Bring them all back to Portugal! Robert Murat in Sunday Express!

ARTICLE up in FULL

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/397244/Bring-them-all-back-to-Portugal

'Bring them all back to Portugal’

ROBERT MURAT today appeals for Scotland Yard to stage a filmed reconstruction of all the events surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.



By: James Murray
Published: Sun, May 5, 2013

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Robert Murat was cleared as a suspect long ago (Sunday Express photographer Mark Kehoe)

Marking the sixth anniversary of her abduction, the Algarve-based businessman says a 48-hour timeline would help police conducting a £4.5million review of the case.

Mr Murat, who was cleared as a suspect, said: “They need to start from the beginning.” So far the two-year review by more than 20 detectives in London has not led to a breakthrough.

Portugal’s authorities have not been persuaded to reopen the investigation, although Policia Judiciaria policewoman Helena Monteiro liaises regularly with officers from the Yard’s Operation Grange.

Mr Murat, 39, spoke to the Sunday Express while sipping tea in Casa ­Liliana, his elderly mother Jenny’s villa 150 yards from apartment 5a of the Ocean Club where Madeleine vanished.

He said: “They need to speak to everybody, including myself, and they need to get the Portuguese involved in a much more constructive way.

“To get somewhere now they need to have a joint team working here together in Praia da Luz. This is where it happened. It didn’t happen in England.

“The reconstruction should cover the critical period just before and after the abduction.”

Madeleine was three when she disappeared from the apartment at about 9.15pm while her parents Kate and Gerry McCann and seven friends ate at a tapas bar nearby. When the Judiciaria named the McCanns as suspects, they and their friends chose not to take part in a PJ-led reconstruction. It would be different now that they have been cleared, said Mr Murat.

He said: “A reconstruction is a real necessity. I am sure it would fill in some of the missing pieces of the jigsaw. Even now after all this time, the timeline is still confused.”

Thirteen days after Madeleine’s disappearance Mr Murat was named as a suspect. His mother’s home, where he lived then, was searched, his computers were taken, he was questioned for 19 hours by Portuguese police and his property business was wrecked.

His eagerness to help with the original investigation, helping police with translations, aroused a journalist’s suspicions. Three of the McCanns’ friends believed they saw him on the night Madeleine vanished but his mother confirmed to police he was with her all night at Casa Liliana.

After being cleared as a suspect in July 2008 he won substantial damages from newspapers.

Despite his ordeal he believes Madeleine’s fate should be uppermost in everybody’s minds as another anniversary passes.

He said: “You cannot lose sight of the fact that a child was taken and we need to know what happened to her.”

He is still willing to be interviewed by the review team, which has made no effort to contact him. “I have no problem with that whatsoever,” he said emphatically.

“I am available to help on the proper legal basis. I think everybody who was around at that time, holidaymakers and people at the Ocean Club, should be interviewed again. The timeline needs to be made crystal clear because there is still so much confusion, such a mess.”

Madeleine aged three in Everton shirt


Police need to be here, not England

Robert Murat

Asked if he thought Madeleine’s fate would ever be known, he brushed back his thick dark brown hair, rubbed his tanned chin and said: “I hope so, I believe it will come out one day.” He said Portugal’s financial crisis means “if the British do want to get to the bottom of this, it is a case of funding the Portuguese”.

Mr Murat, who grew up in Devon and Portugal, now has a young family with wife Michaela. They were both victims of the relentless media frenzy when Madeleine vanished and it has left its scars. For the first time during the interview he became emotional and said in a whisper: “There is no way to describe the impact this has had on our lives. Six years later it still affects me. I wasn’t able to do much for years and years.

“It was difficult getting back on the horse, so to speak, and do the stuff I was doing before.”

His property business went, partly because his computers were held by the PJ for so long, but now he has built up Newteq, an Apple-authorised service provider on the Algarve. He said he and Michaela live a quiet life, staying away from some events because people still come up to him and say: “You’re that Mr Murat.”

Before 2007 he says he was one of those people who was always eager to help others, to get involved in the community. Now he is more guarded.

When the original police investigation was at its height, he bumped into a British man, Steve Carpenter, who persuaded him to meet the McCanns because they needed his language skills. He said: “I met Gerry and said: ‘I don’t know what to say, there is nothing I can say but I do speak Portuguese and English and I will help in any way I can’.”

He helped Portugal’s GNR military officers to search the Ocean Club apartments and translated statements from key witnesses, giving him a unique inside perspective on the case.

He said: “From the experiences of the interviews there are some points that could be looked at.

“There needs to be much more transparency, much more openness to dissipate a lot of the stuff that has been talked about on the internet and on blogs.”

He does not believe the results of the Yard’s work should be made available to the public.

“The Yard needs to get together with the Portuguese police and ­produce a final report,” he said. “They need to sit down together and come up with a final version, a structured report.

“The report should be done by the Portuguese with the support of the British.”

Last week Prime Minister David Cameron had a private meeting with the McCanns in London, promising them the review would not fall foul of budget cuts and giving them enough confidence to say on their website that they hope for a significant breakthrough in the months ahead.

On Friday night Kate and Gerry, both 45, gathered around a candle which burns night and day for Madeleine outside their home village of Rothley, Leicestershire. A 50-strong crowd supported them as they marked the anniversary with prayers with Madeleine’s ­siblings, eight-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

Mr Murat said: “It must be a ­tremendously difficult time of year for them and of course as a human being you feel for them and for the loss of their daughter.

“At this time of year, like so many people on the Algarve, we have been thinking about this poor girl.

“I just hope in the months ahead the PJ are fully involved because in my view that is the best way of solving the mystery.”

At St Vincent’s church in Praia da Luz, where Kate and Gerry went regularly, worshippers also prayed for Madeleine, whose 10th birthday is on May 12.

Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, declined to comment on Mr Murat’s views last night, saying the couple were happy with how Scotland Yard is conducting the review.

END!

Wow, what's going on here. Somebody is shaking the tree to see what falls down, question is who is doing the shaking and why.

At least there can be little argument that he is aware of what is in the statements and the confused timeline.

How unlike CM not to have a view.


- As a footnote:

After being cleared as a suspect in July 2008 he won substantial damages from newspapers.

How coy of the Express!

Another good video ....it's very evident how kate has aged in the last six years....they may have escaped jail, but they're certainly not free.

Well this is totally unexpected and has made my day......especially from James Murray who is currently in PDL!!!!!!

I think the Express might have some inside information to warrant this complete turnaround of their support of the McCanns.

I bet the McCanns didn't expect this, can you imagine their fury.

Interesting that RM says that the re-enactment of the previous 48 hours is necessary.
As opposed to just the evening/night of the 3rd.

A whitewash from the Met is going to be a bit more difficult to justify now!

This paragraph looks a bit pink to me!

Last week Prime Minister David Cameron had a private meeting with the McCanns in London, promising them the review would not fall foul of budget cuts and giving them enough confidence to say on their website that they hope for a significant breakthrough in the months ahead.

almostgothic wrote:Interesting that RM says that the re-enactment of the previous 48 hours is necessary.
As opposed to just the evening/night of the 3rd.

Exactly! It ain't rocket science is it?

pennylane wrote:This paragraph looks a bit pink to me!

Last week Prime Minister David Cameron had a private meeting with the McCanns in London, promising them the review would not fall foul of budget cuts and giving them enough confidence to say on their website that they hope for a significant breakthrough in the months ahead.

Snap Pennylane, I had just copied that bit, ready to post.

If it was a Private Meeting, who leaked it to the Express? Would Cameron be p***ed off with the McCanns for repeating this news ?
The Express had to pay the McCanns and Tapas 7 over £1 million in compensation so would relish bringing the McCanns down.

Thanks karen for posting the full report.

Panda wrote:

pennylane wrote:This paragraph looks a bit pink to me!

Last week Prime Minister David Cameron had a private meeting with the McCanns in London, promising them the review would not fall foul of budget cuts and giving them enough confidence to say on their website that they hope for a significant breakthrough in the months ahead.

Snap Pennylane, I had just copied that bit, ready to post.

If it was a Private Meeting, who leaked it to the Express? Would Cameron be p***ed off with the McCanns for repeating this news ?
The Express had to pay the McCanns and Tapas 7 over £1 million in compensation so would relish bringing the McCanns down.

Thanks karen for posting the full report.

Morning Panda,

It looks to me as if Mitchell has indeed added his 2 cents worth here and there, but declined to comment on the 'haul their arses back to Portugal' part.

"Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, declined to comment on Mr Murat’s views last night, saying the couple were happy with how Scotland Yard is conducting the review."
I'll just bet they are, and they don't want a successful PM backed SY whitewash threatened by the victim of the first framing attempt.

malena stool wrote:"Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, declined to comment on Mr Murat’s views last night, saying the couple were happy with how Scotland Yard is conducting the review."
I'll just bet they are, and they don't want a successful PM backed SY whitewash threatened by the victim of the first framing attempt.

Amen!

great news this -- but james murrey mmmm --air of caution -- good news though wonder what the tapas and mcanns are thinking this morning -- you gotta ask yourself -- why now though exited hence typos

almostgothic wrote:Madeleine McCann: April Jones PR and Robert Murat wants a reconstruction

http://www.anorak.co.uk/355933/madeleine-mccann/madeleine-mccann-april-jones-pr-and-robert-murat-wants-a-reconstruction.html/

Earlier this week I made a decision to stop reading the court reports about little April Jones. I found the content and the implications of what may have happened extremely upsetting.

I simply cannot understand how the McCanns can even begin to think about April given the situation they are in, never mind using her family's grief as a means to gain publicity.

They have finally sunk to an all time low. If they wish to sympathise, light candles or whatever they think they should be doing, would they for once have the good manners to do so in private without their self serving publicity machine.

cass wrote:great news this -- but james murrey mmmm --air of caution -- good news though wonder what the tapas and mcanns are thinking this morning -- you gotta ask yourself -- why now though exited hence typos

Morning cass, I am just as perplexed as you, I emailed James Murray once about his reporting......didn't get a reply .
Could be the start of floodgates opening on news James has learned, hence the visit to PDL, the Daily Star, it's sister paper I think? completely the opposite......wait and see is the only sane thing to do. Great article by Anorak...thanks Almost Gothic.

I'm convinced there is a big missing piece to this McCann fiasco, and one day, out of left field, someone will sell a jaw dropping story to the press that nails the McCanns to the wall. I think they keep hustling because they know they are vulnerable.

jmo

From the Anorak article:

As Janet paid tribute, Kate, 45, struggled for composure and was comforted by Gerry. She sobbed as she told a ­gathering in her home village of Rothley, Leics: “It’s not just the pain of ­having a missing child, it’s the ­confusion, uncertainty and living in limbo.”

That is Janet Kennedy, wife of the man who told us as soon as the Fund was set up that it would be used to pay for 'legal expenses' . He was as good as his word.

I believe that the uncertainty and living in limbo refers to them being left out of the loop by the PJ and SY. Hacked Off isn't exactly a howling success with the public either. Now annexing poor little April just like they annexed and used Mari Luz Cortez's picture in 2007 without permission from her parents - even the average tabloid reader will raise their eyebrows?

Wow...I knew there was a reason I logged in the other day (and then forgot to log out again lol) and my hopes that the press are in deed in possession of the real facts, but were simply biding their time so any negative reporting would not jeopardise a trial, may indeed be true.

Notably, the piece does not accuse the McCanns of anything or imply their involvement in any way, but it sure hits the nail on the head of what we have been saying for the last 6 years..Get back to Portugal and do the reconstruction!

A great piece of news to wake up to on an otherwise dull Sunday!

I hope that sales figures for the Sunday Express are up massively today, and then we might get more of the same, with other newspapers trying to get in on this different angle to the "Maddie story" too!

And this is how an innocent person behaves even after being dragged through the mud as opposed to a bunch of irresponsible people who refused to put themselves on the line and find out what happened to a missing child. Even Murat recognises that although what he went through must have been horrible, getting to the truth is more important. The parents and friends of the missing child could learn something from him. Do you hear him, Kate, Gerry and Tapas? Your silence is deafening and crystal clear at the same time.

Claudia79 wrote:And this is how an innocent person behaves even after being dragged through the mud as opposed to a bunch of irresponsible people who refused to put themselves on the line and find out what happened to a missing child. Even Murat recognises that although what he went through must have been horrible, getting to the truth is more important. The parents and friends of the missing child could learn something from him. Do you hear him, Kate, Gerry and Tapas? Your silence is deafening and crystal clear at the same time.

Yes, an innocent person is ready to be re-interviewed. The McCanns and friends will no doubt find reasons not to go back and do the same.

AnnaEsse wrote:

Claudia79 wrote:And this is how an innocent person behaves even after being dragged through the mud as opposed to a bunch of irresponsible people who refused to put themselves on the line and find out what happened to a missing child. Even Murat recognises that although what he went through must have been horrible, getting to the truth is more important. The parents and friends of the missing child could learn something from him. Do you hear him, Kate, Gerry and Tapas? Your silence is deafening and crystal clear at the same time.

Yes, an innocent person is ready to be re-interviewed. The McCanns and friends will no doubt find reasons not to go back and do the same.

Exactly. While one is willing to do whatever is necessary even after having been dragged through the mud, the child's parents and their friends aren't...

jeanmonroe wrote:"It just goes to show how out of touch some of the TV news people are. I've just been watching the review of tomorrow's front pages on Sky News and the person commenting Vincent ??? said that Madeleine disappeared in SPAIN. For God's sake, after 6 years of never ending stories in the news and TV you would think he would know by now that it was Portugal not Spain. I really do despair at these highly paid, totally ignorant people commenting on things they know nothing about or have no interest in."

On JH.

I KNOW THAT PORTUGAL AND SPAIN ARE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES,IF I KNOW THIS AND I HAVE NO QUALIFICATIONS,HOW COME THESE HIGHLY EDUCATED DON'T KNOW THAT?
ITS A BIT LIKE CONFUSING CANADA AND USA