It is known Smithman was seen not far from the beach and is the prime suspect. If it was so busy at that time then where are the other eye witnesses? And I've heard the excuses that he was an innocent father taking his deep sleeping Madeleine lookalike child home. SY would have checked all parents who took children from the night creche and none match. Goncalo Amaral had him as the prime suspect who took her away in 2007 and so do SY so the beach has to be an area of importance when he was heading in that direction. All other possibilities have been investigated and have led nowhere (probably explains the scaling back!) so they are left with that same man - efits produced in 2008 and remained unreleased for 5 years.
Actually, very little of this is known.
I haven't checked, but I would guess that a route from 5A to the beach is of similar distance as that of Smithman to the beach. This tells us only that Luz is not huge, which is correct.
Prime suspect? Can't remember anyone in OG using the term. Can you? I remember as something along the lines of another person to be eliminated from the enquiry, or similar, but not 'prime suspect'.
Other eye witnesses to what? 9 people saw Smithman. How many more do you want? You would probably get more if he headed to the beach, due to the cluster of active commercial enterprises and the car park situation. That you have not suggests that he did not head to the beach, rather than Luz was inactive, which it definitely wasn't on that route.
The only relevance of the night crèche to Smithman is that 8 families with 11 children have been identified by OG. In the absence of cars (not usual on a week long OC holiday), we should have children walking, being buggied or been carried. In plain and simple English, a child being carried home from the night crèche is unremarkable.
Hopefully, you do realise that Smithman was outside the 'perimeter' of the OC? That he neither appears to be coming from the crèche, nor does he appear to be going to an OC property (unless he is seriously lost). Logically, a check on the night crèche should have checked whether any parent fits the Smithman sighting, purely for elimination.
There is no evidence in the PJ Files WHATSOEVER that makes it likely that he was heading to the beach. Aoife's testimony goes exactly the other way and makes it highly UNLIKELY that he was heading to the beach, and you are well aware of that.
Look at the Eamon Holmes interview of Paul Luckman, which included a discussion at the Smithman sighting point in 2011 with Amaral. According to Luckman, Amaral indicated that he thought the man had NOT headed in the direction of the beach. Rather Amaral indicated that the man had gone down the way the Smiths had just come up.
There is no point in using Amaral as a reference in this. Aoife´s statement is crystal clear, after seeing a man fleetingly, she does not know whether he then headed to the beach, or simply went down the street she had just come up. While her evidence is inconsistent with a man heading to the beach, it is consistent with a man heading down towards the Dolphin This remains an unturned stone, something that should be looked at further.
If the man headed down the street, rather than to the beach, he is going into an area of Luz that was still open, but quieter. That happens to be consistent with no further sightings, but hardly constitutes proof for many a reason
We don't know if all other avenues have been exhausted. We certainly DO know that OG is pursuing focussed lines of enquiry, not just a single line of enquiry. Therefore we do NOT know that Smithman is the only option.
Of the 4 men made arguidos in July 2014, only 1 appears to have been informed he is no longer of interest. The status of the other 3 is unknown. None of these was connected to the case by Smithman.
Can we have a pinch of accuracy, and somewhat less pushing of information that may well suit your theorem but is inaccurate? There are people reading the forum who are not well informed on the case and who can be led astray by assertions of facts that are not valid.
Luz was not closed. Smithman is not known to have been heading to the beach. The esplanade had open, active establishments, and you can check the lighting for yourself. The Files contain numerous references to searches of the beach. From memory, Harrison ruled out the use of the beach, but thought the rocks at the East end were worth a look. Which suggests that his understanding of the activity in Luz that night was less than perfect.
