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Witness Statement
Jane Michelle Tanner
Date 2007-05-04
Time: 11.30
As she is a British citizen and does not understand written or
spoken Portuguese, she is assisted by the interpreter, Filipa
Silva.
She has been on holiday in Portugal since last Saturday, 28th
April, staying at the OC resort in P da L, Lagos, together with
her partner (Russell O'Brien), their two children and three
couples (Gerald McCann and Kate Healy, Matthew Oldfield and
Rachel Mampilly and David and Fiona Payne. The group also
included Fiona Payne's mother, Diane Webster.
She was accompanied by her two children, E**a O'Brien aged three
and E**e O'Brien aged one.
The other couples also brought their children, G***e Oldfield
aged one (the daughter of Rachel Mampilly and Matthew Oldfield),
L*** Payne aged two and S******* Payne, aged 11 months
(daughters of David and Fiona Payne) and the twins Amelie and
Sean McCann aged two and Madeleine McCann who would be four in
two weeks time (children of Kate and Gerry McCann).
They were on holiday, which they (the couples) had arranged from
England where they are friends. They travelled through the MW
agency.
All the couples stayed in individual apartments (I) in the same
resort, with their respective children.
Since Saturday the routine was that they would almost all get up
at about 07.30-08.00 and then would have breakfast in a
restaurant near to their accommodation, called the Millenium
(6), taking their children at about 09.00 AM to three different
areas of the Kids Club (2) (4) (5) according to the children's'
ages.
Only the McCann couple would have breakfast in their apartment,
due to the fact that they had three children and because it was
complicated to walk with the three at the same time. After this
they would also take their children to the Kids Club.
As regards the Kids Club, she clarifies:
E**a O'Brien and Madeleine McCann were in a room in a building
near to the reception (4) and English lady called Cat Baker was
responsible for them. Apart from her, there were three or four
more persons looking after the children, she only remembers one
name (Emma Wilding). They would do various activities, such as
going to the indoor pool at the resort, they would go to the
tennis court, situated outside near to the Tapas restaurant (3),
they would got to the beach (outside), they would paint and play
(inside the resort).
Scarlet Payne was also near to the reception but in another room
(5) different to the one E**a and Madeleine were in. She does
not know who was responsible or who the employees who worked in
this room were.
As regards G***e Oldfield and E**e O'Brien, Amelie and Sean
McCann, they were all in one room (2) near to the Tapas
restaurant. The person responsible for GO and E**e O'B was an
English citizen called Leanne Wagstaff. As regards L*** Payne,
Amelie and Sean, without knowing for certain, she says that the
person responsible was Stacy Portz. The activities were
identical to those of the other rooms, both inside and outside
of the resort. At about 12.30 they would all go and fetch their
children from the respective Kids Club rooms, as these would
close, and go have lunch.
They would sometimes have lunch together in one of the couples'
apartments. At about 14.30 the Kids Club rooms would open again
and the only children who returned to the rooms were Madeleine,
E**a, Amelie and Sean.
The other children would stay with their respective parents.
At about 16.45 all the children would meet for tea in an annex
to the Tapas restaurant (3). It was the employee Cat Baker who
would take E**a and Madeleine.
During the time they were having tea, the children's' parents
would come and collect them.
Until 3rd May she has no knowledge of anything strange or
suspicious having happened to the group of friends or to the
children.
Yesterday the witness did not go to breakfast because she had
tennis booked for 09.00. It was her partner who took her
daughters for breakfast, having previously taken E**a O'Brien
to the Kids Club. E**e O'B who was not feeling well, did not go
to her Kids Club room and went with her father to look for the
witness. They arrived at about 09.30 having waited for almost 30
minutes for the tennis lesson (8) to have finished.
The witness played tennis (8) with Kate and with Diane Webster.
She does not know where Kate's children had breakfast, but knows
that the three of them went to their respective rooms in the
Kids Club. She supposes that it was Gerry who took them there.
During the tennis lesson (8) Kate behaved normally.
After the tennis lesson the witness went with her partner and
daughter E**e to the beach (7) where they stayed until about
12.20. After this, they went to pick up E**a from the Kids Club.
She does not know what Kate did after leaving the tennis courts
(8) between 10.10 and 11.10.
She does not remember whether Madeleine was still in the room
when she went to pick up her daughter, E**a. They both went to
their apartment (1) taking their daughters with them. Mathew and
Rachel and their daughter also appeared and had lunch with them.
They had lunch between 12.45 and 13.45, afterwards at about
14.00 the witness played tennis again (8) with Rachel.
Her daughters and Rachel's daughter stayed in the apartment (1)
with their respective parents.
She remembers that when she was playing tennis, she saw Kate and
Gerry arrive at the children's playground, next to the tennis
courts, with their three children. Kate waved to her. They
stayed at the playground until 14.40 when they went to take the
children to the Kids Club.
After finishing playing tennis at about 14.45, the witness went
to her apartment (1) where she stayed with her daughter E**e,
her partner had gone sailing with Matthew.
At about 15.45 she went to the beach with Rachel, Diane, Fiona,
L*** and Scarlet Payne, taking her daughter E**e along.
Meanwhile Russell arrived from the boat trip and went straight
to pick up E**a from the Kids Club. They joined the witness at
the beach (7) where they stayed until 18.10-18.15.
"When she went to the beach she saw GM and KH having a
personal tennis lesson. No children were with them.
Around 17h15 she saw KH pass the beach (7) "jogging", she having
waved."
Russell, Matthew and David left the beach a little earlier to go
to the tennis court (8), it was men's tennis evening. When the
witness, together with her friends and children returned from
the beach at about 18.20, they passed by the tennis courts and
saw all the men, including Gerry on court. They stayed there
talking to them until about 20.30 (sic). Gerald behaved
normally.
She thinks Kate was in the apartment (1) putting the children to
bed.
At about 19.00 they all went back to their own apartments with
the children. The witness bathed her children, read them a story
and put them to bed. E**e who was unwell and having trouble
sleeping, stayed with her father, who had arrived in the
meantime. The witness went for dinner at the Tapas restaurant at
about 20.30.
When she arrived at the restaurant several members of the group
were already there, without their children. They were all
presumably sleeping.
At about 21.00 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 21.00, the dinner, reserved for
20.30, only began after 21.00.
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.
During dinner everything went well. Everyone was in a good mood.
She remembers that at about 21.10 Gerald left the restaurant (3)
to go to the apartment to check on the children. Five minutes
later, the witness left, to go to her apartment to see whether
her daughters were OK. At this moment she saw Gerry talking to
an Englishman called Jez whom they had got to know during the
holidays. They played tennis with him.
She passed by them knowing that Gerry had already been in the
apartment (1) to check his children.
Meanwhile a man appeared ( * ) carrying a child (**), with a
hurried walk, it being this detail together with the fact that
the child dressed in pyjamas, without being wrapped up in a
blanket, that caught her attention. She only managed to see him
from the side, with the child in his arms. She noticed the
individual's presence exactly when she had just passed by Gerry
and Jez who were talking, having seen this person step off the
pavement that borders on the apartment block where they were
staying and rapidly cross the road.
The entrance to the apartment building (1) is exactly at the
place (street) where the individual appeared from.
After checking on her daughters, she returned to the restaurant.
On her way back Gerry was no longer talking in the place where
she had seen him.
When she arrived at the restaurant Gerry was already there,
accompanied by his wife, Kate.
About 15-20 minutes later, her husband Russell and Matthew
left to check on the children. As her daughter E**e was restless
and crying, Russell stayed in the apartment.
Meanwhile Matthew went to check his child and those of Kate and
Gerry. According to what he said, he saw the twins but he did
not see Madeleine. As there was no noise he supposed that all
was well and returned to the restaurant. Matthew informed the
witness that Russell had stayed in the apartment.
After having quickly eaten her main course, the witness went to
her apartment in order to take over from Russell, so that he
could have his dinner.
When she was in the apartment, at about 22.00- 22.15 she heard
Kate and Fiona shouting and saying that Madeleine had
disappeared.
When asked, she says that she thinks it was Kate who discovered
the girl to be missing, the witness is not sure due not being in
the restaurant at that time.
During all the evenings they carried out these procedures, they
would get up from the table and check that everything was well
with the children.
Madeleine was a lovely, very friendly, very active, playful
girl. She likes to jump around. She was intelligent and (the
witness) does not believe that if a stranger had approached she
would not have shouted.
She says that of all the holiday group, the couple she knows
least well are Kate and Gerry. She does not remember Kate had
ever mentioned that Madeleine slept badly or had caused any kind
of problems.
Description of the tourist resort:
The OC resort is composed of a vast area, in accordance with the
map that is annexed to this statement. This map is marked with
the numbers of the sites that are of greatest importance to this
investigation, such as:
1. Apartments where the couples were staying. This block is
composed of 3 or 4 buildings, each containing about 6
apartments, for a total of between 20 and 30 apartments.
2. Kids Club room, attended by G***e, E**e, L***, Amelie and
Sea.
3. Tapas restaurant.
4. Kids Club room attended by E**a and Madeleine.
5. Kids Club room attended by Scarlet.
6. Millenium restaurant.
7. P da L Beach.
8. Tennis courts.
9. Area of the sketch made by the witness.
Personal description:
( * ) Dark skinned individual, male sex, aged between 35-40,
slim physical appearance, about 1.70m tall. Very dark, thick
hair, longer at the back (she could only see him from behind).
He was wearing linen type cloth trousers, beige to golden in
colour, a "duffy" sic type jacket (but not that thick). His
shoes were dark in colour, classic type. He had a hurried walk.
He was carrying a child, who was lying on both his arms, in
front of his chest. By the way he was dressed, he gave her the
impression that he was not a tourist, because he was very
"warmly dressed".
(**) About the child whom appeared to be sleeping, she only saw
her legs. The child appeared to be older than a baby. She was
barefoot and was wearing what appeared to be cotton pyjamas of a
light colour (possibly white or light pink). She is not certain,
but has the impression a design on the pyjamas, possibly a
floral pattern, but she is not certain.
As regards these details, she does not know what Madeleine was
wearing at the moment of her disappearance, because she did not
talk to anyone about this. As she concerns the man she saw, she
only spoke to Gerald about this, not entering into details, and
to the police.
When requested, she drew a sketch, which is joined to this
statement (9).
When asked, she says she would probably be able to identify the
individual she saw, being able to identify him from the side and
from his manner of walking.
No more is said.
Reads, ratifies, signs. |
