Nope, I still think looking at the whole picture your comparison is in very very poor taste and if I was a lawyer for the McCanns then I would have no hesitation in trying to get this site taken offline for this utterly offensive comparison. :arrr:

 

If found guilty Kate McCann deserves to be spoken in the same breath as those 3 in terms of pure evil

 

Hindley and West killed random strangers, just plain sadism and evil, Andrews killed her boyfriend and tried to blame a non existent fat guy, McCann if convicted killed her OWN flesh and blood, someone who she gave birth to, someone who she spent 4 years with not some random stranger like Hindley and West a mother killing her own flesh and blood deserves to be talked about in the same way as someone who kills multiple strangers or 1 stranger for whom the murderer have no love or sentiment for.

 

In order to save her career seemingly she denies her daughter the dignity of a proper burial and instead wraps her up in a carpet and dumps her in a hole as if she was throwing a broken tv set onto a skip, she steals £1m off the public and lies to everyone for months

 

Sorry but that is just plain evil in my mind

 

I hate to say this, but they are bound to lose their other children to the social services, if the evidence is true, that they killed the girl, talk about shooting themselves in the foot, they won't be allowed access to those children, they have lost their family all together.

 

Yea you are right... they have 2 options..

 

1 - GUILITY - The McCans will serve XXX years in prison and have there children taken in to care.. the press and the media will dismay any claims that the supported the Mccanns through the ordeal...

 

2 - NON-GUILTY - ;)

Gerry has just left the police station, and is now also an suspect as expected. Their clearly is'nt enough evidence to charge either of them. If the police seriously think they were involved they why have'nt they at least arrested them? Some sort of statement would be nice to stop this endless speculation. <_<

I don't think anyone is coming out of this episode very well, there are only 3 people who are totally innocent and thats the 3 kids, who have done absolutely nothing wrong, one may have paid with her life, and the other 2 will have to grow up minus their loving big sister,and possibly knowing their parents were responsible.

 

The Portugese police are quite frankly out of their depth, they appear to be dazzled by the flashlights of the world wide media coverage and at first had no ideas of what to do. Now 4 months later and under pressure to come up with a result I am just wondering whether anyone will do to wrap up the case and close the file, (the parents are an easy target), and get the media circus to leave town.

 

When they couldn't get enough on their previous suspect, they have to seem to be doing something. It has all the hallmarks of an old episode of the Sweeney, putting pressure on someone to confess and you will get a light sentence and then we can all go out to the pub.

 

The media are totally biased in favour of the parents, a few you might expect but its almost 100% and if you dare say the opposite there is a witch hunt after you. If this goes against the parents then a few editors will have to do some major grovelling.

 

The parents come accross as too calm, travelling the world, but not grieving, I don't know about you but if my child was abducted I would be a wreck. You wouldn't see me on TV every night, or meeting prime ministers and popes. I certainly wouldn't still be at a holiday resort, for crying out loud.

 

Finding a speck of blood doesn't prove someone is dead either, kids cut themselves and blood can get on things, on its own that proves nothing, but you have to ask why it took 4 months to find any evidence.

 

Even if they are not charged, their life back in the UK will be extremely difficult, people will always point the finger, and whisper behind their backs, its human nature. I will be amazed if they think they can return and just take up where they left off.

 

As I said no-one comes out of this well apart from the kids.

 

I'm so confused about this business about the blood found in the car - are they suggesting Kate tried to dispose of the body whilst under some of the most intense media scrutiny ever seen? Hardly ...

 

I'm still not convinced they did it (whatever, "it" is ...) I just think they know more than they're letting on. But, it'd be nice to see some actual evidence either way :mellow:

The Portugese police are quite frankly out of their depth, they appear to be dazzled by the flashlights of the world wide media coverage and at first had no ideas of what to do. Now 4 months later and under pressure to come up with a result I am just wondering whether anyone will do to wrap up the case and close the file, (the parents are an easy target), and get the media circus to leave town.

 

EXACTLY!.... i simply dont trust these bumbling laid back plods at all.

 

nor do i buy this 'accidentaly killing maddy' idea one bit. they have offered her a confession to this... with a leiniant sentance. sorry but if there was an accident you simply would get medical help and pronto... you WOULDNT try to cover it up and dispose of the body at a later date! as if she could under the media gaze...

 

so whatever happend it was pre planned.

 

.......... one thing i would add..

 

the convo in here is starting to get pretty wild, with some very dangerous things being said.

 

i would ask for some self-regulation here, can we deal with known facts and not speculation.

 

as things stand, there is not one shred of evidence against anyone, it could be libelous to make wild accusations. im not sure how things stand legaly, but there could be enough amunition here to get bj closed down.

EXACTLY!.... i simply dont trust these bumbling laid back plods at all.

 

nor do i buy this 'accidentaly killing maddy' idea one bit. they have offered her a confession to this... with a leiniant sentance. sorry but if there was an accident you simply would get medical help and pronto... you WOULDNT try to cover it up and dispose of the body at a later date! as if she could under the media gaze...

 

so whatever happend it was pre planned.

 

Rob

 

The evidence such as the forensics and the sniffer dogs detecting stuff and so on came from the BRITISH police, the DNA was examined in Birmingham and so on, Met Police sniffer dogs went to Portugal to sniff out the apartment and car and so on for "death scent" so you are being a bit harsh on the Portugal police here

 

Plus the police deny that any such deal was offered so it is their word v Team McCann and tbh given the behaviour of some of them in recent weeks such as their attempt to frame Murat I am more inclined to believe the police tbh

 

You have to look at it from the POV of the police too, these are guys who's biggest drama of a typical day pre Madeleine was attending to a cat stuck up a tree or a speeding motorist and suddenly these guys are thrust into one of the biggest news stories ever which has had scrutiny like never before with even the pope involved, I cant begin to imagine the pressure these bobbies are under

 

 

.......... one thing i would add..

 

the convo in here is starting to get pretty wild, with some very dangerous things being said.

 

i would ask for some self-regulation here, can we deal with known facts and not speculation.

 

as things stand, there is not one shred of evidence against anyone, it could be libelous to make wild accusations. im not sure how things stand legaly, but there could be enough amunition here to get bj closed down.

 

 

If BJ was closed down then so would virtually every other forum, including most of the newspaper ones.

If BJ was closed down then so would virtually every other forum, including most of the newspaper ones.

 

Exactly

 

I have been reading the Daily Mirror forums yesterday and this stuff on here is very very tame compared with some of the stuff on there

 

 

It's all very easy for everyone to blame the police, but really, what were they supposed to do...? They had the full glare of the press from day one, regardless of Portuguese law which states that the press should not be involved or try to manipulate police investigations, guess what, the British press are guilty on BOTH counts of this one.. They also had the added troubles of the McCanns butting their noses into every sodding aspect of the investigation too, WITH the full backing of the media. Add on top of this all the false leads and blind alleys that the press led them up (ie, "sightings" in Morocco, the supposed "suspect" Robert Murat and the the whole Belgian farrago..) that they probably felt they had to chase up otherwise the press would label them as "negligent" for refusing to fullow up supposed "leads", then is it really any wonder the whole thing's messed up...? No, I dont blame the Portuguese police that much at all, they're simply not used to dealing with such an aggressive pack of media scum as our police are.... And, frankly, as other posters have quite correctly pointed out, if we criticise the Portuguese, we should be criticising our force as well, as the current leads have been mainly generated by British police and forensic sources.....

The 17 key questions detectives may have asked the McCann's

Daily Mail.co.uk at 10:43am on 8th September 2007

 

During 15 hours of questions, police put a series of key points to Kate McCann in their attempt to solve the Madeleine mystery.

 

Did you kill your daughter?

Mr and Mrs McCann have long been aware that they were the subject of rumour and suspicion but this is the first time the police have put it to them. Her friends and family cannot believe that the "imbecile" police have the nerve even to ask it.

 

Did you sedate Madeleine?

The couple have repeatedly denied using sedatives on their children to help them sleep at night while they went out. They have strongly rebutted accusations they accidentally gave her an overdose. There has been persistent speculation over why the couple's twin son and daughter slept soundly throughout the abduction and subsequent commotion once Madeleine was discovered missing. The McCanns say they have never used any kind of sedative on their children and never would.

 

Did you have any syringes in the apartment?

An astonishing claim in a Portuguese newspaper alleged that police think there could have been a tranquilliser kit used on Madeleine. Mrs McCann is believed to have fiercely rejected this, and the couple have stated there was no syringe in the apartment.

 

How much did you drink on the night?

Some reports have suggested the McCanns and their friends sank 14 bottles of wine at dinner that night, but they insist they got through no more than three bottles between nine adults.

 

Did you ever leave Madeleine all evening to go into town?

It was reported that a barman claimed he had seen the McCanns one evening in the town of Lagos, five miles away, although they insist they ate every night at the Ocean Club restaurant in Praia da Luz, and none of their friends has disputed this.

 

Who checked on the children and at what times, exactly?

Confusion has always surrounded the exact timings because no one was supposed to discuss the case or give a timeline in detail. From clues and comments pieced together over the past months, it appears the McCanns and their friends agree that Gerry checked at 9.05pm, friend Matthew Oldfield at 9.30pm (but he did not actually go into Madeleine's bedroom) and then Kate at 10pm. But detectives are interested in the period from 8pm when it is understood that no one apart from the McCanns saw Madeleine.

 

Did you ever leave her unattended for much longer than you claim?

Statements from witnesses near the apartment allegedly claim that in the evenings before her disappearance, Madeleine was heard crying for her parents for long periods. The McCanns deny this, saying they checked on their children regularly and are responsible parents.

 

Does your husband know about it?

Mrs McCann is likely to be invited to implicate her husband. The McCanns have always stood strong together and say the crisis has strengthened the bond between them, although Gerry did storm out of a TV interview recently leaving his wife behind when he was asked about the investigation.

 

Does anyone else know? Do your friends know?

The idea that any of the McCanns' seven companions, some of them doctors, could have been involved in such a huge conspiracy and then convincingly maintained the secret is one of the most puzzling aspects of what appears to be the police's theory. Yet officers are focusing on alleged discrepancies in their statements.

 

Why did you shout: 'They've taken her, they've taken her!' after returning from Madeleine's room on the night of her disappearance?

These were the words Mrs McCann was reported to have screamed as she ran back to the restaurant table in a panic. The police were intrigued by her use of the word "they".

 

Why did a dog detect the smell of a corpse on your clothes?

A British dog trained to find dead bodies is alleged to have smelled something on Mrs McCann's jeans and T- shirt, and also on Madeleine's toy Cuddle Cat. Mrs McCann is believed to have replied that she came into contact with at least six dead people in her work as a GP in the period leading up to the holiday. Could Cuddle Cat, which she always holds close to her, have been contaminated from her clothes?

 

Why did you hire a car?

The McCanns did not hire a car until 25 days after Madeleine went missing. Until then, they did without one, apparently remaining in Praia da Luz or being driven around by police, embassy staff or friends. But in recent weeks, Mr McCann has regularly talked about using the hired silver Renault Scenic to ferry visiting friends and relatives to and from the airport in Faro.

 

Why did you hire it the day before going to see the Pope?

Detectives are puzzled why the McCanns needed to hire a car the day before they knew they would be leaving Portugal to fly to Rome. They did not need it to reach the airport as they were driven there by an aide. Yesterday the McCanns' spokesman said there was no significance in the date. The couple had arranged to hire a car and that was the day it had come through.

 

Did the hire car contain any of Madeleine's belongings?

If forensic evidence of Madeleine was found in the car, such as a hair, is there a legitimate explanation? Perhaps something belonging to her was later put in the car, for example when the McCanns moved to their new villa.

 

Could Madeleine have bled on something which was later put in the hire car?

Madeleine did slip and bang her leg, filmed on a family mobile phone video, as she boarded the holiday aircraft. Could she have shed blood on to some clothing which the McCanns later moved in the hire car?

 

Did you move Madeleine's body in your hire car?

Forensic evidence apparently points to Madeleine in the car. Mrs McCann strenuously denies any suggestion she moved any body.

 

Tell us what you did with her...

Mrs McCann was asked this directly, according to her husband's sister Philomena. Her reply was said to be: "You must be insane to think we'd put ourselves through this."

I think it is time that the local catholic priest was bought in for questioning by the police too

 

Being a deeply religious woman I would be very shocked if Kate McCann had not said some stuff in "Confession" to the priest and she also was given the keys to the church by the priest to have unlimited access to the place whenever she wanted and also she has spent a lot of time staying with the local catholic priest so I would be shocked beyond belief if the priest knows nothing about what happened. I know that confession is supposed to be a sacred thing for the catholic church but admitting to killing someone the law of the land should overrule the laws of god

 

Also I would not be at all surprised if in collusion with the priest or independently given she had the keys to the place that Madeleine is hidden in a crypt at the church or buried in an unmarked grave

 

I really think the priest knows everything behind this

'I have a terrible nagging doubt the McCanns might be involved'

Daily Mail.co.uk

By DAVID JONES

 

Almost four months have passed since I first began to investigate the harrowing case of a beautiful little girl who appeared to have vanished into thin air, shortly after being tucked up in bed by her parents on holiday in Portugal.

Like a great many people in Britain, and millions more around the world, I have since become fascinated, almost to the point of obsession, with the Madeleine McCann mystery.

 

I have travelled repeatedly to the Algarve to interview potential witnesses and suspects; retraced the abductor's possible escape routes and explored all manner of theories.

And I end most days by reading the strangely breezy and matter-of-fact web-log kept by Madeleine's surgeon father, Gerry.

 

My curiosity has been heightened at least partly because those haunting last photographs of a beautiful, carefree child playing in the sunshine resemble so many treasured pictures in my own family album.

As a father of four, I can also identify with the dilemma that apparently confronted Gerry and Kate McCann on that fateful May evening in Praia da Luz. How do you enjoy an evening out with friends on holiday, and keep your toddler safe?

 

Yet something else has kept me utterly absorbed in Madeleine's case, and it is certainly not the McCanns' moth-to-a-flame courtship of the media (their latest interview, with Paris Match, is due to be published imminently).

 

Nor is it the initially well-meaning, but now ill-advisedly slick publicity campaign being masterminded by failed Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate and party activist Justine McGuinness - a freelance PR who recently had to be dissuaded from arranging a photocall for Kate McCann at a Portuguese orphanage.

 

No, something far more disconcerting has kept me rapt with the Madeleine story.

From the earliest days, a disturbing thought has nagged away at the back of my mind. Suppose her parents were somehow culpable?

 

Until yesterday, this was such a terrible notion as to be almost unspeakable, even within the confines of my own four walls, where my wife steadfastly refuses to countenance the possibility the McCanns could be anything other than the blameless, heartbroken parents they present themselves to be.

Malicious gossips apart, everyone appears to agree with my wife. Even to raise the possibility that there might just be more to the McCanns is to risk being pilloried. It places one in the camp of internet ghouls, xenophobic, badly-informed Portuguese newspapers and mendacious detectives.

 

In the final analysis, of course, my sneaking fear that they might be involved in her disappearance could turn out to be completely unfounded. It might well be proved that Madeleine was snatched from her bed - by some despicable paedophile or a desperate childless couple - as everyone surmised from the outset.

 

Alternatively, though even less likely, she might have woken up alone and, bewildered that her parents weren't there in the strange apartment, panicked and wandered off to search for them.

Stretching one's imagination, she might conceivably have fallen into the nearby roadwork trenches - filled a few days later - or even wandered more than half a mile through the darkness, into the sea.

 

However, yesterday's bombshell news that Kate McCann has formally been made an "arguida" - a formal suspect - means we can no longer take their innocence as an absolute, cast-iron certainty, how ever unpalatable that might be.

Last night, Gerry was still being questioned by the Portuguese police, and might also be named as a suspect.

 

My own gnawing doubts about the conventional theories began on my first visit to Portugal. I am a reporter, not a detective, but some things just didn't seem right.

First, there was the resort itself. Expecting to find a bustling town where it would be easy for a childsnatcher to mingle with the crowd while watching his target, and make off without arousing suspicion, I found instead an almost deserted, out-of-season place. A risky setting for a kidnap, however well-planned.

Then there was the McCanns' apartment. Although it stood at least 75 yards from the tapas bar where the family's party dined, and was completely obscured by a high wall topped with bougainvillea, its location would have presented considerable problems to a would-be abductor.

The sliding window at the rear faces an alley used as a main thoroughfare for those staying in the apartment blocks, while the front door and windows open on to a frequently used car-park, beyond which runs a well-lit main road.

How on Earth, I have often wondered, did someone walk in, gather Madeleine up in his arms and make off with her without being seen, or waking her twin brother and sister sleeping either side of her? And surely the little girl must have stirred. The neighbouring apartments were occupied. Why was nothing heard or seen?

 

All this is a matter of speculation, of course, as are the other anomalies too numerous to mention which make me sceptical that this was the work of a predatory paedophile - the most commonly-held theory.

 

However, in the early days of the investigation, I interviewed Robert Murat, the 33-year-old Portuguese-born Englishman who was, until yesterday, the only suspect. I remain one of only a handful of journalists to have spoken to him at length.

The police took an interest in Murat, you'll recall, only after a reporter felt there was something suspicious about him and told them of her concern.

With his glass eye, vaguely uneasy manner and injudicious outbursts of self pity (he has compared his own suffering to that of the McCanns) it is easy to see why this self-employed "property developer" has been singled out.

The more so because his mother's house stands 75 yards from the apartment, and, with echoes of Soham murderer Ian Huntley, Murat was on the scene very quickly to offer help as a police interpreter.

One cannot gauge a man's guilt or innocence during a two-hour conversation, as I readily accept.

I believe it is sufficient to form an impression of his character, however, and during my afternoon alone with the chain-smoking Robert Murat, nothing led me to believe that he might be capable of kidnapping a child.

On the contrary, I came away convinced that he will eventually be proved a seriously-maligned scapegoat, as he has always protested.

 

Whatever the eventual outcome, the Portuguese police were foolhardy in the extreme to focus their attention so narrowly on one man.

 

And, whether we like it or not, the possible involvement of Kate and Gerry McCann should have been rigorously investigated at the very beginning of the inquiry - as it would have been in Britain, where routine procedure dictates that those closest to the victim are scrutinised and eliminated first.

Now, very belatedly, the spotlight has been turned on them.

If we believe sources quoted in the Portuguese press, the reasons for this sudden change of tack - just as the McCanns were preparing to return to Leicestershire - are disturbingly plausible.

Apparently, detectives started to consider the possibility that Madeleine might have been killed by her parents - albeit inadvertently - after comparing the case with that of a missing Portuguese eight-year-old girl named Joana Cipriano, whose mother was convicted of her murder.

 

For the watching world, of course, the prospect that there are similarities between the fate of Madeleine and Joana will beggar belief.

Clutching Madeleine's beloved toy Cuddle Cat to her bosom wherever she goes, and so visibly laden down by grief that her fragile body seems ready to buckle under the strain, Kate McCann has become a haunting symbol for despairing mothers everywhere.

Her husband, by contrast, strides purposefully between meetings with senior politicians and religious leaders. Zealously banging the drum for missing children, his pugilistic Glaswegian chin juts defiantly towards anyone who dares to question him, or his motives.

 

And then there is the relentless publicity blitz.

Originally devised and orchestrated by relatives and friends, with the simple aim of keeping Madeleine's impossibly-cute face uppermost in people's thoughts, it has - to the distaste of many - taken on a life of its own, becoming the focus of an ill-defined global mission.

At times, it seems that the goal of finding Madeleine safe and well is being lost amid the PR hoopla.

 

But whatever we might think of the Find Madeleine campaign, surely all this can't be a fake? Surely a couple who have placed themselves under the microscope - and in so doing turned their daughter's disappearance into the most high-profile child abduction case in history - won't emerge as callous frauds?

 

In the coming hours, after Gerry McCann has completed the same, grim grilling to which Kate was earlier subjected in the Portimao police station, we might be a little nearer to knowing the answer.

For all my scepticism, I pray that the Portuguese police are - once again - careering down the wrong track.

Because if, by some dark twist, it transpires that Kate and Gerry McCann have really known all along what happened to Madeleine - that they were responsible and staged the most elaborate imaginable cover-up - the consequences would be harmful almost beyond measure.

 

Such an incredible outcome would forever destroy the inherent faith we place in outwardly decent, caring parents such as the McCanns, and with it our very trust in the goodness of human nature.

 

It would make cynics of us all - and that would be as sad, in its way, as losing little Madeleine.

 

Now this is a very interesting piece by the one British paper that all along looked at the facts of this case, the Independent.......

 

Kate McCann: From anguished parent, to grieving mother, to suspect

Independent.co.uk By Ian Herbert

Published: 08 September 2007

 

If Kate McCann were seeking some consolation this week, as she began preparing to return home from the Portuguese resort that will define the rest of her life, then perhaps it was the belief that no catastrophe could ever come close to what she has experienced in the place where her family arrived for a week's peace and sunshine, 138 days ago. But, in a single, breathtaking moment yesterday, the world learnt there were to be no such certainties for the mother of Madeleine McCann. Shortly before 11am, Mrs McCann's spokeswoman, Justine McGuinness, revealed that the 39-year-old GP was being made an arguida – official suspect – in the case. And then she uttered the six short words which will be inconceivable to some who have followed this case and a confirmation of long-held suspicions to others. "Kate fears she will be charged," Ms McGuinness said.

 

There was to be more – much more – all day. Firm facts which seemed all the more extraordinary because of the utter absence of solid detail of any kind in this case since Madeleine vanished from apartment 5A at the Ocean Club in the white-washed resort of Praia da Luz, on the last night of the family's beach holiday in May. There was even an extraordinary suggestion last night that Mrs McCann had been offered a deal: to confess to killing Madeleine accidentally, in return for a lenient two-year sentence.

 

Late last night, Mr McCann, was also named as a suspect. As he left the police station by the same door his wife had exited 24 hours earlier, the couple’s lawyer said: "Today Kate and Gerry have both been declared arguidos with no bail conditions and no charges have been brought against them – the investigation continues.”

 

Detectives put it to Mrs McCann, during 10 hours of questioning late on Thursday, that Madeleine's blood had been found in a silver Renault Scenic she hired with her husband Gerry, 25 days after Madeleine went missing, Ms McGuiness disclosed.

 

Within an hour of that revelation, Mrs McCann was back at the police station from which she had emerged, palpably worn from 11 hours of questioning, at about 1am. There were cheers, and some unmistakeable boos.

 

And then, as the millions absorbed by this story held their breath and she faced 22 "difficult questions" relating to the case, Mrs McCann's sister-in-law simply telephoned Sky TV to relate the conversation she had just concluded with her brother, Gerry. "They're suggesting Kate has killed Madeleine and then kept the body and got rid of it," said Philomena McCann, who reported that Mr McCann was currently "lying down" , exhausted. She also disclosed details of the "deal". If this were a film script, it would have been torn up for its lack of realism.

 

Mrs McCann left Portimao police station after five more hours of questions yesterday afternoon, minutes after her husband had arrived to face his own interview. Mrs McCann had not been charged last night, despite her own fears and suggestions from the couple's lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, that she might be.

 

The developments of the day led Mr McCann to use the website which has been the focus of the couple's extraordinary, global campaign to find their daughter, to declare their innocence. "Anyone who knows anything about the 3rd May knows that Kate is completely innocent," said Mr McCann. " We will fight this all the way and we will not stop looking for Madeleine" .

 

Mr McCann's capacity to sit down and compose any kind of message was remarkable, considering the chaos engulfing him. He would have known that a police interview awaited him and that if the hire car made his wife a source of suspicion, then the same might go for him. But not once since the evening Madeleine vanished has he allowed events to overwhelm him.

 

For a time, while the couple embarked on their international crusade to find their daughter, Mrs McCann pledged she could never return to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, until Madeleine was found. But there has been a gradually acceptance in their language of late that the girl might not be found and, before preparing to leave this week, they actually declared their media campaign was to be scaled down.

 

The forensic investigation has continued apace, though. Portugal's Policia Judiciaria (PJ) has gradually become more willing to accept advice from the Leicestershire Constabulary, the McCanns' local force, and, last month, British forensic officers undertook a sweep of the McCanns' apartment and the silver Scenic in which the couple have been seen transporting their twins, Sean and Amelie.

 

DNA samples, along with some of Kate McCann's clothes and a bible of hers which they took, have been under examination at the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in Birmingham, with the results being delivered to Portuguese officers via Leicestershire police.

 

The outcome of these tests have been a source of fierce speculation in the Portuguese press, resulting in a glut of stories raising suspicions about the McCanns which have surfaced around the 100-day anniversary of her disappearance, last month.

 

The main story at that time surrounded the discovery of dried blood on the wall of the McCanns' apartment with suggestions that it had, somehow, been " wiped clean". There was also reportedly evidence that British sniffer dogs had stopped at the scent of someone who might have died in the apartment. The apartment inquiry came to nothing. The source of the blood turned out to be a man who injured himself while staying at the two-bedroom apartment after Madeleine disappeared.

 

While attention in Portugal focused on the apartment, the presence of bloodstains in the hire car seemed to pass by many involved in the case – including the Portuguese police officers who have leaked their various theories to the nation's papers. On 11 August, Mundo Real reported that the McCanns might have "moved a dead body five weeks later in their hired Renault Scenic car." There have also been fleeting mentions, amid the many colourful hypotheses in the Portuguese papers, of British sniffer dogs picking up scents in the Scenic's boot and the "strong scent of a corpse " on the vehicle's keys. But amid the welter of accusations being bandied around, those seemed insignificant. Especially with paparazzi lenses being trained on every movement the McCann's had made since Madeleine's disappearance this seems at best unlikely, at worst impossible?

 

The FSS refused yesterday to discuss the significance of evidence that has been passed to Portugal but a trickle of DNA results have certainly been arriving there since the "blood on the wall" evidence, with information relating to the car possibly reaching officers on Wednesday or Thursday.

 

Olegario Sousa, the spokesman for the PJ inquiry, said on Wednesday that he was "very satisfied" with a new batch of results that had arrived.

 

Disclosures by the McCann family (rather than any utterances by the PJ on the subject) suggested the car is a crucial line of inquiry. So, if traces of Madeleine's blood have been found, how serious are the implications for Kate McCann?

 

Mark Williams-Thomas, a former detective and child-protection expert, said there were many objections to a theory that a car hired five weeks after Madeleine's disappearance might offer evidence to implicate Mrs McCann or her husband.

 

Any attempt to move Madeleine's body, in the Scenic or by some other means, would bring an extraordinary risk of detection, considering the intense round-the-clock scrutiny the McCanns have been under throughout their time in Portugal. To leave blood deposits by doing so would suggest that Madeleine had not been concealed in any way and simply laid in the car. Again, highly unlikely. The five-week delay raises further questions. It would be far more unlikely to find blood deposits after that time – following Madeleine's death the blood would have long since dried up.

 

That said, statistics show it is right and proper than the couple should be under scrutiny in this case – 90 per cent of murders in Portugal are domestic and just 6 per cent of abducted children are removed by paedophiles or someone unknown to them.

 

But Mr Williams-Thomas argued that Mrs McCann's palpable grief after her daughter's disappearance made it inconceivable that she might have had a hand in her death. "It would have been simply impossible to conduct herself as she has, in the knowledge that she had committed such a crime," he said. "It would have taken one hour at maximum to get rid of a body. The adrenalin and emotions would have made detection inevitable."

 

So how did any blood get there? Cross-contamination is one possibility, says Mr Williams-Thomas, since forensic officers were seen searching the flat without protective uniforms. The new developments raise many more questions. Gerry McCann told his sister that police believe Madeleine was killed " accidentally" and removed. How can they possibly know that until a body is located? Why, as Ms McGuinness has indicated, was Mrs McCann asked no questions yesterday which related to the night of 3 May.

 

Of one detail there is more certainty. DNA also found on Mrs McCann's clothing cannot possibly implicate her, as it is highly likely that such traces of her daughter would be there. Perhaps, in the details of yesterday's extraordinary developments, there is also a conceivable theory that the blood in the car is a red herring, designed perhaps to antagonise the McCanns and flush out a loose statement from either.

 

Or otherwise, to lull other suspects into a false sense of security? With the investigation apparently fizzling out it could have been one last throw of the dice for the habitually eccentric Portuguese police operation.

 

Friends and family have rallied around the McCanns. Kate McCann's mother, Susan Healey, described the situation as "ludicrous", while her brother-in-law, John McCann, dismissed as "crazy" any suggestion she could have been involved in Madeleine's death. But, whatever succour Mrs McCann might have felt at the prospect of a return to Britain – and its calm familiarity – dissolved last night. Just as she and her husband were forced to jettison their return flight to the Midlands on 4 May, so it will be tomorrow. The bags are being unpacked and, in the short term at least, the McCanns will not be coming home.

 

The evidence

 

Aside from leaks to the Portuguese press, apparently by local police sources, little hard evidence has emerged in the case. Last night, speculation was surrounding allegations that blood samples had been found in the McCanns' car (which could, of course, have come from anything from a nosebleed to a cut finger), amid claims of a forensic breakthrough, the details of which have yet to emerge.

 

British sniffer dogs were brought in to analyse other traces found in the McCanns' apartment, as tests were being performed at the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham on evidence, thought to be traces of blood, found at the apartment where Madeleine disappeared on 3 May. The revelation sparked an international media frenzy which did not abate even when it wa suggested that they came from a previous guest.

 

The Portuguese law

 

Under Portuguese law the legal status of arguido permits the police to treat someone as a formal suspect, placing under an obligation to answer specific questions. There is no equivalent in English law but it could be said to be the preliminary stage before arrest when someone is still "helping police with their inquiries".

 

An arguido, or arguida if the suspect is a woman, has the right to remain silent and the right to be represented by a lawyer. Anyone who is subject to a police investigation can ask for arguido status which in Portugal is considered a common course of action and does not denote guilt. It also means that the police can ask a judge to place restrictions on the suspect's movement and require them to surrender their passport or reside at a fixed address. Where there is a real concern that an arguido might abscond the judge can ask for a substantial surety. But where there is little risk of the suspect fleeing the country the police can ask the suspect to sign a residence and identity contract. The fact that absolutely no restrictions have been placed upon the McCann's infers that the Portuguese police don't believe that they are guilty.

 

If the police believe they have sufficient evidence to support a criminal case then the suspect will be arrested. Criminal charges normally follow swiftly.

 

The investigation

 

The 11-hour questioning of Kate McCann appears a controversial move by the police, who friends of the McCanns believe have been revelling in the attention.

 

But it is possible that – with the McCanns talking of leaving Portugal soon – police wanted one last, long attempt to question the pair.

 

If they were slow off the mark, the police learnt to speed up as a symbiotic relationship developed between them and the press. They fed off each other over stories, spurring the other on in a void of information.

 

The initial media pressure may have helped kickstart the search. By 8 May, police were saying they had investigated 350 suspicious incidents but still had no idea about the whereabouts of Madeleine, leaving the media to fill the information gap.

 

In early August, a fleeting glimmer of hope emerged when the case switched to Belgium, where a "highly credible" witness said she was " 100 per cent sure" she saw Madeleine at a service-station near the Dutch border. Belgian police issued a photo-fit and carried out DNA tests, but the girl was proved not to be Madeleine.

 

By the end of last month the Portuguese press was reporting that the investigation was focusing on the McCanns, amid claims – repeated in the UK – that their phone calls and emails were being monitored.

 

The father

 

Madeleine's father, a consultant cardiologist from Leicestershire, last saw his daughter at 9.30pm on the night of her disappearance as one of the parents rotating check-ups on their children while they dined in a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.

 

Gerry McCann also walked a fine line throughout the case, both using the media – he recently addressed the Edinburgh Fringe – and condemning it for its intrusion into his family's lives.

 

Last night, before he was named as a suspect, Madeleine's father expressed outrage at the Portuguese police's handling of the case, and said he and his wife would "fight this to the end" after his wife was named as an official suspect.

 

Like Mrs McCann, her husband has experienced the metamorphosis from victim to figure of suspicion in the eyes of the press, and in early August was forced to defend their position and reiterate their belief that Madeleine was still alive. "We're not naïve," he said, sitting beside his wife in a television interview. "We expect the same thoroughness and to be treated the same way as anyone else who has been in and around this. And we wouldn't expect it any other way. The same high levels will be applied to us as would be applied to anybody else, and that is only right and proper."

 

The media

 

By the time news emerged overnight on 3 May that a little girl had gone missing in a Portuguese resort favoured by middle-class holidaymakers, the British media were already acting as the outriders of the investigation.

 

Leading criticisms of the local police, journalists leapt on the claims of Gill Renwick, a family friend, when she called GMTV alleging that police activity had wrapped up at 3am, leaving ports and borders uninformed. So began an acrimonious stand-off between the Portuguese authorities and an increasingly rampant UK media pack. Throughout the summer their appetite for wild speculation was to remain undiminished despite a real lack of hard, new information.

 

As the media spotlight came back to Madeleine's parents, the McCanns' anger boiled over and they threatened a libel action against a famous and highly credible Portuguese reporter.

 

The friends

 

By Madeleine's fourth birthday on 12 May, the McCanns' international campaign to keep the search alive had taken off, with the footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham making appeals for information, while Sir Richard Branson and J K Rowling contributed to rewards now totalling £2.5m. Mr and Mrs McCann launched a website, findmadeleine. com, which would get more than 170 million hits.

 

The parents initially pledged to stay in Portugal. Eventually, the McCanns took their campaign around Europe, travelling to Spain, Berlin and Amsterdam. The tour reached a climax at the Vatican, where they were hosted by the British ambassador, Francis Campbell, who had negotiated a meeting with the Pope at short notice.

 

On 30 May, Mrs McCann was seen trembling in images broadcast around the world as Pope Benedict blessed a picture of Madeleine.

 

Throughout, the campaign has been supported by the McCanns' friends, who have remained loyal, stayed in Portugal to be available for the investigation, and, for the large part, kept silent.

 

That changed on 8 August when one friend, Rachel Oldfield, who dined with the McCanns on the night of Madeleine's disappearance, hit out at " smears" from the police. "They are throwing mud at us and we are not able to defend ourselves," said Mrs Oldfield, 34, who, along with others, had been questioned.

 

The suspects

 

Police had been struggling for leads until Robert Murat, 33, a British expatriate, was questioned. The media immediately invoked memories of Ian Huntley, the Soham murderer, who – like Murat – had engaged with journalists, claiming he was translating for police. His mother maintained he was with her when Madeleine went missing, but police named him as the only official suspect, even after searches of his home failed to find evidence. One possible suspect was said to be Urs Hans Von Aesch, 67, a suspected paedophile from Switzerland linked to another missing five-year-old. But he shot himself in the forest where belongings of the Swiss girl were found.

 

The conclusion?

 

The Portuguese police have run out of leads and are clutching at straws and in a public relations exercise are trying to appease Portugal's tourism reputation which has seen a significant increase of cancellations & massive drop in bookings in the Algarve by around 35% as a result of Madeleine's disappearance. So in an identical pattern of behaviour shown by close to 100% of the UK media why not look to blame the parents or friends of the McCann's rather than their own frailties?

This is like some exciting soap atm tbh. :o I mean I know I shouldn't like watching events seemingly unravel here, but when I saw The Sun's headline this morning I was more than intrigued. :o

 

Anyway yeah someone has probably already said this somewhere but I'm thinking that Madaleine had some freak accident at the hotel where she was by herself and maybe died? Parents got rid of the body somewhere then in fear of going to jail for manslaughter... Seems unlikely I guess but it's the only thing I can imagine actually happening with the parents involved. I don't think they'd want to kill her themselves...

I just wish the police would make some sort of statement letting people know the current situation, because all the info seems to be second hand, and also speculation from the media. It is only turning the whole case into a soap opera, and it's getting ridiculous. And why have they apperently stopped looking for her? What happened to the fact that a man was seen taking her by one of the people staying in the resort? Have they just forgot about that? If they have enough evidence to apperently tell Kate that if she confeses she will only have to serve one years sentence, then why continue to let them go, why not at least arrest them? The whole thing is beyond bizzare.

I think it is time that the local catholic priest was bought in for questioning by the police too

 

Being a deeply religious woman I would be very shocked if Kate McCann had not said some stuff in "Confession" to the priest and she also was given the keys to the church by the priest to have unlimited access to the place whenever she wanted and also she has spent a lot of time staying with the local catholic priest so I would be shocked beyond belief if the priest knows nothing about what happened. I know that confession is supposed to be a sacred thing for the catholic church but admitting to killing someone the law of the land should overrule the laws of god

 

Also I would not be at all surprised if in collusion with the priest or independently given she had the keys to the place that Madeleine is hidden in a crypt at the church or buried in an unmarked grave

 

I really think the priest knows everything behind this

 

You should write fictional novels Craig :P

 

How on earth would they have been able to bury her body without being seen? The place is tiny, and it be almost impossible to have done that after the news broke what with all the hundreds of media and probebly thousands of people looking for her, and if you are suggesting they did it before the news broke she had gone missing, then what about the story of her blood or hair being found in their hired car 25 days later? There would be no point in questioning the priest, as they simply cannot reveal what was said in confession. And you are jumping to conclusions, both of them have been let go after well over 20 hours of questioning between them,, if whatever evidence they have was credible, then surely they would've arrested them by now after all this time?

I just wish the police would make some sort of statement letting people know the current situation, because all the info seems to be second hand, and also speculation from the media. It is only turning the whole case into a soap opera, and it's getting ridiculous. And why have they apperently stopped looking for her? What happened to the fact that a man was seen taking her by one of the people staying in the resort? Have they just forgot about that? If they have enough evidence to apperently tell Kate that if she confeses she will only have to serve one years sentence, then why continue to let them go, why not at least arrest them? The whole thing is beyond bizzare.

 

Under Portugese law, the police are not allowed to make a statement. That must be very frustrating for them as it can only add to the impression that they aren't doing anything.

Under Portugese law, the police are not allowed to make a statement. That must be very frustrating for them as it can only add to the impression that they aren't doing anything.

 

But they've made statements and held press conferences before regarding the case have'nt they,? :unsure: