Podcasts by Mark Saunokonoko of 9News.

[Venturi Swirl]

So is that how Gerry was first to come up with the idea? He knew about previous sex scandals in Portugal?

Maybe he had heard of Casa Pia which was not just sex scandal but paedo ring sex scandal invloving many prominent and high level Portuguese men.  If your daughter disappeared in the night in Portugal in 2007, I don’t suppose the idea that she’d been taken by a predatory paedo would ever have crossed your mind would it? 

[Venturi Swirl]

Then why was he abandoning his three children in an allegedly unlocked apartment if he knew?

I shouldn’t think it crossed his mind until his child vanished in the night.

[Venturi Swirl]

Interesting:

Pedro Namora, a former Casa Pia orphan who witnessed 11 rapes on fellow orphans, during which they were tied to their beds, sympathises with the McCanns. He believes elements in the force have conspired to suppress both scandals, fearing damage to the country's reputation.

"Portugal is a paedophiles' paradise," said Mr Namora, now a lawyer campaigning on behalf of the Casa Pia victims. "If all the names come out, this will be an earthquake in Portugal. There is a massive, sophisticated network at play here - stretching from the government to the judiciary and the police.

"The network is enormous and extremely powerful. There are magistrates, ambassadors, police, politicians - all have procured children from Casa Pia. It is extremely difficult to break this down. These people cover for each other, because if one is arrested, they all are arrested. They don't want anyone to know."

Now 44, Mr Namora watched as friends sank into alcoholism, drug addiction and death after their traumatic childhood experiences at Casa Pia. "I was the only one who made it," he said. "What could I do? I couldn't keep silent."

He has received death threats and warnings about what will happen to his own children, after taking up the case when an orphan called "Joel" approached him, saying prominent paedophiles were using Casa Pia as a "supermarket for children".

Mr Namora has been threatened after fighting on behalf of the abused children he grew up with.

After being telephoned by a stranger offering to pay off his mortgage, he was told the exact movements of his own three children, and warned that they and their father would come to a grisly end unless he shut up.

An open, warm man, Mr Namora makes an unlikely conspiracytheorist-But he believes the case, which he brought to light in 2003, will underscore Portugal's growing attraction for paedophiles, which has seen six children disappear in recent years.

One reason for this attraction is that the law was quietly relaxed last year, ahead of the forthcoming trial, meaning that repeat offences against the same child would merit only a single charge - and a lesser sentence.

[Venturi Swirl]

What's interesting about any of that in relation to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and what Graham Mackenzie told police he heard? Do you think Gerry knew all that and still abandoned his three children in an allegedly unlocked apartment?

I don’t think so, do you?

[Brietta]

I've been quite clear about what I think. I think Graham Mackenzie caught Gerry planting the seeds of a story that was eventually relayed to the minds of the public. He caught him doing it at a time any normal distressed father would have been out looking for the missing child whom he abandoned in an allegedly unlocked apartment. If both doors were unlocked that would have been my thoughts. If I knew before I left the apartment that gangs of paedophiles were in operation I certainly wouldn't have left the doors unlocked for them to help themselves. Would you?

That may very well be one of the most interesting and revealing posts you have been responsible for making.

[Brietta]

I can't say that about yours.

Mine wasn't intended to be ... but then, probably neither was yours.

[Venturi Swirl]

I've been quite clear about what I think. I think Graham Mackenzie caught Gerry planting the seeds of a story that was eventually relayed to the minds of the public. He caught him doing it at a time any normal distressed father would have been out looking for the missing child whom he abandoned in an allegedly unlocked apartment. If both doors were unlocked that would have been my thoughts. If I knew before I left the apartment that gangs of paedophiles were in operation I certainly wouldn't have left the doors unlocked for them to help themselves. Would you?

You must believe that Gerry knew in advance that this would be a massive news story and had the presence of mind to start planting seeds in the minds of the public within hours of the disappearance.  Here’s something that might interest you.  The moment I heard about Madeleine, before I’d even seen her picture or knew anything about her parents my first sickening thought was “taken by a paedo”.  I didn’t need any seeds to be planted by anyone. 

[Venturi Swirl]

I can hardly think that, can I? It took some time for Gerry to set up the fund and begin bunging Bell Pottinger £500,000 to keep their paedophile stories on the front pages of the UK papers for a year. Did they really think that an abductor was going to smuggle the most famous missing child in UK history back over to the UK? 

I don’t really know what you’re on about tbh.  As soon as you can’t answer a point you shift the goalposts on to something else.  Believe whatever you want, I really am too tired to care right now.

[sadie]

Interesting:

Pedro Namora, a former Casa Pia orphan who witnessed 11 rapes on fellow orphans, during which they were tied to their beds, sympathises with the McCanns. He believes elements in the force have conspired to suppress both scandals, fearing damage to the country's reputation.

"Portugal is a paedophiles' paradise," said Mr Namora, now a lawyer campaigning on behalf of the Casa Pia victims. "If all the names come out, this will be an earthquake in Portugal. There is a massive, sophisticated network at play here - stretching from the government to the judiciary and the police.

"The network is enormous and extremely powerful. There are magistrates, ambassadors, police, politicians - all have procured children from Casa Pia. It is extremely difficult to break this down. These people cover for each other, because if one is arrested, they all are arrested. They don't want anyone to know."

Now 44, Mr Namora watched as friends sank into alcoholism, drug addiction and death after their traumatic childhood experiences at Casa Pia. "I was the only one who made it," he said. "What could I do? I couldn't keep silent."

He has received death threats and warnings about what will happen to his own children, after taking up the case when an orphan called "Joel" approached him, saying prominent paedophiles were using Casa Pia as a "supermarket for children".

Mr Namora has been threatened after fighting on behalf of the abused children he grew up with.

After being telephoned by a stranger offering to pay off his mortgage, he was told the exact movements of his own three children, and warned that they and their father would come to a grisly end unless he shut up.

An open, warm man, Mr Namora makes an unlikely conspiracytheorist-But he believes the case, which he brought to light in 2003, will underscore Portugal's growing attraction for paedophiles, which has seen six children disappear in recent years.

One reason for this attraction is that the law was quietly relaxed last year, ahead of the forthcoming trial, meaning that repeat offences against the same child would merit only a single charge - and a lesser sentence.

Whilst in Lisbon, I made a point of visiting Casa Pia.   Immaculate magnificent white building set behind formal gardens, facing the river.  We walked up the RH Side of it (east) and just across the road was the Orphanage.  Also immaculate.  Saw the gate where the Dr, (a  Paedo) used to rev the engine of his powerful red sports car  engine before driving in.

A huge shiver ran down my spine.  Then the house that almost certainly was Bibis, by the state of the garden.  Another shiver ran down my spine

Seems to me, they make everything look whiter than white


This was the area where big red hearts were painted on walls, which became a thread on this forum a few years ago.  And in the big King Eduardo VII  park there was a shop with a similar big red heart in the window.  Were they selling boys from there, I wonder?  This park had a reputation when we were over there … so is it still going on?

[Angelo222]

But I know what you're on about. When I first heard the story of the jemmied shutters and missing child I thought like you. Until that is, I learnt there was no jemmied shutter and the father had given police two completely different versions of the last time he seen his missing child alive.

You really don't think Lee Rainbow and the British police investigated that the contradictions were real before writing his conclusions? I thought it was only the Portuguese old bill who were incompetent?

What point didn't I answer? Shifting the goal posts, you're too tired all of a sudden?

I'll crack the jokes!

GM"s story of having used a key to enter 5a via the front door in the hour immediately before Maddie disappeared was extremely convenient.

[Angelo222]

Everything has crossed my mind but as you pointed out, I'm not prepared to accept they left both doors unlocked, due to the fact both doors lead on to the street were the children would have been exposed to the dangers of the traffic. To do so would have been insane IMO.. and Gerry McCann has never struck me as being insane. That's ignoring the fact all their belongings were in the apartment.

As has been mentioned several times in the past, tourists going abroad often tend to leave their common sense at Passport Control.  Leaving three toddlers alone for any length of time in an unsecured holiday apartment was lunacy imo.

[Venturi Swirl]

It still happens to this day and according to the accompanying survey around 35% would leave their kids alone in a hotel to eat downstairs

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/family-holidays/was-I-wrong-to-leave-my-baby-sleeping-in-a-hotel-room/

[Robittybob1]

Don’t go for the full saying.

https://mystudentvoices.com/4-quotes-that-you-have-been-terribly-misquoting-6b2233d3212d
What it actually means
The original saying is as follows “Great minds think alike, though fools seldom differ.” Unlike the other sayings, this phrase isn’t used to teach a lesson, rather it is a humorous expression. The second half of the expression, “fools seldom differ.” suggests that the people that came to the same conclusion aren’t so smart after all.

[Robittybob1]

Everything has crossed my mind but as you pointed out, I'm not prepared to accept they left both doors unlocked, due to the fact both doors lead on to the street were the children would have been exposed to the dangers of the traffic. To do so would have been insane IMO.. and Gerry McCann has never struck me as being insane. That's ignoring the fact all their belongings were in the apartment.

'If the front door is closed it appears "locked" as it required a key to open it.  But from the inside it is always  able to be opened using the lever.
If the door was deadlocked a key would be needed to unlock it from the inside or the outside.

[Robittybob1]

That's a very interesting article IMO. I can see no mention that even 1% of the 30% left their hotel room door unlocked. And those parents had the added reassurance that their babies were restricted to a cot. The writer is talking about their "11 month-old baby."

It must just be another coincidence that it was the one child not restricted to a cot who went missing in Madeleine McCann's case.

My scenario: Got up. Got out. Going to the secondary reception entrance.  Didn't appear to go through it as noted by the tracker dogs.
I have to consider whether someone had shut the secondary reception door for some reason.  Unless they thought there was a need for that door to stay open, why not have it closed after 9:30 at night.

I may be wrong and I don't have the information to hand, but wasn't it possible to lock the front door from inside with a key regardless of the latch? I'm a carpenter and I'm not aware of any lock that cannot be locked from the inside.

I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong?

Yes if Gerry locked it from the inside, then it would be deadlocked from the inside, but they tell us they never did that.  If you locked it from the inside you can only get out via the unlocked patio door.   But Gerry says he unlocked the front door so I assume he had a key with him.