It has taken fifteen years ~ is Madeleine's case close to being solved?

[Eleanor]

We've had this crap before -
 People know where Madeleine is and are watching. Just waiting until she's old enough to identify herself on Facebook - just waiting until she's 16 -just waiting until she's 18 etc.
Well she  an  adult now so what's stopping these people acting ?

IMO
The reason is because she's not out there, or at least  not alive.

Madeleine might not know who she is.

Joanna might think her mother sold her.

[Brietta]

We've had this crap before -
 People know where Madeleine is and are watching. Just waiting until she's old enough to identify herself on Facebook - just waiting until she's 16 -just waiting until she's 18 etc.
Well she  an  adult now so what's stopping these people acting ?

IMO
The reason is because she's not out there, or at least  not alive.

Unashamedly, Amaral tells us in his book that from day one his focus was on Madeleine's parents.  I think if the priorities are wrong and you don't look for a missing child the prospect of finding her are zero.

No wonder it took fifteen years of playing "catch-up" when the parents were put in the frame in the first instance and as Amaral has admitted, local paedophile predators ignored.

The 6 errors Madeleine McCann detectives made in the search for the missing youngster
Detective Colin Sutton claims some of the mistakes made by the Portuguese police could have hampered the investigation

Colin Sutton reveals the 6 mistakes the police made (Image: Daily Mirror)

By Paul Jollands
23:00, 21 Apr 2017UPDATED11:41, 2 May 2017

Portuguese police were accused of making a string of basic errors in the early days of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.

They range from failing to properly seal off apartment 5A to pointing the finger of blame at her parents.

Colin Sutton says some of the Policia Judiciaria’s errors hampered the investigation.

But he also said Portuguese authorities received unwarranted criticism concerning other aspects of the massive probe.

Here the ex-Met detective confronts the biggest errors made by the PJ – and defends other decisions they took.


(1)  The alarm was raised at 10.15pm, but first officers did not arrive in Praia da Luz until 11pm and the disappearance was not taken seriously enough

“This is an unacceptable delay, regardless of what they thought had happened to Madeleine,” says Colin.

“Even if they thought she had innocently wandered off, it should not have taken them 45 minutes to arrive.

“In a missing person case there is a judgment to be made about how it is treated. If it’s a 21-year-old who is missing after being out clubbing, you are not as worried as you would be about a missing three-year-old.

“I would like to think that any police officer who is told a three-year-old girl has gone missing will be instantly taking it extremely seriously.

“The question is do you treat it like a crime scene that needs to be preserved right from the start or is the most likely explanation that she wandered off? The Portuguese police were widely criticised for not sealing off the scene, making it a crime scene.

“But if there is a chance the missing girl could be wandering around lost in the immediate area, then that rightly takes priority. You are prioritising searching the immediate area rather than sealing off the scene.

“If there is sign of a violent struggle or forced entry then it would be different, but that wasn’t the case with Madeleine’s disappearance.

“If there was sign of forced entry, then your thinking starts going down the line of crime rather than just a missing person. But in the absence of any evidence your natural thought is she has wandered off.

“You think, ‘Let’s start looking for her’, rather than thinking of anything as sinister as abduction.

“That would have been the call for the uniformed officers who were first on the scene at the Ocean Club.

“Once she was not found in the immediate area then I would have asked the officers to look for evidence of a crime.

“I can well imagine that the Portuguese police’s initial thoughts were that they were going to find the little girl wandering around in her pyjamas no further than half a mile from the apartment.

“When the searches have proved fruitless I would want to talk to the parents.

“Very quickly there should have been the realisation that this was a crime rather than something more innocent. That should have been realised within 30 minutes, but in Madeleine’s case it clearly wasn’t realised all that quickly.

“It was not taken as seriously as it should have been.”


(2)   Spanish border officials were not notified about her disappearance until the following day and roadblocks were not put in place

“Abduction across the border is very rare, so the temptation is not to push the buttons on border alerts because it’s not worth it.

“There is a reluctance in policing to ‘overreact’. In 95% of cases such as this, there is an innocent explanation.

“There is a reluctance to escalate things until you are certain they need to be escalated. For example the Metropolitan Police get 30,000 missing person reports every year. In 2012 it was reported that 30 children had gone missing in Portugal since Madeleine’s disappearance.”


(3)  House-to-house inquiries were haphazard and in some cases did not happen at all

“House-to-house, or in this case apartment-to-apartment, inquiries should have happened straight away. It is a simple case of knocking on doors and asking the occupants if they saw anything.

“If you’re on holiday and see a three-year-old girl wandering outside in her pyjamas, the natural thing is to bring her inside and figure out where she is from.

“For all the police knew, Madeleine could have been inside one of those apartments. But it takes lots of resources to do that. Because it was a holiday complex, it was the equivalent of knocking on as many doors as an entire housing estate in the UK.

“That takes the kind of manpower that would not have been immediately available to the Portuguese police.”


(4)  The limited CCTV footage from the local area was not checked

“There would not have been too much CCTV in Praia da Luz 10 years ago. There still isn’t now.

“Therefore it might not have been at the front of their minds to check whatever cameras were around. In the UK, securing CCTV is among the first things you do and proves crucial to every investigation.”


(5)  Lack of information released to public from Portuguese police

“There was no publicising the case from the local police, which is unheard of back home.

“The public assistance in a case like Madeleine’s would have been huge because of the emotive subject - a missing three-year-old girl. It defies belief that they did not publish e-fits once they had them.

“Their lack of PR explains why the McCanns were so pro-active on that front. They were trying to fill the vacuum.”


(6)  Forensic examinations of the McCann apartment were poor and no DNA tests were carried out on Madeleine’s toy Cuddle Cat

“In a case like this, you start by looking where Madeleine was when she was taken.

“She was in her bed, probably clutching her fluffy toy Cuddle Cat. So that’s where the forensics begins. The abductor would have had to pull back the duvet, probably physically remove Cuddle Cat from Madeleine’s arms.


"If the reports are true that no DNA tests were carried out on Cuddle Cat before Kate washed it, that’s astonishing.

“There were photographs of officers in their normal clothes, not even wearing gloves, doing fingerprints. It looks like they just didn’t do a good job.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/6-errors-madeleine-mccann-detectives-10272590

[Eleanor]

The limited number of The PJ on duty that night were off somewhere else looking into a fake burglary.  I have to wonder who phoned in that fake report?

There was no burglary.

Amaral of course, was in a bar somewhere getting pissed.

[G-Unit]

The limited number of The PJ on duty that night were off somewhere else looking into a fake burglary. I have to wonder who phoned in that fake report?

There was no burglary.

Amaral of course, was in a bar somewhere getting pissed.

Wasn't that the GNR, not the PJ?

[Eleanor]

Wasn't that the GNR, not the PJ?

I don't think so.  The GNR can't investigate a crime.  Unless you know better.  In which case why did The PJ turn up at all?

[Brietta]

I don't think so.  The GNR can't investigate a crime.  Unless you know better.  In which case why did The PJ turn up at all?

I'm not sure it really matters who the first responders were.  Just a petty deflection from the fact that an alarm which might have taken resources away at a critical time in Luz and sending them ten miles away? to Odiaxere could have been of significance.  Had it been treated as such at the time.

Interestingly the newspaper reporting the incident probably reveals yet another investigative failure regarding the phone dump the police had access to but with the exception of the McCann party and Murat and his associates, failed to use properly.


In the minutes after she was abducted a decade a go, local police in Portugal were reportedly diverted to the burglary about 10 miles from the Praia da Luz resort where the McCann family were holidaying.

The phone call to the Lagos police station, said to be from a Lisbon-based alarm systems company, was discovered in a new analysis of police phone records, The Sun reports.

The newspaper reports one of the few police cars available responded to the reported break-in in Odiaxere, northeast of Praia da Luz.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/mystery-phone-call-reporting-burglary-10278677

[G-Unit]

I don't think so.  The GNR can't investigate a crime.  Unless you know better.  In which case why did The PJ turn up at all?

The GNR responded because that's who the Ocean Club telephoned. They arrived at 23.00. The GNR later called the PJ in, who came from Porto DIC.

[Brietta]

The GNR responded because that's who the Ocean Club telephoned. They arrived at 23.00. The GNR later called the PJ in, who came from Porto DIC.

And the significance of this fifteen+ years down the line is ? ? ?

[G-Unit]

And the significance of this fifteen+ years down the line is ? ? ?

An untrue claim was made. The PJ weren't deflected away from PdL.

[Brietta]

An untrue claim was made. The PJ weren't deflected away from PdL.

The claim made was that there was a report of a burglary which coincided with the abduction of a child.  Are you OK with that?

[Brietta]

An untrue claim was made. The PJ weren't deflected away from PdL.

The Portuguese police attended.  I am still on track, here am I?

[Brietta]

An untrue claim was made. The PJ weren't deflected away from PdL.

On arrival the apparently overstretched police found no burglary in progress.  Is that alright by you?

This thread topic is "It has taken fifteen years ~ is Madeleine's case close to being solved?"  In which way do your recent posts reflect what is presently going on with relation to your concerns about a false report regarding a false burglary fifteen years ago?

[G-Unit]

On arrival the apparently overstretched police found no burglary in progress.  Is that alright by you?

This thread topic is "It has taken fifteen years ~ is Madeleine's case close to being solved?"  In which way do your recent posts reflect what is presently going on with relation to your concerns about a false report regarding a false burglary fifteen years ago?

Well if you don't want facts, fine.

[Rossb]

Well if you don't want facts, fine.

German police will not waste time on a different culturual missing  child.

[barrier]

German police will not waste time on a different culturual missing  child.

Any evidence there is actually an investigation going on , no sign of German plod in Luz, if there was I'm sure the world and its wife would know. They've convinced themselves she's dead.