NEW team of Detectives to assist SY

by Karen Pinto 25.08.13 6:20

Sunday Papers:

I am struggling to copy the pictures,

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Police in Portugal have put together a new team of detectives to assist Scotland Yard in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

They have been told to help officers from the Met and have been given a long list of people British police want them to interview about Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 while on holiday with her parents in the Algarve.

None of the detectives involved in the shambolic initial Portuguese investigation is thought to have been chosen.

The new team is expected to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] work in the next few weeks.
It will question more than 30 ‘people of interest’, thought to include a taxi driver who thinks he may have picked up Madeleine, then aged three, the night after she vanished from her [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] while her parents were at a tapas bar 50 yards away.

Cabbie Antonio Castela, 73, said he picked up three men, a woman and a child resembling Madeleine about an hour’s drive from the resort and dropped them off at a hotel.

He gave a statement to Portuguese police but was never questioned afterwards.

British detectives are hoping to be allowed to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in the interviews, although the Portuguese have made it clear that if they are given permission public prosecutors will be with them at all times.

Disappearance: Gerry McCann, father of Madeleine, in Praia da Luz, Portugal where she was last seen

The formation of the Portuguese police team will be seen as a major step forward by British authorities pushing for a renewed effort in the investigation.

Home Secretary Theresa May sent an official request for assistance last month to Portugal’s attorney general.

The document containing the request is thought to have included the names of the 38 people across Europe identified as ‘of interest’ by a Home Office-funded Met Police review team.

The vast majority are thought to be in Portugal.

Ongoing investigation: Kate and Gerry McCann hold a news conference to mark the 5th anniversary of the disappearance
Ongoing investigation: Kate and Gerry McCann hold a news conference to mark the 5th anniversary of the disappearance

Several witnesses, believed to be British tourists, have already been interviewed again in the UK.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Met’s review into the case, called Operation Grange, has said he believes Madeleine is still alive.

The initial Portuguese inquiry was shelved in 2008 and the authorities there have insisted that providing assistance to the British review does not equate to a reopening of their own investigation.

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by aiyoyo 25.08.13 7:22

Police in Portugal have put together a new team of detectives to assist Scotland Yard in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

They have been told to help officers from the Met and have been given a long list of people British police want them to interview about Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 while on holiday with her parents in the Algarve.

None of the detectives involved in the shambolic initial Portuguese investigation is thought to have been chosen.

Scathing of the PJ - derogatory in fact

The new team is expected to work in the next few weeks.
It will question more than 30 ‘people of interest’, thought to include a taxi driver who thinks he may have picked up Madeleine, then aged three, the night after she vanished from her while her parents were at a tapas bar 50 yards away.

Questioning the Cabbie ? Either in the belief she's alive or eliminating loose end.

Cabbie Antonio Castela, 73, said he picked up three men, a woman and a child resembling Madeleine about an hour’s drive from the resort and dropped them off at a hotel. He gave a statement to Portuguese police but was never questioned afterwards.

[b]British detectives are hoping to be allowed to participate in the interviews, although the Portuguese have made it clear that if they are given permission public prosecutors will be with them at all times.

So the Yard do not have the power to order the PJ about to suit its will then..so what was the starting lines all about ?

Disappearance: Gerry McCann, father of Madeleine, in Praia da Luz, Portugal where she was last seen

The formation of the Portuguese police team will be seen as a major step forward by British authorities pushing for a renewed effort in the investigation.

Home Secretary Theresa May sent an official request for assistance last month to Portugal’s attorney general.

The document containing the request is thought to have included the names of the 38 people across Europe identified as ‘of interest’ by a Home Office-funded Met Police review team.

The vast majority are thought to be in Portugal.

Ongoing investigation: Kate and Gerry McCann hold a news conference to mark the 5th anniversary of the disappearanc

Several witnesses, believed to be British tourists, have already been interviewed again in the UK.

That's probably the most hopeful sign.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Met’s review into the case, called Operation Grange, has said he believes Madeleine is still alive.

The initial Portuguese inquiry was shelved in 2008 and the authorities there have insisted that providing assistance to the British review does not equate to a reopening of their own investigation.

by **PeterMac** 25.08.13 8:17

Another New Team ! There must be hundreds of them by now.

by **Tony Bennett** 25.08.13 8:36

PeterMac wrote:Another New Team ! There must be hundreds of them by now.

When it was announced, on 14 August, that English detectives were going to Portugal, I estimated that the costs of Operation Grange had risen to

£5,094,320.

That calculation was based on the Met's own figures, which suggested that the 38.5 staff employed by Redwood and his men worked out at £6,160 per day.

11 days later, the cost of thois Scotland Yard operatio9n has already risen to:

£5,162,080.

The daily cost of this whole operation is about to be swelled by:

* air fares to and from England to Portugal

* hotel costs for x number of English police officers

* the cost of Portuguese police officers shadowing English police officers while they travel to each interview and stay there interviewing the 38 'persons of interest'

* translators present at the interviews

* secretaries to transcribe the interviews and put them on disc etc.

* more translators to translate the written statements into English

* subsistence costs for the Portuguese police, the English police, the translators present at the interviews etc. - they won't all be bringing their packed lunches and sardine crisps with them.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to suggest that an investigation cost of £6,160 a day will soon rise to at least £10,000 a day.

At that rate it won't be too long before Operation Grange's costs 'top' £6,000,000

by T4two 25.08.13 8:40

Why is the Mail now reporting that this taxi driver picked up the group and Madeleine the night after she vanished. If I recall he has always insisted that it was the evening of the night she vanished, which is presumably why Mitchell said way back then that they dismissed it because it didn't fit the timings.

by **PeterMac** 25.08.13 9:13

T4two wrote:Why is the Mail now reporting that this taxi driver picked up the group and Madeleine the night after she vanished. If I recall he has always insisted that it was the evening of the night she vanished, which is presumably why Mitchell said way back then that they dismissed it because it didn't fit the timings.

Probably because Mitchell has now spun it and said that the taxi driver might have got his dates wrong, so they can run the story again, 5 years later.

by MikeyB 25.08.13 9:25

Tony Bennett wrote:At that rate it won't be too long before Operation Grange's costs 'top' £6,000,000

By comparison, the police have spent over £4million protecting the fracking site.

by Guest 25.08.13 9:29

From Joana site.......

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24 August 2013 | Posted by [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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Maddie case on the table

by Tânia Laranjo

The English have already sent the rogatory letter to the Attorney General's Office, asking the Judiciary Police to inquire some of the witnesses in the Maddie case again.

The document has not reached the Judiciary in Faro, but as soon as that happens, the diligences are to be carried out. The inquiry of new witnesses or the re-inquiry of others that were heard at the time of Madeleine McCann's disappearance do not put the archiving of the case at stake.

In Portugal, the case can only be reopened if the Judiciary thinks that some of the witness statements represent new evidence. One of the witnesses that the English authorities want to be heard again is a taxi driver who asserts that he transported the girl, that night, in the company of adults.

The man has already volunteered to make a statement, and should now make a formal statement at the Judiciary Police in Faro.

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

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Note the CdM says that night

by Google.Gaspar.Statements 25.08.13 9:31

Maybe it's Clarence Mitchell who is trying to force the investigation to be reopened in Portugal. thinking

by loopzdaloop 25.08.13 10:59

Mike wrote:
Tony Bennett wrote:At that rate it won't be too long before Operation Grange's costs 'top' £6,000,000
By comparison, the police have spent over £4million protecting the fracking site.

So more evidence of value for money in comparison to the fracking.

Apart from that i fail to see the point of having the cost put up regularly.

by **Tony Bennett** 25.08.13 11:05

loopzdaloop wrote:... I fail to see the point of having the cost put up regularly.

It's called 'information':

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by **PeterMac** 25.08.13 11:07

We're off to see the Praia,
The Wonderful Praia da Luz

We hear it is a bit of a swiz, if ever a swiz there was

If ever, oh ever a swiz there was,
The Praia da Luz is one because
Because, because, because, because, because

Because of the ludicrous things they say . . .
We're off to see the Praia,
The Wonderful Praia da Luz

by plebgate 25.08.13 11:55

Boring zzzzzzzzzzz so-called news. come up with something new please editors or pretty soon you want have any newspaper businesses to run. BORING. zzzzzzzzzzzzz with a capital Z.

Thanks for the info. on costs TB. As JeanMunroe has asked several times, what are these cops doing whilst waiting for their flights to Portugal?

What is the point of seeing the taxi driver again, he will say the same thing but at the end of the day there are very many little girls who look like Maddie so how does questioning him again help the situation?

More Taxpayers money wasted no doubt and I for one want to know how much this is all costing and why only on this case?

by **Tony Bennett** 25.08.13 12:07

plebgate wrote:What is the point of seeing the taxi driver again...

I can scarcely believe that this could be true. If it ever becomes known that Scotland Yard has taken any time to treat his evidence in the slightest bit seriously, still worse that they have decided to interview him, it would surely remove all doubt as to the real purpose of this Rebekah Brooks-inspired £5 million-plus investigation...

by plebgate 25.08.13 12:12

It just seems to me coincidental that an official investigation is now getting underway when the libel trial is/was due to be heard. Could this be the reason feelers were put out for an out of court settlement - delaying tactics until official investigation announced?

by Seek truth 25.08.13 12:31

Karen Pinto wrote:Sunday Papers:

I am struggling to copy the pictures,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Police in Portugal have put together a new team of detectives to assist Scotland Yard in the hunt for Madeleine McCann.

They have been told to help officers from the Met and have been given a long list of people British police want them to interview about Madeleine’s disappearance in 2007 while on holiday with her parents in the Algarve.

None of the detectives involved in the shambolic initial Portuguese investigation is thought to have been chosen.

The new team is expected to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] work in the next few weeks.
It will question more than 30 ‘people of interest’, thought to include a taxi driver who thinks he may have picked up Madeleine, then aged three, the night after she vanished from her [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] while her parents were at a tapas bar 50 yards away.

Cabbie Antonio Castela, 73, said he picked up three men, a woman and a child resembling Madeleine about an hour’s drive from the resort and dropped them off at a hotel.

He gave a statement to Portuguese police but was never questioned afterwards.

British detectives are hoping to be allowed to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in the interviews, although the Portuguese have made it clear that if they are given permission public prosecutors will be with them at all times.

Disappearance: Gerry McCann, father of Madeleine, in Praia da Luz, Portugal where she was last seen

The formation of the Portuguese police team will be seen as a major step forward by British authorities pushing for a renewed effort in the investigation.

Home Secretary Theresa May sent an official request for assistance last month to Portugal’s attorney general.

The document containing the request is thought to have included the names of the 38 people across Europe identified as ‘of interest’ by a Home Office-funded Met Police review team.

The vast majority are thought to be in Portugal.

Ongoing investigation: Kate and Gerry McCann hold a news conference to mark the 5th anniversary of the disappearance
Ongoing investigation: Kate and Gerry McCann hold a news conference to mark the 5th anniversary of the disappearance

Several witnesses, believed to be British tourists, have already been interviewed again in the UK.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Met’s review into the case, called Operation Grange, has said he believes Madeleine is still alive.

The initial Portuguese inquiry was shelved in 2008 and the authorities there have insisted that providing assistance to the British review does not equate to a reopening of their own investigation.

Read more: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

SHAMBOLIC!!!! Who?
2 years wasting British tax payers money (where's this money going really anyway?) and they've found nothing just the silly papers saying the Pj were shambolic! Then please state WHAT the pj did wrong?
What a joke. This makes you laugh. Some people look like fools and they're not ashamed of it.!
laugh

by jeanmonroe 25.08.13 13:07

Wouldn't it be lov-er-ly?
Wouldn't it be won-der-ful?
If the cabbie swore blind that,
It WAS Kate McCann, ....no BULL!

by pennylane 25.08.13 15:51

jeanmonroe wrote:Wouldn't it be lov-er-ly?
Wouldn't it be won-der-ful?
If the cabbie swore blind that,
It WAS Kate McCann, ....no BULL!

T'would indeed be lov-er-ly Jean, and I feel certain Operation Grange would eliminate him rapidly from the investigation if he did!

by aiyoyo 25.08.13 16:53

Is the title correct ?

I thought it is the PJ who put a new team to help the Yard .....ie if the report is correct ?

by Guest 25.08.13 17:04

aiyoyo wrote:Is the title correct ?

I thought it is the PJ who put a new team to help the Yard .....ie if the report is correct ?

Yes you are correct, I have changed the title aiyoyo .

by wjk 25.08.13 18:16

pennylane wrote:
jeanmonroe wrote:Wouldn't it be lov-er-ly?
Wouldn't it be won-der-ful?
If the cabbie swore blind that,
It WAS Kate McCann, ....no BULL!
T'would indeed be lov-er-ly Jean, and I feel certain Operation Grange would eliminate him rapidly from the investigation if he did!

Oh yes, I'm praying if they do question him again, he sticks to his original statement that is was KM with Madeleine in his cab on the 3rd! thumbup

by marconi 25.08.13 19:02

He made a mistake or he was lying.
Tapas 9 lied too, why shouldn't he?

I think he wanted attention.

by aiyoyo 26.08.13 6:29

I think he's one of those kinds who put two and two together thinking he's helping.

But in all honestly he can't even convince himself of what he saw. His evolving date is as bad as Mccanns & Co. evolving statements.

If the Yard were truly going to interview him (as reported) it would be to prove he sprouts drivel, and once that's gotten out of way then he can be added to the list of eliminated. End of the story. No more regurgitation will be entertained.

by **PeterMac** 26.08.13 7:23

copied from the Taxi driver thread

Surely they are not going to interview the Taxi Driver as a person of interest.
Even Grange and the PJ must have dismissed that out of hand along time ago, which is probably why they didn't bother talking to him.
But the Press seem to think that it proves Madeleine was alive . . . (and probably some of the pro-child-neglect groupies do so too)

"This suspicion was heightened when a taxi driver came forward a fortnight ago claiming he had taken four adults with a young girl, looking like Madeleine, from a pick up in the Algarve towards Spain.
Antonio Castela, 72, went to Portugal's CID, after three men, a woman and a young girl got into his cab on May 4 2007 in Monte Gordo and driving the group to Vila Real de Santo Antonio, where they drove away in a blue jeep.
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OK so far ?
But the taxi driver insists it was on 3rd, which means that all the statements of the Tapas group are automatically deemed to be false ! All of them.

Monte Gordo is 141 km = 88 MILES from Praia da Luz, One hour and 31 minutes by car (google maps)
QED.
No doubt as a taxi diver he did pick up three adults and a little girl. That is what he gets paid to do.
To quote someone - Ludicrous.

by marconi 26.08.13 7:39

Of course there is no point investigating the taxi driver but the Yard has no other choice. They have to eliminate him by quizzing.
By now they know whom they have to quizz, as Redwood talked about new witnesses evidence.
IMO, the Met can achieve Tapas 2 through Algarve.
They need more evidence, not only new statements of some witnesses. The body got to be there, somewhere.
And that is what the Met are searching for.
I remember that Amaral once said that the PJ had an idea of the whereabouts of the body.
And once in November or in May, he commented Kate's presence in Luz: "She wants to be close to the body (or to Madeleine)".
The church?