Wasn't the fact that he'd said that he wasn't there during the coverage around arguido time what alerted the three Tapas who thought that they had seen hhim?
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/FIONA-PAYNE-ROGATORY.htm*snipped*
There was a woman who worked, I think she was work, had worked in the bar in Praia da Luz and she had actually almost invited herself up onto the balcony and was just quite drunk and not being, just not saying anything very helpful and I remember getting quite cross with her, saying 'Look', you know, 'Why are you here', you know, 'If you're going to be helpful get out and look for her' and, erm, and I remember Gerry actually asking her quite politely if she wouldn't mind just leaving them. Erm, I think she was the only one really that, that actually came anywhere near the apartment that wasn't one of us or a Policeman. Erm, I was conscious, yeah, of a lot of Policemen in the, I don't know what you call them, the GNR or, they had the boots, the long boots and the uniform, so they were milling around the front and the back, again, all speaking Portuguese, we didn't really understand, you know, what they were saying or what they were doing. Erm, and I think, as I've said in my other statement, that's when I, around that time I saw Robert MURAT and that was at the front of the apartment. A I say, I'd been to'ing and fro'ing between the front and the back and I'd come out of the front, really just to see if anyone knew, had any information of what was happening, and, erm, Robert MURAT actually walked over to me and shook my hand and introduced himself, erm, and told me that he was, that he was a local, he was working with the Police and he spoke Portuguese and if I needed any help or wanted any help with translation then, erm, you know, he'll be there to help us. And I withdrew from him, I didn't, I don't know why specifically I remember him, I mean, I haven't got a very good memory for faces, I think the others will say, or people, but I remember him very clearly, because he looked a bit strange and he had a squint, he had glasses, he appeared as if he was with the Police, because he was standing in front of all these uniformed Police, and maybe it was my assumption that he was with them, erm, yet he was saying he was a local, and I didn't quite, in my mind, I said, well how come you're a local living down the road and you're here in plain clothes yet you're saying you're with the Police, it didn't, it just seemed a bit odd, erm, and he seemed overly in my face, I can't think of a better way of putting it, he was very quite sort of almost forceful in his introduction and, you know, at that point I was sort of almost trying to steer people away from the apartment, any extra people that weren't really needed in there, just because of what was going on inside and Kate's state, so I didn't really want somebody who I didn't know, erm, in there, erm, and I think I said in my previous statement to the PJ, there was just something that made me uneasy
1485
'Had you seen him before he introduced himself''
Reply
'No'.
01.07.15
1485
'Ever''
Reply
'No'.
1485
'During the time that you were there''
Reply
'No. No, and I didn't see him again. I was aware, I mean, as I say, on the balcony you could see down to the street and I was aware of him, erm, being around after he'd introduced himself and, again, he always seemed to be with the, these uniformed Police, in their vicinity, I wouldn't say he was with them, I don't know what his role was, but he was certainly around, but I didn't speak to him again'. 1485
'So a one and only time''
Reply
'Yeah'.
1485
'And exactly where did that conversation take place''
Reply
'It was kind of outside, erm, Rachael and Matt's apartment, in the front'.
1485
'That is the road side''
Reply
'On the road side, but it was under the cover, sort of between the, where the stairs are and Rachael and Matt's apartment, that area'.
1485
'Alright. And which direction did he come from''
Reply
'He, well he sort of came from the stair, where the stairwell was, that direction, and I was coming out of Kate's, erm, apartment'.
1485
'So did he look to you like he had come from the actual apartment block''
Reply
'He was already in the apartment block when I met him so'.
1485
'Alright. And you say he was in front of the local GNR''
Reply
'Yeah, they were behind him and, as I say, it was my assumption he was with them'.
1485
'Yeah. Did you actually see him or hear him speak to the local Police''
Reply
'No'.
1485
'Did he actually offer you any assistance, any service or, I know you are saying''
Reply
'Saying translating, that was what he said to me. I mean, he did introduce his name and I couldn't have told you it was Robert MURAT, I couldn't recall his name at all, but I recognise him'.
01.08.59
1485
'Right. Oh I see. So when he told you, he was a Robert MURAT, and then you realised who he was later on from the''
Reply
'When I realised, in fact, it was the day he was made, erm, brought in for questioning and we were watching SKY News, it was the afternoon in my apartment and Russell was in the apartment, and obviously, you know, again, we were all very shocked, there was any progress, who is this man, and he was on telly and it showed a picture and I was like 'Oh, is that the guy that was around on the night acting as translator', you know, 'with the squint', because you couldn't see in this picture, and Russell said 'Yeah, yeah, that's him', but I hadn't seen him at all in the days following, erm, you know, Madeleine's disappearance, that, that on the telly was the next time I'd seen him'.
1485
'Yeah'.
Reply
'And that's again what makes me positive that he was the man, because, as I said, the squint was apparent on the TV and I said 'Oh is that', and Russell should remember this, you know, 'Is that the guy that's got the squint' and he was like 'Yeah, yeah, that's the same man' and I said then 'Oh, yeah, I saw him on the night outside'. But at that point we'd, erm, again this is something that's baffled me, why would we lie about it because at that point seeing him around the apartment after Madeleine's disappearance doesn't mean anything, erm, and we didn't know at that point that he had denied being there on the night, you know, we, we were just saying 'Oh, yeah, he was around', we've got no reason to, to make that up or lie, it's of no consequence whether he was there or not afterwards, of implicating him in anything, so'.
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