The Tale of Dr David Payne

The Tale of Dr David Payne

Did Dr David Payne visit Ocean Club apartment 5a, the McCann holiday accommodation, on the afternoon or evening or night of 3rd May 2007 - or did he not?  Well, that rather depends on whose version of the truth one cares to adopt .... Kate McCann or Gerry McCann (conspicuous by his absence) or David Payne or Fiona Payne (keeping a low profile).

Trouble is, the senior members of these two families appear to have played a pivotal role in the mysterious disappearance of little Madeleine McCann, only three years old at the time of her fate.  Who then can you believe - if anyone.  

I don't envy the work of the police, nor do I envy the work of a lawyer - this is a vocation not just a job.  You have to be hard, dedicated and above all else focused and determined with little reward but a pay cheque every month.  

On the subject of Dr David Payne, CMOMM's very own crusader for justice, Tony Bennett, produced these observations way back in July 2014 and revised in May 2019..

THE TWENTY CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN THE ACCOUNTS OF (1) DR DAVID PAYNE AND (2) DR KATE McCANN ABOUT AN ALLEGED VISIT TO THE MCCANNS' APARTMENT AT ABOUT 6.30pm ON THURSDAY 3 MAY 2007

CONTRADICTION 1: When Dr Payne first mentioned this visit, he said it took place at 5.00pm. Later he changed this to 6.30pm.

CONTRADICTION 2: Dr Payne first of all said that both Gerry and Kate McCann were there when he visited the apartment. Later he changed this to saying it was just Kate.

CONTRADICTION 3: Although Dr Payne and Kate McCann both claim that Payne visited the McCanns' apartment some time between 6.30pm and 7.00pm on 3rd May, Dr Payne's wife Fiona makes no mention of this in either of her two statements to the police, even though she claims she was watching her husband play tennis throughout this time.

CONTRADICTIONS 4 to 9: Why did this alleged visit take place? On various occasions, at least six different reasons have been given:

(1) just ‘for a visit’
(2) to help take Kate and the children down to the recreation area
(3) to ‘check on Kate’ (see if she was all right)
(4) because Kate ‘might need help in looking after all three children’
(5) 'To see if it was OK for Gerry to carry on playing tennis, and
(6) simply because Dr Payne ‘offered to go and see Kate’.

CONTRADICTION 10: Dr Payne says he walked in through the patio door without knocking. Kate McCann said she was in the shower and heard knocking.

CONTRADICTION 11: Dr Payne says Kate McCann was fully dressed. Kate McCann says she hurriedly put a towel around her and went to the door.

CONTRADICTION 12: Dr Payne says he walked in though the patio door. Kate McCann said he never entered, saying: 'he remained at the balcony door’.

CONTRADICTION 13: Dr Payne says we was in the apartment for at least ‘3 to 5 minutes'. Kate McCann says he remained on the balcony and she sent him away after no more than '30 seconds'.

CONTRADICTION 14: Dr Payne says he saw all three children. Kate doesn’t mention this.

CONTRADICTION 15: A newspaper story based on information supplied by ‘a source close to the McCanns’ claimed that Dr Payne ‘saw Kate putting the children to bed’. Neither Dr Payne nor Kate McCann mention this.

CONTRADICTION 16: In early statements, the McCanns said they took their children up to their apartment at 5.40pm, staying there until leaving for dinner at 8.30pm. But Dr Payne and Kate McCann say that Gerry McCann was not there at 6.30pm.

CONTRADICTION 17: Later, Gerry McCann changed his statement to say he was at the tennis courts at 6.30pm.

CONTRADICTION 18: The McCanns initially said that they had decided, as they went up to their apartment, that the children were too tired to stay and watch the tennis, so they would put them to bed, as they had had an exhausting day. Later the story was changed to say that they had decided no such thing and that Dr Payne had gone up to see if Kate McCann was going to bring the children down to watch the tennis match.

CONTRADICTION 19: Gerry McCann initially said that Dr Payne went up to see Kate McCann at about 6.30pm, and that he came back half-an-hour later at 7.00pm. Dr Payne said he only returned to the tennis court once, but Gerry McCann later changed his statement to say that Dr Payne had returned twice, once after seeing Kate, and then again after (allegedly) changing for tennis.

CONTRADICTION 20: In a report by David James Smith in The Times on 16 December 2007, said to be the ‘fullest account yet’ of what happened on the day Madeleine disappeared, Smith said that Gerry McCann at 4.30pm was ‘too injured with an Achilles tendon injury at 4.30pm to carry on playing tennis’. Yet later he claimed he was playing tennis again in a‘social tennis’ competition from 6.00pm to 7.00pm.

Rogatory interview - April 2008

Dr David Payne describes apartment 5a. Ocean Club Praia da Luz

That the apartment occupied by Madeleine's family comprises two bedrooms, a small kitchen, a lounge and a bathroom. That the lounge has a door which gives outside access in the direction of the restaurant.

He does not recall any more details of the apartment but ....

He remembers that the bedroom occupied by the children has a window that looks onto the main road.

That he never went into the said bedroom occupied by the children but .... h

He could see that there were two beds and two cots. The cots were placed in the middle of the bedroom. One of the beds was placed against the window and the other, the one occupied by Madeleine, was against the wall facing the one which has a window.

Dr David Payne makes no mention of visiting his good friend Kate McCann during his witness interview on 4th May 2007.  It remains a mystery why he and his wife were not re-interviewed during the second phase of witness interviews held on 10/11th May 2007.  He does however describe the event almost one year later, when interviewed during the rogatory process in April 2008.

Dr David Payne describes his visit to Kate McCann on the evening of 3rd May 2007

....  that I was you know going to Kate's about six thirty, err and I went into their apartment through the patio doors.

.... The three children were all you know dressed you know in their pyjamas, you know they looked immaculate, you know they were just like angels

.... err so I say you know I can't remember exactly what, what you know the night attire, what the children were wearing but white was the predominant err colour
....................

Image of the pyjamas Madeleine McCann was said to be wearing when she disappeared..



A far cry from Payne's description of angelic and predominantly white - wouldn't you agree?

Did Dr David Payne visit Kate McCann at apartment 5a on the evening of 3rd May 2007 - or was this another instance of retrofitting to conceal a truth?