Madeleine police 'right to focus on McCanns'
By Richard Edwards and Aislinn Simpson in Portimao
Last Updated: 7:48pm BST 08/10/2007
Portuguese police were justified in scrutinising Kate and Gerry McCann in the investigation into their daughter's disappearance, British police sources have claimed.
A senior source close to the investigation said that the results of further DNA tests had filled in "more pieces of the jigsaw" in the case of missing Madeleine.
Madeleine McCann: British police sources say Portuguese police are justified in focusing on the McCanns
Madeleine disappeared on May 3
Tests are currently being carried out at the Forensic Science laboratory in Birmingham on dozens of samples of hairs and fibres collected by British police in early August, after Portuguese authorities had appealed for help.
It is believed that new results suggest that a DNA match from a sample found in the couple's hire car was not transferred via her clothes or toys.
Sources said the investigation is focusing "where it should be", but admitted that none of the forensic material uncovered so far provides definitive proof that the four-year-old is dead.
A British source close to the investigation said: "Everything that has emerged indicates that the investigation is focusing where it should.
"This is a very complex case and forensics are rarely conclusive on their own, but the new material adds to the existing picture that has been built up by police and fills in a few more pieces of the jigsaw."
The turning point in the investigation came in mid-July after Portuguese police admitted the case had stalled and appealed for help for the first time from the UK.
advertisement
The National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) provided a checklist of what should be done - including refocusing the inquiry on the McCanns and taking new forensics at their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.
A police source said: "There is a mantra British detectives use in big investigations: clear the ground from under your feet.
"In this case it meant look at the apartment and the closest circle to Madeleine - her family.
"They should have been the first people to be looked at properly, and police had failed to do so.
"This case has been done back to front, but it is right that the parents should be scrutinised properly."
Mr and Mrs McCann have continued to proclaim their innocence and it has now emerged that lawyers acting for them travelled to Portugal last week in an effort to have their "arguido" status removed.
Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for the couple, said: "Kate and Gerry have nothing to hide. Any evidence that is found here, or in Portugal, can be wholly and innocently explained."
Meanwhile, in the latest blow to the police investigation, it was revealed that the Portuguese detective who questioned Mrs McCann is being prosecuted for allegedly torturing an innocent robbery suspect.
Tavares Almeida was the deputy head of the inquiry but recently asked to be taken off the case on unpaid leave.
It has emerged that he is facing trial for allegedly inflicting a severe beating on innocent man along with two other police officers.
The Portuguese daily newspaper Jornal de Noticias reported that 48-year-old Almeida will face trial over allegations that seven years ago he beat up a railway worker suspected of being part of a notorious gang who sexually assaulted children in a park and coerced them into mugging people.
The suspect, who suffered four broken ribs and bruising to his throat, stomach and back, was later acquitted of all charges at trial.
The Policia Judiciaria refused to comment on the allegations, as did the McCann family's spokesman
Last week the chief co-ordinator of the inquiry, Goncalo Amaral, was removed from the case after he said British police were being manipulated by Madeleine's parents.
5 comments:
With each day comes another twist or tale in this horror story.
Speculation has driven a large devide between the yes and No's.
It is clear the McCanns will do everything and anything to proclaim their innocence and also that the people like you will publish anything that make the McCanns look like murderers.
But, I agree with you and I am to be convinced otherwise. The McCanns, advisers, family and selected parts of the media have been able to get so much coverage that No one else ever has before.
The facts are clear. There was clear neglect, obstruction and fraud.
If the British police are sure that matters are being directed correctly and the outcome of new evidence from the labs in Birmingham would suggest that there is more truth in the suggestions being made, I for one believe that the McCanns should be prevented from using the media as they do.
More than one crime has been committed and I suspect the police are waiting for the big one before charges are made.
As for the police in portugal, it is right that anyone that is not acting in the professional manner expected should be removed from the case or the force.
I do not however believe that it will change anything with regards to the case.
The McCanns will always be remembered for thier own behaviour and not for the missing child. That is not because of us, It is because of them and the media machine they created.
There is a thought that the McCannns will walk free as powers far greater than we can imagine will ensure that pressure is put on those who hold all the keys to this case.
A south African man who wears a saucepan on his head and wears magnetic shoes ( I guess!) seems bizzare! But that is a serious idea again leaked by the McCannns.
It would appear that they are trying to test the view of the public as well as put spanners into the works.
The McCanns think they are above the average person in this country or at least that is the impression I get. They are proclaimed loving parents by the liberal section of our society who would never hear a bad word against them.
That view will never be changed so we must forget it. The effort is to locate or descover the cause of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. A suspect should not have the right to determine the outcome of any investigation, neither should a suspect be able to judge the opinion of those who question the situation. The police will get more evidence and if that indicates there is no cause to charge the McCanns, I would believe that. I would however, never support the fund or forget that the decision to leave three children alone on May 3 2007 was anything but criminal.
My only comment to this whole story is...
Would you name a fund to find a living person "Leaving no stone unturned"?
Living people are not looked for under stones...
Only someone who knows the one who's being searched for is dead would use such phrasing...
Just my thought on the subject...
Anonymous 10.30pm Well spotted. I am continually surprised and perplexed by what those two have been saying. I don't know whether or not they are sending out coded messages as LogicMan et al have been reporting. Is this a hoax after all? Another interesting thread has been Speech Reversal, where the soul, never wanting to lie, constantly speaks out. Of course, any one who has studied a modicum of Counselling knows the 'McCann-speak', and knows what they are really saying.
It must be very frustrating to know someone is guilty, and not be able to do anything about it.
anonymous 10.30pm I agree. It is very strange the way the media operation is run.
The comments that are made, do appear to suggest the knowledge that the where abouts of Madeleine is known.
I think the police are also of the same mind and that would explain why the investigation is running the way it is.
I also suspect the police are trying to smoke out the rats(pardon the pun!)
The way this sad case is going it wouldn't suprise me that a scam is being attempted by the McCanns.
It is clear that there is DNA that indicates the McCanns are upto something.
The McCanns seem so removed from normal life that the smell of dead rats is getting that little more obvious.
They are now according to reports thinking of taking libel action against any parts of the press that suggest the McCanns sedated the children.
This clearly shows the lengths and depths they are prepared to go in not finding and answer to this case.
The new co-ordinator Paulo Rebelo has now seized computors that may contain pictures of child pornography. The McCanns were delighted by this action. I would be hanging from a tree! To be so calm and calculated is nothing other than sick.
Spot light on slides 2, 3 and 4!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqFniuySodY
Gerry McCann´s log entry quoted below and repeated on the video!
"Sometimes People do things for reasons that even they cannot understand.
An act of Madness, an accident or sudden impulse can lead to consequences that people may never have imagined or intended.
Faced with such a situation we believe any human soul will ultimately suffer torment and feelings of guilt and fear."
How much of a confesion is that?
Post a Comment