July 2008

From the list below it seems the McCanns could barely wait any longer.
The Oprah Winfrey (reputedly a million) interview was already arranged in January, but could not take place until they were no longer arguidos.
Murat is paid out but still wants to sue others - although he doesn't seem to have done so.
The Tapas 7 are advised by Carter Ruck - possibly on suing the press.
Most interesting is the Leicester Police/PJ angle. Why did the LP not wish the DNA evidence to be released?
LP were taken to court by the McCanns but they released few documents. This is discussed elsewhere and I believe that basically the McCanns lost.
Oakley international is hired, said to be sacked and then this is refuted. All in a short space of time.
Meanwhile the 'Amber alert Europe' is being presented as a triumph - reading the article it is clear it's anything but.
Last but not least the Celtic vote is played with a promised visit to Ireland (Kate herself states in the bewk that it was their first visit in April 2007 - here they state that they are frequent visitors.)

1/7
Correio da Manha reports likely outcome of case is ‘archiving’.
British press interpret this to mean that the case against the McCanns will be dropped. Portuguese Attorney General clarifies case is simply passed on to prosecutor. Normal procedure.

Martin Brunt, Sky News Crime Correspondent - 01 July 2008
"The McCanns want to see what evidence is in the files, although they know there isn't any."
 The PJ's coordinator, Gonçalo Amaral, went into retirement .
02 July 2008
Método 3 launch new website www.metodo3.es/engl (English version)
 
03 July 2008

Portugal ResidentPORTUGAL'S ATTORNEY General has said no decision has been taken on the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Daily StarTHE McCanns have hired more private detectives.
 
They will analyse secret police files the couple are determined to get their hands on.
 
GP Kate and heart consultant Gerry's new Brit-based investigators will work alongside Metodo 3 – the Spanish-based agency employed to find their daughter Madeleine nine months ago.


04 July 2008
McCanns listed to appear in court on Monday HMCS
 
Court 20
Before MRS JUSTICE HOGG
Monday, 7 July, 2008
At 10:30 AM
IN OPEN COURT
FD07P01121 McCann
Applications/Summonses in Court as in Chambers
FD06P01276
 
'The case is listed to be heard in open court on July 7 in the Family Division of the High Court in London, and is expected to be contested by Leicestershire Police, according to legal sources.

06 July 2008
The People
 
EXCLUSIVE Fury at Maddie smear Sick claim in cop's book
 
By David Jeffs Assistant Editor
6 July 2008
 
Madeleine McCann's parents last night angrily denied shameful allegations from a disgraced former Portuguese cop linking them to her death.
 
And he claimed he was on the verge of bringing a potential key new WITNESS to Portugal on the day he was fired.

07 July 2008
Carter Ruck will advise 'Tapas 7' The Independent
 
By Tom Peck and Robert Verkaik
Monnday, 7 July 2008
 
Four months after Gerry and Kate McCann won apologies and a £550,000 libel pay out from four newspapers for "grotesque and grossly defamatory" articles concerning the disappearance of their daughter, Madeleine, seven friends of the couple have employed the same lawyers to act against at least one national newspaper.


08 July 2008
Documents handed over to the McCanns without informing the Attorney General Diário de Notícias
 
FILIPA AMBRÓSIO DE SOUSA
8th July 2008
Thanks to Joana Morais for translation
 
Investigation. The British police released 81 documents from the investigation into the Maddie case to the McCann family due to a decision from the High Court in London. A fact that was not made known to the Portuguese PJ or to the Republic's Attorney General, Pinto Monteiro [....]
81 documents that will be handed over by the British police to Gerry and Kate McCann are at issue, following a decision from London's High Court. A sharing of information that neither the Attorney General, the most senior official in the investigation in Portugal, nor the PJ, which coordinates the investigation on the ground, had any knowledge about.

CANNES, France (AFP) — European nations agreed Tuesday to cooperate more closely in the hunt for lost children but could not endorse a Europe-wide alert system sought by the parents of missing British toddler Madeleine McCann.

Madeleine's Fund down to £500,000 Leicester Mercury
By TOM PEGDEN
- 09 July 2008
 
The Madeleine McCann fighting fund is down to £500,000, the family's spokesman said today.[...]
He spoke as Leicestershire police agreed to pass on to the family 81 pieces of information collected by them in the first days after the disappearance.

Thursday 
10 July 2008

McCanns' Oprah windfall Daily Star
 
By Jerry Lawton
10th July 2008
 
MADELEINE McCann's parents are planning a big bucks interview with US chatshow queen Oprah Winfrey to boost their search fund.
 
It is understood Oprah, 54, would be willing to break the bank for a cosy chat with Kate and Gerry.

McCanns get MEPs' backing The Sun
 
By STAFF REPORTER
Published: Today
 
THE parents of missing Maddie McCann today welcomed European Parliament backing for a missing child alert system to help prevent child abductions across EU borders.
 Conservative MEP and European Parliament Vice-President Edward McMillan-Scott, who helped organise the McCanns' visit to Brussels and another to Strasbourg last month to keep up support, today formally presented the resolution to EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot.
 Another source that knows the dossier well has an opinion that "the McCanns' petition doesn’t change anything". And explains: "The project, which already existed, has taken time to be approved because the 27 member states have different legislation".

17 July 2008 
Former co-ordinator of the PJ launches 'Maddie' before the secrecy of justice is lifted 24 Horas 
Gonçalo Amaral says that his book can help to discover the truth
Gonçalo Amaral, removed of the inquiry, guarantees that the book does not compromise the current investigation.

Madeleine parents want files if Portuguese case closed: lawyer AFP 

 
LISBON (AFP) — Madeleine McCann's parents believe any decision by Portuguese investigators to close their case would free-up details for use in their private search, their lawyer said Thursday.

18 July 2008 
Madeleine McCann: Police discuss what evidence will be made public Timesonline 
 
David Brown  Times online
July 18, 2008
 
British police involved in the hunt for Madeleine McCann have met a Portuguese prosecutor to discuss what evidence should be made public at the end of the investigation.
 
A request from Leicestershire Constabulary to withhold results of DNA tests on samples taken from a car used by Madeleine's parents is reported to have been rejected.
[...]
The third arguido in the case, the Algarve property consultant Robert Murat, 34, received £600,000 in libel damages from four newspaper groups yesterday over "seriously defamatory" articles.

20 July 2008
Cleared McCanns vow TV onslaught The People
 
We'll savage bungling cops on Oprah show
By Nick Dorman
20 July 2008
 
Madeleine McCann's parents will savage bungling Portuguese cops in a tell-all interview with chat queen Oprah Winfrey when they are cleared as suspects tomorrow.
 
For 317 days fuming Kate and Gerry have been gagged by their status as arguidos.
 
But at noon tomorrow a judge will formally lift the cloud of suspicion - as exclusively revealed in The People in April.
 
And the McCanns will finally be free to speak about the investigation into three-year-old Maddie's disappearance.
 
They are set to launch a stinging attack on US star Oprah's TV show - although her rival Barbara Walters is also vying to secure the first interview with the couple. The doctors, both 40, will either go to the States or speak from their home in Rothley, Leics.
  
22 July 2008
The dodgy DNA evidence that lead to the McCanns being made suspects Daily Mail
 
By VANESSA ALLEN
Last updated at 6:51 AM on 22nd July 2008
 
The forensic evidence which led to Kate and Gerry McCann being named as suspects was misunderstood by Portuguese police, it was claimed yesterday.

Martin Brunt, Sky News crime correspondent
12:56pm UK, Tuesday July 22, 2008
 
Kate and Gerry McCann have to wait a week to see the police files on the Madeleine case, but a summary has already been leaked to a Portuguese website.

Daily Mail 
 
By VANESSA ALLEN, DAVID WILKES and NIALL FIRTH
Last updated at 2:36 PM on 22nd July 2008
 
The police file of the investigation into disappearance of Madeleine McCann was leaked online today.
 
A 57-page report dated June 20, 2008 and written by an Algarve-based inspector with the Policia Judiciaria  was placed on the website of the well-regarded Portuguese newspaper Expresso today.

Kate and Gerry McCann threaten legal action over Madeleine book Telegraph 
 
Kate and Gerry McCann have threatened legal action over the publication of an explosive account of the investigation into their daughter's disappearance by the former detective in charge of the case.

25 July 2008
Madeleine Team Hope To See Files Sky News 
 
8:11am UK, Friday July 25, 2008
 
Lawyers acting for the parents of Madeleine McCann expect to be granted access to police files later today.
 
Kate and Gerry McCann were formally cleared of involvement in Madeleine's disappearance when prosecutors lifted their status as "arguidos", or formal suspects.
The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said the couple's lawyers in Portugal had applied formally for access to the complete police file and they would "be analysing everything in it in their own time without making elements public at this stage".

26 July 2008

Robert Murat Sues McCann Friends SOL 
 
By Felícia Cabrita and Margarida Davim
26 July 2008
Thanks to Joana Morais for translation
 
Robert Murat is going to prosecute two friends of the McCann couple for perjury in a confrontation ordered by the judge. Also the Portuguese State will be prosecuted, for allegedly "ruining his life".

28 July 2008
452

Kate's Maddie diaries leaked The Sun
 
Published: Today (28 July 2008)
 
EXCERPTS from Kate McCann's diary covering the first agonising weeks after daughter Maddie vanished have emerged.
 
The pages were obtained from police files by a Portuguese paper.


29 July 2008

Maddie's parents set for Irish visit Irish Herald
 
By Geraldine Gittens
Tuesday July 29 2008
 
KATE and Gerry McCann are set to return to Ireland later this year.
 
The couple and their young twins are expected to make the journey this autumn and plan to make a television appearance while they're in the country. The couple's visit will be their first time to arrive in Ireland since their four-year-old daughter Madeleine went missing last year.

The couple and their children were regular visitors to Ireland prior to Madeleine's disappearance in Praia de Luz in May 2007 while on holiday. And it is believed they want to return to meet and thank the Irish people for their support. 
Thursday 

31 July 2008


Police search for Madeleine is still on Euro Weekly News   
 
31 July 2008
 
Almeida Rodrigues said PJ detectives will continue to follow all new leads that come up until the case is solved.

"The fact that the criminal process has been archived does not mean the case is closed. A case only stops being investigated if there is a successful criminal trial," he told Portuguese television RTP.
McCanns viewing police case files BBC News   
 
Page last updated at 12:18 GMT, Thursday, 31 July 2008 13:18 UK
 
Lawyers acting for the parents of Madeleine McCann have started examining Portuguese police files on the investigation, their spokesman says.
 
Kate and Gerry McCann were told they could begin to study some 20,000 pages filed by police in Portimao.
Police also announced that the McCanns and a third British national, Robert Murat, were no longer formal suspects when they closed the case.


Public Ministry makes process available from Monday onwards Lusa   
 
31 July 2008
 
Faro, 31 Jul (Lusa) – The Public Ministry makes the Madeleine McCann process, whose inquiry was archived on the 21st of this month and which prompted the lifting of arguido status from the child's parents and from Robert Murat, available to the media on Monday.