Could Something Have Happened to Madeleine Earlier in the Week?

Here a post from another Madeleine forum:

I don't think there is very good evidence that she was at the mini club and was definitely seen there. The nannies could be mistaken and/or they were quite likely 'leaned on' - perhaps persuaded it was 'for the greater good' or something. We only have the nannies word for it that she was there. I don't consider that hard evidence.

If there were photos of Madeleine in the creche or with her mini-tennis buddies on the court or when they were sailing then I would consider that to be quite good 'evidence'. Particularly if that were backed up by, say, the parents of one of the other children who could state: 'Oh yes, my child definitely played with Madeleine McCann that day - look, this is a photo/this is a drawing they did together' or similar.

If there were photos from the 'high tea' on Thursday then I would consider that quite good evidence especially if backed up by independent eye-witnesses who say they saw the whole McCann family including Madeleine at the Tapas having high tea on Thursday. The twins are very distinctive with their blond hair - they stand out. The family would have been noticed and eye-witnesses could have come forward and said that they definitely saw them. But no-one has.

If the so-called 'last photo' wasn't so darned weird then I would consider it reasonable evidence that Madeleine  was alive and well on Thursday lunch-time. Again, especially if backed up by independent eye-witnesses who might have seen the whole family together by the pool that lunchtime.

If Phil Edmonds had produced the photo that he claims he took of his sons on Thursday with Madeleine in the background then I would consider it reasonable evidence. (But of course there is the problem of what Madeleine really looked like.) Again, especially if this could be verified by other people who might have been there. But this has not happened.

If there was DNA from the kid's club that matched Madeleine's then I would consider that good evidence she was there that week. Or a wrist-band from the creche bearing her name and with her DNA on it, as you would expect there to be.

If there was an independent third-party guest who could state with certainty that his or her child played with Madeleine in the creche (or out of it) then that would be good evidence that she had been alive and well up to Thursday.

The problem is we don't have any of the above.

Where is the work that Madeleine would have produced in the kids' club that week? The pictures, the arts and craft work, the puzzle books and other artifacts that invariably come back with your child at the end of the sessions? There are none. I would take this as quite strong evidence that Madeleine wasn't in the Mini Club. And if there is none of her DNA from the mini club then I would suggest it was because she wasn't there. Was Ella ever questioned about playing with Madeleine that week at the kid's club? Surely she would be a crucial eyewitness as she was supposed to have been with her buddy Madeleine all week and she would have noticed things and  maybe noticed when Madeleine was no longer there, for instance.

I also think that the creche signatures are dodgy and it looks as though the same hand has signed in Madeleine McCann and Elizabeth Naylor. The writing is identical which would be highly unlikely to find in such a small cohort of people.

The FACT that the McCanns and their friends all state that the McCanns deviated from their usual teatime routine on that Thursday and the McCanns chose for their children to have high tea at the Tapas while the friends chose to give their children high tea at Paraiso restaurant on the beach is as much evidence as I need that Madeleine was no longer with the group by Thursday evening and needed to be hidden away. There would be no other logical reason for the McCanns to separate their children from the rest of the group on Thursday of all days. It is just too much of a coincidence and just too suspicious that on that particular day Madeleine does not have high tea with her buddies. Why not? The logical reason - the only logical reason, imo - is that she cannot and therefore she is not there.

(I think that the cctv footage of the Paraiso beach restaurant shows not only Kate ducking away from the camera but also Sean in one of the frames who appears to have wandered over to the group and is standing with his back to the camera looking  quite displaced, as no doubt he would have been quite bemused about what was going on. He (if indeed it is Sean) is just standing there with no-one taking any notice of him. If Madeleine had come to serious harm by the time of Thursday high tea which I do believe, then the McCanns and their friends have got the thorny problem of how to conceal this from the children, including the twins. That's why I suspect Thursday (and indeed previous days) would have been chaotic and muddled. And don't forget - confusion is good.

The McCann parents are hardly likely to be sitting with the twins at high tea at the Tapas without Madeleine when all their friends are down at Paraiso as the twins are firstly going to ask where Madeleine is and secondly going to ask why there aren't with their friends.

This brings to mind the alleged beach visit that the whole McCann family did on Wednesday according to Kate in her book. Kate makes repeated references to all three children which does make me wonder whether Madeleine was no longer with the group by then. Kate's excuse for the visit - despite the rain - was that they wanted to do something as a family. But she could hardly use that excuse for Thursday tea if Madeleine was no longer with them.

"How could anyone manage to put on such Oscar winning performances for 4 days, acting normally, playing tennis, dining at night etc" This is a good point but it takes time to process things - much longer than four days to process a death especially if unexpected and the death of a child. Adrenalin can kick in and also denial. If Dr Amaral's thesis is correct and Madeleine died that week (whenever it might have been) then the McCanns first instinct might have been to consider what might happen to the twins if the truth came out. Gerry himself at one point I think said words to the effect that it could have been worse, they could have lost all three children. I suspect he does not mean 'losing' them to the abductor but 'losing' them in the sense of having them taken away. This must surely have been at the forefront of their minds, if Dr Amaral's theory is correct and Madeleine died in an accident and the parents covered this up and faked an abduction.

My mind is going round in circles as is so often the case with this extraordinary saga.

All theories and speculation as always.

No sign of a wristband with her name on that could be tested for DNA 
No pictures , models etc from her days in the Crèche .

More interesting is the tracker dogs brought in by the PJ were given either a towel or a blanket to sniff for her scent . None of them headed to the Tapas where Madeleine allegedly had high tea only a few hours before , or to the Crèche where she had allegedly spent the day ? I admit I don't know about training dogs but surely they should have headed there ? The towel they were given , who really used it ? The blanket , was it the vanished pink blanket ?