By: DAISY SAMPSON and CECÍLIA PIRES
daisy.sampson@the-resident.com
THOUSANDS OF files from the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have revealed many flaws in the way Portuguese police acted, including three independent descriptions of a suspicious man which were never released to the public.
Journalists from around the world assembled outside Portimão court on Monday to receive their DVD copies of the case files which run into nearly 20,000 pages and include telephone records, transcripts of interviews and investigations undertaken by the police.
The first of the descriptions of a suspicious man, given by three different witnesses, was at 3pm on May 5 when a British tourist made a report to the police about a suspicious man seen in the area before Madeleine went missing.
A photofit of the suspicious
 Two sketches of a suspicious man created by two different testimonies which were never released to the public by police. |
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man was created by the witness and is included in the files. He is shown as being between 25 and 30 years old with dark heavy eyebrows.
A second witness, a British resident not connected to the first, also gave a description of a suspicious man. The height and age of the man is different from the first photofit but the facial characteristics are very similar and he was in the area at the same time as the disappearance of Madeleine. The
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report was made on May 5 at 1pm to police.
The third description of a man acting strangely in the area was given on May 6 by a Portuguese citizen. The drawing (not published by The Resident) created by the police is not as clear as the other two but looks very similar to the first report and is the same age and height as the man described by the British tourist the day before.
These descriptions were never revealed to the public and there is no evidence of further investigation into the potential suspect in the files in the preliminary stages of the case.
Kidnapping
The files also reveal that the Portuguese police were not looking at Kate and Gerry McCann as possible suspects in the case in the initial stages of the investigation.
The probable cause of the disappearance of Madeleine early on is stated as kidnapping, based on the statement given by Jane
 This picture of the bed Madeleine used to sleep in according to her parents, was taken on the night the girl went missing. |
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Tanner, one of the McCanns’ friends, who described a man between 30 and 40 years old seen with a child wearing pyjamas.
All in all, the police followed numerous lines of inquiry into reports of suspicious persons in the area and used available resources to follow-up leads of possible kidnappers. Files show that they were not investigating the McCanns.
Many possible suspects were looked at, some at length, while others were dropped after just preliminary investigation.
Rob, the translator
Robert Murat, the first person to made an arguido in the case, came under suspicion after a British journalist reported him to the police.
Lori Campbell contacted Leicestershire Constabulary on May 6, 2007 and they sent a letter to the Portuguese incident room stating that a man known as Rob was acting in a suspicious manner and became concerned when photographers tried to take his
 The living room of the Ocean Club apartment where the McCann family were staying in Praia da Luz. Photo also taken on the night Madeleine went missing. |
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picture.
The letter stated that ‘Rob’ was going through a difficult divorce with his wife in the UK and that he had made too much of an emphasis, in Lori Campbell’s opinion, in the making of a phone call to his daughter in the UK, a girl similar in age to missing Madeleine.
Another report states that an anonymous call to the police from a woman speaking fluent Portuguese compounded police suspicions about him, claiming that a man named Robert was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine although she refused to give her name and become an official part of the inquiry.
According to the police files released this week, Robert Murat acted as a translator for police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
This contradicts claims made by investigators, who said they had not used him. The case files show that Robert Murat helped the police in an official capacity on more than one occasion.
He was used as a translator on May 7 and helped police interview nannies working at the Ocean Club. He is also mentioned in the documents as an “official translator in the investigation”.
The files also show that Robert Murat was being used as a translator after Lori Campbell, a reporter from the Sunday Mirror, had alerted British police to her concerns about the British expatriate.
Inconclusive
There is also evidence in the files of British scientists’ warning that DNA evidence collated from the McCanns’ hire car much later in the investigation was inconclusive.
In an email dated September 3, 2007, to Det Supt Stuart Prior, head of the UK side of the investigation, senior British forensic scientist John Lowe from the major incidents team at the Birmingham-based Forensic Science Service, said it was impossible to conclude whether a sample from the hire car came from their daughter Madeleine.
Four days later, Portuguese detectives named Gerry and Kate McCann as formal supects in the child’s disappearance, citing forensic evidence as grounds for their suspicions.
Police then categorically told Mr McCann in an interview that his daughter’s DNA had been found in the family’s Renault Scenic hire car.
The files released by the police show that the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine uncovered very little conclusive evidence about what actually happened to the little girl.
Among the hundreds of files released is a report from public prosecutors José de Magalhães e Menezes and João Melchior Gomes, who noted that detectives were unable to achieve any proof as to Madeleine’s fate.
They added: “This includes the most dramatic thing, ascertaining whether she is still alive or dead – which seems the most probable.” They went on to say investigators were aware their work was “not exempt from imperfections”.
Meanwhile, Gerry and Kate McCann are said to have “drawn strength” from the lack of any evidence in police files that she is dead.
Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the BBC: “They hope against hope she is being held somewhere”.
For regular updates on what is in the Madeleine files, keep an eye on our website at www.the-resident.com
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