The Smithman e-fits - are the McCanns less than happy with them?

[Lyall]

If you visited the Official Find Madeleine FB page and saw a button saying "Watch Video", what do you think the video would be about?  A youtube clip of the Great British Bake Off?   It is there permanently pointing all visitors to the page to the most recent appeal by the Met.  Where incidentally are the photofits on Operation Grange's own website page? 

OFM has posted the Smithman e-fit pictures on 7 separate occasions, receiving 75,000 shares with a reach of god knows how many million.  If you think this is evidence that the McCanns are scared of the e-fits then frankly I think you're bonkers.  Good night.   

 &%+((£ The 'Watch Our Video' link doesn't work?

E-fits aren't on the updates page, and not on the index page now either.

Where are they?

(Crimewatch 2013 is missed off the updates page altogether. That I'm not surprised about.)

[Lyall]

I thought DCI Andy said the efits had never been shown to the public before and the ST went one step further by suggesting they had been deliberately withheld by the McCanns. This being a bit of a dumb thing to say was the catalyst for the action.
In the final analysis the efits had not been shown to the public before DCI Andy held them up on CW. Now they are not easy to find for whatever reason.
Seems to me a bit like "The Contract must be advertised in the press" and it appears only in The Biggleswade Chronicle...... if you follow the drift.

I follow your drift Alice. It's all, to borrow a phrase, a little bit odd.

[Alice Purjorick]

&%+((£ The 'Watch Our Video' link doesn't work?

E-fits aren't on the updates page, and not on the index page now either.

Where are they?

The Biggleswade Chronicle or Bucks Free Press?

[Lyall]

The Biggleswade Chronicle or Bucks Free Press?

It's like Crimewatch never happened &%&£(+

[Alice Purjorick]

It's like Crimewatch never happened &%&£(+

It looks like we are back to same three suspects:
The guy DCI Andy greased.
The spotty geezer with the Gene Vincent hairstyle.
The Julie Driscoll lookylikey.
Curiouser and curiouser

[mercury]

Seems it is a fact that the Mccanns had efits of Smithman for "years" and "never" published them on their website(s)

That is wierd at best

[Alfred R Jones]

&%+((£ The 'Watch Our Video' link doesn't work?

E-fits aren't on the updates page, and not on the index page now either.

Where are they?

(Crimewatch 2013 is missed off the updates page altogether. That I'm not surprised about.)

The watch video worked for me yesterday - several times.  The e-fits are to be found under photos, they appear on 7 separate occasions.

[G-Unit]

The watch video worked for me yesterday - several times.  The e-fits are to be found under photos, they appear on 7 separate occasions.

Photos - timeline photos. click on the Dalai Lama pic.

[John]

There is a prevailing view amongst the "sceptic" community that the McCanns are uncomfortable with the Smithman e-fits as revealed on the Crimewatch programme in October 2013.  I pointed out on another thread that the OFM FB page featured these e-fits 7 times and these posts received 75,000 shares.  There is also a button on the OFM FB page entitled "watch video" which links to the Crimewatch appeal that some "sceptics" are convinced is the McCanns least favourite programme as it features them sitting on a sofa looking uncomfortable as Redwood "decimates" JT's sighting and introduces us to the Smithman e-fits (which many sceptics are convinced look exactly like Gerry).

So what's the evidence to suggest that the McCanns actively distance themselves from the Smithman e-fits?  Let's have it here please...

[Edited slightly]

Let's face it, the e-fits had similarities with Gerry but then it has been pointed out they also have similarities with other characters involved in this case.

To remind readers of the facts. Irish tourist Martin Smith holidaying in Praia da Luz with his family encountered a man carrying a young girl in his arms about the same time as Madeleine was found to be missing. He never thought anything more of the casual encounter even after learning of the disappearance but when he watched a TV news item months later which included footage of Kate and Gerry McCann returning home to the UK he contacted his local Guarda office.  He went on to make a statement to his local police in which he claimed that the vision of Gerry carrying one of the twins down the aircraft steps had a striking resemblance to the man he had encountered many months previously in Praia da Luz. Other members of the extended family were not similarly convinced.  Mr Smith and at least two other members of his family later returned to Portugal and were interviewed by Portuguese detectives.  There is no record of any e-fit or artists impression being provided at this point in time.

The Smiths were later approached by McCann supporter Brian Kennedy to provide e-fits but these were not provided until fellow Irishman Kevin Halligen, founder of Oakley International, got involved.  At least two e-fits of the man they encountered that night in Praia da Luz were created, e-fits which bare a fleeting resemblance to Gerry McCann.

The e-fits were passed to police some months afterwards but were never released to the public until 2013 inevitably creating the suggestion that they had been withheld due to the likeness.  Sceptics argue that refusing to release the e-fits damaged the worldwide search for Madeleine, a charge which the McCanns themselves have consistently laid at the door of former Portuguese coordinator Gonçalo Amaral.

[jassi]

Let's face it, the e-fits had similarities with Gerry but then it has been pointed out they also have similarities with other characters involved in this case.

To remind readers of the facts. Irish tourist Martin Smith holidaying in Praia da Luz with his family encountered a man carrying a young girl in his arms about the same time as Madeleine was found to be missing. He never thought anything more of the casual encounter even after learning of the disappearance but when he watched a TV news item months later which included footage of Kate and Gerry McCann returning home to the UK he contacted his local Guarda office.  He went on to make a statement to his local police in which he claimed that the vision of Gerry carrying one of the twins down the aircraft steps had a striking resemblance to the man he had encountered many months previously in Praia da Luz. Other members of the extended family were not similarly convinced.  Mr Smith and at least two other members of his family later returned to Portugal and were interviewed by Portuguese detectives.  There is no record of any e-fit or artists impression being provided at this point in time.

The Smiths were later approached by McCann supporter Brian Kennedy to provide e-fits but these were not provided until fellow Irishman Kevin Halligen, founder of Oakley International, got involved.  At least two e-fits of the man they encountered that night in Praia da Luz were created, e-fits which bare a fleeting resemblance to Gerry McCann.

The e-fits were passed to police some months afterwards but were never released to the public until 2013 inevitably creating the suggestion that they had been withheld due to the likeness.  Sceptics argue that refusing to release the e-fits damaged the worldwide search for Madeleine, a charge which the McCanns themselves have consistently laid at the door of former Portuguese coordinator Gonçalo Amaral.

Isn't that the case with most efits? They match dozens if not hundreds of people, though most can be excluded on the grounds of being nowhere near at the time of the event.

[John]

Isn't that the case with most efits? They match dozens if not hundreds of people, though most can be excluded on the grounds of being nowhere near at the time of the event.

Quite so Jassi.   The mystery surrounding the refusal to publish the e-fits timeously is rightly an enduring one.  Private investigators go to the trouble and expense to have e-fits provided of a mystery man who could very well hold the key to Madeleine's disappearance, subsequently confirmed by DCI Redwood on Crimewatch yet the public never saw these e-fits for 5 years and even now the FM website gives them no prominence.  Is there any wonder people are sceptical?

From the Sunday Times article of 27 October 2013...

The McCann fund source said the Oakley report was passed on to new private investigators after the contract ended, but that the firm’s work was considered “contaminated” by the financial dispute.

He said the fund wanted to continue to pursue information about the man seen by Tanner, and it would have been too expensive to investigate both sightings in full — so the Smith E-Fits were not publicised. It was also considered necessary to threaten legal action against the authors.

“[The report] was hypercritical of the people involved . . . It just wouldn’t be conducive to the investigation to have that report publicly declared because . . . the newspapers would have been all over it. And it would have been completely distracting,” said the source.

A statement released by the Find Madeleine fund said that “all information privately gathered during the search for Madeleine has been fully acted upon where necessary” and had been passed to Scotland Yard.

It continued: “Throughout the investigation, the Find Madeleine fund’s sole priority has been, and remains, to find Madeleine and bring her home as swiftly as possible.”

www.miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=2794.msg95381#msg95381

[lordpookles]

Both efits reassemble Gerry in different ways imo. It's right to say they also look like others connected to the case. For me one of the efits look a lot like Matthew Oldfield. Who else connected to the case do these efits resemble?

[Brietta]

Let's face it, the e-fits had similarities with Gerry but then it has been pointed out they also have similarities with other characters involved in this case.

To remind readers of the facts. Irish tourist Martin Smith holidaying in Praia da Luz with his family encountered a man carrying a young girl in his arms about the same time as Madeleine was found to be missing. He never thought anything more of the casual encounter even after learning of the disappearance but when he watched a TV news item months later which included footage of Kate and Gerry McCann returning home to the UK he contacted his local Guarda office.  He went on to make a statement to his local police in which he claimed that the vision of Gerry carrying one of the twins down the aircraft steps had a striking resemblance to the man he had encountered many months previously in Praia da Luz. Other members of the extended family were not similarly convinced.  Mr Smith and at least two other members of his family later returned to Portugal and were interviewed by Portuguese detectives.  There is no record of any e-fit or artists impression being provided at this point in time.

The Smiths were later approached by McCann supporter Brian Kennedy to provide e-fits but these were not provided until fellow Irishman Kevin Halligen, founder of Oakley International, got involved.  At least two e-fits of the man they encountered that night in Praia da Luz were created, e-fits which bare a fleeting resemblance to Gerry McCann.

The e-fits were passed to police some months afterwards but were never released to the public until 2013 inevitably creating the suggestion that they had been withheld due to the likeness.  Sceptics argue that refusing to release the e-fits damaged the worldwide search for Madeleine, a charge which the McCanns themselves have consistently laid at the door of former Portuguese coordinator Gonçalo Amaral.

I'm really not exercising any pro McCann bias here ... but I really see no resemblance to Dr Gerry McCann despite being subjected to the efit image morphing into him continually on at least one forum.

Based on what I know of Halligan I would tend not to place reliance on a word that exits his mouth. 

I cannot conceive how the Smiths were able to provide detailed efits many months down the line of a man they saw for seconds and could not describe at the time.

It is worth bearing in mind that in line with Richard McCluskey ... Martin Smith 'recognised' the way the child was being carried ... he did not mention facial features to which he was exposed almost on a daily basis.

I think the McCanns know exactly the significance of these efits and I think they will therefore be relaxed about them.

[John]

Police were calling the release of these images a "vital development" in October 2013 so why did it take almost 6 years to get there?



DCI Andy Redwood, who is leading the investigation said: "We have now had over 730 calls and 212 emails as a direct result of the specific lines of enquiry we issued yesterday concerning events in the lead up to, and on the night of Thursday 3rd May 2007 when Madeleine was abducted.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/10379047/Madeleine-McCann-two-callers-name-man-in-e-fit-pictures.html

[Alice Purjorick]

Police were calling the release of these images a "vital development" in October 2013 so why did it take 6 years?



DCI Andy Redwood, who is leading the investigation said: "We have now had over 730 calls and 212 emails as a direct result of the specific lines of enquiry we issued yesterday concerning events in the lead up to, and on the night of Thursday 3rd May 2007 when Madeleine was abducted.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/10379047/Madeleine-McCann-two-callers-name-man-in-e-fit-pictures.html

Clarence, who it must be said was worth his weight in gold, seems to have suggested that it would have been a distraction from the main thrust....