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6. Dr Matthew Oldfield changed his story several times. He said he did one ‘check’ on the children, then said he’d done two. He changed his story about the 2nd check, first saying that he walked by the McCanns’ apartment, later saying he’d entered it. Dr Kate McCann claimed Dr Oldfield said, at 9.30pm: “I’ll check on Maddie for you”. Why didn’t he say: “I’ll check on the children?”
Verdict - False.
Source - Police Files and Media Interview.
Summary of Verifiable Facts
- Dr Mathew Oldfield did not change his story. He was consistent about the number, form and timing of the checks he made on the children.
- On the Oprah Winfrey Show, Kate McCann did say that Dr Oldfield offered to check on Madeleine (not Maddie as claimed by MRG). However this was clearly a nervous slip of the tongue and it did not tie in with her earlier statements, where she said he offered to check on the children for her.
Discussion
Comparison between MMRG Claim and Substantiated Evidence
Like many of the MMRG's "facts", this one consists of several separate statements. Let us first take each part individually.
MMRG Claim
1) Dr Matthew Oldfield changed his story several times.
Actual - False. Matthew Oldfield has been utterly consistent in his account of the checks he made on the children. The extracts from his official statements are detailed below.
MMRG Claim
2) He said he did one ‘check’ on the children, then said he’d done two.
Actual - False. See below.
MMRG Claim
3) He changed his story about the second check, first saying that he walked by the McCanns’ apartment, later saying he’d entered it.
Actual - False.In every account that Dr Oldfield has given (three accounts in total), he has stated that the first check at approximately 21:05 was done of his own volition and amounted to no more than him listening outside the McCann children's bedroom on his way past. The second check was done almost half an hour later when Dr Oldfield offered to check in on the McCann children when he went to check on his own children. These are detailed below.
MMRG Claim
4) Dr Kate McCann claimed Dr Oldfield said, at 21:30: “I’ll check on Maddie for you”. Why didn’t he say: “I’ll check on the children?”
Actual - Inaccurate. The source of this is not the official records, but most likely a TV interview with Oprah Winfrey and if so, the quote isn't even accurate, as Kate does not call Madeleine "Maddie".
The source for this comes from the Oprah Winfrey interview:-
Quote:
| “Kate: Well actually at 9:30 I stood up to go and check on Madeleine, because it was my turn. And at the same time Matt our friend stood up and we both started walking and he said well I'm going to check on G***e they were the next apartment to us he said "I'll check on Madeleine"and he hesitated a bit and then he said "no, I'll check" so he went to check at half nine came back said fine everything's fine so I then went at 10 o'clock the next check erm...” |
Why did Kate say "Madeleine" and not "Children" in the Oprah Interview?
The obvious reason is nerves. Oprah Winfrey is one of the most famous celebrities in the world. Her viewing audience is one of the biggest in the world. Kate McCann is a reserved woman who is known to hate being in the public eye. She agrees to interviews only because it may help the search for her daughter. The interview was about Madeleine. Is it at all feasible that she might inadvertently say "Madeleine" instead of "the children" when the interview was specifically about Madeleine?
Additional Note
A slight variation on this "fact" came directly from the Secretary of the "Madeleine Foundation" in a post he made to Mike Gunnill on Mon Dec 20, 2010 at 07:51. It reads as follows:-
Quote:
|
"The McCann's friend Dr Matthew Oldfield changed his story several times about what he did that evening. He said he did one ‘check’ on the children, then said he’d done two. He also changed his story about the 2nd check, first saying he only walked by the McCanns’ apartment, but later saying he’d entered it. Moreover, Dr Kate McCann said that when Dr Oldfield went to check on the children, he said: ‘I’ll check on Maddie for you’. It seems he didn’t say: ‘I’ll check on the children for you’.What is the truth, Mr Gunnill?"
|
In this version, the Secretary of the Madeleine Foundation specifically suggests that Matthew Oldfield did NOT say “I’ll check on the children for you”. As usual, the mystery seems to be why the Secretary of the Madeleine Foundation didn't consult the Official files and read the actual statements in which case he would have seen that at no time did Matthew Oldfield mention checking on "Maddie" (or even "Madeleine"!)?
The Secretary of the Madeleine Foundation doesn't even question why Kate said "Madeleine" instead of "the children". Instead of wondering and checking whether this could be a slip of the tongue, he asks “Why didn’t [Matthew Oldfield] say “I’ll check on the children”.
Sources - The Police Files
Kate McCann's Two Statements
Quote:
| Around 9.30pm was the time the interviewee should have gone to see her children, but her friend Matt (a member of the group) had just done a check in his apartment then gone to the interviewee's. He had entered the apartment by a glass sliding side door, that was always unlocked and once inside had not gone into the children's bedroom. He only looked through the door, and did not hear any noise. He went back to the restaurant and said that everything was fine. |
Quote:
|
At 9:30PM she got up to go and check on her children at the same time as Mathew, who said he was going to check on his daughter Grace in apartment 5B and could check on her children. She hesitated, however he said not to worry he was going anyway.
|
Matthew Oldfields Three Statements
To demonstrate that Dr Oldfield was consistent in his statements when he said he made two checks:-
First Check is coloured in RED
Second Check is coloured in BLUE
Quote:
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That around 9.05pm, the interviewee went to the area of the apartments. Notably to the area near the windows of all the children's bedrooms. That he did not hear any noise.
...
At around 9.25pm, the interviewee went into his apartment and Madeleine's apartment to check on the children.
|
...on his own initiative, he made a 'listening check' at the bedroom window of MBM and the twins at 21h05. That he limited himself to approach the bedroom window on the outside of the apartment to check if the children were crying or awake.
...
Some minutes later, at 21h25, the deponent went to his apartment to do a further check, he having done that together with ROB who intended to do the same with his two girls. At that time he offered [made himself available] to perform a check in the bedroom of MBM. |
Quote:
| ...so I listened outside our shutters and went along to their shutter and had a listen out there, not because I'd been asked to, but, or it's not the sort of thing you think about, it's just kind of".
00.23.05 4078 "Okay".
Reply "So I went to check on G***e and I stood up and Russell stood up and said he was going to go and check as well and Kate stood up and I said do you want us to go and check on, do you want me to go and check on your kids and she said yes. And I think I offered at that point just because we had been together all week and we had similar routines and it just kind of seemed like a nice thing to do that would save her a journey back up and it may or it may not have been different. But, I said that and she said yeah fine and she said that the patio door was open and go in through there.
|
Conclusion
Dr Matthew Oldfield did not change his story. He was absolutely consistent in his account of the checks he made on the children.
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