Maddy, nieuwe verhoren van de Tapas 7.

quote:

Portuguese Police in UK, MEP, and denials

Well, it has been a busy week in the McCann camp with the Portuguese police arriving in UK on Monday, interviewing Jane Tanner and Russell O’Brien on Tuesday for a gruelling 10 hours and apparently interviewed Fiona and David Payne from Leicester yesterday.

And while all this is going on the McCann couple have flitted off to to Brussels to give a presentation to MEPs at the European Parliament in Brussels with regard the Amber Alert System which (the McCanns say) “such a system could have helped find their daughter Madeleine in the crucial hours after she went missing.”

Of course, that’s a silly statement to make considering Madeleine was apparently found missing from the McCanns Praia da Luz apartment nearly an hour after Gerry McCann purports to have checked her at 9:15pm, the fact that the only witness was Jane Tanner who cannot decide whether or not the faceless ‘abductor’ was carrying a bundle wrapped in a blanket or a child wearing pyjamas with a pinky hue. Not to mention the fact that there was no car and therefore no number plates to report. If Madeleine was abducted then just how the Amber Alert would have worked in the case of Madeleine McCann is beyond me.

But, with that bit of useless news aside – The McCanns appear to be (after spinning their vows of returning to Portugal for the ‘anniversary’ of Madeleine’s disappearance) backing down from the offer of the Portuguese police to return to Portugal to reconstruct the night of May 3rd. Remember these apparent ‘brave’ statements?

quote:

* Happy to return to Portugal Telegraph - December 6 2007
* The McCanns will go back even if arrested says friend Liverpool Daily Post Sept 2007
* We will go to Portugal to mark anniversary Daily Mail April 4th 2008

Really? So why are the McCanns and Team McCann already compiling their excuses for a refusal? Evening Standard
"A friend of the couple said: "Kate is upset. There's been no sense of concern for her feelings or the anguish it will cause her. "On an emotional level she is not sure she can go through with it." Sky News
We will take lie detector test – Sept 2007 Channel 4 News en de Daily Mail.
In other words, they lied. Says it all really.

quote:

RTP Video report from Sandra Felgueiras Video link here

09 - 04 - 2008
Sandra Felqueiras

(Note: A short segment of this video is in English)

In Portuguese, Sandra says that the McCanns heard on the way to Brussels that their Portuguese lawyers have accepted that they will return to Praia da Luz on 15-16 May. She adds that the PJ are saying that they know nothing but she says that already yesterday it was obvious there was a disagreement.

The video then proceeds with a short interview with Clarence Mitchell, presumably filmed yesterday to highlight signs of the disagreement. Sandra says to Clarence Mitchell that Rogério Alves, one of the McCanns Portuguese lawyers, has said he wants the McCanns to return to Praia da Luz but Mr Mitchell denies any decisions have yet been made.

She says that the PJ don't really expect them there, and they know very well that they will stay arguido until the end of the enquiry.

Sandra Felgueiras from RTP (Portuguese report), 09 April 2008
RTP Video report from Sandra Felgueiras Video link here

09 - 04 - 2008
Sandra Felqueiras

Part translation from the video:

"Silence is the key to the success of this mission of the PJ on UK soil, so the coordinator of the Madeleine case has already assured us that the testimonies given by the seven friends of the McCanns to Leicestershire police will be maintained in secret.

"RTP knows that the reconstitution of the events involving the group, in the hours preceding the disappearance of Madeleine, only makes sense if by the end of this week contradictions persist. But for the PJ it is inconceivable that the McCanns feel that it is possible to negotiate with the Portuguese legal system."

"A source connected to the investigation informed us that the McCanns know very well that their arguido status will not be removed until the trial. Since neither the McCanns nor their friends can be forced to return to PDL, most probably, this diligence will never take place. Also, PJ assumes that they would never accept the conditions imposed by Kate and Gerry McCann." Bron

quote:

Kate McCann admitted they left their daughter Madeleine alone and crying in their holiday apartment on the night before she disappeared, it has been reported.

The accusations stem from leaked statements apparently given by the couple to police in the immediate aftermath of the incident in May last year.

Portuguese police - who are believed to be infuriated by the McCanns' political influence and by Prime Minister Gordon Brown's interest in the case - apparently leaked the statements to coincide with the couple's visit to the European Parliament.

quote:

Excerpts from the statements were broadcast by the Spanish station Telecinco, including a section of Mrs McCann's statement in which she allegedly said Madeleine was left crying in the family's holiday apartment on the night before she vanished.

She was reported to have told police that Madeleine remonstrated with her over breakfast the next day, asking why her mother had not come to her room to comfort her. In the statement, Mrs McCann, 40, and her husband allegedly agreed they should be more vigilant.

quote:

Their spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, refused to confirm if the leaked statements were genuine. He said: "I am not going to confirm or deny the content of any statements Gerry and Kate have made. "But we are extremely concerned such material, if it is authentic, has apparently been leaked."

quote:

Madeleine McCann asked her mother just hours before her disappearance: "Why didn't you come when we were crying last night?", it was revealed today.

The three-year-old's stark question emerged amid leaked passages from police interviews given by Kate and Gerry McCann directly after their daughter's disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal last May. The couple, who were in Brussels today to launch a bid for a Europe-wide missing child alert system, were angered by the timing of the leak and were convinced it was a "blatant" attempt to smear them.

They called for the Portuguese Justice Ministry to launch an internal investigation into the revelations which would be a serious breach of the country's strict judicial secrecy laws. One furious friend said: "The minute that you talk about Madeleine crying is the minute that the vultures will pile in, that's why this has been leaked."

Madeleine, who disappeared just days before her fourth birthday, went missing from the McCanns' holiday apartment on the night of May 3 while the couple were eating tapas with friends nearby. In her first interview with Portuguese detectives, Mrs McCann spoke about a conversation she had with Madeleine just that morning.

"While we were having breakfast, Madeleine said: 'Mum, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?'," she told police. She added: "Gerry and I talked about it for several minutes and decided to watch over the children more carefully at night."

Friends of the McCanns said tonight that the couple had been "puzzled" by Madeleine's remark at the time as she had not apparently been crying when they called in for regular 20-minute checks from the restaurant across the pool where they dined each night during their holiday. They said that one of the McCanns' friends Rachael Oldfield, had been in the adjoining flat - on the other side of Madeleine's wall - all evening and had not heard any crying.

The couple also insist Madeleine was not speaking angrily and they did not take it as a reproach. Her reference to "we" is understood to have referred to Madeleine and her younger brother Sean. Friends said they now believe the comment could even be a clue that an intruder was in the flat on the night of May 2 and briefly disturbed Madeleine and Sean before fleeing.

The Policia Judiciaria interviews were leaked through journalist Nacho Abad, of Spanish television programme Ana Rosa Quintana. The McCanns' spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry have been utterly honest and utterly open with the police and all of their statements from the moment that Madeleine was taken.

"The very fact that the comment from Madeleine is now in the public domain is entirely because they themselves told the police about it at the time. "It is more than curious that this comment, taken in isolation and out of context, that has been in the police file for some 11 months, should now emerge on the very day that they are in Brussels trying to improve children's welfare and child safety.

"They would be more than interested to know if the Portuguese justice ministry will now demand an internal review of the police investigation to get to the bottom of how this material emerged in the way it has, on the day it has. "Kate and Gerry have been subjected to leaks and smears from day one and I'm afraid this has all the hallmarks of yet another poor attempt to influence the headlines on the very day that they are seeking to achieve some good in Europe."

quote:

8th September 2007
Mrs Fenn also told detectives two days before Madeleine disappeared that the youngster had kept neighbours awake desperately screaming for her father until nearly midnight. She heard the youngster shouting “Dad” from 10.30pm until 11.45pm and added she was shocked such a young child had been left apparently alone for so long late at night. http://www.dailystar.co.u(...)-blood-found-in-car/

14th September 2007
Did you ever lose your temper with the children?
Pamela Fenn, 81, who lives in the flat above, is reported to have heard Madeleine crying for her 'daddy' and sounds of 'violence'. Mrs Fenn has since denied she told police any such thing. But Mrs McCann will be asked whether she ever lost her temper with the children. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=481705&in_page_id=1811

August 18,2007
Ook over de vermeende inbraken en de huilende Madeleine.
http://www.express.co.uk/(...)was-never-questioned

August 23,2007
Widow Mrs Fenn told police that two nights before Madeleine went missing she heard a little girl in the apartment crying for over an hour. She said the toddler, who is believed to have been Madeleine, was crying “Daddy, daddy” constantly between 10.30 and 11.45pm. The crying had stopped when the parents returned to the apartment. On the night Madeleine disappeared, Mrs Fenn also heard a child crying, but it was when Kate returned from a nearby restaurant to check on her daughter that she was first aware something was wrong. A source close to Mrs Fenn said: “She often sits on the balcony at night and heard a commotion downstairs. http://express.lineone.ne(...)-let-Madeleine-down-

13th September 2007
Pamela Fenn, 81, lives above the apartment where Madeleine disappeared and is reported to have told police she heard Madeleine screaming below. But yesterday she broke her silence to say it was "absolute rubbish" she had made any such claims to police. Mrs Fenn said: "I didn't even know that family was in there." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=481485&in_page_id=1770

12th September 2007
Pamela Fenn, who was in an apartment above the family on May 3 - the night Madeleine disappeared - is quoted as saying she believed Mrs McCann sometimes became violent and "out of control" in the room below. She claimed that "the little girl's screams calling for her daddy were very audible". http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=481168&in_page_id=181

quote:

Tapas Seven demanded private jet and 5-star hotels to return to Portugal for Madeleine questioning, Portuguese police claim

Last updated at 13:29pm on 11th April 2008


Portuguese police trying to stage a reconstruction of the night Madeleine McCann disappeared claim to have hit a stumbling block.

The "Tapas Seven" - the friends dining with Gerry and Kate McCann last May - have allegedly refused to travel to the country unless extravagant demands, such as private jet travel and five-star hotel accommodation, are met.

Judicial sources in Portugal told the newspaper 24 horas that the families had demanded the ultra-expensive flights to the Algarve for them and their children as a condition of returning.

Friends of Kate and Gerry McCann (clockwise from top left): Fiona Payne, Jane Tanner, Russell O'Brien and Rachael Oldfield

One said: "Requests for cooperation were sent to various people living outside of Portugal, namely the McCanns, the seven friends they were having tapas with the night Madeleine disappeared, the two spokespeople they had, a friend Gerry McCann was playing tennis with and another friend, Jeremy Wilkins.

"We've already received several responses. No one's said 'no'.

"But the demands they make to return are impossible to entertain.

"One of the couples demanded a private jet to travel with their children to the Algarve. Another demanded they be put up in a five-star hotel.

"The demands they all made demonstrate a clear strategy by lawyers. The only thing missing from the list was a request that we send them to the moon on skates."

quote:

"Mr Mitchell spoke out as chief investigator Paulo Rebelo was returning to the Algarve for a crunch meeting with the private prosecutor who holds the future of the McCanns in his hands.

Mr Rebelo was due to give Portimao public prosecutor Jose Magalhaes e Menezes a detailed run-down of his three-day trip to Britain to sit in on fresh interviews with the couple's holiday friends.

The meeting is expected to be crucial in determining whether Madeleine's parents remain official police suspects."The meeting is expected to be crucial in determining whether Madeleine's parents remain official police suspects. An investigating judge is expected to life a secrecy order on the case on May 15 unless prosecutors ask for a three-month extension. The McCanns could then demand they are either charged or cleared." Evening Standard

quote:

'Why I believe the McCanns' team were behind the leaking of police statements (This article is presented as a personal viewpoint on the current furore surrounding the leaking of police statements to Telecinco)

"At the moment there is nothing to say regarding the case. We are working well. The rest is a soap opera." Alipio Ribeiro to Expresso on 17 November 2007

When considering where the 'leak' to Spanish programme Telecinco came from we must first look at the advantages and disadvantages of such a leak to the McCanns.

Advantages

Opportunity to smear the PJ by blaming them for the leak – with the bonus that the PJ are unable and unwilling to respond,

Opportunity to make a statement direct to the PJ, about the events of May 3rd - through the media - which had been denied them when they were not called for interview,

Revenge for missed opportunity to milk such interviews for PR effect,

Opportunity to reaffirm their timeline for May 3rd,

Opportunity to reaffirm that Madeleine was still alive on the morning of May 3rd,

An opportunity to account for the cries of Madeleine that were heard by Mrs Pamela Fenn, as well as…

The chance to show that they reacted as responsible parents, when it was said that "Gerry and I spoke for a couple of minutes and agreed to keep a closer watch over the children."

The opportunity to distract and divert attention away from the ongoing interviews of the Tapas Group,

The chance to order an internal review of the PJ and contribute to further distractions and consuming of PJ time and resources,

Substance to any possible claim they would not get a fair trial due to the adverse publicity.

The chance to use the "smear" as a reason to refuse to return to Portugal to participate in a reconstruction.

Disadvantages

Adverse newspaper headlines and public opinion,

Distraction from the McCanns trip to Brussels to champion the Amber Alert System

As you see, the advantages of such a leak to the McCanns massively outweigh the two disadvantages, neither of which have any bearing on the actual case against the McCanns.

There is no doubt that during the early days of the investigation leaks found their way into the public domain from certain ‘sources’. This was stopped completely when Paulo Rebelo took charge of the investigation on 08 October 2007. Since then there have been no leaks.

So, the question must be asked, why, after 6 months of running a water tight ship, against waves of abuse and derision from the McCanns, their supporters and certain elements of the UK press, should the PJ see any possible advantage to leaking such information now? The answer is simple. None. The very idea is, to quote Clarence Mitchell, ludicrous.

The PJ have steadfastly gathered their case against the McCanns and the British government has aided the process, eventually, by agreeing to the rogatory letter and further interviewing of the Tapas Group and other witnesses. The process is continuing with the full blessing of all those who have access to whatever evidence is held and who know the case.

To believe that they would throw that all in the air for the sake of one days newspaper headlines is completely ridiculous. This is not a soap opera. This is the investigation into the disappearance and probable death of a 3-year old girl.

So, what advantage is there in getting the McCanns timeline into the public domain and before the PJ’s watching eyes?

Well, it has to be said, there was very little in this leak that wasn’t already in the public domain courtesy of David James Smith’s article in The Times of 17 December 2007. That article showed such fine detail that it could have only come from the McCanns themselves – in effect, leaking their own timeline.

Consider this section of the article:

Gerry paused over Madeleine, who – a typical doctor’s observation, this – was lying almost in “the recovery position” with Cuddle Cat, the toy her godfather, John Corner, had bought her, and her comfort blanket up near her head, and Gerry thought how gorgeous, how lovely-looking she was and how lucky he was. Putting the door back to five degrees, he went to the loo and left to return to the restaurant. That, of course, was the last time he would see his daughter.

This is a virtual word for word copy of what we are now told is Gerry’s original police statement.

So, if this is 'old news', what can we say is new in the leak to Telecinco?

Four things:

1) That Madeleine complained about being left to cry on the previous night and that she addressed this issue over breakfast with Kate and Gerry,

2) Gerry opened the shutters further and that this was easy to do (explaining the presence of any fingerprints that may have been found),

3) That work was done on the shutters in the main bedroom which were broken, and

4) That Jane Tanner believed the man she saw walking away from the McCanns' apartment was the child’s father

I believe that this 'revelation' about Madeleine crying has been very carefully considered. We know that Mrs Pamela Fenn has made a police statement saying that she heard crying from the apartment on a previous night and that this needs to be addressed and explained by the McCanns.

(Note: The common myth that Mrs Fenn subsequently retracted her statement and said she heard no crying is false. What she actually said was that she heard no crying on the night Madeleine was reported missing – she did not deny hearing crying previously).

So, it is clear, the McCanns need to let the PJ know their explanation for this reported crying. They can’t do it in a police interview because they haven’t been called. Their only option? A leak to the media.

Maybe this was one of the questions they were allegedly unable to answer previously and they have now, after nearly a year, remembered.

If the McCanns have felt the need to leak this information now, would this not also imply that this information is crucial to the investigation? Why do they feel compelled to provide cover for screaming on a previous night?

Madeleine, so far as we are led to believe by the McCanns, did not go missing on a previous night, so this would appear to be purely circumstantial evidence. Unless there is a motive for this information being provided.

Combined with details of the 'grown up' breakfast chat with Madeleine, could this be interpreted as an attempt by the McCanns to convince the PJ that Madeleine was still alive on the morning of May 3rd?

We also hear, in this leak, further information about the state of the bedroom window:

"When I went to see Maddie I realised that she was not there, I looked in all the apartment, I returned to the children's room and at that time I saw the curtains move leaving visible to me that the blind was opened up. I went to the window and opened the curtains to see if she had climbed out there but I did not see any trace of her. I do not know whether or not I closed the window at the time," says Maddie's mother. "In shock I ran to Tapas Bar and shouted to Gerry: 'Maddie is not here, someone has taken her'."

In that instant all started rushing to look for the little girl. "When Kate came running and said, 'Maddie is not here, somebody has taken her', I thought that it could not be. I rushed to the apartment by the same path as always. I looked everywhere, I went back to the kids' room and started to think what could have happened. To my surprise I realised that one could lift the blinds without effort and almost no noise. When I went in I saw that Maddie's bed was almost untouched. The corner of the sheets was a little turned [back], the pillow, the pink cuddly toy and the piece of her blanket were almost in the same place that I last saw it."

So, one can assume from this that the curtains were drawn when Kate entered the bedroom.

Are we to believe an abductor clambered out of the bedroom window with Madeleine in his arms and then leant back through the window to pull the curtains together?

Surely unbelievable but consistent with the McCanns original story that the abductor gained entry by forcing the shutters on the windows and left by the front door, which they originally reported to friends and relatives as being left open. The 'abductor' may well have closed the curtains behind him in that scenario to hide what he was doing.

However, this explanation is found wanting when considered with the lack of evidence of a break-in and Clarence Mitchell’s confirmation on RTE’S Prime Time that "There was no evidence of a break-in".

But what of Gerry’s statement that he "realised that one could lift the blinds without effort and almost no noise." Could this be another later 'add-on' after realising that the blinds/shutters are impossible to open from the outside and that there could be fingerprints on it?

Also Gerry mentions he rushed to the apartment by 'the same path as always'. Yet it has been previously stated that this was the first night they had left the patio doors unlocked. On previous nights it has been claimed they entered by the front door, but fearing that the sound of the key in the lock would wake the sleeping children they decided that night to enter through the patio doors.

But such fine detail and knowledge of the events will be lost on casual newspaper readers who may simply have no desire or time to read further into the case than the information presented before them. So the PR damage on such fine detail is nil.

And what of the statement attributed in this leak to Jane Tanner? Does this reveal that these are not actually the original statements but later enhanced versions?

The Sun reports, in its coverage of the leak, that Jane Tanner told Portuguese police in her original statement she thought a man she spotted carrying a child moments after Madeleine disappeared, was the youngster's father.

Yet, how can this be when the original description issued by the police, and reiterated by Gerry McCann in a press statement, over two weeks later, was that the man was "carrying a child or an object that could have been taken as a child". How could there be ambiguity when Tanner had, we are led to believe through this leak, not only identified the 'object' as a child but also the carrier as the childs father?

Indeed, Martin Brunt has reported that when Jane Tanner first spoke to police she said "I'm not sure if he was carrying anything." So, is this evidence that these 'original' leaked statements, which have conveniently just appeared, are not quite as original as they seem? And who would benefit most from this?

So, what can we say about the disadvantages of such a leak as this to the McCanns?

Well, very little actually. True, for one day, a few newspaper headlines will superficially look bad for the McCanns but Clarence Mitchell has already been hard at work dismissing the reports as a 'blatant smear" by the PJ. Tomorrow will be a different set of headlines and today's papers will be lining the beds of rabbits and hamsters tomorrow.

Did the headlines the Express Group ran over a sustained period affect people’s perceptions of the case? Personally, I doubt it. Because the very next day a contrary headline would be run and people are now so anaesthetised by 'shocking' newspaper headlines in this case that they are going to shrug them off as folly until a charge is made or the case is dropped. Headlines in papers simply reinforce already held beliefs or they wash off people's backs.

That the headlines took away attention from the McCanns championing of the Amber Alert System in Brussels was really neither here nor there. The cause may well be a noble one and if it recovers one child it will have been worth it. But for the McCanns it is an expendable side issue. Something that could be comfortably sacrificed for the opportunity to sacrifice the PJ in the media.

It is also interesting to note that beyond the 'paper selling' headlines, the UK press are still using the leak to belittle and undermine public perception of the work of the PJ. The PJ have worked diligently, conscientiously and patiently in the face of continued abuse.

Clarence Mitchell has grasped this opportunity to slam the PJ for leaking these statements. And a 'friend' has grasped the opportunity to brand anyone who dares to question the McCanns as 'vultures'.

And the PJ?

Alipio Ribeiro, when interviewed by El Pais in October 2007, said this about the continued criticism of the PJ through the McCanns spokespersons:

"Yes, but they talked with the family and the press, not with the police. And it must be understood that the British press also works in this way. They made unfair remarks but we cannot react to this on a daily basis and play ping pong, the PJ against the British press. We are not interested in this game: We have a different tradition to theirs, one of less communication and the judicial secrecy that restricts us."

To suggest that the PJ are behind this leak is an insult to all the hard work and diligence they have displayed over the long months of the inquiry.

Only one group of people benefits from this leak and its fallout: The McCanns. Albeit on a superficial and short term level.

Those of us passionately concerned about securing truth and justice for Madeleine - as opposed to those whose only concern appears to be clearing the McCanns of their arguido status - should actually be heartened by the events of yesterday and today.

For it shows that the McCanns and their team have only the battlegrounds of PR and spin on which to fight.

Justice for Madeleine will not be served by a newspaper headline or a man in a pink shirt.

It will be served in law.

And that process continues...

quote:

Op zaterdag 12 april 2008 16:42 schreef kahaarin het volgende:
<knip>

Natuurlijk, om je heen gaan schoppen en preventief in de aanval, echt ouders van een vermist meisje, mensen die er alles aan willen doen om hun dochter weer gezond en wel in de armen te sluiten, niets te verbergen hebben en volledig meewerken met de PJ om de zaak op te lossen.
Vraag 1: Waarom weet de Portugese politie nog niet het hele verhaal van de aanloop naar de constatering van de vermissing?
Vraag 2: Hoe kan het dat de ouders, die nog steeds verdachten zijn, zoveel noten op hun zang hebben en steeds maar weer de behoefte voelen hun eigen kont schoon te praten ipv zich druk te maken over hun kind dat nu al bijna een jaar weg is?
Vraag 3: Wat is de rol van CM in deze zaak, maw welk belang heeft hij bij dit hele gedoe?

[ afbeelding ]
^{Not forgotten: Madeleine McCann}

quote:

Registration of FindMadeleine.com domain name extended by another 2 years to 10 May 2010, 11 April 2008
Original registration: WhoIs

Domain Name: findmadeleine.com

Status: clientDeleteProhibited, clientRenewProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Registrar: GO DADDY SOFTWARE, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com

Expiration Date: 2008-05-10
Creation Date: 2007-05-10
Last Update Date: 2007-05-15

New details, updated 17 March 2007:

Domain Name: findmadeleine.com

Status: clientDeleteProhibited, clientRenewProhibited, clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com

Expiration Date: 2010-05-10
Creation Date: 2007-05-10
Last Update Date: 2008-03-17 Bron

quote:

“The lobby surrounding the McCann is frightening” (Full story from "El Mundo", November 11, 2007) “My client must keep secret what he can do help the search for the truth and this is not due to the law secrecy in Portugal. That is is quite revealing of the strange circumstances around this case”, says the lawyer of one of the two McCann friends that were at Tapas Bar, on the night of May 3, and decided to have a close cooperation with Police, as “El Mundo” published, last Tuesday. “He is not afraid of the McCann but the economic and political lobby that exists, around that couple, frightens any person.”

“Police was called only after the group analysed the problems they could face for having left the children alone and until now, my client had no chance to talk for himself”, the London-based lawyer said. Since September, he represents one of the two friends of the McCann that contacted police and asked for an opportunity to be requestioned, in order to correct some details and discrepancies of the statements made by the group of nine persons that were on holidays at Ocean Club. “What my client wants is to get the truth out – meaning, he is not there to accuse or to clear anyone, that's a police job. He just wants to help police to know the truth about what happened before, during and after that diner, on May 3.”

Asked to comment the denial from Clarence Mitchell, the McCann spokesman who claimed he has been in touch with all the seven McCann friends and all of them told they gave no instructions to their lawyers to contact police and be requestioned, the British lawyer said: “When you look at all the pressure that has been put up over him and others, it's natural that my client would not tell Clarence Mitchell he decided to have his own legal representation and a more close cooperation with police.”

A strong critic of the Media frenzy about Madeleine's disappearance, the lawyer of this member of Tapas group considers that the case is “much more serious” than most people thinks: “I don't want to accuse anyone, but there are people close to the McCann that is not really helping them. However, my client intention is to bring the truth out, in this sad story, no matter who gets hurt.”

The support the McCann had from the Government is another aspect the lawyer criticises: “I understand that our Government had the legal obligation to help the McCann. What I don't understand is that they received such a help that goes further and over anything that would be normal, for a case like this. But, since the the first hours, it was clear that Madeleine's case was not just a normal police case. My client had no support, at all, from the British authorities – only through the McCann couple.”

Questioned about the British Government involvement and political connections related with the case, the London-based lawyer said: “It's not my job to explain why and how politicians had intervened in this case, but I'm afraid that those interventions have been prejudicial not only to my client, but also to the search for the truth.” Joana Morais

quote:

Portugal's top policeman has told friends of Kate and Gerry McCann of his regret that witness statements by the couple were leaked to the media.

One excerpt suggested that on the morning of her disappearance, Madeleine said: "Mummy, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?" The couple were furious and have accused the Portuguese police of attempting to slur them as they approach the anniversary of their daughter's disappearance on May 3.

Heartbroken: The McCanns are outraged by the latest leaks from the Portuguese police, which were timed to derail their trip to the European Parliament in Brussels this week he leak to a Spanish television station overshadowed the McCanns' visit on Thursday to Brussels where they called for a European rapid alert system for abducted children.

But it was revealed yesterday that Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the Policia Judiciaria, had interrupted interviews in Leicestershire with the "Tapas Seven" to tell the McCanns' friends of his own anger at the leak. Mr Ribeiro returned a day early to Portugal on Friday after several days interrogating the friends who were on holiday with the McCanns in Praia da Luz last year.

A source said: "The matter came up in the interviews with Kate and Gerry's friends and Ribeiro was embarrassed by it. "The leaks came as he was out of the country and he was angry about it. He also referred to it when speaking with Leicestershire police."

One of the McCanns' friends, Jane Tanner, who claimed to have seen a man carrying Madeleine away on the night of the child's disappearance, endured ten hours of questioning by Leicestershire police. Yesterday she spoke out against claims in Portuguese newspapers that she and her friends had demanded a private plane to take them back to Praia da Luz for a reconstruction requested by the Portuguese authorities.

"If it wasn't such a serious matter, some of the things that are being said about us would be laughable," she said. "The authorities should be out there looking for Madeleine rather than being distracted by any of these ridiculous and made-up stories about us."

Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday has learned that Robert Murat will remain a formal suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann for at least a further three months. The 34-year-old had hoped that the decision by the Portuguese police to allow him to travel to visit his daughter in Britain two weeks ago was a sign that the "arguido" status was soon to be lifted.

However, Mr Murat has been informed that his suspect status will be extended until August when the McCanns' similar arguido status will also be considered. It also appears that the McCanns are not planning to return to Portugal for the reconstruction. They do not believe there would be any purpose to it unless filmed as part of a Crimewatch-style programme but that has been ruled out by the authorities.

* Note: In this article, the Daily Mail has incorrectly identified Alipio Ribeiro as being the Portuguese officer involved. Although he is the national director of the PJ, this should read Paulo Rebelo who was the officer in attendance at the Tapas Group interviews. This is either poorly researched journalism or it reveals that the source for this story has a weak knowledge of the case. It is worth noting that there are no direct quotes in this article from any PJ officers. Bron

quote:

British media face record payout as family of 'arguido' demand public apology and damages

Mark Townsend and Ned Temko The Observer, Sunday April 13 2008
This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday April 13 2008 on p3 of the News section.
It was last updated at 00:06 on April 13 2008.

A British expatriate who was named as a formal suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is launching one of the largest libel claims in the history of the British media.

Robert Murat lists 11 newspapers and one TV station in his demand for damages, which litigation lawyers believe could lead to a record cumulative payout of more than £2m. It is the largest number of separate libel claims made by one person against the British media on the same issue.

Murat, 34, who lived close to the Praia da Luz apartment in Portugal where Madeleine went missing, was made an arguido, or formal suspect, after a British tabloid reporter voiced her concerns to Portuguese police shortly after the child disappeared. The Sunday Mirror journalist claimed that Murat's behaviour was reminiscent of Soham murderer Ian Huntley.

Almost a year after Madeleine's disappearance, the Murat family are now seeking a formal public apology and undisclosed damages from the British media in light of what one relative yesterday described as 'unfair stains on the name of a man against whom there is not a shred of evidence'. They are understood to be particularly aggrieved at sections of the British press which repeated a range of 'outlandish' and frequently lurid allegations that appeared in the Portuguese press after he was named an arguido.

A statement from a London-based firm of solicitors, Simons Muirhead and Burton, confirmed it was 'representing Robert Murat in respect of a number of libel actions against Sky, the Daily Express, the Sunday Express, the Daily Star, the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, the Metro, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the News of the World, the Sun and the Scotsman'. Simons Muirhead and Burton, which specialises in media litigation, would not comment further on the case. Media lawyer and litigation expert Caroline Kean of media law specialists Wiggin said that if Murat successfully argued that the articles inferred that he was involved in the abduction or murder of Madeleine then his claims could result in a record payout. 'You could expect at least £200,000 per paper, per claim, and that would clear £2m,' she said.

quote:

Sources close to Murat said a number of graphic and damaging claims made in the British press were never substantiated and in at least one case - the allegation that there were pornographic images on his computer - have led to a media correction in Portugal. His family are also upset about a number of other reports by the British papers or on TV - including what they say was an utterly untrue suggestion that Murat has a glass eye and had removed it 'as a party trick' while at school.

Although Murat, 34, remains an arguido, police recently returned a computer, clothing and other items taken by police from the Murat home, where he lives with his mother Jennifer less than 100 metres from the apartment where Madeleine disappeared.

In addition, Portuguese police have approved an extended trip to England to visit his three-year-old daughter - raising the Murat family's hopes that his arguido status will soon be ended. Murat has always vehemently denied any involvement with the disappearance of Madeleine with some believing he is merely a maligned scapegoat in a bungled investigation.

It is not surprising that the media is now facing a huge damages claim, as it was British journalists who first suggested Murat might be involved in Madeleine's disappearance. Sunday Mirror reporter Lori Campbell wrote an article headlined 'Why I shopped Maddy suspect' in which she claimed: 'There was an evasiveness and unease about Murat that left me feeling extremely uncomfortable.' Murat, a self-employed property developer, told her that he was assisting the police and had offered his services as a translator.

On 14 May 2007, Murat was questioned by Portuguese police and became the first person to be declared an official suspect. On the same day Campbell told Sky News: 'It was just very reminiscent of the Soham murders, that was my first thought. He was hanging around, asking us questions and maybe trying to find out what we knew.'

The following day police seized laptops and other material. For almost four months Murat remained the only arguido. Then in a dramatic development in early September Portuguese police named Madeleine's parents - Kate and Gerry - as arguidos, a move that sparked a slew of allegations against the couple. Last month Express Newspapers issued front-page apologies to Madeleine's parents and paid £550,000 to the Find Madeleine campaign. The McCanns have refused to rule out libel action against other publications. Bron

quote:

THE most significant witness in the hunt for Maddie McCann has withdrawn her statement according to Portuguese newspaper reports.

Jane Tanner, 37, who had said she saw the man who took Maddie on the night of her disappearance has withdrawn her statement, 24 Horas claims. She has told Portuguese authorities she can no longer be sure the man she saw was carrying Madeleine.

According the the respected newspaper 'Jane Tanner saw a man but cannot say with precision what he was carrying'. Jane, one of the so-called Tapas Nine, had given detectives a detailed description of a man she saw, close to the ground floor corner apartment where the McCanns were staying on the night of her disappearance. She told them he was carrying a child wearing pink pyjamas -- the same thing Maddie was wearing that night.

Based on her account, the McCanns produced an artist's impression of the man, in the hope that it might jog the memory of other holidaymakers. The information was also used by police and private detectives employed by the McCann's in the search for Maddie.

The leaked story will be a massive blow to Kate and Gerry McCann as they try to renew the search for their daughter nearly a year after her disappearance. The pair were already considering pulling out of plans to return to Portugal to help police reconstruct the events around their daughter Madeleine's disappearance amid a furious row over leaked interviews.

The McCanns believe transcripts of statements they gave to detectives in the hours after their daughter went missing on May 3 last year were deliberately slipped to the media by the Portuguese authorities. The excerpts include the disclosure that Madeleine and her brother Sean apparently woke up crying the night before the three-year-old's disappearance, but her parents did not hear her as they were in a nearby restaurant.

The interviews disclosed that Madeleine asked Kate, 39, at breakfast on May 3: "Mummy, why didn't you come when we were crying last night?" The couple are demanding a full internal investigation from the Portuguese Ministry of Justice into whether the detail was deliberately passed to a Spanish journalist to "smear" them on the day they launched a campaign in Brussels for a new Europe-wide child alert system.

Their local MP Stephen Dorrell has pledged to raise the matter with the Foreign Office and it is understood the McCanns' Portuguese lawyers will be protesting to the relevant authorities there. Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell called for the Portuguese government to "get a grip" of the leaks.

It emerged yesterday that Paulo Rebelo, the detective leading the case, has already flown back to Portugal from the UK - a day earlier than expected. Mr Mitchell said he hoped this meant Mr Rebelo had gone back "to crack some skulls".
His team of Portuguese police has been in the UK all week sitting in on interviews with the McCanns' friends who were dining with them at the time of Madeleine's disappearance. Bron + 24 Horas

quote:

Op zondag 13 april 2008 15:05 schreef kahaarin het volgende:

>knip<

Dat registreren komt imho bij de McCanns weg, die willen weten wie er commentaar heeft en als mensen die niet geregistreerd staan delen van commentaren copieren en verder verspreiden (zoals wij doen. ) hebben ze daar geen controle op.

Het is inderdaad naar om te zien hoe de Tapas 7 onder controle staan, Jane heeft nu toe moeten geven dat ze niet zeker weet dat ze iemand met Maddy heeft zien lopen, hopelijk hebben de anderen ook geen blad voor de mond gehouden tijdens de verhoren en hebben ze meer duidelijkheid kunnen scheppen.
Echt misselijkmakend dat die zo onder druk worden gezet om maar vooral niet tegen de McCanns te doen.
Zoals het nu lijkt heeft team McCann dingen gelekt die niet zo schadelijk zijn en is de pers daar bovenop gedoken, als er nu nog meer, wel schadelijke, info lekt kunnen ze roepen dat het onderzoek niet eerlijk verloopt, heel slim van CM, hopelijk vinden ze degene die heeft gelekt (ik denk ook dat metodo3 er een vinger in de pap heeft) , dan kan de PJ zeggen dat het niet uit zijn politieapparaat is gelekt, dan hebben de McConns geen poot om op te staan.

quote:

Note:
1) This report is completely without foundation and based on the two words 'expected' and 'likely' and the unquoted words of an unnamed source.

2) The headline places 'found no new evidence' in parenthesis, to imply the words are a direct quote. Yet those words are not a direct quote - they have been written by the Mail themselves based on the words of this unnamed source who may, or may not, have actually said them.

3) This is a sensational claim - why would the source wish to remain anonymous? The only explanation is that they do not wish their name to be identified with something that has no basis in fact.

4) Yet again, the Mail, and their unnamed source, are unable to differentiate between Paulo Rebelo and Alipio Ribeiro.

5) Jane Tanner is quoted as follows: "If it wasn't such a serious matter, some of the things that are being said about us would be laughable," she said. "The authorities should be out there looking for Madeleine rather than being distracted by any of these ridiculous and made-up stories about us."

- The quote is presented in this article as a direct response to claims that the Tapas Seven wanted a private jet and 5-star hotels to return to Portugal for a reconstruction.

Yet, in the article that follows, in The People, it suggests the quote is a direct response to the recent police interviews and is used in that article to counter claims that Jane Tanner has changed her statement!

The article in the Sunday Mirror, further below by Lori Campbell, uses the quote ambiguously - mentioning both the claims that the Tapas Seven requested jets and 5-star hotels, as well as the claims that the police interviews yielded nothing new - and chooses not to directly link the quote to either but, in doing so, implies the quote is provided in support of the articles headline.

Interestingly, the words used in this quote, attributed to Ms Tanner, mirror very closely the statement made by Clarence Mitchell when he took over as full-time spokesman for the McCanns.

quote:

Op zondag 13 april 2008 20:42 schreef roooosje het volgende:
Waar zou ze toch zijn .