Sorry not to continue the discussion about Mr Grover - I want to get back to analysing the remarkable statements by the 'Tapas 9' now being released and translated.
I reproduce this copyright article, re Matthew Oldfield's statement, from 'Enfants Kidnappes' and comment on it in bold:
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QUOTE
Matthew David Oldfields Statement
Under the supervision of Inspector Patricia D. It starts at 11.30, on the 5th of April.
REPLY: In an ideal world, it would have been much sooner - within 12 hours of Madeleine's 'disappearance' if at all possible
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Since M O doesnt speak Portuguese, Angela F M, an interpreter under oath is helping. As happened with the other statements, this statement has been read, its contents explained, and M.O. agreed to his own statement and signed it. So did the interpreter. This is the usual process with the statemnts since the beginning. When the interpreter signs the statements he/she commits himself/herself towards justice as regards the authenticity of the statement.
M.O. states that it is spontaneously and willingly that he does his statement. He is on holidays in Portugal, at the Ocean Club in P d L, since April the 28th, and is due to go back to England on the 5th of May.
He has known Madeleines parents for about 5 years. (He then names the people and children in the group). David andd Fiona gave them the idea of spending the holidays there. They did the hotel reservations, between 4 and 5 months ago. Since they arrived in Portugal, until yesterday night, the daily routine was that in the morning, they got up between 6.30am and 8am, walked to the Millenium, which took about ten minutes. Only Madeleines parents, Madeleine and the twins, had breakfast in their flats, the children being still too small.
After breakfast, the children were dropped at the Kids Club. Madeleine and Emma [name chnaged] went to a mini-club, the other children went to another club for younger children. It was the habit at lunch-time to meet in one of the apartments occupied by people from the group to have lunch with the children. During the afternoon, the children took a nap under the supervision of a grown up.
The other grown ups did sports inside the complex. After their nap, the children went back to the Kids Club.
REPLY: Hmmm. So, 12.30pm, back for some lunch in one of their apartments, then they all leave to play sport, leaving one adult in charge of 8 children. He doesn't say if they all the adults come back just beofre 2.30pm to take the children back to the mini-club/Kid's Club for the afternoon session. Also, Gerry McCann's 'last photo' of Madeleine and Sean with Gerry by the pool is not conisistent with what Matthew Oldfield says here. According to him, the children would all be having a nap before 2.30pm and then their parents (presumably) would take them all down to the kids' clubs.
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At about 4.45pm, the children used to have dinner at the Tapas restaurant. Then they went to play to the playground, supervised by one grown-up.
REPLY: I assume the Paraiso is 'The Tapas restaurant'? So, dinner at the Tapas say 5pm to 6pm/6.30pm, then playing in the playground for another hour or so. Again, only one adult in charge of all 8 children?
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Around 8.00pm, the children went to bed, and the grown ups had dinner together at the Tapas restaurant.
REPLY: But David Payne said that Madeleine McCann and the twins were already changed for bed, dressed in white and 'looking like angels' when he went there 'to check on Kate' at around 6.30pm!!
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During their dinner, their children slept in their own apartment without any grown up supervising. M.O. adds that since the apartments were at a one minute walk from the restaurant, one grown up, at random, frequently went to see the children. While at the Kids Club, Madeleine had gone to the beach with the staff, but M O doesnt know how many times.
The other activities of the children took place inside the complex. M.O. declares that Madeleines parents apartment is just before his.
The evening of the disappearance.
The day has been like before. Same as the other evenings, he and his wife left their daughter asleep and went to the Tapas restaurant, where Gerry and Kate had already arrived, probably 5 minutes before them.
REPLY: Hmmm. He does not mention the fact that neither the McCanns nor their three children were in the 'Tapas restaurant' that evening, as the photos revealed in the News of the World made clear. The McCanns' cover stories for what they were doing at this time appear to be (1) we were all having 'high tea' with the nanny Charlotte Pennington 'somewhere near the Tapas bar' [actual place not stated] at around 5pm to 6pm or (2) in Gerry McCann's case: 'I was playing tennis...or rather I was 'hanging around the tennis courts as I could not play any longer because of my Achilles tendon'.
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David and Fiona arrived last, it would be around 9. Around 9.05, he went to the apartments, especially by the windows of all the childrens bedrooms. Not hearing noise, he thought they were asleep. All the windows wer closed, including the windows that led into the 4th appartment, where Madeleine was.
REPLY: Matthew Oldfield repeats the time line that Russell O'Brien was busily writing down on a scrap of paper [or, as we read elsewhere, on the torn-off cover from one of Madeleine's books]. Russell O'Brien has committed himself to a 'check' at around 9.00pm. He doesn't go into the apartment, and says the shutters are shut.
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Yet, Gerry, Madeleines Daddy, went towards the appartments to check if Madeleine and the twins were asleep. Gerry may have gone into his flat, and checked if Madeleine and the twins were asleep in their bedroom, which was rather dark. The bedroom door was ajar. 5 minutes later, Gerry was back at the restaurant with the group.
REPLY: How does Matthew Oldfield know 'the apartment was rather dark'? At some stage, Gerry McCann must have told him. He would hardly have passed this remark on the night on returning to the Tapas bar. He wouldn't have said: "Guess what, Matt, the apartment was rather dark when I checked". No, Matthew Oldfield has been told this by Gerry McCann later - as they are comparing notes and working out what to tell the police. The same goes for the statement that the bedroom door was ajar - again, not something he would casually mention to Oldfield on returning to the Tapas bar.
Of course, Gerry was not back at the Tapas bar 'after 5 minutes'. According to Gerry McCann's own testimony, it was '15-20 minutes'.
In addition, no explanation whatsoever is offered as to what Matthew Oldfield was doing checking the apartment at 9.05pm when Gerry McCann says this is the precise time he set off to do his check.
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The inspector having asked the question, M.O. says that he doesnt know if Gerry met someone, he didnt say.
During the meal, it was the habit that every 15 minutes (like every evening), one of the grown ups went to the bedrooms to see if the children were asleep. Normally the checking was done inside (visual checking). But to be honest, it happened that they only checked from outside, next to the bedroom windows (auditive checking).
REPLY: The '15 minutes' was no doubt said by Oldfield before the 'Tapas 9' all agreed to say that the checking was 'every half hour'. Also, he is quoted as saying: "One of the grown ups went to the bedrooms to see if the children were asleep". This is quite clear. One grown up went (singular), to check on the bedrooms (plural) to see if the children (plural) were asleep. It seems as though he is giving the clear impression here that one of the group went to check on all apartments. Yet Dianne Webster has been repeatedly quoted as saying that 'each couple was responsible for their own checking'.
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As usual, dinner started at 9.30pm. At about 9.25pm, M.O. went into his flat and into Madeleines flat for the childrens checking. He specifies that the door of the 4th flat (where Madeleine and the twins were) was ajar, and that there was some sort of light, enough for him to see the twins in their cots. He couldnt see the bed in which Madeleine slept, but as everything was quiet, he concluded that she was asleep. The light came from some artificial light, not from inside the bedroom, rather from outside. It seems to him that the shutters of the couples bedroom were open, without knowing if the window was open also.
REPLY: So many questions about this. So he entered the flat? Well, why didn't he at 9.05pm? Did Gerry McCann give him a key? - presumably not, as Oldfield tells us later that he ewalked in through an unlocked door. Through which door did he enter? Did he make sure the doors were locked when he left? How come Matthew Oldfield suddenly started checking on more than one apartment? Why did he check when Gerry had presumably reported back at 9.25pm that the kids were O.K.? And why does he suddenly remember making a check at 9.30pm when Russell O'Brien's carefully-written timeline, handed to police earlier, makes no mention whatsoever of a 9.30pm check by him?
Then we have what seems IMO to be a blatant and not-too-subtle attempt to create the scenario of the abductor having stolen Madeleine before his check at 9.30pm. For this to work, Matthew Oldfield asks us and the police to accept that:
1. He did 2 checks in the space of 25 minutes when Russell O'Brien's note says he did only one
2. He did not enter the apartment on the first of his two visits but apparently did on the second visit
3. He checked moreorless the same time as Gerry McCann did at around 9.05pm
4. He checked again at 9.30pm just 5 minutes after Gerry McCann returned from talking to Jeremy Wilkins
5. He entered the children's room and remembers seeing the twins asleep but not Madeleine
6. He 'thinks' the apartment was 'somewhat lighter' from artificial light outside
7. He 'thinks' the shutters were open but is not sure.
He is asking us to believe rather a lot.
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The apartment comprises 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchenette and toilet. One of the windows in the couples bedroom can be seen from the restaurant. The childrens bedroom windows look over the road inside the complex. Then M.O. went back to the restaurant.
He specifies that there are 2 windows in the bedroom. The twins cots were in the middle of the room, and Madeleines bed was against the wall facing the wall that had the 2 windows with an access inside the complex. The door he used to get into the flat was closed but unlocked. He doesnt know if it is Madeleines parents habit to leave it unlocked, considering it can be seen from the restaurant.
REPLY: Destroying the McCanns' initial claim that their doors were locked.
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Around 10pm, Kate, Madeleines mother, went to her appartment to check on her children. She came back utterly shocked and screaming, saying that Madeleine was no longer in her bedroom. At that time, all the grown ups were in the restaurant. They all went into Madeleines bedroom, saw that the twins were normally asleep.
REPLY: All went in? All 9 adults? His account differs in one important respect from that of Charlotte Pennington, who is certain the twins were not in their cots - and she also says she was the 'first to arrive' there - ahead of the 'Tapas 9'. In her statement, she says that she assumed that friends of the McCanns had moved the twins to the apartment of one of their friends.
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There was no sign of a burglary. Only, one of the windows in the childrens bedroom was open. The window and the shutters were open.
Neither during the holidays nor yesterday, anything seemed out of the ordinary. None from the group had a different behaviour, especially Gerry, Kate, none of the children either.
Question: And outside the group?
No, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing in particular. The compex is quiet, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. During daytime, the children were taken care of by the staff of the Kids' Club. He doesnt know if Madeleine has any disease or if she is under some medication. Madeleine is very energetic, obedient, communicates well, is an extrovert. Both her parents are very sociable, communicate well, are happy people, and prudent. The couple has an excellent relationship with their children and treats the three of them equally. The 3 children have been eagerly waited for by their parents and were born through 'in vitro' fecundation [IVF].
M.O. thinks it is a kidnapping, and a ransom is going to be asked from the parents, as they are quite well off, financially speaking.
REPLY: IMO this is a totally fabricated statement, with many contradictions between his account and those of others, and many unexplained answers and important details left out. Oldfield invented much of this statement in order to enhance the probability of the abduction theory taking hold. IMO he knows fine well what has become of Madeleine
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Copyright Enfants Kidnappes translated by Marie Nicholas
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. Jolie knows nothing about this case. And Barnaby - I agree, I don't particularly like Jolie either. She changes her tune to often without showing any "realness" if you know what I mean?
