Volume 7 pages 1841 to 1842

Witness statement: Najoua Chekaya
Date: 20 June 2007 Time: 16h00 Place: Praia da Luz - Lagos
Officer: Jose Ricardo, Inspector
To the matter at hand she said:
--- She appears as a witness. Being a British national she does not not know the Portuguese
language in oral or written form, there being present, therefore, an interpreter Sra. Lidia N., PJ
employee/officer from DRPD/ADT.
--- In accordance with the statements made by her in this case, on 9 May 2007, she confirms it
having been on the Tuesday, 1 May 2007, that she was invited to the table of the group of which
the McCann couple were part, by Gerry himself.
--- That she recalls there being an empty place [seat] at the table, not being certain if it had been
Madeleine's mother's place given that she is not sure if they had met each other there at that time.
--- The photographs of the group of the McCann's friends having been shown to her, the deponent
declares that from those photos seen she has some reservations about David Payne [in that] while
she thinks he was also there, she had not noted his presence.
--- The question asked she declares not being certain who was missing from the group.
Nothing more said. Read, ratifies and will sign, together with the interpreter who assisted her.

Document linked in toc.

Revised translation.



Processos Volume II

Pages 233 to 238

Witness Statement

Jeronimo Tomas Rodrigues Salcedas

Date: 2007/05/06

Occupation: Barman / Waiter

Place of Work: Ocean Club

He is the son of Portuguese immigrants who have been living in England for the past 15 years, they live in the city of Swindon, near Bristol. His father works for the English Consulate and his mother is a teaching assistant.

As regards the witness’s professional qualifications, he completed a professional course in hotel and tourism and can also carry out ludical activities with children as an “animator” and has worked in these kind of activities for four years with groups of children aged three (during the first year) and aged three to five (during the following years). After this kind of work he dedicated himself to the automobile sector and worked for Honda for a very short time, about three weeks, as he could not adapt to this kind of work. After a stay in England during which time he did not find work, about three weeks, he decided to come to Portugal to work in tourism, having contacted a cousin of his who works in the Algarve, Miguel Coelho who is Head Chef at the OC, who helped him be taken on immediately as barman.

He began work at the club on 2nd April.

When asked for the reason that he changed professions (children – automobiles) he said that he did this because he had simply reached saturation point. He says that ever since he has been working this has always been the case. He never stays in the same kind of work for a long time. However, when asked he says that it was always positive, that he likes to work with children. He never had any problem in this activity or in carrying out his profession. He remembers that the name of the establishment where he worked was called “Sixpenny” in Swindon.

When asked, he says that he currently lives with his cousin, Miguel Coelho aged twenty two, in an apartment in Luz, near to the beach.

The witness earns 550 Euros a month plus tips. He pays 350 Euros as monthly rent as well as domestic costs which he shares in equal part with his cousin.

Currently, and for the last three or four weeks he has worked the night shift, from 16.00 to 24.00. He sometimes exchanges shifts with a colleague and in these cases works from 09.30 to 17.30.

When asked if he is aware of Madeleine’s disappearance, he replies yes and says that it is a very delicate situation and that nothing else has been spoken about since she disappeared. In spite of having already observed many photos of Madeleine he claims that he could not state with any certainty that he had seen her at any moment, the same goes for whom he now knows to be her twin siblings. The specifics of his work do not leave him with much time to focus his attention on the children that were around, although as he has stated previously he worked with children of Madeleine’s approximate age for almost four years.

When asked, he says that many children would be present around the Tapas restaurant during the day, as just outside the restaurant there is a small playground, near to the pool. The presence of children would reduce significantly at night time, also because there were fewer people dining in the restaurant, about 20 – 30 meals were served.

With regard to the group Madeleine’s family belonged to, he remembers there were nine adults, he does not know how many children were associated with them as they brought them to dinner. He think the group arrived at the club on 28th April (Saturday), a day when the Tapas restaurant does not serve dinner because it closes at 19.00.

In this order of ideas he thinks that the group in question dined at the Tapas restaurant for the first time on Sunday (29th May). He does not know if they had lunch as he was not on duty at that time.

Of the whole group Madeleine’s father was without doubt the most noticeable person as he was the most talkative, very pleasant and with a nice manner. In this respect the whole group showed a pleasant friendliness.

They would arrive for dinner according to daily bookings which they did themselves at the reception, he remembers the bookings were always made for 20.30 or 21.00. This booking could be made on the same day until 16.00, it was necessary to show proof of accommodation as well as the number of persons included in the booking. He says that the group arrived in phases but no long delays occurred.

When asked, he said that they would normally stay at the restaurant until 23.30 – 24.00, although some of them would leave earlier, at about 23.00. They were people who showed their satisfaction with the food and would consume on average 8 bottles of wine (4 red, 4 white) between the nine of them, which he considered to be normal consumption for a group of such a number.

They did not drink coffee and as regards after dinner drinks (digestivos) they only consumed these once on 2nd May.

He noticed, because it was obvious, that some of the members of the group would regularly leave the restaurant to do something, which he gradually came to realise was “controlling” the children. Even so, he was always convinced that the children were in some place belonging to the Ocean Club, under the care of a Mark Warner company associated to the club.

This company provides child care services until 18.00, however if there was a request these hours could be extended to the evening period, from 20.00 to 23.00, paid as an additional service.

Referring to the day of 3rd May when Madeleine disappeared, the witness says that he was working.

At that time, at about 22.20 – 22.30 he noticed that there was only one person sitting at the group’s table, the oldest of them and he asked her jokingly whether they had left her alone.

The person in question said that the others had gone to the apartment to look for a girl who had disappeared. Seconds later Madeleine’s father appeared, greatly agitated, looking for his daughter everywhere, obviously and immediately heading towards the pool and surrounding areas.

Shortly afterwards Luz Ocean Club was in a state of absolute commotion. Everyone was trying to help in the search for Madeleine which was multiplied in numerous search actions over a large perimeter. The witness immediately perceived the seriousness of the situation. Madeleine’s mother was shouting desperately for her daughter. The witness told another chef at the Millenium restaurant so that he would also help in the searches.

He was part of a team together with one of the other MW employees, Leanne, of English nationality, with whom he searched for the girl until 05.00. He remembers that during the early morning hours there were about 50 – 60 people searching who covered all the access routes to the club, the village of Luz, beach, amongst others. The search was fruitless. Madeleine was not and still has not been found.

Considering his previous profession and using the sensitivity that he had from working with children, the witness said that there was no situation with him or with third parties that he had noticed that caused him to have any doubts that such a situation could occur. Even forcing his memory he has no idea of anything that could help locate the girl.

When asked he says that he was working at the OC and has no idea whether situations of theft from the apartments were checked.

No more is said.

Reads, ratifies, signs.

Revised translation.

Processos Vol II

Pages 220 – 223

Witness Statement


Lindsay Johnson


Date: 2007-05-06

Place: P da L


Occupation: Infant educator

Place of Work: OC, P da L



She comes to the process as a witness.

Being of English nationality and not dominating the Portuguese language, she is assisted by the interpreter Filipa da Silva.

She has been in Portugal since the 15th March, the date upon which she began work at the tourist resort called the Ocean Club in P da L, Lagos where she works as supervisor of the infant educators at the resort in accordance with her work contract previously signed in London.

With relation to the facts being investigated she says that in the execution of her duties at the resort she had several contacts with the girl called Madeleine McCann, although she says these were formal and short, referring to the fact that the girl belonged to the Mini Club group of children and clarifies that that definition is given to the group of children aged between three and five years old.

When questioned, she says that this group of children belonging to the Mini Club are supervised by her colleague Amy Tierney, who in turn coordinates a group of nannies called Catriona Baker and Emma Wilding, employees who were on duty for that group in the week in question, from 29th April to 4th May 2007.

The witness also clarifies that the Mini Club is sub-divided into two groups of children and that Madeleine was under the responsibility of Catriona Baker.

The Mini Club began at 09.00, making a break for lunch between 12.30 and 14.30 when the afternoon session would begin, lasting until 17.30. She adds that from 19.30 the resort crèche offers a complementary “dinner” service which ended at 23.30, which had an additional cost, the parents could also request another babysitting service that did not have defined hours but that would be agreed upon between the parents and the witness.

It is mentioned by the witness that during the period of time that the children were at the crèche they would be busy with different activities that could take place inside the installations of the resort, but which could also take place outside the resort, mainly on the beach, accompanied by employees from the tourist complex.

Accordingly, the witness states that on a date she cannot remember, but that it had been last week, Madeleine participated in a boat trip organised by the crèche together with other children from the Mini Club, accompanied by the employees (nannies) mentioned above and by the respective aquatic sports instructor whose name she cannot remember.

When asked, the witness states that Madeleine McCann was accompanied by her parents, Kate and Gerald McCann and that they were staying in apartment G5 A of the tourist resort.

On 3rd May at about 22.20 she was informed by her colleague Amy Tierney that Madeleine had disappeared, a fact which led to the initiation of the “Missing Child” procedure which consists of dividing various areas of the resort up between different employees in order to proceed in the search for the missing child.

Accordingly, she explains that at about 22.25 this procedure was begun with the resort being divided into three separate areas, the northern zone, the central zone (the rest of the resort area) and all the paths and roads that made up the resort and ended in P da L. For this purpose the witness mobilised and initiated the procedure with 5 employees from the resort who, in turn, were helped by different individuals (other employees, tourists, residents) during the search.

Later, she is not sure at what time, the local police arrived at the resort, took stock of the incident and began the respective measures for this type of situation.

When questioned, the witness says that the searches undertaken by employees from the OC finished at about 04.00 on the morning of 4th May with negative results.

When questioned, the witness says that when she was informed about Madeleine’s disappearance she was alone at home and left immediately to initiate the procedure described above.

When questioned, the witness says that as she did not have direct contact with Madeleine as she was merely the supervisor of the infant educators of the crèche, she does not know about the child’s habits or those of her parents and that no strange situation concerning the girl was communicated to her during the time she was working in Portugal.

When questioned the witness says that she has no knowledge of any type of situation that she finds suspicious or that could have anything to do with the disappearance, either directly or indirectly.

No more is said. Reads, ratifies, signs.


Statement can also be found here:

topic145-10.html

Revised translation.


Processos Vol II

Pages 229 - 231


Witness Statement

Amy Tierney

Date: 2007 – 05 – 06

Place: P da L

Occupation: Head of the Baby Club and Mini Club

Place of Work: Ocean Club



She comes to the process as a witness.

As she does not understand Portuguese and is of English nationality she is assisted by the interpreter Robert Murat who accompanies her during the questioning.

When asked, the witness confirms that she has been in Portugal since the 18th March 2007 having come to Portugal to work in this tourist resort.

She confirms that she works as head of the Baby Club and Mini Club, the former being for children aged up to eleven months and the latter for children aged between three and five.

She confirms that Madeleine is known by her as frequenting the Mini Club, as she was aged almost four.

When questioned about Madeleine’s behaviour, the witness says that she is a shy girl but very intelligent for her age, she tended to play with older children, the witness describes her attitude and behaviour as perfectly normal.

The witness confirms that she also knows Madeleine’s parents as they would go to fetch her from the club, but she adds that it was normally Madeleine’s father who did this.

When questioned, the witness states that she has not noted anything abnormal in the relation between the child and the parents.

The hours of the club are from 09.00 to 12.30 and from 14.30 to 17.30, the club is closed on Sundays on that day it only offers the dinner service.

When questioned, she says that if the guests wish so they can request services from the “Staff” who would look after the children from 19.30 to 23.30, however Madeleine’s parents never did this although the service is free.

She confirms that, on the night of the disappearance she was on duty and immediately went to the bedroom to see if the girl was hiding. She saw that the shutter was raised and that the window was partially open. It was then that she began to look in the wardrobes to see if the girl was hiding.

The first idea that occurred to her was that the girl could have left by her own means, however after checking that the window was open and the shutter raised she asked the parents whether Madeleine’s shoes were there, to which they replied that they were, these facts led her to think that Madeleine could have been taken by someone.

However there was a bed against the window, which could have enabled the girl to climb up onto it and then up to the window, the witness thinks it would not be possible as she would not be able to open the shutters and even if she had done so she would have fallen outside as the window is too high for a child of that age to be able to descend without falling.

In reply to the question asked, she said that the back door (porta das traseiras) that leads to the parking area was closed, but she doesn’t know whether the front door (porta da frente) was locked as when she arrived both the parents and a female friend of theirs whose name she does not know, were there and that is why the door was open.

After having searched the apartment and verified that the girl was not there, the outside searches were begun.

The witness confirms that the girl’s father went to the reception to call the police as soon as her disappearance was noticed and that twenty minutes had passed. The GNR took 30 – 35 minutes to arrive.

She says that at no moment did she notice anyone behaving strangely as concerns the children or anything that appeared at all suspicious to her.

She adds that the staff looking after the children were eleven employees, who worked in shifts regarding the hours from 19.30 to 23.30.

The witness remembers that upon entering the bedroom at the time of the disappearance, she saw that the bed that the two babies were sleeping (reparou que a cama que os dois bebés encontravam-se a dormir) and she saw that the bedclothes of the bed near the window were rumpled as if someone had been sitting there, that the bedclothes of Madeleine’s bed had been pushed back and that on top of the bed was a small child’s blanket and a cuddly toy.

She states that the distance between the apartment and the restaurant where Madeleine’s parents were was 30 seconds by foot away but that there was no visual contact with the back window of the bedroom where Madeleine was. From the restaurant just the front window of the apartment could be seen.

The witness does not remember any element that could be useful to the investigation.

No more is said.

Reads, ratifies and signs.

Statement can also be found here:

topic145-10.html