McCANN'S IN THE PUBLIC EYE

WITNESS STATEMENT FROM PAUL ANTHONY GORDON

OFFICIAL INQUIRY FILES and DOCUMENTS

PAUL ANTHONY GORDON STATEMENTS

Holiday maker 24-04-2008
▪️Witness statement of Paul Anthony Gordon (former holidaymaker in Apartment 5 A) 2008.04.24

TRANSLATION BY ALBYM/INES

Leicestershire Police Force
Witness Account
Statement by Paul Anthony Gordon
Occupation: Accountant
Date : 24th April 2008

Witness statement of Paul Anthony Gordon (former holiday maker in Apartment 5A) 2008.04.24

NOTE: There is no word "tenhos". It should either be "tenho" [I have] or "temos" [we have]. Not being certain, I omitted the personal pronoun in my translation.

Testimony from Pa.Go
Age if less than 18 years:
Occupation: Accounting Technician

This statement (consisting of 4 pages and signed by me) is true and in line with my understanding. I depose being aware that, given proof to the contrary, I will be subject to prosecution in the case I had voluntarily testified to something I know to be false or does not correspond to the truth.

Date: April 24, 2008

Signature ______________________________________________

I am married to Saleigh and [SEE NOTE ABOVE] have two children, our son xxxxxxx of three years of age and our daughter xxxxxxx of two years of age. We have lived at our present address since July 2007.

We took the decision to take a family holiday before we were to move to the house.
Sal did a search of places to vacation and found the place indicated in Portugal - in the village of Mark Warner. We stayed in the same apartment that the McCann family would come to share, 5A of the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz.
We travelled directly from Gatwick to Faro on 21 April 2007. We were transferred from the airport to our accommodation by staff of Mark Warner, and everything went well with our vacation.
The week was quiet, the children went to kindergarten either in the morning or in part of the afternoon and there was a day that I think they went all day - but I cannot state this with exactitude. The children always returned to the apartment at lunchtime for a nap that usually occurred between 13.00 and 15.00. The children were always in our company when they were not at the nursery, and frequently we took them to the beach for an ice cream.
On Wednesday or Thursday the children were sleeping in the apartment and Sal also was inside - reading a book if I am not mistaken. I was seated in the paved garden that faced the area of the pool, when I heard a male voice say "Hello". The voice came from the gate that leads to the road at the corner of the apartment and connects to the main reception area.

I stood up and I went to the man who asked me if I would be interested to contribute a donation to an orphanage in the interior mountains. I spoke with him and noticed that he had a badge with identification and that he had what seemed to me to be a book of receipts.

I thought that either he was genuine or a professional "cheat". It was then that I entered the apartment and asked Sal where was the money, and returned with a 10 euro note that I gave to him. I can not say exactly where he put the money and I think that he gave me a receipt, which I imagine that I threw away or left in Portugal. At no time did I think the individual aggressive or in any way persistent. I felt that he was genuine and it appeared to be for a good cause.
I would describe the man as polite, with good appearance and he brought with him a pamphlet. He had dark hair with slight tendency to grey, he appeared to be someone from the area with tanned skin [by the sun]. I would say that he was more than forty years old and 1.77 - 1.80cm in height - this is hard to say with certainty since I was looking down at him from the step above.

I would add that the man was robustly built but was not fat. He wore a light green polo, trousers and shoes.
After all this time I do not know if he had a slight goatee in the picture of the identification badge [card] or in person. But in one way or another I remember him as being clean and shaven and with light facial hair. I would say that I was with this man 2-3 minutes. The individual was not seen by the children since they were in bed asleep, nor seen by Sal since she remained inside while I spoke with him. I had never seen this man before and saw him no more after this. Apart from mentioning him to Sal I did not speak again about this man while I was in Portugal.
The man did not seem to be knocking from door to door and as far as I remember moved away from our apartment, walking down hill.