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.
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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The 'Madeleine Case' under the magnifying glass EL PAÍs
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
