![](vil9218-1.jpg) |
The McCanns in Lisbon in
2014 |
Gerry McCann, a consultant
cardiologist from Scotland, and his
Liverpool wife Kate, a GP and
anaesthetist, said they had put
their daughter and two-year-old
twins Sean and Amelie to bed at
around 7pm, had drinks together for
almost an hour and then left the
children alone to go to a tapas bar
50 yards from their apartment. There
they met seven friends with whom
they were on holiday. They told
police that they and their friends
checked on the children every half
hour.
Gerry said he went to the apartment
at 9.05pm and all the children were
sleeping soundly. He said Madeleine
was lying on her left-hand side in
exactly the same position she was in
when they had left her.
At 9.25pm, his friend, Dr Matthew
Oldfield told police he went to
check on the McCann children. He
said afterwards he could not be
certain that he saw Madeleine on
that check.
Kate McCann said she went back to
the apartment at around 10pm,
entering through the patio doors
that they had left unlocked. She
said she noticed that the door of
the children’s bedroom was
“completely open” and that the
window was also open and the
shutters raised. She said she
scoured the apartment, then left the
twins asleep in their beds before
running back to her friends in the
tapas bar and claiming Madeleine had
been taken. At 10.41pm, her
disappearance from Apartment 5A of
the Ocean Club resort was reported
to police by hotel staff.
Overnight the story made headlines
around the world. Several days after
Madeleine disappeared, the Smith
family flew back home, but the
sighting remained at the back of
Martin’s mind. He discussed it with
his wife Mary, son Peter and
daughter Aoife who were with him
that night.
When they tallied the time and
location, and the fact that the man
they had seen had come from the
direction of the Ocean Club complex
where the McCanns were staying, they
were convinced that it could have
been Madeleine they had seen.
They decided to inform investigating
police, and at the end of May 2007,
Martin, Aoife and Peter flew back
out to Portugal to make statements.
They gave similar accounts of the
man they had witnessed: average
build, short brown hair, beige
trousers; and the child: blonde,
around four, and wearing pyjamas.
As the summer passed, the mystery of
what happened to Madeleine McCann
continued to perplex the world but
life returned to normal for the
Smiths. Then one Sunday evening in
September, it came back to haunt
Martin again. He was sitting at home
watching TV when a report came on
the BBC ‘News at Ten’ about the
McCanns’ return to Britain. As he
watched Gerry coming down the steps
of the plane, carrying his
two-year-old son in his arms, Martin
was gripped by what he had just seen
and described the experience as
watching “an action replay” in his
mind.
He was instantly brought back to the
night of May 3 in Praia da Luz.
Something about the way Gerry was
holding the child in his arms and
the way he put his head down seemed
shockingly similar to the man he had
seen in Portugal the night Madeleine
went missing. He said it hit him
like a “bolt from the blue”. He
watched the clip again on different
news channels reinforcing his belief
that he was not mistaken.
During this period, Martin had
difficulty sleeping and felt sick
with anxiety. He contacted the Garda
and informed them of what had
happened.
He told them he was 60-80% sure the
man he saw carrying the child that
night was Gerry McCann. His wife
Mary felt the same way.
Irish officers found him credible. A
local garda who interviewed him on
behalf of the Portuguese authorities
described him as a genuine, decent
man who did not want to court the
press or seek publicity.
But while Martin’s evidence seemed
compelling, independent and without
motivation, much to his frustration,
it was not given the attention it
seemed to deserve.
Almost a year after he made his
initial statement to police, he was
approached by private detectives
working for the McCanns and asked to
make e-fits (electronic facial
identification images), of the man
he had seen the night Madeleine
disappeared.
The McCanns say they gave these
pictures to the police at the time
but chose not to publicise them.
Instead they remained focused on
another sighting by their friend
Jane Tanner, one of the so-called
Tapas Seven group of friends who had
been on holiday with the couple and
who dined with them the evening
Madeleine disappeared.
She claimed to have seen a man
carrying a child away from their
apartment complex at around 9.20pm,
but in the opposite direction to the
man allegedly seen by the Smiths.