Madeleine McCann: A Tabloid Play For Today
SPECULATION blurred with fact on the front pages. A conversation on Madeleine McCann.
Express: “MADELEINE BLOOD CLUE”
Mirror: “IS IT HER BLOOD?”
A crowd forms.
Express: “Girl injured as she was snatched from flat”
Sun: “BLOOD IN MADDIE FLAT”
(Gasps!)
Express: “Kidnapper tried to wipe away the vital evidence”
An old crone approaches.
Mail: “BLOOD ON THE WALL IN MADDY BEDROOM”
Express: “Traces of Madeleine McCann’s blood have been found in the holiday apartment where she was last seen”
Good on the Express for slicing through so much speculation with fact, albeit fact that is uncorroborated by anything approaching proof.
The Mirror, which has now dispensed with the yellow ribbon attached to its masthead, says the traces of blood are being analysed. It is not yet known if they are from Madeleine McCann.
Britain v Portugal
And then there is the British angle. Blood is found after three months of looking for Madeleine McCann. It is found not by Portuguese police but by the British.
“British police have found traces of blood,” begins the Mail’s take on developments in Portugal. “The traces - found by British sniffer dogs - could be of the missing four-year-old or her kidnapper,” says the Sun. The Sun’s headline reads: “BRIT SNIFFER DOG FIND.”
There’s an element of patriotism in the Madeleine McCann story and with it a slight on the Portuguese police who failed to spot the blood. “10 ASTONISHING POLICE BLUNDERS,” says the Mirror.
If this blood responds with a person on the UK’s sex offenders’ register, the Sun will go into a nationalistic spasm. It will call for the register to be in place in all European countries, and for paedo-paranoia to be spread.
The British will have forged the way ahead on matters of child abduction.
Whose Blood Is It Anyway?
But we must not speculate. That is the job of the papers. Here’s the Sun to tell us of three “theories”. Portuguese police officers tuning in would do well to make notes:
1. The blood could be “Maddie’s, indicating she was injured before or during her abduction”
2. It could be the “kidnapper’s, especially if the child put up a struggle”
3. “Or it could belong to others who have stayed in the apartment – there were hundreds before the McCanns and several tourists have slept there since”
Point ‘3’ seems of interest. Might it be that the Portuguese police did not overlook this glaring evidence picked up by British dogs because the blood is not all that old, that it was not there at the time of Madeleine McCann’s vanishing?
And we would like to add to the Sun’s list and wonder if the blood belongs to any other member of the McCann family, a police officer or a mosquito smashed against the wall?
The yellow curtain falls…
Posted: 7th, August 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (66) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
Comments
August 13th, 2007 at 8:40 am
is it confirmed any place that cadaver dogs found a scent in the apartment?
I wonder when the last time someone other than the Mccanns or their friends saw maddie alive that day? The daycare? They say they have a pic of her by a pool….but anyone can mess with the time and date on a camera.
Also just wondering about the body language of Kate and Gerry. Kate seems to have a problem looking at the person doing an interview…atleast in the few bits of video i have seen…..
August 9th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
The blood could of course belong to any one of the holiday makers who have used the same holiday apartment - why all the accusations!. The bottle left in Belgium could well have been contaminated and has been shown to have male DNA left on it. None of these tiny snippets prove or dis-prove anything. I cannot imagine how those poor parents can cope with the highs & lows of these ‘clues’. I pray for Madeleine’s sake there is a breakthrough sometime soon.
August 8th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Hi there, seems to be a lot of upset about people talking about drugging, (in past forums I have read about the possibility the parents might have drugged - as in sedated - their children at night so they could go off for dinner more easily, and I myself made suggestions about a possible scenario if this was the case.)
Everyone here is just speculating because we all just so want to know what’s happened. It’s OK to try to work out what may have happened based on the various evidence (true or otherwise) we are being given, whether it’s pro- or anti- McCann. It’s an opinion forum.
With regard to recent comments about the children possibly being ‘drugged’ because they were on anti-histamine medicine - as opposed to being wilfully sedated - I would have thought this is quite an interesting and relevant point (and not at all accusatory), especially if the parents have said they did administer this medicine (I have only read about that on the forum though.) Administering this medicine would not necessarily make the parents murderers - but it may have haplessly aided the abductor who took Madeleine away… we just don’t know, but we’re considering everything because we want answers, and if it’s not been ruled out, then it’s still a possibility.
Regarding the blood, if it is Madeleine’s, that also does not make her parents the culprits. It might do, but it might not. Seems strange for the Portuguese papers to say that the police at one point (May3rd?) ruled out an abduction once they knew - or strongly suspected - that Madeleine died inside the flat. Surely she could have died inside the flat AND then been abducted?
August 8th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Actually Elke,
I read other sources from Belgium just now and they all say that the DNA found on the milkshake drink belongs to a male, so it has been contaminated which means they can not entirely rule out Madeleine. The man she was seen with may have drunk from the drink after her or the waiter may have contaminated it. I do hope that they still keep looking for this couple in Belgium or they may even be in Holland now because I do remember reading that a man in Praia da Luz regconised the e-fit of the Dutch man and saw him hanging around the internet cafe for days, and he was seen talking to a younger woman.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:34 am
[...] don’t know. Facts on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann don’t stack up to much. The news of blood on the McCanns’ walls is open to much interpretation. The Mirror considers the evidence. It says Madeleine may have died in the family holiday [...]
August 8th, 2007 at 10:08 am
don’t try and trip me up ‘bull monkey’!!
Kids are given anti-hists from almost infancy. Its like any other meds…. read the possible side-effects and you’ll never take it.
My daughter has taken them during spring and autumn since she was a toddler. Prescribed by the doc because she is very allergic. (sadly inherited from me)
August 8th, 2007 at 10:03 am
If this report is true, the dna-test in belgium was negative and the child sighted there wasn’t Madeleine:
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/uk/news/article_1340308.php/Missing_Madeleine_was_not_in_Belgium_genetic_test_negative
August 8th, 2007 at 10:02 am
And what is with this stupid “drugging” remarks. I have heard this endlessly but only on this forum. NO WHERE ELSE. I give my daughter tylenol for children when she has a fever, am I guilty of “drugging” her or am I just giving her the appropriate medication for a fever. These remarks again are so exaggerated and libelous that people really need to keep a real check on what they are saying because once this whole thing gets solved you will feel like jerks because I still think it was an abduction (dead or alive). And stop with the pro-McCann comments this is about Madeleine not teams. I am beginning to think that most of the people on this forum are really young, one poster claimed 13 and it would be in parrallel with the wild far-fetched accusations. I suspect that not many people actually read ANORAK so any of you making slanderous remarks might be protected for this very reason.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:01 am
moderation I am assuming you are not 4 years old. Anti histamines have a very different effect on the young. oh and incidently you do know that anti-histamines causes among other things siezures and sinus tachycardia which in turn would quite possibly lead to a nosebleed etc….
August 8th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Arthur says,
“They just cannot envisage such a charming chap having anything to do with this. He’s a doctor after all, therefore so much better than us, and above suspicion. Strangely enough there was a guy called Shipman as I recall - maybe if some people had voiced suspicions about him there could be a hundred or so people still alive.”
Arthur you reveal that you have some sort of inferiority complex regarding doctor. Also it is not only cruel but libelous to infer that the McCanns are like Harold Shipman, a charged serial killer of the ederly.
Why can’t you wait to judge once all the true facts to come in, why are you off ranting on and on that these people are guilty of something quite evil and vile. I don’t think its called “pro- Mccann”, I think its call being smart.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:34 am
But is not a lot of the information we are given biased? one way or the other?
At least in a court there is someone to present for both sides equally.
The press have their own agenda, as we know, and its own target readership so it slews the news in their favour. Gives em what they want.
Does the Mail ever say anything good about Labour?
Does the Mirror ever say anything good about Conservative?
I just try and take the middle line.
I don’t believe they are saints but nether do I believe they are devils.
More likely they feeling very guilty and very confused and thereby accepting bad advice from attention seeking family members. It was the family (especially his) in the beginning who were giving interviews left right and centre.
Agree I weigh a teensy bit more than Madeleine (!!!) but the principle is still the same.
Anti-hist makes you drowsy….. but again that’s never been confirmed / denied by the parents themselves.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:18 am
moderation you said “I still don’t understand the hate towards them… no-one knows them. How can you judge someone you don’t know?”.
Judges throughout the world sentence people to crimes they have committed everyday without knowing them. This is the basis of our whole legal system, for the judge to know the convicted would prejudice any decision on sentencing.
I do not know the mccanns and so I can only cast judgement on the facts before me.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:11 am
erm…. moderation I hope there is a difference in age between you and maddie.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:10 am
you are so right arthur, I scripted my concerns regarding the whiter than white ‘tapas two’ some weeks ago. As I quetioned my mother (aged 72) after she had given money to the appeeal she was visably uncomfortable with my questions regarding the integrity of the pair. At present i can think of at least three crimes against the missing maddie that the mccanns should expect to be charged with: neglect, drugging and making money out of the aforementioned crimes.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:05 am
It seems that if one is not vociferously anti-McCann then one is pro.
I am neither (as I keep saying!!) and so do many others…. trying to be fair isn’t the same as ‘adoration’!! Neutral is the word……
The drugging stuff IS silly and has got out of hand. Read back through it all and you’ll see a suggestion from Kate’s mother that as Madeleine was on anti-histamine it may have made her too drowsy to react.
I take anti-hist. but I’m not drugged!!
I’ve never looked at their web-site or worn a yellow ribbon… I simply feel for them whatever happened.
Did they do it? I don’t know. Did Murat do it? I don’t know. All I can do is speculate and that’s all you can do.
I still don’t understand the hate towards them… no-one knows them. How can you judge someone you don’t know?
August 8th, 2007 at 7:33 am
You waste your time Bull Monkey. Unless you are willing to come on these sites and profess undying adoration for Saint Gerry of the Blessed Blog you will be ridiculed by Moderation and their ilk.
They just cannot envisage such a charming chap having anything to do with this. He’s a doctor after all, therefore so much better than us, and above suspicion. Strangely enough there was a guy called Shipman as I recall - maybe if some people had voiced suspicions about him there could be a hundred or so people still alive.
When you say it’s silliness Moderation, which bit? The drugging business has been sustantiated by relatives has it not? Would you call this normal behavior?
No my friend, these people need to be investigated - not least to see if they are fit and able parents for the remaining children.
August 7th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Load of old silliness!! If you want to have a bit of a rant then at least get your facts right….
August 7th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
i have had my suspicions about the mccanns ever since the day i found out about the fund being set up so quickly. There is just one thing that has been troubling my understanding of the tapas two. Why would you piously travel the world visiting anyone willing to be your audience, creating the image of the perfect parents and then admit to having drugged your kids. In fact not only announce that you drug your kids but have another member of your family bear witness to your claim that you drug your kids. For this couple to announce this rather incriminating fact in to any report suggests that they were worried that the police would have found evidence of the drugging in the twins bodies, Thus covering any suspicions returning back to them. I really do hope these two rot in hell regardless of whether they were involved in her death / disappearance, since by their own admittion they drug their kids and leave them alone.
August 7th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Absolutely Collette … we will just have to wait and see which of the reports are confirmed and what test results show. I will try to post whatever the news is from main Portuguese sources whenever I get any… I’ve given up completely on the UK media.
Molly
August 7th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I wrote the below on the wrong forum a little earlier:
Apparently the PJ did also find the blood ON DAY ONE - and sent it off for tests, which came back negative (negative to what I don’t know.) This is an unconfirmed report as stated by the BBC correspondent out there live on last night’s news (6th Aug).
The sniffer dog was sniffing for a dead person’s blood (he’s a cadaver dog as reported). It’s also been reported that to ‘qualify’ for being ‘dead blood’, so to speak, it must come from somebody who’s been dead for at least two hours - again from reports, I am not a scientist(but Molly I’ve seen your comments which seem to corroborate this). That would presumably quash the smash-the-mosquito-on-the-wall theory, or the nose-bleed theory. This blood might not be Madeleine’s - in which case whose is it? Molly’s posting just above says no other known deaths have occurred in this appartment. But somebody had to have died in that appartment…
- Of course this is all according to the scant information we have (a lot of which is contradictory) and which we choose to believe or otherwise. Maybe it wasn’t a ‘cadaver’ dog, maybe it was the one that sniffs out blood from live people, we haven’t been told the full truth? (Fingers crossed this is the case.)
- It’s important to find all possible scenarios that fit the evidence - as opposed to try to make the evidence fit what we each personally believe or want to believe. Still - that’s what the police are for! Since we’re not at the heart of the investigation, and do not have the true evidence (we only have what papers are reporting) we cannot know for sure anything at all.
Poor Madeleine.
August 7th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Thanks for info Molly.
August 7th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
The DNA test results on the blood found on the apartment walls are not due until tomorrow (Weds 8 August) …. the same day that the DNA results from the possible sighting in Belgium are due.
Any reports claiming that the blood either definitely IS Madeleine’s, or definitely IS NOT, are speculative until at least tomorrow. However to some extent the ‘owner’ of the blood pales into insignificance next to the findings of the cadaver dog.
Police originally obtained Madeleine’s DNA profile from hair left in her hairbrush, right back at the beginning of the case - this was used to confirm that Kate and Gerry ARE her biological parents (just as an aside).
June - the Resort and PJ have confirmed that there have been no known deaths in the apartment either before or since the McCanns’ residence.
Molly
August 7th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
or the sniffer dogs made a mistake ?? unlikely but possible
August 7th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
It may not have been Madeleine’s blood or body, there may have been a death occured already there in the apartment from a previous occupant. or were the Mccanns the only occupants Pamds?
August 7th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
No one yet knows anything regarding this blood until tests are run. It may turn out not to be Madeleine’s at all and I do think it is very strange that the Portuguese police would have missed this in their first searches. I think it could have easily been a tenants blood from before or after the McCanns which is why tests are being done. They say it is small tiny specks, this to me would not indicate a death, maybe an small cut or abrasion. The wiping down of the blood would indicate a cleaner had been in the apartment between tenants. I don’t get the feeling that it is a sinister thing at all. Nor did I read that the sniffer dogs were detecting blood from a dead person. All I have read is that they found small traces of blood and it might belong to Madeleine. If it belongs to the kidnapper than we will have another peice of evidence supporting the mystery DNA found in the apartment a month or so ago.
August 7th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
this particular story is being ran by all the paper’s websites & its all based on an “unnamed” Port police source quoted in the Port paper Diario de Noticias …….currently I don’t buy it as the police haven’t yet offically stated the blood is Maddie’s, but I may be proved wrong. There’s dozens of other explanations for blood on the walls.
August 7th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
tizza this where …
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1234622007
TRACES of Madeleine McCann’s blood have been discovered in the bedroom of the holiday flat where she was last seen, according to reports in a Portuguese newspaper.
It was also reported that attempts had been made to wipe away any sign of the blood.
August 7th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
sorry, missed out the word match — …….DNA match (unlikely as it seems) ?
August 7th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Pamds - where did you read “seems the blood is madelienes after all” ?
I believe the British police are still trying to extract DNA from the tiny samples, then they need to analyse it, then attempt to get a match (I presume from her parent’s blood samples ?) oh, I did it again, I presumed something else
what happens if the Belgian milkshake bottle ends up with a DNA (unlikely as it seems) ?
August 7th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
From the news…. (not SOL of course) when Mr mcCann was aked about the blood….. and no its not been confirmed whose it is or how long its been there!
*****
Asked about the latest reports, Mr McCann said he could not comment on any specific details of the police inquiry. He said: “We would never, ever jeopardise the investigation, and I think it’s critical for people to realise that.
“We do know some information that, one, we’re not allowed to tell, and, two, we would never ever put anything into the public domain that might put the investigation of Madeleine at risk.
“We’re not naive, but on numerous occasions the Portuguese police have assured us that they were looking for Madeleine alive and not Madeleine having been murdered,” he said adding: “And I don’t know of any information that’s changed that.”
August 7th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
june …. papers hasn’t as yet said surely if natural no need for body to not be there ?? duh!