Has Brian Kennedy now got the 'Reverse Midas' touch?

Once upon a time, Brian Kennedy, it seems, could do no wrong.

As his career began as a humble window-cleaner and then ended up two decades later with him owning Everest Windows, his Latium Empire and much more, making him worth hundreds of millions of pounds, he seemed to have what is called 'The Midas Touch'.

Everything seemed to turn to gold, he must have thought, as he sipped his ground coffee and toast in the morning looking out on to the Cheshire Hills from his palatial Swettenham Hall, near Congleton.

But ever since he bought that house in nearby Knutsford in September 2007, to house one of the most famous private investigations the world has ever seen, has his 'Midas touch' in fact turned into a 'Reverse Midas touch', where everything turns not to gold but, well...to dust?

Let's examine his recent record.

First, take Stockport County, a football club in League Division 1 when he took over. His honeymoon period with the club may have lasted a year or two, but then Kennedy began to focus on his ownership of a rugby club, Sale Sharks. He promoted a controversial ground-share between Stockport County and Sale Sharks. Stockport County supporters grumbled vociferously as Kennedy seemed to put his heart and soul into Sale Sharks, to the neglect of Stockport County. Whatever the reasons for their decline, Stockport slumped to Division 2 and last year were relegated from the Football League into the lowly Conference, where they currently lie a modest 12th.

So, that's Stockport County. But that didn't dim Kennedy's faith in his ability to run a football club. So when there was a crisis at Scottish Premier Club, Rangers F.C., last year, Kennedy stepped in with a bid to run it. But despite a great deal of noise in the press and what some described as 'strong-arm' tactics to try to win the bid, other suitors were preferred, and Kennedy lost out.

So that left him free to concentrate on his ownership of Sale Sharks rugby club. How are they doing this season, then?

ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTries ForTries AgainstTry BonusLosing BonusPoints

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Table [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] · [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] · [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
1	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	5	0	1	144	130	+14	16	12	2	0	22
2	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	4	0	2	185	126	+59	20	11	3	1	20
3	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	4	1	1	140	86	+54	14	7	2	0	20
4	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	4	1	1	130	81	+49	6	5	1	1	20
5	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	4	1	1	151	128	+23	11	10	0	1	19
6	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	3	0	3	152	125	+27	18	13	2	2	16
7	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	3	0	3	131	119	+12	9	7	0	3	15
8	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	2	0	4	144	145	-1	13	13	2	3	13
9	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	1	1	4	137	132	+5	12	13	2	3	11
10	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	2	0	4	118	180	-62	10	19	0	2	10
11	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	2	0	4	127	197	-80	11	18	1	0	9
12	Sale Sharks	6	0	0	6	73	183	-110	5	17	0	1	1
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Oh dear. Only 1 point from their first six matches, a points difference of minus 110 pointss, and already eight points behind the club above them. No wonder they've just sacked their coach, Bryan Redpath. Relegation out of rugby's Premier Division beckons - if they don't turn this season around soon.

So, finally, what about the success of Kennedy's crowning glory? - his selfless search for Madeleine's abductor, which he's now conducted for 5 years?

Admittedly, the Find Madeleine Fund - Leaving No Stone Unturned, has been a roaring success. Millions of pounds were raised.

But how has the Kennedy-run private investigation gone?

The first set of detectives that they appointed, controversial Barcelona-based detective agency Metodo 3, told the British public that they knew where Madeleine was being kept, and that Madeleine would be 'home by Christmas'. That was, simply put, a deliberate lie.

Kennedy appointed a former top police officer from Metodo 3 to assist him, Antonio Giminez Raso. Gimenez Raso was at his side as Kennedy met with Portuguese Police Officers in Portimao on 13 November 2007. But bad news was to come. Just three months later, Gimenez Raso was arrested for his alleged membership of a vicious criminal gang which had conspired to steal £200 million worth of cocaine from inside a consignment of shrimps in Barcelona harbour. Giminez Raso spent the next four years in a Barcelona jail.

So then Kennedy switched to a company, Oakley International, bigged up by the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, as 'the big boys of intenational private investigation'. But what a disaster that was! The sole owner of Oakley, Kevin Halligen, cleaned out Madeleine's Fund of a cool £500,000 PLUS expenses. Not only that, but embarrassing press reports later revealed that, whilst supposedly looking for Madeleine, Halligen had been wining and dining the high life in New York and London with his girlfriend, Shirin Trachiotis. Worse was to come, when in October he was handcuffed and bundled into a prison van, quite a come-down from his £700-a-night luxury hotel in deepest Oxfordshire. Halligen has spent the last three years in Belmarsh Prison awaiting extradition to the U.S. on serious fraud charges. It made some wonder what it was that made Kennedy, the McCanns and Clarence Mitchell choose him in the first place.

As Oscar Wilde might have said: "One private detective in prison might be unfortunate. Two of them in prison looks like carelessness".

True, Kennedy did obtain and pay for the services of 'forensic artist' Melissa Little to rustle up an image of the man that Jane Tanner claimed to have seen, complete with mustard chinos and pointy black shoes, and then to create a moustachoied man known variously as 'Cooperman', 'Monster man', or 'George Harrrison man'. These were among an amazing 17 men and 2 women who were variously described by Kennedy and the McCann Team as 'suspects', 'persons of interest', or 'people we wish to eliminate from our enquiries'.

Then Kennedy turned to Dave Edgar (and his sidekick, pigeon-fancier Arthur Cowley from Halkyn Mountain, who was at the centre of some entertaining possibilities: Madeleine was in a prison lair near Praia da Luz; she had been spirited away by a Victoria-Beckham lookalike on a yacht to Australia; paedophile Raymond Hewlett knew where she was, after a drunken night with a gypsy gang leader; or a basketball-playing bouncer and 'amateur sleuth' from Angola 'knew' that, as the Sun headline said, 'Maddie is in America'.

After all this effort and expenditure, what has it achieved?

Do we know who took Madeleine?

No.

Do we know where she might be?

No.

Indeed, do we have any useful information at all to help us 'search for Madeleine'?

Apart from two age-progession pictures of what Madeleine might look like now, No.

So, to sum it up, Kennedy's high-powered, million-pound 'search for Madeleine' has been, in a word...

...a Failure.

An excellent synopsis of The Kennedy Chronicles.

Tony Bennett wrote:Once upon a time, Brian Kennedy, it seems, could do no wrong.

As his career began as a humble window-cleaner and then ended up two decades later with him owning Everest Windows, his Latium Empire and much more, making him worth hundreds of millions of pounds, he seemed to have what is called 'The Midas Touch'.

Everything seemed to turn to gold, he must have thought, as he sipped his ground coffee and toast in the morning looking out on to the Cheshire Hills from his palatial Swettenham Hall, near Congleton.

But ever since he bought that house in nearby Knutsford in September 2007, to house one of the most famous private investigations the world has ever seen, has his 'Midas touch' in fact turned into a 'Reverse Midas touch', where everything turns not to gold but, well...to dust?

Let's examine his recent record.

First, take Stockport County, a football club in League Division 1 when he took over. His honeymoon period with the club may have lasted a year or two, but then Kennedy began to focus on his ownership of a rugby club, Sale Sharks. He promoted a controversial ground-share between Stockport County and Sale Sharks. Stockport County supporters grumbled vociferously as Kennedy seemed to put his heart and soul into Sale Sharks, to the neglect of Stockport County. Whatever the reasons for their decline, Stockport slumped to Division 2 and last year were relegated from the Football League into the lowly Conference, where they currently lie a modest 12th.

So, that's Stockport County. But that didn't dim Kennedy's faith in his ability to run a football club. So when there was a crisis at Scottish Premier Club, Rangers F.C., last year, Kennedy stepped in with a bid to run it. But despite a great deal of noise in the press and what some described as 'strong-arm' tactics to try to win the bid, other suitors were preferred, and Kennedy lost out.

So that left him free to concentrate on his ownership of Sale Sharks rugby club. How are they doing this season, then?

ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints ForPoints AgainstPoints DifferenceTries ForTries AgainstTry BonusLosing BonusPoints

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Table [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] · [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] · [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
1	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	5	0	1	144	130	+14	16	12	2	0	22
2	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	4	0	2	185	126	+59	20	11	3	1	20
3	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	4	1	1	140	86	+54	14	7	2	0	20
4	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	4	1	1	130	81	+49	6	5	1	1	20
5	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	4	1	1	151	128	+23	11	10	0	1	19
6	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	3	0	3	152	125	+27	18	13	2	2	16
7	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	3	0	3	131	119	+12	9	7	0	3	15
8	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	2	0	4	144	145	-1	13	13	2	3	13
9	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	1	1	4	137	132	+5	12	13	2	3	11
10	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	2	0	4	118	180	-62	10	19	0	2	10
11	[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]	6	2	0	4	127	197	-80	11	18	1	0	9
12	Sale Sharks	6	0	0	6	73	183	-110	5	17	0	1	1
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Oh dear. Only 1 point from their first six matches, a points difference of minus 110 pointss, and already eight points behind the club above them. No wonder they've just sacked their coach, Bryan Redpath. Relegation out of rugby's Premier Division beckons - if they don't turn this season around soon.

So, finally, what about the success of Kennedy's crowning glory? - his selfless search for Madeleine's abductor, which he's now conducted for 5 years?

Admittedly, the Find Madeleine Fund - Leaving No Stone Unturned, has been a roaring success. Millions of pounds were raised.

But how has the Kennedy-run private investigation gone?

The first set of detectives that they appointed, controversial Barcelona-based detective agency Metodo 3, told the British public that they knew where Madeleine was being kept, and that Madeleine would be 'home by Christmas'. That was, simply put, a deliberate lie.

Kennedy appointed a former top police officer from Metodo 3 to assist him, Antonio Giminez Raso. Gimenez Raso was at his side as Kennedy met with Portuguese Police Officers in Portimao on 13 November 2007. But bad news was to come. Just three months later, Gimenez Raso was arrested for his alleged membership of a vicious criminal gang which had conspired to steal £200 million worth of cocaine from inside a consignment of shrimps in Barcelona harbour. Giminez Raso spent the next four years in a Barcelona jail.

So then Kennedy switched to a company, Oakley International, bigged up by the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, as 'the big boys of intenational private investigation'. But what a disaster that was! The sole owner of Oakley, Kevin Halligen, cleaned out Madeleine's Fund of a cool £500,000 PLUS expenses. Not only that, but embarrassing press reports later revealed that, whilst supposedly looking for Madeleine, Halligen had been wining and dining the high life in New York and London with his girlfriend, Shirin Trachiotis. Worse was to come, when in October he was handcuffed and bundled into a prison van, quite a come-down from his £700-a-night luxury hotel in deepest Oxfordshire. Halligen has spent the last three years in Belmarsh Prison awaiting extradition to the U.S. on serious fraud charges. It made some wonder what it was that made Kennedy, the McCanns and Clarence Mitchell choose him in the first place.

As Oscar Wilde might have said: "One private detective in prison might be unfortunate. Two of them in prison looks like carelessness".

True, Kennedy did obtain and pay for the services of 'forensic artist' Melissa Little to rustle up an image of the man that Jane Tanner claimed to have seen, complete with mustard chinos and pointy black shoes, and then to create a moustachoied man known variously as 'Cooperman', 'Monster man', or 'George Harrrison man'. These were among an amazing 17 men and 2 women who were variously described by Kennedy and the McCann Team as 'suspects', 'persons of interest', or 'people we wish to eliminate from our enquiries'.

Then Kennedy turned to Dave Edgar (and his sidekick, pigeon-fancier Arthur Cowley from Halkyn Mountain, who was at the centre of some entertaining possibilities: Madeleine was in a prison lair near Praia da Luz; she had been spirited away by a Victoria-Beckham lookalike on a yacht to Australia; paedophile Raymond Hewlett knew where she was, after a drunken night with a gypsy gang leader; or a basketball-playing bouncer and 'amateur sleuth' from Angola 'knew' that, as the Sun headline said, 'Maddie is in America'.

After all this effort and expenditure, what has it achieved?

Do we know who took Madeleine?

No.

Do we know where she might be?

No.

Indeed, do we have any useful information at all to help us 'search for Madeleine'?

Apart from two age-progession pictures of what Madeleine might look like now, No.

So, to sum it up, Kennedy's high-powered, million-pound 'search for Madeleine' has been, in a word...

...a Failure.

Fie, thrice fie!

The man has spent zillions of his own money, well, of his glaze buying customers money and/or his workmen's money on a dream: to pry away sad Kate from that dreadful little man who caused her so much unhappiness;

So, which secret contract is there between Kate and her private Kennedy sponsored PI?

As in: I swore secrecy to Kate?

As in: OK we know whodunnit but we'll not let you take the fall? Deary?

Just a fairytale, of course. Evereyone is innocent until proven oherwise!

How did Kennedy become known to the Mccann's and their plight in the first place? Scottish connections or sporting connections or mutual acquaintances? Didn't he say at the beginning of his involvement that although he didn't know them personally he heard about their situation (the situation they found themselves in), was hundred percent sure of their innocence so decided to pledge his total wealth (if necessary) in quest of their innocence - sorry - searching for Madeleine?

It takes a particular type of person that would be willing to risk their personal fortune and professional reputation on a couple of strangers.

Gollum wrote:[...]

It takes a particular type of person that would be willing to risk their personal fortune and professional reputation on a couple of strangers.

***
I have an educated guess as to which ones, but I won't say it ...

I seem to recall a report that Halligen was paid from the fund via a holding company (soon dissolved) owned by Kennedy. What did he gain (or lose) as the owner of the holding company?

ShuBob wrote:I seem to recall a report that Halligen was paid from the fund via a holding company (soon dissolved) owned by Kennedy. What did he gain (or lose) as the owner of the holding company?

***
I have an educated guess, but I won't say it ...

Gollum wrote:How did Kennedy become known to the McCanns and their plight in the first place? Scottish connections or sporting connections or mutual acquaintances? Didn't he say at the beginning of his involvement that although he didn't know them personally he heard about their situation (the situation they found themselves in), was hundred percent sure of their innocence, so decided to pledge his total wealth (if necessary) in quest of their innocence - sorry - searching for Madeleine?

It takes a particular type of person that would be willing to risk their personal fortune and professional reputation on a couple of strangers.

Gollum, good evening.

One very relevant matter that has been discussed on this forum (though not recently) is the fact, disclosed to me by a source, that Edward Smethurst, a Solicitor who is a Trustee of 'Madeleine's Fund - Leaving No Stone Unturned', a man who is a long-term and very prominent Freemason, a man who is also frequently described as 'The McCanns' Co-ordinating Solicitor', and a man who for years worked for Brian Kennedy's Latium Group of companies as his Solicitor, has been holidaying regularly in Praia da Luz for the past 13 years - ever since 1999, it is believed. Turn to the Facebook account of Smethurst's eldest daughter, A______l, and she writes there about her succesful holiday in Praia da Luz this summer, for example.

Now, I have no evidence that the McCanns as a couple have ever been to Praia da Luz before, though in Dr Kate McCann's book, 'madeleine', she refers to her husband having gone out 'a couple of times before' to the Algarve Coast (near Praia da Luz) to play golf. Quote from book page 42: "I'd never been to Portugal, although Gerry had been there on a couple of golfing trips a few years before".

Now, I would like to pose this question.

Did the fact that Smethurst had holidayed for 8 years in Praia da Luz have any connection at all with the fact that he (according to Dr Kate McCann's book 'madeleine', page 268) contacted the McCanns (according to Dr Kate's book) on 14 September 2007, less than a week after the McCanns had returned from Praia da Luz, offering to help look for Madeleine?

On page 268 of her book, Dr Kate McCann writes: "On Wednesday 12 September, Gerry was contaced by Edward Smethurst, a commercial lawyer. He represented a businessman called Brian Kennedy, a successful entrepreneur who owned various companies, including Everest Windows and Sale Sharks Rugby Club".

A strange sort of coincidence, is it not, that a man who has holidayed for the past 13 years in Praia da Luz, ends up becoming the McCanns' 'Co-ordinating Lawyer'?

ShuBob wrote:I seem to recall a report that Halligen was paid from the fund via a holding company (soon dissolved) owned by Kennedy. What did he gain (or lose) as the owner of the holding company?

Here's the Mail on Sunday article dated 23 August 2008 which sheds light on this:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here is the report in the Mail on Sunday of 23 August 2008:

‘Madeleine fund in chaos as private eyes are axed after draining £500,000’

by DANIEL BOFFEY and MILES GOSLETT
Last updated at 10:14 PM on 23rd August 2008[/size]

QUOTE

A team of private investigators working behind the scenes to find Madeleine McCann has been axed after being paid £500,000 from publicly donated funds.

The Find Madeleine Fund quietly engaged the services of a US-based company which was awarded the lucrative six-month contract earlier this year.

The company, Oakley International, which boasts former British security service and FBI contacts, was hired to monitor the Madeleine Hotline, carry out detective work and review CCTV footage of possible sightings of the missing girl around the world.

A source revealed that the company had also spent resources in an attempt to infiltrate a paedophile ring in Belgium.

However, the company's contract will now not be renewed. The Mail on Sunday has learned that double-glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy, who has been underwriting the fund's search for Madeleine, has conducted a review of the agency's work and has become unhappy with the progress it was making.

The deal was abruptly ended following a meeting last week after the fund brought in independent monitors to assess how the money was spent.

The cost of employing the agency - run by a Briton, Kevin Halligen - has drained the Madeleine fund and there is now less than £500,000 left.

The development is likely to dismay the thousands who gave to the appeal, and raise questions about how the fund has been administered.

Mr Kennedy, who owns Sale Sharks rugby club, was said to be 'angry' because he believed Oakley's bills, estimated to be more than £80,000 a month, were too much for the results they achieved.

A source said: “There is a sense that they were meaning well but hadn't got as far as they should for the money involved.

“Brian Kennedy thought their work was far too pricey and wanted to know where the money was being spent. He wasn't satisfied with their answers and the contract was not renewed.

“Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate, have been kept informed all along and agree with the decision. A lot of people were asking questions about where the money was being spent.

Oakley International won the contract after an introduction by another company, Red Defence International (RDI), based in Jermyn Street, Central London.

Listed as being involved with both companies was Mr Halligen, 47, a communications expert. He is given as the 'contact name' for Oakley International Group, a company registered in Washington DC as the manufacturer of search and navigation equipment.

The company says it has annual sales of £33,000 and only one employee, who appears to be Mr Halligen.

The address given for the company is 2550 M Street NW Washington, which is the downtown office of Patton Boggs, one of the largest and most powerful law companies in America.

A source at the law firm said last night that the lawyer who represented Mr Halligen was unavailable for comment.

RDI, formed in 2005, bills itself as 'an experienced provider of crisis prevention, management and expertise'. It claims to have a presence in Washington DC and Virginia and representation in the Middle East, Africa and Central America.

However, its latest set of accounts is two months overdue and it faces being fined by HM Revenue & Customs.

Among the main players working on the McCann contract were Mr Halligen and Henri Exton, 57, who headed the Greater Manchester Police undercover unit until 1993. He then worked for the Government before moving into the private sector.

One day after a crisis meeting last week with the Madeleine fund administrators, Mr Halligen resigned as a director of RDI.

Mr Exton, of Bury, Lancashire*, has the Queen’s Police Medal and an OBE. During the Seventies and Eighties his work included uncovering organised crime rings and recruiting supergrasses.

He also infiltrated football gangs, at one stage becoming a leader of the Young Guvnors, who followed Manchester City, and was forced to take part in organised incidents to preserve his cover.

Previously, the McCann Fund had employed a Spanish detective agency called Método 3. However, the fund lost confidence in them, especially after they announced they would find Madeleine by last Christmas.

She had disappeared from the resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007, nine days short of her fourth birthday.

A spokesman for the McCanns said yesterday: “Kate and Gerry, the fund and their backers have always sought to employ the very best people and resources in the ongoing search for Madeleine. Kate and Gerry, via the fund and the backers, continue to employ many such resources and it is true that Red Defence and Oakley were part of those resources.

“I simply will not comment on any personnel, financial or operational details whatsoever”.

No one could be reached for comment at Oakley International or Red Defence International.

Mr Kennedy, estimated to be worth about £250million, became involved after being moved by the plight of the McCanns during the period they were made formal suspects (arguidos) in Madeleine's disappearance. Portuguese prosecutors dropped the couple's arguido status last month.

The 47-year-old made his money in double-glazing and home improvement ventures with companies including Everest windows. His Latium Group business empire has an annual turnover of about £400million.

ENDS

*POSTSCRIPT

There is an interesting postscript to the above, in that Edward Smethurst has just moved from Rochdale to Bury (where the secretive Henri Exton lives) . Smethurst's not really moved that far, just to the other side of the Ashworth Valley from his previous three residences in Rochdale. The Ashworth Valley forms part of the boundary between Bury and Rochdale Metropolitam Boroughs.

Smethurst's former watering hole was the Elephant and Castle on Bury Road, Rochdale; now he's just 5 minutes' walk from an equally pleasant pub in Bury. I wonder if Exton and Smethurst get together from time to time to discuss former (or maybe current) mutual interests?

And does either of them send a Christmas card, at least, to poor old Kevin Halligen? - who may have gained around 600-700 grand from his ineffective search for Madeleine, but perhaps blew a lot of that on his stay with girlfriend Shirin Trachiotis in a £700-a-night Oxfordshire hotel.

If only donors to 'Madeleine's Fund' knew that their donations werefrittered away so sacandalously on featherbedding Halligen and Trachiotis in their £700-a-night hideway. Such a humiliation for Halligen to be in £700-a-night luxury deep in the Oxfordshire countryside one minute, then led away in handcuffs to Belmarsh top security prison in London the next.

As the Good Book says, in 2 Samuel Chapter 1, verse 19, and again in verse 25, and even one more time in verse 27...

" HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN! "

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Do not be misled:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] God is not one to be mocked.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap
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Jehovah will not be mocked!