Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
MYSTERY surrounds the discovery of the body of a German boy found in an upland mountain area of north Cordoba.
The five-year-old was found after an intensive three day search in the Sierra de Castillo, near Espiel.
The boy, who was apparently on holiday with his mother, was reported missing on Tuesday.
An autopsy will this weekend confirm the exact cause of death, but it appears most likely to have been from dehydration.
The mayor of Espiel, Jose Antonio Fernandez insisted there were no obvious signs of violence, although there was a nasty burn on his arm.
Police say his mother, who is being kept in Cordoba hospital, reported the disappearance of the child when she was found in a distraught state at a petrol station that day.
Although police released pictures of both the mother and child on Thursday, they did not formally name either, and identified her only as ‘Tanja K’.
The mother, who comes from North Rhine-Westphalia, was found in Espiel in a state of shock and disorientation, suffering from cuts, bruises and dehydration.
Prior to that, the boy and his mother had been seen camping, swimming and fishing at a reservoir, known as Puente Nuevo.
Tanja K. told Spanish police she had driven a week ago with her son from Germany into Spain. But she was unable to explain her condition, nor give her son’s whereabouts.
According to German reports, local residents had seen the mother and the boy camping and fishing on Sunday and had also seen a boy walking hand-in-hand with a bald man.
Other witnesses said she asked residents for help on Monday because her car had broken down. The car was found late Tuesday near a religious shrine.
The boy’s father and other relatives had flown from Germany to join in the search.
The case is sure to revive memories of Madeleine McCann who disappeared three years ago, while on holiday with her parents and twin siblings in the Algarve region of Portugal.
The British girl went missing from an apartment, in the central area of the resort of Praia da Luz, a few days before her fourth birthday.
A tragic story here in Spain, but why must you bring up little Maddie ..her parents refused to help police with their investigation it is now nearly four years and Maddies mother still refuses to answer the 48 questions. The investigation would be reopened IF the McCanns assist the police but they do not want to. WHY?
Dani stop saying stupid things. The Portugese police were a bunch of idiots that even allowed the room to be re-used before proper forensics were carried out. The parents have been probed extensively already.
Tony, the parents of Maddie were not probed well enough, and the discrepancies in what they said and did have never been fully investigated, wither by Police or by investigative journalists. Carter-Ruck, the libel lawers, have ensured that no one is allowed to ask proper questions or to draw proper inferences from the lies they and the Tapas 7 told.
So Carter-Ruck can override the law can they? You are deluded – this case has had more publicity and more investigation than any other just about. The case may even be re-opened in the UK as well.
Can you tell us all what lies the Tapas 7 told please? Awaiting your answer Peter. If you are not going to supply an answer I suggest you shut up.
Carter-Ruck have overridden the law. Look at the Trafigura case for evidence of their probable ‘Contempt of Parliament’, – an attempt by them to prevent the Guardian reporting what an MP said in the House.
The lies and discrepancies in the accounts given by the McCanns and the Tapas 7 are well documented, and freely available on the net. All the statements made by witnesses were released by the Portuguese Police when they shelved the case for lack of sufficient evidence to secure a conviction.
This is not the forum for me to give you a full explanation of everything that has happened over the last 3 years.
I wish you a Happy Christmas.
Moving from the MM case to Trafigura could be described as slight change of subject lol. I am sure the judge would disagree with you that the law had been “overridden”. In any case, we do of course now have the excellent WikiLieaks, which I believe already has some Trafigura case files for all to see, and those cannot be censored. Trafigura also lost their case in the Netherlands, subject to appeal. They’ll probably win in the long run – I do agree with you that in the general scheme of things, large companies such as BP and Trafigura operate in a different area of ‘the law’.
As I’ve said before, if you drive a car, if you use electricity, then you are as bad as such companies – we are all complicit in the scheme of things, so I find it difficult to criticise the likes of BP and Trafigura when we are their consumers – and keep them in power and profit and we are all happy to do it, oblivious to all the harm it is doing, yet eager to watch it all on TV.
Regarding the MM case, If there is lack of evidence, then that can of course also mean that there was no evidence of guilt. In any case, if there was so much evidence against the McCann’s, as you say, why didn’t the police easily secure a conviction? You can’t have it both ways.
Joyous felicitations to you too.
Sounds like a New York Times Best seller