Matthew Oldfield said the shutters weren't down!!

[John]

Matthew Oldfield said the shutters weren't down!!   ...ie they were up!

I haven't heard any one mention this before and remember this was the second check he did at 9.25pm which is some 10 to 15 minutes after Gerry did his routine check.


4078 'I am sorry, you already said how long you think you were in the apartment for, I have forgotten''

Reply 'It can't have been more than a couple of minutes, because, erm, I mean, there was no, you know, it was just sort of a check and then it was back really. I remember sort of being able to pivot here and be able to see this room door was open as well and those shutters weren't down, they were just curtains and that was fairly, fairly light as well. And I just sort of came back out really through the same way and shutting the patio doors'.

 00.41.58 4078 'So, like everybody that has had anything to do with this inquiry, you must have played back in your own mind the different possibilities of what could have happened''

Reply 'Yeah'.

Matthew Oldfeld Rogatory Interview 9th April 2008

Stamp 00.40.06 > 00.41.58

[John]

So if they were down when Gerry did his check at 9.10pm and up when Matthew did his at 9.25pm, what does this tell you about the time of the abduction?

Add this to Jane Tanners sighting at 9.15pm and...

Answers on a postcard!

[Redblossom]

So if they were down when Gerry did his check at 9.10pm and up when Matthew did his at 9.25pm, what does that tell you about the time of the abduction?

Answers on a postcard!

It tells me he said different things in all three interviews
 


and NOT only on this issue, ie unreliable witness imho

[muratfan]

So if they were down when Gerry did his check at 9.10pm and up when Matthew did his at 9.25pm, what does that tell you about the time of the abduction?

Answers on a postcard!

It tells me he said different things in all three interviews
 


and NOT only on this issue, ie unreliable witness imho

You do three interviews and see if you get each one the same.. Also how many times have you done something, or said something then latwer on remembered something else you should have said

[AnneGuedes]

So if they were down when Gerry did his check at 9.10pm and up when Matthew did his at 9.25pm, what does that tell you about the time of the abduction?

Answers on a postcard!

It tells me he said different things in all three interviews
 


and NOT only on this issue, ie unreliable witness imho

He saw two windows, so which one had the shutters not down ?
He noticed the curtains, but said they were green, like Jane/Russells' ones.
He saw two twins when only one was in a transparent cot.
He saw a bed, undone, but had no curiosity to find out whose bed it was.
Etc.

[debunker]

This is why most discussion of what actually happened is a total waste of time.

There is inadequate information to make any rational conclusion so people will just follow their prejudices.

[AnneGuedes]

Statements are facts, in this case with a risk of lost in translation. Statements don't describe in themselves a certain reality, but the perception their authors have, or pretend to give, of this reality.
For example it is a fact Mr McCann stated he entered through the main door with his key.
It's another fact Mr McCann stated one week later he entered through the french window.
What is the reality ?
In this case I think the second fact is the reality, because I can think of a motive for the first false reality.

[debunker]

Statements are facts, in this case with a risk of lost in translation. Statements don't describe in themselves a certain reality, but the perception their authors have, or pretend to give, of this reality.
For example it is a fact Mr McCann stated he entered through the main door with his key.
It's another fact Mr McCann stated one week later he entered through the french window.
What is the reality ?
In this case I think the second fact is the reality, because I can think of a motive for the first false reality.

Because of your mindset only!

[Angelo222]

I can see exactly what happened here.  In his Portuguese statements Matthew doesn't admit that the shutters were up but infers it when he states that there was more light coming into the room.  It has to be remembered that the childrens bedroom window was not well lit and was in a gloomy location being on the ground behind a wall.  Matthew didn't want to admit that he missed the shutters being up when he did his second check at 9.25 so fluffed his responses.  As usual with the passage of time the truth tends to emerge.

[debunker]

I can see exactly what happened here.  In his Portuguese statements Matthew doesn't admit that the shutters were up but infers it when he states that there was more light coming into the room.  It has to be remembered that the childrens bedroom window was not well lit and was in a gloomy location being on the ground behind a wall.  Matthew didn't want to admit that he missed the shutters being up when he did his second check at 9.25 so fluffed his responses.  As usual with the passage of time the truth tends to emerge.

That is not what the research says; some memories improve, others deteriorate depending on the context of their recall and replaying.

[Benice]

Statements are facts, in this case with a risk of lost in translation. Statements don't describe in themselves a certain reality, but the perception their authors have, or pretend to give, of this reality.
For example it is a fact Mr McCann stated he entered through the main door with his key.
It's another fact Mr McCann stated one week later he entered through the french window.
What is the reality ?
In this case I think the second fact is the reality, because I can think of a motive for the first false reality.

As previously mentioned elsewhere, I think the scope for misunderstandngs, mistranslations, mistakes  etc during that very first interview was massive.  The police officer was new to the case and probably unfamiliar with the layout of the apartment at that point.   Gerry would have been exhausted and his whole world was falling apart around him as he sat there - still descending into every parents worst nightmare.

It's obvious that there was much confusion about the doors/keys etc on the part of many during that initial time.  This 'previous confusion' was mentioned by the police officer who took Jane Tanner's rogatory statement.

[AnneGuedes]

I can see exactly what happened here.  In his Portuguese statements Matthew doesn't admit that the shutters were up but infers it when he states that there was more light coming into the room.  It has to be remembered that the childrens bedroom window was not well lit and was in a gloomy location being on the ground behind a wall.  Matthew didn't want to admit that he missed the shutters being up when he did his second check at 9.25 so fluffed his responses.  As usual with the passage of time the truth tends to emerge.

That is not what the research says; some memories improve, others deteriorate depending on the context of their recall and replaying.

The context counts certainly, but please do provide a link to memories having improved a year after.
The following day :
there was enough light in the bedroom for him to see the twins in their cots.
Compare to "Madeleine was here"
I was looking at Madeleine’s bed which was here and it was dark and I was looking and I was thinking, is that Madeleine or is that the bedding.
ten days later
Concerning the external blinds he clarifies that he did not see if it was closed or open. He recalls having thought that in that bedroom there was more brightness than there was in his daughter's room
and 11 months later
I can't see the shutters because the curtains were shut  they weren't  blowing about but there was a light behind us in the room and for some reason I thought, I got the impression of light coming through the doorway from behind me

[debunker]

I can see exactly what happened here.  In his Portuguese statements Matthew doesn't admit that the shutters were up but infers it when he states that there was more light coming into the room.  It has to be remembered that the childrens bedroom window was not well lit and was in a gloomy location being on the ground behind a wall.  Matthew didn't want to admit that he missed the shutters being up when he did his second check at 9.25 so fluffed his responses.  As usual with the passage of time the truth tends to emerge.

That is not what the research says; some memories improve, others deteriorate depending on the context of their recall and replaying.

The context counts certainly, but please do provide a link to memories having improved a year after.
The following day :
there was enough light in the bedroom for him to see the twins in their cots.
Compare to "Madeleine was here"
I was looking at Madeleine’s bed which was here and it was dark and I was looking and I was thinking, is that Madeleine or is that the bedding.
ten days later
Concerning the external blinds he clarifies that he did not see if it was closed or open. He recalls having thought that in that bedroom there was more brightness than there was in his daughter's room
and 11 months later
I can't see the shutters because the curtains were shut  they weren't  blowing about but there was a light behind us in the room and for some reason I thought, I got the impression of light coming through the doorway from behind me

Situations vary.

[AnneGuedes]

Statements are facts, in this case with a risk of lost in translation. Statements don't describe in themselves a certain reality, but the perception their authors have, or pretend to give, of this reality.
For example it is a fact Mr McCann stated he entered through the main door with his key.
It's another fact Mr McCann stated one week later he entered through the french window.
What is the reality ?
In this case I think the second fact is the reality, because I can think of a motive for the first false reality.

As previously mentioned elsewhere, I think the scope for misunderstandngs, mistranslations, mistakes  etc during that very first interview was massive.  The police officer was new to the case and probably unfamiliar with the layout of the apartment at that point.   Gerry would have been exhausted and his whole world was falling apart around him as he sat there - still descending into every parents worst nightmare.

It's obvious that there was much confusion about the doors/keys etc on the part of many during that initial time.  This 'previous confusion' was mentioned by the police officer who took Jane Tanner's rogatory statement.

Mr McCann was the only one to make a confusion about the door he had used and the door his wife had used. Mrs McCann made no confusion.
In another context (not a horror context I would say), I probably wouldn't pay attention to a man having a challenge reaction (how shutters could be lifted from the outside when he thought it wasn't possible).
Time was above panic (doctors normally are trained not to) in this disappearance context : the life of a little girl which could depend on seconds.

[icabodcrane]

So if they were down when Gerry did his check at 9.10pm and up when Matthew did his at 9.25pm, what does this tell you about the time of the abduction?

Add this to Jane Tanners sighting at 9.15pm and...

Answers on a postcard!

If we are trying to pin-point the time at which an abductor struck,  then the witness statements you have highlighted  suggests that if an abduction took place, it happened between  9.10pm  ( shutters down )  and 9.25pm  ( shutters raised ) 

If we look at other witness statements though,  a different picture can be drawn

In her first police statement  Kate McCann says she found the curtains in the children's bedroom open when she made her 10pm check

Half an hour earlier Mathew Olfield had declared them closed

That suggests if an abduction took place it happened between 9.25pm  ( curtains closed )  and 10pm ( curtains open )

The time-line of any possible abduction changes according to which witness statements are cited