UPDATE: Madeleine Investigation "enters major phase"

http://news.sky.com/story/1266772/madeleine-investigation-enters-major-phase

Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will enter a "substantial phase of operational activity" in Portugal in the next few weeks.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said detectives could not promise answers, but were checking every credible line of enquiry in the search.

"In the forthcoming weeks we are going to be going to a substantial phase of operational activity on the ground in Portugal," he said.

"It's something that you would expect in any major inquiry.

"A thorough serious crime investigation works systematically through all the credible possibilities, and often in an investigation you will have more than one credible possibility.

"Therefore just because we're doing a substantial phase of work in the forthcoming week doesn't mean that it's going to immediately lead to answers that will explain everything."

UK officers are currently running their own investigation into what happened to Madeleine, who vanished at the age of three from Portuguese holiday resort Praia da Luz in May 2007.

Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing Madeleine
Kate and Gerry McCann have called for media restraint

Portuguese police have also reopened their probe into the disappearance, and while they are working with Scotland Yard, detectives have refused to set up an official joint investigation.

Mr Rowley echoed Madeleine's mother Kate McCann's calls for restraint in media coverage of the case.

He said: "I want to be able to go back to Kate and Gerry at some stage in the future and tell them we've got to the bottom of this, or second best is to go back to them and say we've turned over every stone and we can't get to an answer sometimes."

A number Met Police officers hope to be involved in the latest phase of activity.

"The activity in Portugal is led by the Portuguese, that's absolutely crystal clear in law," Mr Rowley said.

"We have some officers who would like to be helping with that on the ground in Portugal, doing some of the work we anticipate. We are putting the finishing touches to the plans to the Portuguese in the coming weeks.

"I anticipate a substantial phase of activity in forthcoming weeks including Portuguese and British officers, but the detail of that is still being finalised with Portuguese colleagues and it will all be under Portuguese leadership."

One line of enquiry for Scotland Yard is a lone male paedophile who staged a series of sex attacks on young British girls while they were on holiday in the Algarve.

Hundreds of people have already made contact with police in response to appeals to try to find the attacker.

UPDATE:
Today, Thursday 22 May, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, head of Specialist Crime and Operations, met with media at New Scotland Yard to update them on Operation Grange, the London based investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

All UK based media outlets were represented at the meeting, as well as media organisations from Portugal, America, and others.

The meeting was held to outline the Metropolitan Police Service position in relation to the ongoing investigation given the speculation and numerous stories that have been running for the past few weeks. AC Rowley confirmed that in the coming weeks there would be specific police activity in Portugal led at all times by the Portuguese authorities (under the auspices of an International Letter of Request or ‘Rogatory letter’), with officers from the Metropolitan Police Service working alongside.

Following a meeting with the media Assistant Commissioner Rowley said:

"DCI Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, and his team will be in Portugal carrying out various lines of enquiry.

"“Thorough serious crime investigations work systematically through all credible possibilities and therefore it should not be assumed that this substantial upcoming phase of work in Portugal will immediately lead us to the answers that will explain what has happened.

“What you will see is normal police activity you would expect in any such major investigation.

“Similarly, this should not be seen as a sign that the investigation is nearing a conclusion. I fully expect that there will be much more work to do when this particular phase of activity comes to an end. It is helpful that any reporting of activity in Portugal is set in this context.

“We will be updating Mr and Mrs McCann throughout the activity as we have been throughout the investigation.

“We will not be giving information on when this activity is to occur.

"The very fact that we are in the position of moving towards substantial activity in Portugal shows that the relationship between the MPS and Portuguese colleagues is working."

AC Rowley issued a letter to media on 6 May 2014 stating that the advice he was receiving from Portugal was that their approach to media handling was different and they do not brief the media on current investigations.

They clearly stated that if the MPS provide any briefings or information on the work they are undertaking on our behalf, or if reporters cause any disruption to their work in Portugal activity will cease until that problem dissipates.

Assistant Commissioner Rowley reiterated that position today:

"We have made it clear to colleagues in Portugal that we will not be giving operational updates. I appreciate this will be frustrating to you (the media) especially given the help you have provided to us with public appeals so far which has added significant evidence into our files. However, if this was an investigation in London I would not be making public details of operational investigative activity that we were planning or how it might link in to the investigation.

"Of course complications are added when an investigation is taken abroad.

“My letter last month did map out where we stood in terms of how we could manage the media demand in this investigation. If media interfere with police work, that work will stop. I suspect that the boundaries around what that is will be apparent and I asked you to cooperate with the requests of the Portuguese authorities as the most important thing is to make this inquiry go as smoothly as possible.

“On a recent visit to Portugal DCI Redwood was surrounded by a large media group asking for comments from him.

“I appreciate that media group may not solely be UK agencies, and other media may state they are unaware of our repeated requests.

"DCI Redwood and his team will not be giving comment.

“Please allow them the room to manoeuvre and work on what is a live investigation into the disappearance of a young girl. If you get any information ahead of our actions do not publish anything that may give suspects advance notice.

The family have also made their wishes clear about allowing us and the Portuguese the room to carry on with our work and this was reinforced this publicly by Kate McCann when Andy and his team were last in Portugal.
“In my initial letter I asked editors to think twice - that advice stands. We all want the same outcome - to do everything possible to try to find answers for the McCann family.

“It is only fair on you I am upfront with you about what you can get and how the media might impact on the investigation.

“I am well aware that updates may help control this investigation and I am committed to doing this in a transparent way but mindful that nothing we do will damage the integrity of the investigation or the best possible chances of bringing it to a conclusion.”

"We have some officers who would like to be helping with that on the ground in Portugal, doing some of the work we anticipate. We are putting the finishing touches to the plans to the Portuguese in the coming weeks.

Nothing imminent then.

He said: "I want to be able to go back to Kate and Gerry at some stage in the future and tell them we've got to the bottom of this, or second best is to go back to them and say we've turned over every stone and we can't get to an answer sometimes."

WTF?!!    

I like his first preference.

Especially if he takes some of those nice metal bracelets with him ...

A 'major phase'. Obviously they must anticipate finding something significant, else they are going to look rather silly.

I don't like the "familiarity" of, "I want to be able to go back to Kate and Gerry....". Coming from a Police Commissioner, shouldn't he have said, "Madeleine's parents"?

interested wrote:I don't like the "familiarity" of, "I want to be able to go back to Kate and Gerry....".  Coming from a Police Commissioner, shouldn't he have said, "Madeleine's parents"?

Neither do I. He sounds just like "call me Stu".

wjk wrote:He said: "I want to be able to go back to Kate and Gerry at some stage in the future and tell them we've got to the bottom of this, or second best is to go back to them and say we've turned over every stone and we can't get to an answer sometimes."

WTF?!!    

But the second best option will not be what Kate and Gerry want to hear at all. Because forever more they will be labelled as guilty unless SY can indeed get to the bottom of this.

It may be a problem to some people that SY are going to so much trouble (and money) but I don't have a problem with it if they do indeed check every credible line of enquiry in the search. Not to do so would be SY not doing their job properly and half hearted, which would be a waste of money imo, but by the sound of things they are doing everything they possibly can, even if some people cannot understand some of the leads they are following.

And, if the second best option is indeed what SY end up with (which I think most of us are probably expecting) they are also saying they don't have the required evidence to pin this on anyone else either.

I would like SY to get to the bottom of this but feel the second best option is how it will all end up somehow and I recall many of us saying at the start that if SY thoroughly investigated and could not find the answer, at least Kate and Gerry would be forever labelled guilty for life in the eyes of the vast majority of people.

A living hell is what they would be consigned to I think. Hoisted by their own petard perhaps!

I don't have a problem with the money either.
Governments have spent much bigger amounts of public money on their own ideological fripperies which serve no-one except themselves.

If the investigation is thorough and successful then it will prevent many copycat crimes in the future (pour encourager les autres).

If it ends in stalemate, more and more people will become convinced of the McCanns' guilt over time. And of course the Tapas Mob and other enablers will retain their negative labels too.
Public perception, and that of the Tapas children as they grow into adulthood, will present them with various problems that they may not have anticipated during one deranged week in May 2007.

They need to find a fridge !

LJC wrote:

wjk wrote:He said: "I want to be able to go back to Kate and Gerry at some stage in the future and tell them we've got to the bottom of this, or second best is to go back to them and say we've turned over every stone and we can't get to an answer sometimes."

WTF?!!    

But the second best option will not be what Kate and Gerry want to hear at all.  Because forever more they will be labelled as guilty unless SY can indeed get to the bottom of this.

It may be a problem to some people that SY are going to so much trouble (and money) but I don't have a problem with it if they do indeed check every credible line of enquiry in the search.  Not to do so would be SY not doing their job properly and half hearted, which would be a waste of money imo, but by the sound of things they are doing everything they possibly can, even if some people cannot understand some of the leads they are following.

And, if the second best option is indeed what SY end up with (which I think most of us are probably expecting) they are also saying they don't have the required evidence to pin this on anyone else either.

I would like SY to get to the bottom of this but feel the second best option is how it will all end up somehow and I recall many of us saying at the start that if SY thoroughly investigated and could not find the answer, at least Kate and Gerry would be forever labelled guilty for life in the eyes of the vast majority of people.

A living hell is what they would be consigned to I think. Hoisted by their own petard perhaps!

That's where they already are. Not at all what they anticipated when they started to court the media.

The whereabouts of the pink blanket would be a starting point.

Lioned wrote:They need to find a fridge !

Also the blue tennis bag and pink blanket.

jassi wrote:

LJC wrote:

wjk wrote:He said: "I want to be able to go back to Kate and Gerry at some stage in the future and tell them we've got to the bottom of this, or second best is to go back to them and say we've turned over every stone and we can't get to an answer sometimes."

WTF?!!    

But the second best option will not be what Kate and Gerry want to hear at all.  Because forever more they will be labelled as guilty unless SY can indeed get to the bottom of this.

It may be a problem to some people that SY are going to so much trouble (and money) but I don't have a problem with it if they do indeed check every credible line of enquiry in the search.  Not to do so would be SY not doing their job properly and half hearted, which would be a waste of money imo, but by the sound of things they are doing everything they possibly can, even if some people cannot understand some of the leads they are following.

And, if the second best option is indeed what SY end up with (which I think most of us are probably expecting) they are also saying they don't have the required evidence to pin this on anyone else either.

I would like SY to get to the bottom of this but feel the second best option is how it will all end up somehow and I recall many of us saying at the start that if SY thoroughly investigated and could not find the answer, at least Kate and Gerry would be forever labelled guilty for life in the eyes of the vast majority of people.

A living hell is what they would be consigned to I think. Hoisted by their own petard perhaps!

That's where they already are. Not at all what they anticipated when they started to court the media.

Gerry is pretty much bomb proof and probably doesn't care too much what anyone thinks of him.And kate is nuts and probably unable to compute whats going on really.Anyone who goes out jogging instead of looking for their missing child isn't right in the head,they clearly enjoy the media attention and that of the fawning sycophants,and the money surely comes in handy.
I think they would be happy for it to continue failing the SY serving up a dead black patsy.

I  find  the  second  option  strange  to  say  the  least.


Madeleine  has  been  abducted  and  could  be being  abused and  is  waiting to be found so the parents say and  all SY can come up with is.....'sorry, we did out best and    couldnt find her...you win some you lose some, never mind'.

Thats  the most ridiculous thing ive ever come across.

Even SY couldnt give a toss about Madeleine.

What if that were really a live abducted child........good grief.

If SY fails to come up with a conclusion to this case. Gerry and Kate are still on a win win situation. Firstly they have not been arrested and secondly they can get the fund going strong again with the premise of carrying on trying to find out what happened to their daughter, now that no one is looking for her again!

Mr. Rowley's statement was given to the press, including international press. I know he is asking for "restraint" in further reporting, but I find it strange that at least one UK reporter didn't ask him about "murder" as reported in the Times a few days ago.

kitti wrote:I  find  the  second  option  strange  to  say  the  least.


Madeleine  has  been  abducted  and  could  be being  abused and  is  waiting to be found so the parents say and  all SY can come up with is.....'sorry, we did out best and    couldnt find her...you win some you lose some, never mind'.

Thats  the most ridiculous thing ive ever come across.

Even SY couldnt give a toss about Madeleine.

What if that were really a live abducted child........good grief.

What's this Kitti. Really? A live abducted child? Do you seriously think that is possible?

The parents can say what they like. Either SY will get to the bottom of this or they will tell the parents that despite investigating every credible lead they possibly could they have no answers.

SY fail to see that she is a live abducted child, as do most people here on this forum and that is not SY not doing their job properly, more like doing it thoroughly enough to come to the conclusion that Madeleine is long dead. I do not see how failing to come up with answers means they do not give a toss. A child that is long dead is not easy to find. The police KNOW that Keith Bennett's body is hidden on the Yorkshire Moors somewhere but have never found him.

It is not the fault of SY that the initial Portuguese enquiry was shelved and that the work of Mr Amaral was halted prematurely but whatever the rights, wrongs or reasons for the shelving of the case, SY have since then tried to put the pieces back into place having had a very disadvantaged start to this investigation.

And we do not know at this stage really that the second best option is how it will end, despite me and most others feeling this is how it will end, so its perhaps hasty to declare SY as not giving a toss.

But SY seem to believe an 'abductor' would steal a dead child ! How do they explain that ?

And the time required for the 'cadaver scent' to develop while the 'checks' are taking place ?

LJC wrote:

kitti wrote:I  find  the  second  option  strange  to  say  the  least.


Madeleine  has  been  abducted  and  could  be being  abused and  is  waiting to be found so the parents say and  all SY can come up with is.....'sorry, we did out best and    couldnt find her...you win some you lose some, never mind'.

Thats  the most ridiculous thing ive ever come across.

Even SY couldnt give a toss about Madeleine.

What if that were really a live abducted child........good grief.

What's this Kitti.  Really?  A live abducted child? Do you seriously think that is possible?  

The parents can say what they like.  Either SY will get to the bottom of this or they will tell the parents that despite investigating every credible lead they possibly could they have no answers.  

SY fail to see that she is a live abducted child, as do most people here on this forum and that is not SY not doing their job properly, more like doing it thoroughly enough to come to the conclusion that Madeleine is long dead.  I do not see how failing to come up with answers means they do not give a toss.  A child that is long dead is not easy to find.  The police KNOW that Keith Bennett's body is hidden on the Yorkshire Moors somewhere but have never found him.  

It is not the fault of SY that the initial Portuguese enquiry was shelved and that the work of Mr Amaral was halted prematurely but whatever the rights, wrongs or reasons for the shelving of the case, SY have since then tried to put the  pieces back into place having had a very disadvantaged start to this investigation.

And we do not  know at this stage really that the second best option is how it will end, despite me and most others feeling this is how it will end, so its perhaps hasty to declare SY as not giving a toss.

FGS, Andy Redwood and his team are not remotely interested in finding out what happened to Madeleine. If they were and for the umpteenth time, the McCanns would have been their two main suspects and Redwood would have kept his mouth tightly closed, while he and his team investigated Madeleine's disappearance.

Regarding Keith Bennett, the police do not know if he is buried on Saddleworth Moor, they only have Hindley and Brady's word that he is.

Keith was murdered in the home of Hindley and Brady and his body could have been disposed of anywhere. The police worked tirelessly to find the bodies of the murdered children. These children were found in the place where they had been buried by Hindley and Brady, Keith was not found in the place where they said they had buried him. So Keith was either not buried anywhere on Saddleworth Moor, but disposed of by Hindley and Brady, in a place where he would never be found.

Regarding the case being shelved, it may not be the fault of Scotland Yard, that the case was shelved, but neither is it the fault of the PJ. According to Goncalo Amaral, the McCanns 'demanded' the archiving of the process, in 2008, while they were still arguidos.

http://gerrymccan-abuseofpower-humanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/more-lies-from-dr-kate-mccann-jk.html

If you are under the impression that Snr Amaral is telling lies, the McCanns remained silent when he made that allegation. Also Kate McCann states in her book, which she disrespectfully named Madeleine, that 'In some ways, we were glad, the investigation had been closed.'

If Redwood and his team, were sincere in wanting to find out what happened to Madeleine, one would have thought that they would have read Kate McCann's book, with their eyes wide open. If they have read the book, they would have discovered the book was not a book a mother of a missing child would have written. Kate McCann stated that she wrote the book for her 3 children and she hoped that wherever Madeleine was, she would be able to read the book.

Madeleine was 8yrs of age when the book was published, if she was able to read the book and comprehend what her mother had written, she would have been sickened to read that her mother could not make love to her father. She would have been equally sickened when she arrived at page 129 and read that her mother had visions of Madeleine's tiny little genitals being violated. Madeleine would have been saddened to learn that her mother and father were glad when the investigation into her disappearance was closed. She would have also have learned at some point, that her mother and father wanted the investigation closed.

After reading your posts, LJC in which you make excuses for the McCanns and Operation Grange, I have come to the conclusion that you are a supporter of the McCanns and Operation Grange. I fully understand that you are entitled to support who you like in this case, I just don't understand how you can support these people.

The McCanns are without a shadow of doubt, responsible for whatever happened to Madeleine and whatever suffering she endured, the night she disappeared.

I've already said what Redwood is prepared to do, to get a result in this investigation. Redwood doesn't have the power to make a patsy or patsies, take the blame for Madeleine's disappearance, but the very fact he has said the McCanns are not persons of interest to him, shows that he is a corrupt police officer.

It's a good job, Redwood doesn't have the power to make a patsy take the blame for Madeleine's disappearance, if he did, we would have seen a white van load of cleaners, 3 burglars and any other live suspects, all charged and found guilty, of playing a part in Madeleine's disappearance. Also if it was possible and Redwood had power, we would have discovered that the 3 dead people, including the 2 dead paedophiles, had been charged and found guilty of playing a part in Madeleine's disappearance.

Lioned wrote:But SY seem to believe an 'abductor' would steal a dead child ! How do they explain that ?

And the time required for the 'cadaver scent' to develop while the 'checks' are taking place ?

They are still working on those 'toughies' - just give them another few years and they'll come up with an answer.

Kathybelle wrote:After reading your posts, LJC in which you make excuses for the McCanns and Operation Grange, I have come to the conclusion that you are a supporter of the McCanns and Operation Grange. I fully understand that you are entitled to support who you like in this case, I just don't understand how you can support these people.

Then you are not reading my posts correctly Kathybelle.  I am not a supporter of the McCanns, far from it.  I don't know what you mean by being a supporter of Operation Grange.  

I am not opposed to Operation Grange if that is what you mean.  I do believe that Madeleine is dead.  I do believe that the parents (or wider tapas group) know more than they are letting on.  I do believe that SY are doing as much as they can, as did Mr Amaral and the PJ.  I would like justice for Madeleine and so have to feel positive that the case is re-opened (as permitted by the Portuguese who only said they would re-open the case if something credible was placed before them) not only in Portugal but Britain too.  

Two countries each doing their own investigation, at times jointly, at times separately, at times in agreement, at times not.  Nevertheless it has to be positive.

I am prepared to wait and see.  We are told the investigation is coming into another phase.  The fact that the judge has permitted this search means I have to feel positive.

But I do get a bit fed up of so many negative posts.  I do agree with Mr Amaral who does admit to mistakes being made in his investigation and I do agree with him that some of those mistakes we are only wise to with hindsight now.

And I do think that SY may have made mistakes which will come to light in the fullness of time, but that does not mean to say that they are incompetent, because if they are then the Portuguese are as well, which I don't believe they are.

There is much mis-information to this case thanks to the press most of the time and much crossing of bridges far too early in a lot of the opinion I  read regarding the SY investigation.

I prefer to wait and see and give SY a chance. I am not a McCann supporter.  I do not see how not being opposed to Operation Grange makes me a McCann supporter either.

I am in general a supporter of law and order though and in general support all of our police forces throughout the UK and would agree that there is good and bad in every organisation whether police or not.

And I do think we on this forum have to be careful about the use of the word corrupt in terms of aiming that word at named police officers.

Thats ok ljc but three years and maybe £10 mill down the line and you would expect to see some sign of the main suspects coming under scrutiny,after all this is a 'review' primarily of the original investigation and the main suspects,the mccanns (and Murat) have been eliminated by SY ?
Furthermore we have seen the most extraordinary PR campaign running in the press of which SY have certainly played their part,to some extent at least.

SY have a rotten record of corruption and deceit and failure.

Doesn't bode well for me but it does no harm to be 'upbeat' at times as we have little else to enthuse about.

If Deadwood is not  corrupt...corrupt in the sense that hes been told NOT to investigate the mccanns.....then he must be thick.

Which one?

Because a decent law abiding police officer would want to get to the truth, at all costs....regardless  whos toes he steps on.

Actually i will correct the above by saying i dont know if SY have publicly eliminated Murat.