PM reopens Maddie files

THE official hunt for missing Madeleine McCann was dramatically back on tonight after the PM acted on her parents' heartfelt plea for help, The Sun can reveal.
Moved David Cameron ordered the Met Police to reopen all the Madeleine files for a full review of all the evidence ever gathered on her.
If the probe finds any fresh leads over how the little girl disappeared four years ago, a full-blown police investigation will then begin.
The PM's decisive move comes as more than 20,000 Sun readers signed our online petition today calling for an independent and transparent review of the Maddie files.

Pledge ... PM David Cameron
Met's Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson was tonight pulling together a "sizeable" elite team of detectives for the job.
They will go over every jot of evidence gathered by cops in the past "with a fine-tooth comb", a senior government official insisted.
Madeleine was abducted from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. Today is her eighth birthday.
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, made their appeal to the nation's leader in an open letter to him published in today's Sun. Kate's book on her daughter - titled simply Madeleine - has been serialised all week in The Sun.
Clearly touched by the McCanns' painfully emotional words, the Premier held urgent talks with Home Secretary Theresa May today on what they could do. Father-of-three Mr Cameron met the McCanns 18 months ago when he was Opposition Leader and has followed their ordeal closely.
The Sun can also reveal that Home Office officials have been secretly working on reopening the hunt for Maddie - for the last nine months.
Kate, 43, and Gerry, 42, spent an hour with Mrs May in August last year to ask for her help with their fruitless search.

Hunt ... Kate and Gerry McCann made a heartfelt plea to the Prime Minister for help
Mrs May told The Sun tonight: "We all want to see this beautiful little girl returned to her parents.
"That's why we have been doing everything we can behind the scenes in the search for Madeleine.
"Although it might not always be in the public eye, the British authorities have never given up on their work to find Madeleine."

The Home Secretary has also agreed to foot what is likely to be a substantial bill for the case review from her department's budget.
Leicestershire police, as the McCanns' local force, were the 'liaison force' responsible for collating all investigation work done by cops all over the UK.
The British police, at the request of the Portuguese cops, carried out interviews with UK witnesses and also collated sightings reported to police in this country.
All the information was then sent onto Portuguese police.
There was never a British investigation into Madeleine's disappearance as her abduction happened in Portugal.
It was one of the reasons why the Leicester police force constantly refused to comment on the case, even to Kate and Gerry, simply stating: "This is a Portuguese investigation."
The case review tonight won cross party backing in Westminster.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvonne Cooper gave it her full backing, saying: "We fully back Kate and Gerry McCann's request for information in Madeleine's case to be reviewed."
Madeleine's parents have been campaigning for a review of her case for several years.
The couple feel it is 'crucial' to finding their daughter - fearing vital leads, sightings and other clues are hidden in Portuguese police files.
They are desperately hoping that a fresh look at the files, similar to a criminal 'cold case' review, may discover something that was overlooked in the original investigation.
Gerry said: "The files are not held on a single database anywhere. By putting them all together we could discover that vital piece of the jigsaw."
The couples' fears, of vital clues being missed, seemed to be borne out when The Sun obtained files of sightings and other reports which had been collated by the Portuguese and British police AFTER Madeleine's case was shelved by them in July 2008.
As we reported at the time most of the reports were stamped 'No action' by the Portuguese detective in charge of collecting them and then left to gather dust in a filing cabinet.
Speaking at the time Kate described the revelation as "heartbreaking" adding "it is just not fair to Madeleine".
All the files relating to Madeleine's case are currently held by the Portuguese Judiciary at police headquarters in Portimao, Portugal.
The files include witness statements and details of sightings.
A month after the Portuguese police investigation into Madeleine's disappearance was shelved in July 2008 over 30,000 pages of files were released in Portugual.
But they were only released to people who had made a court application for the right to see the police files - the McCanns included.
Lawyers on behalf of the couple had to journey to Portugal to make the application on their behalf.
But the released files did not include all the documents held by Portuguese cops. Some of those were held back, with police saying they could not be made public.
Two years later files which contained evidence and sightings collected AFTER Madeleine's case was effectively closed in 2008 were also released.
But again not all the documents were made available.
The McCanns have collected all the information that has become available and their private investigation team have put it together as best they can.
But they are hampered by the fact that all the documents and pieces of evidence have still not been handed to them.
The investigators, and Kate and Gerry themselves, have spent the last three years ploughing through the files and trying to follow up as many leads as they can - but as Gerry admitted recently they are a 'small team' and only able to do so much.
As it stands it would take them years and years to effectively investigate all the clues and sightings in the files - and the money from the Find Madeleine fund which pays for the team would run out well before they could do that.


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Scotland Yard joins the search

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Clarrie on Sky now, he's tripping over his words he's so excited!

"The Home Secretary has also agreed to foot what is likely to be a substantial bill for the case review from her department's budget"

More money..............................................why can't they at least contribute some of the fund money? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

hentie wrote:"The Home Secretary has also agreed to foot what is likely to be a substantial bill for the case review from her department's budget"

More money..............................................why can't they at least contribute some of the fund money? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Because they have to pay their mortgage hentie.

admin wrote:Scotland Yard joins the search

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Nice comment. Well done.

But seriously, can you believe it? The McCanns managing to get reassurance from the PM that Scotland Yard will look into this case to sus out how they managed to get away with it. What a daft move. I say, just keep quiet fgs.

Oh well, just as well take the p*ss out of Clarry.............naf all else to do!

ufercoffy wrote:

hentie wrote:"The Home Secretary has also agreed to foot what is likely to be a substantial bill for the case review from her department's budget"

More money..............................................why can't they at least contribute some of the fund money? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Because they have to pay their mortgage hentie.

Right on cue.

im sure kates going to need the fund money to freeze the future wrinkles the re-opening of the case might cause after all botox isnt cheap but the mccanns are [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Excellent, wrinkles now.

Justice for Madeliene, that's what we all want. Aren't we all happy? Er no, certainly doesn't appear to be the case anyway. About that botox............. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I won't be celebrating until I understand exactly what is going on. I have read hints on other fora that the case being reopened has been on the cards for a while. I dont know if the poster is genuine or not but if they are it wouldn't surprise me if the book and all the hoo-ha this week has been to make it look as if it was done at the McCanns request.

littlepixie wrote:I won't be celebrating until I understand exactly what is going on. I have read hints on other fora that the case being reopened has been on the cards for a while. I dont know if the poster is genuine or not but if they are it wouldn't surprise me if the book and all the hoo-ha this week has been to make it look as if it was done at the McCanns request.

en

Yeh whatever.

Seriously people, if its reopening the case to discover the truth behind the disappearance of Madeleine McCann then surely you should be pleased its a step in the right direction.

Or is that not the real reason for this forum, you know, to discover the truth?

Because going on the comments.....it certainly doesn't appear that way!

ufercoffy wrote:

hentie wrote:"The Home Secretary has also agreed to foot what is likely to be a substantial bill for the case review from her department's budget"

More money..............................................why can't they at least contribute some of the fund money? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Because they have to pay their mortgage hentie.

Thought that would have been paid a couple of years back [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The Sun can also reveal that Home Office officials have been secretly working on reopening the hunt for Maddie - for the last nine months.'


This is why they have not been able to comment, and saying it was an ongoing investigation. I thought it was strange that this could have been put together since the letter the McCanns wrote to PM.

Tweet from Martin Brunt

martinbrunt martin brunt
Scot Yard offered special team of cops the day Maddie vanished 4 yrs ago and was rejected
25 minutes ago »

martinbrunt martin brunt
McCanns welcome "first step" of review of investigation into Maddie's disappearance
26 minutes ago »

martinbrunt martin brunt
Scot Yard Maddie team will work in Portugal under Portuguese direction
27 minutes ago » martinbrunt martin brunt

Scot Yard commander and team of homicide/child protection cops to join Madeleine McCann hunt in Portugal
30 minutes ago

I want to be sure it is the re-opening of the case by the Portuguese.

Not playing, sorry.

candyfloss wrote:The Sun can also reveal that Home Office officials have been secretly working on reopening the hunt for Maddie - for the last nine months.'


This is why they have not been able to comment, and saying it was an ongoing investigation. I thought it was strange that this could have been put together since the letter the McCanns wrote to PM.

I think that's a good point. I wonder if they have found something significant? I cannot understand why it would have taken so long unless they have been scrutinizing the files.

littlepixie wrote:Not playing, sorry.

Only a bit of fun. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

RBxHN wrote:

candyfloss wrote:The Sun can also reveal that Home Office officials have been secretly working on reopening the hunt for Maddie - for the last nine months.'


This is why they have not been able to comment, and saying it was an ongoing investigation. I thought it was strange that this could have been put together since the letter the McCanns wrote to PM.

I think that's a good point. I wonder if they have found something significant? I cannot understand why it would have taken so long unless they have been scrutinizing the files.

I think, and have said before, I think this has been going on for some time now. I think it's a good thing that the met police are joining forces with the Portuguese police, although the PJ will be in charge of the investigation.

candyfloss wrote:

RBxHN wrote:

candyfloss wrote:The Sun can also reveal that Home Office officials have been secretly working on reopening the hunt for Maddie - for the last nine months.'


This is why they have not been able to comment, and saying it was an ongoing investigation. I thought it was strange that this could have been put together since the letter the McCanns wrote to PM.

I think that's a good point. I wonder if they have found something significant? I cannot understand why it would have taken so long unless they have been scrutinizing the files.

I think, and have said before, I think this has been going on for some time now. I think it's a good thing that the met police are joining forces with the Portuguese police, although the PJ will be in charge of the investigation.

It does appear that way I must admit.

Does this mean that they no longer need their Private detectives. Are they out of a job?

candyfloss wrote:Does this mean that they no longer need their Private detectives. Are they out of a job?

Hopefully!

They weren't going to get anywhere without the authority to access all information imo.

candyfloss wrote:Does this mean that they no longer need their Private detectives. Are they out of a job?

Goodpoint candyfloss. They wont need to keep running the PLC anymore either, now that they dont have to keep "paying out".

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Most users ever online was 353 on Fri May 13, 2011 10:29 am
Friday 13th
Must be alot of excited people out there !

ROSA wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Most users ever online was 353 on Fri May 13, 2011 10:29 am
Friday 13th
Must be alot of excited people out there !

I just looked at that and thought Friday 13th, but of course you are in New Zealand, way ahead of us. In that case Rosa why didn't you tell us about this news hours ago

lol i am ahead yes but i think ill leave getting news up to you what with the lawyers watching im not quite sure whats allowed and whats not and sometimes things i post get doubled up [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

This latest news may or may not be the Real McCoy. Just in case it isn't, let us not detract from Kate McCann's disgraceful sentence on page 129 of her book.

I wonder if they will call on Goncalo Amaral, as he was in charge in the early days. He said if the case was re-opened he would be there as an assistant (I think that's what the Portuguese call them)

A message to Kate and Gerry McCann..........

'Be careful what you wish for as you may just get it'

I am assuming that Kate M will now have to answer those 48 questions that she refused to answer, also I am assuming the Met will take more seriously the reaction of Eddie and Keela, someone please tell me I am right!!!!