It is also worth reproducing extracts which appeared in Chapter 9 prior to the paragraph which started this particular thread.
Ch 19 - ACTION ON THREE FRONTS
By October, with the battle to clear our names under way, we were able to concentrate properly on our top priority: finding Madeleine. Since the very beginning, various friends had proposed hiring private investigators. So far, beyond following up the odd piece of information outside Portugal, we had not gone down this road. Apart from the legal complications and the potential for interference with the official investigation, we had been reassured that, after a shaky start, the police were doing everything that could be done.
The McCanns were well aware of the legal complications and the potential for interference with the official investigation but were quite content to let the Portuguese get on with it. That was of course until the focus of the investigation changed and they found themselves under scrutiny.
Until the summer, we had believed that our best hope of Madeleine being found lay with the police. We needed to believe that. However, as the months rolled by, our faith in them had rapidly declined, hitting rock-bottom in August. Once we were declared arguidos, it became frighteningly clear to us that they were no longer looking for Madeleine. What they were looking for now, it seemed, was a conviction. Feeling more desperate for Madeleine now than at any time since that first night, we had no option but to launch our own investigation.
Some might say that they did indeed have another option and that was to cooperate fully with the Portuguese investigation. Acting in the way they did on being designated arguidos only merely sought to raise the police's suspicions even more. Fleeing the scene could not have done more damage to their credibility in the eyes of many onlookers.
Our first investigators, the Spanish company Método 3, began working for us in October. With private investigations technically illegal in Portugal, we felt the closest we could get would be a firm from somewhere on the Iberian Peninsula, which would have the advantage of familiarity with local systems, culture and geography and the best network of contacts in the region.
The phrase 'closest we could get' is somewhat ambiguous given the involvement between Método 3, lawyer João Grade and the Arade dam fiasco which all occurred in Portugal. If the McCanns had set out to circumvent Portuguese Law by engaging a Spanish firm of private investigators then they summarily failed. What initially might have been deemed 'technically illegal' later became 'illegal' since Método 3 took their investigation to Portuguese soil and right under and up the noses of the Portuguese police.
The argument which will no doubt be rolled out now is that the McCanns were a) not to know that M3 were operating on Portuguese soil and b) were not to know what M3 were up to. Both arguments fall at the first fence because it is up to the person or persons who employ private investigators to ensure that they are tasked in accordance with the law prevailing in each country and that they operate in accordance with those laws. M3 would not have taken their investigation to Portugal without the express authority of their clients who were after all paying handsomely for their services. In fact, a bit further into Ch 19 Kate writes the following about M3.
We have no doubt that M3 made significant strides, but unfortunately, in mid-December, one of their senior investigators gave an overly optimistic interview to the media. He implied that the team were close to finding Madeleine and declared that he hoped she would be home by Christmas. Gerry and I did not pay much heed to these bullish assertions. While we believed they’d been made in an attempt to cast the search in a positive light, we knew that such public declarations would not be helpful. Credibility is so important. That glitch apart, M3 worked very hard for us and, just for the record, their fees were very low: most of the money they were paid was for verified expenses. Although we went on to employ new teams, we maintain good relations with M3 today.
