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Post by Admin on Jan 31, 2014 23:21:20 GMT
British police searching for missing Madeleine McCann want their Portuguese counterparts to search the homes and examine the bank accounts of three former employees of the resort where she vanished, it is reported. Three workers at the holiday complex where Madeleine McCann was last seen made an abnormally high number of calls “outside the resort” on the night she went missing. A police source said: “Unlike their colleagues who called each other as the search proceeded, the three made domestic calls to areas of no geographic interest to the search.” Scotland Yard detectives have asked for them to be interrogated, their bank accounts probed and their homes searched. Former Ocean Club worker Nelson Rodrigues, told Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt that employees at the complex would have had the perfect opportunity to snatch a child. Former Ocean Club worker Nelson Rodrigues, told Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt that employees at the complex would have had the perfect opportunity to snatch a child. Nelson Rodrigues speaks to Sky's Martin Brunt Paul Luckman, editor of the expat Portugal News, has been following the latest developments in the case. He told Sky News: "It's alleged that they could be employees of Ocean Club, which puts a whole new light on it and that they're not, as we've supposed until now, a little group of opportunist burglars going round stealing passports and wallets whenever there was a window open. "There are suggestions that this is slightly different." The judiciary police headquarters in Faro where Scotland Yard detectives have met with Portuguese police over the Madeleine McCann case.
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Post by Admin on Feb 4, 2014 14:46:59 GMT
POLICE are hunting a former minibus driver at the Algarve holiday resort where Madeleine McCann went missing. The unnamed 40-year-old used to ferry tourists between the Ocean Club complex and Faro Airport at the time the youngster vanished. Detectives reckon he could hold the key to cracking the seven-year riddle of Maddie's disappearance. Officers from Portugal's Policia Judiciaria are believed to have spent days scouring the resort in a bid to track down the ex-Ocean Club worker. The former minibus driver is now thought to be jobless after a short stint working in a local bar. A hotel worker told Portuguese media: "Three individuals who identified themselves as PJ officers were here days ago. "They were asking where a man who worked at the Ocean Club when Madeleine disappeared lived. At the time he used to pick up tourists who were staying at the Ocean Club from Faro Airport and at the end of their stay he would run them back to the airport." The major breakthrough comes after Metropolitan Police officers identified three former Ocean Club workers as prime suspects in the case. Crunch British detectives believe the trio may be behind a string of burglaries at the holiday complex in the run-up to Maddie's disappearance. Police believe the three men would have known the layout of the Ocean Club complex and the best escape routes for anyone taking a child. Scotland Yard officers now want to search their homes and probe their bank accounts. They held a crunch meeting with senior Portuguese officials last week in the hope of gaining permission to operate on Portuguese soil. It follows a painstaking coldcase UK review supported by Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry, both 45.
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Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2014 14:23:59 GMT
A mum has told Scotland Yard how she chased an intruder away from her Algarve apartment after she found him heading towards her child’s cot Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are probing claims a kidnapper tried to snatch another British tot from a holiday flat in Portugal. A mum has told Scotland Yard how she chased an intruder away from her Algarve apartment after she found him heading towards her child’s cot. The unnamed mum reported it to Portuguese police at the time, but it is claimed they failed to search the area or take fingerprints. British Police officers from Scotland Yard arrive in Portugal A source said: “British detectives are keen to establish whether Portuguese officers missed a crucial line of inquiry here. “There is some confusion over why this was not taken more seriously.” It was reported that the mum said she heard a noise late one night and caught the intruder heading for the cot. The would-be-kidnapper fled the apartment, thought to be in an apartment in an Algarve resort north of Praia da Luz, where Maddy was taken. 4 British Police officers from Scotland Yard arrive in downtown Faro carrying documents believed to be relating to the arrest of 3 men The alleged incident happened in 2010 - three years after Maddy vanished from her bed while on holiday with her parents Kate and Gerry and twin brother and sister.
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Post by Admin on Feb 9, 2014 22:27:48 GMT
KEYS to the holiday apartment from which Madeleine McCann was abducted were lost shortly before she vanished, it was claimed last night. However, police were not informed about the loss of potentially crucial evidence which could unlock the seven-year mystery. A Sunday Express investigation in Portugal has revealed astonishing new information which, if proved, suggests the kidnap was well planned and executed using stolen keys. Amid claims that Portuguese police are about to arrest three former workers at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, based on information gathered by Scotland Yard, we tracked down a former maintenance worker at the complex whose revelations could change the direction of the international investigation. Maintenance worker Tiago da Silva The retired man, whose identity we have agreed to protect, said: “I have kept this to myself for long enough, so now it is right to tell people what happened. “There was another maintenance worker at the Ocean Club who said he had lost a set of keys for the whole of block five.” The retired man, whose identity we have agreed to protect, said: “I have kept this to myself for long enough, so now it is right to tell people what happened. “There was another maintenance worker at the Ocean Club who said he had lost a set of keys for the whole of block five.” The former Ocean Club worker revealed: “I remember my colleague telling some of us the keys to that block had been lost. “He told us about it in the week when the child was taken but I cannot remember the exact day. In the maintenance department we kept duplicates of all keys to the apartments. They were on a long cable and very clearly marked and we kept them in a safe. “When the man told us about the lost keys, he started crying. He was very upset. He was worried about losing his job, I think, and he did not want others to know about it. After the child disappeared, we all had to give statements to the police but I did not mention the keys had been lost because I did not think it was relevant.”
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Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2014 5:33:31 GMT
Madeleine McCann’s kidnappers may have tried to snatch another blonde British toddler weeks before she vanished. A mum has told Scotland Yard she believes “gypsy” restaurant staff in the Algarve spiked her drink then tried to carry her year-old daughter to a getaway car waiting outside. She says she reported the dramatic incident to the Find Madeleine campaign line in 2007, but they were then too busy pursuing other lines of inquiry. But now police from Operation Grange are set to interview the mum for a second time in two months in the hope it will uncover new evidence in the hunt for Madeleine. The 30-year-old, who does not want to be named, was holidaying with her mother and her daughter in Montechoro near Albufeira – 30 miles from Praia da Luz where Maddie, three, vanished six weeks later. “It was terrifying, like something out of a film,” said the mum. “From the first day of the holiday, a young dark-haired man kept popping up wherever we went. We would arrive at a restaurant and he’d show up minutes later as though he had been tipped off.It was low season so everywhere was quiet. There were about three or four restaurants open but the same staff would show up where we were. They all knew the dark-haired man. It felt like the Eastern European mafia was watching us. On the third night the man walked up to us, and chatted to us – but all about my daughter. He was obsessed, playing with her, stroking her hair. It was very over-familiar. He kept touching her and commenting on her blonde hair. He was about 25 and my mum told him it was unusual to see someone his age interested in children. He said he had nephews back home. And he kept saying how cute she was,” said the mum.
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