‘Cops were unkind to McCanns’
MADELEINE McCann’s parents claimed Portuguese police treated them inhumanely from the start of the investigation into their daughter’s disappearance, according to a secret report.
The British Home Office document reveals they also later fell out with British officers and did not share “a large amount of information” gathered by their own private investigators.
The “turbulent relationship” between Madeleine’s parents and detectives in both Portugal and the UK hampered the hunt for the 3-year-old who vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007.
Passages from the secret report – ordered by then home secretary Alan Johnson in 2009 – emerged as Gerry and Kate McCann marked the 10th anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance yesterday. It says: “From the beginning the McCanns felt there was a lack of clarity and communication on the part of the Portuguese police.
“Despite the involvement of British consular staff, they were, by their own accounts, left for long periods without any updates or communication with the investigators. They state they were taken to the police station on more than one occasion and then left for hours waiting to speak to someone who never materialised. They describe this situation as inhumane, with no real consideration for their emotional and physical well-being.”
It was written by the Child Exploitation And Online Protection Centre for the Home Office to establish if it was worth getting Scotland Yard to review the case. – Daily Mail