EXCLUSIVE: British police identify 'Maddy suspects' and urge Portuguese to act

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/exclusive-british-police-identify-maddy-suspects-and-urge-portuguese-to-act-8620704.html

Scotland Yard has identified a number of potential suspects who may have abducted Madeleine McCann, the force’s top detective revealed today.

Investigators carrying out a review of the case have drawn up a list of people who they say are “of interest” to the inquiry.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, the head of Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said there were a “good number” of individuals who should be questioned.

Today he urged the Portuguese authorities to investigate the new leads identified by the British review.

DCS Campbell, speaking on the eve of his retirement from the Met, said: “There are a lot of people of interest. There are people who could be properly explored further, if only to be eliminated.”

He refused to give numbers but said there was “more than a handful” of names of “people of interest”.

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007 as her parents Kate and Gerry McCann dined with friends near-by.

The official Portuguese inquiry was shelved in 2008 but Scotland Yard launched a review of the case in 2011 after David Cameron responded to a plea from Madeleine’s parents.

Last year the review team led by Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said it had identified 195 potential leads after examining a huge bundle of material.

Today DCS Campbell said the 30-strong review squad had done a “fantastic” job in identifying “further investigative and forensic opportunities.”

He said it was “perfectly probable” that information which could identify the suspect responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance was already within the Portuguese files.

He added: “We have to ask ourselves why are cases unsolved and, on many occasions, we find we passed the suspects by already and the suspect sits within our system.”

DCS Campbell said there were a “good number” of people who could be interviewed and eliminated to allow investigators to focus on a smaller group.

Detectives from the Yard’s team have travelled to Portugal around 10 times to liaise with the authorities there and gather evidence in an inquiry which has cost more than £2 million.

So far, Portugal’s attorney general has ruled out a new inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance but the comments from the senior Yard detective will raise hopes of a fresh investigation.

DCS Campbell said: “The Portuguese hopefully will pursue some of these investigative opportunities with our assistance. There is room for further work and collaboration to resolve the case.”

He re-iterated a claim that Madeleine could still be alive. He said: “You only have to look at the case in Cleveland, Ohio, and the European cases. Of course, there is a possibility she is alive, you cannot exclude it. But the key is to investigate the case and, alive or dead, we should be able to try and discern what happened.”

He added: “The purpose of the review is to look at it with fresh eyes…there has been real benefit in doing it.”

[i]DCS Campbell said there were a “good number” of people who could be interviewed and eliminated to allow investigators to focus on a smaller group.

[i]

I find this quite positive. Makes me feel like it not a whitewash.

chrissie wrote:

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, the head of Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said there were a “good number” of individuals who should be questioned.

DCS Campbell, speaking on the eve of his retirement from the Met, said: “There are a lot of people of interest. There are people who could be properly explored further, if only to be eliminated.”

He refused to give numbers but said there was “more than a handful” of names of “people of interest”.


He said it was “perfectly probable” that information which could identify the suspect responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance was already within the Portuguese files.

He added: “We have to ask ourselves why are cases unsolved and, on many occasions, we find we passed the suspects by already and the suspect sits within our system.”

DCS Campbell said there were a “good number” of people who could be interviewed and eliminated to allow investigators to focus on a smaller group.

But the key is to investigate the case and, alive or dead, we should be able to try and discern what happened.”

Good news! Looking likely the case will be reopened then.

The McCanns need eliminating from the case the PJ and Leics police have said the same too.

You've got to answer the questions from the police Kate and all of you need to do the reconstruction.

chrissie wrote:
DCS Campbell said: “The Portuguese hopefully will pursue some of these investigative opportunities with our assistance. There is room for further work and collaboration to resolve the case.”

With the Mets assistance!

This certainly looks like he is referring to the parents and the rest of the group rather than a random stranger, because if they genuinely thought that there was a child abductor that could be identified then I'm sure they would be doing something about it.

The one thing that makes me question this press release though is the officer spoke on the eve of his retirement...seems a bit strange and of course he may not be part of the team, so why on earth would he be talking about it?

But I'll take it as a positive move and hope that between this and Murat's recent request for the reconstruction, that things are finally going to happen.

Hi susible, He's head of Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command, so I imagine he is kept up to date with whats going on?
I too am trying to take this as a positive move.

If the review and their "findings" suggest that the Mccanns should be exonerated and that the tapas lot were telling the truth, then our suspicions and feelings over the last 6 years were totally wrong. I cannot help but feel that there is more to this than even we think.

On Sky news now!

Well, one thing the article does tell us when it says that these individuals should be questioned is that they're not referring to dead people!

The Daily Mirror:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-british-police-identify-1894726

Same info but different headline:

Madeleine McCann: British police identify potential suspects and urge Portuguese cops to make arrests

Note the past tenses in his statement and the placement of 'could be alive...but..' They're winding up the review.Passing the buck to the Portuguese who can be safely blamed for once again not doing anything.

I'm fairly pleased they're not trying to hang it on Hewlett which was an option.

Wonderful news for those ardent detectiveswho must have been making do with selling double glazing in the interim. Cowley and Edgar.

tigger wrote:Note the past tenses in his statement and the placement of 'could be alive...but..' They're winding up the review.Passing the buck to the Portuguese who can be safely blamed for once again not doing anything.

I'm fairly pleased they're not trying to hang it on Hewlett which was an option.

Wonderful news for those ardent detectiveswho must have been making do with selling double glazing in the interim. Cowley and Edgar.

A good point. What exactly did those private dicks do then? Surely the McCann will question this if all these possible suspects have now been identified.

I won't hold my breath though but if it was me, I'd be asking for a refund....

http://news.sky.com/story/1092302/madeleine-mccann-case-new-suspects

Interestingly no mention of abduction

I just heard it too on Sky News right now. It was not 'she could be alive or she could be dead' Mr Redwood being quoted, but
A N Other senior policeman. What stuck in my mind were the phrases: 'there are a handful of people who need at least to be interviewed and eliminated'... The reporter said it was not made clear whether these people are Portuguese or English. I could think of a few... Also there are said to be 'forensic opportunities' (!) It was made clear they are working WITH the Portuguese authorities too. I don't think it is a whitewash. After all this time and money I think they are going for it... whatever 'it' turns out to be.

He said: "There are a lot of people of interest. There are people who could be properly explored further, if only to be eliminated."



Funny, no quote from Mitchell in these articles..after all, the mccanns are always informed BEFORE it hits the
Papers, aren't they.

Yess Kitti... I think you have the quote spot on. I didn't remember it verbatim.

'suspects' and not 'suspect'

Its on the Sky ticker too. Hopefully Mark White, the reporter will be back soon as I only heard half of what he said!

On Sky: Clarence has told Sky the McCann's aren't commenting at present. The man in the studio say "Its entering a new phase and the investigators will want to move to questions those identified asap even if its just to eliminate them."

Oops:

martinbrunt ‏@skymartinbrunt 13m #mccann

Scot Yard says it has identified "more than a handful" of suspects for murder of Madeleine McCann in its review of Portuguese case



So they are calling it murder Martin?

Brunt has tweeted this #mccann Scot Yard says it has identified "more than a handful" of suspects for murder of Madeleine McCann in its review of Portuguese case

MURDER!!!

so they believe Madeleine was murdered do they. very interesting.

quickfingers wrote:On Sky: Clarence has told Sky the McCann's aren't commenting at present. The man in the studio say "Its entering a new phase and the investigators will want to move to questions those identified asap even if its just to eliminate them."

Not even to welcome this news?

Hmmmm......


ETA: Murder?!

Brunt has since edited it to "disappearance"! Very interesting though

oh I wonder if that was a Freudian slip. jimo.