THE DAY AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE - 3rd May

'Creching the kids', as the saying goes was for Kate and Gerry McCann 'time out'. It was ME Time. Creching was the routine the McCanns established on their very first full day in Luz, and it was one that was enforced come rain or shine for almost every day thereafter. It was unceasing. The twins were exposed to institutionlised childcare of one sort or another every single day the creche was open. On days when Kate could not cram them into a creche or Klub or group of one sort or another she would offload them either at the Haynes Hubbards house or into the arms of some well meaning friend.

Some holiday. The twins were supposed to be enjoying a moment or two of quality time with their parents in the sun and on the sand, but sadly for them all this was never any more than a pipedream. If you happen to suffer the misfortune to be born a McCann then you had better be prepared to learn all the nannies names, like lots of fish fingers and chips, never want an ice cream and tell everyone you meet, you have a wonderful home, but never that you can't quite remember exactly where it is.

The McCanns are creatures of habit. Once they start something it never stops and creching was a good example of 'it ain't broken', as far as you can tell, 'don't fix it'.


These are the McCann's signatures for the Mark Warner creche. They are from their first day in Luz to the morning of the 3rd, the day that Madeleine was disappeared. A few obvious things can be seen. Gerry always writes with small writing to detail the minutes past the hour, which is all very scientific of him. Kate McCann might on occaison drop the McCann but she always remembers the K in her name is for Kate.


Gerry's habit of writing 5 then 6 digits in every phone number every time is based on reason and not a whim. A simple check of any Rothley phone number series, shows that they are all always grouped in a series of 5, then space, then 6 digits. This is an interesting 'tell', as it tells you, incase you hadn't already guessed it, Gerry McCann is a true slave to habit and routine, and not just in the physical sense either. From what we have all witnessed of the McCann's dogmatic behaviour during the past 3 years, this little character trait suggests the McCann's attitude and outlook extends not only to their domestic routine but also to their entire approach to life.


When the police files were released one interesting rumour that had previously only been reported in the press as nothing more than malicious gossip was confirmned as a fact.


Kate McCann's witness statement from September 6th 2007, the day before she was made a formal suspect, shows the Portuguese police asking Kate if she had ever slept in her daughter's bedroom at the apartment. The answer was affirmative, this had indeed happened but according to Kate only once and that was on the night of May the 2nd, after Kate and Gerry had rowed.


The statement reads:
"Asked if she had ever slept in Madeleine's room, she said it happened on Wednesday because she had fallen out with Gerry as he had ignored her after dinner, when they had dined at the tapas bar. She decided to retaliate by sleeping in another room, in the bed near the window.

Kate McCann then added that 'she did not know whether Gerry was aware that she slept in the other room as he was already asleep when she left. If her husband was aware of this situation, he did not comment on it.'


Clarence Mitchell when asked by the press for a few words on this expose of the McCann's relationship refused point blank to comment on the contents of the witness statement. Mitchell a man with an eloquent and volumous vocabulary should the fancy take him was on this occaison lost for words.


The police files also revealed Kate and Gerry did not sit next to each other at dinner on the night Madeleine 'was made disappear'*(Note) May 3rd. Not a big detail but another detail nevertheless.



This is Kate McCann's hand drawn seating plan for their table in the Tapas Bar on the night of May the 3rd. The diagram shows Fiona Payne sitting between the couple Kate and Gerry McCann.

Looking back at the McCann's creche signatures it can be seen that there was some rule breaking of the McCann's routine around this date. There are some inconsistencies, and these appear to indicate domestic bliss in the McCann household was not all that it might have been, and this was well before the evening of May the 2nd, the night of the row.



Gerry's final character in his chosen signature GMC is the C. Gerry always writes this letter with an upward motion. There is a simple interpretation for such a pen stroke and it is said to suggest the subject is indicating an optimism of mood or positive feeling or rising emotions of well being.


The one day on which Gerry McCann did not use this particular pen stroke was the morning of Thursday the 3rd of May 2007. Those stories about the row the night before Madeleine's disapperence, when Kate would not let sleep in the bedroom with Gerry might explain Gerry's sombre morning mood on the 3rd.


Gerry when signing in nearly always writes down his location or a short description of the activities he will be taking part in. Tennis and the pool both feature on his itinerny for Monday and Tuesday. When Gerry signs in for Wednesday he wrote 'room'. Looks like after two or three days playing around Gerry was now required to spend some quality time with Kate.


As to wether there were any indictions of what was to come from Kate later that day, any obvious signs of the gathering storm, then it is Kate's signature that must now be inspected more closely.


Kate always signs her name with a dot at the end, even when she only signs with her initials or initial. There is however one exception to Kate's rule, and that on the day of the 2nd of May, the Wednesday. Kate's signature appears here for the only time in the record without it's traditional dot. This also happened to be the day of the McCann's after dinner row.


Trouble was brewing for Gerry McCann that day and from alot earlier in the day than Kate admitted to the police. Kate by the afternoon pickup from the creche had spent for the first time of the holiday the entire day with her husband. At 14:45PM on the afternoon of the 2nd of May Kate signed the kids out of the creche.


There was something on Kate's mind, and it wasn't fixing tea for the twins. Gerry the man as ever either saw the signs and chose to ignore them and her, and from Gerry's performances with female interviewers I conclude this idea might just have some currency, or it could be that Gerry McCann really didn't have a clue as to the state of mind his wife was in that day.

Kate's police statement now appears to be not quite all that it could have been. In that by 14:45PM, mid afternoon, on the 2nd Kate was already on the verge of erupting, Kate's alibi to the police stating that it was Gerry's lack of attention after dinner that evening that was the cause of her upset really couldn't have been the actual cause at all.


Kate's whirlwind of venom and spite directed at Gerry on the evening of the 2nd of May had been brewing for some time. It just might be that it was Gerry's now well documented atrocious table manners later that night in the Tapas Bar that finally released Kate's tiger from within.


*Note: BBC Scotland - 11th August 2007

http://thentherewere4-mccannunravelled.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-after-night-before-3rd-may.html