Digging to start NEXT WEEK!

almostgothic wrote:

MaryB wrote:I don't believe the rocky ground story for a second.  These experienced people will have checked this out ages ago before the dig even started.  Total nonsense.

I agree.
I'm only guessing, but it could be that they have found something (even something miniscule in a soil sample) that has spurred them on to do more - hence the extension.

Hi almostgothic

If you have a look at Claudia's post, on the Twitter thread, you'll see what Redwood and his team unearthed today.

English Police follow lead of man seen carrying child on his arms

5 June 2014 | Posted by Joana Morais  Leave a Comment  
map pinched from here

Sighting referenced in the [Judiciary Police] case files was crucial for selection of site to find Maddie

by Marisa Rodrigues


The site in Praia da Luz where the British Police yesterday began the search for the body of Madeleine McCann was not chosen at random.

Seven years ago, a witness [Smith family, read statements given to Portuguese police] saw a man carrying a child in his arms in a nearby street, walking towards the beach. And, in the close vicinity, live people whom the English detectives consider to be persons “of interest”.

It was the cross-checking of this data, coupled with the fact that a vacant lot underlies both factors, that has led the police to believe that the girl's body may have been buried there.

The terrain has an extension equivalent to two football fields long. According to locals, in the 60s, a resort was planned to be erected, a project that failed. For decades nothing was built there and seven years ago, when Madeleine disappeared, it was one of the places searched by the Guarda Nacional Repúblicana (GNR) with sniffer dogs.

Restricted Access

The accesses to the search sites, situated along the Rua 25 de Abril, was cut off by the GNR, shortly after midnight. At the highest point, on the top of a hill, the GNR control post was established. It was also there that they have concentrated, starting at 11 am, all the vehicles and means, and where they unloaded the equipment needed for the operation, planned to last until Friday.

Specialized technicians of an English company made ​​the photographic and topographic reconnaissance and there were police officers traversing the area on foot. Specific areas were marked with stakes and tents were mounted on top of them.

The PJ and Scotland Yard were in a meeting for about two hours. Each one of the police officers and technicians, as well as the vehicles, authorized to be on the ground received “credentials”.

These steps are part of the British investigation, which now follows the theory that Madeleine was abducted, killed and buried in Praia da Luz. The Public Prosecutor's Office has authorized searches with sniffer dogs, georadar and also excavations. The latter should only take place if relevant evidence is found.

The action plan is decided on a daily basis, depending on the progress of the operations. The PJ is present, controls and monitors, but all the equipment, as well as dogs, are the responsibility of the British, who assume all costs. The coordinators of the PJ in Faro and Portimão, Luís Mota Carmo and Ana Paula Rito, have closely followed the operations.

Scotland Yard has already announced that they want to ask for more searches to be done in at least two other sites. The operations ended at 18:20pm and will be resumed this morning. For the time being, the police from both countries have not provided any official statements.

Image beneath soil at Madeleine McCann search site 'worth close attention'
Martin Geissler: ITV News Correspondent Thumb_martin-geissler - last updated Thu 5 Jun 2014 World
Struggling to paste the photos
Madeleine McCann
Portugal

By Martin Geissler, ITV News Correspondent

The British police team knew their work here on the Algarve wouldn't be easy, but it seems it's even tougher than they'd thought.

A search, originally planned for just six days may now take a fortnight.

Read latest updates from the searches in Portugal here

We don't know why they've doubled the timeframe. It could be that the work is simply harder than predicted, they're scouring baked, rocky, scrub covered terrain, after all.

Or it could be that there are more "places of interest" on this wasteground than satellite images suggested.

Police officers gather at the site in Praia da Luz in Portugal, in the search for Madeleine McCann.
Police officers gather at the site in Praia da Luz in Portugal, in the search for Madeleine McCann. Credit: ITV News

So far, two specific locations have drawn close attention. Officers uncovered a well concealed hole in the ground on the second day of their search. It had been hidden beneath sheets of corrugated iron and a layer of topsoil. The mouth of the hole is supported by planks of wood, like the entrance to a tunnel.

A tent was erected to preserve the site and police in forensics suits came and went from there yesterday.

Today, they seem less interested in the location. There's a suggestion it may have been a "den" used by local children in the past.

But the second spot they've identified is still keeping officers busy. Ground penetrating radar equipment picked up an image beneath the soil there yesterday. Forensic teams began work on the spot late in the afternoon and even the most senior detectives stayed on into the evening, supervising the operation.

Officers clear shrubbery in the search for Madeleine McCann, who disappeared seven years ago in Portugal.
Officers clear shrubbery in the search for Madeleine McCann, who disappeared seven years ago in Portugal. Credit: ITV News

Today, a team is still at work on the spot. Intermittently, they emerge to take buckets back to their vans. Samples, perhaps, for inspection.

Sources inside the investigation tell me the discovery is unlikely to be the "smoking gun" which has eluded police for seven years, but they certainly believe something is worthy of close attention.

Elsewhere on this vast scrubland teams continue to clear undergrowth and rake away at the soil. It's tough work in the baking heat but they're attacking it with just the same commitment they showed on day one.

PA

Sniffer dogs have been out again this morning, scampering in and out of the bushes, looking to pick up a scent.

From their base at the highest point of the site, detectives scour the area with binoculars and Portuguese mounted officers patrol the perimeter on horseback. This is not an operation moving at breakneck speed, more of a slow, determined grind.

A police officer examines data on a laptop at the wasteland site in Portugal.
A police officer examines data on a laptop at the wasteland site in Portugal. Credit: ITV News

Frustratingly, we're receiving no updates from the teams here, no progress reports at all. The British taxpayer would be entitled to expect at least some information, perhaps, given the search is being funded from the public purse, but Scotland Yard insists its hands are tied. This is, officially, a Portuguese police operation and the law here forbids officers from talking about an ongoing inquiry.

So it may be that for another week or more we watch this meticulous search continue, fascinated by the methods the police are employing but unable to tell whether any of this is taking them even a small step closer to finding Madeleine McCann.

almostgothic wrote:

MaryB wrote:I don't believe the rocky ground story for a second.  These experienced people will have checked this out ages ago before the dig even started.  Total nonsense.

I agree.
I'm only guessing, but it could be that they have found something (even something miniscule in a soil sample) that has spurred them on to do more - hence the extension.

No almostgothic.....they haven't topped up their tan enough so need another week.

Surprised to see that SKY News is allowing comments on the Madeleine update; I can't remember ever seeing that before.

almostgothic wrote:Official Find Madeleine Campaign
3 hours ago
We would like to ask people to refrain from spreading rumours and speculation based on inaccurate press reporting. We are kept updated on the on-going work in Portugal and are encouraged by the progress.

Thank you for continuing to stand by us and supporting our efforts to get Madeleine home.

Gerry and Kate

But ... but ... you haven't told us which press reports are the inaccurate ones, so how do we know whether we're spreading rumours or not? Please advise ......

Encouraged by the progress? You see digging, sewage pipes being examined and cadaver dogs - and you are ENCOURAGED???

And what's with the OUR EFFORTS? Where were you when Madeleine needed you? Where were you when the cops needed you? Where are you NOW? Not where you SHOULD be, that's for sure.

This is to let us know, or let us think they know of how joined at the hip they are with Redwood and SY.
They just cannot help themselves can they, if this was their real life how on earth would you be encouraged by digging, sewage pipes etc.
One day, please one day, let the truth come out and wipe the smirks and lies from the gruesome twosome.

jassi wrote:

Ireland wrote:

almostgothic wrote:An intriguing tweet from Spudgun:

Mike Spudgun ‏@spudgun01 2m
Dear Jane Tanner. If what I am hearing is TRUE, then I might even forgive your invented "sighting" :-) #McCann #McCanns

Intriguing indeed, my mind is racing with many connotations, main one, perhaps " the truth can set you free "

And in some cases it can lock you up, as well.

Let's hope Jassi.

I don't know what to make of all this digging buisiness, I don't think it's random.

SY brought the Smith sighting to light(for those that didn't know about this already), something the Mccanns tried to bury. If they were trying to cover this up, surely they would have kept that info hidden in the files, wouldn't they? Could someone please tell me exactly where the sighting of the Smith's was in relation to the area they are searching please?

Spudguns tweet about Tanner is the most intriguing thing for me in all this. I want to know more, what exactly is going on there. Has she admitted to lying and covering up for the Mccanns, or is there more to it.

If nothing comes of these latest efforts, then SY must put this one to bed. How much more can they do, how much more money do they want to spend on this case.

It seems that mere £sd isn't a factor in keeping the McCanns lily white......

Military helicopter “very busy” near Madeleine dig site

See more at: http://portugalresident.com/military-helicopter-%E2%80%9Cvery-busy%E2%80%9D-near-madeleine-dig-site#sthash.TjADuush.oAD6ul0R.dpuf

almostgothic wrote:Military helicopter “very busy” near Madeleine dig site

See more at: http://portugalresident.com/military-helicopter-%E2%80%9Cvery-busy%E2%80%9D-near-madeleine-dig-site#sthash.TjADuush.oAD6ul0R.dpuf

It's getting more and more surreal. I bet the Hollywood scriptwriters are busy!

Alex Littlewood ‏@westnewsprod
Dog teams searching SW corner of the site in central Praia da Luz. This is other side from focus last 3 days. #mccann

wantthetruth wrote:

almostgothic wrote:Military helicopter “very busy” near Madeleine dig site

See more at: http://portugalresident.com/military-helicopter-%E2%80%9Cvery-busy%E2%80%9D-near-madeleine-dig-site#sthash.TjADuush.oAD6ul0R.dpuf

It's getting more and more surreal. I bet the Hollywood scriptwriters are busy!

I'll bet the McCanns would be rubbing their hands together thinking of the royalties from such a film....

I couldn't believe when I heard on the news that the McCanns were encouraged. Encouraged by sniffer dogs looking in sewers. Maybe they were misquoted.

almostgothic wrote:Alex Littlewood ‏@westnewsprod
Dog teams searching SW corner of the site in central Praia da Luz. This is other side from focus last 3 days. #mccann

SW is bottom left isn't it? I thought that was where they've been for the last few days... on that scrublandy hilly thing?

MaryB wrote:I couldn't believe when I heard on the news that the McCanns were encouraged.  Encouraged by sniffer dogs looking in sewers.  Maybe they were misquoted.

They are probably encouraged by thinking about the next round of the Kate and Gerry show in the press and media and the money it will bring in, not forgetting of course, as has already been said, royalties from a film. "Encouraged" indeed, after all these years of saying there is no evidence that Madeleine has come to any harm, do they expect to find her living underground with a kind family of moles or in a sewer with a loving rat family? Quite frankly the Mccanns disgust me so much that I really can´t think of suitable words to describe the feeling.

MaryB wrote:I couldn't believe when I heard on the news that the McCanns were encouraged.  Encouraged by sniffer dogs looking in sewers.  Maybe they were misquoted.

yep - or maybe a typo. EnRAGED, not encouraged.

mara thon wrote:

do they expect to find her living underground with a kind family of moles or in a sewer with a loving rat family?

lol

ooooops..
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/05/madeleine-mcann-parents-encouraged-by-progress

"An administrator for the Official Find Madeleine Facebook page later said the girl's parents, from Rothley in Leicestershire, had been asked not to visit Praia da Luz while the search is under way.

A post on the page said: "To those commenting on why Gerry and Kate are not in Portugal, it's because they were asked to not go there. Please let the police do their job.

"And anyone posting their sanctimonious comments about leaving children alone will be banned. No questions asked. We've heard it all before. ENOUGH with the judging."

weissnicht wrote:ooooops..
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/05/madeleine-mcann-parents-encouraged-by-progress

"An administrator for the Official Find Madeleine Facebook page later said the girl's parents, from Rothley in Leicestershire, had been asked not to visit Praia da Luz while the search is under way.

A post on the page said: "To those commenting on why Gerry and Kate are not in Portugal, it's because they were asked to not go there. Please let the police do their job.

"And anyone posting their sanctimonious comments about leaving children alone will be banned. No questions asked. We've heard it all before. ENOUGH with the judging."

Thanks weissnicht   

    at the comments on the Find Madeleine Facebook page.

  To the McCanns and their followers. None of their followers, have any concept of the suffering Madeleine endured on the night she vanished and they have no concept of the suffering the twins will endure in the near future, when they learn the facts of the case.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe these people are aware of the suffering Madeleine endured and the suffering the twins will endure in the near future, but they just don't care.

Wintabells wrote:

almostgothic wrote:Alex Littlewood ‏@westnewsprod
Dog teams searching SW corner of the site in central Praia da Luz. This is other side from focus last 3 days. #mccann

SW is bottom left isn't it? I thought that was where they've been for the last few days... on that scrublandy hilly thing?

I think they were previously in the SE, which is to the right if we're looking on a map with the ocean in the south. Although I could be wrong - geography/map reading not my strongest suit ... 

almostgothic wrote:

Wintabells wrote:

almostgothic wrote:Alex Littlewood ‏@westnewsprod
Dog teams searching SW corner of the site in central Praia da Luz. This is other side from focus last 3 days. #mccann

SW is bottom left isn't it? I thought that was where they've been for the last few days... on that scrublandy hilly thing?

I think they were previously in the SE, which is to the right if we're looking on a map with the ocean in the south. Although I could be wrong - geography/map reading not my strongest suit ... 

OH, I've just realised... it means whereas they were on the SE of the scrublandy hilly thing, now they've swapped sides. I originally thought the tweet meant that they've moved away from that area completely and gone across the bay to the east (i.e. right).

Tony Stewart ‏@TellyTone 3h
Police now searching higher up the Mound, also digging at side of perimeter road. #praiadaluz #mccann

Searches Maddie case suspended two days to change location
(Google Translation)

http://translate.google.com/translate?depth=1&hl=en&rurl=translate.google.com&tl=en&u=http://www.jn.pt/Dossies/dossie.aspx%3Fcontent_id%3D3958323%26dossier%3DO%2520caso%2520Maddie%2520McCann%26page%3D-1

Tony Stewart @TellyTone  ·  49s
A team of Brit officers begin another search in scrubland near the large drain #praiadaluz #mccann