A COMMEMMORATION OF THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION OF ‘SMITHMAN’ AS ‘THE CENTRE OF OUR FOCUS’
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A COMMEMMORATION OF THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION OF ‘SMITHMAN’ AS ‘THE CENTRE OF OUR FOCUS’
by Tony Bennett on 14.10.15 15:34
A COMMEMMORATION OF THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION OF ‘SMITHMAN’ AS ‘THE CENTRE OF OUR FOCUS’
A look back at the history of Smithman, and how the McCanns, then the Met Police, and finally the BBC combined to make use of him, with links.
(More links being added)
PART ONE
1. In the beginning, Madeleine McCann was reported missing. She was said to have ‘disappeared’ sometime between 9.10pm and 10.00pm on 3 May 2007.
2. Jane Tanner said she had seen a man carrying a child at about 9.15pm that evening. One of the McCanns’ friends had made use of the Madeleine’s Sainsbury’s Activity Sticker Book to write down the events of that evening. Or two timelines, actually.
3.The next day, she gave details of this man and child to the police. The child was clad only in pyjamas, which were white with a pinkish tinge. The man wore cream-coloured beige trousers and a dark jacket made of cloth, had dark hair, wore classic shoes, and didn’t look like a tourist.
4. And lo! On the following morn, came forth a Spanish expat, living in Germany, who was on holiday visiting his old mother in Sagres. He spoke to the PJ and told them his name ws Nuno Lourenco.
5. He wove an elaborate tale. A man with cream-coloured trousers, a cream-coloured jacket, both made of cloth, who had dark hair, wore classic shoes and didn’t look like a tourist, had been taking photographs on a beach of several children, including his own. Snr Lourenco was annoyed. He stared at the man angrily. But didn’t do anything else.
Link: http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/NUNO_LOURENCO.htm
6. Then lo and behold! as the afternoon was ending, he was with his children in a café-and-pasty shop when the same man, who didn’t look like a tourist, came in and then went out and then returned, just as Snr Lourenco and his family were leaving the shop. The man who didn’t look like a tourist tried to kidnap his three-year-old daughter but failed. Just in time, Lourenco took a photo of him. But sadly his finger was in the way of the viewfinder, so it never came out.
7. He gave chase to the man. Just before the man who didn’t look like a tourist drove off, Lourenco managed to snatch a photo of his grey, hired car. He had the presence of mind to write down the number plate on a piece of paper. He then threw it away in a waste paper basket. Or maybe in the road. He cannot remember.
8. The PJ were impressed. When did these appalling events happen?, they asked. Lourenco said they had happened 6 days ago. The police were surprised about that. Most people would report an attempted kidnapping of a 3-year-old child immediately.
Ref: Goncalo Amaral, 'The Truth About A Lie', English translation by Anna Esse, section headed: 'POLISH LEAD IN SAGRES'
9. The PJ looked at the photo of the car. It was the only clue they had. They could make out the number plate. They checked, and it had been hired out that week by a Polish tourist, Wojcek Krokowski and his wife, who had been staying at the Sol e Mar apartments, built and maintained by companies founded by Robert Murat’s father. The PJ checked the apartment. They found hairs of the same haplotype as Robert Murat and Jane Tanner there, but not much else.
10. The PJ found out that the Krokowskis had eaten most of their meals that week at a beach bar belonging to Robert Murat’s uncle, Ralph Eveleigh. The staff there were most helpful and told the PJ where they might get hold of a convenient CCTV image of Krokowski. He had been to a shopping centre to buy Brazilian music CDs. And lo! the police found a CCTV image of him, wearing a white, cream, jacket and trousers, he had dark hair, and he wore classic shoes. And he really didn’t look like a tourist at all.
11. The PJ found out that Krokowski had left that very morning, on a plane from Faro to Berlin. They gave chase. They stopped the plane and interrogated the Krokowskis and all the passengers. They discovered nothing of interest. The Krokowksis were allowed to proceed to their home in Warsaw.
12.People meanwhile searched for Madeleine but could not find her. She was front page news around the world.
13. A few days later, the British mainstream press were fed stories of an alleged kidnapping at Sagres beach by a man who had been taking photographs of young children. The stories claimed that the McCanns had been in Sagres on Sunday 29 April and that the kidnapper might have seen Madeleine, followed the McCanns back to Praia da Luz, and plotted to abductor. The story was totally untrue, because the McCanns never went to Sagres at all that week. But the story did have two positive effects. It was good copy and made quite a lot of extra money for the tabloids. But in addition, it bolstered the early claims by the McCanns that Madeleine had been snatched by a paedophile.
14. And so it came to pass that Robert Murat was declared an arguido. That was on 15 May.
15. The very next day, Peter Smith, an Irishman, had a dream. Or was daydreaming. He thought he ‘remembered’ seeing a man carrying a child n Praia da Luz 13 days previously. So he ’phoned his Dad to have a chat about it.
16. In an interview he gave to a newspaper, Peter’s father, Martin Smith, explained what happened next: He said: “We were home two weeks when my son rang up and asked was he dreaming or did we meet a man carrying a child the night Madeleine was taken. We all remembered that we had the same recollection”.
17. ‘Remembered that we had the same recollection’ was an odd turn of phrase. He could have said: ‘We all recollected that we had the same memory’.
18. Martin Smith telephoned the Irish police in his home town of Drogehda and told him about his family having sighted a man carrying a child who looked like Madeleine McCann. The Irish police told the PJ about it.
19. And so it came to pass that on 26 May 2007, the first day after the PJ and Gerry McCann made statements about a suspect seen carrying a bundle on the night of 3 May, that Martin Smith, his son Peter and his young daughter Aoife made statements to the PJ at Portimao Police Station.
All three statements are here: http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MARTIN_SMITH.htm
20. They told the PJ that they had been out for a meal at the Dolphin restaurant. They had a receipt to prove it. They finished their meal about 9.30pm. They then said they had all been for a drink at Kelly’s bar on the way back to their apartment at the Estrela da Luz complex. There was no conclusive proof that had ben there, and later the manager of Kelly’s bar said that he could not recollect a family of 9 coming into his bar.
LINK: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t8436-the-time-of-the-alleged-smith-sighting-the-till-receipts-that-don-t-tally
21. The Smiths said they had seen a man carrying a child. It was dark at the time. They said the street lighting was weak. They only saw him for a moment or two. They didn’t get a clear view of him. His head was down, and the child he was carrying was obscuring part of his face. The Smiths said that he was wearing cream-coloured or beige trousers and a dark jacket, made of cloth, was about 25 to 40 years of age, and, in the words of Martin Smith, ‘didn’t look like a tourist’. Aoife Smith said that he may or may not have had buttons on his trousers. She added that she was ‘60% to 80% sure’ that the child she had seen was Madeleine McCann.
22. All of them said they would never be able to recognise him if they saw him again.
23. Martin Smith said he knew Robert Murat. On that occasion he said he’d only met Murat twice in bars, once in May and once in August. But later his son was to tell newspapers that his father had met Murat ‘several times’ over the past two years. He told the PJ that he could be absolutely sure that the stranger he’d seen in the dark was not Robert Murat.
24. Time passed. It was Friday 9 September 2007. Martin Smith was watching the news. He saw Gerry McCann coming down the steps of a plane carrying his son Sean on his left shoulder.
25. It came to pass 11 days later that Martin Smith told a police officer in Drogheda that he was ‘60% to 80% sure’ that, based on seeing the way Gerry was carrying Sean, the man his family had seen in Praia da Luz 4½ months earlier, was Gerry McCann. The police officer who interviewed him, Liam Hogan, wrote: ‘I do not believe that Martin Smith is courting the press and my view he is a genuine person. He is known locally and is a very decent person’.
26. At the time, Goncalo Amaral wanted to interview him. But 12 days after Martin Smith was interviewed by Liam Hogan, Amaral and several of his colleagues were removed from the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
27. On 3 January 2008, the British press broke the news that McCann Team member Brian Kennedy, a Cheshire businessman, had been in touch with the Smiths, and that Metodo 3 were on their way to see him. And so began, for whatever reason, a long history of Martin Smith’s co-operation with, first the McCann Team, then the Met Police and finally, the BBC.
Links: Articles in the Daily Mail, Sun, Daily Mirror and other newspapers, all based on a press release by Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' chief public relations adviser, 3 January 2008
28. We are told that some time in 2008, a man called Henri Exton, the former Head of Covert Intelligence for MI5 and possibly still working on behalf of the British security services, visited the Smiths. We do not know when. But we do know that he was employed together with Irishman Kevin Halligen, under the umbrella of ‘Oakley International’, a company formed after Madeleine disappeared. Halligen and Exton, we are told, were appointed by the McCann Team in April 2008 and sacked in late August 2008. So we may assume that Exton’s visit to the Smiths was during this period.
29. Exton says he produced two e-fits. He says that these e-fist were based on what the Smiths recollected. If the Smiths ever did try to recollect a man they said they had seen, then it must have been at least 11 months later, after seeing a man for a few seconds in the dark, that they tried to remember what he looked like.
30. The two e-fits produced by Exton look, to many people, like two quite different people. There are differences in the overall shape of the face, the depth of the chin, the hair style, the length of their noses, and their mouths, for example. British people were first given a glimpse of these e-fits on 13 October 2013, a day before the BBC Crimewatch McCann Special. It had been about 5½ years since they were first drawn up by Exton.
31. In a statement to the Sunday Times in October or November 2013, the McCanns denied the paper’s claim, in its edition of 27 October, that they had covered up the two e-fits for over 5 years. In a carefully-worded statement, they said they had informed Leicestershire Police and the PJ about the existence of these e-fits ‘by October 2009’.
Link: www.pressgazette.co.uk/sunday-times-sued-mccanns-over-story-which-wrongly-claimed-evidence-was-withheld-police
32. This was the wording of the Sunday Times apology:
QUOTE >>> In articles dated October 27 ("Madeleine clues hidden for 5 years" and "Investigators had E-Fits five years ago", News) we referred to efits which were included in a report prepared by private investigators for the McCanns and the Fund in 2008. We accept that the articles may have been understood to suggest that the McCanns had withheld information from the authorities. This was not the case. We now understand and accept that the efits had been provided to the Portuguese and Leicestershire police by October 2009. We also understand that a copy of the final report including the efits was passed to the Metropolitan police in August 2011, shortly after it commenced its review. We apologise for the distress caused."
33. In July 2008, the Portuguese authorities issued their final report about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. ‘Smithman’ was mentioned. They wrote: “Further on this issue, the testimony of MARTIN SMITH was considered, pages 1606 and following, reporting the sighting of an individual carrying a child, in one of the streets that led to the beach. It was said that the child could be MADELEINE McCANN, although it was never peremptorily stated. Sometime later, the witness alleged that, by the way he was carrying the child when he saw him descending the steps of a ’plane, the individual who had carried the child [on 3rd May]could be GERALD McCANN, pages 2871, 3991 and following and 4135 and following. It was established that at the time that was being mentioned, GERALD McCANN was sitting at the table, in the Tapas Restaurant”.
CONTINUED IN PART TWO
A COMMEMMORATION OF THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION OF ‘SMITHMAN’ AS ‘THE CENTRE OF OUR FOCUS’
A look back at the history of Smithman, and how the McCanns, then the Met Police, and finally the BBC combined to make use of him, with links.
(More links being added)
PART ONE
1. In the beginning, Madeleine McCann was reported missing. She was said to have ‘disappeared’ sometime between 9.10pm and 10.00pm on 3 May 2007.
2. Jane Tanner said she had seen a man carrying a child at about 9.15pm that evening. One of the McCanns’ friends had made use of the Madeleine’s Sainsbury’s Activity Sticker Book to write down the events of that evening. Or two timelines, actually.
3.The next day, she gave details of this man and child to the police. The child was clad only in pyjamas, which were white with a pinkish tinge. The man wore cream-coloured beige trousers and a dark jacket made of cloth, had dark hair, wore classic shoes, and didn’t look like a tourist.
4. And lo! On the following morn, came forth a Spanish expat, living in Germany, who was on holiday visiting his old mother in Sagres. He spoke to the PJ and told them his name ws Nuno Lourenco.
5. He wove an elaborate tale. A man with cream-coloured trousers, a cream-coloured jacket, both made of cloth, who had dark hair, wore classic shoes and didn’t look like a tourist, had been taking photographs on a beach of several children, including his own. Snr Lourenco was annoyed. He stared at the man angrily. But didn’t do anything else.
Link: http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/NUNO_LOURENCO.htm
6. Then lo and behold! as the afternoon was ending, he was with his children in a café-and-pasty shop when the same man, who didn’t look like a tourist, came in and then went out and then returned, just as Snr Lourenco and his family were leaving the shop. The man who didn’t look like a tourist tried to kidnap his three-year-old daughter but failed. Just in time, Lourenco took a photo of him. But sadly his finger was in the way of the viewfinder, so it never came out.
7. He gave chase to the man. Just before the man who didn’t look like a tourist drove off, Lourenco managed to snatch a photo of his grey, hired car. He had the presence of mind to write down the number plate on a piece of paper. He then threw it away in a waste paper basket. Or maybe in the road. He cannot remember.
8. The PJ were impressed. When did these appalling events happen?, they asked. Lourenco said they had happened 6 days ago. The police were surprised about that. Most people would report an attempted kidnapping of a 3-year-old child immediately.
Ref: Goncalo Amaral, 'The Truth About A Lie', English translation by Anna Esse, section headed: 'POLISH LEAD IN SAGRES'
9. The PJ looked at the photo of the car. It was the only clue they had. They could make out the number plate. They checked, and it had been hired out that week by a Polish tourist, Wojcek Krokowski and his wife, who had been staying at the Sol e Mar apartments, built and maintained by companies founded by Robert Murat’s father. The PJ checked the apartment. They found hairs of the same haplotype as Robert Murat and Jane Tanner there, but not much else.
10. The PJ found out that the Krokowskis had eaten most of their meals that week at a beach bar belonging to Robert Murat’s uncle, Ralph Eveleigh. The staff there were most helpful and told the PJ where they might get hold of a convenient CCTV image of Krokowski. He had been to a shopping centre to buy Brazilian music CDs. And lo! the police found a CCTV image of him, wearing a white, cream, jacket and trousers, he had dark hair, and he wore classic shoes. And he really didn’t look like a tourist at all.
11. The PJ found out that Krokowski had left that very morning, on a plane from Faro to Berlin. They gave chase. They stopped the plane and interrogated the Krokowskis and all the passengers. They discovered nothing of interest. The Krokowksis were allowed to proceed to their home in Warsaw.
12.People meanwhile searched for Madeleine but could not find her. She was front page news around the world.
13. A few days later, the British mainstream press were fed stories of an alleged kidnapping at Sagres beach by a man who had been taking photographs of young children. The stories claimed that the McCanns had been in Sagres on Sunday 29 April and that the kidnapper might have seen Madeleine, followed the McCanns back to Praia da Luz, and plotted to abductor. The story was totally untrue, because the McCanns never went to Sagres at all that week. But the story did have two positive effects. It was good copy and made quite a lot of extra money for the tabloids. But in addition, it bolstered the early claims by the McCanns that Madeleine had been snatched by a paedophile.
14. And so it came to pass that Robert Murat was declared an arguido. That was on 15 May.
15. The very next day, Peter Smith, an Irishman, had a dream. Or was daydreaming. He thought he ‘remembered’ seeing a man carrying a child n Praia da Luz 13 days previously. So he ’phoned his Dad to have a chat about it.
16. In an interview he gave to a newspaper, Peter’s father, Martin Smith, explained what happened next: He said: “We were home two weeks when my son rang up and asked was he dreaming or did we meet a man carrying a child the night Madeleine was taken. We all remembered that we had the same recollection”.
17. ‘Remembered that we had the same recollection’ was an odd turn of phrase. He could have said: ‘We all recollected that we had the same memory’.
18. Martin Smith telephoned the Irish police in his home town of Drogehda and told him about his family having sighted a man carrying a child who looked like Madeleine McCann. The Irish police told the PJ about it.
19. And so it came to pass that on 26 May 2007, the first day after the PJ and Gerry McCann made statements about a suspect seen carrying a bundle on the night of 3 May, that Martin Smith, his son Peter and his young daughter Aoife made statements to the PJ at Portimao Police Station.
All three statements are here: http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MARTIN_SMITH.htm
20. They told the PJ that they had been out for a meal at the Dolphin restaurant. They had a receipt to prove it. They finished their meal about 9.30pm. They then said they had all been for a drink at Kelly’s bar on the way back to their apartment at the Estrela da Luz complex. There was no conclusive proof that had ben there, and later the manager of Kelly’s bar said that he could not recollect a family of 9 coming into his bar.
LINK: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t8436-the-time-of-the-alleged-smith-sighting-the-till-receipts-that-don-t-tally
21. The Smiths said they had seen a man carrying a child. It was dark at the time. They said the street lighting was weak. They only saw him for a moment or two. They didn’t get a clear view of him. His head was down, and the child he was carrying was obscuring part of his face. The Smiths said that he was wearing cream-coloured or beige trousers and a dark jacket, made of cloth, was about 25 to 40 years of age, and, in the words of Martin Smith, ‘didn’t look like a tourist’. Aoife Smith said that he may or may not have had buttons on his trousers. She added that she was ‘60% to 80% sure’ that the child she had seen was Madeleine McCann.
22. All of them said they would never be able to recognise him if they saw him again.
23. Martin Smith said he knew Robert Murat. On that occasion he said he’d only met Murat twice in bars, once in May and once in August. But later his son was to tell newspapers that his father had met Murat ‘several times’ over the past two years. He told the PJ that he could be absolutely sure that the stranger he’d seen in the dark was not Robert Murat.
24. Time passed. It was Friday 9 September 2007. Martin Smith was watching the news. He saw Gerry McCann coming down the steps of a plane carrying his son Sean on his left shoulder.
25. It came to pass 11 days later that Martin Smith told a police officer in Drogheda that he was ‘60% to 80% sure’ that, based on seeing the way Gerry was carrying Sean, the man his family had seen in Praia da Luz 4½ months earlier, was Gerry McCann. The police officer who interviewed him, Liam Hogan, wrote: ‘I do not believe that Martin Smith is courting the press and my view he is a genuine person. He is known locally and is a very decent person’.
26. At the time, Goncalo Amaral wanted to interview him. But 12 days after Martin Smith was interviewed by Liam Hogan, Amaral and several of his colleagues were removed from the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
27. On 3 January 2008, the British press broke the news that McCann Team member Brian Kennedy, a Cheshire businessman, had been in touch with the Smiths, and that Metodo 3 were on their way to see him. And so began, for whatever reason, a long history of Martin Smith’s co-operation with, first the McCann Team, then the Met Police and finally, the BBC.
Links: Articles in the Daily Mail, Sun, Daily Mirror and other newspapers, all based on a press release by Clarence Mitchell, the McCanns' chief public relations adviser, 3 January 2008
28. We are told that some time in 2008, a man called Henri Exton, the former Head of Covert Intelligence for MI5 and possibly still working on behalf of the British security services, visited the Smiths. We do not know when. But we do know that he was employed together with Irishman Kevin Halligen, under the umbrella of ‘Oakley International’, a company formed after Madeleine disappeared. Halligen and Exton, we are told, were appointed by the McCann Team in April 2008 and sacked in late August 2008. So we may assume that Exton’s visit to the Smiths was during this period.
29. Exton says he produced two e-fits. He says that these e-fist were based on what the Smiths recollected. If the Smiths ever did try to recollect a man they said they had seen, then it must have been at least 11 months later, after seeing a man for a few seconds in the dark, that they tried to remember what he looked like.
30. The two e-fits produced by Exton look, to many people, like two quite different people. There are differences in the overall shape of the face, the depth of the chin, the hair style, the length of their noses, and their mouths, for example. British people were first given a glimpse of these e-fits on 13 October 2013, a day before the BBC Crimewatch McCann Special. It had been about 5½ years since they were first drawn up by Exton.
31. In a statement to the Sunday Times in October or November 2013, the McCanns denied the paper’s claim, in its edition of 27 October, that they had covered up the two e-fits for over 5 years. In a carefully-worded statement, they said they had informed Leicestershire Police and the PJ about the existence of these e-fits ‘by October 2009’.
Link: www.pressgazette.co.uk/sunday-times-sued-mccanns-over-story-which-wrongly-claimed-evidence-was-withheld-police
32. This was the wording of the Sunday Times apology:
QUOTE >>> In articles dated October 27 ("Madeleine clues hidden for 5 years" and "Investigators had E-Fits five years ago", News) we referred to efits which were included in a report prepared by private investigators for the McCanns and the Fund in 2008. We accept that the articles may have been understood to suggest that the McCanns had withheld information from the authorities. This was not the case. We now understand and accept that the efits had been provided to the Portuguese and Leicestershire police by October 2009. We also understand that a copy of the final report including the efits was passed to the Metropolitan police in August 2011, shortly after it commenced its review. We apologise for the distress caused."
33. In July 2008, the Portuguese authorities issued their final report about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. ‘Smithman’ was mentioned. They wrote: “Further on this issue, the testimony of MARTIN SMITH was considered, pages 1606 and following, reporting the sighting of an individual carrying a child, in one of the streets that led to the beach. It was said that the child could be MADELEINE McCANN, although it was never peremptorily stated. Sometime later, the witness alleged that, by the way he was carrying the child when he saw him descending the steps of a ’plane, the individual who had carried the child [on 3rd May]could be GERALD McCANN, pages 2871, 3991 and following and 4135 and following. It was established that at the time that was being mentioned, GERALD McCANN was sitting at the table, in the Tapas Restaurant”.
CONTINUED IN PART TWO
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Re: A COMMEMMORATION OF THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION OF ‘SMITHMAN’ AS ‘THE CENTRE OF OUR FOCUS’
A COMMEMMORATION OF THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION OF ‘SMITHMAN’ AS ‘THE CENTRE OF OUR FOCUS’
CONTINUED FROM PART ONE
PART TWO
34. On May 2009, a documentary about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann by Channel 4 and Mentorn Media was transmitted. It has been called the ‘Mockumentary’ by McCann-sceptics because the purported reconstruction in the programme was held not to be accurate. The programme was notable for twice using the Smithman sighting to suggest that the men claimed to have been seen by Jane Tanner and the Smiths were one and the same.
The first time came early in the programme:
NARRATOR: The most likely sighting of Madeleine and her abductor was by Jane Tanner, a friend of the McCanns. In the files, Kate believes another witness statement, from an Irish family, describes a very similar sighting to Jane Tanner’s, less than a mile from the McCann’ apartment.
KATE MCCANN: The reason why this is significant is, both sightings were given independently. So, when this family gave their statement they weren’t aware of Jane Tanner’s description - and there’s actually quite a lot of similarities and it does beg the question, I mean, how many people carry their children on a cold night, not covered, you know. Nothing on their arms, or their feet, no blanket. Now, either there’s been two people carrying children that way, who haven’t come forward to eliminate themselves or potentially they’re related.
VOICE OF INTERVIEWER: But, you think that child is Madeleine?
KATE MCCANN: I think it’s a good chance it could be Madeleine. Certainly, the description there sounds to me like Madeleine.
NARRATOR: Kate and the Find Madeleine Campaign Co-ordinator travel to the search team’s offices. They want to discuss the details of the upcoming reconstructions and three potentially key witness statements, that all tell of a man hanging around the McCanns’ apartment in the days leading up to May 3 2007.
DAVE EDGAR: The most important one, apart, obviously, from Jane, is sighting No. 3, the man in the alleyway at the back of the apartment. No.3 is definitely a very important sighting cos it links them.
NARRATOR: The investigators have examined the statements from the three different witnesses and are now convinced that prior to Madeleine’s abduction, the McCanns were being watched. The team hope this new information will give them the breakthrough they need.
DAVE EDGAR: You’d think, it’s gotta be the same person, wouldn’t you, really?
ARTHUR COWLEY: And all three say he was watching the apartment.
DAVE EDGAR: We’re here to discuss the pending reconstruction that we want done.
KATE: So, basically, it looks like we’ve got five sightings, really. Two, a man with a child - and three, just a suspicious individual.
DAVE EDGAR: Yeah.
The second came later:
NARRATOR: It is possible that Jane Tanner is not the only person who saw Madeleine being carried away by the abductor. Forty minutes after Jane’s sighting and ½ mile away from the McCanns’ apartment, a family also saw a man carrying a young girl away from the town. Later the witness thought that this might have been Gerry McCann. But, this was investigated and ruled out by the Portuguese police.
DAVE EDGAR: A man was seen here [he shows the area where the Smiths say they saw someone] carrying a child, just before 10.00pm on the night Madeleine was abducted. When the man saw the family he appeared furtive and veered off to one side and carried on walking. Obviously, anyone carrying a child at night, it’s really important. We need to find out who this person was.
FAMILY WITNESS STATEMENT (by Martin Smith) IS READ OUT: “I was with my family. We’d been out for the night and we were walking up the street when I saw a man and he was carrying a child. I thought they were father and daughter, so I wasn’t so suspicious. The girl was about 4, she looked like my granddaughter, blonde hair, pale white skin, typically British. The man didn’t look like a tourist. I can’t explain why. It was, probably, from his clothes”.
GERRY MCCANN: Someone knows the information and someone knows who took Madeleine and someone knows where she is. Let’s get moving! Let’s get the phone ringing!
35. It was clear that Martin Smith had allowed himself to be used in the making of this programme, because his words were used in the broadcast. The above passages of the programme could not have been aired unless he had consented. He must have allowed his ‘sighting’ to be regarded by those viewing the programme as the same as the man seen by Jane Tanner.
36. Moreover, it came to pass that just as the programme was aired, the McCanns updated their ‘Find Madeleine’ website to include a number of sightings of ‘suspects’ or ‘suspicious men’. It included the ‘Smithman’ sighting, in words read out by a man with a northern Irish accent.
37. The wording of the audio recording of the Smith sighting was changed from that in the ‘Mockumentary’, however. Some extra words were added, including these: “I only really saw the man when we passed each other. He was white, about 1.75, or 1.8 metres tall, perhaps 34, or 35 years old”. Smith had originally told police that the man was 35-40. In a second police statement he said the man was 40. But on the McCanns’ website, the audio recording placed on their site back in May 2009 had this changed to ‘34-35’.
38. There is no explanation as to why he twice changed the age of the man, but each time he tried to do so, he was in touch with the McCann Team.
39. The audio can still be heard today here: http://findmadeleine.com/home.html
Look at the part of the page that says: ‘IMPORTANT: Who are these people? Can you help us identify them? - See more at: http://findmadeleine.com/home.html#sthash.o3BOMVnw.dpuf
Click on the link’ that says ‘Audio’ beneath ‘WITNESS 5’.
40. ‘Smithman’ appeared again in Kate McCann’s book, ‘madeleine’, published in May 2011. He is listed in the index under: ‘Sightings - man carrying child – on Rua da Escola Primaria’, pages 98, 328-329, 365, 370-372 – 7 pages in all. Pages 370-2 consisted of a table setting out the ‘striking similarities’ between the ‘sightings’ of Jane Tanner and the Smiths. On page 371, she wrote: “Although the police appear to have considered these sightings to be unrelated on the basis of the 45-mintue gap between them, the similarities speak for themselves”. Ref: ‘madeleine’, Kate McCann, hardback ed.
41. There were no new developments until August 2011, when according to the words of Gerry McCann, he handed in the two ‘Smithman’ e-fits to Operation Grange, the Met Police’s review of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Link: www.pressgazette.co.uk/sunday-times-sued-mccanns-over-story-which-wrongly-claimed-evidence-was-withheld-police
42. Martin Smith had two meetings with officers from Operation Grange, one in 2012 and one in 2013. The Daily Mirror on 16 October told us: “[Martin Smith] said he has met with Scotland Yard detectives twice over the past 18 months to help them with the new probe. He added: ‘We‘d all love to see the police get to the bottom of what happened’.” Later, Scotland Yards confirmed that one of these meetings was in 2012, the other in 2013.
Link: www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ (16 October 2013)
43. We do not know anything about these two meetings. We don’t know who attended them. Was it just Martin Smith who met the detectives? Or other members of his family as well. Did detectives travel to Ireland to talk to Martin Smith? Or did he visit them in London. And what did tjhey discuss?
44. Around January 2013, the top brass of the BBC and the Met Police get together to plan a Crimewatch McCann Special two years ago today, 14 October 2013. The BBC admit to spending over £1 million on it. The Met probably spent the same. Many planning meetings were held. No doubt one of the two meetings between Operation Grange and Martin Smith took place at this time.
45. And so it cameth to pass that on Monday 14 October 2013, in prime ‘peak viewing’ time, 6.7 million people tuned in to watch the BBC Crimewatch McCann Special. The programme announced that:
A. ‘Tannerman’ had been found – it was ‘Crecheman’ after all this time
B. That meant that the ‘window’ for the abduction to take place was now 50 minutes (9.10 to 10.00pm) rather than 5 (9.10 to 9.15pm)
C. ‘Smithman’ had up to now been ignored, but in ‘a revelation moment’ had become ‘the centre of our focus’.
46. But DCI Redwood was careful not to say directly that ‘Smithman’ was the man seen by the Smiths. To see what was actually said, here is an extract from the transcript of the film
[ PICTURES OF ROAD OUTSIDE G5A ]
…just metres from where Madeleine had been sleeping.
DRAMATIC MUSIC
This man was widely thought to have been Madeleine’s abductor, but the team was taking nothing for granted.
REDWOOD
One of the things that we picked up very quickly was the fact that there was a night crèche that was operating from the main Ocean Club reception – and 8 families had left 11 children in there – and one particular family we spoke to us gave us information that was really interesting and exciting. In fact, I would say it was – it was a revelation moment when, having discussed with them what hey were doing on the night, they themselves believed that they could be the Tanner sighting.
AMROLIWALA
The British father had collected his two-year-old daughter from the crèche. He had been walking near the McCanns’ apartment.
PHOTOGRAPH SHOWN
This is the actual photograph taken by Metropolitan Police Officers of the man dressed in the kind of clothes he wore on holiday. This image was compared to the artist’s impression [based on Jane Tanner’s statement].
CRECHEMAN AND TANNERMAN MERGED SO THAT THEY APPEARED TO BE VERY SIMILAR
It is uncannily similar – and we know from the pyjamas that their child was wearing that it is, again, uncannily striking, the similarity.
AMROLIWALA
So, what you’re saying is that the timeline that everyone was working on for four years in this case…was wrong?
REDWOOD
We’re almost certain, now, that this sighting is not the abductor. But very importantly, what it says is that from 9.15, we are able to allow the clock…
TICKING CLOCK
…to move forward and in doing so, things that have not been quite as significant or received quite the same degree of attention are now the centre of our focus.
AMROLIWALA
This was an enormous discovery for the team: an innocent explanation for the suspect who’s been at the centre of the case for six years.
Their attention quickly turned to another sighting, which could now be the key to the entire mystery.
It was here…
FILM OF THE RUE DA ESCOLA PRIMARIA
…at 10pm that an Irish family witnessed another man carrying a child. They saw him come down the hill from the direction of the Ocean Club, heading that way towards the beach. Could this have been Madeleine, and her abductor?
REDWOOD
He was a white man with brown hair and the child that he had in his arms was described as being about 3-4 years of age, with blonde hair, possibly wearing pyjamas – a description very close to that of Madeleine McCann.
AMROLIWALA
Two of the witnesses [i.e. from the Irish family] helped create e-fits of the man they saw. Today, for the first time, we can reveal the true significance of these images.
MORE VIDEO AND SOUNDS OF WAVES
REDWOOD This could be the man that took Madeleine, but very importantly, there could be an innocent explanation. The efits are clear, and I’d ask the public to look very carefully at them. If they know who this person is, please come forward.
47. The programme referred to ‘the two witnesses’ drawing up these to e-fits. I wanted clarification, so I submitted a Freedom of Information request. The Met came back on 15 October 2014 (a year ago tomorrow):
At Question 4 you asked:
Did members of the Irish family create these e-fits, or were the 'two
witnesses' mentioned by Matthew Amroliwala who drew up the e-fits actually
other witnesses? If so, please state who they were.
The MPS response is:
The program was referring to members of the Irish family who created the
e-fits.
At Question 5 you asked:
Are the e-fits of the same man, or not?
The MPS response is:
Yes they are the same man.
At Questions 3, 6 & 7 you asked:
3. On what date were these two e-fits created?
6. On what date were these two e-fits first shown to members of Operation
Grange?
7. On what dates in 2012 and 2013, or otherwise in 2011 and 2014, did
members of Operation Grange (a) meet with members of the Irish family or
(b) have contact with the Irish family, whether by telephone, e-mail,
letter or otherwise?
The MPS refuses to answer these questions.
48. Those that still trust senior Met Police officers to tell the truth on all occasions will no doubt regard this as ‘proof’ that the e-fits were drawn up by the Smiths. Others do not.
49. On 16 October 2013, the Daily Mirror published a claim that Martin Smith had told the PJ about his sighting, but they had ignored it. In the previous 6½ years, Smith had never made such a claim. No details were given of how he was supposed to have let them know, whether by ’phone, or chatting to one of the searching police officers, or by visiting the police station. In any case, the Smiths themselves admit that they only ‘remembered’ this sighting the day after someone they knew, Robert Murat, had been declared a suspect. The Mirror report added “Speaking from his home in Drogheda, Co Louth, Mr Smith said that the Portuguese police did not seem to think his sighting was significant. It looked as if they put 90% credence on the Jane Tanner sighting, maybe that wrong-footed them and they didn’t take our sighting as seriously. I was surprised it took six years to rule out the other sighting.”
50. Today both an artist’s sketch of ‘Tannerman’ and two e-fits of Smithman continue to appear on the McCanns’ ‘Find Madeleine’ website.
51. Some believe that Martin Smith really did see Gerry McCann carrying his dead daughter through the streets of Praia da Luz at 10.00pm that night.
Others think it was someone else carrying Madeleine.
Still others think that it was Gerry (or someone else) carrying another child - a decoy.
There are those who say that the Smiths saw some other parent who was just carrying his young daughter home in pyjamas on a cold dark night.
A minority suggest that the whole thing was a fabrication. One of those is former U.S. prosecutor, now child abuse consultant, Wendy Murphy.
Perhaps she should have the final word, on this video of her Fox News interview:
------------------
For discussion please use this thread: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t12037-a-commemmoration-of-the-2nd-anniversary-of-the-official-proclamation-of-smithman-as-the-centre-of-our-focus
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Re: A COMMEMMORATION OF THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION OF ‘SMITHMAN’ AS ‘THE CENTRE OF OUR FOCUS’
Further 'Smithman' reading:
SMITHMAN 2 - What can account for the 17 remarkable similarities between Tannerman and Smithman?
SMITHMAN 3 - The e-fits - two different people, or the same man?
SMITHMAN 4: A summary of discrepancies in what the Smiths say about their 'sighting'
SMITHMAN 5: The evidence of the Smith family from Drogheda, Ireland: the TWELVE sets of contradictions
SMITHMAN 6: Smithman re-evaluated in the light of Richard Hall's film 'THE PHANTOMS' - The discussion on FB 'Madeleine McCann - Abduction or Scam'
SMITHMAN 7: What is the actual evidence that makes people think that ‘Smithman’ was Gerry McCann?
SMITHMAN 8 - The Nine Phases of Smithman - How the Smiths became part of the McCann Team in January 2008
SMITHMAN 9 - Is Goncalo Amaral sticking to his original conclusions re Smithman?
SMITHMAN 10: Is this absolute, 100% proof that the Smiths did not see Gerry McCann carrying away Madeleine at around 10pm on Thursday, 3 May, 2007?
SMITHMAN 11 An answer to Carla Spade about evidence that Martin Smith collaborated with the McCann Team since January 2008
SMITHMAN 12: Can anyone who still believes that the Smiths saw Gerry McCann carrying Madeleine satisfactorily answer ANY of these 60 Questions ?
____________________
PeterMac's FREE e-book
Gonçalo Amaral: The truth of the lie
CMOMM & MMRG Blog
MAGA MBGA
A wise man once said:
"Be careful who you let on to your ship,
because some people will sink the whole ship
just because they can't be the Captain."
Similar topics
» A COMMEMMORATION OF THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION OF ‘SMITHMAN’ AS ‘THE CENTRE OF OUR FOCUS’
» SMITHMAN 8 - The Nine Phases of Smithman - How the Smiths became part of the McCann Team in January 2008
» SMITHMAN 7: What is the actual evidence that makes people think that ‘Smithman’ was Gerry McCann?
» SMITHMAN 9 - Is Goncalo Amaral sticking to his original conclusions re Smithman?
» SMITHMAN 6: Smithman re-evaluated in the light of Richard Hall's film 'THE PHANTOMS' - The discussion on FB 'Madeleine McCann - Abduction or Scam'
» SMITHMAN 8 - The Nine Phases of Smithman - How the Smiths became part of the McCann Team in January 2008
» SMITHMAN 7: What is the actual evidence that makes people think that ‘Smithman’ was Gerry McCann?
» SMITHMAN 9 - Is Goncalo Amaral sticking to his original conclusions re Smithman?
» SMITHMAN 6: Smithman re-evaluated in the light of Richard Hall's film 'THE PHANTOMS' - The discussion on FB 'Madeleine McCann - Abduction or Scam'
The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann™ :: The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann™ forum :: CMOMM & MMRG - 10 Years On! :: The accomplishments of CMOMM and its members :: Research & Correspondence :: Evidence obtained :: The Smith sighting that never was
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