If they did it, possibly they managed to do it under the radar; perhaps as bona fide holidaymakers ... as we know there are many points overlooking apartment 5A and many photo opportunities ... who in a holiday resort would take note of tourists taking photographs?
There was little reporting of the Oporto team visiting PdL to carry out their own reconstruction as part of the process of reopening Madeleine McCann's case ...
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/439464/Portuguese-police-held-their-own-Madeleine-McCann-reconstruction
As to the mound ... they must have had their reasons for that too. Thinking back to what might have appeared to be resistance to their presence in the town ... they were there, twiddling their thumbs awaiting permissions ... so they eliminated what they had permission to do and if that involved digging up a mound in a very prominent position in the town ... so be it ... world attention was drawn to Scotland Yard by the publicity and further delays could only result in bad press for anyone being obstructive.
That there appears to be greater inter-force cooperation enabling the investigation to progress is perfectly illustrated by the continued funding made available.
Review and scrutiny of which makes it highly likely that SY still consider there is work to be done.
First of all, thanks for the link. I haven't followed the Portuguese investigation, so I'm fairly ignorant on that aspect.
A Luz site visit makes total sense. Personally, I would welcome a site visit by SY, to 5A and environs, and surely to the Smithman-related locations, and hopefully to most of Luz to get a grip on what the locale actually looks like. In fact, I'd be happy to give them a guided tour, to cut the time and effort required to get up to speed on Luz. This is despite the fact Luz would be another media feeding frenzy again. Oh, and if I WERE a guide, I'd get treated a lot worse than merely being sent to Coventry.
There very definitely IS significant resistance to SY presence in Luz. The Portuguese authorities do not engage with Luz. The UK authorities do not engage with Luz. The citizens of Luz are subject to whatever farce such authorities, with zero familiarity of the town, decide to inflict on Luz.
And the campaign that Luz is drug-ridden, burglar-ridden, paedophile-ridden with incompetent, uncooperative Portuguese authorities gets another boost.
If this disappearance had happened in your neck of the woods, and 8.5 years of similar treatment had been dished out to you, would you not be calling for a more intelligent, better approach?
Just to round off, an undercover visit is possible, though highly unlikely. To get a look at the window mechanism and shutter mechanism they would need to hire 5A. If it is still on the Ocean Club books that request would get leaked. If it is not, then perhaps the owner would keep quiet. However, trying to obtain the co-operation of the Portuguese authorities whilst simultaneously sending in an undercover team to Luz strikes me as not the sort of thing an SIO in SY would contemplate.
