7 October 2007
The Sunday Mirror
Grant Hodgson
THE SEARCH FOR MADELEINE DAY 157
BRITISH crime chiefs told Portuguese police to "smarten up their act" during high-level talks last week that lead to the sacking of the cop leading the Madeleine inquiry.
British police chiefs and Government officials heaped pressure on the Portuguese as the shambolic investigation lay in tatters.
"Portuguese cops were told to sort it out," a police source told the Sunday Mirror, which last week exposed the long, boozy lunch breaks taken by Goncalo Amaral.
"It's not good enough when the man who was supposed to be running the world's biggest police inquiry was taking huge lunch breaks," the source said.
Leicestershire Police - the McCanns' local force - the Home Office and Foreign Office were all believed to have been involved in the talks.
The Sunday Mirror can also reveal how DNA evidence collected by officers in Praia da Luz is being considered "fatally flawed" and "useless".
A Leicestershire police source said:
"There is a huge sense of embarrassment about the whole thing. Questions are now being asked along the lines of, 'Why have we been supporting such a bunch off incompetents?'
"Leicester police aren't happy about it at all."
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NOTE: The Press Complaints Commission received a complaint from the Leicestershire Constabulary as follows:
Complainant Name:
Leicestershire Constabulary
Clauses Noted:
1
Publication:
Sunday Mirror
Complaint:
Leicestershire Constabulary complained that an article had quoted a ‘Leicestershire police source’ being critical of the Portuguese police (in relation to the investigation into Madeleine McCann’s disappearance) when that was not the official view of the Force.
Resolution:
The matter was resolved when the newspaper agreed to place a note of the complaint in its archive files, which made clear that the quoted source was not speaking on behalf of the Force.
Report:
76
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