The missing blanket

Stella wrote:Maddie's blanket missing from the Ocean Club

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01 July 2009 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Gonçalo Amaral, the former inspector who coordinated the investigations on the case, in declarations to "SP" recalls having seen the blanket in the Ocean Club apartment, on the evening of the 3rd of May, close to cuddle cat (the plush toy), that the child usually carried with her. The former inspector thought that it was odd that that blanket went missing in the immediate days that followed, when searches where made to locate the child. And he highlights, that incidentally, textile fibres (in connection with the cadaver odour scented by the British dogs) were detected in the Renault Scenic that the McCann couple rented in the Algarve and which was used in a long and mysterious trip that they made to Spain.


"Incidentally" as we all know is the same as saying while we're on the subject of pink blanket, they found specific fibres in the very spot where the cadaver dog indicated. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Unless you have the original one to compare it with, no one can say for sure it is the same blanket as seen on the bed. But hopefully, the very same fibres also ended up on those lovely white sheets on the bed. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Now we all know why the missing blanket is relevant. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Stella

The mention of 'textile fibres' caused me to recall the finding of fibres in the disused barn that matched fibres from the Renault Scenic. Could these fibres also relate to the missing blanket? I had previously assumed that the fibres from the Renault, that matched those found on the towel in the barn, were fibres from the fabric of the car itself.
Now I am wondering if the pink blanket left a trail of fibres leading from the appartment to the barn and to a final resting place?

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Just a silly aside about the washed bedding.
Whilst washing was taking place what was put onto the bed to replace the soiled sheet, and then where was the wet/washed sheet dried?
I have been in apartments where spare blankets were in the top cupboards of wardrobes in case the evening got cooler, but never ever clean sheets. They are changed by the cleaners either daily in the height of summer, or less often in the cooler months. I just cannot see the washing being done, yes a sluice to remove the excess soiling but not washing.
Maybe just my opinion.

[quote="Cheshire Cat"]

Stella wrote:Maddie's blanket missing from the Ocean Club

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01 July 2009 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Gonçalo Amaral, the former inspector who coordinated the investigations on the case, in declarations to "SP" recalls having seen the blanket in the Ocean Club apartment, on the evening of the 3rd of May, close to cuddle cat (the plush toy), that the child usually carried with her. The former inspector thought that it was odd that that blanket went missing in the immediate days that followed, when searches where made to locate the child. And he highlights, that incidentally, textile fibres (in connection with the cadaver odour scented by the British dogs) were detected in the Renault Scenic that the McCann couple rented in the Algarve and which was used in a long and mysterious trip that they made to Spain.


"Incidentally" as we all know is the same as saying while we're on the subject of pink blanket, they found specific fibres in the very spot where the cadaver dog indicated. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Unless you have the original one to compare it with, no one can say for sure it is the same blanket as seen on the bed. But hopefully, the very same fibres also ended up on those lovely white sheets on the bed. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Now we all know why the missing blanket is relevant. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Stella

The mention of 'textile fibres' caused me to recall the finding of fibres in the disused barn that matched fibres from the Renault Scenic. Could these fibres also relate to the missing blanket? I had previously assumed that the fibres from the Renault, that matched those found on the towel in the barn, were fibres from the fabric of the car itself.
Now I am wondering if the pink blanket left a trail of fibres leading from the appartment to the barn and to a final resting place?

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That is quite possible Cheshire Cat. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] but I doubt it. If there were pink fibres in the car and they matched the barn. This 100% places the McCann's at the crime scene, does it not? So I can only assume, it was not pink fibres that they found.

[quote="Stella"]

Cheshire Cat wrote:

Stella wrote:Maddie's blanket missing from the Ocean Club

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01 July 2009 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Gonçalo Amaral, the former inspector who coordinated the investigations on the case, in declarations to "SP" recalls having seen the blanket in the Ocean Club apartment, on the evening of the 3rd of May, close to cuddle cat (the plush toy), that the child usually carried with her. The former inspector thought that it was odd that that blanket went missing in the immediate days that followed, when searches where made to locate the child. And he highlights, that incidentally, textile fibres (in connection with the cadaver odour scented by the British dogs) were detected in the Renault Scenic that the McCann couple rented in the Algarve and which was used in a long and mysterious trip that they made to Spain.


"Incidentally" as we all know is the same as saying while we're on the subject of pink blanket, they found specific fibres in the very spot where the cadaver dog indicated. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Unless you have the original one to compare it with, no one can say for sure it is the same blanket as seen on the bed. But hopefully, the very same fibres also ended up on those lovely white sheets on the bed. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Now we all know why the missing blanket is relevant. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Stella

The mention of 'textile fibres' caused me to recall the finding of fibres in the disused barn that matched fibres from the Renault Scenic. Could these fibres also relate to the missing blanket? I had previously assumed that the fibres from the Renault, that matched those found on the towel in the barn, were fibres from the fabric of the car itself.
Now I am wondering if the pink blanket left a trail of fibres leading from the appartment to the barn and to a final resting place?

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That is quite possible Cheshire Cat. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] but I doubt it. If there were pink fibres in the car and they matched the barn. This 100% places the McCann's at the crime scene, does it not? So I can only assume, it was not pink fibres that they found.

Thank you. Although the barn article was post Amaral when the investigation was being tidied up for shelving.

Cheshire Cat wrote:

Stella wrote:Maddie's blanket missing from the Ocean Club

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01 July 2009 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Gonçalo Amaral, the former inspector who coordinated the investigations on the case, in declarations to "SP" recalls having seen the blanket in the Ocean Club apartment, on the evening of the 3rd of May, close to cuddle cat (the plush toy), that the child usually carried with her. The former inspector thought that it was odd that that blanket went missing in the immediate days that followed, when searches where made to locate the child. And he highlights, that incidentally, textile fibres (in connection with the cadaver odour scented by the British dogs) were detected in the Renault Scenic that the McCann couple rented in the Algarve and which was used in a long and mysterious trip that they made to Spain.


"Incidentally" as we all know is the same as saying while we're on the subject of pink blanket, they found specific fibres in the very spot where the cadaver dog indicated. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Unless you have the original one to compare it with, no one can say for sure it is the same blanket as seen on the bed. But hopefully, the very same fibres also ended up on those lovely white sheets on the bed. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Now we all know why the missing blanket is relevant. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Stella

The mention of 'textile fibres' caused me to recall the finding of fibres in the disused barn that matched fibres from the Renault Scenic. Could these fibres also relate to the missing blanket? I had previously assumed that the fibres from the Renault, that matched those found on the towel in the barn, were fibres from the fabric of the car itself.
Now I am wondering if the pink blanket left a trail of fibres leading from the appartment to the barn and to a final resting place?

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wasnt the barn said to have been discovered when triangulation of O'Briens calls to Gerry were done??

[quote="Stella"]

Cheshire Cat wrote:

Stella wrote:Maddie's blanket missing from the Ocean Club

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01 July 2009 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Gonçalo Amaral, the former inspector who coordinated the investigations on the case, in declarations to "SP" recalls having seen the blanket in the Ocean Club apartment, on the evening of the 3rd of May, close to cuddle cat (the plush toy), that the child usually carried with her. The former inspector thought that it was odd that that blanket went missing in the immediate days that followed, when searches where made to locate the child. And he highlights, that incidentally, textile fibres (in connection with the cadaver odour scented by the British dogs) were detected in the Renault Scenic that the McCann couple rented in the Algarve and which was used in a long and mysterious trip that they made to Spain.


"Incidentally" as we all know is the same as saying while we're on the subject of pink blanket, they found specific fibres in the very spot where the cadaver dog indicated. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Unless you have the original one to compare it with, no one can say for sure it is the same blanket as seen on the bed. But hopefully, the very same fibres also ended up on those lovely white sheets on the bed. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Now we all know why the missing blanket is relevant. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Stella

The mention of 'textile fibres' caused me to recall the finding of fibres in the disused barn that matched fibres from the Renault Scenic. Could these fibres also relate to the missing blanket? I had previously assumed that the fibres from the Renault, that matched those found on the towel in the barn, were fibres from the fabric of the car itself.
Now I am wondering if the pink blanket left a trail of fibres leading from the appartment to the barn and to a final resting place?

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That is quite possible Cheshire Cat. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] but I doubt it. If there were pink fibres in the car and they matched the barn. This 100% places the McCann's at the crime scene, does it not? So I can only assume, it was not pink fibres that they found.

I recall a towel with aztec pattern on it was found there.

" It is reported that Portuguese police are investigating a disused barn in the south-east of Praia da Luz following the discovery of a blood stained towel which police believe may turn out to be Madeleine's blood.

Fibres on the towel allegedly match fibres from the Renault Scenic hire car the McCanns' hired 25 days after Madeleine's disappearance.

It is understood Portuguese detectives discussed the breakthrough when they met British police and a Crown Prosecution Service official last week at a police station in Leicester.

The fresh information is believed to have come from mobile phone surveillance police who tracked a signal to the remote and deserted barn. There they found a towel with an Aztec design, which revealed three sites of blood deposits on the edge of the towel. Tests showed there was 'moderate' support to suggest the blood deposits matched Madeleine's blood.

The results were not conclusive and are not regarded as being strong enough to be presented as evidence in a court case. However, close analysis of the towel revealed fibres which were not made of the towel material. The fibre fragments were microscopically examined against fibres found in the boot of the McCanns' Renault Scenic hire car.

Portuguese police sources say there was 'strong support' that the fibres found on the towel matched fibres found from the boot of the car."
I
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Maddie's blanket missing from the Ocean Club

Semanário Privado (appears in paper editon only)

01 July 2009 [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/url]

Gonçalo Amaral, the former inspector who coordinated the investigations on the case, in declarations to "SP" recalls having seen the blanket in the Ocean Club apartment, on the evening of the 3rd of May, close to cuddle cat (the plush toy), that the child usually carried with her. The former inspector thought that it was odd that that blanket went missing in the immediate days that followed, when searches where made to locate the child. And he highlights, that incidentally, textile fibres (in connection with the cadaver odour scented by the British dogs) were detected in the Renault Scenic that the McCann couple rented in the Algarve and which was used in a long and mysterious trip that they made to Spain.

"Incidentally" as we all know is the same as saying while we're on the subject of pink blanket, they found specific fibres in the very spot where the cadaver dog indicated. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Unless you have the original one to compare it with, no one can say for sure it is the same blanket as seen on the bed. But hopefully, the very same fibres also ended up on those lovely white sheets on the bed. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Now we all know why the missing blanket is relevant. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]



[quote="YNG"]" It is reported that Portuguese police are investigating a disused barn in the south-east of Praia da Luz following the discovery of a blood stained towel which police believe may turn out to be Madeleine's blood.

Fibres on the towel allegedly match fibres from the Renault Scenic hire car the McCanns' hired 25 days after Madeleine's disappearance.

It is understood Portuguese detectives discussed the breakthrough when they met British police and a Crown Prosecution Service official last week at a police station in Leicester.

The fresh information is believed to have come from mobile phone surveillance police who tracked a signal to the remote and deserted barn. There they found a towel with an Aztec design, which revealed three sites of blood deposits on the edge of the towel. Tests showed there was 'moderate' support to suggest the blood deposits matched Madeleine's blood.

The results were not conclusive and are not regarded as being strong enough to be presented as evidence in a court case. However, close analysis of the towel revealed fibres which were not made of the towel material. The fibre fragments were microscopically examined against fibres found in the boot of the McCanns' Renault Scenic hire car.

Portuguese police sources say there was 'strong support' that the fibres found on the towel matched fibres found from the boot of the car."
I
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I continue to wonder .......

The mention of 'textile fibres' caused me to recall the finding of fibres in the disused barn that matched fibres from the Renault Scenic. Could these fibres also relate to the missing blanket? I had previously assumed that the fibres from the Renault, that matched those found on the towel in the barn, were fibres from the fabric of the car itself.
Now I am wondering if the pink blanket left a trail of fibres leading from the appartment to the barn and to a final resting place?

The fresh information is believed to have come from mobile phone surveillance police who tracked a signal to the remote and deserted barn.

@ YNG

One has just read your posting, and would suggest that revisiting such points, will only serve to cause yet more tummy rumblings in Rothley.

Do carry on

Judge Mental wrote:The fresh information is believed to have come from mobile phone surveillance police who tracked a signal to the remote and deserted barn.

@ YNG

One has just read your posting, and would suggest that revisiting such points, will only serve to cause yet more tummy rumblings in Rothley.

Do carry on

Yes your honour , I'll se what else I can 'erm ' dig up on the subject

here ya go

"It is revealed that Portuguese police are investigating a mobile phone call from Russell O'Brien to Gerry McCann that was made on 10 June 2007. A team of telephone surveillance officers highlighted the call as it is understood to have contained key words that aroused police suspicions.

Investigators are concentrating on the exact whereabouts of Dr O'Brien when the call was made. It is understood Gerry McCann told detectives the call was made within a 4km radius of Praia da Luz but technicians working on the mobile phone network have dismissed this after examining records. It is believed the call took place 28km from Praia da Luz.

It also emerged that each member of the Tapas Nine were placed under surveillance after British communications experts arrived in the resort at the end of May. Mobile phone records, which leave a trail even when switched off, are believed to have been checked against statements made by guests and staff at the Ocean Club complex."

Cheshire Cat wrote:
I continue to wonder .......

The mention of 'textile fibres' caused me to recall the finding of fibres in the disused barn that matched fibres from the Renault Scenic. Could these fibres also relate to the missing blanket? I had previously assumed that the fibres from the Renault, that matched those found on the towel in the barn, were fibres from the fabric of the car itself.
Now I am wondering if the pink blanket left a trail of fibres leading from the appartment to the barn and to a final resting place?

I see what your getting at now Cheshire Cat but if the article is correct it states the fibres on the towel matched the 'fabric' of the car itself.

I have a funny feeling that someone wanted everyone to know that Madeleine's comfort blanket has been hidden or destroyed on purpose.

What would people think if they found out that cuddlecat was washed within days and her comfort blanket has been destroyed ?

Absolute monsters or guilty as hell ? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

YNG wrote:

Judge Mental wrote:The fresh information is believed to have come from mobile phone surveillance police who tracked a signal to the remote and deserted barn.

@ YNG

One has just read your posting, and would suggest that revisiting such points, will only serve to cause yet more tummy rumblings in Rothley.

Do carry on

Yes your honour , I'll se what else I can 'erm ' dig up on the subject

here ya go

"It is revealed that Portuguese police are investigating a mobile phone call from Russell O'Brien to Gerry McCann that was made on 10 June 2007. A team of telephone surveillance officers highlighted the call as it is understood to have contained key words that aroused police suspicions.

Investigators are concentrating on the exact whereabouts of Dr O'Brien when the call was made. It is understood Gerry McCann told detectives the call was made within a 4km radius of Praia da Luz but technicians working on the mobile phone network have dismissed this after examining records. It is believed the call took place 28km from Praia da Luz.

It also emerged that each member of the Tapas Nine were placed under surveillance after British communications experts arrived in the resort at the end of May. Mobile phone records, which leave a trail even when switched off, are believed to have been checked against statements made by guests and staff at the Ocean Club complex."

Oh dear. Pesky things these mobile telephones. With hindsight, the Tapas gang members must now be feeling as violated as those criminals who have tags around their ankles

I am bumping this up as it is worth reading the whole topic for those new

This is worth reading too:

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Stella wrote:Tanner screwed up big time that night. Her desire to adlib, also got her into trouble on Panorama, with the comment "I was carrying like this" (extending her arms). Of course, if you needed to invent a scene, you would have to go through it in your own mind first, to be able to explain it to someone else. Hence the "I was carrying like this", which boils down to, this is how I would have carried a child.

This must be how we arrived at the man carrying a child wrapped in a blanket. This is how she thinks it should have gone. The problem is, she did not see how the bedroom was left before the alarm was raised, as she was no where near the room that night. I strongly suspect she was minding all the children in Payne's apartment, which is indicated by Matt's comment and Dianne's lack of desire to check on her own grandchildren.

Yes, Tanner screwed up from the off. If only she had known how the bed would have been left. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

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I'm reading this as follows: JT had perhaps actually seen Maddie wrapped in the blanket ( don't forget her association with Burgau and Murat) when she was taken away from 5a, possibly on the 2nd of May or earlier. Therefore she described the abductor accordingly.
But likely she did not know the blanket was taken back to 5a (if there was a fridge/freezer involved, possibly the blanket would be removed).
Don't forget the blanket was prop nr. 2 which would tell Kate she had been abducted, so the prop was necessary.
It is possible that when JT described bundle man, it was suddenly rather important to lose the blanket. The PJ would otherwise work out that a blanket on the way out on the 3rd, could not have been on the bed.
It would be interesting to see her early statements on bundle man and whether she said the blanket was pink. Pyjamas pink certainly - but that was later.

Kate says that the blanket was taken by the abductors, but the PJ took a photograph of it. Then it disappeared.


I'm sure this has already been mentioned here but the blue (large) tennis bag was also disposed of by someone, and it is clearly seen on the top cupboard shelf in th PJ crime scene photos.

Similarly TM said cuddle cat was on a high shelf, yet the photos show it by the pillow in Maddies unslept in bed.

TM says Maddie slept on top of the bed yet it was cold in PT that evening, so they must have had the heaters on full blast to keep Maddie warm, especially as TM eventually were forced to admit they left the sliding doors open/closed, take your pick.

And as Dr Roberts points out, the bed sheets were turned down and folded neatly at the bottom of the bed, therefore the kidnapper must have decided to put Maddie down whilst he neatly made the bed!

Hopefully soon a prosecution QC will be asking some very probing questions...

PeterMac wrote:And did not one of the stories say that she thought it was a negligent person carrying the child because it was a cold night and it had no covering on its feet, whereas GM said that Madeleine was not covered up in bed, she was outside the blanket and he did not cover her, because it was a warm night.
So which ?
And talking of blankets, where were the bedclothes from the twins travel cots ?

Actually it was a chilly evening, people borrowing fleeces to go and check or, more accurately NOT check the well being of various toddlers and infants

And the Tapas bar had a plastic covering around it to keep it warmer

do you sweat if you have been drugged?

tigger wrote:SNIP, lots
It would be interesting to see her early statements on bundle man and whether she said the blanket was pink. Pyjamas pink certainly - but that was later.

The pyjama TOP was pink, the BOTTOMS were white. we know this because the McCanns showed the very pyjamas, or perhaps another identical pair, across the TV channels of the world. And the photo is also clear.
"At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing pyjamas with white bottoms with a floral pattern. The short-sleeved top, mainly pink with a blue-grey pattern bearing the inscription, "EEYORE," an inscription which is also on one of the trouser legs. The pyjamas are "Marks and Spencer" brand.
- Kate McCann in a statement to the Policia Judiciaria 4/5/07"
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"Anonymous said...
And Kate said, as she was holding up the pijamas :"These are ACTUALLY the pijamas that Madeleine WAS WEARING when she disappeared" !?!
Watch it in the Mockumentary, in Joana Morais, it's just after the footage of Beckam's appeal."

"That was terrible for them," says John McCann, Mr McCann's elder brother, who has also travelled to Portugal to help search for his niece.
"Kate dressed Amelie in her sister's pyjamas and the baby said: 'Maddy's jammies. Where is Maddy?' But she is too young to understand. And how do you explain? All we know is that Madeleine needs her family. She loves us, we love her. It is time for her to come home."
Amelie gave the game away that she was given Maddy's pyjamas to wear... ergo Maddy wasn't in them when she was "abducted".

Totally baffling ! - but only if you try to make sense of it, and only if you try to believe that people are telling the truth.

YNG wrote:I wonder how much truth there is in this article and if it is true whether this ' exclusive interview with David Smith was recorded '

' According to reports and confirmed in an article by David Smith, in ‘The Times’ in late December 2007, the McCanns did not bother to talk to Jane Tanner for two whole days about what she claimed to have seen at 9.15pm that night ~ namely a person walking off with a child looking like Madeleine. This is despite the McCanns’ absolute insistence that an abduction had taken place. According to David Smith’s article, which included an exclusive and extended interview with Gerry McCann, he and Jane Tanner did not speak to each other because they were ‘too busy’.

Various reports I've read give wholly different times for when JT allegedly told her friends what she saw... I think one report was a couple of days before JT 'realised' what she'd seen, then the time was massaged forwards to suit the need, possibly, of certain alibis..

jd wrote:And the Tapas bar had a plastic covering around it to keep it warmer

Correct, which makes GM and KM's claims that they could see the sliding doors over 50m away, in the dark, a complete impossibility - unless they have X-Ray vision!

aquila wrote:do you sweat if you have been drugged?

I expect some drugs may cause sweating, it has certainly happened to me with some medications!

PeterMac wrote:

tigger wrote:SNIP, lots
It would be interesting to see her early statements on bundle man and whether she said the blanket was pink. Pyjamas pink certainly - but that was later.

The pyjama TOP was pink, the BOTTOMS were white. we know this because the McCanns showed the very pyjamas, or perhaps another identical pair, across the TV channels of the world. And the photo is also clear.
"At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing pyjamas with white bottoms with a floral pattern. The short-sleeved top, mainly pink with a blue-grey pattern bearing the inscription, "EEYORE," an inscription which is also on one of the trouser legs. The pyjamas are "Marks and Spencer" brand.
- Kate McCann in a statement to the Policia Judiciaria 4/5/07"
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"Anonymous said...
And Kate said, as she was holding up the pijamas :"These are ACTUALLY the pijamas that Madeleine WAS WEARING when she disappeared" !?!
Watch it in the Mockumentary, in Joana Morais, it's just after the footage of Beckam's appeal."

"That was terrible for them," says John McCann, Mr McCann's elder brother, who has also travelled to Portugal to help search for his niece.
"Kate dressed Amelie in her sister's pyjamas and the baby said: 'Maddy's jammies. Where is Maddy?' But she is too young to understand. And how do you explain? All we know is that Madeleine needs her family. She loves us, we love her. It is time for her to come home."
Amelie gave the game away that she was given Maddy's pyjamas to wear... ergo Maddy wasn't in them when she was "abducted".

Totally baffling ! - but only if you try to make sense of it, and only if you try to believe that people are telling the truth.

Totally baffling ! - but only if you try to make sense of it, and only if you try to believe that people are telling the truth.


I could not agree more!!! Hence my signature below. It seems to me to be GM's modus operandi now, keep 'em guessing, keep 'em confused! "They've got nothing on us" I seem to recall was one particular unsavoury boast!

Thing is, you can play these deeply sinister games all you like NOW, but in the dock, under oath, at the Old Bailey, there are different rules, rules which will wipe the smirk off a certain loathsome face or three...

Going back to the 3rd: earliest reports came through the family - I believe there are no statements from Kate or Gerry to say that cuddle cat was on a high shelf and the blanket left on the bed, this told her she was abducted because Maddie would never go anywhere without these two items.

But evidently,between the time the photographs were taken by the PJ and when? both the tennis bag and the blanket disappeared.

Now, the GNR came with the dogs the following day and if both items had been in close proximity to a cadaver, the likelihood is that they disappeared soon after the police left, it's also likely the police told them they'd be back with the dogs.

When the GNR asked for items with Maddie's scent on it, early the following day, they were given a towel. This was tracked by the dogs to the supermarket and back. The likelihood was that it was Gerry's towel, as he'd been to the shop the previous day (some more New Zealand wine?).

Surely the blanket would have had the scent on it?

Advocatus wrote:Kate says that the blanket was taken by the abductors, but the PJ took a photograph of it. Then it disappeared.

For clarification, Kate has never said that the abductors took Madeleine's blanket. It's not documented anywhere. It was Oprah who first mentions it on her show, but Kate does not acknowledge the blanket now being with Madeleine. She just ignores Oprah's question altogether.

tigger wrote:Now, the GNR came with the dogs the following day and if both items had been in close proximity to a cadaver, the likelihood is that they disappeared soon after the police left, it's also likely the police told them they'd be back with the dogs.

The Portuguese dogs were not cadaver dogs and at that time, the McCann's could not have knowledge of such a dog. If they did, Kate's trousers, blouse, Cuddlecat, basically everything would have gone.

I am more inclined to think that after the boot of the car was inspected in early August 2007 and they had just found out about who Eddie and Keela are and what they do for a living , they realised the signifcance of anything the PJ would then ask them for. By that time they had the best legal councel money could buy and would have been advised not to hand over anything without the right documentation. The Pj only searched their place the once and I think this must have been days before the fibres were found and analysed in the boot. They never got a second opportunity to go back in and look for a blanket.

Stella wrote:

tigger wrote:Now, the GNR came with the dogs the following day and if both items had been in close proximity to a cadaver, the likelihood is that they disappeared soon after the police left, it's also likely the police told them they'd be back with the dogs.

The Portuguese dogs were not cadaver dogs and at that time, the McCann's could not have knowledge of such a dog. If they did, Kate's trousers, blouse, Cuddlecat, basically everything would have gone.

I am more inclined to think that after the boot of the car was inspected in early August 2007 and they had just found out about who Eddie and Keela are and what they do for a living [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] , they realised the signifcance of anything the PJ would then ask them for. By that time they had the best legal councel money could buy and would have been advised not to hand over anything without the right documentation. The Pj only searched their place the once
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IIRC the PJ infortunately have the McCanns a courtesy call at some early point saying they would be along latter to do forensics - cue Persil and the constant drone of a washing machine almost worn out from recent activity.
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and I think this must have been days before the fibres were found and analysed in the boot. They never got a second opportunity to go back in and look for a blanket. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

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The PJ were far too polite all along, all because of B Brown putting his size 14s in at every opportunity.
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The Portuguese dogs were not cadaver dogs and at that time, the McCann's could not have knowledge of such a dog. If they did, Kate's trousers, blouse, Cuddlecat, basically everything would have gone.
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Presisely!!!!!!! One can only imagine the panic, hand wringining, gnashing and wailing, that set in when they heard of Keela and Eddie on the way! I bet the E, V, R and D keys were worn out on all PCs at chez TM within the day! IIRC CRuck went into attack mode (aka grasping at staws) writing off our EVRD dog's marking skills in a USA missing body case - in fact the dog was spot on, as the murderer later confessed, and a body was found. This tidbit will no doubt come up at the Bailey in due course!
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I am more inclined to think that after the boot of the car was inspected in early August 2007 and they had just found out about who Eddie and Keela are and what they do for a living , they realised the signifcance of anything the PJ would then ask them for. By that time they had the best legal councel money could buy and would have been advised not to hand over anything without the right documentation. The Pj only searched their place the once and I think this must have been days before the fibres were found and analysed in the boot. They never got a second opportunity to go back in and look for a blanket.
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Interesting about towels being given as scent providers...

Stella, I totally take your point about the dogs not being cadaver dogs. However, still dogs. For all we know, cuddle cat may and the clothes may already have been washed once, I understand that that doesn't get rid of the odour even in several washes.
Still, it's likely you are right.
But when exactly was the absence of the tennis bag and the blanket noticed? I'm diving into the files - I think the bag was missed quite early. Wow! and now I have another one for the forensic linguistics. Watch that space.

Portuguese Forensic Institute Tests:

d) Samples collected in the metallic grey Renault Scenic vehicle, number plate 59-Da-27, on August 6th, 2007, following the second examination carried out by a British specialist dog team (Delivery note no. 286C/2007-CR/L):

Maddie's blanket missing from the Ocean Club
Semanário Privado (appears in paper editon only)

01 July 2009

Gonçalo Amaral, the former inspector who coordinated the investigations on the case, in declarations to "SP" recalls having seen the blanket in the Ocean Club apartment, on the evening of the 3rd of May, close to cuddle cat (the plush toy), that the child usually carried with her. The former inspector thought that it was odd that that blanket went missing in the immediate days that followed, when searches where made to locate the child. And he highlights, that incidentally, textile fibres (in connection with the cadaver odour scented by the British dogs) were detected in the Renault Scenic that the McCann couple rented in the Algarve and which was used in a long and mysterious trip that they made to Spain.