CharmedSerenity
06-22-2007, 02:32 PM
Madeleine evidence 'may be lost'
Mr de Sousa said the forensic team's work had been complicated.
Vital forensic clues may have been destroyed in the hours after Madeleine McCann's disappearance, a leading Portuguese policeman has said.
Chief Inspector Olegario de Sousa said so many people entered her room looking for her after she disappeared that forensic teams faced a difficult task.
Mr de Sousa told a Portuguese paper 20 people entered the three-year-old's room the night she disappeared.
Madeleine was taken from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on 3 May.
This could prove to be fatal for the investigation
Mr de Sousa said that among those who entered the room on the night she disappeared were parents Kate and Gerry McCann, other holidaymakers and friends and staff from the Ocean Club resort.
He told the Diario de Noticias newspaper: "The presence of so many people - especially in the room where the little girl slept with her brother and sister - could have at least complicated the work of the forensic team.
"At the very worst they would have destroyed all the evidence. This could prove to be fatal for the investigation."
It is thought Madeleine was snatched from the family's apartment at the Praia da Luz resort while her parents were at a nearby restaurant.
Samples from Madeleine's bedroom at the resort have been sent to three Portuguese forensic labs in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra, all part of the country's Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal (INML).
On 1 June the lab reported it had found traces of a "stranger" amid the DNA material gathered.
A source close to the family told the Press Association: "It's insensitive at the very least. Of course the family are going to search the apartment.
Madeleine McCann went missing while her parents were at a restaurant
"If your child goes missing, you search under the beds, in the wardrobes, behind the doors, everywhere.
"It's inevitable that there were people in the bedroom. Even if what the police are saying is true, it's very unhelpful to say it publicly."
On the 45th day since her disappearance, Madeleine's parents attended a two-hour church ceremony in Praia da Luz.
"I can't think about last year and how we spent it, I honestly can't," Mr McCann, 39, said.
"I can't really think about anything else, other than how we can help try and get Madeleine back."
On Friday, the McCanns are due to set aloft 50 balloons from 50 countries to highlight the fact Madeleine will have been missing for 50 days.
* * * * *
Madeleine searches find nothing
Madeleine McCann has now been missing for more than a month
Portuguese police say they have not found anything in a search of scrubland nine miles from where four-year-old Madeleine McCann went missing.
The search was carried out after a Dutch newspaper published details of an anonymous letter it received alleging Madeleine's body was under rocks.
Officers said the line of inquiry had now been "discarded".
Madeleine vanished from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve, on 3 May while her parents were at a restaurant.
A road which was cordoned off by police leads up to remote hillside tracks spanning across farmland and wooded areas.
Officers from a section of the police called GNR led sniffer dogs to the area they searched early on Friday.
The search was called off hours later and police said no more were planned.
Ch Insp Olegario Sousa, of Portuguese police, told the BBC: "The line of enquiry has now been discarded."
Details of the anonymous letter were published in De Telegraaf on Wednesday.
The Dutch newspaper received the letter and a map on Monday and passed it on to police, delaying publication of the information.
On Thursday Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate, of Rothley, Leicestershire, condemned the decision to publish the letter.
On his internet blog, Mr McCann said the letter and accompanying map should have been properly examined first.
He called the publication "irresponsible" and "cruel" journalism.
"We were extremely disappointed in the publication of the anonymous letter in De Telegraaf claiming to know where Madeleine is buried," he said.
"Although all information will be taken seriously, we were very upset that the credibility of this letter had not been examined and, more importantly, [it was] published before the Portuguese police had an opportunity to investigate the claim, and search the area if appropriate without massive media attention."
Dutch police were studying similarities between the new letter and one received last year by De Telegraaf pointing to the whereabouts of Belgian step-sisters Stacey Lemmens, seven, and Nathalie Mahy, 10.
The Belgian girls were murdered in June 2006 after they disappearing from Liege.
On the day the letter was received, police found their bodies close to a spot indicated on an enclosed map.
Mr de Sousa said the forensic team's work had been complicated.
Vital forensic clues may have been destroyed in the hours after Madeleine McCann's disappearance, a leading Portuguese policeman has said.
Chief Inspector Olegario de Sousa said so many people entered her room looking for her after she disappeared that forensic teams faced a difficult task.
Mr de Sousa told a Portuguese paper 20 people entered the three-year-old's room the night she disappeared.
Madeleine was taken from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz on 3 May.
This could prove to be fatal for the investigation
Mr de Sousa said that among those who entered the room on the night she disappeared were parents Kate and Gerry McCann, other holidaymakers and friends and staff from the Ocean Club resort.
He told the Diario de Noticias newspaper: "The presence of so many people - especially in the room where the little girl slept with her brother and sister - could have at least complicated the work of the forensic team.
"At the very worst they would have destroyed all the evidence. This could prove to be fatal for the investigation."
It is thought Madeleine was snatched from the family's apartment at the Praia da Luz resort while her parents were at a nearby restaurant.
Samples from Madeleine's bedroom at the resort have been sent to three Portuguese forensic labs in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra, all part of the country's Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal (INML).
On 1 June the lab reported it had found traces of a "stranger" amid the DNA material gathered.
A source close to the family told the Press Association: "It's insensitive at the very least. Of course the family are going to search the apartment.
Madeleine McCann went missing while her parents were at a restaurant
"If your child goes missing, you search under the beds, in the wardrobes, behind the doors, everywhere.
"It's inevitable that there were people in the bedroom. Even if what the police are saying is true, it's very unhelpful to say it publicly."
On the 45th day since her disappearance, Madeleine's parents attended a two-hour church ceremony in Praia da Luz.
"I can't think about last year and how we spent it, I honestly can't," Mr McCann, 39, said.
"I can't really think about anything else, other than how we can help try and get Madeleine back."
On Friday, the McCanns are due to set aloft 50 balloons from 50 countries to highlight the fact Madeleine will have been missing for 50 days.
* * * * *
Madeleine searches find nothing
Madeleine McCann has now been missing for more than a month
Portuguese police say they have not found anything in a search of scrubland nine miles from where four-year-old Madeleine McCann went missing.
The search was carried out after a Dutch newspaper published details of an anonymous letter it received alleging Madeleine's body was under rocks.
Officers said the line of inquiry had now been "discarded".
Madeleine vanished from an apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve, on 3 May while her parents were at a restaurant.
A road which was cordoned off by police leads up to remote hillside tracks spanning across farmland and wooded areas.
Officers from a section of the police called GNR led sniffer dogs to the area they searched early on Friday.
The search was called off hours later and police said no more were planned.
Ch Insp Olegario Sousa, of Portuguese police, told the BBC: "The line of enquiry has now been discarded."
Details of the anonymous letter were published in De Telegraaf on Wednesday.
The Dutch newspaper received the letter and a map on Monday and passed it on to police, delaying publication of the information.
On Thursday Madeleine's parents Gerry and Kate, of Rothley, Leicestershire, condemned the decision to publish the letter.
On his internet blog, Mr McCann said the letter and accompanying map should have been properly examined first.
He called the publication "irresponsible" and "cruel" journalism.
"We were extremely disappointed in the publication of the anonymous letter in De Telegraaf claiming to know where Madeleine is buried," he said.
"Although all information will be taken seriously, we were very upset that the credibility of this letter had not been examined and, more importantly, [it was] published before the Portuguese police had an opportunity to investigate the claim, and search the area if appropriate without massive media attention."
Dutch police were studying similarities between the new letter and one received last year by De Telegraaf pointing to the whereabouts of Belgian step-sisters Stacey Lemmens, seven, and Nathalie Mahy, 10.
The Belgian girls were murdered in June 2006 after they disappearing from Liege.
On the day the letter was received, police found their bodies close to a spot indicated on an enclosed map.