Madeleine McCann Not In Malta Or Morocco
FROM Paulo Reis in Portugal:
Portuguese CID spokesman, about Madeleine abduction: “The clue to this mistery is in Praia da Luz”
Portuguese authorities have dismissed as groundless all leads on sightings of Madeleine McCann in other countries rather than Portugal, namely in Morroco and Malta, said Polícia Judiciária (PJ), Portuguese CID, spokesman Olegário de Sousa (…) Further investigations are being carried out centered mainly on the area of Praia da Luz itself, said Mr. Olegário de Sousa. «The clue to this mistery is in Praia da Luz», according to other police source quoted by Diário de Notícias. (…)
Note: Kate and Gerry McCann are innocent.
Posted: 9th, July 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (6,189) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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November 18th, 2007 at 3:45 am
Hi Everyone
I see a pigeon’s flown into the wrong coop !!!
Fransisco Marco, head of the Spanish private detective agency hired by the McCanns, said he was certain the four-year-old was alive and that the agency was closing in on the abductor.
The McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: “He is very confident. He is 100% certain that she is alive and believes that they are ‘very, very close’ to finding the kidnapper.
“Naturally we are extremely encouraged by any indication by our investigators that things are going well. But there have been a number of leads that have come to nothing and Kate and Gerry remain cautious.”
Mr Mitchell confirmed that a new sighting of Madeleine at an undisclosed location in Portugal on May 5 was now being investigated.
But he added: “This is very much an ongoing inquiry by our investigators. We will not comment on individual sightings.”
Madeleine, from Rothley, went missing from her holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3 as her parents dined nearby with friends.
The McCanns, both still official suspects in her disappearance, hired agency Metodo3 to boost efforts to find their daughter.
Speaking earlier this month, Mr Marco said he thought Madeleine is alive in Morocco and that he was already following up reported sightings.
November 18th, 2007 at 2:04 am
Hi All
I have really had trouble posting tonight (after finally being able to access the site) so that is probably why there is not many posting. Hope everyone returns.
November 18th, 2007 at 2:02 am
Hi Mike
I just found the information you provided post (4941) but it also says that the Panarama program tomorrow shows video footage of Kate and Gerry’s trip to Spain. It shows them packing the boot of the car with posters. I hope what the M3 says is true that they are 100% certain Madeleine is alive and that they know who the kidnappers are.
Hi Maggie
Thanks for the post you sent (4942) It was good to read from people (who are not related or friends) speaking highly of Kate and Gerry and coming to their defence, it makes me angry when people go on and on about the mistake they made. They pay for this every second and will continue to for the rest of their lives whatever the outcome. Going on about it will not help to bring Madeleine home.
Praying for good news very soon.
November 17th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Hey you never know - write it often enough Jean and you might even start to believe it!! the number of contributors on your hijacked forum just slightly proves a point - tunnel vision is a very dangerous trait
November 17th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Well hipppy ie ehhhhh - its the Jean site
November 17th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Come on Annie1 - let’s not get into calling Kate McCann again, because you will get shot down in flames on this forum if you do!!!
November 17th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Witness ’saw woman’ hand over child in a blanket’ 2 days after Maddie disappeared
By DANIEL BOFFEY - More by this author »
Last updated at 22:21pm on 17th November 2007
A new witness in the Madeleine McCann case has told police she saw a woman surreptitiously hand over “a baby in a blanket” to a man two days after the toddler’s disappearance.
Private investigators hunting for four-year-old Maddie were contacted last week and the information has been given to the Portuguese police.
The witness claims she saw a woman pass on the child to a man in central Portugal, about 100 miles from the resort of Praia da Luz, where the McCanns were staying.
The man and woman then left in different vehicles and in different directions.
Some details of the witness’s statement will be revealed in BBC1’s Panorama programme tomorrow by Francisco Marco, the head of Metodo 3, the private detective team hired by Kate and Gerry McCann.
Although it has taken the person six months to come forward, Metodo 3 are taking the sighting seriously.
Their investigators believe they now know the identity of the couple and have passed that information to Portuguese detectives in charge of the investigation.
The detective firm is linking the sighting to one made by the McCann’s friend, Jane Tanner, on the evening of May 3 when Maddie vanished.
November 17th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Anon - Interesting reading -
“Mrs Renwick recalled a medical reunion in a Perthshire hotel a few months ago, where Mrs McCann said that her husband should attend the dinner by himself so that the children would not be left alone.”
Well I should bloody well think so - So Mrs Renwick recalled - did she! I would have thought that there was absolutely no question that the little kids shouldnt be left alone!! but Mrs Renwick recalled that “Saint Kate” gave up her night out for the sake of NOT leaving her kids alone! What a bloody marvellous mother, to do that, to give up a bit of socialising for the sake of her kids, bloody wonderful - and how fantastic of Mrs. Renwick to remember the occasion - maybe it was unusual and stuck out in her mind, or maybe Mrs Renwick was so in awe of saint kate for making such a sacrifice
November 17th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
last bit …….
If Jose Batista /Baptista is a member of the extended family – there is a very good chance that he would have known whether the CCTV was working in the supermarket.
If this Jose Batista/Baptista was the “LOOK OUT MAN” for the abductor - feeding information of when the scene would be clear it would mean that in all likelihood he did this by mobile – possibly not his own – perhaps even a pay-as-you go – but either way if there is any chance of detectives / police of looking further into this character or into mobile satellite imaging from the evening then I would strongly suggest it is done. (Ask questions like – Where do they live? Did other staff notice anything strange about Batista/Baptista or Maria Fernandez’s behavior that night? Did the family notice him/her taking a “special” interest in them? What is the relationship like between him and “Maria”? Have they any children? Have they any financial worries? ).
After watching the Dispatchers program I am more convinced than ever than no random person would have just “picked” that apartment and carried out this abduction “blind” – this had to be masterminded from someone inside the complex and I do not buy the theory that the family did it.
Whilst most child killings are family related – I don’t believe anyone would be audacious enough to give themselves a couple of hours in which to kill a child – have dinner – hide a body and call the police in a country where they had no idea of what kind of resources the police may arrive with – the staff and other guests are far more probable.
There still remains a chance that Madeleine may still be alive and that the perpetrator was not necessarily sexually motivated. There are childless women who may see a child who just “pulls at their heartstrings” – and the fact that there were twins and the family were leaving their children every night – might have felt that they were doing the best thing for her and that she would not be that missed as they would still get to keep the other two children who would be very bonded – whilst Madeleine would appear to be the one left out and needing special attention.
I AM CONVINCED THESE TWO PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED IN SOME WAY – THAT EITHER THEY / ONE OF THEM ASSISTED/ALTERTED THE ABDUCTOR TO MADELEINE AND THAT THEY KNOW WHO HAS HER OR ALTERNATIVELY I BELIEVE THAT THEY WANTED A CHILD AND THAT ONE OF THEIR OLDER RELATIVES WHO POSSIBLY LIVES NEARBY HAS HER.
Please also note in today’s press it is being reported that a bag found in a layby near Faro Airport two weeks ago, containing a pair of an adult’s jeans and fleece and a child’s t-shirt and pencil– has partial traces of Madeleine’s DNA. Depending on when it was dumped – it is around two weeks ago that this couple gave their report – perhaps they had just HANDED OVER Madeleine and felt they were finally in a “safe position” to talk to the press.
PLEASE, PLEASE look into this couple and any other staff working in the complex – it is more than plausible that this line of enquiry is the most obvious.
Someone out there must know more about this couple – please assist!
Thank you.
Best regards,
K
November 17th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
3rd bit …….
However, this not the only interesting this about this couple:
Why would Jose Batista / Baptista wait six months to give an interview to the press? This is a man who observed and waited on the family every night over four days and who appears to have VERY strong feelings about the family. (I know that very often, no matter how improbable it may seem - many people involved in crimes have been known to surface in the media surrounding their crimes for a number of reasons sometimes self indulgent and other times because they think it shifts blame from them – or because they think they have gotten away with it and they are just adding extra weight to a theory which would keep blame from themselves).
In this interview he admits that in his very first statement to the police he informed them that he was convinced it was one of the family or friends – surely a normal person may “grow” to believe this theory but in the confusion of the aftermath of the event it would appear rather bizarre for someone to “jump” on this theory immediately. That is, of course, if you are not Portuguese and do not know that the police generally would suspect the family in cases like these / or if you wished to shift the focus of the investigation.
Batista / Baptista claims that NONE of the women ever checked the children apart from on that particular evening – he seems to have been aware of all the men’s movements over the four consecutive days and in order to be THAT observant of a table you are watering appears very suspicious to me.
Also, he claims to have been in the kitchen during the emergence of an abduction taking place – for a man who spent so much time scrutinizing the movements of this group I find this interesting, due to the fact that he would most likely have seen Kate leaving the table. So perhaps his trip into the restaurant had more to do with the fact that he was calling the abductor to confirm that they had carried out the act and that they had now very little time to get moving as far away as possible.
The woman in the picture, his supposed partner in one publication and wife in another , MARIA FERNANDEZ, is interesting to me too – SHE TOO WORKED AT THE OCEAN CLUB AND SAID OF MADELEINE “ SHE WAS LIKE A LITTLE ANGEL, VERY QUIET AND GOOD AS GOLD. JUS A LOVELY LITTLE BLONDE GIRL” and I read in another publication of how she had watched Madeleine assisting her parents with the twins at the breakfasts. ALSO, Maria from the neck down reminds me very much of Kate. (She has a very toned and slim figure like her – I still wonder whether the image released today of the “man” carrying the child away from the villa might not have been Maria in a wig and masculine clothing).
The first set of tracker dogs, just days after Madeleine was abducted tracked her scent to the local supermarket – which is either called BAPTISTA / BATISTA SUPERMARKET AND IT IS A FAMILY RUN BUSINESS.
November 17th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
2nd bit …….
Dear Brian,
I have always taken a huge interest in this particular story – probably because I have a young daughter of a similar age.
It has always appeared to me that whoever did take Madeleine McCann, would have either been someone either staying / working in the complex or someone using the help of an “inside man” – i.e. someone who knew the movements of the parents and would be able to keep the abductor informed of when the COAST WAS CLEAR. For this very reason I do understand why the PJ have scrutinized the “Tapas 9” in quite the manner they have.
However, what has seemed most flawed about this case is that the same scrutiny has never visited the staff in the same manner – as other guests would not have had the same access to the family’s movements as those waiting on them in the evenings.
Two different publications recently interviewed Jose Batista / Baptista (depending again on which publication you read). When I first saw the story what jumped out at me was just how similar he and his girlfriend / wife looked to the images which I had seen drawn by Carole Everett of two of the suspects (I have attached all these images in the attachement - please open this and take a look – I have given Jose slighter longer hair and drawn in a moustache but the resemblance is uncanny. Please can you copy them into your website).
November 17th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Have tried to send this three times without success, most probably because of the length of the item. This was the previous post to Brian Ladd from K (4945). This makes VERY VERY interesting reading. I think this person may be onto something …….
Dear Brian,
I sent this two you over a week ago but you did not choose to respond or to make it public on your website – I would ask you to PLEASE read through it again – I have updated new information since the last mail…. PLEASE READ THROUGH IT – I HAVE MARKED SOME AREAS IN RED SO THAT IT IS EASIER FOR YOU TO PICK OUT THE PARTS THAT ARE ESPECIALLY SUSPICIOUS TO ME.
I REMAIN convinced that this couple are at the very least involved and would be very, very grateful if you could publicise this and the attached pictures – incase one of your readers knows anything more.
Many, many thanks.
K
reply
Done
Brian
November 17th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Next article ……
Hi Brian hope you and family are well, been following this case on your site from the start. I too feel Madeleine is in PDL , but if she has been moved with these recent sightings I really think who ever has her is not goiing to venture out in public with her! I think she probably has not moved far from where she was taken. I cannot understand why NO local search has been done there. I am going to the Agarve in a few weeks , we are visiting most area`s so if there is any photo`s or video footage you want from any pacific area I will do it for you.
MaryJoe
reply
Thanks MaryJoe…I’m not sure either…but I hope it does happen soon. Can you take a few pics of Murats house as well as the surrounding drainage area’s and water utilities.
Brian
November 17th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Next item from BL site …..
Thank you SO MUCH Brian!!! I have been frantically trying to get this into the public for over two weeks now! I am convinced that this may be vital to the investigation but that none of the authorities are even concentrating on Portugal or outsiders – so nothing may EVER be done to look into these two!
I just hope that someone can follow it up and I pray it leads to something.
One of the things that I found the most interesting about this article was the fact that if they did take / were involved in the abduction it is quite appalling that Jose Baptiste would be prepared to throw guilt on the family which could lead to them losing their other two children!! (This type of character would have to be pretty heartless if he was involved).
Yet Maria Fernandez whilst she poses for a picture only mentions what a beautiful and lovely little girl Madeleine was and I think may have even been wearing one of the “Find Madeleine” bracelets. Anyone who is a woman and maternal – whilst she may be prepared to take a child would probably find it “too much” to then “frame up” the family. (If they are involved she is the one to “crack” - she has a conscience and I really believe that she knows something).
In a nutshell, what interested me most was simply the fact that this couple – were not necessarily “united” in their criticism of the family and Maria had pretty much nothing to say plus I don’t even believe she was “on duty” the night of the incident and yet Jose Fernandez wanted her there with him – to pose for pictures to show a “united front”.
I am sure a criminal psychologist may see more in this.
Anyway I just hope that sniffer dogs are brought in to check out their car and their apartment and that all their phone lines etc are checked on the night in question. (My gut instinct tells me that if they if this couple is involved - – I don’t think Madeleine necessarily did leave Portugal and that she may very easily be in a slightly “rural” location just out of Praia da Luz with one of their older relatives).
Lastly, on Friday I read in one of the newspapers that one of the two waiters on duty that night – had come forward saying Kate had screamed “they have taken her, they have taken her” from the balcony of the apartment – if this waiter was Jose Baptista it completely contradicts his “story” in his interview – because he claims that he only emerged from the restaurant when everyone except the older women had already left the table and that he missed all the commotion.
I am sorry to harp on about these two – but I will not feel at peace until I know that this avenue has been checked out. If in years to come we learn that they were involved I would never forgive myself for not doing more!
Thank you again for posting these images and for your site and please God bring this baby girl home!
xK
November 17th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Hi All
So glad this site has come back to life, what on earth happened, I’ve had withdrawal symptoms!!!
Some interesting information on the Brian Ladd site …..
Hi Brian, Have you any further news on Madeleine?
reply
Hi, from what I know it’s possible that missing person Joana Cipriano may have been taken by the same people who took Madeleine, and we may know something soon.
Brian
________________________
Mods and Admin
hello jean
the webmaster made several very necessary upgrades which the platform doesn’t like, please bear with us as a move is being planned , but things SHOULD be more stable later in the week
November 17th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Post 4942 was from me
November 17th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Hi all
Good the forum is up and running again. Here’s a bit of background on the McCanns.
Determination has always been a hallmark of the McCanns. They are both high-achievers from working-class families, she from Liverpool, he from Glasgow. Mrs McCann studied medicine at the University of Dundee, qualified as an anaesthetist, then retrained as a GP because the work would be easier to combine with motherhood.
Her husband was the youngest of five children of Irish immigrants. His father was a joiner; his mother worked in a biscuit factory. He went on to study medicine at the University of Glasgow, became Scotland’s under19 1,500 metres running champion and briefly dabbled in sports medicine. It was through contacts that he made working with Scotland’s under21 football team that Cristiano Ronaldo and John Terry were persuaded to issue appeals for Madeleine. Yesterday David Beckham lent his voice to the cause.
The McCanns met when both were junior doctors at Western Infirmary, Glasgow, and when she left to work in New Zealand for a year he followed and won her heart. They married in 1998 and moved to the Midlands in 2000 when he was offered a job as a cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester. She went to work at the Latham House Medical Practice in Melton Mowbray under her maiden name, Dr Healey.
The McCanns spent that year in Amsterdam, where he was working on new heart-imaging techniques. Back in England the family moved into a large house in an upmarket development in Rothley, a straggling village a few miles north of Leicester. Rothley boasts the street with the most expensive properties in the East Midlands, according to aSunday Times survey, although in reality it is a village of mixed incomes with five pubs, three churches, a primary school and library. There they were building a happy family and professional life. Mr McCann would cycle six miles to work and played golf when he had time. His wife would go to the gym and take the children swimming. She was due to start working two days a week instead of one and a half when she returned from Portugal. They attend Rothley’s Roman Catholic church.
It is hard to find anyone with an unkind word to say about the McCanns, with their energy, zest for life and obvious love for each other.
Doug Skehan, clinical director of cardiology at Glenfield hospital, described Mr McCann as “extremely popular, someone we have a deep affection for”.
Tim Smith, a GP in Melton Mowbray, said that Mrs McCann was “lovely, warm and engaging – everyone thinks that”.
Valerie Armstrong, landlady of Rothley’s Royal Oak pub, where the McCanns sometimes go for lunch or dinner, said: “They are lovely, gentle, caring people.” She said that they would let pnly their nanny or relatives babysit the children, and chose the Mark Warner resort precisely because they thought that it was safe.
What incenses the McCanns’ friends is the suggestion that they neglected their children on the night that Madeleine was abducted. Mrs Renwick recalled a medical reunion in a Perthshire hotel a few months ago, where Mrs McCann said that her husband should attend the dinner by himself so that the children would not be left alone. Dr Skehan said that Mr McCann was committed to his work but did not stay late because “he genuinely wants to be part of his children’s lives”. Mrs McCann’s uncle, Mr Kennedy, said that the couple were, if anything, overprotective.
The McCanns are so easy to identify with as people, and to feel for as parents. There is scarcely a mother or father in the land who has not briefly left a child alone, or experienced the blind panic of momentarily losing one. As Dr Skehan remarked: “We all feel, ‘There but for the grace of God go I’.”
Relatives say that the McCanns have been sustained in their agony by the support they have received.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Francisco Marco, a Spanish private investigator hired by a supporter of the McCanns, claims to have answers the whole world has been waiting for. “We’re 100% sure that she is alive. We are sure she was abducted. We are very, very close to finding the kidnapper.
In addition to these explosive revelations, 48 HOURS has acquired information from a highly placed source in the investigation who discloses that Portuguese police are now not investigating homicide by Kate and Gerry McCann as a possibility. 48 Hours has also learned from police sources that the DNA is inconclusive and will not solve this case. 48 Hours also went undercover, hiring top US private investigator Joseph Moura, who has handled cases in Portugal. Moura unearthed eyewitness accounts that contradict both the local investigators’ and the McCanns’ versions of the events of May 3.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Panorama - Madeleine McCann
A member of the “Tapas 9″ will talk publicly for the first time about the night Madeleine McCann disappeared, during a BBC One Panorama Special on Monday.
Jane Tanner defends the party’s decision not to talk to the media during the past six months – and insists that they have done everything asked of them by the Portuguese police.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
LONDON (Reuters) - A woman who believes she saw a man carrying Madeleine McCann through a Portuguese resort shortly before the girl disappeared in May has insisted she is not a fantasist.
Jane Tanner was one of a number of friends dining with Gerry and Kate McCann on the night the girl disappeared from the Praia da Luz resort.
She told BBC television she remained adamant that Madeleine had been abducted.
Police have said the girl may be dead and named her parents as formal suspects in the case on September 7.
The couple say they are innocent and have launched a high-profile campaign to find their daughter.
Madeleine had been left asleep with her younger brother and sister in the family apartment while her parents ate at a nearby tapas restaurant. It was just days before her fourth birthday.
Tanner told a BBC Panorama documentary due to be broadcast on Monday how one of the friends had come to her apartment at around 10 p.m. tell her Madeleine was missing.
“I saw Kate and Fiona running around shouting ‘Madeleine’, and Kate said to me, ‘Jane, Madeleine’s gone, Madeleine’s gone’. And that’s the first I heard,” she said.
Tanner says she saw a man walking away from the holiday complex carrying a child at around 9:15 p.m. that evening, the BBC said.
At the time she thought nothing of it, but was now convinced it was Madeleine.
The BBC said Tanner had told Portuguese police all she knew, and that she denied recent reports she had refused to cooperate or had been asked to change her story.
Tanner said she was speaking publicly for the first time because she wanted to reply to media accusations against her.
“I’ve been called a liar and a fantasist. I know what I saw and I think it’s important that people know what I saw because I believe Madeleine was abducted,” she said.
Last month Madeleine’s parents released an artist’s impression of the man seen by Tanner carrying a girl in his arms who was wearing the same colour pyjamas as Madeline was wearing.
November 16th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
McCann friends ‘pointed Murat out to police’
By Fiona Govan in Praia da Luz
Last Updated: 2:37am GMT 16/11/2007
Robert Murat was identified by friends of Kate and Gerry McCann as the man allegedly seen carrying a child away from their apartment on the night Madeleine disappeared, it has been claimed.
Two of the so-called Tapas Nine - the name given to Mr and Mrs McCann and the seven friends who dined with them on May 3 at their Algarve holiday complex - allegedly pointed out Mr Murat to police, a Portuguese newspaper claimed.
The British ex-pat was identified during a meeting - between him, the McCanns and their friends - organised by police in the week after Madeleine went missing, the tabloid 24 Horas alleged.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Thx Mike for posting that link about the gov’t.. I just found this on another forum:
Gerry McCann in addition to being a heart surgeon also works for the UK government.Gerry McCann is a medical advisor to COMARE, a government committee which monitors radiation in the environment. Hence he can get an audience even with Gordon Brown. He has ‘friends in very high places’ who can, and who have pulled strings on his behalf.
Gerry is on the Medical Practices sub committee of COMARE.
http://www.comare.org.uk/comare_members….
November 15th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Another thing… I was just thinking about… (thinking too much lately!! ) - if that Shrimpton’s doc is a true doc …. - it could very well be possible that those boats mentioned could belong to the gov’t ????? - if that’s the case….. then Kate’s scream “They’ve taken her”… could come down to that “They” is the gov’t ??????? -
November 15th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Hi All,
Hmmm, very intresting, G works as a Government medical advisor, if this is true then why was this never mentioned before? I really did wonder about him working for the Government. I wonder if that’s all he did for them? Something is so off about all of this. I wish the Lawyer acting for 2 of the friends would shut up and get on with sorting out the re-interviews of his clients- it’s a bit like carrot dangling, either say what you know or shut up!!!!
November 15th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
ps:
Since he is wanting to “get” the Mcs.. do you think he could possibly involved in Maddie’s disappearance? - . Someone posted before that Gerry could be involved in something with the Gov’t…
November 15th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Hey Mike :
Is this the same guy in the Mcs case?
Anthony John Stuart Bennett (commonly known as Tony Bennett, born 7 September 1947) is an English politician. He was a member of the British political party Veritas and was listed on the database of the Electoral Commission as official leader for three days before the real leader was revealed as Robert Kilroy-Silk.
Bennett has campaigned on a variety of issues, including Anti compulsory metrication; against the United Kingdom (UK)’s membership of the European Union; against the proposed European Constitution; against the introduction of the euro in the UK, against militant Islamism; and in favour of the restoration of the historic counties of England and Wales.
In 2006, he attempted a private prosecution against Michael Barrymore for alleged drugs and drink offences committed on the night Stuart Lubbock was found dead at the entertainer’s home. Bennett co-wrote a book with Terry Lubbock, the father of Stuart Lubbock, Not Awight: Getting Away With Murder, explaining their theory that Stuart Lubbock died as a result of a violent attack on him which Barrymore and his associates that night covered up.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Last updated at 15:05pm on 15th November 2007
A solicitor has attempted to launch a private prosecution against the parents of Madeleine McCann today on grounds of alleged child neglect.
Anthony Bennett faxed an application for a court summons to magistrates in Gerry and Kate McCann’s home county of Leicestershire this morning.
The lawyer, who previously failed in an attempt to bring a private prosecution against entertainer Michael Barrymore over alleged drugs offences on the night of Stuart Lubbock’s death, also sent Loughborough Magistrates’ Court six pages of “evidence” to support the summons.
Mr Bennett, 60, a father of two, said his move was sparked by a “lack of action” by the Leicestershire authorities, and comments made by the McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, that their actions while on holiday were typical of many British families.
The former UK Independence Party prospective parliamentary candidate from Harlow, in Essex, said: “I think the case is very simple. By the McCanns’ own admission they have left their own children unattended for a significant period of time.
“What troubles me is that there has been no prosecution by the relevant authorities, namely Leicestershire Police and Leicestershire social services.
“I was also prompted by the comments of Clarence Mitchell, who said on television that the McCanns’ actions were no different to what many British parents do.”
Mr Bennett, a self-employed rights adviser who is also qualified as a social worker, added: “I think this matter should be put before the court. Do we want a society in which it is acceptable to leave children alone?
“If the application concentrates people’s minds on whether it should ever be acceptable to leave children on their own then I will have achieved what I set out to achieve.”
He said he hoped the prosecution would be taken on by Leicestershire County Council or Leicestershire Police.
He said: “I would be delighted if they took over this prosecution, but I just feel that, given the publicity surrounding this case, someone should stand up for neglected children.”
Madeleine, now four, went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, while her parents dined nearby.
Mr Bennett alleges that the couple, from Rothley in Leicestershire, were guilty of neglecting Madeleine and their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, under Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. It is a claim the McCanns strenuously deny.
The McCanns’ spokesman, Mr Mitchell, said: “We will not comment on this, other than to say Kate and Gerry have committed no offence under UK law, indeed any other country’s law.
“They regret very much that they were not with Madeleine when she was taken, and are doing everything in their power to find her.”
November 15th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Hi all:
Isla hasn’t posted today.. hope she’s ok..
this case is getting too frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 15th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Hi everyone:
Wow Mike, interesting post about that Gerry is a Gov’t medical adviser.. so there could be a link possibly….. in Maddie’s disappearance?? What do you think?
November 15th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Last updated at 11:45am on 15th November 2007
Robert Murat, seen here shortly after Madeleine’s disappearance, was named by the McCanns’ friends as the man who was seen with a child in his arms
Kate and Gerry McCann’s holiday friends told police Robert Murat was the man who fled their holiday complex with a child in his arms, it was sensationally claimed today.
The property developer was made an official suspect in the Madeleine McCann case after two of the Tapas Nine identified him as the person they had spotted outside the youngster’s apartment when she was reported missing, Portuguese daily 24 horas claimed.
The paper, quoting a judicial source, said Jane Tanner and her partner Russell O’Brien fingered Murat during a tense face-to-face meeting organised by the Portuguese police between him, the McCanns and the friends who ate tapas with them on May 3.
And it named the pair from Exeter as the two mystery people who have allegedly offered to change the original statements they made to police.
The insider told the paper: “They were all placed in the same room and two people that left the restaurant pointed to Robert Murat.
“They said he was the person they saw next to the apartment where Madeleine was sleeping around the time the alarm was raised about her disappearance.”
The tabloid added: “24 horas has learnt that the friends who accused Murat are Jane Tanner and Russell O’Brien.
“They clearly stated, during the face-to-face meeting, they thought it was him who was carrying a child in his arms.
“This is the same couple said to have indicated to Portuguese public prosecutors they intend altering their statements after it was made public that they could become official suspects.”
Quoting a separate source, 24 horas added: “We know that Robert Murat was next to the apartment, he was pointed out by two witnesses and he is a friend of the McCanns.”
Last night Francisco Pagarete, Murat’s lawyer dismissed the claims as rubbish.
He said: “They are lies. “My client doesn’t know the McCanns and the day Madeleine disappeared, he was at home with his mum.
“We are going to prove this is the case.” Criticising Portuguese authorities over their decision not to clear Murat immediately and making him wait until next May to see the case files against him, he added:
“We’re unhappy that we’ll only be able to see the files next May and be in a position to defend ourselves.”
Jane Tanner and her partner Russell O’Brien allegedly named Murat as the man they had seen leaving the apartment complex with a child in his arms
Mystery has surrounded the identity of the two McCann holiday pals alleged to want to change statements they gave police soon after Madeleine disappeared.
Respected Spanish newspaper El Mundo, which made the initial claims, carried quotes from an unnamed lawyer for one of the Tapas Nine this week complaining his client was terrified about speaking out because of the political support for the McCanns.
This picture of ‘Madeleine’s abductor’ was issued based on descriptions by the McCanns’ friends
Portuguese police believe the McCanns and their friends are hiding the truth and fear they may never solve the case if they do not break an alleged pact of silence.
The claim Jane Tanner and her partner fingered Murat early on in the investigation - and now want to change their statements - will fuel further speculation he is being made a scapegoat.
Jane Tanner helped police produce an E-fit of a man she claimed to have seen runhing away from their Ocean Club holiday complex with a child in a blanket.
Today’s claim that she identified Murat as that man comes amid reports police are preparing to make her and three other members of the Tapas Nine official suspects because of inconsistencies in their original statements.
Murat has always protested his innocence and police have found no DNA evidence linking him to Madeleine’s disappearance despite searching the home in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz he shares with mum Jennifer and digging up their garden.
The McCanns have rubbished suggestions they are pressuring their friends into lying and claims any of the Tapas Nine want to change their statements.
They insist Madeleine was kidnapped by an intruder and possibly taken across the border into Spain by someone working to the orders of a paedophile gang.
A source at Portugal’s National Institute of Legal Medicine said: “We were only sent a few forensic traces for DNA testing.
The McCanns and their friends are also believed to have damaged vital evidence when they were walking round the crime scene before police arrived.
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