The Met Police has thanked the media for its co-operation around coverage of eight days of new investigations in Portugal into the disappearance of Madeline McCann.
At the onset of Operation Grange DCI Andy Redwood said: “If media interfere with police work, that work will stop. I suspect that the boundaries around what that is will be apparent and I asked you to cooperate with the requests of the Portuguese authorities as the most important thing is to make this inquiry go as smoothly as possible.”
The Met Police said in a statement this morning: “At this time no evidence relating to Madeleine McCann has been identified. However it has given us an essential understanding of the activity on and people that have used this piece of land…
“The media’s understanding and co-operation following AC Rowley’s pre deployment briefing has also been noted and appreciated.
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“There is still a substantial amount of work yet to be completed in the coming weeks and months, which again should be viewed as no more than normal operational activity in a case of this size and complexity. “This recent work is part of ensuring that all lines of enquiry are progressed in a systematic manner and covers just the one hypothesis that she was killed and buried locally. This is the same as would be done in the UK for a murder or high risk missing person enquiry.
“The scientific support staff involved were there to provide the highest level of assurance that this area was searched to the highest possible standards.”
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