Flying Squad join in hunt for Maddie....Daily Mirror 9/5/14 Page 11

Flying squad' join in hunt for Maddie Daily Mirror (paper edition, page 11) Thanks to mccannfiles

By RUSSELL MYERS in Faro, Portugal
Friday 09.05.2014

BRITISH detectives probing the case of missing Madeleine McCann took to the air yesterday as it emerged they have identified EIGHT suspects they wish to question.

Members of the UK delegation joined Portuguese colleagues on board a military helicopter and spent 30 minutes taking photographs of a number of areas around the town and beach of Praia da Luz.

Six Scotland Yard detectives, including two forensic officers specialising in searches for bodies, met with senior officers from the Portuguese Judicial Police.

Shortly before 9am detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood led his team into Faro police station, 60 miles from the resort where the three-year-old disappeared.

During a three-and-half-hour meeting, the officers discussed plans to begin a series of excavation works across at least three sites in and around the Algarve resort.

Local reports claimed the talks were to "define the operations to find Maddie's body". But the Met has previously said the renewed hunt is as a result of a review of evidence already gathered by the Portuguese and not necessarily connected to finding the little girl dead.

The eight suspects identified by the Met include four former employees of the Ocean Club holiday complex where the McCanns were staying when Madeleine vanished.

Portuguese detectives have refused pleas to raid the homes and examine bank accounts of three of the workers.

Another suspect is understood to be heroin addict Euclides Monteiro, who used to work at the Ocean Club.

The convicted burglar, who died in a tractor accident in 2008, is a suspect in a string of 18 burglaries and five sex assaults on young British girls on the Algarve.

These are being investigated by Operation Grange, the Met's cold case review into evidence gathered over the past seven years.

Monteiro's widow denies his involvement in the attacks, claiming Portuguese police even ruled him out as a suspect after taking DNA samples shortly before his death.

Details of the other four suspects, who sources say are "relevant people of interest", are not yet known.

Yesterday's meetings were seen as a huge boost for the Met, which has already spent around £6million on the case.

The force has criticised the Portuguese judicial process for being "bureaucratic and slower than we would wish".

British detectives have been forced to write asking for permission every time they wish to examine evidence or act on information. The Mirror exclusively revealed this week that British cops will be allowed to carry out digs in Praia da Luz.

The three main areas of interest include wasteland the size of three football pitches just yards from the Ocean Club, a cobbled road outside the town's 16th century church and a car park near the beach.

The road was filled in three days after Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007.

A fourth location, in hills close to the resort, has not yet been approved by Portuguese officers.

Skilled sniffer dogs and high-tech radar equipment capable of searching for bones underground will be used. Then mechanical diggers and other earth moving equipment will be brought in.

The Met must pay for the land searches and British officers will be allowed only to supervise Portuguese officials.

It is not known when work will begin but the presence of forensic officers could be a sign the digs are just days away.

Madeleine's parents - Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, from Rothley, Leics - are being kept updated by Scotland Yard.


Detail:

BRIT TEAM
Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood, right, of the Metropolitan Police has cold case experience. In 2010, he nailed Miguel da Silva, who went on the run for 15 years after strangling mum Susan Martin, 44, in 1994 in Notting Hill.


It looks as though the Press are sticking two fingers up at the McCanns, but not reporting in Page 1 .The McCanns were happy to have their support for 7 years , .

The convicted burglar, who died in a tractor accident in 2008, is a suspect in a string of 18 burglaries and five sex assaults on young British girls on the Algarve.

I hope his widow sues the arse off the Mirror for this scurrilous lie.

I bet his widow already has her five pieces of silver

Iris wrote:

The convicted burglar, who died in a tractor accident in 2008, is a suspect in a string of 18 burglaries and five sex assaults on young British girls on the Algarve.

I hope his widow sues the arse off the Mirror for this scurrilous lie.

dazedandconfused wrote:I bet his widow already has her five pieces of silver

Well we don't know do we? And if she hasn't sued, is he then a suspect or not? If she has sued, why hasn't more been heard; surely she would want the world to know she successfully sued in order to clear up his reputation.

He was cleared by the PJ.


No DNA of his was found at any off these crimes.

"FLYING SQUAD"?

What do they use for travel?

HELICOPTERS, of course!