Documented Evidence

Dianne Webster rogatory interview - April 2008

Reply ”So it might have been Sunday to Thursday. Err what else did I do, I went to the beach err on two or three occasions with err Fiona and Dave, well Fiona and the girls and sometimes Jane and Russell or, I remember Jane, I think some of the times the boys were off doing their windsurfing and sailing and whatever, err I know Kate and Gerry were very into the tennis err so I wouldn’t say that, that I saw a lot of all of them during the day, it was usually in the evening that we’d meet up.”

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4078 ”Yeah. Well we’ll move on then to the Thursday which I’m sure is perhaps a bit clearer in your mind because you’ve had to go through it so often, and if you could juts tell me what you remember starting from the morning as far as you can remember through the day.”

Reply ”Right the, the morning was the last tennis lesson and err my tennis suddenly improved and then after that, again I would have just gone back to the apartment and showered and whatever, err Fiona and Dave were err I’m trying to remember if that was the day that they were err supposed to be windsurfing but it was too rough and they did go out instead or whether that was another day. Sorry I can’t, I can’t remember that bit. Lunch, lunch we would have had in the apartment, now the other thing I remember is because Scarlet and Lily at that point both had an afternoon sleep, there’d be certain amount of time each afternoon spent in the apartment err…”

4078 ”Was that for you or for David and Dianne, or took it in turns?”

Reply ”For, for err well David and Fiona. I mean Dave might be out doing something. Sometimes the men would go off and play tennis in the afternoon because you could actually go and book a court and play tennis. Err so I mean there was always somebody in the apartment, it was generally Fiona I would say, and err and I would be there as well on call I think and the children were having their afternoon nap. So afternoon activities wouldn’t start until they’d had their nap err and that particular day err Dave I know was windsurfing in the afternoon, I’ve just got a picture of him walking out of the sea in his wetsuit. Err and err Russell and Matt took out a boat because I remember err Russell, who doesn’t know anything about sailing, had to rescue Matt.”

4078 ”Yeah he’s told us all about that, yeah.”

Reply ”Yeah, again I’ve got a photograph of them on the beach after that, so after the, after the girls had had their sleep we obviously went down to the beach err and we all went down apart, well again Kate and Gerry, I think they were more into tennis than the beach, so I didn’t see, see them there that day. Err so there was myself, Fiona, Rachael, and Jane with all the children. We went down to the beach that day and just played around for a bit err and then the men came in from their activities and we then went, because it was quite late, we decided rather than rush the children, to high tea at the Ocean Club. We’d just give them high tea in this beach restaurant that we’d been to before. So the children had high tea, or their tea, in this err restaurant, beach café, err…”

4078 ”Who else was there around that time?”

Reply ”Who else? Well it was, it was all of us err apart from Kate and Gerry and their children, yeah we were all there and err the men, I think because err Dave, I don’t know if the other two had them as well, they had to be back for tennis or something or some tennis thing, I don’t know if its due to start at six or something like that. So they, they, they went ahead err before us and we waited until the children had finished having their ice creams and whatnot and then err we went back to the Ocean Club err I’m trying to remember if we went to the play area or whether I went, because it was a common thing every night the parents would play with the children in this play area and I can’t honestly remember if I went with them that night or whether I just went straight back to the apartment because it was quite late and Fiona and Dave are not good at time keeping so we were getting later and later each night in, in getting down to the restaurant.”

4078 ”Everyone else says that yeah.”

Reply ”(Laughs) err so I honestly can’t remember if I was out, out there at the play area that night or whether I just went back and because we all needed to have a shower and everything. Fiona went out for a run I know that, she went out for a little run, err ah I wish I could remember.”

4078 ”It’s perfectly understandable that you can’t. Did you see Kate and Gerry at all during the day that day?”

Reply ”Err well only in the morning when, at the tennis, err I’m get, do you know I’m getting confused because I know there was one err evening where they were, they were all playing, and they were playing tennis and we were, there’s the tennis courts were down a few steps that was more than the rest of the area and err we were with the children watching the men play but I can’t remember what night that was.”

4078 ”You said earlier that the men had had to go back from the beach they were conscious of the time because they had something to go to, was that tennis?”

Reply ”That was tennis yeah.”

4078 ”But it wasn’t the only time that the men played at that time of day?”

Reply ”No I don’t think so.”

4078 ”Okay.”

Reply ”I don’t think so but I can’t be a hundred percent sure.”

4078 ”Do you remember if you saw Madeleine that day?”

Reply ”I don’t think I did see her that day because the fact that we’d gone down to the beach in the afternoon and we hadn’t got the kid, the high tea, had we gone to the high tea err with the children then yes we would have seen her, but err I don’t recollect err seeing her because in the morning at the tennis she would have been in the kids club.”

4078 ”And if the time that you were watching the men play tennis, well if it was that day or a different day, can you remember much about that time if that’s sort of clear in your mind?”

Reply ”What, in relation to…”

4078 ”If, I’m just, it seemed to be clearer in your mind than some other things, you said you can remember standing there and the courts were lower and you can remember standing watching.”

Reply ”Well yeah I can remember err I can remember watching the men playing tennis but I can’t put a day on it, I can’t, I can’t remember err I don’t know if it was that, I don’t think it was that night I think it might be another night.”

4078 ”Okay.”

Reply ”Because err when err when Madeleine went missing I, you know, I, my memory would have been fresher then and I don’t, I don’t remember seeing her on that day.”

4078 ”Yeah. So whether you stayed to watch the tennis for a bit or not, you would have then ended up back at your apartment.”

Reply ”Yeah, yeah.”

4078 ”And getting ready for the, going for a meal.”

Reply ”Well we were very late that night.”

Jane Tanner rogatory interview - April 2008

[Monday 30th April 2007]

Reply “And I think from that I then went to windsurfing because I’d already booked in to that so it was like straight from that so we went down to the beach and then came back from that and then picked the children up about, I think it’s half twelve you have to pick them up and had lunch. I don’t know where we had lunch but we often tended to have lunch in err Dave and Fi’s room, again because it was a bigger room and we just tended to congregate there.”

4078 “Did everybody do that?”

Reply “They did but apart from Kate and Gerry often had it in their own, their own apartment, err I don’t know whether they ever came, I don’t think they ever, I think they tended to have lunch, lunch in their own apartment but their, Sean and Amelie tended to go back to the kids club in the afternoon whereas err the rest of us, because they were younger they didn’t, so.”
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4078 “So you spent an hour every morning with Kate.”
Reply “Yeah.”

4078 “And Rachael. Was it Rachael?”
Reply “Yes, yeah.”

4078 “Did you spend any time with Kate in any other activities specifically? Not just sort of chatting.”
Reply “Err no not really, I think sometimes she was there in the afternoon if we were by the pool.”

4078 “Mm.”
Reply “You know, but err but no, no other specific arranged activities.”

4078 “What about with Gerry?”
Reply “No because he tended to do his separately, which is probably why I didn’t get to know him as well over the week as well because he was better at tennis than us so he had the ten thirty lesson which was the intermediates rather than the beginners.”

4078 “Right.”
Reply “So you know we sort of tended to sort of pass and also they had a few extra lessons in the afternoon as well so, and they tended to do all tennis based activities, whereas the rest of us were sort of bitting and bobbing between you know beach activities as well as, as well as the tennis.”

4078 “So your contact with Kate was limited to your tennis lessons and then to sort of just sitting socially..”
Reply “Yeah.”

4078 “At the play area or in the Tapas bar, generally.”
Reply “Yeah, yeah, around that sort of area.”

4078 “And with Gerry it was just limited to the social side.”
Reply “It was mainly in the evening that we saw, well after the high tea for the kids, we called it high tea but you know, tea for the kids, and afterwards in the play area with the kids and then, and then in the restaurant in the evening.”
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Reply “Err so after the, would it be the Wednesday, after our tennis lesson they all came down so we did stay and watch them for a bit, so that makes me wonder if it was actually the sailing that day. No, yeah because the sailing started, sorry, the sailing started at half eleven so between half ten and half eleven that day we would have stood and, we stood and watched, I stood with Kate and probably Rachael we watched them having their, the kids having their tennis lesson. And I think Russell was there, yeah Russell was there with Evie then so yeah I think Russell had probably spent the morning with Evie and then be watching us play tennis and we watched Ella.”

4078 “So that was definitely the morning you think (inaudible) left to go to kids club?”
Reply “I think that, as much as I can remember I’m fairly sure that was, and that’s the morning when we had the conversation, which I think is in some of our statements but one of the other parents was there videoing them having a tennis lesson and at that point we were sort of saying it’s so ridiculous that you’re not allowed to, you know, people look at you funny if you’re doing this now, blah, blah, and it was almost like sort of afterwards, you know, we were all going oh yeah it’s ridiculous you have to worry about this sort of thing and you can’t take pictures of your own children, blah, blah, blah.”

4078 “Mm, so there was Rachael, Kate, you, Russell.”
Reply “Yeah.”

4078 “Gerry?”
Reply “Err he would have probably, I think he’d started his tennis lesson on the other court so they were using one court for the err for the kids and the other court for the intermediate tennis people.”
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[Thursday 3rd May 2007]

4078 “There is no problem, just in your own time. Was this your first beach visit by the way?”

Reply “It was with the children, yeah, with Evie, yeah. And, again, that sounds odd, but we’d just moved to Devon, so I think we’d been to the beach quite a lot, so normally when, if we’d gone on holiday we’d have been like straight to the beach, but because we’d, because we were by the beach”.

4078 “Not so much”.

Reply “Yeah, I don’t think we’d sort of, we hadn’t sort of thought of going before. Erm, you know, walking down to the beach, so Russell, me and Evie walked down to the beach. I don’t know, I don’t know what Kate did then (inaudible) but I don’t know where Kate went at that point, but she didn’t come to the beach with us. Erm, we, I think we met Dave and Fi coming back, because they’d had their second, I think they’d had their second sailing lesson, erm, which Russell should have gone to but he didn’t because of looking after Evie, because I’d paid for the tennis lesson but he hadn’t paid for the sailing lesson we thought I’d do the tennis lesson”.

4078 “Because it was paid?”

Reply “Yeah, erm, I think we met Dave and Fi coming back and they said they’d seen Madeleine and Ella on a boat, because they’d taken the kids sailing that morning, so they said ‘Oh we’ve seen Madeleine and Ella on a boat down there’. So then we went down to the beach, erm, and Russell took out a kayak and I sat and just played on the beach with Evie at that point. And we saw, erm, they’d come off the boat and we saw Ella and Madeleine and the rest of the group, they were just, erm, they’d just come off the boat and they were getting ready to walk back up to the, erm, tut, the Kids Club, so”.

4078 “What was the weather like at that time when you remember seeing Madeleine on the beach then?”

Reply “Erm, I think that day was a bit nicer actually. I think, I’m trying to, I’ve got pictures of Ella, of Evie, that’s about the first day I took pictures actually, and I’ve got pictures of Evie and I’m trying to remember what she was wearing. It was a tee-shirt, so I don’t think it was, it wasn’t as, I think it was actually getting a bit nicer, it wasn’t as cold. No, yeah, because the Thursday was actually probably one of the first nice days, which is why I think we had gone later in the day, we took all the kids down to the beach because it was actually nicer weather. So, yeah, the Thursday was probably the first day I think the sun had more come out in the day”.

4078 “When you were there with Evie and you had seen Madeleine and Ella sort of getting ready to go back to the Kids Club, were there many other people around?”

Reply “Erm, not many, erm, phew, you know, I mean, I can remember sitting in a big space, you know, you weren’t like jammed in, there was a big space before any of the others. And, again, I’ve racked my brains to think if I could if there was anybody there that was, and I can’t think of any, noticing anybody, noticing anybody odd at that point. Erm, there was mainly just, as I say, there was the kids there and there was the people that run the activities on the beach. But, erm, you know, there were other people but nothing, you know, nobody, nobody that stood out completely”.

4078 “Okay. Go on then”.

Reply “Yeah, so erm, so, yeah, Russ took the, took the kayak out for a bit and then came back and then we just sat, I think we just stayed then on the beach and waited to, because Ella, and then waited ‘til sort of half twelve to go and pick Ella up for lunch, erm. So we walked back via the Kids Club and then back up for lunch. And I think that day was the day we had lunch in our apartment with just Matt and Rachael and not Dave and Fi. I think, I think because they’d done the sailing early, I think they might have picked up their kids a bit earlier and given them lunch, you know, beforehand. I can’t remember why we didn’t, but it was just the four of us and the kids there that day. Erm, so, yeah, we just went back and had lunch in the apartment. And then Grace and Evie, took them to have a, have a nap. And I think probably before Ella went back, Rachael and I just went to have a knock on the tennis court. So, I mean, I don’t know what time that would have been, probably, I’m trying to think what time the Kids Club started in the afternoon, I think it’s half two, but I mean, you’ll know that, I think it was half two, so probably about half one, erm, Rachael and I just went down to, you know, the court was free so we thought ‘Oh we’ll go and have a bit of a knock’ at that point. Erm, so Russ took back, took Ella back to the Kids Club and Matt listened for Evie while Russ took Ella. Matt, Matt sort of was listening for Evie and Grace while Russ took Ella back to the, back to the Kids Club”.

4078 “Right”.

Reply “Erm, and I think we played ‘til about, phew, half two, because I think, I’m not sure if this is going to be another question that you are going to ask, but I think that was the last time that I saw Madeleine, because Kate and Gerry brought the kids, all the kids down to the play area to, they would have their lunch before they took them back to the Kids Club, and I think that was about two, quarter past two’ish, and I can remember Madeleine shouting things to us on the tennis court, you know, and I can remember Gerry sort of going ‘Oh good shot’ or whatever. And I think that would have been the last time that I personally, you know, I personally saw Madeleine. Erm, and I think they then left, I say times, I’m not sure, but I know, I think it was probably, the Kids Club had already gone back in, because I could hear, the Kids Club was right by the court, so, and I can remember thinking ‘Oh they’ve not gone straight back in’. Then they took the twins up to the Kids Club and I presume Madeleine back to the, to the other one, because then Kate and Gerry, I think we saw them, I can’t remember for exactly, but I think we saw them when we come back, because they’d booked a, erm, a private tennis lesson, just the two of them, that afternoon, and I think, I don’t, I can’t remember whether we saw them coming back before me and Rachael finished or whether we saw them doing that when we then went down to the beach, but I remember seeing Kate and Gerry coming back to have their, have their private tennis lesson. So anyway me and Rachael probably knocked up for about any hour maybe or probably a bit less than an hour, then went back and then, then Matt and Russ, when we got back, Matt and Russ went down to the beach and I think they took a boat out, erm, Matt fell off the boat and nearly lost Matt off the side of the boat and we thought that would be the drama of the day, but. So, yeah, then they went down to their and then we’d arranged to actually take all the kids down to the beach with Dave and Fi and Dianne that afternoon, so then when Evie and Grace woke up, we all well followed and all went down to the beach as a group, but not with, but Kate and Gerry didn’t come then because they’d booked this private, you know, this private lesson”.

4078 “So it was Fiona and David?”

Reply “Yeah”

4078 “And Dianne?”

Reply “Dianne, yeah”.

4078 “And Grace?”

Reply “Grace”.

4078 “Sorry, Lily, Scarlet”.

Reply “Lily, Scarlet and Grace”.

4078 “It’s like a test for me trying to remember”.

Reply I know it is, yeah”.

4078 “I am missing a couple. Rachael and Matthew, they were there too?”

Reply “Rachael was. Matt, Matthew had gone down with Russell, so they were already on the beach, they were, as I say, they were trying to drown each other on the boat at this point, so they were already down there”.

4078 “So everybody was there apart from Gerry and Kate and Madeleine and the twins?”

Reply “And Ella. Ella was still in the Kids Club at this point as well”.

4078 “Okay”.

Reply “Like I say, yeah, everybody apart from those”.

4078 “What time of day was that by that point, roughly?”

Reply “Erm, I think it was about three’ish, three thirty, probably by, it might even have been later by the time we’d got ourselves, I’d say three thirty-four”.

4078 “Okay”.

Reply “By the time we’d got everybody, trying to get Dave and Fi anywhere is like trying to organise an Army, so I imagined it probably went a bit”.

4078 “Why is that?”

Reply “Erm, they’re just always late”.

4078 “Whose fault is it?”

Reply “They’re just always late and faffing, I think Dave’s a faffer so it’s normally, so, yeah, I think, erm, it was probably three thirty, four”.

4078 “Okay”.

Reply “Ish. Erm, so, yeah, we went down to the beach and we were probably on the beach for an hour. Matt and Russ came out from their sailing and started telling us, you know, about their, how Matt had fallen off the side and he’d had to go back and get him, et cetera. Erm, I think, actually, at this, I think Dave, sorry David, might have been down there as well, he might not have come down with us, he might have already been down there as well but he joined us. I can’t, I think he was, yeah, I think he was out on the water as well, so he wouldn’t have walked down with us, we met him there as well”.

4078 “Okay”.

Reply “But”.

4078 “He was on the beach with you?”

Reply “He was on the beach, yeah. Erm, so, yeah, we played with the kids for probably about an hour and a half on the beach. And then Russell went to get, pick Ella up from the Kids Club and he brought her back down, back down to the beach”.

4078 “Was that the normal time that they finished?”

Reply “Erm, I think it was about five. It would have been before, because they used to walk them up for tea, so because we were going to give them all tea on the beach we didn’t, we made sure it was before they left, but it would have probably have been about, just before five I think”.

4078 “And how long did it take you to go from the beach to the Kids Club?”

Reply “Erm, phew, five minutes”.

4078 “Not long at all?”

Reply “No, it was up a hill. Yeah, probably four or five minutes”.

4078 “Okay. Go on then. So Russell goes back to fetch Ella?”

Reply “Yeah, and then I remember him coming back down, erm, to the beach. I think she was on his shoulders. I don’t know why I remember that, but I remember him”.

4078 “Well that is good, if you have got a mental image”.

Reply “Yeah, yeah, that’s what I’m thinking, yeah. So, yeah, he came back down and I think we were still on the beach at that point, I don’t think we’d gone to the café, I think when he came back we were still on the beach. And then we walked up to, I think it’s Café Paris, Parisio or something, it’s the café that’s on the front, and we just had, had some drinks there and gave the kids some tea, so we got them some tea, because obviously they weren’t having it in the, the Kids, they didn’t have the provided tea that night. Erm, I had an orange juice, I didn’t even have a beer, I remember that, because I thought ‘Oh shall I have a beer’ and I thought ‘Oh no, I’ll have an orange juice’. I don’t know why I remember that either but”.

4078 “Obviously a conscious decision”.

Reply “It was a conscious, yeah. I think normally I probably would have at that time of day thought ‘It’s time for a beer’. But, no, I had an orange juice and we fed the kids and then they played in front of the, erm, tut, in front of the restaurant there was like a slide and swings and they were playing on there”.

4078 “Is that actually on the beach then?”

Reply “Yeah, more or less, yeah, it’s sort of right on the edge and then it goes onto the beach, so the swings are actually on the beach, a bit of it. Erm, I’m trying to think what else, what we did when we were in the restaurant. I can’t remember. There was some lobsters in a, tut, a tank. And the group Ella and Madeleine was in was called LOBSTER, so I can remember going, like lobsters”.

4078 “Right (inaudible)”.

Reply “A key piece, it’s a key piece of information there, sorry. And then, I think, yeah, I gave the kids some food and they had an ice cream. And then I think, it was every night, yeah, every night there was social tennis actually, so that’s probably what happened after tea on most nights, we’d go and do an hour of tennis and sort of mix and match between us all, so the kids would be playing in the, erm, the play area, and, you know, we’d sort of like, somebody will stay and play with the kids and then we’d swap in and out if it was. But like they had, one night they had a ladies’ night, but Thursday night was actually the men’s night of tennis and I think somebody, basically made, tried to make ourselves as awkward as possible on this holiday, I think, because somebody had asked, because there weren’t many people there and most of the people playing tennis were in our group except a few others, they sort of said ‘Oh could it be just slightly’, it was either slightly earlier or slightly later, so I think it was actually, I think normally it started at half six but we’d asked ‘Could the social tennis start at six’, so that they then gave us time to get the kids into bed afterwards”.

There will now be a short intermission..

4078 “Right okay, so Wednesday you’ve done lunch, you’re not a hundred percent certain what you did in the afternoon.”

Reply “Yeah, no.”

Russell O'Brien rogatory interview - April 2008

On the 3rd May 2007 I saw Madeleine in the morning a couple of times this was when I dropped Ella off. I took the kids up to breakfast at the Millennium club and walked to the Ocean Club I was late getting Ella there, the kids were having a great time at the kids club and all appeared to well.

I went to the flat with Evie, whilst she was resting I read a book. When she woke up we went outside to watch Jane play tennis I saw Madeleine at lunchtime I can’t recall if Jane or I collected Ella it’s all a bit hazy now.
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Ella went back to the kids club and I went out with Matt sailing, I Jane was looking after Evie. Whilst I was out sailing with Matt he fell in the water, I had to sail back to save him this made the day quite memorable that and it being the best day weather wise. When we came back Jane was at the beach with the children, I recall that at some point around 17:00-17:30 Kate was out running she was dressed in her full running kit which was a vest and shorts- one item was grey and the other pale blue but I cannot say which way round.

When Kate ran past on her run she didn’t speak to us, but she did acknowledge us as a group.

We didn’t stick to our usual routine so much that day the children stayed with us and ate their tea at the bar by the beach called the Paridiso. Everyone was there at the beach except Kate, Gerry and their kids. I collected Ella from the Ocean Club before she went up to tea at the Tapas Bar, I cannot say whether Madeleine was there or not.

It was a warm day, good afternoon I recall that I went up to the social tennis around 18:00hours with Matt I think David went to the apartment and then up to Gerry’s. I played tennis for around an hour to an hour and a half, Dan the tennis coach was also present, as were some other male guests and Gerry we played a mixture of singles and doubles.

The kids came up with Jane, Fiona and Rachael from the beach, but not the MC CANN’S children I presume that they were at the apartment.
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Reply “Erm, ‘Jane was at the beach with the children (inaudible) she was in full running kit’. Erm, you did ask me about what kit she had on at the time, erm, I mean, I said I think it was probably either a grey vest top, it was probably slightly less than a tee-shirt, erm, and sort of blue sort of sports, you know, female running shorts, or the colours were the other way round, but, that would be a guesstimate. You also asked if we, erm, oh well you’ve got it later on, it says ‘When Kate ran past on her run she didn’t speak to us but she did acknowledge us as a group’. I think, yeah, I mean, that perhaps goes back, it just needs, it’s a bit out of order, but it’s there nonetheless. Erm, no”.

1578 “Do you want me to put that sentence in ‘in full running kit’'”
Reply “It just, I suppose, ‘She was dressed in her full running kit’ and the description of it and ‘When Kate ran past’, then at least it’s all the facts together. The next. Sorry, you haven’t finished yet. The next, the next statement is wrong. Erm, it says ‘The Nannies had brought the children up for readiness for tea, I can’t say if I saw Madeleine when Ella came back’, that’s wrong. What happened was, erm, ordinarily we would have met all the children from the Kids Club, the Mini Club at high tea, they would have been brought up and sat down by the Nannies and we’d have just joined the group, we’d have been there when they got there. On this occasion we were on the beach and as it got towards five o’clock I, I pelted up the hill to collect Ella before they were taken up to the main complex. Does that make sense' And so, erm, the reason that I think this is in here is, you were asking me I think if I’d saw Madeleine there, now because I got there before the children had left, by rights Madeleine should have been there as well, unless Kate and Gerry had taken her out earlier for some reason. Erm, with eleven months passage, I can’t, if I’m honest with you, I can’t picture whether Madeleine was there. But, generally speaking, by this point in the afternoon people were not, we weren’t collecting, we weren’t doing any collecting in that afternoon, so I think Madeleine will have been there. Erm, but if I’m honest, I can’t, you know, hand on heart, say, when I picked Ella up and took her down to the beach before the Nannies took her up to, erm, for high tea, that I saw Madeleine there. But I got in early enough to get Ella out before the end of, well, you know, arrived just before they actually left to go up, so by rights she should have been there”.

1578 “Okay”.

Reply “And I think, I, I can’t remember what I said in my original statement on that one, to be fair. Erm, but, erm, my gut feeling is that she was there when I picked Ella up. But, as I say, you know, hand on heart, that’s not, that’s not a”.

1578 “Yeah, you do say you can’t say if you saw Madeleine”.
Reply “No, I think now it’s, I can’t honestly say that Madeleine was there when I picked Ella up at five, but there was no particular reason why we were doing any of these pick ups, the only reason I ran up there was because we were on, we were on the beach and we didn’t want Ella to be taken all the way up to high tea. And I think by this point we’d already decided we were going to stay on the beach and go and have some food down there”.
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But I think it’s fair enough to say that, erm, ‘I’m not entirely convinced now whether Madeleine was there or not, but I’ve no reason to suppose that she wasn’t’. And it’s not ‘when Ella came back’, so perhaps ‘I’m not entirely sure whether Madeleine was there now when I picked Ella up, when I collected Ella’”.

1578 “And this was from the Kiddies Club'”
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Reply “Erm, yes, I picked them up from the, from the club in the, just the sort of first floor of the Ocean Club complex, sort of main reception”.

1578 “And you then took her back down to the beach'”
Reply “We went back down to the beach. I suppose be a bit more specific about what happened on the beach. Erm, yeah, ‘We didn’t stick to the usual routine that day’, erm, ‘ate their tea at the bar on the beach called the Paradiso. Everyone was there except Kate, Gerry and the kids’.
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Reply “’His apartment and Kate and Gerry’s’. At the end of the next, it was ‘Dan the tennis coach was also present, as were a handful of other male guests’. ‘And Gerry’, for that matter, it doesn’t, doesn’t explicitly say that Gerry was playing some tennis, which he was. So ‘Dan the tennis coach was also present’, err, ‘as were Dave, Matt, Gerry and several other male guests’.
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Why do I even bother?  I give up.

Having waded through Matt Oldfield's rogatory interview, the only consistency appears to be not one of them knows where they were, when they were and why they were at any one time or day of the week.

According to their garbled account, the group went to the beach at different times and reasons on the afternoon of Thursday 3rd May 2007 - without the McCann family.  There is no tangible nor apparent reason why the McCann family didn't join them.  Apart from that, they can't remember.

Apart from that, the weather that day was a bit better, a least better than the day before when it rained.

It's like wading through a vat of cold treacle - very slow and very pointless.

I'm seriously wasting my time.

ETA: One thing at least can be deduced, the period between Saturday 28th April and Wednesday 2nd May, is conveniently forgotten by the whole group, including the McCanns. Apart from a few minor details like a small dog yapping and Ms McCann's pink feet and the fellow tourist who chatted about taking photographs of your own children and paedophilia .... that word again!

Thank you crusader.

Sometimes I feel like an ant climbing the north face of the Eiger - or a hairy leg!



I'll keep going if only for you

Verdi wrote:Thank you crusader.

Sometimes I feel like an ant climbing the north face of the Eiger - or a hairy leg!



I'll keep going if only for you

And me, and Sharon, Peter and Tony and all our other active members! 

You do amazing work on this forum, and you're much appreciated

One day CMOMM will be a read-only reference forum when this case is old, nothing new happening whatsoever, and people have lost interest. That day is coming, but not yet. Whilst you beaver away on the open forum, I faff behind the scenes to make sure CMOMM is ready for that day.

Madeleine McCann and her parents will go down in history, much like JonBenet, but people will still research the case should there ever be anything similar in the future (e.g. Nóra Quoirin ).

But whilst Operation Grange is still ticking over, then so should CMOMM. We live in hope that this case will be solved, as Gonçalo Amaral once said he believed would happen. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could close this forum with some good news? That Maddie finally received the justice she deserves...!

That's the only reason why we're all still here, having already given up thirteen years of our lives (more than can be said for her own parents) for this child who was dead before we even knew her name.

The fact that people on this forum keep going , researching , reading through the interminable err erm you know statements ( I'm surprised many of us aren't raging alcoholics by now , enough to drive anyone to drink ! ) shows how much people care about what happened to Madeleine Beth McCann and want the truth to be told . 

Numbers of members are still rising , a credit to the good name of CMOMM , despite those who continue to name call , which says much about them ! 

Keep going my friends , and I do look on you all as friends , we may not always agree but that's life . More has been done here than the parents , Tapas 7 and Op Grange collectively to " leave no stone unturned " . 
I would raise a glass to everyone , but as it's not 10 o'clock yet I'll raise my cup of tea instead . ( even this ludicrous lockdown hasn't driven me to drink this early ) 

Matt Oldfield's rogatory interview

4078 'Okay. And I am going to ask, and you may not be able to do this, but I am going to ask if we can go through Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I appreciate that they are all going to be probably a bit of a blur'.

Reply 'Yeah'.

4078 'If there is nothing specific that reminds you of which day was which then that is, you know, we can't help that, but I will go through that process anyway and then it might trigger something, if it doesn't, it doesn't'.

Reply 'Yeah, I mean, I think I'll struggle with that'.

4078 'Yeah'.

Reply 'But I think the, I mean, I can remember bits of the Wednesday because we did things that were slightly different because it rained. I can remember much more about Thursday because obviously we talked about it much more'.
..................

Yes Mr Oldfield, obviously you did talk about Thursday much more - but why Mr Oldfield did you talk about Thursday much more?

According to the 'official' narrative, your friend's child was stolen from her bed at 22:00H. Did you perhaps think you were rubbing shoulders with an abductor on the beach that day, or did you perhaps think you might have been playing tennis with an abductor on that particular day?

Did you talk about why the McCann family didn't join your group for that trip to the beach on the afternoon of Thursday? Did you already know? Was it contrived for some reason?

Do tell Mr Oldfield - do tell.

4078 'What was the weather like during the week''

Reply 'Erm, it was sunny but cold, the pools were freezing, so we didn't, even though the pool was there, it was unusual for people to be in it. Erm, sunny most days, it got cloudy and it rained on the Wednesday and the Wednesday evening was pretty sort of, in the evenings it was very cold, so at the Tapas Restaurant, when we were there, we'd often, you know, you'd need a jumper if you sat outside and there was no heat particularly, erm, and I think Thursday was sort of fairly similar and quite, well certainly at night and I think the rest had been sort of maybe a little bit overcast at times but I'm not really bothered about the sunbathing and if there was a wind you could go sailing and that was'.

00.29.32 4078 'Yeah. So it was a win win situation for you''

Reply 'No, it didn't really matter to me. Although if it wasn't sunny then Rachael wouldn't be sunbathing and she'd be off playing tennis and so I'd be'.
....................

How do you know the pools were freezing if you didn't use it - by dipping your toes? According to the Kate McCann narrative, Madeleine couldn't wait to go for a swim on the day of arrival - the Saturday. Kate McCann went for a swim with her, so she say.

Don't they heat the pools at the Ocean Club? I always preferred to travel late autumn, winter and early spring - tourists think nothing of walking about half naked, swimming in pools and seas, whilst natives are shivering in winter woollies.

Due to coronavirus cyber congestion, I started watching the Netflix documentary again. Neil Berry has an interesting tale to tell - I'm astonished his story was never mentioned in any way shape or form by team McCann. Something tells me he's been lucratively got-at!

Truth is dead!

" I can remember much more about Thursday , because obviously we've talked about it much more " 

Would that " talking " be when you all got together in Rothley , for a " catch up " ? 

The get together that included Cat Baker for some reason ?

Verdi wrote: 4078 'What was the weather like during the week''

Reply 'Erm, it was sunny but cold, the pools were freezing, so we didn't, even though the pool was there, it was unusual for people to be in it. Erm, sunny most days, it got cloudy and it rained on the Wednesday and the Wednesday evening was pretty sort of, in the evenings it was very cold, so at the Tapas Restaurant, when we were there, we'd often, you know, you'd need a jumper if you sat outside and there was no heat particularly, erm, and I think Thursday was sort of fairly similar and quite, well certainly at night and I think the rest had been sort of maybe a little bit overcast at times but I'm not really bothered about the sunbathing and if there was a wind you could go sailing and that was'.

00.29.32 4078 'Yeah. So it was a win win situation for you''

Reply 'No, it didn't really matter to me. Although if it wasn't sunny then Rachael wouldn't be sunbathing and she'd be off playing tennis and so I'd be'.
....................

How do you know the pools were freezing if you didn't use it - by dipping your toes?  According to the Kate McCann narrative, Madeleine couldn't wait to go for a swim on the day of arrival - the Saturday.  Kate McCann went for a swim with her, so she say.

Don't they heat the pools at the Ocean Club?  I always preferred to travel late autumn, winter and early spring - tourists think nothing of walking about half naked, swimming in pools and seas, whilst natives are shivering in winter woollies.

Due to coronavirus cyber congestion, I started watching the Netflix documentary again.  Neil Berry has an interesting tale to tell - I'm astonished  his story was never mentioned in any way shape or form by team McCann.  Something tells me he's been lucratively got-at!

Truth is dead!

Neil Berry is interesting for a number of reasons. He is in the Guest lists as 28/04 to 05/05 in G606 (PJ file pages 615 to 630), yet he doesn't appear on the PJ Files List of Check-ins (611/612) for the period 28/05 to 30/04. Further, he pops up in Date Palm (I think that is within the Palm Bay Hotel complex where Reception is) in room DP01 for the period 05/05 to 12/05. DP03 is where Philip Martin Edmonds stayed. Both Philip and Neil subsequently claimed to have photographic proof of Madeleine during the week leading up to the 4th. One wonders whether Neil Berry extended his stay? For his G606 booking on the guest lists to show 28/05 to 05/05 he clearly never intended to be there any longer than 05/05. He could have booked 2 different rooms from the get-go. He could have decided to stay and join the fun of the press furore when it all unfolded?

OK, N Berry and party appear in the PJ files Vol 2 under the MW arrivals and on the Ocean Club "Chegadas Previstas" (scheduled arrivals?) pages 350 and 351. They show Berry as checking in for 28/05. It appears that the Guest List 03 611/612 starts at booking # 31950 and so it is incomplete, as Berry is booking 31945. Still plenty more questions about N Berry's role in all of this though.

I can't see any reason to place Neil Berry or Raj Balu in the centre of intrigue. Taking a step back and looking in, what possible involvement could they have had with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Of course, many will disagree with me.

In fairness, fancy being cited in the act of a serious crime just because you happened to be in the vicinity - doesn't bear thinking about.

If I remember rightly, Neil Berry was dragged into the foray by an Ocean Club laundry worker who said, or maybe didn't say, he saw Berry (or someone similar) lurking in the stairwell of apartment 5a block, on the evening of 3rd May. Naturally, the story line was considerably confused by tabloid reports. This event most likely led to Berry being questioned during the rogatory process.

Whether he did or didn't see a lurker, it flies in the face of the disappearance before Thursday 3rd May theory.

Berry and Balu (sounds like a comedy double act) made friends, well shared a glass, with two fellow tourists, Annie Wiltshire and Jayne Jensen. They (the two ladies) claimed to have seen two men standing on the balcony of an empty apartment in the vicinity of apartment 5a. Again maybe they did, maybe they didn't, what I do think a distinct possibility - they were at some stage approached by someone and offered a financial incentive to speak out.

Neil Berry's appearance in the Netflix production can only be fabrication, if there be any truth in what he said it would be recorded in the PJ files and team McCann would be shouting from the rooftops!

As a point of interest, the aforementioned Jayne Jensen also appears in the Netflix film.

The McCanns publicly distanced themselves from this so called documentary - via the press. Well of course they did! No need for them to participate, it was all done for them by a string of appendages - well paid appendages I strongly suspect.

Maybe Balu, Berry, Jensen and Wilkins just wanted there five minutes of fame. Some folk shy away from public attention - others love it!

I agree that there is nothing to place N Berry at the "centre of intrigue". But what I struggle with is; why would uninvolved holiday guests:
* Confuse where they were staying by saying it was in Block 4 (and not Block 6 - G606)
* Further point to Block 4 by saying that he had to pass the McCann's block to get to his (not true for Block 6)
* Keep quiet about having a photo of Madeleine all the time people were desperate for evidence of Madeleine during the week leading up the 4th, until the Mockumentry (which in all probability shows a photo of a creche activity that took place on the Sunday....)
* Give a ludicrous account of Madeleine bravely diving into the sea from the sail boat to rescue his daughter's hat (when CB states that Madeleine was scared and had to be coaxed into the boat!). Some people's lies ain't even true!
I get it that some people like their five minutes of fame, but surely SOME of the guests there that week must have been normal rational people and presumably some were fame seekers, some were being rational but telling lies for a reason other than ego. If only we could tell one group from another and find the reason for the later group to peddle such tales. I'll keep on keeping on.

Let's keep questioning..........

My investigations lead me to scrutinise the Tapas Guest Lists . Here's my observation:


It is imperative to validate whether The Ocean Club, or any of its employees was deliberately withholding information that would help the investigation or indeed deliberately misleading the PJ’s investigation. The wider theories of a death at an early stage of the holiday would need to involve (and implicate) The Ocean Club operatives. The status of the Guest Lists passed to the PJ as 03_VOLUME_IIIa_Pages 615 to 638 leads one to suspect that something of that kind may have been going on. The difficulty is in understanding the intricate details of how the Leisure industry works and the way that data is used within hotels, complexes and their service outlets. I do not have that knowledge, but I do have a sound business knowledge and I have worked in computer programming and worked with data bases during my career. Here’s my problem with the Tapas Guest Lists:

Over the pages of Guest Lists (Listagem de hóspedes) exhibited in the PJ files there is an obvious lack of consistency in page formatting, proper noun spellings and number / character formatting. Why is that an issue? Normally behind the systems used by operatives lies a database. That database will have lists of guest names referenced against booking reference numbers, room numbers, dates and other critical details. Normally the key data field for a reservation system data base would be the Booking Reference. Further, commonly occurring Proper Nouns are always preloaded and selected via a drop-down list. The applications that access the data base allow it’s users to query the data base against a given set of criteria – say “give me a list of all guests staying here during the dates ‘x’ to ‘y’. List the data as these columns, (Bkg Ref, Surname, Rm #, ) and in this column order.....” etc. The list would be either printed directly and formatted by the application to a standard page width or it may export the data fields to another application, e.g. MS Excel. Obviously where the data is exported to a spreadsheet such as Excel, unless the data cells are protected, someone could alter the contents of the data cells. But you need to understand how the List is going to be used. One researcher called Textusa got mauled online over their lack of understanding of such systems. She foolishly claimed that the Tapas Guest Lists were “irrefutable proof” of a cover-up. She went on to put heavy emphasis upon the time of day that appeared on each sheet and mistakenly claimed that it proved that the sheets were not genuine. They may NOT be genuine, but it will have nothing to do with a printed time field and it is unlikely to ever be “irrefutable proof” of anything.

Anyway, we’re lead to believe that the process was as follows. After the close of normal services at the restaurants, crèches and bars, the night staff were tasked with printing out a guest list from the “Profitus LDA” system and for filing the printed list in a folder for reference. Some have claimed that these lists were amended and extras added manually, hence the need to allow them to be altered. However, this makes no sense. The Guest Lists are; just that. They do have a ‘Balance’ field that you can see incrementing day on day as the guest spends more around the resort, but these lists are clearly NOT a repository for each transaction, they just show the running balance. In fact the only obvious amendments that the night staff may be making is to hand write the day of the week onto the top of the page, presumably for ease of identification.

So, we are left with the conundrum, why do the daily printed guest lists display so many mistakes and formatting errors? Software systems are stupid slaves that keep repeating the same pre-programmed stuff time after time. Errors of the type that creep in and out from one day to the other have to come from human intervention. So, we see even key data fields such as the Booking Reference mistyped as (say) A3655 for someone called HAMILL, whereas it is otherwise correctly showing as 33655. We see days where the person’s name is miss-spelled – i.e. ‘30988 PLUMB, ‘ becomes ‘30988 P L M B’. We see Mark Warner spelt in a variety of ways from nARKWARNER (note the n key is next to the M key on a qwerty keyboard) to MARKUARTtWR to MARKWAINIR. But only spuriously, not consistently by booking! We see Room Numbers miss-typed, as in G30 becomes 030.

Now, obviously someone is hitting the wrong keys. To err is to be human. The major question here is, why is someone manually over-typing data in these lists if they are merely a printed reference? The answer may well be that these are NOT the system printed lists at all. These documents may well be hand-crafted facsimiles of the original lists. The reason for this assertion is – the formatting of the columns and column headers is also variable. This is something that NO application could achieve! In fact it appears that the work of creating the facsimiles could have fallen to at least two different people. One person that understands how to format a numeric cell to display a number with leading ‘0’s and one that doesn’t. The lists are sprinkled with (for example) 0008 as O008. Placing a capital letter O in front of the other two leading ‘0’s is one hack to achieve the required result, but it’s not the proper way to achieve it!

So, we can see that the Tapas Guest List for Wednesday 2^nd May is missing. We can also see that there is every possibility that the 6 days worth of Lists posted on the PJ files site are poorly re-created copies of the originals.

WHO DID IT AND UNDER WHOOSE INSTRUCTION? TO WHAT END / WHY?

10 Processo: VOL ,X, p. 2587 to2602

TRANSLATION BY LUZ

A report by Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida to the Coordinator of the Criminal Investigation

Where he concludes, after analyzing all the evidence gathered, that the child is dead and the parents were responsible for cadaver occultation, and the entire GROUP was lying since the first day of the investigation.

10 September 2007
(Processo: VOL ,X, p. 2587-2602)

MADELEINE BETH MCCANN was born on the 12th of May of 2003.

She is missing (disappeared) since 03 of May of 2007, a fact that occurred in Praia da Luz, Lagos.
She is the daughter of Gerald and Kate McCann and her birth was desired and planned. However it must be referred the difficulty of the mother to get pregnant, from which resulted the necessary treatments and their 'costs'. [I presume he refers more to the emotional and social costs than monetary ones].

She was born after fertilization 'in vitro', but in face of the DNA profile of the minor, she is the daughter of the couple McCann.

It is a scientific fact that the medical treatments to overcome some of the causes for a non-pregnancy raises the probability of, in a normal pregnancy, twins may be born.

In this case we can see that a pregnancy, although desired and planned, turned into a family situation of five instead of three persons. And then, to take care of one child is not the same as taking care of three, all very young.

At around 24h on the 3rd of May of 2007, through a phone connection from the Lagos GNR to this 'piquet', was communicated the disappearance of a minor, a British subject.
We went to the local to proceed to the necessary judiciary inspection.

Before the fact of the disappearance of the minor, the investigation 'designed' the several possible sketches.

From the beginning the parents of the minor attributed the fact (disappearance) to the action of a third party, defending the KIDNAPPING.

Even though it was a possible scenario, the actions of the family were in the sense of conducting into that direction, through the publicity of the fact in a way that was never seen before.
In fact, in the following day, the British televisions 'opened' the news already publicizing the disappearance/kidnapping of the minor.

The defence of this scenario was, for the Media, the truth of the facts under investigation.
Time went by without the confirmation of this scenario by the presence of any of its necessary assumptions. It was never requested any sort of ransom in exchange for information or the child herself.

However and in front of the depositions of one of the friends, Jane Tanner, one could presume to be before such frame.

Meanwhile the diligences continued in order to recover all types of information and always in the perspective of working over all the possible scenarios.

The information recovered, in the beginning, with the family and friends, was uncertain and 'worked up', by the group, in order to give strength to the version presented and defended.
According to the parents and the GROUP, they went for dinner and all of them left the children, sleeping, in their respective apartments.

The elements of the group had a meeting where they agreed on certain rules that sustained the version that they accompanied continuously the children, while they dined.

It is annexed a manuscript of an element of the group that gives consistence to this thesis.
These principles that, in this way, were shared by all the group makes that all the GROUP is always exculpated in the eyes of the British public opinion, making it impossible that any abnormal occurrence that occurred could take more than 30 minutes, once they all agreed to be that the timing they used to look for the children.

The version that someone in the group that every 15 minutes or every 30 minutes went to the apartments to check if everything was alright falls down!

From the declarations of the group results a total incoherence, in the face of which it's obvious, that everyone lies.

We may verify that one of the elements of the group wanting to provide consistency to the group's version, gives it a personal touch: the checking on the children were done in two ways, one just by listening if anyone was crying and in case there was silence than everything was well and the other one, by really checking.

On his turn to verify the children, one of the elements of the group, Mathew, acted on this manner, and he even told Kate that everything was okay but without specifying. Kate remembers this detail.

The truth, however, is that this statements made the investigation to wander, losing time and resources.

It is not admissible (understandable) that this information was given in the beginning and maintained all along the time, in spite of the fact that anyone could verify the losses that it caused to the investigation.

After all this time the version is maintained paired with the public and 'hammered 'statement that what they want the most is 'to help the investigation'.

The investigation had to assume the incorrect information and move forward.

From tsuch the results are that:

' If anyone went to check the children and if everything was alright the disappearance could only have occurred between 21:30h and 22:00h;

' If the information didn't take into account that witness (' ) then the disappearance occurred between 21:00h and 22:00 h, enlarging the period ( assuming the father is telling the truth);

There is however another question about the timing, which is:

' The last time the child was seen outside of the GROUP, by someone that can prove that moment, it was around 17h:35m, when the parents went to fetch her from the Creche, which can enlarge the gap of time, between the disappearance and the alarm, to four hours.

Continuing with the analysis of the information presented, we have an element of the GROUP that became a witness, pretensely important, Jane Tanner, because of what she communicated: she SAW someone at dinner time crossing the road from the place of the disappearance, in the direction of Robert Murat's house.

This information swerved (directed) and mobilized the work of the investigators for a long time. This can be the example how information that is not correct can, not only delay, but could have also lead to the loss of the little girl.

Through the insistence on the information, several scenarios of the disconformities of that with the reality were traced, but it didn't prevent the realization of an intense and long work around that arguido.

We can also verify the discrepancies about the subject on the declarations of Gerald and Jane. How to pass at scarce 2 / 3 meters from each other without seeing one another, they can be positioned in such a reduced space, and between them they cannot see the same person passing by; or rather, one sees but not the other.

Even the local where, assumingly, they crossed each other is not well defined by any of them.

The moment chosen by the witness Jane to make her statement about what she had 'seen' and the explanation for that moment is unreal, that is, it is not easy to accept that any witness (from the group) when seeing someone with a child in the arms getting away from the McCann's place, hadn't immediately acted or spoken, being certain that the description of the person was being consecutively altered, 'perfected'. So, there isn't much credibility on this deposition.

Until now we have been analyzing small distortions in the information initially transmitted, being noticeable 'small' alterations (distortions) of the truth, and relating it with the investigation and with the directions it forced it into.

The investigation didn't follow the command or the will of anyone; the family and Group's information that on this type of crime is fundamental, was always distorted.

The fact that the individuals were foreigners prevented, until now, that direct information about the persons of the GROUP were obtained.

The parents of the minor live in a society, the British, known through the press, as very demanding. The professions of both parents, medicine, completed by the fact that the father is a surgeon, increases this degree of pressure and consequent tiredness.

In a society identified internationally and in the Media as very demanding and with many and tight rules to establish those standards of exigency, it makes it obligatory that people rest; make a professional retreat; take their holidays.

Gerald McCann's profession is a cardiovascular surgeon.

On many moments of his professional career he had to make decisions in thousandths of a second, which gives him certain 'coldness' and, certainly provokes an increased tiredness.

The enjoyment of a period of holidays supposes a rest through non-ordinary practices and freedom and exemption from schedules.

The social life in such a holiday, in the present case, was facilitated by the fact that they travelled as a group.

But that social life may, in a certain way, be touched by the presence and constant needs of accompanying the minors.

This evidence and need was clear in the deliverance of the children by the respective children's centres and creches (according to their ages). The holiday time was not shared between parents and children.

The day, 03 of May of 2007, had gone by, until dinner time, in a natural way according to the adopted style.

After getting the children from the Children's centres and the creche they went to the apartment, little after 17:35h.

But' Kate went running for half an hour at the beach and then went to the apartment and' Gerald went to play tennis.

While the tennis play was taking place another element of the group that had been in touch with Kate, in the apartment, in a period of time that could have taken between 30 seconds, according to Kate, and 30 minutes, according to Gerald.

In thirty seconds we may ask if everything is well and if anything is needed, little more.
In thirty minutes we can go ahead and make something that is needed from us'

They put the minors to bed and to sleep, around 19:30h. They stood at home until 20:30h, going to the Tapas restaurant afterwards. Of the group they were the first to arrive.

Although the entire group was at the table and starting the meal, they began the 'visits' to the children in a way that is neither coherent nor acceptable; that could not be confirmed and only the group defends it, in a sort of 'unique version'.

Although they say in the 'Autos' that their strategic position in the Tapas restaurant allowed them, the McCann, to see the apartment where they'd left their children, minor, sleeping, the exam of the local reveals it is false.

It must be noted, also, that by the stated in the 'Autos' everything points to their position at the table with their back to the apartment.

On that NIGHT, around 22:05h, according to her version, it was Kate that went to the apartment to check the children, coinciding with the end of the dinner, at which she had arrived at 20:30h.
So, she returned to the apartment about one and a half hours later, the time lapse while she didn't see her children.

It took her about 10 minutes. She returned to the restaurant and communicated to the remaining elements the disappearance of her daughter Madeleine.

It must be noted that Kate knew that, going back to the restaurant as she did, she would leave the twins, Amelie and Sean, in the same dangerous situation.

It is not understandable why she didn't use the cell phone to call Gerald or the group or, even simpler, that she didn't go to the balcony from where she could be perfectly heard by the elements of the group.
+++
The authorities, the GNR, were alerted around 22:40h and, he population alerted, started the searches for the minor.

The divulgation of the facts weren't kept within the authorities and the normal channels. On the following day the British and Portuguese TVs were advertising the fact.

The GROUP was together. The search was circumscribed to the interior of the apartment.
Before any search by the authorities at the surroundings the notice about an eventual kidnapping was already running along.

By reasons, they said, of counselling and support the parents asked for the presence of a priest, at around 02:00h/03:00h on the 04 of May.

On the informal depositions they made, during the judiciary inspection made at the local, the information immediately induced the thesis of KIDNAPPING.

Simple things became disinformation: the question of the opened or closed window; the shutter up or down; the balcony door opened' the front door, locked or open.

Despite everything, until a certain time in the investigation the family sustained the thesis of kidnapping. However, in a date that cannot be precise it was suggested to the family that they should consult a person that could, eventually, indicate the probable place where the cadaver of little Madeleine could be found.

This fact became inexplicable to the elements of the investigation once it were the members of the family that raised the hypothesis of death of little Maddie.

Nevertheless, before the Media they kept (and keep) declaring their hope on finding their daughter alive: the first time that the hypothesis of the death of the little girl was raised it was, effectively, suggested by the McCann.

Although maintaining all the lines of the investigation opened it was, nevertheless, decided to advance in the direction of a new inspection to the local where the girl disappeared.
The inspection technique is frequently used in the United Kingdom and consists on the use of dogs especially trained.

As it's natural it is the dog's olfact the 'sense' used. In the case of this 'sense' the difference between the human and the dog is 5 million cells to 200 millions.

It must be highlighted that the resource to this kind of inspection is frequent in the UK and the success rate is 100%.

One of the dogs is trained to detect the odour of cadaver and the other to identify vestiges of human blood.

We refer now that the location of the cadaver odours signifies that physically the body (cadaver) is not on the place, marked by the dog, but certainly it has been there, as long as the dog signals it.

As it can be verified from the 'Autos', in the inquiry, the dogs inspected the locales and objects with the results described below.

All the inspections were recorded in sound and image and were directed by our British colleagues that accompanied the dogs.

Among the great number of objects and locales inspected, the dogs marked the following places:
1. Apartment 5 A, Ocean Club resort, the place from where the child disappeared
1.1. Cadaver odour
* Master bedroom, in a corner, by the wardrobe
* Living room, behind the sofa, by the side window
1.2. Blood dog:
* Living room behind the sofa, close to the lateral window (on the same spot signalled by the cadaver dog);
2. Front garden to the apartment 5A
2.1. Cadaver dog
* Flower bed (the dog handler commented on the 'lightness' of the odor)
3. Apartments where the rest of the group were staying
* NOTHING was detected by the dogs
4. Actual residence of the McCann
* NOTHING was detected on the house by any of the dogs
5. At Aldeia da Luz
* NOTHING was detected by any of the dogs
6. Clothes and belongings of McCann family
6.1. Cadaver dog:
* 2 pieces of clothing of Kate McCann
* One piece of Madeleine McCann
* Madeleine's soft toy
* The odour was detected when the toy was still in the interior of the actual residence of the McCann
* It was confirmed in out of the house conditions
7. Vehicle used by the McCann family
7.1. Cadaver dog:
* Marked the key of the car
* Marked the interior of the booth
7.2. Blood dog
* Marked the car key
* Marked the interior of the booth
8. Car used by a family friend that was staying in the same resort, in some of the same days
* Nothing was detected by any of the dogs
9. All the cars used by the arguido Robert Murat and the people that are close to him
* Nothing was detected by any of the dogs.

(In a total of 10 cars the cadaver dog and the blood dog only marked the car of the McCann family, rented at May 27th)

The places and the pieces marked and signaled by the blood dog are being subjected to forensic exams, part of which are already concluded.

Not less relevant is the refinement of the results that point towards Madeleine's DNA as being present at the apartment 5A behind the sofa, a place marked by the cadaver and the blood dog. In every place marked by the blood dog it was confirmed there was DNA.

The Media enhancement given to the case and their search for information has contributed to an evolution on Madeleine's parents declarations.

All the information that was made public, contributed for the remixing of the story, adapting it to eventual police questions, and to attempts to justify the indicia and consequent proof that was being collected.

Let's see: the media forwarded the hypothesis that the children could have been sedated to be kept asleep and allow some rest to the parents.

Distant in time Kate's father, the grandfather of the minor, Brian Healy, admits to the press that Kate could have administered some medication to the little girl, Calpol, to help the child (children'') to sleep, contrary to what his daughter Kate had stated.

Kate, through the PJ inspector that acted as 'liaison' with the family [NOTE: that is Ricardo Paiva], asked why samples weren't taken from the twins in order to test that hypothesis. She knew well enough at that time, more than 3 months later, that such exam would be inviable.

She went further and said that we ' the investigation ' should verify that the kidnapper had sedated Madeleine, to accomplish the action and he had also sedated the twins 'to consummate the act' however she didn't say that at the right moment.

And we know that the sedatives have timings to act and timings to be expelled, that varies between six and 200 hours.

The medical knowledge of the McCann is enough to know such, even if their professional activity never passed by performing toxicology exams.

When the media informed that blood had been detected 'in the car and in the apartment', Kate and members of her family come to the public with the simple excuse that it had been someone, with access to the apartment, to place the evidence.

Now they even admit it was a member of the criminal investigation to place the 'false' evidence (blood and cadaver odour in the apartment and in the car).

Kate in an attempt to justify the blood went even further, informing that on that occasion, Madeleine had, sometimes, nasal haemorrhages.

On the day that a house search was performed, in the residence of the McCann, on the master bedroom, written papers were found as well as a bible, written in English. It was opened on the pages whose copies are annexed here, with the translation.

KIDNAPPING is a situation with which, unfortunately, in the United Kingdom, most of the public opinion is used to, due to the rate of this kind of crime.

Intelligent people should have a minimum of knowledge that the publicity is harming to the investigation of a kidnapping crime and especially to the safety of the kidnapped person.

They should have waited for the decisions from the police authorities, there is strong evidence that the crime scene was altered, some furniture was moved around.

Those changes are indications of simulation.

On the night of the disappearance of the little girl Madeleine the family was contacted by a lady that identified herself with documents that credited her as somebody that worked with minors in the United Kingdom.

She identified herself with documents/certifications used in the UK, into hospitals and centres for the care of minors. She offered her help in whatever was needed.
No doubt this person could have been of valuable help, even about procedures, but she was dismissed.

From everything that was gathered, the facts point in the direction that the death of Madeleine McCann occurred, on the night of May 3rd of 2007, inside the apartment 5A, of the Ocean Club resort, occupied by the couple McCann and by their three children;

There is a coincidence between the marking of cadaver odour and blood, according to the Laboratory Report (partial) annexed to the 'Autos'.

Such markings, occurred behind the sofa of the living room (cadaver and blood odour/DNA), which proves that indubitably such piece of furniture was pushed back by someone, after the death of Madeleine McCann occurred. Because of the weak (small) vestiges recovered at such place, it is to admit as a strong hypothesis that the same was subjected to a wash, at the time the death occurred.

In the same way, the soft toy used by the dead child, found at the head of the bed where she usually slept (see photos about the initial forensics) reveals that someone put it there in a moment posterior to the death, once the bed doesn't have cadaver odour. This is, there occurred an intentional modification in order to simulate a 'picture' that doesn't correspond with the reality;

It must be added that the cadaver odour signalled a strong odour in the bedroom where the McCann slept, which can indicate the moving of the corpse from the actual death scene (living room) to the non visible part of the bedroom;

Furthermore a strong reaction for cadaver odour was made on Kate's clothes, which can indicate that she was in touch with the cadaver;

There was also a strong reaction of cadaver odour in the car used by the McCann (since May 27th 2007), which in conjugation with the blood dog and the forensics present in the 'Autos', that indicate the presence of Madeleine McCann's DNA in the booth of the car, are in order not to exclude a strong hypothesis that this car may have been used to transport the cadaver, 24 days after the death;

It can't also be neglected the indication of the cadaver and blood dog, on the car key, having the laboratory confirmed the existence of Gerald McCann's DNA. This last signalling was obtained by the dogs after the key was put far away from the car and in a place not visible.

From everything that was exposed from the AUTOS, we conclude that:
A) The minor Madeleine McCann died in the apartment 5A of the Ocean Club resort, on the night of May 3rd of 2007;

B) It was performed a simulation of kidnapping;

C) In order to avoid the death [alarm] of the minor before 22H00, it was created a situation of the children's surveillance by the McCann while the children slept;

D) Kate McCann and Gerald McCann are involved in the occultation of the cadaver of their child Madeleine McCann;

E) At this moment, there seems that there aren't strong indicia that the death of the minor didn't happen due to a tragic accident;

F) From what was obtained until now, everything points out that the McCann, as self-defence, didn't want to deliver immediately and voluntarily the cadaver, existing a strong possibility that the same was transported from the initial place of deposition. This situation is susceptible to raise questions about the circumstances under which the death of the minor occurred.

So we suggest that the 'Autos' be sent to the EX.mo Sr. Procurador Geral da R'ublica [General Attorney], in order to:

G) New interrogation of the Arguidos Kate and Gerry McCann;
H) Evaluation of the measure of restraint to be applied in this case;


On the course of the house search to the residence of the McCann, a manuscript was found, a sort of diary, already photocopied, possibly authored by Kate McCann, and admitting that the same may contain elements that may help to reach the material truth of the facts, WE PROPOSE THAT:

I) The photocopies of such document to be presented to the M.Mo Judge regarding its apprehension, if legal, translation and eventual recovery of elements to bring into the 'Autos' for future investigation.
CONCLUSION

On the tenth of September, two thousand and seven

Chief Inspector

(Tavares de Almeida

13-Processos Vol XIII Pages 3491 to 3516
also Outros Apensos III Volume I Pages 20 to 53

TRANSLATIONS BY INES

Processos Vol XIII

Pages 3491 - 3505

From the GNR

To: The Coordinator of the Criminal Investigation

Portimao 3rd December 2007

Subject: Despatch of Report on the Searches carried out in
P da L

In accordance with your request mentioned above, we are sending the report on the searches carried out in P da L under the coordination of the GNR, with regard to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

With compliments.

Group Commander

Antonio Dias de Matos

Major

REPORT

Subject: Searches carried out in relation to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

I Situation.

1. On 3rd May at about 22.40 the Lagos GNR post was contacted by telephone and informed about the disappearance of an English girl, Madeleine McCann, aged 3, who was on holiday with her family at the OC, Block 5, apartment 5A, P da L, Lagos.


2. This situation immediately led to the deployment to P da L of members of the GNR emergency patrol, consisting of officers José Maria Batista Roque and Neslon Filipe Pacheco da Costa, who, at the moment the communication was received, were in the Odeaxere area and who immediately left for the OC, where they arrived at 23.00, with the aim of finding out about the situation.

3. The patrol found the situation to be somewhat strange as the way the child had disappeared was not clear as she had been sleeping inside the apartment with the twins, whilst her parents were out dining 50 metres away in the same resort, and therefore the officers contacted the GNR post commander at 23.17, to tell him that the parents were holding the hypothesis that the child had been abducted.

4. The commander of the Lagos post, Sargeant Antonio Henrique Conceicao Duarte immediately left for the site the girl had disappeared from, telling the officers to preserve the apartment, and arrived at 23.50 at the OC, where he was informed about the situation together with the patrol officers and where he saw that searches had already taken place, carried out by the girl's father and locals, but without any results.

5. On 4th May at 00.12 the Post Commander ordered that the GNR Post should contact the PJ in order to inform them of the events, considering that this could be a crime that was of their competence for investigation, also concluding that more means were needed at the scene to carry out searches to find the girl.

6. At 00.40, given the complexity of the situation that seemed to surround the disappearance, the GNR post commander requested reinforcements from two sniffer dog teams from the Portimao territorial group to help in the searches, considering the possibility that the girl could have left the apartment on foot and could be somewhere not very far from the OC resort.

7. At 01.00 after the group commander had been briefed about the situation, telephone contact was made with an official from the Queluz GNR school, with the aim of their releasing search and rescue dog teams, seeing as these are specially trained to find missing persons, which is not the case with the Portimao sniffer dogs, which are essentially patrol dogs.

II Development of Action

1. On 4th May, after having evaluated the situation surrounding the disappearance, the Lagos Post Commander ordered searches for the child to take place and contacted officers who were at home, forming a force of nine officers who searched during the night and early morning.

2. At 02.00 they arrived at P da L and began searching with the Portimao sniffer dog teams, the terrain searches were extended until the morning with the dogs and officers on the scene, as well as the night guard and local people who volunteered to help in the searches that took place throughout the night.

3. During this nocturnal period, the searches took place along the entire perimeter of the OC, in the urban area, plots of land and the nearest buildings, the officers searching all the place where there was a possibility the child might be, this area being extended later to include all of the beach zone.

4. At 08.00 three officers with 4 search and rescue dogs from Queluz arrived at the scene, these dogs immediately began to operate.

5. During the searches that began again on 4th May in the morning, 9 officers from the Lagos post were used as well as officers from the Rapid Intervention Force, who were sent to the beach to collaborate in the searches talking place there, and who were occupied in this task for the rest of the day.

6. At 11.00 the Commander of the Portimao Post went to the beach, having noted the concrete situation in which the disappearance had occurred, namely the fact that more than 12 hours had passed, without any positive sign from the searches that had taken place, felt it was urgent that the action commander should appear on the scene and he named the head of the Criminal Investigation Section, Major Sequiera as the Operation Commander, the latter arriving at the scene at about 15.00 on 4th May.

7. With the aim of organising more extended searches of the terrain, a meeting was organised at about 15.00 with all the civil protection competent entities, namely the President of the Lagos Municipal Chamber, the President of the Luz parish, the maritime authority and the district commander of search operations with the aim of their collaboration in the actions to be taken, the GNR being responsible for the coordination of the land searches and the Maritime authority would initiate specific searches within its area of competence.
8. It was understood that everything was prepared by these entities in the operation of searches that were designated for the area and great advantage would be gained from the knowledge of the terrain of the persons that would be used.

9. The CDOS was asked about the viability of using the SNBPC helicopter during the searches that would take place in the afternoon and it was defined that the helicopter would be used in the searches and would be in P da L at about 16.00.

10. Lines of action were established, from the organisation of the searches to be carried out and the definition of areas, according to their priority, using the different means considered adequate, by officers from the different security forces, by firemen and by civil protection officers.

11. At 16.00 searches using the helicopter were initiated, the helicopter was used for 90 minutes, covering the entire area from the coast line to the EN 125, between the limits of Atalaia and Ponta da Cama da Vaca, this being the limit of the area considered probable for the child to be found, according to the hypothesis that she had left the apartment where she was staying on foot.

12. During the helicopter search, the area previously referred to was covered, in phases, running from north to South, this method is quite efficient in open areas, where something that does not fit with the scenario being examined is easily identifiable, however in the areas being searched, given the quantity of buildings and garden areas present as well as the vegetation composed essentially of small and medium sized shrubs, the detection of a child is difficult, given her small size, whether she is immobile or has fallen in a position that does not reveal her physical contours or covered by vegetation.
13. Simultaneously the searches for the child continued, by means of the officers referred to previously, in all the areas surrounding the beach, and many local people were seen, who were looking for the child on their own initiative.

14. At 20.00 a new meeting was held with the entities involved, in the sense of making an evaluation of how the searches had been carried out up to that moment and given the absence of results, it was decided to continue them for the next days or until some result was achieved.

15. On the part of the GNR, as responsible organisation, not just for the searches on the ground, but also for the security of the perimeter surrounding the apartment the child disappeared from, it was agreed to maintain a force headed by an officer, considering that on the scene there was a concentrated number of national and foreign press teams and the site had also become a meeting point for people going through information about the case which needed to be gathered and passed on to the police.

16. Considering that the searches that had taken place with the help of the helicopter had not yielded any results, it was agreed to reinforce and extend the foot searches and reinforcement from the search and rescue dog team was requested, which arrived at P da L at 23.00 with 3 more sniffer teams for a total of six officers and eight specialised dogs.

17. During the nocturnal period, field searches were reduced, given the lack of visibility, searches were made by EPG officers with the search and rescue dogs which concentrated particularly on the urban area of P da L.

18. The commander of the Portimao Prosecutor Division, which provided the officers for the nocturnal period was asked for the search operation order, which took place, the officers of that search force being organised by attributing them an area, next to the coastline, surrounding P da L, based upon the knowledge these officers had of the area.

19. In the nocturnal period and for the duration of the search phase, officers from the Criminal Investigation Nucleus remained on the ground who made the first exploration of diverse information that emerged, which was then channelled to the PJ, these officers also covered the locations closest to P da L, working in a certain way as operation reserve command during that period.

20. During this phase, during the nocturnal period, sniffer teams from the Portimao Territorial Group that were directed essentially to carry out patrols and searches in the urban area of P da L.
21. Indications were given to the Commander of the Albufeira Traffic Division to send available patrol teams to the Lagos area with the aim of carrying out a reinforcement of circulation control from the A22 and EN125, with the aim of guaranteeing greater intensity of patrols and STOP actions on the access roads to the Algarve, under the responsibility of police officers from that unit.

22. On 5th May at 08.00 the second day of searching began and given the absence of results from the previous day, a first systemised search area was established, including the entire area south of the EN 125, Quatro Estradas/Atalaia and Almadena/Burgau being the limits, with an approximate area of 16 km2, which had already been covered on 4th May by the CDOS helicopter between 16.00 and 17.30 and by officers and members of other entities that collaborated in the searches.

23. This area, considered to be the close perimeter of the site of disappearance, was divided into 17 sectors, the search responsibility was given to the different teams that had been established for this purpose, during the morning and afternoon. The insistence upon searches in this close perimeter was justified by its being the most probable area where the girl would be found, still working on the basis of the theory that she could have the left the apartment where she was staying on foot.

24. Working from this perspective, the probability was that she would have walked south in the direction of Rua Francisco Gentil Martins, because of the fact that it was an area that she had passes several times on the way to the beach, because it was the zone with the best illumination and because the road sloped downwards. The probability of her having taken the route towards Rua Agostinho da Silva, either to the right or to the left, was considered to be relatively reduced, because of the fact that this area was darker and that the ground layout presents an ascending direction. In these theories, it was considered to be a remote probability that the girl would have walked north to the Rua 1 de Maio and the EN 537-1 that links P da L to the EN 125 (Espiche crossing), considering that she would have done this over 1.2 km and where there would have been a greater degree of certainty that she would have been seen by motorists travelling on the road in either direction, the latter never having been reported.

25. On 5th May, those directly involved in the operations that took place in P da L and the surrounding area were 6 officers from the EPG sniffer team (search and rescue team), all available officers from the Lagos territorial post (about 20 officers), reinforcements from the Portimao Territorial Division (10 officers), reinforcements from the Silves Territorial Division (10 officers), from Albufeira (10 officers), from the Portimao Command Group (15 officers - FIR and IC), from the Faro TG (4 officers), GIPS (6 officers), from the Portimao Prosecutors Division (5 officers) a number of Guarda officers who were maintained for the rest of the search days.

26. It is be to be noted that the Commander of the Lagos Territorial Post, given the seriousness of the situation, cancelled the leave of officers from the post for seven days following the girl's disappearance, considering that it was necessary to have officers with knowledge of the area, not only for the search teams but also for the security of the Operation Command and the apartment the girl had disappeared from.

27. Others who took part in the searches were officers from the Lagos Public Security Police, the Maritime Police within their area of responsibility (maritime public domain), officers from Municipal Civil Protection, volunteer firemen from Lagos and from the Portuguese Red Cross.
28. Six officers from the Algarve Canine Rescue team (ECRA) - a legally constituted association - joined in the searches by volunteering their help at the P da L Operations Post.

29. Each search team always had an officer responsible for contact with the Lagos GNR Territorial Post, this officer would be attributed the area that the team would search and would give a photocopy of the marked area to each of the officers showing the indications about the technical manner the searches should adopt, with the formation of search lines, there had to be a visual over view of the limits of each officer's area and they were told to observe all accessible sites, where it could be possible to hide a girl or a body and the residents should be asked whether they had any useful information.

30. At the end of each search period, the individuals responsible for each group, whether they were officers or civilians, would present themselves at the Command Post, with the purpose of reporting the way in which the searches had been carried out, whether the whole of the attributed area had been searched and if any pertinent information had been gathered.

31. An organised group of volunteers, mainly English residents from the area, were also integrated into the searches, who also had a Command Post contact member, this group was attributed sectors that had been previously searched by GNR officers.

32. At 11.00 a meeting took place in the Portimao DIC installations, attended by the Directors and coordinators from the PJ, the Group Commander and the officer whose signature appears below, in their capacity as responsible officers for the ground searches. The Guarda referred to the way the searches had been carried out, the feasibility of implementing STOP actions on the roads to Luz was discussed, the PJ not having any objection, considering that it could be useful to the investigation.

33. On this day, apart from the actions implemented by the Traffic Brigade on the furthest roads, STOP operations were carried out on the EN 125, in a discontinuous manner, to control the access routes to P da L and surrounding areas, with the aim of creating instability, given the possibility that the girl had been taken by someone within this perimeter and was aiming to take her from the area. With the help of patrols from the PTR, Aljezur and Odeceixe, STOP actions were also carried out on the EN 120, considering it to be a regional penetration road to the area of Costa Vicentina.

34. The Lagos Security Police also carried out a random control of vehicles, using the STOP actions especially at the EN 125 roundabout that gives access to the A22, these actions were continued over several days.

35. On 6th May at 08.00 the third day of searches began, continuing to make efforts in different sectors of the close perimeter, considering that this is an area with a high number of houses, that it was important to go through this area again, with the aim of contacting their owners, collecting information that could be useful in locating the missing girl. Effort was made that the teams did not repeat sectors they had searched previously, given that people have the tendency to search in the same way, thereby minimising situations of error in the execution of searches in the different sectors of this close perimeter.

36. On this day a second level of searching was begun, with them being extended to an intermediary perimeter, in a semi circle with the eastern limit in Lagos/ EN 120/ Bensafrim/ Barao de Sao Joao / Barao de Sao Miguel and Boca do Rio as the western limit, covering an are of almost 75 km2, divided in 17 sectors with a wider net than the area of the close perimeter, a mixture of searches was carried out in this area, using foot and motorised teams, especially the use of motorcycles, depending on the topography of the terrain. The need to extend the perimeter of the searches was due to the fact that no sign of the girl had been found during the previous two days in the areas that had been searched and from the third day the theory that the girl might have been taken by someone was considered and, in the face of this hypothesis, the search operation was given a new scenario, becoming the search for a girl 'alive or dead' (the second possibility being the most probable) who had been left somewhere by an abductor.

37. In the hypothesis that the girl had been taken by someone and taking into account the time that had passed before the Guarda was alerted, it would be possible that she had been transported to a distance quite far away, further than any of the search perimeters, however the lack of any information about what really could have happened, makes it necessary that the decision about how to direct the searches, should be based only on the typology of the crime eventually in question and on the profile of the aggressor of this kind of crime, who would normally leave the victim in a place not very far from where she had been taken and who would in most cases bury the child. Within the theory, searches were made using an all terrain vehicle of the area composed of the Mata Nacional do Barao de S. Joao.

38. On this day, 6th May, the same number of Guarda officers was deployed as on the previous day and was reinforced by 16 officers from the Evora Territorial Brigade who replaced officers from the Faro Territorial Post, the latter being used in STOP operations on the main access roads to Lagos. The remaining entities and search groups used the day before were maintained with the exception of the Red Cross which only participated on 5th May.

39. During the nocturnal period, as on the previous nights, about 18 officers were deployed, guaranteeing the functioning of the Control Post, security and the preservation of the site the child had disappeared from, the control of surrounding areas and the closest localities was continued, searching for suspicious movements, whether by people or vehicles, mainly using officers from the Criminal Investigation Nucleus.

40. On 7th May at 08.00 the fourth day of searching began, at that time there was no sign or positive result and so sectors of the perimeter continued to be searched, new examinations of the close perimeter were carried out by new teams and searches of the intermediate perimeter were continued, the means used being similar to those of the previous days.

41. On this day the perimeter of the searches was extended to Lagos in the north and to Vila do Bispo in the east, for an are of about 250 km2, these searches being carried out almost entirely with the use of vehicles, given the topography of the terrain and the vegetation, this was called the distant perimeter, with an average radius of 15 km from P da L, being divided in 14 search areas.

42. The same activity carried out on the previous nights took place, namely the deployment of officers from the criminal investigation nucleus, controlling any eventual suspicious movements in the areas surrounding P da L.

43. On the 8th May at 08.00 the fifth day of searching began, maintaining the theories of the previous days, in other words the lack of existence of any information to direct the searches to any specific area and searches were continued within the three perimeters with the same number of officers.

44. On this day the search operation was joined by forest fire fighting officers from the Terras do Infante Association, using three all terrain vehicles, who carried out searches using their own means in forest and rough terrain areas of the distant perimeter, using their exhaustive knowledge of these areas gleaned from their daily activities of preventing forest fires.

45. Given the number of days that had passed since the disappearance of Madeleine McCann it was considered appropriate to request help from the Lagos Voluntary Firemen who took part in the operations, and on this day carried out searches as the Bravura dam, situated to the north of Odeaxere, using their aquatic equipment, considering that a body that has fallen or been thrown into water tends to surface after 72 hours, this team searched all the branches of the dam using an outboard motor and found nothing suspicious.

46. Officers from the Lagos Aeroclub offered their help in flying over the search areas with the aim of collaborating in the ongoing operations, their offer was accepted by the Operations Commander and they were instructed to fly over the Intermediate perimeter, they used 4 ultra light planes, flying at low height and in a line formation, but found no information to report.

47. On 9th May at 08.00 the sixth day of searching began, continuing with the search sequences of the previous days using teams of officers from the different entities that had participated in the operation, searching in the three perimeters that had been defined, at this stage all the sectors had been covered at least once by different teams, using all terrain vehicles in the distant perimeter, motorcycles in the intermediate perimeter and foot and horse teams in the close and intermediate perimeters, as well as air searches, without any sign of the girl being found.

48. Given the status of the searches, the officer undersigned, as Operation Commander proposed to the Portimao Territorial Group Commander that the searches of the area should be concluded, considering that the efforts made until then, with an elevated number of human resources used had allowed for the searching of a vast area, especially due to actions of the search and rescue sniffer teams, which with a great physical and spirited skill, with the help of technical capacity, consolidated by years of accumulated experience in multiple scenarios, searched vast areas without detecting any sign leading to the girl's location.

49. On10th May at 08.00 the seventh day of searching began, different actions took place in the sequence of the previous days' searches, without yielding any positive results and at the end of the afternoon the searches were concluded and the participation of the entities that had carried out activities under the coordination of the Guarda was dispensed with, from that date onwards the Guarda only guaranteed the security and the preservation of the area surrounding the apartment the girl had disappeared from.

50. The search and rescue sniffer teams continued to carry out searches - as can be seen from the report in Annex B - until 18th May when they returned to the Queluz post.
 III Conclusion

1. In parallel to the investigations carried out by the PJ and in strict collaboration with this entity, the GNR coordinated all the searches carried out in the areas surrounding the resort the girl disappeared from, gradually increasing the search perimeters, extending them to a radius of 15 km from P da L from 4th to 10th May.


2. Searches carried out in the Maritime Public Domain were the responsibility of the Maritime Authorities, who carried them out within the scope of their knowledge, technical experience and using their own means.


3. Given the operational scenario and taking into account the deployment of officers and the areas searched, at the end of the seventh day of operations it was decided that all possibility of finding the girl by means of searches of the area had been exhausted, no sign or information relevant to the investigation having been found.


4. Taking into account that during the searches carried out, care was taken to minimise the hypothesis of error, with the division of the area into sectors and searches undertaken by different teams, it is considered that if there is any possibility that the girl should be found in areas searched, her eventual location would lead to action from the ongoing criminal investigation.
Annexes

Annex A. Map showing Deployment of Officers and Teams.

Annex B. Report on the Sniffer Dog Search and Rescue Team

Annex C. Military letter with search area limits.


Portimao, 30th November 2007

Operation Commander

Luis Manuel Goncalves Sequeira

Major

3-Processos Vol XIII Pages 3517

GNR Report

Subject: Report of Searches Related to the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

Annex B. Report on the Sniffer Dog Search and Rescue Team

1. Methods used

The sniffer dog search and rescue team of the GNR was sent to Vila da Luz in the attempt of locating Madeleine McCann, aged four, of British nationality, who disappeared on the night of 3rd May, from apartment 5 A, Block 5 of the OC resort, the team was composed as follows:


Sargeant Silva - Dog: Timmy
Officer Cortez - Dog: Sacha
Officer Sousa - Dog: Kolly/Cookie
Officer Rosa - Dog: Oscar
Officer Martins - Dog: Fusco
Officer Fernandes - Dog: Rex/ Zarus


II Description

After arriving at the scene, the first three members of the team, the officers gathered some information from the girl's parents about the places they tended to frequent with the children during their stay in P da L up until now, the parents replied that the only areas that their daughter would frequent since their arrival, was Praia da Luz beach, always accompanied by babysitters and resort pool area, where there was also a playground.

After this, at about 08.00 the three search and rescue sniffer dog teams (Silva with Timmy, Cortez with Sacha and Sousa with Kolly and Cookie) who had arrived at the site, began searching, leaving the resort in the direction of the beach.

During the entire morning, searches were made of the beach and rocks, from Rocha Negra to the area of Ponta da Gaviota (an approximate area of 2 km). During the morning searches were also made of the areas surrounding Praia da Luz, with a radius of about 300 metres, as well as some abandoned houses, wells and plots of land inside P da L.

After an evaluation of the situation in the field, it was decided to request two more search and rescue sniffer dogs from the GNR Queluz station, given the extent of the terrain to be searched, whilst the hypothesis that the girl could have left the apartment on foot was not discarded.

During the afternoon of 4th May, more searches were carried out around Vila da Luz and were extended to a radius of approximately 600 metres, including the surroundings of the EN125 in the stretch closed to P da L.

At about 23.00 the extra teams that had been requested for reinforcement arrived (Officer Rosa with Oscar and Officer Martins with Fusco, both from the search and rescue unit and Officer Fernandes with Rex and Zarus from the tracking team).

After the officers had been updated about facts relating to the disappearance, they tried to reconstruct the route the girl might have taken with the two tracker dogs. For this purpose the dogs were given a blanket to sniff, provided by the parents, which had been used by Madeleine.

Beginning to follow the track using Rex, from the door of apartment 5 A (the place where the girl had been sleeping) he would always head in the direction of Block 4, leaving block 5 the dog would turn to the left, pass by a metal access door to a path existing between the apartments blocks to the leisure area (restaurant, pool and playground). Immediately another attempt at reconstruction was made using the dog Zarus, who, in general terms, ended up following the same route as Rex and having the same behaviour.

It is important to state that this tracking work was carried out in an urban area and more than 24 hours after the girl's disappearance and numerous persons had passed along the path the dogs were tracking. It should also be stated that the path the dogs followed within the resort was practically totally surrounded by walls and the concentration of odours was stronger as they were protected from the wind. The searches finished at about 01.30

On 5th May at about 08.00 after a briefing, two teams consisting of 3 dogs each accompanied by officers from Portimao, again carried out searches in the whole of the Vila da Luz area, with an approximate radius of 2 kilometres, paying special attention to the rocky areas, abandoned houses, wells, drains, road verges etc..including plots of land within P da L.

During part of the afternoon, searches were carried out in the Turiscampo camping site situated next to Espiche on the EN125 and in the Orbitur camping site next to Vila da Luz. This search operation had the objective of checking all the bungalows whose occupants had left on the day of the disappearance or on the following day as well as the adjacent areas.

During the day the searches were extended using the method of searching in file, accompanied by officers from Portimao, from the P da L area following the rocks up to Ponta da Cama da Vaca, taking in all of the northern zone to the EN125 as well as the village of Almadena, the Vale Verde zone and Quatro Estradas, some of the areas had already been searched more than once.

At about 22.00 all the vehicles parked in Vila da Luz parking spaced were checked.

On 6th May at about 08.00 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 P da L, 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 P da L, in some cases reaching distances of 2 km.

On 7th May the same searches were continued, being extended to to the entire northern part of Almadena to the site of Espojeiro and the verges of the EN125 until the Boi valley.

At about 19.. the undersigned officer, accompanied by the Commander, Officer Silva, took part in a meetings with the PJ Directorate, being asked by the PJ about the viability of giving the girl's clothes to the dogs for the dogs to sniff again, and if by means of the odour inhaled, they would be able to mark an identical odour in one of the resort apartments even though its door was closed.

With regard to this task, Officer Silva referred to the fact that the time that had passed would be a crucial condition for the dogs' work in obtaining results and that the entirety of the human odours existing in the apartments and access paths could make the dogs' searches very difficult. However, in spite of not being a normal situation for tracking, it could be attempted, whilst the operation should be carried out as quickly as possible and not directed towards one but to all the apartments in the resort, it being appropriate for the handler not to know which apartment was chosen, so as not the be conditioned.

In this concrete situation, the objective would be for the dogs to carry out a discontinuous search, in other words, to sniff the girl's clothes and immediately search near to the apartments, checking to see if there was any change in the behaviour of the dogs.

At about 23.00 accompanied by a PJ inspector, the searches were begun. After Rex was given the girl's clothing to sniff, he began to search on the ground floor of block 5 and when he passed the door of apartment 5 A (the place the girl had disappeared from) according to his handler, officer Fernandes, the dog altered its behaviour, sniffing with greater intensity than he had done before. Apartment 5J of the same block was also checked as the dog had been more agitated than before as if there were a very strong strange odour there. It was stated that this apartment had been unoccupied for some time. Afterwards, the same kind of search was carried out using the dog Zarus which in general terms showed the same behaviour in the same places as Rex had done.

It was only when all the searches of the apartments in blocks 4 and 5 were complete, that the behaviour described above was registered. It is certain that this kind of work does not correspond to the area that these dogs were trained in, but given that these types of dogs manage to discriminate a specific odour from others, although it could be a remote possibility that they related the odour of the missing girl with a possible location where she could have been.

On 8th May during the morning four teams returned to search all the areas around Vila, following some indications from local people who had frequently gone to the GNR Command post saying they had seen something suspicious related to the disappearance but no sign of her presence was ever found.

During the afternoon searches along the verges of the EN125 were continued from Boi valley to Figueira and the whole northern part of Budens.

On the following days the strategy adopted was to continue to extend the perimeter of the searches to the villages of Barao de S Miguel and Burgau, Barao de S Joao, Bensafrim and Salema. Searches were carried out in all of these locations, as well as adjacent land, vegetation, abandoned houses, wells and main roads.

On 10th May at about 20.10, upon the request of the PJ, searches were carried out in all of the apartments belonging to blocks 4 and 5 of the OC, two tracker dogs and two search and rescue dogs being used for this operation, adopting the same methods as those used on 7th May, just that this time the apartments were all open and searched one by one, being accompanied by a representative from the resort, who had the keys to all the apartments (apart from those not under her administration) and also with the objective of helping with the searches. The collaboration of all the guests occupying the apartments at that time was requested for this purpose and those apartments that were found to be empty were opened by the administrator.

All the apartments were searched by the dogs and when they arrived at apartment 5 J they began to sniff with intensity at the entrance door. During this behaviour it was noted by the PJ officers that there must be some unusual odour, but which with all certainty did not have anything to do with the odour being searched for, but there must have been something strange inside.

After entering the apartment, it was observed that the dour came from close to the fridge, which was open and contained some rotting meat and vegetables.

During the searches carried out in the apartments no sign of the girl was found by the dogs.

On 11th May in the morning, the team went to Odiaxere to visit a forest near the Boavista golf course. The whole forest was searched using the in file method, including some abandoned houses, wells and rail track.

After lunch the team was told that the searches were concluded but that their presence in P da L would continue to be necessary according to the requirements of the PJ for any other situations that might occur.

On 15th May three search and rescue dogs returned to Lisbon (Officer Cortes with Sacha, Officer Rosa with Oscar and Officer Martins with Fusco) considering that there was no longer any need for them.


The other dogs and their handlers remained on site until 18th May when at about 19.00 they returned to Cino/EPG as their presence was no longer require in P da L, although it was determined that if their use were required in the future, they would return.
Signed
30 November 2007
Operation Commander
Major Sequeira

OK, I've been stirred from my slumber, regarding the McCann Saga. Who would have thunk?

I am off now, to go and trawl over old ground (pardon the pun). I am going to look what was being reported in the first few months after Madeleine went missing, because, as they say, "the clues ARE there".

I am going to leave these few questions here. 

The McCanns rented a car, 25 days after Madeleine went missing. So, that would be on the 28th of May?  

This is what Gerry McCann wrote in his blog for 28th of May 2007:

Monday Day 25 - 28/05/2007 

Confirmation arrived this evening that we are to attend the Vatican and a service with The Pope. It is likely we will be seated in the front row and may have an opportunity to speak with the Holy Father and ask for prayers for Madeleine. This is a hugely important visit both personally, for Kate and I, but also for the wider campaign to publicise Madeleine’s disappearance. 

So, while the cameras were solely on Kate and Jerry McCann who were hundreds of miles away in Rome, the rented car was back in Portugal. Is this a case of "don't look over here, look over there"?