Members of Scotland Yard's 'Operation Grange' team investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in 2007 have been in Faro today to sit in on a series of interviews of witnesses, and to catch up with their Portuguese police contacts.
The team arrived at Faro at 09.20, among them Chief Inspector Andy Redwood who has been responsible for the British side of the investigation for the past three and a half years and who retires later in December, passing the case to DCI Nicola Wall.
According to information provided by Scotland Yard, the handing over of the case to Wall is 'ongoing' and Kate and Gerry McCann and other interested parties have been informed of the changes.
The Operation Grange team last was in Portugal in October and held meetings with the Judicial Police in Faro and at the National Institute of Legal Medicine (INML).
In early June this year, a British forensic team with sniffer dogs, members of the Judicial Police and local GNR officers spend days searching an area of coutryside at the entrance to the town and found nothing of importance.
The team’s arrival in Portugal today was covered extensively by international news, especially in the UK, all of which made sure that of the witnesses to be interviewed, the name of Robert Murat was mentioned. The other names are available online but have not been broadcast in the mainstream media.
Murat was targeted by the British press in 2007 which pretty much accused him of being involved with Madeleine’s disappearance. He and others sued and received a £600,000 payout.
Comments
So much of it parodies a more devloped country. Picking up hints and tips elsewhere and bolting it into a procedure without anyone fully comprehending how it is to work or why you are doing it.
So with Judicial Secrecy. No one in the judicial system - the judges, prosecutors, court officers, police etc is giving up their genetic predisposition for a good gossip.
So, as always, in this case a month ago we were being fed tit bits of info about the forthcoming UK Police visit. A Police Secret in the UK - public knowledge in Portugal !
Murat had to be silenced because he had grown up in Portugal and knew how 'odd' so much of the Portuguese history is and therefore their values today are.