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The McCanns' trip to Huelva on 03 August 2007
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| Kate and Gerry McCann distribute leaflets at Huelva bus station |
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| The Maddie leaflet and poster distributed by Gerry McCann in Huelva |
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Diagram text:
Distance from city to city by car is approx. 110 miles
JOURNEY TO SPAIN
The McCanns left Praia da Luz at 9am on August 3 along with Gerry's brother John and a cameraman hired to take footage
for website findmadeleine.com
They travelled east on the A22 and arrived in Huelva at 12.15pm after stopping at a service station for fuel. They were
expected at 11am.
POSTER DRIVE
Kate and Gerry began distributing leaflets and posters about Madeleine.
At 1pm they arrived at the train station to hand out more, then to the cathedral at 1.30pm and bus station at 2pm. They
headed back to Praia da Luz at 2.20pm.
*
Note: It was Jon Corner who accompanied the McCanns to Huelva, as seen in the Panorama footage and the photograph
reproduced further down this page. There is no evidence to suggest that John McCann was in Portugal at that time.
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The Huelva trip - In context of other events at the time |
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Eddie and Keela start work at Apartment 5A
In the evening, Portuguese and UK investigators begin their search of apartment 5A with Eddie and Keela.
Cadaver odour is indicated in the McCanns bedroom by the wardrobe, in the living room behind a sofa and a light scent
indicated outside on the veranda and in a flowerbed. A blood indication is made behind the sofa.
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Gerry's blog: Relatively quiet day apart from phone calls and campaign related
e-mails. We have Busy couple of days coming up so off to bed relatively early (before midnight)!
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Jon Corner and Kate's parents arrive
Jon Corner arrives to film promotional material for the official 'Find Madeleine' site. Kate's parents also arrive.
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Gerry's blog: Another
trip to the airport this morning to pick up our campaign manager. Kate did a series of interviews for womens
magazines and the Sunday newspapers which took most of the afternoon. Kates
parents, who we visit regularly at home, also arrived and the twins were very happy to see them. They will be staying with
us for a week.
We have had some new posters designed of Madeleine, in Portuguese
and Spanish, which I have been printing out to distribute locally. I also did some filming to camera which we might use on
the website and for future events.
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Trip to Huelva cancelled
Gerry McCann cancels trip to Huelva due to 'viral illness'.
PJ arrive at the McCanns' villa with Eddie and Keela
Around 18:00pm, the Inspectors knock on the door of the McCanns villa. Jon Corner states in the Panorama documentary
that the McCanns were forewarned of this forensic visit and that there were clothes in the washing machine when the Inspectors
arrived.
Cadaver odour is indicated on two pieces of Kate's clothing (trousers and blouse), on a red T-shirt believed to belong
to Madeleine and on the soft toy known as 'Cuddle Cat'.
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Gerry's blog: Today was a bit of a write off for me as I was laid low with
a probable viral illness which meant I could not stray too far from the house! I did manage to get through some e-mails, telephone
calls and some paperwork. Feeling a bit better tonight so hopefully be back to normal tomorrow.
Kate
did manage to put up some of the new Madeleine posters in shops around Praia da Luz..
It is noticably busier, now that we are in August, with lots of tourists many of whom are from Portugal.
The figures from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children show that one in six kids are recovered after being recognised from a poster. Such statistics do encourage us that relatively simple
measures may be effective in helping us find Madeleine.
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Trip to Huelva
The Huelva trip goes ahead, despite all public places being closed. The timeline, according to The Sun, is as follows:
09:00 Leave Praia da Luz
12:15 Arrive Huelva (expected at 11:00am)
13:00 Distribute leaflets and posters at train station
13:30 Distribute leaflets and posters at cathedral
14:00 Distribute leaflets and posters at bus station
14:20 Leave to return to Praia da Luz
A '100% sure' Maddie sighting is reported
In Belgium, details emerge of a possible sighting of Madeleine. A child therapist says she is '100% sure' she saw Madeleine
at a restaurant in the town of Tongeren, not far from the Dutch border. A bottle is taken for DNA testing but turns out
to be that of a man.
The 'sighting' actually took place on 28 July 2007. Covered here
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Gerry's blog: It is
exactly 3 months since Madeleine was abducted. Kate and I had an early start as we drove to Huelva, 50Km over the border from Portugal in Southern Spain. We were meant to go yesterday
but had to cancel because I was ill.
Unfortunately it was a public holiday in Huelva and the large shopping centre we planned to visit was closed. We did distribute posters
in several garages, taxi ranks and the bus and train stations and gave out some Madeleine wristbands. This was definitely
a worthwhile exercise, as many people did not seemingly recognise Madeleine but we did get a very warm response from the Spanish
people we met. We would encourage everyone to continue taking posters on holiday but please ask permission before putting
them up in public places.
When we arrived back in Praia da Luz we
did a couple of media interviews to building up to August 11th, which will mark 100 days if Madeleine is still missing. There
will be a lot of media activity next week reviewing Madeleine's abduction, the investigation and of course the campaign to
help find her. It is an opportunity to highlight that we have not given up hope and are still optimistic of being reunited
with Madeleine.
Tonight we prayed for Madeleine at a vigil in the church. This has
happened every Friday since Madeleines abduction and was very well attended tonight, probably due
to the greater number of tourists in the resort.
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Search of Casa Liliana, summary from 'The
Truth of the Lie'
- 4 and 5 August. Ground "aired" and opened. Over two days of thorough searching, no signs from Eddie at Murat's home.
Jon Corner returns home
(see Gerry's blog below)
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Gerry's blog: Another early start to the day as
I dropped the crew who did some filming for the website and other forthcoming events. Kate and I did a short interview reviewing
the last 3 months and the search for Madeleine. We spent the rest of the day with the kids and Kate's family. We were all
glad it clouded over in the afternoon to give us some respite from the intense heat.
The most recent searches by the
police have attracted a lot of renewed media interest with satellite trucks arriving back in Praia da
Luz. It is likely that some of the British Broadcasters will also come back out.
We werre
all very tired and we managed to get off to bed at 10.30pm, which is very early for us by recent standards.
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Madeleine Push Delayed As Gerry Sick, 02 August 2007 |
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Madeleine Push Delayed As Gerry Sick Sky News (article
no longer online)
Updated: 12:40, Thursday August 02, 2007
A new push to publicise the search for Madeleine McCann has had to be delayed as the four-year-old's father is suffering
from a stomach bug.
Updated posters of Madeleine have been printed in the latest appeal for information.
Gerry and Kate McCann had been due to travel to the Spanish city of Huelva to begin handing out the posters and
meet politicians.
The fresh campaign is timed to coincide with the upcoming 100-day milestone since Madeleine's abduction in the Potuguese
resort of Praia da Luz.
But the plans have been put on hold until Mr McCann has recovered from his illness.
The cardiologist, who is on unpaid leave from his job at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, was said to have returned exhausted
from his recent trip to the US.
New push to find Madeleine
He has also been busily filming new appeals on camera, as he describes in his blog.
As the painful milestone in Madeleine's disappearance approaches, Kate McCann's parents have flown to Portugal to support
their daughter.
Madeleine's brother and sister, twins Sean and Amelie, were said to be very happy to see them.
Grandparents Brian and Susan Healy will be looking after the two-year-old twins when the McCanns eventually make the
trip to Spain.
"Gerry and Kate's parents have been incredibly supportive," said a spokesperson for the McCanns.
"They like seeing their grandchildren and it is natural for them to want to visit their daughter as much as they can."
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Three months on, Madeleine's parents make fresh plea for help in finding
their daughter, 03 August 2007
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Three months on, Madeleine's parents make fresh plea for help in finding their daughter Daily Mail
Last updated at 15:00 03 August 2007
Exactly three months after their daughter was abducted, the parents of missing Madeline McCann today made a renewed plea
for help in finding their daughter.
Kate and Gerry McCann travelled to Huelva, the capital of Andalucia in Spain, to put up posters of their missing child
across the city.
They are distributing the images of Madeleine across the city exactly three months after her abduction.
Ms McCann said: "Gerry and I want to remind people that our lovely little girl, Madeleine, is still missing. Today will
mark three months since she was cruelly snatched from her bed.
"We do not know where she is, or where she has been taken, but would urge tourists and residents in Portugal and Spain
to keep looking for Madeleine. All we want is to be reunited with Madeleine and to be a happy family once again."
There are no plans as yet to mark the 100-day anniversary since her disappearance, with the couple instead intending
to grind their way along the main motorway between southern Portugal and Spain, raising awareness over the four-year-old's
disappearance.
Writing on his blog on Tuesday, Mr McCann said he intended to ramp up the campaign over the coming week.
He said: "Relatively quiet day apart from phone calls and campaign related emails. We have busy couple of days coming
up so off to bed relatively early."
The couple have been boosted by the news that DNA tests are being carried out on a glass and straw used by a girl resembling
Madeleine in Belgium.
The girl was seen by a witness - a children's therapist - who is said to be '100 per cent sure' that the little girl
she saw with a young couple on a Belgian cafe terrace was Madeleine.
Police are said to be taking the sighting 'very seriously'.
She has told police the girl was with an English-speaking woman and a Dutchman on the cafe terrace in Tongeren, near
Maastricht, on Wednesday.
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PJ investigates trip to Huelva, 27 September 2007 |
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PJ investigates trip to Huelva Correio da Manhã
(article no longer online)
Suspicions: Authorities went to Spain to try to understand what the McCanns did on August
3
27 September 2007
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
The Policia Judiciaria are investigating a trip of the McCann couple to Huelva, Spain, made on August 3, which used
the Renault Scenic that contained traces that are presumed to belong to Maddie. These diligences are performed according to
the theory, which is now followed more intensely by the investigators, that points to the child's death and the moving of
the corpse in that car. The PJ has already collected video surveillance images in "locations that make no sense" where the
Renault Scenic may have been through.
The suspicions become more dense with some details of the trip. Namely the fact
that for almost three months, Kate and Gerry had an intense media agenda, which included the presence of the press all over
Europe. This was until August 2, a time when Maddie's father alleged intestinal problems and cancelled the entire program,
which included meetings with some associations in Huelva.
Gerry missed that day, but PJ found out later that the trip
from Praia da Luz to that Spanish city was made the next day, this time including the couple and a small group of journalists.
This was the first time in three months, since their daughter disappeared on the night of May 3.
The 'strangest' part is the fact that on that day, it was a holiday in Huelva. And the McCanns didn't schedule any meetings,
everything was closed - and there was a big agitation at the city centre. At a time when the inspectors are trying to reconstitute
thousands of 'unjustified' kilometres that the Renault Scenic made during this period, CM knows there was even a meeting between
the leaders of the investigation and the Spanish police.
After the detection of residues that may lead to the presence
of the body inside the car, the PJ, besides failing to find a justification for the exaggerated amount of kilometres travelled,
already owns several images of the passage of that van through Spain, on August 3. The van may contain the key to the crime.
Kilometres have not been justified
PJ owns the records of the
kilometres that were made with the van, between May 27 and July 3. The distances are being checked, in order to try to reconstitute
the locations where the van that was hired by the McCanns passed through.
Residues collected
in August
The blood residues that are presumed to belong to Madeleine, were collected inside the car
in early August. That was also the time when the English dogs smelled cadaver odour inside the boot, and on the vehicle's
key.
(...)
Results delayed
PJ still awaits the results
from analyses that are being performed on the rest of the residues that were collected inside the McCanns' car and in the
apartment. They are not expected this week.
Awaiting interrogations
The
Policia Judiciaria is preparing the request letters that will be sent to England. The purpose is to interrogate the McCanns
and their friends.
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Why did the McCann family travel to Huelva in Spain on August 3?, 27 September 2007 |
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By h.b. - Sep 27, 2007 - 12:34 PM
Portuguese
newspaper 'Correio de Manha' asks the question today as police try to cover the 2,750 kilometres reportedly used by their
hire car over a month
According
to the Portuguese newspaper 'Correio da Manha', the Portuguese Police are now investigating a journey allegedly taken
by the McCann family to Huelva in Spain during August.
The investigators are trying to justify a reported 2,750
kilometres which the parents of missing Madeleine McCann added to the Renault Scenic hire car in the month they used
it. This was the same car from which DNA evidence was taken by the investigators.
The McCanns reportedly went to Huelva
on August 3, which was a local fiesta in the Spanish city, but the reason for the trip is not clear.
The newspaper
claims that the Portuguese police are concentrating their efforts now on the search for a body, although other lines of investigation
remain open.
The police believe the child died accidentally on the night she vanished May 3rd and that the parents
later moved the body. However the evidence they have is not sufficient they say to charge the parents who it seems will not
be questioned again unless new evidence is found.
The McCanns continue to proclaim their innocence and say all the
police efforts should remain concentrated on the search for Madeleine.
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Police probe lost two hours, 28 September 2007 |
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Police probe lost two hours The Sun
From CLODAGH HARTLEY in Praia da Luz
and ANTONELLA LAZZERI in Rothley
Published: 28 Sep 2007
KATE and Gerry McCann were stunned yesterday at the latest police claim about missing Madeleine – that they buried
her during a "missing two hours" while putting up posters in Spain.
A furious pal said as the outrageous theory emerged: "Kate and Gerry have had enough.
"Underneath all this rubbish are horrible accusations and rumours.
"There are sightings of Madeleine which they want properly investigated."
Kate and Gerry – shattered that a girl thought to be Maddie in Morocco turned out not to be the four-year-old –
urged police to get on with finding their daughter.
The couple – both doctors aged 39 – were incensed that it took The Sun to discover that the blonde tot photographed
by a tourist was the daughter of a local farmer.
Face recognition experts yesterday said they were amazed police in Portugal – where Maddie vanished on May 3 –
never followed up the lead. They described the girl in the photo as "highly similar" to her.
David McIntosh, of Omni-perception, said: "I would have expected police to have been on the first plane out – there
were enough scientific matches between the photo and Madeleine."
Yesterday it emerged Portuguese detectives are working on the bizarre theory that the McCanns hid their daughter's body
in their hire car THREE MONTHS after she was reported missing.
On August 3, the couple drove from the fateful Algarve resort of Praia da Luz across the border to the Spanish town of
Huelva to put up posters. With them were Gerry’s brother John and a cameraman hired to take footage for the website
findmadeleine.com.
Once in Spain, the couple were followed around by an army of media. Despite this, police are focusing on what they claim
was a "missing two hours". They are investigating the possibility Gerry and Kate either buried the body then – or returned
to the site of a grave they made earlier.
It is the latest in a string of controversial theories by the Portuguese – many of which have been discredited.
To bolster their latest idea – leaked to one of the country's newspapers – police say it was: SUSPICIOUS the
trip was postponed from the day before – because Gerry had intestinal problems.
"STRANGE" that the couple, from Rothley, Leics, chose to visit Spain on a national holiday when shops were shut.
MYSTERIOUS that the McCanns racked up "unjustified mileage" in their Renault Scenic – hired 25 days after
Maddie disappeared.
Police are awaiting further tests on the car – in which they claim to have already found DNA linked to Maddie.
They are said to have met with Spanish counterparts to study CCTV showing the motor travelling in "places without reason."
Yesterday Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, insisted: "The trip to Huelva was organised on behalf of the
Find Madeleine campaign. It was conducted in the full glare of journalists from all over Europe and beyond."
A source close to the McCanns yesterday said the couple had a "new determination" to find their daughter. The insider
said: "A new ad campaign due to be revealed in two weeks is aimed at getting the message across – keep searching." Yesterday
the couple left their home in Rothley to take their two-year-old twins to nursery. Gerry told supporters: "It is just over
two weeks since we returned home from Portugal.
"The major news in that time is that we have not been charged with any offences regarding Madeleine's disappearance.
For Kate and I it has been incredibly difficult to come home without Madeleine but particularly in such circumstances."
*
Note: It was Jon Corner who accompanied the McCanns to Huelva, as seen in the Panorama footage and the photograph
below. There is no evidence to suggest that John McCann was there at that time.
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| Jon Corner pictured on the Huelva trip |
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The two 'missing' hours on the trip to Huelva, 30 September 2007 |
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Madeleine: Portuguese detectives send British police 40 questions to ask the McCanns Daily Mail
By TOM WORDEN
Last updated at 17:30 30 September 2007
Portuguese detectives plan to send a legal letter to their British counterparts outlining more than
40 questions they insist the parents of Madeleine McCann must answer.
The British police will then decide how and where the questions will be posed.
The move has been ordered by prosecutor Luis Bilro Verao, who issued a public statement earlier this
month saying there was not enough evidence against Kate and Gerry McCann to order a fresh grilling about the little girl's
disappearance.
The new interrogation will be based on more than 40 questions Kate McCann refused to answer when
she was quizzed by police in Portimao on September 7.
It will focus on two "missing" hours on a trip the McCanns made to the Spanish city of Huelva on August 3 when the McCanns
reportedly 'evaporated' from the view of accompanying journalists.
They are said to suspect that Madeleine died in the holiday apartment at Praia da Luz and that her parents hid the body
and moved it three months later on the trip to Spain.
But the couple's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, insisted yesterday that Mr and Mrs McCann, both 39-year-old doctors from
Rothley, Leicestershire, have a full account of their visit to Huelva.
He said the couple were never alone during the trip and were always in the company of PR adviser Jon Corner and a cameraman.
There is even a video of the trip on the website YouTube, showing the McCanns handing out leaflets as part of their drive
to find their daughter.
Mr Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry stopped several times to distribute leaflets and they had the car boot open all the
time.
"They transported all the campaign material in it. If there had been a body in there, people would have seen."
Spanish authorities said yesterday they have not been asked to investigate the Huelva trip.
Spokesman Manuel Bago insisted: "There is no investigation involving Madeleine's parents in the province of Huelva."
Forensic tests from the McCanns' Renault Scenic hire car are expected back within two weeks. Police
believe the results will give a "fresh breath" to the investigation.
Meanwhile, despite having their hopes dashed last week when a blonde child photographed in Morocco
proved not to be their daughter, the couple believe North Africa may hold the key to her safe return.
In Gerry's blog yesterday, he wrote: "When we hear of potential sightings of Madeleine, Kate and
I try not to get too excited, otherwise we would be on a continuous emotional rollercoaster, more than that we are experiencing
already.
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Madeleine McCann: Parents' 'suspicious' trip, 01 October 2007 |
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Madeleine McCann: Parents' 'suspicious' trip Telegraph
By Caroline Gammell in Praia da Luz
Last Updated: 1:36AM BST 01 Oct 2007
Portuguese detectives are investigating a trip Kate and Gerry McCann made to Spain, it has emerged.
A day after a possible sighting of four-year-old Madeleine was ruled out, police re-focused on her parents, who are formal
suspects in her disappearance.
They are believed to be studying CCTV footage of their journey to Huelva, across the Spanish border on August 3 where
they went to raise their daughter’s profile.
It is understood police are suspicious of the trip because the McCanns changed their plans at the last minute and did
not have any formal meetings while there. Detectives are said to be working on the theory, dismissed as ludicrous by the McCanns,
that Mrs McCann may have accidentally killed her daughter and relied on her husband to help cover it up.
One line of inquiry is whether they could have hidden her body and used their silver Renault Scenic -hired 25 days after
she disappeared - to dispose of the body. Traces of Madeleine’s DNA were allegedly found in the vehicle.
Police are puzzled by the high mileage, with 1,700km added to the clock between May 27 and July 3. They are sceptical
about the Spanish visit because the couple did not arrange any meetings with dignitaries and two hours are unaccounted for,
it was claimed. A police source told Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha: "The trip to Spain on a national holiday raised
suspicion and investigators have been to the country trying to find out where the McCanns went."
The couple’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell insisted the journey was innocent: "The trip to Huelva was organised on
behalf of the Find Madeleine Campaign.
"It was conducted in the full glare of journalists from all over Europe and beyond. Kate and Gerry McCann are entirely
innocent and have nothing to hide."
It is less than 24 hours since a little girl with striking similarities to Madeleine in Morocco was identified as Bouchra
Ben Aisa, a farmer’s daughter. There were concerns that the authorities were slow to act after she was traced by journalists
rather than police.
A source close to the couple said: "Frankly it is a sign of the times that journalists can locate a relatively obscure
child in the Moroccan mountains and one would hope that the authorities were able to locate a child as quickly as that."
But Mrs McCann's aunt Janet Kennedy said the McCanns were "philosophical".
"Inevitably it is a disappointment, but I think they are very philosophical about it because it’s happened so many
times.
"Just suppose Madeleine is in Morocco, what does that mean? You just have to keep on."
Mrs Kennedy spoke as she helped parcel up more than 2,000 toys and gift given to the McCanns which they have decided
to send to underprivileged children in Belarus.
They were left at the war memorial near the family’s home in Rothley, Leicestershire, alongside thousands of green
and yellow ribbons.
They will be sent to Zhodina, some 20 miles from the capital Minsk, and Bobrusk in the south of the former Russian republic,
next week.
The family has spent nearly £300,000 of the fund set up to help find Madeleine, which has now raised £1,041,697.
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PJ searches in Huelva, 02 October 2007 |
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PJ searches in Huelva Correio da Manhã
(article no longer online)
Policemen want to find cadaver
02 October 2007
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
The investigators from the PJ in Portimao are meeting the Spanish police today, in Huelva. The goal is to verify again
all the details of the McCann couple's trip to that city on August 3, three months after the child disappeared.
The
PJ admits that the cadaver may have been taken to that location, a little over 50 kilometers from the Portuguese border, or
that Maddie's parents went to visit the child's grave.
The trip was considered suspicious, and there is an interval
of two hours when the couple were alone, and which could be related to the translation of the girl's body.
At a time
when all data is being checked and the authorities are concentrating their attention on recovering the child's cadaver, the
investigators don't dismiss any leads. So they decided to advance into Spain, as they are convinced that the body was transported
in the van that was rented by the couple.
It should be mentioned, as CM reported first hand, that there are many details
in the trip to Huelva that are considered to be strange by the investigators. First, the couple chose a holiday to publicise
their daughter's disappearance, then they were not followed by the batallion of journalists that was usual. Besides, the car
was captured by video surveillance cameras in several "unexplained" locations, which intensifies the mystery.
While
the PJ runs against time to solve the crime, the McCanns' pressure increases. Yesterday, daily newspaper 'The Times'
announced that Maddie's parents are going to try to "annul" the constitution of arguidos because of a lack of clues. Also
Sky News broadcast a large report, which mentioned the failures in the investigation and left many doubts about the police
work. Police sources that were heard by CM devalue the pressure, guaranteeing they were aware this would happen.
And
that it would increase at the moment the parents would be considered suspects.
E-MAIL WAS JUST A FARCE
Another
lead followed by Policia Judiciaria revealed itself a farce. The e-mail that was reported by several newspapers yesterday,
including CM, and which was sent to Prince Charles, mentioning an abduction as revenge for a dismissal at the Ocean Club,
was sent by someone who signed under a false name. The woman, who said her name was Esmeralda Luego, does not exist after
all, and the authorities failed to track down the electronic mail itself. Besides, the woman mentions the kidnapping of a
child in a hotel in Lisbon, which gave the story little credibility. The McCanns had already been informed that the lead was
inconsistent, and was considered just one more, among so many unreliable pieces of information that have reached the investigators
over the recent months. The most media-exposed and most recent one was a sighting in Morocco, a piece of news that was
promptly commented by the McCann's advisor. After all, the girl that had been photographed by a Spanish woman was four years
old and the daughter of a Moroccan woman and a Belgian man. In less than 24 hours, the news was dismissed, but the McCanns
reaffirmed the thesis that the child is alive.
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PJ accuses English police of favouring the McCann couple, 02
October 2007
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PAULA MARTINHEIRA
JOSÉ MANUEL OLIVEIRA
02 October 2007
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
"The British police has only been working on the issues that the McCann couple wants, and which are convenient to them."
It was with an explosive and rebellious tone that the coordinator of the investigation into the Madeleine case, Gonçalo Amaral,
commented in brief statements to DN the news that was published yesterday in several English newspapers. This news was about
an anonymous email that was sent to Prince Charles' official site, which accuses an ex-employee of the Ocean Club of kidnapping
the four-year-old girl, as an act of revenge against the resort's administration, after having been dismissed.
"That
situation is completely set aside, and it has no credibility whatsoever to Portuguese police", the leader of the Criminal
Investigation Department (CID) of Portimao told DN, considering that his English colleagues "have been investigating leads
and information that were created and worked by the McCanns, forgetting that the couple is suspected of the death of their
daughter Madeleine".
"That story of a kidnapping for revenge is another fact that was worked by the McCanns", Gonçalo
Amaral accused, stressing that the Ocean Club "is located in Praia da Luz and not in London, which means that everything that
concerns the resort and its employees (present or former) was already or is being investigated by Policia Judiciaria".
"It's not an email, even less an anonymous one which is easy to track, that is going to distract our investigation line",
he said.
Gonçalo Amaral, before entering the CID in Portimao, was at the PJ's Directory in Faro, having been mainly
responsible for fighting drug traffic.
The opinion of the coordinator of CID in Portimao coincides with statements
that were made to DN by the president of the Union of Criminal Investigation Employees (ASFIC), Carlos Anjos, who accuses
Gerry and Kate McCann of "trying to distract and confuse the investigation by announcing a new fact on a daily basis". For
him, as DN could report, "the McCanns have launched a campaign to discredit the Portuguese police when it presented the theory
of the girl's death, substituting that of an abduction, which was very convenient to them". "As long as the theory of the
disappearance because of a suspected abduction subsisted, the PJ was very pleasant company for the couple. When things
changed and the death theory emerged, there was a radical change in the stance of the McCanns, who by the way never helped
or facilitated, since the beginning, the investigation".
In late August, early September, a few days before Gerry
and Kate were constituted arguidos, for suspicions of the negligent death of their daughter Madeleine, a top member of staff
of Judiciaria commented the following: "After buying ourselves a war with the British media, we are now buying one with the
English police."
Over the last few weeks, the Policia Judiciaria has been silent, which was helped by the fact that
the spokesman of this force for that case, Olegario Sousa, has left that function, which he occupied since the child's disappearance.
*
Note: The day after this article appeared, 03 October 2007, Alipio Ribeiro reportedly sent a brief fax to Mr Amaral's
office in Portimao on the detective's 48th birthday, reading: "Transfered to Faro for convenience of the service".
It is not known whether the investigation pursued its interest in the Huelva trip following Mr Amaral's departure.
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