Operation Grange to receive extra £150k - Sky News

First I've heard of it, sounds to me like too much anonymity - proceed with caution.

Could be a phishing exercise.

If you've got something solid to offer, put yer money where yer mouth is - otherwise shove off  !

First anyone has heard of it as far as I can see, but these ‘anonymous benefactors’ have allegedly put up the following rewards for MM, Ben Needham & Corrie McKeague:
 
MM €600k
 
BN €40k
 
CM €40k
 
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every (dead) one has their price eh?

After spending £12million on the fruitless search for Maddie isn’t it time we prioritised the children who are dying here and now today – and who don’t happen to be cute and blonde?

By Janet Street-Porter

Madeleine McCann’s face remains one of the most poignant images of the past decade. Those trusting blue-green eyes and sweet smile are a poignant reminder that a perfect family holiday can suddenly end in tragedy.
Eleven years on, the public, the police and her distraught parents still haven’t a clue what happened to this sweet three year old on May 3rd 2007, when she vanished from her bedroom in a holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Portugal while her parents were dining with friends a few yards away.
Since then, the search for Madeleine has cost over £11.8million - and this week, the British government announced they are contributing another £150,000 to allow Scotland Yard to continue their investigation until next March.
This is hardly a large sum of money but it begs the question - why should this case continue to attract funding at all, when there is clearly little chance of success? Why does the search for Madeleine attract more resources than investigating the thousands of other children and teenagers who have gone missing in the UK in the last decade?
The mother of Charlene Downes, who vanished aged 14 in Blackpool in 2003, says 'all missing children need a voice' and reckons her daughter has been ignored because she came from a working class background.

To be brutally honest - at a time when young men are being felled with knives in all our major cities - why are the police not diverting all their resources into tracking down the gang leaders and the drug barons who are ensnaring schoolchildren into acting as couriers?
We need every penny available to arrest the evil people who are terrifying youngsters to such an extent that they are carrying knives for protection. Hundreds of poor inner city boys are being dragged into a wave of violent crime, many of whom come from single parent families where mum has to work bloody hard at more than one job to keep food on the table. These young men need support at school, counselling, and huge investment in their future.

They need places to go and be safe after school, mentors and more police presence on their streets. They are not cute, blonde photogenic kids - but they are our future and deserve just as much help and funding as Maddie.
Madeleine McCann’s case attracted huge public sympathy and media attention from the outset. Her parents, Kate and Gerry, are highly articulate, devout Catholics, trained medics - she’s a GP and he’s a cardiologist. They brought in PR people, and set up Madeleine’s Fund, attracting huge donations from Sir Philip Green, J K Rowling, Simon Cowell and thousands of members of the public- over £1.8 million was donated in the first year alone.

The McCanns flew to meet the Pope, and story went around the world- the crime was unspeakable. To lose a child without any warning, a gorgeous, pretty, smiling little girl who had never harmed anyone. Who took Madeleine, and why?
The Portuguese police did not handle the case well, and soon declared that the McCanns and Robert Murat, a local man were regarded as suspects. They alleged that Madeleine could have died as the result of an accident in the flat and her body taken elsewhere.
There were stories of alleged sightings of two different men carrying a child. Holidaymakers claimed they were never questioned about mysterious men seen in the vicinity if the holiday complex in the days before Madeleine’s disappearance. Rumours spread like wildfire.
Prince Charles was sent an email naming a former employee of the Ocean Club complex, where Madeleine had played in the swimming pool. The case was eventually closed by the Portuguese police in 2008.
Since then, the McCanns have fought and succeeded in getting successive British governments to fund investigations into their daughter’s disappearance. In 2009, Home Secretary Alan Johnson authorized an inquiry, which produced the Gamble Report in 2010. The search had involved many different agencies from The Home Office, the Foreign Office, the Leicester Police, the Metropolitan police to the Serious Crime Agency.
To streamline resources, Operation Grange was set up involving 29 detectives and 8 staff. By 2013, they had investigated 8,000 potential leads, and taken over 1,300 statements. In October 2015, the team was scaled back to 4. 
In April 2016, the Home Office gave another £95,000 to fund further work, and then another £85,000 in 2017. This week, another £150,000 went to the increasingly futile task of looking for Maddie.

The McCanns and Robert Murat have fought libel actions and won considerable damages from media outlets who made allegations which could be seen as damaging to their reputations. They have regularly engaged expensive lawyers, private detectives and criminal investigators, to no avail. Gerry McCann told Vanity Fair magazine back in 2008 that he had decided to ‘market’ Madeleine to keep her in the public eye. He has undoubtedly been highly successful in that respect, but his daughter remains missing.
There were 1141 child abductions in England and Wales in 2016, the highest for 15 years. Around 380 people go missing every day in the UK, of which two thirds are under 18.
I think of all the other gorgeous children who went for a bike ride or a trip to the sweet shop and have never been seen again. David Spence and Patrick Warren, who disappeared in 1996, aged 13 and 11. Ben Needham, who disappeared on holiday on the Greek Island of Kos, aged 21 months. April Fabb, who disappeared in Norfolk riding her bike, aged 13. Genette Tate, 13, vanished delivering newspapers, in Devon in 1978.
In all these cases, a child’s body has never been found. The parents, like the McCanns, do not have closure.
Sometimes, police and politicians have to make tough, pragmatic decisions using their brains, not their emotions - that’s why we elect them. The McCanns have consistently used emotional blackmail to ensure the government continues to fund a hopeless investigation at the expense of others. The next generation of young people need all their attention now.

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Sorry Janet Street Porter, excellent sentiments in general but you are painfully misguided as to case detail.  It would appear for the most part, your information has been taken from media reports over the years - OK in itself but when opining on such a sensitive subject as a missing three year old child, a feature in a national tabloid,  it's wise to be sure of your facts!  When you know more about the detail, you come to realise that this continued funding of Operation Grange is criminal.  The government and UK police will of course plead ignorance if they are ever exposed for this monumental travesty of justice - no doubt it will all be down to Portuguese incompetence and problems with communication between the tweo countries.

Your penultimate sentence is a perfect illustration of my point .... "The McCanns have consistently used emotional blackmail to ensure the government continues to fund a hopeless investigation at the expense of others."

That is fundamentally incorrect, although I can't deny they've leaned heavily on emotional blackmail [sic] to fool the public.

Yet another opportunity to have Mr and Mrs McCann Madeleine pictures and how hard Operation Grange are Not trying to find the Abductor/s!

You know the non suspects/person's of interest ,who may have been the last person's to have seen an "Alive Madeleine" with her siblings in apartment 5a Ocean club Apartment on 3 May 2007 at approx 18.00hrs,for 30 Seconds,err minutes?

PS,Operation Grange,He was interviewed by DC 1485 Messiah,from Leicestershire Police,its in the files from Portugal,PJ!

PPS,This person liked to Bathe other Adults,children at Bath time and statements taken as to depositions he had spoken about children's actions!

Verdi wrote:Sorry Janet Street Porter, excellent sentiments in general but you are painfully misguided as to case detail.  It would appear for the most part, your information has been taken from media reports over the years - OK in itself but when opining on such a sensitive subject as a missing three year old child, a feature in a national tabloid,  it's wise to be sure of your facts!  When you know more about the detail, you come to realise that this continued funding of Operation Grange is criminal.  The government and UK police will of course plead ignorance if they are ever exposed for this monumental travesty of justice - no doubt it will all be down to Portuguese incompetence and problems with communication between the tweo countries.

Your penultimate sentence is a perfect illustration of my point .... "The McCanns have consistently used emotional blackmail to ensure the government continues to fund a hopeless investigation at the expense of others."

That is fundamentally incorrect, although I can't deny they've leaned heavily on emotional blackmail [sic] to fool the public.

+1 Verdi

Always respected JSP as a maverick TV producer.  I think she should stay out of this, unless she's prepared to join here learn more, then write from an accurately informed position.

May be Janet street Porter is the New,Lorraine?

+1 willow!  he he!

Jill Havern wrote:

By Janet Street-Porter

.... while her parents were dining with friends a few yards away.


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This is beyond sloppy journalism. Janet Street-Porter bemoans the continued funding while still presenting the McCanns in the most sympathetic light.. If JSP doesn't know the most basic facts of the case you'd think the Editor would. I'm disgusted with the continuation of Operation Grange and the distortions of the truth spread by MSM.

The idea that this is still a hunt for a living person is beyond ridiculous. I listened to Pat Brown talk about what happens when children are abducted by pedophiles (as is claimed), and she says they are almost always dead within a day. This would more truthfully be marketed as an investigation into what happened to her.

Of course, we all know she died on or before the day of the "abduction" anyway. The evidence is overwhelming. Are they going to use these last funds to actually investigate the McCanns? That would be amazing, but I expect the chances of that are slim to none. I’m really glad to see action has been taken on this forum to demand some sort of transparency for this disproportionate amount of money spent on a non-investigation. Bravo you guys.

They wouldn’t even need to do any investigating. Any of us could probably run the prosecution ourselves just based on what's freely available. The PJ solved this case right from the get-go. 

The thing that also bothers me is how the McCanns aren’t being prosecuted for neglect. Their whole defence is that they left three young children in an unlocked apartment, and then one of them got abducted. It appears beyond reasonable doubt the twins were also drugged up to the eyeballs and it’s lucky they didn’t die in some fashion as well. I expect any impartial jury in possession of the facts would send them down for three counts here, even if the abduction story was believed.


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From 2016 in the Daily Mail.
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I wonder what the updated figures are now?

Sorry, I didn’t realise. I shall be more careful.

Cut & paste of this article in The Sun:

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Hi Jill Havern,can you move this article to the Operation Grange Bollocks or Not Bollocks,as this article from the Scum should be posted their,as it is total Bollocks to insinuate an abduction Kidnapper with No evidence of the perpetrator?

Surely Operation Grange cannot have an "Invisible Abductor,Kidnapper" can you,Aliens,No finger prints after the clean up squad,disembarked?

Fresh hope for Kate and Gerry McCann as police pursue two leads

Dogs have leads - two dogs have two leads....

Madeleine McCann: New hope as police investigate two 'specific and active' new leads


Investigators from Scotland Yard have revealed they are looking into "two specific and active" lines of inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The missing girl's parents Kate and Gerry McCann are "greatly encouraged" that police could be getting closer to finding their daughter, after a sit-down meeting with investigators last week, reports The Express.

   Former top cop's surprising new Madeleine McCann theory
   What would Madeleine McCann look like now?
   Private detective in Madeleine McCann case found dead

A source told the paper officers were "confident and hopeful they could get a result."

The specifics of the leads have not been made public over fears the suspects will go into hiding.

Madeleine McCann, then three, disappeared from her parent's hotel room in Portugal in May 2007.

The investigation into her disappearance, dubbed 'Operation Grange' has cost over £11 million (NZ$20,560,000) so far.

The Home Office has confirmed additional funding for the investigation to pursue the new leads. The latest round of funding is expected to be around £150,000 (NZ$280,000), covering Operation Grange until March next year.

Newshub.

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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  - Mirror.co.uk
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  - The Sun
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  - TVNZ
---------------------



Since when have Operation Grange been worried about the suspects going in to hiding before? How many times have they released info about potential suspects before?

Eggman
Tannerman
Pimpleman
Cooperman
Smithman
Victoria Beckham lookalike woman
Dead tractor man
Stairwell man
Raymond Hewitt
Purple woman

etc?

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And Kate and Gerry McCann can hardly go in to hiding can they? The whole bloody world knows who they are.

Difficult to go into hiding when your sat right in front of the chief investigator, unless of course you have Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility

‘Our Trace’ back to exclusivity in The Express this morning with her Mail story from yesterday.

Not that bloody ‘woman in purple’ again though!

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The Daily Tablet wrote:The specifics of the leads have not been made public over fears the suspects will go into hiding.

 



So, where have the suspects been this past eleven and a half years - the lawless hills of Portugal?  If their identity is known and they're under surveillance, it'll be a bit difficult for them to go into hiding wouldn't it ?

Verdi wrote:

The Daily Tablet wrote:The specifics of the leads have not been made public over fears the suspects will go into hiding.

 



So, where have the suspects been this past eleven and a half years - the lawless hills of Portugal?  If their identity is known and they're under surveillance, it'll be a bit difficult for them to go into hiding wouldn't it ?

Silly Verdi,they currently have Three distinguished Officers from Operation Grange monitoring the situation of the Suspects going into hiding,this as you know excludes Kate,Gerry and Tapas 7/9 as they are Not suspects or Person's of interest to Madeleine's case?

I can not see how they would be able to prosecute any stranger in this case.
Amaral told us back in 2009 that all samples were destroyd in both UK and Portugal and there is no body, no traces of a break-in and no traces from some unknown perpetrator, no known witnesses to a crime, no confession.
Any ideas?

Hi NickE,If it was me I would start with the "Sworn Testimonies",the Jemmied Shutters, changed stories as Police Officers are taught how to Twist manipulate spoken words to mean different outcomes to an event,to get to the Truth?

Apparently all,all methods are Fair in a case unsolved are they Not! 

Matt was close to breaking point in Portugal,as Why,what did he have to Fear if they had done "Nuffink wrong"?

The thought just occurred, when Operation Grange finally concludes, there's nothing to say they have to declare their findings. Maybe the outcome will be along the lines of 'this is a private investigation, we have reported our findings to Madeleine's parents and it is their choice whether to disclose it.' To which of course the parents stay schtum. And basically the whole farce has been an exercise in criticising the Portuguese police, and they will just conclude that there were major failings and chances to catch the culprit were missed.
 The end. Depressing isn't it?

Would you believe there are still a few diehards out there who believe the Operation Grange is a legitimate review/investigation into the case of missing Madeleine McCann? 

Those few, who apparently have inside information, confirm (sort of indirectly) that the Grange is 'on the case' - operating and investigating in the right direction and on the verge of solving the case.  Of course they don't speak openly about this because they are not giving a running commentary .

Meanwhile in the real world, day follows night and night follow day.

Hope springs eternal.

Until recently I myself believed it to be the case. I used to know someone who had a friend working on operation Grange, who again made the same sort of assurances that the police weren't stupid and knew 'exactly who was responsible'. However I can't now see it as genuine. No idea if either my friend was lying, their friend, or indeed if Operation Grange at one point were heading down the 'truth' path and were then prevented from doing so!

nglfi wrote:Until recently I myself believed it to be the case. I used to know someone who had a friend working on operation Grange, who again made the same sort of assurances that the police weren't stupid and knew 'exactly who was responsible'. However I can't now see it as genuine. No idea if either my friend was lying, their friend, or indeed if Operation Grange at one point were heading down the 'truth' path and were then prevented from doing so!

With a remit to 'investigate the abduction as though it happened in the UK', they were hardly ever heading down the 'truth' path...

nglfi wrote:Until recently I myself believed it to be the case. I used to know someone who had a friend working on operation Grange, who again made the same sort of assurances that the police weren't stupid and knew 'exactly who was responsible'. However I can't now see it as genuine. No idea if either my friend was lying, their friend, or indeed if Operation Grange at one point were heading down the 'truth' path and were then prevented from doing so!

Yes, it's probably nothing wrong with the Detectives but in a political infected case like this they are doing what they are told to do and not to do.
I asked the former Scotland Yard Detective Jon Wedger who was involved in the "Baby P" case and later forced to leave MET because he blow the whistle a question.
Very interesting answer.
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Jill Havern wrote:

nglfi wrote:Until recently I myself believed it to be the case. I used to know someone who had a friend working on operation Grange, who again made the same sort of assurances that the police weren't stupid and knew 'exactly who was responsible'. However I can't now see it as genuine. No idea if either my friend was lying, their friend, or indeed if Operation Grange at one point were heading down the 'truth' path and were then prevented from doing so!

With a remit to 'investigate the abduction as though it happened in the UK', they were hardly ever heading down the 'truth' path...

Well I mean at least initially, I suppose the police investigate a crime as reported, ie an abduction, until it becomes apparent that it is something else altogether. Which by the time Operation Grange was initiated, should have been abundantly clear to any law enforcement!!