Re: Madeleine McCann got into the back of my cab the night after she vanished

by jd 02.05.12 17:40

The taxi driver says "It was 20h10'....so at 8.10pm and before the abduction story timeline...an hour before jane tanner sighting....

At 8.10pm kate and gerry were getting sloshed on new zealand white in the apartment!

by sami 02.05.12 17:44

jd wrote:The taxi driver says "It was 20h10'....so at 8.10pm and before the abduction story timeline...an hour before jane tanner sighting....

At 8.10pm kate and gerry were getting sloshed on new zealand white in the apartment!

Were they ? We only know this because they told us.

by Cheshire Cat 02.05.12 17:52

sami wrote:
jd wrote:The taxi driver says "It was 20h10'....so at 8.10pm and before the abduction story timeline...an hour before jane tanner sighting....

At 8.10pm kate and gerry were getting sloshed on new zealand white in the apartment!

Were they ? We only know this because they told us.

The Taxi driver reported the sighting as being on 3 May 2007. He was convinced that it was Kate in the taxi and that they would have been able to get back to PDL in time for the alarm to be raised. He also said that one of the men had fine spectacles like Murat and it should be checked to see if Kate was away from the Ocean Club at this time.

by monkey mind 02.05.12 17:59

I find the alteration of the date very interesting. If it is deliberate why would they want to draw our attention away from that time on the 3rd? Probably because at that time on the 4th K and G may well have been alibied by someone independent like the PJ or similar, whereas on the 3rd, we only have their word for what they were doing at that time. Weren't they late getitng to the restaurant also?

by Newintown 02.05.12 18:07

monkey mind wrote:I find the alteration of the date very interesting. If it is deliberate why would they want to draw our attention away from that time on the 3rd? Probably because at that time on the 4th K and G may well have been alibied by someone independent like the PJ or similar, whereas on the 3rd, we only have their word for what they were doing at that time. Weren't they late getitng to the restaurant also?

Gerry was supposed to be playing tennis at 6.00 p.m. on 3rd. I'm not sure what time the tennis match finished but if him and K didn't go to the Tapas until 8.30 p.m. that leaves some considerable time inbetween. The only alibis they have i.e. Kate bathing the kids when they all looked angelic in their pjs, are their Tapas friends.

by nomendelta 02.05.12 18:08

Interestingly and much remarked upon, David Payne is quite similar in appearance to Robert Murat so it's a choice berry for picking if this taxi driver is telling the truth.

by jd 02.05.12 18:57

With thanks to AnnaEsse on MMF for finding this...Showing clarence mitchell's response today that he is deeply shocked the PJ never interviewed the taxi driver as ONE BIG FAT LIE

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"He (Mr Castela) did not place any importance on his clients until two days later when the media took up the case, "Then I spoke to my son who is an officer with the GNR and he decided to put me in contact with the PJ. I told them exactly what I have just said and the inspector asked me if I knew if the hotel had surveillance cameras. I told him that in theory, yes. Out of curiosity, two days later, I returned to the hotel and asked them if the PJ had contacted them. They told me no. I tried to find out if they had surveillance cameras but they told me that they had been out of order for two years."

The PJ confirmed having been contacted by the taxi driver and his witness statement taken at the time. But these claims (from Mr Castela) had been rejected after verification.

Im sure there is something in the PJ files about this as I came across once searching for something else

by puzzled 02.05.12 19:02

nomendelta wrote:Interestingly and much remarked upon, David Payne is quite similar in appearance to Robert Murat so it's a choice berry for picking if this taxi driver is telling the truth.

The question is, if it's true, who was the girl they were with? After all, someone died in that apartment. So if the girl they were with was Madeleine - who died in 5A?

by tuom 02.05.12 19:31

candyfloss wrote:Oh well here we go, digging up the old taxi man sighting [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] .........

Madeleine McCann got into the back of my cab the night after she vanished

Kiran Randhawa

02 May 2012

A taxi driver who could help solve the mystery of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance has been ignored by Portuguese police, it was revealed today.

Speaking from his home in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, he added: "Only when I heard about Madeleine going missing and seeing her picture on the TV did I contact the police as the little girl in the back of my taxi had that same distinct mark in her eye as Madeleine does."

Ah well that old chestnut [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Mr McCann, 43, said: “I think the most important thing is that a lot of the investigation opportunities are in Portugal.
Well Imagine that [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

His wife, 44, added: “It’s certainly the best way that we’re going to find Madeleine, and who took her. If people want to find Madeleine, and want to find the person who took her, then we need the case to be re-opened.”

She is clever isn't she [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The officer leading Scotland Yard’s review of the original investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance spoke last week of his belief that the case can still be solved and said there is evidence she could still be alive.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said the Metropolitan Police would like the case to be re-opened, but stressed that the decision was one for Portugal.

Mr McCann said: “The only way everyone will be able to move on is for the case to be solved, and that is for Madeleine to be found and the perpetrators brought to justice. Until then it’s not going to go away. It can’t go away.”

snipped
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by friedtomatoes 02.05.12 19:34

Doing a search with the taxi driver's name brings up nothing in the files. I found one reference in the PJ final summary report to a taxi driver but the page reference given seems to be for the witness Tamsin.

At the pages 801 and the following, an information was worked relative to a sighting done by a professional taxi driver.
{Followed by this which I'm not sure is related)
Also relative to the individuals who do this type of professional work and who have their headquarters in Praia da Luz, page 818, we talked with them but nothing of relevant for the process was determined.

--------

ETA: False alarm, it seems unrelated, proper page is 807
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by Blimunda 02.05.12 19:36

Oh please not again!
Confusion is good!
And such a shame the surveillance cameras had been out of order for two years!
Something as all the sightings, everybody has seen her, but they will always talk about it much later... nah

by **sharonl** 02.05.12 19:50

A Taxi Driver Story and The Rogatory Letter Saga
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28 February 2008 | Posted by Joana Morais Leave a Comment
300 DAYS. The round date, on Maddie's disappearance, marked yesterday, did not deserve to Gerry and Kate any special mention in the site FindMadeleine.com, not even in the blog written by the father.
The last entry is of 22.

TAXI-DRIVER IS SURE THAT HE TOOK MADDIE IN HIS CAR IN THE NIGHT OF THE GIRL DISAPPEARANCE

“I transported that girl”

The driver remembers that he transported them in the night of the disappearance, in the 3rd of May, from the square of taxis of Monte Gordo for the Hotel Apolo, in em Vila Real de Santo Antonio. The passengers went then to a jeep. António contacted the PJ, but, as he says, no one took notice of his story.

A taxi-driver of Vila Real de Santo Antonio, in the Algarve, guarantees to have transported Maddie, Kate McCann and three men – one of them similar to Murat – in the night of the disappearance of the English girl, in the 3rd of May of last year. António Castela Cardoso, 67 years, does not forget the hour or the details of the passengers. He regrets that after having communicated the Judiciary Police of Portimão, he never received a follow up call to explain his statement. Taxi-driver, with 17 years in that profession, António Castela has the habit of memorizing the face of his clients. That one particularly, “She was a girl with very pretty eyes and she called my attention because of the sign that she had in one eye and the twitch that she was doing with the chin”, he remembered. In the beginning of that night, António was in the square of taxis of Monte Gordo, four kilometres of Vila Real de Santo Antonio, was ready to stop the cab service. “It was 20h10 and I like seeing the television news”, he remembers.

Man was similar to Murat

The clients approached and asked him to transport them to the Hotel Apolo, in Vila Real de Santo Antonio. The driver did not refuse. On his side a man seated who was using “fine glasses”. “He was similar with the one that appears in the television like the third suspect”, says António, concerning Robert Murat – who is arguido in the case. In the seat behind, a woman “like Kate” sat down, between two men. The girl that the taxi-driver says to be Maddie sat down to the lap of one of them.
“She was wearing pink pyjamas. The mother had the hair tied and a yellow coat”, he remembers, with exactness. It was a silent journey. The passengers did not exchange one word; they did not show any emotions. On the arrival to the journey destiny, António pulled out the baby's chair of the luggage car. “It was the same as what the couple usually uses”, he affirms. The customers asked him, in English language, how much the cab journey was. “I said that there were 3, 25 euros and they gave me five and then I thanked them”, he says.

Top-of-the-line Jeep

The taxi-driver saw three men, the woman and the child move towards a metallic-blue, top-of-the-line Jeep “ I do not know if it would be a BMW, but I remember that the license plate was yellow and therefore was not a Portuguese one ”, he affirms. The vehicle was parked in the Hotel Apolo parking. António returned to his house with the image of the girl in the head. It reminded him of his son, now with 37 years. “My son was operated to his eyes because he had a similar eye defect. He also did that twitch with the chin. They even looked like brothers”, he observed.
The next day, António was watching the television news besides his son and his granddaughter, with the same age of Maddie. With astonishment he saw that the blond girl of light eyes had disappeared. “I immediately told my son: ' I transported that girl yesterday! ’ ”.
The son, a police officer of the GNR, advised the father to phone to the Judiciary Police of Portimão. “ He (the son) dialled the number and I said what I am telling you (to the journalist of 24 Horas newspaper)”, he remembers to 24horas.
The inspector who answered then asked him if in the hotel there was a system of video vigilance. The taxi-driver did not know.
Up to today, António waits the police contact to give declarations personally. “I defend the girl as I would defend my granddaughter”, he affirms.
Some days later, out of curiosity, António still asked for informations to some of his acquaintances, at the service of the Hotel Apolo. He was told that there was not any reservation for that evening. They also told him that the Hotel had not been contacted by the Judiciary Police. Even worse. The system of video vigilance was damaged two years ago and was not catching any image. “Also I do not know if they did enter in the hotel”, says the taxi-driver.

Since then, António Castela has been accompanying the news on Maddie. When the telephone rings, he still thinks that it will be someone who investigates the case that want to speak with him. When he knew that a certain period of time was still to be explained in the investigation, António Castela immediately thought that this might be the explanation. “In two hours you can travel from Aldeia da Luz to Vila Real de Santo Antonio and return. Someone can be lying. They should establish if Kate did not go away during this period”, says António.

The taxi-driver has been telling this history in public establishments and to clients whom he transports. Only this week a journalist of the “Jornal do Algarve” contacted him to publish what the driver affirms to have seen. “Now they do not leave me alone. Tomorrow [today] there is a team coming from England on purpose to interview me”, he says.
Madeleine McCann disappeared mysteriously from the Ocean Club, in Aldeia da Luz, in the 3rd of May. 300 days already have passed since. The parents are still arguidos in the process, but up to now nobody managed to know what it went on that night.

From Correio da Manhã: A source connected with the investigation guaranteed that the facts told by António Castela were "investigated" and the “lead was proven false”.

Madeleine has no Twitches

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, reacted yesterday with amazement at the declarations of the taxi-driver. “The declarations of Mr. Castela are false. They are a perfect nonsense. He can only be mistaken when he says that at that time he transported Kate and Madeleine with three men”, he said, underlining the fact of being several independent witnesses who place Madeleine's parents in a completely different place. “How is that possible, if at 20h35 several witnesses say that Kate and Gerry were sitting down on a table of the Tapas restaurant”, he questioned. Clarence doubts of the intentions of the taxi-driver. “It astonishes me that only now, ten months later, he talks about this. These are declarations that only cause pain to Kate and Gerry", he said, advancing that that the McCann's daughter has no facial twitches.
“The only sign to report is the one she has in the eye.”

THEY TOOK FIVE MONTHS TO READ A LETTER

The Inspectors of the Judiciary Police are already preparing the suitcases to travel again to Leiceister, where the McCanns and the friends with whom they had dinner with will be questioned again. The team led by Paulo Rebelo finally received green light from England.

English speak again with the Judiciary Police

With the suitcases done, the Judiciary Police is already finalizing with the English authorities the details for, five months after the sending to Great Britain of a rogatory letter, their return to question the McCanns and the friends with whom they had dinner with when Madeleine disappeared, on the 3rd of May, in the Praia da Luz, in Lagos, Algarve.
“The rogatory letter was returned in January to the Public Prosecution Office, for lack of completion of some bureaucratic proceedings. It was remade and then returned to the English Home Office in the beginning of this month. Finally, the letter it’s already in the possession of the Police of Leicester and we are finalizing the details to give completion to the solicitations done by the British authorities”, it explained to 24horas a judicial person in charge connected with the investigations. According to the same source, everything left done is now a mere “schedulement in order that the interrogations are prepared to the friends of the McCann and to the parents of the lost girl themselves, an organized plan that will have to be ended during next week.
In ten days a team of Portuguese investigators will travel to England, they will attend the interrogations, as the interrogations themselves will be done by the police officers of Leicester. “We can only hear, analyse the expressions of the persons and suggest some questions that do not appear in the rogatory letter”. The first persons to be questioned
will be Jane Tanner, David Paine and Russel O'Brien, whose lawyers revealed the intention of their clients to alter their first statements.

Source: Jornal 24 horas

by MrsC 02.05.12 20:03

*Snipped*

candyfloss wrote:

"Only when I heard about Madeleine going missing and seeing her picture on the TV did I contact the police as the little girl in the back of my taxi had that same distinct mark in her eye as Madeleine does."

Can't have been Madeleine, can it!? She doesn't have a distinctive mark in her eye according to Mrs McCann.

by Guest 02.05.12 20:06

candyfloss wrote:And this from MCF

While the secrecy of justice law continues to constrain any official clarification about the Madeleine Case, unofficial PJ sources were quoted by the Portuguese-language press as confirming the existence of António Cardoso’s report in the case files.

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I posted this earlier, on page 1 of the thread, according to the quote above it is in the case files...........perhaps it has been held back?

by Cheshire Cat 02.05.12 20:22

candyfloss wrote:
candyfloss wrote:And this from MCF

While the secrecy of justice law continues to constrain any official clarification about the Madeleine Case, unofficial PJ sources were quoted by the Portuguese-language press as confirming the existence of António Cardoso’s report in the case files.

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I posted this earlier, on page 1 of the thread, according to the quote above it is in the case files...........perhaps it has been held back?

I have often wondered about Antonio's report. Could it tie in with the dark car that was seen in the car park between 9 - 10 PM by a witness (in the opposite appartments). Was this the Blue Jeep returning with M and was a hasty attempt made to revive M in the appartment resulting in blood? A heck of a lot to squeeze into the time frame on 3 May 2007 but could it be possibe?

by Guest 02.05.12 20:42

From the Potting Shedder

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

The Spinning Memory of Clarence Mitchell...

TAXI-DRIVER IS SURE THAT HE TOOK MADDIE IN HIS CAR

A taxi-driver from Vila Real de Santo Antonio, in the Algarve, believes he transported Maddie, Kate McCann and three men on the night of the disappearance of the English girl, in the 3rd of May of last year. António Castela Cardoso, 67 years, does not forget the hour or the details of the passengers.

Having been a taxi-driver for 17 years, António Castela has the habit of memorizing the face of his clients. That one particularly, “She was a girl with very pretty eyes and she called my attention because of the mark that she had in one eye and the twitch that she was doing with the chin”, he remembered.

The clients approached and asked him to transport them to the Hotel Apolo, in Vila Real de Santo Antonio. On his side a man seated who was wearing “fine glasses”. “He was similar with the one that appears on television, like the third suspect”, says António, concerning Robert Murat – who is arguido in the case. In the seat behind, a woman “like Kate” sat down, between two men. The girl that the taxi-driver says was Maddie sat on the lap of one of them.

“She was wearing pink pyjamas. The mother had the hair tied and a yellow coat”, he remembers, with exactness. It was a silent journey. The passengers did not exchange one word; they did not show any emotions. On the arrival to the journey destiny, António pulled out the baby's chair (pram) of the luggage car. “It was the same as what the couple usually uses”, he affirms. The customers asked him, in English, how much the cab journey was. “I said that there were 3, 25 euros and they gave me five and then I thanked them”, he says.

The taxi-driver saw three men, the woman and the child move towards a metallic-blue, top-of-the-line Jeep “ I do not know if it would be a BMW, but I remember that the license plate was yellow and therefore was not a Portuguese one ”, he affirms. The vehicle was parked in the Hotel Apolo parking.

2008

Four years later, the sighting is again making current headline news in the British media. The McCanns lawyer in Portugal, Isabel Duarte, said Mr Castela's account is one of several important leads that the Portuguese police have failed to follow up.

However, way back in 2008, a source connected with the investigation guaranteed to Correio de Manha that the information given by António Castela were "investigated" and the “lead was proven false”.

At that time, Clarence Mitchell responded publicly on behalf of the McCanns to this particular sighting...

Clarence Mitchell, reacted yesterday with amazement at the declarations of the taxi-driver. “The declarations of Mr. Castela are false. They are a perfect nonsense. He can only be mistaken when he says that at that time he transported Kate and Madeleine with three men”, he said. Clarence doubts of the intentions of the taxi-driver. “It astonishes me that only now, ten months later, he talks about this. These are declarations that only cause pain to Kate and Gerry", he said, advancing that that the McCann's daughter has no facial twitches. “The only sign to report is the one she has in the eye.”

2008

Today, Clarence Mitchell seems to have wholly changed his mind about the doubtful intentions of Mr Castela, saying it was "deeply shocking" that detectives never interviewed Antonio Castela about his possible sighting of the missing child.

"Mr Castela did absolutely the right thing at the time by reporting his sighting to the PJ. It is clearly deeply shocking that he now tells us he has not been interviewed once by a detective in five years. This is exactly the sort of thing that needs to be looked at in the investigative review now being carried out by the Metropolitan Police."

2012

Spot the difference? I reckon there's about two million quids worth there... and a lorra lorra spin.

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They must think we are totally stupid!!

by monkey mind 02.05.12 22:18

candyfloss wrote:They must think we are totally stupid!!

On the contrary, they certainly know otherwise. This isn't directed toward us, rather the vast majority and of course those that maybe begining to raise an eyebrow - that hang in the balance. That's the group they have no wish to see grow.

But it is growing. I've been keeping an eye on the site counter. On average it is up this last week. In trying to stop the drip, they are inadvertantly turning the tap the wrong way. And there is nothing they can do about that......

by Guest 02.05.12 22:22

monkey mind wrote:
candyfloss wrote:They must think we are totally stupid!!

On the contrary, they certainly know otherwise. This isn't directed toward us, rather the vast majority and of course those that maybe begining to raise an eyebrow - that hang in the balance. That's the group they have no wish to see grow.

But it is growing. I've been keeping an eye on the site counter. On average it is up this last week. In trying to stop the drip, they are inadvertantly turning the tap the wrong way. And there is nothing they can do about that......

by maebee 02.05.12 23:50

"Mr Castela did absolutely the right thing at the time by reporting his sighting to the PJ. It is clearly deeply shocking that he now tells us he has not been interviewed once by a detective in five years. This is exactly the sort of thing that needs to be looked at in the investigative review now being carried out by the Metropolitan Police."

"This is the sort of thing that needs to be looked at". Clarrie is some slime ball. He dissed this in '07 when the taxi driver implicated KM and RM/DP in this sighting but conveniently brings it up today as another missed opportunity by the PJ. Unfortunately 99 % of the great British public will not remember this and will buy into the "incompetent Portuguese Police" theory. I just cannot believe that SY cannot see what we can see. The optimist in me believes that we're in endgame.

by pauline 03.05.12 1:18

Just wondering why these 'guilty' people would use a public taxi to transport themselves and the kidnapped child (who was not struggling and screaming) to their own car. Why not have their car convenient to the scene of the crime...?!!!

by jd 03.05.12 1:22

Clarrie is some slime ball

This is the understatement of the century!!!

by nomendelta 03.05.12 1:31

pauline wrote:Just wondering why these 'guilty' people would use a public taxi to transport themselves and the kidnapped child (who was not struggling and screaming) to their own car. Why not have their car convenient to the scene of the crime...?!!!

You make a valid point but I think TM are inferring, from comments that the child sat silently staring into space, that she might have been drugged.

by Guest 03.05.12 1:38

3rd May 2012

By Tom Hutchison

I DROVE MADDIE IN CAB

A TAXI driver last night claimed he had Maddie McCann in his car the day after she went missing but has been ignored by Portuguese police for five years.

Antonio Castela wants answers after officers failed to follow up his sighting.

He took a fare from three men and a women who sat silently during the journey along the Portuguese border with Spain.

A girl, who he is convinced was Madeleine, sat on one man’s lap without speaking.

Maddie's mum Kate last night urged police to get in touch to see if his information could help find her missing daughter.

She said: “If there is any kind of lead that hasn’t been investigated properly, we want police looking into it.”

Mr Castela said the child he drove back in 2007 appeared “doped” and was “staring ahead” blankly.

She wore pink pyjamas and was fully awake but no-one in the group spoke to her as they travelled from Monte Gordo, an hour’s drive from where Madeleine missing in Praia da Luz the previous night.

Mr Castela, 72, a cabbie for 23 years, said: “The little girl who looked like Madeleine was sitting on the lap of a man at the back of the cab.

“I remember thinking it was odd because they did not speak during the entire journey, apart from at the end when the man sat in the passenger seat and said to me: ‘How much?’”

He added “Only when I heard about Madeleine going missing and seeing her picture on the TV did I contact the police.

“The little girl in the back of my taxi had the same distinct mark in her eye as Madeleine.

“After I went to the police I never heard anything from them again.

“They did not seem to take me seriously and never questioned me.

“They simply took down the details and that was it.

“I am amazed it has been five years and nobody has ever asked me what I saw that night. I am absolutely certain it was her.”

Kate and husband Gerry’s lawyer in Portugal, Isabel Duarte, said the sighting is crucial to the hunt for Maddie ahead of today’s fifth anniversary of her disappearance.

British police were last night poised to follow it up alongside other missed leads from the original investigation.

Metropolitan Police officers have already found 195 “investigative opportunities” after examining just 25% of the 40,000 items of evidence from the original probe.

Kate and Gerry, from Rothley, Leics, last night said they felt the most hopeful in four years of finding their girl alive.

And they have “no doubt” the Portuguese authorities will eventually reopen the case.

Police in Portugal said last week they have found “no new elements” to justify re-launching their inquiry into how the little girl vanished.

But the McCanns added their voice to calls by Scotland Yard to reopen the case.

Gerry, 43, said: “I think the most important thing is that a lot of the investigation opportunities are in Portugal.

“It’s fairly clear the case will have to be reopened for those to be pursued adequately.

“We weren’t expecting immediate reaction by any means.

“This is an ongoing dialogue and I am sure the investigation will get opened again in due course.”

Kate, 44, added: “It’s certainly the best way we’re going to find Madeleine and who took her. If people want to find Madeleine, and want to find the person who took her, then we need the case to be reopened.”

The officer leading Scotland Yard’s review told last week there was evidence she could still be alive.

Det Chf Insp Andy Redwood wants the case reopened but stressed the decision was out of his hands and was one for the Portuguese judiciary.

Gerry McCann added: “The only way everyone will be able to move on is for the case to be solved and that is for Madeleine to be found and the perpetrators brought to justice.

“Until then it’s not going to go away, it can’t go away.”

The couple also revealed last night that Kate’s book about the disappearance has sold nearly 400,000 copies.

It has raised up to £1million for the fund to find Maddie

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Strange how he has suddenly forgotten what these people looked like, unlike the old articles duh

by jd 03.05.12 1:40

Its all lies.......2012 and in 2008...Just lies lies lies

The British police, British media and the ones that believe the scam are in truth the laughing stock of the world

by jd 03.05.12 1:51

Maddie's mum Kate last night urged police to get in touch to see if his information could help find her missing daughter.

She said: “If there is any kind of lead that hasn’t been investigated properly, we want police looking into it.”

Dearest kate.....the mother of Madeleine....Please let me just remind you of what your spokesman who acts for you said back in 2008 when this happened

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, reacted yesterday with amazement at the declarations of the taxi-driver. “The declarations of Mr. Castela are false. They are a perfect nonsense. He can only be mistaken when he says that at that time he transported Kate and Madeleine with three men”, he said, underlining the fact of being several independent witnesses who place Madeleine's parents in a completely different place. “How is that possible, if at 20h35 several witnesses say that Kate and Gerry were sitting down on a table of the Tapas restaurant”, he questioned. Clarence doubts of the intentions of the taxi-driver. “It astonishes me that only now, ten months later, he talks about this. These are declarations that only cause pain to Kate and Gerry", he said, advancing that that the McCann's daughter has no facial twitches. “The only sign to report is the one she has in the eye.”

and.....

Spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the newspaper: "We are dismissing this primarily because the timings are entirely wrong."

and.....

The PJ confirmed having been contacted by the taxi driver and his witness statement taken at the time. But these claims had been rejected after verification.

This country is already a laughing stock because of you, but at least have some respect for your daughter...You are her mother!

by saltnpepper 03.05.12 1:56

jd wrote:
Clarrie is some slime ball

This is the understatement of the century!!!

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by aiyoyo 03.05.12 3:18

jd wrote:
Maddie's mum Kate last night urged police to get in touch to see if his information could help find her missing daughter.

She said: “If there is any kind of lead that hasn’t been investigated properly, we want police looking into it.”

Dearest kate.....the mother of Madeleine....Please let me just remind you of what your spokesman who acts for you said back in 2008 when this happened

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCanns, reacted yesterday with amazement at the declarations of the taxi-driver. “The declarations of Mr. Castela are false. They are a perfect nonsense. He can only be mistaken when he says that at that time he transported Kate and Madeleine with three men”, he said, underlining the fact of being several independent witnesses who place Madeleine's parents in a completely different place. “How is that possible, if at 20h35 several witnesses say that Kate and Gerry were sitting down on a table of the Tapas restaurant”, he questioned. Clarence doubts of the intentions of the taxi-driver. “It astonishes me that only now, ten months later, he talks about this. These are declarations that only cause pain to Kate and Gerry", he said, advancing that that the McCann's daughter has no facial twitches. “The only sign to report is the one she has in the eye.”

and.....

Spokesman Clarence Mitchell told the newspaper: "We are dismissing this primarily because the timings are entirely wrong."

and.....

The PJ confirmed having been contacted by the taxi driver and his witness statement taken at the time. But these claims had been rejected after verification.

This country is already a laughing stock because of you, but at least have some respect for your daughter...You are her mother!

The point is:
did this cab driver say the woman was the "drugged" child was kate? If not, why did CM feel the need to refute his sighting?

Far as I read, the cab driver said 3 men and 1 woman, and a child (possibly Maddie). No mention that that group of adults was kate and Tapas mates.

Come on the mccanns faces are plastered all over the front pages, surely if the cab driver can recognise Maddie he should be able to recognise Kate, right? Since he did not mention it was kate, where did CM get that idea?

by Ribisl 03.05.12 6:55

aiyoyo wrote:

The point is:
did this cab driver say the woman was the "drugged" child was kate? If not, why did CM feel the need to refute his sighting?

Far as I read, the cab driver said 3 men and 1 woman, and a child (possibly Maddie). No mention that that group of adults was kate and Tapas mates.

Come on the mccanns faces are plastered all over the front pages, surely if the cab driver can recognise Maddie he should be able to recognise Kate, right? Since he did not mention it was kate, where did CM get that idea?

Aiyoyo - apparently he did claim in February 2008 to have recognised not only Madeleine by her coloboma but also Kate and Murat.

On his side a man seated who was using “fine glasses”. “He was similar with the one that appears in the television like the third suspect”, says António, concerning Robert Murat – who is arguido in the case. In the seat behind, a woman “like Kate” sat down, between two men. The girl that the taxi-driver says to be Maddie sat down to the lap of one of them.
“She was wearing pink pyjamas. The mother had the hair tied and a yellow coat”, he remembers, with exactness.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I suspect he was dismissed by the PJ as an unreliable witness, at the same by CM as an inconvenient one.
For some reason, it appears he is now saying he only recognised Madeleine. TM is getting their way again! tongue

by **tigger** 03.05.12 7:33

Looks like a case of constructive memory again. The report of the PJ is dated the 9th. The incident was on the 4th - then moved to the 3rd.
He may well have driven these people. But they would have been other tourists.
But by 8.30 pm. it would have been dark.
a) He can never have seen the coloboma because:it didn't exist
b) the girl was sitting on a lap - in the back of the cab it would be dark and he'd have to see that in the mirror. When they got into the car, the only way he could look into her eyes was by bending down or getting fairly close to the person carrying her.
c) He mentions Kate' tied back hair. Which had already been seen in the public domain - on TV .
d) He may already have seen shots of e.g. DP et al. Perhaps he knew Murat.
e) Not speaking during a short ride is nothing special for tourists - probably not normal for the Portuguese.

This is beginning to look desperate. Nothing better in the tombola?

by MrsDoubtful 03.05.12 8:13

Not this old chestnut again.

The taxi driver was on the telly way back in 2007, and stated he was convinced it was McCann and Murat lol in the back of his taxi with Maddy.

Then zap nothing.

Now its been dragged up again but the time and date and what he said has been edited out. Thank god we are not all stupid. I sent a good link to Daybreak on their Facebook page about what he REALLY SAID lol.

All this crap is not going to find this child, if the police have only this rubbish to work with there is never going to be hope for MADDY.