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19. The Portuguese police were told by British police: “The McCanns have no credit or ATM cards”. But their flights to Portugal and hire of a Renault Scenic in Portugal were paid with credit cards. Then Gerry McCann admitted having credit cards, saying they went missing after his wallet was stolen. He gave two different places where his wallet was stolen: Waterloo Station - or ‘near Downing Street’.

 

Verdict - False and True  “Records are not automatically held”, does not equate to “have no credit or ATM cards”. Amaral's poor understanding of the information received had him interpret as being said, by the authorities in Britian, that the McCanns had no credit or ATM cards, when in fact, the communication said no such thing. There is no connection between misinterpreted information on the credit and ATM cards, and the theft of Gerry’s wallet. The newspapers were responsible for reporting the wallet theft in two different places.

 

Source   -Gonçalo Amaral's book, newspaper articles, Gerry McCann's blog and police files

 

Summary of Verifiable Facts Gonçalo Amaral's book, relevant sections in red Extracts from newspaper articles, with relevant sections highlighted in red Extracts from Gerry McCann's blog, with relevant sections highlighted in red Extracts from the files, with relevant sections highlighted in red Compare MMRG statement with the actual FACTS Conclusion

 

Summary of Verifiable Facts

 

1. It wasn't the British police who told the PJ that the McCann's didn't have any credit cards. It was Amaral's poor understanding of the information received from the banking authorities, which led to a misinterpretation and incorrect reporting.
2. Again, the MMRG make unfounded claims regarding the theft of Gerry's wallet, based on what's been published in the newspapers. 
3. Relying on a newspaper for an accurate account is bizarre.
4. Using the words "then" and "admitting" suggests something sinister was gong on when it wasn't and it's what the MMRG would like you to think.
5. Gerry McCann rented the car (using his credit card) before his wallet was stolen.

 

 

Gonçalo Amaral's book, relevant sections in red

 

This is the source for the claims of the MMRG. The book isn't written in a chronological order of events, given the context apparently he's talking about September/October 2007

At the same time, we hope to obtain a response to our request to the British authorities, made through the liaison officer in Portugal on the first day of the investigation, for information on the McCann family and their friends. Given the fact that we have, so far, received no response to this enquiry, we will make the request for the desired information through the rogatory letter. We ask Stuart about this matter and he says that, “they are in the process of gathering that information.”

However, a preliminary response comes to us about the McCanns’ financial situation: astonishingly, there are no records of the McCanns holding any credit or debit cards.

- That’s quite simply not possible!

- They don’t have credit cards? However, we know that they hold at least two: one which they used to pay for the flights, and a second which was used for the hire of the Renault Scénic.

- The English need to sort themselves out. We need the McCanns’ financial statements from the start of their holiday in Portugal.

 

It’s obvious we’re going to have a hard time getting the required details: with such information, it would not be difficult to follow the McCanns’ trail, to know about their expenses, their movements, and to draw conclusions from what came up. Meanwhile, Stuart makes another request. He says it would be a good idea to send two rogatory letters: one for the friends and another for the McCann couple. We don’t understand this one.

 

 

Extracts from newspaper articles, with relevant sections highlighted in red

 

The Telegraph 2007.06.21

Gerry McCann had his wallet stolen during a brief trip to London, losing two "irreplaceable" photos of his missing daughter Madeleine.

Mr McCann was returning to Britain for only the second time since the four-year-old was abducted. He returned for a series of meetings about his global campaign to find his daughter.
Around an hour after Mr McCann flew into Gatwick his wallet was stolen from his back pocket at a cash machine at Waterloo station in London.

Philomena McCann, his sister, said that after all the goodwill directed towards Mr McCann and his family in Portugal, the theft in London was a "demoralising" sign of the times.

She said: "He bent down to put something in his rucksack and some dirty animal had the wallet out of his back pocket. We don't care about the money, but we do care about getting the pictures back."

 

Metro

The father of Madeleine McCann has had his wallet stolen including cherished pictures of his missing daughter that he kept in it.

Thieves targeted Gerry McCann, a cardiologist, near the Foreign Office in Whitehall, while on a brief visit to London.

Mr McCann had flown from Faro to Gatwick yesterday for a series of meetings about his abducted four-year-old daughter.

Susan Healey, mother of his wife Kate, said it was 'yet another kick in the teeth'. She added: 'Gerry is not clear exactly how his wallet was stolen. he did not see them take it. It contained precious photographs which have now been lost forever.

 

The Times of India

Gerry McCann, father of Madeleine McCann, who went missing from the resort town of Praia da Luz on May 3, had his wallet stolen during a brief visit to the British capital Tuesday, London's Evening Standard said.

McCann's wallet was stolen close to Tony Blair's Downing Streetoffice after he arrived in London to interview candidates to head a campaign aimed at finding his daughter, the newspaper reported. "It contained precious photographs which have now been lost forever," the newspaper quoted McCann's mother-in-law Susan Healy.

 

HOWEVER the London Evening Standard said

Mr McCann was pickpocketed at a cash machine at Waterloo station in Central London on June 20

 

 

Extracts from Gerry McCann's blog, with relevant sections highlighted in red

 

Gerry McCann's blog  2007.06.19 Day 47

Unfortunately shortly after arriving in London I had my wallet stolen which meant I was running late. I did manage to get to all my meetings which ran late into the evening.

 

Gerry MCann's blog 2007.06.29 Day 57 

Early rise this morning dropping off and picking up good friends from the airport. One of our friends from Amsterdam, who has been

actively campaigning to publicise Madeleine's disappearance, dropped in to see us for a couple of hours since he is on a golfing trip in the Algarve.

Our friends brought back my wallet which had been returned, needless to say minus the Sterling, although all my cards and €30 were still in it! It is good to have my driving license back and one or two other important things.

 

 

Extracts from the files, with relevant sections highlighted in red

 

Financial summary

Gerry McCann
No record of a current bank account is held. No credit cards or loans recorded. His mortgage is with ****. No arrears or defaults recorded.
Kate McCann
No record of a current bank account is held. No credit cards or loans recorded. Her mortgage is with ****. No arrears or defaults recorded.

(..)

All persons were checked by Economic Crime Unit under the supervision of DS John Wardle. There were no concerns and no notifications or concerns by any other financial institute.
Records of current bank accounts are not automatically held. They are recorded when and if required for credit checking purposes only.

 

(Note: later on as a result of the Rogatory letters there's been two reports by DC Hughes dated 2008.05.16 (that's after Amaral was removed) see no. 27)

 

Car Rental mentioned in PJ Final Report

the vehicle that belonged to the MCCANN family, which was rented on the 27th of May

 

 

Compare MMRG statement with the actual FACTS

 

MMRG quote: The Portuguese police were told by British police: “The McCanns have no credit or ATM cards”.

Actually: The British Police told the Portuguese police that "No record of a current bank account is held. No credit cards or loans recorded. His mortgage is with ****. No arrears or defaults recorded. Records of current bank accounts are not automatically held. They are recorded when and if requiredfor credit checking purposes only". That's entirely different to what (Amaral and) the MMRG wrote

 

MMRG quote:  But their flights to Portugal and hire of a Renault Scenic in Portugal were paid with credit cards.

Actually:  Yes, he used his credit card  to rent the car. Using the word "but" suggests there's a contradiction, a prior denial. There's no such thing. Nobody has denied that Gerry has a bank account or credit card.  What would be the use of that? Amaral and the MMRG apparently don't understand or elect not to understand the information received from the British banking authorities.  

 

MMRG quote:  Then Gerry McCann admitted having credit cards, saying they went missing after his wallet was stolen.  

Actually: Gerry rented the car, using his credit card, long before his wallet was stolen (blog entry 19 June). In his blog he didn't mention what was in his stolen wallet. After the wallet was returned he wrote on his blog (29 June) that his cards were still in it. Using "then" and "admitted" suggests something sinister, a lie, a cover up. That's utter nonsense. There's no relation between the two events: the British police's report and what Gerry wrote. The report was received much later on that year.

 

MMRG quote:   He gave two different places where his wallet was stolen: Waterloo Station - or ‘near Downing Street

Actually: He didn't give a place at all. His sister said it had happened at the ATM, his mother in law said "Gerry is not clear exactly how his wallet was stolen. he did not see them take it"

 

 

Conclusion

 

Once again the MMRG  elect to use words like; "but", "then" and "admitted"? What are they trying to suggest here? Casting suspicion on someone, on the grounds of  misinterpreted information is foolish, to say the least. There are no contradictions, no lies. No connection between the events. A credit card was used to rent the car on 27 May 2007, the wallet was stolen 19/20 June 2007, returned 29 June 2007 (with the credit cards), the British police report was received months later.

“ Records are not automatically held”, does not equate to “have no credit or ATM cards”.