Correio da Manhã Exclusive Reports (July)

Archived with a homicide stamp, 02 July 2008

Archived with a homicide stamp Correio da Manhã (Note: Full article, as reproduced below, appears in paper version only)   Suspicion - PJ investigators do not believe in abduction   02 July 2008 Thanks to 'astro' for translation    The process awaits evidence to accuse but Public Ministry maintains catalogue of violent crime and concealment of cadaver   The process about the disappearance of Maddie is recoiling into the archives of the Portimão Courthouse for now, through a decision from the Public Ministry, but it will remain classed by the appointed prosecutor, Magalhães e Menezes, as a case of qualified homicide and concealment of cadaver. Although the McCanns lose their arguido status, the archiving does not erase the PJ's suspicions against the couple. Until the moment when the judicial secrecy runs out, on the coming 14th, the investigation will not be able to reunite sufficient evidence for the Public Ministry to accuse the two main suspects in the case. The PJ was under no obligation to make a final report at this stage of the inquiry, but for reasons of process management, largely due to the media impact of the case, it is forced to suggest an archiving of the process – which thus remains awaiting better evidence. The convictions of the investigators about the events of that evening, in Praia da Luz, are maintained and the process can be reopened by the Public Ministry at any moment – as soon as any significant advance is made by the Judiciária. At this stage, when the opening of the process for the parties is inevitable, a source at the PJ sees a positive side, as well as a negative one, to the ending of the judicial secrecy. "if on one hand the main suspects now will have access to all of the elements that exist in the investigation; on the other hand, publicity may bring forward new elements, like witness statements."   The PJ and the Public Ministry based a considerable part of the investigation on the access to the 14 messages that Gerry sent during the hours before and after the crime, as well as on the localisation of the girl's father's mobile phone during the evening of the 3rd of May 2007. Neither the court in Portimão nor the Appeals court in Évora accepted the evidence, although the Public Ministry insisted on the suspicions of a crime of homicide. ................. Archiving was already expected Former inspector maintains Maddie’s death The former coordinator of the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) Gonçalo Amaral, understands that the indices that were collected in the Maddie case could have had "another interpretation and valuation" if they had been evaluated by "other magistrates at other courts". One day after abandoning the PJ, he admitted to CM that he was "already expecting" that the result would be the archiving. "It doesn't shock me", he told our newspaper, while he continues to believe that Madeleine McCann died inside the apartment in Praia da Luz, on the 3rd of May, a perception that he left very clear during a report that was broadcast by RTP. "The insufficiency of some investigations depends upon the valuation that is made of the indices that have been collected. In this case, the interpretation could have been different", adds the former inspector, who was removed from the case and asked for his retirement so he could "express his convictions". Although the process is on its way to being archived, Gonçalo Amaral alerts that "this is not the end of the investigation and the process can still be reopened". Questioned by CM as to whether the book that he wrote about the case, which is soon to be published, may have that strength, he simply said "we never know". ................. Opinion column in today’s Correio da Manhã by Francisco Moita Flores, criminologist: Archive I am not surprised at the expectation of the Maddie case being archived. It is coherent with what has become known about the investigation that clashed into the possibility of carrying out more diligences with the English actors that participated in the psychodrama. The archiving will have to be thoroughly explained. The notion that there is an eventual crime of abandonment of minors remains in the air. This would happen if the parents were Portuguese. Still, the strong possibility of the process being archived does not signify the end of it. The process will become public, and certainly, the eyes of journalists and of other people who study it will certainly discover failures, news, surprises. The sustenance of the truth within a criminal process is not the same that is demanded within our common lives: it's a truth of indices and evidence. This does not mean that it is the single truth. And those who will read the process, even if it is not possible to prove the common sense truths, certainly will acquire convictions about what happened. The archiving of the process will represent a failure for the PJ. But it is not one single swallow that makes spring. It is not this or that defeat that ruins the motivation of the investigators, to continue fighting crime and to return to the PJ the prestige that it conquered over decades. ...................... Smaller articles that accompany the main article in today's edition of Correio da Manhã: McCanns demand innocence The McCanns' Portuguese lawyer, Rogério Alves, warns that the couple "expects the process to recognise that they had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance", reminding that if it is confirmed that the search was inconclusive "it cannot be said that the couple are guilty". For now, Kate and Gerry's defender reacts with some prudency: "We can only speak when there is an official knowledge." Yesterday, Rogério Alves underlined that "for the couple it is essential that Madeleine is alive and that they can find her again". Concerning possible demands of damage payments from the [Portuguese] State, the lawyer reveals that "it is not a priority". ………… Complaint against lies Robert Murat's lawyer considers the possibility of suing the witnesses who may have lied by placing his client near the McCanns' house. "Let's see whether someone lied, and then we will speak", CM was told by Francisco Pagarete, who awaits consultation of the process in order to decide if he advances a lawsuit against the [Portuguese] State. ………… Holidays drag out secrecy The judicial secrecy is to be lifted by the Public Ministry as soon as on the 14th of this month, fourteen months after the Judiciária made the first arguido, Robert Murat; but in practical terms, the process will remain out of reach for the defense lawyers and other parties until nearly the end of the month of August – due to the holidays of the magistrates at the Portimão Courthouse. The Republic's General Prosecutor’s Office announced yesterday that the final report from the PJ in Portimão "will be subject to careful appreciation and pondering", but, according to what CM advanced in yesterday's edition, the suggestion from the senior officers at the PJ goes into the sense of archiving due to a lack of evidence against the McCanns. The prosecutor who is in charge of the process, Magalhães e Menezes, agrees. The last diligence that was being carried out within the investigation concerned the attempt to apprehend Kate's diary, which supposedly contains the complaints about the behaviour of her daughter Maddie and the difficult relationship that they maintained prior to the disappearance, but the PJ has reportedly renounced on that piece of evidence – it is far removed from being able to sustain an accusation. The Public Ministry has decided to archive, but Pedro do Carmo, joint national director of the PJ, says that the investigators are "at the disposal for all diligences". ................... Murat - Appeal to the authorities In statements made to Sky News, Robert Murat says he does not want the investigation to end: "A child is missing, and I, just like anyone else, want her to be found". ................... McCanns - Access to the process Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, said yesterday that Maddie's parents demand access to the process and that "the priority must be the lifting of the arguido status". ................. Consult - Private detectives Clarence Mitchell says that one of the interests of the McCanns in immediately consulting the process is related to the fact that the private detectives "can use all the information".

Kate's DNA Frames PJ, 03 July 2008

Kates DNA Frames PJ Correio da Manha   Report - Month-long tests only yielded maternal family lineage   Henrique Machado 03 July 2008 - 00h30 Thanks to Joana Morais for translation   The existence of Madeleine's hairs in the boot of the car rented by the parents three weeks after the crime, near the substitute tyre, is considered as highly probable by the PJ. But the investigation was not able to prove that those traces belonged to the child: the hairs have no root ends, the CM established, and the final report of the laboratory of Birmingham – of the DNA mitochondrial tests - only guarantee that someone of Kate's lineage was inside the boot of the car. The Renault Scénic, remember, was rented by the McCanns three weeks after the disappearance of their oldest daughter. Therefore, any evidence that could prove her presence in the car would tie the parents to the crime. The simple detail of the hairs found in the boot having no root ends, where the nucleus of the cell is, makes the whole difference. Because if they had [root ends], "the nuclear analysis in any world laboratory would give 99.9 per cent of hypotheses of a hair to belong to a determined person", advanced a specialist to the CM. In this case, of Maddie. The experts as such were obliged to resort to the mitochondrial analyses, which can only give certainties of the hairs belonging to a motherly lineage: Kate or one of her three children. The Judiciary Police use of the sophisticated technology of Birmingham’s Laboratory had to do with the minuscule dimensions of the stains in the walls of the couple's apartment and in the car. The Low Copy Number technique enlarged by a million times the DNA chain, but, from then on, the cellular matter revealed signs of different persons. Indistinguishable [persons].   Critical   The profligate tests   One criticism of a research specialist is "the fact that the location of the crime [of the Ocean Club apartment] was not preserved. Everyone has gone through there, the house was rented before samples were taken, and that undermined the very tests which the British laboratory performed."   Gamble in the laboratory   "The criminal investigation cannot after one year be based on the work of the laboratory - the tests must be complementary," says the same source. By themself they hardly allow a prosecution.   PGR devalues   The Attorney General, Pinto Monteiro, yesterday devalued the closing of the case: "Throughout the world there are crimes that are not discharged."

An explanation of DNA related to hair samples

A normal cell carries two types of DNA - some in the nucleus which essentially describes the person, and this is made up of the father's nuclear DNA from the sperm and the mothers nuclear DNA from the nucleus of the egg. This is what they try to use to match the cells - and of course the nucleus needs to be there and intact for a full match. This DNA profile is unique to an individual. The second type of DNA is called mitochondrial DNA. This does not live in the nucleus but is in the cell in a part called the Mitochondria. This is used as the powerhouse of the cdell, it keeps the cell going and generates a lot of the proteins etc. This DNA does not come from the father - there is no room in the sperm for it - it all comes from the mother as part of the egg. It has been used to examine lineage over long periods of time but only relates to the female lineage (so even a male has only female mitochondrial DNA). The hairs retrieved from the Renault Scenic would only yield the mitochondrial DNA becasue as the hair is produced the nuclear DNA is destroyed, somehow the mitochondrial survives. Only a full, live cell such as the hair follicle would yield the nuclear DNA.

Report of PJ discards abduction theory, 05 July 2008

Report of PJ discards abduction theory Correio da Manhã   05 July 2008 Translation by Joana Morais    CM reveals content of the document The main argument against the kidnapper entry through the apartment's window was given by the parents. Window too small to pass the child through it Group Witness contradicted Main Topics English Lab withdrew the final results Dogs scented blood in the house and in the car Kate and Maddie clothes had cadaver odour McCanns Neighbour heard child crying for more than one hour   * The animals detected cadaver odour in the apartment, the stuffed animal and Kate's clothes   Dogs decisive for PJ   British animals (both) agreed on the scent of "indications" in various places and objects   05 July 2007 Many thanks to Joana Morais and 'debk' for translation of these articles   The alerting of the British dogs specially trained to detect cadaver odor and human blood was decisive in making Kate and Gerry arguidos. Indications of where dogs detected cadaver scent and blood [Note: Diagram above is incorrect as it indicates cadaver odour beside the bedroom window. The odour was actually found outside the patio doors 'in the flowerbed of the yard']   Text beside dogs:   Red dog (Eddie): 'Places where cadaver odour was detected'   Orange dog (Keela): 'Places where biological vestiges were detected'   Cadaver/Biological vestiges: 'Behind the sofa' (living room)   Cadaver: 'To the side of the wardrobe' (parents bedroom)   Cadaver: 'In the flowerbed of the yard' (outside patio door entrance)   Text beside other items:   'Other vestiges'   Cadaver: 'Piece of Madeleine’s clothing'   Cadaver: 'Stuffed toy'   Cadaver: 'Two pieces of clothing or Kate Healy McCann'   Cadaver/Biological vestiges: 'Luggage area and car keys of the McCanns'   Faced with the coincidence of the alerting of both animals, which signalled the same locations and objects related to the McCanns, the authorities were obliged to admit a possible involvement of Kate and Gerry in the disappearance of their daughter and to make them arguidos in order to confront them with evidence which could result in their incrimination – for, as [merely] witnesses, they could not opt to remain silent.   According to what CM has discovered, in the final investigation report produced by the PJ the investigators explained that the animals only gave their detection signals in places and objects related to the McCanns: in the apartment where Madeleine disappeared (in the parent's bedroom, the living room and next to a side window), in the back patio, the family’s car (rented 24 days after the girl disappeared), two pieces of Kate's clothing and Maddie's stuffed animal – the one Kate never released in the days following the disappearance.   In the McCann's friend's apartments, in the Luz village and in all the vehicles used by Robert Murat, the first to be made arguido, nothing was found by the dogs.   Given these indications, reinforced by other detailed tests done in Portugal and England, the PJ interrogated Kate and Gerry and made them arguidos.   The animals, Springer Spaniels, are heavily used in the UK in the search for missing people or homicide victims, with positive results. KATE JUSTIFIES DEATH ODOUR   Kate McCann didn't negate the fact that her two pieces of clothes and the stuffed animal had been signalled by the English dogs trained to find cadaver odor and justified it by her profession. Madeleine's mother alleged that as a doctor at the Leicester health centre, she was present at six deaths directly before she came to Portugal on holiday, giving the same excuse for Madeleine's stuffed animal, that was with her in the months after her daughter disappeared.   VESTIGES OF A CRIME   Two specially trained dogs, used as criminal investigation assistants, detected cadaver odour in the McCann's bedroom, the living room, Kate's clothes, the girl's stuffed animal and the car key, as well as spots of blood in the boot of the car and the apartment living room.   Main Article: PJ couldn't find child's body   INVESTIGATION REVEALS ABDUCTION IMPOSSIBLE   Final report describes dozens of diligences and unravels incongruences in the theory proposed by Maddie's parents   Thirteen months after Madeleine disappeared, the PJ ended the investigation that continues to be marked by uncertainties. The final report, the CM today exclusively reveals, does not determine guilt but leaves new and strong doubts about the theory presented by the English child's parents. It describes in great detail the diligences done by the investigators – who tried, in every possible way, to confirm their hypothesis – and reveals that it was theoretically impossible to have happened. The witnesses don't make sense, especially not the way that one of the friends said she saw a man carrying a child almost an hour before the alert about the disappearance occurred. This would be Jane Tanner, who guarantees she surprised the unknown man in a street where Maddie's father and another witness also were. Both guarantee that they saw nothing, even though they were in the same line of sight. Tanner, who much later made a photofit of the supposed abductor, also said that the man carried the child in a horizontal position. The size of the window reveals that this could only have happened if the child were carried vertically.   Being that as it may, the PJ tried through all possible means to find who could have taken Maddie. They did dozens of diligences related to suspects of sexual abuse. Elements were collected about those registered that could have been on holidays in the Algarve during that time period, in order to verify if there could have been any connection with little Maddie.   In addition, all the other residents of the village were investigated. The PJ entered more than 400 houses surrounding the Ocean Club and found nothing. On the window where Kate guaranteed that Maddie was taken no vestiges of the girl were found. Only marks that confirmed the DNA of the girl's mother.   The PJ's final report shows the details of an investigation that reached unprecedented levels. A couple was investigated that had allegedly tried to abduct another child, a fine toothed comb was used to research the clues that Maddie had been seen at a gas station. A crematorium was searched and Maddie’s genetic profile was compared to that of a child’s body found on the coast of the United States.   The PJ investigated a supposed beggar and followed thousands of clues around the world. In vain. Nothing confirmed the proposed abduction theory.   Change of versions: Laboratory was no longer certain   ENGLISH RETREATED ON THE EXAMINATIONS They said the vestiges were compatible with Maddie's DNA, then later denied it.   Dog's indications were not corroborated by science   It was the strangest about-face in the investigation. The first examinations done by the English laboratory, a pioneer in the analysis of biological vestiges, said it was probable that the residues collected in the McCann's car were compatible with Madeleine's genetic profile.   Months later – after the PJ had made the parents arguidos, according to the final report only because of indications that they had hidden the child's body – the laboratory ended up correcting their initial information. In the end, the examinations of the vestiges collected from the Renaul Scénic rented by the McCanns were not conclusive and it wasn’t even possible to determine the quality of the material, that is, to know whether it was bodily fluid or vestiges of blood.   This scientific alteration, still not completely clarified, ended up leading the investigation to a dead end. The utilisation of the dogs that detected cadaver odors and blood are not valid within the Portuguese judicial system and it was necessary to scientifically corroborate the dog's detections.   The PJ's decision to send the analyses to England was based on a question of credibility. The investigators didn't want the results to be disputed by the English, accepting therefore that the vestiges should be analysed in that country.   USELESS TRIP TO ENGLAND   In April of this year, Paulo Rebelo and two of the investigators for this process who were trying to understand the puzzle of Madeleine's disappearance went to Leicester to interview the British who spent holidays in Praia de Luz with the McCanns. From the final report, we now know that nothing conclusive was discovered from these interrogations.   The PJ maintained the same close collaboration with the local police, but from the depositions they brought nothing new. The McCann friends limited themselves to confirming what they had said in the earlier interviews and the PJ left with empty hands from that city just north of London.   CHANGES   Paulo Rebelo, the new leader of the investigation after Gonçalo Amaral's exit, was at the Ocean Club several times, from which were collected a variety of vestiges. He was also in England, where he heard testimonies.   NUMBERS   443 door to door interviews at Ocean Club apartments, done by the PJ, are part of 2000 diligences, formal and informal, undertaken during the investigation 134 village employees were heard by the inspectors in the days following the crime. The PJ also spoke with the 12 GNR officers that went through the apartment on the night of 3 May. 130 police and civil guard workers were involved in the first 24 hours of the search. On the following day, this number increased to 300. 188 garbage bins were searched with a fine-toothed comb in Praia da Luz, Lagos, in an attempt to find Madeleine's body. 30 square kilometers is the area covered in searches by all the land forces during the first days, in addition to the Maritime Police.   OVER ONE HOUR CRYING   Pamela Fenn remembers hearing the child uncontrollably crying Madeleine parents never contradicted that it was already a habit for their three children to be all alone inside the Praia da Luz apartment while they dined; a fact corroborated by several witness statements - the Oceans Club employees. Although the parents defended themselves by stating that they visited the children every half an hour, every night, the witness statement of neighbour Pamela Fenn crumbled the McCann couple's version, when she guaranteed to the PJ that she had heard Maddie crying out loud for one hour and fifteen minutes, two nights before the crime. The British woman lives at the first floor, just above the apartment rented by the McCanns and she told to the inspectors, that on the night of the 1st of May, at 22:30, she heard a child crying, and by the sound it was Madeleine. She guaranteed to the Judiciary Police that the child was uncontrollably crying for one hour and fifteen minutes, until the parents arrived. The neighbour heard the noise of the door at 23:45, when Kate and Gerry ended their usual gathering with their friends at the Tapas Bar – the Oceans Club restaurant at the pool side, where they had dinner daily. This testimony contradicts the daily routine of visits that the couple declared to have with their children – and the McCanns are not free from criticism by another British woman. Yvonne Martin, a British Social Care worker on holiday in Luz, who also blamed the McCanns negligent behaviour.   Correio da Manhã, print version, 5 July 2008, page 5 Judiciary Report Francisco Moita Flores   The speculation surrounding the final report of the Maddie case would like to make one believe that the upcoming archival means the PJ have persecuted the child's parents without reason. This is a manipulated falsehood.   The final report of any process does not find innocence nor guilt. Doing this is beyond the reach of the PJ. Their responsibility is just to describe the facts and relationships with the people involved.   The report will narrate all the activities completed since the night of 3 May. It will tell which diligences were done, reveal the steps that took them to constitute as arguidos several players in this story. It will vigorously present the references for the searches, the tests, the diligences with the dogs, the activities done abroad to find the child, the news from the papers, the witnesses who directly or indirectly were involved in the case, the reconstitution of which so much was spoken and never was done. It will describe the facts.   The Public Ministry will have to say whether there was abandonment of minors, whether or not the process should continue with more diligences, or conversely, further develop the homicide theory or, finally, archive with no further delays.   PJ INVESTIGATES TRANSPORTATION   One of the slowest pieces of the investigation was to collect and analyse all information relative to possible means of transportation/escape, by land, sea or air. In addition, all the images collected from tourists on holidays at that time, but, once again, nothing was found. This information was all compiled in an appendix attached to the process, with another containing just information on those suspected of sexual crimes. The PJ also created a dossier of all individuals with a history of violent crimes, with their lives being examined to the tiniest detail. It was important to determine if they could have had any connection with the abduction.   VESTIGES: DELAYS The vestiges collected in the McCann's car were collected in August 2007. The test results should only have taken a few weeks. IML: TESTS IN PORTUGAL The first vestiges collected by the investigation were sent to the IML (Institute of Legal Medical). The tests were also not conclusive. ======================================= TIMELINE 3 May 2007: Disappeared Between 21h05 and 20h00. Madeleine Beth McCann, 3 years old, disappeared from the Ocean Club apartment in Praia da Luz. After 17h30 only the parents had contact with the girl. 14 May: First Suspect The British man, Rober Murat, is interrogated and constituted an arguido. The PJ performs searches at his home and telephone tapping, but never successfully connected him to the crime being investigated. 4 August: Blood</