CRIMEWATCH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EyqHtsLeGQ
Transcript of Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood
18 35
AMROLIWALA
In 2011, the McCanns made a direct appeal to Prime Minister David Cameron for help in the search for Madeleine.
In an unprecedented move, a team from the Metropolitan Police was given the go-ahead to review the mass of evidence that had come from Praia da Luz. Would the U.K.’s top detectives be able to crack a case that had baffled the world?
DRAMATIC MUSIC
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood is leading the investigation.
REDWOOD
Primarily what we sought to do from the beginning is to try and draw everything back to – to zero, if you like, try and sort of take everything back to the beginning – and then re-analyse and re-assess everything – accepting nothing.
AMROLIWALA
The work of the detectives in receiving thousands of documents paid off when they were finally given the green light to launch a full-blown enquiry.
DRAMATIC MUSIC
What follows is the result of this painstaking new investigation by Scotland Yard elite detectives: the truest account yet of what really happened that night.
19 55
SOUNDS AND VIDEO OF WAVES
Tell me now about the crime scene itself…
REDWOOD
Yes, I mean, the family, with their three children were in Apartment G5A. This was on the edge of a sort of contained area, which was known as the Ocean Club, within which there was a Tapas Bar and some swimming pools and tennis courts, but the actual apartment where they were staying was – was outside that perimeter area - and it was effectively, from front and back, accessible to the public.
The front door was accessed via a car park and then the rear entrance was a side set of steps that led up and into a rear balcony area that went into and through patio doors.
Madeleine and her siblings Sean and Amelie were staying in the front bedroom which looked out onto the front car park – um, Madeline was in a bed, and the two children were in travel cots in between – between Madeleine’s bed, and the bed that was nearest to the window.
20 55
The careful and critical analysis of the timeline has been absolutely key. Primarily, we’re focused on the area between 8.30 and 10. We know that at 8.30, that was the time that Mr and Mrs McCann went down to the Tapas area for their dinner and we know that at around 10pm that night was when Mrs McCann found that Madeleine was missing.
AMROLIWALA
One of the most pivotal events on the timeline was Jane Tanner’s sighting of a man carrying a child. He was walking in this spot…
PICTURES OF ROAD OUTSIDE G5A
…just metres from where Madeleine had been sleeping.
DRAMATIC MUSIC
This man was widely thought to have been Madeleine’s abductor, but the team was taking nothing for granted.
21 40
One of the things that we picked up very quickly was the fact that there was a night crèche that was operating from the main Ocean Club reception – and 8 families had left 11 children in there – and one particular family we spoke to us gave us information that was really interesting and exciting. In fact, I would say it was – it was a revelation moment when, having discussed with them what hey were doing on the night, they themselves believed that they could be the Tanner sighting.
22 10
AMROLIWALA
The British father had collected his two-year-old daughter from the crèche. He had been walking near the McCanns’ apartment.
PHOTOGRAPH SHOWN
This is the actual photograph taken by Metropolitan Police Officers of the man dressed in the kind of clothes he wore on holiday. This image was compared to the artist’s impression [based on Jane Tanner’s statement].
CRECHEMAN AND TANNERMAN MERGED SO THAT THEY APPEARED TO BE VERY SIMILAR
It is uncannily similar – and we know from the pyjamas that their child was wearing that it is, again, uncannily striking, the similarity.
AMROLIWALA
So, what you’re saying is that the timeline that everyone was working on for four years in this case…was wrong?
23 00
REDWOOD
We’re almost certain, now, that this sighting is not the abductor. But very importantly, what it says is that from 9.15, we are able to allow the clock…
TICKING CLOCK
…to move forward and in doing so, things that have not been quite as significant or received quite the same degree of attention are now the centre of our focus.
AMROLIWALA
This was an enormous discovery for the team: an innocent explanation for the suspect who’s been at the centre of the case for six years.
23 30
Their attention quickly turned to another sighting, which could now be the key to the entire mystery.
It was here…
FILM OF THE RUE DA ESCOLA PRIMARIA
…at 10pm that an Irish family witnessed another man carrying a child. They saw him come down the hill from the direction of the Ocean Club, heading that way towards the beach. Could this have been Madeleine, and her abductor?
23 35
REDWOOD
He was a white man with brown hair and the child that he had in his arms was described as being about 3-4 years of age, with blonde hair, possibly wearing pyjamas – a description very close to that of Madeleine McCann.
AMROLIWALA
Two of the witnesses [i.e. from the Irish family] helped create e-fits of the man they saw. Today, for the first time, we can reveal the true significance of these images.
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This could be the man that took Madeleine, but very importantly, there could be an innocent explanation. The efits are clear, and I’d ask the public to look very carefully at them. If they know who this person is, please come forward.
MORE VIDEO AND SOUNDS OF WAVES
AMROLIWALA
As part of their exhaustive investigation, the detectives are particularly interested in a number of blond-haired men who were seen near the McCanns’ apartment. Do they hold the answer to her disappearance?
DRAMATIC MUSIC
One witness saw fair-haired man near the McCanns’ apartment twice. On the first occasion, she saw him standing on the path that runs behind the block. The second time, near the entrance to the Tapas Restaurant, looking towards Apartment G5A.
25 10
On the day Madeleine disappeared, two men were seen on the balcony of a nearby empty apartment, believed to be 5C, two doors down from the McCanns.
A man was also seen in the same area two hours later.
At 6pm, the man was seen in the stairwell in the McCanns’ apartment block. And - an hour after Madeleine was reported missing, two men were seen speaking with raised voices. When they saw the witness, they walked away, talking in hushed tones.
How important are these sightings, do you think?
REDWOOD
Madeleine McCann’s disappearance does on one reading of the evidence have the hallmarks of a pre-planned abduction. That would undoubtedly have involved reconnaissance, and so we’re really keen to see who these people were. They may all be separate, so it’s really important those viewing to say to the public that if you recognise yourself, then please have the courage to come forward, because it’s really important for us to eliminate any sightings that are innocent and nothing to do with Madeleine’s disappearance.
26 30
AMROLIWALA
As well as that line of enquiry by an Irish family of man carrying a child, the police are also looking at a third important strand of their investigation.
26 40
REDWOOD
We have noted that there was, between January and the time Madeleine went missing, a fourfold increase in the number of burglaries that were taking place in the vicinity.
AMROLIWALA
In the three weeks prior to her disappearance, two incidents took place in the very block where Madeleine slept. In both, windows were used to gain access.
27 05
REDWOOD
Possibly, there is a scenario where Madeleine could have possibly disturbed somebody trying to commit a burglary.
27 15
AMROLIWALA
To date, nobody has been caught for these crimes.
SOUND OF POLICE SIREN
DRAMATIC MUSIC ANS WAVES
CHARMING VIDEO OF MADELEINE PLAYING HAPPILY AT HOLME
29 15
KIRSTY YOUNG
You genuinely feel that you are making significant advances here, do you?
REDWOOD
Yes, we do, we are making good progress. There is still much to do, but our revision of the timeline and a re-emphasis on events beyond 9.15 mean that we are bringing in new information this evening to the public.
29 30
KIRSTY YOUNG
OK, tell me about that, then, let’s focus on 10pm, let’s focus on this sighting ,and you tell me what’s important and what people watching need to concentrate on tonight.
REDWOOD
Well, at 10pm, we see a man walking down towards the sea, a white man, in his 30s, with brown hair, and in his arms is a child, three to four years of age, blonde hair, wearing pyjamas - very close description to that of Madeleine McCann. Two efits that have never been in the public domain of this one individual – really important for us to understand who he is.
30 05
KIRSTY YOUNG
And another aspect that seems to be very important are all these different sightings of what might be the same fair-haired men, might be a different fair-haired man – give us a bit more detail on these.
REDWOOD
Well, there is a number of - of incidents on either, or both, the day Madeleine went missing and the days leading up to her disappearance where one man, or two, were seen lurking around the apartments. Now, there may be a completely innocent explanation for that, but we really need the public to help us to identify who these men are.
KIRSTY YOUNG
OK, you said to Matthew there was this spike, this four-fold increase in burglaries, around about the time that Madeleine was taken, and also there was a – a rash of near…what we’re calling ‘charity collections’ – who knows if that’s what they were? - you think both of these things also might be something - that has an important aspect in the terms of the investigation?
30 45
REDWOOD
Yes, on the afternoon that Madeleine disappeared, between 3.30 and 5.30, there were four ‘charity collector’ events where two men went to residential apartments in streets very close to her apartment, and certainly on one of those events, at 4pm, there’s an efit the public can look at now, a man with black hair.
KIRSTY YOUNG
Right…
REDWOOD
Um – that we really need to understand more about and, and, and, and identify who this person is…
KIRSTY YOUNG
…and, and, it was just around a week before, there was another significant, again, let’s call it a ‘charity collection sighting’ - tell me about this
REDWOOD
Yes, and this was actually the week before Madeleine disappeared – in the apartment where she was staying – a man, and the efit is in front of the public now – again, with black hair, went up the rear steps and approached a gentleman on the balcony, and again there are certain elements of both that event, and the event on the 4pm on the day with the efit we’ve shown prior to this, that have resonance between each other – it’s really important for us to identify who these individuals are.
KIRSTY YOUNG
That’s for sure. DCI Andy Redwood, for now, thanks very much for taking the time for talking to us…
…um….so...let’s then…
WALKS DOWN CORRIDOR TO MEET THE MCCANNS
…let’s join Madeleine’s parents, let’s talk to Kate and Gerry McCann. You saw there – for us they were reliving that entire traumatic day and, um, nice to see you again, and I’m sure that it can’t be easy, er…
INTERVIEW WITH DR GERALD AND DR KATE MCCANN BEGINS…
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The people Redwood now wants us to look at / identify / eliminate
1. Smithman
2. A number of blond-haired men
(a) Fair-haired man seen twice near the McCanns’ apartment
(b) Two man seen on the balcony of Apartment G5C
(c) A man seen near the stairwell of the McCanns’ apartment block at 6pm
3. Two men seen speaking ‘in raised voices’ an hour after Madeleine was reported missing
4. Unidentified burglars
5. Men seen lurking near the apartment the day Madeleine disappeared
6. Men seen lurking near the apartment during the days before Madeleine disappeared
7. Two men, possibly charity collectors, who went to apartments near G5A the day Madeleine went missing, one of them was ‘a man with black hair’
8. Another bloke with black hair seen approaching people on the balcony of G5A the week before Madeleine disappeared.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
DID ANY OF THE SMITHS PRODUCE EITHER OF THE TWO FITS?
The evidence of Martin Smith, in his own words
“It was getting dark…the lighting was poor…he was looking downward so I couldn’t tell you exactly what he looked like.…I didn’t see the man very well, I couldn't identify him because I wasn’t wearing my glasses that particular night…it was getting dark and he was looking downward so I couldn’t tell you exactly what he looked like...it would not be possible for me to recognise him again in person or by a photograph…I only remembered this sighting after we were home two weeks when my son rang up and asked was he dreaming or did we meet a man carrying a child the night Madeleine was taken. We all remembered that we had the same recollection. I felt we should report it to the police…our information is vague…but I can say it wasn’t Robert Murat…I thought was Gerry McCann by the way he was carrying his child...the same way as the man we saw…”
The evidence of Peter Smith, in his own words
“I can’t remember if the man had glasses, or had a beard or moustache…I can’t remember any other details as the lighting was bad…I was constantly looking at my wife, who was pregnant and unwell, so did not pay attention to the man…it would not be possible to recognise the individual in person or from a photograph…”.
The evidence of Aoife Smith, in her own words
“It was dark…the street lighting was weak…and I would probably not be able to recognise the individual or the child again…”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The question:
How could the Smiths produce such detailed efits if they only saw this bloke, head down, for a second or two, in the dark, with poor street lighting - every one of them saying they'd never be able to recognise him again?
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For discussion, please visit this thread: https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t8528-crimewatch-redwood-transcript-and-the-two-smithman-efits-has-redwood-been-guilty-of-perverting-the-course-of-justice