Were the half hour visual checks a convenient invention after the fact?

[John]

Look at it this way and assuming the statements are true, the last person that we know of to see Madeleine was Gerry and that was just after 9.10pm.  So again assuming the statements are true then Madeleine must have left the apartment between this time and 10.00pm when Kate did her first check of the evening. Now that is quite a big window of opportunity to cover.

[pegasus]

Look at it this way and assuming the statements are true, the last person that we know of to see Madeleine was Gerry and that was just after 9.10pm.  So again assuming the statements are true then Madeleine must have left the apartment between this time and10.00pm when Kate did her first check of the evening. Now that is quite a big window of opportunity to cover.

Yes it makes sense that whatever happened to cause her to not be in the apartment IMO must have happened after about 9.10pm which was the last actual visual sighting, so that's the start anyway of the period of interest IMO

[Mr Moderator]

Visual checks mean different things to different people.  There is a big difference between making a visual check of the apartment and possibly the children's bedroom as against visually checking that one's children are where they are supposed to be.

[Cornelius]

Visual checks mean different things to different people.  There is a big difference between making a visual check of the apartment and possibly the children's bedroom as against visually checking that one's children are where they are supposed to be.

It seems that the interpretation of "visual check" is used as a convenience.
Question: were you conducting a visual check to ensure you car remained in your garage what would you do?
Listen at the door? or open door or look through the window to ensure it was there by actually seeing it.
Wait for the ducking and diving!

[a.baker]

The problem with the 'window of opportunity' is that we have to take GM's word for it that he did actually make a visual check. What if he didn't? If there were no visual checks then that would widen the window of opportunity to pretty much the whole evening?

[Angelo222]

Much has been written about the half hour visual checks allegedly undertaken by certain members of the tapas group but was this a convenient invention after the disappearance intended to cover up any parental shortcomings?

There is evidence including the statements from the upstairs resident Mrs Fenn that an older child had cried and called for her father for over an hour two nights before the event.

Were the parents lulled into a false sense of security as the McCanns later claimed?

A comment made on another thread reminded me of this half hour checks claim which was blown out of the water by Mrs Fenn's counter claim to the effect that the crying in the apartment below her went on for over an hour on the Tuesday night just two days prior to the disappearance.

[sadie]

Look at it this way and assuming the statements are true, the last person that we know of to see Madeleine was Gerry and that was just after 9.10pm.  So again assuming the statements are true then Madeleine must have left the apartment between this time and10.00pm when Kate did her first check of the evening. Now that is quite a big window of opportunity to cover.

And plenty of time for an abduction to occur

[slartibartfast]

The problem with the 'window of opportunity' is that we have to take GM's word for it that he did actually make a visual check. What if he didn't? If there were no visual checks then that would widen the window of opportunity to pretty much the whole evening?

True.

[Alfie]

Much has been written about the half hour visual checks allegedly undertaken by certain members of the tapas group but was this a convenient invention after the disappearance intended to cover up any parental shortcomings?

There is evidence including the statements from the upstairs resident Mrs Fenn that an older child had cried and called for her father for over an hour two nights before the event.

Were the parents lulled into a false sense of security as the McCanns later claimed?

20

Dear Mr Moderator, there are three possible answers to your question, one of which is clearly libellous and therefore not permitted, so only "don't know" (which implies doubt of the McCanns and their friends' honesty, so on dodgy ground) and "no" are permitted answers.  Why are you inviting your members to make libellous speculations?

[Alice Purjorick]

2 3/4 years to wake up?
Better than Rip van Winkle I guess; he slept for 20.

[slartibartfast]

Dear Mr Moderator, there are three possible answers to your question, one of which is clearly libellous and therefore not permitted, so only "don't know" (which implies doubt of the McCanns and their friends' honesty, so on dodgy ground) and "no" are permitted answers.  Why are you inviting your members to make libellous speculations?

Actually, depending on how it is worded it is not libellous to express doubt over a statement as long as you cite justifiable reasons for your doubt.

[John]

Actually, depending on how it is worded it is not libellous to express doubt over a statement as long as you cite justifiable reasons for your doubt.

Clearly the half hour checks didn't always materialise.

[Brietta]

Clearly the half hour checks didn't always materialise.

Without ploughing through the rogatory statements yet again ... I believe it was said that the McCanns were punctilious in their checking of the children.

[slartibartfast]

Without ploughing through the rogatory statements yet again ... I believe it was said that the McCanns were punctilious in their checking of the children.

Cite?

[Angelo222]

Without ploughing through the rogatory statements yet again ... I believe it was said that the McCanns were punctilious in their checking of the children.

Well they would say that wouldn't they when the Portuguese were baying for blood.  Unfortunately for them Mrs Fenn experienced a somewhat different reality on the Tuesday night.  But then that was a mere one off, a blip in an otherwise well oiled procedure.