Sighting stirs memory

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/8158212/Sighting-stirs-memory



The Southland Times

Sighting stirs memory

BROOKE GARDINER IN QUEENSTOWN
Last updated 11:57 09/01/2013



A Wanaka resident who reported a possible sighting of missing British child Madeleine McCann to police several years ago said she wasn't surprised to hear another sighting had been reported.

Queenstown hit international headlines when a retailer sparked a police investigation on New Year's Eve after serving a man and a young girl who bore a striking resemblance to the missing youngster.

Madeleine went missing from the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007 just before her fourth birthday.

She was on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry, and siblings Sean and Amelie. Detective Sergeant Brian Cameron said police had identified the young girl seen in the resort and were "absolutely satisfied" she was not Madeleine.

He would not give any details on the child except to say it was not the first time police had been contacted regarding the similarities between the two girls.

Mr Cameron would not disclose the methods used by police to identify the child.

It is not known whether police conducted a DNA test.

A Wanaka resident who reported a possible sighting to police about four years ago told The Mirror she still believes the young girl she saw could have been Madeleine. "It's brought it all back to me, " she said.

She contacted Wanaka police after becoming suspicious about the "weird" behaviour of a couple who had a young child with them who bore a striking resemblance to Madeleine.

The couple told the woman they had sold up all of their possessions and were driving around the countryside staying at out of the way places because they had decided to have a change.

They came into the woman's workplace to lodge a claim after damaging a vehicle.

"It was really weird. It was just the three of them but they were travelling in two different cars."

In order to complete the claim, the woman had to go out and look at the car and was surprised to see a little girl sitting in the back seat.

"She was looking down and she didn't look up at me . . . when I got one of my colleagues to go out and have a look the man wouldn't let her anywhere near the car."

Quite sure the child could be Madeleine, the woman contacted police immediately.

Until now, the Wanaka sighting has not been reported in the media.

The woman said she has followed the case and contacted police again two years ago when police ruled out a Dunedin sighting.

The retailer who reported the Queenstown sighting said she immediately thought of Madeleine when the blonde girl came into her store with a man on New Year's Eve.

'Constructive memory syndrome' I'd think.

The age advanced photographs show her as brown-haired, not blonde. So that's not correct.
The girl with the thunderbolt eye doesn't exist - from time to time there is a sighting and talk of taking a DNA sample.

But what I want to know is: what are they going to compare it to? Because all the material sent to the FSS was destroyed. Nearly six years ago the only DNA relating (allegedly) to Maddie came from a pillowcase in Rothley.
Since all samples were destroyed, I think this essential reference sample is no more.

You can take all the DNA profiles you like, the best you're going to get is a relationship to the parents and the siblings, not a complete match to Maddie.
Ever.

Yet another worm coming out of it's hole. All this new publicity couldn't possibly to take attention off the court cases coming up soon is it?

If the witness was dealing with a claim for vehicle damage, one assumes she had the vehicle registration. Very easy to check and rule out I would guess.

This story became a non-story almost as soon as it was published.
So one has to be intrigued as to why the NZ press are still flogging it relentlessly, like the proverbial dead horse.
Surely it cannot be that there are no other interesting antipodean news items to relate?
Surely the Wanaka woman (who like the other NZ Maddie spotters has no name) isn't that desperate for her fifteen minutes of fame?
Or is it, as fred suggests, an early diversion from forthcoming (and potentially damaging) McCann news?

tigger wrote:'Constructive memory syndrome' I'd think.

The age advanced photographs show her as brown-haired, not blonde. So that's not correct.
The girl with the thunderbolt eye doesn't exist - from time to time there is a sighting and talk of taking a DNA sample.

But what I want to know is: what are they going to compare it to? Because all the material sent to the FSS was destroyed. Nearly six years ago the only DNA relating (allegedly) to Maddie came from a pillowcase in Rothley.
Since all samples were destroyed, I think this essential reference sample is no more.

You can take all the DNA profiles you like, the best you're going to get is a relationship to the parents and the siblings, not a complete match to Maddie.
Ever.

No eye defect, just a fleck - nothing one could use as positive identification then, although it was a great marketing ploy - but that's all it was it seems. (Wonder why SY included it in their age-progression pic though?) Good point about no reliable DNA sample to make a 100'% identification. If they turn up with a live Madeleine some time down the line - who can challenge her authenticity? Still a lot of money to be made here - books, films, TV appearances etc. Only problem remaining is 'finding' a plausible Madeleine, but one would expect that angle to have been covered before the whole plan was put into operation wouldn't one? Just thinking out loud here - not suggesting for a moment that anything of the sort could be behind it all - I mean, jetting halfway round the world to visit the Smarts in the USA during the days immediately following the disappearance was the sort of thing we'd all do - isn't it?

almostgothic wrote:This story became a non-story almost as soon as it was published.
So one has to be intrigued as to why the NZ press are still flogging it relentlessly, like the proverbial dead horse.
Surely it cannot be that there are no other interesting antipodean news items to relate?
Surely the Wanaka woman (who like the other NZ Maddie spotters has no name) isn't that desperate for her fifteen minutes of fame?
Or is it, as fred suggests, an early diversion from forthcoming (and potentially damaging) McCann news?

I bet she is, April Jones is also thought to be alive now, can we include Tia in this list as well? Why not! 15 minutes of fame for some, lots of money for another lot.

Sometimes one might think that if people such as the Wanaka woman died, the overall IQ in the world would actually go up.

There will certainly be grounds to invent a medical term for Maddie sightings soon.

To use the words of clarence mitchell into the sightings ""It is very curious that this is being released now, having been sitting in the police files for 11 months. The timing of this is frankly suspicious."

Couldn`t a DNA sample be obtained from all the hair in the hairbrush that Danie Krugel still has? The twins` hairs could easily be eliminated and those left would be Maddie`s.

Oldartform wrote:Couldn`t a DNA sample be obtained from all the hair in the hairbrush that Danie Krugel still has? The twins` hairs could easily be eliminated and those left would be Maddie`s.

Bear in mind that was the brush that didn't exist. I doubt very much that anything exhibited by the attention seekers Krugel and Birch is genuine.

tigger wrote:

Oldartform wrote:Couldn`t a DNA sample be obtained from all the hair in the hairbrush that Danie Krugel still has? The twins` hairs could easily be eliminated and those left would be Maddie`s.

Bear in mind that was the brush that didn't exist. I doubt very much that anything exhibited by the attention seekers Krugel and Birch is genuine.

The hair sample he was given was a hair from mad die's coat, there was never a hairbrush

jd16 wrote:

tigger wrote:

Oldartform wrote:Couldn`t a DNA sample be obtained from all the hair in the hairbrush that Danie Krugel still has? The twins` hairs could easily be eliminated and those left would be Maddie`s.

Bear in mind that was the brush that didn't exist. I doubt very much that anything exhibited by the attention seekers Krugel and Birch is genuine.

The hair sample he was given was a hair from mad die's coat, there was never a hairbrush

But we only have Krugel's and TM's word for that. Therefore worthless. Might be a hair of the dog...

I remember as tigger said that the samples had been destroyed by the FSS in Birmingham. I also remember that Portugal asked for them back but the FSS said that they had been contaminated! So destroyed.

Contaminated by staff and even the director himself, or so he said. This from the the best there is or supposed to be the best there is! Is that a regular happening? I do not think so.

I was reading a book recently that was set in Sweden, written by a Swedish author and translated into English. It was published not long before Madeleine disappeared. It was a crime novel and their FSS was not good enough for what they wanted. So they sent it to Birmingham England because they were the best in the world and if anyone could come up with what they wanted, they could. It was a novel I know but it is the fact that at the time they were thought to be the ultimate in forensics

So when was it that the best in the world suddenly become totally incompetent and contaminated the DNA that was entrusted to them. We can only assume that it was when a certain DNA was sent to them. They got it right first off, then they said they had not and then the samples were destroyed!

They must have been under some huge pressure from very important people to throw away their famous reputation!!

I think I read somewhere long ago that Portugal had kept some of the DNA . Does anyone remember this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfkRFobzF38

Danie Krugel states in this clip (3.55 onwards) that he used a hairbrush given to him by Gerry. So there was a hairbrush but of course he might have bought it from a £ shop!

or borrowed it from Clarence

Not Born Yesterday wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfkRFobzF38

Danie Krugel states in this clip (3.55 onwards) that he used a hairbrush given to him by Gerry. So there was a hairbrush but of course he might have bought it from a £ shop!

But he says its the actual hairbrush that he received from GM with the hair still in it !

fuzeta wrote:I remember as tigger said that the samples had been destroyed by the FSS in Birmingham. I also remember that Portugal asked for them back but the FSS said that they had been contaminated! So destroyed.

Contaminated by staff and even the director himself, or so he said. This from the the best there is or supposed to be the best there is! Is that a regular happening? I do not think so.

I was reading a book recently that was set in Sweden, written by a Swedish author and translated into English. It was published not long before Madeleine disappeared. It was a crime novel and their FSS was not good enough for what they wanted. So they sent it to Birmingham England because they were the best in the world and if anyone could come up with what they wanted, they could. It was a novel I know but it is the fact that at the time they were thought to be the ultimate in forensics

So when was it that the best in the world suddenly become totally incompetent and contaminated the DNA that was entrusted to them. We can only assume that it was when a certain DNA was sent to them. They got it right first off, then they said they had not and then the samples were destroyed!

They must have been under some huge pressure from very important people to throw away their famous reputation!!

I think I read somewhere long ago that Portugal had kept some of the DNA . Does anyone remember this?

Surely, even if it had been contaminated, the staff`s DNA (which would be stored) could be eliminated, or am I expecting too much of the science?

tigger wrote:

jd16 wrote:

tigger wrote:

Oldartform wrote:Couldn`t a DNA sample be obtained from all the hair in the hairbrush that Danie Krugel still has? The twins` hairs could easily be eliminated and those left would be Maddie`s.

Bear in mind that was the brush that didn't exist. I doubt very much that anything exhibited by the attention seekers Krugel and Birch is genuine.

The hair sample he was given was a hair from mad die's coat, there was never a hairbrush

But we only have Krugel's and TM's word for that. Therefore worthless. Might be a hair of the dog...

True but you have to question why now is he on video claiming he has a hairbrush when at the time he said (and all reports) he only had a hair from Maddies coat? Talk about totally contradicting yourself!

Also, if the mccanns had this 'mysterious' hairbrush all that time...why on earth did they not give it to the PJ? This alone proves the mccanns were hindering the PJ in their investigation

No Stone Unturned...my foot!! Just PR rubbish (to put it politely) to con the public when in reality they do something totally different...like so many things, they say one thing yet do another....but strangely nobody in authority calls them up on it! The powers that be must be seriously covering up something big and dirty...we will find it and expose it

the pillow case dna wasnt the only one ,i am sure that a sample of all babies born in UK ,was a 2nd sample that was used and was same as pillow case one .it arrived in portugal from england ,wason a card sent supposedly from a source ,and it was same as pillowcase one ,i cant recall if this was confirmed by mr amaral?but i think so . joyce1938

Oldartform wrote:

fuzeta wrote:I remember as tigger said that the samples had been destroyed by the FSS in Birmingham. I also remember that Portugal asked for them back but the FSS said that they had been contaminated! So destroyed.

Contaminated by staff and even the director himself, or so he said. This from the the best there is or supposed to be the best there is! Is that a regular happening? I do not think so.

I was reading a book recently that was set in Sweden, written by a Swedish author and translated into English. It was published not long before Madeleine disappeared. It was a crime novel and their FSS was not good enough for what they wanted. So they sent it to Birmingham England because they were the best in the world and if anyone could come up with what they wanted, they could. It was a novel I know but it is the fact that at the time they were thought to be the ultimate in forensics

So when was it that the best in the world suddenly become totally incompetent and contaminated the DNA that was entrusted to them. We can only assume that it was when a certain DNA was sent to them. They got it right first off, then they said they had not and then the samples were destroyed!

They must have been under some huge pressure from very important people to throw away their famous reputation!!

I think I read somewhere long ago that Portugal had kept some of the DNA . Does anyone remember this?

Surely, even if it had been contaminated, the staff`s DNA (which would be stored) could be eliminated, or am I expecting too much of the science?

My thoughts exactly oldartform

Yes it's interesting that Danie Krugel has now changed his story from one hair on a coat - see the Sunday Mirror report from October 2007: http://www.mccannfiles.com/id304.html - to a communal hairbrush.

While not as stomach-churning as shared toothbrushes (that makes me feel sick) that's still gross - but that's another story.

Is there anyone who understood what he was illustrating in the video and if there is any scientific merit whatsover in it? I don't want to dismiss it as absolute codswallop without having a second opinion!

does anyone here know anything about the heel stick blood that used to be taken and stored at the hospital that one did get to police to be tested against pillow case one ? i dont think i dreampt it ? is no one ready to talk about it ?joyce1938

Wouldn't the results of such a test if it had been done at birth have been included in Madeleine's medical records which were not supplied as requested?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonatal_heel_prick

joyce1938 wrote:does anyone here know anything about the heel stick blood that used to be taken and stored at the hospital that one did get to police to be tested against pillow case one ? i dont think i dreampt it ? is no one ready to talk about it ?joyce1938

I don`t think its legal for a hospital to keep a baby`s blood sample or DNA - No DNA can be taken without permission - that heel prick test is just done to check for diseases. The hospital isn`t allowed to keep it - I`m sure there would be an uproar if it was discovered that children`s DNA was being stored without permission.