Portuguese police do not have elements to reopen Maddie McCann case

(AFP) - 13 minutes ago

LISBON - The Portuguese authorities do not have any new information that allows reopen the investigation into the 2007 disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann while on holiday in Portugal, said an AFP employee of the judicial police (PJ).

"So far, no new elements that allow to reopen the investigation," said Pedro do Carmo, deputy national director of PJ.

A team of Portuguese researchers follows reviewing the case, in collaboration with British police, he added.

Five years after the girl's disappearance, British police said on Wednesday that there would be a possibility that Madeleine McCann is alive, and called the authorities to reopen the case.

"We truly believe that there is a possibility to be alive," said Andy Redwood, of the Homicide and Serious Crime at Scotland Yard in a quick meeting with the press, during which released a computer-altered photo that shows the likely appearance of the girl nearly nine years.

Redwood also said that a conservative estimate, the research team gathered evidence from 40,000 totaling about 100,000 pages of process. Researchers have shown that apparently are "gaps" in the timeline established by forensic doctors, suggesting the existence of opportunities for Madeleine has been abducted.

The police took the opportunity to spread a picture created by computer to show how little Maddie would now, that next day May 12, would nine years, and again requested the cooperation of citizens to provide any information that may contribute to investigation.

"We believe it is the only way we can adequately establish what happened to Madeleine McCann and, ultimately, close the case with a solution," he said Redwood.

According to British police, the Portuguese colleagues also want a reopening of the case, but the decision corresponds to justice in the country.

Little Maddie disappeared on the night of May 3, 2007, just days before her fourth birthday in his apartment in a resort of Praia da Luz (Algarve, south), where her parents put her to sleep before going to dinner a place nearby with friends.

The case was investigated for 14 months and closed without any result in Portugal. But the parents of little Maddie, Gerry and Kate McCann, convinced that the oldest of her three children were kidnapped, pushed for the British government asked in May 2011, the police review the various components recompiled during the investigation .

The family McCaan was encouraged after review by Scotland Yard, according to his spokesman Clarence Mitchell.

"They took a great strength of this process. They feel that, finally, an appropriate investigation is to be applied to research," he said.

"The answer lies somewhere in all this mountain of information," said yet.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5joI0yNTBmCWtoQ0VAqzanbB7rVmQ?docId=CNG.ce2f40e692c5721885e9ee25b5d8daf5.a1

No request to reopen the process relative to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been received by the Public Ministry.

Both the Portuguese Public Ministry [Attorney General's Office] and the National Directorate of the Portuguese Judiciary Police maintain and support the position that there are no grounds to reopen the investigation.

“The process can only be reopened only when there are new and credible facts [evidence]. Mere hypothesis are insufficient”, said the Attorney General Pinto Monteiro recalling that there were “thousands of sighings” of the child that were proved to be false.

Pedro do Carmo, the National Deputy Director of the Judiciary Police told Público that, so far, “there are no new elements that could substantiate the reopening of the process”.

Pedro do Carmo advanced that the process of Maddie's disappearance, at the time with almost four years old, from the apartment where she was spending holidays with her parents and siblings, in Praia da Luz, is currently being re-analysed together by the Scotland Yard and a special unit from Oporto's Judiciary Police headed by the superior inspector coordinator Helena Monteiro.

According to the British media, the British police revealed yesterday that they have detected 195 “new avenues of investigation” of the so-called Maddie case.

in Público, April, 26 2012


http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2012/04/portuguese-public-ministry-no-request.html

The Daily Mail are reporting it as the Portuguese are refusing to re-open the case
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135551/Madeleine-McCann-latest-news-Portuguese-police-refuse-open-case.html

If they ever do un-archive the Case, it won't be due to appalling Journalism, be it the BBC or the British "News"papers.

It'll be as the result of worthwhile Evidence and much financial and diplomatic wrangling.

Here is the Mail article in case it disappears. Hewlett gets a mention. I didn't realise he said he saw Maddie twice!

Portuguese police refuse to reopen Madeleine McCann case saying there's no new evidence (despite Scotland Yard saying they've got 195 new leads)
Portuguese police say there is 'no new evidence'

Scotland Yard say they have 195 new leads and add: 'We genuinely believe there is a possibility that she is alive'

McCanns expressed hope the case would be re-opened

By Eddie Wrenn
PUBLISHED: 13:53, 26 April 2012 | UPDATED: 16:21, 26 April 2012

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Portuguese police are refusing to re-open the Madeleine McCann investigation - saying there is no new evidence.
This is despite Scotland Yard highlighting 195 potential leads in the case, releasing an image of Maddie as she may look now, and telling the McCanns they believe their daughter may still be alive.
Only hours before the Portuguese announcement, Kate and Gerry McCann said they hoped the case would be re-opened.
It is the latest in a series of blows landed against the McCanns by the Portuguese authorities ever since Maddie vanished five years ago.


Enlarge Madeleine McCann as she looked aged three (left), and how Scotland Yard envision her now at the age of nine

Pedro do Carmo, deputy head of the criminal police department, told AFP: 'There are no new elements at the moment that would allow for the reopening of the inquiry.'
The news will come as a blow to the McCanns.
On BBC Breakfast this morning family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the parents were 'coping as best they can', and they were encouraged by the events of the last few days.

More...Maddie 'could be alive': Scotland Yard team reviewing the case abandoned by Portuguese find 195 leads they believe could finally end the McCanns' torment

Mr Mitchell said: 'Kate and Gerry welcome this and they are hugely encouraged by what the police have been doing all of this last year since the launch of the investigative review.
'They (Scotland Yard) believe that it is quite possible that Madeleine could still be alive and that is what Kate and Gerry have said throughout the five years and they are hugely encouraged by all of this momentum in the case.'
He added that like the British police, Mr and Mrs McCann want the case to be reopened but it is 'up to the Portuguese authorities'.


Confident of new leads: DCI Andy Redwood
Detectives in Portugal were thought to be keen to re-open the case, despite needed judicial approval via the courts.

Speaking on the age-advanced picture of Madeleine, Mr Mitchell said: 'They are very pleased that the new age-progressed image of Madeleine aged nine was put out yesterday, which is getting wide publicity today.
'Of course, that is the girl that people should still be looking for.
'We need to remind people around the world that this is probably what Madeleine looks like today, not the very famous picture of her when she went missing. This is Madeleine as a young girl now.
'Kate particularly feels there is a very strong family resemblance. She sees Madeleine, Sean and Amelie her brother and sister, and herself in the image.'
Yesterday, the detective leading the Metropolitan Police review said the case could still be solved.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said he believed her disappearance was a stranger abduction, as he said there were 195 'investigative opportunities'.
But police refused to say what evidence they had uncovered to suggest Madeleine was alive.

Mr Redwood confirmed that his team of more than 30 officers involved in the case had been to Portugal seven times, including a visit to the family’s holiday flat in Praia da Luz.

It will be five years next week since the three-year-old went missing as her parents dined with friends nearby.

The investigative review was launched last year after a meeting between former Met commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and the Home Office.
Five years of uncertainty: Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, still hope for their daughter's rescue
The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children released these projections of how Maddie might look aged six and nine
Five years on, the pivotal questionsIs she alive?
There have been no confirmed sightings of Madeleine McCann since she disappeared on May 3, 2007.
The original Portuguese police team believed she died in a ‘tragic accident’.
Kate and Gerry McCann have always insisted there is no evidence to suggest she is dead, and British police now believe ‘there is a possibility she is alive’.

Where is she?

There have been reported sightings all round the world, ranging from the credible to bizarre psychic visions.
Of those investigated, none have been confirmed as Madeleine.

Who is responsible?

Enlarge Three people were officially named as arguidos, or suspects, in the investigation - Kate and Gerry McCann and British expat Robert Murat.
All three were formally cleared when the investigation was shelved and have won libel cases against newspapers and broadcasters which falsely claimed they were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.
The McCanns believe Madeleine was taken by an abductor.
Convicted paedophile Raymond Hewlett allegedly said he saw the girl twice before she vanished and claimed she was stolen to order by a gypsy gang, but denied he was involved.
He died in 2010.

Are there new leads?

British police have identified almost 200 new lines of investigation from the Portuguese case files and the McCanns’ own private detectives.
They have refused to reveal details.

Why was this not done before?

Portuguese officers were convinced Madeleine was dead and have admitted publicly that they did not fully investigate other theories, including many of the sightings.

What else was missed?

Police did not set up effective searches and did not alert the Spanish border for 12 hours, allowing a potential abductor to escape with Madeleine undetected.
Even a basic check of the other guests at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz was not completed for 48 hours, by which time many potential witnesses had left.

What about forensic evidence?

Police did not seal off the McCanns’ apartment until 10am the next day, by which time the McCanns, their friends, resort staff, concerned helpers and police officers had all potentially contaminated forensic evidence.
Samples were taken and tested for blood and DNA but were found to be so degraded and contaminated that the results were inconclusive.

Will the case be solved?

British police want the case reopened but public opinion in Portugal has not been supportive of the McCanns and there may be little interest in raking over a five-year mystery which has already damaged the country’s tourist industry.
Even if the case is reopened, the reality remains that blunders in the first few days after Madeleine’s disappearance may mean the McCanns will never know what happened to their daughter.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135551/Madeleine-McCann-latest-news-Portuguese-police-refuse-open-case.html#ixzz1tA7pVM9N

10 euros eh?? That would have been the price of a babysitter for 3 kids? Instead it's millions of pounds and Euros!!

I think he saw her picture twice or on tv......He hasn't seen her in the flesh.

And also.....hewlett says he saw her distinctive eye.....he couldn't off as you would have to be in her face to see it.....simple as that

kitti wrote:And also.....hewlett says he saw her distinctive eye.....he couldn't off as you would have to be in her face to see it.....simple as that

Considering that the Mccanns now claim Madeleine didn't have a "distinctive" eye neither he, or anyone else, could have seen it.

xenophobia is alive and well and thriving in the UK media. disgusting.jimo

By this I think the portuguese police won't re-investigate the case (re-open is an incorrect term, it was never closed) on the basis that the MET were clearly looking at the abduction theory.

tanszi wrote:xenophobia is alive and well and thriving in the UK media. disgusting.jimo

And according to recent news reports
its also rife within the Met.

marxman wrote:

tanszi wrote:xenophobia is alive and well and thriving in the UK media. disgusting.jimo

And according to recent news reports
its also rife within the Met.

Ah yes! I saw that last night!