It should be remembered that we know very little, as fact, about what happened throughout the day and evening of 3rd May.
The inconsistencies in the statements made by the McCanns, the tapas group and eye witnesses has led the Policia Judiciaria to believe that resolving this confusion is at the 'heart of the case'. | | Timeline according to PJ 57-page report summary, 21 July 2008 | | | DEVELOPMENT
The present documentation originated from a process elaborated by this Police, having received notice of the disappearance of a minor of British nationality of three years of age. The occurrence was communicated by the GNR at 00h10 on 4 May 2007.
pages 13 and 14
According to that police force, the disappearance would have occurred at 22H40 (later on it was verified that the detection and the subsequent alarm of the same, in reality happened, between 22H00 and 22H10 of the day 3 of May of 2007, in one of the apartments of the tourist resort 'Ocean Club', located at Vila da Luz, Lagos, where a family composed by a couple and 3 children under aged were staying.
Topologically, the apartment is composed by two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom, with easy access to the street, from the both the front and the back, where there is a small balcony and a sliding door.
At the time of the disappearance, the children were alone in the apartment. However the couple, during dinner, went two times to the same, one of those times being the one where the mother (KATE) noticed that her oldest daughter was no longer there alerting all for that fact.
Aware of this fact, the police squad went to the place, to initiate the relevant investigative steps, at that moment.
Immediately they proceeded with the identifications of the progenitors, GERALD MCCANN and KATE HEALY, as well as of the disappeared minor, MADELEINE BETH MCCANN, born on the 12 of May of 2003, in the United Kingdom. Besides MADELEINE the couple has two more children, twins, with two years old, at the time of the facts, who were also staying in the same bedroom from where the child disappeared.
Informally, GERALD MCCANN said that he was on the resort since the 28 of April 2007, on vacation, for a period of time corresponding to a week. The day after their arrival, 29/04/07, they started doing their meals at the 'Ocean Club' restaurant, which is distanced a few meters away from the apartment, with the company of three other couples, who had also travelled with them.
Specifically to what is relative to the day 3, he alleged that:
- they woke up around 07H30, had breakfast in the apartment, going out at around 09H00;
- soon after, they left their children at the nursery, until 12H30;
- around 14H30, after lunch, they put their children back at the nursery, this time until 17H00;
- at 17H30 they did the children's hygiene, and settle them in their respective beds by 19H30, all in the same bedroom;
- at 20H30, the couple went out to the restaurant;
- at 21H05/21H15 the father went to check the children, noticing that all was normal, the window and the blinds were closed, however the door to the room seemed more opened than when he had left;
pages 15 and 16
- at around 9.20 p.m., a friend from the group, JANE TANNER, when heading for her apartment, noticed an individual who carried a child in his arms, walking down the road. She described him as aged 30 to 40, with dark hair and wearing light coloured trousers;
- at 9.30 p.m., it was the time for another friend, MATTHEW OLDFIELD, to go to the MCCANNS' apartment to check on the children, but he only saw the twins, given the fact that he did not enter the room. In order to see MADELEINE'S bed, he would have to go inside. He detected nothing out of the ordinary;
- at around 10 p.m., when KATE went to the apartment she verified that MADELEINE had disappeared, and that the window and shutters of the bedroom were open.
Apart from that, and according to what was established within the investigation in the meantime, the witness MATTHEW OLDFIELD assumes that, at around 8.55 p.m., he went near the outside of the window of the bedroom where MADELEINEwas sleeping – a window that was closed – in order to verify if there was any noise in the inside that might indicate that the child was not asleep. He heard nothing, therefore concluding that everything was well.
Due to its relevance, on that very night the Maintenance Director, SILVIA BAPTISTA, was asked for a list of the resort's guests and the check outs on the 3rd, as well as the identification of the crèche workers, where the children stayed during the day.
It should be emphasized that the entire apartment had been searched and rummaged by an undetermined number of people, with the contamination that it brings and the difficulty that it raises for the collection of residues.
On that very night, the surroundings of the apartment, and Vila da Luz itself, were intensely searched through, both by the GNR members and by members of the public.
Concerning that and other searches on subsequent days, the proof is given by the report that was written by the GNR from pages 3491-a to 3525-a, with the latter being a cartographic remission. The same procedure was made by the Maritime Police, according to the report from pages 3867 until 3885.
On page 06 the air registration of the luggage pertaining to the MCCANN family was appended, as well as the passport that belongs to the missing minor.
From pages 12 to 23, we can observe the photographic coverage of the location of the facts, which were collected on that night, as well as a layout of the apartment.
On page 26 the report that was written by the GNR can be found, on page 30 the photograph of the minor that was given by the parents, taken from a memory card and revealed on a printer that belongs to one of the nannies, as will be seen further on, and the press communication, on pages 33-B.
It should be pointed out, in terms of the media knowledge and divulgation, that witness RACHEL MAMPILLY, at around 2 a.m. on the morning of the 4th, assumes to have contacted the official British television BBC, through someone that she knew, reporting the disappearance and asking for it to be broadcast. |
| | Timelines for Madeleine, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann | | | The following timelines are based primarily on the information provided by Kate and Gerry McCann, and their friends, in their first police interviews.
Supplementary information, already disclosed from the police files, has been added to fill in gaps, or link times, in the accounts.
It should be noted that neither Kate nor Gerry's statements talk explicitly about either their own or Madeleiene's movements on May 3rd. Instead, they refer to the usual routine and it is left to us to presume, rightly or wrongly, that May 3rd followed the same course as the previous days. In fact, in most aspects, it did not. |
| Madeleine's timeline for 03 May 2007 |
| Time | Location | | 07:30 - 09:10 | Breakfast/washing/dressing Breakfast in the apartment and preparation for the 'Minis Club' | | 09:10 | Madeleine arrives at the Minis Club Madeleine arrives at the Minis Club at 09:10, brought by Gerry, according to nanny Catriona Baker. The Minis Club is situated near the Ocean Club main reception - away from the pool, tennis courts and tapas bar area where the McCanns spent most of their time. | | 09:10 - 12:45 | Minis Club activities Catriona Baker states that in the same room as Madeleine, there were 6 other children in the morning and 4 in the afternoon (including Madeleine). All the children from the Minis Club go to the beach that morning between 10:00 and 11:00, according to 24horas, based on Catriona Baker's account. 24horas continues: 'After arriving at the beach, little Maddie's group walked along the beach walk to an area where a red parasol and several sunshades were located. The children were prepared for a boat ride. 'For approximately one hour, Maddie and her mates rode in a small yellow catamaran, always under the attentive eyes of two employees.' | | 12:45 - 13:30 | Madeleine collected from Minis Club Madeleine is collected by Kate at 12:45 and taken for lunch back at the apartment, according to Catriona Baker's first statement on 5th May 2007. However, when she was interviewed by Leicestershire Police on the 14th April 2008, Ms Baker stated she couldn't remember who collected Madeleine at lunchtime, nor who returned her to the creche afterwards. | | 13:30 - 14:50 | Time beside swimming pool According to the 'usual routine', at 13:30, with lunch over, the McCanns and the children would spend time beside the swimming pool. Jane Tanner reports seeing the McCanns and children at the playground, beside the tennis courts, at 14:00. She says the McCanns stayed there until 14:40, when they took their children back to their respective clubs. | | 14:50 - 17:00 | Madeleine returns to Minis Club Catriona Baker, in her first statement in May 2007, says that Kate brought Madeleine back to the Minis Club at 14:50. But when interviewed later, in April 2008, she states that she can't remember who brought Madeleine back. Ms Baker mentions that the children went swimming that afternoon but doesn't specifically mention Madeleine. It is unclear what she means by 'swimming', but presumably she means in a childrens swimming pool rather than the sea. The PJ recorded the following statement from Tapas cook Manuela M.A.J. (contained on the DVD files): 'When asked she says that the last time she saw Madeleine was at approx 16h30, on 3 May 2007, when she was having dinner with the other children in their portion of the restaurant where the witness works, as happens every day of the week.' | | 17:00 - 17:30 | 'High Tea' According to the usual routine, outlined by both Kate and Gerry, Madeleine had 'high tea' between 17:00 and 17:30 at the Tapas restaurant/bar under the parents supervision. However, this does not appear to have happened on the 3rd. Given that Kate was observed jogging alone at 17:15 by Jane Tanner, it appears that neither McCann parent was there to 'supervise' their children's teatime on the 3rd. Kate and Gerry simply arrived to collect the children when they had finished their own sports activities. | | 17:30 - 17:40 | Kate arrives to collect Madeleine At 17:30, Kate collected Madeleine from the Minis Club. Kate claims, when interviewed in September 2007, that Gerry was also there. She says they all headed back to the apartment at 17:40. | | 17:40 - 19:30 | Bath/playtime/preparation for bed The usual routine was for the children to be bathed before going to play for a while in the playground beside the Tapas bar. They would then return to the apartment and be prepared for bed. We do know, from CCTV evidence, that the rest of the 'Tapas Seven', with their children, were at the Paraiso restaurant at 17:59 on 03 May and that neither the McCanns, nor their children were there. | | 18:30 | The David Payne 'sighting' of Madeleine David Payne is alleged to have checked on Kate and seen Madeleine in her pyjamas ready for bed. However, this crucial incident is not mentioned at all by Payne in his first police interview. Nor is it mentioned by anyone else, in their statements. | | 19:30 - 20:30 | Madeleine put to bed Madeleine is put to bed. Kate and Gerry wait until 20:30 before leaving for the tapas restaurant and bar | | 21:05 - 21:15 | Madeleine asleep Observed to be asleep by Gerry McCann | | 22:00 - 22:30 | Madeleine reported missing Madeleine is reported missing by Kate McCann | | 22:30 | Query over time Madeleine was reported missing Richard Bilton, on the BBC Panorama documentary says: "I have spoken to someone who was staying very close to flat 5A on the night of May 3rd. She says the first that she was aware of a missing child was 10.30 and she's sure of that because she says the BBC 10 o'clock news had just finished. She says that she heard Kate McCann sobbing, repeating over and over again: "We've let her down." She also says that she heard the first Portuguese policeman arrive and he said: "She must have walked out because there's no sign of a break in." Note: Given the proximity to the event, this is almost certainly Mrs Pamela Fenn who lives in the apartment directly above the McCanns. |
| Kate McCann's timeline for 03 May 2007 |
| Time | Location | | 07:30 - 09:00 | Breakfast/washing/preparation of children Breakfast in the apartment and preparation of children for their clubs. | | 09:00 - 09:30 | At the tennis courts According to Jane Tanner, Kate arrives at the tennis courts at 09:00, with Dianne Webster, and waits for Tanner to finish her lesson at 09:30 | | 09:30 - 10:00 | Tennis lesson Kate has a tennis lesson, with Jane Tanner observing | | 10:00 - 12:30 | Poolside ??? Towards the end of this time period it appears likely that Kate was poolside with Gerry and the tennis coach, Dan - observed by Bridget O'Donnell. (see Gerry's entry for more details) | | 12:30 - 12:45 | Kate collects the twins Kate collects the twins at 12:30 from the Kids Club beside the Tapas bar, according to Stacey Portz - the twins nanny. | | 12:45 - 13:30 | Collection of Madeleine from Minis Club Kate collects Madeleine from the Minis Club at 12:45 and returns to their apartment for lunch, according to Catriona Baker's first statement on 5th May 2007. However, when Ms Baker was interviewed by Leicestershire Police on the 14th April 2008, she stated that she couldn't remember who collected Madeleine at lunchtime, nor who returned her to the creche afterwards. | | 13:30 - 14:50 | Beside pool with children According to the 'usual routine', at 13:30, with lunch over, the McCanns and the children spend time beside the swimming pool. Jane Tanner reports seeing the McCanns and children at the playground beside the tennis courts at 14:00. She says Kate waved to her. The McCanns stayed there until 14:40, when they took their children back to the Kids Club. | | 14:50 - 15:45 | Madeleine returns to Minis Club Kate returns Madeleine to the Minis Club at 14:50, according to Catriona Baker in her first statement on 05 May 2007. However, when interviewed in April 2008 Ms Baker states that she can't remember who brought Madeleine back. | | 14:50 - 15:45 | More tennis? ??? - possibly preparing for/playing tennis with Gerry (see next entry) | | 15:45 - 16:30 | Tennis with Gerry Observed by Jane Tanner to be playing tennis with Gerry at 15:45 - this is not mentioned by either Kate or Gerry in their statements. Kate is reported to have left the tennis courts alone at 16:30. | | 16:30 - 17:30 | Jogging alone Jane Tanner says she saw Kate jogging alone on the beach at 17:15. This was the 'high tea' time for the children. | | 17:30 - 17:40 | Collection of Madeleine from Minis Club At 17:30, Kate collects Madeleine from the Minis Club, according to Catriona Baker. She also collects the twins at the same time, according to their nanny, Stacey Portz. Kate McCann says in her statement to the PJ, on 06 September 2007, that she and Gerry met up around 17:30, at the crèche, to collect Madeleine, Sean and Amelie, who were just finishing their 'high tea'. They then headed back to the apartment with the children, at 17:40, and gave them a bath. Kate says that Gerry then headed back to the tennis courts, just before 18:00. | | 17:35 - 18:00 | Time beside Tapas bar or straight return to apartment? According to Catriona Baker, between 17:35 and 18:00, Kate went to the area near the Tapas bar and she took Madeleine with her. However, Kate claims (see previous entry) that she returned immediately to the apartment with Gerry and the children at 17:40. | | 18:30 | Shower/David Payne arrives In her 06 September statement, Kate says she took a shower after Gerry had left and had just finished, around 18:30/18:40, when somebody knocked on the patio doors. Kate put a towel around herself, went to the doors and saw that it was David Payne. In her statement to the PJ on 07 September 2007, Kate says they spoke for 30 seconds and she told him that the children would not now be going to the playground area, as planned. This incident is not mentioned by Kate or David Payne in their first police interviews. | | 19:30 - 20:30 | Children put to bed/relaxing with New Zealand wine The children are put to bed between 19:30 and 20:00. Kate stays in the apartment, with Gerry, to relax until 20:30. Kate says she took a bath (she'd only just had a shower!), did her make-up and drank a glass of New Zealand wine with Gerry. | | 20:30 - 22:00 | The Tapas meal/drinks Time spent at the Tapas bar/restaurant (Meal served at 21:00 according to Tanner) | | 22:00 - 22:30 | Kate checks and reports Madeleine missing Kate undertakes a 'check' on Madeleine and discovers her 'missing'. Kate reportedly checks the apartment three times before she runs back to the Tapas restaurant, leaving the twins alone in an open apartment, to inform Gerry and their friends. | | 22:30 | "We've let her down" Kate McCann is heard sobbing, repeating over and over again: "We've let her down." |
| Gerry McCann's timeline for 03 May 2007 |
| Time | Location | | 07:30 - 09:10 | Breakfast/washing/preparation of children Breakfast in the apartment and preparation of children for their clubs. | | 09:10 | Gerry takes Madeleine to Minis Club Gerry arrives at the Minis Club with Madeleine at 09:10, according to Catriona Baker's first statement in May 2007. However, on 14 September 2008, she tells Leicestershire Police it was between 09:15 and 09:20. | | 09:10 - 10:10 | ??? ??? - Not currently known what Gerry was doing during this period. | | 10:10 - 11:10 | Tennis lesson No.1? Jane Tanner says she heard, at 10:00, that Gerry had a tennis lesson from 10:10 to 11:10, although she didn't stay at the courts to see whether he attended. Gerry does not mention this in his statement. | | 11:10 - 12:45 | Tennis with Jes Wilkins/poolside? ??? - Not specified in any statement what Gerry was doing during this period but it seems likely that this is the time Gerry played tennis with Jeremy (Jes) Wilkins, as described by his partner Bridget O'Donnell in her Guardian article. She recounts how, after Gerry and Jes had finished playing, she and Jes sat by the pool and watched Gerry, Kate and the tennis coach, Dan, chatting about the following days tournament. She does not describe Madeleine or the twins being there so presumably this was before they had been collected for lunch. There is no indication as to the time of this incident, so it is quite possible that it may have taken place in the early afternoon rather than late morning. | | 12:45 - 13:30 | ??? ??? - Not currently known what Gerry was doing during this period. Note: At this time Kate collects Madeleine from the Minis Club at 12:45 and returns to their apartment for lunch, according to Catriona Baker's first statement on 5th May 2007. | | 13:30 - 14:40 | Beside pool with children According to the 'usual routine', at 13:30, with lunch over, the McCanns and the children spend time beside the swimming pool. Jane Tanner reports seeing the McCanns and children on the playground beside the tennis courts at 14:00. She says the McCanns stayed there until 14:40, when they took their children back to the Kids Club. | | 14:30 | Twins return to Kids Club Gerry takes the twins back to their Kids Club at 14:30, according to their nanny, Stacey Portz. | | 14:30 - 15:45 | ??? ??? - Not currently known what Gerry was doing during this period. Possibly preparing for/playing tennis with Kate (see next entry). | | 15:45 - 16:30 | Tennis with Kate Observed by Jane Tanner to be playing tennis with Kate at 15:45 - this is not mentioned by either Kate or Gerry in their first statements. Kate left the courts at 16:30 but Gerry stayed on, according to information released from the DVD files by Gazeta Digital. | | 16:30 - 17:30 | More tennis Gerry stays on at the courts and plays with Julian, according to information released from the DVD files by Gazeta Digital. | | 17:30 - 19:00 | Return to apartment for childrens bath? ??? - According to Kate McCanns statement to the PJ on 06 September 2007, she and Gerry met up around 17:30, at the crèche, to collect Madeleine, Sean and Amelie - who were just finishing their 'high tea'. At 17:40, they returned to their apartment, with the children, and gave them a bath - together, according to Kate. Kate says that Gerry then headed back to the tennis courts, just before 18:00. We know from CCTV evidence that the rest of the 'Tapas Seven', with their children, were at the Paraiso restaurant at 17:59 on 03 May. Neither the McCanns, nor their children were there. Jane Tanner reports that Russell O’Brien, Matthew Oldfield and David Payne left the Paraiso restaurant shortly after 18:00 as there was a "Men's tennis night" due to start at that precise time. When the men arrived at the courts Gerry was already playing. Gerry himself, in his first interview in May, does not offer any clarity as to his whereabouts during this period, beyond stating that the usual routine was for the children to be bathed before going to play for a while in the playground beside the Tapas bar. They would then be returned to the apartment and prepared for bed. It is very difficult to pin down exactly what Gerry was doing all day on the 3rd. From other peoples statements, we are left to presume that Gerry spent virtually the entire day, afternoon and early evening at the tennis courts. | | 18:30 | Gerry asks David Payne to check on Kate According to David Payne, at 18:30, Gerry asks him to have a look at Kate, to see if she needs any help to take the kids to the play area, near the Tapas bar. There is no mention of this incident in any of the first statements, taken on 04 May 2007. | | 19:00 - 19:30 | Gerry finishes tennis and returns to the apartment At 19:00, Gerry starts a doubles match with David Payne, Russell O'Brien and Matthew Oldfield. Shortly after starting the game, Gerry decides he's had enough tennis and heads back to the apartment (at 19:20 according to Rachael Oldfield, closer to 20:00 according to Russell O'Brien). The tennis coach, Dan, takes his place in the game. | | 19:30 - 20:30 | Children put to bed/relaxing The children are put to bed. Kate and Gerry stay in their apartment to relax and get ready for the evening. They leave for the Tapas restaurant/bar together at 20:30. | | 20:30 - 21:05 | The Tapas meal/drinks At the Tapas bar/restaurant (Meal served at 21:00 according to Tanner). | | 21:05 - 21:20 | Gerry checks on Madeleine According to Gerry himself, in his first police interview, he enters the apartment using his key, the door being locked, and goes to the children's room. He notes that the twins and Madeleine were OK. He then spends several minutes going to the toilet. He leaves the apartment and bumps into Jeremy Wilkins, a man whom he had played tennis with, and has a brief conversation. He then returns to the Tapas restauarant. | | 21:20 - 22:00 | The Tapas meal/drinks continue Gerry rejoins the group at the Tapas restaurant. | | 21:55 | At approximately 21:55, Martin Smith and his family pass a man walking down the middle of the street, carrying a child, with the head against his left shoulder and the arms hanging down alongside the body, in light coloured or pink pyjamas, bare feet, pale skin typical of British and blond, shoulder-length hair; the girl is about 3-4 years old, about 1 metre tall.
After seeing TV coverage of the McCanns return to the UK, Mr Smith says he is 60-80% certain the man he saw was Gerry McCann. | | 22:00 - 22:30 | Kate checks and reports Madeleine missing Kate raises the alarm and Gerry returns to the apartment, with their friends. It is widely reported that this happened at 22:00 but, as detailed above, a close neighbour claims the alarm was raised closer to 22:30. |
| | Thursday 03 May 2007 | | | Many thanks to 'KazLux' for putting the information in this section together, which draws from recent reports taken from the PJ case files and the book by Gonçalo Amaral. (GA) = Gonçalo Amaral, (PR) = Paulo Reis 3.30 pm Kate and Gerry are at the tennis court (PR) 4.30 pm Kate leave tennis court and goes jogging on the beach. Gerry stayed in the courts, playing with Julian .(PR) ca. 5.00 pm The nannies took the children (including the three McCann children) to have "high tea" near the Tapas bar. (PR) 5:15/5:20 pm According to Matthew, Paraiso group sees Kate jogging on the beach - they wave. 5.20/5.30 pm Kate finished jogging and met Gerry, who was already with Madeleine, Sean and Amelie near the Tapas Bar. They took the kids, together, to the apartment and Gerry went back to tennis (PR) 5.30 pm Kate picks the three children up at the creche and heads for the apartment (GA) Note: David and Fiona Payne, Rachel and Matthew Oldfield, Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien and children went to the beach, on the afternoon of May 3, at different hours and later, all together, went to Paraíso beach bar. According to NOTW and Paulo Reis, Dianne Webster was there. According to Gonçalo Amaral, she was not. 
5.30 pm Food arrives for the Paraiso group (The entire group, minus the five McCanns and Dianne Webster, are at Paraiso restaurant/GA).
6.00 pm Start of scheduled "men's social tennis round". 6.13 pm The men leave the table and head to the resort, leaving the women and children (GA/Paraiso CCTV) to go to the tennis court. ca. 6.30 pm When the three men arrived at the tennis court, Gerry was there, already, playing. ca. 6.30 pm Gerry asked David Payne to have a look at Kate, to see if she needed help to take the kids to the playing area, near Tapas bar; ca. 6.30 pm (6. 28 / 15 minutes later), the women/kids follow (GA/Paraiso CCTV) (Paulo Reis says around 6:10/6:15 pm) all the women left Paraíso, with the kids and went to the tennis court to see the men playing. They stayed there for some undisclosed time and went to their apartments, around 6:45/7:20 pm; ca. 6.35/6.40 pm David knocked at apartment 5A. Kate had just finished having a bath and David saw that the kids were already bathed, with their pyjamas, playing around; Kate told David the kids were very tired, so they were not going to the playing area (PR). According to Kate, David knocked at the door (the door facing the swimming pool). She just put a towel around her, went to the living room and they had a brief talk. David said he thinks the French doors were open and he went inside the apartment. The kids were there, playing around, and the conversation with Kate was short. David Payne confirmed this was the last time he saw Madeleine. The conversation with Kate was short: 3 to 5 minutes, David Payne said.
ca. 6.45/6.50 pm David Payne got his tennis kit and went to the court. He arrived around 7:00 pm and the four men (Gerry, David, Matthew and Russell) started to play, but a little bit after Gerry decided he had enough tennis and went to the apartment. He was replaced by Dan, a tennis coach from Ocean Club;
7.00 pm according to Gerry (Panorama transcript) At 7, lesson over, Gerry McCann goes back to the apartment. He says he reads the children a story and all three are asleep by 7.30. The couple say they have a glass of wine before at half past eight they leave for the tapas restaurant, it's on the complex about 70 metres away. 7.10 pm According to Fiona Payne, David came back from tennis at 7:10 pm, still on time to help give a bath to the children. Dianne Webster said her son-in-law helped bathing the children, around 7:10 pm. Matthew Oldfield said that the three men (he, Russell and David) played up to 8:00 pm. ca. 7.15/7.20 pm Gerry returns to the apartment. Rachael told police that Gerry left at 7:20 pm to help Kate put the children in bed. 7.30 pm McCann children are asleep (Gerry, Panorama transcript). ca. 7.50 pm Gerry returns to the apartment, according to Russell. 8.00 pm Russell also said that he, David and Matthew played for almost one hour, close to 8:00 pm and they left the tennis court together and they went back to their apartments, to get ready for dinner, as the table was reserved for 8:30 pm. 
| | Tapas timeline: This graphic originally appeared in the News of the World |
8.30 pm Table is reserved at Tapas bar (PR). Gerry and Kate arrive at the Tapas restaurant. 8.45 pm Russell, Matthew and Rachael Oldfield go to the restaurant. 8.55 pm David and Fiona Payne also arrive at the Tapas (Did Dianne Webster arrive with them?). According to David, all the elements of the group were already there. But Rachel assures that Matthew arrived two or three minutes after the Paynes. 9.00 pm Matthew went to check on the children. 9.05 pm Gerry left the Tapas to check on his children. around 9.05 p.m. When he entered the apartment the children were fine, he just noticed that the door to their bedroom was partially open. He looked at the window, which was closed, just as the shutter. In another statement Gerry says Madeleine was not in her bed, and he assumed that the twins woke her up with their crying, and she went into her parents bedroom (which he did not check). In one of the first statements (Timesonline, May 6) it is said that at 9.30pm Gerry McCann checked his children and they were sound asleep, with Madeleine lying with her comfort blanket. According to the book of Gonçalo Amaral, - Gerry: says he entered by the front door with the key, sees Madeleine for the last time, all the windows are closed. He says he could see the back door from the restaurant and that no one came in through it that night. 9.10/15 pm Jane Tanner (either was on her way to the tapas bar or went to check on her children and) notices a man walking hastily, carrying a child. She memorises the suspect, but fails to recognise Maddie. 9.10/15 pm When Gerry is returning to the dinner, he meets Jeremy Wilkins – an English man he met during the holidays – and chats with him for ten minutes. Neither Gerry nor Jeremy notice Jane or the suspicious man that she says she saw, although they were all on the same narrow street at the same time. 9.25 pm Gerry returns to the tapas bar. Russell told the PJ that at this time Matt and he went to check the children. 9.20/30 pm Mathew Oldfield goes to check on the children, enters the room, sees the McCann children fast asleep, and notices nothing out of the ordinary. Russell O'Brien leaves the restaurant at the same time. In the first statements, Matt does not refer anything strange in Madeleine's room and Russell fails to explain that he stayed in his apartment because his younger daughter was feeling sick. Later, Matt said that he noticed more light in the McCanns' apartment and Russell revealed his daughter was vomiting. Seating plan according to Kate: 
9.35 pm Matthew Oldfield returned to Tapas. 9.45 pm Jane Tanner says at this time – not at 9.30 – Matthew and Russell left the restaurant. 9.50 / 10.00 pm According to their deposition to the PJ, Martin Smith, his wife and his children, after leaving the Kelly bar, which is located approximately 400 metres from the Ocean Club, around, saw an individual described as Caucasian, measuring 1.70 – 1.75 m, walking towards the beach. The Irishman told Sol that he knew Robert Murat (the only arguido in the process) visually for years – and also remembered seeing the Anglo-Portuguese man in a bar that evening, "already a bit intoxicated". Therefore, the Irish dismissed the possibility that the person he saw carrying a child could be Murat: "If it was him, I guarantee to you that I would have recognised him". Note: Mr Smith's testimony about Robert Murat was false. Murat's lawyer Francisco Pagarete, said: "He tried to defend Robert and ended up prejudicing him". According to a police source, "This was the statement that put Murat in trouble". 9.55 pm Russell returns to the restaurant. approx. 9.55 pm The Smith Family, (4 adults and 5 children) are returning from 'Kelly's Bar', heading north, all spread out along the street and they pass a man walking down the middle of the street, carrying a child, with the head against his left shoulder and the arms hanging down alongside the body, in light colored or pink pyjamas, bare feet, pale skin typical of British and blond, shoulder-length hair; the girl is about 3-4 years old, about 1 metre tall. - The man is not dressed like a tourist; he's wearing cream or beige trousers, classic cut, of linen or cotton. He is white, 30-35 yrs, 1.70-1.80 meters tall, averagel build, physically fit, short, brown hair, with a face that looks tanned. (GA) 10.00 pm Kate reports Madeleine gone and the shutter of the rear window open. Trish Cameron, McCann's sister, said: "Kate came screaming back to the group crying, 'They've taken her, they've taken her'. Gerry was crying and roaring like a bull." (Timesonline, May 6). Gerry thought "that can't be right, that can't be right". He went running up to the apartment with Kate and checked everywhere she had already looked, and made a quick run around the apartment block. ( Timesonline 09 September 2007)
According to book of Gonçalo Amaral: Kate enters at 22h00. Sees open window, raised blinds and curtains waving.
- Both refuse to believe someone entered the back door because they could see it and no one could have entered without their detecting it. (it was then verified that they could NOT see the back door, given the hedge and the fact that they were sitting with their backs to their apartment)
When the alarm is given, at an unknown hour, which for the investigation is somewhere between 9h30 and 22h00, based on the employee statements from the Tapas bar, as well as other tourists, all the group ran to the apartment as if a medical emergency had occured, except for Dianne Webster who stayed at the table for a few minutes. (GA)
In seconds, the resort is in turmoil. The group's four men (others say: the whole group of friends) and the club's employees/staff check every corner. Timesonline, May 6: John Hill, the Ocean Club manager, said the alarm was raised by the family between 10pm and 10.15pm: "The staff, many guests and the best part of the village started looking right away, a total of 40 to 65 people. The police were called and started taking details from the family and then took the decision to escalate the search."
Everybody leaves the restaurant, except Dianne Webster.
10.05 pm Dianne Webster goes into Maddie's room. The twins are sleeping. According to Felicia Cabrita (on TV 10/9) when Dianne got to the apartment and Kate was saying the window and shutters were open, went to the window from the outside and tried to lift the shutters. Impossible. They would not move. The staff explained that the shutters have already had 14 years of sun and rain and they were not possible to open from the outside without breaking. 10.11 pm A police source claims: "Someone within the McCann circle phoned from the Ocean Club the night of the crime to Sky News' representative in the Algarve. The call took place at 22.11. We were warned of the disappearance at 22.40". (No link) 'They decided straight away to call the police but had no idea what the emergency numbers were and, anyway, could not speak Portuguese. They asked one of their friends in the group to go down to the main reception, which is manned 24 hours, and call the police. The call was made at 10.14pm or 10.15pm, according to the McCanns.' ( Timesonline 09 September 2007) 10.15 pm Dianne returns to Tapas, to pick up her purse and her camera. Between 10.00 and 10.50 pm The first call that Gerry made on the night of the crime was to Alistair Clark, a good friend from university days and a diplomat who is close to Gordon Brown. Clark made contacts at the highest level and - before Policia Judiciaria - already Sky News and the British Ambassador were being informed about the abduction. ( Correio da Manhã 14, September 2007, no link but translated report here)
Between 10.00pm and 10.50pm, dozens of people came inside the McCanns apartment (friends, other guests, staff from Ocean Club) alarmed and willing to help in the search of Madeleine. Timesonline, May 6: John Hill, the Ocean Club manager, said the alarm was raised by the family between 10pm and 10.15pm: "The staff, many guests and the best part of the village started looking right away, a total of 40 to 65 people. The police were called and started taking details from the family and then took the decision to escalate the search."
Ms. Baptista recalled that the twins were still asleep in their two cots and there was the small, bright pink wool blanket that Madeleine likes to hold when she sleeps. "We walked out quickly so as not to wake up the twins. The parents immediately said, 'She's been kidnapped'," said Batisa.
Exact time unknown, estimated time 10.20 pm: Mrs. Fenn, the neighbour upstairs notices a commotion downstairs: "She looked over the balcony and saw the child's mother. She was in a state of panic. She was repeatedly saying 'We've let her down. We've let her down.' - All the people in their group were running in and out of the apartment. She (Mrs. Fenn) asked someone if she should call the police and was told it had already been done."
Estimated time 10.30 pm: Kate McCann was just panicking, frightened for Madeleine and wondering what happened to her, according to a statement from Fiona Payne. She described to police what she saw, when she returned to the McCann apartment, after searching the area around Ocean Club, with other members of the group of friends, for five to ten minutes, following the alert that Madeleine was missing. She went inside the children's room, noticed Madeleine's bed had the sheets quite kind of neatly, and the twins were fast asleep in their cots. While she opened the cupboards in the room, they remained asleep and didn't stir at all - something she thought was odd. Kate McCann was frightened and the sensation of not being able to do anything made her angry, howling and punching and kicking walls – the reason why she was covered in bruises the next day, according to the statement of Fiona Payne. Questioned if the twins didn't wake up, at all, she said they didn't and Kate kept going into the twins, kept putting her hands on the twins to check they were breathing, as she seemed very much concerned in checking they were okay. Fiona Payne remembered that the twins never wake up, with all the noise, the screaming and the shouting, not even when police came and the lights were turned on – something that she thought, at the time, was weird. 10.50 pm - First call to GNR Lagos precinct (Guarda Nacional Republicana, rural police); The first call to Police Precinct of GNR (Portuguese Rural Police) in Lagos, reporting a missing child and asking for Police help was made at 10.50pm and a patrol was sent, arriving at Ocean Club 12/15 minutes later, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Costa Cabral, Head of Public Relations of GNR.
ca. 11.00 pm Gerry calls his sister Trish: "It was my younger brother Gerry distraught on the phone, breaking his heart. He said: 'Madeleine is abducted, she's been abducted'. 'They kept going back to check the kids every half hour. The restaurant was only 40 yards away. He went back at 9 o’clock to check the children. They were all sound asleep, windows shut, shutters shut'. Kate then went over to the two-bedroom ground-floor apartment and 'came out screaming', said Mrs. Cameron. 'The door was lying open, the window in the bedroom and the shutters had been jimmied open'. ( Link) "They think someone must have come in the window and gone out of the front door with Madeleine." ( Link) 11.00/11.05 pm - A GNR patrol arrives at Ocean Club (two men); ca. 11.05 When GNR arrived, Gerry McCann walked to them, kneeled down and put both his hands on the ground and shouted twice, with rage in his voice, saying something that the witnesses close to them could not understand. 11h15/11h20 pm - GNR patrol calls CID in Portimão, reporting a possible kidnapping. Estimated time 11.15 pm - The first officer to arrive at Ocean Club was handed two lists by Russell O'Brien, written by him on the ripped-off cover of a child's "sticker activity book". 
The first list:
8:45 Everyone meets at the pool for dinner
9:00 Matt Oldfield listens at the windows of apts 5A,B,D
ALL blinds are closed
9:15 Gerry McCann goes to the room? bedroom door open
9:20 Jane Tanner checks 5D, sees a stranger carrying a child
9:30 Russell O'Brien in 5D, child is sick
9:55
10:00 Alarm given after Kate
The second list:
8:45 Pool
Matt returns 9:00-9:05 - listens at all, the 3 all have closed blinds
Gerry 9:10-9:15 - goes to room? bedroom door open
9:20/5 Jane checks apt 5D. Sees stranger with a child
9:30 Russell and Matt check the three
9:35 Matt sees the twins
9:50 Russell returns
9:55 Kate sees Madeleine is missing
10:00 Alarm
(GA)
11.30 pm Paul Moyes, 58, from Middlewich, Cheshire, was among those who helped to look for the missing child: "At 11.30pm there was a knock on the door and there was a distressed gentleman saying that a child had been abducted and could we help with the search. Everybody got involved." (Timesonline 06 May 2007)
11.40 pm Gerry calls his brother John: "I've got crying for help from my brother and I'm stuck couple of thousand miles away from him. I can't do anything concrete. And then eventually he just said, "I don't know what to think. I think some paedophile or some other swine has taken Madeleine".
11h30/11h40 pm A CID team leaves from Portimão to Praia da Luz.
11h40/11h50 pm The CID team arrives at Ocean Club.
When the call was made to CID headquarters, in Portimão (20 miles from Praia da Luz), there was only a stand-by night shift of two CID officers. It's normal, at this time of the year (May...). Population in Algarve multiplies by ten, during summer time. So, Police (GNR, rural police; PSP, urban Police, CID and other emergency services, like paramedics, firemen, etc, etc) is reinforced only 2 weeks before the beginning of summer. The two CID officers called other colleagues that were on a 'medium' stand-by (at home, but ready to be called in an emergency) and a 4 men team (2 CID inspectors, 1 photographer and 1 expert in collecting digital fingerprints) was sent to Ocean Club, arriving there between 11h40 and 11h50 pm. (No link)
Others say: 00.00 am/midnight, police arrive "The police arrived at around midnight and by that stage we were already out looking. There were uniformed police, plain clothes and even off duty local officers who joined in" Around midnight, Mr Amaral is informed about the case (GA) 0.10 am police start operation and call PSP, PJ, Border and Immigration Services and Faro Airport.
'Silvia Batisa, head of administration at the complex, helped to comfort the family and interpret their interviews with the police: "The parents were devastated, in a panic. They wanted more police and dogs immediately. Kate said all the time, 'Please find my daughter' and 'Madeleine is beautiful'." There was substantial searching involving tourists and locals for some hours. Kate remained in the apartment hoping for news, while Gerry went out and looked. ( Link) ca. 12.00 pm To the police, Gerry says Jane told him, about midnight 4 May, that she saw an unknown individual, 30-40 yrs, light trousers, dark hair, going up the street. |
| | Madeleine McCann: Confusion over last hours, 12 September 2007 | | | Madeleine McCann: Confusion over last hours Telegraph Reports by Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter Last Updated: 2:04AM BST 12 Sep 2007 The night of Madeleine McCann's disappearance, May 3, has been subject to claim, counter-claim, conjecture and scurrilous rumour. Today The Daily Telegraph pieces together the known facts about the fateful night, as reported by the McCanns themselves and key witnesses. 2:29pm The last picture of Madeleine was taken at the swimming pool at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, where the McCanns and the three other families with whom they were staying played together. 7:00pm Madeleine and the other children were put to bed. Reports of when she was last seen before this vary, with some accounts putting it as early as 6pm. This would be crucial as the police might put forward a theory that the McCanns killed Madeleine and hid her body before they went for dinner. 8:30pm Around this time, witnesses agree, the McCanns arrived at the tapas bar near their apartment, meaning there was a "window of opportunity" of up to 2hrs 40 mins for them to kill Madeleine and hide her body - a scenario dismissed as "ludicrous" by their family. The couple then settled down to dinner and take part in a quiz organised by the Ocean Club's aerobics teacher, Najova Chekaya. The McCanns say checks were made on their children every half-hour, sometimes by other members of the party, comprising Dr Russell O'Brien and Jane Tanner, from Exeter, Dr Matthew and Rachael Oldfield, from London, and David and Fiona Payne, from Leicester, together with Mrs Payne's mother Dianne Webster. Yet Mrs Webster has reportedly told police that each couple was responsible for checking their own children. 9:05pm Gerry McCann left the table to check on his children, who were all sleeping soundly, he says. Returning, he bumped into another British tourist, Jeremy Wilkins, with whom he had played tennis. They chatted for several minutes, as Mr Wilkins has confirmed. 9:15pm Jane Tanner told police that at this time she went to check on her daughter, who was ill, and recalled seeing Mr McCann talking to Mr Wilkins. As she went into the apartment, she saw a man aged around 35 carrying a little girl wrapped in a blanket. She thought nothing of it but is now convinced this was the kidnapper. The child's pyjamas matched the description of those Madeleine was wearing. Mr Wilkins apparently saw no such man, and does not remember seeing Miss Tanner. He has told police: "It was a very narrow path and I think it would have been almost impossible for anyone to walk by without me noticing." 9:30pm Dr Matthew Oldfield left the table and offered to check the McCann children. In his first police statement he said he merely listened at the door of apartment 5a but later said he had gone in and noticed that the room seemed lighter than the others, as if the shutters had been opened. He cannot be certain whether Madeleine was there. Gerry McCann invited Miss Chekaya to join the party at 9.30. Her account apparently contradicts Mr Oldfield, as she claims that no one left or returned to the table in the half-hour she was there. 10:00pm Kate McCann left the table at this time. One tapas bar worker has even claimed that only one person left the table during the evening, a tall man thought to be Dr O'Brien. There are also conflicting accounts of how much the party drank. One Portuguese newspaper claimed the nine friends downed 14 bottles of wine. The McCanns insist they drank three or four. Kate McCann ran back to the restaurant at 10pm, saying Madeleine was missing. 10:14pm Police were called after the friends made an initial search. Detectives are said to be intrigued by one witness report which quoted Kate McCann shouting out: "They've taken her, they've taken her!" They believe her immediate assertion that Madeleine had been snatched - and the implication that it was by more than one person - is suspicious. But other accounts have claimed Mrs McCann in fact said: "Madeleine has gone. Somebody has taken her." |
| | The 36 vital hours, 15 September 2007 | | | Lucy Thornton in Praia da Luz 15/09/2007 What really happened when she vanished The McCanns were due to fly home the next day and did not want their perfect family holiday to end. But Kate and Gerry's idyllic week with their three children was to end in a nightmare that would change their lives forever. The disappearance of their eldest daughter Madeleine, then three, on May 3 would spark Europe's largest missing person hunt. Since then, the case has shifted from a possible kidnap to suspicions of foul play by her parents. We look back at when Madeleine vanished and unearth new witnesses and clues. MAY 3 9.15AM MADELEINE and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie, are quickly up and dressed and the family breakfast together in their holiday apartment. The children go to the kids' club - on site at the Mark Warner Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz - where they have been staying with friends. Kate and Gerry enjoyed jogs on the beach, tennis and morning strolls. 12.30PM KATE and Gerry scoop up their children from the creche and head back to their apartment for lunch. Madeleine has learnt a dance which she and her young friends are to perform for their parents the following day. 2.30PM THE family head for the Ocean Club's pool. Kate takes a last photo of Madeleine dangling her feet in the water, next to sister Amelie and Gerry. They spend the rest of the afternoon pottering. 5PM THE McCanns join friends for drinks at a restaurant in Praia da Luz where the children have their tea. A waiter, who has not spoken before, said: "They arrived in beach clothes and there was a big group. Nine adults and six or seven children and they took up two large tables. The adults ordered alcoholic drinks and had quite a lot. They were happy." Gerry played in front of the restaurant with his children, pushing Madeleine on a swing. The waiter said Madeleine's parents called her in from the beach to eat her meal on the balcony of the restaurant. He said: "When he brought her back to get an ice-cream, she was jumping up and down with excitement. It was a lovely sight." 6PM MADELEINE eats her ice cream as the group leave for their holiday apartment. It is the last time she is seen in public. 7.30PM KATE gives Madeleine a bath, then dries her hair, carefully taking out a bead she had put in earlier in the week. Then she helps her into her pink pyjamas and puts her to bed next to the twins' cots at around 8pm. As Madeleine snuggles up to her beloved Cuddle Cat toy, she says: "Mummy, I've had the best day ever. I'm having lots and lots of fun." 8PM KATE and Gerry spend half an hour together before meeting friends at the tapas bar, as usual, at 8.30pm. It has a view of the apartments 50 metres away where they are all staying. The McCanns choose not to use the baby-sitting service. 8.30PM THE couple meet seven others at the restaurant including Russell O'Brien and his wife Jane Tanner as well as Dr Matthew Oldfield and his wife Rachael. 9PM GERRY is the first to return to the block, checking on his children at 9.05pm. He sees all three children sound asleep. On his way back to the restaurant, Gerry bumps into Brit Jeremy Wilkins, with whom he had played tennis. Jane Tanner goes to check on her daughter who is ill. 9.15PM AS Jane enters their block - number five - she sees a man carrying what looks like a child wrapped in a blanket. She barely gives him a second glance. The restaurant is buzzing as diners take part in a quiz, organised by aerobics instructor Najova Chekaya. 9.30PM DR Oldfield gets up to look in on his children and offers to check on the McCanns'. Instead of going into apartment 5A he listens at the door. Satisfied the children are sound asleep, he rejoins the party and reports all was well. At around the same time, as the quiz ends, Gerry invites Ms Chekaya, 21, to join their table. She is with them for half an hour. Dr O'Brien also leaves the table for 25 minutes to look after his ill daughter, returning shortly before 10pm. 10PM KATE leaves the group to check on the children. Letting herself into the flat, she opens the door to the kids' bedroom and freezes for a split second. Madeleine's bed is empty. A bolt of terror shoots through her followed by panic. Hysterical, she races back to the restaurant. One witness said she shouts: "They've taken her, they've taken her. The group run back with her to the apartment and help Kate and Gerry triple check every room, looking under the beds, in the wardrobes, behind the doors. Their panic grows. The couple are said to have known immediately that their daughter had been taken because Cuddle Cat was left on a ledge impossible for Madeleine to reach and a window shutter had been forced open. 10.10PM THE alarm is raised with the resort manager within 10 minutes. The Mirror has learned Gerry bursts into the Ocean Club's reception and asks for a priest and the police. Told it is too late to get hold of the priest, he then runs down the hill towards the church, stopping cars and pleading: "Have you seen a little girl? She's my daughter and she's missing." Friends and staff join in the search. Kate stays with the twins, waiting for news. 10.41PM THE police claim they receive a call telling them that a child is missing. 11.03PM TWO local officers arrive at the club and after a laboured questioning session involving a translator then call the Policia Judiciaria who investigate serious crimes. Friends of the McCanns allege that shortly after 11pm, they see British expat Robert Murat, who lives nearby with his mother, join the search party at the Ocean Club. He denies this, saying he was at home with his mother. MAY 4 4AM A TEAM of detectives set up an operation centre in four apartments near the McCanns' flat to start quizzing holiday makers, staff and Luz residents. Sniffer dogs scour the town. The frenzied search is well underway. Police also begin bugging phones. By the early hours they have investigated more than 4,500 phone calls made in Praia da Luz. It is later claimed that a call is made at 2am by Robert Murat to computer expert Sergey Malinka, 22. Murat would later be made an official suspect, his computer seized, his garden dug up and his movements scrutinised before police interest in him eventually waned. Although Malinka is also quizzed by the police and his house searched, he told the Mirror he saw no record of the alleged call from the man who he had helped before with his real estate website. However, since being linked to Murat, the young Russian said his life has been turned upside down. He said: "I'm innocent but I lost my friends and my business which I invested seven years on. Customers just left. "People don't talk to me and some still point at me in the street so I don't go out. I have had raging calls at midnight threatening to chop my head off. I'm the bad guy. "Now I'm thinking about moving to the sticks, away from all the people. "My grandma went to the hospital and someone said to her 'your grandson's a paedophile'. I want it all to finish." 7AM THROUGHOUT Praia da Luz bins are opened, people look under cars, in gardens, in swimming pools and all along the beach. One expat recalls: "The whole town joined in, people didn't go to bed, they were looking until 6 or 7am. The next morning we were all given maps with areas divided into different search zones and a picture of Madeleine. "My husband came home after searching and burst into tears, we have children of our own and he was so upset after seeing the dad looking so distraught." The search becomes manic. Police grab a six-year-old blonde English girl the following day on the off-chance she might be Madeleine. She screams as armed officers pick her up, leaving her horrified aunt racing to produce her passport. Police officers tell fishermen and boat owners to keep an eye out for anything unusual and perhaps a "black bag". One focus is 18 tide-washed caves which lie along the coast. But as one fisherman says this week: "There are small tidal movements so if the body was dumped far enough out to sea there is no chance it will be seen again. I still check the caves, just in case." 9AM A BRITISH expat barmaid turns up on the McCanns' doorstep, telling them she has had a psychic vision of Madeleine looking out of a window. She is the first of 150 psychics to descend on the resort, all claiming to know what happened to the girl. Police take a statement from the woman and apparently search a nearby house which fits her vision, but find nothing. 10PM THE shattered McCanns face the media for the first time. Kate can barely speak. Her husband looks empty and dazed. His hands shake as he reads out a statement. In the following days, police say they have a sketch of a suspect but refuse to issue it. Kate begs Madeleine's kidnapper not to hurt her. Later, after Kate is named by Portuguese police as a suspect, the 39-year-old GP is criticised "for not showing enough emotion". But the McCanns are advised by a British abduction expert not to cry as this would give the child's abductor "a kick". |
| | Revealed: The three timings 'key to solving Madeleine case', 09 November 2007 | | | Revealed: The three timings 'key to solving Madeleine case' Daily Mail by VANESSA ALLEN Last updated at 21:41 09 November 2007 Police in Portugal have identified three time-slots which they believe hold the key to what really happened to Madeleine McCann. Crucially all three "windows of opportunity" are linked to Kate and Gerry McCann's movements, suggesting detectives still believe they were involved in their daughter's disappearance. Investigators believe Madeleine either died in her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on the Algarve on May 3 or was taken from it. The three time-slots were developed by Portuguese documentary-makers who claim they have stripped away the contradictions and inconsistencies in different witness accounts and used only definitive information verified by detectives. Police have unviled a timeline of the events surrounding Madeleine McCann's disappearance The first identified 'window of opportunity' begins at 6.30pm when Mr McCann was on the tennis court and his wife was alone in the apartment with Madeleine and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie. At 6.40pm one of the McCanns' friends, David Payne, went to their apartment and saw Mrs McCann playing happily with the children. By 7pm Mr McCann returned from playing tennis and the couple bathed their children and put them to bed by 7.30pm. They spent an hour together in their apartment and then joined their friends in the apartment complex's tapas bar. Mr and Mrs McCann arrived at about 8.30pm and were joined by the rest of the so-called Tapas Nine. Mr McCann, 39, was then said to have returned to the apartment at 9.05pm to check on Madeleine, Sean and Amelie. He has since said he believes the abductor could already have been inside. This is the second "window of opportunity" allegedly identified by detectives, but Mr McCann left the apartment by 9.10pm. He met another witness, television producer Jeremy Wilkins, who confirmed that he stood and chatted with the consultant cardiologist near the apartment's staircase. The pair were stood by the gate near the apartment's unlocked patio doors - where the intruder is thought to have gained entry - so the abductor would have been forced to flee through the bedroom window, on the other side of the apartment. Mrs McCann said the window was still open when she went to check on the children at 10pm. At 9.15pm another of the Tapas Nine, Jane Tanner, said she saw a man carrying a child away from the apartment and she now believes this was the abductor taking Madeleine. But Mr Wilkins said he did not see Ms Tanner or the mystery man and that it would have been impossible for them to be there without him seeing them. Detectives are probing claims that Mr McCann sent and received 14 text messages between 9.30pm and 11.40pm, which they believe are suspicious. At 9.30pm the time-line says another of the group, Matthew Oldfield, went to the apartment to check on the children, but did not go inside. He said he saw Sean and Amelie sleeping but did not see Madeleine, whose bed was not visible from the patio doors. Then at 10pm Mrs McCann, 39, returned to the apartment, discovered her daughter was missing and raised the alarm. Portuguese police believe this was the third "window of opportunity" when Madeleine either died or was taken from the apartment. Mrs McCann said she searched the flat three times before screaming 'She's gone!' But another witness, a Portuguese waiter, said she stood on the apartment's balcony and screamed across the swimming pool to where her husband sat with their friends at the tapas bar. He said she shouted: "They've taken her, they've taken her, they've taken our little girl." Mr McCann and the friends then ran to the apartment and began searching. Police were called at 10.40pm, the first officers arrived at 10.47pm and senior detectives from the Policia Judiciaria arrived at 1am. The apartment was not cleared of searchers until 2am, when police said there were up to 50 people inside. The documentary 'Madeleine: Anatomy of a Mystery', was made by the Portuguese state broadcaster RTP, Portugal's equivalent of the BBC. An English language version of the documentary is due to go on RTP's website on Saturday. Reporter Sandra Felgueiras, who has covered the case since May, said: "We are certain that the time-line is the best ever produced. "We have checked with our police sources and they have confirmed that this is the most accurate version of events produced to date." But McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "Several things in this supposed time-line do not ring true. "But we are not going to comment on yet another speculative report in the Portuguese media about what happened that night. "Kate and Gerry know that they had nothing to do with Madeleine's disappearance and they and their friends are happy to talk to police about any inconsistencies they may feel exist in versions of events that night." |
| | Tapas timeline: This graphic originally appeared in the News of the World |
| | Why did nobody see the open window and shutter? | | | Accepting Jane Tanner's version of the timeline, as above, means that at 9.15pm the window and shutter were now wide open to the cold, windy evening. Yet, we must believe, on six separate occasions this was missed: 1. Jane Tanner immediately after spotting the abductor at 9.15pm and returning to her apartment,
2. Jane Tanner when she returned to the tapas restaurant after completing her check,
3. Matthew Oldfield when he apparently stood at the bedroom door, in the apartment, at 9.30pm,
4. Russell O'Brien when he returned to check his own children at 9.30pm,
5. Jane Tanner when she returned to care for the sick child O'Brien had reported to her at 9.40pm,
6. Russell O'Brien when he returned to the tapas restaurant just before 10.00pm. You could also add Jeremy Wilkins to this list, who was walking his small child in a buggy between 8.30pm and 9.30pm that evening. He has already made it clear he saw neither Jane Tanner nor an abductor. He has also stated he can remember no more significant details of that evening. So, we must assume he did not witness the open window and shutter of the McCanns' apartment, despite having to walk past it on the way back to his top floor apartment. |
| | 'They've taken her' | | | There has probably been as much discussion about this short phrase as any other aspect of the case. They are the words that Kate is alleged to have screamed, to alert Gerry and their friends, after discovering that Madeleine was missing from her bed. It is reported that Kate's family have countered this by insisting they recall her shouting: "Madeleine's gone." However, her family were not there on the evening of May 3rd. The first eyewitness account was made by nanny Charlotte Pennington, who claims that Kate McCann did scream: "They've taken her, they've taken her!" Charlotte Pennington is considered a vital witness by Portuguese detectives with whom she spent more than four-and-a-half hours giving a statement. She said: "I was in the apartment less than five minutes after they found that Madeleine had gone. When we were coming out we saw Kate and she was screaming: 'They've taken her, they've taken her!' I was standing right in front of her outside the apartment's back door, in the alleyway. I was very close to her. It might not have been the first thing she said. But she definitely said it. I was one of three Mark Warner staff who saw her shouting it. They have all given statements to the Portuguese police saying that." Particular emphasis has been placed on Kate’s use of the word ‘they’, which many believe to indicate that there was more than one ‘abductor’ involved. The clear inference from this would be that Kate knew more about Madeleine’s disappearance than she was revealing. It could be argued that use of the word ‘they’ in this situation is not unusual. Describing a burglary, a person may say: ‘They broke in through the window… they stole the television… and they escaped by the front door’. The word ‘they’ would be used in that context because it would unknown how many burglars there were and what their sex was. In Jane Tanner’s Panorama interview she says: ‘I just saw somebody walking across the top of the road so I was a reasonable distance away from them’. Here she uses the word ‘them’, which in literal translation would mean a group of people, but she is clearly indicating one person. There is, however, another interpretation. That by making ‘they’ the main subject of the phrase she is putting emphasis on the thing she wants the listeners to focus on. It is a passive construction, the active version being ‘Madeleine’s been taken’ placing the importance on Madeleine and not what happened to her. The passive is used when our interest is on what happens, not who it happens to. So, we could deduce from this that by using the word ‘they’, Kate was consciously, or subconsciously, trying to place the importance on the ‘abductor’. The fact that she uses the word ‘they’ could also imply that she has knowledge that more than one person was involved. It’s argued that it would have been more natural to say ‘Someone’s taken her’ but for conscious, or subconscious, reasons Kate refers to people in the plural sense. If we look at the phrase again, what is the verb? What is the heart of the phrase, the action word that Kate wants to communicate urgently? It is ‘taken’. For in this one word Kate immediately secures the two vital cornerstones that underpin the McCanns' assertions. That Madeleine was abducted and that it happened now. It is imperative to the McCanns' beliefs that those two things are understood, and more importantly accepted, very quickly. Indeed, the phrase used is designed to not only emphasise the abduction but to actively exclude any other interpretation of the situation. With no checks, other than within the apartment, Kate has apparently already dismissed the possibility that Madeleine could have woken and wandered off to look for her parents. She’s dismissed the idea that she’s hiding outside in the bushes. She’s dismissed the possibility that she is in the apartment next door with Jane Tanner, with whom she doesn’t even check. She has previously described Madeleine as a child who often wakes, so it would appear logical to consider other options first before an instant and dogmatic assertion that she had been abducted. It has been reported that Kate knew instantly on entering the bedroom that Madeleine had been abducted. However, her reasons for this appear very thin. She originally mentioned the fact that Madeleine’s alleged favourite toy ‘Cuddle Cat’ was placed on a high shelf, that Madeleine could not possibly have reached. However, judging by the photograph released on 12/11/07, showing the inside of the apartment, there would appear to be no high shelf. Recently the story has changed to the simple fact that ‘Cuddle Cat’ was still in the room. Again, this would appear to be a very thin reason for immediately assuming abduction. Would an abductor seriously consider taking a cuddly toy along with him, which would then have to be disposed of at the risk of leaving potentially incriminating DNA? Another reason for Kate’s automatic assumption of abduction is that the sheets on Madeleine’s bed were left laid to the pillows, as though she had not even slept there. Would an abductor, in an extremely tight ‘window of opportunity’ seriously take time to ensure the bed clothes were neat and tidy? Could he have taken Madeleine from her bed so sensitively as to not disturb the sheets or her sleep? Or is this simply an attempt to counter the fact that the GNR officers attending witnessed a tidy made bed, and that, in fact, Madeleine never made it into bed that day? So, what of her use of the word ‘her’? Why not Madeleine? ‘They’ve taken Madeleine’ would appear to be a much clearer and informative option. How would Gerry, and their friends, know who she meant from use of the word ‘her’? Was it Madeleine or was it Amelie that had been ‘taken’? Does use of the word ‘her’ imply that the recipients of her screams were already aware that it was Madeleine? Or does it mean that Kate knew who she was talking about and, in the heat of the moment, wrongly assumed that her listeners had the same amount of information as she had? Of course, the other difficulty with trying to make any analysis of this phrase is that we don't know for certain if, when or where it was said. There are reports it was said when Kate dashed back to the tapas restaurant and others that claim she screamed it from the balcony of their apartment. There are reports it was the first words she spoke and others, as above, that say the words were spoken 5 minutes after the alarm was raised. There are reports she screamed it outside the apartment and reports she said the words inside the apartment. With such confusion over basic details and accounts, is it any wonder the Policia Judiciaria put the resolution of inconsistencies in witness acounts at the heart of this case. |
| Time | Gerry and Kate's timeline for 03/04 May 2007 - based on information released in the media prior to the release of the PJ files | | 10:00 | Madeleine and her two-year-old twin siblings, Sean and Amelie, were placed in the resort's Kids Club, where Ms Baker worked, at around 10am while their parents took a stroll... | | ??? | CHARLOTTE PENNINGTON (Nanny): "On May the third, it was just Madeleine I was reading a story to. I later saw them around lunchtime. That's the last time I saw them together as a family." | | 12:30 | ...their parents took a stroll before collecting them (Madeleine and the twins) at 12.30pm for lunch back at the apartment. | | 14:29 | The 'last photo' is allegedly taken at this time. It is widely reported that the digital time on the camera was incorrectly set to 01:29, however there have been no versions of the photograph released to confirm this. The photo shows Gerry sitting at the poolside, in casual shorts and t-shirt, with Amelie and Madeleine. | | 14:30 | In the afternoon, the McCanns played tennis while Madeleine went back to her nanny at the children's club... (Time of returning to nanny based on the quoted 6 hours i.e. 2.5 hours a.m. and 3.5 hours p.m. to 18:00 when it is said that Madeleine and the twins were 'picked up by her parents') | | ? p.m. | BRIDGET O'DONNELL: Earlier that day there had been tennis lessons for the children, with some of the parents watching proudly as their girls ran across the court chasing tennis balls. They took photos. Madeleine must have been there, but I couldn't distinguish her from the others. They all looked the same - all blonde, all pink and pretty. Jes and Gerry were playing on the next court. Afterwards, we sat by the pool and Gerry and Kate talked enthusiastically to the tennis coach about the following day's tournament. We watched them idly - they had a lot of time for people, they listened. Then Gerry stood up and began showing Kate his new tennis stroke. She looked at him and smiled. "You wouldn't be interested if I talked about my tennis like that," Jes said to me. We watched them some more. Kate was calm, still, quietly beautiful; Gerry was confident, proud, silly, strong. She watched his boyish demonstration with great seriousness and patience. That was the last time I saw them that day. Jes saw Gerry that night. | | 16:30 | Gerry had knocked up at the start of the 4.30pm tennis-drills session, but had decided not to exacerbate an injury to his Achilles tendon, so had dropped out and waited around by the courts until the children came back from the kids’ clubs at 5pm for tea. | | 17:30 | We've produced this model of the Ocean Club to clearly show the key areas and where people were. The tennis courts and pool area, the Tapas Bar and here apartment 5A where by 5.30 in the evening the McCanns say the children have been picked up from their kids' clubs and they were all back together. | | 17:30 | In the afternoon, the McCanns played tennis while Madeleine went back to her nanny at the children's club, who gave her tea at 5.30pm. | | 18:00 | At 6 Gerry McCann has his third tennis lesson of the day so he leaves the flat. He says as a family they talked about bringing the children back out to play in the area by the courts. | | 18:00 | Madeleine, Sean and Amelie were picked up by their parents at 6pm. | | 18:30 | At 6.30 Gerry McCann asks a friend, David Payne, to pop in on Kate to see if the children are coming down (to the tennis courts). He goes to the flat, he says all is well, but the children are too tired and are already in their pyjamas. | | 18:30 | The first identified 'window of opportunity' begins at 6.30pm when Mr McCann was on the tennis court and his wife was alone in the apartment with Madeleine and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie. | | 18:40 | At 6.40pm one of the McCanns' friends, David Payne, went to their apartment and saw Mrs McCann playing happily with the children. | | 19:00 | At 7, lesson over, Gerry McCann goes back to the apartment. | | 19:00 | Gerry was in his apartment at 7pm, had a glass of water, then a beer, while the children sat with Kate on the couch having stories with a snack. The children were clearly shattered – the last thing any of them needed was a sedative and, anyway, it was not something the McCanns ever did. They put them to bed after a last story. The twins were asleep virtually the moment they lay down, Madeleine not far behind them. | | 19:00 | Madeleine and the other children were put to bed. Reports of when she was last seen before this vary, with some accounts putting it as early as 6pm. This would be crucial as the police might put forward a theory that the McCanns killed Madeleine and hid her body before they went for dinner. | | 19:00 | By 7pm Mr McCann returned from playing tennis and the couple bathed their children... | | 19:30 | ...and put them to bed by 7.30pm. They spent an hour together in their apartment and then joined their friends in the apartment complex's tapas bar. | | 19:30 | He (Gerry) says he reads the children a story and all three are asleep by 7.30. | | 19:30 | At about 7.30pm, Kate and Gerry showered and changed and sat down to have a quiet glass of the sauvignon blanc. | | 20:00 | That evening, Thursday, May 3, at just after 8pm, by their account, Kate and Gerry McCann were having a glass of wine together in apartment 5a on the ground floor of Block 5 of the Waterside Village Gardens at the Ocean Club. | | 20:30 | The couple say they have a glass of wine before at half past eight they leave for the tapas restaurant, it's on the complex about 70 metres away. GERRY: We ate in the open air bit of the tapas and when we went in there was I think one or two other couples. KATE: And then it was just us, you know, and it wasn't late, you know, it was half eight we were there. GERRY: One couple we played tennis with and we chatted to them, and then some of the friends started arriving and they left shortly after that. And I think at that point we might have been the only table. | | 20:30 | BRIDGET O'DONNELL: Our baby would not sleep and at about 8.30pm, Jes took him out for a walk in the buggy to settle him. Gerry was on his way back from checking on his children and the two men stopped to have a chat. They talked about daughters, fathers, families. Gerry was relaxed and friendly. They discussed the babysitting dilemmas at the resort and Gerry said that he and Kate would have stayed in too, if they had not been on holiday in a group. | | 20:30 | Around this time, witnesses agree, the McCanns arrived at the tapas bar near their apartment, meaning there was a "window of opportunity" of up to 2hrs 40 mins for them to kill Madeleine and hide her body - a scenario dismissed as "ludicrous" by their family. The couple then settled down to dinner and take part in a quiz organised by the Ocean Club's aerobics teacher, Najova Chekaya. | | 20:30 | Mr and Mrs McCann arrived at about 8.30pm and were joined by the rest of the so-called Tapas Nine. | | 20:35 | They were first to the table at the restaurant at 8.35 and spent some minutes talking to a couple from Hertfordshire – two more tennis players – at the next table, who were eating with their young children... The McCanns sat down after a few minutes and then ordered some wine. The Oldfields were next to arrive, then Russell O’Brien and Jane Tanner and, finally, always last, Dave and Fiona Payne with Dianne Webster. | | 20:55 | They had just ordered starters when the routine of checking began. Matt Oldfield went first at 8.55 to check his own apartment and to hurry up the Paynes, who had still not arrived. | | 20:55 | JANE TANNER: I think the starters were about to arrive so I thought oh, I'll go and do a check in sort of 20 minutes or so before last check. | | 21:00 | Gerry McCann says he went at just after 9 to check on his children. He says that their bedroom door was more open than usual so he goes in. Gerry McCann has told Panorama he remembers looking down at Madeleine. He spent a moment thinking how beautiful she looked and how lucky he was. He says this was the last time he saw his daughter. He closes the bedroom door and leaves through these unlocked patio doors. A stair gate since removed is shut, this gate is on the latch not locked. | | 21:05 | He (Oldfield) was followed by Gerry, who entered his apartment at about 9.05 through the patio doors to the lounge. Earlier that week the McCanns had used a key to go in through the front door next to the children’s bedroom but, worrying the noise might wake the children, they began using the patio doors, leaving them unlocked. When he entered the apartment, Gerry immediately saw that the children’s bedroom door, which they always left just ajar, was now open to 45 degrees. He thought that was odd, and glanced in his own bedroom to see if Madeleine had gone into her parents’ bed. But no, she and the twins were all still fast asleep. Gerry paused over Madeleine, who – a typical doctor’s observation, this – was lying almost in ''the recovery position'' with Cuddle Cat, the toy her godfather, John Corner, had bought her, and her comfort blanket up near her head, and Gerry thought how gorgeous, how lovely-looking she was and how lucky he was. Putting the door back to five degrees, he went to the loo and left to return to the restaurant. That, of course, was the last time he would see his daughter. | | Gerry McCann left the table to check on his children, who were all sleeping soundly, he says. Returning, he bumped into another British tourist, Jeremy Wilkins, with whom he had played tennis. They chatted for several minutes, as Mr Wilkins has confirmed. | | As the adults dined, Gerry went to check on Madeleine and the twins Sean and Amelie at just after 9pm, perhaps at 9.05pm. He says all the children were safely asleep. As he was returning to the table he encountered Jeremy Wilkins, an English fellow holidaymaker whom Gerry had befriended at the resort’s tennis courts. They chatted for a few minutes in the street outside the McCanns’ apartment. | | Mr McCann, 39, was then said to have returned to the apartment at 9.05pm to check on Madeleine, Sean and Amelie. He has since said he believes the abductor could already have been inside. | | 21:10 | This is the second "window of opportunity" allegedly identified by detectives, but Mr McCann left the apartment by 9.10pm. He met another witness, television producer Jeremy Wilkins, who confirmed that he stood and chatted with the consultant cardiologist near the apartment's staircase. The pair were stood by the gate near the apartment's unlocked patio doors - where the intruder is thought to have gained entry - so the abductor would have been forced to flee through the bedroom window, on the other side of the apartment. | | Returning to the tapas bar he meets Jeremy Wilkins who he'd played tennis with that afternoon. He crosses the road to talk to him. GERRY McCANN (Speaking in August): I bumped into one guy I played tennis with in the street when I'd gone in to check, and that was the first time I think of any of the nights that I'd been going up and down that I saw anyone else really - five, six nights, and it was incredibly quiet. | | As he walked down the hill, Gerry saw Jes Wilkins on the opposite side of the road pushing a child in a buggy. Gerry called hello and crossed over to talk. Wilkins and his partner were eating in their own apartment that night, but their youngest still wouldn’t settle. | | 21:15 | They spoke for a few minutes. At this time around 9.15 Jane Tanner thinks about checking on her children. JANE TANNER: So I thought I'll go and do a check before the food arrives. So I just walked out of the restaurant, up the hill, I passed Gerry who was talking to one of his tennis friends at the time. | | 21:15 | Jane Tanner told police that at this time she went to check on her daughter, who was ill, and recalled seeing Mr McCann talking to Mr Wilkins. As she went into the apartment, she saw a man aged around 35 carrying a little girl wrapped in a blanket. She thought nothing of it but is now convinced this was the kidnapper. The child's pyjamas matched the description of those Madeleine was wearing. Mr Wilkins apparently saw no such man, and does not remember seeing Miss Tanner. He has told police: "It was a very narrow path and I think it would have been almost impossible for anyone to walk by without me noticing." | | 21:15 | At 9.15pm another of the Tapas Nine, Jane Tanner, said she saw a man carrying a child away from the apartment and she now believes this was the abductor taking Madeleine. But Mr Wilkins said he did not see Ms Tanner or the mystery man and that it would have been impossible for them to be there without him seeing them. | | 21:15 | One of the party, Russell O’Brien, was away from the table for much of the evening, caring for his sick child. At about 9.15pm Jane Tanner, his girlfriend, went to their apartment to see how things were. As she did so she passed, right on the street corner by the McCanns’ apartment, a man carrying a child wrapped in a blanket. The man was crossing the road, walking away from the apartment complex. At the time Tanner thought nothing of it; it seemed a perfectly normal spectacle in a family resort. | | 21:30 | According to the McCann timeline, at about 9.30 Matt Oldfield is the next to check on the children. Remember Gerry McCann says he had closed the bedroom door, but Matt Oldfield says he finds it open. He doesn't go in the room, he sees the twins but can't see Madeleine's bed. Because there's no noise he assumes everything is okay. | | 21:30 | At 9.30, Kate got up to make the next check on her children, but Matt Oldfield was checking too, as was Russell O’Brien, and Matt offered to do Kate’s check for her, which she accepted. Gerry teased that she would not be excused her turn at the next check. In the McCanns’ apartment, Oldfield noticed the children’s bedroom door was again open, but that meant nothing to him, so he merely observed all was quiet and made a cursory glance inside the room, seeing the twins in their cots but, agonisingly, not directly seeing Madeleine’s bed from the angle at which he stood. Afterwards, he could not say for sure if she had been there or not. Nor could he say if the window and shutter had been open. | | 21:30 | Dr Matthew Oldfield left the table and offered to check the McCann children. In his first police statement he said he merely listened at the door of apartment 5a but later said he had gone in and noticed that the room seemed lighter than the others, as if the shutters had been opened. He cannot be certain whether Madeleine was there. Gerry McCann invited Miss Chekaya to join the party at 9.30. Her account apparently contradicts Mr Oldfield, as she claims that no one left or returned to the table in the half-hour she was there. | | 21:30 | BRIDGET O'DONNELL: Jes returned to our apartment just before 9.30pm. We ate, drank wine, watched a DVD and then went to bed. | | 21:30 | Detectives are probing claims that Mr McCann sent and received 14 text messages between 9.30pm and 11.40pm, which they believe are suspicious. At 9.30pm the time-line says another of the group, Matthew Oldfield, went to the apartment to check on the children, but did not go inside. He said he saw Sean and Amelie sleeping but did not see Madeleine, whose bed was not visible from the patio doors. | | 21:30 | At 9.30pm Kate was due to check on her children, but another of the party, believed to be Matt Oldfield, was getting up from the table to make his own check. Oldfield said he would look in on the McCanns’ children, according to a source close to the McCanns. When Oldfield reached the corner apartment he entered through the closed but unlocked french windows and checked on the sleeping children. Afterwards, with the terrible agony of hindsight, he could clearly recall seeing the twins lying there, but could not say for sure that he had seen Madeleine. | | 22:00 | Finally, at 10pm, it was Kate's turn to check the apartment. She only became alarmed when she reached out to the children's bedroom door and it blew shut. Inside the room the window was open, the shutter was up and Madeleine's bed was empty. Kate quickly searched everywhere and ran back down the hill and into the restaurant: ''Madeleine's gone, somebody’s taken her'' or ''Madeleine's gone, someone’s taken her.'' Gerry stood up. ''She can’t be gone.'' ''I’m telling you she’s gone, someone's taken her.'' | | 22:00 | Kate McCann left the table at this time. One tapas bar worker has even claimed that only one person left the table during the evening, a tall man thought to be Dr O'Brien. There are also conflicting accounts of how much the party drank. One Portuguese newspaper claimed the nine friends downed 14 bottles of wine. The McCanns insist they drank three or four. Kate McCann ran back to the restaurant at 10pm, saying Madeleine was missing. | | 22:00 | Then at 10pm Mrs McCann, 39, returned to the apartment, discovered her daughter was missing and raised the alarm. Portuguese police believe this was the third "window of opportunity" when Madeleine either died or was taken from the apartment. Mrs McCann said she searched the flat three times before screaming 'She's gone!' But another witness, a Portuguese waiter, said she stood on the apartment's balcony and screamed across the swimming pool to where her husband sat with their friends at the tapas bar. He said she shouted: "They've taken her, they've taken her, they've taken our little girl." Mr McCann and the friends then ran to the apartment and began searching. | | 22:00 | O’Brien rejoined the table shortly before 10pm. Not long afterwards Kate got up to make the next check on her three children. The walk must have taken her less than a minute. Madeleine was not in her bed. Left behind was Cuddle Cat, Madeleine’s comfort toy. She was never separated from it, especially at night. According to Kate, the bedroom window was open and the shutter up, yet they had been closed and down when Gerry checked at 9pm. Kate searched the apartment and the area immediately outside. She ran down the hill and into the restaurant, where Gerry recalls her shouting or screaming either “Madeleine has gone. Somebody has taken her” or “Madeleine has gone. Someone has taken her”. Other reports suggest she shouted, “They've taken her.” Gerry thought “that can’t be right, that can’t be right”. He went running up to the apartment with Kate and checked everywhere she had already looked, and made a quick run around the apartment block. | | 22:15 | The McCanns say they asked Matt Oldfield to call the police at 10.15 from the Ocean Club front desk. When the police don't appear, they say someone from the group goes back to the front desk to see what's happening. | | 22:15 | Matt went down to the 24-hour reception at the bottom of the hill to raise the alarm. The call to the police went in at 10.15. | | 22:15 | They decided straight away to call the police but had no idea what the emergency numbers were and, anyway, could not speak Portuguese. They asked one of their friends in the group to go down to the main reception, which is manned 24 hours, and call the police. The call was made at 10.14pm or 10.15pm, according to the McCanns. | | 22:30 | I have spoken to someone who was staying very close to flat 5A on the night of May 3rd. She says the first that she was aware of a missing child was 10.30 and she's sure of that because she says the BBC 10 o'clock news had just finished. She says that she heard Kate McCann sobbing, repeating over and over again: "We've let her down." She also says that she heard the first Portuguese policeman arrive and he said: "She must have walked out because there's no sign of a break in." | | 22:40 | The police say the first call they received was about 10.40. | | 22:40 | Police were called at 10.40pm... | | 22:47 | ...the first officers arrived at 10.47pm | | 22:50 | JUNE WRIGHT (Luz resident): ''I arrived at the Ocean Club reception at around about 10 to 11 and at the time that we arrived a police car arrived - and as the police officer got out a man approached him, who I now know is Gerry McCann and said that his daughter had been abducted. That there was no way that she could have opened the shutters herself, she'd definitely been taken.'' | | ??? | GERRY McCANN (Speaking in August): There had been quite a few people in the apartment but not into the bedroom, that was limited to myself, Kate, I think two of our friends, the two GNR officers and I think a translator. I was certainly saying to people: "Stay out of the room." There was no sealing off of the room and should we? The twins were still sleeping in their cots. So... you'd be trying to leave it as undisturbed as possible, and they slept very soundly until we moved them out of the cots into their own apartment which does make me wonder about whether there was any substances used to keep them asleep. | | 23:00 | Ms Baker was not with the McCanns when the alarm was sounded over Madeleine's disappearance just before 10pm. However, she joined the search shortly after 11pm after completing her duties as a night babysitter. | | 23:10 | They (GNR Police) arrived 55 minutes later. (The call to the police went in at 10.15). | | 23:10 | Two officers from the GNR local police arrived at 11.10pm, nearly an hour after the call. They could not speak English and a member of the Ocean Club staff had to translate. | | 23:30 | SUSAN HEALY (Kate McCann's mother): I think it would be about half eleven - and I'm guessing now, I might be wrong - there was a phone call and it was Gerry on the phone, and he said it's a disaster. It's a disaster. And he was quite hysterical. | | 23:40 | It all came pouring out of him at 23.40 – from his phone records – when he called his sister Trish in Scotland ranting and raving semi-coherently on the phone about Madeleine being taken, and Trish kept trying to get him to calm down. | | 00:00 | At midnight the local police called the Policia Judiciaria, the PJ, who investigate serious crimes. | | 01:00 | The detectives from PJ arrived at about 1am. | | 01:00 | BRIDGET O'DONNELL: At 1am there was a frantic banging on our door. Jes got up to answer. I stayed listening in the dark. I knew it was bad; it could only be bad. I heard male mumbling, then Jes's voice. "You're joking?" he said. It wasn't the words, it was the tone that made me flinch. He came back in to the room. "Gerry's daughter's been abducted," he said. "She ..." I jumped up and went to check our children. They were there. We sat down. We got up again. Weirdly, I did the washing-up. We wondered what to do. Jes had asked if they needed help searching and was told there was nothing he could do; she had been missing for three hours. Jes felt he should go anyway, but I wanted him to stay with us. I was a coward, afraid to be alone with the children - and afraid to be alone with my thoughts. | | 01:00 | ...and senior detectives from the Policia Judiciaria arrived at 1am. | | 01:00 | The apartment was not cleared of searchers until 2am, when police said there were up to 50 people inside. | | 01:00 | The PJ arrived at 1am, according to the McCanns. There was substantial searching involving tourists and locals for some hours. Kate remained in the apartment hoping for news, while Gerry went out and looked. | | 03:30 | JOHN McCANN (Gerry McCanns' brother): He was walking the streets of Praia da Luz at half past three. I think most of the search party had disbanded by then and he was still crying his eyes out. | | 03:30 | By 3.30am they (PJ) had gone and there was no police action at all, or none visible to the McCanns. Gerry had asked the departing PJ detectives at half three about contacting the media to make an appeal. One of the officers had reacted with surprising agitation, waving his hand emphatically: ''No journalists! No journalists!'' | | 03:30 | By 3.30am the police had packed it in for the night. The searching was pretty much over. Gerry and Kate were frustrated and desperate. | | 04:00 | Gerry went out at about 4am with David Payne, another of their group, hoping to find something. | | 04:30 | The manager at the Mark Warner resort, John Hill said the police had been doing all they could. He said around 60 staff and guests at the complex had searched until 4.30am while police notified border police, Spanish police and airports. | | ??? | The Ocean Club gave them another apartment, but the McCanns did not want to be alone, so the twins were taken to the Paynes' apartment, and Kate and Gerry went there later too, to try to rest. | | 06:00 | Later, at about 6am, the McCanns went out alone and walked around the scrubland on the outskirts of the village, holding hands and calling Madeleine's name. There was nobody else around and they felt utterly alone. | | ??? | They got up at first light and went to search alone on the open scrubland beyond the resort, wandering around, calling Madeleine's name. It was cold and lonely – there was no answer. | | 07:30 | It is widely believed among the Portuguese media, and perhaps the police too, even now, that the McCanns called Sky News before they called the police. For the record, Sky News picked up the story from GMTV breakfast television, at around 7.30am the following day. | | ??? | BRIDGET O'DONNELL: The next morning, we made our way to breakfast and met one of the Doctors, the one who had come round in the night. His young daughter looked up at us from her pushchair. There was no news. They had called Sky television - they didn't know what else to do. He turned away and I could see he was going to weep. |
| Time box | Sources and links for Gerry and Kate's timeline | | 00:00 | David James Smith: Timesonline 16 December 2007 (link) | | 00:00 | Panorama BBC News documentary 19 November 2007 (link) | | 00:00 | Bridget O'Donnell, The Guardian 14 December 2007 (link) | | 00:00 | Catriona Baker article, Daily Mail 14 October 2007 (link) | | 00:00 | Channel 4 Dispatches documentary aired 18 October 2007 (link) | | 00:00 | Daily Telegraph article 12 September 2007 (link) | | 00:00 | RTP documentary, reported in Daily Mail 09 November 2007 (link) | | 00:00 | Timesonline article 09 November 2007 (link) |
| No. | Time | Gerry and Kate's phone calls for 03/04 May 2007 - based on information released in the media prior to the release of the PJ files | | 1 | | Alistair Clark (Gerry's friend/Diplomat)
'The first call Gerry made on the night of the crime was to Alistair Clark, a good friend from University days and a diplomat close to Gordon Brown. Clark must have immediately contacted people at the highest level – before the PJ were informed, Sky news and the British Ambassador were informed of a kidnapping.'
(Source: Correio da Manhã, 14 September 2007 - original link now removed, copy of translated report can be found here) | | * | 10.40pm | Local GNR police are called | | * | 10.47pm | Local GNR police arrive | | 2 | | Susan Healy (Kate's mother) Susan Healy: I think it would be about half eleven - and I'm guessing now, I might be wrong - there was a phone call and it was Gerry on the phone, and he said "It's a disaster, it's a disaster". And he was quite hysterical. | | 3 | | Trish Cameron (Gerry's sister) It all came pouring out of him at 23.40 – from his phone records – when he called his sister Trish in Scotland ranting and raving semi-coherently on the phone about Madeleine being taken, and Trish kept trying to get him to calm down. Trish, went on: ''Kate ran and told my brother. He was distraught on the phone to me, breaking his heart.
''He said, ‘Maddie’s been abducted, she’s been abducted’. Nothing else was touched in the apartment, no valuables taken, no passports.'' | | 4 | | Mother of Anne-Marie Wright (Mother of Kate's cousin) Anne-Marie Wright, Kate's cousin, is the wife of Michael Wright and the McCanns are godparents to one of the Wright's children. The McCanns spent Christmas with the Wright's in Skipton rather than their own parents and Michael Wright was a named driver of the McCanns' Renault Scenic hire car. | | * | 00:01am | Telegraph publishes first report of Madeleine's disappearance (link): Three year old feared abducted in Portugal By staff and agencies
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 04/05/2007
A three-year-old British girl has gone missing while on a family holiday in Portugal, the Foreign Office said today.
Portuguese police are investigating the disappearance from a holiday complex in Praia da Luz in the western Algarve.
A Foreign Office spokesman said that he understood the girl's parents had gone to have dinner once their children were asleep last night, but returned to check on them only to find the girl had gone missing.
"They reported it straight away," he said, adding that consular assistance was being offered. | | 5 | | Susan Healy (Kate's mother - 2nd call) According to Portuguese newspaper Sol (18 August 2007), sometime between 00:30 and 01:00am Kate calls her parents. Susan Healy says ''I had a phone call from Kate asking me to contact Father Paul Seddon'' | | * | 00:30am - 01:00am | Pat Perkins (Family friend) When Kate McCann discovered Madeleine missing, she called her parents in Liverpool. They had a visitor, Patricia Perkins, the Human Resources director of a British health organization. After hearing of Madeleine's disappearance, Mrs Perkins rings her friend Aurelio Guerreiro and asks him to go and help the McCanns. (She also instigated the original Madeleine chain e-mail, which can be seen at the bottom of 'The First Reactions' page) Sol reports the incident: 'Aurelio Guerreiro, the owner of a bar at the marina in Vilamoura, was close to being involved. His testimony to Sol confuses the McCanns’ time version. Sometime between 0.30 and 1 a.m., Aurelio got a phonecall from an old customer: Pat Perkins, the human resources director from a public English organism. She calls him, upset: ''She told me the daughter of british friends of her, who were vacationing close to Lagos, had disappeared over 3 hours ago, that they were completely alone and that nobody was helping them to search for her''.
Kate McCann had just informed her parents of the tragedy. Pat, who lives in Liverpool, confirms: ''I was at Kate’s parents’ house at that moment. But I have nothing further to add''.
Guerreiro tells what he did after Pat called him: ''I understood she wanted me to go meet them, but I was an hour away from their location, and I could not close the bar, I decided to call the police''. After PJ in Portimao confirmed to him they already knew about the case, Aurelio phoned Kate, at the number that Pat had given him: ''An English man picked up. He thanked me, and contrary to what I expected, he didn’t ask me for anything''.
Minutes after this phonecall, Gerry asks for the priest from the Luz parish to be called for him – but the Ocean Club staff members refused, given the time it was. At four in the morning, Jane was asking a member of GNR: ''Have you cut off all the roads already?''. Minutes later, Gerry, given the fact that the priest didn’t appear, asked another element of GNR to show him the way to the church. | | * | 01:00am | Policia Judiciaria arrive | | 6 | | Linda McQueen (Kate's friend from childhood) Linda recalled how she had spoken to Kate at about 2am on the night Madeleine vanished.
"She just said, 'Somebody's taken Madeleine, somebody's taken Madeleine.' She sounded shocked and frantic and was just trying to get everything up and running to find her. It was just awful. This cold, icy feeling came over you."
| | 7 | | Jon Corner (Family friend and godparent to the twins) Jon Corner: ''She phoned at about 3am. She just blurted out that Maddie had been abducted. “She said, 'They’ve broken the shutter on the window and taken my little girl'. She’s still devastated. She’s very upset that the police don’t seem to be doing anything.” | | 8 | | Jill Renwick (Friend and former work colleague) Family pal Jill Renwick revealed how panicking Kate sent her a text saying: ''I need help.'' Jill Renwick has known the McCanns since they all worked together at a Glasgow hospital more than a decade ago.
She spoke to Kate at 7am on the morning after Madeleine vanished and said: ''Kate was at the police station in hysterics. When we spoke she said the police weren’t doing enough.'' | | 9 | | Trish Cameron (Gerry's sister - 2nd call) Back home in Dumbarton, Mrs Cameron spoke to her brother again at 10am yesterday. "It was frustrating for him then because between 5am and 7am the police seemed to do nothing, they were standing about," she said. Guardian link * This contradicts previous statements from the McCanns which suggested that the police had deserted them at 4:30am and that they had been forced to go out looking on their own at 6.00am - even though Kate has subsequently admitted, in her BBC interview with Jane Hill, that she has never done anything that could be called 'physically searching'. | | 10 | | Philomena McCann (Gerry's sister) He's absolutely uncontrollable. He's howling and screaming down the phone: "They've taken her, she's gone." | | 11 | Untimed | John McCann (Gerry's brother) John McCann appears only to have received text messages ''They texted a couple of times just.. you know.. pray for us. Pray for Madeleine.'' | | 12 | Untimed | Calls to journalists According to a member of the Ocean Club's staff who was helping out as an interpreter that night, between the group of nine friends and the GNR, the McCann couple didn't stop calling journalists. They were moving influences in the British media, where they also have relatives. Around 6 am, Sky News breaks the first news. Source: Sol |
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