Madeleine McCann, Photofits And Career Criminality
“WE DID SEE MADELEINE,” says the headline on the Daily Express’ front page. And this from the Express: “The world’s greatest newspaper.”
Truth upon truth.
The Express says the spotter is a child therapist. Her age is not given. But the inclusion of her career in dispatches – the Express never tires of reminding readers that Gerry McCann is a cardiologist and his wife Kate a GP – is shorthand for trust.
This woman works with children so it follows that she can recognise Madeleine McCann.
The Express says police in Belgium describe the witness as “trusted”. They add: “She works with children and noticed something unusual. That is why we are taking it seriously.”
Job Done
But the Portuguese police took seriously those other sightings of Madeleine McCann in Malta and Morocco. Were those spotters trained in child therapy or mere “holidaymakers” Back in June the Sun heard from Ray Roberts, a British tourist. It was late at night. He saw a girl with an Arabic-looking man in his 40s and a younger woman. The child appeared to be wearing a black wig. She tripped. “Get up, little girl,” said the man in broken English. “They were strange,” said Roberts, “it just jarred.”
The Star talked of “hundreds of reports of sightings”.
But this new sighting is special says the Express, and not just because of the spotter’s day job: “The Daily Express can reveal that the Dutch man matched an identikit image of one seen ‘hanging around’ Praia da Luz in Portugal at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.”
This would be the image the Portuguese police would not allow the British tabloid press to see? The image produced by the “bungling” Portuguese police?
The paper notes that Briton Alex Murray, 60, recognised the man from the photofit image drawn up by police in Belgium. He spotted the Dutchman in Praia da Luz near the time the four-year-old went missing.
Says the Express: “The utilities worker from Newbridge on Wye, mid Wales, said the man was ‘hanging around’ the Jasmin Cafe – less than half a mile from the apartment where Madeleine was taken.”
A utilities worker, eh? But we won’t know the truth until the results of the “DNA test on ‘Maddy’ milkshake” (Mirror front-page headline) are revealed by a scientist.
Total Recall
The Express says a waiter and waitress have corroborated the child therapist’s report that a couple acting suspiciously accompanied “Madeleine”.
Waitress Jolien Houbrech, 21, is talking to the Mirror. The therapist approaches her. “She asked if I noticed any resemblance between Madeleine and the child,” she Houbrech.
“She said that because of her work as a child therapist she had noticed that their behaviour was not that of normal parents. After she said that, I said maybe she should call it in to the police.”
She adds: “Now I wish I had done more and paid more attention to the couple and maybe tried to hear the girl talking. But at the time I didn’t notice anything suspicious.”
But then what does a waitress know..?
Posted: 4th, August 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (76) | TrackBack | Permalink
