Madeleine McCann detectives back in Portugal ...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-detectives-back-portugal-4433234

Madeleine McCann detectives back in Portugal after appointment of new prosecutor

Oct 14, 2014 00:25
By Nina Massey

Scotland Yard cops are hoping to speak with Ines Sequeira and get approval to reinterview three suspects

Scotland Yard detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have returned to Portugal following the appointment of a new prosecutor.

It is also the first time they have gone back to the Algarve since quizzing four suspects at the start of July.

The Operation Grange detectives arrived in Faro this afternoon on a BA flight from Gatwick before picking up a hire car and driving to their hotel.

Only a small team of three officers - led by Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood - made the trip.

The team is due at Faro Police Station early tomorrow morning for a meeting with Policia Judiciaria counterparts.

The meeting - described as "routine" - follows the appointment of a new woman prosecutor to the case.

Reuters Maddie search
Scotland Yard officers clear an area in Praia da Luz, Portugal in the hunt for missing Madeleine McCann

Following her appointment, high-flying investigator Ines Sequeira said she was “utterly determined” to crack the case, bringing fresh hope to Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, both 46.

She has yet to approve a fifth letter of request sent by British authorities earlier this year.

British detectives - who are understood to want to re-interview three of the four Madeleine McCann suspects they questioned in July - are expected to press for a quick 'yes' to their new bid to crack the seven-year-old mystery of Madeleine's disappearance.

Mrs Sequeira took over from predecessor Jose Magalhaes e Menezes last week and has told colleagues she views the Madeleine McCann case as a priority.

It is thought the Operation Grange detectives may seek a meeting with her before they return to London.

A source close to the McCanns said they think the appointment is a "step in the right direction."


The new Scotland Yard trip to Portugal comes after it emerged the cost of the British police search for Madeleine will top 10 million POUNDS - double the original amount estimated by the Home Office when the force was called in by David Cameron in 2011.

But the Home Office has defended the rising cost of the probe, insisting: "The Government believes it is right that it does all it can to support the search for Madeleine McCann."

The Operation Grange inquiry is running in parallel with a new Portuguese probe, reopened in May more than five years after originally being shelved.

The reopening of the investigation in Portugal coincided with news a former employee at the Ocean Club holiday resort in Praia de Luz where Madeleine vanished, had been identified as a suspect.

Recovering heroin addict Euclides Monteiro, a convicted burglar, died in a tractor accident in 2009. His widow Luisa Rodrigues was interviewed by Portuguese detectives but insisted he was an innocent man and has been fighting to get authorities to confirm they have now ruled him out as a suspect. Portuguese police believe Madeleine was snatched by a foreigner no longer in Portugal, although the Cape Verde immigrant is still officially a suspect.

They have privately dismissed the British police work, which involved digs and sewer searches for her body in June in Praia da Luz, as "senseless."

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The article came with the photo below and the caption as shown. They don't look very happy about it all to me. Is this the Mirror engaging in some sly editorial comment?

Kate McCann and Gerry McCann welcome the appointment of a new prosecutor

Great choice of picture - they look very welcoming!