By Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt

The Madeleine story explodes again in my absence. Return to try to work out what it all means. Am confident I know the identity of "the new British suspect" but am not convinced he's about to be arrested, as the Portuguese paper claims.

A lot's been written about DNA tests here on blood from the McCann holiday apartment, but the results could take weeks. And they may be inconclusive. The samples being tested might well have been inadvertently contaminated.

I hear a Portuguese radio station rang the Forensic Science Service and asked for the chief investigator, claiming to be a British police liaison officer. Something in the accent gave them away.

Claiming to be myself, I finally manage to get Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa on the phone. He is polite, but non-committal. Does he expect a big development in the investigation? It depends what the officers find, he reveals.

But he thinks the inquiry is going forward.

An anonymous and terribly polite letter introduces me to the world of map dowsing in the hunt for Madeleine. The writer suggests that his or her study of road maps of the Algarve hinterland "showed strong significance." The letter is accompanied by two aerial photographs of the area.

Another, from an ex-pat in Portugal, suggests the family use the million-pound fund to search for their daughter close to the apartment. This time the letter includes an audio tape of actor Frank Windsor reading "Crime Has Its Heroes" by H. Montgomery Hyde.

Am I missing something here?

Comments

[Hastings/ Ashliegh rowe 28 Sep 2007 11:04:42]

I think the police are only blaming the parents because they are stuck and dont know who else to blame i think that the parent are innocent and the police need to get there act together if they want to find her

much love.....

[Sylvia Camilleri - Malta 20 Sep 2007 14:13:06]

I have been reading all the blogs for a long time but I havent heard anyone questioning when MrsMcann said They've taken her noone asked who have taken care as it seems that she knew she is going to be taken could or were they being blackmailed by someone this has been bothering me for a long time I would like an answer from anyone interested

[Judy Brydon in Austria 19 Sep 2007 19:37:26]

Reading through this blog, I see that many people are very generous towards the McCanns and all credit to them, some not but whatever the outcome I would rather stand on the side of the belivers as those who doubt. We might be proved wrong, but at least we have shown hope and trust in mankind and after all is this not a part of our survival?

[Lizah, Norway 15 Sep 2007 23:48:14]

The police should try to find her in pedofilysides on internet. Someone has allready found their little boy there, but unfortunately, they could not anything do.

[Lizah, Norway 15 Sep 2007 23:44:47]

I should be so shocked that in next day I was in mentalhospital if my girl died because of me!!!

Put youselves in gerrys and kates place. You will understand, i´m sure

[marika oswald south africa 15 Sep 2007 07:17:48]

this is such a complex story, who do we believe, Mccanns are also acting strange, what I dont understand how can a parent manage to put 3children to sleep by 8.30 its just plain impossible, especially if they are hyperactive, and strong willed like any 3/4 year old. unless they are exceptional parents, and their children are obededient. I really dont know but we are not all the same, I just hope Madeleine is alive, because the idea that someone killed her makes me so sad. Accidents happens all the time, the parents, are involved, thats what I think now, but I do hope I am wrong.

[moonbeam perth 14 Sep 2007 18:02:15]

i hope this comes to an end soon for everyones sake and the truth comes out

[nia from london 14 Sep 2007 14:37:36]

to be honest der really is no truth that the parents have done anything. and if the mother has i think it was an accident she didn't mean to harm her daughter but they got scared and decided to say that she is missing. i think that the dad has nothing to do with this but is sticking by his wife cause that is whta parents should do and they may had been thinking about their status being doctors and knowing that they should had not left the kids by themselves. i think the mum has something to do with it her face says it all. but if i am wrong i have a very judgement.

[ann, observing sadly 14 Sep 2007 12:10:00]

How I do HATE to be wrong as much as Michael Toombes is!!
WE both predicted the sudden intervention and involvement of the British Social Services and lo and behold, here they are, "interviewing" the parents in their home in the "Interests of the Welfare of the Children" doubtless(?)
I am curious about how they are paying their expenses now they have been off work for (?)is it 4 months straight??
But that is maybe a petty idea, given that Madeleine is still "missing-feared-dead".
Sorry baby...God bless you x

[Eleanor Bonar Argyll and Bute 13 Sep 2007 21:18:20]

I Feel as though i am addicted to this case, i hate to read about the McCann!s being blamed for their daughters disappearance. I know they did wrong leaving the children alone, but what a high price they have paid. PLEASE LET MADELEINE BE FOUND SAFE AND WELL.I pray for her everynight and hope to hear good news soon. XXXXXX For a Darling little girl.

[georges,London 12 Sep 2007 13:29:42]

What If????

What i this is just an hoax gone out of control?
What if Madei never was abducted?
What if a small com was blown out of in such a way that there was no turning back?
What if the parents know exactly were Madie is and know that she is safe?
What if the evidence was planted to mislead the authorities?
What if we all have been taken for a ride?

[Krum Iostovich (MD)- MOSCOW 12 Sep 2007 09:04:10]

A couple take a holiday in the Algarve. They have three infants with them.

The couple are invited to attend a dinner one night and regrettably leave the children behind.

The day before the dinner these children behaved badly, wearied their parents with their restlessness or insisted on not being left alone that night because they were frightened.

For such a reason, the parents, both doctors, decide to sedate all three children before the dinner so that they sleep soundly.

Madeline suffers acute respiratory or heart failure.

Parents find their daughter dead and immediately weigh the costs. If found guilty they can face 10 years for manslaughter, have their jobs stripped away and, more poignantly, have their surviving infants taken away, possibly for a very long time.

The couple stage a false alarm. They pretend that the door was not locked and that somebody kidnapped their daughter. They call first 'Sky News', then the police.

They may have removed the body long before the dinner (only they can say when she died). Or they hid it and disposed of it long after (consistent with traces of fluid from her decomposing body in the boot of their car)

The couple then launch an enormous campaign, a farce, exploiting the people of Portugal.

One major shortcoming in this case is that the McCanns were, understandibly, not suspected from the start. Tests on the twins for the presence of barbiturates in the bloodstream would be frugal since these water-soluble drugs have had four months to remove themselves. The detective that decided to boldly swing the case round is a very intelligent and insightful person.

This is a story of two people who decided to be too clever for their own good.

Sad? yes
Impossible? certainly not

[Lizah, Norway 12 Sep 2007 08:35:52]

Hello world!

Kate couldn´t put the body anywhere where it doesn´t smell. Itś warm in Portugal! Why don´t you beleive on parents? Anyone could go in to the childrens romm at take a girl. Rape her and go to the beach and trough her there! Thatś why there are bodysmell from the romm to the beach. There is blood of Maddie and the strange mann on the wall of sleepingroom! Portugisian police- think about THAT!

[Dawn Jeanes 11 Sep 2007 16:28:13]

I think the police should check who had the vehicle when Maddie was taken. Its obvious if there is DNA in the car the person who took Maddie would have had the vehicle. I am sure it wasnt her Mother and Father. Really feel for them and the whole family.

[Sue N - UK 11 Sep 2007 14:49:30]

Alistair - Portugal
"so i wonder... are they so well off that they can afford all this or is it that they are using other peoples money, and... what if they are guilty???"

What if they are innocent???
Presumably, if they are innocent, you would not bemoan them for using money from the Find Madeleine Fund?
Maybe, presuming their innocence, they feel clearing their name is the best way at the moment to find Madeleine??

[alistair - portugal 11 Sep 2007 14:23:00]

there is an aspect of this case that intrigues me... the funding for all that we have seen in the last months. now i know that there is a fund/reward for information leading to madeleines´ recovery, which i supose is alright, although i think that if anybody has information regarding madeleine, or any other missing child for that matter, they should come forward regardless of any reward... but what about the rest?
what is this cash being used for?
to mount the media campaigns that we have seen?
to pay for press officers and other professionals?
for villas in praia da luz?
and what about these lawyers that have been brought in at various stages in the last months? the portuguese lawyers are expensive for certain, but no where near the fees that their international counterparts are charging...
plus the maccanns are on unpaid leave...
so i wonder... are they so well off that they can afford all this or is it that they are using other peoples money, and... what if they are guilty???

[Vera - A L G A R V E 11 Sep 2007 09:39:24]

Why dont you public my comment? Because I am a portuguese?? because iI have a diferente opinion from Sky???
Shame on you!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Susan, Dublin, Ireland 10 Sep 2007 23:15:10]

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". We should remember that a child is missing and who know where she is and what she has suffered or is suffering now. Rather than judge her parents we should collectively hope that someone,somewhere, will provide a clue as to her whereabouts or what happened to her. Wild speculation has no part in this story and serves only to stoke the fires of people's imagination and take the focus from the core of this tragedy. I hope Madeleine is found soon. In the meantime I believe that her parents are living through an unimaginable nightmare during which they should have our support and compassion - not angry, self righteous rantings.

[alistair - portugal 10 Sep 2007 16:47:51]

as a british citizen, born and brought up in portugal, where i live, i am frustrated at the biased coverage sky news has been giving this case over the last two days. being able to zap from portuguese tv chanels to sky (and other international chanels)... and understand not only what is SAID, but what IS MEANT, as well as being able to read the papers in both languages... and understand what is MEANT, it is amazing to me that sky news with all its resources, has been unable to find interpreters who can do this job for their reporters here in portugal... or is it that the interpreters are doing their job, and the reporters are not... by "adapting" and "editing" the facts to fit skys and/or the mccanns, needs????
regarding the portuguese police and its decision to move forward in this way... making the macanns "arguidos" (which actually gives them a whole lot more rights under portuguese law than they had previously)... it would seem to me that whoever took the decision must have been aware of the consequences, and did not do so in a lighthearted fashion.

[tanya.london 10 Sep 2007 08:58:48]

Im supporting the mccanns all the way..keep looking for your beautiful girl Madeleine.who ever took MADDIE must be laughing at Gerry and Kate as they are in the frame.How can somoneone so wicked......bring Madeleine back to her parents

[Cheryl West Midlands 9 Sep 2007 01:03:09]

I remember seeing, quite plainly on one of the very first news reports after Maddies disappearance, a man walking behind the police man who was being interviewed carrying a girl on his shoulders who looked exactly like Maddie. She had on a hat and sun glasses, her blonde bobbed hair poking out from underneath the hat, she also had a little backpack on her back. Same size, build, age everything. The man carrying her had on a white shirt and navy blue shorts. That must be in the news archives somewhere for one of the news channels but I cant remember which news programme it was, must have been either sky or bbc because they are the only news channels I watch. Anyway it was the very first breaking news just after the incident, when the police man was being interviewed, so it shouldnt be too hard to find. Ive tried to say all this before but of course no one listens. Can anyone else remember seeing this?? My heart and thoughts are with Maddie everyday.

[Tina, Manchester 8 Sep 2007 20:59:30]

Actually, the people who have pointed out that she is not "our" Maddie are spot on. Anyone who isn't a ridiculous hysteric can see that. Look, I totally understand that the important thing is getting Madeleine back, and that this case has touched a lot of people emotionally.
(MYSELF INCLUDED, before anyone starts.)

Those who point out that Madeleine is NOT your child are using basic common sense, it is as simple as that. It does NOT mean that such people are heartless, just that they have a sense of perspective. Anyone who can't understand that needs to find a sense of perspective, and a good dose of reality, as they have a hell of a lot of growing up to do.

[Breda O'Brien, Ireland 8 Sep 2007 16:03:30]

For those of you talking about the photo with the black man in the background. I thought the days were gone when all kidnappers, thieves, child murderers were all black men. Get real, i am sure the police have checked this as have the CEOP computers. They did after all do a scan on all holiday snaps. The poor man was passing in the bloody picture, get over it, oh is it cos he is black, he must have done it.

[jenny england 8 Sep 2007 14:52:13]

on a warm sunny evening in portugal are peole families not still out walking and enjoying their holidays un yet no one saw anything only one witness who said they saw a man carrying a somthing in a blanket and a blonde women acting suspiciously should we not think about yhat one

[Derek. Blackpool 8 Sep 2007 13:47:21]

i have thought for some time that kate and gerry know more about what happend to madeleine.i dont think i could jet off to other country's nowing my daughter is missing,i would like to be near the telephone all the time hoping for new's.it seemed so important for gerry to come back to england to see how the appeal fund was going?what come's first your daughter or money..now i think the next suggestion will be the mc'cann's have been framed..another excuse..and what will everyone say if one or both parent's are prooved to be involved.what will all there friend's and family say then?
i dont think the police would show themselves up to the world without good proof.
doubt's are bound to cross the public's mind after this new evidence.i also think that the appeal fund should be frozen untill the out come of this new evidence is dealt with.this is my opion only what i have said here,and i know that many will disagree with me,but let's see what the out come is.. i feel only for that poor little girl just now..please let her be alive somewhere.my thoughts are with you madeleine.
Love
Derek.