McCanns call in own forensic team to fight DNA linking them to Madeleine

McCanns call in own forensic team to fight DNA linking them to Madeleine
Last updated at 18:37 09 October 2007





Kate and Gerry McCann have hired their own forensic experts to refute Portuguese police claims that new DNA tests link them to Madeleine's disappearance, it has been revealed.


The McCanns' law firm Kingsley Napley, one of the leading criminal law firms in the country, is understood to have brought in its own forensic team after the discovery of allegedly damaging evidence found in the apartment in Praia da Luz and in a Renault Scenic hire car, rented 25 days after Madeleine vanished.
The McCanns continue to insist that any DNA found in the car could have been innocently transferred from their daughter's clothing when they moved to a new apartment.
But FSS sources are reported to have claimed that while the fresh DNA evidence does not provide conclusive proof, it does suggest, on balance, that the Portuguese police were right to make the couple arguidos, or official suspects.
The two 39-year-old doctors are said to be extremely distressed by the claims, not least because such speculation shifts the focus away from the search for their daughter.





They fear that the search was effectively halted by Portuguese police three months ago when British police sniffer dogs reacted to the 'scent of death' on Mrs McCann's clothing.
The scaling down of the police operation in Portugal has forced them to bring in their own team of investigators to follow up leads and potential sightings.
A source close to the couple told the Evening Standard: "We have brought our own forensics experts on board," adding that the new team is putting together a case that will offer "wholly innocent" explanations for any DNA and other forensic evidence found in the apartment and in the hire car, said the source.

The move comes as Michael Caplan QC and Angus McBride, both lawyers at Kingsley Napley, met their Portuguese counterparts Rogerio Alves and Carlos Pinto de Abreu for two days last week in Praia da Luz.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, has issued a defiant response to the latest cloud of suspicion hanging over the couple.
He said: "Kate and Gerry have nothing to hide and any material that may or may not have been found by police in Portugal can be wholly and innocently explained.
"They are keen for the judicial process to proceed and for the arguido status eventually to be lifted, as they are confident it will be.
"The allegations against them are ludicrous and we are hoping to clear their names as soon as possible."
Asked how the McCanns were coping, Mr Mitchell said: "They are coping.
"They are throwing themselves into working on their defence, should it be required. They are dealing on a day-to-day basis with their lawyers, with people like me. Their friends and family are very closely around them, looking after them, doing a lot of the daily work, the cooking, the washing."
He said the main focus for the couple was looking after two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, Madeleine's brother and sister, and making sure they were having as normal a life as possible.
Responding to questions about how the couple were coping with the loss of a child, Mr Mitchell said they were unable to grieve because they did not know yet what had happened to their daughter.
"They need that knowledge whether Madeleine is alive or dead - let's face it, she might be," he said.
"They need to know, before they can move on, before they can deal with that.
"In the absence of that hard information, they are doing what they can to, one, clear their names of these dreadful smears and, two, to actually get on with the job of finding her.
"That is the message we want to go to police in Portugal - 'Find Madeleine'."
He said the couple were "more than willing" to co-operate with the Portuguese authorities.
If they were asked back for further interviews, they would "happily" return, he said, and they might even go back at some point of their own volition to see their lawyers, for instance.
He added: "There is an awful lot of ill-informed speculation around the case. What we are sticking to are the facts."
Last week, the McCanns' British lawyers flew to Lisbon for a meeting with their Portuguese counterparts to discuss their case.
The McCanns are also keeping a close eye on personnel changes within the Portuguese police and pray that whoever takes over from sacked police chief Goncalo Amaral will refocus the investigation on the search for their daughter.
In the meantime, a series of TV adverts organised by the Find Madeleine campaign is ready to be broadcast in Morocco, where there have been a number of reported sightings.
A poster campaign in Spanish supermarkets is also planned.
The McCanns had been hoping that new DNA samples taken by British police officers from their hire car, the apartment in Praia da Luz from where the four-year-old disappeared on May 3 and other parts of the Mark Warner holiday complex would help clear their names.
But a source at the FSS told the Evening Standard: "There is no reason to change the direction of the investigation and everything that has emerged indicates that it is focusing where it should.
"This is a very complex case and forensics are rarely conclusive on their own, but the new material adds to the existing picture that has been built up by police and fills in a few more pieces of the jigsaw."
The source is said to have claimed that the samples were of sufficient quality to distinguish between Madeleine's DNA and that of her twin siblings Sean and Amelie or her parents.
The scientists were also said to have taken into account the possibility that the DNA could have been transferred via her toys or clothes.
It was conceded however that the quality of the DNA samples taken by British officers was not as good as it would have been if the Portuguese had collected it earlier.
The McCanns' supporters insist that the case against them is fundamentally flawed and that, ironically, it was their own efforts to kick start the investigation that led to them being named as suspects.
The sniffer dogs said to have picked up the scent of a corpse on Mrs McCann were only brought in after the couple gave the go ahead for retired South African police officer Daniel Krugel - dubbed the Locator - to conduct a search.
He uses a secret scientific method to find murder victims by following their DNA trail with the help of global positioning satellites.
A family friend said: "The irony for Kate and Gerry is that through them trying to move the case forward and be proactive it's actually led to them being made suspects.
"But sniffer dogs should only be used to gather evidence and something solid needs to be found after they react.
"The mere fact that the dogs react does not necessarily mean there is evidence there, but the Portuguese police don't seem to have taken this view."


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-486351/McCanns-forensic-team-fight-DNA-linking-Madeleine.html#axzz2KXGaQUzl

Snipped.

But a source at the FSS told the Evening Standard: "There is no reason to change the direction of the investigation and everything that has emerged indicates that it is focusing where it should.

After getting ontoward 8 yrs,I wonder if any thing as changed.