Joana Morais --- 11 months ago
Freud, Sir Clement, pages 193–4, 229, 233, 234
· "Thankfully, though, there were some nice surprises, too, arising in particular from the kindness and friendship of some wonderful people now entering our lives.
At the beginning of July we received the following letter:
Dear McCanns,
I have a house in P da L, been ashamed of the intrusion to your lives by our media . . . and if you would care to come to lunch/dinner at any time before Wednesday next, do ring and let me know.
I cook decent meals. Sincerely,
Clement Freud
I’m embarrassed to admit that Gerry and I thought this letter was a hoax; more embarrassing still, while we were vaguely aware of Sir Clement, we had to have our memories refreshed by Sandy and Justine before we could place him exactly. Mind you, he wore so many hats – humorist, MP, gourmet, gambler, press columnist, advertiser of dog food, radio and TV personality – that he was hard to pin down.
Gerry responded with a phone call and Sir Clement invited the seven of us there at that time – Gerry and myself with Sean and Amelie, plus Trisha, Sandy and Justine – to lunch the following day. He would be heading back to the UK a few hours later. Sir Clement was eighty-three by then, but his intellect was still razor-sharp (he was appearing on the demanding Radio 4 panel game Just a Minute right up to his death in 2009). I’m usually very intimidated by people with brains the size of planets, but Clement was incredibly warm, funny and instantly likeable. His opening words were ‘Can I interest you in a strawberry vodka?’ It was midday.
I hesitated for a split second, rapidly trying to work out if he was joking. His expression, as always, was deadpan. Not wanting to appear unsociable, I responded, ‘Er, OK then. That would be nice.’ Of course, Clement’s remark about cooking decent meals was tongue-in-cheek: among his other accomplishments, he had trained as a chef and was for many years a food writer and restaurant critic. I can confirm that the lunch he prepared for us that day was bloody marvellous: watercress and egg salad followed by a chicken and mushroom risotto – the best risotto we’ve ever tasted before or since. Clement cheered us up with his lugubrious wit, and would continue to do so by email after his return to England."
· "Clement Freud returned to Praia da Luz on 31 August and called Gerry that day. ‘Is it true, Gerry?’ he said, without preamble.
‘What’s that, Clement?’
‘That you’re close to a breakdown and needing medication?’
Very funny.
‘I have a lot of empathy with the Express though, you know,’ he went on.
For a split second Gerry thought he was serious. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Well, you see, we both suffer from poor circulation.’ Thank God for people like Clement who kept us smiling."
· "Our plans for the evening went out of the window. We cancelled an interview we were scheduled to give Paris Match and dinner with Clement Freud. Gerry rang DCS Bob Small, who was astounded by this latest development. He promised to make some phone calls. Bob was finally able to get hold of Luís Neves, who was reportedly out of the country. Luís claimed not to know anything about it."
· "At 9.50pm, I rang Clement. ‘Come on round,’ he said. ‘It’ll be nice to see you. But you’ll have to forgive my night-time attire.’
We found Clement watching a cookery programme, dressed, as promised, in his nightshirt. It was so ordinary and comforting, a bit like going to see your grandad after a horrible day at school. He gave me one of his looks and a giant glass of brandy, and managed to get a smile out of me with his greeting: ‘So, Kate, which of the devout Catholic, alcoholic, depressed, nymphomaniac parts is correct?’
His response to our catalogue of horrors was merely to raise an eyebrow. Clement had this way of making everything seem a little less terrible. When he heard about the dogs, he remarked laconically, ‘So what are they going to do? Put them on the stand? One bark for yes, two for no?’ He was right, of course; it was ridiculous.
A couple of hours later, fortified by our brandies (it was my first-ever taste of the stuff), some useful snippets of advice and several amusing anecdotes, we left our friend feeling quite a bit better than we had when we’d arrived. The shock of that day, and of what we were now facing, on top of the trauma of Madeleine’s absence, never left us for a second, but it was interludes like this that gave us just enough strength to carry on."
Joana Morais
Related: Emails between 'paedophile' Clement Freud and Madeleine McCann's parents to be probed for child sex abuse inquiry
Related: Revealed: Police launch probe into what Clement Freud knew about Maddie as we uncover new details about ex-MP's disturbing relationship with the McCanns
Related: Emails between McCanns and 'paedophile' MP Clement Freud set to be investigated
Related: E-mails sent to Kate and Gerry McCann by paedophile Clement Freud to be handed to inquiry
1 Kate and Gerry fled Portugal two days after being made suspects/arguidos
2 The UK police have never questioned Kate and Gerry
3 They used the Limited Company (fund) for litigation
4 The Portuguese police concluded the parents are complicit in their daughters disappearance
5 They deleted phone calls and text messages
6 The Portuguese police ruled out abduction in 2007
7 The parents neglected the children (Neglect can take many forms)
8 The media were informed before the police
9 The shutters were not jemmied, forced or smashed as claimed by the parents
10 No finger prints, DNA or foot prints from an abductor
11 No lichen disturbance on the window sill
12 Keela alerted at the back of the sofa in 5A (exact same spot as alerted to by Eddie)
13 Gerry failed to see the 'abductor' despite standing yards away talking to Jeremy Wilkins
14 Jane Tanners description of the abductor has changed many times
15 There has been no mention at all of the huge reward available
16 The parents never searched
17 Gerry informed people that Madeleine had been taken by paedophiles
18 Kate told Yvonne Martin that Madeleine had been taken by a childless couple
19 Kate refused to answer police questions
20 An independent witness saw the boot of the hire car left open, morning noon and night
21 Describing Madeleine sleeping that fateful night, Gerry said his daughter slept without covers whilst Kate said Maddie slept under the covers
22 Gerry was caught on camera laughing hysterically just a few days after his daughters disappearance
23 They hired cowboy detectives with no experience whatsoever of looking for missing children
24 The Smith sighting has been completely ignored by the McCanns
25 Jane didn't spot Apartment 5a's open shutters and window whilst walking back to her apartment at 9:45pm
26 A George Brooks saw a couple carrying a child at 5:55am on May 4th while he was driving between Lagos and Praia da Luz
27 Kate wrote in her book that they'd resumed their search the following morning yet they hadn't even searched the night before
28 . Matthew failed to spot the open window and shutters and whooshing curtains from Madeleine's bedroom while walking from his apartment back to the Tapas bar at around 09:35pm
29 Gerry contradicted Jeremy Wilkins by stating that their chat was on the opposite side of the street from that as described, and drawn on a map, by Jeremy Wilkins
30 Eddie(Cadaver) dog, positively alerted to the McCann's wardrobe in Apartment 5A
31 Jeremy Wilkins failed to see Jane Tanner walking by, despite being on the same narrow street at the same time
32 Russell O'Brien was allowed to make at least 34 amendments to his statements by Leicestershire police
33 David Payne claimed that when he visited Apartment 5A the patio door was open and he entered the apartment but Kate claims the door was shut and he stayed outside
34 Eddie alerted to the key of the McCann's hire car
35 Keela alerted to the boot area of the Renault Scenic hire car
36 None of the scent tracking dogs followed Jane Tanners 'abductor' trail
37 There was only Kates fingerprints on the inside of the window
38 Gerry planned concerts and events months in advance
39 Kate had to keep checking that the twins were still breathing that night. They never even woke up while they were being transferred from one apartment to another
40 They never visited countries where sightings happened but instead went to different countries to promote their campaign
41 They set up a limited company within days of their daughters disappearance
42 They have an online shop selling tacky memorabilia
43 Madeleine's bed didn't look as though it had been slept in
44 There were no footprints on the bed underneath the window
45 Eddie alerted to the veranda area outside the parents bedroom
46 Several of the Smith family witnessed a man carrying a child. The description of the man could fit Gerry McCann
47 The type of trousers described by the Smiths match those possessed by Gerry McCann
48 Kate complained about the speed of a police car when they raced against time to take her to the station after police received a new lead
49 Gerry laughed, joked and sucked on lollipops when a lead was being investigated
50 The refusal by all to do a reconstruction
51 Claiming that Eddie and Keela were unreliable the McCanns tried to blame dirty nappies, sweat, seabass, rotten meat, leaking meat, rubbish and Kates attendance to six dead bodies as the reasoning for the cadaver alerts
52 Kate states in her book that Gerry was searching with David Payne, but this isn't mentioned in their statements
53 Kate left the twins unattended while she returned to the Tapas bar to raise the alarm
54 Kate said "They've taken her"
55 Jane never bumped into Jeremy Wilkins (who had walked back to his apartment after the chat with Gerry) while walking back from her apartment at 9:20pm
56 Michael Wright confirmed an unpleasant smell in the McCann Renault Scenic hire car during the month of July
57 Sandy Cameron also noticed a strange odour in the McCanns hire car in July
58 As soon as Mark Harrison organised the search with the british dogs the McCanns started suspicious trips to a triangle between Budens, Raposeira and Sagres...
59 Mrs Fenn heard Madeleine crying for 1 hour and 15 minutes on May 1st, the crying stopped abruptly
60 Gerry McCann stated that David Payne had entered Apartment 5A to check on Madeleine and the twins on the evening of May 2nd, this statement was never followed up
61 All of the nannies in attendance in Praia da Luz were transferred to Greece on 13 May 2007 and were no longer available to the police
62 Matthew Oldfield described the curtains in Apartment 5A as being yellow and green when in fact they were pink and mauve
63 The Tapas friends have great difficulty pinpointing the exact times they last saw Madeleine
64 The McCanns had left apartment 5A around 5:00am when the police and all search groups had left the area.They were never asked where exactly they had gone
65 The McCanns returned the twins to the creche the very next day
66 Pressure was put upon the PJ to highlight the Tanner sighting at exactly the same time the Smiths returned to Praia da Luz to go over their sighting in more detail
67 The McCanns behaviour is not consistent of parents of a child abducted by paedophiles
68 The Gaspar Statements which detailed paedophilic behaviour between Gerry and David
69 Yvonne Martin (Social Worker) statement raised concerns about the same friend
70 Eddie alerted to Kates checquered trousers
71 Madeleine's missing pink blanket
72 Eddie alerted to cuddle cat
73 Intercepted emails which confirmed Madeleine's death
74 Giving the police photographs of a much younger Madeleine
75 Gerry McCann is photographed once as wearing the trousers that were descibed by the Smiths 'A cotton type material, striaght legged trousers, light beige in colour, possibly with buttons and without any pattern'
76 The Smith sighting can be corroborated by a restaurant bill for that evening and time
77 Russell O'Brien failed to notice the open window and shutters and whooshing curtains from Madeleine's bedroom while walking back from his apartment at 09:50pm
78 The Smith sighting was reported only once in an Irish newspaper. The McCanns didn't pick up on it even though it would confirm their 'abduction' story. The story is also ignored by the British main Stream media
79 Two years later the Smith sighting is introduced into the McCanns documenatry but the key points are changed to fit with Jane Tanners sighting
80 Jane Tanners sighting has now been ruled out
81 Gerry was away from the Tapas bar for longer than normal watching the football
82 No fibres were found
83 No signs of forced entry anywhere in Apartment 5A
84 Clarence Mitchell confirmed there hadn't been a break in
85 In one statement the curtains were open, in another they were closed
86 Gerry changed his statement regarding point of entry from front door to patio door
87 Geery said that Kate had entered Apartment 5A through the front door using the key, Kate said she entered through the patio door
88 Eddie alerted in the garden
89 Eddie alerted to a childs red t-shirt
90 Keela alerted to the McCanns hire car
91 Bodily fluids were found in the McCanns hire car
92 A witness saw a man carrying a child toward the beach, the witness statement has vanished
93 Kate denied body fluids being found in their hire car at the Leveson Inquiry whilst under oath
94 The body fluids point to refrigeration
95 Eddie alerted to a white blouse belonging to Kate
96 Despite Jane Tanner walking past Gerry and Jeremy she was neither seen or heard despite wearing flip flops
97 Jane did not infor Kate and gerry of the sighting immediately, only some of her friends. Searches were then directed in the opposite direction of the abductors route
98 The children were not left alone
99 Eddie alerted in the parents bedroom near the wardrobe
100 Eddie and Keela only alerted to the McCanns
