A friend of Kate and Gerry McCann finally broke her silence yesterday to tell
of the "absolute horror" that haunts her over the night Madeleine
disappeared.
Key witness Jane Tanner saw a dark-haired man carrying away a child wearing
pink floral pyjamas about the time that the four-year-old vanished from her
parents' holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
But it was only an hour later, when she was told that Madeleine had gone, that
Miss Tanner realised it could have been the abductor.
She has been "tormented" ever since that she did not immediately
realise the significance of what she had seen.
Miss Tanner, a 38-year-old marketing executive, is the first of the "Tapas
Nine" - the group of friends who formed a dinner party with the McCanns on
the night of May 3 at a restaurant in the Algarve holiday complex - to speak
publicly.
She made her decision, six months after Madeleine's disappearance, because of
her growing frustration about smears against her and the other friends.
Last night Portuguese police warned she risked a two-year jail sentence by
speaking out.
As a witness, she is bound by the same strict secrecy laws which forbid
Madeleine's parents from talking about the events of May 3.
The drawing released by the McCanns based on Jane Tanner's description of
what she saw the night Madeleine disappeared
Legal sources said her decision was a "calculated risk", and that she
was unlikely to face prosecution.
Miss Tanner, of Exeter, was in Portugal with
her partner Russell O'Brien, 36, a doctor.
Yesterday she told the BBC: "I have not spoken before because the
Portuguese police told us not to talk about the case at all.
"From day one we have done everything we can to help them with the
investigation.
"I think maybe I'm talking now because I'm being called a liar and a
fantasist and all this.
"I know what I saw. I think it's important that people know what I saw
because I believe Madeleine was abducted."
The full interview will be shown on Panorama on BBC1 on Monday, on CBS in America tonight
and on Portuguese television tomorrow.
The programme will also feature some previously unseen footage of the McCanns
talking about Madeleine in the early stages of the hunt for her.
They were filmed by indepedent producer John Corner,
a friend of the McCanns and godfather to their two-year-old twins Sean and
Amelie.
Describing what she witnessed on the fateful evening of May 3, Miss Tanner
said: "Never in a million years did I think it could have been Madeleine.
But I didn't know then.
"I just saw a person walk along the top of the road with what could have
been a child in his arms."
Around 45 minutes later, Miss Tanner, who had left the dinner party to tend to
her own child, heard a commotion as the McCanns and their other friends began
the frantic search for Madeleine.
"I went out to the front door of our apartment. I saw Rachel [Oldfield -
another of the 'Tapas Nine'] come and say, Madeleine's gone,' she said.
"That was the first I heard about it. Then I saw Kate and Fiona [Payne -
another of the nine] running around shouting, Madeleine.
"Kate said to me, Jane - Madeleine's gone, Madeleine's gone."
Miss Tanner said she has felt "absolute horror" ever since and has
lived with the "daily torment" of not immediately realising the
significance of what she had seen.
In the early hours of the morning after the sighting, Miss Tanner was
interviewed by local Portuguese police while Mr McCann was present and told
them of the man she had seen.
She gave the police a detailed description of the man but no E-fit was ever
issued of him.
Only a vague description was put out three weeks after Madeleine went missing.
She later gave details to a forensic artist commissioned by Mr and Mrs McCann,
who produced an artist's impression of the man.
Miss Tanner did not get a good look at the man's face as he was turned away
from her but was able to describe his maroon shirt, camel coloured trousers and
brown shoes.
Miss Tanner's description of the child's pyjamas matched Madeleine's, but she
did not see her face.
Last week it was claimed in a Portuguese newspaper that Miss Tanner and Dr
O'Brien wanted to change their police statements in a move which could
'dramatically change' the investigation.
Miss Tanner and Dr O'Brien categorically deny that they have ever wanted to
change their statements and have dismissed the allegation as "absolute
rubbish".
Last night a friend of the McCanns said: "Jane is a friend of Kate and
Gerry and as far as they are concerned she has nothing to blame herself for.
"They bear her no ill-feeling whatsoever. In fact, they've tried to
comfort her." |