25.09.07
The first eyewitness account of the frantic moments after Madeleine McCann
disappeared can be revealed today.
Nanny Charlotte Pennington confirms that Kate McCann did scream: "They've taken
her, they've taken her!"
The mother's precise words have become a pivotal issue in the case, with
Portuguese police questioning why she would automatically assume Maddie had been
abducted.
Mrs McCann's family have countered this by insisting they recall her shouting:
"Madeleine's gone."
Miss Pennington, however, one of the first people to set foot in the couple's
apartment after the disappearance, says she heard the mother use both phrases.
The 20-year-old Briton, who tended children for the Mark Warner holiday complex
in Praia da Luz, firmly believes the McCanns are innocent.
Speaking publicly for the first time yesterday, she described Mrs McCann in the
aftermath as "a broken woman" who was shuddering and unable to move.
"We are trained to comfort people in this type of situation but she was just
inconsolable," she said.
Miss Pennington is considered a vital witness by Portuguese detectives with whom
she spent more than four-and-a-half hours giving a statement.
She also claims British expat Robert Murat, the first suspect in the case, was
in the area of the Ocean Club complex that night. He has repeatedly denied that
he was there.
Talking from her mother's home in Leatherhead, Surrey, yesterday she told the
Daily Mail: "I was in the apartment less than five minutes after they found that
Madeleine had gone.
"When we were coming out we saw Kate and she was screaming: 'They've taken her,
they've taken her!'
"I was standing right in front of her outside the apartment's back door, in the
alleyway. I was very close to her. It might not have been the first thing she
said. But she definitely said it.
"I was one of three Mark Warner staff who saw her shouting it. They have all
given statements to the Portuguese police saying that."
The "they've taken her" version of events was first given in the Portuguese
press two days after Madeleine disappeared on May 3.
It remained unchallenged until last Thursday when a source close to the McCann
family claimed Kate had actually shouted: 'Madeleine's gone!'
Miss Pennington flew out to start work at Praia da Luz on April 28 - the same
day that the McCanns arrived. She had worked for Mark Warner on two previous
occasions.
She was employed as a nanny in the Ocean Club resort's Baby Club, looking after
children aged four to 12 months.
However, she also came into close contact with Madeleine, her two-year-old
sister and brother Amelie and Sean, and their parents, both doctors aged 39.
She dismissed claims that the McCanns were not seen for six hours leading up to
the disappearance.
She said: "I was helping give the children high tea. The twins were there and
Madeleine and both parents.
"It was supposed to finish at 5.30pm but because they were a big group and
really social, it didn't finish until about 6pm. There was nothing out of the
ordinary at all."
After tea Miss Pennington went to work at the resort's evening creche, in which
parents could leave their children while they went out for supper.
Just before 10pm the last mother arrived to collect her child from the creche
and mentioned that she had just bumped into a man, who had been shouting a name.
"She didn't get the name, but she said it sounded something like 'Abbey, Gabby
or Maddie'. We automatically went into lost-child procedure. In these
situations, the first thing we do is investigate the scene.
"We knew that one of the other nanny's charges was called Maddie. We told the
head of department what had happened and she took us straight to the apartment.
"There were no children in the room. The twins had been taken out already, I
think by one of the McCanns' friends.
"When we were coming out we saw Kate and she was screaming: 'They've taken her.
They've taken her!'
Asked if it was the only thing she said, Miss Pennington answered: "It might not
have been the first thing she said. But she definitely said it. She also
repeated Madeleine's name and said: 'She's gone, she's gone'.
"I couldn't really believe what I was seeing - she was just so distraught. She
was screaming out and tears were running down her face.
"Everyone else was running around trying to help.
"Kate and her friend, who was looking after her, were the only ones who weren't
out looking for Madeleine."
While Gerry McCann leapt into action and began frantically searching the resort,
she said his wife remained outside the apartment, shuddering with tears and
unable to move.
Asked why she thought Mrs McCann might have shouted "They've taken her", Miss
Pennington said:
"I'm not really sure. But maybe she saw some people looking at Madeleine earlier
that day, and she immediately thought that they must have taken her."
The nanny was one of three staff who steered Mrs McCann to the nearby reception
area, where they asked her to describe what Madeleine was wearing.
But she remained so hysterical that she could hardly communicate.
"We get missing children all the time, and I have seen plenty of hysterical
mothers. But none of them were like Kate."
She confirmed reports from the McCanns' friends that Murat was at the scene.
"He was outside the lobby just before we started on our big search," she said.
"He was adamant that he wasn't there. But he was. He was there in the road, he
was just looking. It was about 10.30. He was just watching
"I didn't know his name then. But the next day he was our interpreter and I met
him then. He didn't take part in the searches, but he was there."
Murat has insisted that he was at his home nearby throughout the evening of
Madeleine's disappearance. Portuguese sources have claimed that he will soon be
told that he is no longer a suspect.
Miss Pennington explained that she spent the rest of the evening searching for
Madeleine, before finally going to bed at 4am.
The following afternoon she was one of the first people to give witness
statements to the Portuguese police.
Since then, she said, she has spoken to a Portuguese detective once and to two
British detectives. |
