[Niamh.]

Scotland Yard has wasted almost $20 million investigating "ridiculous" theories that Madeleine McCann was abducted, according to a US criminal profiler.

Pat Brown, a profiler of cold cases in America and a regular guest on major US TV networks, said she was baffled by British police who failed to carry out a "proper investigation".

Operation Grange was launched by London Metropolitan Police in 2011, after Madeleine McCann vanished without trace from her family's Portuguese holiday apartment in May 2007.

The case, which continues to fascinate the world, remains unsolved





Scotland Yard has wasted almost $20 million investigating "ridiculous" theories that Madeleine McCann was abducted, according to a US criminal profiler.

Pat Brown, a profiler of cold cases in America and a regular guest on major US TV networks, said she was baffled by British police who failed to carry out a "proper investigation".

Operation Grange was launched by London Metropolitan Police in 2011, after Madeleine McCann vanished without trace from her family's Portuguese holiday apartment in May 2007.

The case, which continues to fascinate the world, remains unsolved.

US criminal profiler Pat Brown (right) appears on TV network CBS to discuss the Maddie McCann case in 2010. Source: CBS
US criminal profiler Pat Brown (right) appears on TV network CBS to discuss the Maddie McCann case in 2010. Source: CBS

"What Scotland Yard was doing was not a proper investigation," Brown told Nine.com.au.

"Scotland Yard went in saying the McCanns are not suspects, and that [the disappearance of Maddie] is an abduction. There is absolutely no way you should have entered an investigation saying that."

Scotland Yard is one of the world's most respected crime fighting agencies, making its approach doubly confusing, Brown said.

"Their focus has always been there was an abduction and we're going after a kidnapper."

Everyone, including parents Gerry and Kate, should have been suspects when Operation Grange was opened following a 2011 request by now British Prime Minister Theresa May, Brown said.

"They spent a tremendous amount of time following the most ridiculous leads ever. It was like watching a massive charade.

"To this day it's made no sense. They've spent an incredible sum of money going absolutely nowhere, coming up with absolutely nothing – not even a piece of evidence to add to the evidence we already know about."

This week Operation Grange was granted another $137,200 to cover operational costs through to September 17, a period that will include the 10th anniversary of Maddie's disappearance on May 3, 2007.


An unnamed source inside Operation Grange, which to date has been funded to the tune of $17.9m by the British government, claimed it was "a last throw of the dice".

Brown told Nine.com.au she believed Scotland Yard was handed a political football, where the results of the investigation did not matter.

The American profiler has spent countless hours poring over the entirety of official case files that were released by Portugal's Policia Judiciaria. She has also visited the town of Praia Da Luz.

Policia Judiciaria investigated the disappearance of Maddie, who would now be aged 13, between 4 May 2007 and 21 July 2008.


In September 2007 Gerry and Kate were sensationally named as 'arguidos' (a person being questioned under caution) by Portuguese police.

Goncalo Amaral, the detective who headed up the original investigation, claimed Gerry and Kate McCann covered up their daughter’s death in his book and a documentary.

The McCanns, who have always staunchly declared their innocence, last month lost their court battle to silence the former detective.

Brown met with Amaral while she was in Praia Da Luz, exploring key locations and surrounding areas relating to the case.

"There is evidence to lead one to believe the top theory should be Madeleine is dead," declared Brown.


Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/world/2017/0...7PWIQWPvluu.99

[chuff me dizzy]

The only people ever have to have claimed abduction is McCanns

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by chuff me dizzy

The only people ever have to have claimed abduction is McCanns

And LT of course.

[Alf]

What are you do here in off-season Chuff?

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Alf

What are you do here in off-season Chuff?

I lured her back with a sneaky McCann thread

[chuff me dizzy]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

I lured her back with a sneaky McCann thread

I only come on off season to read messages and spotted this thread

[chuff me dizzy]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

And LT of course.

I think he a wind up merchant no one with half a brain believes McCanns

[Vicky.]

There is absolutely no proof of abduction besides Kates word that the window was open, even though the bright sparks closed the window before police came, allegedly

I don't understand why Scotland Yard are pissing about. I am starting to think they only want funding so they can go lounge around in a hot country and be paid for it tbh. The whole investigation is a disgrace. Surely the police aren't as thick as they appear. It was OUR police who sent in the dogs...so they must have had an idea way back then what happened ffs. Its all so irritating now. Either charge the guilty ones or leave the damn thing alone. Stop expecting people to believe this bull**** about burglaries gone wrong and stuff. Burglars do not take dead children...or live children. 'Nothing of value was taken' says Gerry. Odd burglars eh?

The abduction theory is the 'conspiracy' in this case IMO. As 'conspiracies' have no evidence and actually go against evidence. In this case the only evidence available says the child died in that apartment. Make of that what you will but the abduction theory is just ridiculous and based on nothing but the McCanns word. No wonder police abandoned that line of thinking pretty early on as it became obvious it was bull.

I think I love Pat Brown.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

There is absolutely no proof of abduction besides Kates word that the window was open, even though the bright sparks closed the window before police came, allegedly

I don't understand why Scotland Yard are pissing about. I am starting to think they only want funding so they can go lounge around in a hot country and be paid for it tbh. The whole investigation is a disgrace. Surely the police aren't as thick as they appear. It was OUR police who sent in the dogs...so they must have had an idea way back then what happened ffs. Its all so irritating now. Either charge the guilty ones or leave the damn thing alone. Stop expecting people to believe this bull**** about burglaries gone wrong and stuff. Burglars do not take dead children...or live children. 'Nothing of value was taken' says Gerry. Odd burglars eh?

The abduction theory is the 'conspiracy' in this case IMO. As 'conspiracies' have no evidence and actually go against evidence. In this case the only evidence available says the child died in that apartment. Make of that what you will but the abduction theory is just ridiculous and based on nothing but the McCanns word. No wonder police abandoned that line of thinking pretty early on as it became obvious it was bull.

I think I love Pat Brown.

She's very interesting actually. Everything she says makes so much more sense then what the McCanns and Scotland Yard want us to believe

[ebandit]

ok? which is the most ridiculous 'the abduction theory'.....or the 'accidental death theory'

..............after giving this further thought i fear that the truth is more sinister

...............what have the mc canns to fear to create such a cover up?

...............i doubt that even their friends know the truth and have been kept in the dark
as much as others.............................if the truth was known such a big secret would not
stay secret for long..........

..............i even wonder if both mc canns know the full truth....................who knows?
not me that's for sure.............................

Mark L

[longstar]

how many children have disappeared in this country, alot, and never to be seen again, scotland yard has a track record of hushing up child killings and abductions, even the disappeared, if people think that maddie was abducted by some random person then they are wrong, that abduction had to take alot of planing and a number of people to make sure it went smoothly, it might of been a very powerful satanic ring that had abducted her and then killed her and disposed her body, or it might be a very powerful pedo gang that get people to snatch children from there beds and its most likely that she was killed after being abused, if you look at the case of marc dutroux, there was mass cover ups by the police and it has came out now that he did not act alone in his crimes, and he was part of a pedo gang that was trafficking children as far as poland in the middle 90s, if you look at the april jones killing, her body was never found, but if you think that it was just one person that killed her then think again, the april jones case was just not your typical child killing murder case as much as maddie's abduction case was the typical one,

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Alf

What are you do here in off-season Chuff?

Niamh said "Maddie McCann" into the mirror three times.

[thesheriff443]

Look the police don't just take some ones word for what happened, if there was the evidence that was grounds to charge the mcanns they would of done.
Mistakes have been made, but until evidence is found I reserve my judgment.

[the truth]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

Look the police don't just take some ones word for what happened, if there was the evidence that was grounds to charge the mcanns they would of done.
Mistakes have been made, but until evidence is found I reserve my judgment.

I dont, they are appalling parents and this is a disgraceful waste of tax payers money and police resources these scarce resources could have been allocated to the 10000s of other missing persons out there , who are no less important than the macanns

[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

Look the police don't just take some ones word for what happened, if there was the evidence that was grounds to charge the mcanns they would of done.
Mistakes have been made, but until evidence is found I reserve my judgment.

I completely agree!

This case reminds me of that case in Australia with the baby and the dingo. The mother, Lindsay Chamberlain, was put through hell and many Australians were quick to judge and condemn her, she even went to jail - but eventually evidence was found that corroborated her version of events.

The poor woman had lost her only daughter and given little time to grieve before the muck-rackers waded in and found her guilty based on speculation rather than fact. It seems the general public like to automatically think the worst of people, especially mothers. Britain it seems have learned no lessons from that!

[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

Look the police don't just take some ones word for what happened, if there was the evidence that was grounds to charge the mcanns they would of done.
Mistakes have been made, but until evidence is found I reserve my judgment.

I felt a similar way but Niamh kind of changed my mind on it lol... there is really strong evidence against them but no evidence that supports the abduction theory. I haven't read up on it as much as some others but I think there's reasons why they have never been charged that are more to do with procedural errors, and I don't think they've ever actually been cleared of wrong doing.

Originally Posted by Brillopad

I completely agree!

This case reminds me of that case in Australia with the baby and the dingo. The mother, Lindsay Chamberlain, was put through hell and many Australians were quick to judge and condemn her, she even went to jail - but eventually evidence was found that corroborated her version of events.

The poor woman had lost her only daughter and given little time to grieve before the muck-rackers waded in and found her guilty based on speculation rather than fact. It seems the general public like to automatically think the worst of people, especially mothers. Britain it seems have learned no lessons from that!

I thought that was the main factor in suspicions against the McCanns too (and tbh a lot of people would probably suspect them due to that regardless so it's not that it's untrue), but I do think this case is very different to any other examples, and there is very good reason to suspect them. And I think the opposite could also be said, that some people don't want to believe that parents could do something like that, so basing it on emotions about the case rather than the actual evidence.

[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

I felt a similar way but Niamh kind of changed my mind on it lol... there is really strong evidence against them but no evidence that supports the abduction theory. I haven't read up on it as much as some others but I think there's reasons why they have never been charged that are more to do with procedural errors, and I don't think they've ever actually been cleared of wrong doing.



I thought that was the main factor in suspicions against the McCanns too (and tbh a lot of people would probably suspect them due to that regardless so it's not that it's untrue), but I do think this case is very different to any other examples, and there is very good reason to suspect them. And I think the opposite could also be said, that some people don't want to believe that parents could do something like that, so basing it on emotions about the case rather than the actual evidence.

I honestly don't know, it's a very difficult one - you may be right that emotions can get in the way.

The public don't have a good track record on their reaction to cases like this and I find it very difficult to believe Maddie's parents would have either harmed their daughter or tried to cover up an accident or poor decision on their part i.e. Drugging her.

In this case I do prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt until concrete evidence proves me wrong.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

Look the police don't just take some ones word for what happened, if there was the evidence that was grounds to charge the mcanns they would of done.
Mistakes have been made, but until evidence is found I reserve my judgment.

There was evidence found though and they were made suspects in Portugal and when they went to sue the cop who was in charge of the original investigation for saying that he thought all the evidence pointed them being involved they lost and were told that they had not been cleared of anything or "proved innocent" as they like to pretend

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by the truth

I dont, they are appalling parents and this is a disgraceful waste of tax payers money and police resources these scarce resources could have been allocated to the 10000s of other missing persons out there , who are no less important than the macanns

mmhhmm but apparently the McCanns are much more important for some odd reason

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Brillopad

I completely agree!

This case reminds me of that case in Australia with the baby and the dingo. The mother, Lindsay Chamberlain, was put through hell and many Australians were quick to judge and condemn her, she even went to jail - but eventually evidence was found that corroborated her version of events.

The poor woman had lost her only daughter and given little time to grieve before the muck-rackers waded in and found her guilty based on speculation rather than fact. It seems the general public like to automatically think the worst of people, especially mothers. Britain it seems have learned no lessons from that!

That's not really true, I never heard anyone say they thought Ben Needams mother was guilty in her sons disappearance and regarding the McCanns, Gerry gets as much if not more blame as Kate

[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

That's not really true, I never heard anyone say they thought Ben Needams mother was guilty in her sons disappearance and regarding the McCanns, Gerry gets as much if not more blame as Kate

I'm not sure but I don't Ben's mother wasn't present at the time he disappeared - wasn't he at his grandparents?

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Brillopad

I'm not sure but I don't Ben's mother wasn't present at the time he disappeared - wasn't he at his grandparents?

Oh yeah, ok his grand parents were never accused then. Look I know it's an awful thing to think that parents were involved in some way, as a parent myself I know it's a terrible thing to think but when you do actually read up on the case and I mean the actual Police files which are publicly available, the only actual evidence found points to Madeleine having died in that apartment and from the minute that evidence was found the McCanns tried discredit it and why would they if they had no idea what happened to her? Like if they really were completely clueless and evidence that she may have died in the apartment came up wouldn't they want to investigate that?, also their Police Statements and their friends statements are very inconsistent too. It's about justice for a 3 year old little girl

[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Brillopad

I honestly don't know, it's a very difficult one - you may be right that emotions can get in the way.

The public don't have a good track record on their reaction to cases like this and I find it very difficult to believe Maddie's parents would have either harmed their daughter or tried to cover up an accident or poor decision on their part i.e. Drugging her.

In this case I do prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt until concrete evidence proves me wrong.

I can only speak for myself but it was certainly the case for me.
I remember when it first made the news and before there was anything that suggested they might have been involved, my mum saying something like "hmm I bet the parents had something to do with it" because she's a 'think the worst of people' kind of person, so I think I've always felt a bit like suspicions of them had more to do with cynicism and wanting to think the worst than anything else, and I wanted to think they wouldn't have been involved. I'm not 100% either way on it though and I'm the same that I'd want concrete evidence to be convinced, so I still think the abduction theory could be true (although I think it's very unlikely), but mainly where I've changed my opinion on it is with thinking that people who are strongly convinced that the McCanns were involved in a cover up actually have a lot to reasonably back that up.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

I can only speak for myself but it was certainly the case for me.
I remember when it first made the news and before there was anything that suggested they might have been involved, my mum saying something like "hmm I bet the parents had something to do with it" because she's a 'think the worst of people' kind of person, so I think I've always felt a bit like suspicions of them had more to do with cynicism and wanting to think the worst than anything else, and I wanted to think they wouldn't have been involved. I'm not 100% either way on it though and I'm the same that I'd want concrete evidence to be convinced, so I still think the abduction theory could be true (although I think it's very unlikely), but mainly where I've changed my opinion on it is with thinking that people who are strongly convinced that the McCanns were involved in a cover up actually have a lot to reasonably back that up.

I'm honestly not a "think the worst" kind of person at all eventhough statistically it's much more likely in a case like this to do with a child that family members or friends are involved than a complete opportunistic stranger. I never suspected them of having been involved until other people were going on about it and urging me to read up a bit more on it.

before I did that I believed they were certainly guilty of neglect but I did buy into the abduction theory

[Brillopad]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Oh yeah, ok his grand parents were never accused then. Look I know it's an awful thing to think that parents were involved in some way, as a parent myself I know it's a terrible thing to think but when you do actually read up on the case and I mean the actual Police files which are publicly available, the only actual evidence found points to Madeleine having died in that apartment and from the minute that evidence was found the McCanns tried discredit it and why would they if they had no idea what happened to her? Like if they really were completely clueless and evidence that she may have died in the apartment came up wouldn't they want to investigate that?, also their Police Statements and their friends statements are very inconsistent too. It's about justice for a 3 year old little girl

Again, you may be right. I definitely do not believe they deliberately harmed her - why would they and what evidence is there for that?

If there was some kind of accident that they covered up I don't believe Maddie, if she understood, would want them to go to jail for years and leave her brother and sister without their parents. If an accident I think they have all suffered enough.

It wouldn't make their actions right or forgivable but to hang them out to dry would benefit no one in my opinion.