Una mujer de nacionalidad inglesa asegura que vio a Maddie McCann ( Madeleine) en el aeropuerto de Los Rodeos de Tenerife en compañía de un hombre de estatura alta... Leer más

A private detective from Metodo 3 working on behalf of the McCanns has been arrested for involvement in stealing 400 kg of cocaine from the port of Barcelona.

One of the private detectives working for Metodo 3 on behalf of the McCanns has been arrested in connection with stealing 400 kg of cocaine from the port of Barcelona.

Detective Antonio J.R. (53), working for Metodo 3 on the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, was Chief Inspector of the Drugs and Organised Crime Unit for the Barcelona police at the time.

He left the police to work for Metodo 3 just when internal services were investigating the disappearance 400 kg of cocaine out of a total of a tonne and a half seized from a ship coming from Venezuela.

Today, the court in Martorell (Barcelona) remanded him in custody without bail on charges of breach of trust, corruption, corruption of public officials and illicit criminal association.

Antonio J.R. had been working for Metodo 3 since 2005 and was the detective in charge of special operations in the investigation of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. It was he who recently travelled to Morocco and Portugal and brought forth witnesses who claimed to have seen Madeleine.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) publication “When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide” offers some advice.

In the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, allegedly after disatisfaction with Portuguese Police, her parents too turned to others.

The couple have sought help from Control Risks Group, a detective-style agency which employs ex-SAS members and former military personnel.

The McCann’s later hired Metodo 3 to aid in their search efforts. There have been published reports their contract may not be renewed after failing to deliver on promises that Madeleine would be returned by Christmas. last year.

However, in spite of the apparent lack of success, there are now reports the parents of missing Spanish girl, Mari Luz Cortes, are wanting to hire them.

Curiously, she is neither listed at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) or International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) as a missing child.

Madeleine: Parents of missing Spanish girl want to hire McCanns ...

Update 01-24-08  

Clarence Mitchell told Sky News that they just “believe this man could be linked to Madeleine’s disappearance”, adding that “if he’s innocent we want him to come forward for his own sake so he can be ruled out”.  Clarence Mitchell also denied rumours that Método 3, the Spanish private investigators agency, had been sacked by the McCanns.

Related Post:

Missing in Spain

Madeleine McCann and 48 Hours Mystery

The Telegraph  reported earlier this week that the 'Madeleine's Fund : Leaving No Stone Unturned ' may be in need of further donations. There has been £1,223,629.31 or $2,428,168 raised to date. It is difficult to comprehend how she remains missing with the amount of publicity her disappearance has received and the resources devoted to finding her.

 LONDON —  The family of missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann said Saturday it was planning a 80,000 pound (US$160,000, euro115,000) advertising campaign urging people to keep looking for the girl despite the media’s focus on her parents becoming suspects in Portugal.

 ‘Madeleine’s Fund : Leaving No Stone Unturned ‘

Fund Update

Statement from the Board of Madeleine’s Fund- Leaving No Stone Unturned 09 January 2008 BEGINS‘There was a scheduled board meeting of Madeleine’s Fund today. We have reached a new longer- term phase in the search for Madeleine and we have reviewed how effective our Fund has been in pursuing its objectives. We agreed to continue our funding of the investigation to find Madeleine and we have decided to look at further media opportunities to support our search. To that end, we have invited two new directors to replace the two who stepped down, for business and personal reasons, We, together with Kate and Gerry McCann, extend our thanks to Esther and Phillip for their hard work and continuing support. We welcome Edward Smethurst and Jon Corner to the board to lend their expertise in commercial law and media.”

ENDS

Well, ten days have passed since his claims - and there's still no sign of the missing girl.

The fact is, the hunt for Madeleine is beginning to seem pretty hopeless.  Kate and Gerry McCann still say in public that they're sure their daughter is still alive.  But in private, they must now start to face up to the fact that they very well may never see the girl again.  A resident of Praia da Luz, who has been involved in the case since near the start, said:  "No one is any nearer knowing what happened and we are tired of retracing old ground."

I've been as hopeful as anyone that Madeleine would turn up.  But I fear that it is a murder case, and that the body - and the killer - will never be found.

But Fransisco Marco is still acting like the ace sleuth.  He is still making boastful claims to the press.  Claims that never seem to lead to anything substantial.  He just keeps parrotting the line that he's "sure" Madeleine is still alive.

Well, Kate and Gerry have said that they are sure she's not dead.  But they never pretended that they had any reason other than blind faith to believe that.  Marco, however, says it with the air of someone who is privy to secret information.  He constantly makes out that he knows more than he's saying.

It's time for the McCanns to accept that Marco knows jack.  They've been "sold a pup".

Fransisco Marco: latter-day Sherlock Holmes?  Or a quick-talking operator with pockets full of empty hands?

The agency is believed to charge up to £2,000 a day and, with a six-month contract that will include expensive travel and technology costs, the final bill is likely to be as much as £750,000.

Initially, the McCanns were impressed by Metodo 3's claims: Mr Marco insisted he had a '"100 per cent" success rate and had reunited 23 missing children and teenagers with their families. Yet, this week, he refused to discuss his claims with The Sunday Telegraph, insisting he was ''too busy with his investigation" to discuss it.

The last update of the 'Madeleine's Fund : Leaving No Stone Unturned ':

Donations of £1,095,223.50 have been received by the fund to date.

 

Update 11-29-07    Gerry's Blog/Diary Day 210

With this in mind, Madeleine’s fund has started the £80,000 advertising campaign in Southern Spain which will also target North Africa and Portugal. The fund is also contributing £50,000 per month to support the private investigation. We appeal to anyone who may have information to call confidentially our hotline number +34.902.300.213, e-mail investigation@findmadeleine.com or contact the police.

Is it really newsworthy or odd the McCanns would want to return home after four months? You might be lead to believe so should you read the massive amount of coverage of their return to Britain. Some of us would have departed much earlier.

Most who blame the parents start the argument with how could they leave the children alone. So it is interesting the Telegraph would run this newsworthy story,  Has the Madeleine McCann saga put you off visitng Portugal? (note: they left out the i in visiting in the headline).

In this article, "The allegations facing the McCanns" it takes a  point/counterpoint format but neither explains who makes the claim nor who refutes it.

Claim 1: Sedation?

Claim 2: Blood in hire car?

Claim 3: Dogs smelling death?

Claim 4: Home alone?

Note:   According to the BBC they are being advised by Michael Caplan QC and Angus McBride, from London legal firm Kingsley Napley.

ARGUIDO/ARGUIDA STATUS

• Officially a suspect

• Bestowed by police or requested by individual

• Right to remain silent

• Right to a lawyer

LISBON, Portugal -- Portuguese police expect to hand their case file on the disappearance of British 4-year-old Madeleine McCann to the public prosecutor's office on Monday, a spokesman said.

"We are getting the case file ready to hand over to the public prosecutor ... by the end of the day," police spokesman Olegario Sousa told The Associated Press. He did not give details of the police findings.

Update 09-10-07 Police are claiming a 99% DNA match to Madeleine, though some reports are 100%.

Portuguese police say they have found firm DNA evidence that the body of Madeleine McCann was in the boot of the family's hire car five weeks after she went missing, sources have told Sky News.

Fox News Channel

ROTHLEY, England —  Portuguese detectives believe they have collected enough evidence for Kate McCann, the mother of missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann, to be charged with homicide for failing to prevent her child's death, the Times of London reported Monday. The charge is equivalent to manslaughter in British law. She would also face a charge of concealing Madeleine’s body.

Update 09-11-07:  For the first time since Madeleine went missing, reading Gerry's Blog/Diary, Day 130 - 10/09/2007, you had to be curious if he even wrote it as it seemed more like a prepared statement an attorney might provide. It was longer than previous posts and mentioned Madeleine by name five times (excluding the update which mentioned her another five times).  That is more than she has been mentioned in posts by name in 130 days.

There was also this confusing statement in the update.

We know in our hearts that Madeleine is still out there, alive, confused and aching to be returned to her family where she belongs. Whatever happens, please don't forget that.

Whatever happens?

Update 09-12-07:  If you are going to suggest what is in the alleged 4,000 page case file, why stop at just these 10?

 10 key elementsin McCann dossier

 However the dossier is almost certain to contain 10 key elements:

Forensic evidence
Toxicology reports
Interview transcripts
Statements from the McCanns' friends
Statements from other witnesses
Phone tap evidence
Background reports
Surveillance
Videos of police 'cadaver' dogs
Timeline

Update 09-13-07:Apparently the road to the church, Our Lady of the Light Roman Catholic church in Praia da Luz,  was repaved after Madeleine went missing. The area allegedly is where sniffer dogs picked up the scent of a cadaveur according to the Fox News Channel.

The Daily Mail further elaborates on conspiracy theories about the hire car and "evidence" found in the is article "Madeleine: The sinister and innocent explanations of the police's DNA evidence". It provides sinister and innocent responses to:

• Hire Car

• Body Fluids

• Hair

• The Apartment

• DNA

Update 09-14-07:  Why run this headline "Madeleine McCann 'died from overdose' " and then have this statement within the article concerning detection of quantities of a drug?

Alan Baker, of the independent forensic science organisation Bericon, said: "These samples are likely to be far from ideal. If it is just a smear or dried deposit you could detect the drug but not how much."

Bericon^®- Making Sense of Science

What could put an end to conspiracy theories is if Madeleine were found.

LONDON —The family of missing 4-year-old Madeleine McCann said Saturday it was planning a 80,000 pound (US$160,000, euro115,000) advertising campaign urging people to keep looking for the girl despite the media's focus on her parents becoming suspects in Portugal.

ZURICH (Reuters) - A five-year-old Swiss girl who went missing some six weeks ago was found dead on Saturday, Swiss police said.

The body of a child, found by a man in a forest close to the Swiss town of Oberbueren, was identified as Ylenia Lenhard, police in the canton of St. Gallen said in a statement.

Update 09-15-07

David Hughes will act as Kate and Gerry McCann’s spokesperson for Sunday 16 and Monday 17 September 2007. It is anticipated that Kate and Gerry McCann will announce details of their new spokesperson shortly.

Update 09-16-07:

LONDON (Reuters) - Billionaire Richard Branson is to donate 100,000 pounds to create a fund to help the parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann pay their legal bills, his spokeswoman said on Sunday.
 

Update 09-16-07: This TimesOnline article questions the use of sniffer dogs based on a U.S. case. One main difference is the dogs were brought in 30 years later in the U.S. case, involving Madison, Wisconsin Police.

Update 09-21-07  The article begins by suggesting she may have been a victim of an abduction but then quickly turns to the parents again.

LONDON  —  Fresh operations in the hunt for Madeleine McCann have been authorized by a Portuguese judge, with police appearing to accept the original belief that she may have been abducted by a stranger.

A convicted terrorist was questioned by detectives yesterday about whether he had helped to dispose of the body of the missing girl, as police began a desperate hunt for new clues. Eef Hoos, who owns an incinerator about 20 miles from where Madeleine disappeared, claimed that detectives from the PolÍcia Judicia said that they knew he had spoken to the missing girl’s parents.

Update 09-24-07  

Double-glazing magnate Brian Kennedy has offered the services of his in-house legal chief Edward Smethurst to the parents of missing Madeleine McCann.

Kennedy's offer comes as he confirmed that he is providing financial assistance and has offered to pay for former BBC reporter Clarence Mitchell to act as Gerry and Kate McCann's official spokesman.

Kennedy, the owner of Rugby team Sale Sharks and home improvement parent company Latium Group, said he felt "compelled" to support Gerry and Kate McCann following the accusations made against them.

Update 09-25-07  These are some of the other influential people supporting the McCann's from a Times-Online article.

Brian Kennedy
Made £250 million from double glazing and home improvements and now owns Latium Group plastics and Sale Sharks rugby union team. Offered Latium’s in-house lawyer and is paying the McCanns’ new official spokesman, Clarence Mitchell

Sir Richard Branson
Contributed to rewards totalling £2.5 million after Madeleine’s disappearance. Has spoken to the McCanns several times and this month donated £100,000 to a fund for their legal costs. “I trust them implicitly,” he said. Is trying to encourage other wealthy people to contribute to the legal fund

Sir Philip Green
The billionaire owner of TopShop and BHS lent the McCanns his private jet for their visit to meet the Pope. Known to have been annoyed when news of his involvement emerged and has refused to comment on his current involvement

John Geraghty
A 68-year-old businessman from Leicestershire who now lives on the outskirts of Praia da Luz. Offered to store the McCanns’ hire car so that they could commission independent forensic tests

Update 10-01-07:  The latest theory from the Telegraph is Madeleine possibly fell down stairs.

Portuguese police believe Madeleine McCann died after falling down a flight of steps and that her parents panicked, hiding her body because they feared being blamed, it was claimed yesterday.

It was alleged that the four-year-old smashed the back of her head on a ceramic flagstone at her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. Fearing they would be charged with manslaughter, Kate and Gerry McCann then got rid of the body, possibly with the help of their friends, it was alleged.

Update 10-04-07:  In the latest theory, the TimesOnline ran this story about possible involvement of a maid at the resort.

A maid who is alleged to have abducted Madeleine McCann in revenge for being sacked from the holiday resort where the missing girl was staying is being investigated by Portuguese police.

The identity of the maid was e-mailed to the official website of the Prince of Wales at the end of last week. Police have confirmed that the woman had worked at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz. They have also discovered that the e-mail appeared to have been sent from a computer with an IP address in the Iberian peninsula

Update 10-10-07  It appears the Portuguese authorities are once again considering the possibility Madeleine may have been abducted yet keeping their options open by not discounting alleged involvement of her parents. There are those who question why anyone would voluntarily provide a DNA sample based on the handling of the case thus far.

The Times  reported yesterday that British police had been asked to take DNA samples and fingerprints from all holidaymakers at the resort where Madeleine disappeared after Portuguese detectives found evidence of a possible kidnapper.German and Dutch police are also believed to have been asked to trace and interview guests staying at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz on May 3.

Update 11-08-07: "The Tapas Seven", Russell O'Brien, 36, and his partner, Jane Tanner, 37, Matthew Oldfield, 37, his wife, Rachael, 36, David Payne, 41, his wife, Fiona, 34, and her mother, Dianne Webster have apparently offered to be re-interviewed by authorities.

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported yesterday that two of the friends had contacted Portuguese detectives asking to be “re-questioned so they can ‘correct' details of their original statements”. The newspaper reported: “These two members of the group have asked for their identities to be kept secret because they fear that as a result of the ‘clarifications' they intend making about what happened the night Madeleine disappeared, they may be pressured by people linked to the McCann family.”

Update 11-13-07:  The Telegraph raises an interesting point concerning suspect Robert Murat. Could some of the inconsistency in initial statements be due to his translations to Police?

Mr Murat's lawyer confirmed that his client had translated for police during that time.

"My client, on the request of police participated in various operations and was directly involved in the investigation," Francisco Pagarete told Portuguese newspaper 24 Horas.

Update 11-13-07  The Times Online is reporting the dectives in the case have been barred from asking additional questions without further evidence.

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have been barred from asking her parents and their friends 100 new questions, it was reported today.

Updated 11-26-07    Panicked Pedophile?

Detectives investigating the disappearance of missing British girl Madeleine McCann are close to concluding she was killed the night she vanished after her abductor panicked when the child screamed, the London Daily Mail reported Monday.

Update 12-13-07

A private investigator hired by Kate and Gerry McCann believes their missing daughter Madeleine was kidnapped by a pedophile ring in the Iberian Peninsula or northern Africa, and that she will be returned by Christmas, the Daily Mail reported.

Click here to view the full report from The Daily Mail.

Update 12-29-07    Pedophile Not Involved in Madeleine McCann Case

Update 01-03-08   The Resident

Meanwhile the McCanns announced the dismissal of Metodo 3 from the case just before the Christmas celebrations.The mixed information that was released for several weeks by the Barcelona-based private investigators, the failure of the targets they made public, as well as pressures from some of the financial supporters of the Madeleine campaign, led to their dismissal.

Lawyer Marcos Correia claims Madeleine McCann was raped
Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia -
MADELEINE McCann was raped, murdered and her body dumped in a reservoir within 48 hours of her disappearance, a lawyer claims. ... 

Update 02-15-08 Luis Antonio 'questioned'

Portuguese police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have questioned the estranged husband of suspect Robert Murat’s girlfriend for a second time, it has been claimed.Luis Antonio, who still shares an apartment with Michaela Walczuch although they are separated, was interviewed again by detectives in the hope that new leads may be found.

Update  01-19-08    Did he take Madeleine?

Update 02-20-08  

CNN is also reporting this story-”Police probe fresh Madeleine McCann sighting in the south of France”. It took place approximately five days ago.

French police are probing a suspected sighting of Madeleine McCann at a restaurant in southern France. A blonde girl bearing a ’striking resemblance’ to the missing four-year-old was spotted by a Dutch student near the city of Montpellier last Friday.

Police: Girl in France Isn't Madeleine 

Related Posts:
Conspiracy theories

If not now, when?