Enfants Kidnappés 22/08/08: Jane Tanner's statements from the case file

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

22/08/08

Before starting on Jane Tanner's statements, there is a small correction we wish to make. In recent days, the press has put forward information, according to which, Jane Tanner was allegedly not absent from the, "Tapas," throughout the evening get-together, that is to say from 7.30pm until 10pm.

It would seem that the press has been rather quick to reach this conclusion. The reality is that there is nothing to say whether Jane Tanner did or did not leave the, "Tapas." According to various witnesses present at the, "Tapas," some say, "I don't recall having seen (Jane Tanner) leave the restaurant." That doesn't mean that she did indeed stay there the whole evening. The witnesses don't remember it, that's all. The only thing these statements indicate is uncertainty. On that basis, the press has been hasty in its conclusions.

Jane Tanner's interview.

As with Gerry McCann's interview, a translator was called for. This time, the, "sworn," interpreter was Filipa Maria. It is important to bear in mind that there is a different translator each time. This guarantees objectivity in the translation, the translator not being influenced by the translation of the previous person. The interview begins at 11.30am on May 4th 2007.


I have been in Portugal since last Saturday, April 28th 2007, at the Ocean Club tourist resort, with my partner (Russell O'Brien), my two children and three couples of friends (Gerald McCann, Kate Healy, Matthew Oldfield, Rachael Manpilly, David and Fiona Payne as well as Fiona Payne's mother, Diane Webster). We are with our children, **** O'Brien, aged 3 years and **** O'Brien, aged one year.

The other couples have also come with their children, ***** Oldfield, aged one year (daughter of Matthew Oldfield and Rachael Manpilly), **** Payne, aged two years and ******* Payne, aged eleven months (children of David and Fiona Payne). The twins, Sean and Amélie McCann, aged two years and Madeleine Beth McCann who will celebrate her birthday during the holiday week. (Children of Gerald McCann and Kate Healy)

The interviewee and her partner are on holiday with the other couples, having organised the trip from England, where they are friends. They traveled with the, "Mark Warner," agency. All the couples have individual apartments in the same complex, with their respective children.

Since Saturday, the habit has been to get up around 7.30/8am, then to have breakfast in a restaurant near the apartment, called the, "Millennium," (6) towards 9am, to drive the children to the, "Kids Club." (2)(4)(5), according to the ages of the children. Only Gerry and Kate have breakfast in their apartment due to the fact that they have three children and it is complicated walking with the three at the same time. Then, they too drive their children to the, "Kids Club."

The Kid's Club

**** O'Brien and Madeleine McCann are left in a place at the reception. (4) Responsible for them is an English lady named Cat Baker. Apart from her, there are three or four people to look after the children. (She no longer remembers the names apart from one: Emma Wilding). They do several activities like going to the indoor swimming pool in the complex, going to the tennis court which is outside near the, "Tapas," restaurant (3), going to the beach (outside), painting and going for walks in the complex.

***** Oldfield, ****O'Brien, **** Payne, Amélie and Sean McCann are left at a third place (2) near the, "Tapas," restaurant. The supervisor for ***** and **** was an English citizen named Leanne Wagstaff. As for ****, Amélie and Sean, the supervisor would be, but not certain, Stacey Portz. The activities were identical to the other places, outside and inside the complex.

Towards 12.30, they go to fetch their children from the respective rooms at the, "Kids Club," which close for lunch. Lunch was sometimes taken all together in the apartment of one of the couples.

Towards 2.30, the "Kids Club" rooms open and only Madeleine, Amélie, Sean and **** go back. The others stay with their respective parents.




03 mai 2007

Until yesterday, May 3rd, the interviewee has not, to her knowledge, noticed anything strange of suspicious concerning the group of friends or the children. Yesterday, the interviewee wasn't at breakfast because she had a tennis lesson scheduled for 9am. It was her partner who went with their children after breakfast to fetch **** ****** and drove them all to the "Kids Club."

**** must have been unwell because she didn't go to the "Kids Club" that day. Kate Healy and Diane Webster came and waited 30 minutes for the tennis lesson to finish at 9.30am. She did not know where the McCann children had breakfast but they were at the "Kids Club" where she supposed that Gerry, their father, had dropped them off. During the tennis lesson (8), Kate Healy behaved normally.

After the lesson, the interviewee and her partner, O'Brien, went with their daughter **** to the beach. (7) They stayed there until 12.20. Then they had been to fetch **** from the "Kids Club" The interviewee does not know what Kate did after leaving the tennis court (8) at around 10am, but she knows that Gerald McCann had a tennis lesson (8) between 10.10 and 11.10.

The interviewee did not notice if Madeleine was still at the "Kids Club" when they had been to fetch ****. They went to have lunch in their apartment with their two children together with Matthew Oldfield, Rachael Manpilly and their daughter *****. They had lunch from 12.45 to 1.45 then, at around 2pm, the interviewee again played tennis (8) but with Rachael Manpilly this time. The interviewee remembers that while she was playing tennis, (8) she saw Kate Healy and Gerald mcCann with their three children in the play area next to the court. Kate waved to her. The mcCann family stayed in that play area until 2.40 when they drove their children to the "Kids Club".

After finishing playing tennis (8) at around 2.45, the interviewee went back to her apartment (1) where she stayed with her daughter ****. Her husband and Matthew Oldfield went sailing.

Tennis

At 3.45, the interviewee went to the Praia beach (7) with her daughter, ****, Rachael Manpilly, Diane Webster, Fiona Payne, *** Payne and ***** Payne. Her husband Russell O'Brien was back from his boat trip and he went to fetch **** from the "Kids Club." They joined the group at the beach (7)until they went back at around 6.10/6.15. On the way to the beach, the group of friends mentioned above, saw Gerald McCann and Kate Healy having an individual tennis lesson. The children were not with them. At around 5.15pm, they saw Kate Healy jogging along the beach. (7)

Russell O'Brien, Matthew Oldfield and David Payne left the beach (7) a little earlier to go to the tennis court for men's tennis night. When the group came back from the beach (7) at around 6.20pm, they went past the tennis court and they saw all the men, including Gerald McCann, on the court. (8) They stayed to talk to them for around 20 to 30 minutes. Gerald McCann behaved normally. The interviewee supposed that Kate was at the apartment (1) putting the children to bed. Around 7pm, they went to their own apartments (1) with the children. The interviewee bathed her two daughters, read them a story to send them to sleep. As **** was unwell and had difficulty going to sleep, she stayed with her father who, meantime, had returned. The interviewee went to dinner at the, "Tapas," restaurant at around 8.30pm.

"Tapas" restaurant.

When she arrived at the restaurant, several adult members of the group were already there, without children, who were, in theory, asleep.

Around 9pm, her husband arrived at the restaurant. He had succeeded in getting **** to sleep. Because of the late arrival of David Payne, Fiona Payne and Diane Webster, the meal booked for 8.30pm, did not start until 9pm, when the Payne family arrived. Usually, every 15 minutes one person from each apartment went to the respective rooms (1) to make sure everything was OK. During dinner, everything went well. Everybody was in a good mood.

The interviewee recall that, around 9.10pm, Gerald McCann left the restaurant (3) to go to the apartment to see the children. Five minutes later the interviewee left, in her turn, to go to her own apartment to check on her children. She saw Gerald McCann talking to a British citizen named Jez. They got to know each other during the holiday and played tennis together. She went past them knowing that Gerald McCann had already checked the children in the apartment.

The suspicious man.

However, she spotted a man (*) who was going along at a fair speed with a child in his arms (*) with the child in pyjamas without a blanket, which attracted her attention. The interviewee only saw the man from the side with the child in his arms. She noticed this person exactly at the moment when she walked past Gerald and Jez. That person was coming out of the path at the end of the apartment block (1) where they are staying. The man quickly crossed the intersection. The entrance to the building where the apartments are is the exact place where she saw the man. After checking on her children, the interviewee went back to the "tapas." On her way back, Gerald McCann was no longer in the road where she had seen him talking. On her arrival at the restaurant (3) Gerald McCann was with his wife Kate Healy.

15 to 20 minutes later, Matthew Oldfield and her husband, Russell O'Brien, left to go and see the children. As their daughter **** wasn't well, and she was crying, Russell stayed in the room. Matthew checked the children then those of Gerald and Kate. According to him, he saw the twins but he did not succeed in seeing Madeleine. But as he did not hear any noise, he thought everything was OK and went back to the restaurant. Matthew informed the interviewee that Russell was staying in the room. (1) After quickly eating the main course, the worried interviewee went to take her husband's place in the apartment (1) so that the latter could eat.

While she was in the room, around 10/10.15, she heard Kate Healy and Fiona Payne shouting that Madeleine had disappeared. She did not know whether it was Kate who discovered the disappearance because she wasn't at the restaurant (3) at that moment. Every evening was like this, it was normal. In turn they left the table and went to check on the children. Madeleine Beth McCann was a sensible child, very loving, very active and fun. She liked to play. She was intelligent and the interviewee does not believe that if a stranger approached her that she would not shout. During their conversation she did not recall Kate having reported that Madeleine slept badly or that she caused any problems.

Description of the tourist complex.

The Ocean Club tourist complex comprises a wide area, of which the plan is attached. In this plan the most important places for the research are marked numerically, such as:

1 - The apartments where all the couples stayed. This block has 3 or 4 levels with around 6 apartments at each level for a total of between 20 and 30 apartments.
2 - "Kids Club" used by ******, ****. ***, Amélie and Sean.
3 - "Tapas" restaurant.
4 - "Kids Club" used by **** and Madeleine.
5 - "Kids Club" used by *****
6 - "Millennium." restaurant.
7 - Praia beach.
8 - Tennis courts.

Jane Tanner's description of the individual:

(*) Brown male between 35 and 40, slim, around 1.70m. Very dark hair, thick, long at the neck. (Noticed when the person was seen from the back). He was wearing golden beige cloth trousers (linen type) with a "Duffy" type coat (but not very thick). He was wearing black shoes, of a conventional style and was walking quickly. He was carrying a sleeping child in his arms across his chest. By his manner, the man gave her the impression that he wasn't a tourist.

(**) Concerning the child, who seemed to be asleep, she only saw the legs. The child seemed to be bigger than a baby. It had no shoes on, was dressed in cotton light-coloured pyjamas (perhaps pink or white) It is uncertain, but the interviewee has the feeling that she saw a design on the pyjamas like flowers, but is not certain about it.

Concerning these details, the interviewee states not having known what Madeleine was wearing when she disappeared. She has not spoken to anyone about this. Concerning the man, she has only mentioned it to Gerald, but without going into details and with the police. The interviewee has been invited to draw a sketch which we attach to this document. Questioned, she stated probably being able to identify the person that she saw if she saw him in profile and at the place where she saw him.

After reading, goes on and signs.

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

Right! Having gone through and blanked out all the children's names apart from the McCann three, I reached the end and found this editor's note! I'm not changing them all back!


Editor's note: the first names of the children of the group of friends are fictitious!

Clarence Mitchell: how I met Gerry and Kate McCann

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Clarence Mitchell : Comment j'ai rencontré Gerry et Kate McCann …

The spokesperson for the McCann family was questioned, as a witness (under oath..) by the Leicestershire police, on April 28th 2008. Clarence Mitchell explained to them how he met Gerry McCann in 2007, at the end of May, when Madeleine's father went back to the United Kingdom for the first time after his daughter's disappearance.

According to Clarence Mitchell, it was a casual encounter (1) at Leicestershire police while he was working for the consular assistance unit of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Clarence Mitchell told the Leicestershire police in his witness statement, that he was invited to go to Portugal with Gerry McCann, where he met his wife, Kate McCann.

Later, according to his statements, he developed a good professional and personal rapport with the family. In the same witness statement, Clarence Mitchell states that he went to Portugal on May 22nd 2007 (the meeting at Leicestershire police with Gerry was on May 21st 2007) and that he stayed there until the middle of June. After his return to the United Kingdom, he maintained daily contact with the family and met with them 2 or 3 times a week.

Seconded to the Foreign Office.

But according to Minister of State, Jim Murphy, on May 7th 2008, Clarence Mitchell was seconded by the Central Office of Information (COI) to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for a period of 25 days, in May 2007, to assist Madeleine McCann's family in dealing with the media.

Mr Jim Murphy revealed these details when questioned by Elliot Morley, Labour Party MP for the Scunthorpe constituency, on May 7th 2008, as shown in "Hansard - written responses," at the House of Commons.

After his return to the United Kingdom, mid-June 2007, Clarence Mitchell continued working as head of the Media Monitoring Unit, a department of the British government's Central Office of Information (COI). He resigned from the COI on September 7th 2007.

In August 2006, the Media Monitoring Unit employed 18 people, and according to information published in the media, it started to monitor blogs which published info about sensitive issues concerning government politics in 2007, using software developed by, "23 ltd," Internet Intelligence Service

The McCanns, victims of a heinous crime.

Clarence Mitchell was replaced by the Liberal Democrat Justine McGuinness, expert in communications and public relations, on June 2nd 2007. Justine announced her resignation soon after the McCanns returned to the United Kingdom and Clarence Mitchell left his well paid job with the government to become the McCanns' spokesperson, with a salary of £75,000 paid by the millionaire Brian Kennedy.

When he was starting his new job, he justified his decision to leave the Media Monitoring unit, stating clearly what he thought of the decision by the Portuguese police and the Public Prosecutor's Office to constitute the McCanns as arguidos or formal suspects: "I did it because I feel very strongly that they are the innocent victims of a heinous crime and I am willing to give up my career in government service to help them (....) I will simply represent Kate and Gerry as an individual, who believes that they are innocent of any involvement in the disappearance, let alone the death, of their daughter, Madeleine.

Duarte Levy and Paulo Reis.

(1) Gerry McCann left from Faro airport on May 20th 2007, on a late flight. He arrived at Coventry airport in the early hours of May 21st. The media had been informed that the trip was for personal reasons, but also for meetings with the organisers of the Find Madeleine Fund. He met Clarence Mitchell at the headquarters of Leicestershire police, and went to Rothley where he visited the place of pilgrimage, improvised in Madeleine's honour, set up at the war memorial in the centre of the village. The Daily Mail wrote that Gerry's meeting with the Leicestershire police was to see how they were coordinating their investigations, because they were the police force responsible for cooperation with the Portuguese police. On May 22nd, Clarence Mitchell and Gerry McCann took a return flight to the Algarve.

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

The McCann Case: what is being hidden from us?

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

11,000 pages of the case file of the, "Maddie case," have been handed over to the press. Since that day, certain members of the British press have been working away at inventing leads, which have already been followed up, trying to depict the Portuguese as incompetent in the eyes of the public for not having followed up all the leads. Is this hunt for the sensational fair or are we being prepared for something else? Something more pernicious? To properly understand our words, you need to know that the three, "arguidos," have until September 20th to ask the police to reopen the investigation. Needless to say, no parent, having been the victim of child abduction, would think of asking the police to stop their investigations! I think we can say, without fear of going wrong that....

• Martin Provencher - whose daughter, Cédrika, was abducted on July 31 2007,
• Piera - whose daughter, Denise, was abducted on September 1st 2004,
• Ithaisa - whose son, Yeremi, was abducted on March 10th 2007,

....would completely fall apart if they were to learn that the police were not continuing with the investigation. But it seems that in the case of the McCann parents, things are different. The parents have already stated that the Portuguese police had done all they could, implying that they were not going to ask the police to continue looking into what had happened!! That shocking decision, if it is accurate - and there is every reason to believe it is - can thus be presented to the public at the risk of shocking them and at the risk of the parents definitely losing all credibility. Also, we are witnessing a media hype of all the leads deemed not to have been followed up by the Portuguese PJ. Clarence Mitchell, is, by turns, astonished and outraged at each new false lead brought up by the press, sending off on the trail of all these false suspects, their famous, "super detectives," who waste their time on leads which they know full well lead nowhere.

The manipulation is to make the public believe that their investigators are more efficient and more reliable that the Portuguese PJ and that that is why the parents are not asking the PJ to continue their investigation but OK for their super-efficient detectives, who are, of course, super-pros, much more efficient than the police. It was said that the new detectives, hired by the parents, let the Belgian police view videos of a young girl resembling Madeleine. That is absolutely false! The McCanns' sleuths learned of the case from the press! No more! They have absolutely nothing to do with this case. All other statements are lies!

I am even going to reveal a secret that no one knows: on the day that the, "Sun," disclosed the videos on its site, the Belgian police had already been advised that the child had been found and was not Madeleine!! So, the detectives lied to their employers, who must indeed be naive. In that case, they should be sacked. It is not normal to keep spending money on detectives who lie, instead of investing in the search for Madeleine. Or else, these words have no other purpose than to pull the wool over the eyes of the public to make them believe that the new detectives are better than the police, thus preparing the public for what we dread: the parents have no intention of asking the PJ to continue searching!!!!

If our judgment is sound, the parents will not be asking the police to continue the enquiry. We wait anxiously for September 20th in the hope that we are wrong. But if our judgment is sound...poor Madeleine. After September 20th, the case file will be able to be reopened by anybody, you or me, who brings new elements to the case. Like the photos for example....

But for the time being, in following up leads already placed under the microscope, publishing e-fit sketches of suspects, who were mostly identified and questioned ages ago, spending so much energy manipulating the media, we have the right to say that in doing so, you are no nearer to finding Madeleine! I recall that the goal was always to find Madeleine (alive or not) not to spend money and energy on leads where the results are already in the case file. Why waste all this time on spent leads instead of searching for Madeleine, because for some time the talk has not been about finding Madeleine, but about protecting the McCanns or about silencing anyone who might speak badly of the parents!! What wasted energy in doing these things, hiring people to search out the most insignificant blog site which spoke badly of the parents....what expense, but Madeleine, what becomes of her in all this?

I can tell you one thing, which is that parents who have lived through the tragedy of an abduction don't care what a blog or site about the tragedy says!!! Only finding the child is important, whatever people think or bloggers write, no?

The truth...nothing but the truth. As we told you, we are going to open up all the details of the case file for you. The comments by the police, the interviews of witnesses and suspects, the facts, the places, the times, the dates etc. Thus, throughout these articles you will see that the so-called new leads are not new and that it's all there in the case file. To keep up and to avoid misunderstanding, bear in mind that the investigators initially followed the theory of abduction before the investigation took a different direction.

Volume 1 - cover sheet.

The first page of the report reveals nothing special. It is the traditional cover sheet for all police reports. The classification of the offence is found here: Abduction. The date of the events is here, 03/05/07, the file number, as well as the squad that intervened, the 4th squad. Finally, in addition to the names of the inspectors, there is a brief run-down of the facts.

Disappearance of a minor. The Praia GNR patrol were informed of the disappearance of a child, sex female, nationality English. According to GNR officers the call was made at 22.40 and the little girl disappeared from a ground floor apartment at the Ocean Club where a family with children was staying. The layout of the apartment comprises two bedrooms, a kitchen, a lounge and a bathroom. The apartment has easy public access. During dinner, the couple visited the children's bedroom several times. During one of these visits, the mother noticed that her daughter wasn't there and raised the alarm in order to find her. Faced with these facts and by higher decision, the PJ's duty team was advised, and they immediately started on various avenues of research.





Volume 1 - Page 2

This is the start of the police report itself. The PJ will identify the parents and give a brief outline of the evening's course of events.

The first part of the document clearly identifies the parents, giving their full names, their dates of birth, their passport numbers, their telephone numbers, as well as their exact address. You will understand that these records cannot be published. No one needs to know the parents' telephone number.

The report continues: The missing minor is identified as Madeleine Beth McCann, born 12/05/2003. In addition to the missing minor, the couple have two other children, twins aged two years. The two children were also in the bedroom where the missing minor, Madeleine, was sleeping. In our conversation with Mr Gerald Patrick McCann, it was possible to establish that: The family had been at the Ocean Club since April 28th 2007 for a week. From 29/04/2007, they began to dine ( he and his wife) at an Ocean Club restaurant while their children remained a few metres from the restaurant, in their bedroom. They had the habit of dining in the said restaurant with friends, three couples. On the date of the events, they got up at 07h30 in the morning and had breakfast in the apartment.

09.00: They left the apartment and left their children at the Ocean Cub crèche where the Ocean Club staff looked after the children until 12.30.

After lunch, towards 14.40, they again placed the children in the said crèche, where they stayed until around 17.00.

Towards 17.30, the parents bathed the children, gave them something to eat and towards 19.30 the three children were put to bed in the same bedroom of the apartment.

At 20.30 the couple headed for the restaurant.

Towards 21.05/21.15 GERALD (the father) went to see the children in their bedroom. He saw the door half-open. He found that strange. He had the idea that he had closed it properly. Nevertheless, he went in and he saw the three children. The shutters were closed.

At 21.20, JANE, a friend, passed close to the apartment, at the side of the building and saw a person with a child in his arms going down the main road. However, she did not recognise this person, or the child. She could only say that the man must have been between 30 and 40 years old and that he had dark hair and light-coloured trousers.

At 21.30, a friend, MAT, only went to the rear of the apartment towards the lounge window. He didn't go in and only saw the twins asleep. He did not notice anything strange.

At 22.00, KATE, the mother, was confronted with the disappearance of MADELEINE BETH MCCANN. She noticed that the window, as well as the shutters, was wide open.

Then, the report, via the Ocean Club's director, identifies the employees on duty. The report also states that the police have a copy of the register of comings and goings of children at the crèche on 03/05/07. The report states that:

It is advisable to report that before the arrival of the police patrol, various people were already in the apartment. People who could have contaminated that space. It is also to be noted that the GNR officers carried out various searches around the apartment in order to locate any missing person. However, these searches were fruitless. A photographic report was done. The parents gave a photo of the minor: MADELEINE BETH MCCANN.

End of part one. The photo of Madeleine given by the parents is intended to show the little girl and to allow clear identification. The photo used is shown below.

Blogger's note: this seems like an odd photo of Madeleine for the McCanns to give the police on the evening of her disappearance. The child in this photo looks nothing like the one in the, "last photo," which was produced for the police 23 days later, the one of Madeleine with Gerry and Amelie by the swimming pool. I seriously doubt that Madeleine could have been identified from that photo.


digg it

The People: Duarte Levy's response about those photos.

Clarification concerning the article in the Sunday newspaper, The People, August 17th 2008.

The information concerning me, published today in The People newspaper, is false. Between August 9th and August 15th, I was contacted by and met with several British journalists (*) at their request, about a witness who claimed to have seen Madeleine McCann in Brussels, and about the article published by me and Paulo Reis about the existence of 24 photos, taken on the the night of May 3rd by tourists who were at the Tapas Bar.

These colleagues asked me for help, because, besides the fact that they don't speak French, they didn't know Brussels, didn't know where or to whom to direct themselves to investigate the case of the witness claiming to have seen Madeleine.

As is the rule between professional colleagues, I met with these journalists and I helped them as much as I could. As is obvious, we spoke about the Madeleine McCann case, on the information published recently on my blog and on my colleague Paulo Reis' blog. We exchanged impressions and comments. I will not repeat the comments from my English colleagues, because private conversations are private conversations - at least for principled people.

So that it is clear, I do not have in my possession, anything which is of interest to the authorities or which might concern the investigation of a crime.

Duarte Levy

(*) – Nick Fagge & Jonathan Buckmaster - Daily Express / Lucy Hagan - The Sun / Julie (?) Daily Mail / Emily Miller - The Mirror / James Millbank - The People (14 and 15 August)

SOS Madeleine McCann 17/08/08

The Madeleine case versus the McCann case. (SOS Madeleine McCann 16/08/08)

"The main revelations after the disclosure of 30,000 pages of the police investigation file in the Madeleine McCann case," Jon Swaine writes in The Telegraph.

Two possibilities: that Jon Swaine hasn't read the pages disclosed by the Portuguese Public Minister, as is the case with a lot of British journalists; that he can't count and so it's important to give him the message that there are effectively just over 30,000 pages in the process, but, for the moment, the Public Minister has only given access to a small part.

A privileged few could possibly have all 30,000 pages, but that is certainly not the case with Jon Swaine.

The last ditch witness statements - as many have called them - were loaded by the British police. This is revealed in the report from Leicestershire police.

"During the interview, he let me refresh my memory by reading the translated version of my original statement to the PJ," Catriona Treasa Sicile Baker, one of the Ocean Club's nannies admitted. She was interviewed twice on April 14th 2008 by officer Gierc of the Leicestershire police - interview recorded on DVD - and her responses were, unsurprisingly, identical to those she gave to the PJ inspectors in Portugal, especially after having been able to, "refresh," her memory.

That is exactly what the British officers did with all the witnesses who had already been interviewed by PJ inspectors in Portugal in the days following Madeleine's disappearance, departing from the principle that the interviews were designed to find possible contradictions and to check the value of the first witness statements. Letting witnesses respond after having refreshed their memory, isn't that loading the results?

"It was after a lead taken up by the MCanns' new detectives that the Belgian police analysed the CCTV video at the KBC bank in Brussels, where a child was confused with Madeleine," writes Correio da Manha about the new detective agency hired by the McCanns...not true. The McCanns learned about the existence of this witness, a Securitas security guard, from the British media. It was The Sun that managed to publish the first images and to provide the couple with the CCTV video from the bank.

The Belgian Federal Police immediately opened an investigation to identify and locate the child and the woman accompanying her, but the disclosure of the images by The Sun and the posters distributed in the area by the Daily Express team let the little girl's father make himself known to the police. The detectives had nothing to do with this story.

It is also interesting to see that Gerry McCann, "was astonished that copies of the investigation file had been given to the media," as he wrote on his blog, on August 14th 2008. The McCanns have two of the best and the most expensive lawyers in the United Kingdom - Angus McBride and Michael Caplan. They hired two of the best and the most expensive Portuguese lawyers: Rogério Alves, former chairman of the Portuguese Bar, and Pinto de Abreu.

In Portugal, it is legal and usual to give the media access to investigations files, at three specific moments: when secrecy of justice is lifted and the case is archived, after the indictment and before the trial, when the trial is concluded.

Any young lawyer could have told the McCanns' British lawyers that once the secrecy of justice was lifted, the media would have access to the files. So, why so surprised? No one would have told the McCanns, then, while they were demanding the lifting of the secrecy of justice every day, that once it was done, the files would also be available to journalists? Were they expecting that only their lawyers and those of Murat would have sole access to the files? Then the couple's Portuguese lawyers did not correctly inform their clients, or else there is something weird about the McCanns' surprise.

The appeal made by Gerry McCann in his last message on his blog is also interesting: "Now that the authorities are no longer looking for Madeleine, we implore all those who gave information to the investigation to contact us at investigation@findmadeleine.com or on + 44 (0) 845 838 4699. We guarantee that all information will be treated with complete confidentiality. You could help us to find Madeleine."

What does he mean, "all information will be treated with complete confidentiality."? The police, British or Portuguese will not be informed? When Metodo3 set up a hotline, Clarence Mitchell was insistent that the new telephone help service was not going to short-circuit the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance by the Portuguese police. "This will, in effect, be a parallel set-up," he said.

"Our own detecives can rapidly follow every potential lead and I would like to stress that all credible information that comes to the hotline is immediately shared with police forces (of the appropriate countries) whether that's Spain, Portugal of North Africa, according to the nature of the information. This is not a sign of loss of confidence. We would like this to be an exercise in collaboration with the police."

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

16/08/08

McCann case: Brian Kennedy and Metodo3 meet with the PJ

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

14/08/08

On October 19th 2007, Alberto Carbas, head of the Anti-Abduction Unit of the Spanish Department of Criminal Investigation, contacted the PJ and asked the inspectors in charge of the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance if they were willing to have a meeting with a representative of Metodo3 and an officer belonging to the Spanish unit.

The purpose of this meeting was to provide the PJ with information held by the detectives. The Spanish police officer stated that Metodo3 had no intention of interfering with the work of the Portuguese police, but only to pass on useful information. At the same meeting. Metodo3 stated that they were not working for the McCanns but for Brian Kennedy.

On November 13th 2007, the meeting took place, in Portimao. Taking part in the meeting were two PJ detectives - Ricardo Paiva and Paulo Ferreira - the director of Metodo3, Francisco Marco, a detective and advisor for the agency, Antonio Jiminez (former head of the Catalogne police Anti-Abduction unit who, later, was arrested in Spain accused of trafficking cocaine) and the millionaire Brian Kennedy.

The two PJ inspectors submitted an account of the meeting containing information exchanged and investigations concerning the leads given by Metodo3.

The report, which is amongst the documents contained on the DVD, indicates that right at the start of the meeting, Brian Kennedy was keen to stress that his intentions were purely charitable, because he felt concerned about cases of child neglect and child abduction. He stated that his concern, in this particular case, was only the truth and nothing but the truth, independently of knowing if the McCanns, their friends or any other person was involved or suspected.

The man hidden in the shadows.

The director of Metodo3 presented a report to the PJ about three situations, connected with Madeleine's disappearance, allegedly received via their hotline. The first concerned an incident that the British media had already referred to, at the end of October 2007: a woman who was babysitting at the Ocean Club, in apartment 5A in August/September 2006, spotted a man, "hidden in the shadows," one Thursday - the same day of the week that Madeleine, aged 4, disappeared," as The Sun wrote on October 31.

According to the newspaper, "the nanny - identified only as M.H. - reported the frightening incident to the police in England after the hunt for Madeleine started in May, but did not speak to the police in Portugal." Clarence Mitchell added that: "This evidence supports what we have always said, that Maddie was taken from her bed by an abductor."

The PJ ruled out this report, because the detectives considered that there was no proof that it was related to Madeleine's disappearance.

The second piece of information was about the alleged existence of a paedophile image on a computer at the home of Sergei Malinka, witnessed by the fiancé of a British woman, four years ago, when he was at Malinka's house. According to this witness, he questioned Malinka on the subject and he explained that the computer belonged to a client and that he would report it later to the authorities.

All of the computers at Malinka's house were seized and examined, but nothing of any relevance or suspicion was found, the PJ report indicates.

Murat's friend seen with Madeleine.

The third piece of information referred to a detailed witness statement, according to the Metodo 3 report, about a woman handing what the witness was convinced was a child, wrapped in a blanket or a sheet, over a fence to a man, next to two parked vehicles, near a town 160 kilometres from the Algarve. The witness, a Portuguese lorry driver, M.G., looked at several photos and picked out Michaela Walczuch, saying that was the one that most resembled the woman he had seen.

The English media also published the story on November 19th 2007, but with different details. "A witness spotted Murat's German girlfriend, Michaela Walczuch, in a car with Maddie, on May 5th, in central Portugal," the Metro wrote. On the same day, the Daily Mail published a similar story: "According to a source, a new witness identified Michaela Walczuch as the woman seen with the missing child, in central Portugal, 160 kilometres from where she disappeared on May 3rd."

As usual, Clarence Mitchell had a few things to say to the media: "We are not going to comment on any line of the investigation except to say that we are encouraged by the fact that our investigators seem to be making progress. Kate and Gerry are not ruling out any possibility."

The Pj studied this incident and questioned the Portuguese lorry driver, but the facts that he described to the police were somewhat different: he saw a woman handing something to a man, over a fence, wrapped in what looked like a blanket. It wasn't heavy, because they did it easily and the fence was around a metre sixty high. Asked if it could have been the body of a child, he responded that nothing he had seen would indicate that.

Questioned also about the positive identification of Michaela Walczuch, according to Metodo 3's report, the witness told the PJ that he couldn't see the woman's face, because he was driving his lorry at 70/80 km/hour, and the couple were at some distance. He only chose Michaela's photo from amongst the others Metodo 3 had shown him because she had the same hair colour similar build.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

14/08/08

Madeleine McCann: The truth and nothing but the truth.

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

13/08/08

The press, or rather a certain press, whether from one country or another, are distorting, inventing and misinforming the public. With the only concern being to increase their circulation, certain media are inventing more incredible stories, some more than others. And we are not only talking about the tabloid, "The Sun," of which most people don't believe a single word. The press played with publishing images published thousands of times last year, claiming that these were new trails not followed up by the PJ. All of that is false.

All of these trails are nothing new and they were checked by the PJ as they should be. A simple example amongst all others, apart from all the crazy stories about Belgium, is the story of the couple who were allegedly seen with Madeleine three days after her disappearance. A drawing (above), published in the, "Mirror," was done by an artist based on the statement of a witness: Anna Stam. But, this trail was indeed checked. The results of the investigations are on page 191 of the case file. The famous couple were identified, questioned, and finally ruled out. The press knows it. It's in the report! I can understand that it is how this type of newspaper makes its money, disclosing false information, since this information is sensational. I imagine that if they all continue to publish any at all it is because they have a public who enjoy it. This association is not judging their readers.

But we can ask questions here about the parents' reaction and that of their spokesperson. We don't understand why they participate in this farce! The witness was invited to the UK to meet the McCann parents and Clarence Mitchell. The portrait was published on the parents' web site. A telephone number is even given. However, Clarence Mitchell, the McCann parents and their lawyers all have a copy of the case file. As a consequence, they all know that these people have been identified and questioned! There is the feeling of acting in a great stage play. A bad play.

We don't need to lay into the British press! That would be too easy and not a little biased. The Portuguese press is not exempt from sensational articles. Thus we can read in some parts of the press that Kate's personal diary is a fake according to the investigators in charge of the case. A fake meant to influence the investigation. In reality, the truth is slightly different. I have already explained to you in a previous article that the personal diary of a suspect has little value in the eyes of the police, knowing, precisely, that this diary could serve to influence the investigation or divert suspicion. This is why police all over the world, don't take it into account. Even if the personal diary is seized, it is only for information, in the event that a detail could be found, but under no circumstances as a piece of evidence. The Portuguese jumped to a conclusion a little too quickly. It's not the first time either.

What does that say? That everybody lies? Of course not. There are journalists, journalists and media who work conscientiously. It needs to be realised that the Portuguese Public Prosecutor handed over 11,000 out of 30,000 pages of the case file to the press. That means that there are still 19,000 pages which are still covered by the secrecy of justice. Clearly, this means that the press has no more information now than before. Everything in those pages has already been disclosed and published over more than a year now. In these pages, there is nothing new! Nothing that hasn't been talked about already. The important issues of the case are in the remaining 19,000 pages!

For our part, we have decided to present all the details of the case file to you. Thus over the next few articles, we are going to present the comments from the police, the questioning of the witnesses and suspects, the facts, the places, the times, the dates etc etc. Everything that's in the case file, without adding or taking out the least comma, so that the contents are in one sense or another, wholly transparent, so that you will no longer be manipulated by anyone, and you can form an opinion based on the real details contained in the case file. We will publish it for you and we will add each time a photocopy from the case file to corroborate what we write. We will add, where necessary, a commentary clarifying the police approach and various aspects of the case file. And to begin with, in every police report, there is a document which the police must have already asked you for on different occasions: your identity card and/or your passport. So, we start with the identity card of the missing victim: Madeleine Beth McCann.

13/08/08

Ryan Murphy's quick thinking saved an abducted child in Quebec.

http://www.kidnapping.be/canada/index.html

On July 15th, Ryan Murphy's intervention enabled the police to quickly find a small boy who had been abducted in Lévis, to the great relief of the child's relatives. Modest and reserved, M. Murphy says all he did there was his civic duty.

"That man is my son's saviour. If he hadn't followed the kidnapper's car and called the police, my son would no longer be here. I am not afraid to say it." The mother of the little boy, who was abducted on July 15th has nothing but good to say about Ryan Murphy, the man who helped to find her son, less than an hour after his abduction. "The credit goes absolutely to Ryan," says the mother. "Our whole family will be forever grateful to him."

For this gesture by which he saved a life, The Press and Radio-Canada named Ryan Murphy Personality of the Week. The young carpenter, aged 24, believes he simply did his civic duty. "I did what I had to do," states this native of Montreal, whom The Press met three weeks after the events.

On Tuesday July 15th, a little after 6pm, was waiting at a red light in Quebec's Grand-Allée. Suddenly the boot of the Chevrolet he was following opened up. Inside, he saw a little boy. M. Murphy thought, first of all, that it was a big family, but he quickly changed his mind: the driver got out and violently shut the boot again.

Suspicious, Ryan Murphy followed the Chevrolet for 6km, until the driver stopped in front of an apartment building on Belvédère Avenue. He memorised the registration number and dashed to his home in the Basse-Ville area of Quebec, and dialed 911. "The police rang back in the evening for me to go back to the apartment building," Ryan Murphy recounts. He was told then that his call coincided with the abduction of a child in Lévis, around 6pm. The police had otherwise been on the point of launching an Amber alert when he informed them.

It was then that Ryan Murphy realised the magnitude of the situation. "I told myself: yes, I didn't hallucinate. I wasn't too certain any more about what I had seen. At that time, I was tired, I was working like a madman..." Ten minutes later, Ryan Murphy saw the suspect coming out of the building, handcuffs on his wrists, escorted by police officers. We know what followed: the child was found tied up, but safe and sound in a disused oil tank in the basement of the apartment building where the suspect worked as concierge. In the same week, Pierre Defoy, aged 50, was accused of abduction, illegal confinement, sexual assault, aggravated assault and incitement to sexual activity.

Ryan Murphy then entered a media whirlwind. He agreed to give five interviews, at most. "Journalists called from all over, even from Ontario. It was my girlfriend who answered. I was trying to get out of the house as early as possible." The following Saturday, Ryan Murphy responded to the invitation of the victim's mother. If the young man prefers not to talk about this meeting out of respect for the family, the child's mother retains a moving memory of it. "It was charged with emotion, tears, thanks," she recounts. She adds that she intends to stay in touch with Ryan Murphy.

The young man then went swiftly to Prince Edward Island with his girlfriend to spend the building industry's holiday there. "Let's say that after everything that happened, that did me good!" he recounted. It needs to be said that Ryan Murphy is not mad about his new notoriety. He was even hesitant to agree to an interview at The Press. "I am a very quiet, reserved person. I keep to my friends and those close to me. Let's say that I never sought to be famous," he confides. Whether he likes it or not, Ryan Murphy will have to get used to it. Even today, relatives, work colleagues, neighbours and even total strangers congratulate or thank him. "It's not everyone who would have done what he did," the victim's mother believes. "Nowadays people stick too much to their own affairs. Not Ryan. For me, for my son and for our whole family, he is a hero." (Presse Canadienne)

http://www.kidnapping.be/canada/index.html


11/08/08

Association Enfants Kidnappés

McCann case: 24 photos that could reopen the case.

A tourist, who was in the Tapas Bar on the night of May 3rd, took several photos where the table with the McCanns and their friends is visible. The tourist was with his wife and a couple of friends and they took photos of each other. In 24 of them, the table with the McCanns and their friends can be seen in the background.

The owner of these images is in talks with several British newspapers for the sale of exclusive publication rights, but with one condition: before being published, the images must be sent to the Portuguese police. The tourist is well aware of the fact that the images could constitute an important piece of evidence relating to a crime and not to send them to the police would also be considered a crime in his country.

Yesterday, a well-known firm of UK solicitors, learned of the existence of these images and contacted the owner, to whom they offered the sum of 600,000€ for the purchase of all the images. However, the British lawyers did not accept the condition imposed by the owner that the images must be sent to the Portuguese police before the transaction. They wanted the freedom to choose when the images would be sent to the Portuguese authorities, the reason for which the offer was refused.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

13/08/08

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Enfants Kidnappés 12/08/08: It's not Madeleine in Molenbeek, Brussels.

Another excellent article from the Association Enfants Kidnappés about the little girl seen by the security guard at a bank in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in Brussels. I think the British press is finally catching up with the, "Breaking news," that actually appeared in the Belgian media at around 11pm on Monday.

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

It's not Madeleine, contrary to a certain press. We are going to give you a little reminder of some real facts, as they happened, without all the modifications and inventions of the press.

On Monday August 4th, the security guard, Alain, employed by the Securitas company and seconded to cover security at KBC's administrative headquarteres in the Avenue du Port, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, one of 19 urban areas of Brussels, was in his post in front of the bank towards 10.30 in the morning. His attention was drawn to a young woman and a little blond girl walking past the bank. The little girl was blond and the woman with her seemed to be North African. His gaze followed the, "strange pair," the woman and the little girl made. It wasn't until two days later that he would inform his superiors. The latter immediately called on the services of the police.

Alain stated to the police:

"I was working at the front of the branch. I noticed this little blond girl, accompanied by a woman of Moroccan origin. I was immediately struck by the obvious difference between the girl and that woman. I was drawn by the words of the little girl, who said, as part of a sentence, that I didn't hear the beginning or the end of, "...I GO BACK..." (Editor's note: and not, LET ME GO HOME as stated by a certain bad press!!)

The little girl was dressed in a white shirt, over which she was wearing a white sweater. She had on a dark grey skirt with a tartan checked pattern. Below her skirt, she was wearing white stockings and shoes. The little girl had very clear blue eyes, very clear. As I was mostly paying attention to the little girl, I didn't get a very good look at the woman who was with her. However, I can tell you that she had brown eyes. I didn't see her hair, but she was wearing a scarf on her head. She was dressed in quite a modern fashion. After they had gone past, I went back into the back. I didn't manage to remember where I had seen that little girl before. The next day I was on leave. As this little girl was going round in my head, I did some research on the internet. That was how I came across photos of Madeleine McCann. I then thought I had recognised the little girl. I wasn't sure. First of all I told myself that it wasn't possible, that I must be mistaken. But as time went on, my conviction grew. On my return to work, I informed my superiors. They contacted the police.

On arrival, the police proceeded to questioning Alain V. the bulk of which is detailed below. Then the police officers looked at the 5 videos captured by the surveillance cameras. One of the police officers there suggested asking the area inspector if he knew anyone in the area who might look like the little girl. The report was prepared and all the details were sent to the Missing Unit of the Federal Belgian Police. At that time, the press were not aware of the guard's witness statement. Not for long....

Getting to the bottom of the case.

Following the SOS Madeleine article about the guard's witness statement, the British press, who were seeking at all costs to discredit Belgium in the eyes of their readers, making Belgians out to be people who wallowed in prostitution and as paedophiles satisfying our fantasies with children, grabbed hold of the case. From then on there were journalists from various tabloids in Brussels: News of the World, The Mail, The Daily Mail and the Mirror. Only the, "SUN," went to Ghent instead of to Brussels. Strangely, the, "SUN," was accompanied by a member of the Missing Unit of the Federal police who guided them through what had taken place in the incident at KBC. The next day, the, "SUN," published online the 5 videos of the case which were intiially sent to the Missing Unit of the Federal Police. According to our information, the, "SUN," paid 40,000€ for these videos.

Then, the,"SUN," resold them to SKY News for the tidy sum of 100,000€. Still according to our information, the purchase of the videos was made through the intermediary of someone whose son had done a work placement in the UK with the, "SUN," and the father (whose identity we are not going to disclose) was very close to the investigation. Thus, for money, he would have leaked information and sold documents in violation of the article of the Belgian Penal Code on professional secrecy to which the police are bound! From then on the press jostled with each other in Molenbeek. The Mirror even had three teams, one of whom had the task of following the, "SUN," team and to be right behind them everywhere. At that time, the newspapers disinformed the public by disclosing false information. Thus, the, "SUN," stated that: "The Belgian police recognise that it could be Madeleine."

Absolutely false information since at that time, the investigators already knew that it wasn't Madeleine. The Daily Mail journalists did interesting work. They went into all the shops and cafés in the area around KBC and placed posters with photos of the woman and the little girl, bearing their telephone number. These posters bore fruit. The little girl's father became angry when he saw photos of his daughter plastered all over his neighbourhood. He went home. He got onto the internet. He saw the images disclosed by the, "SUN," and he immediately understood the importance of the matter and went to the police. The young pregnant woman who was with the little girl was none other than her nanny.

Note that the guard's statement was in good faith. He was not seeking to attract attention. As you look at the videos, you can't help being worried by a certain resemblance in appearance. In addition, the little girl indeed speaks English. We have seen the little girl and the resemblance with Madeleine is truly striking. We would have fallen into the trap ourselves.

Association Enfants Kidnappés: 12/08/08

http://www.kidnapping.be/maddie/maddie.html

SOS Madeleine McCann: the little girl seen in Molenbeek was not Madeleine

At this moment, around 10.15am, Tuesday 12th August, this is what Sky News is still saying,

"Police are studying CCTV footage of a young girl resembling Madeleine McCann walking with a woman in Belgium."

(Updated on the Sky News web site at 8.59pm on Monday 11th August.)

The major Belgian news journals are carrying the story that the little girl has been identified and that she was with her nanny. Her father contacted the police and his identity and that of his child has been verified by the Federal Prosecutor.

SOS Madeleine McCann, being apparently better informed than Sky News, brings us the information.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

According to official information from the Belgian Federal Prosecutor, the little blond girl seen last Monday, August 4th, near the headquarters of the KBC bank in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (Brussels) was not the little British girl Madeleine McCann.

It was the little girl's father who contacted the police after seeing the video surveillance images, disclosed by the British newspaper The Sun.

The Belgian police had opened an official investigation after having received information from the security company, Securitas Information, that one of the building's security guards had seen a little blond girl, resembling Madeleine's description.

The original information, exclusive to SMM, put forward that the security guard stated that he had seen a little blond girl, speaking English, aged around five or six years, accompanied by a woman of North African origin.

"The little girl's father saw the images for himself and went to the missing person's unit," explained Lieve Pellens, spokesperson for the Federal Prosecutor, adding that, according to the father's statements to the police, the little girl was only in Brussels that day with her nanny.

Journalists have not lacked ingenuity.

The importance placed by the Belgian authorities on the witness statement from the security guard - who had acted in good faith - took several British daily newspapers to Brussels. The daily, The Sun, in disclosing the video surveillance images, allowed the rapid resolution of this lead. The police had started a local investigation, notably with neighbourhood officers, in the hope of finding the little girl in the Molenbeek-Saint-Jean area.

Meanwhile, the British journalists were not lacking in ingenuity to find the little girl: the Daily Express team had even distributed posters in the shops in the area, showing the photo of the little one and her nanny, while The Sun found a second witness, who confirmed what the security guard had said concerning the resemblance between the little girl and the face the public knows as Maddie.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

11/08/08