Matthew Steeples slams the decision to waste yet more money on top of the £14 million spent by searching a reservoir for Madeleine McCann; it is time precious resources were reallocated to searches for missing people capable of actually being found
In a new development in the genuinely wasteful £14 million ($17.3 million, €16 million or درهم63.7 million) search for Madeleine McCann – a child who went ‘missing’ after her middle class doctor parents needlessly and neglectfully left her and her siblings alone on 3rd May 2007 in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal – police have today begun searching a reservoir about 25 miles distant from the scene of the ‘vanishing.’
Conducted by Portuguese police at the behest of German police who have been investigating the 45-year-old convicted rapist Christian Brückner – an evil monster, but nonetheless an evil monster cleared Cleared in February 2021 of the May 2015 kidnapping of Inga Gehricke – here is yet further example of timewasting for the sake of keeping police officers in jobs.
Present in addition to Portuguese and German officers are several from the Metropolitan Police and of the search The Guardian tellingly observed:
“The reservoir was reportedly searched in 2008 and bones found in a bag were judged to be of ‘non-human origin.’ It remains unclear why the police have chosen to search the reservoir again at this point.”
“On Monday evening, Portugal’s judicial police released a statement confirming local media reports that they would conduct the search at the request of the German authorities and in the presence of British officials.”
“This will be the first major operation of its kind since June 2014, when the Metropolitan police received permission from Portuguese officials to search the holiday resort of Praia da Luz with search dogs and ground-penetrating radar.”
In response to this news, today on Twitter, I asked:
“Will today’s search of a reservoir for missing Madeleine McCann lead to new developments or is it just yet another misallocation of resources on top of the £14m already wasted?”
By 11:30am this morning, the majority of the 570 responses, 46.2% favoured the answer: “No; more distraction” whilst 40.5% plumped for: “No; just to keep police £.” Just 13.3% sampled opted for: “Yes; progress at last.” The poll remains open for another 22 hours, but I don’t anticipate those supporting the “yes” option to overcome the 86% who clearly believe that this latest police action to be nothing other than another disgraceful misuse of public money.
Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
Barragem do Arade reservoir near the town of Silves in the Algarve, about 25 miles (40 kilometres) from Praia da Luz where Madeleine disappeared aged three from her family’s holiday apartment on 3 May 2007.
Missing Madeleine – Questions STILL without Answers… £14 million wasted on Operation Grange… Why continue? Why waste more? Why not help others?
Many questions about what happened on the evening of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann remain. Some that have been highlighted by the press and discussed online include:
- Why did Kate McCann refuse to answer 48 questions put to her by the Portuguese police?
- Why were certain records of phone calls on the evening of the disappearance “whoosh-clunked” from the memories of the phones of Mr and Mrs McCann and the ‘Tapas 7’?
- Why were relevant mobile phone records never handed over to the authorities in spite of them potentially being useful to the search?
- Why did the couple not use the babysitting service on offer in the holiday resort on the evening of 3rd May 2007 when they went out on the razzle dazzle with friends?
- Why was the door to the apartment – which opened directly onto a public highway – left unlocked with three children aged under three years old alone inside?
- Why did a British sniffer dog sense the smell of a corpse in a cupboard in the apartment from which Madeleine McCann disappeared?
- Why did a sniffer dog also supposedly sense the smell of a corpse in a vehicle hired by the couple a month after the disappearance of their daughter?
- Why did the McCanns repeatedly try to discredit the work of the sniffer dogs and their handlers?
- Why did Mr and Mrs McCann go jogging and play tennis in the days after their daughter’s disappearance?
- Was it acceptable for Mr and Mrs McCann’s mortgage to be paid by the fund established to search for their missing daughter?
- Why have the McCanns attempted to ‘gag’ anyone who disputes their version of events – most especially Gonçalo Amaral?
- Why, given over £14 million has been spent on this search to date, has nobody come forward with any sighting of ‘missing’ Madeleine McCann given the very, very substantial rewards on offer?
As nasty as Brückner is, he had nothing to do with it. We all know who it really was, the dogs told us.
On a much happier note, that ghastly paedo Harris is dead at last. I expect his daughter will shortly arrive here.
Ugh! That’s a right sordid group of individuals they have connections to.
Still believe the parents are involved! And yes it’s time to move on to cases that don’t have so much publicity! They are just trying to save face! Other children need help being found! Where was Maxwell at when made went missing?
I also don’t believe Bruckner did it. I truly believe it was the parents. For some reason they are trying to pin it on someone else. Even if they found Madeleine in the area does not mean Bruckner did it. Parents could have driven her there.
The whole sordid case is just terrible. I can’t believe the parents actually went out jogging together not long after it happened.
If that had been my child, I would have to be sedated for a month. Also leaving the children unattended while they wined and dined, is just unforgivable, and they should have been charged with that alone, in my book that’s child abuse.
I truly hope we find out what happened, but I do believe the parents are involved in some way, probably an accident, that they then had to cover up, and the whole thing ran out of control.
I too believe that Madeline may have succumbed to a fall and they returned to find her deceased and so they disposed of and concocted this whole narrative of her being ‘taken’.
There was a good documentary on YT (I cannot recall the name) but their conclusion was Madeline had heard Gerry talking outside the apartment (after returning to check-up on the children) and had climbed up on to the sofa by the window and had possibly fallen, sustained a head injury and when Kate came to check the next time she found Madeline on the floor (marble) with serious head injuries and subsequently had dies from her injuries.
Both Gerry & Kate knew they would be scrutinized for leaving the children alone (child abuse/neglect) and in a bid to save themselves created this whole narrative, I digress.
Am I the only person to notice that whenever there is a major news story/scandal or other high profile story, there always seems to be a ‘development’ in this tragic case of Madeline?
I would postulate that Madeline’s tragic story is used by the media to deflect attention from other major stories.
One other thing I found quite interesting is that Madeline disappeared in Portugal, Now if we jump forward to the major story regarding Phillip Schofield which is and has been unfolding the last few weeks, It was reported that Holly Willoughby was at her £8 Million pound holiday villa in none other than Portugal.
Most TV stars have holiday homes in the south of France, Spain or Italy (Andrew Neil being a prime example, Southern France)
I would then postulate most TV stars have holiday homes in France or Italy, Most gangsters or drug dealer/people on the run flee to Spain and this leaves Portugal for the ‘people with a penchant for children’.
Tenuous to say the least, but I thought it was something no-one else has mentioned.