You are perpetuating a myth
The police did NOT "fail to arrive for 50 minutes" ... they were not contacted until 10.41pm, and arrived at the scene less than 20 minutes later ( phone records establish that fact without question )
Here's the thing though
When Matthew Oldfield returned from reception KNOWING that the police had NOT been called ( and he makes it perfectly clear in his regotary statement that he was fully aware that the police had not been contacted at that point ) did he tell the McCanns, or not ?
Did he go back to the apartment and tell Kate and Gerry that the receptionist had advised they do a more thorough search before contacting the police ( and that he had accepted that advice )
You'd think he would, wouldn't you ? ... you think he'd relay that information back to the McCanns wouldn't you ?
Or did Matthew Oldfield, for some inexplicable reason, decide not to mention that his request for the police to be called had been rejected by the OC receptionist ?
Revised translation.
Processos Volume II
Pages 331 - 333
Witness Statement
Vitor Manuel dos Santos
Date/Time: 2007/05/07 11H00
Occupation: Head of Accommodation
Place of Work: Ocean Club
He comes to the process as a witness. He has worked as Head of Accommodation at the resort for seven years, but has been employed there for the past 18 years.
His functions are the management of bookings and the control of contracts whether with private individuals or travel agencies. He is responsible for the management and supervision of the reception.
As concerns the facts being investigated, he says he received the McCann booking as normal and he points out that this reservation was made by Mark Warner, whose representative is John Hill.
He says that it is normal for each reservation to make specifications and that in this case in concrete a request was made that the four families should be accommodated close to each other and a ground floor apartment was requested enabling easy access for the families with small children.
He adds that this family booked from 28th April to 5th May on a half board basis, in other words, breakfast and dinner. For dinner the guests could choose between two options, the Tapas and the Millenium and although the meals are identical, the clients choose the restaurant according to its proximity to their accommodation.
In this case in concrete, the rational choice for dinner would be the Tapas restaurant as it is 100 metres distance from the apartment, whilst the Millenium is situated 600 metres away.
The witness states that from the restaurant it is possible to see the apartment including the window of the living room and the bedroom where the parents slept. The bedroom where the three children slept, situated at the opposite end of the apartment was completely outside of the field of sight of anyone in the Tapas restaurant.
Therefore the most viable solution would be to leave the children in the parents bedroom or in the living room where they could easily be checked from the place where the parents were dining.
When questioned about the availability of a baby sitting service from 19.30 to 23.30 he confirms that this service exists and that it is free.
When asked, the witness replies that he cannot understand why as the service was free, the McCanns did not use it.
When asked, he says that before the disappearance he did not have any contact with the family, they were “just” clients like hundreds of others who stayed at the resort.
With regard to the date of the disappearance on 3rd May 2007, he remembers that at 22.00/22.15 he received a phone call from the reception, from receptionist Helder, who told him that John Hill was extremely agitated as a child had disappeared and that the GNR had been contacted but had not arrived yet. He added (the receptionist) that he had phoned the GNR post several times and that he had been told that they would arrive when they could but that they were investigating a theft in Odiaxere. The receptionist asked the witness whether he should contact the PSP, to which the witness replied no as this area belongs to the GNR.
Given the circumstances, the witness thought it best to go to the resort to find out more about the situation.
When he arrived at the scene about 10 to 15 minutes later, he immediately went to the reception where the GNR were present, taking a statement from the girl’s father.
The witness then went to the apartment where there was an agglomeration of persons, however he managed to perceive that the apartment did not show any sign of disturbance not that anyone had attempted to break in.
He adds that he heard it said at the scene that the mother had not left the shutter open as she always closed the shutter when she left. When asked, he says that he did not notice anything strange in relation to the apartment or its surroundings.
The witness states that the resort did not have any kind of security or cameras.
He never saw anything suspicious or abnormal. He was asked to provide a copy of the rooming list, showing the information relating to the booking made by the family, which he immediately provided and which is annexed to the statement.
The witness says that he has nothing else useful to add.
No more is said. Reads, ratifies, signs.
