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Leicestershire
Police Force
Witness Account
Statement by Paul Anthony Gordon
Occupation: Accountant
Date : 24th April 2008
CARTAS ROGATORIAS (FILE 5)
Pages 36 to 38
Witness statement of Paul Anthony Gordon (former holiday
maker in Apartment 5A) 2008.04.24
NOTE: There is no word "tenhos".
It should either be "tenho" [I have] or
"temos" [we have].
Not being certain, I omitted the personal pronoun in my
translation.
Testimony from Pa.Go
Age if less than 18 years:
Occupation: Accounting Technician
This statement (consisting of 4 pages and signed by me) is true
and in
line with my understanding. I depose being aware that, given
proof to
the contrary, I will be subject to prosecution in the case I had
voluntarily testified to something I know to be false or does
not
correspond to the truth.
Date: April 24, 2008
Signature ______________________________________________
I am married to Sal and [SEE NOTE ABOVE] have two children, our
son xxxxxxx of three
years of age and our daughter xxxxxxx of two years of age. We
have lived
at our present address since July 2007.
We took the decision to take a family holiday before we changed
home.
Sal did a search of places to vacation and found the place to go
in
Portugal - in the village of Mark Warner. We stayed in the same
apartment that the McCann family would come to share, 5A of the
Ocean
Club in Praia da Luz.
We travelled directly from Gatwick to Faro on 21 April 2007. We
were
transferred from the airport to our accommodation by staff of
Mark
Warner, and everything went well with our vacation.
The week was quiet, the children went to kindergarten either in
the
morning or in part of the afternoon and there was a day that I
think
they went all day - but I cannot state this with exactitude. The
children always returned to the apartment at lunchtime for a nap
that
usually occurred between 13.00 and 15.00. The children were
always in
our company when they were not at the nursery, and frequently we
took
them to the beach for an ice cream.
On Wednesday or Thursday the children were sleeping in the
apartment and
Sal also was inside - reading a book if I am not mistaken. I was
seated
in the paved garden that is facing the area of the pool, when I
heard a
male voice say "Hello". The voice came from the gate that leads
to the
road on the corner of the apartment and connects to the main
reception
area.
I stood up and I went to the man who asked me if I would be
interested
to contribute a donation to an orphanage in the interior
mountains. I
spoke with him and noticed that he had a badge with
identification and
that he had what seemed to me to be a book of receipts.
I thought that either he was genuine or a professional "cheat".
It was
then that I entered the apartment and asked Sal where was the
money, and
returned with a 10 euro note that I gave to him. I can not say
exactly
where he put the money and I think that he gave me a receipt,
which I
imagine that I threw away or left in Portugal. At the time I
thought the
individual aggressive or having a persistent manner. I felt he
was
genuine and it appeared to be for a good cause.
I would describe the man as educated, with good appearance and
brought
with him a pamphlet. He had dark hair with slight tendency to
gray, his
skin seemed to be tanned [by the sun]. I would say that he was
more than
forty years old and 1.77 - 1.80cm in height - that is hard to
say with
certainty since I was looking down at him from a higher
position.
I would add that the man was robustly built but was not fat.
Wearing a
light green polo, trousers and shoes.
After all this time I do not know if he had a slight goatee on
the
picture of the identification badge [card] or in person. But in
one way
or another I remember him as being clean and shaven and with
light
facial hair. I would say that I was with this man 2-3 minutes.
The
individual was not seen by the children since they were in bed
asleep,
nor seen by Sal since she remained inside while I spoke with
him. I had
never seen this man before and saw him no more after that. Apart
from
mentioning him to Sal I did not speak again about this man while
I was
in Portugal.
The man did not seem to be knocking from door to door and as far
as I
remember moved away from from our apartment, walking down hill.
While we were in Portugal there were no incidents worthy of
record,
beyond this man that I have described, however there was a time
when I
cut myself shaving in the bathroom of the apartment. I would say
that
the cut bled for about a 45 minutes and that it took some time
until the
cut stopped bleeding, during which period I walked around the
apartment
with paper tissues trying to stop the blood. Aside from this, to
the
best of my knowledge no one else cut themselves nor did anyone
die in
the apartment.
During our stay we never left the children alone, other than in
the care
and supervision of the nursery staff. We felt safe and there was
no
reason for concerns.
I was satisfied with the care that the children received in the
creche
and they were well although they were not our company.
Other than the charity donations collector we had no other
visitors nor
did we sense anything strange.
We felt safe in the apartment and at no time was anything was
stolen or
missing the apartment.
The doors, windows and shutters were in perfect condition of
operation.
There was no sign of the doors, windows and blinds ever having
been
broken into, but also there was no need to examine [them]. The
front
door had a double lock that was difficult to lock, but we
managed to do
it. The patio door did not lock from the outside, only from the
inside
of the apartment and for that reason when the family left [went
out] we
always used the front door.
We used to open the blinds during the day, returning to close
them at
night. When the blinds were [being] closed they made much noise.
[NOTE: Descreverias como
tendo um cinto no interior como mecanismo para abrir e
fechar.
You [singular] would have described [something???] as having a
belt inside as a
mechanism to open and close.
I think that the single
word "Descreverias" should be two words
"Descreveria as" meaning "I would have described them", giving
the translation as:
I would have described them [the blinds] as having a belt inside
as a mechanism
to open and close [them].
Possibly, on some occasions, Sal and I even used the patio door
as a
passage way, generally when we were at the pool and needed to
return.
Regarding the couch I do not remember where it was positioned in
the
room. I would say that it was next to the wall to prevent
children from
walking around it, but beyond saying that it was blue, I can not
affirm
anything else.
The children slept in the bedroom facing the car park - the
window had a
Persian blind, Sal and I slept in the bedroom with the door to
the
patio. Whoever entered from the patio, our bedroom would be on
the [to
their] left.
[NOTE: He is saying that
the master bedroom had French windows that gave
access to/from the veranda; he is not saying that the sliding
patio door
in the lounge was in his bedroom.]
Generally we took breakfast at the Millennium restaurant, lunch
in
apartment and dinner at Millennium, dining only on two occasions
in the
Tapas Bar - on the second day and the sixth day.
[NOTE: Given the day-of-week naming in Portugal this last phrase
is potentially ambiguous
and the original Portuguese (or English) needs to be checked.]
I remember there [having been] a limit to the number of times we
could
eat meals at Tapas, but we managed to do it twice. The children
always
accompanied us during dinner and for that reason we tried to do
it at
the earliest possible time so that they could return to sleep at
a
reasonable hour.
At no time did we leave our children alone.
When we finished the holiday (on 28 April 2007) our luggage was
taken to
the reception, where I delivered the keys and I settled the
account. We
were transported to the airport by Mark Warner and returned to
Gatwick
the same day.
To the best of my knowledge I never met the McCann family and
never
delivered the key to anyone other than the staff of Mark Warner.
The holidays were good, the children enjoyed themselves at the
nursery
and we had no worries of any kind while they were there. The
resort was
affordable and was well located. Our opinion has changed only
after the
disappearance of Madeleine.
I want to add that since January this year I have received
numerous
phone calls, messages and visits from the press regarding the
collector
of donations, which in turn put me in contact with other people
such as
Brian Kennedy, Kate and Gerry McCann. I feel that this is a
constraint
that makes it difficult to take the more correct decision.
I tried always to cooperate with the police in every way
possible,
telephoning them at the first available opportunity as soon as
the news
broke about the disappearance of Madeleine. There are certain
times when
I feel like a pawn in chess.
This testimony was prepared by me and is true and according to
my knowledge.
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cr5_39 |
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Witness statement of Paul Anthony
Gordon (former holiday
maker in Apartment 5A) 2008.04.24
Statement of: Paul Anthony Gordon
Age if less than 18 years:
Occupation: Sales Mediator
This statement (consisting of 4
pages and signed by me) is true and
in
line with my understanding. I depose
being aware that, given proof to
the contrary, I will be subject to
prosecution in the case I had
voluntarily testified to something I
know to be false or does not
correspond to the truth.
Date: 1 May 2008
Signature
______________________________________________
Following my statement of Thursday,
24 April 2008, it has been granted
to me today the
opportunity to read mu original
statement, dated 6 May 2007. Present
are DC 1485 Messiah
and DC 4064 Holliday of the
Leicestershire Constabulary.
After having read the statement I
can confirm that the time at which I
saw the collector
of donations was around 14h30 and
15h00, and as stated previously the
children would sleep
[take an after lunch nap; siesta] in
the apartment generally between
13h00 and 15h00 daily.
I would say that I spoke with the
individual before they woke up.
From memory I would say that this
was on the Wednesday or the Thursday
of our holidays in
Praia da Luz in 2007.
This statement was made by me and is
true according to my knowledge. |
