Operation Grange Update

The Met have just posted this update on their press bureau site:

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Following an appeal in March, officers from Operation Grange investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have had a positive response to the appeal which has led to a number of new lines of enquiry. 

Detectives overseeing the investigation specifically appealed for further information leading to the identification of a suspect who may have been responsible for a potentially linked series of twelve offences on the Western Algarve region between 2004 and 2010 

As a direct result of a media appeal made on 19 March the investigation team subsequently received over 500 calls. Information from those calls has led to the identification of six new cases involving children. These six are in addition to the twelve that had previously been brought to their attention.

These new cases are similar to a number of the originally identified twelve offences whereby a male intruder has gained access to holiday villas occupied by UK families in the Western Algarve.

Of the six new cases, all but one had been reported to the Portuguese police at the time of the offence. Five involve sexual assaults on children and one was a ‘near miss’. Of particular interest to the team is that one of the new sexual assaults took place in Praia da Luz in 2005. 

Sufficient characteristics between the cases lead them to now believe that 18 matters in total concerning children may be potentially linked. 

Three incidents that took place in Praia de Luz - between 2005 and 2010 

Five incidents that took place in Carvoeiro between 2004 and 2006 

Nine incidents that took place in the Praia de Gale, Vale de Parra, Sao Rafeal (Albuferia district) between 2004 and 2008 

One incident that took place in Vilamoura in 2005, a new offence which has come to light since the March appeal.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer said: “I’m encouraged by the new information that has come to light as a direct result of the appeal in March. There has been a huge public desire to assist us with our investigation and I would like to thank those who have provided us with new information.”

Anyone with any information is asked to call the Operation Grange incident room on 0207 321 9251. Alternatively if you do not want to speak to us directly you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The Metropolitan Police Service continues to offer a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person(s) responsible for the abduction of Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3 May 2007.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Following today's press conference the following material can be embedded on to your website.

A sound clip from DCI Andy Redwood detailing the latest update following the Madeleine McCann appeal in March 2014.

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Thing Link - interactive map detailing the latest update on the Madeleine McCann appeal - locations of 18 potentially linked cases. 
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Embed code:

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The map detailing the location of the 18 potentially linked sexual offences against minors in the Western Algarve, Portugal is available from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Andy Redwood: "I’m encouraged..."

I expect he is.

Lots more work for his expensive team to accomplish over the next 12 months - whilst getting precisely nowhere.

(besides checking another 11,757 mobile 'phone records from 31 countries, and much more besides)

"Tim, book us a flight for a 5-day stay on the Algarve next month please, the same 4-star hotel we stayed in last time would be great, me and you and three other senior staff, oh, and make sure that same photographer's booked again to take meaningful, purposeful-looking photographs of us marching into the PJ offices in suits and ties and carrying expensive-looking briefcases and important-looking bundles of documents..."  

They are having a laugh, direct in our faces

The 2005 attack was a sexual assault on a 10 year old girl, not reported to police at the time but to the holiday rep. according to Sky news
  
  This is not credible. A 10 year old describes what to an adult sounds like a sexual assault and neither parents nor holiday rep go to the authorities with this news, not only for the sake of their child but to protect other children in the area?

 I do not buy that for one second. This takes 9 years to come to light ?

 Speculation as to why there has been no report of this incident for 9 years says BBC reporter, SY are not saying anything about why that has happened.

From Daily Mail

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russiandoll wrote:The 2005 attack was a sexual assault on a 10 year old girl, not reported to police at the time but to the holiday rep. according to Sky news
  
  This is not credible. A 10 year old describes what to an adult sounds like a sexual assault and neither parents nor holiday rep go to the authorities with this news, not only for the sake of their child but to protect other children in the area?

 I do not buy that for one second. This takes 9 years to come to light ?

 Speculation as to why there has been no report of this incident for 9 years says BBC reporter, SY are not saying anything about why that has happened.

I agree, it seems completely incredible.

Also, when a little girl disappeared nearby in May 2007 which exploded in the media worldwide, did they not think to mention it then either?

They kept it to themselves all those years, and the final straw was the Crimewatch special???

I don't believe it. To me this is a sign that this is all a cover story.

Is the density of these incidents unusual given the timescales and geographical distances involved?

So, how long does DCI Redwood take to dismiss any link between these 18 incidents and the McCanns?

And at what point does he broach the subject of the cadaver and blood dog alerts and subsequent DNA found in the apartment?

roy rovers wrote:Is the density of these incidents unusual given the timescales and geographical distances involved?

  What is very unusual imo :   that from the isolated incident in PdL we heard about before the new appeal, 2 more assaults have been reported since that appeal,l which happened in PdL, the most notorious Portuguese  holiday resort.
 These families have had since Operation Grange got off the ground to let the police know that their own child was assaulted or at least had a stranger sat on her bed sometime up until 2010 and they do not contact police until 2014?
 They never e mailed or called to say " given that my child was assaulted in our villa/apartment in Praia da Luz, and a little girl went missing from her bedroom in the same resort, we thought we needed to contact you pretty damned quick in case it can help with your investigation into Madeleine's disappearance  "

 SY surely asked if this assault happened  x number of years ago in PdL, why wait to talk to us until 2014?

whatliesbehindthesofa wrote:

russiandoll wrote:The 2005 attack was a sexual assault on a 10 year old girl, not reported to police at the time but to the holiday rep. according to Sky news
  
  This is not credible. A 10 year old describes what to an adult sounds like a sexual assault and neither parents nor holiday rep go to the authorities with this news, not only for the sake of their child but to protect other children in the area?

 I do not buy that for one second. This takes 9 years to come to light ?

 Speculation as to why there has been no report of this incident for 9 years says BBC reporter, SY are not saying anything about why that has happened.

I agree, it seems completely incredible.

Also, when a little girl disappeared nearby in May 2007 which exploded in the media worldwide, did they not think to mention it then either?

They kept it to themselves all those years, and the final straw was the Crimewatch special???

I don't believe it.  To me this is a sign that this is all a cover story.

Totally agree with both posts.  

And given the furore surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine, newspapers would have paid millions for the stories.  There have been investigators and journalists sniffing around the Algarve for 7 years, offering hard cash for information, on top of the reward of £2.5m multiple appeals the McCanns have made.  

It looks like a total cover up, but its not over until the PJ reach their conclusions.  I'm not really sure what the purpose of the Operation Grange is, they have no jurisdiction in Portugal and even if they were able to arrest Smellyman, they would have to persuade the Portuguese AG to prosecute, so what exactly are they doing?

Cristobell wrote:

whatliesbehindthesofa wrote:

russiandoll wrote:The 2005 attack was a sexual assault on a 10 year old girl, not reported to police at the time but to the holiday rep. according to Sky news
  
  This is not credible. A 10 year old describes what to an adult sounds like a sexual assault and neither parents nor holiday rep go to the authorities with this news, not only for the sake of their child but to protect other children in the area?

 I do not buy that for one second. This takes 9 years to come to light ?

 Speculation as to why there has been no report of this incident for 9 years says BBC reporter, SY are not saying anything about why that has happened.

I agree, it seems completely incredible.

Also, when a little girl disappeared nearby in May 2007 which exploded in the media worldwide, did they not think to mention it then either?

They kept it to themselves all those years, and the final straw was the Crimewatch special???

I don't believe it.  To me this is a sign that this is all a cover story.

Totally agree with both posts.  

And given the furore surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine, newspapers would have paid millions for the stories.  There have been investigators and journalists sniffing around the Algarve for 7 years, offering hard cash for information, on top of the reward of £2.5m multiple appeals the McCanns have made.  

It looks like a total cover up, but its not over until the PJ reach their conclusions.  I'm not really sure what the purpose of the Operation Grange is, they have no jurisdiction in Portugal and even if they were able to arrest Smellyman, they would have to persuade the Portuguese AG to prosecute, so what exactly are they doing?

The PJ have reached their conclusions.

Madeleine died in 5A on Thursday 3 May 2007 and the McCanns were involved.

Everything else by SY is whitewash.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May have expressed a personal interest in the case, and stand ready to interfere intervene.......if necessary.

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The MET making damned 'sure' THEY aren't the ONLY ones going to be 'implicated' in any possible, exposed, 'cover up'

imo, obviously.

jeanmonroe wrote:Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May have expressed a personal interest in the case, and stand ready to interfere intervene.......if necessary.

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The MET making damned 'sure' THEY aren't the ONLY ones going to be 'implicated' in any possible, exposed, 'cover up'

imo, obviously.

Re the bit in blue: Why do they have a personal interest in this particular case? Is it because something that embarrasses the powers that be could become public knowledge were this case allowed to be investigated independently? If so what on earth could that be?

(The final question is rhetorical and is designed to cause readers to think about the possibilities. If you do want to answer it publicly be very careful not to commit libel)

The
PJ rejects joint research with British to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

The Judicial Police rejected a joint investigation with the Scotland Yard to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann% 2C but the British police is "cautiously optimistic" to move forward with efforts in Portugal soon% 2C said the vice commissioner adjunct% 2C Martin Hewitt.

"The ideal would be a joint research% 2C but the Portuguese police believes that it is not necessary " % 2C said today at a meeting with journalists.
Hewitt assured being "normal within the European structure" this type of joint investigations and said remember "three or four examples" in the UK% 2C between the British police and foreign police officers.
Still% 2C Martin Hewitt% 2C that is responsible for the division of Organised Crime and Operations% 2C proved to be "more optimistic than before" in a response to the three international letters rogatory with steps that would like to do and the approval for British agents monitor the Portuguese police in these actions.
The letters were sent to Portugal between October and February to the Attorney-General 's Office% 2C who is responsible for reviewing and approving the documents before passing the data to the Judicial Police.
Hewitt% 2C in March expressed "frustrated" with the slowness of the process% 2C anticipated by the notion that some requests will be rejected% 2C but that they "are not fatal" for the research.
"I am cautiously optimistic to succeed with the lines of research in Portugal. I am confident that by the end of the week we will have a written answer and that most of the requests will be accepted" % 2C he said.
The deputy Commissioner deputy explained that% 2C after the formalization since acceptance% 2C will be initiated the planning and timing of investigations.
"We have police activity Portuguese in a not too distant future. The hope is that we will be involved and we will work closely" % 2C emphasized.
The UK's investigation began in 2011 % 2C as a result of a public appeal the parents of Madeleine McCann% 2C to the British prime minister% 2C David Cameron% 2C to launch a review "independent% 2C full and transparent" of all the information concerning the disappearance of the daughter.
On May 12, 2011 % 2C the minister of the Interior% 2C Theresa May% 2C with the support of Cameron% 2C asked the Metropolitan Police to initiate a review to the case% 2C by invoking the "overriding public interest" and "international dimension".
In April 2012 the British police gave account of the first results of research% 2C to identify "195 research opportunities" and the June 04 has announced the opening of a formal investigation.
Martin Hewitt today reiterated that the Scotland Yard remains "in permanent contact with the minister of the Interior and with the prime minister% 2C but that was not requested any intervention from the Portuguese authorities% 2C despite the availability of both to do so.
Madeleine McCann disappeared a few days before making four years% 2C the May 03 2007 % 2C the room where she slept together with the two twin brothers% 2C more new% 2C in an apartment of a tourist resort in Praia da Luz% 2C in the Algarve.

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I hope this makes sense.

The question that I'd appreciate the answer to is :- How can an investigation that a police force is undertaking be anything other than superficial where they have no jurisdiction rights. The only participation the aforementioned could possibly have would be cooperation with the authority which does have jurisdiction.

Far from Scotland Yard making requests to the Portugese authorities for assistance, for there to be any authenticity in the investigation, surely the reverse should apply, particularly in the vein that as far as the Portugese are concerned, all the parties of interest are currently resident in the UK.

My take on this is that Scotland Yard were originally of the opinion that they could quite easily exonerate the McCanns in the eyes of the British public, but have found this to be an ever increasingly difficult task as time has progressed.

AndyB wrote:

jeanmonroe wrote:Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May have expressed a personal interest in the case, and stand ready to interfere intervene.......if necessary.

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The MET making damned 'sure' THEY aren't the ONLY ones going to be 'implicated' in any possible, exposed, 'cover up'

imo, obviously.

Re the bit in blue: Why do they have a personal interest in this particular case? Is it because something that embarrasses the powers that be could become public knowledge were this case allowed to be investigated independently? If so what on earth could that be?

(The final question is rhetorical and is designed to cause readers to think about the possibilities. If you do want to answer it publicly be very careful not to commit libel)

Why are you personally interested in the case, why am I, why are we all ?...... interest in the case does not have to be sinister.

Personally I think we've got some good cop, bad cop going on, where the guys portraying the good role are the British, and the Portugese are playing bad cop. Everybody knows roughly what went on, and everybody "knows" who was primarily responsible. It's just not in enough detail to bring charges.

My goodness, doesn't their desperation to clear the Mcs show?  The extreme lengths SY are going to, merely to clear this couples' names, is beyond ridiculous and we can only wonder why that is.

Gillyspot wrote:The PJ rejects joint research with British to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

The Judicial Police rejected a joint investigation with the Scotland Yard into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann...

[SNIPPED]

On May 12, 2011 The Home Office Minister Theresa May, with the support of Cameron, asked the Metropolitan Police to initiate a review to the case by invoking the 'overriding public interest' and 'international dimension...

I hope this makes sense.

Absolutely hilarious! (and thanks very much for posting, Gillyspot, by the way).

The truth being:

1. Kate McCann had a book on the case due to be launched on 12 May 2011. She wanted as much publicity (money) as she could get for it 

2. The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, was serialising it. They too wanted as much publicity (money) as possible

3. Theresa May had many times over the past year rebuffed the McCanns' loud and insistent demands for a review

4. Rebekah Brooks, CEO of Rupert Murdoch's News International empire, near neighbour of David Cameron and occasional horse riding partner, threatened him - Britain's Prime Minister - with 'a week of bad headlines about Theresa May' if he did not order a review

5. David Cameron, who had earlier appointed Rupert Murdoch man Andy Coulson, on-off lover of Rebekah Brooks, as his Director of Communications, cravenly submiited to her demands

6. Cameron told Theresa May she had to get a review set up

7. Theresa May was forced to go and tell the not-lamented Sir Paul Stephenson, then Head of the Met, to go and hold a review (even though this was not an operational police decision but very clearly a political one)

8. He too cravenly did as he was told

9. He then made Hamish Campbell (whose main claim to fame was to botch the investigation into Jill Dando's death and put the wrong man in prison for 7 years), the Senior Investigating Officer for the review 

10. The review has cost around £8 million so far and is not one jot nearer bringing the person or persons responsible for a terrible crime to justice.

Whoever is in charge of the whitewash needs to remember these secrets are supposed to stay hidden & next time it would be best if the real suspects & the Met could at least sing from the same hymn sheet with regards to the differing prime persons of interest

Tony Bennett wrote:

Gillyspot wrote:The PJ rejects joint research with British to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

The Judicial Police rejected a joint investigation with the Scotland Yard into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann...

[SNIPPED]

On May 12, 2011 The Home Office Minister Theresa May, with the support of Cameron, asked the Metropolitan Police to initiate a review to the case by invoking the 'overriding public interest' and 'international dimension...

I hope this makes sense.

Absolutely hilarious! (and thanks very much for posting, Gillyspot, by the way).

The truth being:

1. Kate McCann had a book on the case due to be launched on 12 May 2011. She wanted as much publicity (money) as she could get for it 

2. The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, was serialising it. They too wanted as much publicity (money) as possible

3. Theresa May had many times over the past year rebuffed the McCanns' loud and insistent demands for a review

4. Rebekah Brooks, CEO of Rupert Murdoch's News International empire, near neighbour of David Cameron and occasional horse riding partner, threatened him - Britain's Prime Minister - with 'a week of bad headlines about Theresa May' if he did not order a review

5. David Cameron, who had earlier appointed Rupert Murdoch man Andy Coulson, on-off lover of Rebekah Brooks, as his Director of Communications, cravenly submiited to her demands

6. Cameron told Theresa May she had to get a review set up

7. Theresa May was forced to go and tell the not-lamented Sir Paul Stephenson, then Head of the Met, to go and hold a review (even though this was not an operational police decision but very clearly a political one)

8. He too cravenly did as he was told

9. He then made Hamish Campbell (whose main claim to fame was to botch the investigation into Jill Dando's death and put the wrong man in prison for 7 years), the Senior Investigating Officer for the review 

10. The review has cost around £8 million so far and is not one jot nearer bringing the person or persons responsible for a terrible crime to justice.

Come, come, Tony. This all is a very clever plot to lull the real perpetrators in a false sense of security.

VERY clever ........

Anybody been more successful that me in getting a comment up beneath the Mails article?
I said nothing particularly contentious, but questioned the lack of investigative journalism and commentary on the case.
 
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Reading through the comments this time, I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that Pinkies Media Monitoring Team were a bit quicker off the mark with their comments than when the Met released last months briefing.

lj wrote:

Come, come, Tony. This all is a very clever plot to lull the real perpetrators into a false sense of security.

VERY clever....

So I am told by some on this forum.

But, in the immortal words of Wendy Murphy...

...I'm not buying it

The McCanns don't look like people with a false sense of security to me. They look like people with a very real sense of insecurity, especially the right side of Kate's face.

Tony Bennett wrote:

lj wrote:

Come, come, Tony. This all is a very clever plot to lull the real perpetrators into a false sense of security.

VERY clever....

So I am told by some on this forum.

But, in the immortal words of Wendy Murphy...

...I'm not buying it

You're obviously a tad tired tonight, Tony, I think Ij was being ironical.

These guys look like they have a false sense of security, you betcha!  Reminds me of something Wendy Murphy said, but for the life of me it's on the tip of my tongue but I just can't remember what it was.

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Apologies, I started a thread in the debate section.

All but one incidents were reported at the time.  Assuming the but one was the near miss, how can it go unreported?  Someone *almost* sexually assaulting a child goes unreported?

diatribe wrote:

Tony Bennett wrote:

lj wrote:

Come, come, Tony. This all is a very clever plot to lull the real perpetrators into a false sense of security.

VERY clever....

So I am told by some on this forum.

But, in the immortal words of Wendy Murphy...

...I'm not buying it

You're obviously a tad tired tonight, Tony, I think Ij was being ironical.

On the contrary, diatribe, the irony was staring at me in the face, and lj and I know each other very well (well, at least, on this and other forums we do) - and I responded to just that irony.

Sorry you didn't recognise that this time!

Still clutching at (hope) straws here. Something happened this time last year to move from this

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to this 

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in a matter of days.

The McCanns have been conspicious in their absence (so far) during the run up to this anniversary.
Hope, hope, hope there's further positive surprises in the pipeline for this anniversary.

SchrodingersBody wrote:

AndyB wrote:

jeanmonroe wrote:Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May have expressed a personal interest in the case, and stand ready to interfere intervene.......if necessary.

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The MET making damned 'sure' THEY aren't the ONLY ones going to be 'implicated' in any possible, exposed, 'cover up'

imo, obviously.

Re the bit in blue: Why do they have a personal interest in this particular case? Is it because something that embarrasses the powers that be could become public knowledge were this case allowed to be investigated independently? If so what on earth could that be?

(The final question is rhetorical and is designed to cause readers to think about the possibilities. If you do want to answer it publicly be very careful not to commit libel)

Why are you personally interested in the case, why am I, why are we all ?...... interest in the case does not have to be sinister.

Personally I think we've got some good cop, bad cop going on, where the guys portraying the good role are the British, and the Portugese are playing bad cop. Everybody knows roughly what went on, and everybody "knows" who was primarily responsible. It's just not in enough detail to bring charges.

I am neither Prime Minister nor Home Secretary. Can you not see the significance of the holders of these two high offices publicly expressing a personal interest?

Can you explain in a little more detail what behaviours the Met and the PJ are demonstrating that leads you to conclude that SY are playing good cop and PJ are playing bad cop? I might be being thick but I really can't see how anyone could come to that conclusion

AndyB wrote:

SchrodingersBody wrote:

AndyB wrote:

jeanmonroe wrote:Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May have expressed a personal interest in the case, and stand ready to interfere intervene.......if necessary.

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

The MET making damned 'sure' THEY aren't the ONLY ones going to be 'implicated' in any possible, exposed, 'cover up'

imo, obviously.

Re the bit in blue: Why do they have a personal interest in this particular case? Is it because something that embarrasses the powers that be could become public knowledge were this case allowed to be investigated independently? If so what on earth could that be?

(The final question is rhetorical and is designed to cause readers to think about the possibilities. If you do want to answer it publicly be very careful not to commit libel)

Why are you personally interested in the case, why am I, why are we all ?...... interest in the case does not have to be sinister.

Personally I think we've got some good cop, bad cop going on, where the guys portraying the good role are the British, and the Portugese are playing bad cop. Everybody knows roughly what went on, and everybody "knows" who was primarily responsible. It's just not in enough detail to bring charges.

I am neither Prime Minister nor Home Secretary. Can you not see the significance of the holders of these two high offices publicly expressing a personal interest?

Can you explain in a little more detail what behaviours the Met and the PJ are demonstrating that leads you to conclude that SY are playing good cop and PJ are playing bad cop? I might be being thick but I really can't see how anyone could come to that conclusion

You can add Charles and Camilla to that list as well.  But what the common denominator is I really don't know.

It makes no sense for DC and TM to want to be seen as having a personal interest in a whitewash.  Wouldn't that be career suicide?

The modus operandi of a whitewash is surely for it to be done clandestinely ensuring no one will be any wiser about the shadow hands involved in it.