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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27514800

Madeleine McCann search to enter 'substantial phase' of activity

Police investigating Madeleine McCann's disappearance say "a substantial phase of operational activity" will begin within weeks.

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the activity would be led by Portuguese police with the involvement of British officers.

Madeleine was three years old when she went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal in May 2007.

Scotland Yard launched a fresh investigation last July.

Credible possibilities
Mr Rowley did not give details about what the next phase would involve, but said officers were working through every credible line of inquiry as part of the "slog of a major investigation".

He said: "It's something that you would expect in any major inquiry.

"A thorough serious crime investigation works systematically through all the credible possibilities, and often in an investigation you will have more than one credible possibility.

"Therefore just because we're doing a substantial phase of work in the forthcoming weeks doesn't mean that it's going to immediately lead to answers that will explain everything."

Intruder
The Metropolitan Police's relationship with officers in Portugal was working well, he added.

Scotland Yard's investigation - codenamed Operation Grange - came two years into a review of the case.

In March, British police said they were seeking an intruder who sexually abused five girls in Portugal between 2004 and 2006.

Detectives say the attacks happened in holiday villas occupied by UK families in the Algarve.

Madeleine police move to next phase

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are set to stage "a substantial phase of operational activity" in Portugal in the next few weeks.

Assistant commissioner Mark Rowley from Scotland Yard said that officers are working through every credible line of inquiry in the search for the missing three-year-old, as part of the "slog of a major investigation".

He said: "In the forthcoming weeks we are going to be going to a substantial phase of operational activity on the ground in Portugal."

The senior officer stressed: "It's something that you would expect in any major inquiry.

"A thorough serious crime investigation works systematically through all the credible possibilities, and often in an investigation you will have more than one credible possibility.

"Therefore just because we're doing a substantial phase of work in the forthcoming week doesn't mean that it's going to immediately lead to answers that will explain everything."

British police are currently running their own investigation into what happened to Madeleine, who vanished from Portuguese holiday resort Praia da Luz in May 2007.

The Portuguese have now also re-opened their inquiry into her disappearance, and while they are working with the UK force have refused to set up an official joint investigation.

Mr Rowley echoed Kate McCann's calls for restraint in media coverage of the case, and said: "I want to be able to go back to Kate and Gerry at some stage in the future and tell them we've got to the bottom of this, or second best is to go back to them and say we've turned over every stone and we can't get to an answer sometimes."

A number of officers from Scotland Yard are hoping to be involved in the latest phase of activity.

"The activity in Portugal is led by the Portuguese, that's absolutely crystal clear in law," Mr Rowley said.

"We have some officers who would like to be helping with that on the ground in Portugal, doing some of the work we anticipate. We are putting the finishing touches to the plans to the Portuguese in the coming weeks."

He added: "I anticipate a substantial phase of activity in forthcoming weeks including Portuguese and British officers but the detail of that is still being finalised with Portuguese colleagues and it will all be under Portuguese leadership."

One line of inquiry for Scotland Yard is a lone male paedophile who staged a series of sex attacks on young British girls while they were on holiday in the Algarve.

They are looking at nine sexual assaults and three "near misses" on British girls aged six to 12 between 2004 and 2006, including one in 2005 on a 10-year-old girl in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine vanished two years later.

More at:
http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/madeleine-police-move-to-next-phase

 The Maddie McCann case

Searches in Praia da Luz by Maddie scheduled for June

Posted yesterday

MARISA RODRIGUES

Searches and excavations in Praia da Luz, requested by British police, is scheduled for early June. Seven years after the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, detectives will search for traces of the girl's body.

Efforts will be made in a vacant lot near the street April 25. It is expected to last a week and will be led only by the PJ. The National Directorate of the Judicial Police authorized the Portuguese inspectors are accompanied by a British team that included detectives from the Metropolitan Police and forensic experts, who bring the UK sniffer dogs and georadar.

These steps have nothing to do with the Portuguese investigation. Were ordered by the British authorities, by letter rogatory, and received the "green light" the Public Ministry of Portimão, which sent the PJ to run.

This Wednesday, in a statement to British journalists, the Metropolitan Police admitted for the first time that this research may prove to be inconclusive.

xxxhttp://www.jn.pt/Dossies/dossie.aspx?content_id=3928917&dossier=O%20caso%20Maddie%20McCann

PJ in Lisbon speak to Portugal News

IN NEWS · 22-05-2014 15:28:00

Search for Madeleine to enter new phase in coming weeks

British police involved in the search for Madeleine McCann on Thursday forecast there would be “specific police activity in the coming weeks.”

British police said during the briefing held at New Scotland Yard that searches in Praia da Luz will be led at all times by the Portuguese authorities (under the auspices of an International Letter of Request), with officers from the Metropolitan Police Service working alongside.

PJ police in Lisbon this week told The Portugal News that only one specific area has been approved for searches according to the international letter of request.

Police also confirmed that while the Metropolitan Police had expressed a clear willingness to accompany the investigation in Portugal, they had not yet received a formal request by Wednesday evening to do so. Police here told The Portugal News such an application was a prerequisite for any joint-action on the ground.

Meanwhile, the meeting on Thursday morning in London was held to outline the Metropolitan Police Service’s position in relation to the ongoing investigation given the speculation and numerous stories that have been running for the past few weeks.

According to Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, who led the meeting, “DCI Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, and his team will be in Portugal carrying out various lines of enquiry”.

He added that thorough serious crime investigations work systematically through all credible possibilities and “therefore it should not be assumed that this substantial upcoming phase of work in Portugal will immediately lead us to the answers that will explain what has happened.”

He predicted that media will see normal police activity expected in any such major investigation.
“Similarly, this should not be seen as a sign that the investigation is nearing a conclusion. I fully expect that there will be much more work to do when this particular phase of activity comes to an end. It is helpful that any reporting of activity in Portugal is set in this context.”

He also revealed British police will be updating Kate and Gerry McCann throughout the activity “as we have been throughout the
investigation.”

He further stressed that “the very fact that we are in the position of moving towards substantial activity in Portugal shows that the relationship between the MPS and Portuguese colleagues is working.”

XXXXhttp://www.theportugalnews.com/news/search-for-madeleine-to-enter-new-phase-in-coming-weeks/31666

Update on Madeleine McCann disappearance

22 May 2014

New Scotland Yard

Today, Thursday 22 May, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, head of Specialist Crime and Operations, met with media at New Scotland Yard to update them on Operation Grange, the London based investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

All UK based media outlets were represented at the meeting, as well as media organisations from Portugal, America, and others.

The meeting was held to outline the Metropolitan Police Service position in relation to the ongoing investigation given the speculation and numerous stories that have been running for the past few weeks. AC Rowley confirmed that in the coming weeks there would be specific police activity in Portugal led at all times by the Portuguese authorities (under the auspices of an International Letter of Request or ‘Rogatory letter’), with officers from the Metropolitan Police Service working alongside.

Following a meeting with the media Assistant Commissioner Rowley said:

"DCI Andy Redwood, the senior investigating officer, and his team will be in Portugal carrying out various lines of enquiry.

"“Thorough serious crime investigations work systematically through all credible possibilities and therefore it should not be assumed that this substantial upcoming phase of work in Portugal will immediately lead us to the answers that will explain what has happened.

“What you will see is normal police activity you would expect in any such major investigation.

“Similarly, this should not be seen as a sign that the investigation is nearing a conclusion. I fully expect that there will be much more work to do when this particular phase of activity comes to an end. It is helpful that any reporting of activity in Portugal is set in this context.

“We will be updating Mr and Mrs McCann throughout the activity as we have been throughout the investigation.

“We will not be giving information on when this activity is to occur.

"The very fact that we are in the position of moving towards substantial activity in Portugal shows that the relationship between the MPS and Portuguese colleagues is working."

AC Rowley issued a letter to media on 6 May 2014 stating that the advice he was receiving from Portugal was that their approach to media handling was different and they do not brief the media on current investigations.

They clearly stated that if the MPS provide any briefings or information on the work they are undertaking on our behalf, or if reporters cause any disruption to their work in Portugal activity will cease until that problem dissipates.

Assistant Commissioner Rowley reiterated that position today:

"We have made it clear to colleagues in Portugal that we will not be giving operational updates. I appreciate this will be frustrating to you (the media) especially given the help you have provided to us with public appeals so far which has added significant evidence into our files. However, if this was an investigation in London I would not be making public details of operational investigative activity that we were planning or how it might link in to the investigation.

"Of course complications are added when an investigation is taken abroad.

“My letter last month did map out where we stood in terms of how we could manage the media demand in this investigation. If media interfere with police work, that work will stop. I suspect that the boundaries around what that is will be apparent and I asked you to cooperate with the requests of the Portuguese authorities as the most important thing is to make this inquiry go as smoothly as possible.

“On a recent visit to Portugal DCI Redwood was surrounded by a large media group asking for comments from him.

“I appreciate that media group may not solely be UK agencies, and other media may state they are unaware of our repeated requests.

"DCI Redwood and his team will not be giving comment.

“Please allow them the room to manoeuvre and work on what is a live investigation into the disappearance of a young girl. If you get any information ahead of our actions do not publish anything that may give suspects advance notice.

The family have also made their wishes clear about allowing us and the Portuguese the room to carry on with our work and this was reinforced this publicly by Kate McCann when Andy and his team were last in Portugal.

“In my initial letter I asked editors to think twice - that advice stands. We all want the same outcome - to do everything possible to try to find answers for the McCann family.

“It is only fair on you I am upfront with you about what you can get and how the media might impact on the investigation.

“I am well aware that updates may help control this investigation and I am committed to doing this in a transparent way but mindful that nothing we do will damage the integrity of the investigation or the best possible chances of bringing it to a conclusion.”

http://content.met.police.uk/News/Update-on-Madeleine-McCann-disappearance/1400024170613/1257246745756

Madeleine McCann: British police preparing to interview suspects and begin digging in Portugal

May 22, 2014 20:54 By David Collins

Scotland Yard detectives are prepare to join their Portuguese counterparts to start a major operation on the ground in Praia da Luz

British police hunting Madeleine McCann missing Madeleine McCann will begin quizzing suspects and digging for clues within weeks.

Scotland Yard today announced “a substantial phase of operational activity” as officers prepared to join Portuguese counterparts at the resort where the three-year-old vanished in 2007.

Met Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the activity would be led by local police with the involvement of UK officers.

British police have said they are seeking an intruder who sexually abused five girls between 2004 and 2006 in villas occupied by UK families in the Algarve. They will sit in as any potential suspects are interviewed by local officers.

Forensic teams will use ground-penetrating radar to examine sites where earth has been disturbed. They will then bring in diggers.

Detectives are said to be focussing on two areas near the apartment where the McCanns stayed.

New aerial photographs are likely to be taken and officers will hunt for changes in vegetation, rock disturbance, odd depressions or piles of soil.

Hi-tech tools can detect changes in magnetic fields caused by disturbed earth and changes to soil resistance caused by a body.

Mr Rowley said officers were working through every credible line of inquiry as part of the “slog of a major investigation”.

He went on: “A thorough serious crime investigation works systematically through all the credible possibilities and often in an investigation you will have more than one credible possibility.

“Therefore, just because we’re doing a substantial phase of work in the forthcoming weeks, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to immediately lead to answers that will explain everything. What you will see is normal police activity.

“Similarly, this should not be seen as a sign that the investigation is nearing a conclusion.

“The very fact that we are in the position of moving towards substantial activity shows the relationship between the Met and its Portuguese colleagues is working.”

Mr Rowley said Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate would be kept up to date throughout the activity led by the Met’s Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood.

ssadie wrote:Thank you Sykes for all the info

By Gawd are the Met ever thorough!

My bet is that someone is sweating; they are moving towards him relentlessly ... elimenating everything else.

Maddie swoop

Arrests 'days away' in huge cop search

The Sun (paper edition)
By MIKE SULLIVAN, Crime Editor
Friday, 23 May, 2014

A MAJOR police operation in the Portuguese resort where Madeleine McCann disappeared will start within days.

At least four sites where Madeleine or any clues may be buried will be searched with ground-penetrating radar.

And arrests and interviews of suspects are also expected in Praia da Luz over the next few weeks.

Officers from the Met's Operation Grange will work with colleagues from Portugal's Policia Judiciaria.

The planned searches, first revealed in The Sun earlier this month, will be based on mobile phone data, intelligence and evidence from witnesses.

They will take place near the beach and around the Ocean Club complex where Madeleine, below, vanished aged three in May 2007. If the radar finds sign of soil disturbance, full excavations will be carried out.

The Met inquiry began in 2011 after a plea from Madeleine's parents Kate and Gerry to PM David Cameron appeared in The Sun. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said yesterday: "We may go through every line of inquiry and all draw a blank.

"If that happens I want to be able to tell Kate and Gerry, 'We turned over every stone'."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccanns-parents-vow-not-3618722

May 28, 2014 19:31 By Tom Pettifor

Kate and Gerry McCann have “no intention” of being in Portugal’s Praia da Luz while forensic archaeologists and sniffer dogs scour the area

The parents of Madeleine McCann will not return to the resort where they last saw their daughter next week when British police will start digging for clues.

The significant new ground searches could begin as early as Monday, according to Portuguese sources.

But Kate and Gerry McCann have “no intention” of being in Portugal’s Praia da Luz while the grim task is being undertaken, a close pal revealed yesterday.

A UK crack team – believed to include a forensic archaeologist, sniffer dogs and ground penetrating radar - will scour an area yards from the family’s flat in Praia da Luz.

Scotland Yard are focussing on two more sites close by as they prepare for an operation lasting between four and six days.

Portuguese officers will supervise the work and retain overall management of the search.

But Kate and Gerry McCann have decided to stay away, a close pal has revealed.

The friend said: “They welcome the new phase of the investigation and hope it may lead them a step closer to finding out what happened to their daughter. They will be kept informed by Scotland Yard of any developments but they have no intention of going there. It is the last place they would want to be while digging takes place.

“It will be a hugely emotional time for Madeleine’s parents but it is a scenario they know needs to happen. They will only go to Portugal, God forbid, if any remains matching her DNA were found.”

Former GP Kate and heart doctor Gerry, both 45, believe Maddie – who vanished seven years ago and would now be aged 11 – could still be alive. Gerry recently told supporters in his home village of Rothley, Leics, that they had been buoyed up by the Met Police investigation.

During a prayer gathering for his daughter he said: “They are going back out to Portugal very soon. They are chipping away and there is new evidence. We are going to continue hoping we get a happy outcome – and one day we will know what’s happening.”

Kate added: “We are still battling, still hoping, still searching for Madeleine.”

It comes less than a week after Scotland Yard chiefs said the search for Madeleine would enter a “substantial” new phase in the coming weeks.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley confirmed: “There is going to be a substantial phase of operational activity involving Portuguese police with British police in support.

“In a major investigation with multiple lines of inquiry and hypotheses, you have to systematically work through them all.

“This is a phase of activity based on those principles.”

Search warrants permitting work to take place on the privately-owned land had already been issued, it has been reported.

One plot is thought to be fenced-off waste land a two minute walk from Madeleine’s apartment which police hired a Portuguese air force helicopter to fly over earlier this month so they could take pictures. Diggers and other equipment are expected to be hired locally by the Met.

Scotland Yard have sent formal requests to search two other plots of land - making a total of five - but the letters have not yet reached police in the Algarve capital Faro.

The “substantial” work Met Police have referred to is also expected to include interviews with new suspects identified by Operation Grange officers heading a British probe into Madeleine’s disappearance.

Several are understood to be ex-Ocean Club employees. The Yard has not ruled out the possibility Madeleine is still alive, but has prompted speculation with its dig requests that they now believe the youngster was kidnapped and her body dumped near her holiday resort.

They are linking 18 incidents when a male intruder broke into British families’ holiday villas between 2004 and 2010 and sexually assaulted nine girls with three near-misses.

One of the victims, a ten-year-old girl, was assaulted in Praia da Luz two years before Madeleine vanished from the resort.

Portuguese police heading a separate investigation into Madeleiene’s disappearance have not ruled out the involvement of a former Ocean Club worker who died in a tractor accident in 2009.

Euclides Monteiro’s widow Luisa Rodrigues has insisted her recovering drug addict partner, a convicted burglar, had nothing to do with Madeleene’s disappearance and was cleared of any involvement in the sex attacks after police questioning the year before he died.

Praia da Luz parish council leader Victor Mata has attacked the police excavations plans.

Claiming locals were “fed up with the Maddie case” and most “didn’t care anymore”, he told a Portuguese paper soon after the first reports of the dig plans emerged: “It’s bad for tourism. It’s beggars belief they’re preparing to open up holes here a month before summer.”

The McCann’s spokesman Clarence Mitchell yesterday refused to comment on the forthcoming police activity, saying: “I cannot and will not discuss Operation Grange.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccanns-parents-vow-not-3618722#ixzz333xkA3u0
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“It’s bad for tourism. It’s beggars belief they’re preparing to open up holes here a month before summer.”

Yes, perish the thought that visitors should find out that not only were the children of holidaymakers being assaulted in their beds for YEARS.

Perish the thought that visitors should be reminded that when a British child was abducted, the local police chief not only failed to find her, he tried to frame her parents.

Gotta keep those €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€s rolling in!  

Doubtless it will be a great disappointment to the pondlife that makes up the haters, hounders, numpties and all the rest of the Gonzo fan club that they won't be able to speculate in that sadistic manner they enjoy so much about the McCanns' anguish during this phase of things.

They enjoy watching people in distress and pain.

Vicious hounder gets the ball rolling:

Why are the mccanns so scared right now to return?

Surely they would want to be there if anything is found, either a dead Maddie or in the highly unlikely event of a live Maddie being found.

Should she be found alive, she would want mom and dad there even if only for a brief minute before going to hospital.
What is she going to be thinking if mom and dad are in the UK and won't be there for a couple of hours?
They couldn't even be here for me when i was rescued?

 Come and dig up my garden' says mother of cleared Maddie suspect

A MUM whose son was cleared as a suspect in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance welcomed the new police search.

By Jerry Lawton/Published 2nd June 2014

The mother of ex-suspect Robert Murat is confident that Police would return empty-handed if they took her up on her offer of digging in the family's back garden.

Jenny Murat told British detectives: “Come and dig up my garden if you think it will help your search.”

Her son Robert Murat, 40, has been probed then eliminated as an official suspect – or arguido – by Portuguese police.

“They won’t find a thing but if they need to do it as part of their investigation they’re welcome” says Jenny Murat

She added: “They won’t find a thing but if they need to do it as part of their investigation they’re welcome.

“That poor girl’s parents need some answers after seven years.”

British ex-pat Jenny, 78, lives just 100 yards away from the holiday flat in Portugal’s Praia da Luz where Maddie vanished. She said Scotland Yard had not been in contact yet.

She was speaking as British and Portuguese police prepare to dig up parts of the resort.

She added: “I’ve had it all before when my son Robert was living here and now I’m thinking: ‘Not again.’

“But if it helps police rule out a certain scenario, let it be. We’ve got nothing to hide.”

She added: “I’ve been away in England for a while but I’m home now and my garden’s overgrown and full of weeds.”

She said police had originally searched her home and garden in July 2007, just two months after the then three-year-old vanished as her parents dined nearby. She said: “I remember it only too well.

“There were six policemen with sniffer dogs all over the place.”

She insists the new dig will anger locals adding: “They feel it could ruin our tourism industry.”

 http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/381780/Madeleine-McCann-Police-Portugal-begin-digging

Madeleine McCann: Police seal off scrubland to begin digging
POLICE investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have sealed off a large area of scrubland as they prepare to dig in Praia da Luz.

Portuguese police officers with dogs and at least four vehicles have been stationed on a mound to the west of the Algarve resort since early this morning.

The site is close to where a man was reportedly seen carrying a sleeping girl in pink pyjamas the night the then three-year-old vanished, seven years ago.

Despite a Europe-wide TV appeal to the trace the man, and the issuing of an e-fit, he has not been identified and remains the British police's prime suspect.

Police are expected to use a "ground penetrating radar" to search the area, looking for disturbed earth.

The development marks a significant new phase of the investigation into Maddie's disappearance while she was on holiday with her parents in 2007.

The area is to be searched at the request of the Metropolitan Police who have also made similar requests for two other Portuguese locations to also be dug up.

The area is reported to be surrounded by flats and villas, many of them holiday properties.

The land, which had been earmarked for development, is now fenced off but was an open area on the night that Maddie vanished.

Kate and Gerry McCann have not travelled to Portugal but will be kept up to date with any developments.

Former Metropolitan Police search adviser Keith Farquharson told Sky News: "They wouldn't just be identifying that part by plucking it out of thin air they have obviously got hard information and the evidence trail is leading to that particular area."

A 77-year-old man who has lived near the area of scrubland for 13 years told the BBC the latest search was "ridiculous".

"The police have been here before," said the man, who did not want to be named.

"We all helped search this area three or four days after it [Madeleine's disappearance] happened.

"I walk my dog every day and no one was digging holes."

Working alongside Portuguese police, the Metropolitan Police are giving out very sparse details about the new phase of the investigation or how long it is expected to last.

RETURN OF THE KING ‏@hondo1650
@CaroleShooter @DRobertPrice Sit back and watch the greatest #McCann show on earth Carole.

N.M ‏@AdirenM
They need to "waterboard" (absolutely against this US interrogation method) Gerald so he tells where in Huelva did he dump his kid! #mccann  

 Kim Guess
9 hrs
Why Are the McCann. Protected. Gerry studied as a heart surgeon under hasnAt khan who was having an affair with lady Diana who was dating dodi Fayed but was rumoured to be pregnant by hasnat khan before she met her fate in France where old Gerry was at the time yeah and dodis father Mohamed al Fayed had his suspicions they where killed hence British monarchy with two future kings William and Harry with a half brother who would be a Muslim work it out folks

Kim Guess Everyone here is posting with a credible link even yourself to YouTube it's. Not what you know or what you think you know it's who you know ask the nurses fAmily who answered the prank call to those two Australian deejays giving out personal information about a certain member of the royal family Speculation you say World Wide Web we have check it out m I'm done with brain deadbeats y

Praia wrote:
I just called a close friend in Luz who has a business there and they are so angry. Clients have been cancelling rentals for this Summer even up to September because of all the negative media coverage.
How can one family cause so much grief for so many innocent people???

These days we always park down from the search area and when we were walking beside the cordoned off area last week I thought to myself well that is one area that would have been impossible to hide the signs of digging and hiding of evidence.

I am 90% sure Madeleine's body was hidden outside the village but still close by.

Sharon Cooper
1 hr
Reading all the comments on sky, this morning, etc on Facebook hardly any ones believes the mccanns version of events.

Whirley Champagne Newman The tide appears to be turning indeed.

British officers investigating Madeleine McCann's disappearance have arrived to assist Portuguese police at a potential excavation site in Praia da Luz.

A team of Portuguese officers, some with dogs, and at least four vehicles have been stationed at an area of scrubland to the west of the town which was sealed off early this morning.

They are expected to be in the area for days and to use ground penetrating radar equipment to look for anomalies in the terrain which may merit further investigation by digging.
British police were seen unloading equipment from vans on a mound at the centre of the search area when they arrived at around 11.15am.



An area has been sealed off near the Ocean Club where the family stayed

More at:

http://news.sky.com/story/1273546/madeleine-search-uk-cops-arrive-at-scrubland

     For the McCann family, the latest search for evidence about their daughter's disappearance couldn't come soon enough. But some in the resort of Praia da Luz are frustrated by the timing.

   It is the start of the summer season on the Algarve - its busiest period of the year by far.

   Families and retired couples are heading from the UK to the resort of Praia da Luz - making the short journey from Faro Airport further along the coast.

   Here, the population increases four-fold in the summer months, remaining popular for the same reasons it attracted the McCanns - it is compact, family-friendly and has activities to keep all ages occupied.

   Children can be seen paddling in the waves and building sandcastles on the beach, all under the blazing sun.

   But just up the hill a large area of scrubland has become a hive of activity with police officers inside a cordon and journalists outside.

   The land is owned by a company belonging to one of Portugal's richest men and is a short distance from the centre of the village.

   Many residents walking past it don't want to comment at all.

   Those who do speak tend not to give their names - but express their fears about the effect the renewed attention on the search for missing Madeleine McCann will have on this tiny village that comes alive in the summer months.

   A woman from Essex, one of many British people with a holiday home here, says: "We're all fed up with this. It's a nuisance at this time of year.

   "All this attention had an effect before and now it will again. It's totally disruptive."

   Another holidaymaker, from Newry, County Down, is here with her family, including her grandchildren, and has walked down to the search ground to show them what is happening.

   She says: "My sympathies are with the McCann family - I met them in 2007.

   "But I don't know what the police hope to achieve. It disturbs the village."

   She also points out that in the hot weather, the ground will be very hard, making any searches potentially difficult.

   One woman known as Nana, who has lived in the area for 15 years, feels so strongly that she walks up to the site on Rua 25 da Abril with a handmade placard bearing the words: "Dig up lies, not Luz".

   "I'm very angry, frustrated, furious," she says.

   "It has such a detrimental effect on Luz locally, for tourism.

   "People live off tourism. Luz is suffering and that's why I'm angry."

   The police activity is happening now because Portuguese authorities recently accepted a Metropolitan Police request to search the area of scrubland near where Madeleine, then three years old, went missing in 2007.

   Gerry McCann, Madeleine's father, has expressed his family's gratitude that the Metropolitan Police team had moved on to a "very active" phase in its investigation.

   But local mayor Victor Mata wants to know why the search is happening at precisely the wrong time for the tourism industry.

   Sitting in his office, almost within sight of the cordoned off area, he says through a translator: "The next three months are when the entire village earns its keep.

   "The timing couldn't be worse. Summer essentially starts today.

   "The people of Luz are not against the searches for Madeleine but seeing as it's been seven years, they would have appreciated it if they could have started in a few months' time."

   He says he personally has heard of several British families cancelling their trips in recent days, having seen the media reports about the searches.

   "They've decided to go somewhere else because of this," he says.

   "Luz is losing out."

   As well as being put off by the police activity, holidaymakers may also be staying away because of the number of press congregating here, with one hotel saying a booking had been cancelled for that very reason.

   Despite the resort's desire to move on from the tragedy of missing Madeleine, it seems a hard task.

   At the beach, a family buying ice creams comment on having seen a television film crew and discuss the search amongst themselves.

   And at the Ocean Club, two women in beachwear slow down as they approach apartment 5a, where the McCanns were staying when Madeleine vanished.

   In the church that overlooks the bustling beach, a sanctuary away from the heat and noise outside its doors, a middle-aged woman lights a candle inside.

   It joins four other flames burning, each a silent act of remembrance.

   It is here that Kate McCann says she still seeks solace on her visits back to the resort, drawn to the area she last saw her daughter.

   This next stage of the investigation is focused on trying to provide the answers she still needs.

   And closure is also what the people of Praia da Luz want - disruptive as this latest development must be.

Search Will Follow 'Tried And Tested' Method
Updated: 7:35am UK, Monday 02 June 2014

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent, in Praia da Luz

The new searches in Praia Da Luz by police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCannn will follow tried and tested principles.

Former Metropolitan Police search adviser Keith Farquharson explained to Sky News how the teams will work to try to narrow down the search.

He said: "The investigation team will have done their background work on where they think their suspect will have gone once they had decamped from the scene.

"They will fit that around the profile of the mosst likely deposition sites for the body, if that is the case.

"They will involve a search adviser who will put together the search plan - then they advise the senior investigating officer that you need to fly over the areas that you want to search.

"It will then be analysed to see if there is any ground disturbance or any anomalies from looking down from the air.

"The area will be properly mapped with GPS coordinates for each one of those sites.

"Those areas will then be broken into smaller areas or chunks of land, which will be easier to search.

"Then you would send in the ground penetrating radar which will look for anomalies.

"It will show anomalies within the earth structure but it won't show a skeleton like an X-ray would - it would just show the anomaly in the ground.

"So that would have to be investigated and the best way to do that initially is victim recovery dogs and the methods they use.

"Once they have been through, if they don't find anything then it is decision time for the senior investigating officer - do they want all of those sites dug and physically searched?

"The searching can then be physically done by humans or digging machines can be brought in.

"When you have finished it, whether or not you have found a body or deposition site, you have got to be able to say hand on heart to the senior investigating officer either 'we have found what we have been looking for, and we have recovered it properly and we haven't compromised any evidence'.

"Or, 'we haven't found it and it definitely isn't there,' which is almost as useful because you are discounting part of that land from that part of the investigation."

I'm thinking that if the Judge had it in mind to find in favour of Mr Amaral it would not matter whether the Court was in possession of this documentation from the British Court or not but if the Judge is minded to find in favour of the McCanns and award the McCanns a sum of money then the names of who can be awarded have to be validated.

sky

Portugal's dry climate will help experts using ground-penetrating radar in their renewed search for evidence in the Madeleine McCann case.

The new phase of the investigation involves British police working alongside Portuguese colleagues searching scrubland in Praia da Luz.

It is seven years since Madeleine disappeared from her holiday apartment, which is a five-minute walk from the new search area.

The teams spent yesterday securing and surveying the site and will soon bring in ground-penetrating radar equipment.

If any unusual patterns are discovered in the terrain, sniffer dogs will be used.

Radar expert Rom Gostomski, from London based firm Sandberg, told Sky News: "The radar uses electro-magnetic waves that are fired into the sub-surface at a pretty rapid rate and we measure what comes back from those signals."

The hot and predominantly dry climate on the Algarve, where temperatures regularly top 30C, mean the ground will be far drier than in northern Europe.

"GPR works best in dry conditions - it doesn't like wet saturated ground because of the high dissolved mineral content," Mr Gostomski explained.
Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing Madeleine Kate and Gerry McCann have not travelled to Portugal for the search

"In a dry country like Portugal you'll generally get much, much better data and penetrate much deeper."

There are different types of radar equipment the police could use, but generally the devices allow officers to monitor the ground at least two metres below the surface.

Mr Gostomski added: "If you have got a buried object that is sufficiently different, with different properties from the surrounding area, it will show up very, very clearly; whereas if you have got a gradual change it can be difficult to detect."

Scotland Yard say they will not provide a "running commentary" on the searches.  

Tom Parmenter @TomSkyNews · 15m

DCI Andy Redwood who is leading the Metropolitan police team and working with the Portuguese is here on the scrubland search today

Tom Parmenter @TomSkyNews · 49m

Sussex police and some welsh officers are involved in the search of the scrubland in Praia Da Luz along with colleagues from the Met

Tom Parmenter @TomSkyNews · 58m

Police dogs are being used this morning by British search teams in the cordoned off scrubland in Praia Da Luz #skybreaking

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent, in Praia da Luz

British police have begun dividing up the scrubland they are searching in relation to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

At least 30 officers arrived early on site in Praia da Luz on Tuesday morning for the second day of their search which is taking place in the resort seven years after Madeleine's disappearance.

They used blue and white police tape to break the land into sectors for the search.

Two sniffer dogs and their handlers were brought in to scour the land.

Two Portuguese police horses were also patrolling the large cordoned off area along with officers on foot.

Three police tents set up on the site are thought to be where the teams are storing kit and taking drinks breaks rather than covering any significant parts of the site.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/480081/

Madeleine McCann Sniffer dogs used in April Jones case enlisted in search

BRITISH detectives hunting for Madeleine McCann began digging yesterday on a patch of scrubland in the Portuguese resort close to where the little girl was last seen.



Scotland Yard officers, in a dramatic new phase of the cold-case review, used shovels to clear weeds and soil around a half-buried sheet of corrugated iron covering a hole at the hilly coastal site.

Forensic archaeologists guided police to ensure potential evidence was not destroyed or overlooked during the painstaking work.

Sniffer dogs, which helped in the April Jones murder inquiry, spent the day scouring the four-acre wasteland overlooking the Atlantic.

Tito and Muzzy, two specialist cadaver dogs from South Wales Police, worked with handlers Sally Richards and David Brake combing the area around the iron sheet.

When search teams moved in on their hands and knees to examine the rubbish-strewn patch, the springer spaniels worked elsewhere
When search teams moved in on their hands and knees to examine the rubbish-strewn patch, the springer spaniels worked elsewhere.

Officers in Met Police uniforms carefully sifted through the soil before collecting more samples – under the guidance of an archaeologist from Alecto Forensic Services and two Portuguese officials.

Experts from Preston-based Alecto worked on identifying victims from the 9/11 Twin Towers attacks and the 7/7 London bombings.

One of the country’s leading search advisers is also part of the operation. The unnamed officer, from Sussex Police, was also involved in the search for April.



The five-year-old, from Machynlleth, Powys, Wales, disappeared in 2012. Her body has never been found but local man Mark Bridger was convicted of her murder after Tito and Muzzy led police to fragments of her skull in his wood-burner.

The Scotland Yard team are also thought to be using ground-penetrating radar equipment. Mechanical diggers are on standby.

The area of land is being guarded day and night by Portuguese police. Local officers yesterday patrolled the site on horseback while others used German shepherd dogs. Forensic tents have been set up at a number of areas.

The land is a short walk from the Ocean Club apartment where Madeleine, three, was staying with her parents Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, when she disappeared in May 2007.

It has been searched previously after an Irish family, on holiday in the Algarve resort, reported seeing a man carrying a young girl on the night Madeleine vanished. He was heading towards the wasteland.

Satellite images of the land have been used in the hunt by the Yard team, headed by Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood.

The unprecedented investigation by British police on foreign soil ­follows months of negotiations with Portuguese authorities.

The estimated £6million cold-case review, Operation Grange, was set up in 2011 on the orders of Prime Minister David Cameron.

Searches could also involve two other sites in the same resort. The McCanns are being kept informed by Scotland Yard.



Springer spaniels involved in grim task.

THE Met Police had the pick of the UK’s victim recovery dogs, including its own, but selected Tito and Muzzy.

The seven-year-old English springer spaniels from South Wales Police were used in the hunt for April Jones.

The dogs’ experience makes them suited to work on the Praia da Luz scrubland. They have found bodies 20 years after they went missing.

All dogs have an amazing sense of smell but victim recovery dogs are usually from hunting breeds because of their acute abilities.

Madeleine searches could be widened this week
BY CARRIE-MARIE BRATLEY, IN NEWS · 03-06-2014 15:04:00

Police groundwork in Praia da Luz being carried out by British and Portuguese officers as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann could, during the course of this week, be widened to include two new search sites.

This was confirmed earlier today (3 June) by a Portuguese police source who also said the fourth and latest International Letter of Request – which arrived in Portugal last week and is believed to relate to the potential new search-sites – “is either already in the hands of the PJ police or will be very soon.”

A spokesperson from the Attorney’s General Office told The Portugal News this afternoon that the letter is “currently being analysed by the Public Prosecutor in conjunction with the PJ police with a view to it being executed.”

Should new searches be given the go-ahead, ground action on the sites would be carried out simultaneously during the course of this week.

The news comes as Welsh police dogs were brought in this morning to help with the current search, which takes place seven years after the toddler went missing from the hotel resort where she was staying, in May 2007.

Two South Wales Police specialist dog-handlers and Victim Detection Dogs were deployed to assist with the investigation.

Both dogs were deployed during the search for five-year-old April Jones who went missing in Machynlleth, Wales, in October 2012.

The force said: “The officers are working as part of a small team of team of British police officers, led by Metropolitan Police Service in conjunction with the Portuguese authorities

The dogs, both seven years old, are English Springer Spaniels, called Tito and Muzzy.

According to South Wales police the practical application of Victim Detection Dogs can be divided into two areas: locating concealed bodies and disaster victim detection.

“They can be deployed in a wide a variety of locations as possible. Examples of locations will include buildings, open areas and vehicles”, it was explained.

This morning British police officers could been seen in the swathes of scrubland just west of Praia da Luz’s main town square, on their hands and knees scouring small sections of ground.

Just before noon a yellow van belonging to the Sapadores Florestais (forest guards) also arrived at the plot currently being inspected, the only site which as yet has been approved by Portuguese authorities.

It is thought to have been carrying local Parish council workers whose role is to clear areas of the land to aid the investigation.

Madeleine McCann went missing from the Ocean Club resort on 3 May 2007, then aged three.

Madeleine McCann prime suspects to be quizzed by British search police in Portugal
Jun 06, 2014 14:03 By Martin Fricker
Lisbon judges grant permission to interview eight people of interest, including three convicted drug dealers, it is claimed

Scotland Yard detectives searching for Madeleine McCann have been given the go-ahead to quiz their prime suspects.

Officers from Operation Grange identified eight people earlier this year who they believe could help solve the seven-year-old case.

Now judicial authorities in Lisbon are said to have granted permission for Metropolitan Police detectives to question the men.

They include three suspected burglars who live close to the wasteland in Praia da Luz currently being searched by British teams.

The men, convicted drug dealers, were traced from phone records which placed them in the area at the time Madeleine vanished.

Scotland Yard refused to comment on the development, saying it does not provide a “running commentary” on the case.

But it is understood no questioning will take place until after the current searches have concluded.

Met detectives believe Madeleine was snatched by a panicked gang who accidentally woke her in the family’s apartment and took her with them.

Mobile phone analysis shows the men made an unusually high number of calls to each other in the hours after she disappeared in May 2007.

It is understood three of the other five suspects worked at the Ocean Club complex where Madeleine was staying with her parents Kate and Gerry.

The news comes after it was revealed officers are carrying out DNA tests on scraps of clothing found on their search of the site.

When news of the breakthrough emerged earlier this year a source close to Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry said: “It could be a major breakthrough.

“Kate and Gerry are buoyed up by this latest development. While they don’t want to build up their hopes too high they are feeling optimistic.

“They felt it was only a matter of time before new clues came to light.”

Officers believe the burglars, who have not be identified, had carried out a raid in the resort days before Madeleine vanished, disturbing another child.

That youngster’s parents were outside and rushed in to find the intruders had fled, but Portuguese police attached no significance to the break-in.

The Met is thought to have made checks into the men’s criminal history, their friends and any vehicles they have used.

In an interview earlier this year, Britain’s most senior police officer suggested his officers were closing in on the people who abducted Madeleine.

Scotland Yard boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe admitted his Operation Grange team had the names of several suspects.


According to respected Portuguese broadcaster RTP, the suspects will not be quizzed until the current searches in the Algarve resort have finished.

UK sniffer dogs which helped in the hunt for tragic youngster April Jones were again seen scouring wasteland in the popular resort on Friday.

Met police officers also continued to check an old sewer system underneath the cordoned-off area - which is 300 metres from the Ocean Club.

They were said to be looking for objects that may have been abandoned soon after the youngster disappeared.

Uniformed cops also focused their attention on a new patch of scrubland inside the same cordon, which is guarded by their Portuguese counterparts.

Officers were seen studying a flat area of ground at the opposite end of the area which has seen activity over the past five days.

Madeleine’s parents Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, are being kept informed throughout the work and said they are bracing themselves for “significant news”.

The youngster was nearly four-years-old when she vanished from her parents’ holiday apartment while they dined with friends in a nearby tapas restaurant.

The Portuguese police case - which was criticised after the McCanns were named formal suspects - was shelved the following year.

Operation Grange was set up in 2011 to investigate the disappearance after David Cameron ordered Scotland Yard to review all the evidence in the case.

http://news.sky.com/story/1277277/madeleine-police-identify-new-search-area

Madeleine Police Identify New Search Area

Officers identify a new site to dig as relatives of Ben Needham, who disappeared aged 21 months, express sympathy for the McCanns


By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent
The renewed search for clues into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is to move to a new area outside of Praia Da Luz, Sky News has learned.

Portuguese police have told Sky News a new dig will begin on land somewhere between Praia Da Luz and the town of Lagos on Wednesday.

The development comes as search teams appear to have discounted parts of the site in Praia Da Luz where digging has been taking place all week.



Madeleine Police Identify New Search Area
Officers identify a new site to dig as relatives of Ben Needham, who disappeared aged 21 months, express sympathy for the McCanns.12:05pm UK, Saturday 07 June 2014
The Portuguese resort of Praia Da Luz.
Video: Family's 'Thoughts' With McCanns

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By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent
The renewed search for clues into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is to move to a new area outside of Praia Da Luz, Sky News has learned.

Portuguese police have told Sky News a new dig will begin on land somewhere between Praia Da Luz and the town of Lagos on Wednesday.

The development comes as search teams appear to have discounted parts of the site in Praia Da Luz where digging has been taking place all week.

Members of Scotland Yard cover a hole during the search for missing British girl Madeleine McCann in Praia da Luz.
Several areas of scrubland have been filled in

Officers used shovels and wheelie bins to fill in some of the holes they dug on scrubland as the search entered its sixth day on Saturday.

Some of the small yellow flags that were placed on areas of interest within the site earlier this week were removed.

Sniffer dogs from South Wales Police are again on site with their handlers working in different sections of the scrubland.

The search, not far from the holiday complex where the McCanns were staying in 2007, will continue throughout the weekend.

Meanwhile, the family of missing Ben Needham have told Sky News their "thoughts and prayers" are with the McCanns as the investigation steps up in Portugal.

Some of the experts involved in the renewed search were also deployed to the island of Kos in Greece in 2012 when South Yorkshire Police led a review into Ben's disappearance.

Ben vanished in 1991 when he was 21 months old, after his mother and grandparents moved there from Sheffield.

Speaking to Sky News, the Needham family said: "Our thoughts are with the McCanns in this search for Madeleine.

"We ourselves know that this sort of investigation will be a very difficult time for the family.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with them."

Officers have been allowed to continue their work through the weekend in Praia da Luz after the Portuguese authorities granted them extra time.


Enlarge this image


Forensic archaeologists, anthropologists, dog search teams and various specialist police officers from several UK forces have been working on the site.

The Metropolitan Police has not revealed why it has chosen to search the area of scrubland or any details of what it has found so far.