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 18th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Thats what angers many of us everyday people that neither parent will admit to the dissapperance of their daughter is down to the fact that they left children alone,out of all the media coverage never once has any one of the papers or tv channels been man enough to state catagoricaly it was WRONG, it was neglectful, all we have ever heard is how we should feel pity for them.I wonder had this happened to some one else what would the mccanns opinions have been about the whole cherade
September 18th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
We know from the neighbor upstairs that there were children crying in the Mccann apartment. How awful that Kate and Gerry left them in a strange bed and someone woke up looking for mommy or daddy and they were not there.
I wonder what the Mccanns are doing with themselves now. And what about that car. HA HA…they let them put the car away for safe keeping. HA HA Maybe the car will come up missing now?
September 18th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
It’s quite a thing that a couple can leave three kids under three in a UNLOCKED GROUND FLOOR room (in a foreign country), and still recive not just sympathy, but money also!
What would happen if waynetta from Redcar left her three kids at home with the door unlocked whilst she popped to the shop (two minutes away) to pick up a bottle of vodka?????
She would be locked up thats what…
Guilty or not they are completely to blame for what happened to them! Why are they supprised that people have now had enough??
I would have much much more respect for them if they would admit they were way out of line and should have not left there kids alone in a room unlocked in a foreign country!
To turn round and say it is like having a drink in your garden is wrong!!
September 18th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Exactly get to the bottom of all this and find out the true time line of who was where and with whom on the night. The whole case seems to be revolving around what fund to set up next .They are in this situation because of thier own misjugdment and incompetance..Why can’t they fend for themselfs now like they expected thier children to on that godforbidden night when they left them to do so….
September 18th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Their family and friends immediately go into overdrive, appearing on TV to trash the police investigation. They do not dispute the discovery of the DNA; but say that it has been planted and the couple are being ‘framed’ by the police.
I was wondering IF the DNA matches Maddie’s and the police did plant it in the car and on the cuddle cat and on Kate’s clothes…WHERE did they get bodily fluids from Maddie? Makes you stop and think
September 18th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Clarence Mitchell, who quit his Civil Service job to help Gerry and Kate McCann, said “rampant” speculation about possible charges against the couple had to end.
*man quit his job (Maybe they can give him a paycheck from the “fund”
and the speculation about charges against them must stop? How does he know, what he there with them that night. Sure, Kate’s friends can come forward now and say anything. They need to get to the bottom of this and find out what really happen!!
September 18th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Dont you also think it odd that the ONE and probably ONLY person who by his own admission was with them constantly - visiting Famita - 14 hours a day with them etc. etc. in, I might add, a Government capacity is now EMPLOYED by them!!! That alone stinks in my opinion. Who is gonna grass on someone who is paying you a huge salary not to? Especially if you have burned your career bridges. There has to be some legal questions surely as this key witness to the movements of the McCanns is now “in their pockets” as it were
September 18th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
DNA evidence which has reportedly been found in the hire car includes hair, blood and bodily fluids which match Madeleine’s.
Police are said to want to examine the vehicle again. It is currently being kept in a safe place by the family who are considering having their own tests carried out on it as they strive to prove their innocence.
**Are they serious? The family is keeping the car in a SAFE place? That is not even funny. That car is a BIG part of this case, if it had hair and blood and bodily fluids in it, the police should have the car…NOT the Mccanns. They can do anything to that car!!
September 18th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I am still a strong supporter of the McCanns and what they are going through right now is tragic. Firstly, I dont believe there is a mother alive who has not felt at some point that she could not cope with her kids, especially three youngsters. Just because the kids are driving a mother “Crazy” doesnt mean the mother is going to harm the kids. I myself have felt I wanted to scream and felt so frustrated with a temper tantrum throwing child that I didnt know what to do with myself, but it passes and you manage to cuddle and calm the child. Its all part of being a mother. Just because a mother feels like that, and even puts how she feels in writing doesnt mean she actually harmed the child.
I just find so much odd about this case, for instance the so called DNA found in the boot 25 days after Madeleine went missing - I mean really, the parents have been watched 24 / 7 when were they possibly meant to have hidden the little body and then retrieved it to move it somewhere else? It is quite believable to think that evidence was planted just to make the McCann’s look guilty just so that the focus would be taken away from the investigation and the bad publicity that has surrounded this case.
There is only one thing worse than losing a child in this way - and that is to be accused of being the cause of it. Those poor people - their lives can never be the same, no matter what the eventual outcome.
September 18th, 2007 at 10:08 am
If I were in the McCanns shoes, I would welcome the police questioning me and also welcome the chance to go to court, prove my innocence and then the police could get on with the real job in hand to find Madeleine. If the McCanns embark on this huge self protection protest and do eventually raise enough of a stink to bring the police to withdraw from taking them to court - even if it is just to clear them, they are signing the closure on the search by police for their daughter, and they will forever be thought of as the guilty couple who used ever which way to cover themselves and to hell with the real truth about their daughter. I really honestly cant understand their thinking if they are, as they so protest, completely innocent..the sooner it was proved by law would in my opinion be the best route. I certainly would not try all ways possible to stop a court deciding - that is of course, if they are innocent. Either way this behaviour is doing absolutely nothing to find their daughter and the 80,000 pounds spent on the publicity campaign is looking very like an expensive red herring.
Oh and forget the case of the woman who supposedly had the s–t beaten out of her to get a confession - she didnt have her face in the media for 4 months, parading along the beach and eventually going to church at home (7 days after getting home) They practically lived in the church in Portugal, I wonder why it took them so long to visit their own ?
There would be NO WAY that the police in Portugal could beat anything out of Kate McCann - and there is no real proof that they did it to the other woman. Look at it from the police point of view. Just say, for instance, there are details known only to the police involving the horrific abuse of a child - maybe, just maybe it was not a confession beaten out of the woman, but sheer absolute anger and disgust - and maybe knowing what they did and being human the police couldnt control their anger and wanted the woman to feel just a bit of the abuse she had dished out to an innocent child. There are two sides to every story - If I saw someone uncontrollably beating a small child - my instincts would be to immediately pick up anything that was to hand and strike out. Maybe that makes me bad, I dont know because fortunately I have never been in that position, but I do know that small and defenceless children need to protected over the likes of the McCanns who have put themselves squarly in frame, and if they have any intelligence atall and really do want to find their daughter they should say “OK - bring us to court - let us prove we are innocent - and then we can get out of the limelight and concentrate on finding out what happend to Madeleine”
September 18th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Well i have just read this on the mail newspaper page what Kate was reported to have said in an inteview
Speaking of the night Madeleine disappeared, she said: “I was sure immediately that she didn’t walk out of that room.
“I never doubted that she had been taken by someone.
“I went through a phase of guilt for not knowing what happened to her. I blamed myself for thinking that the place was safe.
“But the certainty that we are truly responsible parents has helped me carry on.
“I know that what happened is not due to the fact of us leaving the children asleep. I know it happened under other circumstances.”
Asked about whether the decision to leave them meant she and her husband were responsible for their daughter’s disappearance, she said: “It cannot be considered a crime.
“Someone committed one, but not us.”
So much for the authorities saying we need to get parents to take more responsibilty for thier children … in my oppinion it says it all if two highly educated doctors can leave children under school age alone in the evening. It will be ineteresting to see what happens when some not so educated parents take the same approach as the mccanns …after all they keep telling us how doting these parents are… so much for LEAD BY EXAMPLE !!!!!!
September 18th, 2007 at 7:24 am
Have Russell O’Brien and his wife Jane Tanner been investigated? Their version of events appear to contain the most holes (and lies). Why?
Perhaps they need to confiscate O’briens computer and look into his history more closely - infact all parties for that matter.
September 18th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Take a look at the new counter-petition ive made in response to the McCann’s campaign
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/GuiltyOrNot/signatures.html
Sign it if you feel strongly enough
September 18th, 2007 at 6:35 am
http://forums.mirror.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=13873
I believe a section of this first post is from the paper that the MaCann’s wanted to sue.
September 18th, 2007 at 3:51 am
From Gerry’s blog….
Live in Rothley is still a long way off normal with the large media presence but it is beginning to settle down somewhat. We all managed to go to mass today and it was comforting to pray for Madeleine with friends and family in our local church
Life i think he meant….is a long way off normal because of the large media presence? WHAT?!?!?! It should be life will NEVER be NORMAL again without lil Maddie running around the house, laughing and playing with the twins!!
And how nice they “managed” to get to mass?
It is unbelieveable to me that this man lost his daughter and she may be dead, and him and the wife are being looked at for her disappearance and he has time to write a blog…
September 18th, 2007 at 1:26 am
Hey Andrew…..Hi back at ya!! Yes, for Maddie’s sake lets hope they get some legit evidence and solve this very sad case!! I have said numerous times i HOPE Maddie is alive and well and will be found SOON!!! But my gut or heart tells me she is no longer alive. If this is the case she needs to be layed to rest.
No parent can be too careful…accidents happen. But this was no accident. Kate and Gerry left the children alone more than once. They stated numerous times they didnt think there was a problem leaving them alone in the apartment (with the door unlocked…come on now) If they would of been with their children instead of out drinking(they call it dinner) with their friends Maddie would still be here. There are too many inconsistencies in the Mccann story from May 3rd!!
September 18th, 2007 at 1:22 am
power monkey on another powerless trip.
powder monkey Says:
September 17th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Apart from the earlier examples I gave, I suggest you re-read your post 1727. If, as you claim you read posts you’d know that in post 1696 Andrew basically says he is a building surveyor and he was off to the Lakes (not John O).
——————————————————-
Looks like you are getting your alter ego’s mixed up.
1727. quote from ems: “John O - hope you had a nice day in the Lakes with your family. Truly a beautiful place - spent many a happy weekend there when I lived in the UK.”
I didn’t say Andrew was a buildng surveyor - I said he was a cop.
You are the one with the alter ego otherwise why bother reading it AND
pointing it out.
Andrew had since mailed - he knows I was fishing - see 1732. Looks like Mr i am a cop needs to straighten up his facts before he goes picking on the public. Hmmm where have i seen that done lately??
You blatantly, in your self righteous attitude have the cheek to tell me what to think and what not to think according to your thinking and yet in your latest tome you add yet again ‘you are flipping this way and that! in your attitude to - no, they didn’t kill her — hmm new bits of evidence - yes they did.’
You are a fence sitter. And a rather pathetic one at that.
You have no original ideas of your own, you take, and regurgitate.
Like I said you lost me at quote from powder monkey.
1681.” David Icke points some of out the various possibe series of events quite correctly.
Maybe Madeleine is alive and well and living with Elvis in a flat above a chip shop “
Your flippancy is disgusting. I don’t care if you pick at the parents - and let’s face it you do as often as your fli-flap.
But leave that child out of your cocky know all attitude.
SHE is the innocent in this. SHE didn’t deserve what happened to her and she doens’t need your comments alluding the the possibility A. that she may no longer be alive or B. that she has become some side show that you can link to preposterous comments - especially as you say you are a cop. AND you have a daughter. Sound as if all that dancing has you beating your own drum!
September 18th, 2007 at 12:40 am
A Person…And what happen to the texts, email and cell phone “bugging” ? This is where we first heard that Maddie was probably dead and that they had some evidence after bugging the Mccanns and their friends?
September 18th, 2007 at 12:22 am
Hi powder monkey, star .. etc..
Let’s hope their collated evidence reveals something conclusive, or at least a pointer.
Star Trek was good though to a degree? They had flip-top phones before any of you lot, and Spock really couldn’t understand the illogical emotion of some Humans.. Personally I’m with him on that one!
September 18th, 2007 at 12:13 am
I’m not surpised they’ve has their emails & phones monitored, especially since they were named as suspects but to be monitored by satellite since 3rd May? That sounds like something out of Star Trek. I wouldn’t have thought that even if it were possible how could it be done so quickly? I know satellites exist that can photograph very small objects but who would authorise the cost involved?
You don’t say where the who or where the claim was made, A. Person, but I think someone is making it up.
Time to put my tin foil hat on.
September 17th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
I cant understand the Portugal police one minute they say that the McCanns could have murdered thier daughter then i read this in the paper
CLAIM: The McCanns have been monitored by satellite since May 3, the night Madeleine went missing.
Every move that the couple and their friends have taken has allegedly been observed using telephone triangulation.
UK sources have conceded that the McCanns have been under surveillance, with phones and emails tracked, but it is not known how detailed the monitoring has been.
If this is to be true then how could they have moved Madelienes body or any of thier friends at that matter. its all getting really stupid now.
September 17th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Star, yes it looks unlikely that we will know what happened to her. If she is dead then she at least deserves a decent funeral service, regardless of who killed her. If she is found alive, God only knows what traumas she may have suffered. My wife and I never left our daughter alone for any length of time at that young an age and I can remember, when she once toddled out of sight in a supermarket for 5 minutes, the sheer panic we both felt. Silly in a way, because she headed straight for the sweets - still does at 12 years old!
Whilst I agree with you that the parents are guilty of child neglect, I started out thinking that they weren’t responsible for killing her. Then, as the DNA and other evidence began to apparently mount, together with other info, I began to give serious thought to their guilt in that as well. After recent news items, I am now back to my original gut feeling. I believe that the Portuguese judge must give his decision this Wednesday regarding any charges to brought against the parents. I don’t know how likely it is, but I wonder if that decision may be delayed, either pending the response from Leicestershire police regarding the 40 questions, or that the Portuguese themselves can’t decide. If innocent, the parents will be forced into a terrible limbo. Not knowing what happened to their daughter and wondering if they will be charged with her murder. I’m told that that the Portuguese authorities have a year in which to bring charges, which will be a hell of a long year for the McCanns. If guilty, I wonder if after a year the Portuguese have to give up any chance of charging them, which would mean getting away with murder.
In most high profile cases, O. J. Simpson, Jill Dando for example, I was sure of my belief in guilty or not but, as I’ve said before, this one puzzles me and I can’t decide what I believe.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Powder Monkey…..I believe we may never find out what happen to Madeleine. And they may never find her body. Poor Girl!!
It is a shame that we have no idea what we can believe in the news. I still believe the Mccanns are involved some how. To me just the point they left their children alone time after time makes them guilty of child neglect. They had to know leaving them alone in an unlocked apartment was not safe.
September 17th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Firstly, a reply to eatmyshorts. I’ve not “sniped” at you it’s the fallacy of some of the points you have tried to put across that I’ve “sniped” at. Unlike you, I have not made personal insults. Apart from the earlier examples I gave, I suggest you re-read your post 1727. If, as you claim you read posts you’d know that in post 1696 Andrew basically says he is a building surveyor and he was off to the Lakes (not John O). This is another example of your inaccurate posts, such as the one about the big, dark, man. I think it best if I just skip over your posts in future.
Rgearding the prevent a snatching idea - a very good idea which should be advertised not just in this country and others, but prominently displayed at airports, ferry ports and so on. Co-incidentally, there was an article in the Daily Express today reporting on a jacket that has a built in GPS transmitter. The coat featured was an anorak style coat and retails at £250 with £10 a month to log on to the tracking website. The GPS transmitter is similar in size to a mobile phone which may make it difficult to use with summer clothes, and the cost may unfortunately put people off. Hopefully though the cost may decrease as happened with other new technology such as DVD players. For the older child, who has their own mobile phone, GPS tracking is already available I beleive. Maybe Richard Branson could put his business acumen into developing this idea?
An interesting twist today, in that Chief Inspector Sousa has reportedly been taken off the McCann case, although he says he quit in disgust at how his own force have treated the parents and the leaks to the media.
Also an interesting piece on the “Tonight” programme examining the quality of DNA evidence allegedly recovered by the Portuguses police and the competence of their investigation. “Tonight” re-eanacted the examination of the car, complete with Spaniel sniffer dog and people in white scene suits and face masks, in case you’d never seen that sort of thing before. They did give a very good example of how hairs could have been in the boot by way of secondary transfer, via the cuddle cat toy. I missed the first 10 minutes of the programme, but it may well be repeated on one of the Sky channels.
The programme pointed out the rather bizarre situation that one of the senior police officers now has “aguido” status in the investigation into claims that the mother of another disappeared child was beaten into confessing to murder, yet that child’s body was never found. Under those circumstances, I can’t understand why he is allowed to remain part of the investigation.
Another twist was that the source who told the media the Portuguese police wanted to examine Gerry McCann’s laptop and Kate McCann’s diary contacted them a second time, before the story went to press, to retract saying he had been misinformed, yet the media went ahead with the story anyway. Seems you can’t believe what you read in the papers anymore . . .
September 17th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Sorry, reminds me of….
September 17th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
But they do know exactly what they are doing, it remembers me of OJ and the Michael Jackson cases, get enough money behind you and you get off. They are pulling all the PR stops out now! Amazing!
September 17th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Chris…..I dont think much of what the Mccanns do or say makes sense.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
I know the media is not reliable, but I read that they hired the car the day before they visited the pope. If this is true, why?
September 17th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Too bad we dont know the real time frame of May 3rd. I believe Maddie died in that apartment. I also believe that she was hidden away before the police were called. I have no clue where they would of kept a small child, but who would question anything or anyone BEFORE Kate yelled and the police were called. It was dark and they had numerous friends with them.
The only thing i cant figure out is the body fluids in the car the Mccanns rented 25 days after that night. Did they have her body some where and for what reason would they need to move it. OR was there something hidden in the car that had fluids on it? Something they had to get rid of?
This whole thing makes no sense. I hope someone slips up soon so Maddie can be found and layed to rest. I had to say but it looks like most people agree she is no longer alive.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
I can’t believe after leaving these young children night after night, that when discovering madeleine was missing the twins were left again! There are so many holes in this story… I think that Gerry and Kate must keep being interviewed over and over and separately, divide and conquer.