The Tapas Note.

[sadie]

Rachel  - was she able to speak Portuguese so it might have been in Portuguese.
"Mentions" could be spoken or written.

Rob, what makes you think that Rachel wrote it?

IMO, it was written by the receptionist covering his back, because he/she was breaking the rules by allowing the rules to be broken.

In which case it probably was in Portuguese IMO.

[Innominate]

IMO, it was written by the receptionist covering his back, because he/she was breaking the rules by allowing the rules to be broken.

In which case it probably was in Portuguese IMO.

I'm not sure what rules were being broken.

JW confirms the rule is that bookings are not to be made more that 3 days in advance.

There are 3 booking sheets.

If RO's statement is correct then it is a possibilty that there was a block booking for 1/2/3 May.

Luisa Coutinho states:

The deponent has put some obstacles to the request since it is a very requested restaurant and that it has only 20 places daily for the clients of mark warner, nevertheless after insistence on the part of the mentioned host, the deponent was able to make the reservations requested

---

The rule is a limit of 20 places. If 9 places are being taken up for 3 days then that is potentially inconveniencing other guests, but not necessarily breaking any rules.

She objected. The guest insisted and she made the bookings.

[G-Unit]

We don't know there was a written note, it seems to be a widely held belief but no one has yet produced the proof.

Kate McCann says she saw it. She could only see it, it seems, if she has a different set of files than the ones released to journalists.

[sadie]

I think it can be made sense of, except for which day it happened.

A group go to book the table (Russell says there were a few of them, not just Rachael).
Rachael makes the request and is told they're full, so she begs.
A 'waiter' becomes involved; probably not a waiter but the Tapas supervisor, Tiago Barreiros.
He decides to contact the catering dept to see if it's OK to exceed the allocated covers (hence 'Steve' authorising it)
While he's busy doing that, one of the men gets involved and 'insists' on the booking being made for the week and mentions the child checking to the receptionist.
Rachael doesn't know that the man has managed to get the booking for the week, so assumes someone booked every day thereafter.

When the table was reserved, nothing was mentioned about checking on the children and the only concern was in accommodating the entire group.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/TIAGO_BARREIROS.htm

I think that you are making some rather large assumptions there, Gunit, with nothing really to support them.

[G-Unit]

Totally different scenario steven.

Creche
2-3 strangers to several children in unlocked premises, with parents and other staff likely to pop in regularly and spasmodically too.        ~ So little chance of abuse


Baby sitting
One stranger to one [in this case 3] child, in an environment that is locked up and private, with no-one likely to pop in.   The stranger will know where the parents are and their timetable
                                  ~ So plenty of opportunities for abuse. 



I suspect that you already know this, but prefer to "forget" it.

Abuse can take many forms. Many old people are abused by thoughtless younger people who are supposed to be caring for them. It can range from thoughtlessness to bullying to physical abuse. Teachers can have favourites and scapegoats. I'm sure nursery staff can behave badly also. It's all pot luck.

[sadie]

I feel sorry for today's mothers who seem to miss out on so much in their children's early years. For the first four years of their lives my children were cared for by me. I taught them what they needed to know, was present at every milestone and new experience, gave them consistent rules and knew exactly where every bump and bruise came from.

In the evenings I would use babysitters because I was also a wife and my husband and I needed time together too. As a military family our family and friends were far away, so babysitters were often teenagers, but in case of emergency they could get help from their own mothers or from any neighbour. That always worked fine.

I, personally, would never have had a stranger, or near stranger. baby sit what ever their age.

However we all know that people interested in paedophilia tend to take jobs with children, or with access to children .... and your teenagers do not fall into that catagory, so likely they were safer (child sexual abuse wise) than people who had chosen to work with children.


I feel awful saying the above because, without doubt, the vast majority of people who work with, or have access to children, are decent and kindly folk who wouldn't dream of hurting a child in any way.

[sadie]

I'm not sure what rules were being broken.

JW confirms the rule is that bookings are not to be made more that 3 days in advance.

There are 3 booking sheets.

If RO's statement is correct then it is a possibilty that there was a block booking for 1/2/3 May.

Luisa Coutinho states:

The deponent has put some obstacles to the request since it is a very requested restaurant and that it has only 20 places daily for the clients of mark warner, nevertheless after insistence on the part of the mentioned host, the deponent was able to make the reservations requested

---

The rule is a limit of 20 places. If 9 places are being taken up for 3 days then that is potentially inconveniencing other guests, but not necessarily breaking any rules.

She objected. The guest insisted and she made the bookings.

Yep, as you point out in your last three lines,  She broke the rules.

I think that it is likely that she wrote that note to cover her back ... and that it would be in Portuguese.



Nothing is a certainty about it though.

[sadie]

Kate McCann says she saw it. She could only see it, it seems, if she has a different set of files than the ones released to journalists.

I agree with the likelyhood of that being the case.

[John]

Rob, what makes you think that Rachel wrote it?

IMO, it was written by the receptionist covering his back, because he/she was breaking the rules by allowing the rules to be broken.

In which case it probably was in Portuguese IMO.

The receptionist was Luisa Coutinho.

[sadie]

Abuse can take many forms. Many old people are abused by thoughtless younger people who are supposed to be caring for them. It can range from thoughtlessness to bullying to physical abuse. Teachers can have favourites and scapegoats. I'm sure nursery staff can behave badly also. It's all pot luck.

We all know about the bullying of old people in some care homes; it is very worrying as you approach 80 !!

I personally have witnessed the bullying of children and been advised by a senior teacher on how to handle a disruptive pupil.   I was told to grasp a small clump of hair and twist it hard, then when the child shouts out to brush the incident aside with "Oh sorry, look what you made me do" and a kind smile and pat on the back.   
No way was I going to do anything like that!

I feel sure that nursery staff will to some extent be like a very few bad teachers, but the facts are that some paedophiles chose to go into nursery jobs, teaching, nursing and the media.   And it seems, from reports, that they often come over as charming, kindly, caring people.  They are expert manipulators.

Nothing like having baby sitters from your own family and good old friends who you have known for ever.



Must have been difficult for you Gunit, being away from home.  I understand that.

[Alice Purjorick]

There are plenty of naive people about.

That was not the point at issue.

[Robittybob1]

Rob, what makes you think that Rachel wrote it?

IMO, it was written by the receptionist covering his back, because he/she was breaking the rules by allowing the rules to be broken.

In which case it probably was in Portuguese IMO.

There needed to be someone able to cross the language barrier if they were to understand all this about leaving the kids asleep in the apartments.  Either Rachael could speak Portuguese or the receptionist understood English.  I'm not thinking Rachael wrote the note.

[Robittybob1]

Why should she have it unless you'r suggesting as mentioned up thread that as an arguido she would have a copy,in which case what of GM and RM not forgetting the other four that SY mistakenly thought were something to do with it,do they also get to see all of the first investigation files?

If the arguidos were swamped with the whole investigation file I would be most surprised but they might be presented with the evidence against them and the files that show this.

[sadie]

That was not the point at issue.

IMO, one has to be very naive to entrust their children to a stranger in a locked private place with no-one coming back for X hours.

Especially to a stranger who has chosen a job which ensures s/he is near children

As I have said before, the vast majority of people chosing to work with children are normal kind and caring people.

However jobs with children are often chosen by paedophiles.  Thank goodness they are but a tiny minority.

[sadie]

There needed to be someone able to cross the language barrier if they were to understand all this about leaving the kids asleep in the apartments.  Either Rachael could speak Portuguese or the receptionist understood English.  I'm not thinking Rachael wrote the note.

Rob, I am fortunate to have been well travelled in countries where the first language is not English.  From experience, I can tell you that a receptionist in a place catering for so many Brits would, almost without doubt, speak quite good English

Speaking English would probably be a requisite for getting the job in the first place   IMO