Maddie: parents kept info from cops

McCanns 'fell out' with police over search for Madeleine

Tuesday 02 May 2017

A Home Office report details the "turbulent relationship" between the McCanns and Portuguese and British law enforcement


By Martin Brunt, Crime Correspondent

The parents of Madeleine McCann claimed they were treated badly by Portuguese police from the start of the investigation into her disappearance, according to a secret Home Office report.





They eventually fell out with UK authorities too and later did not share with police information gathered by their own private investigators.

The revelations are contained in a report ordered by the then Home Secretary Alan Johnson who wanted to know if it was worth getting Scotland Yard involved after the Portuguese closed their first investigation.

The report said: "It is clear that from the beginning the McCanns felt there was a lack of clarity and communication on the part of the Portuguese police.

"Despite the involvement of British consular staff, they were, by their own accounts, left for long periods without any updates or communication with the investigators.

"They state they were taken to the police station on more than one occasion and then left for hours waiting to speak to someone who never materialised.

"They describe this situation as inhumane, with no real consideration for their emotional and physical wellbeing."

The report, written by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, also said too many UK law enforcement agencies had rushed to help and caused chaos. And frequent criticism of the Portuguese investigation led to accusations that the UK was acting like "a colonial power".


The report said: "Clearly, the McCanns have had a turbulent relationship with both Portuguese and UK law enforcement. They now openly acknowledge that there is a distinct lack of trust between all parties."

Even before the end of the first Portuguese investigation, Kate and Gerry McCann used money collected by their Madeleine Fund to hire private investigators. They continued to use them for the three years before Scotland Yard got involved.

The report said: "It is clear that the McCanns and the private investigators working on their behalf have gathered a large amount of information during the course of their enquiries. This information does not appear to have been shared fully with the Leicestershire constabulary or the Portuguese authorities.

"It is imperative that they are encouraged and persuaded to share this information."

The report led to Scotland Yard launching a review and later its own investigation in 2011.

It recommended the setting up of a UK national centre for missing children to better coordinate the response when British children go missing abroad. That has never happened.

Mr Johnson supported the report's recommendation, but was voted out of office in the 2010 General Election.

He said: "Nothing's happened in the ensuing 10 years that suggests that if it happened again it would be an any better, more coordinated response."

:: Watch the documentary Searching For Madeleine on Sky 1 on Tuesday, 2 May at 10pm, and on Sky News on Wednesday, 3 May at 8pm.

http://news.sky.com/story/mccanns-fell-out-with-police-over-search-for-madeleine-10859915

snipped from Sky report

The report said: "It is clear that the McCanns and the private investigators working on their behalf have gathered a large amount of information during the course of their enquiries. This information does not appear to have been shared fully with the Leicestershire constabulary or the Portuguese authorities.

"It is imperative that they are encouraged and persuaded to share this information."




Good heavens this is quite a shocking revelation by Sky.  It states that the McCanns did not reveal to Leicestershire police any information their private detectives had uncovered.  One has to ask the question, why on earth would you keep info from the police that may help find your daughter?  Shocked I am.

It is a surprise CF....i had the impression they gave the Police everything?

Why am I not surprised?
PS - excellent news report.
Pretty revealing and exceptionally damning of the McCanns, considering their 10 year anniversary bleating that "nobody" was looking for the Madeleine in the early years following her disappearance and how pleased they were that the current investigation was opened. Makes a mockery of their entire campaign, in fact.
Absolutely right - what real parents of an abducted child would withhold information from the police?

I saw Brunt the.... briefly on Sky News earlier.

This latest seems to be a bit of a mixed rehash from this a couple of years back:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/11068928/Secret-Madeleine-McCann-report-finds-competing-British-forces-hampered-inquiry.html

Another chink of light! I've just checked and I think the shadow foreign Secretary at this time would be Anne Widdicombe and she's a no nonsense sort who would be able to look dispassionately and objectively at the facts. Very shocking but another positive development in terms of finding the truth.

I would say that although looking as being supportive this article will be a shocker and eye opener for many people.  No matter how the police were treating you, no matter if you detested them, no matter even if you thought they were treating you as suspects, you would as parents do everything surely to help find your daughter.  So you hire P.I.'s at a huge expense, but then keep the findings to yourself and don't share with the police?  The police are the very people with all the resources to trace phone calls and peoples information, PI's can't, so why would you not ask for police help. and not pass on your files? 

So if the PI's had all these leads, and they were not passed on, how can they claim the search for Madeleine was harmed.  I find it all amazing.

We know of course they eventually had to be passed on when SY had all the files off the McCanns, but how many years were lost. 

I wonder if this stems from the article in the Sunday Times about the efits not being released, is this perhaps part of this report?

This is the story of the apology and payout...

https://maddiemccannmystery.forumotion.co.uk/t995-sunday-times-apology-for-e-fit-article-and-subsequent-55000-payout?highlight=sunday+times


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478087/Why-Madeleine-McCann-suspect-E-fits-kept-secret-5-years.html

What's_up_doc? wrote:Another chink of light! I've just checked and I think the shadow foreign Secretary at this time would be Anne Widdicombe and she's a no nonsense sort who would be able to look dispassionately and objectively at the facts. Very shocking but another positive development in terms of finding the truth.

Tying in with my thoughts on another thread.

Well that's a turn up Sky reporting that. So where does this shocking report leave the McCanns, after all didn't they always tell us they had good dialogue with the police. Eh err Call me Stu!

Is Brunt actually doing some investigative journalism,who leaked the report,home office? or the McCann spokesman.

Heisenburg wrote:Is Brunt actually doing some investigative journalism,who leaked the report,home office? or the McCann spokesman.

Hmm, interesting, but IIRC TB said elsewhere that this had all come from the PI's and not to be believed, taken with a pinch of salt etc.  I apologise if I am wrong but I thought that is what I read over there.  This however sheds a different light on things, in that there is a Government report and things were kept hidden from police according to this sky news report.  perhaps the programme tonight at 10pm on Sky1 will tell us more.

I don't think the report will be anything different to the one in 2014 (see Telegraph link I posted earlier).

It will just have a different slant on it and it'll be interesting in what direction they'll actually take it.

Published on 2 May 2017
Wednesday 3 May 2017 marks the ten-year anniversary of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

A secret Home Office report has revealed strong criticism of the investigations carried out by both British and Portuguese police.

Maddie's parents, Kate and Gerry, have claimed they were treated badly by authorities from the very start.

Our Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt reports.

Moved to its own thread.

This chimes in with them keeping the efits and the other report under wraps and threatening the report`s compiler not to blab (as published by The Times Insight team of journalists). Forgotten who the compiler was.

Andrew have Moved to the thread - The capabilities of the dogs.

Mimi wrote:This chimes in with them keeping the efits and the other report under wraps and threatening the report`s compiler not to blab (as published by The Times Insight team of journalists). Forgotten who the compiler was.

I think perhaps TB will have to change his views on his analysis of that article in the Times.  He tried to diss it and say it was the PI's and we only have their word. Maybe that is so with the efit... but  we now know the report sure as hell exists, and according to SKY material was withheld from the Police of both countries.

SKY mentioned this report back in 2014, yet nothing was mentioned about the McCanns not passing on info to Police, yet today it is mentioned in the Sky article, so what has changed..

Sept 2014 report
http://news.sky.com/story/madeleine-secret-report-on-police-probe-10391226

How can anyone believe that they are innocent when they keep information from the police?

The only information I might, potentially, hold back from the police would be the speed I was doing down the motorway. On a missing child case, it would probably be pretty safe sharing even that!

I posted this on the wrong thread earlier but whilst not sharing information they had obtained themselves, the McCanns also threatened to sue The Times for reporting this was the case.