Why not report the abduction at the Tapas Bar rather than Main Reception?

[sadie]

Well it was  a quarter of a mile away  ...  a lift in a car would have preferable for sure

lost the argument, so change the boundaries, eh?

Anything is possible, but the discussion has been about the relative distances and the likely route, not about unlikely things.

[Eleanor]

Who went to Reception and when, to get Poster printed?  Wasn't this done on that night?

[gilet]

So Gilet was wrong after all...now that's funny. 

This now brings me back to my original question of two days ago when I asked if anyone knew if the covered walkway can be used to gain access to the steps which go up to the Mini Club.  I will repost the photo which I took down earlier when Gilet wrongly inferred that the entrance to the childrens club was through the Main Reception on Rua Direita.

I have also checked the footpath distances as requested by Sadie this morning and I can confirm that the Tapas Bar is 71 metres away from the patio belonging to apartment 5a and the Mini Club is 250 metres away by shortest route known to us at this point in time.

Poppycock.

Having never claimed that the entrance to the miniclub is through the Reception on Rua Direita, I would ask you to withdraw that remark and the statement that I was wrong in making it.

[Mrs. B]

Maybe Matthew got a lift to reception by one of the staff members. Anyone think of that?

Any reason why he would have failed to mention so in his statement to police or why the staff member would also have failed to mention it too?

[gilet]

We have to understand the distances involved before we can consider the question.  We started out when someone posted a photograph of the Ocean Club sign attached to the resort wall which announces that Main reception is 400 metres away. We now know from going through this exercise that this is misleading.  Main Reception is only 250 metres away by the shortest route.  Another myth, albeit a trivial one,  dispelled.

To answer your question Benice. We are trying to establish why Matthew had to spend some 20 valuable minutes running up and down to the main reception when someone in charge in the tapas could have done all of it instantly by telephone?

I don't believe there has ever been a claim that Matthew HAD to do any such thing.

The fact is he chose and Gerry chose to use the Main reception as the conduit of the request to phone the police.

The real issue is why they would choose to do so.

Such reasons include the fact that the extra distance is not great, they may have been unaware that the bar even had a direct outside line, they may have been unaware whether anyone would still be at the bar whereas reception was 24hrs, they knew that the bar staff command of English was not great and English people do not like dealing with non-English speakers, and of course the fact is that it is not actually normal to approach waiters and barmen when you want help in a resort and Reception is only 1 minute further away.

[gilet]

He implied that the Mini Club was accessed via Main Reception.

I have never claimed such a thing and do not believe I have ever deliberately or even mistakenly implied such a thing.

[Eleanor]

Can someone attend to who got The Posters printed and at what time.  It must have required a visit by someone.

[gilet]

It was Matthew Oldfield  who was asked to go to the main reception to report Madeleine missing

Matthew Oldfield had never been to the Mini Club above the 24 hour reception, and would therefore have never come across the  'short cut'  (  he never needed to )

We should, logically, assume therefore,  that he took the normal route  ( the long way round ) as the McCanns themselves had done for several days when transfering Madeleine to and from the Mini Club  ( until they became aware of the shorter route )

Matthew Oldfield would have been at Reception to book in. He may have been at Reception on other occasions. He may have accompanied others either to the mini club, to Reception or to/from the beach via this area.

It is absurd to simply presume that he did not know the short cut.

[gilet]

Well spotted Icabodcrane.  This could be a case of not seeing the wood for the trees. If Matthew did go the longish way around even more time would have been wasted.   

We are yet to hear any plausible responses as to why Matthew and Gerald were required to go all the way down to reception after 10pm.

No one required them to do so as you mistakenly claim.

There are many plausible reasons why they would choose to do so.

For examples read my post above.

[gilet]

A little word with so much potential?   

A little word which hides a guess in fact.

[gilet]

Maybe Matthew got a lift to reception by one of the staff members. Anyone think of that?

Possible of course but unlikely as there is no reference to it in any of the staff statements.

[DCI]

Well spotted Icabodcrane.  This could be a case of not seeing the wood for the trees. If Matthew did go the longish way around even more time would have been wasted.   

We are yet to hear any plausible responses as to why Matthew and Gerald were required to go all the way down to reception after 10pm.

Why is it a good spot, Admin? Mathew knew where Madeleine went to Nursery.

A better spot, it wasn't Gerry,  that first asked Mathew to ring the police.

so Fiona, I think, asked me to go and phone the Police, so I actually went down the route to where she would have gone for Nursery drop off, which his back to the, to the main reception essentially, so I went down that route looking for her at that time and I asked the reception to phone the Police, and that must have been about five past, it's difficult to know what time it was at that time, but maybe about ten past ten, five past ten, ten past ten".

[gilet]

Who went to Reception and when, to get Poster printed?  Wasn't this done on that night?

I believe something of the kind was done that night. Yes.

The absurdity being proposed here is that people would choose to relay a complex message to the police via a barman who may or may not have had a direct outside phone line and certainly would not find the message easy to understand because he was not fluent in English when people who were fluent in English and would certainly have an outside line and who would be best place to contact senior management were only about ONE MINUTE further away.  The possibility that Matthew/Gerry or whoever believed that it might have taken more than a minute to get the message across to the barman/waiter or chef doesn't even occur to these people.

They seriously expect readers to think that it would have been normal to IGNORE the fluent (in English) receptionist with the certain phone to try to find a waiter whose English was not good to convey this important message to the police.

The whole premise of the thread is utterly absurd.

[DCI]

Can someone attend to who got The Posters printed and at what time.  It must have required a visit by someone.

Here you are, Eleanor.

We found a picture of Madeleine but we couldn’t print it off.  Cat or one of the nannies said that they had a printer and took the camera away to get some photos copied.  A copy of the photo was given directly to the Police, someone from the Mark Warner staff made a poster- but I do not know who that was. (page eight)

I am not sure who informed the authorities or media of Madeleine’s disappearance but Gerry may have informed the authorities along with Matt.  As for the media I think Rachael called a friend who works at the BBC.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/RUSSELL-OBRIEN_ROGATORY.htm

Date 02-10-2007
Place: Ocean Club
Executing Officers: Paolo Ferreira and Ricardo Paiva


On this date, at 15.00 we went to the Ocean Club where we were received by the Maintenance and Service Manager, Silvia Baptista, and by the Mark Warner director, John Hill. We asked them to show us all the printers and photocopiers existing at the OC, which were operational at the time of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and that were used to print colour copies of Madeleines photo.

Silvia Baptista informed us that at the request of John Hill and his wife D****, hundreds of colour copies of a photo of Madeleine McCann were printed on 4th May 2007 with the aim of distributing them in Pda L and Lagos. For this purpose a colour photocopier, Toshiba, in the main OC reception was used as well as an HP laser printer, HP Color Laserjet 2840 located at a desk at the Ocean Country company, a colour laser printer Epsom Aculaser C1100 located on the desk of the administrative secretary and a colour laser printer HP Color Laserjet 1600 located on John Hills desk.

On his part, John Hill informed us that the printing of large quantities of Madeleines photo was carried out by himself with the help of his wife, at the request of Russell O'Brien, a member of the McCann's group of friends, John Hill stated that the photograph the colour prints were made from a mobile data disk of the 'memory stick' kind that Russell O'Brien gave him on the morning of 4th May.

They both stipulated that these were the only colour printers and photocopiers in existence at the Ocean Club and that there was no other place with the capacity for colour printing.
 
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/POSTERS.htm

[Eleanor]

Thank you, DCI.

So this was done before they all went to The Police Station to give statements.  Let's see what anyone can make of that.  I can't think of anything at the moment, but no doubt someone will.