Eddie and Keela versus Team McCann

by Joana Morais 9 years ago


Eddie and Keela, the two sniffer British dogs used to find evidences of Madeleine's death, in Portugal were used by the police in the searches of Kate Prout. 

WE ARE SURE KATE WAS MURDERED - DETECTIVES

Police now believe missing farmer Kate Prout was murdered.

Officers have refused to rule out the possibility the 55-year-old from Redmarley may have come to harm.

They say the possibility she has been murdered is stronger than ever.

Although investigations at her Redhill Farm home finished a fortnight ago it is understood specialist sniffer dogs used in the search for missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann in Portugal have been used in the investigation and found evidence of Mrs Prout's death.

Det Supt Neil Kelly said specialist dogs had been used but

could not comment on what was found.
Mrs Prout disappeared on November 5 last year. Mrs Prout vanished from her home on Bonfire Night, but her husband Adrian did not report her missing until November 10.

A 45-year-old man, believed to be Mr Prout, was arrested in connection with the case and remains on police bail.

Acting Det Supt Neil Kelly said that Gloucestershire Police had gathered no evidence to suggest she was still alive.

He said: "A very thorough search of the land surrounding Mrs Prout's home has been concluded but the investigation remains very much open. Despite exhaustive efforts, however, we have unfortunately not discovered any evidence to suggest that Mrs Prout is alive and that she disappeared of her own volition.

"We fear, therefore, that either some harm has befallen her accidentally or that she has been murdered. Had the former occurred, we believe it likely that she would have been discovered by now, and as a result, we fear more strongly than ever that she has been murdered."

Team McCann counter-attack

Gazeta Digital: “Kate and Gerry McCann's legal team has contacted American lawyers over a case where key sniffer dog evidence was thrown out of court in the hope that it may help them fight any charges that they were involved in the killing of their daughter; according to today's edition of The Thelegraph. Angus McBride and Michael Caplan “consulted the legal team of Eugene Zapata, 68, who is accused of murdering his estranged wife Jeanette in 1976. But a judge ruled last month that the evidence was no more reliable than "the flip of a coin" and could not be put before a jury” writes The Telegraph, quoting the judge's decision. The sniffer dogs brought to Praia da Luz by a South Yorkshire police special team, Eddie and Keela, are considered the best and only ones with the capacity to detect the scent of a corpse or blood even months after incidents happened.

“Keela could be described as ‘top dog’ in her field of expertise. The trained Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) dog has skills like no other and it has left forces worldwide hankering after an insight into her special training”, according to South Yorkshire police. The Springer Spaniel “can sniff out the smallest samples of human blood - even after items have been cleaned or washed many times”, according to the Daily Mail. And Keela earns more than her Chief Constable, something that doesn't bother Mr. Meredydd Hughes, according to The Times. “PC John Ellis, Keela's handler, said that “she can detect minute quantities of blood that cannot be seen with the human eye” and is able to “sniff out blood in clothes after they have been washed repeatedly in biological washing powder”, also according to The Times.

But John Barrett, a former Scotland Yard dog handler, contested the capacity of Keela. He told The Telegraph that the “trained dogs used in an attempt to detect a 'death smell' on Mrs McCann's Bible and clothes were brought in too long after Madeleine vanished”, because “the crucial scent lasts for no longer than a month,” he said.


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Sniffer Dogs used to seek Madeleine prove again their effectiveness

by Joana Morais---9 years ago


Philomena McCann's discription of the cadaver dogs, "what are they Lassie? They could be barking at anything."

SNIFFER DOGS THAT MADE THE FIND

The horror of Haut de la Garenne was discovered thanks to the super-sensitive noses of two springer spaniels.

They sniffed out the human remains found on Saturday through seven inches of concrete, police said.

The dogs also pinpointed several other suspicious sites both inside and outside the former children's home.

The first spaniel, seven-year-old Eddie, is an 'enhanced' victim recovery dog specialising in detecting buried human blood, bones and flesh.

The second, Keela, has been trained to track down remains corresponding to microscopic blood traces. Only last year the two 'cadaver' dogs from South Yorkshire Police were in Portugal, taking part in the hunt for clues to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

They found specks of blood in the McCanns' apartment, and were used to conduct searches elsewhere in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz.

Eddie has worked in Britain, Ireland and the U.S. earns fees of up to £500 a day. His skill is so rare that he is insured for £4.5million - and fed on salmon.

Map of corpse scent from the Beach to the McCanns Apartment

The sniffer dogs brought to Praia da Luz by a South Yorkshire police special team, Eddie and Keela, are considered the best and only ones with the capacity to detect the scent of a corpse or blood even months after incidents happened.

Correio Da Manhã reported that blood specks in the McCanns hire car and behind a sofa in their holiday apartment could only have come from Maddie.

Jornal De Notícias told how one specialist British sniffer dog detected traces of blood on a wall at the family apartment, while another dog from the same unit picked up the scent of a dead body.
"One of the dogs stopped dead at the spot on the wall which is exactly what it is trained to do should it pick up the scent of blood.

"It then barked to indicate it had found something. They are incredibly accurate.

The paper also reported that there was evidence someone had tried to clean the blood from the wall.

"The discoveries made by the sniffer dogs, taken together, strongly support the theory that the girl (Madeleine) died in her parents' hotel room, either - as Portuguese detectives believe - the victim of an unexplained accident, or as the victim of a crime. The theory that she was kidnapped seems more and more remote."


Cadaver Dogs

In Human Remains detection, the Nose Knows.

In a missing persons case it is hard to prove a crime happened without some evidence. In cases where a dead body will be the likely outcome of a search, Cadaver dogs are used to search, rather than standard Search and Rescue dogs. Why? Because a Search and Rescue Dog is trained to find living humans, and not detect decomposing flesh.

Cadaver Dogs are trained to locate and follow the scent of decomposing human flesh. Not a pretty thought, but their job is vital to both families of the victims, and to a justice system that ofttimes needs a body to prove a crime. These dogs work both on and off leash and are trained to detect the scent of decomposition that rises from the soil, same principle as when a dog knows where he last buried his bone.

Dogs must be trained as trailing dogs and air-scenting dogs. Trailing dogs follow a scent that has fallen on the ground. These dogs can pick out a human, or in the case of Cadaver dogs, a decomposing human's scent that was carried on a breeze, or "fallen" from a person carrying a body to it's location. Air-scenting is similar to trailing, but an air-scenting dog must be able to pick the scent out of a breeze and follow it to the source.

Special chemicals are used to simulate the scent of decomposing human flesh in training Cadaver dogs. Unlike simulated narcotic smells, or other training scents, simulated cadaver smells are not available to anyone but a certified training facility.

Both whole bodies and body parts are located using Cadaver dogs, and each team member must be trained in evidence preservation.

It isn't just crime investigations that use Cadaver Dogs. In disasters as well, these dogs are used in conjunction with Canine Search and Rescue teams to locate both victims and survivors of disasters, natural and otherwise.



CNN: NANCY GRACE
September 12, 2007

GRACE: More major developments in the last hours in the baby Maddie mystery. Number one, we learned that not one but 4,000 pages of evidence have been handed over to a top judge, who will make the final charging decision. We also learned that mystery item that police want is baby Maddie`s mom`s diary, among other things.

Out to Paula Hancocks, standing by at Praia da Luz, Portugal. That`s the location of that luxury resort where they were on vacation when Maddie went missing. Paula, what`s the latest?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nancy, well, we know the judge is looking through those 10 files of documents at this point, trying to discover whether or not it is appropriate to allow the prosecutor to have his request. Now, we have these reports, unconfirmed at this point, that it is Kate McCann`s diary they are after. No idea why it would be a diary. It could be other personal effects as well. And certainly that`s the latest at this point. We`re hoping that maybe tomorrow, maybe the next couple of days we`ll hear a little bit more.

GRACE: To Dr. Jeff Gardere. What could the diary reveal? This is not the first time we have seen people keep diaries.

JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely. And the type of people who keep diaries, really it`s a form of self-therapy, to be able to work out conflicts and issues, and most importantly, to be able to discuss some of their deepest thoughts, their deepest concerns.

And so what I think we may find in this particular case is what was going through her mind before or after the disappearance and what kind of person she is. We can find out all of those things from the diary because we do find out about the deepest, sometimes darkest thoughts.

GRACE: Back to Paula Hancocks, CNN correspondent, joining us from Portugal. Paula, in the wires, in the research it suggests they want to see the diary to shed light on the relationship between Mrs. -- Dr. McCann and her husband.

HANCOCKS: Well, that`s certainly something that is possible. But you know, the problem with this is no one actually knows what is in the evidence except for the police themselves. Even Kate and Gerry McCann don`t know all the evidence that the prosecutor and now the judge has. So everyone else is trying to second-guess it. And it`s difficult to try and divide the fact from the fiction.

Certainly we know that Kate McCann had been writing in her diary before this had been reported right from the beginning. As your guest just said, it could have been a self-therapy, as she went to church quite a lot with her husband. That also was very comforting to her.

So certainly it`s something that is interesting. The prosecutor, according to these reports -- and they have pushed through this request reportedly to try to get hold of this diary. So certainly they believe it could be pertinent to this case.

GRACE: To Jerry Lawton, chief reporter with The Daily Star. Jerry, what else do they want and why an emergency motion?

JERRY LAWTON, THE DAILY STAR: Well, Nancy, we`ve discovered tonight something quite dramatic, to be honest with you. We`ve discovered tonight that the police as well as the diary of Kate McCann, they are attempting to seize a laptop computer -- a white laptop computer that is owned by the couple that they believe may well contain vital information about this case.

This is a breaking story. It`s a story that`s breaking in England right now. It`s an extremely interesting development. And it follows speculation that the police may well have been monitoring e-mail traffic between the McCanns and possibly some of their friends on holiday with them at the time that Madeleine went missing on May 3.

GRACE: What friends were with them? How many friends were with them, Jerry?

LAWTON: There were nine friends on holiday with them at the time. And those friends have all given statements, sworn statements to the Portuguese police. But in light of the recent developments and the dramatic change in the police inquiry, the police may well want to interview some of those friends once again to try to re-establish more details about what happened on the fateful night.

GRACE: To Larry Sutton, editor with People magazine, their issue on this hits the stands September 14, this Friday. Larry, OK, so we`ve got the diary, mom`s diary, Kate McCann`s diary, the dad`s laptop. What else is in this emergency motion that prosecutors want?

LARRY SUTTON, STAFF EDITOR, PEOPLE: Well, you know, there`s speculation that the cops have already seen this diary, let her -- gave it back to her, and now they want to get it back in their possession because they think there`s something in there that might help them crack the case. Those are the most important things they`re looking for at the moment.

GRACE: Don`t they want toys as well?

SUTTON: Well, yes. There`s the infamous cuddle doll there, a little doll that if you`re on the side of the family, they say that when they came back to that apartment that doll was up on a high shelf, indicating that someone must have come into the apartment because their little daughter could not put it up on that shelf.

If you`re the cops, you say, well, we think there`s evidence on there, there might be some of that DNA that we`ve been looking for. It`s also one of the botched areas of the investigation. It`s something that the police -- Portuguese police, knew was in the room, let the family take it with them.

The mother has been holding that stuffed doll ever since for days and days and days. Washed it, let other kids play with it. So if there was evidence on it, if in fact an intruder did come in, take the doll, put it up on a shelf, well, that evidence is pretty much gone.

GRACE: To Renee Rockwell (ph), it has been washed repeatedly. It`s no good forensically now, I would think. So what`s the holdup? This happened on May 3.

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, it`s hard to tell what they`re doing, but I know what they`re going to do as far as seizing toys. They want to know if these toys, if placed in the trunk of that car, could provide enough DNA because how is this family going to explain the DNA found in the trunk of a car of this baby, the car wasn`t rented until 25 days later. Somebody is going to have to explain that.

GRACE: Back to Mike Brooks, explain.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Nancy, I`ll tell you, there`s a lot of things. First of all, the Portuguese police should have seized this laptop a long time ago if they were looking for evidence.

GRACE: But Mike, Mike, Mike...

BROOKS: They`ve bungled this whole crime scene from the beginning, Nancy.

GRACE: Come on. I agree with you on the other evidence. But the reality is unless you take a laptop, take it outside, and beat it with a sledgehammer, you never really delete anything.

BROOKS: No.

GRACE: So they can get whatever they want. In fact, you know, if he has been yakking online and revealing stuff, the more the better. But as far as the other evidence, that I agree with you. And why bother to get a phone tap now for pete`s sake, if they hadn`t already done it?

BROOKS: Well, they should have done that a long time ago. And apparently there, part of this 4,000-page dossier, you`ve got statements, you`ve got videos of the cadaver dogs and their reactions to a number of different things. You`ve got background reports. You`ve got the friends` statements in there. You`ve got now, we`ve heard, 16 hours of interrogation of Kate McCann over two days. So they had to glean something out of that 16 hours, Nancy.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Cindy in South Carolina. Hi, Cindy.

CALLER: Hi.

GRACE: What`s your question, dear?

CALLER: Well, I kind of have two. First of all, why did they let them leave the country if they were still under investigation? And my second question is, how can I get two missing teens on television, they`re 16 years old, they`ve been missing from Tennessee since August 30th.

GRACE: You know what, Cindy from South Carolina? Stay on the line, and I`ll have my phone producer get that information from you right now.

In the meantime, back to the question. Paula Hancocks, CNN correspondent, how is it that they fled the country?

HANCOCKS: Well, they were allowed to because they`re formal suspects at this point. They haven`t been charged. They haven`t been arrested. They said there was no bail restrictions on them. So basically, their main residence is in Britain. The police over here know that. They know how to get hold of them.

And we know, we spoke to the Leicestershire police a little earlier on. That`s the district where they live in northern England. And they said they are assisting the Portuguese police. So if the Portuguese police want them back, they have five days to get back to this country. So they know where they are.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Nicky in Georgia. Hi, Nicky.

CALLER: Hi, Nancy. Congratulations. I hope you have one boy and one girl.

GRACE: You know what? I just want them to be healthy. But I do know statistically boys are more likely to end up in juvenile detention. So I`m concerned about that. But you know what? I`ll burn that bridge when I get there. Nicky, what`s your question?

CALLER: OK. I have a question. Where could the McCanns have stored Madeleine`s body if she is dead for 25 days? And the other is, I`ve never heard of any surveillance from the resort.

GRACE: That`s because they didn`t have surveillance trained on that particular area, it`s my understanding. But out to you, Jerry Lawton, chief reporter with The Daily Star. Number one, surveillance video. And number two, what`s the police theory on where they could have hidden the body for all this time?

LAWTON: Well, number one, Nancy, in terms of surveillance, we`ve discovered today in fact that the Portuguese police may indeed have had a high level of surveillance on this family than we`ve ever realized before. Again, quite dramatic information breaking. But we understand that they may well have had the family under 24-hour surveillance for a considerable period of time, far longer than the family were aware of.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The report in front of the judge is said to run to 4,000 pages. So it may well take him some time to go through it. But it`s reported that he has been asked for one decision within 24 hours, and already Kate and Gerry McCann have appointed experienced lawyers to represent them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they are preparing a defense against the allegations contained in a report handed to the prosecutor, Ashalaish Imenzush (ph). The report was immediately passed to a judge at the courthouse in Portimao yesterday. One reason, according to a Portuguese newspaper, is the police seizure of diaries and correspondence belonging to Kate and Gerry McCann.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight we learn more developments in the hours before we go to air. Number one, prosecutors filing emergency motions to get their mitts on baby Maddie`s mom`s personal diary as well as dad`s laptop. They also want certain toys. And we keep showing you the mom, Kate McCann, holding that little cuddle cat thing that police want.

Hey, word to the wise, police, FYI, it has been washed and handled by many other children since May the 3rd. But according to Jerry Lawton with The Daily Star, there`s a chance that police have had the parents under surveillance for quite a long time.

Jerry, I want to go back to Nicky from Georgia`s question. What is their theory about where the couple possibly hid the child for 25 days?

LAWTON: Well, Nancy, at the moment the theory appears to be that the child unfortunately was hidden very close to the family`s holiday apartment. They are searching an area. They are following apparently rather grimly described in the Portuguese newspapers a trail of death basically scented out by British sniffer dogs.

GRACE: A trail of death sniffed out by cadaver dogs. Explain.

LAWTON: Right. The dogs in England who have been brought in on this inquiry are incredibly specialized. They`re some of the best in the world and indeed have been used by your FBI in many investigations. These dogs are able to detect the smell of death. And apparently, they have followed and detected a trail of death that leads apparently from the apartment in Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared to an area close to the hillside church in that resort.

And that is the area at the moment where the police believe Maddie`s body was at least initially kept, until, on their allegation, the couple took that -- released out a hired car 25 days later and then moved that body to its effectual final resting place.

GRACE: CNN has not been able to confirm this trail of death sniffed out by cadaver dogs. I want to go to Mike Brooks. It is true about the Brit cadaver dog corps. They are highly sensitive. They`ve been brought over here to the U.S. to be used.

BROOKS: They are very, very good, Nancy. I can tell you that from my sources talking about this particular group of dogs. Also, apparently, they also had -- were able to pick up some scent evidence, if you will, from the apartment, from the rental car, and off of Kate McCann`s clothes.

Now, we`ve heard that Dr. McCann has said that she had been with some patients prior to this and that would be the reason that there would be such evidence on her clothes.

GRACE: Dead patients.

BROOKS: Exactly. But apparently, we`ve heard that that might not so be true. And also, Nancy, during the 16 hours -- during the 16 hours of interrogation, there were some questions that were asked of her that she refused to answer.

GRACE: Mike Brooks, how do you know that?

BROOKS: This is what we`ve been hearing from the research we`ve been doing, from The Telegraph.

GRACE: Wow. OK. That`s a problem, Julia Morrow. Of course, everyone has, in this country, a fundamental right to remain silent. But when you get a mom that refuses to answer questions about the disappearance of her child, that never looks good.

JULIA MORROW, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I would agree with you if it happened right off the bat. However, when she has been browbeaten by authorities who clearly believe she`s guilty at this point and are trying to railroad her for hours, I can see her getting to a point where she says.

GRACE: Why do you think they are trying to railroad her, Julia?

MORROW: . no more -- I`m sorry?

GRACE: Why do you believe she`s being railroaded?

MORROW: Because look at the entire course of this investigation, Nancy. When the abduction first happened, clearly the Portuguese police didn`t think that the McCanns had anything to do with it.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: . she is being railroaded, that doesn`t even make any sense, your theory that she`s being railroaded. They weren`t even suspects to start with.

MORROW: That`s right. And now only after they`ve explored everything else.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Only after a cadaver dog hits on the mom.

MORROW: I`m sorry, Nancy. I didn`t hear you.

GRACE: Only after a cadaver dog hits on the mom. Wouldn`t that raise a red flag to you? Whether it`s valid in this case or not, wouldn`t that suggest to you, ding ding, there`s a problem?

MORROW: Nancy, if these cadaver dogs are all that, why haven`t they found the spot where Maddie`s body was rotting for 25 days before it was allegedly removed and reburied by the parents? How good are the cadaver dogs?

GRACE: Julia, that was beautiful. I liked it. The way you totally avoided the question I asked you about the dogs hitting on the.

MORROW: She has an explanation for it.

GRACE: . mom. And in the apartment?

MORROW: She`s a doctor.

GRACE: Paula Hancocks from CNN.

MORROW: Nancy, I`m not convinced about the reliability of the cadaver dogs.

GRACE: . standing by at the Praia da Luz, tell me about the cadaver dog hits.

HANCOCKS: Well, the cadaver dogs, as one of your earlier guests was saying, are incredibly well-trained. They are the best in the world. And there was one Portuguese newspaper which we haven`t been able to confirm, nobody has, so it`s not necessarily completely true, but this is what they`re saying, that there was a trail, that the cadaver dogs picked up this scent and then went down to the church. All of the journalists of course went straight to the church to see if this was true.

We`ve been sitting outside there on and off for about two days now, and there`s no activity there at this point. We`ve been asking the police, are they intending to go down there? We have people watching out. And at this point they`re not searching the church at all.

GRACE: Well, you know, Randi Karmel, child advocate, if it were anybody but the Portuguese police, I have to agree with Renee and Julia on this, I would give it more stock. But what about the theory that the local child custody authorities are looking into their custody of the twins -- the twin siblings, Randi?

RANDI KARMEL, CHILD ADVOCATE: They absolutely should. You can`t kill one and keep two. You absolutely should have the child protective services look into whether they are abusive or neglectful, and as suspects they pretty much are.



Related: 

Madeleine Mccann: The Facts In the Beginning...

Eddie and Keela versus Team McCann

More on Keela


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McCanns Case: How can a dog sniff through concrete?

by Joana Morais 9 years ago

The McCanns previously tried to dismiss the cadaver dogs findings, stating that the Cadaver dogs were manipulated to react to the Renault Scenic therefore implying that the South Yorkshire police special team handling the dogs was corrupt. Today, again we know how accurate the dogs used in the search for Madeleine are.

Philomena McCann's discription of the cadaver dogs, "what are they Lassie? They could be barking at anything."

The decomposing body is liquefied from the inside, by enzymes in the muscle tissue. This causes the body to swell, and give of the gas Hydrogen Sulphide. This what the dog will pick up on. 

How can a dog sniff through concrete?

A child's remains were discovered under several inches of concrete at a former children's home in Jersey after police bought in dogs to search the site. But how can they sniff through concrete?

For Eddie, it's all in a day's work.

When police suspected human remains were buried on the site of a former children's home in Jersey, the springer spaniel was part of the specialist team brought in to investigate.

Jersey Police said the seven-year-old dog located parts of a child's body even though they were buried under several inches of concrete. So how did he do it?

Eddie is an enhanced victim recovery dog and is specially trained to detect the scent of human remains. He is able to smell through solid materials, like concrete, because of scientifically-based training techniques.

It's this training that sets him apart for standard police sniffer dogs, which are able to detect human remains in shallow graves. The springer's nose is more sensitive and he is called in on more complicated cases.

Super sensitive

The specialist training techniques - which are highly confidential - were developed by Eddie's handler Martin Grimes, along with the UK's National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) and America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

They are scientifically based and rely on how dogs smell and the chemicals involved.

Canines are known for their outstanding sense of smell, estimated to be 10 times stronger than a human's. Like us they smell using special receptors in the nose, which react to tiny chemical scent particles in the atmosphere and send a message to the brain.

Dogs can smell so well because they have an estimated 200 million such receptors, compared to five million in a human nose. The extra receptors mean canines are able to distinguish between different smells much more acutely.

"We don't discuss what the training involves, but it's a lot more than putting bits of meat on the ground for them to hunt out," says Mr Grimes, a retired South Yorkshire Police officer who now works as an independent consultant.

Focus

"A standard sniffer dog is like a basic tool. An enhanced dog goes through much more training and is a lot more discriminating about smells, basically it's nose is super sensitive. It's also about getting the dog to really focus on a task."

While rare, Eddie and partner Keela are not the only enhanced victim recovery dogs in the UK. The Metropolitan Police and forces in Surrey and Greater Manchester have them. But what sets these two springers apart is that they work exclusively in this field, says Mr Grimes.

"Other dogs have to do other police duties but mine work full-time in this area, making them very sharp and highly skilled."

The dogs have been used by police forces across the world and were called in to help with the Madeleine McCann investigation.

Both are springer spaniels, but the breed is no better suited to the job than any other. A dog just needs to show a keen sense of smell and it's the training that makes them good enhanced victim recovery dogs, says Mr Grimes.

Eddie was bred by a specialist search-dog breeder and Keela came from the West Midlands Police breeding programme.

Both live with Mr Grimes and have a normal life outside of work. He is currently training two new dogs, Morse and Lewis.

In the Jersey case, parts of a child's body were found on Saturday. The remains are thought to date from the early 1980s. Police have yet to say whether they are male or female.


Daily Mail: Gerry's fury at 'bungling' dog handlers

Gerry McCann was furious when he saw video tape of British police dog handlers examining the family's hire car, a source revealed today.
He believes they bungled the moment a sniffer dog allegedly detected "the scent of death" in the back of the Renault Scenic.

The animal's reaction led to Mr McCann and his wife Kate being named official suspects by Portuguese officers investigating the 3 May disappearance of their daughter Madeleine.

But Mr McCann has told his legal team that the dog walked around the car and was beginning to walk away but it was brought back by its handler and held at the boot when "it went rigid".

A source close to the McCanns said: "Gerry saw it on the tape. Vehicles were lined up in an underground car park. Gerry says the dog went up to the Scenic, sniffed around it and went to head off.

"But he says he watched the dog brought back to the vehicle and finally it reacts around the boot area.

"Gerry was open-mouthed when he saw it. He feels the dog was manoeuvred into a position where it could react. To Gerry it looked like the dog was being encouraged to react in certain places of relevance."

Portuguese detectives showed the video to Mr McCann during lengthy interrogation. The dogs were used to look for human remains in the McCanns' Praia da Luz apartment and in several vehicles seized by police.

According to the source, the dog spent seconds around vehicles owned by the other official suspect in the case, Robert Murat and his family and friends, but was kept for a minute at the hire car, rented 25 days after Madeleine vanished from the family's apartment in Praia da Luz.

The boot was later said to show traces of Madeleine's DNA and evidence that a corpse was kept in there - claims disputed by the McCanns who have had their own tests carried out.

The family have compiled a dossier of evidence to disprove the police case against them. This includes analysis of evidence provided by the sniffer dogs which they claim is unreliable.


Sun: Maddie sniffer dog 'was rigged'

FURIOUS Gerry McCann believes sniffer dogs used to find Maddie clues in the family’s hire car were MANIPULATED by cops.

The animals appeared to detect traces of the four-year-old’s DNA in the Renault Scenic — rented 25 days after she vanished.

This lead to Kate and Gerry, both 39, being made suspects in their daughter’s disappearance in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

But Gerry, from Rothley, Leics, who was shown a video of the search, told lawyers the animals’ evidence was unreliable.

A source close to the couple said last night: “Gerry says a dog went up to the Scenic, sniffed around and went to head off. He watched the dog being brought back to the vehicle.

“Finally, it reacts around the boot area. Gerry was open-mouthed at that, he feels the dog was manoeuvred into a position where it could react.”



Related: Sniffer Dogs used to seek Madeleine prove again their effectiveness


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Kate Prout: Husband On Murder Charge - No Body Found

by Joana Morais---8 years ago


A farmer whose wife disappeared without trace 16 months ago has appeared in court charged with her murder.

Adrian Prout faced Cheltenham magistrates yesterday accused of killing his 55-year-old wife Kate Prout, even though her body has never been found.

Kate Prout

Prout, dressed in a pale green jumper and a white shirt, spoke only to confirm his name and address.

Magistrates refused him bail and he was remanded in custody by magistrates and will reappear at Bristol Crown Court next Tuesday.

The 46-year-old still lives at Redhill Farm in Redmarley, near Newent, the home he shared with his wife until she vanished on November 5, 2007.

A huge police search involving nearly 100 officers was launched, during which forensic experts spent days searching 220 acres of fields and woodland around the farm.

Divers and specially-trained dogs [Eddie and Keela, specialist cadaver scent & blood trained dogs which took part in the hunt for Madeleine McCann ] were used in a bid to find traces of the missing retired teacher but failed to discover anything.

Mr Prout was first arrested on suspicion of murder in November 2007. He was re-arrested in February 2008 and his police bail was then cancelled in January this year.

He had claimed the retired teacher, of Redmarley, Glos, had run away despite her passport and purse being found at their farmhouse. 

But police arrested him again at Redhill Farm yesterday morning and charged him his wife's murder.

Ann Reddrop, head of the Crown Prosecution Service complex casework unit, said: "We have been working closely with the police over the past months to investigate all aspects of Mrs Prout's disappearance before reaching a final decision on charging.

"We have also sought advice from leading counsel. Accordingly, we have this week authorised the police to charge Mr Prout."

Senior investigating officer acting detective superintendent Neil Kelly added: "This has been a complex, thorough and necessarily lengthy investigation to bring us to this point.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those affected, especially Mrs Prout's friends and family, for their understanding, tolerance and patience."

The Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday that they had sufficient evidence for a murder trial. Mr Prout was remanded by Cheltenham JPs until March 17. 

Mrs Prout spent 20 years as a primary school teacher before taking early retirement. At the time of her disappearance she was involved in a campaign to persuade the Government to increase milk payments to dairy farmers.


Eddie and Keela - Top sniffer dogs

Used across the world for his accuracy, seven-year-old hound Eddie helped police put Trevor Hamilton behind bars in 2006 after the victim recovery dog found 63-year- old Attracta Harron's blood on the 23-year-old murderer's burned-out Hyundai.

Eddie, who works for South Yorkshire police, also located Attracta's body in a shallow grave in April 2003.

Last year the dog and his handlers returned to Ulster for a third time to help find missing Arlene Arkinson.

The Tyrone teenager went missing after leaving a disco in Bundoran, Co Donegal, on August 13, 1994. 

Both Eddie and Keela have also been used in various disappearance and murder cases in the US and the Republic of Ireland. 

Related

Eddie and Keela versus Team McCann
Eddie and Keela, the two sniffer British dogs used to find evidences of Madeleine's death, in Portugal were used by the police in the searches of Kate Prout. Although investigations at her Redhill Farm home finished a fortnight ago it is understood specialist sniffer dogs used in the search for missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann in Portugal have been used in the investigation and found evidence of Mrs Prout's death.

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British diplomat warned Foreign Office of concerns over McCanns

The Foreign Office was alerted to fears over Gerry and Kate McCann by a British diplomat in Portugal just days after their daughter Madeleine went missing.

Last updated at 10:18 03 December 2007

The Foreign Office was alerted to fears over Gerry and Kate McCann by a British diplomat in Portugal just days after their daughter Madeleine went missing.

The diplomat was sent to the holiday resort of Praia da Luz in the days following the four-year-old's disappearance and soon became concerned over "inconsistencies" in the testimonies by her parents and their friends.

After visiting the McCanns, the unnamed diplomat sent a report to the Foreign Office in London, admitting his worries about "confused declarations" of the McCanns' movements on the night of May 3.

He also noted the couple's "lack of co-operation" with the Portuguese police.

The diplomat's concerns were made over four months before Gerry and Kate were named arguidos (suspects) on September 7.

Contents of the letter were leaked to Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heure over the weekend.

The diplomat expressed his fears after receiving instruction from the Foreign Office to provide "all possible assistance to the McCann couple".

The French-language paper printed excerpts of the letter, quoting the diplomat as saying: "With the greatest respect, I would like to make you aware of the risks and implications to our relationship with the Portuguese authorities, if you consider the possible involvement of the couple.

"Please confirm to me, in the light of these concerns, that we want to continue to be closely involved in the case as was requested in your previous ­message."

Although the Government was quick to assist the McCanns in the days following Madeleine's disappearance, direct contact with the couple ceased when they were named as suspects.

La Dernière Heure pointed out that a majority of the diplomats originally involved in the case have now been taken off it.

The then-Prime Minister Tony Blair sent special envoy Sheree Dodd to act as a "media liaison officer" for the pair soon after Madeleine vanished.

Ms Dodd has since resigned from the Foreign Office, while the British consul in the Algarve, Bill Henderson, has retired.

John Buck, the British ambassador in Portugal, no longer works in the country.

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