Madeleine McCann investigation

[lyndie]

I saw today that possible excavations are to start in the resort where MM went missing.

Does anyone think the progress The Met have made is astonishing given the length of time that has elapsed? I can't help but wonder what progress could have been made if they had been involved at the start.

I really hope that somehow they can find out what happened and give her family some sort of closure. I know the ins and outs of what happened and her parents leaving her have been discussed at length on MN but from a crime point of view I would be very interested to see if the Portugese police had done enough or not.

mis- remembering this, that should say.

Yes I think cadaver dogs did signal in the Matthews house and it was found that the bed was second hand from someone who died there - there have been no reported deaths in 5a and the alerts were behind the sofa/in the wardrobe/on cuddlecat/in the car/car key fob/garden area outside 5a and items of clothing belonging to the McCanns

There were no alerts in the apartments occupied by the other families in the group - nor in robert murat's house - I can just imagine the McCanns' reactions if the dogs had alerted there - I don't think they'd be explaining them away with rotten meat/soiled nappies then!

No they did have an answer for everything.

I have PMed.
If the sniffer dogs picked up a scent on KM's trousers, are they the pair she was wearing the night MM went missing?

What doesn't make sense is that the. Car was rented a month or more after mm went missing. They were at that point being watched by the media I really cannot see that she was ever in that car.

Perhaps have a read of the files thinking?

As i said upthread, the dogs found dna in the apartment, not just "the scent". Dna was sent to uk for processing, and they (the uk lab, bugger all to do with inept portugese) contaminated the tiny sample and it was useless.

I don't think they were stealth although there are photos of Kate wearing those trousers later

It was the UK that led the portuguese down the route of dogs/DNA/ looking at the parents etc Their initial thought was about her wandering off although that was never in the McCann scheme of things from day one. Gerry had a flip chart and was talking about his 'wider agenda' within weeks

And an elton john concert for the 1 year anniversary when she'd only been missing a few weeks!

The cadaver dog alerted behind the sofa.
The blood dog alerted behind the sofa at the exact same spot. They alerted at several other points in the McCanns' possessions, properties and car, as Costa listed above.

The same dogs were taken into all the Tapas 7 apartments and cars as well as Robert Murat's house. They were taken all over Praia da Luz. They didn't alert anywhere else.

This is largely what Amaral bases his theory on.
However, his theory is far from watertight.

There are other factors too - the Smith family sighting for example, and contradictions in the time the alarm was raised, no evidence of an intruder etc - but the dog alerts were significant. Perhaps these latest developments will help fill in the gaps

Hopefully this latest set of investigations will bring something up.

So much about this sad case doesn't make sense. That is why a reconstruction would have been good. I thought Amiral was about to organise one before he was suddenly pulled from the case?

I suspect that now, it would be too late. How many of us would remember what we were doing seven years ago, even if it was a special occasion which we might expect to remember, and not just an ordinary day.

This is all quite bewildering but am now very interested to see how it pans out, I do feel a bit stupid for just assuming the story that was in the press was the whole truth. I am signed up to twitter, but don't know how to get updates on things - would be really grateful if someone could PM me as to how to follow updates on this story on twitter?

I am not shocked at all that the results of the PJ investigation could not freely be discussed in this country - Carter Ruck has been paid thousands to make sure of that.

You could start with following @xklamation on twitter, she's based in Portugal and has a blog where she translates a lot of Pt news reports and explains PT legal processes. You'll then see people she retweets and can start following them too!

But isn't it shocking that that can happen in a democracy with a supposed free press fallon? All those donations to the fund from children and pensioners gone to suppress reports from a real police investigation

Pat Brown's profile of the disappearance of MM is an interesting read, for anyone who is interested. Reaches similar conclusions to the PT police.

I agree Costa, the very sad thing is that most of those who donated to the fund have no idea that their money would be used to employ the services of PR firms, lawyers and a very top extradition lawyer, Michael Caplan QC. I also think that the online store should be closed immediately.

How likely is it that one of her parents could know something that the other doesn't?

Is that likely/possible?

They could do a reconstruction from the statements of those there and they wouldn't need to remember minute for minute as the police have all the timings etc

dunnit - thx!