The Tapas Bookings

[stephen25000]

If and when alleged perpetrators of the crime against Madeleine McCann are apprehended and there is sufficient evidence to bring them to trial ... I will be happy to allow the law to take its course and hope the resolution of Madeleine's case will be a propitious one which she will be there to enjoy.

The last thing I would contemplate would be participating as part of a baying crowd.  There has been way too much of that behaviour over the past nine years.

• Evidence of absence is evidence therefore the fact that Madeleine is not at home with her family is evidence
• There is eye witness evidence of strangers

Shining has written a succinct account of why the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance may have got off on the back foot ...  https://shininginluz.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/madeleine-smithman-challenge-1/

The pity is that it never picked up from there.

However, if as this thread might suggest the tapas bookings were pivotal to the investigation ... why was the blanket coverage approach abandoned in favour of concentration on the most investigated individuals in Luz (Robert Murat and his associates apart) to the exclusion of investigating those who might have been of interest or not among the other people using the restaurant that week.

Madeleine not in the apartment, and no sign of her since that night in 2007, is evidence of accidental death, or of her walking out of the apartment.

Eye witness of strangers seeing some person or persons staring at a building, doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

[Miss Taken Identity]

If and when alleged perpetrators of the crime against Madeleine McCann are apprehended and there is sufficient evidence to bring them to trial ... I will be happy to allow the law to take its course and hope the resolution of Madeleine's case will be a propitious one which she will be there to enjoy.

The last thing I would contemplate would be participating as part of a baying crowd.  There has been way too much of that behaviour over the past nine years.

• Evidence of absence is evidence therefore the fact that Madeleine is not at home with her family is evidence
• There is eye witness evidence of strangers

Shining has written a succinct account of why the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance may have got off on the back foot ...  https://shininginluz.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/madeleine-smithman-challenge-1/

The pity is that it never picked up from there.

However, if as this thread might suggest the tapas bookings were pivotal to the investigation ... why was the blanket coverage approach abandoned in favour of concentration on the most investigated individuals in Luz (Robert Murat and his associates apart) to the exclusion of investigating those who might have been of interest or not among the other people using the restaurant that week.

in red - that was 'tongue in cheek' I have no intentions of going to portugal.

snip

• Evidence of absence is evidence therefore the fact that Madeleine is not at home with her family is evidence
• There is eye witness evidence of strangers

snip

ok  yes there is evidence that Maddie has not come home with her parents. That is ll the evidence we have, nothing else!

There is eyewitness of strangers? well there would be as it was full of strangers, apart from the Tapas group who knew each other, and the staff, and local residents. I know any holiday I go on the place is bloody full of people I don't know.

Snip
why was the blanket coverage approach abandoned in favour of concentration on the most investigated individuals in Luz (Robert Murat and his associates apart) to the exclusion of investigating those who might have been of interest or not among the other people using the restaurant that week.
snip

Maybe because of the parents behaviour/inconsistant stories and UK police giving advice gave rise to suspicion.

[G-Unit]

Your thread concerns the tapas bookings ... but apparently only in relation to a table of nine diners.  Evidently a myopia which enables you to cancel out the other tables of diners, people visiting the toilet, people waiting for a carry out meal etc ~ into a total irrelevance.

The nine sitting at that table have been thoroughly investigated resulting in no suggestion they had a hand in Madeleine's disappearance.
One can only wonder at the resistance to the idea an abductor (they do eat, I suppose) might have been sitting in that restaurant watching and taking note of the movements of the nine.

Might I respectfully point out all nine named persons at that table have aspersions cast at them every minute of every day ... "inconsistency" is one word ... but there are many more.
Surprised you haven't noticed and raised an eyebrow at that.

You seem to be getting very excited about this thread, Brietta. I say again, instead of complaining why don't you set up a thread discussing the matters you are concerned about? It does involve digging about in the files to get the information but I'm sure that won't be a problem for you. You might find a remark by a waiter about someone who was concentrating on writing in their notebook labelled 'Movements of the naive twerps who have told the receptionist and other holidaymakers that their cute little kids are being left home alone every evening'

[Brietta]

You seem to be getting very excited about this thread, Brietta. I say again, instead of complaining why don't you set up a thread discussing the matters you are concerned about? It does involve digging about in the files to get the information but I'm sure that won't be a problem for you. You might find a remark by a waiter about someone who was concentrating on writing in their notebook labelled 'Movements of the naive twerps who have told the receptionist and other holidaymakers that their cute little kids are being left home alone every evening'

I'll leave most of the 'digging about' in the files to those whose forte it is ...

Particularly as the evidence I am interested in never made it to the files.
Quite simply because the relevant questions were not asked of the relevant people at the most propitious time in the investigation which was shortly after Madeleine's disappearance.  The investigation was being driven not in the direction of 'stranger danger' but rather towards an 'inside job' as Mr Amaral confirms in his book and I believe, Ricardo Paiva has confirmed in court.

A discussion on who else of interest might have been dining in the tapas restaurant at the same time as the nine, or who may have taken the opportunity to observe them from there sits very nicely on a thread discussing the tapas bookings, don't you think?
Err well ... obviously not ... but it does however broaden the speculative base rather.

Particularly as none of the nine are either suspects nor persons of interest in Madeleine's disappearance ... leaving the field wide open to pursue other options about everyone else present on the night who have not undergone such thorough vetting from two Portuguese investigations one under Amaral and one under Rebelo.

[slartibartfast]

There seemed to have been a fair amount of illness amongst the T9 parents and kids that week, does anyone have a defintive list.

[ShiningInLuz]

You seem to be getting very excited about this thread, Brietta. I say again, instead of complaining why don't you set up a thread discussing the matters you are concerned about? It does involve digging about in the files to get the information but I'm sure that won't be a problem for you. You might find a remark by a waiter about someone who was concentrating on writing in their notebook labelled 'Movements of the naive twerps who have told the receptionist and other holidaymakers that their cute little kids are being left home alone every evening'

Approaching this from a somewhat different angle, doesn't it intrigue you what the other diners in the Tapas restaurant saw from Sun-Thu that week?

The Tapas restaurant is not large and 9 diners (barring illness) sitting at a single big round table (BRT) should have stuck out like a sore thumb.

Waiters, IMO, would have noticed only a little as they served.

Bar staff, IMO, would have noticed next to nothing, at least until the T9 decided to move from wine to a nightcap.

That leaves other diners as the best independent witnesses to the checking routine.  Was the T9 quiet or animated?  Were people frequently leaving the restaurant, for whatever reason?

My last 2 meals out in Luz have basically been trashed by a lot of noise generated by others.  Both times I was trying to have a quiet, discreet discussion of aspects of the case.  In the first instance, we picked a quiet table and everything went well, until a party of 6 arrived and chose a table quite near us.  There was one woman who thought the only way to talk was at least at 80dB, and quite soon her party of 6 were all shouting.  Then the other diners found that the only way they could make themselves heard was to shout louder than the party of 6, and the restaurant turned into a battle of who could talk the loudest.  In the second instance, the restaurant owners had a young boy of about 3 who was running around playing, shouting as he went.  No quiet conversation there either.

There is a list of people who, potentially, can provide evidence on the checking routine of the Tapas 9.  That list is those diners occupying the Tapas restaurant at the same time as the T9.

Did the PJ check this in Amaral or Rebelo's time?  I can't see anything to support this.

Did any of the McCann PIs check this?  Presumably not, this would be outside their remit.

Did OG check this?  Presumably not, given the OG remit.

Will another McCann team check this?  I'm guessing not, again based on a remit idea.

But all of this lot should/should have check(ed) this, because it imposes restrictions on an abduction or alternative theories.

The folks who can provide independent verification of what was happening during the Tapas meals are the other diners.

[slartibartfast]

I'll leave most of the 'digging about' in the files to those whose forte it is ...

Particularly as the evidence I am interested in never made it to the files.
Quite simply because the relevant questions were not asked of the relevant people at the most propitious time in the investigation which was shortly after Madeleine's disappearance.  The investigation was being driven not in the direction of 'stranger danger' but rather towards an 'inside job' as Mr Amaral confirms in his book and I believe, Ricardo Paiva has confirmed in court.

A discussion on who else of interest might have been dining in the tapas restaurant at the same time as the nine, or who may have taken the opportunity to observe them from there sits very nicely on a thread discussing the tapas bookings, don't you think?
Err well ... obviously not ... but it does however broaden the speculative base rather.

Particularly as none of the nine are either suspects nor persons of interest in Madeleine's disappearance ... leaving the field wide open to pursue other options about everyone else present on the night who have not undergone such thorough vetting from two Portuguese investigations one under Amaral and one under Rebelo.

It's a bit of Audacter calumniare, aliquid semper haeret.

[G-Unit]

I was interested in the group's bookings, no-one else's. My interest arose because the receptionist who took the booking seems to have mistaken a small dark haired woman for a tall thin man accompanied by a child. As far as I know there's no information about anyone else's booking routine, so I can't discuss that. All we know is that there was some concern about the group's apparently privileged status.

Those who wish to broaden the discussion should start another thread instead of highjacking this one. How anyone can be interested in evidence which doesn't exist I don't know. Still, it makes it easier to speculate I suppose, and harder for others to refute the speculations.

I would be very interested in knowing what other diners had to say, but no interviews are in the files, so I can't.

[Alice Purjorick]

How does one define "a stranger" in a holiday resort which by definition has a high transient population aka "strangers".

[Miss Taken Identity]

I am just wondering, why they claimed 'it felt safe' as a reason for leaving the children, when they had every intention of leaving them alone while they dined anyway, before they even set foot on a plane to get there.

The devil is in the detail.

ALWAYS seek the little pennies , when collected, they build into pounds!

[mercury]

Perhaps everyne got to know everyone on holiday and everyone living in the whole village so there were strangers noticed?


 &%+((£

What interests me more is the emphasis put on people staring at the apartment or towards it meaning they were dodgy and planning an abduction. What if they were just admiring the bouganvilia bushes, or waiting for a mate or a lift.

Seems to me the PJ were expected to be the worlds super police force and failed each tme they didnt investigate something just in case. LIke the pile of fags in a nearby apartment balcony could have meant someone was spying on 5a. Well, tell that to every smoker who doesnt smoke inside the house. It is impossible the police could have investigated every little thng that "might" have meant something. Especially when half their time was taken chasing bogus sightngs whh were due to the world wide media campaign.

[Miss Taken Identity]

Perhaps everyne got to know everyone on holiday and everyone living in the whole village so there were strangers noticed?


 &%+((£

What interests me more is the emphasis put on people staring at the apartment or towards it meaning they were dodgy and planning an abduction. What if they were just admiring the bouganvilia bushes, or waiting for a mate or a lift.


Seems to me the PJ were expected to be the worlds super police force and failed each tme they didnt investigate something just in case. LIke the pile of fags in a nearby apartment balcony could have meant someone was spying on 5a. Well, tell that to every smoker who doesnt smoke inside the house. It is impossible the police could have investigated every little thng that "might" have meant something. Especially when half their time was taken chasing bogus sightngs whh were due to the world wide media campaign.

Well, it is interesting that these 'ready to pounce abductors' were quite relaxed about their 'mission', they forgot to 'hide' like 'normal'  ready to pounce abductors-  I mean  the witneses were total cowards not to phone the police or alert someone that 'strangers' were.... standing  and... yeah I blame the police for not phoning the tapas bar and asking if there were any strangers needing to be reported- could have saved a lot of heartache for everyone.

* does a twirl* as  I am still being watched... just in case...

[Alfie]

Is the notion of a holiday apartment being watched (cased) for several days before being entered illegally completely absurd, in the view of the sceptics of this forum?

[Miss Taken Identity]

Is the notion of a holiday apartment being watched (cased) for several days before being entered illegally completely absurd, in the view of the sceptics of this forum?

No, not entirely. We have neighbourhood watch in our area. There have been many reported sightings of people approaching properties where families were on holiday. It works.  But, in this case and the implications of it are absurd in my opinion. For reasons too obvious  IF the flat was being watched over several days  they would know children were left alone at night. on one occasion it was reported by Maddie that Sean was crying and where were they(the parents) So on that basis  burglars would avoid that at all costs! AND  if they were so noticable why not report them to the police ?

[Alfie]

No, not entirely. We have neighbourhood watch in our area. There have been many reported sightings of people approaching properties where families were on holiday. It works.  But, in this case and the implications of it are absurd in my opinion. For reasons too obvious  IF the flat was being watched over several days  they would know children were left alone at night. on one occasion it was reported by Maddie that Sean was crying and where were they(the parents) So on that basis  burglars would avoid that at all costs! AND  if they were so noticable why not report them to the police ?

I don't follow your logic sorry.  If the apartment was being watched over several days then yes, they would know the kids were being left unattended, so what's absurd about that?  No one is suggesting that the casing of Apartment 5a happened all night long, every night so those casing the joint wouldn't necessarily have known children inside had been crying, or have heard them even if they were still lurking in the area.  And so what if they had?  If someone is intent on taking a child from a room of small children, the possibility of one or all of them making a noise would surely already have been considered.  But if you knew that it would take a minimum of 2 minutes before a parent would come to investigate then that would give you enough time to take a child and leave the area, especially if traveling by car.  Nothing at all absurd about it is there really?