Eumenides

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann nine years ago is a case like no other. The role played by the media has kept her face on the front pages of the tabloid press . Police files on the case are available on the internet. The Scotland Yard investigation is ongoing. This blog is a collection of facts - sourced from witness statements, Portuguese police files, Leveson inquiry papers, interviews, videos, transcripts, newspaper articles and other material in the public domain.

Wednesday, 13 May 2015

THE PRESS AND THE McCANNS

From: ‘The Establishment: and how they get away with it’

by Owen Jones Published by Penguin 1 March 2015

(Lord Bell is commenting on the ‘Hacked Off’ campaign. )

‘Attempts to scrutinize the Murdoch empire were fiercely resisted by its allies in the British elite, who contrived to say they didn’t understand what the fuss was about. ‘I don’t want to know what happened to the Dowler family, and I’m very sorry, but honestly I can’t get into a state about it, says Lord Bell, Thatcher’s former advisor, chairman of PR giant Bell Pottinger, and a close ally of the Murdoch empire. He has long given Rupert Murdoch PR advice, and advised Rebekah Brooks during the phone-hacking scandal. ‘And I’m really not interested in what the McCanns think, because the McCanns paid me £ 500,000 in fees to keep them on the front page of every single newspaper for a year, which we did.’

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

Leveson Enquiry 31/1/2012 the Press Complaints Commission

Sir Christopher Meyer: ‘What I said to Gerry McCann when I first saw him was that this is what the PCC can do for you, this is how we can help. If you want damages, if it comes to that, we do not do money. The courts do money, so you’re going to have to make a choice’

Mr. Jay: To be clear about that, when did you say that to Dr. McCann?

Sir Christopher Meyer: In July of 2007.

Mr. Jay: And the circumstances were what? Was it a meeting?

Sir Christopher Meyer: At my house.

Mr. Jay: [..] Between September 2007 and January 2008, there were 38 defamatory articles in the Express Newspaper group’s publications.[..] Did the PCC do anything at all during that period?

Sir Christopher Meyer: We did a lot. We were in pretty close contact with the press handlers of the McCanns. [..] ..you can’t be more royalist than the king on these matters. You cannot wish to stop something more ardently than the first party. But by that time I think they had chosen to go to law. [..] But I have to say to you - this is so important - we’d made particular efforts with the McCanns to make ourselves available. Within 48 hours of Madeleine McCann disappearing, we informed them through the British embassy in Lisbon that we stood ready. [...] I go back to this again: you can’t wish for something more than the first party themselves, and I think Dr. McCann has expressed rather well the complexity of the situation in which he found himself. He needed the press, but he didn’t need those articles. He had professional handlers and I can’t say more than that.

But on the 25th August 2007 the PCC got no mention - TM was still alone in the wilderness it appears. Perhaps that was because Sir Christopher Meyer had already told him they didn’t do money? In July of 2007 - GM was in the UK at that time.

BBC Edinburgh :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v+U88W_bAvgDI

Nick: ‘Gerry McCann, why did you want to come here to a conference of television executives?’

GM: ‘[..] what I didn’t expect was such an intense coverage of the news story for such a long time.’ [..] ..what we really just want to do .. I mean we hope it never gets there but if Madeleine is still missing we just want to remind people from time to time, infrequently now that she is still missing and we’re still looking.’

Nick: ‘From the outside it appears that you’ve been running... candidly, crudely a very professional campaign with a lot of very experienced public relations professionals and so on .. (Gerry is grinning at this point) I mean clearly that is accidental but how did that come about?’

GM: ‘Well it’s not at all, you know we’re just err happen to be a fairly ordinary family err some of whom were quite good at err speaking on television. Of course, we had advice at the beginning from the PR people brought in by Mark Warner [...] and then due to this massive media demand on us - not the other way round - not us asking for media we were advised that we should have a family spokesperson and we asked the Foreign Office to provide that [...] and then of course we did decide that we needed someone to help advise us err longer term for our campaign and with madeleine’s Fund we decided to appoint a campaign manager.. [..] I think the key thing is that erm what we would ask that the, the story Madeleine’s disappearance and investigation is reported responsibly and only newsworthy material being reported.’

Nick: So you would like much less coverage.’

GM: ‘Absolutely, you know because there has been huge amounts written with no substance.

Here again, just like Sir Christopher, it seems Nick is on the ball. He can recognise a professional campaign when he sees one. Gerry tells him they weren’t asking for media, what comes across is the urgent need to control what is printed. What appears to be rather less urgent is finding Madeleine as it will now be enough to remind people from time to time, ‘infrequently now that she’s still missing’ does not strike me as an urgent appeal to find his daughter.

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

The Leveson Enquiry: Gerald Patrick McCann - 30-10-2011:

www.mccannfiles.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/witnessstatementofgerrymccann.pdf

What followed was a sustained, inaccurate and malicious series of headlines in a number of papers which gave the impression that we were in some way responsible for or involved in Madeleine’s disappearance.

[..] Daily Mail a journalist called David Jones, who I had never met felt it appropriate to write an article with the sub heading ‘ I pray the Portuguese police are careering down the wrong track, but from the start, a terrible nagging doubt has refused to leave me.’ .

[..] Associated Newspapers had also published a number of very serious allegations. ..

The complaint was resolved with the payment of a substantial donation to be used in the search for Madeleine... [..]

[..] had it not been for the availability of a Conditional Fee Agreement, it would have been very difficult - if not impossible - for Kate and I to have brought the complaint as we do not have the resources to take on large media organisations in this way.

[..] we agreed to an interview with HELLO! to publicise this campaign (Amber alert).

When the NotW editor, Colin Myler, found out about our interview with HELLO! he telephoned me direct.[..] The NotW had very generously raised a £ 1.5m reward. [..]It also sadly highlighted that any help given to help Find Madeleine was conditional.

In the end we were made to feel so guilty that we agreed to give an interview to the NotW despite not really wanting to do so. At the time we did not want to upset the NotW and wanted to keep them onside for Madeleine’s sake. {..] an article by NotW columnist Carole Malone also featured in the paper under the heading ‘I wept for Kate but I still blame her.’

The advice we had from our lawyers was that the press would not consider an adjudication from the PCC to be a deterrent. We were advised, and this was confirmed by Sir Christopher, that an effective remedy to prevent further damaging articles could only be achieved through the Courts and that the PCC were essentially powerless in stopping the Press pre-publication. [..]

One of those we met was Rebekah Brooks who was very persuasive. [..] Rebekah said that she would actively assist us in seeking a review and set out various ideas of how The Sun could help. It was this campaign [..] that persuaded us to agree to serialised extracts of kate’s book being published in The Sun and The Sunday Times.

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

After the publication of the diary : The NotW agreed to publish an apology to Kate and to pay a financial donation to further the search for Madeleine. (£ 125,000,- - http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/17/news-of-world-mccanns-payment) Express paid £ 550,000.- Associated Newspapers paid £ 375,000.- to Tapas friends who passed the money to TM.

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

Libel trial McCann v Gonçalo Amaral - Day 4 Witness No1

20.09.2013 10am. Michael Wright

[..]. He says there always was activity on the internet (e-mails...) but they became very subdued.

ID - What does "negative e-mail" mean?

MW says it refers to all sorts of conspiracy theories that appeared on various forums.

ID - asks if the witness can name some of these forums.

MW The 3 Arguidos and Madeleine Foundation. He says Tony Bennett invited Gonçalo Amaral to do conferences in the UK. These forums were full of speculation focused on GA's conclusions. People said those conclusions must be true because GA had been in charge of the initial investigation.

ID - When?

MW – Activity was increased and heavy in March/April 2009.

ID - Did the McCanns learn about these forums? How?

MW They learned through me, the family members who monitored the activity and their support group. [...(threats to kidnap twins)]..

MW thinks the 3A doesn't exist anymore. He says the McCanns took action against this threat and against the Madeleine Foundation. The main page of MF had the 5 conclusions.

ID asks whether he has a copy.

MW says he has screen shots. He adds he had to tell his cousins about the threats. They reported them to the UK police (Leicestershire Police). He was visited by a police officer on the matter.

ID - Was a process formally investigated?

MW had only one contact with the police. He doesn't know what happened afterwards.

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

To sum up:

5th May 2007, the PCC contacts TM offering their help. Team McCann get a free spokesman from the F.O. and pay for a campaign manager out of the Fund.

July 2007 GM visits Sir Christopher Meyer and is informed that the PCC does not do money. One may assume this is an answer to a question.

In the Leveson enquiry Sir Christopher states that they cannot act for someone who isn’t willing to start the process rolling. Also that they don’t do money.

August 2007 - bear in mind the dogs have been and gone - GM attends a media conference in Edinburgh and tells us that what is lacking is control of content and he wants much less coverage.

In the Leveson Enquiry he appears to have misunderstood Sir Christopher who apparently now is the person who advised him to go to the courts. Whereas it is clear from Sir Christopher’s statement that he could have helped but this help was not what GM wanted.

The two quotes from the press in his statement are hardly sensational headlines. One journalist feeling sorry for Kate but still blaming her and the other having a nagging doubt which he hopes will go away. Why quote these two when there were many far more accusative headlines?

Finally we have Michael Wright who speaks of negative emails and a support group who are monitoring the internet. He mentions the threats in some detail but appears to know nothing about actions or non actions taken by the police. Surely he would have known if action had been taken by his cousins?

Finally, since Bell Pottinger were on the job virtually the day after 3/5/07, I would think that it was in the early days that the agreement with the PR giant was made to keep the McCanns in the press for a year.

Monday, 4 May 2015

ROYALTIES REVISITED..

The book was published in May 2011, the royalties paid have been difficult to trace in the accounts of the following years. These yearly submissions to Company House are far from the transparent accounts promised in those heady days of May 2007. As this is not my area of expertise - please consult the link to McCannfiles.com below. (1) .

One would have expected a significant sum as an advance paid by the publisher Transworld, considering that they could count on worldwide interest in the book ‘madeleine’. In any case, the proceeds of the book would be for the Fund. That’s what it says on the bottle so to speak and that’s what we would expect to find.

The Fund is a Limited Company often referred to as a charity, which is incorrect. Please note: it is a Limited Company although it could easily have been a charity. (1a)

However:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Descriptions_Act_1968

The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which prevents manufacturers, retailers or service industry providers from misleading consumers as to what they are spending their money on.

Next:

McCanns to fund hunt for Maddie - The Sun - 29/3/2015

Exclusive by Mike Hamilton

The parents or Madeleine McCann plan to plough their own money into the search for their missing daughter if police halt their investigation. Kate and Gerry McCann both 47 , of Rothley Leics, fear public donations have dried up as the search approaches its eighth anniversary. So they have pumped almost £1 million into a fund for Madeleine that would be running at a loss without their cash. The money came from Kate's book about Madeleine's disappearance in Portugal in May 2007 and the search for her. A top cop suggested this week the £10 million police probe into the case should be wound up. Met Police Federation chairman John Tully said "We no longer have the resources to conduct specialist inquiries all over the world"

Dailystar.co.uk date 30 April 2015

Last night the McCanns vowed to use ‘every single penny’ of the pay-out to help find Madeleine, ..... the McCanns spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: “ The investigation will come to an end sooner or later and Kate and Gerry will use the official Madeleine fund and any awards made to them to continue their own search.

This is confusing, in black and white we are told that the money from the book is their own money and what’s more it has not been anywhere near the Ltd.Co. (Fund) since it was paid out by Transworld to the author. It is their own money as opposed to money which resides in the Ltd. Co. Fund. In direct contradiction to what has been printed on the cover of the book ‘madeleine’.

The promise on the cover may for many have been a deciding factor in buying the book for they believed they were contributing to a Fund dedicated to finding a lost child.

This is a bit tough on Transworld who may - as distributors - come under the Trade Descriptions Act. They printed it - now, to quote Wiki, it seems they were misleading their customers as to what they were spending their money on.

Back to the early days:

The Limited Company (Fund) was a tremendous success in the early days and failing postal pigeons, all methods of payment were covered, some twice over, such as donations from Ireland via yet a third bank. (2)

Postal donations by cheque were given the address of the IFLG, which at that time had existed for no more than two months (3)

Other - cash - postal donations were encouraged by their spokesman Clarence Mitchell and one can only wonder how these were entered into the accounts of the Ltd. Co. (4)

By phone:

Text "MADDIE" to 60999 and £1 will be taken from your phone for the Madeleine Fund.

Over the counter:any branch of NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Postal Donations can be made with cheques payable to 'Madeleine's Fund :

Cheques should be posted to the following address:

‘Madeleine’s Fund’

c/o International Family Law Group, 26 Southampton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 7RS

Internet donations - via NatWest bank

Instant donations can now be made via Paypal

Internet banking donations from abroad - IBAN BIC nr etc.

Donations From Ireland:

Allied Irish Bank (AIB)

Account number: 07511020 Madeleine McCann account

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

Money was sent to:

The private address of the parents in Rothley, a large part of which is likely to be an undisclosed amount in cash and therefore most amounts more than £ 5,-.

The IFLG. (not the registered office for the fund, Bates, Wells and Braithwaite)
The AIB (in Ireland).

National Westminster Bank.

Royal Bank of Scotland.

The mobile phone donations - not known how much or how accounted for.

The money boxes dotted around the Ocean Club were presumably serviced by TM in person and contained only cash. (5)

References:

1) For the professional review of the Fund:

http://www.mccannfiles.com/id405.html

A review of the background to setting up the limited company Madeleine's Fund: Leaving No Stone Unturned and a forensic examination of the company accounts

by Enid O'Dowd FCA.

(1a): Missing People is a charity as well as a Ltd. Co. Their accounts are available online and as a charity, these are very detailed.

It would have been possible therefore, for the Madeleine Fund to have been both a charity and a limited company.In fact the reasons given for making it a Ltd. Co. (not for profit has apparently no meaning in tax terms) blame the Charity Commission for blocking this avenue. However, the Charity Commission let it be known that is not the case.
See also: http://www.mccannfiles.com/id405.html and http://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t4861p30-please-note-the-fund-is-not-a-charity

Madeleine appeal fund set up by Irish friend Irish Independent

Ronald Quinlan

Sunday May 20 2007

AS the search for abducted four-year-old Madeleine McCann enters its third week, a dedicated bank account has finally been set up here in Ireland to allow people to assist through donations.

Funds raised through the Madeleine McCann Appeal account at the AIB bank are to be used to help fund the ongoing search for Madeline, and to help defray the costs of legal representation for her distraught parents.

The establishment of the account has been undertaken by Donegal-based Katerina Fernandez, a close friend of the missing girl's family.

Madeleine and her parents stayed with Ms Fernandez on a recent holiday in Donegal. Ms Fernandez fondly recalled the Easter visit.

"It's very hard to take it all in. It's bad enough when it's a child you don't know. But she was here with her family. It was only a weekend, but I can still see everybody down at the beach playing rounders. I can still picture Madeleine there. It's devastating," she said.

Ms Fernandez set up the fundraising account at the AIB to maintain awareness of Madeleine's case in Ireland.

Madeleine McCann Fund

AIB Account No: 07511020

Sort Code: 93-73-39

The IFLG launched 31 March 2007. 6 weeks or so old by the time of the events. A Leicester solicitor Richard Jones is sent to PdL, by 22nd August Richard Jones is no longer with IFLG.

From the website:

The International Family Law Group (iFLG) launches at its premises in Covent Garden, London. We are a new specialist law firm providing services to the international community as well as for purely national clients. We have a special contract with the Legal Services Commission for child abduction work and are regularly instructed by the UK Government. We act for international families, ex pats and others in respect of financial implications of relationship breakdown including forum shopping and international enforcement of orders. We receive instructions from foreign lawyers and, as accredited specialists, act for clients of other law firms seeking their specialist experience. unquote

The highlighted passages: 6 weeks old and regularly instructed by the UK Government?

Also lucky that they specialise in child abduction work. They also advised the McCanns to make Maddie a Ward of Court.

Asked on the James Whale radio show in October 2007, show how people could contribute to the fund, Clarence Mitchell said: “Just put money into an envelope and send to Kate and Gerry McCann, Rothley, it’ll get there”. That was unprofessional - monies should have been directed to the registered office for the Fund, namely London Solicitors Bates, Wells & Braithwaite. For example, monies sent in the post could be stolen en route or would not be properly accounted for.

http://steelmagnolia-mccannarchives.blogspot.nl/2011/08/sayings-of-clarence-mitchell.html

From the newspaper 'Sol'

By Margarida Davim

07 July 2007

At the entrance of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, the journalists who participated in the press conference, that was held by Madeleine's parents for the Portuguese media, encountered a plastic box to collect donations. A small text, signed by Kate and Gerry McCann, invited everyone who entered the resort to contribute. This gesture was not appreciated by the members of staff, who claimed that the resort "is full of collection boxes".

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

THE LOGIC GATES : THE GIRL WITH THE THUNDERBOLT EYE

Logic gates

Digital systems are constructed by using logic gates. Below a search for logic regarding the presence or absence of a coloboma. Keeping in mind that a coloboma stays in exactly the same position for life, does not grow bigger or smaller and and would under no circumstance be confused with 'a small spot'.

Madeleine Beth McCann - the girl with the thunderbolt eye.

Trademark: 24560601: Madeleine’s Fund - leaving no stone unturned.
Registered on 18th May 2007. Ltd. Company registered in England and Wales, CRN 6248215.

New website and fund launched on 16th May:

Website findmadeleine.com - according to McCanns interview in the Guardian(17/8/07), domain name was orginally purchased by a stranger in France and then donated to the family. However: Jon Corner, had registered this website on the 14th of May:

Domain ID:D145995330-LROR
Domain Name:FINDMADELEINE.ORG
Created On:14-May-2007 14:31:24 UTC
Last Updated On:14-May-2009 16:18:36 UTC
Expiration Date:14-May-2010 14:31:24 UTC
Registrant Name:Jon Corner
Registrant Organization:Jon Corner

17th May 2007: Application to make MBM a Ward of Court.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luckily the coloboma is a fairly simple affair. There either was one or there wasn’t.

Benefits of the coloboma:

A USP - a unique selling point - a good marketing ploy:

Vanity Fair interview, September 2007, published February issue 2008)

Gerry McCann: "We thought it was possible this could hurt her. Her abductor might do something to her eye. But in marketing terms it was a good ploy."

It eliminates many millions of other little girls of that age. Without the coloboma countless children would have needed to have their DNA analysed, innocent parents would have been under suspicion so in general - considering the global interest - the coloboma would eliminate all these complications.

Which would free Team McCann for other duties. Otherwise the world - fed on this fairly tale - would expect the parents to fly all over the world in the hope of finding their daughter. Nothing less would be expected from them and every time the nation would hold its breath whilst the parents would fly out to cross another child from the list. (1)

No Coloboma - not Maddie.

But an inversion means that any photograph produced by Team McCann of a toddler with a coloboma means it is Maddie. Simple: here's a child with a coloboma, we published it, we say it is Madeleine, therefore it is Madeleine. The Unique Selling Point could be added any time this was needed.

Drawbacks:

The USP: assuming abduction of any kind this made her instantly recognisable and was therefore a danger to the abductor.

Quote: Carlos Anjos, Polícia Judiciária: "If that situation had been of an abduction, it would have been terrible for the child. Because if that child were to be sold, or something else... She was as good as... it was her death sentence. That situation, that day, advertising that photo, was simply the death sentence of that child."

and:

Gerry McCann (see above) Her abductor might do something to her eye.

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

No coloboma:

Benefits:

Lots more sightings:

- can be used to generate publicity.

- more interest and income for the Fund with the publicity.

- can be used to stress the incompetence of the PJ.

- can be generated whenever necessary - in some cases retrieved from years back.

- sightings have consistently appeared just before the anniversary of the disappearance.

But as it happened, sightings were plentiful in any case without the identifying mark ever being mentioned. Over 2000 were listed in the PJ files.

Drawbacks:

Children and parents needlessly harassed if child looks like Madeleine.

BUT:

Explaining that prominent coloboma in all the photographs was achieved by mixing it in a long interview with Piers Morgan, aired on 11/5/2011 to publicise the book ‘madeleine’ .

(On the 12th the Scotland Yard start Operation Grange).

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

MORGAN: Madeleine had a very distinctive eye pattern, didn't she? Tell me about that, Kate, in case people see somebody they think may be Madeleine. Tell me about her eye.

K. MCCANN: If I'm honest, we haven't put too much emphasis on her eye, because I think you have to be very close to her to see it. But her eyes are slightly different colors, and one of them has this brown fleck in it. But you do notice, particularly on photographs, but --

MORGAN: Slightly distinctive eye colors and a little fleck. And do you know if that would be still there if she's now eight years old?

G. MCCANN: Certainly believe it wouldn't have changed. I think there's been a pattern to be still there. That it's -- the technical term is coloboma, where there's a defect in the iris. I don't think it is actually. I think it's actually an additional bit of color. She certainly had no visual problems.

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

Dr. G. McCann: as a father and a doctor isn’t even sure what condition his first-born may or may not have had. However, the Lancet, a venerable medical publication had no problem in publishing the c-word.:

(1) Sightings:

The only case reported where a small girl in New Zealand had such a feature her parents had to submit evidence several times that she was their child and on the last occasion her DNA was analysed. Needless to say, the DNA didn’t match.

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

Thedailybeast: Crime February 2nd, 2013.

Madeleine McCann Sightings in New Zealand lead to DNA request.

Whenever someone calls the Queenstown, New Zealand, police to report that they’ve seen a little girl who looks just like Madeleine McCann, [..]police know exactly whom they are talking about. They’ve been called to investigate a Maddie sighting five times in the last five years in the cities of Queenstown, Milton, and Alexandra, and each time they are led to the same young child, who not only shares McCann’s hair coloring and petite stature, but also has the same coloboma in her right eye. [..]But Scotland Yard wants to be sure. As part of the ongoing McCann case review called Operation Grange, which kicked off in May 2011, Metropolitan police want to test the New Zealand child’s DNA to make sure once and for all that she is not McCann. The DNA request has been accepted, but it will take several weeks before test results are complete and the young girl can be completely ruled out as a match.

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

The coloboma is out of use in the Leh (India) sighting in July 2011. Never mentioned, DNA is mentioned, an A4 portrait sent to TM who are cautiously hopeful. The headline is one of those to make one reach for the chequebook:

Mailonline:

'It's not our Maddie': McCanns' hopes dashed after sighting in India

By RICHARD HARTLEY-PARKINSON
UPDATED: 20:32 GMT, 28 July 2011

Gerry and Kate McCann do not believe a young girl spotted in India is their missing daughter, their spokesman said.

The Chandigarh Tribune said that a British woman had seen a youngster bearing a remarkable likeness to Madeleine who disappeared four years ago.

But after studying a photo of the child, the McCanns announced this afternoon that the girl was not their daughter.

Spokesman Clarence Mitchell said the couple were 'certain' the girl was not Madeleine, who would now be eight-years-old.[..]

At one point an American man is said to have tried to take the girl from the couple.

However the French woman and her Belgian husband, who had their passports copied by Leh Police, insist that they are the parents of the girl.

A spokesman for Leh police told the Chandigarh Tribune in India: 'It all depends upon the evidence like DNA for which help from Madeleine's parents and the British police was required.'

Not a whisper about the identifying marks (spot on leg in passport) or coloboma (not in passport) or fleck or different coloured eyes..).

Friday, 10 April 2015

Conclusions

Since the last five posts may have been rather heavy reading, certainly for those who prefer ‘McCann Light’ here follow the salient points made in the previous posts:

Part 1: In the technical details we see that the Canon camera is unlikely to have been used to print the photograph.

The printer - if the camera is docked on the printer can print from a USB stick.

It is not likely that it can print 30 copies without running out of ink. The paper used is not available in the area.

However, the aspect ratio of said photo is wrong for the Canon which is the camera from which allegedly the photograph was copied. So we still don’t know where the photo came from. We do know that it did not come from the Canon as stated in the rogatories. Neither do we know how it got onto the USB stick or even if there was one that evening.

A ‘normal’ way to print a photograph from the Canon which is pictbridge enabled, is to use the usb lead that comes with the camera and print from the camera direct. This simple method is never even mentioned.

Conclusion: if there was a USB key, it already had the photo on it. Both ROB and AT talk about one photo, one pose. Although ROB seems to be talking about the iconic red dress one and AT doesn’t mention the kind of photo at all.

But as we will see, the plot thickens, as there were two photographs, different poses.

Part 2: GNR statements speak for themselves and give the time of their arrivals.

Silvia Batista’s statement gives a period of time well before 24.00 in which the photographs are handed over.

Part 3: ROB must have gone over the photographs questions four times in two days.

Twice on the 8th and twice on the 10th since there are two lots of questions on the printing of the photo.

Only one photo is mentioned and from ROB’s description it was the iconic one. He cannot remember what photo it was as he’s seen so many since. Since PdL was plastered with hundreds of these posters for weeks, it’s rather strange the image escapes him.

The printing episode is reduced to the vaguest recollection. Most importantly, he does not mention Tierney or a USB key. Not at all. Instead he thinks it was ‘Kat’ - the nanny he must have seen every day when he signed in his daughter.

He does give a time: ‘well before the PJ came’ which doesn’t help much but puts the time before midnight. (one nanny gives midnight as the arrival time of the PJ) See also timeline part 5.

Part 4: Amy Tierney. She is word perfect on the 17th of April. ( there must be a withheld statement before this as she mentions previous statements regarding the printer). This is a week after ROB’s rogatory interview on the 10th. She mentions a USB key, ROB asked her to print photographs. She was at her desk in the Tapas (that Tapas is more crowded than I thought - only room for 20 guests, no room for big round table but somewhere a desk for the supervisor of the nannies - ah well, handy for a drink) .

Only fly in the ointment is the timing: at her desk at 24.00. Goes to her room, gets the printer (necessary camera to dock and enable USB key to be used is not mentioned). Returns to Tapas, sets up the printer and paper - we are now at least some ten minutes further.

24.10 starts printing. The Kodak prints each photo in 90 seconds. Photographs need to dry to some extent so say the first batch of five will take at least 8 minutes before they are ready to take across to 5a - another minute or so to get there.

So at the earliest there are five photos ready around 00.20. More likely 00.30. No longer ‘well before the PJ arrive’ and certainly much later than the time given by Silvia Batista when she gave the photographs to (probably) Officer Roque of the GNR.

Part 5: The timeline speaks for itself. A timeline of ROB’s movements that night would be good but the only point to make here is that according to his own testimony he was in 5a well before the PJ arrived. So he could not have been in the Tapas waiting for photographs to be printed. He was busy writing the timelines and these were impounded hot from the press so to speak.

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

The PJ timeline in investigating the photographs.

The main point here is that the PJ took no action (apparently) in tracing the printing of the photos before the 25th of June 2007, when the GNR returned four photographs of two different poses. Two of each. So - they may have felt the distribution of photographs within the time given was a little strange when the absence of the child was noticed a mere 90 minutes or so earlier. But two photographs make it even stranger, certainly if there was no method of printing these at reception.

The PJ interviews Silvia Batista on the 26th July, 27th July the photographs are sent off for scientific analysis.

Note: the photograph on page 1 or Part One is a sheet from the GNR - not the PJ.

The description which accompanies it is written by GNR Officer Roque. Imo the original recipient of Maddie’s passport and the photographs. (see note 7 of Part 5)

Important note: the time of her disappearance is given to officer Roque as between 9.30 and 10.00 pm. (see note 6 of part 5)

On 25th June when the other four photographs are given to the PJ it is likely that the PJ then interviewed Officer Roque - this is not in the files.

In any case, they would have established the chain of evidence .

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

Thursday, 9 April 2015

The First Photo - part 5 timelines

21.55 pm The Smith Family, (4 adults and 5 children) are returning from 'Kelly's Bar', heading north, all spread out along the street and they pass a man walking down the middle of the street, carrying a child.

21.30 - 22.00

When the alarm is given, at an unknown hour, which for the investigation is somewhere between 21.30 and 22h00, based on the employee statements from the Tapas bar, as well as other tourists, all the group ran to the apartment as if a medical emergency had occurred, except for Dianne Webster who stayed at the table for a few minutes. (1)

21.55 Russell O’Brien returns to the restaurant.

22.00 Alarm - official alarm according to TM

Kate enters at 22h00. Sees open window, raised blinds and curtains in strong breeze.

22.05 Dianne Webster goes into Maddie's room. The twins are sleeping.

22.11 A police source claims: "Someone within the McCann circle phoned from the Ocean Club the night of the crime to Sky News' representative in the Algarve. The call took place at 22.11. We were warned of the disappearance at 22.40". (No link - but see 2)

22.15 They asked one of their friends in the group to go down to the main reception, which is manned 24 hours, and call the police. The call was made at 10.14 pm or 10.15 pm, according to the McCanns.' (Timesonline 09 September 2007) (3)

22.15 Dianne Webster goes back to collect her camera - is spoken to by tennis coach.

22.17 Emma Knight has a call from Lindsey Johnson informing her of disappearance.

22.33 and Lindsey Johnson near the Tapas Bar and then initiated the MW procedures for the search of a missing child. (4)

22.28 John Hill is alerted by mobile.

22.33 John Hill arrives at OC and helps with MW missing child procedure.

22.41 pm - First call to GNR Lagos precinct (Guarda Nacional Republicana, rural police); The first call to Police Precinct of GNR (Portuguese Rural Police) in Lagos, a patrol was sent, arriving at Ocean Club 12/15 minutes later, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Costa Cabral, Head of Public Relations of GNR.

22.52 Second call to GNR

22.30 - 23.00 Silvia Battista alerted arrives a few minutes before first GNR officers.

She was at home and was informed of what happened by telephone. She went immediately to the Ocean Club where she arrived a few minutes before the GNR officers arrived there. When she arrived at the resort she went immediately to apartment 5A where she found several people as much/many inside the apartment as outside it. Still she entered the apartment but left straight away without having spoken with anyone who was there, since at the same time she was told that GNR officers were at the main reception and she went to find them.

When she arrived at the officer's location she saw that behind them was Gerry, Madeleine's father, with another person but she does not remember who it was.

23.00 - Arrival of two GNR officers Roque and Da Costa.

23.14 Gerry calls Kate (8 secs)

23.17 Gerry calls Kate (31 secs) this call is left on her phone whereas it is deleted from Gerry's. These could be calls from the reception to tell Kate they were coming back with the GNR.

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

This appears to be the best point to use for further analysis. At this point we have the arrival of two officers, the timing fits: 12 to 15 minutes after the first call to Lagos makes their arrival at the latest (if going by the 22.52 call 23.07) but probably earlier. Silvia B is called to reception, having arrived at 5a between 23.00 and 23.05. She goes to the reception area where she sees Gerry and another man behind the officers.

SB then accompanies Gerry to the GNR vehicle next to the 5A apartment.

Once inside the apartment she asked those present for the passports of all members of their family as well as photographs of the missing girl. She then accompanies Gerry to the GNR vehicle in order to deliver the requested documents. See her testimony in part four re the photographs. Bracketing these actions in a time frame of no more than 30 minutes makes the very latest that the documents and photos are handed to the first officers on the scene 23.37

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

23.15/23.20 GNR patrol calls CID in Portimão, reporting a possible kidnapping.

Both Gerry and Kate take time to delete all calls from their mobiles. the 23.17 on Kate’s phone is left, probably by accident.

23.15 - 24.00 Russell O’Brien gives photographs to the GNR. (‘Well before the PJ arrived)

23.25 - 23.50 Sgt. (Commander of the group) Duarte arrives

00.30 - 00.40 PJ Officer V. M. M. arrived on the scene with Deputy Specialist J.B.

00.30 Timelines written on the sticker book covers are taken by the PJ.

From the Rogatory of ROB: 'But anyway Dave Payne said to, errm... there were two members of the PJ had arrived [..] I recall 'baby face', or his colleague, saying 'No media', and, you know... and that was full-stop and then turning round to me writing the timeline and saying 'That's what we want', fair enough. Errm... huh, and that's really it.

0.29.37 Angela Morado at UK Consulate calls Gerry (4.53 minutes) (someone else must have alerted the Consulate - no direct calls from Gerry to Morado before this).

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

Timeline PJ enquiry into printing of photographs:

25th June 2007 GNR hand over four photographs to GA, two of each pose.

26th July 2007 Silvia Batista gives a statement concerning photographs

27th July Photos are sent for scientific analyses

16th August 2007 - external diligence -the photopaper in question found to be unavailable in four local establishments.

2nd October 2007 external inquiry report, John Hill interviewed.

10th April 2008 Russell O’Brien rogatory

17th April 2008 Amy Tierney rogatory (in PdL)

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

Notes:

1) Goncalo Amaral: ‘The Truth of the Lie’.

2) Chapter 6: from ‘madeleine’ by Kate McCann.

Around 8am, I started to receive text messages and calls from friends back in the UK who were seeing and hearing news. [..]By this time our friend Jon Corner, a creative director in media production in Liverpool, was circulating photographs and video footage of Madeleine to the police, Interpol and broadcasting and newspaper news desks. This was in accordance with the standard advice of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the US.’ Some 25 communications with JC by Kate during the night.

3) Timesonline, May 6: John Hill, the Ocean Club manager, said the alarm was raised by the family between 10pm and 10.15pm: "The staff, many guests and the best part of the village started looking right away, a total of 40 to 65 people. The police were called and started taking details from the family and then took the decision to escalate the search."

4) The procedure involved the distribution of leaflets that had already been prepared, with the names of the locations, for the members of staff, indicating the zones that they should search. Once the location indicated had been searched the leaflet was returned and another one with a different location was handed over. This procedure was followed by the members of staff, but on that night about 6 residents from the complex were also involved in the search. (Statement of Emma Louise Knight, 30/4/2008)

5) Timelines written on the sticker book covers are taken by the PJ. Writing these must have taken some time so let’s presume that ROB was in 5a for some time before this whilst writing these, it’s unlikely that all those listed on the timeline were there to give the details listed and even more unlikely that ROB knew by heart where everybody was that evening. So it must have taken a while to put them together. Especially as the first timeline had MO added to the list.

Terms of seizure:

At this time, it is considered of interest to the investigation to attach to the present deed, two covers of a child's book, on the inside covers of which is a schedule for supervision, hand-written by one of the McCann couple's group of friends and participant in this deed by name of Russell O'Brien.

01 Processos Vol I Pages 27 to 28

From the GNR
Brigade n 3
Portimao

NUIPC 201/07 GALGS

REPORT OF NEWS OF DISAPPEARANCE

Responsible Officer: Jos.Mar. Batista Roque

Disappeared Person

Name: Madeleine Beth McCann
Feminine sex, white. Date of birth: 12-05-2003

Height about 0.90 mt.

Colour of eyes, blue left eye, greenish right eye with brown spot.
Blond hair with chestnut tips touching the shoulders.

Individual markings: small chestnut birthmark on left leg.

Date of disappearance: 03-05-2007 between 21.30 and 22.00.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the very earliest description of MBM by one of the two first GNR officers on the scene.

Why is the coloboma not under ‘individual markings?

Why is the very small mark on her leg visible in the tennis photo listed as such?

Why is it ‘blond hair with chestnut tips’ ?The blonde hair would be growing out in the winter, darker hair on top. Which can be seen very clearly in the playhouse photo, allegedly of Maddie.

Why is the iconic red dress photo that of a girl with light brown hair?

Why is her height given as 90 cm whilst it is clear in e.g. the tennis photo that she was of normal height for her age of nearly four? The given height is off the chart for that age.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7) There is the question of why there are four passports on the table, that might mean that only MBM’s passport was retained and passed from the officers to their commander as Cdr. Duarte says clearly in his statement that he does not know who handed him the photos.
However, J.M.B. Roque must have been in the car with his commander at the time. (see 17/10 statement below) as they drove all round the resort and J.M.B. Roque then left at 02.30.
Sgt. Duarte received a number of photos( at least 5) of which one - probably the one in Part I here went to the tribunal. Four other photographs given to the GNR officers searching were presumably the ones returned to the PJ on the 25th of June 2007. (see comment GNR Part 2)
Kate has one photo the next morning and apparently so does Brigid O’Donnell, (see comment GNR Part 2) but since neither she or her partner Jeremy Wilkins took part in the search I expect she was given it sometime in the morning. So that is 7 photographs so far, plus one given to John Hill to photocopy.

The very perceptive officer J.M.B. Roque (it’s worth reading his statements) must have joined his commander in the car around the time that Sgt. Duarte says he received the documents.

Processos Volume II - Pages 412 to 414
José Maria Batista Roque
Date/Time: 2007/05/07 18H45
The patrol of which he took part, and now as a witness, went immediately to the principal reception of the aforementioned establishment, where there was encountered the father of the missing child. Following, this patrol went to the residence where the family of said minor was staying in the ‘Ocean Garden’ together with the father. (this corroborates SB’s statement)
Processos Volume XII - Pages 3281 - 3284
José María Batista Roque
Date: 17 – 10 - 2007
When they were on their way to this place[..] he received another communication saying that her father had called again. They continued on their way, now with urgency, heading for the main reception of the resort.[..] When they arrived, they saw the girl's father, a friend whom he cannot describe, an OC employee and a translator who was also an OC employee, named Silvia Batista. (note: they reacted to the 10.41 call - so GNR reacted immediately)
[..]
Meanwhile the post commander arrived at the scene and he joined him in a vehicle and travelled around the whole resort. At about 02.30 after having been replaced by two colleagues, he left the scene as the police had already arrived.(note: as Roque was with the commander it is all the more likely that he was the one to pass Sgt. Duarte the documents).