Of course this crime exists everywhere and at all levels in society. Nobody with an ounce of common sense would deny that.

This is about the fact that a child disappeared from an apartment in Praia da Luz. Nobody has yet found her. IF she was taken by paedophiles, he/she/they could well be British but, equally, could be Portuguese or Spanish, or, indeed, any nationality.

IF it might just seem likely that, in this particular case, the criminals WERE “local”, that would not mean that equally heinous crimes don’t happen in the UK and elsewhere. This one took place in Portugal so surely we cannot rule out the possibility of a Portuguese criminal?

I presume this is why the McCanns are concentrating their next efforts on the Iberian peninsula whilst not, of course, ignoring totally other countries. Maybe they just feel that such criminals would not give themselves more travel than was necessary? It’s a reasonable starting point in a needle-in-a-haystack search. Obviously there are other nationalities living in the Iberian peninsula anyway.

Please let’s not allow this to become a stupid battle between countries! We should be together on this. The child is missing. The parents deserve to know what happened to her.

I notice that the McCanns, having first been criticised for NOT using enough of the fund to look for Madeleine (because they were saving it for themselves?!?!?!?!?!) are now being criticised for USING it for precisely that.

Whatever they do, the McCanns will be criticised by a certain section of society. It looks to me as though they have been, very appropriately, extremely careful to be sparing in the use of the money, particularly while still relying mainly on the police to conduct the investigation and while still actively hoping for an early resolution. It was their intention, as soon as Madeleine was found, to make sure the money was used in some way to help other missing children. That is built into the formal framework of the fund which can be read by anyone. They did not ask to use money in this fund for legal expenses even though it would have been legal to do so provided it was repaid in the event of a guilty verdict. I don’t see what more they could have done. Apparently it is illegal in Portugal to launch a private investigation while a formal police investigation is going on (I only know this from press reports, though) so they couldn’t have used the money for that, even if they thought private investigators would do a better a job than the police. They may not have thought that anyway. I personally would have wanted the police to deal with the case if my child had disappeared. They generally have the experince, authority, resources, contacts etc. to do the best job.

When people gave to the fund, presumably they were allowing the campaign organisers to decide how best to use the money. There were no strings attached from that point of view. Surely nobody gave with the proviso that their donation was only to be used in a certain way? I gave to the fund, as did countless others. I assumed it would be used in the most effective way that advisers to the campaign could devise. I would not have suspected the parents of wishing to waste money given to help them find their child! There is openness about how the money is being used, no attempts at secrecy. Look at the recent announcement by Gerry McCann’s brother.

If not a lot was used earlier, it should be remembered that many people gave their services free to the McCanns to help them in their campaign.

But the McCanns will still be criticised, whatever they do.

Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Antonio Toscano cruel hoax about Madeleine’s kidnapper identity
——————————————————————-
Spanish CID (“Policia Judicial”) Press Office :
“WE DON’T KNOW MR. ANTONIO TOSCANO”
——————————————————————-
Antonio Toscano, the investigative journalist who, interviewed yesterday by Daily Express, said that he was “100 per cent certain” he knew the identity of Madeleine McCann’s kidnapper, is also an “expert in satanic groups”, according to an interview he gave to another Spanish daily, La Opinion de Murcia, who calls him “one of the greater experts in the study of satanic groups in Spain”, emphazising that “he is a regular colaborator of special units of Spanish Police Force, in charge of the investigation of those satanic sects.”
(…)
But the “Gabinete de Prensa” (Press Office) of Spanish CID (“Policia Judicial) contacted by Gazeta Digital, one hour ago, said that Mr. António Toscano is “a person unknown to that Spanish Police force”.

Paulo Reis
(Editor - Gazeta Digital)
Email: pjcv.reis@gmail.com
Yahoo Messenger – paulo_j_reis
Windows L Messenger – pjcv_reis
“BLOGGING ABOUT MADELEINE MCCANN’S CASE” (Last updated: 14:44 pm, June 13 - 2007)
http://gazetadigital.blogspot.com

Secondly, Jane dear, no I did not suggest that sex crimes did NOT exist in the UK. No dear, sorry to disappoint you but I’m not an idiot. You however are beyond disgustingly condescending and for that you get patronized dear, dismissed dear, you can speak to the hand dear. You’re just too too like eating an unripened persimmon….how yuck.

Third, I’m not from the UK, I’m from the US, Susy, where sadly we have or own fair share of Pedophiles, abusive parents, and abusive clergy. The pedophiles here visit your countries quite often because of the lacked laws. Like this one for instance “It is not the same to carry out the described acts …with a child of 5, 6, or seven as it is with one of 13 years”, the court ruled on its Web site”. Some HIGH RANKING OFFICIAL in PORTUGAL made this ruling. Hmmmm, I wonder if he was related to the Ambassador involved in the Casa Pia case?…..I guess this is one way to increase tourism….if you can’t find them, invite them.

This minute BS is so not worth getting your panties in a bunch over. I’m really more concerend with harsher penalties for these freaks.

May 29, 2007…
LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal’s highest court cut the jail sentence on a convicted pedophile, causing outrage on Tuesday in a country sensitive to the plight of children after the abduction of a 4-year-old British girl.

The Supreme Court accepted a plea by the pedophile that abusing a 13-year-old — one of his victims — was not as serious as abusing a younger child.

“It is not the same to carry out the described acts … with a child of 5, 6, or seven as it is with one of 13 years”, the court ruled on its Web site.

It reduced his prison sentence from seven to five years.

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The ruling took on added significance given the high-profile kidnapping three weeks ago of 4-year-old Madeleine McCann while she was on holiday with her family in the Algarve. She has not yet been found.

“At this time with the Madeleine case, this sends a terrible message,” one viewer, Paulo Sousa, told SIC television.

“I am revolted, as if poor pedophiles don’t deserve to be in prison,” Maria Rodrigues, a sociologist, told the same program.

UNICEF said in a statement the case served as an opportunity to remind the “Portuguese state and all its institutions to fully apply” the United Nations convention on the rights of the child.

The court said in a statement that the decision had been reported in ways that could provoke lack of “comprehension by the public.”

It said the decision was taken only in the one case and that in its deliberation it considered the age and development of the child. In Portugal, sexual abuse of children is applicable for children up to the age of 14, it said.

The offender had been charged with sexual abuse offences of minors over a period of several years.

November 2002 – A long-simmering scandal involving alleged sexual abuse at state-run orphanages known as Casa Pia resurfaces when several former orphanage children come forward with accusations of abuse. The so-called Casa Pia scandal links many elites of Portuguese society—politicians, diplomats, and media celebrities—all of whom were alleged to have conspired in a pedophilia ring that had operated for more than 20 years. The arrests open a debate on police power in Portugal—using a law that allows police to listen in on phone conversations if special judicial permission is granted and it is believed that the phone tap will help solve a serious crime. Police had tapped the cell phones of prominent opposition politicians. A spokesman for the minority Left Bloc Party calls the phone tapping Portugal’s “judicial Watergate.”

May 2003 – Following accusations of sexual abuse in the Casa Pia investigation, Paulo Pedroso, the former labor minister and second in command of the PS, is stripped by Parliament of his immunity and is arrested by authorities on 15 counts of suspected child sex abuse. Since the investigations began in earnest in autumn 2002, seven suspects have been detained by police for their role in the scandal. In October, Pedroso is released from custody pending further investigation.

October 2003 – The scheduled trial for Casa Pia caretaker and driver Carlos Silvino, accused of 35 counts of rape and abuse relating to four boys, is delayed. It is the first trial for anyone related to the Casa Pia scandal.

December 2003 – Following a year-long investigation into the Casa Pia scandal, prosecutors charge nine men and one woman with rape, sexual abuse of children, and organizing a pedophile ring. Among the indicted are Pedroso, former ambassador Jorge Ritto, and several national celebrities. Silvino’s trial, which is still pending at the end of March 2004, is delayed when prosecutors charge him with 662 additional counts of abuse.

I’ve not seen any news like this coming out of the UK….

When you read detective Thomas-Williams’ account of the police investigation you realise how they failed in the basics:
failure to secure the crime scene - so vital forensics are lost; failure to do house-to-house enquiries while potential foreign witnesses were still in the area; failure to do a finger-tip search of the neighbourhood; failure to search every un-occupied flat & house; failure to alert the Spanish police until 11 hours after the abdution etc etc

In addition there is no sex offenders regsiter in Portugal, and according to a recent UESCO report, attempts to get Portugal to sort out its problem with paedophiles has been met with indifference & corruption that ‘goes so high up it’s impossible to counter’.

I believe that the reason there are no leads in this case is the failure to secure basic evidence when it was possible to do so.

If the Portuguese police are criticised & called to account & it leads to a change in procedure, that can only help the Portuguese & their children.

“A SENIOR Portuguese policeman working on the Madeleine McCann case has been charged over an attack on the mother of another missing girl, it has been revealed.” - Manchester Evening News

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1008/1008867_maddie_cop_attacked_mum.html

+++++++++++

I’ m curious about one thing: in UK, when people is accused of a crime, are they sentenced without having a trial? Chief-Inspector Amaral and the three CID officers are accused of beating a woman, inside a Police station. How many cases of that are groundless accusations from hardened criminals? And who is Leonor Cipriano?

Leonor Cipriano, the poor “mum” (*) that accuses four CID police officers of beating her, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, on November 2005. She spanked her own daughter until she died, with the help of his brother, João Cipriano, sentenced to 20 years in jail. They beat the 8 year old girl because she discovered them - brother and sister - having sexual relations and they were afraid she could tell it to Leonor Cipriano’s lover !!!!

Whem the girl died, they cut the body in pieces, keep some of the pieces at Leonor home refrigerator and later, made the body disapear, giving it to be eaten bu animals. After they killed the girl, Leonor Cipriano went out for a popular festivity, in a near by village. She didn reported to Police her daughter disapearence for two days.

Leonor Cipriano named four CID offciers for beating her but, during a line-up to indentify the agressors, were the four named CID officers were presente, she didn’t recognized not even one of them.

This Google search link has stories published in the Portuguese Press, about it. Just click in the phrase [Translate this page] following the tittle of the stories in Portuguese, and you get a very reasonable English version.

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=Leonor+Cipriano+condenada+a+15+anos+de+pris%C3%A3o&hl=en&num=30&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images

Titlle of the fifth story, about Leonor not recognizing the men she named as agressor, during a line-up where she was behind a two-faces mirror:
- Portuguese: Jornal de Notícias - Leonor não reconheceu polícias que acusou
- English: Leonor did not recognize policies that she accused

Leonor Cipriano is indeed, a reliable witness to make this kind of accusations. A magistrate of The Public Prosecutor’s Office ommited the fact that she didn’t recognized the men that she says beaten her, in the accusation, and the CID Inspectors Union filled a complain against the magistrate:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.observatoriodoalgarve.com/cna/noticias_ver.asp%3Fnoticia%3D14161&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=7&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DLeonor%2BCipriano%2Bcondenada%2Ba%2B15%2Banos%2Bde%2Bpris%25C3%25A3o%26num%3D30%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG%26as_qdr%3Dall

Regards,

Paulo Reis
Pjcv.reis@gmail.com

http://www.portugaldiario.iol.pt/noticia.php?id=806358&div_id=291

Paulo Reis
pjcv.reis@gmail.com
Gazeta Digital: http://gazetadigital.blogspot.com/