Clarence Mitchell Statement at LP Station 2008

Leicestershire Police Force
Witness Statement

Statement by Clarence Eden Mitchell

This statement consists of two pages, signed by me, is truthful and in accordance with my understanding.

Date 28th April 2008

I am the person referred to above, resident at the address previously provided to the police. Today, officers from the Leicestershire police force questioned me about some of the aspects related to the Madeleine McCann inquiry. I was informed that these questions were raised and officially requested by the Portuguese authorities. I am aware that my statement will be subject to the Portuguese Penal Code, as well as to Church law.
These are the replies that I can make to the following questions. In relation to how I met Gerry and Kate McCann and what my relationship with them is: I met Gerry at the end of May 2007 when he returned to the UK after his daughter’s disappearance. It was a circumstantial meeting at Leicestershire Police station. At the time I was working as part of the Consular Assistance Group, representing the foreigners department. I as asked to return to Portugal with Mr McCann, where I met his wife. Later I became the McCann family’s representative and I developed a good personal and professional relationship with them.

As regards my travel to Portugal; I travelled on the 22nd May 2007 and remained in Portugal until the middle of June. Since then, there was no need to return.

As regards my accommodation in Portugal, I stayed in a Mark Warner apartment in the Ocean Club, near to the apartment occupied by the McCann family. I did not notice anything strange in the apartment.

With regard to the moments that I spent with Kate and Gerry; I was with them daily for various hours, whilst I was in Portugal.
After my return to the UK I continued to be in daily contact with them and we would meet two or three times a week.

With regard to Kate and Gerry’s behaviour; Their behaviour has been entirely of constant anguish, typical of parents who have lost their daughter in tragic circumstances. Everything that they said or did leads me to believe that they are completely innocent of involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine.

With regard to the various questions about the Renault Scenic: I often saw the car but I do not remember whether I was only inside the Renault Scenic once. I travelled as a front seat passenger on the night that we went to the charity concert in Lagos. Gerald McCann was the driver. The vehicle was packed with other family members.
I did not notice anything strange about the vehicle nor any unpleasant or intense smell.

I do not think that Kate or Gerry could have hidden Madeleine or transported her body anywhere in the car. In my opinion this is a ridiculous suggestion, given that they as well as the car were the object of intense observation by the media, day and night, during the whole time that I was with them. The car was always parked in front of a multitude from television channels and photographers. The car was always followed by photographers during the whole time.

I cannot think of any more information or explanations that could be relevant or that could help the investigation in any way.

This statement was made by me and is truthful in accordance with my understanding.

I met Gerry at the end of May 2007 when he returned to the UK after his daughter’s disappearance. It was a circumstantial meeting at Leicestershire Police station."

I was under the impression Gordon Brown had sent Clarence to work for the McCanns, what does he mean by circumstantial and why was Gerry visiting
Leicester Police Station. Was it do do with being escorted by LP to get a sample of Madeleine's DNA?

This is an extract from Dr. Martin's article 15th July


"However, Hannah Marriott, writing for P.R. Week (28.11.07) gives a somewhat different account:

"Mitchell was first sent to meet Gerry McCann at East Midlands airport two weeks after Madeleine's disappearance. The pair flew back together to Portugal." CM says they met at LP Station.!!!


Why would Mitchell lie in his statement?

Dr. Martin also comments on the cost of Government help , Ambassador to Portugal, Foreign Office etc.

Somewhat odd as Leicestershire Police took his statement so they would have known if Clarence met Gerry there unless they had already met & he was lying (not that Clarrie ever lies of course)

gillyspot wrote:Somewhat odd as Leicestershire Police took his statement so they would have known if Clarence met Gerry there unless they had already met & he was lying (not that Clarrie ever lies of course)

Now gillyspot, you should know the penalty for Libel, I can't lend you much to pay Carter Ruck.

HIS STATEMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHURCH LAW,WHAT THAT ALL ABOUT?

Badboy wrote:HIS STATEMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHURCH LAW,WHAT THAT ALL ABOUT?

I didn't see that but presume it means telling the truth Badboy.

" The car was always parked in front of a multitude from television channels and photographers. The car was always followed by photographers during the whole time."


What about the nights it was parked outside the villa with the boot open Clarence, your Statements has more holes than a colander.

Panda wrote:

Badboy wrote:HIS STATEMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHURCH LAW,WHAT THAT ALL ABOUT?

I didn't see that but presume it means telling the truth Badboy.

Could it be because he swore on the Holy Bible to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Bobsy wrote:

Panda wrote:

Badboy wrote:HIS STATEMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHURCH LAW,WHAT THAT ALL ABOUT?

I didn't see that but presume it means telling the truth Badboy.

Could it be because he swore on the Holy Bible to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

If he swore on the Bible Bobsy it would burst into flames.

Panda wrote:

Bobsy wrote:

Panda wrote:

Badboy wrote:HIS STATEMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHURCH LAW,WHAT THAT ALL ABOUT?

I didn't see that but presume it means telling the truth Badboy.

Could it be because he swore on the Holy Bible to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

If he swore on the Bible Bobsy it would burst into flames.

True Panda, non of them seem to be scared of Karma.

So no truth in the rumour then that CM was out there at the time Madeleine
disappeared! ?

cherry1 wrote:So no truth in the rumour then that CM was out there at the time Madeleine
disappeared! ?

supposed to be untrue

it was Howell James who personally recruited clarence mitchell on board at the very start. He was tony blair's Permanent Secreatry of Communications at the time. Also, Howell James was John Major's Political Secretary during his conservative government, and is a very close friend to Ian Douglas Symington whose brother is David Symington, the owner of the Ocean Club. This is where the cover up starts and how certain people got so involved from the day one

Also, Howell James and Vanessa Branson (the sister of legal fees guarantor, Richard Branson) own the Riad el Fenn hotel in Marrakech, Morocco - about 15mins walk from where Madeleine was 'spotted' on 9th May 2007. Figure out why in all the places in the whole wide world it was here!!

jd16 wrote:it was Howell James who personally recruited clarence mitchell on board at the very start. He was tony blair's Permanent Secreatry of Communications at the time. Also, Howell James was John Major's Political Secretary during his conservative government, and is a very close friend to Ian Douglas Symington whose brother is David Symington, the owner of the Ocean Club. This is where the cover up starts and how certain people got so involved from the day one

Also, Howell James and Vanessa Branson (the sister of legal fees guarantor, Richard Branson) own the Riad el Fenn hotel in Marrakech, Morocco - about 15mins walk from where Madeleine was 'spotted' on 9th May 2007. Figure out why in all the places in the whole wide world it was here!!

Why jd16? Can you give us a clue?

Wallflower wrote:

jd16 wrote:it was Howell James who personally recruited clarence mitchell on board at the very start. He was tony blair's Permanent Secreatry of Communications at the time. Also, Howell James was John Major's Political Secretary during his conservative government, and is a very close friend to Ian Douglas Symington whose brother is David Symington, the owner of the Ocean Club. This is where the cover up starts and how certain people got so involved from the day one

Also, Howell James and Vanessa Branson (the sister of legal fees guarantor, Richard Branson) own the Riad el Fenn hotel in Marrakech, Morocco - about 15mins walk from where Madeleine was 'spotted' on 9th May 2007. Figure out why in all the places in the whole wide world it was here!!

Why jd16? Can you give us a clue?

Howell James and Branson should be enough

Panda wrote:

Bobsy wrote:

Panda wrote:

Badboy wrote:HIS STATEMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHURCH LAW,WHAT THAT ALL ABOUT?

I didn't see that but presume it means telling the truth Badboy.

Could it be because he swore on the Holy Bible to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

If he swore on the Bible Bobsy it would burst into flames.

Profile of Howell James from the Guardian March 2004

Openly gay, a former Tory adviser to John Major and a close friend of Peter Mandelson, Howell James will cut an unusual figure among the Whitehall mandarins when he takes up his new position as permanent secretary in charge of government communications.

Steeped in the commercial side of the media and marketing since being the brains behind the press launch of TV-am in the early 1980's, Mr James is too discreet to be colourful. However, his close friendship with Peter Mandelson and his PR firm's brief advocacy work for the controversial Hindujah brothers have already led the Tories to claim his return to Downing Street is a "strange appointment" - despite the fact that it was Mrs Thatcher who first brought him inside the government fold.

As with many of Lady Thatcher's favourites, Mr James worked upwards from humble beginnings, without a university education, through the commercial sector - working in advertising for Capital radio before heading to work under the flamboyant Australian Bruce Gyngell at TV-AM.

After the company lost its franchise - something Mrs Thatcher wrote personally to Mr Gyngell to apologise for - Mr James was headhunted to work as special adviser to Lord Young, another of the Tory leader's business appointees at the Department of Trade and Industry.

Following a brief stint doing PR for the Dorchester hotel, still just 33, he went on to be the BBC's first ever director of corporate affairs - a post seen as the first step towards the commercialisation of the Beeb in the wake of the deposed director general Alasdair Milne. His appointment was not without a political row between Labour backbenchers and BBC chairman Marmaduke Hussey over his being "Mrs Thatcher's poodle".

Moving from the state broadcaster to Cable & Wireless for a couple of years in the early 1990s, Mr James then replaced Sarah Hogg as political secretary to John Major - being seen as more media-savvy, extrovert and networking. "Smooth and witty" was one of the descriptions at the time, as was "quite rightwing" - and that coming from rightwing journalist Simon Heffer.

Perhaps the former prime minister was always a lost cause, but after the election defeat of 1997, he returned again to the private sector, becoming a director of PR agency Brown Lloyd James. Here, for a brief two week spell in 2001, their clients included the billionaire Hindujah brothers, Srichand and Gopichand.

The pair - already under investigation in India over allegations of arms dealing - were engulfed in a political storm concerning their £1m donation to the Millennium Dome and accusations of subsequent lobbying for a British passport on their behalf by ministers.

The row forced Peter Mandelson to quit the cabinet for the second time, and led Brown Lloyd James to resign the Hindujah account after only two weeks of service. Mr James was never accused of impropriety and Mr Mandelson was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing by the Hammond inquiry, but both were embarrassed by the revelation at that Mr Mandelson's partner, Reinaldo da Silva, previously had a relationship with Mr James.

But controversy has returned, with James now taking on the post only recently created by the Phillis inquiry into governmental media relations - on which he also served.

Today, turning on its former protege, the Conservative party commented: "This is a very strange appointment. It is a strange way to try and end the culture of spin in Downing Street, appointing a good friend of Peter Mandelson to such a sensitive post.

"And it is strange that Labour should want the services of the man who masterminded the 1997 election campaign for John Major."

Interesting connection to TV-AM - He worked for them 1982 - 1985

Morning meg.....Many thanks for enlightening us, I love people like you who can find all this stuff. I had two theories on the James/ Branson connection,
I always thought Branson rather effeminate. The other was the theory that Control Risk were not brought in to help the McCanns but to search for
a Sheikh in Morocco for the U.S. and used the "sighting" in Morocco to go into the Country. With James / Blair/ Mandelson/ and Branson owning a
Hotel in Morocco this is feasible.

It really is a web of intrigue and there's so many connections it's hard to grasp which is the significant one
that started the ball rolling with the cover up

meg wrote:It really is a web of intrigue and there's so many connections it's hard to grasp which is the significant one
that started the ball rolling with the cover up

At one time I thought it was because Gerry was a Fund Raiser for the Labour Party and might have had info to embarass Tony Blair about where Funds
were coming from Then there was the theory that Blair's daughter was treated for Alcoholism at Castlecraig Clinic owned by a McCann. However, this Mccann was not related to Gerry. The McCanns definitely received Government help from day 1 even though no one knew whether they were implicated in Madeleine's disappearance , as you say it is a web of intrigue and we will never know the truth.

You're right Panda I don't think we'll ever know the whole truth

Just as a matter of interest re your RB comment - He owned Heaven (Gay nightclub in London) from 1982 to 2003
It obviously doesn't mean he's gay but he will know some secrets I would imagine

meg wrote:You're right Panda I don't think we'll ever know the whole truth

Just as a matter of interest re your RB comment - He owned Heaven (Gay nightclub in London) from 1982 to 2003
It obviously doesn't mean he's gay but he will know some secrets I would imagine

I have no time for RB, years ago when he made Virgin public, I bought some shares , the dividend was small and 2 years later he bought them back on the grounds there was too much Government interference. There was a slight loss from the price I paid and I was furious that he had used our money
not as an investment but to give him ready cash.!!!!! Also, even though he is a daredevil, there is something very feminine about him., why would he own a Gay Nightclub? I was having a drink with some friends in a Pub and there was a Gay Magazine on each table issued by Virgin which I thought strange at the time

Panda wrote:

meg wrote:You're right Panda I don't think we'll ever know the whole truth

Just as a matter of interest re your RB comment - He owned Heaven (Gay nightclub in London) from 1982 to 2003
It obviously doesn't mean he's gay but he will know some secrets I would imagine

I have no time for RB, years ago when he made Virgin public, I bought some shares , the dividend was small and 2 years later he bought them back on the grounds there was too much Government interference. There was a slight loss from the price I paid and I was furious that he had used our money
not as an investment but to give him ready cash.!!!!! Also, even though he is a daredevil, there is something very feminine about him., why would he own a Gay Nightclub? I was having a drink with some friends in a Pub and there was a Gay Magazine on each table issued by Virgin which I thought strange at the time

I too am not enamoured with RB - they are always saying how well he has done starting from nothing etc....but he was the son of a barrister - so hardly from nothing dont you think?