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Original Source: MAIL: 18 DECEMBER
2007 |
By
VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 02:32am on 18th December 2007 |
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No suspect will ever face trial in the Madeleine McCann investigation because
of mistakes made in the few hours after her disappearance, a forensics expert
have said.
Defence lawyers would demolish scientific evidence in the case because of the
wholesale contamination of forensics samples, the former head of the Portuguese
police laboratory claimed.
Jose Manuel Anes said the seven-month police inquiry amounted to a complete
waste of time and money.
"Huge amounts of money were spent but if, in the first hours, the due
precautions for the preservation of the crime scene were not taken, all this
hard work goes down the drain," he said.
"We can spend rivers of money which will all go down the drain if the
crime scene is not properly isolated."
Portuguese police failed to seal off the McCann family's holiday apartment in
Praia da Luz immediately after the parents reported
her abduction, meaning up to 50 people were free to
tramp through the flat, destroying potentially vital evidence.
Mr Anes's damning analysis of the investigation has
inspired "alarm" in Kate and Gerry McCann who still hope to learn
what happened to their daughter on the night of
May 3.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "It is alarming to hear that Mr
Anes has this view.
"All we want, and have done throughout, is to ensure the operational
police side of this has been done in an effective and efficient manner as
possible."
Microscopic traces of blood were missed for three months, until British sniffer
dogs detected them, and police failed to don protective forensics suits,
meaning their fingerprints and bootmarks contaminated
the crime scene.
In an interview for the book The McCanns' Guilt, written by a Portuguese
journalist, Mr Anes said state-of-the-art tests were rendered useless if they
were performed on contaminated samples.
The 62-year-old added: "As the technology for lab analysis becomes
increasingly sensitive, the need not to contaminate the crime scene also
increases.
"Any evidence left behind by an investigator, whatever it may be, can
irreparably contaminate a sample gathered at the crime scene."
Mr Anes said detectives were too influenced by the McCanns' insistence their
daughter was abducted.
He also said Portuguese forces should learn lessons from the British police,
who train all officers to seal off crime scenes.
"I am utterly convinced that - unless some new, concrete evidence suddenly
emerges - I fear the case will never reach trial," he added. |
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