The investigation into the Smith family's sighting

[jassi]

Its possible that LP scrutinised them on behalf of  the pj (saving all that translation), found nothing that they considered to be relevant and just filed them.
As LP are not releasing any documents pertaining to the case, we may never know the truth.

[Alice Purjorick]

Not that I'm aware.

There is no mention about  whether or not they were sent them to Portugal.

Even if they did it may only have been to their own Major Incidenet Room in Portugal.
There is plenty of scope for "hello right hand this is left hand" in there 

[misty]

Its possible that LP scrutinised them on behalf of  the pj (saving all that translation), found nothing that they considered to be relevant and just filed them.
As LP are not releasing any documents pertaining to the case, we may never know the truth.

Do you think the German, Dutch & Irish police also withheld from the PJ any statements they obtained from their citizens holidaying in Luz that week?

[jassi]

Do you think the German, Dutch & Irish police also withheld from the PJ any statements they obtained from their citizens holidaying in Luz that week?

Do we have any information about how these countries dealt with the issue?

From the link I posted, it would seem that LP did a lot of the liaison through Interpol

LP were busy shoving everything onto HOLMES, to which the PJ were granted access.
It could be it went no further than HOLMES and when LP packed up & went home, PJ lost access to HOLMES and all its data

[G-Unit]

Do we have any information about how these countries dealt with the issue?

From the link I posted, it would seem that LP did a lot of the liaison through Interpol

LP were busy shoving everything onto HOLMES, to which the PJ were granted access.
It could be it went no further than HOLMES and when LP packed up & went home, PJ lost access to HOLMES and all its data

I think you're right. The volume of information coming into the investigation was unheard of. LP tried to use Interpol to share information with Portugal but there was too much of it. LP used HOLMES, set up a link to their MIR in Portugal but the PJ didn't use it much. (I wonder which language the information was in?)

[jassi]

Does HOLMES work in any language other than English ? 
Quite sure that the input staff back in Leicester wouldn't speak or understand Portuguese so would input in English.

[Alice Purjorick]

Does HOLMES work in any language other than English ? 
Quite sure that the input staff back in Leicester wouldn't speak or understand Portuguese so would input in English.

Good question. As it was developed under a PFI by UNISYS fro the Home Office it would seem unlikely.

HOLMES 2 (Home Office Large Major Enquiry System) is an information technology system that is predominantly used by UK police forces for the investigation of major incidents such as serial murders and high value frauds.

The system is a single application which was developed by Unisys for the Police Information Technology Organisation under the Private Finance Initiative. It provides total compatibility and consistency between all the Police forces of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as the Royal Military Police. The name of the system is a reference to the fictional private detective Sherlock Holmes.

[misty]

Am I right in thinking the 3 of you are of the opinion that the PJ could not possibly have had access to the original statements made by UK citizens after the UK police left Portugal in September because they were stored on HOLMES?

Would someone care to explain how questions relating to original statements taken by UK police could be formulated when the PJ requested rogatory interviews in 2008?
For example:


From the Letter of Request:


* Interview to RAJINDER RAJ BALU as a witness, 62, BIXXXXXXXX ROXX, HeXXXXXXX, Brentwood, Essex. He should be asked the following questions :

* Do you confirm your previous statements to the British Police ?

* What did you do on 3rd May, 2007, between 6.00 p.m. and 11.00 p.m. ?

* How did you get to know that a child was missing ?

* Did you take part in the searches ? Where and with whom did you look for the missing girl ?

* Do you know a man identified as NEIL BERRY ? Who is he ? How did you know him ? Did you travel together to Portugal ? Did he travel to Portugal with his family ?

* State clearly who went to buy the food at the TAPAS RESTAURANT, what food was it and the way taken.

* Any further questions deemed useful, necessary or pertinent in view of the previous replies.

* Is there any supplementary explanation that you consider pertinent or relevant to establish the material truth ?
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/CR2/cr2_113.jpg

[jassi]

How does any data get put into HOLMES ?  Witness statements aren't uniform in their content.

In fact a standard questionnaire might be easier to cope with.

[G-Unit]

According to this job specification documents are scanned into HOLMES and then the text is converted to make it searchable.

http://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/sites/default/files/Job%20Description%20-%20Typist%20Witness%20Care%20Officer%20(HOLMES).pdf

[G-Unit]

Am I right in thinking the 3 of you are of the opinion that the PJ could not possibly have had access to the original statements made by UK citizens after the UK police left Portugal in September because they were stored on HOLMES?

Would someone care to explain how questions relating to original statements taken by UK police could be formulated when the PJ requested rogatory interviews in 2008?
For example:


From the Letter of Request:


* Interview to RAJINDER RAJ BALU as a witness, 62, BIXXXXXXXX ROXX, HeXXXXXXX, Brentwood, Essex. He should be asked the following questions :

* Do you confirm your previous statements to the British Police ?

* What did you do on 3rd May, 2007, between 6.00 p.m. and 11.00 p.m. ?

* How did you get to know that a child was missing ?

* Did you take part in the searches ? Where and with whom did you look for the missing girl ?

* Do you know a man identified as NEIL BERRY ? Who is he ? How did you know him ? Did you travel together to Portugal ? Did he travel to Portugal with his family ?

* State clearly who went to buy the food at the TAPAS RESTAURANT, what food was it and the way taken.

* Any further questions deemed useful, necessary or pertinent in view of the previous replies.

* Is there any supplementary explanation that you consider pertinent or relevant to establish the material truth ?
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/CR2/cr2_113.jpg

Many people rang the Crimestoppers number if they thought they had information. The statements taken from them were not released at the request of the UK. A very simple reason for statements to be unavailable.

[misty]

Many people rang the Crimestoppers number if they thought they had information. The statements taken from them were not released at the request of the UK. A very simple reason for statements to be unavailable.

Graham McKenzie rang Crimestoppers

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GRAHAM-MCKENZIE.htm

[G-Unit]

Graham McKenzie rang Crimestoppers

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GRAHAM-MCKENZIE.htm

 ** Caller Removes Anonymity**

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GRAHAM-MCKENZIE.htm

[misty]

** Caller Removes Anonymity**

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GRAHAM-MCKENZIE.htm

The questionnaires completed by UK holidaymakers would not have been under the cover of anonymity.

These are just a few examples from the files of sightings in the UK sent to the PJ by LP, all of which contain personal information.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/ap/A5_5/apenso5_vol_5_p1091a.jpg

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/ap/A5_5/apenso5_vol_5_p1015.jpg ( confirmed scanned & sent to Portugal)

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/ap/A5_5/apenso5_vol_5_p1015.jpg (contains sensitive information)



I ask again - what would be the reason for none of the completed questionnaires from the 599 issued being in the PJ files for their reference?

[Robittybob1]

The questionnaires completed by UK holidaymakers would not have been under the cover of anonymity.

These are just a few examples from the files of sightings in the UK sent to the PJ by LP, all of which contain personal information.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/ap/A5_5/apenso5_vol_5_p1091a.jpg

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/ap/A5_5/apenso5_vol_5_p1015.jpg ( confirmed scanned & sent to Portugal)

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/ap/A5_5/apenso5_vol_5_p1015.jpg (contains sensitive information)



I ask again - what would be the reason for none of the completed questionnaires from the 599 issued being in the PJ files for their reference?

Misty are those last two links the same?