Madeleine McCann: Robert Murat And More Questions
MADELEINE McCann is missing. Still missing.
But today there is news. The daily front-page shots of Madeleine’s traumatised parents are moved further within the papers to make space for the head of Robert Murat.
“MADELEINE BRITISH MAN IS QUIZZED!” says the Mirror’s front-page headline.
Robert Murat
After the speculation the paper delivers a welter of facts. Robert Murat lives with his mum. Robert Murat is in his 30s. Robert Murat lives with his mother in a villa 150 yards from the apartment where Madeleine McCann was snatched.
The Sun (“MADDIE: BRIT QUIZZED”) says Murat lives 100 yards from that McCann apartment. Like the Mirror, the Sun produces a front-page picture of “one-eyed Murat”. The Mail hears that Murat lost his eye in a BMX accident when he was a boy. The Mail says Murat lives 80 yards from Madeleine’s holiday apartment.
Murat is “stocky”. He offered to help the police hunt as a “translator”. He lives in Casa Liliana, with his mum Jenny.
The Suspect
The Sun’s Julie Moult considers the evidence. And delivers a piece entitled “stories of a fantasist”. “He always seemed so eager to get involved in the police investigation,” says the Sun’s woman–on-the-scene. “Robert claimed he had a daughter just like Madeleine and said he felt compelled to do anything he could. But to me he seemed like classic fantasist.”
The Sun introduces Martin Brunt, the crime news correspondent from its sister organ, TV’s Sky news.
He says Murat told him he’d been taken inside the McCanns’ apartment by police.
Sky news correspondent Ian Woods says he asked Murat to help him speak with locals.
“I met him and had a conversation with him. I tried to find out as much as I could about him,” says Woods, who checked out Murat’s details. “They did check out, and I left it at that for the time.”
The Mail’s Neil Sears also spots Murat. In “My encounters with a man ‘who just wanted to help’”, Sears tells Mail readers, “There was something more to the friendly expat who called himself ‘Rob’ than met the eye.”
Murat made Sears “feel slightly uncomfortable”.
But it was the Sunday Mirror’s Lori Cambell who alerted police to Murat’s behaviour, she saw as “creepy”.
Writing Wrongs
So much for investigative journalism. Questions were asked but nothing more was done. Murat is with police because he made a show of himself, because he acted as if working in an official capacity. Even though the Times says Murat was acting as “an official translator”.
So now the man in the chinos, with the glass eye, who lives with him mum and whose estranged wife, from Hockering, near Norwich, tells a neighbour “How could someone do something so terrible to little girl like that?’ is all over the papers.
Is Murat guilty? The papers produce nothing to indicate that he is. But if Murat is involved, look out for the stories of how British journalism cracked the case.
And look out for Madeleine McCann. Still missing…
Posted: 15th, May 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (1,194) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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August 29th, 2007 at 11:05 am
[...] Anorak - I think that the detedtives that have gone out to Portugal are highly trained and specialists in such things as criminal profiling, and are working on the case from the perspective of the possible kidnappers profile. I seem to remember that many Read More [...]
August 28th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
It has been sometime since I have posted on this site, reading the historical postings it’s amazing to discover the twists and turns that have occurred during this investigation. However, I am really surprised and saddened that Madeleine has not be found, which suggests that Madeleine is now deceased and I think that the McCanns’ now have to contemplate their life without her.
My earlier comments regarding Murat now on the face of it seemed to be unfair, but hey who knows!. I am glad to see that Max Clifford must have given Robert Murat good advice by advising him to take a back seat, as I haven’t seen much about him in the press. I am not sure about the point that he would agree to appear to be the ‘main suspect’ is a valid one, given the implications it would have for his family and friends.
I would point however, that the Portuguese police I feel, have been unduly criticised for their handling of the case. Let’s face it, from my understanding, Praia du Luz is a small community and one wouldn’t expect them to have had the necessary resources to deal effectively with a child abduction from the outset. Although, this doesn’t detract from the subsequent police errors ( if there have been). Particularly, in light of the fact that it now transpires that the McCanns’ may have been economical with the truth about the frequency of ‘checks’ and the statement that the children being left was a ‘one off’. Had the Police known immediately that the children had been left previously, they may have approached the matter quite differently from the beginning.
Another thing, I find puzzling, are the comments about Madeline sleep walking and was thus prescribed medication. Is this rumour or fact ?, if it’s true, then the McCann’s leaving Madeleine unsupervised in a hotel room is downright negligent. I know that this issue has been discussed repeatedly, but really can’t be ignored. I feel sorry for them and their stupidity.
The theory about Madeleine being the victim of a tragic accident I feel is the most plausible, palatable conclusion to draw. I just hope that she is found and there can be some form of closure to this sorry, sorry tale.
August 28th, 2007 at 11:09 am
hi star,i have actually read gerrys blog just now,and yes i see thy found 10 mins to go and pray for little maddie.but we still have no news on the dna or any news on anything else really.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:55 am
Hey Lorraine…Check Gerry’s blog today:
No major news to report. Most of my day was spent on e-mails and telephone calls.
Kate I went for a run together in the early evening along the waterfront and then we popped into church for 10 minutes to pray for Madeleine. We had dinner with Kates family who are over here just now. Sean and Amelie are particularly enjoying having some older kids around.
Oh Kate’s family is visiting again (wonder who pays for all them to fly to Portugal?)
I dont really care that Kate and Gerry went out for a run. Glad to see they found the time to pop in the church to pray for Maddie.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:10 am
hi star, no am sorry,but the police dont seem to be saying anything about anything at the moment,i think that they ar keeping some things under there hats as they say,i think they have leads and things but want to get them checked out first! but something keeps bugging me,if little maddie was crying alot during the evening when her parents ate out,why didnt she wake her little brother and sister up,not even on the nite that she was taken!!!!!some things just dont seem to make sence a all.
August 25th, 2007 at 4:15 am
I have been reading some blogs in reference to Madeleine’s disappearance. Most of them mention the writer’s confusion as to why the children were left alone, night after night while the parents dined out. They are more confused that the Mccanns didnt take advantage of this service
Childcare
Mark Warner’s superb childcare facilities for all ages from four months upwards are available and a unique service on offer at the Ocean Club is our ‘Dine Out’ option. As accommodations are spread throughout the village, we offer to keep an eye on the little ones while you go out to eat - just drop them at our kids club, ready for bed and pick them up when you’ve finished.
Does anyone remember if the Mccanns or their friends ever said WHY they didnt use this service? Especially after it was brought to their attention a child was crying late at night in their apartment. Too bad the Mark Warner’s staff could not have went to the apartment to check this and found the 3 children alone. Maybe a stern talking to by the police would of stopped the Mccanns from leaving them again the next night, the night poor Maddie disappeared.
Any new info as to what the large piece of evidence is?
August 25th, 2007 at 2:33 am
a note from Gerry….
Travelled to Edinburgh this afternoon and managed to keep up the aerobic exercise with 25 minutes in the gym. I then met up with one of our friends who has been instrumental in distributing images of Madeleine and who produced the DVD of her to ‘Don’t you forget about me’. We had a bite to eat and took the chance to update each other on what has been happening in the last few weeks.
Do we care that he was at the gym? And had lunch with a friend? Oh and Gerry is in the UK again?
August 24th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
lorraine…..those are just a few things i remember here in the states. It is horrible. I mean poor innocent children. I dont know what to believe with Madeleine. Alot of things just dont add up.
I hope we hear something soon!!
August 24th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
and as for the mcanns leaving the children of an evening is wrong i know,but even more so,when you know that your little girl is left crying for over an hour, bless her,u just dont do it..could you imagine what would happen if it was found that the mcanns did have something to do with the dissapearing of their little girl? but wont they get into trouble once they do return home?because it is negligence really isnt it?
August 24th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
star… oh my god,u would never think of things like that happening,it made me feel sick to the stomach! i hadnt heard of all them bad things . i dont know how anybody could harm a child,but am sorry but its even worse to hear when its their own children.poor defensive children.i had heard of the story of the children bein in cages,vagly(proberly spelt wrong).it does show that anboy is capeble of anything doesnt it.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
hello star,all them theories and anyone of them culd actually be what has happened to little maddie,but yet they dont seem to have anything really other than THEORIES!!! 113 days and still othing.am sorry and i dont want to sound terrible,but i honestly dont think that the sighting of little maddie in spain is to be her,i really think that it has been to long its been 113 days,i know it sounds horrible and yes i hope i am wrong but i dont think she is alive.i could never imagine what that poor little girl has OR is going though.i cant believe that there is still no news on the DNA from the blood!!!!are the mcanns going to spain to help look for maddie their or wa that another roomer?
August 24th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
lorraine…..That is why i posted it…there have been a few of these cases here in the states. One dad drove off to work and forgot to drop off baby at daycare, didnt remember until mom called him later that day to ask where baby was. Baby was dead in carseat in car.
HOW CAN U FORGET YOUR CHILD IS IN THE CAR?!?!?!
We had the case of the foster parents who locked the kids in cages, the mom who drowned what 4 or 5 children, the mom that tossed her kids in the water(i dont think all of them were ever found) Scott Petersen killed his wife and unborn son, Bobby Cutts killed his girlfriend and unborn daughter, the mom that left her baby in the car in the garage while at a family reunion, the parents that left their foster child in a closet while gone for the weekend and came home to find him dead and then dad burned him…this is just a few i can remember off the top of my head…..It happens…..we dont want to think about it…but there is too much abuse and neglect in the world today….
Sorry, but right off i didnt care for the Mccanns after reading that children were crying for hours in their apartment while they were out entertaining…
That is why i would believe anything in the Madeleine case.
August 24th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
IMO those closest to Madeleine and around her before she went missing should of been ruled out as suspects one at a time…..Seems like the Mccanns and their friends cant keep the story straight. Their story has holes. I actually dont think the Mccanns are capable of killing their daughter, but the accidental death thing is something that needs to be looked at.
Not sure about the girl in Spain, if someone has her and she is alive, i dont think they would be parading her around at a gas station. They would move her some place and keep her hidden. I know some people think dreams are nuts…but if my child was missing i would try it all, crazy or not. Atleast u can rule it out. I am still waiting on the arrest and search and the big piece of evidence we keep hearing about……i guess only time will tell
August 24th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
lorraine
Here is a link i found…..all the theories of what could of happen to Madeleine, but like it says…none have panned out and we still dont know what happen or where she is…
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1345062007
August 24th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
am sorry but who in the hell leaves a child in a car,and then says thet forgot about tem,HELLO WAKE UP CALL,u proberly find that the little one was asleep and the mom dd not want to wake the little one up!!!!
August 24th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Here is an example of what i mention earlier…..
How can an educated woman LEAVE her 2 yr old daughter in the car by accident? I thought an accident was when you got up at night to get your child some milk and you accidently leave the carton of milk on the counter?
It was 100 degrees that day:
The 2-year-old daughter of an assistant school principal was found dead Thursday inside her mother’s sweltering sport utility vehicle, its windows rolled up, police said.
The girl, Cecilia Slaby, was strapped in a car seat in the rear of the vehicle, which was in the parking lot of Glen Este Middle School near Batavia, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati, police said.
Assistant Principal Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby, the girl’s mother, was taken to a hospital, said Clermont County Prosecutor Don White. No charges had been filed.
Investigators were trying to determine what happened, and there is a possibility that the child was left accidentally, White said.
An autopsy was planned to determine the cause of death. Temperatures in the area reached 100 degrees Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
Police said they received several 911 calls about 3:15 p.m. from people who spotted the girl in the vehicle. Police did not say who placed the calls.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
ok so now we have Madeleine spotted in Spain and they still say she was taken by that man…
Mrs Fenn told police that she had a niece from Britain staying with her in the week the McCanns were on holiday there.
Her niece, who has now been interviewed by detectives in Britain, spotted a suspicious looking man hanging around the McCanns’ apartment about the time Madeleine disappeared.
She told detectives that he matched the description of a suspect seen by Jane Tanner, one of the McCanns’ holiday friends. Miss Tanner reported seeing the man rushing away from the apartment with a child wrapped in a blanket under his arm.
If this man was so suspicious looking, WHY didnt anyone do anything about it at the time? When did this neice tell police she saw the man? Now? or back on the night?
The crying child still has me shocked, the other thing that is odd is a child usually calls for mom, Maddie was calling Daddy?
Any news about the search and arrest suppose to happen in the UK?
Noticed Gerry didnt write in the blog, must be out running or at the airport
August 24th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
question…were we ever told the ages of the other children left nightly by the Mccann’s friends?
Also isn’t it strange that Madeleine’s parents were the last
ones to have seen her alive? Just wondering when someone other than the Mccann group actually saw her? Was she at that day care camp thing that day? And the neighbor upstairs heard a child cry the night she disappear? Wonder if she heard anything else.
Still waiting for Gerry and or Kate to jet off to Spain….Just odd the police still think it was NOT an abduction but an accidental death in the apartment. They said they have that key piece of evidence. If Kate and Gerry know they sure know how to put on a act. Especially with the we believe she is alive in Spain theory now..
August 24th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
this was taken from a Sky news report site yesterday
McCanns call for more discussions
Almost nine in 10 MPs felt that the UK’s Child Rescue Alert - an emergency scheme to publicise suspected child abductions within hours - should be extended across the EU.
Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry, from Rothley, Leicestershire, have travelled around Europe to publicise their daughter’s disappearance.
They said she could have been taken to another country by abductors taking advantage of the EU’s porous borders.
Mr McCann said “We are pleased to see that elected members of both the UK and European parliaments agree that changes to legislation and greater consistency across the European Union are needed.
“Kate and I would like to encourage further debate on how Europe can best manage serious crimes such as child abduction.”
ISNT IT ABOUT TIME “KATE AND I” STARTED TO ENCOURAGE DEBATE ON HOW NOT TO BEHAVE WHILST ON HOLIDAY WITH YOUNG CHILDREN. THIS IS THE FUNDEMENTAL REASON WHY THEY DO NOT HAVE THEIR DAUGHTER WITH THEM.
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO PROOF REPORTED ON THAT SHE WAS ABDUCTED. GET OFF THE BANDWAGON AND GET SEARCHING FOR HER
August 24th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I think that eyes, ears and sniffer dogs noses have been keeping a watch on them for longer than they know. There has to be a surveillance of the parents from the word go - even if only to eliminate them. Without further evidence of anyone else being involved - then the parents could be used a scape goats. I could not understand the Gerry reaction to the suggestion that they should have some suspicion levelled at them - He seemed to be more unsettled by this than Murat did - who it now seems was either set up or was very very clever to remove all traces of evidence. Gerry on the other hand got very, very irate - I would have thought that an intelligent person would have realised that to “leave no stone unturned” - his quote after all - means exactly that - and from the very first day Gerry and Kate were the biggest stones and needed to be turned for their own sakes - to be cleared of any involvement
August 24th, 2007 at 4:09 am
In interviews on Wednesday with Spanish media Maddie’s parents Kate and Gerry said they believed their daughter was alive and in Spain.
“There is a real possibility that Madeleine is alive in Spain,” they maintained.
**I hope it is Madeleine, just seems very unlikely with the investigation the police from Portugal and UK have going right now. They say they have a piece of evidence that proves that Madeleine died in the apartment.
Are Kate and Gerry off to Spain? (a way to get out of Portugal after the police said it was not a good time to go) IMO someone needs to keep an eye on them
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:36 pm
I feel uneasy about the Spain siting - as I did about the Belgian one. Just before the “siting” in Belgium the investigation was reported to be progressing and significant information was reported as being investigated by the police. Now - with the police saying that they are close to finding what has really happened - this siting in Spain - I think it may be a distraction, the police will have to investigate it and thus a delay in them acting on information in their posession which may reveal the truth. If the police are close to, but not close enough, to making an arrest, then they would not be able to be publicly seen to ignore a possible siting in Spain. I would like to guess that this siting will come to absolutely nothing with regard to finding Madeleine.
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Seems Gerry all of a sudden thinks that Madeleine is in Spain. Wow…took him over 100 days to think this up?
Meanwhile, others think differently:
Despite the sightings, Portuguese detectives leading the investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance, including Guilhermino Encarnação and Goncalo Amaral, are convinced that the four year old is dead, and have exhausted all leads suggesting that she was abducted.
It is now understood that the direction of the inquiry changed a month ago, when a key piece of evidence emerged, which has not been disclosed.
A senior police source said: “They say that abduction is no longer the main lead and that accidental death is the strongest theory they are working on.
“They are awaiting test results on forensics from inside the apartment but even without them, they say they have another lead which points to Madeleine’s death.
“It could be a murder or it could be an accident, and at the moment they are leaning towards the latter. “The apartment is the key – all the answers lie there, they say – but they are far from resolving what exactly happened and why the body disappeared.
What is taking so long with the DNA (unless they know and dont wanna release it due to the search and arrest they are planning, and what is taking so long with that?
Detectives will not elaborate on what evidence they have to support the theory, however it is understood that the new lead emerged in mid July.
Mr McCann said that while he still clings to the hope his daughter is alive, he realised that to find her now would be almost unprecedented.
He said: “We have done a lot of research into missing children and the percentage of minors who have ever reappeared is very small.
“Obviously a very long time has passed, but we will do everything we can to make sure Madeleine does not become a statistic.
“We are going to keep looking for our daughter, because we need to find her.
“It’s possible Madeleine is dead, but is also possible she is alive.”
Ok Gerry said he thinks she is in Spain and then it sounds like he to thinks she is dead or will never be found?
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:03 am
thanks star,i cant believe they knew that there little girl would be left alone knowing that she would be cryin,as every other night,but what i dont understand is why little maddie did not wake the twins?if mrs fenn could hear her from upstairs then am sure the twins would of woke from there big sister crying????????nd am sorry but if mrs fenn knew that the mcanns were leaving there children in the appartment of a night whilst they ate in a near resturant,and could also hear little addie cryin,then i would of gone to see if i ould find them,or even told a member of staff from the hotel,am sorry but you dont leave her to cry exspecially if you know that they are crying,you would want to help wouldnt you??????????and why only now would you decide to tell the police of this?and why didnt the mcanns use the babysitting service,its not like they couldnt afford it.what if somebody was sick of listening to the crying and then took it in their own hands to see to her,and something went horribly wrong???????and who is the mom that kate is keen to get hold of?does this mom know something,things are starting to come out now and little maddie has been missing 111 days,these people should of come forward at the beginning,maybe then little maddie would be home safe and well.
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:51 am
lorraine
Here is a bit of info i thought was interesting….Shows what type of people the Mccanns are i think?
Expatriate Pamela Fenn, 81, who lives in the flat above where the McCanns were staying, was re-interviewed by detectives on Monday after it emerged that she might have fresh clues.
Widow Mrs Fenn told police that two nights before Madeleine went missing she heard a little girl in the apartment crying for over an hour.
She said the toddler, who is believed to have been Madeleine, was crying “Daddy, daddy” constantly between 10.30 and 11.45pm.
The crying had stopped when the parents returned to the apartment.
On the night Madeleine disappeared, Mrs Fenn also heard a child crying, but it was when Kate returned from a nearby restaurant to check on her daughter that she was first aware something was wrong.
IMO this is when the apartment people asked the Mccanns to use the babysitting service, BUT no they left a child crying for that long? And then again the next night?
unbelievable….
August 23rd, 2007 at 3:51 am
a bit from Gerry’s blog….
Kate is keen to get in touch with a very nice mum, who she spoke with at the toddler pool in the Ocean Club on Sunday 3rd June. She is sure you will remember the conversation and Kate would be grateful if you could get in touch at with her at campaign@findmadeleine.com
I also see they are back to dropping off the twins at the day care….
August 23rd, 2007 at 3:48 am
Hi Lorraine…..a new bit of info from Kate and Gerry?
We keep reading that Madeleine may have died in the apartment…..yet we get this from her parents….
Gerry McCann told the Spanish paper El Mundo that he was determined to make sure Madeleine wouldn’t “become a statistic,” according to the Mail.
“The possibility that Madeleine is alive and in Spain is real,” he told El Mundo. “It is something we did not consider at the beginning, but now we are seriously weighing up.
How come all of a sudden she is alive and well in Spain. Gerry did tell us all along that he knows Madeleine is alive and being cared for?
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:34 am
thanks star,wonder why they wont really let the mcanns return home,do you think that the police may think that the mcanns are actually involved,and maybe they have something to do with the disapearence of there daughter… i so hope not.i thought the mcanns where not going to return home untill they had found little maddie.i noticed in gerrys blog that they have actually put the twins in a kids club,am sorry but here is no way that i would let my kids out of my sight,or away from my side.so does this mean there is no arrests to be made in england,or english suspect….so we dont really know what we are hearing is right or wrong or even true or false….yes star, looks like we will have to sit and wait for the truth to unfold and little maddie to be found.thanks star for the input. xx
August 22nd, 2007 at 2:36 am
We were also asked about what is being written about the investigation and pointed out how much of this is pure speculation. We directed them to the official Portuguese police statements that are very sober in comparison. A statement was released this evening through the Portuguese news agency LUSA. This is the translation of what was reported on Portuguese TV station SIC:
The news that points to the existence of an English suspect, close to the couple, connected to the disappearance of Madeleine on the 3rd May in the Algarve, “does not come” from the PJ and has no “logic whatsoever”, according to what the inspector Olegário Sousa told Lusa.
Gerry tells us the above in his blog….so how much of the police’s search and arrest stuff if true? Guess all we can do is wait and see. We have been told something will be found out SOON?
August 22nd, 2007 at 2:31 am
Hi Lorraine…..Have you seen this: read it in the news today
Kate and Gerry McCann last week admitted for the first time they have considered a return to Britain, more than three months after their daughter disappeared in Praia da Luz.
But a senior police source revealed last night that they have advised the McCanns that now is “not the right time” to leave, because of a “change” in the direction of the investigation.
Detectives now believe that abduction is no longer the main lead, and that Madeleine died in the apartment on the night she disappeared.
So we are BACK to Madeleine being dead? And they dont want the Mccanns to go home? I had hoped the would do a search and find her and arrest whoever had her hidden, BUT i guess they still have evidence that she has died? actually police have said…
Police have told the parents of Madeleine McCann to abandon plans to leave Portugal amid new hopes of a breakthrough in the case. The source said that the key focus is now the two-bedroom apartment in the Ocean Club, where the four-year-old disappeared on May 3.
“The answers to this case are all in the apartment,” he said.
Dr O’Brien was dining with the McCanns on the night Madeleine disappeared and spent part of the evening away from the table looking after his own daughter, who was sick
*they left their own daughter alone and sick? what kind of people are these people?
also noted in the article…
Dr Russell O’Brien, a friend of the McCanns, said the following…
He hit back and told friends: “I will robustly defend my reputation. I have not been contacted by the Portuguese police and there has been no mention of any impending arrest or need to return to Portugal. The allegations made in Portuguese press are completely without foundation.”
He goes with Jane Tanner(the woman that was late going to dinner and saw the child in the blanket)