Madeleine McCann: Euclides Monteiro ‘Cleared’, Roderick William Robinson Wanted And Seven Years Pass
MADELEINE McCann: Anorak’s regular look at the story of the missing child in the news media:
On the seventh anniversary of tabloids’ ‘Our Maddie’, the Sunday Star leads with news:
“MADDIE PROBE ANGER”
Neil Chandler & Tracey Kandohla report:
Maddie: Portuguese police blast Brit cops and DENY arrests will be made soon
No arrests.
PORTUGUESE police have blasted Brit detectives over their handling of the Madeleine McCann investigation.
Really?
Yesterday marked exactly seven years since the little girl vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve. But at a special prayer service in the McCanns’ home village of Rothley, Leics, dad Gerry, 45, said he and wife Kate had been buoyed by the Scotland Yard probe.
But what about the row? Readers will have to wait for the actual scoop. Fist we hear from Gerry McCann, the child’s father:
He said: “They are going back out to Portugal very soon. They are chipping away and there is new evidence. We are going to continue hoping we get a happy outcome – and one day we will know what’s happening.”
Not a single word from an actual named policeman.
Now for the news:
But the Portuguese have accused the Metropolitan Police of going on a “media offensive” over the case. They say leads recently publicised by the Met are “very flimsy”.
And they say claims about imminent arrests are not true.
But the Met has made no noises about imminent arrests. Only the media has done that.
The Star adds:
A well-placed source said: “They’re pulling their hair out in relation to recent allegations by the Met. They’re very angry the British police have gone on a media offensive. Furthermore, the information is not consistent with the information they have.”
What source? Well-placed where? A child is missing. Name names.
Last year, Portuguese authorities agreed to re-open the probe into Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance after a review by the Met.
So. They are working together.
January, British police suggested three burglars were prime suspects.
Not quite, no. They did send a letter requesting that Portuguese police follow up a potential lead. As Sky’s Martin Brunt noted:
Metropolitan Police detectives want Portuguese investigators to interview the three men, who were in the area when the three-year-old disappeared. Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said mobile phone records show the men made numerous calls to each other in the hours after Madeleine vanished while on a family holiday in Praia da Luz in May 2007.
He said: “Scotland Yard detectives, among many other things they did as part of their review of the Portuguese case, have examined mobile phone traffic and what’s emerged is that there was an extensive use of mobile phones by these three individuals in the minutes and hours after Madeleine disappeared.
“They were suspected of burgling one or more apartments in the block where Madeleine and her family were on holiday in the days before her disappearance.
“Madeleine went missing and within minutes the phones of these suspects were ‘red hot’ – they were talking to each other an awful lot. Investigators have no idea what they were saying to each other. There are no recordings of the phone conversations, but the activity was such that it’s raised suspicions.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said:
“We can confirm that a second International Letter of Request has been sent to the Portuguese authorities by the Crown Prosecution Services this week in connection with Operation Grange.”
A source told in the Mirror:
Madeleine McCann cops to make first arrests: Three burglars who ‘made many phone calls’ after her disappearance wanted… The Crown Prosecution Service has sent an International Letter of Request to Portuguese police seeking permission to arrest the trio…
And:
A spokesman for Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry said: “The letter is a significant development. It is necessary for British police to request the Portuguese authorities allow them to operate on their turf. It means they have the intention of arresting and interviewing X, Y or Z. We don’t know who they have their sights on but it’s likely it is the burglars. Whether the Portuguese will co-operate remains to be seen. It is a very sensitive issue with differences they have had. Police want to be given a chance to arrest key suspects. It doesn’t prove they have Madeleine but it will rule them in or out of the investigation and that is important. Kate and Gerry don’t want to build up their hopes too high but they realise it could be a significant new lead.”
All factual. Or as the Express puts it:
Madeleine: Police identify burglars as prime suspects after phone calls
The police did not call them prime suspects. Only the tabloids did that.
So. Back to today’s source:
The source said: “The Met have sent them three letters saying they want to interview the three burglars…they’ve had those letters quite a long time. The Portugese are saying ‘We have got it but we won’t be doing that tomorrow, not soon, not in the near future will we be acting on that. This is our investigation and we won’t be acting on the Met police stuff (any time soon)’. Relationships (with the Met) are so poor, they felt the Met would be better off building a relationship with them than going out doing press.”
The source then talks about the man linked to a string of alleged attacks on British children in Portugal:
“The Portuguese are saying if your young girl has been assaulted while you are on holiday, why not report it then or at least as soon as you get home. If it’s a serious allegation of sexual assault, why not report it at the time? They are not saying these things didn’t happen but they are saying ‘Why is it all coming out now?’ They don’t know even the nature of these indecent assaults and it is all very flimsy. The Portuguese are saying lines of inquiry they (the Met) have aren’t ones brought to our intention and the relationship is very poor, this is a Portuguese investigation and the idea of imminent arrests isn’t true.”
Over in the Irish Indy, readers are told:
Madeleine suspect was questioned about sex assaults
MADELEINE McCann suspect Euclides Monteiro was quizzed about a string of sex assaults linked to the British youngster’s disappearance before he died, his widow sensationally confessed last night.
The Mail on Sunday has more:
Insisting that he had gone straight after finishing a five-year prison sentence in 1999, she said: ‘Euclides was summonsed to the police station in Portimao, the same one heading the Madeleine McCann investigation, in 2008. He was told they were looking for a tall black man who had broken into country homes and sexually assaulted children inside. He denied any involvement in the indecent assaults. Police did DNA tests at the time and ruled him out as a suspect and apologised for troubling him. They never mentioned Madeleine McCann. Until the day he died the police never contacted him again.’
So. Portuguese police did act?
The Mirror has other news:
Maddie McCann clue: Police hunt British paedo who was nearby when Madeleine went missing
Sicko Roderick William Robinson has been on the run for more than a decade and now sources say he could have vital evidence about a suspected paedophile ring…
Roderick William Robinson, 77, was first arrested while lying low at a rundown campsite on the Algarve in 2010. He had been on the run for more than a decade.
Sources close to the latest Madeleine McCann investigation have indicated that British detectives believe he could have vital evidence about a suspected paedophile ring. The ring operated across the Algarve at the time three-year-old Madeleine was snatched in Praia da Luz in 2007.
Sources?
A source said: “Roderick Robinson is a notorious and dangerous sex offender. He has shown a pattern of disturbing behaviour wherever he has travelled. He may have vital information which could shed light on the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. He is wanted on an international arrest warrant after failing to notify British police of his whereabouts and it is vital he is found without delay.”
As for facts, the Met say on their website:
Anyone with any information is asked to call the Operation Grange incident room on 0207 321 9251. Alternatively if you do not want to speak to us directly you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The Metropolitan Police Service continues to offer a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person(s) responsible for the abduction of Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3 May 2007
Such are the facts.
Posted: 4th, May 2014 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
