Interviews McCanns, family, friends

KATE TELLS OF NIGHTMARE

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Lori Campbell In Praia Da Luz [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 9/09/2007 [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Kate McCann (PA)

THE SEARCH FOR MADELEINE DAY 129 KATE McCANN EXCLUSIVE
Shell-shocked Kate McCann has given a dramatic, impassioned interview to the Sunday Mirror to denounce claims that she killed her own daughter.
Breaking down in tears, distraught Kate said of the Portuguese police: "They want me to lie - I'm being framed.
"Police don't want a murder in Portugal and all the publicity about them not having paedophile laws here, so they're blaming us."
Kate was speaking on Friday morning - after her first police interrogation this week, but before police officially classed her a suspect in her daughter Madeleine's disappearance.
And she addressed head-on the extraordinary allegation that she accidentally killed Madeleine, then hid the body and engaged in a monumental cover-up to pretend she had been abducted.
Furious at the astounding claims, Kate, 39, said of the police: "They are basically saying, 'If you confess Madeleine had an accident, and that I panicked and hid the body in a bag for a month then got rid of it in a hire car, I'd get two or three years' suspended sentence.'
"I was even told, 'Think about it - Gerry would even be able to work again'. I was told that I could say I was stressed and I sedated Madeleine and it could be the best option for me. It is ridiculous. The worst nightmare".
Devout Catholic Kate revealed that the Portuguese police have even taken her Bible away - in the apparent belief that a crumpled page from it relating to a dead child indicates a guilty conscience.
Kate said: "One of the pieces of evidence is that a page from a passage in Samuel about having to tell a man his child is dead is crumpled - so I must have been reading it.
"I mean how ridiculous is that? My faith is sorely tested."
Under Portuguese law, she can say no more until her suspect status is lifted - making her interview with us her only and final comment on the mind-boggling police allegations.
Kate spoke to the Sunday Mirror as she was being hauled back in for her second quizzing on Friday morning.
Later on Friday, she was officially classed a suspect - as was her husband Gerry, in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The couple have dutifully never discussed the police investigation until now, in accordance with Portuguese law - but besieged Kate felt that she had no option but to speak out.
Police offered the "confession" deal through her lawyer before Friday's police interview. Breaking down in tears, the GP from Rothley, Leics, said defiantly: "They're telling my lawyer this could be the best option for me and I was advised that, if I deny it, I'm now at the point of no return. But I will never lie for them."
She said her desire not to give in to police pressure was fuelled by the McCanns' burning desire for Madeleine to be found. "And I think, 'Sod us, what about Madeleine? This would mean people stop looking for her'." She added: "We were under 24-hour constant scrutiny after Madeleine was taken. Where would I have hidden a body? We had no vehicle even then."
Meanwhile, the Sunday Mirror has learned that Kate and Gerry, a surgeon, have made a pact not to cry in front of Portuguese police - however upsetting the questions they face.
"They have promised each other that they will not let the police break them," a friend said. "No matter how intolerable the questioning, they will maintain their resolve."
The police case against Kate and Gerry revolves around claims that traces of Madeleine's DNA were found in a Renault Scenic car hired for the McCanns by a representative of holiday firm Mark Warner 25 days after their daughter's disappearance.
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Kate said: "The police are going to say they have found bodily fluids from Madeleine in the car. It's impossible. We hired the car three-and-a-half weeks later."
In fact, when Kate was grilled for the second time, police repeatedly told her they had found blood in the Renault car but wouldn't say it was Madeleine's.
Sources close to the family say that, if Madeleine's DNA was in the car, it would be quite possible the traces got there from Madeleine's clothes and toys which the McCann twins Sean and Amelie had been playing with.
Her Dna would also be on her parents' clothes from where they cuddled and played with her. Kate said: "Five weeks ago, they took away all our clothes, items people had sent out for us."
A police dog sniffed out traces of corpses on Kate's clothes, it is said. "Apparently the dog started barking at my jeans and in the apartment," said Kate.
Friends have pointed out that GP Kate was present at several deaths before she went away on holiday.
"It was us who instigated and pushed for the searches," said exasperated Kate. "Would we have done that if we had something to hide? The British police have been great, they are totally behind us."
But she can no longer contain her fury at the Portuguese police's behaviour.
Kate fears the cost of the inquiry means police in Praia da Luz are anxious to get it over as soon as possible. "The Portuguese police are running out of budget for this investigation and want it to end," she said. "The British have been paying."
The McCanns' relations are at their side, but Kate fears for her 67-year-old dad Brian Healy, who suffers from Parkinson's. "This is so hard on them," she said.
So fearful are the McCanns that they are being framed they got a message through to Gordon Brown's office on Friday about the cruel twist of events.
It is believed a British consular official contacted police in Portugal to protest at the confession deal being put to Kate.
The McCanns have also asked if the American FBI could undertake a review of the case - but have been told it won't be possible.
Kate McCann gave this interview to The Sunday Mirror on Friday morning, hours before being made an arguida - official suspect - in the Madeleine inquiry.
THE BIBLE PASSAGE COPS SAY IS PROOF
The passage of the Holy Bible that fascinated Portuguese police came from The Old Testament. In Samuel, Book 2, Chapter 12, Verses 15-19, David's child is stricken with illness after he "scorns" the Lord.
David fasts for seven days, refusing to get up off the ground, to try and gain redemption - but eventually his child dies.
His servants have a dilemma as to whether to tell him as they are afraid that "he may do himself some harm". Eventually he guesses.
Police took Kate's Bible away because they said the page with the passage on was crumpled - evidence that she had been reading it.

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Why aren't the McCanns more keen for their friends to speak out on their behalf?


By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE
Last updated at 23:56 08 September 2007

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They are the key witnesses to Madeleine's disappearance - the friends of Kate and Gerry McCann who could help unlock the mystery of what happened that fateful night.
But despite their knowledge they have strangely said virtually nothing in four months.
As the McCanns embarked on a global publicity campaign to find their daughter, the group of friends closest to the couple - and who were dining with them on May 3 when Madeleine vanished - were reluctant to talk.
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SILENT: Rachael Oldfield, Dr Fiona Payne and Dr Russell O'Brien, who were with the McCanns in Portugal
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That was only too evident when there was a report that a female member of the close-knit group might have seen Madeleine being carried away from the family's holiday apartment.
It was said the witness had become racked with guilt because, thinking the toddler was the man's own child, she had made no attempt to stop him.
She reported her sighting to Portuguese detectives but, despite the massive media campaign, refused to talk publicly about what she had seen.
Anxious to confirm the report at the time, The Mail on Sunday asked one of the McCanns' friends, Dr Fiona Payne, for an interview.
Initially she strongly indicated that she was prepared to talk to this newspaper but changed her mind when the McCanns inexplicably advised her against it.
Dr Payne and her husband David, a senior research fellow at Leicester University, and Mrs Payne's mother Dianne Webster had been dining with the McCanns at the tapas bar near their apartment when Madeleine vanished.
The Paynes have two children, but were said to be the only ones in the group using a baby monitor that night.
They were among those who stayed on in the Algarve to support the McCanns for several weeks after Madeleine's disappearance.
Dr Payne has made no ontherecord comments apart from saying people should not attach "any significance" to claims against the McCanns being reported in the Portuguese press.
Dr Russell O'Brien, who also dined with the McCanns that night, has only said that suggestions that Kate and Gerry had been involved were "completely untrue and extremely hurtful".
He is understood to have left the table some time after 9pm to attend to his own daughter, who had become ill with vomiting.
Another member of the McCanns' party, recruitment consultant Rachael Oldfield, has supported the couple and also told people to ignore what they read in Portuguese newspapers.
In the first week of the investigation, a doctor at whose Midlands surgery Kate McCann worked as a part-time locum told The Mail on Sunday he wanted to offer £100,000 for information leading to Madeleine's safe return.
The wealthy GP, who is also a property developer, asked to remain anonymous. He became emotional as he told our reporter that Madeleine's disappearance had reminded him of when his brother's daughter had once gone missing for 20 minutes.
But later he oddly became reluctant to discuss the matter and became hostile towards approaches from this newspaper.
The doctor's wife expressed fears that if his identity was revealed, his wealth might encourage somebody to take their three young daughters hostage for ransom.
She claimed her husband had to take a week off work because his surgery had been besieged by calls from the media.
Yesterday, the doctor and his wife refused to comment on the latest developments in the case.

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''Friends have pointed out that GP Kate was present at several deaths before she went away on holiday.
"It was us who instigated and pushed for the searches," said exasperated Kate. "Would we have done that if we had something to hide? The British police have been great, they are totally behind us."
But she can no longer contain her fury at the Portuguese police's behaviour.''

The British police had absolutely no right to show the McCanns that they were ''totally behind'' the McCanns. One would have wished to have all those British officers questioned after reading that Kate McCann had dared to say this.

One officer who arrived in Portugal, quite deliberately removed his green and yellow wristband upon familiarising himself with the police files. Therefore Kate McCann is wicked to suggest that the British police were in direct conflict with the Portuguese police.

That was a very shrewd remark from her to make it seems like the UK police were on their side.
Smoke screen as usual.

Madeleine's parents: 'British police are bugging our phone calls and emails'


By DAN NEWLING
Last updated at 12:14 20 September 2007

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Kate and Gerry McCann are convinced they are being bugged by British police.

They believe their mobile phone calls and emails are being monitored by detectives collecting evidence on behalf of the Portuguese investigation.
As a result they and some of their friends and supporters go to great lengths to avoid being overheard when they are discussing sensitive issues in the case of missing Madeleine, meetforing face-to-face or talking on landlines which they believe to be harder to intercept.
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Surveillance targets? Gerry and Kate McCann, pictured yesterday, are being ultra cautious about their conversations, say friends
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Their suspicions were first aroused by questions they were asked by Portuguese police which were based on information that could only have come from private conversations.
During lengthy interviews when they were first made suspects, they were asked questions which implied they had conspired during mobile phone conversations to hide who was at the dinner party - and when - on the night that Madeleine disappeared.
They are also thought to have been asked why the toddler's Cuddle Cat toy was washed twice - information that could well have come from surveillance of phone calls.
Although the couple have been back home in Rothley, Leicestershire, for 12 days, they fear the practice is continuing. A source close to the family said:
"The assumption is that it is taking place. Everyone involved is very careful, particularly with their mobile phone calls and what they say.
"There was an assumption from the early days that their mobile communications were unsafe and could be listened to.
"They believed it in Portugal and they believe that is still happening now that they are back home.
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Madeleine McCann: Missing since May 3rd

"Gerry will often refuse to talk on a mobile phone - he prefers to use landlines as he considers that they are safer. They feel they are being watched at all times."
The source added: "It would be entirely wrong to say that their phone conversations are in any way furtive as a result of this.
"They are entirely innocent and have nothing whatsoever to hide - but they are being understandably cautious about what they say on the phone and in emails.
"They would obviously not want to disclose the way in which they plan to conduct their defence."
Leicestershire police yesterday refused to comment on the allegation.
But a senior police source said: "It is highly likely to be happening. There would need to be high-level meetings before anything like this could be done.
"But if I were someone in Government I would have got it done anyway to make sure that we knew as much as possible, given that the case involves UK citizens."
Dr Russell O'Brien and Jane Tanner, who were both on holiday with the McCanns, have spoken to friends of their belief that their phones were tapped in Portugal.
Portuguese detectives have reportedly admitted monitoring the emails of Robert Murat, the British expat in Praia da Luz who became the first suspect in the case.
However, this is the first time that anyone involved in the case has claimed the practice is taking place in Britain. A spokesman for the McCanns refused to comment.
? Police fitted a tracking device to the McCanns' hire car, it was claimed last night, to monitor their precise movements in the days after they came under suspicion.
A gadget the size of a wallet is capable of transmitting a signal to satellites - like a Sat Nav system in reverse - enabling police to watch where the couple go.
It is claimed the device was installed in the Renault Scenic during the 48 hours the police had the car in early August to gather forensic samples. It could have been placed in the boot or attached using a magnet under the bonnet.
It explains why detectives returned the hire car to the McCanns after their tests rather than impounding it.
"The police are not fools - they did not give the car back without reason," said a Portuguese source with knowledge of the investigation.
"They wanted to see where it would go and would have used a tracking device."
? Portuguese detectives have taken a step closer to being able to search the McCann family home.
Policia Judiciaria detectives believe something inside the Leicestershire house could yield a vital clue and have sought approval from the judge in the case to ask British officers to carry out the raid.
Yesterday Judge Pedro Miguel dos Anjos Frias agreed to the request.
• Portuguese police would have needed to apply directly to the Home Office for permission to bug a UK citizen's telephone or emails.
They would have filed a Mutual Legal Assistance request, which is the only formal way for a foreign police force to obtain evidence from another country.
Providing that the request is legal under UK law - the relevant law in this case would have been the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - the request would then be passed to the Home Secretary for final approval.
British police would also need Home Office permission to carry out telephone and computer taps.
Between January 2005 and March last year, the Home Office approved 440,000 requests for permission to intercept personal communications.
Most of these would be seeking telephone numbers one particular phone has called. Only a very small proportion would have been for permission to listen in on a call or read an email.


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A couple of interesting bits ............. I always wondered how the PJ knew cuddlecat had been washed. Secondly why would you worry about being bugged and what you said if you are innocent.

This is interesting yet another version of how Madeleine was found missing, according to GM. What happened to the door being left at certain angles, and they knew it was at a different angle etc etc.

Madeleine's father's chilling belief: 'Kidnapper was hiding in flat when I checked on her', 22 September 2007

Madeleine's father's chilling belief: 'Kidnapper was hiding in flat when I checked on her' Daily Mail Last updated at 15:42 22 September 2007 Madeleine McCann's parents say they believe that an intruder hid inside their holiday apartment before snatching their daughter from her bed. Gerry McCann says he is convinced that, when he checked on Madeleine at 9.05pm on the evening she disappeared, the abductor was somewhere inside the ground-floor flat. He thinks that the intruder - who would have entered the flat through an unlocked patio door - would have pounced almost immediately after he left. It would have taken seconds to scoop up the little girl and escape through a bedroom window. If Mr McCann's theory is correct, it means that he would have been within yards of his daughter's abductor - and could easily have stumbled upon him or her. Yesterday a friend of the family claimed that having thought back over the events of May 3, Mr McCann recalls noticing that Madeleine's bedroom door was open when he went to check on her. He thinks that the door was left open because the intruder did not have time to shut it when he heard Mr McCann approaching. According to the friend, the intruder would have hidden himself somewhere else in the flat - possibly the bathroom or the master bedroom -whilst Mr McCann checked on his children. As soon as he left, the kidnapper struck. The McCanns are convinced Madeleine was being watched during the course of their week-long holiday in the Algarve. She went missing on the sixth day of their break and they are convinced she was stolen to order. The Evening Standard yesterday revealed that Kate McCann first realised something was wrong when she went to open the bedroom door to check on her daughter at 10pm. She said a blast of wind from the open window in the bedroom caused the door to slam shut as she held it. Discovering that Madeleine was not in her bed, she then frantically searched the apartment three times - spending as much as 10 minutes doing so - before racing out screaming: "Madeleine's gone, Madeleine's gone." The girl was six days short of her fourth birthday when she went missing. The McCanns now believe the abductor got in the apartment more than an hour before the alarm was raised. Mr McCann checked on the children at 9.05pm and saw Madeleine asleep in her bed with the twins Sean and Amelie in cots beside her. But the door to the bedroom was open and although Mr McCann thought nothing of it at the time, he is now certain he had previously shut it. A source close to the family today told the Standard: "When Gerry went to check on Madeleine he realised the bedroom door was open. Gerry is firmly of the view the abductor was already in the apartment. "When he went in he saw Madeleine was asleep but the bedroom door was slightly open. He thought, 'That is odd' because he had left it firmly closed. But all the children were asleep. So he just went in and closed the door again and came out at about 9.10pm. "Gerry is convinced the man must have been hiding and once Gerry went out through the patio doors the only way out for the abductor was through the window. "The front door was locked so the kidnapper took Madeleine and climbed out of the window. "The theory is the man came in through the patio doors, knowing he has a few minutes until the McCanns' next check. The rear doors are out of sight from the tapas bar where the McCanns and their friends are eating. "The abductor goes in and he hides and when Gerry goes into the bedroom, he just thinks he didn't close the bedroom door properly. "When Gerry leaves, the man realises he only has a few minutes. He thinks the only way to get out without being seen is through the window," the source added. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

McCann family reverse story over break-in 'evidence'

• Thursday October 25 2007
  

THE spokesman for the family of Madeleine McCann has reversed a statement made in the early days of the search for the missing child.
Speaking to RTE's 'Prime Time', Clarence Mitchell said she could "easily" have been kidnapped by an abductor who did not leave the trail of a break-in.
However, in the early part of the hunt, friends and family members told journalists that the shutter on the apartment where the McCanns were staying had been broken.
Mr Mitchell made his comments when questioned by a 'Prime Time' team in a report on the disappearance to be screened tomorrow. "There was no evidence of a break-in," said Mr Mitchell.
"I'm not going into the detail, but I can say that Kate and Gerry are firmly of the view that somebody got into the apartment and took Madeleine out the window as their means of escape, and to do that they did not necessarily have to tamper with anything. They got out of the window fairly easily."
Of the criticism that the McCanns left their children by themselves on four evenings while they went for dinner, Mr Mitchell said there was a cultural difference between Britain and Portugal.
"It is a British approach to get your children washed, bathed and in bed early in the evening if you can so you can have something of the evening to yourself. That is the British way of doing things. It doesn't mean it's wrong. It doesn't mean it's right," he said.
"Nobody feels more guilty than Gerry and Kate over the decision they took jointly to leave their children in that position that night. And they will never forgive themselves. They've said this often.
"Nobody feels more guilty than they that Madeleine was alone when she was taken. However, they felt they had a perfectly proper system of checking (her in place)."

- Shane Hickey

candyfloss wrote:McCann family reverse story over break-in 'evidence'

• Thursday October 25 2007
  

THE spokesman for the family of Madeleine McCann has reversed a statement made in the early days of the search for the missing child.
Speaking to RTE's 'Prime Time', Clarence Mitchell said she could "easily" have been kidnapped by an abductor who did not leave the trail of a break-in.
However, in the early part of the hunt, friends and family members told journalists that the shutter on the apartment where the McCanns were staying had been broken.
Mr Mitchell made his comments when questioned by a 'Prime Time' team in a report on the disappearance to be screened tomorrow. "There was no evidence of a break-in," said Mr Mitchell.
"I'm not going into the detail, but I can say that Kate and Gerry are firmly of the view that somebody got into the apartment and took Madeleine out the window as their means of escape, and to do that they did not necessarily have to tamper with anything. They got out of the window fairly easily."
Of the criticism that the McCanns left their children by themselves on four evenings while they went for dinner, Mr Mitchell said there was a cultural difference between Britain and Portugal.
"It is a British approach to get your children washed, bathed and in bed early in the evening if you can so you can have something of the evening to yourself. That is the British way of doing things. It doesn't mean it's wrong. It doesn't mean it's right," he said.
"Nobody feels more guilty than Gerry and Kate over the decision they took jointly to leave their children in that position that night. And they will never forgive themselves. They've said this often.
"Nobody feels more guilty than they that Madeleine was alone when she was taken. However, they felt they had a perfectly proper system of checking (her in place)."

- Shane Hickey

Gerry McCann also said that Madeleine was alone when she was taken, that would explain why there was no bedding in the twins cots and why Kate McCann ran to the Tapas Bar for help, when she "discovered" Madeleine missing.

It would also explain why Kate McCann, wouldn't answer Sandra Felgueiras, when in a media interview, she asked Kate McCann why did she leave the twins in their apartment to run for help. When she didn't reply, Sandra asked her again, she still didn't reply, in fact she changed the subject. I was willing Sandra to ask her again, but she didn't, she probably knew that Kate McCann wouldn't answer her.

What could she possibly have answered?