Is it any wonder that initial investigators arrived at the conclusions they did?

[Vertigo Swirl]

It certainly is. 

I tend to think he did not notice the door had changed and/or physically checked the children.  He said he did because it would look awful if he said 'I've no idea if any of the children were missing at 9.30 pm as I didn't actually look in on them and I've no idea whether or not the window was open/shutter raised'.

Why do you think he had to invent a story about a moving door then?

[G-Unit]

Why do you think he had to invent a story about a moving door then?

To explain why he entered the bedroom.

[Brietta]

This is nothing short of mind numbing stuff.

[Miss Taken Identity]

It certainly is. 

I tend to think he did not notice the door had changed and/or physically checked the children.  He said he did because it would look awful if he said 'I've no idea if any of the children were missing at 9.30 pm as I didn't actually look in on them and I've no idea whether or not the window was open/shutter raised'.

Yes I agree Holly, that is a distinct possibility. I am inclined to believe that.

 I would also add that they would have to admit,with the bad time line,  that no one had checked on the children  at all, apart from listening at the door. And that would have been the last time  Gerry said he saw her, was at bed time , when he left her on top of the bed as it was warm.

which conflics with Kate saying it was cold and MBM was snuggled in bed.  Therefore, last physical check could have been around the bed time.

  However, it leaves the question open as to why they had all these witness statements on this one evening.  DP turning up to 'help' Kate.  After claiming they never checked each others children before, we have two other males checking on the  McCann children that  particular evening.

[Vertigo Swirl]

To explain why he entered the bedroom.

Why did he have to give an excuse?  Surely it would have been perfectly reasonable to say “I popped my head in the room and all was well”?

[G-Unit]

Why did he have to give an excuse?  Surely it would have been perfectly reasonable to say “I popped my head in the room and all was well”?

Exactly!

[Vertigo Swirl]

Exactly!

So why did he have to “invent” the moving door then? 

[Vertigo Swirl]

No I don't think he should have been on high alert for an abductor at that stage just one or more of his children who might have woken up and become upset that their parents were not around as MM claimed happened the previous evening.  The fact GM claims the door had moved and he thought MM might have been up and about should have been enough for him to at least to discuss with KM when he returned to the table and certainly for either himself or KM to check at 9.30 pm not leave it to MO who had no idea about the door.

You haven’t clocked the illogicality in your argument have you?  You claim Gerry had to invent an open door and a physical check to make him seem more caring and then you go on to berate him for not being caring enough to tell his wife about the moving door or to warn MO about it.  So either way Gerry is in the wrong as far as you’re concerned.  He didn’t have to invent the moving door he could simply have told police he popped his head in to check that all was well, and then he wouldn’t have had anything to report back to his wife either, and therefore would have been totally off the hook for failing to notice or report anything suspicious at the time.

[G-Unit]

You haven’t clocked the illogicality in your argument have you?  You claim Gerry had to invent an open door and a physical check to make him seem more caring and then you go on to berate him for not being caring enough to tell his wife about the moving door or to warn MO about it.  So either way Gerry is in the wrong as far as you’re concerned.  He didn’t have to invent the moving door he could simply have told police he popped his head in to check that all was well, and then he wouldn’t have had anything to report back to his wife either, and therefore would have been totally off the hook for failing to notice or report anything suspicious at the time.

I think the point Holly is making is that Gerry's attempt to appear more caring failed because if he really was more caring he wouldn't have kept quiet about the door.

[Brietta]

I think the point Holly is making is that Gerry's attempt to appear more caring failed because if he really was more caring he wouldn't have kept quiet about the door.

        What ???

[Lace]

I think the point Holly is making is that Gerry's attempt to appear more caring failed because if he really was more caring he wouldn't have kept quiet about the door.

Gerry and Kate were on holiday,  Madeleine said a sweeping remark that they didn't come when she cried then went off to play.    Madeleine was sound asleep when Gerry did his check,  so not awake and crying.  He found the door open more than they had left it,  so thought maybe Madeleine had got up and gone back to bed.  Why would that be foremost on his mind when he went back to the Tapas bar?   Madeleine was asleep in her bed,  he wouldn't have been thinking 'an abductor had come into the bedroom'    with hindsight it's easy to think he should have said something.

[John]

Please keep to the topic guys and cut the snide remarks otherwise I will impose sanctions.

And by the way, the mass deletion of post content by any member is seen as disruption and will result in permanent account deletion.

[The General]

Gerry and Kate were on holiday, Madeleine said a sweeping remark that they didn't come when she cried then went off to play.    Madeleine was sound asleep when Gerry did his check,  so not awake and crying.  He found the door open more than they had left it,  so thought maybe Madeleine had got up and gone back to bed.  Why would that be foremost on his mind when he went back to the Tapas bar?   Madeleine was asleep in her bed,  he wouldn't have been thinking 'an abductor had come into the bedroom'    with hindsight it's easy to think he should have said something.

That's not a sweeping remark - that's a very pointed, specific remark from a 3 year old child. Chilling.

[G-Unit]

Gerry and Kate were on holiday,  Madeleine said a sweeping remark that they didn't come when she cried then went off to play.    Madeleine was sound asleep when Gerry did his check,  so not awake and crying.  He found the door open more than they had left it,  so thought maybe Madeleine had got up and gone back to bed.  Why would that be foremost on his mind when he went back to the Tapas bar?   Madeleine was asleep in her bed,  he wouldn't have been thinking 'an abductor had come into the bedroom'    with hindsight it's easy to think he should have said something.

So you go out every evening leaving your children home alone. You decide that looking in on them every half hour is satisfactory. Then your daughter makes a comment which suggests that something happened during one of those half hours; your children cried and you missed it. Even worse, your child noticed you were absent.

So what is your response? According to your friends you left a door unlocked so your child could find you if there was more crying; even though you didn't really believe her;

"Could Madeleine and Sean have woken up while we were at dinner? If so, it was worrying, obviously, but it didn’t seem very probable." [madeleine]

According to their spokesman Clarence Mitchell;

He said Kate and Gerry discussed the matter and and decided it was safe to go out to the tapas bar on the evening of May 3 once the children were asleep - but they would be more "active and diligent" in their checks.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-and-gerry-mccanns-fury-over-302522

What did that mean? The same half hourly checks they had been making for the previous 5 evenings, apparently. During the first of those checks a door appeared to have been interfered with. Was it the child who moved it? Apparently not, she was sleeping soundly in exactly the same position she had been in 30 minutes earlier. Gerry therefore went off without solving the mystery, and without giving it another thought, apparently.

[Eleanor]

That's not a sweeping remark - that's a very pointed, specific remark from a 3 year old child. Chilling.

And even that one is in some doubt as to exactly who was crying.  There are at least two definitions on which of the children that Madeleine mentioned.