Enfants Kidnappés
Kate Marie Healy's statement.
Kate's interview took place on the day after Madeleine's disappearance, 04/05/07 at 2.20pm.
On the subject of the proceedings:
The interviewee was heard as a victim, being the mother of the minor. Of British nationality, she has no command of the Portuguese language, spoken or written. Thus, the interview was done in the presence of an interpreter: Natalia C.F. de A. The interviewee says she has been married to Gerald since December 1998. She has never been to Portugal before. The trip came at the suggestion of friends, who convinced them, at the end of last year, to spend their holiday in Portugal. The trip was organised by David Payne, who made the Praia da Luz Ocean Club reservation on the Internet for the interviewee and her husband, as well as for the rest of the group, a total of 9 adults and eight children, including her daughter Madeleine. She has known some members of the group since the year 2000 and others for a year. She was a colleague of David's wife.
Comment: First thing I notice here is that Kate's statement is at a different time to the previous ones detailed by Enfants Kidnappés. Both Jane Tanner's and Matthew Oldfield's took place at the same time in the morning of May 4th 2007, but Kate's was in the afternoon, giving ample time to confer with those who had already been interviewed?
They traveled in two separate groups. One of the groups was composed of the interviewee, her husband Gerald, their three children, David and his wife, the mother-in-law and their two children. One of the groups left from Leicestershire and the other from London.
The meeting point was the Ocean Club where the interviewee's group arrived on Saturday April 28th at around 3pm from Faro airport in an airport mini bus. The other group arrived on the same day, late morning.
After checking in, the interviewee and her family were placed in apartment G5A. The nuclear family comprises the interviewee, her husband, her daughter Madeleine and twins, Sean and Amelie, aged 2 years.
The apartment has two beds in one bedroom, and two in another where there are also two cots on loan from the Ocean Club.
The interviewee and her husband sleep in one bedroom and the three children in the other. The twins sleep in cots, Madeleine in a normal bed, the other bed staying empty.
Between the day of the arrival, April 28th, and the time that Madeleine's disappearance was discovered, the interviewee says that she noticed nothing unusual. She reports only one episode where, on the morning of Thursday May 3rd, Madeleine asked the interviewee why she had not come to look in the bedroom (apartment?) when the twins were crying. The interviewee states that she had heard nothing and had therefore not gone into the bedroom (apartment?). She ignored her daughter's words because it was the first time she had talked about it.
The routines
The day after their arrival, they went for breakfast at around 7.30/8.30 at the Ocean Club, in a bar situated some distance from the apartment. On the following days, because the bar was quite far away, they started buying supplies from the "BAPTISTE" supermarket, located on the same road as the apartment and they had their first meal of the day in the apartment.
After breakfast, at around 9/9.30am, the children went to the club called the "KIDS CLUB" where they did various activities such as painting, collage etc. They stayed there until around 12.30pm, constantly supervised by several Ocean Club employees in a ratio of three children to one employee. Within the "Kids Club" because of the difference in ages, the twins were in one group and Madeleine in another, with separate activities.
At 12.30pm, they (Editor's note: the McCann parents) collect their children and have lunch in their apartment since they have provisions. After lunch, at around 1.30pm, the children spend time close to the club's swimming pool, supervised by the parents, for about 45 minutes, where they play and have sun cream applied. After this time, they take the children to the "Kids Club" until around 5/5.30pm, the time when the children eat in a bar under the watchful gaze of the parents. After the 5pm dinner, they give the children a bath, prepare them for the night and let them play for a while in a playground next to the tennis courts, still and always under parental supervision. At around 8pm, the children are put to bed until the following morning when the described routines start all over again. While the children are at the "Kids Club," the interviewee played tennis with her husband, went for walks, read or went "Jogging."
Thursday May 3rd 2007
Yesterday, after the daily routine, Madeleine and the twins went to bed at around 7.30. They were in their respective beds. The interviewee and her husband stayed in their apartment to relax until 8.30pm. She took a bath, did her make-up and drank a glass of New Zealand wine with her husband. Just after 8.30pm, the interviewee and her husband, after checking on their children, joined the other adults of the group at the "TAPAS" restaurant, about 50 metres away, where they had dinner. As usual, every half hour, and given that the building is very close, the interviewee and her husband went to make sure the children were OK. Thus, at around 9pm, her husband went to the apartment to make sure the twins, as well as Madeleine, were OK, then he went back to the restaurant. Her husband said that the children were doing well and that he had bumped into the person with whom he had played tennis, a person who has two children. At the same time, one of the group of friends, Russell, went to see his children, without checking on the interviewee's children.
Around 9.30pm was the time the interviewee should have gone to see her children, but her friend Matt (a member of the group) had just done a check in his apartment then gone to the interviewee's. He had gone into the apartment through a glass door at the side and once inside had not gone into the children's bedroom. He only looked through the door, and did not hear any noise. He went back to the restaurant and said that everything was fine.
At around 10pm, the interviewee went to check on the children. She went into the apartment by the side door, which was closed. She noticed that the door to her children's bedroom was completely open, the window was also open, the shutters raised and the curtains open, while she was certain of having closed them all as she always did.
Faced with this situations, she verified that the twins were indeed in their respective beds, unlike Madeleine, who had disappeared. The cover was pulled back and the toys were on the pillow as usual. After searching the whole apartment thoroughly, the interviewee went back, scared and shocked, to the restaurant, to alert her husband to the disappearance. The whole group then set about searching for Madeleine throughout the complex, looked in all the buildings, swimming pool, tennis courts etc....as well as in the apartment with the help of employees, who, at the same time, contacted the authorities.
Later, a member of the group, Russell's partner Jane, said that when she went to her apartment at around 9.15pm, she had seen a long-haired person with a child in his arms, about 50 metres away, on the perimeter road of the club, walking very quickly. But she is better able to tell you about that herself.
Concerning Madeleine, she is Caucasian, white, aged four years (12/05/2003) about 90cm tall. Very slim, dark blond hair; shoulder-length. Left eye blue-green same as the right, which has a brown spot. She has a small brown spot on the skin of her left leg as well as sunburn on her right forearm. She has no scars. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing pyjamas with white bottoms with a floral pattern. The short-sleeved top, mainly pink with a blue-grey pattern bearing the inscription, "EEYORE," an inscription which is also on one of the trouser legs. The pyjamas are "Marks and Spencer" brand.
Concerning the child's personality, she is extrovert, very active, talkative, smart and relates to other children with great ease. But she would never go with a stranger. She has no suspicions to talk about, finds no reason for this act, neither she nor her husband has enemies. She states that her daughter has no illnesses and is not on any medication.
Following a request from the inspector, she authorises a reading of the calls on her mobile phone. Apart from the Kids Club and the apartment, they only went once to the beach with Madeleine and the other children and only for a very short period of time, since the weather was changeable. They could only go to the beach between 1.30 and 3pm, the time when they went back to the club. At the beach, they only ate an ice cream then they went back to the apartment. Apart from that Madeleine went to the beach with the Kids Cub for an hour. The supervision and planning were the responsibility of the club. The interviewee and her husband were not present. She never noticed any strange behaviour during these recent days which could explain the disappearance. After having been shown the list of the Ocean Club's guests, she says she only knows the names of those of the group. Other than the child, nothing else has disappeared, neither clothes nor the child's jewelry. (? parures?) The interviewee did not have an intercom, unlike David and Fiona Payne who were able to hear crying or any kind of noise. She has nothing else to add. After having read the deed, she confirms it, ratifies it and signs it with the interpreter.
Enfants Kidnappés 26/08/08
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