Scotland Yard are examining phone traffic in PDL on May 3 2007

[debunker]

I travel regularly to the US and to the Canary Islands. I usually buy throw away pay as you go phones when I go as it is the cheapest way of using phones abroad, even when you factor in the cost of the phone itself as a disposable. Otherwise you can pay 50p a minute for every call! I buy them in supermarkets or phone shops for about $30 or 4o Euros and use them kust once (it is not worth the hassle to re-register them next vacation!)

Absolutely, we do exactly the same. As soon as we arrive anywhere where we are due to stay any length of time, one mobile always get fitted with a local pay as you go. We only keep the ones we use in countries we travel frequently to. You save an awful lot of money that way.

US phones no longer use sim cards unfortunately!

[Mrs. B]

I travel regularly to the US and to the Canary Islands. I usually buy throw away pay as you go phones when I go as it is the cheapest way of using phones abroad, even when you factor in the cost of the phone itself as a disposable. Otherwise you can pay 50p a minute for every call! I buy them in supermarkets or phone shops for about $30 or 4o Euros and use them kust once (it is not worth the hassle to re-register them next vacation!)

Absolutely, we do exactly the same. As soon as we arrive anywhere where we are due to stay any length of time, one mobile always get fitted with a local pay as you go. We only keep the ones we use in countries we travel frequently to. You save an awful lot of money that way.

US phones no longer use sim cards unfortunately!

Ah, haven't been for ages so I wouldn't know.

[debunker]

I travel regularly to the US and to the Canary Islands. I usually buy throw away pay as you go phones when I go as it is the cheapest way of using phones abroad, even when you factor in the cost of the phone itself as a disposable. Otherwise you can pay 50p a minute for every call! I buy them in supermarkets or phone shops for about $30 or 4o Euros and use them kust once (it is not worth the hassle to re-register them next vacation!)

Absolutely, we do exactly the same. As soon as we arrive anywhere where we are due to stay any length of time, one mobile always get fitted with a local pay as you go. We only keep the ones we use in countries we travel frequently to. You save an awful lot of money that way.

US phones no longer use sim cards unfortunately!

Ah, haven't been for ages so I wouldn't know.

I go again in a month- three days in NY for Independence Day and then two weeks on the beach in my home town.

[registrar]

I travel regularly to the US and to the Canary Islands. I usually buy throw away pay as you go phones when I go as it is the cheapest way of using phones abroad, even when you factor in the cost of the phone itself as a disposable. Otherwise you can pay 50p a minute for every call! I buy them in supermarkets or phone shops for about $30 or 4o Euros and use them kust once (it is not worth the hassle to re-register them next vacation!)

Absolutely, we do exactly the same. As soon as we arrive anywhere where we are due to stay any length of time, one mobile always get fitted with a local pay as you go. We only keep the ones we use in countries we travel frequently to. You save an awful lot of money that way.

US phones no longer use sim cards unfortunately!

Ah, haven't been for ages so I wouldn't know.

I go again in a month- three days in NY for Independence Day and then two weeks on the beach in my home town.

glad to hear about your travel plans

but could you kindly delete your avi

of child killer Mary Bell?

It has no place on a forum like this

unless you get off on it

[sadie]

Registrar!!

Behave yourself

[debunker]

I travel regularly to the US and to the Canary Islands. I usually buy throw away pay as you go phones when I go as it is the cheapest way of using phones abroad, even when you factor in the cost of the phone itself as a disposable. Otherwise you can pay 50p a minute for every call! I buy them in supermarkets or phone shops for about $30 or 4o Euros and use them kust once (it is not worth the hassle to re-register them next vacation!)

Absolutely, we do exactly the same. As soon as we arrive anywhere where we are due to stay any length of time, one mobile always get fitted with a local pay as you go. We only keep the ones we use in countries we travel frequently to. You save an awful lot of money that way.

US phones no longer use sim cards unfortunately!

Ah, haven't been for ages so I wouldn't know.

I go again in a month- three days in NY for Independence Day and then two weeks on the beach in my home town.

glad to hear about your travel plans

but could you kindly delete your avi

of child killer Mary Bell?

It has no place on a forum like this

unless you get off on it

Mary Bell is an example of how good rehabilitation and faith in humanity leads to redemption. She brought up her daughter under great pressures and is now a grandmother herself.

A victory for sensible justice.

If that offends you, tough.

[Heriberto Janosch]

There is a lot of calls to follow, not only those which were made by Tapas9, Murat, Malinka, etc.

A simple telephone number which may appear in a list could have the key to solve the case.

For example I found these two public phones near the Drugstore (Farmacia) which were not investigated:

AM recalled seeing someone similar telephoning from the public phone booth in front of the Dolphin restaurant. LM immediately said she recognized it as corresponding to an individual she saw 3 or 4 times telephoning in the booth and once walking in the street near the restaurant. Asked, she said he was always dressed in white trousers, a little dirty already, and a dark winter coat. He was always on foot and alone when she saw him. Asked further, she said she saw him during the past week, not recalling on which days, but guarantees not having seen him since the date of the abduction of Madeleine.

The number in the phone booth was 282 789 210. In the surrounding area, specifically Rua Helena do Nascimento Batista, another booth was located by the police, it having the number 282 789 111.

That was just in this street where the witness LP saw the same man, near the pharmacy. The police presented to LP a signage and wardrobe figures, and he confirmed that two weeks ago the individual, whom he knows nothing more about, was seen on a few occasions in the Praia da Luz zone.

He states that it was an individual who appeared to be about 35/40 years of age, skinny, around 1.70 meters in height, and wearing dark clothing (jean top and jeans). He had dark, straight hair, rather untidy which trailed down to his neck but could not be considered long. The face is described as having a rustic appearance, dark-skinned and seemingly sun-tanned and he had dark eyes whose exact color he cannot define.

He states that he saw this individual on more than one occasion on the road that gives access to Praia da Luz, and also next to the pharmacy located on Helena do Nascimento Baptista street in Praia da Luz. At each sighting, the referred individual was on foot, alone and did not appear to have a vehicle with him. This was not a person who looked like the people usual inhabitants of Praia da Luz.

I located the two public phones booths and made calls from them to confirm the numbers. In addition, I located another public phone behind the phone with number 282 789 111. I confirmed its number: 282 789 112.

Reading the PJ files I found the calls made from the 282 789 210, from April 30th. 2007 to May 3rd. 2007, but was unable to find any calls for the 282 789 111 and the 282 789 112.

If the suspect was seen in the zone for at least one week before Madeleine abduction, the request to the phone company should have been not only for one public phone calls and not only from April 30th to May 3rd, 2007.

It will be most interesting trying to locate the calls made from the three numbers from April 16th. 2007 to May 3rd. 2007.

LM and her husband AM recognized DF's e-fit as the suspect (main file pages 301-303). But in November 2007, after being showed to them all the e-fits in the files, they did not recognize the suspect (main file pages 3150-3157). It is possibly due to effects on memory of the elapsed time between May and November. And this is  why I consider the first LM and AM statements of May to be more accurate than those of November.

Some people think that this suspect was identified by the Polícia Judiciária. This is not true. The PJ only considered the call from the 282 789 210 to 214 684 141 to be suspicious (main file pages 3599a, 4362 and 4363). This call was made by a woman ("a empregada" = "the female employee"). 

Some pics from the Farmacia area I had not been published yet.

[Heriberto Janosch]

And this is from the well-known public booth at the Dolphin restaurant ...

[Heriberto Janosch]

And a draft ...

[sadie]

 

Well done Heri

[John]

5) Heriberto has just had a request to access the Luz area phone data turned (by Portuguese authorities, not SY).  SY is sitting on the key piece of information required to progress the case.  I simply do not have the confidence that they know how to interpret it, given point 4.

Not sure what you mean here ShiningInLuz.  Has Heri had his request returned/denied?

Mobile phone pings, call data and mast locations is a subject which I would like to hear more about but it always appears somewhat complicated to the casual reader.

[ShiningInLuz]

Not sure what you mean here ShiningInLuz.  Has Heri had his requested returned/denied?

Sorry, I missed out the down in turned down.

He requested the 74,000 phone calls made between 2 May 2007 and 4 May 2007 that were NOT released with the PJ files.

His request was refused.  I do not know why.

[Carana]

Sorry, I missed out the down in turned down.

He requested the 74,000 phone calls made between 2 May 2007 and 4 May 2007 that were NOT released with the PJ files.

His request was refused.  I do not know why.

Perhaps because they are part of a live investigation?

[ShiningInLuz]

Mobile phone pings, call data and mast locations is a subject which I would like to hear more about but it always appears somewhat complicated to the casual reader.

Let me see if I can explain this so a casual reader can understand (which is actually quite important to me).

Mobile phone traffic splits into control traffic and message traffic.  Message traffic is when you make or receive a call, get or send a text.  It's about why you have a mobile, which is to communicate with other people.

Control traffic is what the telephone system uses in order to work.  For example, you fly out from Gatwick, or the Midlands, or wherever.  You get told to switch your phone off, so you switch your phone off.  The system last placed you at Gatwick (or whatever).

You step out of the plane at Faro and turn your phone on again.  Between your mobile and the nearest mast, the system works out from control traffic that your phone, which was in Gatwick, is now in Faro.

It does this whether you have any messages or not.  It simply requires that your phone is turned on i.e. communicating with the system.

Unfortunately, this crucial information, the control traffic, does not appear to have entered the files.  It is a pity, because it would give so much more information. (I have no reason to believe mobile phone firms kept control traffic info in 2007.  I cannot see why they would.)

Assuming this lot is correct, we take a big step forward.  We leave behind any ideas about using control traffic, and we focus on message traffic.  This focus immediately brings up two ideas.  Number 1.  To get or send messages, your phone has to be switched on. (Would it be on in 2007 while you were burgling or abducting?)  Number 2.  If your phone is on, and messages flow, your location can be tracked.

Summary so far.  A phone that was sending or receiving messages could be tracked.  Question.  Just how tracked could that phone be?

[Mr Gray]

Let me see if I can explain this so a casual reader can understand (which is actually quite important to me).

Mobile phone traffic splits into control traffic and message traffic.  Message traffic is when you make or receive a call, get or send a text.  It's about why you have a mobile, which is to communicate with other people.

Control traffic is what the telephone system uses in order to work.  For example, you fly out from Gatwick, or the Midlands, or wherever.  You get told to switch your phone off, so you switch your phone off.  The system last placed you at Gatwick (or whatever).

You step out of the plane at Faro and turn your phone on again.  Between your mobile and the nearest mast, the system works out from control traffic that your phone, which was in Gatwick, is now in Faro.

It does this whether you have any messages or not.  It simply requires that your phone is turned on i.e. communicating with the system.

Unfortunately, this crucial information, the control traffic, does not appear to have entered the files.  It is a pity, because it would give so much more information. (I have no reason to believe mobile phone firms kept control traffic info in 2007.  I cannot see why they would.)

Assuming this lot is correct, we take a big step forward.  We leave behind any ideas about using control traffic, and we focus on message traffic.  This focus immediately brings up two ideas.  Number 1.  To get or send messages, your phone has to be switched on. (Would it be on in 2007 while you were burgling or abducting?)  Number 2.  If your phone is on, and messages flow, your location can be tracked.

Summary so far.  A phone that was sending or receiving messages could be tracked.  Question.  Just how tracked could that phone be?

Would you think the PJ and SY would have looked at the McCanns  phone traffic