New Madeleine 'Sightings' To Be Revealed

Breaking News

10:36pm UK, Tuesday March 02, 2010

New Madeleine 'Sightings' To Be Revealed

Huw Borland, Sky News Online
New details about possible sightings of missing British girl Madeleine McCann are being released by a Portuguese prosecutor.

Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt said there were "quite a few potential sightings, I'm told".
The new evidence is due out "because four British newspapers have applied to the state prosecutor in the Algarve", he continued.
More to follow...

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Article/201003115565764

Is this some sort of joke?

We have potential sightings that were not investigated, but the Portuguese prosecutor is going to release details to the press.

Time for an injunction to prevent the release.

This is just bizarre beyond words. These details should not be made public until they have been investigated thoroughly. If at all.

If the PJ are not going to investigate, then give the details to Scotland Yard, allow them access to Portugal and let them do it. DO NOT just release details to the press.

Breaking News

10:50pm UK, Tuesday March 02, 2010

New Details Of Madeleine 'Sightings' Due Out

Huw Borland, Sky News Online
New details about possible sightings of missing British girl Madeleine McCann are being released by a Portuguese prosecutor.

Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt said there were "quite a few potential sightings, I'm told".
The new evidence is due out "because four British newspapers have applied to the state prosecutor in the Algarve", he continued.
Brunt said: "(The prosecutor) has in these last few hours released details and information that has been given to Portuguese police since they closed the official investigation."
Madeleine vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.
Officers in the Algarve shelved a probe into the disappearance in the summer of 2008.
But the girl's parents Kate and Gerry McCann "have recently been complaining that lots of new information has come into Portuguese police since that file was closed but none of it was acted on", Brunt said.

The McCanns' family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Kate and Gerry have made it clear that they were shocked to see the lack of follow-up work done by the Portuguese police since the investigation was shelved.
"All the information in these files must go to the private investigators as they are the only people still looking for Madeleine."
Four months after she disappeared, Portuguese police made both Mr and Mrs McCann "arguidos", or formal suspects, in the case.
Two days later, on September 9, 2007, they returned to Britain with their two other children, twins Sean and Amelie.
Mr and Mrs McCann's arguido status was lifted when the Portuguese attorney general closed the case.
The couple insist they will continue to believe Madeleine is still alive until presented with firm evidence to the contrary and have vowed to keep looking for her for as long as it takes.

More to follow...

Rosie

But they should not be released like this. Each individual case/sighting should be investigated and then, and only then, should the details be released, if there is a belief that further information can be forthcoming.

I dont understand why the NZ police didnt publicise that sighting at the time. They looked at the CCTV, probably made some inquiries, but I dont remember any public request for help. Such a request would have made the news here, as all big NZ news is on our news as well.

I am also concerned that releasing details about the Portuguese child smuggler int he US does not achieve anything, especially if he has not been caught and charged. ALl it does is warn him that he is going to be under investigation.

I do not believe in secrecy, but neither do I believe in just releasing information that has not been investigated.

And I am a bit more cynical. I dont think that Sky News even gave a thought to exposing the incompetence called the PJ. I think they just saw an opportunity to make a bit more money. Did they pass the info to the McCanns detectives and work with them to release information in a way that would help the case. NO WAY IN HELL.

It's a double edged sword to be sure. Publish, and risk tipping the abductor off, or stay quiet, and not alert the public she may be in their area? It's not a call I would want to make.

I dont understand why the NZ police didnt publicise that sighting at the time. They looked at the CCTV, probably made some inquiries, but I dont remember any public request for help. Such a request would have made the news here, as all big NZ news is on our news as well.

Well that is the whole point Diane, nothing was done with the information, it went into the investigation and was put in a file marked "Not Relevant To The Investigation" and because of that nothing was done about it. The NZ police are in the same situation the British police are, the Portuguese police are running this NON investigation and what they say and do goes. There has been information given to Paiva Ricardo by the McCanns and the McCanns investigators too, which we know has come to nothing because them McCanns themselves have told us this, they said credible information they have passed to the Portuguese investigation has NOT been actioned!

Forgot to say Diane, that as far as I know the McCanns themselves have not objected to this information being released, in fact they are calling for more transparency.

It is a tricky call, but having given it much thought, on reflection I think that this is the correct way to go. It is going to place the PJ and the Portuguese government under immense pressure to do something and this is what I feel is needed, up until now their code of secrecy has not worked, all it has done is create subterfuge, confusion, misinformation and been complicit in Amaral making an obscene amount of money out of Madeleine's abduction. He has told blatant lies and these have gone unchallenged because of Portugal's secrecy law and I have to remind people that this is a law that need NOT have been put in place with Madeleine's abduction, it was Goncalo Amaral himself that invoked this law in Madeleine's case.

I think this needs to come out and if the British home secretary Alan Johnson is not going to do anything and the Portuguese government are not going to do anything, then we have to keep pushing them until they do. The newspapers can help by keeping the pressure up and if this causes a diplomatic incident, if that is what it takes to get something done, then good, this is what it takes.

Too much time has already been lost, if there is a slight chance that someone can recognise anyone from these photographs, like that man in the shorts in the supermarket and this can lead investigators directly to them, then this has to be a good thing. This image may just jog someones memory, there is also the possibility of others having seen something at that time in that supermarket too, something that could prove vital, but they may not have come forward thinking that what they had seen amounted to nothing and now after seeing this image, they may realise they could be holding vital information, so yes I think this is the best way forward and the this image should have been publicised when it was first forwarded to the investigation, it could have led to Madeleine. This was CCTV footage sent into the investigation, so there is the possibility of other shoppers having seen something vital, which they may have already reported and it got ignored and not even made its way into the files, or they may not have realised at the time the importance of what they saw and being in NZ, this is a very distinct possibility. What is apparent, is that someone was alerted enough to look at that footage and send it in to the NZ police. From memory, this could also begin tying in reports of sightings at airports.

I have no idea if this is Madeleine, but the size, the length of hair and the height all seem to fit and at the very least it needs investigating and the people who sent this image in need to be contacted and spoken to and I hope this prompts others that may have seen something at the same time to come forward too. What did strike me and leave me cold, was the similarity to the girl on the CCTV footage in Belgium.

Meanwhile there MUST be a full review of this case, the investigation MUST be reopened and it must NOT be led by Ricardo Paiva, he is tainted and his position is heavily compromised, it must be given to an independent police inspector at the first instant and Amaral must NOT be allowed anywhere near any new investigation nor any of his cronies that are connected to him in any way shape or form.

Something sinister has happened here, somehow or another Amaral has prevented vital information being acted upon, both at the time and ever since and he has been helped by those inside the investigation now, people like Ricardo Paiva, this is absolutely clear and something must be done.
Why? Why? Why? Why has Amaral, Paiva and no doubt others bent over backwards to prevent information that could have lead police directly to Madeleine?

Is this why Amaral FAILED to close the borders for 12 hours? Is this why he FAILED to alert air and sea ports that a child had been abducted? To allow the abductors time to get away?


SACK RICARDO PAIVA NOW......ARREST BOTH GONCALO AMARAL AND RICARDO PAIVA.....MAKE THEM OFFICIAL WITNESSES....FORCE THEM TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS.

This fiasco, this debacle of an investigation has gone on too long already. NOW something HAS to be done, so I am in agreement that this should be publicised, I think weighing it all up there are more pros and than cons at this stage.

Surely heads MUST roll over this!

At some point in time a decision had to be made as to whether or not details should be released. My fear would have told me not to, but fear never defeated anything. Either this monster was going to kill Madeleine very quickly, or he was not going to kill her at all.
This I believe. So the chances are that she was already dead by the time that the media campaign took off. Or she is still alive somewhere.

I hope that this is the one thing that will moderate the behaviour of the people involved. That they didn't actually harm Madeleine.

If they did, then they are forever forsaken.

Well, I have to say this: if it were known that would caused any harm, surely this had not been published.

I dont think that releasing the info would put Madeleine in any further danger. Too much time has passed, and if she is still alive, then the people who have her must feel pretty sure that they will not be caught.

What concerns me more is that some of these sightings are still able to be investigated, like the one with license plates, and releasing them in bulk may harm this. But apart from the NZ photo, I have not seen anything released with enough detail, that should cause any problems. NOt that the NZ photo is a problem, the opposite in fact, that photo should have been released at the time.

Perhaps the newspapers are being very selective about the info they are releasing, so as to not harm any potential investigations. What they are publishing is enough to sell papers, and enough to pressure the govt and the PJ (if that is what they even intended), so they may work with the PI's.

Lets hope that is what is happening, and the media is showing some restraint.

Pedro Silva wrote:Well, I have to say this: if it were known that would caused any harm, surely this had not been published.

What can harm her now? There obviously wasn't anything to point to the abductor, or where he had gone. There only ever was pictures of her and her eye. Any person who took her would have seen her eye within hours. Hiding that would not have helped Madeleine.

If this arsehole hasn't already killed the child, then he won't do so now. It would be his only saving grace.

Please God.

I hope she's still alive and one of these leads will help her parents finding her.
It's a disgrace if that NZ photo wasn't even sent to LP at the time to be shown to the McCanns.
But then GA also objected to showing her parents the photo that was taken in Morocco.