Madeleine McCann 'could be found alive' says Britain's most senior police officer
By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 5:15 PM on 17th May 2011
Madeleine McCann could be found alive, Britain's most senior police officer has said.
Sir Paul Stephenson said it was right for Scotland Yard to agree to Home Secretary Theresa May's request for help and said there was 'always a chance' that the child could be found alive.
His comments come after the decision to involve the Metropolitan Police was described as a 'ludicrous' move that would use up valuable police resources and deny other victims of crime the chance of justice.
Sir Paul Stephenson said it was right for Scotland Yard to agree to Home Secretary Theresa May's request for help to find Madeleine McCann
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have welcomed the Met's move. Their daughter went missing from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz in the Algarve four years ago shortly before her fourth birthday
Two years ago, Scotland Yard was also asked to help Jersey police investigate the disappearance of two people who had been missing since the 1980s with the result of one of them being found alive.
'There is always a chance,' he said.
'When you receive a request, supported by the Prime Minister, from the Home Secretary, you take that very seriously. This is not unique. On balance, I think it was the right thing to do.
'We do review these sort of cases and I think there may be some benefit here.'
But the review, which will be funded by the Home Office, has already sparked fierce criticism amid suggestions the intervention could undermine the independence of the force.
Last week, Lord Harris, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), said: 'Whilst no one doubts the desirability of doing what can sensibly be done to find out what has happened to Madeleine McCann, I can imagine that the senior leadership of the Metropolitan Police are not exactly happy about this.
'It again embroils their officers in a high-profile investigation, where the chances of success are unclear, and which will divert limited investigative resources away from other matters.'
Fellow MPA member Jenny Jones told the Mail on Sunday: 'It is ludicrous. This could take years and will cost millions. It is very unusual for police to step in like this and it is not an appropriate use of police resources.
'Although it is tragic and I feel for the McCanns, how can the Prime Minister justify spending millions of pounds on one case?'
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have welcomed the move.
Their daughter went missing from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.
Portuguese police, helped by officers from Leicestershire Police, carried out a massive investigation into her disappearance but the official inquiry was formally shelved in July 2008.
Since then no police force has been actively looking for the child.
The review will be led by Detective Chief Inspector
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1388005/Madeleine-McCann-alive-says-Britains-senior-police-chief.html#ixzz1MdDiOzX5
17 comments:
If there is any real chance of that it is appalling that Theresa May has sat on the CEOP report before ordering London Met to take over, but there again we do not know what British Agencies have actually been doing during that time.
There has to be a chance from a legal point of view of her being alive, but it has not been conclusively proven exactly what happened to her. His comments mean no more than that, they echo the Portuguese Prosecutor's comment in Amaral v McCann in February 2010 where he said there was a 50 50 chance of her being found alive.
Much depends on exactly how the McCanns disposed of Madeleine, if they did actually do that and to whom.
I hope people can stop chanting about dogs and learn some respect for a little girl rather than just feeling the need to be know all know nothings with a salacious need to be ghoulish.
Hi Viv
I actually feel quite sorry for the lady who owns apt 5A, I don't think she will ever be able to sell the property for what it is worth. Hopefully it will be rented out again, but I think it must be the most known apt in the world by now.
I read a post on another site, supposedly by a policeman, that it still would be worth bringing the dogs back in again and a forensic team before the apt is rented back out, as there were very few people in the apt after the McCanns and their dna could be eliminated.
What is your thought on this?
Hiya Di
Well Ruth McCann has over a quarter of a million invested in 5a and it is returning absolutely nothing, neither can she get her capital back. Unless you are someone like Branson it is always going to really hurt to lose such a lot of money. She is yet another of the McCann's victims.
Hiya again Di
As the Police Improvement Agency were involved when the McCanns apt was swept back in July or August 2007 I find it hard to imagine they would have left "any stone unturned".
It does seem to me that all these initiatives were being done under the direct supervision and advice of UK.
The comment about the dogs, I do not accept he was a police officer. If he was he would know their job is Eddie - find a corpse, Keela - find the blood traces. Their role in this is long since over and regrettably they did not find anything the police could use, unless that has been concealed from us.
However, I know that any new officer to a case will want to begin at the crime scene and I would imagine at least some of the London Met officers will want to go back to the apartment and the general local area, hopefully that will help Ruth McCann out a bit if they compensate her for lost rent. It is a bit odd the timing of her apparently putting it back on for rent ....when things happen in clusters in the McCann case I cannot help but think that Gerry and the Pink Pimp arranged it that way.
It is a bit like they knew there was going to be a cold case review so Gerry did the public letter, like it came from him, pretty sad!
@Viv 102
I agree with you but I really cannot grasp why Madeleine has been made a woc.Is this the protocole foolowed by the courts for missing children?
I am also wondering ,IF true of course, why on earth would SY "accompany" the mccanns to Portugal to launch their book? What for? First time ever a police authority would do this,they didnt before even when they were arguidos,so why now?
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I think the reason for Mrs Justice Hogg making Madeleine a Ward of Court at that stage was relatively simple. She has received the information from Leicester Police that the McCanns may be involved in her disappearance. She therefore used her power to throw a ring of care around Madeleine and take the decision making process about Madeleine away from them. In the (admitted unlikely event) of Madeleine being found alive, her actions in April 2008 changed what she had ordered in May 2007 - that Order was the usual one that if Maddie is found in a foreign jurisdiction she must be returned immediately to the care of the McCanns. Now she is saying no, she must be returned to my care and I will decide.
I am educated to degree level, including in family law, I know it is hard for people to understand, I hope that has made it a bit simpler. Sometimes it seems the more I try to explain the more confused people are ! But essentially the original applications the McCanns made were relatively straightforward, to get Maddie back BUT with a bit srung on that to me shows their criminal intent, British agencies had to disclose all the files to them. By April 2008 Mrs Justice Hogg knew that simply could not be allowed to happen because they may not be parents who are actually innocent in her disappearance. She made the LEGAL presumption Madeleine is still alive because that is what the letter of the law required her to do in the circumstances of no conclusive evidence to categorically say she is dead.
It is for this reason I have always tried to get people to accept that just MAYBE the McCanns disposed of her alive.
I hope this helps.
On Jo Morais, I actually forgot to answer the second bit.
If Scotland Yard are indeed accompanying the McCanns to Portugal, god help the McCanns, but I think it is much more likely this is pure McCann spin - their aim is always the same. To try to convince people that the Portuguese Police aside, British Police love them and the British government both Labour and Conservative (yes I know how mad is that suggestion). They do NOT!
There is even one poster on Jo Morais who says the McCanns CONTROL the British government and we all need to wake up and realise this. I just had to laugh at such absurd rubbish!
The strain showed yesterday as Kate attended church with six-year-old Amelie near their home in Rothley, Leics.
Touchingly, the youngster was clutching Madeleine’s Cuddle Cat toy. Her brother Sean stayed in the house with heart specialist Gerry.
(From recent Daily Mirror)
I still think Kate is trying to paint a picture for us...but why allow him anywhere near either of your twins, even the male one?
Just come clean lady before those top detectives lay it all out for you, that will be even harder to bear.
Re: Gerry and Kate McCann, due back in Portugal on May 23 to launch Kate's book Madeleine
This thread on Missing Madeleine is not only hilarious, it is really cutting edge good stuff.
Many posters on top form including Weary who writes Gerry... "he is like a slavering attack do"
referring to him completely losing his erm self control as it dawned upon him his expensive action against the hated Goncalo Amaral was going decidedly pear shaped (video of him showing his true colours to the right of this blog)
There are some really interesting thoughts on just why it is the McCanns are jetting into Lisbon on 23 May but definitely do not have time to visit PDL or do any book launches or anything.
Fancy relying upon the loathing of the Portuguese people to sell their book about their suffering. Tell you what Kate and Gerry, you ain't seen nuthin yet...
Read the book says Gerry and you will understand it was just a bit of cultural difference ummmm in UK we take our kids abroad, dump them in a creche every day, fail to even take them to the beach and then drug them off to sleep every night if they wake up being a nuisance and crying when we are having our me time and then we come back a family of four instead of five after some wicked predator took one of our wee bairns ummm tell it to the police Gerry.
But oh the thought of Ricardo Paiva waiting at the airport to slap the cuffs on, I just love that one and oh, if it were true!!!
erm I was so excited, I meant dog of course, Gerry's most favourite animal
(that he likes to slyly kick really hard under the table and then go what?)
I think that people should remember that even though The Sun newspaper is undoubtedly a supporter of the Conservatives, Murky Murdoch is currently being taken apart by The Metropolitan Police under Cameron.
Test cases are going to court of phone bugging and a Senior Executive at the News of the World is named in court papers although currently we are not allowed to know that name. It could be Rebekkah Brooks or it could even be Mr Coulson, Cameron did let him go.
Of course these titles have been very helpful to the McCanns but does it really look as though Cameron is protecting them or allowing the Met to do their job?
Just one proviso, it seems that far more Labour MPs are being prosecuted for expenses fraud than Conservative. But that could just be coincidence. Of course London Met are in charge of that too.
Not happy that Ali is out on bail, with his says "his reputation intact", you could have fooled me. He still faces re-trial.
Hi Viv
I read on J Morais today criminal profiler Pat Brown's comments on Kate's book, personally I thought she gave a good review of Kate's fairytale.
Interestingly on twitter the pros are trying to dismiss Pat as a fantasist and a charlatan, in fact they are treating Pat in the same way as those doggies.
From Anna Andress
Link
Hiya Di!
I think that is what the Pros rely upon (although minus the late Rosiepops) - the fact that UK law which ensure that no official person in UK will say a word about the case and no witness in UK or Portugal is allowed to speak because they have been warned they will be prosecuted. Of course our newspapers are similarly gagged due to the Contempt of Court Act which provides some pretty draconian sanctions against any paper that damages a criminal case.
So there are so few people who can actually tell it like it is. But Pat Brown is a celebrated profiler in The States, not subject to any problems with UK or Pt Police and is telling it the way she sees it and I entirely agree with her. Good for her! It is a relief to many thousands of people who see the McCanns for what they surely are but are frustrated because we have to continue to wait for official condemnation of their actions which can only happen when the Police actually charge them.
It is always the case with the "Pros" that anyone they see as being qualified to speak authoritively and knowledgeably about this case will be subject to their attention. I think if Pat bothered to even read them, she would take it as a complement that she gets singled out for the attention of Brand McCann - or should I be even more to the point, Brand Madeleine.
Kate and Gerry are so disordered they just do not have the capacity to see the revulsion that causes ordinary people.
Kate's speech seems very animated and her eyelid is drooping even more, I note. There are lots of things one needs lots of money for and lots of things that can cause one to be an unreliable employee. All part of the celebrity lifestyle some would argue. Glad I even gave up filthy fags, never mind anything even more harmful...
Hiya again Di and thanks for the link to the really good article of Anna and the video of the McCann interview in Portugal.
Kate is very frequently starting her sentences with "IF I am being honest". I think that demonstrates her thought processes rather well and the fact that she is aware people simply do not believe her and so she feels the need almost sub consciously to keep reinforcing her "honesty".
The explanation for writing the book is a really good example of her complete dishonesty.
Only a few weeks back her stock excuse was "the decision got taken out of our hands really to fund the search for Madeleine". It was notable to me that since the publication of the book her mother has given one of her rare utterances to try and defend Kate/her book. The theme adopted by Susan Healy now is, well she needed to write an account for her children. This of course was fatally flawed account given the vile and graphic language used in the book and even details of her sex life which seemingly Susan had overlooked. But now, we see Kate adopting her own mother's excuses for the publication of what is clearly intended to do just two things. Provide her with the income she is not capable of earning and defend herself. She may have earned a GPs annual salary but she has placed her own reputation in doing so, far lower than it already was.
Gerry did not want to talk about the action against Goncalo, well ever the one to gloat, that can only mean one thing, there is nothing for him to gloat about. I am sure he would not want to tell us exactly how much that vindictive, money grabbing action actually has cost from the supposed funds to search for Madeleine, but I would estimate about half a million in the costs of both sides which they must pay.
I am sure the McCanns would like some sort of Royal Protection Squad in Portugal, but the British taxpayer is not actually accepting that we should equate them with Royalty. Now they have some more legal expenses available from the apparent success of Kate's book it is likely they consult lawyers to see how else they can attack Goncalo. Their hatred of him is so obviously deep, they need to realise, even people like me who have been prepared to consider Maddie may still be alive, begin to think he must be spot on - although not by "accident" - Goncalo is too kind. I am sure the Portuguese public think the same. This couple had their fingers burned so many times, I wonder they have got any left!
Oh one more thought on that interview Di.
I have previously said - if the British had clear evidence Maddie was subject to a stranger abduction we would support the McCanns and come out and directly say so.
I think that is what Kate meant when she stated she thought there should have been some word of support for them, she means official seal of approval from UK. You got a long wait there lady, and I continue to wish the experienced homicide detectives at London Met, success in what is undoubtedly a difficult case worthy of their particular expertise.
Sadly somehow I doubt they will ever find little Maddie, not even to give her a decent burial. That may make prosecution difficult but certainly not impossible.
Mr Cameron is far too politically savvy to announce such a big investigation in times of austerity unless he truly believed he was going to reap the political rewards from it. He is also quite savvy enough to know that locking up Gerry McCann in particular and "solving" the Maddie case will see him re-elected. Being seen to be pro child is very humanising. Maybe I do him a disservice but if he actually thought Maddie was alive he would not have sat on the CEOP report for so long, there can be only one reason for this and it explains how worried Gerry now looks, whilst Kate, I think, takes a little something to help her keep up the show. Maybe Gerry realised on him, it is a bit too obvious?
Check out this video Di at 5.19
They have had the usual question, we have had a lot of letters why did you leave the children alone?
Gerry comes the usual it really was like dining in your garden and going back to check the children, when erm, ear tug CRYING
I think he really lost his composure there and the interviewer facial expression in response is telling as to what he really thinks in spite trying to give the veneer of being very nice.
Whenever Gerry is really struggling he always does that ear tug!
His descriptions of how "we are now more or less at the same place, but at times I thought will Kate ever get back to near normal" really do show him up. It is a fact that parents who have suffered what they claim they have, NEVER RECOVER.
Kate goes on to say she did not lose her faith in God over the loss of Madeleine "I blame the abductor for that" but she says I had to ask God what was going on when we were made arguidos. Words really do fail me Kate. People are right when they described both you and Gerry as a couple of narcissists.
Towards the end Kate and Gerry make some quite threatening remarks about so called haters on the internet. I think they mean people who are exercising their right to freedom of speech in response to everything we have to listen to from these two. People who unlike you do not try to justify or normalise leaving three tiny children alone every night in an unlocked apartment by saying "it felt perfectly safe", "it never even crossed our minds there was a risk" "it really was like dining in your garden".
If it never even crossed your mind that it is dangerous to have left them as you did, even with the door open, even when Maddie told you they cried, even when you know Maddie was a poor sleeper who you had a star chart for, a fully mobile four year old, you are simply not fit to be parents or doctors for that matter.
And what is more, I would like to know how you "put them to sleep at 7.15" because I am a mother who has had young children, three of them just like you. And I can tell you this much Kate and Gerry, if I had put them all to bed in the same room to go down for the night on holiday at 7.15 there is no way on earth they would have all so co-operatively just gone to sleep at precisely 7.15. "cried" that was a good slip from you Gerry, did you ever bother to check them, or did you just drug them?
I would rather believe a police officer any day than you two contradictory liars whose story changes every time it gets told.
Gerry: .."checked the children whenever erm ear tug crying" at 5.09
http://tvnz.co.nz/close-up/friday-may-13-4170327/video
Shame on Leicester Social Services
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