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Days
before the 7th anniversary of the
disappearance of Madeleine McCann,
British detectives say they now know of
at least one other child “abused in her
bed while on holiday in the heart of
Praia da Luz”.
The news comes just as the village is
getting ready for a fun-loving community
sports event designed to kick off the
season and bolster spirits after
countless years in the Maddie shadow.
But no matter how hard people try to
move on, ‘revelations’ keep coming -
particularly to coincide with the May 3
anniversary.
This latest - announced to newspapers
and news services on Wednesday - focuses
on the pot-bellied male intruder with
noticeable odour that Operation Grange,
the Met’s special Maddie task force,
revealed it was looking for last month.
Originally, Grange boss Andy Redwood
said his team had identified 12
break-ins between 2004 and 2010, four of
which had involved the sexual assaults
of five white British girls on holiday.
Releasing the information, DCI Redwood
appealed to the public for information.
As a result, Operation Grange is
reported to have received up to 500
calls. Among these they have learned of
six further incidents in the Algarve
during the same time frame, says
Redwood: five of which involved sexual
assaults on young British holidaymakers
(all girls) and one of which was a ‘near
miss’.
The fact that none of the assaults were
made on children of Madeleine’s age -
nor were any of the girls removed from
their beds never to be seen again - has
not dissuaded investigators from the
theory that they could all be linked to
the little girl’s disappearance in 2007.
"In this new tranche of information we
have got one crime which is very clearly
in the heart of Praia da Luz in 2005, on
a young, white, 10-year-old girl”,
Redwood told journalists.
"Clearly the fact that we've now got an
assault that is in the heart of Praia da
Luz, very close to where a previous
matter had been reported, means that we
are even more interested in this as part
of the inquiry."
According to BBC news: “The case
involving the 10-year-old was not
reported to police in either country
until now.
“Overall, nine of the 18 break-ins
involved alleged sexual assaults against
British girls aged six to 12.
“Three took place in Praia da Luz, five
in Carvoeiro, nine in Albufeira and one
in Vilamoura”.
As news services scramble to send the
revelations all over the globe,
residents in Luz are shaking their heads
in disbelief.
“When will this end?” One asked us,
visibly crestfallen. “A NEW sexual
assault on a child, in Luz? Why have we
never heard about it until now? And why
are we hearing about it just in time for
the 7th anniversary of the
disappearance?”
Others were more belligerent. “These
latest revelations are simply beyond
belief”, a former British policeman who
has been actively following
investigations told us.
“The totally Flat man - who managed to
hide behind the door against the wall
when Gerry (Madeleine’s father) entered
the room to do his check (just before
Madeleine went missing), and Tannerman
who was of medium slim build, and
Smithman, who was not potbellied, and
the Heroin Blackman have all suddenly
been dropped in favour of trying to
trace potbellied Smellyman - a fat man
who can leap in a single bound through a
tiny window, and take a sleeping child,
whilst sedating two others in a way
unknown to modern medical science, and
then leap out again and VANISH without
leaving his distinctive smell.
“It is all too ridiculous to even try to
take on board”...
But “take on board” has been the order
of the day for years.
News services simply repeat verbatim
news purportedly coming from Scotland
Yard, and occasionally even news
reported to have come from PJ police in
Portugal. And, as the little village of
Praia da Luz bravely continues to try
and turn the page, it appears likely to
remain this way.
The countdown has begun on a triathlon
event that will bring together
Portuguese and foreigners alike on
Saturday.
Meantime, British police, journalists,
Madeleine McCann’s parents, and even the
former parish priest Haynes Hubbard -
who befriended the couple when their
little girl went missing - are all
understood to be on their way back to
Luz to focus attention once again on the
world’s most famous missing person. |
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