Kate McCann fears restaurant reservation booking tipped off Madeleine McCann's abductor

by Martin Fricker, Daily Mirror 9/05/2011

MADELEINE McCann may have been snatched after perverts spotted in a tapas reservation book she had been left alone at her holiday flat, mum Kate fears.

The distraught 43-year-old told how she had ordered a table close to the ­apartment so she and husband Gerry could pop over to check on their daughter and twins Sean and Amelie as they slept.

But the book was left open and in full view of other diners at the Ocean Club resort restaurant.

Kate said: “It was by ­definition accessible to staff and, albeit unintentionally, probably to guests and visitors, too.

“To my horror, I saw that, no doubt in all innocence, the receptionist had added we wanted to eat close to our flats as we were leaving our young children alone there, checking on them intermittently.”

Kate revealed the blunder in her new book Madeleine. Her three-year-old daughter was kidnapped while she and Gerry, 43, ate with friends.

The GP discovered the security lapse when she reviewed Portuguese police files after the investigation was axed.

Kate also told in her book how she felt suicidal in the days following Madeleine’s disappearance from Praia da Luz in May 2007. And she said Gerry appeared “callous” as he was able to hide his emotions while she was a wreck.

Tortured by visions of her innocent daughter being abused by vile ­paedophiles, Kate revealed she had an ­“overwhelming urge to swim out across the ocean, as hard and as fast as I could” and drown.

She added: “To swim and swim and swim until I was so far out and so exhausted I could just allow the water to pull me under and relieve me of this torment.

“And I wasn’t keeping that desire to myself, either. I was shouting it out to anyone who happened to be in the room.

“Looking back, seeing me like this must have been terrible for my friends and relatives, particularly my parents, but I couldn’t help myself.”

Of her husband’s ability to switch off despite their harrowing ordeal, she wrote: “Gerry was functioning much sooner than I was. I sometimes found it almost ­offensive; as if somehow he wasn’t grieving enough.

“He would suggest doing something nice, and I would cry. It was a long time before I was able to allow myself to take pleasure in anything.

“How could I possibly without my daughter?”

Kate also revealed she and Gerry slept in separate beds the night before their daughter vanished. She was angry after he left the dinner table abruptly.

And when she returned to their ­apartment, he was snoring. Kate added: “Still feeling a bit offended, I decided to sleep with the children.

“This was highly unusual, un­precedented, even. I wasn’t the type to flounce off to the spare room and never would have done so at home.

“Though it can have had no bearing on ­subsequent events, the thought of Gerry and me sleeping alone on this of all nights still makes me feel sad.”

In the book, Kate also describes the terrible moment when the couple’s lawyer in Portugal, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, revealed police were offering her a plea bargain in exchange for a confession.

The deal outlined by cops was that if Kate admitted Madeleine died in an accident in the holiday apartment she would serve only two years in jail.

She says: “I wasn’t sure I could possibly have heard him correctly. My incredulity turned to rage. How dare they suggest I lie? How dare they expect me to live with such a charge against my name?”

The despairing couple had been made “arguidos” – official suspects – by the Portugese police.

Under the guise of forensics, police had taken away their clothes, their twins’ toys, Madeleine’s favourite “Cuddle Cat”, a bible and Kate’s diaries – leaving them with the clothes on their backs.

The strain showed yesterday as Kate attended church with six-year-old Amelie near their home in Rothley, Leics.

Touchingly, the youngster was clutching Madeleine’s Cuddle Cat toy. Her brother Sean stayed in the house with heart specialist Gerry.



http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/05/09/kate-mccann-fears-restaurant-reservation-booking-tipped-off-madeleine-mccann-s-abductor-115875-23117237/

why would anyone with any common sense tell a stranger that the children were alone on a regular basis at night, when those strangers knew the location of the children.
not only OC employees knew, but Gerry told a stranger he met on this holiday where his apartment was located, I believe and that the group's children were alone every evening at dinner- time. Jez Wilkins was this stranger.
a very odd thing to do, even if a child being abducted in this peaceful little resort would be the last thing on your mind.

all done with a purpose imo......to enhance the abduction scenario.

I love the bit about ordering a table 'close to the apartment' - where would that be then? In the swimming pool? At best it could have been one or two paces closer to the exit - wherever that was in the Tapas Bar, because I'd say that the distance to be negotiated inside the bar isn't included in the 49 metres.

"Though it can have had no bearing on ­subsequent events, the thought of Gerry and me sleeping alone on this of all nights still makes me feel sad.”

Gerry and me alone should be "apart." Otherwise "alone" would suggest they both shared a bed with others.


I would have thought. "For some reason, I was destined to spend that night sleeping with Madeleine, and I'm so grateful that I did."

????

Errh, hang on. This of all nights" ? What night is she talking about? Yes, the night before the abduction. So why "of all nights"? What did she mean?

So now we are looking for a gypsy who is a cross between bundle man and Victoria Beckham, and who sneaks around reading restaurant booking reservations? There can't be too many of these, I wonder why he\she hasn't been caught yet.

"The GP discovered the security lapse when she reviewed Portuguese police files after the investigation was axed."

I think this is odd. The only security lapse was theirs. Notifying the staff of their intention to leave their children unattended.

As regards the table nearer their apartment - how about the one on their balcony.

Amazing how you can spin things to one's own advantage - I agree pre-planned and planted to be a back-up if required.

Have we actually seen this booking reservation? Is there a copy in the official police files? Is it in english or portuguese?

Usually when you book something and make a special request it is written down whilst you are talking to the person taking the booking, not later and after you have left. Who requested the table and why did they not stop the person from writing it down in that manner?

sharonl wrote:Have we actually seen this booking reservation? Is there a copy in the official police files? Is it in english or portuguese?

Usually when you book something and make a special request it is written down whilst you are talking to the person taking the booking, not later and after you have left. Who requested the table and why did they not stop the person from writing it down in that manner?

Apparently not Sharonl

From PJ Files interview with Luisa Ana de Noronha de Azevedo Coutinho Receptionist at the Gardens Reception

"From “Madeleine” by Kate McCann:

It wasn’t until a year later, when I was combing through the Portuguese police files, that I discovered that the note requesting our block booking was written in a staff message book, which sat on a desk at the pool reception for most of the day. This book was by definition accessible to all staff and, albeit unintentionally, probably to guests and visitors, too. To my horror, I saw that, no doubt in all innocence and simply to explain why she was bending the rules a bit, the receptionist had added the reason for our request: we wanted to eat close to our apartments as we were leaving our young children alone there and checking on them intermittently.

The note mentioned is not on the DVD"

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

Also from PJ Files

"She remembers that on Sunday 29th April one of the elements of the group arrived with the child Madeleine McCann, she does not know his name and can only say that he was male and tall and thin and that he approached her to request a booking for the whole group, for the whole week and always at 20.30.

When questioned, she confirms that the man was not the father of the girl but one of the members of the group whom was often seen in his company.

The man justified his request by saying that the group had many small children whom they would leave alone when they went to dine. She said that at intervals some two parents would go to the apartments to see if everything was OK.

The deponent made some comments about the request, saying that the Tapas received many requests and that MW only had a quota of 20 per day, but upon the insistence of the guest she managed to make the bookings requested."

No reference to a note in the reception book but she does provide

"She never saw anything strange. During this interview she provided a book with the reservations for the Tapas restaurant."

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

Just my opinion but as this is one of the important points that the McCanns used towards their "abduction" theory (& most of Tapas 9 mention this block booking in their rogatories) if there was a note then it would have been in files & shared by UK media on behalf of the sainted couple.

"The distraught 43-year-old told how she had ordered a table close to the ­apartment so she and husband Gerry could pop over to check on their daughter and twins Sean and Amelie as they slept".

"She remembers that on Sunday 29th April one of the elements of the group arrived with the child Madeleine McCann, she does not know his name and can only say that he was male and tall and thin and that he approached her to request a booking for the whole group, for the whole week and always at 20.30.

I thought that it was Rachael Oldfield who had made the bookings for the week.

So was it Kate, Rachael or a tall thin man?

Was the piece about the children being left in the apartment just another opportunity to claim that the children were in fact left alone?

She remembers that on Sunday 29th April one of the elements of the group arrived with the child Madeleine McCann, she does not know his name and can only say that he was male and tall and thin and that he approached her to request a booking for the whole group, for the whole week and always at 20.30.


will check but am sure the block booking was made morning 29th....as asked in another section, how would the receptionist have known that it was Maddie? she would not have recognised her on day 1 of the holiday.
if Maddie attended the creche and was hardly seen during the holiday, when asked by the police this receptionist must have had a very good memory of possible fleeting glimpses of a child at childrens tea which I think was held in the tapas area.
and she remembered after a week approx that the man was not Gerry but a friend of his?
And yes there is usually on a restaurant reservation form a space for special requests.
This note was not released in the files, neither were the bookings for 29th and 30th April if I remember correctly.
And for the media to call the note a security lapse.....it would be laughable if not so serious. It is not the tapas responsibility to keep the minors safe and secure apart from within reasonable bounds, like safe cots, safety gates etc...

maybe they now have a sign by the reception....
we do not take responsibility for anything you may leave in an unlocked apartment while you are dining here, including your children