Madeleine McCann police review to take years and cost millions

MPs criticise PM’s ordering of lengthy and costly Scotland Yard review of police investigation into child’s disappearance The Metropolitan police review into the abduction of Madeleine McCann could take months or even years to complete and cost millions of pounds. Detectives from Scotland Yard’s homicide command face huge difficulties in examining all the paperwork that details the inquiry into the three-year-old’s disappearance in Portugal in 2007. First they will have to wait for all the documentation to be provided by the Portuguese police, and then all the material must be translated before a team of detectives begins the arduous task of reviewing the whole inquiry. They will also review all the files from police in Leicestershire, the McCann’s home force which provided some support to the Portuguese, and those of private investigators who have been working on behalf of the family for the past four years. Scotland Yard have begun an exercise to work out what size team should be involved in the Madeleine review. It is likely to include detectives from the child homicide unit at the Yard. The prime minister’s decision to order the Met to review the case was criticised by some politicians. Labour peer Lord Harris of Haringey told the PoliticsHome website that he had worries about the way Cameron and the Home Office had behaved. “It raises very big questions about political direction of the police,” said Harris. “Of course it goes without saying that this is a very heart-breaking case, but what we are looking at is a case where the Met has no direct responsibility. “There is clearly an issue about the resources being used and are they in effect saying that the Met is the default investigator for every case in the world involving a British citizen? “It’s not just a question of direct costs, it’s a question of opportunity costs too. Our detective capacity is limited as it is.” The prime minister’s official spokesman said that Cameron and Theresa May had asked the Met to review the evidence in response to a request by the McCann family because of the “exceptional” nature of the case. “There has been a huge amount of public interest in this case since it began, Madeleine McCann has been missing for a long time, there is the international dimension,” the spokesman said. “The prime minister has been clear that he wants to do everything he can to support the family.” The spokesman denied that Cameron and May had been directing police on an operational matter. “It was done at the request of the home secretary. It was agreed by Sir Paul Stephenson. That is not a direction,” he said. Scotland Yard has had some high-profile success in solving cases which at first sight seemed intractable. After 16 years a new investigation of the Rachel Nickell murder led in 2008 to her killer Robert Napper being brought to justice following a DNA breakthrough. It was a review by a senior homicide detective of all the evidence gathered in an investigation into a serial rapist in south London that led to the conviction of Kirk Reid in 2009 . After eight years in which no one had been arrested for scores of rapes it took the detective just a few hours with the paperwork to identify Reid as the main suspect. Five days later he had matched his DNA to two of the assaults and Reid was finally brought to justice. The approach in the Madeleine review will be the same as in any re-examination of cases in the UK, a police source said. “What we do is painstakingly look at all the evidence, the paperwork, the CCTV, any suspects who came to light and were investigated. Sometimes it takes fresh eyes to see what was always there.” Madeleine of Rothley, Leicestershire, vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve in May 2007. Her parents were dining in a restaurant about 100 metres away and were checking on Madeleine and her siblings every half an hour. The Portuguese inquiry was halted formally in July 2008. Madeleine McCann Police Metropolitan police Crime Portugal DNA database Theresa May David Cameron Rachel Nickell Robert Napper Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 13, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.