Breakfast of Lies: How do you catch a criminal out?

Thriller author. Ex 7/7 counter-terror detective at Scotland Yard. Terrorism & security consultant. Crime fighter turned crime writer. http://davidvidecette.com

Someone asked me the other day – ‘What tactics do you use to catch criminals out?’

I think they were expecting me to answer with something technical and fancy - like a nano drone disguised to look like a fly, which sits on the wall listening to your conversations.

The look on their face when I told them my answer was to die for.

When you question a suspect in a criminal investigation there’s no point asking them something that you can’t prove to be wrong, you’re just wasting your time.

‘Did you kill him?’ is a pointless question unless you have something to back up or challenge the credibility of any answer you’re given. And the best form of evidence as to someone's credibility, their reliability as a witness, or truth teller - is to see if they are prepared to lie to you in a situation when you know the real truth.

I remember one investigation, where a man had battered an elderly woman half to death in a robbery. He’d been identified by a witness as being nearby, but we couldn’t place him for certain at the robbery. It was sketchy. He’d been arrested at his home a few hours later, and found in possession of one of the old girl's bank cards. But, he had an excuse for the card. He’d said that someone had left it at his house; that it was nothing to do with him. We might have got him for handling stolen goods, but that would have been it, and we wanted to prove he did the robbery. He claimed he’d been at home all morning, said that it wasn’t him who robbed the lady, and that our witness was mistaken. The single witness, who saw him, probably wasn’t going to be enough to convict him. We needed more evidence - but there wasn’t any.

I’d been to his house. Looked around. I knew what he had in his fridge food wise and what waste was in all the bins. I knew what channels he had access to on his TV, and I knew what the morning's broadcast schedule had been from the TV listings. He had no idea I’d been to his home or checked any of this out.

My first questions were around what he claimed he'd been doing at home that morning, while he "wasn’t out robbing the old lady". Why did I want to know? Well, I wanted him to lie to me.

According to him, he’d made himself a lovely breakfast. A traditional English fry up. Bacon, and eggs, plus all the trimmings. We talked for ages about his breakfast, about how he liked to fry his eggs, just like he’d done them that morning.

Trouble was. I’d already done a recce of his kitchen. I knew he didn’t have a single saucepan in his house, let alone a frying pan. In fact there was no evidence of him having owned, consumed or prepared any food in his property that morning at all. It was all a lie. As was what he claimed to have watched on TV that morning while he ate that breakfast. And I could prove it. I put him back in his cell, and then went and photographed his entire kitchen, including his fridge, his bins, and all of the kitchen cupboards and utensils. All I did was let him lie to me.

Later I interviewed him again. His face was an absolute picture when we talked about the lies he’d told around his breakfast, about how it was impossible for him to have cooked it.  He pleaded guilty to the robbery at court. Went to prison for five years. The lies were instrumental to this.

The truth costs nothing, but a lie can cost you everything…



https://davidvidecette.com/blog/2018/1/15/breakfast-of-lies



Here's a couple of the McCann's lies:


They lied about the checks (every hour then when that wasn’t received well changed it to every half hour)

They lied that they were performing the checks themselves (then it became known other men in the group were also checking on the McCann kids)

They lied even after that in the TV interview when Kate says she discovered Madeleine gone ‘on one of my checks’ – it was the only check she made that night.

They lied about the distance from the apartment to the Tapas bar

They lied that you can see the apartment from the Tapas Bar

They lied about whether they actually saw Madeleine with their own eyes or just listened at the door (as did their friends)

They lied about who checked and when (changing their stories)

They lied about who remained at the table all evening and who was absent

They lied that leaving 3 children all under four years old alone at night ‘at the time was not irresponsible’



Their friends lied about seeing Murat there that night (as incoming and outgoing phone records placed him consistently at home)

They lied about Bundleman.

Tanner lied about when she gave Bundlemans details to the Police (changing the date)

Tanner lied about the description of Bundleman (changing the height and appearance) Wilkins & Gerry or Tanner lied about that check when they were all in the same place but never saw each other.

They lied that the door was locked and changed it to unlocked when it was not well received.

They lied that the door was closed, then it was open because of ‘danger of fire’

They lied about the shutters being jemmied or forced

They lied to friends, family and media when the called them that night telling them of an abductor who had broken into their apartment

Gerry lied when he said there was no way Madeleine could have gotten out of bed and then said she must have wandered off.

Gerry later lied in his blog saying the twins must like their new cots because they were asleep by 7:30pm which was very unusual, and yet the twins were asleep by 7:30 on the night of May 3rd allegedly.

They lied to friends, family and media in phone calls that night saying the Police had not shown up when they were already there.

Kate lied to Mrs Fenn saying the Police had been called.

They lied saying they had called the Police when it was in fact Mark Warner

They lied when they said it felt so safe and then said they knew they were being watched.

They lied to family, friends and media on the phone that night when they said nobody was doing anything wheen in fact locals, holidaymakers and staff were all helping search.

They lied when they said they were all searching when Kate and Gerry were hitting phones until midnight

Tanner claims she knew nothing of the disappearance until another friend knocked on her door.

Gerry lied when he asked for a priest claiming not to know where the church was.

They lied as to what time the Police arrived

They lied that Cuddlecat was Madeleine’s favourite toy and then that it was a present to be given to her on her fourth birthday.

They lied saying they would cooperate fully with the investigation

They lied saying they would not do anything to hinder the investigation

They lied that the fund was going to be a charity.

They lied that the fund would help other missing children and families of.

They lied when they said they didn’t know Murat.

They lied when they said they would stay in Portugal until their daughter was found.

They lied when they said they were going to learn Portuguese.


They lied that it could not possibly be Madeleine’s blood in the trunk of their hire car.

And then they took the same vehicle out of circulation so no further tests could be carried out upon it.

They lied about not discussing the case and met with the Tapas 9 secretly.

Gerry lied about where his wallet was apparently stolen, Waterloo station and then near Downing Street.

They lied when they said abductions like this (snatched sleeping from a hotel or apartment) happen a lot, they don’t.

They lied about the fund not being used for personal matters and then it paid their mortgage.

Kate lied about coming into contact with 6 dead people in her 1 day a week job as GP to explain the cadaver scent on her clothing.

They lied about cuddlecat having the scent of Madeleine and being comforting and then as soon as they heard the dogs were coming Kate announced she had washed it because it smelled of sun tan lotion. Making forensic analysis of it much harder.

They lied about the crime scene, about how many people came into the crime scene, walked around and contaminated it, again making investigation much harder and destroying much evidence according to detectives.


Gerry lied about the existence of the tennis bag.

They lied about going to sue media companies.

They lied about the film deal.

They lied about sacking Justine McGuinness and her subsequent departure.

They lied about returning to Portugal for questioning voluntarily and now will only do if their Arguido status is lifted. They have also appointed General Pinochets extradition-fighting lawyers.

Gerry lied about his faith. They lied to the local catholic priest (who now claims he was deceived by the McCanns) and then deserted him for the Anglican reverend instead and never, ever took confession apparently.

They said a lie detector test would clear them and now refuse to take one.

They lied for months saying they were not suspects in the disappearance of their daughter and were then both made formal Arguido / suspects under Portuguese law.

They lied about the possibility of sedation and then claimed ridiculously that perhaps the Abductor had sedated all 3 of their children before making off with Madeleine.

Gerry lied about Kate’s ability to cope with three children on her own when her own Parents and her own diary say different.

They lied about the amount of alcohol consumed that night. In another lie about cooperating they refused to provide their mobile phone records to the pj. Kate explaining away the scent of death of cuddlecat because she took the child's 4th birthday present cuddly toy to work and exposed it to contact with 6 dead people.


They lied how everything had been so normal up til May 3rd when it is now known that Mark Warner staff had received complaints from other holidaymakers because of their home alone children crying and seeming in distress. This also brought Mark Warner staff looking for the McCanns on the night of the 2nd and insisting they attend to their distressed children.

They lied about 90 minute tennis lesson with several versions of the story being put out by official sources within the McCann Camp They and at least one friend lied about Madeleine’s last meal on May 3rd.

They lied about the abductor entering through the window and then changed it to the patio doors.

Matthew Oldfield lied about his check on the McCann children changing his story not once but twice. Kate lied about physically searching for her daughter but then admits to not have done so in a tv interview.

McCanns claim they were the first to arrive to tapas on May 3rd, Rachel Oldfield claims they were the last to arrive.

Despite being in Rome and Madrid and claiming to be spending the rest of the week quietly at home in PDL with the twins, the hire car in it’s first week clocked up over 500 miles.

Gerry lied about his checks on the children in the apartment, at first having claimed to have entered several rooms later then claiming the abductor must have hiding in the apartment while he was there.

Gerry and O Brien have lied about their locations when holding a mobile phone call together on June 10th as verified by phone records and pinpointing.

Jane Tanner has changed her statements, arrival time at tapas, direction of travel, checking times for night of May 3rd.

Najova Chekaya who joined the tapas 9 at the table at 9:30 states nobody left the table until Kate went to check putting Oldfields, O'Briens, Tanners and Gerry McCann's statements into question.

Their own words reveal the truth and condemn them for their crimes