See also reports from Correio da Manha
Investigation into the disappearance "difficult" to be reopened Diário de Notícias (No longer available online)
PEDRO VILELA MARQUES
04 August 2008
Thanks to 'carilina' for translation
Maddies Case. Available for public reading from today
Lawyer of McCanns admits to move towards court proceedings
After having been shelved, the process of the investigation of the disappearance of Maddie has little chance of being reopened, unless new evidence is found. This is the opinion of a judge contacted by DN yesterday on the eve of the release of the process to defendants, witnesses and media, starting today.
Based on his judiciary experience, the source believes that "only a key factor could lead to the resumption of investigations, and that would be something like the appearance of the body or per the accused request." Otherwise, he continues, "it is difficult for such a process to be open again, because you cannot be openning and closing a case that attracts so much media attention."
After having had access to the files of the process of the disappearance of their daughter, the parents of Madeleine McCann can now consider sueing former inspector of the Judicial Police Gonçalo Amaral and some Portuguese newspapers, due to statements issued on the investigations. The information was advanced yesterday by Rogerio Alves to DN.
Without going into detail about what he has read in the more than twenty volumes related to the investigation, Rogerio Alves said that prosecutions may be in the pipeline. Precisely, one of the targets can be some Portuguese newspapers, as has happened in the UK, a hypothesis that has already been mentioned. "In this moment it does not make sense to announce such a decision. This hypothesis is under consideration and we will be waiting until the end of the judicial holidays," advances the former Bastonário of the Bar (OA).
Even without assuming the possible processes, Rogerio Alves suggests what can happen in the future, when he warns that "no evidence was found to incriminate the McCanns, and the lack of evidence led to the closure of the case by the Attorney General, so those who say the contrary must now be thinking of how to save their faces ".
Despite all the research on the disappearance of Madeleine being available for public consultation today, that does not mean that it is accessible to anyone. As DN confirmed with a judicial source, "the fact that the process is open to third parties refers only to the media, that makes a bridge with society."
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Public Ministry archived the process because no indicium of guilt of the McCanns was proved Lusa/SOL (No longer available online)
Madeleine case
04 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
The Public Ministry (PM) sustained that the McCann couple had no responsibilities in the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine, due to a lack of confirmation of the indicia of guilt
In the archiving dispatch that is part of the process that was made public today, the PM refers that none of the indicia over which the parents of the girl that went missing on the 3rd of May 2007, from a bedroom in the Ocean Club resort, in Praia da Luz, were made arguidos, was confirmed.
The process, which was archived on the 21st of July, was made available during the afternoon today, and is composed of approximately 30 thousand pages, distributed over more than fifty volumes, appendixes, rogatory letters and reports, among other documents.
Among the motives to consider that the couple had no responsibilities in their daughter's disappearance, the PM points out, in the archiving dispatch, that none of them was in the apartment when the child disappeared.
Underlining that one of the indicia that led to the McCanns being made arguidos were some markings done by the English police dogs that were in Praia da Luz in August, the PM stresses that those markings were not ratified in posterior analyses.
The other element that led the McCanns to being made arguidos, an email that was considered as compromising, would also end up being discarded as an element of evidence.
According to the document, even if the couple was responsible for their daughter's death, it would have to be explained under which circumstances that happened, namely, how, when, what for and with what help.
In order to justify the lack of support for the couple to hide the body, in a scenario within which they eventually would be involved in the disappearance of their daughter, the PM points out that Kate and Gerry did not know the terrain that surrounded the resort.
On the other hand, it refers that the McCanns had no contacts in Portugal whatsoever, and as proof of that it points out the fact that on the days before, they limited their contacts to the group of friends with whom they spent the holidays.
In defence of the theory of non-involvement, the dispatch also points out that, contrary to what was said during the days following the abduction, the couple did not contact any media before they contacted the police.
Despite discarding the involvement of the couple, the PM laments that it has not been possible to carry out the reconstruction of what happened on the evening of May 3, stating that the surveillance system from the group concerning the children that slept in the apartment block needed to be tested.
The PM also recognises that there are doubts concerning the contents of the depositions that were given by the group – including the McCann couple – that dined at the Tapas restaurant, and points out the existence of details that were not justified.
Concerning the homicide theory in abstract, the PM defends that the possibility cannot be discarded, but notes that it cannot be more than a mere supposition due to the lack of elements to sustain it in the police files.
Furthermore, the dispatch observes that the process is not definitely closed and that, in theory, all the crime scenarios – abduction, homicide, accidental death with concealment of the cadaver – are maintained, albeit with no credible factual support.
Among several considerations, the PM guarantees that the behaviour of the media during the days that followed the disappearance of the British child disturbed the investigations, and criticises the anticipated judgment of the arguidos, which, in its understanding, denote little respect for the human person.
The process was delivered today, at around 4.30 p.m., to the dozens of Portuguese and British journalists who required it, in DVD format.
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Maddie case investigation was condemned in the first days Jornal da Noticias (No longer available online)
Process was handed over to journalists and discards the possibility of abduction
by: Marisa Rodrigues
05 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
An investigation that was condemned at the outset? The question appears in the first pages of the Maddie process and is related to the contamination of the apartment. The Public Ministry states that there is a "high" probability that this is a homicide case, but there is no evidence.
The inspector from the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) who was on duty on the night of May 3, 2007, puts his finger in the spot when he admits, in his service information, that the Ocean Club apartment where the McCann family spent their holidays may have been contaminated by the several persons who were present. The confirmation is contained in the archiving dispatch and leaves no margin for doubts: the apartment was rummaged. There was not only contamination but irretrievable and undetermined damage was done in terms of collection of evidence.
The investigators seem to have no doubts that the contamination was done on purpose, was carried out by Kate and Gerry and had a precise goal – to conceal the death of their daughter, Madeleine. Suspicions that can be read in a report that was signed by a chief inspector, on the 10th of September, and that are included in the process. The investigator even suggests the change of the coercion measures that had been imposed on the couple, that had just been made arguidos, due to considering that "in auto defence, they do not wish to immediately and voluntarily hand over the cadaver, and there is a strong possibility that it has been translated from the initial location".
The degree of probability that a homicide took place is "high". It is the joint general prosecutor, João Melchior Gomes, who says it. He singlehandedly signs the archiving dispatch, despite the fact that at the end of the document, the name of prosecutor Magalhães e Menezes can also be read, but without a signature. As arguments, he uses the fact that it has not been proved "in the light of logical criteria" that someone would have been able to remove the child from the apartment without being seen, thus setting the abduction theory apart. But he does recognise that it was not possible "to establish whether she is alive or dead, as it seems more probable".
The same prosecutor considered that Kate and Gerry "could not predict that in the resort (…) they could endanger the life of any of their children, and that was not demanded from them either: it is located in a quiet area, where most of the residents are foreign citizens of the same nationality and without any known history of criminality of this kind". As a sort of justification for not accusing Kate and Gerry, he also says that "we should recognise that the parents are already serving a heavy penalty – the disappearance of Madeleine – due to their carelessness in the vigilance and protection of the children".
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Gerry called the PJ to try to prove innocence Diário de Notícias (No longer available online)
05 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
Maddie case. In the process, which was made available to the journalists yesterday, it is written that Madeleine's parents had a strange behaviour before they were made arguidos. Gerry called the police to reaffirm that they were not suspects and Kate questioned whether or not the police was being pressured to end the investigation
Days before the McCann couple was called for interrogation for the second time and made arguidos, Gerry McCann called the PJ inspector, Ricardo Paiva, who was responsible for the couple's communication with the police, by phone, underlining their innocence. "I am certain that the police has no evidence against us", Gerry said to inspector Ricardo Paiva, one can read in the Maddie case process, which was released yesterday.
The father of the British child, that disappeared in May 2007, guaranteed that the PJ had no evidence to incriminate the couple over their daughter's death. But only a few days later, on the 7th of September, the couple was made arguidos.
On the day after this phone call from Madeleine's father, inspector Ricardo Paiva went to the temporary home of Kate and Gerry McCann, in Praia da Luz, to notify them of the second judicial interrogation that would result in both being made arguidos.
On that day, the 3rd of September 2007, after knowing that she would have to testify to the PJ in Portimão for the second time, Kate reacted in a hostile and aggressive manner. Sentences like "what will my parents think?", "what will the press say when they find out" and "but the Portuguese police is being pressured by the Government to end the investigation!" demonstrate just that.
These and other reactions from the British couple are included in a revealing letter that the same inspector, Ricardo Paiva, sent to Gonçalo Amaral, who was then still the coordinator of the Maddie case, on the 3rd of September, two days before the interrogation.
That letter, which goes unnoticed among the 17 volumes of the process, is included in a process that reunited almost five thousand pages, nine appendixes and rogatory letters and which was made public and available to the press yesterday. In late July, the Attorney General, Pinto Monteiro, archived the process.
A letter that reveals the reasons that had never been made public before, about why Madeleine's parents were made arguidos, according to the PJ. This time, Ricardo Paiva explains that the McCanns' behaviour started to reveal itself as "strange", with a clear tendency of "convincing" the PJ to follow, in the investigation, the abduction theory.
"I have watched several strange behaviours from the couple, who gradually reacted in a very negative manner to the investigative activity of the PJ, especially when, due to the use of the English cynotechnical means of detection of cadaver odour, the hypothesis of the death of Maddie McCann appeared."
According to the inspector, the McCann couple said several times that the PJ should be focused only on the abduction theory.
And more: "That the police should not forget to continue investigating the suspect Robert Murat." The Anglo-British man who, according to the PJ's report that was sent to the Public Ministry, was made an arguido over mere suspicions from a British journalist that were shared to the PJ in Portimão. During that house visit that Ricardo Paiva paid to Kate and Gerry, the latter insisted on showing the inspector some letters and emails from mediums, that he possessed and which had been selected by him, mostly containing information "without great credibility", according to the inspector, concerning the possible whereabouts of Madeleine's abductor.
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The McCann Case: Why 15 over 19 DNA components isn't enough Gazeta Digital
Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis
5.8.2008
As it is front page news at almost every British newspaper, it's interesting to know with more detail what the scientists from the Forensic Science Service told Portuguese police, on September 4, 2007, a few days before Gerry and Kate McCann were named "arguidos."
According to a document from the FSS, signed by Mr. J.R. Lowe, analysis of the samples collected in the boot of the Renault Scenic produced a complex Low Copy Number DNA result which appeared to have originated from at least three people. Madeleine's DNA profile had 19 elements, each one represented by a peak on a chart, explains Mr. Lowe.
As Madeleine has inherited a same DNA component from both parents, the number of peaks in the chart is 19, instead of 20. Those 2 components appear, in the chart, as only one peak.
The FSS document states that of those 19 components, 15 are present within the result of the analysis to that specific sample. But the total number of components is 37, because there are at least three contributors, may be up to five, in the sample.
Mr. J.R. Lowe's opinion was that the result is too complex to have a meaningful interpretation or conclusion.
But, concerning the question asked, when the samples were sent to the FSS – if it could be or not Madeleine's DNA – the FSS scientist admits that it would be very simple to say yes, because of the number of components, within the sample, that are also present in Madeleine DNA profile – 15 over 19.
However, as Mr. J.R. Lowe emphasises, in the mentioned document, the scientists need to consider if the match is genuine and legitimate. Meaning, to be sure if either Madeleine's DNA was deposited in the car or if the result matched Madeleine's DNA just by chance.
To explain in more detail this question, the FSS scientist reminds that individual components of Madeleine's DNA are also present within the profile of many of the scientists that work in the Birmingham laboratory. Mr. Lowe even refers to his own DNA profile, as an evidence of that.
As the sample analysed has a mixture of elements from more than two persons, it is not possible, according to the FSS expert, to determine or evaluate which specific components pair with each other. Another difficulty mentioned is the fact that it's not possible to separate the components out into three individual DNA profiles.
As a conclusion, Mr. J.R. Lowe wrote that he could not answer the question if the partial match was genuine or just a chance match.
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Kate wrote to Paulo 24horas (No longer available online)
Inspector read the message from Maddie's parent and put it in the process
Text: Luis Maneta
06 August 2008 - 00h30
Thanks to 'carilina' for translation
When Gonçalo Amaral was dismissed from the investigation, Paulo Rebelo got a letter from Kate where she said she wanted to help and be kept informed about the research.
In that letter, Madeleine's mother, who had refused to answer the questions from the PJ, asked Paulo Rebelo to work in close cooperation with the McCanns. The letter aimed at "the heart" of the Head of the Judicial Police in Portimao, and addressed him in his role as a 'father'.
"Madeleine is something precious to us" writes Kate, mentioning the "hard, sad and difficult-to-bear times" after the disappearance of her daughter. Pain and anxiety that she finds "difficult to describe", and "impotence" because of the smearing from the press.
The Inspector did not reply
Kate assured the Inspector that she was familiar with the laws about the secrecy of justice, but that she wanted to be updated over the course of the investigation. In Kate's view, this was a reasonable and human request. In the letter Kate complained over the lack of communication with the PJ, a situation that she described as a 'torture' for the parents of any missing child, and added she was ready to work together with the police to help unravel the case. She mentioned the "war" atmosphere that she perceived between the police and her family and between the British and Portuguese Police, a situation that reached a climax when Gonçalo Amaral was dismissed, after saying the British Police "was only working on the lines that were convenient for the McCanns." For the mother of Madeleine it was not important to blame or to point to cultural differences, but to work together to find the alleged kidnapper. "I can only ask" ended Kate. 24horas could not find a reply from Paulo Rebelo in the dossier.
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Couple discussed the night before 24 horas (No longer available online)
Kate was sleeping in the children's room
Text: Sonia Simoes
06 August 2008
Thanks to 'carilina' for translation
Declarations of September 6, 2007. The McCanns had a crisis on May 2nd, the night before Maddie's disappearance.
On the night of the 2nd May, Kate and Gerry had a row and she went to sleep with the children.
Kate was angry because Gerry had not paid attention to her during the dinner at the Tapas. Kate didn't remember if she had been to the apartment in the afternoon. When Kate went to the children's bedroom, Gerry had fallen asleep, so she couldn't tell if he noticed or not she had left the room. She slept with the children, on the bed located under the window. When Kate was confronted by the PJ with the fact that Maddie had cried on the nights of the 1st and 2nd of May, Kate said that the one that had been crying was Amelie, and for a short while, because Madeleine woke them up and they took Amelie to their bedroom. Kate described in all detail what she did in the afternoon of May 3rd, but she could not remember if she had been back in the apartment to change clothes or for any other reason. She remembered she went to play tennis and jogging and that before having dinner she read a story to the children.
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Nanny criticises the McCanns 24horas (No longer available online)
Text: Carlos Tomas
06 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
Katriona (sic) Baker, a British citizen who worked as a nanny at the tourist resort Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz, Algarve, and cared for missing Madeleine McCann for several days, does not spare criticism towards the child’s parents in the statement that she gave to the English authorities.
The nanny said that she only looked after the little girl during the day and remembers that Maddie cried a lot during a boat ride in Praia da Luz and screamed "I'm scared, I'm scared", failing to understand the reasons for the fact.
And she adds: she says that as soon as she heard about the disappearance of the child she ran through all of the places where Maddie usually went when she stayed at the crèche that exists at the Ocean Club; she guarantees that she saw neither Kate nor Gerry that evening, only seeing them again on the following Saturday (Maddie went missing on Thursday). One of the questions that the PJ asked from Kate, and to which there was no answer, was related to the reasons why she stayed at home while the searches were carried out.
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Public Ministry says that couple lost an occasion to prove their innocence Jornal de Notícias (No longer available online)
06 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
The reconstitruction was rendered unfeasible by obstacles that were created by the McCanns and their friends
Kate and Gerry lost the opportunity to prove that they had nothing to do with the disappearance of their daughter, Madeleine, when they and their friends rendered the reconstruction of the evening of May 3, 2007 unfeasible.
The conclusion is drawn by the Public Ministry (PM) that, in the dispatch that archives the process, admits that the "main damage" that results from this attitude was for "the McCann arguidos", who "lost the possibility of proving what they have been protesting since they were made arguidos: their innocence regarding the fateful event".
The PM admits that the investigation "was damaged" due to the fact that this diligence was not carried out and explains that, if the reconstruction had taken place, "it might eventually set aside, once and for all, any doubts that might subsist concerning the innocence of the missing child's parents".
Explaining that what was requested was the clarification of "failures to meet and lack of synchrony, when not divergences", which were detected during the analysis of the set of statements that had been given, which needed to be "tested and linked together on the location of the event", the two magistrates that are responsible for the dispatch then explain what they wanted to see clarified.
The first doubt concerns the physical proximity – real and effective – between Jane Tanner, Gerry and Jeremy Wilkins (the movie producer who played tennis with Gerry during the afternoon of Mat 3), at the moment when Jane passed them by, and which coincided with the sighting of the supposed suspect, carrying a child.
The PM admits it is "strange" that both did not see Tanner or the alleged abductor, despite the smallness of the space and the coincidence of the time at which allegedly the three crossed ways.
According to the PM, the reconstruction would also serve to understand in what state the window of the bedroom where Madeleine and her twin siblings slept was, given the fact that Kate guarantees that it was open. "It was necessary to clarify whether or not there was a draft, given the fact that movement of the curtains and pressure under the bedroom door are mentioned", the PM sustains.
Another doubt is related to the checking of the children, "given the fact that, if it can be believed that said control was as tight as the witnesses and the arguidos describe it", it would be, in the magistrates' opinion, "very difficult to reunite the conditions for the introduction of an abductor in the residence and the posterior exit of said abductor, with the child, through a window with little space".
It also remains unclear what really happened between 6.45 p.m. and 10 p.m., when Kate alerted to the disappearance.
The possibility of a reconstruction in May was raised in mid-March. The exchange of emails that was started on March 20 between the coordinator of the investigation, Paulo Rebelo, and the English policeman who made the liaison with the McCanns and their friends, the will to be present was noticeable, but also the imposition of conditions.
The seven friends wanted to know how it would be carried out and "conditioned" their presence to the PJ's answers. "We need a good reason to convince us", writes Rachael in one of the many emails that were transcribed into the more than 50 pages that are fully dedicated to the exchange of correspondence between the PJ and the witnesses.
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McCanns contacted witness that incriminates Gerry IOL Portugal Diário (No longer available online)
06 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
Irishman says that he saw a man carrying a child on the evening of the disappearance. The PJ dismisses the deposition because the father was at the restaurant. But the employees fail to say who-is-who in the arrivals and departures by the group that evening
The McCanns contacted the Irish Smith family, who say they saw Gerry, to a certainty of 60 to 80 percent, carrying a little girl towards the beach, on the evening when Maddie disappeared. But the contact was apparently made with the purpose of drawing a photofit of the alleged abductor, according to what the Irishman told the police in his country.
In the Maddie case process, this contact was reportedly made by Brian Kennedy, the Scottish millionaire who financially helped the McCanns in the search for their daughter. The Irish officer who questions Martin Smith, in Dublin, writes in his communication to the Portuguese police that Smith refused to participate in the making of the photofit and that he did not tell the story of what he saw to the McCanns' friend.
The moment when Maddie's parents contacted Martin Smith is not clear. But the Irish witness only refers it to the authorities when he is heard on the 23rd of January, after seeing the images on television that livened his memory, on the 9th of September: when Gerry leaves the plane in the United Kingdom and turns his head down, Martin Smith identifies the gesture as similar to what he saw in Praia da Luz four months earlier.
What woke up Smith's memory?
Days after this 'click', the Irishman told the Leicestershire police about his suspicions; the witness also stated that it might have been the way in which Gerry transported one of the twins that made him feel that the man who he saw near the Ocean Club could have been Maddie's father.
Smith even clarifies that he discussed that perception with the other members of his family, who also saw the man carrying the child in Praia da Luz, but only his wife had the same feeling. Nevertheless, she did not want to give a deposition.
Martin Smith also says that he was harassed by the media who published false declarations in his name, and that at least six newspapers apologised. The Irish policeman who led the questioning refers that he does not believe that Smith is trying to please the press, given the fact that he is, in his own opinion, an authentic person and known locally as a very decent man.
It is remembered that the alleged abductor was seen by the entire family, and it was the conviction of the three members, who were heard by the PJ on the 26th of May 2007, that the child was Madeleine. The street where the encounter took place is approximately five metres wide.
PJ drops lead?
After Martin Smith contacts the British authorities, the Portuguese police are informed about this new perception from the Irishman. On the 27th of September, the PJ contacts the witness and confirms the information, as well as his availability to come to Portugal, once more, to give a new statement. A trip that never happened.
After Gonçalo Amaral leaves, on the 2nd of October, the PJ requests a new deposition from the witness through the Irish police. This only takes place four months later, at the end of January, and arrives into the PJ's hands on the 19th of February.
But the Smiths' witness statement was dismissed by the Portuguese authorities, because it was established that at the time of the sighting, Gerry was at the Tapas restaurant. According to the process, this information was corroborated by the friends of the couple and was not contested by the employees, who are unable to identify who-is-who and at what time the elements from the group left and returned to the restaurant.
It is also remembered that the Public Ministry recognises contradictions in the depositions by the friends, and considered that the reconstitution would be a very important diligence, in order to clarify the inconsistencies.
Without indicia that the McCann couple committed any crime, the Public Ministry ordered the archiving of the process. On the 21st of July, Kate and Gerry, along with Robert Murat, saw the arguido status lifted.
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McCanns and friends were afraid of new allegations Jornal de Notícias (No longer available online)
Refusal to participate in the reconstruction was related to fear they would all be accused of negligence
ALEXANDRA SERÔDIO E RITA JORDÃO
07 August 2008 - 00h30m
Thanks to 'carilina' for translation
Kate, Gerry and their friends did not want to come to Portugal for the reconstruction of the night when Madeleine disappeared because they were afraid of being formally charged. The revelation was made this Wednesday by the spokesman of the McCanns.
Clarence Mitchell explained that the McCanns and the friends who spent holidays with them in Praia da Luz were advised by their lawyers not to return to prevent the nomination of new arguidos in the case. According to Clarence Mitchell, the PJ had refused, about a year earlier, a proposal from BBC program Crimewatch, to make a reconstruction program that would be aired on TV.
"Kate and Gerry put forward some conditions because they thought that a reconstruction made only for purposes of the investigation wasn't useful. On the other hand, lawyers in Portugal advised the group not to return to PT because the likelihood of having to face the Portuguese justice for negligence was high," said the spokesman.
The "refusal" to participate in the reconstruction led the Prosecutor of Portimão to consider, in order to close the case, that the McCanns "lost the posibility to prove what they, since their nomination as arguidos have been protesting: their innocence in reference to the fatal event".
Clarence Mitchell disagrees with the Prosecutor and says that Kate and Gerry "have nothing to prove." "They are innocent in the eyes of the law and do not have to prove their innocence. It is the role of the police to prove the suspects are guilty, and in this case the police failed to do so," he concluded.
Still pending explanation are the reasons why the couple did not answer the questions that the investigators thought relevant and that led to their appointment as arguidos, as well as "the disagreements and lack of harmony, and also differences", found in the analysis of all the offered evidence, which would have needed further testing and to be connected with the actual place of occurrence, "said the MP.
The "strange behaviour" of the couple was the subject of an information sheet, written by the investigator responsible for maintaining the link between the McCanns and the PJ. On the document that is now made public, you can read that the inspector saw "a number of strange behaviours in the couple" who were "gradually reacting quite negatively to the increasing research activity" of the PJ, particularly the one connected to the use of British dogs for the detection of dead bodies and blood odours.
On the document addressed to the coordinator of the investigation, the inspector wrote that the McCanns, said "several times", that "the attention of the police should be maintained and targeted on the fact of the abduction," which in their opinion, "was the only thing that took place," and that "the police should not forget to continue to investigate Robert Murat."
And when Kate was given the notification to go to the premises of the PJ to testify, she "instantly reacted negatively." According to the inspector she even said that the government would put pressure on the investigators. "The Portuguese police will be pressed by the government to quickly end the investigation." The inspector copied this sentence in the file, while Gerry insisted on giving him the letters and emails that he kept receiving.
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The dogs' work as described by their own handler Jornal de Notícias (No longer available online)
07 August 2008 - 00h30m
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
They were the main entities responsible for the turnaround of the process, at a point in time when the Polícia Judiciária was already leaving behind the possibility of Madeleine having been kidnapped.
The cadaver detection dog "Eddie" and the blood detection dog "Keela" showed themselves as "very excited" when they entered apartment 5A of the Ocean Club, the one that had been occupied by the McCann couple during their holidays.
Despite the fact that the images can only be viewed in September, the process includes the verbal report from Martin Grime, an expert in dogs that are used in investigations and an FBI advisor, who says that he "noticed in the first instance", as soon as he entered the apartment, that the dogs "are very excited" and how the handler can "pick up the body language".
He then explains that Eddie (one of the dogs) was the first one to get into action. When he entered the house "he caught up with an odour that he recognises". Martin tells that the animal walked through the apartment in an attempt to locate the odour, and that he discovered it behind the sofa in the living room. At that moment, he started to bark. Keela was the second to go into action. "She will only give me the indication when she finds human blood, only human blood", the expert says, asserting that "there has to be something there, physically, for her to be able to alert me".
In the dispatch, the prosecutor reminds that "any trace, even if invisible to the naked eye, which is collected through the use of this type of dogs, has to be subject to a forensics test, in a duly accredited laboratory".
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Who framed Robert Murat? IOL Portugal Diário (No longer available online)
07 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
An anonymous phone call from a Portuguese woman alerts the authorities to the "abductor" Murat, one week before the Englishman was known around the world
The denunciation from a journalist, an anonymous phone call and Jane Tanner, the McCann couple's friend who saw a man carrying a child on the evening that Maddie disappeared, produced the first arguido in the investigation. Murat's over-helpful posture was one of the first indicia that turned him into a suspect. But what led to his anonymous incrimination, days before he was known around the world?
The Polícia Judiciária was first in suspecting Murat. On the 7th of May, they already possessed diverse information about his personal and professional life: what he did, his bank accounts, where and with whom he lived, among other details.
On the 8th, one week before the suspicions were made public and Murat was made an arguido, another log fed the fire. A female voice makes an anonymous phone call, in Portuguese, to the PJ and states that the abductor is closer than the police thinks. The inspector asked who she was referring to and the female voice explained: it is an individual who resides in Praia da Luz, from a British mother, fluent in Portuguese and in English, who walked around in the area to help the authorities.
The author of the anonymous phone call added that the abductor was called Robert, that he visited chats of a sexual type and that he managed to encrypt his emails.
Suspicious British journalist…
The suspicions about Murat are also raised by a British journalist. Three days after Maddie's disappearance, on the 6th of May, the reporter gets in touch with the English police, to share her suspicions about a man, who lived in the area and was excessively helpful.
Born British, he has been living in Portugal for a long time. The fluency of his Portuguese and his English soon rendered him useful to the Portuguese authorities, which were confronted with a case that involved British tourists. Furthermore, he had a daughter of Maddie's age, from whom he was separated, as the child lived in England with her mother.
The journalist remembered a case that had taken place in England, where the criminal had a similar attitude and even helped in the searches of his own victim.
Serving as a translator
Even after the suspicions were assumed, the Judiciária continued to use Murat's translation services in several questionings, to English employees of the Ocean Club resort, until the 9th of May. "In order to prevent the suspect from noticing something", they then justified.
It is only at a later date that Jane Tanner, a friend of Kate and Gerry, is confronted with the possibility that Murat is the individual that she saw carrying a child. Despite the fact that the physical description that Jane gave and Murat's look are not the same, the English tourist had no doubts in stating that he was almost certainly the man that she had seen.
It is worth reminding that after having been made an arguido, other members of the group that was on holidays with the McCanns asserted that they saw Robert Murat participating in the searches, on the night of the disappearance. A fact that was always denied by himself, who said that he had been at home with his mother. He only heard about the alleged abduction on Friday the 4th. The GNR itself confirmed to the PJ that it only remembered seeing the Englishman on the following morning.
But the English profilers also guaranteed that there was a 90% chance of Murat being the abductor. And as if that was not enough, an alleged childhood friend asserted that as a teenager, he revealed an inclination to have sex with animals.
A set of circumstances, a friendly behaviour, a suspicious sighting, an anonymous phone call and convenient testimonies turned Murat into the first arguido by Portuguese justice to be financially compensated by British newspapers, for becoming a suspect in a crime that nobody managed to prove to exist.
Without evidence to support that any crime was committed, the Public Ministry archived the Maddie process, on the 21st of July. Kate and Gerry, together with Robert Murat, saw their arguido status lifted.
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TV star in phone tappings 24Horas (No longer available online)
Journalist criticised police work and gave Murat advice
07 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
Robert Murat had his home telephone under surveillance. Martin Brunt, from Sky News, didn't know. He even advised Murat
The phone tappings that were carried out by the Polícia Judiciária confirm the suspicion of complicity between British journalists and the English people who are involved in the process. One flagrant case is that of Sky News' "star", Martin Brunt, an expert in crime-related issues, who heavily criticised the Portuguese police's work and who, during a phone interception, was "caught" giving Robert Murat some advice. With the "hot" detail of the recording having been made on the 15th of May, the day after Murat was made an arguido.
On that day, Brunt was in England when he decided to call house "Liliana", the Murat family's residence, metres away from the Ocean Club. He was greeted with a warm expression by Jennifer, Robert's mother, who seized the opportunity to show her distress about the fact that Sky was using the expression "arguido" to refer to her son.
Jennifer did not consider it was a nice attitude and Martin justified himself by arguing he had not seen the news and was not updated with the terms that are used by Portuguese justice.
Then the telephone is passed on to Robert Murat, who greets Martin Brunt in a familiar manner – he calls him "boy" – denies any involvement in the case and states that he is fed up with being pointed out as a suspect.
During the phone call, that lasts 7 minutes, the Sky "star" counsels Murat about the expressions that he should use in an interview to the media.
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The Policia Judiciária reconstruct the footsteps of Maddie on her last two days in Praia da Luz 24horas (No longer available online)
Nursery
The McCann couple left little Maddie and the twins in the care of the nannies of the Ocean Club. This was where Maddie spent the day of her mysterious disappearance. She still went out for lunch with her parents.
Route
On Thursday morning, the day of the disappearance, the nannies took Maddie to the beach, between 10 and 11am, along this path. The nannies assert that they didn't see anyone strange.
Nanny
Nanny Catriona Baker walked the route with the PJ. This is another spot where little Maddie and the other children from the creche walked by. Again, nothing strange happened.
Arcades
Maddie and four or five other children walked always behind Catriona, holding on to the 'summer snake' (a long snake-shaped object) and walked through the arcade on the side of the resort's reception building.
Travessa
The 100-metre walk to the beach passed through the Travessa das Redes. The nanny stated to the PJ that she didn't see any strangers or any suspicious looking person.
Casa Ortiga
Just like on the day before, the group of children passed through Rua do Nordeste, towards the beach front. They walked by a residence called 'Casa Ortiga'. Again, all was normal.
Walkway
After crossing Travessa das Redes, the children arrived at the road that leads to the beach front. The children didn't contact anyone apart from the elements of the group and the nanny who was responsible for them.
No suspicions
The PJ marked the entire route that the children walked from the creche to the beach. Although the photos are in the process, there are no indications that any strangers followed the girl or approached her.
Quiet
The ambience at the Ocean Club has always been quiet. Mainly frequented by British guests and employees, the manager only notes small thefts that have registered in the area. Nothing more serious.
Beach
After arriving at the beach, little Maddie's group walked along the beach walk until an area where a red parasol and several sunshades were located. The children were prepared for a boat ride.
Kate
Hours after Maddie's ride, Kate went jogging on the beach. She told the PJ that she met her friends with the children, and she was very sad - because nobody had told her that they were all going to the beach. Maddie and the twins were at the creche.
Boat
For approximately one hour, Maddie and her mates rode in a small yellow catamaran, always under the attentive eyes of two employees. They both guarantee that the children had no contact with anybody.
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Recourse to the dogs was advised by British expert Jornal de Notícias (No longer available online)
ALEXANDRA SERÔDIO
08 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
The British [man] was determinant for the turnaround in the Maddie case. He walked around in the Algarve for several days, looking for evidence
An English expert who counsels the police in cases of missing persons, abduction and homicides was determinant for the turnaround in the Maddie case, dictating the call for the dogs that detect cadaver and blood odour.
Mark Harrison was called into the Algarve by the Portuguese investigators in mid-July, and according to his report, in his investigation he only had to consider the possibility of Maddie "having been murdered and her body hidden in the areas that were searched by the police and located near Praia da Luz".
The request for help appeared on the 20th of July, and for days Mark Harrison carried out recognition trips, walked through various areas of Praia da Luz, at night and during the day, consulted with several colleagues and experts and rode a helicopter.
Throughout 13 pages, the English expert advises the use of the dogs that detect cadaver and blood odour, namely inside the apartment that had been used by the McCanns and in Robert Murat's house. Facing the possibility that the little girl might have been buried in that area, after being killed, Mark even suggested that the investigators consult with a forensic anthropologist, as well as a careful investigation about the natural necrophagous predators of the area.
The report, which has now been made public, reports on the change of direction of the investigation line into the disappearance of Madeleine. "Other opportunities are now being considered, of new searches into locations, given the possibility of her (Maddie) having been murdered and hidden in the surroundings", Mark Harrison refers, stressing that this "would be the proportional and appropriate response, given the period of time that elapsed since her disappearance, and the former experiences in similar cases".
This document, which was accepted by the Public Ministry of Portimão, allowed for the dogs that detect cadaver odour (Eddie) and blood (Keela) to come to Portugal for two weeks. Despite the requests from the investigators, the Public Ministry ended up not finding it useful for the dogs to carry out tests in the McCanns's house in England, and in the residences of some of the friends that were in Praia da Luz on holidays.
The media exposure that surrounded the so-called Maddie case disturbed "the course of the investigations, directly and indirectly".
This is assumed by the prosecutor of the Public Ministry in Portimão, who in the closure dispatch assures that the "verdicts" that were prompted by the so-called "trial by newspapers", which never represent a "fair trial" had an effect of "diverting attentions".
In some sectors, the Public Ministry adds, they even assumed "aspects of a global media orgy and a feast of anticipated guilt over the participants in the process that have arguido status, with a disrespect for the dignity of the person, including that of the missing child herself".
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The mysterious photos 24horas (No longer available online)
Gerry said he made copies with Maddie's image on the night of the crime
Text: Luis Maneta
08 August 2008
Thanks to 'carilina' for translation
The PJ analysed the printers at the Ocean Club and in Praia da Luz and came to the conclusion that the McCanns could never have printed the photos of their daughter there.
A set of 4 photos that the McCanns gave to the GNR on the night of the disppearance is one of the major mysteries in the process that was closed by the MP. Many references are made to these pics in the 17-volume dossier, because the type of photographs and the paper were they are printed – in a size 15.3 cm x 10.3 cm – is not "convenient for transportation" says inspector Tavares de Almeida from the PJ in Portimao, in a request he sent to the Scientific Police Lab to analyze the photos.
Inspector Joan Carlos says it was 'strange' that the family was in posession of those photos because on that night they couldn't have had the possibility to make that type of photos in that size. The PJ always wanted to know who took the photos, where they were taken and why they were taken to the Algarve.
When Kate was made arguida on Sep 7, she was questioned about the ways they were making known the face of Madeleine, just hours after her disappearance, but Kate didn't answer. Some hours later, the same question was asked to Gerry, who said the photos had been taken with a digital camera and printed in the reception of the Ocean Club through the initiative of Russell O'Brien. Gerry was making reference to hundreds of photographs that were being printed in A4 sheets in the printer of the Ocean Club as was confirmed by the manager of the complex, John Hill.
But the photos that are intriguing for the PJ are the others. The set of 4 photos that the McCanns gave to the GNR on the night of the disppearance. Gerry declared that he was not the one that had given the photos to the GNR. But the dossier contains also declarations from Sílvia Baptista, responsible for the Ocean Club who says she saw the father of Madeleine give the photos, on a poster-type paper to one of the officers of the GNR. "They were practically all similar" said Baptista. The PJ made a research of the printers available in Luz, but the sort of paper the photos of Maddie were printed on, could not be found anywhere. Nelson Costa, one of the officers in the GNR who was called on the night of 3 May, was perplexed. He told the PJ he saw several pictures of Maddie, some A4 size and others with the size of a poster, that 'couldn't have been made' in the reception of the Ocean Club.
GNR got the pics
Antonio Duarte, a commander for the GNR in Lagos, got the mysterious photos. Four equal images, in sets of two, printed on photographic paper, 15.3 cm x 10.3 cm. The military declared to the PJ that he got the photos at 2 a.m. on the 4th of May – four hours after the disappearance was reported. Antonio Duarte said he got the photos when he was sitting in a vehicle when trying to get identification data of the McCanns, but that he cannot recall who gave him the photos. He declares he's got 'an idea' that he saw Gerry McCann but that he cannot 'guarantee' that Gerry was the one that gave him the pics. Nonetheless he’s quite sure that the pics "could not have been revealed / printed on the premises of the Ocean Club".
Text under the accompanying picture: The McCanns had 4 copies of this picture, on photographic paper, and this fact intrigued the PJ, because Gerry said that the copies had been made in the Ocean Club, and they were not made there.
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Request to investigate Gerry’s accounts is disproportionate IOL Portugal Diário (No longer available online)
Cláudia Lima da Costa
08 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
English authorities did not see motives to justify bank investigation of Maddie's father
The Portuguese police requested cooperation from the English authorities to investigate Gerry McCann's bank accounts, within Maddie's disappearance. But this request was found disproportionate by the British authorities, given the fact that it covered a period of six months.
Initially, the authorities requested a clarification from the Portuguese Public Ministry, which better explained the reasons for the request: to identify if there was an unknown motive behind Maddie's disappearance and if eventually there was an individual or individuals who might be responsible for her disappearance.
The English authorities did not accept the clarification from Portugal, and in their reply letter, sent on the 16th of June, they manifest their concern with the motives that led the Portuguese authorities to request information about bank operations over a period of six months, from Maddie's father's Mastercard credit card. The period covered by the request started on the 1st of April, approximately six weeks before the child's disappearance.
Despite the official explanation from the Portuguese authorities, the English police also considered an unofficial explanation that was offered by the investigative team that traveled to England. At that point in time, the Leicestershire police was told that Gerry McCann had been seen drawing money from an automatic cash machine and talking on the phone. The Portuguese police wanted to know whether this action could be related to the disappearance.
Francs Kennah, a senior official at the 'UK Central Authority', clarifies that after pondering over the coercive measures, the cabinet does not see a motive to concede the requested authorisation, considering that the request is not justified and seems disproportionate. The British authorities solicit a new clarification from Portugal, but it is not sent and the process is archived a little over a month later.
Without indicia that the McCann couple has committed any crime, the Public Ministry determined the archiving of the process. On the 21st of July, Kate and Gerry, along with Robert Murat, saw their arguido status lifted.
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Three suspects, 700 witnesses and a pile of contradictions in the police summary
MARÍA R. SAHUQUILLO - Madrid
10/08/2008
Thanks to 'LetMeRead' for translation
The inhabitants and tourists of Praia da Luz, a small town on the Portuguese Algarve, will remember the night of 3 May 2007 as one of the most disquieting of their life. More than 20,000 pages, photographs, analyses and acknowledgements gathered during 15 months have not been able to clarify what happened. Neither has the interrogation by the police of more than 700 people shed light on what happened to little Madeleine McCann. Was she kidnapped by a paedophile network? Did she die accidentally and her body hidden? Did she leave the apartment on foot? Nothing is known of the British girl that disappeared from an apartment in that coastal town. 'EL PAÍS' reviews the summary of the case and analyzes the details that remain hidden.
Maddie McCann was seen for the last time by someone not of her family at 17.00 on that day. What happened between then and 22.00, when Kate, her mother, raised the alarm of her disappearance is a mystery. An enigma that begins with the contradictions that there are, according to the police, in the testimonies of her parents. They both maintain that they left to have dinner with friends at about 19.30. They tell that they left their three children sleeping. The twins Sean and Amelie (one and a half years old) laid down in their cots, and Maddie in the bed. Kate said that she had left the girl covered. Gerry, the father, maintains that the girl was sleeping on top of the blankets clutching her favourite soft toy.
The McCanns, as on all the nights since their arrival on 28 April in Praia da Luz, met with Russel O'Brien and Jane Tanner, Mattew Olfield and Rachel Manpilly, and David Payne, his wife Fiona and her mother. (The spelling of the names is as they appear in the article) All left their children (altogether, eight children of less than four years old) sleeping in their apartments. They had reserved a table at the Tapas, one of the restaurants in the tourist complex where they were staying. The group told the police that, "for the lack of someone to watch the children", they devised a system of taking it in turns to verify that everything was well in the apartments.
Thus began the dance of chairs. At 21.00, Matthew Olfield went to see his daughter. He listened next to the rooms of the rest of the children and returned to the table. Between 5 and 10 minutes later, Gerry McCann did the same. He maintains that their children were sleeping. He explained to the investigators that the door from the lounge/ hall to the bedroom was half-open. "I thought that Madeleine had been up and returned to bed", he said. He went to the bathroom and he left. He met a neighbour. They spoke for a while, and he returned to the restaurant.
What Gerry did not notice is that at 21.15 Jane Tanner went to see her children. Tanner maintains that she saw Gerry and his neighbour. But she saw something more: at about 10 metres, a man passed carrying a girl in his arms. The little girl was in pyjamas and barefoot. Nevertheless, according to her explanation to the police, the only thing that seemed strange to her was that the youngster was not covered.
At 21.30, Mattew Olfield did his round again. He went into the apartment of the McCanns. The twins were sleeping. But he did not look at Madeleine's bed. Olfield told the police that the blind was raised. At 22.00, it was Kate's turn. The door and the window of the room were open. Sean and Amelie were sleeping. Madeleine had disappeared.
"The version in which somebody from the group went to the apartments to verify that everything was well every 15 or 30 minutes falls to the ground", say the police in the summary. According to their declarations, there was a moment at dinner in which two or three were not at the table. But none of the waiters remembers it. "The declarations of all result in incoherency, so it can easily be verified that they are lying", maintain the investigators. But it has not been possible to prove/test this police theory.
Blind raised or lowered? Open or closed window? Kate and Gerry are not in agreement. The woman does not remember having opened the window through which, according to the police, the possible kidnapper could have entered. Nevertheless, the only prints that appear on it are hers. They could be from the previous day. The mother could have touched it the night before, when Gerry and Kate fought/quarrelled, and the woman slept in the children's room.
And, who was the man whom Jane Tanner saw with a girl in his arms? The woman could not describe the individual. "Only after knowing the colours of the pyjamas, Jane concluded that the girl was Madeleine", say the police. Besides her, three other people caught sight of the same individual in the vicinity of the Ocean Club. More than a week later, Tanner identified the man as Robert Murat, a British-Portuguese man 33-years-old who lives with his mother near to the apartment of the McCanns. Murat helped the authorities and acted as a translator for the police. Tanner was not the first to mention suspicions regarding Murat. 8 May, an anonymous call to the police informed them that the kidnapper of the little girl was called Robert, he spoke fluent Portuguese and was helping the authorities. The caller warned that the same Robert "was encrypting" his electronic mail and frequent chats with "sexual content".
A day after that disquieting call a British journalist commented on her suspicions regarding Murat. "He is too collaborative, inquisitive and close", she said. The editor told the police she remembered a similar case in which the kidnapper had collaborated with the police.
The British-Portuguese man continued working for the police until 9 May, listening and translating more than a score of testimonies that could have been key to the investigation - the police said then that they did not dispense with Murat for the reason of not arousing his suspicions. In the end, he was declared arguido. In the declaration of Tanner, she guarantees that she had seen him helping in the search for Maddie on the night of 3 May, as do three others of the friends of the McCanns. Murat, however, maintains that he did not leave the house that night. Nobody else says they saw him.
If the mysterious man was not Murat, who was he? Three witnesses - the Irishman Martin Smith and his children Aoife and Peter - later identified him to the British authorities as Gerry McCann. But, how could the father of Madeleine absent himself from the dinner without the rest of the group realising?
The police shuffled several hypotheses: the kidnapping of the girl, that she went out alone and was lost - these two first ideas began to lose force a few months later - or that she had died accidentally in the bosom of her own family, who had hidden the corpse. The office of the public prosecutor threw out this last theory. "Although it would be possible to be suspicious of the parents, still there would remain to prove how, where, when, by what means, with the help of whom and how they got rid of the body of the girl", it was said.
None of the other theories could be proved. Hundreds of people called saying that they had seen the little girl. Belgium, Holland, Spain, Morocco, Indonesia, Mexico… Always the same description: a blonde youngster with a characteristic mark in one eye. The summary details hundreds of these possible Maddie's. The police guarantee that all of them have been investigated.
In June 2007, the theory that Madeleine was "probably dead" began to gain force, and that she died in the apartment. The summary specifies a score of searches of beaches, ravines and open terrain near Praia da Luz. One of the more developed theories is that Maddie could have been thrown into the sea. Also, that the body could have been incinerated in a small animal crematorium, property of Hoos Evert Hendrik, a Dutchman that has spent years in Portugal. Everything is investigated. Nothing is concluded.
In September, the police centred on the theory that the little girl died because of a domestic accident or negligence. They considered whether the parents could have given her sleeping pills. That month, Kate and Gerry were declared arguidos. The police detail that they did not rule out the use of "pressure mechanisms" to obtain a confession. They subject the mother to an interrogation of 13 hours. The woman refuses to answer a series of questions - "Was Madeleine taking any medication?", "What were her sleeping habits?", "Did you administer a sedative to the girl?" - but she withstands the attacks.
Two weeks ago, ten months after that declaration, the Portuguese office of the public prosecutor decided to archive the case. No clue, no proof – not even the famous analyses of the DNA found because of the dogs - none of the loose ends considered have served to reveal the whereabouts of the little girl. According to the public prosecutors, none of the police theories can be proven. The condition of arguido is therefore lifted from the three suspects (the parents and Murat). The case, nevertheless, is not closed. According to the Portuguese legislation, it can remain open until 2022. Any new clue could reopen it. The sightings of the little girl, with the characteristic brown mark in her blue eye, continue.
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Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis
11 August 2008
"THIS is the first picture of the Tapas 7 seen together at a beach bar just hours before Maddie was snatched. They were captured on CCTV having drinks before making the 10-minute walk to the restaurant where they met the McCann. The digital time on the film is 5.59pm - about the time Gerry and Kate were picking Maddie up from kids club to get her ready for bed", wrote "The News of The World", on August 10, 2008.
This time line and description of events is not very accurate. The seven friends didn't go from the Paraíso beach bar to meet the McCanns in the Tapas bar. This is a brief description (*) of the hours between 4:30/5:00 pm up to 8:00 pm, May 3:
1 – The seven friends and children went to the beach, on the afternoon of May 3, at different hours and later, all together, went to Paraíso beach bar,;
2 – They asked food for the children and it was around 5:30 pm when the food arrived;
3 – The men (David, Matthew and Russell) left around 5:55/6:20 pm (1), to go to the tennis court (2), because there was a "men's social tennis round" that night;
4 – The wife's stayed in the Paraíso Bar, because they had asked for ice creams for the kids and the men were late for the "men's social tennis round", scheduled to start at 6:00 pm;;
5 – When the three men arrived at the tennis court, Gerry was there, already, playing;
6 - Kate has been at tennis court, with Gerry, after 3:30 pm, but she left around 4:30 pm and went jogging in the beach (3). Gerry stayed in the courts, playing with Julian;
7 – The nannies took the children (including the three McCann children) to have "high tea" near the Tapas bar, around 5:00 pm;
8 – Kate finished jogging (5:20/5:30 pm) and met Gerry, who was already with Madeleine, Sean and Amelie near the Tapas Bar. They took the kids,together, to the apartment and Gerry went back to tennis;
9 – Around 6:10/6:15 pm, all the women left Paraíso, with the kids and went to the tennis court to see the men playing. They stayed there for some undisclosed time and went to their apartments, around 6:45/7:20 pm;
10 – Gerry asked David Payne (4), around 6:30 pm, to have a look at Kate, to see if she needed help to take the kids to the playing area, near Tapas bar;
11 – David knocked at apartment 5A (4). Kate had just finished having a bath and David saw that the kids were already bathed, with their pyjamas (5), playing around;
12 – Kate told David the kids were very tired, so they were not going to the playing area (6);
13 – David Payne got his tennis kit and went to the court. He arrived around 7:00 pm and the four men (Gerry, David, Matthew and Russell) started to play, but a little bit after Gerry decided he had enough tennis and went to the apartment. He was replaced by Dan, a tennis coach from Ocean Club;
14 – The three men played until almost 8:00 pm and they went back to their apartments, to get ready for dinner, as the table was reserved for 8:30 pm (7).
Notes:
(1) Matthew said they left Paraíso at 6:20 pm. Russell said the three men left around 6:00 pm. David also pointed 6:00 pm. Fiona said it was 5:55/6:00 pm, when the three men left.
(2) Russell said that he and Matthew went straight to the courts. Matthew said he went to the apartment to get his tennis gear and Russell did the same. David said the other two men went to the apartments and he went to meet Gerry, who was already playing, in the courts.
(3) According to Russell, while the group was at the beach, before going to Paraíso beach bar, they saw Kate doing her jogging, near the seaside, around 5:15/5:20 pm. They didn't talk, some people from the group that was at the beach just waved to Kate. Russell said that David went to his own apartment and also – he believes – to the McCann apartment. Briefly, David came back and joined them, there was Dan and two or three more guests and they played for more than one hour, until 8:00 pm, Russell said. Gerry went back to the apartment a little bit before the three men, according to Russell. Dan, the tennis coach, also left earlier.
(4) – It was Gerry who asked him to check Kate and the kids, Payne told Police. According to Kate, David knocked at the door (the door facing the swimming pool). She just put a towel around her, went to the living room and they had a brief talk. David said he thinks the French doors were open and he went inside the apartment. The kids were there, playing around, and the conversation with Kate was short. David Payne confirmed this was the last time he saw Madeleine.
(5) About the kids, David Payne said they were all dressed in their pyjamas, looked like angels, just at the beginning of his statement to British Police. 41 minutes later, when asked what everybody was wearing, he said he only could remember the kids were dressed in white. He could not remember what Kate McCann was wearing.
(6) The conversation with Kate was short: 3 to 5 minutes, David Payne said.
(7) According to Fiona Payne, David came back from tennis at 7:10 pm, still on time to help give bath to the children. Diana Webster said her son-in-law helped bathing the children, around 7:10 pm. Matthew Oldfield said that the three men (he, Russell and David) played up to 8:00 pm. Rachael told police that Gerry left at 7:20 pm to help Kate put the children in bed. Russell also said the he, David and Matthew played for almost one hour, close to 8:00 pm and they left the tennis court together.
(*) These details were obtained crossing information from statements given to Portuguese and British police by the McCann couple, their seven friends and Kate's personal notes. Large time gaps, in some situations, are due to the different hours given by the persons questioned.
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Frederico Duarte Carvalho
12 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
From the blog of Frederico Duarte Carvalho, a journalist and author, an analysis of the timeline:
...........................
"There is still so much to discover inside the process", I was told a few days ago by the former coordinator of the PJ, Gonçalo Amaral, when together with João Vasco Almeida, I interviewed him for "Focus" – see the edition of tomorrow, the 13th. The author of the book "Maddie – Truth of the Lie" (140 thousand copies sold and foreseen translations for Spain and Germany) gave us what was the first interview after the case left the premises of the judicial secrecy. So, the former coordinator accepted to look to the computer where we had the DVD with the process open, and pointed his finger at the moment where the fatal contradiction of the witness statements by some of the main players in the night when the alert to the disappearance of the English girl in Praia da Luz was raised, is registered: "No member of the media has ever crossed those depositions", Gonçalo Amaral said to us.
It is all in the first of the 17 volumes, which run to 4713 pages. It was the contradiction between the initial statement from Jane Tanner, a marketing manager, and the one from her companion, doctor Russell O’Brien, that raised the suspicions that the marketing manager might be lying when she said she had seen an alleged abductor carrying a child. This happened as early as the 4th of May, within the first hours after the disappearance.
Russell O’Brien, a doctor and Jane Tanner's husband, worked directly with Madeleine's father, Gerry McCann, for six months. They became fathers at approximately the same time, as Russell's older daughter is just one month older than Madeleine. When the witness statements from Gerry, Jane and Russell were crossed, the PJ's investigators realized that "the story was badly told".
According to Gerry McCann's witness statement, which was registered in the PJ's offices at 11.15 a.m. on the 4th of May 2007, fourteen hours after the facts, it can be verified that Madeleine's father left the 'Tapas' restaurant approximately half an hour after he arrived there. Before him, another member of the holiday group, Matthew Oldfield, had already checked the windows and confirmed that they were closed and that all the children in the group should be sleeping. When Matthew returned to the group, he communicated it to those who were present. At that same moment, Gerry got up and went for a new verification. That would have been at 9.05 p.m. Madeleine's father entered the apartment with the key, went to his children's room, verified that the twins were well, just like his older daughter. Gerry then went to the toilet, where he stated he remained for a few instants. He left and crossed paths with a British friend, Jez, whom he had met during the holidays and with whom he used to play tennis. The friend was walking his baby, as he was having difficulty sleeping. They both chatted for a bit until Gerry returned to the restaurant.
The witness statement from Jane Tanner, which was collected at 11.30 a.m. on Friday, the 4th of May, registers the fact that she left the restaurant at around 9.10 p.m, approximately five minutes after Gerry. Jane went to her apartment to check if everything was well with her daughters. At that moment, on her way to the apartment, she guarantees that she crossed with Gerry while he was talking with his tennis friend. She stressed to the PJ that she passed them both, knowing that Gerry had already been in his apartment to check on his children.
The contradiction appears when this statement is crossed with the one from her husband, Russell O’Brien. The latter only spoke to the PJ on the evening of the 4th of May, at 9.50 p.m., almost 24 hours after the facts. Russell confirmed that Gerry and Jane left almost simultaneously. But he stated that his wife must have returned first because she would have met Gerry talking with his tennis friend. This was where a very important doubt was born, to understand the key moment of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The questions assaulted the minds of the PJ’s investigators: Did Jane Tanner see Gerry talking with his friend when she was coming back from the apartment, like she suggested to her husband, or on her way up?
After all, if Gerry and Jane left almost simultaneously, with only five minutes between them then how was it possible for Gerry to check his children in the bedroom, to go to the toilet – where he stayed for a while -, to return to the restaurant and even stop to chat with his tennis friend within only five minutes, to a point where Jane guaranteed that, when she passed them both on her way to her apartment, Gerry was already on his way back? Is it possible that Gerry was chatting with Jez while he was still on his way to the apartment, after all? And how to explain the fact that neither Gerry nor his friend – who was later questioned in England – ever remember seeing Jane, despite the fact that she stated that when she passed them, they were all on the same sidewalk?
This whole contradiction is relevant to the case when one realises that, according to the testimony from Jane Tanner – which is further sustained by a scheme that she drew concerning these movements -, she states that after passing by Gerry and Jez, while walking in the direction of her apartment, she saw, a few metres ahead, on the corner, an individual carrying a child. Never on her way back. It would be that testimony that would become the base that sustains the entire abduction theory that still remains in so many people's minds. And the suspect was walking in the direction of Robert Murat's villa. Therefore, it was Jane's testimony that, despite the contradictions, came to sustain the entire abduction theory that pointed towards Robert Murat.
The first description that was made by this friend of the couple pointed towards a man aged between 35 and 40, slim, 1,70 m tall, very dark, thick hair that was short but long in the neck area. As she had only seen him from behind, she could not detail his face. But that didn't prevent her from asserting, later on, that she had indeed seen Robert Murat.
Jane also said that she returned to the restaurant after checking on her children, and guaranteed to the PJ that Gerry was no longer on the street talking to his friend, because she found him at the 'Tapas' in the company of his wife, Kate. After 15 to 20 minutes, it was time for Jane's husband, Russell O’Brien, to check on his daughters, accompanied by Matthew Oldfield. The latter passed through the McCanns' apartment but failed to verify whether Madeleine was in bed or not, as he admits that he was only concerned about hearing any noises from the inside. Meanwhile, Russell stayed in his bedroom caring for his daughter, which is why Jane ate rapidly and went to relieve her husband from the bedroom. Russell returned to the restaurant and that was the moment when Kate got up to check on her three children's sleep. It was 10 or 10.15 p.m., and Jane Tanner was in her apartment when she heard Kate McCann and another friend from the group, Fiona Payne, shouting that Madeleine had disappeared. From that moment on, it would be utter confusion, which led us into a situation that dragged on for months, and finally ended for now, with the case being archived without a corpse or an abductor appearing.
If anyone abducted or concealed Madeleine McCann's cadaver, that was, until this moment, the perfect crime.
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Kate McCanns' diary is considered to be false Rádio Clube (article includes an audio report) (No longer available online)
13 August 2008
Thanks to 'astro' for translation
Policemen consider that Kate McCann's diary was made on purpose to influence the investigation into Maddie’s disappearance.
Several police sources that are connected to the process told Rádio Clube that Kate’s diary does not look like an intimate portrait, as would be usual, and that it seems to have been made on purpose to be found by the authorities. The diary was not distributed to the journalists but Radio Clube had access to the writings of Kate McCann.
The text starts on the day that the English couple arrived in the Algarve, and lasts until early August. A diary that was given little importance by the Polícia Judiciária. Still, it is possible to read about support, irritations and other curiosities. Listen to the piece from journalist Augusto Freitas de Sousa who describes some statements from Kate's diary.
The pressures that the former coordinator of the process, Gonçalo Amaral, has been referring to are described in Kate McCann's diary. Madeleine's mother wrote that she left British prime minister Gordon Brown a message, to call and to increase the political pressure.
Furthermore, 20 days after the disappearance, it can be read in the diary that Gordon Brown spoke to Gerry more than once. Kate mentions the PJ, the journalists and the political pressures, and numerous clues that failed to reveal as important for the process.
Thanks to Nigel at mccannfiles
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