The group did want a Mark Warner listening service as they had pre planned, in the UK, to leave the children alone every night while they dined...
And I agree G. We really don't know the correct time Maddie disappeared as no one physicaly checked those children since parents leaving for dinner and drinks.
How fotuitous that Gerry caims he saw maddie at that time, left a small window VERY SMALL window for a burglar to rush in through a window and back out without being seen. IF the moving door had not occured,(and we only have the parents say so on this) who knows what story would have been sold to us.
My personal belief is the time line was created to factor in:none of them knew when Maddie could have gone missing.
The main attraction of a listening service is that parents can enjoy a peaceful meal. When the group realised there was none at the Ocean Club Matthew says;
That fact had made some of the couples - and himself in particular - reluctant to come to Portugal because all the families have minor children...........Nevertheless, he relates that, they had discussed this problem resolving to make the trip since the operator had assured them accommodation sufficiently close together that, collectively, they had managed to assure the checking and supervision of their respective progeny.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MATTHEW-OLDFIELD-10MAY.htmSo they agreed to replicate the Mark Warner system. To me, that would suggest that one person at a time would go and listen at all the apartments to make sure no-one was crying. That was the point of them all being close together, surely? One check every half hour would mean around four checks each evening if they stayed out from 8.30pm to 11pm. Leaving Dianne out of the 'rota' each person would have to check once every other evening or once every evening if they went in pairs.
It all worked out quite differently though. The Paynes arrived with an all singing all dancing baby monitor and opted out of the checking regime. The McCanns never checked anyone else's children it seems, although Russell claims to have checked theirs once inside the apartment and Matthew claims to have listened once and checked inside once.
So were Russell and Matthew nice kind people or mugs?