The full details of what happened on the night Madeleine McCann went missing are revealed today.
An investigation has pieced together the events on the night the four-year-old vanished from the family's apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal almost four months ago.
It shows that the abductor is most likely to have struck between 9.05pm and 9.15pm. But her disappearance could not have been discovered until 10pm, because her family and friends did not enter the bedroom where she was sleeping until that time.
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Like clockwork: the McCanns at the Praia da Luz resort. Their regime of checking their children every half hour could be observed by any would-be abductorRead more...
Although the McCanns always monitored their children every 30 minutes, the night Madeleine vanished a friend of the family Matthew Oldfield offered to check for them at 9.30pm.
But instead of entering the bedroom, it is understood he listened at the door, heard nothing and assumed everything was fine. In fact, Madeleine had almost certainly been snatched by then.
Fifteen minutes earlier, at 9.15pm, a friend of the McCanns, Jane Tanner, who had gone to check on her children, saw a man walking away from the Ocean Club resort carrying a small child. Ms Tanner later described the pyjamas the girl was wearing - matching the description of those worn by Madeleine on the night.
Mr Oldfield's failure to check inside the bedroom may have cost vital time in the search for the little girl.
The Mail's sister newspaper, the Evening Standard, has spoken to a series of sources close to the McCanns and their friends who have revealed details of the events on the night.
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The McCanns are adamant Madeleine was abducted and are angered by vicious smears that they are somehow complicit in her disappearance
But they have also expressed surprise that so much information has leaked out, apparently through Portuguese police.
They are adamant Madeleine was abducted and are angered by vicious smears - published by the Portuguese media - that the McCanns and their friends are somehow complicit in her disappearance.
One source says he believes Madeleine was taken between 9.05pm and 9.15pm and that the patio windows at the rear of the apartment had been shut but unlocked on the night so the McCanns could check on their children more easily.
He said: "It could not be anything other than abduction. There is no doubt in anybody's mind that the girl Jane Tanner saw being carried away was Madeleine."
Almost four months after Madeleine vanished police in Portugal appear to have little idea what happened.
A series of leaks claim Madeleine died in the apartment and that she may have been murdered or killed by accident, with the friends of the McCanns somehow implicated.
But the source is adamant that none of the dining companions was away from the table at the tapas bar long enough not only to kill the little girl but then to dump the body.
The source said: "If it was one of the friends then it would have to be all of them to ensure a cover up. That's just plain nonsense."
Friends now believe that Madeleine was targeted during the course of the week at the resort. She was taken on the sixth night of the McCanns' stay at the Ocean Club, allowing her abductor to observe the family's routine - easily achievable since the McCanns stuck to the same arrangements.
Each evening, said the source, they and their friends dined at the tapas bar about 100 yards from the holiday apartment, and they always checked on their children every 30 minutes - almost like clockwork.
The table at the tapas bar was booked every night at 8.30pm after the children had all gone to bed. There were nine diners each night - the McCanns, Rachael and Matthew Oldfield, Ms Tanner and her partner Russell O'Brien, and David and Fiona Payne and her mother Dianne Webster.
Anybody watching the McCanns' movements would have known that as soon as Mr McCann had left the apartment after the first check, there would have been half an hour in which to snatch the child.
On 3 May, said the source, the friends arrived at the restaurant later than usual after participating in a tennis event.
The McCanns were the first to arrive at the tapas bar at about 8.40pm - previous reports had falsely suggested they had been there since 7pm and that the group had drunk several bottles of wine. The source insists no more than three bottles had been drunk by the nine adults.
Mr McCann left the table at around 9.05pm to check on Madeleine and her siblings, returning a few minutes later. Each set of parents was responsible for checking their own children but at 9.30pm when the McCanns were to check again, Mr Oldfield offered to check on them instead.
Madeleine was not discovered missing for another half an hour.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-477430/Revealed-happened-night-Madeleine-went-missing.html#ixzz13lyHoFO0
