Rebuttal of "Fact" 17


Return to Main Page

 

17. On 4 May, the day after Madeleine went missing, the McCanns were returning to Praia da Luz. The police seized CCTV film at a petrol station, showing a girl similar to Madeleine with two adults. The police asked the McCanns to return to Portimão, but Kate McCann became irritated at being asked to visit the police station again. The police said she showed no hope Madeleine could be found.

 

Verdict - True and False. Yes, they returned to Portimão to watch the CCTV. The rest based on (at best) third hand hearsay, a very subjective description by the first Coordinator, Gonçalo Amaral, who wasn't even present. Kate McCann described how she felt: devastated.

Source - Gonçalo Amaral's book, media articles and Kate's diary.

 

 


 

 

Summary of Verifiable Facts

 

  1. The McCanns got up early to search for Madeleine, they were seen by a GNR Officer around 07:00. 
  2. They went to Portimão Police station to make their statements.
  3. On the way back to PdL they were asked to return to the police station, not knowing what to expect.
  4. The photograph on the CCTV didn't turn out to be Madeleine.
  5. Kate wrote in her dairy "Not M. Devastating".

 

 

Gonçalo Amaral's book, relevant sections in red

 

Madeleine's parents are already back in Vila da Luz when we receive photos taken on an area of the motorway: you can make out the figure of a little girl, who looks like Madeleine, accompanied by a couple. These images come from a CCTV camera on the motorway linking Lagos to the Spanish border. The McCanns are asked to come to Portimão in order to proceed to an identification. It's the end of the day. Kate Healy seems annoyed at coming back and made uncomfortable by the speed of the police car taking her. We are somewhat astonished by her reaction, as if she was not expecting to get her daughter back. The identification turns out negative.

 

 

Extract from Kate's diary, with relevant section highlighted in red

 

The diary was published by the NOTW without permission of Kate and Gerry McCann. The article was deleted and the NOTW apologised for having published it.

 

We left the police station around 7.30pm to 8pm. After 15 minutes we received a call from the PJ saying we had to go back but they didn't tell us why. We turned around and flew back at around 200 kilometres an hour. Once again frightening. Did they find her? Please God. Is she dead? Prayers. We arrived—they showed us a photo of a girl they'd forgotten to show us from the close circuit TV footage. Not M. Devastating.

 

 

Extract from a newspaper article (the Sun), with relevant sections highlighted in red

 

Close_quoteIt was 7.30 by the time one of the PJ officers drove us away from the police station. Ten or 15 minutes into our journey, the police officer had a call from his station. He suddenly swung the car into a U-turn and drove us at 120mph back to Portimão.

Had Madeleine been found? Was she alive? Was she dead? I was crying hysterically and praying for all I was worth.

Back at the police station somebody showed us a photograph from CCTV of a blonde child with a woman in a petrol station shop. We were asked whether the little girl was Madeleine. She wasn't. We were sent on our way, devastated.Close_quote

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3569557/Kate-McCann-I-smashed-bed-in-rage-at-cops.html#ixzz1LsjhNYwJ

 

 

Extracts from the files, with relevant sections highlighted in red

 

Witness Statement Paolo Jorge Fernandes Neto GNR Officer 2007.05.16

He remembers that he saw the McCann couple at about 07.00 alone in the street next to the site where they were stationed.

 

Witness Statement Gerald Patrick McCann Date: 2007.05.04 Time 11.15

Witness Statement Kate Marie Healy Date 2007.05.04 time 14:20

 

PJ Final Report

From pages 127 and following, relates the the sighting of a child, with a face similar to MADELEINE's, in a gas station. When the images from the gas station were shown to the parents, they peremptorily affirmed that they did not represent their daughter.

 

Galp Service Stations Lagos

 

 

Compare MMRG statement with the actual FACTS

 

MMRG quote:

On 4 May, the day after Madeleine went missing, the McCanns were returning to Praia da Luz.

The police seized CCTV film at a petrol station, showing a girl similar to Madeleine with two adults.

The police asked the McCanns to return to Portimão

 

Actually: True.

 

 

MMRG quote:

but Kate McCann became irritated at being asked to visit the police station again.

 

Actually: False. Amaral wasn't present, what he wrote in his book about this, (at best) is third hand hearsay. The only person who knows what she felt is Kate McCann. It's mentioned in her diary and now in her book too: She didn't know what to expect, what the PJ wanted to show her. She felt in between hope and fear.

 

 

MMRG quote:

The police said she showed no hope Madeleine could be found.

 

Actually: False. Again: Amaral wasn't present, what's in his book is (at best) third hand hearsay. Kate (and Gerry) McCann felt devastated when their hope that Madeleine was found, was destroyed and they were sent back to Praia da Luz.

 

Conclusion

 

This so-called 'fact' is based on third hand hearsay, written by the former Portuguese police Coördinator, Gonçalo Amaral, who was sacked from the inquiry in October 2007. The wording he uses is clearly intended to raise suspicions towards Kate McCann, the thesis that runs throughout his book.

According to the files, the CCTV images were examined around 11:30, followed by the recovery of prints for analysis. Having been at the police station and being transported back to their apartment, re- called to the police station and then only been shown the footage and told it wasn't Madeleine, Kate McCann felt devastated.