Letter from PeterMac to The Rt Hon Suella Braverman: OPERATION GRANGE - REPORTED DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE BETH MCCANN

by **Jill Havern** 08.06.23 11:00

The Rt Hon Suella Braverman, PC, MP
Home Secretary

5 June 2023

Madam,

OPERATION GRANGE - REPORTED DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE BETH MCCANN

[This letter has been sent to previous Home Secretaries.  Whether they ever personally received it is not known]

I am a retired Police Superintendent, with CID and other investigative experience.  I have studied this case for 14 years, and have corresponded with experts in various fields.

Mention was made during the resignation of the past Commissioner, of Operation Midland, and the criticism by Sir Richard Henriques of his review.  The Senior Police officer in charge at the time, the then DAC Steven Rodhouse is now apparently ‘under investigation’ for his role in the fiasco.

Other high-profile failed operations seem to have succumbed to the same issue, that of believing the conclusion, and only than of looking for the evidence to support it.

"Sir Richard, who was commissioned to review the investigation by the Metropolitan Police in February 2016, concluded:
“The principal cause of the many failures in this investigation was poor judgement and a failure to accurately evaluate known facts and to react to them.
“A major contributing factor was the culture that ‘victims’ must be believed.
“Whilst the responsible Officers assert that they kept an open mind, several failures can only be explained by an unwarranted and disproportionate belief in ‘Nick's’ [Beech’s] credibility.”
The review said that major inconsistencies between Beech’s accounts, a lack of corroborating evidence and overall “implausibility” was not properly challenged.”     [ Link supplied below]

It is evident that Operation Grange may have fallen into the same trap of poor judgment, specifically

has failed to accurately evaluate known facts, and to react to them

has followed the culture that the ‘victims’ [the McCann parents] must be believed

has not had an open mind, but has had an unwarranted and disproportionate belief in the ‘McCanns’ credibility’

has not taken account of the major inconsistencies between the McCann’s and their holiday friends’ and other witnesses’ accounts;  of the lack of corroborating evidence;  and further that the overall ‘implausibility’ of the account has not been properly challenged.

Operation Grange seems deliberately to be ignoring the points of evidence against the ‘official account’.    The most notorious of these include the alerts by the British blood and human cadaver detection dogs; the clear evidence of forgery of the photo of the family by the pool;  the exposing of the original untruths about forced and broken shutters; the total lack of evidence of entry, presence and exit; the impossibility of the alleged regular checking system; bizarre and contradictory statements from the parents themselves about the ‘comfort blanket’ and the pyjamas . . .  and a plethora of others.   The list is too long even to append here.  Not one has been explained or refuted.

Operational Policing is clearly not within the immediate responsibility of the Home Secretary.

The continued funding of Grange over 11 years at a cost of at least £ 13 million (2022), however, is.

(By contrast Operation Midland lasted only 16 months, and cost a relatively insignificant £2.5m)

The position of PM Mrs May, might have been compromised by her decision whilst Home Secy. to receive Dr Kate McCann at a Downing Street reception, and to introduce her as a ‘victim’ to Royalty.  [Link below]

PM Mr Cameron, might similarly have been compromised by his decision to write personally to the McCanns in terms inappropriate during an investigation into a missing child, when it is established fact that in over 85% of cases the close family or friends are ultimately shown to have been involved and should therefore always be treated as prime suspects.  Met.DCI Colin Sutton turned down the opportunity to lead Grange after learning that the investigation was going to be very narrowly focused, and away from the McCanns or their friends, contrary to his oath, his professional duty, his experience and his training.  [Link below]

Professionals from several fields have expressed serious doubts about the path the investigation is following, and serious commentators across the world have presented reasoned and evidenced thoughts about many aspects of the case and its investigation, some presented as challenging documentaries.  It is clear that PM Mr Cameron, having inherited the poisoned chalice of the involvement of Government and the Security Services from Blair and Brown, was also put under intolerable pressure to set up Operation Grange given the threats against Mrs May,as Rebekah Brooks admitted at Leveson.
We do not believe that your position has been compromised in any of these ways.

Sir Mark Rowley, then AC, is on record as having said “The parents’ involvement: that was dealt with at the time by the original investigation by the Portuguese”.  This is correct but he fails to add that the PJ accuse the Parents of lying, made them formal suspects, and specifically found no evidence of Abduction.  All this is recorded in the final archiving report, and has been quoted in courts up to and incuding the ECHR.  The parents were not exonerated, as the Press mendaciously maintain.
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It is also a worrying echo of the Met’s position as stated in Midland that the evidence from the fantasist Beech was ”believable and true”; an extraordinary breach of professional detachment and disinterest.

On 10 October 2016 I sent a full letter with several appendices of evidence and references to a previous Home Sec.The Rt Hon Amber Rudd PC, MP,  with copies to Mr Cameron, and to the Met. Commissioner.

Several dossiers of fully referenced evidence and analysis have been sent direct to Grange, and a formal document with appendices of relevant and incontrovertible evidence was sent to the Portuguese Attorney General, and to the Polícia Judiciária  (PJ).  [Link below]    A further copy was also sent to the Rt Hon Priti Patel, when she held the office.

Receipt was acknowledged, though this does not imply that the officials included it in the boxes.

Retired Portuguese DCI Dr Gonçalo Amaral, the original SIO in the case, who wrote the book in which he referred to political involvement which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court in Portugal as an honest account and consistent with the evidence, has also been kept informed of our research.

More recently Staatsanwalt, H. Wolters and the BKA said repeatedly they have “concrete evidence” that Madeleine is dead.  That has since been amended to say that they have “no concrete evidence”.

Grange continues to treat the case officially as a Missing Person enquiry.
I remain,
Yours sincerely

Peter MacLeod

BSC, LLB, MA
Member of the Hon.Soc.Middle Temple
Retired Police Superintendent
Nottingham Police. 1972-2000

Refs:
Henriques Report
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/carl-beech-operation-midland-review-henriques-report-met-police-a9142856.html

Letter to the Portuguese Attorney General
https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t15959-letter-to-portugal-the-disappearance-of-madeleine-mccann-new-evidence-of-what-happened-to-her?highlight=key+lines+of+evidence+against

DCI Colin Sutton
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4467832/Met-interested-proving-McCann-parents-innocent.html

E-Book, referenced chapters dealing with individual aspects of the ‘evidence’
http://whatreallyhappenedtomadeleinemccann.blogspot.com/

DCI Dr. Amaral’s book - in translation
https://goncaloamaraltruthofthelie.blogspot.com/

Home Sec. Mrs May, Duchess of Gloucester, and principal suspect, Dr Kate McCann,