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Post by Admin on Sept 2, 2014 6:00:03 GMT
The competition between British police forces to be seen to be helping in the search for Madeleine McCann hampered the investigation into her disappearance and has had negative effects ever since, according to the author of a secret Home Office report. The unpublished report - commissioned by former Home Secretary Alan Johnson in 2009 - concluded that so many UK agencies got involved it damaged relations with Portuguese police, Sky News has learnt. Jim Gamble, the former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) who wrote the report, said the intervention of competing police chiefs has had a long-term negative effect on the investigation. Sky News has been briefed on the contents of the hitherto unseen document - delivered in 2010 - which eventually led to the Metropolitan Police re-opening the investigation. It concluded that: :: The intervention of multiple UK police forces and agencies created "frustration" and "resentment" among Portuguese police. :: The decision by the Association of Chief Police Officers to put Leicestershire Police in charge of the operation was a mistake because the force was ill-equipped to deal with such a big investigation. :: Challenges to the Portuguese police's approach to the investigation led to warnings that Britain should not try to act as a "colonial power". Speaking to Sky News, Mr Gamble said that within the first few weeks of Madeleine going missing in Praia da Luz in May 2007 the Portuguese were given advice by CEOP, the Metropolitan Police, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the National Police Improvement Agency. He said: "All of us… your first gut reaction is you want to help…so everyone came with best intention, that created a sense of chaos and a sense of competition…and in many instances in my opinion wanting to be seen to help. "It was unhelpful…I've no doubt relationships from the outset with the Portuguese were impacted by it and I think that had a long-term negative effect on the investigation." Mr Gamble - who refuses to release the detail of his findings - said the initial Portuguese police response to Madeleine's disappearance was "haphazard" and that potentially crucial information had not been followed up. One of Mr Gamble's recommendations was the establishment of a national centre for missing children. However, this has not been set up.
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Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2014 15:59:11 GMT
Frustrated detectives want to quickly press ahead with their investigations and have sent a fifth letter of request detailing their requirements to legal chiefs in Portugal. The process is being bogged down because of major changes in the way justice is delivered. In an attempt to improve the service, 20 courts have closed creating a huge backlog of cases and a nightmare for administrators. Trials are being held up as vast amounts of documents are moved all over the country in a bid to streamline the service. So government lawyers are giving priority to running trials and urgent cases. A legal official in Portugal said: “The system is a mess, which is causing a huge political row between the right-of-centre government and the socialist opposition. “This all means that Maddie is taking a low priority because all the effort is going on keeping the courts running. There is also a new prosecutor in Portimao on the Algarve who is having to be fully briefed on scores of cases, including Madeleine’s, and that all takes time. “There are delays but people are working extra hours to try to get everything moving again.” It is understood that the Yard detectives have requested to do further work on the background of three arguidos, or suspects, and several other people they believe could have important information. Yard officers can sit in on interviews but they have to be conducted by Portuguese detectives. They are now anxiously awaiting the formal legal response to their request before they can plan their next moves. The hold-up is the latest problem to affect the work to find the youngster who, then aged three, vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve in May 2007. Last week details emerged about a Home Office report which showed British police forces helping with the search for Madeleine hampered the Portuguese investigation. So many UK agencies were keen to be seen to be helping, it created a “sense of chaos and competition”. That damaged relations with Portuguese police and had a long-term negative effect, according to the unpublished findings of Jim Gamble, former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. Commissioned by former home secretary Alan Johnson in 2009, the report was delivered the following year and led to the Met Police reopening the investigation into the disappearance. \
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Post by Admin on Oct 13, 2014 16:46:55 GMT
The cost of the British police search for Madeleine McCann will top £10million as a new drive for the truth gives fresh hope to her parents. Scotland Yard’s review of the youngster’s disappearance seven years ago will cost more than double the original £5million that was estimated by the Home Office. But the Home Office last night defended the rising cost and said: “The Government believes it is right that it does all it can to support the search for Madeleine McCann. “The Home Office will continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to review and control the costs appropriately and to ensure that the investigation has the resources it requires.” It comes as a top Portuguese prosecutor takes over solving the mystery of Madeleine’s disappearance from her holiday apartment. Ines Sequeira is said to be ‘‘utterly determined’’ to solve the case. And Metropolitan Police officers are also planning to return to the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz to ‘‘re-interview’’ three suspects in their push to find the kidnappers. They have sent a sent a fifth letter to Portuguese officers requesting access to the investigation, which has thrown up seven suspects. Scotland Yard has handed the Home Office a bill for £7,332,389 since 2011 when the force was called in by David Cameron. Figures show police received a special grant payment of £1.9million in 2011/2012, £2.8million in 2012/2013 and £2.6million in 2013/2014. The amounts were revealed following a Freedom of Information request. It showed the bill for 2014/2015 is expected to be “broadly in line with previous years”. That will take the total to above £10million. Thirty murder squad detectives are continuing the hunt in Portugal. Expensive specialist forensic units have carried out excavations around Praia da Luz from where Madeleine went missing in 2007, aged three. Scotland Yard refused to comment about payments to Portuguese police for the search. A Met spokesman said: “We are not prepared to give a running commentary on the search.” Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry from Rothley, Leics, have been assured the search will go on for the “foreseeable future”. A spokesman for the family said: “Madeleine’s parents remain extremely grateful for the work carried out by officers from Operation Grange in the continued search for their daughter.”
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Post by Admin on Oct 14, 2014 20:54:39 GMT
There may be renewed hope for the parents of Madeleine McCann, the British girl who vanished from her family’s vacation apartment in Portugal more than seven years ago, when she was just 3 years old. A new prosecutor in Portugal has been appointed to the case and is said to be "utterly determined" to solve it, a source close to the investigation told the Daily Mail. The prosecutor, Ines Sequeira, described as "very ambitious" by the paper, was appointed just as Scotland Yard prepares to return to Portugal later in the month to question up to seven suspects. The new appointment coincides with a U.K. government report estimating that $17 million has been spent so far on the investigation, according to the Daily Mirror. Madeleine disappeared on the evening of May 3, 2007, while she was sleeping in in the same room as her younger twin siblings at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz in the Algarve while her parents dined with friends nearby. Her mother discovered she was missing when she returned to check on the children at about 10 p.m. Scotland Yard's detectives are reviewing the case and have been issuing new descriptions of suspects, seeking further interviews and digging over areas of scrubland near the apartment where she went missing. Madeleine would now be 11.
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Post by Admin on Oct 21, 2014 15:55:50 GMT
Scotland Yard detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have returned to Portugal following the appointment of a new prosecutor. It is also the first time they have gone back to the Algarve since quizzing four suspects at the start of July. The Operation Grange detectives arrived in Faro this afternoon on a BA flight from Gatwick before picking up a hire car and driving to their hotel. Only a small team of three officers - led by Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood - made the trip. Following her appointment, high-flying investigator Ines Sequeira said she was “utterly determined” to crack the case, bringing fresh hope to Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, both 46. She has yet to approve a fifth letter of request sent by British authorities earlier this year. British detectives - who are understood to want to re-interview three of the four Madeleine McCann suspects they questioned in July - are expected to press for a quick 'yes' to their new bid to crack the seven-year-old mystery of Madeleine's disappearance. Mrs Sequeira took over from predecessor Jose Magalhaes e Menezes last week and has told colleagues she views the Madeleine McCann case as a priority. It is thought the Operation Grange detectives may seek a meeting with her before they return to London. A source close to the McCanns said they think the appointment is a "step in the right direction." The new Scotland Yard trip to Portugal comes after it emerged the cost of the British police search for Madeleine will top 10 million POUNDS - double the original amount estimated by the Home Office when the force was called in by David Cameron in 2011. But the Home Office has defended the rising cost of the probe, insisting: "The Government believes it is right that it does all it can to support the search for Madeleine McCann." The Operation Grange inquiry is running in parallel with a new Portuguese probe, reopened in May more than five years after originally being shelved.
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