Madeleine McCann: ‘Screaming Contradictions’, Scotland Yard And Francisco Marco Interviewed
MADDYWATCH - Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann
SUNDAY EXPRESS (front page): “MADELEINE – News call for Scotland Yard probe”
Are Scotland Yard for hire? Benazir Bhutto. And McCann? Have the discovered who killed Rhys Jones yet?
“Retired Chief Superintendent Dai Davies, former head of the Yard’s Royal Protection unit, says that if the Yard can send detectives to probe the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, then they should also fly to Portugal to try and solve the Madeleine mystery”
He says:
“The Portuguese investigation has quite simply not solved the crime and it is now looking increasingly likely that it will be shelved. I would suggest that this is the time to call on the Yard to take the lead and to get them to form a team of detectives to work on the case”
Retired copper suggests his old boys are the best – Read all about it!
GLASGOW SUNDAY MAIL: “Police Ready To Clear McCanns Over Maddie”
“Police in Portugal are set to clear Kate and Gerry McCann as suspects, it was claimed last night”
A fact claimed by “insiders” who say “officers did not have a shred of evidence against the 39-year-old couple”
The McCanns’ spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, says: “This report is extremely encouraging”
SUNDAY PEOPLE: “Kate and Gerry ‘in the clear’”
“Police do not have a shred of evidence against Gerry and Kate McCann and they are set to be cleared as suspects, it was claimed yesterday. The couple’s status as ‘arguidos’ in the case of missing daughter Maddie, four, will be lifted unless they make ‘screaming contradictions’ in a new police quiz, said Portugal paper Expresso”
How does Expresso know? The paper does not say
SUNDAY MIRROR: “McCann cops: No evidence”
“A review of the case by homicide experts from the Judicial Police has turned up no proof that Kate and Gerry McCann played a part in four-year-old Madeleine’s disappearance.
“Attorney General Fernando Pinto Montiero told respected Portuguese newspaper Expresso: ‘The couple’s legal status will be considered at the appropriate moment, depending on various elements still to be obtained’”
Says Expresso: “They will only remain arguidos (suspects) if there are screaming contradictions revealed in the answers to the letters sent to England”
DAILY STAR ON SUNDAY: “MCCANNS TO BE CLEARED”
“Last night the McCanns’ spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the sooner they are questioned the better”
He says: “There won’t be any screaming contradictions and hopefully the emphasis can then be put on finding Madeleine, who we believe is still alive”
Says the paper: “Legal letters outlining the 40 questions are to be sent to the Home Office this week. Interviews are then likely to be carried out by detectives from Leicestershire police, the McCanns’ local force”
Says Gerry McCann’s brother John McCann: “Any sensible person realises Madeleine was abducted. We didn’t anticipate being in this position after nine months”
THE SUNDAY TIMES: “Madeleine McCann and Metodo 3: Private eyes, public lies”
“Paid £50,000 a month to find Madeleine McCann, the Spanish detective Francisco Marco said he hoped to have her home for Christmas. He issued this photofit of a suspect last month; it set off a media frenzy, but Portuguese police say it has ‘no credibility’. Christine Toomey turns the tables on a private eye who is anything but…
An interview with Francisco Marco. His company is being paid £50,000 a month by the McCann’s fighting fund
“We won’t answer any questions about Maddie. Maddie is off limits – is that understood?” Marco’s cousin Jose Luis, another of the agency’s employees, warns me sternly”
But they are not the police. What can they not talk about the big case? It was Mr Franciso who told he’d find Madeleine by Christmas – last Christmas
“I cannot ask him to clarify what he did say, or whether talking about an ongoing investigation is potentially detrimental. Instead, I am left to discuss the matter with a handful of other private detective agencies in Barcelona, the private-eye capital of Spain. What they tell me is disturbing”
Marco walks in. Does he bring his Maddy dolly? And:
“Marco slaps on the table a 144-page pre-prepared dossier of articles written in the Spanish press about himself and M-3. He goes on to list some of those in the city he says I have already been speaking to about his company. Had my movements been monitored? If so, why would a private detective agency be interested in this at a time when they were supposed to be tirelessly searching for the most famous missing child in the world?”
Fame.
“In most of the many pictures of himself included in the material he hands me”
Metodo 3 is the most famous private detective agency in Europe
“He seems eager to please. He summons a female assistant on several occasions to bring me material, including a book he has recently written, to illustrate what he is talking about. Even when I make it clear this is not necessary – aware that these distractions eat into the time we have to talk – he insists, partly showing off”
Then:
“When I ask about his background, Marco summons her [secretary] to photocopy the first pages of his doctoral thesis on private investigation: he has a master’s degree and a PhD in penal law”
DAILY TELEGRAPH: “McCanns to be cleared as no evidence found”
Attorney General Fernando Pinto Montiero told Expresso: “The couple’s legal status will be considered at the appropriate moment, depending on various elements still to be obtained.”
Madeleine McCann: Money. Speculation. Sensation. A child is missing…
Posted: 10th, February 2008 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (926) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
- pete on In Photos: Susan Boyle Sings Rockefeller Center Plaza In New York City
- eggman on Daily Mail Scuppers BBC’s Wrong Shipping Forecast
- agw on Daily Mail Scuppers BBC’s Wrong Shipping Forecast
- Bat E Bird on I’m A Celebrity: Samantha Fox Is Shrinking As ‘Lesbian’ Lover Katie Price Quits
- Bat E Bird on In Photos: Susan Boyle Sings Rockefeller Center Plaza In New York City
February 10th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
259 dcb
Exactly. My sentence prefacing the excerpt I posted said exactly that. What we need to find is something that confirms that the McCanns (or others) cleaned up the apartment on May 2/3 before we can assume as fact that this is what happened. We can’t just take it for granted and state it is fact unless we have some tangible report that says so. Time and time again, I see it referred to as a fact here that these things occurred on the night of Madeleine’s disappearance. If there is no media report to base it on, then it is purely speculation and conjecture that the timing of the washing occurred on May 2/3. We do understand that an apartment would be thoroughly cleaned after residents move out and before new occupants arrive. The blood evidence was collected well after the McCanns had vacated and other residents had come and gone.
I don’t want to assume something as fact based on forum speculation.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
245
Jolie Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
-snip-
QUOTE
The apartment was searched this weekend even through it had been “released” as a crime scene by Portuguese authorities on June 11, cleaned and rented out to other families.
-snip-
Hmmmm, the aprtment was released on June 11?
That’s over a month, so all the articles, including the one quoted from here, who seem to intimate that the apartment was just handed back to MW a day or two after the incident with no forensics or investigation being done are being a little dishonest about it, aren’t they?
February 10th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
sorry I messed up the order of post 257 — cranky child is insisting I make her pancakes and give up on Anorak for now.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
255
Jolie Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
++++++++++++++++++++++
But it doesn’t mentioned when 5A was cleaned - that is what i don’t recall seeing.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
MOAH.
Not odious.. just realistic. What is the point of giving evidence if its not going to be believed? Mrs Coopers life has been made a misery because she came forward with something she thought was relevant…
Sorry, but I would think twice especially if I wasn’t 100% sure. (and most witnesses aren’t)
February 10th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
from August 16 article in news.com.au publication
QUOTE
Blood came from ‘north-eastern European’
The technical analysis of the tiny spots of blood found smeared on the bedroom wall showed it probably came from the “northeast European sub group”, The Times said.
Further tests were being carried out.
UNQUOTE
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22254157-2,00.html
Police had already suspected the blood came from a male guest who hurt himself while staying at the flat after Madeleine disappeared.
UNQUOTE
February 10th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
253
clouseau Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
++++++++++++++++
The BBC report that i referred to earlier shows exactly where they were.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
from The Times
QUOTE
August 15 The Times reveals that traces of blood discovered in bedroom where Madeleine was sleeping when she disappeared were not hers
UNQUOTE
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2402981.ece
February 10th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
174
val Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
164 Saturn
but as Kate has said,the bookings are well down at MW and I think there is a case to answer from Metodo 3and No Stone Unturned.
*************
I’m assuming that you are referring to Katy’s post 108. She most certainly did not claim that bookings are down at MW. She only mentioned that queries for her own place were down. In your own post 139, you ask her, “Have you spoken to MW about this?” She did not answer that she had, so why are you now claiming she said “the bookings are well down at MW” when she only wrote:
108
Katy Says:
We have zilch queries for our Luz holiday home this year compared to about 60 queries and full summer solid bookings this time last year.
139
val Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
108 Katy
… Saturn said Bell Pottinger would fill up the complex with their
Staff, Courtesy visitors etc, why don “t you ask him for help?lol
Seriously, I definately think all Buy to Rent properties and Mark Warner can demand compensation from someone, either Metodo 3 or No Stone Unturned for scaremongering.Have you spoken to MW about this? I would.
*******************
Val, maybe you should speak to Mark Warner and ask them if they are losing money and intend to sue someone. Or, you could try some other way to find evidence to support your “fantasy”. Please don’t misrepresent my posts, in the meantime, though. Thank you.
I do wish Katy best of luck, and thank her for her comments.
Note to Stevo on 221 and 225:
I agree. Maybe there was a temptation to make too many loans, as the head of RBS was formerly CEO of AZ. And what of the John McCann connection. As a medical rep, his AZ position would not be so high, but he is also associated with Castle Craig finances. I wonder if his main job is really medical rep — is he really higher up on the totem pole? Or, his prominence in Team McCann efforts is simply out of desperation to help mitigate the “disaster” brought on by his brother’s callous child-rearing methods? There was a rumour that Peter McCann left PDL after an angry spat with Gerry. It could be that no one really wants to help this hapless couple, but circumstances have forced them to do so.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Question…Where did Wilkins speak to Gerry……outside the apartment by the alley as he is on record as saying….or Tanners version on the other side of the road……
February 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
From the Daily Mail’s timeline on the McCann saga:
QUOTE
Wednesday August 15
• Blood traces found in the bedroom where Madeleine was sleeping the night the was snatched were not hers, The Times reports. Forensic results show the blood came from a man, it adds.
UNQUOTE
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=480558&in_page_id=1770
February 10th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
247
coolandcalm Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
If you were in Portugal (as its topical) and you thought you saw what you thought was an armed robbery,
would you give a true witness acocount of how you saw the event if you knew that :
1) the public would take the pi*s out of you if you were maybe proved wrong/inaccurate?
2) the PJ could hotfoot it over here to question said statement and maybe make you a suspect?
+++++++++++++++++
My simple answer to that question is yes.
1) I wouldn’t be bothered about having the piss taken out of me - cos what i said would have been the truth
2) more difficult, but if I had only been a witness I would know there would be no evidence to involve me directly.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
248 dcb
True, and I said as much in my post.
Unless proven otherwise by a source, we shouldn’t take it for granted that a thorough cleaning of the apartments, including the curtains, was done while the McCanns were still in residence.
This excerpt (from Websleuths) from a translation of a September 15 article in Sol states:
QUOTE
Blood on the curtains
Later at the Ocean Club, the use of the dogs ended up triggering a turnaround in the investigation.
As Sol could discover, the dogs detected cadaver odour behind a couch in the apartment’s living room, close to a window that leads to the resort’s back area.
This window had curtains that were removed and analysed by police, and a small blood sample was detected. Both the curtains and the wall where it was located at, had been washed.
UNQUOTE
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53176&page=3 (scroll down)
When were the wall and curtains washed? Not specified. I think this particular blood evidence was proven to come from an earlier occupant of the apartment who had cut himself shaving. I will search for an article that states so.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
247 coolandcalm Says:
“If you were in Portugal (as its topical) and you thought you saw what you thought was an armed robbery,”
————————-
I’d like to think that M mattered more than a bag of money, and that might motivate someone more than you obviously think. Your comparison is odious.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
245
Jolie Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
+++++++++++++++++++
That’s great - but it doesn’t say 5A was cleaned (and curtains) by Mccanns before reporting madeleine missing.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
243 dcb
Two ways of looking at it. Pepople have to be protected don’t they?
If you were in Portugal (as its topical) and you thought you saw what you thought was an armed robbery,
would you give a true witness acocount of how you saw the event if you knew that :
1) the public would take the pi*s out of you if you were maybe proved wrong/inaccurate?
2) the PJ could hotfoot it over here to question said statement and maybe make you a suspect?
I don’t think I would now though I would definitely have done a year ago.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
217
coolandcalm Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
There’s not a lot of point putting everything on the interviews.
Speaking with a policeman neighbour a while ago (works at Paddington Green) apparently only the The mcCanns have to agree to be re-interviewed because of being Arguidos and agreeing to it as part of being given permission to leave Portugal.
Every single one of the others named, nannies, holidaymakers, friends, etc etc can refuse. They are only witnesses and under no obligation to see anyone let alone speak to them…..
Forget the interviews ‘catching them out’….. can’t happen.
*************************************************************
Sorry Coolandcalm, that doesn’t make logical sense to me. IF they are witnesses in a serious crime AND there is evidence that they have provided false witness statements the PJ will be able to summon them for questionning through various procedural means.. If they refuse to answer the charges that they have perverted the investgation. There will be a legal process to deal with them. It’s one thing to refuse to give a witnes statement, quite another to refuse to answer to evidence that you have lied.
Claiming that the cleaners scrubbed the blood of the walls and washed the curtains is just a bad as claiming to know that the Mccanns did this. The PJ will know and that’s what counts. If nothing had been found then there would be no need for the FSS. Something was found, it was cleaned up, whether it’s conclusive enough for the courts is a different matter.
Furthermore, surely if Kate refuses to answer the questions she will not have her arguido status lifted because the case is as before until the natural timeline for arguido status runs out.. They have another two months or so to make that decision. PJ will decide whether the evidence is strong enough to charge, or shelve the case.
All IMO of course
February 10th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Although this information doesn’t rule out that a thorough clean-up job was done by the McCanns or another person on May 2/3, I thought I’d publish this excerpt from an August 8, 2007, article:
QUOTE
The apartment was searched this weekend even through it had been “released” as a crime scene by Portuguese authorities on June 11, cleaned and rented out to other families.
Former detectives are mystified as to why it has taken more than three months to make the discovery. Mark Williams-Thomas, a former Surrey detective and now a leading child protection expert, said: “I am staggered that it has taken so long.
“The police should have sealed the apartment immediately, on day one and then conducted a thorough forensic examination- this would have taken days and would have involved analysis for fluids and fibres and involved stripping the apartment bare.
QUOTE
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/06/wmaddy306.xml
February 10th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Jo, the priest is no different from anyone else, his conscience must guide him.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
238
coolandcalm Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
+++++++++++++++++
And maybe it account for why Kiss Curl Cooper and the Sexy Sisters could enter into the fray with impunity.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
21 jolie. Yep.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
238
coolandcalm Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
+++++++++++++++++
Ok - thanks for your honest answer - I don’t know either but seems a simple cop out for potential witnesses - run and be safe
February 10th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
231:coolandcalm,
Don’t you think tho’ that anyone involved in this case especially if innocent of wrong doing would be only too happy to assist the legitimate forces and answer questions truthfully……..after all their lives reputations and futures are in danger of being forever ’smeared’ if they were to refuse?
February 10th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
233
Jolie Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
“….Does anyone have a source that states the apartment was immaculate and had obviously been cleaned thoroughly May 3 (or May 2). …”
++++++++++++++++++
I’m interested in that as well
February 10th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
232 dcb. hey, I’m no legal eagle. I did say its what I was told!
I don’t know any more or any less about this than anyone else here. But I do listen to those whom I think might know… also I do have a very good memory so loads of seemingly irrelevant stuff sticks and sadly I’ve been following this since Madeleine went missing.
Not many of us left now. Julie and June J is about it I think now!
February 10th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
or at the very least proof that someone is dead.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
228 Clouseau
Hi there,
If true that the Tapas seven don”t have to answer questions because they are witnesses, what”s the point of them coming over. I mentioned earlier that the list is 12 now, to include
Wilkins, Wright and Baker. Matt kindly informed me that Miss Baker is the McCann”s U.K.
nanny, and Mr Wright a driver/ general help. It must mean that their witness statements
can be challenged, surely.
Also, if Baker and Wright were not in PDL with the McCanns why would they be interviewed?
It”s all very strange , don”t you think?
February 10th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
you need a body for an inquest.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Toddler ‘drowned in pool as her foster parents partied’
http://www.safewateralarms.co.uk/news.htm
nothing happened then either.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
218 Katy — Thanks!
224 Coolandcalm
Sometimes information that gets repeated over and over is then accepted as fact. I have been skeptical of reports that the apartment was cleaned thoroughly on May 3 and wondered if indeed the cleaning took place after it was vacated by the McCanns, since the sniffer dogs and the discovery of blood evidence under the tile came much later on.
Does anyone have a source that states the apartment was immaculate and had obviously been cleaned thoroughly May 3 (or May 2). I remember reading that someone said there were no toys lying about–that the apartment didn’t look like a family with three young children were holidaying there. Who was the source of that report? Was it the ex-police officer/detective in Portugal, who wrote a book about the case?
I think whenever we find something inaccurate in a post presented as truth that can be proven wrong, no matter which side of the argument it supports, we should speak out and provide sources to contradict that information.
If we are truly interest in justice for Madeleine, then we must care about the truth, whatever it is.