Is it any wonder that initial investigators arrived at the conclusions they did?

[Mr Gray]

Dianne Webster was in the apartment 5 minutes after the alarm was raised. The window was closed. David Payne didn't even see the open window when he entered after the alarm was raised. The only people in the apartment before them were Kate and Gerry and they both say it was open - surprise surprise!

Consequently she infers that at the time of her arrival at the apartment the window would have been closed.
https://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/DIANNE_WEBSTER_11-MAY07.htm

So she said it was closed... Not that it was never open.... So no cite

[Mr Gray]

We only have her sayso for that and only her fingerprints were identified on it. According to everyone else the window was never open.

That is not true

[Mr Gray]

He was concerned for her.  Lawyers often act for the guilty.

perhaps he believed all the rubbish teh PJ were spouting...if he did he would think Kate was guilty...of course we know it was rubbish. Thats why the investigationwent in teh wrong dirwction...the inept PJ.

[Vertigo Swirl]

We only have her sayso for that and only her fingerprints were identified on it. According to everyone else the window was never open.

Can we have cites from everyone else stating “the window was never open”?  Of course not because a) you never provide cites and b) such cites don’t exist anyway.

[Vertigo Swirl]

Amy Tierney, independent witness

“She confirms that, on the night of the disappearance she was on duty and immediately went to the bedroom to see if the girl was hiding. She saw that the shutter was raised and that the window was partially open.”

[Mr Gray]

Well if she misunderstood what he was saying and the PJ didn't offer a deal then the advice he gave her suggests he thought the PJ were on the right track.

If Carlos believed the rubbish the pj we're spouting he certainly would believe Kate was guilty... The problem was it was rubbish

[Lace]

Dianne Webster was in the apartment 5 minutes after the alarm was raised. The window was closed. David Payne didn't even see the open window when he entered after the alarm was raised. The only people in the apartment before them were Kate and Gerry and they both say it was open - surprise surprise!

Consequently she infers that at the time of her arrival at the apartment the window would have been closed.
https://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/DIANNE_WEBSTER_11-MAY07.htm

If you are going to stage an abduction leave the window open for all to see!!!   Do you think Kate is stupid? Wipe your finger prints off too!!

[G-Unit]

If Carlos believed the rubbish the pj we're spouting he certainly would believe Kate was guilty... The problem was it was rubbish

There has been a consistent campaign to convince people that the PJ were the devil's spawn. In my opinion they're no worse than any other police force. They assessed the evidence and listened to and observed the witnesses and reached a conclusion. Some people are convinced that the McCanns did no wrong, but they failed to convince others just as they failed to convince the PJ.

[Vertigo Swirl]

There has been a consistent campaign to convince people that the PJ were the devil's spawn. In my opinion they're no worse than any other police force. They assessed the evidence and listened to and observed the witnesses and reached a conclusion. Some people are convinced that the McCanns did no wrong, but they failed to convince others just as they failed to convince the PJ.

All police forces have equal merits and failings do they?  How egalitarian of you.  In my opinion there has been a campaign to convince people that the McCanns are the devil’s spawn.  In my opinion they’re no worse than any other parents.

[Mr Gray]

There has been a consistent campaign to convince people that the PJ were the devil's spawn. In my opinion they're no worse than any other police force. They assessed the evidence and listened to and observed the witnesses and reached a conclusion. Some people are convinced that the McCanns did no wrong, but they failed to convince others just as they failed to convince the PJ.

At the libel trial Almeida said the main evidence against the mccanns was the dog alerts... Yet they had been told the alerts had no evidential value or reliability.
They also thought the dogs had never been wrong in 200 cases... That was also untrue

[Holly Goodhead]

There has been a consistent campaign to convince people that the PJ were the devil's spawn. In my opinion they're no worse than any other police force. They assessed the evidence and listened to and observed the witnesses and reached a conclusion. Some people are convinced that the McCanns did no wrong, but they failed to convince others just as they failed to convince the PJ.

It seems to me a number of people who comment online about this case haven't looked at other cases.  If they did they might appreciate that the investigation was no better or worse than many other investigations in UK and elsewhere. 

What I will say against PJ is that I'm really surprised an officer didn't take a wit stat from PF within 24/48 hours of MM's disappearance.  This was a lady that resided permanently above 5A and in all probability was only meters away when MM disappeared.  Why then is her wit stat dated 20th Aug 2007?

[Holly Goodhead]

At the libel trial Almeida said the main evidence against the mccanns was the dog alerts... Yet they had been told the alerts had no evidential value or reliability.
They also thought the dogs had never been wrong in 200 cases... That was also untrue

The McCanns were not found guilty in a court of law.  Many completely innocent people spend years behind bars based on unreliable evidence and witness testimony:  Amanda Knox/Rafaelle Sollecito (Italy), David Bain (NZ), Lindy Chamberlain (Oz), Sally Clarke (UK). 

[Mr Gray]

It seems to me a number of people who comment online about this case haven't looked at other cases.  If they did they might appreciate that the investigation was no better or worse than many other investigations in UK and elsewhere. 

What I will say against PJ is that I'm really surprised an officer didn't take a wit stat from PF within 24/48 hours of MM's disappearance.  This was a lady that resided permanently above 5A and in all probability was only meters away when MM disappeared.  Why then is her wit stat dated 20th Aug 2007?

I've looked, at lots if other cases.. Mistakes are made but at least these mistakes usually are admitted.
The investigation in this case went in the wrong direction because the police thought they had proof Maddie died in the apartment.. They were wrong

[Brietta]

 Is it any wonder that initial investigators arrived at the conclusions they did?

I don't think it is in the least surprising the initial investigators made such a pig's ear of the investigation into Madeleine's investigation.

They were hardly 'Portugal's finest' were they?

Which of the senior officers who investigated Joana Cipriano's disappearance then followed by Madeleine McCann's disappearance a couple of years later both from villages in close proximity didn't end up with criminal convictions some of which were as serious as those possessed by the criminals they were paid to pursue.

None more so than the guy Amaral cosied up to on many's the chat show couch as they pursued their new careers as pundits making money out of the little girl they let down so very badly ... Paulo Cristovao.  Cristivao went out of his way to associate himself with Madeleine by writing one of the first books about her disappearance which fingered her parents in her disappearance.

He left no stone unturned as he used his journalistic presence to vilify her parents in the pages of the Portuguese press and as already pointed out continued to play his TV part alongside Amaral to try to convince the Portuguese public of Madeleine's death.

Why would these convicted criminals do that?  Whatever ... with such individuals in charge of and orchestrating an investigation into the case of a missing child for which they had neither experience or expertise in my opinion it was inevitable they followed entirely the wrong tack in reaching the conclusions they did.

After Amaral was sacked from the case his successor Rebelo conducted an entirely different process:  he cleaned out much of the dross of Amaral's personnel by reducing their number and brought in as many experts in their field as was necessary for a missing child investigation.  I don't know if a team like that had been there from the outset it would have made any difference to the final outcome as far as Madeleine was concerned, but I have absolutely no doubt that their professionalism would have made a difference to the way the investigation was conducted.

One of the first differences would have been that the media propaganda war waged against Madeleine's parents just would have been very unlikely to have happened and the lies which have become factoids for over twelve years wouldn't have been allowed to happen.

[The General]

I've looked, at lots if other cases.. Mistakes are made but at least these mistakes usually are admitted.
The investigation in this case went in the wrong direction because the police thought they had proof Maddie died in the apartment.. They were wrong

That's your opinion, obviously and not the fact that the post implies. Unless you can thoroughly demonstrate otherwise.