Someone Somewhere Feels The Heat. ...

... and has decided to set the wheels in motion to discredit Metodo 3. I sense they are indeed close to finding the kidnappers after all. The old adage of 'no smoke without fire' or 'mud sticks' seems to be the impetus here ... so when they name some names, folk will already have had been subjected to operant conditioning techniques, so their minds will have been made up for them that Metodo 3 are not at all reliable ....

Daily Mail Headline 'Handcuffed, the McCann detective once held over phone tapping' says: 'The private detectives hunting for Madeleine McCann were once arrested in a phone-tapping scandal linked to leading politicians and businessmen. Five senior members of the family-run firm Metodo 3 – including director-general Francisco Marco, who is liaising with Kate and Gerry McCann – were held amid claims of industrial and political espionage.

Mr Marco's mother, Maria Fernandez Lado, 57, who founded the agency 23 years ago, was pictured in handcuffs after being arrested as she handed a client a cassette allegedly containing a phone-tapped conversation.

In a raid on Metodo 3's Barcelona offices, police seized handguns, ammunition, listening equipment, cassettes and transcripts of taped phone calls. But the 1995 case was dropped by a judge after defence lawyers levelled accusations of police entrapment.

However, The Mail on Sunday's findings – including transcripts of conversations in which Mr Marco's mother allegedly offers a tapping service – will bring into question the suitability of the firm in running the McCanns' investigation.

It is not known if the McCanns are aware of Metodo 3's past. But a fellow private investigator said last night: 'They have portrayed themselves as the best investigators in the world. The truth is they are nothing of the sort. Their murky background is riddled with controversy.'

Metodo 3 hit the headlines three weeks ago after lawyer Mr Marco boasted that he would find Madeleine, below, in months. He said his agency was '100 per cent sure' Madeleine was alive and 'not maybe...but very close' to finding the four-year-old's abductor.

So it's pinch of salt time again as the worker bees act out the instructions of the Pied Piper. Someone with influence in the media is aware .... and has found it necessary to permit this news story, which is attempting to slur Metodo 3, to be published. Looking at this from outside of the square it is clear that someone somewhere does feel very threatened by the investigations by Metodo 3.