Madeleine – Michael Green

The penultimate interviewee in December 2014 is quite uncertain according to the media, so I need to make it clear at the start that I am into the land of speculation.

Michael Anthony Green is named in the summary report which led to the closing of the PJ Files. The gist of it is that Tasmin Sillence saw a man twice observing apartment 5A, and she helped to draw up an e-fit.

The report says that after performing due diligence, Michael Green was cleared of involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

The sections of the PJ Files relevant to how Michael Green was first suspected, then tracked, then cleared, have been expunged. They form part of the files not made public.

So, a brief summary. 1) Michael Green might or might not have been interviewed in December 2014. 2) A Michael Anthony Green was investigated by the PJ, but was noted as cleared in the summary report. 3) The diligences with respect to Michael Green were long, around 90+ pages of the files, according to the summary report.

Their is nothing to suggest that anyone was made an arguido in December 2014, so if Michael Green was interviewed, one assumes his status was witness.

Tasminman has turned up already in the list of witnesses. He is a potential connection between laundry worker Mário Marreiros and Neil Berry. This is the sighting of a man with sunglasses in the stairwell of block 5 on 3 May 2007. He is not a very good connection, as Tasmin made the e-fit person one of slim build, whilst Mário went for stocky.

If Michael Green was on the list of those interviewed as witnesses in Dec 2014 it is further evidence that Scotland Yard was still trying to cover every available option.

Madeleine – Tiago da Silva

Tiago Pires Luz da Silva is number 3 on a list of 11 witnesses to be interviewed by Scotland Yard in Dec 2014.

His sole statement in the PJ Files is dated 7 May 2007, where he is described as an assistant maintenance technician at the Ocean Club. It was his first job since leaving school and he had been doing it for 3 years and 4 months. He made €500 per month doing minor repairs, and he worked throughout the Ocean Club, wherever maintenance was required.

His is another statement that is extremely bland.

Is he related to José da Silva, the Ocean Club driver? Probably not, simply because da Silva is an extremely common surname in Portugal. It is impossible to be certain, as Tiago’s father’s surname is da Silva, and his mother’s maiden surname is also da Silva. There could be a relationship such as uncle or cousin. It is simply not likely.

The only item of interest in his statement is that he says he was never in apartment 5A, but that his colleagues Luis Ferro and Mário Moreira were, in order to repair a shutter and show how to work the washig machine.

Other than this Tiago da Silva appears to drop out of sight until around 9 Feb 2014, when he was identified as one of the men Scotland Yard wished to interview.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/458798/Apartment-key-theft-cover-up-by-resort-staff-in-Madeleine-McCann-case

The story is about lost keys, but the Sunday Express elevated it to stolen keys. Perhaps this sound more dramatic. Perhaps it explains how the keys would fall into the hands of criminals who then knew where the keys worked.

An older maintenance worker, presumably Luis or Mário, said that in the week that Madeleine went missing, Tiago had lost the whole set of keys for block 5, and had been in tears about this.

Maria da Silva (probably no relation) was the cleaner for block 5, and in her statement she makes it plain that 10 apartments in block 5 were on the Ocean Club books.

If the story is true, it means Tiago managed to lose a total of 10 keys, an unlikely feat.

The older maintenance worker went on to say that he disliked Tiago, to the extent that when things tailed off in the Ocean Club, he decided to leave.

Luis Ferro gave his statement on 7 May 2007. In it he said that he visited apartment 5A between 10am and 11am on Tuesday 1 May 2007, to fix a shutter and to show a woman how to work the washing machine. The woman was Kate McCann, who was there alone. He said he and his colleague were only in the kitchen and the parent’s bedroom.

Mário Mareiro gave his statement on 8 May 2007. In broad terms it tells the same story that was related by Luis Ferro.

Neither of these mentioned missing keys, nor the need to get a spare key before they headed to apartment 5A to repair it on 1 May 2007. If there were lost keys, this seems to limit the timespan in which they were lost to between 11am on 1 May 2007, and Madeleine’s disappearance on 3 May 2007.

No one higher up the chain mentions missing keys for block 5, something which would obviously be very significant.

Luis and Mário both gave permission for a DNA swab on 18 Jun 2007. Mário also gave permission for a hair sample, date unknown. These would be required to eliminate them from hairs found in apartment 5A.

It seems unlikely that Scotland Yard was interviewing Tiago da Silva in respect of missing keys, though the team could have been covering all bases.

The other potential route is the Crimewatch of Oct 2013, with Tiago being matched perhaps to Smithman.

This suffers the same weakness that the programme was not widely aired in Portugal to an audience likely to recognise Tiago. One possible method would be workers at the Ocean Club who were British, and were interested in the case.

Further, if that was the basis, surely Tiago would have been interviewed as an arguido, not a witness.

Judge for yourself whether Tiago da Silva (Feb 2014) resembles the e-fit of Smithman for May 2007.