MADELEINE MCCANN: THE LOST CLUES

MADELEINE MCCANN: THE LOST CLUES

Sunday April 29,2012

By James Murray

CRUCIAL leads that could solve the mystery of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance are revealed today by the Sunday Express.


These vital clues were never followed up by the ­Portuguese police, according to Isabel Duarte, the ­Lisbon lawyer acting for Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.

Shortly after Madeleine was taken from Apartment 5A at the Ocean Club at Praia da Luz, five years ago this Thursday, a sniffer dog picked up her scent at a nearby car park.

Mrs Duarte said: “This was a significant moment at a critical time, yet there is very ­little about it in the police files. There doesn’t appear to have been any forensic work at the spot in the car park identified by the dog. More work should have been done.”

Scotland Yard last week identified 195 leads needing further investigation, but Portuguese law officials then announced they had no plans to reopen the case.

There were some 70,000 calls on the documents provided to the officers but I do not believe they have ever been properly analysed. It would be good if they did that now

One witness described seeing a small grey car parked near the McCanns’ apartment but it is not apparent from the files whether the owner of the vehicle has been identified and ruled out.

Mrs Duarte said: “Another very important lead was the sighting by a schoolgirl of a man looking at Apartment 5A. That man has not been traced, despite a good description from the girl. It is very frustrating coming across these leads and then knowing the position of the Portuguese police.”

Mrs Duarte said she knew that three phone companies had provided police with lists of all calls made by people in the vicinity of the holiday apartment before, during and after the night when Madeleine was taken shortly before her fourth birthday.

She said: “There were some 70,000 calls on the documents provided to the officers but I do not believe they have ever been properly analysed. It would be good if they did that now, concentrating particularly on the calls made late in the evening after Madeleine was taken on May 3, 2007. It would be interesting to see if any patterns emerged in the calls.”

The Sunday Express can reveal that a British woman staying at the Ocean Club saw a “suspicious” couple loitering around the complex. On May 2, the day before Madeleine vanished, the woman saw the couple sitting on a hill overlooking tennis courts used by Kate and Gerry.

Just by the courts is a grassy area where the couple, Madeleine and twins Sean and Amelie, played regularly in the afternoons.

The woman, whose toddler daughter became friendly with Madeleine at the children’s club, said the suspicious woman was talking and pointing while the man with her looked “nervous”.

The following day at 1.30pm she saw the same couple standing near her apartment at the holiday complex and later told the McCanns’ private investigators that she thought their behaviour was “suspicious”.

It is not believed that the couple have been traced or identified.

Three years ago the Sunday Express revealed an elderly British woman living in Praia da Luz saw a Portuguese-looking woman hanging around outside the McCanns’ apartment about an hour before the abduction. Astonishingly, the woman has never given a statement to police.

Despite the scores of leads which have not been investigated properly, Portuguese Attorney General Pinto Monteiro dashed the McCanns’ hopes last week by saying the case would not be officially reopened, adding that no “credible” new facts had emerged during Scotland Yard’s year-long £2million investigative review of all known evidence.

Portuguese officers in Porto in northern Portugal have for some months been conducting a cold case review, liaising with Scotland Yard, but they are not making fresh inquiries.

Porto is a six-hour drive from Praia da Luz and it is not thought that any of the officers doing the review work have been active in Luz.

As the Yard unveiled a new “age progression” image of how Madeleine looks now, just before what would be her ninth birthday on May 12, there was no activity at all at the Policia Judiciaria headquarters in Porto last Wednesday.

As it was a national holiday the woman in charge of the Madeleine case, Helena Monteiro, was not even at her desk. She refused to give an interview and referred all inquiries to police in Lisbon.

At one point a noticeboard with the new image of Madeleine on it was seen being moved into a large office but one officer there said: “This is not a major investigation for us.”

In a fresh blow to the McCanns, Mrs Duarte will tomorrow hand back almost 8,000 confiscated copies of a book by Goncalo Amaral, the Portuguese police chief sacked for criticising British police five months after the crime.

Mr Amaral alleges in his book that Madeleine died in Apartment 5A, a claim clearly rejected by Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who said last week that Madeleine could still be alive.

The book, called The Truth Of The Lie, was taken off the shelves in Portugal, after 180,000 copies had been sold, following legal action by the McCanns in Lisbon’s civil courts.

However, Mr Amaral won an appeal to get his books back on sale on the grounds of his right to freedom of speech and the deadline for Mrs Duarte to return the seized copies is tomorrow.

Mrs Duarte, 58, a widow whose late husband Celestino Amaral was a celebrated and widely respected investigative journalist, said: “I tried my very best to stop the book being published but I will do what the court orders and copies will be able to be sold again next week. Mr Amaral has a very narrow view of the case which in our view is completely wrong.”

In September she will be back in the civil courts in Lisbon for the McCanns seeking more than £1million in compensation in a defamation case against him.

She said: “Every one of the books sold will increase the amount of damages that we will be seeking from him.”

Mr Amaral is reportedly divorcing his wife Sofia, who lives in Portimao, 12 miles from Luz on the Algarve, and now lives with his elderly father in Lisbon while pursuing a new career as a crime author.

Mrs Duarte said: “My view is that Madeleine could still be alive and every effort should be made to try to find her. I will do everything I can to help my clients to that end.

“Mr Amaral’s thesis does not help, but a lot of people in Portugal support the McCanns and want the case solved. Scotland Yard is very well respected and people want their detectives to work with our police. It is so frustrating, especially for my clients, when matters are not pursued over here. However, the Yard involvement has given them new hope.”

Mr Amaral yesterday backed calls for the case to be reopened. “We were always against the closing of the case. It should be reopened,” he said

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Lawyer Isabel Duarte ..........There were some 70,000 calls on the documents provided to the officers but I do not believe they have ever been properly analysed. It would be good if they did that now

She is having a laugh isn't she. 70,000 calls to go through and 5 years on, oh Gawd!!!!!! That should keep em busy for a few years. Besides this is an old story isn't it that came out after the Goncalo hearing.

As it was a national holiday the woman in charge of the Madeleine case, Helena Monteiro, was not even at her desk. She refused to give an interview and referred all inquiries to police in Lisbon.


In a fresh blow to the McCanns, Mrs Duarte will tomorrow hand back almost 8,000 confiscated copies of a book by Goncalo Amaral, the Portuguese police chief [b]sacked for criticising British police five months after the crime.

Mr Amaral alleges submits proof in his book that Madeleine died in Apartment 5A, a claim clearly mysteriously rejected by Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who said last week that Madeleine could still be alive.

Did a bit of editing....

candyfloss wrote:In a fresh blow to the McCanns, Mrs Duarte will tomorrow hand back almost 8,000 confiscated copies of a book by Goncalo Amaral, the Portuguese police chief sacked for criticising British police five months after the crime.
Mr Amaral alleges in his book that Madeleine died in Apartment 5A, a claim clearly rejected by Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who said last week that Madeleine could still be alive.

The book, called The Truth Of The Lie, was taken off the shelves in Portugal, after 180,000 copies had been sold, following legal action by the McCanns in Lisbon’s civil courts.

However, Mr Amaral won an appeal to get his books back on sale on the grounds of his right to freedom of speech and the deadline for Mrs Duarte to return the seized copies is tomorrow.

Mrs Duarte, 58, a widow whose late husband Celestino Amaral was a celebrated and widely respected investigative journalist, said: “I tried my very best to stop the book being published but I will do what the court orders and copies will be able to be sold again next week. Mr Amaral has a very narrow view of the case which in our view is completely wrong.”

In September she will be back in the civil courts in Lisbon for the McCanns seeking more than £1million in compensation in a defamation case against him.

She said: “Every one of the books sold will increase the amount of damages that we will be seeking from him.”

In the real world, the one of the Continental legal system (part of which -I think- is Portugal) lawfull acts like for instance selling an unbanned book, cannot be invoked to claim civil damages.

ID is an extension of mccanns who decides how the crime should be investigated.

Who does she thinks she is to expect the Police to follow up 70,000 leads? Even in a genuine case of abduction Police sieve chaff from wheat. And this in particular case, where there is no evidence a stranger has been in the apt. she expects the Police to follow to chase all and sundry who choose to phone in....Ha!!

Are these 70,000 calls referred to in the files? Seems an awful lot.

As it was a national holiday the woman in charge of the Madeleine case, Helena Monteiro, was not even at her desk. She refused to give an interview and referred all inquiries to police in Lisbon.

Just that little word in bold does a lot....how dare HM have some time away from her desk? Delete "even" and replace "refused to give" with "would / did not" and the tone of that sentence becomes much more impartial and sensible, but I expect neither impartiality nor sense from this journalist.

russiandoll wrote:As it was a national holiday the woman in charge of the Madeleine case, Helena Monteiro, was not even at her desk. She refused to give an interview and referred all inquiries to police in Lisbon.

Just that little word in bold does a lot....how dare HM have some time away from her desk? Delete "even" and replace "refused to give" with "would / did not" and the tone of that sentence becomes much more impartial and sensible, but I expect neither impartiality nor sense from this journalist.

It's ridiculous isn't it. I wonder if Andy Redwood will be at his desk next Bank Holiday Monday, or how many of the team?

So now they believe the dogs!!

yes they do and it is there as the lead story in a popular tabloid for all to read.....only a few days after you saw the other clever sniffer dogs on the tv.........[if you were not watching the football, interesting, the way panorama was brought forward to clash with a big game].

you cant have it both ways..... so...

to stop all the nonsense folks. Get on a plane and do the reconstruction or get on tv and tell us all why it is not a good idea.
Quality press.... Amaral's conclusions have been given a public airing, backed up on panorama by another police officer.
They can safely be discussed, so avoiding libel, do some investigative journalism the way you used to.
Just research and print the facts, they speak for themselves.

PeterMac wrote:

jd wrote:So now they believe the dogs!!

Different dogs. Those are sardine munching portuguese police dogs who take long lunch breaks, and can be believed
The other ones are the Pedigree Chum eating English dogs, which are obviously useless.

I know you being are sarcastic PM but seriously you can't pick and choose which dogs to suit your agenda as & when you feel like it, you either believe them or not, dogs are dogs and do not lie nor have an agenda. Well if they now admit they believe these dogs sniffing around the car park, then this means the dogs that found cavader and blood in Apt 5a, hire car and all things exclusively only belonging to the mccanns is a lead to followed up on too....make this 196. Martin Grimes and his dogs now work in the USA and for the FBI. I'd say the Americans have great faith in Eddie and Keela than the sardine munching ones in the car park!

"Three years ago the Sunday Express revealed an elderly British woman living in Praia da Luz saw a Portuguese-looking woman hanging around outside the McCanns’ apartment about an hour before the abduction. Astonishingly, the woman has never given a statement to police."


A Portuguese looking woman hanging about in Portugal - that must surely be followed up, they should have interviewed every Portuguese looking woman in the resort! Couldn't make it up, could you?

So, this lawyer says Mr Amaral has a narrow view of the investigation, so, having the view of abduction with very little independent witness or forensic evidence, IS NOT NARROW, or based on hearsay then ,is ot?

Changing the subject Lord and Lady are on the fragrant KO's sofa on Wednesday for those who cannot wait for some rend, checchhs and promoting the new paperbewk.

Lorraine Kelly Wednesday......my typo.

tigger wrote:As it was a national holiday the woman in charge of the Madeleine case, Helena Monteiro, was not even at her desk. She refused to give an interview and referred all inquiries to police in Lisbon.


In a fresh blow to the McCanns, Mrs Duarte will tomorrow hand back almost 8,000 confiscated copies of a book by Goncalo Amaral, the Portuguese police chief [b]sacked for criticising British police five months after the crime.

Mr Amaral alleges submits proof in his book that Madeleine died in Apartment 5A, a claim clearly mysteriously rejected by Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who said last week that Madeleine could still be alive.

Did a bit of editing....

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candyfloss wrote:
MADELEINE MCCANN: THE LOST CLUES

Sunday April 29,2012

By James Murray

CRUCIAL leads that could solve the mystery of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance are revealed today by the Sunday Express.


There were some 70,000 calls on the documents provided to the officers but I do not believe they have ever been properly analysed. It would be good if they did that now

Would this include the MC and T7 phones ?



The Sunday Express can reveal that a British woman staying at the Ocean Club saw a “suspicious” couple loitering around the complex. On May 2, the day before Madeleine vanished, the woman saw the couple sitting on a hill overlooking tennis courts used by Kate and Gerry.

Just by the courts is a grassy area where the couple, Madeleine and twins Sean and Amelie, played regularly in the afternoons.

The woman, whose toddler daughter became friendly with Madeleine at the children’s club, said the suspicious woman was talking and pointing while the man with her looked “nervous”.

The following day at 1.30pm she saw the same couple standing near her apartment at the holiday complex and later told the McCanns’ private investigators that she thought their behaviour was “suspicious”.

I suppose these are the "abductors"


Three years ago the Sunday Express revealed an elderly British woman living in Praia da Luz saw a Portuguese-looking woman hanging around outside the McCanns’ apartment about an hour before the abduction. Astonishingly, the woman has never given a statement to police.

A Portuguese -looking woman , now that is suspicious [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]




As it was a national holiday the woman in charge of the Madeleine case, Helena Monteiro, was not even at her desk. She refused to give an interview and referred all inquiries to police in Lisbon.

...... because it was a holiday [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


In a fresh blow to the McCanns, Mrs Duarte will tomorrow hand back almost 8,000 confiscated copies of a book by Goncalo Amaral, the Portuguese police chief sacked for criticising British police five months after the crime.


and rightly so .....[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]





In September she will be back in the civil courts in Lisbon for the McCanns seeking more than £1million in compensation in a defamation case against him.

££££££££££££££££££££

She said: “Every one of the books sold will increase the amount of damages that we will be seeking from him.”

Be Afraid ........



Mrs Duarte said: “My view is that Madeleine could still be alive and every effort should be made to try to find her. I will do everything I can to help my clients to that end.

“Mr Amaral’s thesis does not help, but a lot of people in Portugal support the McCanns and want the case solved. Scotland Yard is very well respected and people want their detectives to work with our police. It is so frustrating, especially for my clients, when matters are not pursued over here. However, the Yard involvement has given them new hope.”

Mr Amaral yesterday backed calls for the case to be reopened. “We were always against the closing of the case. It should be reopened,” he said

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Enough said !

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These lost clues are not mentioned, and neither have the Mccanns gone after this guy. Why not?

Also if Duarte or others want to connect the live tracking scent dogs alerts to any abductor they should shun tanners sighting as the dogs went nowhere near there , all these dogs did was to track madeleines steps on a normal day goong off to the creche, we all know what the cadaver dog did though

Someone has just made a good point on twitter re this from the article posted on first page of this thread, Isabel Duarte, talking about evidence not being followed up.......

[quote from article]

[i]Mrs Duarte said: “This was a significant moment at a critical time, yet there is very ­little about it in the police files. There doesn’t appear to have been any forensic work at the spot in the car park identified by the dog. More work should have been done.”[/i]



So the dog is to be believed in this instance, I thought the doggies were useless, can't have it both ways. She obviously seems to have faith in their markings in the car park. These I think were the tracker dogs, but same thing, different dogs trained to detect different smells. Oops!

candyfloss wrote:Someone has just made a good point on twitter re this from the article posted on first page of this thread, Isabel Duarte, talking about evidence not being followed up.......

[quote from article]

[i]Mrs Duarte said: “This was a significant moment at a critical time, yet there is very ­little about it in the police files. There doesn’t appear to have been any forensic work at the spot in the car park identified by the dog. More work should have been done.”[/i]



So the dog is to be believed in this instance, I thought the doggies were useless, can't have it both ways. She obviously seems to have faith in their markings in the car park. These I think were the tracker dogs, but same thing, different dogs trained to detect different smells. Oops!

I think the reasoning goes: you can have dogs. If the result is useful for you, it's a good dog. If not, it's a bad dog. Down Rover!