his information belongs to the Ministério Público in Portimão, Portugal.
It was released to the public on 4 August 2008 in accordance with Portuguese Law

Holiday maker 24-04-2008

cr5_36

cr5_37

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Leicestershire Police Force
Witness Account
Statement by Paul Anthony Gordon
Occupation: Accountant
Date : 24th April 2008

CARTAS ROGATORIAS (FILE 5)
Pages 36 to 38
Witness statement of Paul Anthony Gordon (former holiday maker in Apartment 5A) 2008.04.24

NOTE: There is no word "tenhos". It should either be "tenho" [I have] or "temos" [we have]. Not being certain, I omitted the personal pronoun in my translation.

Testimony from Pa.Go
Age if less than 18 years:
Occupation: Accounting Technician

This statement (consisting of 4 pages and signed by me) is true and in line with my understanding. I depose being aware that, given proof to the contrary, I will be subject to prosecution in the case I had voluntarily testified to something I know to be false or does not correspond to the truth.

Date: April 24, 2008

Signature ______________________________________________

I am married to Saleigh and [SEE NOTE ABOVE] have two children, our son xxxxxxx of three years of age and our daughter xxxxxxx of two years of age. We have lived at our present address since July 2007.

We took the decision to take a family holiday before we were to move to the house.
Sal did a search of places to vacation and found the place indicated in Portugal - in the village of Mark Warner. We stayed in the same apartment that the McCann family would come to share, 5A of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz.
We travelled directly from Gatwick to Faro on 21 April 2007. We were transferred from the airport to our accommodation by staff of Mark Warner, and everything went well with our vacation.
The week was quiet, the children went to kindergarten either in the morning or in part of the afternoon and there was a day that I think they went all day - but I cannot state this with exactitude. The children always returned to the apartment at lunchtime for a nap that usually occurred between 13.00 and 15.00. The children were always in our company when they were not at the nursery, and frequently we took them to the beach for an ice cream.
On Wednesday or Thursday the children were sleeping in the apartment and Sal also was inside - reading a book if I am not mistaken. I was seated in the paved garden that faced the area of the pool, when I heard a male voice say "Hello". The voice came from the gate that leads to the road at the corner of the apartment and connects to the main reception area.
I stood up and I went to the man who asked me if I would be interested to contribute a donation to an orphanage in the interior mountains. I spoke with him and noticed that he had a badge with identification and that he had what seemed to me to be a book of receipts.
I thought that either he was genuine or a professional "cheat". It was then that I entered the apartment and asked Sal where was the money, and returned with a 10 euro note that I gave to him. I can not say exactly where he put the money and I think that he gave me a receipt, which I imagine that I threw away or left in Portugal. At no time did I think the individual aggressive or in any way persistent. I felt that he was genuine and it appeared to be for a good cause.
I would describe the man as polite, with good appearance and he brought with him a pamphlet. He had dark hair with slight tendency to grey, he appeared to be someone from the area with tanned skin [by the sun]. I would say that he was more than forty years old and 1.77 - 1.80cm in height - this is hard to say with certainty since I was looking down at him from the step above.
I would add that the man was robustly built but was not fat. He wore a light green polo, trousers and shoes.
After all this time I do not know if he had a slight goatee in the picture of the identification badge [card] or in person. But in one way or another I remember him as being clean and shaven and with light facial hair. I would say that I was with this man 2-3 minutes. The individual was not seen by the children since they were in bed asleep, nor seen by Sal since she remained inside while I spoke with him. I had never seen this man before and saw him no more after this. Apart from mentioning him to Sal I did not speak again about this man while I was in Portugal.
The man did not seem to be knocking from door to door and as far as I remember moved away from our apartment, walking down hill.
While we were in Portugal there were no incidents worthy of record, beyond this man that I have described, however there was one occasion when I cut myself shaving in the bathroom of the apartment. I would say that the cut bled for about 4 5 minutes and that it took some time until the cut stopped bleeding, during which period I walked around the apartment with paper tissues trying to stop the blood. Aside from this, to the best of my knowledge no one else cut themselves nor did anyone die in the apartment.

[THOUGHT: Could Mr Gordon have been misheard, or might there have been a typing error in one or other transcription?
If misheard: Did he say 'FORTY-five minutes' or 'FOUR TO five minutes'?
If a typing error: should the '45 minutes' perhaps be '4 to 5 minutes' or '4-5 minutes'?

During our stay we never left the children alone, other than in the care and supervision of the nursery staff. We felt safe and there was no reason for concerns.
I was satisfied with the care that the children received in the creche and they were well although they were not our company.
Other than the charity donations collector we had no other visitors nor did we sense anything strange.

We felt safe in the apartment and at no time was anything stolen or missing from the apartment.

The doors, windows and shutters were in perfect working order.
There was no sign of the doors, windows and blinds ever having been broken into, but also there was no need to examine [them]. The front door had a double lock that was difficult to lock, but we managed to do it. The patio door did not lock from the outside, only from the inside of the apartment and for that reason when the family left [went out] together we always used the front door.

We used to open the blinds during the day, returning to close them at night. When the blinds were [being] closed they would make much noise.

[NOTE: The next line is:
"Descreverias como tendo um cinto no interior como mecanismo para abrir e fechar."
Direct translation: You [singular] would describe [something???] as having a belt inside as a mechanism to open and close.
I think that the single word "Descreverias" should be two words "Descreveria as" meaning "I would describe them", giving the translation as:]

I would describe them [the blinds] as having a belt inside as a mechanism to open and close [them].

Possibly on some occasions Sal and I even used the patio door as a passage way, generally when we were at the pool and needed to return.
Regarding the couch I do not remember where it was positioned in the room. I would say that it was next to the wall to prevent children from walking around it, but beyond saying that it was blue, I can not affirm anything else.
The children would sleep in the bedroom facing the car park - the window had a Persian blind, Sal and I would sleep in the bedroom with the door to the patio. Whoever entered from the patio, our bedroom would be on the [to their] left.
[NOTE: He is saying that the master bedroom had French windows that gave access to/from the veranda; he is not saying that the sliding patio door in the lounge was in his bedroom.]

Generally we took breakfast at the Millennium restaurant, lunch in apartment and dinner at Millennium, dining only on two occasions in the Tapas Bar - on the second day and the sixth day.
[NOTE: Given the day-of-week naming in Portugal this last phrase is potentially ambiguous and the original Portuguese (or English) needs to be checked.]

I remember there [having been] a limit to the number of times we could eat meals at Tapas, but we managed to do it twice. The children always accompanied us during dinner and for that reason we tried to do it at the earliest possible time so that they could return to sleep at a reasonable hour.

At no time did we leave our children alone.

When we finished the holiday (on 28 April 2007) our luggage was taken to the reception, where I delivered the keys and I settled the account. We were transported to the airport by Mark Warner and returned to Gatwick the same day.

To the best of my knowledge I never met the McCann family and never delivered the key to anyone other than the staff of Mark Warner.
The holidays were good, the children enjoyed themselves at the nursery and we had no worries of any kind while they were there. The resort was affordable and was well located. Our opinion changed only after the disappearance of Madeleine.
I want to add that since January this year I have received numerous phone calls, messages and visits from the press regarding the collector of donations, which in turn put me in contact with other people such as Brian Kennedy, Kate and Gerry McCann. I feel that this is a constraint that makes it difficult to take the more correct decision.
I tried always to cooperate with the police in every way possible, telephoning them at the first available opportunity as soon as the news broke about the disappearance of Madeleine. There are certain times when I feel like a pawn in chess.

This testimony was prepared by me and is true and according to my knowledge.

TRANSLATION BY ALBYM

cr5_39

Witness statement of Paul Anthony Gordon (former holiday
maker in Apartment 5A) 2008.05.01

Statement of: Paul Anthony Gordon
Age if less than 18 years:
Occupation: Sales Mediator

This statement (consisting of 1 page and signed by me) is true and in line with my understanding. I depose being aware that, given proof to the contrary, I will be subject to prosecution in the case I had voluntarily testified to something I know to be false or does not correspond to the truth.

Date: 1 May 2008
Signature ______________________________________________

Following my statement of Thursday, 24 April 2008, it was granted to me today the opportunity to read my original statement, dated 6 May 2007. Present were DC 1485 Messiah and DC 4064 Holliday of the Leicestershire Constabulary.

After having read the statement I can confirm that the time at which I saw the collector of donations was around 14h30 and 15h00, and as stated previously the children would sleep [take an after lunch nap; siesta] in the apartment generally between 13h00 and 15h00 daily.

I would say that I spoke with the individual before they woke up.

From memory I would say that this was on the Wednesday or the Thursday of our holidays in Praia da Luz in 2007.

This statement was made by me and is true according to my knowledge.

15VOLUMEXVa_Page_3984

15VOLUMEXVa_Page_3985

(Statement in English)


Surname: Gordon

Forenames: Paul Anthony

Occupation: Marketing Manager

Statement Date: 06-05-2007



On Saturday 21st April 2007, I went on holiday with my wife and two children to Portugal. We went to an area of the Algarve called Praia da Luz and stayed at the Mark Warner Ocean Club Resort. Our apartment was a two-bedroomed ground floor one, which was situated in block G. The room number was 5A. To the front of the property was a bedroom and a kitchen, and to the rear was another bedroom and lounge. Myself and my wife shared the rear bedroom and the two children had the room to the front. From the rear bedroom and lounge you can access a private balcony. From the balcony are approximately ten steps down to a gate and small enclosed patio area. This area is exclusive to the apartment and not used by other residents. Running parallel to the patio area was a footpath and on the other side of this was a swimming pool and Tapas restaurant. I am quite sure, from seeing recent news events, that this is the same apartment that a young girl has recently gone missing from.

During our stay at the apartment on either Wednesday 25th April or Thursday 26th April, I was sun-bathing alone on the patio area. My wife and children were in the apartment and I know that the children were sleeping. At approximately 14.30 hours (I know it was around this time as the children always slept between 13.00 and 15.00 hours and it was nearly time to get them up) I was approached by an unknown male. He came to the light green barred gate which leads to the road running adjacent to the apartment. I can't remember exactly how he initiated conversation, but he introduced himself and started to explain that he had permission to be on site in order to collect money for either a charity or project. I went over to where he stood, and he explained some more. I remember him making reference to the fact that he was only allowed to collect for one week of the year (or something about one week) and that the money would go towards the orphanage. I got the impression that the orphanage was not nearby. I got the distinct impression that I was being had over, but gave the man ten Euros just to get rid of him. He was perfectly polite and good-natured and showed me some sort of identification. I didn't look closely at this, but saw there was a photograph of him on it and possibly his name. I am sure the photograph was of the same male, but he had a 'goatee' beard in the photo which he no longer had. The man also had with him, a pad of paper (perhaps a clip board) and an old looking brochure of some sort. He also had a receipt book, which he filled in when I gave him the money. He gave me a receipt, but I know (sic) longer have it. All in all, I stayed chatting to the man for about 5-10 minutes. I had to go inside during this time to get the money for him but was only gone for a few seconds. Once this meetings had finished, the male walked of (sic) down the hill towards the supermarket and I went into the apartment. I would describe the male as Portuguese looking, very tanned, medium build and about 5ft 7" to 5ft 10" tall. He looked between 40 and 45 years old and spoke really good English with a foreign accent. He had short dark black hair with possibly some grey around the sides. His hair was not perfectly straight and I would imagine that should he have grown it longer, then it would be wavy. He had no facial hair and I'm quite sure that he wasn't wearing glasses. He had a few wrinkles on his face and was quite presentable. He was wearing a light blue or green pale polo shirt with short sleeves. It was plain and had no logos or writing on it. I believe he was wearing light tan coloured trousers and dark brown shoes. I think they were slip - ons. I had never seen this man before that date, and I did not see him again. I am confident that I would recognise him, should I see him again. I have produced a map of the apartment and surrounding area which I can now produce as my exhibit,
PAG/01.
I am willing to attend court if need be and will support any police action.