twins a decent break from everyday's routine and to provide them with family moments", the source advanced.

Gerry and Kate will never forget their last holidays. On the 3rd of May last year, while having dinner with friends at the restaurant of the Algarve resort where they were satying, their daughter Madeleine disappeared without a trace. It was the beginning of a long nightmare, which lasts to this day. Madeleine's destiny remains unknown.

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=951&page=8 Post #116

 

[colomom]

24 Horas this morning: (from: June 14th) http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2868&link=06

Copied from: http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2868&link=06 Post #168

Kate and Gerry McCann want to improve the European system against abductions

“The pain makes them strong”

The McCanns want to change the European fight against abductions. And they continue to search for their daughter through the Spanish Metodo 3

The McCann couple is going to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, on Tuesday, to support the creation of an European alert system for missing children.

“They don’t want other parents to go through the situation that they are going through. They feel that with this initiative, they are doing something positive. The pain of their daughter’s disappearance gives them strength not to lower their arms”, says Clarence Mitchell, Maddie’s parents’ spokesman.

Even because the hope of finding their daughter alive continues. “The Spanish agency Metodo 3 continues to work with other European investigation firms, searching for clues that lead to Madeleine McCann”, says Clarence Mitchell.

And money is not short in the findmadeleine.com fund. “The fund is healthy with the entrance of money from the compensations from British newspapers. That is the money that allows us to pay the lawyers and the investigation teams”, Clarence explains.

Convincing the members of parliament

The trip to Strasbourg will last only one day – Tuesday – during which they will try to convince 182 members of parliament to sign. “Until now, we have 211 signatures and we need for 393 European members of parliament to sign, which is the equivalent to a simple majority in Parliament”, Mitchell says.

During the visit, the couple is going to meet some European members of parliament in private, and they will appeal to those who have not signed yet, to do so.

“Kate and Gerry feel confident that they will manage to collect the remaining 182 signatures that they need”, the couple’s spokesman says.

The written declaration was presented by the McCanns and by a group of members of parliament in Brussels, on the 10th of April, and exhorts the EU’s member states to activate a European-wide alert system for missing children, just like it already happens in the United States and in some European countries.

Proposals to the 27

The alert system would allow for the use of the media by the police forces searching for the child, and it would establish cooperation agreements with the neighboring countries, in order to permit a swift reply on a borderless level, in cases of disappearances.

Since April, the McCanns and other organizations that support this idea, have been writing to the European members of parliament in order to guarantee their support.

The members of parliament have now another two parliamentary sessions, of four days each, to subscribe to the document, because it is only during these periods that they can sign a declaration, or its validity may expire.

If the necessary number of signatures is reached, Mitchell says, the text “will follow into the [European] Commission”, which institutionally has the role of advancing the proposal towards the 27.

Facts

Holidays. The McCann couple is going on holidays after their visit to Strasbourg. “The dates and the location will not be revealed”, the spokesman clarifies.

Door. The McCanns believe that the judicial secrecy will only be lifted in mid-August and that they will stop being arguidos.

 

[colomom]

24Horas this morning (http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2870&link=09):

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1027&page=23 Post #341

Maddie process becomes public in July

McCanns will be able to see all the evidence

From July onwards, the [Maddie case] process will stop being under judicial secrecy and can be consulted by all the interested parties.” The statement was made yesterday to 24Horas by Pinto Monteiro, the Republic’s General Prosecutor.

The most senior officer responsible for the investigations into the disappearance of the little British girl, on the 3rd of May 2007, from an apartment in Praia da Luz, near Lagos, in the Algarve, only failed to name the precise date: “I don’t know the exact day, but in July the process stops being covered by the judicial secrecy”. According to what 24Horas was able to establish, it will be on the 14th of July that the process becomes public – one day before the judicial holidays.

The prosecutor also insisted in adding that this fact will not effect the investigations. “We won’t rest until the child is found. The fact that the judicial secrecy is lifted has nothing to do with the development of the investigations”, he stated, adding: “Until there is, either from the Public Ministry or from the judicial magistracy, a decision towards an accusation or an archiving, the process will continue, and so will the mission that has been given to the Polícia Judiciária, to clarify the case”.

In practical terms it will be August

Meanwhile, Rogério Alves, the McCanns’ lawyer, does not hide his pessimism: “I’m not going to comment on the case, but the information that we have is that we will only have access to the process in August.”

He may be correct, given the fact that the judicial holidays begin on the 15th of July and end one month later. During that period, the courts work only with shift judges. Which means that only the priority processes, with detained arguidos, will be forwarded.

“The Maddie case is not a priority. There are no detained persons. There are indices of a crime of neglect and child abandonment, but that accusation can wait”, said a senior officer at the Court in Portimão, where Maddie’s disappearance is being investigated.

Deadlines have run out

The process about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is being run at the Criminal Court in Portimão. The judicial secrecy on the case expires, according to what 24Horas was able to establish, on the 14th of July, and according to the new legislation, cannot be extended any further, given the fact that such has already happened twice – 90 days each – at the request of prosecutor Magalhães e Menezes. He is one of the persons that are responsible for the investigation, which is being carried out by the PJ.

Judicial authorities that were heard by 24Horas admit that with the deadlines on the judicial secrecy running out, the general prosecutor in Évora, Luís Bilro Verão, who was nominated to direct the process, has nothing solid in his hands that will allow for the child to be traced…

 

[christine2448]

Gerry and Kate McCann will finally be told what evidence police have against them next month, Portugal's most senior law officer revealed yesterday.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1027137/McCanns-finally-evidence-Madeleine-police-them.html

 

[colomom]

In 24Horas this morning: (http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2871&link=06)

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1082&page=8 Post #105

McCanns lose their calm

Kate and Gerry were in Strasbourg yesterday, where they convinced 225 MEPs to sign the petition for the creation of an European alert system for missing children. The problem, for the McCanns, was the press conference that they gave in the late afternoon. The journalists’ favourite dish was not the petition, but rather the couple’s behaviour on the evening of the 3rd of May 2007, when Madeleine disappeared in Praia da Luz, Algarve.

One of the questions was why they left their daughter alone on the fateful night. The McCanns reacted with a bad temper. The “real issue”, they underlined, is the abduction. “We did not abandon or neglect Madeleine. Someone entered the apartment and took a child. That is the issue. To go over that matter is very boring”, Gerry McCann said. Kate supported her husband, with the same irritation: “The real issue is that a child was abducted and there is a criminal who is still out there”.

Gerry insisted. “We need to focus on the real issue. Continuously raising that question is unhelpful. Nothing has changed over the last 14 months and I don’t understand why we are talking about that, again”.

The couple only calmed down when they were allowed to speak again about the issue that was on their agenda: the petition to create a European alert system for missing children. Kate and Gerry thanked the 225 MEPs that have already signed the petition, and exhorted others to do it.

They remembered that 393 signatures are necessary, half of the hemicycle, until the end of July, in order for the text to be sent to the European Commission and for the communitarian executive to present a proposal in that sense to the Council. In Brussels’ hallways, there are some who accuse the McCanns of a “media maneuver” with this initiative.

“What is the use of this petition? There is already a European law proposal for the creation of such an alert system. It is on its way to being approved in Strasbourg, and then to be taken before the European Commission. That proposal, which has been worked upon for quite some time, will then have to be approved by each member state”, a source in Brussels criticized.

“Media maneuver”

The same source remembered that the McCanns have “associated themselves to an initiative that belongs to the European Commission, in a media maneuver”.

One of the main promoters of that initiative was Margarida Sousa Uva, the wife of the president of the European Union, Durão Barroso.

In March, Sousa Uva alerted in Brussels to the “lack of political will” within the 27 to create an effective alert system. One month later, in April, the McCanns met with a group of MEPs that wrote the text about the European alert. It was then that they started speaking about the petition.

Numbers

14 of July is the date from which the Maddie process ceases to be covered by the judicial secrecy. The McCanns heard about that date through 24Horas, yesterday.

4 is the number of European Union member states that have an alert system: Germany, France, Greece and the United Kingdom. The proposal intends to widen it on 27.

 

[colomom]

The Portugal news online: http://www.the-news.net/cgi-bin/google.pl?id=964-3

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1098&page=5 Post #67

McCanns ‘worn out’ by question of leaving Madeleine alone
21/6/2008

The parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann, who vanished from the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz last May then aged three, are said to be ‘worn out’ by questions relating to the fact they left their infant daughter alone in the family’s holiday apartment with her younger twin siblings while they dined at a nearby restaurant. Instead, they insist the “real issue” that needs to be looked into is the kidnapping of their daughter.

Participating in an EU parliamentary press conference to promote a petition launched two months ago in Brussels, campaigning for an EU-wide missing child alert system, Kate and Gerry McCann said they were “tired” of being asked about why they left their daughter alone and that “people should focus on the crime committed”.

“We didn’t abandon nor did we neglect Madeleine. Someone came into the apartment and took a child. That is the question. Keeping going over the same issue is really very annoying”, Gerry McCann declared.

His wife, Kate, also said “the real question is that a child was kidnapped and there is a criminal on the loose”.

“We must concentrate on the real matter. It does not help to keep bringing up the same old subject. Nothing has changed over the past 14 months and I don’t understand why we have to keep talking about it”, she said.

Meanwhile, the McCanns have said they are “confident” of gaining the support they need for an EU-wide alert system for abducted children to be created.

The couple have been lobbying MEPs to enlist a necessary 393 of them to back the plan by July 24th for it to be published.

But they are still 167 short, and say some are “surprisingly” unaware of their proposal.

“Whilst we remain confident... we have also learnt that we still have much to do to increase awareness”, said Kate.

Kate and Gerry McCann believe that a European version of the US Amber Alert system would have helped the search for their daughter in the crucial hours after her disappearance.

Meanwhile, Portuguese authorities have said the family will soon be allowed access to the police files in the case.

Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro, Portugal’s Attorney-General, told a Portuguese newspaper the period of official secrecy in the case would end next month, though due to judicial holidays, this deadline could be prolonged until late August, when the McCanns will discover the case Portuguese police have against them.

 

[colomom]

Here's an interview with Max Clifford in the Portugal Resident:


MAX CLIFFORD has spoken about the benefits of PR in dispelling rumours surrounding those connected to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and believes the public perception of Robert Murat and the McCanns has been “improved” because of others speaking in their defence.

He told The Resident: “Robert Murat and the McCanns have both had periods of being crucified by the UK media and being accused of all sorts of things that were simply untrue. These sorts of situations benefit greatly from PR in helping the truth come out by other means.”

Kate and Gerry McCann and Robert Murat are all arguidos in Portugal and are therefore unable to comment about the case surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance.

Max Clifford believes that because family members and friends have spoken out in protection of all three arguidos that this has “definitely helped stop the horrible attacks on them all in the British media”. “How would you feel if the papers were printing stories about you owning child *advertiser censored* or other horrible lies and you weren’t allowed to defend yourself? I advised Robert Murat’s family and friends to speak out and defend him like others have done for the McCanns and because of this all the rumours and attacks in the paper have stopped,” he told The Resident.

Robert Murat is no longer in the media spotlight, Max Clifford told The Resident.

“I haven’t heard from him or his family for weeks now since the stories about him have stopped being put in the papers,” he said, adding that he was unsure how his help of Robert Murat would continue in the future.

Advice

The Resident spoke to Robert Murat, who said: “My legal case is running at the moment in the UK so I am not doing anything that Max could help me with. He isn’t representing me currently, only my mum and Sally (aunt) and I call his staff every now and again to say hello.”He added: “Max has been very helpful in giving advice but at the moment things are quiet.”

Meanwhile, Gerry and Kate McCann visited Strasbourg on Tuesday this week in an attempt to push for further support of the written declaration on emergency cooperation in the recovery of missing children.

This is the second time the McCanns have appealed directly to MEPs, the first being in April when the written declaration was officially launched in Brussels. The latest figures show that 226 MEPs have signed in support of the declaration but a further 167 MEPs are required to sign the declaration for it to be accepted.

“While we remain confident, we have also learnt that we still have much to do to increase awareness,” Kate McCann told a press conference in Strasbourg. Kate McCann also spoke of her “surprise” to learn that some MEPs are still unaware of the declaration despite the huge publicity surrounding it.

An online and written petition in support of the declaration, led by Christine Kelly, the aunt of the Irish missing teenager Amy Fitzpatrick, now has 11,000 signatures including the support of eight Irish MEPs. Christine Kelly told The Resident: “We never thought this would happen to us, nobody knows who is next; that is why people need to sign this petition.”

http://www.portugalresident.com/portugalresident/showstory.asp?s=MADDY&sid=209

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1098&page=5 Post #66

 

[Barnaby]

Madeleine McCann: parents' court bid for information
by Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter
Last Updated: 7:26PM BST 20/06/2008[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR]

".............................................................................
The Telegraph can also disclose that Madeleine was made a ward of court last summer at the request of the McCanns, to empower judges to act in her best interests in any legal dispute such as the case which is about to be heard......................................................."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...parents%27-court-bid-for-information.html

 

[ThoughtFox]

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk...parents-install-panic-alarms-100252-21134869/

The McCanns Install Panic Alarms

Liverpool-born Kate McCann and husband Gerry are understood to have received offensive and menacing letters and emails, including two that threatened to kill them.

The couple have installed a state-of-the-art the security system at their £600,000 detached home in Rothley, Leicestershire.

The equipment, costing several thousand pounds, is understood to include CCTV and panic buttons in most rooms to alert police in an emergency.

More at Link . . .

 

[chicoliving]

Portuguese detectives have dropped the Madeleine McCann case due to lack of evidence, according to media reports in the country.

Two Portuguese newspapers said the Public Prosecutor's office intended to call off their search for the British girl before July 14, when the customary official secrecy period covering the investigation ends.

Police could reopen the case if new evidence emerges, the papers said.

The papers -- Correio da Manha and Jornal de Noticias -- cited unidentified police sources.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wo...nce%27+According+To+Media+Reports+In+Portugal

 

[Barnaby]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-Case-Has-Not-Been-Dropped-By-Police-Says-Portugals-Attorney-General/Article/200807115018221?lpos=World%2BNews_0&lid=ARTICLE_15018221_Madeleine%2BMcCann%2BCase%2BHas%2BNot%2BBeen%2BDropped%2BBy%2BPolice%252C%2BSays%2BPortugal%2527s%2BAttorney%2BGeneral



Madeleine Case 'Not Dropped'





Media reports suggested the investigation into the British girl's disappearance was being discontinued because of lack of evidence.

But in a statement the Portuguese Attorney General, Fernando Pinto Monteiro, denied this.
The statement said that police had handed over their final report but that officials had made no decision on whether to halt the investigation...............................................

 

[colomom]

From 24Horas this morning (http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2882&link=13):

Copied from: http://www.the3arguidos.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16972

Gonçalo Amaral retired since midnight, to “savour freedom of expression”

Police chief is now free

The controversial coordinator, who was removed from the Maddie case, says he “leaves proud” and that he is not “hurt”. His last action was delivering the service mobile phone



The PJ’s coordinator, Gonçalo Amaral, who was removed from the Maddie case over an opinion offence, is, from today onwards, a free man. At midnight, he went into retirement and, according to what he told 24Horas yesterday, his first day “is going to be beautiful, with plenty to do and the ability to savour the plenitude of his freedom of expression”.

Just enigmatic enough, Gonçalo Amaral, aged 49, had his last day at the PJ yesterday, “a perfectly normal day”. He arrived early, finished the operation into the process that lead, over the weekend, to the apprehension of two and a half tons of hashish and the detention of six traffickers, and dispatched a few more cases. Before lunch, which lasted from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m., the controversial coordinator of criminal investigation delivered his duty pistol, his badge and his card at the Faro Directory. At the end of the day, around 5.30 p.m., he delivered his service mobile phone.

In the evening, he hosted an “intimate dinner, with two colleagues that came from Lisbon into the Algarve on purpose”.

In the investigation

In a statement to 24Horas, Gonçalo Amaral revealed that the future includes “continuing to work in the area of criminal investigation, maybe as a consultant”. “But not as a detective”, he guaranteed. At the same time, the coordinator who is now retired from the PJ is going to carry out a stay at an Algarvian law office, in order to “maybe exercise [law]” within a year.

Gonçalo Amaral is also going to take advantage of his retirement to “dedicate more time to his wife and children” and assured that, despite everything, he does not leave the PJ with hurt feelings, because the institution and its servants deserve him “the utmost respect”. “I leave, proud of having served the PJ and of having worked with very good people, excellent professionals that still remain here”.

This, despite him confiding to 24Horas, in a reference to the controversial Maddie case, that “many people remained upset” with him in Portimão.

Maddie book “is ready”

Gonçalo Amaral, who spent 28 years at the Polícia Judiciária, which he entered as an agent in 1981, having passed through many different departments, revealed to 24Horas that the book about the Maddie case “is ready”. It was written during his brief holidays, before he returned to the PJ in May, to leave now into retirement. But the publication depends on the “judicial secrecy” which was not lifted yet. The book promises fabulous sales figures, both in Portugal and abroad, mainly in Great Britain.

 

[colomom]

SOL, 30 June 2008, http://sol.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Sociedade/Interior.aspx?content_id=100004

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1122&page=15 Post #220

Maddie Case
Being removed from the investigation was a "dangerous act", says Gonçalo Amaral

Gonçalo Amaral, ex-coordinator of the Madeleine McCann case, declared today as he left the building of the PJ's Faro headquarters that having been removed from the ongoing investigation was "a dangerous act"

"I was the only coordinator that was ever removed from a criminal investigation while it was still ongoing, which is a very dangerous act. And I have nothing more to say [about that]," declared Gonçalo Amaral shortly after leaving the PJ Faro Headquarters at 17h30 on his last day of work before retiring.

The ex-investigator added that the subject "could be one of the themes covered in the book which will be published as soon as the secrecy of justice is raised from the media-intensive Madeleine McCann case," [concerning] the British girl who disappeared on 3 May 2007.

Gonçalo Amaral also mentioned that he was never directly contacted by anyone in the government about his removal.

On his last day prior to retirement, Gonçalo Amaral said he "worked a lot" and that his last act was to "resolve practical questions about the transportation to Lisbon" of almost two and a half tons of hashish that were captured Sunday in Faro, in an operation that took place under his coordination.

Questioned about whether he would have liked to have stayed a few more years with the PJ, if he had not been removed from the Madeleine case, the ex-investigator affirmed, visibly emotional, that it was possible.

Excusing himself from enumerating the cases which most impacted his life in the judiciary, Gonçalo Amaral mentioned that many investigations -- such as "Mariana of the Açores" or the "Joana case" -- had "influenced his private life" by "the time that was spent investigating and the force and intensity" that many times affected his family.

In an interview today with Lusa, Gonçalo Amaral affirmed that one of the principal reasons for requesting retirement was to obtain "plenitude in free expression" and consequently to be able to defend himself.

Now that he has this "full freedom of expression", Gonçalo Amaral declared that he is available to respond to question from British journalists.

As long as there is "a translator to fully understand the questions, I will certainly respond," he affirmed.

Concerning whether he will sue some of the British journalists, the ex-investigator said he was having "some difficulties in England" in finding a lawyer to represent him in that country.

"Two were contacted, first they said yes and after 15 days they said no. I don't know what is going on there, it certainly isn't a problem of democracy. The UK is a democratic country and its laws are democratic, therefore everyone should have rights. I don't understand what is happening," said Gonçalo Amaral.

At the end of his last day with the PJ, the ex-coordinator wanted to thank the "thousands of anonymous citizens" that, beginning on October 2, sent him messages of solidarity in letters from around the world, from Canada, Australia and also England.

Gonçalo Amaral, 48 years old, began work in the public arena at the age of 14 and today completed his last day in the service of the PJ, after having been the PJ inspector most hounded by the Portuguese and British media for having coordinated the case regarding Madeleine McCann, the English girl who disappeared in the Algarve on May 3, 2007.

Lusa/SOL

 

[colomom]

Jornal de Notícias, 1 July 2008, 00h10
http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Policia/Interior.aspx?content_id=963348

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1122&page=17 Post #252

PJ has no culprits in Maddie case
Investigators end research. Archiving is the probable end.
Alexandra Seródio

The PJ did not determine who was responsible for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, on 3 May 2007. The investigators have already finished their work, without reaching a conclusion. The likely result will be archival.

Almost 14 months after Madeleine disappeared from the room where she slept in the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz (Lagos), the investigation initiated by the judiciary was unable to conclude whether it was an abduction or a homicide. And it also admitted that there is no evidence which ties any of the three arguidos -- Robert Murat, Kate and Gerry McCann -- with the girl's disappearance.

From what the JN coud discern from sources connected to the process, the investigators' report "only describes the facts ascertained or not ascertained". Which means that it is not conclusive, nor does it point in any direction: abduction, homicide or hiding a cadaver.

A source from the Attorney General's office told the JN that, "at this time, the process awaits a decision from the Instruction Judge of TIC in Portimão about the admissibility of a type of evidence, such that the process which was undertaken by the PJ has not yet been concluded nor was any final report delivered to the Public Minisitry." The same source clarified even more that "the secrecy of justice will remain until the middle of August of this year."

JN knows that, at issue, is the decision to validate, or not, the photocopies of Kate McCann's diary, which the PJ analyzed and which has no relevance to the process, so that the work is now considered complete.

This situation is criticized by a source connected to the process: "The request was made in September of last year and too much time has passed." The same source believes that, based on this report from the PJ, the decision can only be to archive the Maddie case, which doesn't mean that the process can't be re-opened, if new evidence arises.

According to what was possible to ascertain, the process was sent to the Portimão Court at the end of last week, but was returned to the PJ because the instruction judge had not yet validated the diary. Pedro Frias, the judge, did not request any kind of diligence from the investigators.

Assuming an archival, and according to what happens in other missing persons cases, the police will continue attentive to any new data. The Maddie process could only be re-opened if an important indication or data appears.

Francisco Pagarete, Robert Murat's attorney, said yesterday to JN that he knows nothing about the process. "Since we went to get Robert's things, over three months ago, we have not been contacted by anyone from PJ." As for a possible archiving of the case, Pagarete reminds us that "it's an end that can happen to any case," guaranteeing that he doesn't know "what indications were, or were not, found."

The lawyer awaits the dispatch for archival to know, with certainty, the reasons for this decision, should it come to be taken by the Portimão judge. He guarantees that Murat "is serene." And concludes: "All the diligences by the PJ were accompanied [by us], so that we know what are in the files."

Carlos Pinto de Abreu, the McCann's lawyer, also awaits the decision. In case the process is archived, he says he will study the process "from the first to the last page" to "do that which the parents always wanted, to understand the investigation that has been done and to continue to look for the girl."

 

[colomom]

From Correio da Manha paper edition this morning - article is not online yet:

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1122&page=20 Post #291

Crossroads – Accusation does not advance due to lack of evidence against the McCanns

Maddie case on its way to the archive

Prosecutor from the Public Ministry agrees with the PJ: the 13 volumes are archived before the 14th

The senior officers at the Polícia Judiciária in Portimão and the prosecutor from the Public Ministry, Magalhães e Menezes, agree about the Maddie case: there is no evidence that allows for an accusation against the McCanns over their daughter’s disappearance. The process will be archived before the 14th of July, the day on which the judicial secrecy ends.

The Judiciária does not make a formal proposal to the prosecutor who is in charge of the process, even due to the fact that it is the Public Ministry that tutors the penal action, but CM knows that in the investigation’s final report there is an explicit suggestion from Paulo Rebelo’s team for the 13 volumes of the process, plus appendices, to be archived at the Portimão Court, waiting for better evidence.

“The norm is for the PJ to opt not to make any proposals to the Public Ministry”, judicial sources recall, and this case, even due to all the adjacent circumstances, did not escape the rule. Anyway, CM established that the prosecutor Magalhães e Menezes is fully in tune with what will be the final outcome of the investigation.

Forgetting about the hypotheses of involuntary homicide or concealment of a cadaver, which for so many months were equated by the PJ and even led to Kate and Gerry being constituted as arguidos, the Public Ministry is likely not even to accuse the couple over the crime of exposure or abandonment, which punishes the act of abandoning a child with a prison sentence of up to five years.

Given the fact that the investigation considered the possibility that Maddie’s disappearance, on the evening of May 3, 2007, from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, originated from a homicide, the Public Ministry understands that the exposure or abandonment, or simple neglect, are crimes of a lesser importance. Therefore, the case returns to zero, with the McCann couple, but also with Robert Murat, the British man who was a formal suspect for abduction, since the beginning of the investigation, cleared in this entire process.

As far as Maddie’s parents are concerned, CM was able to establish, the decision is largely supported on the final report from the Birmingham lab, which was received early this year, and raises considerable doubts about the possible presence of the body in the McCanns’ car boot.

 

[colomom]

From TSF just now (http://tsf.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Portugal/Interior.aspx?content_id=963467):

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1122&page=23 Post #336

General State Prosecutor says that “Maddie Case” is still being evaluated

The General Prosecution Office has announced, this Tuesday, that the process of the so-called “Maddie case”, the English girl that disappeared in the Algarve, is still being evaluated, and no decision has been issued into the direction of an archiving.

In a communication, the General Prosecution Office refers that the final report from the Polícia Judiciária has been handed over and that it will “be the object of careful evaluation and pondering”.

“The Public Ministry will proceed to globally analyse and evaluate the entire process (which contains tens of volumes) in order to determine whether other diligences are to be demanded or the necessary and sufficient conditions have been gathered to close the inquiry and to elaborate the final dispatch”, the Prosecution Office refers.

Within the same note, the Prosecution Office also refers that the process remains under judicial secrecy until mid-August.

Meanwhile, questioned by journalists, the Justice minister, Alberto Costa, did not want to comment on the matter, merely stating that “the process is under judicial secrecy”.

Just like the minister, the joint Director of the PJ, Pedro Carmo, did not wish to comment on the process, underlining that the PJ “is at the disposal” of the Public Ministry.

 

[colomom]

Public Ministry Considers More Investigations

Maddie Case. PJ handed over yesterday the final report of the investigation, in which the whole investigation done since May of 2007 is specified in detail. The document does not present sufficient evidence to prosecute, but it is up to the Public Ministry to decide. Future can pass by further new investigations.

Friends of the McCanns might return to Portugal

The filing of the process Madeleine McCann, missing on the 3rd of May of 2007, is not a certainty. Most likely the Public Ministry will order the PJ to follow new investigative steps.

Yesterday, the Judiciary Police sent a final report where all the investigative steps and inquires done along this last month and a half are specified in detail, this report is now in the hands of the Public Ministry and is going to be object of "appreciation and careful consideration", as a source of the Public Prosecution Office (PGR) guaranteed yesterday in a notice sent to the editorial staffs [media].

The new possible steps may go through the reconstitution of the night of the disappearance, which implicates that the friends of the couple McCann and the McCann themselves are notified, again, to travel to Portugal. The report was marked by the incongruences between the statements of the friends of the couple on the night of the disappearance and the Public Ministry wants to find out the truth regarding those doubts.

In the same notice sent to the editorial staffs, the PGR equally guaranteed that the end of the secrecy of Justice of this case is going to take place on the 14th of August.

And this is the basic reason for this final report - called like that by the PGR but without this denomination by the PJ - to have been prepared and to be evaluated by the Public Ministry. The time is running out. There is little more than a month so that the process is within reach of any citizen. It is necessary to present results, some result. And what [result,] then?

The report, which totals in 19 volumes and thousands of documents "it does not indicate or equates the filing or accusation of the process", explained a source of the PJ contacted by the DN, which yesterday read the same report.

The reason is very simple. Because it is up to the Public Ministry to decide for the accusation or for the filing of the process. The PJ 'just does' the investigation in the field and presents the collected data.

But a source connected with the process of investigation guaranteed to the DN that in that same document “there are no sufficient evidences for an accusation". Nevertheless, warns the source, this declaration is "a mere intuition, it is not guaranteed that an accusation won't follow".

The most probable path is, then, according to sources close to the process, contacted by the DN, to charge Kate and Gerry McCann of negligence. An opinion also shared by Paulo Cristovão, former PJ Inspector, who admits the possibility of negligence. “They had dinner leaving their children alone and for a futile reason, and that we know that happened ".

The fact is that, a year and two months after the British girl disappeared from Praia da Luz, in Portimão, there isn’t one absolute certainty. If the hypothesis is kidnap, death and who is responsible for what happened on that night.

Yesterday, Kate and Gerry McCann demanded the access to the process of investigation, if the case is filed. In that case, "the priority must be the lifting of the couple's arguidos status”.


Kate and Gerry McCann were constituted as arguidos in September, four months after the disappearance of their daughter.


Source: Diário de Notícias (http://dn.sapo.pt/2008/07/02/sociedade/ministerio_publico_pondera_mais_inve.html)

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1143&page=6 Post #81

 

[colomom]

In 24Horas (http://24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2883&link=22) this morning:

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1143&page=7 Post #93

Mistake in the rogatory letter prevents interrogation of Irishman

Witness was forgotten

In a report that was sent to the Public Ministry, the PJ admits that it does not have evidence to accuse Maddie’s parents and does not know what happened to the little girl. A case where Justice is revealed as ineffective, like other recent cases that we remember in these pages

Madeleine’s parents will remain arguidos and may still be accused over having left their children alone

An important witness was not officially heard by the Judiciária within the investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, 24Horas was able to establish. The PJ requested for the witness to be questioned, in the rogatory letter that was sent to England, but the Public Ministry and the special team that was created to investigate the case, headed by the superior coordinator Paulo Rebelo, forgot that the witness is Irish, and is not within the acting sphere of the British Home Office, the equivalent to the Portuguese Internal Affairs and Justice ministries.

“The Home Office controls all the information that is related with the English territory. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are outside this cabinet’s control”, a source at Eurojust, the entity that helps European authorities when it is necessary to establish international contacts, explained to 24Horas. “If we are requested to speak to the British authorities, we have liaison officials that do just that. But it is necessary to specify what country the request is destined to. In the Maddie case, it was requested only from England”, the same source clarifies.

Case has not been archived

Neither the PJ nor the Public Ministry have requested the hearing of the Irishman who, in his first witness statement, early September last year, guaranteed to the PJ that he saw Gerry carry a child away in his arms on the evening of the disappearance, having clarified that he only remembered who it actually was after he saw on television how the missing child’s father carried Sean, one of her siblings, when they arrived at Birmingham airport.

The problem was that the hearing of this witness and of his family was requested to the English authorities, not the Irish. “It’s a mistake that may have cost the investigation dearly”, a source at the Public Ministry in Portimão admitted. The PJ knows very little about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. It only holds a few witness statements that say that the child stopped being seen from 6 p.m. onwards, and the dogs’ smelling that detected cadaver odour in a car that was rented by the McCanns 25 days after Maddie disappeared.

Therefore, the Portuguese police hold no evidence that Madeleine’s parents killed her or concealed her body, as they suppose. According to a report that was sent to the Public Ministry this week, the PJ team, lead by superior coordinator Paulo Rebelo, did not manage to find an element to incriminate the McCanns. There is only the hypothesis of accusing them of exposure and abandonment of minors, crimes that may lead to a condemnation of between five and ten years in prison.

Thus the McCanns will stop being arguidos within the coming months, but they will gain access to the process from mid-August onwards.

Pinto Monteiro, the Republic’s General Prosecutor, manifested yesterday that the Maddie process is not over yet. “The Public Ministry will globally analyse and evaluate the entire process (which contains tens of volumes) in order to determine whether or not other diligences are requested or if the necessary and sufficient conditions have been gathered, in order to close the inquiry and to elaborate the final dispatch”, the Prosecutor’s Office refers in a statement.