The Cracked Mirror.

[Rachel Granada]

I do not have the answers to that, if i did i would have solved the mystery by now.

It is not beyond the realms of possibilities though is it? It cannot be ruled out as an impossibility.

Why would they have cracked? The Tapas mob have barely been disturbed by it since 2008.

If after these 38 are looked at and if they are eliminated and the Yard then swoop on the 7 who knows if someone will crack then!

First of all, I would imagine that the Yard have already "swooped" on the McCanns and the holiday party.  DCI Redwood has already told us that they are not persons of interest.

You used the term "barely disturbed by it"... well I would think that if you really HAD been complicit in the cover up of a child's death then you would be very disturbed indeed by it.

I just cannot see people agreeing to lie, and then not being bothered by their consciences.

[Rachel Granada]

There was newspaper reports that two of the groups wished to amend there statements, and by coincidence the two mentioned were Tanner and O'Brien.

That may be true, or it may be press spin.  I can't see it being true though, as it hasn't led to the McCanns being arrested, has it?

[Redblossom]

IMHO Red, I think its possible she hadn't actually finished saying what she going to say before the police officer started talking again  - but we can't tell that from the typed statement.   She might have been going to say for instance  ''I just thought that it was.... important that I told Bob Small..''  or even ''I just thought it was ...possible that it might have been Murat if the others saw him and he was now on TV' '   but that's pure guesswork on my part.   

I agree it's not easy to follow the verbatim statements, because we can't see their facial  expressions or hear the intonation of their voices, and without that it's easy to get the wrong idea.    However, the police officer interviewing her wouldn't have that  problem and I'm sure that if she thought Jane Tanner was saying she thought Murat was the man she saw, then she would undoubtedly have questioned her further about that.  But she didn't - she carried on talking about the others seeing Murat.

Yes I'm sure Amaral lied.  If Jane Tanner had identified Murat - then she would have immediately been taken to the police station to make a signed statement.     The policemen with her would not have been ringing Amaral to ask if she needed to go in to sign anything - they would already know the answer to that question.   They would be ringing to say she'd positively identified him and they were bringing her in.    No way if she HAD identified Murat as the abductor would she have been told she didn't need to sign anything, and that she could go home.

I've never been sure whether Bob Small was actually in the van with her.  I'm not saying he wasn't - I've just never personally seen anything in the files to say that he was.
 
 

I dont think her sentence was cut off, its in inverted commas and full stop. And doesnt read disjointedly. She still said I dont think it was... But I thought it was, in the next sentence, I agree with Albertini on this,so agree to differ with you, as to pass it off as potentially being cut off is stretching it a bit, considering how they were treated with kid gloves in their rogatory interviews and allowed to express themselves in full and in as much time as they wanted.

Bob Small took her to the van exercise, whether we was in it or outside no one knows,theres nothng in the files about it at all, perhaps its one of those documents held on the LPs files, as not all their files appear in the PJ ones.

[DCI]

That may be true, or it may be press spin.  I can't see it being true though, as it hasn't led to the McCanns being arrested, has it?

If it was true, why is it taking so long to do? I see the newspapers are now reliable, funny that

[Rachel Granada]

If it was true, why is it taking so long to do? I see the newspapers are now reliable, funny that

I think we have been waiting over 5 years now for the McCanns to be arrested on the strength of these statement changes..... 

[Redblossom]

I think we have been waiting over 5 years now for the McCanns to be arrested on the strength of these statement changes..... 

No one can be arrested if there is no open case and investigation and that has been the case for the last five years.Small detail.

[Rachel Granada]

No one can be arrested if there is no open case and investigation and that has been the case for the last five years.Small detail.

Come on!  The Yard would have been all over it like a rash if someone had changed their statements and those changes had implicated the McCanns!

[Redblossom]

Come on!  The Yard would have been all over it like a rash if someone had changed their statements and those changes had implicated the McCanns!

The Yard were not involved in Nov 2007 when this was reported, iirc, and they didnt change their statements,and we dont know what the alledged changes would have been about. I dont know what that article was all about really, but no paper article is 100% devoid of truth, there must have been something to it, your guess is as good as mine though


ps the LP who were involved would not have been all over anyone like a rash, they were assisting the PJ and had no powers of investigation of their own let alone ability to arrest

[AnneGuedes]

This obsession of the McCanns being arrested is omnipresent among believers. Fear ?

[AnneGuedes]

The Yard were not involved in Nov 2007 when this was reported, iirc, and they didnt change their statements,and we dont know what the alledged changes would have been about. I dont know what that article was all about really, but no paper article is 100% devoid of truth, there must have been something to it, your guess is as good as mine though

And who said an eventual change would implicate the McCanns ? Ms Tanner had more than one reason to wish to change her sighting in order to make it more plausible. But she likely was advised that it would be even worse.

[AnneGuedes]

Bob Small took her to the van exercise, whether we was in it or outside no one knows,theres nothng in the files about it at all, perhaps its one of those documents held on the LPs files, as not all their files appear in the PJ ones.

There's nothing in the files because it was illegal. Mr Murat could have protested and he would have won in court.

[Redblossom]

And who said an eventual change would implicate the McCanns ? Ms Tanner had more than one reason to wish to change her sighting in order to make it more plausible. But she likely was advised that it would be even worse.

I can go with that. I think it was around November time rogatory interviews were being talked about so they may have known they were going to be interviewed again in the near future.

[Redblossom]

There's nothing in the files because it was illegal. Mr Murat could have protested and he would have won in court.

Did he not know? How could he have not known? Did they wait for him to cross the top of the road like bundleman on his travels?

[AnneGuedes]

I can see how he may have been seen  instead of Murat,( a local who spoke both languages and probably did help with some translating),  by someone who didnt know him,  in the dark, flitting around, searching, talking, getting a general fleeting look and then when Murat was in the news on the 15th of May people my have thought *thats the guy* there on that night. i meanhe doesnt look a million miles different.  His witness statement tallies with the time the Tapas 3 say they saw *Murat* 23.30/2400 and onwards.......but.....that means they were not telling the truth when they said he introduced himself...

eta
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/ADRIAAN_MARAIOS.htm

Men of that age, using glasses, speaking fluent English and Portuguese, and being around on the 3rd of May night after 11pm are very rare. Actually I think there's only Mr Marais, since Mr Murat was elsewhere as activity on his laptop seems to have proved.

[AnneGuedes]

Did he not know? How could he have not known? Did they wait for him to cross the top of the road like bundleman on his travels?

Mr Murat didn't know he was spied behind a van's glasses. This is illegal.