Scotland Yard searches for Little Toddler's "secret" in Athens"The Tribune" reveals the Greek dimension in the mystery of the three-year-old girl who disappeared from Portugal in 2007.
Published: 27/08/2017
Greece seems to hold the "secret" to the disappearance in May 2007 of three-year-old Madeleine McCann, who has been in the last decade the subject of world public interest!
According to documents and testimonies in the last few days, the British police have been working with Hellenic (The National Police Service of Greece) on information from a 46-year-old German resident of Greece who had been arrested and identified as an important and trustworthy witness to Little Toddler's disappearance. It seems that Scotland Yard met the man in Athens a few days ago, seeking crucial information about the fate of the girl.
Operation GrangeMadeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007, at the age of three, in the small town of Praia da Luz in the Algarve region of Portugal. She was on vacation with her parents, Kate and Gary McCann, her two-year-old twin siblings and a family of family friends with their children. The three-year-old and her siblings went to bed at 8.30 pm on the ground floor of their apartment, in the resort where they were staying, while their parents and their friends dined in a restaurant about 50 meters away. The parents checked their children all night until Madeline's mother discovered, around 10pm that the girl had disappeared. From an incomplete DNA analysis, the Portuguese police reached an initial conclusion that Madeleine had died as a result of an accident in the apartment and that her parents had attempted to "cover up the incident." In September 2007 her parents were officially made "suspects". However, the Portuguese Public Prosecutor's Office filed the case in July 2008 because of a lack of evidence.
Initially, there was an investigation of the girl's parents suspected of her death. In 2011, Scotland Yard's "Operation Grange" was launched with the participation of 30 detectives to gather evidence of Little Madeleine's fate. And so began to develop various scenarios for what had happened that fateful night. Based on the testimony of a family friend, the investigation focused on a suspect who had appeared near the hotel room that night holding a little girl. However, in October 2013 he proved to be a British tourist who had nothing to do with the case who was carrying his own daughter.
The main suspectEnquiries also turned to a 34-year-old Briton of Portuguese origin who was a real estate consultant and had been seen near the point of the girl's disappearance and had shown "too much zeal" to locate her. Still, suspicions had arisen at the expense of one of Madeleine's friends who had offered to go to check if the McCann family was asleep in their apartment. Without being told to do thorough scrutiny, he had seen the door open. In addition, testimonies of Irish holidaymakers reported an unknown man with brown hair and beige pants who was seen rushing nearby holding a girl who fitted Madeleine's description. Also, there were cases of burglaries and robberies that had occurred in the region, as well as the role of an African worker in the restaurant, who was killed in a tractor accident in 2009. However, there was no real effect and most scenarios were rejected. A total of 8,500 reports have been gathered over Madeleine's destiny during the past 10 years as part of the "Operation Grange", and research has been a problem because of their tight funding. However, at the end of last spring there were statements by investigators that "new important facts have been found".
While the Greek dimension of the mystery appeared a few weeks ago. On July 18, 2017, the Directorate for International Police Co-operation at Katehaki Avenue drafted a document referring to the "liaison" with the Metropolitan Police of Great Britain in London. As noted, "In May 2017, a 46-year-old German, living in Athens, contacted the Operation Grange group to help with these enquiries . " According to the same document, the 46-year-old was imprisoned for transportation of illegal immigrants and was present at police services, but he has not been identified ...
Reliable witness?As illustrated in the International Police Co-operation Directorate's letter based on Scotland Yard's information, " so far, the information he has given voluntarily and without any monetary or other consideration to the Metropolitan Police about the case has been cross-checked and is considered a credible source" !
A further investigation by the Police Co-operation Directorate found that the 46-year-old German who had a residence in France had been arrested in Igoumenitsa in 2011 when he tried to drive three illegal immigrants from Africa with his car. Instead, a file was formed and he was then released . According to other sources, the man had been arrested in 2015 in Thessaloniki when he returned to Greece for a vacation. He was brought to the court where he was sentenced to seven years and five months in prison. He had denied all charges and claimed that "he facilitated the three foreigners who had made him home". He was detained in the prison of Chania from where he contacted the members of the "Operation Grange".
He was released a few weeks ago and allegedly used a cell phone owned by a Balkan countryman that lived in Agios Panteleimonas. In addition, he was banned from leaving the country in view of the second-degree trial scheduled for next month.
Testimony to "The Tribune""The Tribune" identified the 46-year-old foreigner and critical witness of the three-year-old Madeleine case in a region of Fthiotida. As he noted, "I met a couple of days ago at a Scottish Yard officer that came to Athens. I give important information about the case. On the days that Madeline disappeared, I was also - in a neighboring area - in the particular province of Portugal. I had then contacted the local police, but the investigation had been abandoned. Now there is a keen interest from Scotland Yard for what I know. You understand that something serious is coming to come here to meet me. But I have an explicit prohibition to say anything to anyone else. My cooperation with the English police will continue in the coming days "
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However, in a question about Madeline's fate and if he thinks he is alive, he only replied that "the ten years that have passed since then are many" ...
(Apologies for the basic translation - John)
