Less than 48 hours on, the worst preserved crime scene I've ever seen

[Mrs. B]

The holiday apartment from which Madeleine McCann vanished was rented out for two months before police sealed it off.
Four different groups of tourists were allowed to stay in the flat before forensics officers attempted to take blood and DNA samples from the rooms.
The resulting DNA analysis was inconclusive and laboratory scientists said samples were badly degraded and contaminated.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1042924/McCann-apartment-rented-times-police-forensic-testing.html#ixzz2TDDB1taV
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This is actually confirmed in the official files as well, though I'm still looking for the exact reference. Will add as soon as I can locate it.

ETA Here is the file reference http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/DCCB_LETTER.htm

Apartment 5A was subsequently let between 12 and 19 June (to friends of the owner); 28 June to 12 July (to three people with Irish names); 12 to 19 July (to an English couple) and 19 to 26 July (to a family with Southern Asian names).

[registrar]

It wasn't a crime scene

does not compute

3 year old child one moment with her siblings

then disappeared

how on earth is that not a crime scene ?

Please explain

[Eleanor]

author=Eleanor link=topic=1553.msg45705#msg45705 date=1368480637]

I have not read every single page in it, but I doubt very much that he was writing his book from May 4th, what an extraordinary claim to make. And totally baseless. You are FREE to think what you WANT though
 

Amaral does say in his Book that he doubted The McCanns on the 4th of May when he first woke up.  You obviously missed that page.  Silly you.
But then I suspect that he had a hang over, and might now wish that he hadn't said that.  Unlike you.

I think we established from, of all places, Morais' blog, that Amaral breached secrecy in producing and preparing his blog ...

Sorry, I b....red up the quotes.

Amaral breached Secrecy  when he released his Book.  Even if we can't prove that it was him doing the leaking to The Press.

Does anyone really care?  It will only be his downfall in the end.  It is all out there according to what he thought.  This is the heart of The Libel Trial.  This is what he said.  And so seriously on record.
Good one, Gonc.

[AnneGuedes]

And never forget that, harrowing though the ordeal for the McCanns unquestionably was, ultimately, they were cleared of all suspicion.

Never forget what could eventually be achieved but wasn't, leaving doubt remain :
The obvious and well-known advantages of immediate appreciation of evidence, or in other words, the fulfilment of the principle of contiguity of evidence in order to form a conviction, as firm as possible, about what was seen by Jane Tanner and the other interposers, and, eventually, to dismiss once and for all any doubts that may subsist concerning the innocence of the missing [child's] parents.

[Eleanor]

And never forget that, harrowing though the ordeal for the McCanns unquestionably was, ultimately, they were cleared of all suspicion.

Never forget what could eventually be achieved but wasn't, leaving doubt remain :
The obvious and well-known advantages of immediate appreciation of evidence, or in other words, the fulfilment of the principle of contiguity of evidence in order to form a conviction, as firm as possible, about what was seen by Jane Tanner and the other interposers, and, eventually, to dismiss once and for all any doubts that may subsist concerning the innocence of the missing [child's] parents.

Do me a favour.  Could you possibly put that into plain bleeding English, because I haven't got a clue of what you are talking about.

[AnneGuedes]

It's a quotation of the Procurador Geral da Republica  (p. 4637-4638)
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/LEGAL_SUMMARY.htm

[John]

Sending the dogs in so late after the event and after several other families had used the apartment was a complete waste of time and energy.  I wonder did Harrison know that the crime scene was no longer secure and had in effect been compromised when he offered the British cadaver dogs to the PJ?

[ferryman]

Sending the dogs in so late after the event and after several other families had used the apartment was a complete waste of time and energy.  I wonder did Harrison know that the crime scene was no longer secure and had in effect been compromised when he offered the British cadaver dogs to the PJ?

He didn't know and didn't approve of searches in any of the places where Madeleine had never been.

He disowned UK participation in those searches.

[Chinagirl]

Sending the dogs in so late after the event and after several other families had used the apartment was a complete waste of time and energy.  I wonder did Harrison know that the crime scene was no longer secure and had in effect been compromised when he offered the British cadaver dogs to the PJ?

He didn't know and didn't approve of searches in any of the places where Madeleine had never been.

He disowned UK participation in those searches.

That means the cars should never have been searched.

[ferryman]

Sending the dogs in so late after the event and after several other families had used the apartment was a complete waste of time and energy.  I wonder did Harrison know that the crime scene was no longer secure and had in effect been compromised when he offered the British cadaver dogs to the PJ?

He didn't know and didn't approve of searches in any of the places where Madeleine had never been.

He disowned UK participation in those searches.

That means the cars should never have been searched.

Harrison's summary of searches:

On 31-07-07 the PJ conducted canine searches with a search warrant at apartments in Praia da Luz that had been previously occupied by the McCanns and their friends.
 
On 01-08-07 the PJ and GNR assisted by a canine, conducted searches on the eastern beach and wasteland in Praia da Luz.
 
On 02-08-07 the PJ conducted a search warrant at a villa in Praia da Luz currently occupied by the McCann family.
 
Later the same day PJ officers conducted a screening procedure involving items removed from the McCann’s villa.
 
On 03-08-07 PJ and GNR officers were given instruction based on translated extracts from NPIA doctrine on search management and procedures. This focused on search procedures relating to buildings and vehicles.
 
On 04-08-07 and 05-08-07 a search warrant was executed at the villa and gardens belonging to the PJ suspect Robert Murat. This search involved both PJ and GNR personnel supported by civil defence, geophysical equipment operators and a canine handler.
 
On 06-08-07 ten vehicles were searched associated to the enquiry.
 
On 07-08-07 the western beach and remaining wasteland areas were searched using canine and GNR personnel.
 
On 08-08-07 the drains around the apartment block where Madeleine McCann disappeared from were subject to a visual inspection by PJ officers.
 

Both inspections at the villa and the gym are described as "PJ exercises".

While Harrison did recommend an inspection of vehicles, he recommended only that cars "owned or driven by Murat" should be inspected, none others.

In the event, a car Murat hired never made the line up, while 8 cars Harrison said nothing about did, including the McCanns' car.

And notice that Harrison waited until after the inspection at the gym to issue PJ personnel with translated instructions on how to conduct a search ...

[Angelo222]

If I was Grime I would be highly embarrassed by the events which took place in the underground garage.  Eddie was more interested in barking up a wall than he was in a Renault Scenic hire car.  Maybe they should have knocked the wall down to find a corpse??  Maybe somebody had a quick pee??   

[Chinagirl]

And never forget that, harrowing though the ordeal for the McCanns unquestionably was, ultimately, they were cleared of all suspicion.

Never forget what could eventually be achieved but wasn't, leaving doubt remain :
The obvious and well-known advantages of immediate appreciation of evidence, or in other words, the fulfilment of the principle of contiguity of evidence in order to form a conviction, as firm as possible, about what was seen by Jane Tanner and the other interposers, and, eventually, to dismiss once and for all any doubts that may subsist concerning the innocence of the missing [child's] parents.

Do me a favour.  Could you possibly put that into plain bleeding English, because I haven't got a clue of what you are talking about.

I agree.  It might be an "accurate" translation ffrom the Portuguese, but it's certainly not concise, easily understandable English.  Little more than gobbledigook, actually.

[ferryman]

If I was Grime I would be highly embarrassed by the events which took place in the underground garage.  Eddie was more interested in barking up a wall than he was in a Renault Scenic hire car.  Maybe they should have knocked the wall down to find a corpse??  Maybe somebody had a quick pee??   

I should have added that in Harrison's summary, only in those searches he recommended does he own UK participation: the holiday apartments, areas in and around PdL and the Murats' place, that's it!

[Benice]

[
From Harrison's summary of searches:

 

On 02-08-07 the PJ conducted a search warrant at a villa in Praia da Luz currently occupied by the McCann family.
 
Later the same day PJ officers conducted a screening procedure involving items removed from the McCann’s villa.

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

If the above means that the villa was searched by Eddie before the clothing was removed - then why, during that search, did he fail  to alert to the items of clothing which he later alerted to - but only after they had been removed?

[AnneGuedes]

Sending the dogs in so late after the event and after several other families had used the apartment was a complete waste of time and energy.  I wonder did Harrison know that the crime scene was no longer secure and had in effect been compromised when he offered the British cadaver dogs to the PJ?

Yes, John, he had been in PDL for 2 days, analysing the situation with major Sequeira (GNR) who directed all the researches when he proposed this. As MH was requested by the regional head of the PJ, he was certainly not deceived.