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.

The mccanns said they were unreliable and that there were explanations for the alerts iirc from the book.

We'll it looks like both forces are going down the same road now as there has never really been any concrete evidence she was abducted hopefully together they will solve it

I know I wouldn't get on a plane if a sniffer dog had alerted to there being a bomb on board

God no and if one alerted in an apartment where my baby had been taken I would be distraught and want answers

It looks as though cadaver dogs are being brought in to Luz again, as well as ground penetrating radar, I would guess this will be before any actual digging takes place

Absolutely noddy I wouldn't dismiss them as unreliable, I'd want to know what the alerts meant

I don't understand why the UK didn't support this theory at the start All these years looking all over the world and they are going back to the conclusion the PJ came to in 2007. They were never looking at abduction after the British dogs were brought in.

Does anyone think the progress The Met have made is astonishing

They haven't made any.

Not sure how astonishing that is.

I think they are following the Portuguese lead more than they let on.

Absolutely noddy I wouldn't dismiss them as unreliable, I'd want to know what the alerts meant

A point the Portuguese police quite possibly failed to do. Unless they have evidence that is neither in the files or in Amaral's book.

They did know what they meant. They said the dogs weren't reliable and they had had dirty nappies and rotting meat which may have caused the alerts. From day one abduction was the only possibility they would consider.

Reading the files again it is a shame the phone evidence was in admissible

I don't understand why they weren't digging before then, and the Portugese police closed the investigation? If their evidence is good?

I also couldn't understand if there was a site relatively nearby that it wouldn't have been searched at the time?

There is information on the searches that were done and the roadworks in the files

Newspapers are reporting that at some point in the last 7 years, information has been received that has led them to these dogs now - so that information may not have been available then

The investigation was shelved (not closed) basically because the police wanted a reconstruction, the McCanns friends refused to do it, and the Portuguese felt that without it they had nowhere else to go - that's the gist anyway

Digs now not dogs - although it seems cadaver dogs are being brought in again

The abduction theory was the only one really considered. If you read Kate mccanns book she says the way she found the room proved to her Madeleine had been taken as the shutters and window were open and they were very heavy. This is why woke up and wandered off was something they said couldn't have happened. If she did wander off who opened the window and how did she climb out? They were more concerned about borders and trafficking than the immediate vicinity at that time.

The whole thing has been a farce from the beginning.

It was the parents being un cooperative with the Portuguese police not the other way round.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/portugal/6977977/Madeleine-McCann-mothers-dream-was-turning-point-in-investigation-court-hears.html this is a good article from the telegraph at the time

Former policeman on news saying as it would be extremely hard ground it would not be possible to dig it at short notice so likely looking for something from before May 3rd. After that the town was swarming with people so wouldn't have been possible I hope this latest push solves this for all concerned

Despite what some people may have picked up from watching TV thrillers we don't close ports in the UK every time someone goes missing.

But there's a more fundamental flaw here. People talk as though getting across the border means you have escaped and can never be found. While on the other hand if you can't make it then you will inevitably be caught.

I assume this is based on a confused idea of the size of a country and perhaps the idea that outside it is a wilderness filled with foreign people.

The current status certainly looks most likely to produce something as the fact that she was never seen anywhere and it has been in the media non stop does indicate something closer to where she was last seen

Costa and Noddy well said, and thank you for the information, which I have now read - very interesting, as previously I only 'knew' what Sky News and the media reported . It is worth re-stating for any newcomers to the thread that the facts of the investigation are available in official files online for anyone to read if they are interested. I would recommend that anyone with a contribution, particularly relating to the reliability of sniffer dogs, reads those first.

You're welcome, TheLateMrsLizCromwell thank you for taking the time to read and respond

I read all the pj files when the last threads were on (they were in chat, they werent all, anyway deleted). The whole reason there were threads then was that someone had be proven to have lied about something? (I've forgotten who and what, doh)

Noddy, do you have news links to suggest uk are following pj original idea? I havent seen anything?