Madeleine McCann inquiry 'to be closed for lack of evidence'

[Amusedtdth]

July 1, 2008
The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will be closed by Portuguese police because of a lack of evidence, it was reported today.

Judicial sources said that detectives were dropping the inquiry but could re-open it if new evidence emerged, reported two Portuguese newspapers.

No evidence against Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, or the third official suspect, Robert Murat, had been discovered during the 14-month investigation, it was claimed.

Mr and Mrs McCann were today awaiting official confirmation of the report and insisted that they would “never give up searching” for their daughter who vanished last May from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.


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Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ spokesman, said: “If the reports are true, it is to be welcomed that no charges are to be brought and it is entirely right because Kate and Gerry are innocent of any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance and always have been."

He called for the couple’s status as arguidos, official suspects, to be lifted but urged police not to leave the investigation files to “gather dust”.

“They have suffered for far too long in this process and the Portuguese authorities must now lift their arguido status,” he said.

Mr Mitchell urged the Portuguese police to continue their investigations into Madeleine’s disappearance.

“The police themselves must continue looking for Madeleine. We are concerned that if they are to simply shelve the case then what will happen to all of the information in their files?

“The information in their files surely cannot sit on the shelf gathering dust. Kate and Gerry will never give up searching for their daughter.”

He added that the McCanns would give their view on the investigation after they had been told officially that it had been dropped.

Mr Mitchell said that if the inquiry was to be discontinued, then police files should be handed over to the McCanns’ continuing private investigation. The McCanns will make an application to the High Court next week for the release of evidence held by British police.

Madeleine disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday from her bedroom at the Ocean Club resort. Her parents from Rothley, Leicestershire, were dining with seven British friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.

During the investigation into her disappearance, detectives named Mr McCann, 39, and Mrs McCann, 40, as formal suspects in the case.

The Correio da Manha newspaper reported today that sources within Portugal’s judicial police had said that they “do not have sufficient evidence to allow formal charges to be brought against the McCanns in the disappearance of their daughter”.

The paper reported that the police had requested that 13 volumes of findings, plus appendices, be "archived" at the Portimão Court until they receive new evidence. This means that the investigation is effectively closed.

The main lines of the police inquiry had been involuntary homicide or concealment of a corpse. However, the paper reported, the Public Ministry is unlikely even to accuse the McCanns of child abandonment, which carries a sentence of up to five years.

The Jornal de Notícias said that the decision to “archive” the case would be made only after the court had ruled on whether Mrs McCann’s personal diary could be used in evidence. The police have been waiting for a ruling since September.

The official secrecy surrounding police evidence will be lifted in August, although because of the judicial holiday it will not be made available to the McCanns until the following month.

Carlos Pinto de Abreu, the McCann’s Portuguese lawyer, said that he was preparing to study the police files. “What the parents always wanted, which is to understand what investigation was done and to keep on looking for the child.” he said.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4246941.ece

[Amusedtdth]

Another Article:

Officials: Madeleine McCann probe is not over yet

By BARRY HATTON, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago



LISBON, Portugal - Police have completed their final report into the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann but officials have taken no decision yet on whether to proceed with the investigation or drop the case, Portugal's attorney-general said Tuesday.

Three papers — Correio da Manha, Jornal de Noticias and Expresso — published comments on Tuesday from unidentified police sources saying the 14-month investigation had reached a dead end and is to be dropped.

However, Attorney-General Fernando Pinto Monteiro said in a statement that prosecutors will examine the police report before deciding whether to end the investigation or undertake further inquiries.

Officials will "determine whether further inquiries are needed or whether the conditions are in place for the investigation to be closed," the statement e-mailed to The Associated Press said.

It said the case file amounted to "dozens of volumes" and noted that the judicial secrecy law covering ongoing investigations, which ensures evidence remains confidential, expires only in mid-August.

Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal's southern Algarve region during a family vacation in May 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday. Detectives named her parents, Kate and Gerry, and local man Robert Murat as formal suspects in the case. All denied involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

The McCanns, who have waged an international campaign to find their daughter, returned home to central England with Madeleine's younger sister and brother last September, a few days after they were named as suspects.

Clarence Mitchell, the parents' spokesman, said that if the investigation were to be closed he expected the search for Madeleine to continue.

"The information in their files surely cannot sit on the shelf gathering dust. Kate and Gerry will never give up searching for their daughter," Mitchell said.

He said that if Portuguese police end their inquiry they should hand their files over to the McCanns' private investigators.

"The police themselves must continue looking for Madeleine. We are concerned that if they are to simply shelve the case then what will happen to all of the information in their files? They must be made available to our investigators, who are working extremely hard to find Madeleine," Mitchell said.

The case has drawn global interest. A few weeks after Madeleine vanished, Pope Benedict XVI blessed the McCanns and a photo of their daughter during his weekly general audience at the Vatican. Numerous reported sightings of the blonde-haired girl proved to be false.

British and Portuguese police have cooperated in the investigation. Sophisticated forensic tests on evidence gathered at the resort where the girl disappeared were carried out in Britain.

In April, British police in England, accompanied by Portuguese detectives, re-interviewed the McCanns' friends, who were having dinner with them when Madeleine vanished.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080701/ap_on_re_eu/portugal_missing_girl

[Amusedtdth]

Another Article:

Officials: Madeleine McCann probe is not over yet

By BARRY HATTON, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago



LISBON, Portugal - Police have completed their final report into the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann but officials have taken no decision yet on whether to proceed with the investigation or drop the case, Portugal's attorney-general said Tuesday.

Three papers — Correio da Manha, Jornal de Noticias and Expresso — published comments on Tuesday from unidentified police sources saying the 14-month investigation had reached a dead end and is to be dropped.

However, Attorney-General Fernando Pinto Monteiro said in a statement that prosecutors will examine the police report before deciding whether to end the investigation or undertake further inquiries.

Officials will "determine whether further inquiries are needed or whether the conditions are in place for the investigation to be closed," the statement e-mailed to The Associated Press said.

It said the case file amounted to "dozens of volumes" and noted that the judicial secrecy law covering ongoing investigations, which ensures evidence remains confidential, expires only in mid-August.

Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal's southern Algarve region during a family vacation in May 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday. Detectives named her parents, Kate and Gerry, and local man Robert Murat as formal suspects in the case. All denied involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

The McCanns, who have waged an international campaign to find their daughter, returned home to central England with Madeleine's younger sister and brother last September, a few days after they were named as suspects.

Clarence Mitchell, the parents' spokesman, said that if the investigation were to be closed he expected the search for Madeleine to continue.

"The information in their files surely cannot sit on the shelf gathering dust. Kate and Gerry will never give up searching for their daughter," Mitchell said.

He said that if Portuguese police end their inquiry they should hand their files over to the McCanns' private investigators.

"The police themselves must continue looking for Madeleine. We are concerned that if they are to simply shelve the case then what will happen to all of the information in their files? They must be made available to our investigators, who are working extremely hard to find Madeleine," Mitchell said.

The case has drawn global interest. A few weeks after Madeleine vanished, Pope Benedict XVI blessed the McCanns and a photo of their daughter during his weekly general audience at the Vatican. Numerous reported sightings of the blonde-haired girl proved to be false.

British and Portuguese police have cooperated in the investigation. Sophisticated forensic tests on evidence gathered at the resort where the girl disappeared were carried out in Britain.

In April, British police in England, accompanied by Portuguese detectives, re-interviewed the McCanns' friends, who were having dinner with them when Madeleine vanished.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080701/ap_on_re_eu/portugal_missing_girl

[Sumanadevii]

LISBON, Portugal (AP) -- Portugal's attorney-general says he will announce next week whether he plans to bring charges in the disappearance of British child Madeleine McCann.

Attorney-General Fernando Pinto Monteiro could also order the case closed or request that police continue investigating the girl's May 2007 disappearance in Portugal's southern Algarve region.


Pinto Monteiro told reporters on the sidelines of an official ceremony Wednesday that "the 'Maddie Case' will have a solution on Monday, and you will be informed of it." He did not elaborate.

Prosecutors have been reviewing the final investigation report on the girl's disappearance, just days before her 4th birthday. The attorney-general said he would make his decision early next week based on their recommendations
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/16/mccann.portugal.ap/index.html

[Xainia]

From The Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4373782.ece)
July 22, 2008
Kate and Gerry McCann cleared over Madeleine disappearance

The parents of Madeleine McCann said that there was no cause for celebration after they were cleared by the Portuguese authorities yesterday, 14 months after the disappearance of their daughter.

After the investigation was shelved, Gerry and Kate McCann described their “utter despair” at being named as suspects. The Portuguese police announced that they had lifted the arguido (suspect) status from the couple and were shelving the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in May last year.

The arguido status was also lifted from Robert Murat, the British property developer living in Portugal who was the first man to be named as a suspect.

Xainia

[Xainia]

McCann probe dropped, parents to continue search (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080721/madeleine_parents_AM_080721/20080721?hub=CTVNewsAt11)
Updated Mon. Jul. 21 2008 3:03 PM ET

Madeline McCann's parents say they will continue to search for their daughter, even though Portugal's attorney general has officially closed the investigation into her disappearance.

That means Portuguese police will put their search for the girl - who has been missing for more than a year -- on hold unless new evidence is uncovered. It also means all former suspects are no longer under investigation.

Xainia

[Roamer]

I've always been on the fence about this one. And I still am. :0009:

[protectkidz]

there are things that make you go "huh", but I'm convinced this was a stranger abduction.

[London Lass]

Madeleine police files go public

Thousands of pages of evidence gathered by Portuguese detectives in the case of Madeleine McCann have been made public.

The papers make clear the girl's parents - no longer suspects - came under suspicion following a visit to Portugal by UK detectives last August.

The BBC's Steve Kingstone said they included records on a sniffer dog detecting the apparent odour of a body inside the McCann's apartment and car.

Madeleine vanished, aged three, on a holiday in the Algarve, on 3 May 2007.

The police inquiry into her disappearance was wound up because of a lack of evidence last month.

Kate and Gerry McCann and a third British national, Robert Murat, were declared to be no longer formal suspects when the police closed the case.

The McCanns and Mr Murat, 34, all strongly denied having had any involvement in what happened to Madeleine.

Lawyers for the McCanns, both 39, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were given access to the documents last week.

They are studying the papers for fresh leads that the couple's private detectives could follow up.

Police questions

Some 20,000 pages of evidence were released on Monday to journalists who had made a formal request to prosecutors, including the BBC.

The sniffer dog's apparent detection of the odour of a body was followed by a second dog detecting what was thought to be blood in the same locations.

Our correspondent said the documents showed an initial report from Britain's forensic science service saying the samples indicated some compatibility with the components of Madeleine's DNA.

However the laboratory did not draw firm conclusions and stressed that the samples contained the DNA of more than one person.

Police in Portugal subsequently declared the McCanns official suspects.

Interview transcripts reveal that Madeleine's mother was asked directly: "Did you have anything to do with the disappearance of your daughter?"

She refused to answer this and dozens of other questions, as was her legal right.

The family's spokesman Clarence Mitchell said their private investigators would follow up any potentially significant leads that emerged from the police files.

He said earlier the McCanns were keen not to give "a running commentary" on their legal team's trawl through the files.

"The Portuguese Attorney General, in his recent statement, made it very clear indeed that there's absolutely no evidence of any wrongdoing by Kate and Gerry in any way, shape or form and journalists should bear that in mind when they examine the police files," he said.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7541810.stm

[ReddCurrlz]

FOXNews.com
Portuguese Officials Open Madeleine McCann Police File

Monday , August 04, 2008


LISBON, Portugal —
A Portuguese police file containing almost 30,000 pages of evidence from the investigation into the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann was made public Monday.

A court clerk in the southern Portuguese town of Portimao, near where the child vanished last year in the Algarve region, said the file was available to journalists who filed a written request and appeared in person at the court.

Officials would then copy the file onto DVDs, which journalists would have to provide, the clerk said on condition of anonymity in line with department rules.

She said the file is divided into 17 volumes and comprises close to 30,000 pages.

Madeleine McCann vanished May 3, 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday, from a hotel room during a family vacation in Praia da Luz, a coastal Algarve town.

Last month, Portugal's attorney general ordered police to halt their 14-month investigation because detectives had uncovered no evidence of a crime.

The case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.

Portuguese lawyers acting for Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry, gained official access to the files last week. The McCanns have said they hoped to find leads that private investigators could follow up on.

Last year, police named Madeleine's parents and resident Robert Murat as suspects in the case. All three denied involvement.

The McCanns have waged a far-reaching international campaign to find their daughter, but there has been no reliable indication of what might have happened to her despite numerous reported sightings from around the world.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,396866,00.html