Apartment key theft cover-up by resort staff in Madeleine McCann case
KEYS to the holiday apartment from which Madeleine McCann was abducted were lost shortly before she vanished, it was claimed last night.
By: James MurrayPublished: Sun, February 9, 2014
However, police were not informed about the loss of potentially crucial evidence which could unlock the seven-year mystery.
A Sunday Express investigation in Portugal has revealed astonishing new information which, if proved, suggests the kidnap was well planned and executed using stolen keys.
Amid claims that Portuguese police are about to arrest three former workers at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz, based on information gathered by Scotland Yard, we tracked down a former maintenance worker at the complex whose revelations could change the direction of the international investigation.
The retired man, whose identity we have agreed to protect, said: “I have kept this to myself for long enough, so now it is right to tell people what happened.
“There was another maintenance worker at the Ocean Club who said he had lost a set of keys for the whole of block five.”
Kate and Gerry McCann, their twins Sean and Amelie and eldest daughter Madeleine, were staying in apartment 5a in the block, where there had been a spate of burglaries in the weeks before she vanished.
The former Ocean Club worker revealed: “I remember my colleague telling some of us the keys to that block had been lost.
“He told us about it in the week when the child was taken but I cannot remember the exact day. In the maintenance department we kept duplicates of all keys to the apartments.
“They were on a long cable and very clearly marked and we kept them in a safe.
“If there was a problem, a water leak, a gas leak, it was important for us to have entry to apartments if the owners or guests were out.
“When the man told us about the lost keys, he started crying. He was very upset. He was worried about losing his job, I think, and he did not want others to know about it.
“After the child disappeared, we all had to give statements to the police but I did not mention the keys had been lost because I did not think it was relevant.”
Shortly after Madeleine went missing, the world’s media descended on the Ocean Club and staff were told not to speak to journalists and to co-operate fully with police.
DENIALS: Maintenance worker Tiago da Silva [MARK KEHOE]
It was widely reported then that someone may have entered 5a through unlocked patio doors so people were not suggesting stolen duplicate keys could have been used to gain access through the front door.
The man said: “This has been on my mind for a long time and you are the first person I have told about it. I did not want to get the other man into trouble, I suppose.
"I didn’t really like the man and I didn’t want trouble from him. He was always doing nasty pranks. Once he put fibreglass in my work trousers which is not nice because it rubs against the skin and hurts.
“He was a young, confident man and I was a lot older than him and we just didn’t get on. In fact, he was the reason I left the job. After the little girl was taken, the atmosphere was really bad. It was not a good place to work.”
The Sunday Express has seen the statement the man gave to Portuguese police shortly after Madeleine was taken on the evening of May 3, 2007 ,and there is no mention of him stating keys had gone missing.
A Portuguese newspaper reported last week that police were particularly interested in a driver at the Ocean Club who dropped guests at the apartments after they arrived from Faro airport.
The man said: “On that night I was asked to do some driving because the man who was supposed to do the driving did not arrive at work. I remember ringing my wife and telling her I would be late home that night.”
Now that the man has come forward with new information he is likely to have to give a more detailed statement to police.
The Sunday Express tracked down the maintenance worker who allegedly lost the keys, 29-year-old Tiago da Silva, who lives a few miles from Luz in Lagos, a pretty coastal town.
When we put it to him that keys were lost, he paused momentarily before saying: “That is not the case. I can’t remember any keys going missing. The keys in maintenance were kept in a safe and nobody could get to them.”
However, his former colleague insisted: “I know what he told me at the time. The keys for all the blocks were kept on a cable and clearly marked.
“He said he had lost the keys to block five. He told me in the same week when the little girl went missing. I am sure of this.
“From my memory I think they were replaced with duplicate keys for the apartments which were held at reception. I remember all this very clearly. He did not want us to tell people about it, so we didn’t say anything.”
Scotland Yard officers have made about 20 trips to Portugal for their investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine’s disappearance when she was approaching her fourth birthday.
Portuguese detectives have carried out inquiries on behalf of the Yard team, which has not been allowed to pursue investigations on the ground.
