Dear Mr Lister
I write to draw your attention to two media reports today on the case of Madeleine McCann, one in the 'Sunday Express' and another by the Press Association, released about 1.00-pm this afternoon.
I reproduce both, in full, below, and then make certain points relating to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 questions I asked on Friday 19 March, 71 working days ago, and to which no answers have yet been provided despite the maximum normal period allowed for responses being 20 working days.
Here are the two press reports:
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MADDY CASE MAY BE RE-OPENED BY THERESA MAY
Maddy's case may be re-opened by new home secretary Theresa May
Sunday July 4,2010
By James Murray
HOME Secretary Theresa May has asked to meet Kate and Gerry McCann, signalling she intends to tell them she will order a new investigation into their missing daughter Madeleine.
Mrs May wrote to the McCanns last week asking them to come to the Home Office in what is being described as a “positive step” by department officials.
A senior Home Office source said: “The Home Secretary has already exchanged letters with Kate and Gerry about the case and will be meeting them shortly to discuss how the investigation is being taken forward. It would not be appropriate to pre-empt that meeting or give details of the work.”
A new team of detectives, most likely from Scotland Yard, could soon get the mammoth task of raking over all files from Portuguese detectives, police in Leicestershire and private investigators.
Since taking office, Mrs May has taken a close interest in the case. Her predecessor, Labour’s Alan Johnson, last March ordered a costing of a review of evidence and the outline of how a new probe would work into finding out what happened to Madeleine, then three, of Rothley, Leics, who vanished from Praia da Luz on the Algarve in May 2007.
Sources say that Mrs May felt Mr Johnson made the right decision and the internal report is almost complete.
Mr Johnson acted after Jim Gamble, head of the Child Online and Protection Centre, wrote a report for the Home Office analysing police investigations here and in Portugal.
His report, which has not been released publicly, outlines how a new approach could produce new leads.
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The Press Association
McCanns set to meet Home Secretary
Home Secretary Theresa May will meet with Kate and Gerry McCann to discuss how the search for their missing daughter Madeleine is progressing, the Home Office said.
The meeting is being arranged following an exchange of letters between the couple and Mrs May in which the McCanns asked to see her, a Home Office spokesman said.
Details of the meeting are still being confirmed, he added.
The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, want a review of all the information in the hands of the British and Portuguese authorities.
But the Metropolitan Police said it had no plans to reopen the investigation.
Madeleine was nearly four when she went missing from her family's holiday flat in Praia da Luz in the Algarve, Portugal, on the night of May 3 2007 as her parents dined with friends nearby.
Despite a massive police investigation and huge publicity worldwide, the little girl has still not been found.
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There is a clear pattern here of vital information, of very significant public interest, being released to the press by certain persons. It has nearly always been by 'a source close to the McCanns' or 'a McCann family friend' etc. and the source is never named. With such goings-on, and where a government department funded by the taxpayer is not only directly involved but very significantly involved, it is vital that the Home Office discloses information about its activities. That, after all, is what the Freedom of Information Act is all about, and as I have written earlier, the new Coalition government has resolutely set its face against the culture of Whitehall secrecy which has prevailed until now.
In the above two press stories are to be found a great many factual claims.
These may be conveniently be summarised as follows:
1. Dr Gerald and Dr Kate McCann have written a letter to Theresa May, Home Secretary.
2. Theresa May, Home Secretary, has written a letter to Dr Gerald and Dr Kate McCann.
3. Theresa may would like to meet the McCanns.
4. A senior office source [unnamed] has spoken to someone representing the Sunday Express.
5. The McCanns will shortly be meeting the Home Secretary.
6. The Home Secretary would like to tal to the McCanns about 'how the investigation is being taken forward'.
7. A new team of detectives, possibly from Scotland Yard, could begin a new investigation into what really happened to Madeleine McCann.
8. Theresa May has taken 'a close interest' in the case since being appointed Home Secretary.
9. In March former Home Secretary Alan Johnson ordered a 'costing exercise' to be carried out.
10. At some time [March or later] Mr Johnson ordered in effect some new kind of feasibility study to be undertaken into 'how a new investigation could work'.
11. An internal report is 'almost complete'.
12. Jim Gamble was indeed commissioned to write a report.
13. Jim Gamble has concluded his report.
14. Jim Gamble's report explains how new leads could be produced by a new investigation.
14. The McCanns want a review of all the information held by both the British and Portuguese police.
15. The Metropolitan Police has no plans to begin a new investigation [which means nothing as they may be told to carry out one tomorrow or at any time in the future].
It is clear from the above that there is a huge amount of activity in the Home Office around the Madeleine McCann case. As these two reports show, there is continued strong media and public interest in the case of Madeleine's disappearance.
A Home Office source is even, it seems, prepared to speak anonymously to the police.
I reiterate my request for an immediate answer to the questions I first asked 71 working days ago, and also, as soon as possible, to the more recent six questions I asked.
In your e-mail to me dated 17 June, you referred to an 'ongoing investigation'. Yet today's press reports speak clearly of a 'new investigation'.
It's inevitable that given the worldwide media coverage of the case and continuing concern as to the direction of the various enquiries to date, that the public will want to know precisely what the Home Office is doing and why. It is exceptionally rare, indeed I would say totally unprecedented, for the Home Office to involve itself to such a huge extent in what you said in your e-mail amounts to an existing criminal investigation into a serious crime against a 3-year-old British girl.
In submission, the Home Office must fulfil its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, which are surely much heightened by the undoubtedly huge public interest in this case, which you very fairly conceded does exist. The Home Office must disclose all that it reasonably can about its actions, its meetings with and letters to and from the McCanns, and so on. This especially so when we have two reports from the Portuguese Police which explicitly acknowledge the possibility that Madeleine McCann died in the McCanns' apartment, notwithstanding the fact that they were unable to come up with sufficient evidence to charge anyone.
I trust I may have the answers I seek without further delay.
Tony Bennett
66 Chippingfield
HARLOW
Essex
CM17 0DJ
