WIND DIRECTION / CURTAINS

by tunein 06.05.17 11:51

Hi
Sorry if this has been covered many times but I am new and very late to this subject.

I have sailed for more then 40 years and Know a bit about wind and weather etc.

Yes wind is tricky a thing to know but I would say that the wind on 3rd may was not strong 15kph WNW that = about 9 miles per hour or force 3 on the beaufort scale, know as a gentle breeze (at the lower end of 3).
That level of wind is not really notice-able to the average person walking about.
Madeleines window faced nearly North about (355deg) the apartment block runs nearly North South front to back.
The wind on the evening of the 3rd at 10pm is said to be WNW thats about 280 deg which means that if you looked out of Madeleines window it would be coming in at an angle of arround 75deg (from the left).
If you look at the position of the apartment 5a you will see that its lower then road behind and is sheltered by the back waist high wall,a row of trees and the buildings behind, also there is a hill behind the village.
I dont believe that a wind like this could blow open curtains and slam doors, especially the left curtain as it was sheltered from the wind by the closed window.
Please correct me if any of this seems wrong.

Thanks
Tunein

by tara 06.05.17 13:34

Hi Tunein, yes, you are quite right and also, if you study the bedroom photographs of Madeleine's room on PJ files, you will note that the curtains are anchored against the wall by a bed on one side and a chair on the other. Whoosh...not!

by Philip Anders 06.05.17 18:00

Hi tunein,

My personal view is that thing like this can't be mentioned too often because during my 25 years of doing fraud investigations I found that it was more often the combination of all the small little things that proved more damming than just one big thing.

A few weeks ago we had some really strong winds where we lived, enough to blow trampolines out of gardens, but none of our internal doors blew either open or shut when we opened a door or a window.

What often happens, in my personal experirnce of doing IUC's (interviews under caution) is that if a person is making up a set of events they seem to have a need to make an initial statement that paints a detailed written elaborate picture of what happened, having had plenty of time to think about it.

However, on most occasions they say things that can easily be proved to be false such as the shutters being jemmied open.

If they'd just said the shutters were open then they could have claimed that this was a mistake but at the initial interview with the police, they probably thought that by saying the shutters had been forced open it gave more credence to a break-in & therefore an abduction.

by tunein 07.05.17 12:18

Thanks Philip Anders,

The point about false stories tending to be over elaborate and detailed is a good one especially coming from one with
experience of fraud investigations, I shall remember that and put it in my tool box.
Now I am not accusing the Maccans of anything (I would like to keep my house) but Kates gesturing and arm waiving to demonstrate how the curtains swished open and the door banged shut was to my mind bizarre and almost theatrical.
As I have just said I am not accusing anyone but I would say that if the McCanns a liars then they are some of the worst
liars that I have come across.

Tunein

by **Jill Havern** 07.05.17 16:49

tunein wrote:Thanks Philip Anders,

The point about false stories tending to be over elaborate and detailed is a good one especially coming from one with
experience of fraud investigations, I shall remember that and put it in my tool box.
Now I am not accusing the Maccans of anything (I would like to keep my house) but Kates gesturing and arm waiving to demonstrate how the curtains swished open and the door banged shut was to my mind bizarre and almost theatrical.
As I have just said I am not accusing anyone but I would say that if the McCanns a liars then they are some of the worst
liars that I have come across.

Tunein

From PeterMac:

New poster Tunein - making good points - even if they have been covered already in Chapter 12. and 6, and elsewhere.
P

Chapter 6: Cold and Windy

Chapter 12: Floppy sun hats and flapping curtains ...

by Irene 2 07.05.17 19:44

Her May4th statement, http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/KATE-MCCANN.htm

She 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.

Didn't one of them say later that they'd never opened the curtains, shutters and window during their stay?
The whooshing curtains story came later. A wind strong enough to slam a door she was holding but not open the curtains. Then a wind strong enough to open both curtains but not slam the door again.

by tunein 08.05.17 9:35

Hi,
Thanks petermac, sorry if I am covering already covered ground but this subject is so vast and daunting to a newcomer.
I think that the 2nd link (chapter 12)that you have provided has covered this in far greater detail then I have.
Its possibly a little helpful that I have come to exactly the same conclusion totally independently and with out knowing about the other very good examination of the subject.

Tunein

by **Jill Havern** 08.05.17 9:50

tunein wrote:Hi,
Thanks petermac, sorry if I am covering already covered ground but this subject is so vast and daunting to a newcomer.
I think that the 2nd link (chapter 12)that you have provided has covered this in far greater detail then I have.
Its possibly a little helpful that I have come to exactly the same conclusion totally independently and with out knowing about the other very good examination of the subject.

Tunein

It's not a problem at all to go over old ground, especially for the sake of newcomers - and even better with a fresh pair of eyes! thumbsup