FIND MADDIE AUSSIE

On GMTV now. They said it is an Australian woman the investigators are interested in.

They also say the Australian police have not been involved.

It's in the papers and now on national news so we can expect a televised conference.

Alex, it is up to the media if they want to display the photofit (efit) or not. There doesnt need to be a court order or anything of the sort. Generally, the police are involved, and they do not get a court order to do this. But there is nothing legally to stop a media outlet from issuing an efit for a private investigation. They normally are not asked to do it, because usually the police are already involved. Here in Aus, the police are still involved with the search for our missing children, they do not officially close the case even if they are not actively working on it, so if the parents find anything, (like what recently happened with Daniel Morcombe, where a new suspect was found), then the police work with the parents to get the info out there.

Is this what happens in Portugal, is a court order is needed to release the efit of a suspect?

Dianeh .. you have just been put into the hot seat for news.
This is hopeful for so many reasons and there is no doubt the Aussie police & public will be helpful; the PI's will not have to fight the system & blanket of lies as they have had to do in Portugal.
Also it shows how hard the PI's are working & it also shows the likes of Bennett & Amaral that they are truly irrelevant to this case other than as a sick interferring sideshow to it. Fingers crossed again .. something must be important about this for them to go public about it..

Although the AFP (Australian Federal Police) have not been informed, and are not part of the investigation, there is some good news.

I just saw the Victorian Police Commisioner on the news (as I live in NSW but on the NSW, VIc borders, we get Vic National news, not NSW), and he has said that they will offer any assistance that they can to the detectives to try to find this mystery woman.

this fab news, lets just hope and pray something comes from it! but 2 yrs to come forward! why wait that long? unless this person was frightened for some reason!! oh i dno but i sure as hell would like to hear why they didnt come forward.

minx x

dianeh wrote:Although the AFP (Australian Federal Police) have not been informed, and are not part of the investigation, there is some good news.

I just saw the Victorian Police Commisioner on the news (as I live in NSW but on the NSW, VIc borders, we get Vic National news, not NSW), and he has said that they will offer any assistance that they can to the detectives to try to find this mystery woman.

A country and its police force actually willing and able to help in the search for ANYTHING or ANYONE leading to news of an innocent child's whereabouts.

I am just trying to prevent myself from becoming too excited about this as we have all been here before, but tentativley, the way this has hit the news sounds like it could be important.

There is a press conference today on Sky News at 11am headed by Dave Edgar and we will be told further information.

I believe they want to talk to a woman, who resembles Victoria Beckham, with either an Australian or New Zealand accent, concerning something described as *significant* which she may have told this man outside a bar in Barcelona. Details are patchy, but I think this is the gist of it. The press conference can be watched here:

Madeleine *** Private Detectives ***Press Conference *** Sky News *** At 11am Today


Generally in the UK we do not have to have police permission to show an efit of someone who needs to be traced, although generally it is done with the police permission and knowledge. We have a whole different approach to the way in which we do things and search for missing children and people, over here, fortunately we do not evoke archaic secrecy laws, in order to prevent people from identifying a suspect or person of interest to a police inquiry etc.

Personally as I said above, I am just waiting to see what comes of this, but inside I am bubbling up and hoping to God that something comes of this. I do not know how much more Kate and Gerry can take and my heart as ever is with them and praying for them and for Madeleine.

I just wonder if when this person is traced (and I think she will be) will it be yet another story of she has already told Portuguese detectives and her statement has been filed under *B* for Bin!

What does give me a little hope is the fact that the person who has now come forward has apparently told detectives something that is not generally known and this has convinced detectives that this woman may indeed know something.
There may be nothing mysterious about this, she may very well have already come forward, but as usual been ignored by the Portuguese police, who let's face it, under Goncalo Amaral and subsequently had no real intention of searching properly for Madeleine, Amaral was far too busy trying to falsely pin her disappearance on her parents (Kate in particular).

At least this now involves a country and a police force who are co-operative, reasonble and logical and do not tell people contacting them who may have news about Madeleine, to "go away and not waste their time as the little girl is dead", as the Portuguese police have done!

Just watched the press conference. It was shown live on Sky here.

Also, the search for the woman is at the top of the Sky news and also in the news shorts that are on between shows on the free to air channels.

Rosie, rightly or wrongly, I also have a good feeling about this, but it may be just because we havent heard about this before, and we have had a bit of a drought on news of the investigation.

Our media are lapping this up, giving it heaps of air, and the statement from the Vic Police commissioner is very positive, so it leads me to hope that the other states will be just as helpful.

You know, when Madeleine first went missing, I looked for Madeleine everytime I went out, even though I live out in the middle of no where, and in Australia. I just had to look all the time. It seems I wasnt quite so stupid after all. Not saying she is here, but there is possibly an Australian connection, so it just goes to prove that everyone should be vigilant no matter where they live.

What struck me forcibly was when he said this bar is in the Marina area. But I am still worried - this woman does NOT WANT to be found!

PS They are calling her a suspect.

But why would this suspect have said ANYTHING to a complete stranger? If she was part of such a crime she would have been mad to suggest she knew something about it. All very very odd....

Points I took from the conference:

• Dave Edgar (McCanns private detective) described the conversation between this woman and the man as *significant*
  
• Edgar said that part of the conversation that has been relayed could NOT have been gleaned from TV/Media coverage of the story.
  
• He will NOT go into this further for operational reasons. (I like the sound of that!)
  
• The woman that detectives would like to talk to was seen walking towards the local hospital, what is significant about this, is that there is the Port Olimpic Marina, also in this direction.
  
• I am unsure of this part. Dave Edgar said depending on the boat/yacht, it would take about 5 days to get to Barcelona by yacht at the rate of approximately 6 knots? (Seems quite a long time to me)
  
• The woman was described as sober
  
• She was seen behaving in an agitated fashion and had a disagreement with someone who accidentally bumped into her chair
  
• The witness said she was well-dressed but appeared agitated and kept walking up and down outside the El Ray de la Gamba restaurant bar, on May 7th 2007.
  
• The woman was said to have *definitely* been on her own!
  
• Dave Edgar has described this development as significant, or else he would not be there wasting everyone's time!
  
• The man who came forward is described as a *credible* witness, a *professional* who holds a *senior* position.
  
• The man did not come forward before for personal reasons, Dave Edgar has heard those reasons and he is satisfied that they are credible reasons.
  
• Edgar said that they had reason to believe that the man who came forward was not drunk, despite him being in a party that had visited bars that evening.
  
• They are NOT disappointed that it has taken this long to come forward, they are pleased and want everyone to come forward who may have information about Madeleine.
  
• Dave Edgar has described this as a *strong lead*
  
• He has also said that he has already travelled to Barcelona and spent two days there
  
• Edgar is prepared to travel to Australia if this proves necessary!
  

rosemary wrote:What struck me forcibly was when he said this bar is in the Marina area. But I am still worried - this woman does NOT WANT to be found!

If she has had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance then she would not want to be found. I take your point about her mentioning something to this witness though, but on the other hand the private detective Dave Edgar has heard what this woman said to the witness and this has been enough for him to describe this as significant and he has also said that the information was not something that could have been heard on TV or in the media.

They have apparently exhausted inquiries and have gone as far as they possibly can with this now and they have turned up nothing, which is why they have now decided to go public and hold this press conference and release this efit of the woman they wish to talk to.

I am not sure if Edgar described her as a 'suspect', I heard him describe her as 'significant', I think it may be the press that described her as a 'suspect'.

It has been quiet for a while and all this has been going on and Dave Edgar has managed to get out to Barcelona for two days without being spotted by the press! Which in a way fills me with hope, because it affirms what many of us believe, that there is still a hive of activity going on with people working furiously to find Madeleine and we get told when there is some significant development, as there is now.

They also mentioned Raymond Hewlett, that he has 'not' been ruled out and he still remains a person of interest whom they wish to talk to about *certain matters*.

One of the articles (not sure which one) suggests that the woman was waiting for someone, but didnt know what they looked like, and when this man (the witness) approached her, she thought this was the person she was waiting for. She said something significant before she realised that this man was not the person she wanted.

But who would know if this was true, as apparently the reports of what was said are not correct. It does however explain why she would talk to him.

If true, it would also indicate the the person she was waiting for was British.

dianeh wrote:One of the articles (not sure which one) suggests that the woman was waiting for someone, but didnt know what they looked like, and when this man (the witness) approached her, she thought this was the person she was waiting for. She said something significant before she realised that this man was not the person she wanted.

But who would know if this was true, as apparently the reports of what was said are not correct. It does however explain why she would talk to him.

If true, it would also indicate the the person she was waiting for was British.

Thanks for confirming that Diane, I heard something like that too but did not know if I had heard correctly and did not want to mention it in case I had got it wrong! I am so trying not to get too excited about this!

But they did mention that they hoped this may be the little bit of 'vital' information that would lead to the breakthrough - this went almost unnoticed and none of the press picked it up, but I am sure I heard something like this, did anyone else? (Again I am NOT wanting to live on false hopes here or give anyone else false hopes).
That is true about the person she was waiting for being British! It *MAY* also follow that the person she was waiting for actually resembled the witness in some way!

All of this is just beginning to sink in and the more snippets we remember from the conference, the more it seems to be a credible and important development?

dianeh wrote:Although the AFP (Australian Federal Police) have not been informed, and are not part of the investigation, there is some good news.

I just saw the Victorian Police Commisioner on the news (as I live in NSW but on the NSW, VIc borders, we get Vic National news, not NSW), and he has said that they will offer any assistance that they can to the detectives to try to find this mystery woman.

Thats positive Dianeh................Please God or whoever let this be THE BREAK the family have been waiting for...PLEEEEEASE!!!!

I wonder if this woman had been in PDL? Maybe someone recognises her now from there. One could drive up to Barcelona in 2 days easy.

Wish they wouldn´t put up pictures of Posh becks though. Counterproductive I would think. We are NOT looking for Posh! She is certainly one of my least favourite people anyway.

Portuguese TV news channels are showing the press conference.

dianeh wrote:But who would know if this was true, as apparently the reports of what was said are not correct..

Hi dianeh, what do you mean, did i miss something that what was said! i was glued to the tv whilst watching the conference but sometimes it dont all sink in!

minx x

rosemary wrote:I wonder if this woman had been in PDL? Maybe someone recognises her now from there. One could drive up to Barcelona in 2 days easy.

Wish they wouldn´t put up pictures of Posh becks though. Counterproductive I would think. We are NOT looking for Posh! She is certainly one of my least favourite people anyway.

I agree it is counterproductive putting up pictures of Victoria, we are not looking for her. Dave Edgar said the witness was around 80% satisfied with the efit description and Edgar also said that this was quite good under these circumstances.

I think there is a hell of a lot more here than we are being told and obviously this is the way it should be. I understand they have gone public with this now because they have exhausted all their other inquiries and now need the public's help, which all fits with the excellent and experienced way this investigation is being conducted by the former detectives.

They must think this is highly significant to go public with it...please dear God, let it be so and lead the detectives to Madeleine....amen

This is all it takes this one little bit of vital information, it is my guess there is much more they know, or they would not have chosen now to go public.

Rosemary you asked if this woman could have been in PDL? I thought of this too, there was a slim woman of this appearance, seen near the apartment on the day that Madeleine disappeared!
She was described as Portuguese in appearance, well if she does resemble Victoria, that description is not a million miles away is it?

The detective said that no one could know what was said to the man, and that what had been printed about the conversation is not true. One of the articles that is referred to here, has a small snippet of the supposed conversation.

I take it the detective is saying that this snippet is not accurate. Of course he could just be referring to what the woman told the man, and not the reporting of it, but if it is not possible for anyone to know what this woman knew, then how can it be reported correctly.

The news paper articles that initially came out were contradictory, as though someone had just got an inkling that somethign was going on and just made something else up to get the scoop.

littleminx wrote:

dianeh wrote:But who would know if this was true, as apparently the reports of what was said are not correct..

Hi dianeh, what do you mean, did i miss something that what was said! i was glued to the tv whilst watching the conference but sometimes it dont all sink in!

minx x

I don't understand this bit either Diane and I cannot remember anything like that being said, all I remember is Dave Edgar reiterating repeatedly that they would not be divulging what was said to the witness that has come forward, but what was said was deemed as highly significant and could not have been taken from the TV/media. I think a journalist actually asked that question in some way.

thanks for that diane,

i think that what ever was said to this man is very important, either something was said that none of the public would know or like the paper stated the women thought the man (witness) approaching her was the person she was supposed to meet! who knows hey! i really don't want to get excited about this BUT i have to admit i do feel that maybe JUST maybe this could be a good lead!

rosie.. you are right about the media trying to locate this man! but if the only people who know who is are the detectives then they are out of luck!

minx x