Met chief vows no let-up in search for Madeleine - Express

"Britain's top policeman vowed to keep going in the hunt to discover what happened to Madeleine McCann after Scotland Yard's major operations this summer."  The article is available at  www.express.co.uk

He is going on about a joint investigation again between PJ and SY.
Is he trying to get access to the unpublished files ?

Met chief vows no let-up in search for Madeleine

BRITAIN’S top policeman vowed to keep going in the hunt to discover what happened to Madeleine McCann after Scotland Yard’s major operations this summer.



By: John Twomey
Published: Fri, August 15, 2014


Madeleine disappeared from a holiday apartment[PA]

The little girl was three when she vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in May 2007.

In June and July, suspects were questioned and huge areas in the Algarve were searched by specialist police squads and dogs – with Yard detectives in attendance.

Operation Grange was launched in May 2011 after Madeleine’s parents Gerry, 45, and Kate, 46, of Rothley, Leics, appealed to David Cameron.

Around 40 detectives and civilian staff are dedicated to the inquiry, which has so far cost an estimated £6million.

Yesterday, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: “The investigation is still ongoing and we will not be reducing the team.”

He praised Portuguese authorities for allowing Yard detectives to take part in the summer search.

“A reasonable amount of progress has been made,” he added.

However, no trace of Madeleine has been found and police have no idea what happened to her.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe remains steadfast in his commitment in the search [PA]


A reasonable amount of progress has been made

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe

Sir Bernard believes the ideal way to tackle the case is with a joint squad of British and Portuguese police.

That would speed up many aspects of the inquiry, but authorities in Lisbon are against the move.

Suspicion has focused on drug addict Euclides Monteiro.

Scotland Yard officers search for clues in Portugal in June [REUTERS]

Monteiro, who served a jail term for burglary, died in a tractor accident, aged 40, in 2009.

His widow says he had nothing to do with the disappearance.

Following this year’s searches, Gerry and Kate McCann said they were encouraged by the lack of evidence to suggest Madeleine was murdered.

They are convinced their daughter could still be alive and will one day be returned to them.

Scotland Yard is offering £20,000 as a reward for information.

Anyone who thinks that Hogan-Howe wants to bring justice for Madeleine, is in for a rude awakening. He is a friend of Kate McCann's parents and the fact he never distanced himself from them, when he became aware that the McCanns were the root cause of Madeleine's disappearance, speaks volumes.

Portugal will not change their stance on what happened to Madeleine.



Changing that means discrediting the pj, the attorney general, the dogs, Martin grime, the leicester police, Rainbow and the man who called in the dogs and by the way, was the first person to state that Madeleine may be dead.

Sir Bernard believes the ideal way to tackle the case is with a joint squad of British and Portuguese police.

Makes sense to me. Its about time the infighting stopped. If we worry more about whose feelings might get hurt, that PJ or Leicester Police might feel discredited; worrying about things like that will never solve this case.

It does need the two forces to join hands and to work as one. And far from discrediting they have shown they are content with much of what has been done in the past - it is the future that counts now.

Madeleine's body has not been found and it needs to be found to bring about a conclusion. That is why I am here, interested in this case; because I just want to know the truth. I don't particularly care who feels they are being credited or discredited, sorry.

In my opinion, there is no 'infighting'  on here, we are all expressing our views and we are all entitled to express our views.

In my opinion,  what this case needs is the original team of PJ officers taking up where they left off, with assistance from members of the original police force, who advised them to make the McCanns suspects and without interference from the British and Portuguese Governments.

In my opinion, Madeleine will never receive justice, while  Operation Grange, led by Andy Redwood, who is being led by Bernard-Hogan-Howe, who is a friend of Kate McCanns parents and who has also taken part in at least two events which were for the purpose of raising money for Madeleine's fund, which has been used to fund the finances of the McCanns, their wider family, their dodgy detectives and their lying spokesman Clarence Mitchell.

I think that Sir BHH should recuse himself from this investigation. he appears to be a friends and fundraiser for the McCs and with such a publicly biased stance should not have accepted the job of finding out what happened to Madeleine McCann. I see Monteiro is still being mentioned. why? is he the only patsy still in sight. IMO this SY investigation is to show the McCs in a positive light, not to really find out what happened.

“A reasonable amount of progress has been made,” he added.

However, no trace of Madeleine has been found and police have no idea what happened to her.

Ok, then...

SY recently converted to homoeopathic approch in its enquiries.

Join forces my arse....PJ aren't stupid...SY are because they think they are.



SY would rather be INSIDE looking out than OUTSIDE looking in as SY know full well there's something in there they want...and it ain't justice for Madeleine.


Must be quite frustrating for SY not being able to get there way so they just put the PJ down instead ..blame them.

LJC wrote:Sir Bernard believes the ideal way to tackle the case is with a joint squad of British and Portuguese police.

Makes sense to me.  Its about time the infighting stopped.  If we worry more about whose feelings might get hurt, that PJ or Leicester Police might feel discredited; worrying about things like that will never solve this case.

It does need the two forces to join hands and to work as one.  And far from discrediting they have shown they are content with much of what has been done in the past - it is the future that counts now.  

Madeleine's body has not been found and it needs to be found to bring about a conclusion.  That is why I am here, interested in this case; because I just want to know the truth.  I don't particularly care who feels they are being credited or discredited, sorry.

It is difficult to see what the benefits of a joint investigation team would be. JITs are envisaged in the EU but in complex investigations with cross border issues - eg to combat organised crime gangs operating cross border. This case has none of the characteristics which require such an investigation or level of co-operation. If SY have any hard evidence one or other of the police forces are more than capable of following it up in their own jurisdictions. We have already seen a number of requests made by SY thrown out which suggests they either have a poor understanding of Portugese law or fail to meet the standards required under Portugese law. A JIT wouldn't alter that since the primary jurisdiction is Portugal.

ETA I suspect if the case was reversed with a Portugese family holidaying in the UK, our intrepid Commissioner would not be advocating the PJ join SY in a joint investigation.

They just want to know everything the PJ knows so they can go about discrediting it.

I also think they would try to persuade the PJ along a certain line, as it has been suggested Mr. Brown did in talks with his opposite number in Portugal, don't know how true that was.

So if they haven't found any trace of Madeleine and still have no idea what happened to her (really???) then exactly what progress has been made   

Claudia79 wrote:“A reasonable amount of progress has been made,” he added.

However, no trace of Madeleine has been found and police have no idea what happened to her.



Ok, then...

"Progress"???  When they are investigating an "abduction"???  "..police have no idea what happened to her."???  I would suggest they consider what the dogs (said) alerted to.....Madeleine died in the apartment before her little body was removed (not abducted).

Claudia79 wrote:“A reasonable amount of progress has been made,” he added.

However, no trace of Madeleine has been found and police have no idea what happened to her.

Ok, then...

My sentiments exactly!   

To be fair to BHH (I'm in a generous mood tonight), he only gave them a coupla short quotes.
The bit about having 'no idea' came from the journo, as did the rest of the text.

I guess the red tops are gagging for a front page 'Maddie' splash - they haven't had one for a while.
But the Commisioner didn't give them anything sensational enough for a scoop, hence the somewhat churlish and rehashed stuff that followed.

They could always ask Clarence to spin them a yarn I suppose, unless he's far too busy in Brighton canvassing the deckchairs the public ...

What progress, am I missing something?

Ireland wrote:What progress, am I missing something?

Yes you, me and others may be missing something, although I take the view that no news might not be a bad thing. It is not for us to be privy to a Police investigation. Occasionally the enquiry changes and those investigating have no choice but to work openly, as with the dig for instance (and even then because it was in Portugal they had to respect Portuguese law and had to choose their words carefully on the subject). But when the investigation moves out of the limelight SY are not going to update us every week, are they?

They get stick whatever they decide to do. The news that the investigation is set to continue is an update of sorts though imo.

LJC wrote:

Ireland wrote:What progress, am I missing something?

Yes you, me and others may be missing something, although I take the view that no news might not be a bad thing.  It is not for us to be privy to a Police investigation.  Occasionally the enquiry changes and those investigating have no choice but to work openly, as with the dig for instance (and even then because it was in Portugal they had to respect Portuguese law and had to choose their words carefully on the subject).  But when the investigation moves out of the limelight SY are not going to update us every week, are they?

They get stick whatever they decide to do.  The news that the investigation is set to continue is an update of sorts though imo.

How many times does it need to be stated, that if Andy Redwood was  doing his job properly, he would not have told the media about any aspect of this investigation.

Redwood had no right telling the media, that mistakes made by the original PJ team of investigators, had been found, when he and his team studied the files. Redwood made those PJ investigators look incompetent, which was music to the ears of the British media. For the past 7yrs they had described the PJ as sardine munchers and other derogatory names.

Redwood had no right telling the media, that the McCanns, were not persons of interest to him. Redwood knew darn well that the McCanns were and still are, the chief suspects in the case of Madeleine's disappearance. The PJ only had the McCanns word that Madeleine, there was no evidence an abductor entered the McCanns apartment and the only fingerprints on the shutter that the McCanns said was jemmied, belonged to Kate McCann.

The fact that the McCanns, never looked for Madeleine, even though they claimed she had been taken, hindered the case at every opportunity, which included lying to the GNR and the PJ and roped in certain members of the British Government, who along with certain members of the Portuguese Government, intervened with the PJ investigation at every opportunity, is a sure sign that they have played a massive part in whatever happened to Madeleine.

Redwood wasn't just content with telling the media that the McCanns were not persons of interest to him. He went on to tell the media who were persons of interest to him. Persons who had already been cleared by the PJ of having no involvement with Madeleine's disappearance, were persons of interest to Redwood. In my opinion, this was just another ploy by Redwood, to show how incompetent the PJ really were.

Have I stated the above before? Yes I have many times? Why do I feel the need to keep stating the above? It's because David Cameron stated that no one would know anything about the review until the review reached a conclusion. Redwood started mouthing off to the media before the review turned into an investigation and it was only after he disclosed what was found in the first PDL dig and he was told to keep his mouth shut, that the  penny seemed to have dropped.

I was pleased that Redwood had at last been silenced and I presumed, we weren't going to hear anything else about the investigation. How wrong was I!!! Bernard Hogan-Howe, a friend of Kate McCann's parents, has now decided to mouth off to the media.

Hogan-Howe knows full well that the McCanns are the chief suspects in Madeleine's disappearance, he will be aware that her parents, along with other members of their family didn't put one foot in front of the other, to search for Madeleine. Hogan - Howe, will also be aware that Kate McCann's mother lied on behalf of her daughter.

Hogan-Howe will also be aware that police officers of any rank, should not associate with families, where members had taken part in heinous crimes, especially when the ones they associated with, have lied on behalf of the family member, who had taken part in the heinous crime.

The GNR and the PJ suspected the McCanns story of Madeleine's disappearance was fake, as soon as they discovered that neither of the McCanns, looked for Madeleine and neither of the McCanns nor their mates, contacted the GNR, which was within a couple of hours after Madeleine disappearance. The McCanns looked for ways and means of saving their own skins, they weren't interested in the skin of Madeleine.

Hogan-Howe, who was at the time, the Chief Constable of Merseyside police, will undoubtedly have been aware of these facts, but it didn't stop him arranging for a police car, to chauffer Kate McCann's parents, to Manchester airport, to enable them to catch a flight to the Algarve.

Around 4 weeks after Madeleine disappeared, Hogan-Howe took part in a charity event which was to raise money for Madeleine's fund.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6761027.stm

It didn't enter Hogan-Howe's mind that the fund was not essential, because Portuguese taxpayers, were funding the investigation. Or maybe it did and he didn't care.

It didn't enter Hogan-Howe's mind, that by releasing the balloons, was harming the environment and could have caused an accident to low flying aircraft getting ready to land at the nearby Liverpool airport. Or maybe it did and he didn't care.

Hogan-Howe along with other allies of the McCanns, doesn't appear to give a stuff about Madeleine. If he did, he would have distanced himself from Kate McCann's parents, as soon as he heard about Madeleine's disappearance.

agree entirely kathybelle. I have said a few times that I think he should recuse himself from the investigation because of his v close links to the McCs.

tanszi wrote:agree entirely kathybelle.  I have said a few times that I think he should recuse himself from the investigation because of his v close links to the McCs.

Good morning Tanszi

I've seen your posts where you've said Hogan-Howe, should recuse himself from the investigation, due to his close links with the McCanns. I wonder what is between the ears of Hogan-Howe and Andy Redwood, when I read or listen to the crap they spout to the media. How can it be that these two men are holding prominent positions within the 'Met'?

It's no wonder the 'Met' have a reputation, for being corrupt.

kathybelle wrote:

tanszi wrote:agree entirely kathybelle.  I have said a few times that I think he should recuse himself from the investigation because of his v close links to the McCs.

Good morning Tanszi

I've seen your posts where you've said Hogan-Howe, should recuse himself from the investigation, due to his close links with the McCanns. I wonder what is between the ears of Hogan-Howe and Andy Redwood, when I read or listen to the crap they spout to the media. How can it be that these two men are holding prominent positions within the 'Met'?

It's no wonder the 'Met' have a reputation, for being corrupt.

"I wonder what is between the ears of Hogan-Howe and Andy Redwood?"
------------------------------------------------

Er, the 'siren' voices of Theresa May, David Cameron, Murdoch, Brooks etc.,

In fact, ANYONE who can earn 'kudos' from supporting the 'tortured poor parents' for their own 'ends'.

The 'poor responsible' parents that, incidentally, 'created' the opportunity for er, umm, 'the crime' to be carried out.

Funny how the 'supporters' NEVER, EVER, mention it WAS ONLY, i repeat, ONLY the parents FAULT that a child is NOW 'not HERE', due to their parenting 'skills', or lack of, isn't it?

Anyone care to hazard a guess as to WHY , NONE, of the other T9 kids were 'abducted' seeing as the burglartors' would have 'known' when they too, would have been left ALONE in their apartments, every night, due to them having 'watched' their parents 'routine' during the whole of the weeks 'holiday'?

Oh jeanmonroe, I am losing heart after seven years of doing my best to find out etc... Surely what you say cannot be quite enough? Wouldn't there be enormous satisfaction, and a real accolade for Cameron, if just before the election, he were to get well on the way to solving this case? It did not happen on his watch. It would be one in the eye for all his opponents who turned a blind eye, and more than that, deliberately stymied a Portuguese investigation that was steadily progressing towards the discoverey of what really happened.

Sadly youngsters go missing (true, mostly older ones), or get genuinely abducted by a non custodial parent, or die in accidents, or even get murdered, every year in large numbers and few politicians give a shit... think of Ben Needham for all those years, before the politicos were shamed into further half-hearted investigation by comparisons in the press. Surely by now Carter Ruck is less of a worry to the MSM. The money must be running low! Why has no newspaper broken ranks? What the hell is this case really about?