Madeleine McCann Missing-Praia Da Luz, Portugal 3/05/07 #1

[Angiex911dsptchr]

MADDIE: PALS IN FRAME

18th September 2007



THE seven pals dining with Madeleine McCann’s parents on the night she vanished all face being named as suspects in the case.

Police believe some or all of them may have known what happened to the four-year-old and may have helped cover up her death.

They face being charged as accessories. Portuguese detectives were last night planning to fly to Britain.
They had wanted the seven hauled back to Portugal for further questioning. But the judge in charge of the case blocked the move.

Instead British police will conduct interviews on their behalf, while Portuguese officers observe their reactions to key questions. The seven went on the ill-fated week-long trip to the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz with the McCanns.

They were dining with the couple in a tapas bar 40 yards from the couple’s apartment when Madeleine disappeared.
Police have accused Madeleine’s GP mum Kate, 39, of killing her daughter and allege her heart surgeon husband Gerry, also 39, helped dispose of her body in a bid to cover up the crime.

Both have been named official suspects. The couple – and their friends – have all denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance. They believe she was abducted while their guard was down.

Months ago police said they were baffled by what they said were “inconsistencies” in the McCanns’ friends witness statements. Many said they were in different places at different times when Madeleine vanished on May 3.

Police are also baffled why three of them – Dr Russell O’Brien, 36, Dr Fiona Payne, 34, and Rachael Oldfield, 36 – all claimed to have seen ex-pat Brit suspect Robert Murat, 33, outside the McCanns’ apartment that night.

Rejected

Murat’s mum has sworn to police her son never left her villa 100 yards away and mobile phone records are said to back up her claim.

Detectives have also rejected Dr O’Brien’s 37-year-old partner Jane Tanner’s claim she saw a man carrying away a child wrapped in a blanket 30 minutes before Madeleine was discovered missing.
They have dismissed her evidence as a “false lead”.


 They have dismissed her evidence as a “false lead”

The other pals dining in the tapas bar were Mrs Oldfield’s hospital consultant husband Matthew,
37, Dr Payne’s medical researcher husband David, 41, and her mum Diane Webster.

None has spoken publicly about what happened that night.
They were all questioned by police in the weeks before the couple were named as suspects.

A source close to the investigation said: “It has long been considered a number of people may have been involved in this unfortunate case.

“It may well be other suspects are named very soon.”



http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/15666/Maddie-Pals-in-frame/

[Angiex911dsptchr]

Sorry I posted the wrong pics. Try these.

 I been wondering  what the red stuff is on the blinds??   

[Angiex911dsptchr]

Dusting for prints maybe? 

[MuffyBee]

Angie the red stuff on the blinds would be from dusting for fingerprints I would think.  Also, thank you for bringing the update on the rest of the Tapas 9.  I think it would be a good idea to investigate the rest of the vacationers that were with the McCann's.  They may have been interviewed at the beginning, but imo the police weren't really looking that closely at them as suspects.  It will be interesting to see re-interviews with Jane Tanner and O'Brien. 

[MuffyBee]

Dusting for prints maybe? 

Yep, that's what I think.

[Angiex911dsptchr]

Angie the red stuff on the blinds would be from dusting for fingerprints I would think.  Also, thank you for bringing the update on the rest of the Tapas 9.  I think it would be a good idea to investigate the rest of the vacationers that were with the McCann's.  They may have been interviewed at the beginning, but imo the police weren't really looking that closely at them as suspects.  It will be interesting to see re-interviews with Jane Tanner and O'Brien. 

Muffy I agree,, ESP that Tanner woman.. She rubs me the wrong way for some reason 

[Angiex911dsptchr]

Dusting for prints maybe? 

Yep, that's what I think.

 Its the only logical explanation IMO  ..

[Puzzler]

http://www.express.co.uk/posts.....on-Algarve
MADELEINE: POLICE WILL QUESTION TWO PRIESTS ON ALGARVE

Wednesday September 19,2007
By Martin Evans and David Pilditch in Praia da Luz

Portuguese police are convinced Kate and Gerry McCann “confessed” to killing their daughter during a private meeting with one of the clergymen in Praia da Luz.

They want to formally question the men in an attempt to persuade them to break their religious vow of silence.


http://www.express.co.uk/posts.....is-strong-

OUR CASE AGAINST THE MCCANNS IS STRONG’

Wednesday September 19,2007
By David Pilditch and Martin Evans in Praia da Luz
Have your say(2)
PORTUGUESE police last night mounted a robust defence of their investigation against the McCanns and insisted: our case is strong.

[Tamikosmom]

While in Portegual the McCanns hired "Bell Pottinger crisis management consultant Alex Woolfall, Sheree Dodd, a former spokeswoman for the Government, and former treasury special advisor Justine McGuinness".

I would assume that McCann's spokesperson Justine McGuinness' words pertaining to foresics revealing blood traces in the rental vehicle came from a foundation of knowledge ... Gerry and Kate McCann.


Janet


Parents of Missing British Girl Madeleine McCann Want to Leave Portugal
Saturday, September 08, 2007

But police said new forensic tests done on evidence gathered months after the girl vanished found traces of blood in the couple's car, said Justine McGuinness, a spokeswoman for the family

. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296150,00.html

[Tamikosmom]

The following words spoken by Gerry McCann implies he is very concerned in regards to what he has learned pertaining to the evidence gathered in the Portuguese investigation.

Janet


September 8, 2005
Now we're fighting for our lives
By Sara Nuwar

The McCanns now fear the cops may be about to arrest and charge them. Gerry told us:  "Our lawyer said the weight of it is that, under the Portuguese legal system, they've got enough to move forward against us."
 
<snipped>

"We'd have to be patient but ultimately we'll have the opportunity to have all of the evidence examined and discover the whole picture about what happened."

"And that's what's sustaining me. At least now we've got a clearer view of what we're up against whereas what we had before was smear and innuendo."

"We know what we have to fight now. The problem is we DO have a fight, but before I wasn't quite sure."

"You get paranoid when there's a political shift. Because of the amount of pressure there's been on the Policia Judiciaria, and all the criticism, you always wonder how far they'll go."

"Now I've seen what they've got I'm actually clearer in my mind why they've shifted and treated us so differently."

"I'm still concerned with their perception of the evidence, but that's for us to sort out with legal support."

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/0909_maddie.shtml

[Puzzler]

The Times: Sources in Britain agree that “there is 'significant' scientific evidence linking Mr and Mrs McCann to their daughter’s death.”

According to The Times, on a long “Questions & Answers” article, on its edition of September 18, “it appears the Forensic Science Service believes it has discovered compelling new evidence, possibly from more than one source” that seems to confirm not only that Madeleine McCann is dead, but also that there is “significant' scientific evidence linking Mr and Mrs McCann to their daughter’s death” - a fact that the newspaper say is confirmed by “sources in Britain who are assisting the Portuguese investigation.”

The Times also refers that “because the samples have degraded over time the scientists can never be 100 per cent certain that they came from Madeleine.” Information about the scientific evidence has been revealed by “some officers” that “have been secretly briefing Portuguese journalists”, wrote The Times.

Portuguese senior Police officers “now believe they have sufficient evidence to charge Kate and Gerry McCann for concealing a body and probably to convict Mrs McCann with accidentally killing her daughter”, says The Times. But the same officer, ”privately admitted earlier this week that they still could not prove that Madeleine was intentionally killed.”

One of the subjects raised with Gerry and Kate McCann, when they were questioned by Polícia Judiciária, in Portimão, was the fact that Eddie, the Leicestershire Police sniffer dog specially trained to detect the smell of a corpse, went “crazy” when he was near the car hired by the McCann, according to The Times.

“Mrs McCann is reported to have explained that in her work as locum GP she came into contact with six corpses in the weeks leading up to Algarve holiday.” This “seems a high number for a locum GP working just a couple of days a week”, refers The Times, “but would be easy to check against surgery records.”

“The crucial difficulty with the sniffer dog “evidence” is that it cannot distinguish between corpses. This type of dog is trained to find bodies, not identify where dead bodies have been” The Times wrote. And more important, those dogs, says The Times, “can become excited by other scents.” Eddie “is alleged to have become excited when shown Madeleine’s favourite soft pink toy, called Cuddle Cat.”

Reports about the twins sleeping in the middle of all the noise and confusion that followed Kate's discovery of Madeleine's disappearance were also analysed by The Times, in the “Q & A” article: “Sean and Amelie were heavy sleepers who were not disturbed by their sister’s abduction, claim their parents. However, they also slept through their mother’s hysterical response to Madeleine’s disappearance and the presence of dozens of people who joined the search before being carried out by a female police officer. Kate and Gerry McCann have strenuously denied sedating their daughter”, is the conclusion of the question “Why did Madeleine’s sister and brother sleep through her 'abduction?”

http://gazetadigitalmadeleinec.....-that.html

Madeleine McCann: the key questions

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t.....422967.ece       Interesting/informative Q&A 

[klaasend]

Posted in the Mirror forum, a translation of a Portuguese article in the paper 9/19/07:

ozzy

Joined: 16 Jun 2007
Posts: 151

 Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:39 am    Post subject: Diario de Noticias 19 sept - translation   

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Hi everybody. This is a jist of the main news in the Diario de Noticias. I am not familiar with the language of the court so please bear with me if it all sounds a bit peculiar and not upto the mark. I really dont know why they cant say quite simply the papers have gone from here to there or whatever. But its all in legalise. Best from Oz.

Inspectores da PJ foram ontem para Inglaterra

JOSÉ MANUEL OLIVEIRA

PJ inspectors left for England yesterday.

The Judge at Portimao has authorized further investigation as requested by the Public Prosecutor. The Criminal Judge, Pedro Frias, has concluded his evaluation of the preliminary report on the “Madeleine case” as detailed by the PJ, forwarding all the investigation requests made by the Public Prosecutor.

According to the English press, yesterday three inspectors of the PJ left for England to hand over personally to local authorities a formal request document to conduct further investigations. The portuguese police may participate as there is close cooperation between the two countries. The request letter will contain a set of questions which the PJ wish to ask the McCanns, and could also include a request to conduct inquiries with the McCanns friends who spent the holiday with them at the Praia da Luz, or even further searches.

Meanwhile at any moment the PJ and the GNR may recommence the search operations with trained dogs and sophisticated equipment, for Madeleine’s body. According to what the newspaper DN has discovered, the investigators already have specific areas marked out, to the south of the Ocean Club, the area where Madeleine disappeared between Praia da Luz and Burgao, and also the forest zone to the north. But until the close of this edition there was no sign of the actual search having started.

Just four hours before she disappeared mysteriously on 3rd May, Madeleine spent the time with her two siblings and friends at the restaurante Paraiso, happy and playing like a normal child in a family environment, according to witnesses and the owner of the restaurant. The child even danced with her Dad to the sound of the music there. She came in at 5pm and left between 5.45 and 6pm, and even had an icecream after dinner.

The owner says he is stunned by the tragedy. There was not the slightest hint of anything abnormal that evening. Nobody was eyeing the child in a suspicious manner nor was there anything abnormal at all in the behavior of the families or their children. There are security camera images of the time spent there which were handed over to the PJ.

http://forums.mirror.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=15378&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
 

[klaasend]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91210-1284729,00.html

DNA Evidence 'Can Be Explained'
Updated: 06:21, Wednesday September 19, 2007

Madeleine McCann's parents have stepped up their defence amid reports they may be about to face more questions from the police.
 
McCanns protest innocenceThree Portuguese detectives are said to have flown into the UK with a list of questions they want British police officers to put to Kate and Gerry McCann.

The couple have been named as suspects in the inquiry, but the pair strongly deny any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.

Sources close to the family insist much of the police evidence - including the collection of Madeleine's DNA from the family's hire car in Praia da Luz - can be easily explained.

The car was used to transport much of the youngster's items when the family moved to a new apartment some time after her disappearance in Praia da Luz on May 3.

Items said to have been carried in the vehicle include nappies worn by Madeleine's twin brother and sister Sean and Amelia, who have similar DNA.

Madeleine's own sandals are also believed to have been transported in the car - potentially allowing DNA from her sweat to be transferred.

 
Sniffer dogs in searchThe vehicle had also been used by a number of people, including several family members, before it was examined.

Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said up to 30 people are believed to have had access to the Renault in the 10 weeks after the car was hired.

Commenting on reports that Madeleine's bodily fluids had been found in the car, he said it was quite possible one of the twins might have urinated in the car.

"Their DNA would be very similar to Madeleine's," he said. "It all creates a very confusing forensic picture."

The couple, both 39, returned to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, last week after spending four months in Portugal awaiting developments.

Newspaper reports said the Portuguese officers would not ask the McCanns any questions directly, but would provide a list they wanted Leicestershire Police to put to the couple.

But a spokeswoman for the McCanns said: "To date we have had no contact from them, no request, nothing like that. If they are on their way, they have in no way let the family or the legal team know

[vms]

Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Petition to help support Gerry and Kate McCann backfires

Abuse, insults and accusations have been posted at a site where a petition to “help support Gerry and Kate McCann as they battle to clear their names” was launched. The text of the petition refers that “it will be used to convince the government that we believe in their innocence and to sway them to pressurise the Portuguese police to continue to look for Madeleine McCann.”


PJ has a video with Madeleine, recorded in the afternoon of May 3



Polícia Judiciária has a video with Madeleine, on May 3, eating an ice-cream with her father, at a restaurant in Praia da Luz. The images were recorded by a private surveillance camera from restaurant “Paraíso”, between 5.00 pm and 5.45 pm, May 3. In the video, Madeleine is seen playing and dancing with his father, at the terrace of the restaurant, near the seaside.


Search for the body of Madeleine McCann to start within less than two hours

Within less than two hours, Polícia Judiciária will start searching for the body of Madeleine McCann on specific areas, already cordoned off. The searches will be concentrated at a place between Praia da Luz and Burgau, another seaside village, and in several areas North of the town of Lagos, where sniffer dogs will be used.

(to be continued)
Link

[MsVada]

thanks VMS for the update

[Puzzler]

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/0909_maddie2.shtml

THE LOST HALF HOUR
By Lucy Panton

PORTUGUESE police are concentrating on what they claim is a missing half hour in accounts of the night Madeleine disappeared.

[MuffyBee]

SWOOP ON FURNACE IN CEMETRY

By Sara Nuwar
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/1609_maddiekate.shtml
COPS hunting Madeleine McCann have sealed off a pet cemetery near Praia de Luiz after neighbours complained about a strange smell.

It is less than 25 miles from the resort where Madeleine went missing 136 days ago—and its Dutch owner, who bizarrely has served a jail term in his native country for a bomb plot, was questioned about her in July.
(snipped)

[MuffyBee]

Breaking News
No Need To Question McCanns Again - Prosecutors

Updated: 19:13, Wednesday September 19, 2007
Sky News has learnt that the Portuguese prosecutor's office has said there is no need to re-question Kate and Gerry McCann.
It said the investigation continues and the couple remain official suspects.
More to follow...
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1284903,00.html?f=rss

[Tamikosmom]

The following published conflicting reports regarding the requesting issue  exemplifes my reasoning for only considering seriously reports on the Madeleine McCann case that cite "named" sources who are authorized to speak on behalf of the Portuguese investigation.

Janet

+++++++++++++++++++++++

As the song goes ... "What a difference a day makes - 24 little hours ..."   


Madeleine's parents expect police visit
September 19 2007 at 11:15AM 

London - The parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann are expected to be questioned by Portuguese detectives who have flown to Britain, press reports said Wednesday.

Kate and Gerry McCann, who are under suspicion by Portuguese police of having "accidentally killed" the four-year-old, were prepared for the interviews and had outlined their defence, friends said.

However, a family spokesperson has not confirmed reports in the British press that Portuguese investigators were on their way to Britain to interview the couple at their home in Rothley, Leicestershire.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=24&art_id=nw20070919110248534C552595


'No more questions' for Maddie's parents
From correspondents in Lisbon
September 20, 2007 05:23am

PORTUGUESE prosecutors said overnight that the parents of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann did not need to be questioned again about the disappearance of their daughter last May.

"New elements of proof - after interrogations on September 7 - have not gathered anything to justify new questioning, so it is not planned," said prosecutor general Luis Bilro Verao, quoted by LUSA news agency.

The prosecutor's office said police would continue the criminal investigation into Madeleine's disappearance and no lead would be neglected.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22449687-23109,00.html

[vms]

Prosecutor says no plans to quiz Madeleine's parents
Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:10pm EDT
By Henrique Almeida

LISBON (Reuters) - The Portuguese prosecutor in charge of the case of missing British four-year-old Madeleine McCann said on Wednesday he had no plans to re-interview her parents, who where recently named suspects.

"Since there were no new elements recovered after the interrogations that took place on September 7, no new (interrogations) have been determined," public prosecutor Luis Bilro Verao said in a statement.

He said no new conditions were imposed on parents Gerry and Kate McCann, both 39. They were obliged only to inform authorities of their whereabouts if they decide to leave their home in Rothley for more than five days.

"The conditions (on the McCanns) have not been changed and are considered adequate in light of the elements recovered in the investigation," Verao said.

All lines of investigation into missing Madeleine remain open, the prosecutor said. Madeleine vanished from a resort in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3.

Ever since then, police have pursued a number of leads during the investigation, including the possibility that Madeleine might have been taken by a pedophile.

"The good news is that authorities have decided to pursue all lines of investigation, which will renew Gerry and Kate's hopes of finding their missing daughter," McCann lawyer Carlos Pinto de Abreu told Reuters in a brief phone conversation.

Portuguese authorities declared the McCanns formal suspects earlier this month after questioning them separately for hours, but have filed no charges against them.

"There has been too much speculation, too much fiction and very little...humanity in the stories that have circulated (in media) against the McCanns," Abreu said. "I hope things will calm down a little now."

The only other suspect is a Briton living in Praia da Luz. His house has been searched twice but he has not been arrested.

Hundreds of people from around the world contacted police offering help after the McCanns launched a massive publicity campaign to find their daughter, who vanished a few days before she would have turned four.

Pictures of Madeleine have been posted across Europe at schools, airports and restaurants and the McCanns have met Pope Benedict, who blessed a picture of the little girl.

Link