Re: Digging to start next week (continuation of automatically locked thread) - UPDATE... starting today 2/6/14

[notlongnow]

OPERATION GRANGE UPDATE

Operation Grange officers working alongside experts in their field from around the UK, the Policia Judicial and the Guarda Nacional Republicana today, Wednesday 11 June completed an eight day period of work searching specific areas of land in Praia da Luz.
At this time no evidence relating to Madeleine McCann has been identified. However it has given us an essential understanding of the activity on and people that have used this piece of land.
This was the first phase of this major investigation which has been agreed with the Portuguese following the four International Letters of Request submitted to date. More activity has been agreed and we expect that to commence shortly. In addition further requests are being compiled and will be submitted in due course.
The decision to search the “horse shoe” shaped piece of waste ground to the west of Praia da Luz and other sites was as a specific result of the UK’s investigation work to date.
The total area of land searched and surveyed was of approximately 60,000 sq metres and included all utilities, drainage channels and derelict buildings. 41 ground anomalies were identified initially by both aerial survey and ground analysis which were then investigated fully. These included three outside of the original area.
This deployment which was the largest ever undertaken by UK police overseas in a case of this type, highlighted the effective nature of the assistance given by the Portuguese authorities, for which the investigation team and family are very grateful.
The media’s understanding and co-operation following Assistant Commissioner Rowley’s pre deployment briefing has also been noted and appreciated.
There is still a substantial amount of work yet to be completed in the coming weeks and months, which again should be viewed as no more than normal operational activity in a case of this size and complexity. This recent work is part of ensuring that all lines of enquiry are progressed in a systematic manner and covers just the one hypothesis that she was killed and buried locally. This is the same as would be done in the UK for a murder or high risk missing person enquiry. The scientific support staff involved were there to provide the highest level of assurance that this area was searched to the highest possible standards.

Would love to know what has changed to make SY think this way.

[fossey]

Would love to know what has changed to make SY think this way.[/quote]
EXACTLY.

THEY KNOW. Time will prevail.

AFTER the world cup though i'm afraid.

[End]

If they are so sure she was killed, how come the fund to find her is still up and running?

[Dutchgirl]

With thanks to Joana Morais

Maddie searches have ended, English police to return to UK on Thursday
11 June 2014 | Posted by  Joana Morais Leave a Comment

Searches to find Maddie, requested by the English police have ended

British police will return to Portugal to question more people

The searches to find evidence that might lead to the whereabouts of Madeleine McCann ended on Wednesday without success in the area of Praia da Luz, Lagos. The English police are expected to return home as early as Thursday.

A Judiciary Police source said the searches requested by the English police had ended around 17.00pm. The source explained that the work was completed after over a week of searches in  areas where Scotland Yard admitted that items or other evidence could be found that would help clarify the disappearance of the girl, seven years ago.

The operation, which included excavations, started on the 2nd of May, in the lookout of Praia da Luz. This Wednesday they focused their searches on the fields in the outskirts of Praia da Luz. According to the same source, the English detectives will return to Portugal, at a date not yet scheduled, to question eight people, who the English police believe they can help solve the case.

Seven years after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Portuguese and British authorities have searched the grounds adjacent to the tourist resort where the McCann family was holidaying.

in Público with Lusa News agency press release, June 11, 2014

[fossey]

If they have are so sure she was killed, how come the fund to find her is still up and running?

Patience,

They have to cover every eventuality and keep things absolutely WATERTIGHT.

The fund fraud is just the icing on the cake.

[End]

If they have are so sure she was killed, how come the fund to find her is still up and running?

Patience,

They have to cover every eventuality and keep things absolutely WATERTIGHT.

The fund fraud is just the icing on the cake.

   
Good to see someone so optimistic!

Why do you think they included the family in their press statement?

[fossey]

Why do you think they included the family in their press statement?

The same as they have mentioned the FAMILY in EVERY other statement as far as i know.

They got to keep them SWEET and play along.

FALSE sense of security and all that.

[Okeydokey]

Daily Mail are allowing some refreshingly sceptical comments today.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2654890/Police-Madeleine-McCann-search-begin-combing-new-patch-scrubland-today-near-went-missing-seven-years-ago.html#comments

Its policy seems to vary quite a bit. But tonight it seems to have freed up on the comments - so there are comments about the lack of details about the fund, comments querying the factual nature of the alleged abduction and other matters.

[fossey]

Some comments so far......

oceandancer1, POF land, 21 minutes ago
This is now getting ridiculous. Both the fact that it is still ongoing and the current nature of the enquiries.

ENGLAND FOREVER, CANTERBURY, United Kingdom, 22 minutes ago

Spending £10 on a babysitter would have saved all this hassle.




Argus, Forfar, United Kingdom, 24 minutes ago
Suit yourself, you won't be missed. I too want this sorry saga to end, hopefully well for the couple involved, but don't tar the whole of the algarve with the same brush. It's a wonderful place to holiday and, on occasion, I have found the police to be far more adept at handling situations than they are in the UK.


Morrison L, Bristol, United Kingdom, 27 minutes ago
Some drunk young idiot spraying graffiti is hardly "locals turning on the Met".



Click to rate





Jon Sims, Ningbo, China, 28 minutes ago
It didn't take the Portuguese much time to realise what the British have known for a long time. But the cops get the last laugh.. They're having a cool break in the sun at the taxpayers expense on a wild goose chase..




jimbob, sydney, Australia, 31 minutes ago
So a scotland yard officer jumps a wall, WOW.



Frank, UK, United Kingdom, 35 minutes ago
Are the British Police really that stupid? The support of the Portuguese Police and public hasn't been that great. It's a case of sour grapes, and the once popular holiday destination continues in decline.
 

Paulb, Cheshire, 57 minutes ago
Locals 1 UK police 0! Waste of time and money ,the McCanns should hang their heads in shame for the attention they have had ,she will never be found now and it's their fault and no one else's!


AdgeCutler, Loughborough, United Kingdom, 58 minutes ago
Why was Madeleine left alone in the first place?


Sandy Brown, London, 1 hour ago
I do not know why they even did it. Well I do know why they did it. Because Cameron got involved. But this has never been done for any other child that has gone missing.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2654890/Police-Madeleine-McCann-search-begin-combing-new-patch-scrubland-today-near-went-missing-seven-years-ago.html#ixzz34HmLHe00 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[bristow]

Glad to see this comment on the Mail article allowed through!

Old Uncle Eric, Third plot up on the left, United Kingdom, 1 hour ago
The British police are using sniffer dogs to try and locate the body so, in the whole scheme of things, they must trust their trained dogs implicitly. So why are they disregarding the evidence given to them by their two expert sniffer dogs, Eddie and Keela, early on in the investigation?


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2654890/Police-Madeleine-McCann-search-begin-combing-new-patch-scrubland-today-near-went-missing-seven-years-ago.html#ixzz34NepRwQM 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[Okeydokey]

Yes, that was one that caught my eye.  Strangely for some reason, the whole of the UK Media never ever mention Eddie and Keela.

[ProfessorPPlum]

I cannot believe that this forum, so critical of the comment-whooshing of the pro-McCanns has deleted a link to the latest Blacksmith bureau for the simple reason that they have critical and 'rude' to this forum in the past! I've just read the Blacksmiths piece and absolutely agree with earlier poster on here that it is an excellent summary. To 'ban' it, to censor it out of this forum reduces this forum to the level of the OFM Facebook page that we love to criticise all the time. Please reconsider your approach on this and show you are above mere criticism.

[Snifferdog]

Professor Plum. No one is stopping anyone from reading Blacksmiths offerings on his very own blog...I am sure he is personally very happy about not having links to his site from JH... judging by his nasty scribblings about members on this forum...If any member here was as rude as he was they would be banned forthwith...why should we make an exception for him, when he is not even a member of this forum - oops read - May not be a member here - (of course we cannot be sure if this is s o).
By the by, and slightly off topic... Nottextusa reminds me of Anthony Sharples...I wonder if they are one and the same...just curious. 

[Dutchgirl]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2654890/Police-Madeleine-McCann-search-begin-combing-new-patch-scrubland-today-near-went-missing-seven-years-ago.html  in this update the graffiti words have been mentioned in its entirity.  Parents Killed Maddie English Police are stupid!

Eight-day search near apartments where Madeleine McCann vanished in 2007 is called off as locals turn on British police with graffiti calling officers 'stupid'

• Detectives have finished eight-day search around Praia da Luz, Portugal
  
• Met Police: 'No evidence relating to Madeleine McCann has been identified'
  
• But officers may remain for months to test theory she was 'killed and buried'
  
• Detectives broke into a building enclosed by metal gates in Algarve today
  
  
• The search came after two areas outside Praia da Luz were examined earlier
  
  
• Portuguese graffiti daubed on wall this morning calling British police 'stupid'
  
  
• Madeleine, three, from Rothley, Leicestershire, vanished during 2007 holiday
  
  

By Chris Greenwood
Published: 08:14 GMT, 11 June 2014 | Updated: 00:56 GMT, 12 June 2014


Police yesterday abandoned their search of scrubland in the Portuguese holiday resort where Madeleine McCann disappeared seven years ago.
The British team of specialists did not find any clues to her disappearance during the eight-day operation.
But they said the multi-million-pound inquiry will soon move into a new phase after negotiations with the Portuguese authorities.
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Still no answers: Detectives investigating Madeleine McCann's disappearance have finished an eight-day search near the Portuguese holiday camp where she vanished seven years ago - and found no evidence

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'English police are stupid!' Graffiti was scrawled on a wall near the search overnight as locals turned on the Met

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Search: British and Portuguese officers were seen carrying pickaxes and spades to three separate sites

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Police used bolt cutters to access this home. They are investigating whether Madeleine was killed and buried


Senior officers said the searches were the ‘first phase’ of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine, who was three when she went missing in Praia da Luz in May 2007, and more activity will ‘commence shortly’.
This could include the arrest of a handful of suspects who detectives suspect may be able to cast fresh light on the notorious case.
 
More...

• Party turns into tragedy as two teenagers killed in fall from sixth floor balcony of riverside apartment block in south London
  
• The loving grandparents forced to fight tooth and nail to stop social services giving away their grandchild
  

The announcement came just hours after graffiti was daubed in large orange letters on a brick wall opposite one of the search areas.
Written in Portuguese, the misspelled message translated as: ‘Maddie’s parents killed her. English police are stupid!’
The attack was the latest sign of anger among locals at the high-profile police inquiry, which is taking place as the annual tourist season takes off.
Business owners have been joking that the police operation is a new tourist attraction, with many visitors asking for directions to the latest search site.

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Heat: A member of Scotland Yard jumps over a wall during the search for missing Madeleine McCann

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Operation: Portuguese judiciary police chief of investigation Luis Mota Carmo uses his mobile phone at the site

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Painstaking: Police established a forensic tent and examined several dozen items of interest to them

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DCI Andy Redwood of Scotland Yard (third left) led the search flanked by colleagues from Britain and Portugal

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Operation: DCI Andy Redwood. The joint Portuguese-British operation started on June 2



Over the past eight days, officers have undertaken the biggest search undertaken overseas by a team of British police.
They have searched to the ‘highest possible standards’ an area of scrubland equal in size to around nine football pitches.
This included checking water pipes, drainage channels and derelict buildings around the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on the Algarve.
Police also searched a horseshoe-shaped piece of waste ground that was specifically identified as an area of interest by the latest inquiry.
A Met spokesman said 41 ‘ground anomalies’ – areas where the earth had been disturbed – were discovered by aerial surveys and ground-penetrating radar equipment.

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This morning Portuguese officers stood around the edge of the search area while British sniffer dogs went in

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Site map: The first search area was a quarter of an hour's walk away from the holiday apartments at Praia da Luz. A Met Police spokesman refused to confirm the locations of the second and third searches today

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Family's tense wait: Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, are being kept informed of developments







These sites, which included three outside the original area, were then painstakingly checked by search teams. The spokesman added: ‘At this time no evidence relating to Madeleine McCann has been identified.
‘However it has given us an essential understanding of the activity on – and people that have used – this piece of land.
‘This was the first phase of this major investigation, which has been agreed with the Portuguese following the four International Letters of Request submitted to date. More activity has been agreed and we expect that to commence shortly.
‘In addition, further requests are being compiled and will be submitted in due course.’
The Met launched a fresh investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance in 2011, codenamed Operation Grange.
Senior officers stress that the operation in Portugal mirrors what would take place in Britain for a murder or high-risk missing person inquiry. They say there is still a ‘substantial amount of work’ to be done in the coming weeks and months.

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Hunt for Madeleine: British and Portuguese police searched a property near Praia da Luz in the Algarve today

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Detectives from Britain and Portugal searched three areas on the edge of the Praia da Luz resort today

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Algarve search: British officers were seen digging into hard ground and using bolt cutters to get into a building






Police in Maddie search combing new patch of scrubland

Police said the searches  covered ‘just the one hypothesis’ that Madeleine was killed and buried locally. There are many others.
The dawn-to-dusk searches have involved teams of officers armed with pickaxes, spades and specialist search dogs.
Accompanied by Portuguese officers, they examined three sites and removed several items for further analysis.
One shopkeeper was sceptical over whether the searches would bring police any close to finding Madeleine. ‘People keep coming in asking what’s going on and where,’ he said. ‘It seems to be the new tourist attraction.
‘It is a beautiful resort and shouldn’t be spoiled by searches for a girl who disappeared a long time ago and will probably never be found.’

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British police officers were pictured scouring the scrubland using poles in the second week of the new search

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The small area being searched has been taped off with police tape and is guarded by local armed officers


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2654890/Police-Madeleine-McCann-search-begin-combing-new-patch-scrubland-today-near-went-missing-seven-years-ago.html#ixzz34P9KbITh
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[sharonl]

Good choice of pic there of little Miss Cadaver pants.

Is it possible that NSY are back peddling on the abduction theory, partly as a result of the ultimatum given to the police federation by Theresa May just over a week ago when she addressed corruption in UK policing?

[frost]

I'm not religious but isn't there a reference in the bible to 'the writing on the wall ' it seems to ring a bell probably from my school days

[Guest]

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-writing-is-on-the-wall.html

It means that imminent danger has become apparent.

[ChippyM]

"just one hypothesis" confirms to me that what SY are being careful NOT to say is just as important as what they do say.  Whenever there was talk of 'smelly men' etc. they followed it up with 'one line of enquiry'....of course this gets lost in the media frenzy. 

SY have never matter of factly announced they were looking for a dead child - it has been hinted at with AR talking about 5a and the 'does not fit with all our thinking' comment-  but now we have an official statement including the theory that she was killed.

  "At this time no evidence relating to Madeleine McCann has been identified. However it has given us an essential understanding of the activity on and people that have used this piece of land."


   This implies they set out to get 'an understanding' of something that happened on this land. Sceptics would say they are just trying to justify an unfruitfull search with this line.


  Then again they went on to land yesterday with dogs which indicated a small area and found an 'object' pretty quickly. If we trust the dogs, surely the object found in this small area has to be of some significance?

[tigger]

A tweet from AnnaEsse:


Moors Murders shock: New hunt planned for four victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley... fb.me/3x7Y0iM40

They are going to use geophysics and dogs .

[fossey]

Nice to see them getting on well.

[scrants]

I cannot believe that this forum, so critical of the comment-whooshing of the pro-McCanns has deleted a link to the latest Blacksmith bureau for the simple reason that they have critical and 'rude' to this forum in the past! I've just read the Blacksmiths piece and absolutely agree with earlier poster on here that it is an excellent summary. To 'ban' it, to censor it out of this forum reduces this forum to the level of the OFM Facebook page that we love to criticise all the time. Please reconsider your approach on this and show you are above mere criticism.

I totally agree.  It's petty behaviour.  He holds differing views to some and in my opinion hasn't been rude, just honest about what he thinks.

[Guest]

You can't have seen his foul-mouthed rants about Tony Bennett and this forum then.

He can be good at times but at others he's on a level with the most degenerate McCann supporters.

There's nothing to stop anyone from reading his blogs if they want to.

[frost]

A tweet from AnnaEsse:


Moors Murders shock: New hunt planned for four victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley... fb.me/3x7Y0iM40

They are going to use geophysics and dogs .  

So pleased they are going to look again for Keith . I grew up in the shadow of the moors murders and whenever we passed saddleworth moor the hairs on the back of my neck always stood up even to this day . Even though it is 50 years down the line he deserves to be laid to rest  and his family to finally have some peace , such a shame his mother has now passed away she dug the moors with her bare hands looking for Keith so different to how the McCanns have behaved . 

I really do hope that this time they find him though I know they were also  looking at a different area not Saddleworth that Brady and Hindley visited and also took photos of .

Just goes to show that cold cases are never closed which is what I think the McCanns are hoping for deep down . Wasn't there  also talk of the Whitehall murders being looked back into too?  now if they could solve that and jack the ripper finally be revealed my faith in British justice would definitely be restored .

[whatliesbehindthesofa]

I cannot believe that this forum, so critical of the comment-whooshing of the pro-McCanns has deleted a link to the latest Blacksmith bureau for the simple reason that they have critical and 'rude' to this forum in the past! I've just read the Blacksmiths piece and absolutely agree with earlier poster on here that it is an excellent summary. To 'ban' it, to censor it out of this forum reduces this forum to the level of the OFM Facebook page that we love to criticise all the time. Please reconsider your approach on this and show you are above mere criticism.

I totally agree.  It's petty behaviour.  He holds differing views to some and in my opinion hasn't been rude, just honest about what he thinks.

Perhaps we could have a poll on whether to ban Blacksmith links. I've no doubt that it will return a result in favour of banning Blacksmith but it might be a nice idea to let the members decide, seeing as the reason given for the ban is that the members were insulted by him/them. Otherwise, I might start to suspect that the reason for the ban was because of insults to one person in particular, and not the general membership of the forum.

My personal opinion is that the ban doesn't achieve anything as many posters here still read Blacksmith, we're still allowed to discuss Blacksmith, just not post a link to it. It doesn't bother me personally as I will continue to read that blog links or not, but I fear that the ban firstly justifies his criticism, and secondly puts us on a par with the censorship of the pro-McCann world. Weren't people upset that the mainstream media didn't show all of that graffiti yesterday? Well folks, that's exactly what we're doing here. Half of a picture equals half of a story, indeed.

[Justformaddie]

Is it strange that reports of all these different suspects come out as in who they're wanting to trace and why, in the open as TV and media, but if say, they found a blanket, toothbrush, clothes and so on, does anyone think they'd report on that? I actually don't think they would for some reason IMO