# Leicestershire Police

The home police constabulary for the McCann's case in England. Partner of the PJ in 2007/2008.

Homepage →Leicestershire Police

LP Information regarding the Maddie-Case →op task publication strategy (pdf)

“Anything in relation to the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will not be released whilst it remains ongoing. Consideration may be given to releasing certain material, ie. that which would not reveal police tactics, when the circumstances surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance are fully known and the person/people involved have been brought to justice and a suitable period for any appeal has elapsed. Anything that discloses policing tactics or investigation strategies during the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will not be released.”

See also Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior from the special operations unit of Leicestershire Police

Wikipedia →Leicestershire Police

## Year 2007

Date: 16 May 2007

On 16th of May 2007, two doctor friends of the McCanns and the Paynes, made a statement to Leicestershire Police (LP) in which they expressed their concern over sexually suggestive gestures made by David Payne/Gerry McCann in 2005 which is considered by one of the witnesses to be consistent with acts of paedophilia. This very important and disturbing statements are but not sent from the British home police LP to the Portuguise Policia Judiciária (PJ) at once, like it is usual done in comparable cases.

The files on the "Payne-Allegation" were not sent to PJ until 24 October 2007 (arriving on 26 Oct.), 24 days after Gonçalo Amaral had been removed from the investigation.

Date: 21 of May 2007

McCann's Spokesman Clarence Eden Mitchell in his Statement (28th April 2008): –> PJ Files. “… In relation to how I met Gerry and Kate McCann and what my relationship with them is: I met Gerry at the end of May 2007 when he returned to the UK after his daughter's disappearance. It was a circumstantial meeting at Leicestershire Police station. At the time I was working as part of the Consular Assistance Group, representing the foreigners department. As regards my travel to Portugal; I travelled on the 22nd May 2007 and remained in Portugal until the middle of June. Since then, there was no need to return.”.

Gerry McCann: Travelled back to Rothley 20/21 May 2007, see →Gerry's 1st Trip Home. From this the 21 May 2007 is confirmed as the only possible date of the “circumstantial meeting”, as Mitchell (and →also Gerry) after then went (back) to Portugal on 22 May. Interestingly, on →the same day Gerry's best friend and also accused David Payne left Portugal back home as the last one of the Tapas 7.

Disturbing is: “I met Gerry and Kate McCann at a circumstantial meeting at Leicestershire Police station end of May 2007”. Mitchell was at the time PM Tony Blair's (who was followed by Gordon Brown as PM on 27 June 2007) PR-Manager as the Director of the Downing St Media Monitoring Unit. What could have been the sense of such a high-level political “circumstantial meeting” with the McCann's at the British home police which at this time had just got the disturbing information regarding the "Payne-Allegation"? And but why then Leicestershire Police didn't do any questioning of the McCanns/Tapas 7, nor any house searches nor any own investigation nor did the Leicestershire Prosecutor do anything adequate and effective regarding the obvious criminal case in their own jurisdiction? Was David Payne ordered back on 22 May to UK to not risk that the PJ got aware of the Payne-Allegation and would eventually question him? In this circumstance see also Oddities-Vers.2-Sample 9.

In her diary, Kate McCann wrote regarding the following day: “Wednesday, May 23 [2007]: Gordon Brown (then Chancellor and PM in waiting) called and spoke with Gerry - very kind and giving encouragement. Feeling a bit emotional afterwards.”

On the next day, 24 May 2007, the McCann's released the The last Photo of Madeleine, allegedly taken on the 3rd May 2007. Disturbing again is, why does it take three weeks to “find” the last photo just after his first visit back in the UK? This photo but was altered and found to be at least in crucial parts a deliberate fake.

Date: 02. Oct. 2007

PJ accuse English police of favouring the McCann couple - Diário de Notícias (Article by P.MARTINHEIRA, J. M. OLIVEIRA, on 02. Oct. 2007)

“The British police have only been working on the issues that the McCann couple wants, and which are convenient to them.” It was with an explosive and rebellious tone that the coordinator of the investigation into the Madeleine case, Gonçalo Amaral, commented in brief statements to DN the news that was published yesterday in several English newspapers. This news was about an anonymous email that was sent to Prince Charles' official site, which accuses an ex-employee of the Ocean Club of kidnapping the four-year-old girl, as an act of revenge against the resort's administration, after having been dismissed.

“That situation is completely set aside, and it has no credibility whatsoever for Portuguese police”, the leader of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Portimao told DN, considering that his English colleagues “have been investigating leads and information that were created and worked by the McCanns, forgetting that the couple are suspected of the death of their daughter Madeleine”.

“That story of a kidnapping for revenge is another fact that was worked by the McCanns”, Gonçalo Amaral accused, stressing that the Ocean Club “is located in Praia da Luz and not in London, which means that everything that concerns the resort and its employees (present or former) was already, or is being, investigated by the Policia Judiciaria. It's not an email, even less an anonymous one, which is easy to track, that is going to distract our investigation line”, he said. Gonçalo Amaral, before entering the CID in Portimao, was at the PJ's Directory in Faro, having been mainly responsible for fighting drug traffic.

The position of the coordinator of CID in Portimao comes to meet the statements that were made to DN by the president of the Union of Criminal Investigation Employees (ASFIC), Carlos Anjos, who accuses Gerry and Kate McCann of “trying to distract and confuse the investigation by announcing a new fact on a daily basis”. For him, as DN could report, “the McCanns have launched a campaign to discredit the Portuguese police when it presented the theory of the girl's death, substituting that of an abduction, which was very convenient to them. As long as the theory of the disappearance because of a suspected abduction subsisted, the PJ were very pleasant company for the couple. When things changed and the death theory emerged, there was a radical change in the stance of the McCanns, who by the way never helped or facilitated, since the beginning, the investigation”.

In late August, early September, a few days before Gerry and Kate were constituted arguidos, for suspicions of the negligent death of their daughter Madeleine, a top member of staff of Judiciaria commented the following: “After buying ourselves a war with British media, we are now buying one with English police.” Over the last few weeks, the Policia Judiciaria has been silent, which was helped by the fact that the spokesman of this force for that case, Olegario Sousa, has left that function, which he occupied since the child's disappearance.

## Year 2008

Date: 5 Apr. 2008

→British already know all about PJ's mission in England; Jornal de Noticias

Marisa Rodrigues - Kate and Gerry will not be questioned by the Judiciary Police - April 5, 2008

The Judicial Police (PJ) will not have an easy job in England where, as of Monday, the letter rogatory in the case Madeleine McCann will be put in force. The plan for the action, as well as the content of the document, which should have remained a judicial secret, reached the hands of the British press, even before the departure of Portuguese researchers.

According to what JN found yesterday, British journalists were informed by sources, they say from the police, of the steps that will take place next week. When, where and who will be heard were some of the data that was accessed. Even the hotel where the PJ will be housed was reported to them. What, in the opinion of source connected to the research, “is the evidence that the leakage of information of the police departed from Leicester, that shows not being interested in cooperating in the investigation, damaging it by making public the intentions of PJ.” This means that the group of three detectives, led by the coordinator of PJ of Portimão, Paulo Rebelo, will not surprise the 24 people that will be interviewed. Most - 14 - will be determined by the Portuguese authorities. This number includes the group of friends of the couple McCann, now known as "Tapas 7". The other interrogations were requested by parents of Madeleine. This is the case of Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the couple, Justine McGuiness, who held the same job, and the psychologist who has followed Kate.

The arrival of PJ is scheduled for 12.20 pm on Monday. That same day there will be some interrogations, none of them considered very relevant to the investigation. The next day, the “Tapas 7” will begin to be interviewed. Jane Tanner, which guarantees having seen a man carrying a child in his arms that she believes was Madeleine, will be the first. The McCann, as the JN already said, will not be questioned by decision of the prosecutor, who considered the investigation a “waste of time”. The couple will be traveling on Thursday to Brussels, where they will meet with MEPs involved in the creation of an alert system for European missing or abducted children. “Pure coincidence,” ensures the spokesman of the couple.

Date: 08 July 2008

→Kate and Gerry win battle, 08 July 2008; 24horas

Leicester police gives in to McCanns in a decision of the British High Court - Maddie's parents will be able to access 81 files from the English police with the contacts of people who offered clues about sightings of their daughter

It was a victory for the McCanns. During a session that was held at the British High Court yesterday, the Leicestershire police agreed to deliver 81 files out of a total of 11 thousand that are in their hands to Kate and Gerry's lawyers. Those are documents that are part of the English inquiry only and that “are related to clues and information about sightings of Maddie that were delivered by people from various parts of the world to the police in Leicester, by telephone, email or letter”, the McCanns' spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, clarified to 24horas. “This is information that was advanced to the police during the early stages of the case, that is, until three weeks after Madeleine's disappearance”. Each one of those 81 files contains the name of a witness, his or her contact and a summary of the information that was given. Since yesterday, the McCanns' lawyers and the private detectives at the couple's service can contact those witnesses and again follow leads that were already investigated by the English police. It was judge Justice Hogg, from the Family section of the British High Court, who managed this compromise between the police and the McCanns.

The police didn't want to

Due to the fact that Kate and Gerry place their daughter's case under the guardianship of the High Court, judge Justice Hogg ordered, one month ago, for any relevant information to locate the little girl should be made available to the McCanns, including documents from the English police. The Leicestershire police defied the judge's order and did not comply. Thus, yesterday's session was scheduled. A deal was reached. According to Mitchell, the couple's lawyers said in court that “this decision does not affect the Portuguese law”. Judge Justice Hogg “expressed during the session that Maddie may still be alive and her solidarity towards the parents”, Mitchell reported. “Whoever holds information concerning her whereabouts should look into his conscience and into his heart”, the magistrate referred. Kate and Gerry received the yielding from the English police with pleasure.

“It just goes to show their power”

“The decision from the British justice says a lot about the power and the influence that the McCanns hold”, a source from the Polícia Judiciária commented to 24horas. The same source remembers that the secrecy of justice is not at issue “because the files that were released by the Leicestershire police were not shared with the PJ at the level of judiciary cooperation and are not very relevant”. The Leicestershire police even created a “special unit to investigate the case and has its own ongoing process”. “With a parallel process at the British police and the diligences that were made by the private detectives, one feels like asking: What about results? The PJ is the only entity that is criticised and the truth is that the only advances that were made in the case were within the Judiciária's investigation”, the source concludes. The McCanns are only waiting for the judicial secrecy to be lifted.

## Year 2009

Date: 13 Feb. 2009

Leictershire police refuses to give any informations as the McCann-case is regarded as a question of “National Security”. See →The Mirror, blogs Leicestershire Constabulary paper, Ref. No.1092/09: “…the duty in s1(1)a of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply, by virtue of the following excemptions: Sect. 23(5) Information relating to the Security bodies, Sect. 24(2) National Security, Sect. 30(3) Investigations, Sect. 31(3) Law enforcement.” The term “Security bodies” factually means the involvement of the secret services MI5/MI6, as it cannot refer by virtue of the freedom of information act to the LP themselves.

see also →Who was listening to Kate and Gerry McCann?, By The Mirror's crime correspondent JON CLEMENTS on Feb. 18, 2009:

“A few days ago I received an interesting letter from Leicestershire police about the Madeleine McCann investigation. I had asked them, in July, if they had got any warrants (under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) to use surveillance powers - such as phone tapping and email interception on behalf of the Portuguese police. The force initially stalled saying it needed to “consult other Agencies” before replying. After a six month delay, Leicestershire has now claimed it is exempt from Freedom of Information laws in this case due to “national security”. I've put in dozens of FoI requests to police forces over the years, some you get and some you don't but “national security” is a new one on me. To make matters even murkier, Leicestershire claimed a second exemption because the information I requested could relate to “the Security bodies”. A quick look at the FoI Act reveals “Security bodies” are MI5, MI6, GCHQ, special forces (such as the SAS) and the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Hmm. Despite claiming these exemptions, Leicestershire seem at pains to neither confirm nor deny they hold any information relevant to my request anyway. Check out (slowly I suggest) the tortuous conclusion to the three page letter explaining their stance. “It is our decision that the Leicestershire Constabulary must maintain a position of neither confirming nor denying that any relevant information is held and that this response, which neither confirms nor denies that information is held, should not be taken as conclusive evidence that the information you have requested exists or does not exist”. Thanks, but I think that is a rather long-winded way of saying Foxtrot Oscar. However, it does beg the question just who was bugging the McCanns after they returned from Praia da Luz? And what has the answer got to do with national security?”

See also further information on →DA-Notice: A DA-Notice or Defence Advisory Notice, called a Defence Notice or D-Notice until 1993, is an official request to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security. The system is still in use in the United Kingdom. See there also official →DNotice site.

See also Top Officers at →Chairman:

Chair: Jon Thompson Organisation: Permanent Under Secretary of State Ministry of Defence; Vize-Chair: Simon Bucks Organisation: Associate Editor Sky News; followed by prominent Government Members and Press and Broadcasting Members.

Secretary: Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Vallance; First Deputy Secretary: Air Commodore David Adams; Second Deputy Secretary: Brigadier Geoffrey Dodds( see →Child Abusers on D Notices/DA notices).

See also →Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee at Wikipedia:

The media representatives regarding D-notices are nominated by the following organisations:

1. BBC
2. ITV
3. ITN
4. Sky TV (Murdoch)
5. Press Association (shareholder: Murdoch)
6. Scottish Daily Newspaper →Society (associated e.g. with Murdoch and Labour Party)
7. Society of Editors
8. The Publishers Association
9. Google

## Year 2010

Date: 13 Feb. 2010

see →Joana Morais blog: Maddie Case: British Cop invokes state secrets privilege to refuse to testify

Trial on book about Maddie without key witness from the English investigation side, by Nuno Miguel Maia in →Jornal de Notícias

A detective sergeant from Scotland Yard invokes “State immunity” and obligation of secrecy on the investigations of the Maddie case to refuse to testify tomorrow, Tuesday, at the beginning of the trial that opposes the McCann couple to the former coordinator of the PJ, Gonçalo Amaral.

The hearing of witnesses tomorrow at the Civil Court of Lisbon, will be limited to the elements that were requested by the former head of the Judiciary Police of Portimão, most of which also collaborated in the investigation to the English girl's disappearance. The case concerns the order to withdraw from the market all the books "The Truth of the Lie", on which is defended the thesis of Maddie's death and the parental involvement in hiding the cadaver.

The English cop, incidentally with a Portuguese name José de Freitas, was the liaison officer between the Portuguese and English authorities and the McCann couple. On several occasions he accompanied Kate and Gerry, who would be constituted as arguidos, after being confronted with evidence of human blood and cadaver odor in the apartment at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, Lagos. The traces - remember - were detected by the English dogs “Eddie” and “Keela”.

As an usual standard in the procedures of the British, all the contacts and signals expressed by the McCanns were registered, including those that contributed to support the decision to constitute them as suspects. And it's relating to that, and to other data, that Gonçalo Amaral seeks a statement.

“Any potential evidence [testimonial] that I can give may be subject to confidentiality and Immunity of the English Public Interest. Furthermore, since all the services that I performed were official, it is applied the principle of State immunity and it will be necessary the consent of the United Kingdom authorities to waive that State immunity before I could be subject to the jurisdiction of the Portuguese courts and to be able to give any evidence, whether relevant or not. The State immunity covering my official acts is that of the United Kingdom and not mine, and can not be renounced by me, but only by the United Kingdom”, wrote José de Freitas to the judge of the Civil Court of Lisbon after having been notified, in a letter that JN had access.

The police officer suggests that his witness statement should be instead requested through a letter rogatory or through the British Ambassador [Mr. Alexander Ellis] in Portugal. But subjected to a prior authorization by the English authorities, who have just set a tight regime of secrecy of the process in England.“