Dead little girls + Drugs = Suspicion of Child Porn

by Wendy Murphy

When children die – and parents are potential suspects – we often talk about abuse and neglect.

But when sedatives are found in a child’s body or at a crime scene, we need to talk about something else, too.

Child pornography.

The FBI has long taught about the use of sedative drugs in the making of child porn. Benzodiazepines such as Valium and Klonopin – and cheap alternatives such as chloroform – are commonly used to keep kids calm. Many of these drugs also cause short-term amnesia such that the victim has little or no memory of the event when the drugs wear off.

It’s scary to think that ANYONE would do such a thing to a child, but get this: According to the U.S. Attorney General, child porn is a multi-billion dollar industry and the people most likely to be making it are the victims’ parents.

This sick “industry” not only destroys innocent souls – it is a life-threatening “business” because the build-up of sedatives in kids’ bodies can cause deadly seizures.

If we’re going to protect children from this scourge, we have to talk more openly about it, especially during high profile cases when millions of people are watching.

Take the following stories, for example, though it should be emphasized that we have not heard from law enforcement whether there is any correlation between the deaths of these little girls and child porn.

JonBenet Ramsey was a beautiful dyed-blonde 6-year-old when she was found dead in the basement of her home. The day her body was found, her parents hired criminal attorneys and refused to submit to separate police interviews. Three search warrants were issued for child porn, and while police said none was found in the home, we really don’t know the details of what if anything was found elsewhere – or why they were looking for child porn – because the files in the case are being withheld from public view. We DO know that undigested pineapple was found in the child’s stomach and we know that a bowl of pineapple found on the kitchen table was taken as evidence, presumably tested for the presence of drugs. But we don’t know the results because, again, the file is being hidden. We also know that the child had “chronic” vaginal injuries including an “eroded” hymen, which many experts say is evidence of prior ongoing sexual abuse. When the parents eventually agreed to be interviewed by police, they were asked at length about sedatives in the home, such as Xanax and Klonopin.

Caylee Anthony was a sweet little 2-year-old when she “went missing” from her home in Florida. Her body was later found and her mother stands charged with her murder, in part because she failed to report Caylee missing for more than a month, and then lied about the circumstances of her disappearance. Human decomposition was found in the trunk of her mother’s car – along with Caylee’s hair and traces of chloroform. Law enforcement officials said that photographs of Caylee had recently been deleted from her mother’s computer.

Maddie McCann was an adorable 4-year-old who “went missing” from her hotel room in Portugal while on vacation with her British parents. The child’s hair and human decomposition were reportedly found in the trunk of her parents’ rental car. Early news reports indicated Maddie had been sedated by her parents to keep her asleep in the hotel room while they socialized nearby. The parents hired criminal attorneys and, after Maddie’s mom was named a suspect, she refused to answer police questions.


I don’t know if these cases are related to child porn. But I’m certain of three things.

1. Sedating victims is common.
2. The most valuable child porn depicts young, cute kids.
3. All three cases involve sedatives and young, cute kids.

According to the federal government, demand for child porn has skyrocketed because of the Internet, and will continue to rise unless we do a better job recognizing and talking about the problem when we see it.

It won’t be easy – in part because this stuff happens in secret, but also because we resist thinking about things that don’t feel good – and let’s face it – it doesn’t feel very good to believe parents sell their children for sex and porn.

But what’s more important? Children – or the comfort of our denial?



Wendy Murphy is a leading victims rights advocate and nationally recognized television legal analyst. She is an adjunct professor at New England Law in Boston and radio talk show host. She can be reached at wmurphy@nesl.edu

Source: The Patriot Ledger , 28 March 2099

Maddie case: cleaning with dirty water or “the circus is back to the village”?

by Paulo Sargento

Those who have been following the ‘Maddie’ phenomenon with some attention, verified that the month of January, particularly its second week, was fecund in events that I have already focused on, in a previous post. But the month of March, with the preambles and eclosion of Spring, has brought us some very interesting data.

On the first day of this month of spring, British newspaper ‘The Independent’ published an article about Clarence Mitchell that bore the title: “I am a decent human being. If I can help them, I will”. This article announced a conference by Mitchell at the Oxford Union “following in the footsteps of Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa and [picture this] Kermit the Frog”. Don’t laugh, because I’m not making irony here. This sentence is from ‘The Independent’ on the 1st of March. Concerning the Muppet Show, I’ve always preferred the madness of ‘Animal’, the drummer, or the luxurious seduction of Miss Piggy (now, you can have a laugh!).

What was the purpose of these ‘news’?

a) To prepare the announcement of the extinction of the biggest source of income for the McCanns, for Mitchell and for Método 3 – Brian Kennedy;

b) To initiate a campaign to clear the image of Clarence Mitchell, preparing the ground for ‘other waters’;

c) To clear the path for Gerry McCann’s appearance in Parliament;

d) To prepare public opinion for the “circus to come to town”, or more exactly, to the village of Luz;

e) Because there were approximately two months to go for the – unfortunate – second anniversary of Maddie’s death.

f) And as such, a few surprises are expected!

Why and with what legitimacy do I state ‘Maddie’s death’? For the same reasons that Gerry McCann and Clarence Mitchell (yes, because Kate McCann has been strange and ‘firmly’ silent and has not been seen much, as I have been stressing lately) state ‘Maddie’s abduction’. But there’s an abyssal difference between both statements: one represents a theory that has authority in its arguments, while the other represents a theory that has its arguments in authority.

But, while we’re at it, and despite my personal opinion that the British newspaper has a lot less informative value than the popular Portuguese almanac ‘O Borda d’Água’, I must mention that I was absolutely stupefied about the manner in which this information was handled. I vividly recommend reading the abovementioned article in order to understand what MEDIA MANIPULATION is truly about, in a Society where I thought an ancient tradition of Civil Rights, Liberties and Freedom ruled. I confess that this last sentence is (almost) a plagiarism of a cretinous, ignorant, foolish and barbarously snob statement that was made by the Aide to an illustrious English Member of European Parliament, when referring to the Portuguese Judiciary Police’s incompetence. That sentence can be read in weekly ‘Sol’ dated November 13, 2007. I assume the ironical use of the (almost) plagiarism of Piers Merchant’s sentence and the consequences that may arise thereof, and I also vividly recommend reading that article.

Why?

Because the matter that I have just mentioned was picked up again by Gerry McCann this month. After travelling to the English Parliament ‘for the Englishman to see’ [Portuguese popular saying that describes something that is done merely for the purpose of visually impressing others, without any substance] – notice that this Chamber let pass ‘Gerry’s Lie’, which Duarte Levy has subtly and intelligently denounced –, the medic (I stress medic instead of doctor, in order to avoid confusion with another type of doctor, for example of the law) criticised the Portuguese Judicial Secrecy, disserting about its obsolete character, a result of laws that “date back to them being a Fascist government and subsequently a Communist one” which explains “why they do not function”. Despite the fact that everyone is entitled to an opinion, allow me to say this:

a) Does medical training, specialised in Cardiology, in British Universities, include optional classes in History of Portuguese Law in its curriculum?

b) In case it does, the teachers should be sued without delay over the manifest incompetence that they display in their teachings; if it doesn’t (as I would expect, even because cardiologists have better things to do than studying History of Portuguese Law), I’m a bit more reassured and I interpret that it was the sad result of some misunderstanding due to difficulties in understanding the Portuguese language, within the British couple’s assistants, because I’m absolutely certain that the Most Illustrious Lawyers who represent the McCanns in Portugal would never utter such an enormous STUPIDITY!

c) Even because Portuguese laws don’t keep innocent citizens in prison, or with supposed and light-headed ‘evidence’, and after realising their mistake, don’t repeat trials over the same crime, after its nullity was assumed by the Judicial administration, thus respecting Human Rights, contrary to certain European Nations (confront the case of Nicolas Bento, for example, which I’ll return to).

But as if this bizarreness weren’t enough, at the same time the most famous of all ‘spin doctors’ tries to recreate a theory in order to sustain the criticism over the spectacular media exposure, which at a certain time, he admits, he ‘tried to control’ under order (“hired in September 2007 to ‘salvage their reputations’”, those of Kate and Gerry; in ‘The Independent’, March 1, 2009): the British journalists were systematically drunk as they spent their whole afternoons drinking alcohol at the Ocean Club, begging him for news about the case, allegedly in order not to lose their jobs. As they got no news, they translated the news from Portuguese newspapers, thus justifying, from their point of view, the alleged defamation campaign against the McCanns.

This theory is particularly fascinating. Nevertheless, like all very fascinating theories, it’s too exaggerated, it lacks logics, and the facts can be explained in a more parsimonious fashion. Let’s see, Mister Mitchell:

a) Concerning the alcohol consumption, there would be much to say, but I’ll go no further than the frequent and witnessed abuses by the ‘Tapas Nine Group’ (these were proved by employees and by documents – dinner invoices) and consider that you are making baseless and defamatory accusations against a class to which you belong yourself and whose members cannot be generalised;

b) Concerning the fact that the journalists were “desperate” for news, I have to state, with factual knowledge, that you manipulated many of them, from the same group of English newspapers, and obviously in some cases there were threats of firing, at some point in time, but rather if supposed “defamatory facts against the couple” were published;

c) Some Portuguese journalists were threatened with lawsuits by famous Carter Ruck, which until today never became more than it was: threats!

With this, you mean to say that the Portuguese journalists defamed the McCanns in their Newspapers, and that the British Journalists, drunk and under the threat of being fired, translated those news that you find defamatory, and in this way ended up being condemned to pay financial compensations to the McCann couple, that diluted them into the ‘Find Madeleine’ fund?

Fibs, Mister Mitchell, Fibs!

Do you know why? Because if it were so, the McCanns would have to thank for those supposedly defamatory news, that through the translations by drunk journalists, guaranteed approximately ¼ of the fund that was supposedly created to search for little Maddie. In this case, then, and under your perspective, 25% of the fund resulted from defamation, alcohol, incompetence and the fear of losing jobs? I’m sorry, but this makes no sense. The story is much too long!

Concerning this interpretation, Dr Gerry McCann is more parsimonious. He recognises that Maddie “became a product and profits had to be maintained”! I absolutely agree with Dr Gerry McCann in this matter and I have already spoken about this issue and the ‘Relational Marketing’ of the Maddie product, the fidelization of some media’s customers (I wrote about this, for the first time, in June 2007). As a matter of fact, a recent statement, during a party congress, by a Portuguese politician who is involved in a paedophilia scandal, illustrates what I mean when I mention Relational Marketing (in due time someone will pick this theme up). But, as we say in Portugal, you can’t have the ball and the stick! It was Dr Gerry McCann himself who created this product, when, due to motives that have yet to be decoded, he informed some media on the fateful night of the 3rd of May 2007, thus forcing, even against the authorities’ advice, his daughter’s maximum public exposure, even though he was repeatedly warned about the danger that might represent for Maddie’s life.

Paradoxically, Dr Gerry McCann mentions he can’t forgive the Portuguese press for publishing news about the hypothetical death of Maddie. The question that I think should be asked is not whether one should forgive the press over such news or not, but rather, to try to understand the value of such news. Despite everything else, these news, as we could confirm when the process was made public, after being clumsily archived, had bases and very strong fundaments and didn’t come out by chance. Of course a ‘mole’ in the Polícia Judiciária was mentioned. That matter, I believe, will one day emerge from the muddy waters that we navigate. But the most relevant aspect is that the abduction theory has not presented any indicia or fundaments and Dr Gerry McCann continues to claim it. May Dr Gerry McCann be aware of something that may constitute a strong indicium, which he has yet to reveal to the Polícia Judiciária? I think that this is a very pertinent question.

But as the second anniversary of the unfortunate event draws closer, a new campaign has been developed: to place outdoors and posters with Maddie’s image, at the surroundings of the area where the little girl disappeared. THE CIRCUS HAS COME TO THE VILLAGE! I must say that I can see only one qualifier for this campaign: CLOWN SHOW!

The arguments for this action are hopelessly dishonest.

Why?

a) Because it’s not true that the populations in the area of Praia da Luz hasn’t been sufficiently informed and investigated; as a matter of fact, these populations have actively participated, as if it was their own child, in everything, Dr McCann, IN EVERYTHING, even beyond what they were asked to do. In this case, comparisons that were established with the cases of Natasha Kampush and Elizabeth Smart, among others, constitute an argument of dizzying frailty, apart from unworthily opportunistic, because they try to ride the impact, on public opinion, of the condemnation for life of Mister Fritzl, that unbelievable case of Amstetten! It is unacceptable, to say the least, to try to manipulate public opinion in this way, two years after the events of Praia da Luz!

b) Just like with those unfortunate and famous posters that joined the faces of Maddie and MariLuz, it would be convenient for the person who ‘designed’ the campaign to understand, once and for all, that there are rules for this type of initiative, beyond the decisions of the McCann couple and of Mister Mitchell and Associates;

c) It’s not true that there is strong indicia that Maddie may be alive and in good health. Even if faith could give us hope that Maddie is alive, simple common sense would make it impossible to think that a little girl that has been away from her family for so long, with the ignoble comparisons with cases like those described in the previous item, could be well and in good health. It’s counter-intuitive, to say the least. Once again, that issue is different if Dr Gerry McCann possesses any type of information that he has yet to share with the competent authorities.

d) Because it’s not likely at all that, after time goes by, the memory of some people may have improved to the point that they remember the claimed ‘key clue’ to find Maddie. Memory doesn’t improve with time, Dr McCann, except under very special circumstances that you, as a doctor, also know, which would lead us to consider only ‘certain persons’.

In truth, I understand the attitude of the population of Praia da Luz. To shred posters is simultaneously an action of legitimate indignation and of respect for Maddie’s memory, and not an act of vandalism like tabloid ‘The Evening Standard’ wanted us to believe. What name do these gentlemen give to the actions of so many of the English football fans that we usually call ‘hooligans’?

I am going to leave some questions searching for answers.

a) For what reasons does Método 3 continue to appear as the investigation team on the official Find Madeleine site?

b) For what reason does Dr Kate McCann appear to be less visible and less ‘active’?

c) For what motives, after having recognized that his family was “the focus of some of the most sensationalist, untruthful, irresponsible and damaging reporting in the history of the press”, does Dr McCann insist on a new media pressure, geographically located???

d) For what motive, stating that there should be “more control over journalists to the potential to ruin people’s lives”, did Dr Gerry McCann NOT pursue any legal process in Portugal, when he clearly could have done it according to Mr Mitchell’s statements, regarding the sources of the alleged news which were subject to translations?

I will finish for today, with two sentences by Dr Gerry McCann which, from my point of view, answer this and some other doubts present in this post:

“As Madeleine's parents we cannot and will not ever stop doing all we can to find her.”

“Someone somewhere knows where Madeleine is.”

Good Night!


source: Câmara de Comuns, 29.03.2009

Freeport - The DVD that is not an Evidence

According to Público

«The new president of the Union of the Magistrates of the Public Ministry, João Palma, is going to ask for an urgent hearing to the President of the Portuguese Republic Cavaco Silva. In the last days João Palma has denounced pressures over the magistrates, allegedly related with the Freeport case which aim at, according to Correio da Manhã, rushing the archival of the process. The Union of the Magistrates of the Public Ministry is going to emit before the end of the day a notice. In it's turn, the Attorney General, Pinto Monteiro, announced for tomorrow a statement regarding the investigation to the Freeport case.»

Meanwhile, Charles 'On my mothers grave' Smith who accuses the Prime Minister José Socrates, as yet again changed is statement. In England he affirmed that the meeting recorded on DVD did in fact occurred, where he, besides calling our Portuguese Prime Minister stupid, stated that Socrates was corrupted. In Portugal, Charles Smith stated to the Judiciary Police and Prosecutors on the case that he never said anything wrong or libellous about Socrates.

The Prime Minister continues to suffer from a 'Black Campaign', orchestrated by some shadow characters and played by the media [TVI and SOL mainly] at an opportunistic moment - the 2009 elections.

What to do to the Freeport?

by Eduardo Dâmaso [Assistant Director of Correio da Manhã]

Regarding the Freeport case we can say almost everything, that it has been long-drawn-out, that it's not understandable why people were not listened for a long time, why are the criminal investigations dragged on and so on.

This case, for all that involves, will have to be properly studied, and that will have its own timing. In the short term, however, many are wondering what to do with this investigation, given the potential contamination of the political and electoral cycle that involves.

Being this a problem of the Country, it is not bigger than what we would have in the case of not resisting to the temptation to wrap it up in a rushed solution, as an archival which results of a juridical filigree about an eventual prescription. 'Cooking' a quick archival would be, yet again, a profound blow on the independence of the Judicial Power.

Any wrong decision that is taken in the coming days, to 'tidy' the case before the arrival of the electoral cycle in full power, will be a biased way of demolishing the integrity of the criminal investigation.

That has happened the first time in the 'Golden Whistle', with the shameful removal of the coordinators of the investigation, then in the 'Maddie' process.

To allow that something similar happens again, this time by the Public Ministry order, will be a brutal attack to the sanity of the regime, which is what we already know ...


Source: Day to Day Column, Opinion Article in Correio da Manhã

The McCann are back to Lights, Camera, Action! and Maybe to Portugal...

The Daily Express, part of the media group who decided to run a front-page apology to the McCanns on March 2008 along with paying a lot of cash, in a settlement reached out of court, from which the McCanns said they would use to fund the search for their daughter, have again 'licked the shoes' of the McCanns [and their Carter Ruck team] under the light of a biased 'Pink'* criteria.

What they (Tracey Kandohla and James Murray) wrote:
ANNIVERSARY OF PAIN TO BRING NEW MADDIE APPEAL

THE parents of Madeleine McCann are planning to give a rare television interview to make a fresh appeal for information which they hope could lead to her being found. /However they will not answer to any question made by the proper authorities regarding their daughter's disappearance.

Kate and Gerry McCann are also considering flying out to Portugal in the coming weeks to boost their renewed efforts there for a breakthrough in the run-up to the second anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance on May 3. /However they will not participate in any reconstruction of the night of their daughter's disappearance.

A source close to the couple said: “Discussions are taking place now to work out what to do for the anniversary. One idea is for a television appeal from one or both of them.” /However they will not appeal to Tapas friends and to their own hearts to tell what happened in the day Madeleine disappeared.

As part of the new drive, 10,000 leaflets will be handed out to people who live on the Algarve in the coming weeks and large posters have also been put up. /They are willing to pollute the Algarve in another media fiasco, however they will not at any instance reopen the archived process of their daughter who disappeared.

Kate and Gerry have also updated their website with a new heartfelt message. They said: “Can you imagine a little girl or boy out there, hoping and waiting to be found but for people then to write them off, forget about them, just because there’s been no ‘news’? /There are news almost everyday Mr. and Mrs. McCann, the latest is that you haven't searched for Maddie physically, you didn't answer the Portuguese Judiciary Police questions, and you are unwilling to reopen the process of your own missing daughter.

“We urge you to remember Madeleine as a real, living and findable little girl. In spite of all the investigative work done, there is still absolutely nothing to suggest harm to Madeleine and therefore, a very real likelihood that Madeleine is alive and well. It is vital that we never, ever give up on Madeleine.” /However Madeleine is dead[most likely], and everyone in their right mind would always think that if she wasn't, if, by your theory she was taken by paedophiles she would be hurt, harmed, and more.

Their missing daughter was very much in their thoughts when the couple celebrated Mother’s Day with their other children, twins Amelie and Sean, both three, at a church service last weekend near their home in Rothley, Leicestershire. Amelie, who bares a striking resemblance to Madeleine, clapsed her sister’s favourite Cuddle Cat toy tightly in her hand throughout the service. /However as the McCann saga goes, rumour is that Maddie never had a cuddle cat - it was another myth created by a media expert, an early adviser of the McCanns. And the perpetuation of Maddie's myth in the twins can and probably will create serious psychological damage to Madeleine's brother and sister.

For Kate, who looked happy and relaxed, it was her second Mother’s Day without Madeleine, now five. /I have no comment for Kate looking Happy, except to say that she always looked like that in the pictures, like that or cold.

Web-users around the world still pay tribute to Madeleine who vanished from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz while her parents dined nearby. /The 'nearby', is always strangely evolving in the British media, it was 100 meters away, in a very dark resort, no view from the Tapas bar to the apartment 5A, not exactly like having dinner in 'our back garden'.

They continue to post their own messages on YouTube with pictures of Madeleine. The couple’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “What goes on the internet has not been sanctioned by Kate and Gerry. We just hope that anything about Madeleine is supportive and genuine.”/However they sanction the Cyberbullies of the Help to Find Madeleine and the likes.


Source: The Sunday Express

* 'Pink' is Clarence, is Mitchell, is the McCann Lawyers Team, is the McCanns Media Machine, is any media who copies and pastes the press releases of the McCann Media Spokesperson as news without confirming the veracity of the facts misleading a global audience. Pink is as well all those in the Portuguese Public Ministry, in the Justice Ministry and in the Foreigner Affairs Ministry, the Judge Pedro Frias who did not accept the PJ and the Attorney's General subsequent appeal for the wire taps to the McCanns. Pink is the former and the wannabe head of the bar of the Portuguese Lawyer's Association, Rogério Alves and Carlos Pinto de Abreu for betraying the Portuguese, plus the actual head of the bar Marinho Pinto for his formidable attack on the PJ and on the judicial laws since.... I wasn't probably even born. Pink is all of those in the British Government and Secret Services who halted the normal functioning of the Portuguese Justice in the Case of a missing 3 year old, presumed dead and in the words of the prosecutor who coordinated the case likely to have the cadaver hidden by someone of that infamous group - the Tapas 9. (...) I could add some more shades of Pink, like Shitty Pink for the cyberbullies of the HTFM - Help to find Madeleine - who in a cyber attack on Youtube were able to flag a certain amount of videos thus removing them - obviously those which questioned the McCanns theory, or a I could add Piggy Pink for 'Rosiepops' and her vile followers who enjoy to leave nice death threats in this and other blogs. Pink is the new hype among liars, lawyers and PR's.

Quote of the Day - Looking back on the Madeleine Case

"One of the Mark Warner reps came in and said: 'We've got a missing girl'.
We all just stopped what we were doing and all just left with them.
We have been looking in the bins, we've been looking on the pathways.
The whole village was hands on, all the locals, all the holidaymakers came out, all the bar people - everybody just came out to help."

James Wright, bar owner in Praia da Luz, to BBC News, 05.05.2007

No Respect

Months after Madeleine went missing, another child, Mari Luz Cortés, went missing, though in very different circumstances [in a different Country as matter of fact]. Sadly she has since been found dead. The McCanns printed posters of Madeleine together with Mari Luz - without gaining the parents’ prior permission. Her parents were very upset, and complained. 

Clarence Mitchell’s outrage with the Cortés family:

“It is shameful that Mari Luz’s father has brought himself to complain,” was the reaction of Clarence Mitchell, the spokesman for the McCann couple, in response to the request from Juan Jose Cortés that the posters with the photo of his daughter beside Madeleine should not be distributed.

The [ab]use of Mari Luz Cortés Family Tragedy

Top Image credits to Himself at The McCann Gallery

Torn posters and shredded lives

Earlier today, 'Correio da Manhã' reported on the alleged removal of posters belonging to the most recent campaign that the McCanns have launched in the greater Luz/Lagos area; posters that apparently were torn off by less than cooperative residents of Praia da Luz. A few hours later, the ‘Evening Standard’ was reporting this situation as acts of vandalism, and discussions about the subject on message boards have been lively and intense.

I personally find the subject sad, yet interesting at the same time, but it really would take a very long post to fully paint the picture of what Luz has been going through, since that fateful evening of the 3rd of May 2007.

The fact that there are people who actually trace ANY sort of connection/comparison between the locals' worry about their only source of income - tourism - and respect or consideration for Madeleine, is offensive, to say the least. Are these people supposed to sacrifice the survival of their entire families, in the name of some sort of curse that befell the village, on the 3rd of May 2007? Are these people expected to lay down their lives, because it would look indecorous to try to preserve one’s salary?

These people have done EVERYTHING that they could do, without anyone even asking them to do it; they took time off work, they gave their best efforts, their money, their hearts and souls to help find Madeleine. Anyone who thinks otherwise has either been fed a lot of misinformation by certain media, or is simply cruel beyond comprehension. People walked their feet until they were sore, searching a radius of 15 kms around the village. Those who couldn't physically help, offered food and drink to those who could, and to the policemen and fire fighters who were on location, day and night. Policemen slept in cars, when they slept at all; some were offered a few hours of sleep on a sofa in the locals' homes. The people in Luz cried, prayed and worried themselves sick over a little girl that they didn’t even know, as if it was their own daughter, niece or granddaughter.

Meanwhile, all over the country, people despaired. During those first days, there was criticism of the parents, it would be false to deny it, but the general sentiment was 'we have to find the little girl before anything else'. Finding Madeleine was the only thing that was on everyone's mind, not only in Luz, but all over the Algarve - all over Portugal, really, as many of the early 'sightings' across the country attest.

I think most of you are aware that I live in Portimão, some 30 kms away from Luz. I remember the helicopters flying over our house, on their way to Luz or returning from a day of searches. I remember the posters that were put up on every shop window, every bus stop, every train station, hospital waiting room, supermarket entrance… Thankfully, we never had to endure what Luz suffered, with the invasion of journalists from all over the world, in search for yet another ‘human angle’ story, for that special scope. We didn’t have to endure their raucous parties night after night, either – but that’s another story entirely.

But even 30 kms away from Luz, the worry was palpable, omnipresent, inescapable. Madeleine was the subject of every conversation, everywhere, at all times. This may seem somewhat surreal now, with the benefit of time distancing us from those times, even a bit exaggerated. But in May 2007, it seemed there was nothing that we weren’t prepared to do, even if that implied behaving in an exaggerated manner.

It was precisely this enormous nationwide effort, this extraordinarily intense commitment of people all over the country - an effort that had never been made for 'our' (fortunately few) missing children... – that made what followed that much harder to swallow.

It’s easy to blame the shift in people’s perspective about the case, on the leaks from the PJ, that were only too happily published by the Portuguese media. It’s easy to blame the McCanns’ fall from grace on Mr Amaral and his team (a team that included British policemen and British experts), or on human nature, because the ‘populace’ was envious of the McCanns’ money, fame, good looks.

But look again, please.

You will see a very different picture.

You will see the supposedly devastated, desperate parents, jogging, playing tennis, entertaining guests, posing for photographs, jetting all over Europe. You will see them smiling at the locals when the cameras were rolling – and not even saying ‘good morning’ when the employee from the Batista supermarket delivered their shopping at their apartment. You will see the British media, under the command of the McCanns’ spokespeople, ridiculing, insulting and humiliating the very same people who cried their eyes out for Madeleine.

And when the going got tough, instead of answering the police’s questions, they left Luz without a word. They turned their backs on those who had treated them like family, who had offered everything that they had, and then more.

Some will say that nobody asked the locals to do what they did. Others will say that the McCanns owed these people nothing, that they had to think about their missing daughter, about their remaining children. The McCanns had to protect their family.

Fair enough. God knows I’d protect my family with my life, if necessary; anyone can relate to such arguments.

But there cannot be two different standards just because it suits us.

The people of Luz are protecting their families as well. They have to earn a living, they have no fund to pay their mortgage when times are tough. They have no wealthy supporters, no famous sponsors. All that they have is their arms and legs to do their work, day in and day out, and that work just happens to be, for the vast majority at least, the tourist trade.

Even if for a moment, they put aside the insult, the arrogance, the humiliation that they suffered, they’d still be left with a very basic choice: a campaign of highly dubious success – or the need to restore the shattered image of their village as a safe, family friendly holiday destination.

Finally, just a thought about the proclaimed purpose of this campaign: the McCanns announce that they want to enlist the help of the people of Luz, to jog their memories, to collect any information they may have about the little girl, and the night that she disappeared – in the belief that a member of the population of Luz could have deliberately held information back from the police.

I think in English this is called 'adding insult to the injury'.

I’m sorry if this offends anyone, I definitely don’t condone the shredding of posters in this case; but if I ever come across one, I’ll quietly, calmly remove it and place it in the paper recycling bin. I don’t need posters to remind me of a little missing girl that didn’t deserve the destiny that befell her.

And neither do the people of Luz."

Translated in Portuguese here, in Spanish here. Reproduced here, here, and here

People of Luz tear off Maddie posters

Residents point at the little girl’s parents and say they are fed up with a situation they are alien to and that has been damaging tourism

by Ana Palma

Of the big campaign about Maddie’s disappearance that was launched by the McCanns in the area of Luz, Lagos, there was little left, yesterday afternoon, apart from half a dozen posters that had been affixed on bus stops and outdoors. The local population has torn off and shredded the rest of them, throwing them into the garbage.

“They put up a poster on my shop window but I took it off right away”, CM was told by Luís Mamede, the owner of an optics store in Luz, who sees this campaign as “another massacre” for the people in Luz. “It’s enough!”, he said, stressing that “Luz is being hurt by a situation that is alien to it: The child’s parents are to blame but it’s the people who live and work here that have been hurt. Tourists with children are afraid of coming here. That’s unfair, because Luz has always been safe”.

Tiredness and indignation were, in fact, the emotions shown to CM by the locals. For Ana Santos, this campaign by the McCanns “is a clown circus. It’s normal that people remove the posters, because they have nothing to do with what happened and they’ve been seriously hit”. Emílio Caracol says he’s “fed up”. And he adds: “I don’t know the McCanns. I’ve had two children and I’ve guarded them, and I guard my four grandchildren as well.”

The “uselessness” of this campaign was recognised by English citizens Steven Gray and Alan Fox, who were taking a walk around Luz yesterday: “If Maddie is alive, she’s not here.” Concerning the removal of the posters, they consider that “people want to forget and the case is bad for tourism”.


source: Correio da Manhã, 26.03.2009

McCanns consider returning to Portugal

Maddie’s parents have launched a new campaign in the Algarve and are thinking about travelling to Portugal to speak about their daughter. But Kate is reticent towards the idea

by Duarte Levy

Kate and Gerry McCann are considering a return to Portugal even before the second anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance, a source close to the couple has told 24Horas.

“I know that some contacts have been made with the lawyers in Portugal, as well as with some of the couple’s friends in the region, but nothing has been confirmed yet”, the same source said, stressing that among the couple “Kate is more reticent towards a possible return.”

Kate and Gerry McCann abandoned Portugal in September 2007, after two days of questioning at the PJ that culminated with the couple being made arguidos, under suspicion of being involved in Maddie’s disappearance. They would both travel back to the United Kingdom, from where only Gerry would later return to Portugal.

The announcement of the couple’s possible return to our country is not seen with pleasure by part of the Algarve’s population, which can’t forgive the couple for their comments about a country that has done everything to search the world’s most famous missing girl: “That’s like the campaign that they’re doing now. It’s useless and only mocks the Algarve”, 24Horas heard from António Martins, a resident in Praia da Luz, who added that “saying that the Portuguese didn’t help them or that we didn’t give all the information, is ridiculous!”.

“They might as well start by replying to the PJ’s questions and doing the reconstitution, then we’ll see what the police thinks”, he said. Maria Afonso, a local resident, has a different opinion: “This campaign won’t bring the little girl back. Two years later, it’s stupid to think that way. This is only going to soil the Algarve’s name, and our streets. Who is going to sweep away the papers that they’re going to distribute?”

Cost of the campaign not revealed

It’s not known exactly how much the new campaign that the McCanns launched in the Algarve is going to cost , given the fact that the heads of the financial fund that was created by the couple nine days after Maddie’s disappearance, refused to publicise any amount, admitting that “we’re going to spend what is possible and necessary to find Maddie.”

This is an attitude that differs from the one that could be read from the Find Madeleine fund’s provisory accounts, which revealed that only 13% of the almost 3 million euros that entered the coffers were used to search for Maddie, as 24Horas reported.

The campaign, which is foreseen to last two weeks, was commissioned from an Anglo-Portuguese firm that is based in Boliqueime, ‘Atelier do Sul’, directed by Fred Phillips and Suzi Steinhofel, and renowned as one of the best and most expensive firms in the area.

Coincidentally, ‘Atelier do Sul’ was one of the few firms that were visited by the same consul that accompanied Kate and Gerry McCann’s questioning in Portimão.

Just like her predecessor, Bill Henderson, Celia Edwards abandoned our country after the McCann case.



Little over 12 thousand euros

by Miguel Ferreira

The campaign that started this week in the Algarve will be one of the least expensive campaigns that the McCann couple has carried out until now. Under the slogan “Help me!”, with the photo of the little girl that disappeared almost two years ago in Praia da Luz standing out, the posters, leaflets and outdoors that ask the Algarvians for information about Maddie’s whereabouts cost the McCann couple little over 12 thousand euros, as 24Horas has established.

The couple’s spokesman refused to reveal the amount that was spent in the operation, but 24Horas did the maths. Based on market prices, 2 weeks of publicity on the rear window of three ‘EVA’ buses that connect Lagos with Sagres, cost approximately 660 euros, according to a company source. There is a publicity van at the McCanns’ service during the same period, which will cost another thousand euros, as we could establish.

Then there’s the 10 thousand leaflets and posters that have been produced by Atelier do Sul, for distribution in Lagos and Praia da Luz: another 2 thousand euros, according to a source that is connected to the business.

The rental cost of the four ‘Publirádio’ outdoors that are installed in locations like the entrance to Praia da Luz, and along the EN125 [national road], in Burgau, Lagos and Odiáxere, will cost 4500 euros, according to a company source.

Finally, if it had been necessary to pay this operation to the publicity agency that is mobilising the means, ‘Atelier do Sul’, which is owned by one of the most active members of the British community in the Algarve, the McCanns would have spent another 4000 euros, according to a business source.

All summed up, in the worst case scenario – and believing that everyone has demanded payment for their services, the ‘Find Madeleine’ fund will have spent only around 12 thousand euros.


Fund. The amount that has been spent with the campaign will always be a drop of water in the Find Madeleine Fund’s volume of receipts. Just on the 8th of November, a cricket race that was promoted by Greenhills Taverners Society, in London, brought the fund 5 thousand pounds, almost 5400 euros.

Secrecy. The authorship of the campaign was shrouded in mystery for a few hours. On Tuesday morning, the couple’s spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, couldn’t recognise the campaign and attributed the initiative to a group of people who volunteered for the cause. But during the afternoon, the couple emitted a press note in which it assumed the initiative.


source: 24Horas, 26.03.2009

McCann family launches campaign

source: SIC, Jornal da Noite, 24.03.2009


Brief summary of video report:

The first part mentions facts that are now widely known by the public – the campaign’s purpose, scope, the means involved.

It is mentioned that the subject is distressing for those who live in the village, and the few persons who agreed to speak to the reporter, stated that they find the initiative strange.

First interviewed person: “I think it’s not going to advance anything. While they were here, they weren’t that worried. The family, they were welcomed here like family. Meanwhile, they ran away, I don’t know why."

Second interviewed person: “There was nothing that I, my husband, everyone here in Praia da Luz didn’t do, looking, searching, to see if we could find the little girl. So I think if anyone knew anything, me, if I knew anything, I would try to give the information right away."

Third interviewed person: "They asked a lot of questions. There were many Portuguese persons speaking about the issue. The rest, I don’t know. There’s nothing more that I can say."

In a closing comment, the reporter mentions that almost two years ago, the entire village population was involved, with the police, in intensive searches, and that it could be precisely the reason why this appeal from the McCanns is causing such discomfort among the residents.

The Portuguese answer to the 'new' McCann Campaign

Images Credits: Himself at The McCann Gallery

Gerry and Kate McCann ask for the Algarvians’ cooperation

On the brink of the second anniversary of her disappearance in Praia da Luz, the couple asks for help again. This time, the target are the residents of Praia da Luz’s surrounding areas, who will receive a direct appeal from the little British girl in their letter boxes, over the coming days

by João Tiago


Leaflets, posters and outdoors asking for information about Madeleine McCann’s whereabouts make up the new appeal campaign that Kate and Gerry promote in the Algarve, on the brink of the second anniversary of the disappearance of their daughter in Praia da Luz.

The outdoors were being installed early this week, on locations like the entrance to Praia da Luz, and along the EN125 [main national road that crosses the Algarve east to west], between that village and Vila do Bispo, in Lagos and in Odiáxere.

The McCann couple’s idea is to search for information about the little girl’s whereabouts, among the Portuguese community in the surroundings of Praia da Luz.

“At the time of Madeleine’s disappearance the emphasis was placed more on international appeals and it has been recognised that the local Portuguese residents of Praia da Luz and the surrounding areas have never been properly asked about information they may have to give”, Kate and Gerry explained in a press release.

“Experience shows that the crucial answers are in the immediate vicinity”, they said, to justify their hope that “someone in the area could almost certainly have the vital information that could help Madeleine’s return to her family”.

Therefore, thousands of leaflets are going to be distributed at local markets, and even mailed to each residence within the municipality of Lagos. The posters started to be affixed over the weekend, on bus stops and on urban furniture at those same locations. This time, shops seem to be kept out.

Many, like the Batista supermarket, had no mention of the campaign on Tuesday.

Some shopkeepers explained to barlavento.online that they refused to affix the posters, because they were unaware of the campaign. “We don’t know who is promoting this and what the purpose is, so we prefer not to put them up”, the owner of a handicraft shop in Praia da Luz explained.

The regional armed wing of the campaign is Atelier do Sul, a publicity agency that is based in Boliqueime, owned by Fred Phillips, one of the most active members of the British community in the Algarve.

The only time that the McCann couple made a similar appeal was in December, when they released a video that showed the little girl at play, five months before she disappeared.

Kate and Gerry continue to publicly express that they believe they can find their daughter alive, despite the fact that the Polícia Judiciária faced the theory of homicide.

Due to being suspected of its authorship, the little British girl’s parents were made arguidos in September 2007, a status that would be lifted in July 2008 due to a lack of evidence to prove the child’s accidental death.


source: Barlavento online, 24.03.2009

Algarve invaded by 10 thousand photos of Maddie

McCanns launch a new campaign to find their daughter

Tens of outdoors and approximately 10 thousand leaflets with images of Maddie are being affixed and distributed in Praia da Luz. The idea is to ask the village’s residents for help

by Duarte Levy and Miguel Ferreira

Madeleine McCann’s parents have launched a new campaign in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Algarve, in order to try to find their daughter, who disppeared in that village almost two years ago. Tens of new posters have been affixed on walls, bus stops and public transportation, where images of Maddie are visible.

The idea beneath this initiative is to prevent the population of Vila da Luz from forgetting the face of the little girl that disappeared on the 3rd of May 2007, as a representative of Kate and Gerry McCann explained to 24Horas.

According to information from the couple’s spokesman, the child’s parents believe that she is still alive and admit that, in a way, they didn’t care properly for contacts with the locals, who will now receive 10 thousand leaflets in their post boxes, asking for help and possible information about what happened on the night that Maddie disappeared.

Residents have been forgotten in the investigation

According to information that has now been made available by the couple, on the days that followed Maddie’s disappearance “the local Portuguese residents of Praia da Luz and the surrounding areas have never been properly asked about information they may have to give”, as “the emphasis was placed more on international appeals”.

The announcement of this campaign, which surprised the vast majority of Algarve’s residents, is seen with mistrust. “I can’t believe these people now come out to say they need our help after having insulted the Portuguese”, Rute Fernandes told 24Horas, adding that “this is a pure waste of time as there is not a single person in the Algarve who doesn’t know the case and who doesn’t know who the little girl was”.

For months, until Gonçalo Amaral left, the Polícia Judiciária investigated countless leads in the Algarve and abroad, but always ended up returning to the group on nine English people that accompanied Madeleine, including her own parents, Kate and Gerry McCann. The couple itself had Spanish private detectives and British henchmen in the Algarve, but all the allegedly obtained information revealed to be false or without any interest for the case, which even ended up thickening the suspicions against the couple.

“Experience shows that the crucial answers are in the immediate vicinity, someone in the area could almost certainly have the vital information that could help Madeleine’s return to her family”, the McCanns now argue, through their spokesman, further suggesting that now, after two years, someone may have received information that leads to the solution of the mystery, and that this information may be delivered anonymously by phone, text message, email or mail.

Who is carrying out the campaign?

At the origin of the initiative, which was embraced by Kate and Gerry McCann, stands the “Find Madeleine” fund, without names or faces being associated to it. The graphic execution of the campaign was commissioned from “Atelier do Sul”, according to a source at the firm, because it’s “bilingual and based in the Algarve”.

From there on, the press note that was directed to journalists ended up being published on the “findmadeleine.com” website. Nevertheless, there is still no reference to persons in Portugal who may explain what is going to happen. One can read that “local Portuguese residents” are asked “for information to help to find Madeleine”. And the text continues, “experience also shows that people almost always confide in someone else, (…) her family hope and believe that local residents can be a very real help”. It’s further clarified that the campaign will last for two weeks.

Contacted by 24Horas, Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns’ advisor, attributed the campaign to “volunteers” and during the morning was still unaware about times and places where actions will be carried out, like distributing leaflets at the markets of Luz and Lagos.

There are outdoors in Lagos and Praia da Luz

Many residents react badly to the McCanns’ outdoors

The new campaign to find the little English girl that disappeared in 2007 includes the placement of posters between Lagos and Praia da Luz, on the rear windows of the buses that travel until Sagres and the distribution of leaflets to the population. On a yellow and black colored base, the image of the child’s face is repeated, the detail of her right eye, and the messages “help me!” and “don’t give up on me!”.

A website and telephone numbers are indicated for anyone who wishes to communicate any detail, any piece that may fit the puzzle that the Maddie case has become. The message is clear: don’t shut up, communicate, even anonymously, any lead that may clarify the disappearance.

The message will also reach the homes of the residents of Luz by mail, communicating that “we’re still in time to save her”.

The campaign started yesterday, without major visibility for the residents, as few noticed the posters and the outdoors, and those who did notice the return of the little girl’s image and the will to search for her there, saw little interest in the initiative.

Many even show their discomfort, “the shame goes on, the parents know where she is”, a passer-by said. Another pleaded: “Leave us alone, we’ve had enough!”. And yet another: “This is just another marketing stunt, why after so long?”.

Phone, mobile phone, text and email

“We’re still in time to save her!”. “Don’t give up on me!” It’s as if the little girl spoke to those who open the webpage “ajude-me.eu”, the website that is mentioned on the posters and photographs that have been affixed between Lagos and Luz. A brief text recalls the context of the disappearance of the child, that disappeared only days before her 4th birthday.

“It’s quite possible that the piece that is missing from the puzzle still lies in secrecy in Praia da Luz”, one can also read.

And then, over seven items, various questions are asked: “Have you seen or heard something strange on the night that Madeleine disappeared? Did you observe a third party’s strange behaviour? Do you recall any fact that may be related to the disappearance?”

The appeal is launched “talk, anonymously and confidentially, with my friend Isabel”.

Isabel is the woman who picks up the phone, she advances no details about the campaign, with a Northern accent she says she “only wants to help” and the conversation goes no further because, as she justifies, “she’s there to pick up the phone”. Any contact may be made to a free number, a mobile phone, by text message, email or freepost.

English don’t release data

The English Foreign Office refused to hand over information about the communications that were made by John Buck, then British Ambassador to Portugal, arguing that it could affect the relationship between both governments.

The request to access those documents was made by British citizens and journalists under the “Freedom of Information Act 2000”, a law that regulates the public’s free access to information about the work of the government and public institutions in general, namely the police.

Despite the fact that the English Government’s reply mentions communications between its representatives and the Portuguese police, the 13 emails that are at the core of the matter have been sent or received by the ambassador, the consulate in Portimão, and the representatives of the British Foreign Office in Portugal and in London, between the 9th of May and the 21st of June 2007.

According to a source at the Foreign Office itself, some of the emails that were exchanged between the ambassador and the ministry “contain obvious evidence of the interference of the diplomat with the PJ’s hierarchy and that fact has conditioned the investigation”.

In the same document, the English government further confirms that “a [McCann] family member had made clear to FCO staff that all comments made by that individual to FCO had been made in strict confidence and were not intended for disclosure to third parties”.


At the consulate’s door

The face of Madeleine McCann has also found a place at the new offices of the British consulate in Portimão. The space’s inauguration took place on Friday, and at that time, the little girl’s photograph was already affixed at the main entrance. The ambassador and the consul, as well as inspectors of the Polícia Judiciária, visited.

No news is good news

Kate and Gerry say they continue to believe that their daughter is alive. On the website “findmadeleine.com”, they refer a positive aspect from the absence of news, “nothing suggests that anyone has harmed Madeleine”. And they recall recent media-exposed cases like those of “Elizabeth Smart, Shawn Hornbeck and Natasha Kampusch”.

source: 24Horas, 25.03.2009

Leonor’s lesions raise doubts

Former PJ inspectors’ trial ends on the 22nd of April

by João Mira Godinho

The last session of the trial of the five former Polícia Judiciária inspectors that stand accused of aggression and of omission of assistance to Leonor Cipriano, and of document forgery, will be held on the 22nd of April, at the Court of Faro. At that session, apart from closing statements, there will be the possibility of the arguidos speaking, which is something that they have not done yet, during the trial.

Yesterday’s session, the 12th, which Leonor’s lawyer, Aragão Correia, didn’t attend, was used to hear Teresa Magalhães, an expert at the National Institute for Forensics Medicine [Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal] (INML). The medic defended that Leonor’s lesions, based on the photographs that she analysed, “are not caused by a fall from stairs” because “the pattern doesn’t suggest that”, no “cuts” were visible and one cannot see lesions “on the elbows or feet”. The Director of the Northern delegation of the INML, who believes that the lesions were caused “on at least two different moments”, still admitted that the photos “are not of good quality”.

The five inspectors’ lawyers rebutted Teresa Magalhães by arguing that the report “was based on suppositions and suggestions”, according to António Cabrita, Gonçalo Amaral’s lawyer. The Defence further criticised the manner in which the report was requested from the expert. “The request that is made to the Professor is badly formulated”, said Pragal Colaço, the lawyer to three of the five inspectors, said upon leaving the court.


source: Correio da Manhã, 24.03.2009

Quote of the Day - Looking back on the Madeleine Case

'What we wanted and still want is a partnership with the media when we have information which we think may be relevant and can assist the search, obviously drawing the lines between the search for Madeleine and the Kate and Gerry Show, which the media were much more interested as most of the facts came out.'

'One other thing that I think is very important in regards to how this story was covered is that the media, particularly the press, became so obsessed with getting there first that Kate and I feel that on a number of occasions Madeleine's safety was completely disregarded.'

 'There were sightings and other information would have been followed up and there was no consideration to Kate's and my feelings, hurt or our wider family about anything that was printed.'

Gerry McCann, at the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday, 10 March 2009

Images by Himself at The McCann Gallery

McCanns “return” to the Algarve

A new campaign seeks to find new testimonies concerning the little girl’s disappearance

At a time when the second anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance is approximately one month away, the McCann couple announces a new campaign to sensitise the population, but now totally focused on the Algarve.

According to spokesman Clarence Mitchell, approximately ten thousand leaflets will be distributed, by hand and placed in letter boxes, in the areas of Praia da Luz, Lagos and Burgau, over the next two weeks.

The campaign will be supported by posters and publicity on three buses and a van. According to members of the “Find Madeleine” fund, the purpose of this action is to collect new depositions that may contribute to the investigation.

“At the time of Madeleine's disappearance the emphasis was placed more on international appeals, and it has been recognised that the local Portuguese residents of Praia da Luz and the surrounding areas have never been properly asked about information they may have to give. The purpose of the current campaign is to do just that - ask the local Portuguese residents for information to help to find Madeleine. Experience shows that the crucial answers are in the immediate vicinity”, the Fund informed in a press release.

The little girl disappeared from a tourist resort in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, on the 3rd of May 2007.


source: IOL Diário, 24.03.2009


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other reports in the Portuguese media:

SIC online: McCann couple launches new campaign
Sol online edition: McCann couple launches new appeal to potential witnesses

Leonor Cipriano: Doctor excludes fall

Expert says that lesions were not caused by fall from stairs

This Tuesday, at the Court of Faro, an expert forensics doctor has excluded the hypothesis of Leonor Cipriano falling off the stairs, a theory that could explain the alleged aggressions on the face and body of the assistant in this process.

“Those lesions [some of Leonor Cipriano’s lesions that can be observed on photographs that are part of the process] are not caused by a fall from stairs. It would be very difficult for lesions on the face and in the abdominal area to occur if this was a fall from the stairs”, stated Teresa Magalhães, the director of the Northern delegation of the National Institute for Forensics Medicine, and a member of the directors’ board.

When questioned by the Public Ministry, the expert went as far as admitting that some of the lesions, due to their distribution on the body, where “suggestive of kicks and punches” and that with a fall from stairs “there would be more lesions to the back and to the hands” and less lesions to the eyes, because they are better protected.

During the technical scientific consult, that was requested by the Court of Faro, and which the expert carried out based on the photographs where Leonor Cipriano can be seen with lesions on several areas of her face and body, Teresa Magalhães has also mentioned that the ecchymoses (commonly known as black bruises) were caused “at least on two different moments”.

“The lesions to the arm look older than those on the eyes and abdomen, which don’t look older than two days”, the expert stated, nevertheless adding that the “photograph is worth what it is worth”, that images “are never a rigorous element” and that these are “virtual images of what happened” in reality.


source: TVI24, 24.03.2009

PJ Inspectors' trial returns to Court of Faro today

Expert says lesions are from distinct moments

by Lusa

The trial over the alleged aggressions against assistant Leonor Cipriano by Judiciária inspectors returns to the Court of Faro on Tuesday, with the hearing of a forensics medicine expert, who concluded that the bruises have occurred at three different moments.

The 12th trial session, which is scheduled to start at 9.30 a.m., is expected to hear Teresa Magalhães, an expert at the National Institute for Forensics Medicine, who wrote a report on request by the Court of Faro, about the photographs where Leonor Cipriano can be seen with lesions on various places of her face and body.

A source that is connected to the process has told Lusa Agency that in her report, the expert concluded that the bruises had been made during “three different trauma episodes”, with hematoma that is three to four days old, others that are eight to nine days old, and further ones that are 21 days old.

The expert, who never saw Leonor Cipriano’s alleged lesions live, further excludes, in her report, that a fall from stairs could have been the cause for the lesions.

The defence for the present and former Polícia Judiciária (PJ) inspectors nevertheless argues that the stair fall theory cannot be excluded, because of the “trauma mechanism”.

During a previous session at the Court of Faro, a forensics expert had already stated that the lesions that Leonor Cipriano presents in the photographs may have been made on two distinct moments and that they could be a consequence both of falling off the stairs or being assaulted.

Marcos Aragão Correia, Leonor Cipriano’s lawyer, is not expected to attend Tuesday’s trial session.

In February, Marcos Aragão requested the removal of this trial’s presiding judge, arguing that the magistrate’s behaviour indicates bias. Nevertheless, the Appeals Court of Évora has denied the request for the removal of the presiding judge.

Aragão Correia was notified of the decision from the Appeals Court of Évora last Thursday, and when confronted with the decision, that allows for no appeal, informed Lusa that he wouldn’t attend the next trial sessions, although he continues to represent Leonor Cipriano in writing.

The “Joana case” dates back to the 12th of September 2004, the day when the girl, aged eight, disappeared in the village of Figueira, near Portimão, in the Algarve, and whose mother, Leonor Cipriano, and her uncle, João Cipriano (both siblings) have been condemned by the Supreme Court of Justice to 16 years in prison over the crimes of homicide and concealment of the child’s cadaver.

Before serving her sentence at the prison in Odemira, Joana’s mother was under preventive detention and was questioned several times by inspectors at the PJ’s Directory in Faro.

The Public Ministry’s accusations against present and former Judiciária inspectors appeared following the interrogations at the PJ in Faro. Three stand accused of the crime of torture, one stands accused of failing to give assistance and omitting a denunciation, and a fifth one stands accused of document forgery.


source: Diário de Notícias, 23.03.2009

Lawyer accuses Madeleine’s parents

An English lawyer delivered a small booklet he has authored, to the members of British parliament. Titled ‘What Really Happened to Madeleine McCann? 60 Reasons which suggest that she was not abducted', it exposes the reasons that led him not to believe in Madeleine’s parents’ version about her disappearance in the Algarve, in May 2007.

The purpose, according to what he told TVI 24, is to open an inquiry to find out the truth about the case, which has already been archived in Portugal. Tony Bennett, aged 60, says that from the start he noticed “something strange about the case”, and considers “the death of the child and the concealment of the cadaver by the parents or their friends” to be the most likely hypothesis.

Tony Bennett has filed a complaint against the McCann couple with the English justice, which was not accepted.

source: Correio da Manhã, 22.03.2009



Maddie: 60 reasons for “not having been” abducted

A British lawyer sent a book “of evidence” to English members of parliament, in order for them to open an inquest into the disappearance of Madeleine, in the Algarve

by Patrícia Pires

Tony Bennett is a British lawyer, in his sixties, retired. Since Madeleine McCann disappeared on the 3rd of May 2007, in the Algarve, who started a struggle for Kate and Gerry to be accused of neglect, for leaving their children alone and going out to dine with their friends.

He has recently written a small book, in which he evokes 60 reasons that lead him not to believe in the parents’ version that Maddie was abducted. This week, he delivered the brochure to all the members of British parliament. His hope is that an “inquest” into the disappearance is opened, in “the name of truth”, despite the fact that the process was archived in Portugal.

In a statement to tvi24.pt, Tony Bennett recognises that right “in the first moments” he realised that there was something strange about the case. Especially after the different initial versions about how often the parents checked on their children: “every 15 minutes, every half hour, and every hour”.

But the shock went beyond this: “I couldn’t understand how those parents had left their three small children alone to go out to dine with their friends”, he says. “And how is it possible that after losing one daughter, they left the twins with other persons in order to start a campaign across the world and appear on television? Wouldn’t it be more normal to stay close to their other children?”, he questions.

Apart from this, Bennett says that he found no “signs of nervousness in the body language” of the couple. Even their trip to Rome, to meet the Pope, “looked staged” to him. When he heard that English dogs had detected cadaver odour and blood in the apartment where the McCanns spent their holidays and in the car that they rented, weeks after their daughter disappeared, he started an investigation.

Within short time, he considered it to be “the most likely hypothesis: the death of the child and the concealment of the cadaver by the parents and/or their friends”. “Days later”, he recalls for tvi24.pt, “the McCanns were made arguidos”.

Complaint over neglect

The British lawyer filed a complaint over neglect against the McCanns, with the British justice, but it wasn’t accepted. Despite the fact that the case was archived by the Portuguese authorities, Bennett believes that “new evidence” will appear and “reopen the case”, but only “in a long time”, he concludes.

If a similar case had happened in the United Kingdom, “there would have been a robust and detailed investigation like the one that was carried out in Portugal until Gonçalo Amaral was removed from the case”, he states. He goes even further and defends that the removal of the head of the investigation was “a political decision” and that after that, the case “lost strength”.

Confronted with the “many evidences” that he found during his investigation, that Maddie “hadn’t been abducted” and realising that the information was absent from English newspapers – “that are afraid of criticising the McCanns” -, he decided to write the small book: “What Really Happened to Madeleine McCann? 60 Reasons which suggest that she was not abducted”. “This is the only way that the British may understand how fragile the abduction theory is”, he explains.

And what does he hope to achieve by delivering this book to the members of parliament? “A little girl vanished without a trace and may be dead. Nobody has been accused, in a court of law, for these actions”, he tells. “In the United Kingdom, a special committee would have been created for the disappearance”, he says.

In his letter to the parliamentarians, Bennett appeals for them to intervene with the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs “in order to seek for cooperation with the Portuguese authorities and to develop an inquest” to discover “how, when and why Maddie disappeared”. “Lessons have to be learned from this. If there isn’t an inquest in Portugal, I hope there will be one in the United Kingdom”, he points out.

source: TVI24, 20.03.2009



Maddie: laboratory “belongs” to the Government

The sending of residues that were collected from the apartment and from the car to an English laboratory doesn’t shock Tony Bennett

by Patrícia Pires

“If the Portuguese authorities have no conditions, I can’t see a problem that one asks for help. Even more so because it was the dogs that were sent from England that detected the cadaver odour and the blood”. Nevertheless, he admits that it would have been better to send the material to a lab in the Netherlands, which is renowned for its expertise in “low copy” DNA.

He further recalls that the English lab – Forensic Science Service (FSS) is “held” by the British government and that “there are persons who suggest that the results have been influenced by pressures”.

New law

Bennett has also promoted a petition, which has been delivered to the British government, for Madeleine’s Law to be created: “Every parent who leaves children under the age of 12 alone – without a plausible and reasonable motive – can be accused of practising a serious crime”.

The main lesson that he draws from the Maddie case is that “children should never be left alone”, hence his proposal, as he tells tvi24.pt. According to the law, the Government is obliged to reply to petitions with over 200 signatures, and his contains over 700. While still waiting for a reply, he leaves an appeal: “In the United Kingdom, many children are left alone. This growing problem has to be stopped”.

One of the issues that is approached in the lawyer’s book is related to the British Government’s connection with the case. As early as in May 2007, as a Finance minister, Gordon Brown, who would become head of the executive after Tony Blair left, spoke with the McCanns several times, and appealed to the Portuguese police to publicise the description of the abductor that had been given by one of the couple’s friends.

“The Finance minister’s function is to help at the level of the country’s economy. Why did he reveal a personal interest in the case?”, he questions. This without forgetting that “the English executive sent Clarence Mitchell into the Algarve, to help the McCanns deal with the media. Mitchell led the Media Monitoring Unit, a unit that monitored and controlled everything that was published in the media”.

The doubts persist. “If we were just looking at the abduction of a three-year-old girl, why send the person that led the Government’s propaganda machine? And while we’re at it, why did Gordon Brown, when he was already prime minister, make a special visit to Leicestershire police, three days after the McCanns were made arguidos?”.

Tony Bennett doesn’t fear that Gerry and Kate file a criminal complaint against him, but he admits it’s a possibility. Nevertheless, he recalls that he sent “the couple’s lawyers a copy of the book”, asserting that he would “alter the facts that they would prove as erroneous”. Until now, he hasn’t been contacted.

The Madeleine Foundation

In late 2007, Tony Bennett created a website that is called “The Madeleine Foundation”, which ultimately searches for the truth about what happened to the little girl. On the website, he appeals for help and for donations from the general public, but he stresses to his readers that he is completely unrelated to the McCann’s site. When questioned by tvi24.pt about how much money he has gathered and how he’s spent it, the reply comes without fear.

“I’ve received 350 euros from registered members of the website; 1418 euros in donations and 4442 euros from the booklet’s sale”. All in all, he’s gathered 6212 euros so far. “Until now, I’ve spent: 244 euros to create and maintain the internet site; 1959 euros in postage and package; 3255 printing the books and 191 euros printing a leaflet about Clarence Mitchell”. He’s spent a total of 5650 euros. “I have 557 euros left that should be spent on a new edition of the booklet”.

Concerning Gonçalo Amaral’s book, he confesses that he’s read a small summary that is available on the internet, but he recognises that he shares the same theory with the former investigator: “Madeleine died in the apartment”.

source: TVI24, 20.03.2009