LAWFUEL – The Law News Wire – Amid signs that Portugese police are making little effort in tracking the abductor of four-year-old Madeleine McCann, a team of British specialists has arrived in Portugal to attempt to trace the offender by following a trail left by mobile phone signals around the Algarve resort where Madeleine was abducted 26 days ago.
The mobile telephone tracing technique was used to collect evidence that helped to convict Ian Huntley for the murders of British girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002.
Trails are created by silent transmissions sent out by every mobile phone even when not in use. Each signal is picked up by masts, which create a timed computer log of the handset’s movements. By measuring the strength of the signal, the location of the handset can often be narrowed to an area as small as a few square yards.
Detectives will use the information to verify statements provided by guests and staff at the Ocean Club complex, where Madeleine was taken from her bed.
Portuguese police appear to have made little progress in the investigation since searching the home of Robert Murat, the only official suspect in the case.
Meanwhile, Madeleine’s parents have released a video of her as they prepare to visit the Pope in Rome.
Kate and Gerry McCann released two short film clips of their four-year-old daughter, taken by a family friend on a mobile phone on April 28.
They are the last moving images of Madeleine, who disappeared from a hotel room in Portugal on May 3 while her parents dined in a nearby restaurant.
The footage showed the little girl, dressed in pink , climbing the steps to the aircraft at East Midlands airport in Britain and sitting on a shuttle bus at Faro airport.
