13TH OCTOBER 2014 ; Forensic Scientists to join Brit Police in Maddie Investigation

Forensic scientists to join British police in McCann investigation

Analysts want to re-examine evidence retrieved from apartment from which Madeleine went missing in 2007
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Brendan de Beer in Portimão


The Guardian, Monday 13 October 2014 23.18 BST





DCI Andy RedwoodDetective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood during the search of scrubland in Praia de Luz earlier this year. Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA


A team of British forensic analysts are expected to join DCI Andy Redwood and his team of detectives in Portugal this week in a renewed bid to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Portuguese police sources told the Guardian that the scientists have asked to revisit some of the evidence retrieved from the holiday apartment from which the British toddler went missing on 3 May 2007. The forensic evidence gathered at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance has been stored at the National Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in Coimbra in central Portugal.

Detectives and forensic technicians from the Metropolitan police are scheduled to visit the laboratory on Wednesday.

Detectives led by Redwood will meet with their Polícia Judiciária counterparts in Faro on Tuesday to discuss the request.

Police said they had not yet received any official orders from the public prosecutor’s office and that the next phase of the investigation was unlikely to commence for at least a fortnight.

A source close to the case told the Guardian that the request appeared “to focus primarily on the further questioning of some of the suspects brought in by Faro police in the summer”.

In July, Portuguese police quizzed four Portuguese nationals who were declared arguidos, or formal suspects. They also spoke to 11 witnesses.

The questioning of these suspects followed the end of major ground-level searches in Praia da Luz in early June, when Scotland Yard detectives scoured a large patch of scrubland.

The force described the operation as the largest overseas deployment ever undertaken by British police, and said it was the “first phase of this investigation” into Madeleine’s disappearance.

Although the searches turned up no fresh evidence, the Met said detectives had gained an “essential understanding of the activity for which people have used this piece of land” and alluded to “substantial work which is yet to be done in the coming months”.

So. It still exists.  Will the British forensic team please try to be a bit more careful with the samples this time? And will the Portuguese let them anywhere near them?

Reaction to the efforts of the newly determined prosecutor?

Feels like we're really moving into the final stages now. This is astonishing news.

Oh my word. Good news.

One bit that leaps out at me is this:

'Although the searches turned up no fresh evidence, the Met said detectives had gained an “essential understanding of the activity for which people have used this piece of land” and alluded to “substantial work which is yet to be done in the coming months”.

So the digs weren't pointless then?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-detectives-back-portugal-4433234

Madeleine McCann detectives back in Portugal after appointment of new prosecutor

Oct 14, 2014 00:25
By Nina Massey

Scotland Yard cops are hoping to speak with Ines Sequeira and get approval to reinterview three suspects

Scotland Yard detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have returned to Portugal following the appointment of a new prosecutor.

It is also the first time they have gone back to the Algarve since quizzing four suspects at the start of July.

The Operation Grange detectives arrived in Faro this afternoon on a BA flight from Gatwick before picking up a hire car and driving to their hotel.

Only a small team of three officers - led by Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood - made the trip.

The team is due at Faro Police Station early tomorrow morning for a meeting with Policia Judiciaria counterparts.

The meeting - described as "routine" - follows the appointment of a new woman prosecutor to the case.

Reuters Maddie search
Scotland Yard officers clear an area in Praia da Luz, Portugal in the hunt for missing Madeleine McCann

Following her appointment, high-flying investigator Ines Sequeira said she was “utterly determined” to crack the case, bringing fresh hope to Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, both 46.

She has yet to approve a fifth letter of request sent by British authorities earlier this year.

British detectives - who are understood to want to re-interview three of the four Madeleine McCann suspects they questioned in July - are expected to press for a quick 'yes' to their new bid to crack the seven-year-old mystery of Madeleine's disappearance.

Mrs Sequeira took over from predecessor Jose Magalhaes e Menezes last week and has told colleagues she views the Madeleine McCann case as a priority.

It is thought the Operation Grange detectives may seek a meeting with her before they return to London.

A source close to the McCanns said they think the appointment is a "step in the right direction."


The new Scotland Yard trip to Portugal comes after it emerged the cost of the British police search for Madeleine will top 10 million POUNDS - double the original amount estimated by the Home Office when the force was called in by David Cameron in 2011.

But the Home Office has defended the rising cost of the probe, insisting: "The Government believes it is right that it does all it can to support the search for Madeleine McCann."

The Operation Grange inquiry is running in parallel with a new Portuguese probe, reopened in May more than five years after originally being shelved.

The reopening of the investigation in Portugal coincided with news a former employee at the Ocean Club holiday resort in Praia de Luz where Madeleine vanished, had been identified as a suspect.

Recovering heroin addict Euclides Monteiro, a convicted burglar, died in a tractor accident in 2009. His widow Luisa Rodrigues was interviewed by Portuguese detectives but insisted he was an innocent man and has been fighting to get authorities to confirm they have now ruled him out as a suspect. Portuguese police believe Madeleine was snatched by a foreigner no longer in Portugal, although the Cape Verde immigrant is still officially a suspect.

They have privately dismissed the British police work, which involved digs and sewer searches for her body in June in Praia da Luz, as "senseless."

-------------------

The article came with the photo below and the caption as shown. They don't look very happy about it all to me. Is this the Mirror engaging in some sly editorial comment?

Kate McCann and Gerry McCann welcome the appointment of a new prosecutor

The combination of the photograph and the caption is quite hilarious

So, it is now a year to the day that Redwood showed Smithman to the general public, the sighting having been hidden and obfuscated for the previous 6 years.

And we have:

- an orchestrated media campaign from Gerry McCann and Sky News starting on October 1st that ended with the tragic death of Brenda Leyland
- Redwood meeting a brand new prosecutor on the anniversary of Crimewatch, a prosecutor who is "utterly determined" to crack the case
- British forensics team in Portugal on Wednesday

I'll say it now - END GAME.

Dr. Amaral mentioned the importance of a hair from Madeleine which is stored in the Portugal Forensic lab would be an important factor in the case.

Without a follicle the full spectrum DNA could not be extracted at the time, but in the last few years this has become possible.

I hope you're right wlbts!

Now this is the sort of news I like to wake up to in the morning.

Even though I am contradicting myself from a post yesterday saying that O.G won't be giving a sniff of anything away and what ever is in the papers is tosh.

I just hope they're not trying to frame a could be burglar.
I hope the new prosecutor is awake and alert.
IMO

Just skim read, sounds like good news.  Will move this to Latest News just for now then move back here, to it's rightful place.

Have merged your topic with this one canada12.

Maddie Case: English Detectives are back in the Algarve
14 OCTOBER 2014 | POSTED BY JOANA MORAIS LEAVE A COMMENT

Redwood's team arrival at Faro airport yesterday | photo Luís Costa/Cofina

by Marisa Rodrigues

Scotland Yard (SY) is expected today at the Judiciary Police headquarters in Faro for a meeting. On the table will be the next steps of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine which have not yet been authorized.

The English police requested seven people to be questioned, three of which were already questioned in July, and that searches are done to the houses of the “suspects”.

These requests were made in the last letter rogatory - the fifth one - received in August by the Public Ministry and are awaiting the green light. The process remains at the court in Portimão but is now in the hands of the prosecutor Inês Sequeira who left Silves to replace her colleague Magalhães e Menezes, who was transferred to the Labour court.

A change which results from the reorganization of the judicial chart and that was seized by SY to exert pressure on the magistrate. According to the British media, the detectives weave accolades the prosecutor, whom they call “high-flying investigator” who is “utterly determined” to “shake up” the process. News that surfaced just a few days before the English detectives return to Faro.

At the meeting in Coimbra, scheduled for tomorrow, the detectives should receive the report of the analysis of the material found during the searches and excavations in the terrains of Praia da Luz, in June. Part of the vestiges had been sent to the INML [Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal] and others to the Forensic Science Laboratory of the PJ.

Scotland Yard's investigation, which has cost over EUR nine million, has ​​constituted four arguidos [formal suspects]. The searches and excavations in Praia da Luz, last June, that promised to unravel the case, did not produce any meaningful results.

in Jornal de Notícias, paper edition, 14 Oct. 2014

Thanks to
http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2014/10/maddie-case-english-detectives-are-back.html

At the meeting in Coimbra, scheduled for tomorrow, the detectives should receive the report of the analysis of the material found during the searches and excavations in the terrains of Praia da Luz, in June. Part of the vestiges had been sent to the INML [Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal] and others to the Forensic Science Laboratory of the PJ.

So is the above saying the Detectives are going read the analysis of the material they found in June only?

From the Guardian report I posted late last night, the following jumped out at me :


[b]Although the searches turned up no fresh evidence, the Met said detectives had gained an “essential understanding of the activity for which people have used this piece of land” and alluded to “substantial work which is yet to be done in the coming months”.


Official statement from SY that UK police have obtained knowledge of what had been going on with the land which was searched in recent months. That is despite the reports of no new evidence.

Leads me to believe that the no fresh evidence is SY keeping cards close to their chest and handling media in line with their own plans for the case and there was indeed evidence of activity on that land discovered.

Or there is no new evidence but one of the Portuguese" suspects " acc to MSM was actually a witness as described by Portugal iirc and has given SY some useful info about that land and/or something /someone who was seen there.

And the source close to the investigation spinning this forensic latest to those Portuguese " suspects" was wearing a pink suit when he commented to the Guardian about this latest important development.

I don't see how the SY can do this reanalysis without Portuguese supervision, it is as Redwood said a Portuguese case, so getting their hands on it to contaminate it or destroy it as remarked by whitewash believers on twitter will prove a major problem imo.

After what happened 7 years ago the samples from 5A will be taken very good care of by those holding it.

Not read her blog as yet but she says this....

Joana Morais ‏@xklamation  now49 seconds ago
Not sure why people are quoting  @guardian article when the facts are different  http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2014/10/maddie-case-english-detectives-are-back.html … #mccann

Andrew wrote:Now this is the sort of news I like to wake up to in the morning.

Even though I am contradicting myself from a post yesterday saying that O.G won't be giving a sniff of anything away and what ever is in the papers is tosh.

I think it simply got to the point where the police had to say something.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the criticisms of the cost of the investigation and the comparisons to the amounts spent on missing persons cases are part of the McCanns' campaign to get the investigation shut down. To counter the criticisms, the police have hinted that this is a murder investigation and they are using top, expensive, specialists such as the sniffer dogs and the forensic scientist.

We are only getting little glimpses of what is going on behind the scenes but what we have seen make me think that things are not going well for the McCanns.

Andrew wrote:Not read her blog as yet but she says this....

Joana Morais ‏@xklamation  now49 seconds ago
Not sure why people are quoting  @guardian article when the facts are different  http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2014/10/maddie-case-english-detectives-are-back.html … #mccann

Hi Andrew, I've posted her Blog page 1, and yes the facts are different

Anne, I don't know what the facts are for any to be definitive. Media reports often  have errors.

One newspaper refs analysis of  recent land search findings, another of 5a samples from 7 years ago.

It could be that one is wrong [ and it might be Portugal paper] or that both are correct but each has only reported one aspect of the forensic work.

Joana suggested the Guardian journalist needs asking where the info came from re the 5a samples.
It appears it came from Portugal, as did the report re the land search discoveries.

She clearly thinks this is inaccurate but the Portuguese newspaper is correct. Both reports have come from Portugal.

All rather confusing.

Russian Doll wrote:Anne, I don't know what the facts are for any to be definitive. Media reports often  have errors.

One newspaper refs analysis of  recent land search findings, another of 5a samples from 7 years ago.

It could be that one is wrong [ and it might be Portugal paper] or that both are correct but each has only reported one aspect of the forensic work.

Joana suggested the Guardian journalist needs asking where the info came from re the 5a samples.
It appears it came from Portugal, as did the report re the land search discoveries.

She clearly thinks this is inaccurate but the Portuguese  newspaper is correct. Both reports have come from Portugal.

All rather confusing.

Hi Russian Doll, perhaps I shouldn't have used the word fact, agree it is rather confusing.

This is the forensics report from the PJ files. The initial forensics done by PJ on 4th May. Seems to be mostly hairs. http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/5A_FORENSIC_4_5_7.htm

Could the info 2&2 given to OG be the reason the forensics have been brought in?

Tigger wrote:
Dr. Amaral mentioned the importance  of a hair from Madeleine which is stored in the Portugal Forensic lab would be an important factor in the case.

Without a follicle the full spectrum DNA could not be extracted at the time, but in the last few years this has become possible.

I hope you're right wlbts!

He certainly did. There was an interview with him speaking about the importance of this hair strand.

Can anyone find a link for that interview? Be interesting to listen to him again about it.

I'm sure he said the case could be solved on this piece of evidence or did I dream that last bit.

wlbts wrote:The combination of the photograph and the caption is quite hilarious

That's made my day. Cannot possibly be unintended

Tigger wrote:
Dr. Amaral mentioned the importance  of a hair from Madeleine which is stored in the Portugal Forensic lab would be an important factor in the case.

Without a follicle the full spectrum DNA could not be extracted at the time, but in the last few years this has become possible.

I hope you're right wlbts!

Unless they can show it is a hair from a dead person, surely though this would not be conclusive?

Wouldn't the McCanns just say that the hair had been transferred to the car via clothing or something, even though it was so long after Madeleine's "disappearance"?

Obviously I'm missing something here, can someone explain it to me?

nobodythereeither wrote:

Tigger wrote:
Dr. Amaral mentioned the importance  of a hair from Madeleine which is stored in the Portugal Forensic lab would be an important factor in the case.

Without a follicle the full spectrum DNA could not be extracted at the time, but in the last few years this has become possible.

I hope you're right wlbts!

Unless they can show it is a hair from a dead person, surely though this would not be conclusive?

Wouldn't the McCanns just say that the hair had been transferred to the car via clothing or something, even though it was so long after Madeleine's "disappearance"?

Obviously I'm missing something here, can someone explain it to me?

It's in one of the Portuguese interviews but Amaral has mentioned it more often than that. He has also said that the pink blanket when it is found would solve the case. Fibres that linked to the car forensics were found in the barn. Just guesswork but the hair would  be very significant if it was found  in another context, say the finds in the barn?

This is a good interview, covering some hair issues - well worth a view, very thorough.
http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2012/03/maddie-case-goncalo-amaral-returns-to.html