“My client must keep secret what he can do help the search for the truth and this is not due to the law secrecy in Portugal. That is is quite revealing of the strange circumstances around this case”, says the lawyer of one of the two McCann friends that were at Tapas Bar, on the night of May 3, and decided to have a close cooperation with Police, as “El Mundo” published, last Tuesday. “He is not afraid of the McCann but the economic and political lobby that exists, around that couple, frightens any person.”
“Police was called only after the group analysed the problems they could face for having left the children alone and until now, my client had no chance to talk for himself”, the London-based lawyer said. Since September, he represents one of the two friends of the McCann that contacted police and asked for an opportunity to be requestioned, in order to correct some details and discrepancies of the statements made by the group of nine persons that were on holidays at Ocean Club. “What my client wants is to get the truth out – meaning, he is not there to accuse or to clear anyone, that's a police job. He just wants to help police to know the truth about what happened before, during and after that diner, on May 3.”
Asked to comment the denial from Clarence Mitchell, the McCann spokesman who claimed he has been in touch with all the seven McCann friends and all of them told they gave no instructions to their lawyers to contact police and be requestioned, the British lawyer said: “When you look at all the pressure that has been put up over him and others, it's natural that my client would not tell Clarence Mitchell he decided to have his own legal representation and a more close cooperation with police.”
A strong critic of the Media frenzy about Madeleine's disappearance, the lawyer of this member of Tapas group considers that the case is “much more serious” than most people thinks: “I don't want to accuse anyone, but there are people close to the McCann that is not really helping them. However, my client intention is to bring the truth out, in this sad story, no matter who gets hurt.”
The support the McCann had from the Government is another aspect the lawyer criticises: “I understand that our Government had the legal obligation to help the McCann. What I don't understand is that they received such a help that goes further and over anything that would be normal, for a case like this. But, since the the first hours, it was clear that Madeleine's case was not just a normal police case. My client had no support, at all, from the British authorities – only through the McCann couple.”
Questioned about the British Government involvement and political connections related with the case, the London-based lawyer said: “It's not my job to explain why and how politicians had intervened in this case, but I'm afraid that those interventions have been prejudicial not only to my client, but also to the search for the truth.”
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Madeleine: Two of Tapas Nine 'to change story... IF they can remain anonymous'
Original Source| This is London| 07 November 2007
Two of the holiday friends that dined with Madeleine McCann's parents the night she disappeared have told police they want to change their stories, it was sensationally claimed today.
Lawyers acting for the pair are said to have contacted detectives leading the probe and said their clients are willing to be reinterviewed so they can give fresh details.
Respected Spanish daily El Mundo reported the two members of the so-called Tapas Nine have asked for their names to be kept secret to avoid pressure from the McCanns.
It comes only days after it was reported that four more of the so-called Tapas Nine are about to be declared suspects by Portuguese police.
Dr Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner, Matthew Oldfield and Dr David Payne are said to have contacted lawyers amid fears detectives may implicate them in the case of the missing four-year-old.
Portuguese police chief Alipio Ribeiro insisted in an interview last month he was confident of solving the Madeleine mystery - and said every investigation has a key moment that clarifies everything.
An investigation insider said last night: "All the evidence collected so far points to Madeleine being dead.
"There's practically no evidence pointing towards a kidnap."
El Mundo described the offer of a fresh statement by the mystery Tapas Two as "recent".
It reported: "Lawyers of two of the friends of the McCanns that dined with them on the night of May 3 in the tapas restaurant have contacted police recently and said their clients are willing to be re-questioned so they can 'correct' details of their original statements.
"These two members of the group have asked for their identities to be kept secret because they fear that as a result of the 'clarifications' they intend making about what happened the night Madeleine disappeared, they may be pressured by people linked to the McCann family."
One member of the so-called "Tapas Nine" Ms Tanner today dismissed claims that she and her partner Dr O'Brien were about to change their story as "absolute rubbish".
The couple were with Gerry and Kate McCann in Portugal on the night Maddy disappeared. Ms Tanner provided police with an artist's impression of a man she says she saw carrying a child on the night the childvanished.
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, said today that the friends had all been contacted following the El Mundo report and insisted it was "totally untrue".
But he said that the couple's friends had said they were happy to be reinterviewed by police if it resolved any apparent inconsistencies and hastened the McCanns being cleared.
He said: "Contrary to a report in the Spanish press today, and after consultation amongst Gerry and Kate McCann's friends,
I can deny that any approach has been made by their lawyers asking to amend or change the witness statement of any of them.
"This report is simply untrue. "Kate and Gerry's friends, who were with them on May 3, have consistently told the truth and remain happy, indeed they are keen, to be re-interviewed by the police to clarify any inconsistencies in the statements that the police may think they have identified.
"The friends believe that if such interviews or re-interviews take place it can only lead to Gerry and Kate being eliminated from the inquiry swiftly."
The McCanns and their friends have always denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
Last week they issued a statement denying they had a "pact of silence" or that they were covering up a secret.
Dr Payne, a 41-year-old cardiovascular researcher from Leicester, was the last person outside the McCann family to see Madeleine at the Ocean Club resort on May 3. Gerry asked him to check on his wife and children while he having a tennis lesson at about 6.30pm.
Attention has also focused on Jane Tanner's claim she saw a man carrying a girl from the McCanns' ground floor apartment at about 9.15pm - when another witness says he was outside the flat at the same time but did not see her or the mystery man.
Mr Oldfield, 37, from south London, has said he entered the McCanns' apartment to check on the children about 30 minutes before Madeleine was reported missing by her mum.
He told police that although he had seen the McCanns' two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, their sister's bed was out of his sight-line.
Dr O'Brien, 36, from Exeter, was away from the group for up to 45 minutes between 9.30pm until 10.15pm while he tended to his own child who was being sick in his apartment.
He told police he had changed her bedlinen, but staff at the Ocean Club were said to have denied any change of sheets was requested.
The McCanns and their friends have always denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance - and insist she was kidnapped.
They are barred by strict Portuguese secrecy laws from speaking about the events of May 3 but last week issued a statement denying they had a "pact of silence" or that they were covering up a secret.
Portuguese police are preparing to send a three-man team led by chief investigator Paulo Rebelo to the UK to reinterview the Tapas Nine.
British detectives will ask questions put to them by their Portuguese counterparts.
Rebelo has led a massive review of the Madeleine case since taking over from disgraced former chief investigator Goncalo Amaral five weeks ago.
Alipio Ribeiro, national director of the Portugal's Policia Judiciaria which is leading the probe, said recently: "I am convinced that sooner or later we are going to have a result.
"I cannot say when. But I am optimistic.
"Many similar cases have lasted longer and were resolved in the end.
"I can't guarantee it but I think this will also happen in our case. We have an idea of what happened.
"We've done a massive job analysing and discounting hundreds of leads and pieces of evidence.
"In every investigation there is a key moment, a click that clarifies everything and helps you to reach the end. We just haven't reached that key moment yet."
>>>
Madeleine: Changes in evidence from Tapas Nine could 'dramatically change investigation'
Original Source|Mail|Friday 09 November 2007
By VANESSA ALLEN - Last updated at 10:04am on 9th November 2007
Changes in the evidence of two of the so-called Tapas Nine could "dramatically change" the Madeleine McCann investigation, it was claimed yesterday.
The pair who allegedly want to correct their version of events were named yesterday in a Portuguese newspaper as Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner.
Miss Tanner has given a key account of seeing a man carrying a child away from the McCanns' apartment. Both her and Dr O'Brien deny that they have contacted police to change their statements.
However, according to police sources the two who want to change details in their accounts of the night of May 3 were said to have asked that their names are kept secret to avoid pressure from those close to the McCanns.
A police source said any change to the statements of the couple could alter the course of the six-month investigation. He said: "The investigation could be changed dramatically if the two witnesses decide to clarify what really happened that night."
Officers have analysed a series of alleged contradictions and inconsistencies in the statements of the Tapas Nine, the group who ate together on the night Madeleine disappeared.
The new focus of the inquiry led to fears that four of the friends - Miss Tanner, Dr O'Brien, David Payne and Matthew Oldfield --could be named as official suspects.
Police said the pair who wanted to change their accounts contacted detectives after learning they could be made arguidos.
Miss Tanner told how she saw a man carry a child from the McCanns' apartment at about 9.15pm on the night Madeleine disappeared.
But another witness, TV producer Jeremy Wilkins, told police he was outside the apartment at the same time and did not see anything.
Her partner Dr O'Brien, 36, was away from the tapas bar for longest of any of the group.
He said he left the table for 25 minutes to look after his daughter, who had been sick, but other witnesses say he could have been away for up to 45 minutes.
Miss Tanner described claims that they were about to change their statements as "absolute rubbish".
Dr Payne, 41, of Leicester, and Dr Oldfield, 37, from Richmond, South-West London, have also denied that they want to change their accounts.
McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell insisted it was not true that any of the group wanted to correct their statements.
Kate and Gerry McCann could sue the Portuguese police for £1million for failing to find their daughter, it was claimed.
Their spokesman Clarence Mitchell said it was something the couple's legal team might consider if the inquiry is closed.
>>>
McCanns accused of pressuring Tapas Nine to 'keep them silent'
Original Source|Daily Mail|12 November 2007
Last updated at 15:04pm on 12th November 2007
Madeleine McCann's parents faced fresh allegations today that they are pressurising their friends into keeping silent over the events surrounding their daughter's disappearance.
One of the "Tapas nine" who was dining with the couple on the night Madeleine vanished is said to feel "obliged to keep silent".
Respected Spanish newspaper El Mundo quoted an un-named lawyer, said to represent the friend, criticising the McCanns' advisers.
The lawyer told the newspaper: "My client feels obliged to keep silent about what he can do to help the investigation, and not because of the Portuguese secrecy laws.
"This is very revealing about the strange circumstances surrounding this case.
"It's not that he is scared of the McCanns, but the economic and political lobby surrounding the couple is truly frightening to anybody.
"What my client wants is to reveal the whole truth, but he does not mean to accuse or blame anyone, as that is the job of the police.
"The only thing he wants is to help the police discover the truth about what happened before, during and after that dinner on May 3."
Last week El Mundo reported that lawyers acting for two of the McCanns' friends have contacted Portuguese police to say they wish to "correct" certain parts of their statements.
Gerry and Kate McCann's spokesman Clarence Mitchell denied the report and said it was not true that any of the couple's friends want to change their stories.
But the British lawyer, who has an office in London, told El Mundo: "If you take into account all of the pressure that has been placed on my client and on other people, it is perfectly natural and understandable that my client has not told Clarence Mitchell of his decision to hire his own lawyer to co-operate more closely with the police."
The lawyer also claimed that on the night of May 3 the McCanns did not call the police until they had discussed the possible implications for them of having left their three children alone in the holiday apartment.
The lawyer said: "The police were only informed after the group in question analysed the problems they could face for having left the children alone, and until now, my client has not had the opportunity to talk for himself about it all."
The lawyer, who is said to have been hired by the friend in September, was also critical of the help the McCanns have been given by the British authorities.
He said: "I understand perfectly that our government is legally obliged to help the McCanns.
"What I can't understand is that they have received help which goes far beyond what would be considered normal in a case like this.
"However, from the very beginning it has been clear that the Madeleine case is not a normal police case.
"It's not my job to have to explain why and how certain politicians have intervened in this case, but I'm afraid these interventions have been prejudicial not only to my client, but also for determining the truth.
"My client has not received any personal support from the British authorities, only that which has come through the McCann couple.
"I don't want to accuse anyone, but there are people very close to the McCanns who are not helping them at all.
"The intention of my client is to bring to light the truth of this sad story, without any concern for who might be implicated."
Four of the Tapas Nine, the name given to Gerry and Kate McCann and the seven friends they were dining with on the night Madeleine disappeared from the holiday complex in the Algarve, have reportedly brought in their own lawyers as they prepared to be named as official suspects.
Missing: And, at the centre of it all, four-year-old
A Sunday newspaper named the four as Russell O'Brien and his partner Jane Tanner, Matthew Oldfield and Dr David Payne.
It claimed they had been warned they would join the McCanns and Robert Murat as "arguidos" after the discovery by Portuguese investigators of inconsistencies in key statements made immediately after Madeleine vanished.
Dr Payne, a 41-year-old cardiovascular researcher from Leicester, was the last person outside the McCann family to see Madeleine at the Ocean Club resort on May 3.
Gerry asked him to check on his wife and children while he having a tennis lesson at about 6.30pm.
Attention has also focused on Jane Tanner's claim she saw a man carrying a girl from the McCanns' ground floor apartment at about 9.15pm - when another witness says he was outside the flat at the same time but did not see her or the mystery man.
Mr Oldfield, 37, from south London, has said he entered the McCanns' apartment to check on the children about 30 minutes before Madeleine was reported missing by her mum.
He told police that although he had seen the McCanns' two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, their sister's bed was out of his sight-line.
Dr O'Brien, 36, from Exeter, was away from the group for up to 45 minutes between 9.30pm until 10.15pm while he tended to his own child who was sick in his apartment.
He told police he had changed her bedlinen, but staff at the Ocean Club were said to have denied any change of sheets was requested.
The McCanns and their friends have always denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance - and insist she was kidnapped.
They are barred by strict Portuguese secrecy laws from speaking about the events of May 3 but recently issued a statement denying they had a "pact of silence" or that they were covering up a secret.
Portuguese police are preparing to send a three-man team led by chief investigator Paulo Rebelo to the UK to reinterview the Tapas Nine.
British detectives will ask questions put to them by their Portuguese counterparts.
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