André Ventura (Correio da Manhã) - 15.04.2019
When justice is
subservient to politics, it never works. Only the separation of
powers guarantees democracy.
The arrest of hacker
Julian Assange led to the immediate retaliation by Wikileaks: the
release of thousands of secret documents, including the report of the
Judiciary Police regarding the case of the missing English girl in
the Algarve.
Any new data? Any special
revelations about the investigation? Not really. What stands out is
the immediate conclusion that when political actors begin to want to
control the course of justice, it rarely works.
Why did the English
ambassador worry so much about a criminal investigation? Will he care
as much whenever a British suffers or causes a crime in Portugal? Why
did the British authorities, namely the Prime Minister, wanted the
dismissal of Inspector Gonçalo Amaral at all costs?
But at the same time, we
must ask ourselves why did Portugal ceded in sending to an English
laboratory, in the midst of all the pressures, the analysis of the
DNA that was collected? And why did the information circulate that it
would be totally compatible with little Maddie's DNA when in fact the
samples were extraordinarily insufficient?
Conclusion: If today some
factor is responsible for not knowing where Madeleine McCann is, the
political and the PR communications war going on can perfectly assume
this role.
Does anyone doubt that,
had it not been for the pressure from the British authorities, the
McCanns would at least have been charged with the crime of exposure
or abandonment? And, on the other hand, does any parent who
innocently loses a child refuse to participate in a reconstitution at
the request of the police authorities, even at the risk of being
detained?
In fact, in the midst of
all this backstage war, finding the little English girl or knowing
what her fate is seems to have become secondary. This is the lesson
to learn: separation of powers has to be taken seriously, even when
one has to investigate doctors or engineers from the upper European
classes.
Portuguese Judiciary Police follows new abduction leads
03.05.2019 - Tânia Laranjo/Débora Carvalho
A new lead and a new
suspect - that the Judiciary Police tries to keep in absolute secrecy
- have lead to the reintroduction of more means to investigate the
whereabouts of the English child, who disappeared exactly 12
years ago, from a resort in Praia da Luz. The process, which was sent
to the PJ of Porto to be re-evaluated, now counts with the
collaboration of an even wider team that still tries to clarify the
mystery. This scenario would remove the parents from the equation -
that had been constituted as arguidos earlier at the beginning of the
case.
The Public Prosecutor's
Office also admits that these new investigative lines are strong
and can lead to clarification of the process. A 12-year investigation
marked by breakthroughs and setbacks. Maddie disappeared in the
village where she was staying, from the bedroom where she was with
her twin brothers of 18 months. The alert was given at 10:00 pm by
the mother and the Judiciary Police even admitted a scenario of
accidental crime. Kate and Gerry Mccann were constituted as arguidos
(suspects), the case was later shelved, but later on data emerged
indicating the possibility that the child had been abducted.
Now and after a few years
without any police investigations being publicly known, the Judiciary
is back on the case and admits to be closer to knowing what
happened to Madeleine Mccann. Even in an abduction scenario, the
authorities have many doubts that the child, that would be 15
years-old today, is still alive.
Maddie's process
continues at the DCIAP (Central Department for Investigation and
Penal Action) of Portimão
The CdM (Correio da
Manhã) asked to consult the process and this was granted at first.
However, the magistrate has made a new dispatch, in which he does not
authorize, since the investigation is "still with active lines
of investigation" and its disclosure would be prejudicial.
The process has more than
12 thousand pages and 17 volumes and annexes. During the thirteen
months of investigation, the Judiciary Police conducted more than two
thousand investigative proceedings, heard over 700 people, made close
to 500 searches in Praia da Luz and identified more than two dozen
suspects.
'CM INVESTIGATION'
reveals tonight, in exclusive, new abduction leads in the Maddie
case. 12 years later, the PJ reinforces team in the last-ditch
attempt with the hope of finding a child that would be 15
years-old today.
So far more than 13
million euros have been spent trying to find the English girl. Quid
du fric portugais ? Operation Grange, the English police
investigation to the disappearance of Maddie Mccann - received more
172 thousand euros from the British government at the end of last
year. This last allocation served to finance the first months of this
year.
Initiated in 2011,
Operation Grange, with the funding made available by the English
Ministry of Internal Affairs (Home Office), has yet to produce any
relevant results. The amount already invested in the case has
prompted widespread criticism in England.
After having close to 30
people working in the investigation, since 2015 the Metropolitan
Police has only four inspectors on the case. Funding has been renewed
every six months, with the police always ensuring they are following
lines of investigation that may lead to the whereabouts of the girl
who was then three years-old. Maddie disappeared from the bedroom
where she slept with the two twin brothers in a tourist apartment
while her parents had dinner with friends.
In 2015, the Lisbon Civil
Court sentenced former PJ inspector Gonçalo Amaral to pay Madeleine
McCann's parents 500,000 euros for damages caused by the publication
of the book titled 'Maddie: The Truth of the Lie', which defends the
involvement of the British couple in the disappearance of their
daughter and the concealment of their child's corpse. However, a year
later, the Relation decided to revoke the Civil court's ruling. The
Supreme Court also upheld this decision.
In a total of ten
vehicles, the sniffer dogs only alerted to cadaver odour and blood in
Kate and Gerry McCann's car, rented 24 days after Madeleine's
disappearance. Kate's two pieces of clothing also produced alerts.
The twins Sean and Amelie
never woke up with the turmoil on the night of the crime, before or
after their sister was taken from the apartment, but Gerry Mccann
assured that it was normal for this to happen. They were 18 months
old.
Julián Alía - 03.05.2019
The Portuguese former PJ
inspector Francisco Moita Flores participates in the documentary 'The
Disappearance of Madeleine McCann' (DKiss). Today marks the 12th
anniversary and there is still no trace of the small child.
Twelve years later,
Madeleine's whereabouts are still unknown. On the night of May 3,
2007, she disappeared from her hotel(apartment) bedroom in Praia da
Luz (Portugal), where she was staying with her parents Kate and Gerry
McCann, who had gone out to dinner. The police inspector Francisco
Moita Flores, about to turn 70, already retired and now connected to
the world of literature and television, followed the case from the
beginning, and now, is one of the faces of the documentary 'The
disappearance of Madeleine McCann', which broadcasts tonight at DKiss
at 10pm.
- What is your theory
about this case?
- I have no theories,
because according to a professor that I had: 'he who does not know,
theorizes'. I was in Greece when the case happened and the first news
I saw was on an English channel. I saw some detectives talking, who
were supposed to have been hired by Maddie's parents, pulling out
theories about what might have happened. It was so absurd what they
said that I called a colleague to investigate the parents and the
group of friends, which is something you have to do in a criminal
investigation: investigate those closest to the victim.
- Why were they absurd?
- It is unthinkable that
a group of parents go to a foreign country and abandon their children
at home to go to dinner eighty or one hundred meters away. That was
the first error in the investigation: all those theories of fantasies
based on a network of paedophiles that abducted children. In a
criminal investigation there must be no theories. We must raise
hypotheses and questions for the events that occurred. Theories are
for romances and movies, but a criminal investigation is very
pragmatic, very practical, very empirical, and is not compatible with
moral judgments. Those who theorize so much instead of focusing on
the facts it's because they do not know how to investigate.
- How come twelve years
later we still do not know what happened?
- The Judiciary Police
has made mistakes. The first was to not consider the parents as
suspects for the crime of abandonment and exposure that they did with
their children. This crime is known in Portuguese law: crime of
exposure and abandonment of minors. This is the main mistake that was
made, and from this point on everything has been manipulated.
- Do you think it will be
resolved?
- I do not think it's
going to be resolved. The only way to solve this case would be to do
a reconstruction of that night, because if you read the case files
you realize that within the group of eight people who were there,
there are people who are lying, and some, blatantly.
- How did you live the
case?
- I experienced it with a
lot of tension, obviously, for being such a mediatic case, but also
with the necessary distance to be able to analyse it, because it has
been a case that the public opinion has fallen in love with. Thanks
to this distance I have been able to see the errors and the virtues
of the case. One of the mistakes, as I said, was the sequence of
theories that were impossible. It is impossible for an abductor,
whoever he is, to enter quietly through the door, pick up the girl
and go out with her in his arms through that specific window.
- Do you ever get used to
these situations?
- Yes, you get used to
dealing with crimes every day; it is our routine. But Portugal is the
safest country in Europe and in the 40 years of democracy we have,
besides Maddie, only 3 other children have disappeared. There was
never a network of paedophiles, abductors ... That never existed in
Portugal, it is an invention that has been made to protect the
parents of Maddie and their group of friends.
- Why did you leave the
police?
- I have been a policeman
for many years and I have always been studying, but the moment came
when I had to decide whether to pursue a university career or to
continue with the police work and I chose the university option.
- Was it then when you
started in the world of literature and TV?
- No, the writer's career
has always been parallel to that of the police. Now I'm retired, but
I'm still writing fiction.
Reportage Sky News - 04.05.2019
[Martin Brunt, voice over] If the police are right about their new
suspect, a paedophile, it would be the worst news for Madeleine McCann’s
family.
Portuguese TV revealed police were investigating someone new but gave no detail. It said that Madeleine’s squad had been given new resources after the tip-off. A respected news website said more: the suspect is not unknown to the Portuguese police. At the time the Judiciary even investigated him for suspicions of involvement in paedophilia cases.
The man suspected of abducting Madeleine from her bed is thought to be a German national who is already is in prison, but who is he?
A month after Madeleine vanished, the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency was given information about several German potential suspects but it’s understood the new suspect was identified recently by German police.
In the years before and after Madeleine’s disappearance, police investigated 28 where a paedophile crept into holiday homes most of them rented by young British families. The details were revealed in a recent book about the Madeleine case.
[Anthony Summers]: If you took a map and took the little towns around Praia da Luz, Silves, Albufeira, Carvoeiro, there, there were… known paedophiles, or suspected paedophiles who had been working or operating or at one point had been arrested.”
[Martin Brunt, voice over] Twelve years on there’s a fortress-like feel to apartment 5A from where Madeleine vanished. The new owners appear to have hidden their home from prying eyes. The flimsy gate replaced by something less welcoming.
[Martin Brunt]: The suspected paedophile kidnapper is not the only focus of this investigation, for two years detectives have also been pursuing a quite different theory. One that centres on a suspect a long way from here and the subject of a delicate operation. One that police hope will be kept secret until it’s concluded one way or another.
[Martin Brunt, voice over]: Madeleine’s family cling to the hope she’s still alive but if either current theory is proved, their hope would have been in vain. Martin Brunt, Sky News in Portugal.”
Portuguese TV revealed police were investigating someone new but gave no detail. It said that Madeleine’s squad had been given new resources after the tip-off. A respected news website said more: the suspect is not unknown to the Portuguese police. At the time the Judiciary even investigated him for suspicions of involvement in paedophilia cases.
The man suspected of abducting Madeleine from her bed is thought to be a German national who is already is in prison, but who is he?
A month after Madeleine vanished, the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency was given information about several German potential suspects but it’s understood the new suspect was identified recently by German police.
In the years before and after Madeleine’s disappearance, police investigated 28 where a paedophile crept into holiday homes most of them rented by young British families. The details were revealed in a recent book about the Madeleine case.
[Anthony Summers]: If you took a map and took the little towns around Praia da Luz, Silves, Albufeira, Carvoeiro, there, there were… known paedophiles, or suspected paedophiles who had been working or operating or at one point had been arrested.”
[Martin Brunt, voice over] Twelve years on there’s a fortress-like feel to apartment 5A from where Madeleine vanished. The new owners appear to have hidden their home from prying eyes. The flimsy gate replaced by something less welcoming.
[Martin Brunt]: The suspected paedophile kidnapper is not the only focus of this investigation, for two years detectives have also been pursuing a quite different theory. One that centres on a suspect a long way from here and the subject of a delicate operation. One that police hope will be kept secret until it’s concluded one way or another.
[Martin Brunt, voice over]: Madeleine’s family cling to the hope she’s still alive but if either current theory is proved, their hope would have been in vain. Martin Brunt, Sky News in Portugal.”
