Latest news on the search for Madeleine McCann

[Wonderfulspam]

Madeleine McCann prime suspects to be quizzed by British search police in Portugal

Lisbon judges grant permission to interview eight people of interest, including three convicted drug dealers, it is claimed

Scotland Yard detectives searching for Madeleine McCann have been given the go-ahead to quiz their prime suspects.
 
Officers from Operation Grange identified eight people earlier this year who they believe could help solve the seven-year-old case.
 
Now judicial authorities in Lisbon are said to have granted permission for Metropolitan Police detectives to question the men.
 
They include three suspected burglars who live close to the wasteland in Praia da Luz currently being searched by British teams.
 
The men, convicted drug dealers, were traced from phone records which placed them in the area at the time Madeleine vanished.
 
Scotland Yard refused to comment on the development, saying it does not provide a “running commentary” on the case.
 
But it is understood no questioning will take place until after the current searches have concluded.

Met detectives believe Madeleine was snatched by a panicked gang who accidentally woke her in the family’s apartment and took her with them.
 
Mobile phone analysis shows the men made an unusually high number of calls to each other in the hours after she disappeared in May 2007.
 
It is understood three of the other five suspects worked at the Ocean Club complex where Madeleine was staying with her parents Kate and Gerry.
 
The news comes after it was revealed officers are carrying out DNA tests on scraps of clothing found on their search of the site.
 
When news of the breakthrough emerged earlier this year a source close to Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry said: “It could be a major breakthrough.
 
“Kate and Gerry are buoyed up by this latest development. While they don’t want to build up their hopes too high they are feeling optimistic.
 
“They felt it was only a matter of time before new clues came to light.”

Officers believe the burglars, who have not be identified, had carried out a raid in the resort days before Madeleine vanished, disturbing another child.
 
That youngster’s parents were outside and rushed in to find the intruders had fled, but Portuguese police attached no significance to the break-in.
 
The Met is thought to have made checks into the men’s criminal history, their friends and any vehicles they have used.
 
In an interview earlier this year, Britain’s most senior police officer suggested his officers were closing in on the people who abducted Madeleine.
 
Scotland Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe admitted his Operation Grange team had the names of several suspects.

According to respected Portuguese broadcaster RTP, the suspects will not be quizzed until the current searches in the Algarve resort have finished.
 
UK sniffer dogs which helped in the hunt for tragic youngster April Jones were again seen scouring wasteland in the popular resort on Friday.
 
Met police officers also continued to check an old sewer system underneath the cordoned-off area - which is 300 metres from the Ocean Club.
 
They were said to be looking for objects that may have been abandoned soon after the youngster disappeared.
 
Uniformed cops also focused their attention on a new patch of scrubland inside the same cordon, which is guarded by their Portuguese counterparts.
 
Officers were seen studying a flat area of ground at the opposite end of the area which has seen activity over the past five days.
 
Madeleine’s parents Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, are being kept informed throughout the work and said they are bracing themselves for “significant news”.
 
The youngster was nearly four-years-old when she vanished from her parents’ holiday apartment while they dined with friends in a nearby tapas restaurant.
 
The Portuguese police case - which was criticised after the McCanns were named formal suspects - was shelved the following year.
 
Operation Grange was set up in 2011 to investigate the disappearance after David Cameron ordered Scotland Yard to review all the evidence in the case.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-prime-suspects-quizzed-3654136

[Wonderfulspam]

'They include three suspected burglars who live close to the wasteland in Praia da Luz currently being searched by British teams.'
 
'The men, convicted drug dealers, were traced from phone records which placed them in the area at the time Madeleine vanished.'

'Scotland Yard refused to comment on the development, saying it does not provide a “running commentary” on the case.'
 
'But it is understood no questioning will take place until after the current searches have concluded.'



Kind of 'em to let the burglars know they are onto 'em ain't it.

Give 'em time to skip the country n'all that.

[Silkywhiskers]

It was only a month or so ago they had Euclides in the frame.

Now it's 3 burglars/drug dealers.

No questioning has taken place hey?


Could that be because all other suspects have been ruled out as the evidence indicates NO ABDUCTION?

I have NEVER heard of a police investigation where the suspects are warned, warned, and warned again via media, that SY are coming to get them.

[jassi]

It was only a month or so ago they had Euclides in the frame.

Now it's 3 burglars/drug dealers.

No questioning has taken place hey?


Could that be because all other suspects have been ruled out as the evidence indicates NO ABDUCTION?

I have NEVER heard of a police investigation where the suspects are warned, warned, and warned again via media, that SY are coming to get them.

It's not the police who are saying this though, it's all down to the media. SY are declining to comment.

[Wonderfulspam]

Madeleine McCann: Police to question eight prime suspects

BRITISH police have been given the green light to quiz their prime suspects in the Madeleine McCann case.

Scotland Yard want to question eight men over the three-year-old’s disappearance in Portugal in 2007.

Local legal chiefs have now given officers the go-ahead to speak to the suspects, according to Portugal’s state broadcaster RTP.

It is believed that three are suspected burglars who live close to the wasteland currently being searched at the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.

Another three are thought to be workers from the Ocean Club holiday complex where Madeleine and her doctor parents, Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, of Rothley, Leics, were staying.

Scotland Yard identified the suspects after trawling through thousands of phone records.

Detectives believe Madeleine was taken by burglars who panicked after accidentally waking her at the family’s holiday apartment and decided to take her with them.

Analysis of phone company data revealed the trio made an unusually high number of calls to each other in the hours after she disappeared.

Meanwhile the 12-strong British police team searching a four-acre patch of waste ground near the McCanns’ holiday apartment are expected to move to two new sites next week.

The officers are being helped by UK-based private forensic archaeologists and anthropologists.

The search has been hampered by the discovery of animal bones.

Fibre optic cameras have been used to check sewerage pipes under the soil.

The cold-case review called Operation Grange, set up in 2011 after Prime Minister David Cameron intervened, has so far cost an estimated £6million.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/382642/Burglary-gang-linked-to-McCanns-holiday-resort

[jassi]

http://www.rtp.pt/noticias/index.php?article=743386&tm=8&layout=122&visual=61
some translation in here
http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2014/06/dogs-geo-radar-and-probes-used-to.html

This bit is interesting:-
The PJ, meanwhile, has discarded Euclides Monteiro as primary suspect, and believes now, that the man who may have taken Madeleine, was a foreigner that has committed an isolated crime, at a time when he was spending his holidays in Portugal.

Could be a translation, thing, but interesting that  the PJ are saying "who may have taken Madeleine was a foreigner", rather than  " who took Madeleine may have been a foreigner"

[Mr Gray]

http://www.rtp.pt/noticias/index.php?article=743386&tm=8&layout=122&visual=61
some translation in here
http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2014/06/dogs-geo-radar-and-probes-used-to.html

This bit is interesting:-
The PJ, meanwhile, has discarded Euclides Monteiro as primary suspect, and believes now, that the man who may have taken Madeleine, was a foreigner that has committed an isolated crime, at a time when he was spending his holidays in Portugal.

so now the pj are saying the parents are not involved

[Mr Moderator]

Scotland Yard also ensures that there is a British witness who saw one of the men carrying a child in his Scotland Yard also ensures that there is a British witness who saw one of the men carrying a child in his arms up to the wasteland, situated less than 500 meters from the resort. The British say that he fled, but before he was able to bury the girl's cadaver. up to the wasteland, situated less than 500 meters from the resort. The British say that he fled, but before he was able to bury the girl's cadaver.

www.cmjornal.xl.pt/detalhe/noticias/exclusivo-cm/telefonemas-tramam-raptores-de-maddie

Link as promised
http://joana-morais.blogspot.com/2014/06/phone-calls-frame-maddie-kidnappers.html

Thanks for that link pegasus, it would appears Correio da Manha is on top of it as suspected.

[Carana]

Thanks for that link pegasus, it would appears Correio da Manha is on top of it as suspected.

So, the UK media were asked for restraint, yet CdaM is free to publish what would certainly appear to be a PT "leak" giving a fairly obvious indication of who the police are about to interview?

[pegasus]

So, the UK media were asked for restraint, yet CdaM is free to publish what would certainly appear to be a PT "leak" giving a fairly obvious indication of who the police are about to interview?

Is the portuguese judge's warrant, authorising the search of the "mound" area (and which presumably mentions the UK female witness's testimony as one of the justifications), available publically to journalists who apply to see it, or is it withheld from view, anyone know??

[pegasus]

Correio Da Manha says that on Wed and Thu police will search two new areas, both of which are outside the town.

"Na quarta e na quinta-feira as buscas deverão prosseguir em outros dois terrenos localizados no exterior do perímetro urbano da Praia da Luz"
http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/detalhe/noticias/ultima-hora/policia-continua-a-inspecionar-terreno-ao-sexto-dia-de-buscas

[VIXTE]

Arrests likely soon in Madeleine case
June 08, 2014 - 2:03:33 am


London: Portuguese police sources have confirmed to the Observer that a number of suspects identified by Scotland Yard detectives will be arrested “in the very near future” over the disappearance seven years ago of Madeleine McCann.

Police confirmed that “several people” had been identified by the London Metropolitan police (Met), who have had officers and two sniffer dogs in the Algarve all week searching a large area of scrubland close to the holiday apartment where the McCann family were staying when the three-year-old disappeared in May 2007. The search of that particular area, Portuguese police source said, would end today and shift to another area.

It has been six months since the initial request by the Met for access to “three prime suspects” for questioning, although it is believed that as many as eight could be on the interview list. They would be the first significant arrests in the case. The three are thought to be burglars who may have carried out raids in the holiday resort and live locally, although the Portuguese would not say whether the men had criminal records.

The development comes after a cold-case review by British officers and involved the painstaking examination of hundreds of phone records from the area on the night the toddler vanished from her bed as her parents ate supper with friends at a nearby restaurant.

On Friday, officers in Met uniform were seen studying a flat area of ground at the opposite end of the area. They had previously focused on a hole covered in undergrowth. Forensics officers sifted through soil in large sieves inside a white tent set up to cover the void but nothing of interest has been found. The Guardian
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/international/286909/arrests-likely-soon-in-madeleine-case?

[VIXTE]

Madeleine McCann search digs up the [ censored word ]s and misguided conspiracy theorists
Jun 07, 2014 20:25
OPINION BY KAYBURLEY

There can’t be many parents around the world unaware of the plight of a beautiful little girl who was only three years old when she disappeared in 2007, writes Kay Burley in the Sunday People.

Immediately recognisable by her first name, Madeleine, the eldest of the McCann children disappeared one warm May evening in 2007 as her parents dined with friends in a restaurant at their resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Despite an Interpol search and worldwide publicity nothing has been seen of the little one since.

This week, seven years on, police from the Met have begun searching an area of scrubland near the apartment including a deep, concealed shaft and sewers.

Could this prove to be the final resting place?

Her parents, Kate and Gerry, who suffer every single day with the consequences of their actions that night have decided not to travel to Praia da Luz for this latest hunt for Madeleine.

Who can blame them?

Well, it would appear quite a few. I am absolutely staggered by the number of people on social media who think they know exactly what happened to little Madeleine.

Conspiracy theorists believe that it’s only a matter of time before the McCanns are held culpable for their daughter’s disappearance.

 
They point out Kate refused to answer some questions put her by the Portuguese police. Kate was with her lawyer when interviewed by the police.

She would have been advised what to say.

The [ censored word ]s refer to cadaver dogs who showed ‘beyond doubt’ that a body must have been kept in the wardrobe of the apartment and then later driven in the McCann’s hire car to be buried.

Under the noses of the Portuguese police and the world’s press?

Easy to dismiss such claims as Looney Tunes, but even a national newspaper was guilty of claiming the McCanns know more than they have told the police .

As a mother I am offended and appalled by such unfounded allegations.

Every morning the McCann’s must wake up only to be smothered by a blanket of guilt.

‘If only we’d done this…’

They have always held on to the hope that Madeleine will be found alive.

So as the search continues, please ignore the [ censored word ]s and think instead of two desperate parents hundreds of miles away sitting by the phone and hoping against hope that nothing is found this time.



http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-search-digs-up-3659944#ixzz3401lq49X

[VIXTE]

A very clear info!!!!!!!!!!!!

Madeleine McCann suspects to be questioned soon, Portuguese police say
Portuguese confirm 'several people' identified for questioning by Scotland Yard officers
Share 29


Tracy McVeigh and Brendan de Beer in Praia da Luz
The Observer, Saturday 7 June 2014 20.54 BST


Portuguese police sources have confirmed to the Observer that a number of suspects identified by Scotland Yard detectives will be taken in for questioning "in the very near future" over the disappearance seven years ago of Madeleine McCann.

Police confirmed that "several people" had been identified by the Metropolitan police, who have had officers and two sniffer dogs in the Algarve all week searching a large area of scrubland close to the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz where the McCann family were staying when the three-year-old disappeared in May 2007. The search of that particular area, a Portuguese police source said, would end on 8 June and shift to another area.

It has been six months since the initial request by the Met for access to "three prime suspects" for questioning, although it is believed that as many as eight could be on the interview list. They would be the first significant arrests in the case. The three are thought to be burglars who may have carried out raids in the holiday resort and live locally, although the Portuguese would not say whether the men had criminal records.

The development comes after a cold-case review by British officers and involved the painstaking examination of hundreds of phone records from the area on the night the toddler vanished from her bed as her parents ate supper with friends at a nearby restaurant.

On Friday, officers in Met uniform were seen studying a flat area of ground at the opposite end of the area. They had previously focused on a hole covered in undergrowth. Forensics officers sifted through soil in large sieves inside a white tent set up to cover the void but nothing of interest has been found.

Portugal's attorney general's office said in January it had received an international letter of request in regard to "prime suspects" sent by British police investigating the disappearance. On Saturday the source said there was still no date set for questioning to take place but it definitely would not happen during the current search phase of the investigation, which they said would expand to new sites on Wednesday (11 June), culminating by "no later than next Friday".

Police also confirmed all the suspects still live in Portugal and that interviews would take place at either of the two Algarve police stations, Faro or Portimão, conducted by Portuguese detectives with their British counterparts allowed to sit in but not intervene.

Those police want to talk to will be immediately constituted as arguidos, a Portuguese term for someone who is a suspect, which garnered infamy when Madeline's parents, along with a British expatriate called Robert Murat, were given the status by Portuguese authorities. All three were cleared by a prosecutor in 2008.

The Praia de Luz mayor, Victor Mata, has said the timing of last week's search – which coincides with the resort's busiest holiday period and brought dozens of journalists back to the area – "couldn't be worse". He said local tourism was suffering and people were being "punished". Mata warned that if there were more searches in future, he would seek court action to stop them happening during peak summer period. "The people of Luz are not against the searches for Madeleine but seeing as it's been seven years, they would have appreciated it if they could have started in a few months' time."

Kate and Gerry McCann released a statement on their website saying they were "encouraged by the progress" being made by search teams in Portugal.

Writing on their Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page, the couple said: "We are kept updated on the ongoing work in Portugal," and added: "Thank you for continuing to stand by us and supporting our efforts to get Madeleine home."

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/07/madeleine-mccann-suspects-questioned-police

[VIXTE]

Those to be interviewed must be nerve-racking.. if they leave PT they will be considered more suspicious.. if they stay they know they will be arguidos.