Investigation – What the PJ inspectors wanted to know

When she became an arguida, Kate stopped talking to the inspectors

September 7, 2007. Kate McCann entered the Polícia Judiciária in Portimão in the morning and the questioning extended into the evening. She was heard as a witness, but the tension in the air was evident. For the first time, people were concentrated at the PJ building’s door and murmured words of mistrust regarding the couple.

On that day, CM had reported that the dogs had detected cadaver odour on Maddie’s mother’s clothes. A piece of evidence that the authorities intended to use as a trump, during a questioning that only changed course on the next day, after the PJ failed to see their doubts clarified.

Kate began by replying all the questions, but when she was made an arguida, she stopped talking. She went silent, in the company of her lawyer, and accepted all the insinuations in a provocative manner. Less than 48 hours later, Kate and Gerry travel to England with the twins, leaving the investigation into the disappearance of their daughter, who meanwhile had become four, behind.

They later guaranteed that they would return if necessary – which they never did, although they were never formally requested to return – and they are no longer arguidos for the suspected involvement in concealing the child’s body. Today, CM reveals the 48 questions that Kate did not want to answer during the interrogation and which reflect the investigators’ doubts. More than a year after Maddie disappeared, many of these questions remain unanswered.

Jeers for the McCann couple

The day that Kate and Gerry went to the PJ’s offices in Portimão marked a turnaround in the relationship between the local people and the couple: the curious bystanders that spent the day on the street jeered at Maddie’s mother and father, mainly criticizing the “absence of visible suffering” from Kate. The foreign press also attended in great numbers.

The Judiciária’s 48 questions that Kate did not answer

1. On the 3rd of May 2007, at around 10 p.m., when you entered the apartment, what did you see, what did you do, where did you search, what did you handle?
2. Did you search in the couple’s bedroom’s closet? (said she would not reply)
3. (Two photographs of her bedroom’s closet are exhibited) Can you describe its contents?
4. Why are the curtains in front of the side window, behind the sofa (photograph is exhibited) ruffled? Did someone pass behind that sofa?
5. How long did the search that you made in the apartment after detecting the disappearance of your daughter Madeleine take?
6. Why did you say straight away that Madeleine had been abducted?
7. Presuming that Madeleine had been abducted, why did you leave the twins alone at home while you went to the Tapas to raise the alarm? Even because the supposed abductor could still be inside the apartment.
8. Why didn’t you ask the twins at that moment what had happened to their sister, or why didn’t you ask them at a later point in time?
9. When you raised the alarm at the Tapas, what exactly did you say and what were the words?
10. What happened after you raised the alarm at the Tapas?
11. Why did you do to warn your friends instead of calling out from the balcony?
12. Who contacted the authorities?
13. Who participated in the searches?
14. Did anyone outside of the group learn about Maddie’s disappearance during the following minutes?
15. Did any neighbour offer you help after the disappearance?
16. What does the expression “we let her down” mean?
17. Did Jane mention to you that she had see a man with a child that night?
18. How were the authorities contacted and which police force was called?
19. During the searches, and already with the police present, in what locations was Maddie searched for, how and in what manner?
20. Why didn’t the twins wake up during that search, or when they went to the upper floor?
21. Who did you call after the facts?
22. Did you call SKY News?
23. Did you know about the danger of calling the media, because that could influence the abductor?
24. Did you request the presence of a priest?
25. How was Madeleine’s face publicized, with a photograph, or other media?
26. Is it true that during the search you remained seated on Maddie’s bed without moving?
27. How did you behave that evening?
28. Did you manage to sleep?
29. Before the trip to Portugal, did you comment on a bad feeling or a bad premonition?
30. What was Madeleine’s behaviour?
31. Did Maddie suffer of any disease or did she take any kind of medication?
32. What was the relationship like between Madeleine and her siblings?
33. What was the relationship like between Madeleine and her siblings, her friends and her colleagues at school?
34. Concerning your professional life, in how many and in which hospitals have you worked?
35. What is your medical specialty?
36. Did you work by shifts, in emergency rooms or in other departments?
37. Did you work on a daily basis?
38. Did you stop working at a certain point in time? Why?
39. Do your twin children have difficulty in falling asleep, are they unruly and does that upset you?
40. Is it true that at certain times you were desperate over your children’s attitude and that left you were upset?
41. Is it true that in England you considered the possibility of handing over Madeleine’s guardianship to a relative?
42. In England, did you give your children medication? What type of medication?
43. Within the process, you were shown films of cynotechnical inspection of forensic character, where the dogs can be seen marking indications of human cadaver odour and equally human blood traces, and only of human origin, as well as all the comments that were made by the responsible expert. After the visualization, and after cadaver odour was signaled in your bedroom next to the wardrobe and behind the sofa that was pushed against the living room window, you said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said?
44. You said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said, concerning the marking of human blood behind the sofa by the detection dog
45. You said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said, concerning the marking of cadaver odour in the boot of the vehicle that you rented a month after the disappearance?
46. You said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said, concerning the marking of human blood in the boot of the vehicle?
47. You said that you could not explain anything apart from what you had already said, upon being confronted with the result of the collection of Maddie’s DNA, which was analysed by a British lab, behind the sofa and inside the vehicle’s boot?
48. Did you have any responsibility or intervention in the disappearance of your daughter?

The question that she answered

Are you aware of the fact that by not answering these questions you may compromise the investigation, which is trying to find out what happened to your daughter? She said “yes, if the investigation thinks so.”

Process becomes public tomorrow

From tomorrow onwards, the entire investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine will be made available to the arguidos, to the witnesses, to the lawyers and also to the journalists, because it is a case of manifest public interest.

The process, which was archived on the 21st of July, will also be available to the general public, a situation that will allow for an authentic scrutiny of the work that was developed by the Polícia Judiciária. This decision, which came as a surprise due to the fact that the case involves a child, was only announced at this point in time, after the Portuguese lawyers for the McCann family, Carlos Pinto de Abreu and Rogério Alves, requested the Portimão Court for priority in the access to the process.

Last Wednesday, the Court had requested the interested parties that had already asked for the consultation of the process to leave a CD at the secretary’s office, given the fact that the process will be supplied in a digital format.

The archiving of the investigation into the little girl’s disappearance, which happened on the 3rd of May 2007, in the Algarve, precipitated the lifting of the judicial secrecy, which had been extended precisely until the month of August.

“Some of you may have seen on the news the huge inflatable billboard which has travelled all the way from the West of Scotland to Portugal which will be used near busy roads/motorways to keep Madeleine’s disappearance high profile. We had a brief chat with Chris and Les, who drove almost non-stop from Glasgow to get here. The extraordinary length ordinary people are going to help us is truly overwhelming. We thank everyone for their efforts, no matter how small, and we know this will make a difference in our search for Madeleine.”

Sky News on May 28, 2007 wrote;

Also, the McCanns have met the men responsible for the 800sq-ft inflatable poster which will be taken around the Algarve and set up in prominent places.

It was the brainchild of advertising workers Chris Lennox and Les Harley from Glasgow – the home town of Madeleine’s father Gerry – who drove 2,200 miles from Scotland to help.

Mr Lennox, 35, from Prestwick said: “My heartstrings have been pulled on this and I want to help.

“I have a family with small kids and my wife has been following this from day one.”

The Guardian went further and said that Mr Lennox and Mr Harley paid for the venture;

Yesterday the McCann family visited a 75 sq metre (800 sq ft) inflatable poster of Madeleine that will be taken around the Algarve in an attempt to publicise her plight further. The poster, which highlights a £1.5m reward being offered through the News of the World, was paid for by Chris Lennox and Les Harley, two advertising professionals from Glasgow, who drove it 2,200 miles from Scotland to Praia da Luz.In a statement read out near the poster, the McCanns said they were amazed by the support they has received. “We have thanked everyone on several occasions but, you know, some people are just going to absolutely extraordinary lengths to help us,” the statement said.

McCann Spin

The story sounds like Chris and Les drove all the way to Portugal through their own efforts to help the McCanns. It really does sound like they went to extraordinary lengths to help.

But what really happened?

We can reveal on TRUTH For Madeleine that Chris and Les were simply doing their job. The inflatable billboard was not the brainchild of Mr Lennox or Mr Harley and the pair of them didn’t pay for it either.

So how did it come about?

No surprises for guessing but it was engineered by John McCann – Gerry’s brother.

Mr Amaral has already exposed the McCanns for manipulating the politicians and media and here again is a prime example of a story that was presented to the world in a completely different way to the reality of the situation.

Posters Plus Media

Gavin Hollywood, Managing Director of Posters Plus Media informed us of the details of the venture;

“I supported the McCanns with some digital advertising in the UK and was approached by Gerry’s brother John about the possiblity of helping with a high profile campaign at the height of the situation where time & awareness was essential. Within 5 days we had arranged the trip, logistics, printing and arranged staff to travel to Portugal (Chris & Les) with Carol-Anne Thomson our Campaigns Manager co-ordinating the campaign from our office and communicating with various authorities.

“The van, drivers and all equipment left from Posterplus Head Office in Kilmaurs Ayrshire. The trip took 3 full days travelling across the UK into France, Spain and finally Portugal. Various drivers change overs were made over the 3 days along with an overnight in France. Actual travel & campaign specific dates we would need to look back but it was May 07 and the full trip lasted 13 days in total.

“We used a standard transit van with lots of spare equipment in case of any difficulties in a foreign country, the set up & inflation for the Megasite is just over 1 hour.

“The billboard, Chris & Les the operators, travel, logistics, permits etc were all paid for and donated by Posterplus Media Group, the large printed poster with the reward details was kindly donated by Tayprint in Dundee. The News of The World was approached to use the copy details only of the reward and no funding or sponsors were involved in the trip, it was a donation & media facility offered by Gavin Hollywood Managing Director of Posterplus Media Group.

“The media cost for this type of campaign in the UK would have been £20,000+”

The parents of Madeleine McCann have promised to keep searching for her after the police investigation into her disappearance was closed and they were cleared of any involvement.

Portugal’s Attorney General announced earlier that the police investigation had been shelved.

But Kate and Gerry McCann said they would continue to “leave no stone unturned” in their search.

The case was closed because of lack of evidence but could be reopened at any time if important information comes to light, according to Fernando Jose Pinto Monteiro’s office.

The 14-month investigation uncovered no evidence of a crime by the three people named as arguidos or official suspects, the McCanns and Robert Murat.

Their arguido status has now been lifted.

Speaking at a news conference in their home town of Rothley, Leicestershire, Mrs McCann said: “We welcome the news today although it is no cause for celebration.

“It is hard to describe how utterly despairing it was to be named arguido and subsequently portrayed in the media as suspects in our own daughter’s abduction – and worse.

“Equally, it has been devastating to witness the detrimental effect this status has had on the search for Madeleine.”

Lawyers for the couple will be able to examine the police files relating to the investigation of Madeleine’s disappearance by the end of this week, according to their spokesman Clarence Mitchell.

Mrs McCann said: “We look forward to scrutinising the police files to see what has actually been done and more importantly what can still be done as we leave no stone unturned in the search for our little girl.

“We would once again urge anyone with relevant information who has not yet come forward to please do so.”

Sky’s crime correspondent Martin Brunt said Mr and Mrs McCann would be hoping to find new leads from the police file on the case.

Speaking from Praia da Luz, the resort where Madeleine went missing in May last year, he said: “The McCanns and their lawyers will still be anticipating that they should get an early sight of the police file, enough to give them and their private investigators new leads to follow.

“Everything in that file will have been investigated by Portuguese authorities to some degree.

“But the McCanns think there is a possibility in some areas that their own investigators can do better.”

Today, the process is most likely to be archived. Ten months ago, the PJ asked for the reconstitution of the crime and a new questioning of the couple

Pinto Monteiro promised a solution for the Maddie case for today. The archiving of the process is most likely to be announced on the General Attorney’s Office’s website, after more than a year of an investigation that was made of breakthroughs and retreats.

The Judiciária lost some battles and diligences that were not carried out may have compromised the discovery of the truth. That is the understanding of Gonçalo Amaral, who launches the book ‘The Truth about the Lie’ next week, in which he promises to explain the reason why he believed in the child’s death and in the involvement of the parents in concealing the cadaver.

CM knows that Gonçalo Amaral was not alone in this fight. Only days after Kate and Gerry were questioned and after they returned to England, the PJ inspector who was in charge of the process defended that he wanted to hear the couple again and that they should be subject to a more serious coercion measure. He also requested the reconstitution of the facts.

In a dispatch that is dated September 19, Magalhães Menezes, a prosecutor of the Republic, manifested himself against it. He said it was an unnecessary diligence, because Kate had refused to answer and Gerry had clarified little or nothing.

Concerning the change in the coercion measures, he said there was no legal basis for any modification. The couple had given their English address when they were made arguidos, and remained available to be contacted at that residence.

Later on, when the PJ made the requests again, the magistrate ended up admitting to the new questioning. But he postponed the decision for a later moment in time, because he understood that hearing the friends and the numerous persons that the PJ had requested might raise new questions.

It should also be noted that the judge kept some reservations about the requests that were made by the Judiciária’s investigators. Concerning Kate’s diary, for example, the judicial magistrate argued that only later would it be possible to know whether it could be validated, because it revealed facts from Maddie’s mother’s private life.

Judge Pedro Frias refused the Public Ministry to access the text messages that were sent and received by Gerry McCann, alleging that the messages were telephone interceptions and that judicial authorizations could not be given after the occurrence.

Mysteries of the process

Investigating the friends – A strong suspicion, prompted by three testimonies, fell over one of the McCann couple’s friends. But that doctor returned to his country after the disappearance and he did not explain many of the questions for which the PJ had no answers. The Judiciária failed to understand his life story.

Reconstitution – Right after the interrogation of Kate and Gerry, the PJ requested the reconstitution of the facts. The English were asked to return to Portugal for the diligence to be carried out. Kate and Gerry ended up accepting, but the friends denied it. The Polícia Judiciária did not carry out the reconstitution and the archiving of the case, waiting for better evidence, renders the diligence useless.

Irishman not heard – An Irish citizen who stated he saw Gerry carrying a child on the evening of the 3rd of May should have been questioned again through a rogatory letter. But that was not fulfilled, and his deposition ended up not being obtained. What was known was that the witness made himself immediately available for a deposition.

Text message register – The PJ wanted to access the contents of the text messages that were sent and received by Gerry during the hours immediately before and after his daughter’s disappearance. The Public Ministry validated the request, but the judge did not defer the pretention, considering that it would be equal to listening operations. And that at that point in time, there was no judicial permission for them to be carried out.

Clinical records – The Public Ministry decided that the PJ should not access the clinical records of Madeleine and the twins Sean and Amélie. The prosecutor sustained that such would violate the privacy of the children and their parents, and the evidence might be considered null. For the magistrate, the request was not duly sustained, either.

To find out whether Dave saw Madeleine in the apartment

The last time that Maddie was seen by someone outside the group was at around 5.30 p.m. on the 3rd of May. After that, only David Payne asserts to have seen Maddie in the apartment, when he went there to exchange a few words with Kate. The PJ mistrusts that thesis and ends up having doubts about the time span of the disappearance. There are also contradictions about the time that Dave spent inside the apartment. Kate says they only exchanged two or three words, but Gerry guarantees that his friend stayed inside the house where his children were, for half an hour. The fact that three witnesses launch suspicions about Dave made it fundamental to clarify this situation.

Brother-in-law washed the car due to fish smell

Gerry’s brother-in-law was also heard in a rogatory letter. He was the usual driver of the Renault Scénic and he explained to the police that he had washed the car boot because one day he had perceived that fish blood had spilled from the bag that he had just acquired at the supermarket. Alexander also added, in April this year, when he was questioned by the investigators, that one day he had noticed a strange smell in the car. But he guaranteed that was due to the fact that they usually transported waste in the car boot. He also said that the twins’ nappies were usually placed there, and that was the reason for the intense smells.

Trip to London without results

It was the last great hope for the investigation. Already in the possession of the final documents from the English lab, which launched strong doubts and rendered the results from the residues that were found inside the car that was rented by the McCanns 22 days after Maddie disappeared inconclusive, the Polícia Judiciária from Portimão made themselves available to watch the questioning of the McCanns’ friends. Paulo Rebelo, who had substituted Gonçalo Amaral, and two other investigators went to Leicester, but returned empty-handed.

It was in April this year and the hearings were held at the English police’s headquarters, a few kilometers from the couple’s house. But the witnesses added little or nothing and in many moments pointed towards what they had already told the Portuguese authorities after the disappearance. The PJ’s final report, which is most likely to prompt the dispatch for archiving by the Public Ministry today, reinforces just that and it is ultimately accepted that the investigation has reached a dead end.

Many situations remain unclear, namely how it was possible for Jane Tanner to have seen a man carrying a child while Gerry, who was standing two or three metres away, saw nothing; and how an abductor could have carried a child horizontally, through a small window that only half opened.

Notes

Teachers Heard – The PJ heard Madeleine’s teachers through a rogatory letter. They guaranteed that Madeleine was happy with the McCann couple and that there had never been any incident.

Mitchell Guaranteed innocence – Clarence Mitchell, the couple’s spokesman, was questioned on the 28th of April. He guaranteed that he had accepted to work with the McCanns because he had believed in their innocence.

source: Correio da Manhã, 21.07.2008, paper edition

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by astro