馬德琳·麦卡恩失蹤事件是2007年5月3日晚發生在葡萄牙阿爾加維普拉亞·達·盧什(英语:Praia da Luz)的一件女童失踪案。女童名叫馬德琳·貝絲·麥卡恩(英語:Madeleine Beth McCann,2003年5月12日—),當時只有三歲。此案是現代歷史上最知名的人口失蹤案之一,麥卡恩的行蹤至今不明。[2]
公寓位于地下层,有两间卧室,属于水边村(Waterside Village)公寓群的第五栋,地处马克华纳公司旗下海洋俱乐部(Ocean Club)度假村的附近[23]。麦卡恩一家的邻居有住在5B的马修和蕾切尔·奥德菲尔德(Matthew and Rachel Oldfield)、5D的珍·坦纳和罗素·奥布莱恩(Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien),以及同栋一楼的佩恩斯和黛安·韦伯斯特(Paynes and Dianne Webster)[24]。由于处在阿戈斯蒂尼奥·达席尔瓦博士路和弗朗西斯科·让蒂尔·马丁斯博士(英语:Francisco Gentil)路的交界处,外人可以从两边进入5A[25]。从客厅后方的滑动玻璃露台门可俯瞰海洋俱乐部的游泳池、网球场、小吃餐厅和酒吧,也可以前往公用的让蒂尔·马丁斯博士路,来到通往5A栋阳台及客厅的小门及台阶。5A栋的前门则位于达席尔瓦博士路海洋俱乐部街区的对面[26][27]。
晚上8点30分,夫妇俩离开5A,陪朋友到海洋俱乐部泳池边的露天小吃餐厅吃饭[32]。5A与餐厅直线距离(英语:as the crow flies)55米(180英尺),但去餐厅要走过一条公用道路,来到海洋俱乐部度假村的大门,之后再穿过度假村到泳池另一边,全程82米(295英尺)[33]。从公寓楼楼顶可以看到小吃餐厅,但看不到大门。由于露台的门只能从里面锁,麦卡恩一直拉上门,但没有锁,窗帘也拉开,方便他们随时回去观察孩子的动态。露台台阶顶部有一个儿童安全锁,底部有一扇矮门,矮门通向大街[32]。
晚上10点左右,史密斯夫妇在离麦卡恩公寓500碼(460米)的小学街(Rua da Escola Primária)看到一名男子离开海洋俱乐部前往4月25日街(Rua 25 de Abril)和沙滩,带着一名约莫三四岁的女孩。女孩棕色头发、白皮肤,穿着浅色睡衣,光着脚,男子30岁左右,1米75到1米8(5.7英尺到7.5英尺),身材苗条,棕色短发,穿着奶油色或米色长裤[48][49]。在麦卡恩夫妇的聘请下,奥克利国际(Oakley International)于2008年根据史密斯夫妇的证词生成男子的电脑合成影像,后来苏格兰场于2013年在英国广播公司《英国犯罪观察(英语:Crimewatch)》上首次公开该图像[50]。
犯罪现场未收到保护。葡萄牙警方采集了玛德琳睡房的样本,把样本送去三个法医实验室验证。据司法警察总督察奥莱加里奥·德·索萨(Olegário de Sousa)表示,2007年6月1日,警方找到一位“陌生人”的DNA,但房间关门前有大约20人进入5A公寓[65][36]。凯特表示,凌晨3点有位警官在儿童房的门口贴上的胶带,之后就离开了,没有保护好现场[57]。根据司警2008年发布的文件,案发一个月后,5A一直处于闲置状态,之后于2007年8月被封锁,方便进行后续的调查搜证[22][66]。公寓外面也出现了类似的情况,一大群人聚焦在5A公寓的前门,包括儿童睡房窗户的旁边(这里极有可能是绑匪进入或离开的地方),踩踏了证据[67]。一位警察在没有戴手套或穿防护衣的情况下在窗户外面的百叶窗扫指纹[36]。
Hair and other fibres were collected from areas in the car and apartment 5A where Keela and Eddie had given alerts, and were sent to the Forensic Science Service(英语:Forensic Science Service) (FSS) in Birmingham for DNA profiling, arriving around 8 August 2007.[140] At this point, according to The Sunday Times, the PJ "abandoned the abduction theory".[36] On 8 August, without waiting for the results from Birmingham, Portuguese police called the McCanns to a meeting in Portimão, where Guilhermino Encarnação, PJ regional director, and Luis Neves, coordinator of the Direcção Central de Combate ao Banditismo in Lisbon, told them the case was now a murder inquiry.[141] When Encarnação died of stomach cancer in 2010, The Daily Telegraph identified him as a major source of the leaks against the McCanns.[142] Both the McCanns were interrogated that day; the officers suggested that Kate's memory was faulty.[141]
The FSS used a technique known as low copy number(英语:low copy number) (LCN) testing. Used when only a few cells are available, the test is controversial because it is vulnerable to contamination and misinterpretation.[143] On 3 September, John Lowe of the FSS emailed Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior of the Leicestershire Police, the liaison officer between the British and Portuguese authorities. Lowe told Prior that a sample from the car boot contained fifteen out of nineteen of Madeleine's DNA components, and that the result was "too complex for meaningful interpretation":
A complex LCN [low copy number] DNA result which appeared to have originated from at least three people was obtained from cellular material recovered from the luggage compartment section ... Within the DNA profile of Madeleine McCann there are 20 DNA components represented by 19 peaks on a chart. ... Of these 19 components 15 are present within the result from this item; there are 37 components in total. There are 37 components because there are at least 3 contributors; but there could be up to five contributors. In my opinion therefore this result is too complex for meaningful interpretation/inclusion. ... [W]e cannot answer the question: Is the match genuine, or is it a chance match.[a]
McCanns made arguidos
Lowe's email was translated into Portuguese on 4 September 2007. The next day, according to Kate, the PJ proposed that, if she were to admit that Madeleine had died in an accident in the apartment and that she had hidden the body, she might only serve a two-year sentence. Her husband would not be charged and would be free to leave.[146] Both parents were given arguido status on 7 September,[147] and were advised by their lawyer not to answer questions. The PJ told Gerry that Madeleine's DNA had been found in the car boot and behind the sofa in apartment 5A.[148] Gerry did respond to questions, but Kate declined to reply to 48 questions she was asked during an eleven-hour interview.[149]
The DNA evidence was a "100 percent match", journalists in Portugal were told.[150] British tabloid headlines included "Corpse in McCann Car" (London Evening Standard, 16 October 2007), while the Daily Star reported that a "clump of Maddie's hair" had been found in the car.[151] The leaks came directly from Portuguese police, according to testimony in 2012 from Jerry Lawton, a Daily Star reporter, to the Leveson Inquiry(英语:Leveson Inquiry).[b] Matt Baggott of the Leicestershire Police told the inquiry that, because the Portuguese were in charge of the case, he had made a decision not to correct reporters; his force's priority, he said, was to maintain a good relationship with the PJ with a view to finding Madeleine.[153]{{efn|Matt Baggott(英语:Matt Baggott), former chief constable of Leicestershire Police(英语:Leicestershire Police) (Leveson Inquiry(英语:Leveson Inquiry), 28 March 2012): "[A]s a chief constable at the time, there were a number of I think very serious considerations. One for me, and the Gold Group who were running the investigation, which was a UK effort, was very much a respect for the primacy of the Portuguese investigation. We were not in the lead in relation to their investigative strategy. We were merely dealing with enquiries at the request of the Portuguese and managing the very real issues of the local dimension of media handling, so we were not in control of the detail or the facts or where that was going. "I think the second issue was there was an issue, if I recall, of Portuguese law. Their own judicial secrecy laws. I think it would have been utterly wrong to have somehow in an off the record way have breached what was a very clear legal requirement upon the Portuguese themselves.... "There was also an issue for us of maintaining a very positive relationship with the Portuguese authorities themselves. I think this was an unprecedented inquiry in relation to Portugal. The media interest, their own reaction to that. And having a very positive relationship of confidence with the Portuguese authorities I think was a precursor to eventually and hopefully one day successfully resolving what happened to that poor child. "So the relationship of trust and confidence would have been undermined if we had gone off the record in some way or tried to put the record straight, contrary to the way in which the Portuguese law was configured and their own leadership of that."[154][155][156]
McCanns return to the UK, Almeida report
Despite their arguido status, the McCanns were allowed to leave Portugal, and on legal advice did so immediately, arriving back in England on 9 September 2007.[157] The following day Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida of the PJ in Portimão signed a nine-page report concluding that Madeleine had died in apartment 5A as a result of an accident, that the restaurant meal and apparent regular checks on the McCann children had been part of the cover-up(英语:cover-up), that the Tapas Seven had helped to mislead the police, and that the McCanns had concealed the child's body before faking an abduction. An eleven-page document from the Information Analysis Brigade in Lisbon analysed alleged discrepancies in the McCanns' statements.[158][70] On 11 September the public prosecutor, José Cunha de Magalhães e Meneses, handed the ten-volume case file to a judge, Pedro Miguel dos Anjos Frias.[159] Meneses applied for the seizure of Kate's diary and Gerry's laptop.[160] The police also wanted to trace telephone calls between the McCanns and the Tapas Seven, and there were details in the report about the number of suitcases the McCanns and their friends had taken back to England.[161]
On 28 September 2007, according to a diplomatic cable(英语:diplomatic cable) published by WikiLeaks in 2010, the United States ambassador to Portugal, Al Hoffman, wrote about a meeting he had had with the British ambassador to Portugal, Alexander Ellis(英语:Alexander Ellis (diplomat)), on 21 September 2007. The cable said: "Without delving into the details of the case, Ellis admitted that the British police had developed the current evidence against the McCann parents, and he stressed that authorities from both countries were working co-operatively. He commented that the media frenzy was to be expected and was acceptable as long as government officials keep their comments behind closed doors."[162]
Control Risks(英语:Control Risks Group), a British security company—paid by an anonymous donor to assist the McCanns since 7 May 2007[163]—took hair samples from the McCann twins on 24 September 2007, at their parents' request. The twins had slept through the commotion in apartment 5A after Madeleine was reported missing; Kate wrote that she was concerned the abductor might have given the children sedatives.[164] According to the PJ files, Kate had asked them to take samples, three months after the disappearance, but they had not done so.[165] Control Risks took a sample from Kate too, to rebut allegations that she was on medication. No trace of drugs was found.[166]
註釋
^The email from John Lowe (Forensic Science Service(英语:Forensic Science Service), 3 September 2007) continued: "The individual components in Madeleine's profile are not unique to her; it is the specific combination of 19 components that makes her profile unique above all others. Elements of Madeleine's profile are also present within the profiles of many of the scientists here in Birmingham, myself included. It's important to stress that 50% of Madeleine's profile will be shared with each parent. It is not possible, in a mixture of more than two people, to determine or evaluate which specific DNA components pair with each other. ... Therefore, we cannot answer the question: Is the match genuine, or is it a chance match."[144][145]
^Jerry Lawton, Daily Star (Leveson Inquiry(英语:Leveson Inquiry), 19 March 2012): "Portuguese police leaked in briefings in Portugal to their journalists that the forensic test results positively showed that Madeleine had been in or linked her to the hire car that her parents didn't hire until three or four weeks after she'd disappeared, and that story became a—created a sea change, without overusing that word, in the way the story has been looked at. "Those forensic test results became a bone of contention between the UK and the Portuguese police. I was present when a Portuguese team of forensic experts and detectives arrived in Leicester to discuss these results. Of course, they'd already leaked a version of the results. Leicestershire police presumably knew—although it turns out obviously that those test results did not prove that and that the Portuguese police had somehow misinterpreted these results. I just felt that had this been—that Leicestershire police could have briefed, off the record, even unreportable, that the Portuguese police had misinterpreted those DNA results. ... "Every time you rang Leicestershire police on that inquiry—and it was a lot, from every media organisation—you were told: 'It's a Portuguese police inquiry. You'll have to contact the Portuguese police.' And of course, they were fully aware that the Portuguese police had judicial secrecy laws and they wouldn't talk about the case."[152]
^Esther Addley, "Madeleine McCann: hope and persistence rewarded" (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆), The Guardian, 27 April 2012: "It was, the [Portuguese] attorney general found, largely due to a catastrophic misinterpretation of the evidence collected by ... [Leicestershire police] that the Portuguese team came to suspect the McCanns in the disappearance."
^For Diana comparison, Nicola Rehling, "'Touching Everyone': Media Identifications, Imagined Communities and New Media Technologies in the Case of Madeleine McCann," in Ruth Parkin-Gounelas (ed.), The Psychology and Politics of the Collective: Groups, Crowds and Mass Identifications, Routledge 2012, p. 152ff.For Twitter, Eilis O'Hanlon, "Eilis O'Hanlon: The sad rise of cyber courts full of Twittering bullies" (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆), Sunday Independent (Ireland), 29 April 2012.Also see Brian Cathcart, "The Real McCann Scandal" (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆), New Statesman, 23 October 2008.
^For "50 metres (yards)", "Kidnapping concern for missing girl in Portugal"互联网档案馆的存檔,存档日期6 August 2020., Reuters, 4 May 2007.
For 60 yards as the crow flies, and a 90-yard walk, "less than a minute's walk away", Summers & Swan 2014,第12頁. Ninety yards would take a minute to walk at a speed of around three miles per hour.
^"Searching for Madeleine"互联网档案馆的存檔,存档日期27 March 2015., Dispatches, Channel 4, 18 October 2007, 00:08:36; for the first search being abandoned at 4:30 am: 00:09:33.
^ 112.0112.1Witness statements, Gerry McCann, Polícia Judiciária, Portimão, 4 May 2007 and 10 May 2007.
^Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida, Polícia Judiciária, report to the coordinator of the investigation, 10 September 2007, Polícia Judiciária files, vol X, 2587–2602.
^John Lowe, Forensic Science Service, Birmingham, email to Detective Superintendent Stuart Prior, Leicestershire police, 3 September 2007, released 4 August 2008.
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