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What really happened to MMC ?
Par Peter Mac (a retired Police Superintendent Detective from Nottinghamshire Police)
We examine and compare
the various accounts given by the group of their “system” for
checking the children during the evenings they spent in the Tapas
bar.
Book, p. 75
That Sunday night we headed over to the restaurant. We were all there except Matt, who had a bit of a dodgy stomach, which he attributed to something he’d eaten en route to Portugal. The rest of us enjoyed our meal. The food was good and it was nice to have a little adult time. There weren’t many other diners and, since we were such a large group, we were focused on chatting to and bantering with each other and not taking much notice of anyone else. It was, I remember, very cold and windy and I discovered that five layers of clothing were required to keep me comfortable. We nipped back to our respective apartments every half-hour to check on the children – apart from Rachael, since Matt had stayed behind, and Dave and Fiona, who had a state-of-the-art baby monitor with them. Our visits also gave us a convenient opportunity to pop to the loo or, in my case, to pick up an extra cardigan. [1
In press interviews the
McCanns always give the impression that there was a checking system
in place whereby everyone took a turn of checking not only their own
children, every half hour, but probably the children of the others in
the group. It is clear from
examining the statements that this did not happen
The group consisted of four couples, plus the mother of one of the women in the group. Nine adults in total.
David and Fiona Payne did no checking of anyone’s children, including their own, as they had a baby monitor and relied on this.
Dianne Webster (Fiona Payne’s mother) did no checking at any time.
Rachael and Matthew Oldfield did not check on anyone else’s children.
Jane Tanner and Russell O’Brien did not check on anyone else’s children
Kate and Gerald McCann never checked on anyone else’s children.
So this impression the McCanns have given of the adults in their group all running back and forth checking each others' children is most certainly not the truth.
On the night Madeleine
was reported as missing the McCanns claim their checks were around
every 30 minutes. [2]
But after Madeleine had told them on the Thursday morning (she was reported missing on Thursday night) that she and her brother had been crying on the previous night – the McCanns decided they would check their children more regularly. [3], [4], [5]
If every 30 minutes was more regular than previous nights, then the McCann children were not being checked every 30 minutes throughout that week. Hourly is more credible.
On the night Madeleine was reported as missing, Gerry McCann claims to have checked around 9pm. Kate McCann claimed her check took place around 10pm.
This would tie in with
the statement of Mrs Fenn who lived in the apartment above the
McCanns that she heard a child crying in the McCann apartment for
more than an hour on the night of Tuesday 1st May 2007. [6]
Note: The statement about
deciding to check the children more regularly, or “keep a closer
watch” or be “more vigilant” was released to the Press some
time after the secret meeting of the Tapas group in Rothley. This
meeting was before the Tapas friends were due to give their Rogatory
interviews, but it was specifically denied by their spokesman that the intention was to “get their stories right”.
But it is fairly obvious that the Media were given this statement by Clarence Mitchell on their behalf, and it seems it was an important part of the attempt to show that the McCanns, and indeed all the group were “responsible parents”
But it is fairly obvious that the Media were given this statement by Clarence Mitchell on their behalf, and it seems it was an important part of the attempt to show that the McCanns, and indeed all the group were “responsible parents”
As an aside one must
recall that both Gerry and Kate stated clearly that had it not been
for the altered position of the bedroom door neither of them would
have bothered even to look into the room. Madeleine was here, audition du 10 mai. And Oldfield was very
quick to distance himself from the position of having been the last
person to see Madeleine alive. (audition du 4 mai)
Carlos Anjos from the Association of Police Investigators stated
“They said that every half an hour they would go and look in on the children and all of them, we found in EVERYBODY'S statement, some questions that suggest that actually they DIDN'T go and see the children.” (Panorama, oct. 2007, à 19:11:07)
Let us take the Tapas group’s statements in turn
1 Matthew Oldfield Rogatory Interview with
Leicestershire Police
MO: “It WASN'T usual routine err for us to check on each other’s children” I’d NOT done it before”.
4078 "Was there an actual discussion between the group and you as to the sort of fifteen minute checks or ten minute checks or whatever or was it something that you as a couple had decided on and then the circumstances during the week meant that everyone had sort of taken it in turns to check?"
Reply "No, we pretty much checked our, well certainly we checked our own and it was only the last night that we offered to check for Gerry and Kate. (...)
4078 Up until the Wednesday night, from what you have already said then, you didn't go into Gerry and Kate's apartment, well, sorry, you didn't check on Gerry and Kate's children?"
Reply "No".
Asking re Oldfield listening at the shuttered window:
4078 "Was that the first time that you had taken it UPON YOURSELF to check on somebody else's child?"
Reply "Yeah, I'd NOT done it before” (Audition rogatoire Matthew O)
2 Kate McCann witness
statement
8 Jane Tanner
Gerry McCann states that David Payne checked on the McCann children on the evening of Wednesday 2nd May 2007, and of how Payne reported back to him (McCann) that all was well - when this absolutely did not happen. (See above)
As David Payne and his wife Fiona have stated, they had a baby monitor, they never left the dinner table on any night to check on anyone’s children.
These statements were given after the infamous Rothley meeting of the Tapas Group and their advisors.
As he had also been given access to Jane Tanner’s statements it is surely of interest that his interview did not match more closely.
To conclude :
The decision by Clarence Mitchell to give to the press - after the Rothley meeting - a version of events which details increasing the vigilance or frequency of the checks seems spectacularly to have backfired on the McCanns.
It not only draws attention to the paucity of any checks made during the week, but also draws attention to the contents of the statements in which it is clear that even if the McCanns had visited the apartment, their intention was not to look at the children at all.
It seems that only an alleged change in the somewhat esoteric detail of the exact angle of the bedroom door caused them, individually, to do so.
It is important to remember that what is apparently to be referred to as “spin” like this was being given regularly to the press long before either he or the McCanns knew that the original statements would one day be released for scrutiny by the entire world.
What precisely we are expected to believe is somewhat unclear.
REFERENCES
1 “madeleine” by Kate McCann, Random House, 2011,
2 Witness statement of Gerald Patrick McCann, 4th May 2007
http//mccannfiles.com/id192.html#sta2
3 Witness statement of Gerald Patrick McCann, 10th May 2007
http://mccannfiles.com/id192.html#sta2
4 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/1584584/ Madeleine-McCann-complained-to-mother-Kate-about-being-left-crying- alone.htmlhttp://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4764346#.UYLJgeBX9Nk
6 Witness statement of Pamela Fenn 20th August 2007
http://mccannfiles.com/id331.html#fenn1
APPENDICES
1 p. 75 That Sunday night we headed over to the restaurant. We were all there except Matt, who had a bit of a dodgy stomach, which he attributed to something he’d eaten en route to Portugal. The rest of us enjoyed our meal. The food was good and it was nice to have a little adult time. There weren’t many other diners and, since we were such a large group, we were focused on chatting to and bantering with each other and not taking much notice of anyone else. It was, I remember, very cold and windy and I discovered that five layers of clothing were required to keep me comfortable. We nipped back to our respective apartments every half-hour to check on the children – apart from Rachael, since Matt had stayed behind, and Dave and Fiona, who had a state-of-the-art baby monitor with them. Our visits also gave us a convenient opportunity to pop to the loo or, in my case, to pick up an extra cardigan.
2 As usual, every half hour and considering that the restaurant was close to the apartment, the deponent or his wife went to check if the children were ok.
3 On the day that MADELEINE disappeared, Thursday, 3 May 2007, they all woke up at the same time, between 07H30 and 08H00. When they were having breakfast, MADELEINE addressed her mother and asked her "why didn't you come last night when SEAN and I were crying?" That he thought this comment very strange given that MADELEINE had never spoken like this and, the night before, they had maintained the same system of checking on the children, not having detected anything abnormal. When he questioned her about the comment, she left without any explanation.
4 But in extracts read out on Spanish broadcaster Telecinco’s late morning programme El Programa de Ana Rosa, it emerged that Mrs McCann had told police about a conversation she had with Madeleine on the morning she disappeared.
The little girl, then aged three, spoke to her mother because she had left her and twins Sean and Amelie alone in the night. Mrs McCann’s statement said: "While we were having breakfast, Madeleine said: 'Mummy, why didn’t you come when we were crying last night?’.
"Gerry and I spoke for a couple of minutes and agreed to keep a closer watch over the children."
5 "We obviously told the police because we thought, does this indicate that someone has been round the night before and that's what has woken her up?" she said. "Which is significant you know … I've persecuted myself over and over again about that statement because you think, why didn't they [the police] kind of just hold it and say, 'What do you mean?'"
Madeleine didn't answer her parents' question and "carried on playing, whatever she was doing, totally undistressed," Kate McCann said.
The McCanns say that because Madeleine didn't make a big deal about the issue that they let the matter go. But they say they consciously decided that evening to be more vigilant about checking in on the children.
6 She states that on the day of the 1st May 2007, when she was at home alone, at approximately 22H30 she heard a child cry, and that due the tone of the crying seemed to be a young child and not a baby of two years of age or younger.
Apart from the crying that continued for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes, and which got louder and more expressive, the child shouted "Daddy, Daddy", the witness had no doubt that the noise came from the floor below. At about 23H45, an hour and fifteen minutes after the crying began, she heard the parents arrive, she did not see them, but she heard the patio doors open, she was quite worried as the crying had gone on for more than an hour and had gradually got worse.
7 Mr Mitchell added: "The meeting was as much a show of support for Gerry and Kate. This was in no way to get their stories straight. This is the age of email and phone. They could have done that a long time ago."
'During this check, she thinks that Gerry did not check on the children of any other couple, because it was usual just to check on their own children.
Further stating: 'She never checked on any other child, other than her own.' (audition 6 sept. 2007)
3 - Rachael Oldfield (Mampilly)
DC 1578 of Leicestershire Police asked : “So what sort of arrangements did you come to as a group in respect of checking on the children”?Confirmation that there was NO checking system agreed or put in place to check on each other’s children, nor even to listen at shuttered windows.
RO: “That we would just check our own children, basically, erm”.
RO: "We hadn't done that before you know, that hadn't been part of the routine, sort of listening, even listening at other people's windows" (audition rogatoire)4 Dianne Webster
5 Fiona PayneShe clarifies that the practice was for each couple to check THEIR OWN children, it NOT being usual for anyone to check the children of other couples. Dianne Webster also confirms that she did not leave the dinner table on any evening during the holiday to check on anyone’s children. (audition du 11 mai)
During dinner, as they were in a possession of a "baby monitor", they did not go to the apartment to check on their children. (audition du 4 mai)6 David Payne
In answer to our question the interviewee states that during ALL the meals, he NEVER went to his apartment or to ANY of the group's apartments, because he has an, "intercom," and the signal carries from the apartment to the restaurant. (audition du 4 mai)7 Gerald McCann
Police witness statement
On Wednesday night, 2 May 2007, apart from the deponent and his wife, he thinks that DAVID PAYNE also went to his apartment to check that his children were well, not having reported to him any abnormal situation with the children. (audition 10 mai) (But see above David Payne
Therefore we can say that Dr Payne did not check on the McCann children on the night of Wednesday 2nd May 2007, or any other night.)‘During all the meals he never went to his apartment or to any of the group's apartments, because he has an, "intercom," and the signal carries from the apartment to the restaurant.’
So Gerry and Kate McCann had already by the night of Wednesday 2nd May changed routine They now did not use the front door in the evenings but left the patio door unlocked so that the group of colleagues could enter their apartment and check on their children.On this day, the deponent (Gerry McCann) and KATE had already left the back door (patio) closed, but not locked, to allow entrance by their group of colleagues to check on the children.’ (audition du 10 mai)
None of the group of
colleagues took advantage of Gerry’s gesture, leaving a door
unlocked for them, perhaps because, according to the colleagues’
statements to police, NONE of them checked on the McCann children,
and NONE of them knew of any such arrangement.
8 Jane Tanner
Stated that normally every 15 minutes a member from each apartment would go and check the bedrooms of the respective children to see if everything was all right. At no time does she mention that on any of her visits, or that of her partner Russell O’Brien did either one of them listen at the shuttered windows or doors of any of the apartments occupied by members of the group. [20]
Rogatory interview Leicester police
The officer is questioning Jane Tanner re the night of Wednesday 2nd May 2007.
Tanner: – I’m trying to think if by that point we were checking on each other’s…”
4078 “That was part of my next question.”
Reply - “Oh right. Err I mean I didn’t personally, I think, I mean I’ll tell you when I went back I just tended to check on bars and I listened at Matt and Rachael’s, you know at some point we listened at Matt and Rachael’s window and down there but err no I can’t remember, but by that stage I think we were listening but we didn’t, I don’t know whether people actually went in to, to be honest nobody, if we hadn’t gone nobody could have gone in to ours because they’d need the key so when people did check ours they did, they did just listen, so. (audition rogatoire)
Let us re-cap briefly and try to precis the above.
Gerry McCann states that David Payne checked on the McCann children on the evening of Wednesday 2nd May 2007, and of how Payne reported back to him (McCann) that all was well - when this absolutely did not happen. (See above)
As David Payne and his wife Fiona have stated, they had a baby monitor, they never left the dinner table on any night to check on anyone’s children.
This was confirmed by all
in the group.
Jane Tanner gives details
of the routine checks, and of how they the group listened at
shuttered windows, not initially, but as the week progressed.
But the rest of the group
are not in agreement on this.
The Oldfield’s -
Matthew and Rachael - state they never at any time during that week
(with the exception of the night Madeleine vanished) checked on
anyone’s children and further state that they did NOT listen either
at shuttered windows or doors at any time. They further stated that
NO ONE did this – not even Jane Tanner or Russell O’Brien. It seems it just was not
part of any routine.
Dianne Webster confirms
she did not check anyone’s children, and confirmed that each couple
checked on their own children.
On the evidence of these
statements we must conclude there was NO routine in place. Those who
did, checked only their own children.
Kate McCann confirmed she
did not check on anyone’s children nor she listen at shuttered
windows, and confirmed that Gerry McCann did not check on anyone
else’s children.
Matthew Oldfield stated
that not only was it a first for him on the night Madeleine
disappeared to check on the McCann children, a first too for him to
have listened at the shuttered window, something he took upon himself
to do, but he states it was a FIRST also for Russell O’Brien.
9 Russell O’Brien
Russell O’Brien, the partner of Jane Tanner made the most intriguing statements of the group. They are also the most confused. He appears confused as to whether he checked or did not check, listened or did not listen at doors. Russell O'Brien's rogatory interview took place on 8 April 2008 and had to be repeated on 10 April 2008 when the Detective and O’Brien went through a statement which had been prepared from the audio track of the tape, because the video track had malfunctioned on 8th.
This entry at the beginning of the second interview may be of importance - I have been given the opportunity to refresh my memory from the statement made by Jane TANNER (my wife) and I have been allowed to see these documents, this was done in the presence of DC 1578 GIERC.
These are extracts from the transcript of the long Rogatory interview [my emphases]
Russell O’Brien, the partner of Jane Tanner made the most intriguing statements of the group. They are also the most confused. He appears confused as to whether he checked or did not check, listened or did not listen at doors. Russell O'Brien's rogatory interview took place on 8 April 2008 and had to be repeated on 10 April 2008 when the Detective and O’Brien went through a statement which had been prepared from the audio track of the tape, because the video track had malfunctioned on 8th.
This entry at the beginning of the second interview may be of importance - I have been given the opportunity to refresh my memory from the statement made by Jane TANNER (my wife) and I have been allowed to see these documents, this was done in the presence of DC 1578 GIERC.
These are extracts from the transcript of the long Rogatory interview [my emphases]
On Sunday I recall I checked Kate and Gerry’s apartment as well as Rachael and Matt’s.
“I had taken Matt’s keys and I believe that their door was deadlocked the same as ours and that I would have needed to turn the key two times.
“I recall that Kate and Gerry’s apartment was accessed by the patios door which was left closed and unlocked. I recall that their front door was accessed from the car-park,access was easily gained to the apartment from the poolside.
“And then on Sunday ‘I recall I checked Kate and Gerry’s apartment as well as Rachael and Matt’s and my recollection is that I needed Matt’s key to check on their room and I had it, but I didn’t need Kate and Gerry’s key because THEY went through the patio door’, erm, WE went through the patio door to cross in and look into the children’s bedroom.”
"I definitely did NOT go in through Gerry’s and Kate’s main, you know, double locked door or anything, I’m SURE I went through the patio, so I think they were doing things differently from Matt and Rachael, at least from the ground floor perspective, right from the word go.
O’Brien, as those who
read the full transcript will see, stresses how the McCanns did not
secure their apartment in the way that he and Jane Tanner and the
Oldfield couple did with theirs, all being on the ground floor.
ROB souligne manifestement que JT et lui ferment à double tour, non pas contre un éventuel ravisseur, mais pour empêcher toute tentative de sortie.
ROB souligne manifestement que JT et lui ferment à double tour, non pas contre un éventuel ravisseur, mais pour empêcher toute tentative de sortie.
But something is
seriously wrong with O’Brien’s statements. The above comments
specifically refer to his checking of both the Oldfield and the
McCann children on the Sunday evening? Matthew Oldfield was
unwell on the Sunday evening and did not leave his apartment (audition rogatoire). How is it possible then
that Russell O’Brien took from Oldfield his key to go and check on
the Oldfield child when Oldfield was not at the tapas for dinner that
evening. Oldfield was in fact in his apartment looking after his
daughter.
Il est étrange que, précisément le soir de la disparition, MO ait écouté à toutes les fenêtres puis soit entré chez les MC, ce que personne n'avait fait pour personne jusque-là selon les TP8, sauf ROB qui essaie de suggérer le contraire et ne convainc personne.
Il est étrange que, précisément le soir de la disparition, MO ait écouté à toutes les fenêtres puis soit entré chez les MC, ce que personne n'avait fait pour personne jusque-là selon les TP8, sauf ROB qui essaie de suggérer le contraire et ne convainc personne.
Matthew and Rachael
Oldfield have both confirmed that no one ever checked on their child
by entering their apartment
Referring to O’Brien’s
check, where he claims to have gone into the McCann apartment through
the unlocked patio door. Gerry and Kate McCann
have stated categorically they did not leave their patio door
unlocked early in the week (the Sunday was the first night the group
had gone to the tapas bar). They claim to have changed to this
routine – leaving the patio door unlocked, at some point during the
week.
Rien de précis n'a été indiqué par les MC. Le soir du 3, selon Fiona, KMC demande à la ronde s'ils ont bien fait de laisser la porte du patio ouverte, ce qui implique une initiative inédite.
Rien de précis n'a été indiqué par les MC. Le soir du 3, selon Fiona, KMC demande à la ronde s'ils ont bien fait de laisser la porte du patio ouverte, ce qui implique une initiative inédite.
According to the McCanns
their apartment was locked on the Sunday evening, so Russell O’Brien
did not enter the McCann apartment through the patio doors and check
on the McCann children.
Gerry McCann re the
Sunday evening:
Is this simply a case of O’Brien getting hopelessly confused, or of something else ?They [he and his wife Kate McCann] left the house through the main door (front door) that he was sure he locked, and the back door (patio) was also closed and locked . . . .On that day, only the deponent and his wife entered the apartment. (audition du 10 mai)
These statements were given after the infamous Rothley meeting of the Tapas Group and their advisors.
As he had also been given access to Jane Tanner’s statements it is surely of interest that his interview did not match more closely.
The decision by Clarence Mitchell to give to the press - after the Rothley meeting - a version of events which details increasing the vigilance or frequency of the checks seems spectacularly to have backfired on the McCanns.
It not only draws attention to the paucity of any checks made during the week, but also draws attention to the contents of the statements in which it is clear that even if the McCanns had visited the apartment, their intention was not to look at the children at all.
It seems that only an alleged change in the somewhat esoteric detail of the exact angle of the bedroom door caused them, individually, to do so.
It is important to remember that what is apparently to be referred to as “spin” like this was being given regularly to the press long before either he or the McCanns knew that the original statements would one day be released for scrutiny by the entire world.
What precisely we are expected to believe is somewhat unclear.
REFERENCES
1 “madeleine” by Kate McCann, Random House, 2011,
2 Witness statement of Gerald Patrick McCann, 4th May 2007
http//mccannfiles.com/id192.html#sta2
3 Witness statement of Gerald Patrick McCann, 10th May 2007
http://mccannfiles.com/id192.html#sta2
4 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/1584584/ Madeleine-McCann-complained-to-mother-Kate-about-being-left-crying- alone.htmlhttp://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4764346#.UYLJgeBX9Nk
6 Witness statement of Pamela Fenn 20th August 2007
http://mccannfiles.com/id331.html#fenn1
APPENDICES
1 p. 75 That Sunday night we headed over to the restaurant. We were all there except Matt, who had a bit of a dodgy stomach, which he attributed to something he’d eaten en route to Portugal. The rest of us enjoyed our meal. The food was good and it was nice to have a little adult time. There weren’t many other diners and, since we were such a large group, we were focused on chatting to and bantering with each other and not taking much notice of anyone else. It was, I remember, very cold and windy and I discovered that five layers of clothing were required to keep me comfortable. We nipped back to our respective apartments every half-hour to check on the children – apart from Rachael, since Matt had stayed behind, and Dave and Fiona, who had a state-of-the-art baby monitor with them. Our visits also gave us a convenient opportunity to pop to the loo or, in my case, to pick up an extra cardigan.
2 As usual, every half hour and considering that the restaurant was close to the apartment, the deponent or his wife went to check if the children were ok.
3 On the day that MADELEINE disappeared, Thursday, 3 May 2007, they all woke up at the same time, between 07H30 and 08H00. When they were having breakfast, MADELEINE addressed her mother and asked her "why didn't you come last night when SEAN and I were crying?" That he thought this comment very strange given that MADELEINE had never spoken like this and, the night before, they had maintained the same system of checking on the children, not having detected anything abnormal. When he questioned her about the comment, she left without any explanation.
4 But in extracts read out on Spanish broadcaster Telecinco’s late morning programme El Programa de Ana Rosa, it emerged that Mrs McCann had told police about a conversation she had with Madeleine on the morning she disappeared.
The little girl, then aged three, spoke to her mother because she had left her and twins Sean and Amelie alone in the night. Mrs McCann’s statement said: "While we were having breakfast, Madeleine said: 'Mummy, why didn’t you come when we were crying last night?’.
"Gerry and I spoke for a couple of minutes and agreed to keep a closer watch over the children."
5 "We obviously told the police because we thought, does this indicate that someone has been round the night before and that's what has woken her up?" she said. "Which is significant you know … I've persecuted myself over and over again about that statement because you think, why didn't they [the police] kind of just hold it and say, 'What do you mean?'"
Madeleine didn't answer her parents' question and "carried on playing, whatever she was doing, totally undistressed," Kate McCann said.
The McCanns say that because Madeleine didn't make a big deal about the issue that they let the matter go. But they say they consciously decided that evening to be more vigilant about checking in on the children.
6 She states that on the day of the 1st May 2007, when she was at home alone, at approximately 22H30 she heard a child cry, and that due the tone of the crying seemed to be a young child and not a baby of two years of age or younger.
Apart from the crying that continued for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes, and which got louder and more expressive, the child shouted "Daddy, Daddy", the witness had no doubt that the noise came from the floor below. At about 23H45, an hour and fifteen minutes after the crying began, she heard the parents arrive, she did not see them, but she heard the patio doors open, she was quite worried as the crying had gone on for more than an hour and had gradually got worse.
7 Mr Mitchell added: "The meeting was as much a show of support for Gerry and Kate. This was in no way to get their stories straight. This is the age of email and phone. They could have done that a long time ago."
8 Kate “I did my check about ten o’clock and went in through the sliding patio doors, and I just stood actually, and I thought, uh, all quiet. And to be honest, I might have been tempted to turn round then, but I just noticed that the door, the bedroom door where the three children were sleeping, was open much further than we’d left it.
I went to close it to about here, and then as I got to here, it suddenly . . . slammed, and as I opened it, it was then, that I just thought I’ll just look at the children.
I see Sean and Amelie in the cot . . . . “
9 He walked the normal route up to the back door, which being open he only had to slide, and while he was entering the living room, he noticed that the children's bedroom door was not ajar as he had left it but half-way open, which he thought was strange, having then thought that possibly MADELEINE had got up to go to sleep in his bedroom, so as to avoid the noise produced by her siblings. Therefore, he entered the children's bedroom and established visual contact with each of them, checking and he is certain of this, that the three were deeply asleep.
10 At around 21h25, the interviewee went into his apartment and Madeleine's apartment to check on the children. He states that the door of the bedroom quarters, that was occupied by Madeleine and the twins, was half-open and that there was enough light in the bedroom for him to see the twins in their cots. That he couldn't see the bed occupied by Madeleine, but as it was all quiet, he deduced that she was sleeping.
11 CARLOS ANJOS
Association of Police Investigators
They said that every half an hour they would go and look in on the children and all of them, we found in everybody's statement, some questions that suggest that actually they didn't go and see the children.
12 4078 "Was there an actual discussion between the group of you as to the sort of fifteen minute checks or ten minute checks or whatever or was it something that you as a couple had decided on and then the circumstances during the week meant that everyone had sort of taken it in turns to check?"
Reply "No, we pretty much checked our, well certainly we checked our own and it was only the last night that we offered to check for Gerry and Kate. It just, we are sort of fairly similar, our sort of views on sort of child care and that it was important, we're sort of from the same background, we have sort of similar issues about sort of child rearing, which is why we sort of get on and there was nothing obvious that anybody would do anything particularly different. I mean, Russell and Jane sort of, erm, are sort of fairly relaxed and easy going, erm, and Dave and Fi are sort of a bit disorganised and a bit late and Gerry and Kate are much more organised and we sort of fit sort of between that end of between, between that end of the scale and Russell and Jane. So it was all sort of, it was just sort of natural, we didn't decide, oh we'll do this, it just sort of came at natural breaks, we'd come down and we'd go between sort of courses to sort of check, but we usually, we'd check our own and, as far as I know, that didn't really change. Although, because it wouldn't seem, certainly for Russell and Jane I'd be happy to check for their children because they know me and if, you know, they had been awake and I went in they wouldn't be particularly, erm, you know, they wouldn't be particularly shocked or surprised or not know who I was, but Gerry and Kate and their children I didn't know them so well, so I wouldn't and certainly at the beginning of the week have offered to check their children or assumed that that would be okay, it was only at the end of the week when we seemed to know each other better and our routines and everybody seemed to be doing the same thing that it seemed to be a nice thing to do to offer to save them a trip".
13 During this check, she thinks that Gerry did not check on the children of any other couple, because it was usual just to check on their own children. She never checked on any other child, other than her own.
14 1578 “So what sort of arrangements did you come to as a group in respect of checking on the children”?
Reply “That we would just check our own children basically, erm”.
1578 “How often”?
Reply “Erm about sort of every twenty minutes, I mean we kind of, I mean Gerry and Kate were very good about you know doing it every twenty minutes, I think they must have been a bit oh okay, think it’s about twenty minutes so we’ll, we’ll go and have a look and you know so everyone went at different times, it wasn’t like everyone suddenly got up to go and check, erm”.
15 Asked, she states that it would be normal for one member of each of the couples to get up regularly in order to check in their apartments if the children were well. She clarifies that the practice was for each couple to check their own children, it not being usual for anyone to check the children of other couples.
The question asked, she thinks that up to the date of the disappearance it had never happened that anyone had entered the apartment of another couple in order to check their offspring.
Nevertheless, it seems that the Payne couple and the witness, did not make any trips to apartments, because they had an intercom called a "baby monitor", through which sounds or noises of the children could be heard.
16 During dinner, as they were in a possession of a "baby monitor", they did not go to the apartment to check on their children and would only do so if they heard any strange noises or crying.
17 In answer to our question, the interviewee states that during all the meals, he never went to his apartment or to any of the group's apartments, because he has an, "intercom," and the signal carries from the apartment to the restaurant. The other members of the group went, randomly, every 20 minutes, to their apartments to make sure their respective children were asleep.
18 On Wednesday night, 2 May 2007, apart from the deponent and his wife, he thinks that DAVID PAYNE also went to his apartment to check that his children were well, not having reported to him any abnormal situation with the children.
19 On Wednesday night, 2 May 2007, apart from the deponent and his wife, he thinks that DAVID PAYNE also went to his apartment to check that his children were well, not having reported to him any abnormal situation with the children. On this day, the deponent and KATE had already left the back door closed, but not locked, to allow entrance by their group colleagues to check on the children. He clarifies that the main door was always closed but not necessarily locked with the key. He does not know if the window next to the front door, and that gave access to the children's bedroom, was locked, given that he assumed that the shutters could not be opened from the outside. Still on this night, KATE slept in the children's bedroom, in the bed next to the window, because the deponent was snoring.
20 At about 21h00 her husband arrived at the restaurant, having got E**e to sleep. For this reason and because Fiona, David and Diane only arrived at about 21h00, the dinner, reserved for 20h30, only began after 21h00.
Normally, every 15 minutes a member from each apartment would go and check the bedrooms of the respective children to see if everything was all right.
21 4078 “But from the early part of the evening there’d been fairly regular checks.”
Reply “Yeah, the same as, yeah the same as, the same as before. I can’t remember who checked when or, you know, I can’t remember when, you know whether it was me or Russell or whoever went back at that point. I don’t, I’m trying to think if by that point we were checking on each other’s…”
4078 “That was part of my next question.”
Reply “Oh right. Err I mean I didn’t personally, I think, I mean I’ll tell you when I went back I just tended to check on bars and I listened at Matt and Rachael’s, you know at some point we listened at Matt and Rachael’s window and down there but err no I can’t remember, but by that stage I think we were listening but we didn’t, I don’t know whether people actually went in to, to be honest nobody, if we hadn’t gone nobody could have gone in to ours because they’d need the key so when people did check ours they did, they did just listen, so.”
22 Reply “Well, ‘I’m aware that we checked our own rooms and also listened at other apartment doors and windows’ and then ‘maybe on occasion, on some occasions we actually entered the other rooms as well’. Erm, the next paragraph, I don’t think I was quite so specific about, erm, ‘Other people’s apartments were on deadlock’, but I think when I, well, so that’s wrong. ‘On Sunday I recall I checked Kate and Gerry’s apartment as well as Rachael and Matt’s’, that’s true. Erm, I’m not sure about taking their keys, I think I, I think I definitely took Matt and Rachael’s keys, but I entered Gerry’s flat through the patio door”.
1578 “Okay. So, ‘I had taken their keys and recall the door was deadlocked, I needed to turn the key two times, the shutters were down’?”
Reply “Yeah, yeah, I don’t think, erm, I don’t think, erm”.
1578 “’I recall that Gerry and Kate’s I had to get (inaudible)’”.
Reply “That, that, that is me talking about our arrangements in our flat, so it’s kind of all fused into one there. So maybe just to clarify that, it would be easier to say ‘In our flat we closed the patio door, shut and locked’, erm, ‘shut the blinds, the shutters down and locked the internal window, double locked the front door after we went out and the patio door was also locked, was closed and locked’. So that was, that was our arrangements inside our flat. And then on Sunday ‘I recall I checked Kate and Gerry’s apartment as well as Rachael and Matt’s and my recollection is that I needed Matt’s key to check on their room and I had it, but I didn’t need Kate and Gerry’s key because they went through the patio door’, erm, we went through the patio door to cross in and look into the children’s bedroom. So, at the time, I have to say, I didn’t really think that, you know, about the differences in how, in how we were, the security in the, in the rooms was, but, erm, I definitely did not go in through Gerry’s and Kate’s main, you know, double locked door or anything, I’m sure I went through the patio, so I think they were doing things differently from Matt and Rachael, at least from the ground floor perspective, right from the word go”.
23 4078 "You said that on Saturday you were feeling a little bit unwell?"
Reply "Saturday I felt unwell, didn't eat much in the evening, which for a free buffet is pretty unusual for me, and then I started throwing up in the evening and I ascribed it to, when we were on the plane on the way out, they were giving out the meals and, you know, all the kids had been changing seats, so there was, I was sat with, erm, E***, which is, erm, Russell and Jane's eldest daughter and maybe E*** on one side and maybe G**** as well, but one of the meals that came round the plastic had already come off and it was in front of E*** and I said 'You have mine just in case there's something wrong with it' and so I blamed that I felt sick that perhaps I was right, it had sort of gone off or something. It may not have been, it may just have been a bug or something, but I usually don't get diarrhoea and vomiting, I mean, I can't remember the last time I've been sick. Erm, but I started feeling a little bit queasy in the evening and then the, erm, the Saturday evening into the Sunday morning I was actually throwing up, which is just incredibly rare for me. So I felt completely icky all the day Sunday, so I think to try and avoid infecting anybody else, I didn't do much outside the apartment and certainly in the evening I didn't go for, erm, didn't go for dinner with everybody else".
4078 "That is Sunday out the way with then".
Reply "So Sunday was pretty much a write-off and I was thinking, oh, the start of my holiday and I'm not doing anything that day".
24 They left the house through the main door, that he was sure he locked, and the back door was also closed and locked. They were the first to arrive at the TAPAS where everyone showed up except only for MATTHEW, who was still ill. Nevertheless, his wife RACHEL showed up for dinner. Except for the situation described above, that occurred during lunch, he did not see MATTHEW during the whole of Sunday.
Dinner ended at around 23h00, and during this period, every half-hour, the deponent and KATE went, alternately, to the apartment to confirm that all was well with the children. On that day, only the deponent and his wife entered the apartment. He is sure that they always entered through the front door, not knowing if they locked it upon leaving.
Chapter 8: Egregious examples
Chapter 9: On the reliability of Cadaver Dogs
I went to close it to about here, and then as I got to here, it suddenly . . . slammed, and as I opened it, it was then, that I just thought I’ll just look at the children.
I see Sean and Amelie in the cot . . . . “
9 He walked the normal route up to the back door, which being open he only had to slide, and while he was entering the living room, he noticed that the children's bedroom door was not ajar as he had left it but half-way open, which he thought was strange, having then thought that possibly MADELEINE had got up to go to sleep in his bedroom, so as to avoid the noise produced by her siblings. Therefore, he entered the children's bedroom and established visual contact with each of them, checking and he is certain of this, that the three were deeply asleep.
10 At around 21h25, the interviewee went into his apartment and Madeleine's apartment to check on the children. He states that the door of the bedroom quarters, that was occupied by Madeleine and the twins, was half-open and that there was enough light in the bedroom for him to see the twins in their cots. That he couldn't see the bed occupied by Madeleine, but as it was all quiet, he deduced that she was sleeping.
11 CARLOS ANJOS
Association of Police Investigators
They said that every half an hour they would go and look in on the children and all of them, we found in everybody's statement, some questions that suggest that actually they didn't go and see the children.
12 4078 "Was there an actual discussion between the group of you as to the sort of fifteen minute checks or ten minute checks or whatever or was it something that you as a couple had decided on and then the circumstances during the week meant that everyone had sort of taken it in turns to check?"
Reply "No, we pretty much checked our, well certainly we checked our own and it was only the last night that we offered to check for Gerry and Kate. It just, we are sort of fairly similar, our sort of views on sort of child care and that it was important, we're sort of from the same background, we have sort of similar issues about sort of child rearing, which is why we sort of get on and there was nothing obvious that anybody would do anything particularly different. I mean, Russell and Jane sort of, erm, are sort of fairly relaxed and easy going, erm, and Dave and Fi are sort of a bit disorganised and a bit late and Gerry and Kate are much more organised and we sort of fit sort of between that end of between, between that end of the scale and Russell and Jane. So it was all sort of, it was just sort of natural, we didn't decide, oh we'll do this, it just sort of came at natural breaks, we'd come down and we'd go between sort of courses to sort of check, but we usually, we'd check our own and, as far as I know, that didn't really change. Although, because it wouldn't seem, certainly for Russell and Jane I'd be happy to check for their children because they know me and if, you know, they had been awake and I went in they wouldn't be particularly, erm, you know, they wouldn't be particularly shocked or surprised or not know who I was, but Gerry and Kate and their children I didn't know them so well, so I wouldn't and certainly at the beginning of the week have offered to check their children or assumed that that would be okay, it was only at the end of the week when we seemed to know each other better and our routines and everybody seemed to be doing the same thing that it seemed to be a nice thing to do to offer to save them a trip".
13 During this check, she thinks that Gerry did not check on the children of any other couple, because it was usual just to check on their own children. She never checked on any other child, other than her own.
14 1578 “So what sort of arrangements did you come to as a group in respect of checking on the children”?
Reply “That we would just check our own children basically, erm”.
1578 “How often”?
Reply “Erm about sort of every twenty minutes, I mean we kind of, I mean Gerry and Kate were very good about you know doing it every twenty minutes, I think they must have been a bit oh okay, think it’s about twenty minutes so we’ll, we’ll go and have a look and you know so everyone went at different times, it wasn’t like everyone suddenly got up to go and check, erm”.
15 Asked, she states that it would be normal for one member of each of the couples to get up regularly in order to check in their apartments if the children were well. She clarifies that the practice was for each couple to check their own children, it not being usual for anyone to check the children of other couples.
The question asked, she thinks that up to the date of the disappearance it had never happened that anyone had entered the apartment of another couple in order to check their offspring.
Nevertheless, it seems that the Payne couple and the witness, did not make any trips to apartments, because they had an intercom called a "baby monitor", through which sounds or noises of the children could be heard.
16 During dinner, as they were in a possession of a "baby monitor", they did not go to the apartment to check on their children and would only do so if they heard any strange noises or crying.
17 In answer to our question, the interviewee states that during all the meals, he never went to his apartment or to any of the group's apartments, because he has an, "intercom," and the signal carries from the apartment to the restaurant. The other members of the group went, randomly, every 20 minutes, to their apartments to make sure their respective children were asleep.
18 On Wednesday night, 2 May 2007, apart from the deponent and his wife, he thinks that DAVID PAYNE also went to his apartment to check that his children were well, not having reported to him any abnormal situation with the children.
19 On Wednesday night, 2 May 2007, apart from the deponent and his wife, he thinks that DAVID PAYNE also went to his apartment to check that his children were well, not having reported to him any abnormal situation with the children. On this day, the deponent and KATE had already left the back door closed, but not locked, to allow entrance by their group colleagues to check on the children. He clarifies that the main door was always closed but not necessarily locked with the key. He does not know if the window next to the front door, and that gave access to the children's bedroom, was locked, given that he assumed that the shutters could not be opened from the outside. Still on this night, KATE slept in the children's bedroom, in the bed next to the window, because the deponent was snoring.
20 At about 21h00 her husband arrived at the restaurant, having got E**e to sleep. For this reason and because Fiona, David and Diane only arrived at about 21h00, the dinner, reserved for 20h30, only began after 21h00.
Normally, every 15 minutes a member from each apartment would go and check the bedrooms of the respective children to see if everything was all right.
21 4078 “But from the early part of the evening there’d been fairly regular checks.”
Reply “Yeah, the same as, yeah the same as, the same as before. I can’t remember who checked when or, you know, I can’t remember when, you know whether it was me or Russell or whoever went back at that point. I don’t, I’m trying to think if by that point we were checking on each other’s…”
4078 “That was part of my next question.”
Reply “Oh right. Err I mean I didn’t personally, I think, I mean I’ll tell you when I went back I just tended to check on bars and I listened at Matt and Rachael’s, you know at some point we listened at Matt and Rachael’s window and down there but err no I can’t remember, but by that stage I think we were listening but we didn’t, I don’t know whether people actually went in to, to be honest nobody, if we hadn’t gone nobody could have gone in to ours because they’d need the key so when people did check ours they did, they did just listen, so.”
22 Reply “Well, ‘I’m aware that we checked our own rooms and also listened at other apartment doors and windows’ and then ‘maybe on occasion, on some occasions we actually entered the other rooms as well’. Erm, the next paragraph, I don’t think I was quite so specific about, erm, ‘Other people’s apartments were on deadlock’, but I think when I, well, so that’s wrong. ‘On Sunday I recall I checked Kate and Gerry’s apartment as well as Rachael and Matt’s’, that’s true. Erm, I’m not sure about taking their keys, I think I, I think I definitely took Matt and Rachael’s keys, but I entered Gerry’s flat through the patio door”.
1578 “Okay. So, ‘I had taken their keys and recall the door was deadlocked, I needed to turn the key two times, the shutters were down’?”
Reply “Yeah, yeah, I don’t think, erm, I don’t think, erm”.
1578 “’I recall that Gerry and Kate’s I had to get (inaudible)’”.
Reply “That, that, that is me talking about our arrangements in our flat, so it’s kind of all fused into one there. So maybe just to clarify that, it would be easier to say ‘In our flat we closed the patio door, shut and locked’, erm, ‘shut the blinds, the shutters down and locked the internal window, double locked the front door after we went out and the patio door was also locked, was closed and locked’. So that was, that was our arrangements inside our flat. And then on Sunday ‘I recall I checked Kate and Gerry’s apartment as well as Rachael and Matt’s and my recollection is that I needed Matt’s key to check on their room and I had it, but I didn’t need Kate and Gerry’s key because they went through the patio door’, erm, we went through the patio door to cross in and look into the children’s bedroom. So, at the time, I have to say, I didn’t really think that, you know, about the differences in how, in how we were, the security in the, in the rooms was, but, erm, I definitely did not go in through Gerry’s and Kate’s main, you know, double locked door or anything, I’m sure I went through the patio, so I think they were doing things differently from Matt and Rachael, at least from the ground floor perspective, right from the word go”.
23 4078 "You said that on Saturday you were feeling a little bit unwell?"
Reply "Saturday I felt unwell, didn't eat much in the evening, which for a free buffet is pretty unusual for me, and then I started throwing up in the evening and I ascribed it to, when we were on the plane on the way out, they were giving out the meals and, you know, all the kids had been changing seats, so there was, I was sat with, erm, E***, which is, erm, Russell and Jane's eldest daughter and maybe E*** on one side and maybe G**** as well, but one of the meals that came round the plastic had already come off and it was in front of E*** and I said 'You have mine just in case there's something wrong with it' and so I blamed that I felt sick that perhaps I was right, it had sort of gone off or something. It may not have been, it may just have been a bug or something, but I usually don't get diarrhoea and vomiting, I mean, I can't remember the last time I've been sick. Erm, but I started feeling a little bit queasy in the evening and then the, erm, the Saturday evening into the Sunday morning I was actually throwing up, which is just incredibly rare for me. So I felt completely icky all the day Sunday, so I think to try and avoid infecting anybody else, I didn't do much outside the apartment and certainly in the evening I didn't go for, erm, didn't go for dinner with everybody else".
4078 "That is Sunday out the way with then".
Reply "So Sunday was pretty much a write-off and I was thinking, oh, the start of my holiday and I'm not doing anything that day".
24 They left the house through the main door, that he was sure he locked, and the back door was also closed and locked. They were the first to arrive at the TAPAS where everyone showed up except only for MATTHEW, who was still ill. Nevertheless, his wife RACHEL showed up for dinner. Except for the situation described above, that occurred during lunch, he did not see MATTHEW during the whole of Sunday.
Dinner ended at around 23h00, and during this period, every half-hour, the deponent and KATE went, alternately, to the apartment to confirm that all was well with the children. On that day, only the deponent and his wife entered the apartment. He is sure that they always entered through the front door, not knowing if they locked it upon leaving.
Chapter 8: Egregious examples
It is said to be
defamatory to accuse the McCanns of lying.
It is however unclear what word should be used to describe these most egregious examples of “economy with the truth”.
1 Shutters
Claim - The McCanns told many family members that the shutters had been forced or broken
Fact - The shutters had not been forced or broken
It is however unclear what word should be used to describe these most egregious examples of “economy with the truth”.
1 Shutters
Claim - The McCanns told many family members that the shutters had been forced or broken
Fact - The shutters had not been forced or broken
2 Entry by Gerry McCann
Claim - Gerry McCann first said
he entered through the front door, using his key
Fact - He later said he entered
through the patio door, which had been left unlocked.
3 Point of entry
Claim - The intruder must have
entered through the open shutters and open window
Later claim or admission - The open shutters and
open window may not have been the point of entry or exit
4 Sedation
Claim - The children were not
sedated
Later claim - The children must have
been sedated
(NOTE” On publication
of the book ‘Madeleine’, it became clear that Kate had known or
suspected sedation from the start.)
5 Being made suspects
Claim - Kate told her friends by telephone that she had been made a suspect
Later claim - Kate complained that this was press intrusion, when the only possible source was Kate herself
5 Being made suspects
Claim - Kate told her friends by telephone that she had been made a suspect
Later claim - Kate complained that this was press intrusion, when the only possible source was Kate herself
6 Fluids in car
Claim - The McCanns came up with
a range of excuses for bodily fluids found in the car, ranging from
sea bass to used nappies.
Later statement - At Leveson Kate said
under oath that there were no fluids found in the car
7 Half hourly checks
Claim - The parents were making
half hourly checks throughout the week.
Contradiction - The late Mrs Fenn reports
a child crying for over an hour on a previous evening
8 Kate’s Dream
Fact - Kate reported to Insp.
Paiva that she had had a dream in which she had “seen” Madeleine
dead. He gave this evidence under oath in court.
Denial - On the steps of the court
Gerry publicly denies that Kate had had any such dream
9 Lying in general
Fact - In her book Kate admits
lying
Mais naturellement c'est pour que les médias ne se méprennent pas.
10 Afternoon of 3rd May
They trademark the sign “Løok”, in the phrase “Løok for me”
The eye defect is blown upon a giant screen at the FA cup Final,
The eye defect is clearly visible on all photos released as part of the campaign
The eye defect is clearly visible on the front cover picture of the book
Gerry McCann states that using the defect in this way was a “good marketing ploy”
Later - Kate denies “putting emphasis on it”
Fact - The McCanns were already using private detectives from Control Risks the previous week.
Claim - Kate arrives after a run
to find the children with Gerry at tea
Fact - On that day Kate herself
signed Madeleine out of the crèche at 5:30pm
Le registre était signé dans l'espace Tapas où avait lieu le goûter des enfants.
Le registre était signé dans l'espace Tapas où avait lieu le goûter des enfants.
11 Eye defect
Facts - The McCanns released
details of the coloboma to the press of the world. They trademark the sign “Løok”, in the phrase “Løok for me”
The eye defect is blown upon a giant screen at the FA cup Final,
The eye defect is clearly visible on all photos released as part of the campaign
The eye defect is clearly visible on the front cover picture of the book
Gerry McCann states that using the defect in this way was a “good marketing ploy”
Later - Kate denies “putting emphasis on it”
Non, KMC dit qu'il faut être très près pour noter le défaut de l'iris. À quoi bon une intense publicité sur ce détail quasi invisible, si personne ne saurait reconnaître MMC grâce à cela ?
12 Private Detectives
Claim - The McCanns dismiss the
idea of using private detectives. Fact - The McCanns were already using private detectives from Control Risks the previous week.
Control Risks avait probablement était appelé par Mark Warner pour sauvegarder son image.
13 The search of the
second apartment
Claim - They claim they had no
explanation, and that they were made to leave the villa.
Fact - There was a full search
warrant, a copy of which was to be served on the McCanns. and they
were to be invited to be present.
Ils avaient été prévenus le matin par téléphone sans indication d'heure, le ministère public devant autoriser.
Ils avaient été prévenus le matin par téléphone sans indication d'heure, le ministère public devant autoriser.
14 Who spoke to Mrs Fenn
?
Claim - Kate spoke to Mrs Fenn
Contradiction - Mrs Fenn's statement
refers to speaking to Gerry McCann
15 Metodo3 claims that
Madeleine would be found by Christmas
Claim - McCanns claim through
their solicitors that this was never said
Fact - Kate admits that this was
said
Metodo3 ESPÉRAIT...
16 The colour of the pyjamas
Claim - The pyjama bottoms were
white
16 The colour of the pyjamas
Counterclaim - The pyjamas were not
white.
Fact - The pyjama bottoms were
white.
Claim - Le haut du pyjama était à manches courtes
Fact - Le pyjama de l'enfant portée par Smithman était à manches longues
Claim - Le haut du pyjama était à manches courtes
Fact - Le pyjama de l'enfant portée par Smithman était à manches longues
17 “We answered all the
questions”
Claim - The McCanns cooperated
fully with the police and answered all questions truthfully
Fact - Kate refused to answer
any of the 48 questions during her second interview
Chapter 9: On the reliability of Cadaver Dogs
Dogs trained to detect
the smell of human cadaverine are now routinely used throughout the
world. We examine some of the leading cases. From the outset it is
important to note that a dog cannot give “evidence“ in a criminal
trial. In most jurisdictions evidence has to be subject to
examination and cross examination by learned counsel, and this is
clearly impossible. On many occasions the alert by the dog will
result in the discovery of remains and it will be that which becomes
the primary evidence. The fact that the dog indicated where to look
becomes a side issue, of no particular legal importance. Here we look at some
occasions when the dog alerts, but no significant physical evidence
can be found at the time. The best that can be achieved in these
circumstances is that the handler of the animal gives evidence of the
dog’s reactions, often with video confirmation, and can then be
cross examined on his interpretation of the animal’s behaviour (I shall refer to the
cases by the name of the deceased or missing person, rather than by
the Trial reference, because of the ways in which these differ across
jurisdictions).
1 The case with a legal
significance may not yet have been fully appreciated, is that of
Jeanette Zapata. in Dane Country, USA. In 1976 she served her husband
Eugene Zapata with divorce papers. She went missing shortly
afterwards. 29 years later dogs alerted in the basement of the family
home, and in several other places where the family had lived over the
intervening time. At trial Z's lawyer persuaded the judge that the
dog’s finding could not be admitted, since the places in which they
had alerted indicated that he had carried the body round to
everywhere he had lived, and it was suggested that this was
preposterous. The jury failed to reach a verdict. Before his retrial
however, he confessed, and crucially confirmed that he had in fact
transported the body round before disposing of it. The dogs had been
absolutely accurate. No body has been found.
2 The recent case of
Bianca Jones, a 2 year old girl murdered by her father D’Andre Lane
in Detroit USA, with the added details of an alleged abduction, was
an occasion when Mr Martin Grime, a British retired police officer,
was working for the FBI. His evidence of the alerts by his dog was
admitted to show that Bianca was dead whilst in the back of the car,
and not taken by armed men as was being alleged. Lane was convicted,
though no body has been found.
3 The trial of Adrian
Prout, in 2010, for the murder of Kate Prout, his wife, in the UK,
was notable again for a verdict of guilty, despite no body having
been found. Dogs had indicted the presence of a body in the house,
but nothing had been found. Some time after his conviction Prout
confessed, and indicted the location of the body, confirming that the
dogs had been absolutely accurate in their findings.
4 In the murder of Susan
Pilley in Edinburgh, by her colleague David Gilroy, in 2010, the
court heard that the dogs had alerted in the office basement garage
and in two areas of the boot of Gilroy’s car, even though this had
been cleaned recently with fluid or air freshener. The defence failed
to convince the jury that the absence of physical evidence entitled
his client to acquittal. He was convicted. No body has been found.
5 Cori Baker from
Oklahoma was murdered by her sister’s boyfriend Marquis Bulloch, in
2007. He changed his story several times whilst being investigated,
and the dogs, partly funded by the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, were brought into search a large area after a
skull had been found. They alerted in several places. No other
physical evidence was discovered. He was convicted
6 The case of Guadeloupe
Montano from Kane County, USA, is now complete. It is alleged that
she was murdered by her husband Aurelio Montano in 1990. It may be
the first time that the dog’s alerts have been used as evidence in
that State. They indicate that the body lay in one position and was
then moved to another. The trial took place in October 2013. No body
has been found. He was convicted
7 The case of Amir
Jennings, allegedly killed by her mother Zinah Jennings in 2011,
involves a mother who reported her son missing. Dogs searched the
house and the car, and human blood was then found. No body has been
found. Zinah Jennings was convicted on a charge of unlawful conduct
toward a child, and sentenced to 10 years
8 The trial of Albert
Fine, the partner of Catherine Hoholski, from Lorain USA, is pending.
In this case the body was found within 60 seconds of the dog being
deployed, and it was then used to identify other locations relevant
to the prosecution case. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
9 The alleged abduction
of Isabel Mercedes Celis has been called into question by the
findings of two dogs, one a cadaver dog, in the family home. The
findings were said to be “significant”, the house is being
treated as a crime scene and the matter is still under investigation.
No body has been found.
10 The disappearance of 6
year old Etan Patz in New York 33 years ago, has already shown the
almost unbelievable feats of which cadaver dogs are capable. In this
case pads of absorbent material were left for a time on the concrete
floor of the basement and then presented to the dogs for testing. As
a result the concrete floor was then ripped up. The handler Englebert
said. "We as human beings never lose our scent. If [a body] had
been there for a while, that scent would still be there," she
said, indicating that even if investigators do not find remains in
the basement, it is possible human remains may have once been there
before being moved.” The trial of Pedro Hernandez, who has admitted
kidnapping and murder, is pending. No body has been found.
11 The parents of Lisa
Irwin, from Kansas City, also allege that she must have been abducted
in the middle of the night. The mother told Police she did not
search, “because she was afraid of what she might find”.
Disturbed earth was found behind the house, and the dog alerted in
the parent’s bedroom. As a result a full search warrant was
granted, and the police say they want to talk to the parents Jeremy
Irwin and Deborah Bradley, one to one.
12 The cold case of 14
year old Melanie Melanson, from Massachusetts USA, who disappeared 20
years ago, has been given fresh impetus through the findings of a
cadaver dog which alerted in an area targeted following a tip off to
Police.
13 Another mother,
Shakara Dickens, of Memphis USA, reported in 2010 that she had given
up her daughter Lauryn Dickens for adoption, but the various stories
turned out to be false. A dog identified cadaver odour in the house
and in the boot of the car, and despite defence arguments, she was
found guilty of Murder. No body has been found.
14 The infamous case of
Caylee Anthony, whose mother Casey Anthony was accused of murdering
her in Orlando USA, in 2011, was also notable in that the evidence of
the cadaver dog handler was admitted, even though the body was found
later at a different location. The dog alerted in the boot of the
car, and it was alleged that the mother had then dumped the body. The
evidence was highly detailed, with full description of the system of
‘final trained alert’ by the dog showing an exact position,
distinguished from a more general interest. In the event Anthony was
not found guilty of the murder, but was convicted of several lesser
offences. There are moves to have the case reopened at Federal level.
15 In the UK, the case of
Kirsi Gifford-Hull, in Winchester in 2005, is of interest since
although the body was discovered by a man walking a dog, and the
offender Mike Gifford-Hull had made a public appeal at a press
conference for his wife to return, cadaver dogs had already alerted
some weeks earlier in the house and in his car during the initial
search for a “missing person”. After the trial he told officers
that when he saw the dogs alerting in the car he had contemplated
making a full admission. He was convicted. After the trial Judge Guy
Boney QC ”. . .added that the police inquiry was so superior it
could be matched with that of any other police force in the world.”
Many organisations exist
to provide the services of cadaver dogs. Many are staffed by retired
specialist Police officers. Their services are not cheap. It was
widely reported, not entirely tongue in cheek, that Eddie, the
cadaver dog operated by Mr Martin Grime, earned more than the Chief
Constable. The Cadaver Dog Team of Global Rescue Services, and Dog
Detectives operate in this sphere. Independent trainers include
Search Dogs UK (www.searchdogsuk.co.uk ) All operate within the UK
Almost every state of the
US has its own team operating in this way, and the FBI run training
programmes specifically targeted at Cadaver and Blood detecting dogs.
The whole area of
research is subject to rigourous academic study, as so much in the
legal world hinges on the success or otherwise of the dogs, and the
trust placed by courts on their reported findings.
The final two chapters are included to
show the way in which people are capable of acting out a role,
despite the pressures on them and despite their being in possession
of the truth. They are relevant only to show sceptics that this can,
and does happen, perhaps more often than people remember.
Cases in which persons were reported
missing or abducted, when in fact they had been harmed by a family
member who made the false report.
We append a short précis of each case.
What have the following
in common ?
Children
Shannon Matthews April Jones Tia Sharp Caylee Marie Anthony Bianca Jones Joana Cipriano Harmony Jude Creech Dominik Takács Leonardo Giovanni
Sendejas Riley Ann Sawyers Marina Sabatier Michael Daniel Smith Alexander Tyler Smith Keisha Weippeart Zoe Evans Ruth Breton Jose Breton Samuele Lorenzi Jhessye Shockley Jamie Lavis
Adults
Fadi Nasri Kirsi Gifford-Hull Joanna Nelson Sharon Malone Lee Harvey Rachel McClean Shafilea Ahmed
Answer
In every case they were
reported as having been “abducted”, or as “missing”, on in
other ways someone gave false statements to police, and in every case
they had been harmed either by a member of their own family who had
made that false report, or by someone very close to the family and
known to them.
Only Shannon Matthews
escaped with her life. Her case was slightly different from the
others, and involved her being used in an attempt by her mother and
another relative to obtain the reward money by deception. It is
believed she was influenced by the McCann case.
Every one of these
children was included on the lists of “Abducted” or “Missing”
children, about which the public are told to be so concerned, and
from which other people make so much money.
Interestingly some of
these names still have not been removed from the lists published by
the many “Charities” which exist, allegedly to ‘assist’, even
though the cases have been concluded, and the guilty sentenced.
We append a short précis of each case.
1 Shannon Matthews
In 2008 Karen Matthews
reported her 9 year old daughter Shannon missing to the police, and
went on to make a number of emotional public appeals for her
daughter’s return, begging for anyone holding Shannon to let her
go.
Shannon was found alive,
hidden in the base of a bed, at a house belonging to Michael Donovan
(Karen’s boyfriend’s uncle). The family were supposedly planning
to claim the £50,000 that Newspapers had put up as a reward for
Shannon’s return. Michael Donovan was charged with Kidnapping and
False Imprisonment, while Karen Matthews was charged with Child
neglect and Perverting the course of justice. They were both jailed
for eight years.
2 April Jones
April Jones is a
five-year-old girl from Machynlleth, Powys, Wales, who disappeared on
1 October 2012, after being sighted willingly getting into a van near
her home. On 3 October 2012, April Jones's mother made an appeal for
information about her daughter. Her disappearance generated a large
amount of press coverage, both nationally and internationally. A
46-year-old man was subsequently arrested and charged with Jones's
abduction and murder, while searches for her body continued. He was
well known to the family. Bridger was found guilty of murder and
given a full life sentence
3 Tia Sharp
Tia Sharp was a
12-year-old English schoolgirl who was reported missing from the home
of her grandmother, Christine Sharp, in New Addington, on 3 August
2012. On 7 August Tia's uncle, David Sharp, made a televised plea for
Tia's safe return. Fifty-five sightings were reported by members of
the public, but none was substantiated. When police discovered her
body in the loft of the house seven days later, they arrested
Christine Sharp and Stuart Hazell on suspicion of murder. Hazell is
Christine Sharp's partner and the former boyfriend of Tia's mother,
Natalie. Hazell was charged with Tia's murder the following day. A
year later, during the trial, he changed his plea to Guilty. He was
sentenced to 38 years.
4 Caylee Marie Anthony
Caylee Marie Anthony was
an American two-year-old girl who was reported missing July 15, 2008,
in Orlando, Florida. Her skeletal remains were found in a wooded area
near her home on December 11, 2008. Her then 22-year-old mother,
Casey Marie Anthony, was tried for the first degree murder of Caylee
but acquitted. She was, however, convicted of misdemeanour counts of
providing false information to police officers. There are moves to
reopen the case at Federal level.
5 Bianca Jones
A Detroit man was so
obsessed over toilet training that he fatally beat his 2-year-old
daughter for having an accident. D'Andre Lane, 32, charged with child
abuse in the Dec 2012 and for the disappearance of Bianca Jones,
whose body has never been found, maintained his innocence insisting
she was taken during a car jacking.
The car was found less
than an hour later, but the girl wasn't in it. Dogs indicated that a
cadaver had been in the vehicle. He was found guilty of Murder and
Child Abuse
6 Joana Cipriano
Joana Cipriano was an
eight-year-old Portuguese girl who disappeared from the village of
Figueira, near Portimão, in the Algarve, on 12 September 2004. After
criminal investigation, she was later assumed to have been murdered,
though her body was never found. The investigation by the Polícia
Judiciária ended with the conviction for murder of Leonor and João
Cipriano, Joana's mother and uncle. Leonor Cipriano confessed to
killing her daughter. Her uncle confessed to having beaten her up
after which she stood "quiet on the floor". He said he cut
his niece's body in small pieces, put her in a fridge box, then put
her inside an old car that was taken to Spain to be crushed and
burned. When he was asked if he had sexually abused his niece he said
in the presence of his lawyer "I did not harm her, I only killed
her"
7 Harmony Jade Creech
Harmony was an
11-month-old girl whose remains were found in the attic of a Spring
Lake home two years ago. Johni Michelle Heuser, 27, was indicted on a
charge of first-degree murder in the death of Harmony Jade Creech.
Deputies found the
toddler's remains in her mother's attic on Oct. 20, 2007.
The child had been
wrapped in a plastic bag and stuffed in an empty diaper box in a
corner of the attic, authorities said. The body was so badly
decomposed that medical examiners have never been able to determine a
cause of death.
When the child's father,
Sgt. Ronald Creech II, returned from a 15-month deployment in Iraq,
Heuser initially claimed the baby had been abducted, prompting a
state-wide Amber Alert. She later told investigators that she found
the baby dead in her crib weeks earlier and hid the death out of
fear. She was found Guilty of murder and given life without parole.
8 Dominik Takács
Dominik Takács a
two-year-old Hungarian boy was reported missing in 2007 by his mother
in central Budapest. Pictures of the boy dominated Hungarian media
for several weeks. Takács' mother said that she saw her son heading
towards the Danube and tried to run after him, but fell over and lost
consciousness for a few minutes. When she came to, he was nowhere to
be seen. In October 2007, the mother admitted that he had been
attacked by their own fighting dogs and she and the boy's father
wheel-barrowed the body to fields near the family's home and buried
it. Subsequently, in October the Hungarian police discovered the body
of the two-year-old boy. As a result, the parents faced charges as
they had not given "rational reasons" for their actions.
9 Leonardo Giovanni
Sendejas
Ruth Petra Sendejas, 18,
told authorities that two men invaded her home, threatened her, tied
her up and placed a plastic bag over the head of her son, Leonardo
Giovanni Sendejas. The woman later changed her story, telling police
that she staged the home invasion after finding her child
unresponsive in his crib and fearing that she would lose custody of
the boy, according to court documents. Police found the child
unresponsive in his crib. He was taken to a hospital where he was
pronounced dead. The cause of death was asphyxiation. During later
questioning Ruth Petra Sendejas allegedly admitted to being the only
person in the residence at the time of her child’s death and that
there had been no home invasion. She pleaded guilty to 2nd degree
murder and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
10 Riley Ann Sawyers
(Baby Grace)
In the capital murder
charge the couple, Clyde Zeigler II and Kimberly Dawn Trenor were
accused of intentionally and knowingly causing the death of 2 year
old Riley Ann Sawyers. Trenor and Zeigler were initially charged
after Trenor gave a statement in which she described how the couple
beat Riley with belts, held her head under water, smashed her head on
the tile floor and pushed her face into the couch. After Riley died,
Trenor said she and Zeigler wrapped her body in plastic bags, sealed
it in a plastic storage box and eventually tossed it into Galveston
Bay.
Trenor said Riley died on
July 24, but the box was found by a fisherman washed ashore in late
October and Trenor did not turn herself into authorities until nearly
a month later. The couple had originally claimed that Riley Ann had
been abducted. Both Trenor and Ziegler were sentenced to Life without
parole - as an alternative to the Death Penalty.
11 Marina Sabatier
The 6 year old girl died
in 2009 in a series of acts of torture and neglect.
In April 2009, Marina was
hospitalised for more than a month of foot lesions resulting from
abuse. She was returned to the parents, But Marina died on 6 August
2009. According to the parents, she did not survive the last torture
session where she was immersed in an ice bath, forced to drink
vinegar and coarse salt before being beaten. The couple then locked
her in the basement, naked. They found her lifeless the next day.
Eric Sabatier attempted to lead the police down a false track, saying
his daughter had been taken from the parking lot of a fast food
restaurant. After three days, they eventually confessed everything
and took police to the place where they had hidden the body of their
daughter. It was found in a closet, wrapped in a cloth, in a plastic
crate, filled with concrete. They were sentenced to 30 years
imprisonment.
12/13 Michael Daniel
Smith and Alexander Tyler Smith
In 1994, Susan Smith told
police in South Carolina, USA that she had been car jacked by a black
man who had driven off with her two young sons still in the vehicle.
Smith appeared on television appealing for the man to return the
children. Nine days later, Smith confessed to Police that she had
driven the car into a lake, with her children still inside. It then
emerged that she had been having an affair with a man, and had killed
her two boys because he had said that he didn’t want any children.
She was convicted of murder, and given a life sentence.
14 Keisha Weippeart
Kiesha's mother, Kristi
Abrahams, told police she tucked her daughter into bed. She was
reported missing the next morning. As the search entered its third
day on, Ms Abrahams made an emotional appeal for anyone who may have
seen her daughter to come forward. Police located a shallow grave
site where they believe the body of missing girl is located. Kristi
Abrahams, 28, and Robert Smith, 31, were arrested. They have been
formally charged with the girl's murder. In 2013 the mother and
stepfather pleaded Guilty to manslaughter.
15 Zoe Evans
In 1997, 9-year-old
Schoolgirl Zoe Evans went missing from her home. Zoe’s naked body
was found six weeks later, in a badger sett. Her mother, Paula
Hamilton, and stepfather Miles Evans appeared at a press conference,
begging for her to come home. It transpired that Zoe had been taken
her from her bed and sexually assaulted by her stepfather. A
post-mortem examination showed she died from asphyxiation Evans was
arrested and convicted of murder.
16/17 Ruth and Jose
Breton
In October 2011 Joseph
Breton reported the disappearance of his two children, Ruth and José,
aged six and two. According to his version, they were visiting a
Parque in Cordoba, when the children vanished without a trace. The
investigation soon disproved the Breton version.
Despite the
interrogations, confrontations and reconstructions of the facts by
the police, Breton never revealed the true whereabouts of the
children. The key was to find out what happened between 14.30 and
18.18 of October 8. The children were spending the weekend at the
farm of Quemadillas that morning and had been playing with cousins.
In the afternoon, when, supposedly, they left the farm, Breton
disconnected his mobile. At 18.18 it was reconnected and Breton
called his brother to report the alleged disappearance of children.
Police had always focused
enquiries on the paternal grandparents farm. In the early stages of
the enquiry charred skeletal remains had been found in the ashes of a
bonfire lit on the farm, but reports attributed them to a dog or
small rodents. This proved to be wrong, and subsequently they were
identified as the human remains of Ruth and Jose. The father was
found guilty of their murder
18 Samulele Lorenzi
three-year-old Samuele
Lorenzi was found dead on 31 January 2002 while sleeping in his
parents' bed in his family home in the mountain village of Cogne, in
Aosta Valley, northern Italy. The cause of death was found to be a
blow to the skull. The murder weapon has never been found. In July
2004 an Italian court sentenced Samuele's mother Anna Maria Franzoni
to 30 years in prison for aggravated murder. In 2007 the penalty was
reduced to 16 years of jail for homicide. Franzoni always refuted the
charge, asserting that an intruder had killed her child in the few
minutes she left home to accompany her older son David to the school
bus station. Mrs. Franzoni was also charged and found guilty of
defamation against the Chief Prosecutor of Aosta.
19 Jhessye Shockley
Hunter is facing charges
of first-degree murder and child abuse in Jhessye's disappearance.
Hunter reported her daughter missing. Police believe with certainty
that Jhessye was killed and her remains were placed at the
Butterfield Landfill. On Nov. 23, about six weeks after Jhessye was
reported missing, a woman contacted investigators. She said that
seven to 15 days before Hunter reported her daughter missing, she
gave Hunter a ride to Tempe. At the time, Hunter put a large, heavy
suitcase in the woman's trunk. When they got to Tempe, Hunter put it
in a skip. Hunter even apologised to the woman for the smell of the
suitcase. Police tested the trunk of that car and it tested positive
for blood.
Jhessye's body has never
been found. Glendale police said they believe she was killed and her
body was thrown in a trash can. Investigators have been working on
the case since Oct. 2011, when Hunter reported her daughter missing.
In 2015 Hunter was found guilty of murder, and sentenced to life,
plus 20 years for child abuse.
20 Jamie Lavis
Bus driver Darren Vickers
was the last man to see eight-year-old Jamie Lavis on May 5, 1997.
After the boy vanished he befriended his distraught family in
Openshaw, Manchester, making a tearful TV plea on their behalf. In
April 1999, at Preston Crown Court, Vickers was jailed for life for
Jamie’s murder.
21 Fadi Nasri
On the evening of 11 May
2006, Patel-Nasri was reported to have gone outside her home carrying
a chef's knife. It is believed that this was the murder weapon. A man
wearing a hooded top was seen running away from the scene. During the
subsequent trial, it transpired that Patel-Nasri had been stabbed
inside her home and had staggered outside the front door before
collapsing. Fadi Nasri made a public appeal to find the killer of his
new bride Nisha Patel-Nasri who he had stabbed with a 13-inch kitchen
knife at her home
22 Kirsi Gifford-Hull
In 2006, a dog walker
found the decomposed remains of Kirsi Gifford-Hull buried in a
shallow grave, in woods. Just a few days earlier, her husband Mike
Gifford-Hull contacted Police claiming that his wife had left him –
and later made a TV appeal pleading for his wife to get in touch
because their children had made a banner for her birthday. In fact
Mike Gifford-Hull had strangled his wife during a row over the state
of their marriage and his having had sex with prostitutes. He then
concealed her body. He was found guilty of murder and jailed for 17
years.
23 Joanna Nelson
In 2005, Joanna Nelson
vanished. Police launched a massive search but Miss Nelson’s body
was not found until over a month later. Shortly after her
disappearance, her boyfriend Paul Dyson, appeared on television
acting as if he was very concerned. Under interrogation Dyson
eventually admitted he was responsible for his girlfriend’s death,
saying that he had strangled her after a row about housework. He was
sentenced to life in prison, and Judge Tom Cracknell, highlighted his
appearance on the TV appeal for information, saying “You went on TV
and displayed breathtaking and nauseating hypocrisy.”
24 Sharon Malone
Sharon Malone vanished in
1999, and was later found bludgeoned to death in nearby Woodland. Her
husband, Garry Malone, had participated in a televised police press
conference to appeal for her return. He later invented a story about
his wife having been killed by a gang, because of an unpaid debt. Mr
Malone fled the country confirming the suspicions of detectives.
Garry Malone was convicted of his wife’s murder, after being
extradited from Spain, where he had adopted a new identity.
25 Lee Harvey
In 1996, Lee Harvey was
stabbed to death on an isolated road. His fiancée, Tracie Andrews,
told police that he had been attacked by a motorist after a “road
rage” incident. The former model later appeared at a Police press
conference looking distraught and begging for help in catching the
killer, claiming a “fat man with staring eyes” had attacked her
boyfriend, stabbing him more than thirty times.
Detectives became
sceptical of the story after it emerged that the couple had a stormy
and often violent relationship. Tracie Andrews was charged with
murder, and at her trial a jury was told she had stabbed him to death
after a row. She was sentenced to life.
26 Rachel McClean
In 1991, the boyfriend of
Rachel McLean reported her missing to Police. John Tanner not only
appeared in a press conference appealing for help but also took part
in a televised reconstruction. He claimed Miss McLean had seen him
off at the railway station, and said a long-haired stranger had
offered to give her a lift home. A few days later, police discovered
Rachel’s remains under the floorboards of her flat, and Tanner was
immediately arrested. His story crumbled, and he was charged with her
murder. At his trial, Tanner changed his story and said that he had
‘snapped’ and killed his girlfriend after she admitted that she
had been unfaithful. He was convicted of murder and jailed for life.
27 Shafilea Ahmed
AFTER 17-year-old
Shafilea Ahmed vanished from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, on
September 11, 2003 her parents Iftikhar and Farzana gave an emotional
TV interview. The body of Shafilea was found in a Cumbrian river in
February 2004. In May 2012 her parents were jailed for life for her
“honour killing”.
Overlaps with the previous Chapter, but
gives more examples of Television appearances.
Public appeals for help and crocodile tears.
In every one of these
cases the person responsible for the commission of the crime has made
public appeal for help, or for information.
The Crime: In 2008,
9-year-old Shannon Matthews disappeared after a school trip.
The Lies: Karen Matthews
reported her daughter Shannon missing to the police, and went on to
make a number of emotional public appeals for her daughter’s
return, begging for anyone holding Shannon to let her go.
The Truth: Shannon was
found alive, hidden in the base of a bed, at a house belonging to
Michael Donovan (Karen’s boyfriend’s uncle) – The family were
supposedly planning to claim the £50,000 that newspapers had put up
as a reward for Shannon’s return.
The Verdict: Michael
Donovan was charged with Kidnapping and False imprisonment, while
Karen Matthews was charged with Child neglect and Perverting the
course of justice. They were both jailed for eight years. Julian
Goose QC said Karen Matthews “lied and lied and lied again”.
Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan branded Karen Matthews “Pure
evil”.
The Crime: In 2006, Nisha
Patel-Nasri was stabbed with her own 13-inch kitchen knife, and bled
to death outside her home.
The Lies: Her husband,
Fadi Nasri, made a televised appeal for information in the days after
his wife’s death, crying crocodile tears, and begging anyone with
information to contact the Police.
The Truth: Fadi Nasri
wanted to claim his wife’s £350,000 life insurance policy, in
order to pay off his debts and continue an affair he was having. So,
he arranged for his wife to be at home while he was away, and hired a
drug dealer to organise the killing.
The Verdict: Fadi Nasri,
was eventually arrested, and shortly afterwards found guilty of
organising his wife’s murder. He was jailed for life.
The Crime: In 2006, A dog
walker found the decomposed remains of Kirsi Gifford-Hull buried in a
shallow grave, in woods.
The Lies: Just a few days
earlier, her husband Mike Gifford-Hull, had told his children that
he’d had a massive argument with his wife and that she had left
with her passport and a substantial sum of money. He then contacted
Police claiming that his wife had left him – and later made a TV
appeal pleading for his wife to get in touch because their children
had made a banner for her birthday.
The Truth: Mike
Gifford-Hull had strangled his wife during a row over the state of
their marriage and his having had sex with prostitutes. He then
concealed her body.
The Verdict: Mike
Gifford-Hull was found guilty of murder and jailed for 17 years.
Superintendent David Kilbride said: “Michael Gifford-Hull told lie
after lie to the police, to her family in Finland and their two
children. He deliberately and carefully laid a false trail involving
the apparent disappearance of clothes, money and her passport.”
The Crime: On Valentine’s
Day, in 2005, Joanna Nelson vanished. Police launched a massive
search but Miss Nelson’s body was not found until over a month
later.
The Lies: Shortly after
her disappearance, her boyfriend Paul Dyson, appeared on television
acting as if very concerned.
The Truth: Under
interrogation by detectives, Dyson eventually cracked and admitted he
was responsible for his girlfriend’s death, saying that he had
strangled her after a row about housework.
The Verdict: Paul Dyson
was sentenced to life in prison, and Judge Tom Cracknell, highlighted
his appearance on the TV appeal for information, saying “You went
on TV and displayed breathtaking and nauseating hypocrisy.”
The Crime: In 2002, two
10-year old girls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman disappeared. They
were later found dead in a ditch, and their bodies had been burned.
The Lies: Ian Huntley
pretended to help search for the girls, and offered words of sympathy
one of their fathers. He was also broadcast telling reporters: “While
there’s no news, there’s a glimmer of hope. I think that’s all
we’re clinging onto. It’s just very upsetting to think I might be
the last friendly face that these two girls had to speak to before
something happened to them.”
The Truth: Huntley later
admitted that the girls had died in his house, but claimed that he
had accidentally knocked Holly into the bath while helping her
control a nosebleed, and then accidentally suffocated Jessica when
she started to scream. The police suspect that Huntley killed the
girls in a fit of jealous rage, and suggest there may also have been
a sexual motive.
The Verdict: Ian Huntley
was found guilty of Murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, but
the High Court ruled that this crime was so serious that Huntley must
remain in prison until he has served at least 40 years. His
girlfriend Maxine Carr, who provided a false alibi, was convicted of
perverting the course of justice.
The Crime: Sharon Malone
vanished in 1999, and was later found bludgeoned to death in nearby
woodland.
The Lies: Her husband,
Garry Malone, had participated in a televised police press conference
to appeal for her return, pleading “We missed you over Christmas…
The boys missed you and asked after Mummy. Please put our minds at
rest… Come home”. He later invented a story about his wife having
been killed by a gang, because of an unpaid debt.
The Truth: Mr Malone
fled, the country confirmed the suspicions of detectives, who had
since discovered that his marriage was on the rocks, and Malone
facing being financially crippled by a divorce.
The Verdict: Garry Malone
was convicted of his wife’s murder, after being extradited from
Spain, where he had adopted a new identity. Judge Stephen Kramer
sentenced Malone to a minimum of 18 years, and said he was
“manipulative, calculating and deceitful”.
The Crime: In 1997,
9-year-old Schoolgirl Zoe Evans went missing from her home. Zoe’s
naked body was found six weeks later, in a badger sett.
The Lies: Her Mother,
Paula Hamilton, and Stepfather Miles Evans appeared at a press
conference, begging for her to come home.
The Truth: It transpired
that Zoe had been taken her from her bed and sexually assaulted by
her stepfather – A post-mortem examination showed she died from
asphyxiation.
The Verdict: Evans was
arrested and eventually convicted of Zoe Evans’ murder.
The Crime: In 1996, Lee
Harvey was stabbed to death on an isolated road.
The Lies: His fiancée,
Tracie Andrews, told police that he had been attacked by a motorist
after a “road rage” incident. The former model later appeared at
a police press conference looking distraught and begging for help in
catching the killer, claiming a “fat man with staring eyes” had
attacked her boyfriend, stabbing him more than thirty times.
The Truth: Detectives
became sceptical of the story after it emerged that the couple had a
stormy and often violent relationship.
The Verdict: Tracie
Andrews was charged with murder, and at her trial a jury was told she
had stabbed him to death after a row. She was sentenced to life in
prison.
The Crime: In 1994, Susan
Smith told police in South Carolina, USA that she had been carjacked
by a black man who had driven off with her two young sons, Michael
and Alexander, still in the vehicle.
The Lies: Smith appeared
on television appealing for the man to return the children.
The Truth: Nine days
later, Smith confessed to Police that she had driven the car into a
lake, with her children still inside. It then emerged that she had
been having an affair with a man, and had killed her two boys because
he had said that he didn’t want any children.
The Verdict: She was
convicted of murder, and given a life sentence.
The Crime: In 1994, Carol
Wardell, the Manager of a Building Society was murdered and about
£15,000 was stolen from the branch.
The Lies: Her husband,
Gordon, appeared at a press conference and told reporters that he had
returned home from the pub on Sunday afternoon to discover his wife
being held captive by a man who was wearing a clown mask and armed
with a knife. Wardell alleged he had been punched, forced to the
ground and rendered unconscious after a chloroform-soaked cloth was
pressed over his face. He went on to tell journalists: “A man got
hold of my wife and was threatening her with a knife.” He further
claimed he had been tied up by the gang, who took his wife off to the
Building Society, early the following morning.
The Verdict: Within a
month police realised his story was a pack of lies and he was
arrested.
The Result: Wardell was
sentenced to life imprisonment, and the Judge told him that he had
gone to elaborate lengths, including tying himself up and inflicting
injuries, to make it appear as if the couple were the victim of
Robbers.
The Crime: In 1991, the
boyfriend of Rachel McLean reported her missing to police.
The Lies: John Tanner not
only appeared in a press conference appealing for help but also took
part in a televised reconstruction. He claimed Miss McLean had seen
him off at the railway station, and said a long-haired stranger had
offered to give her a lift home. Tanner told reporters his girlfriend
had been “a lover of life” and even asked people to help “out
of sheer consideration for her mother and father and myself”.
The Truth: A few days
later, police discovered Rachel’s remains under the floorboards of
her flat, and Tanner was immediately arrested. His story crumbled,
and he was charged with her murder.
The Verdict: At his
trial, Tanner changed his story and said that he had ‘snapped’
and killed his girlfriend after she admitted that she had been
unfaithful. He was convicted of murder and jailed for life.
