A new one from l-azzerie-lies-in-the-sun

Operational Reasons

The Metropolitan Police -
'Our work is happening to support the Portuguese'
' Several people merit further investigation
 Channel 5, News studio, Friday 17th May 2013
Newsreader:
Detectives reviewing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have identified a number of people of interest.  The Metropolitan police team say they want to speak to each of them.  Madeleine was three years old when she disappeared from a holiday apt in Portugal 6 years ago.
Well Julian Druker is at Scotland Yard for us now.  What more have police said to you Julian?
 
Julian Druker:
“Emma this review has been going on for 2 years it came about after Portuguese Police shelved their inquiry back in 2008.  Well now a senior Scotland Yard detective said there are several people of interest that they want to speak to.  They have stressed to me, that DOESN’T mean they are suspects that they want to arrest, but SIMPLY individuals that they want to get in touch with.   Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said that it is perfectly probable that the information needed to unlock this case is somewhere in the files in Portugal somewhere.  And he said he hopes that the Portuguese police can now follow up these new leads. 

Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry McCann are both said to be very pleased this evening by these new developments.” 
 
So Scotland Yard have not cracked the case?
That the Metropolitan Police have been reviewing the Portuguese files for 2 years, now.   That after trawling through the files over this lengthy period of time they have failed to identify the information needed to unlock the case, which Campbell has stated is probably contained therein, and at huge cost, to the UK taxpayer (£6,000 + per day over 2 years) is rather perturbing.

More perturbing is that the ‘best’ Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell can offer is:
“That it is perfectly probable that the information needed to unlock the case is somewhere in the files in Portugal.”
That would be the same files the Met have/have access to?

Doesn't sound like they have uncovered an abductor or any evidence of one!
It sounds on the surface very much like the Metropolitan Police want to drop this hot potato, right back into the boiling pot in Portugal!
But perhaps all is not as it first seems.

Det. Chief Super Hamish Campbell/Met stressed, Julian Druker stated, that the persons he speaks of, are NOT suspects in this case, simply people he would like to get in touch with.   That is not to say that after being re-interviewed their  status as non suspects will remain the same.
It may be that these persons or some of them are able to throw more light on who in fact ARE the culprits in this crime. 
Presumably then he wants to speak with these NON suspects, so that specifics of their police witness statements for instance can be clarified.  As the Met said, they feel the statements given by these persons merit further investigation.

We must remember too that it is the Portuguese Police who have primacy in this case, so any interviewing/re-interviewing of persons would not be done by the Met! And before the Portuguese can interview anyone, they will have to, I imagine, re-open the case.
Will the Portuguese police consider it worthwhile re-interviewing these persons, consider the opinion of the Met as significant enough to take that step?
It really rather depends on who these 'persons of interest are!'

Now it would be foolish of us to believe that the Metropolitan Police has not recognised/identified the lies and inconsistencies in the police witness statements given to both the Portuguese Police and the Leicestershire Police in UK, by the McCann party, which caused both police authorities to become suspicious of the group.  

So many to choose from to use as an example, but Gerry McCanns door story has got to be 'right up there' with the best of them.  The father of the child, who tells us he noticed the children's bedroom door to be further open than he'd left it, and who tells us he stopped to have his 'proud father moment' describing everything right down to how Madeleine lay on the bed, in the minutest detail, yet he could not give the police right off the true answer to how he accessed the apartment, changing his story!
Now that's a biggie I am sure you will agree!

In fact, when Scotland Yard has been working so closely with the Portuguese Police it would be impossible for this not to have been raised discussed.
It would also be impossible for Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell not to have knowledge of the following statements in respect of McCanns and their acquaintances:-
 
1.     Portuguese Police:
If these witness statements do not totally exclude the possibility of an abduction they make the theory LESS CREDIBLE.  As a result, the answer MUST lie elsewhere.  NOTABLY, WITH THE GROUP OF FRIENDS (parents included.)
 
2.     Carlos Anjos,  Association of Police Investigators:
“They said that every half hour they would go and look in on the children, and ALL of them, we found in EVERYBODY’S statement some questions that suggest that actually they DIDN’T go and see the children.”
 
3.     The Assistant Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police speaking of Gerry and Kate McCann:
“While one or both of them may be innocent, there is no clear evidence that eliminates them from involvement in Madeleine’s disappearance.”
 
It would therefore perhaps be foolish of us to not consider that the persons the Metropolitan Police would like the Portuguese Police to get in touch with, are the McCanns and their acquaintances - (or perhaps the Met are saving them until last?) -as they do indeed based on their witness statements - MERIT FURTHER INVESTIGATION!

It would be difficult to believe that in the circumstances – the untruths told by the group, identified by both, police in Portugal and the UK Leicestershire force – that the Metropolitan Police would not be interested in speaking with them, to clarify clear up why they made the statements which they did, misleading statements which hindered the police investigation re missing Madeleine.
They had their reason for not being truthful, and it is that reason which unquestionably will lead detectives to discover what happened to this child.   As the Portuguese Police said, the answer lies with this group of people.
It would be more difficult also to believe that the Metropolitan Police have not reached the same conclusion as that of the Police authorities in Portugal.    They too surely know where the answer lies!
Logic tells us, if they have read the tapas statements, they would not be able to dismiss them, that they would have to pursue answers as to why they are not honest in their content.

And we must not forget the Smith family too – who would not want to speak with them, such crucial witnesses?  Witnesses who stated the man they saw carrying a young female child of Madeleine’s description on the night the child vanished, matched that of Gerry McCann?   The statements of this family certainly merit further investigation for sure.

No matter who the Met are referring to, which persons in the police files they identified as meriting another "chat" the tapas group and the Smiths are an absolute must for re-interviewing, and they cannot, the tapas group, have gone under the Met radar!   Just as they did not go under that of the Portuguese Police.
When the Met say they have, several, a handful, a number of persons they would like to get in touch with it pretty much sounds like a group of people, people who are connected, like the tapas group, the Smith family.
It would be unusual in this case in particular for several/a handful/a number of individual persons all to be of interest, unless part of a group.   For so many to be 'of interest' they would have to be connected in some way I would think!
So what are the Metropolitan Police, including their homicide detectives really playing at by releasing such statements where they speak of persons they have identified as ‘of interest’- A game of Cat and Mouse with Mr and Mrs McC and the tapas group?

Cannot be ruled out!  

Let's face it - two years, 38 or so detectives, £millions and they haven't come up with anything at all to suggest an abduction took place.
But what they do have before them is a bunch of police witness statements given by this group of people which are not worth the paper they are written on!
I think the group may just be feeling a little uncomfortable at this point in time - wondering who it is in those police files, who merits most their collar being felt!
And do we really think that the Portuguese police would have somehow "missed" several people in their files who were of interest to them?   Not a chance in hell!

If the Met have identified anyone of interest, the Portuguese did so before them!    Difference now is that they have joined forces!
These are not 'new leads' as some have reported, simply the Metropolitan Police announcing that certain persons are worth having another chat with.
The Portuguese Police and the British Police are working together they will have already discussed this before it hit the headlines.   Presumably they are in agreement as to the group of people they wish to speak with.  This announcement by the Metropolitan Police would not have come out of the blue for the Portuguese.
If it is the tapas group who they wish re-interviewed, let us hope for Madeleine's sake they do not pull another stunt like they did last time when they refused to co-operate with police.
If it is persons other than the tapas, let us hope they will be more accommodating, more willing to help this child, that if they live outwith Portugal, that they will, unlike the tapas group be prepared to make the journey.
Or, will it be the case that no matter who these persons are, if the case is re-opened, they cannot refuse to assist police further?

We know from the statements made by Clarence Mitchell that Kate and Gerry McCann are very very pleased with the progress made by the Metropolitan Police, who are working very closely with their counterparts, the Portuguese Police, but that they didn’t feel like making any further comment.  Shouldn’t really be telling you this and I ask that you don’t let it go further – operational reasons you understand!
Call me stoopid, but when did Clarence our comic strip character, who goes where no man, no other bald geezer has gone before (in search of the worst fitting toupe on the planet) together with Kate and Gerry become part of the Metropolitan Police Operation?
Do we really think the Met keep them informed re all aspects of their operation? 

But fear not, all is not lost they did want the public to know they are encouraged by the work of the Met.  So glad that piece of information didn’t come under the heading ‘operational matters’ why what would there have been to discuss without that little snippet?

It is however good to know, encouraging that Kate and Gerry McCann are happy with the Mets progress, and that it might bring about the re-opening of this case, sooner rather than later hopefully, when the perpetrators of the crimes committed against Madeleine have been identified, and they the McCanns and their cohorts can get the opportunity to throw operational matters and reasons to the wind, as they perhaps take their place on the Stand in a Court of Law to explain the events of the night Madeleine vanished.

I cannot claim to be as very very pleased as the parents of the missing child (no one can be more pleased than they are surely, to know the case may soon be re-opened) but I am very pleased at this latest news, and more than encouraged by the words of Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell as reported by Sky News:
“The purpose of the review was to look at the case with fresh eyes and there is always real benefit in doing so.  The review has further identified both investigative and forensic opportunities to support the Portuguese.
 “The key things are to investigate the case and our work is happening to support the Portuguese.”

http://news.sky.com/story/1092302/madeleine-mccann-new-suspects-identified

‘To support the Portuguese’ -  Now, did anyone ever think they would hear those words , see them in print in the UK press?

Let’s hope that is what the Metropolitan Police continue to do – support Madeleine and the Portuguese Police!   That is what the UK taxpayers are paying for, justice for Madeleine – not for them to pander to parents who refused to help the investigation.  Who refused to take part in a reconstruction of events, who refused to answer when questioned by police, and who have been less than truthful, who have damned every statement given by members of the public which is not favourable to their tale of abduction.   Innocent and honest people who have come forward with information as decent law abiding people do.

To be noted also, there is not a mention by the Met of abduction!  How very encouraging, that they are looking, it would seem – at all avenues!

Tis a pity though that Sky News went with the headline – ‘New Suspects Identified’ when that is NOT the case at all according to what Julian Druker reported,  he said, the Met stressed this was not the case at all!

Gerry McCann in a recent interview said the Metropolitan Police would be asking, when they are ready, for help from the public.
They, the Met,  did not make any appeal this time around.
Did not ask of us to look out for:
 
egg man,
morph man
spotty man,
hairy man,
swarthy foreign looking man,
man who looks like Gerry McCann man
(yes Gerry you are included in the files, in  the list of sightings of people who either were seen carrying a child, or were supposedly seen in the area acting suspiciously)  
He had no need to, from what Hamish said, the answer is already there in front of them - IN THE POLICE FILES!
That surely must have the McCanns jumping through hoops, doing somersaults - to know the answer is right there and always has been!
Makes one wonder how the McCann private investigators missed the clues.  All those years, all those £millions and zilch!   And Kate McCann she too has spent years reading the files, she must have missed them too, this bunch of people the Met and the Portuguese would like to have another word with!   They must have secreted themselves on the pages somewhere!

The McCanns will be relieved also that they now no longer have to campaign for monies for that Fund of theirs.   That will be a weight off their shoulders.   And the balance of the monies can be donated to other missing persons charities in Portugal and the UK,  they can pack it up, that is of course, if Hamish has not been havering!

In 2010 the McCanns said the British and Portuguese police failed to follow up leads generated by their private investigators.
I have searched to try and discover what these leads might have been if they are recorded somewhere.   Neither the Portuguese or the British police make any mention of them.  How odd!
Should the McCanns not be shouting from the rooftops what these leads were/are?  Should they not have made the Portuguese and the British police listen?
Just another McCann fairytale?
Do remember though this is the couple, who when asked by Sandra Felgueiras which 'sighting' of their missing child was the most hopeful, had the most potential, they could not answer, they could not come up with one, they struggled to even remember a single sighting of their daughter.

Gerry McCann stated that part of their campaign is to "persuade" the public that Madeleine is alive.    Yet this man the child's father could not identify a single sighting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyjVmxWzDY

Every sighting, or at least some of them one would imagine, must have given them hope, must have been etched in their memory - but not a one could they recall.   Astonishing!
Perhaps, no matter now, as the British and Portguese seem to be united in their findings - that the truth is in the files, that they need not search any further!

Gerry McCann 2010
“It’s not right that an innocent, vulnerable British citizen is essentially given up on.”

Kate McCann 2010
“We do this in medicine.  You know, if there’s a case where you don’t seem to be getting a diagnosis, somebody will come in and review it.   They’ll go back to square one – and that’s where you find out what else needs to be done and it will help point you in the right direction.”

I think the British police and the Portuguese police are  on track, they have gone back to square one - the tapas statements - the British joining the Portuguese, now heading together in the right direction, each supporting the other!   Their "diagnosis"is now coming to the fore!

Gerry McCann said that the alleged abductor was almost caught by Jane Tanner!
How he can say this with such certainty, when WE know and HE KNOWS, and three police forces know,  that the shuttered window  (which they claim was opened by the intruder) was NOT open at this time - his motive for stating this therefore has to be questioned?

Jane might have missed her chance to grapple the alleged abductor to the ground, to beat him senseless with her flipflops - but I suspect the Met, together with the Portuguese Police will be rather more successful when it comes to catching the culprits!   They will have looked at not only these police files, but every video of the interviews the McCanns have ever given!
The tapas when interviewed by the Leicestershire Police spoke of the Portuguese police in the most derogatory of ways, accusing them of trying to set them up.   Accusing them of creating inconsistencies in their statements.  If they believed their statements had not been recorded correctly, why then did they put their signatures to them?   They are fools if they think for an instant that one police force, no matter the nationality, appreciate their colleagues/counterparts being described as the tapas group described the Portuguese officers.   They would not appreciate for a moment fellow officers being accused of setting up the tapas group.

Such arrogance on the part of the tapas group, that simply because they were now being questioned by a British force that they, as British citizens thought they would receive some sort of special attention/treatment, that ALL they said regarding the night the child vanished would be believed, that ALL they said about the Portuguese Police would not be considered by the British police officers as extremely offensive.   Police authorities do have respect for one another.

The ignorance and arrogance of this group during interview by Leicestershire Police - astounding.
One at times can hardly believe they are educated persons, they way the speak and conduct themselves not conducive to cultured polite society.

Never forget, the McCanns and their cohorts may not have directly harmed this child, but something happened to Madeline, something so serious it caused them ALL  to fabricate stories.   Stories intended to mislead the police investigation.  Stories which the Portuguese Police saw through instantly.
I'm sure the police, British and Portuguese have more than in inkling as to what that might be.
I'll wager the fabricated stories of checking on the children were  not simply to cover for their neglectful behaviour toward their children - as their tale of abduction did not allow for them to be exonerated from this.   In fact quite the opposite.   So whatever their reason for this fabrication, it must have seemed the option which offered them greatest protection from the truth!

And of course it is not right than an innocent, vulnerable child, British or otherwise is given up on - but that is what happened to Madeleine -  the day her parents and their cohorts refused to help her, the police investigation, by refusing to take part in a reconstruction, was the day they essentially gave up on her!
The day that they could not put their silence down to that now infamous stock excuse 'operational reasons'  

It is not only a matter of solving this case, I believe that has already been achieved (solved by the Portuguese police) it is now a matter of getting justice for Madeleine for sufficient evidence, circumstantial or other, whatever is required, to be used to bring about an appearance in a Court of Law, of those responsible for the crimes against the child.   The police know who they are.
Solving the crime is but one element.   Proving it another.
Many who have committed heinous crimes, walk free!

Can we trust in the Metropolitan Police Review?   The 38 + officers, their honesty integrity in doing all in their power to discover what happened to Madeleine, that they will not protect those who harmed her?
I would think so.   I would hope so.   
It may be that the culprits in this case, those who removed Madeleine from the apartment, those others involved at whatever level might never be held accountable for the part they have played, but their lies will always exist, always their lives haunted by what they failed to do for young Madeleine Beth McCann - tell the truth!