The media again is awash with Madeline McCann stories as Australia’s Channel 7 releases a half-hour documentary on Sunday night promising to reveal new evidence and the ten year anniversary of Madeline's disappearance approaches
One Channel 7 viewer was unimpressed and commented, “Watched the Australian production claiming to have found "vital new evidence" about the McCann case. Horrendous reporting by a clearly biased idiot female, only God knows what her name is. But what could one expect from Rupert's empire?”
In Portugal, a deputy director of the Judiciary Police, Pedro do Carmo, confirmed an Oporto-based team is still looking into the girl’s disappearance in 2007, admitting it’s, "a unique case in the history of the PJ and the country."
"The case is still open, yes," said do Carmo, admitting that the police "have every interest in knowing what happened, because that is the way to draw conclusions for future situations."
Asked if the long time elapsed is the enemy of the investigation, the official admitted that "PJ is aware that, as time goes by, it will become more difficult to reach answers or results."
The police work will continue until it is time to say "there is nothing more to do."
"We do not know yet what happened, what was the reason for Madeleine's disappearance, which means that we are not yet in a position to say what was done poorly, done right or should have been done," he said.
The critical assessment of the case can only be made when the investigation is closed, "either because we have found the answers we wanted or because we have reached the point where there is nothing else to do," said Pedro de Carmo.
On July 21, 2008, the Public Prosecutor's Office decided to close the investigation and remove ‘arguido’ status from the McCanns and from suspect Robert Murat, stating that the case could be reopened if "new evidence" arose.
The Australian documentary refers to an employee of the Ocean Club resort on Praia da Luz, Algarve, who “may know what really happened on the night of Madeleine McCann's disappearance in May 2007.”
In the programme, a Scotland Yard Inspector, Colin Sutton, suggests that, "There is an employee who worked at the Ocean Villa complex who has information or some knowledge of what has happened."
Sutton also points out that there are several possible theories to explain the disappearance of the girl: she may have been taken by a paedophile; she may have been taken by a child trafficking network to replace another who died; she may have fled and had an accident or been abducted in a robbery.
The McCann’s former nanny, speaking after a ten year silence about the case, allegedly was in the Algarve on the day of Madeline’s disappearance, decided to break the silence and give her opinion on the McCann’s behaviour in the immediate aftermath of Madeline’s disappearance, concluding that the parents has nothing to do with their daughter’s disappearance.
This May heralds the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance, with Scotland Yard’s Operation Grange receiving a Home Office allocation of £85,000 for ‘operational costs’ to extend the work from the planned end date in April, to September 2017.
