Post by Joanna on Mar 14, 2019 8:26:14 GMT -5
Netflix Documentary Claims Madeleine McCann Is Still Alive
A top child protection officer insists the 12-year mystery of missing Madeleine McCann will be solved and he will explain his position in a bombshell new Netflix documentary, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, to be released Friday. The film will feature 40 experts and key figures in the case, some of whom argue the 3-year-old was abducted by a people-trafficking gang and taken from Portugal to another foreign country.
Jim Gamble, the top child protection officer in the UK’s first Maddie investigation, says: “I absolutely believe that in my lifetime, we will find out what has happened to Madeleine McCann. There’s huge hope to be had with the advances in technology. Year on year DNA is getting better. Year on year other techniques, including facial recognition, are getting better,” he continues. “And as we use that technology to revisit and review that which we captured in the past, there’s every likelihood that something we already know will slip into position.”
The documentary also claims Madeleine is likely to have been kept alive by child traffickers because, as a middle-class British girl, she would be more financially valuable. Julian Peribanez, the private investigator hired by the McCanns, explains: “They usually go for lower-class kids from third world countries – that’s the main supplier of these gangs. The value that Madeleine had was really high because if they took her, it’s because they were going to get a lot of money.”
On the evening of May 3, 2007, the 3-year-old child was left sleeping with her 2-year-old twin siblings as Gerry and Kate McCann dined in a restaurant at the Ocean Club Resort in Lagos, Portugal, where they were staying. But the abduction line of enquiry wasn’t a priority for bungling Portuguese cops, who instead devoted their time to attempting to pin the blame on the parents. This detracted from the fact the internet was increasingly normalizing pedophilia, expanding the networks of pedophiles and fueling the demand for child-snatching. “There is no doubt that human trafficking is a massive problem,” Gamble says in the show. “On the internet, you can go into those dark places and say, ‘This is who I am and this is what I do.’ And you’re made to feel better about who you are because there’s so many others.” The documentary explains how Portugal is also the perfect location for child traffickers because it’s a well-placed gateway allowing abducted children to be instantly transported overseas by boat or driven across Europe.
But there is also fresh optimism from child abduction experts, including Ernie Allen, head of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States.
Cop’s Pledge. Allen helped the McCanns in their search by creating an aged-image of Maddie, who would now be 15-years-old, and tells how he has assisted in returning many other abducted youngsters to their families in similar circumstances. “There are many, many cases we can point to in which children have been found, have come home alive, after months, after years,” he says during the documentary. “There have been cases in the United States in which witnesses, people who have information, haven’t come forward for decades, and then one day provide information that helps lead to the resolution of the case.”
The documentary, which will be available in full to Netflix’s 159 million subscribers around the globe, has a reach which could provide a crucial witness or piece of evidence – and will also raise awareness of the case to a new generation. “We’re trying to lay out as much detail as we can about the case,” Emma Cooper, executive producer, explains, “and if it could jog someone’s memory in some way, then that would be amazing. Keeping any search for what happened to Madeleine in the consciousness – particularly globally – is something that’s so important. As we show in the documentary, other children are found – so you have to hope.”
Parents Absolved. Gerry and Kate McCann suddenly found themselves vilified in 2007 when the Portuguese police formally named them as suspects. It was claimed dogs detected the presence of a body and there was blood on Madeleine’s toy in their apartment and in their rented car. It led to accusations the McCanns had given her too much of a sedative to get her to sleep. However, the documentary demonstrates how experts view the claims as unreliable and that naming the McCanns as suspects was a desperate act by police. “The police were clutching at straws,” Gamble claims.
Found Alive. The documentary suggests Madeleine could still come home alive, pointing to the case of Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted at age 9 in California and found 18 years later. The series also cites Carlina White, who was snatched as a baby from a New York hospital in 1987 and didn’t learn the truth until age 23. The father of Elizabeth Smart – kidnapped from her Utah home at age 14, was rescued nine months later – even contacted Kate McCann to offer words of support. “I told her to keep the faith, keep hope alive,” Ed Smart says.
Botched Probe. From the moment Madeleine disappeared, police were slow to respond and secretive about what they were doing. But under pressure, they soon began to leak information and act rashly. The film features Robert Murat, a British citizen living in Praia da Luz and the first named suspect, who says he felt like he was “being set up.” Private investigator Julian Peribanzes also insists police officers just wanted to blame the parents. The officer leading the probe, Inspector Gonçalo Amaral, was fired in October 2007.
Sick Gangs. The secretive world of online child-abusers can now be revealed. Julian Peribanez worked at Metodo3, a Barcelona-based private investigation agency once engaged by the McCanns. In the documentary, he tells how he infiltrated a pedophile ring sharing obscene videos and passed the details to police. According to the former head of Cybercrime, Juan Carlos Ruiloba, “In the end, 23 people were questioned and 13 arrested,” he says. “Some of these investigations may lead to these minors being found and rescued from their captors.”
Sources: Rod McPhee, The Sun, March 14, 2019, and Fox News.