The weakest link? DW

This is her 2008 interview.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/DIANE-WEBSTER-2.htm

She then lived in Bedford but I don't know her occupation. You'll see that she is as articulate (not) as the rest of the bunch!

P.S. This link gives her occupation as a credit controller.

http://truthformadeleine.com/about/the-tapas-9/

Think i understand what you mean marxman...when going out with friends for a meal/drink the chat is completely different than if your mum or a friends mum is present...unless your mum likes hearing about how bad the ref was,the offside rule & other topics men like to discuss mixed with some coulorful language,which i dont use in front of my mum...still get a clip around the ears

Loopdaloop wrote:Does anyone know where she lives? What she is employed as?

The media put pressure on people in public on a regular basis ala watchdog,
there is no harm in getting some camera's out and asking her to expand on some of her opinions,
just so she knows that she is not forgotten.

I would want to know why she said she had thought it was just one of the McCanns' games. She might be a good person to ask about the evening of May 3rd because she wasn't one of the McCanns' close friends and she had very little to do with group activities in the daytime. Also, I wonder if she would be the only one the McCann might not be able to bully into silence.

matthew wrote:Think i understand what you mean marxman...when going out with friends for a meal/drink the chat is completely different than if your mum or a friends mum is present...unless your mum likes hearing about how bad the ref was,the offside rule & other topics men like to discuss mixed with some coulorful language,which i dont use in front of my mum...still get a clip around the ears

I don't actually know any men who talk like that when they go out for dinner. Perhaps it's the company I keep, but I don't think I know anyone, male or female who uses , 'colourful language,' at dinner. Are there men who would talk like that in mixed company, but only not if one of the females was their mother? Goodness gracious!

Horses for courses,swear words are still only words

AnnaEsse wrote:

James wrote:

mossman wrote:She says the original intention for the holiday was that she and her husband would travel with the rest of the group, but that her husband decided he didnt like sun holidays so she went alone.


She definately likes to play the "i'm elderly, i get confused, i cannot remember" card during her interviews, yet she can use the internet, played tennis during the holiday, says she plays badminton at home, so not all that feeble.

This was hardly a sun holiday - a week starting in late April. An ideal time to go for someone who 20 C a little on the warm side.

As for elderly, wasn't she in her early 60s and working full-time?

She was to both! So, not just a granny being taken on holiday! And believe it or not, some of us even had baby monitors when our children were young. Some of us even understand and use HTML. Well, amazing eh? Whodda thunk it!!

Annaesse, I hope I didn't offend anybody, that was not my intention at all. I was using those words in the context of the impression DW herself wanted to give during her rogatory statement, and trying to say the opposite were true. Not very successfully on my part obviously but it is not my opinion about her, more my opinion on how she tried to make herself look, if that makes sense

James - I understand where her husband is coming from - regardless of what the weather was like, the phrase in general means an apartment type holiday, by the pool, travel to the beach and little else. If he did'n't play tennis or like the water there would be litle else to do.

AnnaEsse wrote:

matthew wrote:Think i understand what you mean marxman...when going out with friends for a meal/drink the chat is completely different than if your mum or a friends mum is present...unless your mum likes hearing about how bad the ref was,the offside rule & other topics men like to discuss mixed with some coulorful language,which i dont use in front of my mum...still get a clip around the ears

I don't actually know any men who talk like that when they go out for dinner. Perhaps it's the company I keep, but I don't think I know anyone, male or female who uses , 'colourful language,' at dinner. Are there men who would talk like that in mixed company, but only not if one of the females was their mother? Goodness gracious!

It appears that some of the convo' between
Gerry and DP within mixed company was not
only colourful but in very bad taste.

I agree, Jane Tanner is the weakest link and also Matthew Oldfield.

As for DW, good on her. She went on holiday without her husband, which means she is not joined at the hip with him, nor him with her. Why should she babysit? She did not have parental responsibility for her grandchildren, her daughter and son in law did, it was their responsibility to ensure the children were kept safe. Why should DW have sat all alone with no company at night whilst the others went out wining and dining?

At the end of the day what is wrong with the whole set up is that they ALL decided to go out and leave the children. For all we know DW might have expressed a view on it but that is all she was entitled to do as a grandmother. For all we know her view might have been that if her daughter thought it was safe, then it must be because for all we know she might have trusted her daughter's judgement. Some grandmothers feel they musn't poke their noses in and become the typical fusspot granny.

Anyway, when I was little, I was regularly parked out the front in a pram with a cat net across it - perfectly normal back then. We used to have a coal fire with a childguard around it, with clothes all over it drying in the winter, and I remember knocking a jumper off the guard accidentally, sparking a blaze in the lounge (whilst my mum was sweeping up leaves outside). I remember going on my scooter with mum up to the shops and the shopkeeper making me wait outside because he wouldn't have the scooter in his shop in case I knocked the display over - and yes I was only aged about 6 at the time, and mum had to oblige or go home empty handed.

I remember my mum interrupting me once over my handling over the children and I reminded her in no uncertain terms that I nearly set myself alight in the lounge that day whilst she was sweeping leaves up outside. In other words, butt out, mind your own business, you were not so perfect in your day either.

Perhaps DW felt a bit that way about getting involved and just decided it was not her responsibility and if they said it was okay because of the baby monitor then it probably was. You really have to know what your own grown up children are like to know whether they are irresponsible or not. DW must have thought they were acting responsibily. She probably has never had reason to question her daughter before, the grandchildren appear well brought up, polite, clean, well fed etc. so why upset the apple car now, especially on holiday?

mossman wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

James wrote:

mossman wrote:She says the original intention for the holiday was that she and her husband would travel with the rest of the group, but that her husband decided he didnt like sun holidays so she went alone.


She definately likes to play the "i'm elderly, i get confused, i cannot remember" card during her interviews, yet she can use the internet, played tennis during the holiday, says she plays badminton at home, so not all that feeble.

This was hardly a sun holiday - a week starting in late April. An ideal time to go for someone who 20 C a little on the warm side.

As for elderly, wasn't she in her early 60s and working full-time?

She was to both! So, not just a granny being taken on holiday! And believe it or not, some of us even had baby monitors when our children were young. Some of us even understand and use HTML. Well, amazing eh? Whodda thunk it!!

Annaesse, I hope I didn't offend anybody, that was not my intention at all. I was using those words in the context of the impression DW herself wanted to give during her rogatory statement, and trying to say the opposite were true. Not very successfully on my part obviously but it is not my opinion about her, more my opinion on how she tried to make herself look, if that makes sense

James - I understand where her husband is coming from - regardless of what the weather was like, the phrase in general means an apartment type holiday, by the pool, travel to the beach and little else. If he did'n't play tennis or like the water there would be litle else to do.

Hey thanks. I see what you mean now. Also agree with James. I don't like that kind of holiday. We always rent a cottage and organise days out in the local area to beaches and places of interest, like nature parks, things that everyone, including the children will enjoy. We then find pubs nearby that have children's rooms and/or gardens for evening out with food.

marxman wrote:

James wrote:yes, i have never understood why she was there since there was no suggestion she ever helped with her grandchildren. A babysitting granny is an ideal childcare solution for a holiday.

Also, she was apparently sleeping on a sofa bed in the living room - not exactly luxurious for a mature woman who was working full-time and could presumably afford more comfort.

the sofa bed in the living room is where you put your teenager?

Yes indeed James, why take her? and why did
she accept such an arrangement?

As I recall the plan was originally for Mr and Mrs Webster to go but he cried off as he didn't think it would be his kind of holiday, he was a golfer I think. She didn't want to share with one of the Payne children (the other was in with the parents). Actually those sofa beds aren't that uncomfortable and can usually made up into a three quarter/double.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/DIANE-WEBSTER-2.htm
”Oh no, no and originally err my recollection is that the, the holiday that, that err we eventually went on err I think originally it was Fiona and Dave that err booked it and invited me and my husband along if we wanted to go on it. He didn’t want to go because its not his sort of holiday and then later on it err it grew that there was other, other people going along as well, which I was unaware of at the time and err I sort of said to Dave well you know if you’ve got friends going forget about me, you know, I won’t, I won’t come and he said no, no you must come along and so that’s how I came to be on the holiday.”

ann_chovey wrote:

marxman wrote:

James wrote:yes, i have never understood why she was there since there was no suggestion she ever helped with her grandchildren. A babysitting granny is an ideal childcare solution for a holiday.

Also, she was apparently sleeping on a sofa bed in the living room - not exactly luxurious for a mature woman who was working full-time and could presumably afford more comfort.

the sofa bed in the living room is where you put your teenager?

Yes indeed James, why take her? and why did
she accept such an arrangement?

As I recall the plan was originally for Mr and Mrs Webster to go but he cried off as he didn't think it would be his kind of holiday, he was a golfer I think. She didn't want to share with one of the Payne children (the other was in with the parents). Actually those sofa beds aren't that uncomfortable and can usually made up into a three quarter/double.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/DIANE-WEBSTER-2.htm
”Oh no, no and originally err my recollection is that the, the holiday that, that err we eventually went on err I think originally it was Fiona and Dave that err booked it and invited me and my husband along if we wanted to go on it. He didn’t want to go because its not his sort of holiday and then later on it err it grew that there was other, other people going along as well, which I was unaware of at the time and err I sort of said to Dave well you know if you’ve got friends going forget about me, you know, I won’t, I won’t come and he said no, no you must come along and so that’s how I came to be on the holiday.”

Diane and her husband were invited to go. She was not taken on holiday. I have the feeling that there may have been another apartment that was booked for Diane and her husband, which was then unoccupied when Diane's husband didn't go. Did they have access to that apartment? And was that used as a creche for all of the children?

anna i wonder about another appartment ?? mmm i also think that they had access to another somewhere -- a good hiding place maybe ? did the pj check all appartments belonging to the tapas lot ?

AnnaEsse wrote:

marxman wrote:I do apologise for rehashing spent discussion,
but I truely think that the resolution of this
mystery centres on one 'weak link' which I
sincerely hope NSY have considered. I have,
like everyone else, followed this case since
it unfolded and the one character that stands
out, who dosn't fit, who has remained mainly
silent and unconnected is Dianne Webster!
Why take a granny on holiday if neglect was
going to be the order of the day?
I think if DW was questioned under caution
I believe all would be revealed.

"It is widely reported that she was the only member of the Tapas group to remain seated following Kate's announcement that Madeleine had been 'taken' and has never given any interviews or offered any statements."(mccannfiles)

What do you think?

I believe Diane Webster said that most of the time she did her own thing on that holiday, rather than join in with the others all the time in the day. I don't think they "took a granny on holiday." I think she was there as another member of a group of people going on holiday together. When I go on holiday with my daughter and her family I am not a granny being taken on holiday. We go as a family and we go out in the evening as a family. Why should it be assumed that Diane, as the mother of Fiona, grandmother to Fiona's children, was there as a babysitter? It was surely her holiday too.

Hi AnnaEsse

I can see your point, regarding Diane Webster, going on holiday with this group, but not to babysit. However if my daughter and her husband had children and they asked me to go on holiday with them, but not as a babysitter, I would freak out, if they said we were all going out for the evening, but they wouldn't be taking their children with them. They would be leaving their children unsupervised, but they would be taking a baby monitor with them.

I agree it was Diane Webster's holiday, but if her daughter and son-in-law, weren't prepared to have their children looked after by a baby sitter, or in the creche, I feel she should have refused to go with them. Someone should have been with these children and the children of the rest of the group, including the McCann children.

Always assuming this is what really happened, because Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida, stated in his report to the Coordinator of the Criminal Investigation, that the whole group lied from the beginning of the investigation.

cass wrote:anna i wonder about another appartment ?? mmm i also think that they had access to another somewhere -- a good hiding place maybe ? did the pj check all appartments belonging to the tapas lot ?

I assume the tapas apartments were checked.

http://www.mccannfiles.com/id139.html

Out of reach from the searches.

Yes. There was information that the couple had been seen walking towards a certain apartment block, we were trying to understand which apartment it was. Who had access to that apartment. But everything stopped.

kathybelle wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

marxman wrote:I do apologise for rehashing spent discussion,
but I truely think that the resolution of this
mystery centres on one 'weak link' which I
sincerely hope NSY have considered. I have,
like everyone else, followed this case since
it unfolded and the one character that stands
out, who dosn't fit, who has remained mainly
silent and unconnected is Dianne Webster!
Why take a granny on holiday if neglect was
going to be the order of the day?
I think if DW was questioned under caution
I believe all would be revealed.

"It is widely reported that she was the only member of the Tapas group to remain seated following Kate's announcement that Madeleine had been 'taken' and has never given any interviews or offered any statements."(mccannfiles)

What do you think?

I believe Diane Webster said that most of the time she did her own thing on that holiday, rather than join in with the others all the time in the day. I don't think they "took a granny on holiday." I think she was there as another member of a group of people going on holiday together. When I go on holiday with my daughter and her family I am not a granny being taken on holiday. We go as a family and we go out in the evening as a family. Why should it be assumed that Diane, as the mother of Fiona, grandmother to Fiona's children, was there as a babysitter? It was surely her holiday too.

Hi AnnaEsse

I can see your point, regarding Diane Webster, going on holiday with this group, but not to babysit. However if my daughter and her husband had children and they asked me to go on holiday with them, but not as a babysitter, I would freak out, if they said we were all going out for the evening, but they wouldn't be taking their children with them. They would be leaving their children unsupervised, but they would be taking a baby monitor with them.

I agree it was Diane Webster's holiday, but if her daughter and son-in-law, weren't prepared to have their children looked after by a baby sitter, or in the creche, I feel she should have refused to go with them. Someone should have been with these children and the children of the rest of the group, including the McCann children.

Always assuming this is what really happened, because Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida, stated in his report to the Coordinator of the Criminal Investigation, that the whole group lied from the beginning of the investigation.

Why should it have been her responsibility more than that of the parents? Why should she refuse to go? The Payne children were the responsibility of their parents.

ann_chovey wrote:

cass wrote:anna i wonder about another appartment ?? mmm i also think that they had access to another somewhere -- a good hiding place maybe ? did the pj check all appartments belonging to the tapas lot ?

I assume the tapas apartments were checked.

http://www.mccannfiles.com/id139.html

Out of reach from the searches.

Yes. There was information that the couple had been seen walking towards a certain apartment block, we were trying to understand which apartment it was. Who had access to that apartment. But everything stopped.

My thinking is that if Diane's husband called off at the last minute, then there possibly had been an apartment booked for the two of them, which would have to have been paid for anyway. Because she would then have been in an apartment on her own, I think that maybe she decided to bunk in with Fiona and Dave, leaving an apartment vacant. Did the Tapas Crew use that apartment or was it used as a temporary resting place for Maddie perhaps?

I'd find it hard to believe that someone who had an apartment to herself and had to pay for it anyway would chose to sleep on the sofa bed in the living room of her daughters apartment and maybe be awoken by her grandchildren in the night ie waking -crying and disturbing both parents and grannie. i like children but I like my sleep. Any apartment would have been very nearby not necessarily nextdoor so she wouldn't have been on her own, far from her daughter and the fact that she goes on holiday without her husband and isn't a slave to babysitting the grandchildren shows she is independent.

There was an empty apartment (5C I think) in between the Oldfields and O`Brien/Tanner. Not sure if it was actually empty or there were people not attached to T9 in it.

I must say I do think it`s a bit weird for a 60yr odd single lady to go on holiday with a group of 30/40 yr olds and joining in their evening get-togethers. Its different if its a whole family of mixed generations, but the last thing I`d do would be to intrude on a large group of much younger couples on their evening get-togethers - I`d feel totally out of place. I would only go on the condition that it was purely for babysitting - I`d be quite happy to do my own thing in the day and babysit the grandchildren in the evening.

I don't see anything untoward about Diane being with her Daughter's friends. I always go out for dinner with my Son and his friends when I am visiting, in fact I also have days out with their ex's !! Age is an attitude of mind and Diane made herself useful while Fiona was jogging and her Son-in-Law playing Tennis.

When Kate ran screaming to the Restaurant , they all wanted to rush to 3a, but Fiona asked Diane to stay because of the Baby Monitor. Later, Diane went to 5a because the McCanns had left their Camera on the table.

I think the "playing games" might have something to do with the row the McCanns had the night before Madeleine went missing and Kate slept in the spare bed in the childrens bedroom. Maybe she flounced out of the Restaurant and Diane thought she was being childish or looking for sympathy.

Panda wrote:I don't see anything untoward about Diane being with her Daughter's friends. I always go out for dinner with my Son and his friends when I am visiting, in fact I also have days out with their ex's !! Age is an attitude of mind and Diane made herself useful while Fiona was jogging and her Son-in-Law playing Tennis.

When Kate ran screaming to the Restaurant , they all wanted to rush to 3a, but Fiona asked Diane to stay because of the Baby Monitor. Later, Diane went to 5a because the McCanns had left their Camera on the table.

I think the "playing games" might have something to do with the row the McCanns had the night before Madeleine went missing and Kate slept in the spare bed in the childrens bedroom. Maybe she flounced out of the Restaurant and Diane thought she was being childish or looking for sympathy.

The reason her husband didn't go is because he is a golfer? There are four golf courses around PdL. DW being there was not normal imo. She wasn't with them on any other holiday and the excuses as to why her husband didn't come is thin imo. (too hot and being a golfer).

It would be a damper to have your mother with you when all the rest of the group are some 25 years younger. It would restrict the dirty jokes quota for a start.
Imo DW played the confused elderly lady card well. I don't for a minute think she is one. She was in her fifties and her remark that she thought it was one of their games would fit a confused 80 year old, not a working, tennis playing 50 year old.

So what could be the reason for her presence? It made it look even more like a 'family' holiday. Which I don't believe either.

AnnaEsse wrote:

kathybelle wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

marxman wrote:I do apologise for rehashing spent discussion,
but I truely think that the resolution of this
mystery centres on one 'weak link' which I
sincerely hope NSY have considered. I have,
like everyone else, followed this case since
it unfolded and the one character that stands
out, who dosn't fit, who has remained mainly
silent and unconnected is Dianne Webster!
Why take a granny on holiday if neglect was
going to be the order of the day?
I think if DW was questioned under caution
I believe all would be revealed.

"It is widely reported that she was the only member of the Tapas group to remain seated following Kate's announcement that Madeleine had been 'taken' and has never given any interviews or offered any statements."(mccannfiles)

What do you think?

I believe Diane Webster said that most of the time she did her own thing on that holiday, rather than join in with the others all the time in the day. I don't think they "took a granny on holiday." I think she was there as another member of a group of people going on holiday together. When I go on holiday with my daughter and her family I am not a granny being taken on holiday. We go as a family and we go out in the evening as a family. Why should it be assumed that Diane, as the mother of Fiona, grandmother to Fiona's children, was there as a babysitter? It was surely her holiday too.

Hi AnnaEsse

I can see your point, regarding Diane Webster, going on holiday with this group, but not to babysit. However if my daughter and her husband had children and they asked me to go on holiday with them, but not as a babysitter, I would freak out, if they said we were all going out for the evening, but they wouldn't be taking their children with them. They would be leaving their children unsupervised, but they would be taking a baby monitor with them.

I agree it was Diane Webster's holiday, but if her daughter and son-in-law, weren't prepared to have their children looked after by a baby sitter, or in the creche, I feel she should have refused to go with them. Someone should have been with these children and the children of the rest of the group, including the McCann children.

Always assuming this is what really happened, because Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida, stated in his report to the Coordinator of the Criminal Investigation, that the whole group lied from the beginning of the investigation.

Why should it have been her responsibility more than that of the parents? Why should she refuse to go? The Payne children were the responsibility of their parents.

I know the children were the responsibility of their parents, but if they weren't prepared to take responsibility for their childrens welfare, then Diane Webster should have.

I don't know how Diane Webster, could wine and dine with her daughter and son-in-law, knowing the situation her grandchildren were being left in.

kathybelle wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

kathybelle wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

marxman wrote:I do apologise for rehashing spent discussion,
but I truely think that the resolution of this
mystery centres on one 'weak link' which I
sincerely hope NSY have considered. I have,
like everyone else, followed this case since
it unfolded and the one character that stands
out, who dosn't fit, who has remained mainly
silent and unconnected is Dianne Webster!
Why take a granny on holiday if neglect was
going to be the order of the day?
I think if DW was questioned under caution
I believe all would be revealed.

"It is widely reported that she was the only member of the Tapas group to remain seated following Kate's announcement that Madeleine had been 'taken' and has never given any interviews or offered any statements."(mccannfiles)

What do you think?

I believe Diane Webster said that most of the time she did her own thing on that holiday, rather than join in with the others all the time in the day. I don't think they "took a granny on holiday." I think she was there as another member of a group of people going on holiday together. When I go on holiday with my daughter and her family I am not a granny being taken on holiday. We go as a family and we go out in the evening as a family. Why should it be assumed that Diane, as the mother of Fiona, grandmother to Fiona's children, was there as a babysitter? It was surely her holiday too.

Hi AnnaEsse

I can see your point, regarding Diane Webster, going on holiday with this group, but not to babysit. However if my daughter and her husband had children and they asked me to go on holiday with them, but not as a babysitter, I would freak out, if they said we were all going out for the evening, but they wouldn't be taking their children with them. They would be leaving their children unsupervised, but they would be taking a baby monitor with them.

I agree it was Diane Webster's holiday, but if her daughter and son-in-law, weren't prepared to have their children looked after by a baby sitter, or in the creche, I feel she should have refused to go with them. Someone should have been with these children and the children of the rest of the group, including the McCann children.

Always assuming this is what really happened, because Chief Inspector Tavares de Almeida, stated in his report to the Coordinator of the Criminal Investigation, that the whole group lied from the beginning of the investigation.

Why should it have been her responsibility more than that of the parents? Why should she refuse to go? The Payne children were the responsibility of their parents.

I know the children were the responsibility of their parents, but if they weren't prepared to take responsibility for their childrens welfare, then Diane Webster should have.

I don't know how Diane Webster, could wine and dine with her daughter and son-in-law, knowing the situation her grandchildren were being left in.

I don't know how any of them could have wined and dined knowing that all of the children were on their own. I still don't think she's the weakest link, though. The ones who left the table, especially Russell O'Brien and Matthew Oldfield probably know a lot more than Diane Webster about what happened to Madeleine.

ROB the only casualty doctor within the group and the missing hour he claims to have been tendering to his sick child, holds the answer to what happened IMHO

duncanmac wrote:ROB the only casualty doctor within the group and the missing hour he claims to have been tendering to his sick child, holds the answer to what happened IMHO

I think he may be the key.

Attending to a sick child, yes maybe, but I am not convinced it was his own