Edited to replace translations.




Translated by Albym


Processos Vol II

Pages 225-228

Witness Statement

Stacey Portz

(statement translated by Robert Murat)
Creche Worker
Time/Date: 15H44 2007/05/06
Place: Praia da Luz, Lagos
--- Comes as a witness; doesn't understand Portuguese; RJQE Murat assigned as interpreter.
• Has been in Portugal since the 18th of March;
--- She came to Portugal to work for "Mark Warner", which company has a contract with the "Ocean Club" resort for the care of guests' children.
--- That care service is carried out in four different locations, according to the ages of the children.
• Indicated that there are the following services offered:
------------"BabyClub" (from 4 months until one year)
--- This care centre is next to the "Ocean Club" main reception area.
------------“Toddler (children from one to two years of age)
--- This care centre is next to the "Tapas" restaurant.
--- For children between three and five years the "Mini" service care centre is next to the main reception.
------------“Junior/Kids” (children ages six until 9)
--- This care centre is next to the "Millenium" restaurant.
--- She states that there exists a further service, called "Dining Out Service", for taking care of children during dinner time [evening/night] located above the main reception, between the hours of 19h30 and 23h30.
--- Further still is the "Babysitting" service between 19h30 and 01h00 carried out in the apartments of the persons using it.
--- She works as supervisor only in the "Toddler" and "Junior/Kids" services at the "Tapas" and "Millenium" locations.
--- As part of her work she frequently takes the children for swimming, walks on the beach and to the garden [play area] next to the tennis courts.
• Knew the McCann family since 29th of April as they would drop off their toddlers—Sean and Amelie—in the Toddler Club;
--- From 29 April until 3 May she was with those children every day.
• She also knew Madeleine as she would frequently come talk to her brother and sister when picked up by her parents;
--- She never had Madeleine in her care.
--- From what she was able to observe, Madeleine was an active and sociable child and that when with her siblings [at collection time] she was excited and happy to see them.
--- She states that during her work, either at the care centres or at the outside places where she took the children to play, she never noticed, in the time she has been here Portugal, anyone in particular acting suspiciously or watching the children.
--- She states that she never heard any comments about such things from her colleagues.
--- Notwithstanding her and her colleagues being English, in the time she has been in Portugal she has met Portuguese people, and no-one has ever asked questions about her work, about the children she cares for or the McCann family in particular.
--- She states that since the disappearance of Madeleine she has seen or heard nothing that could explain what was behind it [the cause of it].

Nothing more said. Read, ratifies and going to sign.

Revised translation


Processos Vol II

Pages 239 to 241


Witness Statement

Nuno Goncalo Marques Vincente Dos Ramos Bernardo

Date: 2007/05/06

Occupation: Waiter

Place of Work: Ocean Club



He comes to the process as a witness. The witness is an employee of the OC, P da L, Lagos where he works eight months a year, beginning in March and ending in September. When asked he says that he began work there last year.

When asked, he says he lives with his parents at the address mentioned previously.

He works in the Tapas restaurant where he is a waiter and serves meals on the terrace and at the tables.

He adds that during the day this commercial space serves more as a pool bar serving light snacks and drinks to the guests that frequent the space. When asked he says that during the day the Tapas restaurant has a receptionist who controls entry into the area, because of this it is not possible for people who are not staying at the resort to enter. The same applies for the pool which is exclusively reserved for resort guests.

However, the same does not occur at night, at times it is not possible to have a tight control of entrance as there is no receptionist and it is possible to attend guests from outside who are not staying at the resort. He adds, however, that this situation is unusual and the witness does not recall the last time that this occurred.

When asked, he says that since he began work there he has always worked from 09.00 to 17.00. When asked, he says that he does not carry out any other functions apart from those mentioned.

When asked he says that the place where he works is mainly frequented by people from the British Isles, English, Irish and Scottish guests because the company that owns the resort, MW is English and works mainly with tourists of that nationality. As regards tourists from other countries, he says that they are very few.

Last Thursday, after having finished his shift at about 17.30 he went home where he had dinner with his family and at about 22.15 he accompanied two of his cousins, Pedro aged 23 and Joao aged almost 17, brothers who live in Lagos to the Ocean Club resort as Joao had never visited the Tapas restaurant and the witness wanted to show him it.

They arrived there at about 22.30 in the midst of great commotion of people, many of them MW employees.

He asked his work colleague Jeronimo, whom he calls Joe, who was working in the restaurant and who told him that a little girl had gone missing from a group of English people who were having dinner at the Tapas restaurant.

A search was organised by MW staff of all the adjacent areas, P da L, the village, accompanied by local people. Because of this, the witness joined a group that was searching the beach area, without any results. When asked he said that while the searches he was involved with were underway, searches led by the authorities also took place.

When asked he said that he only saw Madeleine’s parents on the news the following day. He does not remember them inside the restaurant or having served them, but he thinks that is possible given the number of people in the restaurant and the fact that they were mainly British. But he does remember that almost every night there was a reservation of a table for nine people in the restaurant for dinner. This table was situated opposite the bar and facing the apartments but there was plastic wind shield which did not enable a clear view outside.

When asked, he says that he did not see anything unusual during the days before the disappearance or any strange behaviour. He says that this type of situation is not common in the area or at the resort.


But he says there are frequent thefts from the apartments, he does not know how they occur nor who could be responsible. He has no further information.

Reads, ratifies, signs.

Revised translation.

Processos Volume II

Pages 244 to 247

Witness Statement

Sarah Elizabeth Williamson

Occupation: Childcare Worker

Place of Work: OC

Time/Date: 17H30 2007/05/06

British Citizen from Lancaster

Interpreter: Filipa Maria da Conceicao Silva

She comes to the process as a witness. She is helped by an interpreter as she does not speak Portuguese. She has been in Portugal since 28th April when she began work at the OC where she is a childcare worker, her contract was signed in London. The witness clarifies that during the period between 29th April and 4th May she carried out her functions with a group of children staying at the resort aged between 2 and 3 years old called the Toddlers 2 group.

The witness says that Toddlers 2 is subdivided into three sub groups and each of these is under the responsibility of a child care worker, she is responsible for one of the sub groups.

With relation to the facts being investigated she says that she had various contacts with the girl Madeleine McCann, but says these were formal contacts and very brief, her twin siblings were part of the group she worked with last week. But she says that it was her colleague Shinead who looked after the twins during the current week.

When asked she says that Madeleine belonged to the Mini Club group and clarifies that this group was for children aged between 3 and 5 years old.

When questioned, she says that the crèche was supervised by her colleague Lindsay and that the Mini Club is supervised by Amy who also coordinates the “nannies, whose names are Cat and Emma, they are employees at the service of the group between 29th April and 4th May.

When questioned, the witness says that Madeleine was accompanied by her parents, who were using an apartment at the resort.

On 3rd May at about 22.30 after having left the apartment where she was living, near to the resort, together with two of her colleagues, Leanne and Kirsty, she met her colleague Amy. She was informed by Amy that Madeleine had disappeared and that she was trying to look for her. For this reason, the witness together with her colleagues joined in the search.

In the search carried out with her colleagues from the OC other individuals (tourists, locals, property owners) also participated.

Later, she cannot say exactly at what time but thinks it was about midnight she noticed officers from the public authorities (police) at the scene taking the appropriate measures for this kind of situation.

When asked, she says that the searches undertaken by OC employees finished at around 04.00 on 4th May with negative results.

When asked, she says that she did not have direct contact with Madeleine as she was responsible for the twins’ group during that week, and she has no knowledge of the girl’s or the parents’ habits and no strange situation about the girl in question was reported to her during the time she was working in Portugal.

She says that the twins were generally left at the crèche at 09.00 and that the parents dropped them off before leaving Madeleine in her classroom. Then between 12.00 and 12.30 the parents would pick up the twins until 15.00. Between 17.00 and 17.30 the parents would collect the twins from the crèche.

When the parents picked up the twins at lunch time, all the children were together in the same place so they picked up Madeleine as well.

When asked, she says she knows of nothing suspicious.

No more is said.

Reads, ratifies, signs.

Revised translation.

Processos Vol II

Pages 249 to 251

Leanne Danielle Wagstaff

Nanny in the Baby Club, Mini Club and Toddlers1/2
Time/Date: 17H45 2007/05/06
British Citizen



She comes to the process as a witness. As she does not understand Portuguese she is assisted by the interpreter Robert Murat.

When asked, the witness says she has been in Portugal since 23rd March 2007, having come to Portugal to work in the resort.

She states that she works as a nanny in the Baby Club and Mini Club, the former is for children aged up to 11 months and the latter is for children aged between three and five, Toddlers 1 is for children aged between 12 months and one year (sic) and Toddlers 2 is for children aged between two and three, the Junior Club is for children aged between 6 and 9, Kids is for children aged between ten and thirteen, and Indyes is for children aged between 14 and 17.

She says that she saw Madeleine once during the week she arrived but did not know her as the witness only worked in the Toddlers group.

When asked about Madeleine’s behaviour, the witness says that she did not know her because she had not had direct contact with her.

The witness say that she saw Madeleine’s parents once when they came to pick up the twins, however she did not speak to them.

When asked, the witness says that she did not notice anything abnormal in the relation between the children and the parents.

The Club operates from 09.00 to 12.30 and from 14.30 to 17.30 and is closed on Sundays when it only offers the dinner service.

When asked, she says that if the guests wish they can ask the staff to look after their children from 19.30 to 23.30, however Madeleine’s parents never did this although the service was free.

On the night of the disappearance she was not working and had gone to a bar with colleagues. When she was heading for the bar from home at about 22.30 she saw her colleague Amy in the garden with a torch, searching for something.

She immediately asked what was happening and was told that a girl had disappeared. At first she thought it was a joke, but then she also began to search. She say that she searched everywhere.


She adds that there is a procedure in case a child goes missing, that they complied with this procedure, which indicated the areas that should be searched in order to find the child.

When asked, she says that she does not know at what moment the police (GNR) were called, but she remembers that when she returned from searching the GNR had arrived.

She confirms that she never saw anything nor anyone strange.

She says that there are 11 staff members who look after the children and who work in shifts between 19.30 and 23.30.

She states that the distance between the McCann’s apartment and the restaurant was two minutes by foot and that there was no visual contact of the room where Madeleine slept. From the restaurant only the front windows could be seen.

She cannot think of anything that would be of use to the investigation.

No more is said.

Reads, ratifies, signs.

Revised Translation.

Processos Volume II

Pages 258 to 260

Joaquim José Moreira Baptista

Occupation: Waiter

Place of Work: Tapas Bar, OC

Time/Date: 18H50 2007/05/06

Portuguese National

Comes to the process as a witness. He has worked as a waiter at the Tapas restaurant since 12th Feb 2007. His shift is from 16.00 – 24.00 except for Saturdays when he works from 11.30 to 19.00. The clients who frequent the restaurant are mainly English tourists staying at the OC resort.


When asked he says that he clearly recalls the appearance of the girl’s parents, he does not know their names, together with a group of English tourists who generally accompanied them, as for almost a week prior to the disappearance they would dine practically every day in the Tapas restaurant. On the occasions he saw the group dining at the restaurant he never saw the children.

When asked, he says he does not remember ever having seen Madeleine’s face, which only happened when he saw her photograph after the disappearance.

When asked, he said that during dinner the men from the group would leave the table, returning to the table a few minutes later. The witness says that he does not know where they went. These absences would last for about 15 minutes. He cannot say with what regularity these absences occurred.

The witness remembers these occurrences well as would often have to take a plate of food requested by one of them back, due to the guest’s absence, when he would find that the guest was not at the table when he came to serve the food.

When questioned, the witness says that he remembers on Thursday 3rd May, on the day of the disappearance, that the parents went to dine at the restaurant with the usual people. He cannot be precise, but the witness says that the group arrived between 20.00 and 21.00. He remembers there being about 9 people in total. He states that he received the food orders from the group.

Later, between 22.00 and 22.30, when the witness was in the kitchen, he was informed by a colleague that in the meantime a client had entered the restaurant shouting and that afterwards the whole English had left in a panic. The witness’s colleague told him that this individual had said that a child had disappeared. A few minutes later the witness noticed great agitation, with many people everywhere searching for the child.

From information that was coming out, the witness learned that the child was a girl, the daughter of one of the English couple and that she had been in a room nearby.

When asked, the witness says that at the time he was working in the restaurant and referring to the days before the disappearance, he never noticed anything unusual. He said that he was never asked about the habits of the English group nor any questions concerning children. He says that on the day of the disappearance from the time he arrived at work, he did not notice anything unusual.

When asked, he says that at the end of the evening the area surrounding the Tapas is quiet with little circulation of people.

He has no comments as to the motive for the disappearance.

No more is said. Read, ratifies, signs.

Revised translation.

Processos Volume II

Pages 266 to 268

Witness Statement

Ricardo Alexandre da Luz Oliveira

Date/Time: 2007/01/30 21H00


Occupation: Waiter

Place of Work: Tapas restaurant, OC.

He comes to the process as a witness. He has worked as a waiter in the Tapas Restaurant at the OC since April of the current year.

His working hours are from 16.00 to 24.00 every day except for Fridays and Saturdays which are his days off.

When asked, he says that he serves at the tables in the restaurant, snacks are served between 16.00 and 18.00 and dinner is served between 19.00 and 22.00.

When asked, he says that the meals served are not restricted to guests of the resort and that guests can invite people from outside of the resort. In any case the witness says that it is not usual for people from outside of the resort to dine there.

When asked he says that during his working hours he does not remember having seen anyone who is not a guest dining at the restaurant.

When asked, he says that in order to enter the restaurant it is necessary to present a guest card at the restaurant reception. However, and only for this year the restaurant has been open to public from outside the resort but that in any case he does not remember having seen anyone who was not a guest having had a meal there.

When asked, he says that a few days after guests’ arrival he manages to recognise them, however not all of them regularly have meals there.

When asked, he says that the parents of the missing girl, Madeleine, would have dinner every day at the restaurant, since the day they arrived, in a group of 9 people

When asked he says that he never saw the children at dinner with their parents, in other words the children did not dine with their parents.

When asked he says that the parents and the other members of the group would arrive between 20.00 and 21.00 but that they would only begin to dine when all of them had arrived.

When asked, he says that he remembers that it was usual during dinner for one or two members of the group to leave the table for about 10 or 15 minutes and given the fact that on various occasions he saw walkie talkies on the table, he supposed that they went to check on their children who were in their respective rooms.

On 3rd May the witness arrived at his place of work as usual at 16.00 and that he first saw Madeleine’s parents at dinner that night at about 20.45.

When asked, he says that he does not remember whether the parents arrived together or whether they were the first or last to arrive at the table.

When asked, he says that he was one of the waiters who served at the table, but he does not remember whether he served Madeleine’s parents.

When asked, he says that on 3rd May he only remembers that one guest from the table left for about 10 minutes, given that when he was about to serve the respective plate he was told to hold the food back for a few minutes, and that it was about 15 minutes before the guest returned, at about 21.45.

He does not remember having seen Madeleine’s parents leave the table for short instances, but it is possible that someone could have left the table without the witness having noticed.

Dinner would end at about 21.45, a few minutes later the witness looked at the table and saw that there was nobody there and one of his colleagues told them that all the guests had left the table in a hurry. In any case, he remembers having heard shouts from the direction of Madeleine’s parents’ apartment.

When asked, he says that he does not remember anyone having been absent from the table for a few instants.

When asked, he says that he did not notice anything strange in the functioning of the restaurant nor any guest or individual with any strange or abnormal behaviour.

After hearing the shouts from the apartment he heard about Madeleine’s disappearance.
When asked he says that the place where the table that Madeleine’s parents dined at did not have a clear view of the apartment, merely the back of the apartment and it was dark when the events occurred and that there is no lighting plus the fact that there is an opaque plastic windshield around the restaurant.

When asked he says that he does not have any knowledge about thefts from the apartments nor having seen any unknown individuals inside the resort.

No more is said. Reads, ratifies, signs.

Revised translation.

Processos Volume II

Pages 269 – 271

Witness Statement

Tiago Filipe Pinheiro de Freitas


Date/Time: 2007/05/06 - 21H00

Occupation: Barman

Place of Work: Ocean Club


He has worked at the OC since the 26th April 2007. He has previously worked at the OC about 4 or 5 years ago in the bar and reception area. At that time he worked at the club for about 4 years. For financial reasons he left the OC to work at another club called Quinta do Mar, in Cama da Vaca, Burgau, Lagos. The witness is an osteopath and exercises this activity outside of his OC working hours.

He returned to Portugal in November 2006, from the States where had spent 4 months on a professional course related to osteopathy.

He currently works at the OC in the bar.

Since the date of his return to the OC he has worked the same shift from 16.00 to 24.00 without a pre-defined lunch break. He refers to the fact that he had not been on duty and that he heard about the disappearance on 4th May in the morning from his father, he only went to work at 16.00 that day and had had the previous two days off (2nd and 3rd May) and he had difficulty in associating the missing girl to her family as well as to the location where they had been staying at the OC. He remembers that he did not work on 1st May either as he was unwell.


After hearing the news and conversing with colleagues he realised that Madeleine belonged to the group of people who dined at the Tapas restaurant, at a big table.

He does not know whether this group of people would have lunch at the restaurant. He does not remember having seen the presence of children with the group at dinner.

He really only remembers the presence of one man from the group, a tall adult, who had receding hair, pushed back. He is not absolutely sure nor on what date but he thinks he saw radio intercom on the table which they would use to check the children.

As he has stated previously, he only returned to work on 4th May at about 16.00 and noticed the total confusion at the in the search for Madeleine and the despair of the families.

When asked he said that from the dining table the group were seated at it would be difficult to have a clear view of the place the girl disappeared from. There are physical obstacles such as a plastic wind shield, the wall surrounding the pool and the restaurant, the wall around the apartment as well as the vegetation. With regard to the apartment in question, he thinks that a light being turned on in the apartment could be detected, but not more than that.

The witness knows of small thefts that have occurred in the OC as in other clubs, mainly from the lower floors, but he does not know who was responsible.

He knows of nothing significant that would help lead to the girl’s location.

No more is said.

Reads, ratifies, signs.

Revised translation.

Processos Volume II

Pages 272 - 274

Witness Statement

NATALIA PASA

Date/Time: 2007/05/06 22H00

Occupation: Cook

Place of Work : Ocean Club

She comes to the process as a witness. She has worked in Portugal for about 7 years, although she is of Moldavian nationality, she speaks fluent Portuguese and does not require the help of an interpreter.

She has worked at the OC for about 6 years, working as a cook at the Millenium restaurant.

With relation to the facts being investigated, on 4th May at about 06.50 she received a message from one of her colleagues, Alice, as was usual on the days that she worked, who informed her that a little girl had disappeared from the OC on 3rd May.

When asked, she says that she did not know and had never seen the girl, her parents or siblings, she only saw their pictures on the news and on posters all around Lagos.

When asked, she said that this was normal as her work in the restaurant did not imply any contact with clients and that she had only seen the parents’ pictures after the disappearance after a comment by a colleague about their presence in the restaurant.

When asked, she says that on the day of the disappearance (3rd May) she worked in the restaurant from 07.00 to 15.00 according to her weekly working hours (Tuesday to Saturday) and after having finished work she went home where she stayed until 17.00 when she went out for half an hour to some shopping. She then returned home where she stayed until 06.50 the next morning with her family (husband, children and brothers) when she received a message from her colleague and went to work.

With regard to the facts under investigation she says that she only knows what she heard from the press and from conversations with colleagues, never having seen the girl or her family members.

When asked is she knows anything of relevance to the investigation she says that she has nothing to add, only having learned that the girl was on holiday with her family at the resort after the disappearance.

She saw nothing suspicious.
No more is said.

Reads, ratifies, signs.

Revised translation.

Processos Volume II


Pages 275 - 276

Witness Statement

Eduardo Joao Oliveira Martins

Date/Time: 2007/05/06 22H00

Occupation: Bar Worker

Place of Work: OC


Comes to the process as a witness. He has been employed as a bar worker at the OC since 21st April 2007. He works in the Top Bar next to the Millenium Restaurant. His working hours are from 10.00 to 18.00, except for Wednesdays when he works from 16.00 to 24.00, he has Thursdays and Fridays off. He says that the majority of clients who frequent the bar are foreign, mainly English tourists.

When asked about the disappearance, he says he knows the girl is called Madeleine, that he only heard about it on 4th May at about 12.00 from a phone call from his girlfriend, as Thursday was his day off, he did not work.


He says that he saw photos of Madeleine in the press and on posters but does not remember having seen her at his place of work, the Top Bar, nor does he remember having seen any members of her family. For this reason he does not think that they frequented that par of the resort, at least when he was on duty.

When asked, he says that he was never asked any questions about the tourists of the children staying at the resort. He did not hear or see anything suspicious and can not think of any information that would help the police investigation.

No more is said. Reads, ratifies, signs.

Revised translation.

Processos Volume II

Pages 277-278

Witness Statement


Cecilia Paula Dias Firmino do Carmo

Date/Time: 2007/05/06 22H00


Occupation: Public Relations

Place of Work: Millenium restaurant, OC.

She confirms that she is an employee of the OC, having signed a seven month contract in April this year. She worked in the resort last year, with the same functions and for the same period of time.

She says that her job is to receive guests at the entrance to the Millenium restaurant and check whether they have to pay for breakfast or whether this is included in their package. She works from 07.00 to 12.00 from Tuesdays to Saturdays. She says that she only attends to guests at breakfast time except on Wednesdays when there is Barbecue Night at the restaurant and when she welcomes guests for dinner, working from 18.00 to 22.00.

When asked, she says that due to her work she knows most of the guests given that most of them visit the Millenium as it is the only restaurant that serves breakfast.

When asked, she says that she knows the parents, the siblings and Madeleine. She received them for breakfast on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, she does not know whether they went for breakfast on Sunday or Monday, as these were her days off.

She says that breakfast was served between 08.00 and 10.00 and that the McCanns would arrive between 08.00 and 09.00.

She says that the McCanns appeared to be a normal family and that the relation between the members of the family was very good. Madeleine appeared to be very attached to her father and was always clinging on to him. Given her public relations function she was always very nice to the guests and would get involved with the children, saying that Madeleine was very shy and did not respond to her. She says that the only contact she had with guests was at the entrance to the Millenium restaurant, she did not have a view of the tables or the Buffet area.

She heard about the disappearance on Friday morning 4th May from a colleague called Alice.

The resort is very calm, the witness only knows of a few minor thefts and is very surprised at the news. She has no information that could help locate Madeleine.

No more is said. Reads, ratifies, signs.