Boozy Tapas Nights...

Apart from the French book* news, it's been a pretty quiet week, so I've been having a look the witness statements from the investigation over on the Maddie Case Files.  I came across the statement of Ricardo Alexandre da Luz Oliveira, the waiter assigned to the Tapas group table most nights.

Now I'm certainly not naive, but I think after 4+ years you tend to become a bit forgetful of certain things.  Thanks to the night of 3rd May and the timeline that's been forced upon us, you tend to drift towards that hour and a half in the restaurant, with possibly anxious parents, away from their children, gobbling down their food.

However, they weren't anxious and neither were they there for an hour and a half.

Restaurants tend to have two or three sittings per night, especially if in demand. And the Tapas Bar was in demand.  This group took up seating for nine for the whole evening, every evening causing holidaymakers like the McKenzie family to be refused a table, forcing them to get takeaway to eat in the apartment. Thankfully, Mr McKenzie had the common sense to wait in the apartment with his child whilst his wife collected their food from the very same restaurant.  Yes, as well as offering a free creche service to diners, the Tapas Bar also provided takeaway.

Some holidaymakers were fortunate enough to book a table... the Carpenters dined with their children, the Wilkins dined whilst their children were looked after in the restaurant's free creche... the Tapas group must've thought they were utter fools, dining with their children?...

We know that the McCanns enjoyed that bottle of Montana Sauvignon Blanc before leaving the apartment and according to Ricardo the group were in no rush to eat, waiting on all members to arrive before ordering.  Before they all arrived, some would have cocktails.  On seating, 4 bottles of wine would be placed on the table and during the meal, another 4 would be depositied which would be completely consumed.  Ricardo remembers serving Almond Bitters to all and after three courses, the group would stay at their table until after 11pm and be at the bar until it closed at midnight.  This group were normally the last to leave.

Drink, drink, drink and the last to leave when the place closed!  Sounds like an absolutely spanking piss up and really good fun, doesn't it?  It would be if there weren't children and babies involved.

Gerry McCann says that all this was within the realms of responsible parenting.  I say it is absolutely not.  Parenting is a responsibility for life, there is no escape. This whole group tried to.  Apparently.

~oOo~

You can view the witness statements from the official Portuguese police investigation on the Maddie Case Files.

*Belle Famille by Arthur Dreyfus is the tale of little Madec Macand, and a story which has eery similarities to the missing Madeleleine case.  Should make an interesting read and hopefully translated extracts will be provided by Anna Andress when available.  At the moment, available to buy on Amazon France.

The Remit of Operation Grange

Operation Grange

On 12 May 2011 the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) announced that, at the request of the Home Secretary, it had agreed to bring its particular expertise to the Madeleine McCann case.

The then Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, considered the request and took the decision that on balance it was the right thing to do. This was subject to funding being made available by the Home Office, as this case is beyond the MPS's jurisdiction.

The Portuguese authorities retain the lead.

While the MPS will not provide a running commentary on its involvement, known as Operation Grange, it is felt appropriate to make the remit available to the public and it is available in the related publications.

Taken from the Metropolitan Police website

Below is the remit of Operation Grange, which is available to the public and can be downloaded from the Metropolitan Police website.

There is some speculation over the word 'abduction'.  I'm not going spin or mess about with the phrase... it just seems to be a sloppy oversight and perhaps something which should be corrected on the original public remit.  All other references to Madeleine's disappearance are just that... a disappearance.  It would be a travesty for this child if the police followed the blinkered approach of abduction and nothing else. Something I find very hard to believe they would do.

What I do find interesting is that the remit refers to not just a review of the case but an "investigative review".

Whilst ordinarily a review has no investigative remit whatsoever - the scale and extent of this enquiry cannot permit for such an approach.  It will take too long to progress to any action stage if activity is given wholly and solely to a review process.

This can only be good news for Madeleine... not only is the case being reviewed but appears to be being investigated with a timescale. And with the Portuguese police retaining the lead, hopefully our Boys in Blue will find that missing piece of the jigsaw that will allow the official case to be reopened.

Everyone seems to be whistle blowing these days... if you have any information that could help the investigative review, please contact the Met -

Major Investigation Team 5

Homicide and Serious Crime Command

Belgravia Police station 

202-206 Buckingham Palace Rd 

London SW1W 9SX

operation.grange@met.police.uk

Trials and Tribulations...

Liars and fantasists... there have been a fair few over the years. So many that one could be tempted to write a bewk about them... Or has that already been done?

Here's another one...

Leonor Cipriano, accused of an incestuous relationship with her brother, murdering her 8 year old daughter, Joana and disposing of her body by feeding her to the pigs. Absolutely barbaric. Alongside her lover/brother, she was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in prison. She later claimed she was tortured into confessing, but police said Cipriano tried to commit suicide by throwing herself off a staircase.

The trial commenced... 5 officers stood accused of torture. As co-ordinator of the PJ in Faro at that time, Goncalo Amaral was also made arguido.

Although the judges considered that Cipriano had been beaten, it could not be established by whom. We all know that child rapists and murderers do not fare well in prison, and I can imagine a long line of prisoners vying for their own piece of Cipriano pie.

With no witnesses to the alleged torture acts, the final ruling ended up being based on the reports from forensic experts, which were not founded on a physical examination of Cipriano, but rather on photographs that had been published years earlier by Expresso, and whose authenticity is still questioned.

Three inspectors, Leonel Marques, Pereira Cristovao and Paulo Marques Bom, were all acquitted and cleared of torture.

Senor Amaral was cleared of a charge of failing to report a crime but found guilty of perjury because he upheld, under oath the version that he had been given by his subordinates, that Cipriano had been injured when she tried to commit suicide.  This was considered to be a false testimony because the facts that Sr Amaral testified to, could not be proved.  His defence was that he could not have given another version of the facts because this was what the inspectors who witnessed the episode, reported to him.

António Nunes Cardoso's report merely described the manner in which Cipriano fell on the stairs. Upon considering that she had been beaten by someone, this automatically removed the value of Cardoso's report.  He was found guilty of falsifying documents and given a two-and-a-half year suspended jail sentence.

The jurors and the collective of judges at the Court of Faro considered that Cipriano's deposition had "no credibility". According to judge Henrique Pavão, she changed her version several times and lightly accused persons of aggressing her, based on a list of names that she carried into the court room. "She lied about the identification of the aggressors and she lied about other crucial aspects," the judge mentioned.

Concerning the photographs that were taken of Leonor, which were included in the process, the collective considered that they were "of weak quality" and that therefore, "it was not possible to conclude safely about what really happened".

Which leads us onto the recent news that Cipriano's lawyer, Marcos Aragão Correia and Pedro Antonio, president of ACED will be tried in early February for the alleged defamation of Goncalo Amaral. At issue is a document dated 8^th April 2008 and entitled “Report on Torture Leonor Cipriano”. The section below appears to be the offending passage...

"At the request of prosecutors, Leonor Cipriano tried to identify the inspectors that tortured her. In her mind, she was transported to Evora in 2006 to try to recognize some of the torturers from the six inspectors. Unfortunately, given the lapse of time, and with a bag over her head many times when attacked, and the possibility of not being on-site recognition of all offenders, Leonor was only able to say with absolute certainty, Gonçalo Amaral, the then coordinator of the DIC of Portimão, was present during interrogation, watching the torture with ease, because every time she uncovered her eyes and was beaten, he was there, walking from one side to another, without ever attempting to stop the torture carried out by his subordinates."

Marcos Aragão Correia

Senor Amaral is suing each arguido for €3000. A rather low sum, you may say... however we all know that taking such action in Portugal is all about writing the wrongs and not for monetary gain. Perhaps the reason that the McCanns never sued the Portuguese press, yet settled out of court with the British media for later printing the very same newspaper reports.  Remind me just who the money-grubbers are...

Season's Greetings

~oOo~

Wishing you all a warm and wonderful festive season.

Your visits and comments have been greatly appreciated throughout the year.

Merry Christmas from Me, Myself, Moi...

All the very best for 2012.

~oOo~

Ambiguous or Equivocal?... Or just tongue in cheek.

Taken from the statement of Daniel Sanderson who appeared at the Leveson Inquiry on 15th December 2011 I believe 18,000 Euros were paid to the Portuguese journalist (the P J). It was paid in two parts; 9,000 Euros up front and 9,000 Euros on publication.  I can’t be certain of this figure, but it is certainly a fairly accurate estimate.  I am aware of the approximate figure because that is the price that had been agreed with the PJ in my initial phone conversations with the PJ.  The PJ set the price, which I had communicated to Mr Edmondson.  Mr Edmondson then authorised both payments to the source.  The PJ then contacted me after publication to organise the second payment, which was authorised by Mr Edmondson. For the benefit of the Leveson Inquiry... PJ = Portuguese Journalist For the benefit of the rest of the astute world... PJ = Policia Judiciara (Portuguese police) I assume that Mr Sanderson is well aware (him being a journalist, like) that the Portuguese police are referred to worldwide as the 'PJ'. Surprised he would use such wording on an official statement? Some pertinent questions people would like answers to... Who was the Portuguese journalist involved? Where is the original Portuguese copy now? Who were the London-based translation service? What is the proof that the Portuguese police were the original source? Was there another diary - pre 3rd May? If so, which diary did the police really want? And one final question... What is the relationship between Gerard Couzens, the diary picker upper and Tom Worden, the 8 new leads leaker?  Which may be answered by putting their names into a Google search. **thanks to the smarties online for spotting the 'PJ' gaffe.