General discussion about the latest news (not search related)

[misty]

Guess you mean smokingman seen that night by witness [Name removed]?
As [Name removed] states he is the same as stripetopman seen by [Name removed] next morning.
And it's elementary to prove he was not RM.

Stripetop man was DP. DP wasn't idling in a doorway smoking.
It's a pity [Name removed]/AW statements of 4th May to the PJ are also missing from the public files. I wonder why?

[Anna]

I can't see a boat called Tropics in the Maritime list. Should it be Tropico?

Tropico didn't come in until 9th may and was there a while. I think this vessel must have been a phantom, or there was an error in recording of the vessels going out.

[pegasus]

Stripetop man was DP. DP wasn't idling in a doorway smoking.
It's a pity [Name removed]/AW statements of 4th May to the PJ are also missing from the public files. I wonder why?

[Name removed] states smokingman evening 3rd is same as stripetop morning 4th.
[Name removed] would have recognised DP, having eaten in same restaurant, and played tennis in same group.
Definitely IMO there was a different stripetop man morning 4th who is not DP and not RM.

[misty]

[Name removed] states smokingman evening 3rd is same as stripetop morning 4th.
[Name removed] would have recognised DP, having eaten in same restaurant, and played tennis in same group.
Definitely IMO there was a different stripetop man morning 4th who is not DP and not RM.

I thought [Name removed] merely referred to the change of clothing from a striped t-shirt in the morning? Maybe she didn't have a close-up view of the morning man in the T-shirt as opposed to later in the day when she was engaged in conversation later with RM?

[pegasus]

Tropico didn't come in until 9th may and was there a while. I think this vessel must have been a phantom, or there was an error in recording of the vessels going out.

There are two harbours at Lagos.
The documents maybe cover only the inner harbour?
See the jetty where boats probably log in and out (just south of the footbridge).
Boats going in or out of outer harbour do not pass it.
And the outer harbour is more likely to be where a cat is repaired?
https://goo.gl/maps/nCe2P

[misty]

José Carlos Leal Pimental - Statement, 16 May 2007
 
 

Processos Volume V

Pages 1346 – 1347

Witness Statement

José Carlos Leal Pimental

Date: 2007 – 05 – 16

Occupation: GNR Officer
*snip*
When asked about Robert Murat, he says that he does not remember having seen him at dawn, having seen him during the day on 4th May in the afternoon at about 17.00- 18.00. He saw Murat pass by close to the mobile post accompanied by Officer Costa. At this time he was searching, he (RM) appeared with roll of electrical cable, that he was going to give to the mobile GNR post in the Rua Agostinho da Silva.

The witness saw him that night at about 22.30 in the Tapas restaurant. He was sitting at a table with some OC employees, including, as he recalls, Silvia responsible for maintenance at the resort.

         ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[pegasus]

"at about 22.30 in the Tapas restaurant" on 4th May

[misty]

"at about 22.30 in the Tapas restaurant" on 4th May

.....with Sylvia Batista.
Do you believe she was also mistaken when she identified RM as the man she had seen?
What was a translator doing in the Tapas bar speaking with witnesses?

[faithlilly]

.....with Sylvia Batista.
Do you believe she was also mistaken when she identified RM as the man she had seen?
What was a translator doing in the Tapas bar speaking with witnesses?

I thought SB was an unreliable witness ?

[Carana]

IMO, there is an awful lot of room for confusion.

- SB "later learned" that the translator was RM... but then appears to have changed her mind. Was that an early assumption as he was indeed helping to translate and to generally offer assistance?

- The GNR officer is reported to have stated that "as he recalls" SB was in the Tapas restaurant. What did the GNR officer actually say? Was it "as far as I can recall"? He remembered a lady who may well have been SB?

(One GNR officer on the scene early that evening had stated that he was given to underestand that Sky had been contacted - when that wasn't the case at that point. Rachael had contacted the wife of someone she knew in the BBC, so there was obviously a mix-up in recollection / underestanding there.)

There doesn't appear to have been any cross-checking on this, perhaps because of the workload and it may not have seemed of any importance at the time.

I don't find anything odd about RM and other people getting together to chat about a major event in a village. RM's obligation as an interpreter was to maintain the confidentiality of the content of the witness statements in which he was involved, not that he couldn't chat about the case in general.

[Brietta]

It has been suggested that DCI Hall may bring a different dynamic to the case ... it certainly seems true of the PJ co-ordinator Ana Paulo Rito ... who seems to be busy tying up loose ends.

I would think if the Express have the story right, that this Brazilian couple have neither been ruled in or out of the inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance.

***snip
After British detectives sat in on interviews in Faro with witnesses last week, the Sunday Express can reveal Policia Judiciaria co-ordinator Ana Paula Rito is taking a broader look at leads which may not have been fully pursued.

She is now keen to learn more about the Brazilian couple, who are said to have expressed a strong desire to have a child when they were in the ­Algarve in May 2007 when Madeleine vanished.

A few days after Madeleine vanished from flat 5a of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, a British man came forward with his concerns about the couple and was interviewed by Portuguese detectives.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/546818/Brazilian-couple-who-wanted-a-child-re-examined-in-Madeleine-hunt?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-express-uk-news+%28Daily+Express+%3A%3A+UK+Feed%29

[pegasus]

"To access the marina you have to call the marina office so they can open the pedestrian bridge to let you out so if you want an early start you need to stay on the visitors/check-in pontoon outside the marina as the bridge didn't open till 8am in the summer and later in the off season."
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/kaivalya37/?xjMsgID=159685

The key words are "check-in pontoon".
You can see it here https://goo.gl/maps/jnF9G
Now zoom out and notice it controls access to the inner marina only.
Boatsaccessing the outer harbour do not pass this jetty and therefore have no check-in or check-out documentation.
This IMO explains why "Tropics" is not in the huge lists of arrivals/departures for Lagos marina in the files.
IMO it was probably moored in the outer harbour, and so would not be in the arrival/departure lists which are IMO for the inner harbour only

[DCI]

All the officers who were asked whether or not they saw RM replied "No" as was the answer from some of the OC staff who were also asked, but if I remember correctly SB seemed confused and although she knew the family she did not know RM. I could be wrong and will check that out again.

Does anyone else not find it odd, to know someone for 30 years and not know they have children?

[faithlilly]

Does anyone else not find it odd, to know someone for 30 years and not know they have children?

Care to clarify ?

[Mr Gray]

It has been suggested that DCI Hall may bring a different dynamic to the case ... it certainly seems true of the PJ co-ordinator Ana Paulo Rito ... who seems to be busy tying up loose ends.

I would think if the Express have the story right, that this Brazilian couple have neither been ruled in or out of the inquiry into Madeleine's disappearance.

***snip
After British detectives sat in on interviews in Faro with witnesses last week, the Sunday Express can reveal Policia Judiciaria co-ordinator Ana Paula Rito is taking a broader look at leads which may not have been fully pursued.

She is now keen to learn more about the Brazilian couple, who are said to have expressed a strong desire to have a child when they were in the ­Algarve in May 2007 when Madeleine vanished.

A few days after Madeleine vanished from flat 5a of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, a British man came forward with his concerns about the couple and was interviewed by Portuguese detectives.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/546818/Brazilian-couple-who-wanted-a-child-re-examined-in-Madeleine-hunt?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-express-uk-news+%28Daily+Express+%3A%3A+UK+Feed%29

Good to see the Portuguese looking at this sort of lead.