Police in Portugal have reopened the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann - five years after the original probe was closed.
The team of detectives is said to have had no involvement in that investigation which ended in 2008 and was heavily criticised in the British media.
The new inquiry - which will run separately, but alongside the probe by British police - follows an internal review of the case since March 2011.
Portugal's public prosecutors approved the move after a request from officers in Porto who have identified new lines of inquiry, witnesses who were never questioned during the original probe and several issues they want to clarify.
Kate and Gerry McCann Kate and Gerry McCann believe their daughter is still alive
A spokesman for the Attorney General's office said: "The Public Ministry has determined the reopening of the inquiry relating to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann following a request from the Policia Judiciaria."
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry said they were"very pleased" at the decision by Portuguese authorities and hoped that it would uncover "the answers we so desperately need".
"We hope that this will finally lead to her being found and to the discovery of whoever is responsible for this crime," the couple said.
"We once again urge any member of the public who may have information relating to Madeleine's abduction to contact the police in Portugal or the UK.
"Please be patient and respect the work of the police as they endeavour to find the answers we so desperately need."
The lawyer for the McCann's in Portugal, Rogerio Alves, said: "While it is not known what happened to Madeleine, the matter is not closed.
Madeleine McCann Madeleine was three years old when she vanished on May 3, 2007
"The reopening of the case is excellent news, it creates a new perspective on the case and gives hope to the parents. The result is that we all hope Madeleine is found."
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is leading the Scotland Yard team, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley and Mr and Mrs McCann met officers in Lisbon last week to be briefed on the Portuguese case.
Mr Rowley welcomed the move as "good news", adding: "Combined with the formal reopening of the Portuguese investigation today, and our ever closer working relationship, I believe that we have the best opportunity yet to finally understand what happened to Madeleine."
Sky's Martin Brunt said the development would "boost the manpower" now applied to the case.
"This of course is what Madeleine McCann's parents have always wanted," he said.
"They were very disappointed when it was shelved after 15 months - after their daughter disappeared - the investigation having got nowhere.
"They were distraught at that, have argued ever since that it should be reopened and now they have got that wish."
E-fits of suspect police want to question E-fits of a man police want to speak to about Madeleine's disappearance
He added: "There is an awful lot of work still to be done, there are lots of people to be tracked down and interviewed, and at least now the Portuguese detectives who will be re-engaged on this can join Scotland Yard in doing that."
Carrie-Marie Bratley, who works for the Portugal News in Lagoa, in the Algarve, told Sky News the Portuguese detectives "were chosen for their emotional and physical distance from this case in the hope that maybe they could go over it with a fine-tooth comb and come up with something, which it seems they may have done."
The team is separate to the group of six Portuguese officers based in Faro who have been assisting the Metropolitan Police.
The move to re-examine the case in the country where Madeleine went missing comes after a fresh appeal for information was aired in the UK, Holland and Germany.
Scotland Yard received more than 2,400 phone calls from across Europe following the broadcast of a reconstruction of events leading up to the three-year-old's disappearance in 2007.
They have released two e-fit images of a man they want to speak to in connection with the case based on the accounts of two witnesses.
Both described seeing him in Praia da Luz at around 10pm on May 3, as Madeleine's parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.
Four other e-fits based on witness accounts of men seen in the area, some of whom may have been working as "charity collectors" who may or may not be genuine, were also released.
An appeal is also due to air on Irish television later this month.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the collaboration between British and Portuguese police officers was "starting to bear fruit" and hoped it would lead to a "resolution".
It is interesting to note the media isn't telling the whole truth as in they refused to have the case kept open when offered the chance
Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry said they were"very pleased" at the decision by Portuguese authorities and hoped that it would uncover "the answers we so desperately need".
This sounds like a strong statement except it isn't, qualifiers (words which when removed don't change the meaning of the sentence) in this case the word VERY weakens their statement.
Kate and gerry BELIEVE their daughter is alive allows for others to believe otherwise especially when the reaction of blood and cadaver dogs is taken into account and their demeaning of them and kate relaxing when the dogs reacted calling it junk science.
Innocent parents would be freaking at this point demanding if this meant their child had been hurt or worse.
Guilty parents woukld be oh shit, let's minimise their reactions and oh lets link them to a 30 yr old murder case were dogs reacted but no body was found, only to later find the dogs were in fact correct when the hubby admitted murdering his wife and the dogs reacted to where he laid her body.
"We hope that this will finally lead to her being found and to the discovery of whoever is responsible for this crime," the couple said.
This is close, that is distancing, they place themselves close to the crime.
Notice they say THIS CRIME without specifying what the crime is.
I would expect them to say responsible for abducting her except since she wasn't abducted they can't say it.
Lying is stressful and people don't like stress, they will thus lie by omission or minimising as we see here.
The lawyer for the McCann's in Portugal, Rogerio Alves, said: "While it is not known what happened to Madeleine, the matter is not closed.
This is actually quite a telling statement and unexpected given what has been claimed.
What is claimed is Madeleine was abducted from her bed, this is what the mccanns and the 7 dwarfs and the pink princess and sundry family members have been thrusting down the throats of the police, the media and the public, heck even the twins.
Their investigation has been based on abduction, the fund has been based on an abduction.
Now we are being told by their own attorney that it is not known what happened to Madeleine.
If it wasn't abduction as claimed then the parents et al lied.
If it wasn't abduction and she didn't wander what else is there?
As concluded in the final report prior to shelving the case we have homicide, filing a false police report and concealing a cadaver.
A classic case of open mouth insert feet.
"The reopening of the case is excellent news, it creates a new perspective on the case and gives hope to the parents. The result is that we all hope Madeleine is found."
A new perspective for whom?
It's bad news for the parents since the case is now reopened as per their alleged requests ( review not reopening initially)
The case has been reopened because of new and compelling evidence as the PJ always said it would be.
What changed?
Crimewatch
It obliterated the bundleman sighting which in effect gave gerry an alibi.
It brought to the fore the Smith family sighting, a sighting which the mccanns and the pink princess ignored until the public clamor forced them to mention it in their mockumentary and even then it morphed into bundleman and nothing like gerry as the Smiths claimed ( 60-80% sure) based not only on clothing and general looks but mainly on how he was carrying Sean as he deplaned.
They had promoted every vague sighting except the one from independant witnesses.
On crimewatch it became central, they told us everything we knew about events that night was false and the timelines were well off.
His alibi was erased, also erased was the visit by david payne, bather of other peoples children.
The new and compelling evidence is that tanner lied outright which begs the question why and who was she covering for, the checks and timelines weren't as claimed and, it seems given who was not mentioned in the programme, is it that someone has spoken to LE and told the truth?
They are screwed in that they originally refused to do a reconstruction because it was too long after the fact, wouldn't be televised, and unhelpful.
They wanted a crimewatch type programme.
They got what they wanted which was now a problem.
They knew if they took part it would fall at the first hurdle all those checks that never happened as claimed, the non sighting etc.
They then said we don't want it filmed in Portugal because it might upset the PJ.
The PJ would have been delighted had it been filmed there, it was what they wanted all along.
The mccanns realised this and then went for the it would be too painful for us claim.
Possible you may think, except, it wasn't too painful for them to film on location for their mockumentary, so why wasn't it too painful then and too painful now?
Gerry was in charge at the time and what he said went, even though it was supposed to show events that night it turned into a brief here is bundleman , here are the checks , this is where i was standing, 5 mins of what happened and the rest was a mccann love in.
The problem was The actress who played kate had her role cut, because, in gerry's own words her story was unbelievable!, the self same story they had been telling the public.
The didn't even show all the checks only animations of who went where and when.
Since the case is now being investigated both in the UK and Portugal and you can bet the 2 forces are liasing with each other, they can't claim inept or corrupt coppering.
They are now faced with a conundrum, they have now got what they allegedly wanted ( according to the pink princess) they now have to answer all the questions and if required do a police reconstruction in PDL.
This is what innocent parents would do and should have been doing.
If they refuse it reveals the lie that they want to co-operate etc.
They and probably the 7 dwarves will be made arguidos, either at their own request or at the request of the PJ.
It is a given.
As a witness they have to answer fully all questions etc on pain of a prison visit if they don't, they have to tell the truth and again will face prison if they lie.
Being an arguido offers them legal protection, it allows them the right to refuse to answer questions or co-operate in any way, it also allows them to lie.
How will they spin it i wonder if they refuse to help or answer questions?
Notice also it says Madeleine will be found, NOT that she will be found alive, something the parents insist she is (despite all the statistics etc)
"This of course is what Madeleine McCann's parents have always wanted," he said.
"They were very disappointed when it was shelved after 15 months - after their daughter disappeared - the investigation having got nowhere.
No it wasn't otherwise they would have demanded the case be kept open when they were told it was being shelved and at any time since they could have requested it be reopened by either answering the 48 questions kate or all doing a reconstruction.
The investigation got quite far, the reason it was shelves was because the parents and chums legged it back to the UK after refusing to answer questions and take part in a reconstruction
One has to wonder what has changed in the relationships between the mccanns and their chums who weren't even close friends, what has changed between the tapas 7, what has changed between the tapas 7 and their families and between the mccanns and their families.
Friendships come and go over time, some fade to nothing or turn to dislike or hatred, others grow closer and still others toddle along at their own slow pace.
Who is to say what carrying such a secret has done to friendships and relationships, who is to say what the guilt of carrying such a secret is having on them, it is only a secret if one person knows, 2 people if one of them is dead.
Here we have 9 people who know , are involved in or suspect what happened.
Why have they remained, at least publicly silent, what hold does gerry have over them?
What could be so bad that admitting to child neglect resulting in harm resulting in a 10 stretch is more acceptable than telling the truth?
Heck if they admitted neglect even to sedation they could possibly keep their licences although it be suspended for a period of time or meaning they have to have more training and be supervised.
What is worse would be involvement in a more serious crime such as paedophilia or homicide.
We can expect now a period of quiet due to the Portuguese secrecy laws although that never stopped the gruesomes before using their spokespoodle and family members to leak info.
Will the tapas 7 break ranks and cover their own asses, cop a deal and reveal the truth?
SY will also be looking at fraud in relation to the fund, given the gruesomes are claiming she is still alive etc and wanting donations to find her and yet in the process of free editing they have told us Maddie is dead, will they face charges of obtaining money and services by deception, wire fraud , perhaps even theft since the fund was to search not fund a 5 star lifestyle( though they may find that hard to prosecute as the support the family clause in there)
Will they still demand donations even though they have had no one searching since march last year?
So far the rumors are that they are suspects in the case, yet, the PJ said that right up until they were declared arguidos.
I bet a few sphincters are a quivering right now, wondering if they are being bugged, followed etc and wondering if their chums will stay silent.
Great Article Hobs..
ReplyDelete