11 - MAI 25 - Lord Toby Harris' blog

Vigil for missing children outside City Hall as Metropolitan Police Authority meets

• Author: Toby
• Filed under: Conservative Party, Criminal justice, Culture media and sport, Education and young people, Europe, Liberal Democrats, London, Policing

May 25,2011

The Metropolitan Police Authority meets tomorrow at City Hall for the first time since the Prime Minister instructed/encouraged/invited/asked the Commissioner to consider a review of the Madeleine McCann case.  And outside there will be a vigil to remember all missing children attended by relatives and campaigners.  Several MPA members (including Jenny Jones AM and Jennette Arnold AM) have already announced they will be joining them.

I am sure that those campaigners and relatives will be asking whether the cases in which they are concerned can be reviewed by the Metropolitan Police in the same way that the Madeleine McCann case is to be.  And this is hardly surprising.

The Commissioner will no doubt tonight be polishing up his answers as to why he made the operational decision (without being pressurised by a politician, of course) that the McCann case should be reviewed and whether the same factors will apply to the other cases.

He will also no doubt remind the Authority that the Home Office has offered to pay for the costs of the investigation.  This is, I am sure, a welcome contribution to the Met’s budget, but will this cover only the additional costs of the investigation or will it cover the costs of the salaries of the detectives engaged in the review and, if so, where will the replacement detectives be found to cover the work that those detectives would otherwise have done?

And was this offer of financial assistance a factor in the operational decision that the Commissioner made to have this review?  And, if it was a factor, does the offer to pay guarantee anyone else a Metropolitan Police case review?  Might be a nice little earner.

I am sure the Commissioner has also given thought to what will happen after the review has been concluded.  Will the review be shared with the McCann’s?  And, if not, what is the purpose of the review?  I am confident that all will be made clear tomorrow.

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1. R Moat May 25th, 2011 at 20:46 Compare & contrast with the Ben Needham case. Nuff said.
   
2. linda gunningham May 26th, 2011 at 15:26 Perhaps now “the MC fund” is once again replenished with the Sun and book monies,the decent thing would be for the parents to pay for this review, after all the fund was set up with the supposed purpose of enabling them to “leave no stone unturned” in their search for Madeleine!!!!! Why they NEVER ask for the case to be re-opened is beyond most parents comprehension,but then again,they've dictated what does and doesn't happen FROM DAY ONE,WHY IS THAT ???? lies and cover ups abound,and why did Clarence Mitchell get involved in this missing child ,has any other parent of a missing child had that support??? I'm ashamed to say the “cover-ups” point to people in “high places” having more than one finger in this debacle,Please please make them answer how Mr Cameron can possibly justify spending “our” money on this “review”,when the police cuts are as bad as they are being threatened with. PS Is the fund actually “legal” ????
   
3. Jeffery May 26th, 2011 at 15:39 Interesting… now that a precedent has been set for ‘the Met Police to take the liberty, and without invitation, to review the work of another police force in another country where the Met Police have absolutely no authority’.. how can we ordinary members of the public put in an application for such a request… let me know… you see there’s a few police forces out there who are not playing by the rules…
   
4. David May 30th, 2011 at 0:34 It’s glaringly obvious how the McCanns’ fund will be used now that profits from the book are starting to flow in and the “search” will be handed over to the Met. It will be used to pay the substantial legal fees to be incurred in pursuit of libel damages from Sr Gonçalo Amaral, the Portuguese detective who published his analysis which conflicts with the McCanns’ version of events. Do donors to the fund and purchasers of the book expect their money to be used by the McCanns for this purpose?
   
5. Alexandra June 8th, 2011 at 22:07
   Why are McCanns writing books to tell their version of the truth and getting money to keep the search of their daughter active if they can do it for free?
   They just need to ask the Portuguese police to reopen the investigation files (where the truth is already in, isn’t it?) and I’m sure Portuguese and British police can go, again, to the field to find what is still missing to solve this case for good.
   McCanns do not need to have fresh evidence to ask the reopening of the process. They just have to ask and cooperate with the police.
   This familiar search company “leaving no stone unturned” did not produce any results. In fact has raised many doubts because there is not one single positive sightseeing of Madeleine – the most advertised missing girl in the world and there is not a SINGLE evidence of abduction either. No trace was left behind. That goes against police guidelines when a crime occurs… So, McCann’s duty is to full cooperate with the police. Asking the reopening of the police investigation, not a review. Review is not good enough. Madeleine deserves much more. McCanns can start with the reconstitution of the night that their daughter has gone.