Jornal de Notícias and Correio da Manhã sparked a media frenzy,
on 01 July 2008, when they reported that the most likely outcome of the 'Maddie Case' would be 'archiving'.
The British press immediately interpreted this to mean that the
case against the McCanns was going to be dropped and that the McCanns would be cleared when the period of judicial secrecy
ended.
However, later in the day a statement was released by Fernando
Pinto Monteiro, the Portuguese Attorney General, clarifying that the case had not been 'dropped' but
simply passed to the prosecutor - as is normal procedure.
"The McCanns want to see what evidence is in the files, although they know there isn't any."
Martin Brunt, Sky News Crime Correspondent - 01 July 2008
The Portuguese 'investigation to trial' process
These are the steps a case will go through, under Portuguese law, before reaching the final 'Trial Phase'.
Many thanks to 'SS' for compiling this list
1 - Police receive knowledge of an 'occurence'. They decide if it is likely to constitute a crime.
2 - After a maximum of 10 days, if it is likely to be a crime, the police have to report it to the Prosecutor
Services (Ministério Público).
3 - The INQUIRY PHASE begins. The Ministério Público (MP) starts the investigation. A prosecutor heads the investigation,
with the help of the police. Under certain circumstances, this phase can be under secrecy of justice (This results from the
new code. Previously it was, by default, under secrecy of justice).
4 - Some powers can be delegated by the Ministério Público to the police (PJ).
5 - All is overseen by an INSTRUCTION JUDGE who has to approve certain measures like preventive arrest, etc.
6 - Art. 58 determines when and how the arguido status is given at this phase. Why's that? Because Art. 57 defines the
arguido as the person against whom charges are layed or against whom instruction is required (ie, the general legal rule is
that the arguido is only arguido when charged with the exceptions of art. 58 - which are many). The arguido remains an arguido
until the end of the whole process.
7 - When the inquiry phase ends, the Ministério Público will have to decide whether or not to lay charges. Art. 279 regulates
in which cases the inquiry can be re-opened if the MP decides not to lay charges.
8 - If the MP decides to lay charges (if enough INDICATIONS have been collected), then:
9 - The INSTRUCTION PHASE begins. This phase is OPTIONAL. The arguido has to request it. If not, it goes directly to trial.
10 - The instruction phase is LED by the instruction judge (as opposed to being 'overseen' as in the inquiry phase).
11 - The instruction phase is made of all instructory acts that the judge decides are necessary and including, ALWAYS,
an INSTRUCTORY DEBATE which is an oral and adversarial instructory act, performed with all parties present, presided by the
judge.
12 - Both the MP and the arguido can assist to ALL instructory acts. They can also request any explanations or ask the
judge to ask any questions they find necessary to discover the truth, including calling witnesses or requiring further diligences.
The judge can delegate some of these diligences to the PJ. Remember that even those performed by the PJ can be assisted
by the arguido.
13 - The judge can deny requests that are obviously not necessary to discover the truth and/or have as their purpose the
delay of the process.
14 - All acts and diligences performed in the inquiry phase NEED NOT be repeated as long as they followed the correct legal
form or when such repetition is crucial to the purposes of the instruction phase.
15 - No CHARACTER WITNESSES are allowed at this phase. Art. 128 restricts their use.
16 - There follows an instructory debate, which is basically a rather informal 'get together' where everybody
discusses what has been done so far so the judge will have a clearer perception if there is enough for an indictment
or not.
17 - In Madeleine's case (no preventive prisioners), the judge will have FOUR MONTHS for the INSTRUCTION PHASE (counting
from the date of the request to open that phase).
18 - The judge then makes the INSTRUCTORY DECISION which is to make the indictment or not. If so, it goes to trial. If
not, it doesn't.
19 - The instructory decision is unappealable, unless it's null.
20 - It can be null if the Decision amounts to facts that are substantially distinct from the facts that originated the
charge. In that case, the judges should have sent the whole thing back and the MP should do it all over. If during the instruction
phase, there are only minor differences between charge and facts leading to the indictment, then the whole of this is 'adjusted'
at this phase.
21 - The TRIAL PHASE begins. A new judge (actually a panel of 3), with the possibility of a jury - under certain circumstances
and rarely used.
PJ without culprits in Maddie's case, 01 July 2008
The investigators finished the Enquiry. The filing
is the probable outcome.
2008
JUL 01 - 00h10m
Alexandra Serôdio
Thanks to 'Luz' for translation
The Policia Judiciária (PJ) couldn't find any guilty parts for the disappearance of Madeleine McCann last May the 3rd.
The investigators have already finished the enquiry without reaching a conclusion. The probable outcome will be the 'archiving'.
After
almost 14 months that Madeleine disappeared from the room where she slept on the Ocean Club resort, in Praia da Luz (Lagos),
the investigation declenched by the Judiciary didn't allow to conclude if it was a kidnapping or a homicide. And it was also
admitted that there was no evidence that related the three arguidos – Robert Murat, Kate and Gerry McCann – with
the disappearance of the child.
As the JN was able to conclude with sources close to the process, the report from the
investigators "only describes the facts that were proved and not proved". This means that it is not conclusive and doesn't
point at any direction – kidnapping, homicide or cadaver occultation.
Sources from the Republic's General Prosecutor
told the JN that, "for the moment, the process will wait for trânsito em julgado (N.T.
it means that a certain amount of time must pass by until the timing for an appeal is extinguished) of a decision that the
Portimão Criminal Court passed on about a means of proof, the reason why the enquiry in charge of the PJ was not considered
as concluded and no report was sent to the Public Ministry". The same source clarified that the "secret of justice will be
maintained until mid August of this year".
The JN knows that what is at stake is the decision to validate or not the
copies of Kate McCann's journal, that the PJ analysed and to which it didn't give any relevance for the process, that's why
they considered their job concluded.
This situation is criticised by a source close to the process: "The request was
made in September last year and too much time has passed". The same source believes that based on this report of the PJ the
decision will be the filing of Maddie's case, which doesn't mean that the process can't be re-opened if meanwhile new evidence
emerges.
From what was possible to find out, the process sent to the Portimão Court, last week, was returned again
to the PJ because the Instruction Judge hasn't validated the diary yet. Pedro Frias, the judge, didn't ask any diligence from
the investigators.
If the 'archiving' is confirmed, as in other cases of missing persons, the police will keep alert
to any new data. Maddie's case may be re-opened if any new evidence or important proof is discovered.
Francisco Pagarete,
lawyer of Robert Murat, said, yesterday, to the JN, that he knows nothing about the process. "Since we went to get Murat's
belongings, more than three months ago, we weren't contacted anymore by the PJ", said the lawyer. About the possible filing
of the process, Pagarete reminds that it is a "resolution that can happen with any case", assuring that he doesn't know "what
evidences were found or not".
The lawyer awaits the official document of the filing in order to know in concrete what
are the reasons for that decision, in case that will be the one taken by the Portimão Judge. He assures that Murat is "quiet
serene". And he concluded "All the diligences of the PJ were accompanied and so we will know what will be in the files".
Carlos
Pinto de Abreu, lawyer of the McCann, also awaits the decision. In case the process is archived, he says that he will study
it "from the first to the last page" to do "what the (Maddie) parents always wanted, which is to understand what investigation
was done and to keep on looking for the child".
Maddie case on its way to the archive, 01 July 2008
Maddie case on its way to the archiveCorreio da Manhã (No online version yet, taken from morning paper edition)
Crossroads – Accusation does not advance due to lack of evidence against the McCanns
Tuesday 01 July 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
Prosecutor from the Public Ministry agrees with the PJ: the 13 volumes are archived before the 14th
The
senior officers at the Polícia Judiciária in Portimão and the prosecutor from the Public Ministry, Magalhães e Menezes, agree
about the Maddie case: there is no evidence that allows for an accusation against the McCanns over their daughter's disappearance.
The process will be archived before the 14th of July, the day on which the judicial secrecy ends.
The Judiciária does
not make a formal proposal to the prosecutor who is in charge of the process, even due to the fact that it is the Public Ministry
that tutors the penal action, but CM knows that in the investigation's final report there is an explicit suggestion from Paulo
Rebelo's team for the 13 volumes of the process, plus appendices, to be archived at the Portimão Court, waiting for better
evidence.
"The norm is for the PJ to opt not to make any proposals to the Public Ministry", judicial sources recall,
and this case, even due to all the adjacent circumstances, did not escape the rule. Anyway, CM established that the prosecutor
Magalhães e Menezes is fully in tune with what will be the final outcome of the investigation.
Forgetting about the
hypotheses of involuntary homicide or concealment of a cadaver, which for so many months were equated by the PJ and even led
to Kate and Gerry being constituted as arguidos, the Public Ministry is likely not even to accuse the couple over the crime
of exposure or abandonment, which punishes the act of abandoning a child with a prison sentence of up to five years.
Given
the fact that the investigation considered the possibility that Maddie's disappearance, on the evening of May 3, 2007, from
an apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, originated from a homicide, the Public Ministry understands that the exposure or abandonment,
or simple neglect, are crimes of a lesser importance. Therefore, the case returns to zero, with the McCann couple, but also
with Robert Murat, the British man who was a formal suspect for abduction, since the beginning of the investigation, cleared
in this entire process.
As far as Maddie's parents are concerned, CM was able to establish, the decision is largely
supported on the final report from the Birmingham lab, which was received early this year, and raises considerable doubts
about the possible presence of the body in the McCanns' car boot.
Page last updated at 08:06 GMT, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 09:06 UK
Portuguese police are closing the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, according to local media
reports.
Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann are both official suspects in the case, along with a third man Robert Murat.
But two newspapers claim the police have said they "do not have sufficient evidence" to charge the McCanns.
Madeleine, from Rothley, Leics, was three when she disappeared from the resort of Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007.
The Correio da Manha newspaper said on Tuesday that sources within Portugal's judicial police said they "do not have
sufficient evidence to allow formal charges to be brought against the McCanns in the disappearance of their daughter".
The Jornal de Noticias said: "The police have not found the guilty."
The newspapers said the closure of the investigation would be announced within the next few days.
The BBC's Alison Roberts, in Portugal, said reports suggested the case had been "archived" or shelved, meaning police
would no longer devote resources to investigating it.
She said it could be reopened if new evidence emerged, but officers would not be actively working on it.
'Suffered enough'
The McCanns were declared official suspects - "arguidos" in Portuguese legal jargon - last September.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the BBC the couple did not know yet whether the reports were correct.
"If they are true, it's to be welcomed that Kate and Gerry are not to face any charges," Mr Mitchell said.
"It's quite right. They are innocent of any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance. They have suffered enough in this
process.
"And surely the Portuguese authorities, if this is true, must lift their arguido status as a priority."
Mr Mitchell said the family wanted to know whether police now planned to stop searching for Madeleine.
If so, he said, all the information held by the police must be made public so the McCanns could carry on their own hunt.
"What happens to all those leads, all those contacts? There are thousands of pieces of information in those files," he
said.
"What we don't want is that information to lie on a shelf somewhere gathering dust."
Mr and Mrs McCann are due to go to the High Court on 7 July to ask a judge to order police files on the disappearance
of their daughter to be released.
*
Portuguese police are closing their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, according to reports in
Portuguese newspapers.
The family's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, gave his reaction.
Police 'closing' Madeleine case BBC News (updated version)
Page last updated at 10:33 GMT, Tuesday, 1 July 2008 11:33 UK
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are closing the case, Portuguese media have reported.
Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann are both official suspects in the inquiry, along with a third man, Robert Murat.
But two newspapers claim the police have said they plan to close the case because of a lack of evidence.
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leics, was three when she disappeared in Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007. The family said they were
awaiting confirmation of the reports.
The Correio da Manha newspaper said on Tuesday that sources within Portugal's judicial police said they "do not have
sufficient evidence to allow formal charges to be brought against the McCanns in the disappearance of their daughter".
The Jornal de Noticias said the police did not have enough evidence to charge either the McCanns or Mr Murat with any
wrongdoing.
"The police have not found the guilty," the paper added.
One newspaper said the case had already been closed, while another said the end of the investigation would be announced
within the next few days.
The BBC's Alison Roberts, in Portugal, said reports suggested the case had been "archived" or shelved, meaning police
would no longer devote resources to investigating it.
She said it could be reopened if new evidence emerged, but officers would not be actively working on it.
'Suffered enough'
The McCanns were declared official suspects - "arguidos" in Portuguese legal jargon - last September.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the BBC the couple did not know yet whether the reports were correct.
"If they are true, it's to be welcomed that Kate and Gerry are not to face any charges," Mr Mitchell said.
"It's quite right. They are innocent of any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance. They have suffered enough in this
process.
"And surely the Portuguese authorities, if this is true, must lift their arguido status as a priority."
Mr Mitchell said the family wanted to know whether police now planned to stop searching for Madeleine.
If so, he said, all the information held by the police must be made public so the McCanns could carry on their own hunt.
"What happens to all those leads, all those contacts? There are thousands of pieces of information in those files," he
said.
"What we don't want is that information to lie on a shelf somewhere gathering dust.
"Surely it's only humane and decent that information that could help find Madeleine comes to the investigators who will
keep looking for her even if the police feel they can't."
The McCanns have their own "very sophisticated intelligence gathering operation", Mr Mitchell added.
Mr and Mrs McCann are due to go to the High Court on 7 July to ask a judge to order police files on the disappearance
of their daughter to be released.
The BBC's correspondent said the period of judicial secrecy surrounding the case was due to end in August.
Briton Mr Murat lives with his mother in Praia da Luz close to the apartment where Madeleine was last seen. He strongly
denies any involvement in her disappearance.
His lawyer Francisco Pagarete said he had heard nothing from the Portuguese authorities about the case being closed.
Asked whether he would welcome such a development, Mr Pagarete said: "Yes, we will, but it depends on the way it's going
to be dropped.
"If it's going to be dropped because there's not enough evidence connecting my client to this case or if it's going to
be dropped because Robert hasn't got any involvement in this case.
Portuguese detectives have dropped the Madeleine
McCann case due to lack of evidence, according to media reports in the country.
Two Portuguese newspapers said the Public Prosecutor's office intended to call off their search for the girl before July
14, when the customary official secrecy period covering the investigation ends.
Police could reopen the case if new evidence emerges, the papers said.
The papers - Correio da Manha and Jornal de Noticias - cited unidentified police sources.
Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007, days before her fourth birthday, after she was left sleeping in a holiday apartment
as her parents Kate and Gerry dined with friends in a nearby tapas bar in the southern Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.
Her parents were made formal suspects on September 7 last year in one of the many dramatic twists in the case. They insist
Madeleine was abducted.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, told Sky News: "As usual, these are non-attributed sources and we have not
heard this officially. But if it is true it's not before time - kate and Gerry have suffered enough.
"Police should lift their arguido (suspect) status and should pass their information over to our investigators who continue
to work on the case.
"We still need to find Madeleine."
Sky's Crime correspondent Martin Brunt said: "If the police stop treating the Mccanns as suspects the couple would hope
that more effort would be put into finding their little girl."
Another Briton, Robert Murat, was also declared a suspect in the case.
The newspaper said the closure of the investigation would be announced in the next few days.
Spanish journalist Rui Pinto de Almeida told Sky News: "This is a formal legal requirement in Spain and there remains
the possibility of reopening the case."
Maddie's parents 'to escape charges', 01 July 2008
The parents of British girl Madeleine McCann will not be charged over her disappearance, and police in Portugal are closing
the case, media reports say.
Judicial police "do not have sufficient evidence to allow formal charges to be brought
against the McCanns in the disappearance of their daughter," the Correio da Manha newspaper said.
"The police have
not found the guilty," echoed the Jornal de Noticias daily.
Madeleine, known as Maddie, disappeared on May 3, 2007,
days before her fourth birthday, after she was left sleeping in a holiday apartment as her parents dined with friends in a
nearby restaurant in the southern Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.
Her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, were made
formal suspects on September 7 last year in one of the many dramatic twists in the case. They insisted Maddie had been abducted.
Another
Briton, Robert Murat, was also a suspect in the case.
The newspaper said the closure of the investigation would be
announced in the next few days.
A spokesman for Madeleine's parents said that if the reports were true, the family
hoped police would continue searching for her.
The McCanns also hoped Portuguese police would no longer consider them
official suspects and release all relevant documents relating to the search for their daughter.
"If it is true then
it is not before time," family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told Sky News in Britain.
"Kate and Gerry have suffered
enough in this process and the police are right to acknowledge they are not involved.
"Kate and Gerry will never give
up the search for their daughter."
Mitchell said it was "commonsense" for the Portuguese police to now release to the
McCanns all relevant documents relating to the search for Madeleine.
"If they feel for whatever reason they've done
enough, or can't do any more, then it is only humane for that information to be made available to our investigators who will
follow up every single lead, every single piece of information in those files," he said.
"That is a debate our lawyers
will have in coming days and weeks.
"If the police are about to shelve the case, we need information from their files
and that's why the lawyers will continue to push for access to the police files and primarily for el guido (official suspect)
status to be lifted from Kate and Gerry's shoulders.
"What we don't want is all of that information sitting on a shelf
... gathering dust.
"Madeleine is still out there. There is absolutely no evidence that she's been harmed let alone
killed, as many people we think wrongly assume."
Madeleine McCann's parents finally CLEARED as Portuguese police
reveal: 'The case is closed', 01 July 2008
Madeleine McCann's parents finally CLEARED as Portuguese
police reveal: 'The case is closed'Daily Mail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 11:09 AM on 01st July 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann are set to be cleared of any involvement
in the disappearance of their missing daughter Madeleine.
A police investigation is expected to conclude that Portuguese detectives have found no evidence to implicate
the couple.
Their daughter was six days short of her fourth birthday when she vanished from their holiday apartment
in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on 3 May last year.
According to sources, the McCanns are now hoping their status as suspects - or arguidos - will
be lifted by next month at the latest and possibly within a fortnight.
A third person named as a suspect, British-born Robert Murat, is also expected to be cleared.
The police case is now likely to be shelved after a 14-month inquiry which is said to have been 'inconclusive'.
A source close to the family said: 'We are assuming arguido status will be lifted when the case is shelved.
'Kate and Gerry's lawyers are making inquiries all the time. If the case is shut without charges being
brought, they cannot be arguidos any more.
'The mood music we are getting from Portuguese authorities is the arguido status will be lifted and they
will effectively be cleared.'
The couple's official spokesman Clarence Mitchell said that even if the official investigation is closed
then the search for Madeleine will continue.
He said: 'Kate and Gerry's lawyers have not had any of this information confirmed so we cannot comment
in any great detail.
'However if this report is true, it is not before time. Kate and Gerry have suffered enough in this process.
"We would doubt how much investigation has actually been done in the last months anyway.
'We would hope the Portuguese authorities, if these reports are true, would continue to look for Madeleine
because she is a child who went missing in their country.'
"But if the criminal investigation has been halted due to a lack of evidence - which there is against
Kate and Gerry because they are both innocent - we want the information made available to our investigators who will follow
up every lead or piece of information in those files.'
The Journal de Noticias, a respected Portuguese-newspaper, reports today that the police inquiry has failed
to reach any conclusion over what happened to Madeleine.
The newspaper says a judge overseeing the case is now expected to archive the investigation without ruling
on Madeleine's fate.
According to Journal de Noticias, detectives are still unable to determine whether Madeleine was kidnapped
or murdered on the night she disappeared from the bedroom of her parents' apartment as they ate at a nearby tapas restaurant
with friends.
A source close to the case told the newspaper: 'The police report... is not conclusive nor does it point
in any particular direction - kidnap, murder or the concealment of Madeleine's body.'
