Gerry McCann is convinced his daughter's kidnapper was hiding behind a door in
their holiday apartment as he checked on his sleeping children, according to a
friend.
The cardiologist saw all three of his offspring – Madeleine, and the twins Sean
and Amelie – sleeping peacefully at just after 9pm on the night of her
disappearance.
But as he turned to leave the ground floor room, he noticed that a door which he
thought he had closed earlier was slightly ajar.
Agonisingly, he is now sure that standing behind this door was his four-year-old
daughter's abductor, waiting to steal her from her bed in the Praia da Luz.
The haunting memory was revealed by a close family friend, who said Mr McCann
and his wife Kate, both 39, checked on their children as they ate at a tapas bar
40 yards away.
"Gerry believes there was certainly something odd," the friend said. "The
bedroom door was ajar when he got in and he thought: 'That's strange'.
"He went into the room, checked that Madeleine was still asleep in bed; she was
and he came out, closed the door.
"Initially he thought she might have got up and gone to the toilet or gone to
get a drink or something but now he thinks that the abductor must have been in
there hiding."
The friend said Gerry had pondered over the sequence of events that night for
four and half painful months. "He believes the abductor came in, opened the door
and didn't have time to close it (before Mr McCann arrived)," said the friend.
After Mr McCann checked the room at 9.05pm, friend Russell O'Brien offered to
check the children. At 9.30pm, he listened at the door, but crucially did not go
in. It was not until 10pm when Mrs McCann went back to the apartment, that
Madeleine was discovered missing.
It is thought that when she went to open the door to check, a gust of wind from
the open window in the room caused the door to slam behind her, sparking alarm.
The couple believe Madeleine's kidnapper came through the unlocked patio door
facing the tapas restaurant and climbed out of the window at the front of the
apartment.
Friend Jane Tanner said she saw a man carrying a little girl in pyjamas similar
to Madeleine's at around 9.15pm. But as details of the night finally emerged,
there was confusion over how the couple had spent the afternoon with Madeleine
and the two-year-old twins.
A restaurant manager in Praia da Luz said the family were at the beach at around
5pm, while the couple insist Mr McCann was playing tennis as Mrs McCann gave the
children supper at the Ocean Club resort, where they were staying.
Miguel Matias, who runs the beachside Paraiso restaurant said he saw Mr McCann
dancing with his daughter as the family ate a meal on the terrace in the early
evening.
Several days later he contacted police and handed over CCTV footage: "We would
not have handed the CCTV if we were not sure. They have taken it as evidence."
A Portuguese police source confirmed the footage had been received but could not
comment further because of the country's strict secrecy laws.
However, Mr and Mrs McCann insist witnesses saw them on the tennis court and at
the Ocean Club restaurant with their children.
The last image of Madeleine was taken at 2.29pm of the little girl sitting by
the side of the pool with her father.
A source close to the couple said: "Madeleine went to kids club in the
afternoon, after the photograph was taken at the swimming pool. There are
records for that, written records, and witnesses."
It is now 142 days since Madeleine disappeared and Portuguese police appear no
closer to finding the little girl. Judge Pedro Daniel dos Anjos Frias has
finished reading the 4,000-page dossier of evidence in the case from police, and
handed the files back to prosecutors. No details of any rulings have so far been
made public.
In Portugal, detectives were still waiting of the results of a toxicology report
being carried out by the Forensic Science Services in Birmingham.
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