Operation Grange to be scaled down from today

Martin Brunt has just been on Sky Bews to say the Met is scling down the investigation. No longer will 29 policemen be working on it, but just 4 of them will. Brunt mentioned the huge amounats of money that had been spent. No arrests were in the offing... The Mccanns have been informed.

Sorry baout the typos.

Sky News (on line) reports "Madeleine Search Dramatically Scaled Back" the article closes with "More follows...."

Possibly they are going to go to work on the money trail!!!!!

http://news.met.police.uk/news/update-on-the-investigation-into-the-disappearance-of-madeleine-mccann-135459?utm_campaign=mm_email_notification&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendgrid

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has today, 28 October announced the new structure and changes to the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The investigation into what happened to Madeleine continues but with a smaller team of officers. Officers investigating her disappearance have completed the huge task of bringing together and investigating the massive amount of information held by colleagues in Portugal, the United Kingdom investigation and the private investigators working on behalf of the McCann family.

They are now following a small number of focused lines of inquiry that have allowed them to reduce the size of the Home Office funded team.

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in May 2007 have been working through material and following investigative inquiries since the Home Office requested a review of the case in May 2011.

Operation Grange is working to support the Portuguese investigation and this work continues.

While there remain lines of inquiry to follow, the vast majority of the work by Operation Grange has been completed.

This work included reviewing all the material relating to the case which were brought together for the first time and amounted to collating over 40,000 documents from United Kingdom and foreign law enforcement agencies, as well as various private investigation companies.

Officers worked meticulously through the information. Some of the material had to be translated into English, facts had to be cross-referred and diligently analysed to ensure an oversight of what the MPS was examining and to search for new lines of inquiry.

Once this work had been completed the review became a full investigation in July 2012.

The investigation team has taken 1,338 statements and collected 1,027 exhibits. Having reviewed all of the documents, 7,154 actions were raised and 560 lines of enquiry identified, and over thirty international request to countries across the world asking for work to be undertaken on behalf of the Met.

Officers have investigated more than 60 persons of interest. A total of 650 sex offenders have also been considered as well as reports of 8,685 potential sightings of Madeleine around the world.

The Grange team received on average two hundred emails a week, and following the media appeal in October 2013 across three countries, received over 7,000 responses.

For an investigation of this size, the extraordinary circumstances of investigating a missing child four years later in another country, the vast wealth of information and theories, it was always going to be an immense task and required a full team of 29 staff working on it.

With the significant amount of work approaching completion, as with all investigations the MPS has reviewed the staff required to progress the remaining work.

A team of four officers will continue to work solely on the Grange investigation, funded by the Home Office. The enquiry has not reached a conclusion, there are still focused lines of investigation to be pursued.

The officers will continue to be overseen by Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall, the current senior investigating officer, and sit within an existing major investigation team on the Homicide and Major Crime Command. This will give them access to officers within that team should they be required to support further operational activity.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, from the MPS said: "The Met investigation has been painstaking and thorough and has for the first time brought together in one place what was disparate information across the world.

"This work has enabled us to better understand events in Praia da Luz the night Madeleine McCann went missing and ensure every possible measure is being taken to find out what happened to her.

"We still have very definite lines to pursue which is why we are keeping a dedicated team of officers working on the case. We have given this assurance to Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.

"The Portuguese police remain the lead investigators and our team will continue to support their inquiry. They have extended every courtesy to Operation Grange and we maintain a close working relationship. I know they remain fully committed to investigating Madeleine's disappearance with support from the Metropolitan Police.

"The Met was asked to take on this exceptional case as one of national interest. We were happy to bring our expertise to bear only on the basis that it would not detract from the policing of London; and the Home Office have additionally funded the investigation above normal grants to the Met. That will continue at the reduced level.

"I have overseen this investigation since 2012 and am very grateful for the enormous assistance of the media and public so far which, through the appeals, have generated new information and lines of Inquiry. "

Our decision and rationale has been discussed with Mr and Mrs McCann.

Mr and Mrs McCann said: "We would like to thank all the staff from Operation Grange for the meticulous and painstaking work that they have carried out over the last four and a half years. The scale and difficulty of their task has never been in doubt.

"We are reassured that the investigation to find Madeleine has been significantly progressed and the MPS has a much clearer picture of the events in Praia da Luz leading up to Madeleine's abduction in 2007.

"Given that the review phase of the investigation is essentially completed, we fully understand the reasons why the team is being reduced.

"We would also like to thank the Home Office for continuing to support the investigation.

"Whilst we do not know what happened to Madeleine, we remain hopeful that she may still be found given the ongoing lines of enquiry. "

The remaining Operation Grange officers will be deployed to other enquiries within Specialist Crime and Operations.

Thanks to "chrissie" for the above. I notice that what the McCanns "said" has been very carefully worded by their solicitors. "Whilst we do not know what happened to Madeleine........" blah, blah, blah.

As for the "assistance of the media" - do they mean the assistance the McCanns paid for to keep them on the front pages?

I do like that "The Portuguese police remain the lead investigators and our team will continue to support their inquiry." It does beg the question though, what about the dog alerts which indicated Madeleine was dead before we even knew her name, which is included in the Portuguese inquiry?

Mr and Mrs McCann said: "We would like to thank all the staff from Operation Grange for the meticulous and painstaking work that they have carried out over the last four and a half years. The scale and difficulty of their task has never been in doubt.

"We are reassured that the investigation to find Madeleine has been significantly progressed and the MPS has a much clearer picture of the events in Praia da Luz leading up to Madeleine's abduction in 2007.

"Given that the review phase of the investigation is essentially completed, we fully understand the reasons why the team is being reduced.


I thought the review stage had finished several years ago

If they support the Portuguse investigation why are they suing the lead investigator?

best question yet interested.

amaral fund closes, mcc s fund has fraudulent use by someone, met reduces men. interesting times interested. oh and clearly stated that the Met support the Portuguese investigation.

I know not everyone is a fan of Pat Brown, but for those who are, her latest post "What Scaling Down the Scotland Yard Madeleine McCann Investigation Means" is available at www.patbrownprofiling.blogspot.com

Her conclusion is "whitewash" and "charade".

From the Portugal Resident: "Maddie hunt 'drastically' scaled back: '10 million pound spent and nothing achieved', says Sky News". www.portugalresident.com

Interesting bit from the Portuguese Resident


What is intriguing in this latest statement is that news services and police are no longer talking about an abduction. The investigation centres on “the disappearance of Madeleine McCann”, explained the statement put out by Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, and Sky News too refers to the case constantly now as a “disappearance”.

Yes I noticed the news media dropping 'abduction'. Mostly it is 'went missing from the McCanns rented holiday flat.'

What message does this give out to the UK public ? Let's start from the beginning Portugal had got as far as they were allowed to re the case money spent and without interviewing everyone involved that had any contact with Madeleine during the holiday their hands were tied .then we have private detectives on the case hired by the mcanns re fund money .yet again nothing .so then we have pressure on DC to reopen the case and he did 10 million and counting .nothing . I have always thought that DC gave the money and also let UK public know to stop the fund .come on UK public is not going to keep topping fund up when tax payers are footing the bill . they have been seen as going to Portugal doing the digs working side by side the pj . what result have they come up with nothing but we tried.what if the 10 million stated was not spent cos I am on the fence regarding this .yes this is the biggest police case in history but yet again nothing .this case is like a bowl of soup .outwards in not to burn your mouth . questions have been asked regarding the cost and man power what have they achieved we ask .for me the answer is make the UK public stop giving to a fund that wasn't needed and still isn't cos money choose how much hasn't given a ending to finding what happened to a poor baby that went on holiday never to be found

comperedna wrote:Yes I noticed the news media dropping 'abduction'.  Mostly it is 'went missing from the McCanns rented holiday flat.'  

I've been noticing that as well. The media seem to be reporting "disappeared" and "missing" rather than toeing the McCann line of "abducted".

I've seen chatter on twitter than Clarence Mitchell didn't appear to look quite as confident (a little rough maybe) than he did in years past although I haven't seen pictures or video myself.

WHERE WERE ALL THESE 8700 SIGHTINGS?
THE MIND BOGGLES

Badboy wrote:WHERE WERE ALL THESE 8700 SIGHTINGS?
THE MIND BOGGLES

And just how many "sightings" did the McCanns rush to? I can only think of one - the early highly publicized one in Morocco - hypocrites!

There are two articles in Anorak News covering recent events. (1) dated October 30 - "Madeleine McCann: nothing shelved, four at work and the Sun hacks the police". (2) the previous article dated October 29 - "Madeleine McCann: 4 police, Google gold and front page news".

www.anorak.co.uk (under "News" "Madeleine McCann")

Thanks interested

Madeleine McCann: 4 police, Google gold and front-page news
by Anorak | 29th, October 2015

Madeleine McCann: a look at the missing child in the media.

The Sun (front page): “Cops in hunt for Maddie slashed”

The “search” has been “drastically cut back”. Reducing the number of police officers on the case from a platoon-sized 29 to a small office-sized 4 is “a huge blow to parents Kate and Gerry”.

This news is shared with the other front-page police matters that “Britain’s tops cops” have warned that “huge spending cuts will spell the end for  bobbies on the beat”. It’s cost The Met Police not much under £11m since 2011 to find out what happened to Madeleine McCann. The Sun’s juxtaposition of the two stories is not accidental.

Page 9: “FEAR OF LOST GIRLS PARENTS – IS THIS END OF COP HUNT FOR MADDIE?”

Answer: No. Four police remain on the case.

We hear from a “source close to Mum Kate and dad Gerry”. They say: “They know it can’t go on forever. They’re preparing for it to be shelved for good in coming months.”

We hear their official “statement”: “We remain hopeful  she may still be found…”

Daily Mail (Page 25): “”Maddie probe team is slashed from 29 detectives to just 4.”

Just 4. Just?

We learn that the Government “initially set aside 5m for the Met probe”. We are reminded that the Portuguese investigation was “marred by blunders”.

It has also sold a lot of newspapers and garnered online clicks.



Maddie Mccann google



Daily Express (front page): “MADDY: POLICE RUN OUT OF CLUES”

Did they ever have any?

The Express agrees that there will “just” four offices working full-time on the case.

Page 9: “McCanns cling to hope as inquiry is cut back”

To illustrate how this story has gone nowhere, this is the Daily Express headline from 29 April 2009: “Madeleine’s parents still cling to hope.”

The paper notes:

   Since the little girl, who would now be 11, vanished, every possible theory has been explored including that she was kidnapped by a peadophile [sic], killed during a botched burglary and her body dumped, snatched by traffickers and sold to a childless couple and she wandered out of the apartment and died in a tragic accident.

   

mccann sorry express star newspapers



The Express, of course, indulged in another theory that cost it dear when it libelled the McCanns:

   The question of what happened to the little girl has not only become a personal tragedy for the McCann family, but a national obsession in the UK and in Portugal. However, to date, not one shred of proof of what happened to Madeleine has been unearthed.

Not everyone has been as obsessed as the Express:

daily express mccann obsession



Daily Mirror (front page): “MADDIE – Police scaling down hunt”

Page 11: “Maddie Cops Cut From 29 To Four – But Met says investigation continues”

Not shelved, then. But there are – get this – “just four” detectives on the case.

Daily Star (front page): “Search for Maddie cut”

Page 6: “Family’s agony as cops slash Maddie squad”

Agony? Surely the agony was the child vanishing. The case remains open. The parents “remain hopeful”

Such are the facts.





Anorak

Posted: 29th, October 2015 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, News, Tabloids 0 Comments | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink

Madeleine McCann: nothing shelved, four at work and the Sun hacks the police
by Anorak | 30th, October 2015

maddie the sunMadeleine McCann: a look at the missing child in the news.

The Sun (front page): “SUN EXCLUSIVE – MADDIE:McCann: We’ll never give up”

Is that news?

We learn via bullet points:

   £750,000 IN FUND
   EX-COPS TEAM

Page 13: “NEVER QUIT”

We’re told that the police operation is to be “shelved”. As ever, an unnamed “source close to the McCanns” says: “They are very much of the mind, ‘We will never give up’ and they won’t. They have spearheaded the hunt for Madeleine themselves before and will do so again if they have to.”

We also hear from the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell: “Should the need arise for a private investigation to be resumed, they have made sure they have enough money left in Madeleine’s fund.”

Page 12-13: “HOW DID MADDIE HUNT GO WRONG?

Do we know that it has? The Met’s Operation Grange has been gathering evidence and reviewing all data. Four police officers will now work full-time on the case. The 25 who also worked on it have been put on other duties. Maybe one of them can look for Andrew Gosden or Steven Cook?

The Sun says the Met’s enquiry is “expected to be wound down  completely in the New Year”.

The paper wonders “how could an inquiry that to date has cost more than £11million seemingly achieve so little?”

   The British taskforce, which at its height was 37-strong, has yet to make a single arrest, despite 560 lines of inquiry and 60 suspects.

Why is the Sun no keen to present this as a failure by the Met police? Why is the Sun, the paper in the eye of the police’s phone hacking purge  / witch hunt, keen to ask: ”

   It also became mired in a spending controversy with some cops staying in the £200-a-night five-star Hotel Dona Filipa during visits to Portugal. Last year there were 67 flights to the country by cops costing £16,000, with overtime on top. So what were all these officers actually doing?

That hotel price is for peak season. The officers were then in the off-season. And:

   By the latest count, the Met claims “7,154 actions had been raised” and 560 lines of inquiry identified. They had identified more than 60 persons of interest and 650 sex offenders were also investigated.

   But the numbers mask the chaos going on behind the scenes.

Having found the police wanting, the Sun than adds a fact:

   Madeleine’s case was always a special one. Never has a missing child received so much worldwide focus. Indeed, the average amount spent on investigating a missing child is around £2,400.

That’s because:

a) The media saw the missing blonde child and launched a voracious feeding frenzy.

b) Most children are found quickly

In other tabloids today: Daily Mail, Daily Express and Daily Mirror all nothing on Madeleine McCann.







Anorak

Posted: 30th, October 2015 | In: Madeleine McCann, News 0 Comments | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink

I like to read Anorak's brief but comprehensive coverage of the Madeleine McCann case. In the October 28 report in reference to this being a case of exceptional national interest, the conclusion was "less time was spent looking for Saddam's weapons of mass destruction".

I notice that while the Daily Mail online has an article about the case and requests comments, none so far have been published. They must be under extreme moderation because normally there would be hundreds worthy of publication.

I've tried several times to log on to www.mccannfiles.com and keep getting "Server Error - HTTP Error 401.3 Unauthorized". I'd appreciate hearing if anyone knows what's going on. Nigel reported last week that he received enough donations to carry on and would start up-dating in the new year, possibly December. I hope we haven't lost this fine "library" and that it is just my computer that is acting up.

interested wrote:I've tried several times to log on to  www.mccannfiles.com  and keep getting "Server Error - HTTP Error 401.3 Unauthorized".  I'd appreciate hearing  if anyone knows what's going on.  Nigel reported last week that he received enough donations to carry on and would start up-dating in the new year, possibly December.  I hope we haven't lost this fine "library" and that it is just my computer that is acting up.

Almost two hours later and I still can't get the site. I hope the McCanns aren't involved in more dirty tricks/sabotage.

It's fine for me, I can access it with no problem.

interested wrote:

interested wrote:I've tried several times to log on to  www.mccannfiles.com  and keep getting "Server Error - HTTP Error 401.3 Unauthorized".  I'd appreciate hearing  if anyone knows what's going on.  Nigel reported last week that he received enough donations to carry on and would start up-dating in the new year, possibly December.  I hope we haven't lost this fine "library" and that it is just my computer that is acting up.

Almost two hours later and I still can't get the site.  I hope the McCanns aren't involved in more dirty tricks/sabotage.

I've just looked at some of the overnight chatter on Twitter and it appears a lot of people couldn't get the site. Nigel Moore tweeted: "Just briefly, I don't know why the site is unavailable but it's nothing to do with me updating or maintenance....".

In any case it appears to be up and running now. I apolize for my alarm but last night I found it quite worrying.

I don't know if Nigel's appeal for donations has been mentioned before. He has raised enough to keep the site going.

Update - 30/10/2015

There are 3 payments that need to be made each year:

• The webspace charge, which is the most expensive due to the size of the site (and which I've previously paid monthly)
• An annual payment that allows unlimited pages on the site, and
• The domain name renewal

As a result of your kind donations I’ve been able to make the following payments:

- Webspace for one year to 27/10/2016 (.com) - £209.33
- Unlimited pages for one year to 29/10/2016 (.com) - £54.00
- Domain name renewal for one year (.com) - £13.19
- Domain name renewal for one year (.co.uk) - £5.99

As you will see, this site is now fully covered for the next year, regardless of anything else that happens.

I do have some money left over and am considering the best use of this – I'll keep you updated.

Many thanks again for your fantastic support.

Nigel 30/10/2015

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