The purpose of
this site is for information and a record of Gerry McCann's Blog
Archives. As most people will appreciate GM deleted all past blogs
from the official website. Hopefully this Archive will be helpful to
anyone who is interested in Justice for Madeleine Beth McCann. Many
Thanks, Pamalam
Note: This site does not belong to the McCanns. It belongs to Pamalam. If
you wish to contact the McCanns directly, please use
the contact/email details
campaign@findmadeleine.com
A map showing where a man was seen carrying a child on the night
Madeleine McCann vanished has been released by Portuguese detectives.
The drawing, produced
by a friend of Gerry and Kate McCann, may show the last place the youngster was seen before she vanished without a trace.
The drawing was made by Jane Tanner,
one of the friends on holiday with the McCanns in the Algarve.
Click image to enlarge
It was released along with pictures of the McCanns' holiday apartment and thousands of pages of evidence compiled by police
investigating Madeleine's disappearance.
One of the documents lists the police questions Kate McCann refused to answer after being named an arguida - or official
suspect - in the case.
Another showed that detectives claimed Madeleine's DNA had been found in her parents' hire car, despite a British scientist's
warning days earlier that tests were inconclusive.
A family friend accused Portuguese officers of trying to extract a confession from Madeleine's father by lying about the
results of forensic analysis.
Authorities released the police files yesterday after lifting the period of judicial secrecy in the case.
The dossier includes details of the lines of inquiry pursued by detectives, forensic reports and witness statements and
transcripts of interviews with Mr McCann and his wife Kate.
Among the files is an email dated September 3, 2007, written by senior British forensic scientist John Lowe to Det Supt
Stuart Prior, head of the UK side of the investigation.
Mr Lowe, from the major incidents team at the Birmingham-based Forensic Science Service, said it was impossible to conclude
whether a sample from the McCanns' hire car came from their daughter Madeleine.
Four days later Portuguese detectives named Mr and Mrs McCann as formal suspects in the child's disappearance, citing forensic
evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
Police then categorically told Mr McCann in interview that his daughter's DNA had been found in the family's Renault Scenic
hire car.
The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, told Sky News: "I can confirm that the Portuguese police put it to Gerry as
a fact that Madeleine's DNA had been found in the apartment and the vehicle, when it is now clear that that was not the case,
and that the initial FSS report had said the findings were inconclusive.
"You have to ask what the police were trying to achieve by over-presenting evidence that they did not have, and clearly
could not claim to have."
He added: "All that matters is the search for Madeleine.
"Kate and Gerry's lawyers are continuing to examine all of the information in minute detail and where anything that is
relevant to finding Madeleine needs to be done it will be."
Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on
May 3 last year as her parents dined with friends nearby.
Despite a huge police investigation and massive coverage in the Portuguese and British media, she has not been found.
On July 21 Portuguese prosecutors announced they were shelving the case, although it can be reopened if credible new evidence
comes to light.
Page last updated at 10:13
GMT, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 11:13 UK
The
parents of Madeleine McCann have accused police in Portugal of exaggerating DNA evidence before naming them suspects in her
disappearance.
A UK forensic scientist had already warned DNA in their hire car was "inconclusive", it has been revealed.
His e-mail was in thousands of pages of evidence now been made public.
Madeleine vanished, aged three, on a holiday in the Algarve on 3 May 2007. Kate and Gerry McCann are no
longer suspects in the case.
Lack of evidence
The papers, which also include photographs of the family's deserted apartment, make clear that the McCanns
came under suspicion following a visit to Portugal by UK detectives last August.
Portuguese police cited DNA evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said police had told Mr McCann during interrogation
that his missing daughter's DNA had been found in the boot of the car - hired 24 days after her disappearance.
The investigation papers show a sniffer dog detected the apparent odour of a body in their hire car and
apartment, but tests on a sample from the car were inconclusive.
British forensic scientist John Lowe said the sample contained 15 out of 19 components of Madeleine's
DNA which were not "unique to her".
Mr Mitchell told the BBC: "I can confirm in his interview the police put to Gerry as a matter of fact
that DNA - Madeleine's DNA - had been found in the vehicle.
"You can see from the official report that wasn't the case. It was inconclusive at best.
"You have to ask yourself what the police were trying to achieve by overstating evidence they simply didn't
have in that way to Gerry."
The police inquiry into her disappearance was wound up last month due to a lack of evidence.
The McCanns and a third British national, Robert Murat, were declared to be no longer formal suspects
when the police closed the case. The McCanns and Mr Murat, 34, always strongly denied having had any involvement in what happened
to Madeleine.
Lawyers for the McCanns, both 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were given access to the documents last
week.
They are studying the papers for fresh leads that the couple's private detectives could follow up.
Mr Mitchell said: "One of the great frustrations for Kate and Gerry, through all this, was that they just
didn't get any information from the Portuguese of any real note at all.
"Now there is a chance to analyse this, and if there's anything that needs priority action in terms of
finding Madeleine.
"Such as was this area searched or not? Was there another sighting in a certain place, or not?
"All of that will be moved on quickly. But Kate and Gerry themselves are not fully aware of the mass of
detail yet, they're waiting for the lawyers to tell them in due course."
Police questions
Some 20,000 pages of evidence were released on Monday to journalists who had made a formal request to
prosecutors, including the BBC.
The sniffer dog's apparent detection of the odour of a body was followed by a second dog detecting what
was thought to be blood in the same locations.
The BBC's Steve Kingstone said the documents showed an initial report from Britain's forensic science
service saying the samples indicated some compatibility with the components of Madeleine's DNA.
However the laboratory did not draw firm conclusions and stressed that the samples contained the DNA of
more than one person.
In an e-mail dated 3 September 2007, John Lowe of the major incidents team of the Forensic Science Service
(FSS) said it was impossible to conclude whether the material taken from the car came from Madeleine.
The e-mail was translated into Portuguese the following day and four days later Portuguese detectives
named the McCanns arguidos - formal suspects - citing DNA evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
In his message to Det Supt Stuart Prior, head of the British side of the inquiry, Mr Lowe said a sample
from the boot of the McCanns' hire car, which they rented 24 days after Madeleine went missing, contained 15 out of 19 of
her DNA components.
But he cautioned that this result - based on the controversial "low copy number" DNA analysis technique
which uses very small samples - was "too complex for meaningful interpretation or inclusion".
The expert said the components of the missing girl's DNA profile were not unique to her - in fact some
were present among FSS scientists, including himself.
"We cannot answer the question: is the match genuine, or is it a chance match," he wrote.
Subsequent interview transcripts reveal that Kate McCann was asked directly: "Did you have anything to
do with the disappearance of your daughter?"
She refused to answer this and dozens of other questions, as was her legal right.
We are ploughing through the 30,000 pages of files released by Portugese police that make
up their investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance. Refresh throughout the day to hear what they say.
These are a list of questions that were sent to British police to ask the so-called "Tapas nine."
1. How long have you known Gerald McCann and Kate Healy (Kate's maiden name) and in what capacity?
2. Have you seen Kate and Gerald at home with their children?
3. Have you been on holiday with them before? If yes can you describe how they looked after the
children of an evening/night?
4.How often did you see Gerald and Kate during your holiday April 28 - May 3?
5. How often did you see their children: Madeleine, Sean and Amelie?
6. Did you have any concerns aobut the children in any way?
7. When was the last time you saw Madeleine?
8. On Thursday May 3 when did you see Kate and Gerald?
9. At what time did you arrive at the Tapas restaurant on May 3? Who was already there?
10. What were Kate and Gerald doing when you arrived?
11. Did you speak with Kate and Gerald?
12. How were they behaving?
13. Who left the table during the meal and to do what?
14. Did you see Gerald leave the table during the meal? At what time? How long was he away? What did he say when
he came back? Was his behaviour or attitude different when he returned?
15. Did you see Jane leave the table during the meal? At what time? How long was she away? What
did she say when she came back? Was her behaviour or attitude different when she returned?
16. Did you see Matthew leave the table during the meal? At what time? How long was he away? When did he say when he
came back? Was his behaviour or attitude different when he returned?
17. Did you see Russell leave the table? At what time? How long was he away? What did he say when
he came back? Was his behaviour or attitude different when he returned?
18. Did you see Kate leave the table during the meal? At what time? How long was she away? What did she say when he came
back? How did she look and behave? Where you shocked at what she said? What did you do?
19. Did you go to the McCann apartment? Did you go into the bedroom where the children were sleeping?
Can you describe what you saw? Did you see the twins? Did you notice anythin unusual about them?
20. What did you do next? Did you take part in any further searches? Who were you with?
21. How did Gerry react when Madeleine was not found in the first 10 minutes?
22. How do you think they were behaving considering Madeleine was gone?
23. What did you do between 10.30pm and 10am the next morning? Who did you see?
24. Who did you speak to?
25. When did you leave Portugal? How often did you see Kate and Gerry? How do you think Kate and
Gerald were behaving for parents who had lost a child?
26.Did you see either Kate or Gerry speaking to anyone on holiday that you did not know?
27. Did you see either Kate or Gerald in a car during the holiday.
As Kate and Gerry McCann and their lawyers trawl through newly-released police
files on their daughter's disappearance, their spokesman insists finding Madeleine remains the priority.
Clarence Mitchell told Sky News that the couple's lawyers were "very thoroughly"
going through thousands of pages of evidence handed to them by police last week.
"The lawyers could in theory, if they wanted to, take action or look for legal redress at some stage but
that is absolutely not the priority now," Mr Mitchell said.
"There could be one little nugget in there, in those tens of thousands of pages...that could lead to Madeleine,
and that's the priority."
Mr Mitchell also hit out at the Portuguese police, who told Gerry McCann during questioning that Madeleine's
DNA was found in the boot of the McCanns' hire car.
It has since emerged that the evidence was inconclusive.
Mr Mitchell said: "There seriously are questions as to what they were trying to achieve by overpresenting
evidence in that way.
"It was wrong, they did not have that evidence and they could not justifiably claim to have that evidence."
It is expected to take a long time for lawyers to analyse the extensive files, which comprise photographs,
transcripts, video and documents which need to be translated from Portuguese.
But Mr Mitchell said "money was not an issue for the moment", with more than £400,000 remaining in the
Find Madeleine fund.
He said it was "very much" the case that the McCanns still believed that their daughter - who disappeared
from her bedroom in the couple's Praia da Luz apartment on May 3 last year - was still alive.
"That's the hope they have to cling to. There is absolutely no evidence that she has been harmed, let
alone has been killed as many just assume.
"And in fact the longer this goes on, without any trace of her whatsoever, in a way they draw more strength
from that."
Revealed: The map drawn by witness who 'saw Madeleine
carried off into the night', 05 August 2008
Revealed: The map drawn by witness
who 'saw Madeleine carried off into the night' Daily Mail
By DAILY MAIL
REPORTER
Last updated at 10:31 AM on 05th August 2008
This
rough sketch map shows where a key witness was when she believes she saw Madeleine McCann being abducted by a mystery man
- and just how near the girl's father was at the time.
The drawing, revealed in the massive Portuguese
police files made public yesterday, was made by Jane Tanner, one of the friends on holiday with the McCanns in the Algarve
at the time.
It shows the layout of the Ocean Club resort
in Praia da Luz, where the party was staying.
Jane Tanner's map shows how she saw the mystery man carry Madeleine from
points 5 to 8 while Gerry McCann was chatting at point 3
The number 7 marks Apartment 5A, where Madeleine and her younger brother and sister Sean and Amelie were asleep on the
night of May 3 last year.
The entrance to the tapas restaurant where their parents Kate and Gerry McCann were dining with friends is shown with the
number 1.
But more importantly the sketch reveals that Ms Tanner, marked 4, was just yards away from the man she saw carrying a young
child who she is convinced was Madeleine.
Until now it has not been clear exactly where the witness was standing at this potentially crucial moment.
The man walked across the top of the road - from point 5 to point 8 - as she approached him, the map makes clear.
And all the while Mr McCann was obliviously standing chatting to Jeremy Wilkins, a friend he had made on the holiday, further
down the road - marked 3 on the drawing.
The pair did not even notice Ms Tanner as she walked past them from the tapas restaurant.
Maddy police were no Poirots, mock their own prosecutors, 05
August 2008
Maddy police were no Poirots, mock their own prosecutors
Evening Standard
Jack Lefley in Portimao
05.08.08
The
Portuguese police inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann was condemned in the strongest terms by the country's
public prosecutors, new documents revealed today.
Detectives were criticised for establishing
"no element of proof " about what happened to Madeleine or even whether she was alive or dead.
Public prosecutors in Portimao overseeing
the case said that none of the reasons her parents Gerry and Kate McCann were made official suspects, or "arguidos", were
ever "confirmed or consolidated".
Detectives were even compared unfavourably
with fictional sleuths Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot as they were lambasted for achieving "very little in terms of conclusive
results".
Police tactics were revealed in a 20,000-page
"Madeleine File", detailing all aspects of the 14-month investigation made public yesterday.
Madeleine, three, vanished from her family's
holiday apartment at Praia da Luz on 3 May last year. The police file included pictures of the room and Madeleine's bed. Her
parents are now likely to take legal action against police in the country.
The case was initially led by top investigator
Goncalo Amaral, who last month published a book on the investigation entitled Maddie The Truth about the Lie.
The huge police dossier contained a report
by public prosecutors Joao Melchior Gomes and Jose de Magalhaes e Menezes about why the couple were not charged with any offence.
The report refers to the "objective circumstances"
which justify the " noninvolvement of the parents of Madeleine in any relevant criminal act".
It said they were not in the apartment
when Madeleine disappeared and noted their "normal behaviour adopted before the disappearance and afterwards".
It said that "in reality, none of the
indications which led to them being made arguidos came to be confirmed or consolidated later".
"No element of proof whatsoever was found
which allows us to form any lucid, sensible, serious and honest conclusion about the circumstances" of Madeleine's disappearance
from the apartment ... including, and most dramatically, establishing whether she is alive or dead, which seems more probable."
It continued: "The investigators are well
aware that their work is not exempt from imperfections.
"They worked with an enormous margin of
error and they achieved very little in terms of conclusive results, especially with regards to the fate of the unfortunate
child. This is not, unfortunately, a police story, a crime fit for the investigative mind of a Sherlock Holmes or a Hercule
Poirot, guided by the illusion that the forces of law and justice always restore order."
The report also revealed why the McCanns
were not charged with " abandonment" of their children on the night Madeleine vanished. It said the couple did not knowingly
leave their children in any danger and had been "keeping an eye on them".
It continued: "While it is a fact that
Madeleine disappeared from the Ocean Club apartment, the circumstances and manner of how this happened is not known.It is
obvious that neither of the defendants, Gerald or Kate, acted with intent ... they could not predict that the resort they
had chosen to spend a few days' holiday would leave the lives of any of their children in danger.
"It was located in a quiet place, where
the majority of residents are foreign citizens of the same nationality and without any known history of this type of crime.
"Although they left their daughter alone
with her siblings in the apartment, sometimes for extended periods, it's true that, in any case, they were keeping an eye
on them. We must also recognise that the parents are already paying a heavy penalty - the disappearance of Madeleine - for
their carelessness in monitoring and protecting their children."
The prosecutors also rejected the theory
that the couple had been involved in disposing of their daughter's body saying: "It would be always left to explain how, where,
when, with what means, with whose help, in a restricted space and time."
A source close to the McCanns' legal team
said action against the Portuguese police was now increasingly likely. He said: "Given this blatant misrepresentation of evidence,
legal action against the Portuguese police is very much on the agenda.
"The lawyers are considering very seriously
whether action needs to be taken against individual officers when evidence was clearly misrepresented in such obvious ways
at such crucial times."
The couple's official spokesman Clarence
Mitchell said the priority was still the search for Madeleine but admitted legal action against the police was an option.
Sky News has translated a timeline from the files released by Portuguese police
yesterday how the investigation took shape from the time Madeliene was reported missing.
1. 3/ 05/07, 2240: Lagos police received call that a British national, a three-year-old girl, called
Madeleine McCann was missing.
2. 3/05/07, 2300: Police and army arrive to join searches
3. 3/5/07: It was unclear how she had disappeared while sleeping with her two siblings while her
parents dined 50 metres away.
2317: The Lagos police received a call from army saying that the parents were worried that she
may have been abducted.
4. 3/5/07:The police chief immediately joined the search and asked the soldiers helping to preserve
the apartment, as they joined the search already carried out by the father of the missing girl.
5. 0040: The police asked for additional reinforcements to the searches
6. Overnight the search area widened from the ocean club and neighbourhood to empty plots in the
area
7. 4/5/07: As the girl had been missing more than 12 hours Portuguese police sent a police chief
to head all searches
8. 4/5/07: Helicopters were included in the search
9. 4/5/07: Searches continued during the day and night of May 4. Due to the vegetation in the area
police and army were searching extensively as a small child would not necessarily be visible from a distance
10. 4/5/07: On May 4 additional support was requested from traffic police in Albufeira to join
the search
11. 5/5/07: On May 5 due to the lack of result over the previous two days of searches the searches
became more systematic as police divided the area into 17 sectors
12. 6/5/07, 0800: On the third day of searches, May 6 from 0800 the police had to start considering
the hypothesis that the child had been abducted and if this was the case a new scenario would present itself that the child
may be alive or dead (the latter being the most likely) and disposed of by an agressor. [P9-10 POINT 36 IN vol XII p200]
13. 6/5/07: Following this hypothesis police starting investigating the possibility that she may
have been taken to a location quite far from where she was staying.
14. 8/5/07: On the 5th day of searches the police called on the coast guard to search the Bravura
dam in case she had fallen in. After 72 hours a body would float to the surface.
Conclusion:
- searches between May 4 and May 10 were extended to a 15 km radius from the village of Praia de Luz.
- searches were extended to sea and lakes in the area with aid of the Marine authorities and using special
equipement at their disposal.
- all areas were searched extensively and all avenues for finding the missing child were covered.
McCann's Hope For New Lead, 05 August 2008
McCann's Hope For New Lead
Aug 5, 2008
Startling details are emerging from the newly-released Portuguese police files on the Madeleine McCann investigation.
Speaking on Sky News the McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said they hoped their lawyers could find something that could
lead to finding Madeleine.
(00:04:09)
Revealed: The Maddie e-fits the public never saw, 05 August 2008
Revealed: The Maddie e-fits the public never saw Daily Mail
By DAILY
MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 1:06 PM on 05th August 2008
Two strikingly similar e-fits of suspects in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann were released by Portuguese
police today.
As the files of the investigation into the four-year-old's abduction were made public, two pictures of
possible suspects have been unearthed for the first time.
Even though either of the men in these images could have abducted Madeleine, Portuguese police did not
release them during the investigation.
Both pictures show two men who are both in their late-20s to early 30s and who both have medium-length
dark hair.
The e-fits of the two male suspects were not released during the investigation
The image on the left was created with the help of British tourist Derek Flack, from Ilford, Essex.
The photo of the man with a side parting and slightly longer hair was provided with the help of a Portuguese man, according
to the files.
Questions will now no doubt be asked by the McCanns' team as to why these e-fits were never released in the crucial days
after their daughter went missing.
During the police investigation only two e-fits were released by Portuguese police.
One photo, which was widely ridiculed, showed only what appeared to be an egg with a few strands of stray hair.
The other showed a man with long straggly hair and prominent front teeth who had been seen hanging around the front of
the McCanns' apartment.
(article continues with Tanner sketch as reported before)
*
Note: The 'egg with hair' sketch was NOT released by the PJ. It was drawn by a local video/internet cafe owner, Simon
Russell, after being shown a computerised image by the PJ. We have never seen that original image to judge how accurate Russell's
sketch was.
Likewise, the 'toothy man' was NOT released by the PJ, it was released by the McCanns, through Clarence Mitchell, at
a press conference in January.
Page last updated at 13:49 GMT, Tuesday, 5 August
2008 14:49 UK
The parents of missing Madeleine McCann
have "drawn strength" from the lack of any evidence in police files that she is dead, said their spokesman.
Clarence Mitchell was speaking after the release of thousands of Portuguese police documents on the case.
He told the BBC: "They hope against hope she is being held somewhere".
Kate and Gerry McCann have accused police of exaggerating DNA evidence to name them as suspects after
Madeleine vanished, aged three, in May 2007.
The police inquiry into the girl's disappearance was wound up last month due to a lack of evidence.
The McCanns and a third British national, Robert Murat - who have always strongly denied having had any
involvement in what happened to Madeleine - were then declared to no longer be formal suspects.
The Portuguese police files, made public on Monday, include details of the lines of inquiry pursued, forensic
reports, pictures of the bedroom where Madeleine was sleeping, witness statements and transcripts of interviews with the McCanns.
Among the files was a prosecutor's report that said the investigation had uncovered "very little" conclusive
about Madeleine's fate.
In their final 58-page report, dated 21 July, public prosecutors Jose de Magalhaes e Menezes and Joao
Melchior Gomes noted that detectives were unable to achieve any proof.
They added: "This includes the most dramatic thing, ascertaining whether she is still alive or dead -
which seems the most probable."
They went on to say investigators were aware their work was "not exempt from imperfections".
"This is not, unfortunately, a detective novel, a crime scenario fit for the investigative efforts of
a Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, guided by the illusion that the forces of law and justice can always re-establish order,"
they said.
'Sighting' dismissed
They said Kate and Gerry McCann could not have predicted that "in the resort they chose to spend their
holidays they could place the life of any of their children in danger".
Other new information revealed in the files includes the account of one witness who reported seeing a
man carrying a young girl with blonde hair on the night of the disappearance. He later told the police the man could have
been Madeleine's father.
Martin Smith, 58, who was on holiday at the time, was interviewed by detectives in Portugal and his native
Ireland but the line of inquiry was later discarded.
Four months after his initial statement Mr Smith contacted the police to say he had seen Madeleine's parents
arriving back in Britain on BBC News, and the way Gerry McCann carried one of the couple's twins reminded him of the man he
had seen in Portugal.
When detectives replayed video footage of the couple's arrival at East Midlands airport, the witness said
he was 60-80% sure that the man he passed was Gerry McCann.
But this was later dismissed by prosecutors because at the time of the sighting, shortly before 2200,
Gerry McCann was sitting in the Ocean Club's tapas bar with other members of his party.
The papers also confirmed that police focus turned to the McCanns following a visit to Portugal by UK
detectives last August.
Portuguese police cited DNA evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
Clarence Mitchell said police had told Mr McCann during interrogation that his missing daughter's DNA
had been found in the boot of the car - hired 24 days after her disappearance.
But an e-mail from a UK forensic scientist had already warned that DNA samples taken from the couple's
hire car was "inconclusive".
The investigation papers show a sniffer dog detected the apparent odour of a body in their hire car and
apartment, and a second dog detected what was thought to be blood in the same locations.
British forensic scientist John Lowe, of the major incidents team of the Forensic Science Service (FSS),
said the car sample contained 15 out of 19 components of Madeleine's DNA but they were not "unique to her".
In an e-mail dated 3 September 2007 he said it was impossible to conclude whether the material taken from
the car came from Madeleine.
The e-mail was translated into Portuguese the following day and four days later detectives named the McCanns
arguidos, or formal suspects.
Mr Mitchell told the BBC: "You have to ask yourself what the police were trying to achieve by overstating
evidence they simply didn't have in that way to Gerry."
Interview transcripts in the documents reveal that Kate McCann was asked directly if she had anything
to do with the disappearance of her daughter.
She refused to answer this and nearly 50 other questions, as was her legal right, following advice from
her lawyer.
"Her lawyers told her not to answer because there was a fear the questions could be leading," said Mr
Mitchell.
Lawyers for the McCanns, both 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were given access to the police documents
last week.
They are studying the papers for fresh leads that the couple's private detectives could follow up.
*
Police release Madeleine files
Page last updated at 09:07
GMT, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 10:07 UK
Prosecutors in Portugal have released files relating to their inquiry into the disappearance
of Madeleine McCann.
The McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell has told the BBC that the couple had not given up hope on finding
the missing four-year-old, and that lawyers would examine the files for any clues that could assist in the hunt for Madeleine.
(00:02:47)
*
No 'signs' of Madeleine death
Page last updated at 13:50 GMT, Tuesday, 5 August 2008
14:50 UK
FORMER Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat stares into the camera as cops take his mugshot.
The picture was made public last night after Portuguese cops opened up their files on the Maddie investigation.
The British ex-pat was given 'aguido' status by Portuguese police before he was formally cleared last month.
Murat, 34, was made a suspect in the case days after then three-year-old Maddie disappeared in Praia da Luz, Portugal,
on 3 May 2007.
He repeatedly protested his innocence.
Mr Murat lives with his mother Jenny, 71, in a nearby house in the Algarve village.
When he was first identified as a suspect, Mr Murat said he had been made a "scapegoat" for something he had not done.
During the police search, the former property developer became well known to journalists and told them he had been helping
police with translation work.
He was cleared as a suspect along with Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann.
Sky
News is ploughing through the 30,000 pages of files released by Portuguese police that make up their investigation into Madeleine
McCann's disappearance.
Refresh throughout the day to hear what they say.
::A document contained within the file from Portuguese police details why the McCanns were made Arguidos.
:: When police raided the McCann's rented villa in Praia a Luz they seized a bible and press clippings
showing an advert for children's drug Calpol and an article about the McCann's "wall of silence"
:: Between 1 and 8 of August Portuguese police used sniffer dogs, trained to find human blood as well
as people, to search five apartments at the holiday complex; Robert Murat's property in Praia Da Luz; the McCanns' new occupancy
at Praia Da Luz; clothing from the McCann residence; Western beach in Praia Da Luz; Eastern beach in Praia Da Luz; 10 vehicles
screened at Portimao.
:: Of the five apartments, the only report came from apartment 5a, the reported scene. The report said
the dog alerted the rear bedroom in the immediate right-hand corner; the living room, behind the sofa; the veranda outside
the parents' bedroom; the garden area directly under the veranda.
:: Nothing was found in Robert Murat's apartment or the McCanns' new apartment.
:: The Enhanced Vicitm Recovery dog (EVRD) did indicate one set of clothing. The report's author, though,
says there are no further details.
:: The EVRD indicated a "scent" emitting from the right door of the McCann's car. It was then subject
to a "full and physical examination and "no human remains were found."
:: The dog used to smell human blood was then tasked to screen the vehicle and alerted police to the "rear
driver's side of the boot area". Forensic samples were taken and sent to a laboratory in the UK.
:: People from countries including Holland and Malta rang to inform police they had seen Madeleine. There
was one "sighting" on a flight from New York to Brussels.
:: The files detail all kinds of other so-called sightings from people all over Europe and beyond.
:: Sky News has also found an email in the police files that was sent to Gerry McCann from a man claiming
to know what happened to Madeleine. Police tracked it down to the Netherlands and found a cyber cafe with no CCTV. He/she
asks for 2 million EUROS as a reward for the information, asking for an advance of 500,000.
:: The files show efits of two men based on descriptions from witnesses at the time. The files were sent
to Interpol. Crucially, they were not given to the media.
:: Receipt from the "Tapas nine's" meal on the evening show that there was only two bottles of wine
drunk between them.
:: Sky News has found a CCTV photocopy of Repsol petrol station on 4 May 2007 (day after Maddy disappeared)
were a child matching Madeleine's description was spotted Police have written "negativo" on it showing it wasn't Madeleine.
There are several other pictures in different locations.
:: The files quote Portuguese public prosecuters who ruled their was "very little" conclusive in the police
investigation with detectives failing to prove if Madeleine was dead or alive.
:: Sky News has translated a timeline by police taken from the files released yesterday showing events
from when Madeleine's disappearance was reported to them and how the investigation took shape.
:: Among the pages of the Portuguese Madeleine file were a list of questions put to Kate McCann which
she refused to answer.
:: The dossier shows a list of questions that were sent to British police to ask the so-called "Tapas
seven."
Madeleine McCann: Text of Kate McCann's letter to Paulo Rebelo,
06 August 2008
Madeleine McCann: Text of Kate McCann's letter to Paulo
Rebelo Telegraph
This is the full text of Kate McCann's letter to Paulo Rebelo, the detective
who took over the Madeleine McCann investigation in October last year:
Last Updated: 10:24AM BST 06 Aug 2008
---
4th December 2007
Dear Mr Rebelo,
I hope you do not mind me writing to you and that you will read my letter. I am Madeleine McCann's mother.
I am not sure if you are a parent or not, but for my husband and myself, and the whole of our family,
the last seven months has been the most difficult, sad and unbearable time that any parent could possibly imagine. Madeleine
is the most precious thing in our life.
As her mother, the pain and anxiety I feel for her is indescribable and the feeling of helplessness overwhelming.
The 'accusations' and media smearing, although upsetting, are very much secondary.
I am appealing to you as a fellow human being to work with us (if possible include us) and to remember
that we are Madeleine's parents and have needs.
With regard to this latter point, I would be grateful if you were able to keep us informed to some degree
as to how the investigation is going - what work is being done to help find our daughter etc.
I'm sure you will agree that this request is not unreasonable and is in fact humane.
I am fairly familiar now with the workings of 'judicial secrecy' but even if we could have a little bit
of information in the broadest of terms it would help.
Lack of communication and a void of information, particularly as the parent of a missing child, is torture.
We will continue to work with the PJ (and are keen to do so as soon as possible!) as we have done since that moment when I
discovered that Madeleine had been taken.
This shouldn't be about 'finger-pointing blame', nor should it be about differences in culture. It should
be about a beautiful, innocent little girl who is still missing. She is the victim in all of this.
It would be good for Madeleine if we could all work together to help find her and the person(s) who took
her.
I would be very grateful if you could give some thought and consideration to my letter and look forward
to your reply. I can only ask.
Yours sincerely,
Kate McCann.
Kate begged for news of hunt for Maddie but Portuguese police ignored her,
06 August 2008
Kate begged for news
of hunt for Maddie but Portuguese police ignored her Daily Mail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 11:57 AM on 06th August 2008
Kate
McCann wrote a desperate letter about the search for her daughter to the head of the Portuguese police investigation, it emerged
today.
She wrote to Paulo Rebelo after he replaced disgraced Goncalo Amaral as chief investigator to beg him
to give her and Gerry news about the hunt for Madeleine.
The letter was buried in the 20,000 pages of evidence made public this week. It was written 'to the heart'
of Mr Rebelo and appealed to him as a father - but he never replied.
'Madeleine is the most beautiful thing in the our lives,' Mrs McCann wrote to Mr Rebelo, and said the
pain she was suffering was 'impossible to describe'.
She added the time since she vanished had been 'the most difficult, sad and unbearable time that any parent
could possibly imagine.
'I am appealing to you as a fellow human being to work with us (if possible include us) and to remember
that we are Madeleine's parents and have needs,' she said.
'Lack of communication and a void of information, particularly as the parent of a missing child, is torture.'
She also said she felt 'impotent' in the face of the accusations and 'libels' in the press and pleaded
to be kept informed of the investigation's progress.
Mrs McCann described her plea as 'rational and humane' and said the lack of information from the PJ -
Portugal's CID - was 'torture' for any parent whose child had disappeared.
She also referred to a climate of 'war' between the police and the family and between the PJ and the British
police.
It is thought that the McCanns repeatedly attempted to contact Mr Rebelo and even asked for face-to-face
meetings but he never responded.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'Kate only ever received a formal response saying it would
be passed on to the relevant person.'
Mr Rebelo took over as chief investigator last October when Mr Amaral was thrown off the case after criticising
British police, claiming they were working too closely with the McCanns.
The evidence emerging since the official secrecy was lifted also shows Portuguese police withheld potentially
crucial information after Madeleine's disappearance in May last year, including sightings and e-fits of possible suspects.
Lawyers for the McCanns, both 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were given access to the police files
last week.
They are studying them for fresh leads that their private detectives can follow up in their own search.
Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in the Algarve resort
of Praia da Luz.
Representatives of the McCanns were today in talks with the BBC's Crimewatch programme in a bid to reinvigorate
the search by filming a definitive reconstruction of events.
It would see BBC film crews travel to the Algarve to put together an international appeal drawing upon
all the new details.
A family friend said: 'The call will be made today to see if we can make it happen.'
McCanns rowed and slept in separate rooms the night before Madeleine vanished,
06 August 2008
McCanns rowed and slept in separate rooms the night
before Madeleine vanished Daily Mail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 2:03 PM on 06th August 2008
Kate McCann
slept in her children's bedroom the night before Madeleine disappeared after rowing with her husband, the police files reveal.
The dossier of evidence includes Mrs McCann's witness statement from September
6 last year - the day before she was made an 'arguido', or formal suspect, in the case.
Detectives asked Madeleine's mother whether she ever slept in her daughter's
room in the family's apartment in the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, southern Portugal.
She confirmed that this happened part way through their holiday, on the
night of May 2 last year, after she argued with her husband Gerry because he ignored her.
The next night Madeleine vanished as her parents ate with friends at a nearby
restaurant.
The witness statement reads: 'When asked if she ever slept in Madeleine's
room, she said that happened on Wednesday because she had fallen out with Gerry after he ignored her after dinner when they
went to the tapas bar.
'This only happened on that day. She decided to retaliate by sleeping in
another room in the bed near the window.
'She does not know whether Gerry was aware that she slept in the other room
as he was already asleep when she left.
'If in fact her husband was aware of this situation, he did not comment
on it.'
Mrs McCann also told police that Madeleine slept in the room she and her
husband occupied on May 1 last year.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, refused to comment on the contents
of the witness statement.
The police files also reveal the couple did not sit next to each other at
dinner on the night Madeleine vanished.
Mrs McCann drew a plan showing where the McCanns and their friends were
sitting at the tapas restaurant at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on May 3 last year.
The diagram reveals that Fiona Payne sat between the couple.
The friends on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine went missing - who
have become known as the 'Tapas Seven' - were crucial to the investigation.
They were moving around the Ocean Club complex throughout the evening checking
on their children.
One of the seven, Jane Tanner, believes she saw Madeleine being abducted
but did not realise it at the time.
The other people dining with the McCanns that night were Rachael and Matthew
Oldfield, Ms Tanner's partner Russell O'Brien and Mrs Payne's husband David and her mother Dianne Webster.
Another image from the files shows an aerial shot of the trail followed
by sniffer dogs searching for Madeleine and where it ran cold.
Mr and Mrs McCann alway strenuously denied any involvement in her disappearance.
Portuguese prosecutors shelved the case and formally cleared them on July 21.
Trail: An aerial shot of Praia da Luz, showing where the Portuguese sniffer dogs lost the
scent of Madeleine last year
KATE and Gerry McCann rowed and slept in separate bedrooms the night before daughter Maddie was snatched from
their holiday apartment in Portugal.
Evidence in the police files released earlier this week says that in an
interview on September 6, Kate, 40, told detectives she was angry with her Gerry because he had ignored her during dinner
at the Tapas Bar restaurant.
The astonishing claim came as a letter to Portuguese cop Paulo Rebelo was
also released in the files, in which Kate begs for the police to join forces with her and Gerry in the hunt for Maddie.
On the night before Maddie disappeared Kate slipped off and slept in the
children's room with Maddie, then three, and twins Sean and Amelie, then two.
The witness statement reads: "When asked if she ever slept in Madeleine's
room, she said that happened on Wednesday because she had fallen out with Gerry after he ignored her after dinner when they
went to the tapas bar.
"This
only happened on that day. She decided to retaliate by sleeping in another room in the bed near the window.
"She does not know whether Gerry was aware that she slept in the other room
as he was already asleep when she left.
"If in fact her husband was aware of this situation, he did not comment
on it."
Mrs McCann also told police that Madeleine slept in the room she and her
husband occupied on May 1 last year.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, refused to comment on the contents
of the witness statement.
Letter
During the interview Kate also vigorously denied she had left Madeleine
crying alone for an hour the night before she vanished.
The GP insisted it was Amelie who had been crying, and only for a short
time.
The couple brought Amelie into bed with them after being alerted to her
tears by Maddie.
In the newly released letter written by a frantic Kate, she begs Portuguese
police to join forces with them in the hunt for missing Maddie and end the "war" raging between them.
Kate, 40, wrote to chief investigator Paulo Rebelo shortly after he replaced
disgraced former head Goncalo Amaral telling him "Madeleine is the most beautiful thing in our lives."
The letter is dated December 4 last year and is included in the 17 volumes
of case files made public earlier this week.
She described the "difficult, sad and unbearable times" she and husband
Gerry were going through since being made formal suspects.
She told him she was suffering a pain that was "impossible to describe"
and felt "impotent" in the face of accusations and "libels" in the press.
Kate pleaded to be told of the investigation's progress, while recognising
the restrictions imposed on Mr Rebelo by Portugal’s strict secrecy laws.
She was desperate to end the "war" between the Portuguese Judicial Police
on one side, and the McCanns and the British police on the other.
The important thing was to be reunited in the hunt for Madeleine's abductor,
she said.
But no response from Mr Rebelo is recorded, reports claim.
Mr Rebelo replaced Goncalo Amaral, 48, as the chief investigator in October
last year.
Amaral was thrown off the case for criticising British police, claiming
they were working too closely with Gerry and Kate McCann.
In another revelation from the case files, prosecutors said the McCanns
had lost the chance to prove their innocence when they and their holiday friends refused to take part in a reconstruction
of the night of May 3 last year.
They said the investigation "was undermined" by the failure to carry out
a reconstruction "which could have removed any doubts about the parents' innocence," according to a document revealed in newspaper
Jornal de Noticias.
Paulo Rebelo wanted to carry out the reconstruction in March.
But the McCanns and their holiday friends, known as the Tapas Nine, gave
"conditions" on which they would take part.
Meanwhile the McCanns' lawyers are considering asking for the case to be
re-opened after gaining access to the case files last week.
Rogerio Alves said they must apply for the case to be re-opened by September
20.
Madeleine disappeared from the family's rented holiday apartment in Praia
da Luz on May 3 last year.
Her parents were named suspects last September.
Last month the country's attorney general removed their "arguido" status
- along with Robert Murat - and said there was no evidence they had committed any crime.
Sky News videos, 06 August 2008
Possible Madeleine Holland Sighting
Aug 6, 2008
More extraordinary
evidence from Portuguese police files on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has come to light. It includes a potential
lead from a shop assistant in Amersterdam who said she saw a girl calling herself "Maddy". Ashish Joshi reports.
(00:01:51)
Kate's Letter To Portugal Cop
Video: (00:01:08)
12:37pm UK, Wednesday August 06, 2008
Kate McCann sent an emotional letter to the head of the Portuguese police begging him to
keep her informed during the investigation into her daughter Madeleine's disappearance.
In it she pleaded for an end to "finger-pointing blame" and a return to finding "a beautiful, innocent little girl who
is still missing", case files revealed today.
Writing three months after being named an official suspect in the investigation, Mrs McCann wrote of her "indescribable"
pain and anxiety since Madeleine went missing.
The plea is included in the huge dossier of evidence assembled in the case which was publicly released this week.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell confirmed that Mrs McCann wrote a letter to Paulo Rebelo shortly after he took over
the inquiry in October last year.
The Portuguese police failed to respond to her requests, issuing only a formal note indicating it would be included in
the police file.
In the letter, Mrs McCann, 40, from Rothley, Leicestershire, described Madeleine as "the most precious thing in our life",
adding that the period since she went missing had been "the most difficult, sad and unbearable time that any parent could
possibly imagine".
The "lack of communication" from Mr Rebelo's predecessors had been "torture".
It is understood that Mr Rebelo, who was appointed head of the investigation on October 9, has never met or spoken to
either Kate or Gerry McCann.
The couple's lawyers are studying the case files for fresh leads that hired private detectives can follow up in their
own search for their daughter.
Aerial photo shows sniffer dog trail following Maddie's scent took them to nearby
car park, 06 August 2008
Aerial photo shows sniffer dog trail following Maddie's scent took them to nearby car
parkDaily Mail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 4:41 PM on 06th August 2008
This aerial
photograph shows the trail that police sniffer dogs took as they tracked Madeleine McCann's scent.
Two trained dogs were taken to the family's holiday apartment and followed
a trail some 100 yards to a nearby car park - where British holiday-maker Derek Flack told police he had seen a man staring
at the McCanns' flat.
But they were only used at 11.45pm on May 8 - five days after Madeleine's
disappearance - despite their handlers advising that the search should be done within 48 hours.
Trail: An aerial shot of Praia da Luz, showing where the Portuguese sniffer dogs lost the
scent of Madeleine last year
The latest police blunder was revealed in the huge case files, which included the aerial photograph, showing the two
dogs' tracks in red and yellow.
Police believed the trail followed by both dogs could have shown that Madeleine had walked out of the apartment herself,
trying to find her parents.
They discounted it as evidence towards a possible abduction as it would have involved Madeleine's captor taking her in
a virtual circle around the apartment block and past the complex's swimming pool, while her parents ate dinner in the tapas
bar on the other side of the pool.
The dogs lost the trail in the car park, and their Portuguese handlers said they could have been distracted by the odour
of nearby bin bags left out in the heat.
Kate McCann had given the dog team a towel she had used to dry Madeleine after a bath, and they took her scent from that.
In August last year British specialist sniffer dogs were taken inside the McCanns' holiday apartment, where they were
said to have detected minute traces of blood and the 'scent of death'.
Their behaviour was pivotal in the Portuguese police's decision to name the couple as official suspects in their daughter's
disappearance.
But it was revealed this week that detectives acted despite a warning from British scientists that there was no conclusive
DNA evidence to support their wild theory that Madeleine died in the family's apartment.
*
Later update/rewrite of this article:
Aerial photo shows sniffer dog trail following Madeleine's scent took them to nearby car park Daily Mail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 11:22 PM on 06th August 2008
The Portuguese police files give pinpoint details of the route which police sniffer dogs followed as they tracked Madeleine's
scent.
Two trained dogs were taken to the family's holiday apartment and followed a trail some 100 yards to a nearby car park
– where British tourist Derek Flack told police he had seen a man staring at the McCanns' flat.
But the dogs were not used until May 8 – five days after Madeleine's disappearance – despite their handlers
advising that the search should be done within 48 hours.
Kate McCann gave the team a towel she had used to dry Madeleine after a bath.
But Portuguese police discounted the dogs' trail as evidence for an abduction as it would have involved Madeleine's captor
taking her in a virtual circle around the apartment block and past the holiday complex swimming pool, while her parents ate
dinner on the other side of the pool.
They believed the trail could have been made if Madeleine had walked out herself, trying to find her parents.
The dogs lost the trail in the car park, and their Portuguese handlers said they could have been distracted by the smell
of nearby bin bags left out in the heat.
In August last year British specialist sniffer dogs were taken inside the McCanns' apartment, where they were said to
have detected minute traces of blood and the 'scent of death'.
The dogs' behaviour was pivotal in the Portuguese police decision to name the couple as official suspects in their daughter's
disappearance.
The latest police blunder was revealed in the huge case files, which included the aerial photograph, showing the two
dogs' tracks in red and yellow.
Their behaviour was pivotal in the Portuguese police's decision to name the couple as official suspects in their daughter's
disappearance.
But it was revealed this week that detectives acted despite a warning from British scientists that there was no conclusive
DNA evidence to support their wild theory that Madeleine died in the family's apartment.
A REDBRIDGE man provided important evidence for the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, files reveal.
The British toddler has been missing for over a year since disappearing from her parent’s holiday apartment in
Portugal, and now the case has been shelved, previously confidential documents can finally be examined.
Among the details is the testamony of 60-year-old Derek Flack, of Ilford, who was staying in his holiday home in Praia
da Luz when he saw a suspicious man gazing towards the Ocean Club complex, where Madeleine and her family were staying.
A Portuguese police report in the file states: "He then realised the man was staring fixedly at the area in question,
very focused on what he was doing, and did not notice Flack's presence."
The man Mr Flack saw was white, aged from 25 to 35 with tanned skin and appeared to be looking at a van parked near a
footpath giving access to the back of apartment 5A, where the McCanns were staying.
The report continues: "He concluded that the man was monitoring the movements near that path and into the apartment.
The man looked suspicious, he was watching the apartment.
"Flack said he does not remember seeing the man there before, or anywhere else in Luz, or since Madeleine's disappearance."
Copy of the actual letter Kate McCann sent to Paulo Rebelo,
06 August 2008
Copy of the actual letter Kate McCann sent to Paulo Rebelo:
Madeleine McCann's parents consider Crimewatch reconstruction,
06 August 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann are in talks with Crimewatch about staging a reconstruction
of the night Madeleine disappeared after being given access to the police files.
By Caroline Gammell in Portimao
Last Updated: 8:44PM BST 06 Aug 2008
Portuguese
police wanted to hold a re-run of events earlier this year, but the little girl's parents were reluctant to take part while
they were still suspects in the case.
Now the official investigation has been shelved and their arguido status
lifted, the McCanns are looking into the possibility of setting up their own reconstruction, filmed by the BBC.
The couple's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We have had low level contact
with Crimewatch ever since they wanted to do something with us last year. We are talking to them again.
"Kate and Gerry may well take part - it is certainly something that they
would consider. Given that we have a lot of new information, it may be something that we revisit, but nothing is confirmed."
The McCanns and the seven friends dining with them on the night three-year-old
Madeleine vanished from the family's apartment would all need to fly to the Algarve to take part.
According to the public prosecutors in the case - Jose de Magalhaes and
Joao Melchior Gomes – the failure to hold a re-enactment had worked against the parents.
"It could have removed any doubts about the parents' innocence," they said.
Daily Mirror - front page, 07 August 2008
Daily Mirror 07 August 2008
The McCann Case: Home Office refused information about Gerry's credit cards,
07 August 2008
The McCann Case: Home Office refused information about
Gerry's credit cards Gazeta Digital
Duarte
Levy and Paulo Reis
07 August 2008
A request sent by the PJ to British authorities, asking for details about Gerry McCanns'
credit card transactions for a period of six months, starting on April 1, six weeks before Madeleine's disappearance, was
considered disproportionate by Frances Kennah, the Head of the UK Central Authority - a Home Office department.
The PJ asked for those details on March 2008 and justified the request with the necessity to identify
if there were any unknown motives behind the disappearance of Madeleine. Officers from Leicestershire police had previously
informed the Home Office that Portuguese detectives told them they decided to ask for that information after Gerry was seen
at a cash machine, talking on his mobile phone, Ms.Frances Kennah referred, in a
letter to the PJ, included in the investigation files.
Considering that the request for information for such a long period was not fully justified by the
Portuguese police and was disproportionate, the Head of UK Central Authority said that the PJ needed to provide further detailed
information about the reasons for that period of time, or reduce it to the period of time immediately before and after Madeleine's
disappearance In this case, Ms. Frances Kennah promised to look again at the request.
Sky News is continuing
to plough through the 30,000 pages of files released by Portuguese police that make up their investigation into Madeleine
McCann's disappearance.
Refresh throughout the day to hear what they say.
:: The case files show was another sighting of a girl resembling Madeleine in Belgium on May 27 last year.
A Briton contacted police after seeing the child asleep on a train from Brussels to Antwerp, concluding she could have been
drugged. She was accompanied by a balding 6ft white man aged about 40 who was wearing sports clothes. Leicestershire Police
made a formal request through Interpol for the relevant train stations and surrounding areas to be checked for CCTV footage.
:: A lawyer in Guatemala accused the UK Government of intending to kidnap his daughter after the local
British Consul told police he suspected she might be Madeleine McCann, the case files reveal.
Based on the Consul's tip-off, officials stopped a man with a young child resembling the missing girl
in a shopping mall in Guatemala City in June last year. It turned out, though, he was her bodyguard and had been tasked with
looking after the youngster while her mother shopped and had coffee. The Consul apologised for the mix-up but the child's
family demanded a formal written apology from the British Embassy in Guatemala.
:: A Belgian woman reported seeing a young girl who looked "very much" like Madeleine with an Eastern
European couple on a tram in Brussels 12 days after she disappeared, the files say.
:: Private detectives are investigating claims that Madeleine McCann was snatched to order for a Belgian
paedophile ring. Scotland Yard passed on a report from an informant who said a photo of a child on holiday in Portugal was
taken and passed to a "purchaser" in Belgium days before she vanished.
:: Two police sniffer dogs picked up the same scent leading around the McCanns' apartment block after
Madeleine went missing, the case files show. An aerial photograph included in the dossier shows that both animals followed
identical routes from the front of apartment 5A in the Ocean Club resort. Portuguese police took the search dogs out on May
8 last year, five days after Madeleine vanished, after letting them sniff a towel used to dry Madeleine.
:: When they were taken out of the complex, the animals separately followed the path marked on the photograph.
Experts concluded, though, it was difficult to make a "precise evaluation" as to whether the dogs had definitely picked up
Madeleine's scent.
:: British sniffer dogs were brought at a later date.
:: Dutch shop worker Anna Stam, who said she may have seen Madeleine McCann in her shop has accused detectives
of neglect.
:: The files show the FBI were also involved in the Madeleine case. They ran DNA tests when the body
of a girl was washed up in Galveston Bay, Texas. The body turned out to be two-year-old murder victim Riley Ann Smith.
:: In Kate McCann's witness statement made to the police on September 6 last year she says she slept in
her children's bedroom the night before Madeleine's disappearance after a row with husband Gerry. The statement, from the
files, adds Madeleine slept in the same room as her parents on May 1.
:: A letter from the McCann's lawyer was sent to the Portuguese police on January 31 asking for information.
The request was denied because of Kate and Gerry's arguido status at the time.
:: The files have revealed a letter written by Madeleine's mother Kate McCann to the head of the Portuguese
police to keep the family informed about what was happening in the investigation.
:: A little girl calling herself "Maddy" and claiming to have been taken from her mother on holiday was
seen in Amsterdam at the time Madeleine McCann disappeared, the case files show. The family's private detectives are pursuing
the report.
:: A document contained within the file from Portuguese police details why the McCanns were made Arguidos.
:: When police raided the McCann's rented villa in Praia a Luz they seized a bible and press clippings
showing an advert for children's drug Calpol and an article about the McCann's "wall of silence"
:: Between 1 and 8 of August Portuguese police used sniffer dogs, trained to find human blood as well
as people, to search five apartments at the holiday complex; Robert Murat's property in Praia Da Luz; the McCanns' new occupancy
at Praia Da Luz; clothing from the McCann residence; Western beach in Praia Da Luz; Eastern beach in Praia Da Luz; 10 vehicles
screened at Portimao.
:: Of the five apartments, the only report came from apartment 5a, the reported scene. The report said
the dog alerted the rear bedroom in the immediate right-hand corner; the living room, behind the sofa; the veranda outside
the parents' bedroom; the garden area directly under the veranda.
:: Nothing was found in Robert Murat's apartment or the McCanns' new apartment.
:: The Enhanced Vicitm Recovery dog (EVRD) did indicate one set of clothing. The report's author, though,
says there are no further details.
:: The EVRD indicated a "scent" emitting from the right door of the McCann's car. It was then subject
to a "full and physical examination and "no human remains were found."
:: The dog used to smell human blood was then tasked to screen the vehicle and alerted police to the "rear
driver's side of the boot area". Forensic samples were taken and sent to a laboratory in the UK.
:: People from countries including Holland and Malta rang to inform police they had seen Madeleine. There
was one "sighting" on a flight from New York to Brussels.
:: The files detail all kinds of other so-called sightings from people all over Europe and beyond.
:: Sky News has also found an email in the police files that was sent to Gerry McCann from a man
claiming to know what happened to Madeleine. Police tracked it down to the Netherlands and found a cyber cafe with no CCTV.
He/she asks for 2 million EUROS as a reward for the information, asking for an advance of 500,000.
:: The files show efits of two men based on descriptions from witnesses at the time. The files were sent
to Interpol. Crucially, they were not given to the media.
:: Receipt from the "Tapas nine's" meal on the evening show that there was only two bottles of wine
drunk between them.
:: Sky News has found a CCTV photocopy of Repsol petrol station on 4 May 2007 (day after Maddy disappeared)
were a child matching Madeleine's description was spotted Police have written "negativo" on it showing it wasn't Madeleine.
There are several other pictures in different locations.
:: The files quote Portuguese public prosecuters who ruled their was "very little" conclusive in the police
investigation with detectives failing to prove if Madeleine was dead or alive.
:: Sky News has translated a timeline by police taken from the files released yesterday showing events
from when Madeleine's disappearance was reported to them and how the investigation took shape.
:: Among the pages of the Portuguese Madeleine file were a list of questions put to Kate McCann which
she refused to answer.
:: The dossier shows a list of questions that were sent to British police to ask the so-called "Tapas
seven."
Police tried to bug McCanns' villa in attempt to implicate them in Madeleine's disappearance,
08 August 2008
Police tried to bug McCanns' villa in attempt to implicate
them in Madeleine's disappearance Daily Mail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 11:49 AM on 08th August 2008
Police
tried to bug Kate and Gerry McCann's villa in Portugal in an attempt to implicate them in their daughter Madeleine's disappearance,
it emerged today.
Portuguese detectives wanted to listen in on the couple in the weeks before they were made official suspects,
or arguidos.
They applied for a court order for permission to bug the home the couple were renting but were denied
by a local judge.
The plans for the covert operation are contained in 30,000 pages of police files made public in Portugal
this week.
It suggests the lengths the police were willing to go to try to implicate Mr and Mrs McCann, both doctors
from Rothley in Leicestershire.
Portuguese police also requested Mr McCann's credit card details over a six-month period, beginning prior
to his daughter's disappearance on 3 May last year from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
The application to the Home Office was also turned down, according to an email in the files, because it
'appears disproportionate'.
The bugging operation centred on a house rented by the couple in the weeks after Madeleine vanished.
The McCanns left it in September after being made arguidos, and returned to the UK.
But the fact police wanted to bug them shows they had no substantial case against the couple and will
raise questions as to why they were made suspects.
Their arguido status was lifted last month after authorities announced the case was being shelved.
Madeleine, who was three at the time she disappeared, has never been found.
The police files have revealed hundreds of possible sightings of the girl - from Egypt to Guatemala -
but none appeared conclusive.
A tip-off to Scotland Yard suggested she may have been kidnapped by an international paedophile ring and
taken to Belgium.
The Daily Mirror today published an artist's impression of two adults seen with a girl who resembled Madeleine
in a shop in Amsterdam.
Shopworker Anna Stam reported the sighting to police. The drawings show a dark-featured man aged 35 to
40 and a woman in her forties with light brown hair.
But Goncalo Amaral, who was sacked as head of the investigation after publicly criticising British officers,
today told a Portuguese newspaper that the Belgium link was fully investigated.
'Everything was analysed. It was treated in the same way as all the other reports,' he said.
Madeleine McCann dossier: Crime scene 'contaminated' by holidaymakers,
08 August 2008
Madeleine McCann dossier: Crime scene 'contaminated'
by holidaymakers Daily Mirror
By Mirror.co.uk
8/08/2008
Four families stayed
in Kate and Gerry McCann's holiday apartment between the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine and further forensic searches,
official case files revealed today.
Just over a month after the little girl went missing, flat 5A in Praia da Luz's Ocean Club resort was
allowed to be occupied again.
Despite the apartment being a crime scene, 11 people stayed there between June 12 and July 26 last year,
raising the possibility that it was contaminated before fresh forensic examinations in August.
A couple from Liverpool
who are friends of the flat's owner spent a week there from June 12 to 19, a document in the newly-released Portuguese police
files showed.
They were followed by a family of four from Falkirk in Scotland
who stayed there from June 28 to July 12.
A couple from New Barnet in Hertfordshire used the apartment from July 12 to 19 and a family from Leicester
stayed in it from July 19 to 26.
In August last year two specialist British sniffer dogs trained to scent corpses and human blood were
brought to Portugal and taken to the flat.
As a result of their findings further samples were taken from the apartment and sent to the Birmingham-based
Forensic Science Service (FSS) for analysis.
The sniffer dog and DNA evidence were key in the Portuguese police's decision to name Mr and Mrs McCann
as "arguidos", or formal suspects, in Madeleine's disappearance on September 7.
The case files also reveal the frustration felt by the officers sifting through the thousands of potential
sightings of Madeleine that could not be substantiated.
Detective Constable John Hughes, from Leicestershire Police, the force coordinating the British end of
the investigation, looked into a spate of reports of children resembling the missing girl seen in Malta.
In an e-mail dated June 26 last year, he wrote: "Most replies we get back from other countries don't take
us far as many can't be verified or discounted, and I feel these will be the same."
Madeleine was nearly four when she vanished from apartment 5A
on May 3 last year.
On July 21, Portuguese prosecutors announced they were shelving the case, although it can be reopened
if credible new evidence comes to light.
At the same time the McCanns and Algarve
resident Robert Murat were told they were no longer "arguidos" in the investigation.
Sky
News is continuing to plough through the 30,000 pages of files released by Portuguese police that make up their investigation
into Madeleine McCann's disappearance.
Refresh throughout the day to hear what they say.
:: The files show Portuguese police wanted to bug Kate and Gerry McCann to eavesdrop on their conversations
before making the couple "arguidos", or formal suspects, last summer.
On August 1 last year detectives requested permission to place two bugs in the McCanns' apartment in Praia
da Luz and one in their car. They were refused permission. The McCanns' arguido status was lifted on July 21, when prosecutors
shelved the case.
:: Four families stayed in Kate and Gerry McCann's holiday apartment between the disappearance of their
daughter Madeleine and further forensic searches, the case files say.
Just over a month after Madeleine went missing, flat 5A in Praia da Luz's Ocean Club resort was allowed
to be occupied again. Despite the apartment being a crime scene, 11 people stayed there between June 12 and July 26 last year,
raising the possibility that it was contaminated before fresh forensic examinations in August.
(article continues with information as per yesterday)
Portugese police tried to bug McCanns, 09 August 2008
Portugese police tried to bug McCanns Daily Mirror
By Martin Fricker
9/08/2008
Probe relied on flawed DNA
Portuguese cops tried to bug Kate and Gerry McCann's villa and car to shore up the flimsy case against them.
But the request was denied by a judge - as was a bid to see Gerry's bank details.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "They had no evidence and were on a trawl. It was correct that it was turned
down."
Meanwhile it has emerged that four families rented the McCanns' holiday apartment before bungling Portuguese cops sent
in forensic experts, it emerged yesterday.
The flat was only sealed 13 weeks later after horrified British detectives arrived to review the case.
Tests were then carried out but the results were virtually useless because 11 people - all Brits - had stayed there since
the McCanns.
Yet Portuguese officers relied on the flawed DNA samples in deciding to name Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry suspects.
The shock revelation again highlights the shambolic nature of the 15-month Portuguese probe.
Janet Parkinson, who spent a week there with husband Brian, 59, was staggered at the news.
The receptionist, 55, of New Barnet, Herts, said: "We'd been there a day when the rep told us we were in the McCanns'
apartment.
"If there had been any forensics left it would have been crazy for them to continue to let it out.
"It had obviously been cleaned for the new guests and evidence could have been gathered beforehand. But it was beautiful
and luxurious and we didn't feel anything happened there, so we were happy to stay even though they offered us another one.
A few reporters and voyeurs came round but that was it."
Kailao Odera, 59, spent a week at Apartment 5a in Praia da Luz's Ocean Club resort after the Parkinsons, and was also
shocked to learn the truth.
Kailao, of Leicester, was holidaying with sister Marjoulabba Sidi, 49, and relative, Mehul Odera.
She said yesterday: "On the last day a journalist asked if we knew if it was the apartment Madeleine McCann disappeared
from.
"We had had no idea. I was upset and made a complaint to the holiday firm and was told other people had stayed there
before us.
"If we had known we wouldn't have wanted to stay there."
The amazing revelation emerged from 30,000 pages of police case notes released this week. They also showed Portuguese
cops intended to bug the flat in a desperate bid to shore up their case against Madeleine's parents.
They also wanted a bug planted in the couple's hire car.
The judge overseeing the investigation refused both requests.
Another bid to see six months of Gerry's bank records was snubbed by the UK Home Office as "disproportionate".
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "We can draw our own conclusions as to why they wanted to do this.
"Clearly they felt they had no evidence and were on a general trawl. It was meant to be a fishing exercise.
"It was proper and correct that this attempt to blatantly invade their privacy was turned down."
Yet weeks later, authorities named Gerry and his wife suspects.
They were cleared last month as detectives shelved the investigation.
But their records show how they blew any chance of gleaning key clues from the flat by allowing a succession of people
to move in.
Kate and Gerry, both 40, did not sleep at the flat after Madeleine's disappearance on May 3 last year.
But from June 12-19, Liverpool couple Robert and Fiona Foulkes holidayed there. They were followed by Sheila and Ryan
Fergusson and their kids, from Falkirk, Scotland, who stayed from June 28-July 12.
Between July 12 and 19 it was rented by the Parkinsons. Kailao and her two relatives were there from July 19-26.
British cops then arrived and ordered the flat to be re-sealed.
Two sniffer dogs trained to smell for corpses and blood were sent in and DNA evidence belatedly taken.
The flawed samples were sent to the UK's Forensic Science Service for analysis. Results were inconclusive yet were used
to cast doubt over Kate and Gerry's innocence.
SIGHTINGS A DEAD END FOR POLICE
Police were frustrated by the thousands of potential sightings of Madeleine.
Detective Constable John Hughes, of the Leicestershire force, looked into a spate of reports of children resembling her
in Malta.
In an e-mail dated June 26 last year, he wrote: "Most replies we get from other countries don't take us far. I feel these
will be the same."
A little girl with "a strong resemblance" to Madeleine was seen with a Portuguese man in Belgium on June 8. His details
were also requested.
