Gerry McCann Statement 4.5.07
Volume I, pages 34 – 41Witness statement of Gerald Patrick McCann, on the 4th of May 2007, at 11.15 a.m.
Volume I, pages 34 – 41Location: CID Portimão
The witness is heard as a victim, being the father of the minor. Of British nationality, he has no command of the Portuguese language, spoken or written. Thus, the interview is done in the presence of an interpreter, Natália Carvalho Ferreira de Almeida.
When asked, he said that he had already been to Portugal in 1994. He stayed in an apartment on the outskirts of Albufeira. He has only returned to Portugal on this occasion.
The desire to get to know Portugal in 1994 was due to the fact that he plays golf and the country is known for its excellent facilities that practise. The present journey was made at the suggestion of a friend that accompanied him, DAVID PAYNE, who made a reservation at the Ocean Club, following an internet search, for the deponent, his wife and the rest of the group, in a total of nine adults and eight children, including the missing minor, Madeleine. The group was made up of people the deponent has known for five or six years.
They travelled in two separate groups, one composed of the deponent, his wife KATE and their three children, and the other one by his friend DAVID and his wife, their two children and his mother-in-law. The deponent travelled from the local airport (Leicestershire) and the other group, comprised of four adults and three children, departed from London.
The meeting point was the Ocean Club in Portugal. The deponent’s group arrived there at 2.30 pm on April 28th from Faro airport on an airport mini bus. The other group arrived the same day at around 1 pm, also using a mini bus.
After checking in, the deponent and his wife, KATE HEALY, their daughter, MADELEINE, and their two year-old twins SEAN and AMELIE, were placed in apartment G5A. The apartment consisted of two beds in one bedroom, and two others in another room, in which were two cots on loan from the resort, in addition to the bathroom a kitchen.
McCann later in his rogatory tried to imply there were three cots, the reason, the maid saw one cot in the McCanns room May 2nd.
He states here, as does his wife in her statement, there were only ever two cots.
The deponent and his wife slept in one of the bedrooms and in the other, their three children: the twins in cots and MADELEINE in a bed. The other bed remained empty.
Between April 28th, the day of arrival, and the time when MADELEINE disappeared, the deponent reports having noticed nothing unusual, except that on the morning of May 3rd, MADELEINE asked her father, GERALD, why he had not come into her bedroom when the twins were crying. The deponent had heard nothing and therefore had not gone into the room, yet he thought his daughter’s comment was strange, even because it was the first time that she made it.
Word for word identical to his wife.
Concerning routines, he mentions that on Sunday, they had breakfast, between 7.30 and 8.30am at the Ocean Club, namely in the resort’s bar a few metres away from the apartment.
On the following days, because the war was rather distant, they started buying food at the supermarket, located on the same road as the apartment, whose name he cannot recall.
Comment : I can only conclude if the McCanns did not eat at the Millenium each morning , breakast included in the holiday price. They possibly were not part of the package deal and the Apartment 5a was let out seperately. I cannot imagine Dr.McCann leaving food he had already paid for. This would explain the McCanns not dining each night at the Millenium...but where does that leave the others ? ...evening meal in Ocean Club started at 7.30. Dr.McCann claims he only ate there once on Sunday, but staff members say they have seen him there on several occasions taking breakfast with his family.. If Dr.McCann was there and not part of the all inclusive package deal , he would then have had to pay for breakfast in the Millenium and the first night also when they dined there as a family.. The rest of the tapas meal would have been covered in the package trip. Perhaps the Millenium was out of the McCanns price range.
After breakfast, the children were left at one of the Club’s crèches, called the “Kid Club,” where they participated in various activities such as painting, collage etc., until around 12.30, always supervised by several employees, in a ratio of one to three children. At 12.30 pm, the parents went to collect the children and had lunch in the apartment, given the fact that it had a kitchen. After lunch, at around 1.30 pm, the children spent time near the club’s swimming pool, supervised by their parents, for around 45 minutes, where they played, applied sun cream etc. After that time, the children returned to the “Kid Club” until around 5 pm, when they had dinner at the bar, under the parents’ supervision. After the 5 pm meal, the parents bathed them, got them ready for the night, and played for a little while in the play area next to the tennis courts, still under the parents’ supervision. Towards 7.30/8 pm, the children were put to bed until the next morning, when the described routine described would start all over again.
On the following days, because the war was rather distant, they started buying food at the supermarket, located on the same road as the apartment, whose name he cannot recall.
Comment : I can only conclude if the McCanns did not eat at the Millenium each morning , breakast included in the holiday price. They possibly were not part of the package deal and the Apartment 5a was let out seperately. I cannot imagine Dr.McCann leaving food he had already paid for. This would explain the McCanns not dining each night at the Millenium...but where does that leave the others ? ...evening meal in Ocean Club started at 7.30. Dr.McCann claims he only ate there once on Sunday, but staff members say they have seen him there on several occasions taking breakfast with his family.. If Dr.McCann was there and not part of the all inclusive package deal , he would then have had to pay for breakfast in the Millenium and the first night also when they dined there as a family.. The rest of the tapas meal would have been covered in the package trip. Perhaps the Millenium was out of the McCanns price range.
After breakfast, the children were left at one of the Club’s crèches, called the “Kid Club,” where they participated in various activities such as painting, collage etc., until around 12.30, always supervised by several employees, in a ratio of one to three children. At 12.30 pm, the parents went to collect the children and had lunch in the apartment, given the fact that it had a kitchen. After lunch, at around 1.30 pm, the children spent time near the club’s swimming pool, supervised by their parents, for around 45 minutes, where they played, applied sun cream etc. After that time, the children returned to the “Kid Club” until around 5 pm, when they had dinner at the bar, under the parents’ supervision. After the 5 pm meal, the parents bathed them, got them ready for the night, and played for a little while in the play area next to the tennis courts, still under the parents’ supervision. Towards 7.30/8 pm, the children were put to bed until the next morning, when the described routine described would start all over again.
While the children were at the “Kid Club,” the deponent played tennis with his wife, went for walks, read and practised “jogging.”
Yesterday, after the daily routine, MADELEINE and the twins were put to bed in their respective beds, and he stresses put to bed, at 7.30 pm.
(COMMENT :Gerry blog entry for Day 26)
Trish and Sandy (Madeleine’s Godparents) who have been with us in Portugal since Day 2 are looking after them and we were surprised to hear they were tucked up in bed by 7.30pm- they must like their new beds! )
(COMMENT :Gerry blog entry for Day 26)
Trish and Sandy (Madeleine’s Godparents) who have been with us in Portugal since Day 2 are looking after them and we were surprised to hear they were tucked up in bed by 7.30pm- they must like their new beds! )
Comment: One moment it is normal for the twins to be in bed by 7.30...the next, great surprise, the twins were in bed by 7.30
The deponent and his wife remained in the apartment to relax and drink a glass of wine until 8.30 pm. After checking the children, the deponent and his wife and the adults went to the “Tapas” restaurant, around 50 metres away, where they had dinner together. As usual, every half hour and considering that the restaurant was close to the apartment, the deponent or his wife went to check if the children were ok. Thus, at 9.05 pm, the deponent entered the club, using his key, the door being locked, and went to the children’s bedroom and noted that the twins and Madeleine were in perfect condition. He then went to the toilet, where he remained for a few instants, left the apartment, and then crossed ways with someone with whom he had played tennis, who had a baby buggy, also a British citizen, with whom he had a brief conversation. He then returned to the restaurant. At around 9.30 pm, his friend MATT (a member of the group) went to his apartment where his own children were, and on his way he went into the deponent’s apartment, going in through a sliding glass door at the side of the building, which was always unlocked. He went into the room, saw the twins and didn’t even notice if Madeleine was there, as everything was quiet, the shutters closed and the bedroom door half-open as usual. Then MATT went back to the restaurant.
We are now at 9.30 according to Tanner and McCann who saw Wilkins this all happened around 9.15. Therefore the shutters would at this stage be up and Madeleine gone. MATT clearly states the shutters were closed says Dr.McCann.
At 10pm, his wife Kate went to check on the children. She went into the apartment through the door using her key and saw right away that the children’s bedroom door was completely open, the window was also open, the shutters raised and the curtains drawn open. The side door that opens into the living room, which as said earlier, was never locked, was closed.
Faced with this altered scenario, KATE checked that the twins were in their respective beds, unlike MADELEINE, who had disappeared. After thoroughly searching the apartment, his wife, quite scared and upset, went to the restaurant to alert the deponent and the others about the disappearance. Immediately, the group headed for the club and searched across all the facilities, swimming pool, tennis etc., as well as in the apartment, with the help of Ocean Club employees, while at the same time they contacted the authorities, that would later appear.
It is stressed that when one of the members of the group, JANE, went to her apartment to see her children, at around 9.10/9.15 pm, from behind and at a distance of about 50 metres, on the road next to the club, she saw a person carrying a child in pyjamas. JANE will be better able to clarify this situation.
Yep; Jane was the chosen one.
Concerning Madeleine, she is described as being Caucasian, with rather white skin, aged 4 (12/05/2003) and around 90 cm tall. Slender, with shoulder length, straight, dark blond hair. Left eye blue and green and the right eye also green with a brown spot on the pupil. She had a brown mark on her left leg. She had no scars. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing pyjamas with white floral-patterned trousers and a short-sleeved top, which was mainly pink in colour, with a blue and grey donkey figure on the front, with the inscription “EEYORE”.
Concerning the child’s personality, she was extrovert, very active, talkative, smart and relates to other children with great ease. Still, the deponent said that she would never go with a stranger.
The deponent has no suspects to mention, and finds no reason for this act. Neither he nor his wife have any enemies.
His daughter does not suffer from any illness and is not on any medication.
When questioned, the deponent authorises a reading of the data on his mobile phone, with the number 00447786986188.
Apart from the Kid Club, and the apartment, they only went to the beach once with Madeleine and other children and for a short time, given the fact that the weather was unstable. On the beach, they only ate an ice cream and went back to the apartment. Apart from what has been described, Madeleine and the other children went sailing on the beach, a five minute walk from the club, for an hour. This outing was organised by the resort itself and is part of an available chart. The supervision and organisation was done by the resort, therefore the deponent was not present, nor was his wife.
He never noticed any strange behaviour during these days or anything which might have led to such an outcome.
After having been shown the list of the club’s guests, he said he only knows the names of the members of the group.
He did not detect that any item has disappeared.
He has nothing else to add, and wishes the due criminal proceedings and to be indemnified over the action that he was a victim of.
Reads, confirms, ratifies and signs, as does the interpreter
He and his wife had spent the previous evening calling friends and family about broken and smashed shutters but not one word in their statements.
