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GERALD PATRICK MCCANN ' STATEMENT AS AN ARGUIDO
(from DVD)
September 7/2007 16.05 to 20.50 at Portimao
When asked if he wished to reply to the facts which he is being imputed with, he replied:
He is of British nationality, he cannot speak or write Portuguese; therefore an interpreter is present taken from a list provided by the Consulate: ADSR.
Also present Carlos Pinto de Abreu, attorney.
He is present in his capacity as an arguido, and the rights and duties thereof have been explained to him; he is obliged to comply with TIR (Terms of Identity and Residence).
He confirms all of what was stated previously to the Police on two occasions, and has nothing further to add.
After being made aware of the facts attributable to him, he says that he wishes to make a statement.
When asked if he had any responsibility or participation in the disappearance of his daughter Madeleine, he peremptorily denies this.
When asked if on the night of May 1, 2007 he went to have dinner at the Tapas with Kate, he says yes. As customary they would come and check on the children every half hour, usually alternating. They arrived at the Tapas around 20:30, and then went to the apartment every half hour, until they arrived back, at around 23:00, plus or minus 10 minutes. Occasionally one of the others in the group made the check, he does not remember if this happened on the 1st. It is not true that Madeleine had been crying that night for an hour and 15 minutes, because she was not alone all that time.
When questioned, he said that on the day they arrived, April 28, they removed two cribs that were in their room, and placed them in Madeleine's room. He is unable to confirm, but it could be possible, that there were 3 cribs, and they asked them to remove one.
It is not true that on a certain day they placed one crib in their room, leaving the other in Madeleine's room.
He did not remember what days were scheduled for cleaning the apartment.
He now states that he also joined the two single beds in his room, which had been separated by a night table. He transformed the two beds into a double bed.
Regarding the windows, he says they were normally closed, he does not know if they were locked *** blinds also closed. Regarding Madeleine's window he says that he made sure the blinds worked so as to darken the room for the children.
--- On the day of arrival, he does not know if the blinds in Madeleine's room were open or closed. He did not open them again, and does not know if somebody else did. When confronted with a testimony that states having seen the blinds on this window open after their arrival, he says that it was not him who opened them. When asked about the window behind one of the sofas in the living room, he says that yes, he remembers the window but does not remember if the blinds were also closed.
--- Regarding this sofa, he remembers it was next to the window. He is not sure, but thinks that this sofa was probably a bit closer as his children threw objects behind it, mainly playing cards. When asked, he does not know if any of the children was behind the sofa or passed behind this sofa.
--- When asked, he says that on one night, he cannot say which, Madeleine slept in his room in his bed. He thinks it might have been shortly after their arrival at the apartment. Madeleine came to his room saying that Amelie was crying and she couldn't sleep. He thinks that he hadn't heard crying before, and was alerted to this by Madeleine. He does not know if he or his wife comforted Amelie. That night Madeleine slept in his bed.
--- With respect to his wife, he says that on the Wednesday she slept in the children's room in the bed next to the window. He doesn't know why, but thinks it could have been because of his snoring. Also on that day, and after dinner, he returned to the apartment sooner than Kate.
-- Regarding the episode where he spoke to David on the 3rd of May, he says that he was playing tennis at 18:30 when David appeared near the tennis court and asked him if he was going to continue playing. G. said he didn't know because Kate might be needing help to look after the three children, because they intended to bring them to the recreation area after their showers. He thinks that David offered to check if Kate needed help, which he did, and returned minutes later. Regarding his previous statement where he states that David returned half an hour later around 19:00, he says that he returned to the tennis court after half an hour, as this time frame refers to the second time he returned to the tennis court after getting ready for the game.
-- When questioned, he says that Madeleine usually sleeps well at night. During the first months of her life she had some difficulties sleeping due to feeding problems. After moving to their house in Rothley in April 2006, twice a week Madeleine wakened, left her bed and went into their room; this sometimes happened between 23:00 ' 24:00 for no apparent reason, maybe because she was used to sleeping with (*** blank ****).
--- When asked about a chart highlighting the characteristics of the children at the house in Rothley, he says that he does in fact have such an object, where several stars show the nights when Madeleine did not get up, as she was rewarded this way.
--- When questioned if it was therefore safe to leave Madeleine in the apartment if she woke and got up at night, he says that this rarely happened, and then only after her parents were in bed.
--- When questioned about whether the couple's and the childrens' lives were peaceful, namely regarding the work that three children can give a couple as well as the stress this can cause, he replies that in fact since the birth of the twins their life has been very busy, and that especially during the twins' first year life was difficult. He states that since the twins were born, he and Kate have gone out at night only once, leaving the children with relatives. He adds that in spite of this he never saw Kate depressed as a result of too much work. He denies that Kate had changed her work habits for reasons related to depressions. He affirms that his wife never gave him to understand that at some time she had the intention of giving Madeleine into the care of a family member.
When questioned, he says that he works at the Emergency Room of the hospital where he works every 15 days, however he is not usually called out at night, and if this happens then it is once for 4 days prevention. Kate's specialty is general medicine, and works two days a week. After the birth of the twins, Kate did not work for a year, on maternity leave, and currently works part-time as above.
--- When questioned, he states that none of his children takes any kind of medication regularly in England.
--- When they travelled on holiday to Portugal they brought several medicines, namely Calpol, Nurofen, for fevers and pains, both for adults and children, Losec for gastric problems that he occasionally suffers from, and an anti-histamine called Terfenadine for hay fever. He did not give any of these medicines or any others to the children while on holiday in Portugal.
---- When asked about the time he went to check the children on the night of Madeleine's disappearance, he states remembering that he did it, according to his watch, around 21:04. He remembers that once inside the apartment he thought strange only the fact of the door to the children's room being slightly more open than how the defendant had left it when he and Kate left for dinner. However, he puts the hypothesis of [proposes; suggests] it having been Madeleine opening that door after having woken and having got up, possibly to go to her parents' room. On this occasion the three children were lying in their beds and asleep, he is sure of that. Moreover, he says that with respect to Madeleine she was in the same position in which he had left her at the beginning of the night. Madeleine was lying down on her left side, she was completely uncovered, that is, lying on top of the covers, with the soft toy and the blanket, both pink, next to her head, not knowing if they were placed in the position in which one can see them in the photograph attached to the files.
--- The second person to go and check on the children should have been Kate, but Matt offered to go as he was going to check on his own daughter. When Matt returned to the restaurant G. asked him if all was well; Matt replied that all was quiet. G. is not absolutely sure, but he is under the impression that he asked Matt if he entered their apartment, to which Matt replied yes.
--- The third check was made by Kate at around 22:00. He does not know how long it was before Kate returned, but he does remember that shortly before she returned he was thinking of going to see what was going on, as it seemed a long time and he thought that one of children might have woken up.
--- He does not remember if he had taken his mobile phone to the restaurant. He is under the impression that he did not take anything with him, except maybe his wallet. He was wearing tennis shoes (trainers), blue jeans and a light brown polar top. He does not remember what Kate was wearing that night. The arguido did not take a camera and does not remember if Kate did. He does not remember if anybody in the group took photographs that night.
--- He remembers that after it was known that Madeleine had disappeared he looked for her all over the apartment. He particularly remembers having looked under all the beds, inside the wardrobes in all the rooms at the same time that Kate told him she had looked everywhere.
--- He remembers that at one time the lady who lived in the apartment above theirs, went onto her veranda and asked what was going on. He does not remember specifically who replied to this lady, but he remembers that somebody spoke to her, assuming it was himself who did so.
When questioned, he states that from the first moment, after the first fruitless searches, he thought that Madeleine had been abducted and it was this information that he gave to everyone to whom he spoke. He reached such a conclusion because he did not think it possible that she had gone out on her own or opened the blinds and window in the room.
--- When questioned, he says that on that night he made several phone calls, including calls to two sisters, a couple of Kate's uncles, his brother or certainly sent him a message, father P. S. who baptized Madeleine and married G. and K. When questioned he says he did not get in touch with any media and does not know if anyone did. In the morning his family did contact the press. G. spoke of contacting the press, however he never did so.
--- When questioned he says that he did not request a priest, but to Kate to seek spiritual help.
--- Regarding the disclosure of Madeleine's photograph, he says that he gave the authorities a photograph from a digital camera, and he thinks it was Russell who printed it at the main 24-hour reception of the complex. He made the delivery thereof, or of these pictures on A4 paper to the Police, and he is sure he never delivered any of these photographs to GNR.
--- Around 19:00 the interview was stopped for a rest period, to be recommenced at around 19:40.
--- When questioned if the twins woke while the apartment was being searched, he replies negatively. When they were taken to another apartment he does not know if they woke as he did not take them. When asked, he says that this was not normal, and can find no reason for it happening. He still thought at this moment that the twins might have been drugged by the possible abductor, even if he only mentioned this to the Police several days later. When questioned, he says he never gave his children anything to help them sleep, nor did Kate. When asked why he did not ask the twins what happened to their sister, he says that when the events took place they still did not speak fluently, which is now a normal developmental difficulty. At this point he did not ask them because he thought that they would not have the correct perception of what had happened, in addition to thinking that they would have been sleeping.
--- When asked why instead of scouring the land next to the complex they stayed inside the apartment, he replies that it did not happen that way.
While the guests and employees of the resort were searching, he went to the main Reception to check whether they had called the Police, and told Kate to wait inside the apartment. After going to the Reception he went back to the apartment where he stayed in the living room and in their bedroom.
--- When asked if he had life insurance, he says that he does, and so does Kate. The children do not have any life insurance, nor are their parents, Gerry and Kate the beneficiaries of any insurance regarding the children.
--- When asked about the contents of the wardrobe in his room that can be seen in the photographs, he says that on top is a suitcase and below a pile of dirty clothes that he cannot make out. This wardrobe was opened to look for Madeleine.
--- When asked if in fact they went to the apartment every half hour, he says it is true, and that this was never created to justify absences during dinner.
--- When asked what the expression 'we let her down' means, he says that it has to do with the fact that they were not present when Madeleine was abducted. It was Kate who first used this expression.
During this interview several films of a forensic nature showing sniffer dogs were shown where their signalling can be seen regarding indication of cadaver odour and traces of blood also human, and only of a human nature, as well as the comments made by the expert in charge of the procedure.
-- After viewing the films and after the signalling of cadaver odour in their room next to the wardrobe and behind the sofa against the window in the living room, he says that he has no comments, neither has he any explanation for this fact.
--- Also, the dog that detects human blood signalled human blood behind the sofa mentioned above, he says that he cannot explain this fact.
-- Regarding the cadaver odour in the car that was rented at the end of May, (xx)-DA-27, he says he cannot explain more than what he already has.
--- Regarding the presence of human blood in the boot of the same vehicle, he says that he has not explanation for this fact.
-- When confronted with the fact that Madeleine's DNA was collected from behind the sofa and in the boot of the vehicle and analyzed by a British laboratory, situations also described before, he says that he cannot explain.
--- When asked if on any occasion Madeleine was injured, he says that he has no comments.
-- When questioned, he says he is the usual driver of the car. In addition to G. the car could also be driven by his wife Kate, sister in law Sandy and a cousin of Kate's by the name Michael.
-- When asked if he has anything to add he says that he has not seen any proof that his daughter Madeleine is dead, and therefore he will continue to search for her in the hopes she is alive. He knows nothing more than what has been said.
-- The lawyer for the defence says he wishes the arguido to be asked again if Madeleine bled. To which he said it was common for Madeleine to have nosebleeds. He says that he doesn't know if in fact his daughter bled while on holiday in Portugal because he does not want to be influenced by the news in the Press, regarding the detection of human blood in the apartment where his daughter disappeared.
-- During this interview the arguido was informed of his duty to respect the secrecy of justice as well as the consequences of not complying with same, stipulated in current law.
--- At around 22:50 the present interview was ended.
--- He says nothing further. After reading the document and finding it to be satisfactory, he confirms and signs it.
-------------------------
Processos Vol X
Page 2577
Policia Judiciaria
Terms of Joining
On this date, due to being considered of interest to the investigation, joined to the files are two cover sheets of a children’s book, with handwritten notes on the inside covers, which were provided to this police force on the night of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann by one of those who feature in the case files and a member of the McCann couple group of friends, named Russell O’Brien.
The present terms of joining was drawn up and will be signed.
Portimão, 9th September 2007.
Signed
Inspector Ricardo Paiva
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