SMITHS, EXTON, SY AND THE E-FITS - PART TWO

Chief investigator Redwood telling the McCanns the happy news about the e-fits - October 2013

  















It would take too much time to explain the astounding bad luck the McCanns experienced with regard to the private investigators they hired.

In short order these were:
1. Metodo3 who - as can be read in the post 'Socratic questioning of Metodo's methods', and in the translation of the chapter dealing with the investigation in 'The Smokescreen' by Julian Peribanez and Antonio Tamarit - employed at least two honest detectives who co-wrote the book exposing the fraud committed by Metodo3. 
2. Not long after Metodo3 were out of the picture, the McCanns hired Oakley International, which turned out to be run by a Walter Mitty type figure, who also happened to employ a number of honest detectives. On of whom was Henry Exton who had the e-fits drawn up by members of the Smith family. 
3. The next set of detectives have some claim to fame as their company Alphaig Ltd - was not even registered at the time they were contracted to search for Madeleine McCann and when it was registered their headquarters appeared to be a humble cottage in North Wales. 

However, back to the e-fits:

The Sunday Times has a scoop: Madeleine clues hidden for 5 years.

(anorak.co.uk/372377/madeleine-mccann-the-private-detectives-secret-e-fits.html/)

The new prime suspect was first singled out by detectives in 2008. Their findings were suppressed. Insight reports: those prime suspects are the two e-fits widely circulated an featured on the BBC;s Crimewatch show. [..] the company was called Oakley International: the team of investigators from the security firm Oakley International were hired by the McCanns' Find Madeleine Fund, which bankrolled private investigations into the girl's disappearance. They were led by Henri Exton, MI5's former undercover operations chief.

Their report, seen by The Sunday Times, focused on a sighting by an Irish Family of a man carrying a child at about 10pm on May 3, 2007, when Madeleine went missing. [..] Exton confirmed last week that the fund had silenced his investigators for years after they handed over their controversial findings. he said: Á letter came from their lawyers binding us to the confidentiality of the report.' [..] A source close to the fund said the report was considered 'hypercritical of the people involved' and 'would have been completely distracting' if it became public.  [..] (Oakley) focused on the Smith sighting, travelling to Ireland to interview the family and produce e-fits of the man they saw. Their report said the Smiths were 'helpful and sincere' and concluded: 'The Smith sighting is credible evidence of a sighting of Maddie and more credible than Jane Tanner's sighting'.

[..] One of the Oakley investigators is quoted. He claims: 'I was absolutely stunned when I watched the programme .. iit most certainly wasn't a new timeline and it certainly isn't a new revelation. It is absolute nonsense to suggest either of those things... and those e-fits you saw on Crimewatch are ours.'

unquote

Press Gazette: Sunday Times sued by McCanns over story which wrongly claimed evidence was withheld from police.  -  William Turvill  19 September 2014 :

The parents of missing child Madeleine  McCann have sued The Sunday Times for libel over a story which they said gave the impression they had  hindered the investigation into her disappearance. According the publisher News UK the claim has been settled.

Kate and Gerry McCann took issue with a front-page story from last year, which the couple said suggested they had kept 'secret from investigating authorities a crucial piece of evidence concerning the disappearace of their daughter.'

In addition to the article, which was published on 27 October (2013) and remained online until 8 November, the McCanns also made reference to readers'comments left on the article - in High Court papers seen by Press Gazette.

The story, for which the paper apologised on 28 December (2013), said: 'The critical new evidence at the centre of Scotland Yard's search for Madeleine McCann was kept secret for five years after it was presented to her parents by ex-MI5 investigators.'

The detailed images of the face of the man seen by the Smith family were never released by the McCanns. But an artist's impression of the man seen earlier by Tanner was widely promoted, even thought the face had to be left blank because she had only seen him fleetingly and from a distance.

[...] nor were the Smith e-fits included in Kate McCann's 2011 book, Madeleine, which contained a whole section on eight 'key sightings' and identified those of the Smiths and Tanner as most  'crucial' Descriptions of all seven other sightings were accompanied by and e-fit or artist's impression.

In addition to the article, which was published on 27 October and remained online until 8 November, the McCanns also made reference to readers' comments left on the article - in High Court papers seen by Press Gazette.  unquote

The Sunday Times published the following apology on 28 December (2013):

In articles dated October 27 [..] we referred to e-fits which were included in a report prepared by private investigators for the McCanns and the Fund in 2008. We accept that the articles may have been understood to suggest that the McCanns had withheld information from the authorities. This was not the case. We now understand and accept that the e-fits had been provided to the Portuguese and Leicestershite police by October 2009. We also understand that a copy of the final report including the e-fits was passed to the Metropolitan police in August 2011 [..] we apologise for the distress caused.' unquote

FOI request:  Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2014090001604 19 September 2014  to Metropolitan Police - answered 18 October 2014:

[..]

At Question 4 you asked:

Did members of the Irish family create these e-fits, or were the 'two witnesses' mentioned by Matthew Amroliwala who drew up the e-fits actually other witnesses? If so, please state who they were.

The MPS response is:  The programme was referring to members of the Irish family who created the e-fits.

At Question 5 you asked:

Are the e-fits of the same man, or not?

The MPS reponse is: Yes, they are the same man.

unquote.

A selection of the many images of suspects which were freely available to the media over the years. Seventh on the top right is of some interest in the next post.

The creepy man - noticed a week in advance of the holiday who got prime billing - it's the one on the left...

The rogues' gallery above shows the very curious collection of possible abductors which the McCanns on the whole were happy to publish.  Creepy man is relevant inasmuch that there was a professionally made e-fit of a man seen watching the McCann apartment on the 2nd of May. However, the image of this  man who was seen a week earlier on the beach  and nowhere near 5A, was published frequently. 

To conclude: 

The e-fits were constructed by two different members of the Smith family 

Both depict the same man, namely the one they met on the evening of the 3rd of May carrying a child.

The e-fits were made after Henri Exton and his colleagues visited the Smiths in Ireland. 

Henri Exton stated that the Smiths were sincere, their e-fits a much better image of the possible abductor than the faceless image conjured up by Jane Tanner. 

The e-fits were done between 31st of January 2008 and the end of that year. They were submitted to the Leicestershire police who curiously did nothing with them. This was October 2009,  so that means nothing was done with them for at least a year. 

The McCanns stated that they also submitted them to  Operation Grange a few months after they started their review. 

Considering the enthusiasm  and frequency with which many of the above posted images were published, it is very strange that the e-fits made by the Smiths didn't see the light of day a good deal earlier.