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* This page is currently being redeveloped *
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Madeleine's disappearance - the PJ have doubts, 08 May 2007
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Madeleine's disappearance - the PJ have doubts
Several days of interviews
It
is May 8th 2007, being the fifth day after Madeleine McCann's disappearance. At this stage, the PJ have taken statements from
dozens of people. Hundreds of pages in the reports. Everybody has been interviewed. Employees of the Ocean Club, nannies,
or child-care workers from the Kids Club, cooks and assistant cooks at the "Tapas" and the "Millenium", cleaners, gardeners,
maintenance workers, managers for the club's various services, directors and managers of the complex, tourists, owners of
apartments, neighbours, people who were at the "tapas" on May 3rd 2007, tennis coaches... in short, no one was left out. Everybody
was interviewed. We are sparing you all these interviews, which for the most part bring nothing to the investigation or at
least no new leads. They are mainly interviews which, in general, bring out the following common points:
1) No one noticed anything unusual about Madeleine.
2)
No one noticed any strange individual at the complex.
3) No one noticed anything
suspicious which could be linked to Madeleine's disappearance.
4) No one noticed
any suspicious vehicles or any suspicious unidentified people.
It is to
be noted that even the GNR police officers, first on the spot, were interviewed by their PJ colleagues, in spite of reports
of the operation being sent.
With regards to the PJ's interviews over the
past few days, a change is noted in how the case is being perceived. Thus the questions which the PJ are putting to various
witnesses are implying that the PJ have doubts about the statements from the parents or friends in the group. We note, however,
that the slightest info, concerning the slightest suspicion was professionally checked, immediately. Numerous pages of the
case file attest to this. Up to now, May 8th 2007, every lead, or opening of a lead, has been checked and it was, each time,
a false lead. Like, for example, a suspicious car noticed near the Ocean Club recpetion by various witnesses. In the end,
it was the service vehicle of a Club employee who had come to make an urgent repair to a door lock.
Why these doubts for the PJ?
On reading various witness statements, given the number of leads checked, it seems difficult for someone to have
been able to get into the complex, gain access to the McCanns' apartment, take Madeleine, get out of the apartment, leave
the Ocean club, take flight via whatever means of transport and that no one, absolutely no one, saw anything. No strangers,
no suspicious or unusual vehicles, not even a shadow of a person carrying a child at the times and places where there were
other people... From the police point of view, if these witness statements do not totally exclude the possibility of an abduction,
they make the theory less credible. As a result, the answer must lie elsewhere. Notably with the group of friends (parents
included). The only person to have seen a suspect with a child is Jane Tanner, a member of the group of friends.
Note, for the record, that all the child-care workers, having contact with Madeleine, state that
Madeleine introduced herself to them by her shortened name "Maddie". This adds nothing important to the case file except that
it contradicts Kate's statements. On the other hand, it is noted that the Kids Club operates three free services, one of which
is in the evening until 11.30pm so that parents can eat at the restaurant in peace. Finally, we know that the Club has
a, "missing alert" procedure, that it is a structured and thoughtful procedure, and that this procedure was set in motion
as soon as Maddie's disappearance was announced, employees having been called from their homes to participate in the search.
Interview of an employee from the swimming pool
bar
In her interview, this employee states that access is
restricted to clients and that this is controlled via the client's card at the entrance. She adds that she has not come across
any unauthorised person on the site. She explains that on the day of Madeleine's disappearance, at around 8.30pm, her friend
was called following a problem with a lock in an apartment situated close to the "Millenium" restaurant. She went there with
her friend. At around 9pm, they went back towards the Club's reception. They passed near the "Tapas" and by the McCann family's
apartment. They state that they saw nothing suspicious. They saw no one and no vehicles. Her friend left the premises at around
9.10pm with his service vehicle and she left at 9.15pm in her own car.
The case file contains numerous witness statements like that, so that together, these witness
statements contradict the statements from the "tapas 9" group. A reconstruction would have made this clear immediately and
would have highlighted the contradictions of the informants.
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Bob Small visits the McCanns at their home, 11 September 2007 |
Prosecutor passes McCann case file to judge Guardian
James Sturke and agencies
Tuesday September 11 2007 18.32 BST
Excerpt:
Gordon Brown's spokesman said the prime minister did not regret the involvement
- including a telephone conversation - he has had with the McCanns.
"He doesn't regret that he has had contacts with them but this is an ongoing
police investigation and it would be unwise for me to say anything more," said the spokesman.
Leicestershire police's most senior detective visited the family's home in Rothley
today. Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Small spent about an hour with the family at their house before leaving in an unmarked
car.
The force refused comment on the visit. A spokeswoman reiterated that it was
a Portuguese police investigation.
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Bob Small visits the McCanns at their home, 12 September 2007 |
Judge has ten days to decide if Kate and Gerry McCann should face charges Timesonline
Steve Bird and David Brown in Praia da Luz
September 12, 2007
Excerpt:
Yesterday was a day of significant developments that included:
— A visit to the McCanns’ home in Rothley, Leicestershire,
by a senior CID officer.
(...)
Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Small, head of Leicestershire CID, spent an
hour at the McCanns' home yesterday. The East Midlands force refused to confirm or comment on the visit.
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The British police officers, 24
July 2008
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The British police officers (Summary
of 'The Truth of the Lie', pages 94 to 98) GazetaDigital
Paulo Reis
24/07/2008
The first British police officer to come to PJ headquarters in Portimão, on Saturday,
May 5, was Glen Power, liaison officer for the British police, assigned to the British Embassy in Lisbon. Amaral knew him
very well and, for a long time, they worked together in many high profile cases related to organised crime. Glen
told Amaral that he was "too busy", so he couldn't stay there, Leicestershire police would send a team.
Two days after,
British police officers start to arrive. Bob Small, Leicester head of CID came with a colleague. Amaral put one of his inspectors
"close" to Bob Small, because, as he wrote, "in Portugal, it's still the dog that wags the tail". After that, another two
police officers arrived – family liaison officers, to give psychological support to the family and to work as a "link"
between the family and PJ.
But more and
more British officers keep coming. The PJ gave them a room, next to their own "crisis room" and the British called it "Task
Portugal". Experts in communications, special surveillance teams, profilers, specialist in information analysis, there are
"all kind of specialised British police officers." They had access to all information related to the investigation, participated
in every meeting and took part in the decision process, as the investigation developed.
On May 14, the
McCanns "dismissed" the two family liaison officers, after Kate was "shocked and frustrated" because they asked her where
her daughter was. They were in PdL for less than a week. British police told nothing to the PJ, officially, concerning this
incident, but Amaral knew it and one of the PJ investigators, who spoke fluent English, was assigned to be the communication
"link" with the parents.
A large amount
of information came from Leicestershire police. On May 15, Inspector Ricardo Paiva goes to Leicester. But most of that information
was "hundreds of daily reports" coming from all over the world, including many psychic messages.
On June 12, Leicestershire's
assistant chief constable Chris Eyre and CID head Bob Small went to Faro, for a meeting with Amaral, Luís Neves (head of Serious
and Organized Crime Department of PJ, also assigned to the investigation) and Guilhermo Encarnação, the regional PJ director
for all Algarve. The idea was to evaluate the level of cooperation between the two police forces.
"We had the feeling that the kidnapping theory was the 'politically correct one', even
if other lines of inquiry were still on the table", Amaral wrote, concerning the results of that meeting. "As time went on,
we realised that not everybody in Leicestershire police knew how the investigation was developing".
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The English policeman who retired from Leicestershire police, 28
July 2008
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The English policeman who retired from Leicestershire police
TVI
Excerpt from live TVI interview, on 28 July 2008, between Gonçalo Amaral
and Paulo Reis. (full interview
here)
Thanks to 'astro' for transcription and translation
PR:
A while ago, you mentioned an English policeman, a great expert, I suppose you were referring to Mark Harrison who is one
of the two or three best British policemen in terms of investigating complex crimes. He was here, he spent a week in Praia
da Luz, he rummaged through Praia da Luz, he walked everywhere, the saw the process upside down, he read the entire process,
and then he wrote a report in which he concludes that the most likely hypothesis is the child's death, and if I'm correct,
he proposes the dogs' coming, right?
GA: Exactly.
PR: Was he the policeman who also retired, a reference that
you made during a press conference? That there was an English policeman who retired.
GA: No.
PR: Was there an
English policeman who also retired?
GA: The English policeman who retired is from the Leicester police. Now the reasons
I would prefer not to talk about him at the moment. As a matter of fact I'd like to talk to him personally and I don't want
him to be pressured so I would reserve myself the right not to comment any further.
PR: Just to make this very clear,
is that English policeman, Mark Harrison…
GA: No, no, no.
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McCanns ask for lists of retired or soon-to-retire
officers from forces across the country, 09 September 2008
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Madeleine McCann: Top British detectives are lined up to join the
hunt Telegraph
Some of the country's most experienced police detectives are being approached
to join a team to help find Madeleine McCann.
By Ben Farmer
Last Updated: 4:46PM BST 09 Sep 2008
The
Find Madeleine Fund has asked for lists of suitable retired or soon-to-retire officers from forces across the country.
The fund, which is now being bankrolled by Brian Kennedy, the owner of Sale Sharks rugby team, is understood
to have approached several police forces around the country including Greater Manchester.
Madeleine, three, disappeared from the family's apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal during a family holiday
in May last year.
Chief Supt Steve Heywood, head of Greater Manchester Police's (GMP) serious crime division, is among those
who have been asked to provide a list of officers, while Mr Kennedy is said to have already met former Det Supt Andy Tattersall,
who retired from the force last year.
Mr Tattersall co-wrote the A To Z Checklist of Murder Investigation which is used by police forces across
the country.
He worked on the investigation into the murder of special branch officer Stephen Oake, stabbed to death
by terrorist Kamel Bourgass during a raid in 2003, and was involved in the Jill Dando murder case.
A spokesman for GMP said: "We have given details of some eligible officers or former officers. As far
as we are aware, no decision has been made by the fund."
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, said: "Kate and Gerry McCann, the fund and its backers have
always sought to employ or use the very best people and resources in the search for Madeleine.
"If police expertise is potentially available anywhere, the fund and Gerry and Kate would naturally considering
using it."
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More on the deleted call records, 04 December 2008
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More on the deleted call records Gazeta Digital
4.12.2008
Where Was Kate McCann? (*)
The CD issued by Ministerio Publico de Portimao in July 2008, contains a great deal of information on the mobile calls
made and received by the "Tapas 9" but it is dispersed, difficult to retrieve and with important pages and charts
missing. The main documents of interest from the CD are:
* A 3 page report by the Policia Judiaria (undated, but
probably 4th May 2007) listing call records retrieved from the handsets of Mr and Mrs McCann
* A detailed (and excellent
report) by Inspector Paulo Dias, Inspector of UNI-Sector de Análise, Lisbon, dated 9th November 2007
* Schedules
provided by Vodafone on 14th December 2007 covering a period from 29th April 2007 for Gerald McCann, David Payne, Rachael
Mampilly, broken into four separate sections for incoming and outgoing telephone calls, incoming and outgoing SMS traffic
* A second report by Inspector Dias dated 5th February 2008, containing time bars, link charts and maps pinpointing where
the "Tapas 9's" sets were when they activated antennae
* A third report by Inspector Dias dated 2nd June
2008 which includes details of activations of the Luz and other mobile antenna from 28th April 2007 to September 2007
*
The Rogatory Letter requests and correspondence dated from 5th December 2007 to May 2007 and responses from the Home Office
in April and May 2008
The PJ used a program, called the "Analyst's Notebook" as well as "Excel"
to handle what were very large datasets. Inspector Dias pointed out that "Excel" was far from ideal, because of
its limited capacity and it seems that much of the data provided was paper based and had to be rekeyed. Also the main focus
of the research was limited to the evening of Thursday 3rd May 2007. But, despite the problems, the PJ's work is impressive,
innovative and very detailed. For example, there is a brilliant analysis (which unfortunately led nowhere) based on the hypothesis
of two abductors each working with mobiles in the Ocean Club area immediately before Madeleine was reported missing. There
is another excellent piece of work which tracks down a misrouted call, from Swansea, to Kate McCann at 11.21 on Wednesday
2nd May 2007.
However, there are potentially serious omissions:
* The most important records were not
available when Mr and Mrs McCann attended their "Arguido interviews" on 6th and 7th September 2007 and it is doubtful
that they were ever reviewed by the very experienced analysts from the Leicestershire Police, whose team left the Algarve
soon after the McCann's return to the UK in September 2007
* There are no detailed call records from the mobile operators
for Kate McCann, Russell O'Brien, Matthew Oldfield and Jane Tanner
* When the PJ obtained the McCann's mobiles
they do not appear to have retrieved deleted data or to extract their contact lists
* None of the telecom records show
triangulation co-ordinates but are limited to identifying the single primary antenna on which calls were registered
*
The details of over 50 UK subscribers contacted by the Tapas 9 in the critical period, as well as their onward local and international
call records, was included in the Rogatory Letter request in December 2007. If this information was provided, it is not in
the CD
* A critical link chart (Anexo 37) for Tuesday 1st May 2007 is missing from Inspector Dias's report
These omissions make interpretation of the data difficult but what is available provides an interesting picture. First,
it is obvious that the memories in the McCann's mobiles were incomplete and, in Kate McCann's case, selectively deleted.
Her mobile memory held details of 39 calls from 18.28 on Wednesday 25th April to 16.35 on 27th April 2007. After her
arrival in Portugal on 28th April 2007, with the exception of one incoming call on Wednesday 2nd May 2007 at 11.21 (which,
very interestingly, was the Swansea "wrong number"), and one call from her husband at 23.17 on Thursday 3rd May
2007, everything else has been "whoosh-clunked" from memory. These deletions could have been accidental, but a high
degree of cunning could be implied. Why would she selectively delete everything up to Thursday 3rd May 2007 with the exception
of one wrong number and what was her reason for deleting three of the four calls, between 23.14 and 23.17, from her husband
on that critical night?. A possible answer is that she wished to avoid alerting the PJ to evidence that details of around
40 calls had been erased and she felt happier leaving something uncontroversial (or misleading) in memory for them to find.
Another answer is that, unsurprisingly, she was under the most extreme stress imaginable following the disappearance of her
daughter: but why, in that case, give priority to deleting anything. It is the last thing most parents would think about in
the circumstances.
The first call found in Gerald's mobile memory was timed at 00.30 on Friday 4th May 2007.
Again matching antenna records to memory suggests that by the time he gave the handset to the PJ the records of 24 calls or
SMSs had been erased, including the one from him found on his wife's handset and timed at 23.17 on Thursday 3rd May 2007.
It appears that he had deleted details of the four calls he made to her that night and she deleted just three. It was this
simple discrepancy that first led the PJ to suspect interference with the handsets.
If the deletions were deliberate
(and it is an "if") it implies the McCann's were both "forensically aware" and crafty and wanted to
hide something from the PJ. For this reason, it is important to explore the call record data and to match it against other
evidence.
On Saturday 28th April 2007, after their arrival in Luz, Kate McCann's mobile triggered the antenna
9 times. It is not possible to say, from the available records, whether these were incoming or outgoing calls or SMSs or for
how long they lasted. The last activations were at 20.55 and 20.59 when (based on their statements) the Tapas 9 returned for
an early night after eating at the Millennium Restaurant with their children. All of these records were erased from the memory
of Kate McCann's mobile. Gerald McCann's mobile did not activate any of the Luz antennae that day.
On Sunday
29th April 2007, the first activation of Kate McCann's mobile was at 9.23, but again there are no Vodafone logs or time
bars to provide further detail. However, by internally matching the antenna records it appears that she called her husband
at 12.26 and 17.02.
The crèche records indicate that he collected Madeleine at 12.15. He also picked up
the twins around 17.00 but mistakenly recorded the time as "12.30". Chances are that the calls from Kate McCann
were to check that he had picked up the kids. At 10.13 Gerald McCann received a call from a UK mobile xxxxx3899. The last
activation by Kate McCann's mobile was at 19.30 and Gerald's at 17.02.
A pattern on this sheet (and it
applies to all of the Tapas 9) is that no activations took place at any time during the week while they were at dinner. So
maybe Clarence Mitchell was right, after all, and that they were so "into each other" that they didn't want
to be disturbed while sardine munching and left their mobiles in their rooms. They were never specifically asked this question,
but it is very important and the point will be addressed later.
On Monday 30th April 2007, neither of the McCann's
telephones activated the Luz transmitters. This looks very odd, especially as they were around the Ocean Club to shuffle the
kids to and from the crèches. On this afternoon, Madeleine remained in the crèche for only 15 minutes and was
picked up by her mother at 15.30. We do not know what Madeleine did for the rest of the day, but it is possible she was being
fractious. Interestingly, a friend of Mrs and Mr McCann supposedly told the "Dispatches" team that made a TV program
on the tragedy, that "Madeleine was a screamer". This could be interpreted in one of two ways, but any use of the
past tense in referring to Madeleine would be very significant. It was such a past tense referral, to her supposedly living
children, that alerted the FBI to their murder by Susan Smith, their mother.
On Tuesday 1st May 2007, Gerald McCann's
handset was silent all day. Kate McCann's mobile first activated the Luz antenna at 10.16, but all details of the day's
calls have been deleted from the handset and there is no nothing in the CD from her mobile provider. Another activation took
place at 12.17. The crèche records show that Gerald McCann picked up Madeleine at 12.20 (a bit earlier than usual)
but Kate McCann’s call at 12.17 does not appear to have been to him, (because his mobile was not activated at all that
day). Kate McCann dealt with her last call before leaving for the Tapas Bar at 20.35.
At around 8.45pm on Tuesday
1st May 2007, Miss Nejoua Chekeya, the Ocean Club's busty Aerobics Instructor, held a "Quiz Night" and was later
invited, allegedly by Gerald McCann, to join his table which she did sometime between 9.30pm and 9.50pm. She did not say how
long she had remained with them, but she is not the sort of woman men would wish see to leave too quickly. Miss Chekeya stated
that one dinner setting was unused and that she could not remember seeing Kate McCann.
However, both Jane Tanner
and Russell O'Brien have stated that he did not go to the Tapas Bar on the "Quiz Night" (ie Tuesday 1st May
2007), but had stayed in their room looking after his sick daughter. Jane Tanner took his dinner to the room; thus explaining
the unused plate setting. Russell O'Brien was not asked by either the Policia Judiciaria or Leicestershire Police whether
he had heard Madeleine crying!
Kate McCann's mobile was next activated six times, in rapid fire, between 22.16
and 22.27, after she had returned to Apartment 5A after dinner. The antenna traffic proves that these calls were not made
to any of the "Tapas 9".
The evidence from the call logs gives the strongest clue that the "Tapas
9" left their telephones in their rooms when they went to dinner. Clarence Mitchell, the McCann's spokesperson, confirmed
this. In an interview, reported on 6th April 2008 by Ned Temko of "The Guardian", Mr Mitchell said: "You had
nine people in a bar without watches on, without mobile phones and absolute panic set in when they realised what had happened….
We would say that, if the police had a perfect time line across nine people, that would be a damn sight more suspicious than
the fractured, illogical, composite statements they might have got"
Mrs Fenn, the McCann's neighbour,
reported that Madeleine had cried for her father between 22.30 and 23.45. The evidence shows that Kate McCann was in Apartment
5A 14 minutes before Madeleine started crying. Tuesday 1st May 2007 is the only night (except, of course, for Thursday 3rd
May 2007) that either of the McCanns or any of their friends made calls after dinner.
Mrs McCann volunteered to
the PJ that on the night of Wednesday 2nd May 2007, she had slept in the spare bed in her children's room because her
husband had not paid her enough attention over dinner. Or put another way, does she mean the amorous Scot was paying someone
else (like Miss Chekeya) too much attention, causing her to stomp out of the Tapas Bar before him: ultimately leading to the
spare bed in a strop? Gerald McCann said he thought the reason his wife had slept in the children's bedroom was because
of his snoring and that he did not even bother asking her the following morning what the problem was.
Could it
be that their timings are wrong by 24 hours and that Kate McCann's nocturnal shenanigans took place on the night of Tuesday
1st May 2007? It would fit, but why be untruthful about it? A possible reason is that they wanted to conceal both Kate McCann's
state of mind and the fact that she had returned to Apartment 5A, just before Madeleine's cried for help.
On
Wednesday 2nd May 2007, Kate McCann called her friend "Amanda" at 7.36.41 and again at 7.36.45. This was around
two hours earlier than any of mobile activations on any other morning: so Kate McCann was "up with the larks". Amanda
returned the calls at 7.50. There is no record of how long any of these calls lasted or whether they were SMSs. They were
all deleted from memory.
At 8.07 Gerald McCann received a call from the SMS message centre (447818520047), but
does not appear to have responded. At 8.50 Kate McCann received a call from a UK mobile xxxxx27010 and returned it at 8.53,
before going to play tennis. Gerald McCann received a series of calls from his SMS message centre between 9.10 and 10.47,
again without response.
At 11.21 Kate received a call from what appears to be a landline in Swansea ( xxxxx0023).
The report by Inspector Dias researched this call in detail (Page 21 in his report of 9th November 2007) and discovered that
it had not activated any of the Luz antennae. But digging deeper, he found that another UK mobile (xxxxx 1583) had triggered
the Luz antenna when connecting to the same Swansea number at 14.01. He dug even deeper, tracked all of the calls made from
Luz by xxxx1583 and established it had no connection whatsoever with any of the "Tapas 9". The Swansea call to Kate
McCann was simply a "wrong number", misrouted and thus not logged by the Luz antennae.
What Inspector
Dias did not realise was that the Swansea call had become so special to Kate McCann that, when deleting all of the other Portuguese
call records from memory, she decided to leave this one intact.
Gerald received five further calls from the SMS
message centre and at 15.50 called 91121, probably to collect his messages. He received further calls from the centre at 17.49
and 19.49. The records provided by Vodafone show these calls but that they originate from a different mobile number (0xxxx014310)
At 20.08 Kate McCann received two calls from a UK mobile xxxx7624 and six minutes late Gerald McCann called 91121:
again to collect messages before he left for the Tapas Bar. This was the last activation of the day by either of the McCanns;
probably confirming that their mobiles remained in Apartment 5A when they went to dinner.
On Thursday 3rd May 2007
(the critical day) at 8.23 and 8.24 Kate McCann's mobile activated the antenna to call xxxx7624. There is nothing in file
to indicate the owner of this mobile but it does not appear to be any of the McCann family or friends.
At 12.24
Gerald McCann received a call from a UK Mobile xxxx1746. Again there is no clue in the file to the subscriber's name.
At 12.31 Kate McCann received a call (or SMS) from her mother's mobile and responded an hour later.
Neither
of the McCanns appears to have had any further activity on their telephones until after Madeleine was reported missing when
Gerald McCann called his wife four times between 23.14 and 23.52. At 23.40 he called his sister – Trish Cameron and
at 23.52 -Janet Kennedy.
The batch of SMS messages received by Gerald McCann on Wednesday 2nd May 2007 seems to
have caused him some anxiety. Although the number "07818520047" is in a block allocated to Vodafone, the company
has no record of the subscriber's name. When the number is dialed, connection is made to a recorded message which explains
that changes have been made to the way customers can access their mailboxes and that they can now dial "121" from
their handset or "07836121121" from any other telephone.
Thus the number appears to be a message box
for Gerald McCann that sends him an SMS when his mobile is unable to accept a call (because it is out of range or turned off).
However, when he was asked by "Expresso TV" on 6th September 2008 about the "sixteen SMS messages" received,
he flustered:
"No one has ever asked to see any of my text messages. There is no way that there 16 messages
on that day or even the day after, you know. You know, the day after, you know that we got..." Kate McCann came to his
rescue and interrupted; "Gerry hardly ever sends text messages until the day after, the day after Madeleine was taken".
Gerald McCann continued: "so you know that it is actually rubbish"
Their McCann's denials were, of
course, technically true although perhaps disingenuous - because there were only 14 messages received on the day before they
reported Madeleine missing and two on the day after.
There were 16 SMS messages, in total, so why prevaricate and
deny an allegation that was never made. The question was about received messages, not those sent, and on the day before not
on 3rd May 2007 or the day after! In the field of forensic linguistics you must always concentrate on the precise wording
of denials and especially on those of allegations not made. The denials made by the McCanns are suspicious. However, Mrs McCann's
statement about her husband not sending SMS messages, until after Madeleine's disappearance, is confirmed by Vodafone's
records.
Mr and Mrs McCann were never closely questioned by the PJ about the detail of their calls, but Gerald
McCann excused the deletions by saying that his telephone's memory only retained details of the last ten calls made. This
obvious inaccuracy (It already had retained details of 17 calls) does not appear to have been challenged by the PJ and it
does not in anyway explain the selective deletions from his wife's handset.
So the bottom line is that Kate
McCann was in Apartment 5A when Madeleine cried for her father between 22.30 and 23.45 on Tuesday 1st May 2007, leading to
a unique flurry of late night calls and to unique calls very early the following morning. A forensic examination of the records
of Madeleine's attendance at the "Lobsters" crèche on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd May 2007 is critically
important because if they have been falsified, to establish she was there when she was not, this case takes on an entirely
new dimension and sets different search parameters.
Secondly, if the memories of the mobile telephones were deleted
in way suspected, a level of cunning is implied that would be capable of conceiving plan to deliberately delay reporting Madeleine's
"disappearance"; if for no other reason than to disassociate it from the crying incident on Tuesday 1st May 2007.
Of course, this is speculation and it is entirely possible that further investigation and the much awaited transparency
by Mr and Mrs McCann will totally exonerate them. But why don't they simply produce the SMS messages and explain why call
details were deleted?
By Paulo Reis and associates
(*) This report is a result of cooperation with a
leading international investigative firm that is in the closing stages of an 18 month intensive investigation that is expected
to reopen the case in Portugal and to start new proceedings in the UK.
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Jane Tanner's statement of 08 April 2008, 07 December 2008 |
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07 December 2008
Thanks to 'AnnaEsse' for translation
Taped interview.
The events took place at the beginning of April 2008. Each member of the group known as the "Tapas 7" was
interviewed by the British authorities. The request was made, as I am sure you remember, by the Portuguese authorities.
The purpose of their new interviews was to update the inconsistencies and above
all to see the changes from each member in comparison with their previous statements. This is important, because from the
PJ's point of view one or several members of the group were lying in their statements. We are in the middle of an investigation
concerning the disappearance or abduction or killing (murder or not) of a little innocent four year-old girl: Madeleine.
To this end, it is totally inconceivable to allow witnesses, who could at any time
become suspects, to read, even only to skim through, their previous statements. It was like this, however, that their mock
interviews took place, to the detriment of the most fundamental code of ethics, trampling underfoot the search for the truth.
Poor Madeleine.
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Nigel Moore
02 January 2009
Thanks to 'ShuBob' for Express newspaper copies
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| Click to enlarge |
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| Click to enlarge |
NOW POLICE TELL PARENTS: DON'T LEAVE PORTUGAL
From Martin Evans in Praia da Luz
Wednesday August 22, 2007
THE parents of missing Madeleine McCann have been advised to stay in Portugal after police said a major breakthrough
was imminent.
Kate and Gerry McCann revealed last week that they were planning to return home.
But now they have been told they should remain on the Algarve because the investigation is at a crucial stage.
It was widely expected that the McCanns would leave Praia da Luz and return home to Rothley in Leicestershire in the
middle of next month. Their decision was said to be based on financial pressure and concern over the welfare of their two-year-old
twins, Sean and Amelie.
But after hearing they were set to leave, Portuguese detectives contacted the couple to reassure them that developments
were expected at any time.
A police source said: "There is nothing to stop the McCanns going home. They are not suspects but we have told them it
is not good timing because the investigation has changed. It is active now in assuming that Madeleine is dead." Gerry,
TURN TO PAGE 7
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Parents told to stay as police close in on killer
FROM PAGE 1
39, had been due to travel to Edinburgh on Friday to speak at the annual television festival. But he has put his plans
on hold after hearing that there could be a breakthrough at any time.
The advice to stay put came as the Portuguese police gave a rare official assurance that the investigation was nearing
completion.
Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa, spokesman for the Policia Judiciaria, said he had a very "positive feeling" about the
case.
He said the picture of what happened to Madeleine after she was abducted from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz was
becoming clear.
But officers are still waiting to hear from a British forensic laboratory which is analysing blood specks found in the
McCanns' holiday flat.
Police are expected to launch a series of fresh searches once the results of the tests are confirmed.
It is understood detectives have isolated one single piece of forensic evidence which they are confident will give them
the final piece in the jigsaw.
Mr Sousa said: "We are still waiting for that result from the laboratory in Birmingham.
"The things that could happen depend on the decisions of the group investigating the case." A spokesman for the Forensic
Science Service in Birmingham, which is carrying out the analysis of eight samples of evidence, refused to say when the results
might be released.
Mr Sousa said: "We have already said that all the lines are still open.
"Even our director said that we haven't enough information to make the picture of what happened that night. But we do
have a positive feeling on this."
He added: "I am confident my police colleagues will reach the end of the investigation."
Mr Sousa also revealed that detectives believe more than one person was involved in the abduction of Madeleine. He said:
"It's natural that in a crime of this nature more than one person took part.
"If it was committed by only one person, it would be even more difficult to resolve the case because he or she is the
only person who knows what they did."
He added: "In order to resolve this case it will be necessary to have more suspects."
Mr Sousa denied claims that the McCanns had ever been under suspicion and condemned rumours that their phone calls and
e-mails had been monitored.
He said: "To install a telephone listening device the person must be a suspect, and the McCanns are not. They are victims,
so it would be totally illegal."
Meanwhile, Kate and Gerry spoke of their continuing heartache.
In an interview with a Spanish newspaper, Kate admitted she had tried to consider what life would be like without Madeleine.
She said: "I know that life will not be the same. She is a huge part of our life, a lively, outgoing little girl with
a good sense of humour who brought joy to a lot of people."
She added: "It seems too awful to be real. Somebody, somewhere knows something, or someone close to someone knows something.
It just takes one person to make that call."
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Madeleine smear target
'These smears are just ludicrous'
By Martin Evans and Cyril Dixon
A FRIEND of Madeleine McCann's parents was at the centre of a vicious smear campaign yesterday over the four-year-old's
disappearance.
Russell O'Brien, who was on holiday with Kate and Gerry McCann when their daughter went missing, has become the subject
of speculation in Portugal.
Reports there have hinted the father-of-two is now the main suspect in the case, and have claimed there are inconsistencies
in his version of events on the night Madeleine went missing.
They also allege Dr O'Brien, 36, who had been dining with the McCanns at their holiday complex, was in fact absent for
most of the meal.
Dr O'Brien, whose partner Jane Tanner is a key witness in the investigation, has said he will do everything in his power
to defend his reputation.
The couple said in a statement: "These reports in the Portuguese press are completely untrue and extremely hurtful.
We have spoken to the police today, and have been assured that our status as witnesses has not been changed.
"We just hope that the police's considerable efforts to find Madeleine are successful."
Dr O'Brien told friends he was disgusted by the allegations. He said to them: "I will robustly defend my reputation.
I'd bend over backwards to get Madeleine back home safely."
Rachael Oldfield, who was also with the McCanns at the holiday complex in Praia da Luz, said of the reports: "It is just
ludicrous. He is a lovely bloke. It is a total smear."
Dr O'Brien became friends with Gerry McCann when they worked together at a hospital in Leicester. He moved to Exeter
to take up a new post before going on holiday to Praia da Luz.
The Diario de Noticias daily newspaper claimed police sources had said: "A British suspect, from Exeter, who is a friend
of the family, will be detained at any moment."
But yesterday Portuguese police spokesman Oligaro Sousa said: "Officially there is only one suspect."
One newspaper claimed Dr O'Brien had been missing between 8.30pm and 10pm on the evening Madeleine disappeared and returned
just minutes before Kate McCann found her daughter had gone.
But Mrs Oldfield insisted he had only been away for minutes at a time as he checked on his children. It has also been
reported that one of his children had been unwell.
Dr O'Brien was one of the members of the McCann party who told police they saw Robert Murat, the official suspect in
the case, outside the little girl's apartment around the time of the abduction.
A report in the Sol newspaper claimed the police had become interested in Dr O'Brien's movements after it emerged that
Murat had also been in Exeter days before Madeleine was kidnapped.
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A Little Bit of Insight, 17 April 2009 |
By Astro
17 April 2009
While we're waiting for the second round of the 'Maddie documentary war', I thought I might as well offer a little bit
of insight into what happened at the Ocean Club that night, hoping that maybe the upcoming British version of events might
like to include some details that were not reported by the British media. Any self-respecting documentary likes to present
one or two pieces of new information to the public – and for the vast majority of the British public, this is indeed
new information.
Now you're thinking, what's this all about? How can anyone who wasn't there, that night, offer an insight into the events?
Well, I certainly wasn't there – but others were, and through their witness statements, much can be learned about the
chain of events, namely after the alarm to Madeleine's disappearance was raised.
Unfortunately, we don't have independent witnesses of whatever happened between 5.30 and 10 p.m. in apartment 5A at the
Ocean Club, on the 3rd of May 2007. But we do have at least one independent witness who, because of her professional position
and her language skills, had the privilege to witness certain actions and behaviours and phrases, that night.
But don't take it from me. Instead, read what Silvia Batista, then a manager at the Ocean Club, told the police on the
26th of July 2007, in her third statement to be included in the process files that were publicly released:
"Concerning the matter of the process, the witness said:
That she has given statements for several times within
the process, and remembers the contents of what she stated before, therefore reproducing the contents of the previous statements
into this statement.
The deponent offers another statement because with the passage of time, since Madeleine's disappearance,
she has remembered some details of the facts that she witnessed, which she considers of some interest to the investigation.
Like
she said before, she was alerted to Madeleine's disappearance between 10.30 and 11 p.m. She was at home and was informed about
the event through a telephone call. She immediately went to the Ocean Club, where she arrived only minutes before the GNR
officers. When she arrived at the resort, she went immediately to apartment 5A, where she met several persons both on the
inside and on the outside of the apartment. She went into the apartment but left it right away without speaking to anyone,
because she was informed that the GNR officers were at the main reception, so she went to meet them.
When she arrived
near the GNR officers, she verified that Gerry, Madeleine's father, was behind her, in the company of another individual whose
identity she doesn't remember. At that moment, Gerry placed both knees on the floor, hit the floor with both hands, too, placing
himself like a praying Arab, and shouted out twice in rage, and it was not possible to understand what he said. Then
Gerry got back on his feet and accompanied the deponent and the other individual who was in the GNR car, to apartment 5A.
Already
on location, the deponent entered the apartment and asked those who were present both for the passports of all family members
and photographs of the missing person. The deponent walked Gerry to the GNR car, so he could deliver the requested documents.
She states that she carried out these diligences, and other diligences, at the request of the GNR Commander as they used the
deponent’s knowledge of the English language to translate the questions that were asked from the missing person's family
members, and the answers that were given. She remembers that Gerry gave the GNR Commander several photographs of the missing
person. These were postcard-type photographs, taking their size and shape into account. They were actually photographs of
the size and shape of a postcard, and they seemed to be all similar to her.
She also realised that from the very first
moment on, both Gerry and the rest of the group members insisted in stating that Madeleine had been abducted, all of them
using the word "abducted" instead of missing, and they all showed interest in informing the press about the situation.
The
deponent further recalls that she entered the room where Madeleine had been sleeping. She now remembers that the door was
closed. The inside of the room was dark. The shutters were down, and light entered only through its holes. The windows were
closed and the curtains slightly open. Gerry, who accompanied the deponent during this visit, with the GNR officers also present,
said that it had been him who had closed the window because the babies were still sleeping inside, which the deponent could
verify as true. Gerry mentioned that when he noticed that Madeleine was missing, he had found the window and shutters open,
and the curtains fluttering.
The deponent recalls that the cots that were used by the babies were placed in the middle
of the room and aligned, and therefore she found it strange that someone could have taken Madeleine from the bed where she
was sleeping up to the window, because there was no space to get through. The deponent opened the bedroom's wardrobe to check
if eventually Madeleine was hiding inside. Then they all left the room, and someone closed its door again. The deponent remained
in the living room for a while, with the GNR officers, Gerry and the other group members that were there in a frenzy, going
in and out and speaking on their mobile phones. She noticed that none of the group members, including the child's mother and
father were busy looking for her. The mother was sitting on the master bedroom's bed, the father accompanied the deponent
and the GNR officers and the other group members walked in and out and spoke on the phone, apparently concerned about informing
the press about the event.
She thought that the child's mother was downbeat with the situation, the father showed his
concern and also asked both for the press to be alerted and for dogs to be brought in for the search. Concerning the others,
she can only recall that Fiona and her husband, Payne, were hysterical about the situation. At a given moment, right after
the PJ's elements arrived, the child's parents removed the twins from the cots where they still slept, and took them into
the apartment on the first floor. At Kate's request, the deponent removed the soft toys and a blanket from the cots, and also
took them to the first floor. The babies' cots were left only with the mattresses.
The deponent also wishes to
mention that at around 3 a.m. Madeleine's parents asked for the presence of a priest on location. They didn't explain the
reason why they wanted a priest, but the deponent found the fact strange as there were no indications that the little girl
was dead, and that's the circumstance under which usually the presence of a priest is requested.
At a given moment,
the deponent translated the deposition from one of the ladies that belonged to the group of English people, namely one that
she indicates as being a brunette. This lady told the GNR officers, and the deponent translated, that she had seen a man crossing
the road, possibly carrying a child. The deponent found that situation strange because she was convinced that when she saw
this man, the lady was positioned in a spot that has no viewing angle to the location where she had seen the man. She doesn't
know exactly where the lady was positioned when she saw the man passing by, but she knows that she indicated that she saw
him passing on the street that lies in front of the window to the bedroom where Madeleine was, walking into the direction
of the street that leads to the Baptista supermarket.
When questioned about the clothes that the English group members
wore that night, she mentions that she only remembers that Fiona wore a green blouse, Gerry wore a dark coloured shirt, and
Fiona's husband wore light-coloured trousers, she thinks cream-coloured.
And she stated nothing further."
Witness statement of Silvia M C R Batista, 26.07.2007, page 1975 of process 221/07.0GALGS
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Witness statement of the Tapas waiter, 07 September 2007 |
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MCCANN PJ FILES RICARDO
A-D-L-OLIVEIRA WAITER 06 MAY 07 |
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Witness statement of Michael Terrence Wright, 16 April 2008 |
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MCCANN PJ FILES MICHAEL
G WRIGHT 16 APRIL 2008 ROGATORY |
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