Madeleine McCann parents fear their phones are being tapped in Britain

Madeleine McCann parents fear their phones are being tapped in Britain

Gerry and Kate McCann have become virtual prisoners in their home since returning to Britain, because of the media presence

By Caroline Gammell in Praia da Luz, Nick Britten and Paul Stokes
10:00AM BST 20 Sep 2007

Kate and Gerry McCann believe that their mobile telephones were bugged by Portuguese police when they were in the Algarve - and fear the tapping has continued since their return to Britain.

Sources close to the family say the couple are convinced that questions put to them during police interviews were based on information gleaned from their private conversations.

They have now told family members to be careful what they say over the telephone as it is thought all conversations could be recorded as potential evidence.

The revelation comes after a Portuguese prosecutor said the McCanns could not be re-questioned by police, as no new evidence had been produced against them since they left the country 10 days ago.

Their spokesman said they were "very encouraged" by the news, but that they were prepared to be interviewed again if necessary.
Under Portuguese law, any information secretly recorded is admissible in court as long as a judge has given his approval. This approval can be sought retrospectively.

British rules require the Portuguese police to file a Mutual Legal Assistance request with the Home Office if they want to bug phone calls on British soil.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, would have to personally sanction such an application, which would then be carried out by British authorities.

Neither the Home Office nor Leicestershire Constabulary would comment yesterday on whether any request had been received or put into place. A spokesman for the McCanns also refused to comment.

Mr and Mrs McCann, who have become virtual prisoners in their home since returning to Rothley, Leics, because of the media and police presence, have strenuously denied any involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.

They have described their agonising ordeal as "a parent's worst nightmare".

It is thought their mobile phone calls have been tracked retrospectively back to May 3, the night Madeleine vanished, using satellite technology to pinpoint their location.

A source close to the couple said: "British police warned Kate and Gerry when they were in Portugal that their phones and emails might have been tapped into.

"They believed it was the case over there and nothing has changed their mind since their return.

"It would be wrong to say that their phone conversations are in any way furtive as a result of this.

"They are entirely innocent and have nothing whatsoever to hide, but they are being understandably cautious."

Mr and Mrs McCann are named as formal suspects, or arguidos, in their daughter's disappearance.

A friend dismissed reports of scientific findings that could have aroused suspicion, saying traces of Madeleine’s DNA allegedly found in the back of the car they hired 25 days after she disappeared could be explained easily.

He also sought to explain why sniffer dogs - trained to detect the "smell of death" - allegedly became so excited when shown the boot of the car.

"Kate and Gerry had to transport all their rubbish to a communal rubbish dump half a mile away," the friend said.

"There was a regular run with the boot of the car being full of rubbish including bags of rotting fruit, rotting meat and soiled nappies belonging to the twins."

The friend said the dogs would have been confused by the mix of smells. It is understood new DNA tests are being carried out by the Forensic Science Services in Birmingham and results could be passed to Portuguese authorities this week.

It was alleged that police in the Algarve believe the house in Rothley could hold the key to Madeleine’s whereabouts.

The Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha claimed a request to search it has been approved by the investigating judge Pedro Daniel dos Anjos Frias.

It has also been claimed that fresh searches could take place in Spain after a request from Portuguese police.

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He also sought to explain why sniffer dogs - trained to detect the "smell of death" - allegedly became so excited when shown the boot of the car.
"Kate and Gerry had to transport all their rubbish to a communal rubbish dump half a mile away," the friend said.
"There was a regular run with the boot of the car being full of rubbish including bags of rotting fruit, rotting meat and soiled nappies belonging to the twins."

Why wasn't this challenged at the time ?
The system in Spain and Portugal is that there are bins placed at regular intervals, every 200 yards or so, into which domestic refuse is placed. You don't need a car.
Secondly, if it was a "regular run" why would the fruit and meat be "rotting" ?
If they were buying so much fruit and meat that it 'rotted' before being consumed, why not buy a bit less. And eat it ?
Most people dispose of nappies each day.
And lastly of course Cadaver dogs alert to cadaverine, and to nothing else. Blood dogs alert to human blood, and to nothing else.
They are not "confused" by other odours. Not ever.

[quote]

A source close to the couple said: "British police warned Kate and Gerry when they were in Portugal that their phones and emails might have been tapped into.

I find that rather shocking!

And if you look on google maps you can see bins in the car park on the other side of the tapas bar, next to the tennis courts. 3 green ones and one possibly for glass. Walk south past the pool reception and turn right into the car park.

candyfloss wrote: "There was a regular run with the boot of the car being full of rubbish including bags of rotting fruit, rotting meat and soiled nappies belonging to the twins."

I know there are various stages in potty training but why do they insist on soiled nappies when Gerry gives evidence that he brought one of the twins to the bathroom at the Millennium on the first Saturday?

"They arrived at the destination between 18h50 and 19h00 having set themselves up at a large table where they all ate dinner, including the children who were seated between the adults, never leaving the place except for one of the twins who went to the bathroom with the deponent."

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Molly wrote:

candyfloss wrote: "There was a regular run with the boot of the car being full of rubbish including bags of rotting fruit, rotting meat and soiled nappies belonging to the twins."

I know there are various stages in potty training but why do they insist on soiled nappies when Gerry gives evidence that he brought one of the twins to the bathroom at the Millennium on the first Saturday?

"They arrived at the destination between 18h50 and 19h00 having set themselves up at a large table where they all ate dinner, including the children who were seated between the adults, never leaving the place except for one of the twins who went to the bathroom with the deponent."

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is it possible he was changing a nappy in the toilet? You wouldn't change a nappy at the dinner table! The twins were 2 years 3 months at this stage. they could have been out of nappies at that age, but it really isn't clear. Obviously if they were out of nappies this blows another hole in their story as smelly nappies were not adding to the smell in the boot.

If they were doing 'regular' runs with the rubbish why was the rubbish so smelly. It would make sense you would get rid of your rubbish daily, especially as there would be bins reasonably near. We take food rubbish in the car to a local dump and it doesn't leave our car smelly.

PeterMac wrote:And if you look on google maps you can see bins in the car park on the other side of the tapas bar, next to the tennis courts. 3 green ones and one possibly for glass. Walk south past the pool reception and turn right into the car park.

I think I remember reading somewhere that when the police bought the sniffer dogs in to search the surrounding areas, the rubbish bins were also searched but had already been emptied



As the McCanns hadn't even been at Mark Warner's for a week how could they have rotting meat etc with a fridge in the apartment and they ate out every night. I can keep meat in my fridge for up to a week and it doesn't smell.



I throw my wasted cat food down the loo, the best place to get rid of it.

Hi Newintown,

I think the rotting meat, nappies etc., were in the boot of the car, and that was hired 25 days after Madeleine disappeared, so it wouldn't be the first week.

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

"RUBBISH ( DESPERDICIO )
Your villa is unlikely to have its own rubbish bin(s). You will normally find outsized 'wheelie' bins at the end of most roads which you have to take your rubbish to. This is normal practice throughout the Algarve. Most resort towns have pretty much converted over to the E.E.C street waste disposal guidelines. You will find blocks of four coloured rubbish bins each clearly marked as to what should be put in them.
PAPEL - Paper bins are coloured Blue,
EMBALAGENS - Bottles, plastic or metal bins are coloured Yellow,
VIDRO - Bottles, glass bins are coloured Green,
LIXO - Food, biodegradable bins are coloured Brown.

I guess if you have anything other than listed above you must go to the dump.

candyfloss wrote:

They have now told family members to be careful what they say over the telephone as it is thought all conversations could be recorded as potential evidence.

Hold on a minute.....if you're innocent of any crime why would you warn people to be careful what they say over the phone to you????

Big Vern wrote:

candyfloss wrote:

They have now told family members to be careful what they say over the telephone as it is thought all conversations could be recorded as potential evidence.

Hold on a minute.....if you're innocent of any crime why would you warn people to be careful what they say over the phone to you????

being devil's advocate, if I thought my phone was being tapped, even though I was innocent, I would watch what I said. I would in particular not criticise the police or anyone officially involved. I would also not want the police to listen into gossipy conversations I might have, irrelevant to the investigation. Who wants to be listened to by third parties? I don't.

Sorry Pauline, but that is no answer at all.
I suggest you read the quote again.
They are obviously terrified of anyone overhearing them discussing what really happened in my opinion.

And how would criticism of the police or 'gossipy conversations' be used as evidence against them?

Big Vern wrote:And how would criticism of the police or 'gossipy conversations' be used as evidence against them?

Criticising the police would not endear you to them and you might get harsher treatment because of it. So it would make sense to be silent on what you might genuinely feel about the police if you thought your phone was being tapped.

I did not mean that 'gossipy conversations' would be used against them. I meant that nobody wants third parties listening in to private conversations, particularly ones in which you are saying things that might not be true/messing generally, things you would only say to close friends you would trust.

Sorry, but in my opinion you are deliberately trying to deviate from the issue here.

Pauline...what part of "as it is thought all conversations could be recorded as potential evidence" do you not understand?

If I thought my conversations with my friends were being tapped guilty or not I would probably warn my friends just in case they said anything that they may be embarrassing to themselves and not of a legally embarrassing nature

Remember in a FOI request the Leicestershire Police refused to respond to whether they were tapping the McCanns phones on various grounds including "National Security" back in 2009.

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To clarify my above post. If I (not being guilty of any crime) thought my phone was being tapped I would inform anyone I spoke to of this, as imagine how you would feel if you had been speaking to someone freely and, for example criticising police and making assertions against a third party. Then later on found out that someone had been listening in to the conversation.

I have been lead to believe that regarding this statement "as it is thought all conversations could be recorded as potential evidence", it is incorrect as phone tapped conversations were not admissible in court but were to be simply used as information gathering.

That being said in Katey's novel, as far as I can recall she makes no mention of having her phones tapped and indeed when in PDL seemed to spend a lot of time (and also appear quite proud) of "informing" her friends back in the UK of the latest developments so as to set them off (like a firework!) notifying the press of the latest "outrage" against her and Gerry.

Yes I am in agreement with Pauline and Gillyspot on this one. Big Vern, with respect, I think your tone towards Pauline was not warranted.

Doesn't Amaral state that the great shame is that none of their phones were tapped? That this is common practice and an application to do so had been sent. Permission was not given! Amaral carefully doesn't say any more, but the implication is that the political pressure was on as early as that.

This phone tapping rubbish is about 2007, why should they worry, because they were quite forensically aware (possibly thanks to their preferred bed time reading of a police manual?). They deleted all their calls before they called the police on 3/5. Obviously knowing that calls would be recorded. Quite a number were to or from a non-subscriber phone. But none of the contents of sms's could be traced. That's all that mattered.

The only worry they had in the UK is that journalists would hack their calls. Which they must have done. But I don't think that anything useful would have resulted. I think the blog Gerry started was principally to pass on pre arranged messages. Rather neat.
For instance, I've been wondering about he lost wallet with the irreplaceable photos. When he got it back, he said he had one or two precious 'things' back as well. A few of his messages got whooshed soon after posting. The wonky new fridge for instance. Which really makes one think. He even bothered to tell us which shirt he was wearing.

It wouldn't take a genius to work out that there was a possibility that their phones may be tapped, I think that anyone in that situation or anyone in the public eye would always be conscious of that and it would be good practice to mention that to friends I would think. What I make from that article is that the telegraph had nothing new to say so they regurgitated something that had been speculated on. "Sources close to the family" and "A friend" doesn't sound like a concrete interview to me.

I searched everywhere for that fridge entry, Tigger. On Pamelam's site she has a copy of Gerry's blogs from the beginning and has shown every change that was made from the start (spelling etc). I'd be very surprised if there was anything missing.

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If they'd been eating out every night when did they get the chance to cook meat?

Why did they purchase meat if they didn't intend to cook it because according to kate they'd made reservation for the Tapas well in advance for the entire week and the reservation book (according to kate also) was left for her imaginary abductor to view.

If smelly nappies transported literally couple of minutes away to the dump were enough to stink the car out that the trunk had to be left open for hours for airing then in that case wouldn't the smelly nappies having been left around for a much longer period in the apt would have stunk the apt out beyond bearable level so why weren't they cleared sooner?

What a cock and bull story to counter the dogs. Finding an explanation for the markings must tell you they acknowledged the dogs findings but tried to explain it away.

Don't forget their friends also had nappies-aged children with them and had to deal with disposal of smelly nappies but the dogs marked out possessions specific only to the mccanns.

Big Vern wrote:And how would criticism of the police or 'gossipy conversations' be used as evidence against them?

Exactly! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

aiyoyo wrote:

Big Vern wrote:And how would criticism of the police or 'gossipy conversations' be used as evidence against them?

Exactly! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I concur too with Big Vern

Molly wrote:It wouldn't take a genius to work out that there was a possibility that their phones may be tapped, I think that anyone in that situation or anyone in the public eye would always be conscious of that and it would be good practice to mention that to friends I would think. What I make from that article is that the telegraph had nothing new to say so they regurgitated something that had been speculated on. "Sources close to the family" and "A friend" doesn't sound like a concrete interview to me.

I searched everywhere for that fridge entry, Tigger. On Pamelam's site she has a copy of Gerry's blogs from the beginning and has shown every change that was made from the start (spelling etc). I'd be very surprised if there was anything missing.

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

there was a very long thread on the fridge on Missing Madeleine site in July I think. You might find something there. That's where I got it.