Lettre de la DCCB (V. Matos) au commissaire Amaral
27.09.2007 - Vol XI, pp. 2945-52
Traduction d'Ines
Information
The undersigned,
accompanied by Inspectors Ramos, Ricardo, Brigantim, and Dordonnat,
in compliance with superior orders, and following information related
to the possible arrival in Portugal of individuals of British
nationality belonging to a private company linked to various
activities, mainly the gathering of information, a company called
Control Risks Group, who supposedly have the objective of cleaning
spaces/objects related to the McCann family, the following inquiries
were carried out in order to check the truthfulness of the facts
referred to in continuation:
1. With help from the
Winkworth Estate Agency in Lagos, it was established that the
residence occupied by the McCann couple in Rua da Flores, lot 27 –
Vivenda Vista do Mar, P da L was effectively occupied by them on
02-07-2007, whilst the contract shows that the hire period began on
1st July, according to the copy of the contract we were given.
- The McCanns' departure
took place on 09-09-2007 and the keys to the house were returned the
following day (10-09-2007) to the Winkworth office in Lagos by an
English woman named Susan who was the wife of the Anglican vicar who
celebrated mass in the P da L church.
- With the help of P****
C***** from the Winkworth agancy it was established that after the
McCanns left the villa the agency was contacted by a female
individual called M***** C++++ from ITV, who claimed she wanted to
rent the villa for a few days with the aim of making some films, her
request was denied.
- In contact with the
owner of the villa, Mr A***** M***** of Dutch nationality he said
that at the moment the villa was being occupied by some friends of
his, of Dutch nationality, surname S************, the husband named
R********, the wife J*****, R being the director of the Museo de Arte
Antiga.
- The owner of the villa
said that he had been in the villa after the departure of the McCanns
and that it seemed to him that there were new plants at the bottom of
the garden, without being able to indicate exactly which plants, a
fact that he commented on with the gardener F**** Do S*****.
- When the gardener was
contacted that in spite of the fact that he does the maintenance of
the garden, he had not detected anything abnormal in it, namely the
existence of new plants, saying that he had some difficulty in
maintaining a dialogue with the owner, because of the language
barrier.
- From the cleaner who
worked in the residence occupied by the McCanns, it was found out
that on the previous Monday 10-09-2007, she carried out her normal
cleaning routine without noticing anything abnormal, just remarking
that two or three boxes with dossiers were in the garage and which
were later collected by a friend of the McCanns', Susan.
- She says that whenever
she went to the house occupied by the McCanns she always found them
to be accompanied by friends or family.
- On the 11-09-2007, the
Dutch owners of the residence were also present at the property.
- When they (PJ)
contacted Susan, they found out that she was Susan Harboard (sic) and
it was confirmed that she had returned the key to the estate agency
after the McCann’s departure.
- During the period that
the key was in her possession, it was not requested by anyone, nor
does she remember seeing anything abnormal at the residence.
2. As regards the Renault
Grand Scenic, number plate 59-DA-27, it was hired by Gerry from Rent
a car AA. Castanheira, with offices in Lagos, on 27-05-2007 and was
delivered to the McCann couple at the apartment they were occupying
in P da L, from which time it was noted in the contract that a friend
of the McCanns, Alexander Cameron, was noted as an additional driver.
- At a later date, at the
end of August, another additional driver was added to the contract,
Michael Terrence Wright.
- The return of the car
to the rental agency, was done at the agency's offices on 23-09-2007
by a Caucasian individual, who appeared there alone, speaking
English, about 1.80 cm tall, with short grey hair, about 60-65 years
old, who signed the delivery document for the return of the car, but
whose signature is illegible.
- When the car was
delivered to the McCanns it had 3.114 km on the clock and when it was
returned it had 14.443 km on the clock, thus 11.227 km had been
travelled during the period the car was in their possession.
3. In relation to the
MCs' stay at the OC, the following was checked: Date of
occupation of apartment 5 A 28-04-2007 and the departure date was
registered on 05-05-2007, being certain that from 04 – 05 they did
not stay in the apartment. They entered apartment 4G on 04-05-2007
and left on 03-07-2007.
- After the disappearance
apartment 5 A was occupied by the following individuals: 12-06-2007 –
19-06-2007 by R and F. F****** (friends of the owners), from
28-06-2007 – 12-07-2007 by SR, W & CF, 12-07-2007 to 19-07-2007
by BSP and JFP, 19-07-2007 – 26-07-07 by MMS family.
4. It was stated by
Silvia Batista that on 20-09-2007, during the morning, three
reporters from Sky News, two men and a woman, were seen on the patio
of apartment 5 A and that they had forced the external blind to the
bedroom that Madeleine had disappeared from, probably with the
intention of filming inside, and she told them to leave. But she said
that yesterday 25-09-2007 a security guard was asked to come to the
same apartment as there was a group of three journalists – two
Spanish men and a woman, who had set up cameras on the patio next to
Apartment 5 A which was occupied at the time. Their identification
was not noted, but given the fact they had filming equipment, they
were assumed to be reporters.
- With regard to
journalists, it was reported by cleaners working in the block
containing apartment 5 A that they are often bothered by journalists
trying to get access to the apartment, which has always been denied
them, the journalists often tried to persuade them or offer money in
exchange for access.
5. With regard to the
possible sighting of arguido Gerry McCann next to a pink coloured
block of apartments at a site opposite the Luz cemetery, we can
inform you that this an establishment called "St James
Portuguesa Lda", lots 1 and 2 being situated in the positions
mentioned, from the outside the spaces corresponding to Lot 1 can be
seen of a total of apartment designated as follows: 101-104, 111-114,
121-124, 105-109, 115-119, 125-129.
- In Lot 2 there are some
apartments with T3 typology.
- The buildings in
question have 3 pavements, whose access to the different areas is
visible from the outside, as they consist of an open perimeter and
there are several commercial establishments at ground level.
- In view of the number
of buildings and given the scarce information provided it does not
seem to us to be viable, immediately, to take measures to prove or
disprove the elements provided.
6. As concerns the
information provided by F***** J**** with regard to a sighting of the
MCs at a residence called Vila d’Arte, in the Melody
Urbanisation in Espiche, during the month of July, it was possible to
determine which residence this was and that the building is the
permanent residence of some citizens from NL or the UK for the past 4
or 5 years.
- As regards the sighting
itself which occurred at 20.30 – 20.45 on dates that it was not
possible to determine more than that this was in July of the current
year and that the couple and their two youngest children were
transported in small car, that the witness thought to be a dark
coloured Citroen C3 or Renault Clio.
- Upon contacting the
current inhabitants of the residence it was established that they
were Dutch citizens who had made their reservation during the days
24-09-2007 and 29-09-2007 via the portucasa.nl website and who were
from Amsterdam.
- The contract was signed
through an intermediary from Winkworth who said that the McCanns
never had any relationship with the residence in question because it
was always let to friends or family members of the Dutch owners.
- The action of the
intermediary was informal, there was no register of contracts with
the occupants.
- The property is
normally rented out, the owners do not live there on a permanent
basis.
7. Reference is made that
with some of the OC employees an attempt is made to obtain
information about any strange movements surrounding the apartment
initially occupied by the McCann family and we were told that apart
from the journalists, they did not notice anything unusual. However,
they would like to clarify that given the endless insistence on the
part of these journalists, the employees did not really pay attention
to details, neither did they register their identification of
physical characteristics, limiting themselves to refusing access to
the building and not answering any questions about the events that
occurred there.
- Yesterday at 21.16 the
Portimao DIC received a phone call from a security officer who worked
for the OC to say that a few minutes ago somebody had forced up the
shutters of the window of the bedroom Madeleine had disappeared from.
The undersigned, together with two of his colleagues went to the
scene, where they saw the shutter was hanging obliquely in front of
the window and noted that it had been effectively forced open from
the outside. However, there were no signs of anyone trying to breach
the window.
- These facts were
reported by the security guard.
- The guard said that the
incident happened between 21.00 and 21.05, when he was making his
21.00 round of the block containing Apartment 5 A and then walked
down the die of 5 A, down the road to the Baptista supermarket and
then returned up the same road, returning to the surroundings of
Apartment 5 A and saw that in that short space of time, someone who
he cannot identify as he saw nobody around, had approached the window
and forced the shutters. At about 21.06 he alerted reception and the
GNR.
- Immediately before he
had been talking to a colleague, opposite 5 A and 5 B and neither of
them had seen anyone strange, but a few moments earlier they had seen
two journalists - a man and a woman - near the bar, with logos from
a Canadian media channel stuck on their camera.
- Given the scenario, as
well as the way the shutter had been raised as well as the limiting
factors that other people had already been at the site and there was
no guarantee of its preservation, the procedure to examine for
fingerprints was not activated by the Portimao DIC.
- Some trips were made to
Lagos in order to attempt to identify journalists and TV stations, as
well as any other persons suspected, but this activity had negative
results.
Signed by Victor Matos
