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CARTAS ROGATORIAS (FILE 5)
MICHAEL WRIGHT
16th April 2008
66 to 69?Witness statement of
Michael Terence Wright
2008.04.16
My wife is Kate's cousin and I have
known Kate since she was 8 years
old. She used to spend holidays on
Isle of Man where I lived. My wife's
and Kate's families are quite close.
I have known Gerry since 1997 when
he was going out with Kate before
they married.
I haven't seen Kate and Gerry very
often, but we always met at family
events such as weddings and
baptisms. I didn't attend their
wedding because my wife, Anne-Marie,
was ill and we didn't attend their
children's baptisms because we were
away on holidays. That said, since
the birth of the twins we have met
more frequently. In August 2006 they
came to visit us at our house one
weekend and that was very pleasant.
On our side, we visited them in
Rothley in November 2006 and they
repeated their visit [to us] in
February 2007. We work well together
as a group and we know each other
very well. We were planning a family
holiday [together] for June 2007 at
Center Park.
I wasn't in Portugal on 3 May at the
time of Madeleine's disappearance.
About 23:00 that night I received a
very uncomfortable [or compelling]
call from my wife's mother who told
me about Madeleine's disappearance.
Aunt Nora, from Canada, was in
Skipton and was about to return to
Canada the next morning. I suggested
that she go to Liverpool instead. We
all thought that Madeleine was going
to appear in the following hours,
even while I drove Nora back to
Liverpool in the early morning of
Friday, 4 May. I stayed in
Liverpool. I spoke to Kate by phone
between 10:00 and 11:00am that
morning and she confirmed that she
wanted her mother, her father and
Nora with her. The family liaison
[officer?] arranged the journey of
the mother, father and Nora to
Portugal that same afternoon. I went
with them to Manchester airport.
Kate's mother asked me to come to
Portugal and I agreed on condition
of speaking first with Gerry and
Kate.
On Saturday, 5 May, I caught a plane
from Leeds-Bradford to Faro and
caught a taxi from the airport to
the Mark Warner complex. Initially I
stayed in an apartment in the same
complex as Kate and Gerry. Those
first days were hectic, always
surrounded by the media and the
situation appeared very transitory
[temporary] with family and friends
sleeping wherever they could. In
Friday, 11 May, I returned home for
a weekend with my family.
After that I made five further trips
to Portugal on:
- Monday, 14 May to Friday, 18 May.
I travelled alone and helped by
doing what I could in the Madeleine
campaign;
- Friday, 8 June to Wednesday, 13
June. I travelled with my wife,
Anne-Marie. This trip was for us to
take care of the twins while Kate
and Gerry made a brief trip to
Morocco.
- Thursday, 12 July to Friday, 13
July. I travelled alone and returned
with Kate and the twins for them to
attend the baptism of my own
children. I had spoken previously
with Gerry by phone and knew that he
was in UK in meetings and he asked
me to help Kate and the twins so
that they could be there. Kate,
Gerry and twins returned to Portugal
on 15 July.
- Wednesday, 22 August to Saturday,
1 September. I left with Anne-Marie
and our children, K and P, to
replace Sandy and Trish Cameron.
During this period we spoke with
Kate and Gerry about the best time
to return to UK. Provisionally the
second week in September was decided
and I contacted a removals firm in
Lagos in my name, and I collected
packing boxes and adhesive tape. We
then began to pack all the stuff we
wanted to keep, such as letters,
postcards, etc.
- Friday, 7 September to Sunday, 9
September. Gerry called me the night
before and told me he was going to
be interviewed the next day. I
travelled alone and met Sandy
Cameron at the airport
[presumably Faro]
and we caught a taxi to the villa.
Kate, Gerry, the twins, Sandy and
Trish, and Eileen McC left Portugal
on Sunday morning and I left by
myself that same afternoon after
cleaning the villa.
During my initial trips to Portugal
I stayed in Mark Warner apartments.
In July, August and September I
stayed in the villa rented by Kate
and Gerry, I recall nothing strange
about anything where I stayed. I
didn't look for things that were
particularly strange or suspicious
but I did pay close attention to the
Mark Warner apartments to consider
potential hiding-places which could
have been used by an intruder.
During my first two trips to
Portugal, I recall that Kate and
Gerry were in a flat spin,
[NOTE]
but I spent a lot of time with them
especially at night at dinner. I
frequently helped Sandy with with
mundane tasks such as opening the
mail. We received many e-mails
relating to the campaign and there
was much in them to talk about, but
our time with Kate and Gerry during
the day was very irregular. During
my stay at the villa our time was
more concentrated.
[NOTE: The verb expression 'andar à
roda' means to turn something round,
or to spin something round, so I
think that the word 'viva' [cheers,
applause] in the statement should
actually be 'vida' [life], i.e.
their life was being spun round,
almost out of their control, like an
aircraft in a flat spin].
With respect to Kate and Gerry's
comportment after the disappearance,
I witnessed first hand their
desperation, how they cried and were
distraught, though never during
their meetings with officials or at
press conferences. It was
uncomfortable to see. I also saw
them organised and controlled in
meetings and in front of the media,
and felt proud and impressed at
their power of self-control on those
occasions.
At the time I travelled with
Anne-Marie on 8 June, Kate and Gerry
had rented a vehicle. It had seven
seats, I judged [thought] it to be a
Renault Espace. Gerry suggested that
I be added to the insured driver's
list so that I could drive it while
they were in Morocco, but I judged
[thought] that to be unnecessary as
they would only be gone for a few
days. When I was in Portugal on 12
July I was picked up by Kate who was
driving the Renault Espace.
It was on our trip to Portugal on 22
August that Gerry suggested that I
was added to the contract as an
additional driver and I accepted.
Gerry and I went to Lagos and I was
included in the contract as
additional driver.
I drove the car regularly in August
and September, doing the shopping at
the supermarket, taking the house
and garden rubbish to the recycling
area in PdL and also taking the
twins to creche and to the beach,
and trips to the airport. I was also
a passenger in the car at various
times, mainly in June and July when
Gerry and Sandy drove.
There are various rubbish
recycling/dump areas and we used
these:
- two trash bins
[skips?]
at the villa, one at the main
entrance and the other at the top of
the hill;
- one area on the cemetery road;
- one area above the Mark Warner
complex, and
- one area between the villa and the
church.
The visiting gardener always
generated garden rubbish and this
was usually leaves and grass. Gerry
and I would usually take this
rubbish to the bin at the top of the
property.
I never observed anything strange in
the vehicle at any time that I was
in it.
I noted some disagreeable smells on
a number of occasions which I judged
to have come from the twins'
nappies. Discarded nappies were
collected in rubbish bags and held
until thrown into the [rubbish]
bins, [thereby] provoking smell.
I have no knowledge of anything
spilling from any article nor of any
cleaning of the car after such a
hypothetical spill.
I know that the twins travelled in
the vehicle more than twenty times.
For example, to creche, [to the]
beach at Sagres, the airport and
Burgau.
I am absolutely certain that Kate
and Gerry were not capable of hiding
Madeleine's body and later
transporting it to a dump.
See George Burke Brooks Statement
As for additional information I
would like to add that on Sunday, 6
May I went to the pizzaria in PdL
and bought a large quantity of
pizzas. I was attended by a girl
from Liverpool. I explained to her
my relationship to the McCanns and
she told me that her father 'George'
had seen a man carrying a child in
his arms in the early morning of 4
May in the resort. I asked her if
her father had spoken about this to
the Portuguese authorities. I don't
know if the information was ever
investigated.
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