MAY 4TH 2007 - FACT and FICTION of the first week

This is a shortened version of FACTS (i.e. what happened and was duly recorded) and FICTION (i.e. family members word-perfect on broken shutters, lazy police and helpless Kate and Gerry) by  SmokeandMirrors'  and myself which we posted last year on this date.  


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 [...]
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.

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From Kate's Diary, Friday 4th May 2007

"No sleep, Gerry and I started looking through the streets around 6.00am as it was starting to get light. Nobody Around. Why not?

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Processos Volume V

Pages 1335 – 1337

Witness Statement

Date: 2007-05-16

Carlos Manuel Carvalho Lacão

Occupation: GNR Officer

He has been a GNR officer since 1988. He holds the post of soldier and currently works in the Portimao Territorial Group, working within the forensics service.

On 4th May he was called at about 01h15 when he was asleep at home, requesting him to appear at the Lagos GNR post as a small girl had disappeared. After arriving at the GNR post with his colleagues Morais and two dogs (Numi and Kit), German Shepherd dogs, which made up the search team, they immediately left for P da L. They arrived at about 02h30.

They finished the searches at about 07h00 AM.



4th May:

The Ambassador (arrival date 4th.) (coming from Lisbon and arriving after a three hour drive around midday must be a record, so when did he hear/get the instructions from F.O. as the Consul was already notified and the job of an Ambassador is primarily a political one)
The Consul and pro consul (present 4th onwards).

5th May
MW crisis management Bell Pottinger - Alex Woolfall - Public Relations Expert (arrival 5th)
Eleven members of the family and friends (arrivals on 4th, 5th and 6th)
'Alan Pike (trauma psychologist)... (arrival 5th)
3 Leicester Police Officers (arrival 5th).

Plus Craig Mayhew, MW operations director. ( probably arr. 5th)

20 people helping the McCanns of which eight are professionals in their respective fields.

Three British police officers
The Consul and Pro consul
A trauma councillor
A PR expert
The British Ambassador



Timesonline
The PR expert who advised Madeleine's parents in the first weeks of her disappearance offers a new insight into their state of mind
Dominic Kennedy
October 6, 2007

Mr Woolfall has provided the first detailed account by an insider of what happened to the McCanns during the desperate days after Madeleine disappeared. He is an expert in crisis PR at the communications group Bell Pottinger and flew to Portugal as part of the Mark Warner holiday company’s emergency response team on Saturday, May 5.

"Kate and Gerry have been largely left to get on with it, with no support in the initial stages, or guidance.
unquote

Bell Pottinger are an interesting firm.
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Bell Pottinger came courtesy of Mark Warner - flying in on the 5th.
Working on press management on the 6th.
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From the book:
Sunday 6: '..... We all, family and friends, went to mass at the local church.' (p.106). That first Sunday saw two further arrivals in Luz: my childhood friends Michelle and Nicky. Both wanted to be with me... Alan (Pike) planted in our minds the idea of reducing the size of our support group...
(in view of the statement by Alex Woolfall above - reducing the size of their support group whilst at the same time giving the message there was no support)

Ian Woods, Sky News, Praia da Luz in the Portuguese Algarve:
5/5/07
John Stephen Buck, the British Ambassador to Portugal, travelled to the Algarve yesterday, as did Craig Mayhew, Mark Warner UK operations director, and a counsellor.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said that the Serious Organised Crime Agency was liaising with British and Portuguese police. He added that two officials from the British Consulate in Portimão were with the family.
unquote

6th May

Present by the 6th:
My mum, dad and Auntie Norah were all staying in our apartment with us.
Gerry’s mum, Eileen, his brother John and sister Trisha, with her husband Sandy, plus Michael, my cousin Anne-Marie’s husband.
Childhood friends Michelle and Nicky.

The 6th - being a Sunday - Mothering Sunday there was a church service
Prayer service for missing girl BBC News

Last Updated: Sunday, 6 May 2007, 21:12 GMT 22:12 UK
A group of 21 villagers, including children, spent 45 minutes saying the Rosary with the McCanns in the couple's holiday apartment on Sunday night.

Diocese do Algarve
Submitted by: Diocese on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 - 12:41:42 (GMT)
Father José Manuel Pacheco further stresses the "confident and serene" participation of Kate Healy, despite the painful situation.
unquote

Sunday May 6, 2007
Ambassador Buck attended church service officiated by Father Jose Manuel
Pacheco.


Meanwhile the searches were going on:

Processo Volume III

785 - 788

On 6th May at about 08h00 and after another briefing from the Operational Command Post, it was decided that on that day they would again search all the plots of land with thick undergrowth within Praia da Luz, but that this time the search sections were divided amongst the teams. For this purpose the same teams of three dogs together with officers from Portimao who had been selected to help using the method of searching in file, carried out searches in all abandoned buildings, wells, rocks, verges of the EN125 and land surrounding Praia da Luz, in some cases reaching distances of 2 km.

____________________
 7th May
 

From ‘The Truth of the Lie’
Goncalo Amaral
THE ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH POLICE

On Monday May 7th, we start to welcome our English colleagues from Leicestershire, the county where Madeleine and her parents live.
unquote
(note that these officers arrived on the 5th and had already been in contact with the McCanns - only meeting the PJ two days later seems a little strange as work continued through the weekend) :

From the book ‘Madeleine’:

'We were seeing the Leicestershire FLOs every day.' (p.113).


Monday 7: British expatriates living permanently in Praia da Luz organized a search of the area. The volunteers were joined by most of our family and friends... while Gerry and I were tied up with Andy Bowes and Alex Woolfall...
unquote

Police follow up 350 possible sightings and say they have already interviewed more than 100 people.

Kate makes an appeal for the safe return of Madeleine, from inside their holiday apartment.



8th may

From ‘Madeleine’

As we were walking up from the beach at about 5pm, I had a call from Cherie Blair, in her final days as wife of the prime minister [..]She told me it was amazing but encouraging that Madeleine was still the first topic on the news every night. This was only five days after the abduction: as it turned out, our poor daughter would continue to headline the bulletins for some time to come.
.unquote

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Ambassador Buck travelled to the Algarve and met the McCanns. [..]
Buck gave a television interview in which he said he had been in touch with Portuguese ministers and the prime minister Jose Socrates, and senior police chiefs who assured him everything possible was being done to ensure the safe return of Madeleine. [..]
Buck made a statement to the media announcing the arrival of additional British experts.

Said that investigators were in close touch with Interpol and Europol
Said the McCanns were "very grateful for their efforts"

D.C. 975 Markley of Leicestershire Constabulary wrote, on a spare sheet of LC paper headed 'LEICESTERSHIRE CONSTABULARY Continuation WITNESS STATEMENT,' the following:
INFORMATION FROM THE FAMILY

I spoke to Kate McCann on Tuesday 8th of May 07. She told me that a friend of her Aunt & Uncle from Leicester had a friend that had a strong vision that Madeleine was on a boat with a man in the Marina in Lagos.

This person arrived in Portugal and has spoken to Kate. They have visited the Marina and identified the boat as "SHEARWATER". They saw a man on the boat but this was not the same man that she had in her vision.[...]
Thus Kate McCann took advantage of a gap in her busy schedule to visit Lagos Marina, some time between 4 and 8 May; an event directly associated with a matter of considerable importance to her (DC Markley points this out twice); so important in fact that she fails to describe it in her book at all [...] The nearest she comes to the subject is this: "There were a couple of 'visionary' experiences in particular I took very seriously. [..]I begged the police to look into these." She does not elaborate further.

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From: A Tense Situation by Dr Martin Roberts
20 January 2012
Her alleged schedule for those days leave no room at all for a visit to the Lagos Marina. The psychics were invited and were known to 'the family'. See for further information 'The Swansea Connection'.


May 9, 2007

An email between Portimão and Lisbon of 9 May 2007 was the subject of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request asking for Ambassador Buck's communications related to the McCanns.

This email (or a portion of it) was withheld based on "Personal Information" exemption: Section 40 (2) and (3) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
------------------------------------------------
Further information emerged regarding the 2 additional experts Buck had announced on Tuesday May 8th.

Ambassador Buck said they were "kidnapping experts" and had joined the 3 other British investigators who had been in Portugal since Saturday 5th.

"... two 'Cracker-style' criminal behaviour experts from Britain flew into the Algarve yesterday to join investigators..."

They were from CEOP and their dispatch had been organised by the British Foreign Office.

"A spokeswoman for the CEOP said the move was unprecedented and had been organised by the Foreign Office."

From the book Madeleine:
From the minute he got up the next morning, ( 9th)Gerry was on a mission. Among the first people he spoke to was the ambassador, John Buck. The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, also happened to call him. He pleaded with them both to try to improve the way the investigation and the search were being handled. unquote
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The official Madeleine McCann website is launched under the domain name bringmadeleinehome.com
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So by the 9th of May:

Three British police officers
The Consul and Pro consul
A trauma councillor
A PR expert
The British Ambassador
Two Criminal Behaviour Experts
A phonecall from Cherie Blair with offers of help
A phonecall from the Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett
Ambassador conferred with the PM of Portugal Jose Socrates and senior police chiefs
Investigators were in close touch with Interpol and Europol.

Police have interviewed over 100 people and followed up 350 sightings.



10 May 2007

Chief Inspector Olegario de Sousa holds a news conference to give more details of the search for Madeleine. He insists that he is doing everything he can to find the little girl, but so far from the ground search "the results are zero". He adds that the ground search for Madeleine is now being wound down.

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

A Foreign Commonwealth Office internal email of 10 May 2007 (12a) was the subject of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request asking for Ambassador Buck's communications related to the McCanns.

This email (or a portion of it) was withheld based on "International relations" exemption: Section 27.1.a. (1)Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice—( a) relations between the United Kingdom and any other State


To conclude - An extract from the 27/5/07 BBC interview:
Interviewer:
JH: And I've spoken to a lot of people, over the weeks, who... local people who'd given up a lot of time. You've talked about the support that they've given you. I met people who didn't go to work for more than a week because everyday they were down on the beach, searching the streets. Did you, as a mother Kate, just sometimes think 'I've got to go and be out there with them. I want to go and just physically look as well'?


KM: I mean, I did... we'd been working really hard really. Apart... I mean, the first 48 hours, as Gerry said, are incredibly difficult and we were almost non-functioning, I'd say, but after that you get strength from somewhere. We've certainly had loads of support and that's given us strength and its been able to make us focus really so we have actually, in our own way, it might not be physically searching but we've been working really hard and doing absolutely everything we can, really, to get Madeleine back.

From the book 'Madeleine':
chapter 6:
..As soon as it was light Gerry and I resumed our search. We went up and down roads we’d never seen before, having barely left the Ocean Club complex all week. We jumped over walls and raked through undergrowth. We looked in ditches and holes.... unquote

(So expecting to find a dead or severely injured child?  Ditches and holes supposes an abductor who discarded the child within a short distance of the apartment. As the McCanns didn't have a car to use at the time, this can't have taken them far from 5a and they were seen around 7.00 am by a GNR officer on duty. Just outside, not jumping into ditches. Phoning mostly, as the mobile records show.)




____________________

How much has the search for Madeleine cost so far? It began at 10.00pm on Thursday 3 May 2007 when the McCanns said that Madeleine had been abducted.

Here is a rough calculation of the total costs so far, accompanied by a few notes:

£548,477 (unchanged) - The cost for Leicestershire Police's part in the search in 2007-8 was £548, 477, of which the Home Office refunded £525,069.

£4 million (unchanged) - A conservative estimate of the cost to the Portuguese Police of their investigation, just in 2007-8.

£3.3 million (up £0.3 million since last time) - A conservative estimate of the costs of the McCanns’ private investigations and their reputation management so far, made up as follows:
• At least £300,000, maybe more, to Metodo 3
• £½ million plus expenses to Kevin Halligen
• Salaries and expenses to Dave Edgar, Arthur Cowley and assorted other detectives, plus trips to Germany (Hewlett), Barcelona (Victoria Beckham-lookalike) and various other trips
• Salaries of Justine McGuinness and Clarence Mitchell plus expenses: £425,000 so far

£2.2 million (up £0.2 million since last time) - the estimated cost to Interpol and an assortment of police forces around the globe, who have had to deal with hundreds, possibly thousands of ‘sightings’ of Madeleine, in countries such as the U.K., Germany, France, Portugal, Morocco, Spain, Canada, Venezuela, Australia and New Zealand.
The estimate is based on say 1,100 ‘sightings’ requiring an average of say £2,000 of police time to investigate each sighting

£8.0 million (up £4.5 million since last time) - for the current Scotland Yard ‘Review’. The review is said to be staffed by 37 officers. If their average salary is say £40,000, and they work on the review for say at least a year, that would cost around £2 million alone (including e.g. pension and employer’s N.I. contributions), and that doesn’t include the cost of e.g. hotels and travel for visits to Portugal and Spain

£4.43 million (up £0.25 million since last time, mainly due to the continuing libel action in Portugal and other libel actions) [see other thread: Compendium of lawyers used by the McCanns] - for lawyer’s fees: Edward Smethurst (co-ordinating lawyer), Carter-Ruck (suing Dr Goncalo Amral and others), Michael Caplan Q.C. (extradition), Portuguese lawyers including extradition lawyers and Isabel Duarte, International Family Law Group (wardship proceedings before Ms Justice Hogg in the High Court)

£200,000 (say) (previously an unknown amount) - for the current Portuguese investigation begun in Oporto.

£200,000 (say) (new) Costs of UK and Portuguese ministerial, legal and administrative work on the Madeleine McCann case


An unknown amount - for answering various Freedom of Information Act queries from press and public about the case.

Kate statement
"At around 10pm, the witness came to check on the children. She went into the apartment by the side door, which was closed, but unlocked, as already said, and immediately noticed that the door to her children's bedroom was completely open, the window was also open, the shutters raised and the curtains open, while she was certain of having closed them all as she always did."

Kate's Book (Exhibit KH1)
"As I ran back into the children’s room the closed curtains flew up in a gust of wind. My heart lurched as I saw now that, behind them, the window was wide open and the shutters on the outside raised all the way up. "

Totally bizarre.
Not the story, obviously, that is just untrue, and changed to try to make it sound more dramatic, though of course the idea of someone climbing out of the window carrying Madeleine, and then putting her down, turning round and reaching through to close the curtains is frankly "ludicrous" . . .
No, what is bizarre is that no one form the Press the media, or apparently even Scotland Yard ever bothers to challenge or to ask questions, and that all the people who unconditionally believe the McCanns must believe BOTH of these Versions of the unTruth.

- and for good measure:  this is for all the guests and newbies who've may have missed this:    a free ebook
explaining in clear language and analysis of statements the glaring inconsistencies in the 'official' account.

Michael McLean:

"Put yourself in the mind of a detective and work it out for yourself

Or put yourself in the place of a parent, and ask:
If you had let your child go on holiday with the McCanns and they lost her, would you accept their version?"

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I agree PeterMac.
It is utterly odd how much leniency the McCanns have been given by the various media outlets and the SY team.You have highlighted just one example here but there are so many.
It is no wonder that the McCanns come across to me as arrogant and as self-assured as they do.Seven years have passed and their teams' tactics have worked.

As to why they have been allowed so much rope is a mystery.

Dr What wrote:
As to why they have been allowed so much rope is a mystery.

\
Unless you are the hangman !

I don't know if anyone has asked this before, or recently...

...but could the McCann case be covered by a D Notice, or superinjunction type thing?

Would this only apply to the UK?

Could the Tapas 9/Ocean Club guests have had to sign some sort of Official Secrets Act thing?

missbeetle wrote:I don't know if anyone has asked this before, or recently...

...but could the McCann case be covered by a D Notice, or superinjunction type thing?

Would this only apply to the UK?

Could the Tapas 9/Ocean Club guests have had to sign some sort of Official Secrets Act thing?

Given the 'coherence' of the T9's 'statements' i'd be very surprised IF they were ABLE to SIGN their own NAMES!