The Portuguese Police apologise to the McCanns.

[Admin]

A belated apology from the PJ, 16 years too late... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67229219

Portuguese police have apologised to the parents of Madeleine McCann for the way they handled the three-year-old's disappearance.

Madeleine went missing from a holiday complex in the Algarve in May 2007.

A delegation of senior officers travelled from Lisbon to London earlier this year, BBC Panorama has been told.

They met Gerry McCann, Madeleine's father, and apologised for the way detectives investigated the case and treated the family.

The McCann family has not commented on the apology and their daughter's disappearance remains unsolved.




And a BBC Panorama investigation into the chief suspect (not available to all you licence-dodger codgers out there)...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rsgp

Sounds like the Portuguese police want to wash their hands of this case and are pinning all their hopes on the Germans.

[Mr Gray]

Nah, I'm just bustin' yer balls, Dave, see who bites one last time.
Looks like the game's up.

....not sure there's any need for the first bit though, kid.

I  must admit I should have realised you couldn't be serious....that would be daft

[Mr Gray]

Sounds like the Portuguese police want to wash their hands of this case and are pinning all their hopes on the Germans.

They didn't have to apologise...it's quite a surprise they actually did...but they've confirmed what some of us have been saying fir years.....PJ hadn't got a clue.....amaral was.a clown..grime and his dogs were a joke..And the McCanns have been cleared....it will be tough for any anti to expect

[The General]

They didn't have to apologise...it's quite a surprise they actually did...but they've confirmed what some of us have been saying fir years.....PJ hadn't got a clue.....amaral was.a clown..grime and his dogs were a joke..And the McCanns have been cleared....it will be tough for any anti to expect

I'm in broad agreement, apart from the dogs comment.
I'm happy to admit I was wrong. I'm wrong numerous times a day, so it comes as no surprise to anyone, least of all me.
I don't ruminate on the vagaries of the case. Not any more.
I'd like a conclusion either way.
It's been a shit-show from the outset; a bizarre one at that.

Maybe we can cultivate a more harmonious forum in light of the recent developments.

[Mr Gray]

I'm in broad agreement, apart from the dogs comment.
I'm happy to admit I was wrong. I'm wrong numerous times a day, so it comes as no surprise to anyone, least of all me.
I don't ruminate on the vagaries of the case. Not any more.
I'd like a conclusion either way.
It's been a shit-show from the outset; a bizarre one at that.

Maybe we can cultivate a more harmonious forum in light of the recent developments.

Welcome back..I delved into grime and his dogs leaving no stone unturned. As I have said many times before this I blame grime more than anyone..including amaral for his claims Re his dogs. It was reported that gtimr mesmerised Lenny Harper of the Jersey police with his claims of his dogs abilities and did the same in Portugal .
There were no 200 cases with a 100% record..the dogs were not the best in the world.

Ive said numerous times if the dogs were half as good as grime claimed  then the McCanns were guilty..
So what did the dogs alert to...to the McCanns and noone else..looked like grime did cue them
..what other explanation is there..what does this say for the alerts in the Bianca Jones cade

[Venturi Swirl]

Sounds like the Portuguese police want to wash their hands of this case and are pinning all their hopes on the Germans.

What took them so long?

[The General]

Welcome back..I delved into grime and his dogs leaving no stone unturned. As I have said many times before this I blame grime more than anyone..including amaral for his claims Re his dogs. It was reported that gtimr mesmerised Lenny Harper of the Jersey police with his claims of his dogs abilities and did the same in Portugal .
There were no 200 cases with a 100% record..the dogs were not the best in the world.

Ive said numerous times if the dogs were half as good as grime claimed  then the McCanns were guilty..
So what did the dogs alert to...to the McCanns and noone else..looked like grime did cue them
..what other explanation is there..what does this say for the alerts in the Bianca Jones cade

I don't think the dogs alerts generally or their use are flawed. It's not voodoo. As we've batted back and forth before, Professor Casella wrote many a paper on their efficacy. I just think there may have been misinterpretation, or if there were cues they were unintentional. I certainly don't think anything underhand took place. But who knows. It's all sort of irrelevant now, I suppose, but looking back it was the one facet that perhaps was most divisive. Certainly from a sceptical point of view it was hard to look past, irrespective of the contrary argument. But that's cognitive bias for you, coupled with a disdain for the parent perhaps. 

Edit: This comment at the end of your post, that I just re-read, is telling: looked like grime did cue them
..what other explanation is there You're essentially agreeing that there is an explanation that needs to be found. As a sceptic I also needed an explanation for the dogs to be wrong for me to be wrong.
I'm not arguing, I'm just pointing out the same sticking point needed an answer from both sides and somebody was wrong, as is always the case.
I sort of knew last year that the weight of evidence was beginning to shift, but I'm an arsehole and decided that debating you was more fun than befriending you. This latest development has brought me out of the closet - it was a line in the sand. It may be damage limitation, time will tell, but something is in the wind Dav.

[The General]

What took them so long?

Probably a changing of the guard.

[Mr Gray]

I don't think the dogs alerts generally or their use are flawed. It's not voodoo. As we've batted back and forth before, Professor Casella wrote many a paper on their efficacy. I just think there may have been misinterpretation, or if there were cues they were unintentional. I certainly don't think anything underhand took place. But who knows. It's all sort of irrelevant now, I suppose, but looking back it was the one facet that perhaps was most divisive. Certainly from a sceptical point of view it was hard to look past, irrespective of the contrary argument. But that's cognitive bias for you, coupled with a disdain for the parent perhaps. 

Edit: This comment at the end of your post, that I just re-read, is telling: looked like grime did cue them
..what other explanation is there You're essentially agreeing that there is an explanation that needs to be found. As a sceptic I also needed an explanation for the dogs to be wrong for me to be wrong.
I'm not arguing, I'm just pointing out the same sticking point needed an answer from both sides and somebody was wrong, as is always the case.
I sort of knew last year that the weight of evidence was beginning to shift, but I'm an arsehole and decided that debating you was more fun than befriending you. This latest development has brought me out of the closet - it was a line in the sand. It may be damage limitation, time will tell, but something is in the wind Dav.

I aways found you quite pleasant.and had as much respect for you as obviously do for me.

For the McCanns to be cleared there had to be an explanation as to the dogs alerts..I described them as worthless and explained why and how Grime got it so wrong
I can quite understand why gonc and the pj...and all.the [ censored word]....got things so wrong.
I saw through Grime and his attempt to build his cadaver dog business...
He really owes everyone an.apology and an explanation

Perhaps in trying to convince others how brilliant his dogs were he convinced himself..
I reckon it's enough to get bianca's father a retrial. I think he's probably guilty but wouldn't it be ironic if the vase was overturned on the admissibility of Grimes evidence.

[Venturi Swirl]

I suspect Grime would blame the PJ for not securing the apartment and allowing all sorts of different individuals to come and go and even stay in 5a prior to the arrival of his dogs.  No doubt he would claim that one of them had transferred cadaver odour into the apartment (wittingly or not) and on the McCann clothes and car they handled. 

[Venturi Swirl]

Anyway, after 16 years of this nonsense it’s good to know that finally the majority of the most hardened sceptics are finally beginning to wake up and smell the coffee.  To mix in another metaphor it’s like the penny that was tossed in the well in 2008 when the McCanns were cleared of involvement only just hit the bottom today.  It was obviously a very deep well!

[Eleanor]

Only one side is on a loser here.  And after some of the vile things that have been said about The McCanns over the years, will any of those be offering an apology?  I will be content to accept if they do.

[Wonderfulspam]

Nothing's changed really. There's nothing unequivocal in that statement, apart from the apology about how the case was handled - and I know why it was made at this time. Suffice to say it's political, if any of you care to do a bit of digging in to imminent EU machinations.

An apology for how the case was handled. Exactly. Some seem to believe this means the McCanns are innocent. Why didn't the PJ just say that, if that's what they actually meant?

[Wonderfulspam]

Sounds like the Portuguese police want to wash their hands of this case and are pinning all their hopes on the Germans.

Aye. Just one more year & 5 unrelated trials to wait now.

[Wonderfulspam]

Only one side is on a loser here.  And after some of the vile things that have been said about The McCanns over the years, will any of those be offering an apology?  I will be content to accept if they do.

I promise I'll apologise for being nasty about the McCanns, just as soon Wolters reveals the concrete evidence. Seems like a fair trade to me. Not much longer to wait now.