Madeleine McCann: Robert Murat, looking for ‘inconsistencies’ and Amaral
Madeleine McCann: A look at the missing child in the news.
BBC: “Madeleine McCann: British police to observe questioning in Portugal”
British police investigating Madeleine McCann’s disappearance in 2007 have arrived in Portugal to observe the questioning of 11 people. It is the biggest number called in for questioning since the Met’s Operation Grange began in 2011.
Who are the 11?
Among those being interviewed – although not as suspects – are Robert Murat and his wife.
He’s innocent. All 11 are innocent. The febrile reporting that would have portrayed all as “suspects” is now surely passed.
BBC correspondent Christian Fraser said they would be looking for “inconsistencies” with any answers given seven years ago.
Really? Aren’t the police just going back, ensuring that they have all details on the record and on tape?
Some of the interviewees are former employees of the Ocean Club where the McCanns were staying at the time, he added.
Police from the UK have supplied more than 250 questions for Portuguese police to ask.
Do they have to answer them all?
ITV:
ITV News’ Rebecca Barry, who is in Praia da Luz, says those set to be questioned “include British and Portuguese men and women, including some former members of staff from the Ocean Club, where the McCanns were staying when Madeleine went missing”.
The Telegraph is a little more sensational:
Detectives from Scotland Yard have flown to Lisbon to help Portuguese officers question 11 key witnesses about the night Madeleine McCann vanished.
Aren’t they potential key witnesses?
Among those to be interviewed – although not as suspects – are Robert Murat and his wife. Mr Murat was arrested as part of the Portugese police investigation into her disappearance from the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz seven years ago. He has always denied any involvement.
No hint of his involvement in any crime has been shown. But once your name is linked to the vanishing of Madeleine McCann, the stain lingers.
As well as the seven suspects, four others will be interviewed as potential witnesses.
Suspects and witnesses. To what?
The Express has news of a court case:
In a Lisbon court tomorrow, lawyers are expected to make their final speeches in a £1million libel action brought by the McCanns against former police chief Goncalo Amaral over claims he made in his 2008 book The Truth Of The Lie.
He headed the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in 2007.
Allegations in the book led Mrs McCann to contemplate suicide as she struggled to cope with what she called the ex-police officer’s “smear campaign”.
Tormented by “dark thoughts”, the ex-GP spoke to psychologist Alan Pike about killing herself “as an option to end the trauma”.But Mr Pike told the court: “It was an indicator of how she felt rather than something she ever intended to do.”
The stop-start nature of Portugal’s judicial system means the McCanns will not know if their action has succeeded until February at the earliest.
Such are the facts…
Posted: 9th, December 2014 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
