[ Preliminary notes: This long article may be discussed in a thread on the open forum:
The references are incomplete and will be addd to in due course. Our article maybe amended as new information comes to light, or as a result of any errors being brought to our attention.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by MMRG in this article reflect our honest views based on all the available evidential material we have seen - and our hypotheses are no more than just that - theories.
Acknowledgements: MMRG acknowledges with grateful thanks all those whose research is quoted in this article, but would like to mention especially the outstanding work of Nigel Moore of the former 'mccannfiles' site and 'pamalam'] in preserving the original PJ files made public by the Portuguese Police in August 2008 and so much other valuable material ]
ROBERT MURAT AND THE MEETING AT 'SALSALITO', BURGAU, ON TUESDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2007:
CLUES ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO MADELEINE MCCANN
An exploration of the 'Two Camps' Theory
======
THE ‘SALSALITO SUMMIT’: Brian Kennedy’s two meetings in Portugal on 13 November 2007
by the Madeleine McCann Research Group
September 2019
Executive Summary: On 15 May 2007, Robert Murat was made the chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann - suspected of being responsible for her abduction. On 7 September, Gerry and Kate McCann were made suspects - this time, on suspicion of hiding Madeleine's body.
Cheshire businessman and multi-millionaire Brian Kennedy was appointed by the McCanns in (or maybe before) September 2007, to run the McCanns’ private investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. In November 2007 he, together with the McCanns’ co-ordinating lawyer, senior Freemason Edward Smethurst (1), travelled to Portugal, where they attended two very important meetings.
One of these two meetings was at the home of Robert Murat's uncle and aunt, Ralph and Sally Eveleigh, where Robert Murat and his lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, met with Brian Kennedy and Edward Smethurst.
So this meeting was attended by one of the chief suspects in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (Murat), plus his lawyer, and the lawyer and chief private investigator for the other two main suspects, the McCanns.
MMRG believes that these two meetings, held om 13 November 2007, hold vital clues as to what really happened to Madeleine McCann. This article reveals what is known about these two meetings and attempts an understanding of their real purpose, examining in detail events before and after this historic meeting.
It will also introduce what has become known as the 'Two Camps' theory. In short, this theory suggests that, after Sunday 29 April 2007, if not before, Robert Murat and a coterie around him were already known to the McCanns and their circle.
MMRG, along with an increasing number of others, holds that there is strong evidence that something serious happened to Madeleine, or that she died, late on Sunday 29 April 2007. The evidence for this is discussed in many places on CMOMM (2).
We will argue in this article therefore that when Murat was summoned from the home of his sister in Sidmouth, Devon, the following day (Monday 30 April) (3), and jetted to Portugal the next day (Tuesday) at 7am from Exeter airport, it was to help the McCanns (in some way not yet fully known) to help plan and carry out a hoax abduction on Thursday that week.
Events that swiftly followed Madeleine's reported have revealed what now appears to be a plot by British government security services to frame Robert Murat as the chief suspect in the case. Immediately before he was made a suspect, the McCanns' friend Jane Tanner identified Robert Murat as the person she had (allegedly) seen walking away from near the McCanns' apartment at 9.15pm on Thursday 3 May. Thereafter three more of the McCanns' friends heaped added suspicion onto Murat by making statements claiming he had been seen by them lurking around the McCanns' apartment sometime after 10.30pm that evening, a claim Murat emphatically denied.
This article traces the development of this rift between the McCanns and their friends, and Robert Murat, and tries to answer why the British security services, together with the McCanns' friends, clearly framed Murat as the chief suspect. Murat was later to describe this apparent conspiracy against him as 'The biggest-ever f___-up on the planet".
We explore how this 'rift' between the 'camps' (which for convenience we will call the 'Murat Camp' and the 'McCann Camp') progressed for months - but seems to have mysteriously melted away after one of those two meetings on 13 November, namely their 'high summit' meeting at 'Salsalito', home of the Eveleighs.
One issue as yet unresolved is whether Robert Murat consented to being framed, or was taken by surprise. This article seeks to explore this further with records from the Portuguese Police files, and statements, articles and interviews on the TV and print media.
It is MMRG's provisional view that whatever really happened to Madeleine McCann somehow connected both the McCanns and Robert Murat. It suggested that Murat was summoned by a person or persons known to help with the planning of a hoax abduction on 3 May 2007, and then to penetrate the subsequent Portuguese Police investigation as a 'spy in the camp' - by interpreting the evidence of key witnesses and trying to disrupt the investigation. We provide evidence that this may have been with the help of the British Ambassador in Portugal.
MMRG further suggests that British security services then plotted against Murat, behind his back. This may explain why he described the whole affair as 'The biggest f___-up on the planet'.
We finish by showing how after the crucial 'Salsalito Summit' meeting, the McCann camp reversed their claims against Murat, helping him to gain two enormous libel awards totalling well over £600,000.
Chapters
INTRODUCTION
A PROOFS THAT THE MURAT/McCANN CAMPS MEETING TOOK PLACE AT SALSALITO IN NOVEMBER 2007
B BRIAN KENNEDY MEETS THE PORTUGUESE POLICE – DAYTIME, 13 NOVEMBER 2007
C THE MEN FROM METODO 3
D INFORMATION FROM BRIAN KENNEDY AND THE METODO 3 MEN
D1 Situation 1: A man in the shadows
D2 Situation 2: Was Sergey Malinka a paedophile?
D3 Situation 3: A strange incident on the border with Spain
E THE ARADE DAM PLOT
F BRIAN KENNEDY MEETS WITH ROBERT MURAT, HIS FAMILY AND LAWYERS – EVENING, 13 NOVEMBER 2007
G ROBERT MURAT’S ACTIVITIES BETWEEN 1 MAY AND 13 NOVEMBER 2007
G1 Robert Murat becomes an interpreter for one week
G2 Murat's 17 lies
G3 What was Robert Murat really doing between 1 and 3 May 2007?
G4 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 1
G5 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 2
G6 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 3: Jane Tanner adamantly identifies Robert Murat as the man she said she'd seen on Thursday 3 May
G7 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 3: Jane Tanner DENIES having 'adamantly' identified Robert Murat
G8 Did Jane Tanner really identify Robert Murat on 13 May? - What Kate McCann says about this in her book
G9 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 4: Three of the members of the Tapas 7 claim to have seen Robert Murat lurking near the McCanns' apartment and the Ocean Club after Madeleine was reported missing
H HOW NEWS OF THE SALSALITO MEETING EMERGED
I ANALYSIS
J THE SMITHMAN SIGHTING AND THE ‘SALSALITO SUMMIT’
K EVENTS AFTER THE ‘SALSALITO SUMMIT’
L CONCLUSION
M APPENDICES
---------------------------
INTRODUCTION
This article focuses on the action of Brian Kennedy in attending two meetings in Portugal on 13 November 2007 (4). According to the McCanns, they appointed Cheshire businessman Brian Kennedy to run their ‘Find Madeleine’ campaign on Friday 14 September 2007 (5), just one week after they had been made formal suspects over the disappearance of their daughter. He was then responsible for carrying out their private investigations.
Cheshire-based businessman Brian Kennedy, said to be worth £250 million (6). Just five
days after the McCanns fled Portugal after being made formal suspects in the
disappearance of their daughter, he offered to run the McCanns' private investigation.
He went on to appoint a series of unreliable and untrustworthy detectives and private agencies...who found out nothing about what happened to Madeleine
Although this article suggests that these two meetings were attended by Brian Kennedy on Tuesday, 13 November 2007, it has not been formally admitted by any of those present at the meeting that the second meeting was on the very same day as the first. However, it seems highly likely that they were. Brian Kennedy and Edward Smethurst would hardly fly out to Portugal for a police meeting, then fly back to England, only to fly out again days later for another meeting with the Murat group. If they didn't meet with the Murats that very day, it must surely have been the following day.
The first in time of these two meetings was with the Portuguese Police at Portimao Police Station. The second was with Robert Murat and three other members of his family at the home of Ralph and Sally Eveleigh, Robert Murat’s uncle and aunt.
We will deal now with the first one, but first, because so little is known about these two meetings, especially the Salsalito one, we need to prove that they actually happened.
The meeting Brian Kennedy had with the Portuguese Police at the Portimao Police Station is in the Portuguese Police files publicly disclosed in the DVD of information released to the public in August 2008 (4).
The general public was not meant to know about the 'Salsalito' meeting. So here is what is known about it.
A PROOFS THAT THE MURAT/McCANN CAMPS MEETING TOOK PLACE AT SALSALITO IN NOVEMBER 2007
----------
Proof 1 - Source http://robertmuratscapegoat.blogspot.com/
It was Francisco Pagarete, Mr Murat’s Portuguese lawyer - the one whom he was so anxious to see when he flew out to Praia da Luz on 1 May - who confirmed that a second meeting involving Brian Kennedy took place at Mr Murat’s uncle’s house in the Algarve in November. He told the BBC: “[Brian Kennedy] came here to give his support to Robert and to say he doesn’t believe Robert was involved in this story in any way or sense. And he asked if Robert could help the investigation for the finding of Madeleine in any way”. Mr Pagarete added that Mr Kennedy had ‘promised to stay in touch with Mr Murat’ but ‘had not contacted him since’. Mr Pagarete also confirmed that Edward Smethurst was at the meeting (7).
----------
Proof 2:
The Portuguese paper Jornal de Notícias (8) appeared to have some additional information about this meeting. Their report, early in 2008, said: “The meeting - a dinner that Brian Kennedy asked to be discreet and far away from the eyes of the press - took place in the end of last year at a house of Murat's relatives in Burgau (Vila do Bispo). At the dinner were Robert Murat and Kennedy, their respective lawyers, Jennifer Murat and the aunt and uncle of Murat” [NOTE: This appears in fact to have been Ralph Eveleigh, Murat’s uncle, and Sally Eveleigh, his cousin].
----------
Proof 3 - Source http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-563826/Madeleine-One-year-Portuguese-police-ashamed-says-attorney-general.html
Last night, it was revealed the McCanns' financial backer, tycoon Brian Kennedy, had met Robert Murat, the first suspect in the case (9).
The meeting took place at Mr Murat's aunt's house in the Algarve last year.
Mr Murat's lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, said: 'We had a very pleasant dinner with Mr Kennedy.
"He came here to give his support to Robert and to say he doesn't believe Robert was involved in this story in any way.
"And he asked if Robert could help the investigation for the finding of Madeleine."
It is understood the meeting in November was also attended by Mr Kennedy's lawyer, Edward Smethurst, who is co-ordinating the McCanns' legal affairs.
----------
Proof 4: On maccannfiles you find this - Timesonline
'Visit to Robert Murat, 04 May 2008' (10)
'Pray like mad,' begs tearful Kate McCann
Steven Swinford
May 4, 2008
Excerpt:
Brian Kennedy, the home improvements tycoon backing the McCanns, admitted yesterday that he flew to Portugal last November and spent an evening with Robert Murat, apart from the McCanns the only other official suspect. A source close to Kennedy said he was "gathering information".
Kennedy's lawyer, Ed Smethurst, approached Murat through a mutual friend and said that Kennedy wanted to offer him a job.
But the job offer never transpired. Kennedy spent the evening with Murat and his lawyers at his aunt's house in Praia da Luz, discussing Madeleine's disappearance.
He left with a "flea in his ear" after being confronted over reports that Metodo 3, the McCanns' private investigators, had suspicions about Murat.'
Additional evidence is provided by this comment found on a blog which was run by a group supporting the McCanns
Additional comment found on blog http://justice4mccannfam.forumotion.com/t557-murat-meets-brian-kennedy
[ Note: This was a McCann-support blog (11). The comments made by this poster reflect concerns MMRG members had at the time about this mysterious Salsalito meeting. Murat was an official suspect in the ABDUCTION of Madeleine. Why on earth, if the McCanns really believed that Robert Murat had been responsible for abducting Madeleine, or had had something to do with her abduction, would the McCanns send Brian Kennedy & Edward Smethurst to meet him? This obvious question would seem to have been in the mind of this pro-McCann bloggerm who evidently wrote this when s/he first heard news of the Salsalito meeting ]
QUOTE (reproduced exactly as written)
I didn't know they [Murat family, Kennedy and Smethurst] had met?? Thats odd...kate as always said she is not convinced he is innocent of any doing wrong in the abduction. Wounder how she felt about that?
Bit of an odd thing to do. Surly the secrecy laws wouldn't allow such a meeting..
what on earth is going on with this case????
Why would Kennedy want to go and have lunch with murat?? Did he honestly believe murat was going to jump to his questions. He is an arguido...not allowed to talk......... yet kennedy wants him to talk and help????
UNQUOTE
Exactly! What would be the point of sending your top private investigator and your top lawyer to meet with the man who had probably been responsible for abducting your child?
This article will try to provide the answer.
Finally, can we prove that this meeting was on Tuesday 13 November, the same day as we know that Brian Kennedy met the police at Portimao Police Station? No. But it seems very likely. We know it was in November. It doesn't seem likely that Brian Kennedy would take two separate flights in November all the way to Portugal.
There are three mentions above that this meeting took place over dinner and 'in the evening'. Surely the most likely probability is that Kennedy and Smethurst flew in to Portugal early on 13 November, or maybe the day before, then met with the Portuguese Police during that day, then drove up to 'Salsalito' for their high-powered and (as we shall see) game-changing meeting with four members of the McCann family. They may have flown home the following day, Wednesday 14 November.
B BRIAN KENNEDY MEETS THE PORTUGUESE POLICE – DAYTIME, 13 NOVEMBER 2007
There were several weeks of preparation, at least, leading up to this first of two meetings on 13 November. Brian Kennedy brought with him to the meeting two private investigators from the disreputable Spanish detective agency, Metodo 3, who had been hired by Brian Kennedy some weeks earlier, in or before September 2007, to ‘look for Madeleine’ (12). Metodo 3 was eventually closed down in 2014 after several corruption scandals involving criminal conduct, including illegally recording meetings of top politicians at a premier Barcelona restaurant (13).
Francisco Marco, boss of the discredited and corrupt detective agency, Metodo 3.
The McCanns paid his agency over £300,000, maybe much more, over a period
of 18 months. His agency was finally closed in 2014 when it was found to have
illegally recorded top politicians' private conversations at a posh Barcelona restaurant
At that time, Brian Kennedy had - maybe still has - a villa in or near Barcelona (14). Maybe he already had had contact with this controversial private detective agency before 2007.
The immediate cause of this meeting taking place was a telephone call from the Spanish Police to the Portuguese Police on Friday, 19 October (4).
A report of this ’phone call is given in the Portuguese Police files which were controversially released to the general public on a DVD in August 2008 - much to the anger of the McCanns, because it revealed a great deal of information, embarrassing to them and their friends, about the detailed police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
Here is the actual report in the files, translated by a Portuguese volunteer interested in the Madeleine McCann case.
QUOTE
“On the 19th of October, we were contacted by Alberto Carbas, Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Commissary-General, based in Madrid, who passed to us the information that the McCann family had contracted a Spanish private detective agency known as ‘Metodo 3’. The costs of their investigation into Madeleine McCann were being covered by a Scottish multi-millionaire whose name is Brian Kennedy. His objective was to find Madeleine.
“We were asked if we were available and interested in meeting with a representative of Metodo 3 and the Spanish Commissary General and Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Police in Spain. The purpose of this proposed meeting, they said, was to find out the truth, but they stated that they would not interfere in police work. At most, they said, they would ‘complement’ our investigation. They firmly stated that they are not working directly for the McCann family, but for Brian Kennedy. They didn’t ask for any information regarding the investigation, nor was any offered to them, for obvious reasons”.
UNQUOTE
The claim that Metodo 3 was ‘not working directly for the McCanns’ was highly misleading. Brian Kennedy had attended a meeting with the McCanns and a bevy of lawyers at a meeting in London on Friday, 14 September 2007 and agreed to help them by searching for Madeleine and trying to find out who had abducted her (12). One of the lawyers had driven to the McCanns’ home in Rothley, Leicestershire, to take them to and from the London meeting.
Moreover, in running this private investigation, he worked hand-in-hand with the McCanns’ co-ordinating solicitor, Edward Smethurst, a high-ranking Freemason from Lancashire - as we shall see in a moment.
Rochdale resident Edward Smethurst was a long-time friend of Brian Kennedy,
and had for years acted as the in-house lawyer for Kennedy's extensive Latium
Group. Just three days after the McCanns arrived back in England, having fled
Portugal after being named suspects, Edward Smethurst 'phoned the McCanns.
At least, that is what we are told in Kate McCann's book on the case,
'madeleine' (12). He was immediately appointed the official 'Co-ordinating
Solicitor for the McCanns'. He is a prominent Freemason and Past
Grandmaster in the East Lancashire Provincial Lodge.
This part of the report was interesting:
“On the 19th of October, we were contacted by Alberto Carbas, Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Commissary-General, based in Madrid, who passed to us the information that the McCann family had contracted a Spanish private detective agency known as ‘Metodo 3’…We were asked if we were available and interested in meeting with a representative of Metodo 3 and the Spanish Commissary General and Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Police in Spain”.
It seems clear that this meeting must have been arranged by one of Brian Kennedy’s men from Metodo 3, Antonio Giminez Raso. He was one of the men who attended with him in Portugal on 13 November 2007. He had also once been employed as an Senior Inspector in the Kidnapping and Drugs Unit of the Catalonia Regional Police Force (15), so no doubt would have had connections with the Kidnapping Unit of the Commissary-General in Madrid.
However, as we now know, Antonio Giminez Raso was arrested on 18 February 2008, just three months after he attended this meeting in Portimao on 13 November 2007 (16).
He was arrested on very serious charges, including assisting a violent drugs gang in their attempt to steal drugs from a boat in Barcelona harbour, and corruption in public office. Although he had been a trusted Senior Inspector in the Catalonian Regional Kidnapping and Drugs Squad, by the time he was engaged by the McCann Team in 2007, he had either been dismissed from the police or resigned from them. It seems though that he must still have had contacts or influence inside the Spanish Kidnapping and Drugs Unit, hence his being able to persuade (himself or through inside contacts) the Chief of the Kidnapping and Drugs Unit in Madrid to contact the Portuguese Police on 19 October. How convenient it often is to have friends in high places!
We now know that Brian Kennedy flew out in November 2007, less than four weeks after this ’phone call from the Spanish police, to attend a meeting with the Portuguese Police at Portimao Police Station. The meeting at Portimao Police Station must have been arranged following the ’phone call from the Spanish Police on 19 October. Since Edward Smethurst accompanied him to the meeting with the Murat family on the evening of 13 November (and probably to the police meeting as well - see below) it is highly probable that the two men flew out from England together. It is likely that they flew to Portugal at least the day before.
Below are the Portuguese Police’s accounts of a meeting between them, Brian Kennedy, three members of Metodo 3 and (probably) Edward Smethurst. They began with this introduction:
QUOTE
“We held a meeting on 13 November, with Inspectors Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Paiva [from the Portuguese Police] present, with Brian Kennedy, Director of the [Metodo 3] detective agency, Francisco Marco and one of his advisers, plus Antonio Jimenez, ex-chief of the Kidnapping Unit of Catalonia [Note: Other information suggests that Edward Smethurst was also present]. Brian Kennedy insisted that his motives were purely charitable, aimed at finding the truth, and generally helping missing children. He said he was interested in discovering the truth even if the McCann family, the friends, or any other person is found to be involved in the disappearance”.
UNQUOTE
Here is the full report of the meeting, dated Wednesday 14 November 2007, kindly translated into English by a Portuguese volunteer, and preserved for us by ‘pamalam’ on the mccanpjfiles site, at this link: http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/BRIAN-KENNEDY.htm
QUOTE
Volume XIII Pages 3434 - 3436
Service Information 2007.11.14
To: Coordinator of the Criminal Investigation
From: Joao Carlos, Inspector
Concerning the investigation of the disappearance of the British minor, Madeleine McCann, I present you Sir with the following:
On the 19th of October, we were contacted by the Commissary General, located in Madrid, by the Chief of the Kidnapping Unit, Alberto Carbas, who passed to us the information that the McCann family had contracted a Spanish company known as 'METODO 3', composed of Spanish private detectives. This business, or in other words, the costs of the activities of this business, were being covered by a Scottish multi-millionaire whose name is BRIAN KENNEDY and whose objective was to locate the British minor.
With this information, we were asked if we were available and interested in meeting with a representative of this Spanish business, and also with the Commissary General and Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Police of our neighbouring country, whose operation is in Madrid.
The meeting had as its objective to receive on behalf of the private detectives, from that moment and for their own wishes, relevant information with the aim to ascertain the truth, and to state that they would not interfere in police work, and at most they would serve as a complement to some useful information. They firmly state that they are not working directly for the McCann family, but for Brian Kennedy and that their sole purpose is to locate the missing child, or to gather the inescapable truth of what happened.
They did not ask for any information regarding the investigation, nor was any offered to them, for obvious reasons as this is found incorporated in the Portuguese penal process.
On the 13th of the current [month], in the presence of the signatory and inspectors Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Paiva, a meeting was held, in this department, with Brian Kennedy, the director of the detective company, Francisco Marco and an advisor of this same company, Antonio Jimenez, ex-chief of the Kidnapping Unit of Catalan. From the beginning, Brian Kennedy was questioned, and ascertained that the meeting only had this scope - of transmitting that his objective in all of this was purely charitable in that he is interested [in helping to stop] the bad treatment of minors and in missing children. He affirmed that he only was interested in discovering the truth and nothing more even if the McCann family, the friends, or any other person is found to be involved in the disappearance.
During the course of this meeting, the director of METODO 3 gave us a small book (attached), with information relative to the disappearance of the minor. This information, as we were told, was received via telephone and that they had already opened a line in Spain, specifically to receive and deal with information.
In this book, written in Spanish, we can analyse three pieces of information:
1. In the first case, we observed that there was report of facts which occurred in August/September of 2006, and which appears to us somewhat extemporaneous, as it cannot now be related to the material under investigation.
2. In the second point, we should remember that the computers of Sergey Malinka were searched and that nothing of suspicion was found there or related to paedophilia.
3. In that which concerns the third point, we are currently carrying out diligences with the intent to confirm or disprove the related information.
With nothing more to report.
Joao Carlos, Inspector
UNQUOTE
Item 1 to which Brian Kennedy and the Metodo 3 investigators referred was the evidence of Margaret Hall. We will not reproduce it here, but this is the link for those who wish to see it:
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MARGARET_HALL.htm (Incident 1 - Evidence of Margaret Hall)
Item 2 refers to allegations apparently made by Kennedy and Metodo 3 against Sergei Malinka, referenced here:
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/SERGEY-MALINKA.htm#p13p3439 (Incident 2 - Question marks about Sergei Malinka) See File No. 3439
Item 3 refers to an alleged sighting of Madeleine McCann by a lorry driver, whose report suggested he had seen a lady looking like Michaela Walczuk handing a large package, which could have been a child, over a fence or wall several miles east of Praia da Luz. There were multiple indications that this sighting was a complete fabrication. The link for those who want to see the extent of the Portuguese Police enquiries on this alleged sighting is here:
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/METODO_3.htm (Incident 3 - Alleged sighting by lorry driver).
None of these three 'sightings' produced any worthwhile leads. It is very possible that Brian Kennedy and his two investigators knew very well that they were false leads, and only arranged this meeting to try to portray the McCanns' private investigation as a credible and sincere enquiry into who abducted Madeleine and where she was. Indeed there is evidence that Brian Kennedy's investigators were offering money to Moroccans to invent claims that they had seen Madeleine (17).
The references are incomplete and will be addd to in due course. Our article maybe amended as new information comes to light, or as a result of any errors being brought to our attention.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by MMRG in this article reflect our honest views based on all the available evidential material we have seen - and our hypotheses are no more than just that - theories.
Acknowledgements: MMRG acknowledges with grateful thanks all those whose research is quoted in this article, but would like to mention especially the outstanding work of Nigel Moore of the former 'mccannfiles' site and 'pamalam'] in preserving the original PJ files made public by the Portuguese Police in August 2008 and so much other valuable material ]
ROBERT MURAT AND THE MEETING AT 'SALSALITO', BURGAU, ON TUESDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2007:
CLUES ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO MADELEINE MCCANN
An exploration of the 'Two Camps' Theory
======
THE ‘SALSALITO SUMMIT’: Brian Kennedy’s two meetings in Portugal on 13 November 2007
by the Madeleine McCann Research Group
September 2019
Executive Summary: On 15 May 2007, Robert Murat was made the chief suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann - suspected of being responsible for her abduction. On 7 September, Gerry and Kate McCann were made suspects - this time, on suspicion of hiding Madeleine's body.
Cheshire businessman and multi-millionaire Brian Kennedy was appointed by the McCanns in (or maybe before) September 2007, to run the McCanns’ private investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance. In November 2007 he, together with the McCanns’ co-ordinating lawyer, senior Freemason Edward Smethurst (1), travelled to Portugal, where they attended two very important meetings.
One of these two meetings was at the home of Robert Murat's uncle and aunt, Ralph and Sally Eveleigh, where Robert Murat and his lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, met with Brian Kennedy and Edward Smethurst.
So this meeting was attended by one of the chief suspects in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (Murat), plus his lawyer, and the lawyer and chief private investigator for the other two main suspects, the McCanns.
MMRG believes that these two meetings, held om 13 November 2007, hold vital clues as to what really happened to Madeleine McCann. This article reveals what is known about these two meetings and attempts an understanding of their real purpose, examining in detail events before and after this historic meeting.
It will also introduce what has become known as the 'Two Camps' theory. In short, this theory suggests that, after Sunday 29 April 2007, if not before, Robert Murat and a coterie around him were already known to the McCanns and their circle.
MMRG, along with an increasing number of others, holds that there is strong evidence that something serious happened to Madeleine, or that she died, late on Sunday 29 April 2007. The evidence for this is discussed in many places on CMOMM (2).
We will argue in this article therefore that when Murat was summoned from the home of his sister in Sidmouth, Devon, the following day (Monday 30 April) (3), and jetted to Portugal the next day (Tuesday) at 7am from Exeter airport, it was to help the McCanns (in some way not yet fully known) to help plan and carry out a hoax abduction on Thursday that week.
Events that swiftly followed Madeleine's reported have revealed what now appears to be a plot by British government security services to frame Robert Murat as the chief suspect in the case. Immediately before he was made a suspect, the McCanns' friend Jane Tanner identified Robert Murat as the person she had (allegedly) seen walking away from near the McCanns' apartment at 9.15pm on Thursday 3 May. Thereafter three more of the McCanns' friends heaped added suspicion onto Murat by making statements claiming he had been seen by them lurking around the McCanns' apartment sometime after 10.30pm that evening, a claim Murat emphatically denied.
This article traces the development of this rift between the McCanns and their friends, and Robert Murat, and tries to answer why the British security services, together with the McCanns' friends, clearly framed Murat as the chief suspect. Murat was later to describe this apparent conspiracy against him as 'The biggest-ever f___-up on the planet".
We explore how this 'rift' between the 'camps' (which for convenience we will call the 'Murat Camp' and the 'McCann Camp') progressed for months - but seems to have mysteriously melted away after one of those two meetings on 13 November, namely their 'high summit' meeting at 'Salsalito', home of the Eveleighs.
One issue as yet unresolved is whether Robert Murat consented to being framed, or was taken by surprise. This article seeks to explore this further with records from the Portuguese Police files, and statements, articles and interviews on the TV and print media.
It is MMRG's provisional view that whatever really happened to Madeleine McCann somehow connected both the McCanns and Robert Murat. It suggested that Murat was summoned by a person or persons known to help with the planning of a hoax abduction on 3 May 2007, and then to penetrate the subsequent Portuguese Police investigation as a 'spy in the camp' - by interpreting the evidence of key witnesses and trying to disrupt the investigation. We provide evidence that this may have been with the help of the British Ambassador in Portugal.
MMRG further suggests that British security services then plotted against Murat, behind his back. This may explain why he described the whole affair as 'The biggest f___-up on the planet'.
We finish by showing how after the crucial 'Salsalito Summit' meeting, the McCann camp reversed their claims against Murat, helping him to gain two enormous libel awards totalling well over £600,000.
Chapters
INTRODUCTION
A PROOFS THAT THE MURAT/McCANN CAMPS MEETING TOOK PLACE AT SALSALITO IN NOVEMBER 2007
B BRIAN KENNEDY MEETS THE PORTUGUESE POLICE – DAYTIME, 13 NOVEMBER 2007
C THE MEN FROM METODO 3
D INFORMATION FROM BRIAN KENNEDY AND THE METODO 3 MEN
D1 Situation 1: A man in the shadows
D2 Situation 2: Was Sergey Malinka a paedophile?
D3 Situation 3: A strange incident on the border with Spain
E THE ARADE DAM PLOT
F BRIAN KENNEDY MEETS WITH ROBERT MURAT, HIS FAMILY AND LAWYERS – EVENING, 13 NOVEMBER 2007
G ROBERT MURAT’S ACTIVITIES BETWEEN 1 MAY AND 13 NOVEMBER 2007
G1 Robert Murat becomes an interpreter for one week
G2 Murat's 17 lies
G3 What was Robert Murat really doing between 1 and 3 May 2007?
G4 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 1
G5 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 2
G6 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 3: Jane Tanner adamantly identifies Robert Murat as the man she said she'd seen on Thursday 3 May
G7 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 3: Jane Tanner DENIES having 'adamantly' identified Robert Murat
G8 Did Jane Tanner really identify Robert Murat on 13 May? - What Kate McCann says about this in her book
G9 The campaign to frame Robert Murat: Part 4: Three of the members of the Tapas 7 claim to have seen Robert Murat lurking near the McCanns' apartment and the Ocean Club after Madeleine was reported missing
H HOW NEWS OF THE SALSALITO MEETING EMERGED
I ANALYSIS
J THE SMITHMAN SIGHTING AND THE ‘SALSALITO SUMMIT’
K EVENTS AFTER THE ‘SALSALITO SUMMIT’
L CONCLUSION
M APPENDICES
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INTRODUCTION
This article focuses on the action of Brian Kennedy in attending two meetings in Portugal on 13 November 2007 (4). According to the McCanns, they appointed Cheshire businessman Brian Kennedy to run their ‘Find Madeleine’ campaign on Friday 14 September 2007 (5), just one week after they had been made formal suspects over the disappearance of their daughter. He was then responsible for carrying out their private investigations.
Cheshire-based businessman Brian Kennedy, said to be worth £250 million (6). Just five
days after the McCanns fled Portugal after being made formal suspects in the
disappearance of their daughter, he offered to run the McCanns' private investigation.
He went on to appoint a series of unreliable and untrustworthy detectives and private agencies...who found out nothing about what happened to Madeleine
Although this article suggests that these two meetings were attended by Brian Kennedy on Tuesday, 13 November 2007, it has not been formally admitted by any of those present at the meeting that the second meeting was on the very same day as the first. However, it seems highly likely that they were. Brian Kennedy and Edward Smethurst would hardly fly out to Portugal for a police meeting, then fly back to England, only to fly out again days later for another meeting with the Murat group. If they didn't meet with the Murats that very day, it must surely have been the following day.
The first in time of these two meetings was with the Portuguese Police at Portimao Police Station. The second was with Robert Murat and three other members of his family at the home of Ralph and Sally Eveleigh, Robert Murat’s uncle and aunt.
We will deal now with the first one, but first, because so little is known about these two meetings, especially the Salsalito one, we need to prove that they actually happened.
The meeting Brian Kennedy had with the Portuguese Police at the Portimao Police Station is in the Portuguese Police files publicly disclosed in the DVD of information released to the public in August 2008 (4).
The general public was not meant to know about the 'Salsalito' meeting. So here is what is known about it.
A PROOFS THAT THE MURAT/McCANN CAMPS MEETING TOOK PLACE AT SALSALITO IN NOVEMBER 2007
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Proof 1 - Source http://robertmuratscapegoat.blogspot.com/
It was Francisco Pagarete, Mr Murat’s Portuguese lawyer - the one whom he was so anxious to see when he flew out to Praia da Luz on 1 May - who confirmed that a second meeting involving Brian Kennedy took place at Mr Murat’s uncle’s house in the Algarve in November. He told the BBC: “[Brian Kennedy] came here to give his support to Robert and to say he doesn’t believe Robert was involved in this story in any way or sense. And he asked if Robert could help the investigation for the finding of Madeleine in any way”. Mr Pagarete added that Mr Kennedy had ‘promised to stay in touch with Mr Murat’ but ‘had not contacted him since’. Mr Pagarete also confirmed that Edward Smethurst was at the meeting (7).
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Proof 2:
The Portuguese paper Jornal de Notícias (8) appeared to have some additional information about this meeting. Their report, early in 2008, said: “The meeting - a dinner that Brian Kennedy asked to be discreet and far away from the eyes of the press - took place in the end of last year at a house of Murat's relatives in Burgau (Vila do Bispo). At the dinner were Robert Murat and Kennedy, their respective lawyers, Jennifer Murat and the aunt and uncle of Murat” [NOTE: This appears in fact to have been Ralph Eveleigh, Murat’s uncle, and Sally Eveleigh, his cousin].
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Proof 3 - Source http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-563826/Madeleine-One-year-Portuguese-police-ashamed-says-attorney-general.html
Last night, it was revealed the McCanns' financial backer, tycoon Brian Kennedy, had met Robert Murat, the first suspect in the case (9).
The meeting took place at Mr Murat's aunt's house in the Algarve last year.
Mr Murat's lawyer, Francisco Pagarete, said: 'We had a very pleasant dinner with Mr Kennedy.
"He came here to give his support to Robert and to say he doesn't believe Robert was involved in this story in any way.
"And he asked if Robert could help the investigation for the finding of Madeleine."
It is understood the meeting in November was also attended by Mr Kennedy's lawyer, Edward Smethurst, who is co-ordinating the McCanns' legal affairs.
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Proof 4: On maccannfiles you find this - Timesonline
'Visit to Robert Murat, 04 May 2008' (10)
'Pray like mad,' begs tearful Kate McCann
Steven Swinford
May 4, 2008
Excerpt:
Brian Kennedy, the home improvements tycoon backing the McCanns, admitted yesterday that he flew to Portugal last November and spent an evening with Robert Murat, apart from the McCanns the only other official suspect. A source close to Kennedy said he was "gathering information".
Kennedy's lawyer, Ed Smethurst, approached Murat through a mutual friend and said that Kennedy wanted to offer him a job.
But the job offer never transpired. Kennedy spent the evening with Murat and his lawyers at his aunt's house in Praia da Luz, discussing Madeleine's disappearance.
He left with a "flea in his ear" after being confronted over reports that Metodo 3, the McCanns' private investigators, had suspicions about Murat.'
Additional evidence is provided by this comment found on a blog which was run by a group supporting the McCanns
Additional comment found on blog http://justice4mccannfam.forumotion.com/t557-murat-meets-brian-kennedy
[ Note: This was a McCann-support blog (11). The comments made by this poster reflect concerns MMRG members had at the time about this mysterious Salsalito meeting. Murat was an official suspect in the ABDUCTION of Madeleine. Why on earth, if the McCanns really believed that Robert Murat had been responsible for abducting Madeleine, or had had something to do with her abduction, would the McCanns send Brian Kennedy & Edward Smethurst to meet him? This obvious question would seem to have been in the mind of this pro-McCann bloggerm who evidently wrote this when s/he first heard news of the Salsalito meeting ]
QUOTE (reproduced exactly as written)
I didn't know they [Murat family, Kennedy and Smethurst] had met?? Thats odd...kate as always said she is not convinced he is innocent of any doing wrong in the abduction. Wounder how she felt about that?
Bit of an odd thing to do. Surly the secrecy laws wouldn't allow such a meeting..
what on earth is going on with this case????
Why would Kennedy want to go and have lunch with murat?? Did he honestly believe murat was going to jump to his questions. He is an arguido...not allowed to talk......... yet kennedy wants him to talk and help????
UNQUOTE
Exactly! What would be the point of sending your top private investigator and your top lawyer to meet with the man who had probably been responsible for abducting your child?
This article will try to provide the answer.
Finally, can we prove that this meeting was on Tuesday 13 November, the same day as we know that Brian Kennedy met the police at Portimao Police Station? No. But it seems very likely. We know it was in November. It doesn't seem likely that Brian Kennedy would take two separate flights in November all the way to Portugal.
There are three mentions above that this meeting took place over dinner and 'in the evening'. Surely the most likely probability is that Kennedy and Smethurst flew in to Portugal early on 13 November, or maybe the day before, then met with the Portuguese Police during that day, then drove up to 'Salsalito' for their high-powered and (as we shall see) game-changing meeting with four members of the McCann family. They may have flown home the following day, Wednesday 14 November.
B BRIAN KENNEDY MEETS THE PORTUGUESE POLICE – DAYTIME, 13 NOVEMBER 2007
There were several weeks of preparation, at least, leading up to this first of two meetings on 13 November. Brian Kennedy brought with him to the meeting two private investigators from the disreputable Spanish detective agency, Metodo 3, who had been hired by Brian Kennedy some weeks earlier, in or before September 2007, to ‘look for Madeleine’ (12). Metodo 3 was eventually closed down in 2014 after several corruption scandals involving criminal conduct, including illegally recording meetings of top politicians at a premier Barcelona restaurant (13).
Francisco Marco, boss of the discredited and corrupt detective agency, Metodo 3.
The McCanns paid his agency over £300,000, maybe much more, over a period
of 18 months. His agency was finally closed in 2014 when it was found to have
illegally recorded top politicians' private conversations at a posh Barcelona restaurant
At that time, Brian Kennedy had - maybe still has - a villa in or near Barcelona (14). Maybe he already had had contact with this controversial private detective agency before 2007.
The immediate cause of this meeting taking place was a telephone call from the Spanish Police to the Portuguese Police on Friday, 19 October (4).
A report of this ’phone call is given in the Portuguese Police files which were controversially released to the general public on a DVD in August 2008 - much to the anger of the McCanns, because it revealed a great deal of information, embarrassing to them and their friends, about the detailed police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance.
Here is the actual report in the files, translated by a Portuguese volunteer interested in the Madeleine McCann case.
QUOTE
“On the 19th of October, we were contacted by Alberto Carbas, Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Commissary-General, based in Madrid, who passed to us the information that the McCann family had contracted a Spanish private detective agency known as ‘Metodo 3’. The costs of their investigation into Madeleine McCann were being covered by a Scottish multi-millionaire whose name is Brian Kennedy. His objective was to find Madeleine.
“We were asked if we were available and interested in meeting with a representative of Metodo 3 and the Spanish Commissary General and Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Police in Spain. The purpose of this proposed meeting, they said, was to find out the truth, but they stated that they would not interfere in police work. At most, they said, they would ‘complement’ our investigation. They firmly stated that they are not working directly for the McCann family, but for Brian Kennedy. They didn’t ask for any information regarding the investigation, nor was any offered to them, for obvious reasons”.
UNQUOTE
The claim that Metodo 3 was ‘not working directly for the McCanns’ was highly misleading. Brian Kennedy had attended a meeting with the McCanns and a bevy of lawyers at a meeting in London on Friday, 14 September 2007 and agreed to help them by searching for Madeleine and trying to find out who had abducted her (12). One of the lawyers had driven to the McCanns’ home in Rothley, Leicestershire, to take them to and from the London meeting.
Moreover, in running this private investigation, he worked hand-in-hand with the McCanns’ co-ordinating solicitor, Edward Smethurst, a high-ranking Freemason from Lancashire - as we shall see in a moment.
Rochdale resident Edward Smethurst was a long-time friend of Brian Kennedy,
and had for years acted as the in-house lawyer for Kennedy's extensive Latium
Group. Just three days after the McCanns arrived back in England, having fled
Portugal after being named suspects, Edward Smethurst 'phoned the McCanns.
At least, that is what we are told in Kate McCann's book on the case,
'madeleine' (12). He was immediately appointed the official 'Co-ordinating
Solicitor for the McCanns'. He is a prominent Freemason and Past
Grandmaster in the East Lancashire Provincial Lodge.
This part of the report was interesting:
“On the 19th of October, we were contacted by Alberto Carbas, Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Commissary-General, based in Madrid, who passed to us the information that the McCann family had contracted a Spanish private detective agency known as ‘Metodo 3’…We were asked if we were available and interested in meeting with a representative of Metodo 3 and the Spanish Commissary General and Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Police in Spain”.
It seems clear that this meeting must have been arranged by one of Brian Kennedy’s men from Metodo 3, Antonio Giminez Raso. He was one of the men who attended with him in Portugal on 13 November 2007. He had also once been employed as an Senior Inspector in the Kidnapping and Drugs Unit of the Catalonia Regional Police Force (15), so no doubt would have had connections with the Kidnapping Unit of the Commissary-General in Madrid.
However, as we now know, Antonio Giminez Raso was arrested on 18 February 2008, just three months after he attended this meeting in Portimao on 13 November 2007 (16).
He was arrested on very serious charges, including assisting a violent drugs gang in their attempt to steal drugs from a boat in Barcelona harbour, and corruption in public office. Although he had been a trusted Senior Inspector in the Catalonian Regional Kidnapping and Drugs Squad, by the time he was engaged by the McCann Team in 2007, he had either been dismissed from the police or resigned from them. It seems though that he must still have had contacts or influence inside the Spanish Kidnapping and Drugs Unit, hence his being able to persuade (himself or through inside contacts) the Chief of the Kidnapping and Drugs Unit in Madrid to contact the Portuguese Police on 19 October. How convenient it often is to have friends in high places!
We now know that Brian Kennedy flew out in November 2007, less than four weeks after this ’phone call from the Spanish police, to attend a meeting with the Portuguese Police at Portimao Police Station. The meeting at Portimao Police Station must have been arranged following the ’phone call from the Spanish Police on 19 October. Since Edward Smethurst accompanied him to the meeting with the Murat family on the evening of 13 November (and probably to the police meeting as well - see below) it is highly probable that the two men flew out from England together. It is likely that they flew to Portugal at least the day before.
Below are the Portuguese Police’s accounts of a meeting between them, Brian Kennedy, three members of Metodo 3 and (probably) Edward Smethurst. They began with this introduction:
QUOTE
“We held a meeting on 13 November, with Inspectors Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Paiva [from the Portuguese Police] present, with Brian Kennedy, Director of the [Metodo 3] detective agency, Francisco Marco and one of his advisers, plus Antonio Jimenez, ex-chief of the Kidnapping Unit of Catalonia [Note: Other information suggests that Edward Smethurst was also present]. Brian Kennedy insisted that his motives were purely charitable, aimed at finding the truth, and generally helping missing children. He said he was interested in discovering the truth even if the McCann family, the friends, or any other person is found to be involved in the disappearance”.
UNQUOTE
Here is the full report of the meeting, dated Wednesday 14 November 2007, kindly translated into English by a Portuguese volunteer, and preserved for us by ‘pamalam’ on the mccanpjfiles site, at this link: http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/BRIAN-KENNEDY.htm
QUOTE
Volume XIII Pages 3434 - 3436
Service Information 2007.11.14
To: Coordinator of the Criminal Investigation
From: Joao Carlos, Inspector
Concerning the investigation of the disappearance of the British minor, Madeleine McCann, I present you Sir with the following:
On the 19th of October, we were contacted by the Commissary General, located in Madrid, by the Chief of the Kidnapping Unit, Alberto Carbas, who passed to us the information that the McCann family had contracted a Spanish company known as 'METODO 3', composed of Spanish private detectives. This business, or in other words, the costs of the activities of this business, were being covered by a Scottish multi-millionaire whose name is BRIAN KENNEDY and whose objective was to locate the British minor.
With this information, we were asked if we were available and interested in meeting with a representative of this Spanish business, and also with the Commissary General and Chief of the Kidnapping Unit of the Police of our neighbouring country, whose operation is in Madrid.
The meeting had as its objective to receive on behalf of the private detectives, from that moment and for their own wishes, relevant information with the aim to ascertain the truth, and to state that they would not interfere in police work, and at most they would serve as a complement to some useful information. They firmly state that they are not working directly for the McCann family, but for Brian Kennedy and that their sole purpose is to locate the missing child, or to gather the inescapable truth of what happened.
They did not ask for any information regarding the investigation, nor was any offered to them, for obvious reasons as this is found incorporated in the Portuguese penal process.
On the 13th of the current [month], in the presence of the signatory and inspectors Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Paiva, a meeting was held, in this department, with Brian Kennedy, the director of the detective company, Francisco Marco and an advisor of this same company, Antonio Jimenez, ex-chief of the Kidnapping Unit of Catalan. From the beginning, Brian Kennedy was questioned, and ascertained that the meeting only had this scope - of transmitting that his objective in all of this was purely charitable in that he is interested [in helping to stop] the bad treatment of minors and in missing children. He affirmed that he only was interested in discovering the truth and nothing more even if the McCann family, the friends, or any other person is found to be involved in the disappearance.
During the course of this meeting, the director of METODO 3 gave us a small book (attached), with information relative to the disappearance of the minor. This information, as we were told, was received via telephone and that they had already opened a line in Spain, specifically to receive and deal with information.
In this book, written in Spanish, we can analyse three pieces of information:
1. In the first case, we observed that there was report of facts which occurred in August/September of 2006, and which appears to us somewhat extemporaneous, as it cannot now be related to the material under investigation.
2. In the second point, we should remember that the computers of Sergey Malinka were searched and that nothing of suspicion was found there or related to paedophilia.
3. In that which concerns the third point, we are currently carrying out diligences with the intent to confirm or disprove the related information.
With nothing more to report.
Joao Carlos, Inspector
UNQUOTE
Item 1 to which Brian Kennedy and the Metodo 3 investigators referred was the evidence of Margaret Hall. We will not reproduce it here, but this is the link for those who wish to see it:
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/MARGARET_HALL.htm (Incident 1 - Evidence of Margaret Hall)
Item 2 refers to allegations apparently made by Kennedy and Metodo 3 against Sergei Malinka, referenced here:
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/SERGEY-MALINKA.htm#p13p3439 (Incident 2 - Question marks about Sergei Malinka) See File No. 3439
Item 3 refers to an alleged sighting of Madeleine McCann by a lorry driver, whose report suggested he had seen a lady looking like Michaela Walczuk handing a large package, which could have been a child, over a fence or wall several miles east of Praia da Luz. There were multiple indications that this sighting was a complete fabrication. The link for those who want to see the extent of the Portuguese Police enquiries on this alleged sighting is here:
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/METODO_3.htm (Incident 3 - Alleged sighting by lorry driver).
None of these three 'sightings' produced any worthwhile leads. It is very possible that Brian Kennedy and his two investigators knew very well that they were false leads, and only arranged this meeting to try to portray the McCanns' private investigation as a credible and sincere enquiry into who abducted Madeleine and where she was. Indeed there is evidence that Brian Kennedy's investigators were offering money to Moroccans to invent claims that they had seen Madeleine (17).
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End of Part One.
To read the rest of this article, please see these links on the CMOMM forum:
https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t16655-robert-murat-and-the-meeting-at-salsalito-burgau-on-tuesday-13-november-2007-clues-about-what-really-happened-to-madeleine-mccann#408948
https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t16656-the-mysteries-of-robert-murat-and-the-salsalito-summit-a-discussion-thread#408952
https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t16656-the-mysteries-of-robert-murat-and-the-salsalito-summit-a-discussion-thread#408952
