Mrs Pamela Fenn

Pamela Fenn says 'It's all rubbish!'

Time recorded: Unknown, possibly August/September when newspapers started to report on allegations that she had heard screaming and arguing coming from the McCanns apartment.   Although she passionately denies speaking to any journalists, the Daily Mail report of 12 September, and the Sunday Mirror report of 23 September, carry words that Mrs Fenn is 'quoted as saying'. But we don't know whether the quotes were direct to the newspapers themselves or if they came from the same source who is quoted in the other articles. If we believe Mrs Fenn, then the obvious inference is the latter.   Of course, it could be that this short clip of Mrs Fenn speaking was recorded prior to the articles in those two newspapers being published. However, the passion with which Mrs Fenn speaks would appear to imply that she has no intention of speaking to any journalists then, or at any time in the future.   Pamela Fenn says: "Honestly, I have... I know nothing. I have been here 3 months... (indecipherable). I've never spoken to a journalist, they've written rubbish in newspapers. I've never even uttered a word. I've never... it's all rubbish... (indecipherable)."   It should be added that due to Portugal's strict secrecy laws, Mrs Fenn would place herself in a very difficult, not to say illegal, position if she were to discuss aspects of the case that she has previously reported in her police statements.

What is Mrs Fenn alleged to have witnessed?

Daily Express 23 August 2007 (link)   Expatriate Pamela Fenn, 81, who lives in the flat above where the McCanns were staying, was re-interviewed by detectives on Monday after it emerged that she might have fresh clues.   Widow Mrs Fenn told police that two nights before Madeleine went missing she heard a little girl in the apartment crying for over an hour.   She said the toddler, who is believed to have been Madeleine, was crying "Daddy, daddy" constantly between 10.30 and 11.45pm.   The crying had stopped when the parents returned to the apartment.   On the night Madeleine disappeared, Mrs Fenn also heard a child crying, but it was when Kate returned from a nearby restaurant to check on her daughter that she was first aware something was wrong.   A source close to Mrs Fenn said: "She often sits on the balcony at night and heard a commotion downstairs.   "She heard the woman who she now knows to be Kate crying ‘We have let her down, we have let her down'." The source added: "She did not understand what was meant by this, but she asked if they wanted her to call the police. She was told it had already been done."   Daily Star 08 September 2007 (link)   But when the children’s mother checked on them at 10pm she discovered Madeleine was missing and ran from the apartment screaming her daughter’s name. But police say they are not certain what happened between 6pm and 9pm. Pamela Fenn, 81, who owns the apartment above the McCanns’, has given a sworn statement to police which apparently contradicts the couple’s account of events. She questioned the number of apparent checks and recalled how, during the initial panic, she offered to call the police. She claims she was told by Kate they had already been contacted – but it later turned out the call was not made for another 40 minutes. Mrs Fenn also told detectives two days before Madeleine disappeared that the youngster had kept neighbours awake desperately screaming for her father until nearly midnight. She heard the youngster shouting “Dad” from 10.30pm until 11.45pm and added she was shocked such a young child had been left apparently alone for so long late at night.   Daily Mail 12 September 2007 (link)   Pamela Fenn, who was in an apartment above the family on May 3 - the night Madeleine disappeared - is quoted as saying she believed Mrs McCann sometimes became violent and "out of control" in the room below.   She claimed that "the little girl's screams calling for her daddy were very audible".

Mrs Fenn denies her previous statements?

Sunday Mirror 23 September 2007 (link)   Tot's screams 'a myth'   THE SEARCH FOR MADELEINE DAY 143   By Grant Hodgson 23/09/2007   A key witness in the Madeleine McCann case yesterday DENIED telling cops that she heard the family screaming and arguing.   Pamela Fenn, 81, who lives above the Praia da Luz apartment Madeleine vanished from, supposedly said she heard the four-year-old "scream for four hours" the night before. The reports fuelled police theories that mum Kate sedated Madeleine. But widow Mrs Fenn, interviewed by police two days after Madeleine disappeared, said: "I never heard her screaming or Kate and Gerry arguing.   "I didn't realise anything was wrong until I heard all sorts of commotion outside."   *   This is a perfect example of what is, at best, sloppy reporting and at worst, manipulative and downright deceitful.   It is clear to anyone reading beyond the sensationalist headline that Mrs Fenn is not denying that she heard screaming on previous nights. She is stating that she did not hear any screaming or arguing on that particular night, 03 May 2007.   The article has very cleverly split Mrs Fenn's quote in two so that the phrase "I never heard any screaming or Kate and Gerry arguing." is divorced from her second sentence. Those words, taken as a stand alone sentence, would appear to cast doubt on previous reports which alleged 'screaming and arguing' coming from the McCanns' apartment. But, Mrs Fenn adds: "I didn't realise anything was wrong until I heard all sorts of commotion outside."   It is clear that Mrs Fenn is purely referring to the evening of 03 May 2007, in the moments before and after Kate raised the alarm. It does not refer to the events of previous nights.   Her original statement to the Policia Judiciaria, in which she has allegedly reported hearing Madeleine "scream for hours", has not been denied in this article. So, we must assume, in the absence of any denial, that those allegations still stand.

Mrs Fenn and the attempted burglary

Daily Mail 19 August 2007 (link)   The police are now set to re-interview a number of witnesses from the Ocean Club, a source close to the Policia Judiciaria said, in order to "clarify details that may be relevant to the new line of inquiry, in the light of facts we have found".   Among them will be ex-pat Pamela Fenn, a widow in her 70s. She claims she "scared off" an intruder who had broken into her apartment in the days before the McCanns arrived to stay in the holiday flat directly below her.   Mrs Fenn has told friends she heard a noise as she watched television and found a man escaping through her bedroom window. Her niece, who was staying with her, also saw the man.   The widow reported the incident to police but claims no one contacted her after Madeleine vanished - until two weeks ago, when British detectives called on her.   Mrs Fenn's niece is travelling to Portugal from the UK next week to be interviewed by the Policia Judiciaria.   Mrs Fenn said: "I will speak to the police on Monday."   The alleged break-in is said to have happened within days of a second burglary in the same block.   A Scottish holidaymaker said that on the first night of her stay, she and a friend returned to the flat to find their belongings and £500 worth of foreign money had been taken.   But there was no sign of forced entry at the second floor apartment and police called to the scene told the middle-aged book-keeper that they believed someone with a key was the most likely suspect, sparking concerns about security at the complex.   The Telegraph 20 August 2007 (link)   (article relates to PJ re-interviewing several witnesses)   Pamela Fenn, 70, who lives in the apartment above where the McCanns were staying, and her niece, who is flying to Portugal from the UK, will be among those spoken to.   Mrs Fenn has said that in the weeks leading up to Madeleine's disappearance she scared off an intruder in her apartment.   There was no apparent sign of a break-in and it is thought the man may have had a key to let himself into the flat. She will be making a formal statement today at police headquarters in the city of Portimao. There was also another burglary in the complex a few weeks before in which police also suspected the intruder had a key.   Mrs Fenn's niece was staying with her aunt in the week that the McCanns were on holiday. She saw a suspicious-looking man hanging around the McCanns' apartment about the time Madeleine vanished.   She has spoken to British police and told them that he matched the description of a suspect seen leaving the scene with a child wrapped up in a blanket on the night of Madeleine's disappearance.   Daily Express 23 August 2007 (link)   Mrs Fenn has also told police about an attempted burglary at her apartment several weeks earlier. She said a man broke in through the first-floor window but she disturbed him and he jumped out of it. The source said: "She did not think it was significant. She has lived in Luz for some time and at her previous address was the victim of burglaries on a regular basis. "There are lots of drug addicts in the area who prey on tourist apartments. Nothing was taken so she did not initially report it to the police." The report of an intruder echoes the experience of a Scottish holidaymaker at the Ocean Club resort just three weeks before Madeleine went missing. The woman told police that an intruder used a key to enter her apartment at the Mark Warner-run resort on the first night of her stay, making off with personal belongings and £500 worth of currency. "It was in the same block as the one where the little girl was taken from," she said. "The police were called. They told us someone with a key had got into the flat. "There was no proof of that but that was their opinion, as there was nothing else disturbed. There were no broken windows and no forced entry." Mrs Fenn told police that she had a niece from Britain staying with her in the week the McCanns were on holiday there. Her niece, who has now been interviewed by detectives in Britain, spotted a suspicious looking man hanging around the McCanns’ apartment about the time Madeleine disappeared. She told detectives that he matched the description of a suspect seen by Jane Tanner, one of the McCanns’ holiday friends. Miss Tanner reported seeing the man rushing away from the apartment with a child wrapped in a blanket under his arm. A second witness spotted the man minutes later rushing past the church in the resort and heading to the sea front. The dark-haired man was wearing white trousers and a dark jacket. Remarkably, given her close proximity to the scene, Mrs Fenn had not been interviewed fully by detectives in the days after Madeleine vanished. It was only after a team of British officers were called in that her information was acted upon and officers from  Portimao police headquarters spent more than three hours going over her statement in fine detail.