Calling me an alcoholic shoplifter you mean? Why that in particular I wonder? Oh well. I would probably laugh because I haven't had an alcoholic drink for years, and I am completely honest. Everyone who knows me would laugh uproariously too. Then I might call up the newspaper and ask where on earth they got the story and give them the true facts.
I'm sure the 'fallibility of memory' idea is sufficient to satisfy you, but why do you think that? Two of the degrees which need a better than average memory are medicine and law. Six doctors and a lawyer seem to have memories like sieves in this case. I remember more about the night of 3rd May than they do. Kate McCann had a bath and a shower. David Payne forgot he saw Kate in a towel. Kate saw open curtains which became closed. Gerry thought he was at high tea to collect Madeleine but wasn't seen there. He had no idea who left the table to check on their children. He missed the fact that Russell's daughter was sick and Russell was missing for a while. He wasn't listening when the jokes about Jane 'relieving Russell' were going round the table. He didn't remember which door he used. He didn't remember which side of the road he was on. Matthew thought the McCann children's bedroom had two windows. He also thought he could see a child through the solid end of a travel cot. Kate forgot she told the other women she was worried about leaving the patio doors open, and has since said repeatedly that she never even thought about it. I could go on, but I'm sure you've got the picture now.
So you would find it funny to be publicly libelled as an alcoholic shoplifter in the local newspaper! I have to say that really surprises me G-Unit. I would be shocked and angry and demanding a retraction and an apology. I certainly wouldn't be laughing. And neither would my friends or family.
On the subject of 'memory'. Once again I feel you have no ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes i.e. no empathy. The McCanns and their friends had been suddenly plunged into a nightmare situation - the stress and trauma would be immense and long lasting IMO. I would not expect them to be able to calmly remember every mundane detail of that day - most of which was completely unimportant and they had no reason to carefully commit every minute of it to memory. It was only after Madeleine was taken it took on any importance.
Fortunately the police are well aware of the fallibility of memory and therefore do not find it all surprising that witnesses can give vastly different accounts of the same incident.
Quote (again)
In a crime situation memory is influenced by many factors such as stress, the presence of a weapon and even just the desire to help police solve the crime.
"Police know how fallible the memory can be," says Steve Retford, a former head of the investigative skills unit at GMP and now specialist interviewing adviser with the force.
"They also know this is usually not through mischievousness on the part of the witnesses, but through stress and shock."
Take the case of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot at Stockwell Tube station in 2005 by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber.
Eyewitnesses said he had vaulted a ticket barrier when running away from the police. In fact it was later shown by CCTV that Mr Menezes had walked through the barriers, having picked up a free newspaper, and only ran when he saw his train arriving.
End quote
ALSO
Quote from DC Ferguson (JT's rogatory statement)
4078 “You know, we can take a statement from people, if an incident happened outside and there was a group of people watching it, everybody would have a different take on what they had seen”.
Unquote.
It is also known that witnesses can later remember something which they had previously forgotten. That is why everyone knows what ''having your memory jogged'' means. It is also normal for policemen to ask witnesses to contact them straightaway if they later remember anything else.
Are you saying none of the above is applicable to the McCanns or their friends?
IMO the instances you quote would not be regarded as suspicious in any way by SY - especially as they would be able to speak to the witnesses themselves if needs be - and unlike us - did not have to rely
only on their translated statements.
