The Last Meal

I know I'm probably going over old ground for some, but I am fairly new to this site. Have been reading up on all available material, whether true or not.....so my question is to all.....On the last night of the 3rd, they all met in the tapas for their meal, last couple apparently arriving at 9pm (if this is fact). How did they all order their drinks, their starters, their mains for all folks, eat and finish within an hour?
I know on the med, that its a very relaxed and unrushed service......so how did it happen in less than an hour??? I know i have been here before - but why did Jane say that they were seated at a big round table for 9 people - when you can only see square tables in all of the photos? Usually 'big circular tables' are positioned on top of special tables and used for functions. I cannot see a small tapas restaurant going out and buying one just for a week! So did jane mean that there were so many small, square tables added together? But then this would mean the table was long and oblong and not 'round' at all!!

Morning mariang, the Table was booked for 8.30pm and I think they all arrived beforehand to place their orders. Apparently about 4 or 5 bottles of Wine were drunk that night . Apparently they used to go into the Bar after Dinner and one Barman's Statement says they were still there at 11.45pm .

The mccanns were the first to arrive around 8.30pm...the paynes were the last to arrive around 9pm.


The tapas lot were always the LAST to leave.


One night Gerry McCann and O'Brien were the FIRST to arrive.....without their respective partners...

If you remember , oldfield said he went to 'chivvy' up the paynes on 3rd as they were late as usual but then he said he went to 'check' on the children by listening outside the shutters..

kitti wrote:If you remember , oldfield said he went to 'chivvy' up the paynes on 3rd as they were late as usual but then he said he went to 'check' on the children by listening outside the shutters..

Morning Kitti, as far as I remember, Oldfield went to the Paynes about 8.45pm , as you say, the McCanns were first to arrive although they had the most responsibility with 3 children under 4 yrs of age.Wasn't Oldfield's check at 9.30pm?

He checked at the shutter whilst going to hurry up the paynes

kitti wrote:He checked at the shutter whilst going to hurry up the paynes

15 minutes after the McCanns arrived at the Restaurant? I seem to remember Oldfiled's Lawyer saying he was returning to Portugal to amend his
statement for the 9.30am check. He changed it from going into 5a to listening at the Window. No wonder John Buck warned the Foreign Office not to
get too involved.

It still doesnt account for all of the orders for 9 people being taken, cooked and served in such a small time frame...oh and as well as the up and down from the table that they were supposed to be doing? Or did they all pre order before hand?
Its all very fishy to me!
No one has commented on the table??

Panda wrote:

kitti wrote:He checked at the shutter whilst going to hurry up the paynes

15 minutes after the McCanns arrived at the Restaurant? I seem to remember Oldfiled's Lawyer saying he was returning to Portugal to amend his
statement for the 9.30am check. He changed it from going into 5a to listening at the Window. No wonder John Buck warned the Foreign Office not to
get too involved.

Panda, I don't recall reading details of a changed statement. In his rogatory interview, Oldfield was still talking about going into the apartment. I think on his first round, he listened and on the 9.30pm check he has always said he went in. In the rogatory he got the colour of the curtains wrong.

mariang wrote:It still doesnt account for all of the orders for 9 people being taken, cooked and served in such a small time frame...oh and as well as the up and down from the table that they were supposed to be doing? Or did they all pre order before hand?
Its all very fishy to me!
No one has commented on the table??

Morning mariang, probably , under normal circumstances the Tapas group would have taken longer to finish their meal, but the 10pm Alarm on 3rd
changed all that. I believe O'Brien returned to the Restaurant after attending to his sick child and finish off the Steak the cook had kept warm for him
and found everyone had finished their Meal and minutes later the alarm was raised and they all left the table except Fiona's Mother.

How can any of them be sure what time their 'checks' were done when none were wearing any watches or carrying phones?

AnnaEsse wrote:

Panda wrote:

kitti wrote:He checked at the shutter whilst going to hurry up the paynes

15 minutes after the McCanns arrived at the Restaurant? I seem to remember Oldfiled's Lawyer saying he was returning to Portugal to amend his
statement for the 9.30am check. He changed it from going into 5a to listening at the Window. No wonder John Buck warned the Foreign Office not to
get too involved.

Panda, I don't recall reading details of a changed statement. In his rogatory interview, Oldfield was still talking about going into the apartment. I think on his first round, he listened and on the 9.30pm check he has always said he went in. In the rogatory he got the colour of the curtains wrong.

We will have to find the Staatements because I am sure he said he did not go into the Apartment, even on the Channel 4 Docu he is standing outside 5a. How would he see the colour of Curtains in the dark?

Panda wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

Panda wrote:

kitti wrote:He checked at the shutter whilst going to hurry up the paynes

15 minutes after the McCanns arrived at the Restaurant? I seem to remember Oldfiled's Lawyer saying he was returning to Portugal to amend his
statement for the 9.30am check. He changed it from going into 5a to listening at the Window. No wonder John Buck warned the Foreign Office not to
get too involved.

Panda, I don't recall reading details of a changed statement. In his rogatory interview, Oldfield was still talking about going into the apartment. I think on his first round, he listened and on the 9.30pm check he has always said he went in. In the rogatory he got the colour of the curtains wrong.

We will have to find the Staatements because I am sure he said he did not go into the Apartment, even on the Channel 4 Docu he is standing outside 5a. How would he see the colour of Curtains in the dark?

Extract from Matthew's rogatory interview.

Matthew's rogatory interview, concerning the shutter when he visited the McCanns' apartment at 9.25/9.30pm:


So I just sort of went towards the doorway, I didn't step over the threshold, I didn't see Madeleine and I didn't check, I turned round and came back out, said all was quiet when I got back to the table and then we went on with food. Now the room was, we talked also in the interviews about how light the room was and whether I could see the shutters, and I can't see the shutters because the curtains were shut and, they're similar curtains to the ones you've got in there, and you just get an impression of just like green and yellow, but they were closed, they weren't sort of blowing about, because I'm sure I'd have noticed if there was sort of movement like that. But the room seemed light, and we spent a lot of time talking about this, whether it could be light coming in from the street outside, but there was a light behind us in the room and for some reason I thought, I got the impression of light coming through the doorway from behind me, which is why I said that I thought perhaps the moon was out, erm, but there as no sort of, you know, it's a question of whether, there was no sort of slats of light coming through the back that particularly caught my eye. So I didn't specifically see the shutters and I couldn't say that they were definitely open, but certainly the curtains were shut and everything was quiet"

http://frommybigdesk.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/mystery-of-madeleine-according-to-jane.html

I checked the mccannfiles and without copying reams settled for this .


"9.00pm. Matt Oldfield listens at all 3 windows 5A, B, D ALL shutters down" I don't understand the bit about curtains.

M O could see the twins breathing on his internal check,he was miffed when Gerry went to check at 9.05 as he had already been 5 minutes earlier on a listening check,Gerry was 10 minutes in the apartment on his check as he had a poignant moment...oh & had to visit the lavatory,he sums up his statement with the toilet visit...a crock of $hit

When ordering food i will leave it till the last moment as i change my mind that much but the tapas could plan the whole weeks meals,plan the whole weeks entertainment,plan the tennis,plan the daytime creche around their me time...but just forgot(cough)to arrange the childrens night care...

So very organised....apart from the one detail that could make abduction possible

matthew wrote:M O could see the twins breathing on his internal check,he was miffed when Gerry went to check at 9.05 as he had already been 5 minutes earlier on a listening check,Gerry was 10 minutes in the apartment on his check as he had a poignant moment...oh & had to visit the lavatory,he sums up his statement with the toilet visit...a crock of $hit

When ordering food i will leave it till the last moment as i change my mind that much but the tapas could plan the whole weeks meals,plan the whole weeks entertainment,plan the tennis,plan the daytime creche around their me time...but just forgot(cough)to arrange the childrens night care...

So very organised....apart from the one detail that could make abduction possible

More from the link I posted above.

.....Previously in his statement, Matthew refers to having checked by listening at the shutters of apartments A, B and D, at 9.05pm, while he was out chivvying along the Paynes.

Matthew's rogatory interview:

4078 "Okay. So Gerry has gone off almost straight away after you got back?"

Reply "Yeah".

4078 "And then Jane followed him?"

Reply "Yeah. Now I don't remember that particularly well, I mean, I know from what discussion, it may be in my statement from months ago remembering better, but it wasn't unusual for people to be leaving the table to sort of check, so it doesn't stand out particularly in my mind. But I remember Gerry specifically going because I thought, well I've just checked (inaudible) and then, you know, well I hadn't been in so I couldn't really check and, you know, they're his kids, it was quite right that, if that's what he wants. But I don't particularly remember Jane doing that, but I might have done at the time, it's just it's now sort of faded because it didn't seem important”.

ETA: On the link I posted above, the blog title is "SUNDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2010
The Mystery of Madeleine according to Jane Tanner and Matthew Oldfield"

It's basically a comparison between Jane's and Matthew's initial statements on May 4th 2007 and their rogatories, how they contradict each other and how they contradict themselves.

matthew wrote:M O could see the twins breathing on his internal check,he was miffed when Gerry went to check at 9.05 as he had already been 5 minutes earlier on a listening check,Gerry was 10 minutes in the apartment on his check as he had a poignant moment...oh & had to visit the lavatory,he sums up his statement with the toilet visit...a crock of $hit

When ordering food i will leave it till the last moment as i change my mind that much but the tapas could plan the whole weeks meals,plan the whole weeks entertainment,plan the tennis,plan the daytime creche around their me time...but just forgot(cough)to arrange the childrens night care...

So very organised....apart from the one detail that could make abduction possible

Morning Matthew........no wonder the PJ had trouble with the Tapas group!!! If the shutters are down there is no way you can see chinks of light, I know from experience. Also , the children's bedroom was in darkness. I will have to get ann_chovey or Annabel to find the Press report where Oldfields
Lawyer says he is going to change his Statement....O.K. Girls,? no good asking me .

mariang wrote:It still doesnt account for all of the orders for 9 people being taken, cooked and served in such a small time frame...oh and as well as the up and down from the table that they were supposed to be doing? Or did they all pre order before hand?
Its all very fishy to me!
No one has commented on the table??

There was a blog post from Steel Magnolia l think, it was about this round table. Whoever it was it was very long and convoluted, l'll try and find it....

ETA: Found this by Textusa, l should have guessed it was hers

http://textusa.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/in-emergency-call-112-when-in-hoax-call.html

Margaret, is it this one from Textusa?

http://textusa.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/in-emergency-call-112-when-in-hoax-call.html

There was a prebooking for 8.30pm for the Tapas 9 and absurd to think they never dined there. Russell O'Brien , called to attend to his sick child
returned to the Table about 9.50pm and the rest of the Group had finished their meal. The Cook had kept O'Briens steak warm for him and a few minutes later they all left the Table except Fiona's Mother who presumably was left there to there to listen to the Baby Monitor.

Panda wrote:

There was a prebooking for 8.30pm for the Tapas 9 and absurd to think they never dined there. Russell O'Brien , called to attend to his sick child
returned to the Table about 9.50pm and the rest of the Group had finished their meal. The Cook had kept O'Briens steak warm for him and a few minutes later they all left the Table except Fiona's Mother who presumably was left there to there to listen to the Baby Monitor.

Didn't she say she wasn't going to rush off because she thought it was 'another of their games.'?

AnnaEsse wrote:

Panda wrote:

There was a prebooking for 8.30pm for the Tapas 9 and absurd to think they never dined there. Russell O'Brien , called to attend to his sick child
returned to the Table about 9.50pm and the rest of the Group had finished their meal. The Cook had kept O'Briens steak warm for him and a few minutes later they all left the Table except Fiona's Mother who presumably was left there to there to listen to the Baby Monitor.

Didn't she say she wasn't going to rush off because she thought it was 'another of their games.'?

I don't remember that but she did go to 5a with Kate's camera that had been left at the Table.

Panda wrote:

AnnaEsse wrote:

Panda wrote:

There was a prebooking for 8.30pm for the Tapas 9 and absurd to think they never dined there. Russell O'Brien , called to attend to his sick child
returned to the Table about 9.50pm and the rest of the Group had finished their meal. The Cook had kept O'Briens steak warm for him and a few minutes later they all left the Table except Fiona's Mother who presumably was left there to there to listen to the Baby Monitor.

Didn't she say she wasn't going to rush off because she thought it was 'another of their games.'?

I don't remember that but she did go to 5a with Kate's camera that had been left at the Table.

Diane Webster doesn't actually say anything about this in her original statement.


3/09/08

The interview begins at 8.45pm on May 4th 2007. Since the informant has no command of Portuguese in spoken or written form, an interpreter was called for: Natalia C.

On the matter in hand, we note that:

The informant is interviewed as a witness, She is part of a group who traveled to Portugal with the parents of the minor, Madeleine. She is FIONA's mother. She had accompanied her, her husband and her two small children. She has known the parents of the missing child, Kate and Gerald, for around four years, through her daughter. They have since become friends.

She states that the McCann couple have three children, twins aged two and Madeleine, nearly four years. She thinks the idea of coming to Portugal came from her daughter. She believes her daughter knows Portugal.

The informant arrived in Portugal on April 28th at around 12.20/12.30 from Leicestershire to Faro and then to Praia da Luz. From Faro to the Ocean Club they they used the airport's shuttle service. After checking in, she was placed in apartment G5H with her family. (Her daughter, her son-in-law and their two small children)

Concerning the usual routines, the informant states that she only spent part of each afternoon with her family and that not always. Sometimes she read, she went shopping or did other things. As for the mornings, she only had lunch one day with her family, Wednesday, because it was raining. On the other days, she spent the mornings playing tennis.

Concerning the day yesterday, she went to the beach with the children, her son-in-law and her daughter. They arrived there at around 3.45pm and left at around 6.15pm to go to the tennis courts where she stayed until 7pm. The informant then went to the apartment with the small children and ten minutes later, her son-in-law, David, joined them. With her son-in-law's help, they bathed the children.

They left the apartment at around 8.45 and accompanied by her son-in-law and her daughter, they went to join the rest of the group at the "TAPAS" restaurant. The McCann couple were amongst the other friends at dinner. To our question, the informant told us that given that her daughter had an intercom allowing them to hear if the children were shouting or crying, no one went to check on the spot. However, she reported that Kate and Gerald as well as other couples went a few times, on a regular basis, to make sure their children were OK. During one of these checks, Kate came back, frightened and nervous, even panicked, saying that Madeleine had disappeared.

They immediately organised search parties, in the apartment, thinking that she could be hiding in there, then outside. In spite of help from the Ocean Club's employees, the searches were fruitless.

The informant does not know Madeleine well, because she lives a long way from the McCanns, and she cannot say very much about Madeleine's personality. Nevertheless, she reports that Madeleine was calm but active and energetic and well brought up. She is an attractive and a good child.

During this holiday, she has noticed nothing unusual or which could be linked to the investigation.

She has no other details to add. After reading with the interpreter, who explains to her, she goes on and signs.

No she doesn't AnnaEsse, neither is there mention of her going to 5a it wasn't considered important enough I suppose.

From Diane Webster's rogatory interview:

4078 ”Err, so you’re not sure whether Gerry or not was there when you arrived, and you say you would have ordered your starters.”
Reply ”Ordered the starters and err we had our, we had our starters and err we’d ordered our, our main course. Now I can’t remember, I know that err Jane err during that time, you see there, I can’t remember it was Jane or Russell when they went back to check on their children, Evie had been err sick, so I think err I think it might, might have been Russell that found her sick and he came back and I think Jane went back then and that might have been, yeah that must have been at the time when err no, I don’t know. I know they had to sort of err relieve each other because Evie had been sick.”

4078 ”Yeah.”
Reply ”One of them would stay, or stayed in the apartment while the other one gobbled down their meal and then, so I think Russell, Russell must have gone back and let Jane come and eat her meal because by that time err we’d, we’d ordered our main courses and err Russell had ordered steak and of course he wasn’t at the table when it was ready and he said oh you know (inaudible) to go back, he’ll be back later, once Jane finishes hers err just keep his steak warm err so Jane sort of gobbled down her, her meal and went, went back so that Russell could come and have his dinner and, and this must have been getting on for, I don’t know, maybe ten to ten or something like that. Again I wasn’t looking at the time but just thinking to what happened is that err Russell came back to table and err they’d actually cooked him a fresh steak and he was just starting to tuck into it when err Kate had obviously gone back to check on the children, came running in you know, as far as I can recollect she said you know she’s gone, Gerry, Madeleine’s gone, screaming you know.”

4078 ”How did she look?”
Reply ”Well I don’t know, frightened or absolutely, well, it’s very difficult to take in when something like that, you know, you’re just sitting at a table having what was a nice meal and err everybody just, you know, stopped what they were doing and just got up and Fiona said to me you know, I said what do you want me to do and she said you stay there in case err you know if Madeleine, because at that time we didn’t know what had happened because I think Gerry had sort of said to Kate oh she can’t be, you know. Err so I, I stayed at the table in case Madeleine had wandered off and she might come looking round the restaurant. Err this is when it gets all a bit confusing because I’ve no idea how long I, I stayed there. I don’t, I don’t think it was that long and I know that at one point, again, this wasn’t in my original statement, Dave did come back to the table and say can, can you just go back to the apartment, but all this is very, very, very vague and I know when I left the table I went, I did go into err Kate and Gerry’s err apartment, which was just absolute err just terrible.”

4078 ”What did you see when you got there?”
Reply ”What did I see? Well Kate and Gerry, Gerry was absolutely, absolutely distraught, absolute, you know, I mean I’ve never heard a man make the noises he made, err and Kate, Kate was just err you can’t, you just can’t put into words how they were I mean they were just, I remember I went through into the room where err where Madeleine was sleeping and err and she said you know, somebody, you know, she’s been taken because she said that the shutters and that had been open, the window open. Err the twins were still asleep in the cot and I, with all the noise going on I don’t know how they slept through it which makes me think there was, they must have been err drugged with something.”

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