Author Topic: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)  (Read 16127 times)

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Offline Mr Moderator

The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)

Control Risks Group (CRG) was the first Company to be involved with the McCanns and their search for Madeleine.  This firm were brought in just 9 days after Madeleine went missing, and, according to Kate in her book, they just turned up during a meeting the McCanns were having with a paralegal and a barrister from Leicester.  Kate says they were told that an anonymous, but apparently very wealthy donor, had set aside a considerable amount of money so that they could use a private detective agency if they wished.  Kate added that within hours they were giving their statements again, this time to two detectives from CRG. 

The involvement of Control Risks Group at this early stage was highly significant. The company was apparently on a retainer by public relations company Bell Pottinger as part of a ‘crisis management’ team, on behalf of Mark Warner. Why were Control Risks Group brought in so soon?   To help find a missing child...or was it more to do with damage limitation?

Control Risks Group was formed in 1975, as a professional adviser to the insurance industry.  As a subsidiary of insurance broker, Hogg Robinson, CRG aimed to help minimize their exposure to kidnap and ransom payouts. The Private Security company later hired by Brian Kennedy to search for Madeleine McCann was one of four such companies used by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to protect its property and staff in Iraq.  The company has more than 600 employees, many former members of MI5, MI6, the SAS and The Special Boat Service. At the time it was the highest-earning British security firm operating in Iraq.

It is worth noting a link here to Baroness Justice Mary Hogg - Conservative Peer responsible for making Madeleine McCann a Ward of Court in May 2007.   Her sister is Sarah Hogg, Chairman of British Private Equity company, 3i Plc, a major investor's in Brian Kennedy's double-glazing companies and Control Risks Group.  She was also the former BBC Governor responsible for sacking Greg Dyke over the David Kelly/WMD affair. Hogg was former Tory PM John Major's Policy Advisor.

A former intelligence expert who has worked with CRG said, "They can offer advice on personal safety, counter safety. For example, who is watching the McCanns and even advice on hostage negotiation should that be needed. In addition . . . they will most likely offer the McCanns security advice and how to deal with bogus tip-offs."

A CRG spokesman would only say: "Our policy is simply not to talk about our clients. We promise our clients 100 per cent confidentiality - discretion is our watchword."

« Last Edit: February 06, 2014, 10:47:29 PM by Mr Moderator »

Offline Mr Moderator

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2013, 04:08:50 PM »
Madeleine McCann disappeared from her parents holiday apartment in the village of Praia da Luz, Algarve, Portugal, on 3rd May 2007.   Between 5th and 12th May 2007 - two top people from Control Risks Group were dispatched to Praia da Luz, namely, Kenneth Farrow and Michael Keenan.  Farrow was the ex-head of The Economic Crime Unit in the City of London Police and Keenan was an ex-Superintendent from the Metropolitan Police with specialist fraud and investigative experience.  No-one knew how they could help find a missing child, but Jane Tanner admits to speaking to them before she identified Robert Murat as the man with a child she claimed to have seen on 3 May.

When it was revealed that the McCanns were effectively running a parallel investigation, the news led to deep concern amongst the authorities in Portugal, where it is illegal for private detectives to become involved in criminal cases.  A source close to the McCann's legal team confirmed the involvement of Control Risks Group but insisted it was simply providing advice in the hunt for Madeleine rather than becoming actively involved in searches in Portugal.  He said: "You can assume that they are doing some things that the Portuguese police can't do. Nothing illegal is being done in Portugal."

Antonio Martins, president of the Association of Portuguese Judges, told the 24 Horas newspaper: "It is still up to the state to carry out criminal investigation. That kind of activity has no legal standing. Anything that results from private investigation has no substance."

The judge added that Mr and Mrs McCann, both 39, from Rothley, Leicestershire, could be charged with "obstruction of justice" if prosecutors found evidence of a parallel investigation. At the time the couple were official suspects in the disappearance of their daughter from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.

A high-ranking officer in the Polícia Judiciária, which was investigating the disappearance of Madeleine shortly before her fourth birthday, said that the investigators could be detained if they were found operating in Portugal. "If they come here they will be running a serious risk of being arrested," he said.

In September 2007,  Brian Kennedy commissioned a firm of private detectives based in Barcelona to conduct an investigation parallel to the one being run by the Portuguese police. But his choice showed how dangerous it is when powerful and wealthy businessmen try to play detective. It wasn't long before the firm Metodo 3 were making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

In January 2008, Irishman Martin Smith made a second statement to the Irish police (Garda) in which he stated that Brian Kennedy and private investigators believed to be from CRG had visited him at his home in Ireland in an attempt to get him to do an e-fit but that he had refused.  Just recently however, e-fits have surfaced which it is claimed were created in conjunction with Mr Smith and Oakley International, another PI firm headed by Dubliner Kevin Halligen, also engaged by Kennedy to investigate the mystery of Madeleine's disappearance.

The Sunday Times recently ran an  article claiming that Oakley was prevented from releasing the e-fits and their final report some five years ago because of a confidentiality clause in their contract with Kennedy and the McCanns.  A Madeleine Fund source responded that, “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.”
« Last Edit: February 07, 2014, 01:42:26 PM by Mr Moderator »

Offline pathfinder73

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2014, 09:31:17 PM »
There is a report from Control Risks, the first private detective agency which was brought to the case [by the McCanns] in the very first days, where they state, after speaking with Gerald McCann and other witnesses in that group [Tapas 9], that the key that Mr. Gerald McCann alleges to have used had in fact been left in the kitchen, in the kitchen’s counter. Right away, the lies started. (Gonçalo Amaral)
Smithman carrying a child in his arms checked his watch after passing the Smith family and the time was 10:03. Both are still unidentified 10 years later.

Alfie

  • Guest
Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2016, 09:24:24 PM »
Why do you think thr McCanns hired CRG?
« Last Edit: June 17, 2016, 01:03:49 PM by John »

Offline Alice Purjorick

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2016, 09:38:23 PM »
Why do you think thr McCanns hired CRG?
Maybe they didn't
"Navigating the difference between weird but normal grief and truly suspicious behaviour is the key for any detective worth his salt.". ….Sarah Bailey

Offline Brietta

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2016, 09:50:30 PM »
CRG  "They allegedly took samples from the hire car."

That would be the hire car where some believe 100% Madeleine's DNA was discovered complete with body fluids in the wheel well in the boot along with clumps of Madeleine's hair.  Not withstanding the fact that the vehicle had no wheel well ... there was the vital 'evidence' presented by Mr Amaral of the anonymous passer by who saw the boot door raised each night she passed the McCann residence perhaps to dissipate an obnoxious odour.

The hire car must therefore qualify as vital evidence.

Rather strange therefore that the vehicle was not impounded as such but released back into the possession of the McCann family where if the private detectives "allegedly took samples" they were obviously free to do so.

If the hire car had any evidential significance at all in the 'search for Madeleine' do you really think the PJ would have returned it?  They knew exactly its worth ... and that was nothing, despite nine years of propaganda to the contrary.
 
 
« Last Edit: June 17, 2016, 01:05:02 PM by John »
"All I'm going to say is that we've conducted a very serious investigation and there's no indication that Madeleine McCann's parents are connected to her disappearance. On the other hand, we have a lot of evidence pointing out that Christian killed her," Wolter told the "Friday at 9"....

Offline pegasus

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2016, 10:05:40 PM »
CRG  "They allegedly took samples from the hire car."

That would be the hire car where some believe 100% Madeleine's DNA was discovered complete with body fluids in the wheel well in the boot along with clumps of Madeleine's hair.  Not withstanding the fact that the vehicle had no wheel well ... there was the vital 'evidence' presented by Mr Amaral of the anonymous passer by who saw the boot door raised each night she passed the McCann residence perhaps to dissipate an obnoxious odour.

The hire car must therefore qualify as vital evidence.

Rather strange therefore that the vehicle was not impounded as such but released back into the possession of the McCann family where if the private detectives "allegedly took samples" they were obviously free to do so.

If the hire car had any evidential significance at all in the 'search for Madeleine' do you really think the PJ would have returned it?  They knew exactly its worth ... and that was nothing, despite nine years of propaganda to the contrary.
The PJ removed the relevant part from the boot and kept it and returned the car without it.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2016, 01:05:26 PM by John »

Offline pegasus

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #7 on: June 15, 2016, 10:11:56 PM »
"Joao Carlos returned our car at lunchtime (albeit with a piece missing from the boot)" (KM book p211)

Offline G-Unit

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #8 on: June 15, 2016, 10:49:03 PM »
Maybe they didn't

Kate never said they hired them. As far as I know no-one has been named as hiring them. They just appeared as if by magic, although reference was made to an anonymous rich benefactor.
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Offline G-Unit

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #9 on: June 15, 2016, 10:58:12 PM »
CRG  "They allegedly took samples from the hire car."

That would be the hire car where some believe 100% Madeleine's DNA was discovered complete with body fluids in the wheel well in the boot along with clumps of Madeleine's hair.  Not withstanding the fact that the vehicle had no wheel well ... there was the vital 'evidence' presented by Mr Amaral of the anonymous passer by who saw the boot door raised each night she passed the McCann residence perhaps to dissipate an obnoxious odour.

The hire car must therefore qualify as vital evidence.

Rather strange therefore that the vehicle was not impounded as such but released back into the possession of the McCann family where if the private detectives "allegedly took samples" they were obviously free to do so.

If the hire car had any evidential significance at all in the 'search for Madeleine' do you really think the PJ would have returned it?  They knew exactly its worth ... and that was nothing, despite nine years of propaganda to the contrary.
 
 

The hire car? I thought you were implying that they were brought in because the physical searching was scaled back?

Please provide details of how they filled the void left by the scaling back of the search, rather than wandering off topic. I can find no evidence of them searching for Madeleine. If you can't either then it's acceptable to wonder if they were there for other reasons.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2016, 01:05:58 PM by John »
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Alfie

  • Guest
Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #10 on: June 15, 2016, 11:01:51 PM »
The hire car? I thought you were implying that they were brought in because the physical searching was scaled back?

Please provide details of how they filled the void left by the scaling back of the search, rather than wandering off topic. I can find no evidence of them searching for Madeleine. If you can't either then it's acceptable to wonder if they were there for other reasons.
Why do you think they were brought in, if not to compensate for the scaling down of the police search as stated by the McCanns themselves, an explanation you clearly refuse to accept?

Offline mercury

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #11 on: June 15, 2016, 11:13:46 PM »
Maybe they didn't

Kate never said they hired them. As far as I know no-one has been named as hiring them. They just appeared as if by magic, although reference was made to an anonymous rich benefactor.

https://www.controlrisks.com/en/about-us

Not your first port of call as parents of a missing child I would have guessed. Another mystery, why and by who they were brought in.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2016, 11:21:44 PM by mercury »

Offline pegasus

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #12 on: June 16, 2016, 12:08:11 AM »
(snip) Not your first port of call as parents of a missing child I would have guessed. Another mystery, why and by who they were brought in.
Do they ever work for the UK govt?

Offline mercury

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #13 on: June 16, 2016, 12:37:57 AM »
Do they ever work for the UK govt?

I would imagine yes along with various other large organisations/other govts, seem to be worldwide co.. Reading their pages just goes "woosh" over my head, seems to be a woolworths type of consultancy, does all sorts, so best asking someone else,sorry, I imagine its possible MW called them in, why on earth would a govt call them in? I suppose alot of organisations are connected or influenced or influential on govts, so could havebeen anything? As far as I do understand they are not a private agency for personal cases? Unless they were paid to do exactly this by this secret donator.  Which begs the question were they qualified to? /in their areas of expertise? We need a scratching head emoticon and n an ideal world the mccanns to divulge the whole story once and for all so questions are laid to rest on the dozens of issues that just dont seem to go away and which were not addressed fully in KMs book

https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Main_Page

https://www.controlrisks.com/en/services/integrity-risk

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=3083.0

I also saw this tweet tonight about all these people being sent in pdq under the comment no ordinary family


https://mobile.twitter.com/RussPLFC/status/743136379496972288/photo/1
« Last Edit: June 16, 2016, 01:37:37 AM by mercury »

Offline pegasus

Re: No 1 - The Search for Madeleine McCann and Control Risks Group (CRG)
« Reply #14 on: June 16, 2016, 03:10:53 AM »
(snip) ...I also saw this tweet tonight about all these people being sent in pdq under the comment no ordinary family
...(snip)
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClAmlhMXEAAS0Pm.jpg
Thanks Merc. Amazingly even this graphic is incomplete because it omits IFLG