The McCann case: Gerry McCann's interview 4/05/07

Enfants Kidnappés

Continuing with the case file.

In our previous article, we opened up the contents of the case file for you, up to page 5. Of course, given that there are 30,000 pages to the case file, of which only 11,000 are open to the press, it would take years to publish the whole thing on this site. That's true, but of course, we are not going to publish everything. The various parts of the case file comprising routine checks, copies of passports, copies of documents of all kinds, copies of faxes sent to this or that service, requests to visit homes, copies of airline tickets, various references and advice on reporting, requests for collaboration from other Interpol countries: in brief, you will be spared all the red tape, which is included in a case file.

Indeed, they are of little interest to our readers. These documents are only of interest to the police and the magistrate to confirm that the procedure has been followed. Thus, the interview which we publish today is to be found on page 34 of the case file. Between pages 5 and 34, in addition to certain documents, there is a photographic report and a plan of apartment 5A at the Ocean Club. The photos have been widely on the Web, notably by the British press. However, certain snaps are unknown to the public. Amongst these snaps, is one that shows that the height from the floor of apartment 5A to the window, is 90cm. Another shows that the distance between the edge of the bed and this same window is 40cm. Other photos are there only to support descriptions of the places. And finally, we come to Gerry McCann's interview.



The interview took place on the day after Madeleine's disappearance, 04/05/07, at 11.15am. The interview starts with an explanation of the fact that Gerry is British and that as a consequence he does not understand Portuguese, written or spoken, for which reason, a, "sworn," interpreter, first name Natalia, was asked for help. Her role is to conscientiously translate, from the person's language into the official language of the country; the words, feelings, images, formal and informal phrases used, in order to avoid any misinterpretation.

Gerry McCann had already been to Portugal in 1994. He stayed in an apartment on the outskirts of Albufeira. The desire to get to know Portugal was due to the fact that the country is known for its excellent facilities for golf. The present journey was made at the suggestion of a friend, DAVID PAYNE, who made a reservation at the Ocean Club, following an internet search, for the interviewee, his wife and the rest of the group. In total, a group of nine adults and eight children, including the missing minor, Madeleine.The group was made up of people the interviewee has known for 5 or 6 years.

They traveled in two separate groups, one composed of the interviewee, his wife KATE and their three children, DAVID PAYNE and his wife, their two sons and his mother-in-law. This group travelled from the airport local to Leicestershire and the other group, comprised of four adults and three children, from London. The meeting point was the Ocean Club in Portugal. The interviewee's group arrived there at 2.30pm on April 28th from Faro airport on an airport mini bus. The other group arrived the same day at 1pm. After checking in, the interviewee and his wife, KATE HEALY, their daughter, MADELEINE, and their two year-old twins SEAN and AMELIE, were placed in apartment G5A. The apartment consisted of two beds in the first bedroom, and two others in another room, in which were two cots on loan from the company, in addition to the bathroom and toilet and the kitchen corner. KATE and GERALD slept in one of the rooms and in the other, their three children slept, the twins in cots and MADELEINE in a normal bed. The other bed remained empty. Between April 29th, the day of arrival, and the time when MADELEINE disappeared, the interviewee reports having noticed nothing unusual, except that on the morning of May 3rd, MADELEINE asked her father, GERALD, why he had not come into the room when the twins were crying. The interviewee had heard nothing and had not gone into the room. It was the first time that MADELEINE had made that kind of comment.

As for routine events, this is how it went:

On the Sunday, they had breakfast, between 7.30 and 8.30am at the Ocean Club in the bar a few metres from the apartment. In the days following, because of the distance to the said bar, they started buying food at the supermarket, situated on the same road as the apartment. After breakfast, the children were left at one of the Club's Crèches, called the, "Kid's Club," where they participated in various activities such as painting, collage etc.

This was until 12.30pm, supervised by several employees in a ratio of one supervisor to three children. At 12.30pm, the parents went to collect the children and had lunch in the apartment since they had bought provisions. Lunch over, at around 1.30pm, the children spent time near the club's swimming pool, supervised by their parents, for around 45 minutes, where they played and had sun cream applied. After that time, the children returned to the, "Kid's Club," until around 5pm, when they had dinner at the bar, under the parents' supervision. After the 5pm meal, the parents gave them a bath and before getting them ready for the night, allowed them to play for a little while in the area next to the tennis courts, still under the parents' supervision. Towards 7.30/8pm the children were in bed until morning, when the routine described, started all over again.




While the children were at the, "Kid's Club," GERRY played tennis with KATE, went for walks or went, "jogging." Yesterday (Editor's note: Day of the disappearance), after the daily routines, MADELEINE and the twins were put to bed in their respective beds at 7.30pm. The parents remained in the apartment to relax and drink a glass of wine until 8.30pm. After checking that the children were asleep, the parents, accompanied by other adults, went to the, "Tapas," restaurant, around 50 metres away, where they had dinner together. As usual, every half hour and considering that the restaurant was close to the apartment, the interviewee or his wife went to check if the children were OK.

9.05pm

Thus, at 9.05pm, the interviewee entered the room (apartment?) using his key, the door being locked, and went to the children's room and noted that the twins and Madeleine were OK. He then took several minutes going to the toilet. He left the apartment and bumped into someone with whom he had played tennis and had a brief conversation. He then returned to the Tapas.

9.30pm

At 9.30pm, a friend, MATT, (a member of the group) went to his apartment where his own children were, and he went through the interviewee's apartment, going in through a patio door (it says glazed or glass door, but I'm making it patio door!) at the side of the building, which was always open. He went into the room (apartment?) He saw the twins and he checked if Madeleine was OK. Everything was normal, the shutters closed and the bedroom door half-open as usual.Then MATT went back to the restaurant.

10pm

At 10pm, Kate went to check on the children. She went into the apartment, using her key and saw that the bedroom door was completely open, the window was also open, the shutters raised and the curtains open. The doors were locked except the one at the back as already noted above. Faced with this situation, KATE checked that the twins were in their respective beds, unlike MADELEINE, who had disappeared. After thoroughly searching the apartment, his wife, scared and shocked, went to the restaurant to inform the interviewee of the disappearance. Immediately, the group took themselves around the club and searched across all the facilities, swimming pool, tennis etc., as well as in the apartment, with the help of Ocean Club employees, who, at the same time, contacted the authorities.

9.10/9.15pm

It is noted that when one of the members of the group, JANE, went to her apartment to see her children, at around 9.10/9.15, at a distance of about 50 metres, in the road leading to the club, she saw a person carrying a child in pyjamas. JANE will be more able to clarify this situation.

Madeleine

Concerning Madeleine, she is described as being Caucasian, white, aged 4 (12/05/07) and around 90cm tall. Slender, with shoulder length, straight, dark blond hair. Left eye and right greeny-blue and the right having a spot of brown. She also has a distinctive brown mark on her left leg. She has no scars. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing pyjamas with white floral-patterned trousers and a short-sleeved top, which was mainly pink in colour, with a blue and charcoal design with the inscription, "EEYORE."

Concerning the child's personality, she is extrovert, hyper-active, good talker, smart and relates to other children with great ease. She would never go with a stranger. The interviewee has no suspicions to talk about and finds no reason for this act. Neither he nor his wife has any enemies. His daughter does not suffer from any illness and is not on any medication. The interviewee authorises a reading of his mobile phone. Apart from the Kid's Club, and the apartment, they only went once to the beach with Madeleine and the twins and for a very short time, since the weather was changeable. In Praia, they only ate an ice cream and went back to the apartment. Apart from what has already been said, Madeleine and the other children at the Kid's Club went to the beach, five minutes walk from the club, for an hour. This outing was organised by the company itself. The supervision and organisation was the responsibility of the club: the interviewee and his wife were not present.

Enfants Kidnappés