INSIDE THE MCCANNS’ PRIVATE INVESTIGATION – Disclosures by Gary Hagland, a money laundering expert hired by Brian Kennedy

by Tony Bennett on 03.03.17

INSIDE THE MCCANNS’ PRIVATE INVESTIGATION – Disclosures by Gary Hagland, a money laundering expert hired by Brian Kennedy

To my knowledge, so far only two of the investigators employed by the McCann Team and Brian Kennedy to search for Madeleine have ever given away any of the secrets of what really went on inside that investigation.

One of them was one of the Metodo 3 detectives, Julian Peribanez. His account of life with the team searching for Madeleine can be read on CMOMM, here:

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t12458-exclusive-to-cmomm-corruption-and-criminality-inside-the-metodo-3-investigation-into-madeleine-mccann-s-disappearance-extracts-from-a-book-by-two-metodo-3-men-tamarit-and-peribanez-plus-a-second-book-written-by-francisco-marco


The other is Gary Hagland.

My involvement with Gary Hagland, and what he had to say about the six-month period he was employed by Brian Kennedy  is covered in several threads:

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t7348-gary-hagland-on-the-mccann-team-s-preparations-to-look-for-madeleine-in-morocco-and-how-the-king-of-morocco-gave-permission-for-metodo-3-to-enter-his-country

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t7311-gary-hagland-the-mysterious-seventh-man-in-the-mccann-team-private-investigations

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t7332-gary-hagland-s-seven-months-sep-2007-to-april-2008-close-to-the-heart-of-the-private-madeleine-mccann-investigations


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I have decided that now is the time to reveal the one and only written material he ever sent me on the case, namely what he said was Chapter 10 of his proposed book on the case.

To recap, Gary Hagland, who lives in Nottingham, first ‘phoned me one Saturday afternoon in April 2009, just as I ws listening to the football results coming in. and waiting for Sport Report. He spoke for about an hour-and-a half. He told me quite a lot about his work with Brian Kennedy, which I’ve dealt with on the other threads.

Hagland is qualified in Financial Compliance, that is, in money laundering and fraud. Why he was selected to hunt for a missing child is anyone’s guess. I later found out that he has written a book: ‘UFO: A Saucer full of Secrets’, under the pen-name Mason Hosrbrough, in which, inter alia, he describes a swift trip to Saturn and back with aliens in a flying saucer.   

My assessment of this chapter is as follows:

1 The first two quotes from emails – probably true

2 The next bit up to the middle of page 2 – background waffle

3 Form there to the end of page 3 – probably true

4 Pages 4 to the middle of page 6 – mostly true and can be checked   

5 From here to the top of page 8 – a combination of waffle and rubbish about some Arab mistaking the word ‘Maddie’ for the Arabs/Muslims’ end-times figure, the ‘Mahdi’

6 From here to the bottom of page 9 – mostly true

7 Bottom of page 9 to the end, talking about Brian Kennedy’s staff meeting – I basically take it with a large pinch of salt.

Here it is, anyway:










continued...https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t16465-inside-the-mccanns-private-investigation-disclosures-by-gary-hagland-a-money-laundering-expert-hired-by-brian-kennedy#403375

Evidence of the direct involvement of MI5, MI6 and other branches of government security services in the Madeleine McCann case

Evidence of the direct involvement of MI5, MI6 and other branches of government security services in the Madeleine McCann case

This is an attempt to put together a short summary of what is known about the direct involvement of MI5, MI6 and other branches of government security services in the Madeleine McCann case. It is made following press reports this week about Goncalo Amaral’s recent references to the continuing involvement of MI5 in the Madeleine McCann case. It is not meant to be comprehensive, it is just at this stage a series of notes about the involvement of the British security services in the case. I hope others will add to them.     

It does not cover other forms of government assistance to the McCanns which we know includes:

• The heavy early involvement of the British ambassador and consul in Portugal
  
• The appointment of Clarence Mitchell, then head of the government’s 40-strong Media Monitoring Unit, to manage the reputation of the McCanns and control publicity on the case from the first month right up until today
  
• The involvement of CEOP in seeking photographs direct from the public and then, through Jim Gamble, actively assisting the McCann campaign on several occasions
  
• Intervention with the Border Agency, allowing the McCanns to avoid going through customs control
  
• The personal intervention of Gordon Brown in the case, first as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then as Prime Minister
  
• Meetings by successive Home Secretaries with the McCanns
  
• Directing the Metropolitan Police to set up Operation Grange. 

MI5, MI6 and security services involvement in the Madeleine McCann case: A summary

1. Goncalo Amaral, in his book, ‘The Truth About A Lie’, refers to the active involvement of staff from MI5 in his investigation

2. In an article about the case as recently as 29 June 2014, Goncalo Amaral again spoke of MI5 involvement: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/485524/Madeleine-McCann-Disgraced-Portuguese-detective-MI5-spies-know-what-happened-to-Maddie
He said: “People will eventually learn what really happened when MI5 opens the case files. Don’t forget that the British secret services followed the case right from the beginning. I don’t know if that information will be made available, but if it’s like the United States, it takes years to have access to confidential information”.

3. In his book, ‘The Truth About A Lie’, Amaral makes these observations: “Two days later, English colleagues begin to arrive…Bob Small, an officer from the Leicestershire police, and one of his colleagues meet us to take stock of the situation…We insist on knowing what our English counterparts have come to Portugal to do…Then two more police officers arrive who are assigned to psychological support and communication with the family. Little by little, the number of English police officers grows exponentially. We place at their disposal a room next to our crisis unit, Task Portugal. These are specialists from various police services, including Scotland Yard. Special surveillance teams as well as information and telecommunications technicians turn up with their laptops and various high-tech equipment… Members of the British agency the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre [who had arrived in Portugal], take a close interest in Murat and work to develop his psychological profile…”    

4. Amaral also states that Martin Grime, when he travelled back from taking his cadaver dogs Eddie and Keela to Portugal, was met by an MI5 officer who asked him questions (July 2007)

5. Control Risks Group (CRG), a risks and corporate security firm with very close links to the government, sent senior staff to Portugal to advise the McCanns and talk to the Portuguese Police on their behalf. Kate McCann refers to them in her book ‘madeleine’ as ‘primed to help’ (p. 125). CRG were also responsible for sending in another adviser to the McCanns, a man who, when the McCanns asked who he was, said ‘call me Hugh’ and declined to give his name. Kate McCann describes him as ‘a former intelligence officer, now a kidnap negotiator and counselor. ‘Hugh’ said that an ‘anonymous private donor’ was willing to fund the McCanns’ application to make Madeleine a Ward of Court

6. On 14 September 2007 there was a high-powered meeting at Kingsley Napley in London: present were the McCanns, Brian Kennedy, his lawyer and senior Freemason Edward Smethurt, Solicitor Angus McBride (who drove up to Rothley to collect the McCanns), top Solicitor Michael Caplan QC (an expert in extradition proccedings) and at least two members of staff of security company Control Risks Group

7. Gary Hagland, a private investigator chosen personally by Cheshire businessman to assist on the Madeleine McCann case, mentioned, in a chapter of his so-far-unpublished book, meeting with an old friend of his ‘on the Moroccan desk of MI6’ in connection with the McCann Team’s intention to mount a publicity drive in Morocco

8. A Special Branch officer met the McCanns at the airport on their hurried return from Portugal on 9 September and personally drove them to Rothley (‘madeleine’ by Dr Kate McCann, p. 259)

9. Henri Exton, one of the staff employed by Kevin Halligen and Oakley International, is known to have been the former Head of Covert Intelligence at MI5 – until he was dismissed from MI5 after a shoplifting offence. He was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal and the O.B.E. for extensive work in covert security matters for the Ministry of Defence. A blogger about the Madeleine case, known as ‘Blackwatch’, who had inside knowledge of the workings of the British security services, once wrote: “This is no middle grade security services player; he was - as is on the record - formerly the Head of MI5’s Covert Intelligence Section – and you don’t get much higher than that”.

10. Earlier this year, the Sunday Times published an article which said this about evidence compiled by Kevin Halligen, Henri Exton and Oakley International: “The evidence was in fact taken from an intelligence report produced for Gerry and Kate McCann by a firm of former spies in 2008. It contained crucial E-Fits of a man seen carrying a child on the night of Madeleine’s disappearance, which have only this month become public after he was identified as the prime suspect by Scotland Yard. A team of hand-picked former MI5 agents had been hired by the McCanns to chase a much-needed breakthrough in the search for their missing daughter Madeleine”.

11. Kevin Halligen, the disgraced criminal employed by the McCanns for 4 months at a cost of around £700,000, had extensive connections with the security services. For example, on 30 July 2004 Tim Craig-Harvey, Natasha Duval and Halligen set up Red Defence Ltd; all had connections with British government security services.
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For discussion please visit this thread on the CMOMM forum: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t9951-evidence-of-the-direct-involvement-of-mi5-mi6-and-other-branches-of-government-security-services-in-the-madeleine-mccann-case

Gary Hagland - The ‘mysterious seventh man’ in the McCann Team private investigations

by Felicity Hathaway for the MMRG

Following the Madeleine Foundation meetings I attended back in 2009/10, where the name of Gary Hagland was brought up, I have done some investigations into him. I’m sorry it’s taken me a while to come back to you.

I am calling him the ‘mysterious seventh man’ because what I regard as the six other main private investigators in the case have been clearly (if not exactly prominently) publicised. They are:

Francisco Marco, boss of Metodo 3 (made bogus claims that Madeleine would be ‘home by Christmas)

Antonio Jimenez Raso, chief McCann investigator for Metodo 3 (former police officer, imprisoned from February 2008 to July 2012 on suspicion of involvement in a major criminal gang)

Julian Peribañez, assistant to Antonio Jimenez Raso

Kevin Halligen (known to the McCanns as Richard Halligen) (continuously in prison since October 2009 on suspicion of fraud, now convicted of fraud and serving time in prison in the U.S.)

Dave Edgar, Cheshire-based retired detective (said Jane Tanner might have seen a woman not a man on 3 May 2007, was ‘convinced’ that Madeleine was being held in a ‘prison lair’ close to Praia da Luz) 

Arthur Cowley, Flintshire-based retired detective (set up bogus company, ALPHAIG, to make it look as though he and Edgar were running a well-established detective agency called ‘Alpha Investigations Group’.

Gary Hagland, from Nottingham, was employed directly by the effective controller of the McCann Team’s private investigation, Brian Kennedy, from September 2007 to March 2008. It was a crucial phase of the investigation, covering the period from the date of the McCanns being declared ‘arguidos’ to the moment the McCanns succeeded in winning an estimated £550,000 in agreed libel damages from various British media.

So far as I can see, Hagland’s name has only cropped up twice publicly in relation to the McCann case. He was identified as a McCann Team investigator in articles by ‘Blackwatch’ on the old ‘Sargent’s Inn’ blog.  And he has contributed to an internet forum.. It is time that his role in the McCann Team investigation was highlighted.

He was born Gary Peter Hagland on 15 September 1954. He will therefore be 58 years old on 15 September 2012.

I have not yet managed to track down his secondary school and further education details, but at various times he has claimed to have the following academic qualifications: M.Sc. and M.B.A. (respectively: Master of Science and Masters degree in Business Administration).  It would be very unusual for someone to have two Masters’ degrees - and he doesn’t say which University he got them from.

Either in 1978 or 1979, at the age of about 24/25, he got a job working in the Criminal Intelligence Department of Royal Hong Kong Police. There is also evidence that he may have worked for a time on the Organised Crime and Triad Department of the force.  He worked there until 1985, when he returned home to England and made his home at Charleston House, Nottingham, where he has been living ever since.

I’ve been unable to discover what job he got on his return here from Hong Kong, but I have been able to establish that by September 1991 he was working as Associate Director of Compliance at Albert E Sharp and Co. ‘Compliance’ basically means compliance with various financial regulations designed to prevent fraud.

Clearly Hagland was becoming something of an expert in compliance with financial regulations because the Editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance invited Hagland to write an article on the subject. The article, ‘Effective Compliance v. Regulatory Gestation’, was published in 1993, in Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp. 11-21. Accompanying the article is a brief description of Gary Hagland, which states:

“Gary Hagland, AMSI, MIMgt, entered the fledgling area of compliance in 1985 after leaving the Royal Hong Kong Police where he had served in criminal intelligence for some six years.

 

I have not been able to track down what AMSI stands for. MIMgt is: ‘Member of the Institute of Management’.

 On 3 May 1994, Gary Hagland became a Director of OMFS (AESFM) Ltd. On

On 2 January 1996 he became Director of OMFS (BSPEP) Ltd.  I have not yet been able to find out exactly what these companies do, but they were clearly connected with investment and finance. Gary Hagland’s role in OMFS (BSPEP) Ltd was as ‘Compliance Officer’.  Fellow Directors of the company included, at one time, Sir William Royden Stuttaford. 

At some time in the 1990s he also became a Director of  Gerrard (OMH) Ltd, but resigned this Directorship on 14 October 1998.

Just 11 days later, on 25 October 1998, he also resigned from the Boards of both OMFS (BSPEP) Ltd and OMFS (AESFM) Ltd.

In 1999, Hagland was clearly regarded more than ever as an expert in the fields of fraud and money laundering. An article by him was published that year in a journal called: ‘Money Laundering Bulletin’.

At some stage around then, he became a ‘consultant’ with special expertise on money-laundering for law firm Wragge and Co in their Birmingham office, where his job was: ‘advising clients on the active management of compliance risks, including money laundering’. He was also said to ‘work with the Institute of Directors' Board consultancy department on the "Compliant Board" initiative that aims to guide company directors through the labyrinth of regulations and procedure that successful compliance demands’.

An article about Hagland’s work for Wragge and Co. appeared in the Financial Times Director magazine, 30 March 2001, and is reproduced below (Appendix 1).

Clearly, then, he was an acknowledged expert in the fields of financial regulation, compliance, fraud and money laundering.

On 4 April 2002, Hagland became a Director of Heath Reid & People Limited, as their ‘Attorney’ - but resigned just 8 days later. Just for the record, his fellow-Directors at that time were:

Toby James Brook-Reid (also Company Secretary) (then aged 27)

Thomas Heath (then aged 31)

Dominique Fay Welch (then aged 26)

Philip Anthony Jones (then aged 41).

In September 2007 he was hired by Brian Kennedy. Kennedy had set up a base for his private investigations into Madeleine’s disappearance at a house in Knutsford, Cheshire, close to his home in Swettenham and to Wilmslow, the base for his Latium Group business empire.

Hagland resigned from the McCann Team in March 2008 - around the time the McCann Team hired Kevin Halligen as their lead investigator at a cost of £500,000 plus expenses.

In August of the same year, Hagland he became a Director of Investec Gresham II Ltd, resigning a few weeks later on 30 September. Investec Gresham II Ltd appears to be an investment fund, one of dozens of subsidiary companies of the international banking group, Investec (currently the subject of litigation in South Africa). A search of Investec Group companies shows that many of their investment funds appear to be placed for their clients in low tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Jersey and Switzerland.    

Also, on 15 August 2008, Hagland became a Director of Investec Trust Holdings Ltd (ITH). At the time of his appointment, most of his fellow Directors of ITH were living in tax havens, thus:

Richard David Williams – Channel Islands

Robert Clifford – Channel Islands

Brian Williams – Channel Islands

James Michael Spittal – Channel Islands

Keith Hamilton Turberville – Channel Islands

Steven John Heilbron – South African Banker

Xavier Michel Louis Isaac – Switzerland.

It appears that Hagland remains a Director of this company to this day.

On 6 March 2010, there was an all-night ‘rave’ party at Nottingham Trent University (next door to Charleston House, where Hagland lives). One resident was apparently hospitalised as a result of the event, and, as reported in the Nottingham Post on 15 March 2010 (see below, Appendix 2), Hagland appeared to be taking the lead in protesting against the University’s failure to address the nuisance caused by these all-night parties.

Soon afterwards, on 9 April 2010, he became a Director of Charleston House, which appears to be owned and managed by its residents - but he resigned just 23 days later (2 May 2010). Charleston House (Nottingham) Ltd, based at Ossington Chambers, 6-8 Castle Gate, NEWARK, Nottinghamshire, NG24 1AX, Company No. 06611330, had been incorporated on 4 June 2008.  The founding Directors included Mr and Mrs David and Valerie Russell.  David Russell is shown as having a total of 18 Directorships.

Gary Hagland and the Jensen sisters

The old ‘Sargeants Inn’ website carried information about Gary Hagland’s involvement in interviewing the ‘Jensen sisters’ (Jayne Jenson and Annie Wiltshire). As far as I can tell, ‘Sargents Inn’ must have had a confidential source for this information, for I have seen it nowhere else.

Here is some information culled substantially from the ‘Sargents Inn’ site, no longer available on the internet.

"Jayne Jensen claims to have seen Robert Murat around the Ocean Club at around 10.30pm on the evening of Thursday 3 May, the night Madeleine was reported missing. In this respect, she supported the accounts of three members of the ‘Tapas 7’, namely Rachael Oldfield, Fiona Payne, and Russell O’Brien. These three made statements on 15 and 16 May 2007 to the police claiming they had seen Robert Murat ‘hanging around the Ocean Club’ at around the same time as the Jensen sisters (i.e. around 10.30pm to 11.00pm). They claimed to have recognised Murat from footage being shown of him on TV the day he was arrested (15 May). The Jensen sisters also claimed to have seen two blond men hanging around one of the ground floor apartments before Madeleine was reported missing.    

"The statements of the Jensen sisters and of the ‘Tapas 3’ (above) followed hard on the heels of Jane Tanner having reportedly been adamant, two days earlier, that Robert Murat was the person she claimed to have seen carrying a child from near the McCanns’ apartment at about 9.15pm on Thursday 3 May.    

"About five to six month later (that is, around November 2007), according to the ‘Sargents Inn’, the Jensens sisters were, in turn, interviewed by Gary Hagland and Julian Peribañez) from Spanish detective agency Metodo 3, and either before then, or after, by Detective Constable Bob Sidoli and Detective Constable Jo Godfrey, both believed to be from Kent Police.  A Robert Sidoli is shown as living in Ashford, Kent. He may have a martial arts qualification. Peribañez was seen walking side by side with Clarence Mitchell in Praia da Luz in a Portuguese TV news bulletin, believed to be in November 2007.

"It was on 13 November 2007 that Kennedy had two meetings, one with the Portuguese Police at Portimao Police Station, the other with his lawyer, Edward Smethurst and Robert Murat and his lawyer, Francisco Pagarate. Five days later, the McCanns and the Tapas 7 all met with their advisers at Rothley Court Manor. The day after that meeting, Panorama screened its documentary on the case.

"None of these reports about the interviews of the Jensens come from the police, they all appear to come from anonymous sources such as: ‘a source close to the family’ or ‘a source close to the investigation’.

"The Jensen sisters had played tennis on holiday in Praia da Luz with the McCanns. Rajinder Balu from Essex, and Neil Berry also drank with the Jensen sisters.

"Neil Berry gave statements to the police on 7 May 2007 and on 8 January 2008 (when buccal swabs were taken). Berry’s 7 May statement is however  not in the Portuguese Police files. Rajinder Balu’s statement is also missing from the police files".

According to the Sargents Inn, the Jensen sisters were questioned, altogether, for a total of 11 hours. It is not known on what date they were questioned.

That is all I have for you at the moment.
 

Appendix 1: Article 30 March 2001 in Financial Times Director featuring Gary Hagland: 

EXTRACT FROM ‘FINANCIAL TIMES DIRECTOR, 30 March 2001

Gary Hagland is a consultant with law firm Wragge & Co advising clients on the active management of compliance risks, including money laundering.

He works with the Institute of Directors' board consultancy department on the "Compliant Board" initiative that aims to guide company directors through the labyrinth of regulations and procedure that successful compliance demands. Mr Hagland paints a broad picture of the type of non-financial services businesses that may well be targets for the money launderer. These include auction houses, expensive car dealerships, property agents and developers - indeed any business that is used to handling high-value assets.

According to Mr Hagland, a problem for companies in complying with anti-money laundering initiatives is that their prevailing culture and ethos does not lend itself readily to accommodate scepticism about prospective customers. Rather, the opposite is likely to be the case. "To tackle the possible threat of being unwitting accomplices to a money laundering scheme, the challenge for non-financial businesses is to change their mindset, their core attitudes. The reputational focus of most businesses is clearly not on money laundering," says Mr Hagland.

Businesses used to dealing with wealthy clients are also used to handling those clients' wishes for anonymity and discretion; ideal conditions in which the money launderer can ply his trade. But businesses are required, increasingly, to interrogate rather than interview their clients and prospective clients.

In order to identify the risks, businesses need to ensure that they have a firm grasp of what money laundering is, how it may have an impact on their business, and the systems and procedures they may require to put in place in order to minimise their risk of exposure. But putting awareness into practice is more difficult. As Gary Hagland explains, practical guidance is thin on the ground: "One of the principal problems is that there is no established methodology for businesses to follow. Though business is told that it must be self-policing, there are no clear guidelines as to how they should go about fulfilling that role."

The risks associated with money laundering are clear enough. Money laundering is a criminal offence: any individual caught helping to process the proceeds of crime faces a lengthy prison sentence. Companies which stand accused of assisting with money laundering operations also risk substantial damage to their reputations.

But, how can you tell a money launderer?

For many businesses they are likely to be the kind of person that, on first impressions, they would welcome as a customer.

Money launderers are extremely well-funded, well-advised and make use of technically elaborate and sophisticated schemes to cover their tracks.

Appendix 2: Article in the Nottingham Evening Post on 15 March 2010, featuring a photo of Gary Hagland: 

STRESSED NEIGHBOUR HOSPITALISED AFTER STUDENT ‘RAVE’

AN all-night rave at student halls left a pensioner in hospital with stress caused by noise, residents claim.

Nottingham Trent University has been criticised for its response to the party, which was announced on Facebook.

                        

PICTURE: Gary Hagland outside Canterbury Court.

Residents say Canterbury Court, in Peel Street, close to the university's city campus, has been an unofficial rave venue in recent years.

Gary Hagland, who lives in Charleston House, which neighbours Canterbury Court, said partygoers urinated and littered around the complex.

He also claims a couple had sex in a camper van in full view of residents at a similar party in 2008.

Mr Hagland, 55, a resident in Charleston House since 1985, said: "There have been a handful of parties like this in recent years and they are usually at the end of term.

"The mess that is left and the disturbance of people living here is something that is not being dealt with properly by the university, which leases this accommodation to its students.

"The noise and vibration from the music was so bad on this occasion that our neighbour had to go to hospital because her heartbeat got to about 200 from stress.

"Some of the students we have lived with have been hard-working and have been good neighbours.

"This party, though, is the worst one we have ever known."

It is understood hundreds attended the party, on Saturday, March 6, including uninvited guests and non-students.

Mr Hagland has contacted police, the council and senior staff at the university about the issue.

A spokeswoman for the university said: "The university is investigating and is in contact with both the residents of this property and those in the immediate area to determine the exact nature of the complaint.

"The university takes any complaints relating to its students very seriously and does not condone any anti-social behaviour.

"Any confirmed misconduct attributed to its students will be dealt with under the university's Student Code of Behaviour."

Notts Police said they did not receive an emergency call on the night.

A city centre beat manager is involved in the investigation.

Inspector Andy Townsend said: "Loud music and noise, which continues into the early hours, can be distressing and I hope, following these discussions, the situation does not arise again."

michael.greenwell@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk

Readmore: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Stressed-neighbour-hospitalised-student-rave/story-12171001-detail/story.html#axzz2Wz37y0LT

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For discussion, please visit these threads on the CMOMM forum: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t7311-gary-hagland-the-mysterious-seventh-man-in-the-mccann-team-private-investigations

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t13675-exclusive-to-cmomm-inside-the-mccanns-private-investigation-disclosures-by-gary-hagland-a-money-laundering-expert-hired-by-brian-kennedy

Exclusive to CMOMM - Corruption and criminality inside the Metodo 3 investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance: Extracts from a book by two Metodo3 men

In the past, we’ve featured details from inside the Brian Kennedy-led investigation, brought to us by Kennedy’s right-hand-man in England, Gary Hagland, a man who, professionally, was an expert in financial compliance and money laundering - but not finding missing children. He had contacted Tony Bennett and shared fascinating details of how he and Kennedy had masterminded the McCanns’ Moroccan operation. He had even shared with Tony a chapter of his book, which is also on CMOMM.

Now two more McCann Team insiders have spoken out – Antonio Tamarit, and Julian Peribanez, both Metodo 3 investigators.

Their book, La Cortina da Humo, or ‘The Smokescreen’, blows the lid off Metodo 3, exposing what a corrupt and criminal enterprise it was. Why did the McCann Team choose them?  The book was immediately banned in Portugal. Books about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann regularly seem to get banned.

But CMOMM member PeterMac managed to get one from Amazon. He passed it to The Madeleine Foundation. Because of the significance of its contents, they paid for a professional, certified translation of it. And Andrew Simmons has written an introductory piece about it.

The book by Tamarit and Peribanez is copyright, but I’m pleased to host just one chapter of it here under the ‘fair use’ provisions of copyright legislation.

If you’re reading this as a guest and are not yet a member of CMOMM, why not join us, get yourself briefed on one of the most mysterious cases of the century, and maybe even help us in our quest to find out what really did happen to Madeleine McCann.

Read the following posts to get the whole story.
--------------------------

An introduction to Chapter 13 of ‘The Smokescreen’, by Antonio Tamarit and Julian Peribanez

by Andrew Simmons of The Madeleine Foundation – February 2016     

When The Madeleine Foundation became aware of this book, La Cortina da Humo, or ‘The Smokescreen’,



they contacted a Spanish researcher to get an overview of what the book was about. The book went on sale in Portugal in 2014 but was only on sale for one day, as Francisco Marco, Metodo 3's boss, managed to obtain an injunction restraining its sale on grounds of ‘breach of confidentiality’. It still can’t be bought in Portugal. 

The book is by two people who were employed by the controversial, corrupt and criminal detective agency in Barcelona, Metodo 3, or ‘Method 3’. One of them, Julian Peribanez,



worked extensively on the Madeleine McCann investigation. He came to England more than once, worked very closely with Brian Kennedy



and his English investigator, money laundering expert Gary Hagland,



and even interviewed witnesses such as the Jensen sisters.

Chapter 13 of ‘The Smokescreen’ is entirely about Metodo 3’s involvement in the search for Madeleine. The Madeleine Foundation therefore commissioned an approved and certified Spanish-English translation of this chapter, at a cost of £202.05, to provide an accurate translation. 

What follows are a few notes on the chapter.

Despite some of the comments in the chapter, Julian Peribanez still maintains that the McCanns are wholly innocent and that their search for Madeleine is genuine.

However, he maintains that they were deceived by Francisco Marco, the now disgraced ex-boss of Metodo 3,



which went into liquidation at the end of 2011. He gives chapter and verse on those deceptions.

What becomes very clear on reading this chapter is that Brian Kennedy was the mastermind behind the whole Metodo 3 operation. And that is not surprising, for in an article published many years ago, Brian Kennedy explicitly stated that he spent several months of the year in his Spanish villa. This turns out to be in Barcelona, the very place Metodo 3’s head office was based. 

An obvious question that arises from reading this chapter is: how well did Brian Kennedy know Metodo 3 before Madeleine disappeared? Furthermore, did he know about the controversial and corrupt nature of Metodo 3? One of the Metodo 3 men he employed, Antonio Giminez Raso, was remanded in custody in Barcelona on 18 February 2008 on serious criminal charges of assisting a 27-strong vicious drug gang to carry out major drugs crimes. 

Giminez Raso was a former inspector in the Catalonian regional drugs and child trafficking department but was either sacked, or left under a cloud, in early 2005. Julian Peribanez would have worked alongside him during the Madeleine McCann investigation. Giminez Raso was eventually acquitted of the charges against him, but not before the trial judge had publicly scolded him for being ‘far too close’ to members of the gang. 

Peribanez’s chapter is angry. Much of what he writes comes over as seeking some kind of ‘revenge’ against Francisco Marco, perhaps for some perceived offence or unfairness against him. It sounds much like a typical story of ‘thieves falling out’. I can hardly imagine Peribanez as the epitome of integrity, while at the same time taking Marco’s shilling and when, for example, he clearly knew that Marcos was lying through his teeth about how many staff he was employing, was submitting false invoices and the like.

He does not therefore come over as a ‘witness of truth’. However, there are some valuable insights on some factual issues. I will list some of them here; they can be explored more fully in reading his account in Chapter 13 of ‘The Smokescreen’.

First of all, there is a short section of the chapter written by Antonio Tamarit, which discloses some significant issues: 

1 Tamarit says that he was first contacted by Francisco Marco, boss of Metodo 3, whilst he was ‘on business’ in Tangier, Morocco - in October 2007. He gives no further details: ‘on business’ is so vague it could mean anything or nothing

2 Notice that Tamarit was told to stay in Tangier and meet someone from the government funded security risks company, Control Risks, but ended up meeting with Brian Kennedy. Tamarit thinks that Kennedy had nothing to do with Control Risks, but I suggest it is far more likely that Control Risks and Kennedy were working closely together. Indeed, Kennedy may well have been giving the orders to Control Risks – and quite possibly way before October.

3 He states that he was invited to meet with Brian Kennedy in Manchester. This might well refer to the house in Knutsford, Cheshire, which Brian Kennedy bought in 2007 for the purpose of acting as a base for his investigation, and part of which was seen on screen in the 2009 Channel 4 documentary (the ‘Mockumentary’). The existence of this base was first disclosed to Tony Bennett by Brian Kennedy’s lead investigator in England, Gary Hagland.

4 He then adds that he was not sent to Manchester after all, but that Marco’s mother, Marita Fernández,



and José Luis Marco Llavina, her nephew - Metodo 3’s accountant -  travelled to Manchester instead. He makes this important declaration: “[Neither] had carried out any investigative work for many years…they made a big point of emphasising that where [the Madeleine McCann] operation was concerned, they were not motivated by money; however, in reality they ended up making a fortune by means of deception and dishonest trickery”. Later he adds: “Método 3 was swindling [Madeleine’s Fund] which…was supported by hundreds of unsuspecting people whose sole objective was to find Madeleine…inflated expenses, invented items, false invoices, etc.” 

 5 People who have followed this case closely for many years will recall a search for Madeleine in the Rif mountain range, Morocco. Tamarit informs us that this was based on information from “two clairvoyants, one in France and one in Morocco”.     
6 Tamarit explains how he visited numerous places in Morocco ‘looking for Madeleine’. He gives no detail about how exactly he set about this. Peribanez in his section of the chapter describes this alleged ‘search’ as ‘bizarre and insane’.
The section of the chapter by Julian Peribanez is longer, and he discloses several more subjects of interest:

The section of the chapter by Julian Peribanez is longer, and he discloses several more subjects of interest:

1 He says he spent ‘six years’ working for Metodo 3. As he was apparently still working there when the firm was raided and closed in late 2011, this was presumably from 2005 to 2011. Antonio Giminez Raso was also probably recruited in 2005.

2 He says that Metodo 3 ‘became involved in the search for Madeleine’ in October 2007. However, that is contradicted by Brian Kennedy’s man in England, Gary Hagland, who says that he and Metodo 3 were already involved in September. I suggest it’s very likely that Brian Kennedy had been in contact with Francisco Marco well before then.

3 He writes about an early meeting between the McCanns, Brian Kennedy, and Marita Fernández and José Luis Marco Llavina ‘in Manchester’. There is nothing whatsoever about this in Kate McCann’s book: ‘madeleine’.

4 Then he talks about a second meeting, this one apparently at the headquarters of Brian Kennedy’s Latium group in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Peribanez says that at this meeting he met: Brian Kennedy, ‘lawyer Edward Smethurst’, Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate McCann and  ‘another lawyer who was a former police officer’. It would be interesting to know who that was! Also present were Francisco Marco and José Luis Marco, his cousin, or ‘half-brother’ as he has been described elsewhere. Once again, there is no mention of this in Kate McCann’s ‘very truthful’ book.

5 The account of that meeting is very interesting. After it, they all went off to have an evening meal at Brian Kennedy’s home - the palatial Swettenham Hall, once owned by the McAlpine family.



Peribanez says that “Kennedy and Madeleine’s parents were lovely people…” but also makes remarks about Marcos’s real purpose for being involved - to make a lot of money. 

6 He says that the ‘searches’ for Madeleine took place only in Morocco and Portugal and that Metodo 3’s claims to have searched elsewhere were lies.      

7 He explains that Brian Kennedy actually ‘relocated’ to Portugal for a while to control what was happening in the investigation – hence the video we have of Brian Kennedy and Peribanez walking around the streets of Praia da Luz, LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-74ragUCC8Y

8 He states that claims that Metodo 3 had either 20, or 40 people working on the Madeleine McCann investigation were an outright lie, there were only three.  

9 Furthermore, claims of having a ‘bank’ of multilingual telephonists to staff the telephone hotline were also bogus. And when calls came in, he says they were from: “Fortune tellers (Spanish playing card and Tarot readers), necromancers, palmists, individuals who had dreams...and others who offered interpretations of those dreams.

10 Peribanez refers to a conversation he had with Francisco Marco and his cousin/half-brother José Luis Marco in the Petit Paris restaurant in Barcelona



when he was told that Brian Kennedy had terminated the contract with Metodo 3. But he doesn’t give a date. It is commonly assumed that the initial Metodo 3 contract was for just six months and lasted from about October 2007 to March 2008. However, there are statements which confirm that the McCann Team and Brian Kennedy continued to use Metodo 3 on a part-time basis until at least March 2009.

11 Peribanez describes the day when Scotland Yard arrived to collect boxes of evidence from the offices of Metodo 3 and gives an explanation of how a photograph of that event was taken.



12 Peribanez gives a useful account of how false invoices were created, saying that his boss “…obtained some El Corte Inglés travel invoices and subsequently falsified them by changing the details. These invoices can be found stored inside Método 3’s computers which were seized and are located at Barcelona Court no. 14 (Juzgado 14 de Barcelona). For the time being, they remain there by virtue of an action filed by Montserrat Turu against Francisco Marco for breach of confidentiality”.

13 The chapter concludes with a bitter attack on his former boss, Francisco Marco, and a fascinating explanation of what happened in December 2013 when he attempted, in turn, to alert Brian Kennedy, then Edward Smethurst, and finally the McCanns themselves as to how they had all been deceived wholesale by Marco about the scale of his operation - and how Marco had created masses of bogus invoices. None of them were interested in what Peribanez had to say. Peribanez gives a blow-by-blow account of how he corresponded with them all, including reproducing the letters to and from Edward Smethurst. It must be noted, though, that it took until December 2013 for Peribanez to tell the McCann Team about these issues.   

Can we believe Peribanez’ version of events? He says he was an honest, sincere investigator. But he admits that Francisco Marco and his family, who ran Metodo 3, were thoroughly dishonest and clearly ‘on the make and on the take’ with no interest in or experience of finding missing people or children.

He says that Brian Kennedy and the McCanns were lovely people who had the misfortune to be thoroughly deceived by Marco sand his family.

His central claim is that Brian Kennedy, senior lawyer Edward Smethurst and the McCanns were sincere but naïve in believing that Metodo 3 really could find Madeleine, but were lied to by Marco

As we ponder whether this scenario is credible, we think back to December 2007, when Francisco Marco lied, lied and lied again by saying that he knew who Madeleine’s kidnappers were, that Madeleine was alive, that his men were ‘closing in on the kidnappers’, and finally that ‘Maddie will be home by Christmas’.

He told these outrageous lies in December 2007. In any normal situation, once these lies had been exposed, they would have been instantly sacked.

But not in this case. The McCann Team continued to employ Metodo 3 until March 2009 - another 15 months

Anyway, have a look at the translation and see what you think. 

https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t16084-exclusive-to-cmomm-corruption-and-criminality-inside-the-metodo-3-investigation-into-madeleine-mccann-s-disappearance-extracts-from-a-book-by-two-metodo3-men#400356

An investigation into a sham detective agency, Alphaig, used by Kate and Gerry McCann in 2009

This article was last revised and updated by the Madeleine McCann Research Group on 9 May 2019 

Arthur Cowley’s remote mountainside cottage on Halkyn Mountain,

Flintshire, Wales: clearly not the HQ of a thriving detective agency,‘

Alpha Investigations Group’        [photo: (copyright) Tony Bennett]

A separate article by the Madeleine Foundation: ‘Leading the Hunt for Maddie: Dave Edgar, the Cheshire Detective’, covers in more detail the deception by the McCann Team over a company described as ‘Alpha Investigations Group’.


Former Detective Sergeant Arthur Cowley (left)
and former Detective Inspector Dave Edgar (right),
the two members of the so-called 'Alpha Investigations Group', or ALPHAIG.


It was on 2 May 2009 that the public were first informed of the appointment of retired detectives Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley to the McCann investigation team, which as we know was effectively run by Cheshire businessman, Brian Kennedy.

Both men had formerly worked for Cheshire Police. Brian Kennedy's palatial mansion is at Swettenham, Cheshire. Brian Kennedy bought a house in Knutsford in 2007 especially for the purpose of setting up his investigation HQ there. To begin with, he installed, as his chief investigator, Nottingham man Gary Hagland, a man whose main qualification was in money-laundering regulations. He had also written a book about alien abductions, under the pseudonym 'Mason Horsburgh, in which he described how he had been taken to Saturn's rings and back in a spaceship in just four hours.  

Indications suggest that Edgar was quietly taken on by Brian Kennedy in November 2008, with Cowley added on probably weeks. Crucially, both were to appear in May, in a much-hyped documentary, featuring a so-called ‘reconstruction’ of events in Praia da Luz on 3 May 2007, the day Madeleine was reported missing. It is probable that the two men were employed by Brian Kennedy mainly for the purpose of giving credibility to that documentary, although Dave Edgar was subsequently used in various public relations activity for the McCanns, notably being quoted about his often-mentioned theory that Madeleine was still alive but living in a 'hellish lair' within 20 miles or so of Praia da Luz, where she was reported missing    

The documentary was made by Mentorn Films and was transmitted on 7 May 2007 by Channel 4. It was widely ridiculed as a ‘mockumentary’, since the programme contained no analysis but merely recycled the McCann Team’s version of events. Moreover it included a purported reconstruction of the events  of the night of 3 May 2007 which bore little relation to the known facts about the day - indeed it made a mockery of these facts.

To give one example, both Kate McCann and David Payne testified that they had met at the McCanns' apartment at 6.30pm that day. However, when they were both interrogated by the police, their stories rapidly fell apart, with at least 20 flat contradictions noted between their respective stories. It was clear that such a meeting never took place. It was fabricated. Surely any investigative TV programme would have highlighted this extraordinary number of contradictions and made them a centerpiece of the documentary. But then Channel 4's agenda was only to confirm the abduction narrative and support the McCanns. It never was honest journalism.      

Another feature of the Mentorn Media/Channel 4 programme concerned the person allegedly seen by Jane Tanner, carrying a child, at 9.15pm that evening. The programme  suggested that this man was one and the same as a man said to have been seen by Martin Smith, and members of his family, carrying a child in a different part of Praia da Luz 45-50 minutes later. The idea that an abductor might have been walking around Praia da Luz carrying an abducted child in his arms was risible. The Channel 4 documentary also claimed that in each incident, the child was being carried ‘in exactly the same manner’. This was patently untrue. Jane Tanner claimed that the child she saw being carried was held by the man’s two arms. By contrast, Martin Smith explicitly said that Madeleine was being carried on the man’s shoulder. That was just one of a number of errors in this attempt by Channel 4 to imprint the McCann Team’s version of events on the public mind.

Returning to the subject of the two ex-Cheshire detectives, the publicity around them in May 2009 claimed that they worked for a well-established private investigation agency, allegedly called ‘Alpha Investigations Group’. It was suggested that Edgar, a retired Detective Inspector, and Cowley, a retired Detective Sergeant, ‘headed up’ this group. The McCann Team needed to ‘big up’ their new detectives.

This was all a deliberate deception, in which a close aide of Brian Kennedy played a part.

There never was any detective agency called ‘Alpha Investigations Group’. Instead, what happened was that on 10 June 2009, over a month after numerous press reports which featured the mythical ‘Alpha Investigations Group’, Arthur Cowley registered, in his sole name, a company called ‘ALPHAIG’, Company No. 06929397. Its registered office was: ‘Treetops’, Pant-y-Gof, HALKYN, Flintshire, CH8 8DH (see photo above).

There was no mention in the company details of Dave Edgar being involved with the company, let alone its 'boss', as some newspapers claimed. The company had no internet presence, didn’t advertise in any way, employed no-one, and its accounts, submitted in 2010 to Companies House, showed minimal assets and no evidence of trading. It ceased trading many years ago - although it is apparent that it never actually traded at all.

To put it bluntly, it was always a sham company. It seems beyond doubt that it was explicitly created to deceive the media and, in turn, the public. Added weight to this suggestion is provided by the revelation that on 12 January 2009, the domain name ‘alphaig.co.uk’ was registered by Andrew Dickman, who is inextricably associated with Brian Kennedy’s own company, the Latium Group. Dickman’s very close business relationship with Brian Kennedy was covered in an article in the Manchester Evening News on 21 May 2007, which informed its readers about a boost for the Kennedy-owned property business, Patrick Properties, named after his son Patrick. The company, said the article, was ‘established in 2002 by Mr Kennedy and managing director Andrew Dickman…’

Why did a right-hand man of Kennedy (Andrew Dickman) register the domain name ‘ALPHAIG’? Why did this happen over a month after the McCann Team and its spokesman Clarence Mitchell was falsely claiming there was an ‘Alpha Investigations group’? Why did Arthur Cowley register a sham company, ‘ALPHAIG’?

MMRG suggests that these were deliberate actions, designed to deceive the public into thinking that their willing and kind donations to the Find Madeleine Fund were being spent wisely on an effective and successful private detective agency. This claim was, however, false.


Related links: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t2455-arthur-cowley-s-cottage-hq-of-alphaig

GARY HAGLAND on the McCann Team's preparations to look for Madeleine in Morocco, and how the King of Morocco gave permission for Metodo 3 to enter his kingdom

Here is a short extract from Gary Hagland’s manuscript. It deals with the preparations of the McCann Team for their search for Madeleine in Morocco. The events described by Hagland occurred in late September 2007. I add a note below of events occurring around this time:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

QUOTE Gary Hagland

It was with the support of Helping to Find Madeleine in mind that I first began to research and analyse Morocco as a realistic target destination for Madeleine. This was against a backdrop not just of limited investigative resource but fading resource.

The September 2007 sighting of a white, fair-haired small girl seen being carried papoose-style on the back of a Moroccan peasant woman near the town of Zinat, whose snatched photograph by Clara Torres, a tourist form Albacete, Spain, was splashed across British newspapers with the strap-line: ‘Could this be the face of Madeleine McCann?’, focused attention that fair-skinned, blonde offspring are not unusual in this region, and that Madeleine could more easily be assimilated and absorbed, than not. It also triggered Brian Kennedy flying to the area in the belief the sighting was Madeleine.

It wasn’t Madeleine; the child, Bouchra Ben Aisa, was a relative of the woman who was carrying her. The sense that Madeleine was there remained with me, however. This was reinforced by a report from another Spanish woman who was convinced that she saw Madeleine in the town of Zaio in northern Morocco at the end of May. The woman said that she saw a girl she believed was Madeleine being led by a Moroccan woman in Muslim dress. Allegedly, a gust of wind blew the child’s hat off, exposing her blonde hair underneath. Then there were two sightings of a blonde girl matching Madeleine’s description in Marrakesh on May 9th.

The Kingdom of Morocco, with Rabat being its capital, is located in North Africa. With the large main cities of Fes, Sale, Agadir, Marrakesh, Tangier, Meknes, Oujda and Tetouan, it has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Spain to the north, Algeria to the east, and Mauritania to the south.

The King of Morocco holds not inconsiderable powers, although executive power is exercised by the government, while legislative power is vested in both the government and two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and Assembly of Councillors. The 442,000 square miles of country are divided into grids that encompass villages. The mayors of these often small villages are known as moquadem; they are they eyes and ears of the King. Nothing gets by their attention.

Supporting the moquadem is the village Association charged with making decisions in the village. These associations are composet exclusively of men; in Muslim Morocco, men are undeniably in control of government and women are confined to affairs of the home, ideal for bringing-up young children.

Getting Metodo 3 on the ground operationally in Morocco was going to be difficult. It was clear the moquadem structure could not be clandestinely circumvented or subverted without running a very real risk of interdiction and punitive reprisal. This meant Morocco had to be worth the effort and the risk.

I called a friend who used to work the Moroccan desk for MI6. We met for lunch in the bowels of the Institute of Directors for lunch. It was to be a revelatory meeting.

PART SNIPPED

I briefed Brian Kennedy and Metodo 3 and Brian set about his contacts in an effort to pave the way to seek permission from the King of Morocco, King Mohammed VI, to enter the Kingdom to look for her. The King’s consort, Princess Salma, was already sympathetic to Madeleine’s plight. Eventually, with the help of the British Embassy in Rabat, a deal was struck.

On a strict understanding that the King’s approval was unofficial and immediately deniable; on the proviso that nothing would be done to the detriment of the sovereign standing and good reputation of the Kingdom, and on the unequivocal basis that any arrest or interdiction be undertaken in collaboration with the office of Director General of the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire - the Moroccan Secret Service - and that we were escorted at all times by a representative of the Royal Guard, we were in.

Secretly, with Brian Kennedy’s jet to be located at Rabat on standby, on the first confirmation of a sighting of Madeleine she would be quickly removed straight to the jet, diplomacy and bureaucracy taking a back-seat.

Brian Kennedy and I selected the Metodo 3 agent to be on the ground, undoubtedly their best. Quiet, unassuming, with a poor grasp of English, nonetheless he was good at undercover work and discrete surveillance. Synchronised with the infiltration, Helping to Find Maledeine had agreed to produce a poster of Madeleine in Arabic to be delivered and distributed by the moquadems at the King’s direction.

Military-grade maps of Morocco, new satellite communications, medical equipment, gold sovereigns, and field kit, were all assembled for Paddy [= Patrick Kennedy] and me who were to join Metodo 3’s agent on the ground for a month. The single Royal Guard representative, Mohammed, had been introduced to us via the British Embassy in Rabat by ’phone; he spoke excellent English and came across as being both confident and knowledgeable. As we planned our route, based on the more ‘quality’ of sightings of Madeleine in Morocco, Mohammed briefed us as to the more dangerous of areas we would traverse and the protocol we were to adopt when in these higher-risk locations. At least he would be armed.

We received [information from a person purporting to be] a Moroccan English teacher who said s[he] knew that Madeleine was being held by a family of fisher folk by the shore of the Massa Lagoon, about an hour’s drive south of Agadir…the message described how the fisher-family was being paid to hold and look after Madeleine until she had physically aged and matured…During this time Madeleine was being dressed in traditional Moroccan child’s attire, was being taught Arabic, and had her hair cut and dyed…

Popular with tourists and ornithologists alike, birds visiting the Lagoon include flamingos, spoonbill, avocets, ducks, black and spotted sandgouse, godwit, turnstone, dunlin, snipe, black-headed bush shrike, little crake, white stork, black-winged stilt, marsh harrier and osprey. As far as cover for Metodo 3 was concerned, armed with binoculars, this ornithologists’ paradise was an excellent plume of cover.

While Paddy went to see his doctor to get the necessary inoculations for the trip, I busied myself co-ordinating the ground operation with the ladies of Helping to Find Maledeine who were going to pre-empt our arrival with a poster distribution.

Brian Kennedy walked in to Knutsford late in the afternoon…

REST SNIPPED


Other events around this time

Sat Sep 8 McCanns made arguidos

Mon Sep 10 McCanns return to England

Weds Sep 12  Dr Kate McCann says Edward Smethurst first contacted them

Fri Sep 14 Kennedy and Smethurst attend meeting with McCanns and several lawyers in London

Sat Sep 15 Gerry McCann blog entry:

“To that end I would like to announce that the Fund will finance a broad range of initiatives in advertising to remind everyone that Madeleine is still missing. These adverts will focus on Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe and will consist of billboards and other media. This financing of advertisements will complement previous efforts by the Fund and many motivated individuals – family, friends and people touched by our cause”.

"I hope that the general public will continue to support us in this.

"It is so important that we remember: ‘don't you forget about me’- our lovely wee Madeleine.”

John McCann issues a statement along similar lines

Sun Sep 16 Matt Baggott, Leicestershire Police Chief Constable, writes to the media ‘urging restraint’

Mon 17 Sep Clarence Mitchell officially resigns as Director of Tony Blair’s Media Monitoring Unit and begins to work full-time for the McCanns

Thurs Sep 20 McCanns say they meet five lawyers in London

Fri Sep 21 Kate & Gerry McCann publicly offer to take lie detector tests

Sun Sep 23 Press report announcing that Brian Kennedy will help to pay for legal expenses. There is absolutely no mention of him setting up an investigation HQ in Knutsford.

The press reports say:

“An Edinburgh-born tycoon has emerged as the mystery backer of the family of Madeleine McCann. Brian Kennedy, who is estimated to be worth £250m, broke his silence to explain why he is supporting the couple. His money is helping Gerry and Kate McCann have access to some of Britain's leading lawyers as well as the backing of a full-time media liaison officer.

He said: ‘I felt compelled to offer, along with other like-minded businessmen, financial support and the full logistical support of the Latium team. The support is principally our in-house lawyer, Ed Smethurst, and the official spokesman, Clarence Mitchell’

He continued: ‘This will relieve the McCanns of the daily pressure of coordinating the legal teams which will expedite the clearing of Gerry and Kate's names, allowing all the parties to refocus on finding Madeleine’.”

Mon Sep 24 Forensic Scientist from Control Risks comes to take hair samples from Dr Kate McCann, Sean and Amelie. They produced ‘negative results’.

Gerry McCann blog entry:

“Kate and I have been very busy with our legal advisers as we want to be eliminated from the inquiry as soon as possible and start concentrating wholeheartedly again on the search for our daughter. We are very confident this will happen when all the facts are presented together. We are very grateful and thankful to have several businessmen who have pledged financial support to cover legal costs and we were delighted Clarence Mitchell agreed to help us as an official spokesman. It is scary and daunting to imagine how we could have managed to deal with these latter ‘developments’ without such offers of support and commitment. Clarence will try and minimise the impact of the huge media interest in Madeleine’s disappearance on us, as we try and return slowly towards as normal a life as is possible”.

Tues Sep 25 Received a photograph from a Spanish tourist of a girl resembling Madeleine being carried on a peasant’s back. Brian Kennedy calls the McCanns and says he is flying out to Morocco to see if it is Madeleine

Tues 2 Oct Goncalo Amaral removed from the Madeleine McCann case

Fri 5 Oct Gerry McCann blog entry:

“The investigation will have a new coordinator appointed to replace chief inspector Amaral. We are happy to continue cooperating with the Portuguese authorities and in fact as arguidos, we can request that certain investigations are carried out”.