Madeleine McCann is missing in Portugal

[ells9824]

Police have been alerted to a recent rash of attempted abductions in Portugal. At least 4 children have been targeted, the last being a 9 year old who successfully escaped her abductor.

Investigators are looking closely to see if they are connected to each other, and possibly to the kidnapping of Madeleine almost a year ago.

Article goes on to talk about Mom and her charity work since the abduction.

http://tinyurl.com/24bsgu

[ells9824]

A student has spotted Madeleine McCann in the South of France, it is claimed.

Melissa Fiering, 18, said she called out to the girl, who bore a "striking resemblance to the missing British youngster - and had a distinctive fleck in her right eye.

The child looked startled at the sound of her name and the "tall, swarthy" man she was with quickly bundled her out of the restaurant.

But this is only the second time someone has claimed to have identified a girl with the unusual marking in her eye.

http://tinyurl.com/2cu6pg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm thinking bullshit on this. I don't know how someone can see that little deformity in her iris from 15 feet away...

Tall swarthy man=bushy haired stranger

[horsegirl]

Deleted as Tony Bennet is an idiot

[Castille]

Interesting. Although, I'd like to point out "Baby Grace," Riley Sawyers, was never reported missing to police. There was never any hunt for her. There was a hunt for who she was after her unidentified body was found - thus being identified as "Baby Grace." Given the error off the bat, citations for the other cases and the rest of the information offered are probably in order. At least for a publication intended for sale.

[horsegirl]

Thanks for pointing that out, also, the baby in the attic, I guess thats the one with the Services Dad, wasthis little one ever reported missing?

[Rockin Ma]

Wow. That must be over there like Caylee over here.

[DarkPrincess]

I never believed those people. They could have had someone watch their children, but instead they left them alone. It never made sense to me.

[Rockin Ma]

The only thing I know about that story is that the mom had the smell of death on her and said she got it at work two weeks earlier, then it turned out she didn't have contact with dead bodies. Oh, and periodically I hear there was a sighting... um last one in France I think.

[crickett]

Madelaine was dead well before the "Tapas 9" met that evening. Perhaps some tragic accident. BUT, for some reason, ALL of them were in on the coverup. That makes it sound like more than even covering up a tragic accident. WHY would ALL of these people helping to cover unless many of them could ALSO be blamed.
Poor little angel. Her mother (in the video seen with the attached article) was showing far less concern than I would have for a cat that had disappeared.
God knows what they've done and they WILL pay for it.

[Pete Bondurant]

Gypsies. It was the gypsies. Everyone knows that.

[Castille]

Thanks for pointing that out, also, the baby in the attic, I guess thats the one with the Services Dad, wasthis little one ever reported missing?

Without some kind of citation, or enough information for me to look it up independently, I really can't identify which case you're refering to there.

[DarkPrincess]

Gypsies. It was the gypsies. Everyone knows that.


I'll bet your childhood was fun.

[Nell]

I think she means the Harmony Jade Creech story. The original story isn't in the forums but it was on the front page and led to a lot of hilarity oddly enough. Here is the link...

http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1353&highlight=Harmony+Jade

[horsegirl]

That's the one Nell, thanks:hello:

[Southwind]

While most child abductions are attributed to parents, not all are. What I find interesting about this article is the concept that the "Tapas 9" have all kept their mouths shut. I find it hard to believe when that many people are involved.

[horsegirl]

This group of so called doctors left their kids home alone every night while they were out drinking.
They still have their remaining children-any other young mum who did this would have their remaining children removed from them for neglet, but these are "professionals" and "middle class" so they keep their children.
Mccanns have just released a video of Madeleine enjoying he last Chistmas on this earth.
I detest them, they have NEVER released a photo of this child at the age she was when she "disappeared"
They used the "find Madeleine fund" to make mortgage repayments.
Father seems like a pugilistic bully, Mother is a cold fish of a cunt.
I hope they are haunted forever by that dear little girl.
Lots of interesting info on www.mccannfiles.com
Casey has nothing on them:dontknow:

[horsegirl]

The Mccanns are appearing on Ophrah in early May.
Turns out one of the Tapas 9 could be a sex offender.
This whole business really stinks, parents are now "directors" of the fund, which is promoted as a charity but is in fact a limited company.
Cadaver scent discovered in car boot, it is like the Antonys at a whole new level.

Wow, is Ophrah:hello: scraping the barrel or what?

[LocalCelebrity]

Looks like this guy is a RSO and may know what happened to Maddie...

http://www.680news.com/news/headlines/more.jsp?content=20090522_075625_6864

[Valasca]

I am just SURE the parents had something to do with it. I really hope I am wrong.

[horsegirl]

Read this
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Madeleine-McCann-Raymond-Hewlett-British-Paedophile-Named-As-Person-Of-Interest-In-Maddie-Case/Article/200905315286548?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article _Teaser_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15286548_Madeleine_McCann%3A_Raymond_H ewlett%2C_British_Paedophile%2C_Named_As_Person_Of _Interest_In_Maddie_Case


and google the couple who found him "Alan and Cindy Thompson "- they sure have found some interesting things on their travels...

This whole case stinks. The police are not interviewing him about Madeleine, his previous victims have been pubescent girls.
The only people interested in him are the MCs private ex cops.

I also think they are GUILTY AS SIN of child neglect, leaving a 3year old and twin two year olds in an unlocked holiday apartment while they were out eating and drinking with friends.
Not all is as it seems:lollypop:

[Whisper]

'Victoria Beckham look-a-like' clue in Madeleine disappearanceAugust 6, 2009LONDON, England (CNN) --
A new witness in the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann has told investigators he talked with a "Victoria Beckham look-a-like" who may have revealed clues about the girl's fate, a family spokesman said Thursday.

Sketch shows woman who may hold new clues to disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Investigators would not release what was said in the conversation but the clues have led police to try to find the woman.

Madeleine vanished from the family's holiday villa at the Portuguese beach resort of Praia da Luz in May 2007 as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined in a nearby restaurant. She was 3 years old at the time.

The suspicious woman was seen outside a bar in Barcelona, Spain, by partygoers on May 7, 2007, and the new witness had a conversation with this woman, said McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell. Watch McCann spokesman describe new lead »

Authorities released a sketch of the person, described as a woman who spoke with an Australian accent and who could also speak fluent Spanish.

Former detective inspector Dave Edgar, who was hired by the McCann family, called the new witness a significant movement in the case.

Edgar would not say why the witness waited so long to come forward, stating only it was personal reasons.

Mitchell described the woman they are looking for as similar in appearance to the former Spice Girl singer and wife of soccer star David Beckham. She was described as in her 30s and about 5 feet 2 inches tall.

Madeleine's parents have garnered international support in an effort to find their daughter, enlisting the aid of celebrities and even Pope Benedict XVI.


At one point, authorities in Portugal had named the girl's parents as suspects, along with a British man living in Portugal, Robert Murat. But a spokesman for the Portuguese public prosecutor's office said in July 2008 that authorities found no evidence of involvement by any of the three and were no longer considering them suspects.

Portuguese investigators closed the case in July 2008http://i32.tinypic.com/2gudtt4.jpg http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/06/madeleine.mccann/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

[skeptik]

New age progression of Maddie.

Where is she?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6/jackonrye/4bc58ec0.jpg

[drkeegee]

My gut feeling says the parents are not involved in her disappearance (other than their boneheaded decision to leave her unsupervised in an unlocked room).

I think this will turn out to be a situation similar to the Kacy abduction - someone's got her and is keeping her for their own amusement. May angels guide you to safety.

[Misskittychaos]

Anyone else think the age progression looks like Dakota Fanning? My feeling on the parents aren't clear b/c part of me wants to slap them for leaving three babies alone but oh well.

[skeptik]

I don't think they did it but I don't think The Ramsey's did either.
...neither of these opinions have done me any favors online. :dong:

[skeptik]

Yeah, I can see it--

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6/jackonrye/dfdbe60b.jpg
Dakota Fanning

[Dakota Valkyrie]

http://i39.tinypic.com/efnm6g.jpg
Kate and Gerry McCann have released a new picture of their daughter Madeleine as they prepare to commemorate tomorrow’s third anniversary of her disappearance.

The photo shows her when she was three after a raid on the dressing-up box – she has a pink bow in her hair and a gold bead necklace and is wearing blue eyeshadow.

It was taken weeks before the fateful family holiday to the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished. She had been left sleeping with her younger twin siblings, Sean and Amelie, on May 3, 2007.

Last week her parents returned to Portugal to put pressure on the police to renew their investigation, which was dropped in July 2008, and released the photo and a new video in the hope of triggering new leads in the search for their daughter, who would now be six.

The couple, both 42-year-old doctors from Rothley, Leicestershire, said their three-man team of private detectives hunting for Madeleine had discovered leads in police case files which had previously been dismissed.

In an interview with a Portuguese newspaper, Mr McCann said: ‘There are leads, clues which weren’t investigated. That information has been sent to the authorities.

‘We know that one of the leads was followed up and eliminated, and another was considered irrelevant. We don’t agree. I’m not saying we have somebody who saw Madeleine. But clues lead to other clues and we have to convince the police to investigate them.’

The couple, who will spend tomorrow with friends, would not give more details of the leads they want followed up, saying that could hinder the investigation.

Mr McCann added: ‘We are going to call for the case to be reopened. Can it be done? It can. Will it be done? I don’t know.’
[...]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1270357/Maddie-plays-dressing-weeks-vanished-McCanns-fly-Portugal-bid-reopen-case--release-new-picture.html

The video they released:
YouTube- New Madeleine McCann video released

[myra manes]

Three years already?
Shit ..

RIP, Madeline .. 8(

[cheeseburgersanchez]

Gypsies. It was the gypsies. Everyone knows that.

When my son is naughty I tell him I am going to sell him to the gypsies... This made me giggle.

[Marv]

I don't think they did it:


I don't think the parents killed her or covered up an accident or anything either. People stupid enough to leave 3 such young children alone while they go off and have fun with their friends are also too stupid to pull off such a cover up as this would have to be.

I do think poor Maddie is dead, and that she likely suffered a great deal before she died. I hope with every fibre of my being that I am wrong, but.............

And all because her parents wanted Tapas and a few drinks with friends.

There was enough of them in the group to take turns in minding the kids. Gather them all up in one apartment, and take it in turns to sit in with them while the rest of the group relax. Not too difficult really, is it?

[koochie]

I found it so odd that the mother was out jogging a few days after she went missing...out there in her jog bra and shorts while police etc are out combing the area for her missing daughter...

i know people deal with grief and stress differently but i dont know, i would think she'd be out there walking all over the town turning over every rock under the sun instead of out jogging..it seemed very out of place. but i could be reading too much into it.

[Aena]

I think her parents killed her if not her parents one of the so called Tapas 9, or 10 or 11 depending on what you are reading. I got flamed so bad for saying that on message boards at the time the case was hot.

Too much weird stuff going on around there at the time, yeah we checked every 30 min, yet no one seen or heard anything, 2 of them were in the apt. right across, heard nothing. The washing of everything after she disappeared, carrying around that cuddle cat, that was so bizarre. The cadaver dogs hitting on Kate when she was a local GP, she didn't even deal with corpses, cadaver dogs hitting on the car...way many more things but that's the only ones I can think of from the top of my head.

[Aena]

I found it so odd that the mother was out jogging a few days after she went missing...out there in her jog bra and shorts while police etc are out combing the area for her missing daughter...

i know people deal with grief and stress differently but i dont know, i would think she'd be out there walking all over the town turning over every rock under the sun instead of out jogging..it seemed very out of place. but i could be reading too much into it.


Out jogging every day, not to mention lazing by the pool while strangers are looking for your missing daughter.

[Whisper]

‘Jailed killer holds Maddie hunt key’
A MUM yesterday urged cops to quiz a jailed killer she believes has the key to finding her son and Madeleine McCann.
Charles O'Neill is said to have been in Portugal when Maddie, three, was snatched in 2007.

Two months earlier he was in Gran Canaria, in Spain's Canary Islands, when Jeremy Vargus, seven, vanished.

Jeremy's mum Ithaisa Suarez, 27, said: "I believe he might know where they are, or what happened to them.

"They're identical cases. Children who vanished in minutes, leaving no trace. He's a vile monster and should be questioned again." O'Neill, 47, and his gay lover William Lauchlan were jailed for life last Thursday for murdering mum-of-three Allison McGarrigle in Largs, Ayrshire - to stop her exposing them for child abuse.

The pair had earlier done time for drugging and abusing youngsters. O'Neill has refused to meet detectives working for Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry McCann.

Ithaisa said: "He was interviewed by police looking for Jeremy. They found no evidence. But if he didn't do it, he may know who did."

She said Spanish police told her they believe Maddie and Jeremy may have been targets of the same gang.
[...]http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3012393/Killer-may-hold-key-to-Maddie-hunt.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News

[Whisper]

Kate McCann has accused Portuguese police of covering up a series of child sex abuse cases before her daughter Madeleine was abducted.

The claim is made in a new book Madeleine, in which Mrs McCann writes honestly about her torment
[....]
In the forthcoming book, Mrs McCann writes of her fear that her daughter was kidnapped by a paedophile and admits that she was at one time consumed by the mental image of her eldest child being 'defiled' by her abductor.

Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry, both of them doctors from Rothley in Leicestershire, were first warned of an alarming number of cases in the Algarve by Bill Henderson, the British consul in the region. He told the McCanns shortly after the abduction that there had been "several cases of men getting into bed with children". When police made public their files on the case in the summer of 2008, Mrs McCann discovered five cases of British children being sexually abused in their beds while on holiday and while their parents slept in another room.

The incidents are said to have occurred within a one-hour drive of Praia da Luz in the three years before Madeleine, then aged three, went missing on May 3rd 2007. She believes the Portuguese police failed to investigate any possible links between the cases and the disappearance of Madeleine.

"It broke my heart to read the terrible accounts of these devastated parents and the experiences of their poor children," writes Mrs mcCann, adding: "What these cases do demonstrate, however, is that British tourists in holiday accommodation were being targeted... It is so hard not to scream from the rooftops about how these crimes appear to have been brushed under the carpet."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/8500353/Kate-McCann-accuses-Algarve-police-of-sex-abuse-cover-up.html
Pics at link of perv they believe is responsible
And not to sound heartless here but these "Drs" all went out to dinner and drinks and left all the kids alone everynight



Tormented Kate McCann: I'm tortured by thought that Maddie is being abused by a paedophile


Kate McCann is consumed by the fear that Madeleine was snatched by a paedophile.
Four years after her daughter disappeared in Portugal, she has revealed she is tortured by a belief an abuser is responsible.
In an interview, Mrs McCann, 43, describes the guilt she endures on a daily basis over her daughter’s abduction.

I become consumed with it. It was torture for me. It was horrible, so vivid,’ she said.
Madeleine was snatched from her bed in the McCanns’ apartment at a resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of May 3, 2007, days before she turned four.
Her parents were dining with friends at a restaurant, fewer than 100 yards away, and regularly returned to the room to check on their three sleeping children.
But the last time Mrs McCann went to check she found Madeleine had gone.
In her forthcoming book, to be called Madeleine, she writes: ‘When she was first stolen, paedophiles were all we could think about, and it ate away at us.
‘The truly awful manifestation of what I was feeling was a macabre slideshow of vivid pictures in my brain that taunted me relentlessly.
‘I was crying out that I could see Madeleine lying, cold and mottled on a big grey stone slab.
‘The idea of a monster like this touching my daughter, stroking her, defiling her perfect little body, just killed me over and over again.
‘I would lie in bed, hating the person who had done this to us – the person who had taken away our little girl and terrified her. I hated him. I wanted to kill him.’
She told the Sun newspaper how her worries intensified when she heard of other abductions involving children nearby. Mrs McCann from Rothley, Leicestershire, also discloses the pressures the ordeal put on her 12-year marriage to husband Gerry.
Immediately after the kidnapping, the couple struggled to cope with their loss and their feelings of guilt. And while she continued on a relentless search for their daughter, he admitted he needed to ‘switch off at times’. Mrs McCann, a part-time GP before Madeleine’s disappearance, said: ‘Gerry and I were just holding each other and saying: ‘We’re not going to survive this.’’
‘I didn’t know if I would ever get back to the person I was. I was conscious about the effect this had on Gerry. He needed me to be together and I just couldn’t get myself there.’
Mr McCann added: ‘There were times when I thought she would never get back to being the woman I loved.
I felt our family was being destroyed. It felt like a fight for survival. That’s when I couldn’t see a way out.’
His wife credits the support of a trauma consultant, who joined them in Portugal immediately, for the survival of their marriage.
She also said the strength of their two other children, six-year-old twins Amelie and Sean, helped them get through.
Four years after her abduction, Mrs McCann reveals the memory she has of her little girl is frozen in time and she finds it difficult to imagine her as an eight year old.
She has had three dreams of her, all of them describing a phone call she receives informing her that Madeleine has been found.
She said: ‘There she is and I’m cuddling her. The thing is, it’s so tangible. I can feel her, smell her, feel her snuggling into me, like she always did.
‘She’s there, I’m holding her, I’m so happy. And then I wake up. And of course she’s not there. The pain is crippling.’
The couple hope sales of the book will raise £1million to continue funding the worldwide hunt. Mrs McCann said: ‘Every penny we raise through its sales will be spent on our search for Madeleine. Nothing is more important to us than finding our little girl.
‘Madeleine is still missing and there is still a lot to be done. Our efforts to find her are not diminishing. If anything, they are escalating.
‘The need for a review by the authorities of Madeleine’s case remains, and our desire to achieve this unwavering.’
But she complained: ‘We have tried in vain to get the authorities to play their part but our requests have seemingly fallen on deaf ears.
‘It is simply not acceptable that they have, to all intents and purposes, given up on Madeleine. We need the authorities to do more.
[...]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384421/Kate-McCann-Im-tortured-thought-Maddie-abused-paedophile.html?ITO=1490

[Whisper]

http://i54.tinypic.com/33xejv4.jpg

Marriage strain: Kate and Gerry McCann. Gerry said: 'There were times when I thought she (Kate) would never get back to being the woman I loved.'Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384421/Kate-McCann-Im-tortured-thought-Maddie-abused-paedophile.html#ixzz1LhvWEjz3

The 'naughty man'... What twins call kidnapper

Madeline McCann’s twin siblings will be haunted by the tragedy of their missing sister for the rest of their lives, their mother fears.
Amelie and Sean were just two years old when Maddie was snatched from her bed while they slept only a few feet away.
And while the pair, who are now six and attending school, still talk about their older sister, Kate McCann says they are still too young to fully comprehend the situation.
She said: ‘I am well aware, if God forbid we are still in this situation, that the pain and the anger and the upset will come as they get older and they realise what actually happened.’
Their mother revealed how she and husband Gerry have found it difficult to explain to the twins why they cannot see their sister any more.
She added: ‘We’ve been as honest as we can. They know that Madeleine was stolen. They call the person who took her “the naughty man”.’
Mrs McCann said the children knew their sister had disappeared in Portugal.
‘Amelie said, “We went to Portugal and then we woke up and Madeleine was gone.” ’
At the twins’ school in Leicestershire, where Madeleine was due to attend, teachers try to keep their lives as normal as possible.
All the children at the school know what happened – which in some respects has made the job harder. According to the McCanns, one new boy once said to Sean: ‘Madeleine is dead, someone shot her.’
Sean later told his parents about it – but handled the situation well, they said.
Mr McCann said: ‘He was very matter-of-fact. He said no one knows where Madeleine is.’
His wife added: ‘All the parents have been really supportive and I don’t blame the child at all, they are only young.
‘Children do say things. But I think Sean and Amelie have handled it brilliantly.’
The McCanns said they have drawn strength from the twins, who often comfort them when they are in need.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384421/Kate-McCann-Im-tortured-thought-Maddie-abused-paedophile.html#ixzz1LhuTYvkD



http://i51.tinypic.com/34i3iuv.jpg
Artist's impression: Based on witness accounts, an image of the abduction http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384421/Kate-McCann-Im-tortured-thought-Maddie-abused-paedophile.html#ixzz1LhwMokiX


http://i56.tinypic.com/ico2km.jpg
Lost: Next Thursday marks Madeleine McCann's eight birthday. She went missing a few days before she turned four


http://i56.tinypic.com/25575sz.jpg
Apt Maddie as Taken From

[Nell]

Madeline McCann’s twin siblings will be haunted by the tragedy of their missing sister for the rest of their lives, their mother fears.

Yes they will, because the McCann's were either to cheap or too stupid to use the babysitters the resort had and went to a fucking Tapas restaurant to get drinks with friends, leaving a 4 year old to watch twin 2 year olds.

I hope that the thought that Maddie has most likely been sold into child slavery and if lucky is DEAD haunts the fucking McCann's for the rest of their lives.

[Whisper]

Yes they will, because the McCann's were either to cheap or too stupid to use the babysitters the resort had and went to a fucking Tapas restaurant to get drinks with friends, leaving a 4 year old to watch twin 2 year olds.

I hope that the thought that Maddie has most likely been sold into child slavery and if lucky is DEAD haunts the fucking McCann's for the rest of their lives.

Thanks b.c I thought everyone was going to jump on me but I feel the exact same way as you do
These are fucking Drs and they cant put a couple bucks out??
If that was my Dr I be dropping them b/c they arent competent

[princessgrandma]

You know, at first, I got a hinky feeling about the whole thing. The parents going out and leaving the kids alone, the possible abduction by a stranger, and different clues that have come out. Wasn't there something about the death smell being detected in the trunk of the car they were driving while in Portugal?

I don't know what to think now. If she was actually abducted, I think Nell is probably right and she was sold into slavery and is probably dead by now. But I just can't get past that funny feeling about the parents and their reactions and non-actions. Out jogging instead of looking for Maddie?

Something about it all reminds me of Billie Dunn and her missing daughter, Hailey.

[sintax]

Pat Brown is headed to Portugal to do some investing. The whole article is at the link below.


...What, then, does American criminal profiler Pat Brown hope to accomplish with her two week trip to Portugal, beginning next week on February 6, with her small band of assistants and a few hundred euros of her own money?

...She could find the truth. She could find Madeleine. She could find nothing but at least she won’t be costing the taxpayers millions or draining the pocketbooks of kindhearted donators chasing useless leads.

Pat Brown will be following up on the theory she purported in her Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, her eBook which was pulled by Amazon at the request of the British solicitors Carter-Ruck on behalf of Gerry and Kate McCann.

http://womenincrimeink.blogspot.com/2012/02/press-release-cease-and-desist-letter.html

[sintax]

Madeleine McCann's Grave Found, Claims South African Land Baron Stephen Birch



A South African real estate developer claims to have found the gravesite of Madeleine McCann.

Self-styled investigator Stephen Birch says he used a ground penetrating radar device -- a tool that that uses radar pulses to x-ray the subsurface -- to locate the body of the missing British girl.

McCann was 3 years old in May 2007, when she went on a trip to Portugal with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. The couple was dining with friends at a nearby restaurant when the little girl vanished from their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. There have been no solid leads in the case since that time.

Birch is obsessed with McCann's disappearance and spent more than $30,000 of his own money on the equipment used to find McCann's suspected gravesite, according to Sky News.

"All I want to do is solve the mystery and bring closure to Madeleine's family," Birch said on Friday.

Birch said the location he scanned is not far from the apartment where Madeline disappeared.

"I've had the scans analyzed and they show digging, a void and what could be human bones," he said.


Birch told Sky News that he provided Scotland Yard detectives and Portuguese police with hard copies of the radar scans and the agencies are examining them.

Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have yet to comment on Birch's claims.

Criminal profiler Pat Brown, author of Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, said she expects little from Birch's independent investigation.

"In my opinion, nothing will come of this," Brown said.

According to Brown, Portuguese police have already searched the property in question and found no evidence of a grave.

"Birch ... claims to have ground radar scans showing a burial site on ex-suspect Robert Murat's property, which is just a long block away from the McCann's vacation home in Praia da Luz. He says the police have asked him for more information, which I believe to be merely a polite formality as Scotland Yard has steadfastly stated they believe, against all odds and evidence to date, that Madeleine McCann is likely alive [and] living with a family who wanted a child," Brown said.

Brown is also critical of the overall investigation into the little girl's disappearance -- an investigation that has reportedly cost authorities more than four million dollars.

"Scotland Yard detectives have spent a year pouring over thousands of meaningless tips while never bothering to re-interview the McCanns or their friends," Brown said. "The case would be best served by the McCanns requesting the case be reopened and returning with their friends to Portugal to allow the Portuguese detectives to finish the investigation properly [and] to do [a previously] requested reenactment, to eliminate themselves as having any involvement in the disappearance of their daughter."




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/06/madeleine-mccanns-grave-found_n_1653768.html?utm_hp_ref=crime

[sintax]

Maddie search shrouded in controversy


The Saturday Star can today reveal for the first time the scan that Cape Town property developer Stephen Birch handed over to British and Portuguese authorities, which he claims proves that Madeleine McCann’s tiny body was buried on the property of former suspect Robert Murat.

A video showing Birch using a georadar machine, allegedly in Murat’s garden at Casa Liliana, is now circulating on the web, including on YouTube. In the interview with Portuguese TV station, Expresso TV, he said: “Maddie died on May 3, 2007 and she was put into the ground that same day.”

This comes as a heated row has erupted between Birch and two Cape Town private investigators amid allegations that all three are in the hunt for the sake of the R35 million reward.

Last week the Saturday Star reported claims by the property developer that he may have found the grave of missing Madeleine McCann less than 200m from the Praia da Luz resort in Portugal, using the radar scanning device. Now private investigators Martin van Wyk and his sister Bernice Manson have accused Birch of stealing their research and passing it off as his own.

But Birch didn’t respond in detail saying he had been advised by his attorneys not to comment on the case further.

This may be because Murat, in Portugal, is adamant that he will sue Birch. Murat’s lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, told the Algarve Resident on Wednesday: “We are suing Mr Stephen Birch for the unlawful entry into private property.”

In an interview with newspaper Correio da Manhã (CM) Birch admitted that while in Praia da Luz, he monitored the property “24 hours a day”, with the help of two “collaborators”, and when the house was vacated he would enter and search the backyard with the georadar equipment.

And on an Express TV news clip, Birch can clearly be seen operating the georadar on Murat’s property, hunched under hanging tree branches in the dead of night. He said he had entered the property four times.

“There is a big driveway on Casa Liliana. But I believe that Maddie is buried beneath a second driveway, a less important driveway, which was constructed over the ground. The driveway is small and one cannot even turn a car in it. I don’t believe it serves any purpose. It is covered by pebble stones.”

Birch further said he was aware that there was a good chance that he would be prosecuted for trespassing. He said he had hired two law firms – one in SA and one in the UK to protect his interests.

“I hope and will plead with the Portuguese police to investigate my claims and excavate the property. If they are successful, I will have no problem assisting them with their investigation,” Birch said.

Madeleine, 3, disappeared from the Praia da Luz resort five years ago while her parents dined with friends nearby. It is not known if she is still alive. When contacted for comment on Van Wyk and Manson’s claims, Birch said he was aware of them, but denied them.

“The claims are false but under the legal advice of my lawyers I will not comment on the matter at this point.”

He was speaking to the Portuguese police and the McCann family about having the remains in the grave disinterred, and had passed the scans on to the Portuguese police.

“Many people don’t believe my story, and you can’t blame them because I don’t have definite proof. I want the site to be dug up so we can confirm if it indeed holds the remains of Madeleine McCann,” Birch said.

Van Wyk, meanwhile, said Birch was solely motivated by the reward and was willing to resort to illegal means, such as trespassing, to get it.

He feared Birch may have destroyed years of research by going public with his findings.

“Our investigation is incomplete and is still ongoing. By revealing the location without any substantial proof for the police to act on, he has given the person behind the disappearance a chance to cover his tracks. Not to mention his illegal activities in obtaining his ‘evidence’. It was utterly reckless and may have let a murderer walk free.

“I’ve had authorities in the UK call and ask me what he’s trying to pull and tell me that he may have destroyed any hopes of solving the case.”

Van Wyk, a former military police investigator, who has specialised in missing children for the past 28 years, said he was drawn to the McCann case and visited Portugal in October 2007 and in September 2009.

He sold his shares in a bar he part-owned to fund his investigation. Van Wyk said he had made contact with Madeleine’s relatives and received their “blessing” to investigate the case.

They passed on descriptions of Maddie and any new information that came to them. Although the information they were able to provide was limited, it was very useful.

He also gave interviews with local newspapers on his findings.

Van Wyk said he had been in touch by e-mail with the police in Portugal and the UK. He had collected thousands of documents on the case – e-mails, newspaper articles, notes, and hundreds of photographs. The photographs included pictures of the possible grave site.

Just over a year ago, Birch approached the siblings and asked to join them on the case. Manson described him as an acquaintance and loner.

“We’d see him socially sometimes but we wouldn’t call him a close friend.

“Then about a year ago he found out about our research and approached us as a partner,” said Van Wyk. They had agreed to the partnership.

Van Wyk said: “Initially, things went well. Birch was good with ideas and he was very inquisitive about all the role players and our theories. But at some point, he began to obsess and called us several times in the middle of the night for information.”

Van Wyk claims Birch insisted on keeping Van Wyk’s passport, ID and case files to prevent him from travelling to Portugal without him.

Manson said Birch became furious when he was unable to access their photographs last year.

“The documents were stored at a relative’s place who was away for the weekend. When I told him we could only get the photos in a few days he lost it and said ‘you people aren’t interested in the case or the money’ and ‘how useless’ we were.

“We had decided to wait until September to go to Portugal and confirm our theories. But Birch was impatient, so using our research and theories went on his own, using his underground radar device. He only joined us to get the photos and location of the possible grave site. He left as soon as he got what he came for.”

Van Wyk added: “I have worked on this day and night for the past five years, reading through articles from the media and reports from law enforcement intelligence. And for Birch to claim it was his work was just too much.”

He admitted that he was interested in the reward but said he had deeper motives. “The reward is without a doubt a factor, but having worked on missing children cases for so long I wanted to establish a global network to help find missing children. The money and renown for solving the McCann case would go a long way to realising this dream.”

Van Wyk said they still intended going to Portugal in September. -Saturday Star


http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/maddie-search-shrouded-in-controversy-1.1341247

[Castille]

What sense is there fighting over reward money when they haven't even found a body yet?

[sintax]

Missing link overlooked in the Madeleine McCann case


A PILE of discarded cigarette butts could have been the link to finding missing Madeleine McCann.
A witness claims the discarded butts were found on a shared balcony that had a bird’s eye view of the apartment in Portugal, from where toddler was snatched a few days before her fourth birthday in 2007.
However the tourist, who contacted the police, insists detectives never took vital DNA evidence from them.
She had stayed in the apartment a week after Maddie’s disappearance from Praia da Luz, while on a family holiday.
“You could see the front and back of the building from that view point,” she told detectives.
“It was as if there had been someone stood there for some time smoking.
“I thought that was odd and it could have been someone watching the McCann’s apartment to monitor their comings and goings.”


http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2012/08/09/missing-link-overlooked-in-the-madeleine-mccann-case/

[Whisper]

British police say they are investigating new leads in the case of Madeleine McCann, the Briton who disappeared six years ago in Portugal at the age of three.
.
Scotland Yard said it has identified several "persons of interest" and "both investigative and forensic opportunities" in the case. The force said Friday its work is under way to support police in Portugal, even though they have closed their investigation into the disappearance.

McCann vanished from her family's vacation home in Portugal's Algarve region on May 3, 2007, days before her fourth birthday. The case has generated intense media interest in Britain.

British police launched Operation Grange in 2011, to try to solve the puzzle.
[...]http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57585111/u.k-police-announce-new-leads-in-missing-girl-case/