WHAT'S IN A NAME?

"My consolation is that on the cover he calls her Maddie, the name that the media have invented. We never called her anything like that." (Expresso interview, Kate talks about 'The Truth of the Lie' by Gonçalo Amaral, published 06 September 2008).

This disclaimer of Kate McCann's was aired once Goncalo Amaral's Truth of the Lie had been published, in Portuguese obviously. The McCanns may not necessarily have had the time to inform themselves as to what, exactly, the author had to say in his book about the infamous crying incident. The same situation will have pertained with regard to the newly released police files, where the statement of Mrs Fenn would be lurking, as yet unexplored by the public at large. What did Mrs Fenn tell the police exactly? What did she think she heard? Was it what she actually heard? Or was it at least close enough to the truth to provide a clue as to what was actually said?

Parental reference to 'Maddy' clearly only became taboo in the Autumn of 2008. Before then it was commonplace:

"She has a lot of personality and her name actually means 'tower of strength'. But she hated it when we called her Maddie - she'd say, 'My name is Madeleine', with an indignant look on her face." (Women's Own interview, published 13 August 2007).

Analysis of the telephone traffic during the week of Madeleine's disappearance indicates that, on the night of May 1, 2007, Kate McCann may actually have been in the family's apartment some ten minutes before the onset of the crying reported by Mrs Fenn. A child was crying for her 'Daddy.' Could the dismissive 'we never called her anything like that' have been designed to steer the inquisitive away from the idea that it might have been the mother who was in fact crying for her 'Maddy?'

May 1, 2007. The day no-one seems to have collected Madeleine from the Kids' Club in the afternoon. On the 2 May she is deposited, at 2.45 p.m. by Kate McCann, and collected later, at 5.30 p.m., by Kate Healy. Nothing strange in that you might think. As the author of 'Madeleine' explains, she didn't become Kate McCann until 4 May. Except of course that on each and every register she signed for the Mark Warner creche, beginning on April 30 (or possibly even April 29), she did so as K. McCann. It is her use of her maiden name Healy which is exceptional, not her married name of McCann, which she clearly acknowledged days before Madeleine's disappearance, despite what she says in her book about the press being responsible for consolidating a change in her identity.

So Kate did not 'become Kate McCann' on 4 May, 2007 after all. But she was always known as Kate Healy before Madeleine's abduction, apparently. Given that she is recognised as Healy by everyone but herself until the afternoon of May 2, the situation seems to be somewhat back-to-front. Dispensing with the detail, a change of name for Kate is defined by the bearer herself as the result of some major life event, i.e. Madeleine's 'abduction.' The only change to be seen however is not the categorical shift from Healy to McCann on May 4 that Kate invites us to believe in, but her temporary regression to Healy from McCann, some time between 2.45 and 5.30 p.m. on May 2; the day after the night before. The day when Gerry was being constantly kept up to date with progress elsewhere via a succession of text messages he has since declined to acknowledge. The day when suddenly, and unexpectedly, she was free once more.

"As Kate Healy, I could do what I liked, when I liked, talk to whoever I wanted to talk to, behave naturally without feeling I was being judged by those around me." (p.356).

And the creche record for May 3? Well, quite apart from the fact that there are now good grounds for not placing too much trust in them (see 'As if by Magic'), May 3 is strangely the date when Kate McCann (nee Healy) seems to have forgotten her temporary address. Until that date, husband Gerry consistently registers daughter Madeleine in upper-case handwriting and locates the family in G5A. Kate on the other hand consistently registers in lower-case, and just as consistently identifies their apartment as 5A. Until Thursday. A lower-case script, which looks like Kate's, records Madeleine McCann from G5A.

We'll leave the last word with Kate:

"Wednesday, 2 May, 2007. Our last completely happy day. Our last, to date, as a family of five." (p.59).

Kate McCann mobile phone activity 01 May 2007

Mobile phone activity:

10:16:42, 11:56:06, 12:17:21,
19:45:03, 20:31:31, 20:33:32,
20:35:58, 20:37:24, 22:16:15,
22:23:15, 22:23:28, 22:24:22,
22:25:36 and 22:27:50


Mrs Pamela Fenn - statement, 20 August 2007

'She states that on the day of the 1st May 2007, when she was at home alone, at approximately 22H30 she heard a child cry, and that due the tone of the crying seemed to be a young child and not a baby of two years of age or younger.

Apart from the crying that continued for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes, and which got louder and more expressive, the child shouted "Daddy, Daddy", the witness had no doubt that the noise came from the floor below. At about 23H45, an hour and fifteen minutes after the crying began, she heard the parents arrive, she did not see them, but she heard the patio doors open, she was quite worried as the crying had gone on for more than an hour and had gradually got worse.

When questioned, she said that she did not know the cause of the crying, perhaps a nightmare or another destabilising factor.

As soon as the parents entered the child stopped crying.'

Najoua Chekaya - statement, 09 May 2007

'In the afternoon she began work at 15.20 next to the Millenium until 16.15 and then returned to the Tapas restaurant until 17.15 and then to the Millenium restaurant from 17.30 to 18.00. She finished at about 18.15 and returned to the Tapas Bar for dinner and at 21.00 did a kind of quiz with the guests who were having dinner in the restaurant.

She remembers that last Tuesday at the end of the quiz, she was invited to the table of nine guests who asked her to join them for a drink.

She was at their table for about fifteen to twenty minutes and it was there that she met Madeleine's father, who directly invited her to the table, however, she does not know whether Madeleine's mother was also there.

When questioned, she said that they talked of banalities and she did not notice any aspect or behaviour that was out of the ordinary.

When questioned, she said that during the time that she was there Madeleine's father did not leave the table, neither did any of the other guests, however, during this time one of the chairs was always empty, that of someone who had had dinner and left, not managing to indicate any identifying element about this person.

When questioned, she said she was at the table from about 21.30 to 21.50.'