Telegraph - Madeleine McCann: are we any closer to knowing the truth?

Madeleine McCann: are we any closer to knowing the truth?


Ever since she disappeared in May 2007, the image of Madeleine McCann has remained burned on our national consciousness. How close are police to finding out the truth?

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter
8:09PM BST 05 Sep 2014

            

In the seven years since Madeleine McCann went missing from a holiday apartment in Portugal, myriad theories about what happened to her have taken root, but only one fact remains uncontested: that she was reported missing at 10.14pm on the evening of Thursday, May 3, 2007.
It was at that point, when police were called, that the clock started ticking on the biggest missing persons investigation for decades, a search which remains very much active to this day.
Facts, the hard currency of any police investigation, have proved almost uniquely elusive; every sighting, every timing and every witness statement has been disputed in the years that have elapsed since.
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann quickly came under suspicion by Portuguese police, a development that the couple are certain meant vital clues were missed in the first hours and days after Madeleine’s disappearance.
Every possible theory has been explored since then: that Madeleine was abducted by a paedophile; that she was killed during a bungled burglary and her body dumped; that she was abducted by traffickers and sold to a childless couple; that she wandered out of the apartment and died in a tragic accident, and many more besides.

            

To date, however, not one shred of proof of what happened to Madeleine has been unearthed. The question of what happened to Madeleine would become not only a personal tragedy for the McCann family, but a national obsession in the UK and in Portugal.
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, was on the penultimate day of her family holiday on the day she vanished. She had spent part of the day playing by the swimming pool in the Ocean Club resort, where the last known picture of her was taken at 2.29pm.
Reports of when she was last seen alive by independent witnesses vary, but she was still alive at around 6pm, when she and her parents went into their apartment at 5A Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva, where Madeleine and her two-year-old twin brother and sister were readied for bed.
The McCanns told police they put the children to bed at around 7pm, and that all three were asleep by 8.30pm, when they went for dinner at a tapas bar 50 yards across the pool from their apartment. There they met seven friends with whom they were on holiday.
^{Kate and Gerry McCann}
The McCanns say checks were made on their children every half-hour, sometimes by other members of the party, comprising Dr Russell O'Brien and Jane Tanner, from Exeter, Dr Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, from London, and David and Fiona Payne, from Leicester, together with Mrs Payne's mother Dianne Webster. Mrs Webster, however, reportedly told police that each couple was responsible for checking their own children.
Gerry McCann went to the apartment at 9.05pm, when all the children were sleeping soundly and Madeleine was still in her bed, he says.
The police in Portugal, however, have never accepted the McCanns’ evidence as undisputed. They initially regarded the McCanns as suspects, and believed the McCanns could have killed Madeleine any time after the last independent sighting of her at 6pm.
Dr Matthew Oldfield went into apartment 5A at 9.30pm, and noticed that Madeleine’s room seemed lighter than the others, as if the shutters had been partially opened. He could not be certain whether Madeleine was there.
Kate McCann was next to check on the children, at 10pm. She ran back to the restaurant moments later, saying Madeleine was missing. The McCanns and their friends made a quick search of the resort, but after finding no sign of Madeleine the police were called at 10.14pm.
The McCanns told police they had put Madeleine to bed with her pink comfort blanket and favourite soft toy, Cuddle Cat, and was wearing short-sleeved Marks & Spencer Eeyore pyjamas.

^{The bed where Madeleine had been sleeping when she went missing}
Crucially, however, the apartment was not initially treated as a crime scene, meaning around 20 people went in and out before it was sealed off, contaminating potential evidence. Roadblocks were not put in place until 10am the next day, border guards were not informed for hours and Interpol did not put out a global missing persons alert for five days.
It meant that the most crucial time of any missing persons investigation – the first 24 hours – were largely squandered, and police have been trying to catch up ever since. Yet potentially key sightings and artists’ impressions of suspects were kept from the public for years.
Mary and Martin Smith, from Ireland, told police they saw a man carrying a child matching Madeleine’s description at around 10pm on Rua da Escola Primaria, 500 yards from the McCanns’ apartment. He was heading towards the beach, did not look like a tourist and did not seem comfortable carrying the child, they said.
Their evidence was compelling, but it was only in October 2013 that two e-fit images of the man, compiled by police from descriptions given by Mr and Mrs Smith, were released by Scotland Yard to coincide with a BBC Crimewatch reconstruction of Madeleine’s disappearance. He remains a suspect.
^{Two police e-fits of the man described by the Smiths}
There were also blind alleys. Jane Tanner, one of the tapas diners, told police that when she left the restaurant at 9.15pm to check on her own daughter, she saw a man carrying a small child, wearing pink pyjamas, in his arms.
For years afterwards, the mystery man would be a key suspect, if not the prime suspect, but in October 2013 the Metropolitan Police announced that a British holidaymaker who had been taking his daughter back to his apartment after picking her up from an evening crèche, had been identified as the man Miss Tanner had seen and ruled out of the inquiry.
^{Madeleine and, right, the man seen by Jane Tanner. He has since been traced and ruled out}
The first person to become an “arguido”, or official suspect, was Robert Murat, a local property consultant, whose home was searched 12 days after the disappearance. He was formally cleared of suspicion in 2008 and won £600,000 in libel damages from 11 British newspapers.
The Portuguese Police, however, were suspicious of the McCanns from the beginning, partly due to a clash of cultures. They could not believe that parents would leave their children unattended, and did not approve of the McCanns’ use of the media to raise the profile of the case, in a country where secrecy is the hallmark of all police investigations.
The arrival of two British sniffer dogs in Portugal in July 2007 only hardened that belief. One dog was trained to sniff out traces of human blood, the other was trained to sniff out the scent of dead bodies. Both dogs were taken to several locations connected to the investigation, and gave alerts only in apartment 5A. Later, the cadaver dog gave an alert inside a Renault car, hired by the McCanns 24 days after Madeleine went missing.
DNA tests on samples taken from the car proved inconclusive, but the Portuguese police wrongly told journalists they were a “100 per cent match” for Madeleine.
The Portuguese police came up with the theory that Madeleine had been killed by her parents by accident, possibly by being given an overdose of a sedative to make her sleep, that they had hidden the body, faked her abduction and then used the hire car weeks later to move her body to a burial location.
In early September 2007, according to Kate McCann, she was told by the Portuguese police that if she admitted that Madeleine had died in the apartment and she had hidden her body she might only serve a two-year sentence and Gerry McCann would not be charged at all. On September 7 the couple were both made arguidos.
Goncalo Amaral, the chief inspector who had been in charge of the case, resigned in 2008 to write a book alleging that Madeleine had died in an accident in the apartment and the McCanns had faked the abduction. The McCanns sued him for libel, with the court expected to make its decision late in 2014.
In July 2008 the Portuguese attorney general announced that the McCanns were no longer suspects and the investigation was closed. The McCanns hired private investigators to carry on the search, but it was not until May 2011 that Theresa May, the Home Secretary, announced that Scotland Yard would review the evidence in the case, which had until then been the responsibility of Leicestershire Police, working with the Portuguese authorities.
In July 2013 Operation Grange, the review of the available evidence, became a full-blown criminal inquiry, and Scotland Yard said it was concentrating on a “criminal act by a stranger”.
The Yard announced it was looking into possible links between Madeleine’s disappearance and bogus charity collectors who were knocking on doors in Praia da Luz at the time. Between 3.30pm and 5.30pm on the day in question there were four separate sightings of men who said they were collecting money for an orphanage. British detectives believe men whose photofits they released in 2013 may have been engaged in reconnaissance for a pre-planned abduction or for burglaries, in keeping with the theory that Madeleine may have been killed by a burglar she disturbed.
^{Is this how Madeleine would look today?}
Scotland Yard also said in 2013 it was eager to trace a blond-haired man who had been seen loitering in the area on April 30 and May 2, looking at apartment 1A. He was described as “ugly” with a spotty complexion and a large nose. Two blond-haired men were seen on the balcony of the empty apartment 5C, two doors from 5A, at 2.30pm on the day of the disappearance. Blond men were seen again near 5A at 4pm and 6pm that day, and at 11pm that night. Following the appeal on Crimewatch, the Portuguese police re-opened their own investigation.
Scotland Yard officers travelled to Portugal in 2014 to interview four suspects and carried out searches of the area around the apartment using ground-penetrating radar. One of the men who was interview has since been eliminated from the inquiry, but the other three men remain arguidos.
The British officers questioned them on suspicion of being part of a burglary gang that panicked after killing Madeleine during a bungled break-in. They all protested their innocence and were released without charge.
Another suspect was Euclides Monteiro, a convicted burglar with a drug habit, who had been sacked from the Ocean Club in 2006. Mobile phone tracking showed he had been in the area on the night of the disappearance, and police believe he may have been burgling apartments there to fund his drug addiction. He died in a tractor accident in 2009.
In March 2014 Scotland Yard announced that a lone intruder sexually assaulted five girls aged between seven and 10 in the Algarve between 2004 and 2006. The man, who has never been caught, was said to have a “very, very unhealthy interest” in young white girls.
The four incidents, one of which involved two girls, were among 12 in which men had entered holiday accommodation in the area, including two incidents in Praia da Luz. The force also said it was looking at 38 “people of interest” and were researching the backgrounds of 530 known sex offenders, including 59 regarded as high interest.
Kate and Gerry McCann remain convinced their daughter is alive and that they will one day be reunited. The hunt to find her continues.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/11078595/Madeleine-McCann-are-we-any-closer-to-knowing-the-truth.html

Facts wrong in the first paragraph. It was 10.40., not 10.14 that it was reported to the police.

Well no news in that piece except for raking over all the old information............I wonder why??

They mentioned the dogs, which must be a first but still a kind of sitting on the fence kind of article ........ but still seems to have gone further than the MSM has since those heady days of summer 2007!

Mimi wrote:Facts wrong in the first paragraph.  It was 10.40., not 10.14 that it was reported to the police.

It is a shame that Gordon Raynor made such a big mistake in his first paragraph. The delay in calling the police, evidenced by the call being logged in the call centre is another damning fact, if the condition of the room was as KM stated. Curtains, shutters etc, etc.
Because the article does have a few little gems in it:


"Gerry McCann went to the apartment at 9.05pm, when all the children were sleeping soundly and Madeleine was still in her bed, he says."
"The police in Portugal, however, have never accepted the McCanns’ evidence as undisputed. They initially regarded the McCanns as suspects, and believed the McCanns could have killed Madeleine any time after the last independent sighting of her at 6pm."

I am sure the police never suggested they killed Madeleine, only that she may have died in an accident. But Raynor is casting doubt on GM's visit immediately before this.

dantezebu wrote:

Mimi wrote:
"The police in Portugal, however, have never accepted the McCanns’ evidence as undisputed. They initially regarded the McCanns as suspects, and believed the McCanns could have killed Madeleine any time after the last independent sighting of her at 6pm."

The police would never solve a single crime if they accepted evidence as undisputed. Just imagine, victim: "He hit me!", suspect: "No I didn't!", police: "I accept what you both say as true. This crime is unsolvable!"

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it the general consensus of those who originally carried out the investigation (Amaral, the original SY team etc.) that it was a major error that the McCanns were not initially suspects?

candyfloss wrote:Well no news in that piece except for raking over all the old information............I wonder why??

Wouldn't be anything to do with a damages trial in Lisbon that's about to reconvene, now would it.

dantezebu wrote:

Mimi wrote:Facts wrong in the first paragraph.  It was 10.40., not 10.14 that it was reported to the police.

It is a shame that Gordon Raynor made such a big mistake in his first paragraph. The delay in calling the police, evidenced by the call being logged in the call centre is another damning fact, if the condition of the room was as KM stated. Curtains, shutters etc, etc.
Because the article does have a few little gems in it:


"Gerry McCann went to the apartment at 9.05pm, when all the children were sleeping soundly and Madeleine was still in her bed, he says."
"The police in Portugal, however, have never accepted the McCanns’ evidence as undisputed. They initially regarded the McCanns as suspects, and believed the McCanns could have killed Madeleine any time after the last independent sighting of her at 6pm."

I am sure the police never suggested they killed Madeleine, only that she may have died in an accident. But Raynor is casting doubt on GM's visit immediately before this.

There is a huge libel, right there. The Portuguese Police have never, ever said that the McCanns killed Madeleine.

Poe wrote:

dantezebu wrote:

Mimi wrote:
"The police in Portugal, however, have never accepted the McCanns’ evidence as undisputed. They initially regarded the McCanns as suspects, and believed the McCanns could have killed Madeleine any time after the last independent sighting of her at 6pm."

The police would never solve a single crime if they accepted evidence as undisputed. Just imagine, victim: "He hit me!", suspect: "No I didn't!", police: "I accept what you both say as true. This crime is unsolvable!"

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it the general consensus of those who originally carried out the investigation (Amaral, the original SY team etc.) that it was a major error that the McCanns were not initially suspects?

The Portuguese authorities were being pressured by the British authorities not to treat the McCanns as suspects. They were in a no win situation. Whoevever is responsible for hindering the investigation should be in the dock alongside our favour couple. Why were the clothes of the McCann family not taken by the police. Where were the dirty clothes Maddie had worn that day? Or indeed the bead she had entwined in her hair for the last photo? Why was Kate allowed to do laundry on the Saturday - and who hell does the laundry when their child has just gone missing?

Were these errors by the PJ, or were they ordered by someone NOT to look at the McCanns as suspects, that foreign someone having the power to sway an investigation from the inside? Someone who might even have said, disregards the Smiths' evidence and concentrate on the man seen by Jane Tannner.

Aside from the couple of howlers about timing on alerting the police and "killing" - I have to say I thought this was a really fascinating piece.
Mainly because it didn't really say anything new - but the bits it repeated were clearly very carefully handled - there was a lot of qualifying going on when it came to any of the McCann's claims ("they said", "they claimed"), and as other have pointed out the dogs were also mentioned clearly. And things like the claims of the checking routines were clearly shown to be disputed.
Also Amaral was not referred to as 'sacked' nor as 'disgraced'.
Basically - I thought the whole 'tone of voice' of it was remarkably even-handed and even veering towards sceptical for the MSM. Not what I would expect. Anybody else feel it was remarkably cool towards the McCanns?