The Smith Family Sighting, 03 May 2007

Just before 10:00pm on the night of 03 May 2007, the Smith family from Ireland pass a man carrying a child in his arms. The man averts his eyes from them to signal that he does not wish to speak.   Four months later, during which time the McCanns never sought to exploit this potentially crucial sighting, the Smith family are watching TV. They see the McCanns return to the UK and observe Gerry leave the plane and walk across the tarmac with Sean in his arms.   The father, Martin Smith, is shocked. He recognises the walking style and the way the child is being held against the shoulder. It is exactly like the man he saw on the streets of Praia da Luz, four months earlier.

Reference to the sighting in the PJ's 57-page report summary

'Further on this issue, the testimony of MARTIN SMITH was considered, pages 1606 and following, reporting the sighting of an individual carrying a child, in one of the streets that lead to the beach. It was said that the child could be MADELEINE McCANN, although it was never peremptorily stated. Some time later, the witness alleged that, by its stance, the individual who carried the child could be GERALD McCANN, which was concluded when he saw him descending the stairs from an airplane, pages 2871, 3991 and following and 4135 and following. It was established that at the time that was being mentioned, GERALD McCANN was sitting at the table, in the Tapas Restaurant.'

Gonçalo Amaral speaks to IOL PortugalDiário, 03/04 August 2008

PortugalDiário: The PJ's report dismisses the Smiths' testimony, due to the hour at which they say they saw the person with the child… Gonçalo Amaral: 'It cannot be that way, because nobody knows for sure at what time the things happened. The reconstruction was not made, therefore it is impossible to know for certain. The employees do not state that Gerry McCann was in the restaurant. They only say that people were sitting down and getting up from the table. Their testimony [Smith] is very credible. The way that the person walked, the clumsy manner in which the child was held. It is nothing that sounds invented. Is it evidence? Certainly not. It is information that has to be worked further.'

Summary from 'A Verdade Da Mentira' ('The Truth of the Lie' by Gonçalo Amaral) -  Chapter's 8 & 21 - The sighting by the Smith family

Text: "Rua da Escola Primária, the location where the Smith family (black arrow) crosses paths with a man who was walking down the street (red arrow) carrying a child, on the 3rd of May 2007, at around 10 p.m." Photograph courtesy of Gonçalo Amaral, 'The Truth of the Lie'. Chapter 8 - A man carrying a child on the way to the beach - pages 111-114   30 July 2008 Thanks to 'blackberry' for translation   - The Smith family, from Ireland, is in Luz for holidays, staying at their own holiday apartment; four adults and 5 children: the father (retired, 58) his wife, his son (23 yr old) and daughter-in-law and their two children (ie, Mr Smith's grandchildren), his daughter (12), two additional grandchildren, 10 and 4, of another daughter back in Ireland. - approx 21h55, they are returning from "Kelly's Bar", heading north, all spread out along the street - they pass a man walking down the middle of the street, carrying a child, with the head against his left shoulder and the arms hanging down alongside the body, in light colored or pink pyjamas, bare feet, pale skin typical of British and blond, shoulder-length hair; the girl is about 3-4 years old, about 1 meter tall. - The man is not dressed like a tourist; he's wearing cream or beige trousers, classic cut, of linen or cotton. He is white, 30-35 yrs, 1.70-1.80 meters tall, average build, physically fit, short, brown hair, with a face that looks tanned. - Images of Robert Murat begin to circulate around the world - Back in Ireland, the Smiths watch the news and learn of Jane's statement and the suspicions falling upon Murat. - The father contacts the Irish police. He tells his story. The man he saw was NOT Murat. He knows Murat and it was not him. - The father is almost certain that the girl he saw was Madeleine.   - The Smiths are secretly brought back to Portugal. On Saturday, 26 May, in Portimão, Smith and his two children are interviewed. - Their testimony is credible, but given the lack of light in the area, they can't identify the man who was carrying the child. - The described the way he walked and carried her; this image is strongly fixed in their memory.   Chapter 21 - An Irish family in shock - pages 197-199 - Sept 2007, McCanns return to UK - Gerry exits the plane, carrying his son against his left shoulder, the child's arms down along his sides, down the stairs and across the tarmack Gerry walks - The Smith family see this recording on the news at 22h00 and are hit hard: they know this person, this way of carrying a child and of walking. It is Gerry McCann, they believe with a high degree of certainty, that they saw on 3 May at about 22h00, carrying a 4 yr old girl who appeared to be deeply asleep - The father contacts the police to communicate this new information. He says he has not slept since 9 Sept and is very upset. It's as if he re-lived the night he saw the man carrying the child. Seeing Gerry walk and carry the child, awoke something in his head... - Still not completely convinced, he watches the news again on ITV and also on Sky. - No, there are no doubts. Gerry McCann looks just like the same person he saw carrying the child on May 3. - Smith, upset and worried about what he saw and has concluded, needs the investigators to contact him. - In late September, the Portuguese police receive this information from Smith. This appears to be a piece of the puzzle. - Now Jane Tanner's insistence at seeing the abductor go the other direction makes sense, removing attentions from the way Gerry walked, in the direction of the beach. The man carrying a child didn't walk east towards Murat's house, but west in the direction of the Smiths. - This puzzle piece allows the investigators to reconstruct what happened on that cold night of 3 May. The puzzle is almost complete. - We make the decision to bring the Smiths back to Portugal. They will be heard, and in legal and procedural terms, will give their identification using televised images, since a personal identification [of Gerry] is out of the question. - A reconstitution of that night, with the Smiths, is seriously considered. - But the Smiths don't return to Portugal. - The Portuguese police changed their minds after GA leaves the team; they decide to use the international request mechanism [letters rogatory] - This leads to absurd delays - In the meantime, rumours abound that strangers to the investigation have found about about this witness and his family and, supposedly, have tried to talk to Smith, though their intentions in doing so are unknown.

Maps and aerial views of the Smith's sighting

	Jane Tanner's sighting
	Height: 5' 10" (25 May 2007) 5' 8" or 5' 9" (05 June 2007) 5' 7" to 5' 11" (09 June 2007) 5' 8" to 5' 10" (26 October 2007) 5' 9" (28 October 2007) 5' 6" (16 November 2007) 'probably 5ft 8in tall, he was taller than me but not 6ft and so between those two' (19 November 2007)   Age: 35-40   Hair: Hair that was short on top (25 May 2007) Dark hair, parted to one side, slightly longer at the back (05 June 2007) Dark hair (26 October 2007) Black hair (28 October 2007) 'Hair.. the one thing that I remember a lot is the hair. He did seem to have quite a lot of dark, reasonably-long-to-the-neck hair' (19 November 2007)   Skin: White (25 May 2007) Caucasian (09 June 2007) Caucasian with southern European/Mediterranean appearance (26 October 2007) 'More local or Mediterranean looking'/'swarthy skin' (19 November 2007)   Top clothes: Dark jacket (25 May 2007) Dark jacket, slightly longer than a suit jacket (05 June 2007) Wearing a maroon shirt (28 October 2007) Heavy dark coat (19 November 2007)   Trousers: Beige or golden long trousers (25 May 2007) Light coloured trousers which may have been beige or mustard coloured (05 June 2007) Camel-coloured trousers (28 October 2007) 'He was wearing quite a lot of clothes and that's one thing in hindsight again I think was quite odd because tourists when they're abroad, Brits abroad would always have cropped trousers or shorts or something, and he had a sort of a big heavy jacket and trousers on' (19 November 2007) 'He was dressed in that sort of smart casual way European people dress' (19 November 2007)   Build: Medium (25 May 2007) Slim (26 October 2007)   Shoes: Dark shoes (25 May 2007) Black or brown shoes (28 October 2007)   Carrying child: 'Carrying, sort of, across the body like that. I suppose in hindsight you'd probably think somebody would carry them more against the shoulder.' (19 November 2007)   Child's description: 'I could tell it was a child, and I could see the feet and... feet and the bottom of the pyjamas, and I just thought that child's not got any shoes on because you could see the feet.' (19 November 2007)   Child's clothes: 'the pyjamas had a pinky aspect to them so you presume a girl.'
	Martin Smith's sighting
	Height: 175 to 180 cm tall (5’ 9’’ to 5’ 11’)   Age: 30-35   Hair: Short, brown hair   Skin: White   Top clothes: A darker top. The man is not dressed like a tourist   Trousers: Cream or beige trousers, classic cut, of linen or cotton   Build: Average build, physically fit   Shoes: Not specified   Carrying child: Carrying a child, with the head against his left shoulder and the arms hanging down alongside the body   Child's description: Bare feet, pale skin typical of British and blonde, shoulder-length hair; the girl is about 3-4 years old, about 1 metre tall   Child's clothes: Light coloured or pink pyjamas

Drogheda family hit out over Madeleine case clue coverage, 08 August 2007

Drogheda family hit out over Madeleine case clue coverage Drogheda Independent   Wednesday August 08 2007   A DROGHEDA family who may hold vital clues as to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have hit out at media distortion of evidence that they have given to Portuguese police.   Maple Drive man Martin Smith, his wife and his children had just left the Kelly bar, which is located approximately 400 metres from the McCanns' apartment at the Ocean Club between 9.50-10pm on the night Madeleine disappeared.   They returned to Ireland the next day, and because the reported abduction times didn't originally match, they never had cause to examine their journey that night.   As it emerged that Madeleine was abducted around the same time, one of the family members had a flashback of the moment some time later and encouraged the others to jog their memory.   They remembered passing a man walking towards the beach with a child in his arms.   Other than his approximate height and the fact that he was wearing beige clothes they cannot be more specific than that. 'We are annoyed at how vague our description is,' said the family member.   The family contacted the Portuguese police and flew back over to give evidence.   However, contrary to media reports, Mr Smith had not seen chief suspect Robert Murat in a bar the evening that Madeleine was abducted. 'He definitely didn't see him on the night in question,' said a family member.   The family are also mystified at reports that he knows Mr Murat. 'They met once in a bar about two years ago. My dad would only know Mr Murat by sight,' said the family member. 'However, from what he knows, he can say that the man who was carrying the child was not Robert Murat.'

Irish family's Maddie quiz, 03 January 2008

Irish family's Maddie quiz The Sun   From: VERONICA LORRAINE in Praia da Luz Published: 03 Jan 2008   PRIVATE detectives hunting for Madeleine McCann are to quiz an Irish family who may have been the last to see her alive.   Martin Smith, his wife and children told cops they saw a man carrying a little blonde girl in Praia da Luz on the night Maddie vanished.   Investigators from the Metodo 3 agency hired by Maddie's parents Gerry and Kate are preparing to travel to Ireland to interview them.   The family, from Drogheda, Co Louth, believe they saw the man taking the sleeping tot down to the beach at the Portuguese resort.   The Smiths were leaving Kelly's Bar — 400 metres from the McCanns' apartment — between 9.50 and 10pm on May 3 last year.   They flew home to Ireland the next day, but when the times of Maddie's abduction were revealed, the family remembered seeing a man, 5ft 7in to 5ft 9in tall and dressed in beige, carrying the child.   Significantly the description matches that given by Jane Tanner, 37, a friend of the McCanns.   Mr Smith, who has already spoken to Portuguese cops over the sighting, said yesterday: "I'd talk to anyone to move this investigation on. I think about Maddie every day."   He added: "I found the Portuguese cops not to be the most efficient bunch."   His wife Mary, 59, said: "We saw a man carrying a blonde child. It was just such a normal thing to see in a holiday resort — we didn't think anything of it at the time."   The Sun reported on Monday how Metodo 3 — which is costing the Find Madeleine Fund £300,000 — plan to blitz Morocco after several leads pointed to the country.

Missing Madeleine McCann: Irish Witness 'Clears' Murat, 04 January 2008

Irish tourist clears Murat Sky News   John Kelly First published: 04 January 2008 (Same article later republished with new headline: 'Missing Madeleine McCann: Irish Witness 'Clears' Murat', 12:00pm UK, Monday April 07, 2008 )   An Irish tourist who saw someone carrying a child in a blanket on the night Madeleine McCann disappeared insists that the mystery man was not Robert Murat.   Martin Smith, from Drogheda in Co Louth, was on holiday in Praia Da Luz with his family when they bumped into the man just before 10pm on May 3 last year.   The Smith family's suspicions were aroused because the man made no response when they asked if the barefoot child was asleep.   "He just put his head down and averted his eyes, which is very unusual in a tourist town at such a quiet time of the year," said Mr Smith.   Initially the Smith family thought nothing more of the encounter - and even the next day when the story broke they still didn't make the connection.   "We were home two weeks when my son rang me up and asked was he dreaming or did we meet a man carrying a child the night Madeleine was taken," said Mr Smith.   "We all remembered the same recollection, and I felt we should report it to the police.   "We've all been beating ourselves up that we should have made the link sooner, if only we'd remembered the next day. But the Portuguese police said you see these things on holiday all the time."   The Smiths did contact the Portuguese police once they had returned to Ireland, but say they have had no contact with the officers investigating the case since May last year.   "I rang the Portuguese police and they took a statement from me on the phone," said Mr Smith.   They asked me to make a statement to the Gardai, which I did, and two days later Leicestershire police got on to us.   "My eldest son, Peter, my youngest daughter, Aoife, and I then flew to Luz to make a statement. They didn't seem to be the most efficient police you ever came across - and that was the last time we had any contact with the investigation.   "I don't know if this information will help the McCanns, but anything we can do to help try to solve it, we will.   "We were looking at all the commotion on Sky News and we really felt quite helpless. We had two grandchildren with us at the time and it had a terrible effect on them - they all wanted to sleep in the same room as us."   But Mr Smith is certain that the man he and his family saw that night was not Robert Murat, who is still officially an "arguido" in the Madeleine McCann investigation.   "I told police it was definitely not him because the man wasn't as big as Murat - I think I would have recognised him because I'd met him several times previously.   He was wearing beige trousers and a darker top. We all put him in his early 40s and I didn't think he was Portuguese."   Mr Smith's sighting is similar to the one reported by Jane Tanner, a friend of the McCann family.   A spokesman for the McCanns said detectives from the Spanish agency hired to investigate the case are now hoping to speak to the Smiths.   Retired Mr Smith, 58, does not wish to appear on camera in order to protect his family from media intrusion.

	Irishman saw Gerry carry Maddie, 07 July 2008
	Irishman saw Gerry carry Maddie Correio da Manhã   Final report - CM reveals everything about the investigation in an exclusive   07 July 2008 - 00h30 Thanks to 'astro' for translation    Extract:   Martin Smith, an Ir