The begging bowls will be rolled out for Christmas

The force has withdrawn six officers from the Algarve, suggesting that British police have begun scaling back the search after spending £7.3million


Scotland Yard has scaled back the number of detectives working on the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

The force has removed six officers despite enquiries in Portugal intensifying - with the team making an average of over a flight a week to the Algarve so far this year.

Two detective sergeants and four detective constables have been lost over the past year, new police figures reveal. It reduces the total number of detectives working on the case from 29 to 23.

At the same time six civilian staff have been brought in, meaning the overall number of British staff and police working on the case, codenamed Operation Grange, remains at 37.

Scotland Yard insists “staff numbers are open to change depending on the needs of the review”.

But the reduction could be seen as a sign that British police have begun scaling back the search after spending three and a half years and £7.3million examining the case.

The new figures were revealed after it was claimed the team are preparing to question a number of new suspects.

Newly installed Portuguese prosecutor Ines Sequeira paved the way for detectives to visit the Algarve by approving a fifth international letter of request last week.


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It was first thought the 10 people named in the request would be questioned as witnesses only.

But Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported yesterday that some would be heard as “arguidos” or suspects because the Operation Grange detectives suspect they may have been involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.

They are said to include ex-workers at the Ocean Club holiday complex where the youngster vanished on May 3 2007 as well as locals living in the resort of Praia da Luz.

And the new list drawn up by British detectives as part of their painstaking investigation is thought to include British as well as Portuguese nationals.

None of the people on the list - who are due to receive police summons in the next few days to attend interviews at Faro’s PJ police station - have been questioned before by British officers, it is claimed.

Correio da Manha reported: “The majority are going to be heard as witnesses, but some will be made arguidos before the questioning takes place.

“They are all going to be questioned formally for the first time since the public prosecutor gave the green light for the quizzes to take place.”


PA
Crime scene: The room from which Madeleine McCann was snatched in Praia de Luz  
It added: “There are around 10 people on the list, British and Portuguese nationals.

“Among the new Scotland Yard suspects are ex-Ocean Club workers and Praia da Luz residents.

“They’re people the British investigators suspect were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.”

The interviews, the first since four suspects and 11 witnesses were questioned at the start of July, are due to take place before the end of the month.

British police are now in the process of formally asking for permission to sit in on the interviews, which will be led by Portuguese officers who will ask questions on their behalf.

The Operation Grange team last visited Portugal three weeks ago.

A small team including DCI Andy Redwood, who is heading Operation Grange, met Policia Judiciaria bosses in Faro for an update meeting before travelling to the university city of Coimbra a five hour drive north to visit a lab where many of the DNA samples collected after Madeleine’s disappearance are held.

Madeleine was three when she vanished from the family’s holiday apartment.

Interesting. Merci. Here the link to the Mirror's article:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-scotland-yard-cuts-4576868

PDL residents to be quizzed? Wonder if they are going to be random residents or those who the Met feel have paedo tendancies.

If I were a male resident of PdL I would be thinking, "oooh goody!  A quiz!  I wonder if that nice aerobics mistress is coming back!"



And some of the women might even be thinking that too.

Iris wrote:If I were a male resident of PdL I would be thinking, "oooh goody!  A quiz!  I wonder if that nice aerobics mistress is coming back!"



And some of the women might even be thinking that too.

i'm not on pdl resident but i'm drooling. right now.

Are these the begging bowls the Topic Title refers to?

Save your money Malena, they look pretty full to me

fuzeta wrote:Save your money Malena, they look pretty full to me