https://youtu.be/U7ll0VAkXag with photo from the file.
With all due respect, Rob, that proves nothing.
We already guessed/knew that Madeleine could reach the handle, but with her hands reaching above her head could she have exerted the force necessary to move the door? Kate though not.
And * IF * she managed to open it,
1) What about the shaft of light that would beam out from the room. Surely one of the Tapas friends would have noticed it?
2) Upon walking towards the top of the steps, Madeleine would immediately be able to see her Mum and Dad and hear them. Why didn't she shout them? She wasn't the quietest person, was she? As her parents they would have been tuned in to the cries and shouts of their child; they would surely have heard her?
3) How come she stopped to make what would have been a considerable effort, for such a little mite, to pull the patio door closed again? Her arms were above her head remember ... and it is much harder to push/ pull with arms extended like that, cos the body weight is not behind the arms.
4) How did she manage to get thru the child safety gate?
5) If so, why did she stop to close it? Most kids dont bother with things like that, especially when anxious to go somewhere, do they ?
6) Did she climb over it and take a nasty fall on the other side? Remember it was the height of the gate + a step height that she had to negotiate ... and then to land on a concrete step that typically is only about 9" deep with further concrete steps below.
* IF * she did manage to climb over the gate, there would be finger prints and skin cells all over the place. Did the PJ bother to test?
7) Then thru the bottom gate, which may or may not be easy .... but why did she bother to close it again? Kids just dont do these things at such a young age, do they?.
I would like to point out that we dont even KNOW if that little girl in the video was the same height as Madeleine. According to her Mum, Madeleine was about 90 cm which is 10 cm short of the average for her age, I believe.
IMHO, I truly dont think that Madeleine could, or did, exit via that Patio door Rob. Sorry to disappoint.