Latest reports claim the keys at OC had been stolen?

[Mr Moderator]

Apartment key theft cover-up by resort staff in Madeleine McCann case.

Express
By: James Murray
Published: Sun, February 9, 2014

KEYS to the holiday apartment from which Madeleine McCann was abducted were lost shortly before she vanished, it was claimed last night.

However, police were not informed about the loss of potentially crucial evidence which could unlock the seven-year mystery.

A Sunday Express investigation in Portugal has revealed astonishing new information which, if proved, suggests the kidnap was well planned and executed using stolen keys.

Amid claims that Portuguese police are about to arrest three former workers at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, based on information gathered by Scotland Yard, we tracked down a former maintenance worker at the complex whose revelations could change the direction of the international investigation.

The retired man, whose identity we have agreed to protect, said: “I have kept this to myself for long enough, so now it is right to tell people what happened.

“There was another maintenance worker at the Ocean Club who said he had lost a set of keys for the whole of block five.”

Kate and Gerry McCann, their twins Sean and Amelie and eldest daughter Madeleine, were staying in apartment 5a in the block, where there had been a spate of burglaries in the weeks before she vanished.

The former Ocean Club worker revealed: “I remember my colleague telling some of us the keys to that block had been lost.

“He told us about it in the week when the child was taken but I cannot remember the exact day. In the maintenance department we kept duplicates of all keys to the apartments.

“They were on a long cable and very clearly marked and we kept them in a safe.

“If there was a problem, a water leak, a gas leak, it was important for us to have entry to apartments if the owners or guests were out.

DENIALS: Maintenance worker Tiago da Silva.

The Sunday Express tracked down the maintenance worker who allegedly lost the keys, 29-year-old Tiago da Silva, who lives a few miles from Luz in Lagos, a pretty coastal town.

When we put it to him that keys were lost, he paused momentarily before saying: “That is not the case. I can’t remember any keys going missing. The keys in maintenance were kept in a safe and nobody could get to them.”

However, his former colleague insisted: “I know what he told me at the time. The keys for all the blocks were kept on a cable and clearly marked.

“He said he had lost the keys to block five. He told me in the same week when the little girl went missing. I am sure of this.

“From my memory I think they were replaced with duplicate keys for the apartments which were held at reception. I remember all this very clearly. He did not want us to tell people about it, so we didn’t say anything.”


Read full article...

[pegasus]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-claims-madeleine-mccann-kidnappers-3127121
This article indicates that the maintenance department keys were lost, and replaced with keys from reception.

If thats true then presumably reception employees and senior management would also know about the lost keys?

[Montclair]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-claims-madeleine-mccann-kidnappers-3127121
This article indicates that the maintenance department keys were lost, and replaced with keys from reception.

If thats true then presumably reception employees and senior management would also know about the lost keys?

From my experience working in a tourist resort in the Algarve, the locks on all of the apartments would have been replaced and new keys made.

[VIXTE]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-claims-madeleine-mccann-kidnappers-3127121
This article indicates that the maintenance department keys were lost, and replaced with keys from reception.

If thats true then presumably reception employees and senior management would also know about the lost keys?

Nothing about the keys in there..

[pegasus]

From my experience working in a tourist resort in the Algarve, the locks on all of the apartments would have been replaced and new keys made.

Yes that's what should happen.

Either way I dont see how maintenance department could get all those replacement keys from reception (or replacement locks fitted) without at least one worker at reception also knowing, and without at least one top manager also knowing.Yet zero employees/managers mention this in statements.

The involvement of reputation control peeps from day one obviously had nothing to do with it hopefully.

Of course this is all based on the generous assumption that the Express has accurately represented what was said by the two employees it interviewed.

[pegasus]

Nothing about the keys in there..

Sorry its
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/458798/Apartment-key-theft-cover-up-by-resort-staff-in-Madeleine-McCann-case

[Anna]

Sorry its
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/458798/Apartment-key-theft-cover-up-by-resort-staff-in-Madeleine-McCann-case

They only have to find out which one is lying and ........................ !

Found it quite silly that they agreed not to name the informer and then said that he was a bus driver and was late back on the day of the disappearance so we know who it was, so surely he does too A bit unkind ?
He looks like one of the efits... but who doesn't .Theres so many

[Sherlock Holmes]

From my experience working in a tourist resort in the Algarve, the locks on all of the apartments would have been replaced and new keys made.

Interesting. In this case, the keys seem to have gone missing a matter of days before the disappearance. Obviously were not quick of the mark with getting the locks changed this time.

Noted also from the article that the employee did not inform the police of the fact that keys had gone missing, because he didn't consider it significant.

Who was he to consider what was important for the police to know and what not?  And wouldn't this be something one would imagine police being interested in?

Are we to take this comment at face value, or was there another reason why the information was withheld?

[pegasus]

Re the recent Express article that a whole bunch of keys went missing just before the disappearance.
Does it seem strange that anyone would be able to obtain replacement keys from reception without management knowing?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Re the recent Express article that a whole bunch of keys went missing just before the disappearance.
Does it seem strange that anyone would be able to obtain replacement keys from reception without management knowing?

Who says management didn't know?  Perhaps they did.

Mark Warner had their PR officer flown in from England the very next day -they knew this whole situation was going to be very big for them, even by day 2.

[VIXTE]

Re the recent Express article that a whole bunch of keys went missing just before the disappearance.
Does it seem strange that anyone would be able to obtain replacement keys from reception without management knowing?

I agree, they might have known.
Although the man in the article claims he never said the word to anyone about it.
Now, that fingers are pointed at him he started talking.

[pegasus]

Who says management didn't know?  Perhaps they did.
Mark Warner had their PR officer flown in from England the very next day -they knew this whole situation was going to be very big for them, even by day 2.

From beginning walks for press were PR managed.

[VIXTE]

I was re-reading the lost keys story.

Man 1 who was questioned about the 'phone calls' - even in May 2007, said he called his wife to tell her he'd be late due to a colleague not turning up for work.

So, back in 2007 he was investigated? There are questions in files about his phone calls!

He was found by journalists and questioned. He then goes to accuse his co-worker of losing keys, said the keys were replaced, Said he left his job due to having problems with this particular co-worker. I read the file statement of the co-worker too. Very clear, precise. He said he was ready to help the police and would report anything unusual.

When traced now, the co-worker 2 said he never lost the keys.

So, someone is lying? Who? And why?

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/458798/Apartment-key-theft-cover-up-by-resort-staff-in-Madeleine-McCann-case

[Kazcutt]

But Portuguese police have always believed any intruder would have used the FRONT DOOR to enter, knowing the McCanns would never use it that night. He could also have escaped through the shuttered front window to the children's bedroom. For this he would have needed a KEY to the front door. The one the McCanns had for the Ocean Club apartment is known in the locksmiths' trade as a "crucifix key" - and is very unusual because it has four sides. Experienced British locksmith John Reeder told us the key used to take us into the flat yesterday is almost certainly a copy. He said: "Most locksmiths would not be able to copy it without great difficulty. The one in the picture is almost certainly not the original."
Supporting the theory that the kidnap could be an inside job, he added: "I would say it is most likely there is at least one other key in circulation as most locks come with at least two spares when they are cut. But there are not many keys aroun like this one."


May 11 2008

[Carana]

But Portuguese police have always believed any intruder would have used the FRONT DOOR to enter, knowing the McCanns would never use it that night. He could also have escaped through the shuttered front window to the children's bedroom. For this he would have needed a KEY to the front door. The one the McCanns had for the Ocean Club apartment is known in the locksmiths' trade as a "crucifix key" - and is very unusual because it has four sides. Experienced British locksmith John Reeder told us the key used to take us into the flat yesterday is almost certainly a copy. He said: "Most locksmiths would not be able to copy it without great difficulty. The one in the picture is almost certainly not the original."
Supporting the theory that the kidnap could be an inside job, he added: "I would say it is most likely there is at least one other key in circulation as most locks come with at least two spares when they are cut. But there are not many keys aroun like this one."


May 11 2008

These keys may appear unusual to a British locksmith, but they would seem to be very common in Portugal. If that's the case, any local locksmith would be able to duplicate one quite easily and quickly, I would have thought.