Does the Madeleine McCann case warrant a Public Inquiry?

[Angelo222]

Halligen has just come out of jail for other issues. It's not clear to me if Exton is indeed the person who blabbed to the media. If so, I hope he has a source of income that doesn't rely on discretion.

I'm not aware of what Metodo 3 have done wrong in this case.

I believe we covered this at length previously.

[Carana]

I believe we covered this at length previously.

No doubt, as just about everything already has been. The M3 guy should never have been so optimistic about getting her home by Christmas. I'd agree that that wasn't helpful.

I'm more interested in Oakley and Exton's alleged revelations... in a profession in which discretion is supposedly your main quality / skill.  &%+((£

[sadie]

SY were brought into review the case. Apart from the press, who ever thought they were going to arrest anyone? charge them ?

You can tell by the response of the supporters that Team McCann would hate the very idea of one.

They tried to extradite someone from Gozo /Malta didn't they?   But the powers-that-be in Malta prevented it

Strange that they could over rule the earlier requests of other countries put out before their much more minor offence of supposedly finding child pornography on the his computer.

IIRC he was wanted in NZ , Oz, and the UK

[Miss Taken Identity]

They tried to extradite someone from Gozo /Malta didn't they?   But the powers-that-be in Malta prevented it

Strange that they could over rule the earlier requests of other countries put out before their much more minor offence of supposedly finding child pornography on the his computer.

IIRC he was wanted in NZ , Oz, and the UK

Yes, but Sadie, they need evidence to arrest and charge people. Unless there is a confession, what else is there? You also need hard evidence to have someone extradited.

[Brietta]

I think the provenance that an inquiry into the handling of Madeleine McCann's case by the PJ was certainly warranted at the time is that when the case was reviewed there were found to be so many avenues for investigation which had not been pursued at the time.

The incompetence of the initial investigation certainly warranted an internal inquiry ... which perhaps happened to an extent if Goncalo Amaral's dismissal from the case is anything to go by.

The disgrace of the press disinformation campaign the content of which remains meat and drink to those who have maintained the hounding of Madeleine's family over nearly eight years, certainly merited being addressed at the time, as it was to a degree when the British press apologised and paid for their foul misrepresentation.

Although not wiping out the witch hunts of the past the more recent developments in Madeleine McCann's case have moved the goalposts for the current witch hunts and have shown them for the marginalised self misinformed vehicles they are.

Sure thing an International inquiry into the handling of Madeleine's case is warranted ... but how stupid would it be to divert from the reopened cases in Portugal and Britain?

We are where we should have been in 2007 ... and nothing could mitigate that fact.

I think lessons have been learned and I think there is a spirit of co-operation between the forces of both countries which was absent when Goncalo Amaral deployed limited resources to spy on his British opposite numbers in 2007.

I doubt if a spokesperson today would feel the need to reiterate what in April 2008, the family spokesman said ...


**snip

Mitchell said the PJ's performance meant the time had come for an "international inquiry" into their handling of the Madeleine case. "What we want is not just an investigation of this latest leak, but a much wider inquiry into their conduct.

"It's the sort of thing that could be done peer to peer - maybe by officers from Europol, someone senior from Scotland Yard, or the FBI. It's not about blame, but learning the necessary lessons."

It is an extraordinary demand, born of exasperation, which is certain to be resisted in Portugal.

Yet an examination by The Mail on Sunday of the PJ's record --not only in its failure to find Madeleine, but in the previous two Algarve cases where children have disappeared or been murdered - suggests it may well be justified.

"You have to remember: until 1974 Portugal was a dictatorship," said a veteran Algarve journalist, who asked not to be named. "That was the climate in which the PJ was created. Their methods were pretty rough."

**snip

In the Portuguese criminal justice system, confessions are still regarded as they were in the days of the Inquisition - as the "queen of proofs".
British police, it has to be said, sometimes used to operate in a similar way.
But it has its drawbacks, as shown by the succession of miscarriages of justice based on false confessions, such as the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six IRA cases.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-560696/Madeleine-The-damning-case-police-Britains-investigative-reporter.html#ixzz3QpTyTc47

[John]

An excellent post Brietta, it is always a help to be reminded of what has been previously stated. 

I very much agree with an international inquiry of sorts but I also agreed that the Portuguese are not about to bare their souls or put their heads on the chopping block.

Mores the pity because by refusing such an inquiry they will have denied justice to Madeleine.

[Benice]

I think the provenance that an inquiry into the handling of Madeleine McCann's case by the PJ was certainly warranted at the time is that when the case was reviewed there were found to be so many avenues for investigation which had not been pursued at the time.

The incompetence of the initial investigation certainly warranted an internal inquiry ... which perhaps happened to an extent if Goncalo Amaral's dismissal from the case is anything to go by.

The disgrace of the press disinformation campaign the content of which remains meat and drink to those who have maintained the hounding of Madeleine's family over nearly eight years, certainly merited being addressed at the time, as it was to a degree when the British press apologised and paid for their foul misrepresentation.

Although not wiping out the witch hunts of the past the more recent developments in Madeleine McCann's case have moved the goalposts for the current witch hunts and have shown them for the marginalised self misinformed vehicles they are.

Sure thing an International inquiry into the handling of Madeleine's case is warranted ... but how stupid would it be to divert from the reopened cases in Portugal and Britain?

We are where we should have been in 2007 ... and nothing could mitigate that fact.

I think lessons have been learned and I think there is a spirit of co-operation between the forces of both countries which was absent when Goncalo Amaral deployed limited resources to spy on his British opposite numbers in 2007.

I doubt if a spokesperson today would feel the need to reiterate what in April 2008, the family spokesman said ...


**snip

Mitchell said the PJ's performance meant the time had come for an "international inquiry" into their handling of the Madeleine case. "What we want is not just an investigation of this latest leak, but a much wider inquiry into their conduct.

"It's the sort of thing that could be done peer to peer - maybe by officers from Europol, someone senior from Scotland Yard, or the FBI. It's not about blame, but learning the necessary lessons."

It is an extraordinary demand, born of exasperation, which is certain to be resisted in Portugal.

Yet an examination by The Mail on Sunday of the PJ's record --not only in its failure to find Madeleine, but in the previous two Algarve cases where children have disappeared or been murdered - suggests it may well be justified.

"You have to remember: until 1974 Portugal was a dictatorship," said a veteran Algarve journalist, who asked not to be named. "That was the climate in which the PJ was created. Their methods were pretty rough."

**snip

In the Portuguese criminal justice system, confessions are still regarded as they were in the days of the Inquisition - as the "queen of proofs".
British police, it has to be said, sometimes used to operate in a similar way.
But it has its drawbacks, as shown by the succession of miscarriages of justice based on false confessions, such as the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six IRA cases.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-560696/Madeleine-The-damning-case-police-Britains-investigative-reporter.html#ixzz3QpTyTc47

Good post Brietta.    However when you have a situation where a court decides that a person was tortured inside a police station - and no-one is identified and no-one loses their job at that police station - one wonders how keen the authorities are to investigate their own. 

However, recent prosecutions and arrests do give hope that attitudes have begun to change for the better. 

IMO Portugal is in the same place the UK police were in - 40 odd years ago - when IIRC a policeman's word was routinely taken over Joe Bloggs word as gospel - by our courts.

[Angelo222]

By whom at who's cost?

Feb 2015 unemployment rates.  UK 5.7%.  Portugal 14.1%.

Better things to spend money on.

Justice requires that this entire sordid affair be fully investigated.  As it stands at the moment Amaral is the fall guy. There are events surrounding the employment of Marcos Correia and Metodo 3 which some individuals would prefer to keep buried.

I don't care if it is a public enquiry or a criminal inquiry but certain people have some serious questions still to answer!

[Mr Gray]

Justice requires that this entire sordid affair be fully investigated.  As it stands at the moment Amaral is the fall guy. There are events surrounding the employment if Marcos Correia and Metodo 3 which some individuals would prefer to keep buried.

I don't care if it is a public enquiry or a criminal inquiry but certain people have some serious questions still to answer!

justice requires that the mccanns are considered innocent....it seems justice only interests you when it suits your agenda

[OxfordBloo]

Justice requires that this entire sordid affair be fully investigated.  As it stands at the moment Amaral is the fall guy. There are events surrounding the employment of Marcos Correia and Metodo 3 which some individuals would prefer to keep buried.

I don't care if it is a public enquiry or a criminal inquiry but certain people have some serious questions still to answer!

I would support a public enquiry so long as it was based on presumption of innocence and interviews were carried out under PACE, and evidence was admitted only under usual judges rules.

No problem.

It would almost certainly declare that no final conclusion could be reached.

Which is my persistent insistence.

[Angelo222]

justice requires that the mccanns are considered innocent....it seems justice only interests you when it suits your agenda

Hogwash davel. There is an untold story here which I for one desire to see fully investigated.

[Angelo222]

I would support a public enquiry so long as it was based on presumption of innocence and interviews were carried out under PACE, and evidence was admitted only under usual judges rules.

No problem.

It would almost certainly declare that no final conclusion could be reached.

Which is my persistent insistence.

Pace??  Let's not introduce British protocols into what would be a Portuguese criminal inquiry.

[OxfordBloo]

Pace??  Let's not introduce British protocols into what would be a Portuguese criminal inquiry.

Or under Portuguese Law.

The outcome would be unlikely to be different.

[Carana]

I can't see a public inquiry ever happening nor do I see the interest of one taking place in the public arena. In any case, which jurisdiction would oversee such a thing?

More useful and more likely (IMO) would be internal inquiries and hopefully sharing the reports with each other in order to improve best practice.

Portugal may have quietly conducted one: few, if any, members of the former Algarve Maddie squad appear to be still working there. A component of their review may well have involved examining internal issues.

UK police forces are quite capable of conducting their own and probably already have done. There was a conference agenda paper floating around the Internet at some point, but it may have been taken down as I can't find it.

On the agenda of various topics was an item concerning input from the UK to an overseas police convention on lessons learned in international police cooperation, using two cases - one of which was the McCann one.


 

[John]

A previous poster pointed out the dire economic situation in Portugal and suggested that money would be better spent elsewhere.

That is a fair point but what price do you set on justice?

Does the Anglo Portuguese Society still influence events?