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[april4sky]

Madeleine McCann's mother takes drug test

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../wmaddy223.xml

The McCanns' two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, have also been tested to prove they were never given sedatives, after claims that Madeleine may have died of an accidental overdose.
Detectives were said to believe that the McCanns, who are both doctors, may have sedated their children to ensure they slept while they went to dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

The drug tests, which were conducted in September, form part of a dossier of evidence compiled by the McCanns' legal team to demolish the police case against them.
Edward Smethurst, the lawyer coordinating the McCanns' defence, said: "Hair grows by about a centimetre a month so if you have eight centimetres of hair, you can test for drugs going back eight months.
"With the appropriate, fully-accredited experts, hair samples were taken from Sean, Amelie and Kate and the conclusion was no evidence of sedatives or drugs were found.

 

[colomom]

in Correio da Manha this morning (11/22):

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=266775&idCanal=10

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=42 Post #616

Investigation: Maddie case may advance
Judiciaria places bets on new diligences

More than six months after the disappearance of Madeleine, the PJ now prepares itself to perform new diligences. CM has discovered with a source from the PJ that the investigation line - which points to the British child's death - is kept and that new diligences will occur over the coming days.

The investigation proceeds in Algarvian territory, where Paulo Rebelo gives the coordinates to the inspectors that are involved in the media-frenzied Maddie case. The most recent advances in the investigation included a new questioning of the Ocean Club staff that were present at the Tapas bar on the night of the disappearance.

The apartment where the McCann couple spent the first days of their holiday and where Maddie disappearaed from, was thoroughly searched again, in an attempt to verify if any clue or residue had been left behind. Over the last one-and-a-half months, Rebelo's team also visited the village's church, where, besides analysing the space, it spoke informally with two priests, the Portuguese José Pacheco and the English Haynes Hubbard.

Finally, and within the resonstitution of some steps that had been taken earlier, Paulo Rebelo wanted to talk with the GNR officers that were first to arrive in Praia da Luz after the disappearance.

Meanwhile, it was learned yesterday that Michaela Walczuk alleges that on the night that Madeleine disappeared she was at a Jehovah's Witnesses meeting, in Lagos. Walczuk, just like her husband, Luis Antonio, follows this cult and attends meetings on a regular basis.

PJ stays in the Algarve

According to a source with Policia Judiciaria, the team that is in charge of the Maddie case investigation is going to stay in Algarvian territory for the coming weeks, at least. The same source guarantees that the team that is led by Paulo Rebelo is not going anywhere soon, neither travelling to England nor returning to Lisbon. The inspectors have to conlcude the inquiry until early January, as the process will become public at that time.

Details

English poll

A poll that was performed by the British newspaper 'Daily Star' shows that 86% of the people that were polled over the phone want to see Madeleine's parents accused of neglect. The persons that were inquired fail to understand why the McCann couple left their children alone on the night of May 3.

Judge dismissed case

English lawyer Anthony Bennet, aged 60, tried to advance a process against the McCann couple, with the purpose of accusing them of neglect. But a judge at the court in Loughborough didn't accept the case, arguing that the lawyer has no powers to advance with the accusation.

 

[colomom]

in Diario de Noticias this morning (11/22):

http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/11/22/sociedade/cartas_rogatorias_ainda_estao_pronta.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=42 Post #617

Rogatory letters are not ready yet

Date for PJ's trip to England is not known yet

The rogatory letters that the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) is preparing, with the purpose of questioning again the parents of Madeleine McCann and the friends that were on holidays with them when the child disappeared, have not been concluded yet. As DN heard from a source with the Republic's General Attorney, those letters "are being finished. The final text has not yet been delivered to the Public Ministery".

According to the same source, "nothing has been decided yet, concerning the travels" that are to be made by members of the Judiciaria and the prosecutor of Portimao's Public Ministery, Magalhaes e Menezes, to England, where they will only be able to watch the questionigs, which will be performed by the English police. The latter will simply ask the inquired persons the questions that are formulated in the Portuguese rogatory letters.

This means that the PJ, and namely the team that is now led by chief inspector Paulo Rebelo, still has plenty of work to do concerning the inquiry process about the disappearance of Maddie, contrary to news that were reported in the Portuguese press yesterday, according to whom the investigation's coordinator had his suitcase packed to return to Lisbon. About this situation, the PJ's press cabinet just stated, once more, that there is "nothing to say".

Apart from the interrogations that are being prepared to be performed in the United Kingdom and the final report, which has not arrived yet, on the results of the tests that were done in the Birmingham lab, and the listing of the calls that have been registered on the mobile phones of the McCanns and their friends at the time that Maddie disappeared, in Praia da Luz, the investigators are effectively remaining on location, in a very discrete way, listening to Ocean Club members of staff, in an apartment within the resort that was lent to them for that purpose.

The goal, according to what DN was able to establish, is to detect possible contradictions in the initial statements, and to confirm situations that are related to the McCanns' presence in the resort. One thing is certain: the staff insist, just as DN has recently reported, that Kate McCann yelled from the apartment's balcony: "They've taken her, they've taken our girl". A version that contradicts the testimonies that were given at a certain time, which reported that Maddie's mother entered the Tapas restaurant screaming "They've taken her". An expression that has always intrigued the PJ, anyway.

 

[colomom]

in 24Horas this morning (11/23):

http://www.24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2698&link=27

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=42 Post #621

The apartment where the McCanns stayed in the Algarve belongs to a... McCann

Strange coincidence

The house where the McCanns stayed in Praia da Luz, Lagos, belongs to a woman who is also called McCann, and not to the Ocean Club. When confronted with the possibility that this is a relative of Maddie's parents, Clarence Mitchell, the spokesman for the parents, denied the fact, saying it's "a strange and remarkable coincidence".

Fraction A, allotment 5, located at Rua Dr. Agostinho Silva, Urbanização Montes da Luz, Praia da Luz, is registered under matrix 3666. In 2001, the residence was bought by a sort of society that was composed of Daniel John Aldred, Michael William McCann, his daughter (from a first marriage) Donna Michelle Aldred, and his wife, Ruth Margaret McCann.

Michael McCann, who was born in Devonport, Plymouth, was a widower when he married Ruth Margaret Pittaway, who is presently 53 years old, also a widow, in 1987. In 2005, Michael and Ruth decided to buy the Aldred's part, and remained with 50% of the apartment each.

Later, in July 2006, Michael McCann died in Liverpool, and in November of the same year, Ruth McCann inherited her partner's part, and remained as sole proprietor of the apartment.

No break-in

As 24Horas was able to establish with judicial sources, Ruth was never heard by the Portuguese authorities. On the other hand, Clarence Mitchell, Kate and Gerry's spokesman, guaranteed that this was the first time that the couple travelled to Portugal.

When the authorities searched the house to collect residues, they didn't detect any signs of a break-in. "A stranger could hardly access the house without leaving signs of a break-in, which was not detected during the examination of the site", a judicial officer who is connected to the process has revealed to 24Horas.

The versions of the McCann couple and their friends who dined at the Tapas Bar are not coincidental: "Some say the door was closed and the window to Maddie's bedroom was opne. Others say both were closed", an investigator revealed. The apartment has been sealed by judicial order, since May 4.

----------------


Questions go at snail speed

The rogatory letter that contains over one hundred questions for the McCanns, their friends and relatives, will have to go through diplomatic channels

Twisting and turning, the rogatory letter that contains over one hundred questions that the Policia Judiciaria wants to be asked to the McCann couple, their relatives and their friends who were in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Algarve, in May, is going to go through a series of bureaucratic acts that could stretch over more than six months.

According to judicial sources, this type of diligence is started with a request from the authorities that are in charge of the investigation, in this case the PJ, to the procurator who is in charge of the process, at the Public Ministery in Portimao. These two steps were made, but now procurator Magalhaes e Menezes is waiting for the arrival of the final results from the tests that were sent to an English lab.

When he makes a decision, the prosecutor has to deliver the letter to the judge, who then sends it to the Republic's General Attorney. The latter sends the document to the Ministery of Justice, which then sends it to the Ministery of Foreign Affairs.

But this is not all. The letter is sent to the English Foreign Office, which then sends it to the British Ministery of Justice, which makes the letter arrive to the Lord Chancellor - the local General Attorney. From there, the document flies into the hands of the Birmingham Court, who will have to nominate a Judge and a Procurator. That procurator will decide which police force will comply with the rogatory letter, interrogating the persons.

"The average time for a rogatory letter to be answered is six months", says Joao Pedroso, a lawyer and a former member of the Superior Council of Magistrates.

 

[colomom]

in Correio da Manha today (11/23):

http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=266902&idselect=10&idCanal=10&p=200

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=42 Post #622

Questionings: They can watch the diligences
PJ inspectors will go to England

The Policia Judiciaria will be present when the McCanns and the friends that were spending their holidays with them are questioned again. Although the Portuguese police has no authority to perform autonomous questionings on British soil, according to what CM was able to establish, the inspectors that are connected to the investigation into the disappearance of the English girl will personally hear all the answers that the potential suspects will give.

"It's the same that would happen if English authorities or from any other country had an investigation that involved Portugal", a source that is connected to the investigation has explained to CM. "The diligences are performed by the national authorities, accompanied by representatives from those who made the request". This means that when the interrogations with the dozens of questions that are going to be sent with the rogatory letters take place, "inspectors from the Policia Judiciaria will be present, to watch the diligence and to remember possible questions or any other thing that may be overlooked by the English authorities", the same source added.

What is still unknown is the date when those questionings are going to take place. This is because the sending of the rogatory letters depends on the arrival in Portugal of the results of forensics tests that are being performed in the forensic sciences lab in Birmingham.

A source that is connected to the investigation has again confirmed yesterday that the results have not arrived yet, "but the PJ knows why they are late and there is no problem whatsoever", the source explained. The results of the analyses - which are going to join those which have already been delivered by the English lab - are not decisive for the interrogations to take place. As CM was able to report on Tuesday, it has been decided that those will be performed. But the results that have not been delivered yet may change some of the questions that are to be asked from the McCanns or from the friends that were on holidays with them.

On the other hand, there are new diligences pending which the Judiciaria is preparing to perform, as CM reported yesterday. The PJ maintains that the investigation line "is not going to change", and continues to point to the death of the child that disappeared on May 3 from Praia da Luz. Those diligences will take place over the coming days, and the PJ is keeping them in total secrecy.

 

[colomom]

in 24Horas this morning (11/24) (tabloid alert):

http://www.24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2699&link=08

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=42 Post #626

Policia Judiciaria investigated the McCann couple's finantial situation

She could have been sold

Very detailed. This is how the inspectors, security officers and scientifical technicians from the Policia Judiciaria evaluate the investigations that have been made into the case of the disappearance of Maddie McCann, on May 3, from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, in the Algarve.

A senior judicial officer who has followed the investigations since the beginning, offers an example: "For several days, the PJ team that has been in charge of the case investigated the possibility that the child could have been sold by her own parents, due to possible finantial difficulties."

The main suspicion was cast over Kate McCann, given her history of depression which pointed, according to evaluation made by technicians from the PJ, to a possible deviant behaviour that is related to bipolarity, an illness that can place persons in a state of great euphoria, or in deep sadness.

But due to the communication difficulties with British medical authorities, where professional secrecy is strictly observed, just like in Portugal, it was not possible to obtain any clinical report about the arguida or about her husband.

"The fact that both are doctors and that they are highly regarded in England, made the investigations into their clinical history even more difficult, so it remains in the gods' secret", one of the case's investigators admitted to 24Horas, stressing that the same happened when the Portuguese authorities tried to obtain the couple's finantial data and the registry of the telephone calls that were made by the McCanns, and their friends and relatives who were in Praia da Luz, last May.

Enigmatic sentence

But this was not the only lead that was investigated by the PJ. According to judicial sources, the sentence that was allegedly said by Kate McCann when she entered the Ocean Club restaurant Tapas Bar indicated that she might know the child's possible abductors.

Kate reportedly cried out: "They've taken her." A statement that the authorities consider to be "enigmatic", and which Kate herself failed to provide a "plausible explanation" for, when she was questioned by the PJ.

The theory of the possible sale of the child by one of the elements of the couple has not been entirely dismissed, because, as a judicial officer stated, "all leads remain open until the case is completely clarified". But it lost strength when it became clear that the couple experienced no finantial difficulties.

All the evidence that has been collected until now points to the child's accidental death and the concealment of the cadaver. "The investigation is proceeding and no lead has been excluded", a source with the investigation concluded.

 

[colomom]

in Correio da Manha this morning (11/24):

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=267073&idselect=181&idCanal=181&p=0

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=42 Post #627

Tests: fundamental evidence for the Judiciaria
PJ goes to Birmingham

The experts from the Scientific Police Laboratory are going to Birmingham, where the English forensics lab is located, in order to analyse the results from tests that were performed on the residues that were collected within the Maddie case. This investigation diligence was decided recently, and will allow the investigators to analyse the lab's reports and to acquire knowledge about the techniques that are used by the English.

According to what CM was able to establish, the staff from the national [Portuguese] Scientific Police Lab may also bring back the last tests that are still in the hands of the English, and which may help the investigation.

The biological residues were essentially collected inside the car that was used by the McCanns and in the apartment that was used by the family, and the authorities believe that they may become a fundamental piece of evidence to sustain the public accusation.

The authorities also believe that the scientific evidence, which points to the presence of Madeleine in the car that was rented by the McCanns 22 days after the child's disappearance from the Ocean Club, may be fundamental to sustain the thesis that the child died that night and that her parents somehow concealed her cadaver.

To know the circumstances of the child's death, remains the investigation's main unknown issue, a situation that may only be clarified if the little girl's body is found. The PJ continues searching for the British child's cadaver, while trying to reconstruct the last few hours that passed before the alert to her disappearance was raised.

The presence of the investigators in Birmingham will be used to give the analyses more credibility, and to try to anticipate every possible explanation that will be given by the McCanns.

(...)

 

[colomom]

in Diario de Noticias this morning (11/26):

http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/11/26/sociedade/pj_reagiu_forma_tardia.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=42 Post #628

"PJ reacted late"

An interview with Carlos Pinto Abreu, one of the McCann couple's lawyers in Portugal

In Portugal, there is the idea that arguido is synonimous with guilty. How can this situation be avoided?

We all have to increase our judiciary culture. And we have to understand that the penal process is a dynamic reality that can be started with an unfounded complaint, a false denunciation, a report about a crime that indicates agressors which are not. And it is necessary to understand that, in the preliminary phase of an investigation, or even of the process, the persons that are made arguidos are not necessarily guilty.

Do you think a precipitated judgement is being made about Kate and Gerry McCann?

No journalist will ever hear me make a comment about the process.

But how do you comment the PGR's [General Attorney] statements that said that "according to the new code, the McCanns would not be arguidos"?

The Attorney General said what he said. Which means he made a judgement over an absence of clues that cast suspicions on certain persons. That statement has its own value. If there are no clues of suspicions about persons, those persons are not made arguidos. Which means that, taking into account the statements that have been made, people may draw the conclusions they want. I don't [draw conclusions].

The English ambassador said he was satisfied with the PJ's action. Does England approve of our investigation methods?

I am not going to comment on political or diplomatic speeches. But I can say the following. I respect all criminal police forces because of what they represent. And the PJ needs serenity, time and ponderation in their investigations. You will not hear me saying whether a criminal police force acted well or not, except within the processes themselves. Because I think it is with time and ponderation that all judiciary operators work. If they work well, we will have a fair process. If they work poorly, we will have an unfair process.

Portugal is not very used to this type of investigation?

Being used to an investigation is not the issue here. The issue is more the media exposure of a certain process. And in this case, media exposure has reached international level. And from there on, there was a reaction I would say... late, when compared with what was demanded in a process of this nature. But I must say that, although late, the reaction from the PJ's highest leaders, and now I'm referring to the national director himself, Alipio Ribeiro, was adequate. Because it put all the fiction in its proper place.

Are you referring to the dismissal of Gonçalo Amaral?

No. I'm referring to statements that were made by the Attorney General and by Alipio Ribero, who clearly stated that all investigation lines are on the table. Which means just that. Which means all investigation lines are open. And that's the way it should be.

Are you referring to news that guaranteed that Madeleine is dead?

Yes. But all scenarios are possible. And as all scenarios are possible, the investigation can't hold onto one and dismiss the other. This is very clear to me, and good news, as much as possible. What one wants is, first, to find the child, and second, to find the child alive.

Do you think the PJ hurt the investigation with the information leaks?

The information leaks are the worst service that can be rendered to an investigation. Because it generates the manipulation of evidence by the public opinion, of the witness reports themselves, and that contamination, wherever it comes from, is a terrible service.

Is the McCann couple hurt by public opinion?

What I can say is that the McCanns' sole concern is to find their daughter. Everything else hurts and causes pain, but it's not important.

 

[colomom]

in Publico today (11/26):

http://jornal.publico.clix.pt/ --> on page 4

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=42 Post #629

PJ admits innocence of the McCann couple

Madeleine may have been killed inside the apartment by an intruder who then carried the body away and concealed it. It's one of the possibilities

It was easy to know the routines of the MacCann [sic] couple. They seldom left the resort in Praia da Luz where they were spending their holidays in the Algarve for a week. They walked around and ate at more or less precise times, in the company of their group of friends. The children went to bed early, like they did in England. The night was for the adults. It was easy for anyone who was watching, to know the exact best time to enter the apartment - at twilight, when Kate and Gerry walked away for dinner and the movement on the street died down. The opportunity would appear, it would be easy to get closer, to touch, to smell the fragile blond child with big eyes.

It happened in an instant. But an unforeseen event betrayed the expectations of desire. A scream from the British child, awakened from her sleep. The fear she might be heard. The urgency to silence her. The violence. Probably the asphyxia. And the unexpected death. All in minutes. Now, it was necessary to get her out of there. To close the door. To get away quickly.

The possibility that this is the explanation for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, on the night of May 3, had practically been set aside by the PJ's investigators. But now it is gaining increasing strength within the core of the investigation.

The testimony of one of the couple's friends who was also spending her holidays in Praia da Luz, has contributed to reinforce this theory. Jane Tanner said she saw, on that night, a man carrying a child, on the road close to the resort.

This is one of the other possibilities that are now being evaluated by the PJ in Portimao, beside that which points to the possible involvement of the McCann couple in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine. The convictions that supported the policemen until a short time ago have become more fragile, especially after the head of the Portimao directory, Paulo Rebelo, started to lead the investigation. He was joined by a group of experienced policemen from several criminal investigation areas who now analyse a "tree of possibilities" on what may have happened on the night that Maddie disappeared from the room where she was sleeping with her twin siblings, at the Ocean Club. The probability that her disappearance was the work of an intruder is being seriously considered again, although none of the other hypotheses have been excluded. Discreetly, the investigators keep working on the case until late, both on location, and on the ellaboration of reports and the discussion of the collected data, considering new possibilities and setting others aside. In the PJ's building, the lights go off very late.

The investigation extends into England. Preparations are being made on the trip that is soon to be made by the PJ's inspectors, who will travelwith a DNA expert and the magistrate from the Public Ministery. They will take the rogatory letters that contain questions that the English police will ask from Kate and Gerry McCann.

An end to the judicial secrecy?

Contradicting the expectation about the usefulness of the results from analyses that were performed by the Birmingham lab on residues that were collected from apartments in Praia da Luz and in the vehicles of the McCann couple and of their friends for the clarification of the case, some senior officers at the PJ consider that that type of analyses will not contribute to give the police new clues. They also doubt that the dogs that were used by the British police could have detected cadaver odour. If the child did, in fact, die in the bedroom, was the short period that she stayed there, enough for odours to be released? What biological transformations occur during the first hour after death? These are the questions that they are looking for answers to.

If the judge issues the end of judicial secret and authorises the process to become public early next year, according to new rules from the Penal Process Code, a big turnaround could happen in the investigation.

The new law, which privileges publicity over secrecy, establishes that all processes are public or annulled, and the Public Ministery is forced to request judicial secrecy for the cases in which in understands it should be kept. The arguidos, in this case the McCann couple and Robert Murat, may consult the process and require new diligences.

For some PJ inspectors, that may represent the beginning of a new investigation.

In Praia da Luz, the shutters are down and the door to the apartment where Maddie disappeared from is closed. The tourists have left, the streets are half deserted and the Ocean Club is closed until the next holiday season. But journalists stop by, every once in a while, trying to find some piece of news, and the locals still look around, searching for Maddie.

 

[colomom]

Correio da Manha 11/27/07

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 Post # 631
(by way of Ozzy on the Mirror Boards)

Found in the vehicle

Proof held in safe

A part of the fabric from the boot of the car rented by the McCanns is held under high security in England. Its on this piece of cloth that the forensic scientists in Birmingham found traces of Madeleine’s presence

And its on the basis of this fundamental piece of evidence, together with other items collected by the investigation, that suspicions have become more certain about the involvement of the parents in the disappearance of the English child.

The British scientists who conducted the tests – and they have a reputation of being among the best in the world – are certain that Madeleines DNA didnt pass to the vehicle through transference. They believe that the evidence found proves the presence of the child in the vehicle. A fact that further incriminates the parents since Kate and Gerry hired the Renault Scenic 25 days after their daughter disappeared.

The fact that this piece of fabric is so closely guarded in Birmingham, also discredits the tests done on the vehicle as ordered by the McCanns themselves. This is because these tests – which don’t show any trace of the child in the vehicle – were carried out on the vehicle after Kate and Gerry were made arguidos. At that stage the piece of cloth had already been removed from the Renault.

The person who discredits these conclusions is Clarence Mitchell, the spokesman for the couple. In his declarations to the press Mitchell insists the tests were detailed and that the whole car was minutely analyzed.

The tests done on the Renault Scenic, as ordered by the McCanns, forms part of the defense strategy their lawyers are setting up to face an eventual charge. Besides tests on the vehicle, Kate and the twins were given tests to prove they had not taken any type of drug.

About the news that Madeleine might have been killed by a paedophile who entered the apartment, Clarence Mitchell confirmed there is nothing to indicate this happened in the apartment. Mitchell confirmed that Kate and Gerry continue to believe the child is alive.

Sources close to the McCanns also confirm that the parents dont believe this theory (the paedophile one). If somebody entered the apartment and killed the child the person would leave the body, and wouldn’t carry the child out in his arms, according to explanation given by this source.

According to current news, Madeleine was killed by a paedophile after she woke up and screamed when she saw him. This person then took away the body.

PJ investigate new areas

During all of last week, agents from the Police Homicide Brigade have searched the land in search of possible locations where Madeleines body could have been left.

The inspectors are part of the team brought by Paulo Rebelo when he took over as coordinator of the the Criminal Investigation department. According to the newspaper CM, they are no longer searching in the Praia da Luz or areas close to where Madeleine disappeared on 3rd May. Further, according to sources connected with the investigation, the detectives are not specifically looking for a body but analysing areas where it could have been left. As mentioned by the newspaper last week, the PJ have mapped out various steps which could come up with matters crucial to the investigation. However, the exact nature of the further investigations remain secret.

 

[colomom]

this morning in 24Horas (11/27):

http://www.24horasnewspaper.com/total.php?numero=2701&link=14

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 Post #632

Anglo-Portuguese's lawyer is going to sue Spanish investigators

Murat persecuted by the McCanns' detectives

Private investigators from Metodo 3 have been speaking with people who are connected to the process without the knowledge of Portuguese authorities

"We think Murat knows more than he says. Madeleine could be alive in Morocco". The suspicion, told to the newspaper "El Mundo", comes from Marita Fernandez, 58, the founder of the detective agency Metodo 3, which was hired by the McCanns to find their daughter Madeleine.

According to Robert Murat's defense, this is called pressure. Lawyer Francisco Pagarete goes further and says that the witnesses that were questioned within the Madeleine McCann process are also being put under pressure to change their depositions.

"The gentlemen from the Spanish private investigation agency have been speaking with everybody, including process witnesses. They are permanently persecuting my client and his girlfriend, who no longer have a private life. This is not admissible in a State of democratic law. Leave my client in peace", Francisco Pagarete appealed, yesterday, in a statement to 24Horas.

To send a curse

And the lawyer launches the accusation: "The investigators from Metodo 3 are mercenaries. Many of them have been accused of extortion and espionage. One was even detained in Morocco for taking illegal pictures of children. They have been working in Portugal, they put pressure on witnesses and nobody does anything. It's a shame."

Senior officers from the Policia Judiciaria and the General Attorney's Office have confirmed to our newspaper that private investigation firms can act "without problems", as long as they don't contact persons who are related to processes that are under judicial secrecy. But they did not confirm that Metodo 3 is enticing the testimonies of persons that have been interrogated by the Judiciaria.

"Until now, we have no knowledge that a witness changed her statement. But if they are being coerced into doing so, that will be duly investigated. It's a situation that depends on a complaint, and we received none, not even an order from the Public Ministery that asks us to do such an inquiry", a source at the PJ guaranteed.

An officer at the General Attorney's Office who has followed the process confirmed that, within that institution, there is no indication that a witness required her testimony to be changed, or complained of being the target of pressure.

Francisco Pagarete laments the amount that Metodo 3 is charging from the McCann: "They should charge ten times more. To do this defamation vampaign, any private investigator would charge thousands of euros. I'm just sorry there are people feeding a couple who abandoned three children and who proudly walks the streets on a daily basis. With a hefty bank account on top of it. Meanwhile, my client, his mother and his girlfriend, who had nothing to do with the case, have to watch their names being muddied every day, and are bankrupt."

The lawyer also remembers that, before the McCanns were made arguidos, "the PJ was the best in the world and then they became the worst".

"What they [the McCanns] deserve is that someone curses them so they pay for the fact that they left their three children unprotected."

Pagarete guaranteed that the PJ "knows very well where Murat, his mother and his girlfriend were" on the day that Maddie disappeared.

 

[colomom]

in Diario de Noticias this morning:

http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/11/29/sociedade/pj_chega_a_inglaterra_para_obter_rel.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 Post #634

PJ arrives in England to obtain decisive report for the McCanns

The Birmingham laboratory, where analyses on blood, hair and bodily fluids that have been collected in the apartment where Madeleine disappeared from, in Praia da Luz, and in the car that was used by her parents, have been performed for four months, reportedly possesses conclusive results, with a 90% probability, which are going to be decisive for the future of Kate and Gerry, according to what DN was able to establish.

In order to clarify, once and for all, the data that was analysed by that laboratory, a team that is composed by inspector Ricardo Paiva, from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Portimao, and two experts from the PJ's Scientific Police, Fernando Viegas and Luis Viriato, traveled to England yesterday, accompanied by the vice-president of the National Forensics Institute, Francisco Corte-Real.

When the PJ holds the final results from the forensics tests, a rogatory letter will be sent to England, containing several questions that are to be asked from the McCanns and their friends. For the time being, a source at the General Attorney's Office told DN, the letter "is not determined yet".

The team left Faro Airport yesterday, at 9.20 a.m., heading for London. They then proceeded towards the city of Leicestershire, near the village of Rothley, where the McCanns live, for contacts with the local police. Today, the Portuguese investigators meet senior officers from the Forensic Science Service (FSS), in Birmingham, so they can learn about the work that has been done there since August, and to try to clarify the contents of all the results. The PJ already possesses most of the tests, but they are missing the final report, which may be crucial to take Maddie's parents to court or not. The Judiciaria is working against time, as on December [sic] 3 or 14 - the dates of Maddie's disappearance and of Robert Murat's constitution as an arguido -, according to the understanding of the Public Ministery - the process will no longer be covered by judicial secrecy.

The slow development of the analyses was essentially due to the fact that the samples which were collected were very small and quite damaged. Therefore, the Birmingham lab is using a method, the 'low copy number', which allows to amplify the data for analysis.

 

[colomom]

in Jornal de Noticias this morning:

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 Post #635

PJ checks on English lab's tests

The analyses are all finished. Today, the results from all the biological residues that have been found in the Ocean Club apartment and in the McCanns' vehicle will be in the hands of the Portuguese investigators who have been in Leicester, in the United Kingdom, since yesterday.

In order to decipher the scientific data, Francisco Corte-Real, an expert in forensic sciences from the National Institute for Legal Medicine (NILM) is present. From 9 a.m. today, the four elements from the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann who are in England, and five technicians from the Forensic Science Service (FSS) will be sitting at the same table. The meeting will be held in the police building, in Leicester, near Rothley, where the McCann couple lives. According to what JN was able to establish, the meeting will be used to "clarify the results" and to clear possible doubts from the investigators.

Although the tests are finished, the final lab report will arrive in Portugal by official channels. "It will be sent to the NILM first, and only thereafter to the PJ and to the Public Ministery, which tutors the inquiry". Sources from the investigation have guaranteed to JN that, for now, no interrogations or inquiries will be made to Kate and Gerry and their friends. Those diligences are foreseen in the rogatory letter, which is concluded, and which will be sent to England.

At today's meeting, the PJ relies on Ricardo Paiva, one of the investigation's main officers. He is not head of the inquiry, but the inspector from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Portimao is one of those who has been working closest with all the diligences. "He is, probably, the person who knows the process best", several sources with the investigation have explained to JN. It is not the first time that he travels to England within this case, as he worked with the British officers when they were in the Algarve to cooperate with the investigation. The PJ has also sent two technicians from the Scientific Police Lab, Luis Viriato and Fernando Viegas. They collected the residues that were found in the apartment and sent for testing at the Birmingham forensics lab, last August.

In the group there is also Francisco Corte-Real, the vice-president of the NILS, who in May coordinated the vast team at the Institute which performed tests on over three hundred bilogical traces that were found inside the apartment at Praia da Luz. His team performed the DNA tests on samples that were collected from the relatives and friends of the English couple and also from Robert Murat and his family. Corte-Real still follows the Maddie case, and he is often consulted by the investigators.

VIP treatment upon arrival

The plane landed at East Midlands airport at 12.15 without delay. But the passengers on EasyJet flight 6552 could not leave the plane immediately. They had to wait for almost 20 minutes. The crew wanted to identify, one by one, the members of the team of investigators which had just arrived from Faro.

Inspector Ricardo Paiva was called over the intercom, and the four were first to step on British soil. They were always accompanied by a hostess, until the exit, and had to face a batallion of journalists first.

British officers were waiting outside the airport, and drove them to the Leicester police station. They were followed by some journalists, who didn't leave the door of the police station, in spite of the cold. It was in vain. Nobody made a statement.

English press doubts the visit

The English journalists found it hard to understand the reason for the Portuguese investigators to go to England. Many believed that, after the meeting, the McCanns and their friends could be interrogated, or, on the other hand, that Kate and Gerry could stop being arguidos. The explanation that was given by a spokesperson from Leicester police only increased the confusion: "it's a routine matter. It was not scheduled over any specific development. The PJ thought it was a good time for a personal meeting. The good dialogue between police forces is maintained".

 

[colomom]

in Correio da Manha this morning:

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=267744&idselect=9&idCanal=9&p=200

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 Post #636

Investigation: Crossing data
PJ and scientists analyse tests under the magnifying glass

A Portuguese delegation of four persons, under the direction of the Policia Judiciaria, went to the Birmingham lab yesterday, in London [sic], to compare impressions, for the first time, with the technicians that performed the analyses on the residues that were collected during the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The group, which is composed by a senior officer from the National Institute for Legal Medicine, two from the Scientific Police Lab and an inspector from the Policia Judiciaria in Portimao, arrived in London at 12.15, and today a meeting is scheduled, at 11 a.m., at the headquarters of Leicestershire police. The return is scheduled for tomorrow, in the late afternoon.

According to what CM was able to establish, the team that traveled to London yesterday carried precise instructions. The three scientists want to know about the techniques that are used by the London [sic] lab in the analyses that were performed on the residues, and try to anticipate all the problems that may be raised by the arguidos - the parents of the child that went missing on May 3 in Praia da Luz.

Francisco Corte-Real, a member of the board at the National Institute for Legal Medicine and the head of the Center [of Portugal] delegation of the NILM, who was in charge of the first genetic testing which were still made in Portugal, should cross the results that he obtained back then, with those that have been obtained by the English now.

According to what CM could further establish, this diligence, which is seen as normalin processes that involve international cooperation, is of fundamental importance for the Policia Judiciaria. This is the reason why one of the policemen who have been in charge of the investigation will be present at all the meetings, as it is his task to decode the scientific results and to apply them to the criminal investigation.

Process is ending

The PJ is still focused on ending the investigation before January 3, the date when it is eight months since Madeleine McCann disappeared. The understanding of the genetics results will be crucial, as those are the main aces held by an investigation that still has not obtained the fundamental evidence: Madeleine's cadaver, without which it will be very difficult to explain how the child died.

Without material evidence and confessions from the arguidos, the investigators are forced to base themselves on the scientific evidence, the only which will truly be able to question the parents' theory - which is still an abduction, in varied versions. The team should also bring back the last test result reports, which had not been sent to Portugal yet.

(...)

 

[colomom]

in 24Horas this morning (11/30/07):

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 Post #637

Maddie's parents are maintained as suspects but forensics tests are inconclusive

Evidence against the McCanns increases

The Judiciaria's trip to Leicester was not totally positive but the British police confirms the suspicions of the Portuguese investigators about the McCann couple and even somewhat reinforces them. But there are no certainties yet, and no lead was discarded

Gloomy and disappointed. The team that was composed by two experts from the PJ's Scientific Police lab, one chief inspector and the vice president of the National Institute for Legal Medicine entered Leicester Police's Headquarters, in England, at 10 a.m., and left at 5 p.m., looking unhappy.

According to what 24Horas was able to establish, the analysis that was made by the task force to the tests that were requested to the English reinforced the suspicions about the McCann couple, but remain inconclusive because they fail to reach the percentages that are considered credible to advance an accusation.

After the conclusion of the work that was performed at the Leicester police's headquarters, the investigators sat, a little while later, at the bar that is located at the reception of the Ramada hotel, and discussed among them everything that had been shown to them by the British authorities.

The main surprise for the team of forensics and police experts that was sent by the Portuguese authorities into Leicester, in England, was the fact that, after all, and according to what 24Horas has been reporting for several days, there are still tests that were requested from the Forensic Science Services in Birmingham that are missing.

The suspicions about the McCann couple are maintained, and the possibility that Maddie's cadaver was inside the Renault Scenic van that was rented by the girl's parents 25 days later, has increased.

"The evidence that is available until this moment is far from clearing the McCann couple in this case. There are increasing clues that point to their involvement in the disappearance of the child, but that fact has been hard to prove. We will continue to follow all possibilities", said a source that is connected to the investigations.

Ricardo Paiva, the investigator that the PJ sent to Leicester, refused to give away details about the work that has been performed: "At this moment, we cannot give any information. The PJ and the Institute for Legal Medicine will issue statements that will allow the public opinion to understand the work that has been developed here", he said.

Francisco Corte-Real, the vice president of the National Institute for Legal Medicine, was even more laconic: "There is nothing to say, for now." But the main Portuguese expert in DNA testing was far from satisfied about what had been presented to him, and his face could not hide the disappointment with which he will return to Portugal today.

They still return with some solace: "After all, we are not as bad as many people wanted to make us look. Everything was done according to international procedures. It's obvious that, from one lab to another, there may be differences, but they are minimal. That is what happened", said a senior officer from that institution.

 

[colomom]

in Diario de Noticias this morning (11/30/07):

http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/11/30/sociedade/pj_chega_hoje_todos_resultados_exame.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 Post #638

PJ arrives today with all the test results

The coming week will be one of intense work for the team that investigates the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, which happened on May 3, in Praia da Luz. The three elements from the Policia Judiciaria, and the vice president of the National Institute for Legal Medicine who went to England on Wednesday to meet with the police from Leicestershire, where the McCann family lives, and the senior staff from the Birmingham lab, return to Portugal today, with all the results from forensic tests that were performed on the biological residues that were collected in the apartment where the child disappeared from and inside the car that was rented by her parents.

Although the team could not bring the final report back themselves, which will be sent to Portugal by the British Foreign Office to its national counterpart, which will then send it to the Public Ministery, the Policia Judiciaria possesses enough matter in order to incriminate or exonerate Maddie's parents over the alleged death and concealment of the cadaver of their daughter. Over the next few days, the results that were brought back from England will be analysed thoroughly by the investigators. The conclusions they may reach will determine the rogatory letter, for a new interrogation of the McCanns and their friends which were spending their holidays with them at The Ocean Club.

About the meeting that was held yesterday in the headquarters of Leicestershire police, between the Portuguese group and the five technicians from the Forensic Science Services (FSS) in Birmingham, nothing is known officially. The investigators return to Faro today.

The Portuguese team is composed by inspector Ricardo Paiva, from the CID in Portimao, the technicians from the Scientific Police who collected the residues, Luis Viriato and Fernando Viegas, and number two from the National Institute of Legal Medicine, Francisco Corte-Real, who led the team that performed the DNA tests.

 

[colomom]

in Correio da Manha this morning (11/30/07):

http://www.correiodamanha.pt/noticia.asp?id=267891&idselect=10&idCanal=10&p=200

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 post #639

Investigation: Return to Portugal
Key to the crime lies within science

The samples of fluids that were found in the car that was rented by the McCanns in the Algarve are very tenuous, according to what CM was able to establish - and the Policia Judiciaria is placing high hopes on the results from tests that are performed with the 'Low Copy Number' technique, which allows to reconstruct the genetic profile of someone who only had facial or hand contact with a given surface. And the purpose is to determine whether Madeleine's body was transported by her parents in the car that was rented 22 days later.

That is the most eagerly awaited report for the investigation - and it could arrive in the Algarve today, carried by the four members of staff from the National Institute for Legal Medicine, the Scientific Police Lab and the PJ, who yesterday met in Leicester, England, with scientists from the Birmingham lab. In Portugal there is capacity to collect residues from the slight contact of someone with a surface - in this case the boot of the Renault Scenic that was hired by Kate and Gerry three weeks after their daughter disappeared - but there is no equipment available to perform the necessary tests. And the 'Low Copy Number' technique is only available in England, in European terms.

CM knows that, concerning the residues that were collected in the apartment, the same issue is raised - with the blood that was found by the experts on a wall, behind a sofa and on the living room floor, which was very contaminated for laboratory testing. That is why the investigators are relying on the same technique, in order to determine whether the child was present, near the residues that were found.

Maddie's genetic profile can be reconstructed from a slight contact of the face, the hands or the rest of the body on those surfaces - which, by presenting blood stains, may indicate the child's death in the apartment's living room. The PJ's main theory is still the one of accidental death during the afternoon of May 3 - namely during the two hours during which only the parents had access to Maddie. First only Kate, then also Gerry, when he returned from a tennis match. The McCanns guarantee they bathed their three children and put them to bed, before they joined their group of friends for dinner, at approximately 8.30 p.m.

The Portuguese delegation returns this afternoon with new elements, but the investigation does not depend only on the results from the Birmingham lab. "These tests are only one of the puzzle's pieces", a police source tells CM, and the results in that report "will now be interpreted".

The purpose is to find out whether they "fit" other data that has already been discovered by the PJ over six months of investigation - and the collection of evidence is ongoing. "other diligences are being performed."

The 'CSI' technique

The 'Low Copy Number' (LCN), a technique that was made popular by 'CSI', a tv series, allows for a genetic identification from residues that were left in a crime scene in extremely small amounts, like in the case of blood cells and other types of residues that were collected by experts in the Maddie case. In practise, it's a step forward from the lofoscopic technique to determine an identity, as it determines a genetic profile. The LCN makes it possible, for example, to identify a person from latent fingerprint residues, left by the simple contact of skin with certain surfaces, like paper, knives, pens, ropes, strings and firearms. The collection of those samples, which are not visible to the naked eye, is a powerful means of forensics identification, but its analysis is more complex that the majority of samples that are present in a laboratory. Those are residues with DNA amounts that are lower than 100 picograms, and are often degraded. In Portugal, only the collection is made.

PJ returns items to Michaela

The private detectives firm Metodo 3 is investigating Michaela Walczuk because witnesses said they saw her in the Algarve with Madeleine, two days after the child disappeared, but Robert Murat's partner defends herself with her agenda now, which has already been returned by the PJ - and where she says she wrote down all her steps on May 5. The German citizen was never made arguida, but she was heard twice at the PJ in Portimao, and saw three computers, several personal items and her agenda confiscated. The investigation's team has returned everything to her, as they found no leads to a crime, according to what CM was able to establish, and only Robert Murat has not been returned the items that were apprehended from him. He is still an arguido in the process, like Kate and Gerry McCann.

(...)

 

[colomom]

in Jornal de Noticias this morning (11/30/07):

http://jn.sapo.pt/2007/11/30/policia_e_tribunais/e_inconclusiva_a_maioria_analises_ve.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 post #640

Most of the analyses from biological residues are inconclusive

Inconclusive. The result is the same for most of the conclusions from the analyses that were performed by the Birmingham lab, in England. But there are some that may allow the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) to support the investigation line that points to the likely death of Madeleine McCann.

During yesterday's meeting, in Leicester, the Portuguese and English investigators tried to clarify all the results that were obtained, "in order not to leave any doubts". This morning, the team of experts that were in the UK will meet at the PJ in Faro in order to report all the informations.

According to what JN was able to establish, technical details and the analysis methods that are used by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in Birmingham were discussed. "It's not enough to say what the result is. We need to make sure that all possible analyses were performed on the samples that were sent over", a source that is connected to the investigation explained.

Contrary to what was said by an official spokesperson from Leicester police, this was not a routine meeting. The PJ gathered the best DNA experts from the two institutions that were committed to the forensics analyses. Francisco Corte Real, the vice president of the National Institute for Legal Medicine (NILM), and Luis Viriato and Fernando Viegas from the Scientific Police Laboratory. Accompanying the experts, Ricardo Paiva, the right arm of Paulo Rebelo, the coordinator of PJ in Portimao, and one of the main men in the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine.

The FSS sent four scinetists and the head of the team that performed the analyses to Leicester. A spokesperson for the FSS insisted yesterday that "there are still analyses being performed" and that the laboratory's work is not concluded yet. But JN contacted several sources that are connected to the investigation and they say precisely the contrary. "The final report is missing, which has to be sent through official channels, according to the law. They arrive at the NILM first, and only then at the PJ", the sources explained.

Clarence Mitchell, the McCann couple's spokesman, was "surprised" about the case's latest developments. "Kate and Gerry were not informed", he said, devaluating the meeting. "It is not a relevant step for the investigation", he speculated. Tomorrow, the day after the experts leave Leicester, the couple is traveling to an undisclosed location. "I cannot say where, in order to keep the privacy", Mitchell told JN.

A trip that the Portuguese authorities did not know about, but which they don't have to have knowledge about, as Kate and Gerry are under terms of identity and residence, and only have to communicate their absence if this is over five days.

 

[colomom]

in Unica (magazine from Expresso) - Nov 24

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 post #641

Excerpt from an interview with Alipio Ribeiro, the National Director of Policia Judiciaria:

When and how did you hear about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann?

At 9 a.m., from a person within the PJ. At that time, down there [south] they were already being put under pressure by the English press.

How did you know from the start that it was a complicated case?

At 9 a.m., someone within the police told me that Sky News was already broadcasting it.

Did the police panic?

No, no. We had the perception of what was happening.

During the first days, were there pressures to sove the case rapidly?

No, no. I spoke to the English ambassador about the cooperation with the English police.

You never received any call from the Portuguese government?

No, no.

And you didn't talk with anyone?

I obviously talked with the minister [of Internal Affairs].

 

[colomom]

this morning in Diario de Noticias:

http://dn.sapo.pt/2007/12/03/sociedade/mc_cann_inquietos_interrogatorio_a_a.html

Copied from: http://helpmadeleine.proboards79.com/index.cgi?board=latest&action=display&thread=1182386581&page=43 post #644

McCanns restless about interrogation of friends

The parents of Madeleine McCann reacted with apprehension to the news that the Policia Judiciaria may return to England, this time to question several of the family's friends that dined at the Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz, on the evening of May 3.

After the relief over last week's visit from the Portuguese police, and the news that the authorities didn't have enough material to press charges against Kate and Gerry, now the reaction was quite different.

The couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, spoke to the journalists about that possibility. "Kate and Gerry's friends always made themselves available to be questioned again. Just like Madeleine's parents, they have nothing to hide", the British spokesman said. A source that is close to the McCanns' friends, cited by the British press, said that "there is always the possibility that one of them may be considered a suspect, but they are absolutely confident, because they said the truth".

Meanwhile, in the Algarve, the lawyer of the other arguido in this case, the Anglo-Portuguese Robert Murat, was indignant over the accusations from a baby-sitter, according to whom Murat was seen at the Praia da Luz resort on the evening of May 3. "This is all absolutely ridiculous and doesn't even deserve a comment!" This was the reaction, yesterday, of lawyer Francisco Pagarete to DN.

(...)

Now, Murat's lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, guarantees his client "awaits the end of the situation with a clear conscience".

That might happen, according to the understanding of the Public Ministery in Portimão, on the 3rd of January 2008, when it will be eight months since Madeleine's disappearance and since the PJ's inquiry into this case began; or on the 14th of January, when it will be eight months since the date the Anglo-British citizen was constituted an arguido, and subject to the minimal coercion measure of informing about his identity and residence.

"When the parts are notified of the result of the inquiry, either for an accusation or an archiving [of the process], they will have the possibility of opening the instruction until twenty days later", the lawyer who represents Robert Murat reminded.