London's Metropolitan Police management has been urged to shelve the inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, according to Police Federation chairman John Tully who told British tabloid the Daily Star today, “It is time to re-focus on what we need to do to keep London safe.”
The Operation Grange team of 31 officers working exclusively on the Madeleine McCann case could be better used in fighting the war on terror on Britain’s home turf rather than continuing to spend money on the McCann inquiry which has cost an estimated £10 million to date, reckons Tully.
Operation Grange was set up to review the original Portuguese police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.
The operation has involved dozens of trips to Portugal by British police but the investigation appears still to lack any indication, clues or evidence as to what happened to Madeleine McCann.
Tulley risked inflaming the McCann argument by calling for the 31 Metropolitan Police officers returned to duties relating to the UK, or in fact rather sklillfully talking of 'rumblings of discontent' from 'lots of sources' while not actually demanding the operation be closed down totally, but making it clear this is what now is wanted.
Police Federation chairman John Tulley told the newspaper, “It is time to re-focus on what we need to do to keep London safe. The Met has long been seen as the last resort for investigations others have struggled with elsewhere.
"We no longer have the resources to conduct specialist inquiries all over the world which have nothing to do with London.”
Tulley said that the Met already had been forced to make £600 million of cuts with 63 police stations closing in London, adding that he is responding to an increasing level of adverse comment about Operation Grange and the diversion of resources from London.
“When the force is facing a spike in murder investigations it is not surprising there is resentment of significant resources diverted to a case that has no apparent connection with London.”
Tulley later denied making a direct call for Operation Grange to be wound up but made it clear that the detectives working on the case would better serve the British taxpaying public by investigating London based crimes.
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See Len Port's follow up report
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/5098-is-the-madeleine-case-to-be-shelved
Comments
Always remembering the many thousands still traumatised today by the abuse of power of the Salazar era police just 40 years or more ago.
Since then so many previously archived police investigations have been challenged. Ordinary citizens agitating for re-investigations - something hitherto unheard of.
Amongst so many - one just yesterday the alleged kidnapper (?) of Rui Pedro now finally jailed - many years after the original archiving. The Meco Beach parents another. And judges and public prosecutors themselves now being challenged to justify their 'non-judgements'.
And, as a highly unpleasant spin-off, the McCann enquiry also flushed from the sewer and showed the world that most odious species imaginable - the Portuguese Internet Troll.
Now strangely quieter since GCHQ and the UK Police were tasked with finding and exposing them!
We keep being told that a major breakthrough is just around the corner but the police have got absolutely nowhere. Although of course they have all had a high old time on the Algarve courtesy of the UK taxpayer.
Meanwhile the McCanns spend their time suing Amaral for €1m to compensate them for their distress.
140,000 children go missing in the UK every year - if I was a parent of one of those I would be mighty annoyed to see the money wasted on searching for one child, missing in a foreign country whilst their parents ate tapas!