All together then tragedy, 10 August 2008

All together then tragedy News of the World   First picture of the Tapas 7 seen together   10/08/2008   THIS is the first picture of the Tapas 7 seen together at a beach bar just hours before Maddie was snatched.   They were captured on CCTV having drinks before making the 10-minute walk to the restaurant where they met the McCanns.   The digital time on the film is 5.59pm—about the time Gerry and Kate were picking Maddie up from kids club to get her ready for bed.   Among those shown are Dr Matthew Oldfield who would check on the McCann children at 9.30pm but crucially not see Madeleine. Dr David Payne, 41, the last person other than the McCanns to see the youngster alive, is also relaxing with a drink.   Jane Tanner, 38, is there too—the crucial witness who would later say she saw a man carry a child from the McCann's apartment at 9.15pm—45 minutes before Kate raised the alarm. Shortly after this image was captured they would all head off for an evening that will haunt them all for the rest of their lives.   We reveal two new suspects TODAY we reveal TWO MORE e-fits of suspects Portuguese cops refused to publicise during their investigation. SHADY: In glasses, and man spotted near the scene Both the men above were seen acting suspiciously in the area around the McCann apartment before the kidnap. The one on the right approached holidaymaker Iris Morgan asking for money to help "young boys and girls". The man in sunglasses was also seen nearby by an unnamed witness. These new images emerged from the case files after two other e-fits of suspects were released last week.

Secrets of the Madeleine McCann dossier, 10 August 2008

Secrets of the Madeleine McCann dossier Sunday Mirror   Headline in paper edition: 'Tapas 7: Why we feared the police would frame us'   By Lori Campbell 10/08/2008   Kate and Gerry McCann's "Tapas 7" friends refused to return to Portugal because they feared they were pawns in an elaborate plot to frame the couple.   And the group of friends believed they too could be made suspects if they returned to the country.   As police files into Madeleine's disappearance are opened, we can also reveal how:   Kate McCann was given a Do-It-Yourself guide to policing by UK cops after Portuguese police failed to find any clues themselves.   Local cops accused the McCanns of shedding crocodile tears just hours after their daughter was snatched.   The Portuguese police officer assigned to them as a family liaison officer criticised them for "reacting negatively to the work of this police force" and became irritated by Gerry's frequent emails.   The 30,000-page dossier reveals how the Tapas 7 decided not to go back to Portugal for a "reconstruction" in May this year because Portuguese police would not give them reassurances they would not be arrested.   The group were baffled as to why police were calling them back for the re-enactment a full year after Madeleine went missing, and demanded to be told how it would help the inquiry.   In an email to police chief Paulo Rebelo in April, the McCanns' friend Rachel Oldfield wrote: "We are still very uncertain of the motives in organising such a re-enactment.   "We feel we would be making ourselves and our families extremely vulnerable by returning."   The friends also hit out at Portuguese detectives' aggressive questioning when they were re-interviewed in the UK.   An email from Russell O'Brien and his wife Jane Tanner said: "The thrust of the... questions seemed only to focus on Kate and Gerry's culpability.   "After a year of lies, accusations and intrusion, I am sure that Mr Rebelo can appreciate our revulsion at what Kate and Gerry have been forced to endure."   The shocking state of the Portuguese investigation is laid bare in the police files, which reveal that British authorities gave Kate a police manual when she became increasingly desperate for ideas to find Madeleine. The technique book gives step-by-step instructions on solving crimes and was handed to the McCanns by British experts.   She desperately bombarded Portuguese police with suggestions on how to further their investigation. The GP even had to tell detectives to take blood samples from the twins in case they had been drugged by Madeleine's kidnapper - something Portuguese police had not thought to do. But they dismissed her ideas as "bizarre".   In his own statement, Inspector Ricardo Paiva, the Portuguese family liaison officer assigned to Kate and Gerry, said: "I noted certain strange behaviour on the part of the couple who were gradually reacting negatively to the work of this police force.   "I was repeatedly told by Kate - three months after Madeleine's disappearance - that the police should do blood analysis on the twins." Insp Paiva also said he became irritated by Gerry who would email him every lead the family received in the hunt for Madeleine.   He said: "Mostly they contained information of little credibility."   Inspector Jose Roque also accused frantic Kate and Gerry of faking tears in the first few hours of the hunt.   He said: "After the search I noticed an unusual situation. The parents were kneeling in their bedroom and they were crying. However, I did not see any tears despite the fact they were making sounds identical to crying."

Gerry McCann's torment over e-mail hoaxer, 10 August 2008

Gerry McCann's torment over e-mail hoaxer Sunday Mirror   Headline in paper edition: 'Gerry's e-mail hoaxer torment'   10/08/2008   Gerry McCann sent emails begging for Madeleine not to be harmed to a conman trying to extort money from the family.   The man said he could tell Gerry and his wife who Madeleine's kidnappers were and where she was being kept in return for a reward of 2,000,000 euros (£1.8m).   He demanded: "I want to have direct contact with Mr McCann himself.   "I know the hideout and kidnappers and that they are still around you. This is NO joke."   Gerry wrote back personally from the couple's base in Portugal near where Madeleine disappeared in the desperate hope that the emails could be genuine.   He said: "We are very interested in your information but as you understand we receive a lot of hoax information.   "We need to know the information is genuine. Can you give me proof that you know where Madeleine is and that she is well? Gerry Mc-Cann."   The emails were eventually traced to the internet cafe Smalle Haven in Eindhoven, Holland and the fraudster, who knew nothing about Madeleine's disappearance, was arrested a month later in Spain.

Dodgy trackers top a catalogue of police howlers, 10 August 2008

Dodgy trackers top a catalogue of police howlers The People   EXCLUSIVE DOGGED BY BLUNDERS   By Dean Rousewell 10 August 2008   Bungling Portuguese cops used DUFF sniffer dogs in the search for missing Madeleine McCann.   The animals had only been trained to follow scents in the countryside - yet four-year-old Maddie vanished from her family's holiday apartment a busy TOWN.   And the trackers weren't brought in for five days after the tot disappeared - even though experts said they should have been there within 48 hours.   When the dogs did finally arrive in Praia da Luz, they gave up the hunt after just 100 yards because they were confused by the stench of rotting food from a pile of binbags.   The appalling blunder is revealed in a damning report by Portuguese state prosecutors.   And it is just one of a catalogue of disastrous gaffes by detectives after the toddler went missing from the Ocean Club complex on May 3 last year.   The bungles began almost as soon as Maddie was reported lost.   Blood specks in her bedroom were missed by Portuguese police - only to be found by British cops when they were drafted in three months later.   Bedding was not forensically tested for traces of an abductor.   Cops failed to seal off the flat in the hours after the disappearance.   No fingertip search of local streets was carried out at the time - and house-to-house inquiries were not launched for 48 hours.   Two days passed before police got a list of other holidaymakers at the complex - by which time many of them had already flown home.   Border guards were only alerted about Maddie after 24 hours and coastguards were told nothing for 14 hours.   The catastrophic blunders continued after the shambles with the dogs.   Detectives spent hours poring over footprints found at the scene - which turned out to belong to policemen.   Forensic samples sent for analysis contained ash from cops' cigarettes.   Chief detective Goncalo Amaral, 47 - later thrown off the case after criticising British cops - was accused of taking boozy three-hour breaks.   Police only declared the McCanns' holiday flat a crime scene after two months - allowing 11 other tourists to contaminate vital evidence. And cops leaked stories to local media about Maddie's parents Kate and Gerry and British ex-pat Robert Murat, who were all named official suspects.   The prosecutors said: "Investigators worked with an enormous margin of error and achieved very little in terms of conclusive results, especially with regards to the fate of the unfortunate child."   The sniffer dog revelation infuriated Kate and Gerry, who were only recently ruled out as suspects.   A family friend said last night: "It is heartbreaking for them - but sadly it will be no surprise."

	Madeleine search police 'untrained', 10 August 2008
	Madeleine search police 'untrained' WalesOnline   Aug 11 2008   Most of the Portuguese police officers who look