SEPTEMBER 2007 - PART TWO

We have seen how the results of the CSI dogs’searches  filtered through fairly early: by the middle of August the  press reported on blood found in the apartment.  Timesonline 16/8/2007 informs the readers: ‘..the blood probably comes from a white man from the “northeast European subgroup”. However, this conclusion is only 72 per cent accurate owing to the poor condition of the sample because of its age and also that the bedroom wall had been cleaned with a detergent. [..]Detectives had already suspected that the blood came from a man who had injured himself while staying at the two-bedroom apartment after Madeleine disappeared. ‘

But the article also stated: ‘Mr Sousa confirmed that one of the dogs had found a scent indicating that a corpse had been in the apartment.’ And: ‘Mrs McCann contemplated for the first time yesterday returning to Britain to live without Madeleine..’

But in June 2007 we have Gerry McCann telling a journalist when asked how long they might stay there : ‘Well, our kids don't start school for three years.’ - Daily Mirror, 07 June 2007.

And: Sunday June 3,2007    Daily Express "LATER THIS YEAR  LET'S HOLD A MADELEINE DAY FOR THE WHOLE WORLD” -  Jason Groves
'ROCK legend Sir Elton John is being lined up to front a global pop concert, to carry the message of missing Madeleine McCann’s plight to every corner of the earth.
It is hoped the singer will headline a huge series of worldwide events to mark a special Madeleine Day that her distraught parents are planning in the effort to find the vanished four-year-old. Sir Elton’s popular appeal is guaranteed to attract a swarm of other film and music superstars keen to offer support to parents Gerry and Kate McCann. The couple, having promised not to return home until they are reunited with Madeleine, are now planning a series of visits to European and North African cities, to distribute posters and widen the appeal for information.  

[..]Gerry McCann, 38, said: “One of the ideas is maybe getting all the people who have publicly supported us to come together. I don’t just mean from the UK but from different parts of the world. We want a big event to raise awareness that she is still missing. “We would look at high-profile people who have already pledged support. It will be some sort of focus around an anniversary, to tell people that Madeleine’s still missing. I think it would be later this year, once media attention has dropped, to bring it back up, hopefully, for a short period.

It wouldn’t be a one-year anniversary; it will be sooner than that. What we’re doing at the minute has its role but doing that down the line in a few months won’t have anything like the same impact. We might have a sporting event, something arts, something music’ unquote

Daily Mail 27th July 2007: By David Jones : ' It's three months since Maddy vanished and her parents are grieving in very different ways. He's thinking about moving back to Britain and starting to rebuild their lives. She's still lost in despair and cannot bear to leave Portugal.'

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So by mid-August the storm clouds are gathering and there is no more talk of staying in Portugal at all, leave alone for another three years.

Early June Sir Elton John is being lined up, in much the same way that J.K. Rowling was probably notified in July (via the press) that she was willing to have millions of  Madeleine bookmarks inserted in her latest Harry Potter book. Sir Elton’s ability of attracting a ‘swarm’  of international superstars, which might include Beckham and Ronaldo, is not in doubt, what is in doubt is whether he was aware of this global pop concert anniversary at all.  So in June the McCanns are in for the long haul, but by late July, the Daily Mail article tells us that Gerry  wants to go home, but Kate doesn’t. By the 16^th of August they both want to go home.

All through August,  through the blog and later the diary, we are kept up to date with their fitness regime, their visits to the church. Much has been written about the key to the church, Gerry apparently visits the church most mornings. Many reasons have been suggested for these frequent visits, in my opinion it would be a perfect dead letter box,  phone calls and email traffic were probably monitored as this is standard procedure in abduction cases where ransom demands may be sent to the parents.  The key to the church appears to be a sensitive topic for anyone connected with it.  (see 1)

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The CSI and EVRD dogs:  summary:

The dogs  are deployed on July 31^st, starting at 8.00 pm:

Participants: PJ: Tavares A. & Ricardo P. Inspectors
UK: Mark Harrison, Martin Grime (UK Forensic Canine P SM Expert),
Eddie & Keela (English Springers)
Silvia B. Manager of the Ocean Club complex.
On that date, inspections were conducted in the apartments occupied by members of the McCann family as well as the group who were with them at the time of Madeleine McCann's disappearance

From ‘The truth of the Lie’ by Goncalo Amaral: ‘At around 10pm, police officers see Gerry McCann, going past the apartment at the wheel of his hire car, a Renault Mégane Scenic, an impenetrable look on his face. ‘

So the officers saw Gerry McCann driving past that evening,  on the 1^st of August, he had a virus and had to cancel a trip to Huelva, said virus had disappeared the following day and staying home for a whole day one might have time to tidy up just in case? For it is clear that the search of the Villa was at very short notice and – like the search of the car – possibly not expected at all.

PJfiles  - Analysis of the cadaver & blood dog searches in 5A and in the vehicles   09-Processos Vol  IX Pages 2462 to 2465. (Martin Grime)

I have trained and handled two operational specialist search dogs: Eddie is a 7- year old English Springer spaniel dog who is trained as an Enhanced Victim Recovery Dog (EVRD).  Keela is a three-year old English Springer spaniel bitch who is trained as a Human blood search dog (CSI dog).

[..] My observation of the dog’s behaviour in this instance was that the dog’s behaviour changed immediately upon opening the front door to the apartment. He will normally remain in the sit position untio released and tasked to search. On this occasion he broke the stay and entered the apartment with an above average interest. His behaviour  was such that I believed him to be ín scent’ and I therefore allowed him to free search without direction to allow him to identify the source of his interest. He did so alerting in the rear bedroom.

For the dog searches  including the videos which were presumably those  shown to both Kate and Gerry McCann see:  http://www.mccannfiles.com/id161.html

Rather than go through the list of sites marked by the dogs, let’s look at the blue bag problem.

Eddie alerted at or in the wardrobe in the parent’s bedroom. This room has patio doors opening on to the balcony. Eddie also alerted to the flowerbed below the balcony. The flowerbed can be reached by way of the balcony stairs.

There are two points about this alert: There was no alert by the CSI (blood) dog Keela, so only cadaver alert. A large blue bag can be seen in the wardrobe in photographs taken on the night of the 3^rd..  The following day other photographs were taken and the bag is no longer there. (The pink blanket on the bed is also missing, never to be seen again). These items were missing after the apartment was declared a crime scene by the PJ.  The McCanns  stayed in the Payne’s apartment as from 04.00 on 4/5/07.

The blue bag problem:
23/12/07( mccannfiles.com) It is revealed that police want to trace a blue tennis bag allegedly taken from Kate and Gerry McCann's apartment on the night Madeleine went missing. Detectives think the hold-all could have been used to carry Madeleine as she was taken away, or even to transport the three-year-old's body. It belonged to the girl's father but has not been seen since the night of May 3, according to a Sky News documentary due to be broadcast on Christmas Eve.
Expert Tony Rogers, who reviews unsolved cases for British police and worked on the Soham investigation, said: "If it's a bag of a size that could be used to take a child away from the flat, that would be of great interest to the investigating officer." But McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell flatly denied that Mr McCann had lost a bag during the family's holiday. He said: "As far as Kate and Gerry are concerned, there is no missing tennis bag. They came back from holiday with everything except of course, tragically, Madeleine." Mr McCann told friends yesterday that he did not take any tennis equipment to Praia da Luz, and did not own a blue tennis bag. But Sky News stood by its story, which it said came from sources who had travelled to the resort after Madeleine's disappearance.
Portuguese newspaper Diaria de Noticas reports that the Policiaria Judiciaria have been searching for months for a blue tennis bag, with sufficient size to carry a small child, which belonged to Gerry McCann. The story, advanced by Sky News, adds that Gerry McCann assured PJ investigators at the time that the bag had been "stolen". 

And  in the rogatory interview with Dr. David Payne: 

From the rogatory interview with David Payne re the missing tennis bag: 1485 "What about a kit bag? Would they have a kit bag with them?”
Reply "Err he certainly didn’t have a great big tennis bag or a, you know, err I mean I used to be a squash, a semi-professional squash player and you know they certainly didn’t have anything that I would call a kit bag from days when I played…”
1485 "Yeah.”
Reply "You know, a lot of sport, err if they had a rucksack with some water in that would be, you know, about as big as it got, you know a small rucksack. But it certainly wasn’t a big tennis, you know, things that you could put a tennis racquet in.”
1485 "Yeah.”
Reply "There was nothing of that size that you could hide a, a tennis racquet in or anything like that, it would have been just purely, if they had anything…”

For a start, the officer hasn’t mentioned a tennis bag at all and there is no reason why Dr. Payne should now give an answer pertaining to a ‘big tennis bag’ when he has been prompted with a ‘kit bag’. Adding a little later that Gerry McCann had nothing with him big enough to hide a tennis racket in only makes it worse. Together with Clarence Mitchell helpfully denying the existence of a bag which Gerry apparently told the PJ had been stolen it only serves to focus attention on this bag which must have existed to be stolen in the first place.

Take note that the front door is not on a main road but opens onto a car park. 

The parent's bedroom also has patio doors and the garden area is below the balcony. These are basic sketch plans, not at all accurate save for the location of the rooms.  The cot would most likely have been situated between the bed and the wardrobe, although the cleaner's statement does not spedify the exact placement. However, the EVRD dog alerted in that area.  see for more details: http://whatreallyhappenedtomadeleinemccann.blogspot.nl/2016/08/chapter-4-window-of-opportunity.html

THE STATEMENTS OF THE 6TH AND THE 7TH OF SEPTEMBER:

From the witness statement of Kate Marie Healy, on the 6^th of September 2007, at 3.00 p.m.

Wednesday:  Regarding 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.

[..]When questioned about the apartment’s layout, she said that on the first day the moved the furniture: they moved the two cots out of their bedroom and put them in the other one, where the children were to sleep, after they pushed the two single beds in that bedroom apart. They also pushed the two single beds in their bedroom together. She presumes that the cots, when in their bedroom, were at the beds’ bottom. She mentions that when she arrived there not two, but three cots, in the same spot, and she believes that one was lent to the Payne family.

When asked, she said that the cleaning, which was provided by the resort, took place on Monday and Wednesday. Thus she mentions once more that she never altered the above described disposition, which means it is not true that at any one moment in time a cot was in the deponent’s bedroom and the other one in MADELEINE’S bedroom.

When asked about the sleeping schedule for her children, she says that in England Madeleine slept in a room by herself and the twins slept in another room.

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Arguido questioning of Kate Marie Healy, on the 7th of September 2007, at 11 a.m.
Processos Vol X, pages 2557-2561 Location: CID Portimão

When asked whether or not it is true that in England she considered the possibility of handing over Madeleine’s guardianship to a relative, she did not reply. Unquote( the Foreign Office might know something about this.) See 2)

Otherwise, the book ‘madeleine’ tells us:  ‘Each time a dog gave a signal, Ricardo would pause the video and inform me that  blood had been found in this site and that the DNA from the sample matched Madeleine's. [..] I remember feeling such disdain for Ricardo at this point. [..]Under my breath, I found myself whispering, ‘Fucking tosser, fucking tosser’. This quiet chant somehow kept me strong, kept me in control. This man did not deserve my respect. ‘Fucking tosser…’  unquote

One might have expected silent prayers rather than this repetitive insult but Kate McCan appeared to be rather proud of this episode and some of the press ran it as a header, but modestly printed f……g  t……r.

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From the arguido statement Gerald Patrick McCann, on the 7^th September 2007.

When questioned, he said that on the day they arrived, April 28t, they removed two cribs that were in their room and placed them in Madeleine’s room. He is unable to confirm, but it could be possible, that there were 3 cribs, and they asked them to remove one.

It is not true that on a certain day they placed one crib in their room, leaving the other in Madeleine’s room.

He did not remember what days were scheduled for cleaning the apartment.

When questioned, he says that Madeleine usually sleeps well at night. [..] After  moving to their house in Rothley in April 2006, twice a week Madeleine wakened, left her bed and went into their room;  this sometimes happened between 23.00 – 24.00 for no apparent reason, maybe because she was used to sleeping with (***blank****)

[..]  After viewing the films and after the signaling of Cadaver odour in their room next to the wardrobe and behind the sofa against the window in the living room, he says that he has no comments, neither has he any explanation for this fact.

Also, the dog that detects human blood signaled human blood behind the sofa mentioned above, he says that he cannot explain this fact.

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Kate McCann’s  statements:

On the 4^th of May when Gerry was allowed to stay with her during the interview.

On the 6^th of September  and the Arguida statement on the 7^th of September 2007 when she refused to answer 48 questions put to her.

Gerry McCann’s statements:

On the 4^th of May 2007, on the 10^th of May when he was able to explain why the GNR dogs took such a strange route (no doubt having observed them on the preceding days) and his Arguido statement on the 7^th of September when he couldn’t explain anything about the dogs at all.

It is striking how similar their responses are to the question concerning the cots. Although Gerry says nothing about three cots and giving one to the Paynes, both  state that it is not true that they had one cot in their bedroom at any one time. Here however, is what the cleaning lady says:

Processos Volume II Pages 392 - 394

Maria Julia Serafim da Silva
5As cleaner
Date/Time: 2007/05/07 16H45 Cleaner Portuguese

She remembers that when she entered Apartment A on the Wednesday, the parents were inside. After being duly authorized, she entered and carried out her work, because they were already on their way out. While she was in the apartment, there were no children there, and she supposed that they were in the creche. While performing her work, she remembers having noticed that the couple was sleeping in the room located opposite the entrance, where she confirmed the presence of a child's bed (crib). Unquote.

Of further interest is the fact that Kate McCann states that Madeleine slept in a room by herself and Gerry McCann says something very strange. He says that Madeleine would wake up twice a a week ( not: about twice a week)between 11.00 and 12.00 pm and that this was because she might be used to sleeping with ‘blank’ - a redacted name. Surely not Cuddlecat or any other toy. Twice a week would make sense if Madeleine was only in Rothley twice a week, possibly at weekends and she would wake because she was used to sleep with ‘blank’ elsewhere?

Back to the wardrobe and the plan of the apartment it seems most likely that the cot would have been placed between the wardrobe and the bed.  It is very likely that the twins slept in a bed (very soon after 3/5 the blog mentions that the twins are now sleeping in a bed for the first time), there are several other indications which support the view that they slept in a bed and not in cots, which would explain why on the night of the 3^rd they lay in cots without sheets. They did not wake up the entire night and were possibly sedated. see: http://whatreallyhappenedtomadeleinemccann.blogspot.nl/2016/08/chapter-5-sedation.html.
Also note that Madeleine has now been crying by herself. (see Obvious neglect post)

From ‘madeleine’ by Kate McCann:

(6^th September 2007) Carlos (Pinto de Abreu – their Portuguese lawyer)informed me, as Ferreira had indicated, that he needed to speak to Gerry and me in private. [..] Even our own lawyer appeared to think, based on what he’d been told, that the police had a good case against us. [..] Gerry was distraught now. He was on his knees, sobbing, his head hung low. ‘We’re finished. Our life is over,’he kept saying.[..] My anger and ferocious maternal instinct began to permeate Gerry’s despair. He was regaining his composure, his powers of reason and his fighting spirit. ‘They got nothing!’ he fired at Carlos.[..] Gerry was  seriously considering sneaking us into a car and driving us all across the border to Spain. It would have been crazy.’

Saturday 8 September. We were on tenterhooks all day, waiting to hear whether we would be allowed to go home. Rachael had found a couple of criminal lawyers in London she was sure could help us. Michael Caplan and Angus McBride of Kingsley Napley had worked on several high-profiled cases, including the Pinochet extradition proceedings.[..] On the advice of the lawyers, we decided to get out as soon as possible.’ Unquote

The press was commendably  quick of the mark especially the Timesonline:

Victims of the rumour mill? Timesonline:   David James Smith, Steven Swinford and Richard Woods

September 9, 2007

After a dramatic twist, are the Portuguese police close to solving the most extraordinary disappearance of recent years? As Gerry McCann emerged from Porti-mao police station at midnight on Friday, he stared unblinkingly into the distance while his lawyer read out a statement. The consultant cardiologist, said the lawyer, had just joined his wife as a prime suspect in the death of his daughter, Madeleine, who went missing four months ago.

Beneath his unflinching exterior, Gerry was in a state of turmoil and fury. "We are being absolutely stitched up by the Portuguese police," he had told a friend after his wife Kate had earlier been named a suspect after hours of interrogation. "We are completely f*****, we should have seen this coming weeks ago and gone back to Britain.”  Barely six days earlier the McCanns had been preparing to do just that: to end their vigil in Portugal and return home to Rothley in Leicestershire. They had informed the police who had reacted calmly enough. (Unfortunately Kate appears to contradict this in her book:  '..waiting to hear whether we would be allowed to go home.'  There is no mention in the book of informing the police of their imminent departure six days before 9/9/07).

Detectives had warned their lawyer that the McCanns might be made arguidos - suspects - in the investigation, but had emphasised that it would be a purely "technical" move. The status would give the McCanns greater rights in interviews. unquote

If one puts these these remarks  from the McCanns remarks together the reactions appear rather unusual for two educated middle-class and allegedly innocent people:

Fucking Tosser. (repeated ad infinitum)

We’re finished. Our life is over!

They’ve got nothing!  "We are being absolutely stitched up" and  most revealing of all: . "We are completely f*****, we should have seen this coming weeks ago and gone back to Britain.”  

But apparently they did see it coming weeks ago. As early as the 16^th of August. 

The February 2008 issue of Vanity Fair featured a long interview with Gerry McCann and Clarence Mitchell:  ’ It was time to go home, Gerry decided by September 9. But not alone. When Gerry and Kate were about to go home to Britain, Gerry phoned Sky News and said, ‘We’re going home on EasyJet, be on it!’

It must have been a bit of a scramble for the Sky journalists to get on the same flight as instructed but no doubt they managed. Unfortunately, the footage of  Gerry coming down the steps of the Easyjet flight to Midlands Airport, carrying Sean, was watched by  Mr. M. Smith in Drogheda, Ireland, who had seen a man carrying a child in just that unusual manner a few months earlier in Praia da Luz and soon it would seem that the McCann's troubles were only just beginning.

1) thetruthisoutthereblog.com -has a recent post on the key to the church. An interesting  comment on facebook from someone who is well acquainted with Mr. J Geraghty might be worth a look. (not on facebook myself so cannot copy here) 14/9: the comment has been removed from facebook, probably by the person who posted it. I understand the comment stated that the issue of the key is to do with the fact that the building was used by both the resident catholic priest and the Anglican community. That the person posting the comment was the wife of a good friend of  'G'. One might infer that 'G' therefore had the key in his possession and may have given it to the McCanns without obtaining permission from either the bishop or the resident priest. It would certainly explain the discrepancies in the various statements


2)  'MAD COW' LEGISLATION'  02 November 2009   -  by Dr Martin Roberts

 Finding of Fact

•  14. FCO told the Commissioner that a family member had made clear to FCO staff that all comments made by that individual to FCO had been made in strict confidence and were not intended for disclosure to third parties. FCO did not approach the family member again during the Commissioner's investigation but told the Commissioner that they were confident the individual would not appreciate being contacted regarding disclosure of the relevant personal information, a position the Commissioner accepted.

Unquote (source: mccannfiles.com)

  Leaving Praia da Luz on the 9th of September 2007.