Six Years On – Scotland Yard’s New Material Could Solve Madeline McCann Disappearance

Kate and Gerry McCann are due to make a fresh television appeal after new “substantive” and “different” material has come to light, uncovered in the latest British police investigation.

It has been six years since Madeline McCann went missing in Praia da Luz, in Portugal, and for the first time Scotland Yard is trawling through a  log of mobile phone activity at the time of Madeline’s disappearance.

The McCanns will appear on an episode of the BBC’s Crimewatch this Monday, which will also feature a reconstruction and pre-recorded interviews with the parents.

Mark Rowley, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police explains that the couples live television appearance will not be a regular missing persons appeal.  “It's substantially different,” he explained.

“It's important to stress, the Crimewatch appeal is not simply 'this is a live investigation has anyone got any information?'. It is more than that. There is new information not previously presented. Fresh, substantive material upon which to make an appeal.”

“It will be a substantive and substantial programme rather than a broad implication that people can help us,” he added.

An age-progressed image of what Madeline may look like now, aged 10.

Huffington Post reports that Scotland Yard revealed 41 individuals of interest have been identified since launching its own investigation. Detectives have issued 31 international letters of request, the majority of which have gone to European countries, in relation to some of the persons of interest on the records.

Significantly police now have the ability to create a log of calls made at the time of the disappearance. The list of numbers and activity is said to be vast but “manageable”.

The senior investigating officer on the inquiry, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, said this new material could be the key to the investigation.

“We've got a data set of phone traffic. Within that phone traffic you can see we've got some of those numbers we can attribute to people, but a large number of them we can't.”

“So in a targeted way, we're trying to say in a particular moment in time, that is around the moment of opportunity, who's there. It's really as simple as that.”

He continued, “a lot of the focus is not necessarily to find a suspect, but also witnesses. We're trying to understand who was there for a range of reasons.”

Redwood stated that he or his team could never be certain that they knew everybody who was in Praia da Luz the night Madeleine disappeared.

“What we're trying to do is to use every route available to us to identify as many of them as possible and the phone data is one route into that, as are appeals. If you were in Praia da Luz at the time, you may get a routine phone call from the police.”

Madeline went missing in 2007 from the McCann family holiday apartment as her parents, Kate and Gerry, dined at a nearby restaurant with friends.

The Portuguese investigation into the disappearance of the little girl has been officially closed, however authorities there are helping and Scotland Yard inquiry and officers from both countries will work together.

The McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, has expressed the gratitude the couple have to the Met and their liaising with the Portuguese officials.  

“Their forthcoming appearance on Crimewatch is an important stage in that ongoing process. Naturally, they hope it will lead to information that will provide the breakthrough to finding Madeleine.”

 

Crimewatch will air on BBC One on Monday October 14th at 9pm.