Maddie search shrouded in controversy

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/maddie-search-shrouded-in-controversy-1.1341247



Maddie search shrouded in controversy

July 14 2012 at 11:59am
By Kowthar Solomons and Kashiefa Ajam


The Saturday Star can today reveal for the first time the scan that Cape Town property developer Stephen Birch handed over to British and Portuguese authorities, which he claims proves that Madeleine McCann’s tiny body was buried on the property of former suspect Robert Murat.

A video showing Birch using a georadar machine, allegedly in Murat’s garden at Casa Liliana, is now circulating on the web, including on YouTube. In the interview with Portuguese TV station, Expresso TV, he said: “Maddie died on May 3, 2007 and she was put into the ground that same day.”

This comes as a heated row has erupted between Birch and two Cape Town private investigators amid allegations that all three are in the hunt for the sake of the R35 million reward.

Last week the Saturday Star reported claims by the property developer that he may have found the grave of missing Madeleine McCann less than 200m from the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal, using the radar scanning device. Now private investigators Martin van Wyk and his sister Bernice Manson have accused Birch of stealing their research and passing it off as his own.

But Birch didn’t respond in detail saying he had been advised by his attorneys not to comment on the case further.

This may be because Murat, in Portugal, is adamant that he will sue Birch. Murat’s lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, told the Algarve Resident on Wednesday: “We are suing Mr Stephen Birch for the unlawful entry into private property.”

In an interview with newspaper Correio da Manhã (CM) Birch admitted that while in Praia da Luz, he monitored the property “24 hours a day”, with the help of two “collaborators”, and when the house was vacated he would enter and search the backyard with the georadar equipment.

And on an Express TV news clip, Birch can clearly be seen operating the georadar on Murat’s property, hunched under hanging tree branches in the dead of night. He said he had entered the property four times.

“There is a big driveway on Casa Liliana. But I believe that Maddie is buried beneath a second driveway, a less important driveway, which was constructed over the ground. The driveway is small and one cannot even turn a car in it. I don’t believe it serves any purpose. It is covered by pebble stones.”

Birch further said he was aware that there was a good chance that he would be prosecuted for trespassing. He said he had hired two law firms – one in SA and one in the UK to protect his interests.

“I hope and will plead with the Portuguese police to investigate my claims and excavate the property. If they are successful, I will have no problem assisting them with their investigation,” Birch said.

Madeleine, 3, disappeared from the Praia da Luz resort five years ago while her parents dined with friends nearby. It is not known if she is still alive. When contacted for comment on Van Wyk and Manson’s claims, Birch said he was aware of them, but denied them.

“The claims are false but under the legal advice of my lawyers I will not comment on the matter at this point.”

He was speaking to the Portuguese police and the McCann family about having the remains in the grave disinterred, and had passed the scans on to the Portuguese police.

“Many people don’t believe my story, and you can’t blame them because I don’t have definite proof. I want the site to be dug up so we can confirm if it indeed holds the remains of Madeleine McCann,” Birch said.

Van Wyk, meanwhile, said Birch was solely motivated by the reward and was willing to resort to illegal means, such as trespassing, to get it.

He feared Birch may have destroyed years of research by going public with his findings.

“Our investigation is incomplete and is still ongoing. By revealing the location without any substantial proof for the police to act on, he has given the person behind the disappearance a chance to cover his tracks. Not to mention his illegal activities in obtaining his ‘evidence’. It was utterly reckless and may have let a murderer walk free.

“I’ve had authorities in the UK call and ask me what he’s trying to pull and tell me that he may have destroyed any hopes of solving the case.”

Van Wyk, a former military police investigator, who has specialised in missing children for the past 28 years, said he was drawn to the McCann case and visited Portugal in October 2007 and in September 2009.

He sold his shares in a bar he part-owned to fund his investigation. Van Wyk said he had made contact with Madeleine’s relatives and received their “blessing” to investigate the case.

They passed on descriptions of Maddie and any new information that came to them. Although the information they were able to provide was limited, it was very useful.

He also gave interviews with local newspapers on his findings.

Van Wyk said he had been in touch by e-mail with the police in Portugal and the UK. He had collected thousands of documents on the case – e-mails, newspaper articles, notes, and hundreds of photographs. The photographs included pictures of the possible grave site.

Just over a year ago, Birch approached the siblings and asked to join them on the case. Manson described him as an acquaintance and loner.

“We’d see him socially sometimes but we wouldn’t call him a close friend.

“Then about a year ago he found out about our research and approached us as a partner,” said Van Wyk. They had agreed to the partnership.

Van Wyk said: “Initially, things went well. Birch was good with ideas and he was very inquisitive about all the role players and our theories. But at some point, he began to obsess and called us several times in the middle of the night for information.”

Van Wyk claims Birch insisted on keeping Van Wyk’s passport, ID and case files to prevent him from travelling to Portugal without him.

Manson said Birch became furious when he was unable to access their photographs last year.

“The documents were stored at a relative’s place who was away for the weekend. When I told him we could only get the photos in a few days he lost it and said ‘you people aren’t interested in the case or the money’ and ‘how useless’ we were.

“We had decided to wait until September to go to Portugal and confirm our theories. But Birch was impatient, so using our research and theories went on his own, using his underground radar device. He only joined us to get the photos and location of the possible grave site. He left as soon as he got what he came for.”

Van Wyk added: “I have worked on this day and night for the past five years, reading through articles from the media and reports from law enforcement intelligence. And for Birch to claim it was his work was just too much.”

He admitted that he was interested in the reward but said he had deeper motives. “The reward is without a doubt a factor, but having worked on missing children cases for so long I wanted to establish a global network to help find missing children. The money and renown for solving the McCann case would go a long way to realising this dream.”

Van Wyk said they still intended going to Portugal in September. -Saturday Star

Thanks Annabel........It's getting silly now and all a load of tosh.

So someone at least believe's there is a 35 million "R" reward, is that reals? How much is that in pounds I wonder?

This reminds me of how the imperial family in Russia was buried under the road, who would think to look under the road? And yet after all those years, when someone read the deathbed confession of one of the executioners or interviewed his son or however they heard about it, they went right to the spot, using reasoning (the cart had been bogged down which is why they couldn't go any further and had to stop and bury them, so let's look for the low spot in the road which is where it'd be muddy) and a three meter prodding pole and found the grave in about an hour. No high tech radar is really necessary when there's a confession, I guess, but I wonder if our heat seeking special equipment we use now would have done as well as the investigators did - I doubt it. The assassins had just dug up the road, put the bodies in there - not one little body but the remains of quite a few adults - put some dirt over it, put boards over the dirt and that was that for 80 some odd years, people drove their carts and rode their horses over the remains for decades. Because there was no coffin the remains had degraded but they were able to get dna out of them nonetheless and recognized them by the dental work and the relationship to each other, the time and manner of their deaths, and dna tracking back to prince Phillip I think, as well as to Queen Victoria.

It stands to reason Maddie died May 3 whoever did it and was disposed of in or around PDL. You can't just throw a body off the cliffs and expect the tide to take it out, the tide will bring it right back in. But only a hundred meters from her apt? the hue and cry went up by ten pm IIRC. Very risky to be seen digging a little hole about that time, I would have thought.

What would be the point for these SA's to lie about the research and so on, just for publicity? Publicity for being dip sh*ts isn't going to get you much and if they dig there and don't find the body they seem like loonies sneaking in with this machine after the cops had already been in there. What business are they involved in that that kind of publicity would help them? I can't figure out if they are getting paid by the papers for this story or really believe they'll find Maddie there. ?

The reward is no longer available because the NOTW has closed down now .Some of the donations anyway were promised, not paid into the NOTW
Fund.

35 million Rand is about 2.7 million pounds. I wounder where he got his figures from. The £2m offered by the NOTW was for a LIVE Maddie.

“We had decided to wait until September to go to Portugal and confirm our theories."
If you have all the theories, why wait?
Is that because the Algarve is especially nice in autumn, or was it because that was the only window in your diary, or ...... anything to do with a certain libel trial going down in September?

Van Wyk said he had made contact with Madeleine’s relatives and received their “blessing” to investigate the case.
Oh yeah? And did they tell you that September might be a good time to go and test your findings?

Are you mad at Birch because he jumped the gun and spoiled someone's big September trial distraction story?
Is that why TM don't want to comment?

Van Wyk said they still intended going to Portugal in September.
But oh lawks, the moment will have passed, the impact will be well diluted and there'll be bigger fish to fry ...

almostgothic wrote:“We had decided to wait until September to go to Portugal and confirm our theories."
If you have all the theories, why wait?
Is that because the Algarve is especially nice in autumn, or was it because that was the only window in your diary, or ...... anything to do with a certain libel trial going down in September?

Van Wyk said he had made contact with Madeleine’s relatives and received their “blessing” to investigate the case.
Oh yeah? And did they tell you that September might be a good time to go and test your findings?

Are you mad at Birch because he jumped the gun and spoiled someone's big September trial distraction story?
Is that why TM don't want to comment?

Van Wyk said they still intended going to Portugal in September.
But oh lawks, the moment will have passed, the impact will be well diluted and there'll be bigger fish to fry ...

So, just for the publicity, I guess. if they go in September when the trial is, they can get a lot of publicity and maybe get paid for tv appearnaces and interviews for the paper - ugh.

Someone should tap THEIR phones and see if a certain newspaper has been contacting them to say, be part of our SEptember coverage.

widowan wrote:So someone at least believe's there is a 35 million "R" reward, is that reals? How much is that in pounds I wonder?

This reminds me of how the imperial family in Russia was buried under the road, who would think to look under the road? And yet after all those years, when someone read the deathbed confession of one of the executioners or interviewed his son or however they heard about it, they went right to the spot, using reasoning (the cart had been bogged down which is why they couldn't go any further and had to stop and bury them, so let's look for the low spot in the road which is where it'd be muddy) and a three meter prodding pole and found the grave in about an hour. No high tech radar is really necessary when there's a confession, I guess, but I wonder if our heat seeking special equipment we use now would have done as well as the investigators did - I doubt it. The assassins had just dug up the road, put the bodies in there - not one little body but the remains of quite a few adults - put some dirt over it, put boards over the dirt and that was that for 80 some odd years, people drove their carts and rode their horses over the remains for decades. Because there was no coffin the remains had degraded but they were able to get dna out of them nonetheless and recognized them by the dental work and the relationship to each other, the time and manner of their deaths, and dna tracking back to prince Phillip I think, as well as to Queen Victoria.

It stands to reason Maddie died May 3 whoever did it and was disposed of in or around PDL. You can't just throw a body off the cliffs and expect the tide to take it out, the tide will bring it right back in. But only a hundred meters from her apt? the hue and cry went up by ten pm IIRC. Very risky to be seen digging a little hole about that time, I would have thought.

What would be the point for these SA's to lie about the research and so on, just for publicity? Publicity for being dip sh*ts isn't going to get you much and if they dig there and don't find the body they seem like loonies sneaking in with this machine after the cops had already been in there. What business are they involved in that that kind of publicity would help them? I can't figure out if they are getting paid by the papers for this story or really believe they'll find Maddie there. ?

widowan,

This is what I've been wondering too. Birch has said several times he's surprised the press aren't picking up the story. This could well be what it's all about? Perhaps he did the maths and figured if he announced his jaw dropping theory loud enough, the media would be clamouring for interviews, and he could make a tidy sum of money.

Very interesting comparison regarding the Russian imperial family and the deathbed confession re the bodies. I've often thought there was a distinct possibility the world could learn the abduction was a pile of fiction via a deathbed confession. As fragile as we humans all are, it may not be that far down the road before someone 'in the know' is in the unenviable position, and wishes to unload their ugly secret before shuffling off this mortal coil.

pennylane wrote:

widowan wrote:So someone at least believe's there is a 35 million "R" reward, is that reals? How much is that in pounds I wonder?

This reminds me of how the imperial family in Russia was buried under the road, who would think to look under the road? And yet after all those years, when someone read the deathbed confession of one of the executioners or interviewed his son or however they heard about it, they went right to the spot, using reasoning (the cart had been bogged down which is why they couldn't go any further and had to stop and bury them, so let's look for the low spot in the road which is where it'd be muddy) and a three meter prodding pole and found the grave in about an hour. No high tech radar is really necessary when there's a confession, I guess, but I wonder if our heat seeking special equipment we use now would have done as well as the investigators did - I doubt it. The assassins had just dug up the road, put the bodies in there - not one little body but the remains of quite a few adults - put some dirt over it, put boards over the dirt and that was that for 80 some odd years, people drove their carts and rode their horses over the remains for decades. Because there was no coffin the remains had degraded but they were able to get dna out of them nonetheless and recognized them by the dental work and the relationship to each other, the time and manner of their deaths, and dna tracking back to prince Phillip I think, as well as to Queen Victoria.

It stands to reason Maddie died May 3 whoever did it and was disposed of in or around PDL. You can't just throw a body off the cliffs and expect the tide to take it out, the tide will bring it right back in. But only a hundred meters from her apt? the hue and cry went up by ten pm IIRC. Very risky to be seen digging a little hole about that time, I would have thought.

What would be the point for these SA's to lie about the research and so on, just for publicity? Publicity for being dip sh*ts isn't going to get you much and if they dig there and don't find the body they seem like loonies sneaking in with this machine after the cops had already been in there. What business are they involved in that that kind of publicity would help them? I can't figure out if they are getting paid by the papers for this story or really believe they'll find Maddie there. ?

widowan,

This is what I've been wondering too. Birch has said several times he's surprised the press aren't picking up the story. This could well be what it's all about? Perhaps he did the maths and figured if he announced his jaw dropping theory loud enough, the media would be clamouring for interviews, and he could make a tidy sum of money.

Very interesting comparison regarding the Russian imperial family and the deathbed confession re the bodies. I've often thought there was a distinct possibility the world could learn the abduction was a pile of fiction via a deathbed confession. As fragile as we humans all are, it may not be that far down the road before someone 'in the know' is in the unenviable position and wishes to unload their ugly secret before shuffling off this mortal coil.

Hi pennylane, how've you been keeping?

I think it must be for the press, they could've chosen anywhere in PDL but they chose Murat's garden... why? What "research" led them there? He's a big name in the story, the only other arguido besides McCanns. But he was checked out by the cops inside and out. So why not pick some other close by location? Is it because he is a known factor? Could they not dig up a single dodgy single man in the neighborhood who'd buried a pet in his yard at some point? (given this machine actually detects buried things)

I have a sinking feeling we're going to see a big front to back page coverage of the libel trial in Sept with lots and lots of papers sold about all this. I think that Murdoch's henchmen have been talking to some of the key players and getting them geared up to appear on site in some kind of motley crew - here's the first arguido, here's the guy with the machine from SA, here are the "friends"- surely they can't let all this good press go to waste or not be there to defend themselves ie capitalize on any coverage, to sell more books and get more donations.

If in fact the coverup was done as I think it must have been, out of fear of what the parents primarily the grandmothers would say, and then snowballed out of control from there (with the lies, the changed stories, the media outreach campaign,) the confession if it ever comes won't come til Mas Healy and McCann are gone.

I really do not see Kate EVER saying yeah, we opened the window so we could lie about having left the door unlocked, we were ashamed we'd done such a foul job of protecting our children and knew it would make us look terrible that we didn't really check much at all and when we did it was thru an unlocked door because we put our own convenience before the children's safety and peace of mind, we paid for stories to be planted to keep the attention where we wanted it... Clarence was paid to keep the story - a certain "version of the truth" - in the public eye -

much less saying we had an accident and found Madeleine dead. If in fact the latter did happen, it's probably more likely to come out in a death bed confession than what we already KNOW they did, which was the failure to cooperate because they feared for their own neglectful selves, which in a way is worse. if your child is dead, she's beyond harm but to lie to cops, refuse to cooperate - and misdirect them and everyone else just so you can stay out of jail and look like victims (while your kid is missing! fighting the rogatory interviews and forcing the PJ to cool their heels and get permission to chase them over to England!! while Maddie sits god knows where!) - that is so disgusting I don't think they even would admit to themselves how disgusting it is.

Still they are not the only ones whose consciences could be "chipping away" at them.

Any one of the 7 could say, you know - Gerry rarely checked his kids and Kate NEVER did, Mrs Fenn was right, we were all out for hours May 1st, it didn't feel safe, the ladies wouldn't even walk back there alone, but McCanns were so arrogant they didn't care, they didn't use a monitor or check the kids, and although the resort had actually spoken to them about it being unsafe.

But then we already know that.

Maybe one of the Tapas 7 would tell us what the deal was they made with the lawyers not to discuss any of the above but we know THAT had to happen, they admitted, they had a pact with Gerry. It was his child that had gone missing when they'd all been neglectful so he was going to hire the lawyer and the rest were going to stay quiet. Or maybe Jane would admit she doesn't know what she saw if she saw anything, on the path that night, she was just trying to help and her imagination got the better of her... Pat Brown says her story is a big red flag and the only reason Kate thought it was important which she says in her bewk, is that Jane was there with Gerry AND Jez ie that's an alibi for Gerry right at the time it was needed. In a way they already have begun confessing what a CYA job it was...

I am not sure what else they could confess that the public couldn't figure out on their own... even with the T7, unless they actually did cover up a death and knew the circumstances of it.

widowan wrote:

pennylane wrote:

widowan wrote:So someone at least believe's there is a 35 million "R" reward, is that reals? How much is that in pounds I wonder?

This reminds me of how the imperial family in Russia was buried under the road, who would think to look under the road? And yet after all those years, when someone read the deathbed confession of one of the executioners or interviewed his son or however they heard about it, they went right to the spot, using reasoning (the cart had been bogged down which is why they couldn't go any further and had to stop and bury them, so let's look for the low spot in the road which is where it'd be muddy) and a three meter prodding pole and found the grave in about an hour. No high tech radar is really necessary when there's a confession, I guess, but I wonder if our heat seeking special equipment we use now would have done as well as the investigators did - I doubt it. The assassins had just dug up the road, put the bodies in there - not one little body but the remains of quite a few adults - put some dirt over it, put boards over the dirt and that was that for 80 some odd years, people drove their carts and rode their horses over the remains for decades. Because there was no coffin the remains had degraded but they were able to get dna out of them nonetheless and recognized them by the dental work and the relationship to each other, the time and manner of their deaths, and dna tracking back to prince Phillip I think, as well as to Queen Victoria.

It stands to reason Maddie died May 3 whoever did it and was disposed of in or around PDL. You can't just throw a body off the cliffs and expect the tide to take it out, the tide will bring it right back in. But only a hundred meters from her apt? the hue and cry went up by ten pm IIRC. Very risky to be seen digging a little hole about that time, I would have thought.

What would be the point for these SA's to lie about the research and so on, just for publicity? Publicity for being dip sh*ts isn't going to get you much and if they dig there and don't find the body they seem like loonies sneaking in with this machine after the cops had already been in there. What business are they involved in that that kind of publicity would help them? I can't figure out if they are getting paid by the papers for this story or really believe they'll find Maddie there. ?

widowan,

This is what I've been wondering too. Birch has said several times he's surprised the press aren't picking up the story. This could well be what it's all about? Perhaps he did the maths and figured if he announced his jaw dropping theory loud enough, the media would be clamouring for interviews, and he could make a tidy sum of money.

Very interesting comparison regarding the Russian imperial family and the deathbed confession re the bodies. I've often thought there was a distinct possibility the world could learn the abduction was a pile of fiction via a deathbed confession. As fragile as we humans all are, it may not be that far down the road before someone 'in the know' is in the unenviable position and wishes to unload their ugly secret before shuffling off this mortal coil.

Hi pennylane, how've you been keeping?

I think it must be for the press, they could've chosen anywhere in PDL but they chose Murat's garden... why? What "research" led them there? He's a big name in the story, the only other arguido besides McCanns. But he was checked out by the cops inside and out. So why not pick some other close by location? Is it because he is a known factor? Could they not dig up a single dodgy single man in the neighborhood who'd buried a pet in his yard at some point? (given this machine actually detects buried things)

I have a sinking feeling we're going to see a big front to back page coverage of the libel trial in Sept with lots and lots of papers sold about all this. I think that Murdoch's henchmen have been talking to some of the key players and getting them geared up to appear on site in some kind of motley crew - here's the first arguido, here's the guy with the machine from SA, here are the "friends"- surely they can't let all this good press go to waste or not be there to defend themselves ie capitalize on any coverage, to sell more books and get more donations.

If in fact the coverup was done as I think it must have been, out of fear of what the parents primarily the grandmothers would say, and then snowballed out of control from there (with the lies, the changed stories, the media outreach campaign,) the confession if it ever comes won't come til Mas Healy and McCann are gone.

I really do not see Kate EVER saying yeah, we opened the window so we could lie about having left the door unlocked, we were ashamed we'd done such a foul job of protecting our children and knew it would make us look terrible that we didn't really check much at all and when we did it was thru an unlocked door because we put our own convenience before the children's safety and peace of mind, we paid for stories to be planted to keep the attention where we wanted it... Clarence was paid to keep the story - a certain "version of the truth" - in the public eye -

much less saying we had an accident and found Madeleine dead. If in fact the latter did happen, it's probably more likely to come out in a death bed confession than what we already KNOW they did, which was the failure to cooperate because they feared for their own neglectful selves, which in a way is worse. if your child is dead, she's beyond harm but to lie to cops, refuse to cooperate - and misdirect them and everyone else just so you can stay out of jail and look like victims (while your kid is missing! fighting the rogatory interviews and forcing the PJ to cool their heels and get permission to chase them over to England!! while Maddie sits god knows where!) - that is so disgusting I don't think they even would admit to themselves how disgusting it is.

Still they are not the only ones whose consciences could be "chipping away" at them.

Any one of the 7 could say, you know - Gerry rarely checked his kids and Kate NEVER did, Mrs Fenn was right, we were all out for hours May 1st, it didn't feel safe, the ladies wouldn't even walk back there alone, but McCanns were so arrogant they didn't care, they didn't use a monitor or check the kids, and although the resort had actually spoken to them about it being unsafe.

But then we already know that.

Maybe one of the Tapas 7 would tell us what the deal was they made with the lawyers not to discuss any of the above but we know THAT had to happen, they admitted, they had a pact with Gerry. It was his child that had gone missing when they'd all been neglectful so he was going to hire the lawyer and the rest were going to stay quiet. Or maybe Jane would admit she doesn't know what she saw if she saw anything, on the path that night, she was just trying to help and her imagination got the better of her... Pat Brown says her story is a big red flag and the only reason Kate thought it was important which she says in her bewk, is that Jane was there with Gerry AND Jez ie that's an alibi for Gerry right at the time it was needed. In a way they already have begun confessing what a CYA job it was...

I am not sure what else they could confess that the public couldn't figure out on their own... even with the T7, unless they actually did cover up a death and knew the circumstances of it.

Keeping pretty good at the moment thank you for asking. How about yourself? Hope all is well with you.

OMG, nooooo! Wall-to-wall McCann coverage all over again in September? The thought sends shivers down my spine. Still, if they strike out at the trials which I believe they will, that will be the end of their reign of crappy lawsuits at least.

Actually I don't believe any of the tapasniks will ever confess what they know, no matter how little or how much that is. I was thinking more someone that was in the vicinity at the time that knows something detrimental to their abduction story; or someone they hired, or even paid off perhaps! They've gotten up to some very shady stuff indeed, and I feel pretty certain others know some quite explosive things regarding that ill-fated holiday.

I just wish it would all explode soon, and take them down one by one. I've had enough of Kate swanning around like a celeb, and still making money off the back of child neglect and destroying Madeleine's life.

The terms "Maddie" and "shroud" in the same sentence do not exactly inspire one with confidence.

I wonder if someone was trying to tell us something!

Panda wrote:

The reward is no longer available because the NOTW has closed down now .Some of the donations anyway were promised, not paid into the NOTW
Fund.

Panda

According to a newspaper report, a lot of the businessmen who pledged money towards the fund, withdrew their offer after the McCanns were made arguidos.

If it's in the newspapers it must be true.

Joking apart, regarding the reward, no one will have had to cough up any dosh, because Madeleine hasn't yet been found. To my knowledge the McCanns never mentioned the reward, when they were making their plea for the "abductor" to return Madeleine to them.

kathybelle wrote:

Panda wrote:

The reward is no longer available because the NOTW has closed down now .Some of the donations anyway were promised, not paid into the NOTW
Fund.

Panda

According to a newspaper report, a lot of the businessmen who pledged money towards the fund, withdrew their offer after the McCanns were made arguidos.

If it's in the newspapers it must be true.

Joking apart, regarding the reward, no one will have had to cough up any dosh, because Madeleine hasn't yet been found. To my knowledge the McCanns never mentioned the reward, when they were making their plea for the "abductor" to return Madeleine to them.

Kathybelle,

Yes , the donors to the Fund were very specific , "for information leading to the whereabouts of Madeleine" or something like that and I don't ever
remember either of the McCanns mentioning it duriing an interview. You would think £2 million would tempt any snitch who knew something...vanished
without a trace......weird isn't it!!

To the best of my knowledge there is no reward on offer now,and if there is it certainly hasn't/isn't being advertised anywhere as far as i know ?

Lioned wrote:To the best of my knowledge there is no reward on offer now,and if there is it certainly hasn't/isn't being advertised anywhere as far as i know ?

Lioned, I presume it was retracted when the NOTW closed down. None of the donors had actually parted with any money, only pledged it .

Panda wrote:

Lioned wrote:To the best of my knowledge there is no reward on offer now,and if there is it certainly hasn't/isn't being advertised anywhere as far as i know ?

Lioned, I presume it was retracted when the NOTW closed down. None of the donors had actually parted with any money, only pledged it .

What a lot of cheap, feel good publicity for them, in that case.

So now I am wondering what this bloke is on about with the 35M reward, if they find Madeleine in the garden.

If you are doing all this for the money it'd be likely you'd check to make sure what the terms were, if there is only a reward for her safe return and even that no longer is in play, it's foolish to spend years looking and especially looking under a driveway, she is not going to be returned alive if she was buried there May 3rd as they claim to believe.

They see,m to think there is a reward of some sort however for finding her even if she is deceased.

widowan wrote:

Panda wrote:

Lioned wrote:To the best of my knowledge there is no reward on offer now,and if there is it certainly hasn't/isn't being advertised anywhere as far as i know ?

Lioned, I presume it was retracted when the NOTW closed down. None of the donors had actually parted with any money, only pledged it .

What a lot of cheap, feel good publicity for them, in that case.

So now I am wondering what this bloke is on about with the 35M reward, if they find Madeleine in the garden.

If you are doing all this for the money it'd be likely you'd check to make sure what the terms were, if there is only a reward for her safe return and even that no longer is in play, it's foolish to spend years looking and especially looking under a driveway, she is not going to be returned alive if she was buried there May 3rd as they claim to believe.

They see,m to think there is a reward of some sort however for finding her even if she is deceased.

Widowan, that is why this latest attention seeking guy is not to be taken seriously. Strange how South Africa has been the Country with the most
interest in the case. First of all we had the Guy with the gizmo who needed a sample of Madeleines hair so he could go searching, then the Brother and
Sister who later teamed up with Birch , then fell out with him , I dont even know why we are giving this story so much attention and discussion.

It certainly sounds very likely to have been initiated to cause some publicity for a reason. Maybe they can afford to pay this SB to organise a stunt such as this and if Murat subsequently sues I doubt if the fine would be huge. Might be worth it to do this for whatever purpose they had in mind.

Another posting courtesy of the JH site from Stephen Birch (allegedly). Someone has asked him to post on his YouTube account to confirm that he is the person on the JH site but as yet he has not done so.

http://www.jillhavern.forumotion.net/t5287-madeleine-mc-cann-first#115742

Not Born Yesterday wrote:Another posting courtesy of the JH site from Stephen Birch (allegedly). Someone has asked him to post on his YouTube account to confirm that he is the person on the JH site but as yet he has not done so.

http://www.jillhavern.forumotion.net/t5287-madeleine-mc-cann-first#115742

WUM. He's still banging on about the Portimoa police, who ever they are. In fact he reminds me of Jane Tanner and her "Spanish policeman". Not much use as an investigator/witness if they don't even know where they are.

Iris wrote:

Not Born Yesterday wrote:Another posting courtesy of the JH site from Stephen Birch (allegedly). Someone has asked him to post on his YouTube account to confirm that he is the person on the JH site but as yet he has not done so.

http://www.jillhavern.forumotion.net/t5287-madeleine-mc-cann-first#115742

WUM. He's still banging on about the Portimoa police, who ever they are. In fact he reminds me of Jane Tanner and her "Spanish policeman". Not much use as an investigator/witness if they don't even know where they are.

lol!

I think we should be grateful he hasn't registered here too as he's leading everyone there on a merry dance, starting up new topics whenever he appears and not responding to questions. He's certainly showing all the signs of being a wind-up merchant but whether he's the same Stephen Birch who claims to have been in PDL, the jury's still out on that one.