Has Martin Smith Changed his Opinion ?

[faithlilly]

Yes he has.

John provided the quote.

Then you'll be able to provide it.

[ShiningInLuz]

Because the 2 efits were done on two different computers, using different software, with two unrelated witnesses from different countries IMO.

Probably one efit is by one of the Irish group, possibly one of the children? It was children in the group who (unlike the adults) observed the girl's long sleeves, and her bare feet, and the man's black jacket/coat.

And one efit is probably is by the english female tourist, who reportedly saw a man walking along carrying a child and at the same time speaking on his mobile phone in english language, with a british (not foreign) accent. Source is a paper edition of Correio da Manha in July 2014.

There has been an FOI (I think) that both e-fits were produced by 'the Irish family'.

Can you give me any clue as to the English female tourist to narrow that one down a bit?  If that is for 3 May 2014, it is a new one on me.  Plus we have Gerry's phone records for that night.

[Brietta]

IMO the McCluskey sighting, the Smith sighting, and the JT sighting, are all irrelevant.
All open carrying sightings are irrelevant IMO - it would be contrary to all the instincts of a perpetrator.
The Hatton Garden crooks were low IQ but even they didn't carry armfuls of gold openly along the streets of London did they?
Yet the whole of this PDL investigation is focussed on that farcical assumption.

The McCluskey sighting was investigated and the incident and the people involved checked ... therefore it may indeed have been irrelevant.

The interest in it lies in the fact that people who witnessed a child being carried would as a result probably pay a great deal more attention to how the case developed than most. 

After months of negative press reports and after months of viewing the McCann family these witnesses became reluctantly convinced when viewing exactly the same news clip that the man they had witnessed carrying the child was the child's father, the man whose image they had been exposed to for months.
The wording of what they made of that in additions to their original statements is remarkably similar.

Whether you think it farcical or not, witnesses saw what they saw in three separate sightings, only one of which was effectively ruled out at the time.

[ferryman]

Then you'll be able to provide it.

Looks as if John has removed his post.

I have a subscription to the Telegraph site.  I'll dig it out another time.

In the meanwhile, Martin Smith has replaced opinion (that he and his family saw Gerry) with fact (that they did not) ...

[pegasus]

The McCluskey sighting was investigated and the incident and the people involved checked ... therefore it may indeed have been irrelevant.

The interest in it lies in the fact that people who witnessed a child being carried would as a result probably pay a great deal more attention to how the case developed than most. 

After months of negative press reports and after months of viewing the McCann family these witnesses became reluctantly convinced when viewing exactly the same news clip that the man they had witnessed carrying the child was the child's father, the man whose image they had been exposed to for months.
The wording of what they made of that in additions to their original statements is remarkably similar.

Whether you think it farcical or not, witnesses saw what they saw in three separate sightings, only one of which was effectively ruled out at the time.

Yes the sleeping girl and the man who was carrying her, who were seen and reported by the McClusky's, were later both identified by the PJ.

[faithlilly]

Looks as if John has removed his post.

I have a subscription to the Telegraph site.  I'll dig it out another time.

In the meanwhile, Martin Smith has replaced opinion (that he and his family saw Gerry) with fact (that they did not) ...

No he did not and simply repeating it ad finitum does not make it so.

Not sure why John would remove an honest quote, do you ?

[Brietta]

Yes the sleeping girl and the man who was carrying her, who were seen and reported by the McClusky's, were later both identified by the PJ.

The man existed.  He was ruled out of the inquiry, but Mr McCluskey did not know that.  His misidentification of Dr McCann was bona fide.

The Man in the Smith sighting has not been traced and has therefore not been ruled in or out.
The identical phrases used and the similarity of Mr Smith's misidentification suggest that exactly the triggers which stimulated Mr McCluskey's false recall had the same effect on Mr Smith.

[mercury]

In the meanwhile, Martin Smith has replaced opinion (that he and his family saw Gerry) with fact (that they did not) ...

Both those statements are false...MS never said his family saw Gerry or said that he changed his mind as to his personal thoughts on what he saw..let alone his family who never said it in the first place...in fact....that whole sentence of yours is very twisted?..unless you meant something else

Why make things up /twist things if it's a fact as you say  that Gerry was in the Tapas bar at 10?

Point being discussed remains, there is no evidence MS himself changed his mind as to his 60-80% surety that it was Gerry he saw (whether he was right or wrong)


As an aside what dyou reckon it was that changed smiths mind then? As alleged but not evidenced

[Brietta]

Looks as if John has removed his post.

I have a subscription to the Telegraph site.  I'll dig it out another time.

In the meanwhile, Martin Smith has replaced opinion (that he and his family saw Gerry) with fact (that they did not) ...

Months after the disappearance and after seeing Gerry McCann on TV, Mr Smith told police that he thought the man he saw carrying a girl around Madeleine’s age at the very time she went missing reminded him of Gerry McCann himself.

Mr Smith has reportedly since withdrawn that claim – just as Portuguese police have officially told the McCanns they are no longer suspects for their daughter’s disappearance.

The couple have also won libel damages for false suggestions that they were in any way involved.
Numerous witnesses have also given statements making clear that Mr McCann was at his holiday complex at the moment the sighting occurred – which was at the very time when he and his wife started calling for help looking for Maddie.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478087/Why-Madeleine-McCann-suspect-E-fits-kept-secret-5-years.html#ixzz40r8h5x8Q

[mercury]

Months after the disappearance and after seeing Gerry McCann on TV, Mr Smith told police that he thought the man he saw carrying a girl around Madeleine’s age at the very time she went missing reminded him of Gerry McCann himself.

Mr Smith has reportedly since withdrawn that claim – just as Portuguese police have officially told the McCanns they are no longer suspects for their daughter’s disappearance.

The couple have also won libel damages for false suggestions that they were in any way involved.
Numerous witnesses have also given statements making clear that Mr McCann was at his holiday complex at the moment the sighting occurred – which was at the very time when he and his wife started calling for help looking for Maddie.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478087/Why-Madeleine-McCann-suspect-E-fits-kept-secret-5-years.html#ixzz40r8h5x8Q

We are still waiting for credible proof that Smith withdrew the claim.

[Brietta]

We are still waiting for credible proof that Smith withdrew the claim.

In what way did the Rebelo investigation progress Mr Smith's addition to his statement?

[pegasus]

In what way did the Rebelo investigation progress Mr Smith's addition to his statement?

I don't know, but one thing the Rebelo investigation certainly didn't do is fly the witness to Portugal to make a formal identification.
The witness had already agreed to go to Portugal, in a phonecall with the PJ on Sept 27th.

[faithlilly]

Months after the disappearance and after seeing Gerry McCann on TV, Mr Smith told police that he thought the man he saw carrying a girl around Madeleine’s age at the very time she went missing reminded him of Gerry McCann himself.

Mr Smith has reportedly since withdrawn that claim – just as Portuguese police have officially told the McCanns they are no longer suspects for their daughter’s disappearance.

The couple have also won libel damages for false suggestions that they were in any way involved.
Numerous witnesses have also given statements making clear that Mr McCann was at his holiday complex at the moment the sighting occurred – which was at the very time when he and his wife started calling for help looking for Maddie.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478087/Why-Madeleine-McCann-suspect-E-fits-kept-secret-5-years.html#ixzz40r8h5x8Q

So the Mail repeating the unattributed claim in the Times.

[sadie]

Looks as if John has removed his post.

I have a subscription to the Telegraph site.  I'll dig it out another time.

In the meanwhile, Martin Smith has replaced opinion (that he and his family saw Gerry) with fact (that they did not) ...

Yep, I  saw the "quote" from Martin Smith that he did not believe that Smithman was Gerry.  I think it was in The Times, ferryman

How strange that John has removed it ... and Faith seemed to know ... or am I imagining that?


Please John, can we have it back.  Thanks

[ferryman]

We are still waiting for credible proof that Smith withdrew the claim.

The efits (one produced by Martin Smith) is credible proof.

No one would seriously believe Mr Smith would produce an efit of a man he thought was Gerry, for obvious reasons.