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02_VOLUME_IIa_Page_432

Witness Statement 

 

Hayley May Crawford

 

Date/Time: 2007/05/07 20H00

Bar Worker (Ocean Club)

Nationality: British

Address: Germany 

 

She comes to the process as a witness, given that she works at the adult pool bar in the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, Lagos.

She states that she does not speak Portuguese and is accompanied by translator Robert Murat.

She states that she began working for the Ocean Club as a tourist guide in 2004 and after that as a bar worker in the adult pool bar this being the fourth year of her continuous employment at the resort.

She says that before arriving in Portugal she did not know anyone in Portugal, but in the meanwhile has got to know Portuguese people who work in the Ocean Club, but that she has never been questioned as regards the functioning of the Ocean Club or about her functions.

She states that since her arrival or even in England, she has never been questioned regarding the functioning of the Ocean Club and in particular regarding the location of the resort services.

In the summer, her working hours are from 10H00 to 18H00.

The bar is open exclusively to resort clients, and that control is made by means of a client card at the entrance to the bar.

When asked, she says that she does not remember anyone having entered without being authorised.

When asked, she states that she does now know the parents nor Madeleine as they did not frequent the adult pool bar.

 

When asked, the witness clarifies that on the day of Madeleine’s disappearance (03 May 2007) she was with her boyfriend at her home, situated in Lagos, saying that he, Nuno Conceicao, is also an Ocean Club employee, carrying out various maintenance functions in the resort But she says that, for this reason, her boyfriend is in permanent service, in other words that even when he has a day off he can be contacted in case it is necessary to carry out any type of maintenance service in any apartment or other installations of the tourist resort in question. In this way she explains that on the day in question (03.05.07) at around 20h30, her boyfriend was called as there was a problem with a lock in an apartment situated in the northern part of the resort, close to the Millennium restaurant and she had accompanied her boyfriend in her car from her home in Lagos to the apartment in question.

After her boyfriend had completed the service, at about 21H00, they went to the resort reception with the aim of her boyfriend collecting a service vehicle.

For this purpose, the witness and her boyfriend travelled in her car, a Peugeot model 106, metallic grey in colour, along various roads of the resort, having taken the road adjacent to the pool and Tapas restaurant area, passing by the apartment where Madeleine and her family were staying, according to what she was subsequently informed about the location.

 

When questioned, the witness states that when she travelled along the roads in question, which make up the resort, and principally those which she later learnt were adjacent to the apartment where Madeleine was staying and disappeared from, close to the Tapas restaurant, which she did at about 21H00, (03 May, 2007) the witness states that she saw no vehicle, person or other situation that she considered suspicious that could be directly or indirectly related to the facts being investigated.

 

When asked, the witness states that after her boyfriend had collected a service vehicle, from the Ocean Club reception, which took place at about 21H00, they both went to her home, but in separate vehicles, arriving at about 21H15.

The witness states that she was off work on last Wednesday and Thursday, as was her boyfriend.

At about 22H30, her boyfriend received another telephone call from a colleague, asking for a flashlight, as a female child had disappeared, to which he responded that he did not have one, both remaining at the witness’s home until the next day.

She only became aware of the events on Friday morning when she returned to work.

When asked, she states that has no knowledge of any individual or vehicle in the immediate areas of the resort whom she considered suspicious or who drew her attention.

As regards the disappearance, she states that she felt shocked, as it was the first time that anything like this had occurred at the Ocean Club.

No more is said, having read the statement, she finds it in conformity and signs.