Was Kate McCann right to decline to answer the 48 questions?

[Mr Gray]

If one of my young grandchildren went missing tonight.  And I was made a suspect.  I would answer all the questions truthfully.  For 2 reasons.

It is the quickest/easiest/most certain way to get the police to stop focusing on me.

But more importantly, it would get the police focusing on what happened to my grandchild.

tHat is your opinion ...but Kate did what she thought was right and I and others...including her lawyer ,,,, think she did the right thing

[Carana]

If one of my young grandchildren went missing tonight.  And I was made a suspect.  I would answer all the questions truthfully.  For 2 reasons.

It is the quickest/easiest/most certain way to get the police to stop focusing on me.

But more importantly, it would get the police focusing on what happened to my grandchild.

So did they, except for Kate's arguido interview several months later, following a never-ending media onslaught, and what seems to have been a somewhat disconcerting evening at the police station the night before, and what her lawyer apparently eventually advised her.

[Robittybob1]

If one of my young grandchildren went missing tonight.  And I was made a suspect.  I would answer all the questions truthfully.  For 2 reasons.

It is the quickest/easiest/most certain way to get the police to stop focusing on me.

But more importantly, it would get the police focusing on what happened to my grandchild.

Easy said when it isn't real. 

[jassi]

Easy said when it isn't real.

Easy done when it is real. All down to strength of character.

[Robittybob1]

Easy done when it is real. All down to strength of character.

Not if there is some embarrassing reason involved behind the scenes. 

[jassi]

Not if there is some embarrassing reason involved behind the scenes.

I'd have thought that in such circumstances, embarrassment would go out the window.

[Robittybob1]

I'd have thought that in such circumstances, embarrassment would go out the window.

Not always, those 16 text messages Gerry received have been kept hush hush.

[sadie]

Anyone seen...my cousin Vinny....where being interviewed the young suspect says....I shot the clerk.....
See how an innocent suspect could incriminate themselves... particularly the way the interview was translated

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=you+tube+my+cousin+vinny+i+shot+the+clerk&view=detail&mid=58F4825C1780ED6A826E58F4825C1780ED6A826E&FORM=VIRE

Fabulous illustration, Davel.

And i thought that I was the only one that got myself in scrapes like that! 

[sadie]

What is wrong with either question? The police were entitled to ask both.  Kate could have answered both.

For Madeleine's sake.

No stone unturned?

Neither of those questions would help find Madeleine.

Kate did right by taking her solicitors advice to answer none IMHO

Leonor Ciprianos partner Leandro Silva warned her about what happened to Leonor.   IMO and in the opinion of many she was stitched up.   

Black clothes so she had killed Joana, they said !  What rubbish, she was wearing bright red trousers as well, but that was not shown on the photos we saw at the time

So many silly things claimed against her, with no proof whatsoever.  What a fiasco!


Kate was absolutely right to take her solicitors advice.  The questions were not "finding Madeleine" questions, they were "trip you up" questions that when answered, could be twisted then misinterpreted. 

AIMHO

[slartibartfast]

Fabulous illustration, Davel.

And i thought that I was the only one that got myself in scrapes like that! 

It is improbable fiction.

[Mr Gray]

It is improbable fiction.

It shows how an innocent statement can be totally misconstrued

[Alice Purjorick]

Anyone seen...my cousin Vinny....where being interviewed the young suspect says....I shot the clerk.....
See how an innocent suspect could incriminate themselves... particularly the way the interview was translated

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=you+tube+my+cousin+vinny+i+shot+the+clerk&view=detail&mid=58F4825C1780ED6A826E58F4825C1780ED6A826E&FORM=VIRE

Try a meaning for "Let him have it, Chris".

[John]

There was nothing wrong with the FSS report and it was most definitely to hand during the arguido interviews.  The PJ either did not want to understand the final result or they did and ignored it in their eagerness to extract a confession.

Kate says in her book: "When Gerry asked to see the DNA report, Ricardo became quite flustered, waving PC Grime’s document in the air and saying, ‘It is the dogs that are important!’"

That is so wrong on two points.

• as an arguido, by law he was entitled to see the evidence against him ... he was denied that right
• the dogs may have convinced the investigators ... but without forensics to back up the 'indications' that is all they were, 'indications' ... and as we saw from video shot in Jersey, Eddie was rather prone to indicate

Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the Policia Judiciaria said in a radio interview there was a “certain hastiness” in making the McCanns suspects.

I think he was right ... and I think the whole episode may have contributed to Amaral's ultimate sacking from the case ... it must have been a huge embarrassment when the 'evidence' the PJ thought they had was wrong because the forensics just had not been understood.

Apologies for going back on this but I picked up your reply while editing. 

We have no way of knowing what the British FSS were teling the Portuguese police pre final Report.  Amaral implies that what he was told initially differed from what eventually appeared in the Report.  If this is true then the FSS had some serious questions to answer.  Conveniently or not so, depending on ones position, the FSS were disbanded for other bad practises.

[John]

You are wrong.  Kate was asked about Madeleine's disappearance ... unless you suggest the misunderstood forensic results bore no relevance in the eyes of the PJ to what happened to Madeleine.


46   When the presence of human blood was signalled in the boot of the same vehicle Kate McCann said she could not explain anything more than she already had.

47   Confronted with the result of the sample of Madeleine's DNA, whose analysis was carried out by a British laboratory, found behind the sofa and in the boot of the vehicle, as previously described, Kate McCann said she could not explain anything more than she already had.

48   Did you have any responsibility or involvement in the disappearance of your daughter Madeleine?

49   Are you aware that the fact of your not answering the questions put to you jeopardise the investigation that was aimed at finding out what happened to your daughter, she answered: "Yes, if the investigation thinks that." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7542939.stm

I think the question which is the clincher as far as the direction in which the PJ had been taking the investigation until stopped in their tracks by Kate's adherence to her legal advice is:
48   Did you have any responsibility or involvement in the disappearance of your daughter Madeleine?

The PJ were not looking for Madeleine ... their objective was nailing the arguida, Kate ... and there are those who purport to think she should have given up on Madeleine and acquiesced to that?

I know that I am commenting with the hindsight of my own service but you must realise that it is the polices duty to investigate ALL possibilities and in the McCann case one of those possibilities was parental involvement.  They would have opened themselves up to great criticism had they not questioned the parents formally given everything which occurred.

[Mr Gray]

Apologies for going back on this but I picked up your reply while editing. 

We have no way of knowing what the British FSS were teling the Portuguese police pre final Report.  Amaral implies that what he was told initially differed from what eventually appeared in the Report.  If this is true then the FSS had some serious questions to answer.  Conveniently or not so, depending on ones position, the FSS were disbanded for other bad practises.

Complete speculation with no real evidence to support it...blaming the FSS for amarals inadequacies.....don't forget he completely misrepresented the dog alerts to ....would you suggest he was being fed false information here too...
All imo.....