Service Information

Date: 2007 / 05 / 09

To: The Director of the Criminal Investigation

From: Davide Gomes, Inspector

Subject: Diligences carried out regarding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

I inform you that today I was in charge of clarifying the service information where VN Gaia taxi driver Alberto Almeida have information about having transported an individual with a blonde girl to a determined location in VN Gaia and who presumably travelled in a train from the Algarve on 04-05-2007, the following was established:

The taxi driver in question was contacted by another taxi driver, an older man already retired who had been looking for him from the date of the service until the 09th when he managed to contact him, reminding him about a service trip that he made on 04-05-2007 at about 12.40 in which an individual carrying a blonde girl asked him to take them to Rua Andrade Castro no. 79, Santa Marinha, Vila Nova da Gaia.

The trip he made was approximately 1.5 km and would have taken about 5 minutes.

With regard to the girl he only remembers that she was blonde and always asleep, he does not remember if she resembles the missing girl or what clothes she was wearing.

With regard to the individual he cannot be exact about his age but he was about 1.70m tall, well built, with a full head of hair, although not long hair, of a good appearance, calm and well disposed. He did not speak much but spoke Portuguese with an accent and seemed to the taxi driver to be English, Irish or maybe French, he did not appear to be from the east.

The individual was carrying two similar bags and two bags with shoulder straps, one containing a wallet and the other a camera, but he is not sure.

He remembers that the individual entered the address mentioned previously as he helped him with his bags, number 79 being a three floor building, the individual entered by the door.

He says he only remembers this episode due to having been reminded by the other former taxi driver, whom he does not know how to contact but will try to do so.

He says that as well as the train that arrived from the Algarve another train arrives with a difference of a few minutes and that the clients he transported could have come from the other train and not from the Algarve.

The CP was contacted so that they inform us about the services from the Algarve to Lisbon.

The telephone numbers were obtained for Dr L*** A*** responsible for the CP in the Algarve (tel *****) and M***** C****** one of the CP directors in Lisbon (****** and *****).

When the driver of the train that left Lagos at about 06.11 on 04-05-2007 was contacted, he said that the only person to descend from the train was a boy, he did not see any girl with the characteristics of the missing child leave the train.

When the Alfa Pendular driver was contacted he said that no girl with the characteristics of Madeleine left the train, he just remembers a foreign man accompanying a girl of the same age as the missing girl, but that the girl in question was coloured. He said that he was worried after hearing the news and paid special attention to the passengers because of this, in addition to searching his memory in relation to that journey.
Consequently, in my opinion, the girl transported by the taxi driver had nothing to do with the situation we are investigating.
Signed
Inspector Gomes