Sunday Express on-line 29/4/12

MADELEINE MCCANN: THE LOST CLUES






Madeleine McCann as she might look today at nearly 9 years old




Sunday April 29,2012


By James Murray


CRUCIAL leads that could solve the mystery of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance are revealed today by the Sunday Express.




These vital clues were never followed up by the ­Portuguese police, according to Isabel Duarte, the ­Lisbon lawyer acting for Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.

Shortly after Madeleine was taken from Apartment 5A at the Ocean Club at Praia da Luz, five years ago this Thursday, a sniffer dog picked up her scent at a nearby car park.


Mrs Duarte said: “This was a significant moment at a critical time, yet there is very ­little about it in the police files. There doesn’t appear to have been any forensic work at the spot in the car park identified by the dog. More work should have been done.”



Scotland Yard last week identified 195 leads needing further investigation, but Portuguese law officials then announced they had no plans to reopen the case.








There were some 70,000 calls on the documents provided to the officers but I do not believe they have ever been properly analysed. It would be good if they did that now









One witness described seeing a small grey car parked near the McCanns’ apartment but it is not apparent from the files whether the owner of the vehicle has been identified and ruled out.

Mrs Duarte said: “Another very important lead was the sighting by a schoolgirl of a man looking at Apartment 5A. That man has not been traced, despite a good description from the girl. It is very frustrating coming across these leads and then knowing the position of the Portuguese police.”

Mrs Duarte said she knew that three phone companies had provided police with lists of all calls made by people in the vicinity of the holiday apartment before, during and after the night when Madeleine was taken shortly before her fourth birthday.















She said: “There were some 70,000 calls on the documents provided to the officers but I do not believe they have ever been properly analysed. It would be good if they did that now, concentrating particularly on the calls made late in the evening after Madeleine was taken on May 3, 2007. It would be interesting to see if any patterns emerged in the calls.”

The Sunday Express can reveal that a British woman staying at the Ocean Club saw a “suspicious” couple loitering around the complex. On May 2, the day before Madeleine vanished, the woman saw the couple sitting on a hill overlooking tennis courts used by Kate and Gerry.

Just by the courts is a grassy area where the couple, Madeleine and twins Sean and Amelie, played regularly in the afternoons.

The woman, whose toddler daughter became friendly with Madeleine at the children’s club, said the suspicious woman was talking and pointing while the man with her looked “nervous”.

The following day at 1.30pm she saw the same couple standing near her apartment at the holiday complex and later told the McCanns’ private investigators that she thought their behaviour was “suspicious”.

It is not believed that the couple have been traced or identified.

Three years ago the Sunday Express revealed an elderly British woman living in Praia da Luz saw a Portuguese-looking woman hanging around outside the McCanns’ apartment about an hour before the abduction. Astonishingly, the woman has never given a statement to police.

Despite the scores of leads which have not been investigated properly, Portuguese Attorney General Pinto Monteiro dashed the McCanns’ hopes last week by saying the case would not be officially reopened, adding that no “credible” new facts had emerged during Scotland Yard’s year-long £2million investigative review of all known evidence.

Portuguese officers in Porto in northern Portugal have for some months been conducting a cold case review, liaising with Scotland Yard, but they are not making fresh inquiries.

Porto is a six-hour drive from Praia da Luz and it is not thought that any of the officers doing the review work have been active in Luz.

As the Yard unveiled a new “age progression” image of how Madeleine looks now, just before what would be her ninth birthday on May 12, there was no activity at all at the Policia Judiciaria headquarters in Porto last Wednesday.

As it was a national holiday the woman in charge of the Madeleine case, Helena Monteiro, was not even at her desk. She refused to give an interview and referred all inquiries to police in Lisbon.

At one point a noticeboard with the new image of Madeleine on it was seen being moved into a large office but one officer there said: “This is not a major investigation for us.”

In a fresh blow to the McCanns, Mrs Duarte will tomorrow hand back almost 8,000 confiscated copies of a book by Goncalo Amaral, the Portuguese police chief sacked for criticising British police five months after the crime.

Mr Amaral alleges in his book that Madeleine died in Apartment 5A, a claim clearly rejected by Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who said last week that Madeleine could still be alive.

The book, called The Truth Of The Lie, was taken off the shelves in Portugal, after 180,000 copies had been sold, following legal action by the McCanns in Lisbon’s civil courts.

However, Mr Amaral won an appeal to get his books back on sale on the grounds of his right to freedom of speech and the deadline for Mrs Duarte to return the seized copies is tomorrow.

Mrs Duarte, 58, a widow whose late husband Celestino Amaral was a celebrated and widely respected investigative journalist, said: “I tried my very best to stop the book being published but I will do what the court orders and copies will be able to be sold again next week. Mr Amaral has a very narrow view of the case which in our view is completely wrong.”

In September she will be back in the civil courts in Lisbon for the McCanns seeking more than £1million in compensation in a defamation case against him.

She said: “Every one of the books sold will increase the amount of damages that we will be seeking from him.”

Mr Amaral is reportedly divorcing his wife Sofia, who lives in Portimao, 12 miles from Luz on the Algarve, and now lives with his elderly father in Lisbon while pursuing a new career as a crime author.

Mrs Duarte said: “My view is that Madeleine could still be alive and every effort should be made to try to find her. I will do everything I can to help my clients to that end.

“Mr Amaral’s thesis does not help, but a lot of people in Portugal support the McCanns and want the case solved. Scotland Yard is very well respected and people want their detectives to work with our police. It is so frustrating, especially for my clients, when matters are not pursued over here. However, the Yard involvement has given them new hope.”

Mr Amaral yesterday backed calls for the case to be reopened. “We were always against the closing of the case. It should be reopened,” he said.

Panda wrote:
Shortly after Madeleine was taken from Apartment 5A at the Ocean Club at Praia da Luz, five years ago this Thursday, a sniffer dog picked up her scent at a nearby car park.

Mrs Duarte said: “This was a significant moment at a critical time, yet there is very ­little about it in the police files. There doesn’t appear to have been any forensic work at the spot in the car park identified by the dog. More work should have been done.”

So at that time, the dog was right....

It's so ridiculous, I just can't believe it!

No doubt, the human race needs help..........

maive wrote:

Panda wrote:
Shortly after Madeleine was taken from Apartment 5A at the Ocean Club at Praia da Luz, five years ago this Thursday, a sniffer dog picked up her scent at a nearby car park.

Mrs Duarte said: “This was a significant moment at a critical time, yet there is very ­little about it in the police files. There doesn’t appear to have been any forensic work at the spot in the car park identified by the dog. More work should have been done.”

So at that time, the dog was right....

It's so ridiculous, I just can't believe it!

No doubt, the human race needs help..........

Morning maive, I did see your reply about where you live but we are never online at the same time.

James Murray deserves an award for best fiction writer, I did e-mail him once about the Express reporting but he did not reply.

The days are gone when any fearless Journalist did some investigative work, some on other Newspapers do, but none will write the truth about the
McCanns, they really are the untouchables.

Now we have Amaral , personal life introduced into the report for no reason, wanting the case re-opened for no valid reason, and Duarte Lawyer for the McCanns admitting the dogs findings. Maybe she wants to be accepted by the Portugese again as one of its Citizens because she did
admit in a T.V. Interview that she wasn't very popular in Portugal for acting for the McCanns.
the dogs findings

Mrs Duarte said: “Another very important lead was the sighting by a schoolgirl of a man looking at Apartment 5A. That man has not been traced, despite a good description from the girl. It is very frustrating coming across these leads and then knowing the position of the Portuguese police.”

Wasn't this spotty man ? the British Press, especially The Sun, went OTT with all these lurkers outside 5a.

Panda wrote:

Now we have Amaral , personal life introduced into the report for no reason, wanting the case re-opened for no valid reason, and Duarte Lawyer for the McCanns admitting the dogs findings.

It's good for us isn't it

I feel sorry for SY, this all case will hurt their reputation.. All police forces around the world should be laughing at them right now.. What happens is beyond belief, I hope for them that they have something hidden under the carpet.. I really hope..

maive wrote:

Panda wrote:

Now we have Amaral , personal life introduced into the report for no reason, wanting the case re-opened for no valid reason, and Duarte Lawyer for the McCanns admitting the dogs findings.

It's good for us isn't it

I feel sorry for SY, this all case will hurt their reputation.. All police forces around the world should be laughing at them right now.. What happens is beyond belief, I hope for them that they have something hidden under the carpet.. I really hope..

I think Redwood should have stayed shtum, that was a stupid thing to say that 195 queries could lead to something....why weren't they investigated
at the time.? There are 28 Police Officers supposed to be doing just that, the 5 Clerical Workers were the ones sifting throught the Files. After 10
months they should have finished all the checking by now. I'm wondering whether Scotland Yard were given access to the shelved files which would
contain important information.

If these are the best of SY's investigative opportunities it is easy to see why Portugal is saying nowt new.

I guess Murray should be congratulated for finally revealing in print in the UK that the book injunction has been lifted etc.

So an hour before the supposed abduction which would be 9pm.....a women was seen outside 5a.......Portuguese .....gosh that's astonishing.....a Portuguese women in portugual, blimey and why didn't the paynes, old field or Gerry McCann see her as they were ALL around the apt at that time.....I winder who the elderly resident was....hmmm

The Sunday Express can reveal that a British woman staying at the Ocean Club saw a “suspicious” couple loitering around the complex.

It's a holiday resort! People tend to be trying to relax!

On May 2, the day before Madeleine vanished, the woman saw the couple sitting on a hill overlooking tennis courts used by Kate and Gerry.

And no one else used those tennis courts! And of course the hill didn't overlook anything else and no holidaymakers that week just took an innocent stroll over the hills!

Just by the courts is a grassy area where the couple, Madeleine and twins Sean and Amelie, played regularly in the afternoons.

So, these people on the hill couldn't just have been taking a stroll and having a little sit down. They were watching Kate and Gerry on the tennis courts and the place where the McCann children played!

Give me strength!

maive wrote:

Panda wrote:
Shortly after Madeleine was taken from Apartment 5A at the Ocean Club at Praia da Luz, five years ago this Thursday, a sniffer dog picked up her scent at a nearby car park.

Mrs Duarte said: “This was a significant moment at a critical time, yet there is very ­little about it in the police files. There doesn’t appear to have been any forensic work at the spot in the car park identified by the dog. More work should have been done.”

So at that time, the dog was right....

It's so ridiculous, I just can't believe it!

No doubt, the human race needs help..........

These were the GNR dogs, on the 4th of May and subsequent days.
There is a report on that in the PJ files. They were given a towel I believe, by Kate, when they asked for something with Maddie's scent on it. There are photographs and there is the report for all to read. In Portuguese for Mme. Duarte even.
The dog took them to the supermarket and then back to the apartment. This made the police think they'd been given a towel used by Gerry, since he'd made that trip the previous day.
The search went on for days and there were quite a number of dogs used. Five or six I think.

Hmm OK ....

If these leads are so important why didn't we have ALL these pieces of serious evidence in Gerrys Madeleine PDL Doc what they did a couple of years ago

Morning Tigger, another stretch of the imagination ....the McCanns can find a towel on 4th May with Madeleine's DNA, but have to go back to Rothley
to collect a pillowcase from heer bed???? I have said before now, Madeleine's room was untouched for months so why didn't LP go back to the McCanns house to pick up more items when the FSS tests proved inconclusive?

The McCanns gave the police a towel used by McCann to help the sniffer dogs follow Maddie's scent ?!! How weird and suspicious it that ?

Mr amaral WANTED to go to the uk before he was removed from the investigation.....

fedrules wrote:The McCanns gave the police a towel used by McCann to help the sniffer dogs follow Maddie's scent ?!! How weird and suspicious it that ?

There seem to have been lots of suspicious things happening that week. People were 'loitering,' around a holiday complex, there were Portuguese people there in that village and lots of folks in the area were.......making phone calls. Eeeeek!

Why didn't Edgar notice the 195 'leads'.


What file were they in....the pj files....the private dick files or the mysterious British files....


The mccanns had viewed the pj files, the private dick files ...who is the third element?

Leicester police files?


Witheld files?


Wouldn't put it past them to say it was in the witheld files and say it may off cost Madeleine her life.

AnnaEsse wrote:

fedrules wrote:The McCanns gave the police a towel used by McCann to help the sniffer dogs follow Maddie's scent ?!! How weird and suspicious it that ?

There seem to have been lots of suspicious things happening that week. People were 'loitering,' around a holiday complex, there were Portuguese people there in that village and lots of folks in the area were.......making phone calls. Eeeeek!

Morning AnnaEsse,

That reminds me....would SY have been given access to the phone calls picked up by the PJ which could not be used because the Court said they were
too intrusive??? I found that very odd when a child had been missing for so long and these calls maybe could have helped .

Funny how everything is deemed "significant" except the McCanns altering version of events; the blood and cadaver dog alerts in their apartment and on their possessions; and the Smith family sighting isn't it? Not to mention David Payne's perverse conversation with Gerry McCann, as overheard by a fellow doctor Katerina Gaspar on a previous holiday! It's a wonder how Scotland Yard solve any crimes at all if they put no value on any of these alarming red flags.

I've also no doubt Scotland Yard accept Jane Tanner's alleged abductor sighting and alibi for Gerry as credible, even though it falls apart under even a modicum of scrutiny.

I wish it were not so, but all roads lead right back to the parents!

Panda wrote:
Morning Tigger, another stretch of the imagination ....the McCanns can find a towel on 4th May with Madeleine's DNA, but have to go back to Rothley
to collect a pillowcase from heer bed???? I have said before now, Madeleine's room was untouched for months so why didn't LP go back to the McCanns house to pick up more items when the FSS tests proved inconclusive?

Hi Panda, even more I didn't know:
http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t1956-forensics-dna

It wasn't until after the analysis and conclusions of the report were done that they obtained the blood sample.

I believe that it is important to understand what that means in terms of the analysis and the actual conclusions.

Clearly they found common / familial markers / components in the pillow case sample otherwise they would not have concluded it came from a child of the McCann’s.

But without another reference sample belonging to Madeleine to compare the pillow case sample to, any results could never be conclusive because all they could compare anything to with any certainty were familial components that are common to the parents and siblings.

And it appears that this is exactly what is reflected in the report.

Penny imo that is why SY are in the position they are today....corruption, lies, and taking bungs, SY have lost all credibilty, and Redwood has shown this week the SY officers really dont give a sh*t.
The truth always comes out, as Brooks and the "powerful" Murdochs have found out recently.

Well despite the spin on the points referred to, some of the issues eg Dogs, Phone Calls etc are matters about which the great unwashed need their consciousness raising - what's that expression "There's no such thing as bad publicity"?

pennylane wrote:Funny how everything is deemed "significant" except the McCanns altering version of events; the blood and cadaver dog alerts in their apartment and on their possessions; and the Smith family sighting isn't it? Not to mention David Payne's perverse conversation with Gerry McCann, as overheard by a fellow doctor Katerina Gaspar on a previous holiday! It's a wonder how Scotland Yard solve any crimes at all if they put no value on any of these alarming red flags.

I've also no doubt Scotland Yard accept Jane Tanner's alleged abductor sighting and alibi for Gerry as credible, even though it falls apart under even a modicum of scrutiny.

I wish it were not so, but all roads lead right back to the parents!

Morning pennylane, I find it quite disturbing that a senior SY Police Officer can act so unprofessionally, especially since SY have been rocked by the
Murdoch case and corruption caused senior Officers to resign. I wouldn't be surprised if Redwood has been feeding the McCanns all this info so Clarence can pass it on to the Press which is why they have all this info.

Today, Duarte says this:

“Mr Amaral’s thesis does not help, but a lot of people in Portugal support the McCanns and want the case solved."

Four days ago on Panorama she said this:

“I feel alone because I don’t feel support, not in public opinion. I have friends that don’t want to talk to me about the case because everyone believes in Goncalo Amaral. Everyone believes that I am defending a father and mother that have killed their daughter and got rid of the corpse.”

Had a change of mind have we dearie?

Or did somebody change it for you?

Lillyofthevalley wrote:Penny imo that is why SY are in the position they are today....corruption, lies, and taking bungs, SY have lost all credibilty, and Redwood has shown this week the SY officers really dont give a sh*t.
The truth always comes out, as Brooks and the "powerful" Murdochs have found out recently.

Morning Lilly,

I'm only surprised Redwood isn't referring to 'Kate and Gerry' during his worn out mantra. In fact I think he should go on the road with Clarence Mitchell and complete the circle.