Process of Elimination

Process of elimination;

This process of the investigation would take place when there are numerous suspects of a crime. The only way to narrow the amount of suspects they have down would be through the process of elimination. They want to eliminate anyone who is innocent of the crime. They could do this by interviewing a witness and also interviewing the suspect. Another way of elimination is if the witness of a crime was shown a photo of suspects, they could eliminate the people who are not who they saw. Forensic evidence is another way of elimination. This may be if none of the forensic evidence shows any links to the possible suspects, they can be acquitted.

This stage is very important and takes place every time there is a new suspect in the case. It is one of the most important stages but would take place as one of the last stages because this stage can result in a guilty criminal being acquitted of something they did do, and vice versa, an innocent individual might be prosecuted and labelled guilty for a crime they did not commit.

In the Madeleine McCann case the McCann parents and 7 family friends were also viewed as suspects in the case. The parents and family friends have all been interviewed by various police forces and newspaper companies about the disappearance of Madeleine. Theories about the McCann’s have been speculated in the disappearance of their daughter. One theory consists of the McCann’s accidentally killing their daughter and hiding her body to make it look like an abduction and use this as a cover for them. They were eliminated from being suspects. Another suspect who was eliminated from the Madeleine McCann case was Robert Murat. Robert Murat was a property consultant who lived 150 yards from the apartments the McCann’s were staying in. He was reported being seen numerous times on the night of her disappearance but police saw this as unsurprising because of the proximity of his house to the apartment. Murat’s house was searched and various items were taking and analysed by the police. He was eliminated from being a suspect in 2008 when the case closed. 

This stage was successful in ruling out possible suspects in the case. This included eliminating the parents and friends of Madeleine McCann. Also this included ruling out a suspect; Robert Murat who was reported being scene around the McCann apartment numerous times that night. Although this stage was unsuccessful that all the possible suspects they had were ruled out so they had no new suspect leads.