100 reasons why Madeleine McCann was not abducted


Compiled by 'Truestepper' on Sky Discussions:

"It reminds me of a quote from the FBI:"

"Taken alone, each piece of evidence might be argued, but together, enough pebbles become a block of evidentiary granite."


PHYSICAL / APARTMENT / ENTRY

1. All five markers in a sample found under the tiles, behind the sofa (exactly where Eddie, the EVRD [Cadaver] dog and Keela, the CSI [Human Blood] dog, both indicated), are 100% compatible with Madeleine's DNA profile

2. Fifteen of the markers, in a sample found under the luggage liner of the McCann's Scenic (hired 24 days later), are 100% compatible with Madeleine's DNA profile

3. Shutters were not jemmied or forced, as claimed by the parents

4. No signs of forced entry anywhere in the apartment

5. No physical evidence of anyone having entered or left via the window, including:

6. No Lichen disturbance

7. No Fibres

8. No Finger prints of abductor

9. No footprints on bed

10. Only finger prints on the window are those of Kate



DOGS

11. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to the McCann's wardrobe in 5A

12. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted at the back of the sofa in 5A

13. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to the veranda outside the parent?s bedroom

14. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to the flower bed at the back of 5A

15. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to a white sleeveless top belonging to Kate

16. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to checked trousers belonging to Kate

17. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to a child?s red T shirt

18. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to a toy belonging to Madeleine

19. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to the key of the McCann's rental Scenic car

20. Eddie, the EVRD (Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to the passenger's door of the McCann's Renault Scenic

21. Keela, the CSI (Human Blood) dog, positively alerted at the back of the sofa in 5A (exact same spot as alerted to by the EVRD dog)

22. Keela, the CSI (Human Blood) dog, positively alerted to the key of the McCann's hire car

23. Keela, the CSI (Human Blood) dog, positively alerted to the interior of the hire vehicle's boot


TANNER SIGHTING

The only perceived evidence of abduction, being the sighting by Jane Tanner at around 21.15 is riddled with inconsistencies and conflicting testimonies, being the fact that

24. None of the scent tracking Search & Rescue dogs followed that trail, and in fact followed another trail completely

25. Jeremy Wilkins (independent witness) failed to spot the ?abductor?, despite being only yards away, while chatting to Gerry

26. Jeremy Wilkins (independent witness) failed to see Jane Tanner walking by, despite being on the same narrow sidewalk at the same time

27. Gerry himself failed to spot the abductor, despite being only yards away, while chatting to Jeremy

28. Gerry contradicted Jeremy by stating that their chat was on the opposite side of the road from that as described, and drawn on a map, by Mr Wilkins

29. Gerry also contradicted Tanner, by stating that his chat with Jeremy was on the opposite side of the road from that mentioned by Jane

30. Jane failed to spot the open window and shutters and blowing curtains coming from Madeleine's bedroom while walking to her apartment at 21.15

31. Jane failed to spot the open window and shutters and blowing curtains coming from Madeleine?s bedroom while walking from her apartment at 21.20

32. Jane never bumped into Jeremy Wilkins (who had walked back to his apartment after the chat with Gerry) while walking back from her apartment at 21.20

33. Russell O'Brien failed to spot the open window and shutters and blowing curtains coming from Madeleine's bedroom while walking to his apartment at 21.30

34. Matthew Oldfield failed to spot the open window and shutters and blowing curtains coming from Madeleine's bedroom while walking to his apartment, which was right next door, at 21.30

35. Matthew failed to spot the open window and shutters and blowing curtains while checking on Madeleine and the twins

36. Matthew failed to spot the open window and shutters and blowing curtains coming from Madeleine's bedroom while walking from his apartment back to the Tapas at around 21.35

37. Jane failed to spot the open window and shutters and blowing curtains coming from Madeleine's bedroom while walking to her apartment at 21.45

38. Russell failed to spot the open window and shutters and blowing curtains coming from Madeleine's bedroom while walking back from his apartment at 21.50

39. Tanner's description has changed several times

40. It makes no sense, especially if (as the McCann's claim) that this was a well planned abduction, that the abductor walks across the very road used by the parents to check on their children

41... The abductor failed to hear either Tanner, Gerry or Wilkins, and continued on the path that would put him in the full vision of all three

42... If the abductor had lifted Madeleine out of the bed, then he would be carrying with her head to his right hand side, not on the left as in Tanner's claimed sighting


SMITH SIGHTING

43. The Smith family (independent witnesses) sighting has, with the exception of one brief mention two years later, been completely ignored by the McCann's and their private detectives from day one (no e-fit / press conference / media onslaught) despite the fact that?

44. There was huge publicity given to the Tanner sighting, including the pressure put on the Portuguese authorities to get the details out there

45. The Smith family descriptions have never changed

46. The sighting was only minutes before the 'alarm' was raised

47. The sighting was only 250 metres from the apartment

48. This sighting would have explained many of the inconsistencies of the Tanner sighting as mentioned above

49. There were several members of the family who witnessed this man carrying a child

50. The general area and timing of the sighting made by the family can be corroborated by a restaurant receipt for that evening

51. The general description of the man could fit Gerry McCann

52. The description of the child matches Madeleine

53. The type of trousers match those possessed by Gerry

54. Trousers match in terms of colour

55. Trousers even match in terms of the visible buttons as mentioned by one of the family

56. Martin and his wife later identified the carrier, through the distinctive carrying style, as being Gerry McCann


Given much of the above, the remarkable coincidence that?

57. The pressure put on the PJ to highlight the Tanner sighting came at exactly the same time as the Smith family were being brought back to Portugal to go over the sighting in more detail

58. The sighting was in a different part of town from the Tanner sighting

59. It was also heading in a completely different direction

60. The carrying style was completely different to that of the Tanner sighting

61. And yet the McCann's deliberately altered the Smith sighting carrying style so as to match that of the Tanner sighting, during the only ever significant mention of the sighting, in a McCann made reconstruction aired only a few days after Amaral's (in which he included the Smith sighting)

62. They also tried to morph the carrier into the same man as seen by Tanner, despite significant differences in descriptions


BEHAVIOURAL

There are many instances of strange behaviour from the McCann's, not being consistent with parents of a child abducted by paedophiles, including (but not limited to)?

63. Kate complaining about the speed of a police vehicle while being take to look into a new lead at PJ HQ (sighting caught on CCTV)

64. Gerry laughing and joking and sucking lollipops while one of the most significant abduction leads came to a climax

65. Very little mention of the huge award available over the last three years

66. Despite raising millions through their fund, and spending thousands on media monitoring, they continue to charge for travel kits and for printing off posters designed to help find their daughter

67. Lack of physical searching during the first few days

68. Lack of physically handing out leaflets / putting up posters themselves

69. Hiring cowboy private detectives with no expertise or experience in finding children

70. Gerry smirking when asked by a Sky News presenter how he feels when someone comes forward who is certain that they have seen Madeleine

71. When up to 14 possible sightings of Madeleine emerged in Malta, resulting in a huge police operation including Interpol, the McCann's hot footed it to Germany for more TV plugs

72. When the most promising sighting of all was made in Belgium, a 110% certain sighting by a child therapist, considered so credible by authorities that they despatched a forensics team, the McCanns went looking in Huelva, Spain

73. Gerry's initial claim, as overheard by another holidaymaker, within minutes of the alarm being raised, that Madeleine had been taken by paedophiles. How did he know that?

74. Gerry caught on Camera laughing his head off only a few days after his daughter had been abducted by paedophiles as claimed by the parents

75. Despite refuting the claims of the dogs / Scenic findings, the McCann's continued to submit ridiculous reasoning for them, including Sea bass, sweat, dirty nappies, rubbish en-route to dump, rotten meat, and attending to 6 bodies before the holiday, amongst others

76. Kate refusing to answer 48 police questions

77. The McCann's and their holiday friends all refusing to attend a police reconstruction

78. Despite the Madeleine's disappearance looking like an inside job from the outset, the McCann's and their friends were happy enough returning their children to the MW creche just hours later, despite not knowing if any of the staff were involved

79. When Kate raised the alarm, she ran back to the table, leaving the twins in the apartment while not knowing whether the abductor(s) were still onsite

80. Kate shouting They've taken her!?, not distinguishing between Madeleine and her sister Amelie


STATEMENT INCONSISTENCIES

90. When describing Madeleine sleeping that night, Kate said she was under the covers where as Gerry mentioned that his daughter slept without the covers, as was normal

91. Matthew Oldfield initially claimed that Kate and the children were at the tennis courts when he arrived there at 18.30 where as the rest of the Tapas 9 claim otherwise

92. David Payne's 18.30 / 18.40 check on Kate (last person out with the parents to see Madeleine) : According to Kate the sliding door was closed, and that David didn't actually enter the apartment, remaining at the door. But according to David, the door was open and he definitely entered the apartment.

93. Matt Oldfield chivvying up the Payne's at 21.00 : Matt claims he passed them near the top of the road, but David claims to have passed him by the swimming pool, Fiona claims to have passed him outside 5A, and Dianne Webster initially claimed that Matthew wasn't even there.

94. Prior to the PJ arriving at 12:40/12:50 Russell O'Brien has written the timeline for them all, including, Jane tanner sees stranger walking carrying child. He does this while Gerry McCann sits at the same table. However, according to Jane Tanner it's three o' clock in the morning when she informs Gerry McCann for the first time


OTHER

95. Various other possible withheld evidence as hinted at, including intercepted phone calls / text messages

96. Independent witness statement (from McCann neighbour) regarding the luggage door of the McCann's hire vehicle being open morning, noon and night

97. Gerry's missing hold-all / tennis / kit bag which he was seen with the day Madeleine disappeared cannot be located by detectives

98. Gaspar (UK GPs) statements detailing concerns about the father and one of his friends on holiday with them

99. Yvonne Martin (Social Worker) statement regarding concerns about the same friend

100. This same friend calls the Metropolitan Police Crime Specialist Director (a number which is also used as the out of hours contact for the Met's Child Abuse Investigation Team) 24 hours after the alarm




Plus: 100 reasons why Kate and Gerry McCann should be investigated:

http://gerrymccan-abuseofpower-humanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/100-reasons-why-kate-and-gerry-mccann.html

Madeleine McCann case: Visit to Praia da Luz





A great and informative read by tigger:
VISIT TO PRAIA DA LUZ


Part one of three:

1.Visit to Praia da Luz

2. Smiths, Exton, SY and the e-fits

3. Ask the dogs....

Read the article here: http://fytton.blogspot.co.uk/

PORTUGUESE detectives tasked with helping Scotland Yard solve the Madeleine McCann mystery have spent the past five months waiting for leads to pursue from their British counterparts.


PORTUGUESE detectives tasked with helping Scotland Yard solve the Madeleine McCann mystery have spent the past five months waiting for leads to pursue from their British counterparts.

By James Murray, EXCLUSIVE
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Sun, May 8, 2016

A small team of highly experienced officers at Faro on the Algarve want to resume investigations on the case but have been left frustrated by having nothing to do.

Three senior detectives in Faro are poised to act on any Yard requests but have been left virtually twiddling their thumbs for at least five months, so have started doing other work.

When the Metropolitan Police launched Operation Grange in 2011, senior officers spent months rebuilding strained relations with their counterparts in Portugal.

The Yard has to send a so-called rogatory letter requesting Portuguese officers to make inquiries on their behalf.

These requests go to a Portuguese prosecuting official who decides whether they are valid or not.

In the past British detectives have been present in interview rooms in Faro when suspects and witnesses have been interviewed.

A well-placed source in Faro said: “The last rogatory letter came through at the end of last year and officers gave it their full and prompt attention. Since then it has been very quiet. The detectives in Faro are enthusiastic to pursue any useful leads but there has been nothing for them to do for months and months.

“Years ago there were problems with the British and Portuguese police but Scotland Yard has smoothed over those issues and there is a good working relationship. The officers in Faro will give priority to requests from Operation Grange.

“They realise the Yard’s investigation is slowing down but they want to make it absolutely clear they will help in any way they can as long as the prosecutor approves any further requests.”

Scotland Yard has declined to comment.

Madeleine McCann would be 13 on Thursday.

She disappeared from a holiday apartment in the Algarve resort town of Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007, nine years ago last week.

Her parents, doctors Kate and Gerry McCann, said prayers for her at their home town of Rothley, Leicestershire, to mark the date.

Surrounded by supportive villagers, Gerry, 47, said: “Even after nine years, and we desperately don’t want another one, we have this incredible support and it means so much to us. It makes us stronger and helps us get through it.”


Read more here: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/668155/Madeleine-McCann-police-ignored-Detectives-waited-five-months-Scotland-Yard-leads

http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t12803-maddie-police-were-ignored-detectives-have-waited-five-months-for-scotland-yard-leads

Carlos Anjos: I believe that there is clearly an attempt by Scotland Yard to exonerate the McCann couple




Short debate on the news that Scotland Yard is allegedly following a lead that presumes that Madeleine McCann was abducted by three Portuguese men. Rua Segura is a daily TV show broadcast by CMTV where criminal current issues are debated and analysed. On this episode the program had as guests Carlos Anjos, former PJ inspector and former head of the Criminal Investigation Officers' Union and André Ventura, University Law Professor & book author.

Transcript

Anchor Sara Carrilho - The thesis of abduction of Madeleine McCann by three Portuguese men is back on the table for the British authorities. The Judiciary Police however does not believe in that hypothesis which was already investigated two years ago.

Voice Over Joana Sales (news segment) - It's the last line of investigation concerning Maddie's disappearance. If it doesn't produce any results Scotland Yard will close the case nine (sic, 5) years after it started. The thesis of this new investigation is unknown, but English police sources believe that the possibility that the little 3-year-old girl was abducted during a burglary deserves a fresh look. This hypothesis surfaced in 2014. The Portuguese police constituted at the time three men as arguidos (suspects), José Carlos da Silva, 30 years old (sic, 39), Ricardo Rodrigues, 24 years old, and Paulo Ribeiro, 53 years old. One of the suspects worked at the Ocean Club resort where the McCann family were staying. He was in charge of accompanying the clients up to the apartments in Praia da Luz. The British police believes that this man together with the other two suspects assaulted the McCanns' apartment and upon seeing the little girl decided to take her. The English police suspicions have as basis phone calls records between the three men on that night. The Portuguese police provided at the time the information requested but considers that there are no indicia to incriminate the three suspects. Scotland Yard will carry on with the investigation, as was recently advanced, until they close it in a few months time whether they have conclusions about Madeleine McCann's disappearance or not.

Anchor Sara Carrilho - Carlos, do you think it makes any sense for the English authorities to question these three Portuguese men again, or return to this abduction thesis?

Carlos Anjos - No, nothing makes sense anymore. I would say, from the day the process was reopened or since when the English authorities reopened the case in England and started to investigate, it has never made any sense. It would make some sense if the English authorities had read the Portuguese process and said that there were failures, and then followed alternative lines of investigation. All they did do, what they have limited themselves to, was merely to follow or repeat what was done by the Portuguese, several times. In fact, they are now redoing what they themselves had done, they've already done this step.

Anchor - That they themselves did, they've already investigated this lead.

Carlos Anjos - It has been a series of blunders, even from the point of view.. A few years later they were searching the sewers to see if the girl was still there, if the body had been there the sewers would have blocked and would have likely burst, with all that rained down in Portugal in the past winters there would be no hypothesis. What they have done, from an investigative standpoint, not only was badly done, we cannot also see a line (methodology). Now they want to pursue a thesis of abduction, which is something... They want to talk with three people, it should be said that of these three I can almost guess who they are going to try pin the blame on for the abduction - on the one that died. Of the three men there's one that has already died, and that is always the weakest link since he's not here to defend himself. These Portuguese have been very helpful, even the suspects, because they've always talked to the English. That is, whenever the English want to speak with them, they have accepted to answer their questions and to give them statements. Because they could clam up, they could refuse with the status of arguidos to give any statements. Actually, they are not arguidos1 because the English don't have the capacity for that. There is a curious fact, the only suspect that was an arguido, Robert Murat, who right or wrong was considered initially as the main suspect, the English discarded him immediately, maybe because he is also English, but that one didn't matter for this scenario. We couldn't see a line of reasoning in there.
I believe this process is going to end very soon, after they make this new onslaught in Portugal. They've spent a lot of money, it's one of the most expensive cases in English investigation history. Strangely enough, numerous children disappear in England yet they don't give them any special care, but they have that with Madeleine McCann.
I would applaud them if I saw an investigation done in different way, and if I saw them taking steps that we hadn't taken, if we had failed it would be necessary to do them, and I do think that we failed, this was already said in here, Rui Pereira said that and Manuel (Rodrigues)2 also, that one of the serious errors was not constituting the McCann couple and their friends as arguidos for the abandonment of their children. There were mistakes in the investigation but those errors were repaired. Now, the English have never brought anything new to the investigation, absolutely nothing at all. And we are here today - if people notice, Portugal followed several lines - we don't know of the English investigation a single lead that was different, a single line of investigation that was different, or that it had produced a different type of results.
This is gearing up for one thing, the English, Scotland Yard will end up arranging a report that says that they have eliminated for good the possibility of the child dying in that house, in that night - and I'm not saying that it was homicide, negligent or not - and that what happened was an abduction. They're not going to say much more than that because they don't have any factual basis to affirm that it was an abduction. But they are going to say it. And why? Because this investigation since it started, from the English side, and from the point the dogs came to Portugal, the dogs that detected cadaver scent which lead to a different line of investigation, those English (officers) were replaced because it was of no interest (unhelpful), the thesis wasn't the one the UK wanted and what they want is a thesis that says: 'No, what happened was an abduction and the McCann couple is once and for all exonerated".
Curiously, we heard the process was going to be archived, and I am convinced, it's my personal opinion, that this process wasn't archived now because the Portuguese court decided in favour of Gonçalo Amaral. Since the decision was favourable for Gonçalo Amaral, and the McCanns are very embittered with that decision because they felt that it was unfair - I'm not saying that it was or not, this is just an observation - the English police, at a time when everything pointed to the archival of the case for lack of evidence - there was even a news article on Correio da Manhã and in other newspapers - decided to start new investigations upon the decision of the Portuguese courts. I believe that there is clearly an attempt to exonerate the couple, the English want to remove any suspicion from the McCann couple. In my opinion, it was never their main goal to find Madeleine McCann. The main objective of the English authorities was to exonerate the parents of Madeleine McCann.

Anchor - André, do you agree? Do you believe that some kind of pressures to extend this investigation, without anything new?

André Ventura - Yes, it's evident. We look at this process and we notice.. What saddens me in this process is the following, irrespectively of the aspects of the investigations and I believe that Carlos as focused and well upon those points, and saddens me in this sense, at this moment this has become a war between police forces, instead of truly becoming in the fundamental goal...

Carlos Anjos - In a search for the truth.

André Ventura - Yes, instead of becoming in the fundamental goal which is to find this little girl. I hope that she is alive and can be found, even though I have my doubts as to the investigation. What I think, and notice, since the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Union decided on the possibility of creating joint police forces, that work in joint operations, this kind of case is what they had in mind, transnational cases, that involve transnational interests. It didn't suppose that joint operations would mean conflict, one trying to show to the other that he's right, one saying "no, no, no, she's dead, she died in that day, there was scent of cadaver", the other saying "no, no, there are 3 suspects who were there, several witnesses saw them". If we read the Portuguese and the English press, it seems like we're talking about worlds apart. The English saying that Portugal isn't doing anything, that there are three suspects...

Carlos Anjos - They haven't said that for a while.

André Ventura - We still see it, several times. And this has become a war between police forces that is bad for everyone, bad for everyone. It gives an idea that the only thing being attempted is this, to try and demonstrate to the others that they are not right.

Carlos Anjos - André, let me just correct something, in Portugal that joint team was created for the first time and it worked well (Operation Task, 2007), that is, the English colleagues came and tried...

André Ventura - And that was in harmony?

Carlos Anjos - It was in harmony, whilst the thesis was the abduction. The problem was when that join team, and by the decision of the English, felt that the investigation line wasn't that one and was another, what did the English Police, the police chiefs do then? They removed the police officers that were here and replaced them with others, it was then that conflict was born.

André Ventura - The conflict (nods), but Carlos, what I want to stress is the following, we've heard here Gonçalo Amaral, and I agree with much that he says, however we cannot fail to notice a certain resentment with the English police. We can see that in the language, in the way that he deals with issues, and I believe that this is bad...

Anchor - Of course, and there were public declarations by the Judiciary Police to that effect. (overlapping speech)

André Ventura - Yes, there were public declarations and that's fine, I think that Gonçalo Amaral can publish the books that he wishes, like I can publish what I wish. What I find wrong is this, it has truly become a conflict and we can even see that in the English police reports, there's an attitude of resentment towards the Portuguese police and vice-versa. I feel that that resentment also exists relative to the lead followed by the English, and here I think that it would be positive for... I have serious doubts this little girl will ever be found, and I think we all agree with that, but there is a fact that I know, this that took place between Portugal and England, within the scope of an investigation such as this one, cannot ever happen again, cannot ever happen again.

Carlos Anjos - (overlapping speech) This little girl will never be found, obligatorily she is dead.

André Ventura - ... This was the spirit of the Treaty of Lisbon, that police forces would work together within the scope of an investigation, and not a matter of trying to prove which one was better.

Anchor - Very well, this were the analyses. Carlos Anjos, André Ventura, thank you for your analyses and for your statements. Wish you a good weekend, let us move on to another topic in Rua Segura.

broadcast by CMTV, Rua Segura, SE16 EP86, April 30, 2016 (video not online yet)

Notes
1. 11 witnesses plus 4 suspects of the English police investigation were questioned by the PJ in 2014, due to the content of the questions put to the 4 suspects they were constituted as arguidos. Refs. Maddie case: Four arguidos questioned by PJ on behalf of Metropolitan Police & Scotland Yard to quiz four formal Madeleine suspects
2. For reference see CM Special: 'Maddie, The Mystery'

http://joana-morais.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/carlos-anjos-i-believe-that-there-is.html


http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t12760-carlos-anjos-i-believe-that-there-is-clearly-an-attempt-to-exonerate-the-couple

Portguese detective Gonçalo Amaral has won his appeal over a court libel loss against Madeleine McCann's parents

Former Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral (pictured) has won his appeal over a court libel loss against Madeleine McCann's parents and won't have to pat them €500,000 in damages, it was reported today


Portguese detective Gonçalo Amaral has won his appeal over a court libel loss against Madeleine McCann's parents, it was reported today.

Three appeal judges had ruled in his favour, according to emerging reports this afternoon.

The former Portuguese police chief was ordered to pay Kate and Gerry McCann €500,000 in libel damages in April last year after accusing them of faking their daughter's abduction.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3547951/Portuguese-detective-WINS-appeal-against-libel-defeat-Madeleine-McCann-s-parents-NOT-pay-500-000-damages.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field

http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t12654-appeal-in-favour-of-goncalo-amaral

Translation of the Conclusions of the Appellate Court's Decision 

http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t12655-translation-of-the-conclusions-of-the-appellate-court-s-decision#335384 

Madeleine McCann case: OPEN LETTER TO Bates Wells Braithwaite AND TO HaysMacIntyre re Francisco Marco ex Private Investigator hired by Kate and Gerry McCann

Tuesday, 15 March 2016

OPEN LETTER TO Bates Wells Braithwaite  AND TO HaysmacIntyre
Respectively Solicitors and Accountants for the Madeleine Fund

Individual Copies sent to redacted  and  redacted
who it is reported were jointly concerned with setting up the Fund

Dear Sir and Madam,

Several years ago I wrote to you about claims by Francisco Marco - proprietor of the detective agency, Metodo3, that they would be able to return Madeleine McCann to her parents 'by Christmas'.

You were kind enough to reply. You denied that such a claim had been made.

I am not sure whether you were fully aware that the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell had already said that the family were satisfied, saying '....but we are pleased the agency is confident that they will find Madeleine in due course.'

You will also be aware that Marco's words are on a 'video' clip, available on YouTube, where he re-states his position, - helpfully in English. (full reference in Appendix - 1)

But given that you and HaysM were concerned with the creation and running of the Fund are we to believe that both your firms were simultaneously neglecting their duties.

As you know, in her autobiography, 'madeleine', Kate McCann herself admitted that these words had  been used, which gave rise to a number of questions about your and HaysM's level of interest,  professional competence, and/or veracity.

You will be aware that a recently published book -  La Cortina de Humo - by a sometime employee of Metodo3 details several large scale frauds committed against the Madeleine Fund, and shows how the techniques employed should have been apparent to anyone with responsibility for 'due diligence' and certainly to a trained and conscientious accountant.  (full reference in Appendix - 2)

Again this may raise important questions about professional competence.

I am confident that you will have read the book, and will have studied in depth the chapter devoted to the fraud, but so that anyone else reading this shall know, he details very crude and simple methods, which should have been obvious to anyone. He says that evidence is available to investigators, and may already be in their hands.

They include simply obtaining receipts for travel from an El Corte Ingles travel branch, and then forging them by overwriting the relevant details, before including these in the monthly invoices to the Fund, overseen by you.

He states that the 20 operatives - or 40 as sometimes quoted - who were being routinely charged for consisted of at most three (3), and for most of the time, only two. He names them.

He goes on to expose the mendacious claim that Metodo3 had successfully recovered more than 300 missing persons in a single year. He worked for this company for several years and was aware of only two (2) such examples. Perhaps these issues could and should have been explored in detail before the contract was signed. Data Protection and the laws relating to the protection of minors would not prevent outline details of many of the cases being supplied for investigation, and Company accounts detailing a total of only twelve (12) employees are public documents.

He publishes the e-mails he sent to the people who had been financing the operation, in which he gives details of the fraud. He also sent these to two of the six Directors of the Fund, whom he names.

He received no reply and no acknowledgement. He interprets this, perhaps with justification, as a 'wall of silence'.

It is inconceivable that you and HaysM were not made aware of this, and again it raises further questions about your involvement, and your professional competence. The possibility of higher level collusion is of course unthinkable.

In your internet advertising you both make great play of your devotion to, and the importance of conducting and maintaining Due Diligence - you use the term 42 time, and HaysM 35 times. You both mention Transparency ((58 and 44 times respectively), and Justice (86 and 16). You go further to discuss Investigation (78) and you use the word Fraud 35 times. HaysM use it 25 times.

It is clear therefore that both firms, at least in publicity and advertising, say they understand the importance of vigilance against Fraud at all levels and at all times.

It may be however that on this on occasion both firms simultaneously made the identical mistake or simultaneously failed to notice the glaring irregularities.
This would be in line with what is alleged to have happened many times during this perplexing case.

   The blood and cadaver detection dogs were said to have made a series of mistakes but only in this  case, when they alerted to 14 items and places linked with the McCanns - but to no other places. The dogs' previous and subsequent performance has never been successfully challenged in the criminal courts
   Some of the best detectives and Police advisors from several police forces from different countries made identical and false deductions

   Top lawyers and public prosecutors in Portugal concurrently and independently made identical gross errors

...and so on. The case is full of remarkable coincidences. Many hundreds have been recorded so far. The revelation that  £ 500,000 of publicly donated money was squandered on a fraudulent enterprise, but worse - that no attempt was then made to recover the money, nor to take action against the alleged fraudsters, might damage public confidence in both your firms.


You are also surely aware of the book, El Método, by the proprietor of Metodo3, Fransicso Marco, in which at p. 452, he says 'Someday I'll explain if we believe that Maddie is alive or dead, and, if she was killed, who we think did it.' (full reference in Appendix - 3)


I draw this to your attention, as, of course, if it is eventually shown that Madeleine was in fact dead and that the parents knew or suspected this, as now seems increasingly likely, then the entire Fund would itself have been fraudulent ab initio, and the issue of due diligence and professional supervision will assume even greater importance, with the persons concerned being liable to account either to Civil or Criminal Courts.


The apparent failure or neglect of due diligence in the contracting of Kevin Halligen, of Oakley International, the Company referred to by Clarence Mitchell as 'the big boys, the best there is in international investigation.', - Halligen a proven and convicted fraudster and the Fund's subsequent failure to claim back the £ 0.5 m handed over to him under your joint supervision, is now a matter of historical note, and is documented and has been discussed elsewhere at considerable length.


Similarly the strange case of the contract awarded to two retired junior police officers, Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley - according to Clarence Mitchell, a team of crack detectives - and of a company falsely named in many press reports as the impressive  'Alpha Group Investigations', - a respectable company in the USA. The company, was only incorporated as ALPHAIG, with an address of a cottage in the hills of Wales, some considerable time after this had been said. This strange case has already been picked over and the timeline confirmed.


Again the level of due diligence performed here seems - to a lay outsider - to be questionable. It is not clear, for example, how even the most basic Company Check could possibly have been conducted. According to the filed Company accounts it was operating on resources of £ 650 cash and fixed assets of £ 853. This case and the alleged involvement of your two firms has been discussed at length.


But we are left wondering whether two firms of your stature could have made three consecutive and identical errors of professional judgement and competence, not learning from the preceding ones, in the handling of a huge amount of donated money paid into just one Fund, benefitting just one couple.


Yours sincerely,   redacted

PLEASE NOTE:
I fully appreciate that you are under no legal or moral obligation to reply to this letter, nor to answer any of the concerns raised.
In view of that, and the huge public interest generated by this case over the past eight years, it is intended, after a reasonable time, that this letter will be published on a web forum as an Open Letter, with some personal details redacted.
I am confident that given your commitment to Transparency, Justice and Investigation that this is acceptable.


1 YouTube
The interview with Francisco Marco, in which he says - in English -
“I know the kidnapper and we know where he is.
We know who he is and we know how he has done it . . .”
may be viewed at 1:23 on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4crZrHLJUw

2 La Cortina de Humo - 'The Smokescreen' - by Julian Peribañez and Antonio
Tamarit
(August 2014, ISBN 978-84-941649-8-9)

3 El Método - ‘The Method’ - by Francisco Marco Fernández
(October 2013, ISBN 978-84-9970-943-7)

Both books are available from Amazon.es, Casa del Libro, and Amazon.co.uk

Quotes from La Cortina de Humo. Translated by a qualified and attested translator

p. 177 - I began to realise to what extent the company was swindling the fund which had been set
up and which was supported by hundreds of unsuspecting people whose sole objective was to
find Madeleine. Nothing special, just inflated expenses, invented items and false invoices, etc.

p.178 - Francisco Marco, whenever asked, always replied that Método 3 had deployed ‘twenty
men’ to investigate Madeleine’s disappearance! That was yet another lie.
This was the tactic used by Francisco Marco to inflate Método 3’s invoices to the client

p. 182 - He omitted to tell the journalist that his specialists were his mother and his cousin; he
must have thought there was no need to mention this. Alternatively, he may have thought
that the journalist had realised that his cousin was the chief financial officer (meaning the
accountant) of Método 3 and that his mother was just a woman who didn’t even hold a driving
licence and had been a secretary at a detective agency and who was involved in sales for the
agency and not investigative work.

p. 185 - He presented them with false invoices for travel and accommodation expenses for the 20
people who were supposed to be working in Portugal. The procedure for accomplishing this task
was simple and straightforward and no scientific methodology was required: all they had to do
was obtain some El Co

http://fytton.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/open-letter-to-bateswellsbraithwaite_15.html


http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t12570-open-letter-to-bates-wells-braithwaite-and-to-haysmacintyre-re-francisco-marco

Dr Martin Roberts: A Nightwear Job - the truth about Madeleine McCann's pyjamas? "If Madeleine's pyjamas were not in fact abducted, then nor was Madeleine McCann."

A Nightwear Job

By Dr Martin Roberts
March 9, 2016

http://onlyinamericablogging.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-nightwear-job-by-dr-martin-roberts.html



As published in the Telegraph

Author unknown


In the very nearly nine years since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, and the eight since the parents had their arguido status formally withdrawn, one simple question has passed publicly unanswered, probably because the answer appears obvious and the question therefore not worth the asking. I shall ask it nevertheless:


Who took the McCanns' 'official photograph' of Madeleine's pyjamas?


The image in question was 'released' to the world's media in the late afternoon of 10 May, 2007, following a press conference that day. It was no doubt assumed by many that, since the PJ released the photographs (there is more than one), the PJ themselves must have taken them. Yet a film distributor who arranges the release of a 'blockbuster' is hardly likely to have spent the previous months/years actually doing the filming.


With this seed of doubt in mind, one might consider what the PJ did with their photograph(s), adhering all the while to the worldwide practice, among law enforcement agencies, of 'continuity', whereby the progress of evidence through the system, in whichever direction, is recorded at each step along the way. Whereabouts, then, did they file this particular 'diligence' of theirs?


Within the relevant Forensic report (23 November 2007) are references to the following images, together with cognate views of a pair of pyjama trousers:



A far cry from earlier publicised representations you will admit.

Why on earth should the PJ have seemingly undertaken the same photographic work twice, involving two quite different sets of pyjamas?

The forensic record (of garments correctly pictured alongside a scaling reference, i.e. a ruler) is that of a pair of pyjamas supplied on request by M&S (UK), afterwards forwarded to the Forensic Laboratory in Lisbon by Goncalo Amaral, together with a covering letter dated 7 June. It has nothing whatever to do with the official photograph released in early May. In fact the clothing pictured has more in common with that featured in the retailer's own contemporary stock photograph, a copy of which was sent to the Algarve Resident, again on request, and which the 'Resident' published on 8 May - two days before the official release.



As published by the Algarve Resident


During a press call at the Amsterdam Hilton, on 7 June, Kate McCann took pains to explain that the pyjamas being exhibited at that time were in fact Amelie's, and that Madeleine's were not only bigger but did not feature a button-fastening t-shirt. Only a couple of days earlier the same pyjamas, again described as 'Amelies' and 'a little bit smaller', were presented on 'Crimewatch', but without reference to the button discrepancy.

It stands to reason of course, that, Madeleine McCann's pyjamas having been abducted, a surrogate pair would have been required for photographic purposes, in the event of there being no extant photographic record of the clothing in question. But appropriate photographs were to hand. They already existed. One version, as we have seen, was published by the Algarve Resident, another by the BBC. The McCanns' 'official' version was consistent with neither of these. With the PJ yet to physically access a representative set of pyjamas, why should they have been called upon to photograph anything else for immediate release?

There is no record of their having done so. Ergo they did not. So who did? And where did the pyjamas come from that enabled them to do it?

Addressing the second of these questions first, the garments featured in the PJ release cannot have come from M&S locally, since all their Portuguese branches had been closed years before. Had they come from M&S in the UK they would obviously have resembled the pair sent to (and genuinely photographed by) the PJ. A pointer to their origin is, however, to be found within the case files.

Alongside a suite of photographs taken at Lagos Marina by Kate McCann is an introductory memo, written by DC Markley of Leicester Police on or about the 8 May and headed up, 'Information from the Family'. Here also one finds the only copy (in black and white) of the McCanns' official photograph of Madeleine's pyjamas (Outros Apensos Vol. II - Apenso VIII, p.342). Rather than its being a PJ production, afterwards passed to the McCanns, it seems the photograph was actually a McCann production fed to the PJ, an observation wholly concordant with the fact that it was actually the McCanns who first revealed this photograph to the press, on Monday 7 May, three days before the PJ released it (as reported by Ian Herbert, the Independent, 11.5.07).

Any illusion that the image in question was the result of a McCann representative's commissioning their own studio photograph of 'off-the-shelf' UK merchandise may soon be dispelled. It is an amateur snapshot. Taken in ambient (day) light, against a coloured (as opposed to neutral) background, it is slightly out of focus and displays detectable signs of parallax. It is not something even a journeyman professional would admit to.

And yet, bold as brass, it represents 'information from the family'.

Perhaps it was produced by a member of the McCann entourage that descended on Praia da Luz over the long weekend 4-6 May? Then again, perhaps not. As Kate McCann explains in her book, 'madeleine' (p.109):

“Everyone had felt helpless at home and had rushed out to Portugal to take care of us and to do what they could to find Madeleine. When they arrived, to their dismay they felt just as helpless – perhaps more so, having made the trip in the hope of achieving something only to discover it was not within their power in Luz any more than it had been in the UK.”

On Kate McCann's own admission, to a House of Commons committee no less, neither she nor husband Gerry were any more capable of keeping cool under fire during this time. Having earlier (August 2007) told her Pal, Jon Corner, "the first few days.…you have total physical shutdown", she went on to advise the House that, despite being medically trained, she and her husband "couldn't function" (John Bingham, the Telegraph, 13.6.2011).

Well someone on the McCann side of the fence managed to function in time for the parents to appear before the media on 7 May with a photograph that, so far, no-one seems to have taken, and of clothing which, other things being equal, ought not even to have existed anywhere inside Portugal, except, perhaps, in the clutches of a fugitive abductor. But, of course, other things are anything but equal.

Non mihi, non tibi, sed nobis

A month after the world's media were first shown a picture of something resembling Madeleine McCann's 'Eeyore pyjamas', a real set was being touted around Europe. Described by Kate McCann as 'Amelie's' and being 'a little bit smaller', they were held aloft for the assembled press brigade, without any one of them questioning the pyjamas' origins either. Being 'Amelie's' was quite enough, apparently, to justify their also being in the McCanns' possession at the time. Since when though? Gerry McCann did not return home to Leicester from Praia da Luz until 21 May, time enough for him to have raided his daughter's wardrobe for something he might need on his European travels, but way too late to have met any 7/10 May deadlines.

It seems, then, as if the two ingredients required to achieve an earlier photograph of 'Madeleine's' pyjamas (the photographer and the subject) were both missing. So how was it done?

What at first appears to be a riddle is soon solved when one realises that the pair of pyjamas which accompanied the McCanns around Europe was the very same pair that starred in their 'official photograph' taken earlier. Kate McCann took public ownership of them before the television cameras the moment she referred to them as 'Amelie's'. On close inspection these pyjamas (Amelie's) are revealed as identical to the pair previously pictured in both the Daily Mail (10.5.07) and the Telegraph (see top of page here), down to the stray threads dangling from both upper and lower garments. This means that 'Amelie's pyjamas', for want of a better description, were also present with the McCanns since the start of their Algarve holiday.



As published by the Daily Mail


Suddenly the question ceases to be 'Who photographed a representative pair of Eeyore pyjamas?' and becomes, instead, 'Who photographed Amelie's pyjamas?' Furthermore, if everyone was feeling so shell-shocked as to render them incapable from the Friday, when did they have the presence of mind to take the requisite pictures?

We begin to edge toward a sinister conclusion once we take particular account of the literal background against which these particular pyjamas were photographed.


A coarse woven tale

Unlike the various studio renditions of Eeyore pyjamas to which we have been introduced, the McCann's official photograph(s), versions of which were published by both the PJ and the UK media, present the subject laid out against a blue textile, rather than the more customary piece of artist's board. This blue upholstery, for that is unquestionably what it is, helps define who, among the Tapas 9, might have been the photographer.

The Paynes, the Oldfields and the O'Briens can be ruled out. Only the Payne's apartment incorporated any soft furnishings in blue, but of a different quality to the plain open-weave material on display here. During the early morning of Friday 4 May, 2007, the McCanns were re-located to alternative accommodation in apartment 4G - another in which blue soft furnishings were conspicuous by their absence (it was appointed in beige throughout).* Added to which the concern, lest we forget, is with photography involving a pair of pyjamas known to have been in the McCanns' possession from the outset.

In his statement to Police of 10 May, Gerry McCann as good as exonerated himself of all blame concerning picture taking:

‘Asked, he clarifies that:
apart from the personal photos already delivered by him to the police authorities after the disappearance of his daughter MADELEINE, he has no others in his possession. 

He adds that it is:
his wife KATE who usually takes pictures, he does not recall taking any pictures during this holiday, at night.’

Notwithstanding accounts of how, from the Friday onwards, the McCanns, their nearest and dearest, all fell mentally and physically incapable (of anything save visiting the pool, the beach bar, and the church on Sunday morning), Kate McCann early on made a very telling remark, concerning photography, to journalist Olga Craig:

"I haven't been able to use the camera since I took that last photograph of her" (The Telegraph, May 27, 2007).

That statement alone carries with it a very serious connotation. However, we still have a distance to travel.

The more contrastive of the two images reproduced here displays what appear to be areas of shadow, when in fact there are no local perturbations at the surface of the fabric to cause them. Similarly, the dark bands traversing the t-shirt appear more representative of what is actually beneath it. These visible oddities suggest the material is in fact damp and 'clinging' to the underlying upholstery.

There is, as we know, an anecdote of Kate McCann's, which sees her washing Madeleine's pyjama top on the Thursday morning. As re-told in her book, she does so while alone in the family's apartment:

"I returned to our apartment before Gerry had finished his tennis lesson and washed and hung out Madeleine’s pyjama top on the veranda."

Size matters

As previously stated, Kate McCann was careful to bring the attention of her Amsterdam Hilton audience, to Madeleine's pyjama top being both larger and simpler than the version she was holding in her hands at the time. She was inviting them instinctively to associate garment size with complexity - the larger the simpler in this instance. It would mean of course that Madeleine's 'Eeyore' pyjamas, purchased in 2006, would not have been absolutely identical with those of her sister Amelie, purchased whenever (but obviously before the family's 2007 holiday on the Portuguese Algarve).

On 7 May, the Sun reported that:
"The McCann family also disclosed that on the night of her disappearance Madeleine was wearing white pyjama bottoms with a small floral design and a short-sleeved pink top with a picture of Eeyore with the word Eeyore written in capital letters.
"The clothes were bought at Marks and Spencer last year."
In his 7 June covering letter to the Forensic Laboratory in Lisbon, Goncalo Amaral conveys the following specification in relation to the pyjamas he was intent on sending for examination:

"The Pyjamas are from Marks and Spencers, size 2 to 3 years -97 cm.
"The pyjamas are composed of two pieces: camisole type without buttons"

Since these items could only have been supplied to the PJ in mid-07, they must have represented that year's style, as it were, for 2-3 year olds. Madeleine would have been four years old by this time. However, Kate McCann would have people believe that 'Amelie's' pyjamas, sporting a button, were designed to fit an even younger child. Had Kate purchased the appropriate pyjamas for Amelie in 2007 of course, they would not have had a button at all.

They must therefore have been purchased in the same epoch as Madeleine’s own, i.e. during 2006, when Amelie would have been a year younger and somewhat smaller even than when the family eventually travelled to Portugal the following year.

The significance of all this becomes apparent once we consider those photographs which show how the pyjamas held aloft by the McCanns at their various European venues encompassed half Gerry McCann's body length at least. Photographs of the McCanns out walking with their twins in Praia da Luz, on the other hand, illustrate, just as clearly, that Amelie McCann did not stand that tall from head to toe. Even In 2007 she would have been swamped by her own pyjamas, never mind the year before when they were purchased.

In conclusion, the McCanns' 'official photograph', first exhibited on 7 May, appears to be that of a damp pair of pyjamas, too big to have been sensibly purchased for Madeleine's younger sister that Spring, and most certainly not the year before. The subject is set against dark blue upholstery of a type not present in any of the apartments occupied by the McCanns or their Tapas associates immediately after 3 May. Kate McCann has explained, over time, how she was alone in apartment 5A that morning, in the company of a damp pyjama top (having just washed it) and how, from that afternoon by all accounts, she 'couldn't bear to use the camera', an automatic device (Canon PowerShot A620) belonging to a product lineage with an unfortunate reputation for random focussing errors.

Madeleine was not reported missing until close to 10.00 p.m. that night. If Madeleine McCann's pyjamas were not in fact abducted, then nor was Madeleine McCann.

Martin Roberts

*See the extended search videos here: http://www.mccannfiles.com/id167.html

Grateful thanks are due to Nigel Moore for collating a number of highly relevant photographs and media reports in connection with this topic.


Click on image to view

If a fellow thought that the Metropolitan Police Service was a functioning entity, he might call for the arrest of the McCanns based on what is written and depicted here. Ed.




Comments about this article here:
http://onlyinamericablogging.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-nightwear-job-by-dr-martin-roberts.html

Update posted here:
Wednesday, 20 November 2019

THE NIGHTWEAR CONTINUES
https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t12555p125-dr-martin-roberts-a-nightwear-job#412050

Pat Brown versus Richard Hall on Madeleine McCann: Which One is Ignoring the Evidence?



Pat Brown versus Richard Hall on Madeleine McCann: Which One is Ignoring the Evidence?


by Philip Gunton, 1 March 2016

On 22 February this year,U.S. criminal profiler, Pat Brown, published an article on her ‘PatBrownProfiling’ website, titled: “From Theory to Profile: How Agenda Creates Nonevidence-based Conclusions”.

It was about the reported disappearance of Madeleine McCann. It was a response to a documentary film by Richard D. Hall titled: “When Madeleine Died?” In that film, Hall - who earlier, in August 2014, nailed his colours to the mast by suggesting that Madeleine’s abduction was a hoax, and that Madeleine had died in her parents’ holiday apartment - put forward the apparently bizarre notion that Madeleine was probably dead by the Monday of that week.

Brown’s article is an attack both on Hall’s conclusion, and on his method.

Both Brown and Hall share the unusual and potentially libelous belief that the McCanns (and others) did not tell the truth about what really happened to Madeleine. Both say she died in the McCanns’ apartment. Both do so for similar reasons. Both believe that two cadaver dogs from Britain, trained by a leading professional dog handler, Martin Grime, alerted to the odours left by Madeleine’s corpse, and her blood, at various locations in the McCanns’ apartment, on their clothes and in their hired car.

Both adduce as additional evidence a plethora of contradictions and changes of story by the McCanns and their friends. Both point to the appalling choice by the McCanns and their advisers of disreputable private detectives to search for Madeleine. Both draw attention to Kate McCann’s point-blank refusal to answer 48 questions by the Portuguese police. Both note how the McCanns were immediately surrounded by a protective shield of lawyers, public relations advisers, and members of U.K. government security service personnel.

The original Portuguese investigation co-ordinator, Dr Goncalo Amaral, also came to the conclusion that Madeleine had died in her parents’ apartment. Moreover, he was fairly specific about the time of Madeleine’s death. He looked at evidence that Madeleine attended a so-called ‘high tea’ at the Tapas restaurant, which is said to have taken place between 4.45pm and about 6.00pm on Thursday 3 May, hours before Madeleine was reported missing.

Brown follows that conclusion, and for a similar reason; she, like Dr Amaral, believes that Madeleine’s crèche nanny, Catriona Baker, was telling the truth about that ‘high tea’.

But Hall does not agree. He has put forward a series of reasons which, to him, suggest that Madeleine may already have been dead by Monday or even of the Sunday evening of that week.

In a crucial passage of her article, Brown writes this:

“The evidence points to the evening of May 3, 2007. A number of people stated they saw Madeleine up until that Thursday evening, she was placed in the creche daily for babysitting while the parents enjoyed their freedom on holiday, there are photos of Madeleine in Praia da Luz by herself and with family”.

She adds: “The next time you see a documentary purporting to prove a particular theory, make sure the filmmaker actually provides evidence supporting his theory…Pay attention to whether the filmmaker ignores evidence, manipulates evidence, or creates evidence…”

She continues: “[Hall’s] film is a profile based on theory, not on the evidence. I am not happy with the content…it is intended to convince the audience that the theory being presented is the only one that makes sense, that it is logical, and that there is evidence to support the theory..."Evidence" is either misconstrued, ignored, or created…One must suspend a good deal of logic altogether. The evidence does not support Hall's theory of When Madeleine died?; his agenda has created a theory and the theory then created a profile and the evidence [has been] manipulated or ignored in order to create a belief that this theory has merit. Evidence should make the theory; the theory should not make 'the evidence'."

These are serious charges…‘manipulating evidence’. Brown’s attack on Hall is clear. She suggests that his film is an improbable theory based on no evidence at all.

This article examines whether she is right.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It should also be noted that Brown in her article rounds on those who claim that Madeleine’s death might be connected in some way to a child abuse ‘ring’ needing a top-level government-organised cover-up. So far as I am aware, Hall has not said in any of his three Madeleine films, or his lecture tours, that he thinks Madeleine’s death is connected to such a ‘ring’.

Therefore, so far as Hall’s films are concerned, her criticism cannot be directed at Hall, but must be directed at others.

Similarly, she refers to some who say that Madeleine was sexually abused before she died. Again, so far as I am aware, Hall has never said this in any of his films. It is therefore incorrect of her to bring these particular allegations – which others, but not Hall, have made, into her critique of Hall’s films. Hall has been entirely silent so far about how she might have died.

She also implies – twice - that Hall says both that Madeleine (a) died at some other time and (b) ‘under far more horrific circumstances’. In fact, Hall says (a), but he does not say (b). Once again, Brown is wrong and has misled her readers. Hall says nothing whatsoever about ‘more horrific circumstances’.

I will deal essentially, then, with the claim that Pat’s theory - Madeleine dying sometime after 6pm the night she was reported missing – has more evidence to support it than Hall’s theory that she died on Sunday or Monday.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little bit must first be said about the respective track records of Brown and Hall.

Brown is a nationally-known figure in the U.S. She styles herself as a criminal profiler and has trained in criminology. She has written books on the subject. She writes a prolific blog. She has appeared on U.S TV numerous times, giving her opinion on serious crimes. She has a high profile and a respected track record.

Moreover, when she heard about the Madeleine McCann case, she called it a hoax very early on, even within weeks of the initial reports. Her experience told her that something was deeply wrong about the parents’ story and their reactions to her disappearance. She later released an e-book about the case on Amazon, only for the McCanns’ lawyers to threaten Amazon with libel proceedings unless she withdrew it, forcing Brown to sell it on less popular sites.

Not only that, but she actually visited Portugal, admittedly only after she had planned to attend a court hearing in the marathon McCanns –v- Amaral libel trial, which was subsequently adjourned before she was due to travel. She met Goncalo Amaral, and she also did some original research in Praia da Luz together with an ex-pat former British police officer in the region who had taken a great deal of interest in the case.

Against that track record, Hall can offer a degree in Electrical Engineering, and a track record in what can conveniently be summarised as ‘conspiracy theories’. He has a longstanding interest in the subject of UFO’s. He has made controversial films about events such as the 9/11 atrocity in the U.S., the 7/7 bombings in London, and the recent killing of the British soldier, Lee Rigby. Comments made in the last of these films led to action being taken against him by the broadcasting authorities.

It is not a promising background for one who wants to pronounce on a high profile, complex and controversial case of alleged child abduction. He did, however, pay a week-long visit to Praia da Luz as part of his research on the case. And quite plainly, he has researched the case in detail.

It is possible for an experienced criminal profiler to get something wrong once in a while. It is possible for someone whose trade is perceived as a ‘conspiracy theorist’ to get some things right. Let us not forget that even the much-maligned conspiracy theorist David Icke was making clear allegations that Jimmy Savile was a serial paedophile 20 years or more before Savile was eventually exposed, after his death.

Yet, despite their very different histories and backgrounds, Brown and Hall share a common belief that Madeleine died in her parents’ holiday apartment and that there has indeed been a deliberate, sustained attempt to cover up that fact.

It must also be said that Hall did not begin to make any comment about the Madeleine McCann case until sometime in 2011. When he did venture to suggest that the McCanns’ story may not be true, some of his audience reacted adversely. It wasn’t until 2013 that he began to research the subject seriously. And then, as he puts it, he realised how the mainstream media had simply not told the public a whole host of facts which suggested that Madeleine had died in her parents’ care and he began to claim that there had been an organised cover-up of the truth about Madeleine’s reported disappearance.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, with those points in mind, let’s start by reviewing the reasons Brown gives in her article for preferring the time of Madeleine’s death at after 6pm on Thursday 3 May. These may be summarised as follows, using her own words:

1) A number of people say they saw Madeleine up until and including the Thursday she was reported missing…Hall has ignored all reports and evidence of Maddie being alive until May 3rd

2) Madeleine was placed in the creche daily for babysitting

3) There are photos of Madeleine in Praia da Luz by herself and with family

4) It appears that all was well until the evening of May 3, 2007 and then all hell broke loose

5) The evidence from the dogs’ alerts is that Madeleine fell behind the sofa and died there

6) [Hall suggests that there was] a cover-up and body disposal team [which] rushed into town to help the McCanns deal with this and stage an abduction – but surely they would hardly decide to wait until Thursday to stage an abduction and then stage it so badly that it doesn't even look like an abduction and prepare everyone so badly that the Tapas group couldn't even keep their stories straight...this is believing that a skilled ‘clean-up’ crew chose the most amateur plan of action possible. Couldn't this top level team even open a window, add a few tool marks, make a footprint or two, and muff up the room a bit? How about planting some fake hair or phony fingerprints?

7) They would have had to have the McCanns parade around Praia da Luz for four days minus one child, pretending a dead child is alive or parading around a fake Madeleine, and dismally staging an abduction scene

8) Nannies would have to be coerced into lying

9) Creche paperwork would have to be forged

10) In discussing the Last Photo, he produces expert evidence that it was not photoshopped, but Hall oddly alludes to the possibility that the ‘Tennis Balls’ photo was photoshopped...couldn't he get the experts to analyse that photo as well?

11) One of the rules of getting away with murder is the less people know about the crime, the better. The theory of an
earlier death date and a bigger organisation behind the cover-up requires so many people to know the truth and lie to the police and media that it would be impossible for the truth not to have come out.

12) Ignoring the behaviours of the Tapas members on May 3rd.

It is worth noting, however, that despite her evident disdain for improbable ‘conspiracy theories’, she does concede - as indeed she must - that: “There is evidence that there is some quite unusual level of political support for the McCanns and a huge amount of media, money and resources used in this case of a missing child that far surpasses any in probably the entire history of mankind.

Hall tackled that subject in a major way in Part 4 of his first Madeleine film, ‘The True Story of Madeleine McCann’, and he did indeed hint at something possibly illegal or immoral that was being hidden by a high-level government cover-up, with which the McCanns must somehow be connected.

At least he tried to explain what Brown herself admits was (and very much still is, nine years on) a “quite unusual level of political support”, but I have never seen her try to explain this anywhere in her writings.

But let’s now get down to examining Brown’s catalogue of ‘faults’ with Hall’s film and his theory of an early death.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

POINT 1

Brown’s Point 1 was that Hall had ‘ignored’ the evidence that many people had seen Madeleine alive up to and including 3 May. That is a manifestly false charge. Whether you agree with Hall’s eventual conclusions or not, one simply cannot claim that he ‘ignored’ this evidence.

Very much the reverse. On the contrary, he first painstakingly took us back from the moment the alarm was raised – about 10pm on May 3 - through every claimed sighting that day. Matthew Oldfield’s’ check at 9.35pm, Gerry McCann’s check at 9.05pm, David Payne seeing the children the McCanns’ flat at 6.30pm, the sighting at the Paraiso beach restaurant, the high tea at 5pm to 6pm, Madeleine in the background of a photo taken by Stemcor Director Philip Edmonds – all these were examined in a great amount of detail. Not ignored. He then spent about 45 minute undermining events earlier in the week: the claim that Mrs Fenn heard Madeleine crying, the magazine article claiming that the Boyds’ boy Louie had been playing football with Madeleine for an hour, and so on.

If he didn’t demolish these ‘sightings’, he most certainly raised major doubts about them. And finally he dealt with around a dozen very vague statements, mostly by Ocean Club staff, who claimed to have seen Maddie sometime that week. Making use of a major piece of research by Lizzy Taylor (‘HideHo’), published in late 2015, in which she analysed every such ‘sighting’ and found that none of them provided clear-cut evidence of Madeleine being alive, Hall reached the same conclusion. He shared with Lizzy Taylor her suggestion that a statement by a cleaning lady, who saw all five members of the McCanns walking from their apartment to a friend’s apartment, was the last time there was reliable independent evidence that Madeleine was seen alive.

POINT 2

So Brown’s Point 1 is invalid. What about her Point 2 – that Madeleine was placed in the crèche (in the daytime)? Again, Hall has not ignored that apparent evidence. How, then, did he explain the crèche records, and the evidence of the creche nanny, Catriona Baker, that Madeleine was in her group all week? He did so by revealing in his film several very important contradictions in Catriona Baker’s evidence. Now, some may believe that Catriona Baker was a wholly honest witness and that somehow all the various contradictions in her evidence can be explained without too much difficulty.

But, once again, Hall has made his claim based on a considerable amount of evidence in his film. It cannot be said that he has ‘ignored’ it.

POINT 3

So, on to Brown’s Point 3 – namely, her claim that “There are photos of Madeleine in Praia da Luz by herself and with family”. This is a very glib comment by Brown and suggests that she may not have studied the nature of the photographic evidence of Madeleine’s presence in Praia da Luz that week.

There are only five photographs of Madeleine that week. Three, as Hall explains, were clearly taken on the first day of the holiday - Saturday. Hall has explained in the film, his evidence that the ‘Last Photo’ may have been taken on the Sunday, not the Thursday. It is a serious allegation to make. His justification appears to be twofold: (1) that the weather conditions on the two days (warm and sunny on Sunday, cloudy and cooler the rest of the week), coupled with how Gerry, Madeleine and Amelie are dressed in the photo, and (2) the unaccountable 3-week delay in publishing the photo.

That leaves only one other photo, the ‘Tennis Balls’ photo. There are claims that two different people took this photograph. It is said to have been taken on two separate days. Hall makes the tentative suggestion that it could be photoshopped, and gives his reasons, though he does not produce any expert evidence to back up his claim.

So, in summary, only four photos definitely taken on the holiday, three on the Saturday and one quite possibly on the Sunday, and one ‘maybe’ – the ‘Tennis balls’ photo.

Where are all the others that week? This does not seem to bother Brown in the slightest. It would be good to hear if she has a clear and convincing explanation as to why we don’t have them.

POINT 4

Brown’s Point 4 – that it “appears that all was well until the evening of May 3, 2007 and then all hell broke loose”, seems to amount to saying this: that this holiday was entirely normal for McCanns and their Tapas 7 friends, until sometime after 6pm on Thursday 3 May, when Madeleine had a terrible, fatal accident in her parents’ flat, and that by about 8.30pm to 8.45pm, the whole group could sit down calmly for dinner in the Tapas bar, chatting to others like the Carpenters, and the waiters, having between them arranged (before then) to get rid of Madeleine’s body.

Brown adds that the abduction hoax was so botched that it must have been done in a terrific hurry. She bases her theory, along with Goncalo Amaral, on the assumption that all concerned told the truth about Madeleine and the twins having ‘high tea’ with some crèche nannies between 4.45pm and 6.00pm that afternoon.

It is hard, from all of Brown’s writings, to determine whether she has thought this scenario through. According to her theory, sometime after 6pm Madeleine had an ‘accident’ so severe that she died. She says, like Amaral, that she probably ‘fell off the sofa’. I am not sure how likely it is that a fall from a sofa could kill a child. I suggest it is very unlikely.

But if this did happen after 6pm, what happened to her body? It wasn’t there when the police called at just after 11pm. It is doubtful, under this scenario, if it could still have been in the apartment after the McCanns and their friends went down to dinner at about 8.30pm. So, in the space of little more than two hours, did the McCanns:

(a) tend to Madeleine
(b) tend to the Twins and make sure that they got peaceably to sleep
(c) get over the shock and compose themselves
(d) share the news with their friends
(e) swiftly get rid of their daughter’s body in a hiding place where nobody could find it
(f) arrange a ‘cover story’ of checking the children at regular intervals
(g) clean the apartment and remove any traces of any accident befalling Madeleine
(h) arrange the abduction scene in the childrens' bedroom
(i) open the shutters and window
(j) get themselves cleaned up and dressed for an evening out and after all of that,
(k) calmly sit down with their friends for dinner as if nothing had happened?

This appears to be Brown’s theory, except that she has in the past given credence to the claims of the Smith family, from Ireland, that they saw someone – at about 10.00pm that evening - who looked very much like Gerry McCann carrying his dead daughter through the streets of Praia da Luz.

Now the time the alarm was raised by the McCanns and their friends was also around 10.00pm. We must ask: how credible is it that Gerry McCann would take the huge risk of carrying his dead daughter for about half a mile through the streets of Praia da Luz at the very same time as the alarm was being raised? Moreover, where at that time of night could he possibly have found a place to hide the body, and then return calmly to the Ocean Club and his apartment as if nothing had happened?

Moreover, how was it that only the Smiths saw him – but no-one else reported seeing him, either on the way to hide his daughter’s body, or on the way back?

If, however, on Brown’s scenario of a death after 6pm, Madeleine’s body had already been moved from the apartment before they all went down for dinner, that then raises a further problem in relation to the evidence of the two cadaver dogs.

Normally, a body has to lie in a place for at least two hours before dogs can, months later, detect the past presence of a corpse in that place. If Madeleine’s death took place after 6pm, and her body was removed before the McCanns went down to dinner at 8.30pm, that barely leaves two hours before cadaver scent contaminant would have enough time to linger for a cadaver dog to detect its presence three months later.

POINT 5

Brown’s fifth point against Hall’s film is that: “The evidence from the dogs’ alerts is that Madeleine fell behind the sofa and died there”. As far as I am aware, Hall does not contradict that possibility, so Brown’s point is irrelevant. However, Brown should have been more precise in her statement.

She can certainly say: “The evidence is that Madeleine’s dead body had lain below the window for at least two hours or so”. But no-one knows where the sofa was when Madeleine was lying dead there. Moreover, no-one can be as dogmatic, as Brown is, and state: “The evidence is that Madeleine fell behind the sofa”. That, as Brown must recognise, is only one of many other possibilities.

POINT 6

Brown’s Point 6 is a point of some substance. In terms, she suggests that the abduction hoax was so badly carried out that it cannot possibly have been planned three or four days in advance. She also suggests that a crack-team of cover-up experts would have thought of things like ‘adding a few tool marks…fake footprints, fake hair and phony fingerprints’. It is a reasonable point to make.

I have already explained above the improbability of a group of nine being faced with a death of one of their children after 6pm, and then sitting down calmly two hours later with arrangements already having been made to dispose of Madeleine’s body. If, as both Brown and Hall accept, Madeleine died in the McCanns’ apartment, then surely we must look at the arguments that her death happened earlier than that.

It is not as if Hall hasn’t given his reasons. He has. The absence of undisputed confirmed sightings of Madeleine by independent witnesses. The sudden change of the McCanns taking breakfast and lunch in their own apartment after Sunday. Evidence that the ‘Last Photo’ was taken on Sunday, not Thursday. The absence of photos of Madeleine that week. Stories, evidently false, trying to ‘prove’ that Madeleine was alive until Thursday, like the untrue article by the Boyds in First magazine. The absence of Madeleine’s DNA in the apartment. Hall covers these and other issues. Perhaps Brown could return with another article, carefully considering, point by point, the evidence that Hall has presented in his film for an earlier death?

POINT 7

Brown’s Point 7 is to ridicule any idea that the McCanns could either ‘parade around Praia da Luz for four days minus one child, pretending a dead child is alive’, or ‘parading around a fake Madeleine’.

Once again, this is a point that Hall does address in his film. Indeed, he specifically mentions that the McCanns may have arranged things so that they never appeared in public together with the twins. Hall mentioned:
a) taking breakfast in the apartment
b) taking lunch in their own apartment, whilst the rest of the group ate together at the Paynes’ and
c) using different doors when exiting or arriving back at the apartment.
d) Making excuses for Madeleine being absent from a group trip to the beach.

He also explained how, as the sole crèche nanny for Madeleine, Catriona Baker would have been in a very good position to pretend that Madeleine had been attending the crèche, when she wasn’t. He gave instances of contradictions in Catriona Baker’s evidence.

He did not suggest in his film that the McCanns ‘paraded around a fake Madeleine’, so that is another false charge levelled against Hall by Brown.

POINTS 8 AND 9

We can conveniently take Brown’s Points 8 and 9 together. She says that Hall is wrong because “Nannies would have to be coerced into lying [and] creche paperwork would have to be forged”. Hall’s answer is that it needed only the co-operation of Catriona Baker, as the sole nanny of Madeleine’s ‘Lobsters’ group, to agree to allow Madeleine to appear in the daily crèche register. No other nanny needed to be involved. No other crèche records had to be falsified.

It is admittedly a serious accusation to suggest that Catriona Baker could have done that. In support of his accusation, Hall produced indications, but not amounting to strict proof, that Catriona Baker and the McCanns may have known each other before that holiday.

POINT 10

I addressed Brown’s Point 10 above. Yes, ideally Hall could have got an expert opinion on the ‘Tennis Balls’ photo to back up his tentative claim that it may have been photoshopped.

POINT 12

I will deal with Brown’s Point 12 before examining her Point 11. Point 12 is: “Hall ignored the behaviours of the Tapas members on May 3rd”. It is by no means clear what she means by this. Hall has said quite a lot in his films about the conduct of the Tapas 7 that day. Until she makes it clear what alleged behaviours Hall has ignored on that day, it is impossible to answer her charge.

POINT 11

So, finally, to Brown’s Point 11, which is this: “The fewer people who know about a crime, the better…an earlier death requires ‘a big organisation’ behind any cover-up, requiring so many people to know the truth, and lie to the police and media. “That it would be impossible for the truth not to have come out”. This point is often made, and it is a very valid point. Hall does not explicitly address this on any of his films.

If one follows the logic of Brown’s theory of a death after 6pm on 3rd May, which is identical to that of Goncalo Amaral, then probably the only people who would know about her death would be the McCanns and their Tapas 7 friends.

If for a moment we look at Hall’s theory, which is shared by an increasing number of McCann researchers, who might have been involved in any cover-up?

Here are some considerations.

First, Hall mentions in his film the striking information that a subsidiary, Resonate, of the massive PR firm Bell Pottinger, was for some reason sent to Praia da Luz in the days before top people from Bell Pottinger descended on Praia da Luz the very day after Madeleine was reported missing. This fact was mentioned in a leading PR magazine, which also reported that the Managing Director and a colleague stayed on when the top men from Bell Pottinger arrived. These two personnel from Resonate, so the magazine reported, actively helped with liaison with the British ambassador and the British and Portuguese police. It was very helpful for them to be actually there on the ground the moment the alarm was raised about Madeleine.

Who called them in for that week, and why?

Second, for those who suspect that Robert Murat might have been actively involved in any cover-up of Madeleine’s death, how do we explain him apparently getting out of bed at nearly 2.00am on Monday 30 April to book a flight to Portugal the following morning at 7.00am? Did someone from Praia da Luz summon him from England to provide urgent assistance? The reason for his dash to Portugal has never been explained. When he was interviewed by the Portuguese police and made a suspect, he gave a demonstrably false account of his movements in the three days he was there before Madeleine was reported missing. Why? And, for that matter, why - when Gerry McCann was asked, very early on, ‘Do you already know Robert Murat?’ – did he reply: “I am not going to comment on that”, instead of simply answering ‘No’?

A third indication comes from the statement of Nuno Lourenco, which Hall covered in his second major Madeleine film. He showed how a Polish visitor, Wojcheich Krokowski, was deliberately ‘fitted up’ by Lourenco as a possible suspect for Madeleine’s abduction. This must have been planned in conjunction with others. Moreover, coming back to Murat again, Krokowski was a holidaymaker that same week in the Sol e Mar apartments, run by a company connected to Murat, and hairs of the same haplotype as Murat were also found in Krokowski’s Sol e Mar apartment. Krokowski and his wife also ate many meals at the Burgau beach bar, owned and managed by Murat’s aunt and uncle, Sally and Ralph Eveleigh.

A fourth indication is the rapid deployment of the Head of Risk for PT firm Bell Pottinger, Alex Woolfall, who was dispatched to Praia da Luz on the very day after Madeleine was reported missing. Why was he there in Praia da Luz on Friday 4 May? What was so urgent? – Madeleine could have been discovered alive even as he was on the plane to Portugal.

Woolfall’s and Bell Pottinger‘s clients were Mark Warner, who organised this holiday at the Ocean Club. Why did Bell Pottinger need to send over their top man to Praia da Luz. Was the disappearance of Madeleine McCann connected in some way with goings-on during that holiday? The question must be asked.

And what did Alex Woolfall do when he got there? As we saw carefully explained in Hall’s film, he spent time sorting through the SD cards of Gerry McCann’s camera, and may be others, deleting them here, cropping them there, and so on.

And a fifth indication of those who might have been involved in any cover-up actually comes from Brown’s words herself.

Earlier, as I noted above, she wrote:

“There is evidence that there is some quite unusual level of political support for the McCanns and a huge amount of media, money and resources used in this case of a missing child that far surpasses any in probably the entire history of mankind”.

Hall, by looking in detail at the evidence, has addressed this point and provided explanations for it in his three films. Brown has not.

One hopes that Brown will return soon to the subject of this very deep mystery, and try to answer, in detail, the mass of evidence that Hall has taken the trouble to set out in his films.


http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t12523-pat-brown-versus-richard-hall-on-madeleine-mccann-which-one-is-ignoring-the-evidence

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