Rich D Hall has just released a very interesting (but rather long)
interview with a statement analyst. Unfortunately he analysed an interview they did years later which makes me wonder how accurate it still is but it is still very interesting to hear all about how people reveal themselves in their language.
It's a fascinating topic all by itself, the world of discourse analysis - even if it not done to the level on minutiae some psychologist do, it can be very revealing.
I suspect that when we feel something is a bit off, it's often the nature of the language used that causes that feeling. It's not quite right.
As for this case, I've always been slightly suspicious. In the first instance they left their children alone in an unlocked apartment. That's iffy, negligent at best. As a parent of three, I'd never have done that.
There's way too much mystification by the McCanns for it to be totally au fait in my eyes, plus they're very very voracious with any story that runs counter to their narrative. They appear more concerned with the narrative than the fate of their child at first glance.
Plus, there's been a really good attempt to paint the Portuguese police as a bit rubbish, which is simply playing to easy idea that 'foreigners' simply are not as good as us. Portugal is not a third world country with dodgy police.
I agree with Mr. Hyatt, I think he's on the money.
I've spent some time digging into this after reading a bit of his blog and 'training' course adverting. At first glance Peter Hyatt seems to be quite on the level.
I've found several references to him that look like this:
"The truth is Hyatt is a complete fraud. He does not have a degree in statement analysis. Actually, his degree is in Bible Studies. He teaches guitar to children ages 5-12 and has a very respectable job of investigating complaints regarding the mistreatment of disabled people. He does not work at the "Laboratory for Statement Analysis for Scientific Interrogations" in Maine as he claimed. In fact, there is no such laboratory in the state of Maine."
(
http://injusticeinperugia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/truth-behind-hate-campaign-against.html)
I cannot, for the life of me, pin down whether he's real or a huckster as quite a few allege. He's certainly run a second blog under an assumed name, why would you do that?
I also contacted him via his own website seeking some idea of the 'training support' (using a new gmail address for the purpose) and got an instant reply from a
different email address that switched seamlessly into hard sell in two sentences. For someone selling statement analysis there were a few to many grammatical errors for me...so I never replied.
In summary I think the analysis of the McCann interview is reasonably good, but it's
post hoc, barely better than common sense (although compellingly presented) and in a situation where there is already a well established body of work doubting their story and evidence. I still think their story stinks, but this analysis isn't quite so incisive as one might first think and I'm not as taken with it as I rushed in to say earlier...
You can look at discourse analysis and see parallels with what PH is doing, but he's NOT qualified as far as I can tell and neither does he work for any official body, at least the blogo-sphere doesn't think so. Some of the works referenced in statement analysis do exist, and I'll look at those another time, e.g.
Verification and Implementation of Language-Based Deception Indicators in Civil and Criminal Narratives
(Bachenko, Fitzpatrick & Schonwetter 2008) [not immediately obvious if this was in a peer reviewed journal tho']
So...I think PH is probably a huckster. There's too many warning signs, not least of which is that he has no formal qualifications that I can find. I'm tempted to ask, using my 'special' email for a reference I can contact...but ICBA.
If anyone knows different feel free to pile in and tell me so.