Portuguese prosecutor releases files of sightings

Breaking News10:24pm UK, Tuesday March 02, 2010
New Madeleine 'Sightings' To Be Revealed
New evidence about missing British girl Madeleine McCann is set to be released by a Portuguese prosecutor.
More to follow...


apparently more than 2000 pages of sightings that were sat on by the PJ

Oh good heavens. How will anybody be able to make sense of that.

update


Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt said there were "quite a few potential sightings, I'm told".

The new evidence is due out "because four British newspapers have applied to the state prosecutor in the Algarve", he continued.

Brunt said: "(The prosecutor) has in these last few hours released details and information that has been given to Portuguese police since they closed the official investigation".

Officer's in the Algarve

Other discarded leads include:
• A British ex-pat saying he saw a girl being dragged along a road toward the airport on the night Madeleine disappeared. He had not approached the authorities earlier because he was wanted for fraud.
• A girl like Madeleine was seen with an unkempt Spanish-looking man in his thirties at a shop near Murcia. The woman witness followed the girl but the pair vanished. She failed to tell Spanish police until June 2008.
• Another lookalike wearing only a dirty yellow jumper was seen being held at gunpoint on a French motorway by a half-naked man in August 2008. French lorry driver Michel Guidard walked toward them only to be threatened with a gun.
• Photos from the internet uncovered by a female French detective were found to show images of sexual abuse which involved a girl resembling Madeleine.
• An account by a Scottish mother of two who saw a girl who looked like Madeleine with a group of gipsies in Albufeira, Portugal, in July 2008. A woman who was with the girl ran off down the hill with her when two police officers turned up.
• Details of a sighting of a girl on October 9, 2008, with a Portuguese man living in the U.S. He allegedly ran a child trafficking operation smuggling in children from his homeland, Mexico and Greece.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: 'They are incredibly frustrated that this was sitting there and being disregarded by the Portuguese police.
'They were shocked when they saw the scale of the information that had come in and the lack of action taken.
'There are potential leads in the file that are now being followed up by our investigators.
'It's more than a pity that the file has just sat there for so long and simply marked "not relevant" by the Portuguese.
'There are also images in the file that are strikingly similar to Madeleine and are being looked into.'




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Brunt said: "(The prosecutor) has in these last few hours released details and information that has been given to Portuguese police since they closed the official investigation".

I wonder if Paiva is still in charge of investigating that.

Could it be that the case is about to be re-opened?

I dont know Autumn but I think pavia needs sacking.

Agreed Bunny.
I hope so Autumn.

oh dear those poor children. someone ought to have looked into those, even if they weren't madeleine, :pale:

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Breaking News
McCanns 'Shocked' As Madeleine Files Emerge

7:55am UK, Wednesday March 03, 2010

Jo Couzens, Sky News Online
Private investigators searching for Madeleine McCann must have access to previously unseen files which have emerged on the case, a spokesman for her parents has said.

The files reportedly comprise hundreds of pages of information, including CCTV images of a young girl who looks like Madeleine being led into a supermarket in New Zealand in 2007.

Several British newspapers have published the image, along with details of other possible sightings from the files.

The new evidence is available because four of the papers applied to the state prosecutor in the Algarve, Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt said.

One report mentions a British man called George who saw a small, distressed blonde girl being dragged along a road to Faro airport in Portugal on the night Madeleine went missing.

Another details how a young girl who looked like Madeleine was seen being held at gunpoint on a French motorway by a half-naked man in August 2008.

Kate and Gerry McCann

Kate and Gerry McCann are 'shocked' by lack of follow-up work

Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell called on the information to be released to the McCann family's investigators.

He said: "Kate and Gerry have made it clear that they were shocked to see the lack of follow-up work done by the Portuguese police since the investigation was shelved.

"All the information in these files must go to the private investigators as they are the only people still looking for Madeleine."

Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, while her parents dined with friends nearby.

Despite a major police operation and huge publicity worldwide, she has not been found.

Four months after she disappeared, Portuguese police made both Mr and Mrs McCann "arguidos", or formal suspects, in the case.

Two days later, on September 9, 2007, the couple returned to Britain with their two other children, twins Sean and Amelie.

In July 2008, the Portuguese attorney general shelved the investigation and lifted the arguido status of Mr and Mrs McCann.

The couple insist they will continue to believe Madeleine is still alive until presented with firm evidence to the contrary and have vowed to keep looking for her for as long as it takes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

A half naked man holding a gun to the head of a child on a French motorway !!!! I wonder who reported that, and how ? Did the witness use the emergency phone to report this or did he/she go home and have a think about it first ?

Autumn wrote:Could it be that the case is about to be re-opened?

Last nights Sky breaking news was very confusing - It said a consortium of papers had managed to get the trial re-opened.

From reading around this morning it sounds like they were maybe not quite accurate with that.

Let's hope this case is re-opened as soon as possible.

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Please look at the photos in this article in the Sun.
This has got to be a spoof

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Check that mans lorry for fumes.... I hope!!

As for the OP, fantastic news if horribly belated, i hope this kicks starts the investigation to get some momentum again and something comes from one of them. Poor family what a mix of emotions they must have right now, hope and frustration in equal measure I'd imagine.

justagrannynow 1 wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Please look at the photos in this article in the Sun.
This has got to be a spoof

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those pictures are utterly ridiculous.


The NZ grainy CCTV picture looks astonishingly like Madeleine - I know any little girl of that age with that haircut would in a grainy image, but even the little parting in her fringe is there.

I guess that she must have looked very similar in RL too, otherwise the image would not have been forwarded.

One hopes most sincerely that this latest shocking information, first brought to light by Isabel Duarte in the Amaral book banning appeal, will force the Portuguese authorities to re-open this case - or at the very least order a review or some kind of indepth investigation into the conduct of this case from the very beginning.

Chinagirl wrote:One hopes most sincerely that this latest shocking information, first brought to light by Isabel Duarte in the Amaral book banning appeal, will force the Portuguese authorities to re-open this case - or at the very least order a review or some kind of indepth investigation into the conduct of this case from the very beginning.

I agree, and well done Duarte, but currently it seems there is little incentive for the portuguese judiciary to want to open this investigation again and re-expose the errors and mistakes. In an ideal world the portuguese public would be clamouring for this but unfortunately many might have been misled by Amarals thesis.

Makes anyone with an ounce of compassion want to weep reading this.
Little Madeleine never stood a chance of being found with this bunch.

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This is all very very sad.

he Sun report with those graphics is terrible. Makes a very easy target for though who want to rubbish the information that is coming out.

I agree what a silly picture.

Why was this info not given to the PI's? But they will give it to Newspapers - I'm confused.

Surely these sightings from other countries would have first been investigated by the local police.

Lorry driver "Hello, police? there is a half naked man on the side of the A20 pointing a gun at the head of a little girl who looks like Madeleine McCann"

Policeman " Looks like Madeleine McCann you say? OK, thanks for reporting this, I'll pass the information on to the Portuguese police"

Somehow, I don't think that rings true. Also, the phone number for the McCann phoneline was being advertised widely by July 2008, so why did none of these witnesses contact the McCann hotline direct if they thought it was Madeleine? All these sightings, yet not one of them knew about the McCann hotline? Not one of them thought to contact the McCanns private investigators direct to confirm the information they had previously given to some other agency, even though there is a reward of £2.5 million?

We Antis get accused of trivialising the disappearance of Madeleine, but IMO we are being outclassed here.

No, I agree Justagran.
Most of these sightings are probably rubbish.
But what if one of them isn't? Wouldn't you hope it's been properly investigated?

Why would you phone the McCanns hotline with details about a child with a gun to their head? I would imagine that the person giving the information would presume it would be looked in to.

The issue really isn't the quality of the information.....it's the fact it was filed away and never looked at again because the police force were stuck looking in one direction only.

Some of this information would have been passed onto the PIs. The McCanns themselves said they passed on information themselves if it came through to them only. Howver, I dont think it would have been a lot/

Well the NZ sighting certainly appears a close enough similarity to have warranted further investigation at the time.

New Zealand police have defended their lack of action over a possible sighting of missing British girl Madeleine McCann, saying they were never asked to do anything.

Inspector David Campbell said all details of the December 2007 sighting were passed to Interpol and no instructions came back for a follow-up investigation.

A girl matching the description of the then four-year-old Madeleine was seen entering a supermarket in the southern New Zealand city of Dunedin five months after Madeleine disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal.

Details of the incident emerged Wednesday when British newspapers reported that a dossier from Portuguese police, containing a series of sightings from around the world that were never investigated, had been released to the media following an application to a Portuguese court.

The files included security camera footage of a girl "very like" Madeleine being led into the supermarket by a "portly man in shorts".

The man's behaviour aroused the suspicions of a security guard who approached the girl to establish whether she was British.

Although the girl said her name was Hailey, the security guard was convinced she was Madeleine and informed the police.

Inspector Campbell, the regional police commander, said police took the footage of the child - who had the appearance of Madeleine - and the family with her and forwarded it to Interpol.

"The lead jurisdiction, in this case Portugal, directs how the case progresses and it has not asked NZ police for any follow-up to date," Inspector Campbell said, adding that the NZ file remained open.

The dossier released to British newspapers showed information which police in the United States, Europe and North Africa considered important was also discarded.

Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate were reported to be "gutted" and "incensed" that their private investigators were not given access to the information, The Daily Mail reported.

"There are instances where information which we think is very credible and worthy of information has not been actioned," Kate McCann said.

Inyx wrote:No, I agree Justagran.
Most of these sightings are probably rubbish.
But what if one of them isn't? Wouldn't you hope it's been properly investigated?

That would be tragic, but it isn't clear from the media reports whether or not they had been investigated before being put into the irrelevant box. At this stage there is no way of knowing if the PJ investigated the Portuguese sightings, but to suggest that the NZ and French police would not investigate such reports is, IMO, insulting to the police involved. The point I was trying to make was that even if the witness genuinely believed the child was Madeleine, the local police would surely have investigated and not just sent a report to Portugal. The way the media are reporting this, we are being pressured into believing that no action was taken, and I cannot accept that.

"Inspector Campbell, the regional police commander, said police took the footage of the child - who had the appearance of Madeleine - and the family with her and forwarded it to Interpol.

"The lead jurisdiction, in this case Portugal, directs how the case progresses and it has not asked NZ police for any follow-up to date," Inspector Campbell said, adding that the NZ file remained open."

vaguely1 wrote:Why would you phone the McCanns hotline with details about a child with a gun to their head? I would imagine that the person giving the information would presume it would be looked in to.

The issue really isn't the quality of the information.....it's the fact it was filed away and never looked at again because the police force were stuck looking in one direction only.

Hi vaguely, see my reply to Inyx above.

I cannot believe that police in NZ, France etc, would hold back an investigation in their own country until they were given the go ahead by the PJ, who, stuck in Portugal, would have no way of knowing if it was Madeleine or not. Surely the PJ cannot instruct the police force of another country to take no action on their own soil? It doesn't make sense.

No, but if the NZ had forwarded the information ......they obviously thought it worthwhile doing it.

and then it just sat there, ignored.