Witness Statement
Gerald Patrick McCann
Date: 2007/05/04
Time 11.15
He comes to the process as a participant and offended party, as the girl's father. Being of British nationality he does not speak Portuguese and is assisted by the interpreter Natalia de Almeida.
When asked he says that he had been in Portugal previously in 1994, staying in an apartment near to Albufeira. This is the first time he has returned to Portugal.
His desire to know Portugal in 1994 was due to the fact of playing golf, as our country is known for the excellent conditions for practising this sport.
On this occasion, the trip was proposed by one of his friends who accompanied him, David Payne, who upon searching in Internet, made a reservation at the OC, P da L, Lagos, for the witness, his wife and the rest of the group, a total of nine adults and 8 children, including his daughter Madeleine, this group consists of people he has known for 5 or 6 years.
In this way they travelled in two separate groups, one of the groups being the witness, his wife Kate and three children and other group consisting of David with his wife, mother in law and two children.
The witness left from the local airport (Leicestershire) and the other group left from London and consisted of four adults and three children.
The meeting point was in Portugal, at the OC, where his group arrived at about 14.30 on 28th April 2007, arriving from Faro airport in a small minibus provided by the airport services.
The other group also arrived on the same day at about 13.00, also by means of a minibus.
After checking in, the witness and his family were accommodated in apartment G5 A, the family nucleus consisting of the witness, his wife Kate, his daughter Madeleine and a couple of twins aged two, Sean and Amelie.
The apartment consisted of two beds in one bedroom, another two beds in another bedroom and two cots provided by the resort, as well as a WC and kitchen.The witness and his wife slept in one of the bedrooms and the three children in the other, the twins in the cots and Madeleine in a bed, leaving the remaining bed empty.
Between the 28th April, the day they arrived and the time the disappearance was discovered, he says that nothing unusual happened, only referring to an episode on the morning of the 3rd May, when Madeleine asked the witness the reason why they had not gone to her room when the twins were crying.
As he did not hear anything, the witness did not go to the bedroom, however he finds his daughter's comment to be strange, maybe because it was the first time that she had made it.
As regards routines, he says that on Sunday they had breakfast between 07.30 and 08.30 at the OC Bar at a few metres distance from the apartment.
During the following days, because of the fact that the bar was quite far away, they began to buy food at a supermarket situated in the same street as the apartment, he cannot remember the name of the supermarket and they would have breakfast in the apartment.
After breakfast the children would stay in the resort crèche, called the Kid Club, doing various activities such as painting and collage, etc, until about 12.30, they were always supervised by various members of staff, in a ratio of one member of staff to every three children.
At this time - 12.30 - the parents would collect the children and have lunch in the apartment, which had a kitchen.
When lunch was finished, at about 13.30, the children would stay at the Club pool, supervised by the parents, for about 45 minutes, where they would relax and put on sun screen, etc.
Afterwards, they would take the children back to the Kid Club until about 17.00, when the children would have dinner at the bar, under the attentive eye of their parents.
After dinner at 17.00, they would bath the children and get them ready for the night and play with them for a few moments in the recreation area near the tennis courts, always supervised by the parents.
At about 19.30 - 20.00 the children were put to bed until the following morning when the routine described would begin.
Whilst the children were at the Kids Club, the witness would play tennis with his wife, go for walks, read and go jogging.
Yesterday, after their daily routine, Madeleine and the twins went to their bedroom "and were placed in their respective beds and he stresses they were placed together [i.e. in the same bedroom], at about 19.30."
The witness and his wife, between this time and 20.30 stayed in the apartment relaxing and drinking a glass of wine.
After 20.30, the witness and his wife, after looking at the children, went to the Tapas Bar, about 50 metres away, where they had dinner.
As usual, every half hour and as the restaurant was near, the witness or his wife, would check whether the children were all right.
In this way, at about 21.05 the witness came to the Club, entered the room using his respective key, the door being locked, went to his children's bedroom and checked that the twins were fine, as was Madeleine.
"He then went to the WC" where he remained for a few moments, left, and bumped into a person he had played tennis with and who had a child's push chair, he was also British, he had a short conversation with him, "returning after that to the restaurant."
At about 21.30 his friend Matt (member of the group) went to the apartment, where his children were and on his way went to the witness' apartment, entering by means of a glass sliding door that was always unlocked and was located laterally to the building.
He entered the bedroom, he observed the twins and he did not even notice whether Madeleine was there"
- Verb "reparar" (in this context): to notice, to observe, to see, to take notice of, to pay attention to, to mind, to look out]
as everything was calm, the shutters were closed and the door to the bedroom was ajar as usual. "After that Matt returned to the restaurant."
At about 22.00 it was his wife Kate who went to check on the children.
She entered the apartment by the door using the key and saw immediately that the door to the children's bedroom was completely open, the window was also open, the blinds were raised and the curtains were drawn open.
The side door leading to the living room was closed, which as previously stated, was never left locked.
Faced with this troubling situation, Kate checked that the twins were in their beds, unlike Madeleine, who had disappeared.
After checking the apartment thoroughly, his wife, quite shocked and upset, went to the restaurant, alerting the witness and the others about
Immediately the group rapidly went to the club, "searched all the accommodations/lodgings, swimming pool, tennis courts, etc. and the apartment, with the help of staff "at the same time that they contacted the authorities who would come to put in an appearance."
It is emphasised that one of the members of the group, Jane, at about 21.10 - 21.15 when she was going to her apartment to check on her children,
- Verb "visualizar": to visualise (also used in the sense of 'to see')
- "pela" is the contraction or "por" + "a": 'by + the' or 'from + the'
- "rectguarda" (more correctly spelled as "retaguarda"): rear, back, tail, end; (military: rearguard);]
With regard to Madeleine, he describes her as being of Caucasian race, with quite white skin, four years old (12-05-2003), almost 90 cm in height.
dark blond hair which is straight and shoulder length. Her left eye is blue and green and her right eye is green with a brown mark in the pupil.
She has a small brown birthmark ,
She did not have any scars.
At the time of her disappearance she was wearing pyjamas, the trousers were white with a floral pattern, and the short-sleeved top was predominantly pink and there was a blue and grey figure of a donkey on the front, with the inscription "Eeyore".
As regards personality, the child was extrovert, very active, talkative, alert with an easy relationship with other children.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GERRY-MCCANN.htmWhen he was shown a list of the Club's guests he says he only recognises the names of the members of the group.
He never detected that any object had disappeared.
He has no other elements to bring to the process, desiring the appropriate criminal procedure and (the person) caught for the act he was a victim of.
No more is said. Reads, ratifies, signs.(Note: several mentions are made to "club" in the text, in some cases I understand them to mean "apartment" but have left them as described in PT text).The supervision and organisation of this activity is the responsibility of the Club, which is why neither the witness nor his wife were present.
He never saw any strange behaviour during these. days nor anything that had led him to such a conclusion."He also says that she would never go with a stranger.
He has no suspects to point out, he cannot find any motive for such an act, as neither he nor his wife has any enemies.
He adds that his daughter is not suffering from any illness or take any medication.
When asked, he says that he authorises a reading of the recorded data of his mobile phone no. 00***7869***88.
Apart from the Kid Club and the apartment they only went to the beach with Madeleine and the other children once and for a short time as the weather conditions were unstable.
At the beach they just ate an ice cream and then returned to the apartment.
In addition to what he has described, on the Wednesday or Thursday, Madeleine and the other children went sailing along the beach, five minutes on foot away from the Club for an hour, organised by the resort, an activity that has an available chart.
Gerald Patrick McCann
Date: 2007/05/04
Time 11.15
He comes to the process as a participant and offended party, as the girl's father. Being of British nationality he does not speak Portuguese and is assisted by the interpreter Natalia de Almeida.
When asked he says that he had been in Portugal previously in 1994, staying in an apartment near to Albufeira. This is the first time he has returned to Portugal.
His desire to know Portugal in 1994 was due to the fact of playing golf, as our country is known for the excellent conditions for practising this sport.
On this occasion, the trip was proposed by one of his friends who accompanied him, David Payne, who upon searching in Internet, made a reservation at the OC, P da L, Lagos, for the witness, his wife and the rest of the group, a total of nine adults and 8 children, including his daughter Madeleine, this group consists of people he has known for 5 or 6 years.
In this way they travelled in two separate groups, one of the groups being the witness, his wife Kate and three children and other group consisting of David with his wife, mother in law and two children.
The witness left from the local airport (Leicestershire) and the other group left from London and consisted of four adults and three children.
The meeting point was in Portugal, at the OC, where his group arrived at about 14.30 on 28th April 2007, arriving from Faro airport in a small minibus provided by the airport services.
The other group also arrived on the same day at about 13.00, also by means of a minibus.
After checking in, the witness and his family were accommodated in apartment G5 A, the family nucleus consisting of the witness, his wife Kate, his daughter Madeleine and a couple of twins aged two, Sean and Amelie.
The apartment consisted of two beds in one bedroom, another two beds in another bedroom and two cots provided by the resort, as well as a WC and kitchen.The witness and his wife slept in one of the bedrooms and the three children in the other, the twins in the cots and Madeleine in a bed, leaving the remaining bed empty.
Between the 28th April, the day they arrived and the time the disappearance was discovered, he says that nothing unusual happened, only referring to an episode on the morning of the 3rd May, when Madeleine asked the witness the reason why they had not gone to her room when the twins were crying.
As he did not hear anything, the witness did not go to the bedroom, however he finds his daughter's comment to be strange, maybe because it was the first time that she had made it.
As regards routines, he says that on Sunday they had breakfast between 07.30 and 08.30 at the OC Bar at a few metres distance from the apartment.
During the following days, because of the fact that the bar was quite far away, they began to buy food at a supermarket situated in the same street as the apartment, he cannot remember the name of the supermarket and they would have breakfast in the apartment.
After breakfast the children would stay in the resort crèche, called the Kid Club, doing various activities such as painting and collage, etc, until about 12.30, they were always supervised by various members of staff, in a ratio of one member of staff to every three children.
At this time - 12.30 - the parents would collect the children and have lunch in the apartment, which had a kitchen.
When lunch was finished, at about 13.30, the children would stay at the Club pool, supervised by the parents, for about 45 minutes, where they would relax and put on sun screen, etc.
Afterwards, they would take the children back to the Kid Club until about 17.00, when the children would have dinner at the bar, under the attentive eye of their parents.
After dinner at 17.00, they would bath the children and get them ready for the night and play with them for a few moments in the recreation area near the tennis courts, always supervised by the parents.
At about 19.30 - 20.00 the children were put to bed until the following morning when the routine described would begin.
Whilst the children were at the Kids Club, the witness would play tennis with his wife, go for walks, read and go jogging.
Yesterday, after their daily routine, Madeleine and the twins went to their bedroom "and were placed in their respective beds and he stresses they were placed together [i.e. in the same bedroom], at about 19.30."
The witness and his wife, between this time and 20.30 stayed in the apartment relaxing and drinking a glass of wine.
After 20.30, the witness and his wife, after looking at the children, went to the Tapas Bar, about 50 metres away, where they had dinner.
As usual, every half hour and as the restaurant was near, the witness or his wife, would check whether the children were all right.
In this way, at about 21.05 the witness came to the Club, entered the room using his respective key, the door being locked, went to his children's bedroom and checked that the twins were fine, as was Madeleine.
"He then went to the WC" where he remained for a few moments, left, and bumped into a person he had played tennis with and who had a child's push chair, he was also British, he had a short conversation with him, "returning after that to the restaurant."
At about 21.30 his friend Matt (member of the group) went to the apartment, where his children were and on his way went to the witness' apartment, entering by means of a glass sliding door that was always unlocked and was located laterally to the building.
He entered the bedroom, he observed the twins and he did not even notice whether Madeleine was there"
- Verb "reparar" (in this context): to notice, to observe, to see, to take notice of, to pay attention to, to mind, to look out]
as everything was calm, the shutters were closed and the door to the bedroom was ajar as usual. "After that Matt returned to the restaurant."
At about 22.00 it was his wife Kate who went to check on the children.
She entered the apartment by the door using the key and saw immediately that the door to the children's bedroom was completely open, the window was also open, the blinds were raised and the curtains were drawn open.
The side door leading to the living room was closed, which as previously stated, was never left locked.
Faced with this troubling situation, Kate checked that the twins were in their beds, unlike Madeleine, who had disappeared.
After checking the apartment thoroughly, his wife, quite shocked and upset, went to the restaurant, alerting the witness and the others about
Immediately the group rapidly went to the club, "searched all the accommodations/lodgings, swimming pool, tennis courts, etc. and the apartment, with the help of staff "at the same time that they contacted the authorities who would come to put in an appearance."
It is emphasised that one of the members of the group, Jane, at about 21.10 - 21.15 when she was going to her apartment to check on her children,
- Verb "visualizar": to visualise (also used in the sense of 'to see')
- "pela" is the contraction or "por" + "a": 'by + the' or 'from + the'
- "rectguarda" (more correctly spelled as "retaguarda"): rear, back, tail, end; (military: rearguard);]
With regard to Madeleine, he describes her as being of Caucasian race, with quite white skin, four years old (12-05-2003), almost 90 cm in height.
dark blond hair which is straight and shoulder length. Her left eye is blue and green and her right eye is green with a brown mark in the pupil.
She has a small brown birthmark ,
She did not have any scars.
At the time of her disappearance she was wearing pyjamas, the trousers were white with a floral pattern, and the short-sleeved top was predominantly pink and there was a blue and grey figure of a donkey on the front, with the inscription "Eeyore".
As regards personality, the child was extrovert, very active, talkative, alert with an easy relationship with other children.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GERRY-MCCANN.htmWhen he was shown a list of the Club's guests he says he only recognises the names of the members of the group.
He never detected that any object had disappeared.
He has no other elements to bring to the process, desiring the appropriate criminal procedure and (the person) caught for the act he was a victim of.
No more is said. Reads, ratifies, signs.(Note: several mentions are made to "club" in the text, in some cases I understand them to mean "apartment" but have left them as described in PT text).The supervision and organisation of this activity is the responsibility of the Club, which is why neither the witness nor his wife were present.
He never saw any strange behaviour during these. days nor anything that had led him to such a conclusion."He also says that she would never go with a stranger.
He has no suspects to point out, he cannot find any motive for such an act, as neither he nor his wife has any enemies.
He adds that his daughter is not suffering from any illness or take any medication.
When asked, he says that he authorises a reading of the recorded data of his mobile phone no. 00***7869***88.
Apart from the Kid Club and the apartment they only went to the beach with Madeleine and the other children once and for a short time as the weather conditions were unstable.
At the beach they just ate an ice cream and then returned to the apartment.
In addition to what he has described, on the Wednesday or Thursday, Madeleine and the other children went sailing along the beach, five minutes on foot away from the Club for an hour, organised by the resort, an activity that has an available chart.
