RECORD OF TAPE RECORDED INTERVIEW Police Exhibit No IM23A
Person Interviewed: David PAYNE Number of Pages 45
Place of Interview: Force Headquarters, Enderby Signature of Interviewing
Date of Interview: 11.04.08 Officer producing exhibit
Time Commenced: 1026 hours
Time Concluded: 1154 hours Duration of Interview: 89 minutes
Interviewing Officer(s) DC 1485 MESSIAH Tape Reference nos:
Other Persons Present None

Tape counter times Person speaking Text




00:00:04 1485 "Okay, the interview is being video recorded, I’ll make sure it is, yeah, the video, the interview is being video recorded and we are at Leicestershire Police Force, Force Headquarters alright. The date is Friday the eleventh of April two thousand and eight, and I make the time by my watch ten twenty six. My name is DC Ivor MESSIAH and I’m a Detective in the Major Crime Department at Leicestershire Police, alright?�?BR>Reply "Yes.�?BR>1485 "Could you tell me who you are please? Your name, date of birth and where you live.�?BR>Reply "Yes, my name’s David PAYNE, my date of birth is fourteenth of the fourth, fifty six, I live in *********** ***
, and I, do you want to know, sorry, what else?�?BR>1485 "What’s your occupation?�?BR>Reply "Err I work as a hospital Doctor in err at a Registrar in the Trent Region, currently working in Derby City General Hospital, where I’ve been there for just over a week and then prior to that I was at the Leicester General Hospital, where I’ve been there for err two years.�?BR>1485 "Fine, okay. As we explained on the chat before we came into this interview room, this interview is being monitored. There is a colleague in another room that’s watching what’s happening here, he’s acting as my second eyes if you like.�?BR>Reply "Yeah.�?BR>1485 "And second ears, if there’s anything I’ve missed you know it’ll be brought to my attention. Equally the Detective Superintendent will also monitor during the course of today, alright?�?BR>Reply "Right.�?BR>00:01:44 1485 "Are you happy to continue knowing that this interview is being recorded?�?BR>Reply "I’m happy to continue.�?BR>1485 "Okay, and subsequently at the end of this interview it may be that a statement is produced probably later on in the day regarding this interview, okay?�?BR>Reply "That’s alright, yes.�?BR>1485 "As I say as I explained as well there may be lots of duplication during this interview, it may be quite tedious because you know you’ll have answered it eleven months ago, equally your mind will be quite hazy I’m sure, the sequence of events you know you were interviewed by the Portuguese early doors.�?BR>Reply "Yes.�?BR>1485 "Last May, and your answers may not be parallel to what you spoke to them about, don’t worry about it, you know it’s passage of time but all I’m asking you to do is to try and recall as much as you can, the days leading up to Madeleine MCCANN’S disappearance because that’s what we’re here to investigate and at the end of the day you are our witnesses, you’re not a suspect you are our witnesses, do you understand that?�?BR>Reply "I do, yes.�?BR>00:02:52 1485 "Okay, David, just tell me a bit about yourself, a bit about your family, you’re obviously married to Fiona PAYNE, you’ve told me where you live, just tell me a bit about yourself and her.�?BR>Reply "Okay, err as I say we have two children, err Lily and Scarlet, err Lily will be err four in August, Scarlet’s nearly two. Err as I say we both work as hospital Doctors err we both, err myself and Fiona trained in Leicester err where we graduated from err we both, we met when we were at Medical School and err yeah on the whole we’ve worked in the Leicestershire err region. Err you know we’re both very happy, err…�?BR>1485 "How old are your children sorry? Did you say…�?BR>Reply "Err yes Scarlet will be two in May and Lily will be four in August.�?BR>1485 "And how long you been married?�?BR>Reply "Err we were married since two thousand and three.�?BR>1485 "Two thousand and three?�?BR>Reply "Yes.�?BR>1485 "Okay. Tell me about your social circle.�?BR>Reply "Okay, err you know, when we got married, we actually got married in Italy and the majority of friends of ours unfortunately, or fortunately, are in the medical profession, I think it’s the way it works with the hours and err yeah the nature of the job and exams etcetera, like you tend to socialise quite a lot with medical people. Err obviously the, you know the group who went to Portugal, Russell, err who I knew through, he was in my year at medical school, err subsequently obviously I knew Jane through Russell. Err in terms of Kate and Gerry, we knew, Fiona had worked with Kate and that’s how I got to know Kate and Gerry, err you know we have probably a, just a, not a tight band of friends but you know its generally the same people, so the people who went, you know a lot of people came our wedding in Italy, who we subsequently had perhaps been on holiday with but we still stay in touch with. Err and if we socialise with anyone then it tends to be the same, same groups of, same group of people, the majority of them medical, obviously apart from Jane and Rachael of course.�?BR>00:05:31 1485 "Is everybody locally based?�?BR>Reply "Err I mean, err obviously Kate and Gerry being in Leicestershire, Russell and Jane were in the Leicestershire region as well up until last year when they moved err to Exeter. Err and then Matt and Rachael, they also you know were originally in Leicestershire and they’ve moved down err working in London. Err but, you know, other friends we have, you know we have friends dotted around the country err but you know those are the main.�?BR>1485 "The main.�?BR>Reply "Yeah.�?BR>1485 "Okay. Moving on to Portugal, the holiday last year, the holiday started twenty eighth of April and was due to finish the fifth of May I believe. It’s my understanding that you did, you were instrumental really in the arranging.�?BR>Reply "Yes.�?BR>1485 "The co-ordination of the holiday.�?BR>Reply "That’s correct.�?BR>00:06:37 1485 "What I want you to do now is, don’t assume I know anything, okay.�?BR>Reply "Right.�?BR>1485 "Just imagine that you haven’t spoke to anybody in Portugal about this and tell me in the beginning how it all come to happen, in other words who first decided it was going to be Portugal, and then subsequently what happened up until the day that you went away.�?BR>Reply "Okay. Err it’s a long winded answer.�?BR>1485 "Yeah.�?BR>Reply "I mean when we first, err you know the first kind of concept of a group holiday if you like, was when you know we went to Italy for our wedding where we actually stayed, you know we had all of the guests staying there err for that weekend, and you know, I know they all say your wedding’s the best, one of the best days in your life but it was just absolutely fantastic. We had children staying there and it was just such a great occasion with, with everyone around and you know everyone came and said what a fantastic, you know, time that they’d had err so you know that was the kind of, if you like, the beginnings of that, that concept of you know a group holiday err we then subsequently err you know we did have holidays with other people, you know we went away with Kate and Gerry and other friends err to Majorca and again you know although it was very hard, you know we’d had difficulties with you know with our child just sleeping wise and you know it’s hard work but still you appreciated the fact that there’s a group of you there and we subsequently had been away with err Russell, Jane, and Matt and Rachael err on another group holiday err the year after that, and then so we’d always been looking you know to do the same things, it is much easier when you have a group of children you know they interact together and you know it’s great for the parents and you’re all at a similar stage in life with the way that they’re growing up and you know so we were always looking to continue that yearly err holiday, and you know we knew that Kate and Gerry had met Russell and Jane and so you know, like with the wedding, so all the people had you know a reasonable relationship before err we’d gone away to Portugal. So you know we were just looking to continue that err last year. Err we’d all, or certainly we’d been on a Mark Warner before, I think Matt and Rachael and Russell and Jane had been on a Mark Warner type holiday and you know so we were looking to go on that type of holiday where we had err all the amenities that Mark Warner had to offer so they’ve got you know the sporting facilities, they’ve got the crèche facilities for the children and you know so that, that kind of holiday was what we were looking for. Err I’m trying to remember when we first chatted about you know going on the holiday. I mean I can only remember really that we were trying to arrange it probably two or three months err prior to us actually booking the holiday and err but probably we’d been chatting it I’m sure before, it may well have been before Christmas. Err you know I’d looked on the internet at you know what the availability was in different err locations and Portugal was the only err Mark Warner holiday that would offer err you know a holiday at that time of the year. Err so you know we were hoping that the weather would be fine and Portugal was a reasonable distance for taking children on the plane so we, you know, we settled on, on t hat holiday. Err over the weeks there was quite a lot of discussion about going away, you know, on the Mark Warner holiday err the, you know we, it got to the stage of booking it and then there had been some questioning about the err you know the fact that it wasn’t the kind of (inaudible) same holiday as you know other Mark Warner’s err you know and you know could they guarantee that we would all be together in err you know the apartments and I’d had quite a discussion with Mark Warner you know email wise just to make, try and make sure that we were guaranteed err together.�?BR>1485 "Yeah.�?BR>00:10:59 Reply "And the rationale for that was just that we would you know it’s just easier if you are all in the same lot, you know you can go next door and you know, just from the children’s point of view you know we would all be segregated if you like. Err and then obviously there was the discovery that that wasn’t the same, it wasn’t you know the same self contain but err yeah there was similar facilities available. Err I think, yeah so sorry as I was say just to reinforce you know I quite a lot of correspondence with Mark Warner regarding that and the rest of the group. Err I think when you, when you’re booking a holiday like this you know I quite enjoy err sorting it out for everybody and err feel some, you know it makes me feel good about myself if I’ve managed to arrange it for everybody and taken the hard work out of it and you know I ended up organising our wedding because Fiona had got her exams, and it was the same thing you know a lot of people enjoyed themselves, I wanted to try and do the same thing, make it easier for everybody, and err yeah I know that err again there’d been some concern from Kate and Gerry that they wanted to go away on that, both err parties weren’t a hundred percent you know sure on that type of holiday. I can’t say exactly you know what the reasons, I can’t remember and from that point of view but in the end you know we just thought oh it’s a great holiday there’s, everybody knows everybody and that we would have a very good time there. There was err you know some discussion about where we would fly from and who would fly with who and whether we take the Mark Warner flights and from that point of view we err originally, we eventually settled on that you know we would fly out from East Midlands with Kate and Gerry because the timing of the flights was, was perfect, it wasn’t too early in the morning you know so we don’t have to go at some ridiculous hour, we don’t want to arrive there with kids err tired, and err so you know we, we, err myself, Fiona and Lily and Scarlet then flew out with err Kate and Gerry, Sean, Amelie and Madeleine, and err you know that was basically how we ended up booking the holiday and arriving there.�?BR>00:13:15 1485 "Okay. I’ll just go back to a few things what you’ve said, who did you book the holiday with?�?BR>Reply "Err the, I mean we booked it directly through Mark Warner.�?BR>1485 "Right.�?BR>Reply "Err and the ladies that I dealt a lot with and I have, yeah I’ve got the email, I’ve actually got the document with all the err you know the email correspondence I had, I think it was, the main lady was a lady called Jasminder MING but you know there was other people that I dealt with booking it, but she was the central figure err that helped us in dealing with.�?BR>1485 "Right, and you say that Kate and Gerry initially weren’t that keen because of, what is it they weren’t keen about?�?BR>Reply "Well, say from, you know, from recollections and obviously we have discussed you know the situation since.�?BR>1485 "Yeah.�?BR>Reply "Err was that you know Kate had got an uneasy feeling, that’s all you know, has come back to her and I remember you know again, whether this is something that’s subsequently I feel has happened be, you know before the event, but you know Fiona had certainly mentioned it err that you know Kate wasn’t quite you know, didn’t feel quite easy about it but there was no explanation that I could give you or you know even subsequently err in discussions that you know there wasn’t one thing. Kate, err I think Gerry’s very, he’s very enthusiastic and I think he’s you know, you see the way that he’s conducted himself you know over the last few months, he’s a very sorted person, a very dynamic person you know he was all you know, don’t worry you know it’ll be fine and everything…�?BR>1485 "Yeah.�?BR>Reply "Will work its way out and you know whether it be the logistics of the situation that err Kate was more concerned about you know I really couldn’t answer that question.�?BR>1485 "Mm, so just so I’ve got it straight in my head, did the, the concern from Kate materialise with Fiona since or did it come out in the period that the holiday was booked?�?BR>00:15:19 Reply "I, in my mind there was some concern before the holiday but I find it very difficult to separate whether this is just something which is implanted since we’ve discussed after err Madeleine’s disappearance.�?BR>1485 "Right.�?BR>Reply "I can’t, I couldn’t a hundred percent say that in certainty.�?BR>1485 "Okay, and there was some discussion between yourself and Mark Warner regarding the rooms.�?BR>Reply "Yes.�?BR>1485 "You say you needed the rooms for together?�?BR>Reply "Yes.�?BR>1485 "What took, what sort of conversations took place?�?BR>Reply "Err basically when, you know prior to the booking err Mark Warner had err he said oh yes it’s, you know don’t worry we can make sure that all the apartments are together and err then subsequently after booking I then you know, I, obviously it was just something that was very you know because we knew there was some difficulties geographically that you know you could be split out over quite a distance on the actual Mark Warner site. Well that would have impacted, we felt you know quite heavily on the holiday if we’d have you know one couple were, you know, completely out on the limb and everyone else was together so when I’d mentioned this again you know just to, just to err you know, confirm that that would be the situation, that we’d be all together they, the reply was I’m afraid we can’t actually guarantee that you will all be together because this is not solely a Mark Warner err set up you know so unfortunately we are slightly err at the vagaries of the Ocean Club about where couples will be but we’ll do our utmost to make sure that you are you know together. So err yeah so that’s generally the way that the, err the conversation or the email correspondence went. Err I, you know there was other things that were slightly different you know obviously from the childcare you know point of view. They had the, you know they had the listening service that they have, you know at the other Mark Warner venues that we’d been on, and err you know that was part, you know that was the concept again that we were buying in to the Mark Warner and you know when we went out there that was partly, so again there was some correspondence we had with them just you know, just checking what, what was available in terms of the dinners as well, err Mark Warner’s are generally I think half, you know half board and that wasn’t on offer so there’s some differences with Mark, that, that particular err venue compared with the other Mark Warner’s that the, that the couples I’ve already mentioned had been on previously.�?BR>1485 "Yeah.�?BR>00:18:00 Reply "And err you know just for the record, embarrassingly or as it turns out now in err retrospect you know it’s a small change but you know the Mark Warner had also advertised that you know they were gonna discount the holiday by ten percent you know not long after we booked, which slightly irritated me, given the fact that we booked it and then he said well actually we don’t have this, we don’t have this, so I’d had correspondence probably being a bit cheeky just to say what, what, you know you can knock us ten percent off as well and they gave us some discount, which you know looking back just seems, you know, ridiculous.�?BR>1485 "Yeah, in the scale of things. Why specifically was it the Ocean Club?�?BR>Reply "Err I mean as I say, we, we bought into the concept of a group holiday, we bought into the concept of Mark Warner, we’d all you know, apart from Kate and Gerry I don’t think they’d done Mark Warner, but you know we’d certainly been on that type of holiday before, and as I you know recall they were the only Mark Warner resort that was open at that time of the year. I don’t think Egypt was you know available at that time of year, I don’t think err Turkey was available and certainly Greece, so I think at that particular moment in time it was just that Portugal was the only one that opened that early in the season.�?BR>1485 "Yeah.�?BR>Reply "And it just fitted in with our timings, we felt, you know, obviously you go away, you want it to be a bit warmer and you know we thought that Portugal would be ideal.�?BR>1485 "Right. You’ve touched on, about the listening service that you say that Mark Warner supply. What did you understand about their listening service? What did it actually do?�?BR>Reply "Err I mean traditionally the, the other resorts they’ll have a listening service and what that involves is that, you know, if you’re staying on a Mark Warner err resort they will, you know if you ask for this listening service, the parents can go and have their evening meal and you will supply the details of which you know is your accommodation and they will go and listen outside the room of each of the err you know the rooms, just to check whether the baby’s crying or there’s, you know there seems to be any problem and you know that was obviously what we were hoping for err there as well. You know we realised that that wasn’t err what they offered err in Portugal and we knew that they did have err a drop-in err crèche for the evenings, you know I cannot, you know I cannot tell you what the times were err that you can leave them but you know we all felt you know that we were going there in, with the mindset that you know we, we you know we could do the if you like the listening outside the door but you know we actually went into rooms or the other couples did and you know do it more frequently and that we were offering exactly the same as what Mark Warner did and the rest of their resort but we were just applying it to Portugal where they didn’t offer that service. Err you know the, the, yeah, so that was really…�?BR>00:21:10 1485 "Yeah, and over what frequency did you understand that they would have done the listening service?�?BR>Reply "I mean in, at the other resorts that we’ve been to err I believe they do it every thirty minutes err you know as I say we actually haven’t used that service when we’ve been but you know the friends who have they’ve, they’ve said it’s around thirty minutes.�?BR>1485 "Yeah, and did the group, were the group aware that that was the listening service’s, well that’s what was available within the listening service? Was…�?BR>Reply "I, I would be pretty sure that most people before they went away knew, its the kind of thing that I’d be a bit anal about, that oh crikey or they don’t offer this and oh you know they said that they ‘d got this and its not available and I would, you know I’d have seen it as my responsibility again, I haven’t actually checked through the emails, you know obviously some of it may have been on phone calls, to actually validate that but I’d be pretty sure that everyone was aware that we would be going knowing exactly what the circumstances were, and I think, I suppose for my mindset, the main thing for me was that we were all, everyone was together as a group you know the locality of the, sort of the vicinity of the rooms was, was close enough to make everything as easy as possible, you know from, from all perspectives, whether it be during the day or, or during the evening.�?BR>00:22:37 1485 "Yeah, okay. So you’ve stopped your recall at the flights, so you get to the airport, airport went okay?�?BR>Reply "Yeah.�?BR>1485 "Because you said that you flew with Gerry, Kate and Gerry.�?BR>Reply "We did, yes.�?BR>1485 "And…�?BR>Reply "Yeah we had err you know a very good flight err from my, I can remember it wasn’t err, it was, the flight was about nine in the morning, nine, nine thirty. Err everyone you know seemed, it seemed to go without any event, we didn’t remember it as one of the worst flights we’d ever had going, I couldn’t say that about some of the other flights that we’ve been on so the kids you know I’m sure they’d, you know it was very easy you know they’d all behaved themselves and there’s as least hassle as possible err you know everyone’s excited, it’s you know that time of the year you’re all looking forward and err Lily you know and Madeleine you know had met many times before and you know they were happy to be together err I can remember you know them holding hands and you know getting on the plane and we’ve got the video footage on the, you know on the err phone of that you know when Madeleine, you know, slipped and banged her leg. Err you know it was as I say a very straight forward flight, got there with minimal hassle err at some stage you know there was some text messages with the rest of the group they’d you know already arrived before us. Err you know we were met by, err you know Gerry had organised err the taxi side of it err over in err Portugal, you know it had been my responsibility to sort out the Mark Warner and everything and Gerry had err had you know err paid for the flight and he’d sorted the taxis out over there. Err you know the being concerned about the child seats in the taxi but you know we were all relatively happy err going to the resort, it just all seemed very straight forward, very seamless, err you know we were, as I say there was, there was just no problems that you really could recall at that stage, it was very straight forward.�?BR>00:25:01 1485 "During the flight did Kate refer to her concerns again?�?BR>Reply "No, no I mean err you know she, I think to play on that particular aspect of like how worried she was about going away would probably be over cooking it really, overstating the case. Err you know Kate is a, you know is a very optimistic person and you know once she’d made the decision you know went with it and you know Kate very happy to be there and part of the group and certainly didn’t voice any concerns going over there.�?BR>1485 "Okay. The rest of the group, sorry, in your group, in your flight…�?BR>Reply "Yes.�?BR>1485 "Was yourself.�?BR>Reply "Yes.�?BR>1485 "Fiona.�?BR>Reply "Yes.�?BR>1485 "Your two children.�?BR>Reply "That’s correct.�?BR>1485 "Dianne?�?BR>Reply "Err yes Dianne, yes.�?BR>1485 "Kate, Gerry, Amelie.�?BR>Reply "Yeah.�?BR>1485 "Madeleine and Sean.�?BR>Reply "That’s correct.�?BR>1485 "Yeah, and you flew from East Midlands?�?BR>Reply "That’s correct.�?BR>1485 "The others, where did the others fly from?�?BR>Reply "Err the others flew from, I think it was Heathrow, I’m not a hundred percent sure, Heathrow or Gatwick, but err you know they, I think they’d, they’d gone with a Mark Warner flight which was supplied with the, as I say the Heathrow or Gatwick, and so they’d gone at any earlier flight but I think you know it was err you know a cheaper option. We ended up paying extra money than, you know, want for the flight times which were more appropriate and not having to travel down err to London, but we felt that was more you know as I say better for the children, they’d get a longer sleep plus we didn’t have to pay for car parks down in London and petrol etcetera so err but I cannot, I’m not a hundred percent sure whether it’s Heathrow or Gatwick, sorry.�?BR>