UK Police Say Phone Records Hold Key To Madeleine McCann Case

It is just over six years since the disappearance of three year old Madeleine McCann and the anniversary of the event has sparked further investigation and insight. The Portuguese police have reopened the case, while an e-fit of a potential suspect has been released five years after the parents subdued its release for fear that it painted them in a bad light. UK police have said that it could be phone records that will eventually help to capture the people that were responsible for taking Madeleine.

The Madeleine McCann case is one that struck at the hearts of most people. The then three year old girl was taken from her hotel room, while her parents were away from the room. The Portuguese and UK police were called in, amid fears that she had been taken and transported out of the country. Little hard evidence seemed to be found at the time, and on the anniversary of her disappearance each year, there is additional spotlight put back on the case in the hope of finding her and reuniting her with her parents.

This year marks the sixth anniversary of her disappearance and, as well as a Crimewatch reconstruction at the beginning of October, a number of other reports, analyses, and pieces of evidence have come to light. There has been an internal review of the way the case was handled by Portuguese police. The case, which was heavily criticised by UK police and reporters, was closed in 2008 but the Portuguese authorities, with a new team of investigators, have now reopened it.

The UK police have also extended their own line of enquiries. During the aforementioned Crimewatch reconstruction, an e-fit of a man believed to have something to do with the disappearance was released. The picture was presented as though it were new information but it transpires that it was, in fact, presented to the McCanns by a team of former agents. The parents of Madeleine issued a statement to the group, quelling the picture because they were worried that it painted them in too negative a light.

UK police have said that they believe phone data could hold the key to solving the case. They have data from thousands of phone calls made by people in the village at the time of the disappearance. Call data was looked at during the initial investigation but not in enough detail and UK police are now trawling through the information. They say that while they cannot view the content of texts, and tracing some phones dating back six years and bought on a pay-as-you-go tariff would prove extremely difficult, details may tie in with known details of criminals and gangs.

The hunt for Madeleine McCann continues, now six years after her disappearance. Madeleine was three at the time of her disappearance, just days away from her fourth birthday, and she would now be ten. Police have released computer generated images of how she might look now along with an e-fit of a person believed to have been involved. It could, however, prove to be phone logs that help solve the case.
 
Interesting how the UK is allowed to peer on wire tapping for criminal activity in a country they do not govern and yet when the US is invited to assist other nations for matters of National Security they call it spying.
 
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