'spurring PJ into action'
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/459701/Madeleine-McCann-Police-close-in-on-three-suspects-in-PortugalMadeleine McCann: Police close in on three suspects in Portugal
BRITISH police are closing in on three burglars identified as prime suspects in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
By: Paul Jeeves
Published: Fri, February 14, 2014
British police are closing in on their goal and are spurring Portuguese police into action British police are closing in on their goal - and are spurring Portuguese police into action [PA]
They are stepping up pressure on their Portuguese counterparts to help gather evidence against the gang.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the UK hunt for Madeleine, was in Portugal last night discussing the next move with senior local officers.
So far the process has been caught up in red tape, causing frustrating delays. It was revealed yesterday that Scotland Yard have sent a third letter to Portugal asking police there to make further inquiries.
None of the three suspects has been arrested or even faced questioning yet. Yard officers spent months investigating mobile phone data which places them close to the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz where three-year-old Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007.
But every time they want to follow up a new lead they have to ask the Crown Prosecution Service to write to their Portuguese counterparts, who then forward the request to local police.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt revealed yesterday that the “tempo” of the Yard investigation was increasing. And he said further letters requesting more inquiries would now be fired off to Portugal “routinely” as the investigation gathers pace.
“We sent a further detailed letter of request which went out from the Crown Prosecution Service on Friday,” he said. “There have been three letters so far. This is the process we are working with.
“As we get information back from the request letters that have already gone out, that generates new activity. The letter of request is for us to ask the police to undertake a policing activity. It could be a range of things that could include interviewing somebody. This is part of an on-going process. They are now going to be going out routinely.
“I can’t go into the detail as they are formal legal documents that go from our Crown Prosecution Service to the prosecuting authorities in Portugal. But clearly the investigative tempo is moving forward.
“Nobody has been arrested. We have not asked for anyone to be arrested. So far no one has been interviewed as a witness. But we are progressing with the investigation and the work we are asking the Portuguese to undertake.
“We are still at the point of gathering evidence. Andy Redwood is over there again. There is a senior officer in the Portuguese police who is working with us. Andy goes regularly to meet him to ensure the work is undertaken the way we want. Investigative activity is increasing.’’
Mr Hewitt admitted the letter sending, which started in July, created a delay but he said it was a judicial process the force had to stick to. “At the moment we are not in a formal joint investigation in a legal sense,” he said. “We are working with the Portuguese. They are doing the inquiries on our behalf.”
Analysis of the three burglars’ mobiles showed they made an unusually high number of calls to each other in the hours that followed Madeleine’s disappearance.
Police believe the suspects, including at least one Portuguese man, had already carried out a previous raid in the resort, disturbing a child.
That child’s parents, who had been drinking outside the property, rushed inside to find the intruders had fled. During their original investigation, Portuguese police attached no significance to the break-in, which happened a few days before Madeleine vanished.
A spokesman for her parents Kate and Gerry McCann described the sending of the police letters as “a significant development”.
