Concluding the Case

Madeleine McCann, a young girl who disappeared from the holiday resort Praia Da Luz on May 3^rd 2007. She was 3 years old when she disappeared. The disappearance of Madeleine McCann today is still an ongoing investigation.

The investigation of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has involved the Portuguese police, British police and private investigators.

Throughout this blog, we have looked at the various and different team members who have important and different roles and responsibilities within the case, the evidence that was collected during the case and how those pieces of evidence were analysed and the different procedures that were or were not carried out during the case. All of these factors have an impact on the case which has resulted in at present, the case being open. There has been no firm conclusion as to what happened to Madeleine, as her whereabouts are still unknown and there are no firm suspects in the case.

Looking at the procedures of the case, we know that the scene was not cordoned off straight away by the first attending officers and therefore various individuals had access to the crime scene. This could have meant that individuals left traces of themselves at the crime scene which could have resulted in contamination of evidence. Evidence could have possibly been destroyed or damaged with those individuals having access to the crime scene; also people would have had the ability to take things that could have served as potential evidence. If this procedure was carried out effectively and efficiently, people would have been stopped of entering and exiting the scene. If this procedure was carried out could this have resulted in more potential evidence giving the case more leads to go from? Fingerprints were collected as evidence from the crime scene but where unsuccessful in the case. Could this have been due to the presence of individuals having access to the case? With there being no security of the scene to stop individuals from entering, they could have accessed the scene and came into contact with the crime scene leaving their fingerprints at the scene.

Another procedure that was not carried in the Madeleine McCann case was the use of PPE (personal protection equipment). This procedure was not carried out when the police officers were collecting fingerprints from the crime scene. This has had an impact on the case because this evidence could not be used and was contaminated within the process of the evidence being collected. This evidence was insufficient evidence within the case due to this procedure not being carried out. If this procedure was carried out during evidence collection, this could have had a different impact on the case because the evidence wouldn’t have been contaminated and the evidence could have been analysed. This evidence could have been analysed and could have possibly lead to a possible suspect or gave the investigation team a lead to follow on.

Throughout the case, the Portuguese police had listed suspects and investigations where made based on those suspicions. This even included Madeleine’s parents; Gerry and Kate McCann.

The first suspect was made 12 days after Madeleine had been reported missing. This suspect was Robert Murat, a local British-Portuguese property consultant who lived with his mother 150yards away from the apartment where Madeleine went missing from. This conclusion was made when a British journalist reported to police that Murat had been asking questions regarding Madeleine’s disappearance. Members of the Tapas Seven (friends of Gerry and Kate McCann who were on the holiday with the McCanns) claimed that they had seen Murat around the area of the apartment Madeleine was reported missing but Murat and his mother whom he lived with claimed that they were both home all evening. Following this lead, the investigation team searched belongings of Murat which included a search of his house, cars, computers and mobile phone. Following this search the investigation team did not find any evidence that linked Murat to Madeleine’s disappearance and proved that he had an involvement. The investigation team cleared Murat as a suspect in 2008 and stated that it wouldn’t have been unusual to see Murat around the location due to where he lived (150yards from the apartment).

In 2007, the McCanns; Gerry and Kate McCann, parents of Madeleine became suspects in her disappearance. This was based on media coverage in Portugal when a German journalist and reported asked the McCann’ whether they were involved with her disappearance. These allegations were followed up in the UK which involved more suspicions with the McCann’s. Following this the McCanns were interviewed various times where inconsistencies between these interviews were identified which involved where the McCanns had entered the apartment on the night of her reported disappearance. The investigation team discarded these inconsistencies and based them on translation problems within the interview. Questions were asked in Portuguese by the Portuguese police whereas answers were answered in English. An interpreter had translated these responses to Portuguese. A police statement was then wrote in Portuguese by the police officers but had to be translated to English in order for the McCann’ to sign. The investigation team concluded from this that false information could have been misunderstood and misinterpreted due to the translation process which could have encouraged inconsistencies.

Mark Harrison, a member of the British National Policing Improvement Agency as a search advisor arrived in Praia da Luz to help with the ground search of Madeleine. This included involving Keela and Eddie, two spaniel sniffer dogs to help with the case. Keela, a CSI dog trained to alert her handler to traces of human blood. Eddie was an enhanced victim recovery dog trained to alert his handler of the scent of human cadavers (corpse). Following the suspicions of the McCanns, these dogs were taken to two beaches of Praia Da Luz, Robert Murats house and several Ocean Club apartments including the apartment rented by the McCanns. This investigation lead to the dogs only giving alerts to their handlers in the apartment 5A rented by the McCanns. These alerts were given in the living room of the apartment, and on and under the veranda of the parent’s bedroom. Belongings from the apartment where then taken to be analysed by the two dogs including Madeleine’s cuddle cat toy, suitcases of clothes belonging to the family and a hire car rented 24 days after Madeleine went missing. These items where place in a room and the car in a public underground for the dogs to examine. Eddie gave an alert to his handler outside and inside of the McCanns rented car and both dogs gave alerts to Madelein’s cuddle cat and clothing belonging to her parents.

From this evidence and evidence analysis, the investigation team had high suspicion that the McCann’s had an involvement with Madeleine’s disappearance. The Sunday Times released a video footage of the search carried out by the dogs which shows it is apparent that the handler of the dogs was directing and leading the dogs to specific areas and sports of the apartment and the McCanns’ hire vehicle. The investigation team used this footage as a reveal that the dogs were influenced by the handler making the evidence unreliable to use against the McCanns.

As of May 2008, it was concluded by the investigation team that there was no evidence linking the McCanns and Robert Murat to the disappearance of Madeleine and their status as suspects had been lifted.

Witness statements played an important role in this investigation. Witness statements were taken on the day of the disappearance regarding men behaving oddly on the day she went missing, and also men behaving oddly prior to Madeleine being reported missing. These witness statements allowed Scotland Yard to construct facial images of possible suspects involved in the case that were released in 2013. These images were obviously released years after Madeleine being reported missing which would make it possible for the individuals being described in the statements to have changed physically and appearance wise. This could make these facial images an unreliable source, but they could also give individuals a rough idea of who they may be looking for.

Also if individuals of the location had witnessed individuals of that description but not registered that they could be involved, this could encourage people to come forward with information.

The reliability of these witness statements regarding possible suspects could also depend on the time these witness statements were taken. If the witness statements were taken a while after the incident, this could have encouraged peoples witness statements and memories to change because the what they have saw would not be fresh in their memories. The witness statements were taken within short time that she was disappeared and an inquiry into the witness statements took place that year (2007) and the following year before the case was closed.

Looking at the witness statements and the conclusions that the investigation team concluded from these witness statements suggest that all possible suspects are male and the facial constructions produced by Scotland Yard show 4 males. This could be as fault to the case because police and the investigation team might have only asked the witnesses questions about males behaving oddly on the day of her disappearance and before, this rules out women being possible suspects. This could be because of the questions that the police were asking and those questions all being tailored as if the suspect was a definite male and that’s who they were looking for. This could have had an impact on the case because someone could have seen a female acting suspicious around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance and around the location of the apartment, but because the police were targeting males as their suspects, this could have led to the individual not coming forward with that information that they had witnessed.

Each of these factors has had an impact on the case and have all contributed to the end conclusion of the case or where the case stands now. And in the Madeleine McCann case, the case still stands open today and is still under investigation and has no possible suspects from the evidence collected at the time of the incident. 

The police

Members of the Investigation Team

In the Madeleine McCann case, the police were important members who were involved in the case as a whole. The police had the job to determine whether a crime has been committed or not.

The police played an important contribution to the Madeleine McCann case which involved the cordoning off of the scene to stop people from accessing the scene, to keep a log of who had either entered or left the crime scene, and also to collect and secure pieces of evidence.

Although these were the different responsibilities of the police, they were not carried out effectively. The police did not cordon off the scene immediately which meant unauthorised individuals had access to the scene, and no PPE was worn whilst collecting the evidence which meant the evidence was more open to contamination.

The police had the purpose and role to collect and handle evidence in this particular case. These pieces of evidence were;

·         Blood

·         Witness statements

·         Fingerprints

The police in the Madeleine McCann case then had the role of securing this evidence. This meant the collecting of the evidence, the labeling and packaging of the evidence, the handling of the evidence and keeping a chain of custody for those pieces of evidence.

The blood and fingerprints were collected by the police without wearing any PPE. This could suggest that the evidence that the police collected could be contaminated because they did not protect the evidence from themselves.

Witness statements were also taken from various individuals by the police. This was of to good and bad value because these witness statements gave the police more details and information but they were not taken on the night, and some were taken weeks after her disappearance.  This could have meant that false information could have been given to the police because the information won’t have been fresh in their memory.

After these pieces of evidence were correctly bagged and tagged, these were passed on to other individuals on the case which include detectives, forensics scientists and consultants.

These key pieces of evidence were then passed onto different individuals on the case.

The police would have then had contact with detectives and forensic scientist within the Madeleine McCann case. This would be to pass on evidence to the forensic scientist for analysis and to contact detectives who may want to investigate further and to also help the police with their part of the investigation. 

Detectives

The police would have then had contact with detectives and forensic scientist within the Madeleine McCann case. This would be to pass on evidence to the forensic scientist for analysis and to contact detectives who may want to investigate further and to also help the police with their part of the investigation.

Detectives in the Madeleine McCann case were also important individuals in reviewing the case as a whole including the evidence collected by the police. The detectives can also be involved in the collection of evidence and will work in partnership with the police and the forensics scientist to recover as much information and information of the crime as possible.

The detective will keep a chain of custody for that evidence or use the chain of custody provided by the police.

Because the detective can work along side the police, this means that they may have the role to collect, preserve and secure evidence correctly.

In the Madeleine McCann case, the evidence collected by the detectives and the police were tagged and packaged correctly to prevent contamination.

These detectives worked with the police to try and build a case on any suspects of the Madeleine McCann case. These detectives would have kept in contact with the police and forensics scientists on the case to keep up to date with any findings or new leads within the case.

But because the evidence that the police collected from the crime scene, the evidence did not lead to the police and detective building a case profile on a possible suspect because the evidence didn't point to an individual.

Forensic Scientists

The police and detectives will then work with assigned forensic scientists and investigators on the case. This would be to analyse and follow through on the evidence that the police and detectives have collected from the scene.
It is important of the police and detectives to handle these pieces of evidence correctly when giving them to the other parties of the case.
 The forensic scientists have the role in analysing the different types and pieces of evidence. Especially in the Madeleine McCann case, this passing on of the different types of evidence is very important because these types of evidence were sent to forensic labs in Birmingham, United Kingdom and were collect in Portugal. So it was important that this evidence was not mishandled, mistreated or contaminated in this process.
This would be analysing the blood and fingerprints looking for potential matches. The witness statements would also be analysed for any leads or information involving the case.

After this evidence has been analysed, the forensic scientist would report back to the police and the detectives on what they have found and gained from analysing that evidence. This is if the forensic team have found anything from those pieces of evidence, the police and detectives would follow out further enquiries involving that evidence. This could be the forensic team having matched an individual to the crime scene, the police and detectives may go and interview that suspect.

In the Madeleine McCann case, the evidence came back as Madeleine's but this does not point to a suspect because the blood doesn't belong to anyone else. The witness statements also did not lead to the sighting of an individual except for one. The Tanner Sighting was a famous witness report from the case of a man carrying a child in his arms wearing pink nightwear. Although this was stated and informed to the police via a witness statement, the police could not identify that suspect and therefore the sighting was not a lead in the investigation.

The Consultants

Consultants were also involved in the Madeleine McCann case. These were 5 individuals from different job roles who wanted to have their take on the investigation. So this team of consultants would be aware of the evidence the police and detectives obtained that were analysed by the forensic team. This would be so the consultants know what that evidence could have suggested and any leads that the analysis of that evidence led to. This led them to travel to the sight of where Madeleine went missing and wanting to put all the evidence and witnesses accounts together to see if the police or detectives had missed anything out or to see if they could come up with any new theories or ideas of what could have happened to her and have reliable reasons for that. The team looked at the theories the police and detectives came up with, and singled out which one was not as likely using the evidence gained to back it up.

It is important for different parties of an investigation to work together throughout the investigation process. This is because they all have one aim which is to solve the case, but they do this by having different individual roles. From the Madeleine McCann case, we can see that the different members of the investigation team worked together in the various stages.

An example of this would be the witness statements, these would be taken by the police or detectives who then would be processed by them or another party of the team to gather as much information and details from those witness statement. Then if there is information that would serve as being relevant to the case, it would be reported back to the police and detectives to make further enquiries about if there was a sighting in a witness statement and who was witnessed in that statement.

This analysis can then be passed onto consultants or private detectives who may want to dig deeper in the investigation.

If the different members of the investigation team did not work together then different job roles within the investigation will not be able to be carried out. If the police did not work with the forensic team: who would analyse the evidence? If the forensic team found a lead from the evidence: who would follow this lead through?

The different roles all link together in the various stages of the investigation.