Sunday Newspaper Front Pages Sunday December 02, 2007 The Sunday Express leads with a picture of missing toddler Madeleine McCann. It claims DNA clues have been found at a deserted farmhouse.
"Now Hunt Centres on Disused Barn"
The hunt for Madeleine McCann last night centred on a disused barn near Praia da Luz where police found a towel stained with what may turn out to be the little girl's blood.
Fibres found on the towel allegedly match fibres from the hire car rented by Maddie's parents, Kate and Gerry McCann.
Portuguese detectives discussed the breakthrough when they met British police and a Crown Prosecution Service official last week at a police station in Leicester.
Today, for the first time the Sunday Express can shed light on the new avenue police are pursuing
in the hope of a breakthrough in the baffling case.
Based on fresh information from mobile phone surveillance, police began a search of an area in the south east of the resort. They came across a towel, with an Aztec design, near a disused barn in a remote area close to Praia da Luz.
Portuguese sources say forensic scientists used a substance called Luminol to look for blood deposits and found three sites on the edges of the towel. They tested the blood deposits to see if there was a match with Madeleine's DNA.
Although the samples were not good quality the scientists were able to do what is called low copy analysis, which showed there was "moderate” support to suggest the blood deposits matched Madeleine's blood.
The results were not conclusive and are not regarded as being strong enough to be presented as evidence in any court case.
They also found a loaf and a carrier bag, which produced no significant information, but close analysis of the towel revealed fibres which were not made of the towel material. The fibre fragments were microscopically examined against fibres found in the boot of the Renault Scenic hired by the McCanns 25 days after Maddie vanished.
Portuguese police sources say there was "strong support" that the fibres found on the towel matched fibres from the boot of the car.
One possibility being considered by the Portuguese detectives was that the towel had at some point been in the boot of the Renault Scenic, which would explain how fibres had got on it.
Saturday December 1,2007
PERMISSION NEEDED TO QUIZ MCCANNS
Portuguese police would need the permission of the Home Secretary if they wanted to re-interview Kate and Gerry McCann or their friends on British soil, a police source said. There have been reports that the McCanns could be re-interviewed by Portuguese officers or detectives from Leicestershire Police in connection with the disappearance of their four-year-old daughter Madeleine from their holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz. Detectives in Portugal also reportedly want to question members of the so-called Tapas Seven - friends of Kate and Gerry who were dining with them on May 3 shortly before Madeleine vanished. But any request would have to go through Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, police sources in the UK said. The source said: "All I can tell you is the procedure by which Leicestershire Police and the McCanns would have to go through. "A request would have to be sent to the Home Office in writing and would have to be approved by the Home Secretary."A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "If the Portuguese police were to require to travel to the UK then they would need to apply for mutual legal assistance from the Home Office."
Saturday December 1,2007
GERRY AND KATE ‘STILL PRIME SUSPECTS’
Kate and Gerry McCann are still regarded as the prime suspects in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine despite inconclusive findings from DNA evidence. Portuguese police will come to Britain next week to re-interview the seven friends who were dining with the couple on the night the little girl vanished, a highly placed source claimed yesterday. It shatters the couple’s hopes that they will be cleared by Christmas. Investigators say that while findings revealed at a DNA summit this week did not give them enough evidence to bring charges, they do provide the legal basis to demand further interviews of the McCanns’ friends and relatives on British soil. Leaks in Portugal claim tests on DNA samples support Portuguese detectives’ theory that the couple were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance. Portuguese daily newspaper 24 Horas reported that a police source said: “The existing evidence up until now is far from clearing the McCann couple in the case. “There are more and more indicators that they were involved in the disappearance of the child, but it has been difficult to prove this fact. We will continue to follow all hypotheses.”
Friday November 30,2007
BID TO CLEAR MCCANNS AFTER DNA TRIP
Kate and Gerry McCann's spokesman has declared "enough is enough" as he called on Portuguese police to clear the couple over their missing daughter Madeleine. Four members of the Portuguese investigation team are due to fly home from the UK on Friday after a meeting with British forensic experts to discuss DNA samples collected for the inquiry into the missing four-year-old. Family spokesman Clarence Mitchell told reporters: "Enough is enough. There can be nothing that incriminates Kate and Gerry because they are innocent. We are hopeful this meeting will help speed up the process eliminating Kate and Gerry from the inquiry. "They just want the injustice of being suspects to end and the real job of finding Madeleine to resume in earnest."We hope that following this meeting the Portuguese prosecutor will let common sense prevail and will lift their arguido status."Forensic evidence, if there is any, is inconclusive or explicable, so they should be eliminated from the inquiry."The Portuguese team met five experts from the FSS to consider DNA results from tests the organisation has been conducting on behalf of the authorities in Portugal over the last four months.The tests are said to have been carried out on blood samples, bodily fluids and hair found in the McCanns' holiday apartment and the vehicle they hired 25 days after the four-year-old disappeared.
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