MADELEINE: THE LAST HOPE? - PANORAMA

Some excellent news from the BBC:

http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/qhtrd/panorama--madeleine-the-last-hope---panorama

MADELEINE: THE LAST HOPE? - PANORAMA

MON 30 APR 8:30pm - 9pm
BBC1


ABOUT THIS PROGRAMME

Five years ago this week, Madeleine McCann disappeared from a family holiday apartment in the Algarve, Portugal, and has never been found. Her parents, Kate and Gerry, are adamant that their daughter was abducted by a predator and persuaded Prime Minister David Cameron to order a review of the case by the Metropolitan Police. Here, the senior UK investigator talks to Richard Bilton about how he is working collaboratively with Portuguese police and explains why he believes he has the best opportunity yet to establish the facts.

CAST AND CREW

Reporter Richard Bilton
Crew
Editor Tom Giles Producer Joanna Burge

Thanks for posting this chritsabell i shall be tuning in to watch!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h9136

clairesy wrote:Thanks for posting this christabel i shall be tuning in to watch!!

Yes I have set it ready on Sky planner. I hope it will be a better programme than the last Panorama one was.

http://www.cumbriacrack.com/2012/04/24/madeleine-mccann-the-last-hope/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17833729

Madeleine McCann – The Last Hope?

By admin on Apr 24, 2012



The man leading the UK police hunt for Madeleine McCann has spoken for the first time about “solving it” and having the “best opportunity” yet to find the little girl who went missing from a Portuguese holiday apartment five years ago next week.

Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood, speaking to BBC Panorama – Madeleine: The Last Hope? on BBC One, Wednesday 25 April at 7.30pm, says:

“I am satisfied that the systems and processes that we are bringing to this set of circumstances will give us the best opportunity to find those investigative opportunities that we can then present to our colleagues in Portugal.”

DCI Redwood says that his team of 28 detectives and seven civilian support staff are handling a huge number of reports and documents from Portuguese police, UK police and private detectives.

“Our initial estimates in terms of the amount of material we are facing is that it will be somewhere in the region of 40,000 pieces of information,” he says. “There is, ultimately, a process of us turning every single piece of paper over and interpreting and analysing what is contained within them.”

Asked by reporter Richard Bilton if the mystery of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance could be solved simply by reappraising documentary evidence – “of a piece of paper that you’ve got downstairs” – DCI Redwood says: “Anything is possible, and clearly, within that material, the answer could lie.

DCI Redwood is the senior investigator on Operation Grange, based at Belgravia Police Station, which was established last May when Prime Minister David Cameron responded to a plea from Madeleine’s parents to hold a UK police review of the case. He asked the Home Office to use a special contingency fund to finance a review by a homicide team from the Metropolitan Police.


Enlarge this imageReduce this image Click to see fullsize


(L-R) Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, Richard Bilton - (C) BBC

So far, the review has cost taxpayers two million pounds. Officers have made two trips to Spain and visited Portugal four times, most recently last week. As Madeleine disappeared in Portugal, Portuguese police remain the lead agency and DCI Redwood and his team report to a team in Porto. But in one exchange in his interview with Panorama, he says that his team in Central London aims to solve the mystery.

“We are here in terms of seeking to bring closure to the case. That would be the ultimate objective and is our ultimate objective.”

Richard Bilton: “What does that mean?”

DCI Redwood: “Well closure means establishing what has happened to Madeleine McCann.”

RB: “Solving it?”

DCI Redwood: “Yes, solving it, of course.”

He says that one big advantage that Operation Grange has is that for the first time it has access to all of the available evidence – and has it all in the one place.

“We are drawing together information from three separate sources,” says DCI Redwood. “The legal enforcement bodies within Portugal, the UK enforcement agencies of which the police are the main part, and also and unusually the private investigation world which as we know is an element that was used by Mr and Mrs McCann in the search for their daughter.”

Pressed on why he thinks this is unique, DCI Redwood answers: “Because at no time before have those three elements been drawn together in one place. And so what we’ve done over the past number of months is to bring to one place all those pieces of the jigsaw.”

Panorama also interviews former Home Secretary Alan Johnson MP, who criticises the initial Portuguese investigation of the daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann.

“It seems to be disgraceful,” says Johnson. “It didn’t seem to me that they had had the benefit of a proper police investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine.”

Johnson was the first Home Secretary to carry out a feasibility study into whether the Metropolitan Police could review the investigation. He met Madeleine’s parents and says: “I was enormously sympathetic to their case. All the stuff that appeared in certain tabloids suggesting they were the guilty party, you know it’s very difficult under that kind of saturation coverage not to start believing in some of those theories. But by the time they came in to see me I was absolutely clear that they were the victims in all this.”

Johnson calls on Prime Minister David Cameron to launch a ‘charm offensive’ on the Portuguese government, in the face of public opinion which is said to be against the McCanns.

“Now a bit of diplomacy can ensure that you do get the co-operation you need from Portugal and we do get to the bottom of this.”

Panorama also interviews Goncalo Amaral, initially the lead investigator for the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria, who was removed the case after he made outspoken criticism of British involvement in the investigation. He admits to mistakes, saying:

“It’s a fact that our investigation had its faults and lost a lot of time, lots of time. And a lot of things didn’t get followed up. And I’m just as much to blame for that as anyone else.”

Since leaving the police in 2008, Amaral has written a book and presented a DVD about Madeleine’s disappearance, in which he makes allegations against her parents. He is now being sued by Kate and Gerry McCann.

Isabel Duarte, the civil lawyer in Portugal who acts for the McCann family in their libel action against Amaral, says it’s not a popular fight.

“I feel alone because I don’t feel support, not in public opinion. I have friends that don’t want to talk to me about the case because everyone believes in Goncalo Amaral. Everyone believes that I am defending a father and mother that have killed their daughter and got rid of the corpse.”

Portuguese police were forced to admit that they were also conducting a review of the Madeleine McCann case as a result of Panorama’s investigation.

After discovering that Operation Grange was working in tandem with a Portuguese review, Panorama asked Portuguese MEP Ana Maria Gomes to make enquiries. She discovered that a review of the procedures followed in the investigation was taking place. It was being conducted by officers in Porto in Northern Portugal, well away from the Algarve, where Madeleine went missing and where original investigators are based. However, it has been kept under wraps in Portugal.

Meanwhile DCI Redwood tells Panorama that despite Portuguese public opinion being against the parents of Madeleine, he is finding no hostility from the Portuguese review team and if the case is to be reopened, it’s up to the Portuguese.

“My engagement with the Portuguese is with the police officers sitting within the review team in Porto. Those officers are engaged, they are open, they are working with us collaboratively and I’ve not encountered with them any of those views.

“But ultimately, the decision around reopening is for them, it is a sovereign decision for the Portuguese authorities. Obviously what we seek to do is to bring them the best quality information to assist them in making that decision.”

https://youtu.be/iRMV_g7LmpY

Thank you my friend, for the youtube link.

Johnson calls on Prime Minister David Cameron to launch a ‘charm offensive’ on the Portuguese government, in the face of public opinion which is said to be against the McCanns.

“Now a bit of diplomacy can ensure that you do get the co-operation you need from Portugal and we do get to the bottom of this.”

These comments are a bit rich coming from a Home Secretary that did not help the McCanns when Madeleine was first abducted. Perhaps if the Labour Government had reacted in a more positive way in the beginning Madeleine would have been found.

this was ment to be on on monday...however its been aired tonight on bbc1???

clairesy wrote:this was ment to be on on monday...however its been aired tonight on bbc1???

Yes Clairsey, I did post yesterday further up it had been changed.

oh right...ooops me being dim christabell...did you watch it?? what did you make of it??

clairesy wrote:oh right...ooops me being dim christabell...did you watch it?? what did you make of it??

It was very good. Made Gonc look like the idiot he is.

Here is the link to the repeats, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h9136/broadcasts
If it shows on iplayer I will put it on here.

Clairesy

If you have Sky is it on at 10.45 tonight. Channel 971

thanks chris i watched it earlier....i saw gonc on it,not seen his ugly mug in such a long time. Or murats. Im still not 100% convinced abut him not knowing anything you know!! time will tel i guess,im praying that scotland yard can unravel this massive mess and solve the case. we wil soon see...for kate and gerry i hope they get the result they have been waiting for for soo long

Watch Panorama here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01h9136/Panorama_Madeleine_The_Last_Hope/

It was certainly better than the last documentary. Sadly it showed many people in Portugal still remained brainwashed by Gonc and his cronies. I hope he pays heavily for that when The McCanns get him in court!!!.

IT doesnt matter that people in Portugal still believe in that lying piece of dirt. though why they would believe in someone who has been convicted of lying to the court beggar belief.

The Portuguese people one day will know the truth of what happened to Madeleine, and when they do, Gonc wont be able to show his face in public. Not only will the public be angry that a little girl was left to fate, they will understand that they were lied to, all for the purposes of making money. The people in Portugal are good people, they will not forgive being used like that.

dianeh, your words are mine.