Media Links ONLY - No Discussion

[Barnaby]

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...012749,00.html

CHARLOTTE Pennington, one of the first people in the McCann's apartment after their daughter Madeleine's disappearance, has confirmed that Kate McCann screamed "They've taken her, they've taken her".

Ms Pennington, who worked as a nanny for the holiday complex in Praia da Luz, is considered a vital witness in the case.

She believes the McCanns are innocent, Britain's Daily Mail has reported.

"I was in the apartment less than five minutes after they found that Madeleine had gone,” she said.
"When we were coming out we saw Kate and she was screaming: 'They've taken her, they've taken her!' I was standing right in front of her outside the apartment's back door, in the alleyway. I was very close to her. It might not have been the first thing she said. But she definitely said it.

"I was one of three staff who saw her shouting it. They have all given statements to the Portuguese police saying that."

Kate McCann's words have become an important part of the case, with Portuguese police questioning why she would automatically assume her daughter had been abducted.

The family has insisted she shouted “Madeleine’s gone.”

When asked why Mrs McCann shouted "They've taken her", Ms Pennington said: "I'm not really sure. But maybe she saw some people looking at Madeleine earlier that day, and she immediately thought that they must have taken her."

Ms Pennington also claims she saw British expat Robert Murat – the first suspect in the case – in the area that night.

"He was outside the lobby just before we started on our big search," she said. '

"He was adamant that he wasn't there. But he was. He was there in the road, he was just looking. It was about 10.30. He was just watching.”

Mr Murat has insisted he was at his home on the evening of Madeleine’s disappearance and is no longer considered a suspect.

 

[colomom]

in 24Horas this morning:

http://www.24horasnewspaper.com/mostranews.php?id=7588

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=34 post #496

Maddie's parents risk being accused of obstruction of justice
McCanns' detectives are illegal in Portugal

Illegal. This is how the authorities see the hiring of private investigators by the McCann couple, within the case of the disappearance of Madeleine on May 3, 2007, from Praia da Luz. The public reporting that there have been, for four months now, former military of the British secret service - a fact that was reported by 24Horas yesterday - following the possible steps of the girl and interrogating people that were at the Ocean Club on the fateful day, originated an ill-feeling in the judicial and police areas.

"It's another strategy of the McCanns, who say one thing today and tomorrow another completely opposing thing. It's nothing but folclore", Carlos Anjos, the president of PJ's union said.

According to Anjos - who an investigator at PJ - the alleged hiring of "superdetectives" from the British secret services, working for Control Risks Group, to follow the trail of Maddie, is illegal according to Portuguese legislation.

"Portugal doesn't have a legislation in that area. We cannot have private detectives intervening in criminal cases. The law only tolerates private detectives who collect information, and only on issues of some people's private lives, like relationships outside of marriage, and even in those cases they can be accused of violating one's private life. As I said, this can only be a distraction maneuver from the McCanns." Carlos Anjos doesn't hide some irony: "The thesis of private investigators is similar to the one of the polygraph (lie detector). Everybody knows now it's a method without any reliability, which was used only in the US over a short period of time. No police force uses that equipment nowadays."

It's also with irony that Antonio Martins, the president of the Portuguese judges' union, refers to a possible hiring of detectives: "It is still the State's job to do criminal investigation. That type of activity is not foreseen in the Law. Anything that results from private investigation is not valid."

The magistrate also revealed that, if the parallel investigation is confirmed, those detectives and even the McCanns themselves may stand accused of "obstruction of justice".

But Antonio Martins does not dismiss the possibility that a private investigation may help the authorities that are responsible for the criminal investigation. "If someone, whether a private detective, a waiter or an unemployed person, finds a trace that could help to discover the truth about a crime, that person should naturally inform the criminal investigation authorities immediately", the judicial magistrate concluded for 24Horas.

 

[Guruinu2]

What an astrologer is saying about Kate.
http://www.stariq.com/

 

[colomom]

in Correio da Manha today:

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=259436&idselect=181&idCanal=181&p=0

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=34 post #502

Doubts: Couple changes version
Gerry never mentioned abduction thesis to PJ

Madeleine's father now revealed that he suspected the abductor was already inside the bedroom when he last checked on the children, but the truth is that in the several contacts he maintained with the investigators he never mentioned it. The Policia Judiciaria also finds the McCanns' stance to be strange, as in JUly they already believed Maddie was dead.

Gerry McCann never mentioned to the PJ the thesis that is now being reported by English newspapers, that the kidnapper was inside the bedroom when he checked on the children. This new thesis was found strange by the investigators, given the fact that Maddie's father was formally heard four times in Portimao, and had regular contact with the Portuguese police. "He had instrcutions to call us at any time, if he remembered an important detail. That one would surely be relevant, but he never spoke", a police source told Correio da Manha.

PJ also finds strange that the couple now revealed their fears, through Clarence Mitchell's voice who said they were afraid of receiving a phone call telling them Madeleine is dead.

This information contradicts the previous stance of the couple, who told the PJ in July they didn't believe Madeleine could be found alive, and even used the services of a South-African professor who specialises in finding cadavers.

The McCanns' version apparently only changed in August, when they heard that the English dogs, which they knew firsthand that had been called by the Police, detected cadaver odour in the Ocean Club apartment.

English give the family a voice

The theory of the kidnapper who would have been inside the bedroom was first reported last weekend. Citing sources close to the couple, the English press reported that Gerry suspected the abductor to be inside the bedroom when he went to check on his children.

That night, the doctor continued, the couple was having dinner with their friends close to the Ocean Club apartment, and were taking turns at checking on the children's welfare.

Madeleine's father now says that when he entered the apartment, around 9 p.m., he noticed the door to the children's bedroom was open. He thought Madeleine had woken up thirsty and went to the kitchen to drink some water. When Gerry verified how his children were doing, they were all asleep and the father didn't consider the worst. Yet, looking back, Gerry now believes the abductor was inside the bedroom and hid when he entered to check on the children.

Illegal child adoption network

One of the first theories was a kidnapping by an illegal child adoption network. The possibility was set aside because there were two other, smaller children in the same bedroom.

Sex abuse scenario

Another theory that circulated during the first hours was that Maddie might have been kidnapped by a group dedicated to sexually abusing minors. The PJ searched databases thoroughly and found nothing.

Arab suspects

Several newspapers reported at the beginning of the case that the JUdiciaria was investigation the 'arab lead'. The child would have been abducted and taken to a muslim country. The possibility was not confirmed.

Accident involving mother

The PJ believes it was an accident involving Maddie's mother. They don't know how the child died, but they defend she didn't survive that night.

(...)

Maddie possibly photographed in Morocco

According to Spanish radio station 'Cadena Cope', Interpol is studying the possibility that a child that was transported on the back of a Moroccan woman on a picture taken by a Spanish tourist might be Madeleine McCann.

The photo was taken by Clara Torres, who was driving on a road between Chaouen and Tetuan, in Northern Morocco, on August 31. The Spanish tourist said she was suspicious at the time and took the picture, but only the day before yesterday, after hearing about the possibility that the child could be in Morocco, did she send the image by email to the city's police corps comissary, who then forwarded it to Interpol.

A source with Policia Judiciaria who was contacted by CM said it didn't know about any photograph.

The quality of the photograph is not perfect, which makes it difficult to evaluate if it is actually Maddie, the child that went missing in the Algarve.

Clara Torres

"The girl caught my attention because she was very blonde. I took the picture but only yesterday [Monday] when I got back to Spain did I have it amplified and called the police to my house."

"They took a CD with all the pictures but told me the results would take 10 to 15 days. I went to the English embassy with a friend who is a lawyer and we talked with the family's lawyers".

"The McCanns' lawyers said it was not 100% reliable but there would be a good chance that that was the English girl."

(...)

Diversion tactics

"Every day the couple creates new facts in the media. They are diversion tactics", Carlos Anjos, the president of ASFIC [PJ union] told CM.

(...)

 

[colomom]

in Correio da Manha this morning:

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=259557&idselect=9&idCanal=9&p=200

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=34 post #506

Suspicions: Authorities went to Spain to try to understand what the McCanns did on August 3
PJ investigates trip to Huelva

Policia Judiciaria is investigating a trip of the McCann couple to Huelva, Spain, made on August 3, which used the Renault Scenic that contained traces that are presumed to belong to Maddie. These diligences are performed according to the theory, which is now followed more intensely by the investigators, that points to the child's death and the moving of the corpse in that car. PJ has already collected video surveillance images in "locations that make no sense" where the Renault Scenic may have been through.

The suspicions become more dense with some details of the trip. Namely the fact that for almost three months, Kate and Gerry had an intense media agenda, which included the presence of the press all over Europe. This was until August 2, a time when Maddie's father alleged intestinal problems and cancelled the entire program, which included meetings with some associations in Huelva.

Gerry missed that day, but PJ found out later that the trip from Praia da Luz to that Spanish city was made the next day, this time including the couple and a small group of journalists. This was the first time in three months, since their daughter disappeared on the night of May 3.

The 'strangest' part is the fact that on that day, it was a holiday in Huelva. And the McCanns didn't schedule any meetings, everything was closed - and there was a big agitation at the city center. At a time when the inspectors are trying to reconstitute thousands of 'unjustified' kilometers that the Renault Scenic made during this period, CM knows there was even a meeting between the leaders of the investigation and the Spanish police.

After the detection of residues that may lead to the presence of the body inside the car, the PJ, besides failing to find a justification for the exaggerated amount of kilometers travelled, already owns several images of the passage of that van through Spain, on August 3. The van may contain the key to the crime.

Kilometres have not been justified

PJ owns the records of the kilometers that were made with the van, between May 27 and July 3. The distances are being checked, in order to try to reconstitute the locations where the van that was hired by the McCanns passed through.

Residues collected in August

The blood residues that are presumed to belong to Madeleine, were collected inside the car in early August. THat was also the time when the English dogs smelled cadaver odour inside the boot, and on the vehicle's key.

(...)

Results delayed

PJ still awaits the results from analyses that are being performed on the rest of the residues that were collected inside the McCanns' car and in the apartment. They are not expected this week.

Awaiting interrogations

The POlicia Judiciaria is preparing the request letters that will be sent to England. The purpose is to interrogate the McCanns and their friends.

 

[Shazza]

Trial by media for Kate McCann.

http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=299152

 

[colomom]

in Diario de Noticias this morning:

http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/09/28/sociedade/corpo_maddie_pode_estar_enterrado_hu.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=34 post #508

Maddie's body may be buried in Huelva

There are two hours that remain to be clarified during the trip that was made on August 3 by Madeleine McCann's parents to the Spanish city of Huelva, in the Renault Scenic that was rented three weeks after their daughter disappeared from Praia da Luz.

Although it was a holiday in Huelva, the McCann couple went to that town in Andalucia, accompanied by an image operator who was hired to make a video about the Maddie case, and a friend of his.

Gerry and Kate met Portuguese and foreign journalists between 10.30 and 12.30, at various locations, namely at department store El Corte Ingles, at the train station and at the cathedral, where they distributed and put up posters with the image of their daughter and the police contact numbres, so anyone who located her could get in contact.

One of the British reporters who, since the first hour when Maddie disappeared, accompanied the McCanns' steps, lost their track for two hours in Huelva, as DN could discover. It would have been during the afternoon that Gerry and Kate, probably without their two companions, stopped being seen by the reporter, who hadn't lost them out of his sight until then.

What they did, nobody knows. A mystery that now thickens the suspicions that Madeleine's body may have been buried in the Huelva area, which could justify the thousands of kilometers that were made during four months.

Among the British journalists that follow the Maddie case at Praia da Luz, there are some who remember that one of the rituals that are practised by many catholics, namely in England, consists in visiting the tomb three months after someone's death. Curiously, on August 3, the day the McCanns "vanished" in Huelva, was three months to the day that their eldest daughter disappeared.

Policia Judiciaria already owns several images from the video surveillance system of petrol stations and highways, along with other locations where the Renault Scenic driven by Gerry McCann went through, which the investigators considered have "no apparent reason" to be.

The trip to Huelva was scheduled for August 2, a day when the McCanns were supposed to meet representatives from associations that are connected to missing children.

But the trip was delayed to the next day, allegedly because of "intestinal problems" of Gerry McCann, according to the justification that was then given by the couple's spokesperson, Justine McGuiness, who didn't travel with them that day.

 

[colomom]

in Diario de Noticias today:

http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/09/28/sociedade/morte_tera_ocorrido_antes_jantar.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=34 Post #509

Death would have occurred before dinner

While they await new results from analyses performed on traces, namely of blood and hair, that were collected in the Ocean Club apartment and from the Renault Scenic, the Policia Judiciaria keeps strong suspicions that the body of Madeleine McCann "passed through several locations" before it entered the boot of the car that was hired by her parents.

According to PJ, the girl died inside the apartment before her parents' dinner, at the Tapas restaurant, in a period that is comprehended between 7.00 and 8.30 p.m., as DN could find out from sources that are connected to the investigation.

During that time interval, Maddie's father was seen playing tennis in the resort, so the child and her twin siblings would have been guarded by their mother, given the fact that the resort's babysitter that took care of the children had been dismissed around 5.30 p.m.

There are no records or witnesses that saw Kate and Maddie during that fateful hour and half.

The investigators placed their bets on Kate McCann's tiredness during the last interrogation on September 7, at Policia Judiciaria's offices in Portimao, but she kept firm and unstirred with the numerous questions that were asked of her. To many of the questions, the child's mother chose simply not to answer.

 

[colomom]

in Correio da Manha this morning:

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=259706&idselect=181&idCanal=181&p=0

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=35 Post #510

Suspicions: Renault Scenic is in Setubal
McCanns deliver residues car

The McCanns have returned the car where the residues that presumably belong to Madeleine have been found, to the rental car agency. The van was delivered in the Algarve and is now at the company's depot in Setubal. The car was not returned on the date it was due (September 20), the day when the contract expired, and it is not known whether any explanation for the delay was given.

At this moment, the van is part of a batch of vehicles that the insurance company intends to sell, a procedure that is considered normal after the vehicles have been rented for some years.

The vehicle had been rented on May 27 and had been subject to several extensions to its initial contract, which was first made until July 3, then extended to the same day of the next month, and finally extended further until September 20.

Given the fact that the McCanns left our country earlier, the car was not returned, and was kept by persons "trusted by the couple".

Spanish lead

To get to know the routes that were made by the Renault Scenic is one of the jobs that is being developed by the Judiciaria. And one of the latest leads that were followed, as CM could report, was a trip the couple made to Huelva, in Spain.

The publicity action was held on August 3, four days before the dogs found the residues inside the vehicle, and it was not followed by a large group of journalists, as was usual before. On that day, attentions were focused in Belgium, where a couple guaranteed they had seen Maddie in a cafe, a sighting that was considered very credible and that even led to forensics tests being performed on the glass that had been used by the child.

On the day before the visit, Gerry McCann had alleged several physical problems in order to cancel his agenda, thus lightening the media pressure around him.

Besides the fact that the Spanish police didn't manage to precisely define the route that was taken by the McCanns on that trip, there are other factors that are considered strange. The couple delivered posters in Portuguese and chose a holiday. The authorities considered some of the couples' routes "suspicious", as can be confirmed through some of the confiscated images.

Car boot

It was in the vehicle's boot, near the spare tire, that blood residues were found, whose DNA later matched that of the British child. English dogs also detected cadaver odour at the same spot, as well as on the car key. There are other residues that were collected from the car, whose analysis results are not known yet.

(article continues)

 

[PharmSleuth]

[FONT=&quot]http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=7105570

[/FONT] Ohio expert to examine DNA evidence in missing-girl case
Associated Press - September 20, 2007 3:35 PM ET
FAIRBORN, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio DNA expert has been asked by the family of a British girl who disappeared during a vacation in Portugal to examine and review DNA evidence collected by a firm used by Portuguese authorities investigating the case.
Dan Krane, a professor of biology at Wright State University near Dayton, is being retained by Peter Corrigan, attorney for Gerry and Kate McCann.
Krane plans to use a software program he and colleagues at the university invented to interpret automated DNA analysis generated by a crime lab.
4-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared May Third from a resort in Portugal where she was staying with her parents.

[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]

 

[hcc2007]

http://www.anorak.co.uk/twitterings/176637.html

Rumor? This is from Paolo Reis

 

[Morag]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23414439-details/Portuguese+police:+'Madeleine+died+after+falling+down+stairs+at+holiday+flat'/article.do

This link looks a little sketchy, although I copied and pasted it. Found this story on Google News UK.

 

[colomom]

in Jornal de Noticias this morning:

http://jn.sapo.pt/2007/10/01/primeiro_plano/cabelos_atras_sofa_decisivos_para_a_.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=35 post #515

Hair behind couch decisive for PJ

The Policia Judiciaria (PJ) considers decisive for the advance of the investigation into the Madeleine case, the results of tests that are yet to be finished, from important residues that were detected in the apartment where the disappearance ocurred, [including] hair that presumably belongs to the English child, which was found behind a sofa at the McCann family's holiday place. Meanwhile, the arguido couple, besides at least concealment of a cadaver, may be suspected of simulating a crime, for possibly staging a kidnapping.

According to information that was collected by JN, the investigation places more expectations on the tests from hair residues, that are being performed at the Birmingham lab, in England, given the fact that from that sample, it is not only possible to extract a DNA profile, but also to perform toxicology analyses. The latter, in case the hair belongs to Maddie, may demonstrate if the child was subject to any medication overdose or not, eventually after ingesting sedatives in order to sleep.

The location where the hair was found - behind a sofa in the apartment -, during new search diligences that were performed in July, is close to the spot where the two English "springer spaniel" dogs detected blood traces and cadaver odour. These clues, together with others that were detected inside the Renault Scenic van that was rented by the McCann family several days after the girl disappeared, and with the death scent that was found on the mother's clothes and on the child's soft toy, led to Kate and Gerry being seen as suspects and motivated the questionings during which they were constituted arguidos.

Yet, until this moment, the PJ only possesses the results from tests that were performed on biological fluids found in the boot of the rental car, which demonstrated a coincidence of approximately 80 percent with Maddie's DNA profile. This result raises the possibility that the genetic profile that was detected belongs to someone of the family. It is yet unknown whether this result is a consequence of the fact that the rest of the DNA markers - the 20% - coincide with someone else's profile, or if they were not detected because the sample may have been degraded.

Another downside on the investigation is the circumstance that the results that arrived until now, from samples of residues that were found in the apartment, were inconclusive. This is why PJ awaits the results from testing on the hair.

Sources close to the investigation that were contacted by JN say that, besides concealment of a cadaver, Kate and Gerry McCann are indicted of the simulation of a crime, which concerns a possible staging of an abduction occurred on May 3. This because, until now, the leads that point to the death of the child inside the Ocean Club apartment, in Praia da Luz, are stronger than possible suspicions that might still exist, that someone took the child away while still alive.

This illicit action, which is adressed by article 366 of the Penal Code, stipulates that "anyone who denounces a crime or raises the suspicion of it to the competent authority, without blaming it on a specific person, and knowing it did not occur, is punished with imprisonment up to 1 year or with a fine up to 120 days".

What the PJ knows as certain, is that the girl's parents - who, when they were interrogated on September 6 and 7, refused to answer questions about evidence - are not telling everything they know. This is why the investigation will advance, through request letters that are sent to England, in the direction of inquiring friends and relatives of the McCanns.

 

[Morag]

http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/05/11/sociedade/pais_e_funcionarios_aldeamento_suspe.html

PJ pressures couple, saying that it wants " esclarecimentos"
The parents of Madeleine, the English child missing person in the thursday, in the Beach of the Light, had entered to the 13,45 in the Department of Criminal Inquiry of the Judiciary Policy of Portimão, where they had been citizens the interrogation. Kate McCann left for return of the 22,10, but to the 23,00, the husband continued to be heard.

Much even so the chief-inspector of the PJ Olegário Sousa has assured, in press conference, that the McCann couple came back to be inquired by " necessity of clarifications of the inquiry, being certain that on the same ones it does not fall again any type of suspeita" , so long interrogation caused queerness.

In such a way more than, while the couple was heard for the investigators, the apartment where they had passed vacation until the o disappearance of the girl came back yesterday, to the end of the afternoon, to be passed the fine comb for the agents of the PJ and elements of the Scientific Policy, as well as for pisteiros dogs of searches and rescue of the GNR. Still the contiguous apartments what the McCann had occupied, as well as all had been inspeccionados the ones that are to the return, as much of the aldeamento, as in its redor. The apartment already had been inspeccionado has one week, nominated for the Scientific Policy, that collected vestiges, fingerprints and other data, over all in the doors, window and blinds of the room where Maddy, that tomorrow make four years, with the brothers slept, of two.

It stops beyond the couple, had been heard by the PJ the grandmothers of the child and a couple friend of the McCann that passes vacation in the Ocean Club.

Contactados for the DN, some employees of the aldeamento suggests the envolvement of the parents of Madeleine in its disappearance. The suspicion it is arrested, on the other hand, with the firm refusal of the couple in accepting the service of baby-sitting nocturno that he was enclosed in the package of vacation (the service of baby-sitter was only requested during the day) e, for another one, with the fact of in the night where disappeared the girl, the parents " not to have left the table to go to the room to see the children, while jantavam" , in contrast of what he has been notified since the first hour. " My children are very well assim" , he will have affirmed one of the elements of the couple to an employee of the Ocean Club.

The attentions of the PJ now are centered in resort of the Beach of the Light, where they continue to be interrogated actuais and former-employees. It earns, therefore, each time more consistency the possible implication of some, or some employee (s), in the disappearance of the girl, who everything indicates to have been kidnapped. This although the PJ to continue not to tipificar the committed crime, limiting itself to say it that one is about one " crime grave". Yesterday, the Olegário chief-inspector Sousa affirmed laconicamente that " he can be homicide, breaking, rapto".



Parents and employees of the aldeamento under suspicion

 

[colomom]

in Diario de Noticias this morning:

http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/10/02/sociedade/pj_acusa_policia_inglesa_estar_a_fav.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=35 Post #517

PJ accuses English police of favouring the McCann couple

"The British police has only been working on the issues that the McCann couple wants, and which are convenient to them." It was with an explosive and rebelled tone that the coordinator of the investigation into the Madeleine case, Goncalo Amaral, commented in brief statements to DN the news that were published yesterday in several English newspapers. This news was about an anonymous email that was sent to Prince Charles' official site, which accuses an ex-employee of the Ocean Club of kidnapping the four-year-old girl, as an act of revenge against the resort's administration, after having been dismissed.

"That situation is completely set aside, and it has no credibility whatsoever to Portuguese police", the leader of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Portimao told DN, considering that his English colleagues "have been investigating leads and information that were created and worked by the McCanns, forgetting that the couple is suspected of the death of their daughter Madeleine".

"That story of a kidnapping for revenge is another fact that was worked by the McCanns", Gonçalo Amaral accused, stressing that the Ocean Club "is located in Praia da Luz and not in London, which means that everything that concerns the resort and its employees (present or former) was already or is being investigated by Policia Judiciaria". "It's not an email, even less an anonymous one, which is easy to track, that is going to distract our investigation line", he said.

Gonçalo Amaral, before entering the CID in Portimao, was at the PJ's Directory in Faro, having been mainly responsible for fighting drug traffic.

The position of the coordinator of CID in Portimao comes to meet the statements that were made to DN by the president of the Union of Criminal Investigation Employees (ASFIC), Carlos Anjos, who accuses Gerry and Kate McCann of "trying to distract and confuse the investigation by announcing a new fact on a daily basis". For him, as DN could report, "the McCanns have launched a campaign to discredit the Portuguese police when it presented the theory of the girl's death, substituting that of an abduction, which was very convenient to them". "As long as the theory of the disappearance because of a suspected abduction subsisted, the PJ was a very pleasant company for the couple. When things changed and the death theory emerged, there was a radical change in the stance of the McCanns, who by the way never helped or facilitated, since the beginning, the investigation".

In late August, early September, a few days before Gerry and Kate were constituted arguidos, for suspicions of the negligent death of their daughter Madeleine, a top member of staff of Judiciaria commented the following: "After buying ourselves a war with British media, we are now buying one with English police."

Over the last few weeks, the Policia Judiciaria has been silent, which was helped by the fact that the spokesman of this force for that case, Olegario Sousa, has left that function, which he occupied since the child's disappearance.

 

[colomom]

in Correio da Manha this morning:

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=260143&idselect=9&idCanal=9&p=200

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=35 Post 518

Policemen want to find cadaver
PJ searches in Huelva

The investigators from PJ in Portimao are meeting the Spanish police today, in Huelva. The goal is to verify again all the details of the McCann couple's trip to that city on August 3, three months after the child disappeared.

The PJ admits that the cadaver may have been taken to that location, a little over 50 kilometers from the Portuguese border, or that Maddie's parents went to visit the child's grave.

The trip was considered suspicious, and there is an interval of two hours when the couple was alone, and which could be related to the translation of the girl's body.

At a time when all data is being checked and the authorities are concentrating their attention on recovering the child's cadaver, the investigators don't dismiss any leads. So they decided to advance into Spain, as they are convinced that the body was transported in the van that was rented by the couple.

It should be mentioned, as CM reported first hand, that there are many details in the trip to Huelva that are considered to be strange by the investigators. First, the couple chose a holiday to publicize their daughter's disappearance, then they were not followed by the batallion of journalists that was usual. Besides, the car was captured by video surveillance cameras in several "unexplained" locations, which densifies the mystery.

While PJ runs against time to unveil the crime, the McCanns' pressure increases. Yesterday, daily newspaper 'Times' announced that Maddie's parents are going to try to "annul" the constitution of arguidos because of a lack of clues. Also Sky News broadcast a large report, which mentioned the failures in the investigation and left many doubts about the police work. Police sources that were heard by CM devalue the pressure, guarateeing they were aware this would happen.

And that it would increase at the moment the parents would be considered suspects.

E-MAIL WAS JUST A FARCE

Another lead followed by Policia Judiciaria revealed itself a farce. The e-mail that was reported by several newspapers yesterday, including CM, and which was sent to Prince Charles, mentioning an abduction as revenge for a dismissal at the Ocean Club, was sent by someone who signed under a false name. The woman, who said her name was Esmeralda Luego, does not exist after all, and the authorities failed to track down the electronic mail itself. Besides, the woman mentions the kidnapping of a child in a hotel in Lisbon, which gave the story little credibility. The McCann had already been informed that the lead was inconsistent, and was considered just one more, among so many unreliable pieces of information that have reached the investigators over the recent months. The most media-exposed and most recent one was a sighting in Morocco, a piece of news that was promptly commented by the McCann's advisor. After all, the girl that had been photographed by a Spanish woman was four years old and the daughter of a Moroccan woman and a Belgian man. In less than 24 hours, the news was dismissed, but the McCanns reaffirmed the thesis that the child is alive.

(...)

 

[colomom]

in Observatorio do Algarve today:

http://observatoriodoalgarve.com/cna/noticias_ver.asp?noticia=16710

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=35 Post #519

Madeleine: Lawyer 'breaks' silence

Carlos Pinto de Abreu, the McCann couple's lawyer, says the Policia Judiciaria wants to find "scapegoats" for badly conducted investigations.

In statements made to Radio Clube Portugues, Pinto de Abreu laments not having access to the process, and refutes the statements from the president of the Union of Judicial Investigation Employees, as well as those from a coordinator of PJ.

One remembers that Carlos Anjos, the president of the Criminal Investigation Employees' Union, accused British police and media of "only giving relevance to the facts that protect the McCanns" and Goncalo Amaral, in statements to Diario de Noticias, said there are leads being "worked" by the British couple.

"That's absurd", the McCanns' lawyer said, adding: "What is happening is it looks like there is a virtual scenario being created here, so scapegoats may appear", he added.

Carlos Pinto de Abreu also classified the statements from Carlos Anjos and Gonçalo Amaral as "chauvinistic".

Making statements to the radio, Carlos Anjos accused the parents of not cooperating with the justice, for not answering some pressing questions about what happened on the day that Madeleine McCann disappeared, on May 3.

Pinto de Abreu says the contrary: "My clients have always answered what was asked from them. I can say that only during the last diligence, Kate didn't answer some questions, which were clearly provocative. Gerry answered all the questions, although they were provocative, too", he said.

 

[colomom]

from Lusa today:

http://noticias.sapo.pt/lusa/artigo/JtttqpJ%2FH4xCAXdxWKxqjw.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=35 Post #520

Madeleine: British police say they continue to support PJ, in spite of criticism from the investigation's coordinator

The British police today repeated that they continue to "support the Portuguese police" in the case of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, refusing to comment upon criticism that was made by the senior officer of Policia Judiciaria who coordinates the investigation.

"The Leicestershire police is one of several [British] law inforcement agencies that continues to support the Portuguese police in their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann", a spokesperson from that force stated to Lusa agency today.

This was the only comment that was made on the statements that were published in Diario de Noticias today, made by the coordinator of the investigation into the disappearance of the British child, Gonçalo Amaral, who criticised the performance of British police.

"The British police have only been working on the issues that the McCann couple wants and which suit them", the PJ's investigator told the Portuguese newspaper today, after being confronted with news of an anonymous email that delivered new clues.

According to British press, this email denounced a former employee of the tourist resort at Praia da Luz from where Madeleine disappeared on May 3, who allegedly would have participated in the disappearance of the girl as an act of vengeance for having been dismissed.

But the Portuguese inspector said this hypothesis is not considered credible and that it is "completely put aside", describing it as "another fact that was worked by the McCanns".

Amaral accuses his British colleagues of "investigating leads and information that are created and worked by the McCanns, forgetting that the couple is suspected of the death of their daughter Madeleine".

According to British newspapers, the email was sent to the internet page of Prince Charles, who manifested his support to the family, and is being investigated by Leicestershire police.

But this information was not confirmed by police in Leicestershire, the region where the McCanns live, which have been cooperating with Policia Judiciaria in the inquiry since the beginning, making the connection to other British judiciary agencies.

Besides the British police, the PJ has also been supported by the Center for Electronic Protection against Child Exploitation (Ceop), which examined photographs taken by tourists and sent behavioural analysts, and the forensics lab in Birmingham, which analysed genetical residues that were found during the investigation.

 

[Shazza]

Media obsessed with Maddie.


http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=299963

 

[colomom]

this morning in Correio da Manha:

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=260265&idselect=93&idCanal=93&p=200

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=35 post #521

Opinion article by Moita Flores

Rubbish

One interview beheaded the coordinator of the investigation into the Maddie case, and it reveals two things. The first one is that PJ continues to fail to understand that the connection with the media has to be made by communication professionals and not by policemen. It's a problem that has been dragging on for years.

Nobody yet has understood in that house that the closed, clandestine and strange world ended the day that the media exploded, namely private televisions, radios and newspapers. And nobody cares. It has always been that way, it will always be that way.

Gonçalo Amaral is a policeman, he is a criminal investigator and he has been insulted, for months, by a retired English policeman, who jumps at him like a cat jumps on meat [Portuguese popular expression]. I have no doubts it must be difficult to live with someone, sitting in England, destroying the good reputation of the career of a comitted professional. And as he doesn't know better, and nobody demands it from him, he gave a strong answer in the interview that he was holding.

This is where he ruined it for himself. Because he should investigate, as that is his profession, and his reputation should be defended by the institution that he works for.

The interview went wrong, he failed to make his point clearly, and what came out looked like a shot against the British police. And both Gonçalo Amaral and the PJ know that their English colleagues have been working very hard on this case.

PJ's directory went the natural way: they took him off the case. But what would be really, really natural would be for the directory to understand that they cannot leave investigators under the fire of people who are comitted to one of the parties. That retired English detective is comitted to his xenophobia, to his own vanity, and sitting on the stands, he shoots at the players.

He is a fool.

Gonçalo Amaral was angry at a fool, and he did exactly what those who do not want the process clarified, wanted him to do. I have no doubts that the anger at Portuguese police will increase tomorrow. Is it Gonçalo's fault? It is, accidentally. The guilt lies with those who insist in not perceiving the boiling of news throughout the world, and continue to live in a shelter of silences. They are also fools.