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Today marks the seventh anniversary
since Madeleine McCann went missing from
an apartment in Portugal where she was
sleeping while her parents ate at a
restaurant with friends nearby.
Peter Kirkham, a former Metropolitan
Police detective, has written
exclusively for mirror.co.uk saying that
he believes the disappearance is likely
to be a mystery that will never be
solved.
It’s now seven years since Madeleine
McCann disappeared in Praia da Luz.
Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of
hours of investigation have been carried
out by the Portuguese police, the
private investigators employed by the
McCann family and detectives from
Scotland Yard.
But what has the investigation achieved?
Although recent developments have given
the impression that significant progress
is now being made, analysis shows that
remarkably little is known with any
certainty.
This case is, in the language of
detectives, most definitely a “sticker”.
As in any investigation, the police need
to establish what happened and prove who
did it. In this case, unusually, they
are unable to do either.
Pretty much all that has been
established for sure is that Madeleine
went missing during the night, whilst
staying with her family in the
Portuguese holiday resort.
Although there are numerous theories as
to what may have happened to her, no
evidence has been found which
conclusively proves or disproves any of
them.
All, therefore, remain possible
hypotheses which the investigators must
keep in mind.
The investigation – and the extensive
worldwide publicity – has failed to find
any direct witness to what happened on
the night of May 3 2007.
The nearest the police have got is two
witnesses reporting that they saw a man
carrying young children nearby.
One of those sightings has eventually
been eliminated.
The other has only led to a description
and an artist’s impression of a possible
suspect.
No-one has yet identified them.
It has been suggested that the crime
scene was not initially secured as well
as it could have been and some physical
trace evidence could have been lost.
Whether or not that is the case, we know
there is no fingerprint or DNA sample
from the scene from which a suspect can
be identified.
Scotland Yard detectives have recently
identified two other lines of enquiry.
The first involves tracing a number of
people who mobile telephone records
place in the area at the time and who
have not previously come forward.
The second relates to a linked series of
sexual assaults on young children in
tourist apartments around Praia da Luz
at the time.
The first of these may lead to new
information from a new witness, but I
think it unlikely.
The second is more promising.
One of the hypotheses is that Madeleine
was taken away by someone for a sexual
motive.
If a suspect for the series of offences
can be identified and traced there is a
possibility (but nothing more) that they
may be connected with the disappearance
of Madeleine.
The longer cases like this go on, the
more unlikely it is that they will be
solved.
But the police will continue to
follow-up all viable lines of enquiry
and, sooner or later, if there is some
breakthrough evidence there to be found
it will come to light.
But I think there is a distinct
possibility that this case will turn out
to be one of those real, genuine
mysteries which is never solved.
That said, as time goes on there is one
thing which becomes more likely and that
is a call from someone who knows what
happened and who has been keeping it
secret all this time.
It may be an offender or someone close
to them.
But the passage of time, especially with
such a high-profile case, makes it ever
more difficult to keep the secret.
If there is someone out there with such
information, that call could come at any
time and when it does it will break the
case wide open. |
