Witness statement of
Saleigh Louise
Gordon (former holidaymaker in Apartment
5 A) 2008.04.24
Statement of Saleigh Gordon.
Occupation: Air Hostess
4 pages
Date: 24th April de 2008
Signature_______________________________
I am married to Paul Gordon, we have two
children, our son xxxx who is three years old
and our who is two.
I planned our holiday last year and from a
series of recommendations from family members, I
looked at Mark Warner resorts. I found that the
Ocean Club in Praia da Luz met with our
requirements. Good price, good facilities for
the children, I initially made a reservation for
apartment T1 which was changed by Mark Warner to
apartment T2 before we travelled.
We left Gatwick for Faro on Saturday 21st April
2007 and when we landed we were received by Mark
Warner staff and driven to Praia da Luz. We were
handed the keys during the journey and given the
location of the apartment which was 5A. The
holiday was perfect, the people were kind and
friendly. It was a very pleasant break, the area
was pretty and relaxing and I would describe it
as a sleepy place.
During our stay Paul cut his face whilst shaving
and the cut bled for some time. Neither the
children nor I injured ourselves and as far as I
know nobody died in the apartment. We never
noticed that any of our personal objects
disappeared or were lost. Nothing strange or
worrying to note, just on one occasion I heard
Paul speaking to an individual on the patio that
looked over the complex's swimming pool. I can't
say who he was talking to or what they were
talking about. I was inside the apartment
washing some of the childrens clothes in the
kitchen that faced out onto the road. I did not
see anyone pass in front of the window or knock
on the door.
I remember Paul entering the apartment and
asking where the money was, I asked him why and
he said something about a collection for
charity. I did not go out to see or speak with
the man. It was only after the disappearance of
Madeleine and when the news broke that we
thought we should contact the police, not
because we thought there was anything suspicious
about this but simply because we thought the
police should be informed.
I would like to add that this was the only time
that we saw someone asking for money.
The doors, windows and shutters of the apartment
were all in good condition. We noticed that it
was only possible to close the patio door from
the inside of the apartment, not from the
outside. The bedroom shutters made a lot of
noise and I find it difficult to understand that
opening them would go un-noticed. The bedroom
overlooked the parking area and was also
overlooked by other apartments from which I
think that if anyone had opened the shutters
from outside, somebody would have noticed. The
front door was easy to open from the inside
unless it had been locked. We always used the
wooden door overlooking the parking area to
enter and exit the apartment.
With regard to the sofas, there were two on the
right where you entered and another opposite the
dining table - there was also a coffee table
between the sofas. The sofa on the right when
you entered by the patio door was situated
against the wall and it does not seem possible
to me that anyone could have passed behind the
sofa.
The children slept in the bedroom overlooking
the parking area and Paul and I slept in the
bedroom with the patio overlooking the pool.
We would have breakfast in the Millenium
restaurant, lunch in the apartment so that the
children could have a siesta. We also dined in
the Millenium except for two occasions when we
dined at the Tapas Bar. I had the impression
that dining at the Tapas was restricted to once
during ones stay, and because of this it
surprised me to hear that the McCann group used
to dine there every day.
The children would use the club facilities, I
think they were called 'Ama 1 and 2'.
They would spend the morning or afternoon, I
dont remember them having spent a whole day
there. We were always with them when they were
not in the childrens club. It was usual to go
to the Tapas bar at lunchtime and I know that of
6 occasions they went five times. On one
occasion we thought of using the night club and
we took the children there with their pyjamas
on. When we got there we saw that the club was
not for us and we did not leave the children
there. We always took the children with us when
we went for dinner. We never left them alone.
I remember that at the welcome ceremony we were
informed about the 'babysitter' services at 15
Euros per hour, but they told us that that the
service would have to be booked well in advance.
I remember that when we went for dinner there
were couple without children and imagined that
these services were often requested, but we
never used them.
I cannot speak badly of our holiday and this
only changed after the disappearance of
Madeleine.
I know that Paul received text messages from
Kate McCann as well as voice messages, some of
them were heartbreaking. We have tried to
collaborate with the police as much as possible.
We have been visited by the press at home and
have had to face cameras and reporters, asking
them to leave us alone. |
