Where did the McCanns get the photographic paper late at night?

by **Jill Havern** 18.01.16 8:34

Posted on CMOMM facebook

Frances Gallagher‎ to Madeleine McCann: Abduction or Scam?
January 9 at 12:53pm

Gobsmacked.!!

i believe colour flyers of (an old photo of) maddie were even printed circa midnight may 3rd, on paper not available in PDL -

To put it in context, where did they get this photographic paper late at night between 10pm and Midnight (whilst in a major panic and stress) that isn't sold in PDL?

one minute they are eating and drinking in the Tapas bar, suddenly they have managed within 2 hours, without any notice whatsoever, to obtain this unavailable photographic paper

I think we can all draw the same conclusions.......

Kate writes in her book p.330 "The PJ appear to have been determined to prove we’d brought these posters on holiday with us from Britain. They sent them to a forensics lab for analysis, asking for information on how old they were and how they had been printed and cut. Having established that Kodak paper had been used, they contacted a Kodak representative to find out where this paper could have been bought. I was so exasperated to read all this. There was a much easier, more obvious way of confirming how and where these posters were produced. THEY COULD HAVE JUST ASKED. As it was, it took them until April 2008 to verify that the posters had been run off, on the night of the abduction, by Amy Tierney, the Mark Warner duty manager, using her own Kodak paper and her own Kodak printer."

Well Kate, they asked you 48 questions but you refused to answer them, why would they think you'd answer this one given your previous form?

by Guest 18.01.16 8:41

Yes it's a bit rich saying "they could have asked" after refusing to answer 48 questions.

48 reasonable questions.

I wonder what Kate tells her friends about not answering the reasonable questions and hindering the investigation?

by Verdi 18.01.16 20:36

Amy Tierney witness statement taken at Praia da Luz on 17th April 2008..

When questioned and shown the photographs referred to in the previous statements, depicting the English girl, on 'Kodak Xtra Life ' paper, 10 x 15, she said they were printed on her printer, also of Kodak brand.

When on the night of 3rd May, at about 24.00, she was at her desk at the Tapas bar, inside the resort, when at a certain time, one of the friends of the McCann couple, Russell, [that name again] asked for a USB memory stick reader, in order to print photographs of Madeleine. Immediately the deponent replied that she did not have an USB reader, but that she had a printer with this hardware, which could read from memory sticks.

She went to her room and returned to the Tapas with the printer where she printed out 20 to 30 photographs of the girl, using her own paper, in 10x15 format mentioned previously. The memory stick containing the photos belonged to the McCann couple, and came from their camera.

She thinks that all of this took place at about 24.00 on 3rd May 2007. She presumes that she handed all of the photos to Russell [that name again], who distributed some to those present, the rest would be for the police authorities. [???]

As regards her printer, she says that it is no longer in her possession as it is now with her boyfriend in France [???], she says, after consultation, and in accordance with her previous statements, that is was a 'Kodak', model Easy Share G60, of thermal ink transfer, with continuous tonality.
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When interviewed as a witness by the PJ on 6th May 2007 [interpreted by no other than Robert Murat] she makes no mention of the above. OK I understand that a specific list of questions were most likely asked of all the childcare staff, I'm nonetheless surprised that Ms Tierney didn't think to mention something so important and fresh in her memory. As an aside she did however say..

... She confirms that, on the night of the disappearance she was on duty and immediately went to the bedroom to see if the girl was hiding. She saw that the shutter was raised and that the window was partially open. It was then that she began to look in the wardrobes to see if the girl was hiding.

The first idea that occurred to her was that the girl could have left by her own means, however after checking that the window was open and the shutter raised she asked the parents whether Madeleine's shoes were there, to which they replied that they were, these facts led her to think that Madeleine could have been taken by someone.

However there was a bed against the window, which could have enabled the girl to climb up onto it and then up to the window, the witness thinks it would not be possible as she would not be able to open the shutters and even if she had done so she would have fallen outside as the window is too high for a child of that age to be able to descend without falling...
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Is this witness to be trusted?

by whodunit 18.01.16 22:36

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"Is this witness to be trusted?"

She knowingly gave a statement supporting a complete and total lie. There is no way she was 'mistaken' about such a specific recollection of detail.

How did Tierney know to do that? Who told her to say the window and shutters were open?

Just how widespread IS this conspiracy? Does MW knowingly host holiday parties that are 'beyond the pale'? Is that why their hiring of child carers shows such a lack of due diligence?

by Verdi 19.01.16 12:41

whodunit wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

"Is this witness to be trusted?"

She knowingly gave a statement supporting a complete and total lie. There is no way she was 'mistaken' about such a specific recollection of detail.

How did Tierney know to do that? Who told her to say the window and shutters were open?

Just how widespread IS this conspiracy? Does MW knowingly host holiday parties that are 'beyond the pale'? Is that why their hiring of child carers shows such a lack of due diligence?

The thing that baffles me is why the child care staff were assigned to become so involved with a situation seemingly way outside their contractual obligations. Understandably the Ocean Club complex had a standard procedure to adopt in the unlikely event of a child disappearing but that would only be applicable during the hours when children are in their care.

Apparently the tour company offered two options for evening child care at the Ocean Club a) a baby sitting service chargeable and b) creche facilities free of charge. By all accounts neither the McCanns nor their friends availed themselves of the evening care on offer - why then were all these child carers so involved? Of course in such circumstances it would be a case of all hands on deck without much thought for ones own position but that surely wouldn't include nannies being directly involved with the printing off of photographs, entering apartment 5A or whatever else they're said to have done? There seems to be more emphasis placed on their presence than the Ocean Club management team. In her witness statement, Amy Tierney says she was on duty on the night of 3rd May - on duty where, doing what? Printing photographs for the McCanns using her own printer and paper?

Unless of course one or more of the child carers were in situ on the night of 3rd May or some other night during that week or one or other were previously acquainted with one or more of the group. That would explain a lot..

by skyrocket 19.01.16 17:09

QUESTION:

How did Russell O'B transfer the ID photo of MBM from the McCann's camera to a USB memory stick between 10pm and 12 midnight on 3 May?

Amy Tierney states:
When on the night of 3rd May, at about 24.00, she was at her desk at the Tapas bar, inside the resort, when at a certain time, one of the friends of the McCann couple, Russell, asked for a USB memory stick reader, in order to print photographs of Madeleine. Immediately the deponent replied that she did not have an USB reader, but that she had a printer with this hardware, which could read from memory sticks.
She went to her room and returned to the Tapas with the printer where she printed out 20 to 30 photographs of the girl, using her own paper, in 10x15 format mentioned previously. The memory stick containing the photos belonged to the McCann couple, and came from their camera.

John Hill Stated:
On his part, John Hill informed us that the printing of large quantities of Madeleines photo was carried out by himself with the help of his wife, at the request of Russell O'Brien, a member of the McCann's group of friends, John Hill stated that the photograph the colour prints were made from a mobile data disk of the 'memory stick' kind that Russell O'Brien gave him on the morning of 4th May.

Only compact cameras (as far as I am aware) maufactured by Sony had/have USB memory storage devices; all others use card storage. The camera used to take the 'last photo' was unquestionably a Canon PowerShot A620 which definitely has SD card storage. ROB states that KM went through her camera to find a good photo to use for ID purposes (and he says it was difficult to find one). Amy Tierney, above, ties the memory stick and the photos it contained to a camera belonging to the McCanns. The only way to transfer photos from a Canon Powershot to a USB memory stick would be via a laptop or computer either via a USB lead directly from the camera to the computer or via the SD card slotted into the computer.

USB/memory stick is emphasized, there is no reference to memory card storage. So how was the transfer achieved from the camera to the USB memory stick? Any suggestions?

The process of printing from Amy Tierney's Kodak G600 with a USB stick is another issue. Does anyone know if a USB stick can be used with this dedicated mini printer, using the associated Kodak camera as a viewing screen? I know this printer has a USB port (but no screen).

As an aside, why didn't ROB approach John Hill (management) for help with the photos on 3 May? (ROB states that John Hill was around and ROB could also have asked Silvia Batista or Emma Knight who were also both on hand to phone Hill).

by Verdi 19.01.16 20:14

4th May 2007...

2.00 am Antonio Duarte, a commander for the GNR in Lagos, got the mysterious pictures. Four equal images, in sets of two, printed in photographic paper, 15,3 cm x 10,3 cm. The military declared to the PJ that he got the pics at 2 am on the 4th of May – four hours after the disappearance was reported. Antonio Duarte said he got the pictures when he was sitting in a vehicle when trying to get identification data of the McCanns, but that he cannot recall who gave him the pics.

Gerry declared that he was not the one that had given the pics to the GNR. But the dossier contains also declarations from Sílvia Baptista, responsible for the Ocean Club who says she saw the father of Madeleine give the pics, on a poster-type paper to one of the militaries of the GNR. "They were practically all similar" said Baptista. The PJ made a research of the printers available in Luz, but the sort of paper the pics of Maddie were printed on, could not be found anywhere. Nelson Costa, one of the militaries in the GNR who was called on the night of 3 May, was perplex. He told the PJ he saw several pictures of Maddie, some A4 size and others with the size of a poster, that 'couldn't have been made' in the reception of the Ocean Club.

PJ report says that the pictures were printed by nanny Amy Tierney.

Pictures were printed on a personal printer from a British staff member of Ocean Club. It was Russell O'Brien who brought a memory card and that member of staff brought the printer from her room. PJ asked for the printer, but she said her boyfriend took it with him to France.

mccannfiles.com

by JohnyT 19.01.16 20:28

.................maybe the printer needed a well earned holiday................
JohnyT

by Verdi 19.01.16 20:40

This I believe is the photograph in question..

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It's clearly the photograph featured on the Channel 4 news report on 4th May 2007, being circulated around PdL in poster format and the same image as issued to the PJ for the official 'missing' photograph.

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I'm still more interested to learn why the McCanns issued an outdated image of their daughter on 3rd/4th May 2007 when ostensibly they had holiday snaps on their camera/s taken during their stay at PdL.

by Verdi 19.01.16 20:43

JohnyT wrote:.................maybe the printer needed a well earned holiday................
JohnyT

Working piecemeal or overtime? angrypcuser

by Guest 19.01.16 20:45

More discussion here:

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by skyrocket 19.01.16 22:31

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] - PJ report says that the pictures were printed by nanny Amy Tierney.

Pictures were printed on a personal printer from a British staff member of Ocean Club. It was Russell O'Brien who brought a memory card and that member of staff brought the printer from her room. PJ asked for the printer, but she said her boyfriend took it with him to France.

The above is interesting, but it seems to be the only reference to a 'memory card'. Amy Tierney, John Hill and ROB clearly state that a 'memory stick' was used. And, why would AT state that ROB asked her if she had a USB reader, if the photos were on a memory card? The 2 storage devices are quite distinct.

Below is a report from Ferreira and Paiva:

Date 02-10-2007
Place: Ocean Club
Executing Officers: Paolo Ferreira and Ricardo Paiva

On this date, at 15.00 we went to the Ocean Club where we were received by the Maintenance and Service Manager, Silvia Baptista, and by the Mark Warner director, John Hill. We asked them to show us all the printers and photocopiers existing at the OC, which were operational at the time of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and that were used to print colour copies of Madeleines photo.

Silvia Baptista informed us that at the request of John Hill and his wife D****, hundreds of colour copies of a photo of Madeleine McCann were printed on 4th May 2007 with the aim of distributing them in Pda L and Lagos. For this purpose a colour photocopier, Toshiba, in the main OC reception was used as well as an HP laser printer, HP Color Laserjet 2840 located at a desk at the Ocean Country company, a colour laser printer Epsom Aculaser C1100 located on the desk of the administrative secretary and a colour laser printer HP Color Laserjet 1600 located on John Hills desk.

On his part, John Hill informed us that the printing of large quantities of Madeleines photo was carried out by himself with the help of his wife, at the request of Russell O'Brien, a member of the McCann's group of friends, John Hill stated that the photograph the colour prints were made from a mobile data disk of the 'memory stick' kind that Russell O'Brien gave him on the morning of 4th May.

They both stipulated that these were the only colour printers and photocopiers in existence at the Ocean Club and that there was no other place with the capacity for colour printing.

However, it's interesting that the model of printer Amy Tierney was reported to have produced and used (the Kodak G600) does not have any means of reading a memory card at all. It could read a USB memory stick, but only if a Kodak camera was used docked to the top of the printer to view the images.

So, the McCann's Canon camera SD memory card could not have been used directly with Amy Tierney's printer, and the question remains, if a USB memory stick was used, how were the photos from the McCann's Canon camera transferred to the memory stick without the use of a computer (camera connected to computer with USB lead; photos uploaded; photos saved to memory stick; OR, camera SD memory card slotted into computer; photos uploaded; photos saved to memory stick). ROB states that (despite the circumstances) KM went through the photos on her camera to find the most appropriate one to be used. The photos are then next referenced as being on a memory stick, when ROB goes to find someone to print the photo/s at midnight on 3 May. Seems odd.

All the printers belonging directly to the Ocean Club, and used on the morning of 4 May by John Hill and his wife, could produce A4 format. The dedicated 6/4" printer said to have been used on the 3 May by Amy Tierney to produce the first set of photos for the search party/police (GNR/PJ) could not print anything larger than postcard size - (conveniently?) matching the photo size being circulated from very early a.m. on the 4 May.

If I'd been the PJ I'd have produced a G600 for Amy Tierney and asked her to demonstrate how it worked.

by Verdi 19.01.16 23:27

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Yes, I'm sure everything you write is correct but without knowing for sure who had what camera nor where and/or why the photographs produced were stored - who can say? I certainly haven't a clue. As an aside, I know people who carry memory sticks around with their camera gear for some reason, like spare batteries etc. Not suggesting that the McCanns or their mates are such enthusiasts but it leads me on to say I also know people who wouldn't know a memory stick from a Blackpool stick of rock - nor where to stick it!

Judging by his rogatory interview, Russell O'Brien doesn't appear particularly bright - seems more to rely on his other half to fill in the gaps - but then I think there's a lot more to him than meets the eye as regards the disappearance of MBM. Ladyinred has kindly posted a link to past forum discussion on the subject, maybe the answers lie within...