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The Sun - 21 September 2007Quote:
Metro News (no date)Quote:
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| McCann are willing to take a lie detector test to clear their names.
The couple are desperate to refocus the hunt for daughter Madeleine, four, as the tide of suspicion against them recedes. A source said: "They're happy to do anything that will clear them. "If they were asked to take a lie test by police, they'd agree. "They've said all along they want to co-operate." Kate and Gerry, both 39, were named suspects two weeks ago. Police believe they may have accidentally overdosed Madeleine and hidden her body. |
Named Sources - Clarence Mitchell (McCanns' Official Spokesman)
The following two reports quote Clarence Mitchell and more detail is given about the offer to take a lie detector. Specifically:-
- The McCanns would have no issue with taking a lie detector if requested to do so by the Portuguese Police.
- Provided it is overseen by an appropriate expert who can ensure the absolute reliability of the equipment being used.
This is London - 21 September 2007
Quote:
| Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, said that it was "extremely unlikely" the couple would be asked to take a lie detector test by police. He said: "Kate and Gerry McCann have absolutely nothing to hide and, if a request from the Portuguese authorities was made for them to undergo such a lie detector test, they would have no issue with it, provided the test is suitably overseen by an appropriate expert who can ensure the absolutely reliability of the equipment being used. However, it is my understanding that such machines are not used in Portuguese criminal cases, nor is the information from them deemed admissible in court, and there are question marks over their reliability. Therefore we think it is extremely unlikely that such a request for a test would come through." |
Sky News - 21 September 2007
Quote:
| McCann are unlikely to face a lie detector test in connection with the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine, the family's spokesman has said.
The couple had said they were prepared to take a test to prove they had nothing to do with the child going missing. But spokesman Clarence Mitchell said evidence from any test would not be admissible in a Portuguese court. "Kate and Gerry McCann have absolutely nothing to hide," Mr Mitchell said. "If a request from the Portuguese authorities was made for them to undergo such a lie detector test, they would have no issue with it, provided the test is suitably overseen by an appropriate expert who can ensure the absolutely reliability of the equipment being used." But he said he understood that such machines were not used in Portuguese criminal cases, nor was the information from them admissible in court. "Therefore we think it is extremely unlikely that such a request for a test would come through," he added. The McCanns' declaration that they would be happy to take a lie detector test is just the latest stage of a public fightback to show they had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance. The couple, from Rothley, Leicestershire, were declared suspects by detectives after DNA traces were found in a car hired after Madeleine's disappearance. The couple have returned to Britain after a four-month stay in Portugal and have been told that police do not have enough evidence to justify interviewing them again. |
Report that the McCanns would not take a media sponsored lie detector
This following report was published two months later and headlined to suggest that the McCanns had "changed their minds" about taking a lie detector. However, a comparison with the above reports which quote the McCanns' Official Spokesman, proves that there is no retraction and no change of mind,.
In the original 21 September statement, the McCann's spokesman made it clear that they would only be willing to take lie detector tests at the request of the Portuguese Police and if they were 100% accurate and admissible in Portuguese courts.
Daily Mail - 19 November 2007
Don Cargill is the polygrapher in the UK daytime magazine show "Trisha". The British police do not use lie detector tests.
Quote:
| Don Cargill, chairman of the British and European Polygraph Association, said the McCanns told him they would only take the test if it was 100 per cent accurate and admissible in a Portuguese court. He told the Sunday Express: "Kate said she'd take it to prove her innocence but in reality, she wasn't willing. "I was dumbfounded, to tell the truth. "I don't think it was the McCanns' fault. I was left with the impression the whole thing was a PR exercise to get sympathy at a time when Kate was under increasing scrutiny." Lie detectors work by measuring physiological responses such as blood pressure levels, pulse rate, breathing and sweat gland activity in the skin during questioning. Any significant difference in these rates may indicate the subject is lying. The process has been criticised but the American Polygraph Association claims the current computerised technology is 98 per cent accurate. They are not admissible in British or Portuguese courts. McCann spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Of course they are not going to take the test. It's inadmissible in Portugal and there are doubts about the accuracy. "Gerry and Kate don't need to do one as they are telling the truth." |
Conclusion
There are no contradictions in those statements which came directly from the McCanns' official spokesman. The McCanns said all along that they would have no issue with lie detectors requested by the Portuguese Police. However no such request was received as indeed lie detectors are inadmissible in both Portuguese and British courts. The lie detector test which the McCanns declined was not an official one, but rather one sponsored by a newspaper at the height of the media frenzy surrounding the case and which would have been administered by a polygrapher best recognised for his participation in a daytime entertainment programme specialising in sensational human interest stories.
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