General discussion about the latest news (not search related)

[G-Unit]

I don't quite follow.
Was he employed in a freelance capacity or was he a British police operative?

He was the National Adviser in relation to Search for all Police agencies within the United Kingdom for Missing persons, Abduction and Homicide, so a British police operative. The British police had no jurisdiction in Portugal so Harrison was used only because the PJ agreed he might be useful. What he did was done at the direct request and benefit of Guillhemino Encamacao the Algarve Regional Director of the Portuguese Judicial Police. Encarnacao was one of the two regional directors involved in organising the investigation, the other being Neves.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MARK_HARRISON.htm

[Eleanor]

Am I correct in thinking it was in a garage where it was valeted?

Almost certainly The Hire Centre.  They do that you know.  Clean cars, I mean.

[G-Unit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4419516/Nanny-looked-Madeleine-McCann-breaks-silence.html

Nanny who looked after Madeleine McCann has broken her silence after 10 years
Said she is haunted by the image of Gerry McCann desperately trying to find her
Child minder said Madeleine's devastated mother Kate cried, 'They've taken her'
By Amie Gordon For Mailonline
PUBLISHED: 22:34, 17 April 2017 | UPDATED: 23:12, 17 April 2017


A child minder who looked after Madeleine McCann has broken her silence nearly ten years after the three-year-old went missing.
The witness, who was working at the Portuguese resort where Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007, said she is still haunted by the night's events a decade on.
She said Gerry McCann desperately tried to find his missing daughter as his wife Kate wailed, 'They've taken her'.


The woman, who has not been named, reportedly looked after Madeleine several times.
She told The Mirror the resort Madeleine vanished from was considered so unsafe nannies were given rape whistles and told not to go out alone.
The nanny claimed the resort Madeleine vanished from was considered unsafe   +6
She also criticised how Portuguese police handled the incident.
She said: '[Kate] was pacing up and down. The worst possible thing had just happened to her.
'She was crying, but almost in a catatonic state, and Gerry was very distressed.
'That's the one thing I really remember from him, looking under the cars. I can't forget that.'
The woman also claimed police missed out 'whole chunks' of information during their investigation and took some 90 minutes to arrive at the scene.
She said there was 'no way' the McCann's had any involvement in their daughter's disappearance. 
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine were last month given an £85,000 ‘last throw of the dice’ after identifying a new ‘person of interest’.
The hunt had been due to end within weeks but extra cash was found to explore a lead in the investigation, which is nearly a decade old.
An insider said police had found a person who was close by when the three-year-old went missing while on holiday in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in 2007.

The source said: ‘There is just one person who detectives want to speak to, who was near the area where Madeleine disappeared almost ten years ago. An international search has been under way to find them.’
The Portuguese press reported that ‘police are understood to have clues pointing to the existence of a new suspect’, but it was not said whether it was a man or a woman.

A report in newspaper Correio da Manha read: ‘This new suspect is believed to be Portuguese and was apparently seen near the Ocean Club, where Kate and Gerry McCann were staying with their children when Madeleine disappeared.
‘British police are understood to be preparing to question this new suspect.’
Kate and Gerry McCann were said to be ‘very grateful’ for the continued funding amid fears the £11.1million investigation into Maddie’s disappearance, which is codenamed Operation Grange, was about to be shelved.

Senior Yard officers see the development as the ‘last throw of the dice’.
A family spokesman said: ‘Kate and Gerry remain incredibly grateful to the Home Office and the Met Police for the continued work into the search for their daughter.’
A close friend of former GP Kate, 49, and heart doctor Gerry, 48, said: ‘They have never given up hope of finding out what happened to Madeleine, and believe she could be alive.
‘They appreciate the Met Police’s help and know they are doing everything possible for a resolution.’


see also http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/what-really-happened-night-madeleine-10245222

I wonder which police arrived after 90 minutes? 90 minutes after what?

[Brietta]

I've never heard that. AFAIK there wasn't any explanation as to why the Getz wasn't subjected to the cadaver dogs examination. That vehicle was substituted in the line up by ROB's hire car.
The Getz was examined by the Portuguese sniffer dogs - but they were trained to look for living scent not cadaver.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/ROBERT-MURAT.htm#p5p1119
*snipped*
 The GNR dog team commanded by First-Sergeant A.Silva used four dogs to search for a trace of Madeleine Beth McCann in the entire property (inside and outside). The work results were negative.
- In the location were three vehicles - VW Transporter; Peugeot 205; Hyundai Getz - all of which were searched.
- The entire property was inspected by colleagues from Local Crime Section and Police Science Laboratory, with respective photographic reports made, with special focus on R.Murat's room and the vehicles


Murat had let his mother use the V/W for her information post. That vehicle was cleaned on 13/5/07, the day before the PJ swooped on Casa Liliana, according to MW's statement of 16/5/07

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MICHAELA_WALCZUCH.htm
1358 to 1360 Witness statement of Michaela Walzuch 2007.05.16

*snipped*
--- Asked, she states that on the 13 May last she was with Robert washing the VW Transporter at GALP-Lagos because it was dirty.

Thanks, Misty.
I think that must be where I was getting the car washing episode from. 

[Brietta]

Almost certainly The Hire Centre.  They do that you know.  Clean cars, I mean.

Thanks, Eleanor. 

[ShiningInLuz]

I wonder which police arrived after 90 minutes? 90 minutes after what?

I interpreted this as the time the GNR turned up at apartment 5A, though why a nanny would know this is puzzling.

[Brietta]

I interpreted this as the time the GNR turned up at apartment 5A, though why a nanny would know this is puzzling.

By her account ... she was there.

[ShiningInLuz]

By her account ... she was there.

May I ask you if you subject sources like this to some sanity-checking?

Not a single nanny mentioned rape whistles in their statements or being advised not to travel alone.  If these facets are true, the nannies failed Madeleine totally and utterly by not drawing this to the attention of the police.

Then there is OC management, who, believing Luz to be dangerous in this respect, failed to warn guests and failed to report such facets to the PJ, thus failing Madeleine totally and utterly.

This would take us into massive conspiracy territory, so I prefer to view this unnamed source with extreme caution.

It is relatively easy to attribute salacious stories to unnamed sources.  I have no expectation of all the nannies coming forward to claim this is true or untrue.  But the paper should have been able to cross-check such 'facts' with other nannies, and appears not to have done so.

[stephen25000]

May I ask you if you subject sources like this to some sanity-checking?

Not a single nanny mentioned rape whistles in their statements or being advised not to travel alone.  If these facets are true, the nannies failed Madeleine totally and utterly by not drawing this to the attention of the police.

Then there is OC management, who, believing Luz to be dangerous in this respect, failed to warn guests and failed to report such facets to the PJ, thus failing Madeleine totally and utterly.

This would take us into massive conspiracy territory, so I prefer to view this unnamed source with extreme caution.

It is relatively easy to attribute salacious stories to unnamed sources.  I have no expectation of all the nannies coming forward to claim this is true or untrue.  But the paper should have been able to cross-check such 'facts' with other nannies, and appears not to have done so.

There has been no mention of this before.

Rather strange that this story appeared just prior to May the 3 rd.


I wonder what will emerge next. &%+((£

[ferryman]

I can only speak from memory, but I am pretty certain that Robert Murat's hire car wasn't included in the search.

Not that I think he was driving around with a dead body in the back.

And a non search would hardly have been included in The Files.

Your memory does not fail you.

No fault of Murat's but a car he hired and originally intended to be included in a (nominal) 'line-up' of 10 vehicles (plus one that was the only one of the slightest interest to humans, the Renault Scenic with the Find Madeleine stickers in the back) became a nominal 'line-up' of 9 (plus one, the only one of real interest to humans, the Renault Scenic with the Find Madeleine stickers in the back).

The reason?

The PJ crashed Robert Murat's hire-car driving it to the garage where the inspection took place.

[Eleanor]

Your memory does not fail you.

No fault of Murat's but a car he hired and originally intended to be included in a (nominal) 'line-up' of 10 vehicles (plus one that was the only one of the slightest interest to humans, the Renault Scenic with the Find Madeleine stickers in the back) became a nominal 'line-up' of 9 (plus one, the only one of real interest to humans, the Renault Scenic with the Find Madeleine stickers in the back).

The reason?

The PJ crashed Robert Murat's hire-car driving it to the garage where the inspection took place.

Good Heavens.

[G-Unit]

I interpreted this as the time the GNR turned up at apartment 5A, though why a nanny would know this is puzzling.

Well it wasn't 90 minutes after the alarm was raised, that would have been 11.30 pm. It wasn't 90 minutes after Matthew's visit to reception at 10.10 pm and it wasn't 90 minutes after the first phone call. The PJ arrived at 12.40-50 am, so that doesn't fit with anything.

90 minutes before the GNR arrived is 9.30 pm.

[ShiningInLuz]

Well it wasn't 90 minutes after the alarm was raised, that would have been 11.30 pm. It wasn't 90 minutes after Matthew's visit to reception at 10.10 pm and it wasn't 90 minutes after the first phone call. The PJ arrived at 12.40-50 am, so that doesn't fit with anything.

90 minutes before the GNR arrived is 9.30 pm.

Only if the GNR arrived at 5A at 11pm, and I'm 99% confident, based on Gerry's 2 calls to Kate, that it was actually around 11.25-ish, or nearly 90 minutes after Kate raised the alarm.

[G-Unit]

Only if the GNR arrived at 5A at 11pm, and I'm 99% confident, based on Gerry's 2 calls to Kate, that it was actually around 11.25-ish, or nearly 90 minutes after Kate raised the alarm.

The GNR came from Odiaxere, 14 minutes drive away. They arrived at Reception while Gerry was still in 5A. He then had to go to meet them and then speak to them through Silvia. After that they were taken to 5A in the police car. He  called his wife four times between 23.14 and 23.17. That suggests the GNR arrived at least 5 minutes before 23.14, just not at 5A.

[ShiningInLuz]

Well that is one poster view.

The GNR came from Odiaxere, 14 minutes drive away. They arrived at Reception while Gerry was still in 5A. He then had to go to meet them and then speak to them through Silvia. After that they were taken to 5A in the police car. He  called his wife four times between 23.14 and 23.17. That suggests the GNR arrived at least 5 minutes before 23.14, just not at 5A.

He called his wife twice.  These calls were double-recorded.