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More details and pictures from the PJ case files - as presented by the Portuguese and European press.
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Investigation into the disappearance "difficult" to
be reopened, 04
August 2008
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PEDRO VILELA MARQUES
04 August 2008
Thanks to 'carilina' for translation
Maddies Case. Available for public reading from today
Lawyer of McCanns
admits to move towards court proceedings
After having been shelved, the process of the investigation
of the disappearance of Maddie has little chance of being reopened, unless new evidence is found. This is the opinion of a
judge contacted by DN yesterday on the eve of the release of the process to defendants, witnesses and media, starting today.
Based on his judiciary experience, the source believes that "only a key factor could lead to the resumption of investigations,
and that would be something like the appearance of the body or per the accused request." Otherwise, he continues, "it is difficult
for such a process to be open again, because you cannot be openning and closing a case that attracts so much media attention."
After having had access to the files of the process of the disappearance of their daughter, the parents of Madeleine
McCann can now consider sueing former inspector of the Judicial Police Gonçalo Amaral and some Portuguese newspapers, due
to statements issued on the investigations. The information was advanced yesterday by Rogerio Alves to DN.
Without
going into detail about what he has read in the more than twenty volumes related to the investigation, Rogerio Alves said
that prosecutions may be in the pipeline. Precisely, one of the targets can be some Portuguese newspapers, as has happened
in the UK, a hypothesis that has already been mentioned. "In this moment it does not make sense to announce such a decision.
This hypothesis is under consideration and we will be waiting until the end of the judicial holidays," advances the former
Bastonário of the Bar (OA).
Even without assuming the possible processes, Rogerio Alves suggests what can happen in
the future, when he warns that "no evidence was found to incriminate the McCanns, and the lack of evidence led to the closure
of the case by the Attorney General, so those who say the contrary must now be thinking of how to save their faces ".
Despite
all the research on the disappearance of Madeleine being available for public consultation today, that does not mean
that it is accessible to anyone. As DN confirmed with a judicial source, "the fact that the process is open to third parties
refers only to the media, that makes a bridge with society."
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Public Ministry
archived the process because no indicium of guilt of the McCanns was proved, 04 August 2008
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Public Ministry archived
the process because no indicium of guilt of the McCanns was proved Lusa/SOL
Madeleine case
04 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
The Public Ministry (PM) sustained that the McCann
couple had no responsibilities in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine, due to a lack of confirmation of the indicia
of guilt
In the archiving dispatch that is part of the process that was made public today, the PM refers that
none of the indicia over which the parents of the girl that went missing on the 3rd of May 2007, from a bedroom in the Ocean
Club resort, in Praia da Luz, were made arguidos, was confirmed.
The process, which was archived on the 21st of July,
was made available during the afternoon today, and is composed of approximately 30 thousand pages, distributed over more than
fifty volumes, appendixes, rogatory letters and reports, among other documents.
Among the motives to consider that
the couple had no responsibilities in their daughter's disappearance, the PM points out, in the archiving dispatch, that none
of them was in the apartment when the child disappeared.
Underlining that one of the indicia that led to the McCanns
being made arguidos were some markings done by the English police dogs that were in Praia da Luz in August, the PM stresses
that those markings were not ratified in posterior analyses.
The other element that led the McCanns to being made arguidos,
an email that was considered as compromising, would also end up being discarded as an element of evidence.
According
to the document, even if the couple was responsible for their daughter's death, it would have to be explained under which
circumstances that happened, namely, how, when, what for and with what help.
In order to justify the lack of support
for the couple to hide the body, in a scenario within which they eventually would be involved in the disappearance of their
daughter, the PM points out that Kate and Gerry did not know the terrain that surrounded the resort.
On the other hand,
it refers that the McCanns had no contacts in Portugal whatsoever, and as proof of that it points out the fact that on the
days before, they limited their contacts to the group of friends with whom they spent the holidays.
In defence of the
theory of non-involvement, the dispatch also points out that, contrary to what was said during the days following the abduction,
the couple did not contact any media before they contacted the police.
Despite discarding the involvement of the couple,
the PM laments that it has not been possible to carry out the reconstruction of what happened on the evening of May 3, stating
that the surveillance system from the group concerning the children that slept in the apartment block needed to be tested.
The
PM also recognises that there are doubts concerning the contents of the depositions that were given by the group – including
the McCann couple – that dined at the Tapas restaurant, and points out the existence of details that were not justified.
Concerning
the homicide theory in abstract, the PM defends that the possibility cannot be discarded, but notes that it cannot be more
than a mere supposition due to the lack of elements to sustain it in the police files.
Furthermore, the dispatch observes
that the process is not definitely closed and that, in theory, all the crime scenarios – abduction, homicide, accidental
death with concealment of the cadaver – are maintained, albeit with no credible factual support.
Among several
considerations, the PM guarantees that the behaviour of the media during the days that followed the disappearance of the British
child disturbed the investigations, and criticises the anticipated judgment of the arguidos, which, in its understanding,
denote little respect for the human person.
The process was delivered today, at around 4.30 p.m., to the dozens of
Portuguese and British journalists who required it, in DVD format.
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Maddie case investigation was condemned in the first days, 05 August 2008
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Maddie case investigation was condemned in the first days Jornal da Noticias
Process was handed over to journalists and discards the possibility of abduction
by: Marisa Rodrigues
05 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
An investigation that was condemned at the outset?
The question appears in the first pages of the Maddie process and is related to the contamination of the apartment. The Public
Ministry states that there is a "high" probability that this is a homicide case, but there is no evidence.
The inspector
from the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) who was on duty on the night of May 3, 2007, puts his finger in the spot when he admits,
in his service information, that the Ocean Club apartment where the McCann family spent their holidays may have been contaminated
by the several persons who were present. The confirmation is contained in the archiving dispatch and leaves no margin for
doubts: the apartment was rummaged. There was not only contamination but irretrievable and undetermined damage was done in
terms of collection of evidence.
The investigators seem to have no doubts that the contamination was done on purpose,
was carried out by Kate and Gerry and had a precise goal – to conceal the death of their daughter, Madeleine. Suspicions
that can be read in a report that was signed by a chief inspector, on the 10th of September, and that are included in the
process. The investigator even suggests the change of the coercion measures that had been imposed on the couple, that had
just been made arguidos, due to considering that "in auto defence, they do not wish to immediately and voluntarily hand over
the cadaver, and there is a strong possibility that it has been translated from the initial location".
The degree of
probability that a homicide took place is "high". It is the joint general prosecutor, João Melchior Gomes, who says it. He
singlehandedly signs the archiving dispatch, despite the fact that at the end of the document, the name of prosecutor Magalhães
e Menezes can also be read, but without a signature. As arguments, he uses the fact that it has not been proved "in the light
of logical criteria" that someone would have been able to remove the child from the apartment without being seen, thus setting
the abduction theory apart. But he does recognise that it was not possible "to establish whether she is alive or dead, as
it seems more probable".
The same prosecutor considered that Kate and Gerry "could not predict that in the resort (…)
they could endanger the life of any of their children, and that was not demanded from them either: it is located in a quiet
area, where most of the residents are foreign citizens of the same nationality and without any known history of criminality
of this kind". As a sort of justification for not accusing Kate and Gerry, he also says that "we should recognise that the
parents are already serving a heavy penalty – the disappearance of Madeleine – due to their carelessness in the
vigilance and protection of the children".
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Gerry called the PJ to try to prove innocence, 05
August 2008
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05 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
Maddie case. In the process,
which was made available to the journalists yesterday, it is written that Madeleine's parents had a strange behaviour before
they were made arguidos. Gerry called the police to reaffirm that they were not suspects and Kate questioned whether or not
the police was being pressured to end the investigation
Days before the McCann couple was called for interrogation for the second time and
made arguidos, Gerry McCann called the PJ inspector, Ricardo Paiva, who was responsible for the couple's communication with
the police, by phone, underlining their innocence. "I am certain that the police has no evidence against us", Gerry said to
inspector Ricardo Paiva, one can read in the Maddie case process, which was released yesterday.
The father of the British
child, that disappeared in May 2007, guaranteed that the PJ had no evidence to incriminate the couple over their daughter's
death. But only a few days later, on the 7th of September, the couple was made arguidos.
On the day after this phone
call from Madeleine's father, inspector Ricardo Paiva went to the temporary home of Kate and Gerry McCann, in Praia da Luz,
to notify them of the second judicial interrogation that would result in both being made arguidos.
On that day, the
3rd of September 2007, after knowing that she would have to testify to the PJ in Portimão for the second time, Kate reacted
in a hostile and aggressive manner. Sentences like "what will my parents think?", "what will the press say when they find
out" and "but the Portuguese police is being pressured by the Government to end the investigation!" demonstrate just that.
These
and other reactions from the British couple are included in a revealing letter that the same inspector, Ricardo Paiva, sent
to Gonçalo Amaral, who was then still the coordinator of the Maddie case, on the 3rd of September, two days before the interrogation.
That
letter, which goes unnoticed among the 17 volumes of the process, is included in a process that reunited almost five thousand
pages, nine appendixes and rogatory letters and which was made public and available to the press yesterday. In late July,
the Attorney General, Pinto Monteiro, archived the process.
A letter that reveals the reasons that had never been made
public before, about why Madeleine's parents were made arguidos, according to the PJ. This time, Ricardo Paiva explains that
the McCanns' behaviour started to reveal itself as "strange", with a clear tendency of "convincing" the PJ to follow, in the
investigation, the abduction theory.
"I have watched several strange behaviours from the couple, who gradually reacted
in a very negative manner to the investigative activity of the PJ, especially when, due to the use of the English cynotechnical
means of detection of cadaver odour, the hypothesis of the death of Maddie McCann appeared."
According to the inspector,
the McCann couple said several times that the PJ should be focused only on the abduction theory.
And more: "That the
police should not forget to continue investigating the suspect Robert Murat." The Anglo-British man who, according to the
PJ's report that was sent to the Public Ministry, was made an arguido over mere suspicions from a British journalist that
were shared to the PJ in Portimão. During that house visit that Ricardo Paiva paid to Kate and Gerry, the latter insisted
on showing the inspector some letters and emails from mediums, that he possessed and which had been selected by him,
mostly containing information "without great credibility", according to the inspector, concerning the possible whereabouts
of Madeleine's abductor.
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The McCann Case: Why 15 over 19 DNA components isn't enough, 05
August 2008
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The McCann Case: Why 15 over 19 DNA components isn't
enough Gazeta Digital
Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis
5.8.2008
As it is front page news at almost
every British newspaper, it's interesting to know with more detail what the scientists from the Forensic Science Service told
Portuguese police, on September 4, 2007, a few days before Gerry and Kate McCann were named "arguidos."
According to a document from the FSS, signed by Mr. J.R. Lowe, analysis of the
samples collected in the boot of the Renault Scenic produced a complex Low Copy Number DNA result which appeared to have
originated from at least three people. Madeleine's DNA profile had 19 elements, each one represented by a peak on a chart,
explains Mr. Lowe.
As Madeleine has inherited a same DNA component from both parents, the number of peaks
in the chart is 19, instead of 20. Those 2 components appear, in the chart, as only one peak.
The FSS document states that of those 19 components, 15 are present within the result
of the analysis to that specific sample. But the total number of components is 37, because there are at least three contributors,
may be up to five, in the sample.
Mr. J.R. Lowe's opinion was that the result is too complex to have a meaningful interpretation
or conclusion.
But, concerning the question asked, when the samples were sent to the FSS –
if it could be or not Madeleine's DNA – the FSS scientist admits that it would be very simple to say yes, because of
the number of components, within the sample, that are also present in Madeleine DNA profile – 15 over 19.
However, as Mr. J.R. Lowe emphasises, in the mentioned document, the scientists need
to consider if the match is genuine and legitimate. Meaning, to be sure if either Madeleine's DNA was deposited in the car
or if the result matched Madeleine's DNA just by chance.
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