Irish couple to help new Maddie probe

Gillyspot wrote:Fingers, toes & legs crossed that Martin Smith sticks to his affirmation & his wife Mary decides to give a statement this time.

david_uk wrote:now then, If Mr Smith affirms a belief that it was Gerry that walked past that night, is this enough to re-open the case? I mean was the second Smith statement given before or after the archiving ?

candyfloss wrote:

david_uk wrote:now then, If Mr Smith affirms a belief that it was Gerry that walked past that night, is this enough to re-open the case? I mean was the second Smith statement given before or after the archiving ?

It was given before the archiving in Sept.2007, when he saw GM coming down the steps of the plane, after the McCanns had left Portugal, just after they were made arguidos. The archiving was in 2008.

Edit to above:

Smith phoned police when he saw the clip of GM returning from PDL, but the statement was taken in January 2008, but still before the archiving.

candyfloss wrote:From Goncalo's book 'THe Truth of the LIe' here on this forum..................

AN IRISH FAMILY IN A STATE OF SHOCK.

The McCann couple return to Great Britain after more than four months spent in the Algarve. It's an almost triumphant return. The media coverage is such that you'd think you were witnessing the liberation of hostages held for years in a far-off country. Gerald McCann is shown on television carrying his son, as he descends from the plane. The child's head is against Gerald's left shoulder and his arms dangling by his sides. Gerald walks across the tarmac, still holding his son closely against himself.

In Ireland, the Smiths are watching the BBC news, which is broadcasting the event. For them, it's a shock: that person, they recognise him. That way of carrying his child, that way of walking...It's the man they saw at around 10pm on May 3rd, with a little girl, who seemed to be deeply asleep, in his arms.

This image, brings back with a jolt, that of the man they encountered in the streets of Vila da Luz, on the evening of Madeleine's disappearance. It's as if the scene is repeating itself ....Mr Smith thinking he's hallucinating, sees the same report on other channels, ITV and Sky News. From that moment, he is sure: the man they came across that night was Gerald McCann. Of that there is very little doubt. Upset by the implications of this discovery, he alerts the police and waits to be called back by those in charge of the investigation.

When we receive this information, at the end of September, we think we finally have the piece that will allow us to complete the puzzle. Because of this, we may be able to reconstruct the course of events on that cold night of May 3rd in Vila da Luz. We have a better understanding of why Jane Tanner, "sent," the alleged abductor in the opposite direction to that taken by the man seen by the Smith family. Suspicion had to be diverted from Gerald who - if he was the guilty party - would have taken this route: leaving apartment 5A, the individual who was carrying the child, did not go east, towards Murat's house, but west in the direction of the beach.

We decide to get the Smiths back to the Algarve, for a formal identification of Gerry McCann - by means of televised images, certainly - direct confrontation being impossible - and possibly proceed to a reconstruction of the events of the night of May 3rd. The National Director of the Judiciary police agrees, the process is set in motion, all the details are sorted out; all that remains is to choose the hotel where they will be put up. But the Smiths were never to come back to Portugal. After my departure, the PJ were to change their minds. They asked the Irish police to proceed with interviewing the witness. That decision was to seriously delay the process since the Smiths were not interviewed until several months later. Meanwhile, rumours were to circulate and people not involved with the investigation would be made aware of the existence of this witness; someone allegedly even sought out contact with the family, without its being known to what end.

joyce1938 wrote:i think you will find that the leicester police did not pass the information to portugal for about 4 months,can someone else conform this too please? joyce1938

Ribisl wrote:I believe the Smiths to be reliable witnesses wrt their initial statement. As to whether the man they saw was really Gerry, the jury is still out imv. One could argue because of so much publicity this case had generated prior to the Mccanns' return to the UK and so much public debate taking place on the subject of Madeleine's disappearance, their impression might have been influenced by the time they saw Gerry stepping off the plane that day. I am not saying they didn't believe in what they claimed. Quite the contrary. But it's just possible that their memory was not as fresh and reliable as when they were first interviewed and they may have got emotionally involved in the case by then.

The other point is, if the Smiths' recollection of the encounter is 100% accurate and it was indeed Gerry carrying Madeleine they saw (I am not getting involved in Gerry-carrying-home-a-sub theory), then he must have made that decision in a real panic. Walking down a street with a dead child in your arms doesn't sound like the brightest idea but then if the death occurred that evening and there really was so little time to dispose of the body (not to mention cleaning up), maybe... borrowing a car wasn't an option, hard emotionally to stuff your dead child in a sport bag, had to get her as far away as possible before the police were called, the toughest emergency decision Gerry had to make in his life...??? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]





I have read an account somewhere over the last few days ( I will try and find it ) of the Smith statement, i,n it Mr. Smith says that they had returned to Ireland the day after MMC went missing but he did report what he saw and returned to Portugal to give a statement, as far as I know it was the not the image of GMC coming off the plane that spooked him, it was the way he was holding the child , he is adamant that the man he saw that night in Portugal was holding the child in the same way , he (Mr Smith) was very upset and contacted the Irish police the following morning.



Phew !!! my first post [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] ( now I will go and find that newspaper article) [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Reference to the sighting in the PJ's 57-page report summary - mccannfiles:

'Further on this issue, the testimony of MARTIN SMITH was considered, pages 1606 and following, reporting the sighting of an individual carrying a child, in one of the streets that lead to the beach. It was said that the child could be MADELEINE McCANN, although it was never peremptorily stated. Some time later, the witness alleged that, by its stance, the individual who carried the child could be GERALD McCANN, which was concluded when he saw him descending the stairs from an airplane, pages 2871, 3991 and following and 4135 and following. It was established that at the time that was being mentioned, GERALD McCANN was sitting at the table, in the Tapas Restaurant.'