I don't think the evidence from Kate and Gerry is highly contradictory. Whether Gerry said Madeleine was under the quilt cover or on top of it or that Kate said she was under it or on top of it, is ridiculous as a child can easily just pull the quilt off herself. Whether Gerry could see Madeleine in her bed when he said it was dark is not contradictory either, it was dark but not dark enough that he couldn't make out Madeleine in her bed, when Kate checked about an hour later it was even darker and she had to turn the light on to see. Nothing of this is anything sinister and certainly doesn't come down to the fact that Gerry didn't check on Madeleine which was why he had gone to 5a in the first place. He met Jeremy that was why he was late getting back.
But Lace how do you explain that GM said the only time he ever physically checked on the children was when he checked at circa 9 pm on 3rd May and the reason he gave for doing so is that the door was open further than how he left it at circa 8.30 pm. He attributed the moving door initially to MM up and about. Now we're told by KM that at breakfast on 3rd May MM had a question for her parents: 'Why didn't you come when Sean and I cried last night?'. KM claims she and GM were disconcerted and agreed they had to be hyper-vigilant with their checks in case one or more children woke up in between checks. Given GM claims the door moved between 8.30 pm and 9.00 pm which he initially put down to MM up and about why didn't he mention this to KM when he returned to the table? And if he did mention they why did KM allow MO to check at 9.30 pm who had no knowledge about how he should find the door?
The above is just one of many contradictory aspects of their accounts. Another is that KM tells on page 73 that their checks provided a higher level of attention that the checks provided by MW at similar resorts in that the McCanns were going into the apartment and looking as well as listening and yet:
- GM tells us his circa 9.00 pm check on 3rd May was the first time he had actually entered the bedroom during a check.
- KM tells us that when she checked at circa 10 pm she found the door open further than they had left it and assumed MO had moved it. She then went to return it to its normal position (10 cm ajar) when suddenly it slammed shut. So again she had no intention of going into the bedroom she simply intended to return the door to its original position.
