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HOLIDAY MAKER 06 DEC 07
Surname : Mackenzie
Forenames: Graham
Occupation : Company partner
Statement date: 06-12-2007
Earlier this year we went on a
family holiday in Portugal. At the
time we only had our eldest son
***** and (my wife) was expecting
****. We had booked with the travel
company Mark Warner to stay at their
resort in Praia da Luz. We flew out
of Gatwick on the 28th April to
Faro.
We were staying at a self-catering
apartment at The Ocean Club Resort.
During our stay we used the child
care facilities during the day and
when we picked ****up we would chat
with the other parents but other
than that we pretty kept ourselves
to ourselves and just enjoyed our
time relaxing together.
There was a couple we got to know in
a nearby apartment, their names were
**** and Raj Balu. We also chatted
to another couple, his name was Neil
but I don't recall hers, they had
booked for two weeks but left the
resort early.
The apartment on one side of us was
vacant, throughout our stay, an
Indian family moved into the one the
other side part way through our
stay. I do not know their names but
they had a daughter who was about
three years old.
During our stay we had seen the
McCann party when the children had
tea together and also when eating at
the Tapas bar in the evenings. We
had not really had anything to do
with them other than the odd word
when the children were all playing
together after tea.
On the night of Madeleine McCann's
disappearance we could not get a
table at the Tapas bar and decided
to get a takeaway from there and
have it at the apartment. (My wife)
went to collect it at about 8.30
while I stayed with ****.
It was later that evening around 10
' 11 that I heard a commotion on the
complex, I decided to go out and see
what was going on. I walked round a
saw a group of people gathered. John
Hill the resort manager was there
with some of the Mark Warner staff.
I heard that a little girl called
Maddie was missing, at that point I
did not realise which child it was.
John Hill was organising a search of
the complex as it was thought that
she had wandered off at that point
in time. I let (my wife) know what
was going on and went to join the
search. I went to search the area
around the back of our apartment
where there is a little garden with
a big palm tree in the middle. I was
looking in the shrubbery and the
little gardens to the apartments.
I worked my way around the area,
eventually coming around the back of
the tennis courts and up towards
what I now know to be the McCanns
apartment a couple of hours later. I
was looking in the little gardens on
the poolside of that block, I was in
the end garden when I heard a male
voice, he sounded distraught his
voice cracking with emotion. I
looked to see who I now know to be
Gerry McCann stood above me on the
balcony/patio about 3 metres away
speaking on a mobile phone. I cannot
recall his exact words but I got the
impression that he was speaking to
perhaps a family member or someone
he was very close to due to the
nature of his conversation.
He said something along the lines of
there being Paedophile gangs in
Portugal and that they had abducted
Madeleine. I was so shocked by this,
having originally thought that she
had just wandered off.
I had looked up by now and we
actually made eye contact, his
conversation did not change at all
when he realised that I was there. I
felt as if I were intruding on a
private moment and so I left the
garden at that point. I had
overheard only a snippet of it. It
was only then that I realised whose
child it was that was missing. I
went back to the apartment to tell
my wife what had happened, had a
drink and went out again. There were
lots of people just standing round
looking, the police eventually
turned up later in the evening.
There didn't seem to be any real
organisation of the searching and I
eventually went back to our
apartment for the night.
We went to the Millennium restaurant
for breakfast the following morning,
they were handing out flyers with
her photograph on. Everyone was
very, very upset.
The following day we saw Kate McCann
when she came to collect the twins
from the creche at lunchtime, she was
distraught and broke down sobbing.
We didn't have any other involvement
with their group for the remainder
of our holiday and flew home on the
Saturday. On the day of our
departure we had to move out of our
apartment and Mark Warner gave us
another to use during the day until
we left.
It was across the road from the
McCann's apartment and the public
balcony overlooked the side of their
building and the road. You could
actually see the front and back of
the building from that view point. I
noticed on the balcony that there
was a pile of cigarette butts as if
there had been someone stood there
for some time smoking. I thought
that was odd , and it could have
been someone watching the McCann's
apartment to monitor their comings
and goings.
It was when I heard that the police
were trying to pinpoint telephone
conversations made in the resort
that I decided to get in touch about
what
I had heard. Signed
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