Mirror: Police to return to Portugal as search reaches 'make or break' moment

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-police-return-portugal-4092680

Madeleine McCann: Police to return to Portugal as search reaches 'make or break' moment
Aug 22, 2014 22:30 By Russell Myers
Up to seven officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Grange will hold meetings with senior Portuguese investigators

British police searching for missing Madeleine McCann are poised to return to Portugal to try to solve the seven-year riddle of the girl’s disappearance.

After weeks of tense negotiations, a team of Scotland Yard detectives will travel to the seaside resort of Praia da Luz next month.

The latest development is described by sources close to the investigation as a “make-or-break moment”.

Up to seven officers from Operation Grange will hold meetings with senior Portuguese investigators.

It is understood they have been granted permission to interview up to seven key suspects identified earlier this year – three of whom will be questioned for a second time.

The last time the Met officers were in Portugal, in May this year, they conducted interviews with four people, known as arguidos.

The Portuguese term – normally translated as “named suspect” or “formal suspect” – refers to someone who is treated by Portuguese police as more than a witness, but has not been arrested or charged.

One of them, Russian-born Sergey Malinka, has been told he is no longer under suspicion.

But now detectives have been given the go-ahead to question the remaining suspects they believe hold vital information that could help them crack the case.

Analysis of mobile phone data suggests at least three of them were close to the scene when three-year-old Madeleine vanished at the resort on May 3, 2007, and were in contact in the hours that followed.

A source said: “Thousands of pieces of evidence have been re-examined by the Scotland Yard team to get to this stage. This is far from a scatter-gun approach.

“The detectives are acutely aware there is a finite amount of money for the investigation and that they need results. It is hoped they are on the right track to achieving those objectives.”

Portuguese authorities are also understood to have granted permission for Yard officers to investigate new “areas of interest”.

In May, a team of detectives led by Det Chief Inspector Andy Redwood travelled to the Algarve to supervise digs on scrubland near the resort.

But after eight days of searches, using sniffer dogs and ground-penetrating radar, nothing was found.

Portuguese sources have described the Met probe, which has so far cost UK taxpayers more than £6million, as a senseless waste of time.

Madeleine’s parents Kate, 46, and Gerry, 45, from Rothley, Leics, are not expected to travel to Portugal but are being kept informed of developments.

Make or break?
Post Tony Bennett Today
'Make or break'?

IMO: Break.

New publicity conveniently surfacing less than three weeks before the publication on 9/11 (11 September) of Summers and Swan's new book, 'Looking for Madeleine', which will be heavily promoted and says that the McCanns have nothing whatsoever to do with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

All of this being IMO 'clearing the ground' before Operation Grange make an announcement ahead of the General Election to the effect: "We tried so hard, so very very hard, to find the abductor, but tragically failed in the end"

Comment:  A civil war is raging in Europe.

The Middle East is in flames.

Scotland may well be about to leave the UK.

Maniac Brit jihadists are decapitating Americans.

Assorted armchair generals are running round shouting, Don't panic! There's a terrorist under the bed!

You know, important things, the sort of things that are any PM's nightmare.

Yet Bennett and co actually think the McCann case is more important? Goes to show how narrow and obsessive their worldview is.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/502509/British-Madeleine-McCann-detectives-permission-to-question-suspects

Breakthrough for Maddie detectives in last-ditch bid to trap suspect

SUSPECTS in the Madeleine McCann investigation are set to be interviewed by British detectives in a pivotal development for police, it is understood.
British police from Scotland Yard will return to Portugal next month to continue trying to solve the seven year mystery of Madeline McCann's disappearance.

They are set to touch down in Praia da Luz to hold meetings with senior Portuguese detectives.

They have also been granted permission to interview up to seven suspects - three of whom have already been questioned once before.

In June Scotland Yard detectives shadowed three searches of wasteland near the Ocean Club but no obvious clues were found.

Some materials gathered in the search were sent for forensic examination but officers were not hopeful of a breakthrough in the investigation.

In July about a dozen Scotland Yard police assisted questioning four suspects and witnesses. One of them, Russian-born Sergey Malinka, has been told he is no longer under suspicion.

Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve in May 2007, aged three.

Operation Grange was launched in May 2011 after Madeleine's parents Gerry, 45, and Kate, 46, appealed to David Cameron.

About 40 detectives and civilian staff are dedicated to the inquiry, which has so far cost an estimated £6million.

Despite the McCanns understanding there is limited funding available for the investigation, top bosses at the Metropolitan Police has vowed to continue the hunt for answers.