As most of you are quite aware, I have refrained from commenting on the Madeleine McCann case for months now as doing so has been both pointless and unpleasant. It seems that many feel a great deal of anguish as the Scotland Yard so-called investigation blunders on...with no inspiring results...and Andy Redwood retires (which is hardly something a man would do on the eve of a great investigative coup); frustrated, they are striking out rather viciously at anyone who dares suggest that all is not going to end well. In other words, the writing is in the wall - as it has been since Scotland Yard announced that the McCanns were not suspects, that they were only looking at an abduction, and that Jane Tanner actually saw a man with a child (even if there is no evidence he exists and he was walking in the wrong direction). This Met review and investigation clearly was never intended to include the Tapas 9 as a focus and there are many who do not want to believe that their hopes are going to be dashed after all the effort they have put forth to shed light on the evidence and the McCanns likely involvement in the disappearance of their daughter, Maddie.
But, four people seem to agree that this case is going to be put to bed as a stranger abduction that simply can't be solved or can't be prosecuted. These four people are Gonçalo Amaral, Tony Bennett, Joana Morais, and myself. Now, while we may not agree on exactly what happened to Madeleine McCann, while we may not entirely agree on how it all went down - who did what and what the timeline was - we all seem to agree that the outcome is going to be politically based and not one supported by evidence and proper investigation. In other words, four people from vastly different backgrounds and skill sets, four people who have a great deal of knowledge of the Madeleine McCann case, all agree that a whitewash is in the making.
Yet, there are many who are outraged at each one of us for daring to suggest that Scotland Yard has just wasted ten million pounds on a faux investigation, mad at all of us in spite of the fact absolutely nothing useful has come of four year of effort, that there has been zero progress, and they are calling us names even though it is a straight up fact that there has never been any focus on the Tapas 9 by Scotland Yard and it is also a fact that you can't make a case against someone by claiming in court that they are guilty simply because all other leads failed to put forth fruit.
We are about to hear the outcome of the McCann suit against Gonçalo Amaral but this matters little as far as the criminal case is concerned. I hope Gonçalo prevails enough to lessen the damage he has suffered, but it won't matter as far as putting the McCanns behind bars; the civil case truly has nothing to do with the criminal case. The criminal case is dead in the water and as recent news reports have pointed out, there are those who think the money being spent on the McCann case is a waste of resources. I totally agree because there is never going to be a true resolution unless Maddie's body is unearthed with sufficient physical evidence to link someone to the crime. Since Scotland Yard is looking in all the wrong places, this evidence is never going to see the light of day.
So, folks, all of you who think a good outcome is just around the bend, brace yourselves. I know all of you only want truth and justice but, as I have learned working almost two decades in this field, the one thing trumps truth and justice every time is politics.
Criminal Profiler Pat Brown
March 19, 2015
By Pat Brown
Rating: 
Published: July 27, 2011What really happened to Madeleine Beth McCann in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007? Was she abducted as the Gerry and Kate have claimed or did something happen to Madeleine on May 3 in the vacation apartment and the incident covered up? Criminal Profiler Pat Brown analyzes the evidence and takes the readers through the steps of profiling, developing a theory that is intriguing and controversial.
So sad for little Madeleine and all children who just "disappear"...
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with the 4 of you sadly Pat poor Madeleine rip honey xx
ReplyDeleteTruly, Terri, I am less concerned for justice for Madeline who met her fate long ago likely by neglect and probably she wouldn't care so much that her parents were brought to justice for carelessness and fear, but I am more concerned about the integrity of police investigations and use of public monies in missing persons' and homicide cases...that is the bigger picture and this case is hugely damaging all the way around.
ReplyDeleteDear Pat sniffer dogs do not lie. I believe we need to send sniffer dogs down a few abandoned mines in that area. Especially a few miles up the main road from where they were staying. The place is crawling with mines and a haven for making things vanish.
DeleteAgreed 100%
DeleteBTW, already there is misinterpretation of what I write. There are those who disagree with me on many points, including that this is a whitewash, who and still polite and have no problem with a difference of opinion (even if they strongly disagree). What I refer to as "fury" are vicious ad hominem attacks that a number of us have suffered because people don't like our stance in the whitewash which is sad because we are actually on the same side as far as the evidence is concerned.
ReplyDeleteMaybe one of them will grow
ReplyDeletea Conscience before they die and tell the Truth !!. I live in hope ..
Yes, all down to politics. But WHY? What is it that is so important to governments that they will mount this deception on a massive scale? What secrets would emerge if justice were allowed to take its course?
ReplyDeleteIf a Scotland Yard investigation costing 10 million pounds has been unable to come up with any results, what can possibly be the point of anyone donating to the fund anymore, and why are the McCanns still asking for money? If the police can't find anything, how could anyone else?
ReplyDeleteWorth adding I reckon: Joana Morais has more class in her little finger than those who lied about her and attacked her could muster in several lifetimes. ;-))
ReplyDeletePat, I have no doubt you are right. However, I find it exceedingly unlikely that Scotland Yard would bother spending millions of pounds whitewashing a case of parental neglect. Or indeed, that the upper echelons of British political power would pay any attention at all to such a case.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, SY has no jurisdiction in this case so who cares reaally about final outcome of their investigation? If the PJ decide to do right by justice and charge the parents there isn't anything they can do about it.
One reason I got sick of a lof of people in the anti-McCann brigade is their complete lack of ability to look at the truth of affairs.
ReplyDeleteIt's self-evident that Op Grange is a whitewash and yet so many people believe the case is reaching a conclusion and the McCanns will shortly be brought to justice.
What is at work here is the 'bigger the lie the more people will believe it' pscycology: people can believe that two people can commit a crime, but they can't conceive that Scotland Yard could essentially be in on it. That's too big for them to allow, so they dismiss it despite all the evidence.
It's the same with the actions of Sky News against Brenda Leyland, something which indicates that the powers that be are very clearly aligned against justice in this case. But no matter, there will be people who just brush over all this and consider to think that justice is just around the corner and that it works in silence etc etc.
In 5 or 10 years time, the same people will be on the same forums, talking about justice being brought against the McCanns in the 'next few months'. They'll be just as confident in Operation Grange as ever, arguing that because they've now spent £30 million quid and spent 15 years on the case they MUST be seeking justice.
At the end of the day the only reason I cared about this case was to expose all the implications that it held for our society, i.e corruption of the media, corruption of the police, corruption of the CEOP. Justice for Madeleine went out the window 7 years ago.
The problem however is, is that a majority of people in the anti-McCann movement don't recognise these problems and will happily let police, media and CEOP off the hook, provided they get the McCanns. Back to front logic in my opinion and one reason why I'm glad I'm no longer part of it.
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteI agree. In fact I begin to wonder exactly where some people have been living for the past couple of decades.
The McCann case epitomises a cultural state that is so palpably obvious, and yet so many people refuse to see it.
The media, politics and policing cannot be ring fenced into naive little pockets of isolated concern: castigate one, laud the other. Their intersection has become so complete, so pernicious in fact, that their distinction is barely visible at all.
For God's sake it was a sociopathic Newspaper editor who ordered Operation Grange in the first place; and it was a third rate PR man whose arm she twisted. It had fuck all to do with policing then, just as it has fuck all to do with justice now.
What greater tragedy needs to befall the UK before it becomes obvious? ("Abuse on an industrial scale")
Like you, I think I've had enough!
Agnos
Exactly Agnos, and the sad thing is is that this could have been the straw that broke the camels back, because it's gapingly obvious that we're not being told the truth. Plus people feel up for a fight with the McCanns who are the superficial viilains of this case.
ReplyDeleteSo this was the case that could have woken up the entire population to media manipulation and as you rightly say the intersection of media, politics and policing. But people don't look at the big picture and are incapable of making generalisations.
Things is, if you don't believe it's a Whitewash, why give a rat's ass about this case? There's no need to be an armchair detective because Op Grange are on to the case and they're better detectives than us. And secondly there's no need to be an activist, because the truth will come out when our good old boys at Scotland Yard tie up the case. So why do the people who have faith in Op Grange not just take up knitting instead, in the calm knowledge that everything is in order? There's no logic in it.
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely; there's no logic and no strategic worth to it.
It's not as though a crack team of detectives might be offended by our scepticism; so wounded as to reel back in failure! Why not throw down the gauntlet of accountability. "So prove us wrong". But sadly not.
I think you were right, - the fate of this was probably all sealed in 2007/8.
All the best!
Agnos
Sadly pat i agree with you ,sadly ,because the amount of corruption in my country makes me sick to the soul. Whitewash ,definitely . Was a little bit hopeful at one time but the farce of the "investigation" ( investigation my ass !) has negated that
ReplyDeletePolitics simply is and has always been. Sometimes it is not a huge cover-up, just abuses and misuse of power that grows and corrupts. I have seen cases which hardly anyone was paying attention to wrongly closed simply because the department wanted a higher closure rate so to get better future funding, to get it off the books because it has been dogging them for a while, because it was easier to convict the wrong person than the right person and that made the higher ups happy. Most of the time citizens have no clue that anything unethical has occurred because they simply get their news from the media who got their news from the police department or politicians. Investigative journalism is a rarity because it is not about getting to the truth, it is about getting headlines and bylines and the story in by their deadlines. I don't know if the politics behind the McCann case is some kind of story of the century or it is a snowball of politics that just kept gathering speed and volume as it rolled along. Sometimes I have found that it isn't a big agenda but a multitude of smaller ones like don't make waves and just get one's paycheck, promotion, nice work in sunny spots, free drinks at a bar, buddies on the golf course desire for a political future, egos that think they know how to analyze cases when they don't, competition (my country against yours), true belief in someone's innocence that blinds one to the evidence...and so on. Sometimes there is one big political agenda and then a couple dozen smaller agendas that glom on and make the matter even complicated and confusing. I don't know exactly what is going on in the Madeleine McCann case but I can quite easily say it has nothing to do with following the evidence and doing a proper investigation.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree. Massive political faux pas are just not acceptable and in this case I feel that the British governments intervention so early on makes it really difficult for them to back pedal later. They just shouldn't get bloody involved to begin with.
DeleteSunny, the amount of money spent on the Operation Grange project is probably much less than has been reported, for one thing I don't believe that some 30 odd officers were assigned "exclusively" to the case. Let's just say that the purported large number of officers adds more weight to whatever stories they come up with.
ReplyDeleteThis idea of a remit restricting what conclusions can be reached by an investigation doesn't make sense to me. However, even if this were true surely it doesn't mean that a coordinator of an investigation is permitted to invent scenarios involving people that don't exist if he or she believes the required conclusion cannot be achieved in any other way? Wouldn't that officer be committing a crime?
I suspect that if Mr. Amaral had not been successful in overturning the injunction to ban his book we would never have heard about Operation Grange. Apparently, it is in England's best interest that these particular parents get what they want.
People still haven't grasped the implications of what Scotland Yard and their Portuguese chaperones have done, not only have they destroyed the credibility of the case files but, perhaps of more significance, they have destroyed their own credibility. They have done serious damage; this case will never go to trial.
South Yorkshire police were given given specific funds to deal with CSA allegations. It was found that some of these resources were being diverted into other departments.
ReplyDeleteI've stopped being surprised.
Agnos
I think your post is fair and true re Op Grange.
ReplyDeleteI have begun to wonder if the case is media controlled as opposed to politically controlled. After Leveson inquiry it's clear some politicians, police etc. have been controlled by MSM through obtaining personal information often through phone hacking etc.
I read these opinions from yesterday and today.
http://blacksmithbureau.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/its-what-they-do.html
http://blacksmithbureau.blogspot.co.uk/
Thomas Baden-Riess said...
ReplyDelete"Things is, if you don't believe it's a Whitewash, why give a rat's ass about this case? There's no need to be an armchair detective because Op Grange are on to the case and they're better detectives than us. And secondly there's no need to be an activist, because the truth will come out when our good old boys at Scotland Yard tie up the case. So why do the people who have faith in Op Grange not just take up knitting instead, in the calm knowledge that everything is in order? There's no logic in it."
Very true.
Anon @ 9.39
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the author of those posts would strongly dispute such an interpretation. He believes that Operation Grange is about to make a stunning success of this. Indeed if you glance a little further back you'll find that he considers the case to be close to sub-judice. As yet nobody has been arrested, let alone charged. We don`t even know whether any UK nationals have been questioned.
His is the same old reductio ad absurdum: sure, Operation Grange might waddle, it might even quack, but it can`t be a duck because there`s no orange sauce with it. In other words because there is no evil Svengali pulling the strings, no discernible "agenda x", and no secret clique of conspirators.
He might be right (and most likely is), but that serves as no proof of his position. The set of vested interests and compromised judgements that we know to surround this case would be more than enough to permanently derail the opportunity (and the desire) for a prosecution to proceed: What Pat has described as a "snowball effect".
Personally, I`ve only ever seen one direct assertion that might be regarded as a deliberate perversion of the case. It still has a link from page one of the Met`s Operation Grange website: the case is to be investigated "as if" it were an abduction.
Does anyone know of any other investigation that has begun with the make believe proviso of "as if"? Who contrived that constraint?
...Martin Roberts has recently provided a brilliant analysis here (scroll down a little!)
http://www.mccannfiles.com/id232.html
Agnos
Anon @ 11:26 AM
ReplyDeleteYou may well be correct that my take on those posts is not the authors thinking. For me they fitted with my current suspicions on face value.
Thanks for the pointer to Dr Roberts latest, I haven't read it.
I would say Blacksmith has full faith in Operation Grange because I was rather viciously attacked in said blog over my belief that the Scotland Yard investigation is a fraud.
ReplyDelete@ 11.26
ReplyDeleteNo problem. Sorry if I sounded a bit brusque.
Martin Roberts is on top form.
Agnos
I remember reading that now Pat.
ReplyDeleteI gather ideas and information from many sources, I don't disregard things because of fundamental disagreement.
I'm trying to make sense of the exposure this case has. The media have lived well on it, is that the sum of their involvement? I suspect they have been a big part of keeping it at a level to be newsworthy.
Clearly if anyone were going to be arrested and charged then brought to trial, it would have happened years ago. To do that now would bring up even more questions of subversion. For instance, if the McCanns were arrested etc there would be numerous huge questions and ramifications that absolutely couldn`t all be whitewashed. There is and always was too much at stake for the truth to be known by the public and for justice to be done. I read that the cover-up was something to do with the Lisbon Treaty being signed by Britain. Lisbon Treaty = the EU Federal State as was planned, by stealth if they lost WWII, by Hitler and his nazis. They had many descendants, and followers who also had descendants in most countries, which was how the EEC/EU even came about. I`ve no idea how that can tie into the McCanns and i`m not saying they personally are or are not nazis. I wouldn`t have a clue if they were or were not. However, anyone could easily believe any pro EU political or business figure of being secret nazi. The link is the seeming friendship between them, Brown and Blair.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there may not be a glaring connection between the McCanns `situation` and the Lisbon Treaty and EU as a whole, there is nothing else that could logically demand such behaviour by three British Governments so far, and however many Portugese governments since 2007, plus msm and top business figures /tycoons, police and many many underlings.
Only something as massive as an international treaty or something of similar magnitude could force such an extreme and obvious cover-up.
The fact is, we will never be allowed to know the truth and most of the truth won`t even be written in official secrets. That the cover-up and corruption is that bad is why such a lot of people focus only on the McCanns. They are at the pinnacle of a case that epitomizes extreme indefensible injustice, inequity, dishonesty, and seemingly crimes on an international scale that the public find too galling to accept. Further, it seems they chose to be, and it seems made a fortune from being so. This is what the public find utteley repulsive.
It was always decided that if a patsy were not framed, then the case would be shelved. I`m positive of that and always have been.
N.B. After saying I haven`t a clue (as it were), actually only two things seem to fit IF it were true that the signing of the Lisbon Treaty were in danger of not being signed by Britain because of the McCann situation. Either thex knew explosive facts about more than one top EU political figures or/and sra. I think many people have come to the same or a similar conclusion, and this is yet another reason the majority of the public find the whole matter to be repugnant beyond words.
ReplyDeleteOf course there could be any other number of less sinister explanations, but given the unprecedented political and other interference and huge monies involved, the `suicides` of Sahlke and Brenda, it is difficult to think of any other explanation.
What is that adage about ``however unlikely, whatever is left must be true`? Certainly, one could wonder what Sahlke and Brenda Leyland might have stumbled upon.
Maybe others on here have a view on what could be at the bottom of it?
Faces tell more of a story than a million words.
ReplyDeleteDenial isn't a river in Egypt.
Money can't buy love, life or happiness.
Couples break up for various reasons - one is the loss of a child.
Madeleine is dead and those responsible know that.
Why take attention away from the alleged crime scene?
Questions are purely rhetorical and statements are (as far as I am concerned) are fact
I'm undecided re the whitewash/not whitewash issue, but I respect Pat's work & opinion, & I agree that we should not be attacking each other because we disagree on this point. Also agree re Joana Morais. She DOES have more class than those that attacked her & spread lies about her will ever have. :)
ReplyDeleteI was jut wondering how and when they could have disposed of the body. I am buying your book for my daughter now Pat.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tracy
Hi Tracy,
ReplyDeleteMore info on what they could have done with the body is in my other blogs....but, especially this one: http://patbrownprofiling.blogspot.com/2012/03/criminal-profiling-topic-of-day-find.html
For context:First post ever on Madeleine, I am male, in the UK, retired, not previously involved in any associated profession, bit of an amateur armchair detective, very strong personal attitude to promote truth and justice in this world (it is a nice hobby !).
ReplyDeleteDear Pat,
May I firstly say thank you for your contributions over many years to the discussions about this specific case and your attempts to have a go a cracking the case, finding new leads, etc (e.g. your visit to PdL). Trying to get involved in both cold cases and those where the initial investigation has been SNAFU leading everyone (except those like you and I!)in TOTALLY the wrong direction are not only very frustrating and emotionally tiring but also a great way of getting other peoples backs up. It is good that you now tend to concentrate on training detectives to do better in the future in new cases and it will be tempting, no doubt, to move away from the case of MBM once SY have come to their "final conclusion" however ridiculous that conclusion it may seem to many of us.
However I hope you will not just "bin" this case because even if there is no possibility of reopening it I think it provides many many examples which are highly instructive in training detectives. We have a very complicated case here with multiple witnesses, forensic evidence, sniffer dogs, and a HUGE (could it ever be more in another case ?)amount of public performance evidence from the 2 most closely connected persons, GM & KM . It is a veritable gold mine of clues.
Many of those who have discussed this case both here, and in many other online blogs, are clearly "emotionally affected" (check out their language) and that will be of no surprise in any case where a little girl disappears , is abused, or is murdered. However I try not to be , and I think most "good" detectives should probably also try to do the same. I have personally found it very interesting that when I have ever discussed this case (in e.g. chatting at the pub mode) with friends/family I have been subjected to a high degree of hostility from at least 50% of the people.
My wife and I love to watch films which involve murders (whodunnits), Columbo, Sherlock Holmes, etc, we like to have a little game with one another (£1 bet) to see who guesses right and so on. We even speculate on live cases which crop up from time to time here in the UK, there have been several, Huntley was one. We chat about cases like Tracy Andrews (used to live near her) and so on. But if I ever raise any issue about a bit of evidence about Madeleine "Have a look at this dear, I have found 2 photographs which the McCannes released and it's clear at least one has been photoshopped) my wife will immediately jump to Kate and Gerry's defence and berate me. Interesting I think and it's like that with most people in the UK. Either they are innocent "How DARE you" or they are guilty " Scum should rot in jail". I don't discuss it much with anyone now in person and I have not discussed it online before this comment.
There are 2 things about this case which I think merit some thought/speculation. You, Pat, may have already done so on one or both and if so please reply with a link. The first is the possibility that the occupants of 5A on the night(s) in question were not as stated by Tapas9. I referring to the theory that if you are going to sedate several children and, for safety, keep an eye on them from time to time it makes sense to have them all together in one apartment. The second thing to give some thought to is if you are going to dispose of a childs body what else is going in the grave to help you should the remains be dug up later. Evidence that points to someone else ? Evidence that supports something you said in your abduction story ? Both these issues are interesting to think about in the case of MBM but have, of course, a wider application generally in your work.
Can't someone use a cadaver dog or such like to search the forte de almedena and the monte do Jose mestre area and any other likely locations - an investigative journalist or rich philanthropist with a hunger for justice...
ReplyDeleteHello Pat, I hope you read this. I have studied the case and found an astonishing example of a cover up and deception. I have studied the interviews and found some disturbing comments and expressions made by the MCcanns.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe we should give up. I believe there is a way of putting together the evidence to bring the MCcanns to justice. It will take people in high places to fight the cause but I am sure they are out there.
I was shocked at Gerry's obvious obsession with money in his 1st interview. Extraordinary is all I can say.
Sarah