So where was Smithman going to that night?

[Brietta]

The S&R dogs weren't given Madeleine's pink blanket to scent from, they were given a towel. The same towel was used on the 2nd occasion by those dogs.
03 Processos, volume III Pages 762 to 765
03_VOLUMEIIIa_Page_762
03_VOLUMEIIIa_Page_763
03_VOLUMEIIIa_Page_764
03_VOLUMEIIIa_Page_765

Witness Statement of Antonio Freitas Silva
Date: 2007.05.09
Location: DIC Portimao
Occupation: 1st Sergeant GNR
Location: GNR-Queluz

The deponent states that:
- He comes to the process in the role of Chief of the GNR Search and Rescue Team. He coordinated all the work carried out by the two sniffer dogs in the Luz zone and the immediate areas relating to the disappearance of the English minor Madeleine McCann from the Ocean Club.
- He remembers that on the 4th of May of the current year, around 23H00, they attempted to tentatively identify and thus reconstruct the path taken by the missing minor. They gave the dogs a Turkish bath towel which was supposedly used by the child.

Haven't posted the full statement, but bearing in mind the PJ couldn't find any definitive DNA samples from Madeleine in 5a.....

The files also record that a blanket supplied by Madeleine's parents was used, I think it could only have been the pink blanket which probably wasn't returned as it seems to have been lost.

13-Processos Vol XIII Pages 3517
GNR Report
Subject: Report of Searches Related to the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Annex B. Report on the Sniffer Dog Search and Rescue Team

After the officers had been updated about facts relating to the disappearance, they tried to reconstruct the route the girl might have taken with the two tracker dogs. For this purpose the dogs were given a blanket to sniff, provided by the parents, which had been used by Madeleine.
http://mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htm

[Brietta]

He hadn't received a call to provide a witness statement detailing a man very similar to Tannerman heading in the opposite direction?

There has always been controversy about both sightings, particularly the 'missing' forty five minutes.
They were thought to be the same man because the descriptions fitted each other so precisely.  If this was a 'set up' it could only have been for the purpose of taking attention away from the direction in which innocentman was walking.

[misty]

There has always been controversy about both sightings, particularly the 'missing' forty five minutes.
They were thought to be the same man because the descriptions fitted each other so precisely.  If this was a 'set up' it could only have been for the purpose of taking attention away from the direction in which innocentman was walking.

Precisely. Innocentman, ie Tannerman/crecheman's role in all this was to fuel evidence against RM. Only after he was made an arguido did Smith come forward & make his statement. Yet the PJ were happy to let this statement sit in the files until the McCanns didn't collapse under the weight of the dogs' findings & subsequent interrogations.

[misty]

The files also record that a blanket supplied by Madeleine's parents was used, I think it could only have been the pink blanket which probably wasn't returned as it seems to have been lost.

13-Processos Vol XIII Pages 3517
GNR Report
Subject: Report of Searches Related to the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Annex B. Report on the Sniffer Dog Search and Rescue Team

After the officers had been updated about facts relating to the disappearance, they tried to reconstruct the route the girl might have taken with the two tracker dogs. For this purpose the dogs were given a blanket to sniff, provided by the parents, which had been used by Madeleine.
http://mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htm

On 7th May the same searches were continued, being extended to to the entire northern part of Almadena to the site of Espojeiro and the verges of the EN125 until the Boi valley.

At about 19.. the undersigned officer, accompanied by the Commander, Officer Silva, took part in a meetings with the PJ Directorate, being asked by the PJ about the viability of giving the girl's clothes to the dogs for the dogs to sniff again, and if by means of the odour inhaled, they would be able to mark an identical odour in one of the resort apartments even though its door was closed.

With regard to this task, Officer Silva referred to the fact that the time that had passed would be a crucial condition for the dogs' work in obtaining results and that the entirety of the human odours existing in the apartments and access paths could make the dogs' searches very difficult. However, in spite of not being a normal situation for tracking, it could be attempted, whilst the operation should be carried out as quickly as possible and not directed towards one but to all the apartments in the resort, it being appropriate for the handler not to know which apartment was chosen, so as not the be conditioned.

In this concrete situation, the objective would be for the dogs to carry out a discontinuous search, in other words, to sniff the girl's clothes and immediately search near to the apartments, checking to see if there was any change in the behaviour of the dogs.

At about 23.00 accompanied by a PJ inspector, the searches were begun. After Rex was given the girl's clothing to sniff, he began to search on the ground floor of block 5 and when he passed the door of apartment 5 A (the place the girl had disappeared from) according to his handler, officer Fernandes, the dog altered its behaviour, sniffing with greater intensity than he had done before. Apartment 5J of the same block was also checked as the dog had been more agitated than before as if there were a very strong strange odour there. It was stated that this apartment had been unoccupied for some time. Afterwards, the same kind of search was carried out using the dog Zarus which in general terms showed the same behaviour in the same places as Rex had done.

Above taken from GNR final report you have linked to.
Both the s&r dog handlers said in their statements that Rex & Zeus used the Aztec towel for scenting on both occasions they were used, yet the GNR final report refers to the pink blanket & Madeleine's clothes being used.
Shoddy police final report or deliberate attemp to deceive?

[pathfinder73]

The files also record that a blanket supplied by Madeleine's parents was used, I think it could only have been the pink blanket which probably wasn't returned as it seems to have been lost.

13-Processos Vol XIII Pages 3517
GNR Report
Subject: Report of Searches Related to the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Annex B. Report on the Sniffer Dog Search and Rescue Team

After the officers had been updated about facts relating to the disappearance, they tried to reconstruct the route the girl might have taken with the two tracker dogs. For this purpose the dogs were given a blanket to sniff, provided by the parents, which had been used by Madeleine.
http://mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GNR_SNIFFER.htm

Amaral was looking for the pink blanket so I think it was returned.

[Brietta]

Precisely. Innocentman, ie Tannerman/crecheman's role in all this was to fuel evidence against RM. Only after he was made an arguido did Smith come forward & make his statement. Yet the PJ were happy to let this statement sit in the files until the McCanns didn't collapse under the weight of the dogs' findings & subsequent interrogations.

Mr Smith's statement 'cleared' Mr Murat at a time when there were many conflicting reports of Mr Murat's whereabouts on the third and when he was an arguido.
Mr Smith's statement implicated Dr McCann at a time when he was an arguido.

That is quite coincidental.

[Brietta]

Amaral was looking for the pink blanket so I think it was returned.

I didn't know it was Dr Amaral who was looking for it, it was just at the back of my mind that it had disappeared at some time after being photographed on the bed.
It should properly have been returned if not to the parents but to be kept as evidence since it was one of the last known items to be in close contact with Madeleine. If Dr Amaral was looking for it suggests it had gone astray as the last record of it is being given to the police.

[pathfinder73]

Mr Smith's statement 'cleared' Mr Murat at a time when there were many conflicting reports of Mr Murat's whereabouts on the third and when he was an arguido.
Mr Smith's statement implicated Dr McCann at a time when he was an arguido.

That is quite coincidental.

Martin Smith knew Robert Murat so he knew it wasn't him that he'd seen. He didn't know Gerry. Big difference.

[Brietta]

Martin Smith knew Robert Murat so he knew it wasn't him that he'd seen. He didn't know Gerry. Big difference.

He cleared one.
He implicated the other.
Big difference.

[pathfinder73]

I didn't know it was Dr Amaral who was looking for it, it was just at the back of my mind that it had disappeared at some time after being photographed on the bed.
It should properly have been returned if not to the parents but to be kept as evidence since it was one of the last known items to be in close contact with Madeleine. If Dr Amaral was looking for it suggests it had gone astray as the last record of it is being given to the police.

Oh Madeleine's pink blanket is important to Amaral because hairs found in the boot matched Madeleine's in colour. They can now test hairs without roots. Madeleine's hair should not be found in the boot of the car rented 24 days after her disappearance. It will be interesting to see if anything more comes from this  >@@(*&)

[Brietta]

Oh Madeleine's pink blanket is important to Amaral because hairs found in the boot matched Madeleine's in colour. They can now test hairs without roots. Madeleine's hair should not be found in the boot of the car rented 24 days after her disappearance. It will be interesting to see if anything more comes from this  >@@(*&)

Dearie me, don't you think if something was going to come from this it might have happened at some point in time over the last seven years?
So if the blanket is as important as that, the police should have taken more care not to lose it.

Quite a pointless discussion anyway as we are way off topic and the moderators are just going to whoosh us anyway.

[misty]

Oh Madeleine's pink blanket is important to Amaral because hairs found in the boot matched Madeleine's in colour. They can now test hairs without roots. Madeleine's hair should not be found in the boot of the car rented 24 days after her disappearance. It will be interesting to see if anything more comes from this  >@@(*&)

Amaral also had hair from Madeline's pillow back in the UK. Wonder if all that hair is still sitting in its evidence container or if it was "misplaced/destroyed".
You'd have thought the McCanns would have had the sense to wrap Madeleine's remains up before putting them in the boot of the hire car, wouldn't you? The corpse must have rolled around a bit for that hair to fall out.

[misty]

Mr Smith's statement 'cleared' Mr Murat at a time when there were many conflicting reports of Mr Murat's whereabouts on the third and when he was an arguido.
Mr Smith's statement implicated Dr McCann at a time when he was an arguido.

That is quite coincidental.

If Mr Smith's statement was a fabrication, there is no need to discuss Smithman or the route he may have taken.
 If Mr Smith's statement was true, why did no-one else see Smithman?
If Mr Smith's statement was a fabrication, who requested it?

[Brietta]

If Mr Smith's statement was a fabrication, there is no need to discuss Smithman or the route he may have taken.
 If Mr Smith's statement was true, why did no-one else see Smithman?
If Mr Smith's statement was a fabrication, who requested it?

If the CCTV covering Smithman's route had not been erased we might have had the answers to a lot of questions.

[misty]

If the CCTV covering Smithman's route had not been erased we might have had the answers to a lot of questions.

Ah, yes, the CCTV at the very place the Smiths were staying. All so convenient. Pity there is no note in the files as to the date the PJ actually went there & requested the CCTV footage.