C4 Cutting Edge documentary - Madeleine was here.
Transcript: Mitts 
First Section
Because of the length of this, I’ll need to split it up and post it in sections. I don’t want it all to disappear, before I hit the “submit” button.
I have used abbreviations for everyone’s name.
I have not included a transcription of the interaction with the children. It’s so obviously staged. If anyone particularly wants those bits, then PM me and I’ll send them. Also, I have not included the excerpt from the Oprah show. (Stevo, kindly did a full transcript of this)
K: I did my check about 10.00 ‘clock and went in through the sliding patio doors and I just stood, actually and I thought, oh, all quiet, and to be honest, I might have been tempted to turn round then, but I just noticed that the door, the bedroom door where the three children were sleeping, was open much further than we’d left it. I went to close it to about here and then as I got to here, it suddenly slammed and then as I opened it, it was then that I just thought, I’ll just look at the children and I could see S and A in the cot and then I was looking at M’s bed which was here and it was dark and I was looking and I was thinking, is that M or is that the bedding. and I couldn’t quite make her out. It sounds really stupid now, but at the time, I was thinking I didn’t want to put the light on cos I didn’t wanna wake them and literally, as I went back in, the curtains of the bedroom which were drawn,… were closed, … whoosh … It was like a gust of wind, kinda, just blew them open and cuddle cat was still there and her pink blanket was still there and then I knew straight away that she had, er, been taken, you know.
Voice over: It’s now 2 years since MM was abducted while on holiday in Portugal. Her parents, K&G live near L with M’s brother and sister, four year old twins, S&A.
G: We are a family, and we’re a happy family, but we are not a complete family.
KM: I think we’re far from normality. We’re far from normality but we’re closer than we were.
K is painting the names of the three children.
She asks the children what is the name of their sister. One of the children says the full name and the other child says the shortened version.
K: I honestly believe they’re expecting her to come home, you know, one day soon. They are very much, well, when Madeleine comes back, we’ll share our toys and, you know, A is wearing Madeleine’s shoes. She’ll say well these shoes won’t fit M, now, so we’ll have to take her and get her a bigger pair of shoes when she gets home. You know.
Voice over: K has given up her work as a GP and now stays at home with the twins.
K: A lot of the places that I go now ,I used to go with Madeleine as well, so there’s little things that trigger, (mumble) like on the farm where we go quite a lot. You know, I can see Madeleine swinging on the rope in the hayloft. She was great, she was only three and she’d be like, you know, swinging backwards and forwards, you know. I can see her in the little, sort of, gypsy wagon that they had, asking me to come in and that’s hard. You get memories and reality hits in again.
It’s like kinda, of, um, tangible void, really.
Voice over: G has returned to work at GH, where he is a consultant cardiologist.
G: Given the indefinite nature of what we are going through, you have to, at some point, say, I’m going to go back.
Voice of Interviewer: Do you think you have both healed a bit.
G: Healed is a diffi…adapted, I think, is probably the right word. There’s still, there’s a scar, a deep, deep scar there, that’s, kinda, knitted at the minute but you still think it might break or come loose and stitches (mumble) But, it is, er, definitely an er… adaptation. I think.
G: There’ll always be a hope, you know, we’re living with this carrot, that potentially she could come back and I think, that makes it more painful, that you don’t know and that she’s, she’s, she’s out there and separated from you It’s less raw, erm, less painful on a day to day basis, erm, but, it’s still pretty painful. (Sighs) Erm, it’s different.
Voice over: The second anniversary of M’s disappearance is approaching. K&G want to use the media attention to keep the search in the public’s mind.
K: (in their study). It almost feels like the last, I guess, media opportunity. We really need to think about that, to get the right message out.
Voice over: (very briefly, showing part of fm (download poster page ). The M’s are organising a series of events aimed at prompting fresh evidence, including a difficult trip back to the holiday resort.
Voice over continues: A national TV appearance in the States and perhaps, most crucially a visit to the world’s leading child recovery expert. (shows E A). EA says we truly believe (shows the picture) this is what MM looks like today. Shows new image.
G: She’s either out there or she’s not and there’s nothing to say that she’s not out there alive. So it’s simple, she’s out there until proven otherwise.
Voice of Interviewer: Who actually is looking for M at the moment?
G: Er, hopefully, lots of people, er, in the general population, but in terms of an investigative strategy, then there’s no law enforcement agency that is proactively doing anything. It’s pretty amazing really. Er, when you think about, it’s a very serious crime and, erm, we’ve got to do it.
G: We’re not out making a fuss for the sake of it or to say, things were done badly or could have been done better. That’s not what we’re interested in. We’re not interested in looking back. What we want to do is look forward.
Voice over: But there are two men still looking for Madeleine, ex-Detective Inspector DE is the senior Investigating Officer. He works alongside former Detective Sargeant A C. Both are now employed by the fm fund.
AC: …given a really good description and what I’ve done is, I’ve made arrangements to go and see him on Tuesday morning.
DE: I’ve inherited an investigation which is 18 months’ old. It’s a massive investigation.
AC: For me, it’s quite simple, whether it be a high profile murder or any investigation. It’s a jigsaw puzzle and it’s just the case of putting little pieces in and that’s what we’re doing. You start at the beginning, you do the basics right and everything else comes together. and that’s what, we, hopefully, we’ve done.
DE: One of the hypothesis would be, that it’s the parents that have done it, and it goes without saying, that’s looked at and I’m sure K&G understand that. If, we had any evidence that K&G were involved, we would hand it over to the authorities.
Voice of Interviewer:: and did you find anything?
DE: No, nothing, not a shred of evidence that they were involved.
AC: When I had the interview for the job, I made it quite clear that I would only take the job, if it was an independent investigation and if there’s evidence against anybody, no matter who it is, that we give that evidence to the police.
Voice of interviewer: Do you work with different theories about what happened? Can you say what you think happened?
DE: Well, the abduction theory is the main one that we’re focusing on. If a stranger kills a child or anyone for that matter, they almost, almost always dump the body within a very close proximity of the crime scene. Now this particular area around PdL has been systematically searched. The search was started on the night and continued for weeks and weeks and no body’s been found, so that gives me hope.
Voice of Interviewer: What about if it was dumped in the sea? I mean that’s what most ….
DE: That’s always possible of course. But, again, the sea quite often, you know, gives up the bodies. But no bodies have been found. So, I think that abduction is the most likely motive. Most likely done by an individual on their own. Most likely, an individual who has close links with PdL, which is why we focused all our efforts really, or most of our efforts, certainly on PdL.
Voice over: Out of the hundreds of witnesses who came forward, only a handful are from the local Portuguese community. These are the people the investigators want to hear from so they plan to return to PdL and reconstruct key events surrounding M’s disappearance. Hoping to provoke a response.
K: They used to come and just sit and get a haircut. (laughs). Seems hard to believe it’s actually busier now then it was a year ago.
Voice of Interviewer:: Has the balance changed, because you’re not working in paid work. You’ve worked for most of your adult life.
K: Women adore cooking and washing, anyway don’t they? (laughs)
Voice of Interviewer: So, yes, that hasn’t changed?
K: I don’t think so. It’s funny, cos, you know, going back a few years, if I hadn’t been in paid work, I’d have probably felt, a bit guilty. But, now, what I’m doing is the most important job that I’ll every have to do and I think my work is incredibly valuable.
Voice over: When the Portuguese police shelved the case last summer, they released 30,000 case files, K has spent the last six months going through every document.
K: The vast bulk of it was in Portuguese. So, we then, had to get it all translated, which probably cost us about £100,000. I don’t believe anybody’s got the motivation that I have and I was desperate to go through this myself, because I knew that I’d be going through it with a fine toothcomb and I have spent months and months and months and months going through it, evenings, weekends. You know, you wanna go through it really, really quickly because I wanted to get all the information I can and know what I can do, to help find her, as quickly as possible. So, obviously, I just worked really hard, just to get through it. Often, you know, police do say the name’s in the files. It was always there, but you just need other bits of information, really, to come in to basically highlight the name. At the moment, there isn’t a big arrow and an astrix (sic) by the name.
Voice over: The most likely sighting of M and her abductor was by JT, a friend of the Mc’s. In the files, K believes another witness statement from an Irish family, describes a very similar sighting to JT’s. Less than a mile from the Mc’s apartment.
K: The reason why this is significant is, both sightings were given independently. So, when this family gave their statement they weren’t aware of J(T)’s description and there’s actually quite a lot of similarities and it does beg the question, I mean, how many people carry their children on a cold night, not covered, you know. Nothing on their arms, or their feet, no blanket. Now, either there’s been two people carrying children that way, who haven’t come forward to eliminate themselves or potentially they’re related.
Voice of Interviewer: But, you think that child is M?
K: I think it’s a good chance it could be M. Certainly, the description there, sounds to me, like M.
Voice over: K and the fm campaign co-ordinator travel to the search team’s offices. They want to discuss the details of the upcoming reconstructions and three potentially key witness statements, that all tell of a man hanging around the Mc’s apartment in the days leading up to May 3 2007.
DE: The most important one, apart, obviously, from Jane, is sighting No. 3, the man in the alleyway at the back of the apartment. No.3 is definitely a very important sighting cos it links them.
Voice over: The investigators have examined the statements from the three different witnesses and are now convinced that prior to M’s abduction, the Mc’s were being watched. The team hope this new information will give them the breakthrough they need.
DE: You’d think, it’s gotta be the same person, wouldn’t you, really?
AC: and all three say he was watching the apartment.
DE: We’re here to discuss the pending reconstruction that we want done.
K: So, basically, it looks like we’ve got five sightings, really. Two, a man with a child and three, just a suspicious individual.
DE: Yeah
K: and three, the three with the suspicious, suspicious, of the suspicious (she seems to have developed a stutter) individual, kinda, tie in together.
DE: They all tie in together.
Fm campaign co-ordinator: They’re all at similar times and place.
DE: There’s three in exactly the same location. I don’t know what the Portuguese authorities have done to actually eliminate these people from the enquiry. So, we’ve gotta presume that they haven’t done it and go with that. So, it’s just important, that we actually, we are accurate in what we know and make sure that that’s what we’re going with. No speculation. It’s gotta be the facts that we know and not try to fill in the gaps that we don’t know.
K: I mean, I’d like to go back, but not for this, to be honest. It’s kinda, just below the surface and I just, you know, I’d be scared, I think, you know, to sort of open it open it up again, really, so. yeah. I think, it’s actually going through the scenario of that night, as well, you know. Erm, I mean, you know, even what I can remember of the night, you know. Seeing G, erm, that distraught, really, sobbing and on the floor. I mean, I suppose I’m concerned that that will, er, surface again.
Voice over: K calls key witness JT, who has agreed to join G and the investigators in PdL for the reconstructions.
Scene: K talking on the phone to JT
K: “Oh, ok, pretty busy, (she laughs). Although, it’s quite good to be honest to be doing stuff and focused and it just sort of helps, you know, to be doing something positive thing. How you feeling about the weekend? I mean, I’m really nervous and I’m not going (laughs). Thank you very much by the way. No, I know, I know it’s a big step, but we appreciate it anyway so, thank you.
K: Er, she’s trying not to think about it. She just said, erm, apart from the obvious emotional concern, she’s worried about the reaction of people locally.
Voice over: Returning will be controversial. PdL was a popular family holiday resort, but things haven’t been the same since M’s abduction.
K: You know, we are aware that, unfortunately, erm, this has all been a headache really for people whose businesses are out there, their livelihoods, you know. It’s a negative, a child’s been abducted from that area and I guess in the ideal world, it would all go away, you know, everybody could move on with their lives and, but, you know, our little girl is still missing so …
K: I think regardless of what anybody thinks of me and G, and I’m a bit past caring now, really. But, you know, I think, people do feel for M and that’s the most important thing and they want M to be found and they want M to be well. There has been a question as to why now and I’d simply say, well M is still missing. Why not, now? You know.
Voice of Interviewer: Do you feel there’s a lot riding on this weekend?
K: I do, yeah, and I’m nervous. I’m nervous because I realise how important this is to do really. To get that bit of key information, I’m nervous that it’ll … all could get sabotaged or it could all go very wrong. Obviously, I don’t want that because it’s so important.
G: We are desperate for this to be successful and to be done and hopefully it might be one call, t might be 10 calls, but that’s all it’ll take, it could be just one piece of information.
DE: The offence was committed in PdL, that’s a simple fact. So, you don’t start an investigation in, er, Morocco or Spain or even Lisbon. This event’s happened in PdL. It’s a very self-contained resort and that’s where I think the answer is.
Voice over: D E is leading the search for MM. Today, he’s in PdL, on the Portuguese Algarve, to oversee filming of significant events described in witness statements. Statements, which he believes, strongly suggest that someone was watching the Mc family. He hopes that the reconstructions will lead to the discovering who that someone is.
DE: He may even have been watching the apartment for a week or more. I don’t think it was someone random. In my experience random just doesn’t happen. Someone just doesn’t go in, … passerby, and pick up a child and take it. These things are planned.
DE with Pimpleman actor
DE: This, erm, scene. You’re standing over there and you’re standing at an angle
Action: filming starts
Witness 1: Child and woman walking.
Voice over: Witness No. 1 is a British tourist. She first saw something strange four days before M disappeared.
Sunday, April 29, approx 08.00
Witness 1: I was walking along the road with my daughter, when I saw a man. I grabbed my daughter’s hand and pulled her towards me because for some reason, he unnerved me.
Voice over: She saw the same man again. This time close to the Mc’s apartment on the day before M went missing
Wednesday 2 May approx 15.00
Witness 1: The next time I saw him, he was standing on the opposite side of the road to the apartment. He appeared to be watching it. He was about 5’10”, slim build and wearing casual clothes, jeans, I think. I would describe him as very ugly, pitted skin, with a large nose.
DE talking to a young girl (Witness 3)
DE: …and as you’re just passing here, this chap will be stood over there. So, if you just, you come up, if you just glance over at him and ….
Scene shows Witness 2, Mum, girl and two dogs
Voice over: The second witness is a school girl, who lives near the holiday complex. Three days before M was taken, she was with her mum outside the M’s apartment.
Monday 30 April approx 08.15
Witness 2: I was walking to the school bus stop. I go this way to school every day. As I was walking down the road, near the apartment, I saw a man on the small path behind the block. My grandparents used to live in that apartment. So, I always look at it, as I pass by. The man seemed to be looking at the balcony of the ground floor apartment. He was wearing a black jacket and leaning against the wall.
Voice over: She saw him again, as well, the day before M was taken.
Witness 2: I didn’t go to school that day because I had an ear infection. I was walking up the road with my two dogs, when I saw the man. He was standing on the road opposite the OC and he was staring at the apartment.
DE talking to older couple (Witness 3)
DE: You have him coming from your apartment, which is over here, somewhere. You turn the corner and walk down the path.
Lady witness (the couple) (Witness 3): What the two of us?
DE: Yes, the two of you together.
DE: This was actually a sketch that was drawn by the witness at the time and, er, as you can see, he’s just stood where we are now. (shows sketch the couple) Make eye contact with him and just walk straight on past.
Voice over: Witness No 3 is a man with his partner from Cheshire. He gave a statement to the police describing a man he’d seen near the apartment.
Witness 3 (Man) I can’t remember whether I saw the man on Wednesday 2 or Thursday 3 May (approximately 11.30). But as we walked along the road, I saw a man standing next to the wall by the parking area. On the opposite side of the road was a white van. I paid particular attention to him, because he appeared to be focused on watching the apartment block as I walked past him, I looked at him, and for a split second, we had eye contact but then he just carried on staring at the apartment.
DE: We’re asking for people to come forward with information. For me, one of the big things in any major crime, the perpetrators always confide in someone else. They’ve gotta get it off their chest and it’s that person, as much as anything, that we’re aiming at. Someone knows something.
Voice over: G is back in PdL. His arrival and the reconstructions are attracting a lot of media attention. But for the people who live here, it’s attention they can do without.
G: This is an area that relies strongly on tourism and people’s livelihoods have been affected and I can totally understand when people are suffering economically, that they get resentful. But, hope they can understand as well, that as parents, we need to find M.
Voice over: The simmering anger is evident. A brand new billboard poster of M with “Help me” in Portuguese has been splattered with paint and at the holiday complex G can hear the hostility (heckling)
G: No one, even with a heart of stone, can take away that there’s a little girl missing. Why anyone would not want to help find her is a mystery and obviously if we find M, then everyone can move on.
Voice over: He goes back to the Tapas Bar where they ate in the evenings, while the children slept in the apartment.
G: I can’t remember exactly where the table was. It was kinda in this bit, so it’d be about around here and I was kinda sitting in this bit and K was here. Well, you could see where the shutters are now and the bit of the hedge, it’s grown. It was cut, you know, a couple of feet lower than that.
CONTINUED .......
