More Quantum McCannics. Two Pollards as witnesses (in Praia da Luz and Morocco), a handful of Murats, military training schools and JK Rowling's obsession wit the Nazis and Spanish Civil War. Is it a case of synchronicity or has there been a deliberate effort to tailor Madeleine's disappearence to an existing design?

In light of today's news about the arrests of suspected ETA members in Lisbon and London I thought it may be worth flagging up (the site has also experienced an increase in IPs resolving to South America of late, and several to the Ukraine).

A determined chaos of sorts or just random? Noise or feedback? Plug in that microwave and key in five minutes on Chaos Defrost.

Fred Murat: The National Archives show that there was Fred Murat (HS 9/1076) operating between 1939 Jan 01 - 1946 Dec 31 as a Special Operations Executive. The SOE, as it was known, was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1940, to conduct warfare by means other than direct military engagement. Its mission was to encourage and facilitate espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines and to serve as a British resistance movement. It was also known as 'Churchill's Secret Army' or 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' and was charged by Churchill to 'set Europe ablaze.' The IRA served as a model for the organisation. The movement united Dutch, Danish and Belgian Resistance Fighters. Dual nationality was often a prized attribute. As far as I cam make out, Fred Murat (A/H195), as as chief agent of the maritime organization, 'Orphanides & Murat' (which is still active to this day), was installed on Cyprus as an undercover agent in support of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force in their fight against the Germans and Italians in the Southeast Mediterranean. Murat was backed up by Major Chapman of the 25th Army Corps, Mr.Waterer (his assistant), Mr. Cullen, 'chief liaison officer and Lieutenant J. Lees (D/H475) . Cyprus, Gibraltar and Malta, constituted the 'crown jewels' of British sea power in the Mediterranean. After the formal closure of the unit in 1946, nearly 300 agents were absorbed into the Secret Intelligence Service - later MI6. The SOE also worked closely with the CIA and the FBI. Exactly the kind of outfit we could have done with prior to the signing of the Lisbon Treaty. Likely to be no relation to Robert Murat but it is a good illustration of the clandestine nature of how intelligence and counter-intelligence can work and how those who appear to be batting for one side can really be batting for the other.

Halligen's boss at Inkerman Group was Lord Richard Ryder. Ryder's aunt, Lady Sue Ryder - a committed Roman Catholic, served with the highly-secretive Special Operations Executive, where she was attached to the SOE Polish section. Ryder plays a key role in the Bouverie Foundation, and the Lady Ryder of Warsaw Trust - both of which were founded by his aunt.

The recently released Special Operations Executive (SOE) personal file of another Catholic, Major Hugh Pollard (HS 9/1200/5) reveals him as the man who helped fly Spain's General Franco from the Canary Islands to Morocco. The journey (which commenced in Croydon - the scene of the very first house raids in relation to the search for Madeleine McCann) was to ultimately the onset of the Spanish Civil War. Pollard was also directly involved in 'black propaganda'. One was the attempt to produce and distribute a fake version of the Irish Bulletin, the gazette of the Irish Republicans. Born in Marylebone, Central London, Pollard died in Midhurst, Sussex in 1966.
Bradfield College: High status Public School in Britain with strong military tradition where several members of the Murat male-line were educated including his father and grandfather. Many of those schooled at Bradfield go on to train at Sandhurst - the Royal Military School for Officers. Notable 'Bradfieldians' included Peter Ainsworth (Conservative Member of Parliament for East Surrey and member of the Shadow Cabinet), Richard Benyon (Conservative Shadow Minister for the Environment), Brigadier Mike Calvert (Special Air Service commander), Sir Christopher Courtney (Air Chief Marshal), Baron Fraser (Chief of the Naval Staff), Sir Andrew Humphrey (Marshal of the Royal Air Force), Sir Guy Garrod (Air Chief Marshal), Baron Saint Brides (High Commissioner in Pakistan), Stephen Milligan (auto-asphyxiated Conservative MP), David Owen (SDP), Charles Tannock (Conservative MEP/Subcommittee on Security and Defence/Committee on Foreign Affairs) and Sir Peter Leng (British Army General & Master-General of the Ordnance & Counter Terrorism Expert in Northern Ireland)

"I've never met the man before and the idea that I'd met him when he was campaigning for the Labour Party is laughable. I've been a Conservative all my life." Robert Murat on Gerry McCann, Daily Express, 14 September 2007"

Robert Murat: The Times tells us that Robert James Queriol Murat was born on November 20, 1973, at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Hammersmith, West London - the elder son of John Henry Queriol Murat (born 1924, Portugal). Like so many of his forebears, Robert's father John Henry Queriol Murat maintained the family tradition and enrolled at Bradfield College in Berkshire - a high-status Public School with a strong military heritage (and a taste of for Greek Tragedy). Many of those educated at Bradfield went on to Sandhurst - the Royal Military Academy for training officers. Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland and Director of Military Operations at the Ministry of Defence, Sir Peter Leng was your typical Bradfieldian: schooled at Bradfield, trained at Sandhurst and then enlisted in the Scots Guard. Robert's granfather followed a similar path: schooled at Bradfield College in the Officers Training Corps before enlisting in the 13th London Regiment. In later life Robert's grandfather appears to have occupied a senior role with the National Provincial Bank (1 Princes Street, Westminster). A British commercial bank trading in joint-stock, the Nat Provincial merged with the National Westminster Bank (NatWest) in 1970 (Robert Murat's father died in Westminster). In later documents, Robert Snr describes his occupation as 'Gentleman'. Sir John Smith, the Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster and Lord Lieutenent of Berkshire was Director of the bank during this period.
Robert Westby Perceval: Perceval accompanied Robert's father, John Henry Queriol Murat on a trip to Argentina in the early 1930s. At the time of the trip Perceval was 22 years old and studying at Balliol College at Oxford University (where Carter Ruck's Adam Tudor was educated). The young Murat was still at Hilbrow Prep School in Eastbourne. Later Perceval would be appointed the Chief Clerk at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London. Born in 1914 he got his initial education at Ampleforth (as did the Symington family and the current head of the Order of Malta) Ampleforth remains to this day, one of the most priveleged Catholic boarding schools in England. Perceval would later marry Lady Joanna Ida Louise Littleton, daughter of Edward Thomas Walhouse Littleton, 5th Baron Hatherton, himself a descendent of Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Hatherton, a pioneer of the Conservative Party and Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1833 and 1834.

Perceval's son, Anthony Littleton married Aileen Fitzherbert, daughter of the 14th Baron Stafford and entered banking, beginning his career in stockbroking and eurobond origination, before joining APACS the the UK payments association coordinating bank sharing information in the United Kingdom. Littleton is now helping with plans to upgrade securities settlement in Europe. In 2005 APACS warned that data protection laws are hindering data sharing which could alert banks and retailers to fraud attempts.

Accompany his grandfather, Robert Queriol Murat on a similar trip from Argentina was Henry Fitzroy Stevenson and Agnes Mary C Graham of the famous W & J Grahams Port family, later bought out by the Symington family. Agnes Mary's aunt - Dame Agnes Graham Jeckyll went on to become Lady of Justice of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Her Uncle William Graham was a Glasgow politician and Pre-Raphaelite patron with wine estates in Portugal and Argentina. Lt. Henry Fitzroy Stevenson was killed in action in 1916. His grave can be seen with those of Henry Tute Murat and John Queriol Murat in an English Churchyard in Oporto. Major Henry Edward Murat of Earls Court London also founght in the Great War. His wife's name was Madeleine. Robert's grandmother in Sidford - also called Madeleine - died the year before Madeleine McCann went missing.

Inkerman Group: First Private Risk & Intelligence Company to hire Kevin Halligen as CEO of Inkermans and Executive Technical Director of the Inkerman Group in July 2003. He was replaced by Colin Moor in May 2004 - son of Inkerman CEO, Gerald Moor in what was to be the first of several major changes (arising as a result of a merger with Swiss companies ViewTec AG and Cyber City AG). Like Control Risks Group they are a business risk and intelligence company with global clients. Staff are drawn from government, defence, security, academic and business backgrounds. Led by Gerald Moor - ex-British Army Officer involved in International Intelligence including counter terrorism. A prominent members of the Special Forces Club, Moor and Major John Holmes were responsible for admitting Halligen to the Special Forces Club in Knightsbridge. It is alleged that Halligen lost his job at Inkerman in 2003 after Halligen drank Moor’s stocks of champagne and vintage wines. However, given that his 'dismissal' arrives exactly 12 months after his arrival and after Inkerman's merger with Swiss companies ViewTec AG and Cyber City AG, it seems more likely that Halligen's 12 month contract wasn't renewed.

In 2002 Inkerman announced a strategic partnership with Government Defense forum, Qinetiq - headed up by Baroness Pauline-Jones. Inkerman's Senior Director is Tory Peer Lord Richard Ryder. Previous posts include Political Secretary under Margaret Thatcher and Tory Whip under John Major. Lord Ryder was former colleague of Qinetiq's Pauline Neville Jones in the Conservative Party and also partnered her and Hogg in the BBC/Hutton Enquiry.

Dame Pauline Neville Jones of UK Government Defence Agency Qinetiq in partnership with Inkerman - Directed by her BBC & Tory Pal, Richard Ryder

Halligen joined Inkerman to work specifically on the Inkerman/Qinetiq partnership, the Minerva Programme - dealing in threat assessment and risk management solutions from vulnerability assessment to forensic-led prosecution. This may help explain why Halligen's business partner, Andre Hollis was lobbying Washington on behalf of the Forensics Sciences Services (Birmingham) in 2008.

The Minerva Programme later evolved into the Minerva Consortium which was subsequently remodelled and resold by Qinetiq Prime to the US DoD as the 'Minerva Consortia'. In early 2008, Qinetiq North America, based in McLean, Virginia, announced that its Mission Solutions Group, formerly Analex Corporation, had just signed a five-year, $30 million contract to provide a range of unspecified “security services” to the Pentagon’s Counter-Intelligence Field Activity office, known as CIFA. As Tim Shorrock of CorpWatch puts it, the deal Qinetiq reflects the “incestuous relationships that exist between former officials and private intelligence contractors". Also based in McCLean, Virginina is Patton Boggs - the company that appears on Kevin Halligen's donation form.

Lord Richard Ryder - Director at Inkerman, Political Secretary to the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chief Tory Whip under John Major. Ryder was Chairman and Acting Chairman of the BBC from 2002 to 2006 - eventually replacing Gavyn Davies who resigned over Blair and the board of govenor's bully-boy handling of the David Kelly affair. Davies resigned following the criticism of the BBC in the Hutton Report, which was set up to investigate "the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly". One of Ryder's first acts as Chairman was to give a televised statement, during which he offered an unreserved apology for the mistakes made during the Dr. Kelly affair. Ryder's BBC Colleagues at this time were BBC Govenors Sarah Hogg (of 3i investments) and Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones of Qinetiq. Also a member of the Carlton Club - one of the oldest, most elite, and most important of all Conservative clubs in the UK (members include Winston Churchill). Ryder played no small part in the backbench uprising over the Maastricht Treaty (the biggest shake up to the EU prior to the Lisbon Treaty). Major narrowly succeeded by 40 votes in a referendum to have it ratified. Ryder was a prominent member of the so-called 'Kitchen Cabinet' whose job it was to keep the heat off Major during his leadership. Other members included Sarah Hogg, Jonathan Hill (replaced by Howell James) Tim Collins and Christopher Meyer. Graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Represented Murat's hometown of Norfolk as MP.

Ryder's aunt, Lady Sue Ryder - a committed Roman Catholic, served with Churchill's highly-secretive Special Operations Executive in the World War II, where she was attached to the SOE Polish section. Ryder plays a key role in the Bouverie Foundation, and the Lady Ryder of Warsaw Trust - both of which were founded by his aunt.