Sunday Express: "Madeleine Exclusive: All Three Children Drugged."

Sunday Express 11/10/09

Now, reading that headline, you'd think that some kind of official report had reached this conclusion. Not so. This is the latest theory put forward by the McCanns' private investigators, Dave Edgar and Arthur Cowley. Last I heard the intrepid two were investigating the "lawless villages," around Praia da Luz where the "lone prowler," was reckoned to be hanging out with Madeleine in a, "secret lair."

According to today's Sunday Express, the tireless twosome, who didn't actually check out the Barcelona sighting of the Victoria Beckham looky-likey before they announced their breakthrough to the world, are working on a new theory. I guess they could eventually come up with some kind of contorted version that might explain the evidence or lack of evidence of an abduction.

By James Murray

" The kidnapper of Madeleine McCann drugged her and her twin brother and sister so they would all be quiet while she was snatched.

A duplicate key may also have been used to gain entrance to the holiday apartment where the children were sleeping, say investigators."

Yes, this looks like some kind of official report and some people are going to think that investigators means police rather than a couple of PIs sitting in a house in Knutsford, Cheshire.

How to make the theory fit the established facts. There was no evidence of a break-in. So, a duplicate key must have been used.

"It means the monster is still a threat to children living or holidaying on Portugal’s Algarve and must be caught urgently as he is highly likely to reoffend."

Urgently? It's been two years and five months already!

"They are convinced the ­abductor went to the family’s apartment on May 3 2007 fully prepared with sufficient drugs, probably ­chloroform, to knock out all three children.

The fact that Sean and Amelie, then just 18 months old, failed to wake when the alarm was raised, nor even as they were taken to another apartment in the cold night air, has persuaded the detectives that they, too, must have been drugged."

Probably chloroform? Style gurus Trinny and Susannah were drugged with chloroform in their apartment in Cannes while on an assignment. As reported by the Daily Mail:

"Another friend of Miss Constantine, who is married to Danish businessman Sten Bertelsen, said of the attack: 'They woke up one morning and their hands felt sticky, there was a funny smell in the room and they both felt hungover."

The following morning in that case, there was a funny smell and the women felt hungover, yet just immediately after Madeleine's disappearance, neither the police nor any witness who entered the McCanns' holiday apartment, mentioned a funny smell. Also, the twins were fit to be placed in the creche the following day as usual.

We do have what might be an indication of the twins having been drugged in Fiona Payne's statement to the police about the evening of May 3rd:

"Asked if the twins had not woken up at all, Fiona said no, adding that Kate kept on going to the twins, placing her hands on them to check if they were still breathing, because she seemed to be much more interested in making sure they were alright."

So, why would Kate be so concerned about whether the twins were still breathing? Looks like even then she was worried about the effect of something, perhaps drugs. However, if someone, especially a qualified doctor were to suspect that a stranger might have drugged her children, wouldn't she be likely to keep those children under surveillance for a while and to request testing? Kate McCann did neither.

"Had the twins been tested for drugs immediately, any ­medication used could have been established, making it easier to identify the kidnapper, but vital time was lost."

Dave, I think you'll find that the McCanns refused to have the twins tested. So, vital time was lost by whom? You make it sound like the police were responsible for this lost time by making this vague statement. And if the twins had been tested and the presence of drugs to make them sleep had been found, how useful would that have been? There would still be no witnesses other than Jane Tanner. There would still be no vehicle sighting. So, what might it have revealed? For me, all it would have revealed would have been the nature of the drug, which may, yes, have led to some serious questions being asked at the time.

"Even now, however, experts say there may be forensic clues on clothing or bedding which could yield a breakthrough."

Experts? Another vague statement. What experts? And if those forensic clues are still there on clothing and bedding two years and five months later, wouldn't there have been a significant smell of chloroform at the time? Yet, no one mentioned it.

"The Sunday Express can further reveal that the McCanns’ private detectives are working on a solid theory about exactly how Madeleine was abducted."

Wowee! The Sunday Express can reveal!! What the pretendy cops are thinking now is a revelation? They think that the abductor had done a "dummy run," the night before, and decided to come back with suitable drugs because Sean woke up and woke Madeleine. Well, that's another part of the story explained. I think we're heading for something like the elusive "Theory of everything," in physics.

"Mr Edgar and Mr Cowley do not believe Madeleine was taken through an open window as it would have been awkward, time consuming and there were no forensic clues left behind."

Right! So, why did this abductor open the window? He tried the window, even though he had a duplicate key, but found it too awkward? And why did Kate and Gerry tell all the friends and relies that the shutters had been jemmied and the window left open? What about that cold draft Kate felt as she opened the door and observed those fluttering curtains? I guess you'll come up with an additional element to your theory to cover that! Just to pre-empt the obvious one, Dave, if the window had been opened to disperse the smell of chloroform, then since the breeze was blowing into the apartment, and was strong enough to blow the door closed, it would have been dispersing the smell through the rest of the apartment and surely Kate would have detected it as she approached the bedroom door? Did she mention this? Nope!

OK, Dave, does the Smith sighting of a man who looked like Gerry McCann come into your, "solid theory"? No one seems to have come forward to say it was him carrying a child. So, will your theory of everything include an explanation? I can hardly wait.

Enfants Kidnappés 29/08/08: Fiona Payne's statement 4/05/07

Enfants Kidnappés

29/08/08

Before publishing Fiona Payne's statements, it seemed interesting to us to digress a little. Following lots of questions received by e-mail, we are going to try to reply to some of them. First of all, you should bear in mind that I wasn't there during the interviews and that there is nothing in the written report that clarifies how certain questions were formulated or what those questions were.

Except occasionally where it says: "Following our question the interviewee says....." However, typical interviews like these - let's not forget that they are interviews in the context of the disappearance of a child - are often done within the same framework. The inspectors have to pose various, "open," questions to the interviewee. These questions were probably the following (This is speculation, but based on extensive experience, it is highly likely that this speculation is accurate):

• How long have you been in Portugal and how did you get here?
• For how long have you known the child's parents?
• How has the holiday been going?
• How did the day of May 3rd develop?
• How did the evening of May 3rd develop?
• What was the attitude of the parents towards their children and particularly with the missing girl?
• Did you notice anything unusual?
• What is Madeleine like? (Personality traits)
• Was she ill? Was she taking any medication?

It is logical to imagine that this was the framework on which the PJ based these interviews. The open question technique is the only valid one in an interview. An example being worth more than a thousand words, here is an example of a closed question: "Was the suspect's car green?" That is a closed question, not allowed during an interview because it influences the witness in their response. By contrast, the following open question: "What colour was the suspect's car?" is totally admissible because the witness is not influenced by it.

Going back to Fiona's interview, it was recorded on May 4th 2007 at 7.20pm by an inspector from the 4th DIC brigade.

On the subject in hand we note that:

The interviewee was heard as a witness belonging to the group who came to Portugal with the young child Madeleine. She (editor's note: Fiona) is married to David who is also on the trip. She has known the child's parents for around seven years. She met Kate while they were working together and she was already a friend when she met her future husband, David. The McCann couple have three children, twins aged two and Madeleine nearly four years. The interviewee has two children, who are respectively 1 and 2 years old. The idea to come to Portugal came from her husband, David, who had already been to Portugal eleven years before.

They arrived in Portugal on April 28th at around 12 noon, coming from Leicestershire via Faro and finally to Praia da Luz. From Faro to the Ocean Club, they traveled in an airport mini-bus. After checking in, they were placed in apartment G5H with her whole family (Husband, mother and two children).

The routines.

Concerning what they usually do, the interviewee says that in the morning, after breakfast, which they have as a family in the bar at a club at around 8.15/8.30, they place their children in one of the complex's crèches, in different sections. In the afternoon, their children take a nap, while she and her husband stay in the apartment. At around 3.30/4pm, the nap over, they all go to the swimming pool or to the tennis courts where the interviewee stays with her children and her husband until 6/7pm. Then, they go back to the apartment, bathe the children, put them to bed and go to join the rest of the group for the adults' dinner, at the "Tapas," restaurant situated near the club.

Dinner

During dinner, the interviewee and her husband never went to their apartment to check that the children were ok because they would have heard the slightest noise, or any crying in the bedroom thanks to a, "Baby Monitoring," type intercom. Yesterday, the usual routine was slightly changed. Yesterday, she went to the beach with her children, her husband and her mother, Diane. They arrived there at around 3.45pm and came back around 6.15pm to go to the tennis courts where they stayed until 7pm. Then the interviewee went to her apartment with her children and her mother. In the apartment, her mother, helped by her husband, gave the children a bath while the interviewee went jogging on the beach until 8pm. Then she returned to the apartment and did a few household chores and went out at around 8.45pm, accompanied by her mother and her husband to go to the "Tapas," restaurant to join the rest of the group. TheMcCann couple were amongst the members of the group at dinner.

The interviewee states that Kate and Gerry, as well as other couples, went to the club a few times, at regular intervals, to make sure the children were ok. During one of these checks, Kate came back frightened and very jumpy, panicked even, and she announced that Madeleine had disappeared.

Search groups were immediately organised, in the apartment, thinking that she could be hiding there, then outside, without success, even with the help of employees. Then given Kate's state of anxiety, the interviewee decided to stay with her to lend her support.

The interviewee has never been in Madeleine's family's apartment.

Knowing Madeleine well, the interviewee describes her as very intelligent, and totally incapable of going with a stranger without screaming or protesting strongly unless she was very tired or asleep.

Concerning what Jane said, the latter only said she saw a person with a child in his arms but she didn't know if it was Madeleine.

During the holiday, the interviewee noticed nothing unusual. She has nothing else to add.

After reading, together with the interpreter, who explains the contents to her, she goes on and signs the deed.


Enfants Kidnappés

Comment: I don't understand why anyone would want to go to the trouble of air travel, and what that entails, and long journeys with small children, to go to a country like Portugal, and then hardly set foot outside a holiday complex. I'm sure there must be similar holiday complexes in the UK, if what they want to do is dump the kids in a crèche then play various sports. They might as well be anywhere!

When I travel...well, actually, I have never been on a package holiday...I like to explore the place or the country I am in. That's why my family would be booking a cottage, a villa, or an apartment, giving the freedom to be out and about, seeing the scenery, visiting places of interest, even just visiting different beaches and exploring that coastal town.

Who wants to travel to an obviously beautiful country like Portugal and not explore the country a little? And in Portugal, drink New Zealand wine? Why? Why not try the produce of the local vineyards? That's what I do on holiday abroad.

The McCanns and their friends are an obviously intelligent bunch of people, but they display Butlin's behaviour! They travel to Portugal, play tennis on the club's courts, jog on the beach, eat regularly at the club's restaurant and don't get out there to see what the country has to offer? They should've gone to Butlin's!!!