The
police hunt for Madeleine was a shambles
from the outset. For several crucial
days detectives failed even to take
seriously the idea she had been abducted
— a stance that infected every aspect of
the probe.
Evidence was contaminated, Portugal’s
borders left wide open and the
investigation fatally compromised in
virtually every conceivable way by a
local force ill-equipped to handle it.
It was
bad enough for the McCanns that their
child was snatched. It was worse luck
still for it to happen in a backwater
policed by incompetents.
In
Britain and America, such an abduction
would have triggered an almost instant
police dragnet — sniffer dogs and
helicopters would have scoured the area
while the child’s picture would have
been handed to the Press and TV to make
public as fast as possible.
None
of this happened. The Portuguese police
decided an almost total LACK of
publicity was the best option, to keep
suspects in the dark about the
investigation’s progress. In the first
and possibly most elementary blunder,
police failed to seal off the crime
scene — the McCanns’ apartment — until
10am the morning after Madeleine went
missing. Before then family, friends and
a wide variety of police officers and
“helpers” traipsed through the property,
rendering any DNA clues found there as
good as useless.
A
friend of the McCanns said: “On the
night Madeleine was taken there were
loads of people in and out. Once it was
obvious she had not wandered off it
should have been immediately sealed.
“Then
there were police officers smoking and
dropping ash and butt ends.”
Even
one of the first officers to arrive
admitted the area was “totally
contaminated” within an hour because his
bosses failed to secure it. The
apartment was trampled “by the world and
his dog”, the cop, speaking anonymously,
told The Sun.
“By
the time we got there it was chaos,” he
said. “When we arrive and see our
superiors on the scene we expect the
situation to be under control. It was
like they weren’t even there.
“Family, friends, neighbours, staff,
people off the street — everyone was in
and out of the bedroom to check under
the bed. The damage had been done.”
His
partner added: “Any disappearance should
be treated as a potential crime. It’s
not brain surgery.”
Portugal’s top forensic expert Jose Anes
later said he doubted anyone would ever
stand trial because the evidence was too
contaminated for any safe prosecution.
One of
the cops leading the search blamed the
McCanns. Police chief Olegario Sousa
said more than 20 people entered the
apartment early on, touching furniture
and opening and closing doors and
windows.
He
added: “The presence of so many people —
especially in the room where the little
girl slept with her brother and sister —
could have at least complicated the work
of the forensic team.
“At
the very worst they would have destroyed
all the evidence. This could prove to be
fatal for the investigation.”
The
McCanns hit back via a friend, who said:
“Of course the family are going to
search the apartment. If your child goes
missing, you search under beds, in
wardrobes, behind doors — everywhere.”
Yet
another gaffe within hours of the
abduction only emerged months later.
Police
allowed Robert Murat, who later became
their first suspect, to sit in as
translator at the first witness
interviews. They never checked his
background or his alibi — they used him
simply because he spoke Portuguese.
Regardless of Murat’s innocence, the
information he heard would have been
like gold-dust for anyone constructing a
cover story.
One of
those quizzed was holidaymaker Bridget
O’Donnell, an ex-BBC producer who worked
on Crimewatch and was horrified by the
amateurish investigation.
She
was questioned the day after the
kidnapping in her apartment near the
McCanns’. Bridget said: “Murat was
breathless, perhaps a little excited. He
reminded me of a boy in my class at
school who was bullied.
“Through Murat we answered a few
questions and gave our details, which
the policeman wrote down on the back of
a bit of paper. No notebook.
“Then
he pointed to the photocopied picture of
Madeleine on the table. ‘Is this your
daughter?’ he asked. ‘Er, no,’ we said.
‘That’s the girl you are meant to be
searching for.’ My heart sank for the
McCanns.”
Worse
was to come. It emerged that police
failed to send Madeleine’s bedding for
forensic tests. By the time they
revisited the apartment 24 hours after
she was taken, cleaners had washed the
sheets, blankets and pillowcase. Vital
fibres from the abductor’s clothing, or
even their fingerprints, may have been
lost.
Only
hair samples were sent for testing at a
Portuguese forensic lab. An insider
there said half the evidence needed to
find out what happened was not tested.
He
said: “It is obvious it would have been
good if they had sent sheets, blankets,
pillows and even the mattress. Some
important clue could have been found.”
It
took 48 hours for police to take
witnesses’ fingerprints. Some were
carried out so shoddily they had to be
redone.
To
their horror the McCanns discovered
another glaring error. The frontier with
Spain is almost 100 miles from Praia da
Luz, about 1 hour 45 minutes’ drive. But
border guards were only alerted to
Madeleine’s disappearance 12 HOURS
later, giving her abductor ample
time to flee with her to Spain and
beyond.
Even
more disgracefully it was 48 hours
before police got round to searching
vehicles at the border. Incredibly,
weeks later the border was closed almost
immediately after reports of a CAR
being stolen.
Further errors eroded the McCanns’
confidence in the investigation. With
police keeping silent about any leads to
avoid alerting suspects, Kate and Gerry
were forced of their own accord to
invite TV crews to their apartment to
broadcast an appeal for information.
It was
THEY, not police, who decided to
release details of the pink and white
Eeyore pyjamas Madeleine was wearing.
The
mistakes went on and on.
A
police description of Madeleine’s
suspected kidnapper was released, based
on Jane Tanner’s sighting of the man
carrying a child outside the apartment.
Cops
said he was 5ft 10in. But Tanner saw a
man of about 5ft 7in — they had simply
given out the wrong height in the
description. It might have been crucial.
British crime experts remain convinced
Portuguese police were simply not up to
such a major investigation.
Retired Det Chief Supt Chris Stevenson —
who nailed Ian Huntley for murdering
Soham girls Holly Wells and Jessica
Chapman — conducted a three-day review
of the Madeleine probe alongside other
British crime experts for a TV
documentary.
He
insisted: “The intention was never to do
a hatchet job on the Portuguese police —
but the inescapable conclusion was that
they were totally ill-equipped for the
job.
“If
you don’t immediately realise what you
are dealing with, you can get caught and
make major forensic errors.
“That’s what appears to have happened in
the Maddie case. This was a child
missing from home but they didn’t seem
to have thought anything suspicious
might have happened at first.
“In
Britain we refer to this period
immediately after a child vanishes as
the ‘golden hours’.”
On
Friday, May 4, the day after Madeleine’s
disappearance, police brought in sniffer
dogs and finally alerted border
authorities and the Spanish police.
Gerry
and Kate, clearly distraught but
maintaining their dignity, faced the
Press outside apartment 5a. They
realised right away that their most
valuable aid in finding Madeleine was
publicity. Kate was clutching Cuddle Cat
for comfort.
Gerry
said: “Words cannot describe the anguish
and despair we are feeling as the
parents of a beautiful daughter.
“We
request anyone with any information
relating to Madeleine’s disappearance
should please contact Portuguese police
to help us get her back to safety.
“Please, if you have Madeleine, please
let her come home to her mummy, daddy,
brother and sister. Everyone can
understand how distressing this current
situation is.”
Portuguese police, however — in a taste
of what was to come — announced that
under the country’s secrecy laws they
could not reveal any details of the
investigation.
This
vacuum of information was to result in
unsubstantiated police theories and
claims being leaked daily to the
Portuguese Press and re-reported in
Britain.
Relatives including Madeleine’s
grandparents flew to Portugal. Britain’s
Ambassador to the country, John Stephen
Buck, went to the resort, as did Craig
Mayhew, director of Mark Warner UK
Operations.
By
Saturday, May 5, the McCanns’ family
were already expressing misgivings about
the police. Madeleine’s aunt Philomena
McCann claimed they were playing down
her disappearance and being
“uncommunicative”.
Gerry,
by contrast, issued a new appeal and
diplomatically thanked police for their
efforts.
Despite their initial reluctance to face
reality, detectives announced that they
DID now believe Madeleine was
abducted.
They
further revealed that they believed she
was still alive, in Portugal and may
have been kidnapped to be abused by
paedophiles. They revealed they had a
sketch of a “suspect”.
It was
one of a host of bold and
unsubstantiated announcements they were
to make.
Three
Family Liaison Officers from
Leicestershire Police arrived in
Portugal to support the McCanns and a
colleague of Kate’s offered a £100,000
reward for help in finding Madeleine.
The
McCanns attended a Mother’s Day service
on Sunday, May 6, in Praia Da Luz where
prayers were said for Madeleine in
English and Portuguese. Kate broke down
while telling reporters how grateful she
was for the support of locals.
The
police sketch, meanwhile, appeared to be
little more than the back of a man’s
head.
Four
days after Madeleine’s abduction, on
Monday, May 7, Kate made a personal plea
to her kidnapper on TV. Comforted by
Gerry and holding a picture of their
daughter, she said: “We would like to
say a few words to the person who is
with our Madeleine, or has been with
Madeleine.
“Madeleine is a beautiful, bright, sunny
and caring little girl. She is so
special. Please, please, do not hurt
her.
“Please do not scare her, please let us
know where to find Madeleine or put her
in a place of safety and tell somebody
where. We beg you to let Madeleine come
home.
“Sean
and Amelie need Madeleine and she needs
us. Please give our little girl back.”
She
repeated that sentence in Portuguese:
“Por favor, devolva a nossa menina.”
Gerry
leaned towards her, bowed his head and
rested it on her cheek.
In the
first of many wild theories reported in
Portugal, it was said that police
believed Madeleine’s kidnapper to be
British.
Officers did not confirm it. Instead
they held a chaotic Press conference
where, contradicting earlier remarks,
they said they could not reassure the
McCanns that Madeleine was still alive
or still in the area.
The
following day Manchester United’s
Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo made
an appeal for help in tracing Madeleine,
followed by Chelsea’s John Terry and
Paulo Ferreira.
A
silent vigil was held in the family’s
home village of Rothley and detectives
were said to be probing British
paedophiles with links to the Algarve.
The
same day British holidaymaker Amanda
Mills revealed that she saw a prowler
tampering with bedroom window shutters
yards from Madeleine’s holiday flat days
before she was abducted. The “weird”
man, middle-aged, dark-skinned and
unshaven, tried to grab a child’s buggy
but ran off when confronted.
What seemed the first real breakthrough
came on May 9. CCTV footage from
a
petrol station near Praia da Luz
appeared to show a woman with a girl
resembling Madeleine. Police were
investigating the possibility she was
snatched by two men and a woman. The
CCTV footage, they said, was “the key”.
Gerry
and Kate insisted they remained positive
and an internet appeal was launched in
English, Portuguese and Spanish.
Crimestoppers created a hotline for
information.
A week
after Madeleine’s disappearance, on
Thursday, May 10, Kate led villagers and
tourists in prayer at the church in
Praia Da Luz.
Crimestoppers passed on four pieces of
“very useful” information from hundreds
of calls to their hotline and police
issued a picture of pyjamas identical to
Madeleine’s.
Moved
by images of her distraught parents,
tycoon Stephen Winyard offered a
£1million reward on Friday, May 11, for
information leading to Madeleine’s
return.
David
Beckham made a TV appeal, saying: “If
you have seen this little girl please go
to the local authorities or the police
with any genuine information. Please,
please help us.”
Gerry
said he was grateful for the worldwide
support and said he would leave “no
stone unturned”.
On
Saturday, May 12, Madeleine’s fourth
birthday, The Sun launched a campaign
for people to wear yellow in her honour
and to show they stood side by side with
her parents. Locals near the McCanns’
home in Rothley had already tied yellow
ribbons to railings in the village.
Gerry
and Kate launched an international
appeal using posters and a logo
highlighting Madeleine’s distinctive
right eye, the pupil of which runs into
the blue-green iris. “We want to make
the most of it, because we know her hair
potentially could be cut or dyed,” Gerry
said.
Gordon
Brown, then Chancellor, said: “We’ll be
thinking of Maddie today and praying for
good news.” Tory leader David Cameron
said: “I feel desperately for the McCann
family. Of course I want to mark her
birthday by wearing a yellow ribbon.”
Gerry
and Kate urged people to redouble their
efforts to find her. Business tycoons,
celebrities and newspapers swelled the
reward fund to £2.5million.
But
by Sunday, May 13, ten days on, the hunt
was nowhere.
Police
chief Olegario Sousa admitted there were
no leads nor suspects. “Everything that
we have looked at so far has been
discounted,” he said.
Tormented Gerry and Kate walked
hand-in-hand along the bay at Praia da
Luz. Kate wore a yellow ribbon and
carried Cuddle Cat, holding it to her
nose to smell Madeleine’s scent.
On May
14 Gerry issued a statement: “Until
there is concrete evidence to the
contrary, we believe Madeleine is safe
and is being looked after.”
Kate
said they would not consider returning
to the UK while she was missing.
London
lawyers from the International Family
Law Group set up a “fighting fund” to
allow the public to donate to the
search.
Then,
dramatically, it was revealed that a
Briton living with his mother just over
100 yards from the McCanns’ holiday
apartment was being quizzed.
He was
Robert Murat.
MURAT’S life changed for ever the moment
police knocked on the door of his
mother’s villa, Casa Liliana, at 7am on
May 14, 2007. He was interrogated for 19
hours.
The
house was sealed off and searched from
top to bottom and the swimming pool
drained. Murat’s computer was seized.
Two cars used by the Murats were
examined.
Later
he was named as an “arguido” — the
Portuguese legal term for a suspect —
but there was not enough evidence to
arrest him or keep him in custody. He
was never charged with any offence.
So
why him?
Murat,
34, is a half-Portuguese, half-English
property salesman whose daughter Sofia
is Madeleine’s age and lives with his
ex-wife Dawn in Norfolk. They had all
lived at Casa Liliana until two years
earlier when Dawn took Sofia back to the
UK. She had found life hard in Portugal
and the marriage had broken down.
Murat
insisted the first he knew of
Madeleine’s disappearance was when his
sister phoned him about it the next day.
His alibi never changed: On the evening
of May 3 he went to bed early at his
mother’s home after dinner with her. His
mother, Jennie, 71, backed him up.
As
Madeleine’s kidnapping cast the
spotlight on his town, Murat, once an
interpreter for Norfolk police, began
getting involved in the case. Using his
language skills he volunteered to help
detectives and acted as a go-between
with Madeleine’s parents. His mother set
up a poster stall appealing for
witnesses.
Murat
was also keen to help the Press and
claimed to have been inside the McCanns’
apartment as the probe began.
Some
reporters dismissed him as an
attention-seeker. Others were more
suspicious.
One
reported him to the police, who put him
under surveillance. He was watched and
his phone calls logged.
Murat’s business associate, Russian
computer expert Sergey Malinka, 22, was
also questioned but quickly cleared.
Murat’s German girlfriend Michaela
Walczuch and her estranged Portuguese
husband Luis Antonio were questioned as
witnesses.
There
was nothing to connect Murat to the
abduction, despite many hours of
questioning and comprehensive checks on
his background, movements and property.
British holidaymakers, including the
McCanns’ friends, repeatedly claimed
they saw him near the complex on the
night of May 3, seemingly contradicting
his alibi.
But in
January it emerged that a local estate
agent, also in Praia that night, is a
remarkable lookalike of Murat. Perhaps
it was him they saw and not Murat — and
thus his alibi was sound.
Murat’s loyal band of friends insist he
is an entirely innocent man enduring a
long nightmare. Former work colleague
Veronica Fennell said: “He is a
perfectly normal, outgoing, friendly
guy.”
Another ex-workmate, Gareth Bailey, said
he would trust Murat with his own
daughter. He added: “He’s one of those
overly helpful people who like to get
involved.
“It
sounds exactly what he’s done with the
police and reporters. It is the way he
is. I can see how it could be
misconstrued.”
Murat’s lawyer Francisco Paragete
defended him to the hilt, even by making
a vitriolic attack on the McCanns.
He
said: “If the police never clear this
matter up, Robert Murat will always be
pointed at in the street as the No1
suspect. It has been a nightmare for him
and a long one.”
Of the
McCanns, he said: “They deserve to be
cursed for leaving three children
unprotected. I only lament that there
are people funding a couple who
abandoned three children and who swan
around with bulging bank balances.
