25/07/2008
Ex-Maddie
cop - “She died in apartment”
Gonçalo Amaral, who was removed as
chief investigator into the case of Madeleine McCann
after lashing out at her parents, has this week launched
an explosive book in which he makes a number of
controversial statements, saying the toddler died in the
apartment on the night she was reported missing. In the
book, which has been read by the The Portugal News after
it was received in Lisbon on Wednesday morning, almost
36 hours before its publication, Gonçalo Amaral accuses
Kate and Gerry McCann of possibly having concealed
Madeleine’s body after she died in what he believes was
the result of a “tragic accident”. In a separate
development, the chief of the the National Director of
police has this week vowed to “search to the ends of the
Earth” to find the missing girl.
The book is entitled, “Maddie – a
verdade da mentira”, or “The Truth of the Lie”, and is
promising to be a best-seller here in Portugal,
following the enormous coverage it has received by the
media here the past few days.
Over 200 pages, the former chief
inspector, who resigned in June to unveil the “facts of
the investigation”, gives his version of the events,
especially the initial stages of the
investigation.
These latest revelations come as a
fresh blow to the McCanns, who learnt on Monday that
Portuguese authorities had closed the investigation and
lifted their status as arguidos or persons of
interest.
A statement handed to The Portugal
News by the Attorney
General’s office on Monday said the
investigation had been closed due to lack of evidence
against the McCanns and Robert Murat.
The missing girl’s parents, Kate
and Gerry McCann, were made arguidos, last September as
part of a police investigation into the disappearance in
May 2007 of their then three-year-old daughter from an
Algarve holiday complex.
British-born Robert Murat, a
long-time Algarve resident who lived close to resort
where the McCanns were staying, was made an arguido two
weeks after the young child’s unexplained disappearance
on May 3, 2007.
The Attorney General’s office added
that the McCann case might be reopened if any “relevant”
evidence emerges.
In the meantime, Amaral (48) says
the abduction of Madeleine McCann was “fabricated” and
that her parents were guilty of negligence for leaving
their three children alone and unattended in their
holiday apartment as they dined at a nearby Tapas
restaurant.
The former police detective adds at
one stage, he and colleagues were led to believe that
Kate McCann was willing, in an “indirect manner”, to
indicate where the body of Madeleine could be
found.
“According to Kate McCann, details
of where Madeleine might be, was given to her by people
with psychic or paranormal powers. The body could be in
a drain that leads out near the beach at Praia da Luz or
on the eastern side of the beach”, he writes in his
book.
Amaral has justified the writing of
the book “from the necessity I felt to reinstate my good
name which was smeared in public without support of the
institution that I have belonged to for 26 years, the
Portuguese Judiciary Police, or allowing me to defend
myself ”.
He explains that when “I was laid
off the case, I realised it was time to publicly defend
myself. I immediately asked for retirement so I could
regain my full freedom of expression.
“A criminal investigation should
only commit to finding material truth. It should not be
concerned by political correctness”, he says accusingly,
with a veiled reference to the said interference by
Whitehall in the investigation shortly after Madeleine
went missing.
He continues: “For me the
investigation was killed off on October 2nd 2007 (…)
when the McCann’s released a photo-fit of the alleged
kidnapper.
He continues later: “I had the
feeling that with that statement [when the former
National Director of Police publicly declared that
giving the McCanns ‘arguido’ statuses had been a rushed
decision] he was preparing the public for the
inevitable, the end of the investigation and the
shelving of the case.
“We always found it odd the way the
couple were treated”, he says, “even after being made
official suspects, and how they eventually had access to
police information”.
“If there were mistakes in this
case, then that is one of them”; referring to the delay
in making the McCanns official suspects.
“There was too much politics and
too little policing”, admits Amaral.
He reports that every day, for the
first few days, around 09h00, the children would be
handed over to the on-site crèches, picked up at around
12h30, taken back at 14h30, and collected at
17h30.
They would then be taken to the
apartment where the couple would bathe and relax
enjoying New Zealand wine before putting the children to
bed at roughly 19h30 – 20h00. They would then all go for
dinner.
All the families put their children
to bed at the same time, he writes.
The book also says Kate brought
Calpol with her to Portugal, but to use as paracetamol,
not as a sedative, and claims she never gave the
children any whilst they were in Portugal.
During police investigations in the
UK, he alleges a schedule was found on the fridge on
which it was detailed that Madeleine had bad or
inconsistent sleeping patterns.
The only medication found in the
apartment was a box of paracetamol.
“When police arrived on the night
Maddie disappeared, the cots in which the twins slept
had no blankets and Madeleine’s bed was only slightly
unmade”, he claims, adding: “The twins slept soundly
throughout the ordeal despite the mother’s screams when
she found Maddie missing”.
He also claims that despite
claiming the window was open and the bedroom curtains
flying in the wind, Kate left the twins alone to go back
to the restaurant and raise the alarm.
Gonçalo Amaral also writes that the
only finger-prints found on the window shutter belonged
to Kate McCann.
Concerning mobile telephone
records, Amaral reveals that no phone calls were made
from Kate’s mobile phone between April 27th and May 4th,
nor received between 11h22 and 23h17 on the night
Madeleine disappeared.
“There were no calls registered on
Gerry’s phone before 00h05 on May 4th, despite Kate’s
phone showing she received a phone call from her husband
on the night their daughter disappeared, at
23h17.”
In the book, he concludes that
these records had been deleted.
On discovering that her daughter
had disappeared, says the retired detective, Kate is
said to have screamed “We let her down”.
He also writes that an Irish family
also claim to have seen a man walking in Praia da Luz
carrying a child on the night Maddie disappeared. After
apparently watching the BBC news at 22h00 on the day
that Kate and Gerry McCann left Portugal and returned to
the UK, one family member is said to have become
convinced the man he saw carrying a child was Gerry
McCann. In his book, Amaral says the “the likeness
became obvious as he watched images of Gerry
disembarking the plane carrying son Sean.”
“For me and my team, working with
me at the time and until October 2007, the conclusions
we reached are: Minor Madeleine McCann died in apartment
5A of the Ocean Club, in Vila da Luz, on the night of
May 3rd 2007. There was a fabrication of kidnap. Kate
Healy and Gerry McCann are suspected of being involved
in covering up the disposal of their daughter’s
body.
Death could have been caused by a
tragic accident. There are signs of negligence in the
keeping and safety of their children.”
At the time of going to press, it
was unclear whether or not Kate and Gerry McCann would
be looking to take legal action against Gonçalo
Amaral.
Earlier this week, Kate McCann said
in a statement to the media that they welcomed the
announcement from the Portuguese Attorney General to
lift their status as arguidos, “although it is no cause
for celebration”.
“It is hard to describe how utterly
despairing it was to be named arguidos and subsequently
portrayed in the media as suspects in our own daughter’s
abduction - and worse. It has been equally devastating
to witness the detrimental effect this status has had on
the search for Madeleine.
“We look forward to scrutinising
the police files to see what has actually been done and,
more importantly, what can still be done, as we leave no
stone unturned in the search for Madeleine. We would
once again urge anyone with relevant information to come
forward and call our helpline on +44 845 838 4699 or
send information to
investigation@findmadeleine.com
Kate McCann concludes: “Finally we
would like to thank everyone who has supported us and
stayed with us during this particularly difficult
period. We assure you we will never give up on
Madeleine”.
[Source: The Portugal
News]
22/07/2008
Kate and Gerry McCann
cleared over Madeleine disappearance
The parents of Madeleine McCann
said that there was no cause for celebration after they
were cleared by the Portuguese authorities yesterday, 14
months after the disappearance of their
daughter.
After the investigation was
shelved, Gerry and Kate McCann described their “utter
despair” at being named as suspects. The Portuguese
police announced that they had lifted the arguido (suspect) status from
the couple and were shelving the investigation into
Madeleine’s disappearance from the Algarve resort of
Praia da Luz in May last year.
The arguido status was also lifted
from Robert Murat, the British property developer living
in Portugal who was the first man to be named as a
suspect.
Speaking in Rothley,
Leicestershire, yesterday the McCanns, both 40,
described the devastating impact of being labelled
suspects and the effect this had on the
investigation.
Mrs McCann said: “We welcome the
news today but it is in no way cause for celebration. It
is hard to describe how utterly despairing it was to be
named arguidos and
subsequently portrayed in the media as suspects in our
own daughter's abduction. It has been equally
devastating to witness the detrimental effect this
status has had on the search for Madeleine.”
Mr McCann refused to confirm
whether the couple would take legal action against the
Portuguese authorities, saying: “Our priority has always
been to search for Madeleine. Anything else is secondary
and will be considered in due course.”
He added that the family had no
immediate plans to return to Portugal.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’
spokesman, said the couple’s lawyers would be making an
immediate application for full access to the police
files so they could follow up any leads.
He said: “There is a degree of
relief but no air of celebration whatsoever. They should
never have been arguidos.
This shows them to be the wronged couple they
are.”
Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro,
Portugal’s Attorney-General, told police to halt the
investigation into of Madeleine’s
disappearance.
A statement released by his office
confirmed that it had decided to “close the file on the
investigation concerning the disappearance of the minor
Madeleine McCann due to lack of evidence that any crime
was committed by the persons placed under formal
investigation”.
The files have been archived but
they will be reviewed periodically and could be reopened
if new evidence emerges, he said.
Madeleine was nearly four when she
vanished from her family’s holiday apartment on May 3,
2007, as her parents dined in a nearby restaurant with
friends.
Police named Mr Murat, 34, as their
first suspect but later focused their investigation on
the McCanns. All three have strenously denied any
involvement.
Mr Murat also welcomed the clearing
of his name, adding: “It doesn’t take away from the fact
that there is still a child missing, which is very sad.
It would be better to be cleared and know exactly what
happened, and have a feeling of finality, but that
hasn’t happened.”
According to reports yesterday, one
key error that led to the McCanns being declared
suspects was made by Britain’s own Forensic Science
Service.
The report, apparently from the
Portuguese authorities and which was leaked to the
London Evening Standard
newspaper, states that the Policia Judiciaria,
Portugal’s criminal investigation department, was told
that DNA evidence found in the couple’s hire car, on the
window sill of their holiday apartment and in the car
park of the apartment complex, belonged to
Madeleine.
The document claims that it was
given categorically as her DNA and as a result the
McCanns were questioned and later made suspects. But,
one month later, the forensic service wrote another
report saying that it could not be sure that those
findings were correct.
[Source: The
Times]
16/07/2008
£550,000 libel win for McCann
'suspect'
Eight British newspapers are to pay
a combined total of £550,000 to a man they accused of
being a prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine
McCann.
Lawyers for Robert Murat, who owns
a villa 150 yards from the flat where Madeleine went
missing while on holiday with her family in Portugal,
confirmed yesterday that he had settled his claim for
defamation against at least eight papers.
The case follows a similar sized
libel payout by Express Newspapers to Gerry and Kate
McCann, who won front-page apologies in the Daily
Express and Daily Star over allegations that they were
involved in their daughter's disappearance.
In May, The Scotsman published an
apology to Mr Murat after its "seriously defamatory" and
"untrue" coverage likened his behaviour to that of the
Soham murderer Ian Huntley, suggesting that he was
involved in the abduction of the thee-year-old
girl.
Mr Murat, 34, was questioned by
police 11 days after Madeleine went missing from the
Praia da Luz resort on 3 May 2007, before being made a
formal suspect or arguido. Police searched the villa
where he lived with his mother after the Sunday Mirror
journalist Lori Campbell spoke to the British embassy
and the police about Mr Murat.
Last month Mr Murat said he hoped
the return of computers seized from him by police
signalled that they would soon drop his status as a
suspect.
His mother, Jenny Murat, has always
maintained she was with her son at home on the night of
Madeleine's disappearance.
Mr Murat is expected to return to
Britain on Thursday to attend a formal High Court
hearing in which an agreed statement will be read out by
his lawyers.
In their April statement, his
lawyers named The Sun, the Daily Express, Sunday
Express, Daily Star, Daily Mail, London Evening
Standard, Metro, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, News of
the World and The Scotsman.
Early this month, Portugal's
attorney-general confirmed that prosecutors had received
the final police report, but said the case was still
"the subject of careful assessment".
Local media said detectives have
concluded there was not sufficient evidence to charge
anyone, and that the case should be closed.
[Source: The
Independent]
08/07/2008
Police disclose possible leads to
McCanns
Police in the UK have agreed to
hand over "strong" evidence about Madeleine McCann's
disappearance to her parents, halting a high court fight
for the material.
Leicestershire police are releasing
81 "potential new leads" to private investigators
working for Kate and Gerry McCann. As a result the
McCanns yesterday dropped their legal challenge
demanding that the force disclose
information.
The evidence relates to telephone
calls made to the McCanns' solicitors that were
forwarded, without taking details, to the Leicestershire
incident room during the early stages of the inquiry.
The chief constable, Matt Baggott, has now agreed to
provide contacts and a summary of the
material.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for
the McCanns, told the Guardian: "The critical thing is
that this is early information and potentially strong
information."
Mrs Justice Hogg said she had not
asked for the McCanns' presence at the hearing because
"they have suffered enough".
The couple's counsel, Tim Scott QC,
told the judge yesterday there was no proof that
Madeleine was alive, "but there is not a scrap of
evidence that she is not".
Shortly after Madeleine
disappeared, a judge in the high court family division
granted the McCanns a wide order requiring anyone on
whom it was served to disclose relevant information to
their solicitors. The police were among those served
with the order, and issues then arose about the public
interest in maintaining confidentiality.
The decision to release the
material, 81 pieces of information out of more than
11,000, is viewed as a compromise.
[Source: The
Guardian]
17/06/2008
Madeleine McCann: evidence against
parents to be revealed
The parents of Madeleine McCann
will finally learn what evidence Portuguese police have
against them, the country’s most senior law officer has
revealed.
After months of secrecy, Kate and
Gerry McCann will be given full access to the
confidential case files.
The development is a boost to the
couple, who are desperate to clear their status as
“arguidos” or official suspects the disappearance of
their daughter.
Attorney general Fernando Jose
Pinto Monteiro told the daily newspaper 24 Horas: “From
July the (Madeleine) case will cease to be covered by
judicial secrecy, and will be available to consultation
by all parties involved.
“I do not know which date, but in
July the case ceases to be covered by judicial
secrecy.”
Access to the confidential police
files will allow the McCanns to begin building a defense
if necessary, and to demand that they are
cleared.
24 Horas speculated the judicial
secrecy will end on July 14, more than 10 months after
the couple were named suspects.
The McCanns, both 40-year-old
doctors from Rothley, Leics, were made official suspects
last September but have never been arrested or charged
and vigorously deny any wrongdoing.
Their official spokesman Clarence
Mitchell has previously described the endless delays in
the process as “inhumane.”
The McCanns have given a cautious
welcome to the report.
Mr Mitchell said: “Despite the
attorney general’s comment in the Portuguese press,
neither Kate and Gerry, nor their lawyers, have received
and official confirmation that the judicial secrecy is
to be lifted.
“They will be making no comment
until the judicial secrecy is lifted and they know that
to be a fact.
“If this is the case, clearly this
is something to be welcomed.
“Their lawyers would once again
urge the authorities to lift their arguido status as
soon as possible.”
Madeleine disappeared from family’s
rented holiday apartment in the Ocean Club, in Praia da
Luz, on May 3 last year.
Her parents left Madeleine and
twins Sean and Amelie, now two, sleeping while they
dined at a nearby restaurant with seven
friends.
The McCanns still face the
possibility of charges of neglecting their daughter, who
was three when she went missing, but the authorities
would have to prove intent.
Currently in Strasbourg for meeting
with MEPs, the couple are hopeful that their attempt to
set up a European wide missing child alert system could
succeed.
They spent today trying to convince
parliamentarians that they should sign a written
declaration which, if it gets enough support, will be
sent to the European President and published.
They have now gathered 225
signatures and need a further 168 by the close of the
plenary session at the end of July to ensure the
declaration is formally recognised.
Although it carries no legal
weight, the McCanns believe it will help them win the
moral argument over whether such a cross-border system
is needed.
Mr McCann said: “This is an
important issue and Europe needs to work together. We
want to get as many signatures as possible but there’s
limited time left.”
[Source: The
Telegraph]
29/04/2008
Madeleine McCann's parents
investigated for neglect
The parents of Madeleine McCann are
being investigated for possibly neglecting their
daughter on the night she disappeared from their
Portuguese holiday apartment, it has been
revealed.
The first published court ruling on
the Madeleine case confirms that the police inquiry
covers homicide, abandonment, concealment of a corpse
and abduction.
The reference to “abandonment”
suggests that Portuguese detectives are investigating if
there is evidence that Kate and Gerry McCann were
negligent in leaving their daughter alone on the night
she was reported missing. The charge carries a maximum
10-year jail sentence.
Mr and Mrs McCann, both doctors
from Rothley, Leicestershire, have strenuously denied
negligence and said they were just 50 yards away at the
time their daughter was taken.
The court ruling also reveals that
the public prosecutor wants access to the content of
text, audio and video messages from 10 mobile telephones
believed to belong to Kate and Gerry McCann and seven of
their British friends.
Investigators are particularly
interested in the content of 18 text messages allegedly
sent from an unidentified mobile number to Mr McCann
between May 2 and 4 last year. They also want details of
all calls made between members of the group between 8pm
on May 3 and midday of the following day.
Madeleine was reported missing at
10pm on May 3 from her bedroom at the Ocean Club resort
in Praia da Luz. Her parents and their friends had been
dining at a Tapas restaurant while Madeleine and her
twin 18-month-old siblings were asleep.
The investigation has been covered
by Portugal’s strict laws on judicial secrecy which
meant that even Mr and Mrs McCann, who were made
official suspects last September, have been unable to
access details of the inquiry or any evidence against
them.
However, details of the
investigation have emerged in a court judgment, seen by
The Times, after prosecutor Magalhães e Meneses was
refused access to the content of the group’s telephone
messages.
He had requested a “complete
listings of all telephone traffic to calls made to and
from” numbers between April 28, when the group arrived
in Portugal, and September 9, when the McCanns left the
country. He also sought details of the locations of the
mobile telephones which would allow detectives to
recreat the movement of the group.
The request for access to the
messages was rejected by instructional judge Pedro Frias
at the court in Portimão. He said it would breach the
right to privacy and that Portuguese law did not allow
for the retrospective interception of telephone
calls.
The Évora Supreme Court of Justice
has now rejected the prosecutor’s appeal and published
its reasons, giving the first glimpse into the
investigation.
Judge Fernando Ribeiro Cardoso
rejected the application, saying: “The details of the
content of the messages can only be objected to
interception in real time, with due judicial
authorization.”
Portuguese police had hoped to
stage a reconstruction of the events surrounding
Madeleine’s disappearance tomorrow. However, they have
been forced to abandon the re-enactment after some of
the McCanns friends said they could not see the value in
returning to Portugal to take part.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for
the McCanns, said: “We are pleased to see that the
investigation covers abduction. Kate and Gerry have had
legal advice in both Portugal and Britain which say that
everything they did was within the boundaries of
reasonable behaviour.”
He said that Mr McCann had no
knowledge of the texts referred to on May 3 and 4 and
had received only a few calls on his mobile in the six
days the family had been in Portugal prior to Madeleine
disappearance.
[Source: www.timesonline.co.uk]
16/04/2008
Madeleine McCann mystery will be
solved, say police.
Portuguese police have insisted
they will solve the mystery of Madeleine McCann's
disappearance.
Faro police chief Guilhermino
Encarnacao, who is in charge of coordinating the
investigation into the missing girl, has brushed off
criticism of his force.
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He insisted the to insist the case
was moving forward.
Madeleine McCann investigators have
been locked in a war of words with the four-year-old's
parents and their press spokesman Clarence Mitchell
following the leaking of the couple's police
statements.
Last week Mr Mitchell demanded an
inquiry into how the McCanns' witness statements - given
shortly after their daughter vanished - had been leaked
and claimed it was another attempt to smear the
couple.
In a rare public statement, the
Policia Judiciaria (PJ) then criticised Mr Mitchell for
his "baseless intervention".
Dr Encarnacao, speaking after a
meeting between public prosecutors and police who
travelled to Britain for fresh interviews with the
McCanns' holiday friends, said: "Everything's going
well.
"The inquiries carried out in the
UK are progressing in the best way possible."
He said the police were not
"vulnerable to pressure" from any party
involved.
"The investigation will bring its
results, whoever they hurt."
The pledge came as a clairvoyant
claimed Madeleine McCann died in an accident.
Last week it emerged that Robert
Murat, the British expatriate made a formal suspect over
the disappearance of Madeleine, has begun one of the
largest libel claims in the history of British
media.
The 34-year-old, who lived close to
the Portugal apartment where the missing girl was last
seen, has launched libel proceedings against 11
newspapers and one television network.
[Source: www.telegraph.co.uk]
11/09/2008
Madeleine McCann complained to
mother Kate about being left crying alone.
Madeleine
McCann complained to her mother after she was left
crying and alone on the night before she disappeared,
leaked police documents have disclosed.
The little
girl, then aged three, spoke to Kate McCann at breakfast
the following morning and said: "Mummy, why didn’t you
come when we were crying last night?"
The question prompted
Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry to discuss keeping a
closer on eye on their children. However, just a few
hours after that conversation, Madeleine vanished from
their holiday apartment in the Algarve.
Friends said they now
believe Madeleine’s comment could even be a clue that an
intruder was in the flat on the night before her
disappearance and that they briefly disturbed her before
fleeing.
The detailed
revelations about Kate and her husband Gerry McCann’s
last day with Madeleine emerged during the couple’s trip
to Brussels on Thursday where they called for the
establishment of a missing child alert
system.
However, Mr and Mrs
McCann were furious that their witness statements – the
subject of Portuguese secrecy laws – were released on
the same day that they tried to promote child welfare
and safety.
Their spokesman
Clarence Mitchell said they were angry and disappointed
at the leaks, saying: "The only reason this has come out
is because of Kate and Gerry’s utter honesty in their
original statements.
"It is very curious
that this is being released now, having been sitting in
the police files for 11 months. The timing of this is
frankly suspicious."
Mr Mitchell demanded
an internal police inquiry in Portugal into how the leak
occurred: "We would be very interested to know what the
Portuguese justice minister would say about how this has
emerged from the police files on the day that it has, in
the way that it has.
"Kate and Gerry have
been nothing but honest and open and they have been the
victims of leaks and smears."
A friend of the couple
went further, describing the leak as a "blatantly
cynical attempt to smear them".
"The minute that you
talk about Madeleine crying is the minutes that the
vultures will move in and this is why this has been
leaked."
He said the McCanns
were conducting half hourly checks on Madeleine, so they
were surprised to learn that she had been
crying.
"It wasn’t really a
complaint or a scolding from Madeleine, it was a comment
in the morning."
Mr and Mrs McCann, who
are suspects in their daughter’s disappearance but have
not been accused of any wrong-doing, have never
discussed the events of the day of her disappearance -
May 3 last year - because of secrecy laws.
But in extracts read
out on Spanish broadcaster Telecinco’s late morning
programme El Programa de Ana Rosa, it emerged that Mrs
McCann had told police about a conversation she had with
Madeleine on the morning she disappeared.
he little girl, then
aged three, spoke to her mother because she had left her
and twins Sean and Amelie alone in the night. Mrs
McCann’s statement said: "While we were having
breakfast, Madeleine said: 'Mummy, why didn’t you come
when we were crying last night?’.
"Gerry and I spoke for
a couple of minutes and agreed to keep a closer watch
over the children."
After Madeleine’s
disappearance, Mr and Mrs McCann were criticised for
leaving their children while their dined at a tapas
restaurant nearby and have spoken of their guilt for
leaving them alone.
In his witness
statement, Mr McCann told police that workmen had gone
into their holiday apartment two days before Madeleine
vanished to fix a broken window shutter in the main
bedroom.
He told police he had
checked on Madeleine and the twins at around 9pm on May
3. "She was breathing softly and I thought how beautiful
she looked. I thought it was quite hot and I didn’t need
to cover her up."
He went on: "Kate came
running to the bar and said Madeleine’s not there,
someone has taken her."
"I thought it couldn’t
be and ran towards the apartment along the same route as
always. I looked everywhere.
"I returned to the
children room I tried to think what could have happened.
To my surprise I realised I could lift up the window
shutters without effort and almost without making
noise."
The disclosures came
as the McCanns announced they would not go back to
Portugal to mark the anniversary of Madeleine’s
disappearance.
Because they do not
believe they will be cleared of their arguido status
before May 3, they said they will not return to Praia da
Luz for the anniversary.
Portuguese detectives
want the McCanns to go to the Algarve for a
reconstruction but the couple’s lawyers are concerned
about being summoned back to Portugal.
The McCanns are
reluctant to go until the "cloud of suspicion"
surrounding them is lifted.
Mr McCann, 39, said:
"We do not know how long we are going to be
arguidos.
"The reconstruction is
still under discussion. We are not quite sure what form
it is going to take, whether it will be a Crimewatch
style programme with actors.
"We support anything
that would jog people’s memories, but we will certainly
not go back on May 3."
Mr and Mrs McCann went
to Belgium to garner support for the missing child alert
system.
Addressing MEPs at the
European Parliament, Mrs McCann, 40, said she believed
such a system might have helped find their
daughter.
"I believe the chances
of recovering Madeleine would have been higher, it would
have improved our chances.
"I am unable to convey
to you just how totally devastating Madeleine’s
abduction was, it has been totally awful."
Mrs McCann held a
photograph of Madeleine as she made her address to the
European parliament and kept her daughter’s favourite
toy Cuddle Cat in her handbag
"If anyone wanted to
inflict the maximum pain on us, they certainly achieved
that," she said. "But that pales into insignificance
when you think of what Madeleine has been through – the
fear, absolute fear that she has had to
endure.
"We implore you to
support our declaration. Please do not wait for another
child and family to suffer as we have."
[Source: www.telegraph.co.uk]
09/04/2008
Cops ask Kate
& Gerry McCann to do reconstruction on 'Crimewatch'
Madeleine reconstruction plan as Portugal detectives
quiz the Tapas 7
Kate and Gerry McCann
have been asked to return to Portugal to take part in a
Crimewatch-style reconstruction of the disappearance of
daughter Madeleine.
The Tapas Seven are
also being asked to help. Yesterday, Portuguese police
started to quiz the friends after flying to the
UK.
Last night, McCann
spokesman Clarence Mitchell gave the police request a
qualified welcome. But a family friend said it was
"insensitive and distressing".
Ten months ago,
Portuguese officers flatly refused to let BBC's
Crimewatch stage a similar event. Advertisement Click
here to find out more!
It is believed they
have now suggested that Kate, 40, and Gerry, 39, return
to the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz following the
first anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance on May
3.
Mr Mitchell said: "A
proposal from Portuguese police is being considered by
our lawyers. Kate and Gerry would welcome a
re-enactment. It could be broadcast around the world and
generate important new leads and information.
"But it would be
untrue to say they've been called back."
However, the angry
family friend hit back: "No thought appears to have been
given to the emotional effect this would have on the
parents, especially Kate.
"She's not sure she'd
be mentally strong enough to walk back into Madeleine's
bedroom in the holiday apartment and re-enact her
reactions. She finds the idea deeply
distressing.
"Would a lookalike
play Madeleine - and how could Kate cope with
that?
"If the reconstruction
were to be broadcast, they might do it in the hope it
might help the hunt for Madeleine.
"But if it was done in
private, then their lawyers would question police
motives."
Kate and Gerry, of
Rothley, Leics, are still official suspects in the
search for their four-year-old daughter.
Yesterday, Portuguese
officers led by Paulo Rebelo, 45, sat in as
Leicestershire detectives put prepared questions to the
first of the Tapas Seven, who dined with the McCanns on
the fateful night.
Jane Tanner, 37, of
Exeter, Devon, claims she saw a man making off with a
child in his arms on the night Madeleine
vanished.
Her partner,
consultant Dr Russell O'Brien, 36, will be the next to
be quizzed at Leicestershire police HQ in
Enderby.
Researcher David
Payne, 41, and his wife Fiona, 41, of Leicester, David's
mother Dianne Webster, 61, of Bedford, and Dr Matthew
Oldfield, 37, and his wife Rachael, 36, of Richmond,
Surrey, will follow. Each will be questioned purely as a
witness.
[Source: www.mirror.co.uk]
07/04/2008
As Portuguese
police fly to the UK to listen in on interviews with the
so-called "Tapas 7", what is known about the people who
are key witnesses in the disappearance of Madeleine
McCann?
The seven
friends who dined with Kate and Gerry McCann on the
night of Madeleine's disappearance are the central
witnesses in this case.
Their evidence
has been pored over by the police, and their backgrounds
closely scrutinised by journalists and bloggers
alike.
None of the
seven is a formal suspect or "arguido". and all have
cooperated willingly and voluntarily with the
investigation. Bound by judicial secrecy laws, most have
made no public comment about what they saw.
Their
friendship goes back a long way. Four of the group -
Matthew Oldfield, Russell O'Brien, David Payne and Fiona
Payne - studied medicine together at Leicester
University in the early 1990s - the Paynes becoming a
couple.
Timeline
Doctors Kate
and Gerry McCann moved to Leicestershire in 2000, and
quickly became part of the medical social
circle.
Three other
holidaymakers completed the table at the poolside tapas
restaurant on 3 May last year: Rachael Oldfield (married
to Matthew), Jane Tanner (partner of Russell O'Brien)
and Diane Webster (Fiona Payne's mother).
The couples had
travelled to the Algarve from East Midlands and Gatwick
airports, together with eight young children.
Following
Madeleine's disappearance, the nine adults collectively
provided the police with a timeline of the
evening.
As far as they
were concerned, the timeline was a common sense means of
speeding up the investigation; but elements within the
Portugal's Policia Judiciaria (investigating police)
seem to have interpreted the move as a closing of
ranks.
Either way, the
timeline is absolutely key to understanding what might
have happened to Madeleine.
This is how the
group recalled the evening:
Key
witness
Arguably the
most significant witness is Jane Tanner.
She has already
given detectives a detailed description of a man she
saw, close to the ground floor corner apartment where
the McCanns were staying.
She says he was
carrying a child, dressed in pinkish pyjamas - the same
colour that Madeleine was wearing that
evening.
The man has
never come forward or been traced by the police, leading
the McCanns to conclude that Jane Tanner almost
certainly witnessed their daughter being
abducted.
Last November,
Ms Tanner told the BBC's Panorama programme: "I know
what I saw, and I think it's important that people know
what I saw - because I believe Madeleine was abducted."
Based on her
account, the McCanns produced an artist's impression of
the man, in the hope that it might jog the memory of
other holidaymakers.
Of the
remaining friends, David Payne was the last person -
besides Kate and Gerry McCann - to see Madeleine alive
that evening, so his recollection of timing is
crucial.
Matthew
Oldfield was the only group member, beyond Madeleine's
parents, to enter the McCanns' apartment during the
dinner.
If Jane Tanner
did unwittingly see Madeleine's kidnapper, the timeline
suggests that the abduction took place before Mr
Oldfield made his check.
But not having
set foot in the children's bedroom, he cannot be sure of
whether the little girl was there or not.
Finally, three
of the group have offered significant evidence relating
to Robert Murat, the third arguido in the
case.
Russell
O'Brien, Fiona Payne and Rachael Oldfield all say they
saw Mr Murat later that evening, during the frantic
search for Madeleine.
Their testimony
is directly at odds with his assertion that he was at
home with his mother all night. Robert Murat says the
McCanns' three friends are, at best, confused; and, at
worst, lying. But they, in turn, remain certain of what
they saw.
[Source: www.bbc.co.uk] | 
