Could Madeleine have been abducted by boat?

[Robittybob1]

What is known about the George brooks sighting of a girl with a couple at the Lagos Marina?
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GEORGE_BURKE_BROOKS.htm

George Brooks only comes up 3 times on the search engine for the site.  So IMO it basically it isn't being discussed.
1.http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=6532.msg439676#msg439676

Quoting G-unit "One of the first reports was that of 'George Burke' who saw a couple with a child who looked like Madeleine near Lagos marina. It was in all the British newspapers on 5th May.
http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/Nigel/id399.htm

It is also mentioned in a statement aimed at the UK, not the Portuguese, police. The statement has a date of 4th May, and it's headed 'Information from the family'. How were the McCann family able to give this information to Leicestershire police about Burke/Brooks's sighting on 4th? Why was this said; 'The police have not yet spoken to this male'?
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GEORGE_BURKE_BROOKS.htm

It's not clear whether this man ever contacted the PJ.

His sighting hits the headlines again in November 2007, following which the PJ do get involved and go looking for him. They're told his whereabouts are unknown since he took off on 21st September.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GEORGE_BURKE_BROOKS.htm

It hit the news again in August 2008 saying the PJ never contacted him, but they did, in April 2008 after receiving Michael Wright's rog statement.

Where George disappeared to in September 2007 I don't know, but he was supposed to be resident in Burgau in May 2007. He still has relatives living there who put the PJ into contact with him in April 2008.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GEORGE_BURKE_BROOKS.htm"

2.. http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=8204.msg406523#msg406523  Just mentioned in a list of PJ files.

3.  http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=6215.msg233694#msg233694 
Quoting Anna: 
Re: Has Employing PIs Been Worth the Money Paid ?
« Reply #149 on: April 19, 2015, 10:56:53 PM »
QuoteModifyRemove
Quote from: Brietta on April 19, 2015, 10:27:52 PM
Alfred R Jones

There is correspondence in the files between Paiva and Amaral which proves that sightings were not followed up - specifically the one I remember is the sighting at Lagos Marina of a couple seen with a young child early morning 4th May 2007 - a sighting that was only very half-heartedly followed up, and then dismissed as "not relevant to the investigation".  Dismissed on what grounds exactly?  Was the couple traced?  Who was this child?  Where is the information in the files?

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=4962.msg176384#msg176384


That would be George Brooks' sighting
http://www.mccannfiles.com/id399.html"  [Hitting this last link just brought me back to Google!]

The link above took me to a post by Alfred Jones
"Re: Claim Portuguese police ignored Madeleine McCann leads.
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2014, 08:09:32 AM »
QuoteModifyRemove
There is correspondence in the files between Paiva and Amaral which proves that sightings were not followed up - specifically the one I remember is the sighting at Lagos Marina of a couple seen with a young child early morning 4th May 2007 - a sighting that was only very half-heartedly followed up, and then dismissed as "not relevant to the investigation".  Dismissed on what grounds exactly?  Was the couple traced?  Who was this child?  Where is the information in the files?"

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?topic=4962.msg176347#msg176347  "Topic: Claim Portuguese police ignored Madeleine McCann leads."

[Robittybob1]

Did the papers try and solve this mystery?

1. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/i-saw-maddy-dragged-away-by-vicious-524118
"A British expat insists he saw Madeleine McCann hours after she vanished - being cruelly dragged towards a marina by a couple.

George Burke said a small girl, who bore a remarkable resemblance to Madeleine, was being hauled along by a "vicious-looking" man and a woman.


He added: "It was dark and they were hurrying towards the marina. There was no-one else around at the time and they looked very suspicious."

George saw the couple and the child while driving past Lagos marina and rail station at 6am on the morning of May 4.

He told Portuguese police after news of Madeleine's disappearance was announced.

Astonishingly, they did not take his report seriously. But now he is to quizzed again by the McCanns' private detectives, who say the sighting may be crucial.


A british businessman's sighting of Madeleine McCann near a marina eight hours after she vanished has convinced private detectives she WAS smuggled out of Portugal by sea.

George Burke insists he saw a vicious-looking man and a woman dragging a Madeleine lookalike along a road that leads to Lagos marina.

But investigators believe Portuguese police who interviewed the dad-of-two failed to take the sighting seriously.

A source said: "The private investigators are now concentrating on Lagos and the marina.

"What Mr Burke saw could be incredibly valuable.

"He was concerned enough to call the police and they eventually followed up on his information.

"Now the investigators want to talk to Mr Burke. There is a strong chance Madeleine was taken by boat from the marina and is still alive somewhere."


George, who is from Liverpool but now lives in Portugal, saw the couple with the girl as he drove past the marina at about 6am on May 4. He said: "It was very, very dark and it was hard to make out exactly what the couple looked like. But through the gloom I could see a very suspicious-looking man and woman, with a child who fitted Madeleine's description.

"Though there was nobody else on the road, they were hurrying across a road that leads straight to the train station and marina."" End quote.

[Robittybob1]

Next report:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-496909/I-saw-Madeleine-dragged-marina-says-new-witness.html

Quote: "'I saw Madeleine being dragged towards the marina,' says new witness
Last updated at 10:11 28 November 2007


A British businessman has come forward and claimed that he saw Madeleine McCann only eight hours after she went missing as she was dragged towards a Portuguese port by a "suspicious-looking" man and woman.
The British expat, George Burke said he saw a girl who looked "remarkably like Madeleine" being dragged along a road leading to Lagos marina at 6am on May 4th.

Although Burke reported the sighting to Portuguese police at the time, it has taken until now for his account to be taken seriously, according to the McCanns' private detectives, Metodo 3.

Scroll down for more...

Madeleine
Mr Burke, who is originally from Liverpool but now lives in Portugal, said he saw the suspicious couple as he drove past the marina early on the morning after Madeleine went missing.

He told the Daily Mirror: "It was very, very dark and it was hard to make out exactly what the couple looked like. But through the gloom I could see a very suspicious-looking man and woman, with a child who fitted Madeleine's description.

"Though there was nobody else on the road, they were hurrying across a road that leads straight to the train station and marina."

Scroll down for more...

marina
The McCanns have said in the past that they believe that their daughter was taken by sea, possibly to Morocco or elsewhere in North Africa.

A source said: "The private investigators are now concentrating on Lagos and the marina.

"What Mr Burke saw could be incredibly valuable.

"He was concerned enough to call the police and they eventually followed up on his information.

"Now the investigators want to talk to Mr Burke. There is a strong chance Madeleine was taken by boat from the marina and is still alive somewhere."" End quote.

Not much to go on.

[Robittybob1]

This one makes some comments: https://reggied123.wordpress.com/tag/george-burke/
"
GEORGE BURKE
APRIL 1, 2015
Reporting of the George Brooks sighting
“…. on Sunday, 6 May I went to the pizzaria in PdL and bought a large quantity of pizzas. I was attended by a girl from Liverpool. I explained to her my relationship to the McCanns and she told me that her father ‘George’ had seen a man carrying a child in his arms in the early morning of 4 May in the resort.” – Michael Wright (husband of Kate McCann’s cousin Anne-Marie Wright) in his rogatory statement of 16th April, 2008.

The above statement suggests that someone other than Jane Tanner and the Smith family may have seen someone carrying a child in Praia da Luz in the hours after Madeleine disappeared, though it now appears that the sighting was in Lagos rather than PdL.

Anyway, the sighting had been reported to Leicestershire Police the day after Madeleine disappeared by the man mentioned in the statement, George Brooks, and reported in the press during the following days. The Reporting of the George Brooks Sighting shows how treatment of the sighting by the press changed during these days."

[Robittybob1]

Mention on A very early Sky News report so there is no excuse it wasn't reported https://youtu.be/rkt4bGb87xo?t=119  the video title suggests this was on the Saturday 5th May 2007.

[Robittybob1]

This is interesting as they comment on the language used in the reports "04/05/07

http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/Nigel/id27.htm

Praia da Luz
A Briton, who runs a company in the Algarve, has told police he spotted a couple carrying a young child, early on Friday morning 04 May 2007.
 
George Burke, from Liverpool, was driving home from nearby Lagos around 6.00am when he caught the two people in his car headlights. "I couldn't see them clearly because it was dark and windy. They scurried down a side road and out of sight."
 
The sighting was subsequently taken up by Metodo 3 and provided a lead story in many newspapers on 28 November 2007. Except this time, the story was presented in a much more dramatic light with the child, now almost certainly Madeleine, being 'cruelly dragged along' by a 'vicious-looking man'.
 
However, nowhere in the quotes attributed to Mr Burke does he mention that the child was being 'cruelly dragged along the road' or does he use the phrase 'vicious-looking man'.
 
He says: "It was very, very dark and it was hard to make out exactly what the couple looked like. But through the gloom I could see a very suspicious-looking man and woman, with a child who fitted Madeleine's description. Though there was nobody else on the road, they were hurrying across a road that leads straight to the train station and marina."
 
He adds (but only reported in The Sun): "They were trying to carry the kid without anyone seeing."
 
07/05/07
Lagos, Portugal
Police investigate a claim that a man was seen dragging a girl towards the marina at Lagos, a short drive from Praia da Luz." End quote.

[Robittybob1]

Does anyone know what happened to George Burke Brooks?

[G-Unit]

Why would this man speak to the family and to the press but not to the police? Did he give a false name, did the family and the press get his name wrong, or was George Burke a different person than George Brooks.

Michael Wright said he bought a large quantity of pizzas in Praia da Luz on Sunday 6th May and spoke to 'George's' daughter who told him what her father had seen.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MICHAEL_WRIGHT.htm

It seems the meals provided by Mark Warner weren't enough;

That every day around 13H00, he heads to no. 4-G (where the family of the missing child is staying) and to no. 4-1 (where 10 people are lodged) to deliver lunch. He repeats this routine at 20H00 to take them dinner.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/TIAGO_BARREIROS.htm

I can't quite work out why the PJ went to Lagos Marina in December 2007 looking for a Pizza Hut, but they did and came away with a photocopy of George Brook's passport.

It was only in April 2008 that they went to the right location; Pizza Real, Rua da Praia, Luz. The manager contacted 'Amy' who had spoken to Wright. Then her mother rang them back, then her father George. This is what he said;

Regarding the facts in question, he states that he had already contacted the OH in May of 2007 and at this time relayed to the police that at around 06H00 in the morning on the 4th May, 2007, he saw a couple passing the Marina de Lagos. The man was carrying the child. It was ascertained at that time that the aforementioned situation would not be of interest to the investigation.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GEORGE_BURKE_BROOKS.htm

There's no record of 'George' contacting the PJ in May 2007, so no record of anyone declaring that the sighting  'would not be of interest to the investigation'.

[Wonderfulspam]

Michael Wright said that 'Amy' said that her father said that he saw....

....& then plenty of artistic licence was used by the British media.

[Brietta]

There is no doubt according to the dates that the sighting was in the files at the beginning of May 2007.

There is no doubt that it was not followed until the Rebelo investigation made the attempt to do so in December  of that year.

No wonder the whole issue is mired in confusion.

[Robittybob1]

Why would this man speak to the family and to the press but not to the police? Did he give a false name, did the family and the press get his name wrong, or was George Burke a different person than George Brooks.

Michael Wright said he bought a large quantity of pizzas in Praia da Luz on Sunday 6th May and spoke to 'George's' daughter who told him what her father had seen.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MICHAEL_WRIGHT.htm

It seems the meals provided by Mark Warner weren't enough;

That every day around 13H00, he heads to no. 4-G (where the family of the missing child is staying) and to no. 4-1 (where 10 people are lodged) to deliver lunch. He repeats this routine at 20H00 to take them dinner.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/TIAGO_BARREIROS.htm

I can't quite work out why the PJ went to Lagos Marina in December 2007 looking for a Pizza Hut, but they did and came away with a photocopy of George Brook's passport.

It was only in April 2008 that they went to the right location; Pizza Real, Rua da Praia, Luz. The manager contacted 'Amy' who had spoken to Wright. Then her mother rang them back, then her father George. This is what he said;

Regarding the facts in question, he states that he had already contacted the OH in May of 2007 and at this time relayed to the police that at around 06H00 in the morning on the 4th May, 2007, he saw a couple passing the Marina de Lagos. The man was carrying the child. It was ascertained at that time that the aforementioned situation would not be of interest to the investigation.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GEORGE_BURKE_BROOKS.htm

There's no record of 'George' contacting the PJ in May 2007, so no record of anyone declaring that the sighting  'would not be of interest to the investigation'.

I think the George who contacted the PJ in 2008 was George Burke. George Brooks was not involved in this except by mistake.

Was Amy George's daughter?  So she could be Amy Burke or Amy Brooks or Amy Burke Brooks.  I wonder if she is still in PdL. 
@SiL do you know this person?

[Robittybob1]

dragged or carried?  in the above articles there were 10 instances of dragged and 6 instances of carry.

[jassi]

There is no doubt according to the dates that the sighting was in the files at the beginning of May 2007.

There is no doubt that it was not followed until the Rebelo investigation made the attempt to do so in December  of that year.

No wonder the whole issue is mired in confusion.

Obviously a low priority.

Have OG got anywhere with it, or have they too given it a low priority ?

[Robittybob1]

Obviously a low priority.

Have OG got anywhere with it, or have they too given it a low priority ?

IMO:
What a job to sort that out 7-10 years later.  Why I'm interested in this is that there was the Victoria Beckham lookalike asking about a new daughter at the marina in Barcelona.  Since it was a marina as opposed to a train station or an airport, that fact might give us a clue as to how the daughter was expected to get there.  Marina - by boat seems logical and  Lagos the Lagos Marina to the Barcelona Marina is possible, even if a bit unusual due to the distance.

[Brietta]

Obviously a low priority.

Have OG got anywhere with it, or have they too given it a low priority ?

When the Ribero investigation were playing catch up on information apparently neglected by his predecessor, they didn't seem able to progress it much either.

The optimum time to do this was at the date of first mention in the files of the 8th of May. That was the time to follow up on the sighting by investigating it.

If there was personnel available to shadow senior British officers ... surely there must have been personnel available to be sent out to check on a couple seen with a child in the dark small hours of the first day of Madeleine's disappearance?

The McCluskey sighting was investigated and perhaps eliminated ... proving that Mr and Mrs McCluskey's report was a valid one although unfortunately the child they saw was apparently not Madeleine.

If Rebelo couldn't pull the chestnut of negligence out of the fire in 2007 ... what chance did Madeleine or Operation Grange have in 2013 when the case was officially reopened?