Control Risk Group employed by McCanns

McCanns could face charges over security firm The Times

David Brown of The Times in Praia da Luz
September 25, 2007

Kate and Gerry McCann could face criminal charges for using a private security company to investigate the disappearance of their daughter, a senior Portuguese judge has said.

The couple have been secretly receiving advice for more than four months from Control Risks Group, which employs former members of the British intelligence services and special forces.

News of the investigators' role has led to deep concern amongst the authorities in Portugal, where it is illegal for private detectives to become involved in criminal cases.

A source close to the McCann's legal team has confirmed the involvement of Control Risks Group but insisted it is simply providing advice on the hunt for Madeleine rather than becoming actively involved in searches in Portugal.

He said: "You can assume that they are doing some things that the Portuguese police can't do. Nothing illegal is being done in Portugal."

Antonio Martins, president of the Association of Portuguese Judges, told the 24 Horas newspaper: "It is still up to the state to carry out criminal investigation. That kind of activity has no legal standing. Anything that results from private investigation has no substance."

The judge said that Mr and Mrs McCann, both 39, from Rothley, Leicestershire, could be charged with "obstruction of justice" if prosecutors find evidence of a parallel investigation. The couple are already official suspects in the disappearance of their daughter from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz 145 days ago.

A high-ranking officer in the Polícia Judiciária, which is investigating the disappearance of Madeleine shortly before her fourth birthday, said that the investigators could be arrested if they are found operating in Portugal. "If they come here they will be running a serious risk of being arrested," he said.

Carlos Anjos, President of the Judicial Police Inspector's Union, accused to Mr and Mrs McCann of using "diversion tactics". Mr McCann had previously said that they had decided not to use private detectives.

"This is just another McCann strategy who today say one thing and tomorrow something completely contrary," said Mr Anjos "This can only be another diversion tactic from the McCanns."

Meanwhile, the only other official suspect in the case yesterday denied a report that he was seen outside the Ocean Club resort on the night Mrs McCann claimed that Madeleine had been abducted from her bed.

Robert Murat, 33, has insisted he was at home with his mother at their villa 100 yards from the resort where Madeleine was staying. Mr Murat later worked as an official translator for the police investigating Madeleine's disappearance.

Charlotte Pennington, who worked as a nanny in the Ocean Club resort, said: "He was outside the lobby just before we started on our big search.

"He was adamant that he wasn't there. But he was. He was there in the road, he was just looking. It was about 10.30. He was just watching. I didn't know his name then. But the next day he was our interpreter and I met him then. He didn't take part in the searches, but he was there."

Miss Pennington, 20, from Leatherhead, Surrey, said she was one of the first people to go into the McCann's two-bedroom apartment and was interviewed by Portuguese detectives for more than four hours.

Mr Murat insisted today: "I certainly was not there that night. She [Miss Pennington] never saw me. At no point that night was I there outside that apartment. I can confirm that I did translate for her but I did not say anything more."

Mr Murat said that he had not been accused of being seen at the resort by police until three friends who were staying in Praia da Luz with the McCanns returned to Portugal to give evidence against him at the police headquarters in Portimao.

Portuguese police brought together Mr Murat, from Hockering, Norfolk, and Rachael Oldfield, 36, Dr Russell O'Brien, 36, and Dr Fiona Payne, 34, to compare their versions of events on July 12. The friends told Mr Murat that they saw him at the Ocean Club on May 3.

Mr Murat said: "It was the first I heard of it. I don't know why they don't look at the people who were outside the apartment that night. They must have a list."

A Portuguese newspaper claimed yesterday that British sniffer dogs had searched the British homes of the seven friends who were dining with the McCanns while their daughter was allegedly being abducted.

The unconfirmed report in Jornal de Notícias said that a "cadaver" dog had detected the scent of a corpse on clothing in one of the homes. It was claimed that Portuguese prosecutors are to write to the friends asking them to return for more questioning.

A spokeswoman for Leicestershire police, which is leading the British end of the investigation, said: "As the inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is a Portuguese police investigation it is not appropriate for us to comment on it.

"Our role is to assist the Portuguese authorities, when and if they request it, with UK based enquiries. But because it is a Portuguese investigation, and because of the judicial system there, we are not able to disclose the nature of those enquires."

A source, who has knowledge of the Leicestershire police inquiry, told the Evening Standard today that officers thought it unlikely that that the couple would be charged.

"It is very unlikely that British police would question the McCanns on behalf of Portuguese now. That would have to be done there," he said. "It looks like the case is moving away from the McCanns and officers here feel it is unlikely they will be charged. It is not clear how much longer Leicestershire police will be involved in the investigation

blog

I kept this thread separate from the Times because it is proving quite mysterious, this is more enlightening I came across by googling

This is from a blog which I found , but the name of the  blog hasn't . Appeared for some reason


This firm were involved just 9 days after Madeleine went missing, and,  according to Kate in her book, they just turned up during a meeting the McCanns were having with a paralegal and barrister from Leicester   (  in the form a fellow called Hugh, who was a former intelligence agent )

Kate says they were told that an anonymous, but apparently very wealthy, doner had set aside a considerable amount of money so that they could use a private detective agency if they wished

Hugh, had been brought in by Control Risks, Kate adds,   and within hours they were giving their statements again, this time to two detectives from Control Risks

Kate offers no explanation as to how this firm came to be there, or why they immediately became involved with them  

Does anyone know anything about it, or anything about the anonymous wealthy donor who, apparently saw fit to send Control Risks  to meet the McCanns without even speaking to them about it first ?

==========================================================

What about the mysterious 10th Tapas, or The Labour Government. ?

would the Donor receive a copy of the Final report?

If the Efit was the only thing they could come up with , there surely had to be information to go with it which the McCanns would have passed on to
Metodo 3.

This case is like being on a rollercoaster, all these twists and turns.

Which Report is the right one?The Times wrote this Article in September 2007 and said it was Control risk, the Times Report today says not.

This is from the Times Report, I think Oakley International was one of Halligen's Companies.


The team of investigators from the security firm Oakley International were hired by the McCanns’ Find Madeleine fund, which bankrolled private investigations into the girl’s disappearance. They were led by Henri Exton, MI5’s former undercover operations chief."

I just found this on Gerry's Blog:

Home » Gerry's Blogs Oakley International 26 August 2008 1,571 views No Comment In the light of articles in some UK Sunday newspapers this weekend, we feel it is appropriate to comment briefly on our relationship with the investigation company Oakley International. We appointed them several months ago to investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. We continue to work with them to this end. The working relationship is managed by Brian Kennedy, who also confirms the relationship with Oakley International continues to be good and that it remains entirely focused on the search for Madeleine. - See more at: http://madeleinemccann.org/2008/1669/oakley-international/#sthash.gVeY3TXu.dpuf"

My god Panda, you have a huge amount of work done  

mossman wrote:My god Panda, you have a huge amount of work done    

Do you know what mossman, I have a very short memory span regarding what happened recently, but can remember things that happened years ago and Oakley International stuck in my mind. It wasn't hard to find actually . I just googled "Oakley International." 

Now we are getting to the nitty gritty, Oakley International......One of Halligen,s Companies, "managed" by Brian Kennedy another case of money
laundering. Which Paper is going to research all this and dot the I's and cross the T's. Follow the money is the best way.

What does this 2007 article have to do with the Smithman sighting I wonder.

We have identified that Kennedy was involved in allowing them to hire top people which they claimed he was paying the lawyers and the FUND was paying the investigators- Kate says that twice in the book, I never believe much of what she says however.

Oakley are the ones that were "streets ahead" in their techniques and cost something like £500,000 in 3 phases.

Control Risk were the ones who I think offered or someone offered them - they do the kidnapped executives thing.

When Brian Kennedy's men went to Ireland to visit the Smiths and scare them out of talking further about seeing a guy who looked lik Gerry walking to the beach at ten PM, were those the Control Risk people? It must have been, it was early on, before Oakley was brought in. Metodo were the first ones hired, remember they were still working in December because they were gonna have MM home by Cmas 2007.

Oakley came in March 2008 and sacked Sept. 2008 after phase 2 and 3 produced feedback that caused acrimony between them and McCanns.

I don't know that Control Risk or Oakley were the ones going to visit Martin Smith or what if any role they played in helping to quash the investigation in that direction. Or why. I guess because it would distract from the search for the guy they firmly believed took Madeleine which was probably Stephen Carpenter on his way home with his own kid.

widowan wrote:What does this 2007 article have to do with the Smithman sighting I wonder.

We have identified that Kennedy was involved in allowing them to hire top people which they claimed he was paying the lawyers and the FUND was paying the investigators- Kate says that twice in the book, I never believe much of what she says however.

Oakley are the ones that were "streets ahead" in their techniques and cost something like £500,000 in 3 phases.

Control Risk were the ones who I think offered or someone offered them - they do the kidnapped executives thing.

When Brian Kennedy's men went to Ireland to visit the Smiths and scare them out of talking further about seeing a guy who looked lik Gerry walking to the beach at ten PM, were those the Control Risk people? It must have been, it was early on, before Oakley was brought in. Metodo were the first ones hired, remember they were still working in December because they were gonna have MM home by Cmas 2007.

Oakley came in March 2008 and sacked Sept. 2008 after phase 2 and 3 produced feedback that caused acrimony between them and McCanns.

I don't know that Control Risk or Oakley were the ones going to visit Martin Smith or what if any role they played in helping to quash the investigation in that direction. Or why. I guess because it would distract from the search for the guy they firmly believed took Madeleine which was probably Stephen Carpenter on his way home with his own kid.

Hi Widowan, I think Control Risk were employed by the Government ,9 days after Madeleine Disappeared and before the Fund was set up. Niether of these Companies went to visit Mr Smith , they were not involved with the McCanns then. Mr Smith was interviewed by Brian Kennedy and the Portugese Police asked the Irish Police (Guarda ) to take a statement from Mr Smith which they did , Mrs Smith did not wish to make a statement again. I have never believed that the Man Mr Smith saw was Gerry , it was only the way he carried Madeleine at the Airport that prompted him to remember that was the way the man who passed them in PDL carried his child te same way.

January 2008 is when Smith made his second statement to the Gardai in Ireland. In the cover note written by the Garda it refers to Smith saying he had a visit from Kennedy and investigators asking him to do an e-fit. He said he refused.

Now the million dollar question is did Smith chane his mind after that time and agree to do the e-fits or did someone do e-fits based on the descriptions given in the statements ?

mossman wrote:January 2008 is when Smith made his second statement to the Gardai in Ireland.  In the cover note written by the Garda it refers to Smith saying he had a visit from Kennedy and investigators asking him to do an e-fit.  He said he refused.

Now the million dollar question is did Smith chane his mind after that time and agree to do the e-fits or did someone do e-fits based on the descriptions given in the statements ?

There were at least four other people in the Smith group who saw the man. We can probably rule out Smith's wife, as she didn't seem to remember much. But Smith's daughter Aofie and son Peter gave descriptions of the man as well. It would have made more sense to get the e-fits from Aofie and Peter, rather than Martin since he was 60-80% sure that it was Gerry at the time of his last interview.

mossman wrote:January 2008 is when Smith made his second statement to the Gardai in Ireland.  In the cover note written by the Garda it refers to Smith saying he had a visit from Kennedy and investigators asking him to do an e-fit.  He said he refused.

Now the million dollar question is did Smith chane his mind after that time and agree to do the e-fits or did someone do e-fits based on the descriptions given in the statements ?

Isn't the Times Article suggesting it was Control Risk who prepared the Efit? They were the first , 9 days after Madeleine disappeared , the ones who Kate mentions in her book apparently. Knowinng Kate's version of events dates and people might have got muddled up.I think the EFit probably was from Control Risk, who gave it to Oakley who passed it on to Metodo 3 which is how it was found in one of thr Boxes SY picked up from their Office.

jinvta wrote:

mossman wrote:January 2008 is when Smith made his second statement to the Gardai in Ireland.  In the cover note written by the Garda it refers to Smith saying he had a visit from Kennedy and investigators asking him to do an e-fit.  He said he refused.

Now the million dollar question is did Smith chane his mind after that time and agree to do the e-fits or did someone do e-fits based on the descriptions given in the statements ?

There were at least four other people in the Smith group who saw the man. We can probably rule out Smith's wife, as she didn't seem to remember much. But Smith's daughter Aofie and son Peter gave descriptions of the man as well. It would have made more sense to get the e-fits from Aofie and Peter, rather than Martin since he was 60-80% sure that it was Gerry at the time of his last interview.

jinvta, the last I saw, think it was a Video , someone was asking Peter if he would be hypnotised ...I'm sure, ann_chovey, or kitti can find the evidence. 

mossman wrote:January 2008 is when Smith made his second statement to the Gardai in Ireland.  In the cover note written by the Garda it refers to Smith saying he had a visit from Kennedy and investigators asking him to do an e-fit.  He said he refused.

Now the million dollar question is did Smith chane his mind after that time and agree to do the e-fits or did someone do e-fits based on the descriptions given in the statements ?

Hi mossman, my Computer is playing up so I am signing off , the letters are now so tiny I can hardly read them, what do I have to do to enlarge the letters??

Panda wrote:

mossman wrote:January 2008 is when Smith made his second statement to the Gardai in Ireland.  In the cover note written by the Garda it refers to Smith saying he had a visit from Kennedy and investigators asking him to do an e-fit.  He said he refused.

Now the million dollar question is did Smith chane his mind after that time and agree to do the e-fits or did someone do e-fits based on the descriptions given in the statements ?

Hi mossman, my Computer is playing up so I am signing off , the letters are now so tiny I can hardly read them, what do I have to do to enlarge the letters??

Panda, I have pasted it below, because I don't know how to help you. The mods can delete if it takes up space. The date is 30 jan 2008


Detective Branch
Drogheda
County Lough

Re – Investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

I took an additional statement from Mr Smith as requested. His wife does not want to make another statement. I showed him the video clip and he stated that it was not the clip that alerted him but the BBC news at 10 PM on 9th September 2007.

He has been contacted by numerous tabloid press looking for stories. He has been contacted by Mr Brian Kennedy who is supporting the McCann family to take part in a photo fit exercise. He has given no stories or helped in any photo fits. He sent a solicitor's letter to six papers in relation material that was printed that was misquoted. The Evening Herald paid his solicitor's fees and all papers printed an apology. His photograph appeared in another tabloid paper and this matter is being pursued at the moment.

I do not believe that Martin Smith is courting the press and my view his is a genuine person. He is known locally and is a very decent person.

Forwarded please

Sergeant

Liam Hogan

I hereby declare that this statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and that I make it knowing that if it is tendered in evidence I will be liable to prosecution if i state in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.

mossman wrote:

Panda wrote:

mossman wrote:January 2008 is when Smith made his second statement to the Gardai in Ireland.  In the cover note written by the Garda it refers to Smith saying he had a visit from Kennedy and investigators asking him to do an e-fit.  He said he refused.

Now the million dollar question is did Smith chane his mind after that time and agree to do the e-fits or did someone do e-fits based on the descriptions given in the statements ?

Hi mossman, my Computer is playing up so I am signing off , the letters are now so tiny I can hardly read them, what do I have to do to enlarge the letters??

Panda, I have pasted it below, because I don't know how to help you.  The mods can delete if it takes up space. The date is 30 jan 2008


Detective Branch
Drogheda
County Lough

Re – Investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

I took an additional statement from Mr Smith as requested. His wife does not want to make another statement. I showed him the video clip and he stated that it was not the clip that alerted him but the BBC news at 10 PM on 9th September 2007.

He has been contacted by numerous tabloid press looking for stories. He has been contacted by Mr Brian Kennedy who is supporting the McCann family to take part in a photo fit exercise. He has given no stories or helped in any photo fits. He sent a solicitor's letter to six papers in relation material that was printed that was misquoted. The Evening Herald paid his solicitor's fees and all papers printed an apology. His photograph appeared in another tabloid paper and this matter is being pursued at the moment.

I do not believe that Martin Smith is courting the press and my view his is a genuine person. He is known locally and is a very decent person.

Forwarded please

Sergeant

Liam Hogan

I hereby declare that this statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and that I make it knowing that if it is tendered in evidence I will be liable to prosecution if i state in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.

Thanks for this mossman , Mr Smith is referring to the BBC News reporting on the Mccanns departure from Portugal. Gerry is climbing the steps into the Plane and one of the twins is asleep with his head on Gerry's shoulder .Notice how innocent people get sucked into the McCanns publicity machine. He had the Irish Police visit to ask him for another statement when it was several weeks after he returned to Ireland and saw the news . As someone remarked in the Press, if you had just kidnapped a child would you walk around with her , just in her pyjama's, no blanket , in view of passing people?
I suspect Smith's wife didn't want to make a statement because she was not sure about the sighting.

BTW, I fixed the size of the print, quite by accident really. I noticed at the bottom corner of the screen a 50% with a plus or minus either side. I pressed the plus sign and the letters enlarged, turned out it was a magnifier:lmao: 

Panda wrote:

jinvta wrote:

mossman wrote:January 2008 is when Smith made his second statement to the Gardai in Ireland.  In the cover note written by the Garda it refers to Smith saying he had a visit from Kennedy and investigators asking him to do an e-fit.  He said he refused.

Now the million dollar question is did Smith chane his mind after that time and agree to do the e-fits or did someone do e-fits based on the descriptions given in the statements ?

There were at least four other people in the Smith group who saw the man. We can probably rule out Smith's wife, as she didn't seem to remember much. But Smith's daughter Aofie and son Peter gave descriptions of the man as well. It would have made more sense to get the e-fits from Aofie and Peter, rather than Martin since he was 60-80% sure that it was Gerry at the time of his last interview.

jinvta, the last I saw, think it was a Video , someone was asking Peter if he would be hypnotised ...I'm sure, ann_chovey, or kitti can find the evidence. 

http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-reconstruction-that-never-was.html
just a mention in the comments on the Sky programme, several videos on the link

Mark Williams Thomas and Jacqui Hames featured a lot - as of course Redwood did too with his robotic: 'If this person is you - come forward'

Ex-pats expressed unease as to how this one particular case is still haunting Luz and her residents.

Peter Smith (of the Smith group) said he'd be happily hypnotised - if that would make him remember anything else about the sighting.

ann_chovey wrote:

Panda wrote:

jinvta wrote:

mossman wrote:January 2008 is when Smith made his second statement to the Gardai in Ireland.  In the cover note written by the Garda it refers to Smith saying he had a visit from Kennedy and investigators asking him to do an e-fit.  He said he refused.

Now the million dollar question is did Smith chane his mind after that time and agree to do the e-fits or did someone do e-fits based on the descriptions given in the statements ?

There were at least four other people in the Smith group who saw the man. We can probably rule out Smith's wife, as she didn't seem to remember much. But Smith's daughter Aofie and son Peter gave descriptions of the man as well. It would have made more sense to get the e-fits from Aofie and Peter, rather than Martin since he was 60-80% sure that it was Gerry at the time of his last interview.

jinvta, the last I saw, think it was a Video , someone was asking Peter if he would be hypnotised ...I'm sure, ann_chovey, or kitti can find the evidence. 

http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-reconstruction-that-never-was.html
just a mention in the comments on the Sky programme, several videos on the link

Mark Williams Thomas and Jacqui Hames featured a lot - as of course Redwood did too with his robotic: 'If this person is you - come forward'

Ex-pats expressed unease as to how this one particular case is still haunting Luz and her residents.

Peter Smith (of the Smith group) said he'd be happily hypnotised - if that would make him remember anything else about the sighting.

Thanks ann_chovey , Leslie Welch has got nothing on you:haha: I have never really subscribed to the Smith sighting and wonder what hypnosis will achieve :

Hypnotist: you are feeling sleepy, sleepy, when I count to 10 you will be asleep. Peter is asleep.

Hypnotist: I want you to think back to the night of May 3rd 2007, you are with your Mother, Father , and Sister walking along a road when a Man passes all of you , tell me about him.

Peter: We had just come out of a Pub about 10pm and were on our way home and passed a Man carrying a child who was asleep and resting on the Man's shoulder,

Hypnotist :What else did you see? Was the Man Alone?

Peter : I did not notice any adult with him

Hypnotist : Was there anything to distinguish him apart from carrying a child?

Peter: I remember he wore trainers, had a Tennis Raquet strapped across his back , what looked like tennis balls in each pocket, and , oh yes , a set of golf clubs in a bag slung over the opposite shoulder to the one the child was leaning on .

Hypnotist: Thank you Peter you have been very helpful at the count of three you will wake up.

I would still like to know who provided the information for the e-fits. I do not believe that it was Martin Smith or his wife. It is possible that it was his son Peter (who was offering to be hypnotized if it would help the investigation) and his daughter Aofie, who both provided vague descriptions of the man, but were not 60-80% sure that it was Gerry like their father.
 
I do believe that it is entirely possible that the e-fits were based on the vague descriptions of the witnesses alone. Caucasian male with short brown hair, clean shaven, no spectacles, average build. The main differences between the descripions were that Aofie thought the man was 20-30 with light brown hair and Peter thought he was 35+ with brown hair. If the e-fits were actually done with no further investigation by the private investigators other than these vague descriptions, SY will surely have egg on their faces.

How do we know that these efit are actually THE efits that the smith family did or gave in 2008.


Don't forget, SY digitally enhanced them didn't they.


The original efit could possible look even more like Gerry McCann and SY have tried, subtly, to make them look less like Gerry McCann.

It didn't work though as they still look like him, well one does.

Someone from Control Risks was interviewed on Radio 4 a while back. He said that their work was investigating countries where companies were interested in establishing a market and in getting them out if/when trouble arose in those countries. Nothing about missing people.

i never heard off anyone getting hynotised till now...


can i just ask, where did the saying 'margaret' come from, did gerry actually call her that?

jinvta wrote:I would still like to know who provided the information for the e-fits. I do not believe that it was Martin Smith or his wife. It is possible that it was his son Peter (who was offering to be hypnotized if it would help the investigation) and his daughter Aofie, who both provided vague descriptions of the man, but were not 60-80% sure that it was Gerry like their father.
 
I do believe that it is entirely possible that the e-fits were based on the vague descriptions of the witnesses alone. Caucasian male with short brown hair, clean shaven, no spectacles, average build. The main differences between the descripions were that Aofie thought the man was 20-30 with light brown hair and Peter thought he was 35+ with brown hair. If the e-fits were actually done with no further investigation by the private investigators other than these vague descriptions, SY will surely have egg on their faces.

I agree  

Morning all, I think the Efit was prepared by Control Risk, given to the McCanns and they gave it to Metodo 3, it was found by SY when they emptied the boxes of info that they took from Metodos' Office and because SY could find anything to report of significance they showed the EFit as if it was all their own Work.

Panda wrote:

Morning all, I think the Efit was prepared by Control Risk, given to the McCanns and they gave it to Metodo 3, it was found by SY when they emptied the boxes of info that they took from Metodos' Office and because SY could find anything to report of significance they showed the EFit as if it was all their own Work.

You are so right!

pennylane wrote:

Panda wrote:

Morning all, I think the Efit was prepared by Control Risk, given to the McCanns and they gave it to Metodo 3, it was found by SY when they emptied the boxes of info that they took from Metodos' Office and because SY could find anything to report of significance they showed the EFit as if it was all their own Work.

You are so right!

Morning pennylane, SY can fish out and sue Celebrities for sexual offences against teenagers that happened up to 20 yrs ago , yet 37 Detectives could find "nothing of interest" !!!!! What the bl***y H*ll have they been doing for the last two and a half years.????