Kate McCann admits in her book that private criminal investigations in Portugal were illegal.

[Carana]

The sections you posted cover an awful lot of crimes, such as entering the property/land of a person without permission.  And worse still if you are asked to leave and fail to do so promptly.

There are significant restrictions on what one individual can ask of a second individual, and passing that on to the authorities would not absolve you of guilt.

There is a yet higher level of restriction if you do this in a professional capacity.

So I, as a private individual not a professional investigator, would get more lee way than a PI, albeit still with a raft of no-go areas.

I cannot see how investigative journalists (professionals) could make much progress and remain legal in Portugal.

The constitution enshrines the right to discuss any case in Portugal, but judicial secrecy would restrict that to information in the public domain.

I see Mrs Murat's effort has gotten a mention.  There was nothing to stop her inviting people to voluntarily pass information to her.  That's discussing.  If she investigated, she probably broke the law. If she shared any of several items of information with Robert, I would say the police could have made a case against her.  Of course, at the time, police energies were directed elsewhere.

Wandering round Luz, counting manholes, and/or discussing known facts would not be problematical.

However, if I were to track down John Hill (easy on a number of fronts) then obviously anything covered in his witness statement is off-limits, as are enquiries about how the OG interview was conducted and which questions were asked.  Effectively, this makes him useless as a source of information at this time.

From what I can gather, what's illegal is to obstruct an investigation * (yet to find, but it must exist somewhere in the code) or to invade anyone's privacy without their prior agreement.


* Including anything that doesn't uphold the presumption of innocence, which may be frowned upon more these days than it was in the past.

[Angelo222]

http://www.mccannfiles.com/id76.html

Are you for real Lace? 

Do you expect anyone to believe a story from a defunct discredited former rag called The News of the World which made just about ecverything up as they went along.

[Angelo222]

I'll just pick you up on this one,...what evidence do you have that smith was pressurised to tone down his ID...you need to provide a cite...you won't be able to...are you now simply making things up

So you think he simply changed his mind about his observation?  The facts are that Mr Smith was so adamant that the man he encountered that night back in Praia da Luz was Gerry McCann that he contacted his local Guarda station who took a statement from him.  They in turn contacted the Portuguese police who arranged for Mr Smith, Peter and Aoife to travel back to Portugal to make formal statements.

Next thing we know is that Brian Kennedy acting on behalf of the McCanns made contact with Mr Smith back in Drogheda in the Irish Republc and attempted to get him to do e-fits, he refused.  This is where it gets interesting.  What we had in effect was an agent acting on behalf of the McCanns approaching an eye witness who had identified Gerry McCann as a suspect. Now if that isn't interference with a live criminal investigation then I don't know what is?

Even later, another attempt is made by agents acting on behalf of the McCanns to get Mr Smith to cooperate in producing e-fits of the man he encountered.  This agent was conman Kevin Halligen who was then providing his PI services under the banner of Red Defence International, later to become Oakley International, a Company which he set up specifically to service the Find Madeleine contract.

Halligen later admitted that he did manage to obtain e-fits from the Smith family, one of which was a remarkable likeness to Gerry McCann. These e-fits were not immediately made available to any police agency and were not released to the public for several years. In an interview with the London Times, Halligen claimed that Oakley had provided a report of their investigations which was highly critical of the McCanns but was prevented from releasing it due to a confidentiality clause within his contract.

And Mr Smith has never been heard of ever again.  Says it all really??

[sadie]

So you think he simply changed his mind about his observation?  The facts are that Mr Smith was so adamant that the man he encountered that night back in Praia da Luz was Gerry McCann that he contacted his local Guarda station who took a statement from him.  They in turn contacted the Portuguese police who arranged for Mr Smith, Peter and Aoife to travel back to Portugal to make formal statements.

Next thing we know is that Brian Kennedy acting on behalf of the McCanns had made contact with Mr Smith back in Drogheda in the Irish Republc and attempted to get him to do e-fits, he refused.  This is where it gets interesting.  What we had in effect was an agent acting on behalf of the McCanns approaching an eye witness who had identified Gerry McCann as a suspect. Now if that isn't interference with a live criminal investigation then I don't know what is?

Even later, another attempt is made by agents acting on behalf of the McCanns to get Mr Smith to cooperate in producing e-fits of the man he encountered.  This agent was conman Kevin Halligen who was then providing his PI services under the banner of Red Defence International, later to become Oakley International, a Company which he set up specifically to service the Find Madeleine contract.

The fact of the matter is that based upon a quick sighting on TV of the way that Gerry was holding Sean as he descended from the plane, it jogged Mr Smiths memory.   Mr Smith was anxious to do his duty and decided to report the way Gerry held Sean and how it was like the way that Smithman held the little girl.

None of the Smith family thought that Gerry looked like Smithman at all.  He was out on a limb, but at least he reported what he thought that he should.

Amaral grasped hold of it.  But, did he change the emphasis?   Cos I think that later Mr Smith made it plain that he did not think Gerry was Smithman.   Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Angelo222]

Cos I think that later Mr Smith made it plain that he did not think Gerry was Smithman.   Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thank you, exactly my point.  Nite nite

[pegasus]

(snip)Amaral grasped hold of it.  But, did he change the emphasis?(snip)

Mr Amaral certainly did act on Mr Smith's Sept 2007 identification - Mr Amaral immediately planned to fly the witness to portugal for formal identification by photograph, when suddenly he was removed from the investigation on Oct 2nd 2007 due to pressure from high up in the UK gov.

[pegasus]

Has anyone ever wondered who the so-called "anonymous benefactor" was who paid expensive PIs to go to Luz in May 2007? Those PIs where working in coordination with LP/PJ in May 2007 - no private benefactor could have arranged that could they?

[Mr Gray]

So you think he simply changed his mind about his observation?  The facts are that Mr Smith was so adamant that the man he encountered that night back in Praia da Luz was Gerry McCann that he contacted his local Guarda station who took a statement from him.  They in turn contacted the Portuguese police who arranged for Mr Smith, Peter and Aoife to travel back to Portugal to make formal statements.

Next thing we know is that Brian Kennedy acting on behalf of the McCanns made contact with Mr Smith back in Drogheda in the Irish Republc and attempted to get him to do e-fits, he refused.  This is where it gets interesting.  What we had in effect was an agent acting on behalf of the McCanns approaching an eye witness who had identified Gerry McCann as a suspect. Now if that isn't interference with a live criminal investigation then I don't know what is?

Even later, another attempt is made by agents acting on behalf of the McCanns to get Mr Smith to cooperate in producing e-fits of the man he encountered.  This agent was conman Kevin Halligen who was then providing his PI services under the banner of Red Defence International, later to become Oakley International, a Company which he set up specifically to service the Find Madeleine contract.

Halligen later admitted that he did manage to obtain e-fits from the Smith family, one of which was a remarkable likeness to Gerry McCann. These e-fits were not immediately made available to any police agency and were not released to the public for several years. In an interview with the London Times, Halligen claimed that Oakley had provided a report of their investigations which was highly critical of the McCanns but was prevented from releasing it due to a confidentiality clause within his contract.

And Mr Smith has never been heard of ever again.  Says it all really??

so it is just your opinion that smith was pressurised into changing his story....you have provided no evidence...smith admitted he did not even see the mans face...how could he have recognised him...as a mod you should not quote opinion as fact

[slartibartfast]

Perhaps Angelo is, ahem, 'reinterpreting' that part of Martin Smith's statement where he said that, before making his statement to the Irish Gardia police, he canvassed the opinions of his whole family, with him that night, and that all his children disagreed with him (that the man was Gerry), including his daughter, Aofe, (at least of those witnesses whose statements we read on line), for me, far the most observant witness of what the Smiths all saw that night.

It was on that basis that I, for a long time, believed it might have been Aofe who produced the second e-fit.

But in fact, it was Mr Smith's wife ....

Do you have a cite for "all his children disagreed with him"?

[Mr Gray]

So you think he simply changed his mind about his observation?  The facts are that Mr Smith was so adamant that the man he encountered that night back in Praia da Luz was Gerry McCann that he contacted his local Guarda station who took a statement from him.  They in turn contacted the Portuguese police who arranged for Mr Smith, Peter and Aoife to travel back to Portugal to make formal statements.

Next thing we know is that Brian Kennedy acting on behalf of the McCanns made contact with Mr Smith back in Drogheda in the Irish Republc and attempted to get him to do e-fits, he refused.  This is where it gets interesting.  What we had in effect was an agent acting on behalf of the McCanns approaching an eye witness who had identified Gerry McCann as a suspect. Now if that isn't interference with a live criminal investigation then I don't know what is?

Even later, another attempt is made by agents acting on behalf of the McCanns to get Mr Smith to cooperate in producing e-fits of the man he encountered.  This agent was conman Kevin Halligen who was then providing his PI services under the banner of Red Defence International, later to become Oakley International, a Company which he set up specifically to service the Find Madeleine contract.

Halligen later admitted that he did manage to obtain e-fits from the Smith family, one of which was a remarkable likeness to Gerry McCann. These e-fits were not immediately made available to any police agency and were not released to the public for several years. In an interview with the London Times, Halligen claimed that Oakley had provided a report of their investigations which was highly critical of the McCanns but was prevented from releasing it due to a confidentiality clause within his contract.

And Mr Smith has never been heard of ever again.  Says it all really??

he wasn't adamant...he said he didn't see his face......he never used the word adamant...opinion as fact again

[Lace]

From Kate McCann's book two -

Our first investigators the Spanish company Metodo 3, began working for us in October.  With private investigations technically illegal in Portugal,  we felt the closest we would 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.  M3 also had links to the Spanish police,  who,  in turn had good connections with the Portuguese police. end of quote.

So you see they did ok it with the Portuguese police,  all information they collected  as they said was handed over to the PJ.

[ferryman]

Do you have a cite for "all his children disagreed with him"?

After seeing the BBC news at 10 PM, footage on the 9th September 2007 I contacted Leicestershire police with this information. During that time I spoke to all my family members who were with me on the night of 3rd May 2007 about this and the only one who felt the same way as me was my wife. She had seen the video clip of Gerard McCann walking down the stairs of the plane earlier that day. We did not discuss this until some days later. This statement has been read over to me and is correct.

Martin Smith.

[slartibartfast]

After seeing the BBC news at 10 PM, footage on the 9th September 2007 I contacted Leicestershire police with this information. During that time I spoke to all my family members who were with me on the night of 3rd May 2007 about this and the only one who felt the same way as me was my wife. She had seen the video clip of Gerard McCann walking down the stairs of the plane earlier that day. We did not discuss this until some days later. This statement has been read over to me and is correct.

Martin Smith.

Right, so it doesn't say they thought it wasn't Gerry and can equally apply if they did not see him clearly. Glad that is cleared up.

[ferryman]

Right, so it doesn't say they thought it wasn't Gerry and can equally apply if they did not see him clearly. Glad that is cleared up.

It does.

They all thought differently (from Martin Smith) apart from his wife.

Only Martin Smith (and his wife) thought it was Gerry.

As you say, cleared up.

[Angelo222]

From Kate McCann's book two -

Our first investigators the Spanish company Metodo 3, began working for us in October.  With private investigations technically illegal in Portugal,  we felt the closest we would 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.  M3 also had links to the Spanish police,  who,  in turn had good connections with the Portuguese police. end of quote.

So you see they did ok it with the Portuguese police,  all information they collected  as they said was handed over to the PJ.

Only when it suited.  In any event don't believe everything you read in a book authored by a suspect.