Thursday, May 22, 2014

Ten Reasons why I can't take Scotland Yard Seriously in the Madeleine McCann Case

Shh! Don't Tip Off the Suspects!
I have received a bit of heat in recent weeks for my opinion that Scotland Yard is not really doing a credible review of the Madeleine McCann case, that they appear to be involved in a whitewash of the McCanns' possible involvement in the disappearance of their daughter, Maddie.

First of all, I want to state that I am behind all hardworking detectives out there in the world. It has been my mission to improve criminal profiling and crime scene analysis methodology FOR law enforcement, so that detectives may have more success in solving difficult cases. I also am behind all law enforcement agencies as they work to solve the next homicide case that lands on their desks even if the department screwed up the last case through lack of training or incompetence on the part of whatever detective got assigned to the case and even if the department mishandled the last case due to political pressure (even if it was one I worked on with them). I wish them the best on the next case and hope they do a better job with all their future investigations. I recognize that law enforcement suffers the same problems as any other profession; they are not perfect nor successful nor honorable one hundred percent of the time. Knowing that does not mean I don't support them when they do a good job or want to improve their ability to solve cases and bring justice to criminals and the community. I don't hold grudges against any police agency; I just want to see a brighter future for all homicide investigations.

As to Scotland Yard, they have done great work in the past and also not so great work, just like every other agency. I am sure they will do some great work in the future as well as not so great work in the future. For the moment, they may be solving cases right and left, but something is seriously wrong with the Madeleine McCann case and here are ten reasons why I think this is not business as usual and there is a political coverup going on of some sort.

1) The amount of funds being allotted to Scotland Yard to investigate one missing person's case - a case which is not even  within their own jurisdiction, a case in which the parents' own neglect of their children and refusal to cooperate with the authorities is shameful - is unprecedented and outrageous.

2) Scotland Yard began their "review" by publicly stating that the parents were not suspects instead of simply saying no one  can be excluded from suspicion who does not have a solid alibi as is the usual statement made by police right out of the gate.

3) Scotland Yard constantly says they are updating the parents of the missing child, something that is only done if the parents are absolutely not suspects.

4) Scotland Yard did not do a reconstruction of the crime; they only did a reenactment of the McCann version of the crime for television.

5) Scotland Yard validated Jane Tanner's version of what she saw on a narrow street where she was not seen by two people as she supposedly passed by them.

6) Scotland Yard verified that Tannerman existed with a claim that was not credible.

7) Scotland Yard relatively large "Operation Grange" team has spent three years reviewing files that should have taken no more than a few weeks or months.

8) After reviewing all the evidence and leads in the files, Scotland Yard is investigating suspects that have no connection to the case.

9) Scotland Yard wants to search for Maddies's body (and, yes, they would be searching for a body as all other evidence would be long gone after seven years) in the most unlikely place to find her, right near the apartment in a very open-to-the-view-of-the-public location with hard-as-rock ground where no shallow grave could have been missed by the PJ or anyone walking by.

10) In spite of the fact the PJ has asked for there to be no press about the case, Scotland Yard has its own people still giving interviews.

Along with these ten reasons, if we need one more to seal the issue, it has to be AC Rowley's recent statement to papers:
"If you get any information ahead of our actions do not publish anything that may give suspects advance notice.” 
Since Scotland Yard and DCI Andy Redwood have been shouting from the rooftops since they started working on the Madeleine McCann case, I hardly think any suspect couldn't have covered his tracks over these many months if he hadn't done so in the four years prior to the beginning of the Met review. The naming of the first supposed dig location and Rowley opening his own big mouth hardly encourages me to believe that Scotland Yard is doing everything they can to keep their interest in suspects in the case under wraps, unless you believe they have spend millions of dollars and massive man hours in misdirection and their real suspects are the McCanns. I don't believe this because nothing more than a short case review and a reinterview of the Tapas 9 and reexamination of the physical and behavioral evidence would have been necessary to turn the investigation back toward the McCanns.
No, all the actions of Scotland Yard can only mean one of two things: the present detectives (especially Andy Redwood) are dumb as a box of rocks (which I find hard to believe with the amount of obvious evidence in this case) or they are just going through the motions of rounding up suspects and eventually assigning probable guilt toward one party so that the sad case of little Madeleine McCann can finally be put to rest and the McCanns can be removed from under the cloud of suspicion that has been hovering over them for seven years.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown
May 22, 2014

Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann available at Smashwords and Barnes and Noble.



 Cover for 'Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann'
Published: July 27, 2011
By Pat Brown
Rating: 1 star1 star1 star1 star1 star
(5.00 based on 5 reviews)


What 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.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nobody knows Pat, though I tend to agree with you. I think AC Rowley is just calming things down after Redwood's speculative-cum-hysterical appeals, which will doubtless have dismayed the Portuguese.

Rowley might well be Commissioner soon, and most of all he wishes to protect his organisation's reputation.

Anonymous said...

I have recently watched 3 very perceptive television plays by David Hare - Page Eight, Turks & Caicos, & Salting the Battlefield, about a corrupt prime minster lining his nest at the expense of extraordinary rendition. The playwright appears to have been exceptionally well briefed, especially in Turks and Caicos. I suggest this playwright is commissioned to pen a fourth - 'Digging for Duplicity'.

Pat Brown said...

Anonymous; If Rowley said what he did to protect his organization's reputation, he failed dismally. First of all, he made public comments about an investigation the PJ specifically said should not be talked about in the press. Secondly, he made a stupid statement about tipping off the suspects which is mostly what Scotland Yard has excelled at doing. Now, the only thing he said which might be sensible is to tone down the hope of any results from the investigation since it is extremely improbable they will be able to come up with any real evidence linking a stranger to the crime. This comment about not being able to get all the answers for the McCanns does allow for them to point to a suspect but then say because the PJ blew the case and too much time passed, the physical evidence is long gone (you know that they even searched like crazy for it!) and, therefore, all they can do is give the McCanns an idea of what happened and "close the case" administratively (with the McCanns exonerated, of course, which seems to me to be the whole point).

Anonymous said...

I don't think that's the point but there would be legal implications if the Met had ever said "everyone must be a suspect" and then evidence could not be produced that demonstrated "everyone" can't include the McCanns.

And we know such evidence does not exist because they're still not sure what time Madeleine disappeared at.

So I think right from Day 1 of the review the Met's lawyers were telling Redwood 'make sure you say they're not suspects'.

The McCanns don't really worry about what's said on forums, but do about what will be in print for their children to read in the future.

And as far as we know they do still have the big legal firms behind them.

Pat Brown said...

Sorry, Anonymous, that makes no sense. There is nothing legally wrong with saying that no one has been eliminated as suspects...that is SOP. However, SAYING a particuar party has been eliminated as a suspect then ENDS any interviewing of that party or anyone about that party or doing a reconstruction involving that party.

Anonymous said...

Mr Rowley said: "I want to be able to go back to 'Kate and Gerry'...and tell them we've got to the bottom of this, or second best...say we've 'turned over every stone' and can't get an answer.."

Cosy huh?

Of course it isn't even Rowley's prerogative to decide whether it is possible to get 'an answer'. That question remains within Portuguese jurisdiction - Portuguese law.

Is Rowley answerable to law, or just to 'Kate and Gerry'. Is he the CPS, judge and jury all rolled into one?

He decides what is answerable, to whom, and upon what basis: CPS, Judge and Jury all neatly circumvented.

For 'Kate and Gerry'.

We'll see.

guerra said...

Pat, I'm in total agreement. It astounds me that the authors of certain blogs have convinced themselves that Scotland Yard (SY) set out first to eliminate every possibility of abduction so that nothing is left but a trail to the McCanns. It seems that these, apparently educated, people believe SY is preparing a foundation for a trial in which the McCanns will be left with no defense because all possibilities of abduction have been eliminated.
And I've also read in one blog that the allocation of 10 million pounds to this investigation / review by a nation's government is peanuts and sensible. It's such absurd reasoning. I think these people are delusional.

Anonymous said...

Has redwood actually said the McCanns have been eliminated or is this just press speculation.In my opinion if they are searching the local area to the apartments then they know the McCanns are guilty.Surely all these so called suspects from everyman and his dog has been a charade and put out in the press to throw people off what is really happening!To think that SY would put out tales of imminent arrests of burglars before they arrive in portugal is madnesss. I conclude that SY is feeding the press these laughable headlines on purpose.If I'm wrong then something's really wrong here.

Anonymous said...

Ha Guerra, Blacksmith seems to have gone into projection meltdown.
Muttering: "Pat Brown's a Nazi, and I'm nothing like Tony Bennett."
As though that keeps him clean.

"Delusional" looks about right.

Anonymous said...

From the minute this child disappeared it looked to me as though something was off. Now as time moves on and more taxpayers money is thrown at the case of a single missing child that feeling hasn't gone away.
What on earth is going on that her parents have never been properly questioned?

Anonymous said...

Yes. I'm afraid Blacksmith can't resist playing to the galleries he periodically thrashes. Less is often more, Mr B.

Pat Brown said...

It seems, Guerra, that people have forgotten how the court system works, that the McCanns don't need to prove themselves innocent, the prosecution has to provide ample evidence to convict. Every suspect in the world could be eliminated and that would not get the McCanns convicted in a court of law.

Pat Brown said...

As to Blacksmith, he must be horribly upset that I think Scotland Yard is not going to solve this case in the manner which he wishes; otherwise, it would not be necessary to do such an angry ad hominem attack. He is not the only one recently to get very upset at what I am saying; I think I am getting as much from them at the moment as I have in the past from the pro-McCann segment. I could have played it safe and said nothing about Scotland Yard and let it play out, but I think is important that citizens understand how legitimate investigations work and not be misled by media and police spin. The truth is not always pleasant and some who manipulate people understand that they are happier being fed lies as long as it is comforting and gives them hope that people care and are doing the right thing.

Anonymous said...

I think it just awfull all the Scotland yard want do is please kate and Gerry never have I seen parents get such reward for leaveing kids on there own its just crasy plese god someone speak up for poor maddie she the victiam not them two people I feel sick to my what kind country is england

Anonymous said...

It is sad that the issue of 'interpreting' SY has become so divisive. Everything still retains an element of conjecture.If this weren't the case, if people were genuinely certain about the future course of events, then they would surely sit back in silence. The heat in this remains because it is still possible to see this from both ’sides’. Doubts are raised in one another, and surely that is ok.

Blacksmith, however, is entirely different. His blog is an hermetic little space in which one man is beating his own head against a mirror. His fatuous identification of Criminal Profiling with Naziism is akin to labelling Psychology a Jewish conspiracy (born out of Freud). There are no such identifications to be made (in either case). Both historically, and practically, he is wrong.

And yet for Blacksmith of course it is always the ’others’ who are the frothing conspiracists.

To take just a handful of epithets of which he is particularly fond - recent Sharples labels include - “the maggot”, “the cunt”, “the cesspit” and now the “Nazi”. Ah yes, what might a freud have said? “Full house.”

Irrespective of what Redwood might achieve; even if ’Drs Mummy and Daddy’ do have to face questions, for Blacksmith there will be no end. He has already turned his attention to a time post-Redwood, to all the journalists and hangers on that he wants to rub salt into. More maggots and still deeper cesspits to pried into. There’s really no end to all these repugnant ’others’.

Just beating his head against a mirror.

Anonymous said...

Hi Pat

Just want to say thank you for your Ten Reasons.

It was heartening to read your comments what with all the rubbish we read and hear about good old SY. It's about time they were exposed to daylight. But I doubt we will see any improvement on their ability to solve any crime that could possibly harm "their friends" of whichever club they are in!

Anonymous said...

Pat, its good to read some rational thoughts about this case and from someone experienced in these matters.

When I`m thinking rationally I also think whitewash, but then someone says "How are 37 coppers, plus all the admin staff at Belgravia Police Station, going to keep a secret like that for the rest of their lives" and it gets me hoping again.

What also gives me hope is that this case is so complicated and far reaching into the realms of the political or similar elite, it has taken SY beyond their original remit.

Would you know why the head person of the Crown Prosecution Service went herself to Portugal to meet with the PJ? Its just these odd little rays of light that give me glimmers of hope.
Louisee

Anonymous said...

No heat here Pat, you gave us a great piece highlighting without actually stating where the truth lies, sadly Amazon took a Rucking from a certain Carter.
Rowley said he didn't want to alert the suspects & he wanted to go back to K&G with answers, well that could have the three options you gave in the e-book banned by amazon. (A) He genuinely has no clue who the suspects are but is hoping they will be caught (B) He knows who the suspects are & is part of the whitewash (C) He knows who the suspects are & will be going back with the best answer, You're nicked me little beauties.
Regarding this "substantial new phase of operational activity" are we to believe the PJ are having their arm twisted by SY & the imperialistic UK Gov't? or rather more simply SY have solid intelligence which the Pt Judge has seen & given the go ahead for these digs...wherever they may be. Which if they are where has been reported in the media goes against Rowleys claim of not alerting the suspects. I lean 80% no whitewash but sometimes have a wobble. Just quick highlight what SY have given us...Timelines questioned, Bundleman dumped, the man the Smith family seen promoted, Crimewatch using an actor who could have been Gerry himself to play the abductor,suggesting abduction not all our thinking, suggesting death in 5A & digging in the Algarve. x

Anonymous said...

Ten very good reasons, I would say. I mean, you said it and I could not agree more.

I too have read of some who disagree. Well, may be they just had a momentary drop in IQ or who knows they just want to steal the sceptre of criminal profiler from you.

Ignore and forgive them. They know not what they are saying.

Suffice it to note this investigation was triggered by Rebekha Brooks, wife of Charlie Brooks, Cameron's old chum from Eton...

And if that was not enough Clarence Mitchell worked for Matthew Freud, married with Rupert Murdoch daughter Elisabeth.

Still not enough for them?

Well, what about Clarence Mitchell (the McCanns spokesperson and director of Burson-Marsteller - the global reputation management agency) involvement with the Conservative Party that culminated recently with Cameron nominating him for the next UK General Elections? Take that!

I re-quote what Prof. Paulo Sargento (also a criminologist)said recently:

"Gonçalo Amaral probably does not wish to say this but, I am not a police officer and I have no qualms in saying it:

Scotland Yard must be under the orders (following the instructions)of someone! It is not possible to understand it in any other way!" (quote/unquote)





: ) It is conspiracy theory all right!

Anonymous said...

Whitewash, pure and simple.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.
The McCanns are a protected species....they have been from day one and always will be.
The big question is why.

Anonymous said...

Pat,
Do you think the truth will ever come out?

Unknown said...

Agree 100% cant pass without my 2 penneth worth - SY IS as dumb as a box of rocks and certainly acts that way and incapable of logical thought especially for the 12 million pounds of overtime and payoffs - This is the ultimate in UK snobbery and class elitism THEY ARE DOCTORS U KNOW