Anger over new suspect/Algarvenewswatch

http://algarvenewswatch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/mccann-case-anger-over-new-suspect.html?spref=tw

When Scotland Yard launched its Madeleine McCann investigation, it called for ‘restraint’ from the British media. Also, a Portuguese law forbids police here from divulging inside information about criminal investigations. So how come newspapers in both Britain and Portugal have identified and published sensational stories about another implausible ‘prime suspect’ in this case?
The stories are causing outrage, especially among relatives of the now deceased ‘suspect,’ but also in the much wider community in Portugal.
Hard on the heels of reports in the UK that police were looking variously for a paedophile gang, foreign perverts, gypsy robbers, English cleaners and some fair-haired individuals possibly from Germany or Holland, the Portuguese tabloid Correio da Manhã last week began publishing a series of articles claiming police were investigating an African man.
The ‘new suspect’ was a former employee of the resort where the McCanns stayed in 2007. Phone records placed him near Praia da Luz at the time. As an immigrant from the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde, he was living with his partner and their son in the nearest town, Lagos. He was arrested in 1996 for petty theft, but had no record of any serious offence.
The Correio da Manhã stories were copied and in some cases embellished in many British and other foreign newspapers. The Daily Express, for example, claimed the suspect was “a violent thug who was a threat to children.” It gave a Portuguese ‘police profile’ as the source of this information.
In many of the regurgitated reports, Portuguese detectives were said to be examining the possibility that the ‘suspect’ had kidnapped Madeleine in an act of revenge against his former employers for his dismissal a year earlier.
This idea made no sense at all, said the brother of the Cape Verdean's Portuguese partner. “It wasn’t as if what happened there with him losing his job destroyed his life. He got work elsewhere soon afterwards.”
A Portuguese TV reporter calmly and sensibly described the recently discovered information about the man’s cell phone use as “a loose end that needs to be tied up.”
But the British tabloids went overboard. More personal details about the man emerged, including his name. The Daily Mirror published a close-up photograph - but of course he looked nothing like either of the five-year-old e-fit images released by Scotland Yard three weeks ago.
The ‘new suspect’ died in a tractor accident in the north of Portugal in 2009, two years after Madeleine disappeared. There is that old saying, “you can’t defame the dead,” but what about the torment and humiliation these stories have inflicted upon those left behind?
This again raises serious questions about the workings and integrity of both the press and the police. How and why did details of this individual and the Polícia Judiciária’s interest in him become available? Has this man really become ‘key’ to the investigation, or is this just part of some cunning tactic?
The ‘suspect’s’ widow told the Portuguese weekly newspaper, Sol: “It is disgusting that they are now trying to set up a dead man as a scapegoat.”
The Federation of the Organisations of Cape Verde based in Lisbon also believes the dead man is being used as a scapegoat. It described the allegations against him as “shocking” and “not credible.”
The truth about this matter needs to be told. Sadly, the truth about most aspects of this extraordinary six and a half year old mystery is as cloudy as ever.

This is an excellent and well reasoned article. Thank you, Algarve News Watch, for your sane reporting on this case.

Well done Len Port, as usual.
Always worth a read!

A sane and rational voice of reason, in the middle of all the madness.

I am glad there is uproar and I hope it continues. Rightly so. They may just have targeted the wrong person this time, ironic, given that he is dead, they would have thought they were home and dry.

At least this time around, the Portugese should be aware of how the British press and other outside influences will work. Hopefully the have a plan of action and will not get blindsided or pushed around this time.

Thanks Annabel, well done the Algarvewatch for bringing this outrage to the fore and I hope Heads role in Portugal , whether they be British or Portugese for releasing this information.

I don't think this is the Portuguese press that is drip feeding, I think it is the British press that doing this and the Portuguese press just copy what's in the UK papers...


And i think it is Mitchell that is behind all off this.

I asked on another thread, who supplied his photograph to The Mirror?

So far, no one has come back with any suggestions.

I cannot see how The Mirror got hold of it from a British person; therefore I'm thinking it could be a Police mug shot that has been leeked out, or someone is betraying him for whatever reason.

How many people that knew him would have such a photo? He's not smiling, its close up (perhaps zoom was used) and he's just staring at the camera with fixed eyes. Its creepy that photograph and it has been deliberately given to our British press imo.

I hope the Portugese investigate and I think the British Press have been fed by a Portugese Policeman involved in the case and making a few bob by selling the photos and details to them. Either that or U.K. Policemen who are involved in the investigation .

If the PJ felt they had enough new information/evidence to re-open the case, or rather if the Attorney General allowed it, they must have something more than a poor, dead, black thief, and possible junkie dead in a tractor accident. If he is the reason for the re-opening they must know something else about him. Are they going to say he was a paedophile too? Have they any evidence of that? To my mind it would make not a haporth of difference, any more than that other conveniently dead paedophile Hewlett did.

(You can't charge a dead man, only conveniently declare that 'he dun it'.) If there is collusion of this sort both Brits and Portuguese could then draw a line under the case once and for all. Only it won't be once and for all. Large numbers of people in both countries will cry 'fit up! stitch up! patsy! fall guy!' and the case will NEVER go away. Years down the line someone may feel the need to unburden him/herself and tell it like it was... Just maybe. Far better for Redwood to say: 'Well, we tried. We did all we could, but there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone...' and shelve the case again as the Portuguese did originally and spend no more money on it.

The abduction by a stranger: paedophile, thief or whoever, of a sleeping child from inside a holiday appartment in the manner proposed, in the time and under the circumstances pertaining is about as likely as abduction by aliens.

Of course... we know nothing for sure... There may be plenty of genuine evidence we know nothing about. However, the above scenario would constitute a horrific and shameful whitewash.

comperedna wrote:If the PJ felt they had enough new information/evidence to re-open the case, or rather if the Attorney General allowed it, they must have something more than a poor, dead, black thief, and possible junkie dead in a tractor accident. If he is the reason for the re-opening they must know something else about him. Are they going to say he was a paedophile too? Have they any evidence of that? To my mind it would make not a haporth of difference, any more than that other conveniently dead paedophile Hewlett did.

(You can't charge a dead man, only conveniently declare that 'he dun it'.)  If there is collusion of this sort both Brits and Portuguese could then draw a line under the case once and for all. Only it won't be once and for all. Large numbers of people in both countries will cry 'fit up! stitch up! patsy! fall guy!' and the case will NEVER go away. Years down the line someone may feel the need to unburden him/herself and tell it like it was... Just maybe. Far better for Redwood to say: 'Well, we tried. We did all we could, but there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone...' and shelve the case again as the Portuguese did originally and spend no more money on it.

The abduction by a stranger: paedophile, thief or whoever, of a sleeping child from inside a holiday appartment in the manner proposed, in the time and under the circumstances pertaining is about as likely as abduction by aliens.

Of course... we know nothing for sure... There may be plenty of genuine evidence we know nothing about. However, the above scenario would constitute a horrific and shameful whitewash.

Hi comparedna, It was the Portugese Police who persuaded the Judiciary to re-open the case, not SY and apparently SY and the Oporto Police have two seperate lines of enquiry.

So I thought too, Panda, but an awful lot on Joana Morais site is looking depressing.

comperedna wrote:So I thought too, Panda, but an awful lot on Joana Morais site is looking depressing.

It's very knife edge isn't it , twice before, a long time ago the Portugese Prosecutor asked the Judiciary first of all if the phone taps could be used in a Trial but was told they were too intrusive, Then he asked if there was enough evidence to go to Trial and was told "show me the Body".....so what is new??? We must be optimistic and think the Oporto Team have something to warrant the re-opening .

Panda wrote:

comperedna wrote:If the PJ felt they had enough new information/evidence to re-open the case, or rather if the Attorney General allowed it, they must have something more than a poor, dead, black thief, and possible junkie dead in a tractor accident. If he is the reason for the re-opening they must know something else about him. Are they going to say he was a paedophile too? Have they any evidence of that? To my mind it would make not a haporth of difference, any more than that other conveniently dead paedophile Hewlett did.

(You can't charge a dead man, only conveniently declare that 'he dun it'.)  If there is collusion of this sort both Brits and Portuguese could then draw a line under the case once and for all. Only it won't be once and for all. Large numbers of people in both countries will cry 'fit up! stitch up! patsy! fall guy!' and the case will NEVER go away. Years down the line someone may feel the need to unburden him/herself and tell it like it was... Just maybe. Far better for Redwood to say: 'Well, we tried. We did all we could, but there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone...' and shelve the case again as the Portuguese did originally and spend no more money on it.

The abduction by a stranger: paedophile, thief or whoever, of a sleeping child from inside a holiday appartment in the manner proposed, in the time and under the circumstances pertaining is about as likely as abduction by aliens.

Of course... we know nothing for sure... There may be plenty of genuine evidence we know nothing about. However, the above scenario would constitute a horrific and shameful whitewash.

Hi comparedna, It was the Portugese Police who persuaded the Judiciary to re-open the case, not SY and apparently SY and the Oporto Police have two seperate lines of enquiry.

Could be a bit awkward if they come to different conclusions.

jassi wrote:

Panda wrote:

comperedna wrote:If the PJ felt they had enough new information/evidence to re-open the case, or rather if the Attorney General allowed it, they must have something more than a poor, dead, black thief, and possible junkie dead in a tractor accident. If he is the reason for the re-opening they must know something else about him. Are they going to say he was a paedophile too? Have they any evidence of that? To my mind it would make not a haporth of difference, any more than that other conveniently dead paedophile Hewlett did.

(You can't charge a dead man, only conveniently declare that 'he dun it'.)  If there is collusion of this sort both Brits and Portuguese could then draw a line under the case once and for all. Only it won't be once and for all. Large numbers of people in both countries will cry 'fit up! stitch up! patsy! fall guy!' and the case will NEVER go away. Years down the line someone may feel the need to unburden him/herself and tell it like it was... Just maybe. Far better for Redwood to say: 'Well, we tried. We did all we could, but there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone...' and shelve the case again as the Portuguese did originally and spend no more money on it.

The abduction by a stranger: paedophile, thief or whoever, of a sleeping child from inside a holiday appartment in the manner proposed, in the time and under the circumstances pertaining is about as likely as abduction by aliens.

Of course... we know nothing for sure... There may be plenty of genuine evidence we know nothing about. However, the above scenario would constitute a horrific and shameful whitewash.

Hi comparedna, It was the Portugese Police who persuaded the Judiciary to re-open the case, not SY and apparently SY and the Oporto Police have two seperate lines of enquiry.

Could be a bit awkward if they come to different conclusions.

Well it's looking very awkward at the moment, as different as black and white ! If we believe the Portugese are looking at tractorman and SY are looking at Smithman, then the only similarity is that they are looking for a man.

mossman wrote:

jassi wrote:

Panda wrote:

comperedna wrote:If the PJ felt they had enough new information/evidence to re-open the case, or rather if the Attorney General allowed it, they must have something more than a poor, dead, black thief, and possible junkie dead in a tractor accident. If he is the reason for the re-opening they must know something else about him. Are they going to say he was a paedophile too? Have they any evidence of that? To my mind it would make not a haporth of difference, any more than that other conveniently dead paedophile Hewlett did.

(You can't charge a dead man, only conveniently declare that 'he dun it'.)  If there is collusion of this sort both Brits and Portuguese could then draw a line under the case once and for all. Only it won't be once and for all. Large numbers of people in both countries will cry 'fit up! stitch up! patsy! fall guy!' and the case will NEVER go away. Years down the line someone may feel the need to unburden him/herself and tell it like it was... Just maybe. Far better for Redwood to say: 'Well, we tried. We did all we could, but there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone...' and shelve the case again as the Portuguese did originally and spend no more money on it.

The abduction by a stranger: paedophile, thief or whoever, of a sleeping child from inside a holiday appartment in the manner proposed, in the time and under the circumstances pertaining is about as likely as abduction by aliens.

Of course... we know nothing for sure... There may be plenty of genuine evidence we know nothing about. However, the above scenario would constitute a horrific and shameful whitewash.

Hi comparedna, It was the Portugese Police who persuaded the Judiciary to re-open the case, not SY and apparently SY and the Oporto Police have two seperate lines of enquiry.

Could be a bit awkward if they come to different conclusions.

Well it's looking very awkward at the moment, as different as black and white !  If we believe the Portugese are looking at tractorman and SY are looking at Smithman, then the only similarity is that they are looking for a man.  

Which could mean that neither force are getting very far with their abduction theories. Time to change tack, perhaps.

well they coul follow up on the good work of Paulo Dias and others and aqsk the UK to furnish information they were unable to before, http://frommybigdesk.blogspot.co.uk?2008_12_17archive.html whicj I think is annaesse.

jassi wrote:Could be a bit awkward if they come to different conclusions.

Could this be why the case was reopened in Portugal, in order to prevent the framing of some innocent dead man? Maybe the Portuguese were afraid that SY was conducting a whitewash and felt they needed to reopen the case in order to protect their good name? As long as the investigations are leading in separate directions, the one best suspect, as Pat Brown so truly states, is in fact the McCanns themselves.

LJC wrote:I asked on another thread, who supplied his photograph to The Mirror?

So far, no one has come back with any suggestions.

I cannot see how The Mirror got hold of it from a British person; therefore I'm thinking it could be a Police mug shot that has been leeked out, or someone is betraying him for whatever reason.

How many people that knew him would have such a photo? He's not smiling, its close up (perhaps zoom was used) and he's just staring at the camera with fixed eyes. Its creepy that photograph and it has been deliberately given to our British press imo.

It could easily off come from someone he knew who sold the picture to the British press....money the incenstive.

It was Redwood who emphasised they were seperate lines of enquiry and that there were 4 Portugese Policemen holed up in Oporto where they have been for the last 2 yesrs. I suspect, quite rightly that the Portugese resent SY being in PDL and these Policemen wanted to keep away from the Journalists etc. Interestingly, it was the Oporto info which swayed the Judiciary , we shall see.

kitti wrote:

LJC wrote:I asked on another thread, who supplied his photograph to The Mirror?

So far, no one has come back with any suggestions.

I cannot see how The Mirror got hold of it from a British person; therefore I'm thinking it could be a Police mug shot that has been leeked out, or someone is betraying him for whatever reason.

How many people that knew him would have such a photo?  He's not smiling, its close up (perhaps zoom was used) and he's just staring at the camera with fixed eyes.  Its creepy that photograph and it has been deliberately given to our British press imo.

It could easily off come from someone he knew who sold the picture to the British press....money the incenstive.

My theory, most likely completely wrong, but anyway.

Tractorman was a genuine line of enquiry, in so far as SY drew up a list of former employees and ended up with those who may have had a grudge. This list was reduced down and eventually tractorman was the one who warranted further investigation.

The Portugese supplied required information to SY being the men on the ground so to speak, so did the leg work and helped SY compile a file.

Therefore all of the information, including photo, was in a file in the UK, which as per usual got contaminated with pink spin. Of course it was made easier because snippets appeared in the Portugese press.

So he was a genuine enquiry but one which was most likely crossed off, hence the free for all with publishing everything. I think if either side were still seriously considering him as a suspect we would never have heard of him.

Desperate times need desperate measures and that time is now if you are in the pink camp.

jinvta wrote:

jassi wrote:Could be a bit awkward if they come to different conclusions.

Could this be why the case was reopened in Portugal, in order to prevent the framing of some innocent dead man? Maybe the Portuguese were afraid that SY was conducting a whitewash and felt they needed to reopen the case in order to protect their good name? As long as the investigations are leading in separate directions, the one best suspect, as Pat Brown so truly states, is in fact the McCanns themselves.

Yes - to be seen to be doing something and the case is with the PJ anyhow. They don't want to be reviewed and found wanting they want to be in on this.

A former employee, known thief (of only of €5 ) who was disgruntled or could be disgruntled and in the area is a legitimate suspect I would think. Also a perfect patsy.

However so are McCanns and so are the blond dodgy men seen lurking and staring etc.

The difference between this guy and the lurking men (apart from being not blond with all the social nuances that whirl about that concept) is that he has a name.

I think its important to remember that it is the British press dressing this story up. It is the British press calling him the Chief Suspect or Madeleine's Abductor.

I have not heard the Portuguese calling him any such names and just think this is something, as others have said, that PJ should quite rightly be looking into, if only to eliminate him, which I somehow expect may happen especially as his family are fighting his corner. Its right to look more closely at him as he is so far the only 'real' person, albeit no longer alive, who was in the vicinity, who had a criminal background and who was linked to the Ocean Club. But, as Pat Brown points out, they are not strong links but still warrant investigation.

I feel confident that is all that is happening - he has been flagged up and is under investigation and that's all. He's not the Chief Suspect, just worthy of scrutiny.

The PJ just needed new evidence to re-open and this has not come from the McCanns despite all their so called efforts with Private Eyes. Its come from the PJ themselves who would like to show the world they are capable of solving a crime. Its a start, a good start, at least it has got the case re-opened but I just doubt it will lead anywhere at the finish.

The above article appears in the Portuguese American Journal (portuguese-american-journal.com)

When Scotland Yard launched its Madeleine McCann investigation, it called for ‘restraint’ from the British media. Meanwhile, a Portuguese law forbids police here from divulging inside information about on-going criminal investigations. So how come newspapers in both Britain and Portugal have identified and published sensational stories about another implausible ‘prime suspect’ in this case?

The stories are causing outrage, especially among relatives of the now deceased ‘suspect,’ but also in the much wider community in Portugal.

Hard on the heels of reports in the UK that police were looking variously for a pedophile gang, foreign perverts, gypsy robbers, English cleaners and some fair-haired individuals possibly from Germany or Holland, the Portuguese tabloid Correio da Manhã last week began publishing a series of articles claiming police were investigating an African man.

The ‘new suspect’ was a former employee of the resort where the McCanns stayed in 2007. Phone records placed him near Praia da Luz at the time. As an immigrant from the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde, he was living with his partner and their son in the nearest town, Lagos. He was arrested in 1996 for petty theft, but had no record of any serious offence.

The Correio da Manhã stories were copied and in some cases embellished in many British and other foreign newspapers. The Daily Express, for example, claimed the suspect was “a violent thug who was a threat to children.” It gave a Portuguese ‘police profile’ as the source of this information.

In many of the regurgitated reports, Portuguese detectives were said to be examining the possibility that the ‘suspect’ had kidnapped Madeleine in an act of revenge against his former employers for his dismissal a year earlier.

This idea made no sense at all, said the brother of the Cape Verdean’s Portuguese partner. “It wasn’t as if what happened there with him losing his job destroyed his life. He got work elsewhere soon afterwards.”

A Portuguese TV reporter calmly and sensibly described the recently discovered information about the man’s cell phone use as “a loose end that needs to be tied up.”

But the British tabloids went overboard. More personal details about the man emerged, including his name. The Daily Mirror published a close-up photograph – but of course he looked nothing like either of the five-year-old e-fit images released by Scotland Yard three weeks ago.

The ‘new suspect’ died in a tractor accident in the north of Portugal in 2009, two years after Madeleine disappeared. There is that old saying, “you can’t defame the dead,” but what about the torment and humiliation these stories have inflicted upon those left behind?

This again raises serious questions about the workings and integrity of both the press and the police. How and why did details of this individual and the Polícia Judiciária’s interest in him become available? Has this man really become ‘key’ to the investigation, or is something else afoot here?
The ‘suspect’s’ widow told the Portuguese weekly newspaper, Sol: “It is disgusting that they are now trying to set up a dead man as a scapegoat.”

The Federation of the Organizations of Cape Verde based in Lisbon also believes the dead man is being used as a scapegoat. It described the allegations against him as “shocking” and “not credible.”

The truth about this matter needs to be told. Sadly, the truth about many aspects of this extraordinary six and a half year old mystery is as cloudy as ever.

I know the press wont do it, but someone needs to say where they re getting this information from.