Madeleine McCann: Two versions, two documentaries.

“Jane Tanner gave the Portuguese authorities a version of the fateful night that was very different from what she later told the English authorities”

24horas magazine in Portugal

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In 2007, after Gonçalo Amaral left the coordination of the Polícia Judiciária’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Portimão, on the day of his birthday – October the 2nd – many diligences were still possible within the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, but few or almost none were carried out.
Despite the fact that all the English people of the so-called “Tapas Group” were officially summoned to return, to participate in the reconstitution of what happened on the night that Maddie disappeared, none did so and the Portuguese authorities accepted that fact as if they were expecting it from the start. Another diligence, the questioning that was carried out in England, ended up revealing further contradictions in the statements but were regrettably sabotaged both by the English police and by the PJ.
Like Gonçalo Amaral had denounced already, the authorities in England didn’t cooperate at the level that was expected from them and the diplomatic interferences – that have become more than evident now – had produced their purpose: the head of the investigation was removed and replaced by someone more “malleable”, and the case was prepared to be archived.
With two versions of the same night, now recreated in documentaries that have been produced for television – one in Portugal under the guidance of Gonçalo Amaral and another, an English one, by the McCanns – 24horas has gone back over the witness statement of Jane Tanner, who is one of the key “characters”of a real case in which the victim remains solely one: Maddie.

24horas newspaper in US.

Strangely, according to the videos and transcriptions of their interrogations, to which 24horas had access, all the English witnesses – David Payne, Fiona Payne, Dianne Webster, Jane Tanner, Russell O’Brien, Matthew Oldfield, Rachael Mampilly – were given, by the English police, the possibility to consult what they had already told the PJ directors earlier on.
Some of the English people – as was the case of Jane Tanner, among others – were also given the opportunity to read the others’ witness statements and to change their final statements. Despite this abnormal behaviour by the Leicestershire police, at least two video recordings of the questionings never arrived in Portugal, and given the fact that the PJ inspectors who travelled to England, following orders from Paulo Rebelo, were not present, their contents might be lost, if it wasn’t for so-called information “leaks”.

The alleged abductor as described by Jane Tanner

Jane Tanner, who is without doubt one of the key characters of the case and in both documentaries, described, in Portugal, a person, the alleged abductor, “who couldn’t be a tourist” because – as she says – “he was too heavily dressed”. The man would be between 35 and 40 years old, with very dark hair, thin and approximately 1,70m tall. Despite the distance, Jane tells the Portuguese inspectors that the suspect was wearing beige or gold-coloured trousers, a “duffy” type of jacket (but as thick) and black, classical shoes.

Filed under: Madeleine McCann, Duarte Levy, Enderby, Gerry McCann, Gonçalo Amaral, Jane Tanner, Kate McCann, Leicestershire, Maddie, Madeleine McCann, Major Crime Unit, Missing, PJ, Policia Judiciaria, Portugal, Praia da Luz, Robert Murat, Russell O'Brien

Brian Kennedy and Metodo 3 meet the PJ detectives

On October 19, 2007, Alberto Carbas, the head of the Spanish CID Anti-Kidnapping Unit (Unidad de Secuestros de la Policia Judicial) contacted PJ and asked detectives in charge of Madeleine’s investigation it they were willing to have a meeting with a representative from Metodo 3 and a Spanish police officer from the same unit.
The purpose of the meeting was to give PJ some information those detectives had. The Spanish police officer made clear that Metodo 3 had no intention to interfere in the Portuguese police work, but only to transmit some useful information. In the same contact, Metodo 3 said that they were not working for the Mccann, but for Brian Kennedy.
On November 13, 2007, the meeting took place, in Portimão. Two PJ detectives – Ricardo Paiva and Paulo Ferreira. – the director of Metodo 3, Mr. Francisco Marco, an adviser from the private detectives company, Mr. António Jimenez (former head of Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit from Catalonia) and Mr. Brian Kennedy participated in the meeting.
The two PJ detectives submitted a report, about the meeting, the information exchanged and the investigations, following the leads given by Metodo 3.
On the report, which is in the DVD files, it’s referred that Mr. Kennedy stressed, just as the meeting started, that his only intent was a charitable one, because he was concerned with cases related with child neglect and missing children. He stated that his concern, in that specific case, was only the truth and nothing more than the truth, no matter the McCann, their friends or any other person was involved or suspect.

The man hiding in shadows

The director of Metodo 3 gave PJ a written report with three situations, allegedly received through their hotline and related with Madeleine’s disappearance The first was about an incident that British Media already referred, at the end of October 2007: a woman who was babysitting at Ocean Club, in apartment 5A, on August/September 2006, spotted a man “hiding in shadows” on a Thursday – the same day Madeleine, four, vanished”, as The Sun wrote on October 31.”
“The nanny – identified only as M.H. – reported the chilling incident to police in England shortly after the hunt for Madeleine began in May, but did not speak to cops in Portugal.”, according to the newspaper. Clarence Mitchell added: “This evidence backs up what we have always said, that Maddie was taken from her bed by an abductor.”
PJ dismissed this report, as detectives considered that there was no evidence it was related with the disappearance of Madeleine.
The second information was about the alleged existence of a paedophile picture in a computer at the home of Sergei Malinka, witnessed by the fiancée of a British girl, four years ago, when he was at Malinka’s home. The girl’s fiancée questioned Malinka about that and he said the computer belonged to a client and he would report it to the authorities, later, according to the same witness.
All computers found at Malinka’s home were apprehended and searched, but nothing relevant or suspect was found, the PJ report says.

Murat’s girlfriend seen with Madeleine

The third information referred to a witness detailed sighting of what was described, in the report from Metodo 3, as a woman handing what that witness was convinced was a child, wrapped in a blanket or a sheet, to a man, over a fence, with two cars parked close to them, near a city 100 miles from Algarve. The witness, a Portuguese truck driver, M.G., saw several pictures and picked up Michaela Walczuch photo, saying that it was the most similar to the woman he saw.
British Press also got the story, on November 19, 2007, but with different details. “A witness is said to have spotted Mr Murat’s German-born girlfriend Michaela Walczuch in a car with Maddie in central Portugal on May 5”, wrote Metro. The Daily Mail had a similar story, the same day: “A new witness has identified Michaela Walczuch as a woman seen with the missing girl in central Portugal about 100 miles from where she disappeared on May 3, a source said.”
As usual, Mr. Clarence Mitchell had something to tell to the Media: “”We will not comment on any active line of the investigation other than to say we are encouraged that our investigators appear to be making progress. Kate and Gerry are not ruling anything in or out.”
PJ investigated this last incident, and questioned the Portuguese truck driver. But the facts he reported to Police were a little bit different: He saw the woman handing something to the man, over the fence, wrapped in what seemed to be a blanket. It was not heavy, because they did it easily and the fence was around 1,60 meters high. Asked if it could be the body of a child, he said that nothing of what he saw could point to that.
Questioned also about the positive identification of Michaela Walczuch, according to Metodo 3 report, the witness told PJ that he couldn’t see the face of the woman, as he was driving his truck, at 70/80 km per hour, and the couple was at a good distance. He only picked up Michaela’s picture from the other pictures that Metodo 3 showed him, because it had the same hair colour and a similar body build.

Duarte Levy & Paulo Reis (Gazeta Digital)

Filed under: Madeleine McCann, Alberto Carbas, Brian Kennedy, Clarence Mitchell, Duarte Levy, Gonçalo Amaral, Kate McCann, Maddie, Madeleine McCann, Metodo 3, Michaela Walczuch, PJ, Policia Judiciaria, Robert Murat