Madeleine McCann case: One line of inquiry remains

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36138504

Madeleine McCann case: One line of inquiry remains

Police are following one remaining line of inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Scotland Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has said.
The UK-based investigation into her disappearance could finish in the next few months, he told LBC radio.
Madeleine, of Rothley, Leicestershire, was three years old went she missing from her family's Portuguese holiday apartment on 3 May 2007.
Despite a high-profile hunt, no trace of her has ever been found.
The remaining line of inquiry is centred around a letter asking for assistance sent from UK investigators to the Portuguese Public Prosecution Service in July 2015.
In October last year, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the number of UK officers investigating the case had now dropped from 29 to four, as the majority of work on the case had been completed.
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, said then that they fully understood the decision.

Sir Bernard said: "There's been a lot of investigation time spent on this terrible case.
"It's a child who went missing, everybody wants to know if she is alive and if she is where is she, and sadly if she's dead then we need to give some comfort to the family.
"It's needed us to carry out an investigation together with the Portuguese and other countries have been involved.
"There is a line of inquiry that remains to be concluded and it's expected that in the coming months that will happen."
He said that line of inquiry was agreed to be "worthwhile pursuing" but once that had concluded, the probe, called Operation Grange, would likely end.
But he added: "If somebody comes forward and gives us good evidence we will follow it. We always say that a missing child inquiry is never closed."

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Madeleine McCann search to end in months as police say only one lead left to follow
Met boss admits hunt for Maddie will be over if no more evidence comes forward

THE hunt for Madeleine McCann could end within months as police admit they have just one lead left to follow.

Scotland Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has said they have one lead "everybody agrees is worth pursuing" - but the British investigation will end after that if no more evidence arises.

The Met boss said unless they get a new line of inquiry in the Maddie case, they will have to give up the search for the girl who vanished in 2007.

Speaking on LBC radio, Hogan-Howe said: "There's been a lot of investigation time spent on this terrible case.

"It's a child who went missing, everybody wants to know if she is alive, and, if she is, where is she, and sadly if she's dead then we need to give some comfort to the family.

"It's needed us to carry out an investigation together with the Portuguese and other countries have been involved."

He admitted: "There is a line of inquiry that remains to be concluded and it's expected in the coming months that will happen."

The Home Office has pumped £95,000 into the hunt for the missing girl, who disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal nearly 10 years ago.

Despite a high-profile search no trace of Maddie has ever been found and the large-scale investigation has been pulled back.

Hogan-Howe said: "The size of the team has come down radically, we are now down to two or three people in that team, at one stage there were about 30 officers in it.

"There is a line of inquiry everybody agrees is worth pursuing."

The Scotland Yard boss admitted Operation Grange, the investigation into Maddie's disappearance, will end once this line of enquiry concludes unless more evidence arises.

He said: "If somebody comes forward and gives us good evidence we will follow it. We always say a missing child inquiry is never closed.

"If something new comes forward we will investigate it, but that line of inquiry probably at the moment is the conclusion of this inquiry."

The blow for Gerry and Kate McCann comes a week after they lost a libel lawsuit against a Portuguese detective who wrote a damning book blaming them for Maddie's disappearance.

Goncalo Amaral worked on the missing girl case at the very beginning in Portugal before being laid off.

He claims Maddie died in the apartment and Gerry and Kate covered up her death by pretending she was missing.

Despite no obvious progress or viable leads in the near-decade since Madeleine disappeared, DCS Mick Duthie, head of the Met's murder squad, said they remained optimistic last week.

He said: "There is ongoing work. There is always a possibility we will find Madeleine and we hope we will find her alive."

The remaining line of inquiry is centred around a letter asking for assistance sent from UK investigators to the Portuguese Public Prosecution Service in July 2015.

Pauline Bilsby
Pauline Bilsby When you think about it, SY only had join this fb site and get a couple of coppers to sit back, get their feet up and read. All they need to know collated in one spot....They'd have saved a hell of a lot of expense and more importantly made an arrest........or two !!!

The Sun is also appalled at the despicable online campaign that has seen vile messages about the McCanns posted on websites. Those are the people that are being described as ‘trolls’.

We know that many of the people who contributed to the fund supporting Mr Amaral have also posted nasty messages, therefore it is reasonable to describe supporters in this way.

The Algarve - and particularly the seaside village of Praia da Luz - can stop worrying that Scotland Yard might appear back on the ground just as the season gets going to continue the search for Madeleine McCann.

and

For a holiday resort that lives in dread of the Met returning in force just as the sun comes out, the story could not have been better news.

“The way the village has been ‘hounded’ over the years - labelled as place full of child molesterers, homosexuals, burglars and Eastern European child-snatchers could not have been further from the truth””, said long-term resident Nana Van der Velden who became something of a celebrity in 2014 when she held up a protest banner in front of television cameras with the words: “Dig up the Lies, not Luz”.