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Process: English Prime-Minister forces the review of all information
by Henrique Machado
Three elite officers from the British investigative police, Scotland
Yard, arrived discreetly in Lisbon earlier last month. And they followed
immediately to a meeting that was scheduled at the Judiciary Police [PJ]
headquarters - in order to "tune up the cooperation mechanisms" in the
analyses of new leads in the Maddie case, this was confirmed to Correio
da Manh?
by Pedro do Carmo [pictured above], the National joint director of the
PJ.
The news was advanced yesterday by SkyNews after this team, from the
Scotland Yard, was created in May by the direct order of Prime Minister
David Cameron; following an appeal made to him by Kate and Gerry McCann,
parents of the young girl who disappeared in Praia da Luz, Lagos, on the
night of May 3, 2007. The aim of the English investigators, who returned
to London the following day is to comb thoroughly all the information
and leads that were followed in the process - so they can suggest new
steps to be taken to the PJ if appropriate.
The process is formally archived, "but it is the interest of PJ and of
the Scotland Yard that we can, one day, get to the truth of the facts"
of what happened in Praia da Luz, Pedro do Carmo adds. The head of the
PJ, who chaired the meeting, advanced that it was a "constructive"
meeting - that
united the British and elements of the PJ from Portim?, where the investigation unfolded.
It continues to arrive to the Portuguese and British police dozens of
information, anonymous or not, about what could have happened to the
English girl, with four years of age then, inside the apartment 5A of
the Ocean Club. The majority concern the sightings in various places
around the world, which have revealed themselves to be unfounded; others
are more credible and have to be checked. Some point to kidnapping;
others to the involvement of adults close to the child.
David Cameron gave in to the couple
The imposition of the British Prime-Minister to the Scotland Yard, in
May, at the time of the book launch, ?Madeleine?, in the United Kingdom,
which coincided with the eight birthday of the missing child's
disappearance, caused controversy in England. It was seen by some as a
populist measure, of a politician that gave a differential treatment to
the McCann couple - who had characterized Cameron as a "devout father
and family man", asking him for a "independent review and transparent of
the process". The Prime-Minister replied assuring them that he would
commit the Scotland Yard to the case.
"The English have evidence": Goncalo Amaral, former investigator of the
process
Correio da Manh?? What can the English police add to the investigation?
Goncalo Amaral ? The English can always present the conclusions to which
they themselves arrived in 2007. Because they know, they have the
evidence of what happened - they don't need to investigate anything. All
this is now a mere ?show off?.
? How can these meetings be justified now?
? Only in terms of the political image of the English Prime-Minister.
They are not coming here certainly to ask to consult a process, that
they, from the first hour, have in England and fully translated in
English...
? Is this another media maneuver from the McCanns?
? I don't know, however, if the Scotland Yard is investigating and if
they no longer pay their detectives, they can return the money from the
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