On 15th July Carter Ruck asked us to remove this downloadable ...

From: Anthony Bennett
Tel: Harlow (01279) 635789
e-mail: ajsbennett@btinternet.com
66 Chippingfield
HARLOW
Essex
CM17 0DJ
Carter-Ruck Monday 16 August 2010
Solicitors
6 St. Andrew Street
LONDON
EC4A 3AE
Your ref: Stevie Loughrey
AT/IH/SVL//13837.5
Dear Sirs
re: Your clients Dr Gerald and Dr Kate McCann - Your letter of 3
August 2010, received 9 August
This letter follows my e-mail to you dated 10 August.
I reply to your letter paragraph by paragraph as follows:
Para 1. Noted.
Para 2. Also noted.
Para 3. I find it of interest how your clients’ secrecy about how their libel
actions and letters are funded, along with other matters that they keep
very secret, contrasts with their world-wide and very public appeal for
everyone on the planet to look for Madeleine and to give to your clients’
appeal fund.
Para 4. Our letter to the Home Secretary was sent on 12 March this year
and appeared on our website soon afterwards. It was therefore posted five
months ago, during which time there has been no objection from your
clients to that letter being on our site. Insofar as that letter recites various
factual matters connected with the police investigation into Madeleine’s
disappearance, it says no more than, for example, the evidence given by
several Portuguese witnesses in the hearing in January this year of Mr
Amaral’s appeal against the banning of his book ‘The Truth About A Lie’
the previous September, evidence which caused your client Dr Gerald
McCann a considerable amount of discomfort, or so it appeared from his

demeanour on television, the morning after all that evidence was reported
in the British press under such headlines as:
a) Daily Mirror: “Brit police: Treat the McCanns as suspects: McCanns
should be treated as suspects, Brit profiler told Portuguese police”
b) SKY NEWS: “McCanns Braced For More Cover-Up Claims”
…with several other newspapers covering the same issue in different
ways, for example the Daily Star reported: “Amaral claims the then threeyear-old
died in an accident in her parents' holiday apartment while they
dined with pals nearby. He alleges that her doctor parents then hid her
body to conceal the tragedy”.
The Daily Express also reported as follows: “During the hearing
yesterday Mr Amaral's lawyer Antonio Cabrita held up a report by Lee
Rainbow, head of the UK National Policing Improvement Agency, who is
an expert in building profiles of possible offenders.
Reading from the report Mr Cabrita said: “The family is a lead that
should be followed”. Mr Cabrita told the court the report had formed part
of the police investigation into Madeleine's disappearance but had never
been made public before. Portuguese police made Kate and Gerry
McCann formal suspects, or arguidos, in October 2007. The status was
lifted in July 2008. Last night a spokesman for the NPIA said that it was
common for them to advise officers to consider the possibility of family
involvement in disappearance cases. Mr Amaral's book, ‘Maddie: The
Truth Of The Lie’, alleges that Madeleine died in her family's holiday flat
and her parents faked her abduction”.
So far as I am aware, your clients did not instruct you nor any other
lawyer to sue any of these papers for libel. It would be frankly ludicrous
if newspapers were allowed to report for example the evidence of those
Portuguese police witnesses in Lisbon and we could not. Once again, if
there is any specific part of the letter to the Home Secretary that you think
libels your client we will give consideration to removing it.
Para 5. If you look carefully at my letter of 21 July, I did not criticise,
contrary to the claim in your letter, any possible ‘leaking’ of your letter to
‘muratfan’. I merely advised you that ‘muratfan’ was boasting that he had
seen your letter; I did not criticise you, or him. Notwithstanding your
comments, it is nonetheless of more than passing interest that on 4
August whilst I was away on holiday ‘muratfan’ posted up details of the
letter you sent me the previous day which were surprisingly close to the
mark. I continue to search for an explanation as to why ‘murtfan’

continually makes posts which do suggest a close connection of his with
members of the McCann family. As I believe ‘muratfan’ to be Ian West,
it was not surprising to learn that an Ian West was amongst those
photographing guests at the Richard-Branson dinner at the Rooftop
Restaurant, 99 Knightsbridge, to mark the 1000 th day since Madeleine
was reported missing.
Para 6. This paragraph lacks particulars. The record of both myself and
The Madeleine Foundation is that if errors or alleged libels are brought to
our attention, we will remove them, as we have done on occasions in the
past. On the subject of the ‘48 Questions’ video, I wrote this to you in my
21 July letter: “The YouTube video you refer to which went live on 13
July was removed by YouTube as you already know on 16 July. We have
no plans to republish it on YouTube or elsewhere. Having said that, we
do not accept that to reproduce what the Portuguese Police have
themselves published as the official record of the questions they asked Dr
Kate McCann can possibly be construed as ‘libellous’, especially since
these have been in the public domain for almost two years and, so far as I
am aware, your clients have made no challenge to date as to their
authenticity. The BBC website carries exactly the same list of 48
questions that your client refused to answer; it can easily be found in its
archive for 2008”. You elected not to respond to my comments and my
position remains that there is nothing libellous about the YouTube video
we made and which as you know was removed by them on 16 July.
You claim that I have ‘recently been republishing articles/postings by
others, many of which clearly allege that our clients are guilty of, or are
to be suspected of, causing the death of their daughter Madeleine
McCann’. You need to be specific. I do my best to stick to the terms of
my undertakings whilst at the same time exercising my right to question
what others say or claim. As my track record shows, I will remove any
posting on our website or that I have made elsewhere if you would please
name the articles or postings in question and explain in clear terms how
your clients say they are libellous.
Para 7. Again, you refer to ‘this continuing clear breach’ of my
undertakings to the court yet you do not give particulars. I refer to my
comments above under Paragraph 6 of your letter.
One of the main problems with the accounts given by your clients, the
rest of the ‘Tapas 9’ group of friends and others is the number of clear
contradictions. I will take you now to one area of contradictions - the
accounts given by your clients and others about events in the afternoon

and early evening of Thursday 3 May 2007. Below are 11 statements or
accounts of events made by your clients or others (A to K). After
reproducing them, I will briefly discuss them:
A. GERALD MCCANN 4 MAY
He says nothing about what he was doing in the period before 7.30pm on
3 May 2007
B. GERALD MCCANN 10 May
At 12h30 they started lunch, the meal having lasted an hour until 13h30.
After that time they made their way to the resort play area, the deponent
left by the front door and the rest of the family by the rear door that, once
again, he shut and locked from the inside. As to the front door, he does
not know exactly if he locked it.
----- That they stayed in the play area for approximately an hour until
14h30/14h35. After that they left the twins next to the creche at the
TAPAS, they signed the register and the three (deponent, KATE and
MADELEINE) made their way to the creche at the main reception, where
they arrived at 14h50 and delivered MADELEINE, not being able to say
precisely who signed the register.
----- The deponent and KATE returned to the OCEAN CLUB by the
short-cut and at the secondary reception they asked the lady employee if
there was a vacant tennis court they could reserve. They were told there
was a vacancy between 14h30 to 15h30. As it was already 15h00, they
began to play immediately. At 15h30, the tennis instructor arrived, who
instructed each of them until 16h30.
----- They stayed in that place, talking, until 16h45 at which time the
twins went to the meal area. At 17h00, as usual, MADELEINE arrived
accompanied by the teachers and the other children. After her arrival,
MADELEINE ate, [the meal] having ended at 17h30.
------ After 17h30 they went to the apartment, the deponent having
entered by the main door, which he did not lock while he was inside the
residence. KATE and the children entered by the rear door, after this had
been opened from the inside by the deponent.
------ That they bathed the children, the deponent having left at 18h00 for

a tennis game only for men, at which were: DAN, tennis instructor;
JULIAN, with whom he had played tennis several times; and CURTIS,
with whom he had also played.
------ During the afternoon of that day the rest of the group members,
including the children, were at the beach, [they] having returned at 18h30,
the time at which he saw DAVID PAYNE next to the tennis court.
DAVID went to visit KATE and the children and returned close to 19h00,
trying to convince the deponent to continue to play tennis, to which
[entreaty] he did not accede as he had already been playing for about an
hour and had to go back to his wife. Nevertheless, RUSSELL, DAVID
and MATTHEW stayed to play.
----- At 19H00, he made his way to the apartment, finding KATE and the
children playing on the sofa. About 10 to 15 minutes later, they took the
children to the bedroom and they all sat on MADELEINE'S bed to read a
story.
C. KATE MCCANN 4 MAY
She also says nothing in this statement about events prior to about
7.30pm on 3 May.
D. KATE MCCANN 6 MAY
The lesson ended an hour later, at around 4h30. Gerry continued playing
tennis with a guest called JULIAN who belonged to his tennis group,
while she went for a jog along the beach, for around half an hour. During
that period she saw the rest of the group, children and grown-ups; she was
disappointed as nobody had told her that they were going to the beach
and Madeleine surely would have loved to have gone with them. She
cannot confirm whether she went to the apartment between the tennis
game and the jog.
When she finished jogging, at around 5h20/5h30, she went to the TAPAS
area. Gerry was there, as well as the twins and Madeleine who were
having dinner at separate tables. Madeleine had been taken to the area by
the nannies. Her parents were required to sign the register when the meal
was over, at around 5h30. During the meal Kate asked Madeleine if she
was sad because the other children in the group had gone to the beach
without her; she replied that she wasn’t, but was rather tired. She asked
Kate to carry her back to the apartment. Kate agreed, and Gerry led the

twins back to the apartment, as well. Tiredness was due to the intense
daily activities, not to any sickness.
They arrived at the apartment at around 5h40, earlier than usual, because
Madeleine was tired, their other friends were at the beach and Gerry had
an all-male tennis game at 6h00. At the apartment they both bathed the
children, and close to 6h00, Gerry went to the tennis courts, right after the
children had finished their bath. They entered the apartment by the main
door, with the key. She does not know if it was locked, and presumes it
was Gerry who opened it. At lunch-time they also entered through the
same door.
After the children’s bath, already alone, she put pyjamas and nappies on
the twins, and gave them each a glass of milk and biscuits. Before bathing
the children and because it was early, they had thought of taking them to
the recreation area, but then decided against this because of tiredness.
While the children were eating and looking at some books, Kate had a
shower which lasted around 5 minutes. After showering, at around
6h30/6h40pm and while she was getting dry, she heard somebody
knocking at the balcony door. She wrapped herself in a towel and went to
see who was at the balcony door. This door was closed but not locked as
Gerry had left through this door. She saw that it was David Payne,
because he called out and had opened the door slightly. David’s visit was
to help her to take the children to the recreation area. When David
returned from the beach he was with Gerry at the tennis courts, and it was
Gerry who asked him to help Kate with taking the children to the
recreation area, which had been arranged but did not take place. David
was at the apartment for around 30 seconds, he didn’t even actually enter
the flat, he remained at the balcony door. According to her he then left for
the tennis courts where Gerry was. The time was around 6h30-6h40.
After David left, Kate dressed and sat with the children, Madeleine on her
lap. She was wearing a top, she doesn’t remember what colour it was, a
green long-sleeved t-shirt, blue denim trousers, sports shoes and white
socks.
She read a story to the children in the living room, on the sofa in front of
the balcony door, identified on the diagram with the letter D. At 7h00,
Gerry arrived and entered through the balcony door. He sat on the sofa
identified with letter E. She doesn’t know if the story was finished, but
thinks she was still sitting on the sofa.

E. DAVID PAYNE in his statement of 4 May says virtually nothing
about the events of the afternoon and early evening of 3 May.
F. DAVID PAYNE ROGATORY STATEMENT to Leicestershire Police
April 2010 (Extract)
1485 (Leicestershire Police): "Alright, what I now want you to
concentrate on David is the important day really, Thursday the third of
May. I want you to try and put yourself back in to that, it may help you if
you think of the time when the alarm was raised, that may well bring you
back to the beginning of the day and try and remember as much as you
can, the time you got up, I know that you said on the first interviews that
you couldn’t remember an awful lot but try as best you can to remember
from say midday onwards.”
00:01:48 PAYNE “Mm yeah, err on that particular day err me and Fiona
had you know gone down to the beach, we err took the dinghies out err as
usual we went, you know we had the kids, err we had lunch err in the
apartment. Err that afternoon I wanted to go down err to the Ocean, err to
the beach and err you know windsurf err Matt and Russell had gone down
there, they were, had taken the catamaran out. So I went down there err
while Fiona and Dianne were looking after the girls in our apartment. Err
I was down err windsurfing, I must have been windsurfing for a couple of
hours, err saw Matt and Russ out on err the catamaran and then after we
finished there we you know we met on the beach, played with the girls on
the beach and then we went to the err the restaurant which is on the err
overlooking the beach and you know we had err the evening meal there.
Err after we had the meal we got some ice cream and then err we decided
that we were gonna go up and play tennis so I left err with err Russell, we
left the, err the girls at the restaurant and we went up to the, err back up to
the Ocean Club. Err I, as I say I’m not sure you know what happened to
Matt and Russell at that particular moment but I remember then you
know I went over to see err Gerry at the err you know tennis courts, just
to see you know what was happening, and err decided that we’d, you
know I’d come, come back to play tennis and err Gerry had asked me just
to pop in and check everything was alright err with Kate or you know
again I can’t remember the exact reason whether he was just making sure
it was alright that he could stay there and you know more time but you
know he’d asked me to pop in. So I walked back err from the tennis
courts, err back to err you know Kate and Gerry’s apartment and the time
you know looking at, you know we’ve looked obviously at photographs
since then and you know the time that we’ve got that I was you know

going to Kate’s about six thirty, err and I went into their apartment
through the patio doors. The three children were all you know dressed
you know in their pyjamas, you know they looked immaculate, you know
they were just like angels, they all looked so happy and well looked after
and content and I said to Kate, you know it’s a bit early for the you know,
for the three of them to be going to bed, she said ah they’ve had such a
great time, they’re really tired and you know err so I say, you know I
can’t remember exactly what, what you know the night attire, what the
children were wearing but white was the predominant err colour, but you
know just to reinforce they were just so happy, you know seeing you
know obviously Gerry wasn’t there but they were just all, just so at peace
and you know they looked like a family who’d had such a fantastic time
and err yeah then I left there, went and got my stuff, went back to the
tennis courts and then err there was me, Matt and Russell and I think
Gerry played a little, for a little while but he decided that he’d, he’d
played enough tennis for that day and err was going back and so it left
with me, Russell and err Matt and err Dan who was the, the you know the
tennis coach from Mark Warner. Err so we played some tennis and you
know we were having a good knock and then it was getting a bit late so
err we, you know we left the tennis courts, went back to our respective
partners to get ready to go out, you know it was, it was, you know
certainly after half past seven that we’d, you know we’d left the courts,
perhaps even a bit later than that. Err when I got back err I think because
Fiona had done a lot of babysitting and left me playing tennis she said
well I’m gonna go for a very quick run so she went for a run on the
beach, you know, err got the kids ready, bathed, got them ready for err to
go to bed but again you know as we’d got back late err from the tennis
courts you know the whole time err for that evening was not, you know
later. And then we just got ready to go and by the time Fi had got back
from the run we’d all had showers, we were all ready to go and the girls
were asleep and we were happy to leave the apartment, it was you know
it was sort of gone quarter to nine. Err we walked down, the three of us,
err you know to the Tapas area err we bumped into Matt, he was walking
err back to the apartment and err you know he was, he was, you know
semi-jokingly said oh I’ve come to check because you’ve taken so long
and you know which actually transpired that they were quite err getting
agitated because you know the time the table was booked at half past
eight and you know it was approaching nine o’clock and you know they
thought it was, it wasn’t appropriate that we weren’t there you know as
early as we should have been. So then Matt carried…err back, you know,
to the apartment and we went to the table. Err when we sat, sat down I err
sat next to Gerry and err you know of course the next few minutes just
started chatting to Gerry and you know I said to him you know this is you

know has been one of the best days I’ve had in a long time you know and
we were just chatting about what we’d done and he was reciprocating just
saying you know what, what a fantastic day they’d had, what a fantastic
week it was and you know just a general consensus was that you know it
was just a fantastic time. Err again I was aware that err you know that
other people were leaving the table, err I know that err the, err between
Russell and Jane they were leaving the table err to look after Evie. It
transpired that at some stage she’d been unwell and err Evie, sorry then
Russ, so Russell was basically, was missing the part of the main course
and then Jane went you know and ate hers and then disappeared off to
take over so we all you know I think made the same joke that Jane said oh
I’ve gone to relieve you know Russell and you know that’s, and then you
know I remember the other people that night you know again it’s in part
of the things that we discussed after but you know I was sort of aware as
well that there was, rather than all just checking on their own they were
just cross-checking as well but still you know very err frequently…”
G. Kate and Gerry McCann: Beyond the smears
Article by David James Smith
December 16, 2007
For six months David James Smith has examined the evidence
surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann for The Sunday
Times Magazine. In this, the most comprehensive - and authoritative -
investigation yet, he addresses the key issues facing Gerry and Kate as
they prepare for Christmas without their daughter
That week in Praia da Luz, the week the McCanns were made suspects in
their own daughter's ‘death’, I was out there talking to them and to family
and friends. I was at the home of the Anglican vicar Haynes Hubbard,
sitting with him and his wife, Susan, while their own three children
pottered around us.
That evening, Thursday, May 3, at just after 8pm, by their account, Kate
and Gerry McCann were having a glass of wine together in apartment 5A
on the ground floor of Block 5 of the Waterside Village Gardens at the
Ocean Club. Their three children were asleep in the front bedroom
overlooking the car park and, beyond it, the street. Madeleine was in the
single bed nearest the door. There was an empty bed against the opposite
wall, beneath the window. Between the two beds were two travel cots
containing the twins: Sean and Amelie. Gerry had bought the wine at the
Baptista supermarket, 200 yards down the hill. They had lived and

worked in New Zealand for a year and that particular bottle, Montana
sauvignon blanc, was their favourite. It was the sixth day of their week’s
holiday in the Algarve and they were reflecting on the enjoyable time
they’d had, how surprisingly easy it had been with the children.
“Gerry had knocked up at the start of the 4.30pm tennis-drills session, but
had decided not to exacerbate an injury to his Achilles tendon, so had
dropped out and waited around by the courts until the children came back
from the kids’ clubs at 5pm for tea. That had been one of the most
enjoyable times of the holiday, all the children together for tea, then the
adults playing with them afterwards.
Gerry was in his apartment at 7pm, had a glass of water, then a beer,
while the children sat with Kate on the couch having stories with a snack.
The children were clearly shattered - the last thing any of them needed
was a sedative and, anyway, it was not something the McCanns ever did.
They put them to bed after a last story. The twins were asleep virtually
the moment they lay down, Madeleine not far behind them. They were
first to the table at the restaurant at 8.35 and spent some minutes talking
to a couple from Hertfordshire - two more tennis players - at the next
table, who were eating with their young children. As they chatted, Gerry
thought how lucky he was, his children asleep nearby, he and Kate free to
come and enjoy some adult time at the restaurant and not have to sit with
their children, as this couple were”.
H. DAVID PAYNE was quoted in newspaper reports on 24 September
2007 (144 days after Madeleine was reported missing) saying that ‘he
saw Madeleine being put to bed’ at ‘around 7.00pm’ on 3 May 2007.
I. THE PANORAMA PROGRAMME OF 19 NOVEMBER 2010
In a Panorama programme transmitted on Monday 19 November (just
three days after the McCanns, their friends, their lawyers and advisers
met at Rothley Court Manor and just six days after Brian Kennedy and
his lawyer Edward Smethurst and suspect Robert Murat and his lawyer
Francisco Paragete met in secrecy at the Eveleighs’ villa in Burgos along
with Mrs Murat), presenter Richard Bilton said the following, and I quote
directly from a transcript of the documentary:
BILTON: “The week long holiday is coming to a close. Day 6: it's
Thursday, May 3rd. We've produced this model of the Ocean Club to
clearly show the key areas and where people were. The tennis courts and

pool area, the Tapas Bar and here apartment 5A where by 5.30 in the
evening the McCanns say the children have been picked up from, their
kids' clubs, and they were all back together. At 6, Gerry McCann has his
third tennis lesson of the day, so he leaves the flat. He says as a family
they talked about bringing the children back out to play in the area by the
courts. At 6.30 Gerry McCann asks a friend, David Payne, to pop in on
Kate to see if the children are coming down. He goes to the flat, he says
all is well, but the children are too tired and are already in their pyjamas.
At 7, lesson over, Gerry McCann goes back to the apartment. He says he
reads the children a story and all three are asleep by 7.30. The couple say
they have a glass of wine before, and, at half past eight, they leave for the
Tapas restaurant, it's on the complex about 70 metres away. They'd eaten
here every night of their holiday with their friends. They can't see the
front or the side of the apartment but they can see part of the back, though
even that view is partially obscured by bushes”.
J. ARGUIDO STATEMENT OF DR GERALD MCCANN, 7 September
2007
Regarding the episode where he spoke to David on the 3rd of May, he
says that he was playing tennis at 18h30 when David appeared near the
tennis court and asked him through the net if he was going to continue
playing. The deponent said he didn’t know because Kate might be
needing help to look after the three children, even more so because they
intended to bring them to the recreation area after their showers. He
thinks that David offered to check if Kate needed help, which he did, and
returned minutes later. Concerning his previous statement, where he
states that David returned half an hour later, at around 19h00, he says that
he returned to the tennis court after half an hour, as this time frame refers
to the second time he returned to the tennis court, after dressing up for the
game.
K. Gerry's fears for Kate on the day Madeleine disappeared
Last updated at 01:24 19 October 2007
Crucial new details of the day Madeleine McCann went missing can be
revealed today.
According to sources, Gerry McCann asked one of their friends to check
on Kate and the children while he had a tennis lesson.
Mr McCann spoke to David Payne shortly before 6.30pm while playing
on the court at the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz.

[Picture: Concerned: Gerry asked a friend to check on Kate and the
children]
The source said: "David Payne saw Madeleine at around 6.30pm.
"He popped in because Gerry wanted to make sure Kate was OK. Gerry
was playing tennis and David said he was going past.
"I expect it was said [by Gerry] as: 'If you are heading back that way,
stick your head in and see if Kate is all right'.
The exchange between Mr Payne and Mr McCann had fuelled Portuguese
suspicions about Mrs McCann's frame of mind on the day Madeleine
disappeared.
Detectives in Portugal suspect she killed Madeleine by accident and that
Mr McCann helped her cover up the death - which is vehemently denied
by the McCanns as a smear.
But Mr Payne's evidence now forms part of the Portuguese investigation.
It is part of new details of the day which can be revealed for the first time.
[Picture: Portuguese police have suggested Kate was struggling to cope
with her three children]
A source close to the McCanns has revealed further details of events as
they unfolded in the hours before Madeleine went missing from her
family's holiday apartment on 3 May.
The source said Mrs McCann went jogging around Praia da Luz while
Madeleine and twins Sean and Amelie played in the resort's children's
club.
The McCanns then took the children for tea before Mr McCann went for
an hour-long tennis lesson - starting at 6pm - with the resort's coach.
During that time, Mrs McCann was alone with the children in their twobedroom
apartment bar the crucial few minutes during which Mr Payne
made his visit.
Mr Payne is understood to have told police he found Mrs McCann
happily coping with her three children, including Madeleine.
Mr Payne, 41, is bound by Portuguese secrecy laws and cannot speak out
about the events on that night.
But today he said: "Kate is a fantastic mum. She can cope. She is a very
able person."
Mr Payne, who has known the couple for at least five years, added: " I
have never witnessed anything untoward in all that time."
The source said there was now a fear Portuguese police may have
misinterpreted Mr McCann's request as some indication his wife was
struggling with the children and needed help.

But the source said Mr Payne, a senior research fellow in cardiovascular
sciences, had "never given the impression this was a woman stressed
out".
The source added: "The impression I get was Kate was having a lovely
time with the children."
The evidence of Mr Payne, 41, and the McCanns' dining companions that
night - dubbed the "Tapas Nine" - is vital in clearing the couple of any
involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
It is understood that none of their friends has been interviewed by
Portuguese police since giving official witness statements back in May.
Portuguese newspapers claim police want to interrogate them again and
that a judge has given the go-ahead.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If we now analyse the above statements and news reports, we see the
following:
1) In their first statements to the Portuguese police, the McCanns and Dr
David Payne say very little if anything about events in the afternoon and
early evening of 3 May, certainly nothing about an apparent visit by Dr
David Payne to your client Dr Kate McCann.
2) When your client Dr Gerald McCann speaks of Dr Payne visiting Dr
Kate McCann, he speaks of Dr Payne leaving for the apartment at about
6.30pm and not returning until 7.00pm - half-an-hour later.
3) Dr Payne in his statement refers to a visit which clearly took some
considerable time. He says he saw the children already dressed in their
night gear, mostly white, ‘angelic-looking’, and is reported elsewhere as
saying he saw them ‘being put to bed’.
4) By contrast your client Dr Kate McCann says she was showering
whilst the three children were playing, heard a knock, slipped a towel
round herself, answered the door, only kept the door ajar and did not
allow Dr Payne in, and that the whole episode lasted a mere 30 seconds.
5) If we then go on to look at the accounts of your clients Dr Kate
McCann and Dr Gerald McCann playing tennis, we have the following
discrepancies:
a) In (B) above, Dr Gerald McCann says that he left Madeleine at the
crèche at 2.50pm, asked about playing tennis at 3.00pm and says he

went straight on to the court at that time (it is not mentioned whether
they were already in their tennis gear and had their tennis rackets
with them at this time or whether they had to go back and change and
get their rackets and balls etc.). He said: “…they asked the lady
employee if there was a vacant tennis court they could reserve”.
b) By contrast, in one of her statements, Jane Tanner explains why Dr
Gerald and Dr Kate McCann did not go down to the beach as
follows: “All went down to the beach as a group, but not with, but
Kate and Gerry didn’t come then because they’d booked this private,
you know, this private lesson”.
c) Dr McCann says that he and Dr Kate McCann played tennis until
3.30pm, then they played tennis until 4.30pm, but it is not clear what
they both did until 5.30pm. Then, at 5.30pm, they went to the
apartment, when according to your client he walked through an
unlocked door but then had to go round to the front door, unlock it
and let his wife and children through the locked door, a somewhat
convoluted procedure on the face of it. Dr Gerald McCann says
nothing about having a meal with the children at the crèche. Then
they bathed the children between 5.30pm and 6.00pm, then Dr
Gerald McCann went to play tennis with Dan, Julian and Curtis, then
Dr McCann happened to see Dr Payne around the tennis courts, then
Dr Payne returned from seeing Dr Kate McCann at around 7.00pm
and said ‘Come on Gerry, let’s play tennis’, or words to that effect, at
which point Dr Gerald McCann said ‘No, I’m going back to the
apartment’. At about 715pm the whole family was apparently sitting
on Madeleine’s bed reading stories.
d) In Dr Kate McCann’s version, it is said that she went jogging from
4.30pm to 5.30pm, a fact not mentioned by Dr Gerald McCann in
either of his first two statements. She says that when she finished
jogging, at around 5.20pm to 5.30pm, she went to the ‘Tapas area’,
where her husband was already. According to Dr Kate McCann, Dr
Gerald McCann was already there, and she says she sat down and ate
with the children. Her statement says: “During the meal Kate asked
Madeleine if she was sad because the other children in the group had
gone to the beach without her”. Dr Kate McCann then says she
carried Madeleine back to the apartment, with her husband ‘leading
the twins back to the apartment’. Just as an observation en passant,
with a child nearly four years old it would be usual for the father to
carry the heaviest child. Dr Kate McCann adds that the couple had

‘thought of’ taking the children back to the recreation area but
decided against it because the children were ‘too tired’.
She then says that after getting out of a shower at about
6.30pm/6.40pm, Dr David Payne knocked on the door, she put a
towel around her and spoke to him for about 30 seconds. She makes
two important statements. She says he didn’t even enter the
apartment, being left on the balcony. She also says: “David’s visit
was to help her to take the children to the recreation area. When
David returned from the beach he was with Gerry at the tennis
courts, and it was Gerry who asked him to help Kate with taking the
children to the recreation area”. Now, if Dr Gerald McCann is
correct (see above) in saying that the couple had already decided to
bath the children at 5.30pm and not take them down to the recreation
area, why would he then, around half-an-hour later, send Dr Payne
up on a fruitless visit to the apartment to persuade his wife and
children to come down to the recreation area after all. With the
greatest of respect and without wishing to commit libel in saying so,
it seems totally inexplicable.
e) Next, Dr Kate McCann says that while her husband was away, she
“read a story to the children in the living room on the sofa”. She is
not sure if she had finished this when her husband returned. This
differs from the account of the couple reading stories to the children
on Madeleine’s bed, which Dr Kate McCann does not even mention
in her statement.
f) Then we have the statement of Dr David Payne. Part of his statement
deals with the circumstances of his visit to the apartment to see your
client Dr Kate McCann. He says: “I remember then you know I went
over to see err Gerry at the err you know tennis courts, just to see
you know what was happening, and err decided that we’d, you know
I’d come, come back to play tennis and err Gerry had asked me just
to pop in and check everything was alright err with Kate or you
know again I can’t remember the exact reason whether he was just
making sure it was alright that he could stay there and you know
more time but you know he’d asked me to pop in. So I walked back
err from the tennis courts, err back to err you know Kate and Gerry’s
apartment and the time you know looking at, you know we’ve looked
obviously at photographs since then and you know the time that
we’ve got that I was you know going to Kate’s about six thirty, err
and I went into their apartment through the patio doors”.

g) So, in terms, Dr Payne says that he ‘went to see Gerry at the tennis
courts’, presumably therefore knowing that he would be there. He
says he thinks that Dr McCann asked him to go there ‘just to pop in
and check everything was alright err with Kate’, which of course
differs entirely from Dr Kate McCann’s account that her husband
had asked Dr Payne to see if she would like to come down with the
children to the recreation area.
6) I now come to examine in more detail the contradictions relating to a
visit Dr David Payne is said to have made to Dr Kate McCann at around
6.30/7.00pm on the night of 3 May:
a) Dr Payne says, wholly contrary to Dr Kate McCann’s account, that
not only did he not knock on the front door and stand talking to Dr
Kate McCann for 30 seconds but, he says, strolled in through the
open patio door. Moreover he then gives much detail about what he
saw when he was in the apartment, whilst of course your client Dr
Kate McCann asserts that he never even entered it. He says that
while he was in the apartment, he saw: “…The three children were
all you know dressed you know in their pyjamas, you know they
looked immaculate, you know they were just like angels, they all
looked so happy and well looked after and content and I said to Kate,
you know it’s a bit early for the you know, for the three of them to be
going to bed, she said ah they’ve had such a great time, they’re really
tired and you know err so I say, you know I can’t remember exactly
what, what you know the night attire, what the children were wearing
but white was the predominant err colour, but you know just to
reinforce they were just so happy, you know seeing you know
obviously Gerry wasn’t there but they were just all, just so at peace
and you know they looked like a family who’d had such a fantastic
time and err yeah then I left there…”
b) In item (H) above, a newspaper account clearly given to the
newspaper by Clarence Mitchell, says that Dr David Payne ‘saw the
children being put to bed at 7.00pm’. Dr Payne then says in his
statement that (after 7.00pm) Dr Gerald McCann played tennis for a
while with him, Dr Matthew Oldfield and Dr Russell O’Brien. Dr
Gerald McCann maintains that he did not play after 7.00pm.
Moreover, Fiona Payne in her Rogatory Interview gives these replies
to her interrogator: “I don’t know who was playing who, but there
was certainly Gerry, Matt, erm, you know, Russ and Dave, erm, and
typically being men, it was all quite competitive and, erm, and far
different to the women’s tennis. Erm, Kate and the kids, I think, as I

said earlier, weren’t there and, you know, they, as Gerry said, were
just absolutely knackered and Kate was getting them bathed and
ready for bed. It wasn’t a surprise that they weren’t there. Erm, and I
know Dave had said to me later, because he, erm, after tennis he’d
said he’d checked on Kate and the kids before going to tennis”.
1485 (Leicestershire Police): “How did that come into your
conversation?”
Fiona Payne’s reply: “Because he was saying how angelic they all
looked and he said to Kate when we all sat down at the Tapas table
as well and he was sort of joking how they looked like perfect
children, because they were all sat there, all clean in their pyjamas,
having a story”.
1485 (Leicestershire Police) then asks: “Yeah. But when did he,
specifically, when did he tell you?” Reply: “I think it was when we
were getting the kids ready for bed and we were back in our
apartment”.
7) I come now to item (G), an account written by David James Smith for
‘The Times’. It purports to give an accurate account of events in Praia da
Luz and is headed indeed by the proud and confident boast: ‘…the most
comprehensive - and authoritative - investigation yet…’ It was a boast
that he could perhaps make with a certain amount of justification, given
that he said it was based on several interviews with your client Dr Gerald
McCann himself. So far as the tennis-playing is concerned, Smith writes:
“Gerry had knocked up at the start of the 4.30pm tennis-drills session, but
had decided not to exacerbate an injury to his Achilles tendon, so had
dropped out and waited around by the courts until the children came back
from the kids’ clubs at 5pm for tea”. Thus in this account Dr Gerald
McCann wholly contradicts his wife who said: “The lesson ended an hour
later, at around 4h30. Gerry continued playing tennis with a guest called
Julian”.
8) Dr Gerald McCann in his account says that he returned to play tennis
at 6.00pm and Dr Payne says that he continued to play at 7.00pm. That
would seem unlikely if he had genuinely had an Achilles tendon injury
which at 4.30pm prevented him from playing any more tennis. At this
point it is pertinent to observe that according to their accounts, Dr Gerald
McCann arrived at the tennis courts at 3.00pm and remained there
throughout for four whole hours except, he says, for briefly visiting the
crèche just before 5.30pm and bathing the children between then and
6.00pm.

9) From David Smith we now get an account of what happened at 7.00pm
which varies significantly from the accounts given by Dr Gerald McCann
and Dr Kate McCann about the reading of books to the children. Dr
Gerald McCann tells David Smith: “We all sat on Madeleine’s bed
reading stories”. Dr Kate McCann says: “I [not her husband] read stories
to the children on the sofa”. But Smith’s account says: “Gerry was in his
apartment at 7pm, had a glass of water, then a beer, while the children sat
with Kate on the couch having stories with a snack”.
One or two other points about this are worthy of note en passant. In Dr
Kate McCann’s first statement (D above), she refers only to giving ‘milk
and biscuits’ to the twins (not to Madeleine). She then decides to take a
shower. The reference to ‘not being able to remember what coloured top
Madeleine was wearing’ is curious to say the least when the McCanns
produced, around three weeks after she was reported missing, and only
after Dr Gerald McCann had returned to England for a couple of days at
the end of May, the so-called ‘last photo’ of Madeleine, apparently taken
at 2.29pm, when she was clearly wearing a pink dress or top.
Finally, Dr Kate McCann says this: “After David left, Kate dressed and
sat with the children, Madeleine on her lap. She was wearing a top, she
doesn’t remember what colour it was, a green long-sleeved t-shirt, blue
denim trousers, sports shoes and white socks”. David Payne either left
when he arrived at about 6.30pm (Dr Kate McCann’s version) or half-anhour
later (Dr David Payne’s version). But Dr Gerald McCann says this:
“That they bathed the children [between 17h30 and 18h00], the deponent
having left at 18h00 for a tennis game only for men”. It seems very
strange therefore that between half-an-hour to an hour after Madeleine
was bathed, Dr Kate McCann says she is on her lap ‘wearing a top, she
doesn’t remember what colour it was, a green long-sleeved t-shirt, blue
denim trousers, sports shoes and white socks’. Moreover, the descriptions
‘green long-sleeved T-shirt’ and ‘blue denim trousers’ hardly accords
with what Dr David Payne recollects seeing: three ‘angelic’ children
dressed in white.
10) Turning now to the Panorama programme of 19 November 2007
(Item (I) above), which again was thoroughly researched, presenter
Richard Bilton asserts: “At 6, Gerry McCann has his third tennis lesson
of the day, so he leaves the flat. He says as a family they talked about
bringing the children back out to play in the area by the courts”. This
account first of all contradicts the David James Smith article which states
that Dr Gerald McCann was unable to play any more tennis after 4.30pm
on account of his Achilles tendon injury. Moreover, the claim that the

couple talked about bringing the children out to play in the recreation area
after 6.00pm is flatly contradicted by Dr Kate McCann’s account that the
children were very tired at 5.30pm, and that the couple decided to bath
them and get them ready for bed between 5.30pm and 6.00pm and had by
that time ruled out the children going out to play any more. Richard
Bilton’s account continues: “At 6.30 Gerry McCann asks a friend, David
Payne, to pop in on Kate to see if the children are coming down”. Once
again, this does not accord at all with Dr Kate McCann’s account that
they had already decided to bath the children and get them ready for bed.
11) In Dr Gerald McCann’s ‘arguido’ statement of 7 September 2007, he
states: “He says that he was playing tennis at 18h30 when David appeared
near the tennis court and asked him through the net if he was going to
continue playing. The deponent said he didn’t know because Kate might
be needing help to look after the three children, even more so because
they intended to bring them to the recreation area after their showers”.
Clearly, then, although Dr Gerald McCann told David James Smith that
he was unable to play tennis because of an Achilles tendon at 4.30pm, he
was in fact playing a game of tennis at 6pm. We are now told, however,
that the reason that Dr Gerald McCann sent Dr Payne up to his apartment
was ‘because Kate might be needing help to look after three children’.
Here he again claims: “We intended to bring [the children] to the
recreation area after our showers”, despite Dr Kate McCann, back on 6
May, stating to the Portuguese police that the two of them were bathing
the children between 5.30pm and 6.00pm, having already decided that
the children were not going out any more. There is also that curious
reference to bringing the children to the recreation area ‘after their
showers’. Dr Gerald McCann does not mention having a shower at all.
And Dr Kate McCann said she had just stepped out of the shower when
Dr Payne came a-knocking at her front door.
12) If we now turn to Item (K), in what appears to be another article
directly sourced from Clarence Mitchell, we learn: “The source said:
‘David Payne saw Madeleine at around 6.30pm. He popped in because
Gerry wanted to make sure Kate was O.K. Gerry was playing tennis and
David said he was going past. I expect it was said [by Gerry] as: ‘If you
are heading back that way, stick your head in and see if Kate is all right’.”
So now the story has changed again; this time Dr Payne goes not to fetch
Dr Kate McCann and the children down to the recreation area but instead:
‘To make sure that Kate is O.K.’ We may note that this article, quoting
the source, says: “The McCanns then took the children for tea…” That is
not consistent with the accounts of your clients who say, rather, that the
children were already having tea in the creche when they joined them.

We might also note a very important further contradiction. While Fiona
Payne states that Dr David Payne returned to the apartment at 7.10pm, he
himself maintains that he was playing tennis until nearly 8.00pm”.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It is manifest from the above that there are many contradictions in the
various accounts, just concerning this one period of time. I might mention
briefly another area about which your client Dr Kate McCann has been
asked, namely why she was so adamant on visiting the apartment at
10.00pm on 3 May 2007 that Madeleine had been abducted. During the
period your clients were ‘arguidos’, Dr Kate McCann consistently said
that she could not answer that question whilst they were under arguido
status, because of Portugal’s ‘strict judicial secrecy laws’. However, after
their arguido status was lifted, they were asked again about this but your
client has failed to answer the question: what made you so certain that
Madeleine had been abducted? It is one of the central questions in the
whole case, yet your client has not given us an answer, despite asking the
world to help look for Madeleine. Your clients cannot be surprised if
people speculate about why she keeps so silent on this crucial issue.
Whilst there are many areas of contradictions to explore, based on the
various statements made by your clients and the rest of the ‘Tapas 9’
about events from 28 April to 3 May, I will, finally, and again merely for
illustrative purposes, deal briefly with another set of contradictions and
matters which have not been fully explained by your clients and their
‘Tapas 9’ friends.
You will be aware that one of them ripped off the cover of Madeleine’s
‘Activity Sticker Book’ to write down a ‘timeline’ of the evening’s
events, followed by a second, slightly different timeline. It is understood
that these were written down by Dr Russell O’Brien. Here is what they
said:
Ripped out sticker book cover: Timeline 1
8:45 pm
Matt returns 9.00-9.05 - listened at all - all shutters down
Jerry 9.10-9.15 in the room + all well ? did he check
9.20/5 - Ella Jane checked 5D sees stranger & child

9.30 - Russ. Ella Matt check all 3
9.35 - Matt check see twins
9.50 - Russ returns
9.55 - Kate realised Madeleine
10pm - Alarm raised
Ripped out sticker book cover: Timeline 2
8.45pm. all assembled at poolside for food
9.00pm. Matt Oldfield listens at all 3 windows 5A, B, D ALL shutters
down
9:15pm Gerry McCann looks at room A ? Door open to bedroom
9:20pm Jane Tanner checks 5D - [sees stranger walking carrying a
child]
9.30 Russell O'Brien in 5D. Poorly daughter
l
9.55pm
10:00pm. Alarm raised after Kate
Gerald
It will be seen that both timelines are clear in saying that ‘all were
assembled’ at 8.45pm, followed by Dr Matthew Oldfield going to do his
check at 9.00/9.05pm and Dr Gerald McCann doing so at 9.10/9.15pm.
There is an obvious question about why Dr Gerald McCann felt it
necessary to check on his children almost immediately Dr Matthew
Oldfield had returned saying that he had checked and that everything was
fine. That has never been explained by your clients.
Dr Matthew Oldfield says that “at around 8.45pm, he and his wife left
their daughter asleep in the apartment and went to the ‘Tapas’ restaurant.
That the couple Kate and Gerry, Madeleine's parents were already at the
restaurant. That they had arrived at the restaurant five minutes before

them. The rest of the adults arrived at the restaurant around five minutes
after the interviewee and his wife. That the last to arrive at the restaurant
was the couple David and Fiona. That the latter arrived at the restaurant at
around 21h00”.
According to that account, therefore, the ‘Tapas 9’ were not ‘assembled’
until 9.00pm. He goes on to say that at 9.05pm he left the restaurant with
the express intention of checking on the children, saw the windows
closed, and reported that all was well. Yet, we learn from him that “after
this check, he returned to the restaurant, saying that all the children were
asleep. However, Gerry, Madeleine's father, went to the area of the
apartments to check for himself if the children were asleep...Five minutes
later, Gerry came back to the group in the restaurant”. [It is generally
agreed by the witnesses that Dr Gerald McCann was away from the table
for 15-20 minutes, mostly talking to Jez Wilkins]. Dr Oldfield does not,
indeed cannot, explain why Dr McCann goes to do a check. His claim of
Dr McCann returning in 5 minutes is contradicted by Dr McCann
himself, who says it took 15 minutes, and by Dr Kate McCann who says
that he was away from the table for so long that they thought he must
have returned to the apartment, not to check on the children, but to
sneakily have a look at a football match on the TV. Dr McCann was later
to admit that he did spend several minutes checking in the apartment and
spent ‘an unusually long time’ on the loo.
Jane Tanner’s statement says that both she and Dr Russell O’Brien and
Dr David Payne and his family arrived at 9.00pm, not 8.45pm - and
Russell O’Brien’s statement confirmed this.
If we then look at Dr Gerald McCann’s statement of 10 May, he says that
Dr Matthew Oldfield did not tell him he had checked on the McCanns’
children - a clear conflict with Dr Oldfield’s statement. Dr McCann says:
“At around 21h00, MATTHEW stood up from the table, saying that he
was going to check on the children. Nevertheless, he did not say that he
would go to check on the deponent’s children, and it was only after the
disappearance of MADELEINE that he told him that at 21h00 the
shutters of the children's bedroom window were closed. At 21H05,
MATHEW returned, the time at which the deponent left the table to go
check on his children”.
Dr Rachael Oldfield, however, in her statement of 4 May, is clear that Dr
Matthew Oldfield did say he had checked on the children: “He had been
to check the children's bedrooms, his own apartment where his daughter
was sleeping but also that of the twins and Madeleine. He listened at both

closed shutters and didn't hear any noise. He also checked to see if there
was any noise in Russell O'Brien and Jane Tanner's apartment. He said
that he hadn't heard any noise”. She elaborates still further on this in her
statement of 10 May: “After about 4 minutes, MATTHEW returned to the
table when they ordered the food, and said he had ‘listened’ to his
daughter and to the O’BRIEN and MCCANN children, outside the front
by putting his head [ear] against the shutters of the windows of their
respective bedrooms and that everything was calm with the children”.
Dr Matthew Oldfield further muddied the waters by saying in his
statement of 10 May that the main purpose of his departure from the
restaurant was to chase up the Payne family, whom he said were late.
Rachael Oldfield confirmed that in her statement of 4 May. He told the
Portuguese police: “…David, Fiona and Dianne were still not present -
and as he could see their apartment lights burning - he resolved to go to
them, clarifying that he did not reach that apartment as those people were
already on their way to the restaurant. He clarifies [further] that he met
them near the living quarters, at the corner next to the main door of the
McCann apartment. Benefiting from meeting them next to their
apartment, he adds that, on his own initiative, he made a ‘listening check’
at the bedroom window of Madeleine McCann and the twins at 21h05”.
According to this account, then, the full party did not assemble until
9.05pm, not 8.45pm.
Russell O’Brien in one of his statements supported that version: “So
Matt, erm, around nine o’clock, give or take a few minutes, but around
that sort of time, he got up and said ‘I’ll go and drag them out’.”
If we now turn to Dr David Payne’s statement of 4 May, he states:
“Concerning yesterday evening, he, his wife and his mother-in-law
arrived at the restaurant at around 8.55pm. According to what he
remembers, when they arrived, all the members of the group were
present, apart from the children, who were in bed”. That, of course,
contradicts Dr Matthew Oldfield’s account that the main purpose of his
visit was to chase up the Paynes, catching up with them near his
apartment, and then thought, only as an afterthought, that he would also
check on the children. Dr Russell O’Brien’s statement also conflicts with
Dr Oldfield. He says: “He remembers that Matthew Oldfield left the
restaurant, around 21H00, having gone to the apartments to ensure that
no noise was coming from within.

Neither does Dianne Webster in her statement of 4 May mention being
chased up by Dr Oldfield; she merely says: “We left the apartment at
around 8.45pm accompanied by my son-in-law and her daughter, and
went to join the rest of the group at the ‘TAPAS’ restaurant”.
Furthermore, on 10 May she changed the time of her arriving at the
restaurant to 9.00pm, and in relation to meeting Dr Oldfield on the way,
made a robust denial: “Asked specifically whether, on the journey to the
restaurant, if they had passed either of the two individuals described in
the preceding paragraph [Dr Oldfield or Dr McCann], she answered
categorically not”. That in turn was completely contradicted by Fiona
Payne in her Rogatory Interview where she asserts:
“Erm, on the way down, we went down the normal way, as I say, out onto
the main road and round the corner. And just as we were approaching,
erm, probably outside kind of the, Kate and Gerry’s gate, that sort of area,
erm, we bumped into Matt who was heading back to chase us up, erm,
and we had a joke, you know, we’re always late. He carried on up to
check on Grace and we carried on down to the ‘Tapas’ Bar and when we
got there everyone else, bar Matt, was sat at the table”.
The times of everyone’s arrival are contradictory. They were certainly not
‘assembled at 8.45pm’ as Dr Russell O’Brien’s notes on Madeleine’s
ripped-out sticker book claim. Different reasons are given as to why Dr
Matthew Oldfield left the table. It is not agreed if he met the Paynes en
route or, if they did meet, where that was.
In passing, there is obvious concern about the statements of Jane Tanner
and Dr Russell O’Brien about their child Evie who, according to their
statements, was sick on the evening of 3 May. We read in Jane Tanner’s
statement of 4 May, for example, that the couple left three-year-old Ella
and one-year-old Evie on their own when they went down for dinner,
despite ‘Evie ‘not feeling well, so did not go to her Kids Club’ that
morning. Tanner then says that she “…bathed her children, read them a
story and put them to bed. Evie was unwell and having trouble sleeping,
so stayed with her father. She says she went to the restaurant on her own
at about 8.30pm. She says that Dr Russell O’Brien ‘arrived at the
restaurant at about 9.00pm, having got Evie to sleep.
She tells us that at around 9.15pm she ‘left, to go to her apartment to see
whether her daughters were O.K’. She says that ‘After checking on her
daughters, she returned to the restaurant’ then ‘15-20 minutes later’, her
husband Russell and Matthew left to check on the children, when Dr
Russell O’Brien is said to have ‘found Evie’ ‘restless and crying’. In Dr

Russell O’Brien’s statement, he says that “he had to change all the sheets
and his daughter's clothing as she had vomited”. If this is all a true
account, one can only express astonishment that this couple were
prepared to both go off and dine at the ‘Tapas’ restaurant knowing that
their one-year-old baby was sick. If the baby, as reported, then woke up
whilst they were both eating their tapas and drinking, and ‘had vomited’,
the couple were very lucky indeed that nothing worse happened to Evie
that night.
In his Rogatory Interview, Dr Russell O’Brien clarified these matters as
follows: “I thought it was probably about, you know, it was time we did a
check and I also needed the toilet so rather than just go to the toilet,
which was almost up to the portal, I got up and Matt, erm, said ‘Oh I’ll
come and do a check as well. So me and Matt walked back to the, to the,
erm, to the flats, erm, this would have been about, about kind of twentyfive
past nine, Matt came to my apartment [at about 9.30pm]…I went
straight to Apartment 5D, I could hear at the door that Evie was
murmuring’, well ‘at the window’ rather than ‘the door’, I think…
window’, yeah. I think it’s the opposite way round really, I went to the
toilet to urinate, and I knew, I knew, because Evie was awake, I was
staying anyway, so I went to the toilet to urinate and then checked on
Evie and she had been sick’, so I think I actually went…yeah, I had a pee
first because I was a little desperate. I started to clean her up and change
her.
“Matt came into my apartment and asked if I needed any help. I said ‘No,
go back and tell Jane that Evie is unwell…given the amount of stick that
that I’ve had with the Portuguese press for not requesting any fresh sheets
for Evie, I think I’d actually like to point out that the, that this wasn’t
some third world apartment and it did actually have a washing
machine…it says that we never requested any, we never requested any
further sheets and if they were sick all over them then how could this be
true. But there was a washing machine in the building…I told [Matt] to
go back and tell Jane that Evie was unwell, I’d obviously cleaned her up
and changed her…it was then that I would have had time then, it was then
I started, I got her out, I gave her a quick wash in the bath, changed her,
got the sheet off the cot, and at least, whether I started the washing
machine then, but at least I put them in the washing machine and then sat
down with Evie. But I want it [my statement] that there was a bloody
washing machine in the apartment…I got the dirty linen and her clothes
off and at least I think, there was a few bits of sick and I probably gave
them a rinse off in the bath and then just shoved them in the washing

machine, whether I started it then or did it later I’ve no idea…as a man I
can use a washing machine, staggering though that may sound…”
These are matters of child welfare and child safety that clearly also
involve your clients as they too admitted leaving their children for
significant periods six nights in a row (see the articles in the Independent
on Sunday and Sunday Mirror by Lori Campbell on 5 August 2007). It
would be wrong to prohibit discussion of such child welfare issues as
clearly arose in this case, both on the very same evening, with one child
left on her own with a three-year-old waking up crying, having vomited,
and another, left alone with her two-year-old twins allegedly abducted,
whilst the group was wining and dining about a minute-and-a-half’s walk
away.
Both the contradictions in the case and the lack of explanation from your
clients about a number of matters naturally give rise to discussions on the
internet and elsewhere, which are extensive. I have done my best to
remain within the confines of the undertakings I gave to the court, but
those undertakings, so I am advised and understand, do not inhibit me
from making legitimate observations on the facts, as I have done above,
nor from analysing them.
Another point your clients may need to bear in mind, in dealing with
alleged libel of them on the internet, is that there are forums, blogs,
YouTube videos, tapes and writings etc. where many people make very
robust statements making allegations against your clients in very much
more direct terms than anything I have written or distributed since 13
November 2009. It may be that if this matter ever went to court, a jury
might well decide that my comments since 13 November 2009 have been
reasonably restrained in comparison with comments made by many
others which might with rather more justification be described as
‘libellous’.
Yours faithfully
Anthony Bennett