*** FACTS OF THE DAY ***

Witness Statement of Gerald Patrick McCann
4th May 2007 11-15am Processos Vol1 p34-41


"…at 9-05pm, the deponent entered the club using his key, the door being locked…"

Witness Statement of Gerald Patrick McCann
10th May 2007 at 3-20pm Processos Vol1 p891-903

"Concerning the front door, although he is certain it was closed it is unlikely that it was locked, because they left through the back door"

AND

"At 21-05hrs, Matthew returned, the time which the deponent left the table to go check on his children.
He walked the normal route up to the back door, which being open, he only had to slide".

Both statements were read, confirmed, ratified and signed

Jill Renwick, a family friend, told GMTV at 7:45am, on the morning of 04 May, that the distraught parents were certain that Madeline had been abducted. "They were just watching the hotel room and going back every half-hour."

She said the parents went out about 8pm, checked on the children at 9pm and then when they "went back in at 10pm she was gone".

Ms Renwick said: "Poor Kate and Gerry don't know where to turn. She's obviously been taken as she couldn't have gone out on her own and the shutters had been forced open."

"The shutters had been broken open and they've gone into the room and taken her."

Speaking to the BBC later, Ms Renwick said the McCanns, who had been holidaying with three other British families, had felt let down by police in Portugal. "I spoke to them this morning and they said the police had done nothing overnight and they felt as if they'd been left on their own. They just don't know where to turn."

However, the manager at the Mark Warner resort, John Hill said the police had been doing all they could. He said around 60 staff and guests at the complex had searched until 4.30am while police notified border police, Spanish police and airports.

***********************************

From Kate's Diary, Friday 4th May 2007

"No sleep, Gerry and I started looking through the streets around 6.00am as it was starting to get light. Nobody Around. Why not?

***********************************

Processos Volume V

Pages 1335 – 1337

Witness Statement

Date: 2007-05-16

Carlos Manuel Carvalho Lacão

Occupation: GNR Officer

He has been a GNR officer since 1988. He holds the post of soldier and currently works in the Portimao Territorial Group, working within the forensics service.

On 4th May he was called at about 01h15 when he was asleep at home, requesting him to appear at the Lagos GNR post as a small girl had disappeared. After arriving at the GNR post with his colleagues Morais and two dogs (Numi and Kit), German Shepherd dogs, which made up the search team, they immediately left for P da L. They arrived at about 02h30.

They finished the searches at about 07h00 AM.




____________________
The truth will out.

Witness statement of Gerald Patrick McCann, on the 4th of May 2007, at 11.15 a.m.

Processos Vol I, pages 34 - 41
Location: CID Portimão


Between April 28th, the day of arrival, and the time when MADELEINE disappeared, the deponent reports having noticed nothing unusual, except that on the morning of May 3rd, MADELEINE asked her father, GERALD, why he had not come into her bedroom when the twins were crying. The deponent had heard nothing and therefore had not gone into the room, yet he thought his daughter’s comment was strange, even because it was the first time that she made it.


Witness statement of Kate Marie Healy, on the 4th of May 2007, at 2.20 p.m.

Processos Vol I, pages 58-65
Location: CID Portimão


Between the day of the arrival, April 28th, and the time at which the disappearance was discovered, the witness says that she noticed nothing unusual. She reports only one episode where, on the morning of Thursday the 3rd, Madeleine asked the witness why she had not come to look in the bedroom when the twins were crying. The witness states that she had heard nothing and had therefore not gone into the bedroom, nevertheless she found her daughter’s comment strange because it was the first time she had made it.

******************************************

Witness statement of Gerald Patrick McCann, on the 10th of May 2007, at 3.20 p.m.

Processos Vol I, pages 891-903
Location: CID Portimão

That he fully confirms the statements made previously at this police department on 4 May 2007, being available to provide any further clarifications.

On the day that MADELEINE disappeared, Thursday, 3 May 2007, they all woke up at the same time, between 07H30 and 08H00. When they were having breakfast, MADELEINE addressed her mother and asked her "why didn't you come last night when SEAN and I were crying?" That he thought this comment very strange given that MADELEINE had never spoken like this and, the night before, they had maintained the same system of checking on the children, not having detected anything abnormal. When he questioned her about the comment, she left without any explanation.

*************************************************

Witness Statement by Leicestershire Police Officer Stephen Markley, 25 April, 2008, in relation to his activities as family communication officer while working in Portugal with the McCanns.

"However, in relation to the above, I would like to add the following: At about 20.00 on Saturday 5th May 2007, I arrived at the apartment where Kate and Gerry were staying, with other officers. During the meeting Gerald and Kate had a number of questions to which they wanted follow up and responses from the PJ.
One of these questions was that they wanted the PJ to be aware of was Madeleine's revelation about Wednesday night, when she said that she was left alone during the night. She told Kate and Gerry that she remembered the twins crying and that she wanted to know why neither her mother nor her father had gone to the room to see what was happening."

*********************************************

Witness statement of Kate Marie Healy, on the 6th of September 2007, at 3 p.m.

Processos Vol X, pages 2359-2548
Location: CID Portimão

egarding this night she said that none of the children cried, which she would have noticed as she was in the room. Regarding the fact that on the next morning, Thursday, during breakfast, Madeleine said to both of them that she had been crying and that nobody had come to her room, she presumes that this crying must have been before she and Gerry returned to the apartment. When she asked Madeleine about this however, the child gave no importance to the matter. On that night they also checked on the children every half hour; however she thinks that 45 minutes had gone by from the time of the last check to when they arrived, as exceptionally they went to the Tapas’ bar. On this day she thinks that Gerry arrived at the apartment around 23:50 and she arrived 5 minutes later. She went to sleep in Madeleine’s room 15/20 minutes later. Before this she spent a few minutes in her bed next to Gerry.

By May the 6th people actively helping and supporting the McCanns are :


The Ambassador (arrival date 4th.)
The Consul and pro consul (present 4th onwards).
MW crisis management Bell Pottinger - Alex Woolfall - Public Relations Expert (arrival 5th)
Eleven members of the family and friends (arrivals on 4th, 5th and 6th)
'Alan Pike (trauma psychologist)... (arrival 5th)
3 Leicester Police Officers (arrival 5th).

Plus Craig Mayhew, MW operations director. ( probably arr. 5th)

20 people helping the McCanns of which eight are professionals in their respective fields.

Three British police officers
The Consul and Pro consul
A trauma councillor
A PR expert
The British Ambassador



Timesonline
The PR expert who advised Madeleine's parents in the first weeks of her disappearance offers a new insight into their state of mind
Dominic Kennedy
October 6, 2007

Mr Woolfall has provided the first detailed account by an insider of what happened to the McCanns during the desperate days after Madeleine disappeared. He is an expert in crisis PR at the communications group Bell Pottinger and flew to Portugal as part of the Mark Warner holiday company’s emergency response team on Saturday, May 5.

"Kate and Gerry have been largely left to get on with it, with no support in the initial stages, or guidance.
unquote

Bell Pottinger are an interesting firm.
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/12/07/revealed-the-wikipedia-pages-changed-by-bell-pottinger/ and re ‘image laundering’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-sting-the-fake-azimov-group-meets-bell-pottinger-6272762.html

Bell Pottinger came courtesy of Mark Warner - flying in on the 5th.
Working on press management on the 6th.
-----------------------------
From the book:
Sunday 6: '..... We all, family and friends, went to mass at the local church.' (p.106). That first Sunday saw two further arrivals in Luz: my childhood friends Michelle and Nicky. Both wanted to be with me... Alan (Pike) planted in our minds the idea of reducing the size of our support group...
(in view of the statement by Alex Woolfall above - reducing the size of their support group whilst at the same time giving the message there was no support)

On the fourth: personal assistance from the Ambassador and Consul.
Family arriving during the day.

Ian Woods, Sky News, Praia da Luz in the Portuguese Algarve:
5/5/07
John Stephen Buck, the British Ambassador to Portugal, travelled to the Algarve yesterday, as did Craig Mayhew, Mark Warner UK operations director, and a counsellor.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said that the Serious Organised Crime Agency was liaising with British and Portuguese police. He added that two officials from the British Consulate in Portimão were with the family.
unquote

On the 5th Bell Pottinger crisis management flew in, Alex Woolfall to take care of the McCanns.


Present by the 6th:
My mum, dad and Auntie Norah were all staying in our apartment with us.
Gerry’s mum, Eileen, his brother John and sister Trisha, with her husband Sandy, plus Michael, my cousin Anne-Marie’s husband.
Childhood friends Michelle and Nicky.


The 6th - being a Sunday - Mothering Sunday there was a church service
Prayer service for missing girl BBC News

Last Updated: Sunday, 6 May 2007, 21:12 GMT 22:12 UK
A group of 21 villagers, including children, spent 45 minutes saying the Rosary with the McCanns in the couple's holiday apartment on Sunday night.

Diocese do Algarve
Submitted by: Diocese on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 - 12:41:42 (GMT)
Father José Manuel Pacheco further stresses the "confident and serene" participation of Kate Healy, despite the painful situation.
unquote

Sunday May 6, 2007
Ambassador Buck attended church service officiated by Father Jose Manuel
Pacheco.


Meanwhile the searches were going on:

Processo Volume III

785 - 788

On 6th May at about 08h00 and after another briefing from the Operational Command Post, it was decided that on that day they would again search all the plots of land with thick undergrowth within Praia da Luz, but that this time the search sections were divided amongst the teams. For this purpose the same teams of three dogs together with officers from Portimao who had been selected to help using the method of searching in file, carried out searches in all abandoned buildings, wells, rocks, verges of the EN125 and land surrounding Praia da Luz, in some cases reaching distances of 2 km.

From ‘The Truth of the Lie’
Goncalo Amaral
THE ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH POLICE

On Monday May 7th, we start to welcome our English colleagues from Leicestershire, the county where Madeleine and her parents live.
unquote
(note that these officers arrived on the 5th and had already been in contact with the McCanns - only meeting the PJ two days later seems a little strange as work continued through the weekend) :

From the book ‘Madeleine’:

'We were seeing the Leicestershire FLOs every day.' (p.113).


Monday 7: British expatriates living permanently in Praia da Luz organized a search of the area. The volunteers were joined by most of our family and friends... while Gerry and I were tied up with Andy Bowes and Alex Woolfall...
unquote

Police follow up 350 possible sightings and say they have already interviewed more than 100 people.

Kate makes an appeal for the safe return of Madeleine, from inside their holiday apartment.

8th may

From ‘Madeleine’

As we were walking up from the beach at about 5pm, I had a call from Cherie Blair, in her final days as wife of the prime minister [..]She told me it was amazing but encouraging that Madeleine was still the first topic on the news every night. This was only five days after the abduction: as it turned out, our poor daughter would continue to headline the bulletins for some time to come.
.unquote

----------------------------------

Ambassador Buck travelled to the Algarve and met the McCanns. [..]
Buck gave a television interview in which he said he had been in touch with Portuguese ministers and the prime minister Jose Socrates, and senior police chiefs who assured him everything possible was being done to ensure the safe return of Madeleine. [..]
Buck made a statement to the media announcing the arrival of additional British experts.

Said that investigators were in close touch with Interpol and Europol
Said the McCanns were "very grateful for their efforts"
-------------------------

Lori Campbell, a Sunday Mirror journalist, reports Robert Murat to Leicestershire police as she believes he has been acting suspiciously.

-----------------------------

D.C. 975 Markley of Leicestershire Constabulary wrote, on a spare sheet of LC paper headed 'LEICESTERSHIRE CONSTABULARY Continuation WITNESS STATEMENT,' the following:
INFORMATION FROM THE FAMILY

I spoke to Kate McCann on Tuesday 8th of May 07. She told me that a friend of her Aunt & Uncle from Leicester had a friend that had a strong vision that Madeleine was on a boat with a man in the Marina in Lagos.

This person arrived in Portugal and has spoken to Kate. They have visited the Marina and identified the boat as "SHEARWATER". They saw a man on the boat but this was not the same man that she had in her vision.[...]
Thus Kate McCann took advantage of a gap in her busy schedule to visit Lagos Marina, some time between 4 and 8 May; an event directly associated with a matter of considerable importance to her (DC Markley points this out twice); so important in fact that she fails to describe it in her book at all [...] The nearest she comes to the subject is this: "There were a couple of 'visionary' experiences in particular I took very seriously. [..]I begged the police to look into these." She does not elaborate further.

http://www.mccannfiles.com/id400.html
From: A Tense Situation by Dr Martin Roberts
20 January 2012

___________________
What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Macbeth Act V

tigger

Wednesday May 9, 2007

An email between Portimão and Lisbon of 9 May 2007 was the subject of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request asking for Ambassador Buck's communications related to the McCanns.

This email (or a portion of it) was withheld based on "Personal Information" exemption: Section 40 (2) and (3) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
------------------------------------------------
Further information emerged regarding the 2 additional experts Buck had announced on Tuesday May 8th.

Ambassador Buck said they were "kidnapping experts" and had joined the 3 other British investigators who had been in Portugal since Saturday 5th.

"... two 'Cracker-style' criminal behaviour experts from Britain flew into the Algarve yesterday to join investigators..."

They were from CEOP and their dispatch had been organised by the British Foreign Office.

"A spokeswoman for the CEOP said the move was unprecedented and had been organised by the Foreign Office."

From the book Madeleine:
From the minute he got up the next morning, ( 9th)Gerry was on a mission. Among the first people he spoke to was the ambassador, John Buck. The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, also happened to call him. He pleaded with them both to try to improve the way the investigation and the search were being handled. unquote
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The official Madeleine McCann website is launched under the domain name bringmadeleinehome.com
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So by the 9th of May:
Three British police officers
The Consul and Pro consul
A trauma councillor
A PR expert
The British Ambassador
Two Criminal Behaviour Experts
A phonecall from Cherie Blair with offers of help
A phonecall from the Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett
Ambassador conferred with the PM of Portugal Jose Socrates and senior police chiefs
Investigators were in close touch with Interpol and Europol.

Police have interviewed over 100 people and followed up 350 sightings.

Thursday 10 May 2007

Chief Inspector Olegario de Sousa holds a news conference to give more details of the search for Madeleine. He insists that he is doing everything he can to find the little girl, but so far from the ground search "the results are zero". He adds that the ground search for Madeleine is now being wound down.

-------------------------------------------------

A Foreign Commonwealth Office internal email of 10 May 2007 (12a) was the subject of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request asking for Ambassador Buck's communications related to the McCanns.

This email (or a portion of it) was withheld based on "International relations" exemption: Section 27.1.a. (1)Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice—( a) relations between the United Kingdom and any other State

A Foreign Commonwealth Office internal email of 10 May 2007 (13aa) was the subject of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request asking for Ambassador Buck's communications related to the McCanns.

This email (or a portion of it) was withheld based on "International relations" exemption: Section 27.1.a. (1)Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice—( a) relations between the United Kingdom and any other State
----------------------------------------------------
To conclude - An extract from the 27/5/07 BBC interview:
Interviewer:
JH: And I've spoken to a lot of people, over the weeks, who... local people who'd given up a lot of time. You've talked about the support that they've given you. I met people who didn't go to work for more than a week because everyday they were down on the beach, searching the streets. Did you, as a mother Kate, just sometimes think 'I've got to go and be out there with them. I want to go and just physically look as well'?


KM: I mean, I did... we'd been working really hard really. Apart... I mean, the first 48 hours, as Gerry said, are incredibly difficult and we were almost non-functioning, I'd say, but after that you get strength from somewhere. We've certainly had loads of support and that's given us strength and its been able to make us focus really so we have actually, in our own way, it might not be physically searching but we've been working really hard and doing absolutely everything we can, really, to get Madeleine back.

From the book 'Madeleine':
chapter 6:
..As soon as it was light Gerry and I resumed our search. We went up and down roads we’d never seen before, having barely left the Ocean Club complex all week. We jumped over walls and raked through undergrowth. We looked in ditches and holes....