Maddie McCann: The Dog’s Evidence Revisited

Terms of Joining

On this date 23 Aug 2007 I join to the case files the translations of the verbal reports made in English by the police sniffer dog trainer Martin Grime, referring to the sniffer dog inspections carried out with the cadaver odour detection dog Eddie and the human blood detection dog, Keela.

These translations were made working from the audio-visual recordings of each of the inspections.

These terms of joining were elaborated and will be signed.

Portimao 23 August 2007

Inspector Paiva

Verbal Report by Martin Grime Relating to the Searches Carried out with the Dogs in the Ocean Club Apartments
　
Transcription/Translation

　
Apartment 5 A

Ok…what was done was we deployed the victim recovery dog into the apartment and by experience and the training of the dog what I first noticed is that as soon as I came in that the dog was very excited and as a handler I can pick up his body language etc and it would appear to me that as soon as he has come into the house he’s picked up a scent that he recognises and he has then gone through the apartment trying to source where that scent source has come from and as he has worked through the house the only two places where he picks up enough scent to give me the bark alert are in this bedroom, in this corner where he was barking.

What we have to be able to understand in a situation such as this is in a hot climate with the apartment being closed down, the scent will build up in a particular area. If there isn’t a scent source in here, i.e. a physical article where the scent is emitting from, any scent residue will collect in a particular place due to the air movement of the flat, the apartment and what I would say in this case is that there is enough scent in that area there for him to give me a bark indication but the source may not be in that cupboard, the source may well be in this room somewhere else but the air is actually pushing into that corner. But strong indication and I would say its positive for things that he is trained to find, which will be part of a separate debrief.

Moving onto the other rooms once he’s found what he thinks he’s looking for in this room, and we go into the bathroom and come into this bedroom he loses his interest because he’s actually found the source that he was looking for, until we come over here and I think you’ve got it on video that when he first came in he was quite interested in the sofa but he didn’t have access to the back of the sofa and when he’s gone behind the sofa what I saw was that approximately in the centre of the wall where the window is, just along the tile area between the tiles and the wall, he’s been scenting there a lot stronger than he has anywhere else and the when he’s gone out there the second time he has decided yes that’s what I’m looking for and that’s when he has given me the bark indication.

What we should understand with this dog is that he only barks when he finds something, he won’t bark at any other times. He won’t bark at other dogs, he won’t bark at strangers, he won’t bark when somebody knocks on the door or anything like that. The only times I’ve ever known him bark since I’ve got him as a small puppy a) for his dinner and that’s just excitement and that’s one of the training methods we use to teach to bark when we want him to and when he actually finds something, he won’t bark at other dogs, he won’t bark at strangers, he won’t bark when somebody knocks on the door or something like that, so again I would say that’s a positive indication.

The second dog that we’ve seen work today is the crime scene dog Keela.

She will only indicate to me when she has found human blood, only human blood and it is only blood and there must be something there physically for her to be able to alert to me that’s she has actually found something. At this point over here where the victim recovery dog has indicated, as you saw on the video, the crime scene dog had actually given me what we call a passive indication where she freezes in this spot here which would indicate to me that there is some human blood there. She will find blood that’s historically very old and she will find anybody’s blood, any human blood, which is important to make sure that everybody knows.

The fact that there is other scientific methods being used may stop you recovering any DNA but if you try we’ll see what happens. But she is very, very good and when she indicates there is always blood there.

Apartment B

We’ve searched this apartment with the victim recovery dog and he has shown no interest in the flat for what he he trained to find at all so we finished.

Apartment 5 D

We’ve put the victim recovery dog through this apartment, the only interest has been in some food that he has found, other than that there is no interest in anything that he has been taught to tell me that he has found.

Apartment H5

We searched this apartment and the dog hasn’t shown any interest in this particular apartment, apart from around the table, where there was a tennis ball which is how we reward the dog for finding things, as soon as we removed the tennis ball the interest was gone. And so it was a negative search.

Apartment 4 G

We searched the apartment using the victim recovery dog. No response. Negative search.

Outside perimeter of apartments

We’ve searched the outer perimeter, there is some interest here but it will take some further examination to see what’s going on.

Verbal Report of Martin Grime Referring to the Search Made of Vehicles Using the Dogs

Transcription/Translation

Vehicle No 1 – number plate 75-AG-62
Vehicle No2 – number plate 45-49-ER
Vehicle No3 – number plate RI-96-03
Vehicle No4 – number plate 59-DA-27
Vehicle No5 – number plate 96-26-VE
Vehicle No6 – number plate 44-77-KD
Vehicle No7 – number plate VH-24-22
Vehicle No8 – number plate 57-12-HP
Vehicle No9 – number plate 10-91-FP
Vehicle No10 – number plate 07-50-UI

We examined the cars with the dog and the only reaction we got was in relation to the car in the extreme corner. I will indicate that it was the Renault. What we have is a reaction to this door here, where (the dog) lifts its head in the air and sniffs for the objects which it has been trained to detect. And when we limit our movements, the dog chooses this car, this door. It is important to know that the dog chooses the odour that comes from the lower part of the door. Based on this information, I will try to place the dog inside the car.

Verbal Report by Martin Grime Referring to the Searches Carried Out with the Dogs in the Gymnasium 1 + 2

Transcription/Translation

Apparently without verbal report.

Verbal Report by Martin Grime Referring to the Searches Carried Out with the Dogs in the McCann’s Residence, Rua das Flores 27.

Transcription/Translation

Apparently without verbal report.

Verbal Report by Martin Grime Referring to the Searches Carried Out with the Dogs Murat 1 + 2.

Transcription/Translation

Apparently without verbal report.

Verbal Report by Martin Grime Referring to the Searches Carried Out with the Dogs Murat 3 + 4.

Transcription/Translation

We made a search of the house and there was no indication on the part of the dog of having found anything for which it had received detection training

Verbal Report by Martin Grime Referring to Searches Carried Out With the Dogs. Various McCann.

Transcription/Translation

Apparently without verbal report.

Verbal Report by Martin Grime Referring to Searches Carried Out With the Dogs.
Waste lands and drains

Transcription/Translation

Apparently without verbal report.

09-Processo 9 pages 2473 to 2483

Eddie & Keela Martin Grime ReportAugust 2007

OPERATION TASK CANINE SEARCH REPORT

Personal Profile

I am a ‘retired’ police officer, formally a senior instructor at the South
Yorkshire Police dog training establishment.

I have 35 years experience in the training of dogs both within the police
service and in the public sector.

I specialise in the development and training of specialist search dogs to
include narcotics, explosives, currency, human remains, blood and semen.

I am the Special Advisor to The U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau
of Investigation, in relation to their Canine Forensic Program.

I am a U.K.A.C.P.O. (Association of Chief Police Officers, England and Wales)
accredited police dog training instructor. I am a Subject Matter Expert in
forensic canine search and on the N.P.I.A. (National Policing Improvement
Agency) Expert Advisers database.

I advise Domestic and International Law enforcement agencies on the
operational deployment of Police Dogs in the role of Homicide investigation.

I develop methods of detecting forensically recoverable evidence by the use
of dogs and facilitate training.

I am regularly deployed to homicide cases within my portfolio and form a
‘Specialist Canine Homicide Search Team’ including the S.A.M dog teams
from Dyfed Powys and USA.

I have trained and handle two operational specialist search dogs:
‘Eddie’ is a 7-year-old English Springer spaniel dog who is trained as an
Enhanced Victim Recovery Dog (EVRD).

‘Keela’ is a three-year old English Springer spaniel bitch who is trained as an
Human blood search dog (C.S.I. dog).

OPERATION TASK CANINE DEPLOYMENTS 1-8 AUGUST 2007

On the instruction of The PJ Director, The Portuguese police kept all search
records concerning the deployment of the search dogs. All dog searches were
recorded by video.

The following searches were conducted:

Five apartments at a complex in Praia Da Luz.
Mr. Murat’s property at Pria Da Luz.
Mr. McCann’s Villa at Pria Da Luz ( Present occupancy).
Articles of clothing from Mr. McCann’s residence.
Western beach Pria da Luz.
Eastern Beach Pria Da Luz.
10 Vehicles screened at Portimao.

CANINE SEARCHES AT FIVE APARTMENTS AT PRIA DA LUZ.

All five apartments were searched using the EVRD. The only alert indications
were at apartment 5a, the reported scene.

The EVRD alerted in the:
Rear bedroom of the apartment in the immediate right hand corner by
the door.

Living room, behind sofa.
Veranda outside parent’s bedroom.
Garden area directly under veranda.

My observation of the dog’s behaviour in this instance was that the dog’s
behaviour changed immediately upon opening the front door to the apartment.
He will normally remain in the sit position until released and tasked to search.
On this occasion he broke the stay and entered the apartment with an above
average interest. His behaviour was such that I believed him to be ‘in scent’
and I therefore allowed him to free search without direction to allow him to
identify the source of his interest. He did so alerting in the rear bedroom.

I released him from this and tasked him to continue to search. He did so
alerting in an area to the rear of the sofa in the lounge.

The dog’s behaviour for these alerts led me to the following opinions:

MINISTERIO PUBLICO DE PORTIMAO

The first alert was given with the dogs head in the air without a positive area
being identified. This is the alert given by him when there is no tangible
evidence to be located only the remaining scent.

The second alert was one where a definitive area was evident. The CSI dog
was therefore deployed who gave specific alert indications to specific areas
on the tiled floor area behind the sofa and on the curtain in the area that was
in contact with the floor behind the sofa. This would indicate to the likely
presence of human blood.

The forensic science support officers were then deployed to recover items for
laboratory analysis.

There were no alert indications from the remaining properties. I did however
see the dog search in the kitchen waste bins. These contained meat
foodstuffs including pork and did not result in any false alert response.

CANINE SEARCH OF MR MURAT’S PROPERTY.

The property was subjected to a search for human remains or blood stained
articles. The outside of property was stripped of vegetation and after the
ground being probed was searched by the EVRD dog. The inside of the
property was then searched by the dog. There were no alert indications and
no human remains were located.

CANINE SEARCH OF MR McCANN’S VILLA, PRESENT OCCUPANCY.

The villa interior, garden, and all property within were searched by the EVRD.
The only alert indication given was when the dog located a pink cuddly toy in
the villas lounge. The CSI dog did not alert to the toy when screened
separately.

It is my view that it is possible that the EVRD is alerting to cadaver scent
contamination. No evidential or intelligence reliability can be made from this
alert unless it can be confirmed with corroborating evidence.

BOXES OF CLOTHING 1 PROPERTY FORM MR McCANN’S RESIDENCE.

At a suitable venue numerous boxes of clothing 1 property taken from the
McCann present residence were screened using both the EVRD and the CSI
dog. The venue was screened by both dogs prior to introducing clothing /
property. Neither gave an alert indication. The screening then took place with
the contents of each box being placed around the room in turn. The process
was recorded by video and written records were taken by PJ officers.

The only alert indication was by the EVRD on clothing from one of the boxes. I
am not in possession of the details as these were recorded by the PJ
officers present.

MINISTERIO PUBLICO DE PORTIMAO

It is my view that it is possible that the EVRD is alerting to ‘a cadaver scent’
contaminant. No evidential or intelligence reliability can be made from this
alert unless it can be confirmed with corroborating evidence.

WESTERN BEACH

The beach above the waterline was searched. This extended to areas of
fallen rock and the cliff face as far as the dog could negotiate the incline.
There were no alert indications.

EASTERN BEACH

The beach above the waterline was searched. This extended to areas of
fallen rock and the cliff face as far as the dog could negotiate the incline.
There were no alert indications.

CANINE VEHICLE SEARCHES.

Ten vehicles were screened in an underground multi storey car park at
Portimao.

The vehicles, of which I did not know the owner details, were parked on an empty floor with 20-30 feet between each.

The vehicle placement video recording and management of the process was conducted
by the PJ.

The EVRD was then tasked to search the area. When passing a
vehicle I now know to be hired and in the possession of the McCann family,
the dog’s behaviour changed substantially. This then produced an alert
indication at the lower part of the drivers door where the dog was biting and
barking. I recognise this behaviour as the dog indicating scent emitting from
the inside of the vehicle through the seal around the door.

This vehicle was then subjected to a full physical examination by the PJ and
no human remains were found. The CSI dog was then tasked to screen the
vehicle.

An alert indication was forthcoming from the rear driver’s side of the
boot area. Forensic samples were taken by the PJ and forwarded to a
forensic laboratory in the U.K.

It is my view that it is possible that the EVRD is alerting to ‘cadaver scent’
contaminant or human blood scent. No evidential or intelligence reliability can
be made from this alert unless it can be confirmed with corroborating
evidence. The remainder of the vehicles were screened by the EVRD without
any interest being shown. Therefore the CSI dog was not further deployed.

MINISTERIO PUBLICO DE PORTIMAO

SUMMARY

The tasking for this operation was as per my normal Standard Operating
Procedures. The dogs are deployed as search assets to secure evidence and
locate human remains or Human blood.

The dogs only alerted to property associated with the McCann family. The dog
alert indications MUST be corroborated if to establish their findings as
evidence.

Therefore in this particular case, as no human remains were located, the only
alert indications that may become corroborated are those that the CSI dog
indicated by forensic laboratory analysis.

My professional opinion as regards to the EVRD’s alert indications is that it is
suggestive that this is ‘cadaver scent’ contaminant. This does not however
suggest a motive or suspect as cross contamination could be as a result of a
number of given scenarios and in any event no evidential or intelligence
reliability can be made from these alerts unless they can be confirmed with
corroborating evidence.