April Jones' gran tells of heartache Kate and Gerry McCann will be suffering

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-search-april-jones-3642420

Madeleine McCann search: April Jones' gran tells of heartache Kate and Gerry McCann will be suffering

Jun 03, 2014 22:30 By Martin Fricker, Lucy Thornton, Luke Traynor
Linda Smith spoke after officers sent in the same cadaver dogs they used to hunt for the five-year-old, who was killed by cowardly thug Mark Bridger in October 2012

The gran of murdered schoolgirl April Jones has told of the ­heartache Kate and Gerry McCann will be suffering as police step up the search for their missing daughter.

Linda Smith spoke after officers sent in the same cadaver dogs they used to hunt for the five-year-old, who was killed by cowardly thug Mark Bridger in October 2012.

Spaniels Tito and Muzzy spent the day scouring scrubland close to where Madeleine vanished in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in 2007.

Police were also seen digging at the site. Linda, 63, said: “I feel for the McCanns. I’m sure they are going through agony.

"In a way, they won’t want Madeleine to be found , but if they do, at least they will have some closure.

“The dogs were out a lot looking for April. They were very useful.

“It was a comfort to see the huge teams looking for our ­granddaughter and the skills at their disposal. I’m sure Maddie’s parents want to know what happened to their little girl.”

April’s body has never been never found since she went missing in ­Machynlleth, Powys, where the family lived .

Bridger, 47, is serving a whole-life life tariff for her abduction, murder and perverting the course of justice.


Kerry Needham, whose son Ben vanished on the island of Kos in 1991, also gave support to Kate, 46, and 45-year-old Gerry.

In October 2012 she had to endure the agony of watching specialist British police dig up farmland where the 21-month-old was last seen.

Kerry, 42, said: “It is the most horrific thought and feeling that any parent can go through , knowing that police are going to be digging up ground and there is a chance your child could be buried there, it’s horrendous.

“I was 99% sure they would not find Ben. But there was always that 1% chance they could and that’s very hard to cope with.

"There are some similarities between Ben’s case and Madeleine’s. My thoughts are with her parents.”

The dogs and their handlers – regarded as the most highly-skilled team in the UK – were joined by Britain’s leading search expert, from Sussex Police, who is helping coordinate the ­unprecedented police operation on Portuguese soil.

Tito and Muzzy both have a powerful sense of smell that helps them locate human remains, blood and fluid a human would be unable to trace.

The dogs, who always work as a pair, have been known to find bodies 20 years after they vanished and can even detect people underwater.

They are taught from the age of 18 months using pig carcasses, which are the closest to humans.

Handler Sally Richards said recently: “They are trained to find anything from tiny specks of blood which are hard for the human eye to see to a full-sized victim, and everything in between.”

The dog search came on the second day of the UK police ­operation in Praia da Luz to look for clues as to what happened to Madeleine.

She was three when she disappeared as her parents, of Rothley, Leics, dined out in a nearby tapas bar with friends.

Forensic archaeologists and anthropologists also worked ­alongside the British teams from Operation Grange – set up in 2011 by the Met to re-investigate the case – on the patch of scrubland.

It is 300 yards from the holiday apartment where the McCanns were staying.

The area is known locally as The Mound and is a hangout for alcoholics and drug users.

Two Met officers used shovels to lift ­corrugated iron covering a hole on the site.

They then removed piles of dirt from the hole and surrounding area, which had earlier been cleared of undergrowth.

Earth was placed in a bucket and carried off.

The Sussex Police expert, who has not been named, was spotted advising Scotland Yard officers as they carried out fingertip searches in undergrowth and on rubbish-strewn barren areas nearby.

Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood, who is overseeing the ­operation, stood watching pensively.

The archaeologists and anthropologists, from the firm Alecto Forensics in Preston, Lancs, took soil samples from a taped off area and mapped the terrain.

According to the company’s website, forensic archaeology and anthropology are “essential ­components in an investigation that involves clandestine burials”.

Its experts have previously helped ­identify victims of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and the 7/7 London bombings.

Four workers used chainsaws and strimmers to cut back swathes of undergrowth to clear the way for ­the search, which ended at 6pm.

Local police officers on horseback patrolled the site and Portuguese detectives filmed the entire operation.

Sources said last night the hunt could be extended to two more sites in Praia da Luz before the end of the week.

The Scotland Yard team have approval from officials in Lisbon to conduct searches until the end of the week.

The time frame of the operation is unlikely to be extended.

British police have made numerous trips to Portugal but this week is the first time they have actively carried out searches.

It is the biggest operation linked to Madeleine’s disappearance since the initial search wound down a month after she went missing.

The UK team is investigating a string of sex attacks by a lone male paedophile on young British girls while they were on holiday in the Algarve.

They are looking at nine assaults and three “near misses” on youngsters aged six to 12 between 2004 and 2006, including one in 2005 on a 10-year-old girl at Praia da Luz.

Hundreds of people have already made contact with officers in response to appeals for help to find the vile pervert.