Colin Sahlke

According to the British press in May 2007, a former British paratrooper, Colin Sahlke, went to Praia da Luz to search for Madeleine McCann. He sold his possessions and gave up his job and his rented home to finance the search.
Under strange circumstances almost 3 years later, Sahlke suddenly died in bed on April 19, 2010. His death is a mystery and the traces of what caused his death are gone forever—Sahlke was cremated in Skipton on April 29, 2010. At the time of writing in early June 2010, the family still do not know the cause of death.
Background
Days before Faked Abduction was printed, 3 chapters were removed. One of them “The Trojan Horse” was a controversial chapter detailing the operation of the inflatable billboard sent to Praia da Luz.
According to Gavin Hollywood, the managing director of Posterplus Media—the company who sent the billboard—the entire operation took 13 days in May 2007. From press stories released on Monday May 28, 2007, there is a consistent claim that the two drivers left Scotland on Friday, May 25, 2007. This also tallies with Gavin Hollywood’s communication to the author that the journey from Scotland to Portugal took 3 days.
The two van drivers were lauded by the press as a couple of ordinary guys who had been moved to pay for the venture out of a genuine, heartfelt concern for the plight of Madeleine. Nothing was further from the truth. The entire venture was set up after John McCann—Madeleine’s uncle—had approached Posterplus Media. The two men were employees of Posterplus Media and were just doing their job.
When we peel back the layers, we find that one of the drivers—Les Harley—lives very close to John McCann in the Temple/Partick area of Glasgow. Posterplus Media is located in Kilmaurs and is a good 25 miles away from where Harley & McCann live. It is a fair bet that John McCann knew Les Harley as a fellow brethren in one of the local lodges in that district—perhaps in the Galen Lodge located at the torched Ardery Street Freemason Hall that was burned to the ground in an arson attack in January 2008. No doubt the membership records of the various lodges using the Ardery Street hall disappeared into smoke along with many other interesting historical records.

Kate and Gerry McCann looking at the inflatable billboard that was driven to Praia da Luz for a couple of days at a cost of over £20,000.
The 2000+ mile trip to Portugal with an 800 sq.ft. inflatable “bouncy castle” with a poster stuck on the side made no sense at all. Gavin Hollywood’s estimated cost of £20,000 ($30,000) could have been done for thousands less by flying the two men to Portugal and sending the inflatable as air freight. A glance at the accounts and financial status of Posterplus Media makes the story even more fantastic. Deeply in debt for several years and with at least one county court judgment recorded against them, what on earth was the company doing by spending such a vast sum of money for very little—if any—reward? The newspaper articles touted the drivers, Chris Lennox and Les Harley as the brains behind the venture and at no time was the name Posterplus Media mentioned in those articles. It wasn’t as if the company gained by some press exposure and if anything, the company remained completely anonymous. When you are so deep in the red, it isn’t as though those expenses can be used as a tax right-off. If you’re not making money then you won’t be paying tax anyway.
Now switch our attention to a story that came out a day or two before the “bouncy castle” story.

Posterplus Media balance sheet. Click the image to view it larger.
Steve Taylor and Colin Sahlke were two former British Army soldiers who are reported to have met while working in a shower company in Nelson, Lancashire. The fantastic stories about Taylor and Sahlke have a vibe that is incredibly similar to the story of Harley and Lennox. Taylor and Sahlke didn’t take any fancy equipment to Portugal but if we are to believe the news reports of the time, we are told that they both gave up their jobs and at least one of them gave up his rented home and possessions to raise £5,000 ($7,500) to go and find Madeleine.
John McCann, the Madeleine Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited Chairman, is said to have given up his job with AstraZeneca so he could concentrate full time on the search for his niece. It is staggering to think how four people gave up their careers to focus on the search for Madeleine: Kate Healy, John McCann and two former soldiers in Lancashire.
The dates and times that Taylor and Sahlke were in Praia da Luz are pretty much the same as Lennox and Harley’s. All four men left the UK on Friday, May 25, 2007. Apart from a few staged photographs of Taylor and Sahlke decked out in clothing more suitable for Operation Desert Storm, we saw nothing more of the two former soldiers. We saw nothing more of the inflatable sign either. After a photo session on the beach in Praia da Luz, the sign was not seen again despite Gavin Hollywood’s claim that the sign was to be set up at sites around the Algarve.
And what incidentally was it that cost Taylor and Sahlke £5,000? Two return low-cost airline tickets to Faro, Portugal, from Leeds/Bradford or Manchester Airports would typically cost about £150 or less. Accommodation for a week or even a cheap package holiday including flights would have cost the two men no more than £500 each. May is not high season in the European package holiday trade.
The two stories of Taylor/Sahlke and Lennox/Harley really make no sense whatsoever. Keep in mind that these men came onto the scene 3 days after Clarence Mitchell’s public arrival on the Madeleine McCann disappearance.
North East Lancashire/West Yorkshire
For those not familiar with this part of England and its involvement in the McCann case, it is a location that has had an ever increasing list of coincidental involvement. To date we have:
Ed Smethurst, a Madeleine Fund director, a lawyer and a prominent Freemason in the East Lancashire Lodge in Manchester. It appears that Smethurst has lived and worked in the Bury/Rochdale/Clitheroe area for most of his life.
Michael Wright, Kate Healy’s cousin’s husband. Wright was the named driver on the Renault Scenic where the cadaver dog smelt the scent of death in the trunk. Wright made numerous trips to Portugal in 2007, including one trip where he literally flew to Portugal to accompany Kate and the twins on a flight back to England the same day.
CCP—the Centre for Crisis Psychology—are based in Skipton. CCP were dispatched to Portugal in the middle of May 2007 to assist the McCanns with trauma counselling.
Colin Sahlke and Steve Taylor were work colleagues at a shower company in Nelson. Presumably this was Manhattan Showers Ltd.
Raymond Hewlett, the deceased former paedophile lived in Todmorden and was linked to the Madeleine case for various reasons. Suspected to have been the real killer of Leslie Molseed in 1975, Hewlett passed away in 2010 after contracting throat cancer.
David Payne, one of the Tapas Nine, has family in Rochdale. Payne is the doctor who was reported to Leicestershire police by Katerina and Arul Gaspar when they made statements about the behaviour of Gerry McCann and David Payne when they were all on holiday together in Majorca in 2005.

The area of north east Lancashire and west Yorkshire discussed in this section. A: Clitheroe, B: Skipton, C: Nelson, D: Keighley, E: Todmorden, F: Rochdale. To give an idea of the scale of this map, it is about 27 miles from Clitheroe to Keighley and 40 miles from Skipton to Rochdale.
A well known blogger in the Madeleine McCann case is “Blackwatch”. His blog—The Sargeant’s Inn (here)—is like a curio shop full of fascinating connections between the hundreds of characters involved in the story. Intelligently written, it is a great repository of trivia on the Madeleine story.
The detail in his blog is what makes it a compelling read but although he supplies many names and their relationships between each other, he reaches few conclusions and he actually states by way of a disclaimer:
The site offers no explanation for what might have occurred prior to the event, only for the Press, PR and lobbying activity that erupted in its wake. The intent is to dispel any notion of an elaborate conspiracy and to propose a more prosaic but no less compelling account of the Madeleine Franchise and how it came almost accidently into shape: a story of commercial and political improvisation.
Blackwatch also goes on to state:
Here are a few things we won’t tolerate:
Any crazy stuff about Roslyn, Roswell, Freemasons, the Bilderberg Group, Crop Circles, the Illuminati, Opus Dei, New World Order and fat bald blokes

Phil Johnson, the owner of JJ Associates International based in Keighley, West Yorkshire.
While the Madeleine case may not involve crop circles, the Bilderberg Group, Roslyn Chapel, the Illuminati, Opus Dei and a New World Order, it certainly does involve Freemasons. As Faked Abduction clearly demonstrates, there is a large network of Freemasons involved in the founding of the official fund. Madeleine’s Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned Limited has their registered office at one of Britain’s largest law firms to represent Freemasons and Freemasonic charities. Ed Smethurst is one of the directors of the Madeleine Fund and is a long time Freemason.
Blackwatch recently wrote an article about JJ Associates International (here). This private firm of investigators are also located in the East Lancs/West Yorks area and their mailing address is in Keighley (D on the map above). In typical “Blackwatch” style, he connects the players and in the context of this article he refers to Colin Sahlke:
Readers might recall that Colin Sahlke a former Keighley paratrooper and his friend flew to Praia da Luz in the first weeks of her disappearance. I am assuming he may have been a member of JJ Associates or at least someone on their books.
The owner of JJ Associates International is Phil Johnson. Phil has a long and detailed entry on the business networking site “Linkedin” (here).
Freemason involvement
Ed Smethurst has made no secret of his affiliation with Freemasons. For most of his life he has been involved with the craft in the Manchester area.

Phil Johnson lists 'The Virtual Lodge' in his group affiliations on his Linkedin page.
For all Blackwatch’s denial of Freemason involvement in the Madeleine disappearance, when we look at Phil Johnson’s Linkedin entry, we see that he belongs to a group called The Virtual Lodge. As Blackwatch surmises, perhaps Sahlke was on the books of JJ Associates International. Who knows?
According to Colin Sahlke’s sister, she is of the opinion that if Colin was a Freemason then that was “in his dreams” because her brother liked to exaggerate his achievements. In point of fact, when the British press reported that Colin was a former paratrooper, his sister said “…that was the first we knew of him being a former paratrooper!”
But were Sahlke and Taylor Freemasons or were they chosen by Freemasons to go over to Portugal?

The Midas Award logo (left) is suspiciously Masonic in design. Compare to the compass and squares (right), the well-known symbol of Freemasonry.
Here’s a clue: Manhattan Showers in Nelson have their registered office in Glossop, Derbyshire at a firm of accountants called Crossley Lomas. Back in 2004, Crossley and Lomas won a financial services award called a Midas Award. The company behind this are located (here). Look at the Midas Award logo. Crossley Lomas are the registered office for many companies and they also advised a Manchester company called the Brownsword Group Ltd. Brownsword Group Ltd are the parent company of Mike India 5 Ltd—clearly a play on the term “MI5″.
The reader is probably bewildered now by an ever increasing list of company names and more people loosely connected by Freemasonry in the Manchester area.
Look no further. The connection comes back full circle to tie in Freemasonic Madeleine Fund helpers Brian Kennedy and Ed Smethurst.
In October 2008, it was announced that Brian Kennedy’s rugby club Sale Sharks had a new sponsor.
From sportindustry.biz (here):
Sale Sharks sign up new sponsor- 27 Oct 2008
Guinness Premiership side Sale Sharks have signed a one-year sponsorship deal with insurance specialists Mike India 5.
Prior to the deal being signed, the Cheadle Hulme based firm, specialists in investigating integrity for the insurance industry and general commerce, completed an investigation into the benefits of an association with the Guinness Premiership club.
The investigation has concluded with Mike India 5 signing a one-year deal to become official partners of Sale Sharks.
The Sharks will wear the Mike India 5 logo for all their remaining Heineken Cup matches this season.
The deal also provides Mike India 5 with perimeter signage, corporate hospitality to entertain key guests to Sharks matches and the opportunity to network with other club sponsors and partners through membership in the Sale Sharks 500 Club.

Freemason sponsors of Sale Sharks - Mike India 5 Ltd - an east Manchester based investigation and surveillance firm with links to Chartered Accountants Crossley Lomas. Click image to see larger version.
Conclusion
This is yet another proven Freemasonic link in the Madeleine McCann case and one that ties in the key players Brian Kennedy and Ed Smethurst to Colin Sahlke and Steve Taylor—two men sent to Portugal on May 25, 2007.
Did Sahlke and Taylor help to repatriate Madeleine?
Sahlke liked to talk too much. Was this his downfall and did it ultimately cost him his life?
14 Responses to “Madeleine finder’s sudden death and cremation in Skipton”

1
Gavin Hollywood Says:
July 6th, 2010 at 7:11 am
I have just read your article with interest and would wish to clarify a few points. The inflatable billboard was offered as a media platform to assist with the awareness campaign. The cost of a similar media project would be approximately £20,000 depending on the geographical area, the actual operational costs were between £6000-£7000. Posterplus has other profitable companies and assets. This was purely an act of kindness to help find a missing child and nothing else, the billboard was actually located at several locations over 10 days including the border where we got full support and approval from the authorities, digital photographs of all locations with the billboard being used are available to anyone by request. Les Harley does not stay in Temple/Partick area but resides in Irvine. The quickest way to get the equipment to Portugal last minute was by road as Air Freight and clearance would take over 5 days plus the operators required a van with spares and a vehicle facility to move around with the billboard on a daily basis. The opportunity to assist with the campaign was offered to around 20 drivers all of whom offered to drive to Portugal. The aim of the billboard was to attract attention to help find a child and not a publicity avenue for our company hence the reason for removing our company logos in order to avoid this type of criticism. Our sole intention was to try and help someone when they needed help nothing else.

2
John Says:
July 25th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
One Hell of an explanation for a straightforward missing child case
3
Death mystery of Nelson man after Maddie hunt « Exposing myth, distortion, corruption and the TRUTH Says:
October 7th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
[...] under Famous Articles, TRUTH For Madeleine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry Colin Sahlke in Praia da Luz, May [...]

4
Anne Says:
February 7th, 2011 at 6:42 am
I personally find it so sad that people try to comment on what is actually a very sad situation. If your close relative’s child was missing, would you feel comfortable to continue going to work every day? Would you not feel that you had to go out and look for her? The McCann’s do not need the money. They need their family to be complete again. Now, just for a moment, put yourself in their shoes, your child is missing, you have another two children to look after, you cannot rest until you know what happened… HOW DO YOU FEEL?
Site Admin: People can comment on whatever they like. You assume the family don’t know what happened. We believe that the family and some or all of the Tapas 9 know what happened on May 3, 2007. We feel that they should answer the questions posed by the Portuguese police in September 2007.

5
Liz Y Says:
March 6th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Anne, If your close relative’s child is missing, would you not think it strange that in the earliest days the McCanns appeared together holding hands, smiling, and seemingly without a care in the world. Someone who appeared in public immaculately dressed with careful make-up. A gentle jog on the beach, all beaming smiles coming out of church a few (a very few,) days after their daughter disappeared, and, as Gerry and Kate believed, in the hands of paedophiles, WOULD YOU NOT BE ON THE FLOOR, RACKED WITH GRIEF, GUILT AND REMORSE??? If they are truly innocent, their re-action on being told the dogs had smelled cadaverine, was to immediately go on the offensive and make disparaging remarks about the dogs not being infallible, I would have been overcome with more grief because my initial re-action would be ‘Oh God she’s dead and an abductor must have done it’. Cue crying, screaming, wailing, shock and horror. I don’t remember any one time that Kate looked like she’d been crying all al night or not having slept for days. You cannot override these emotions, and certainly not a few days, months, maybe years later. You said ‘Would you not feel that you had go out and look for her?’ Neither Gerry or Kate joined the physical search not even in the moments immediately after her disappearance, instead they tore the back off one of precious Madeleine’s books, to write down an itinerary stating who went where and at what times the were children checked on. Would you or your relatives do that? IS THERE ANY SANE PERSON YOU KNOW WHO WOULD DO THAT!!? YOUR BABY HAS BEEN ABDUCTED BY A PAEDOPHILE, everyone else is searching and you have the presence of mind to do that? If you were convinced (as Kate said she was immediately), would you leave two more of your babies, (if you really, really thought there really, really was an abductor) to run down to the Tapas Bar to raise the alarm? I do agree with one of your points though, the McCanns don’t need the money. If all the people who contributed to the fund knew that a good portion of it has been spent on top specialist lawyers, mortgages and other things a million miles away from what the fund was intended to do, they wouldn’t have been quite so generous.
You have our opinion, but how much do you REALLY know. Not much I’ll bet.

6
Helen Says:
March 8th, 2011 at 3:27 am
Liz, again spot on!!! Cant add anything to that!!

7
phoebe Says:
April 15th, 2011 at 11:15 am
I think the mccanns know full well where their child is and they are getting loads to say they dont

8
Mag Says:
April 23rd, 2011 at 10:11 pm
INFLATABLE BILLBOARD- it’s not even Kate and Gerald McCann / Healy on it! Look at the lady’s Derriere , and Look at the man’s CHIN! NOT THEM! NO WAY! Loooooooooooooooool!
ps. check your site mails , ty.
ah ah and well done for the Book dear Friend.
Mag

9
taz Says:
April 28th, 2011 at 3:08 am
I am haunted by this case, as a mother myself I find it impossible to let go. Every day and night I wonder what happened to Madeleine? I have tried the believing they had nothing to do with it route, but things dont add up. But I do wonder if this is something bigger, something to do with government or a maffia type crime, is she alive? Perhaps the parents carefully chosen unanswered answers are because they simply cannot answer in order to protect their daughter, the twins and themselves? Or maybe poor little Madeleine is dead, in which case why isnt anyone doing anything about it. Someone or a lot of someone’s know exactly what happened, isnt it time to act?
10
Kate McCann releasing a book - General Chatter Forum (Page 108) Says:
May 12th, 2011 at 9:31 am
[...] This is weird [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] [...]

11
LadyB Says:
May 13th, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Now the police are going to review the case,
as they wished, the saying “Be careful what you wish for”
comes to mind!!
Site Admin: The British government covered up the death of Madeleine McCann in the first place. When the wolf is looking over the hen-house, do not expect any more from this bunch of clowns in Westminster than the previous set of clowns. It is all a circus to continue to cover up the death.

12
Looking for answers Says:
May 25th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
Having just read the Madeline book I thought I would look into the other side of the story and try to establish an even view. Having visited this site I am only more convinced of the McCanns innocence and more amazed at the people that seem to support the views spouted on this website? Having looked into this on various websites I believe the initial investigation was a mockery and should be reviewed. Even you all should agree that with the UK looking into this now, any evidence against them will come to light and be taken seriously, should it actually exist of course!!!
Site Admin: The problem with the Madeleine book is that Kate misses out so many important factors. She fails to describe that:
1. Two doctor friends of the McCanns and the Paynes went to the British police on May 16, 2007 to describe how they thought that Gerry McCann and David Payne were potential paedophiles (based on a holiday they took with them to Spain a couple of years earlier).
2. The family of nine that she describes in the book as seeing the potential abductor (the Smith family), actually stated that the “abductor” looked exactly like Gerry McCann.
3. The Madeleine Fund was initially set up to raise money for legal expenditure.
4. The McCanns were financially broke and had to get family members to pay their mortgage for them in the summer of 2007.
5. The McCanns were connected to Cabinet level MPs via previous relationships or social circles. Kate does not tell us how they knew these people.

13
Angelique Says:
June 19th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
I read this article a while ago and have just recently been thinking again about if they wanted to remove a body how they would have done it.
I wonder if these two drivers actually drove vans ? It’s an awfully large inflatable. To my mind it would be too big to handle into the back of a van. It would be easier if it were loaded onto a trailer. I have worked on trailers and some of them have refrigerator units which are used to keep produce cool. It’s just an idea. Does anyone know if they did use vans or not ?

14
elvira bothma Says:
June 23rd, 2011 at 7:54 am
I cannot believe that grown up people can even accommodate the thought that Madeleine was murdered by her own parents. What is wrong with you people ? Go to Google, ask for Lindy Chamberlain and read how she was accused of murdering and burying her own child, then crusified by people (exactly what is happening with the McCanns), nobody believed Lindy, in the end she went to prison and she was INNOCENT. The media and people are the worst you can get. Be careful of what you wish for other people or what you say – you never know when it will backfire on yourself. I wrote down a small paragraph from Lindy’s letter : “There are good, honest, truthful people in all these fields.(Policing etc). We need to support them in their struggle to clean up their profession and stand for truth and justice. Hitler got as far as he did because good people didn’t wake up to the importance of the small details that did not look threatening on their own, until the avalanche engulfed all and it was too late to fix”. That poor woman’s life was hell, through the untruth of stories the media published, and people who did not know the truth but told lies about Lindy. I believe if the people do not get punished for their ghastly thoughts, accusations, or whatever you want to call it – in this life – they will surely in another. So support the McCanns and try to help find Madeleine. God bless them. Elvira
Site Admin: FACT – Parents are more likely to murder their own children than a stranger. Get used to it and stop trying to denigrate people who are merely discussing the likelihood of Madeleine being killed while under the care of her parents. The Chamberlain dingo case is not the McCann case. Lindy Chamberlain may have been declared innocent but the McCanns have not faced a trial to be either declared innocent or guilty. The McCanns are the prime suspects in a case shelved due to lack of evidence for a trial. That does not mean it was shelved due to lack of evidence. On the contrary, there is a lot of evidence and there are public statements made by Clarence Mitchell and Gerald McCann where they say that they (meaning the McCanns) are not guilty of Madeleine’s death.
Why say “death” if, as they keep telling us, that Madeleine is still out there?
If the McCanns weren’t such barefaced liars who keep changing their stories, probably more people would believe them. Right now, two-thirds of people believe they killed Madeleine and that is the opinion of this website.

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SKIPTON is one of the areas I am interested in for family reasons.

I am reading about Colin Sahlke with great interest as it's all about real people, places and ....yes, those coincidences ! We have a Masonoc Lodge in Gosport just opposite St. Matthew's Court where I live.

I also came across an elderly man who might have been a relative of a Dutch Jewish Mason in Holland. He did emphasize the Jewishnes and the fact that real masonic lodges are all male.Was he right? Links with Dutch/British/Russian Navy.

My post here: Gosport LEADS ? ... [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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From PJ files:

Ex-soldiers Colin Sahlke and Stephen Taylor give up their jobs and fly out to Praia da Luz, on 20 May 2007, to search for clues to Madeleine's disappearance.

Whilst there they meet with Gerry McCann, but apparently find nothing of interest to the investigation.

Mr Sahlke is later found dead by his landlord on 19 April 2010.


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Mr Sahlke and Mr Taylor say they are not interested in rewards but just want to help find Madeleine.

The pair say their aim is to at least help restore the McCanns' "faith in humanity".



Mr Sahlke, who has two children, lost his 18-year-old daughter Debbie six years ago in a car accident.

Mr Sahlke said: "A few years ago I lost my daughter and if I could give something back, if we even restore the McCanns' faith in humanity, it is a start.



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A FORMER soldier who left Pendle to search for missing toddler Madeleine McCann died in mysterious circumstances after returning home to Nelson, an inquest heard..........



But Dr Twage also found a significant amount of morphine in his system and said that this, combined with the effects of the alcohol, had caused the death.........


Recording an open verdict, East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor said there was no evidence as to how Mr Sahlke had come to take morphine, but he could not ignore the medical finding.

"We will never have that explanation that we would want," added Mr Taylor.

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From the Cambridge News, 18th October 2007:

Soham detective's Madeleine verdict


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THE detective who led the Soham murder inquiry has given a damning verdict on the Portuguese investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

Retired Det Chief Supt Chris Stevenson, who caught double-murderer Ian Huntley after school pals Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman vanished in 2002, travelled to Praia da Luz, where Maddie went missing on May 3.
Along with a team of crime experts, Mr Stevenson carried out a three day review of the Portuguese inquiry for a TV documentary in which he claims the force was "too slow" to act after she disappeared.
He said: "I don't think they immediately realised what they were dealing with."
Mr Stevenson, 58, was joined in Praia da Luz by Matt Tapp, a media expert who also worked on the Soham murder inquiry, David Barclay, a forensic analyst, Gary Lig, a search expert, and David Canter, a criminal profiler.
He said: "The intention was never to do a hatchet job on the Portuguese police - but the inescapable conclusion was that they were totally ill-equipped for the job."
Among the verdicts they reached on the inquiry are that the local force was sorely lacking in experience in child abduction cases, hampered by secrecy laws which prevented information being made public, and hindered by the lack of a proper DNA or sex offenders register in Portugal.
They also highlighted failures in the way forensic evidence is gathered and crime scenes protected. One of the team's concerns was the discovery from local maps that a network of giant sewers criss-crosses the town, raising questions about how thoroughly they were searched after Maddie vanished.
Another focused on the unfocused and unsupervised search by volunteers, which lasted several days, and a third was the hit-or-mis approach to searching bins in and around the resort where the McCann family were staying.
The team found that, even as the search for Maddie intensified, bins were still being emptied as usual, and that a proper search of the landfill sight where the contents were dumped does not appear to have taken place.
Mr Stevenson said: "Ideally you would secure all the bins in the area and make sure the local authority doesn't dispose of the contents until the search team has gone through them all."
This oversight contributed to the team's conclusion that the vital first hours of the investigation were mishandled.
Mr Stevenson said: "If you don't immediately realise what you are dealing with, you can get caught and make major forensic errors.
"That's what appears to have happened in the Maddie case. This was a child missing from home, but they didn't seem to have thought anything suspicious might have happened at first.
"In Britain we refer to this period immediately after a child vanished as the 'golden hours'".
Although Portuguese police are not allowed to speak openly about the inquiry, it is clear that the focus of their investigation has changed several times over the course of the probe, with Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry being made official suspects in September - they deny any involvement in their daughter's disappearance.
Mr Stevenson said that, in Britain, the family would have been the first to be interrogated, and the crime scene combed for evidence to corroborate their story.
He said: "You have to look at the family first. Three out of four child deaths are at the hands of their family."

Read more: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Soham-detectives-Madeleine-verdict/story-22345849-detail/story.html#ixzz47LP5iCS2 
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Thank you for this information, always believed his death was mysterious and then we have the sad death of Brenda Leyland.

Working alongside a former newspaper colleague-turned police media expert, Matt Tapp, David offers delegates on the course an insight into how journalists would cover a major incident, and the impact that coverage might have on the investigation.

David said: “Matt is recognised as a leading authority on police media relations and has been a popular guest speaker at De Montfort on a number of occasions. Working with him at the Met enables me to keep up to date with the latest police media techniques which I can then share with our students.”

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Prof David Barclay

Our team included Professor Dave Barclay, a leading forensic scientist who has worked on 215 'cold case' murders in the past six years. In his view, the layout of the complex made it 'a pervert's paradise'.

Some of the apartments overlook the pool and give an unobserved vantage point to anyone wanting to watch children by the pool.

Portugal has many more paedophiles than it cares to admit, and an odd attitude towards underage sex. Under Portuguese law, the age of consent (between couples of the same age) is 13.

More on the five experts who went out to Luz with Soham detective in October 2007 and who all were critical of the Portuguese police investigation

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Matt Tapp

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