The Mystery of Robert Murat: From Arguido to Applause:

An examination of Robert Murat’s involvement in events following the disappearance of Madeleine McCann

By Tony Bennett, April 2010

PART FOUR: CHAPERS I TO K

You may by now have lost count of the number of changes in Robert Murat’s story about what he was doing between 1 and 4 May, so here’s a convenient summary of his new account of events, and how these contradicted his earlier account of events:

A possible interpretation of these changes of story could be along these lines; namely that during his first statement, Murat did not want to admit to:

We make no other comment on the large number of changes of story but leave the reader to form his or her own judgment as to why there were so many changes. We will however add this discussion by a poster on the ‘maddiecasefiles’ internet forum, who analysed these discrepancies in Murat’s account of those few days:

“Jorge Miguel Rocha da Silva tells us that even on the day Murat returned from Exeter (1 May), he tried to get in touch da Silva at the children’s clothing shop that he runs with his wife. He couldn’t, as it was a public holiday. On the following two days (2 & 3 May) he insisted that that da Silva meet him at short notice. A few days later, three days before Murat was made an arguido, Michaela Walczuk was still inviting him to get-togethers at her apartment.

“The official line from Murat is that he was talking to da Silva to persuade him to invest in his and Michaela’s venture: ‘Romigen’. Yet to this day, Romigen appears to be no more than a ‘shell’ company, just a paper idea for selling property via the internet. It doesn’t seem as though the company required any significant cash injection. And if we look at da Silva’s statements, if Murat had any intention of buying land to make money out of it, this was never made apparent to da Silva even after several hours of apparently unprofitable conversation - or rather, so it's been said, of long and puzzling silences.

“On his first full day back in Praia da Luz (2 May), Murat did manage to get in touch with da Silva at the shop. He took da Silva and his two sons to a café bar for the first round of talking. We know that Murat rang his lawyer no less than four times that day. In addition, in da Silva’s first statement to the PJ, he said that: “They did some talking in Mrs Murat’s VW Transporter”. He says rather vaguely that the discussion was ‘to develop some details of the intended business’.

“The following day (3 May), Murat, Michaela, Jorge da Silva and his sons met again for a long session on 3 May, at the Palmares Golf Club.
It is hard to understand from Jorge da Silva’s account what all these meetings were really about”.

So what could they have been about? Was the true content of these discussions being concealed?

We know that Murat came back to Portugal in apparent haste on 1 May.

His own account says that he booked his ticket on that very day. He seems to have booked his flight ticket at between midnight and 2.00am. His sister Samantha took him to the airport to catch the 7.00am flight. Murat must have been up and about at not long after 4.00am that morning to get up, travel by car to the airport and check in etc.

There seems to be, without doubt, a significant degree of urgency about Murat’s movements on 1 May. In his statement he said that he met only his mother (who fetched him from Faro airport) and Michaela that day, but since then we’ve learnt that he called at Jorge da Silva’s shop. Why did da Silva have these long discussions with Murat? Was it really just about Romigen?

Was his sudden early morning flight from Exeter to Praia da Luz just in order to get ‘Romigen’ moving, or to finalise his divorce as he claimed on another occasion? Did he really need to meet urgently with a top local lawyer for that reason?  Two years later, Romigen appears to be still only a ‘shell’ company, or at most a ‘front’ for something else.

So we pose this question: did something significant happen on Monday 30 April which required him to jet out to Portugal immediately and confer with a number of powerful and well-connected people in Praia da Luz?

We have summarised the 17 changes of Murat’s story. Here we shall just pick out a few other queries raised by Murat’s two, highly contradictory accounts.

If one reads the police witness statement of Jorge da Silva (made on 16 May 2007, two day after Murat was pulled in for questioning) - the person whom Murat met several times on 1, 2 and 3 May - it is hard to get an accurate picture of what Murat, da Silva and his two sons were all talking about. True, it is said they discussed Murat’s proposed ‘Romigen’, but exactly what they discussed is not made clear. Murat claims that at around 4.00pm on 2 May he and his lawyer Fracisco Pagarete met da Silva and one of his sons in a bar near the Marina - but da Silva does not confirm this.

One observer wrote: “Jorge da Silva’s statement reads to me as though he was bemused and bewildered by the attention he and his son were getting from Robert Murat and Michaela”. On one occasion he said Murat had asked him to attend a meeting, at the Golf Club, and then Murat didn’t offer to get him any food.

It looks almost as if da Silva was being pressurised into attending those meetings with Murat and his lawyer. One suggestion advanced by some is that Murat’s real purpose was to meet a number of important people but wished to hide their identity; hence da Silva was ‘in tow’ so that Murat, if asked, could claim that he had only been meeting with da Silve to discuss ‘Romigen’.

Another curiosity is why the Portuguese Police did not apparently make enquires about the anonymous ‘builder from Lisbon’ who was supposed to attend the Golf Club meeting, but didn’t.

Another matter we need to note is that Murat and his girlfriend Michaela Walczuk both, separately, made statements to the Portuguese police on 14 May. Yet several days later, Walczuk went to the police station, apparently of her own free will, to make another statement, with various ‘corrections’ and ‘clarifications’ to her original statement. It would not be unfair to suggest the possibility that after they had made their respective statements, they met, conferred, and realised that in certain key respects, their stories did not tally.

Also, why did Murat first make the ridiculous claim that Dr Pagarete met him and Michaela sitting in his mother’s VW Transporter? He later had to replace that tale by stating that, instead, he had met members of the da Silvas family at that time.

Murat and Michaela Walczuk, indeed, had made a real hash of remembering what they did on the all-important date of Thursday 3 May. Murat says he went to Michaela’s and they had ‘talked in her apartment until noon’. But Walczuk said, instead, that a person called ‘Catia’ had been there, apparently to talk about a project called ‘Montinho da Ouro’,  translated as ‘Gold Bunker’, and that then she and Murat had travelled to meet Malinka at Batista’s supermarket café.

Altogether, for example, there were three wholly different accounts of where Murat and Walczuk had lunch that day.

To the simple question: ‘Where did you have lunch that day?’, there were three different answers:

Murat said: ‘With Michaela at the Galp service station on the motorway’.

Michaela said: ‘We had lunch with the da Silvas at the Restaurant Antonio at Porto Mos’…

…while Jorge da Silva said: ‘They took me to a Golf Club for a meeting and I didn’t get any lunch at all’. 

In her second statement, Michaela told the police that she now remembered that she and Murat had had lunch at the Galp service station after all. She had fallen into line with Murat’s story.

At this point we will look briefly at one other controversial matter, namely Michaela Walczuk’s claim that on the evening of 3 May she was at a Jehovah’s Witness meeting.

Michaela Walczuk claimed that from around 6.30pm to 8.30pm on 3 May, she was attending a Jehovah’s Witness (JW) congregation in Lagos de Baia. She is careful, however, in her second statement to the police to make clear that whilst she attends the assemblies, she no longer takes part in what are called the ‘congregational classes’. She explained that because she had ‘betrayed’ her husband in her affair with Robert Murat, she had not been practising the religious principles of her faith.

She claimed that the JW meeting lasted from 6.30pm to nearly 8.30pm. She then goes on to say that she did not on this occasion stay behind to talk to other members as she usually did. She says she left ‘without speaking to anyone’. She said that the reason was because she had her young daughter with her and had to leave early because it was ‘a school night’. 

If it was an assembly she attended and not a class, and if - as Michaela implies - she left without talking to anyone, it would be hard for the police to confirm whether Michaela was present or not.

In her second statement (but not her first), she told police: “For about three years, I attended the assemblies, but did not take part in the congregation, only because I had betrayed my husband, which is not compatible with the Biblical principles that I profess”. Michaela said that her husband Luis Antonio had also attended JW meetings in Lagos, along with Teofila and Marina Castel.

Michaela also pointed out that during Murat’s translation work at the Ocean Club, he met a couple called Teofilo and Marina Castela. Teofilo is the Administrative Services Manager at the Ocean Club. Both Murat and Michaela know the couple as they belong to the same JW group in Lagos. In her statement Michaela says she knows of other JWs working at the Ocean Club.

But Teofilo Castela, in November 2007, challenged parts of Michaela’s statement about attending the meeting. His account was reported in the Evening Standard. The report said that Castela had stated that Michaela Walczuk had been ‘thrown out of the congregation’, though he didn’t say why. He added that the police hadn’t interviewed him. Significantly, he added: “She was cast aside. It was before this year [2007]. The church has certain rules and they must not be broken”.

But, strangely, neither Teofila Castela nor his wife Marina (who was in charge of the Ocean Club’s Hygiene and Comfort Department) mentioned any of this in their original statements to police in May. Marina Castela’s duties included handling the keys to the apartments, including that of Apartment 5A where the McCanns were staying.  

Joao Olim Junior, who worked for Walczuk's husband Luis Antonio, made a statement to the police. He was in charge of a company vehicle on the night Madeleine disappeared. Olim was also a JW and said he attended the ‘Bible meeting’ on the evening of 3 May. He mentions Michaela several times by name in his statement but does not confirm that she was present that evening. Whether Michaela Walczuk did attend that meeting is still therefore very much in doubt. Was she somewhere else that evening?

In view of the importance of the da Silva family in the various rounds of meetings Robert Murat had between Tuesday 1 May and Thursday 3 May, there has been interest in Murat’s connections with that family. Several other individuals with the surname ‘da Silva’ were contacted by the Portuguese Police in their enquiries.

Marina Castela (see above) gave a detailed witness statement in which she explained  that the person responsible for cleaning Apartment 5A was an employee called Maria Julia Serafim da Silva. There has been speculation that she might be related to the da Silva father and sons whom Murat was so anxious to meet (as we have seen above) as soon as he returned to Praia da Luz in the early hours of Tuesday 1 May.  

Another witness with the surname da Silva - Maria Manuela Martins da Silva - said was visiting the sister of her boyfriend in another Ocean Club apartment (Block 6, Apartment 5) during the afternoon and evening of 3 May. From the ground floor kitchen window of that apartment, there was a direct view across to the back windows of the apartment occupied by Madeleine McCann [Source: Police Files 02 - Processos Volume II, Pages 469 to 470a].

Unusually, some five days later, Maria was able to recall the exact time she left that apartment - 9.58pm. She says she remembers the exact time because she asked her friend the time, and she responded after checking this on the telephone in the lounge. Maria da Silva left with her boyfriend in a green Opel Frontera, parked in the private parking area of Block 6. As they drove away, she recalled seeing a small car, perhaps grey in colour, parked close to the window of the McCann apartment. By coincidence the route taken by GNR officer, Pedro Miguel Esteves Fernandes and the Search & Rescue dogs in the early hours of 4 May, lost track of Madeleine's scent in the private parking area of Block 6.

The following da Silvas are noted in the Portuguese Police files:

A key, which some feel could be important in the case, was found in ‘Casa Liliana’, the Murats’ home. It was the key to Luis Antonio's store room. Antonio was Michaela’s husband. The simple question is, what would it be doing at the Murats’ house.

True, Michalea was at that time still married to Antonio, and both she and Murat seemed to be regular visitors at Antonio’s house. Did Murat have a set of Antonio’s keys. Was Murat using Antonio’s store room keys (and perhaps others?) during the days prior to Madeleine being reported missing?

The Portuguese Police found encryption systems on Robert Murat’s computer, just as predicted by the second witness we learnt about above.

Here we print an edited summary of Robert Murat’s response to the police’s questions about his computer. The interview with him took place on 14 May 2007, just 11 days after Madeleine was reported missing.

Robert Murat, in answer to a question, said that no-one, without his authorisation, had ever accessed his computer systems. Apparently he had three such systems. One was called ACER, which has the Vista operating system installed. Another was a system developed by ASUS, and then he had a third system, his own ‘LG’ system. These last two systems had the XP operating system installed.

He told the police that it was by mere chance, and as a result of his mother’s choice, that the computer systems were interconnected and shared the access to the internet through an ADSL Modem-Router.

The contract for internet access, with SAPO - that is, Portugal Telecom - had been signed by his mother.

He told police that he did not consider himself an expert in computers and I.T. communications, but admitted to having used computers for ten years. He added that his current ADSL Modem-Router equipment was, so far as he recalled, an SMC brand. This was significant as it makes it possible to operate a network of computers via a ‘network-without-wires’, or ‘WiFi’ - wireless networking.

He was asked by the Portuguese police why the various computer systems that he had in his house were unsynchronised - that is, gave completely different times as to when, for example, he sent out e-mails. Murat told police that, as far as he knew, his computer systems had clocks with the date and time that were set to the official time. He could not explain why they were, in fact, unsynchronised.

He suggested that it might be due to the installation of the computers having been done by an outside company, ‘125 Computers’, whose headquarters were in Mexilhoeira-Grande. This company had configured all his operating systems.

Murat told the police that, so far as he knew, only ‘normal computer programs’ were on his computers. He said that the operating system and tools would be those typical of Microsoft family, such as word processing, spreadsheet, an internet browser called ‘Internet Explorer’, and anti-virus programs.
 
He went on to explain that his commercial activity was in the area of real estate. He advertised homes for sale on the internet. His computer programs, he said, were only what he needed for his commercial activity.

Asked if he had any unusual systems installed on computer, he referred only to a common computer program called ‘CCleaner’. This, he said, was just to improve the performance of his systems, and could not be used for example to erase traces of child pornography that might be on his computer. The CCleaner program was installed, he said, at his son’s suggestion. Murat admitted he did not know the full potential of the ‘CCleaner’ program. [NOTE: The CCleaner program does not wipe data from a hard disk].

The police put to him that a computer expert had told him that the ‘CCleaner’ program was designed to, inter alia, delete all the following: the history of navigation on the internet, temporary files, the exchange of files, recently used documents, the register of applications, the various registry files or ‘logs’, and the ‘garbage can’ or ‘recycle bin’. Murat said he’d used the program for about three years but that he didn’t know any details about how it operated; just that it enabled his computer to run more efficiently.

He was asked explicitly if he used encryption systems on his computer. He said categorically that he did not. He was asked specifically if he used strong encryption systems in his internet browser. He again denied it and emphasised that he does not use encrypted communications on the internet or in his computer system.

He added that he did not use, nor has, encrypted data in his systems, nor did he use enciphering to mask, hide or prevent access to data contained in his systems. Asked if he used encryption or enciphering in e-mail communications, he simply told the Portuguese police that he did not know what encryption was or how to use it.

The Portuguese Police now had Murat in a corner, as they had indeed found encryption and enciphering systems on his computer. The police asked him how he could explain the presence of several encrypted or enciphered files on in his systems, seeing that he is an experienced computer user for over ten years - and given that he had earlier in the interview declared that no-one else had had access to his computer network without authorisation.

Murat replied:  "I would not know how to explain that”.

Finally, the police asked Murat to explain the contradiction of his maintaining that his network was ‘unprotected’ or ‘open’, whilst at the same time his experience must have told him that he needed to take action to keep his computer network secure. The police say that Murat replied: “I haven’t thought about that”.

Murat said he never used computers in cyber cafés in Praia da Luz or elsewhere. Murat was asked if he had ever talked to anyone besides his lawyer on how he could prove his innocence, either personally, or by telephone, or in cafés, or elsewhere. It was put to him that there might have been a conversation about police techniques for establishing the guilt or innocence of a suspect.

At this point, Murat asked for a break.

Resuming after an interval, Murat said he had spoken on this subject mainly with family and friends. But he also now remembered having spoken with Portuguese Police Inspectors on one occasion at his home when he asked about whether someone could be tracked through the antennas of mobile ’phone masts to prove whether he had been at home at any given time. The Inspectors had replied, he said, that it would be possible, but told him not to worry about it.
 
He was then asked if he knew a British Police Officer by the name of Phil. He answered: ‘Yes’. He agreed that he had asked Phil about how British police might be able to establish whether a person could have been in a given place at a given time. But couldn’t remember any ’phone conversation.

Murat was then shown a transcription of a telephone interception, contained in pages 1681 to 1690 from the police files. He still couldn’t remember this ’phone conversation, maintaining that he’d only talked to him either in his aunt’s home or in a bar.

We now reproduce that transcript, though unfortunately the translation is not clear in places.

Rob: How are you? Okay?
Phil: Yes, I am well, call me Phil, how are you?
Rob: Hello, Phil.
Phil: I'm fine, I’m now at the home of Sally.
Rob: Yes.
Phil: But all, the whole family is here, so…
Rob: Yes.
Phil: I am a Police Officer in the United Kingdom.
Rob: Yes.
Phil: Um, Sally spoke to me about your phone h…
Rob: Signal, just, just to be informed, they told me they could follow the signal of my mobile ’phone.
Phil: Yes.
Rob: Um…
Phil: [inaudible] Also...
Rob: What, sorry?
Phil: They can do it [inaudible] retrospectively.
Rob: What, what do you mean? Sorry?
Phil: There is, there is something called analysis of demand for cell.
Rob: Yeah. I can, I can point out that, sorry?
Phil: Yes, of course, yes.
Rob: Analysis of demand for cell, O.K.
Phil: O.K., what, in practice what it says is that the police could ask the…your mobile telephone…
Rob: Yes.
Phil: Whatever it may be...
Rob: Yes.
Phil: Um, the complete history of where your ’phone was, the calls that were made, either for entry or exit from…
Rob: Yeah.
Phil: Er…but perhaps most important to you, where you can even show I was or might, can, can, can get the signal from where the…his ’phone was, this, this, I have to say, is not…
Rob: Where was…
Phil: Yeah, yeah, it shows, not shows where you went.
Rob: Yes.
Phil: Just shows where your phone was, but…
Rob: OK, but um…may ultimately help.
Phil: No doubts.
Rob: And others…the mere fact that probably already heard it a million times, I am completely innocent, is simple, I have…you know, not
‘ronsigo’ [un-translated] believe that this is happening, um…and the simple fact is, I am trying to find ways to prove where you were.
Phil: Yes.
Rob: So, after all…
Phil: Yes.
Rob: This is a way of trying to do it…knew it was not possible.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: Um, and why…and why, you know, was wondering if, if, if this had been done, ultimately, because eventually, I do not know, I, myself, I was here in the house, but how precise a location can it give?
Phil: Well, it really depends on the number of satellites, where it is.
Rob: Yeah.
Phil: Usually about…the ’phones pick up anything between three to seven satellites.
Rob: Three to seven…
Phil: Yes.
Rob: Three to seven satellites…
Phil: Yes.
Rob: O.K.
Phil: And, um...so, that means...if, if...say, three, can put it on about a hundred, a hundred yards or so…
Rob: So, about a hundred yards?
Phil: Yes, some one hundred yards or so, yes.
Rob: Or well, okay.
Phil: Um…the more the more satellites there, the more…
Rob: Nearest…
Phil: Nearest may give a certain location.
Rob: Yeah, O.K., O.K., this is absolutely…
Phil: Yes.
Rob: Fantastic, but if, for example if I go with them [unclear], with these phones…
Phil: Yes.
Rob: They went together with me?
Phil: Yes, yes.
Rob: Oh, great, great.
Phil: Some of these ’phone calls, these ’phones…
Rob: Ah…I need to call my carrier, anyway.
Phil: Yes.
Rob: And whether we did that night make any ’phone call with this ’phone.
Phil: Well, they have the history of your calls, um…
Rob: Yes.
Phil: What, what…
Rob: Well, they are actually, in fact they have my ’phone this moment, so…  
Phil: [inaudible]
Rob: Yeah, so they have my ’phone, my computers and everything.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: But after all, I have nothing to hide, whatever.
Phil: You used the computer that night?
Rob: I think not, I am not sure, I do not remember, to be honest.
Phil: Because, once again, they can search the history of your computer, so if…
Rob: Yeah.
Phil: If you had used the password.
Rob: Oh, that once again, once more, I gave them everything, so they have everything…
Phil: Yes.
Rob: But ultimately I have nothing to hide, whatever.
Phil: Hmmm…
Rob: I did nothing, I am being crucified.
Phil: Yes.
Rob: My whole life is being crucified.
Phil: Yes.
Rob: Er, my whole family has been crucified, um…although saying that, the police of Leicester has been absolutely fantastic with my family, have helped it, even, even.
Phil: Yes.
Rob: Until someone asked the media to thank the police for Leicester for all the work they have done and looked for families.
Phil: Hmmm, hmmm.
Rob: And so, I hope they do, it cannot come from me, but asked, I asked them to see that part, you know?
Phil: Yes.
Rob: If you can think of any other possibilities that, that can…
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: Um, from a technological standpoint, that may put me or situate me in a place, or something…
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: Please tell me, because I am trying to add a few things to see, to prove what I was doing.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: I, as I said, I’m des…I am desperate, after all, right? You know, I feel as thought I’ve been put in some kind of trap, when I did absolutely nothing.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: When I tried to help.
Phil: Yes.
Rob: Um...and is all right...is all right...I must say that you are very frightened, when they start, they start to add things and, um…I know I  did nothing.
Phil: Unfortunately, the press, well, the impression I have is that the press here…
Rob: Yes.
Phil: You must bear up relatively well because of sub judice…
Rob: Yes.
Phil: But it is clear that with [inaudible] do not call you into question, but the…[inaudible] because now there is an international press, you can see the SKY TV, gave the world…
Rob: Yeah, right.
Phil: And that kind of stuff, so I did not…I am very…I am not Portuguese, so am not familiar with the work.
Rob: Yes.
Phil: And, um, what I saw until now [inaudible].
Rob: Okay, okay [laughter].
Phil: Yes.
Rob: Well, I mean, I, I have translated [inaudible] during the recent days.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: And the work they are doing there is absolutely, even to go details, really good, following all clues, anything to that effect, um…and they… Why are they pointing at me? Hmmm…I have to be really honest, they were, they did a very good job, and, you know, they were concerned about it…
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: They worked at it even harder, in that sense, but…
Phil: Yes.
Rob: [inaudible]…really should not praise the people who are here trying to crucify me.
Phil: Well, yes, it is always a thing, from my point of view…
Rob: I think it seems very, very… [inaudible].
Phil: Well, you know, these, these things happen, and sometimes, um… could…if you look at the statistics…
Rob: Yeah.
Phil: Usually people are known to the family or [inaudible] walk around, and of course we want to communicate this kind of thing that is happening [inaudible].
Rob: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Phil: Um…
Rob: The other thing to me is very worrying is that they, they are leaving out what is important, and this is the girl at the end of the day. And my life is important, do not misunderstand me [laughter].
Phil: Hmmm, yes.
Rob: My life is important, I do not want to be crucified, and er…you know, crucified and be completely innocent.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: Ah...and I have been crucified, but they have, I hope that they keep focused on that, on what is important and we find the idiot who has taken this girl.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: But now I think I am, it seems, therefore, um…this is what I do, I wanted to do.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: What with…which continue to focus on that aspect. Um, O.K., well, thank you for your help, thank you very, very…
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: I was helping my mother to each ‘coisitas’ [un-translated], I think she came to house around eight o’clock…and I was…I think I got there first, I am sure, I am almost sure that I got here first. I do not remember exactly, that's the problem, I think I came here first and I was here when she arrived, and, um, basically I was here all night, talking and laughing and joking and then, then we heard some vehicle sirens pass by and I said: ‘Oh, that sounds like…’ [inaudible] [laughter].
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: With the sirens going on, um, and then we heard earlier, when my sister called at seven in the morning, um…she said a girl had disappeared, well, it was my mother who took the call in the kitchen, I was still in bed. My mother told me about it later.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: That a girl had disappeared and everything started from there, it is a hell, it is a hell.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: But now I, me, me…what I do now is I call my sister, she is providing testimony to the police in Leicester.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: Um, and I…I ask you to ask them if they can, if the have legal authority to do this thing with the ’phone?
Phil: You, um, have got an English telephone?
Rob: I’ve got an English ’phone and another Portuguese ’phone, two…
Phil: O.K.
Rob: That is why I am trying to get the details about the English ’phone.
Phil: Yes, but they can do the same with the Portuguese telephone.
Rob: Yeah, but I do not know if they have permission to do so, that is the problem.
Phil: Um.
Rob: Or they may ask this, or anything [unclear]…I mean, um, at the end of the day, I know where I was, it’s simple.
Phil: Yes.
Rob: …and I was not elsewhere, if you ask me [laughter].
Phil: Yes, if…the same, the same applies to ’phone, if there was a call from the ’phone, you can get, you can get…
Rob: The signal…
Phil: Well, they do not detect the signal, they can get the calls both made and received
Rob: Yes.
Phil: If someone was telephoned at home and then…
Rob: I think, I think…I do not recall what time it was, but I think the call was with my daughter, um…despite not having spoken with her, I left a message, on the answering machine…
Phil: Um.
Rob: I think we were not there. But I do not recall exactly what time it was.
Phil: Yes.
Rob: Um, so, I hope, which has been around that time.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: So, I hope it will be by ’phone, either by ’phone from home…
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: I hope this puts me in a completely different place, at the place where I, I know I was.
Phil: Yes, yes.
Rob: [inaudible].
Phil: Yes.
Rob: So this is what I am trying to do now.
Phil: Between, between those two things, between the two mobile ’phone and landlines, and if the computer shows you were doing some e-mails or not…
Rob: Yes.
Phil: All these things can do, can…
Rob: The place.
Phil: Can detect the location where you were…[inaudible].
Rob: One other, another thing, we have a…a router that has been placed by a private company that came here and put the router in…is a router [inaudible], yes?
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: Um.
Phil: Hmmm.
Rob: Um…and the guy said…I do not know what this means, but he said that was set for U.S. time, or something, there is some specific reason, it would be a problem, or…
Phil: Um, good, I can analyse it, frankly I think not, but…
Rob: Well, when we were talking about this, he said it seemed strange…
Phil: Yes.
Rob: It was strange [inaudible].
Phil: Yes,
Rob: On the sound of that. O.K.
Phil: [inaudible] …them, they are technical in any way…identified it soon, yes.
Rob: O.K., Sir, thank you very, very much for your help.
Phil: [inaudible].
Rob: Thank you very, very much.
Phil: All right, mate, stay well.
Rob: Stay well.
Phil: Bye.
Rob: Bye, bye.

The ’phone conversation is of considerable interest. Murat seems to indicate that he is sure he can prove his whereabouts on the evening of 3 May. However, he could have been away from his mother’s house on the evening of 3 May and simply left his mobile ’phone in the house, which would tell us absolutely nothing about where he was that evening. He also says he has two mobile ’phones, an ‘English’ one and a Portuguese.

Another feature of interest is his rehearsal with ‘Phil’ of how he learnt about Madeleine disappearing. He maintains that the first he and his mother knew about it was a telephone call from his sister Samantha to his mother at about ‘seven’ in the morning. It reinforces his case that he did not know anything about a girl going missing on 3 May, despite all the sirens, the barking dogs, and the raised voices around the streets of Praia da Luz. 

Finally in this section, we may note that Robert Murat’s house was subject to a further thorough two-day search by the police in August 2007. Nothing of interest was found.