Scotland Yard have name of suspect

russiandoll wrote:Mirror tomorrow :


      Madeleine McCann key witness accuses Portuguese police of not taking his vital prime suspect evidence seriously

16 Oct 2013

Retired businessman Martin Smith provided details for an e-fit of the prime suspect after spotting the mystery man close to where Maddie vanished more than six years ago


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

A key witness in the Madeleine McCann case claimed yesterday that Portuguese police failed to take his evidence seriously.

Retired businessman Martin Smith, 64, provided details for an e-fit of the prime suspect after spotting the mystery man carrying a child at 10pm close to where the three-year-old vanished more than six years ago.

But he said his information was virtually ignored by local officers because they were too busy chasing up another sighting of a man near Kate and Gerry McCann’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz 45 minutes earlier.

Scotland Yard detectives reinvestigating the case after six years have now established that the suspect Portuguese police were so keen to trace – spotted by holidaymaker Jane Tanner at 9.20pm – was just an innocent British tourist returning his own child from a crèche.

Mr Smith, a former Unilever executive, made a statement along with his wife Aolfe and son Peter soon after Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007.

He helped compile e-fits a year later – but the images were not released at the time and were only made public for the first time earlier this week.

Speaking from his home in Drogheda, Co Louth, Mr Smith said that the Portuguese police did not seem to think his sighting was significant.

He added: “It looked as if they put 90% credence on the Jane Tanner sighting, maybe that wrong-footed them and they didn’t take our sighting as seriously. I was surprised it took six years to rule out the other sighting.”

He said he has met with Scotland Yard detectives twice over the past 18 months to help them with the new probe. He added: “We‘d all love to see the police get to the bottom of what happened.”

“We think about Madeleine a lot and we would love to see a conclusion to this case.

Mr Smith was with his wife, daughter, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren on the night that the three year old vanished.

The family described the man they saw as white, with short brown hair and of average build and height, aged between 20 and 40.

Commenting on the Crimewatch documentary which was broadcast on Monday night he added: “The only new thing in the investigation is the elimination of Jane Tanner’s sighting.

“Apart from that from our point of view everything else remains the same in relation to what we said to the police and the media at the time. We have nothing more to add.”

At least two callers who responded to the TV appeal gave the same name for the two e-fits provided by the Smiths.

Finding the man and determining whether he was in Praia da Luz on the night the three-year-old vanished is a top priority of Scotland Yard detectives.

Around 1,000 people have contacted police as a result of the appeal.

They include a number of British people who were in the Algarve resort at the time. At least one ex-pat called from the town on Monday night.

Senior investigating officer Det Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said his team are working through the calls and material generated by the appeal.

A total of 330 calls were made to the Operation Grange incident room and 400 to BBC1 Crimewatch as well as 220 emails.

In a statement issued through their spokesman, Kate and Gerry McCann said: “We are absolutely delighted with the overwhelming public response to Crimewatch, which was broadcast last night.

“We know that the public desperately want to help the search for Madeleine.

“We are genuinely hopeful that one of more of these responses will lead to a major breakthrough in the investigation.”

They added: “If anyone was in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s abduction and has not spoken to the Metropolitan Police, or if they know who any of the e-fits might be, please have the courage to come forward and speak to the police in confidence.”

DCI Redwood added: “Detectives are now trawling through and prioritising that material. This will take time.”

Mr Redwood, who travelled to Holland yesterday to continue the appeal, said: “I will be repeating similar appeals in Holland this evening and in Germany tomorrow night.”

A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of those responsible for Madeleine’s abduction, he said.

There are 40 people answering calls at any time, and officers waiting to “action the information”.

Crimewatch editor Joe Mather said the response to the programme was “truly unprecedented”.

He said: “They received several names for the key 10pm sighting, the sighting of a man carrying a child towards the beach.

“Several different names but also several callers mentioned the same name for that man.”

Mr Mather said there were “inevitably a fair few calls” which were not helpful but there were “genuinely calls that were helpful” after last night’s broadcast.

During last night’s programme, Mr and Mrs McCann urged people to “rack their brains” and come forward with information.

Kate said: “Please, please have the courage and confidence to come forward now, and share that information with us, and you could unlock this whole case, so please.”

ultimaThule wrote:'Maddie snatcher'?   Don't they know the name is Madeleine?

Meantime, back at Rothley Towers, the McCanns are still looking for bundleman:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] plus an assortment of other bods to form their defence muddy the waters.

Cristobell wrote:They haven't updated their facebook page either Ultima, they're really not getting into the spirit of this at all.

Cherry Blossom wrote:Ex-Portuguese detective attemps to smear Maddie McCann's father again
THE ex-Portuguese detective who accused the McCanns of covering up their daughter’s death tried to smear them again yesterday.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]SMEAR: Goncalo Amaral is being sued by the McCanns for £1million over his book about the case [PA]
Goncalo Amaral, 56, who was sacked from the case, said Scotland Yard’s new chief suspect “may be Gerry McCann”.
He added that Martin Smith, who saw the suspect and a child, was “80% sure” the man was Gerry.
The McCanns are suing Amaral for £1million over his book about the case.

No further reading

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

Wonder how long that news will stay there?

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

If Mr. Amaral did say that how would it be "another smear".   Didn't the Smith man say that he was 60-80percent sure it was Mr. himself?

ETA - having thought about it could it be this is the newspaper's attempt at letting the public know what Mr. Smith said in his original statement?

ufercoffy wrote:When did Amaral comment on Smith sighting being Gerry McCann? I don't recall hearing him say that in the ITV interview with Emma Murphy.

aiyoyo wrote:Do people  seriously think SY is waiting for GM to come forward as the E-fit man eh?  I DON'T think so!

I may not be the only one thinking this, but I dont think the E-fits look anything like GM.

And, tin hat on, I wish Amaral refrain from commenting on the E-fit so as not to give team mccann ammunition to attack him anew and also to preserve his dignity.

What if the E-fit men come forward or were identified and turned out to be innocent passer-by just like Tanner's bundleman, where would that leave Amaral's position?  

If I were him, I would sit back and enjoy Mccanns discomfort that things are not going their way and I wont comment until SY came to a definitive conclusion.
Until then, if he's proven right then there's plenty time to comment, but not now, not when the MSM is in a frenzy churning out misinformation, distortion, half truth, and obfuscating the matter, where any or all comments can be and in fact likely to taken out of proportion or context by the MSM just to sell papers.

aiyoyo wrote:Do people  seriously think SY is waiting for GM to come forward as the E-fit man eh?  I DON'T think so!

I may not be the only one thinking this, but I dont think the E-fits look anything like GM.

And, tin hat on, I wish Amaral refrain from commenting on the E-fit so as not to give team mccann ammunition to attack him anew and also to preserve his dignity.

What if the E-fit men come forward or were identified and turned out to be innocent passer-by just like Tanner's bundleman, where would that leave Amaral's position?  

If I were him, I would sit back and enjoy Mccanns discomfort that things are not going their way and I wont comment until SY came to a definitive conclusion.
Until then, if he's proven right then there's plenty time to comment, but not now, not when the MSM is in a frenzy churning out misinformation, distortion, half truth, and obfuscating the matter, where any or all comments can be and in fact likely to taken out of proportion or context by the MSM just to sell papers.

russiandoll wrote:The ITV interview with GA lasted about 40 seconds and almost as much time was devoted to showing him approaching the interviewer.

  He said nothing about the Smith sighting except for having thought it very important and SY clearly think the same.

 It was MWT on the Sky special, 30 mins long about the new investigation, who let that cat out of the bag re Smithman  possible i.d.

 He did not mention any names, but said re Smithman that at the time there had been mention of who this man might have been.
 This was an allusion to Smith statement and the timing of his second contact with police and why.

MoonGoddess wrote:I think the paper has taken the quote out of Mr Amaral's book or TV documentary where [IIRC] he has said it.... I hope that Mr Amaral is being legally advised before talking to the UK press.... I hope he isn't being lured to say something that would prejudice the libel action?

tiny wrote:

aiyoyo wrote:Do people  seriously think SY is waiting for GM to come forward as the E-fit man eh?  I DON'T think so!

I may not be the only one thinking this, but I dont think the E-fits look anything like GM.

And, tin hat on, I wish Amaral refrain from commenting on the E-fit so as not to give team mccann ammunition to attack him anew and also to preserve his dignity.

What if the E-fit men come forward or were identified and turned out to be innocent passer-by just like Tanner's bundleman, where would that leave Amaral's position?  

If I were him, I would sit back and enjoy Mccanns discomfort that things are not going their way and I wont comment until SY came to a definitive conclusion.
Until then, if he's proven right then there's plenty time to comment, but not now, not when the MSM is in a frenzy churning out misinformation, distortion, half truth, and obfuscating the matter, where any or all comments can be and in fact likely to taken out of proportion or context by the MSM just to sell papers.

i don't understand why you say this,Mr Amaral has every right to speak about the efit looking like Gerry McCann,for too long he has kept quite and the PJ have been made to look like idiots by the british press,when if fact they sussed out Mr Smiths sighting could have been Gerry McCann in a matter of months

Smokeandmirrors wrote:

MoonGoddess wrote:I think the paper has taken the quote out of Mr Amaral's book or TV documentary where [IIRC] he has said it.... I hope that Mr Amaral is being legally advised before talking to the UK press.... I hope he isn't being lured to say something that would prejudice the libel action?

With regards to recent events, the Crimewatch programme having been in the pipeline since before the libel trial started, I am beginning to think the timing is all deliberate in favour of Amaral. The next leg of the trial is not scheduled to start until beginning November, with CrimeWatch slap bang in the middle - why?

The Judge did not require Mrs Susan Healy to speak in court, based on the "quality" of the testimony that came before, which from the transcripts was quite obviously a load of rubbish anyway. The McCanns could not even get a GP to speak on their behalf of their anxiety and depression etc so all their tosh was completely unsubstantiated, Isabel Duarte even did a bunk on the last day, speaking absolute volumes.

Then we have CW which pretty well discredits the Tapas mob's version (at long bl**dy last), and brings to the attention of the wider public that we have been fed rubbish for years, albeit fairly subtly for those who have not followed the case in detail/read files etc.

THEN, we have Amaral allowed to speak, and a reference to Smith being 80% sure it was Gerry in the press, and M W-T casting doubt whether that sighting was even an abduction, given the surrounding circumstances. 

Additionally, we have Redwood saying he wants to investigate ALONGSIDE the Portugese, implying I think, that he believes that their work is of a sufficient standard, indeed necessary, to draw the case to a close.

Add to all this that the Great British Public will now (hopefully) be leaping on to Google to find the Smith family statements, where Aoife described beige trousers with a button detail, and hopefully then find the picture of Gerry's beige button trousers, and all the pieces start slotting together really neatly.

We must not lose sight of the fact Redwood was quite emphatic about the other lurking persons of interest should come forward to be ELIMINATED. His emphasis was more on getting shot of them, rather than pursuing them.

And we have the phone records….well, what are they going to make of all the delete texts, when by rights the parents should have been too busy looking for a lost toddler.

I really feel positive about the last couple of days revelations.

russiandoll wrote:The ITV interview with GA lasted about 40 seconds and almost as much time was devoted to showing him approaching the interviewer.

  He said nothing about the Smith sighting except for having thought it very important and SY clearly think the same.


 It was MWT on the Sky special, 30 mins long about the new investigation, who let that cat out of the bag re Smithman  possible i.d.

 He did not mention any names, but said re Smithman that at the time there had been mention of who this man might have been.
 This was an allusion to Smith statement and the timing of his second contact with police and why.

russiandoll wrote:GA said nothing re Smith sighting apart from he thought it very important and SY had taken 2 years as opposed to his 6 months to come to same conclusion. 

He is in the middle of  a libel trial, the report is shit stirring pardon my French, GA was circumspect in way he spoke.

russiandoll wrote:the gutter press printed an outright lie about the interview, no surprise there aiyoyo

stillsloppingout wrote:

russiandoll wrote:the gutter press printed an outright lie about the interview, no surprise there aiyoyo

Amaral did NOT  Name Gerry as the person smith saw on ITV last night . So GA is NOT prejudicing his libel case , He is way to smart for childish games , or to be drawn into a trap . If the MSM are mentioning it then that is good , those beige trousers will be a deeper shade of beige today . 

RE Mr Smith . i thought he was paid a visit by Kennedy and his brief in Ireland . 

Hopefully he was NOT  got at ? paid off ? . told to muddy the waters ? .