Madeleine McCann: Watching The Parents
MORE no news on the Madeleine McCann case.
It is now a week since the three-year-old girl was snatched from a Portugal holiday resort.
The story has been distressing to watch on our TV screens. What it must like for the parents of Madeleine only a few can know.
BLAME
But their misery is far from complete. With no news of Madeleine, and the Portuguese police having no need to indulge the British tabloids with speculation and theory, Madeleine’s parents are the central characters.
And today’s front-page news, as reported by the caring Mirror, is: “THEY KNOW LEAVING KIDS WAS WRONG.”
Does the Mirror mean to say that Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry, now think they did the wrong thing in nipping out for a bite to eat and leaving the children in the apartment on what they thought was a secure resort?
Does the Mirror mean that the McCanns know that popping back regularly to look at their children and checking on their well being was less than perfect?
Does the Mirror mean that the McCanns realise they should not have left their children alone, just like it is wrong to leave a child in a hotel under the auspices of a baby monitoring service, to leave a child in the car while mum goes to pay for petrol, to talk to a neighbour over a garden fence while the children are indoors?
Of course this is not the Mirror’s view. Oh, no. This is Madeleine’s grandmother, Susan Healy, saying: “They know this was a mistake. But it wasn’t child neglect, it wasn’t not caring for your children.”
That she feels the need to say this is wrong. That the Mirror can lead with Madeleine’s grief-worn parents is pathetic and misguided. That the paper can talk of “people are asking why they didn’t make use of the crèche” at the resort or take the children out to dinner with them is wrong.
But the Mirror has news to write. And the police aren’t playing the game.
THEORIES
So the Mirror produces: “THE 6 THEORIES.”
Only six! Why this cautious approach? But it is all the Mirror has. And readers hear of the “PAEDOPHILE GANG”, the “LONE PAEDOPHILE”, the “JEALOUS MOTHER”, Madeleine wandering off and “DROWNED”, the “OPPORTUNIST PAEDOPHILE”, the “CHILDLESS COUPLE”.
But the Sun has more. It has 130 more. As the front-page headline screams: “MADDIE COPS HUNT 130 BRIT PAEDOS.”
The paper says “at least” 130 British paedophiles “might” have taken Madeleine McCann.
In “ALGARVE IS ‘HAVEN’ FOR PERVS”, readers learn that Portugal is a “magnet for sun-seeking perverts from Britain and the rest of Europe”.
Who knew that perverts get off on watching children at the beach?
Us And Them
But help is on its way. The Sun lists the British coppers who will go out there and see to it that justice is done. We, says the paper, are the only country with a sex offenders’ register.
All convicted perverts must inform the police of their desire to go abroad. At least 130 have. And the police are looking for them.
But – and whisper this – might it be that convicted sexual deviants don’t all tell the police what they plan to do? They are not monitored while overseas. And might it be that not all sexual predators are caught and make it to the list?
Among the policemans’ names is Detective Superintendent Graham Hill, attached to theChild Exploitation and Protection Centre. Hill is on the case. He has flown to Portugal.
Hill worked on the case of Milly Dowler. She was snatched from near Walton railway station, Surrey, in 2002. Her body was found six months later. Her killer or killers have never been caught.
Perhaps Hill’s experiences can help. Perhaps he’ll have more luck. Perhaps not.
Meanwhile, a family is distraught, and bearing up incredibly well under the strain and the merciless gaze of the newspapers…
Posted: 10th, May 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (2,260) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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September 14th, 2007 at 7:50 am
1595. Sandra is a rich portuguese expat according to her.
in reply to my 1592:- she quotes:-
Gossip and tat: yes, I do, fortunately I am rich but I did not need to rase a fund, I earned it myself, so I can spend my time the way it pleases me, and when I see so many injustices going around I simply cannot stay quiet. I am a bit tired of travelling so much, mostly in business, sometimes we need to rest for a while. Meanwhile I can travel to other places where I can try to understand a little more about human nature and what moves this nature into the darker areas…
So that when I face a darker area in someone, I can run away.
Ohh, and my surname is Angels (translated, of course)
ha hahhha hahahah im still laughing at that one.
agree with you expat - it does just get more and more disturbing.
September 14th, 2007 at 7:37 am
And this story from the Guardian:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/portugals_elite_linked_to_paedophile_ring.html
This thing just gets more and more disturbing.
September 14th, 2007 at 6:36 am
‘Damn the day they put their feet here.’
I’ve begun to wonder just who this Sandra really is. Have you?
September 14th, 2007 at 6:21 am
(no. 1587) By the way, are you saying that if the victims are boys then that makes it ok? Some of these posts are rather disturbing.
September 14th, 2007 at 6:18 am
No, France Soir started out as a respectable paper before the war but during the seventies it slid downhill, collapsed and then tried to reform itself recently on the style of the most successful English tabloids. That is not a very good recommendation for any paper. I said it was a bad paper because it is a bad paper. Do you believe it because it says what you want it to say?
September 14th, 2007 at 5:17 am
the only injustice i see is all the cr#p that you and your vikky pollard friends post
my reference to ‘pollard’ had me howling with laughter. like i said you need to get out more or insert a brain.
September 14th, 2007 at 5:03 am
Ohh, and my surname is Angels (translated, of course)
September 14th, 2007 at 5:02 am
Gossip and tat: yes, I do, fortunately I am rich but I did not need to rase a fund, I earned it myself, so I can spend my time the way it pleases me, and when I see so many injustices going around I simply cannot stay quiet. I am a bit tired of travelling so much, mostly in business, sometimes we need to rest for a while. Meanwhile I can travel to other places where I can try to understand a little more about human nature and what moves this nature into the darker areas…
So that when I face a darker area in someone, I can run away.
September 14th, 2007 at 4:50 am
What is this?>the friggin sandra gossip show. You have far too much time on your hands woman .your surname isn’t Pollard is it by any chance. you need to get out more.
September 14th, 2007 at 4:45 am
ex-pat: is FRANCE SOIR the worse paper in France because it does not report the news AS YOU WOULD LIKE to read ?
There is one thing called freedom of speach, it applies to the press too…
September 14th, 2007 at 4:40 am
ex-pat: I know both stories in the link. About Joana her mother and uncle confessed they beaten her and she colided with her head in a wall and died. Then they cut her in pieces and gave her for the pigs to eat. Sometime after the confession, she came out to public and say she was tortured by the police. She appears in photos with her face injuried. It is strange, because if the police would have tortured her they would do it to HER FACE where everybody can see ? There may be other ways…the police would not be so stupid and naive.
About Casa Pia, the issue is still going on and the alleged victims were ONLY boys, the process has many inconsistences, and many “victims” one day say one thing and the other day….say other.
I understand now why SKY NEWS knew about the alleged abduction of little Madeleine BEFORE the police in Portugal…
I understand now this is not about Madeleine anymore but YES about a war to make more dificult the task of the police in finding Madeleine, because if she is FOUND….you know what happens next.
And I understand now why this stories are coming to the press again, to move people away from the real issue, to make the people believe the police is unable to do their work, to make the people support the Mccanns as innocent, and abandon investigation forever or drop the charges. In the end this will all end well. THE MACCANNS MONEY MAKING MACHINE can move people to the wrong way, you know, MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND, no matter if they are suspects of killing their daughter as all evidence points to them, and they will never end throwing sand into our eyes, playing victims. The people in Portugal are the victims of these great actors with friends in high places. Damn the day they put their feet here, they could go anywhere else, Portugal doesn’t need the tourism to survive and Algarve is only 1/10 of the country. On the contrary, tourism has increased a lot, it seems people want to go and see where it all happened.
September 14th, 2007 at 4:28 am
ALSO.
FOR THOSE NOT IN THE KNOW, FRANCE SOIR IS THE WORST PAPER IN THE WHOLE OF FRANCE. IT IS ABOUT AS TRUE AS THE SUN!!!!
September 14th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Portugal is riddled by child-snatchers. And people in prominent positions who can manipulate the police and the media.
See the following report:
http://portugalresident.com/portugalresident/showstory.asp?ID=10046
September 14th, 2007 at 3:40 am
here are two links with some interesting info…(again…who knows how reliable they are)
one about cuddle cat having the smell of death…
http://www.recycledart.org/Madeleine+McCann:+The+‘Cuddle+Cat’+Mystery
and one shows there are some discrepencies as to the time the Mccanns showed up to join friends that night…
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/0909_maddie2.shtml
September 14th, 2007 at 3:02 am
oh thanx sandra…i was not aware of that…i believe she said it had sun tan lotion on it?
September 14th, 2007 at 2:31 am
Star: Kate mentioned that because it was obvious, if you can have access to photos of Kate some weeks ago (a month or so…), and there are photos that focus only her hand holding Cuddle Cat, you can notice the difference by yourself. The toy was washed because you can see it is lighter, more “pink” the color is more vivid, so there was no way she could deny if she was asked. She might have wanted to say that in advance…
September 14th, 2007 at 2:19 am
while reading the news about Madeleine today i came across this note:
FORENSIC tests on fluids found in the McCann’s hire car show Madeleine died from an overdose of sleeping pills, media reports said today.
Also found along with the diary they want the laptop Gerry used to write his blog, and they will search the house (they should of did this BEFORE they went home)and they want the cuddle cat toy.
(even though Kate washed it) Why would she even mention she washed it?
Recalling Mrs McCann to Portugal for a third interrogation is also being considered, although likely to be fought by her British lawyers who are now working around the close in her defence, anticipating she will be charged with manslaughter
September 14th, 2007 at 2:17 am
Markward: you are right, I agree. Unfortunately, some of the links I posted are not speculation, they show REAL facts that are happening in the 21st century. And I confess I find them very strange and revealing of the environment surronding the Mccanns.
September 14th, 2007 at 2:12 am
If you can read french you can check this link, it is horrible, and if you prefer in English you can try Google translator,not very good in some words but the sense it there.
IT IS THE ARTICLE STARTING WITH “PRESSE ESPANHOLE….”
http://sosmaddie.blogspot.com/
September 14th, 2007 at 2:09 am
It seems to me everything on this website is a matter of wild surmise and unhealthy speculation. It is of course natural to try to provide a narrative but surely it is best to let the two police forces do the job and also to presume people innocent until they have been found to be otherwise. Surely that is how we should behave in both England and Portugal rather than getting carried away with ever more lurid and unfounded speculation.
September 14th, 2007 at 2:06 am
found this interesting….
It is widely reported that bodily fluid with an apparent 80 per cent match to Madeleine was found inside the car. Subsequently it was claimed that a second DNA sample was found with a 99 per cent match.
“Bodily fluid” could refer to liquids excreted by a decomposing body, which would indicate the presence of a body, but not identify it. Alternatively, it might be trances of dried blood, which could prove it belonged to Madeleine.
Ok…so they either found fluid from a decomposing body or they found blood. Anyway you look at it…if it belongs to Madeleine something is wrong. And since it is the car her parents had rented….RED FLAGS….Blood or fluids from Maddie should NOT be in the car trunk where you keep a spare tire. Like i said there IS evidence…..and i hate to say the Mccanns are looking worse and worse every day.
another bit of interesting info from the same article…
Finally, the hair follicles themselves may also be able to identify whether or not any drugs were present in the body. It has been suggested that Madeleine was sedated, and if so evidence of the drugs may have transferred quickly to the roots of the hair.
If it was LOTS of hair PULLED from the scalp…that is alot different than a few stray hairs that could of got there from transfer…
September 14th, 2007 at 2:01 am
Well Sandra,
All I can say is this: It’s a long time since I have agreed with a Tory ! lol
September 14th, 2007 at 2:00 am
N Richards: YOU ARE INTELLINGENT ! Thank you, I am only sorry and affraid that in England people may forget this is about a lovely little girl and that the police is STILL looking for her. It starts to look as if there is a war Mccann-PJ, and people have to decide which side they are on. And with these “make-ups” of public image and news, I am affraid the main issue passes to 2nd place. PJ is portuguese…better back up your citizens, that is understandable, but please, let’s put nationalities and pride apart in the moment, and try to focus on what really matters, FINDING MADELEINE, unfortunatelly (all is pointing to…) dead.
After all this case is closed, I guess I’ll have to re-think my values, my ideas, on what is truth for some and not for others, on what is democracy and freedoom fo speach, on what is wrong or right, on what really matters in life…
September 14th, 2007 at 1:51 am
Star: one thing puzzles me too. It was said and confirmed by the Mccanns, that their rotine was: In the morning, after wake up - breakfast - children to the creche or kindergarden - 6pm= get the children, bath, eat, bed, which would go to putting them to bed at about 7.30 pm as they referred and is confirmed. They never took them to dinner with them, they were always seen dining alone with their friends. What kind of parenting is that ? If the holidays were supposed to be for the couple, and sure one needs some time to be only the two, they should have left the children in England with relatives. I also cannot understand how someone can be sooooooooo tired and fed up and without energy, just by taking care of the children for 1,5 hour a day. In fact, they had all day for them and friends, children were maybe being an obstacle. Their friends had similar routines.
About the link, these last ones are even worse than the first, it is so sad if this story will end like I am now thinking.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:42 am
Excellant Link Sandra, I had noticed that the BBC did not even mention the McCann’s today, and one too has to focus on the choice of terminology used “investigation”;”Campaign” “Abduction ” and “disappearance”. Such terminolgy is not used randomnly or interchangeably. They are used extremely precisely.
I think the PR machine have definately underestimated the British Public and if were Gordon Brown I would make a hasty retreat !
The whole saga is abhorrent ! and downright distasteful !.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Well, disgrace ! at least it was good for me TO UNDERSTAND THAT ENGLAND IS NOT SUCH A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY, “forced to remove the comment…?” I could not imagine this could happen, NOW I UNDERSTAND that the MCCANNS can even CONTROL THE PARLIAMENT ! WELL, THE WORLD IS LOST !
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/09/13/vulcan-ditches-net-slur-89520-19783262/
September 14th, 2007 at 1:34 am
Sandra…didnt they mention that they found some samples in a cupboard either in the old apartment of the Mccanns or the new? Maybe that is what they referred to when they said they found evidence where the person(Maddie) should not of been? Wonder who was in that apartment before the Mccanns (the one they were in BEFORE then went home)
I also dont care how the Mccanns didnt think it was a problem to leave the kids alone night after night…i mean what if one just woke up and wanted mom or dad? Was Maddie suppose to play MoM? I wonder if they were left at other times? Bad parenting. I also read the comments she made about her kids in her diary (if this is true, she should be ashamed) Afraid to read your link…but i’m sure i will…
September 14th, 2007 at 1:31 am
Other points to consider (Read Sky News Reporters Blog - Marting Blunt)
1. May 21/2007= Titled Coming Home
The McCanns’ will stay in Portugal until they have firm news of their daughter…. to leave would be a huge psychological barrier tanatamount to leaving her behind.
2. May 31/ 2007 = Titled When the Spotlight Fades
….How will they cope with the let down?, own TV crew leaving along with others…the McCanns will walk out and no-one will be there to take thier photograph or film them stroll through the resort.
3. June 06? 2007 = Titled Reality Check= Is Madeline alive
Gradually, publicly, the McCanns are confronting the possibility that Madeleine is dead. Of course, in the absence of any evidence of that they cling to the hope that she is still alive. Which of us wouldn’t?
But every cop I talk to in the UK believes it’s most likely that Madeleine is not alive and will probably be found close to the resort from where she disappeared. It’s a common view based on statistics of children abducted by paedophiles.
Of course, there are examples of such abductions where the victims were found alive.
I met up with Mike Hames, the ex-commander who set up Scotland Yard’s paedophilia unit, and asked him his theory.
He rules out Madeleine wandering off and having an accident because she would have been found very quickly.
He rules out child traffickers and a childless couple because they would have taken one of the younger twins. A two-year-old would have been much easier to abduct and more attractive to a couple who want to mould the child into their own.
That leaves a predatory paedophile, the worst thing that could have happened.
Mr Hames is also convinced that whoever took Madeleine will be “in the system” somewhere, either with a criminal record or on an intelligence database for suspicious behaviour.
He says child abduction is at the very end of a sliding scale of paedophile behaviour which might begin with the downloading of internet pornography and progress through lurking around playgrounds, indecent exposure, sexual touching and so on.
The couple appear remarkably composed as they appear more in front of the cameras. And prepared to answer increasingly uncomfortable questions, such as the suggestion they were involved in their daughter’s abduction. Not easy to keep your cool on that one, live on TV.
Just some edited excerpts, but this from a reporter who presents this case in a sympathetic light for the McCanns. This evidence, clearly challenges the view that the McCanns were always under the Media spotlight.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:23 am
And this link is THE BEST example of how English people ARE REALLY INTELLIGENT ! Fantastic. I will try to find his blog.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:18 am
Sorry … HERE IS THE LINK
http://www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/thread.aspx?story_id=2431247&path=/Opinion/&threadPage=1