Robert Murat's role

by **Jill Havern** 22.04.19 8:29

by Tony Bennett on 24.03.11 10:45

1. At the time Madeleine was reported missing, Clarence Mitchell was the Head of the 40-strong government Media Monitoring Unit at the COI. Without doubt he would have been fully briefed about the events at Praia da Luz as soon as they happened. We know from a written reply to an FOI Act request that Mitchell was seconded from the COI to the Foreign Office on 7 May. He actually went out to Praia da Luz on 22 May

2. The first public identifying of Murat as a possible suspect came with journalist Lori Campbell speaking to her editor and to Leicestershire Police on 6 and 7 May. Ms Campbell and Mitchell knew each other well, not least because they covered the Soham murder story together for several weeks

3. During the first few days after Madeleine McCann was reported missing, various members of the security services came out to Praia da Luz. They included: Leicestershire Police, CEOP, NPIS (National Police Intelligence Service) and MI5 (sources: various, including Amaral’s book ‘The Truth About A Lie’). Jim Gamble is the Chief Executive of CEOP. In addition, it seems that a private intelligence agency, Control Risks Group, sent out two of its members in the first few days.

4. Right from early on 4 May, Murat became a translator for the Portuguese Police. In that position, he obtained information about the investigation, he put forward theories to the police, he suggested investigation strategies to them, and he was observed trying to read confidential investigation documents. These matters were made the subject of a report expressing serious concerns by one of the Inspectors to his seniors.

5. We know from Amaral’s book that a team from CEOP (or certainly including men from CEOP), described by Amaral as ‘profilers’, had by the weekend of 12/13 May not only come up with the profile of a likely abductor, but said that they were ‘90% sure’ [Amaral’s chapter on Murat] that Murat was the man they all were looking for. It is worth noting that they all focussed on the ‘fact’ that Madeleine had been abducted and it is obvious that these men from CEOP were not considering other possibilities.

6. On 12 May, Murat hired a car for no obvious reason, and apparently giving two different reasons for doing so. In addition, for a reason not explained, he gave as his address the address of his soon-to-be-ex-wife in Norfolk - why?

7. On 13 May, we know from Amaral’s book (and not expressly denied elsewhere) that Jane Tanner, in a police van with darkened windows, was ‘adamant’ (Amaral’s words) that when she saw Robert Murat walk by the police van, that he was the abductor she’d allegedly seen 10 days earlier. We know from what she and others have said that before identifying Murat she had spoken both to Leicestershire Police’s Bob Small and to ‘the men that Kate and Gerry brought in’ - widely taken to mean the men from Control Risks Group (but it could have been others).

8. The very next day (14 May), three members of the ‘Tapas 9’ - Rachael Mampilly, Fiona Payne and Dr Russell O’Brien - suddenly said they were ‘sure’ that they had each seen Robert Murat hanging around the Ocean Club late in the evening on 3 May. To the PJ, this helped to deepen their suspicions about him. These three repeated in a ‘police confrontation’ with Robert Murat on 11 July 2007 (see below) that they had definitely seen Murat that night. Murat denied it.

9. On 14 May, in his first police interview, Murat was asked to explain his movements and actions between 1 and 4 May. When he had his second and third interviews with the police on 10 and 11 July, as I have shown in a separate article, he changed his story in no fewer than 17 significant respects. He ‘remembered’ places he’d been to (after the police confronted him with where his mobile ’phone showed he had been during those four days), and he ‘remembered’ people he’d seen. It was now 10 weeks since these events, yet his memory recall seemed much better now than it had been barely a week after those events.

10. Murat received about £700,000 in two separate libel payouts in the latter half of 2008.

These possibilities arise from the above facts:

A. It was always part of a plan for Murat to be available for translations as soon as Madeleine was reported missing; that was why he flew out to Praia da Lz on 1 May.
B. It was part of a plan for Murat to be named as the suspect very early on, thus switching attention right away from the McCanns. In other words, he was ‘The Fall Guy’, the ‘Patsy’.
C. It was part of the plan for Murat to receive a huge pay-off eventually, one way or another. As it happened, this came by way of two libel pay-outs.

It is not being suggested that Murat played any part in Madeleine’s disappearance, only that he was deeply involved in subsequent events, in a collusion with the McCanns.

A plan may have developed as follows:

1. Suggestions put to Lori Campbell (perhaps by Clarence on the 'phone from London) to take a close look at Murat

2. Men from British security services/CEOP/MI5 etc. develop a profile of the abductor (because they are working on the abduction theory and ruling out all else) - then come up with Murat as the man to get. Did they perhaps have Murat in mind BEFORE they did their alleged ‘profiling’?

3. Jane Tanner is somehow briefed by some of these men and it is somehow suggested to her that she identify Murat as the abductor. She does so in what was either an incompetent or corrupt identification exercise

4. Immediately after Murat is arrested, three of the 'Tapas' group (Fiona, Dave and Rachael) trot down to the cop shop and say: "We saw Murat hanging round the Ocean Club late in the evening on 3 May (and they maintain this line at the confrontation on 11 July).

We can then slot in things during 1-3 May as preparation for his role as 'Fall Guy'. He meets his lawyer Pagarete to discuss this role, how he can be sure he will be paid at the end etc. etc., and his other meetings are somehow connected with the coming abduction hoax to be played out on the evening of 3 May.

He then performs the translation role as agreed beforehand and picks up valuable information about the investigation which is duly relayed to the Tapas group.

In November he meets Kennedy to discuss a deal. Kennedy tells him arrangements are in hand for lawyers to claim a large sum of money for him. Amaral by then has been successfully ousted from his post.

Immediately after, stories appear in the press like 'Tanner says Murat not the abductor' and 'McCanns not sure if Murat involved' [I document these in my forthcoming Murat article]

Kennedy, Metodo 3 and Marcos Aragao Correia work up stories about Madeleine's body being found in a lake, Madeleine being seen here and there etc.

McCann Team told off the record by PJ that there will be no charges.

Murat sues for libel and collects £600,000-plus.

As the concluding part of the deal, he has to make a one-off 'final speech' at the Cambridge Union on 5 March 2009 where he lambasts the tabloids blaming the whole thing on them and winds up by saying: 'The important thing is to keep looking out for Madeleine'.

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For discussion, please visit this thread: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t2248-robert-murat-s-role

Robert Murat's role

Robert Murat's role

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