Are police any closer to finding Madeleine? Watch Oxygen's Madeleine McCann: 10 Years Later on Sat., Nov. 4

by  Gina Tron
October 27, 2017 • 1:01 PM ET

What We Know About Madeleine McCann, The 3-Year-Old Girl Who Vanished From Her Bed

She's the missing 3-year-old who's been called "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history" by The Telegraph. The image of the little blonde girl with a distinctive dark stripe on her right eye has been burned into the psyche of people across the UK and beyond.

Madeleine went missing a decade ago on May 3, 2007 while her family, along with family friends and their children, were vacationing in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

According to BBC, Madeleine and her 2-year-old twin siblings, Sean and Amelie, were put to bed by their parents in their ground-floor bedroom that night at around 8:30 PM. With the shutters and window to the room closed, the McCanns and friends ate at a tapas restaurant just 70 meters away. The parents checked on their children periodically all evening. 

Kate says she discovered her daughter was missing at about 10 PM. She was reportedly first alarmed when she noticed that the window and its shutters were open. Kate then reportedly panicked, searched the apartment for Madeleine and ran out the apartment shouting that somebody had taken her daughter.


On May 14, 2007, 10 days after Madeleine was reported missing, police brought in British expat Robert Murat for questioning. His home, which was located just 100 yards from where Madeleine vanished, was searched.

He was the first to be named an official suspect. He was later ruled out, but he said the allegations ruined his life.

“It didn't only lead to me being destroyed, it led to my whole family being destroyed, affected by those allegations. It was completely untrue,” he told BBC News.

In August 2007, Portuguese tabloid Tal & Qual published two articles saying "'police believe' Kate and Gerry McCann were responsible for the death of the 4-year-old, and put forward the theories that she was killed either in an accident or with a fatal dose of a drug," according to CNN.

That same month, cadaver dogs were brought in to search the McCanns' apartment. Both of the dogs reacted, and one reportedly grabbed Madeliene's favorite stuffed animal, "Cuddle Cat." The dogs were also taken to sniff a group of vehicles, and they allegedly only barked once they came to the McCanns' car, which they rented 25 days after their daughter went missing.

“There’s absolutely no way Kate and I are involved in this abduction,” Gerry said about their alleged role, as reported by Reuters.

Though the sniffer dog footage appeared to some to be damning, the validity of cadaver dogs has been long disputed. And in one interview, Kate and Gerry McCann even called cadaver dogs unreliable.

In the BBC documentary "Madeleine McCann: 10 Years On," an updated version of which will air on Oxygen on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7/6c, Jim Gamble, the former head of the Child Protection Agency, explained: “Sniffer dogs are only as reliable as the evidence that’s found to corroborate their indications. So they’ll provide an indication, but a sniffer dog cannot talk. It’s not evidence; there needs to be corroboration.”

Once the Portugese police received the final forensic results from the investigation, they were “weak and incomplete." None of the DNA was a direct match to Madeleine.

The McCanns were officially ruled out as suspects.

In 2008, Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral (who was reportedly taken off the McCann case in October 2007 for comments he made "criticizing British police for favoring Kate and Gerry McCann") wrote "A Verdade da Mentira" ("The Truth of the Lie"), a book and subsequent TV documentary that alleges Madeleine's parents were involved in her disappearance.

Kate told reporters at a 2008 press conference, “It's hard to describe how utterly despairing it was for us to be named arguidos [suspects] and to subsequently portrayed in the media as suspects in our own daughter's disappearance.”

The previous head of Portugal’s police, Alipio Ribeiro, admitted that detectives were too quick to name the parents as suspects. “There was a certain hastiness,” he said, according to Reuters.

Police in England also criticized how the police in Portugal handled the situation.

“I’ve been a detective at the most senior level for 30 years and have never seen such a witch-hunt, or one based on such flimsy evidence," said Lord Stevens, ex-London police chief, as reported by Reuters.


After being cleared as suspects, Kate and Gerry started using private detectives and opened the Find Madeleine Fund to investigate the disappearance of their daughter.

In May 2011, they also wrote an open letter to former Prime Minister David Cameron, asking him to open up a new review on the case, which was printed on the front page of British tabloid The Sun. That public pressure on the government appeared to have worked.

Shorly after publication, Scotland Yard, also known as London's Metropolitan Police, opened its own inquiry called Operation Grange. According to The Telegraph, Scotland Yard believed she may have possibly been stolen by child traffickers or during a burglary gone wrong.

According to the BBC documentary, Scotland Yard's former head of homicide Simon Foy said very early on in their investigation, “It was perfectly clear to us that the McCanns themselves had nothing at all to do with the actual disappearance. It was just obvious from everything stacked up that they were where they were when the child went missing.”

That contradicted what Portugal police originally theorized.

In 2013, Scotland Yard released Electronic Facial Identification Technique (also known as E-Fit) images of men they wanted to investigate, including a man who was possibly seen by a witness carrying a child to the beach the night Madeleine went missing.

In 2015, British police officers spent eight days searching three areas of Praia da Luz, not far from where the toddler went missing. They found nothing, according to the Independent.


The McCann family has received thousands of psychic tips over the past decade, with the most recent being from psychic Susan Kelly. Kelly claimed she saw what happened to the child a decade ago through three “visions," but she wanted the missing girl’s parents to make her offer before disclosing any of the details. She contacted Madeleine’s parents asking for a financial bid for each individual vision.

In turn, the McCanns reported Kelly to the police. Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for the McCanns, called the claim an "extortion scam" and "cruel hoax." Mitchell said that of the thousands of tips, none had any merit.

By March 2017, the inquiry into the toddler’s disappearance had cost £11.1 million (about $14.6 million), according to the Telegraph.


In April 2017, Scotland Yard's Assistant Commissioner told BBC, "I know we have a significant line of inquiry which is worth pursuing, and because it's worth pursuing it could provide an answer, but until we've gone through it I won't know whether we are going to get there or not."

According to police, there have been about 8,500 reported sightings of Madeleine McCann over the years, though none have led to Madeleine being found.

[Images: Getty Images]
Crime Time is your destination for breaking crime news, original reporting, and information about Oxygen's programming. Sign up for our Crime Time Newsletter and subscribe to our Martinis & Murder podcast!

http://www.oxygen.com/blogs/what-weve-learned-in-the-10-years-since-madeleine-mccanns-disappearance

New Madeleine documentary..."Jim Gamble says..."

Oh dear!

====================

Jim Gamble, the former head of the Child Protection Agency, explained: “Sniffer dogs are only as reliable as the evidence that’s found to corroborate their indications. So they’ll provide an indication, but a sniffer dog cannot talk. It’s not evidence; there needs to be corroboration.”

The late Sir Clement Freud: "So what are they going to do? Put them on the stand? One bark for yes, two for no?"

Kate McCann ('madeleine'): "He was right of course. It was ridiculous".

Sandra Felgueiras: "'Ow do you explain the presence of cadaver odour, found by British police dogs...don't you have an explanation for that?"

Gerry McCann: "Ask the dogs, Sandra".   


.

Sniffer dogs are only as reliable as the evidence that’s found to corroborate their indications. 

Evidence was found and Madeleine could not be ruled out. In fact in one report it was a match.

As for Clement Freud.... what a creep.

I am wondering just how deep his involvement goes.

Seems very strange to me that a victim of Clement Freud's came forward in 2011 I think it was, to report him and to state her concerns over how involved he was with the McCann family, and was ignored. I wonder why? Reminiscent of Savile victims being ignored by the police, and we all know why. It would be too troublesome to implicate him and thereby the police who covered up for him!

Tony Bennett wrote:New Madeleine documentary..."Jim Gamble says..."

Oh dear!

====================

Jim Gamble, the former head of the Child Protection Agency, explained: “Sniffer dogs are only as reliable as the evidence that’s found to corroborate their indications. So they’ll provide an indication, but a sniffer dog cannot talk. It’s not evidence; there needs to be corroboration.”

The late Sir Clement Freud: "So what are they going to do? Put them on the stand? One bark for yes, two for no?"

Kate McCann ('madeleine'): "He was right of course. It was ridiculous".

Sandra Felgueiras: "'Ow do you explain the presence of cadaver odour, found by British police dogs...don't you have an explanation for that?"

Gerry McCann: "Ask the dogs, Sandra".   


.

And there lies the problem - corroboration by forensic analysis !!!  Back to the same old unanswered question..

Why were forensic samples sent for analysis to the UK's less than 100% reliable Forensic Science Service ???


Where was this Oxygen thingy filmed - Cambodia?

“There’s absolutely no way Kate and I are involved in this abduction,” Gerry said about their alleged role, as reported by Reuters.
Hmmm, surely that should have been "Madeleine's abduction".
Unless this was a translation glitch or a "confusion is good" statement, would I be wrong in asking if the McCann's have been involved in other abductions?

tnb wrote:“There’s absolutely no way Kate and I are involved in this abduction,” Gerry said about their alleged role, as reported by Reuters.
Hmmm, surely that should have been "Madeleine's abduction".
Unless this was a translation glitch or a "confusion is good" statement, would I be wrong in asking if the McCann's have been involved in other abductions?

Doesn't Peter Hyatt saythat we should listen to what they say, and believe them?
So-
'There's absolutely no way Kate and I are involved in this abduction'

Think about it....

No idea who Peter Hyatt is.

Peter Hyatt is a Statement Analyst who works for the FBI amongst others. Richard D Hall interviewed him and filmed his analysis of The McCann's Australian Interview.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=peter+hyattt+statement+analysis+mccann&&view=detail&mid=A75101343CC889B9AA2CA75101343CC889B9AA2C&FORM=VRDGAR

Looks like an update on this:

http://www.oxygen.com/madeleine-mccann-10-years-later/blogs/4-key-theories-on-what-happened-to-madeleine-mccann-who



4 Key Theories On What Happened To Madeleine McCann, Who Disappeared From A Resort 10 Years Ago

Ten years ago, Madeleine McCann, the 3-year-old daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann, vanished from the family’s resort apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz. The frantic search for Madeleine quickly evolved into an international investigation, with Portuguese and British police coming to very different conclusions. What happened to Madeleine McCann on the evening of May 3, 2007 is still unknown, but these are the four key theories surrounding her disappearance.



1. Coverup by McCann parents (who are not suspects in the case)

Early on in the investigation, the Portuguese police, Polícia Judiciária, suspected Kate and Gerry McCann were involved with the disappearance of their daughter. Detectives didn’t believe Madeleine could have been abducted through the apartment’s bedroom window like Kate had claimed, as they (incorrectly) said the window shutters could only be opened from the inside. There was also no reported forensic evidence of anyone climbing through the window.

Goncalo Amaral, the original lead detective on the case, told the BBC in 2012, “All the clues showed there weren't signs of someone breaking into that apartment. There is no evidence that the window that Kate McCann told the police was open was indeed open. As far as the abduction is concerned, the possibility of an abduction is materially impossible.”

Two cadaver dogs were also brought in to search the McCann’s apartment and hire car. Both dogs reacted to minute traces of blood, and one dog even grabbed Madeleine’s favorite stuffed animal. The McCanns have always maintained their innocence.

Family spokesperson Clarence Mitchell said in the BBC documentary “Madeleine McCann: 10 Years On,” which has been updated and will air on Oxyten Nov. 4 at 7/6c: “Something happened in that flat, yes, that removed Madeleine from it. Did she die — did two doctors cover up the death of their own daughter whilst on holiday? Of course not, and it’s ridiculous to suggest it. The evidence does not stack up.”

In the days that followed, detectives received the final forensic results from the cadaver dog investigation, which were “weak and incomplete,” with none of the DNA being a direct match to Madeleine. And in another interview in the BBC documentary, criminologist Heriberto Janosch demonstrated that one could indeed open the shutters from outside the apartment without making any noise or damaging the window, disproving the Portuguese detectives’ previous claims.

Polícia Judiciária shelved the investigation in 2008 and told the McCanns they were no longer suspects.

During a press conference, Kate told reporters in 2008, “It's hard to describe how utterly despairing it was for us to be named arguidos [suspects] and to subsequently portrayed in the media as suspects in our own daughter's disappearance.”

2. Burglary gone wrong

A series of burglaries in Praia da Luz prior to the arrival of the McCann family led British investigators to believe Madeleine’s disappearance might have been the result of a burglary gone wrong. According to Janosch, three burglaries with the same modus operandi (the opening of a side window) occurred on the block of the McCann’s apartment in the weeks leading up to Madeleine’s abduction.

According to the BBC documentary, three local men came to the center of the British police’s investigation in 2014. Based on phone records from the night Madeleine disappeared, which contained texts and phone calls that aligned with the time she was thought to be abducted, Scotland Yard made a formal request to question the three men. They claimed they had nothing to do with the missing girl’s disappearance.

Carlos Anjos, former president of the Polícia Judiciária Officers Union, told BBC, “This burglary theory is absurd. Not even a wallet disappeared, no television disappeared, nothing else disappeared. A child disappeared.”

Recently, Scotland Yard announced there was no evidence to implicate the three men who had been suspects for almost three years.

3. Abduction

Martin Smith, a main witness in the investigation, claimed he saw a man carrying a child on his shoulder near Kate and Gerry McCann’s apartment the night Madeleine went missing. Two men became of interest to the police: Robert Murat, a British expat who lived close to the McCann apartment, and Vitor Manuel Dos Santos, a local man who worked at the resort as the reception manager and took the McCann’s booking.

Murat was the first person to be named a suspect in the investigation, though he was never arrested and ended up being rewarded hundreds of thousands of pounds in a libel case against British newspapers.

In an interview with the BBC, Dos Santos claimed he lost his job at the Praia da Luz resort because he was questioned by both Portuguese police in 2007 and British detectives in 2014 about his involvement with the Madeleine McCann disappearance.

Though no arrests have been made, Smith’s E-fit (Electronic Facial Identification Technique image) of the suspect still remains a piece of evidence in the case.

4. Wandered off

Some also believe Madeleine could have left the apartment on her own in search of her parents, who were having dinner with friends at a tapas bar about 70 meters away from where Madeleine and her twin brother and sister Sean and Amelie slept. While the front door of the flat was locked, Kate and Gerry left the patio door open so they could easily check on their children throughout the evening.

According to The Sun, Mark Williams-Thomas, an investigative journalist and ex-cop, told ITV's This Morning, “I think Maddie was aware they were in the tapas bar in the resort. In order to get to the bar you have to come out of the premises, walk on a public road and go back in again.”

For this to be true, however, Madeleine would’ve had to open and close the large sliding door on her own, which many believe is unlikely.

Mitchell told The Sun, “This is pure speculation and as such Kate and Gerry will not be dignifying it with any sort comment whatsoever.”

Snipped from the above post

According to The Sun, Mark Williams-Thomas, an investigative journalist and ex-cop, told ITV's This Morning, “I think Maddie was aware they were in the tapas bar in the resort. In order to get to the bar you have to come out of the premises, walk on a public road and go back in again.”

..................


How did a little three year old girl deserve this nonsense?

aquila wrote:Snipped from the above post

According to The Sun, Mark Williams-Thomas, an investigative journalist and ex-cop, told ITV's This Morning, “I think Maddie was aware they were in the tapas bar in the resort. In order to get to the bar you have to come out of the premises, walk on a public road and go back in again.”

..................


How did a little three year old girl deserve this nonsense?

So a 3 almost 4 year old , waking in a place not her own house so still unfamiliar especially when first waking up , shouts for mummy and daddy gets no reply and thinks I know they're in the cafe past the swimming pool I'll go and find them . I'll open the slidey door go out , open the gate at the top of the steps , find my way down  open the other gate go out into the street .......oh for goodness sake MWT what planet do you live on ? Admit it , you've All let her down , getting your five minutes on the telly and your name in the tabloids on the back of an innocent child. Shame on All of you