Gonçalo Amaral claimed that so-called Smithman e-fits were simply a ruse!

[misty]

I don't think the question is concise to begin with, Mercury.  It didn't specify "Smith".  Therefore in a resort hugely popular with the Irish the "members of the Irish family" response may not necessarily refer to the family the questioner thought he was asking about.

The programme itself  only made reference to the one Irish family & the sighting on Rua 25 d A. at around 10pm so it must be the Smiths.

[Robittybob1]

Mr Amaral is correct. The phonecall at 10:55am on 20 Sept 2007 was documented by the british police Robbity.

@ Pegasus - How did you ever find that out?  Why did you ever find that out?  Were the public aware there was a Smith family sighting at that stage?  Would it be possible for someone to impersonate Mr. Smith?  A phone call isn't that hard is it.

[Robittybob1]

I agree with Mr Amaral, the two Crimewatch efits were not made not by members of the Smith group IMO.

No one around here believes opinion, what facts do you  have Pegasus?

[ferryman]

The programme itself  only made reference to the one Irish family & the sighting on Rua 25 d A. at around 10pm so it must be the Smiths.

Yes, unquestionably the Smiths, Martin and Mary.

For a long time I wondered whether the second efit might have been produced by Aofe, but definitely Mary (Mr Smith's wife).

[Robittybob1]

Almost 3 months after Mr Amaral was taken off the case, the Irish police, on behalf the PJ Rebelo (not Amaral) investigation, took this statement from the witness on 23 Jan 2008.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MARTIN_SMITH.htm#p16p4134

  A statement like that seems totally false to me,  why would he not sleep for 11 days and nights, that shows he is totally nuts IMO.

[pathfinder73]

I do not believe that Martin Smith is courting the press and my view his is a genuine person. He is known locally and is a very decent person.

Forwarded please

Sergeant

Liam Hogan

[ferryman]

I do not believe that Martin Smith is courting the press and my view his is a genuine person. He is known locally and is a very decent person.

Forwarded please

Sergeant

Liam Hogan

Yep.

I've never had any problem with Martin Smith.

A genuine witness who recognised he made an (honest) error in mis-identifying Gerry as the man he and his family all saw.

[slartibartfast]

Yep.

I've never had any problem with Martin Smith.

A genuine witness who recognised he made an (honest) error in mis-identifying Gerry as the man he and his family all saw.

Cite or remove.

[Brietta]

Cite or remove.

Quote
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#ixzz4ISb3OEgG

[Carana]

  A statement like that seems totally false to me,  why would he not sleep for 11 days and nights, that shows he is totally nuts IMO.

Not necessarily. He'd already found himself in the press and wasn't happy about it.

Other family members disagreed with him and he had to wrestle with his own conscience as to whether to report it anyway or not.

The way in which Smithman carried the child seems to have jogged a memory of the man he remembered having carried a child in a similar way. Add to that, the fact that McCanns had just been made arguidos and memories (real or or implanted) can go into overdrive.

A common phenomenon that well-trained police are aware of and bear in mind.

[pathfinder73]

He sent a solicitor's letter to six papers in relation material that was printed that was misquoted. The Evening Herald paid his solicitor's fees and all papers printed an apology. His photograph appeared in another tabloid paper and this matter is being pursued at the moment.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MARTIN_SMITH.htm

Martin Smith is no stranger to misquotes from newspapers.

[pegasus]

(snip) ,,, witness who recognised he made an (honest) error in mis-identifying ...(snip)

Here is his statement to police on 23 Jan 2008 (about 4 months after first making the identification).
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/P16/16_VOLUME_XVIa_Page_4137.jpg
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/P16/16_VOLUME_XVIa_Page_4136.jpg

[Carana]

I don't have a problem with the fact that Martin Smith chose to contact the police over his doubt.

It seems have been a flash memory of how someone carried a child - although there aren't two thousand ways of carrying a sleeping young child down the steps of a plane.

Still, if I try to place myself in that situation, I might well have done (assuming that I could have done so in confidence), just in case the police found something potentially significant or were able to do some kind of cognitive interview magic that might have made me remember a hitherto unnoticed crucial detail.

On the other hand, I'd have been more than pissed off to find that a) my confidential report to the police had ended up in the public domain and that b) Amaral increasingly exaggerated my confidential doubt to any media willing to give him airtime.

[Alice Purjorick]

Quote
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#ixzz4ISb3OEgG

Reported by whom?

[pathfinder73]

"I would be 60-80% sure that it was ........" is a doubt? That's a pretty strong statement accusing somebody of carrying a child. You don't discard leads like that without further investigation.