UK Justice Forum 🇬🇧
Disappeared and Abducted Children and Young Adults => Madeleine McCann (3) disappeared from her parent's holiday apartment at Ocean Club, Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3 May 2007. No trace of her has ever been found. => Topic started by: DCI on May 29, 2013, 12:27:26 AM
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Madeleine McCann: Witness saw 'weird' stranger lurking near apartment day before she vanished
29 May 2013 00:00
He is convinced the lurker was involved in the kidnap and spoke out after the Daily Mirror visited his home in the Algarve
Ready to talk: Laundryman Mario Fernando happy to speak to cops
Andy Stenning
A vital witness has revealed he saw a man wearing sunglasses lurking in a stairwell near Madeleine McCann’s apartment 24 hours before she vanished.
Mario Fernando, 47, told Portuguese cops about the “weird” stranger lurking at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz but has never been quizzed by British police or spoken publicly.
Now, six years after Madeleine disappeared, the laundryman has urged British detectives to speak to him.
Mario believes the man he saw the night before three-year-old Madeleine disappeared in May 2007 should be on Scotland Yard’s list too.
The divorced dad, who said he has always felt “uncomfortable” about the Portuguese police inquiry, spoke out after the Daily Mirror tracked him down at his home in the Algarve this week.
He also believes he may be one of 12 manual workers and cleaners Scotland Yard detectives have identified as “people of interest”.
Scene: Stairwell where Mario saw lurking stranger
Andy Stenning
Mario recalls a “nervous” man wearing big sunglasses hiding in a stairwell seconds away from the holiday apartment where parents Gerry and Kate were staying with their three children.
The laundryman is convinced the lurker was involved in the kidnap.
Part of Mario’s role at the Ocean Club was to collect dirty sheets from apartment blocks and drive them to the laundry room beneath the Tapas bar where the McCanns were when Maddy disappeared.
He said: “I was at my last collection point near the girl’s flat. I was always rushing. I’d park the van any-where.
"It was 7.30pm to 8pm. When cleaners cleared sheets they dropped them down the hole in the stairs to be collected by me at the bottom.
“When I walked down and turned into the hole to get the laundry, I saw the weird guy and we nearly bumped into each other. He was embarrassed. He looked nervous.
“He was walking out from the hole under the stairs and must have been much further inside but had taken several steps after hearing me coming. We were, like, dodging each other.
“He had a really fat face and had two-tone sunglasses on, they got lighter at the bottom and were big. I will never forget those glasses.
“There was no reason for him to be there and no reason to wear the glasses as it was dark under the stairs.
Vanished: Madeleine McCann went missing in 2007
PA
“He did not walk away but watched what I did. I collected the sheets and took them to the van outside. He stayed there watching me.
“I had never seen him before. I knew everyone who was living at the complex and he was not one of them.
“It is still recorded in my head like it was at the time. It was not usual for people to be there, in the shadows.
“My theory is that guy must have been involved, either in the kidnapping or studying what to do — their movements.
"He was there for something, for sure!”
Mario, who only started working at the Ocean Club a month before Madeleine vanished, said he identified a potential suspect to Portuguese police a few months after Madeleine went missing.
He spent hours with an officer looking at pictures and videos.
Investigators could then find no other evidence linking the identified man to the girl’s disappearance.
However, according to Portuguese files, officers asked British police to put more questions to this man – a full year after Madeleine vanished.
Mario was 80% convinced he was the man he saw but admits he could not be sure and now six years have passed.
Kidnap: Drawn from McCann friend's description
Referring to Portugal’s “secrecy of justice” law, he said: “I couldn’t speak then. I’d been warned by police I would be in trouble if I spoke to anyone.”
But Mario now says: “I am available. I am happy to speak.
"I have not spoken to the British police about what I saw but I want the truth to be revealed.”
Twice-divorced Mario, who has a 21-year-old son and lives in a village on the outskirts of Praia da Luz, worked at the Ocean Club for nine months.
Describing the man who haunts him he explained: “He was quite tall and looked sort-of Scandinavian.
"He had lots of hair, close to his head — like it was glued. It was straight hair. He was about my age now — 45, 46.”
Det Chief Supt Hamish Campbell, head of Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said earlier this month that there are many people who could be spoken to and eliminated from the inquiry.
Mario added: “I agree with what the British police have said and lots of people should be interviewed again.”
The McCanns, of Rothley, Leics, who have never given up looking for their daughter, have been kept closely informed of Scotland Yard’s review, codenamed Operation Grange, over the past two years.
Officials in Lisbon are still insisting they can reopen the case only if there is new evidence.
Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-witness-saw-weird-1918572#ixzz2UdIbUEt1
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Is this a 'new' lead ? ( as implied ) ... or another rehash of old news ?
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I think I took pics of this same stair in block 5 ...
http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic3886-125.html#p122616 (http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic3886-125.html#p122616)
http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic3886-150.html?sid=22b12452ce5c812aa1194f20c2b3d23b (http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic3886-150.html?sid=22b12452ce5c812aa1194f20c2b3d23b)
Heri ...
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I think I took pics of this same stair in block 5 ...
http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic3886-125.html#p122616 (http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic3886-125.html#p122616)
http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic3886-150.html?sid=22b12452ce5c812aa1194f20c2b3d23b (http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic3886-150.html?sid=22b12452ce5c812aa1194f20c2b3d23b)
Heri ...
That is almost certainly the same stairwell Heri
Your research is quite remarkable ... well done !
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Pics from the Mirror article ...
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Pics from the Mirror article ...
Seems he didn't tell the PJ
Witness Statement
Date: 2007/05/08
Mario Fernando Madeira Marreiros
Occupation: Laundry worker
Place of Work: OC
He has worked at the OC since the 5th March 2007 as a laundry worker as well as the driver of the laundry vehicles of the resort, delivering and collecting laundry (towels and sheets) from the apartments that make up the resort.
With relation to the events being investigated he states that on 4th May 2007, upon arriving at work at about 10.00 he saw that next to an apartment block there were various cars and police as well as members of the press, which he found strange.
Later, when he arrived at his place of work he was informed by colleagues that this "apparatus" was due to the disappearance of a little girl who had been staying at the resort.
He was informed that the girl was three years old, of British nationality and he observed that posters with her photograph and details were already up, with indications to follow in the case of information about her disappearance.
When questioned he said that he did not know the girl or her family, only having heard about them after the event.
When questioned about the day of the disappearance (03 May 2007) of the girl whose name he does not remember, he says he carried out his normal routine, arriving at his place of work at about 10.00, with a lunch break from 13.00 to 14.30, returning to work until 18.00. After work he returned home where he stayed with his wife until 21.30 when he went alone by car to Barao de Sao Joao, where his step son works.
After having picked up his step son he returned home where he stayed until the following day when he left for work.
He only knew about the events from the press and from his colleagues.
He knows nothing more apart from that the girl was on holiday with her family and twin siblings as he was informed later.
He does not know of anything suspicious that could be related to the events.
Reads, ratifies, signs
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MARIO_MARREIROS.htm
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Pics from the Mirror article ...
Seems he didn't tell the PJ
Witness Statement
Date: 2007/05/08
Mario Fernando Madeira Marreiros
Occupation: Laundry worker
Place of Work: OC
He has worked at the OC since the 5th March 2007 as a laundry worker as well as the driver of the laundry vehicles of the resort, delivering and collecting laundry (towels and sheets) from the apartments that make up the resort.
With relation to the events being investigated he states that on 4th May 2007, upon arriving at work at about 10.00 he saw that next to an apartment block there were various cars and police as well as members of the press, which he found strange.
Later, when he arrived at his place of work he was informed by colleagues that this "apparatus" was due to the disappearance of a little girl who had been staying at the resort.
He was informed that the girl was three years old, of British nationality and he observed that posters with her photograph and details were already up, with indications to follow in the case of information about her disappearance.
When questioned he said that he did not know the girl or her family, only having heard about them after the event.
When questioned about the day of the disappearance (03 May 2007) of the girl whose name he does not remember, he says he carried out his normal routine, arriving at his place of work at about 10.00, with a lunch break from 13.00 to 14.30, returning to work until 18.00. After work he returned home where he stayed with his wife until 21.30 when he went alone by car to Barao de Sao Joao, where his step son works.
After having picked up his step son he returned home where he stayed until the following day when he left for work.
He only knew about the events from the press and from his colleagues.
He knows nothing more apart from that the girl was on holiday with her family and twin siblings as he was informed later.
He does not know of anything suspicious that could be related to the events.
Reads, ratifies, signs
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MARIO_MARREIROS.htm
Thanks for bringing us that statement DCI
It's an important discrepency that the Mirror didn't see fit to mention, it seems ( or perhaps didn't even bother to check up on )
I despair of our tabloid journalists, I really do
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And oh oh ... With thanks to Wendy Eastlake Owens (who also called my attention to the Marreiro witness statements in the PJ Files) ...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/new-madeleine-suspect-seen-in-stairwell-509604 (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/new-madeleine-suspect-seen-in-stairwell-509604)
New Madeleine suspect seen in stairwell
29 Sep 2007 00:00
A british tourist seen "hiding" in a stairwell outside Madeleine McCann's apartment on the night she disappeared was being investigated last night.
A british tourist seen "hiding" in a stairwell outside Madeleine McCann's apartment on the night she disappeared was being investigated last night.
The new suspect, stocky and wearing two-tone glasses, was spotted by an Ocean Club worker just 12 metres from the flat. The employee, who did not want to be named, exclusively told the Mirror: "I'll never forget him.
"It was around 6pm on the day the little girl went missing. I saw this Englishman standing under the stairwell.
"He was round-faced and stocky, wearing light clothes and positioned so that he was monitoring the car park area, stairs and elevator. He was hiding and watching what was going on. I didn't see him at first. I was collecting some linen, bent down to pick it up and nearly bumped into him.
"We gave each other a big fright and both jumped back. We moved aside for each other. But he didn't move away."
After Madeleine vanished from the Ocean Club later on May 3 the witness was interviewed routinely by police.
But he said a young officer seemed uninterested in what he had to say. Later, detectives arrived at his home and insisted he be re-interviewed.
He was taken to the police HQ in Portimao and asked to go through photographs. It is believed he managed to identify the suspect.
Speaking to the Mirror before his interview, he said: "They showed me lots of pictures and I pointed out the person I thought it was. I've been told not to say any more about it." Asked by the Mirror why he had not pressured police to take notice of his statement from the start, he said: "I was too scared."
The worker said he discovered the suspect was British when he spotted him a few days later.
Yesterday he refused to speak any further, stressing he had been warned not to talk about the investigation.
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Some of my pics ...
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Maybe someone can unmuddle my mind
Between the files and the Mirror report - Mario started work at the OC on the 5th of March 07?
But then he worked there for a month before the disappearance (which would make that early April 07)
And then the Mirror claims: 'he worked at the Ocean Club for nine months' - whilst we all know most of the staff were 'let go' shortly after the disappearance by Mark Warner - another mistery still to be explored.
Does not rhyme for me
Or as Clarence said about the far more plausible account of Taxi Driver: Antonio Cardoso
"We are dismissing this primarily because the timings are entirely wrong." The SINGLE item Team McCann and the PJ ever agreed on.
Clarification would be most welcome
Thanks
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580173/Madeleine-McCann-was-in-my-taxi-man-claims.html
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And oh oh ... With thanks to Wendy Eastlake Owens (who also called my attention to the Marreiro witness statements in the PJ Files) ...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/new-madeleine-suspect-seen-in-stairwell-509604 (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/new-madeleine-suspect-seen-in-stairwell-509604)
New Madeleine suspect seen in stairwell
29 Sep 2007 00:00
A british tourist seen "hiding" in a stairwell outside Madeleine McCann's apartment on the night she disappeared was being investigated last night.
A british tourist seen "hiding" in a stairwell outside Madeleine McCann's apartment on the night she disappeared was being investigated last night.
The new suspect, stocky and wearing two-tone glasses, was spotted by an Ocean Club worker just 12 metres from the flat. The employee, who did not want to be named, exclusively told the Mirror: "I'll never forget him.
"It was around 6pm on the day the little girl went missing. I saw this Englishman standing under the stairwell.
"He was round-faced and stocky, wearing light clothes and positioned so that he was monitoring the car park area, stairs and elevator. He was hiding and watching what was going on. I didn't see him at first. I was collecting some linen, bent down to pick it up and nearly bumped into him.
"We gave each other a big fright and both jumped back. We moved aside for each other. But he didn't move away."
After Madeleine vanished from the Ocean Club later on May 3 the witness was interviewed routinely by police.
But he said a young officer seemed uninterested in what he had to say. Later, detectives arrived at his home and insisted he be re-interviewed.
He was taken to the police HQ in Portimao and asked to go through photographs. It is believed he managed to identify the suspect.
Speaking to the Mirror before his interview, he said: "They showed me lots of pictures and I pointed out the person I thought it was. I've been told not to say any more about it." Asked by the Mirror why he had not pressured police to take notice of his statement from the start, he said: "I was too scared."
The worker said he discovered the suspect was British when he spotted him a few days later.
Yesterday he refused to speak any further, stressing he had been warned not to talk about the investigation.
ahh ... so it is another 'rehashed' story ... 2007 ... six years old in fact !
Why are we getting this flurry of re-spun old information all of a sudden ?
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Unbelievable but so predictable. In the PJ statement this Fernando reports that he saw nothing suspicious on the night Madeleine disappeared yet the Mirror reports 6 years later that » "Mario Fernando, 47, told Portuguese cops about the 'weird' stranger lurking at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz but has never been quizzed by British police or spoken publicly."
What I would like to know is that if Fernando didn't want to be named in September 2007 why is he quite happy to be named now or is it a case that the Mirror have taken it upon themselves to name him regardless. You couldn't make up this pish if you tried peeps. @)(++(*
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Unbelievable but so predictable. In the PJ statement this Fernando reports that he saw nothing suspicious on the night Madeleine disappeared yet the Mirror reports 6 years later that » "Mario Fernando, 47, told Portuguese cops about the 'weird' stranger lurking at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz but has never been quizzed by British police or spoken publicly."
What I would like to know is that if Fernando didn't want to be named in September 2007 why is he quite happy to be named now or is it a case that the Mirror have taken it upon themselves to name him regardless. You couldn't make up this pish if you tried peeps. @)(++(*
The Mirror probably had his story on file, and no doublt also his name, but agreed not to use it whilst the investigation was live.
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More info here:
http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic5296.html#p171824 (http://stopthemyths.prophpbb.com/topic5296.html#p171824)
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Unbelievable but so predictable. In the PJ statement this Fernando reports that he saw nothing suspicious on the night Madeleine disappeared yet the Mirror reports 6 years later that » "Mario Fernando, 47, told Portuguese cops about the 'weird' stranger lurking at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz but has never been quizzed by British police or spoken publicly."
What I would like to know is that if Fernando didn't want to be named in September 2007 why is he quite happy to be named now or is it a case that the Mirror have taken it upon themselves to name him regardless. You couldn't make up this pish if you tried peeps. @)(++(*
The Mirror probably had his story on file, and no doublt also his name, but agreed not to use it whilst the investigation was live.
Of course they did, they published the story in Sept 2007, see above,but have done an Antonio Cardoso taxi driver trick,as the Mail had done, reprinting the story years later again but changing the date of the encounter, and in addition here, the time, not to mention the description from English to Scandinavian...WHY?
This has been investigated by both the PJ and the Leicester police back in 07//08
Marvellous isn't it? And totally a wtf moment. The reasons for these shenanigans are known only to them I guess.
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He [Mario] also believes he [Mario] may be one of 12 manual workers and cleaners Scotland Yard detectives have identified as “people of interest”.
And he may be right, not only because he was a laundry worker …
- He may know well block 5 at the time …
- After work he returned home where he stayed with his wife until 21.30 when he went alone by car to Barao de Sao Joao, where his step son works.
- Barao de Sao Joao is 4 times farther from Mario house than block 5, but in opposing directions
Was his step son questioned? Was his (I understand now ex) wife questioned?
I think almost all of the Scotland Yard 195 or more “investigative opportunities” are like this one.
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He [Mario] also believes he [Mario] may be one of 12 manual workers and cleaners Scotland Yard detectives have identified as “people of interest”.
And he may be right, not only because he was a laundry worker …
- He may know well block 5 at the time …
- After work he returned home where he stayed with his wife until 21.30 when he went alone by car to Barao de Sao Joao, where his step son works.
- Barao de Sao Joao is 4 times farther from Mario house than block 5, but in opposing directions
Was his step son questioned? Was his (I understand now ex) wife questioned?
I think almost all of the Scotland Yard 195 or more “investigative opportunities” are like this one.
Amazing, so if you are male, work at the ocean club, and happen to go out at night, you must be a suspect? And have all your family questioned on their whereabouts? Without evidence of any kind? How pathetic is that?
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The lies in the papers dont though, and they are LIES, and the question u should ask is WHY, why rehash 5 yr old stories and then CHANGE the facts in them????? What are they doing, who are they tryng to kid Who is behind them?? and why?Nite now
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Strange, how come the paper tell lies when it is favourable to the McCanns, yet , if the paper print something in a bad light about the McCanns, then it is the truth