The McCluskey Sighting

palm tree on CMOMM (who I believe also frequents here ) brought my attention to this report, first published in August 2008. I think it contains information that has been overlooked and could be of great importance:

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/local/all-news/wear-couple-told-police-we-saw-maddie-1-1152843

"Wear couple told police: We saw Maddie

Updated on the
08 August
2008
14:50
Published 07/08/2008 11:00
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A Sunderland couple told police they saw Madeleine McCann 28 hours after she disappeared.

Richard and Susan McCluskey reported seeing a "lifeless" child of about Maddie's age being carried by a drunk-looking man who was with a distressed woman, who they were "almost certain" was her mum Kate.

The Portuguese case files, released this week more than a year after the youngster disappeared, showed that dad-of-three Mr McCluskey made the claims in a second statement a number of months after the alleged sighting in the Algarve.

Portuguese police investigated the claim, and believed the couple were Ukrainians with a blonde daughter of Maddie's age.

Mrs McCann and her husband Gerry, from Leicestershire, denied having any involvement in the disappearance, and had their "arguido" official suspects status lifted last month.


The potential sighting of Maddie by the McCluskeys, from South Hylton, was one of many reported to Portuguese police.

They were all investigated but came to nothing.

However, Mr and Mrs McCluskey said they have never had any response to the information provided in their statements, and would like to have been told it had been eliminated to give them peace of mind.

Their account of what they saw and said in police statements has never been published.

The Sunderland holidaymakers were in the resort of Alvor, about 20 minutes drive along the coast from Praia la Luz, where the McCann family was stating.

Mr and Mrs McCluskey were on their way back to their apartment from an Irish bar in the early hours of May 5, 2007, when they saw a white Transit-style flatbed truck stop in the middle of the road.

Mr McCluskey, 62, said a man got out and staggered about 200 yards to a gate, carrying a child of about three to four years old over his left shoulder, and that there was "no movement at all" in the youngster.

They were aware a child was missing in the area and thought the situation was strange so took down the van registration, with Mrs McCluskey, 50, writing it on her hand before they found some paper.

As they were doing so a woman ran towards the van, "clearly in distress".

Mr McCluskey told the Echo she looked like actress Faye Dunaway and added: "She was white as a ghost and shaking", and did not reply when asked if she needed help.

In a police statement he said a Portuguese couple came by and said the man and woman acting strangely had earlier been in an argument.

He reported the van's details to police in Portugal, and only made a statement after being contacted by Northumbria Police after getting home to Sunderland.

Mr McCluskey said he was also contacted by Interpol to provide a drawing of the area as described in his statement.

On September 12, he gave a second statement at Farringdon Hall Police Station, which read: "The events of the past week or so, with the McCanns being very much in the news, have triggered my memory in relation to the incident.

"In my original statement I described a distressed female who ran down a road towards a white van I had described.

"Having viewed news footage of Mrs McCann I am now almost certain she is the female I described as being in a distressed state.

"I say this because of her slight build, high cheekbones and her eyes and hairstyle."

He added: "I've agonised for days over whether or not to contact police about this because it is a terrible thing to accuse somebody of.

"It had just not crossed my mind that the child's parents could in some way be involved in her disappearance."

Also in his second statement, made after watching news coverage of Kate and Gerry McCann returning to Britain from Portugal, Mr McCluskey added: "Another thing which has played on my mind is the coverage of Mr McCann walking off the aeroplane holding one of his young children.

"The way he was holding the child over his left shoulder reminded me of the man carrying the child from the white van in Portugal.

"Although I could not describe the male I'd seen in Portugal because he had his back to me, it was the particular way Mr McCann held the child that made me think."

Sightings flooded in from around the world

Possible sightings of Madeleine McCann flooded into the Algarve police incident room from around the world.

A little girl calling herself Maddie and claiming to have been taken from her mum on holiday was seen in Amsterdam. A shop worker claimed she was told the child was with a French travelling circus.

A report was filed on June 18, 2007, but it is not clear what action was taken.

The morning after Maddie's disappearance, CCTV in a service station near Praia de Luz captured a young blond girl hand in hand with a woman. Kate and Gerry McCann were shown the images and said it was not their daughter.

On May 4 last year a witness called Malcolm Smith saw a "very upset" little girl wearing a pink top, with a tall man at the Moonfleet Manor Hotel in Fleet, near Weymouth, Dorset.

A Portuguese woman called UK free phone police line Crimestoppers to report seeing a child who looked "just like" Madeleine with two women at a Lisbon subway station on May 5 or 6.

A woman contacted Leicestershire Police to report seeing Madeleine at Gatwick Airport on May 8.

Mary Jones said she was "convinced" the child she saw – accompanied by a woman whose dark bob haircut which "could well have been a wig" – was the missing girl.

She speculated that Madeleine could have been at Gatwick en route for Marrakech in Morocco.

Between May 5 and 17 last year British police logged sightings in Spain from Marbella, Huelva, Salou, Valencia, Pampaneira, Vera, Riviera del Sol and Guardamar del Segura.

The Finnish embassy in Estonia passed on a report that a woman clutching a young girl "very much alike" Madeleine had been seen in Riga's old town on July 3 last year.

The police files also show that Kate McCann begged Portuguese detectives to end her "torture" by keeping her informed about the search for Madeleine.

However, two strikingly similar e-fit pictures of suspects given to police in the first week of the hunt for Maddie were never made public.

Last month prosecutors announced they were shelving the case, although it can be reopened if credible new evidence comes to light.

Probe into paedophile ring lead

Police intelligence, suggesting Madeleine McCann may have been snatched for a Belgian paedophile ring, is being investigated by private detectives for the little girl's parents.

Scotland Yard passed on a report from an informant who said a photograph of the child on holiday in Portugal was taken and passed to a "purchaser" in Belgium days before she vanished.

The information was contained in an email from the Metropolitan Police's CO14 clubs and vice intelligence unit, included in a massive dossier of evidence made public this week.

Portuguese police pursued the lead with Interpol, which gathered further reports from Belgium, the UK, Finland and Germany, but ruled that all but the German intelligence showed "lack of credibility".

McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said: "The private investigators, as with all the other sightings and all the other information, will be pursuing this line as an absolute priority to establish if it has been fully investigated and properly ruled out." "

The similarities between Mr McClusley's memory being jogged by seeing GM on the plane steps and Martin Smith's are astonishing:

Also in his second statement, made after watching news coverage of Kate and Gerry McCann returning to Britain from Portugal, Mr McCluskey added: "Another thing which has played on my mind is the coverage of Mr McCann walking off the aeroplane holding one of his young children.

"The way he was holding the child over his left shoulder reminded me of the man carrying the child from the white van in Portugal.

"Although I could not describe the male I'd seen in Portugal because he had his back to me, it was the particular way Mr McCann held the child that made me think."

His second statement made on 12 September after seeing the McCanns return home from Portugal - JUST LIKE MARTIN SMITH. He too agonised about reporting this, as he was fully aware of the implications of identifying the couple as the McCanns. This, I believe, gives more credence to Martin Smith's delay in coming forward - it must have been a big emotional battle to reach the decision to do so.

Note how there was "no movement at all" in the youngster.


And this time there is also a positive indication of the female looking like Kate:

"In my original statement I described a distressed female who ran down a road towards a white van I had described.

"Having viewed news footage of Mrs McCann I am now almost certain she is the female I described as being in a distressed state.

"I say this because of her slight build, high cheekbones and her eyes and hairstyle."

He added: "I've agonised for days over whether or not to contact police about this because it is a terrible thing to accuse somebody of.

He described the female as looking like Faye Dunnaway and once again came to the conclusion it was Kate after viewing news footage.



Faye Dunnaway and Kate McCann.

And who is the Portuguese couple that witnessed them arguing earlier?

Woofer on CMOMM has pointed out that the couple was dismissed because the police identified them as being from the Ukraine. This was back in May 2007.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/RI_Mc.htm

However, it was after that elimination that the McCluskey's became convinced that the sightings were Kate and Gerry, in September that year. Can we be certain that the PJ identified and dismissed the correct couple?

It seems staggering just how many sightings of men carrying small motionless girls in the wee small hours there are in that area.

Interesting stuff Dee Coy.

Not come across the McCluskey's before.

They certainly seem convinced it was K and G then.

I had forgotton about this Dee Coy so thanks for the reminder.  Will have a look around tomorrow to see if there is anymore about this.

Snipped from PJ files.

When asked why there had been such a time lapse in him making this "identification" he explained it as follows:
Mr. McCluskey states the thought had never crossed his mind that a child's parents could be implicated in such a matter. Media coverage over the past week or so has cased him to take a renewed interest in the case. The only thing which prevents Mr. McCluskey from stating he in 100% certain in his "identification" is the fact that he would , in his words, " hate to incriminate and innocent person."


I'm sure the Smiths thought exactly the same....

Thanks should really go to palm tree and her alter ego on here.

It is possibly a red herring as the PJ didn't persue it? Or it could be a massive oversight?

Dee Coy wrote:Woofer on CMOMM has pointed out that the couple was dismissed because the police identified them as being from the Ukraine. This was back in May 2007.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/RI_Mc.htm

However, it was after that elimination that the McCluskey's became convinced that the sightings were Kate and Gerry, in September that year. Can we be certain that the PJ identified and dismissed the correct couple?

It seems staggering just how many sightings of men carrying small motionless girls in the wee small hours there are in that area.

Ooopss sent it before i even wrote anything silly me, but what i was going to say is it seems strange that "these" young blond girls were been carried over the same shoulder in the same way by apparently different men who looked alike who had a woman with them who looking similar to Kate

If the sighting actually was of the McCanns, it would have been only a few hours after their first appeal. Kate does indeed look quite distressed here to me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6620000/newsid_6627100/6627199.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&nol_storyid=6627199&news=1

It would also explain why they told BBC,s Jane Hill that they never searched that evening.
They would have to have said where they searched and run the risk someone saw them,as indeed may have happened.
Best to say they didn,t go out at all,busy almost non functional!

travis macbickle wrote:It would also explain why they told BBC,s Jane Hill that they never searched that evening.
They would have to have said where they searched and run the risk someone saw them,as indeed may have happened.

This sighting was in the early hours of Saturday 5th of May though...

Looking at the PJ files, this seems like a sighting of an unconnected couple to me.

'As we were taking the number a woman appeared half running towards the van from the road on which the van was parked. She was clearly in distress and upon seeing us began to talk in Portuguese. We could not understand her and at this point we were the only other people on the street; but as we were talking a young Portuguese couple appeared from (page 2) the same direction as the woman in a small red vehicle and stopped. The male came over and was able to speak good English he translated what the woman was saying. In the conversation it became apparent that the couple had observed the male with the child in a situation further up the road and had seen the man hit the woman and had driven around the block and found the woman with us. He said he had phoned the police. Thinking everything was alright we left the couple, woman and van in situ and entered our apartment.'

Andrew wrote:

travis macbickle wrote:It would also explain why they told BBC,s Jane Hill that they never searched that evening.
They would have to have said where they searched and run the risk someone saw them,as indeed may have happened.

This sighting was in the early hours of Saturday 5th of May though...

Thank you Andrew, my mistake.

wlbts wrote:Looking at the PJ files, this seems like a sighting of an unconnected couple to me.

'As we were taking the number a woman appeared half running towards the van from the road on which the van was parked. She was clearly in distress and upon seeing us began to talk in Portuguese. We could not understand her and at this point we were the only other people on the street; but as we were talking a young Portuguese couple appeared from (page 2) the same direction as the woman in a small red vehicle and stopped. The male came over and was able to speak good English he translated what the woman was saying. In the conversation it became apparent that the couple had observed the male with the child in a situation further up the road and had seen the man hit the woman and had driven around the block and found the woman with us. He said he had phoned the police. Thinking everything was alright we left the couple, woman and van in situ and entered our apartment.'

Snipped:

I could describe the woman as 5 ft 5 inches - 5ft 6 inches blonde ponytail with a very worried / white face. I only noticed she was casually dressed. I could see that the male who got out of the car was on his mobile phone. We got into conversation as he could speak English and I asked him whether he was looking for a man with a child to which he said yes. He said he had seen the man hit the girl who was her(sic) (possibly should be 'him') and had turned around to see if he could catch him which was how he had ended up here. I also asked him if he knew about the missing child to which he said yes. I said can we leave it with you and he said 'yes'. He was still on the (page 2) phone at this time.

So they saw 2 couples then...??

It's confusing, isn't it? They saw the McCann-like couple and a Portuguese couple who had seen the KandG ones fighting. I think.

Perhaps it was the Portuguese lady who spoke in Portuguese? Surely it couldn't have been the Kate-like one as surely if she spoke fluent Portuguese, Mr McCluskey would not have become so convinced 4 months later that she was Kate.

Wow, this is bonkers, but I think there's more to this. Does anyone know where the artist impression, the female with the blonde hair came from?
Imo

Freedom wrote:http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/press/18-Aug8/Mirror-08-08-08-Transcript.htm

Thank you Freedom, nothing to do with the Mccluskey sighting then, darn. I wonder where their efits ever got to

Dee Coy wrote:It's confusing, isn't it? They saw the McCann-like couple and a Portuguese couple who had seen the KandG ones fighting.  I think.

Perhaps it was the Portuguese lady who spoke in Portuguese?  Surely it couldn't have been the Kate-like one as surely if she spoke fluent Portuguese,  Mr McCluskey would not have become so convinced 4 months later that she was Kate.

Doesn't seem confusing to me.

'She was clearly in distress and upon seeing us began to talk in Portuguese. We could not understand her and at this point we were the only other people on the street; but as we were talking a young Portuguese couple appeared from (page 2) the same direction as the woman in a small red vehicle and stopped. The male came over and was able to speak good English he translated what the woman was saying.'

This is nothing, the PJ traced them and they were a Ukrainian couple who had lived in Portugal for about 6 years and had a daughter that strongly resembled Madeleine McCann.

But as we were talking a young Portuguese couple appeared? How did she know they were Portuguese?

Hi, wlbts.

We had been at the vehicle only a very short time, possibly a couple of minutes when a woman and a couple in a dark vehicle appeared from the road in front of the van almost simultaneously. I could describe the woman as 5 ft 5 inches - 5ft 6 inches blonde ponytail with a very worried / white face. I only noticed she was casually dressed. I could see that the male who got out of the car was on his mobile phone. We got into conversation as he could speak English and I asked him whether he was looking for a man with a child to which he said yes. He said he had seen the man hit the girl who was her(sic) (possibly should be 'him') and had turned around to see if he could catch him which was how he had ended up here. I also asked him if he knew about the missing child to which he said yes. I said can we leave it with you and he said 'yes'. He was still on the (page 2) phone at this time.

Not so clear from Susan's statement, though.

Why, four months later, would they become so convinced it was Kate and Gerry if 'Kate' spoke Portuguese? Could there have been a bit of confusion when they gave their statements to the Portuguese police, and who was actually speaking Portuguese was lost, literally, in translation?

Like Poppy said, how strange is it that several people independently saw a man who they later identified as Gerry carring a motionless child who looked like Madeleine in the moments and hours following her disappearance? And a woman who looked like Kate was with them on the second occasion.  What are the odds?

Of course, it could be a massive red herring like you say.

Poppy wrote:But as we were talking a young Portuguese couple appeared? How did she know they were Portuguese?

I'm guessing the fact that they spoke to the first woman in Portuguese gave it away

Dee Coy wrote:Hi, wlbts.

We had been at the vehicle only a very short time, possibly a couple of minutes when a woman and a couple in a dark vehicle appeared from the road in front of the van almost simultaneously. I could describe the woman as 5 ft 5 inches - 5ft 6 inches blonde ponytail with a very worried / white face. I only noticed she was casually dressed. I could see that the male who got out of the car was on his mobile phone. We got into conversation as he could speak English and I asked him whether he was looking for a man with a child to which he said yes. He said he had seen the man hit the girl who was her(sic) (possibly should be 'him') and had turned around to see if he could catch him which was how he had ended up here. I also asked him if he knew about the missing child to which he said yes. I said can we leave it with you and he said 'yes'. He was still on the (page 2) phone at this time.

Not so clear from Susan's statement, though.

Why, four months later, would they become so convinced it was Kate and Gerry if 'Kate' spoke Portuguese? Could there have been a bit of confusion when they gave their statements to the Portuguese police, and who was actually speaking Portuguese was lost, literally, in translation?

Like Poppy said, how strange is it that several people independently saw a man who they later identified as Gerry carring a motionless child who looked like Madeleine in the moments and hours following her disappearance? And a woman who looked like Kate was with them on the second occasion.  What are the odds?

Of course, it could be a massive red herring like you say.

No, it's still clear to me - this statement says that the couple in the vehicle came along at nearly the same time as the woman. Which is the same as the other statement, except that one describes a 'red' vehicle, and this one describes a 'dark' vehicle. At night a red car would look dark.

There's also two witnesses who claimed to see a black car reversing by the carpark beside the ocean club with two males?

wlbts wrote:

Dee Coy wrote:Hi, wlbts.

We had been at the vehicle only a very short time, possibly a couple of minutes when a woman and a couple in a dark vehicle appeared from the road in front of the van almost simultaneously. I could describe the woman as 5 ft 5 inches - 5ft 6 inches blonde ponytail with a very worried / white face. I only noticed she was casually dressed. I could see that the male who got out of the car was on his mobile phone. We got into conversation as he could speak English and I asked him whether he was looking for a man with a child to which he said yes. He said he had seen the man hit the girl who was her(sic) (possibly should be 'him') and had turned around to see if he could catch him which was how he had ended up here. I also asked him if he knew about the missing child to which he said yes. I said can we leave it with you and he said 'yes'. He was still on the (page 2) phone at this time.

Not so clear from Susan's statement, though.

Why, four months later, would they become so convinced it was Kate and Gerry if 'Kate' spoke Portuguese? Could there have been a bit of confusion when they gave their statements to the Portuguese police, and who was actually speaking Portuguese was lost, literally, in translation?

Like Poppy said, how strange is it that several people independently saw a man who they later identified as Gerry carring a motionless child who looked like Madeleine in the moments and hours following her disappearance? And a woman who looked like Kate was with them on the second occasion.  What are the odds?

Of course, it could be a massive red herring like you say.

No, it's still clear to me - this statement says that the couple in the vehicle came along at nearly the same time as the woman.  Which is the same as the other statement, except that one describes a 'red' vehicle, and this one describes a 'dark' vehicle.  At night a red car would look dark.

So how does that explain why, four months later, they would struggle with their consciences and go to the police to make a second statement asserting that the Portuguese-speaking woman was Kate? And, Smithmanesque-like, the man she was with was Gerry? After an internal battle which recognised the consequences such an identification would have and how it could affect the McCanns?

That's what's confusing, imo.