Met facing huge challenge on Maddy trail, says expert

[Alison J Stevens]

Met facing huge challenge on Maddy trail, says expert

Kate and Gerry McCann

By dan martin and helen kitchener

Detectives reviewing the case of missing Madeleine McCann have a hugely challenging task ahead of them, a leading criminologist has said.

The Metropolitan Police has been ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron to re-examine the evidence collected in the search for the youngster.

It follows pressure from her parents, Kate and Gerry, who said they were frustrated by a lack of official support in their efforts to find their daughter.

Madeleine, from Rothley, was three when she disappeared four years ago during a family holiday to the Portuguese resort of Praia de Luz.

Criminologist James Treadwell, of the University of Leicester, said that while there was a chance a fresh pair of eyes could unearth a new lead, there would be a number of considerable barriers facing the review team.

He said: “They will have a small team charged with looking through and re-checking hundreds of printed pages and witness statements.

“There will be language issues because much of that evidence will be in Portuguese and key facts could be lost in translation.

“The Met will also need the co-operation of the Portuguese police and it is not clear how forthcoming that will be.

“We know police forces in England can get bothered by being overseen by other forces here.

“When you add an international element to that, it can create real problems.”

Dr Treadwell said the Met would only be able to look over evidence that had already been collected.

He said: “When a lead goes cold, the more time that has passed, the harder it is to pick up the trail and there is some question about how the Portuguese police handled things straight after she disappeared.

“They were a small police force unprepared to deal with such a major incident.

“After such a long time, you cannot recapture what could have been critical evidence.

“It is not clear whether this review will ever unlock the riddle of what happened to Madeleine.

“There is hope, though, and you can point to the recent cold-case review of the Night Stalker investigation in London, which had stumped police until a new team looked at the same evidence and were able to catch their man.”

The McCanns said the review was a step in the right direction.

The couple said in a statement: “The expertise of the Metropolitan Police is renowned and we are reassured by our Government’s commitment to the search for Madeleine.”

The decision to get the Met to review the evidence has been criticised by Lord Harris, a member of its police authority.

He said: “It again embroils their officers in a high-profile investigation, where the chances of success are unclear, and which will divert limited investigative resources away from other matters.”

The review was announced hours after the launch of Kate McCann‘s book, Madeleine – her own account of her daughter’s disappearance.

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My thoughts.

While i have a great sympathy for Gerry and Kate, and i really do support their efforts to find their daughter, as any of us would want to, i wonder who is going to fund this review?

Is it us the taxpayers that will have be forced to pay thousands of pounds out for the Met, to take up the cause.

The finance in my opinion should be payed for by the Mcanns themselves via the Madeleine fund.

There are many children out there that have gone missing, never heard off again,and no cause is listened to.

I have been trying to arrange meetings in past with then childrens Minister Margaret Hodge, also Ed Balls, last year, with PAIN concerns about the amount of children that were being taken into care by a system of secrecy of the family courts,where children are forcibly adopted on the limited of evidence, by the so called medical experts, as by the likes of the man in the news at the moment David Southall.

Our pleas for a meeting have fallen on deaf ears, our MPs care very little about our cause.

THE SILENCE OF THE TEARS OF THE PARENTS THAT HAVE SUFFERED MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE VIA THE FAMILY COURTS ALSO BARE A TRAUMA THAT ALSO WILL BE LIFE LONG.

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