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Duarte Levy, 19 June 2009 - 09 July 2009 |
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Joana Morais
June 19, 2009
In this post I will expose and prove how the so called journalist 'Duarte Levy' is nothing more than a con man, a swindler
and a dangerous pathological liar. I was compelled to write this article as a warning for others who may fall prey of his
lies and manipulative games, even though the subsequences that will probably originate from here will no doubt be used by
persons who have other agendas.
In 2007 I used to follow a few blogs to learn about the Madeleine McCann case, one of those blogs was SOS Maddie, written
by a freelance Belgian journalist, 'Duarte Levy'. As many others, I had the impression that 'Duarte Levy' was a man that knew
through investigative journalism and that had in his possession documents which he would use as a basis to then write articles
about the Madeleine case.
Later in 2008, Duarte Levy wanted to meet me, at the time I was in the North of Portugal at my family's house, and he
travelled there to meet me and to talk about the case. What I didn't know at the time is that Duarte Levy 'studies' very well
his soon to be victims, before he does the operation 'Charm & Con'.
Anyway let's stop calling this man 'Duarte Levy' since that is not his real name. Let's call him by the name that his
Portuguese parents gave him: Nuno Miguel Duarte, being Duarte his family name, a common name in Portugal like Silva or Lopes.
So, in 2008, this man, wanted to meet me. Obviously I was absolutely excited for knowing someone that could fill in the
gaps, with whom I could exchange information and ideas. He presented himself as being Duarte Levy, a freelance journalist
who worked with The Times, The Sun, Hareetz, La Derniere Heure, El Mundo and several other papers which I don't recall - The
Times and El Mundo being the only newspapers that I could confirm the veracity of his allegations [that is regarding the Madeleine
McCann affair; previous to that... nothing exists].
When I questioned that his name 'Duarte Levy' didn't appear in the on-line newspapers or that his professional past as
a freelance journalist simply wasn't traceable he told me that he wrote under a few alias', one of them being Simon de Bruxelles
[profile at journalisted.com; facebook and twitter]; the twitter social profile of Simon de Bruxelles has however a striking similarity with 'Duarte Levy' & 'Arthur Finkelstein' twitter profiles, updates, similar followers, etc... As a final consideration on these three tweeter profiles, I can
only assume that the journalist 'Duarte Levy' uses this 'sock puppets' to sustain his own allegations and to, in the public view, assume a credible professional image.
There is also another fake on-line character, just created to praise and divulge his work - a kind of split personality
syndrome - named DJorn - which as 'Duarte Levy' himself explained to me was a nick created by adding his name 'Duarte' with
'Jornalista' [Journalist].
Djorn, who is a member of the 3 Arguidos forum, has defended his "master's voice" several times, even affirming
that he and Duarte Levy are totally different persons - interestingly Djorn posted several times on the 3 Arguidos forum using
- guess what - my own IP address, attributed by TVCABO operator [see screenshots below] - which is odd, to say the least,
considering that I never met Djorn. Or did I?
Another interesting situation is how Djorn was also able to connect to the internet via the TMN GPRS operator, an account
that 'Duarte Levy' asked me to open for him, affirming that he would pay me every month, since he didn't have a Portuguese
home address to give - a condition to have a mobile net service. Yes, gullibly, I opened that account with my name, my home
address and ended up paying more than 1000 Euros - and this is not an easy thing to assume in front of unknown persons: I
was defrauded.
Moving on and resuming what could become very quickly a long tale.
'Duarte Levy' upholds a professional image that has no basis at all and that no one (not even colleagues) are able to
verify, this despite several attempts to corroborate a highly unlikely professional past history; he alleges to have immeasurable
contacts and knowledge to the highest levels than can never be verified [José Socrates, Ricardo Paiva, Lopes da Mota, Clarence
Mitchell, Paulo Rebelo, etc]; he fantasises, deceives about the possession of explosive documentation whose existence cannot
be proved and when confronted or urged to demonstrate the veracity of fantasist allegations, has always a ready-made answer.
If pressured, he reacts in an aggressive and/or a victimizing behaviour, never recognizing that he can be in error, even keeping
fantasised characters to sustain his allegations.
The conclusion that I arrived is that this man exhibits a pattern of systematic lies, of compulsive nature, he is someone
who is a fantasist, a megalomaniac and without any doubts a pathological liar.
*
Duarte Levy
28/06/2009
NOTE: All the information published by me on this blog or any other blog, not to mention the media with whom I continue
to work, is authentic and has been verified from several sources as required by a journalist. Obviously I am always ready
to defend myself against any counter claim. Besides, any matter which does not have a direct connection with my work but is
about my private life, in particular comments that were made recently after the end of a romantic relationship that lasted
for several months, does not deserve a response... at least not here.
*
Joana Morais
June 30, 2009
'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable,
must be the truth.' in 'The Sign of the Four' (1890) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Following my initial approach concerning the alleged 'investigative journalism' that is practised by a person that calls
himself 'Duarte Levy', and having been confronted with suggestions that I might be merely reacting to a personal problem,
I leave you a collection of items that range from the merely doubtful to the outright fantastic.
It is not my concern to discredit the person who produced these so-called facts, but rather to urge people who have been
following the Madeleine McCann case, to seriously question these allegations and to start with a fresh clean slate.
The rogatory interviews done with the Tapas 7 in the UK, in April 2008,
are legitimate. The DVD process is authentic. The book written by the former coordinator to the case is based on facts pertaining
to the investigation - it is there that we should look for the Truth.
What is not true/does not exist/incorrect fabrications :
The 24 photos
- The story according to Duarte: a Spanish tourist that was on the night of 3 of May having dinner at the Ocean Club's restaurant
known as Tapas Bar takes some photos which show a few of the Tapas group members and how some, like Kate McCann, changed clothes;
then the Spanish tourist back in Spain is robbed, his apartment was broken in and the camera with the alleged photos is taken;
then the camera and the thief are found by the Spanish police; then Duarte worked as a middle man between the Spanish tourist
the PJ and the British media who had an interest and wanted to buy the alleged photos.
Explosive
documents left behind by Justine McGuinness - a dossier with documents, and a sketched map that pinpointed
a location on Ribeira do Vascão. Duarte knows perfectly well that the 'explosive documents' were in fact a message of a group,
inviting the McCanns for a meeting and a prayer for Madeleine.
Interview of Antonio Jiminez in a Spanish jail - Antonio Jimenez,
an ex-officer, assistant investigator of Metodo 3 detectives agency who was arrested on drug trafficking charges - this bit
is true. What is not true is that he ever met 'journalist Duarte Levy'. In fact, no video recorded interview was made of Antonio
Jimenez.
Extra facts that are NOT true:
A debate in Lisbon promoted by 'Duarte Levy' about the McCann case
- which never happened in spite of 'Duarte Levy' affirming the contrary. The debate according to him happened in Fábrica Braço
de Prata, or in Universidade Lusofona.
A book written in partnership by Duarte Levy and others - sold in
advance to the French ladies in his SOS Maddie forum, the book was never sent to the members of that forum, or to any other
persons who reserved it. Duarte has stated that his share of the book 'Maddie.Net' was given to the Unicef. [see screenshot
below]
Duarte being a good pal with: Paulo Rebelo, Jose Socrates, António José Seguro, Lopes da Mota, Ricardo
Paiva, etc.
Duarte being on: Oprah, in Sri Lanka, in Dubai, Aachen, etc..
What we still don't know, and might be based in genuine fact(s) i.e. 1% of truth/99% of falsehood
:
The McCanns demanding 100,000-500,000 euros in a non-existent lawsuit
The PJ mole - a family member of one PJ superior officer
A forensics report with 17 matching markers out of 19, when the preliminary report only detailed 15 markers - Duarte
Levy claimed he had access to that document in the Portuguese Documentary about Madeleiene McCann in 'Maddie: The Truth
of the Lie'.
The Tapas who gave interviews to 'Duarte Levy', repentant and who broke the 'McCann's Pact'
Kate McCanns' suicide attempt
Jose Luis Arnault meeting with Gerry McCann
Bob Small coming forward in an interview given to 'Duarte Levy'
The People's photo which by 'Duarte Levy's' account was a lookalike
'Duarte Levy' week in Rothley with the McCanns
The British abandoned cemetery where Madeleine's body is, which sometimes was in Madrid other times was in Huelva and
which has a webcam recording 24/7
Clarence Mitchell being a good pal and facilitating information to 'Duarte Levy'
Duarte having numerous contacts in the SIS, PJ, FBI, Mossad, Nasa, etc...
The satellite dish facing Morocco article
The hit and run incident in Barcelona
The room hotel assault where his laptop was stolen
Being arrested at the airport of Madrid upon arrival
*
Paulo Reis
9.7.09
As a journalist since 1982, I always did my best
to check and confirm, with several and reliable sources, all facts and information in the articles I published, either alone
or co-authored. Serious allegations were raised by Joana Morais, a blogger that I know and respect, concerning the credibility
of Mr. Duarte Levy, with whom I co-authored many articles about Madeleine Mccann's investigation.
My credibility
is also seriously damaged, due to my association with him. A journalist's credibility takes a long time to build but it's
a fragile thing. A single mistake is enough to destroy it. Once lost, it's almost impossible to have it back. So, I decided
to stop writing about this case.
Time – and the persistent work of so many people, in hundreds of blogs and
dozens of forums, analyzing the large amount of information available – will show what is truth and what is not truth.
In the end, I believe, truth will prevail – and that is the most important.
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DNA test boosts parents' hope that Madeleine is still alive, 16 August 2007
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DNA test boosts parents' hope that Madeleine is still alive Timesonline
Paulo Reis in Praia da Luz, and Duarte Levy
August 16, 2007
Traces of blood
discovered in the bedroom where Madeleine McCann was sleeping on the night that she disappeared do not come from the missing
girl, The Times has learnt.
The conclusion that the blood came from a man follows two weeks of reports that the
traces proved that Madeleine had been killed in the Algarve holiday apartment.
The finding will give fresh hope
to Kate and Gerry McCann, who have said that they continue to believe that their daughter will still be found alive 105 days
after she was taken from her bed.
The minute spots of blood, which were discovered on a bedroom wall by British
sniffer dogs, had been sent for testing at the headquarters of the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham.
The
four pages of technical results conclude that the blood did not come from Madeleine.
The analysis shows that the
blood probably comes from a white man from the "northeast European subgroup". However, this conclusion is only 72
per cent accurate owing to the poor condition of the sample because of its age and also that the bedroom wall had been cleaned
with a detergent. The Forensic Science Service is carrying out further tests on the samples.
Detectives had already
suspected that the blood came from a man who had injured himself while staying at the two-bedroom apartment after Madeleine
disappeared. This explains why the blood was not discovered when Portuguese police examined the apartment in the first weeks
of the investigation. The ground-floor apartment in the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz was cordoned off by police for five
weeks after Madeleine’s disappearance before being handed back to its British owners.
Mrs McCann contemplated
for the first time yesterday returning to Britain to live without Madeleine: "We know we will be going back and I guess
one day we will wake up and it will be right. We never thought that we would go before she came back. Now we just don’t
know. We have the twins to consider. I can’t imagine how we came out as a family of five and going back as a four."
The Times reported yesterday that Portuguese police have said for the first time that the focus of the inquiry is
that Madeleine is now dead. Inspector Olegário Sousa, of the PolÍcia Judiciária (PJ), said: "The
possibility of Madeleine's death is the one that we are paying more attention. However, none of the other possibilities
is closed."
Mr Sousa confirmed that one of the dogs had found a scent indicating that a corpse had been in
the apartment.
Kate and Gerry McCann, both 39, from Rothley, Leicestershire, are likely to face fresh questioning
by police next week. The seven British adults with them at the Ocean Club are also likely to be requestioned.
The
couple and their friends were dining at a tapas restaurant at the resort complex on May 3 while Madeleine was asleep in the
apartment with her two-year-old twin brothers and sister, Sean and Amelie.
Mr Sousa said this week that the McCanns
are regarded as witnesses and are not considered suspects. But he refused to rule out the possibility that their friends may
have been involved.
Portuguese police are believed to have found some new evidence in the case about two weeks
ago which led to officers saying that they now considered it possible that Madeleine, who disappeared shortly before her fourth
birthday, was now dead. However, reports that they are hunting a mystery British man who had stayed in Praia da Luz at the
same time as the McCanns have been dismissed. James Gorrod, 34, a solicitor from Exeter, said that detectives had cleared
him and his wife of any link to her disappearance. They had raised suspicion because they were a couple who were on holiday
with the McCanns and had hired a car with a child seat. However, it transpired that they were travelling with their two-year-old
son.
Detectives in Portugal are expected to hold the first press conference on the investigation tomorrow for more
than a month. A judge is expected to decide this month that the only official suspect in the case, Robert Murat, 33, should
be cleared.
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Detectives hunting for Madeleine on alert for series of new searches, 18 August
2007
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Detectives hunting for Madeleine on alert for series of new searches The Times
Paulo Reis in Praia da Luz, Duarte Levy and David Brown
August 18, 2007
Detectives hunting for Madeleine McCann have been ordered to prepare for an operation over the next four days that
they hope will lead to a breakthrough, The Times has learnt.
The Public Prosecutor's Office signed a series
of warrants yesterday authorising searches at locations that may be linked to the disappearance of Madeleine 107 days ago.
Officers have been told that the operation will be carried out by Tuesday.
The Portuguese Polícia Judiciária
believes that it has uncovered evidence that could be significant in discovering what happened to Madeleine after she was
taken from her bed in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.
The searches follow the arrival in Portugal of the result
of tests on samples recovered from the McCann family's apartment, their car and other locations in Praia da Luz.
The Times revealed on Thursday that the preliminary notes from the headquarters of the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham
showed that traces of blood in the apartment had come from a man.
However, the findings received by the Laboratório
de Polícia Científica in Lisbon on Wednesday indicated that the blood samples were too damaged to be checked
against the DNA database of British sex offenders. Scientists have been attempting to recover a better profile.
The
Portuguese magistrate in charge of the investigation has now been sent the full report on all the samples recovered as part
of a review of the investigation completed with the help of British experts.
It is not known if the possible breakthrough
in the investigation is connected with scientific evidence, although detectives are believed to have been monitoring the movements
of at least one suspect for some time.
Police are also reported to have been reviewing two burglaries — one
in the apartment directly above the McCanns' apartment — which happened shortly before the family arrived at the
Ocean Club resort.
Meanwhile, Madeleine's twin sister and brother, Sean and Amelie, have finally been told
that their elder sister is missing. They had previously been assured that she was on holiday and would be returning home soon.
Sean and Amelie, 2, were asleep in the ground-floor apartment when Madeleine was taken. Police have said that the
twins slept throughout and have been unable to provide evidence.
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann,
have been advised by a British child psychologist on how to break the news to Madeleine’s siblings. The couple, both
doctors, have been careful to maintain the twins' daily routine but agreed last week not to take them to the usual morning
sessions at the crèche of the Ocean Club resort because the presence of the media was disturbing other parents and
children.
The twins, who, like Madeleine were born through IVF, have been encouraged to talk about their sister
and her Cuddle Cat toy, which Mrs McCann now carries around wherever she goes.
Mr and Mrs McCann have thanked the
thousands of people from around the world who have sent letters and e-mails of support. But the couple are still devastated
at their daughter's disappearance.
Mrs McCann, 39, a locum GP, recalled the pain of returning to Britain without
Madeleine for a family baptism. "When we went back to the UK for a family baptism there was an empty seat on the plane
and Sean said, 'That's Madeleine's seat.'" she said. "Amelie asked me afterwards, 'Where's
Madeleine? I miss my sister.'"
The couple have also contemplated for the first time having to return home
to Rothley in Leicestershire, without Madeleine. They have extended the rent on their villa on the outskirts of Praia da Luz
only until the middle of next month.
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Detectives' hunt for Madeleine 'was illegal', 25 August 2007 |
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Detectives' hunt for Madeleine 'was illegal' The Times
Paulo Reis in Praia da Luz, Duarte Levy andDavid Brown
August 25, 2007
A firm of private detectives that hired psychics to help the hunt for Madeleine McCann is being investigated by police
for allegedly breaking Portuguese laws on criminal cases.
The company, Strongwood, claims that it is being funded
by donations from more than 100,000 people to carry out inquiries into the disappearance of Madeleine from her bed in the
resort of Praia da Luz 114 days ago.
However, Portuguese detectives have contacted officers in the Netherlands
complaining that the company has broken laws that mean that only police can investigate criminal cases.
Strongwood,
which is registered with the Dutch Ministry of Justice as a private investigation company, said that it had received donations
totalling more than ¤a team of<NO>three private detectives, an expert in children with a "special disorders"
and a person with "special abilities" to Praia da Luz at end of last month.
A report of its findings
concluded that Madeleine could have died before 7pm on the night that she went missing. Madeleine's parents, Kate and
Gerry McCann, have insisted that she was alive at 9pm. The company also claimed that the child was killed in her apartment
before being taken to a beach in a white van where her body was dumped.
Nico van den Dries, chief executive of
Strongwood, said that the company had been sharing information with Portuguese detectives and had not been told it was an
offence to investigate criminal cases.
"We were asked to look at the case because some clairvoyants from America
and the Netherlands were giving evidence to the Portuguese police and they were not following them up," he said. "We
are just doing it for the \ the expenses. We have been co-operating with the Portuguese and they have not said it is against
the law."
Inspector Olegário Sousa, of the Polícia Judiciária, said: "The investigation
in Portugal only can be done by police forces. As the collection of funds was done in a foreign country, only the police in
Netherlands can pursue what is clearly a fraud. No private detectives had worked with us or with our British colleagues."
Willem Melius, from the Politie Zaanstreek-Waterland in the Netherlands, said: "In \ Netherlands the investigation
of crimes is for justice and police but in case of missing persons it is different (but only inside the country). As soon
as they discover it to be a crime they should alert the police. If Strongwood appears not to obey the rules the Justice Department
will take steps." Dutch police are already investigating a letter and map sent to an Amsterdam-based newspaper, De Telegraaf,
which claimed to identify the location of Madeleine’s grave in the Algarve. Portuguese police searched the site but
found no trace of Madeleine.
Madeleine's father yesterday attacked police leaks that have fuelled "preposterous"
speculation about what happened to his daughter. Mr McCann said he was disappointed that so much information had made its
way into the public domain.
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Final report not yet sent to Portugal, 06 September 2007 |
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Final report not yet sent to Portugal Gazeta Digital
6.9.07
Portuguese TV crew creates panic in Birmingham
The final report of the analysis being made at Forensic Science Service (FSS), the British Police laboratory in Birmingham,
wasn't yet sent to Portugal. Only some partial results were sent and Portuguese CID received it today, September 5. The
British Police laboratory has been sending some partial results to the Portuguese authorities since the second week of August,
as The Times referred, in August 16.
Meanwhile, a Portuguese TV crew that was recording in front of FSS building,
in Birmingham, was threatened and Police was called, by the private security of FSS. Tiago Contreiras, from RTP, was warned
first, by a security element that "he should leave the place, immediately, for security reasons, as that area was off-limits
for journalists". When the journalist questioned that order, somebody who introduced herself as the laboratory director,
talking in a "very aggressive way", as Tiago Contreiras told, threatened the journalists, saying that if he didn't
moved from that place immediately he would face some unpleasant consequences.
A police car came to the place but
the policemen remain inside and took no action. Inside the FSS building, there was total panic. As soon as a foreign TV crew
was spotted, internal security gave orders to close all the windows and the building's entry was blocked, with orders
to not allow anyone to go out or come inside.
The TV crew has an interview scheduled wit Madeleine's grandmother
but, after this episode, the McCann family Press Office called Tiago Contreiras and cancelled the interview.
Paulo
Reis with Duarte Levy in Birmingham
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Madeleine McCann - One more witness contradicts Jane Tanner statement, 29 October
2007
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Madeleine McCann - One more witness contradicts Jane Tanner statement NowPublic
by pjcvreis
October 29, 2007 at 11:55 am
A teenager, who was with her family at Ocean Club, saw Gerry McCann and Jeremy Wilkins talking,
the night Madeleine disappeared – but she didn't see Jane Tanner or a man carrying a child. The girl wasn't
in the list of guests, as their presence at Ocean Club wasn't registered with the management. Father and daughter have
been in Portugal, recently, to help Policia Judiciaria in the reconstruction of what happened the night of May 3 and to give
a formal statement to Police, according to a source close to the case.
Speaking to SOS Madeleine, the Irish teenager
confirmed she saw Gerry McCann and Jeremy Wilkins talking, for a few minutes, near the McCann apartment: "There was only
the father of the little girl talking to another man."
The teenager went out for a cigarette, around the same
time Jane Tanner said she saw a man carrying a child. She only mentioned what she saw to her family later, because she had
also to confess the reason why she was there. Since the beginning, Police had some doubts about Jane Tanner statement, as
Jeremy Wilkins, a tennis partner of Madeleine's father, told them he only saw Gerry McCann near the apartment.
Jane Tanner description of the man she allegedly saw was used to draw a sketch that the McCanns released, yesterday, October
25. But Jane Tanner was initially quoted, in the British Media, as saying that the man was walking to the church. Later, British
newspapers referred she said the man was walking in the opposite direction, to Robert Murat's house.
Jeremy
Wilkins told the Press he was walking his eight-month son when he met Gerry McCann, who was checking his children. The TV
producer said he didn't saw a man carrying a child and he also didn't saw Jane Tanner: "It was a very narrow
path and I think it would have been almost impossible for anyone to walk by without me noticing."
After a
few weeks claiming they couldn't talk to the Media because of Portuguese secrecy laws, the McCanns accepted being interviewed
by Antena 3, a Spanish TV channel. Gerry McCann praised the Portuguese Police but, at the same time, the usual "family
friends" were quoted by the British Media in another attack to the credibility of Portuguese police, who hasn't recorded
the statements given by Madeleine parents. This is denied by a PJ source, who told that "all formal questionings of the
McCanns were recorded, but no recording was made from the informal meetings with them."
Statements given to
Police, in the Portuguese legal system, are only used in the investigation and even confessions are not valued by courts,
as only statements made during trial are considered evidence.
Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis
Gazeta Digitial
http://www.gazetadigital.blogspot.com/
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PJ detectives prepare for final steps of the investigation, 30 October 2007 |
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PJ detectives prepare for final steps of the investigation Gazeta Digital
30.10.07
Paulo Rebelo called a meeting with all the detective's
team working in Madeleine's case for today, October 30. Criminal coordinator Gonçalo Amaral, previously in charge
of the investigation, was asked to participate in the meeting. The last days have been very busy for Paulo Rebelo and his
team of around twenty detectives working in the case. Recently, a new witness has been in Portugal and went to PJ headquarters
in Portimão. This witness, an Irish teenager, saw Gerry McCann and Jeremy Wilkins talking, near the apartment from
where Madeleine vanished, in the night of May 3, but she is also sure that there was no man carrying a child or Jane Tanner
around, at that time.
Paulo Rebelo decided to call a special meeting to make a general analysis of the conclusions
of the investigation, until now, after a careful review of all evidence collected, including the results of the samples already
sent by Forensic Science Service. Yesterday, October 29, a team of detectives headed by Paulo Rebelo went to apartment 5A,
at ocean Club, to check with detail some aspects of those conclusions. After almost four hours inside the apartment, the other
detectives left to Portimão, while Paulo Rebelo went to the small square near the church with another PJ investigator.
Before calling the meeting, Paulo Rebelo had a long talk with the national director of Polícia Judiciária, Alípio
Ribeiro.
News in the Portuguese Press referred that Portuguese police was still waiting, last week, for the list
of phone calls made from Praia da Luz, using mobile phones from UK networks. A request has been made to Police in the UK to
allow Portuguese police to check the calls with the list of guests and other people staying at Praia da Luz, since the McCann
arrived there, on April 28.
This meeting follows also the first public indications that the Portuguese Government
is getting more uncomfortable with the violent attacks directed against the Portuguese police and the Judicial system. Mr.
Santana Carlos, the Portuguese Ambassador in London, criticise the attitude of British Media, in a interview with The Times,
and referred that there are "many more cases of abductions (in UK) than Portugal, and nobody talks about that, but this
(Madeleine) case has come up very, very high in the news."
Also last week, the McCann revealed, for the first
time, they have hired a Spanish detectives private company, Metodo 3, to help find Madeleine. The company, according to Antena
3, was hired in August, before the McCann were named as formal suspects in the disappearance of their daughter. The company
set up a hotline and issued a sketch of an alleged abductor, seen by one of the friends of the McCann, Jane Tanner, less than
30 minutes Kate McCann found Madeleine was missing.
Just a few days after the hotline was set up, Marita Fernandez,
the general-manager of Metodo 3, told Spanish Media that witnesses calling the line have confirmed Madeleine McCann was alive
and in Morocco. Metodo 3 told newspapers they had also found another kidnapped child, an American blonde girl, in the mountains
of Rif. But a source from "Sureté Nacionale", the Moroccan intelligence services, denied this information
and told us they didn't have any information about the American girl or Madeleine McCann sightings.
The law
that regulates privates detectives work, in Spain, demands that any information related to a crime must be immediately forwarded
to Police. A PJ investigator considered "very strange" that a positive identification of Madeleine, as the one referred
by Metodo 3, could be made available to the Media, instead of remaining absolutely confidential: "This could be a death
sentence, if the child was in the hands of a paedophile network, what those Spanish detectives say it's also a possibility..."
Moroccan authorities expelled a British citizen, recently, after he offered large amounts of money in exchange of
specific statements about a blonde girl, to several staff members from a gas station in Marrakesh – the same city were
Interpol will have its 76 General Assembly, between 5 and 8 of November.
Duarte Levy (Marrakesh) and Paulo Reis
(Lisbon)
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McCann friends breaking ranks, 07 November 2007 |
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McCann friends breaking ranks Gazeta Digital
7.11.07
Lawyers from two of the McCann friends who were having
dinner at Tapas Bar, on the night of May 3, have contacted Police, recently, and told their clients were willing to be questioned
again, in order to "correct" some details that were mentioned in their initial statements. The two members of Tapas'
group asked for their identity to remain confidential, as they fear the "clarification" they want to do, about the
events on the night Madeleine disappeared, could bring some pressure from people connected to the McCann family.
Contradictions among the seven friends that were having diner with the parents of Madeleine McCann have been, since the
beginning, one of the reasons why the investigation of Polícia Judiciária has looked into other theory, apart
the possibility of a kidnapping. After Gonçalo Amaral was replaced as the head of the investigation, by Paulo Rebelo,
on October 3, a complete review of the case and all evidence collected has taken place.
But the results of this
review, until now, didn't changed the main line of inquiry – one that Portuguese police first referred on August
11, exactly hundred days after Madeleine's disappearance. Paulo Rebelo called a meeting with the all investigators involved
in the case and invited Gonçalo Amaral to participate, last week, in order to be briefed about the review made by the
team of experts he brought from Lisbon.
Police is now getting ready for the final steps of the investigation: a
new round of questioning of the McCann's friends, to take place in UK, after all the results from the samples collected
at the crime scene and sent to the Forensic Science Service, in Birmingham. Until now, all evidence collected "gives
consistency to the possibility of Madeleine McCann being dead and there are almost no leads than point to a kidnapping",
according to a source close to the case.
Since the end of May, when first reports were published in the Portuguese
Press, casting doubts about the statements of parents and friends, the McCann started their own private investigation. They
hired Control Risk Group, a risk management and security company, staffed with former members of the British Special Forces
and Intelligence services, to help find Madeleine. But this contract was revealed only in September and, during that time,
the couple from Leicester always made clear they trusted the investigation of the Portuguese police.
When the former
head of PJ team, Gonçalo Amaral, was replaced, after criticizing the lack of cooperation from the British Police, the
McCann said they hoped the man in charge, Paulo Rebelo, would drop the status of "formal suspects" the parents were
given, in early September, and go back to the initial theory – that Madeleine was kidnapped. At the same time, they
hired Metodo 3, a leading Spanish detectives company, to set up a hotline for witnesses with information about the child.
In the first weeks, dozens of alleged sightings were reported to that hotline, putting Madeleine McCann in specific
areas, in Morocco. This weekend, Moroccan authorities made a clear denial of the existence of any clue about the presence
of Madeleine McCann in Morocco and announced that one of the alleged "positive identifications", in the city of
Fnideq, was a local girl who lives with her parents.
The campaign to find Madeleine was supposed to start a new
phase, in October, with Portugal, Spain and Morocco as main targets but no signals of that new phase are visible, yet. A request
for an interview with the McCann, on behalf of French and Moroccan TV channels, was considered "very interesting"
but postponed to a unknown date because, according to the McCann's spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, Gerry and Kate's
lawyers advised them not to do any interviews. The last one, to Antena 3, gave the opposite results the McCann expected. Even
with Kate McCann crying in public, for the first time, a pool showed around 70 % or Spanish viewers believed the parents are
not telling the truth about their daughter.
Duarte Levy (London) and Paulo Reis (Praia da Luz)
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McCann case: 24 pictures that may help to re-open the case, 13 August 2008 |
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McCann case: 24 pictures that may help to re-open the case Gazeta Digital
13.8.08
A tourist that was at the Tapas Bar, on the night of
May 3, took several pictures where the table with the McCann and their friends is visible. The tourist was with his wife and
another couple and they took pictures from each other, with the McCann table on the background.
The owner of the
pictures is negotiating with several British newspapers to sell the rights for an exclusive publication, but with a condition:
before being published, the pictures must be sent to the Portuguese police. The tourist is well aware that the pictures may
have important evidence related with a crime and not sending it to police is considered also a crime, in his country.
Yesterday, a well known legal office from UK knew about the existence of those pictures and contacted the owner, offering
to buy all pictures for 600,000 Euros. But the British lawyers didn't accept the condition set by the owner – that
the pictures should be sent to the Portuguese police, just before the transaction. The lawyers' office wanted to be free
to choose the moment when the pictures would be send to Portuguese authorities, so the offer was refused by the tourist.
Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis
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GRUESOME TWOSOME, 17 August 2008
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GRUESOME TWOSOME
THE PEOPLE UNMASKS GHOULS CASHING IN ON MADDIE EXCLUSIVE
Vile fantasist ties to sell 'dynamite' Madeleine McCann pics The People
We snare this vile fantasist trying to sell 'dynamite' McCann pics for £50k
Exclusive by James Millbank
17 August 2008
Maddie McCann's parents are "devastated and furious" over
a cruel bid to cash in on their anguish.
Grasping Duarte Levy demanded £50,000 for photographs he claims implicate Kate and Gerry
in their daughter's disappearance.
The 23-stone Frenchman said the "dynamite" pictures showed Kate had changed clothes
suspiciously the night Maddie vanished.
Despicable Levy also made the ludicrous claim that the 24 photos he was peddling cast
doubt on what Gerry and one of the couple's Tapas 7 pals told Portuguese police.
Levy, who said he had close links to the cops, bragged outrageously: "These photos are
a bombshell and will force the Maddie case to be re-opened."
The People refused his offers to sell the pictures - and told the McCanns' spokesman
Clarence Mitchell of Levy's preposterous claims.
Mr Mitchell branded Levy "a con man and fantastist".
He said: "Kate and Gerry are angry and upset that he is seeking to make money out of
Madeleine - it is a disgrace.
"They are no longer suspects and he should not be trying to tarnish their reputation.
We thank The People for exposing this man."
A People investigator met Levy in a Brussels hotel last week. Levy said: "I will sell
the photos to the highest bidder. I got hold of them through my contacts."
Levy - who is in his 40s and claims to have homes in Spain, Belgium and London - said
he had sold pictures and stories about Maddie for tens of thousands of pounds.
He said his new photos showed doctors Kate and Gerry, both 40, dining with their friends
in Praia da Luz the night Maddie, then three, disappeared 15 months ago.
Levy claimed that Kate and one of the Tapas 7 changed their clothes.
He also alleged: "The photos were taken between about 8.10pm and 10.15pm and they show
that the time lines made by Gerry McCann and another Tapas 7 friend are wrong.
They are dynamite." Levy cruelly scorned Kate and Gerry's belief that Maddie is still
alive. He said: "I believe she died in that room during an accident and then her body was moved to a flat in the town where
it was kept in a freezer."
The claim is categorically denied by the McCanns and police produced no evidence to
support the theory. Levy said the pictures were taken by a Spanish tourist whose camera was later stolen.
He claimed a police source tipped him off after officers found the camera, which he
then bought legally.
Levy also tried to convince The People that a well-known British legal firm offered
him 600,000 euros (£512,800) for the photographs.
Bizarrely, he said he refused because the lawyers would not agree to his demand that
the police should have copies of the pictures.
He also offered The People recordings he claimed to have of the McCanns' financial backer,
double-glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy, in a private meeting with Portuguese police.
Mr Mitchell last night said he did not know if Kate changed her clothes and added: "If
she did, so what?" He said: "It is no big deal that Mr Kennedy met the police.
"He is interested in all - aspects of the investigation. He is a very hands-on person."
A friend of the McCanns, of Rothley, Leics, said last night: "They have nothing to hide.
It appears the Portuguese police are using Levy to leak negative material."
'Photos of couple are a bombshell...I will sell for highest offer'
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The People: Duarte Levy's response, 17 August 2008
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Clarification about the article in the newspaper The People, of August 17, 2008 SOSMaddie
Duarte Levy
17 August 2008
The People: Duarte Levy's response
Clarification concerning the article in the Sunday newspaper, The People, August
17th 2008.
The information concerning me, published
today in The People newspaper, is false. Between August 9th and August 15th, I was contacted by and met with several British
journalists (*) at their request, about a witness who claimed to have seen Madeleine McCann in Brussels, and about the article
published by me and Paulo Reis about the existence of 24 photos, taken on the the night of May 3rd by tourists who were at
the Tapas Bar.
These colleagues asked me for help, because, besides the fact
that they don't speak French, they didn't know Brussels, didn't know where or to whom to direct themselves to
investigate the case of the witness claiming to have seen Madeleine.
As is
the rule between professional colleagues, I met with these journalists and I helped them as much as I could. As is obvious,
we spoke about the Madeleine McCann case, on the information published recently on my blog and on my colleague Paulo Reis'
blog. We exchanged impressions and comments. I will not repeat the comments from my English colleagues, because private conversations
are private conversations - at least for principled people.
So that it is clear, I do not have in my possession, anything which
is of interest to the authorities or which might concern the investigation of a crime.
Duarte Levy
17 August 2008
(*)
– Nick Fagge & Jonathan Buckmaster - Daily Express / Lucy Hagan - The Sun / Julie (?) Daily Mail / Emily Miller
- The Mirror / James Millbank - The People (14 and 15 August)
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Maddie: Private detectives received help from a "mole" within the PJ,
11 November 2008
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Maddie: Private detectives received help from a "mole" within the PJ SOS Madeleine McCann
11/11/2008
Thanks to 'annaesse'
for translation
A Spanish
private detective reveals how the McCanns were able to gain access to confidential police information within the Maddie case.
According to one of the Spanish detectives hired by Metodo 3 within their contract with Kate
and Gerry McCann, a PJ inspector allegedly gave confidential information concerning the movements of the Portuguese investigators
and their British colleagues in the investigation into Maddie's disappearance to the Spanish agency.
The information
thus obtained allowed the private detectives to inform the McCann couple and their entourage about work being planned by the
Portuguese investigators: "Several of Amaral's men's initiatives failed thanks to information given by their
colleague... but there was also information coming from informers linked to the British embassy," this detective states.
This is the information that allowed us to know in advance what inspector Amaral and his colleagues wanted to do,"
the private detective continues during an interview recently recorded in Spain, stressing that, "the investigation would
probably have ended differently without the intervention of the private detectives, but also of certain British professionals."
In his interview, a video recorded in unusual conditions, and which will be included in a documentary for television
about Madeleine McCann's disappearance, the Spanish detective clearly identifies the PJ inspector and also puts forward,
"that he benefited from a certain protection by the PJ at Faro."
The detective goes further and states,
"that at times when the investigation was closed, thanks to information received from the Portuguese inspector, we created
diversions in the media."
"That didn't always work, because I noticed that certain operations were
set up without our knowing in advance. I imagine that Amaral must have had his suspicions and that he limited access to information
to the men he trusted," the detective adds.
"The investigation was practically condemned in advance...we
knew in advance what Amaral was preparing and the desired objective in his operations," states the detective who, after
several months of working for Metodo 3, had even tried to make contact with the Portimao CID coordinator, before he was
dismissed from the investigation: "I had personally met Gonçalo Amaral a few years ago, but he mustn't have
remembered me and as soon as he heard that I was linked to Metodo 3 he refused to speak to me, arguing that if I had important
information to bring to the case, this should be done in an official manner."
"He (Gonçalo Amaral)
was known to us as a hard guy, in particular in cases of fighting drug trafficking... he is incorruptible," the detective
concludes.
The revelation which risks creating controversy around the Algarve PJ, meanwhile confirms the suspicions
raised by certain investigators. At least two PJ inspectors, contacted by SMM, directly put forward the name of the inspector
who allegedly passed on the confidential information to the detectives of the Spanish agency. According to them, the man benefited
from a certain protection from the Faro commission and his behaviour was not new, because he had allegedly previously committed
the same offence in other investigations.
We are no longer looking for Maddie....
me, in any case, I was never hired to do that."
According to the same detective, he was allegedly
never hired to look for Madeleine MCann: "We are no longer looking for Maddie.. me, in any case, I was never hired to
do that. All I was asked to do was gather the most details in order to direct the Portuguese investigation towards
Morocco or Spain.
This former detective - who is no longer able to carry on his work - further states that the
Spanish agency allegedly led British journalists to Morocco for them to meet previously selected and paid witnesses: "the
aim was to spread the Moroccan lead in the media and thus confirm that it was indeed an abduction, which the Portuguese and
British police did not want to believe," states the detective, stressing that he is unable to say whether the McCanns
were behind this kind of operation.
"The couple never asked me to lie about anything whatsoever. Unfortunately,
I cannot say the same about the agency or the couple's entourage," the detective concludes.
Duarte Levy
McCanns had informant within the PJ TV Mais
(appears in paper edition only)
A PJ inspector supplied confidential information
to Metodo 3, concerning the movements that the Judiciária and the British policemen made on the terrain searching
for Maddie
by Hernâni Carvalho
12
November 2008
Thanks to Joana Morais for translation
The accusation
is brought forward by one of the agents from Metodo 3, the Spanish detective agency that the McCanns hired, and was made during
an interview that journalist Duarte Levy recorded for Belgian television. According to said Metodo 3 agent, the privileged
information that the McCanns held were always delivered by an inspector who "benefits from a certain protection at the
Judiciária in Faro" and by informants that are connected to the British Embassy.
The PJ investigators'
most confidential movements were always monitored by the McCanns or by their entourage. The information reached them through
an informant from inside the PJ of Faro itself. The man from Metodo 3 goes as far as stating that numerous initiatives by
Amaral's men were known before time due to the alleged informant.
"That was the information that allowed
for us to known in advance what inspector Amaral and his colleagues intended to do", the Spanish private detective said.
The interview was videotaped in Spain a few days ago and will be part of a documentary about Maddie's disappearance that
the journalist is preparing. In Belgium, the case continues to raise much interest and discussion. During that interview,
the Metodo 3 agent identifies the man from the PJ in Faro. The Spanish detective states that he always knew that the investigation
was condemned. And he explains that he always knew in advance about the purposes of the actions and diligences that were carried
out by Gonçalo Amaral's team.
The detective says that he tried to speak with the coordinator of the
investigation at the PJ (Gonçalo Amaral), but the latter replied that, whatever he had to declare or to denounce, he
should do it in an official manner.
During the interview, the detective explains that he wasn't hired to search
for Maddie and that he never did that. He says that was not his mission. His mission, he says, was to carry out actions that
would direct the authorities that were responsible for the investigation and the search for Maddie, into Morocco or Spain.
And that he says he did.
The detective advances that the McCann couple never asked him to lie, but that he cannot
say the same about the McCanns' team, or Metodo 3's team.
When contacted by TV Mais, Gonçalo Amaral
says that he knows what we are talking about, but that he believes this is not the time for clarifications. The former coordinator
of the PJ's investigation about Maddie says he is still waiting for the lawsuit that the McCanns threatened him with,
and at that time he will have much to say or to reveal. Another book...
Inspector
told everything to the McCanns 24horas (page 8)
Former detective hired by Maddie's parents knew all
the steps being taken in the investigation
Text: Luis Maneta
13 November 2008
Thanks to Joana Morais for translation
Soon it can be revealed the name of the inspector who belonged to Gonçalo Amaral's team and who was a 'snitcher'
for the McCanns
A former detective from the Spanish Agency Método 3 guarantees to have had "access
to confidential information" during the investigation undertaken regarding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. According
to the detective, at the origin of this alleged leak is an element of the Judiciary Police who "is protected" by
the Directorship of Faro. The statements given by the Método 3 man - the detective agency hired by Kate
and Gerry to search for Maddie's whereabouts - were recorded in a video by the journalist Duarte Levy and will become
part of a TV documentary on the subject. "In the interview, the Spanish detective clearly identifies the PJ
inspector", guarantees the journalist, adding that this statement "confirm suspicions arisen" by other elements
of the Judiciary. "This information allowed us to know beforehand what inspector Gonçalo Amaral and
his colleagues where going to do", summarises the detective, who believes that without this element the investigation
"could have had a different ending".
Failed Initiatives
Quoted by Duarte Levy, the man form Método 3 says that the resultant information from an alleged "leak"
in the PJ had repercussions on the process: "Several initiatives from Amaral's men failed (...) but there was also
information coming from informants who where connected to the British Embassy". The former detective highlights that
the investigation "was doomed" since there was a previous knowledge of all the steps to be taken by the Police. That until Gonçalo Amaral started having suspicions. Then, and still according to the detective, he started
giving information only to his "men of trust".
24horas contacted the National Directorship of
the PJ, however it did not receive an answer in time for publication. Gonçalo Amaral was out of reach up to the
end of the closing of this edition.
Facts
Incorruptible
In the interview, the detective reveals that he tried, without successes, to contact the coordinator
of the investigation to the Maddie Case, Gonçalo Amaral. "He was considered among us as tough, especially in the
fight against drug trafficking... he is incorruptible", states the detective.
Abduction
Guaranteeing that he was "never" asked to search for Maddie - he was only
asked to collect information about alleged sightings - the Método 3 man says that his objective was to "spread
broadly" the Moroccan lead to "confirm that it was an abduction."
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The Tapas 7 rogatory interviews in the UK, 06 December 2008 |
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The Tapas 7 interviews in the UK - Volume 1 SOSMaddie
By Duarte Levy
06 December 2008
Thanks to 'AnnaEsse' for translation
All seven Britons were interviewed,
in early 2008, before the Portuguese investigation was put on hold for lack of impartial and brave justice.
In the interests of the public, remembering that justice is always the conquest of civilisation over
violence, of appeasement over endless revenge, of stability over chaos, the conversations (yes, it was more like conversations
than real interviews) were recorded on video and the transcriptions will be available for download, only in English, at the
end of each article. The videos will be opportunely disclosed.
Jane
Tanner: selective memory, contradictions and other things...
After 11 months of the investigation, in spite
of all that could have been said or done about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Jane Tanner, one of the Tapas 9, admitted
to officer Ferguson of the Leicestershire police that she was mistaken about the arrangement in which the group were seated
at the table. An apparently minor detail, but which is now more revealing: "Russell said he was sitting between Rachael and
Diane. So, I think, I had Diane there, Russell was there. And I think Dave, I think that Dave could have been there and Fiona
there."
Jane Tanner's interview, in April 2008, was recorded
on video, to which I have had access and which will be disclosed at the right time in a documentary about Maddie's disappearance.
According to the new seating plan, Jane was sitting
"in an anti-clockwise direction," next to Kate, followed by Matthew, Fiona, David Payne, Gerry McCann, Dianne, Russell and
finally Rachael.
According to Jane Tanner, in her interview with
the British police, Kate McCann was more anxious than usual during dinner on May 3rd 2007, the night of Madeleine's disappearance:
"There is something I haven't mentioned (...) she had said that Madeleine had said something strange about where were you
last night when I woke up. And as I said, I can't
remember at what point in the meal she said that (...) I think she said "when Sean and me woke up," I can't remember if it
wasn't when two of them woke up."
"I
wondered, if there wasn't another reason, you know, why the checks were more frequent," Jane Tanner then stressed, indicating
that Kate was wondering if Maddie might wake up.
Questioned
about the length of time that Gerry was absent from the dinner table, Jane explains: "that would have been at least five minutes,
if not more, because, I wonder, because he had left before I actually left there were conversations about whether he had stopped
on the way. So, I mean, if, I think it must have been something like five or ten minutes, five or ten minutes after he had
left. I can't say for sure though."
"(...) I went back up the road and I can't remember
exactly, I know this, I know, I think that Gerry thinks he was in a different place from where I think he was standing, but
I was quite sure, as I walked back up the road, they were standing, one of them was on the road and the other was just on
the edge of the pavement, but I thought that it was at the side of the road where I was walking, but I know that Gerry thinks
they were on the other side. But I think they were closer, because as I passed, I nearly went to greet them in some way and
I thought at that moment Oh "they're chatting, chatting, chatting" and I thought, you know, I didn't, I didn't know if they
had seen me or not, but I actually went to greet them and I think if they had been so far away I don't know if I would somehow
have almost gone to say hello to them," states Jane Tanner admitting that she and Gerry don't agree about where they found
themselves.
"I thought that they were, when you go up here,
I thought they were more, euh, once again I know that this is where me and Gerry disagree, but I thought they were kind of
closer to the alleyway. I think kind of (...) I think that one of them was on the road and I think, I thought that it was
Jez on the road because he had the pram. And towards, I don't know, I can't remember in which direction he was facing. No,
I mean, I think I remember that in my statement I said it, but I can't remember now in which direction he was facing.
"And I thought that Gerry was almost on the edge
of the pavement or just, just kind of on the road, but certainly kind of alongside it, kind of closer to that alleyway. I
don't think they were near the apartment gate, I thought they were kind of a bit further down, further down the road than
that," Jane admits to the police, demonstrating - according to one of the British investigators, a quite strange memory.
"Madame Tanner gave a witness statement before
the television cameras, she was interviewed by our Portuguese colleagues...now she is incapable of remembering most of the
details - the Leicestershire police, however, got her to read her previous statements -, but curiously, she happens to clarify
certain key points that agree with the story recounted by the other members of this group," states an officer from the British
police after having viewed the videos of the interviews.
This British police
officer, who no longer has contact with this case, is meanwhile one of the direct witnesses of the most important moments
in the investigation by the Portuguese authorities. Bitter and deeply disappointed with the behaviour of the British government
in this case, the man, from a legal point of view, no longer has the right to speak about Madeleine McCann's disappearance.
A ban which he has not respected for reasons "of professionalism and moral conscience" in spite of the heavy consequences
to come.
"Oh, it's someone
taking their child to bed."
Jane Tanner, one of the key witnesses, whom the McCanns
have not left much space for manoeuvre, explains once again the layout of the premises and her movements: according to her
witness statement, going out through the door of the Tapas Bar, she walked up the hill, passed by Gerry and Jez who were on
her right.
"(...) Right, yeah, So, I went past them, um, going up the hill, and then getting to the top of the road, as I arrived
at the top, this person, someone crossed the top of the road with a child. And obviously at that time - I just thought 'oh
it's somebody taking his child to bed,' as they say."
"I think it
was starting to get dark (...) there wasn't, apart from Gerry and Jez, there wasn't anyone else. (...) I really saw no one
at all. I said, I think, that this made me think that it was even more strange, I think that when I had gone to check on other
evenings at that time I probably didn't see anyone at all, it was earlier that you would see people here and there, carrying
their children," Jane Tanner said, confirming that it all happened, " roughly, around ten past nine."
"(....) I was kind of jogging along, because obviously I was trying to do the check and get back as quickly as possible
too, so I just thought 'Oh I'm just going to do the check as quickly as possible.."
In
answer to officer Fergusson, Tanner states that her intention was just to "check on Ella and Evie," because no one else had
done it: "Gerry was there, so I thought he had just checked (his children). Matt had checked when he had, um, been (...).
And we never checked Dave and Fi because they had their monitor, which they were quite happy with, so they didn't check at
all, like that."
"Oh, a poor parent like us..."
"(...) just as I got to the top, someone crossed
over. And the thing that really hit me was, um, the bare feet. And the thought that came to mind was, I was saying, that when
we were in Leicester (...) we had the habit of walking to David and Fi's house for, um, the children, for dinner with the
children, the children would play, we put them into travel cots there and we would sometimes stay a bit late and then carry
the children to the house (...) We wrap them in a blanket or something, but their feet always stick out, and you think 'Oh,
they're going to get cold feet' because they would always wriggle about. So, one thing I thought was 'Oh, a poor parent like
us, you know, that child is obviously being taken home (...)
(...) That was the only reason that I looked at him really, I think.
Because at that moment I thought it's somebody picking their child up from the crèche or, you know, just a father carrying
his own child..."
To be continued.
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McCann Case: Analysis of the phone calls reveals a clue, 16
December 2008
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McCann Case: Analysis of the phone calls reveals a clue SOSMaddie
Duarte Levy
16 December 2008
Justine McGuinness and the Vascão river
Justine McGuiness, spokesperson for the McCanns who accompanied them in fleeing to
England immediately after they were made arguidos, left various documents in the apartment that served as the couple's headquarters,
including photographs, establishing a possible connection between Madeleine's disappearance and the banks of the river Vascão,
near the Spanish border. Today, 19 months after Madeleine's disappearance, the trail
left by Justine McGuiness resurfaces.
|
| This picture is to give an indication of the general area, rather than define a specific spot |
It is September 9th 2007, the day that Kate and Gerry
take flight to England, four months after Madeleine McCann's disappearance that the PJ get their hands on a series of documents
left in the Vista Mar villa, until then occupied by the couple, where photographs and even a sketch are found, indicating
the detailed location of a place on the border between Alentejo and the Algarve, 20 km from Almodovar, crossed by the Vascão
river. The PJ inspectors went into the house immediately after the McCanns left for the airport, thus taking advantage of
the fact that the journalists were accompanying the couple.
The documents left there by the McCanns' spokesperson, Justine McGuiness, were found under a sofa. In addition to
the identification of a clearly defined geographic area, were numerous inscriptions which the PJ have never succeeded in interpreting.
According to sources close to the investigation, nothing was done in this direction and the PJ employees who allegedly regarded
the documents as being the work of an esoteric group, did not even take the trouble to visit the place indicated, considering
the lead as being of no value to the case.
The McCanns' spokesperson, who
was with them throughout the time when they were constituted arguidos under Portuguese law, ended up being dismissed on her arrival in England, this in spite of the fact that she might
prove to be one of the most embarrassing witnesses for the couple and the English authorities. The
fact is that Justine McGuiness has never been questioned by the PJ and thus it is that the exact significance of the documents
and photographs has never been explained.
|
| Ribeira do Vascão satellite picture (click to enlarge) |
In statements recorded recently in London, sources close to the former Liberal Party
candidate and specialist in public relations, confirmed that Justine McGuiness was even allegedly the target of various pressures,
notably in the legal field, meaning, for her, that she should keep quiet about everything she saw and heard during the time
she worked for Kate and Gerry McCann.
What is certain is that the former
spokesperson and her employers, the McCanns, were already at odds, particularly with Kate, on the day they left Portugal together
and their "divorce" on arrival in England did not surprise anyone. Justine had always directed very harsh criticism towards
Madeleine's mother, sometimes in the presence of journalists. And the poor relations between the two women were not limited
to financial matters, on which Justine always demanded settlement for her work and for numerous extra hours spent with the
couple, but also in meetings and dinners with journalists and representatives of the British authorities.
Today, all this might have been forgotten if it were not for the results of an investigation
into records of the McCanns' telephone calls and of all the people who were in contact with them, an investigation led by
journalists, in collaboration with former operatives of the information services.
While investigating the calls received and made on the McCann's mobile phones during their stay in Portugal, the
investigators found a report from inspector Paulo Dias of the PJ where it is confirmed that Kate received, on the 2nd of May,
at around 11h21, a call from Swansea (UK) which, later, she would justify to the PJ as being a mistake. A sufficiently important
"mistake" that Madeleine's mother guarded the register of this call in her mobile, in spite of having deleted all the details
of other communications.
More interesting, the investigators - some Britons, used to dealing with sensitive cases - also found the register
of a phone call made on the same day, after lunch, between a mobile phone in Praia da Luz and the same number in Swansea
that had contacted Kate McCann. The mobile from which the call was made does not belong to either of the McCanns or to
the group of friends who were accompanying them and, up to today, the Judiciary Police, despite several requests to the English
authorities, has never been able to identify the owner of that mobile nor have they obtained from the English support or willingness
so that they can question whomever it was regarding these calls.
Now, while cross-referencing the results obtained next to the mobile telecommunication operators in Portugal and in Spain
with the reports of the Judiciary Police - in particular the excellent work of the inspector Paulo Dias - investigators
and journalists found a new element worthy of interest: the mobile phone used in Praia da Luz to call the number in Swansea,
who had contacted Kate on May 2, was used to make and receive calls in the area indicated in the documents and in the photographs
that the McCann's spokeswoman left under the sofa on the day of the return to England.
According to the records now known, the mobile phone was used near the Ribeira do Vascão on several occasions, namely
between the days 12th and 15th of May, 2007 but equally in June and July of the same year. Those phone calls were always made
to England or to Praia da Luz, except for one, which was made to the British embassy in Lisbon.
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Maddie Case: What is Justine McGuinness hiding?, 17 December 2008 |
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(click images to enlarge)
Maddie Case: What is Justine McGuinness hiding? TVMais
(no online link, appears in paper edition only)
By HERNANI CARVALHO
17 December 2008
The former spokewoman of the McCanns left "some documents" behind and gave
a hint to an inspector of the PJ. On returning to England she was dismissed but still remains silent. Why did she stop working
for the McCanns?
When parted from the company of the McCanns, that morning of September 9, Justine McGuinness left
behind a few documents. Forgotten - in the words of some, deliberately - to others. In the papers can be found a remote
location explicitly placed deep in the Algarve and a few more details which have not yet been decoded.
What you do not realise yet is that this place has a mysterious connection with the Maddie case. There is no
information that the PJ have ever gone there. But why did the official spokeswoman for the couple leave the papers in
Portugal, forgotten underneath a sofa at the villa of the McCanns?
It is known is that she had barely set foot on British soil when Justine McGuinness was fired. "Because of the
extra workload," explained the McCanns in those days. Justine never spoke and continues in silence, but tvmais
knows that Justine McGuinness continues an aversion to the McCanns and that Kate McCann, the mother of Madeleine, did not have
confidence in their official spokeswoman (see box) in Praia da Luz.
Justine McGuinness was a voice for the McCanns in the Algarve while Clarence Mitchell was still in contact with
his prime minister. But Kate always distrusted her. "She never refers to her (Maddie) as a person and there seems no great
emotion, sympathy or understanding with regard to my feelings," wrote the mother of Maddie in the notes. It was probably this
that founded the doubts of Kate.
The day she departed for England, Justine McGuinness told an inspector of the PJ to read the documents
that she had forgotten at the McCanns' villa.
Kate's relations with Justine were always tense and very suspicious (see box). But Kate did not imagine that Justine
would forget some documents on the sofa, in the villa where the couple lived in Praia da Luz.
A source close to the investigation in those days told tvmais that, at the airport, Justine McGuinness
told a PJ inspector to look at the documents that she had left at the McCann's villa. Until now nobody has given any importance
to the PJ papers.
There was no response from the phone of Justine McGuinness, but Goncalo Amaral, contacted by our editorial, denies the
information. "There were only a few papers about a group with links to esoteric things... Nothing important for research,"
the inspector coordinator of Portimao told us, explaining that the papers were found by the owners of the villa, whilst cleaning,
after the couple had left for England.
tvmais recalls that in those days, the PJ inspectors visited the villa, after the McCanns had left Portugal.
In the "paperwork" included a detailed location of a place on the border between the Alentejo and Algarve, 20 km from
Almodovar, crossed the river by Vascao. It is not easy for those who do not know Portugal to invent such a place... What happened
there? When and why? Only McGuinness (for now) can tell, but she remains in silence. Until then, you know that tvmais
runs (one more) private research.
Kate's distrust
The notes of Mrs McCann reveal what she thinks of Justine McGuinness.
Saturday, July 14 "Just got to 1h30m, after a conversation / a confrontation?
with Justine about trust or lack of it. A little emotional - Justine, due to doubts about my trust
in her and for questioning her professionalism and me for not taking into account, or at least recognising, my emotional
state. Anyway, even though I feel uncomfortable, I feel that a conversation was necessary.
Tuesday, July 17 "I talked to Michael about them and he will help
us after Trish and Sandy have a little party, and on the work of Dani and the relationship of Phil / Justine, and so on. Also
return the call from Jill, although it is very difficult to find chat with people from home, other than those who were closely
involved.
Wednesday, July 25 "I spoke with Trish about Justine. Some uncertainties.
The key is to what extent she is dedicated to Madeleine. I need to feel that she is. She never refers to her as a person
and there seems no great emotion, sympathy or understanding with regard to my feelings. Maybe this is not relevant to her
role and her activities while managing the campaign, but I know that I would feel a little happier. The other concern,
I think, is related to her remuneration and validation of her necessity and her "overtime" and therefore the
request for more money. I think we all need to have a conversation soon. After having said all this, I cannot imagine how
things would be without her and that worries me.
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Suspicious phone calls launch new clue in the Maddie case, 18
December 2008
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Suspicious phone calls launch new clue in the Maddie case 24horas (pages 8-9)
Text: Duarte Levy
18 December 2008
- This is the
same article produced on Duarte Levy's 'SOS Madeleine McCann' site, of 16 December 2008 (see above)
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