i online
(Translated by Astro)
Scotland Yard. One week digging and not one clue of Maddie
by Sílvia Caneco
published 10 Jun 2014 - 05:00
There are two days of searches to go, but the PJ, that has granted the English police's requests, is convinced that "they will sweat and find nothing"
30 Scotland Yard men came - and, hired by them -, one magnetometre and a geo-radar, a probe to search the bottom of sewers and two sniffer dogs that have been trained to identify the scent of death. Inspectors from the Judiciária's Southern Directory joined them to observe, GNR officers to watch over the terrain and a team of forest sappers to clear the vegetation away. Digging was performed, samples were collected for analysis. After one week looking for traces in the sewer network and at a lookout point in Praia da Luz, approximately 800 metres away from the apartment where Madeleine McCann disappeared from, the British police only found bones of domestic animals. Not a sign of Maddie or of any clue that may help the investigators to follow her trail. "Nothing was found that is related to the case", a PJ source sums up. Another one sums the behaviour of the British up as "disoriented".
Within the Judiciária, the lack of results by the Metropolitan Police is seen without surprise. The Attorney General's Office grantes the requests that the English made by letter rogatory, but those who investigated the case in Portugal didn't give the requested diligences any chance of success. The feeling, as i could find out, was one of "They will sweat and find nothing".
Scotland Yard would have placed their hope in the six hectare terrain with a lookout point over the sea because it is close to the locations where three men live, associated with schemes of theft and drug trafficking, but have never been convicted. The PJ didn't believe that investigation line: on one hand, the terrain had already been thoroughly searched by inspectors and dog teams from the GNR in 2007, when "the whole of the Algarve searched for Maddie", a source recalls; on the other hand, because "traces of burial, even if they are not deep, do not disappear within half a dozen days", and therefore would have been identified at that time, the same source stresses.
The Portuguese investigators also don't give credibility to the sniffer dogs that were brought from England. A forensic expert explains to i that "seven years after death, a body that lies buried without protection is a collection of dismembered bones". Because a child's body is at stake, due to having "less calcium", it would be even "more easily degradable" because the bones "are much more fragile". Furthermore, the same source recalls, if the PJ doesn't use dogs in criminal investigation it's because "the procedure hasn't been validated in any country in the world yet". Another Judiciária source reinforces the thesis, saying that there is no known case where the dogs found a body.
The Metropolitan Police has another two days of searches ahead. This Wednesday and Thursday, the technological equipment moves onto another terrain on a road that gives access to Lagos. On the 14th, the British are expected to leave Portugal but a new diligence will be performed: questioning eight men that they consider to be suspects. As far as i could find out, all of the names had already made an appearance in the PJ's first inquiry, but none of them had the status of suspect.
Searching for Madeleine McCann
2007 Two days before her fourth birthday, Madeleine McCann disapppears from a tourist resort in Praia da Luz, on the night of the 3rd of May. She would have been sleeping with her twin siblings in the apartment while her parents dined with a group of friends at a resort restaurant, approximately 50 metres away.
2007 On the 31st of July, the PJ, members of the British police and two dogs that came from England and were trained to detect the smell of cadaver and blood, inspect the apartment. On the 7th of September, Kate and Gerry McCann were made arguidos.
2008 On the 28th of July, the Attorney General's Office announces the shelving of the case “because no evidence of the practice of any crime was found”.
2013 On the 24th of October, the Public Ministry announces the reopening of the inquiry into the disappearance of the English child, after the PJ team of Oporto - that never had any intervention in the case and was chosen to re-evaluate it - found new evidence. The Faro PJ cooperates with the British police, which was nominated to investigate the case after the intervention of David Cameron. On the 14th of October, Scotland Yard reveals e-fits of the suspect.
2014 Scotland Yard arrives in Portugal in early June. Spends a week searching the drains and a terrain that is located 800 metres away from the Ocean Club, but nothing is found.
www.ionline.pt/artigos/portugal/scotland-yard-uma-semana-escavar-nem-uma-pista-maddie
