BETTER THAN A HITCHCOCK FILM,

There we all were, wating with baited breath for K and G McCann to have their day in Court and to provided irrefutable evidence as to how Detective Amaral's theories, as published in his book, has affected the search for their Daughter, Madeleine.  Such are these Parents who left their three young children unattended, and refused to answer questions from the Police that could have maybe brought this whole episode to a conclusion a long time ago.  An ending that could have been happier than the conclusion that many people forecast now.  Instead it just seems to be a never ending chase for compensation.  

We have read the book written by Goncales Amaral and think that it has been well written, evidence diligently analysed and a conclusion reached with which some will agree and some will not.   Only by testing the evidence in a Court of Law could Detective Amaral's theory be proved or disproved.

On another note.  There seems little news from the British Police working in Praia da Luz, apart from their apparent appreciation of Portuguese Beer, which accoding to the Press they are downing with gusto.  Are there no rules about Drinking and Digging?  The jokes about the Seven Dwarfs will no doubt follow!

HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

The Police search in Praia da Luz has is now moving on to another site to the land around a water plant where "prime" suspect Sn Monteiro worked.  If he is or was the prime suspect should the site not have been the first to be investigated?

Of course it is very convenient to bring up this suspect, as he died in a tragic accident in 2009 !   What a nice easy closure on the case were it possible to blame it all on him!  But, of course, there is no evidence at the scene of the alleged abduction or his involvement.  It is all speculative and the subject of pure conjecture.  No evidence, no witnesses!   Not Guilty Mi Lud!

Go back to square one, get the McCanns to answer the questions put to them by the PJ when they were Arguidos!  Failure to assist in the production of evidence in the search for their Daughter is a most unusual stance to take.

Where are the rest of the Tapas crowd now?  Should they not be involved by going over past statements, or even in a reconstruction of the events of that evening.

Has everyone seen the 48 questions that Kate McCann refused to answer?   They are in the public domain and an Internet search will easily locate them.  They are very interesting and tend to indicate the way the Portuguese Police were directing their thoughts.

A THOUGHT OR TWO

It seems fairly obvious from the Police interviews and their actions, that they seriously consider that Madeleine McCann is dead.   Has this been communicated to the Parents we wonder?   Or, will they still continue to believe in her being alive with a chance of being found?

Should the Current or future searches discover the body of Madeleine it is only a remote chance that they will get any clue as to who was responsible.   Although there may be a clue as to how she met her demise, such as a bad head injury or marks indicating such as strangulation, there will be no direct link to the killer or the ones who hid the body.    However, such additional information, put alongside the original evidence gleaned by Detective Amaral's team, could lead to establishing what exactly happened and who was responsible!

There is of course one alternative.  If it is believed the child is not alive, and has suffered her demise as a result of being left unattended by the parents, perhaps they should be considered as culpable and prosecuted accordingly either in Portugal or the UK.

Or is that unfair?   What do you think?

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THE PORTUGUESE VIEW

As one can inmagine the activities of the British Police on Portuguese soil is causing interest, concern and disquiet in the Algarve.

This is a transcript of a comment on Portuguese TV which gives one reporter's take on the British presence.  From the well respected Eduardo Cintra Torres [ECT] - 

"That gentleman from the Scotland Yard (Officer Redwood) that appears there [in the video inset they are showing and debating about Redwood's visit to Algarve] - it's actually a pity that we don't have a psychologist here to make his profile, not of Maddie's or of the “assassins”, but of that Scotland Yard gentleman. I look at him and I just think: “this man just wants to appear on TV”. With so many disappearances of children in England... did he choose the Maddie case because he would appear on TV? And they went beyond, now they've come to Portugal to investigate. Why is the Portuguese police being subservient to this mockery, to this televised show off - we had aerial searches in Lagos seven years later! Aerial searches! We need to ask, what exactly is going on?! This is the utmost ridiculous thing, a show off, something just to appear on TV. And then they're going to open holes, searching for, eventually, the child's body at the 25 de Abril street? Was it for this that we had the 25 de Abril Revolution?

João Ferreira (CMTV news anchor) - The opening of the case by the British authorities was done taking into account the media coverage?

ECT - Absolutely, that police officer from the Scotland Yard in particular pursues media coverage.  I believe that is a shame for the Portuguese state to allow the mediatization of an investigation that belongs to the Portuguese and not to the English. If we tried to do the same in England, would they allow it? Obviously not.

JF - They were authorized by the Attorney General's Office...

ECT - Of course, it's the old alliance issue.

JF - Thank you, Eduardo."

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WHAT VALUE THE PRESENCE OF CADAVER?

The BBC's CRIMEWATCH Programme on Television last night spent a great amount of time on the case of a convicted killer, even though a body had never been found.  The one striking aspect of the case was the use of sniffer dogs who smelt out the presence of CADAVER giving a direct link to the suspect.   One area was the place the body had been hidden, and the other in the boot of his car.

We seem to remember, that the BRITISH sniffer dogs taken to Praia da Luz to assist in the search for Madeleine McCann, also discovered the presence of CADAVER.   First in the Holiday Apartment used by the McCanns and then in the boot of a hire car rented by them.

We thought it rather unusual that one situation led to a prosecution and the other has not, despite the similarities, no body, cadaver where a body could have been hidden, and cadaver in a means of transport that could have been used to move the body!

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The reports in today's press gives details of the Police moves to dig up some land close to where Madeleine was allegedly abducted, and the virtual army of people and machinery involved.   Slightly less prominent we find that the McCanns are still progressing with their defamation case against Detective Amaral and others regarding his book and a television programme.  Compensation seems more important than cooperation.

Maybe rather than chasing compensation the Parents who, we repeat, left their young children unprotected and vulnerable whilst out dining with friends, could better spend their time assisting with the continuing search for their Daughter, and also answer the questions they refused to answer to the Portuguese Police!

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What has happened to all the other lines of enquiry?  Where are the burglars, where are the ones wanted for interview?  This case needs solving quickly, or without any firm lines of enquiry, abandoning completely.