Misunderstood or just a plain devious bunch of villains

Let the Tapas speak please, and without interruption...plenty of time to ask awkward questions about what they got up to later on...thank you for your patience.

 The Tapas 9 - How Could They?!!

Hindsight, they say, is a wonderful thing.  If the reader can just place themselves at the Tapas bar in the Mark Warner Holiday resort for a moment please, go on, close your eyes! Thank you.

It's May 1st 2007 and there you are, having a quiet beer and just people watching; looking around at those dining al fresco, until your gaze rests upon a large group laughing and joking among themselves.  You decide they are a well heeled middle class bunch who must know one another pretty well; seemingly relaxed, old buddies and definitely not people befriending on the holiday itself.

Turning back to your beer, you think no more of it, then, one morning a few months later, taking a sandwich at lunch at your desk you casually pick up a newspaper and catch an article about a little girl who disappeared while on holiday at the same resort as you were, and not only that the same time as you.

Intrigued, you take a look at the pictures in the paper accompanying the article and, you have a vague feeling you saw them yourself while you were there.  The article tells you they were all senior medical professionals and the like; heart surgeons and such, and the little girl went missing while she was left alone in her apartment for an entire evening, every evening, unsupervised.  How could they, of all people, do such a thing?

It's a question often asked of these people.

So who exactly were they? Well, first off, let's introduce them. This summary from the gerryccannsblogs.co.uk website and elsewhere.

Kate McCann: Mother of three. Studied medicine at University of Dundee, initially Gynaecology, then Anaesthesiology.  Family commitments led her to become a part time G.P.

Gerry McCann: Studied medicine at Glasgow University, initially specialising in sports related medicine, then splitting his time as a Cardiologist between a private consultancy with BUPA and The University Hospital Leicester.

David Payne: Held a temporary post as a Senior research Fellow in Cardiovascular Sciences Leicester University unitl 2003, then a surgeon at Leicester Royal Infirmary specialising in strokes.

Fiona Payne: Mother of two. From her rogatory interview on 10th April 2008 with Leicester Police we learn she is an anaesthetist working at Leicester working in obstetrics, on the labour ward doing epidurals and caesarean sections, in ICU and theatres and resuscitation.

Jane Michelle Tanner: Mother of two, and a marketing manager by profession.

Russell James O'Brien: A Consultant working with Gerry McCann.

Matthew David Oldfield: Previously a work colleague of Gerry McCann at Leicester, he moved to Kingston Hospital in Surrey working as an Endocrinologist ( a specialty of diagnosis and treatment of diseases related to hormones).

Rachael Oldfield (nee Mampilly): Mother of one and qualified solicitor worked as a tax lawyer and now employed as a 'head hunter' specialising in placing Finance Directors.

Dianne Webster: A credit controller by profession, mother to Fiona and grandmother to the two Payne children.  Apart from her blood ties she doesn't appear to have much in common with the rest of this high flying group which is reflected in the author's, and many others, view with her independent outlook to holiday activities, gravitating only when necessary back into the collective fold.

Tomorrow I'll take a quick look at the dynamics of the relationships inside this group, nothing in depth though, just scene setting is all.