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Transcript
Unknown caller - Hi, hi, good morning,
my question is regarding to Madeleine
McCann...
Nick Ferrari (host) - Oh yes.
Unknown caller - ...what chances can we
find this girl?
Nick Ferrari - This is I think another
additional 95,000 pounds that has been
earmarked by the Home Office, I think,
for Scotland Yard Sir Bernard, and that
would mean around six months the
investigations can continue.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - Yeah, Michael
(the caller) as you know there's been a
lot of investigation time spent on this
is, it's a terrible case isn't it, it's
a child who went missing and everybody
wants to know if she is alive if she is,
where is she, and if suddenly she is
dead then we need to give some comfort
to the family, so it needed us to carry
out an investigation together with the
Portuguese and other countries have been
involved and there is a line of inquiry
that remains to be concluded and it's
expected in the coming months that will
happen. The size of the teams came down
radically, I think we're now down to two
or three people in that team, at one
stage was about 30 officers in it, ahm,
essentially it's a Portuguese inquiry...
Nick Ferrari - What do thirty people do
all day Commissioner?
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - Well, the first
steps they had to do was to actually
review and look at all the things the
Portuguese had done, to see whether or
not there was anything we could offer
that, you know, might help with that
investigation, had they missed anything,
now we do that for ourselves and the
Portuguese review. So we thought, well,
we were asked by the Prime Minister
before I arrived, to see whether or not
there was anything we could do to help
that investigation. Our review...
Nick Ferrari - It takes thirty
officers?!
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - Well, err, yep,
but just bear in mind what happened
there, so you got thousands of pages, I
went in to one of our police stations
back in 2011 and there was a whole room
full of documents that this inquiry had
produced, you know, from the hundreds of
witnesses statements, to all every card
they checked out, from all, you know,
these inquiries for those who don't get
involved in them don't realize just what
they generate, huge amounts of material,
and of course, these all have to be
translated.
Nick Ferrari - Yes.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - This didn't
start out in English.
Nick Ferrari - Sure.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - They were
translated into English.
Nick Ferrari - Have you moved forward in
any way?
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - I, well, that's
what I'm indicating, is that first of
all we had to extinguish the
possibilities that existed in terms of
inquiry, I think some of those have been
stopped and there is a line of inquiry I
think is, well, everybody agrees, is
worthwhile pursuing.
Nick Ferrari - How long will this go on?
When will you finally be prepared to
stand down operation, I think it's
Operation Grange, isn't it?
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - Well, really at
the moment it will be the conclusion of
this line of inquiry, unless something
else comes up.
Nick Ferrari - So, you'd spend more
money, again? Another 95,000 pound?
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - Well, if
somebody comes to me, if somebody comes
forward and gives good evidence we'll
follow it.
Nick Ferrari - Yes.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - We always say
that, ahm, you know, a missing child
inquiry is never closed.
Nick Ferrari - Yes, but there are a
hundred eighty-seven missing children in
Britain, not all fortunately of the
circumstances of Madeleine McCann. How
come this one attracts so much attention
and indeed funding?
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - Well, of
course, you know, this was a decision of
the government, that in this case they
wanted to fund the Metropolitan Police
to make this inquiry. If you remember,
of course, this poor girl came from
Leicestershire area, and was obviously
aboard in Portugal at the time. So, we
went, the Home Office, the government
asked the Met to get involved and we
have done our best as anybody humanly
can, to try and find this girl, and
that's surely the thing that drives us
all. Newspapers have got involved,
private investigators got involved..
Nick Ferrari - So, you don't see any
standing down in the near future of
Operation Grange?
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe - Well, I thought
it was clear(?), which is first of all,
the line of inquiry that is being
pursued, that obviously is important,
it's important in the coming months that
is resolved and I think it will be, if
something new comes forward of course
we'll investigate it, but that line of
inquiry probably is, at the moment, is
the conclusion of this inquiry. |
