Police have finally admitted Madeleine was abducted

Met
police spokesman ­Simon Fisher told the Daily Star Sunday the terms
allowed for "investigating any sort of lead" from ­studying the files.

sherlock wrote:Err excuse me, nowhere in that "statement" does it say that Maddie was abducted!

Molly wrote:Very interesting timing for these stories when perhaps a body might be inclined to give a little bit more to a charity or good cause. Not to mention on the eve of the publication of the fund accounts.

russiandoll wrote:why did the Spanish PIs who were paid to do so not follow up their own leads?
SY will surely be looking closely for the answer to that question if any of these wre key sightings, they will surely be looking at how much work was done by the PIs and what correspondence was there from the family to check on the progress they were making?
The criticism of the PJ is what this piece is really about, info passed to them which was not followed up, why were experienced PIs not able to follow these leads until the matter was resolved with a found child, or until it had gone cold, or could be discounted?

Freedom of Information Request Reference No:

I note you seek access to the following information:

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000 Questions - Madeleine McCann Review Team Please answer the following questions in relation to the Madeleine McCann Review Team:

1. What is the precise remit of the Review Team?

2. When was that remit agreed?

3. Who decided the remit?

4. When completed, to whom will the Review Report be presented?

5. On 14 May 2011, the Daily Telegraph said that "Scotland Yard's new investigation is being overseen by Commander Simon Foy, one of the force's most experienced detectives". Please either confirm that, or provide information as to who is in overall command of this Review.

6. On 15 May 2011, the Daily Record said that " Scotland Yard said Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, would be the senior investigating officer in the case". Please either confirm that, or provide information as to who is the senior investigating officer in the case.

7. On 15 May 2011, the Independent on Sunday said that "Mr. Redwood will report to Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, Homicide and Serious Crimes Command (HSCC), operational command unit commander." Please either confirm that, or provide information as to who is the person in overall charge of the HSCC".

8. On 20 and 22 July 2011, an officer from the Intelligence Section of the Madeleine McCann Team, Sam, Pay No. 220629, stated that the policy of the Team was not to answer any correspondence. Please state whether or not this is the case.

9. Please state whether, if evidence or other information is sent to the Madeleine McCann Review Team, any acknowledgement of the receipt of that information will be given.

10. Does the Madeleine McCann Review Team have a deadline for completing its review? If so, when is it?

11. Does the Madeleine McCann Review Team have a budget? If so, what is it? Do the funds allocated to this Review Team come from the Home Office or from the Metropolitan Police Authority?


Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within the MPS to locate information relevant to your request.
DECISION

I have today decided to:

Answer questions 5, 6 , 7, 10 and 11 in full.

To refuse questions 8 and 9 by virtue of section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (The Act) as an invalid request.

To exempt questions 1, 2, 3 and 4 by virtue of section 30 (1)(a)(b)(c) and section 31(1)(a)(b)(c) of the Act.

REASONS FOR DECISION

The following questions have been responded to in full:

Q5. On 14 May 2011, the Daily Telegraph said that "Scotland Yard's new investigation is being overseen by Commander Simon Foy, one of the force's most experienced detectives". Please either confirm that, or provide information as to who is in overall command of this Review.

Q6. On 15 May 2011, the Daily Record said that " Scotland Yard said Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, would be the senior investigating officer in the case". Please either confirm that, or provide information as to who is the senior investigating officer in the case.

Q7. On 15 May 2011, the Independent on Sunday said that "Mr. Redwood will report to Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell, Homicide and Serious Crimes Command (HSCC), operational command unit commander." Please either confirm that, or provide information as to who is the person in overall charge of the HSCC".

The senior officer with oversight of the review is Commander Simon Foy. Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Andy Redwood is the Senior Investigating Officer. DCI Redwood reports to Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell.

Q10. Does the Madeleine McCann Review Team have a deadline for completing its review? If so, when is it?

The review team does not have a deadline for the completion of its review.


Q11. Does the Madeleine McCann Review Team have a budget? If so, what is it? Do the funds allocated to this Review Team come from the Home Office or from the Metropolitan Police Authority?

The MPS has allocated a team to deal with this and the Home Office have agreed to reimburse this cost. This is reviewed on a quarterly basis.



The following questions have been refused on the grounds that they do not constitute a valid request under the Act:

Q8. On 20 and 22 July 2011, an officer from the Intelligence Section of the Madeleine McCann Team, Sam, Pay No. 220629, stated that the policy of the Team was not to answer any correspondence. Please state whether or not this is the case.

Q9. Please state whether, if evidence or other information is sent to the Madeleine McCann Review Team, any acknowledgement of the receipt of that information will be given.

I have decided to refuse access to the information you have requested under the provisions of Section 8(2)(a)(b)(c) of the Act.

A request under the Act is required by statute to be legible and capable of being used for subsequent reference. After careful consideration, I have decided that your request does not meet this requirement as I am unable to ascertain what recorded information you have requested, as defined by Section 8(2)(c).

To enable us to meet your request could you please resubmit your application in accordance with the above requirements. If for any reason you are unable to do so, please contact me for assistance or seek assistance from any other available source.

I attach an excerpt from the Information Commissioner's website which may assist you in composing any future Freedom of Information requests.

What can I request under the Freedom of Information Act?

You have the right to request any information held by public authorities. The Act allows access to recorded information, such as emails, meeting minutes, research or reports held by public authorities in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and some authorities located in Scotland.

You have not made a request for recorded information which may be held by the MPS

but questions which require a confirmation of a statement. You will need to be specific as to the recorded information you require.

We will consider your resubmitted request upon receipt as long as it meets the requirements stated above. You will receive the information requested within the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject to the information not being exempt.


The following questions are exempt by virtue of Section 30 (1)(a)(b)(c) and Section 31(1)(a)(b)(c) of the Act:

Q1. What is the precise remit of the Review Team?

Q2. When was that remit agreed?

Q3. Who decided the remit?

Q4. When completed, to whom will the Review Report be presented?

This information is exempt by virtue of Section 30(1)(a)(b)(c) and Section 31(1)(a)(b)(c) of the Act

Constituents of this information attract Section 30 and other constituents attract Section 31 of the Act. It should not be surmised that we are applying Sections 30 & 31 to the same pieces of information.

Serious Crime Directorate

rainbow-fairy wrote:I find it vaguely amusing (in as far as I find anything about this stinking rotten corpse of a case amusing) how the official spokesman trots out 'We are pleased the investigation is making progress' when the report is vaguely positive. However, note the difference in response to the police visit to Metodo 3 : 'Kate and Gerry will absolutely not be commenting whilst the review is in progress'. Do we take it, then, that Team McCann consider the review unmoving now?

Gillyspot wrote:I agree aiyoyo.

I too have searched the Met Police website & found only that FOI request and the Met refuse to state the remit of the review

Usual Daily/Sunday Star garbage - like the one about the signs on the walls informing paedos of a child alone.

candyfloss wrote:And we have this from the Sunday Express..................



MADELEINE: SECRET FILES REVEAL FOUR 'SIGHTINGS' IN MOROCCO


The Spanish private detective agency’s secret files are key “sightings” of Madeleine in Morocco
Sunday December 18,2011


By EXCLUSIVE from James Murray


SCOTLAND YARD detectives have been given a vast dossier of unpublished details about possible sightings of Madeleine McCann that might provide a breakthrough in the four-year hunt.

Today the Sunday Express can reveal that among the Spanish private detective agency’s secret files are key “sightings” of Madeleine in Morocco.

Metodo 3 director general Francisco Marco Fernandez last week gave 30 boxes of documents to four Yard detectives at his office in Barcelona.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Express, the private eye said: “I think this could be a significant moment in the effort to discoverwhat happened to the child.I am hoping so too, but not in the way you mean, Mr Marco... I am very glad all our leads will now be looked at by the Yard because they are important.

“There were about eight interesting leads which they will examine but I cannot say any more because I have agreed total secrecy with Scotland Yard.”It seems to me you don't quite understand the meaning of 'total secrecy'

He reluctantly spoke of four “interesting” sightings in Morocco after Madeleine, then aged four, disappeared from her ­holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, ­Portugal, on May 3, 2007.

There were about eight interesting leads which they will examine but I cannot say any more because I have agreed total secrecy with Scotland Yard All these 'interesting' leads! I'm so interested to know what is interesting about them!!!br />
It is known there were two possible sightings in Marrakech: one was at a petrol ­station when a child strongly resembling her was seen going into a shop three months after she was snatched.

A witness told Metodo 3 she had the same unusual eye ­feature as Madeleine.Now that is interesting! What 'unusual eye feature' would that be? The McCanns are now having us believe Madeleine didn't have an 'unusual eye feature'

There was another sighting of a child resembling Madeleine at an ­adjacent hotel on the same day at around the same time.

In a third sighting, a Moroccan-looking woman was seen carrying a blonde-haired, white-skinned girl. Cor, blimey! A blonde-haired, white-skinned girl! Police! Get there NOW! It has to be Madeleine!

The child was eventually identified as the five-year-old daughter of an olive farmer. So why even mention it, then? It just shows how ridiculous your 'interesting sightings' really are


Mr Fernandez would not say if any of the four sightings in the secret dossier were already known but said: “It is very intriguing information.

“We took inquiries as far as we could and then handed it over to the Portuguese police. We did it all in the proper way, wrote a report then gave it to Spanish police and they would pass it on to the Portuguese police for us.

“We never really heard back from the Portuguese so I can’t say what they did.” Why would you hear back??? The police obviously could see they were worthless.

Asked if he ever spoke to the former Portuguese detective in charge of the hunt, Goncalo Amaral, he frowned and shook his head. “Don’t talk to me about that man,” he said. “I can’t believe the things he said in his book. He got it so wrong.” Did he? And of course, you got it all right (which is why we now know where a live or dead Maddie is. Oh, actually, oops...

However, Mr Amaral told the Sunday Express that Metodo 3 never provided a strong lead. “They gave information about sightings but it was not enough and you could not prove it was Madeleine,” he said. Exactly!

A source close to Metodo 3 said: “Officially or unofficially Metodo 3 have never stopped looking for Madeleine. It was the biggest job they were ever given. People literally went all over the world and it has become very personal for many of them.”And very profitable, too, methinks...

When Mr Fernandez was asked if Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, had requested him to hand over his files to the Yard, said: “Of course, I would need their permission but I am not going to say any more. All our ­dealings with the McCanns are confidential and private.”If the Yard had a warrant for the documents, Kate and Gerry's permission or otherwise would become irrelevant

In November the Scotland Yard detectives hunting for Madeleine spent two days talking to high-ranking Spanish detectives with expertise in organised crime syndicates in Spain and Portugal. Among theories being examined was that she was smuggled out of Portugal on a yacht which sailed to ­Barcelona.

At the city’s marina on May 7, 2007, a British holidaymaker told private investigators about a bizarre encounter.


In the early hours a woman asked him if he was about to deliver her “new” daughter.


That woman has never been traced.

The Yard’s activities have given new hope to doctors Kate and Gerry McCann, both 43, of Rothley, Leicestershire. Yesterday their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “They are very pleased that police are continuing to work and review the case and that progress is being made.

“They welcome this and hope the team will bring a new ­perspective to the case. For operational reasons we cannot comment on details of the review but it is a step in the right direction.”

Kate has criticised officers in the botched Portuguese investigation for not bothering to ­follow up leads in North Africa, particularly the sighting in Marrakesh.

In her book, Madeleine, she tells of her anger that little was done about the sighting at a petrol station near Marrakesh.


A month later police were told the witness had still not been interviewed.

She writes: “It was intolerable. This was our daughter’s life they were dealing with, not a stolen car radio.”Very true Kate. But I think you'd take more care not to lose your car radio, wouldn't you???


[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

rainbow-fairy wrote:

candyfloss wrote:And we have this from the Sunday Express..................



MADELEINE: SECRET FILES REVEAL FOUR 'SIGHTINGS' IN MOROCCO


The Spanish private detective agency’s secret files are key “sightings” of Madeleine in Morocco
Sunday December 18,2011


By EXCLUSIVE from James Murray


SCOTLAND YARD detectives have been given a vast dossier of unpublished details about possible sightings of Madeleine McCann that might provide a breakthrough in the four-year hunt.

Today the Sunday Express can reveal that among the Spanish private detective agency’s secret files are key “sightings” of Madeleine in Morocco.

Metodo 3 director general Francisco Marco Fernandez last week gave 30 boxes of documents to four Yard detectives at his office in Barcelona.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Express, the private eye said: “I think this could be a significant moment in the effort to discoverwhat happened to the child.I am hoping so too, but not in the way you mean, Mr Marco... I am very glad all our leads will now be looked at by the Yard because they are important.

“There were about eight interesting leads which they will examine but I cannot say any more because I have agreed total secrecy with Scotland Yard.”It seems to me you don't quite understand the meaning of 'total secrecy'

He reluctantly spoke of four “interesting” sightings in Morocco after Madeleine, then aged four, disappeared from her ­holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, ­Portugal, on May 3, 2007.

There were about eight interesting leads which they will examine but I cannot say any more because I have agreed total secrecy with Scotland Yard All these 'interesting' leads! I'm so interested to know what is interesting about them!!!br />
It is known there were two possible sightings in Marrakech: one was at a petrol ­station when a child strongly resembling her was seen going into a shop three months after she was snatched.

A witness told Metodo 3 she had the same unusual eye ­feature as Madeleine.Now that is interesting! What 'unusual eye feature' would that be? The McCanns are now having us believe Madeleine didn't have an 'unusual eye feature'

There was another sighting of a child resembling Madeleine at an ­adjacent hotel on the same day at around the same time.

In a third sighting, a Moroccan-looking woman was seen carrying a blonde-haired, white-skinned girl. Cor, blimey! A blonde-haired, white-skinned girl! Police! Get there NOW! It has to be Madeleine!

The child was eventually identified as the five-year-old daughter of an olive farmer. So why even mention it, then? It just shows how ridiculous your 'interesting sightings' really are


Mr Fernandez would not say if any of the four sightings in the secret dossier were already known but said: “It is very intriguing information.

“We took inquiries as far as we could and then handed it over to the Portuguese police. We did it all in the proper way, wrote a report then gave it to Spanish police and they would pass it on to the Portuguese police for us.

“We never really heard back from the Portuguese so I can’t say what they did.” Why would you hear back??? The police obviously could see they were worthless.

Asked if he ever spoke to the former Portuguese detective in charge of the hunt, Goncalo Amaral, he frowned and shook his head. “Don’t talk to me about that man,” he said. “I can’t believe the things he said in his book. He got it so wrong.” Did he? And of course, you got it all right (which is why we now know where a live or dead Maddie is. Oh, actually, oops...

However, Mr Amaral told the Sunday Express that Metodo 3 never provided a strong lead. “They gave information about sightings but it was not enough and you could not prove it was Madeleine,” he said. Exactly!

A source close to Metodo 3 said: “Officially or unofficially Metodo 3 have never stopped looking for Madeleine. It was the biggest job they were ever given. People literally went all over the world and it has become very personal for many of them.”And very profitable, too, methinks...

When Mr Fernandez was asked if Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, had requested him to hand over his files to the Yard, said: “Of course, I would need their permission but I am not going to say any more. All our ­dealings with the McCanns are confidential and private.”If the Yard had a warrant for the documents, Kate and Gerry's permission or otherwise would become irrelevant

In November the Scotland Yard detectives hunting for Madeleine spent two days talking to high-ranking Spanish detectives with expertise in organised crime syndicates in Spain and Portugal. Among theories being examined was that she was smuggled out of Portugal on a yacht which sailed to ­Barcelona.

At the city’s marina on May 7, 2007, a British holidaymaker told private investigators about a bizarre encounter.


In the early hours a woman asked him if he was about to deliver her “new” daughter.


That woman has never been traced.

The Yard’s activities have given new hope to doctors Kate and Gerry McCann, both 43, of Rothley, Leicestershire. Yesterday their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “They are very pleased that police are continuing to work and review the case and that progress is being made.

“They welcome this and hope the team will bring a new ­perspective to the case. For operational reasons we cannot comment on details of the review but it is a step in the right direction.”

Kate has criticised officers in the botched Portuguese investigation for not bothering to ­follow up leads in North Africa, particularly the sighting in Marrakesh.

In her book, Madeleine, she tells of her anger that little was done about the sighting at a petrol station near Marrakesh.


A month later police were told the witness had still not been interviewed.

She writes: “It was intolerable. This was our daughter’s life they were dealing with, not a stolen car radio.”Very true Kate. But I think you'd take more care not to lose your car radio, wouldn't you???


[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

aiyoyo wrote:She writes: “It was intolerable. This was our daughter’s life they were dealing with, not a stolen car radio.”

kate the idiot is a fine one to accuse the Police. Did she answer police questions - it is concerning her daughter's life after all - did she give a damn? Was it because she knew Maddie is dead and pointless to answer?

aiyoyo wrote:She writes: “It was intolerable. This was our daughter’s life they were dealing with, not a stolen car radio.”

jd wrote:

aiyoyo wrote:She writes: “It was intolerable. This was our daughter’s life they were dealing with, not a stolen car radio.”

My favourite one was when she said the dogs were just having a 'sniff around'.....This is probably 'the' funniest thing I have ever heard in my life...simply hilarious as well as insulting peoples intelligence

rainbow-fairy wrote:

jd wrote:

aiyoyo wrote:She writes: “It was intolerable. This was our daughter’s life they were dealing with, not a stolen car radio.”

My favourite one was when she said the dogs were just having a 'sniff around'.....This is probably 'the' funniest thing I have ever heard in my life...simply hilarious as well as insulting peoples intelligence

Yep, spoken like they were next-door's poodles, not the highest-paid, highest trained police dogs available!
One wonders why the Army place so much faith in the dogs who sniff out incendiary devices etc. If you follow Kate's logic, they are just having a play, sniffing round. The fact they are saving lives is just a coincidental bonus side-effect!

aquila wrote:

rainbow-fairy wrote:

jd wrote:

aiyoyo wrote:She writes: “It was intolerable. This was our daughter’s life they were dealing with, not a stolen car radio.”

My favourite one was when she said the dogs were just having a 'sniff around'.....This is probably 'the' funniest thing I have ever heard in my life...simply hilarious as well as insulting peoples intelligence

Yep, spoken like they were next-door's poodles, not the highest-paid, highest trained police dogs available!
One wonders why the Army place so much faith in the dogs who sniff out incendiary devices etc. If you follow Kate's logic, they are just having a play, sniffing round. The fact they are saving lives is just a coincidental bonus side-effect!

Just out of interest, does anyone know if the McCann's had a pet? I'm resisting the urge to quote 'cuddle cat' but obviously I haven't.