Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:41 pm Post subject: Madeleine McCann's Disapperance
Madeleine McCann: Look Into Robert Murat’s Eyes
murat.jpgAGAIN the Express has Madeleine McCann where Princess Diana once resided in perpetuity: on its front page.
“MADELEINE,” says the headline, “witness tells chief suspect: You are lying.”
The Express has news of the face-to-face meeting between Robert Murat and three of the McCanns friends. One of the women launches a “tirade”. It is claimed she points the finger at Murat and screams: “I know you were there. I would recognise you anywhere.”
They recognise Murat because, as the Express says, he has a lazy right eye. Look into my eyes. He has a detached retina.
The Express says this could “Shatter” Murat’s alibi. It could. Or couldn’t. Murat remains a free man, albeit under suspicion.
Murat’s “spokesman” Tuck Price, says: “Robert found it traumatic. He could not understand how these people could sit there and accuse him of lying. It all seems to revolve around them recognising his dodgy right eye.” Adding: “It was dark, how could they have seen it. Besides that, he was not there anyway.”
Mr Price is billed as a “friend” to Murat in the Mirror. Why not in the Express? An oversight by the paper or a slight shift designed to show Murat as friendless. Who would stand by him but a spokesman?
But Dr Russell O’Brian is adamant. He says he saw Murat at 1am. A Dr Fiona Payne is alleged to have told police: “He seemed to be peeking into the apartment.” Dr O’Brien’s partner, Jade Tanner, tells of a man rushing away from the resort carrying a small child in blanket.” All three are friends of the McCanns.
“You’re a liar. I saw you peek in apartment,” says the Mirror’s headline.
But we don’t know if he did. Murat says he is innocent. A friend of the McCanns says Murat was in the area on the night Madeleine McCann went missing. And that is it.
More is need to secure a conviction. But we know no more.
Robert Murat came back to Portugal, days before Madeleine was kidnapped, and he was accompanied by another man. Murat spend around 10 days in UK and was in Exeter, where his sister Samantha lives, for some time. Local witnesses, in UK, confirmed that Robert Murat was seen with another man in his 40’s, 1.70/1.75 meters tall, short hair and tanned skin. Those witnesses couldn’t give more details of his face because the man was using a hat. They left Faro airport and Murat went to Praia da Luz, while the other man stayed near Lagos city. Questioned about this detail, Portuguese CID refused to comment.
Exeter is the place were Russel O’Brien and Jane Tanner, McCann friends that were with them at Ocean Resort, live. A possible connection between the couple and Robert Murat was referred by the Press, but both Murat the McCann’s spokesman denied they ever met. Russel O’Brien and Jane Tanner moved to Exeter four weeks before they came to Portugal, on vacations, with the McCann couple. Jane Tanner was the witness that told Police she saw a man carrying a child, near the apartment 5A, at Ocean Resort, around 9.30pm, the night Madeline disappeared. The description she gave was later made public by Portuguese CID, on May 25: a white male, approximately 35 to 40 years old, of medium build, and 1,70/1.75 meters tall, wearing a dark jacket, and had light beige trousers and dark shoes.
We showed several photos, taken during the first days of the searches for Madeleine to the British witnesses that confirmed Murat was accompanied by other man, in his return to Portugal, but the man wasn’t among those pictured. One of those witnesses noticed that a person who was on the pictures, talking with Robert Murat and following a canine unit of GNR (Portuguese Rural Police) was also in several web pages, but near Gerry McCann, Madeleine and the twins. The picture (1) was taken before Madeleine was kidnapped, and is clear that the place is inside the Ocean Resort. The man in question, with shaved hair, sunglasses and strongly build, appears in several photos, published in British and Spanish newspapers, among Police officers and close to Robert Murat. Our question to Portuguese CID about this man received the same answer: no comments, details of the investigation are covered by Secrecy Law.
Why Portugal is a haven for paedophiles - the disturbing backcloth to the Madeleine case
By ANDREW MALONE and VANESSA ALLEN - More by this author » Last updated at 11:06am on 20th October 2007
A ferrari engine makes a deep, distinctive sound.
When the children at Portugal's most famous orphanage heard the sports car roaring down the driveway, fear swept through the dormitories.
The noise could mean only one thing: the man known as The Doctor was coming to call.
Yet this medical practitioner had no intention of adhering to the ancient Hippocratic Oath.
Instead, arriving at Casa Pia (House of the Pious), a 17th century Lisbon orphanage where more than 4,000 children are cared for each year behind high stone walls, the doctor would summon selected boys and girls from their beds for examinations one night each week.
Where possible, he chose deaf-mutes.
After checking that the children were not suffering from any sexual infections, the doctor was joined by the orphanage caretaker, known as Bibi, who ushered the unfortunate children outside to a waiting van.
With the doctor following in his red Ferrari, Bibi drove the van to the prestigious homes of some of the leading members of Lisbon society - ranging from Portuguese government ministers and high-ranking diplomats, to famous television stars and members of the judiciary.
There, the children were repeatedly sexually abused. Some were allegedly drugged to make them compliant; others were plied with alcohol.
This continued for years. Assaults were filmed; pictures of one attack were subsequently found at the home of a suspected paedophile in Paris.
According to medical records, the victims' injuries were horrific - and consistent with serious sexual assault and rape. In witness statements, many were able to describe in minute detail the homes where they were taken and identifying marks on the bodies of their abusers.
The existence of this so-called "magic circle" of the Portuguese establishment, allegedly involved in an international paedophile ring using boys and girls from Casa Pia, was last week likened to an earthquake waiting to shake Portugal to its foundations.
New allegations about the scale of the network will be put before the country's highest court within the next few weeks.
Amid rumours of links to other paedophile gangs across Europe and the U.S., international experts on child sex crimes and murders are expected to be in court when the case re-opens, four years after a group of victims broke a silence lasting more than 30 years.
But what relevance does this have to the disappearance 170 days ago of four-year-old Madeleine McCann in Praia da Luz, about 280km from Lisbon?
And what does it mean for Kate and Gerry McCann, who have not only had to cope with losing their child, but have also been subjects of a vicious campaign in the Portuguese press to smear them?
It is crucial for two reasons; first because it proves what international crime agencies have long suspected: that Portugal has become a magnet for predatory paedophiles from around the world, using the country's lax laws and preying on the high numbers of poor, abandoned children.
And second, because Paulo Rebelo, an urbane, methodical detective who led the Casa Pia paedophile inquiry, was last night finishing his first week as the new chief of the investigation into the disappearance of the British child.
Rebelo has replaced Goncalo Amaral, the "oafish" local police chief out of his depth in a case that has captured unprecedented world attention, with millions fascinated by the story of the girl snatched from her bed on holiday while her parents ate with friends 200 yards away.
The sight of the sweaty, corpulent Amaral in restaurants and cafes near the Portimao police headquarters had become commonplace since Madeleine disappeared.
While the McCanns were warned repeatedly they faced jail for speaking about the case, he was been overheard, during his daily three-hour lunches of wine and shellfish, accusing the couple of killing their daughter.
In one conversation with Portugal's ex-Formula One racing driver Pedro Lamy, Amaral revealed he was convinced the McCanns drugged their daughter and accidentally killed her. "The police case is we are sure the parents killed Madeleine. They are both doctors and know about drugs.
"We are confident in our case," he said.
In an effort to make up for lost time following Amaral's dismissal, Rebelo has recruited his own men from Lisbon. To the fury of the original officers, he has lost little time in sidelining them, bringing in two child sex experts from the Casa Pia case as well as homicide specialists and computer analysts - known as "the cleaners" due to their reputation for leaving no stone unturned.
According to senior police sources, he also launched a furious private attack on the 100 officers involved in the original inquiry, which he has now cut back to 40.
At a meeting, he accused some officers of having "closed minds" about who was guilty, saying that "pre-conceptions should be challenged".
In addition, he oversaw Operation Predator - raids on more than 70 suspected paedophiles, whose computers were searched last week for images of Madeleine or other evidence of criminal sexual acts. Although by last night Rebelo had failed to make a breakthrough, sources say it is a clear sign, along with reports that Russian child traffickers may be involved, of a strand of his current thinking.
In a Lisbon café, an associate of Rebelo told the Mail: "The Casa Pia case had a deep affect on Paulo. You come across things that are appalling and cruel. But you get a feeling that there are some seriously bad people in the world, and some of them are here. He does not rule anything out."
So, after enduring months of soul-destroying leaks from the Portuguese police - from claims that they drugged Madeleine and then disposed of her body, to allegations that Gerry was not even her real father - the McCanns are no longer the sole focus of the Portuguese police investigation.
But the nightmare goes on. A group of officers loyal to Amaral are still leaking smears to the Portuguese press.
The latest?
That bodily fluids from Madeleine's corpse were found in the boot of the couple's hire care and that "background checks" were to be carried out on Gerry McCann's laptop. And then the police "sources" claimed that Kate killed Madeleine without telling Gerry, and that the body was "refrigerated" before being dumped up to 25 days later.
His career in tatters and now back on desk duties in Faro, Amaral faces a criminal hearing in the case of another missing child, Joana Cipriano, after being accused of concealing evidence that the girl's mother was tortured into confessing to her murder.
Amaral and his colleagues face countless unanswered questions about mistakes in the original police investigation into Maddie's disappearance, such as failing to ensure the McCanns' apartment was sealed off for forensics. (This did not happen until the next day, by which time the McCanns, their friends, resort staff and detectives had traipsed through, destroying potentially vital evidence.)
They also failed to seal off the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort. No roadblocks were set up and police on the Spanish border - two hours' drive away - were not alerted for 12 hours. Staff were only quizzed 60 hours later. And the CCTV footage from a busy main road was never studied. The list of mistakes goes on.
While the shift in the investigation may ease the intolerable pressure on the McCanns, it will do little to console them.
As well as growing fears that Madeleine was abducted by a paedophile ring, they can have little hope of justice when leading Portuguese figures are allegedly involved in covering-up their own child sex scandal.
Both cases - the two highestprofile criminal investigations in the country since the end of the Portuguese military dictatorship in 1974 - have been riven by allegations of compromised police officers, high-level interference and vicious, virulent attacks on key witnesses.
Pedro Namora, a former Casa Pia orphan who witnessed 11 rapes on fellow orphans, during which they were tied to their beds, sympathises with the McCanns. He believes elements in the force have conspired to suppress both scandals, fearing damage to the country's reputation.
"Portugal is a paedophiles' paradise," said Mr Namora, now a lawyer campaigning on behalf of the Casa Pia victims. "If all the names come out, this will be an earthquake in Portugal. There is a massive, sophisticated network at play here - stretching from the government to the judiciary and the police.
"The network is enormous and extremely powerful. There are magistrates, ambassadors, police, politicians - all have procured children from Casa Pia. It is extremely difficult to break this down. These people cover for each other, because if one is arrested, they all are arrested. They don't want anyone to know."
Now 44, Mr Namora watched as friends sank into alcoholism, drug addiction and death after their traumatic childhood experiences at Casa Pia. "I was the only one who made it," he said. "What could I do? I couldn't keep silent."
He has received death threats and warnings about what will happen to his own children, after taking up the case when an orphan called "Joel" approached him, saying prominent paedophiles were using Casa Pia as a "supermarket for children".
Mr Namora has been threatened after fighting on behalf of the abused children he grew up with.
After being telephoned by a stranger offering to pay off his mortgage, he was told the exact movements of his own three children, and warned that they and their father would come to a grisly end unless he shut up.
An open, warm man, Mr Namora makes an unlikely conspiracytheorist-But he believes the case, which he brought to light in 2003, will underscore Portugal's growing attraction for paedophiles, which has seen six children disappear in recent years.
One reason for this attraction is that the law was quietly relaxed last year, ahead of the forthcoming trial, meaning that repeat offences against the same child would merit only a single charge - and a lesser sentence.
In echoes of the McCanns' ordeal, the initial investigation was badly handled when allegations of abuse were first made at Casa Pia in 1982. Carlos Silvino, the man known as Bibi, was linked to rapes and assaults, but police "lost" pictures showing prominent Lisbon politicians with him and the children.
He was only charged after dozens of children came forward in 2003. They also accused Jorge Ritto, a former Portuguese ambassador, of child abuse. Ritto, it transpired, had also once been sent home in disgrace from a posting in Germany after an incident involving a young boy in a park.
The conspiracy did not end there. Teresa Costa Macedo, a former secretary of state for the family, has revealed that she knew about the attacks in the early Eighties - and that she had alerted General Antonio Ramalho Eanes, the then Portuguese president, about the allegations.
Mrs Costa Macedo, who remained silent for two decades after being warned she would be killed if she spoke, now says that the caretaker "was just one element in a huge paedophile network that involved important people in our country. It wasn't just him [the caretaker]. He was a procurer of children for well-known people who range from diplomats and politicians to people linked to the media".
While still a government minister, Costa Macedo handed police "photographs, an account of the methods used to spirit children out of the orphanage and testimonies of a number of children". Many of the photographs were found at ex-ambassador Jorge Ritto's house. Police reportedly found four children locked up who had been missing from Casa Pia.
Under armed guard at a safe house last week, Bibi could count himself a lucky man. He originally faced allegations that he had sexually assaulted more than 600 children. That has since been reduced to 30. Silvino has hinted at the high-level of the conspiracy, saying: "They can't touch me - there are too many people involved."
Following Ritto's arrest, the police questioned Carloz Cruz, known as Portugal's "Mr Television", and Joao Diniz, a high- society doctor and driver of the red Ferrari. The network allegedly went further. Paulo Pedroso, a government minister, was arrested and quizzed about 15 cases of child sexual abuse.
Amid allegations that paedophile networks have become endemic in Portugal - the European police force Interpol has named the country as one of the worst offenders in Europe - there are fears that the Casa Pia scandal will come to eclipse Belgium's notorious Marc Dutroux case, in which the arrest of a notorious paedophile and child murderer revealed a sordid picture of judicial and political corruption.
Of course, the Casa Pia case may have no direct link to the disappearance of Madeleine, but the culture in which such a serious child abuse network was allowed to operate is the same culture that pervades the whole of Portugal. Was it this attitude that led to the bungled initial investigation in the McCann case?
Perhaps the appointment of the man who exposed the Casa Pia scandal will give the parents of Maddie hope that a proper investigation will now discover the truth.
From VERONICA LORRAINE
and NEIL SYSON
in Praia da Luz
Published: 03 Dec 2007
A NANNY at the holiday complex where Madeleine McCann vanished claims she saw suspect Robert Murat there on the fateful night, it emerged yesterday.
Charlotte Pennington, 20, is one of three witnesses who could blow apart the oddball’s alibi that he was home with his mum.
They have told private detectives hired by Maddie’s parents they saw a man just like Murat walking on the road outside the McCann apartment on the night she disappeared.
Charlotte — a childminder at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, Portugal — challenged expat Murat, 34, the next day. He denied being near the scene. Charlotte said he clammed up when she tried to grill him further.
Days later she and five fellow nannies saw Murat again in a supermarket. He was talking to a mystery man who bore an uncanny likeness to a sketch of a suspect cops were seeking.
Charlotte is said to have told private investigators from Spain’s Metodo 3 agency the man was “between 27 and 35, with medium build, very dark eyes and a Portuguese or Spanish look”.
The other two witnesses, both tourists, gave detailed, independent statements. A Portuguese newspaper said: “The mystery man was seen by the babysitters in Faro airport on May 13 when they returned to England. As soon as she arrived in the UK, Charlotte reported it to cops, who passed the information to the Policia judiciaria.”
Murat has always maintained that when Maddie, four, disappeared on May 3, he was at home with his mother Jenny, 71.
Charlotte said she saw him near the McCanns’ holiday flat at around midnight. Yesterday it was claimed police used Murat as a translator — giving him access to the crime scene — as he was a long-time informant.
Towel
The hunt for Maddie — whose 39-year-old parents Kate and Gerry have also been named suspects by Portuguese detectives — has centred on a disused barn near Praia da Luz where a blood-specked towel was found.
From CLODAGH HARTLEY and
VERONICA LORRAINE in Praia da Luzand KATHRYN LISTER in Rothley, Leics
Published: 08 Nov 2007
THE “Tapas Seven” who dined with the parents of Madeleine McCann on the night she vanished have denied claims they wanted to CHANGE their statements.
Lawyers acting for two of them were said to have contacted Portuguese cops to say their clients wanted to “correct” their original stories.
Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo said they had asked for their names to be kept secret for fear of “pressure” from McCann supporters.
The report came after it emerged that four of the friends believe they may be named as suspects.
But the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell insisted the claim was “simply untrue”.
He said the couple’s friends had said they were happy to be reinterviewed by police if it resolved any apparent inconsistencies and hastened the McCanns being cleared.
Mr Mitchell said: “I can deny any approach has been made by their lawyers asking to amend the witness statements.
The friends believe if reinterviews take place it can only lead to Gerry and Kate being eliminated from the inquiry swiftly.”
One of the friends, Jane Tanner, dismissed the claims as “rubbish”.
Detectives are probing a report that Gerry McCann sent 14 text messages during the May 3 dinner.
It is unclear who he was texting so often – or why.
A Portuguese TV documentary claimed: “Police forces in England and Portugal will definitely know who Gerry sent so many messages to.”
The seven holidaying with the McCanns’ in Praia da Luz were Jane, 37, partner Dr Russell O’Brien, 36, Dr Matthew Oldfield, 37, wife Rachael, 36, David Payne, 41, wife Fiona, 34, and her mother Dianne Webster, 61.
Portuguese laws have prevented Gerry, wife Kate and the remaining Tapas Seven from speaking publicly on facts surrounding the case.
But several contradictions have emerged since Maddie went missing.
One is that Jane claimed she saw Maddie’s kidnapper carrying her away from the apartment in a blanket.
But a British TV producer Jeremy Wilkins – a holidaymaker who was on the scene – claims to have seen neither him nor Ms Tanner.
Meanwhile, the other suspect Robert Murat, 33, has contacted Portuguese police asking to be reinterviewed – a week before he could have his status as arguido lifted.
His lawyer Francisco Pagarete said: “He is very frustrated because he is still an arguido more than six months after the child’s disappearance and they have still made no concrete accusation against him.”
Suspects can apply to have their status lifted after six months, but it can be extended for up to a year.
PORTUGUESE police believe they have found the DNA of Madeleine McCann's kidnapper.
It was discovered in the bedroom the four-year-old was snatched from.
The DNA does not belong to a member of her family or chief suspect Robert Murat.
But the investigation is hampered because Portugal does not have a DNA database.
It means police there cannot check for matches with any known sex offenders.
In addition, the DNA of British holidaymakers who stayed in the same apartment before Madeleine's abduction has still not been checked.
British police will run the new sample through their own DNA database, the biggest in the world.
The potential breakthrough by scientists in Lisbon is the first evidence police have uncovered since Madeleine was snatched in Praia da Luz more than a month ago.
A lab source said: "There is a new suspect. It's an important step but the truth is we do not know who the DNA belongs to."
Meanwhile, Portuguese MPs yesterday proposed launching a national DNA database. Anyone jailed for three years or more would have to give a sample.
missing tot Madeleine McCann’s parents are close to being cleared, after DNA evidence against them emerged to be inconclusive.
Kate and Gerry McCann, who have been accused of killing their daughter, have admitted that their four year-old daughter’s DNA was found in a car they hired 25 days after she went missing in May this year during a holiday in Portugal.
However, it looks like Madeleine’s DNA was transferred into the car when the McCanns hastily left their apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
They were moving into a nearby apartment and did not want to reveal the location.
Some items were packed in suitcases and others were put in plastic bags or scattered across the back of the car.
The McCanns took out the back seat of the car to accommodate everything inside.
Apparently, another source of DNA could have come from dirty nappies of two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie. The DNA closely matches Madeleine’s.
This seems to explain why bodily fluids, suspected to be urine and excrement, were found in the spare tyre well in the boot.
With no fresh leads, the Portuguese police are under pressure to clear the couple.
“The tests which have taken place so far have proved inconclusive,’ the Daily Express quoted an insider, as saying.
“Retesting will continue for some time but all the indications are that there will not be anything significant to come out of it,” the source said.
Another source close to the couple said that the investigations have only added to the McCanns’ agony.
“Of course they have no DNA evidence against them. How could they? They’re not guilty,” a source said.
“The case has been full of holes from the start, yet Madeleine’s heartbroken parents have been forced to endure the agony of being accused of killing her.
“It is a disgrace and it is now time to drop the whole ludicrous thing and get on with what they should have been doing from day one – and that is searching for Madeleine. Kate and Gerry, both 39, are also terrified that they will not be able to rebuild their lives while the suspicion hangs over them,” the source said.
A source close to them said the couple fears that Madeleine will never be found, and that it is high time that the investigators focus ion the missing girl.
“Gerry and Kate’s biggest fear is that Madeleine will never be found and the case will go unsolved. They could go on for ever without knowing what happened to their daughter and that’s unbearable,” another source said
“If Madeleine isn’t found, the McCanns also fear they will have to live under a cloud of suspicion for years. They are desperately hoping Madeleine is alive and that hope still drives them.
“They want the police to refocus their concentration on finding Madeleine and will do whatever it takes,” the source added. (ANI)
Bloody footprint found in Madeleine McCann's parents’ apartment
London, Oct 14 : A bloody footprint was found in the holiday apartment of missing Madeleine McCann's parents, matching a print found in their hire car, according to a forensic report in British newspaper The Mail.
The new evidence, never been revealed until now, is fundamental to renewed suspicion that Kate and Gerry McCann were involved in their daughter's disappearance.
A forensic report shown to the newspaper has revealed that there is a chance the blood could be that of the missing four-year-old who vanished from her family's apartment in Portugal on May 3. However, the results are inconclusive.
Parts of the report said police officers investigating the McCann's apartment in Praia da Luz saw a "partial footprint mark", in the shape of a size 5 or 6 shoe, just outside the bedroom.
The report said that it appeared to have a blood imprint that is visible to the naked eye.
Analysis has revealed that the footprint in the villa matches one found above the bumper bar of the McCann's rented car, a print which Portuguese police suppose is consistent with someone lifting something in and out of a boot.
However, a source close to the investigation has played down the suggestions.
"There could be 101 reasons why someone would put their foot on the car in this way," the Daily Mail quoted the source, as saying.
Experts were also unable to find any traces of blood in bumper bar print.
"In short, it cannot be said the blood belongs to Madeleine. If other strong evidence accompanied it — for example, that someone was seen emerging from the apartment with a hammer — then a lawyer might find it of some use. But on its own it is of little value,” the source said.
Meanwhile, investigators are looking into an allegation made by a nanny who says she saw a man dropped a "bundle" into the Atlantic Ocean in Praia da Luz around 11:30pm on the night Maddie went missing.
Police have said the claim is "credible", but are still treating it with caution.
Pennington said the man's jacket had a yellow reflective hood, and for her to have seen him in the dark, the boat would have had to be close to shore.
Police believe the bright jacket hardly indicates a man who wanted to remain undetected. (ANI)
Tuesday December 4,2007
By David Pilditch in Praia da Luz
Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(22)
SEVENTEEN human cells could provide a major breakthrough in the Madeleine McCann mystery, it was revealed yesterday.
The DNA samples are being examined by scientists in Britain and Portuguese detectives believe the evidence could unlock an investigation which is now in its eighth month.
Experts are trying to establish whether the cells match Madeleine’s DNA and so help investigators discover what happened to the youngster.
The samples are being analysed by the Forensic Science Service laboratory in Birmingham which has developed sophisticated techniques not available in Portugal.
The development comes only days after it was revealed that months of painstaking analysis on DNA uncovered in Portugal had so far failed to produce conclusive evidence.
But in a rare public pronouncement on the case, Guilhermino Encarnacao, head of the Policia Judiciaria in the Algarve, said: “We have asked the laboratory to carry out more tests and exhaust every possibility of obtaining conclusive results.”
Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, face being interrogated for a second time by police in Britain within the next few days. It is expected British detectives will first question the couple’s friends, members of the Tapas Nine who were on holiday with the McCanns in Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished on May 3.
They want to quiz the group on alleged inconsistencies in their statements over the events that took place the night Madeleine went missing.
Portuguese prosecutor Jose Cunha de Magalhaes e Menezes will this week send a letter to the Home Office requesting official permission for the interviews to take place.
Police in Portugal are still working on the theory that Madeleine died in an accident at the family’s Ocean Club holiday complex. They believe GP Kate and heart consultant Gerry, both 39, covered up the crime and later disposed of their daughter’s body.
The couple from Rothley, in Leicestershire, deny being involved in Madeleine’s disappearance. They became official suspects in September following the initial analysis of forensic evidence by the scientists in Birmingham.
DNA samples were found at the family’s apartment and in a Renault Scenic hire car the McCanns rented 25 days after Madeleine went missing. Tests are now being carried out on a blood-stained towel found near a disused barn on the outskirts of Praia da Luz. It is believed the evidence was uncovered after police launched a new search of the area which was said to have been pinpointed by technicians who examined mobile phone data.
Although the investigation appeared to have stalled, experts last night insisted the samples which are currently being tested are enough to bring about a potential breakthrough.
Forensic scientist Dr Ronald Denny said sophisticated new techniques had helped re-open a series of high-profile cases in Britain.
Dr Denny, who acts as an expert witness in legal cases, said: “It’s not a hopeless task. If they have 17 cells they can carry it off very effectively in Birmingham which is one of the leading laboratories in the world. It is a minute sample, something which even 10 years ago could not have been worked upon. But improving DNA techniques mean detectives can re-open old cases.
“A cell is negligible – you can just about see it under a microscope. It’s a sample someone would leave behind with the touch of a finger.
“But when placed with certain biochemicals a small amount of DNA grows to a size that can be analysed.”
The technique has helped catch some of the world’s most notorious killers, including the Trophy Rapist, Antoni Imiela, who carried out attacks around the M25.
Forensic Science Service tests on hand ties used to bind Joanne Lees in the Australian Outback also gave police the DNA profile of killer Bradley Murdoch.
Hi Blackdaisies! You've put together a lot of good information/articles here . Hopefully someone will see/read it and be able to help solve this case somehow, or at least give some important tip of information to the authorities. Peace....IAM1
Thanks IAM1! I'm not going to post an article day on this one because most are redundant. I'm waiting for the interviews to be done this week, the possible interview in Portuguese, and then the results of the new DNA tests.
McCANNS WON'T BE IN CLEAR BY CHRISTMAS
EXCLUSIVE Tests blow for couple
By Jon Clements And Martin Fricker In Rothley. 06/12/2007
Kate and Gerry McCann will NOT be cleared by Christmas after Portuguese police asked British scientists to carry out new forensic tests.
Officers met Leicestershire Police and Forensic Science Service experts last week to insist more samples be analysed from the McCanns' holiday flat.
The apartment in Praia da Luz was contaminated because local officers failed to seal it after the McCanns' daughter Madeleine, four, went missing on May 3.
A source said: "They hope new tests will clarify what happened around the time she went missing."
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The tests will take at least three weeks and detectives will then decide on the McCanns' status as suspects. Officers may fly to Britain next week to quiz the couple.
There were separate claims yesterday that the scientists accused the police of ruining samples. But sources familiar with the meeting insisted it was "very amicable and relaxed". The insider said: "There was no row. It was a constructive discussion."
A lot of people do, but none of the DNA collected can be that of a dead Madeleine. Plus, there was so little of it, it could only be placed there by association of things that belong to her. They were almost microscopic without anything being removed with cleaning fluid, although they said it must have been cleaned up. You can't remove blood. It soaks into the paint and can't be covered over until it's sanded off. Even with multiple coats, it can't be removed, so none of their supposed evidence it true against them. I'm not sure how floors react to blood for how they are preserved with varnishes and all.
What the parents were involved in as how they associated their child to abduction/possible murder no one knows. But the Murat guy has even mistranslated while translating to the police for witnesses that say he was there. He lived not far from the other two friends of the McCanns and the towel they just now found was not far from his uncles house. At least 6 witnesses say he was there that night, but he still insists he wasn't.
I don't think they did it and now the dna of their new tests were so badly tainted by the Portuguese Police, it is said to be another waste of time and money. They were all told to get separate lawyers, so there must be a few of them who will be on charges. O'brian and his mate Tanner might be new suspects. O'brian disappeared and changed his pants, plus he brought all kinds of super cleaning type cleaners even though they don't clean their own rooms at this tourist area. I'm predicting her story about the abductor is fake to divert attention away from her lover O'brian who could have done it within the time frame. That's shaky because I don't know the time he changed his pants. Plus O'brian told Jerry McCann, the father, he was only a few miles from Jerry at the time of the phone call. This might have been proved wrong by the Portuguese Police, or it might be the phone batteries were just weak, but following this distance as a guess of where to search, they found the towel that was near Murat's uncle's house.
Time will tell and we will see. I have the new article saying they need different lawyers below.
MADELEINE: NOW MINISTERS MAY BLOCK NEW POLICE QUIZ
MISSING: Madeleine McCann
Thursday December 6,2007
By David Pilditch
MADELEINE McCann’s parents will know within 48 hours if the Government will let them face a new grilling over her disappearance.
The Portuguese prosecutor was last night set to request permission from the Home Office to re-interview Kate and Gerry and their holiday dinner friends – known as the Tapas Nine.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, 44, will then decide if further questioning can take place.
Detectives believe the secret of Madeleine’s fate lies with the group and are relying on the new interviews to crack the case.
But they have long been wary about British Government involvement in the investigation and fear further political interference.
They were suspicious when they discovered that Madeleine’s heart surgeon father Gerry, 39, who sits on a Government medical advisory committee, received personal telephone calls from Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
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And they were “unsettled’’ to find out that the PM had discussed the case with Portuguese political chiefs.
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And they were “unsettled’’ to find out that the PM had discussed the case with Portuguese political chiefs.
A source close to the investigation said last night: “Normally, interview requests like this would be granted in minutes.
But everyone is aware this is a very special case for many reasons. Police in Portugal have been aware of a political shadow hanging over it. They are aware Mr McCann had personal calls from Mr Brown very early in the investigation.
“He has gone on to become Prime Minister and they are now suspects. That is an uncomfortable scenario for detectives involved in the case.”
The source added: “They are not taking anything for granted. That is why they have been sweating over this letter and the questions contained in it. They have to be right – they have to be perfect.”
The prosecutor’s letter details key questions he wants British police to ask the McCanns and friends dining with them in the tapas bar when Madeleine disappeared on May 3.
It also includes instructions on what evidence to introduce at the interrogations and details of the Portuguese laws that the couple are alleged to have breached.
Detectives remain baffled by “inconsistencies’’ in their witness statements. They want to interview them as soon as next week.
Last night it was revealed the McCanns and their friends were advised to use separate lawyers for the interviews. At least four of their friends could also be named suspects.
Order Madeleine book
To order your copy of Madeleine: A Most Heartbreaking And Extraordinary Disappearance (£12.99, UK postage free), send a cheque or postal order to Express Bookshop, PO Box 200, Falmouth, TR11 4WJ, call 0871 521 1301 with your credit card details, or order online at www.expressbookshop.co.uk.
. Hopefully someone will see/read it and be able to help solve this case somehow, or at least give some important tip of information to the authorities. Peace....IAM1