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Post by Admin on Aug 23, 2014 7:15:34 GMT
British police searching for missing Madeleine McCann are poised to return to Portugal to try to solve the seven-year riddle of the girl’s disappearance. After weeks of tense negotiations, a team of Scotland Yard detectives will travel to the seaside resort of Praia da Luz next month. The latest development is described by sources close to the investigation as a “make-or-break moment”. Up to seven officers from Operation Grange will hold meetings with senior Portuguese investigators. It is understood they have been granted permission to interview up to seven key suspects identified earlier this year – three of whom will be questioned for a second time. The last time the Met officers were in Portugal, in May this year, they conducted interviews with four people, known as arguidos. The Portuguese term – normally translated as “named suspect” or “formal suspect” – refers to someone who is treated by Portuguese police as more than a witness, but has not been arrested or charged. One of them, Russian-born Sergey Malinka, has been told he is no longer under suspicion. But now detectives have been given the go-ahead to question the remaining suspects they believe hold vital information that could help them crack the case. Analysis of mobile phone data suggests at least three of them were close to the scene when three-year-old Madeleine vanished at the resort on May 3, 2007, and were in contact in the hours that followed. A source said: “Thousands of pieces of evidence have been re-examined by the Scotland Yard team to get to this stage. This is far from a scatter-gun approach. “The detectives are acutely aware there is a finite amount of money for the investigation and that they need results. It is hoped they are on the right track to achieving those objectives.” Portuguese authorities are also understood to have granted permission for Yard officers to investigate new “areas of interest”.
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Post by Admin on Aug 24, 2014 6:43:06 GMT
British police from Scotland Yard will return to Portugal next month to continue trying to solve the seven year mystery of Madeline McCann's disappearance. They are set to touch down in Praia da Luz to hold meetings with senior Portuguese detectives. They have also been granted permission to interview up to seven suspects - three of whom have already been questioned once before. In June Scotland Yard detectives shadowed three searches of wasteland near the Ocean Club but no obvious clues were found. Some materials gathered in the search were sent for forensic examination but officers were not hopeful of a breakthrough in the investigation. In July about a dozen Scotland Yard police assisted questioning four suspects and witnesses. One of them, Russian-born Sergey Malinka, has been told he is no longer under suspicion. Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in May 2007, aged three. Operation Grange was launched in May 2011 after Madeleine's parents Gerry, 45, and Kate, 46, appealed to David Cameron. About 40 detectives and civilian staff are dedicated to the inquiry, which has so far cost an estimated £6million. Despite the McCanns understanding there is limited funding available for the investigation, top bosses at the Metropolitan Police has vowed to continue the hunt for answers. The Portuguese term – meaning “formal suspect” – refers to someone treated by police as more than a witness but who hasn’t been arrested or charged. Analysis of mobile phone data suggests at least three suspects were close to the scene when three-year-old Madeleine vanished at the resort on May 3, 2007. A source said: “Thousands of pieces of evidence have been re-examined by the team. This is far from a scatter-gun approach. “They are aware there is a finite amount of money for the investigation and they need results. It’s hoped they’re on the right track.”
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Post by Admin on Aug 25, 2014 6:14:58 GMT
Kate McCann has told of her sorrow that missing Madeleine is not home to start “big school” next week. Her eldest daughter would have turned 11 in May and been due to move up to secondary school on Thursday. Kate told a close pal: “Madeleine should be here and I should be helping her prepare for big school like all her friends. “It’s such a big step and she would have been so excited. It hurts so much that we won’t be doing it.” The former GP, who gave up work to be a full-time mum, said to her friend: “We never thought she would be missing for this long. "She was always such a bright, inquisitive little girl at nursery school but sadly we never got to see her develop at primary school. “And now she should be going off to big school...it’s so tough not knowing where she is and sometimes our hope feels so far away." But Kate, 46, and heart doctor husband Gerry, 45, of Rothley, Leics, refuse to give up hope of ever finding their daughter alive. She was aged three, just nine days short of her fourth birthday, when she vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007. During a BBC TV interview three months ago to mark the latest anniversary of her disappearance Kate told how she was already thinking of Maddie’s educational transition. She said: “It’s such a long time. She’s that bit older now. You think 11 - she’s due to start big school at the end of August, beginning of September. "She is still part of our lives and we’re never going to give up on her or forget her and we’ll do whatever we can to find her.” The primary school in Thurmaston, Leics, which had been holding a place for Maddie for seven years, told of its regret they were never able to welcome her. As British Police continue their search for the youngster and are poised to quiz more suspects, Kate and Gerry still patiently wait and pray for a significant breakthrough in their investigation. As the couple’s friends and neighbours prepare for the secondary school transfer for their sons and daughters, they look forward to the new school year for their nine-year-old twins Sean and Amelie. They attend Bishops Ellis Primary in Thurcaston, Leics, where Maddie should have first been a pupil in August 2007 and which has pledged to continue raising funds for her. Her family have recently kept busy with trips to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and last Saturday to support Maddie’s favourite team Everton against newly promoted Premier League Leicester City at home. McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “Any anniversary or significant date for Madeleine is a particularly difficult time for Kate and Gerry. But this is a private time for the family and they will not discuss it publicly.”
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Post by Admin on Aug 28, 2014 15:30:08 GMT
A new international letter of request has been received from Scotland Yard, Portugal’s Attorney General’s Office confirmed. The news comes as Operation Grange officers prepare for a further trip to the Algarve next month. Officials have declined to comment on the content of the latest letter of request. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman also refused to comment on details of the “fourth request” which was made earlier this month. But it is thought that British officers want to question suspects in Portugal. It was not clear last night if public prosecutors on the Algarve coordinating the separate Portuguese inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance on May 3, 2007, have yet approved the Yard’s call. Previous requests sparked digs at three sites in and around the Praia da Luz resort where Madeleine vanished on a family holiday. And four men were interviewed as “arguidos” – normally translated as “formal suspects” – in July. Only one of them is understood to have had his arguido status removed. British police questioned them through Portuguese colleagues in the hope of confirming their theory that they were part of a burglary gang who panicked after killing Madeleine during a bungled break-in at her family’s holiday apartment and dumped her body. But all four men insisted they had nothing to do with her disappearance and were released without charge. A string of witnesses were also quizzed at Faro police station. Sniffer dogs loaned by South Wales police and used in June to search waste ground in Praia da Luz in a fruitless hunt for clues to her whereabouts are subsequently thought to have swept the car of one of the suspects’ relatives. Portuguese police have privately dismissed the latest British police work as “senseless.” They believe Madeleine was snatched by a foreigner no longer in Portugal. They have still not ruled out the involvement of ex-junkie burglar drug addict Euclides Monteiro who died in a tractor accident in 2009, three years after being sacked by the holiday club where the British youngster and her parents were staying. The Yard launched Operation Grange in May 2011 after her parents Gerry, 45, and Kate, 46, of Rothley, Leics, appealed to David Cameron for help. Around 40 detectives and civilian staff are dedicated to the inquiry which has so far cost an estimated £6million. Yard chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said recently: “The investigation is still ongoing and we will not be reducing the team.”
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Post by Admin on Sept 1, 2014 15:17:58 GMT
Police probing Madeleine McCann's disappearance have formally petitioned for more help, Portuguese authorities have revealed. Another international letter of request has been received from Scotland Yard, Portugal's Attorney General's Office confirmed. The news comes as officers prepare for a new trip to the Algarve next month following ground searches for missing Madeleine and interrogations of four suspects earlier this summer. Officials have declined to comment on the content of the new letter of request. It was not clear last night if public prosecutors on the Algarve coordinating the separate Portuguese inquiry into Madeleine's May 2007 disappearance have yet approved the request. Previous requests - which sparked digs at three sites in and around the Praia da Luz resort where Madeleine vanished as well as the police quizzes - were submitted in July last year and January, February and May this year. A spokesman for the Lisbon-based Attorney General's Office confirmed last night: 'During the last few weeks Public Prosecution Services received from the British authorities a new Letter of Request in the context of the investigations related to the disappearance of young Madeleine McCann. The content of the request presented by the British authorities is classified, therefore the Prosecutor General's Office have no comments on such matter.' Reports at the weekend suggested British police working on Operation Grange - the new probe into Madeleine's disappearance - want to conduct interviews with more key suspects. But all four men insisted they had nothing to do with her disappearance and were released without charge. A string of witnesses were also quizzed at Faro Police Station. South Wales-loaned sniffer dogs were used in June to search waste ground in Praia da Luz in a fruitless search for clues to her whereabouts and are subsequently thought to have swept the car of one of the suspects' relatives. Portuguese police have privately dismissed the latest British police work as 'senseless.'
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