Revealed: The waste ground where UK police hunting for Maddy McCann will begin digging - just yards from where she vanished
Revealed: The waste ground where UK police hunting for Maddy McCann will begin digging - just yards from where she vanished
Portuguese authorities have approved Scotland Yard's plans to excavate
Investigators will now begin by digging waste ground at Praia da Luz resort
The dig site is just a short walk from the Ocean Club apartment complex
Despite huge interest in case, Portuguese police are demanding secrecy
They have threatened to halt their search if media is given information
By John Hall and Chris Greenwood and Gerard Couzens and Amanda Williams
Published: 11:31, 6 May 2014 | Updated: 19:45, 6 May 2014
British police hunting for Madeleine McCann are to begin digging a patch of waste ground just yards from the Portuguese resort from which she disappeared.
Specialist search teams will start by scouring sites across Praia da Luz - including this waste ground near the Ocean Club apartment complex from where she disappeared seven years ago, shortly before her fourth birthday.
The land was not fenced at the time of Maddie's disappearance. It shares a border with the path where witnesses claim to have seen a man passing, holding a child wearing pyjamas on the night of her disappearance.
In the days following, police searched the site with specialist dogs - but no excavations were ever made.
Despite enormous public interest in the increased activity surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine, Portuguese police have threatened to halt their work if information is given to the media.
Dig location: The waste ground is just a short from the Ocean Club apartment complex. It is also close to the tapas restaurant where Gerry and Kate McCann had dinner on the night their daughter disappeared
Madeleine, who would be ten on 12 May, was three when she vanished from her holiday flat on 3 May 2007
Search site: The waste ground in Praia da Luz, Portugal, where Scotland Yard officers will join local police officers in digging as part of the investigation
Specialist search teams will start by scouring sites across Praia da Luz - including this waste ground near the Ocean Club apartment complex from
The digs are not thought to necessarily be in connection with a search for the youngster's body or remains
This land that was not fenced at the time of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is contiguous to the path where witnesses saw a man passing with a child in pajamas in her arms the night of the disappearance
Detectives believe the searches, possibly to coincide with the first arrests of suspects, are the next logical step in the multi-million pound Operation Grange.
However the Metropolitan Police’s Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowler today revealed that his counterparts in Portugal have warned that if media briefings are given on the investigation, the local officers working on behalf of Scotland Yard will stop working 'until that problem dissipates'.
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In an open-letter dated today, Assistant Commissioner Rowley said he had explained the Metropolitan Police's practice of making public as much information as possible, but respects the Portuguese position.
Forensic officers will use ground penetrating radar to uncover sites where earth has been disturbed within the last decade.
They will then move in with mechanical diggers and other earth moving equipment, as well as conducting finger-tip searches.
The digs are not thought to necessarily be in connection with a search for the youngster's body or remains.
Resort: British police will dig three sites near the Ocean Club holiday apartments in the resort of Praia da Luz in Portugal, from where Madeleine McCann, then three, went missing in May 2007
Detectives are also said to be preparing to dig up a site on a beach near the Ocean Club apartments
Madeleine's parents Gerry, 45, and Kate McCann, 46, attended an open-air prayer service on Saturday
MET POLICE BLAMES PORTUGAL FOR LACK OF PUBLIC INFORMATION IN SEARCH FOR MADELEINE
Metropolitan Police’s Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowler has blamed the Portuguese authorities for the lack of information being made public by Operation Grange.
In an open letter dated today, the senior police officer said that despite pleas for the media to be briefed on ongoing developments in the search for Madeline McCann, Portugal’s Policia Judiciara have threatened to stop work if information is passed on.
Revealing the ongoing tension between British and Portuguese police, Assistant Commissioner Rowley said he had explained to his opposite number in the Policia Judiciara that it is the Met’s preferred practice to make public as much information and context as possible, providing it does not compromise the investigation.
He revealed that the reply from the Portuguese police was that they do not brief the media on an ongoing investigation, accompanied by a threat that if any information were to emerge, the work undertaken by Portugal on behalf of Scotland Yard would ‘cease until that problem dissipates’.
‘It is important you understand this and appreciate the position in which I find myself. We will not be able to provide any information concerning the activity because ultimately it could mean the work stops,’ Assistant Commissioner Rowley said.
‘We respect the Portuguese position as we would expect them to respect our position if we were carrying out work on their behalf in the UK,’ he added.
The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: 'As always, we simply will not comment on operational details of Operation Grange, that is a matter for the Met Police.
'Kate and Gerry are being kept fully informed throughout.'
Portuguese officials declined to comment on the reports, which emerged after the respected daily newspaper Jornal de Noticias claimed the country's Attorney General's office had given the green light to excavations.
Making its first official comments on the claims, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said: 'We received from the British authorities in August 2012, the first Rogatory Letter regarding this matter, which has been replaced by subsequent requests... These requests were received on July 2013, in January 2014 and in February 2014.'
'Under the law, all requests for international judicial cooperation, also known as Rogatory Letters, in the framework of investigations related to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, have been forwarded to the Prosecution Services in Portimao.'
'The content of the requests formulated by the British authorities is confidential, therefore the Attorney General's Office has no comments on this matter.'
Yesterday a source close the McCanns said it will be a ‘heart-breaking and hugely emotional time’ for the family.
‘Police have assured Kate and Gerry that it does not mean they are specifically searching for her body,’ he said.
‘They are doing searches as much as to rule scenarios out as much as rule them in. They will be concentrating on several different places at different phases.
‘Certain areas should have been searched properly way back by the Portuguese authorities but were not.’
Portuguese police initially searched the resort, but the Met will look for anything they might have missed
Map: British police are expected to excavate two sites near the Ocean Club and one near Praia Da Luz beach
The searches are not being conducted as the result of any new information, but senior officers are keen to rule out every possibility.
They have said privately that the searches are a difficult issue because they suggest Portuguese police should have acted before.
It is understood that the McCanns will not travel to Portugal but will be constantly kept abreast of any developments.
On Saturday the couple were joined by around 100 well-wishers, friends and relatives for a low-key open-air service in the centre of Rothley, Leicestershire, which saw candles being lit for all children around the world who have been taken away from their parents against their will.
During the service Mr McCann expressed his family's gratitude that the Metropolitan Police team investigating Madeleine's disappearance was moving on to a 'very active' phase in their investigation.
'They are chipping away and obviously there is new evidence so we are going to continue to hope that we will get a happy outcome,' he said.
The high-profile dig is the latest stage of the Met’s sweeping cold case review of one of the world’s most notorious cases.
A team of detectives have been undertaking a painstaking search through every document collected during the huge inquiry.
They have also made a series of appeals on the BBC’s Crimewatch which has led to new information coming to light.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2621343/British-police-leading-hunt-Madeleine-McCann-given-permission-begin-digging-Portuguese-resort-disappeared.html
