It's quite amusing the lengths that people go to in order to 'explain' this statement by Gerry McCann.
Translation issue? He said it, she translated it, she read it back to him in English, he signed it.
Confusion issue? Who was confused?
Who may, or may not, have been confused is an unknown.
Did she read her own notes back to him, point by point? Did she read the full TYPED up statement back to him including "with a key"? Or did the officer simply verbally repeat the general gist back (with any of the three possibly confusing front / back) prior to making a formal copy for him to sign?
No one knows.
Why on earth would Gerry have stated that he took the longer route when they'd left the patio door open precisely to make the checks shorter? In the same initial statement,
he stated that he'd exited via the patio *... Surely the officer would have picked up on that at the time if he'd actually said it, don't you think? Why would Kate have contradicted him if they'd been making up a story?
* Correction: Gerry stated: At about 21.30 his friend Matt (member of the group) went to the apartment, where his children were and on his way went to the witness' apartment,
entering by means of a glass sliding door that was always unlocked and was located laterally to the building.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GERRY-MCCANN.htm