Latest news on the search for Madeleine McCann

[Alice Purjorick]

Madeleine McCann: Cops to fly to Portugal to ask seven suspects 'did you kill Maddie?'

Irish Mirror
Nov 30, 2014
By David Collins

Officers from Operation Grange will spend three days interviewing 11 people, seven suspects and four witnesses.



         New probe: Cops to fly to Portugal in Maddie McCann case.                 Missing youngster Madeleine McCann.

Scotland Yard detectives will arrive in Portugal next week to ask seven suspects: “Did you kill Madeleine McCann?”

Officers from Operation Grange, led by Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, are scheduled to fly to Faro on December 8.

They will spend three days interviewing 11 people, seven suspects and four witnesses, in the hope of a breakthrough in the case.

The seven suspects, who will be given arguido status, will be asked a series of 253 questions, including: “Did you kill Madeleine?”

Arguidos have the right not to answer questions and to have a lawyer present during interviews.

Among suspects to be quizzed is a man who worked as a gardener at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, where parents Kate and Gerry McCann were staying when Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007, nine days before her fourth birthday.

The ex-employee has previously said: “I have nothing to tell police.”

The fresh probe was ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron and has cost £8million so far. One line of inquiry is whether Madeleine was taken during a break-in.

Detectives are focusing on a white male aged 20 to 40, seen carrying a child fitting Madeleine’s description through Praia da Luz about the time she vanished.

www.irishmirror.ie/news/madeleine-mccann-cops-fly-portugal-4725028

Oh what?

[Alice Purjorick]

Regarding the gardener article in the mirror. Has anyone got a picture of him?

Rumour has it he bears a passing resemblance to Peter Brady.

[VIXTE]

http://portugalresident.com/madeleine-met-returns-to-algarve-to-grill-brits-with-%E2%80%9C253-questions%E2%80%9D

[VIXTE]

[sadie]

Is this man Roderick Robinson (aka MacDonald) or some other paedo?

I thought that RR had been extradicted to the UK.

And have we established, is RR alive or dead ?



What a puzzler !

[misty]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-cops-quiz-british-4736648

 Madeleine McCann: Cops quiz British paedophile who was in the Algarve when Maddie vanished

    Dec 02, 2014 22:46
    By Adam Aspinall

Officers from Scotland Yard flew to Malta to question Roderick MacDonald, 77, in his prison cell in a bid to uncover any vital clues

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New lead: Maddie McCann

Missing Madeleine McCann VIEW GALLERY
 

British police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have quizzed a convicted paedophile said to have been in the Algarve when she vanished.

Officers from Scotland Yard flew to Malta to question Roderick MacDonald, 77, in his prison cell in a bid to uncover any vital clues about who snatched little Madeleine, aged three at the time.

MacDonald was questioned about his alleged connection to a child sex gang operating in Portugal, linked to her disappearance.

It is believed he was pressed on what he knew about a spate of burglaries which occurred in the Praia da Luz resort where Madeleine’s family were staying when she went missing in 2007.

British detectives reckon the burglaries – believed to be carried out by a lone intruder between 2004 and 2010 – could be the key to finally solving what happened to her.

PA Missing Madeleine McCann
Vanished: Missing Madeleine McCann
 

The latest development comes as it was confirmed 11 people – four of whom are thought to be British – due to be quizzed over Madeleine’s disappearance next week will be asked to attend a police station as witnesses, not as suspects.

Scotland Yard said they would not give a “running commentary” on the investigation but their
visit to MacDonald was confirmed by Maltese Government officials.

MacDonald was due to be extradited to the UK after he was remanded in custody in Malta.

But when detectives there searched his flat in the quiet village of Sannat they uncovered a stash of child pornography and sentenced him to 16 months in prison.

This forced Scotland Yard detectives to jet out to Malta in order to question him at the Corradino Correctional Facility outside the capital Valletta.

A close friend of MacDonald’s, who had no idea about his sordid past, said: “He was always talking about how he was in the Algarve when Madeleine went missing.

"He would brag about how he sailed a yacht into Praia da Luz but we never thought anything of it.

“We had no idea how evil this man was before he was arrested. Now it seems completely sinister. No wonder the police were so keen to quiz him.”

Rex Roderick MacDonald
Quizzed: Roderick MacDonald being arrested in Thailand
 

MacDonald, of Aldershot, Hants, was first arrested in the Algarve in 2010 and extradited to Australia where he was wanted for the 1998 rape of an eight-year-old.

He got six months’ jail after accepting a plea deal for indecently assaulting the child then fled to Thailand after he was released.

After being deported to Britain by Thai authorities due to his history, MacDonald – previously known as Roderick William Robinson – settled in Brighton, East Sussex.

Despite being put on the sex offenders’ register, he was convicted of molesting two girls, aged five and seven, on a boat at Sussex Yacht Club in 2012.

He fled abroad prior to his sentence and was handed a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years in his absence.

When he was finally arrested in a dramatic swoop on his flat on the island of Gozo he is believed to have told detectives: “I should have spoken about all this years ago.”

MAIN--MADDIE VIEW GALLERY
 

MacDonald is the first person to be questioned in connection with Madeleine’s disappearance since July, when four men were quizzed as arguidos – persons of interest.

They all denied any involvement.

The 11 people due to be interviewed as witnesses are reported to include Robert Murat, his German wife Michaela Walczuch, her ex-partner Luis Antonio and John Hill, the manager of the Ocean Club where the McCanns were staying.

IT consultant Mr Murat – who had his arguido status removed in 2008 when the first Portuguese enquiry was shelved – has said his conscience is clear and he is happy to speak to police again if required.

The Operation Grange squad who will sit in on the interviews, led by Portuguese police, will include team leader Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood.

[lordpookles]

As its a slow news day hope it's ok to post a retrospective look at their first ever interview:

Stephen I also wonder why people defend them so vehmently. (Most seem like good people but I wonder how they will feel if it turns out they actually did it.)Must be the same reason why some people are so suspicious. Nothing is certain yet imo, but its always easier to take the position of a fence sitter like me.

[Carana]

Not wishing to be cynical or anything, but I'd remain sceptical of anything in the tabloids in the run-up to Christmas. It is, after all, a key income-generation period via ads which, somehow, have to be accompanied by something that will make people buy the paper in the first place (or view online pages).

[John]

Maddie Case: British suggest 253 questions.


By Rui Gomes Pando
2 December 2014

British police ask PJ to ask the prime suspects if they killed Maddie.



All eleven people considered to be of interest in the British investigation of the Madeleine McCann case will be heard as witnesses. Interrogations will happen next week, but the CM found, any of the questioned can be made a arguido in the middle of the inquiry. The British police have suggested a list of 253 questions to be asked by the PJ to the11 people, among them Robert Murat, the first arguido of the original investigation conducted by the Portuguese authorities.

Among the issues suggested by Scotland Yard are direct questions relating to the demise of the English child who disappeared from Praia da Luz, Lagos, on May 3, 2007, and where her body might be hidden. The most incriminating questions will only be made to people who the British believe were involved in the disappearance of Maddie.

The interrogations, reported by CM, were planned for the last week of November. However, a legal uncertainty about the designation of the suspects as arguidos forced the cancellation of the inquiries, following a fifth rogatory letter from UK authorities.

Seven people were to be heard as arguidas and four as witnesses. The problem is that arguidos are not required to answer any questions and may have a lawyer at their side. The question was posed to the new prosecutor of the Public Ministry in Portimão, Inés Sequeira, who decided that all will be heard as witnesses. If any incriminating aspects are found, the questioning as witnesses will be suspended and any one of the persons may be made an arguida immediately, according to their new rights.

The questioning will be carried out at the premises of the judicial police in Faro.

www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/ingleses_fazem_253_perguntas.html


Note:  The terms Arguido/Arguida are unique to Portuguese Law.

[John]

Maddie: pedophile questioned on Malta



By M.C.
4 December 2014

English interrogate suspect in the kidnapping of Maddie.



Investigators from the British police Scotland Yard have been to the island of Malta, interrogating pedophile Roderick Mcdonald (77). Referenced worldwide for sexually abusing children, the British citizen was in the Algarve when Maddie McCann disappeared in 2007, and may assist in the investigation.

The clue that British investigators follow relates to a wave of thefts that have occurred in the area of Lagos and Praia da Luz, in 2007. Detained in a prison in Malta, Roderick Mcdonald may have information about these crimes, according to Scotland Yard, which are said to have been committed by a thief. However, 11 other suspects identified in the process will be questioned next week.

www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/caso_maddie_pedofilo_ouvido_em_malta.html

[Brietta]

Maddie: pedophile questioned on Malta



By M.C.
4 December 2014

English interrogate suspect in the kidnapping of Maddie.



Investigators from the British police Scotland Yard have been to the island of Malta, interrogating pedophile Roderick Mcdonald (77). Referenced worldwide for sexually abusing children, the British citizen was in the Algarve when Maddie McCann disappeared in 2007, and may assist in the investigation.

The clue that British investigators follow relates to a wave of thefts that have occurred in the area of Lagos and Praia da Luz, in 2007. Detained in a prison in Malta, Roderick Mcdonald may have information about these crimes, according to Scotland Yard, which are said to have been committed by a thief. However, 11 other suspects identified in the process will be questioned next week.

www.cmjornal.xl.pt/nacional/portugal/detalhe/caso_maddie_pedofilo_ouvido_em_malta.html

I was thinking it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall during those interviews.  It then occurred that indeed they really are going to be very different.

One presumes those who are ex-pats will be English speakers and will be questioned by Portuguese officers whose first language is Portuguese, with the English officers just sitting in but unable to intervene.

Surely a good example of when a joint working arrangement would have come into its own with the PJ questioning Portuguese speakers and SY questioning English speakers.

[Carana]

I was thinking it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall during those interviews.  It then occurred that indeed they really are going to be very different.

One presumes those who are ex-pats will be English speakers and will be questioned by Portuguese officers whose first language is Portuguese, with the English officers just sitting in but unable to intervene.

Surely a good example of when a joint working arrangement would have come into its own with the PJ questioning Portuguese speakers and SY questioning English speakers.

To a certain extent, I'd agree. However, the forces of the two countries have different techniques for questioning people.

I would have thought that a prepared joint force would have captured the best of both - whoever ends up questioning whom for the sake of linguistic / cultural logistics  or reasons.

Sadly not to be, seemingly.

[Brietta]

To a certain extent, I'd agree. However, the forces of the two countries have different techniques for questioning people.

I would have thought that a prepared joint force would have captured the best of both - whoever ends up questioning whom for the sake of linguistic / cultural logistics  or reasons.

Sadly not to be, seemingly.

It would definitely be more efficient imo ... but I am certain there will have been a great deal of discussion and collaboration on the line of questioning to be taken.

[Carana]

It would definitely be more efficient imo ... but I am certain there will have been a great deal of discussion and collaboration on the line of questioning to be taken.

I do hope so, for the sake of this little girl and for any future investigations.

Both forces no doubt have strengths and weaknesses. If they can be shared, discussed and culminate in mutual enhancement of capabilities, then there is hope.

[jassi]

I suspect that international cooperation is restricted to doing things in accordance with the host country's laws, whoever the host country may be.