Return to Main Page

25. The McCanns’ friends gave three different versions of how often they were supposedly checking the children - hourly, half-hourly and ‘every 15 minutes’.

Verdict - Innaccurate and Misleading when taken out of context.

Source - Police Files. 

Summary of Verifiable Facts 

1. The group was comprised of four couples and one grandmother.
2. Each couple took responsibility for checking their own children.
3. Three couples took turns to physically check the apartments.
4. The couple with the accompanying grandmother used a baby monitor.
5. Each couple's account of the timing of their own checks matched and they were all in approximate agreement about the timings of the McCann checks.
6. No-one in the group said the checks were made hourly (the likely source for this claim is discussed below).

The couple's accounts of the timings:

1. Kate and Gerry McCann.

Both said they checked every half an hour.  This is corroborated by the other witness statements.

2. Matthew & Rachel Oldfield.

Matthew Oldfield - normally every fifteen minutes.

Rachel Oldfield does not appear to have been asked the question.

3. Jane Tanner and Russell O'Brien.

Both said every fifteen minutes.  However, this couple's children were unsettled with one becoming unwell and so these parents eventually alternated staying with the child for the duration of the meal.

4. David and Fiona Payne plus grandmother Dianne Webster.

This couple used a baby monitor and did not physically return to the apartment.  When asked to comment about the frequency of their friends' checks, they gave the following accounts:-

David Payne - alternatively/every 20 minutes.

Fiona Payne - with regularity.

Diane Webster - on a regular basis.

Hourly Checking?

No-one in the group of people who were present said that checks were made hourly.  However, Yvonne Martin, a social worker who was on vacation in Portugal at the time later claimed that Kate McCann, whilst visibly upset, told her that they'd been checking "hourly".  She also claimed that Kate McCann said Madeleine had been "taken by a couple".  It should be noted that by her own admission, Ms Martin attempted to question on such matters as whether Gerry McCann was Madeleine's "biological father" and she also attempted to separate Kate McCann from the group to question her privately.  Yvonne Martin wrote an anonymous letter to the police voicing her suspicions that the McCanns were involved in their daughter's disappearance.  Her statement can be read here.

Conclusion

Each couple made their own arrangements and everyone describes a regular coming and going of parents checking on their children.  The report of "hourly" checks does not come from anyone who was there, but rather the testimony of a complete stranger who approached the McCanns in the street and attempted to question them whilst they were very distressed and increasingly suspicious of her motives.  As "hearsay", her evidence would not be admissible in court.

The timings given by the couples may not tally precisely, but this is hardly surprising given that they were in a social situation and not anticipating being asked to give precise accounts and timings of their movements.  No-one was keeping a written record.

This statement, once noted by an internet poster, illustrates as follows:-

Quote: