Hunting Madeleine McCann And Robert Murat
POLICE and two British cocker spaniels are swarming over Robert Murat’s home in Portugal.
One dog is trained to search for dead bodies. The other dog looks for live ones. In the McCanns apartment, a Portuguese dog can sense if a dead body has been in the room. It picks up the scent.
Robert Murat is chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
This is Robert Murat. One-eyed Murat.
File On Murat
The Sun has a “File on Murat”.
This is Murat, of whom the Sun’s Julie Moult delivered up a piece entitled “stories of a fantasist”. “He always seemed so eager to get involved in the police investigation,” said the Sun’s woman–on-the-scene. “Robert claimed he had a daughter just like Madeleine and said he felt compelled to do anything he could. But to me he seemed like classic fantasist.”
The Mail’s Neil Sears told us: “There was something more to the friendly expat who called himself ‘Rob’ than met the eye.” Murat made Sears “feel slightly uncomfortable”.
But it was the Sunday Mirror’s Lori Campbell who alerted police to Murat’s behaviour, she saw as “creepy”. She then told us, publicising her gut feeling.
Creepy Murat. But not half as creepy about the media’s voracious feeding frenzy which turned child abduction into voyeurism, a spectator sport. Madeleine McCann was turned into Maddy and Maddie, the victim of “every parent’s worst nightmare”.
“Kidnapping has weird echoes of Soham case,” said the Express’s front page. “MADDY SUSPECT BEHAVED JUST LIKE HUNTLEY.”
Paul Titcombe, Murat’s ex-boss recalled children’s parties: “Instead of mingling, he’d go straight to the bouncy castle and jump around. He got a bit of a name for himself. It seemed like a fixation.”
There were the “SEX SECRETS OF MADDY SUSPECT”. The “kinky threesome with pool cleaner and wife”.
Such is the file on Murat.
At home With Murat
And here is Murat. Creepy Murat. He is called a “liar” in a stage–managed confrontation with three of the McCanns’ travelling companions. His DNA is being examined and re-examined. Murat is being questioned by police.
And Murat? Says he: “It’s ruined my life. It’s made things very difficult for my family here and in Britain. The only way I’ll survive this is if they catch Madeleine’s abductor.”
The story of one girl’s disappearance had become the story of one man’s survival.
Murat’s Alibi
And now the Express leads with the news that Murat’s home has been taped off “as his alibi is blown wide open”.
But no trace of Madeleine McCann has been found at his home. An Irish ex-pat called Martin Smith says he saw Murat sat in bar on the night of Madeleine’s disappearance. Murat says he was at home all night.
“Madeleine: a major breakthrough,” says the Express in bold letters. Mr Smith says he saw a man carrying a child wrapped in a blanket on the night Madeleine McCann vanished. “If it had been him [Murat] carrying the child, I guarantee I would have recognised him.” So it wasn’t Murat?
Police have found nothing to link Murat with the McCann’s apartment. No DNA matches.
Who dunnit?
What now? The Express knows. “Prayers for Madeleine,” it orders. Praying will crack the case.
And over in the Mirror, the paper whose journalist informed the police of “creepy Murat, Madeleine leads. But no front-page word on Murat. The Mirror has a “SECOND SUSPECT”.
A police source tells of another man under police surveillance. Murat remains the child suspect but this other man is in the frame.
“MADDIE HUNT COPS TAIL NEW SUSPECT,” says the Sun.
Readers aren’t told who he is. The papers don’t know. They are all looking at Murat. And wondering what “THE HUNT FOR MADELEINE” will deliver up next…
August 6th, 2007 at 8:57 am
IF the story concerning the Cadaver dog finding positive in the McCanns apartment turns out to be true, and IF it turns out that the McCanns are implicated what are the British media going to do?
They have created St Gerry and Kate. They have alleged been suppressing anti-McCann posts on their sites.
My suspicion is one of two things, either they will go very quiet on the story and report on the trial only in a piecemeal way, reporting it as serious journalism, or they will claim that they suspected them all along and were trying to help the PJ do their job as laid down under Portuguese law.
They are unlikely to run this in the same sensational way as they did when allegations were being made about Mr Murat.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:10 am
BBC reports today that the re-examination of Murat’s property (by UK police) has revealed nothing. No links to Maddie, no trace of anything untoward - nothing at all to link Mr Murat to the missing girl. They are to re-examine his vehicles this week. Portugese police report it is ‘unlikely’ Mr Murat’s property will searched a third time.
Good job Portugese police didn’t follow the advice of the UK tabloids and hang him high after the first accusations were made by a sensation-seeking Mirror journalist who now has a man’s ruined life on her filthy conscience.
I hope the usual bloody-thirsty witchfinders on here feel happy with yourselves.
You’ll no doubt be expecting news, at any moment, from our ‘expert’ UK police forensics teams of Murat’s links to a ‘global paedophile network’ - you know: the one so many of you have adamantly insisted he is a fully-signed-up member of.
Shame on you.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Here’s a straight copy and paste from a portugese website called SOS Madeleine.
The translation is poor I’m afraid, but the gist of the article is clear.
Traces of blood of a died person, probably of Madeleine, one discovered in one of the walls of the room occupied by the McCann couple. This information suggests the possibility of an accident rather than a murder, in spite of the fact that the traces will have been cleaned. This fact, to be confirmed, would come to locate the death of Madeleine inside the apartment of holidays of the Ocean Club, without however explaining which would be the author.
The evidence one be discovered the week passed, after the use of the dogs trackers come from the United Kingdom, but there is not yet the scientific confirmation which it is about the blood of the small girl, even if experts one already isolated the possibility of contamination of the vestiges. The apartment occupied by McCann - the 5A - at summer rented on several occasions since June.
Saturday, while the attention of the journalists concentrated on the excavations in the property of Robert Murat, the technicians of the Criminal Investigation Department one subjected the apartment occupied by McCann to the black light - scenescope - in their search for new traces.
All examinations one recorded in photograph.
Until the moment, the Criminal Investigation Department did not want to comment on the results of the excavations and examinations carried out, but a source close to the investigation confirms that in the next days there will be new interrogations, in particular among the friends of the McCann couple. A possibility exploited by the investigators, is that of a possible connection between Robert Murat and the friends of the McCann couple because, to be confirmed the death of Madeleine McCann, it remains to know the context: an accident, a murder or a removal which would have badly turned.
The same source, advances that there will be still excavations and examinations in other places because the PJ does not have yet indices in connection with the place or would be the body of Madeleine McCann.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Sorry for Murat but not finding a body on his property does not put him in the clear yet. According to and Irish man who live in the area he saw Murat in a bar getting drunk that night, I thought Murat was at his mother’s, all night and even went to bed early. I am beginning to think that all of Portugal was high when Madeleine went missing.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Given the attention span, and the ability of the media to turn on people, (Diana being a case in point) and SALES, they will probably say ‘we was duped’ as they do. Sales before pride?
August 6th, 2007 at 9:47 am
If Robert Murat is found wholly innocent (when hopefully they do actually track Madeleine down) it’ll be interesting to see if he receives any apologies from the press who are demonising him
August 6th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Why is there this enormous desire on these forums to ‘convict’ either the McCanns or Robert Murat?
Shouldn’t we be looking ‘outside the box’?
There has never been anything concrete against any of them. Murat looked creepy….. The McCanns are middle class….
lets just lock em all up!
IMO here is a more reliable report………. unlike the biased Portugese reporting which is determined to prove it was a foreigner. Any foreigner. I’m surprised Victoria Beckham isn’t in the frame… she seems to get the blame for all the worlds ills!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2204100.ece
August 6th, 2007 at 10:00 am
can anyone tell me what happened to the nanny? no mention of her ever!
also why does dnd from the last sighting take ONE week… csi can do it in minutes!
August 6th, 2007 at 10:04 am
Did anyone in their right mind expect anything relating to Madeleine to be found on Rob Murat’s property? Do we really give credibility to the nonsense peddled by those tabloid journalists? Why was he supposed to be a “fantasist”? Did they think his daughter (”just like Maddie”) was a figment of his imagination?
How on earth was this supposed to have “echoes of Soham”?
Huntley KNEW the children he killed. He didn’t just pluck them at random from someone else’s apartment while they slept.
They were last seen at his home. It was quickly established that they had been there. Their discarded clothes were found in the school grounds.
There was forensic evidence all over the house.
He has a history of violent crime.
Nothing like this applies in the Murat case. Even his “helping” was different. This wasn’t a one off, as with Huntley, but something he had done before when Brits needed help with the local language.
Murat wasn’t doing anything that was unusual for him. Nothing he or anyone who knew him would find odd. Only tabloid journalists found it so. And the rest is history.
Does a tabloid journalist have a conscience, filthy or otherwise? Surely we can’t let such a thing get in the way of a good story?
August 6th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Maz says - “Nothing like this applies in the Murat case. Even his “helping” was different. This wasn’t a one off, as with Huntley, but something he had done before when Brits needed help with the local language.
Murat wasn’t doing anything that was unusual for him. Nothing he or anyone who knew him would find odd.”
I am almost sure I read, very early on, that RM has also in the past attempted to work with the police or has tried to be of help to them in some way when he was back home in the UK, in the Leicester area. I can’t find the reports now. Does anyone else remember this?
Fantasist? No way. Just an ordinary bloke, who is one of those people who likes to get involved and genuinely wants to help in a crisis situation. We’ve all met them, they are sometimes a bit of a pain in the ass with their well-meaning interventions and advice, but they genuinely mean so well.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Thank you for the Times link Moderation … Given that the degree of media bias in the UK is just as strong as in Portugal (if in the opposite direction) - I see nothing in the Times article which directly contradicts the Portuguese reports though.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:21 am
why couldnt they do all that at the start,u dont hesitate when a childs life is in jepordy, sniffer dogs the lot,even the people that help the police,what are they called,they sense them,hld on to something that belongs to the person that is missing,ive seen that sometimes they can be a great help.you would try anything wouldnt you.has their been any news on the dogs,did they find anything?
August 6th, 2007 at 10:29 am
if robert murat did have something to do with the disapearanse of little maddie,why havnt they found anything?am not saying he did,and am not saying he didnt,yes i would say he is strange and their something not right.but children have been going missing for ages in that country,and never been found.oh i dont know,its horrible to even think that somebody could take a little child.i just hope they find her alive safe and well.xxxx
August 6th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Whoever the other suspect is who the police are currently trailing in Praia da Luz, I believe will lead them to the truth. I have always thought that Madeleine’s adbuction (and it is still an abduction even if it is found that she was killed in the apartment) involved more than one person. The other suspect obviously lives in Praia da Luz, therefore it makes no sense to keep harping on about the McCann friends. I agree with Moderation’s last post.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:33 am
let me know if anybody else has any veiws on this robert murat?do u think he did have anything to do with little maddie goin missing. or anything else that the police could do to find her
August 6th, 2007 at 10:38 am
It’s reported that the Chief Prosecutor in Portugal is not happy! He has told the PJ that they must put up or shut up. They must either charge RM, or state that he is no longer a suspect. The PJ are therefore going through the motions. I don’t think they really have anything new at all on Robert Murat. They have carried out a final “search” his villa and grounds. Now they are going to “check out” his and his mother’s cars. They can then tick all the boxes as far as the investigation of RM is concerned.
Expect an imminent announcement from the PJ. He will either be charged or they will tell us he is no longer a suspect, with the latter a far more likely scenario.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:43 am
How does the other suspect ‘obviously’ live in Praia da Luz? and Moderation merely points out that the choice of suspects should not concentrate solely on Murat and the McCanns themselves - he says nothing about the McCanns circle of friends, who should surely be subject to just as much suspicion as anyone else in Praia at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance?
August 6th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Have they determined yet whether Madeleine was murdered or died in the apartment, have they absolutely ruled out natural causes?
August 6th, 2007 at 11:23 am
There is a Phsycic in America who posts his dreams daily on his web site. Among some fairly obscure scribblings about drugs and other stuff, one of his drawings from 5th August simply says “99 days”. Could this mean we’re going to hear something significant on Fri. 99 days after Madeleine went missing.
It’s about as accurate as any other rubbish coming from the whole sorry saga.
August 6th, 2007 at 11:30 am
thankyou i will have a look on the site at the phsycics,i hope it will be good news on the “99 days” it would be heart breaking if it wasnt good. do u think she is still alive,its been a really long time that she has been gone.i cant believe that the police have not got anything at all
August 6th, 2007 at 11:33 am
What about Madeleine was overdosed (by mistake) to get her to sleep, she dies as a result in her bed. The parents check on the kids, but only to see that they are still in their beds, and do not know anything is amiss. Abductor comes along and takes little girl thinking she is asleep, maybe thinking how easy it is. Realises later she’s not waking up, has to dispose of her.
But then if the traces of her were found ‘ in one of the walls of the room’ (Molly) that would require quite a lot of covering up (and plastering). And if that was ‘on’ one of the walls (typo / translation) that would still require blood, rather than just an overdose. And the Portuguese paper only says it was ‘probably’ traces of Madeleine, not definitively.
If Madeleine is in Belgium, who is the person who died in the apartment and how long ago was that?
A second person is under surveillance who apparently has no idea he is under surveillance - well he does now.
August 6th, 2007 at 11:47 am
As more days pass, more and more questions asked, I have been following Brians dreams since Madeleine went missing, and he has maintained that she is still alive and the initials RM are involved, another clairvoyant has predicted that the 10th August will be significant, this would tie in with the 99 days.
I hope she is still alive and being looked after.
August 6th, 2007 at 11:50 am
i hope she is alive,and if robert muran has done anything why havnt the police found anything,that is what gets me
August 6th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
collette do u think that maddies parents could of given the children somehing to make them sleep so they could go and have a meal knowin that the children wouldnt wake for a few hours.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Agree with most of the posts about RM; the press have acted digustingly in crucifying him without any tangible evidence. However, why did RM change his alibi ? Has he explained this ? Why did he claim (back in May) that he hadn’t spoken to his Russian friend/associate for months yet it was reported they were in contact via mobiles the night she vanished ? Maybe his fear of implication drove him to tell inaccuracies (if he is innocent)…..perhaps he is guilty of some crime and is covering it up ? Too many questions and presumptions
August 6th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Tizza…..there are many things reportedly “fishy” about Murrat - there is something NOT right…… as you say, he changed his alibi - first he said he was with his girlfriend, then his mother……now someone says he was drunk in a bar?? WHY did he have to rent a car in a hurry??? Claiming his was being used to find the little girl???? Plus all the stuff with the Russian guy, first denying having spoken to him for ages….then phone records shows he called him very late at night on May 3rd????? I don’t see how he can be cleared, for not having any evidence of Madeleine being in his home, as I doubt very much he would have brought little Madeliene home…como on that would be a bit hard to explain to his mother, would it not?? Sadly there is something very wrong with this whole mess!!!!! In the meantime - we all keep hoping for a happy ending - for that prescious little girl XXX
August 6th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
The whole thing is a mess but seems to slowly being cleared up.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I have just picked a Portuguese paper at random here to keep people up to date with developments as reported in Portugal - they are all saying much the same thing, as is the TV News over there. The Algarve is buzzing with speculation and they cannot believe that our media is not reporting all of this.
in Jornal de Noticias this morning:
Blood in the McCanns’ bedroom
Traces of blood from a dead person, presumably from little Madeleine, have been discovered on a wall in the bedroom that was occupied by the McCann couple, in the apartment at the ‘Ocean Club’, in Lagos, from where the girl vanished on May 3. This fact locates the child’s death inside the apartment, but the investigators do not take it as certain that this was a homicide, although according to the clues that were collected by forensics experts, somebody tried to clean up these traces. On the contrary, JN knows that the explanation that is seen as more likely at the moment to explain Maddie’s death – practically given as certain – is that this was an accident.
New elements of proof were apparently discovered early last week, through the use of dogs that are specially trained to detect the biological residues of dead persons, independently of the time that has passed after they were left. Investigators are convinced that the blood belongs to Madeleine, but they wait for more detailed analysis in order to confirm their suspicions.
The day before yesterday and in the early morning yesterday, the McCanns’ apartment was still being subject to intense technical examinations by the PJ’s technical staff, namely using ultra-violet light sources. JN could witness that numerous pictures were also taken.
New interrogations
The discovery has led to an entirely new perspective on this case and may focus the investigation on the child’s family circle and the McCanns’ close friends. The possibility of new interrogations on these persons has not been dismissed.
Almost 100 days after the english girl disappeared, while her parents were dining in a restaurant that is located approximately 50 metres from the apartment, the case investigation seems to be coming close to its final. It is now clear to the Policia Judiciaria that the child’s death happened inside the bedroom. But there is still a lot of doubt concerning the body’s destiny.
Intense searches made during the last days in the garden of Robert Murat’s house, were an attempt at clearing this aspect, but apparently without any results. Yet, JN knows that the searches will intensify over the next days, in various locations. Many of these, that were already inspected before, will be analysed again by the dog that was brought in from England.
Joana case
But the discovery of the body may not be determinant in order to close this case. We just have to remember the case of Joana, the 8-year old girl that disappeared from the village of Figueira, in Portimao, in September 2004. Her body was never found, but her mother, Leonor Cipriano, and her brother were condemned to prison for 20 years and 4 months, and 19 years and 2 months, respectively.
Contamination eliminated
JN also knows that one of the main concerns of the investigators was to eliminate any doubts about a possible contamination of evidence, which has been done succesfully.
Since the day Madeleine disappeared, dozens of people went through the McCanns’ apartment, including police, family, friends, hotel staff and even dogs.
In the investgation’s initial phase, over 300 biological residues were collected by elements fron the Judiciaria’s Scientific Police, and then analysed at the Instituto de Medicina Legal.
Even after the inspectors’ work in the apartment was considered finished, there were other people inside. Since June 11, the apartment was rented to other couples on holidays by the ‘Ocean Club’.
JN knows that any possibility of clue contamination was definitely dismissed.
Dogs distinguish residues of dead people
They are trained to detect biological residues and they are able to tell whether these belong to a living or a dead person. The dogs that were brought to Praia da Luz by english police can trace corpses, or even a skeleton. The resies’ age is not a problem either. Therefore, their capacity is extremely important. “These dogs were trained just for this function”, a source with GNR said, adding that this mission “is not specific for one dog race”, but “is all about the training that is given”. In Portugal, there are no dogs trained for this type of action, but according to our source, “that is a future goal”. The sniffer dogs that are used by GNR and PSP are trained to detect people’s odors. “The person may be alive, and that makes it easier for the dog. If the person is dead, the animal can only detect her smell if the death is recent”, the same source explained. In the searches that were done in the garden of Robert Murat’s house over the last two days, english police used a border collie race sniffer dog. In order to evaluate if the soil was hiding anything, holes of half a metre were made, using steel cables, but the animals detected nothing.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Can people please stop with the sedation theories, it really is not interesting nor do I think the police would be trailing a second suspect if it were a simple case of over dose. I agree with Tizza about Robert Murats lies. This was definitely not wise. And now the claim that an Irish man saw him getting drunk in a bar that evening. RM’s alibi is definitely in question. If Robert Murat is lying in order to cover up something else that has nothing to do with Madeleine then he needs to come clean because no other crime could be worse than the crime of abduction or worse yet murder. No one on this forum has the right to say that he is guilty because there are still so many unanswered questions, in fact pretty much everything is unanswered.
I still keep thinking about the man in the backdrop of the photograph watching Gerry McCann playing with his children and then the same man crops up in photographs next to Murat as helps with the JP investigation days after Maddy went missing. Who is this guy??? Is he a police officer? Is it a coincidence that he appears in the holiday snap shot? If there were traces of Madeleine’s blood on the walls in the apartment then why could the police not have dectected this way back at the beginning. It would have been very obvious. Who knows what the history is behind the apartment. Perhaps the previous owners need to be contacted to get a history of who has rented it in the past, perhaps the blood (if in fact this is true and no a speculation by the tabloids) belongs to some previous tenant. Maybe a previous tenant had passed away in this apartment. Who knows. I think it is very cruel and irresponsible for the papers to speculate on Madeleine’s death when the police are keeping tight lipped about their investigation.
And Molly whoever the second suspect is either lives in the area or they visit regularly, how else could they give the police the opportunity to not only suspect them but to be able to trail them for weeks. All the McCann friends are back in the UK. I really wish you would stop making inuendos about the McCanns because if everyone is in agreement that a person is innocent until proven guilty then it is cruel to assume such things about anyone. I am sure you would hate it if someone speculated about your life and made up a lot of lies to prove some sort of theory. And may I remind you that the tabloid press make a career out of doing this.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Hey guys, you’re missing the point here. Saint Gerry of the Blessed Blog has informed us that he is feeling better, that he is getting involved in events again and that he even found time to read his wifes interview in the papers.
There was something else but it escapes my memory………. oh yes I remember he’s a little concerned over that missing girl. If only he had more time to take a little more interest - but running a global franchise takes up so much time.