Daily Mail 21/2/14

by suzyjohnson 21.02.14 0:43

Britain's most senior police officer confirms the Met has the names of three suspects in Madeleine McCann case and is 'closing in'

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said there has been 'progress' in McCann case
Told BBC's Radio 5 Live they have different questions to Portuguese police
Said that his officers had names of suspects involved in case
Declined to say when the suspects would be quizzed about Madeleine

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PUBLISHED: 18:59, 20 February 2014 | UPDATED: 22:45, 20 February 2014
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+2
Progress: Scotland Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has admitted that there has been movements in the McCann case, suggesting that officers are closing in on the person that abducted her

Britain's most senior police officer has suggested his officers are closing in on the people who abducted Madeleine McCann.

Scotland Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe admitted his officers have the names of suspects and that ‘some progress’ is being made in the inquiry.

But he declined to be drawn on when the suspects would be quizzed over her disappearance in Portugal seven years ago.

He told BBC’s Radio 5 Live: ‘We have sent three letters of request for international assistance to the Portuguese judiciary, because that is the way their system works.
‘We have got lines of inquiry which are different to the Portuguese Police’s and we are working with them to try to resolve that.

'We are making some progress.’

Asked by presenter Nicky Campbell whether his officers had the names of suspects, he replied: ‘That is correct’.

He declined to comment further.

Sir Bernard’s comments came after the Mail revealed exclusively last month that the Met has identified three burglars as prime suspects for Madeleine’s disappearance.

Analysis of mobile phone data suggests the men were close to the scene of her abduction, at the time she went missing, and that they were in close contact with each other in the hours that followed.

Following our revelations, Portuguese newspapers reported that three former Ocean Club workers are Scotland Yard’s prime suspects over her disappearance.

Details of the men’s alleged links to the Mark Warner-run resort in the Algarve, where Maddie vanished from in 2007, were revealed in a number of Portuguese newspapers with close links to local police.

They were disclosed two days after Portuguese police had a high-level meeting with a visiting Scotland Yard delegation late last month.

At the meeting, Met detectives are reported to have requested bank details of the men, who are thought to have carried out a series of break-ins at the Ocean Club in the run up to Maddie’s disappearance.

Although local media reported the men had been employed at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz, it was not clear whether they were working there at the time Madeleine went missing in May 2007.

Nor was it clear whether they were directly employed by Mark Warner, or through a contractor.

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+2
Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007, and local media have reported that certain people of interest in the case had links to where she vanished from

Madeleine, who was then nearly four, disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007 as her parents dined at a nearby restaurant with friends.
It is now known that between January and May 2007 there had been a four-fold increase in the number of burglaries in the area.

by suzyjohnson 21.02.14 0:53

In a nutshell, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe says

1) There has been 'some progress' in the investigation

2) SY have sent letters to the Portuguese asking for assistance

3) SY 'have got lines of inquiry which are different to the Portuguese Police’s and (SY) are working with them to try to resolve that'

4) SY have the names of suspects .

5) He told BBC's Radio 5 Live that SY have different questions to the Portuguese Police

He declined to comment further.

by Bishop Brennan 21.02.14 1:06

It's amazing to me how the press can create a front-page headline from no news at all. Of COURSE they have the names of the 3 'burglars'... how else could they formulate the ILRs. This is spectacularly obvious and SY are clearly no further forward than they were months ago. The increase in PR coming from SY is however a new and worrying development. That buffoon on 5-live for example - presumably trying to boost his street-cred in the backlash of the utter failure of the recent celeb trials and the plebgate fiasco.

But then that is what the Maddie case has become - a bandwagon for people to jump on when they need a PR or circulation boost. Politicians, celebrities, newspapers, football clubs - and now the UK Police Force.

But to hear him desperately trying to get the public on his side by using thinly disguised xenophobic mutterings against the PJ's competence was an embarrassment to his entire force - a force that is rapidly becoming an embarrassment to the country.

by Cristobell 21.02.14 1:11

Bishop Brennan wrote:It's amazing to me how the press can create a front-page headline from no news at all. Of COURSE they have the names of the 3 'burglars'... how else could they formulate the ILRs. This is spectacularly obvious and SY are clearly no further forward than they were months ago. The increase in PR coming from SY is however a new and worrying development. That buffoon on 5-live for example - presumably trying to boost his street-cred in the backlash of the utter failure of the recent celeb trials and the plebgate fiasco.

But then that is what the Maddie case has become - a bandwagon for people to jump on when they need a PR or circulation boost. Politicians, celebrities, newspapers, football clubs - and now the UK Police Force.

But to hear him desperately trying to get the public on his side by using thinly disguised xenophobic mutterings against the PJ's competence was an embarrassment to his entire force - a force that is rapidly becoming an embarrassment to the country.

On the plus side BB, read the comments, the public have had enough.

by jeanmonroe 21.02.14 1:32

Bishop Brennan wrote:It's amazing to me how the press can create a front-page headline from no news at all. Of COURSE they have the names of the 3 'burglars'... how else could they formulate the ILRs. This is spectacularly obvious and SY are clearly no further forward than they were months ago. The increase in PR coming from SY is however a new and worrying development. That buffoon on 5-live for example - presumably trying to boost his street-cred in the backlash of the utter failure of the recent celeb trials and the plebgate fiasco.

But then that is what the Maddie case has become - a bandwagon for people to jump on when they need a PR or circulation boost. Politicians, celebrities, newspapers, football clubs - and now the UK Police Force.

But to hear him desperately trying to get the public on his side by using thinly disguised xenophobic mutterings against the PJ's competence was an embarrassment to his entire force - a force that is rapidly becoming an embarrassment to the country.

SY/Met are absolutely 'sh**ting a brick' that the Portuguese will 'release' their files into the public domain, possibly showing how bullying and non-co-operating the Met may have been, and the SY/Met's 'investigation' total obsession with not looking at ANY 'other' explanation, as to why the child is not here, but 'abduction, abduction, abduction' because the parents and their friends SAID so.

It is their ONLY stated 'remit' after all.

QUOTE:

"The investigative review is intended to collate, record and analyse what has gone before."

"It is to examine the case and seek to determine, (as if THE abduction occurred in the UK)......"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IF the McCanns and/or their friends said to BHH/AR/Met team's faces, "it's a fair cop, guv, we did it"

BHH/AR/Met team would say "don't be so silly. your daughter was 'abducted' according to our remit"

"now run along and let us experienced professional detectives try to find the effing swarthy foreign paedos what took you kid"

by Okeydokey 21.02.14 1:46

suzyjohnson wrote:In a nutshell, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe says

1) There has been 'some progress' in the investigation

2) SY have sent letters to the Portuguese asking for assistance

3) SY 'have got lines of inquiry which are different to the Portuguese Police’s and (SY) are working with them to try to resolve that'

4) SY have the names of suspects .

5) He told BBC's Radio 5 Live that SY have different questions to the Portuguese Police

He declined to comment further.

IN a nutshell, on the basis of what his lead investigator has said about the case, BH-H has just alerted the abductors to the need to dispose of all evidence and possibly flee their current addresses. Good police work!

by Okeydokey 21.02.14 1:48

jeanmonroe wrote:
Bishop Brennan wrote:It's amazing to me how the press can create a front-page headline from no news at all. Of COURSE they have the names of the 3 'burglars'... how else could they formulate the ILRs. This is spectacularly obvious and SY are clearly no further forward than they were months ago. The increase in PR coming from SY is however a new and worrying development. That buffoon on 5-live for example - presumably trying to boost his street-cred in the backlash of the utter failure of the recent celeb trials and the plebgate fiasco.

But then that is what the Maddie case has become - a bandwagon for people to jump on when they need a PR or circulation boost. Politicians, celebrities, newspapers, football clubs - and now the UK Police Force.

But to hear him desperately trying to get the public on his side by using thinly disguised xenophobic mutterings against the PJ's competence was an embarrassment to his entire force - a force that is rapidly becoming an embarrassment to the country.

SY/Met are absolutely 'sh**ting a brick' that the Portuguese will 'release' their files into the public domain, possibly showing how bullying and non-co-operating the Met may have been, and the SY/Met's 'investigation' total obsession with not looking at ANY 'other' explanation, as to why the child is not here, but 'abduction, abduction, abduction' because the parents and their friends SAID so.

It is their ONLY stated 'remit' after all.

QUOTE:

"The investigative review is intended to collate, record and analyse what has gone before."

"It is to examine the case and seek to determine, (as if THE abduction occurred in the UK)......"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IF the McCanns and/or their friends said to BHH/AR/Met team's faces, "it's a fair cop, guv, we did it"

BHH/AR/Met team would say "don't be so silly. your daughter was 'abducted' according to our remit"

"now run along and let us experienced professional detectives try to find the effing swarthy foreign paedos what took you kid"

Quite right Jean - the SY investigation can only pursue leads premised on an abduction. That was made clear in the original direction, which was clearly political in nature.

by jeanmonroe 21.02.14 1:48

IN a nutshell, on the basis of what his lead investigator has said about the case, BH-H has just alerted the abductors to the need to dispose of all evidence and possibly flee their current addresses. Good police work!
-------------------------------------------

What 'abductors'? laughat

eta; If Met 'investigation' is, at a later date, found to be er 'not straight' DCI Redwood might well find himself 'slopping out' with another ex Met PC.(Keith Wallis,) who was jailed for a year for lying about Andrew Mitchell.

ANOTHER 30 YEAR 'career' ended in disgrace and shame?

by ultimaThule 21.02.14 2:29

I very much doubt that AR's career will end in disgrace and shame, although the same can't be said of other higher ranking Met officers winkwink

by sonic72 21.02.14 4:10

I can't get my head around it! If it was a whitewash then surely they would have found a patsy a long time ago.

And if the Mccanns really are their suspects then why have they not wrapped this up already?

Surely they (SY) would want to fast-track this, to stop public spending and avoid humiliation?

The PJ seemed to accommodate the UK police back in 2007, and now it seems like the channels between them are more complex?

This jigsaw puzzle is sure far from finished. I wonder what the total SY spend will be at the end of all this, that's if there ever is an end....

by Bishop Brennan 21.02.14 4:51

sonic72 wrote:I can't get my head around it! If it was a whitewash then surely they would have found a patsy a long time ago.

...

I think it may be simpler than a whitewash - the SY team are perhaps just not very smart. It has taken them almost 3 years to come up with the names of 3 people that they would like to question. Names based on a bit of phone research that could have been done within the first few weeks. They appear to have no other leads - it's the 3 burglars or nobody.

Over the past 21 visits, they have shared their 3-year conclusion with the PJ. And yet the PJ aren't buying it. They have a different suspect (or suspects). Hence the ILRs so that they can take it further. The reputation of SY is now on the line. If the 3 burglars are not the abductors, then SY are going to look like complete idiots. BHH has staked SY's entire reputation on the 3-burglar solution - live and on air. The stakes are now very high indeed.

A remote whitewash will be very difficult to achieve because of having to go through the ILR process. I think that SY truly believe there was an abduction / murder by these 3 burglars. If they believe that simply on the basis of the phone traffic, then they are either very brave or very stupid.

by NickE 21.02.14 7:17

Three former OC workers.

Minibus driver,key man,and......
Laundry man?

by Pershing36 21.02.14 7:39

Bishop Brennan wrote:
sonic72 wrote:I can't get my head around it! If it was a whitewash then surely they would have found a patsy a long time ago.

...

I think it may be simpler than a whitewash - the SY team are perhaps just not very smart. It has taken them almost 3 years to come up with the names of 3 people that they would like to question. Names based on a bit of phone research that could have been done within the first few weeks. They appear to have no other leads - it's the 3 burglars or nobody.

Over the past 21 visits, they have shared their 3-year conclusion with the PJ. And yet the PJ aren't buying it. They have a different suspect (or suspects). Hence the ILRs so that they can take it further. The reputation of SY is now on the line. If the 3 burglars are not the abductors, then SY are going to look like complete idiots. BHH has staked SY's entire reputation on the 3-burglar solution - live and on air. The stakes are now very high indeed.

A remote whitewash will be very difficult to achieve because of having to go through the ILR process. I think that SY truly believe there was an abduction / murder by these 3 burglars. If they believe that simply on the basis of the phone traffic, then they are either very brave or very stupid.

Exactly what I think. It was clear from the beginning they were told to find an abductor/abductors. I personally think the PJ would like this to go away as much as SY probably do now. They need the PJ to co-operate to fit them up. I don't think that SY think a dead person will be accepted and may even be challenged by TM themselves, like their insistence with Tannerman. If the PJ can pin it on a dead person then it is job done and dusted.

The advantage of live abductors you can leak the odd false confession etc.

by SixMillionQuid 21.02.14 7:40

sonic72 wrote:I can't get my head around it! If it was a whitewash then surely they would have found a patsy a long time ago.

And if the Mccanns really are their suspects then why have they not wrapped this up already?

Surely they (SY) would want to fast-track this, to stop public spending and avoid humiliation?

The PJ seemed to accommodate the UK police back in 2007, and now it seems like the channels between them are more complex?

This jigsaw puzzle is sure far from finished. I wonder what the total SY spend will be at the end of all this, that's if there ever is an end....

The biggest problem is that none of the evidence on the PJ files, currently available on the World Wide Web big grin

, will support the notion of an unidentified stooge involved in the disappearance - it all points to you know who. Therefore all of the evidence available on the WWW has to be discredited and replaced with new 'evidence' and theories - hence the official but not quite official review by SY.

by Hongkong Phooey 21.02.14 7:52

SixMillionQuid wrote:
sonic72 wrote:I can't get my head around it! If it was a whitewash then surely they would have found a patsy a long time ago.

And if the Mccanns really are their suspects then why have they not wrapped this up already?

Surely they (SY) would want to fast-track this, to stop public spending and avoid humiliation?

The PJ seemed to accommodate the UK police back in 2007, and now it seems like the channels between them are more complex?

This jigsaw puzzle is sure far from finished. I wonder what the total SY spend will be at the end of all this, that's if there ever is an end....

The biggest problem is that none of the evidence on the PJ files, currently available on the World Wide Web , will support the notion of an unidentified stooge involved in the disappearance - it all points to you know who. Therefore all of the evidence available on the WWW has to be discredited and replaced with new 'evidence' and theories - hence the official but not quite official review by SY.

Whilst I agree SMQ, they have managed up until now to ignore the dogs, forensics and pretty much the Tapas' s statements (it would appear although we can't be sure)

by **Tony Bennett** 21.02.14 8:04

Could someone please explain the difference to me betwween:

A. Discredited boss of discredited agency (Metodo 3), Francisco Marco, claiming to the world: 'We are closing in on the kidnappers' (December 2007)

and, seven years later, as per the Daily Mail headline today:

B. Discredited boss of discredited agency (the Met), Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, claiming to the world: 'We are closing in on the kidnappers' (February 2014)

by plebgate 21.02.14 8:32

Tony you have answered your own question. What's the difference, 7 YEARS. big grin

by rustyjames 21.02.14 9:01

He told BBC’s Radio 5 Live: ‘We have sent three letters of request for international assistance to the Portuguese judiciary, because that is the way their system works.

If that quote is word for word then it's strange - it's not how "their system" works but how international assistance works.

Quote from the CPS website:

As a general rule, requests for evidence which require a judicial oversight and/or involve a degree of coercion or invasion of privacy usually require a letter of request, as otherwise they are likely to be refused. If a judicial order would be required to obtain the evidence in the UK it is likely that it would also be required in the majority of other countries. In these circumstances a letter of request to a judicial authority with the power to order the coercive measure would be appropriate.
Each state may assert its own particular requirements, as can any given treaty or convention. As a consequence it is not possible to give a definitive list of enquiries which will always require an MLA request. The following list, though not exhaustive, notes classes of evidence that usually do require an MLA request:
Evidential requests:

Banking evidence - obtaining account information and documentary evidence from banks;
Computer evidence - obtaining internet records and contents of e-mails, though certain information from US based companies can be obtained directly from them;
Convictions - obtaining detailed and authenticated information on foreign convictions that can be adduced at court; the initial enquiries however are made by the police;
Coercive measures - requests for search and seizure and other requests that involve a coercive measure that would require a court order in a domestic case in England and Wales;
Television links at trial - requesting a television link for a witness to give live evidence at a trial in England and Wales from another country;
Witnesses - obtaining a statement from a non-voluntary witness;

Non-evidential requests:

Confiscation and restraint.

by **Tony Bennett** 21.02.14 9:15

rustyjames wrote:
He told BBC’s Radio 5 Live: ‘We have sent three letters of request for international assistance to the Portuguese judiciary, because that is the way their system works.

If that quote is word for word then it's strange - it's not how "their system" works but how international assistance works.

I think, rustyjames, we were perhaps meant to infer a missing word.

He said: "...because that is the way their system works".

I think we were meant to think: "..because that is the way their stupid system works".

The Nicky Campbell interview with Hogan-Howe perpetuated the mantra that 'the Portuguese poilice really messed up'; Hogan-Howe totally failed to correct that view. IMO Hogan-Howe has further discredited himself and his already-discredited force by his recent statements in this case

by Bishop Brennan 21.02.14 9:19

rustyjames wrote:
He told BBC’s Radio 5 Live: ‘We have sent three letters of request for international assistance to the Portuguese judiciary, because that is the way their system works.

If that quote is word for word then it's strange - it's not how "their system" works but how international assistance works.

And this is our top man in SY...? Doesn't know the name of his most high profile operation, and doesn't understand international police cooperation procedures. Jeez! Luckily he recovered his professionalism enough to have a sly dig at the PJ. Quality work sir! thumbup

by Sceptic 21.02.14 13:26

Bishop Brennan wrote:
rustyjames wrote:
He told BBC’s Radio 5 Live: ‘We have sent three letters of request for international assistance to the Portuguese judiciary, because that is the way their system works.

If that quote is word for word then it's strange - it's not how "their system" works but how international assistance works.

And this is our top man in SY...? Doesn't know the name of his most high profile operation, and doesn't understand international police cooperation procedures. Jeez! Luckily he recovered his professionalism enough to have a sly dig at the PJ. Quality work sir!

That is what really hit home with me - that BHH didn't even recognise the name operation Grange (unbelievable)

by Okeydokey 21.02.14 13:29

Sceptic wrote:
Bishop Brennan wrote:
rustyjames wrote:
He told BBC’s Radio 5 Live: ‘We have sent three letters of request for international assistance to the Portuguese judiciary, because that is the way their system works.

If that quote is word for word then it's strange - it's not how "their system" works but how international assistance works.

And this is our top man in SY...? Doesn't know the name of his most high profile operation, and doesn't understand international police cooperation procedures. Jeez! Luckily he recovered his professionalism enough to have a sly dig at the PJ. Quality work sir!
That is what really hit home with me - that BHH didn't even recognise the name operation Grange (unbelievable)

"Bungling British cops"?

by Pershing36 21.02.14 16:25

Sceptic wrote:
Bishop Brennan wrote:
rustyjames wrote:
He told BBC’s Radio 5 Live: ‘We have sent three letters of request for international assistance to the Portuguese judiciary, because that is the way their system works.

If that quote is word for word then it's strange - it's not how "their system" works but how international assistance works.

And this is our top man in SY...? Doesn't know the name of his most high profile operation, and doesn't understand international police cooperation procedures. Jeez! Luckily he recovered his professionalism enough to have a sly dig at the PJ. Quality work sir!
That is what really hit home with me - that BHH didn't even recognise the name operation Grange (unbelievable)

He knew what it was in my opinion. It was just an operation he wasn't happy talking about. He knew a lot about what was going on, enough that I even think he knows the name of the suspects. Hardly one of many operations going on simultaneously, I would say one he has been very close too.

An investigation that is making them look like laughing stocks. Try and pin the failure on the PJ so they can get out of this ASAP before the press turns on them about the money being spent.

by marconi 21.02.14 16:40

Pershing36 wrote:

He knew what it was in my opinion. It was just an operation he wasn't happy talking about. He knew a lot about what was going on, enough that I even think he knows the name of the suspects. Hardly one of many operations going on simultaneously, I would say one he has been very close too.

An investigation that is making them look like laughing stocks. Try and pin the failure on the PJ so they can get out of this ASAP before the press turns on them about the money being spent.

I agree with you. My theory is that he knew it and acted that it was on of the 1000s operations of the Yard going on right now.

by jeanmonroe 21.02.14 16:53

marconi wrote:
Pershing36 wrote:

He knew what it was in my opinion. It was just an operation he wasn't happy talking about. He knew a lot about what was going on, enough that I even think he knows the name of the suspects. Hardly one of many operations going on simultaneously, I would say one he has been very close too.

An investigation that is making them look like laughing stocks. Try and pin the failure on the PJ so they can get out of this ASAP before the press turns on them about the money being spent.
I agree with you. My theory is that he knew it and acted that it was on of the 1000s operations of the Yard going on right now.

He wouldn't want to draw attention to what is going on, would he?

HE led a 'fund raising' event where all money raised went directly to the McCann's private company!

The same McCanns his officers are now possibly investigating in relation to their 'missing' daughter!

He wouldn't like his 'link' to the parents of a missing child that Operation Grange are investigating all over the front pages!

by tasprin 21.02.14 16:58

sorry, wrong thread

by Guest 21.02.14 17:05

jeanmonroe wrote:
HE led a 'fund raising' event where all money raised went directly to the McCann's private company!

***
I've mentioned this before. Can we now please once and for all put this one to bed?
There are a couple of articles in June 2007, that BHH was going to lead the release of 1,000 balloons for Madeleine.
The rest is silence ... Only follow-up articles I found a day later, was that Healys were present at the release of one hundred balloons. And not a word about money raised BTW.

by marconi 21.02.14 17:08

Châtelaine wrote:
jeanmonroe wrote:
HE led a 'fund raising' event where all money raised went directly to the McCann's private company!
***
I've mentioned this before. Can we now please once and for all put this one to bed?
There are a couple of articles in June 2007, that BHH was going to lead the release of 1,000 balloons for Madeleine.
The rest is silence ... Only follow-up articles I found a day later, was that Healys were present at the release of one hundred balloons. And not a word about money raised BTW.

Maybe he was there as undecover, if he really showed up.
Wasn't the release in Liverpool and doesn't BHH work in London?

by Guest 21.02.14 17:16

marconi wrote:
Châtelaine wrote:
jeanmonroe wrote:
HE led a 'fund raising' event where all money raised went directly to the McCann's private company!
***
I've mentioned this before. Can we now please once and for all put this one to bed?
There are a couple of articles in June 2007, that BHH was going to lead the release of 1,000 balloons for Madeleine.
The rest is silence ... Only follow-up articles I found a day later, was that Healys were present at the release of one hundred balloons. And not a word about money raised BTW.
Maybe he was there as undecover, if he really showed up.
Wasn't the release in Liverpool and doesn't BHH work in London?

***
- I'm convinced that he would have been front page instead of or together with Healys, if he was there indeed.
- No, he wasn't in London yet at the time.