in Sol on August 11:
Under the magnifying glass
SOL reveals what the McCanns and their friends say they did on the night that Maddie disappeared. Who would have died before dinner.
by: Felicia Cabrita and Margarida Davim
translated by: summer (from Proboards79)
The tests that were made this week on the car that was used by the McCann couple, indicates that the police admits that Maddies body may have been moved from the place where it was initially hidden, over the last two months.
As Sol could conclude, the investigators look for clues of the cadaver in the Renault Scenic, which was rented by Maddies parents after the childs disappearance. As the abduction possibility is set aside, authorities bet on the reconstitution of the route that was taken to hide the body. During this week, PJ and elements of the english police accompanied by the c-ockers that SOL surprised on the beach and in a valley that is close to the resort, last week performed several diligences inside and outside several houses. The authorities seem to have concluded that Maddies body is buried in the vicinity of the apartment that was occupied by the McCanns, or was thrown into the sea.
The english dogs marked the death inside the apartment. And portuguese dogs did not find any trace on the outside. This fact is devalued by Pinto da Costa, a forensic doctor, who says a perfume on the body is enough to lose the dogs. A source of GNR that was heard by SOL says the dogs only detected a movement of the child from the bedroom to another location inside the apartment.
At the same time, it is still unknown at what time the alleged crime would have taken place. A specialist that was contacted by SOL guarantees: In order for the dogs to mark the body, it would have had to remain in the area where it died for at least two hours. If so, and considering that Maddies parents say they left for dinner at 8.30 p.m., the girl would have died shortly before that given the fact the alarm to her disappearance was given at 10 p.m.
Blank hours
It is in these four hours between the time the McCann couple picked up their children at the creche and the time Kate noticed her daughter was missing that lies th solution to this mystery. This is also where the inconsistencies are found, between the versions that are reported by the couple and their friends.
The four friends couples, most of them doctors, always said they took turns among them to watch their children (either by listening through windows or by entering each others apartments) every half hour.
On that night, if the mismatching versions of the group are to be believed, there were up to three persons doing the same job. It is in this context that witness Jane Tanner appears, who is married to Russell OBrien. He only appeared in the Tapas restaurant almost at the end of the dinner, saying his daughter, who is the same age as Maddie, was feeling ill. Jane, on the other hand, would have left the restaurant to check on her daughter and verify the other children at approximately 9.20 p.m. And she walked a narrow, scarcely lit road.
On her way, she passes Maddies father, who is talking to a friend, Jeremy Wilkins a tv producer whom he met at the resorts tennis court. When Jane passed them, the two men were close to a small iron gate that leads to the back entrance of the apartment: Its impossible. I didnt see her, Jeremy said.
That gate, which accesses a small patio, and according to Maddies father, was used by him and Matthew Oldfield to check on the children. In that moment, the girls father noticed that the door to the childrens room was more open and that there was more light than usual. Yet, he thought that Maddie, disturbed by her siblings crying, would have gone into her parents room, leaving the door open. But he did not check whether his daughter was there.
With these elements, which were corroborated by Matthew, Maddies father left the possibility that at that time the abductor was already inside the room, in the air.
Contributing to the kidnapping idea, there was also Jane Tanners version, who says she saw a man carrying a child, shortly after she crossed ways with Maddies father and Jeremy. But the tv producer who was spending his holidays in a neighbouring apartment block also dismisses that possibility: I did not see any man carrying a child.
Janes testimony was one of the pieces of information that would later be used to incriminate Murat, given the fact that the arguidos house is on the street where the english woman says the man was walking to.
Jane walked approximately 5 metres from the individual who was carrying the child. Although there was little light, she describes him with detail. The man, looking caucasian, was wearing beige trousers, black shoes and was covered in a thick jacket. According to her words, he didnt even look like a tourist.
In spite of the proximity to the person who would later originate the first drawing of the supposed kidnapper of Maddie, Jane, who socialized with the girl on a daily basis, did not recognize her. According to her statement, the child was wearing pink pyjamas, seemed to be asleep and was barefoot. This was the detail that she found the strangest.
That night, after Kate discovered the disappearance of her daughter (and after Jane supposedly confirmed with another friend that Maddie was wearing a pyjamas of the same colour), Jane Tanner made no comment. I did not want to worry Kate even further, she later guaranteed.
A witness that was contacted by SOL at that time seems to indicate that Jane, although she never crossed ways with the tv producer, may have described the right person, so if the suspect crossed ways with someone on his way, the versions would match.
The last diligences that PJ has performed do however put aside the doubts that were on Robert Murat, given the fact that the searches did not find anything that incriminates him.
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The movie of the night
After collecting all the elements, and crossing information from various sources, SOLs investigation makes a reconstitution of the night that Maddie disappeared.
6 p.m. The McCanns pick their children up at the Ocean Clubs creche.
7.30 Madeleine and the twins go to bed.
8.30 Gerry and Kate arrive at the Tapas restaurant.
8.45 Russell, Matthew and Rachel Oldfield go to the restaurant.
8.55 David and Fiona Payne also arrive at the Tapas. According to David, all the elements of the group were already there. But Rachel assures that Matthew arrived two or three minutes after the Paynes.
9.00 Matthew went to check on the children.
9.05 Gerry left the Tapas to check on his children. When he is returning to the dinner, he meets Jeremy Wilkins an english man he met during the holidays and chats with him for ten minutes. Neither Gerry nor Jeremy notice Jane or the suspicious man that she says she saw, although they were all on the same narrow street at the same time.
9.10 Jane went to check on her children and notices a man walking hastily, carrying a child. She memorizes the suspect, but fails to recognize Maddie.
9.25 Gerry returns to Tapas. Russell told PJ that at this time Matt and he went to check the children.
9.30 Matthew goes into Madeleines apartment. Russell OBrien leaves the restaurant at the same time. In the first statements, Matt does not refer anything strange in Madeleines room and Russell fails to explain that he stayed in his apartment because his younger daughter was feeling sick. Later, Matt said that he noticed more light in the McCanns apartment and Russell revealed his daughter was vomiting.
9.35 Matthew Oldfield returned to Tapas.
9.45 Jane Tanner says at this time not at 9.30 Matthew and Russell left the restaurant.
9.55 Russell returns to the restaurant.
10.00 Jane goes to the apartment and notices her daughter has disappeared. She goes back to Tapas and raises the alarm. Everybody leaves the restaurant, except Dianne Webster.
10.05 Dianne Webster goes into Maddies room. The twins are sleeping.
22.15 Dianne returns to Tapas, to pick up her purse and her camera.
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The McCanns friends that the police is watching
Rachel and Matthew Oldfield
Rachell Manpilly is 36 and she is married to Matthew Oldfield. The couple has a daughter, who was only 18 months old when Madeleine McCann disappeared. But now even so the Oldfields asked for the Ocean Clubs babysitting service. Matthew met Gerry McCann when both doctors worked together at a hospital in Leicester. Matt has a pending accusation for medical negligence in that hospital, after a late diagnosis resulted in the death of a patient. This was not the first time the Oldfields spent their holidays with this group. The last trip had been to Greece where they also stayed in a resort of the Ocean Clubs group but that time Gerry and Kate did not accompany them.
Dianne Webster
63 year old Dianne Webster is the oldest element of the group. This credit controller is the mother of Fiona Payne and the grandmother of two of the children from the group that was spending their holidays in the Ocean Club.
To the portuguese police, Dianne told she could not precise which elements abandoned the Tapas restaurant during dinner, on the night that Madeleine disappeared. Fionas mother is also the only witness that said each couple was responsible for their own children, and did not enter their friends apartments.
After Kate entered the restaurant visibly upset and yelling theyve taken our Madeleine Dianne was the only one who stayed seated at the Tapas table. Which she only left five minutes later.
David and Fiona Payne
It was David Payne who organised the groups holidays at Praia da Luz. The reservation was made over the internet, after a good experience with the Ocean Clubs group, in Greece. This was the second time that David came to Portugal. The first time was eleven years ago, before he got married.
David and Fiona have been together for seven years and are both doctors, like the McCanns friends. The couple has two children and they were the only ones in the group who used the babyphone system to keep watch over the children during dinners which always took place without the small ones.
Fiona was back in the Algarve on July 11, along with Rachel and Russell, in order to give their third deposition to PJ.
Russell OBrien and Jane Tanner
Russell OBrien is a doctor and lives in Exeter the same english city where the sister of Robert Murat lives.
After studying at the same university as David Payne, OBrien met Jane, with whom he has two children. The friendship between Russell and David is so strong that he chose him as his wedding godfather when he made his relationship with Fiona official, in Italy.
Coincidentally, Jane and Kate became pregnant at the same time, as the OBrien couples oldest daughter is exactly the same age as Maddie.
Jane Tanner is one of the key witnesses in the Madeleine case, given the fact she says she saw a suspicious man, walking with a child in his arms, on the night of the disappearance. Jane describes the individual with extreme precision, although she was not capable to recognize the child he was carrying. The man that Jane saw has dark, thick hair and is 1.70 m tall.
