The mystery letter claiming Madeleine had been dumped in the Bravura Dam.

[misty]

I find him to be extremely straight and honest talking to reporter, I questioning only the newspaper's accuracy, not the witness.

Isn't he breaching the official secrecy law?

[pegasus]

@pathfinder Well done, as I said blazing sunshine during the day.
But its later in the day we need isn't it?
Try this, as you can clearly see it is exactly 7.43 PM

[pathfinder73]

Well done, as I said blazing sunshine during the day.
But its later in the day we need isn't it?
Try this, as you can clearly see it is exactly 7.43 PM
 

It may have been lying there a few days.

He works on Wednesday - Check 30 April and 7/14/21/28 May weather. A rainy Wednesday.

"He works for the Ocean Club, every week on Wednesdays."

[pegasus]

But isn't the ground dry in those 3 may 2008 photos?
IMO it is likely to be October 2007 latest.

[pegasus]

@pathfinder thanks for mentioning wednesdays
IMO the witness said "anniversary" to journo.
Maybe journo misunderstood and incorrectly added the words "one year"?
When witness was actually referring to a x month anniversary.
Check all the monthly anniversaries in the first year, only one is on a wednesday, and it is .... Oct 3rd.
Time for a weather check
ETA Faro Oct 3 no rain, woops looks like I was wrong
ETA or maybe right. Sagres Oct 1st 7.87mm, Oct 2nd 3.05mm, that's a very soggifying amount of rain, just before the only anniversary which fell on a wednesday.

 

[sadie]

Somebody in Portugal is getting really desperate.
Did the Met really waste all that time & money at the wasteland instead of trawling the reservoir?

 

Another red herring misty.  They always come out when the pressure is on.

[Eleanor]

It may have been lying there a few days.

He works on Wednesday - Check 30 April and 7/14/21/28 May weather. A rainy Wednesday.

"He works for the Ocean Club, every week on Wednesdays."

Gosh.  Well done.

[jassi]

I'm curious that the letter was addressed with her full name. One might have expected it to be just 'Madeleine', or 'Madeleine McCann'.

[Alice Purjorick]

I'm curious that the letter was addressed with her full name. One might have expected it to be just 'Madeleine', or 'Madeleine McCann'.

That thought crossed my mind. I expect the Mirror are working on the principle that Madeleine McCann's face still sells copy.

[pinkblossoms]

what letter ?

[pathfinder73]

what letter ?

Why don't you read back a few pages and find out? The gardener said he found the letter on a video interview posted by the Daily Mirror and it was handed in to the police.

[Carana]

This search was 8 months before the letter.

Madeleine: Police Divers To Trawl Reservoir
12:40, UK, Monday 15 October 2007

A reservoir is being scoured by specialist police divers as the hunt for Madeleine McCann intensifies.

Detectives are said to be preparing to search a 10-mile area around Praia da Luz, where the child vanished on May 3.

The hunt is also focusing on the Barragem da Bravura reservoir, which is around 15 miles away from the Algarve resort.

Paulo Rebelo, the man who is now heading the investigation, has ordered his officers to search the 2.5 mile-wide reservoir.

His investigators are also set to comb a three-mile stretch of coastline and beaches near Praia da Luz.

A spokesman for Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry McCann said: "Any widening of the search area is encouraging and we welcome it."

The previous investigation team was criticised for not searching properly for Madeleine, who went missing shortly before her fourth birthday.

Mr Rebelo has assembled a team of specialist detectives to boost the investigation, including two murder experts.

Portuguese newspaper Diario De Noticias claimed the search areas were related to mobile phone calls made by Madeleine's parents and their friends.

http://news.sky.com/story/547048/madeleine-police-divers-to-trawl-reservoir

I can't find anything in the files about police divers searching the dam for the moment.

[ferryman]

I can't find anything in the files about police divers searching the dam for the moment.

Not everything in the files has been released, of course.

But I can't think why something like that would be withheld. 

[VIXTE]

This could have been a letter from a psychic.. there were many of them around that time..

What I would like to know is:
Was the writing in Portuguese authentic, i.e. was it written by a native speaker?
Was it inspected for DNA?

[Carana]

Not everything in the files has been released, of course.

But I can't think why something like that would be withheld.

There was an initial search of the dam (organised by the GNR major), with a boat checking the surface of the water based on the idea that a body would float to the surface, but nothing that I can find about divers or specialist equipment to check for a potentially weighted-down body.