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Madeleine: Summers and Swan interview (Part II)

madeleine9In part two of Len Port's interview with Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, the authors explain more about the background to their new book Looking for Madeleine, their thoughts on the police investigations so far, and what may now lie ahead in this extraordinary case.

How did you conduct your research? What was the process you followed?

First and foremost, we spent months doing what we have done on our previous eight books, reading all possible available documentation – in many cases a logistic challenge because of the Portuguese language factor. All of this was sorted and allocated and built into a vast chronology. Chronology, carefully assembled, is the key to investigation – whether by law enforcement or non-fiction authors.

When did you come to the conclusion that Kate and Gerry McCann played no part in covering up their daughter’s disappearance and that claims of this are unfounded?

Were we to have to put a date on this current view of ours, we would say it was at the stage a few months ago when – after all the months of analysing the available evidence and testimony – we were finalizing the manuscript.

Can your book be accurately considered as ‘the definitive account’ of this unsolved case?

Note that our publisher has said that the book is “the most definitive account possible.” Possible at this time. We hope and believe that it is exactly the case at this point, as of September 2014. Events yet to occur may change that and – as and when they do – we would hope to update our work.

Your book has been described as ‘a whitewash’ and ‘propaganda,’ and criticism has been levelled at the amount of ‘spin’ it received in the British media before publication? What is your reaction to this?

It is emphatically not a whitewash, whether or not those making the allegations choose to believe it or not. Should they look at the available evidence and testimony, and in turn how we report it in Looking for Madeleine, they will find such allegations untenable. We know of no articles about us or the book that could be called "spin.” There have been news stories based on the information in the book - that is reporting.

How would you sum up the way in which the investigations have been conducted over the past seven years?

A muddle of events and developments, poorly reported and – because of the lengthy lapse of time after the case was archived – critically interrupted. Hopefully, with both nations’ police forces for some time now engaged in systematic fresh work, lost ground may be retrieved.

How relevant is the Gamble report discussed on Sky TV shortly before publication of the book?

The report written by former Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre head Jim Gamble and his team has not been released. In an interview for our book, Gamble discussed it, we believe, more openly and at greater length than ever before, and this was justifiably newsworthy. The inclusion of this self-critique of British law enforcement’s role in the investigation, from a senior source, was welcome and long overdue. The first Portuguese investigation has been widely criticised, often exaggeratedly and in a way that seemed xenophobic. The new openness from the UK’s Gamble may go some way to redressing the balance. Once it becomes ethically possible, Portuguese law enforcement may perhaps offer similar up-to-date background. Should that occur, we would be glad to report it in a new edition of Looking for Madeleine.

How long do you expect the investigation to continue?

Rather than speak in terms of months or weeks, we hope the investigations by both Portuguese and British law enforcement will be allowed to continue until they have followed up on all the lines of inquiry they regard as necessary. We hope the climate of public opinion in both countries develops positively, in a way that favours true international cooperation. Unbiased, moderate media reporting could do much to make this possible.

Do you think the mystery will ever be solved?

A major breakthrough would be a forensic lead. Any trace, dead or alive, of Madeleine. The police never forget, though, that someone, somewhere, knows – or suspects they have knowledge – of what happened to Madeleine. Someone’s wife, someone’s brother or sister or friend. Someone who noticed something but has until now kept it to themselves. What cold case investigators always hope for is that some hitherto unknown witness or witnesses will come forward with the fragment of information that can break the case. It’s happened in the past, and could yet happen in the case of Madeleine.

© Len Port 2014

* Anthony Summers, formally a deputy editor of the BBC's Panorama, is the author of eight investigative books and the only two-time winner of the Crime Writers' Association's top award for non-fiction.

Robbyn Swan, his co-author and wife, has partnered Summers on three previous biographies and investigations. Their book The Eleventh Day, on the 9/11 attacks, was a Finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize.sumersandswan

_______

For the first part of this two part interview, see:

http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/3409-summers-and-swan-reply-to-critics-of-their-madeleine-book

 

Algarve-based, Len Port, has been a journalist for 50 years, working as a staff reporter, broadcaster and freelance correspondent for many leading news organisations. He covered events in the Far east in the Sixties, and in Northern Ireland and South Africa in the Seventies.

Since moving to Portugal in the early Eighties, he has edited regional magazines, contributed to national dailies in Britain and written several books, two of which are currently available as ebooks with Amazon.

 

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Comments  

-4 #6 Geoffrey Thomas 2014-09-15 15:48
As pointed out in another post today about Portuguese inferiority .... this tragedy and the shameful insults thrown at the grieving McCann parents - has shown the world for years the sickening rot that lies behind Portuguese smiles.
The malevolence ...

Never any connection at all with their missing child .... just twisted spite.

Bravo, Portugal. At least the world can see now - through this Portuguese inferiority book - how pained you have always been ! And why.

Yet - although failing on every level as good EU neighbours and contributing nothing of value - you remain in the Union !
-4 #5 Fred. 2014-09-14 10:14
Right from the start the McCanns were understandably worried that the search for their child would be a typical Portuguese one.

Speaking to the BBC later, Ms Renwick said the McCanns ...... had felt let down by police in Portugal. "I spoke to them this morning and they said the police had done nothing overnight and they felt as if they'd been left on their own. They just don't know where to turn."

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/may/04/markoliver

They would also have learnt of at least one pervert preying on little white girls in the area. In the next couple of days the parents would have learnt of more similar crimes and possible leads from British in the area.

Yet ... nothing from Amaral and his team ?
And just years of horrendous internet and press abuse from Portuguese trolls with their pretend British names ... none with the moral fibre or backbone to use their own Manuel, Jose or Fernando. :cry: :cry: :cry:
-3 #4 Elsa 2014-09-14 10:07
How do new keen Portuguese Police cope when faced with the inertia and apathy - and 'old ways of doing things' shown by older colleagues ?

Certainly many must take time off with stress following an encounter with someone 'above the law'. But this may also include older colleagues taking the piss.

But, in the presumed absence of any training updates - what on earth can an ordinary Portuguese police officer be thinking say - when watching the foreign TV movies ? Seeing foreign police asking the public for help ?

Foreign Police accurately describing who they are looking for ... perhaps to help an elderly person or missing infant that may be in distress ?

Or hunting a really bad guy like that twat photographed attempting to assault a white British girl in Evesham ?

Remembring always that Amaral himself was accused of beating a woman searching for a missing child. And classically makes the McCanns arguidos to shut them up !
+1 #3 Donalda 2014-09-14 09:04
Any British with direct experience of the Portuguese 'Police' investigating' a crime will have been struck by its incompetence. Hiding behind its 'judicial secrecy'; which - like so much in Portugal; such as rogue Bank supervision, we now know is the real fantasy. Being non-existent following a well placed bung or some 'trafficked influence'.

And what of 2nd or 3rd generation Police. Faced with kids 'meeting in shopping centres' ? Tell Grandad or Dad - Police of the Old School - and they will just say 'We'd have done what we did to the Aljustrel miners in the 1960's.

Gave them a 5 minute deadline to "F**k off. Then the PIDE boss brought it forward 2 minutes as the miners had pissed him off. So we opened fire whilst the miners were still packing up. Lots of blood and some dead and dying. But no more miners strikes.

Cissy British Police just used truncheons on their striking miners so it went on for ages. :sad:
+3 #2 Gabriella 2014-09-13 17:08
So - lets examine the interviewer. Leonardo Porto.

Was he as open and honest with Summers - an ex-BBC Panorama reporter no less and Swan regarding 'propaganda and spin' - as they were with him ?

Porto's own angle, long taken with the Madeleine McCann search - that the parents were somehow involved ?

When did this 'journalists' 'spin' ever mention the 'bogus charity worker'; the 'loiterer in the alleyway'; the 'sweaty swarthy' .... or the multiple break-ins in the same apartment ?

Did this 'journalist' ever question why none of this was known at the time? Or introduced into the public domain in the crucial first few hours and days - to help the search?

Asking, when memories were still fresh and before other holidaymakers left for their homelands - does anyone remember seeing a man looking like 'x'; or somone doing 'y'.

Asking - please help us Portuguese Police with our enquiries.

USUAL DEAFENING SILENCE !
+6 #1 Ana Perreira 2014-09-13 16:54
The child's disappearance is truly sad and so are the disappearances of many other kids. This subject is exhausted and many people, myself included, don't even read the articles any more.

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