The Red flags that first raised the question of what really happened to Madeleine.

The McCanns first reactions

http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/Nigel/id31.htm

Discussion on CMOMM here:  https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t14729-the-mccanns-first-reactions


The First Reactions

 
Here we read the first reactions from Kate and Gerry's closest family and friends, immediately after they have been contacted individually with the news that Madeleine has been 'abducted'.
 
Note how consistent the stories are that an 'abductor' gained access to a locked apartment by breaking open the shutter on the bedroom window and escaping by the front door.
 
The story changed later when it became clear the shutters on the window had not been forced, were not damaged in any way and could only be opened from inside the apartment.
 
From that point, the McCanns became convinced that an 'abductor' had entered through 'open' patio doors and escaped through the open shuttered window.
 
Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' spokesman, is eventually forced to admit that "There was no evidence of a break-in".

Gerry rings his sister, Trish Cameron, at 23:40 on 03 May 2007
Heart specialist Gerry McCann rang his sister Trish in Scotland after Maddy vanished from her cot placed between two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
Trish revealed yesterday: "He was breaking his heart, saying 'Madeleine's been abducted, she's been abducted'."
Trish said: "When Kate checked, she came out screaming. Maddy had gone. The door was open and the window in the bedroom and shutters were jemmied open. Nothing had been touched and no valuables taken."
"Kate came screaming back to the group crying, 'They’ve taken her, they’ve taken her'. Gerry was crying and roaring like a bull."
"They think someone must have come in the window and gone out the door with her."
Link to Daily Mirror article containing this quote
Frantic search for toddler, 04 May 2007
Frantic search for toddler BBC East Midlands Today (video)



Eileen McCann and Trish Cameron (with script)

04 May 2007

A frantic search is continuing for a three-year-old girl who has gone missing on holiday in Portugal.

(00:01:42)

----------------------

Transcript

By Nigel Moore

Reporter: Well, the McCann family, Gerry and Kate, with their twins and three-year-old Madeleine went on holiday to Portugal last Saturday, from their home in Rothley, in Leicestershire. They'd gone to a popular resort on the coast of the Algarve with a group of other families; nine adults; eight children; all on holiday together. Now, last night Madeleine and the twins were left sleeping in their room, while her parents had a meal in a restaurant two hundred yards away - and they did regular checks on them - but at ten o'clock last night there was a huge shock for Kate. Madeleine's aunt who lives in Scotland, takes up the story.

Trish Cameron: They last checked at half past nine; they were all sound asleep, sleeping; windows shut; shutters shut. Kate went back at ten o'clock to check; the front door was lying open; the window had been tampered with; the shutters had been jammied open... or whatever you call it, and Madeleine was missing.

Reporter: Madeleine's disappearance led to a frantic search. Some of the guests were out looking for the little girl all night; the police brought in sniffer dogs. The group of friends in Portugal with the McCanns are devastated.

Rachael Oldfield: Some people are... are out looking again, as well, errm... you know, everyone at the resort has been great and they're doing everything they can to help.

Reporter: The owners of the Ocean Club resort, the Mark Warner holiday firm, have offered to fly out more family members to support the McCanns.

John Hill: The parents were regularly checking, errm... through the, errr... the french windows of their apartment, errm... and between, errm... errr... ten... ten o'clock and ten fifteen, errm... the alarm was raised that Maddie was missing from that room.

Reporter: Today Madeleine's parents have been giving statements to the police. Their friends say they just can't believe what's happened. The family were due to fly home tomorrow to their home in Rothley.
Kate rings childhood friend, Linda McQueen, at 2:00am
Yesterday Linda recalled how she had spoken to Kate at about 2am on the night Madeleine vanished.
"She just said, 'Somebody's taken Madeleine, somebody's taken Madeleine.' She sounded shocked and frantic and was just trying to get everything up and running to find her. It was just awful. This cold, icy feeling came over you."
Link to Daily Mail for this quote
*
It seems slightly odd that Kate McCann should feel the need to phone a childhood friend at 2:00am in the morning - after all, what could she do to help?
It's also interesting that Linda McQueen says that Kate 'was trying to get everything up and running to find her'. Surely, Kate would have been better employed 'up and running' looking for Madeleine herself rather than ringing a childhood friend who was in no position to offer any help.
It appears to show that the McCanns were already embarked on a campaign.
Why did they need to get 'everything up and running' when the police were already there? How could they think so logically at a time of high emotions, extreme stress and desperation.
We have been told by friends and relatives that the McCanns were absolutely devastated and uncontrollable with grief - yet they had the calm presence of mind to undertake a carefully organised system of phone calls to friends and relatives to get 'everything up and running'.
Were the friends and relatives simply used by the McCanns in order to provide a smokescreen for their real aim - which was to shift attention away from themselves and unleash a typhoon of media comments that would wipe out all oppostion to their story?
Kate rings another close friend, Jon Corner, at 03:00am
Jon Corner, a close friend of Mrs McCann and godparent of the twins, said Kate telephoned him in the middle of the night distraught.
He said: "She just blurted out that Madeleine had been abducted. She told me, 'They have broken the shutter on the window and taken my little girl.'
"They had left the apartment locked while they were having their meal, but when they went back the last time they saw the damage."
After speaking to her a second time, he repeated his earlier account, but this time in stronger language
He told how tearful Kate sobbed down the phone early yesterday: "Someone has taken my little girl."
He continued: "She was in an absolutely hysterical state - very, very distressed. She blurted out Madeleine had been abducted.
"Kate said the shutters of the room were smashed. Madeleine was missing It looks as though someone had gone straight past the twins to get to her. Kate was incredibly upset. I've spoken to her since, and she's still completely devastated.
"She's also very upset that the police don't seem to be doing more to find Madeleine. She thinks there's too little happening."
The Liverpool Daily Post also speaks to Jon Corner and reports a very similar conversation:
Jon Corner, founder of Liverpool-based River Media, is godfather to the McCann’s twins and his wife has known Mrs McCann since they were both three. The co-founder of city centre-based River Media, and a father-of-three himself, said: “Kate phoned me in the early hours totally devastated."
"She just told me that Maddy had been abducted, that the shutters of the apartment had been forced and someone had taken her."
"Maddy was asleep in the room with Sean and Amelie and whoever has taken her has gone straight past the sleeping twins, left them completely alone and snatched Maddy."
"Kate is just so distressed. She doesn’t know what to do. It has knocked me and everyone else for six. It doesn’t actually seem real."
Link to Daily Telegraph article - original quote from Jon Corner
Link to Daily Mirror article - second quote from Jon Corner
Link to Liverpool Daily Post article - third quote from Jon Corner
Kate/Gerry ring another friend, Jill Renwick, at 07:00am
Jill Renwick, a family friend, told GMTV at 7:45am, on the morning of 04 May, that the distraught parents were certain that Madeline had been abducted. "They were just watching the hotel room and going back every half-hour."
She said the parents went out about 8pm, checked on the children at 9pm and then when they "went back in at 10pm she was gone".
Ms Renwick said: "Poor Kate and Gerry don't know where to turn. She's obviously been taken as she couldn't have gone out on her own and the shutters had been forced open."
"The shutters had been broken open and they've gone into the room and taken her."
Speaking to the BBC later, Ms Renwick said the McCanns, who had been holidaying with three other British families, had felt let down by police in Portugal. "I spoke to them this morning and they said the police had done nothing overnight and they felt as if they'd been left on their own. They just don't know where to turn."
However, the manager at the Mark Warner resort, John Hill said the police had been doing all they could. He said around 60 staff and guests at the complex had searched until 4.30am while police notified border police, Spanish police and airports.
Female Tapas group member quoted Daily Mirror 05 May 2007
A woman friend of the McCanns - one of their holiday party of nine adults and eight children - said: "We went for dinner at 8.45pm in a restaurant near the apartments as we've done every night.
"A parent from each family went back to check on the children every half hour.
"Someone checked at 9.15. But when Kate went later Madeleine had gone.
"The window shutters, which had been closed since we arrived on Saturday, were open along with the window. They can be opened from the outside.
"The window opens on to a car park. The door to the room was shut. It looks as if someone has come through the window and possibly left through the door."
Link to Daily Mirror article containing this quote
*
This is a very interesting quote atributed to 'a woman friend of the McCanns'. Although the woman friend is unnamed, judging by the time they say they arrived at the tapas restaurant, it is most likely this was Rachael Oldfield speaking. Fiona Payne and Diane Webster are not believed to have arrived until 8.55pm. It is interesting for 6 reasons:
1) Before Jane Tanner's appearance on Panorama in November, this was the only quote to come from a tapas group member that specifically spoke about the events of that night, May 3rd.
2) It clearly implies that the last check was done at 9.15pm, before Kate discovered Madeleine missing at 10.00pm. This fits in with Gerry's check at 9.05pm but would appear to cast doubt on Matthew Oldfield's alleged check at 9.30pm.
3) She states how the window shutters which 'had been closed since we arrived on Saturday, were open along with the window'. This makes it even more remarkable that, on 6 separate occasions, members of the group walked past them and didn't see, or register, they were wide open and supposedly damaged. Jane Tanner walked past 3 times, Russell O'Brien walked past twice and Matthew Oldfield allegedly stood in the apartment , at the entrance to the room, and had a 'cursory' look inside. The window, behind the shutter, would almost certainly have needed to be forced or smashed to gain entry - there was no evidence of any forced entry anywhere in the apartment.
4) She states that the window shutters 'can be opened from the outside' but we know this to be incorrect. It is impossible to open the shutters from the outside. The shutters are made from heavy metal and are ratcheted so they can only be opened from the inside the apartment.
5) She continues: 'The door to the room was shut'. This clearly contradicts Kate's later story that the door had been open. Kate stated that she immediately knew there had been an abduction because, as she opened the patio doors, the door slammed shut when the wind whistled through the apartment.
6) She reaffirms the version of events reported in the immediate phone calls to Kate and Gerry's family/friends, that the 'abductor' entered through the window and escaped by the front door. Yet, we are now led to believe that the abductor entered through open patio doors and escaped by the window. How could she get this so wrong when she was actually there?
"the apartment... was locked" Philomena McCann, Gerry McCann's sister
Philomena McCann, said on 04 May: "Some people may ask why they left the children alone in the apartment but it was locked and they had a full view of the front door and they were checking every half hour."
 
Link to Daily Mail article containing this quote
Philomena McCann talks to Sky News 05 May 2007

 
'It Is Abhorent To Suggest Bad Parenting'
Last night the family of Madeline McCann made an emotional appeal for her return, 24 hours after she vanished from her bed in the Algarve while her parents were having dinner nearby. The little girl's Aunt, Philomena McCann says the family is devastated.
00:02:28
*
Note: Philomena says she has spoken to Gerry ''several times'' and she is still recounting the 'abductor through the window' scenario, when she says ''It is obvious that someone, with malicious intent, went through that window.''
When Ian Woods asks: ''Is there a temptation for them to get out and try and search themselves...'' Philomena replies: ''Yeah, well, I mean for Gerry and Kate they want to get out there, they want to search everything, they want to leave nothing unturned.'' - Yet Kate later admits, in the McCanns first interview with Jane Hill from the BBC, that she never actually did any physical searching. There are also no reports that Gerry ever searched beyond the first few immediate hours after Madeleine's disappearance.

Gerry tells Brian Healy the shutters were broken and the door was open, 05 May 2007
"Gerry told me when they went back the shutters to the room were broken, they were jemmied up and she was gone," said Mr Healy. "She'd been taken from the chalet. The door was open."
 
Full article:
 
Grandfather: evidence that three-year old was snatched Guardian
 
Sandra Laville and Dale Fuchs in Faro
Saturday May 5 2007
 
The grandfather of a three-year-old snatched from her parents' holiday apartment in the Algarve said yesterday that there was clear evidence she had been abducted.
 
Police helicopters flew over Praia de la Luz yesterday as the hunt intensified for Madeleine McCann, who went missing from her bedroom in the apartment on Thursday night.
 
Teams of officers used sniffer dogs to scour the resort, in the south-west of Portugal, where Gerald McCann, a cardiac surgeon, and his wife Kate, had taken their three young children - Madeleine and her younger brother and sister, who are twins - for a week-long holiday.
 
Mark Warner, the holiday firm which runs the luxury resort, claimed last night there was no sign of a break in at the ground floor apartment overlooking the sea. But Brian Healy, Madeleine's maternal grandfather, told the Guardian his son-in-law had phoned him shortly after returning to the apartment from a nearby restaurant to find Madeleine had disappeared.
 
"Gerry told me when they went back the shutters to the room were broken, they were jemmied up and she was gone," said Mr Healy. "She'd been taken from the chalet. The door was open."
 
Mr Healy flew to Portugal yesterday to lend support to his daughter Kate, 39, who is a Leicester GP, and son-in-law Gerry, 38, a consultant cardiologist at the city's Glenfield Hospital. He denied suggestions that the couple had simply left their three children alone while they ate in a restaurant.
 
"It is not right to say that they just left them," said Mr Healy. "They could see the chalet from where they were sitting in the restaurant, they were a hundred yards away. They went back every half hour to check on the children. When they returned at the end of their meal she was gone. My daughter can hardly speak. She is distraught, she is crying and in shock."
'apartment was locked up' - Liverpool Daily Post 06 May 2007
The McCanns made sure the toddler, who turns four next week, and her two-year-old twin brother and sister, Sean and Amelie, were sound asleep, and that their apartment was locked up.
But between their checks at 9.30pm and 10pm the apartment was broken into through a window and Madeleine was taken, according to the young girl’s aunt, Trish Cameron.
Link to full Liverpool Daily Post article
Timesonline 06 May 2007
At 9.30pm Gerry McCann checked his children and they were sound asleep, with Madeleine lying with her comfort blanket. Thirty minutes later his wife returned and found Madeleine gone and the shutter of the rear window open.
 
Silvia Batisa, head of administration at the complex, helped to comfort the family and interpret their interviews with the police: "The parents were devastated, in a panic. They wanted more police and dogs immediately. Kate said all the time, 'Please find my daughter’ and ‘Madeleine is beautiful'."
 
She recalled that the twins were still asleep in their two cots and there was the small, bright pink wool blanket that Madeleine likes to hold when she sleeps. "We walked out quickly so as not to wake up the twins. The parents immediately said, 'She’s been kidnapped'," said Batisa.
 
Link to complete Timeonline article
 
*
 
There are 2 particularly interesting things in this report:
 
1) It again highlights, despite a number of other possibilities, the McCanns immediate insistance that Madeleine had been kidnapped.
 
2) It casts doubt on the belief that 'Cuddle Cat' was Madeleine's sleep comforter, instead it suggests, from this report, that her comforter was a 'small, bright pink wool blanket'. This is later confirmed by David James Smith's article published on 16 December 2007 which states that Madeleine 'was lying almost in “the recovery position” with Cuddle Cat, the toy her godfather, John Corner, had bought her, and her comfort blanket up near her head'.
Susan Healy's account of first conversations with Gerry and Kate
On 23 October 2007, Spanish TV aired an interview with Susan Healy, Kate's mother.
 
In the interview, Mrs Healy revealed details of the first frantic calls she received from Gerry and Kate after Madeleine went missing. The first call she received was from Gerry and the call from Kate came an hour later.
 
She said: "Kate rang me and said, 'She's gone, mum. She's gone', the night Madeleine disappeared.
 
"I was able to say to her, 'We'll be able to get her back'. I'm finding it harder to say that. But we're not going to acknowledge she's gone from our life altogether. She's too important for that."
 
She also revealed that she initially thought there had been a crash when Gerry called her on the night of May 3.
 
She said: "Gerry phoned me and said, 'There's been a disaster. It's a disaster'. I thought there had been a car accident. He was hysterical. It took me a while to realise. He just said 'Madeleine has been abducted from her bed'."
 
Susan then talked about how Kate had clung to her Catholic faith since Madeleine's disappearance.
 
She said: "It was as if she started to ask God straight away to give her Madeleine. Possibly, she feels that there has to be a greater thing that helps her to get Madeleine back, something that has more power than we have."
 
In the interview, in which she was joined by husband Brian, she was asked about the fact that police believe Kate killed Madeleine by accident.
 
She said: "I don’t understand the fact that Kate's been made an arguido. I know it's rubbish and because I believe things usually work out, I'm reasonably confident this will go away. For Madeleine to be dead, that's something that could never be rectified."
 
Describing the scene she and husband Brian found, at the McCanns’ holiday apartment after they flew to the Algarve, she added: "Kate and Gerry were hysterical. Their voices were out of control and I think it was just blind panic and fear that they couldn’t get through to police or to anybody to make it clear they felt Madeleine had been abducted. They were afraid every minute that was lost was crucial to getting her back."
 
"My daughter is very placid, very easy-tempered and I saw her scream at the British consul that night; shout down the phone at him to get someone to do something."   
 
And in a final message to her granddaughter, Susan said: "Madeleine, you know how loved you are. You know how much your mummy and daddy want you back. Stay strong and we'll get you back."
 
Brian Healy added in a whisper: "We will keep searching."
 
McCanns 'left patio doors unlocked' for 'fear of fire', 13 May 2007
Madeleine's parents 'left patio doors unlocked' Daily Mail
 
Last updated at 16:53pm on 13th May 2007
 
Police in Portugal are working on the theory that Madeleine was snatched through patio doors left unlocked by her parents as they dined just 40 yards away.
 
Until now, it was believed that shutters at the front of the apartment had been jemmied open by the little girl's abductors.
 
But Chief Inspector Olegario Sousa, spokesman for the investigation, has confided in British former Chief Inspector Albert Kirby that neither the windows nor their shutters had been tampered with.
 
Mr Kirby, who led the investigation into the abduction and murder of Liverpool-born toddler Jamie Bulger, revealed that it was the unlocked patio doors of the apartment that allowed Madeleine to be taken away swiftly and quietly.
 
Sources close to the investigation also confirmed that police attention was solely focused on the back of the apartment, which leads on to a small garden easily accessible from a public path through a gateway.
 
Gerry and Kate McCann would have used the patio doors as they checked on their daughter and her twin siblings during their meal near the Mark Warner holiday complex swimming pool and it is these doors that were left unsecured.
 
The McCanns and all their friends on the holiday left their patio doors open throughout the evenings for fear of fire.
 
Mr Kirby told The Mail on Sunday: "I had a very interesting chat with the officer in charge. The window shutters are not an issue.
 
"Their mechanism makes them almost impossible to open. The door was left unlocked. They did that every night.
 
"I think the police have a very specific understanding of what they are looking for."
 
Mr Kirby believes Portuguese police will solve the case of the missing toddler within days. He said: "I am impressed by the investigation. I have a feeling we will have a result by the end of the next week."
 
*
 
There is considerable doubt that the patio doors were ever left open, but, for arguments sake, if they were left open 'for fear of fire' then that would be a very serious admission to make. For it would show that they accepted there was risk of fire and, more significantly, were aware of this risk. Yet, they continued to leave their children alone and unattended, despite being aware that they were placing them at risk. This would add considerable support to any possible neglect charges.

McCanns reverse 'break in evidence', 25 October 2007
McCann family reverse story over break-in 'evidence' Irish Independent
By Shane Hickey
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
*
Note: On Martin Brunt's documentary 'The Mystery of Madeleine McCann, aired on 24 December 2007, Prof David Barclay, one of Britain's top forensic consultants said: "I think it's impossible for somebody to get in and out, through that window without leaving a forensic trace. Apart from anything else, the window sills in that area are covered in green lichen. The minute you try and scrape over the window sills you would have left marks and we know that the scenes of crime lady, the next morning, was looking for exactly that."
Interestingly, Clarence Mitchell's statement about the McCanns reversal of their 'break in' story, came one week after Dispatches aired the documentary 'Searching For Madeleine' on 18 October 2007. In that documentary, it was effectively proved that there was no way anybody could break into the apartment and leave no forensic trace or damage to the lightweight aluminium shutters, which are covered with a fine coating of polyurethane paint which marks extremely easily.
They also tested the thumb prints, that showed up under the red dust of the forensic fingerprint powder, and proved the prints came from somebody moving the shutter from inside the apartment.
Again, Prof Dave Barclay said: "We must be very careful that we're not saying this is actually staging but it's difficult to see how anybody could have interefered with those shutters, from outside, without leaving some trace. In fact, having looked at them, I think it's almost impossible."
Grief, 10 April 2008
Grief, 10 April 2008

Excerpts the Rogatory interviews of Rachael Oldfield, Fiona Payne and Russell O'Brien, in which they comment on the McCanns' grief in the minutes immediately following Madeleine's reported disappearance.

Thanks to KazLux for compilation

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Rachael Oldfield in an interview with the Leicestershire Police, April 2008

Q: "On realising Madeleine had not been found in the first ten minutes, how did Kate react?"

RO: "She was really upset, she was hysterical, really distressed, crying and screaming, there's no way she could have acted that, or anyone could have in fact, I don't think, not even an actress."

Q: "On realising Madeleine had not been found in the first ten minutes, how did Gerry react?"

RO: "Very similar to Kate, it was, you know, screaming, shouting, errm... crying, just, you know, he was very much a... you know, a father whose child had disappeared, as Kate was a mother whose child had disappeared or wouldn't you know?"

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Fiona Payne, in an interview with the Leicestershire Police, April 2008

Q: "How was Kate?"

FP: "Awful, errm... I've never seen such horrible raw emotion in my life and I've seen a lot of it in my job. Errm... tut, she... she was just bereft, she didn't know what to do, she was just panicking, extremely frightened, extremely frightened for Madeleine and, errm... was wondering where she was or what was happening to her. And the helplessness, errm... of not being able to do anything, what should she be doing, what could they do? Errm... she was angry, really angry, tut, punching walls, kicking walls, she was covered in bruises the next day, because she just didn't know what, what else to do. She was angry at herself, she kept saying 'I've let her down. We've let her down Gerry', you know, 'We should have been here'. Errm... tut, she was praying a lot. Errm... I just don't think she knew what to do, what to do. And she was just howling. It was just, just awful. I think as time went on it just seemed a massive delay from when we said to Matt to phone the Police, errm... that hour, it was an hour, it just seemed like an eternity, where nothing was happening, tut. Errm... you know, we're all intelligent people, we were all trying to think what we should be doing and, you know, what's going to make a difference. And Kate's ringing, Gerry's ringing anybody under the sun, family, they just don't, they honestly just didn't know what to do. So there was a lot of, Gerry's in and out, I mean, they were just sobbing, going between sobbing and then feeling helpless and then ringing people and this frantic activity. Kate was desperate to have a Priest, which, you know, people find weird, but I think that was just her way of thinking 'At least I can pray for Madeleine' and her way of feeling that she was doing something. Errm... tut, but she wasn't functioning."

"No, and that was the other thing, she kept going into the twins, she kept putting her hands on the twins to check they were breathing, she was very much concerned in checking that they were okay. But they were okay, I mean, they were fine, they didn't... they were asleep, but at the time it did seem weird, I remember thinking, you know, when the Police came they turned the lights on, there was loads of noise, obviously from the moment Kate discovered that Madeleine was gone, the screaming and the shouting and there was a lot of noise and they, they didn't, you know, so much as blink."

Q: "Okay and realising that Madeleine had not been found in the first ten minutes, how did Kate react?"

FP: "Oh, as I said earlier, she was hysterical, it upsets me very much to even think about how she was, cos it was, errm... she was so terrified, absolutely inconsolable, she was rampaging round the... the room, she's up and down, pacing, kicking walls, just on, for most part, just imagining where or what might be happening to Madeleine and angry at herself and them for having left her, not being there and just, she was shouting a lot, I can't, 'We've, we've let her down Gerry, we've let her down, we weren't there for her', errm... you know, the pain that was causing her that she hadn't been there, was just very raw, errm... anger at the... the whole, I say the system that nobody was seemed to be arriving and, you know, what was being done and the feeling of just nothing, nothing being done, the helplessness and that, that raw, raw emotion of just grief, of just terror and just praying, she was praying, she kept kneeling everywhere just praying and praying and praying and asking for a Priest and just wanted, you know, everybody to be praying for Madeleine for her to be safe."

-------------------------

Russell O'Brien, in an interview with the Leicestershire Police, April 2008

"...but this was the first time I'd actually really seen or heard Gerry, he was on the phone to, errm... a member of his family, errm... curled up, really, on the floor, just outside the sliding patio door, just sobbing uncontrollably and in between sobs just saying 'They've', you know, 'Someone's taken her' or 'Somebody's blo*dy got her', you know, 'She's gone' and absolutely, errm... you know, you know, for such a strong man to see him on the floor broken, he was... he was incapable of even standing up, he was just lying on the floor and just repeating himself, there was so little he could, you know, there was just nothing else in there."

(...)

"Errr... in my opinion, you know, if this was... if there was any foul play bestowed on them, this was the... the... the most powerful Oscar winning act you have ever seen. There was no... there was no way I could imagine anyone could... could hide the fear they must have had if something had already happened and, and then... and... and... and display this... this degree, this degree of anguish without being the most accomplished of... of... and cynical of actors, you know, this was unimaginable. I mean I've told patients they are dying I've told relatives they've, you know, people have died, you know I've seen lots of people very, very angry, you know, you know very, very upset, very, very quickly and really broken and this was, this was as bad as any of them I've ever seen or heard. Errr... you know, and the same for Gerry, not... not just in these moments but over the... over the coming... over the coming days, I've never ever witnessed such unimaginable grief."

Q: "On realising Madeleine had not been found in the first ten minutes, how did Kate react?"

RO'B: "I think I've already discussed this, I mean although I wasn't there for the whole of that... that early period whenever you were back from outside, you know, she was, well, I can certainly recall hearing her on occasions and when I later saw her she was in... in a, you know, in a terrible state, an absolute terrible state."

Q: "And again, the same question for Gerald."

RO'B: "Errr... I can honestly say that I would never ever have expected to see Gerry in that state, so I'd imagine if his, you know, if a relative had died, errr... you know, he's not... he's not... he's not some kind of cold.. cold... big cold heart, but I'd imagine he would, he's a rational, you know he rationalises things, he says, you know, she was eighty you know she was (inaudible) she smoked or something, he, he would be upset but he would accept, he would accept it as being a normal part of things, I've never seen anything like it, I would never expect to see Gerry like he was. He was... he was, errr... distraught beyond any, any kind of measure."
With thanks to Nigel at McCann Files

The 48 questions Kate McCann refused to answer that were put to her by the Portuguese Police

1. On May 3 2007, around 22:00, when you entered the apartment, what did you see? What did you do? Where did you look? What did you touch?

2.  Did you search inside the bedroom wardrobe? (she replied that she wouldn’t answer)

3. (shown 2 photographs of her bedroom wardrobe) Can you describe its contents?

4.  Why had the curtain behind the sofa in front of the side window (whose photo was shown to her) been tampered with? Did somebody go behind that sofa?

5. How long did your search of the apartment take after you detected your daughter Madeleine’s disappearance?

6. Why did you say from the start that Madeleine had been abducted?

7. Assuming Madeleine had been abducted, why did you leave the twins home alone to go to the ‘Tapas’ and raise the alarm? Because the supposed abductor could still be in the apartment.

8. Why didn’t you ask the twins, at that moment, what had happened to their sister or why didn’t you ask them later on?

9. When you raised the alarm at the ‘Tapas’ what exactly did you say and what were your exact words?

10. What happened after you raised the alarm in the ‘Tapas’?

11. Why did you go and warn your friends instead of shouting from the verandah?

12. Who contacted the authorities?

13.  Who took place in the searches?

14.  Did anyone outside of the group learn of Madeleine’s disappearance in those following minutes?

15. Did any neighbour offer you help after the disappearance?

16. What does 'we let her down' mean?

17.  Did Jane tell you that night that she’d seen a man with a child?

18.  How were the authorities contacted and which police force was alerted?

19. During the searches, with the police already there, where did you search for Maddie, how and in what way?

20. Why did the twins not wake up during that search or when they were taken upstairs?

21. Who did you phone after the occurrence?

22. Did you call Sky News?

23. Did you know the danger of calling the media, because it could influence the abductor?
24. Did you ask for a priest?

25. By what means did you divulge Madeleine’s features, by photographs or by any other means?

26. Is it true that during the searches you remained seated on Maddie’s bed without moving?

27. What was your behaviour that night?

28. Did you manage to sleep?

29. Before travelling to Portugal did you make any comment about a foreboding or a bad feeling?

30. What was Madeleine’s behaviour like?

31. Did Maddie suffer from any illness or take any medication?

32. What was Madeleine’s relationship like with her brother and sister?

33. What was Madeleine’s relationship like with her brother and sister, friends and school mates?

34. As for your professional life, in how many and which hospitals have you worked?

35. What is your medical specialty?

36. Have you ever done shift work in any emergency services or other services?

37. Did you work every day?

38. At a certain point you stopped working, why?

39. Are the twins difficult to get to sleep? Are they restless and does that cause you uneasiness?

40.  Is it true that sometimes you despaired with your children’s behaviour and that left you feeling very uneasy?

41. Is it true that in England you even considered handing over Madeleine’s custody to a relative?

42. In England, did you medicate your children? What type of medication?

43.   In the case files you were SHOWN CANINE forensic testing films, where you can see them marking due to detection of the scent of human corpse and blood traces, also human, and only human, as well as all the comments of the technician in charge of them. After watching and after the marking of the scent of corpse in your bedroom beside the wardrobe and behind the sofa, pushed up against the sofa wall, did you say you couldn’t explain any more than you already had?

44.   When the sniffer dog also marked human blood behind the sofa, did you say you couldn’t explain any more than you already had?

45.  When the sniffer dog marked the scent of corpse coming from the vehicle you hired a month after the disappearance, did you say you couldn’t explain any more than you already had?

46.  When human blood was marked in the boot of the vehicle, did you say you couldn’t explain any more than you already had?

47.   When confronted with the results of Maddie’s DNA, whose analysis was carried out in a British laboratory, collected from behind the sofa and the boot of the vehicle, did you say you couldn’t explain any more than you already had?

48.   Did you have any responsibility or intervention in your daughter’s disappearance?

A QUESTION SHE DID ANSWER

Q.  Are you aware that in not answering the questions you are jeopardising the investigation, which seeks to discover what happened to your daughter?

A.  'Yes, if that’s what the investigation thinks.'

The evidence of the cadaver dogs

One of the key lines of evidence Goncalo Amaral refers to in his book is the work of two internationally-acclaimed British police sniffer dogs, namely the two springer spaniels, Eddie and Keela, who have been trained and used by British dog handler Martin Grime. These dogs, who hitherto had a 100% track record in 200 or more cases of successfully locating where corpses had lain (Eddie) or of detecting human blood (Keela), found the scent of a human corpse in the following locations:

1.The living room of the McCanns’ apartment (5A) in Praia da Luz, on the floor next to the outside wall, behind the sofa

2.In or near the wardrobe in the McCanns’ apartment bedroom

3.On the veranda of the McCanns’ apartment veranda

4.Amongst the flowerbeds outside the apartment

5.On two of Dr Kate McCann’s clothes

6.On a red T-shirt belonging either to Madeleine or to her younger brother Sean

7.On the pink soft toy often produced by Dr Kate McCann for media photographs, ‘Cuddle Cat’

8.On the floor of the Renault Scenic, the hired car used by the McCanns, near the driver’s seat

9.On the car keys of the Renault Scenic

The presence of human cadaverine in these locations or on these items indicates that a corpse which has been dead for at least 90 minutes, usually at least two hours, has been in direct contact with these locations/items. The dogs did not find the scent of a human corpse anywhere else in Praia da Luz. Eddie was reported never to have given a ‘false positive’, i.e. a false alert, to the scent of a human corpse. His reactions to the above ten locations (he alerted to two separate items of Dr Kate McCann’s clothing) can therefore be trusted. The probability is that the only corpse that could have been in contact with those 10 locations – though it is sad to spell this out in black and white – is that of Madeleine McCann.

The jovial attitude of the McCanns during those early days

Just 9 days after Madeleine was reported missing, abducted by a paedophile gang according to her parents, they decided on a public celebration of her 4th Birthday in order to raise awareness.

They say that they were told not to show too much emotion as it may influence the "abductor"

We ask whether under such tragic circumstances, it is humanly possible to hold back the tears after just 9 days and on the childs' birthday.

Here are some pictures of the McCanns on that very day.









More here  https://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/4TH_BIRTHDAY.htm

We also hear that during those first few days, at Portimao Police station, Gerry McCann, in contrast with the anxiety of the policemen intrigued the investigators by sucking on a lollipop in a relaxed manner while he read banalities on the internet and discussed rugby and football with an English policeman.  He was later caught on camera, laughing his behind a pillar.

Within the same week, we hear that whilst others were still searching for Madeleine, Gerry was passing time on the tennis courts.  This was later reported in the daily mail.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-489218/Gerry-McCann-played-tennis-days-Madeleine-disappeared.html

In September 2007 Martin Brunt of Sky News brings us news of a full DNA match in the McCanns hire care

The McCann have openly admitted that they did not search for Madeleine

The McCanns claimed that no one was searching for Madeleine, they later admitted that they did not physically search.

The camera does not lie - here is the real story, in pictures.

The statement of Dr Katherine Zacharias Gaspar made to Leicestershire Police on 16 May 2007:

“I give this declaration in relation to the McCANN family who are currently in Portugal. The McCANN family is composed of Gerry McCANN, his wife, Kate McCANN and their three children, Madeleine, aged 4, and Sean and Amelie, who are twins and 3 years of age. As is abundantly clear, Madeleine is not with her family presently, and has been missing for the last two weeks.

“I will start by explaining that I am married to Arul Savio Gaspar and we have two daughters. I have been married to Savio for 11 years. We met when we were working together in Exeter about 14 years ago [1993]. I am a General Practitioner as was my husband. He continues to be a General Practitioner but is also a specialist.

“To explain how we know the McCann family, I would say that my husband knows Kate, as they both attended the University of Dundee between 1987 and 1992. At the time, Kate was known by the name of Kate Healey. I met Kate and Gerry on the occasion of their wedding around 1998 in Liverpool. Both Savio and I went to the wedding because Savio was an old friend of Kate; we were both invited to the event. From what I know, Savio did not know Gerry McCann before they married. From that time on, we met as friends, probably about three times a year and we would spend the weekend together.

“I would say we got to be close friends of Gerry and Kate. I remember that in 2002 or 2003, Savio and I spent a weekend with Gerry and Kate in Devon. We maintained contact with each other by ’phone. In 2002 or 2003 Savio and I were living in the Birmingham area and the McCanns were then in Leicester. In September 2005 Savio, me and ‘A’ [name of first child] (who was around one year and a half) holidayed in Majorca, with Kate, Gerry, Madeleine (who was about 2½ years old) and the twins, Sean and Amelie, who were only a few months old. I was pregnant with ‘B’ [name of second child]. There were also other friends of Kate and Gerry with us there. There was a couple, Dave and Fiona (the Paynes, I think). I believe they were married and had a daughter around one year old called Lily. I remember Fiona was pregnant on that holiday.

“There was another couple on the vacation: C_____ and D_____, whose surname I can’t remember. They had two boys (three years and one year old respectively) whose names I don’t remember. I did not know either of these two families before this holiday. I think it was Dave Payne who organised the trip and we stayed in a big house in Majorca. We were there for one week whilst the McCanns and the Paynes stayed for two weeks. I believe C_____ and D_____ and their two sons also stayed for one week.

“It was fun during the first two or three days. Probably around the fourth or fifth day there was an incident that stuck in my mind. I say this because I have thought about the particular incident I am about to describe many times since then.

“One night, when all the adults, that is, from those couples I have mentioned above, were all sitting around on a patio outside the house where we were all staying. We had been eating and drinking ‘Berbers’.
I was sitting between Gerry and Dave and I think both were talking about Madeleine. I can’t remember the conversation in its entirety, but they seemed to be discussing a particular scenario. I remember Dave saying to Gerry something about ‘she’, meaning Madeleine, ‘would do this’.

“While he mentioned the word ‘this’, Dave was doing the action of sucking one of his fingers, pushing it in and out of his mouth, while with his other hand he was doing a circle around his nipple, with a circular movement around his clothes. This was done in a provocative way. There seemed to be an explicit insinuation about what he was saying and doing. I remember being shocked by that. I always felt it was something very weird and that it was not something anyone should say or do. I looked at Gerry, and also at Dave, to gauge their reactions.

“I looked around as if saying: “Did someone else hear that, or was it just me?”. The conversations stopped for a moment, then we all began conversing again. Moreover, I remember Dave doing the same thing on another occasion. In saying this, I want to mention once again that it was during a conversation in which he was talking about an imaginary scenario, although I’m not sure. He again stuck one of his fingers in and out of his mouth and with the other hand he once again drew a circle around his nipple in a provocative and sexual way. I think he was referring to the way she, that is, his daughter Lily, would behave or what she would do. I think he did this later during this same holiday, but I’m not sure.

“The only time since then that I have been in the company of Dave and Fiona was several weeks after the holidays, when Savio and I met Gerry, Kate, Dave and Fiona in a restaurant in Leicester. I’m sure that he said what he said and made the gestures I have related, but [the second time] it could have happened in the restaurant in Leicester, although I do think it was in Majorca that I heard Dave say and do this for the second time. After the second occasion [when he made these gestures] I took it more seriously.

“I remember thinking whether he would look at my daughter and other little girls in a different way than I or others do. I imagined that he had perhaps visited internet sites related to little children. In a word, I thought that he could be interested in child pornography on the web. During our holiday in Majorca, each parent would bath the children in turn. I was keen to stay near the bathroom if Dave was bathing the children. I remember I said to Savio to be careful and to be close by if Dave was helping to bathe the children and my daughter in particular. I did this [stay hear the bathroom if Dave was bathing the children] quite obviously because hearing what he said had troubled me and I didn’t trust him bathing ‘A’ [our first child].

“When I heard Dave say this for the second time, it reinforced what I had already been thinking concerning his thoughts about little girls. During our stay in Majorca, Dave and his wife Fiona and their daughter Lily used to take Madeleine with them for the day in order that Kate and Gerry could rest a bit and had time just for the twins. I wasn’t worried about Madeleine’s safety, because Fiona and [another female adult] were there, as well as Dave. As already referred to, I was only with Dave and Fiona on one occasion, after [we were on holiday together in] Majorca. And I have not spoken to them at all since that time. In recent, we have seen the McCann family on occasions. These occasions coincide with the children’s birthdays – a time when we all get together.

“The first time I heard the terrible news regarding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann on the radio, my thoughts raced immediately to Dave. I asked Savio if Dave was also on holiday with the McCanns in Portugal, but he didn’t know. I watched TV to catch the coverage of the news and eventually discovered that Dave was there with the McCanns.

“Then I saw him on TV a few days after Madeleine disappeared. I therefore believed that he was on holiday with the McCanns in Portugal. Today, Wednesday 16 May, 2007, at 3.40pm, I have given Detective Constable Brewer a page containing 2 photographic images. I am going to reference these images as: Ref KZG/1). I consent that these may be exhibited as required [by the police]. All these photographs were taken during our holidays in Majorca. In the photographs, Dave is wearing a white T-shirt and the woman in the photograph is his wife Fiona. The man that is holding the cup of wine in the photograph is _____”.

That statement of Dr Katherine Gaspar alone is very concerning. I now turn to a statement made by Dr Katherine Gaspar’s husband, Dr Arul Savio Gaspar, also made on the same day:

“I make this statement in relation to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. I currently work as a General Practitioner at St Clements Surgery, Birmingham, where I have been employed for the last nine years. Madeleine is the daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann and we are friends of the family. I have known Kate since 1987, when we met at Dundee Medical School, and became friends. We have remained in touch all this time and meet up three or four times a year. We often talk on the ’phone or email each other. When we first became friends in 1987, she was still known as Kate Healy; this remained so until she married Gerry at the end of 1990s.

“Kate and I completed our medical degrees in 1992, when we each carried on with our lives, once we had begun our careers. After I finished my degree, I began my career in Exeter, and I think Kate went to Glasgow. I only met up with Kate again in 1997 or 1998. At that moment I was married to Katherine. We had both been invited to attend Kate and Gerry’s wedding.

“After their wedding we lost contact and I think they went to New Zealand. We only met up again in 2001 in Birmingham. The couple visited us in the house where we then living, in ______, and this was the first time I had ever talked to Gerry. I think that at that time Kate and Gerry were living in Queniborough, Leicestershire. From 2001 until 2005, we were in regular contact with each other and often visited each other’s homes.

“We planned a holiday together for the first week of September 2005 in Majorca, together with three other couples including Kate and Gerry. We did not know the other two couples; they were both friends of Kate and Gerry’s. We had never met them before. All of us had children. When we went on this holiday we had one daughter, ‘A’, aged 18 months. Kate and Gerry had three children, Madeleine – almost two – and the twins, who were six months old [NOTE: Madeleine was 2¼ in September 2005].

The other couples were Fiona and David Payne and their daughter Lily who was one year old and ______ and ______ who had two boys aged three and one. I do not remember the surname of ______ and ______ nor the names of their children. Katherine and I had booked the holiday for one week and the McCanns and the other two couples had booked for two weeks. We stayed together in a large villa. We all arrived at the villa separately.

“During the period we stayed at the villa I remember a gesture made by David Payne. I do not remember the context of the conversation between David and Gerry, but I do remember seeing David use his left index finger to rub his nipple, using circular movements, whilst he put his right index finger into his mouth, touching his tongue. This happened during a meal, at the end of the day, in the villa. I do not remember the time or the date, but we would usually dine between 7.30pm and 9.00pm every day. I think this happened in the middle of the holiday.

“I remember that when I saw this gesture, I immediately thought it to be in very bad taste, independently of the context of the conversation they were having. We were sitting around a white plastic table in the villa. I don’t know if anyone else saw the gesture, apart from my wife Katherine. After this gesture, we did not notice any others and as far as I know, the gesture was not repeated. We never commented on this gesture during the rest of the holiday and I thought no more about it.

“I can describe Dave as a Caucasian male 5’ 10” tall, and of a medium complexion. He had brown hair and used glasses or contact lenses depending on the circumstances. I can say that Dave was a pleasant person. I do not remember him having any unusual characteristics.

During the holidays Dave never behaved in an inappropriate manner with Madeleine or with any of the other children. Dave was popular with the children and I took this to be because he was a close friend to the family.

“I never distrusted Dave. After the holidays there was one occasion when we were with Kate and Gerry and Fiona and Dave were also present. That was in a restaurant in Leicester in 2005. I do not remember the name of the restaurant. We had a pleasant evening, just the three couples without the children. I do not remember Dave having behaved inappropriately on this occasion. We have not spoken to Dave or Fiona since December 2005, only due to their being friends of Kate and Gerry [rather than ourselves], not for any other reason. The last time I saw Kate, Gerry, Madeleine, Sean and Amelie was in March 2007 when they came to our house for the first birthday celebration of my daughter ‘B’.

“On the morning of 4th May [2007], Katherine saw the news about Madeleine on television. We were very shocked and worried given that they were close friends. It was during the days following the news of the abduction that we discovered that Fiona and David Payne were also with them in Portugal. It was at this moment that Katherine showed concern at the gesture made by Dave in Majorca in 2005. Katherine remembered that when Dave made the gesture, he was referring to Madeleine.

I only remember that Katherine saw the gesture at the time; I had forgotten the episode, it was never the subject of conversation. At the time I did not feel the gesture was referring to Madeleine.
It is my wish that the police are aware of my preoccupation with the gesture made by David Payne”.

British diplomat warned Foreign Office of concerns over McCanns

The Foreign Office was alerted to fears over Gerry and Kate McCann by a British diplomat in Portugal just days after their daughter Madeleine went missing.

The diplomat was sent to the holiday resort of Praia da Luz in the days following the four-year-old's disappearance and soon became concerned over "inconsistencies" in the testimonies by her parents and their friends.

After visiting the McCanns, the unnamed diplomat sent a report to the Foreign Office in London, admitting his worries about "confused declarations" of the McCanns' movements on the night of May 3. Scroll down for more... {1} {R}

He also noted the couple's "lack of co-operation" with the Portuguese police.

The diplomat's concerns were made over four months before Gerry and Kate were named arguidos (suspects) on September 7.

Contents of the letter were leaked to Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heure over the weekend.

The diplomat expressed his fears after receiving instruction from the Foreign Office to provide "all possible assistance to the McCann couple".

The French-language paper printed excerpts of the letter, quoting the diplomat as saying: "With the greatest respect, I would like to make you aware of the risks and implications to our relationship with the Portuguese authorities, if you consider the possible involvement of the couple.

"Please confirm to me, in the light of these concerns, that we want to continue to be closely involved in the case as was requested in your previous ­message."

Although the Government was quick to assist the McCanns in the days following Madeleine's disappearance, direct contact with the couple ceased when they were named as suspects.

La Dernière Heure pointed out that a majority of the diplomats originally involved in the case have now been taken off it. Scroll down for more... {3}

The then-Prime Minister Tony Blair sent special envoy Sheree Dodd to act as a "media liaison officer" for the pair soon after Madeleine vanished.

Ms Dodd has since resigned from the Foreign Office, while the British consul in the Algarve, Bill Henderson, has retired.

John Buck, the British ambassador in Portugal, no longer works in the country.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-499340/British-diplomat-warned-Foreign-Office-concerns-McCanns.html#ixzz2lSv71FUP