The Donal MacIntyre thread

Donal MacIntyre : "The unspoken fear will remain that Praia da Luz is a sunny place for shady people"

By Donal MacIntyre

MADELEINE McCann was abducted by at least two kidnappers who must have carried out several dry runs in the days leading up to her disappearance.

After spending a week on the ground investigating the case and the methods used by the kidnappers, I can only conclude that they must have entered the apartment to carry out a rehearsal, because they were working to an incred­ibly tight schedule.

The three-minute time frame they allowed themselves left no margin for error.

But even though they did their homework with meticulous care, they still came within seconds of capture.

I believe the focus of the investigation for the private investigators hired by Madeleine’s parents should be on a breakdown of who was in and around the Mark Warner Ocean Club in Praia da Luz throughout their holiday.

It is more than probable key witnesses would have seen the kidnappers in the days and nights leading up to the abduction on May 3, 2007.



SOFT TARGET: MacIntyre believes Madeleiene was passed through this apartment window - leaving only Kate McCanns fingerprints on the shutter.

Such was the narrow window of opportunity, only agile, sharp-witted people well-practised in breaking and entering properties could have pulled this off.

Over the past week I have conducted a cold case review of most of the available evidence relating to the abduction and had lengthy discussions with numerous Portuguese sources who cannot be identified.

Crucial to unravelling the whole case is establishing what precisely took place from 8pm to 10.15pm on the night Madeleine vanished.

In my view too little attention has been paid to what I believe was a key sighting.

A dark-haired woman was observed standing near a street light at a road junction that overlooks apartment 5A. What was she doing in the eerily quiet area, which is not near a bus stop, taxi rank, cafes or shops?

She was seen looking at the apartment as the late evening gloom descended.

Was she also watching to see the movements of Kate and Gerry McCann and their holiday friends, the so-called Tapas Seven? I think so.

The same witness who saw the mystery woman also saw a gold or brown Nissan car driving erratically past the woman.

Despite appeals neither the woman nor the driver of the car has come forward.

Was this Nissan the getaway car and was its driver conducting a dry run at this very time? Again, I think so.

Although we do not, sadly, have a minute-by-minute breakdown of the events that took place, this is the scenario that I believe unfolded.

Having settled Madeleine, then three, and their two-year- old twins, Sean and Amelie, Gerry and Kate, from Rothley, Leicestershire, have a glass of wine before heading off to the tapas bar, a minute’s walk away, to join their friends Jane Tanner and her partner Russell O’Brien, Rachel and Mathew Oldfield, David and Fiona Payne and Diane Webster.

At about 9pm Gerry leaves the table and walks over to the apartment to check on the twins and Madeleine.

He enters the apartment and then goes to the toilet. He checks on his children and savours a proud father’s moment as he stands by the doorway looking into the back bedroom where they are all soundly asleep.




The twins are in cots and Madeleine in bed, holding her favourite toy, Cuddle Cat. Gerry spends up to 10 minutes in the five-room apartment and will only later reflect that he felt there was someone else there at the same time.

For the kidnap to have taken place I believe Gerry’s gut instinct was sound.

So we must assume that a few minutes before Gerry arrived, the abductor walked along the public road beside the apartment, opened the gate, walked up 10 steps to the patio and entered through the open patio doors.

At this stage he or she is a heartbeat away from being caught. But where could the abductor have hidden? Gerry walked through the front room, used the bathroom and looked in on the children – but did he check anywhere else?

My view is that the abductor was probably in the children’s bedroom, possibly behind the door or crouching behind furniture.

As Gerry strolls out of the patio doors, closing but not locking them, he leaves through the same small gate facing the road where the abductor has entered minutes before.

Just outside, he meets television producer Jes Wilkins on the way back to the tapas bar. There is not another soul on the street.

Back inside the apartment the abductor must be breathing a sigh of relief as Gerry leaves, then realises his exit route is blocked and plan B has to be put into operation.

For this, help is essential. The abductor inside the apartment passes Madeleine – probably put to sleep with chloroform – through the open window into the accomplice’s arms.

In the distance, the voices of Gerry McCann and Jes Wilkins waft through the air.

What trauma would Madeleine suffer if, terrified and forcibly kept silent, she hears Dad’s voice as she is being bundled into the hands of dangerous strangers? At the same time – about 9.10pm – and unnoticed by Wilkins and
Gerry, Jane Tanner observes them chatting.

The kidnapper holding Madeleine retreats to the adjacent car park before heading on to the same footpath where, a short distance downhill, Gerry and Wilkins are talking.

The accomplice makes his way out of the window and into the darkness.

The kidnappers think they have got away with it, but they are on the brink of being caught.

Despite hearing the voices of Madeleine’s father a short distance away, the kidnapper holding the girl plans to cross the road junction just above them.

As he hits the footpath, he sees both men chatting and Jane Tanner heading his way – three potential witnesses to the abduction, including the father of the child.

Why choose such a potentially disastrous course? My belief is that he had to make a rendezvous with the getaway driver.

The seven seconds he took to cross the road were either well-planned, foolhardy or a sign of breathtaking confidence. In any case, the kidnapper never faltered and was never seen again.

Jane Tanner says he was carrying a child. She believes it was Madeleine and her theory is supported by the McCann investigators.

The timing of the statements from the key witnesses suggests that there was a maximum of three to five minutes for the abduction to be executed.

In such circumstances only good planning and co-ordination could make this possible. It would be an extraordinary effort, needing an astonishing degree of luck, if this had been done on an opportunistic basis.

The clean execution of the kidnap, without a hint of a DNA trace or any useable evidence, means it was highly professional and planned with precision.

Such precision is the hallmark of fixated, obsessive sexual predators. There were 20 known paedophiles living on the Algarve at the time including one with a flat near the McCanns’ apartment but all have been eliminated as possible perpetrators.

However, the area must be a magnet for sex offenders. It has a creche, school and nursery. Add a transient population of young holidaymakers and you have a lot of attractions for sexual predators.

With its road access the McCann apartment was the most vulnerable in the complex and it is easy to see why a paedophile would make it a target.

The McCanns’ decision, formed by the semi-secure nature of the holiday complex, to use a check-in system for their children rather than have babysitters allowed the abductors to strike. In hindsight, that unfortunate decision left their children vulnerable to an abductor.

Last week I walked unchallenged on to the property in the company of another journalist. We were both unsuitably dressed and surrounded by children and parents. We had a drink and left. Two hours later I returned and again was not challenged.

Today there is more lighting around the complex but little else has changed.

Until the kidnappers are caught, the unspoken fear will remain that Praia da Luz is a sunny place for shady people.

All that remains visible of the Madeleine McCann campaign there is a touching shrine in the beautiful church on the sea front.

Pray For Me, the heart-shaped poster pleads. Below it, 10 electric candles flicker in her memory. Many more will be lit before this mystery is solved.

TheSundayExpress
Published on Sep 19, 2009
Donal MacIntyre investigates the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, exclusively for the Sunday Express. For the very latest on the Madeleine investigation, go to: www.sundayexpress.co.uk


1) Highly organised.

2) There were at least 2 perpetrators.

3) The kidnappers had prior access to the layout of the flat here in 5a before the kidnap.

4) These were men who were well versed in the art of house breaking and these men also had an ability to clean a crime scene.

Critical to this investigation is the timing. There was 3-5 minutes for the kidnappers to perpetrate this crime. Consider the pressure the kidnappers were under.

They had to stay hidden in the apartment in the company of Gerry McCann for up to 10 minutes.

2) They had to subdue Madeleine McCann, a notorious bad sleeper and bring her out of the apartment.

3) They had to bring her out of a small window for which they required at least 2 perpetrators.

4) They had to escape the vicinity of the complex and the entire area without suspicion.
In addition, highly likely they cleaned the crime scene and this required great planning and precision and could not have been the work of an opportunist drifter.

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Comments on Joana's blog here:

"After seeing the video I agree, he is taking the piss...I do not know how he kept a straight face when he said the abductors even cleaned the apartment. A new move maybe, go along with the mccanns " abduction" but add more fantasy to the story."

"Watch him closely and his body language, he is trying hard not to smile and really does make the abduction implausible, without committing libel or defamation."

"Yes it seems very clear the only way to get the truth out there.,Play along with the abduction but at the same time make it sound impossible...Clever move..."
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Read Donal MacIntyre's article here
Donal MacIntyre's website
More about Donal on mccannfiles
Donal's connection to Gerry's key alibi Jes Wilkins

McCanns agree with most of Donal MacIntyre's theories

21st September 2009

By Jerry Lawton

MADELEINE McCann was snatched by a team of “obsessive sexual predators” led by a woman, claims TV’s Donal MacIntyre.

The investigator spent a week in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz – where Madeleine was snatched in May 2007.

And he identified a dark-haired woman spotted near the McCanns’ holiday apartment as a prime suspect.

The woman was seen near a road junction overlooking the apartment from which Madeleine vanished while her parents Gerry and Kate, both 41, dined nearby.

The same witness also saw a gold or brown Nissan being driven erratically past the woman.

Despite a 52-month global search neither the woman nor car driver have been traced.

MacIntyre, 43, said: “In my view too little attention has been paid to what I believe was a key sighting.

“Was she also watching to see the movements of Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends? I think so.

“Was this Nissan the getaway car and was its driver conducting a dry run?

“Again, I think so.”

MacIntyre, who has exposed drug dealers and soccer hooligans, believes the abductors were in the apartment when Gerry went to check on Madeleine and her two siblings.

The McCanns’ investigators say they are already probing MacIntyre’s findings and agree with most of his theories.

Source: Daily Star

Posted by Goodforyou on Missing Madeleine forum:

"When I read the MacIntyre story, I could not believe that this was the work of an investigative journalist. It had all the journalistic rigour of a D grade ten year old schoolboy's homework. It completely overlooked dozens of key facts such as the reaction of the dogs, the lack of credibility of Tanner's sighting or the Smith sighting.

I wanted to know why and I wanted to know if there was a connection between the McCanns and MacIntyre. If there was a connection, that could provide an explanation for replacing any analytical and objective reporting with something that could have been written by Clarence Mitchell.

I had a look at IMDB and soon found that the very man who MacIntyre tells us was talking to Gerry McCann (while the abductor was inside) was the producer of MacIntyre's 2005 TV series MacIntre's Toughest Towns.

Imagine that - MacIntyre's producer, just happened to be the key alibi for Gerry McCann and then MacIntyre writes a story that involves that man he already knew who proves McCann is innocent. What an amazing coincidence.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0433705/
Produced by Jeremy Wilkin's Zig Zag Productions.

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm1414137/
Wilkin's producer credits

Now, why didn't MacIntyre mention this?

He wrote:

Just outside, he meets television producer Jes Wilkins on the way back to the tapas bar. There is not another soul on the street.

He should have written:

Just outside, he meets my former television series producer Jes Wilkins on the way back to the tapas bar. There is not another soul on the street.

Sort of sounds like MacIntyre is helping out an old mate, doesn't it?"
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Snippet from mccannfiles "A whiff of scandal" by Dr Martin Roberts on 13 August 2009: "The programme [Donal MacIntyre on BBC Radio 5 Live]... was also an examination of the reliability of sniffer dogs generally. The programme also spoke with a handler who admitted that his dogs did get things wrong on occasion."
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Also discussed on Maddie Case Files
Paulo Reis: The McCann Case: Jeremy Wilkins and the woman in purple

The Hoax By Ironside: http://textusa.blogspot.com/2010/07/hoax.html

LEICESTERSHIRE CONSTABULARY
OFFICER'S REPORT

Date: 05/11/07

During the evening of Wednesday 31 October 2007, Jeremy and Bridget were visited at their home address by DC 1756 and DC 4356 from the Leicestershire Op Task team. This visit was organized to attempt to gain background information in relation to the McCann's and members of their group whilst on holiday in the Prai Da Luz resort.

Contact was made as result of their previous interaction with the OP Task Team and their willingness to discuss their relationship with the group.

Both Jeremy and Bridget work within the television production industry producing documentary programmes. Bridget previously worked alongside the Police on the Crime Watch television programme and was aware of the importance for the need of collating background information.

....   ....

At 1230hrs both Jeremy and Bridget went to pick up their children from the creche. They did not have any interaction with the group again that afternoon. They decided to spend the evening in the apartment. Their son was unable to sleep so about 2015hrs, Jeremy took him, in the pushchair for a walk. He walked around the main area of the resort and eventually ended up in the Tapas bar where he used the toilet facility. He was unable to state what time this was. His son was still awake so he walked in the area of the ocean club gardens and walked along the alleyways in that general area. He eventually made his way along Rua Dr Francisco toward the direction of Rua Dr Agostinho. At this time he was walking on the right side of the road passing the Tapas bar area to his left. He noticed the bad street lighting and although it was not completely dark there was enough light to see clearly. As he approached the corner of the McCanns apartment, he saw Gerry appear from the area of the gate. He crossed the road and engaged in general conversation with Gerry. At this time they were stood with Gerry's back to the building near to the gate and Jeremy facing him. Rua Dr Agostino was about 10-15 meters to his right and the pathway leading to the front of the apartment blocks about 5 meters to his left.

He was adamant that he did not see any one else in the area. When spoken to in reference to Jane Tanner walking by, he again stated that he saw no one. He also stated that he did not see or hear anyone to his right. He was aware of the recent picture in the papers re the person with a child wrapped in a blanket and in a males arms allegedly walking across the junction to his right but again stated that he did not see any one.

The conversation with Gerry lasted for about three minutes during which Gerry was chatty and in his normal self. Jeremy then made his way back to his apartment.

They went to bed about 2300hrs but were waken about 0100hrs by a knock at the door. On answering the door they spoke with the resort manager and a person they knew was a member of the group but they only knew him as Matthew. It was then they found out that Madeleine was missing.

They had no further contact with the family apart from seeing them in passing whilst at the resort.

Several weeks later, Jeremy received calls from Gerry in relation to gaining permission from him to use his name in a portfolio of evidence being compiled by an organization employed by the McCanns. They were very persistent and made several attempts to contact him both at work and at home. They had no objection to being included but were concerned as to the method being used.


http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/JEREMY_BRIGET.htm

There's a lot more to this dude than meets the eye.  This piqued my interest earlier - I make no apologies if this is a repeat..



From a cursory look, Donal MacIntyre is quite well known in certain circles. in particular journalism (the BBC?) and television - the connections know no bounds.

Murdered Missing Unsolved

Donal MacIntyre

       True Crime



A true crime podcast presented by Donal MacIntyre as he tackles live investigations and discusses compelling cases with a range of experts and those searching for answers and justice.


   21 APR 2022

EP01 - Madeleine McCann: The Chief Suspect

Donal and Jon Clarke discuss the manic first 24 hours of the Madeleine McCann case, Jon’s arrival in Praia Da Luz, his initial impression of the McCanns and his chance encounter with an early suspect. Jon Clarke’s book, ‘My Search for Madeleine’ is available via the link below: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MY-SEARCH-MADELEINE-Reporters-Harrowing-ebook/dp/B09F85HG7S

   26 min

   21 APR 2022

EP02 - Madeleine McCann: The Chief Suspect

Jon Clarke takes us through those named officially as suspects by the police in the immediate few months following Madeleine’s disappearance, and how Christian Brueckner entered the frame and flipped this infamous investigation on its head once again. Jon Clarke’s book, ‘My Search for Madeleine’ is available via the link below: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MY-SEARCH-MADELEINE-Reporters-Harrowing-ebook/dp/B09F85HG7S

   20 min

   21 APR 2022

EP03 - Madeleine McCann: The Chief Suspect

With the lead suspect now in his sights, Jon Clarke tracks down an old friend of his, ‘Micha’, who provides an exclusive and shocking insight into the depraved mind and world of Christian Brueckner. Jon Clarke’s book, ‘My Search for Madeleine’ is available via the link below: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MY-SEARCH-MADELEINE-Reporters-Harrowing-ebook/dp/B09F85HG7S

   27 min

   22 APR 2022

EP04 - Madeleine McCann: The Chief Suspect

Donal and Jon Clarke discuss Christian Brueckner’s early life in Germany and how his dysfunctional upbringing may have moulded him into the dangerous repeat offender he became. Jon recounts his journey into ‘the heart of darkness’ in Germany and takes us up to the point that Brueckner takes his fateful first trip into Portugal. Jon Clarke’s book, ‘My Search for Madeleine’ is available via the link below: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MY-SEARCH-MADELEINE-Reporters-Harrowing-ebook/dp/B09F85HG7S

   19 min

   22 APR 2022

EP05 - Madeleine McCann: The Chief Suspect

Jon Clarke describes Christian Brueckner’s journey into the Algarve – a place that he made home within the now infamous ‘Yellow House’. Donal and Jon dissect Brueckner’s involvement in an intriguing and confusing court case in Portugal that raised more questions than it answered, against the backdrop of serial sexual offences in the area of Praia De Luz around the time of his arrival. Jon Clarke’s book, ‘My Search for Madeleine’ is available via the link below: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MY-SEARCH-MADELEINE-Reporters-Harrowing-ebook/dp/B09F85HG7S

   17 min

   22 APR 2022

EP06 - Madeleine McCann: The Chief Suspect

Donal and Jon Clarke expand upon a series of shocking sexual crimes that occurred in the area around Praia Da Luz which coincided with Christian Brueckner’s arrival in Portugal. Jon recounts a catalogue of failures and scandals that have surrounded the officers investigating Madeleine’s

29 mins

You can listen to podcasts here:  https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/murdered-missing-unsolved/id1611955578

BUMP !!!

You can listen to podcasts here:  https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/murdered-missing-unsolved/id1611955578

ETA: Episode 1 is of the greatest interest as Jon Clarke details his call, journey and the first 24 hours in Praia da Luz. Amongst other more important issues, he describes and includes the first press release videoed on 4th May 2007 - Kate McCann was so distraught she was clutching 'cuddlecat' to the point of strangulation with the veins on her hands protruding visibly, whilst Gerry McCann gives his Oscar winning performance as the heartbroken father of an abducted child - from a script.

Jon Clarke: Novelist extraordinaire .

Clarke mentions a family member/friend by the name of Jon who, having contacts in the media, spread the word far and wide about Madeleine's disappearance. Clarke also mentions the McCann's connections in the government.

I have a strong suspicion he is referring to Jon Corner, the man who was in possession of a portfolio of Madeleine McCann images on 4th May 2007, the same man who produced the inappropriate video for the May (that month again) 10th anniversary.