March 2014 - In brief

03 March 2014 The Portuguese press reports that the PJ has informed the Met that it "wants to continue to run its investigation within the process and not in the newspapers". 06 March 2014 A new directive, called a European investigation order (EIO), is approved, which, when it comes into force, will allow the judicial authorities from a European Union (EU) country to order wiretapping, searches or the hearing of witnesses in other member States. 10 March 2014 The Daily Mirror publish an article entitled 'Missing Malaysia Airlines plane: Other mysterious cases of people, planes and boats VANISHING into thin air', from which a piece on Madeleine McCann mysteriously vanishes into thin air. 11 March 2014 Patris, a daily Greek newspaper which principally serves the island of Crete, claims a sighting of Madeleine in Gouves. However, no other media outlets pick this up. 14 March 2014 Gonçalo Amaral appears on Porto Canal and reiterates his belief, and that of the PJ investigation, that Madeleine died in the holiday apartment rented by the McCanns. He says: "I have no doubts about what happened to Madeleine McCann. Madeleine McCann died that day, that night, in that apartment, and her body disappeared." 19 March 2014 The Met appeal for information, through their own website and a BBC Crimewatch appeal, in respect of a man seen wearing a distinctive burgundy top, who is suspected of carrying out sexual assaults on young, white British girls in Algarve holiday apartments. The Met appeal: Click here The BBC Crimewatch appeal transcript: Click here 20 March 2014 A source within Portugal's Polícia Judíciaria (PJ) headquarters in Lisbon says that evidence of a string of crimes, including a sexual predator's activities at coastal resorts in the western Algarve, had in fact been the main driving force behind Portuguese officials deciding to re-open the case. "We met with Andy Redwood and Madeleine's parents last October to inform them of the reasons behind the decision of Portuguese authorities to re-open the case," the police source stressed. 20 March 2014 The Prime Minister's official spokesman says that Mr Cameron would be prepared to "make further representations" to the government in Portugal if it would help Scotland Yard's inquiry. 22 March 2014 The Sunday Mirror claims police are hunting two Eastern European bogus charity workers who targeted Algarve holiday homes. 25 March 2014 The Daily Mirror turn their attention to David Reid, a British paedophile jailed in the UK for sex attacks on children who they claim was hiding out on the Algarve when Madeleine McCann vanished. He is believed to have died from an undiagnosed cancer after collapsing at his home in August 2013.

Maddie. PJ warns English that they don't want to see the investigation in the newspapers, 03 March 2014

Maddie. PJ warns English that they don't want to see the investigation in the newspapers Jornal i By Carlos Diogo Santos published on 3 Mar 2014 - 05:00 With thanks to Astro for translation The PJ inspectors stress that within "international cooperation there is no room for states of mind" The different communication strategies between the Portuguese and the British authorities within the Maddie case are bothering the PJ. The discomfort has gone far enough for the PJ to warn the Metropolitan Police that it refuses to carry out the investigation through the papers. Since the English police decided to perform its own investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the English press has been frequently revealing information about the ongoing diligences. Much of this news turned out to be unfounded, further pushing away the possibility of cooperation with the PJ. At stake is equally the fact that both police forces have different investigation lines and also opposite communication policies, some inspectors, who prefer not to be identified, confirmed to i. According to sources that know the process, the PJ has already informed its British counterparts that it "wants to continue to run its investigation within the process and not in the newspapers". A call to attention in order to clarify that they don't want English police sources commenting on supposed facts of the Portuguese investigation. Even because, they say, it is something that the British ignore. In Portugal, an investigation is being led by a team from Oporto, but it's been officers from the PJ in Portimão that have been replying to the rogatory letters that were sent by the English, which is to say, the requests for assistance to the London investigation. The strategy of the Portuguese – not to render information about their investigation public – was already known by the British, but some news quoting anonymous sources within the Metropolitan Police forced this warning. "The PJ will continue with the necessary discretion, which is known to its British counterpart. The media is out of our equation during the investigation. And if it was never said that there are suspects it's because there is nothing strong enough," a police source clarified. Just last week an article was published in Portugal reporting that the English had received a secret dossier from the Judiciária, concerning burglars that lived in the Algarve and could even have already committed crimes against children. To i, the same source assures that the information is false: "No secret dossier whatsoever was handed over to the Metropolitan Police." Another person that is close to the process explained that what the English called a secret dossier may simply be the list of persons with a criminal record that resided close to Praia da Luz, which the PJ sent within the fulfilment of a rogatory letter. Over recent months, the English media reported every Scotland Yard suspect, published e-fits from the police – which i revealed were made by detectives that were being paid by the child's parents after all – and publicised the sending of the three rogatory letters from the English investigators before the Portuguese authorities knew about those requests for international assistance. A reconstitution of the evening of the crime was made – which was not filmed in Portugal – and broadcast in England, Germany and Holland. After the "thousands of leads" that the Metropolitan Police told the media had been received following the television shows' broadcast, the strategy remains focused on tracing mobile phones of people that were near the Ocean Club resort on the evening of the 3rd of May of 2007, the day that the child went missing. For the PJ officers that were contacted by i, this kind of behaviour won't have an effect on the cooperation between both police forces. "The rogatories will be carried out in the most committed way possible, because within international cooperation there is no room for states of mind," a PJ source concluded.

Madeleine case: PJ investigators 'hit back' at British press, 03 March 2014

Madeleine case: PJ investigators 'hit back' at British press Portugal Resident Posted by PORTUGALPRESS on March 03, 2014 Following endless sensationalist stories in the British press - all claiming inside knowledge of the ongoing Madeleine investigations both here and in the UK - Portugal's Polícia Judiciária appear to have drawn a line in the sand. A report by ionline says Portuguese detectives have "advised" the Metropolitan Police that they "refuse to carry out an investigation via newspapers", particularly as the PJ's theories are very different to those of British investigators. "Since the English police decided to set up their own investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the English press has been reporting, with frequency, information on police activities underway," writes ionline. "A good part of these news reports ends up being unfounded, which increasingly compromises the possibility of cooperation" between the two forces. One of the major issues the PJ has with the British media circus is that "the two police forces have different lines of investigation, and their policies over communication are also contradictory," two PJ inspectors who prefer to remain anonymous told ionline. Thus the warning to stop "pronouncing on supposed facts of the Portuguese investigation ... as it is something that the British do not know about". The warning echoes words of former Madeleine investigator Gonçalo Amaral - no stranger to sensationalist stories in the British press. According to Amaral, Portuguese justice "works in silence" - the inference being it should be allowed to do so. ionline adds that the latest revelations in the British media - picked up by news services all over the world - centred on a 'secret dossier' sent to the Met by Portuguese investigators. "No secret dossier was ever delivered to the Metropolitan Police," writes the news service, suggesting it was very probably the list of people known to police in the area that had been requested in one of the standard letters of request sent by the Met to the PJ. As ionline points out, "over the past few months" British newspapers have had a field day, publishing ancient identikit photos drawn up years ago by private investigators and reporting on "thousands of leads" when, in reality, "police are still working on the very basic job of trying to identify mobile phone activity that took place in and around the Ocean Club on the night of May 3 2007".

Portuguese authorities will be able to order wiretaps in other EU countries and vice versa, 06 March 2014

Portuguese authorities will be able to order wiretaps in other EU countries and vice versa Público MARIANA OLIVEIRA | 06/03/2014 - 08:39 With thanks to Astro for translation The directive was approved in the European Parliament days ago, but should take years to come into force. The European Parliament approved the directive with 467 votes in favour, 22 against and 10 abstentions. REUTERS It's called European investigation order (EIO) and it's a new instrument which, when it comes into force, will allow the judicial authorities from a European Union (EU) country to order wiretapping, searches or the hearing of witnesses in other member States. The purpose of the directive that was approved days ago by the European Parliament (with 467 votes in favour, 22 against and 10 abstentions) is to facilitate the transnational penal investigations, into crimes like terrorism, homicide, abduction, drugs trafficking, corruption, paedophile networks and human trafficking, among others. The new mechanism is still far from being operational, as it will have to pass the sieve of the European Council and to be published in the EU's official newspaper. From that date onwards, the member States will have three years to implement the directive. Nevertheless, this approval is an important mark in the judiciary cooperation between EU countries, putting an end to a difficult negotiation process that lasted for approximately three years. The setting of deadlines for the analysis of the requests, which will be carried out through standard forms, is one of the novelties of this instrument. The acceptance or not of the request for the obtainment of evidence must be made within 30 days. If it merits the agreement of the judicial authorities in the receiving country, the investigative measure must be executed within a maximum of 90 days. If it’s not possible to comply with these deadlines, the authority that executes the request has to inform the emitting State about the reasons for the delay. "The decision over the acceptance as well as the actual execution of the investigative measure should take place with the same celerity and priority as similar national processes", the directive that was approved last Thursday determines. "Media-exposed cases like that of Madeleine McCann or Freeport, to give two examples that involved two countries – Portugal and England – would immediately have benefitted from this directive through the lower administrative and bureaucratic complexity that it will ensure", Nuno Melo, the CDS MEP that reported this proposal, stated in a communiqué. Presently, judiciary cooperation mechanisms already exist between countries, but they are dispersed over several diplomas, they differ between States and sometimes depend on bilateral agreements. This directive standardizes the norms with the EU and defines the operating rules of requests for evidence collection. European warrant "was a failure" In December of 2008, a framework decision was approved which created the European warrant for obtaining evidence, which regulated the procurement of objects, documents and data to be used within penal processes. But the fact that this instrument is only applicable to the already existing evidence and that it was not transposed into National legislations dictated its failure. "It was a failure", prosecutor Jorge Costa, an expert in judiciary cooperation, summarizes. The magistrate sees this directive as an important step towards the "improvement of the system of collection and validation of evidence", yet notes that it will take a long time until this instrument is available to the Portuguese judiciary authorities. "All of the EU approved documents take a long time to come into force. At this point in time, several directives in the area of Justice that were approved in 2009 and 2010 are still not implemented", the prosecutor exemplifies. The diploma that was now approved further determines in which situations a member State may refuse the request for obtaining evidence, which includes cases in which it may harm "essential national safety interests" or if it is not authorized by its law in similar national processes. The EIO may equally be refused due to the existence of immunity or privilege of the targeted person under the law of the State that will execute the request or because there are rules on the limitation of penal responsibility as far as the freedom of press and the freedom of expression are concerned. It is further admitted that the State that received the request may postpone its execution if it "may harm an ongoing investigation or criminal action" or the "objects, documents or data in question are already being used in another process". The executing authority may also use an investigative measure that is different from the one that is requested, if it leads to the same result, "but utilizes less intrusive means". In principle, the State that executes the request carries all the expenses that are related to the execution of the EIO, except those that are considered as "exceptionally high" such as expenses with the transcription and translation of phone tapping.

Missing Malaysia Airlines plane: Other mysterious cases of people, planes and boats VANISHING into thin air, 10 March 2014

Front page graphic teaser: 'Flight MH370 & other mysterious disappearances' Daily Mirror (now removed)   [Note: The online article below originally included a section on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. However, approximately 5 hours after it was published that particular section, somewhat ironically, vanished 'into thin air'. It is reproduced in its complete original version below.] ---------------

Missing Malaysia Airlines plane: Other mysterious cases of people, planes and boats VANISHING into thin air Daily Mirror Mar 10, 2014 13:37 | By Rebecca Pocklington As the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 remains a mystery, here are 10 more unexplained disappearances   Mystery: From boats to planes and people The rescue effort to find missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is well into its third day but it's not the first mystery disappearance to grip the globe. The flight disappeared off the radar on Saturday and was presumed to have crashed off the Vietnamese coast after losing contact with air traffic controllers. Initial fears were that terrorists could have been responsible for the incident, as it emerged two passengers were using stolen passports. But there was a glimmer of hope on Sunday lunchtime as one family received a dial tone when trying to contact a passenger on the plane. This was described by Malaysia's Civil Aviation Authority Azharuddin Abdul Rahman as an "unprecedented aviation mystery", and it is just the latest in a long line of strange disappearances. Here are some more: Crew of Mary Celeste   Lost at sea: The 100-foot Mary Celeste was discovered drifting without a crew This Canadian-built merchant brigantine was discovered in December, 1872, in the Atlantic Ocean. The vessel was discovered unmanned and apparently abandoned, despite weather conditions being good at the time. A lifeboat was also missing, along with the boat's captain, his family and the crew. Captain Benjamin Briggs had reportedly taken his wife, Sarah, and the couple's two-year-old daughter, Sophia, aboard, and none of them have been seen since. The ship was found to be in good condition and they had even reportedly left behind belongings including boots and pipes. The ship's last log entry on November 25 confirmed it had reached the island of St Mary in the Azores. Verdict: Missing Amelia Earhart   Amelia Earhart: Glamorous aviation expert went missing over the Pacific Ocean in1937 Glamorous Amelia Earhart – one of the first female aviators in history – vanished on July 2, 1937, while attempting to fly around the globe. Her disappearance somewhere over the South Pacific during the last 7,000 miles of her epic journey captivated the world and devastated devoted fans. After the huge search was finally called off and she was pronounced dead, her mysterious end has continued to fascinate – and spark many conspiracy theories. A blurry black and white photo taken by a British military surveyor two months after Amelia disappeared, claimed to hold the key to where she ended up. It appeared to show the landing gear of an aircraft protruding from the waters off Gardner Island, near Australia. Women’s clothes and other artefacts from the 1930s were found on the atoll, now called Nikumaroro and part of the Micronesian nation of Kiribati. The discoveries raise the possibility that Amelia reached land where she may have survived for weeks before starving to death. But it was never confirmed. Verdict: Unsolved Lord Lucan   Lord Lucan: Richard John Bingham disappeared in 1974 after his children's nanny was found murdered Richard John Bingham - aka Lord Lucan - disappeared on November 8, 1974 after his children's nanny was found murdered. Lucan is alleged to have brutally bludgeoned to death Sandra Rivett in the family home in London. It’s thought the Earl mistook Sandra for his wife Veronica, whom he blamed for the collapse of their marriage. He has not been seen since and over the next four decades, hundreds of sightings of the elusive Earl have been reported, but his whereabouts remain unknown. He was later declared legally dead in October 1999. In February 2012, it was claimed Lucan had fled to Africa after the murder. Verdict: Declared dead but unsolved Planes in Bermuda Triangle   Legendary: Lost Squadron & plane Flight 19 supposedly vanished in Bermuda Triangle There is a long list of aircraft which appear to have disappeared over the extensive patch of water, also named the Devil's Triangle, in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean. But most notably, on the afternoon of December 5, 1945, five planes disappeared into thin air - and started the legend of the Triangle. A training mission of five Navy Avenger planes, named Flight 19, led by experienced flight instructor Charles Taylor, took off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. An hour and a half into the mission, pilots reported that they had become disorientated and couldn't recognise landmarks below them. In radio transmissions, Taylor told the Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale both of his compasses were out of action. Despite the efforts of the Air Station controllers, the team were unable to find their bearings. As the weather deteriorated, they couldn't find landfall and ditched into the sea, with the deaths of all 14 airmen and crew. Weirder still, one of the planes sent out to look for the lost training mission also disappeared. The aircraft, a PBM Mariner sea plane, which took off at 7.30pm and was never heard from again. All 13 crew were presumed dead. Verdict: Unsolved Henry Hudson   Explorer: Henry Hudson, discoverer of the Hudson river in 1609, disappeared in the early 17th century Sea explorer Henry Hudson made several attempts to find a northern passage to the Orient from the US. In May, 1607, he made it as far as the Great Barrier Reef, but couldn't get past it, and more voyages ended in much the same way. The final expedition was on a boat called Discovery, setting out in 1610. Hudson and his crew made it to Hudson Bay where they were trapped in icy conditions and became stranded for months. When the ice cleared there was a mutiny, with several reports it was sparked because Hudson refused to turn home without exploring further. He is said to have been left with a small crew and his teenage son John, and set adrift in a small open boat. Verdict: Unsolved Madeleine McCann   Madeleine McCann: She disappeared in 2007, sparking a worldwide appeal to find her but she's still missing Maddie McCann disappeared without a trace in May 2007, while she was on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Her parents Kate and Gerry had left Madeline and her twin siblings in the room while they went for dinner in a nearby restaurant with a group of friends. They then allegedly took turns to check on them, before Kate discovered her eldest daughter was missing at around 10pm. It was first treated as an abduction by local police, before theories she may have died in the apartment arose and her parents became suspects. That line of enquiry eventually ran cold, and several theories over who could have snatched the then three-year-old have surfaced ever since. It became one of the most reported missing persons cases in the world, capturing millions' of people's hearts. British detectives launched a fresh investigation into the youngster's disappearance in July last year - two years into a review of the case - and made renewed appeals on television in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. After shelving their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance Portuguese authorities said last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it. Verdict: Missing The Fort Worth Three   Fort Worth Three: Julie Ann Moseley, Rachel Trlica and Lisa Renee Wilson went missing in 1974 In December 1974, three girls from three separate families set out on a shopping trip to the Seminary South Shopping Center in Fort Worth, US. Rachel Trlica, 17, 14-year-old Renee Wilson and nine-year-old Julie Ann Moseley were never seen again. Rachel is reported to have picked her friend Renee up and they took the youngest, Julie, along with them, who lived nearby. They were spotted in the mall by witnesses throughout the day, and their car was later found with their shopping inside, but with no sign of any of the girls. The mystery sparked a widespread search as friends, family, and local residents scoured country roads looking for the trio. Despite chasing many empty leads, police failed to find anyone who knew where the girls could be and the trail eventually went cold. Verdict: Unsolved The Crew of the Sarah Joe   Missing: The five fishermen disappeared without a trace A case of five lost fishermen from Hana Bay, Maui, still baffles people across the world. Benjamin Kalama, 38, Scott Moorman, 27, Patrick Woessner, 26, Peter Hanchett, 31, and Ralph Malaiakini, 27, all disappeared in 1979 while out on their boat the Sarah Joe. The friends had reportedly been helping to build a house when they decided to take a day off and have a trip out to sea on the 17-foot Boston whaler. Severe weather meant swell and winds were high and they weren't found. But, 10 years later, a marine biologist reportedly found a small boat in the Marshall Islands next to a small grave with a jaw bone buried. Dental records showed it belonged to Scott Moorman, but none of the other men were found, according to reports. It is unclear whether they made it to land alive. Verdict: Unsolved The Sodder Children   Sodders: Maurice Antonio, Martha Lee, Louis Erico, Jennie Irene and Betty Dolly Sodder all went missing in 1945 Maurice Antonio, Martha Lee, Louis Erico, Jennie Irene and Betty Dolly Sodder all disappeared on Christmas Eve in 1945. The siblings, from West Virginia, US, were never found after their home burned down due to what was reported as wiring problems. The eldest three children, and the youngest daughter, survived, but the five middle children's remains were never found. Parents George and Jennie Sodder reportedly believed the fire was a cover up for an abduction so hired detectives to find their children, but they were unsuccessful. They were later declared legally dead, but police continued to pursue several leads, including a photo sent to the family in 1968 of an unknown man. They were never seen again. Verdict: Unsolved D.B. Cooper FBI sketch: Hijacker D.B. Cooper commandeered a Northwest Airlines jet, parachuted out, and disappeared Plane hijacker D.B. Cooper, who has never been formally identified but named D.B. by the media, boarded a Northwest Orient flight in Portland, Oregon on 24 November 1971, under the name Dan Cooper. Once mid-air, he demanded $200,000 from the crew and a parachute. They landed in Seattle, where he was handed the money, and he later demanded the pilot take off again and head to Mexico. Cooper is thought to have jumped from the back stairway of the plane over Washington state. Despite several planes following, no one saw him leap to the ground. It is thought he may have died during the jump, but a body has never been found. Verdict: Unsolved Irish Crown Jewels Royal: The Irish Crown Jewels were stolen in 1907 from Dublin Castle The Irish Crown Jewels comprised of a jewelled star and badge and were the regalia of the Order of St Patrick. They were entrusted to the care of Ulster King of Arms, Ireland's chief herald and genealogist. The jewels and the collars and badges of the members of the Order were locked in a steel safe together. They were stolen from Dublin Castle in 1907 and the thieves left no trace of who they were, so the jewels were never found. It caused uproar and distrust in the Government, and King Edward VII had reportedly been due to visit Ireland a few days later to invest a knight of the Order, but had to abandon his plans. Verdict: Unsolved B-47 disappearance Missing: A Boeing B-47 Statojet airplane disappeared mid-air after stopping for fuel in Morocco in 1956 A Boeing B-47 Stratojet disappeared, carrying nuclear weapons, in 1956 over the Mediterranean Sea. The jet took off from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, on March 10 on a heading for Morocco. It completed one aerial refueling without incident but after descending through cloud for more fuel, it never made contact with the tanker and disappeared. It had been carrying two capsules of nuclear weapons material in carrying cases but a detonation reportedly wouldn't have been possible. No debris was ever found and the crew were later pronounced dead. Verdict: Unsolved USS Cyclops Loast at sea: The USS Cyclops disappeared in Bermuda in March 1918 Navy carrier USS Cyclops disappeared in 1918 in the Bermuda Triangle. The ship, plus 306 crew and passengers, were never found again. It had been travelling with a heavy load of bulk cargo and passengers from Brazil, to Baltimore, Maryland, in February, but rather than heading straight to its destination, it reportedly deviated to Barbados for a final stop. Cyclops departed again for the last leg of the journey in March but was never seen again. Despite it being reported as the largest loss of life in US Naval history not involving combat, there was speculation it may have been captured or sunk by German troops as it was in the First World War. There are also theories heavy winds and storms between Cape Hatteras and Cape Charles may have sunk the boat without anyone knowing. No debris was ever found, nor any of the passengers ever traced again. Verdict: Unsolved Lost Colony   Lost Colony: An engraving of the Capture of Roanoke Island, in 1862 The Roanoke Colony, nicknamed the Lost Colony, was set up by Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh to create a permanent English settlement on Roanoke Island in Dare County, US. The 120 settlers, who arrived in 1587, disappeared in 1590, sparking several theories as to what happened. According to some reports, they may have died from disease, while others say local Native American tribes could have killed them in a violent rampage. The group comprised families with women and children attempting to make their homes there, but none of them were seen again. An investigation into what happened was sparked again in 2012 when a map was discovered which appeared to show where the colony attempted to set up home. A satellite survey began and scientists used ground penetrating radar (GPR) to try and find clues to what happened, but it still hasn't been solved. Verdict: Unsolved

Searches for little Madeleine in Gouves, Heraklion!, 11 March 2014

Searches for little Madeleine in Gouves, Heraklion! CretePlus.gr Heraklion | 11/03/2014 - 8:39   Information has been received by the local police in Heraklion, from the authorities investigating the case of the missing child Madeleine, and they are trying to check the information that the girl was spotted in a hotel in Gouves. The request was sent from Europol to the police department of the peninsula, a few days ago. According to "Πατρίς" [Patris: Greek newspaper] the strange thing is that they have sought, after so many months, to investigate the cameras of the hotel to see if the material depicts the child. It will be recalled that little Madeleine was abducted in 2007 from Portugal. It is not the first time the police in Crete have been asked to investigate information relating to the matter, in the area of ​​Hersonissos and Malia. ---------------------------- Searches for little Madeleine in Gouves, Heraklion! CretePlus Twitter 9:35 AM - 11 Mar 2014

Search for Madeleine arrives in Gouves, 11 March 2014

Search for Madeleine arrives in Gouves Πατρίς [Patris]   Thanos Pervolaraki 11/03/2014 The search for the child Madeleine arrives in Gouves Global interest in her abduction from Portugal in 2007 While British newspapers claim the time is approaching for the arrests of the abductors of the child Madeleine - who was abducted in the spring of 2007 from Portugal - Europol, through the badge of the Crete police, has requested the investigation of possibly relevant information. Simply, this information relates to a blonde girl who looked like a 4-year-old Madeleine and was spotted at a hotel in Gouves! Through the Greek Police Headquarters of Europol the document was sent to the police department of the peninsula a few days ago. The strange thing is that they have sought, after so many months, to investigate the cameras of the hotel to see if the material depicts the child. As expected, the investigation has not paid off, since the hotel was not able to keep the material from the closed circuit system after so many months. It is not, however, the first time the police in Crete have been asked to investigate for evidence relating to this particular case, mainly in the wider region of Hersonissos and Malia. Madeleine disappeared from her hotel room, between 21.30-22.00, while her parents, Kate and Gerry dined just 50 metres away from her, on 3 May 2007. Because the windows and shutters were found open when the authorities arrived at the location, having just been informed of the disappearance, they considered that they were dealing with the abduction of the child. A few days later, the authorities gave the public a sketch which depicted a male suspect who was probably holding Madeleine, but that was not informative, as it displayed more the back of his body. It also formalised their thoughts that the small child is alive. Meanwhile, the Portuguese media through their reporting believe that the little girl has fallen victim to a paedophile ring. The story has shocked many in the global community including footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham, who sent a public appeal for the release of the 4-year-old girl. Not only famous entrepreneurs, but also footballer Wayne Rooney, offered the amount of 5,000,000 euros to anyone who could find her. ---------------------- Search for Madeleine arrives in Gouves Πατρίς [Patris] (paper edition) Patris, front page, 11 March 2014 Tuesday 11 March 2014 ----------------------- [Note: Patris is a daily Greek newspaper which is printed in Heraklion and principally serves the island of Crete.]

Crete, with Gouves indicated

Gouves (indicated), near Heraklion

The Opinion of Luís Filipe Menezes [with Gonçalo Amaral], 14 March 2014

The Opinion of Luís Filipe Menezes, March 14:Part 2 Porto Canal 14-03-2014 Transcript With thanks to Astro/CMOMM "The Opinion of Luís Filipe Menezes" with Julio Magalhães and Gonçalo Amaral, March 14th 2014 Partial Translation - Interviewers questions are summarised Q: Do you regret anything? Gonçalo Amaral: I would do exactly the same [today that I did then], with a small difference: I would not leave the Polícia Judiciária. It could be a problem for the Polícia Judiciária. I did think about it then, shall I leave or not, if I stay with the police I'm a problem for the police, or if I leave, I have all of the other problems. I don't regret what I did, I did it with conviction, I did it to defend the investigation model, what a criminal investigation is supposed to be. Earlier, you spoke about the politically correct, the politically correct policeman. It is my understanding that criminal investigations cannot be politically correct, because they can't be concerned with politics. And what happened, and continues to happen, is that we have to be politically correct, subordinate to the English power. That happens, it happened on the 2nd of October [of 2007] at the Lisbon Treaty, there were discussions between José Sócrates, then prime minister, and Gordon Brown, the English prime minister, who told the newspapers that he had asked the Portuguese prime minister about the [Maddie] case. So even before that it was already a political case. And when politics intrude into a criminal investigation, nothing will end well, whether the criminal investigation relates to a homicide, a burglary, a disappearance, or corruption. Going back to the beginning of the question, I don't have any regrets. I don't have regrets because although principles and values don't fill the fridge, I feel rich in another way. Q: Was Maddie McCann abducted or is she dead? Gonçalo Amaral: Maddie McCann disappeared and since that time she is – she died. She died that night. Those are the conclusions that are reached in the process itself: In September of 2007, the Polícia Judiciária concludes – and this is a conclusion within an investigation that was not over yet but has a principle there – it's a sequence of indications that are collected which reaches the conclusion that it is very likely that she died. She died that night. The circumstances of the death are still to be determined. What mechanism – what happened for that death to take place is yet to be discovered. And if the parents nowadays make us believe that their daughter is alive, or have to gamble on her being alive, they forget that right after the investigation it was them that were the first to signal death. They were the first to say that their daughter – that it was necessary for a colonel from the South African army [police] to come with a miracle machine to find the body. So it's the parents that invite him to come to Portugal, to find a body. Later, years later they say that she is still alive. And now Scotland Yard, apparently already with their agreement, or their tacit agreement, says that the child is dead. That is obvious. What usually happens in this kind of situation – for years they have mentioned other cases – if a certain child disappears and reappears after several years, alive and even with children, with the abductor, then Madeleine may also probably be alive. But they forget a small detail. Actually, they don't forget it, they just don't enlighten us, because these people have all of the information, they have staff that works with the entire information, which is also a bit strange, but they forget a detail: all of those children that have reappeared, whether in Austria or in the United States, they weren't three or four years old when they disappeared. They were all close to the age of 10. All of them were girls and close to the age of 9, 10. None of them disappeared aged 3 or 4. When an abductor makes a girl his slave, what we have seen is that the age is not 3 or 4, but much closer to adolescence. They forget that detail. I have no doubts about what happened to Madeleine McCann. Madeleine McCann died that day, that night, in that apartment, and her body disappeared. Q: On what do you base that conviction? Gonçalo Amaral: On many things. A series of indications, a series of contradictions, the witness statements of the parents, the witness statements of their friends, the traces that were collected with the assistance of special English dogs that never failed in the United Kingdom, they now work with the FBI. They never failed. At the time, we were introduced to several cases and situations, all of them they worked in and never failed. The possibility is that they failed in Portugal. Maybe it was the heat. Q: Was there human blood in the car boot and inside the apartment? Gonçalo Amaral: No doubt. Inside the apartment and in the car boot. That human blood, the English lab even says, there is a report in the process, that says it's the daughter of – the daughter of Gerald McCann, it's a descendant of his. Later on, they change the hypothesis, and say that the combination of the DNA may be from anyone. By coincidence, in that case the DNA is very similar, 90% similar to that of Madeleine McCann, but it could be DNA built by myself, by Júlio Magalhães or by you, and then it would result in that DNA profile. But the funny thing is that it results in the DNA profile of Madeleine McCann. It does not result in the DNA profile of Júlio Magalhães, or of Gonçalo Amaral or of Luís Filipe Menezes. Not even in that of the doctor who performed the test. We have no doubts, and this was discussed even at the level of Portuguese justice, at the level of the Public Ministry, that there was an alteration at the English lab. The data was manipulated. The FSS, the British lab, which was already questioned over several situations, even concerning the IRA in Ireland, over bomb attacks, those traces, that way to find the DNA, to examine the DNA with low copy number, was called into question relating to traces found on a bomb in an Irish case. And that lab was called into question. But there is a situation, concerning the lab, which has to be taken into account. There are the registers that are performed by the technicians, by the scientists that examine, and we have to look at those registers, at what they wrote. On an everyday basis, as they examined the evidence, the traces that were sent over, what they wrote along. And then we see the result in that report that they sent over to Portugal. Then there's another situation. It is still possible to find out or to collect indications of whether or not the dogs failed. If inside that car boot – I'm referring to the car that was rented by the McCanns some 15 or 20 days after the disappearance – blood traces were found, traces that the lab says may be, although there is no full certainty, that may be from Madeleine McCann, hair was also found. Hair which the laboratory says, from its coloration, which is how this used to be done in the old days, by comparing the coloration, if it belonged to the person or not. Nowadays it is possible to perform, and then it was already possible, to perform DNA tests on hair. Some say it's only possible to identify the DNA profile with the root of the hair, the English lab says it's not possible because these have no root, therefore they don't perform the test. That hair is in Portugal, it was returned to Portugal. They are next to the process. It's simple: the Public Ministry, that has the investigation, should take that hair and send it to a lab in Europe or elsewhere, where that type of test is done, without the need for the root of the hair. Q: That was never done? Gonçalo Amaral: That was never done. ---------------------- The following is courtesy of Textusa's blog: Political Courage Textusa 18 March 2014 at 10:25 -Extract - This is a very important video not as much because of its content but of the host and channel. We consider it important enough to have made it an exception to our publishing scheduling. The channel, Porto Canal, is a regional one, of the second largest city of Portugal: Porto. This city is very regionally spirited, projected internationally by its prestigious and famous Port wine and it's very successful soccer club FC Porto. The host, Luis Filipe Meneses (LFM), is a very important figure within the Partido Social-Democrata (PSD), one of the two rotating parties in power since the April Revolution of 1974. The other being Partido Socialista (PS). PSD, led by Passos Coelho, is currently in power together with Paulo Porta's CDS/PP. LFM was PSD's leader in 2007/2008. As of 1997 until 2013 he was the Mayor of Porto's largest neighbouring city, Vila Nova de Gaia. This city, South of Porto, is where the Port Wine cellars are based. LFM was PSD's candidate to be Porto's Mayor in 2013, an election he lost. LFM has a weekly show in the Porto Canal called "A Opinião de Luís Filipe Menezes" ("The Opinion of Luís Filipe Menezes”) in which he's interviewed by the also very popular TV anchor, Julio Magalhães, who moved from TVI to this regional channel. The fact that LFM, a very prominent political figure, invited Mr Amaral to speak about Maddie is relevant by itself. LFM's questions to Mr Amaral indicate very clearly that he's not a subscriber of the official abduction thesis. In terms of content, we would like to point out that Mr Amaral says, publicly, that at the time he was taken off the case, what was established between the PJ and the British police was to take the investigation towards the clarification of death and body occultation and no longer towards abduction. He states that attached to the process in Portugal there are hair samples, that were returned by the UK to the PJ, that should be checked in terms of DNA but this is still to be done. When LFM asks Mr Amaral if he thinks if ever the case will ever be solved, Mr Amaral answers saying that when there will be political courage, it will be solved. ------------- Transcript/Translation Textusa With thanks to Textusa for translation and Maria for original Portuguese transcript Julio Magalhães (JM): Now Gonçalo Amaral is here, former Inspector of PJ. Dr. Meneses, it's your guest, do you wish to introduce him? Make a very brief presentation? Luís Filipe Meneses (LFM): Gonçalo Amaral needs no introduction but he is the motivation of our invitation. Well,.. first, because Gonçalo Amaral due to the visibility he achieved with some of the cases he was involved professionally, has also put that in our imaginary confrontational dialectic between a politically correct policeman and a Portuguese "Dirty Harry". Let's then know if he's a Portuguese "Dirty Harry" or a politically correct policeman. Besides that, the case, namely the Maddie case, puts into question... raises a number of issues that deserve some reflection. Seven years have passed and it is a case that is still opening newscasts around the world and provokes us to make a reflection on the qualifications of our PJ, namely in handling crimes with this complexity, it raises questions if our police, our state are protected from national and international political influences that interfere in the daily professional judgment of the polices and other criminal investigation agents and, on the other hand, the historical memory of what happened, with to some questions that we can put to Gonçalo Amaral, may make viewers individually assume a closer judgment to what happened that night seven years ago in Praia da Luz in the Algarve. JM: Gonçalo Amaral, good night! It is with great pleasure in having you here. Gonçalo Amaral (GA): Good evening and thank you for the invitation JM: Before the questions, even because Dr. Luís Filipe Meneses will talk a bit with you, I would ask you if you regret everything that has happened in your life, seven years later you have written, have talked about it, lost your family, your job… would do exactly the same today? GA: I would do exactly the same with a slight difference. I would never leave the PJ, so,.. it could be a problem for the PJ... at the time I thought about it,.. do I leave or do I not leave, if I stay in the police. If I'm a problem for the police or if I leave and have all the other problems. But I wouldn’t leave. JM: Today you wouldn't leave the PJ? GA: No! I have heard of teachers who talk about wanting to return and asking to stop their retirement. I could also stop as I see I still have a place in the PJ. But it seems that is only possible for doctors, isn't? No disrespect for doctors! [LFM, although a full-time politician is a paediatrician] JM: Of course, of course. GA: No, but in fact I don't regret what I did with conviction, I did it to defend the investigative model, of what should be a criminal investigation. We have just spoke of the politically correct or the politically correct policeman and I understand that criminal investigations cannot be politically correct because they don’t have to worry about politics. And what happened was that.. and it continues to happen, is we have to be politically correct relatively subordinated to the English power. That happens, it happened on 2 October during the Treaty of Lisbon, in the discussions between the Eng. [Engineer, a honorary title similar to Dr.] and Prime Minister at the time, José Sócrates and Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister, in which he came to the newspapers to say he had pressed the Portuguese Prime Minister about the case. Therefore, it was already a political case and when politics meddles in a criminal investigation nothing comes to a good conclusion, be it relative to a criminal investigation concerning a homicide, be it relative to a theft, be it relative to a disappearance, be it a normal case and corruption is there and will be involved but back to the beginning of the question, I don't regret it. I don't regret it because although principles and values don't fill the refrigerator, they enrich me in other ways. JM: Dr. Meneses… LFM: I would put a first question Gonçalo Amaral that perhaps should be the last. I want also to say that I'm never neutral in these matters, I try to be impartial. I have a special liking for Gonçalo Amaral and for the style of policeman he was. Good, and the first question is precisely the one that perhaps should be the last and not starting with the particular but with the general: the Inspector Goncalo Amaral who led one of the world’s most mediatic investigation in the last years, the citizen Gonçalo Amaral now, with everything that happened and saw and contacted, what is your belief? Was Maddie McCann abducted or died? GA: Maddie McCann has disappeared and as of then is... died... She died that night and, by the way these are the conclusions made in the Process itself in September 2007, the PJ concluded,.. and this is a conclusion in the context of an investigation that was not finished but has there a principle, it's from the sequence of a series of clues that are collected that it's concluded that she very likely died. And she died that night. The circumstances of death are still to be clarified, what mechanism, what happened for that death to have occurred are still to be clarified. And if parents today give the impression that the daughter would be alive or was alive and they have to bet she's alive, they forget that, just after the investigation, they were the first to give those signs of death, they were the first to say that their daughter... that it was necessary, in the case, an individual, one South African Army Colonel with a miraculous machine to find the corpse,.. so those who invited this South African gentleman to come to Portugal were the parents. So as to find a corpse. Then months later, years later they continue to say, they keep talking that she would be alive. Now Scotland Yard, now in agreement with them too, it seems at least tacitly, it seems that the child is dead. Obviously, it happens in a lot of these situations, there is much talk... they pushed a lot over these years a circumstance like it happened in other cases where a certain child disappeared and reappeared alive years later and even had children and nearby the abductor, so Madeleine can also be probably alive. They just forget a small detail. Not forget. They don't enlighten us because these people have all the information, they have a staff that works with all the information. It's a bit strange and they forget one detail: all those children who have appeared either in Austria or in the United States, when they disappeared they weren't 3 or 4 years old, they were close to being ten years old, all were girls close to 9 and 10 years of age and there is no girl who has disappeared aged 3 or 4 years. For a abductor that makes someone, a girl, slave, what has been seen is that the age is not the age of 3 or 4 years old but an age near adolescence. They forget that detail. Now the conviction, I have no doubt about what to me happened to Madeleine McCann. Madeleine McCann died that day, that night in that apartment. And her body disappeared. LFM: On what do you base this conviction? GA: On lot of things. In a series of clues, a number of contradictions in the testimonies of those parents, in the testimonies from the friends, traces that were collected with the help of the British special dogs that have never failed in the UK, never have failed this far, working with the FBI... LFM: That was one of the questions I wanted to know if these dogs in their curriculum have ever any time failed,..? GA: Never failed, never failed in terms,.. these searches never failed and it was made to our knowledge at the time several cases, several situations, where they worked and never failed. Therefore the hypothesis was that they had failed in Portugal and I, sometimes joking, say it could only be because of the heat. LFM: Was there human blood in the trunk of the car? GA: No doubt about it! In the apartment and in the boot of the car. By the way, this human blood is said by the English Lab, and t’s in a prior report that is in the process, where it's said it's the daughter... the daughter of Gerald McCann. It would be from a descendant of. Then, later, they came up with the hypothesis, they altered those hypothesis, come to say that combination that gives that DNA could be from anyone. By chance there is there a DNA very similar, 90%, of Madeleine McCann’s but could be a DNA built by me, by Julio Magalhaes and by the Dr [referring to LFM] and that would end being that DNA profile. But the funny thing is that it gives the DNA profile of Madeleine McCann. It does not give the profile of Julio Magalhaes, Gonçalo Amaral nor of Dr. Luis Filipe Menezes or of the doctor that did that test. We don't have any doubt and this was discussed at a level in the Portuguese Justice, to the General Prosecutor level, that there was a change in the English laboratory of manipulation of that data. The FSS, the English Lab has already been questioned about various situations namely in terms of the IRA in Ireland and in terms of bomb attacks, also these traces,.. this way of finding the DNA, to examine the DNA / copy number was questioned about a trace found in an Irish bomb case. And that Laboratory's credibility was questioned. But there is one situation here, relative to the Laboratory, which must be taken into account, There are those records that were made by technicians and by scientists who examine and we have to look at those records, to look at what they wrote, in the day-to-day when the evidence was examined, the traces that were remitted there, to what they were writing because after that we see what is the outcome that results in that report they sent here, to Portugal. And then there is another situation, that it still is possible, to know or to gather clues if in fact that those dogs have failed or not, if indeed ... if that ... in the trunk of that car, I'm referring to the car rented by the McCanns about 15 or 20 days after the disappearance, where traces of blood were found, traces that... that the laboratory says they may be, but there is no absolute certainty that they are from Madeleine McCann and that hair was also found. Hair, says the laboratory, by the colouring, that’s how the exam was done in the old days, examination, comparing if the hair colour was or wasn't from a person. Nowadays it is possible to do and, even then it was, do DNA tests to the hair. There are those who say, and some laboratories say that, that it's only possible to identify the DNA with the hair root. The English Laboratory says it's not possible because these don't have the hair root, the root ... and so they won't do the exam. These hairs are in Portugal, they were returned to Portugal and are attached to the process. It's simple. It is the Public Ministry, who has the investigation, to take those hairs and send them to a European or other Laboratory where it’s done this kind of examinations without requiring the hair root. LFM: But this was never done, is it? GA: But it was never done. It was never done and what it's said is that it may have been there a contamination but we will be sure or not if that hair is from Madeleine McCann. Then there will be many a doubt to discuss, to clarify. Now there can't exist a proof and we're talking about the man who died from underneath a tractor because he fired himself a month earlier because there were 5 euros missing... that may not have been him... LFM: There is another piece, there is another interesting piece which is an Irish family, on seeing the McCann couple to arriving at London's airport, says it recognises by posture of the father... a man who was carrying a child that night. Why is it that when this statement is made neither the PJ nor the SY went to hear to this Irish Family? GA: We were on the day of the Lisbon Treaty, which happens to be on my birthday, the 2nd of October, 2007. It was the Treaty of Lisbon, I celebrate my birthday on 2 October and was fired, in quotes, in Portimão, that 2 October day.... And it was when we are preparing the coming to Portugal of the head of this family, which is of about five people. It was him, the wife, the son, the daughter-in-law and the other daughter, who see that day, that night of 3 May around from 10 o'clock at night, when they come from a restaurant in Praia da Luz and cross with an individual who goes down a certain street in direction to the beach and carrying a child in his arms and her head on his shoulder, here, and is as if she's sleeping. And later come to say that, from the news, because the next day they returned to Ireland, come to say it can be Madeleine McCann and it could have been the person who carried Madeleine McCann. They are heard, they are heard in the process immediately in May and June. They came to Portugal, were heard and gave a description of who the person was, his physical appearance, how he walked, the description of the clothes, if he was Portuguese, if he wasn't, that he would be a tourist because he was sunburned, but wasn't Latin, they give the age of the person, give also the child's at least by the size and that was it. Only later when Gerald McCann and Kate McCann leave Portugal for England in September after being heard as arguidos, they fled, literally, fled to England and with them the English police who were cooperating with us but then also disappeared and we came to the conclusion that the English Police were in Portugal only to collaborate in some way to protect that couple But when they arrive in England there's an image that has already crossed the world, at the time crossed... that is Gerald McCann coming down the steps of the plane, the stairs that access the plane and walking on the runway with one, with one… of the twins like this, in the same way in the arms with the head here. And what, that family, says is that individual by the posture, the way he walks, the way he carries the child is who they had seen on the day of May 3, the night of May 3. They don't say anything more, they say that's where it goes. And what happens? We started with the efforts to bring them to Portugal, to hear them, the father of this family would have come here, so, the older element was who was available to come to Portugal and we had everything handled: authorization Police for them come to Portugal from PJ’s National Director, ticket emission, if I'm not mistaken tickets were to be  issued, the hotel lacked... so it was just a matter of logistics and it is when, on the 2nd October, after I had been questioned by a newspaper, the Diário de Notícias, about what I thought about the English police saying that Madeleine had been seen in Morocco I said ... I blurted that they should concerned themselves with... knowing really what had happened to Madeleine McCann instead of concerning themselves about other situations ... Because when the English police left Portugal, what had been established between the Portuguese and the English police was that the police investigation had to proceed in terms of understanding how the death had happened, Madeleine McCann's death, and what had happened to the corpse. We were not talking here about abductions or the child being taken to be a sex slave, of nothing of the sort. We were talking about death and occultation of a corpse. And it's on that 2 October day that I leave. I left the investigation. It's on that 2 October day that Gordon Brown speaks with Jose Socrates. It would be good for Sr Eng José Socrates to explain, if he could explain, what happened. I think his posture was, from what I got to understand at the time, a distancing even from the investigation, by not paying much attention, not giving much importance to Gordon Brown's statements. It was Gordon Brown who tried to involve the Portuguese Prime Minister in this controversy, so to speak. But then the one who comes to replace me later considers that, this to respond directly to your question, considers that it isn't relevant to bring the Irish to Portugal and we stayed like that. So the Irish were never again heard ... they were heard through... LFM: Do you think that if at the time, Juca [diminutive of Júlio] Magalhães had abandoned TVI to be Advisor to the McCann couple, would it, would it comprehensible? How is it comprehensible that the spokesman for the English Prime Minister had left, in 24 hours, Tony Blair to be the McCann family’s spokesman? Isn’t that strange? GA: Yesl, that is almost ... it's another mystery within the mystery, and maybe if we understand that little mystery it can be understood what is behind… not the disappearance ... not the child’s death but what is behind the protection… of the why protect... JM: ... that couple ... GA: ... this family, this couple JM: Did you notice that, Gonçalo Amaral, the power of this couple? GA: Yes, have I not noticed? I have even noticed in my bank account in what I get at the end of the month. This has happened like this. Now ... LFM: Is it true ... is it true that one of the elements of the group two years before had been denounced by another companion? GA: Exactly! LFM: Of having behaviours near those that could indicate... GA: ... that is important .... LFM: .... some extravagant behaviour from the point of view of his tendency to be a paedophile? GA: It's true ... there is a mystery figure who may even have to do so with the departure of Clarence Mitchell from the British Government to go support the couple. It can be said it is a conspiracy theory but it is not. There is also a British couple, also doctors, who two years earlier went holidaying with the McCann couple and their children, with Madeleine and with other medical couples, being among them a man who is David Payne. This David Payne is the last witness, is the witness that on May 3 says he went there to the apartment and that he saw those little children and that they looked heavenly angels, were all very nicely washed, very white, something out of Heaven and is the person who bathed in the holidays, in these holidays he organized, that bathed the girls of 2, 3 years, not only his daughters, his children, but the children of the others. And it is these circumstances of bathing the children of the others and in comments he makes in a vacation period in which he speaks of, and according to the statements of Dr Katherine Gaspar, who is the name of the person who denounces, statements that are in process that say… LFM: ...denounces extravagant behaviour of the gentleman. GA: Yes, and this is something that, if we have time, we'll try to explain. She says ... what she says is that he made a gesture and asked questions to Gerald McCann about Madeleine McCann in front of Madeleine McCann herself, who at the time was 2 years old... LFM: In the investigation, it was never explored the possibility of this man being a paedophile? GA: Exactly! The question is this: it's that these statements came to Portugal after I left the investigation, on the 2 .. I left on 2 October and they arrived months later. They are the statements of Dr Katherine Gaspar and of her husband to the British Police on May 16, 2007, 15 days after the disappearance, statements that the Portuguese police were not informed of and arrive in Portugal via .... by mail, no, by fax, under other documents, these statements come loose and what someone from the British Police does was, here are these statements and now you investigate, question. And no one from the Portuguese Police, who replaced me, who came next, has yet questioned, nor Scotland Yard. No one questions, no one investigates what is going on there. Dr Katherine Gaspar, who denounced David Payne to the British police, was never heard in the Portuguese process and was never included in the rogatory letter which was issued by the Portuguese authorities. This is the truth, and we’re going on with debates, with burglaries... JM: …Goncalo Amaral ... GA: ...and things that are in the process are not investigated. JM: All this makes one think, and just to finish, that it will never be solved ..... it will never be ... it’s a case that will stay in history without being solved?. GA: I think it will be solved, it will be solved ... and there we come back to politics, when there will political will on both sides. JM: And when it is proved that Madeleine McCann was really dead, do you intend to be reimbursed? GA: Well, it seems that if I use the strategy of the couple McCann, it's  already tacitly acknowledged. Scotland Yard has already said she's dead, so... not having proved anything… LFM: If you had the McCann couple's financial capability resulting due to the fund that was placed at their disposal, would you have found the culprits? GA: I have done a lot to try to find the culprits, there is much information that is still unexplored. Now, it's hard in our country for us to be able to investigate, because a private person cannot investigate... LFM: and do you think you were removed from your ... from your duties, and marginalized until you leaving the PJ because you were too close to finding ... GA: No. LFM: ... the truth about the case? GA: No, not don't go that way. I left the investigation and was withdrawn from the investigation because the case had to be dominated politically, only and only because of that. Because I opposed the archiving, and directly, and with police directors and said that I disagreed with the archiving. It was suggested and said to me that there are processes, there are investigations that have no end, that never have a result and that I shouldn't do much to.. That I call it quits and so all was set-up to... I always opposed and so I left the investigation and not for being close. As such I don't take it, no, I don't take my exit with something of they being afraid of... no. The question was ... it's that the case is political, just and only political. Politics is what is handling this issue and when politics enters the investigations... when investigations are politically correct we won’t go anywhere. JM: Gonçalo Amaral we are going to have to finish, just half a minute more, you have already said that your belief is that Madeleine McCann is dead. I don’t want you to answer but do you also have some conviction about of who is the author of the crime? GA: Who is? Well.... only in the accident hypothesis, now there are people responsible, those who had the guardianship of the child certainly have some responsibility, to what extent I don't know. LFM: Thank you very much. I think in seven years from now maybe we will be here to do a follow-up GA: ...... a cycle, seven years is always a cycle in people's lives. JM: Oh yeah GA: ...they say yes, some say and there are some theories ... JM: Gonçalo Amaral it was nice to have you here and very good evening and thank you GA: Thank you very much. JM: Dr. Luis Filipe Meneses, congratulations for the guest for tonight and for this comment from Luis Filipe Meneses. Next, the latest news, good night.

Crimewatch to report on a 'new major line of inquiry in the Madeleine McCann case', 19 March 2014

Crimewatch to report on a 'new major line of inquiry in the Madeleine McCann case' BBC Crimewatch - Twitter   10:38 AM - 19 Mar 2014 BBC Crimewatch ‏@BBCCrimewatch 8m Tune into #crimewatch later to hear about the new major line of inquiry in the #MadeleineMcCann case ------------------- Also from Jeff Anderson - Head of BBC Daytime Progs: Big developments on some VERY big cases on tonight's BBC Crimewatch, 9pm, BBC One Jeff Anderson - Twitter 9:55 AM - 19 Mar 2014 Jeff Anderson ‏@jeffanderson30 1h Big developments on some VERY big cases on tonight's @bbccrimewatch, 9pm, BBC One.  10:34 AM - 19 Mar 2014 Jeff Anderson ‏@jeffanderson30 1h New developments on the Madeleine McCann case - full report on tonight's @bbccrimewatch BBC One, 9pm #madeleine #mccann

Scotland Yard detectives appeal for info on previous abduction attempts in Algarve before Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007, 19 March 2014

Scotland Yard detectives appeal for info on previous abduction attempts in Algarve before Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007 Martin Brunt - Twitter 10:33 AM - 19 Mar 2014 martinbrunt ‏@skymartinbrunt 50m #Madeleine Scot Yard detectives appeal for info on previous abduction attempts in Algarve before Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007.

McCann police seek lone intruder, 19 March 2014

McCann police seek lone intruder Press Association Press Association - 19-03-2014 11:30   Press Association - Police investigating the case of missing Madeleine McCann are seeking a lone intruder. -------------------------- Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are looking for a lone intruder who sexually abused five girls during break-ins at holiday homes. The tanned, dark-haired man is suspected of breaking in to 12 properties where British families were staying in the Algarve, Portugal between 2004 and 2010. In the four incidents, girls aged between seven and 10 years of age were sexually assaulted. The attacks happened between 2004 and 2006, before Madeleine vanished in 2007. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said tracing the man, said to have "an unhealthy interest in young white female children", is one of his priority lines of inquiry. His team currently have 38 people classed as "persons of interest" to the inquiry and are also sifting through details of 530 known sex offenders whose whereabouts they cannot account for. Of those, 59 are classed as high priority and some of those are British. ------------------------------------- Updated: Intruder sought in Madeleine probe The Press Association Press Association – Wed, Mar 19, 2014 14:19 VIDEO REMOVED Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are looking for a lone intruder who sexually abused five girls during break-ins at holiday homes. The tanned, dark-haired man is suspected of breaking in to 12 properties where British families were staying in the Algarve, Portugal, between 2004 and 2010. In four of the incidents, a total of five girls aged between seven and 10 were sexually assaulted. These attacks happened between 2004 and 2006, before Madeleine vanished in 2007. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said tracing the man, who has "a vile interest in young, white, female children", is "a primary concern". Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, were fully briefed on the latest developments in the investigation before they were made public today. Mr Redwood said: "I'm sure the public will understand that the significant features of this offending - a man with a vile interest in young, white, female children, who he is attacking in their beds while they are on holiday with their families - has got a very close resonance to some of the features of Madeleine's disappearance. "We really need to identify the offender, to bring to a close the trauma and the tragedy that these families have suffered, and then seek to establish whether this is connected to Madeleine's disappearance." The potentially linked break-ins had previously been discounted by Portuguese investigators because they were spread over a wide geographical area and there were no apparent attempts at abduction. Four of the burglaries were in Carvoeiro, six in the Vale da Parra, Praia da Gale district, and two in Praia da Luz. Nine of the 12 incidents were reported to Portuguese police at the time they happened, but British investigators only became aware of three of those when the victims came forward in response to televised appeals last autumn. In six of the offences, the man sat on or got into bed with young girls and, even when he was disturbed, witnesses said he remained calm. He spoke English slowly, with a foreign accent and possibly slurred speech, had unkempt hair and was unshaven, and smelled strange. Some witnesses said he had a pot belly. In two of the break-ins he was wearing a distinctive burgundy long-sleeved top, which some witnesses said had a white circle on the back. Mr Redwood said: "This is an offender who has got a very, very unhealthy interest in young, white, female children who he is attacking whilst they are on holiday in their beds. "While I completely accept that there are differences (between the break-ins and the McCann case), there is no abduction that we can see, but the assumption from that is that Madeleine McCann has been abducted. That may not necessarily follow with all our thinking about what may have become of Madeleine McCann. "It is really critical for us to identify this offender and prove or disprove whether he was involved in Madeleine's disappearance." Mr Redwood said that if names are put forward for the most serious assault, his team will be able to eliminate suspects from their inquiry. This suggests that police have DNA on file. The investigators have 38 people classed as "persons of interest" in the investigation and are also sifting through details of 530 known sex offenders whose whereabouts they cannot account for. Of those, 59 are classed as high priority and some are British. Last autumn the Scotland Yard team appealed for help in identifying a man who was seen carrying a child towards the sea on the night that Madeleine, then aged three, vanished, as well as a group of men who were seen lurking near the holiday apartment where her family was staying. So far they have not been able to eliminate any of the men from their inquiry. The British investigators have sent three international letters of request to Portuguese authorities for help with their inquiry, covering 41 priority areas for the team, involving 287 separate requests. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said he is frustrated at how slow the legal process has been. "That's causing us frustration because we know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process," he said. Another 30 letters have been written to other European countries, but the force would not reveal where. However officers have travelled to Spain, Belgium, Jersey, Switzerland, Holland and Germany as part of the probe. Madeleine, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends. British detectives launched a fresh investigation into the youngster's disappearance in July last year - two years into a review of the case - and made renewed appeals on television in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. After shelving their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance in 2008, Portuguese authorities said last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it. Mr Redwood appealed for anyone else who may have been a victim of the intruder to come forward. He said: "We need to establish the identity of this man. These offences are very serious and no-one has been charged in connection with them. We also need to eliminate this man from our inquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine's disappearance. "If you have been a victim of a similar crime, please come forward, even if you reported the incident to police in Portugal, or anywhere else. Please do not assume we have been made aware of it."

Yard has 'the best opportunity' to find Madeleine McCann, 19 March 2014

Yard has 'the best opportunity' to find Madeleine McCann The Telegraph A 'cold case' review of the Madeleine McCann case has led Scotland Yard detectives to identify potential suspects involved in her disappearance from an Algarve resort By Padraic Flanagan 11:37AM GMT 19 Mar 2014 Operation Grange, staffed by a team of Scotland Yard's finest detectives and paid for by the Home Office, offers the best opportunity to find out what happened to Madeleine McCann. While the Yard cannot rectify the mistakes made in the initial inquiry, when the Portuguese police were accused of failing to seal off the area where Madeleine had been staying and gather all available forensic evidence, the inquiry team has had access to all the files. This has enabled detectives to look at the case with an objective eye and form fresh theories about what may have happened to Madeleine. Their determination has prompted quiet optimism that a breakthrough may be possible. The review has led detectives to uncover "new evidence and new witnesses" in the case. Among the most recent revelations was the Yard's desire to interview three burglars who were in Praia da Luz when Madeleine went missing. It has also emerged that the Met Police have identified more than 40 "persons of interest" after reviewing all the evidence, and have formally asked Portugal for more help with their inquiry, which has been running since 2011. The Yard team is understood to have sent International Letters of Request to more than 30 countries, most of them in Europe. Many relate to persons of interest and unidentified mobile phone numbers that were recorded in Praia da Luz around the time that Madeleine, then aged three, went missing from her family's holiday flat on May 3, 2007. Because British police have no jurisdiction to operate overseas, they must ask their counterparts in other countries to carry out investigative work and interview suspects on their behalf. Under European Union rules, member states are expected to comply with requests like these made under Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties. Portugal's attorney general announced last October that his country's investigative Policia Judiciaria had reopened their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance after receiving new evidence. Operation Grange, conducted by the Met's Homicide and Serious Crime Command, is led by Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Redwood who is supported by a further twenty-eight detectives and seven other staff. The team held their first face-to-face meetings with Portuguese police chiefs in September 2011, several months after the review was set up by Home Secretary Theresa May. By the following April, when a computer-generated image of what Madeleine might look like at nine was released, Det Chf Insp Redwood announced his team had the "best opportunity" yet to find her and they were "seeking to bring closure to the case". In May last year, detectives revealed they had identified a "number of people of interest". Two months later, the Met opened a formal investigation with "38 persons of interest" under scrutiny. Last October, the Met announced that mobile phone records may hold the key to solving the case, and that the list of potential suspects had grown to 41. Later that month, a Crimewatch appeal featured e-fit images of a man seen carrying a blonde-haired child of three or four, possibly wearing pyjamas, in Praia da Luz at about the time Madeleine went missing. It also showed a detailed reconstruction of events on the night she disappeared. Ten days later, Portuguese police said they were reopening their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance, citing "new lines of inquiry". Scotland Yard's investigation is running alongside the Portuguese operation. Earlier this year, the Yard team were handed a dossier on burglars in the Algarve by Portuguese officers, which included information on incidents in Praia da Luz at around the time Madeleine disappeared. British detectives flew to Portugal to discuss further action against three potential suspects, after discovering mobile phone records that suggested the trio made repeated calls to each other in the hours after Madeleine's disappearance. In February, Scotland Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe admitted that his officers had the names of suspects and that 'some progress' was being made in the inquiry, which is thought to have cost several million pounds so far.

Madeleine McCann police seek intruder who attacked girls at holiday homes [1st version], 19 March 2014

Madeleine McCann police seek intruder who attacked girls at holiday homes The Guardian Detectives investigating girl's disappearance look for dark-haired man who sexually abused five girls in Algarve, Portugal Press Association Wednesday 19 March 2014 11.43 GMT Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are looking for a lone intruder who sexually abused five girls during break-ins at holiday homes. The tanned, dark-haired man is suspected of breaking into 12 properties where British families were staying in the Algarve, Portugal, between 2004 and 2010. Five girls aged between seven and 10 were sexually assaulted. in four incidents that took place between 2004 and 2006 – before Madeleine vanished in 2007. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said that tracing the man, said to have "an unhealthy interest in young white female children", was one of his priority lines of inquiry. His team has classed 38 people as "persons of interest" to the inquiry, and is sifting through details of 530 known sex offenders whose whereabouts they cannot account for. Of those, 59 are classed as high priority, and some of those are British. British detectives are looking at the series of 12 break-ins, in six of which the man sat on or got into bed with young girls. Two of the incidents took place in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was staying with her family when she disappeared. The break-ins had previously been discounted by Portuguese investigators because they were spread over a wide geographical area and there were no apparent attempts at abduction. Nine of the 12 incidents were reported to Portuguese police at the time they happened, and details of three of those became known to British investigators only after they made televised appeals last autumn. Redwood said two of the families described the intruder wearing a distinctive burgundy-coloured long-sleeved top, and one family said that it had a white circle on the back. In nine of the break-ins nothing was taken, and in the remainder "low-level" items such as cash were stolen. The man was described as talking English slowly, with a foreign accent, and remaining calm even when he was disturbed. "This is an offender who has got a very, very unhealthy interest in young, white, female children who he is attacking whilst they are on holiday in their beds," Mr Redwood said. "While I completely accept that there are differences (between the break-ins and the McCann case), there is no abduction that we can see, but the assumption from that is that Madeleine McCann has been abducted. That may not necessarily follow with all our thinking about what may have become of Madeleine McCann. "It is really critical for us to identify this offender and prove or disprove whether he was involved in Madeleine's disappearance." Redwood said that if names are put forward, his team would be able to eliminate suspects from their inquiry. This suggests that police have DNA on file. His team had previously appealed for help identifying a man who was seen carrying a child towards the sea on the night that Madeleine, then aged three, vanished, as well as a group of men who were seen lurking near the holiday apartment where her family was staying. So far they have not been able to eliminate any of the men from their inquiry.

Madeleine McCann police seek intruder who attacked girls at holiday homes [2nd version], 19 March 2014

Madeleine McCann police seek intruder who attacked girls at holiday homes The Guardian Detectives investigating girl's disappearance look for dark-haired man who sexually abused five girls in Algarve, Portugal James Meikle Wednesday 19 March 2014 11.43 GMT Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from a Portuguese holiday resort nearly seven years ago say a lone intruder sexually assaulted five girls between seven and 10 in the Algarve between 2004 and 2006. The four incidents – one involving two girls – were among 12 over six years up to 2010 being examined by officers in which a man entered holiday accommodation, mainly villas, and mostly occupied by British families. In six of those incidents, the man, said to be dark-haired and tanned, sat on the victims' beds. In nine of the 12 incidents there was no evidence of forced entry or property taken. In three others there was "low-level" theft involving cash or phones. Police said he appeared to "have a very very, unhealthy interest" in young white girls. The man, said to be unshaven with unkempt hair, spoke English slowly with a foreign accent and kept calm when disturbed. Three victims suggested he had a distinctive smell, one involving aftershave, another tobacco while a third just described "a funny smell". However, no children were abducted. Detectives also said there had been an increase in "criminality" and burglary in Praia da Luz that peaked in April 2007, shortly before Madeleine's disappearance. Scotland Yard also revealed it was looking at 38 "people of interest" in relation to Madeleine's disappearance, as well as trying to find out more about 530 known sex offenders across Europe. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, in charge of the hunt for Madeleine, accepted there were differences between these cases and that of Madeleine's disappearance but added that there was a possibility that Madeleine had not left her family's holiday apartment alive when she disappeared in May 2007. In most cases now being examined, the incidents happened between 2am and 5am, later than in the disappearance of Madeleine, then aged three, from a ground floor apartment at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant. Redwood said the assumption that Madeleine had been alive "may not follow with all our thinking" on the case. "These offences are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them. We also need to eliminate this man from our inquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine's disappearance," he said. "If you have been a victim of a similar crime please come forward even if you reported the incident to police in Portugal, or anywhere else, please do not assume we have been made aware of it." He appealed for information and gave details of a distinctive burgundy long sleeve top the attacker was said to have worn during attacks in the resort areas of Vale de Parra and Praia da Gale in the occasions it was described as having a white circle on the back. The appeal will also be made via BBC's Crimewatch on Wednesday night. Redwood said if names were put forward, his team would be able to eliminate them from inquiries, suggesting the police may have DNA evidence. In the attacks, the suspect may have been in the villa or looking round the villa for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent coming in, or the child waking up, say police. On two occasions the noise of a refuse collection lorry could be heard nearby. Of the 12 offences being investigated, four took place in Carvoeiro, six in the Vale da Parra, Praia da Gale district and two in Praia da Luz . Detectives have previously suggested Madeleine may have been abducted in a planned operation that had included individuals reconnoitring the resort before hand. Scotland Yard last October issued efit images of a possible suspect with dark hair reportedly seen carrying a child with blond hair and possibly wearing pyjamas. One of these was made for private detectives hired by the McCann family in 2008. The publication of the pictures on Crimewatch led to a huge response by the public and this man has still not been excluded from the police inquiry. Efits of two fair-haired men seen near the McCanns' apartment were also released and police in the UK and Portugal have also been investigating break-ins around the resort, one of which occurred the same week a year before Madeleine disappeared and involved a man involving a man who entered a flat where young children were sleeping. Fresh appeals are also made in Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany. Scotland Yard has indicated its irritation with the slowness of the formal legal process that would allow its officers to work on the ground in Portugal. The Crown Prosecution Service has three so-called letters of request being considered by the country's legal system, among 30 from Britain on the case now being considered across Europe. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt, said: "I am frustrated the legal process is as slow as it is." But he insisted: "We are seeing an increase in the tempo of the investigation." Police are asking members of the public with information to call them on 0800 0961011 within the UK. The number for non-UK residents is +44 207 1580 126. Callers can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

New appeal following the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, 19 March 2014

New appeal following the disappearance of Madeleine McCann Metropolitan Police Service Above: Banner on Met home page

New appeal following the disappearance of Madeleine McCann Metropolitan Police Service   Officers from Operation Grange investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have today issued a further appeal for information. During the course of their enquiries, officers have identified a potential linked series of twelve crimes which occurred between 2004 and 2010, mostly in low season, whereby a male intruder has gained access to mainly holiday villas occupied by UK families on holiday in the Western Algarve. In four cases between 2004 and 2006 the man sexually assaulted 5 white girls, aged between 7 and 10 years, whilst in their beds. On one of these occasions, he assaulted two girls in the same villa. Whilst not identical, there are many similar aspects to each of the incidents in that in most cases there were no signs of forced entry to the property, nothing was taken, and the intruder appeared in the early hours of the morning between 02.00hrs and 05.00hrs. The suspect may have been in the villa or looking round the villa for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent, or the child waking up. He remained calm, even when disturbed. On two occasions the noise of a bin collection lorry could be heard nearby. Of the twelve offences, there were four in Carvoeiro, six in the Vale da Parra , Praia da Gale district and two in Praia da Luz. Witnesses describe the man as having dark (as in tanned) skin with short dark unkempt hair. He spoke in English with a foreign accent, his voice was described as slow, or possibly slurred. He was sometimes bare chested, some describe him as having a pot belly, and three victims said that he had a noticeable odour. On two occasions in Vale de Parra and Praia da Gale he was wearing a distinctive burgundy long sleeve top, on one of those occasions it was described as having a white circle on the back. DCI Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer said today, "We need to establish the identity of this man. "These offences are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them. We also need to eliminate this man from our enquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine's disappearance. "If you have been a victim of a similar crime please come forward even if you reported the incident to police in Portugal, or anywhere else, please do not assume we have been made aware of it . "While some of these offences have been in the public domain before, following our appeal in October three more were reported to us as a direct result of that appeal. One of those reports we believe is the first in the potential series. "Please call us on 0800 0961011 if you are within the UK. The number for non-UK residents is +44 207 1580 126. Alternatively if you do not want to speak to us directly you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. "Our appeal last year was very successful and we had over 5,000 calls which generated new information for us and which we continue to investigate. "We still need to establish the identity of a man seen by three witnesses, carrying a child fitting Madeleine's description towards the beach or town areas at about 2200 on the night Madeleine disappeared. The witnesses have described the man in the e-fits as being white, aged in his 30s, with short brown hair, of medium build, medium height and clean shaven. "The Metropolitan Police Service continues to offer a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person(s) responsible for the abduction of Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3 May 2007. " -------------------------- Interactive map LINK Madeleine McCann Appeal - March 2014   Main appeal transcript pdf version We have a further appeal today to come back to the public in relation to 12 offences that we're investigating whereby a man has entered the holiday homes or apartments of English families between the period of 2004 and 2010. These offences have taken place mainly clustered in areas known as Carvoeiro or Praia de Gale Vale de Parra which sit about 30km away from Praia de Luz and indeed there are 2 offences within this that are in this linked series that are in Praia de Luz themselves, itself. Now the offences involve a man, as I say, entering holiday apartments or holiday homes. On the whole, in the majority of these cases, there is no forced entry and neither is there any property taken. Whilst the man is inside, in four of the most serious cases, he has sexually assaulted young white female children whilst they're in their bedrooms. These children are between the ages of 7 and 10 years of age and obviously this is a serious matter that we need to understand more about, particularly in relation to its possible connection to Madeleine McCann's disappearance. And the offender we know is described as being a male, with dark hair, who has got dark brown tanned skin. He often speaks to the victim's with a foreign accent, in English, which is, with his voice being rather slow or possibly slurred. We know that in two occasions, the man was wearing a distinctive burgundy top, one of the families describes this top as having a white circle on the rear of it. In two of the occasions, we know that when the public have come out on to the street, they've heard binmen in the nearby area so possibly this could have something to do with who this offender is. These matters are very serious and its very important primarily for us to understand and identify who this offender is. Firstly, because clearly nobody has been prosecuted for these horrible offences against these young people. And secondly, once we've identified this offender, we need to be able to prove or disprove whether these offences and that offender is connected to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. So if you believe you know who the offender is, then please make the call today, it's really important you let us know. We do have the ability in the most serious case, that if a name is put forward, we can prove or disprove whether that person is indeed responsible for that offence. Secondly, is, on the basis of how this information about how these offences have taken place, it's really important that if you think you've been affected by them, if you've been a victim of them, then please phone in today so that my officers can speak to you. An extra part to that is, even if you have reported it to police in Portugal, then please do not assume that we'd know that this offence has taken place, so do come forward so we can possibly cross check against what we know, but equally as we know from our appeal last October, identifying new matters that have not previously come into our investigation. ------------------------ Update on Previous appeal   Update on Previous appeal transcript pdf version The appeal that we did to the public last October was very successful, we've received many thousands of calls which has given us some very interesting new information. What I would like to say particularly today as we come back to the public is that what we are not saying is the appeal that we did before is now no longer relevant because it very clearly is for us. The sighting of the man walking down towards the centre of Praia de Luz at 10 o clock on the 3rd May with the child that looked like Madeleine McCann, we still have not identified who that man is and so if it is you and there's an innocent explanation then please come forward. Some of the other e-fits that we put into the public domain are also still unidentified so that October appeal is still very much live. Police still need to identify this man: ----------- Operation Grange investigation update Metropolitan Police Adding to the statement issued earlier today, DCI Andy Redwood said at the subsequent media briefing: "In six of the 12 potentially linked offences the suspect either sat or lay on the bed, before committing the sexual assault in four of those cases (where there were five actual victims). In nine of the 12 cases there was no forced entry or stolen property; and where there was it was minimal. "Nine of these offences were reported to police at the time (including the four where there had been a sexual assault); two were reported to a holiday rep and then subsequently to the authorities back in the UK; and one was not reported at the time. "In terms of the ongoing investigation, we have submitted three International Letters of Requests (ILORs) to date, consisting of 41 priority areas of work, which in turn contain 287 separate requests. There will be further ILORs to come to ensure that we bring our complete investigation to the Portuguese and they include our multiple priority lines of inquiry. "We have also submitted 30 ILORs to other countries to assist our inquiries. The team has taken over 500 statements and the process itself has raised 5569 actions. "Within the investigation we have identified 60 persons of interest, of which we have been able to discount 22. We are still working on the remaining 38, which are at various stages of completion. "In addition to persons of interest we are aware of 530 sex offenders from the UK and elsewhere whose whereabouts are unaccounted for. These have been broken down into high, medium and low priority. 59 are currently considered high priority; and some of those have also been declared persons of interest. "There have been 26 visits to Portugal at both a strategic and tactical level; and officers have travelled to and worked with the authorities from Spain, Belgium, Jersey, Switzerland, Holland and Germany; as well as colleagues from across the UK."

BREAKING MADELEINE MCCANN NEWS: Hunt for sex fiend who assaulted five young British girls on holiday in the Algarve, 19 March 2014

BREAKING MADELEINE MCCANN NEWS: Hunt for sex fiend who assaulted five young British girls on holiday Evening Standard   JUSTIN DAVENPORT, CRIME EDITOR Published: 19 March 2014 Updated: 11:51, 19 March 2014 Detectives probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann revealed today they are hunting a sex fiend who assaulted five other young British girls on holiday on the Algarve. In a sensational development, Scotland Yard announced officers are investigating 12 potentially linked crimes in holiday resorts near to where Madeleine vanished in 2007. In every case a man broke into mainly holiday villas occupied by British families -—and in four of them he assaulted five young white girls aged seven to 10 as they lay in bed. On one occasion he assaulted two girls in the same villa. Many of the attacks were between 2004 and 2006, which was the year before Madeleine went missing from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia de Luz. The most recent break-in was reported in 2010. Police say that while the crimes are not identical, most are similar. There were no signs of forced entry, nothing was taken and the intruder appeared between 2am and 5am. Most of the offences took place in the low season and on two occasions people reported hearing the noise of a bin collection lorry nearby. Detectives believe that the suspect may have been in a villa looking around "for some time" before committing the offences. In some cases the parent or the child woke up and disturbed the intruder but police say the man stayed calm even when confronted. Of the 12 cases, two occurred in Praia de Luz — where Madeleine was staying when she disappeared — four in the holiday resort of Carvoeiro and six in the Vale da Parra and Praia da Gale districts west of Albufeira. Detectives believe there could be more cases of similar crimes where victims' families did not bother to report them to police. They urged those people to come forward and released an image of a distinctive red T-shirt linked to the hunt. Madeleine was three when she vanished from her holiday apartment as her parents Kate and Gerry dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends in May 2007. A Portuguese police inquiry into the case closed in 2008 but Scotland Yard opened a new review of the evidence in 2011 after an intervention from David Cameron. Det Ch Insp Andy Redwood, leading the inquiry, today said police needed to establish the identity of the sex attacker. He added: "These offences are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them. We need to eliminate this man from our inquiries and establish if the offences are linked to Madeleine's disappearance. "If anyone has been a victim of a similar crime, please come forward even if you reported it to police in Portugal or anywhere else. "Please do not assume we've been made aware of it. While some of these offences have been in the public domain before, following our appeal in October, three more were reported to us as a direct result of that appeal." He added that one of those reports was the first in the possible linked series of crimes. Detectives revealed that they have received more than 5,000 calls from the public after an appeal for information and the launch of a full criminal investigation last year. They are still trying to establish the identity of a man who was seen by three witnesses carrying a child matching Madeleine’s description and who was walking towards the beach or town at 10pm on the night she disappeared.

Madeleine McCann: hunt for man who sexually assaulted five British girls in Algarve, 19 March 2014

Madeleine McCann: hunt for man who sexually assaulted five British girls in Algarve The Telegraph Detectives in the Madeleine McCann case are looking for a man who sexually assaulted young girls in their beds during break-ins at holiday homes in the same area of Portugal   By Martin Evans 12:06PM GMT 19 Mar 2014 Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have launched a fresh appeal after revealing that five British youngsters were sexually assaulted by a man who broke into their holiday apartments on the Algarve. The attacks all took place between 2004 and 2007 and involved young white girls aged between seven and ten-years-old. Scotland Yard have issued a description of the man thought to be responsible, who was described as being tanned, with dark unkempt hair, unshaven and having a distinct odour. Some of the victims also described a top the attacker was wearing as being burgundy, with long sleeves and a white circle printed on the back. The attacker was described as wearing a burgundy top (Met Police) Detectives believe the sexual assaults were part of a potentially linked series of incidents between 2004 and 2010 in which a lone male entered the apartments of British holidaymakers in three locations in the Algarve, including Praia da Luz. In most of the cases, as with the Madeleine McCann incident, there was no sign of any forced entry and nothing was taken from the apartment. In six of the 12 incidents the man sat on the youngsters' beds and in four of the incidents he went on to commit serious sexual assaults on five little girls. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said the man appeared to have "an unhealthy interest in young white female children" and said finding him was one of the investigation's main priorities. He said: "We need to establish the identity of this man. These offences are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them. We also need to eliminate this man from our enquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine's disappearance. "If you have been a victim of a similar crime please come forward even if you reported the incident to police in Portugal, or anywhere else, please do not assume we have been made aware of it. "While some of these offences have been in the public domain before, following our appeal in October three more were reported to us as a direct result of that appeal. One of those reports we believe is the first in the potential series. His team currently have 38 people classed as "persons of interest" to the inquiry, and are also sifting through details of 530 known sex offenders whose whereabouts they cannot account for. Of those, 59 are classed as high priority, and some of those are British.

Madeleine McCann: a breakthrough that could be devastating, 19 March 2014

Madeleine McCann: a breakthrough that could be devastating The Guardian Identifying a series of attacks has proved the key to similar cases. But it could mean an end to hopes that Madeleine is alive Sandra Laville Wednesday 19 March 2014 18.13 GMT There is no doubt that the breakthrough announced by the Metropolitan police in the Madeleine McCann inquiry is significant. Identifying a potentially linked series of sex attacks, as detectives on the inquiry have done, has been the key to solving similarly high-profile cases of sexually motivated crimes in the past. It was the identification of connected sex attacks that after years of failures solved the murders of Caroline Dickinson, 13, who was sexually assaulted and suffocated in a hostel in Brittany in 1996, and Rachel Nickell, sexually attacked and murdered on Wimbledon Common in 1992. Where there is a linked series of sexually motivated attacks, there is a pattern of often escalating behaviour by a committed sexual predator. It has always been the belief of seasoned detectives that any inquiry into what happened to Madeleine should have examined in detail the presence of known sex offenders in the area, something that was not done with any rigour by the Portuguese. It is also probable that what we are being told about the 12 crimes – sexual assaults and attempted assaults – in western Portugal, which the police are saying may be connected, is not all that detectives know. If there is a hint of DNA left behind by a suspected perpetrator in any one of these crimes, then the breakthough is more profound. The years that have passed – nearly seven – since Madeleine McCann was abducted from her parents' apartment in Praia de Luz, make it much harder for the police to find the truth about what happened to her, but not impossible. In the Nickell case, it was the DNA left by a sexual attacker who came to be known as the Green Chain Rapist that helped lead detectives to the right man – Robert Napper – 16 years after the murder and after repeated failures and a concerted attempt to fit up an innocent man. In the Dickinson case, it was also many years later that police pulled the threads together and identified a series of sexual assaults on girls aged 12 and 13 by the itinerant Francisco Arce Montes, finally bringing justice. But there are aspects to the emerging evidence of a sexual predator being active in the holiday resorts of western Portugal that could be devastating for Madeleine's parents. Research shows that such predators do not leave their victims alive for long – a matter of hours is usual. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood admitted that what they have uncovered means Madeleine might not have left the apartment alive. There are also huge obstacles for the British police to get around as they pursue this lead on the disappearance of the three-year old. Diplomatic until now as they tiptoed around the sensitivities of the Portuguese police and prosecutor, senior Met officers openly express frustration at the arm's-length nature of the investigation they are trying to run. The Met still does not have its own team in place Instead, Redwood and his team are having to go through the lengthy process of making formal written applications for assistance from the Portuguese in order for the inquiries to be carried out. "I am frustrated that the legal process is as slow as it is," said deputy assistant commissioner Martin Hewitt. "It's frustrating because we know what we want to do, but the process is the process.".

Madeleine McCann police seek intruder who attacked girls at holiday homes [3rd version], 19 March 2014

Madeleine McCann police seek intruder who attacked girls at holiday homes The Guardian Detectives investigating girl's disappearance look for dark-haired man who sexually abused five girls in Algarve, Portugal James Meikle Wednesday 19 March 2014 21.03 GMT Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from a Portuguese holiday resort nearly seven years ago say a lone intruder sexually assaulted five girls aged between seven and 10 in the Algarve between 2004 and 2006. The four incidents – one involving two girls – were among 12 over six years up to 2010 being examined by officers in which a man entered holiday accommodation, mainly villas occupied by British families. In six of those incidents, the man, said to be dark-haired and tanned, sat on the victims' beds. In nine of the 12 incidents there was no evidence of forced entry or property taken. In three others there was "low-level" theft involving cash or phones. Police said he appeared to have "a very, very, unhealthy interest" in young white girls. The man, said to be unshaven with unkempt hair, spoke English slowly, with a foreign accent, possibly with slurred speech. Some witnesses suggested he had a pot belly while three victims suggested he had a distinctive smell, one involving aftershave, another tobacco while a third just described "a funny smell". However, no children were abducted. Detectives said there had been an increase in criminality and burglary in Praia da Luz that peaked in April 2007, shortly before Madeleine's disappearance. Scotland Yard also revealed it was looking at 38 "people of interest" in relation to her disappearance, having dismissed 22 others from that category. They were also trying to find out more about 530 known sex offenders – 59 regarded as of high interest – across Europe. However Portugal's Polícia Judiciária (PJ) claimed that Wednesday's press conference simply confirmed a primary line of investigation which has been investigated by Portuguese police since last October. Suggestions that the information released by the Met had initially been discounted by Portuguese detectives were denied by a source at the PJ's headquarters in Lisbon. He said that evidence of a string of crimes had been the driving force behind Portuguese officials re-opening the case. "It is all there in the police case files," said the source. "You will see when it is made public." Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have been informed of the latest developments. Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCann family, told the BBC: "Kate and Gerry still believe that Madeleine is alive and out there to be found, and that is why they are so pleased that the British police are doing such a good job on this." Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, in charge of the hunt for Madeleine, accepted there were differences between these cases and that of Madeleine's disappearance but added that there was a possibility that she had not left her family's holiday apartment alive when she disappeared in May 2007. In most cases now being examined, the incidents happened between 2am and 5am – later than in the disappearance of Madeleine, then aged three, from a ground floor apartment at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant. Redwood said the assumption that Madeleine had been alive when she left the apartment "may not follow with all our thinking" on the case. "These offences are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them. We also need to eliminate this man from our inquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine's disappearance," he said. "If you have been a victim of a similar crime please come forward even if you reported the incident to police in Portugal, or anywhere else, please do not assume we have been made aware of it." There was also a "very close resonance" to some features of Madeleine's disappearance, said Redwood. "We really need to identify the offender, to bring to a close the trauma and the tragedy that these families have suffered, and then seek to establish whether this is connected to Madeleine's disappearance." He appealed for information and gave details of a distinctive burgundy long-sleeved top the attacker was said to have worn during two attacks – in the resort areas of Vale de Parra and Praia da Gale. On one occasion it was described as having a white circle on the back. The appeal will also be made via BBC's Crimewatch on Wednesday night. Redwood said if names were put forward for the most serious case of sexual assault, his team would be able to eliminate them from inquiries, suggesting the police may have DNA evidence. Nine of the 12 incidents were reported to Portuguese police at the time but British investigators learned of three only when the victims came forward in response to televised appeals last autumn. In the attacks, the suspect may have been in the villa or looking around the villa for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent coming in, or the child waking up, say police. On two occasions the noise of a refuse collection lorry could be heard nearby. Of the 12 offences being investigated, four took place in Carvoeiro, six in Vale da Parra, Praia da Gale district, and two in Praia da Luz. Detectives have previously suggested Madeleine may have been abducted in a planned operation that had included individuals exploring the resort beforehand. Scotland Yard issued efit images in October last year of a possible suspect with dark hair reportedly seen carrying a child with blond hair and possibly wearing pyjamas. The publication of the pictures on Crimewatch led to a huge response by the public and this man has still not been excluded from the police inquiry. Efits of two fair-haired men seen near the McCanns' apartment were also released and police in the UK and Portugal have also been investigating break-ins around the resort, one of which occurred the same week a year before Madeleine disappeared and involved a man who entered a flat where young children were sleeping. Fresh appeals were also made in Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany. Scotland Yard has indicated its irritation with the slowness of the formal legal process that would allow its officers to work on the ground in Portugal. The Crown Prosecution Service has three so-called letters of request being considered by the country's legal system, among 33 from Britain on the case now being sent or prepared to be dispatched across Europe. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said: "I am frustrated the legal process is as slow as it is." But he maintained: "We are seeing an increase in the tempo of the investigation." Scotland Yard says officers involved in the case have made 26 "strategic and tactical" visits to Portugal as well as travelling to Spain, Belgium, Jersey, Switzerland, Holland and Germany as well as working with colleagues across the UK. Police are asking members of the public with information to call them on 0800 0961011 within the UK. The number for non-UK residents is +44 207 1580 126. Callers can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Madeleine McCann appeal update, 19 March 2014

Madeleine McCann appeal update BBC One - Crimewatch Officers investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have issued a further appeal for information. --------------------- Date of crimes   Between 2004 and 2010 Nature of crime   Burglary / Sexual assault Contact   Metropolitan Police Incident room   0800 0961011 if you are within the UK. The number for non-UK residents is +44 207 1580 126. Languages   English, Portuguese, Dutch, German   ----------------------- What happened? Officers have identified a potential linked series of twelve crimes which occurred between 2004 and 2010, mostly in low season, whereby a male intruder has gained access to mainly holiday villas occupied by UK families on holiday in the Western Algarve.   In four cases between 2004 and 2006 the man sexually assaulted 5 white girls, aged between 7 and 10 years, whilst in their beds. On one of these occasions, he assaulted two girls in the same villa. While not identical, there are many similar aspects to each of the incidents. In most cases there were no signs of forced entry to the property, nothing was taken, and the intruder appeared in the early hours of the morning between 02.00hrs and 05.00hrs. The suspect may have been in the villa or looking round the villa for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent coming in, or the child waking up. He remained calm, even when disturbed. On two occasions the noise of a bin collection lorry could be heard nearby. Of the twelve offences, there were four in Carvoeiro, six in the Vale da Parra , Praia da Gale district and two in Praia da Luz. Witnesses describe the man as having dark or tanned skin with short dark unkempt hair. He spoke in English with a foreign accent, his voice was described as slow, or possibly slurred. He was sometimes bare chested, some describe him as having a pot belly, and three victims said that he had a noticeable odour. On two occasions in Vale de Parra and Praia da Gale he was wearing a distinctive burgundy long sleeve top, on one of those occasions it was described as having a white circle on the back.

Madeleine McCann appeal update (transcript), 19 March 2014

Madeleine McCann appeal update (transcript) BBC One - Crimewatch Appeal update video Transcript By Nigel Moore Matthew Amroliwala: (voice over) Madeleine McCann vanished from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, in Portugal, nearly seven years ago. In October, in the biggest appeal ever featured on Crimewatch, you were asked to help finally solve the mystery of what happened to the three-year-old. Her parents, Kate and Gerry, were in the studio, talking to Kirsty. Kate McCann: (Crimewatch, October 2013) It doesn't matter how much heartache we put ourselves through, so long as, you know, we get the result that we need. Matthew Amroliwala: (voice over) The Metropolitan Police's lead detective in the investigation exclusively revealed what they'd uncovered. DCI Andy Redwood: (Crimewatch, October 2013) It was a revelation moment. Matthew Amroliwala: (voice over) And we reconstructed events leading up to the discovery that Madeleine was missing. More than 3,000 people called, texted and e-mailed with information. (to camera) Since then, detectives have been meticulously working their way through that evidence. I'm back at the incident room in London to take a look at the latest developments in the case. DI Tim Dobson: So, Matthew, as you know, this is the incident room where... Matthew Amroliwala: (voice over) Tim Dobson is the Detective Inspector on the investigation. DI Tim Dobson: Not only did the UK public respond but we had calls from France, Germany, Holland, Spain and Portugal itself and these officers have to cross-reference and index all that material to extract what's important and make sure that the officers, errr... concentrate on those main lines of inquiry. Matthew Amroliwala: (voice over) This careful analysis has led to an important discovery. (to camera) Today detectives can reveal that in the years shortly before and after Madeleine went missing, there were 12 crimes against British families, on holiday, in the western Algarve. And, significantly, the similarities are striking. (voice over) Could these cases be linked to Madeleine's disappearance? - Interview segment - DI Tim Dobson: We're looking at 12 crimes where an intruder has broken into the, errr... properties of UK families whilst on holiday in the western Algarve and significantly on four of those occasions he in... sexually assaulted a young, white female child, whilst in her bed. Several of these offences were reported to the, errm... Portuguese police but most recently we've been made aware of three further cases, following the appeal on Crimewatch, and one specifically phoned in to the programme after your broadcast. Matthew Amroliwala: The circumstances; you must have been instantly struck by the similarities with Madeleine McCann. DI Tim Dobson: Yes, there are cer[tain] similarities. A young white child, in bed, in a holiday apartment, on the western Algarve, out of season. There is no forced entry in most of these crimes and similarly there's no property stolen, or very little property stolen in all 12. Matthew Amroliwala: Tell me more about what the girls, the families, have said about the intruder. DI Tim Dobson: They described him as a... a dark, tanned male, errm... particularly, he remained calm and may have spent some time in... in the apartment beforehand, and he spoke in English, quite good English, but with a foreign accent. Matthew Amroliwala: Could this be the person that took Madeleine McCann? DI Tim Dobson: It could be, errm... we don't know, and that's why we're appealing to the public: if you were a victim of crime in the western Algarve, in similar circumstances, we need to speak to you. - End of interview segment - Matthew Amroliwala: (voice over) No-one knows where these latest revelations will take the investigation but what is clear is that your calls really do count in the continuing search for Madeleine.

The burgundy long-sleeved top and Arsenal football club's strip from the 2005/06 season

Maddie: Revealed data is part of the Portuguese case, 19 March 2014

Maddie: Revealed data is part of the Portuguese case tvi24 [video] 19-03-2014 Judiciary source explains that the case is under secrecy and that the data that has been revealed was discovered by the PJ team in Oporto ----------------- Transcript/translation With thanks to Astro Marisa Rodrigues: Scotland Yard speaks of new data that has been collected by the English investigation. But the Judiciary Police has another version. The thesis that points towards a suspect of alleged sexual attacks against British children in the Algarve is nothing but the investigation line that was defined by the PJ team in Oporto, which reviewed the entire process. A source at the Judiciary Police asserts that this was the line that was the basis for the reopening of the inquiry, in October last year. This means that what has just been announced in England is part of the Portuguese process, which is under judicial secrecy. A secret that had been well kept until now and that was breached, which may weaken the trust between both police forces. This information was given by the PJ itself to the British police and to the McCann couple, during a meeting at the Judiciary Police's National Directory, in Lisbon. There is an agreement between both police forces: they regularly meet in Portugal. They exchange information about the development of the investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The PJ has always kept silent about what happens during these meetings that take place behind closed doors. A stance that is being kept: Officially, the National Directory does not comment on Scotland Yard's statement.

New Maddie suspect attacked 5 Brit girls, 19/20 March 2014

New Maddie suspect attacked 5 Brit girls Daily Mirror (paper edition)   By DAVID COLLINS Special Correspondent Thursday, 20 March 2014 A MAN who abused five British girls in Portugal is the new suspect in the search for Madeleine McCann DCI Andy Redwood said: "He has an unhealthy interest in young, white girls." The Met uncovered the link which had been missed by Portuguese police. FULL STORY: PAGES 4&5 -------------------- Madeleine McCann: Police hunt Algarve holiday sex attacker paedo who had very unhealthy interest in young white girls Daily Mirror By David Collins | Mar 19, 2014 22:25 The man broke into apartments owned by British families and sexually assaulted white girls aged between seven and 10, police say   New suspect: Police say the intruder was wearing this distinctive burgundy top on two occasions A prowling paedophile preyed on little British girls as they slept in their beds in holiday villas – all within a 37-mile radius of where little Madeleine McCann disappeared. The five vulnerable youngsters, aged seven to 10, were victims of sexual attacks between 2004 and 2006 carried out by a lone intruder known to the authorities. Yet amazingly, despite the series of sickening assaults, it emerged that blundering Portuguese police ruled out the prolific pervert in the hunt for Madeleine. The latest breakthrough in the case only came when Scotland Yard detectives connected the suspect with three incidents which were reported to them following a fresh appeal for information last year. British detectives revealed today they are now focusing on the man who is suspected of 12 Algarve holiday homes break-ins between 2004 and 2010, including Praia da Luz, where three-year-old Madeleine went missing in 2007. They described in chilling detail how the Algarve sex attacker would sit on the children's beds or crawl under the covers with them, and stayed calm even when disturbed. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: "This man has a very unhealthy interest in young, white, female children who he is attacking whilst they are on holiday in their beds. "In six of the 12 potentially linked offences the suspect either sat or lay on the bed, before committing the sexual assault in four of those cases." A total of nine out of 12 break-ins carried out by the man were known to Portuguese investigators. However, they considered the incidents too spread out to be linked to Madeleine's disappearance – despite taking place around an hour's car journey away from Praia da Luz. They also ruled out the suspect because there were no apparent attempts of abducting the young girls. Three other British families later contacted the police following the televised appeal on the BBC's Crimewatch show last October. Two of the break-ins were in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was staying with her family at the Ocean Club resort. Six were in Valle de Parra whilst another four were in the resort of Carvoeiro, the two resorts where police say the more serious of the sexual assaults occurred. The suspect is described as being tanned with dark-hair, smelling of cigarettes and aftershave, who spoke English slowly with a foreign accent. He was sometimes bare chested, some described him as having a pot belly, and three victims said that he had a noticeable odour. The police have been told by at least two of the families that bin-men and bin-lorries were in the street during the break-ins. In some of the attacks he was wearing a distinctive burgundy, long-sleeved top, possibly with a white circle on the back. In most cases there were no signs of forced entry to the properties, nothing was taken, and the intruder appeared in the early hours of the morning between 2am and 5am. This increases suspicions that the reasons for the intruder’s break-ins was sexually motivated. The suspect may have been in the properties or looking around the properties for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent, or the child waking up.   Scene: Praia da Luz apartment where Maddie was taken from Critics of the Portuguese investigation claim their failures mean they missed a vital window of opportunity to find Madeleine. Former Met Police DCI Peter Kirkham said: "Right from the very start, the Portuguese police should have been considering sexually-motivated abduction as a possibility. "I find it quite extraordinary that potential links with this series of offences were not made previously." It comes three years after Kate McCann wrote in her book, called "Madeleine", that a series of sex attacks on British youngsters was not properly investigated by the Portuguese authorities. She said the crimes had been "brushed under the carpet". When asked during a press conference at Scotland Yard today if the suspect was the same person described in Kate's book, Mr Redwood simply replied: "Yes." Mr Redwood added: "While I accept there are differences between the break-ins and the McCann case, there is no abduction that we can see, but the assumption from that is that Madeleine McCann has been abducted. "That may not necessarily follow with all our thinking about what may have become of Madeleine. It is really critical for us to identify this offender and prove or disprove whether he was involved in her disappearance." Detectives working on Operation Grange – a review into the circumstances of Madeleine's disappearance – are in possession of the DNA of the intruder following one of his attacks. The Scotland Yard team currently have 38 people classed as "persons of interest" after ruling out 22 suspects from a list of 60. They are also sifting through the details of 530 known sex offenders whose whereabouts they cannot account for on the day Madeleine went missing. Mr Redwood's team has previously appealed for help identifying a man who was seen carrying a child towards the sea on the night Madeleine vanished. So far they have not been able to eliminate the sighting of the man from their inquiry. Missing: Maddie Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said he was frustrated at how slow the legal process has been in Portugal. He added: "That's causing us frustration because we know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process." Asked how he was getting on with his Portuguese counterparts, Mr Redwood merely shook his head in despair and took another question at the packed press conference in London. Another 30 letters asking for assistance with the inquiry have been written to other European countries, but the force would not reveal where. Kate and Madeleine's father Gerry believe "fervently" that their daughter is still alive and can be found, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said today. He added: "Kate and Gerry feel Scotland Yard's new appeal will lead to the breakthrough that everybody wants. "They are grateful to everyone who has come forward with information and are now urging anybody else who sees this new appeal and who feels something similar has happened to them in the Algarve to come forward." A senior Portuguese police source said officers from the Policia Judicial were said to be "furious" with the Met and said the three UK letters of request have mentioned nothing about the new suspect. The senior officer said: "The Metropolitan police today, in a press conference, haven't done anything but reveal the line of investigation discovered by the Portuguese team working on the review of the case, led by Helena Monteiro, which gave the basis to reopen the inquiry in Portugal."

Daily Mirror, paper edition: 'Paedo had very, very unhealthy interest in young white girls...', 20 March 2014

Paedo had very, very unhealthy interest in young white girls... Daily Mirror (paper edition, pages 4&5)

MADDIE: COPS HUNT FOR A LONE INTRUDER » New suspect is a paedo who targeted British girls in villas » Prolific perv yet Portuguese cops ruled him out of search EXCLUSIVE By David Collins Special correspondent Thursday 20.03.2014 [Text of article as per online version] [Note text to sketch of the Tanner 'sighting': 'ONGOING Police still hoping to ID a man seen with girl in arms']

Madeleine McCann: Did Portuguese police overlook potentially vital link to paedophile targeting British children?, 20 March 2014

Madeleine McCann: Did Portuguese police overlook potentially vital link to paedophile targeting British children? Daily Mirror   Former Metropolitan Police detective Peter Kirkham says he can't believe these sex offences are only now being considered in relation to the missing girl's disappearance   Missing: Madeleine McCann The latest development in the Madeleine McCann case is incredibly important. Abduction by a stranger remains the principal theory and the reason behind an abduction is always an important consideration for investigators. Clearly, a sexual motive is always one which must be considered. Right from the start, the Portuguese police should have considered sexually motivated abduction as a possibility. I’m fairly sure they did, as there was mention of them trying to establish if any known sex offenders were in the area at the time. So I find it quite extraordinary that potential links with these offences were not made previously. The targeting of English families in their holiday homes is plainly of relevance. Manhunt: The distictive top worn by the suspect Although most incidents took place out of Praia da Luz, they were a short distance away and in similar towns. The fact that there was no abduction in other cases is largely irrelevant – the seriousness of sexually motivated offences is well known to escalate. Any competent investigation should have identified the potential link with Madeleine's disappearance at the outset. Inquiries at the time would have been far more likely to result in evidence being secured to definitively link the suspect to her disappearance if he was involved. Although it is possible now, the passage of such a long period of time will cause evidential difficulties. Although there may be no link with the disappearance of Madeleine, I'd be just as keen as DCI Redwood to identify and trace this suspect and get him charged with the sexual offences if nothing else.

Voice of the Daily Mirror, 20 March 2014

Voice of the Daily Mirror Daily Mirror (paper edition, page 8) Police farce IT defies belief that police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann ignored an intruder who sexually assaulted five young girls. British detectives are to be applauded for their thoroughness in examining evidence, but Kate and Gerry McCann must despair at missed leads in the hunt for their daughter, who vanished nearly seven years ago. It is never too late to pursue evidence to crack a case which mystified the country and caused untold heartache to Madeleine's parents. That said, if a Portuguese child ever goes missing in Britain, we must hope the police aren't as incompetent as those in the Algarve who let down a despairing family.

MADDIE New prime suspect, 20 March 2014

MADDIE New prime suspect The Sun (paper edition)   SEE PAGE 9 ---------------- NEW MADDIE SUSPECT ALGARVE PREDATOR The Sun (paper edition, page 2)   • Pervert broke into 12 homes • Targeted young, white girls By MIKE SULLIVAN and ANTONELLA LAZZERI Thursday, March 20, 2014 MISSING Madeleine McCann is feared to be the victim of a prolific sex attacker targeting young English girls on holiday in Portugal, it was revealed yesterday. Scotland Yard said it was "critical" to identify the beast - who they are linking to 12 break-ins at apartments and villas in the Algarve region between 2004 and 2010. During the raids the pervert carried out "serious sexual assaults" on five girls aged from six to ten, as their parents slept in nearby bedrooms. Two of the break-ins occurred in Praia da Luz - where Madeleine disappeared from shortly before her fourth birthday in 2007 - and the others were in nearby resorts. The prowler sat on the bed of his victims before carrying out vile attacks, said police. In others he was disturbed by parents waking or girls fleeing from their rooms. Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood, leading the Met's investigation into Madeleine's abduction, appealed for help in finding the man. He said: "This is an offender who has a very, very unhealthy interest in young, white female children who he has attacked in their beds while they were on holiday." Madeleine went missing from her holiday apartment bedroom as parents Gerry, now 45, and Kate, 46, dined nearby with friends. Nine of the break-ins - including those ending in the most serious assaults - were reported to local police. But Portuguese detectives failed to link them to Madeleine's disappearance. Last night the McCanns spokesman said they hoped the appeal "will bring the breakthrough they are desperate for". Kate previously raised specific concerns about the attacks in her 2011 book Madeleine, after hearing about them from the British consul. She described how she cried after reading a letter from a victim's distressed British mother to Portuguese cops. The woman said: "This man could go on to do much worse to another child if he is not stopped now." Kate wrote: "Six months later our beloved Madeleine was grabbed from her bed." But local sources claim the sex attacker was Euclides Monteiro, 40, who died in a tractor accident four years ago. WHO IS THE PROWLER? • WEARS a distinctive burgundy long-sleeve top, with white circle on the back. • HAS dark, tanned skin with short, dark and unkempt hair. • SMELLS strangely of tobacco or aftershave and may have a pot-belly. • SPEAKS English with a foreign accent and speech is possibly slurred.

MADDIE Cops hunt serial sex fiend, 20 March 2014

MADDIE Cops hunt serial sex fiend Daily Star (paper edition)   FIVE other Brit hol girls attacked POLICE probing the Madeleine McCann mystery yesterday launched a hunt for a pot-bellied serial sex fiend. The man attacked five other British girls after sneaking into holiday homes in Portugal. Full story: Page 5 --------------------- Maddie: Sex fiend attacked 5 other Brit holiday girls Daily Star (paper edition, page 5)   by JERRY LAWTON Chief Crime Correspondent Thursday, March 20, 2014 DETECTIVES probing the case of Madeleine McCann yesterday launched a hunt for a sex fiend who attacked five other British girls in their beds. The suspect assaulted the youngsters over six years in the Algarve, where Maddie disappeared. He is now wanted for questioning for fear he was involved in her abduction or death. Det Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, leading the inquiry, said: "We need to establish the identity of this man." Scotland Yard announced they are investigating 12 linked crimes that took place between 2004 and 2010 in resorts close to where Madeleine, then aged three, vanished in 2007. In all cases, a man broke into a holiday house occupied by a Brit family between 2am and 5am. On five occasions he sexually assaulted the girls, then aged six to 12. At other times he fled after the child woke up screaming or parents burst in on him. Chased The man is described as having a dark tan, short, unkempt hair, a pot belly and an unusual body odour. He spoke in a "strange voice" that may have been slurred and is believed to be Portuguese. Two families who chased him into the street heard binmen working nearby, prompting police to suspect he may be a refuse worker. Two families described his distinctive long-sleeved, burgundy top with a white circle on the back, similar to an old Arsenal strip design. Following one assault, police are understood to have retrieved a DNA sample but were unable to match it to anyone in their database. Yesterday Chief Insp Redwood said the suspect could be the man seen by an Irish family carrying a pyjama-clad blonde girl towards Praia da Luz beach around the time Madeleine went missing. He also said that police are considering the possibility that Maddie "did not leave the apartment alive". The news was broken to parents Kate and Gerry McCann, both 45, by police last week. It has also emerged that a number of the attacks were connected by Kate McCann in her 2011 book. She wrote: "These crimes appear to have been brushed under the carpet." Yesterday the McCanns insisted they "believe fervently" Madeleine could still be found alive. Last night a Portuguese police source claimed that they - not UK officers - had found the new evidence. Their prime suspect is a former employee of the resort who died in a tractor accident four years ago. UK detectives say the sex attacker they are hunting struck between 2004 and 2010.

Newstalk Radio (Ireland): Breakfast, 20 March 2014

Newstalk Radio (Ireland): Breakfast newstalk.ie Breakfast 06:30 - 10:00 Weekdays Listen Back: 20th March 2014 Part 2 Ivan Yates and Chris Donoghue anchor Newstalk Breakfast every morning, giving you the first bite at News, Business and Sport. ---------------- Transcript By Nigel Moore Ivan Yates: [13:31] ...but at 13 minutes past 7, we want to turn to the case... of course, it's seven years since Madeleine McCain... McCann went missing. Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are now looking for a man who assaulted five other young British girls on vacation in Portugal. Madeleine was three when she disappeared, while on vacation in the Portuguese resort town with her family, in June 2007. Errm... How is it possible that her suspected predator could have been missed at the time when Madeleine went missing? Well, joining us on the line now is John O'Connor, former Scotland Yard detective. Good morning, John. John O'Connor: Good morning, Ivan. Ivan Yates: It seems unbelievable that the Portuguese police could have missed this. Were you surprised? John O'Connor: No, I'm not surprised at all. Errr... you know, I... I was over there at the time with, errm... errr... GMTV and, errr... I was appalled really. I mean, I didn't, errr... I didn't make my comments known because at the time, you know, I thought it was... it was not right to, errm... start criticising the way another police service, errm... carries out its investigations. But it seemed to me the basics weren't being done. They had a fixation that this whole thing was a domestic issue with the McCanns, and their friends, and they wouldn't shift from that. And that was evidenced by the book that the guy that was in charge on the inq... the inquiry at the initial stages wrote saying that, errm... this was a domestic issue. And it never was; it always... it always was an intruder and it always was an outsider. But they just didn't seem to... to go down that path and, because they didn't go down that path, they didn't do the basics. I mean, they didn't have a... a database of suspects, they hadn't gone public with, errm... errr... hel... asking help from the public. I mean their view was: 'We're the police, we tell the public - they don't tell us'. It was a very strange situation down there and much of what they were doing, errm... like doing a big show of, errm... forensically examining the, errr... the apartment where the McCanns had stayed, was just a show for the cameras that were down there. And their search of the surrounding area, and the open fields and so forth, errr... was no more than cursory. I mean they came across, you know, some locked sheds and so forth, and didn't break them open; 'Oh no, no, we haven't got any... any real reason to do that'. Well, what's the point of doing the search, you know? And they... the basics just weren't done. And the most basic thing of all was that they should have announced that they were going to do a search of every premises in Praia da Luz with the, errm... permission of householders down there. It wouldn't be difficult. I mean, if someone says 'No, you're not coming in here!' - Fine. Put that to one side and have a look at them in more depth. They... it... it needed a lot of resources, a lot of determination and it needed ownership of the investigation. I'm afraid to say that the authorities down there seem to take the view that this was damaging their tourist trade and they wanted to keep the lid on it as much as they could... Ivan Yates: Yeah, I was gonna... John O'Connor: ... and it blew up in their face. Ivan Yates: I was gonna ask you about that, errm... obviously, you know, if there was, errr... the widespread view that there was this predator around, who had been involved in five other cases, errr... with yo... young children, under five, it wouldn't do the image as a family tourist destination any good. Do you... do you think that played a role in their approach to this? John O'Connor: I think it does in... in many places in the world that rely on tourism, errm... I mean, I dealt with a murder inquiry in the Cayman Islands and, errr... the.. the whole, errm... attitude down there was: 'Oh, this is paradise; this is a crime free island'. But when you looked beneath the surface it was far from that. There was a lot of crime down there; there was a lot of sexual crime down there, but they just wanted to keep the publicity away from it and that... that happens all over the place where people are more interested in, errr... their finances, and the finances of the holiday resorts, than they are in actually catching the people that are perpetrating crimes. Ivan Yates: Well, with news of this suspected predator who's involved in a handful of other cases. Do you... do you think there's any retrospective prospect now that, errr... police, be they British investigators or... or Portuguese, might find the perpetrator; might find out exactly what happened to Madeleine McCann at this stage? John O'Connor: I think, Ivan, the problem is... is simply this: it all depends on, errr... what residual evidence that exists. Did they do proper crime scene examinations of all the other sites? Have they got DNA? Have the... the victims been medically examined? Are the records still... still being kept? If they haven't got that, even if they get a name and... and trace a suspect, what the only hope they've got is if he makes a... a confession. If they haven't got that, then that's all they're likely to get. I think they're unlikely to be able to get forensic evidence. Errm... Unless they get... someone makes an admission, then I don't think this is actually going to resolve the issue. Ivan Yates: John O'Connor, former Scotland Yard detective, thank you for joining us on Newstalk Breakfast.

The British police's new suspect was already investigated by the PJ and is dead, 20 March 2014

The British police's new suspect was already investigated by the PJ and is dead Notícias ao Minuto Yesterday, the British police announced that it is investigating a new lead within the alleged abduction of Madeleine McCann, in 2007, but the suspect was already investigated (and excluded) by the Judiciary Police, Diário de Notícias reports. The man died in 2009. 08:44 - 20 March 2014 With thanks to Astro for translation The new suspect that Scotland Yard was announced yesterday to be investigating, within the alleged abduction of Madeleine McCann, in 2007, has already been investigated by the Polícia Judiciária and was dead since 2009, Diário de Notícias reports. Euclides Monteiro, who was described by witnesses, at the time, as a man with tanned skin and dark, unruly hair, is a Cape Verde native, worked at the Ocean Club (the tourist complex where Maddie's family was spending their holiday) and died in 2009 in a tractor accident. The inquiry was reopened by the PJ, based on the discovery of this suspect and the British press even reported the Portuguese authorities' lead. Information that was advanced yesterday by the British authorities mention "a potential suspect of 12 crimes that took place between 2004 and 2010", who "from 2004 until 2006 sexually molested five white British girls aged between seven and 10". The deceased Cape-Verdian man was responsible for several burglaries and laid on the childrens' beds, according to a PJ source, but never committed any rape. All of these developments were investigated by the GNR, initially, and then passed on to the PJ, which shared them with Scotland Yard.

Portugal police re-opened case in October due to "new" evidence presented by Scotland Yard, 20 March 2014

Portugal police re-opened case in October due to "new" evidence presented by Scotland Yard The Portugal News BY BRENDAN DE BEER · 20-03-2014 14:23:00 Portugal's Polícia Judiciária (PJ) has told The Portugal News that Wednesday's press conference held by the Metropolitan Police simply confirmed a primary line of investigation which has already been extensively probed by Portuguese police. When questioned on Wednesday evening by The Portugal News about suggestions that the information released by the Met had initially been discounted by Portuguese detectives, a source within Portugal's Polícia Judíciaria (PJ) headquarters in Lisbon said that this information was incorrect. He said that evidence of a string of crimes, including a sexual predator's activities at coastal resorts popular with holidaymakers in the western Algarve, had in fact been the main driving force behind Portuguese officials deciding to re-open the case. "Looking into the activities of this particular individual was our primary line of investigation", our police source said, adding: "It is all there in the police case files. You will see when it is made public." "We met with Andy Redwood and Madeleine’s parents last October to inform them of the reasons behind the decision of Portuguese authorities to re-open the case", the police source stressed. He added that revelations yesterday at the New Scotland Yard do not contain any further information other than what had already been passed on to the Metropolitan Police in the aforementioned meeting. The source explained the investigation is still ongoing and is steadily proceeding in Portugal, "but with the discretion that has characterised it from the beginning." To date, three international letters of request have been sent to the Attorney-General's office, but none have contained an official request to accompany field work or questioning of persons of interest by Portuguese detectives. "Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Service have expressed the intention to come over to Portugal and assist in any inquires that might take place.  But this intention has not yet been made official", the source said. Questioned over what he thought of British police modus operandi or their public venting of frustration yesterday over Portuguese police seemingly dragging their heels, he replied: "All I can say is that the British have an excellent police force." The Attorney-General's office in Lisbon, which initially ordered the case to be re-opened last Autumn, declined to comment when questioned on Wednesday by The Portugal News , citing Portugal's strict secrecy laws. This news follows a press conference given on Wednesday morning at the New Scotland Yard by officers from Operation Grange investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, during which they issued a further appeal for information. During the course of their enquiries, officers reportedly identified a potential linked series of twelve crimes which occurred between 2004 and 2010, mostly in low season, whereby a male intruder gained access to mainly holiday villas occupied by UK families on holiday in the Western Algarve. In four cases between 2004 and 2006 the man sexually assaulted five white girls, aged between seven and 10 years, whilst in their beds. On one of these occasions, he assaulted two girls in the same villa. Whilst the Metropolitan Police Service admits they are not identical, there are many similar aspects to each of the incidents in that in most cases there were no signs of forced entry to the property, nothing was taken, and the intruder appeared in the early hours of the morning between 2am and 5am. The suspect may have been in the villa or looking round the villa for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent, or the child waking up. He remained calm, even when disturbed. On two occasions the noise of a bin collection lorry could be heard nearby. Of the twelve offences, there were four in Carvoeiro, six in the Vale da Parra, Praia da Galé district and two in Praia da Luz. Witnesses describe the man as having dark (as in tanned) skin with short dark unkempt hair. He spoke in English with a foreign accent, his voice was described as slow, or possibly slurred. He was sometimes bare-chested, some describe him as having a pot belly, and three victims said that he had a noticeable odour. On two occasions in Vale de Parra and Praia da Galé he was wearing a distinctive burgundy long sleeve top, on one of those occasions it was described as having a white circle on the back. DCI Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer said on Wednesday, "We need to establish the identity of this man. "These offences are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them. We also need to eliminate this man from our enquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine’s disappearance. "If you have been a victim of a similar crime please come forward even if you reported the incident to police in Portugal, or anywhere else, please do not assume we have been made aware of it. "While some of these offences have been in the public domain before, following our appeal in October three more were reported to us as a direct result of that appeal. One of those reports we believe is the first in the potential series. "Please call us on 0800 0961011 if you are within the UK. The number for non-UK residents is +44 207 1580 126. Alternatively if you do not want to speak to us directly you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. "Our appeal last year was very successful and we had over 5,000 calls which generated new information for us and which we continue to investigate", DCI Redwood said, adding: "We still need to establish the identity of a man seen by three witnesses, carrying a child fitting Madeleine's description towards the beach or town areas at about 10pm on the night Madeleine disappeared. The witnesses have described the man in the e-fits as being white, aged in his 30s, with short brown hair, of medium build, medium height and clean shaven." The Metropolitan Police Service is offering a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person(s) responsible for the abduction of Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3 May 2007. Figures made available from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's British Behaviour reports from three years in the period 2005 to 2010, point to 10 incidents of rape involving Britons in Portugal and 11 incidents of sexual assault. These figures do not stipulate the age of victims.

Madeleine McCann police receive 250 responses about sex-attack intruder, 20 March 2014

Madeleine McCann police receive 250 responses about sex-attack intruder The Guardian Reaction follows new appeal about man who assaulted five British girls in Portugal's Algarve before Madeleine vanished James Meikle Thursday 20 March 2014 16.12 GMT UK police hoping to identify a sexual predator who assaulted five British girls aged seven to 10 in Portugal's Algarve before Madeleine McCann disappeared said they had received 250 calls and emails in response to the latest appeal on Wednesday. "We are reviewing this information and following up lines of inquiry. This is still very early stages," said Scotland Yard on Thursday. The assaults, one involving two girls, were among 12 incidents over six years to 2010 being examined by officers. All involved a man entering holiday accommodation, mainly being used by British families. Of the offences, four were in Carvoeiro, six in the Vale da Parra, Praia da Gale district and two in Praia da Luz. The most serious preceded Madeleine's May 2007 disappearance in Praia da Luz, when she was three. The appeals included a description of the attacker and an impression of a distinctive burgundy long-sleeved top he was said to have worn on two occasions. Police said he had an "unhealthy interest in young white girls". Witnesses described him as having dark skin with short, dark unkempt hair. He spoke in English with a foreign accent, and a slow or possibly slurred voice. The man was sometimes bare chested, some described him as having a pot belly, and three victims made reference to his distinctive smell. The new appeal for help from the public included a spot on BBC's Crimewatch on Wednesday although this was far shorter than an appeal last October, which drew more than 1,000 calls and emails in the hours immediately afterwards. Scotland Yard has expressed frustration at the slow legal process before being allowed to work on the ground in Portugal. But authorities in Lisbon have denied the information, newly released by the Met, was initially discounted by them. A source in Lisbon has insisted the investigation was proceeding steadily "but with the discretion that has characterised it from the beginning".

David Cameron vows to speak to Portuguese government if British cops are hampered with their Madeleine McCann inquiry, 20 March 2014

David Cameron vows to speak to Portuguese government if British cops are hampered with their Madeleine McCann inquiry Daily Mirror By Anthony Bond | Mar 20, 2014 18:59 Scotland Yard detectives have expressed their frustration at the speed of the Portuguese legal system   Madeleine McCann David Cameron today said he would be willing to speak to the Portuguese government if British cops were hampered with their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Scotland Yard detectives have expressed their frustration at the speed of the Portuguese legal system as they attempt to discover what has happened to the missing youngster. Speaking today, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said Mr Cameron would be prepared to "make further representations" to the government in Portugal if it would help Scotland Yard's inquiry. He said: "The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary and others have always been clear that they very much support the work that the British police authorities are doing in this and are always prepared to consider whether there is more that can be done and, as part of that, always stand by to make further representations to the Portuguese government for example if that would be helpful. "Investigations are rightly for police authorities but If there is more that the Government can do to help facilitate, we would certainly consider that and look to do as much as we could to help." Yesterday Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt revealed Scotland Yard's frustration. He said: "That's causing us frustration because we know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process." Scotland Yard has so far written three international letters of request to the Portuguese, covering 41 priority areas and including 287 separate requests. British Prime Minister David Cameron Yesterday Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood revealed that the force are looking for a lone intruder who sexually abused five British girls during a series of break-ins in the Algarve, Portugal. The tanned, dark-haired man is suspected of breaking in to 12 properties where British families were staying in the Algarve, Portugal, between 2004 and 2010. In four of the incidents, a total of five girls aged between seven and 10 were sexually assaulted. These attacks happened between 2004 and 2006, before Madeleine vanished in 2007. Mr Redwood said: "I'm sure the public will understand that the significant features of this offending - a man with a vile interest in young, white, female children, who he is attacking in their beds while they are on holiday with their families - has got a very close resonance to some of the features of Madeleine's disappearance. "We really need to identify the offender, to bring to a close the trauma and the tragedy that these families have suffered, and then seek to establish whether this is connected to Madeleine's disappearance." Another appeal for information was made last night on BBC's Crimewatch, that sparked more than 250 calls and emails. Madeleine, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends. British detectives launched a fresh investigation into the youngster's disappearance in July last year - two years into a review of the case - and made renewed appeals on television in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. After shelving their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance in 2008, Portuguese authorities said last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it.

Madeleine McCann suspect 'died in 2009', 20 March 2014

Madeleine McCann suspect 'died in 2009' The Guardian Revelation by source close to investigators comes day after new appeal for information on British girl's disappearance in Portugal Kate and Gerry McCann display a picture of how daughter Madeleine may look at the age of seven. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA Brendan de Beer in Praia da Luz and James Meikle Thursday 20 March 2014 22.35 GMT A suspect in Madeleine McCann case who may have sexually assaulted five British girls in the Algarve up to 10 years ago died in 2009, according to a source close to Portuguese investigators into the disappearance of the three year-old. The source also said there had been another so far unpublicised incident in which another British girl on holiday with her parents was sexually abused, although he did not go into when this came to light nor where or when it took place. The revelations came the day after the Metropolitan police in Britain appealed for information on a total of 12 incidents in which an intruder entered holiday accommodation in three resort areas including one where Madeleine, then three, went missing in May 2007. Four of these cases, between 2004 and 2006, involved assaults on girls aged seven to 10 and one involved two children, according to Scotland Yard, although police in both countries have looked at incidents up to 2010, three years after Madeleine vanished. The Guardian's source was careful to say the police had come to "no definitive conclusions" about the Cape Verdean national Euclides Monteiro, who died, aged 40, in a tractor accident. His name previously emerged in Portugal as a possible suspect in November although the interest of Portuguese and UK authorities in any connection to sexual assaults had not been made public at that time. The claim comes amid growing tensions between authorities in the two countries over the handling of the case. The Met would not comment on the reports. It reopened its inquiries into Madeleine's disappearance last summer and Portuguese authorities followed suit in October. David Cameron said on Thursday that he was ready to help bring pressure to bear on Lisbon, after senior Met officers expressed frustration at the slow international legal process they believe is delaying their investigations and preventing them working on the ground in Portugal. The Portuguese source said the police had been investigating Monteiro before Lisbon officialy reopened its McCann inquiries. "It was on based on the combination of leads that the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) decided to request permission to resume investigations into the case. The public prosecutor's office agreed with our evaluation and ordered the case to be reopened," the source said. "The specific nature of these cases are not only unique to the Algarve, but the whole of Portugal, hence our particular interest. The name Euclides Monteiro did not fall from the sky and was convenient because he was deceased." Scotland Yard officers and Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry were given a presentation in Lisbon over the direction Portuguese authorities were taking in October, said the source. "Maps and satellite photographs were exhibited during this presentation. These images are similar to those which [the Metropolitan Police] uploaded on to their website following Wednesday's press conference," the source said. Monteiro lived and often worked near holiday homes where the victims were staying at the time the crimes were perpetrated, he said. The source said the assailant was described by his victims as smelling of tobacco and speaking English but in a foreign accent. Some details are similar to those released by British authorities this week, but the sources said some of the victims described the man as being of African origin. None had discounted the possibility. The description issued by Scotland Yard did not say the man they were seeking may have been of African origin, describing him the man as "having dark (as in tanned) skin". Up until six months before the disappearance of Madeleine, Monteiro had been an employee at the Ocean Complex in Praia da Luz, the resort in which the McCann's stayed, and was a residentthere at the time of her disappearance, the source said. "The inquiry remains open and so too does the investigation. We have not drawn any definitive conclusions as to whether or not Euclides is our man. "It has come to light that there was a fifth case with striking similarities to the four cases made public on Wednesday and all follow a similar modus operandi, which leads us to believe that the same person perpetrated these five crimes and that he could also be responsible for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. "This is the line of inquiry Portuguese police have been following since the reopening of the case, which is that which the Metropolitan police made public on Wednesday. "Portuguese police are dealing with a case which is seven years old and, coupled with the fact that the line of inquiry being followed involves a deceased person, further complicates the investigation. These cases are unique not only to the Algarve, but Portugal as a whole. "Euclides is someone who we believe could have been involved in these five crimes – it is only a possibility – that he could have been responsible for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. "There are some other elements of interest to investigators which I cannot disclose as this moment, but I stress that these factors only make the sequence of events to which I refer a possibility." Police in London have acknowledged differences between the potentially linked cases they have been investigating – including the time they took place and the fact there were no abductions. In six of the 12, the suspect either sat or lay on a child's bed, although sexual assaults occurred in just four cases. In nine cases, there was no forced entry or stolen property and where there was it was minimal. The Lisbon source insisted the investigation was proceeding steadily "but with the discretion that has characterised it from the beginning". The prime minister's official spokesman said Cameron would be prepared to "make further representations" to Lisbon if it could help Scotland Yard. UK police said they had received more than 250 calls and emails in response to the latest appeal on Wednesday. "We are reviewing this information and following up lines of inquiry. This is still very early stages," said Scotland Yard.

Maddie sex fiend is dead, 21 March 2014

Maddie sex fiend is dead Daily Star (paper edition)   SEX fiend Euclides Monteiro, wanted over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, died in 2009 say Portuguese police. He was sacked as a Praia da Luz waiter. Full story: Page 11 ------------------ Sex beast in Maddie case dead: Police identify prime suspect Daily Star POLICE in Portugal claim they know the identity of the sex beast British cops believe was involved in Madeleine McCann's disappearance – and he’s dead. By Jerry Lawton / Published 21st March 2014 Their prime suspect for attacks on five other UK girls on the Algarve is an African burglar called Euclides Monteiro, who died in 2009. The heroin addict used to work as a waiter at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on the Algarve but was sacked a year before Madeleine stayed there with her parents. He was killed in a tractor accident, aged 40, two years after the three-year-old vanished. British detectives this week began a Europe-wide hunt for the paedophile, who was known to sneak into holiday homes late at night and molest girls aged between six and 12. Nine attacks were reported to Portuguese police between 2004 and 2009. Then three new victims came forward after Scotland Yard officers revealed on Crimewatch last year they were probing the possibility Madeleine had been snatched by burglars. The incidents all took place in a 60km strip of the Algarve between Vale da Parra and Carvoeiro. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is heading the inquiry, claimed the fiend could also have targeted Madeleine. He said there was a possibility "she did not leave the apartment alive".But last night Portuguese police accused the Met of "hijacking" their work. A source said: "All the cases mentioned were investigated by us here. Monteiro was arrested but freed because of lack of evidence." The Cape Verde immigrant had been working at a water treatment plant in the town of Lagos, near Praia da Luz, when the McCanns arrived for their holiday in 2007. But days before Madeleine disappeared, he was signed off sick and did not return to work for two months. Mobile phone data analysis placed him near the McCanns' apartment when she vanished. A local source said: "He is the main suspect for the incidents involving the girls on holiday and was questioned but there was insufficient evidence." Euclides’ widow Luisa, 40, has insisted her late husband and father of her child had nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance. She said: "He may have broken into houses when he was younger because he was poor and had a drug habit. I know Euclides is an innocent man." British police were last night sifting through information contained in more than 250 calls and emails from the public following their television appeal to trace the sex attacker. Asked last night about the Portuguese police's claims about Monteiro, a Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We are not prepared to discuss it."

PM hails McCann case 'progress', 21 March 2014

PM hails McCann case 'progress' The Press Association Press Association – 21-03-2014 14:12 Press Association - David Cameron has hailed "progress" in the Madeleine McCann inquiry. -------------------- David Cameron has said he stands ready to speak to the Portuguese over the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The Prime Minister did not raise the current British inquiry with Portugal's prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, during meetings in Brussels but will step in if Scotland Yard asks for help. It comes after Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt expressed frustration at the speed of the legal system through which British police have to ask for Portuguese assistance with their inquiry. At a press conference following a European Council summit, Mr Cameron said: "I have spoken to the Portuguese prime minister before. I didn't speak to him this council about this issue but obviously I'm pleased that the Metropolitan Police have taken this case forward and they have been working with the Portuguese. "I stand ready, if ever required to, to speak to the Portuguese prime minister or other Portuguese authorities again but I haven't been asked to by the Metropolitan Police and they seem to be making some progress." Scotland Yard has so far written three international letters of request to the Portuguese, covering 41 priority areas and including 287 separate requests. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood revealed earlier this week that the force are looking for a lone intruder who sexually abused five British girls during a series of break-ins in the Algarve, Portugal. The tanned, dark-haired man is suspected of breaking in to 12 properties where British families were staying in the Algarve, Portugal, between 2004 and 2010. In four of the incidents, a total of five girls aged between seven and 10 were sexually assaulted. These attacks happened between 2004 and 2006, before Madeleine vanished in 2007. Another appeal for information was made last night on BBC's Crimewatch, that sparked more than 250 calls and emails. Madeleine, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends. British detectives launched a fresh investigation into the youngster's disappearance in July last year - two years into a review of the case - and made renewed appeals on television in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. After shelving their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance in 2008, Portuguese authorities said last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it.

Clancy's craic: The search for Madeleine McCann, or any child, should be above politics, 21 March 2014

Clancy's craic: The search for Madeleine McCann, or any child, should be above politics Irish Mirror   If both the UK and Portugese police forces work together, at least Maddie's family will be able to say everything was done to find their little girl Missing: Maddie Little Madeleine McCann is a constant reminder for me around this time every year of how devastation can be brought to a family in an instant. Her disappearance seven years ago remains a great mystery. Who took the three-year-old from her holiday apartment in Portugal while her parents dined nearby? Is she still alive and, if so, is she still under guard? Does she remember who snatched her from her bed or has she now forgotten all that happened in the past to her? Does she even still speak English or has she adapted to the foreign language of her captor? Or is Madeline dead, killed by a captor who has hidden her body so that not a single policeman in Portugal, her home country Britain or her other holiday rendezvous in Donegal has been able to find one trace of what happened? None of the questions I have raised has been answered. Appalling though they are we must remember they are probably contemplated every day by her family. I know they occur to me every year about this time. Why? Because when Madeline disappeared in May 2007 from Praia da Luz in the Algarve I was soon afterwards involved in reporting an aspect of her story. She holidayed in Donegal just a few weeks before she disappeared and a few days after she vanished I spoke to Joe Peoples for the first time. I have spoken to him a number of times since, usually around the anniversary of Maddie's disappearance. Joe and his family run a pub in St Johnston in East Donegal which is leased from Maddie's grandmother Eileen McCann. Eileen and her late husband were Donegal natives and they loved returning to the county with their family, including her son Gerry and his wife Kate who are Maddie's parents. They were on their way to Dungloe for Easter 2007 when they dropped into the pub in St Johnston. I still remember the first words of Joe Peoples as he recalled after Maddie's disappearance what she was like. He said: "She was the centre of attention when the family called in. She was a wee dote, running around everywhere and into everything." I've just been speaking to Joe again. He still vividly remembers little Maddie in the bar on what was the family's last totally pleasurable visit to his pub. He hasn't seen Maddie's granny for a few years now. But each year around this time he thinks of her, and Maddie, and Gerry and Kate. Like everybody who knew them in Donegal, he probably wonders how the McCann family continues to cope with the hell visited upon them when Maddie was snatched. I know I do! I know, also, that their suffering might have been eased at least marginally if the Portuguese police investigation had a proper cop in charge. Instead, they put Goncalo Amaral in charge and he decided Maddie died accidentally and the McCanns invented the abduction scene. He was later transferred and eventually resigned from the police. A book he wrote spurred a libel action which is still before the courts. The Portuguese police shut down the case in 2008 but reopened it last year when they said a review had justified a new inquiry. That was after Scotland Yard got on the case. Now, two police forces are investigating, and Scotland Yard are operating with one hand tied behind their back and not a leg permanently on the ground where the crime happened. In the last few months British investigators have sent three international letters of request to the Portuguese authorities without, apparently, any word for a go-ahead on the ground. This week, the Yard's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said he is frustrated at how slow the legal process has been. He added: "We know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process." Does anybody at any senior level in the Portuguese police or the Portuguese government have a little girl that might remind them of Maddie McCann? Do they wonder that if anything happened their little girl would two police forces act separately with one only able to operate at a fraction of its potential? Do they ever think how much better it would be if red tape, both political and judicial, was sliced immediately without any frustrating delay? The police in Britain, despite obstacles put in their way, have revealed a number of people who at least should be questioned, including one man who broke into British villas in the Algarve and sexually assaulted young girls in the years immediately prior to Maddie's disappearance. It's time for everybody to remember they are trying to find out seven years later what happened to a little child. It's no time for politics. If forces are joined even at this late stage you never know what might happen. Even if Maddie remains missing at least her family will be able to say at last that the best endeavours have been used to find her. That's an awful lot more than they have been able to say so far!

Madeleine latest: raising yet more questions, 21 March 2014

Madeleine latest: raising yet more questions Portugal Resident By NATASHA DONN on March 21, 2014 As news of the Met's latest Madeleine theories sweeps the world, here in Portugal some very different revelations - equally chilling in their content - received almost zero publicity. An interview with 'infamous' Madeleine cop, Gonçalo Amaral, described how vital leads in the case appear to have been deliberately dropped. Far from expounding on the possibility of a sexual predator stalking the bedrooms of young white girls on holiday from England, Amaral talked of high-level political involvement which left DNA samples untested and key witnesses overlooked. It could have been dismissed as another conspiracy-theorists' stunt apart from the fact that the programme was presented by well-known news anchor Júlio Magalhães - former director of information at TVI and current director-general of Porto Canal - with questions fielded by respected political thinker and one-time PSD leader and mayor, Luís Filipe Menezes. Menezes opened the interview saying that after almost seven years of media frenzy, perhaps it was time to ask whether the PJ was qualified to investigate a crime of this complexity. "Doubts arise as to whether our police, our State, is protected against national and international political influences that interfere in the day-to-day professional thinking of police and other criminal investigators," he said. His invitation to Gonçalo Amaral - awaiting the result of a trial for defamation brought by Kate and Gerry McCann, who allege his theories that Madeleine is dead hampered the search for their daughter - was a chance to see whether the former investigator was "a Portuguese version of Dirty Harry, or a politically-correct policeman". Amaral's answers came thick and fast. The day he left the Madeleine investigation was "the day Gordon Brown (then British prime minister) spoke with José Socrátes (then Portuguese prime minister)." At the time, Amaral told Menezes, Portuguese police were keen to interview the Irish family who had identified Gerry McCann as the man they thought they had seen carrying a child down towards the beach on the night Madeleine went missing. This plan was quickly scuppered. Amaral's substitute on the case "was told that it was not relevant to bring the Irish (family) to Portugal," he told Menezes. "And that was that. The Irish family was never heard." As to DNA evidence that was discovered in the McCanns' rental car, Amaral was adamant that this could have been more thoroughly tested. While initial findings on blood were deemed inconclusive, Amaral explains hair samples were simply not followed up as British lab technicians claimed it was impossible to test hair samples without roots. "It is possible, and even at the time it was possible!" Amaral insisted. "These hair samples are in Portugal! They were returned in Portugal and they are in the files. It's simple! All the public ministry has to do is take the hairs and send them to a European laboratory, or anywhere where these kinds of exams are done without roots." Menezes, who had described himself at the outset as "never neutral in these matters" but seeking to be impartial, quizzed Amaral on one of the myriad "strange twists" in the early stages of the case. Referring to the hiring of Clarence Mitchell as the McCanns' press 'face', he said: "How is it comprehensible that the spokesman for the English Prime Minister had left, in 24 hours, Tony Blair to be the McCann family's spokesman? Isn't that strange?" "Of course," replies Amaral. "It is another mystery within the mystery, and maybe if we can understand this little mystery we will be able to understand what lies behind, not the disappearance, not the death of the child, but what lies behind the protection... Why the protection..." Full of questions and inconvenient allegations, it was an interview that aimed to illustrated the depth and scope of the "complexities" Luís Filipe Menezes had suggested might just be too much for the PJ - or indeed any police force. "Only when there is the political will on both sides" will the case be resolved, said Amaral, concluding, "when investigations are politically correct, they lead nowhere." Meantime in UK, Operation Grange has revealed that it is currently receiving hundreds of calls in response to the latest announcement that a bare-chested sexual predator abused five little white girls - all older than Madeleine – while they were sleeping in their beds in holiday homes along the Algarve between 2004 and 2006. The Met described 12 separate crimes leading up to 2010, only four of them involving the sexual abuse of girls aged 7-10. Whether the other eight crimes involved another type of sexual abuse has not been divulged. According to Correio da Manhã newspaper, it was the evidence of this predator that led Portuguese investigators to ask the public ministry to reopen the Madeleine case in October last year. Characteristically tight-lipped about the course of their investigations, the PJ nonetheless have been known to feed information to the Portuguese and foreign press. On Wednesday (March 19), a spokesman agreed with the Met’s Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood that the new suspect is considered to be a key to resolving the long-running mystery, just over a month away from reaching its seventh anniversary.

Corrections and clarifications, 21 March 2014

Corrections and clarifications The Guardian Rhubarb recipes | Ron Goodwin | Irish novelists | Hilary Benn's constituency | Labour market statistics | Britain's credit ratings | Madeleine McCann investigation -------------- Corrections and clarifications column editor Friday 21 March 2014 21.00 GMT ------------------ - Extract - • An article about police investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal in 2007 (Madeleine police hunt serial sex attacker who prowled Algarve, 20 March, page 3) said Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood had said the assumption that Madeleine had been alive when she left the apartment "may not follow with all our thinking" on the case. To clarify: those quoted words actually came after Redwood had referred to the assumption that Madeleine had been abducted. However, Redwood did say during the same press conference that police were considering the possibility that Madeleine was not alive when taken from the apartment as well as the possibility that she was.

Madeleine McCann police hunt two Eastern European bogus charity workers who targeted Algarve holiday homes, 22 March 2014

Madeleine McCann police hunt two Eastern European bogus charity workers who targeted Algarve holiday homes Sunday Mirror By Matthew Drake | Mar 22, 2014 22:30 The "significant development" regarding men in their 50s with heavy builds came hours after a new appeal on Crimewatch last Wednesday   Vanished: Maddie and Andy Redwood, who is heading search Police hunting for Madeleine McCann have been given vital new clues about two bogus charity workers operating in the resort when the tot went missing. The "significant development" came hours after a new appeal on Crimewatch last Wednesday. British officers were given fresh details about the conmen now believed to be Eastern European rather than Portuguese as originally thought. They were told both were in their 50s with heavy builds. The men, claiming to be fundraisers for disabled children, were seen knocking on doors of ­apartments in Praia da Luz where the three-year-old went missing in 2007. They had a yellow calling card showing a girl in a wheelchair pictured on the double-sided note. Both were also seen drinking coffees and shots of spirits in the morning outside a shopping centre yards from the apartment where the youngster vanished. A source said: "The men were knocking on the doors of holidaymakers asking for cash for a charity for handicapped children. They disappeared from the area but it is not known how they­ ­travelled about. "The charity card they used had six or seven sentences on each side. One was written in Portuguese and the other in English, but with very poor grammar. "They said very little and appeared to rely on showing people their card. It is believed they were Eastern ­European." Scotland Yard officers on Operation Grange are keen to trace the two men. They believe they had previously targeted other areas in the Algarve and are focusing attention on the resort of Albufeira. Police have previously issued e-fit photos of two bogus charity workers operating in the area – but believed them to be Portuguese at the time. The fresh intelligence emerged after officers in the hunt launched an appeal on Wednesday night's BBC1 Crimewatch programme – sparking more than 250 calls and emails. Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood also revealed police are looking for an intruder who sexually abused five British children during break-ins in the area. The tanned, dark-haired man is suspected of breaking in to 12 properties where families were staying in the Algarve between 2004 and 2010. In four of the incidents, a total of five girls aged between seven and 10 were sexually assaulted. These attacks all happened between 2004 and 2006, before Madeleine vanished the following year. Mr Redwood said: "I'm sure the public will understand the significant features of this offending. "A man attacking young, white, female children, in their beds while they are on holiday with their families has a very close resonance to some of the features of Madeleine's disappearance. "We need to identify the offender to bring to a close the trauma and the tragedy that these families have suffered. "Then we need to establish whether this is connected to Madeleine's disappearance." Search: Gerry and Kate McCann A Yard spokesman said: "We have received over 250 calls and emails following the appeal. Officers are now reviewing the information and following up lines of inquiry." Madeleine disappeared from her family's holiday ­apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 2007 as her parents Kate and Gerry dined at a nearby restaurant with friends, leaving their daughter sleeping with her younger twin siblings. British detectives launched a fresh ­investigation into Madeleine's disappearance in July last year – two years into a review of the case – and made renewed appeals on television in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. Portuguese authorities shelved their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance in 2008. But they admitted last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it. Last week Scotland Yard expressed frustration at the speed of the ­Portuguese legal system as they try to discover what has happened to the missing ­youngster. David Cameron has said he would be willing to appeal directly to the P­ortuguese government if British police felt their investigation into Madeleine's disappearance was being hampered by bureaucracy. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Mr Cameron would be prepared to "make further representations" to the government in Portugal if it would help Scotland Yard's inquiry. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt revealed Scotland Yard's dissatisfaction with their slow progress. He said: "That's causing us ­frustration because we know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process." Scotland Yard has so far written three international letters of request to the Portuguese, covering 41 priority areas and including 287 separate requests.

Police at war over Maddie, 23 March 2014

Police at war over Maddie Sunday Express (paper edition)   Scotland Yard and Portuguese fall out over identity of key suspect EXCLUSIVE By James Murray Sunday March 23, 2014 SCOTLAND Yard's hunt for Madeleine McCann is in jeopardy because of foot-dragging by Portuguese police who think they know who was responsible for her disappearance. High-ranking officers in Portugal are convinced African thief Euclides Monteiro took Madeleine and was responsible for sex attacks on five other British girls before being killed in a tractor accident in 2009. However, the frustrated Yard team believes there is insufficient evidence. One attack believed to be significant to the Madeleine inquiry took place the year after TURN TO PAGE 5 ------------------- Scotland Yard and Portuguese police fall out over identity of key Madeleine McCann suspect Sunday Express SCOTLAND Yard's hunt for Madeleine McCann is in jeopardy because of foot-dragging by Portuguese police who think they know who was responsible for her disappearance. By: James Murray Published: Sun, March 23, 2014   High-ranking officers in Portugal are convinced African thief Euclides Monteiro took Madeleine and was responsible for sex attacks on five other British girls before being killed in a tractor accident in 2009. However, the frustrated Yard team believes there is insufficient evidence. One attack believed to be significant to the Madeleine inquiry took place the year after Monteiro died. The clash is threatening to stall the Yard probe at a crucial time, with detectives here having made 287 requests for leads to be  pursued in Portugal. The Sunday Express understands they have asked for forensic work at holiday apartments where sex attacks took place, in their hunt for a breakthrough clue, a fingerprint or hair. Yet delays by Portuguese officials are slowing progress and increasing tensions between the two forces. Last week Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt admitted he was "frustrated" with the pace of the investigation. The Yard is interested in Monteiro but pointedly declined to name him during a briefing for journalists last week when it made a fresh appeal for help from the public. The ex-junkie was sacked as a waiter at an Ocean Club restaurant in Praia da Luz for stealing a year before Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment there in May 2007. Portuguese police have been interested in the volume of calls on his mobile phone on the night she vanished, which indicate he was near the scene. Yard officers want to know if he acted alone as a thief or was part of a wider, more sinister paedophile ring which could still pose a risk to British children holidaying on the Algarve. They also want to investigate possible links with burglars operating in Praia da Luz whom he was known to associate with. Last week the Yard revealed it was focusing on 12 "potentially" linked break-ins between 2004 and 2010 on the western Algarve. In four cases between 2004 and 2006 a man sexually assaulted five white girls aged between seven and 10 in their beds. Two were assaulted in one villa. The man remained calm throughout all the attacks and even when disturbed by waking parents or children he made no attempt to run away, leaving villas slowly, apparently unconcerned about being caught. Two break-ins occurred in Praia da Luz in 2006 and 2010 but children were not assaulted in those incidents. As Monteiro died in 2009 he could not have been responsible for the last break-in in 2010. In most of the 12 cases nothing was taken and there was no sign of forced entry, suggesting access to holiday apartment keys. All were within about an hour’s drive. The Yard said: "Witnesses describe the man as having dark, as in tanned, skin with short dark unkempt hair. He spoke English with a foreign accent. His voice was described as slow or possibly slurred." Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: "We need to establish the identity of this man. These offences are very serious and no one has been charged. We also need to eliminate this man from our inquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine's disappearance." Portuguese police later leaked that the person being sought was identified by their officers as Monteiro, although he was never formally charged with any of the offences because of insufficient evidence. However, the information offered by the Yard suggests it is far from convinced by the evidence uncovered by Portuguese detectives. They have Monteiro's DNA as the Cape Verde immigrant had served time for theft. British officers have pointed out to the Portuguese that a key sighting of a man holding a child in Luz at 10pm, shortly after Madeleine was taken, was not of a black man. Irishman Martin Smith and family saw him. Former Portuguese inspector Goncalo Amaral was about to fly Mr Smith to Portugal when he was removed from the case. DCI Redwood said last week: "We still need to establish the identity of a man seen by three witnesses, carrying a child fitting Madeleine's description towards the beach or town at about 22.00 on the night Madeleine disappeared. "The witnesses have described the man in the e-fits as being white, aged in his 30s, with short brown hair of medium build, medium height and clean shaven."

Police follow the trail of East European conmen, 24 March 2014

Police follow the trail of East European conmen Correio da Manhã   MADDIE Police follow the trail of East European conmen New lead to what may have happened PAG.14 -------------------- Police follow the trail of East European conmen Correio da Manhã Maddie: Lead to find the missing English girl Two men making false requests for donations, using photos of a disabled child, are being investigated 24 March 2014, 18h34 By: Magali Pinto With thanks to Ines for translation Since the BBC screened the Crimewatch programme showing a reconstruction of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in May 2007 from Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, the English police have already received 250 calls and emails with several leads – some meriting more attention than others. Now Scotland Yard is following the trail of two men – who, by their characteristics, would originate from Eastern Europe – who were seen to make false requests for donations for needy children and who were no longer seen immediately after the day of the three-year-old's disappearance. The men were seen knocking on the apartment doors of the tourist resort. They held cards with the photo of a child in a wheelchair. They identified themselves with Portuguese names, but did not speak the language well. During the morning following the disappearance they were seen drinking coffee and shots. Since that moment, they disappeared. The police have already analysed the cards that the men presented to request money and observed that they are printed with Portuguese sentences on one side and English sentences on the other – in both languages various spelling mistakes occur. These two men are part of an extensive list of suspects whom the English police are investigating in their attempt to establish who abducted the British girl.

Madeleine case in a right old muddle, 25 March 2014

Madeleine case in a right old muddle Portugal Resident By LEN PORT March 25, 2014 The gist of the latest statement from the Met police in London in their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann sounded remarkably similar to what has long been in the public domain, but the so-called 'quality' press, along with the tabloids, churned it out as if it were a hot "new lead" and even "a breakthrough". The statement appealed for further information on "a potential linked series of twelve crimes which occurred between 2004 and 2010, mostly in low season, whereby a male intruder gained access to mainly holiday villas occupied by UK families on holiday in the Western Algarve". In four of the cases, the intruder is alleged to have sexually assaulted five white girls, aged between seven and 10, in their beds. Senior ex-police officers, led by former detective inspector Dave Edgar and hired by parents Kate and Gerry, looked into sexual attacks on at least five English girls between 2004 and 2007. Their findings were described in some detail by the News of the World in May 2009. Kate McCann also wrote about the assaults in her book published in May 2012: "One of the most concerning and upsetting pieces of information to emerge quite early was the record of sexual crimes against children in the Algarve. This discovery made me feel physically sick. I read of five cases of British children on holiday being sexually abused in their beds while their parents slept in another room. In three further incidents, children encountered an intruder in their bedrooms, who was presumably disturbed before he had the chance to carry out an assault." Yet even The Times last week felt moved to report that "A sex attacker who preyed on young British girls holidaying with their families on the Algarve is a key suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann seven years ago, police said today." Other "key" suspects over the past few months have ranged from Gypsies, Germans and East Europeans to burglars and British cleaners, but according to the latest Met statement, witnesses described the supposedly lone sex attacker as "having dark (as in tanned skin) with short dark unkempt hair". The Met did not identify the latest "key" suspect, but a headline in the Guardian the day after the Met appeal read: "Madeleine McCann suspect died in 2009." It called this a "revelation" gleaned from "a source close to Portuguese investigators." We had read it all before, of course. Early last November, the Daily Mail, among many other papers, named and carried a photograph of a 40-year-old black African, saying the Portuguese police believed he may have killed Madeleine two years before he died in a tractor accident. This disclosure came soon after all the BBC Crimewatch fuss over new e-fit images that turn out not be new at all, depicting a man who certainly did not look like a black African. The Guardian's source said the dead man had been at the centre of Portuguese police inquiries since they reopened the case last October, but they had not drawn any definite conclusions about him. He "could" have been involved in the five assaults on white girls - and even the disappearance of Madeleine - but it was no more than a "possibility", the source said. The Guardian also ran a story last week headlined: "Madeleine McCann: a breakthrough that could be devastating." It did not mean devastating to the widow of the smeared African, a man with no record of child molestation and no opportunity to defend himself. The Guardian explained that by identifying a series of sex attacks, the Met Police had made a breakthrough in its investigation, but that based on similar cases, "it could mean an end to hopes that Madeleine is alive". It is a hope many have long abandoned. Even Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior British investigating officer, has conceded she may have died in the apartment. Portuguese detectives and prosecutors, as well as specialist British investigators and a British police dog handler, came to that conclusion years ago. The former lead detective in the original Portugal investigation, Gonçalo Amaral, reiterated in a recent interview his firm belief that Madeleine died in the apartment the same day or night she disappeared. He claimed his investigation was marred by high-level political involvement, which left DNA samples untested and key witnesses overlooked. Amaral and his many supporters completely reject the notion that Madeleine was abducted - and, indeed, there is no hard evidence to support this theory. In using the term 'abduction' or 'kidnapping' of Madeleine McCann, the mainstream media rarely qualify this assertion with words such as 'alleged', 'possible' or 'suspected'. Nor were such words used when Redwood said last week: "The Metropolitan Police Service continues to offer a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person(s) responsible for the abduction of Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3 May 2007." Twenty thousand pounds! It's a far cry from the £2.5 million reward offered within days of Madeleine's disappearance, and a drop in the ocean compared to the millions Kate and Gerry have since received in donations on top of the amount the Met has spent so far in its fruitless search.

Brit paedo was living next to Maddie resort, 25/26 March 2014

Brit paedo was living next to Maddie resort Daily Mirror (paper edition)   MIRROR INVESTIGATION Predator fled to Portugal after jail release EXCLUSIVE By TOM PETTIFOR and DAVID COLLINS in Portugal Wednesday, 26 March, 2014 A BRITISH paedophile jailed in the UK for sick sex attacks on children was hiding out on the Algarve when Madeleine McCann vanished. David Reid fled his home and moved near Praia da Luz where she was snatched in 2007. One of his victims had warned: "He'll offend again." FULL STORY: PAGES 4&5 ----------------- Original online headline: Madeleine McCann clue: British paedo was on the loose when Maddie disappeared Revised headline: Missing Madeleine McCann: British paedophile was living next to resort where three-year-old was snatched Daily Mirror By Tom Pettifor | Mar 25, 2014 22:31 Mirror investigation reveals that sicko David Reid was hiding in the Algarve at the time Madeleine McCann was taken from Praia da Luz   Pervert on the loose: Convicted paedophile David Reid and the resort from where Maddie was taken A British paedophile jailed in the UK for sick sex attacks on children was hiding out on the Algarve when Madeleine McCann vanished. David Reid fled his home and moved near Praia da Luz where she was snatched in 2007. One of Reid's victims had warned the pervert would not be able to contain his sick urges if allowed anywhere near children and could strike again. The paedophile was hiding out on the Algarve at the time Madeleine McCann was snatched from Praia da Luz in 2007. He had fled his home in Northern Ireland in a bid to hide his sordid past after being jailed for sexually abusing a string of young girls and a boy. Speaking in 2006, one of his victims ­chillingly warned: "He's a paedophile who will offend again. It's part of his being. He'll never change. "Get your kids and family away from him. Never put temptation in front of him. He just won’t be able to resist it." Reid moved to the seaside resort of Carvoeiro, 30 miles from Praia da Luz, in 2004 after being freed from jail. The same year the sleepy town was targeted by a lone child sex attacker who broke into apartments belonging to British holidaymakers, often abusing young girls in their beds. Reid was completely unmonitored by the authorities while in Portugal because he was released from prison before the Sex Offenders' Register was set up. Three years after he settled in the Algarve, three-year-old Madeleine disappeared as her parents Kate and Gerry ate nearby with a group friends. Carvoeiro is one of three resorts, including Praia da Luz, targeted by a prowling paedophile who is suspected of abusing five youngsters, aged seven to 10. The sex attacks happened between 2004 and 2006 while the break-ins were reported up to 2010. Police believe they are likely to be linked to Madeleine's disappearance. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is spearheading the new UK police search for the missing youngster, said the sex attacks in Carvoeiro were at the "high end" in terms of seriousness. The officer added that the man they are hunting "has a very unhealthy interest in young, white girls who he attacks whilst they are on holiday in their beds". Reid's girl victims in the UK were white. The pervert died last year of cancer at the age of 61 or 62, according to locals in Carvoeiro – where he had been attacked in a bar after his sick past was exposed. In most of the cases, as with the Madeleine kidnap, there was no sign of a forced entry and nothing was taken. And in six of the 12 incidents the man sat on the children’s beds. In four he went on to commit serious sexual assaults. Most of the break-ins occurred in the off season when Reid was in the area. Gerry McCann and Kate McCann parents of missing child Madeleine McCann walk through Amsterdam of the final leg of there 2 day trip in Europe to spread the word about Madeline disappearance The attacks took place within a 37-mile radius of Praia da Luz. Witnesses said the suspect smelt of smoke, was tanned and had dark hair. Reid was a chain smoker with dark hair who was tanned. It is believed he could be on a list of 38 potential suspects currently being probed by British police. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "No comment can be made on this ongoing investigation." Vile Reid got three years in 1995 for indecent assault and gross ­indecency in Belfast. After fleeing to Carvoeiro, which is popular with British ex-pats, he took up casual bar work and became a singer. One local said residents had no idea about his perverted past and he was well-liked. The former bar worker said: "He auditioned in England to come over to Portugal and work full time as the in-house musician at one bar. When he arrived in 2004 there was no ­suggestion of his past history at all and he made sure not to mention it. "He was brought over and worked ­weekdays and weekends, hosting events at the singalongs. He was a good guitarist, and seemed like a good guy." While keeping his vile past a closely guarded secret, Reid worked in several bars and became a popular member of the ex-pat community, mixing with the locals using his chatty, easy-going manner. He made his live act a hit in the town. His lack of police ­monitoring meant he could roam the area without arousing suspicion. When a Mirror reporter recently questioned local police, an officer denied any knowledge of the sex attacker, despite him living just five minutes' walk from their headquarters. But Reid's history finally caught up with him in 2006 when news of his convictions broke amongst the ex-pats. He suddenly became an outcast, with only the regulars at one bar willing to mix with him. One ex-pat, who asked not to be named, said: "When everyone found out what had happened there was a lot of anger in Carvoeiro. "But they kept him on at the bar, even after they knew what he'd done. The bar started losing business. The takings went down because nobody wanted to go in and watch a paedophile play guitar and try to entertain people. Nobody was interested. They allowed him to keep his job for two weeks before someone went in and attacked him. He was playing one night sitting in the corner when someone came in and punched him off his bar stool. "That was when they finally let him go." Reid then worked as a part-time builder, living in a small house on a cliff-top overlooking the resort. Hoping the outrage over his past crimes would have died down, his bosses at the bar hired him again, months later. But it was the same story in the tight-knit ex-pat community, and people refused to drink in a bar hosting the pervert. He was again axed. The Mirror's findings raise questions about whether Reid associated with groups of other ­paedophiles on the Algarve around the time Madeleine vanished. Portuguese authorities may now conduct further inquiries to establish Reid's movements around the time of her disappearance. He is believed to have died from an undiagnosed cancer after collapsing at his home in August. But his family last night said they were not aware of his death. The Madeleine investigation took a new turn last week when DCI Redwood revealed the lone prowling paedophile link on BBC's Crimewatch last week. But blundering Portuguese police had failed to consider the prolific pervert as a suspect in the hunt for the youngster because the attacks were spread out across the Algarve. Officers working on Operation Grange – a review into the Madeleine case – are in possession of the DNA of the intruder following one of his attacks. ------------------- Articles from the archives: ??? News of the World (no longer online) By Gemma Craven ?? November 2006 Paedo working as singer in holiday bar "The Round-Up Saloon" Carvoeiro, near Albufeira, Portugal [picture] EVIL dad David Reid belts out the words to a Bob Marley song: "Don't worry about a thing...every little thing gonna be all right". Last week the News of the World issued an alert for vile Reid after they reported how he had abused his own children, sisters Mandy, Julie, Joanne and Sheree and their brother David over a period of 16 years. With astonishing courage they overcame adversity to counsel other young victims. The brave victims backed our Sarah's Law crusade to give parents the right to know if convicted paedophiles are living in their area. So BEWARE if you are planning a holiday in Portugal with your kids, Reid is living a cushy life in a family resort ithere. Holidaymakers and ex-pats in the small town of Carvoeiro, near Albufeira, are unaware of the sordid past of the crooner they know affectionately as Irish Dave. Warped Reid, who was jailed for three years for indecent assaults and gross indecency, has the run of the town because he came out of prison BEFORE the Sex Offenders' Register was launched and does not have to register his whereabouts. The Belfast-born joiner does the occasional day's work on local building sites but spends most mornings in bed and sunny afternoons on his balcony overlooking the ocean. He is a regular at popular local pubs The Round-Up Saloon and Jailhouse where he plays guitar and sings country and reggae favourites. On nights off from gigs he befriends expats and tourists over cigarettes and beer at the neon-lit town centre bars that pull in punters with happy hours and karaoke. This area is home to hundreds of British expats and thousands of tourists flock to the town every year with young children. The chain-smoking Ulsterman lives alone in a first-floor apartment on a stunning clifftop above a sandy cove called Paradise Beach. One local said: "It's packed in the summer when the weather's good and the children are on school holidays. "Convicted paedophiles like him will have temptation in front of them every day at the height of the season." But Reid, 56, insists: "I'm not a menace to anyone any more. That's all in the past. I just want to get on with my life here and be left alone." Chillingly he refuses to accept the full gravity of his crimes. "I never touched any of my kids," he claims. Sorry "I exposed myself to them—and only to the girls, not my boy. "I still can't find any explanation for what I did but maybe it was the alcohol. I'd like to contact my kids and tell them I'm sorry for what I did but I just can't find the strength. "I want to stay here in Portugal. I don't want to be on the run all my life." But his failure to admit he assaulted his children just adds to their never-ending pain. Mandy, speaking on behalf of the family, said: "We are glad the News of the World has exposed his whereabouts so families travelling there will know what sort of person he is. "It makes it easier for us to know he is nowhere near us. "For years our father has destroyed us. He continues to get on with his life forgetting the crimes against us, his own children. "It is so frustrating as he continues to play down the seriousness of what he has done. This is a classic case of a typical paedophile denial. "These men think of nothing but themselves and are a danger to society. "It shows that a change in the law is needed imminently." ----------------------- NEW LEAD IN HUNT FOR SNATCHED HOLIDAY TOT The People (paper edition) HELL OF PAEDO HAVEN By STEWART WHITTINGHAM May 6, 2007 EVIL perverts from an international paedophile ring feared to have snatched and killed an 11-year-old boy are at large in Portugal. And the country was rocked by a high-profile celebrity paedophiles scandal three years ago. The Depraved Wonderland Club had members in 13 countries, who filmed themselves abusing kiddies and shared the snaps around. One victim of the Club is thought to be Portuguese schoolboy Rui Pedro Mendonca, 11. He was abducted after walking home from school in Lousada in 1998 and has not been seen since. Rui is thought to have have got into a car with a 22-year-old man called Alfonso. Police believe he was videoed being abused and then murdered. Wonderland Club sex beasts shared 750,000 pictures of abuse of 1,200 kiddies. Men had to provide 10,000 images of child abuse before they could join. In 2004 a Portuguese ex-cabinet minister, an MP, an ambassador and TV presenter were among ten men men arrested over sex abuse at a state orphanage. Two hundred men were questioned and it is feared many perverts escaped justice. A major child trafficker was also arrested in Portugal last year. David Reid, 56, from Belfast, was working as a singer in Carvoeiro, a family resort on the Algarve. Locals called him "Irish Dave" but knew nothing of his past. He was able to hide his paedophile past because it pre-dated the creation of the Sex Offenders' Register. Reid went to Portugal after leaving Northern Ireland, where he abused five children for 16 years. He was jailed for three years for indecent assaults and gross indecency. A 1960s child abuse cult, Children of God, also has a secret chapter in Portugal. Its American founder David Berg believed in free love and child sex. -------------------------- UK website warns of alleged Algarve child-abuser Portugal News IN ALGARVE · 03-05-2008 'Portugal Warning: 'Irish Dave' alive and well in Carvoeiro' is what reads at the bottom left hand corner of the webweavers.co.uk/sarahslaw website, as reported on Wednesday by Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã. Nothing more than an exact transcript of what was reported by the News of The World in November 2006, this recent media coverage has nevertheless once again catapulted the Algarve to national attention for allegedly accommodating child abusers. Back in 2006 News of the World reporters caught up with David Reid, otherwise known locally as 'Irish Dave', then a musician in a local popular hang-out 'The Round Up Saloon', sensationally announcing his whereabouts and, till then, unknown past. The Portugal News spoke to Dave in 2006 after these reports rocked the sleepy village. He admitted 'revealing himself' to his daughters, but denied ever laying a finger on any of his three children, two girls and boy. He also told how he had served 18 months of a three-year prison sentence on charges of indecent assault and gross indecency, following complaints from his own children. At the time he told The Portugal News, "I never sexually abused my children", he said. "I did wrong at home, very wrong. I exposed myself to my daughters and I paid the consequences. I did my time for this crime but I did not run and hide from it. I have no excuse for what I did. I have tried to understand why I did it and I still don't know. I am very sorry and I have lived with the guilt everyday for 22 years. But I never touched my son, and I am not a paedophile". Claiming to have subsequently been victimised by locals he once considered he knew well, little more was seen or heard of 'Irish Dave' until this latest article under the headline 'Alert to avoid the Algarve' was published in Portugal's biggest selling newspaper, re-reporting the News of the World's initial interview and publishing imagery taken from http://www.webweavers.co.uk/sarahslaw/irishdave.htm. Whether 'Irish Dave' remained in Carvoeiro after the news exploded in 2006 is unknown, though no incident involving the man in question has been reported to date. Well-liked and a popular performer, at the time Dave Reid vowed to face the local community if they would let him "live in peace" and even said he was "glad the skeletons are out of the closet". As with most 'local gossip', the topic of 'Irish Dave' eventually faded within the Carvoeiro community, though the image of the Algarve as a family haven, for unrelated reasons, is now more questioned than ever.

Convicted British paedophile revealed to have been living close to Portuguese resort when Madeleine McCann was abducted, 26 March 2014

Convicted British paedophile revealed to have been living close to Portuguese resort when Madeleine McCann was abducted Daily Mail Convicted paedophile David Reid lived in the area at the time of abduction He moved to Algarve resort in 2004 after being freed from jail in Britain After this, a man broke into holiday homes and abused five British girls A tanned, dark-haired man suspected of child sex assaults from 2004-2006 Madeleine McCann, aged three, was taken from Praia da Luz in May 2007 Police say paedophile is suspected of committing 12 break-ins in Algarve Four were in Carvoeiro, six in the Vale da Parra, and two in Praia da Luz By SARA MALM and HARRIET ARKELL PUBLISHED: 09:19, 26 March 2014 | UPDATED: 12:28, 26 March 2014 A convicted British paedophile was living in the same area on the Portuguese coast at the time of Madeleine McCann's disappearance seven years ago, it has been revealed. David Reid moved to Carvoeiro on the Algarve in 2004, after he was released from prison for sexually abusing young girls. He was still living in the area in 2007, when three-year-old Maddie was snatched from her family's holiday apartment while her parents were having dinner nearby. The same year Reid arrived on the Algarve, several British families on holiday suffered break-ins and five young girls were abused in their beds. Chillingly, just months before Maddie McCann's disappearance, one of his victims had warned that Reid remained a threat to young girls and would offend again. 'It's part of his being. He'll never change,' the victim said, according to The Mirror. 'Get your kids and your family away from him, Never out temptation in front of him. He just won't be able to resist it. Reid, from Northern Ireland, was living just 30 miles from Praia da Luz, the holiday resort where the McCann family were staying, in 2007. He was convicted and jailed for gross indecency and indecent assault in Belfast in 1995, but was able to move freely and unmonitored in Portugal as the sex offenders' register was not set up at the time of his release. According to locals in Carvoeiro, Reid died last year aged 61 or 62, but his family in Britain has not been informed of his death, The Mirror reports. The police investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann took a step forward last week when detective announced that they are looking for a prolific paedophile who sexually abused five girls at holiday homes in the Algarve before the British toddler went missing. The man, described as tanned, dark-haired and speaking English with an accent, is suspected of breaking into holiday properties where British families were staying and sexually abusing five white British girls aged between seven and ten.   Still missing: Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portuguese resort in 2007, close to where Northern Irish paedophile David Reid, pictured playing in The Roundup Bar in Carvoeiro in November  2006, lived ---------------   Hideout: David Reid's apartment on the cliffs in Carvoeiro, just 30 miles from Praia da Luz where the McCanns holidayed in 2007 ----------------------   Reid, who died last year, moved from Belfast to Portugal after he was released from prison where he had served time for sexually assaulting young girls and a boy -------------------- The sex attacks took place between 2004-2006, shortly before Madeleine vanished in 2007, and are among a series of 12 break-ins to holiday homes in the Algarve that police believe were committed by the same man. In six of the break-ins, the man sat on or got into bed with young girls. On one occasion, he abused two young girls in the same villa. Two of the attacks were in the resort of Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was staying in a holiday apartment with her family when she was taken. There were also four in Carvoeiro, where Reid was living, and six in the Vale da Parra, Praia da Gale district. Most of the attacks took place in low season, police said. They had previously been discounted by Portuguese investigators because they are spread over a wide geographical area and there were no apparent attempts at abduction. Nine of the 12 incidents were reported to Portuguese police at the time they happened, and details of three of those became known to British investigators only after they made televised appeals last autumn. Witnesses describe the man as having dark, tanned skin with short dark unkempt hair. He spoke in English with a foreign accent, his voice was described as slow, or possibly slurred. He was sometimes bare chested, some describe him as having a pot belly, and three victims said that he had a noticeable odour.   New clue: Detectives on the Madeleine case say the man they are looking for wore a distinctive burgundy top -----------------------   Still looking: Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, pictured with an image of how she might look now, were having dinner with friends when 'Maddie' disappeared in Praia da Luz ------------------------------- On two occasions in Vale de Parra and Praia da Gale he was wearing a distinctive burgundy long sleeve top, on one of those occasions it was described as having a white circle on the back. DCI Redwood said: 'This is an offender who has got a very, very unhealthy interest in young, white, female children whom he is attacking whilst they are on holiday in their beds.' Police said the suspect may have been in the villa or looking round the villa for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent, or the child waking up, and said he remained calm, even when disturbed. On two occasions, they said, the noise of a bin collection lorry could be heard nearby. DCI Redwood said today that tracing the man is one of his priority lines of inquiry. He said: 'We need to establish the identity of this man - these offences are very serious and no-one has been charged in connection with them.' He said some of the offences were previously known about, but three of them, including what is believed to be the first in the series of 12 break-ins, were new reports to police and came about as a result of their appeal for more information last October. Resort: Madeleine went missing from this holiday apartment at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz in May 2007 ----------------------- Mr Redwood's team currently have 38 people classed as 'persons of interest' to the inquiry, and are also sifting through details of 530 known sex offenders whose whereabouts they cannot account for. Of those 59 are classed as high priority, and some of those are British. British investigators have so far sent three international letters of request to Portuguese authorities over the investigation, covering 41 priority areas for the team, involving 287 separate requests. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt showed his anger at the slow pace of the legal process, saying: 'That's causing us frustration because we know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process.' Another 30 letters have been written to other European countries, but the force would not reveal where. Madeleine, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends. British detectives launched a fresh investigation into the youngster's disappearance in July last year - two years into a review of the case - and made renewed appeals on television in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. After shelving their inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance in 2008, Portuguese authorities said last October that a review had uncovered enough new information to justify reopening it.